Gårdagens tips i Dagbladet

Dagbladet spurte, jeg svarte:

-Hva gjør du nå?

-Sitter i et tomt klasserom og sjekker når neste tog til Helsinki går. Jeg har nettopp avsluttet en to ukers tegneserieworkshop i Lahtis, sammen med en koselig gjeng mistilpassa finsk ungdom.

Hvilken bok vil du anbefale?

-The Raw Shark Texts av Steven Hall.

Hvorfor?

-Låste skumle rom, hukommelsestap og konseptuelle dyr som lever av idéer og gir deg grisebank, hvis de ikke spiser deg, da.
Ellers er jeg veldig glad i Jonathan Lethem, Hanif Kureishi og Patrick mcCabe.


-Hvilken film vil du anbefale?

-Jeg er fortsatt imponert etter å ha sett In the Loop.

-Hvorfor?

-Jeg trodde ikke at britiske embetsmenn kunne banne så kreativt. De sverter så det svir i øra. Filmen viser også det politiske spillet i all sin styggedom. Jeg håper at det meste i den filmen er jug, hvis ikke er vi fortapt.

-Hvilken plate vil du anbefale?

-Den siste skiva som jeg gikk totalt bananas over var Love´s "Forever changes".

-Hvorfor?

-Det er en skive jeg skulle ha hørt på for ti år siden, men uhellet ville ha det slik at jeg snublet tilfeldig over den for to år siden og kunne ikke slutte å høre på den. Jeg måtte til slutt gå igjennom en sakte avvenning, fordi det finnes andre skiver der ute. Jeg er fortsatt ikke kurert.


-Hvilken tegneserie vil du anbefale?

-Dave Cooper - Ripple

-Hvorfor?

-Det er en happy-go-lucky story med lakk og lær, sadomasochisme, lolitakomplekser, halvgamle mannfolk, iskrem og gruff og fanteri. Samtidig en besnærende fortelling om hvordan en rimelig usympatisk mann går komplett til hundene og gir etter for sine verste impulser. For ikke å snakke om at den er fantastisk tegnet.


-Hvis du var kulturminister for en dag, hva ville du gjort?

-Hvor mye kan man få til på en dag? Tror jeg hadde slengt en million til i potten til kulturrådets produksjonsstøtte til norske serier, fått norske serieskapere inn i skolen, både som litteraturpensum og som foredragsholdere, etter det hadde jeg tatt lunsj resten av dagen.


-Hva er det som provoserer deg mest i norsk kulturliv?

-At Norges nest største parti er såpass smålige at de gjorde kulturfinansiering til en valgkampssak. De fleste kulturarbeidere befinner seg allerede på bunnen av inntektslisten, samtidig som de gjør et verk vi alle nyter godt av. Det er bare trist at det finnes folk som tror at lille Norge ikke har råd til å subsidiere litt kultur for skattepengene. At alle kulturarbeidere må være flinke kremmere for at de skal ha livets rett er stygt og feil.


-Hvilken internasjonal stjerne ville du spist middag med?

-Charlie Brooker, Dylan Moran eller Peter Serafinowicz, men jeg aner ikke om de egentlig er internasjonale stjerner. De er ihvertfall noen jeg tror hadde vært hysterisk morsomt og interessant middagsselskap.



-Hva er tittelen på boka om ditt liv?


-Veni, Vidi, Vomiti

New mike

New mike 1, originally uploaded by Karstein Volle.

Working on the record clearly shows we need half-decent mikes for future recording, so here´s the first, the Electro-Voice Blue Raven. Gotta love em names.

For you sound geeks out there:
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/low-end-theory/49913-my-electro-voice-blue-raven-mic-review.html

I am 138

I am 138, originally uploaded by Karstein Volle.

My significant other came home with these rather fetching gloves, setting the stage for a Danzig-y photo sesh.

Norwegian embassy bookmark

Norwegian embassy bookmark, originally uploaded by Karstein Volle.

The Norwegian embassy in Helsinki just issued a collection of bookmarks. One of the designs done by yours truly.

Hakaniemi metro station

Hakaniemi metro station, originally uploaded by Karstein Volle.

Just uploaded a bunch of pics from yesterday´s photo safari. Click the pic to go to my Flickr-stream.

It´s the economy, stupid!

It´s the economy, stupid!, originally uploaded by Karstein Volle.

Variation on my cover for Into pamphlet by Slavoj Zizek, on the topic of the credit crunch and its effect on economy.
www.intokustannus.fi

Wussup?

I´ve had some well-needed rest and I´m starting to get into the swing of things again.

Been doing a bit of tweaking to Vollewelt too. If you look to your right, you´ll see a Google calendar over public appearances I´ll do this autumn. Also, there´s a Twitter-feed, a shop and the RSS-feed from the blog I keep over at Suomen Kuvalehti. Pretty nifty.

I´ve been sketching, writing, mixing music and eating monster painkillers due to a wisdom tooth removed. Losing wisdom hurts.

And hey, look what I found in the archives!
Nazca live at Nosturi in 2000. A song we never bothered to put on Non Grata, even. Just for you.


And as always, there´s the Suomen Kuvalehti-blog. Check it out.

Choosing children

Choosing children, originally uploaded by Karstein Volle.

