Siitonen Sports Report WrapUp for Jan 2015

Winter Sports are now in full swing around the world and the most exciting
development is Kaisa Mäkäräinen's commanding early lead in the Women's World
Cup biathlon series. She has won three of the first five events held, including the
biathlon pursuit at edition time at Hochfilzen, Austria. A past Finnish Olympic
champion Kaisa is off to an auspicious start with three golds, one silver and one
bronze. In this shoot and ski sport (Ampumahiihto) Kaisa is the World Cup
defending champion from last season. In her season's opener at Ostersund, she was
second to Daria Domratsheva of Belarus by 27.9 seconds on December 5. Next day
she bronzed in the sprint at the same site behind winner Tina Eckhoff of Norway. On


Dec. 7, Kaisa broke into the winner's column in the biathlon pursuit.
Moving on to Hochfilzen on Dec 12, which she won without penalty over Italy's
Karin Oberhof in the 7.5 k sprint by 10.4 seconds. She was surprised by the ease of
her win as she felt shaky from an ongoing bout with the flu. The next day was a
washout for the Finnish women in the team relay as Kaisa was unable to do her
second leg, dropping Finland out of the running in that interrim event. But today was
a different story. Kaisa M. came out like gangbusters in the pursuit still under the
weather, so she slowed down at the end to save her strength and still defeat
Jekatarina Glazynna of Belarus by 13.4 seconds. She only missed one of her shots
from a standing position but was perfect in the rest. She now leads runnerup Daria
Domratsheva by a huge 77 points who was only 8th in today's heat.


Also at this writing, Sweden just defeated Finland in the final of the Men's Floorball
(Salibandy) World Championships at Göteborg for its eighth world title in this
mostly European event now in the tenth year it's been held. Finland has won it twice
and has been runnerup in six of them. Czech Republic defeated Switzerland for the
bronze, 3­2. Finland led its western neighbor, 2­0, after the first period. The
Svenskas tied it up with two goals in the second and won in the third on Henrik
Stenberg's goal at the 47­minute mark. The next world championships will be held in
Latvia in 2016.


On Dec. 12, Riitta­Liisa Roponen won her second World Marathon Cup cross-
country title in a row in free style, edging USA's Holly Brooks by three minutes at
Lavigno, Italy. Olympic champ Iivo Niskanen topped the field in the 15k cross-
country classic style at the Suomi Cup in Jounasjärvi, with Sami Jauhojärvi in
second 19.3 seconds behind. In the women's 10K classic, Krista Parmakoski
prevailed with Iivo's sister Kerttu Niskanen in second 12.4 seconds slower. Iivo
Niskanen dominated the 15k World Cup at Ruka with Jauhojärvi in third. Kerttu
Niskanen won her fifth career World Cup medal by taking the bronze at Davos,
with Norway's Therese Johaug the winner and Marit Björgen third. Niskanen was
58.5 seconds behind Johaug. Anne Kyllönen was eighth and Laura Mononen tenth.
Also, Winter Olympic medallist Enni Rukajärvi silvered in slopestyle snow boarding
at Breckenrdge in the United States. Juha Mikkonen scored a career­best fourth
place in a World Cup XC sprint at Lillehammer, Norway won by the host country's
Patrick Golberg. Finnish star figure skater Kiira Korpi made a successful comeback
after a two-­year injury layoff by winning the Zagreb Open.


In swimming, Jenna Laukkanen set a new Finnish NR of 1:06.24 in the 100m
breaststroke at the Finnish short course championships at Espoo. She broke her old
record by 0.22 seconds. Tanja Kylliäinen established a new Finnish mark of 4:35.91
in the 400m medley at the world short course championships at Qatar where
unfortunately she fell short of making the finals. Finland's Ville Lång won the
Scotland Open in badminton, the first Finnish Grand Prix triumph in the sport since
1992. He defeated Taiwan's Tzu Wei Wang in the final, 17­21, 22­20, 21­16. "My
best career win," said Lång.


Eva Wahström successfully defended her weight division's European boxing title by
narrowly decisioning Kenya's Fatuma Zarika at Kotka, 79­75, 77­76, 79­76. A four-
round preliminary bout unveiled a potential new Finnish sensation, Togo­born
Nordeen Toure who flattened Serbia's Nemansa Krstin in the opening stanza. The
referee never bothered to count as the Serb was out cold. Dubbed the "Togo
Tornado," this middlewight slugger who was raised in Ghana, came to Finland in
2011 and has won all three of his pro bouts by one­round knockouts. Initially
homeless in Finland, living in parks and eating out of garbage cans, Toure is now
under the tutelage of veteran Finnish manager and fight promoter Pekka Mäki.


Suomen Urheiluliitto (SUL), the Finnish Athletics Association, awarded European
Javelin Champion at Zurich Antti Ruuskanen as Finland's 2014 Athlete of the Year
at a gala presentation in Helsinki. Runner Sandra Eriksson, who set new Finnish
steeplechase record during the season was dubbed Women's Athlete of the Year.
Oskari Mörö was named Sprinter of the Year with an NR in the 400m hurdles and
who finished eighth in the event at the European championships at Zurich. Minna
Nikkanen with a new women's pole vault NR,was crowned Jumper of the Year.

12/7 @ 2 p in Berkeley "Finland’s Independence Day Celebration"

Finland’s Independence Day Celebration 2014

You are cordially invited to celebrate the

97th anniversary of Finland’s Independence

Berkeley Finnish Kaleva Hall
1970 Chestnut St., Berkeley, CA
Sun, Dec 7th, 2014 @ 2:00 pm

The program:

• Kalevala-themed music and poetry presentation in Finnish and English
• Heikki Koskinen, Kati Pienimäki Schenker, Tuula Cotter-Tossavainen and Rent Romus, music
• Rent Romus and Sirpa Tuomainen, poems
• Main Address: Mrs. Anja Miller
• Display of Finnish national costumes
  Guests are encouraged to wear their own costumes to the celebration
• Introduction: Scholars & students from Finland & those studying Finnish
• Closing song: Finlandia Hymn in Finnish and English
  Accompanied by Thor Miao
• Refreshments after the program
  Donations welcomed.

Finnish female conductor Susanna Malkki performs 2 pm Sun, 11/30 at SF's Davies Symphony Hall.

Finnish female conductor Susanna Malkki performs 2 pm Sun, 11/30 at SF's Davies Symphony Hall. discounted seats call box office (415) 864-6000. Lodge 21 members plan to meet afterwards for an early supper nearby at the Grove on Hayes St

--riku

Tues, Dec 2 @ 6 p.m. --> Former Finnish Studies Student Tim Jollymore discusses his new book in Berkeley, CA

Former Finnish Studies Student Tim Jollymore discusses his new book, LISTENER IN THE SNOW

on Tues, Dec 2nd at 6 p.m.
at University Press Books
2430 Bancroft Way in Berkeley

Book signing will follow the discussion. “How can we talk about each other with dignity and with truth?” This is the question Tim Jollymore poses in his presentation CHASING THE WINDIGO, a discussion of appropriation and fair use in fiction. Can men write women characters? Women men? Listener In The Snow, Jollymore wonders can non-Native writers use Native materials and write Native characters in fiction? What are the outcomes? 

Can whites write African-American characters? Blacks write whites? Particular to his novel,

Using excerpts from American Indian essay and fiction as well as photographs, Jollymore outlines the difficulties, pitfalls, and positive results of the fair use of Native American lore and custom in contemporary writing as he revisits the text of his novel. 

Please do come & join the discussion on December 2nd. 

Contact me at sirpa@berkeley.edu with questions. 

-- Sirpa Tuomainen

FREE Finnish Film Tonight, "21 Ways to Ruin a Marriage"

FINNISH MOVIE TONIGHT ON UCB CAMPUS

While the fall nights are getting darker and the warmth is starting to flee, come witness the sparks of the unquestioned love flying all around the Dwinelle B4.

Director Johanna Vuoksenmaa’s movie 21 Ways to Ruin a Marriage tells the story of a researcher Sanna Manner, who thinks marriage is an unnatural state for the 21st century people and interviews married couples on their wedding anniversaries to back up her dissertation “X ways to ruin a marriage”.

21 Ways to Ruin a Marriage was also one of the most watched movies of Finland in 2013 and it introduces the new generation of Finnish (comedy) actors like Armi Toivanen, Aku Hirviniemi and Riku Nieminen.

Come and fight for love!

Dwinelle-B4, from 6-8 p.m.

Upcoming UC Berkeley FInnish Studies lectures

Please join us for these guest lectures this fall:

Anu Vaalas 2.10.  Art history "Gallen-Kallela in the Finnish Visual Arts scene"

Kailey Willmore 21.10. Aleksis Kivi, Seven Brothers

Mikael Varjo 30.10. Proverbs and references to death in Finnish popular music (in the lyrics of Viikate)

Sirpa Tuomainen 4.11. Finns in the Bay Area

Welcome!

Bi Annual UFKB&S Grand Lodge Convention was a great success.

The UFKB&S Grand Lodge Convention in Seattle this past September was a great success.

Seattle President Lynn Wirta organized an excellent music program for the closing dinner with a band, kantele players, and a choir with sing-a-long in Finnish. All meetings were held at the Finnish Lutheran Church, where a concluding service was held in Finnish followed by traditional Finnish breakfast foods on the following Sunday.

Our Berkeley Lodge 21 brought six members to the Grand Lodge invention this year, more than have attended out of town conferences in many years, held in Seattle Sept 18-20. Grand Lodge President Alison Kastama presided over various committee reports and included reports from all three states to continue the Finnish traditions in their respective cities. Delegates also discussed such issues as Scholarships, the Vjellyesviesti Sanomat, Bylaws & Procedures, etc.

Newly elected Junior Vice President Gina Hansen (of Berkeley) agreed to organize and create an organization website explain the purpose of the lodge, a description of respective lodges, and a joint calendar so members can plan visits to attend events hosted by other lodges. The name suggested by Trustee Paul Koski (of Aberdeen) was www.finnishkalevalodges.com. Design work is continuing to be completed as calendar items and news tweets are currently being added to the site.

Those parties interested in joining the Berkeley Lodge can go to http://finnishhall.com/ufkbas21_join.html.

CONCERT: Kippis plays the ____ in Sacramento THIS THURSDAY!!!

www.kippisband.com

NEW KIPPIS SHOW THIS WEEK!!!

with Cody Bowers, BRI, Infinite Vastness, & Special Guests

THIS THURS, July 31, 2014 

at The Press Club

2030 P St; Sacramento, CA 95816

Doors open at 6:45. Show starts at 7 p.m. 21+. $11/Advance or $13/Door

To order tickets, go to https://tickets.aftonshows.com/Kippis2

Siitonen's Sports Report and July 2014 Sports So Far

The 2014 National Hockey League Championships concluded on June 13 with the Los Angeles Kings winning the Stanley Cup over the New York Rangers, 5 games to 1 in L.A. But it took the Kings a double overtime for the new NHL champs's 3-2 final victory. It's the second time in three years that the Kings have hoisted the venerated Stanley Cup.

In the June issue we were stuck admidships in the World Hockey Championships in Minsk, Belarus, at press time with Finland having lost its first two games. But lo and behold, the Finnish Lions came back to roar into the finals before it was all over. Along the way, they lost to Russia, 4-2, in the early rounds; blanked Germany, 4-0 with Pekka Rinne as goalie; took host Belarus, 2-0; Switzerland, 3-2, on Iiro Pakarinen's OT gold; fell to USA, 3-1; and proceeded into the championship rounds by edging Kazahkstan, 5-4; then dumped mighty Canada in the quarterfinals, 3-2; goose-egged the Czech Republic in the semis, 3-0, with Jori Lehtola and Jaakko Immonen providing goals, with Rinne again superbly guarding the cage. Undefeated Russia had vanquished Sweden in its semis so the Suomi guys ended up facing their large Eastern neighbor again, You may remember Finland had eliminated Russia in their Winter Olympics game at Sochi, where it bronzed, But its luck didn't hold at Minsk. The Ivans took the title over the Jussis, 5-2. Yet silver isn't that shabby an award, either! The Swedes aced the Czechs for the bronze.

In some important record setting, Finland's Fredrik Smulter, 31, set a WR of 400 kilograms on the bench press in the World Weightlifting Championships in Denmark in the Men's 120-kilo class. No one had ever pressed 400 kilos before! Runner-up Jonathan Lee tried but failed and had to settle for 380. Anniina Laitinen set a Finnish women's NR in 55.05 in the outdoor 400-meter run which she won at Ghent, Belgium. Sandra Eriksson, who had already qualified for the 3000m Steeplechase at the European Championships at Zurich, set a new NR in this specialty at the Lahti Elite Games of 9:34.71. Sandra also had the old record which she ran at the Finnish-Swedish Dual Meet in 9:38.38 last year. She also qualified for the 1500-meter run at Zurich by winning at that distance at the Flanders Cup in Belgium with a PB of 4:15.75.

Finland vanquished Canada, 6-2, in the finals of the World Roller Hockey Championships in the Czech Republic. It's called rullakiekko in Finnish and it's played on inline roller skates. Kasperi Lehiköinen, 22, defeated Mateusz Bubowski in the finals of the Lithuanian Badminton Open, 18-21, 21-9, 21-13, inVilna. Badminton is called sulkapallo in Finnish. Kasperi had won the Norwegian Open last November. Sanna Kämäräinen set another personal best in the discus of 58.05-meters, winning at a track meet in Bedford, England. Her indoor best is 60.07 from this past winter's Finnish championships. Juuso Väisänen won the European Cup for the third straight time in FIFA's aerobics.
In the Diamond League's opening meet at Shanghai  Ihab Abdeirahma, 25, set an Egyptian and African record in the javelin with a best throw of 89.21 for a PB and the longest throw seen in the world the past three seasons. He has a Finnish coach, Petteri Piironen. Reigning World siver medallist Tero Pitkämäki could only attain sixth place with 81.36. But Pitkämäki made up for lost ground at the Oslo Diamond League, winning it with 84.18, just a shade farther than Kenyan Julius Yep's 84.17. Czech Republic's Viterzslav Vesely was third with 83.53. Our best wishes go to Tero Pitkämäki and his life partner champion heptathlete Niina Kelo on the recent birth of a son, their first child. Finland used to be a shotput nation with Arsi Harju its last Olympic champion. Its most promising newcomer in several years is Arttu Kangas,19,with an oudoor PB of 19.58. His best indoor shot was 19.56. As defending Kaleva Games national champion, we're looking forward to Arttu throwing 20 meters and more this season. The June issue of the National Masters News reports on the success of two older age group Finns at the Boston Marathon on April 21. Finland's Urpo Naumanen won the masters men's 65-69 age category in 3:02:22 while Keijo Talvasalo of Thornhill, Ontario was tops in the M75-79 division  in 3:41:04.

The Nyström sisters, Emilia and Erika, earned their third medal, a bronze, at the European Beach Volleyball Championships at Baden, Austria. They also have a Euro silver to their credit. They lost in the semis to another sister team, Doris and Stephanie Schwager of Austria: 4-21, 21-15, 15-8. The Nyström's won their 2014 bronze by defeating Madeleine Meppelink and Marleen van Iersel of Holland. (No scoring available.) Since beach volleyball isn't always played on beaches, American sportswriters have begun calling it "sand volleyball." The UC-Berkeley varsity women's regular volleyball team played several games of sand volleyball with other colleges in the late spring this year.  

David Erkkilä, an old San Francisco friend, avid sports fan, and FAR subscriber, sent me some coverage of Finnish-American athletes I knew nothing about: J. J. Koski, San Ramon Valley junior wide receiver, was voted Most Valuable Player of the NIKE Football Training Camp for Northern California at Chabot College in Hayward. He also ran a 200-meter sprint in 22.13 seconds for the third fastest in the area. Also from David: Lonnie Kauppila, former Stanford University shortstop, now playing second base for Clinton, Iowa, in the Class A Midwest League, had his team come from behind with a score of 1-17, to win the game, 20-17. Besides playing second base, Lonnie pitched one inning for the first time since the eighth grade.  

Kiitos, 
David. 

Since Good Sports has little contact with accomplishments by Finnish-American and Finnish-Canadian athletes, we encourage FAR readers to send us such information you might run across. About your children, grandchildren, maybe? Contact: harry.siitonen@yahoo.com.

Jussi-Winning "Kerron Sinulle Kaiken" ("Open Up to Me") debuts at LGBTQ Frameline Film Fest in SF Weds, 6/25 at 9:15 pm at Castro Theatre -- Advanced Tix Recommended - Director Simo Halinen in Attendance

Open Up to Me
Kerron Sinulle Kaiken

DIRECTOR: Simo Halinen

Purchase Online

• Wednesday, June 25, 9:15 PM
  Castro Theatre
  Buy Tickets
  

Expected to attend: Director Simo Halinen

Since her transition from man to woman, Maarit lives a life apart from other people—distant from her estranged wife and daughter and marooned in a dead-end cleaning job far beneath what her education merits. When by chance she meets a handsome, married soccer coach named Sami, her carefully constructed solitude begins to crumble.

Open Up to Me Trailer from Corinth Films on Vimeo,  also available at http://vimeo.com/84790702

While Maarit is sure of herself and her new life, Sami may not be able to handle what society might think of her as a transgender woman. Complicating matters are Sami’s wife, Julia; Teo, a teenage soccer player he coaches; and Maarit’s daughter, Pinja—all of whom have their own agendas. Maarit finds herself at the center of a web of relationships in which everyone is heartbreakingly and fallibly human. At the same time, the ghost of her old life threatens to endanger the precarious balance of her new one.
Part psychodrama and part coming-of-age tale, Open Up to Me is spare and unfussy. It features superb acting from Leea Klemola, who won a Jussi (Finland’s highest film award) for her work in the lead role. As Maarit, she equally embodies vulnerability and determination as a woman who is anxious for her life to finally begin.

— Mordecai Stayton

Sports So Far... [May 2014] - The Siitonen Report

We start with a nostalgic but proud look at the career of Tanja Poutiainen,  33, of Rovaniemi, one of Finland's finest alpine skiers, who has announced her retirement from executing the slalom and giant slalom specialties in which  she excelled for many years on the world scene. Her last Winter Olympics outing was this year at Sochi where she finished 12th in the slalom and 14th in the giant slalom. It was time to quit. Tanja's best Olympic effort was at Torino in 2006 where she won a silver. Poutiainen (below) also had four World Championship medals besides two overall season's wins in the World Cup giant slalom and one in the slalom. She was probably Finland's finest all-time women's alpine skier and the only Finn to qualify this year for Sochi in her specialities.

Biathlete Kaisa Mäkäräinen, 31, picked up a head of steam after so-so placings at Sochi, by winning the season's World Cup competition.

In mid-March, she won three World Cup competitions on home turf at Kontiolahti, in the simultaneous start, sprint and 10K pursuit. This gave Mäkäräinen (left) the season's World Cup lead, as they headed for the final round at Holmenkollen, Oslo, Norway. Her first event there produced four missed shots which relegated Kaisa to 23rd place, thus allowing runner-up Norwegian Tora Bergen to gain the Cup lead on March 20.  On March 22, Mäkäräinen  snared fourth place with two missed shots. But she concluded the World Cup series with seventh place in the simultaneous start, with Bergen falling to 14th place to lose her slim lead. So it was Kaisa's title! Her previous World Cup championship was in the 1010-2011 season. 

But that wasn't all for Kaisa. She became a double titleist in the Finnish national championships, winning the sprint and simultaneous start at Hämeenlinna. Her long season  ended in perfection with two more titles at an international exhibition meet at Tyumen in West Siberia.. She didn't miss one gun shot in either her 13.5K simultaneous start or her 10K pursuit victories. (I must confess to some advanced old age memory lapse, for I had previously mentioned Kaisa as an Olympic champion. Not true! I had confused her with  Satu Mäkelä-Nummela, who was the trap-shooting Olympic champion in the Beijing SUMMER Games in Beijing in 2008.)

While we're still at Siberia's Tyumen, let's scroll back to March 11, where at that site a Finnish women's ski orienteering team won a European Championship gold, defeating Russia by one second. The Finnish team consisted of  Mira Kaskinen, Sonja Mörsky and Mervi Pesu. Kaskinen gained a silver in the individual middle distance and Mörsky the bronze, with Tove Alexandersson of Sweden the goldster. In the men's relay the Finns won the bronze, with Janne Häkkinen, Staffan Tupis and Ville-Petteri Saarela.

Last issue we reported on the default accomplishment of Finnish wrestler Petra Olli in Sweden. Since  the previous FAR, she has won a European Championship bronze in the 58Kg class at Vantaa by defeating Germany's Luisa Niemeschev, 5-2. In the semis, Olli had lost to Russia's Valeria Koblova, 1-8. It was the first significant adult medal for Olli, 19, of Lappajärvi. As a junior she had three European golds and two World bronzes. Petra's grandfather Paavo Olli had three Finnish national championships to his credit in short distance track runs. For the men at the Vantaa Euros, Rami Hietaniemi scored the silver in the men's 85Kg class, with the title going to Zhan Beleniuk of Ukraine, 2-1. Earlier in the day Rami had blanked Germany's Jan Fischer in the semis, 6-0. Rami's previous best was a World bronze as a junior in 2011. 

Finland endured a tough loss to Bosnia-Herzegovina in Davis Cup tennis play at Helsinki's Tali, 3-2. ATP's top 50 player Jarkko Nieminen

was defeated by the visitors' star player Mirza Basic in five tough sets that took three hours, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 6-3, 8-6. B-H's Damir Dzumhur took Juha Paukku in their opening day singles.  So Finland was behind 0-2 until doubles play. In these, Finland closed the gap with Nieminen and Henri Kontinen taking Basic and Tomislav Orkic in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6 (2), 6-2. In reverse singles, Nieminen tied it all up by disposing of Dzamhur, 7-5, 7-6 (2), 6-1.   Paukku put up a whale of a struggle as he stretched Basic to five sets, before going down, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4. So Bosnia-Herzegovina goes on to its next Davis Cup round, while Finland is done for this season.

In track, Jussi Kanervo (below), 21, who's competing for the University of South Carolina on an athletic scholarship, had wins at Columbia in the 110m hurdles (13.77) and in the 400m hurdles (54.52).  Sanna Kämäränen, 28, won the women's discus at the University of Texas-El Paso Miners' spring meet with a Finnish outdoor season's best throw of 56.90 meters. She threw over four meters further than runner-up Gleneve Grange of Jamaica (52.35). 

The marathon running season is in full swing around rhe world. How have Finns fared so far? Tadedich Bekele of Ethiopia was the women's winner of the Berlin Half-Marathon in 1:10:05. In fifth place was Finnish MD Kukka-Maria Mustonen in 1:19:43. Mustonen's personal best full marathon was at Paris in 2:47:45 in 2011.   Another Ethiopian Atela Lenora Gedesha aced the Rome Marathon in 2:34:43, with Finland's Elina Junnila fifth in 2:56:24. Junnila was later second in the Miami Marathon in 3:00:32, won by Mariska Kaamer of Holland in 2:49:47. Annemari Hyvärinen, 35, ran a personal best for fourth slot in the Zurich Marathon in 2:39:54, Finnish season's best so far this year. She was runner-up in the Finnish national marathon championships in 2004. In 2010 Annemari became only the second Finnish woman to have climbed to the top of Mount Everest.  She currently resides in the United States.  

On the race-walking scene, Finland's

Aku Partanen finished sixth in the prestigious IAAF Race-walking Challenge 50K race in 3:54:54 at Dudence, Slovakia. Winner was Poland's Rafal Augustin in 3:45:12.   

    

             

FREE Finnish Film Nite at UC Berkeley "Mies vailla menneisyyttä" / "The Man Without the Past" at 6:30 pm

FINNISH FILM NIGHT AT UCB!!! (FREE)

Aki Kaurismäki's

Mies vailla menneisyyttä
The Man Without the Past (2002)

 

Tues, March 11
6:30 PM
in Dwinelle Hall #B-4

     “A nameless man comes to town and gets beaten to death in the first possible moment. So begins this epic drama, this film – or should we say a dream? – of lonely hearts with empty pockets under the big sky of our Lord… or should we say birds?” -Aki Kaurismäki- ...See More

     Aki Kaurismäki: Mies vailla menneisyyttä/The Man Without the Past (2002) Tuesday, 3/1 6: 30 PM in Dwinelle B-4 "A nameless man comes to town and gets beaten to death in the first possible moment. So begins this epic drama, this film – or should we say a dream? – of lonely hearts with empty pockets under the big sky of our Lord... or should we say birds? 

     " -Aki Kaurismäki-"The impish Aki Kaurismaki, whose previous film was the black-and-white, silent" Juha, "fills this proletarian fable with music and color. The hero, a jowly, sad-faced welder (Markku Peltola), wakes up after a vicious mugging to find himself suffering from complete amnesia. But his state of dislocation turns out also to be a state of grace, as he finds friendship in a shipping-container shanty-town and love with a Salvation Army worker (Kati Outinen). The movie, with its easy, graceful humor and its plainspoken sense of decency, recalls the great populist films of the 1930 's and early 40 's: there are traces of Charlie Chaplin, Preston Sturges and Frank Capra in Mr. Kaurismaki's democractic aesthetic, and like them he has made a simple, poignant comedy whose intended audience is nothing less than the human race. "— A. O. Scott, New York Times

Upcoming Paper Presentation (FREE) by possible UC Berkeley's Finnish Studies Finalist. by University of Helsinki's Lieven Ameel on "Literary Perspective on Urban Development: The Fnnish Urban Novel & The Rhetoric of Helsinki's Waterfront Rgeneration"

The University of California at Berkeley is currently entertaining candidates for a Professor of Finnish Studies. Come support Finnish Studies and hear one of the candidate finalists!

    The Department of Scandinavian is pleased to present:  

  Lieven Ameel, University of Helsinki

Literary Perspectives on Urban Development:

  The Finnish Urban Novel  & The Rhetoric of Helsinki's Waterfront Regeneration  
Thursday,  Feb. 20, 2014 at 5:00 PM  219 Dwinelle Hall Reception to follow in Dwinelle 6321    

This lecture examines the potential of literary narratives for evaluating practices in urban planning and development. It will look at two specific cases of waterfront development in the context of the Finnish capital’s long shoreline: the plans for a Guggenheim museum in the Helsinki South Harbor, and the development of the former container harbor Jätkäsaari. An examination of the rich urban imaginaries in Finnish turn-of-the-twentieth-century literature will be juxtaposed with the generic rhetoric that was used, in particular, in the controversial plans for a Helsinki Guggenheim. I conclude by arguing that the shortcomings of these ambitious development projects could have been remedied by rigorous cultural and narrative mapping of the locations in question.

 

 
W i t h   q u e s t i o n s ,   p l e a s e   c o n t a c t   i s s a @ b e r k e l e y . e d u   o r   5 1 0 - 6 4 2 - 4 4 8 4 .

Read more about Ameel's musings in Helsinki On My Mind (2007)

Siitonen's Sports So Far : March 2014

Sports So Far... March 2014

It's too bad that Sports So Far's March editorial deadline falls in the early stages of the Winter Olympics that began on Feb. 8 in Sochi, Russia. But our first Finnish medalist emerged the next day. She was Enni Rukajärvi, 21, of Kuusamo who earned a silver in the women's slopestyle snowboarding, a brand new Olympic event.

Gold medalist was USA's Jamie Anderson, who has been a consistent winner in practically all of the slopestyle competition during this current season. Rukajärvi has been a leading competitor as well, and a year ago won several of these snowboarding events. The President of Finland Saul Niinistö and his First Lady Jenni Haukio were in the stands to witness Enni's feats, and the next day sponsored a coffee and cake reception for her, as Rukajärvi was still dazed by her accomplishment.

Norway's fabulous Marit Björgen won the 15k combined cross-sountry skiing championship (7.5k traditional, 7.5k freestyle) on Feb. 8 as expected, in 1:38:33.6  Finland's Aino-Kaisa Saarinen came in fifth, only 2.1 seconds behind bronze medalist Heidi Weng of Norway. Sweden's Charlotte Kalla claimed the silver.   

We'll report other Finnish accomplishments at Sochi in the April issue.

So for now we'll go to other pre-Sochi winter sports results. Juulia Turkkila, 18, was 12th in the European women's figure skating championships at Budap-est in January with a score of 140.52. Winner was Olympic star Julia Lipniskaya, 15, of Russia  Winners of the Finnish cross-country sprint championships at Vantaa on Jan.17 were for the Men: 1. Martti Jylhä. 2.Iivo Niskanen. 3. Juho Mikkonen.  Women: 1. Anne Kyllönen. 2. Riikka Sarasoja-Lilja. 3. Kerttu Niskanen. Next day Sami Jauhojärvi took the men's 15Kclassic XC title, followed by Tero Simula and Matti Heikkinen. In the women's 10K it was: Kyllönen, Aino-Kaisa Saarinen and Niskanen.

Petja Piirainen was the World Cup Big Air snowboarding champion at Stoneham, Canada, but was only 12th in the Olympics at Sochi.  Janne Korpi was third in the snowboarding half-pipe at Laax, Switzerland, with Iouri Palatechnov of the host country the winner.  

Julia Kykkänen bronzed in the women's ski jump at Hinzenbach for her first international medal on Feb. 2. Japan's Sara Takanashi was the winner. Julia will be Finland's jump specialist at Sochi,, another Olympic first for women in this sport.  Ilkka Herola was second in the Nordic combined ski jump and 10K XC event at Val di Fiemme, with Austria's Phillipp Orter the winner in 29:47.1. Ilkka was only four seconds behind. Iivo Niskanen also won a junior men's 15K at Val di Fiemme for youngsters under 23.  Riitta-Liisa Roponen won the XC Marathon Cup at Obertilliach, Austria on Jan. 19, covering the 42 kilometers (26.2miles) in 2:03:30.28, seven seconds ahead of Russia's Julia Tihonova.

In the world of European golf, Mikko Ilonen was tied for the lead at Doha, Qatar at the end of regular play with 6 under par, but Sergio Garcia of Spain took the playoff to win 305,00 euros. Ilonen's take was 203,000. On Feb. 2, Ilonen finished fifth on the strength of his score of 64 in the final day's round. He had 275 strokes to winner Scotland's Stephen Gallacher who had 272. This has been and excellent season for Ilonen and we just learned that he's now ranked 55th in world golf, his highest career standing ever.

On the women's wrestling scene, Petra Olli lost in the semi-finals to the world's best wrestler in the 58 kilo class, Kaori Icho of Japan at Krasnojarak, Russia and came up with a bronze. Icho has won three Olympic golds and seven world championsips. Olli had four matches that day, three of which she won. Pauliina Hietaniemi was voted their 2013 Athlete of the Year by the Finnish Labor Sports Federation (TUL). Hietaniemi had won a world championship gold in the 50k weight class in Taekwon-do in Spain last October. She's from Tampere.

Tero Pitkämäki was voted the 2013 Finnish Athlete of the Year by the Finnish Athletics Federation (SUL) on the basis of his World Championship javelin silver medal in Moscow, and for the longest throw of the year in the world of 89.03m. Runner-up was Mårten Boström for his sprint distance orienteering  world championship, and third was Matti Mattsson for his bronze in men's world swimming championships.             

-- Submitted by Harry Siitonen

Olympic Games BEGIN!!!

Let The Games begin!!!

Rukajärvi takes Silver in SlopeStyle!

Finnish snowboarder Enni Rukajärvi won a silver medal at the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi on Sunday. After a nearly flawless second run, she came second behind the US's Jamie Anderson at this game's New Event.

Rukajärvi, 23, has previously won the SlopeStyle World Championship. the TTR tour and the X-Games.
 

One of the big contests to watch is to see who's going to win THIS YEAR's Hockey Championship. Finland took 3rd in both the women's and men's matches, in 2010. The Finnish women beat out Sweden in overtime at the last performance to take bronze and the US experienced a major upset by the Home Turf Canucks, who ended up with gold! Let the contest BEGIN!!!

Meanwhile, Janne Ahonen comes out of retirement to compete in the Men’s Normal Hill event in Sochi TONIGHT! Though Ahonen has plenty of hardware from many other World Championship events, he is hoping to earn his first Olympic medal in Sochi this year!

View Yle’s coverage of the event online streaming from Yle Areena. 

January Sports So Far

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Before launching into a review of World Cup or Tour de Ski winter sports, We'll open with a World Championship tourney that excited Finns more than any other athletic endeavor during January. That's when the Finnishn Pikku Leijonat (Little LIons) Junior Men's hockey team won their first world championship since 1998 by upsetting an over­confident favorite Sweden  at Malmo on Jan 5 , in overtime, 3­2. The OT shot was by Rasmus Ristolainen to give it to the  Finnish lads. The new champions had defeated Canada in the semi­finals, who in turn lost to Russia for the bronze. The juniors consist of 18 and 19 year­olds. Finnish fans turned out in the thousands cheering their
young men as they deplaned at Vantaa.  

Next we'll go to  mid­ December to celebrate the World Cup win of Janne Korpi in the snowboarding half­ pipe at Kuusamo  Markus Malin bronzed and Antti Autti was fourth. Enni Rukajärvi was second in the snowboarding slopestyle at Breckenridge, USA, with Jamie Anderson, USA, the winner. We move to January for another snowboarding slopestyle at the Nanshan Open in China, when Finnish women Merika Enne and Kristina Nisula came in first and second. Thus, Enne won her first major race so far. Nisula was last year's winner.

Swedish women defeated Finland for the fourth straight time in the Salibandy (indoor floor ball) World Championships, 5­1,  at at Ostrava, Czech Republic. Finland took its second straight silver. The bronze went to Switzerland over the  Czech women , 4­3. Juulia Turkkila  won her first national figure skating championshp in Finland. Matthius Versius claimed the men's title.

Former Olympic Champion Biathlete Kaisa Mäkäräinen was second in a World Cup competition at Annecy,France, with Switzerland's Selina Bakarin the winner in this ski and shoot event. On Jan. 12, Kaisa was third at a World Cup Pursuit at Ruhspording. Czech Gabriela Soukalova  took gold. Mäkäräinen had three shooting penalties, two from a lying position, and one on her last stand­up shot for the third.

Riitta­Liisa Roponen successfully.