For a forthcoming Into pamphlet. Click on the pic for more fun.

Another post at Suomen Kuvalehti

Just rock on over here to find out everything you ever wanted to know about the miracle of commuting.

Fleamarket Clown

Fleamarket Clown, originally uploaded by Karstein Volle.

In other words, more travel pics up on Flickr. Go look!

More pics up on flickr

landland, originally uploaded by Karstein Volle.

Just click this pic and enjoy the flick.

Trekking around Europe

Blogging from phone at Caz and Darrens flat in Edmonton, London. Left Helsinki Monday morning, watched a norwegian marching band in Pärnu, slept in a guest house close to Kaudas, Lithuania, got stared at in a spooky village in Poland, ate half a duck and slept on a boat in Gdansk, made comics in Berlin, blogged from the car close to Düsseldorf, watched Holland, Belgium and France swish by from the car window, saw the cliffs of Dover while smoking cigarette on a boat, saw three bands and went clubbing in Soho.
It's been a pretty interesting week, to put it mildly.
Check out Flickr for more.

Fingerpori

Check out today's Fingerpori!
Who could that guy with the moustache be?

Come to Bukra galleria!

Tonight is the last chance to see our exhibition at Galleria Bukra. Show up after 18:00 and enjoy the art, get the chance to win free artwork and see us play an acoustic gig. All free. Don't miss it.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=122204267039&ref=mf


-- End of phone blog transmit --

Wussup?

I´ve been having the most hectic six months since... whenever.

Promo work with the book has been hardcore but fun, me n Vesa Kataisto informed the people of Kemi at the Kemi Comics festival some weeks back. Big thanks go out to the arrangers of the festival, they made sure we had the best of times. Thanks are also due to the arrangers of Maailma Kylässä-festival in Helsinki for giving us a spot, where I again misled the masses.

At the moment, there is in Turku an exhibition of Facts from the World comics at Cosmic Comics café. It will hang there until the end of June.

Cosmic Comics Café is anyway a place you would like to check out, not only for good drinks, food n wifi, but also for their extensive comics library, free for all visitors.

In Tampere, mine and Pete Korhonen´s Personal Politics-exhibition will hang until the end of June at Bukra Galleria. We have thus far received fantastic feedback on this one, so don´t miss it if you are in the area.
The limited edition A2 posters are also available for sale, 20 euros a pop.

My favourite Helsinki shop Pitkämies reports on their blog that the new Facts from the World compilation has been in their top bestseller list for two months now. Yay!

I just spent a couple of days in Oslo, catching up with old friends and meeting new ones along the way. Big thanks go to Mikkel for putting me up for the period. Check out his band, Happily Ever After!

Also, TV-season is over for this spring. Boktid will be back on finnish TV screens this autumn, featuring new comics from yours truly.

Spam spam spam

Back in the early ages of the internet, you would sometimes receive emails like "YOU COULD ALREADY BE A WINNER" or "Amazing offer!".
Fair enough. Back then we spent our workhours hitting the "delete"-button a lot.

Then someone invented the spamfilter.

Things got easier, we didn´t have to hit the "delete"-button so often.

Then things got weird.

Since the spamfilters were removing the usual buzzwords, the spammers had to become innovative
Nowadays the spammers are trying to sell me stuff through the medium of poetry!
Just check out my spamfolder from the last couple of days:

From: angewed
Subject: They sailed to the Western Sea, they did

From: tut10983
Subject : Wash away, wash away‎
Body: How charmingly sweet you sing Where the early pumpkins blow pmg http://ushatechindia.com/rmhz …

From: me
Subject: Clowns raped cops

From: me
Subject: Bum kicked Condolesa‎

From: gummert.bdba.bvbc
Subject: Maybe you’ll be forgiven or maybe not‎
Body: Said the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bo tell the moon above me rqmmz

From: me
Subject: At 10, white cap with duck‎

How am I supposed to get the desire for enlarging pills by reading Dada Modernist poetry?

On closer inspection, I find that they are sent from myself? When did i do this? Am I supposed to buy enlarging pharmaceuticals from myself? How? Why?

Who are these spammers? Are they insane? Are they even human?

What can we do about them?

Well, Elliot Burford makes art from them. An example to follow, surely.

Aaaand at Maailma Kylässä on sunday!

Come and listen to me at 16:20 at Maailma kylässä festival in Helsinki!

Kemi Festival

I will be in Kemi from friday on.

At 16:00 Stop by, get a drawing, a book and a chat.

Then come to the small auditorium at 18:00, so I can tell you everything you need to know about the Facts, The World and everything else in between.

Personal politics - exhibition opening this weekend at Bukragalleria, Tampere

Karstein Volle and Petri Korhonen has pooled their talents and will exhibit photography and illustrations at Bukra galleria, Tampere.

Volle will exhibit cover artwork done for Into Kustannus and Korhonen will exhibit photos taken from over a decade of material.

More info:
http://www.bukra.fi/galleria

Sneak peek:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/volle/sets/72157618314962613/

http://rok.possu.org/photos/gallery/personalpolitics/

More stuff over at Suomenkuvalehti

I´ve been letting vollewelt high and dry for a while now, so I really urge you to go here.

They even made this cool looking graphic: