Back to the basics: The Real stuff. The rest of the ideas during the Heavy Metal Conference

I don´t need to categorize metal. Luckily I can stay out of these kind of discussions. There is metal that I like and there is some that I don´t.  And that´s enough for me. Ever since I was growing up and started to listen to metal music, I soon got aware of the discussion. Soon I started to know what was considered heavy music. But immediately after that I was in the situation I had to describe the band to the others: was it speed, thrash or death metal?

The bands in the magazine articles told us over and over again new terms like power metal and doom metal. While the others refused to put themselves into any category. The debate about what is metal and what is not is an endless battle field. And people tend to take it personally. Because they care, I think. Those, who identify themselves strictly with belonging to certain group or sub group, care about that the most.

If you think the problem academically, there would have to be solid criteria you can lean on when categorizing. I am sure there is a certain consensus about the mainstream – and with that I am referring to the whole heavy music and talking about the very central area of the flow. At least there has to be certain heaviness in the music. What is heaviness then – not going there. But there are different kind of lyrics, different kind of outfits and the long hair is no longer a clear sign. When it is not heavy any more?

“Manowar are posers.” Daniel Frandsen

loudly announced in the end of his presentation. He had never forgiven Manowar´s bad gig some years ago. That brings us back to the previous posting I made of the metal conference. If there is a certain agreement of being metal considering the mainstream heavy, those in the marginal will fall automaticly to the role of negotiation. I understand the Manowar and posing with the same way they told Poison is False metal. Meaning, that there is a common accusation that those two bands care more about the image than actual music. Is it true or not, I don´t know. But I can sense that it would be against the unspoken and unwritten heavy metal norm. The rule of being authentic. Metal or not was the main question in Daniel Frandsen´s presentation. Whether something is metal or something else is always in relation to something else. That is true. We understand the world with contradictions and limits and categories. That is the theoretical background also in my own PHD thesis.

I can understand Daniel´s point remembering my own experiences. I was astonished seeing Lama (a punk band) and Barbe-Q-Barbies (a rock band) at Tuska Inferno stage in the year 2013. What the hell they were doing there. This was supposed to be heavy music festival – right? I kind of understood the idea of getting something different there but at the same time I felt betrayed. I had the feeling there is something wrong here. And it mattered…because that festival is important to me.

Esa Lilja

“Ozzy always sounds sad”

said Esa Lilja, one of the pioneers in academic heavy music research in Finland, comparing music samples (Mozart and Black Sabbath) with the mixture of major and minor intonations. As a music analyst he pointed out the usual intonations in heavy music saying also that those could be found in other music genres as well. He could easily put Mozart or Bach next to Black Sabbath and Deep Purple and say: listen, there is the similarity. Caviar to the general, I have to say, at least in my case.

“You don´t have to be a muso to be able to hear and recognize musical structures” was Esa´s main point. And he is right. When we grow into our culture and into heavy culture, we learn to recognize – at least something. Like main genres, main structures, similarities. I am sure the majority of us can say when listening to Black Sabbath that yeah, ok, this IS heavy metal. And we all agree.

Owen Coggins from the Open University (UK) had a different angle. He spoke about the letter type similarities in black metal band names and for example in bible. There are several memes about hard-to-read band names. Owen showed us band posters where English band names were translated into English only with another font. He told us also a story about two guys looking at a poster like that. They decided to go even though neither one have heard the band, themusic. But the font told them that the genre is right. It was all the cue they needed. That story reminded me of my journey in finding good bands. I went to a record store and tried to find the most brutal cover – then I bought the LP. Only after getting home I put the record on and listened the new music I owned. Usually I was satisfied with the method. Found lovely new bands like Death or Kreator (ok the cover of that LP is quite wussy).

“Black metal goes beyond music expression” 

Kenneth Granholm

There is the whole culture with various aspects behind black metal – like in any sub genre. Font type, record cover art and certain musical structures are only scratches. Which gives millions of reasons to continue these kind of conferences. Many heavy metal researchers are also music makers themselves. “It is hard to analyze something you love” said Kenneth Granholm. That comes close to the idea of getting everything personally. Having a certain distance is usually a benefit in academic field.

My main focus on the Heavy Metal Conference was pure interest to the subject. Also, I wanted to know if I was finally feeling like home with these researchers. I have been looking for so long an academic group I could truly relate to. I was hoping to get the same kind of feeling of belonging that I have been having among the metal gig audience. Did not find it. Not accusing anyone but myself, though. So, continuing my journey without the burden of loyalty to any certain group. Taking the benefit of distance.

Tips of the day

Metal Music Studies First published in 2015 http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=236/

Metal Syndrome, trailer, a short documentary exploring the world of heavy metal music through the eyes of Finnish metal musicians https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwarJSv5hH0

The Distorted Island, trailer, a documentary that describes the metal history and scene in Puerto Rico http://youtu.be/tYyZVmMngmU

More about me: https://amholappa.wordpress.com/this-is-what-i-do/

Just observing. The first day of the Heavy Metal Conference

The first day of the Heavy Metal Conference behind me. Oh well, the first for me. The conference began at Monday night but I had to miss the first two days because of getting sick. Damn, was I on a bad mood. I would have wanted to hear Deena Weinstein´s keynote. She is a classic. A pioneer.  I had no paper on my own this time. But if you´re having a heavy metal conference in your home town you just have to be there.

What kind of people are there in heavy metal conference?

Are they one to one with Tuska Open Air festival audience? Well, more or less. I counted more than ten different types of band t-shirts in the first session I participated. Maybe not the common number with other conferences. The possibilities are actually quite large; you can look the metal phenomena through lyrics, music, marketing, culture, rituals, history, singing, gender issues, ethnicity, sub genres – you just name it.

The good example was Susanna Mesiä and Paolo Ribaldini introducing the view of seeing the importance of vocals, not just the lyrics but also how it sounds. The common person – not dedicated to the subject – might find it surprising how highly technical and with quite large of variety can heavy metal singing be, moving smoothly from stage to another, from grunt to whistle. Perhaps it is no need to mention that even though Paolo has a remarkable voice himself, in the presentation I enjoyed mostly the examples like Dimmu Borgir.

“I´m not worried about my gender at all” The critical audience

The first session was about gender. This a subject that always and every time causes debate. It is not easy subject in academic world. Is it even relevant, was my first question just to myself before heading to the conference.  I mean being a woman and liking the metal. Not to mention being a woman and playing metal. Since forever there has been the division in all art fields: there are writers and female writers, artists and female artists, musicians and female musicians. But today in Finland? It is not that strange to be a Finnish woman and like metal music.

But still, I have to say that it is not that simple. When I used to date a musician I noticed that my opinion was worth nothing when there were discussions about music. Maybe, just maybe, if I was a musician myself and would have talked with proper terms like c-parts or bridges. I wouldn´t know. They might have probably thought me trying to be better than them – the actual (male) musicians, the real experts.  And that is something that was not accepted, at least not in Oulu at 1990s. You had to know your place.

Rosemary Lucy Hill from The University of Leeds hosted the gender session. Her own paper was about discussing the masculinity of metal music. She argued that there are other meanings for the listener than just embracing the masculinity in music. The personal relationship with music and the meanings given in the process overrides the general superficial “masculine” meaning.  It is a feeling of belonging and not being alone. Like she told us about seeing Elvis as a teddy bear – comforting in need. Or Killswitch Engage like a friend in a despair of heartache.

“Touching is a huge part of extreme metal.” Gabby Riches

Gabby Riches from Leeds Beckett University , a woman wearing Cephalic Carnage t-shirt (wow!) had studied female mosh pit practices. With that she brought the embodied view into the discussion. Affect moves you, also physically. Gabby´s informants were describing the mosh pit experience like it´s getting drunk with the atmosphere. It is risky but not dangerous. Well that I have to disagree. I tried mosh pit once, when I was in my twenties. I got pushed around and I was hurt – and I have been avoiding the mosh pits ever since. What a wimp and sissy you think. Not worth being a metal head. In my point of view I just have always had the common sense with me. That´s all. Nowadays I usually get irritated when the band in the stage demands, asks or pressures the audience making a mosh pit. Like it was the only way of enjoying the live gig. Nah! In the end Gabby admitted that when you get older you don´t wanna get bruises. Then you just watch the band. I still don´t see it any lesser way for enjoying the gig.

Gabby Riches had asked her informants where did they have learned how to mosh. That made me think of the process I became a metal head in the first place. Ok, I am middle-aged, fat, ugly and a mother of two. Is that suitable role for me at all? It is, because I was a metal head back when I was an ugly teen, when I was a pretty young woman and now. My musical preferences haven´t changed during the time. I was no part of the international demo postal system network. Everything I heard in mid 1980´s was already processed in some way; through heavy theme nights via national (and later local) radio broadcasts or through Finnish rock magazines. Finding my own subgenres among all the variety of metal genres took time. My experience of being a metal head is an experience of being a member of broad-minded community, a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes and interests, feeling of shared understanding beyond the words. I don´t usually listen to lyrics but add the vocals just as an instrument with the other instruments. For me the lyrics aren´t meaningful. The meaning I create for myself through the music is the feeling of power.

Laura Wright from the University of Birmingham was talking about post-metal. What is post metal? She said it is something beyond heavy metal conventionalities. I was still confused. She writes it is sometimes linked to the sounds of drone, doom and black metal with common song structures absent. Really? I had no idea that I am into post metal. That again tells me about the backbreaking tendency of labeling the music. Sometimes maybe outside the “real world”? Because presenting this paper in the gender session there had to be a point considering that aspect as well. Wright claimed that post metal as a genre is actively trying not to appeal in any particular gender. She carefully suggests that maybe we could talk about… post gender.

The critical audience responded to the gender discussion. First one said that she has heard of the heavy metal masculinity just too much in the last days and it is crap. Let´s move on. Meaning that it might have been the situation once, but is it still that, today? The other one criticized the whole gender point of view: we are all capable of doing all things, both women and men, moshing, head banging, stage diving, playing, listening. Why raising the gender issue at all? Gabby Riches answered her well referring to social processes of becoming an actor of metal scene. In spite of the capability, the journey might be different. Also as Rosemary Lucy Hill claimed as a conclusion of her presentation, masculinity is more social process than feature of any music. I would myself talk about cultural processes – but that´s just hair-splitting between research fields.

Rosemary Lucy Hill, Laura Wright and Gabby Riches all used interviews. How much we can really learn from interviews, was the critical audience asking once again. Of course methodological questions belong to the academic discussion. Interviews are qualitative data, they have limitations. I noticed also myself that results in all three cases included descripitions. Rosemary Lucy Hill asked her female informants to describe heavy metal. It was described as loud, heavy, fast and, anger. The greatness of heavy music was different to different people. It was visually challenging live experience or a musical journey to the fantasy land. When describing the post metal Laura Wright mentioned the feeling of connecting, seremoniality and escaping from the real world. And Gabby Riches´s informants were describing the mosh pit experience. There are two sides when thinking about the interviews. The audience pointed out the limits of language. Rosemary Lucy Hill saw it in the other way: there are possibilities in language expanding or understanding what music is doing to people.

The authentic metal?

In the latter session I was participating very short-haired John McCombe from the University of Dayton spoke enthusiastically about hair metal trying to convince us that it is a metal genre, part of metal canon and part of the family tree. Despite all the other opposite claims being False metal  etc. Oh, well. Not buying it. Can´t say metal and think of Poison. Which feels plastic.

But the top of the cake for me was Corky “I go way back” Laing who has been playing drums since…forever.

“This is as authentic as you get: 50 years living through this shit”

he replied to McCombe and all the others about the question of authenticity.

Still quoting Mr. Laing:

“If they don´t have a good drummer they don´t have a good band. Pop is when you pour milk to your corn flakes. Rock started when the drum was getting louder. Heavy metal is just another name for making an impact, for commitment in music.”

Tips of the day:

Metal History Through Fanzines, digital archive www.sendbackmystamps.org

Dokken VS. Chicken https://youtu.be/OL91wt5wNeI

More about me: https://amholappa.wordpress.com/this-is-what-i-do/

The questions of dishonesty and time

Lately, somehow, I have been asked (even twice) to say something about availability, and time. Or maybe it is just some weird co-incidence (like Jukka Helttula´s recent dissertation (Chance Modifying Society) which shows that pure co-incidence has affected in many turns in history).

Anyway, first, a radio journalist asked me an interview about the honesty and faithfulness. She thought that those might be jeopardized in the relationships because of the smart phones, internet and the endless possibilities they offer.

First of all, is anyone ever truly honest in online dating?

I think there are people that are honest and there are people that try to be honest and then there are people that deliberately are not honest. You could picture this as a line that has the truly sugared image in the other end and the disgustingly realistic image in the other end. The sugar cover might be thin and not that serious lying. One might say being athletic even though the person is not really that athletic. But would like to be. Or one could claim eating healthy and taking good care of oneself but in real life the change for healthier lifestyle is something that one really wants to do. Soon. Sugaring a bit is mostly building the image of the ideal self, something that the person would like to be.

Then there are those that actually think that they are for example SO broad-minded. And when you meet them and listen to them you realize that you never have met a person more narrow-minded than that one. So their picture of themselves is not parallel to how others see them. If that is the case, are you being dishonest if you don´t do it deliberately? If your image of yourself is just badly twisted? Of course the history of online dating is full of those who just lie about things, like being 10 cm taller than they are. Which is kind of stupid. Because when you actually meet the person offline (and have to look down on them), they get caught of lying, inevitably.

Someone might think that some lying is part of the whole online dating context. One is expected to lie a bit about their looks – right? And the context also requires some secrets. No one gives their true identity right away or actual email address or phone number. But it is not the same thing. Public media approach to online dating still includes instructions and warnings. Those have become part of online dating context and affect the way people behave in online dating sites. Quite another thing is being cautious because of the importance of net identity these days. Without actual trying our net identity is huge part of our public image. If you are very cautious about your career or want to be remembered of something special, like sports hobby, it might confuse the brand if your name could also be attached to online dating. Is it so embarrassing? Maybe not, but it still could be confusing. It is highly considered as part of one´s personal life and might eat the professional credibility.

But there is no need for actual lying. In my study I have been mostly reading the texts in True Love context. Quite rarely people are looking just sex there. Which means that people has common understanding of what True Love means: long and serious relationship. I think it is only fair that there are more categories and even own websites for those who are just looking the adventure. Strictly passing any moral point of view I find it more honest to direct those wanting less than real relationship to other pages than having them all in the same pool which causes more than one misunderstanding and broken heart.

What exactly are those online cheaters, bad guys, frauds and shams? Most often tales and news are about those who want money in some point. What are the warning signs then? If someone is too good to be true, the person probably isn´t. The discrepancy in the talk should wake you. Trust your intuition. Even though the matters of love are beyond any common sense, it should not be entirely forgotten. In a relationship there should be two equal sides. It is always possible to pull the brakes. You don´t have to accept just everything!

Time and availability

Net is always there, near you, in your nearest smart phone. It would be so easy to cheat on your partner – right? Sure, internet might cause addictions. Addiction to online dating is just one of them with online gambling, news addiction or social media addiction. Internet might give you the feeling that the whole world is there for you just to pick. While online dating you do not have to satisfy to the people geographically near you but it is possible to find someone with the same interests anywhere. The process of seeking the True Love might be so addictive that it is hard to settle down with someone. But if you are in the relationship and committed to that I can´t see the easiness of internet access making it any more likely to cheat on your partner. Internet or smart phones are just the means, just tools. What a person choices to do is between the ears only.

Only a bit later another journalist asked me to comment an interview that had been on morning tv.  Term zero-time was introduced to the public by a researcher from the Family Federation of Finland.  It refers to a time when people are out of the relationship, and not available in the relationship market. Zero-time means that the singles just stay at home, for example, and are not out looking for the potential partner. They are not available.

Some things I do agree with the researcher. Like if you really want to have a partner and relationship, you should do something about it. But some things I don´t really get. For example, I do not understand the idea of wanting a partner, the significant other, but not having time to look for one or be available.  Generally speaking, there is always time for such things, which one prioritizes high enough. Whether it is having a new healthy lifestyle or seeking of love, lack of time is nothing but an excuse.

In particular, the idea that a single  person has not got a time for being  available – because of work and stress and full calendar. In this current era of communication, this is a strange argument. At the same time people are complaining that with their smart phones and other networking devices they are available and reachable all the time. I mean another recent study just shows how smart phone beats the relationship or career in priorities.

Seriously, the lack of time because of the career pressure has in recent years received a counterweight with the idea of downshifting. Being available is actually about values: what is important.

I agree with the the Family Federation of Finland researcher with the fact that we live in a very individual-centered time. Instead, I do not agree on what it means. In my opinion, it does not mean that there is a need to give the impression that we do not need anyone. I think individualism combined with modern communication technology give a much better chance of finding a suitable partner. Individual-centered also means that also all the other ways of living (than in a relationship) are quite possible. Social pressure often comes from the environment close to us. If really practicing individualism, it also requires a lot of courage to be truly unique and make the most relevant solutions for oneself.

Of course, if you need your own sweetheart, it means you have to do at least a little. For example, become familiar with online search for a partner, sign in and that way declare the world that you are available. There have always been people before the network era that are not available or are dishonest in relationships. You just have to beat the fear of being scammed. If you are “available” in any site, looking for someone, that does not mean you should immediately commit with the first person you met. Before the commitment you should and just have to let time pass and see how do you feel about everything. Doing that you probably notice if the other one is serious or not.

Actually, I cannot think a better way of spending time than getting to know someone. Not to mention that human relationships cannot be thought in terms of time efficiency in the first place. Relationships take time. In general.

 

More about me: https://amholappa.wordpress.com/this-is-what-i-do/      

Tsu tsu & ´ello ´ello

This year I have tried two new social media services. Another one was Ello and the other one Tsu. Ello had more attention in the public and quite soon after I had read the stories in September, I had the invitation from a friend. Tsu was something my other friend just mentioned and by his invitation I went in to find out what it was. Comparing the public discussion, Ello wins this round 6-0.

I started my Ello account 1^st October 2014 and a month later joined to Tsu, which had been launched on October 2014. The very first thing I was trying to do in Ello was getting to know what is possible in the first place. My first post was “Post 1” and into the comment section I wrote “It´s a bit tricky”. Then I started to invite my friends to the service. The dream was to create a new inner world, getting a holy secret private place to run from Facebook. Soon I got a bit frustrated. Posted to my friend: how to run this world, have you figured it out yet? And a bit later: Ok, here I am. What to do next? How to rule my new kingdom? And a bit later from that: Does anyone know how to create a closed group in Ello? I was told that it is not possible yet and creating the group is not even on the list of features to come.

Tsu, in the other hand, do believe in advertising and it is more about making money than making friends. It is said to pay for active posting on the platform and inviting their friends to join, too. Well, my cash is still empty. The idea is that all the ad revenue Tsu makes is distributed to users based on how many organic post-views they get during, for example in 24-hour period. The more views and engagement one generates as a user, the larger portion of the pie one gets. Smaller percentages of this are also used for people to invite their friends to Tsu, which is invite-only. Users also receive payments when their invited friends share engaging posts, too. The idea is that content creators, deserve the benefits that come with having an active user base.

Ello was quiet but Tsu was even more deserted. The friend I had in Tsu left so now I have even less people to communicate with. Recently I have been using both services mostly on distributing the links to my blogs. And the blogs actually include the message. That is because I haven´t got that many friends in either page. It is difficult to discuss with no friends. Because the lack of friends I have started to follow strange people as they have done the same with me. That of course is a more of a possibility than a fail. I might compare that to a signal humans send to a space. Is there anyone there? I come in peace. Come out and play with me.

The most eminent difference is that Ello is more about texts and links while Tsu is filled with images. When I post my blog link to Ello, it appears just that: a textual link. It bothers me a bit. When posting a link to Tsu it gives you the featured image of the blog, just like in Facebook and Google+. Of course you can upload images to Ello as well but the bond with text and image is not that strong. I think visuality is a must in these days. Based on that experience, I can´t see Ello going well if it does not become more visual.

During the short media history there has been attempts to challenge Facebook. There have been both anti-facebook movements and attempts to offer the alternative social media platform. Like Michael Arrington said back in 2006 when Facebook was not even reached the biggest wave in Finland: Isolatr isn’t a real service, but it should be. The site promises to “help you find where other people aren’t.

Alternatives haven´t got that succeed. Diaspora was launched 2010. It claimed to be a nonprofit, user-owned, distributed social network that was based upon the free Diaspora software. Like Facebook and Twitter there were hashtags, possibilities to tag a person into the posting, upload photos and post Youtube and videolinks. Unthink  was launched in the end of 2011 and it openly said being “anti-Facebook”. Both Diaspora and Unthink were rising from the dissatisfaction of the Facebook, mostly of the discontent with privacy and ownership rules. Slogan was Unthink Wants To Free You From Social Networks’ ‘Dictatorship’. Unthink highlighted the users´ possibility for better control of their privacy. They also pointed out the same feature than Diaspora: the ownership. Users own everything their upload into their profiles. Unthink did not survive, Diaspora did. In March 2014 it had only a bit more than one million accounts which is not that much compared to Facebook. Diaspora’s big failing was that it had massive usability issues. The promise of a distributed network did fail and everyone had to rely on centralized servers.

Why anti-Facebook movements did appear in the first place? Besides the worrying about privacy, ownership and copyright issues which have been discussed a lot, there is also some concern about the social media situating only into one service. Dictatorship is a strong word, but it leads to the question of one proper truth which might happen if only one service has the monopoly. With the idea of One Truth users´ net identity gets also defined with certain standardized mainstream way. Is there a possibility to be different? If not, the normative net identity leads to the disturbing feeling of hypocrisy.

Why anti-Facebook movements have not been able to shake the power of Facebook? Someone has said that the saturation point of social media has been already reached and that is why new ideas in the field won´t success. I think that has some point. If something totally new comes around that shakes the whole basis of Facebook and gives us the new way of seeing the world and construct the social network it might have some future. The challengers so far have not been revolutionary enough. Like Ello highlighted the ad-free feature. You gain with the fact that it will not bend the posting into marketing messages, and won´t use the data for building a marketing profile to be sold. (Still, there has been questions about financing Ello which suggests that it seems unlikely they’ll be able to remain ad-free.) But again, that all is something COMPARING to Facebook. These new services do the fail themselves defining the Facebook being the norm.

More about me: https://amholappa.wordpress.com/this-is-what-i-do/

Tinder – still here?

I have been asked for many interviews about Tinder during this year. Which is a kind of absurd, because I study the traditional types of online dating profiles in online dating sites, not Tinder. But the journalists insist information because the audience needs information. This is the hottest thing happened in online dating for a while. Don´t say it´s over. Or – is it going to be over soon? Do you know something we don´t?

Putinder-jokes were far funnier than the usual online dating memes. Usually they focus on unreal identity or false characteristics. Putin getting divorced was the greatest opportunity to link it with the application. Something everyone was already discussing about. I was actually amazed when a young girl who works at the grocery store by my street came to talk to me about Putinder meme. She found it so funny. Even though she does not know me nor know what I do for a living. Applications rule the social world today.

What makes Tinder so popular compared to other dating services? Why Tinder is so ok to speak in public? Online dating has existed since the mid 1990´s. That first period carried the biggest burden of the awkwardness and embarrassment. Tinder appeared on the market in the period of the online dating´s reputation was no longer so bad. It has already a cultural base which it could attach to. It is no longer spoken publicly that much about how it’s just for desperate and freaks that cannot found a partner anywhere else. It is okay to meet people online. Tinder has been advertised and reported in journals and magazines much more than it´s predecessors in the field. It is new, but it is not something unheard of. Many Finnish public figures have spoken about their use of Tinder. The reasons are certainly many, perhaps just the opportunity to make themselves trendy. This, however, lowers the threshold for non-public figures speech of their Tinder use.

The popularity of Tinder is based, firstly, on that it is really well marketed and has been talked about a lot. That urges people wanting to at least try the application. There have been some excellent public stories about Tinder. For example, this news from February 2014 that Tinder helped a researcher couple found each other in such an exotic location as Antarctica.  That was a huge hit and spread all over the world. That story also put the emphasis on Tinder´s novelty value comparing to other applications: location match with geographical basis.

Tinder also benefits from the familiar elements of other services, such as social media. The high speed of coming information is one of these elements – just like in Facebook or Twitter. Also the need to react quickly and make fast decision (yes/no) for ruling the game is familiar from the online game world. Because Tinder also uses the already available social media profiles, it is clearly having a target audience ready in Facebook. Tinder is also an application easy to download and it does not require a new input because using already existing social media profiles. Another large network in the world besides the social media users are the online game players who might be attracted by Tinder´s ease, speed and game like structure. That all refers to the concept of mediated society, in which adopting the so-called new applications I think the digital natives has a small advantage. Even though for example media researcher Esa Väliverronen has claimed that speaking about digital natives should get forgotten at once. He thinks that the whole concept is just the fiction or illusion of digital natives´ parents and it just reflects the inaccurate belief for technological powers and the superior media skills of young people. In real it is just the parents´ fear of their own poor media skills.

Tinder is mostly used by the young people. A journalist once asked why it is that the older (30+ years) are not that enthusiastic about Tinder. I think the reason is simply that in general, new technology and new trends reach and are first popularized by the younger age group, and from them they spread – if spread – to other age groups. Younger have more time and energy to also get to know the latest applications and they will probably be discussed about among their own age group. The older age groups may be more alone with their looking of a partner, since a large part of their age group already is in a relationship. They are not pioneers of new applications, but strong users during the next wave. A large number of young people are single and are in the same situation with each other. The information, the desire to experiment and experience, therefore, often take place first in the generation of the younger people.

Tinder is also used with other purposes than finding a future spouse, like used by a couple or used purely as entertainment, or used for checking the value on the single market. Is there a similar phenomenon seen in other online dating services? In my opinion, Tinder is marketed specifically to search for a partner application, so it can be assumed that the user will feel ripped off if finding out that the counterpart to the objectives and activities feels differently. But, on dating site services there has pretty much always been the category “looking for an (sexual) adventure” – just like old newspaper Personals in Finland had the code “having a cup of coffee together” (päiväkahvin merkeissä). So it may therefore be assumed that this kind of “misusing” the dating services has always been present, though not so much discussed about. Recently there have been online dating sites, like Victoria Milan, specialized for people who are already in the relationship. With those there has been some public discussion, usually with strong disapproval.

I have been thinking about the paradox of media communication lately. Kenneth Gergen has called it absent presence – you are physically there but actually concentrating on your smartphone. Also Sherry Turkle has been thinking about this urge to be connected all the time and she says that paradoxically being alone is the requirement for being together. Because it is easier to communicate with other people when you can concentrate on your smartphone without disturbances.

But, mis-users of Tinder – what should one think? Phenomenon explains the applied use of the media in the first place, which is not in itself a bad thing, but proves the creativity of its users. Secondly, it tells about the increasing importance of mediated entertainment in people’s lives. Like news in social media news flows are nowadays used as entertainment. It contributes to the so-called click-bait journalism which means that the quality of the news depends on how much of it has been clicked. This in turn has led to click-baits. Applications such as Tinder have the similar entertaining value. These will lead to the addicted media use: for example, in public transport the most travelers are absent present playing with their smartphones.

But is online dating getting permanently mobile, or would the traditional web sites still hold up? Are those sites developing to the same direction as Tinder? Tinder is relying mostly on visual expressions. The visual turn reached the online world mostly due to social media, in particular, Instagram, and the like since 2005. It has affected a lot to online dating. The photo in the online dating profile used to be a luxury, and a little bit extra. You had to have a real good self-esteem to put a photo of yourself to the online dating profile. Today, this threshold has lowered so much. It is so normal and every day to publish a selfie. Everyone does it and it does not require any particularly great looks. Thus, photos in online dating have become “mandatory”. If the dater does not have a photo, there raises more questions than with a profile with photos.

Like I said earlier, Tinder is not that revolutionary, because mobile dating is not really that a new thing. In 2000s, the early years, many online dating sites launched mobile applications. However, they were functioning parallel with the actual pages. Why this type of service not already gained tremendous popularity at the time? WAP-technology was not yet ready: mobile apps were slow, connection was easily broken. Online dating with the conventional computer was simply easier. It needed current smart phone technology for the tinder-like services to flourish. If I was now to launch a new dating service, that would be a mobile application. That’s the way I believe that online dating is about to change, gradually. Traditional online dating sites, however, will last for some time. At the international level there is still Match.com, among the others, which can be considered one of the pioneers in the field. Big online dating service sites are financially strong and there may not be any sudden need for them to transfer the concept to only mobile format.

But Tinder – is it going to be over soon? Is it just a momentary trend? Many people are already tired of Tinder. The most recent developments in online dating have been the use of all sorts of other network services for partner exploration, like geographical location and social media information. Tinder like any trend must keep up with its competitors and in the other hand, bring something new to the online dating scene. The regular renewal is the key to the success. None completely stable service will not stay popular for a long. Tinder´s latest undo function is not only such renewal, but also their way to get back to the headlines, which Tinder needs for marketing. Recently there was Bumble application introduced: works a lot like Tinder BUT it has to be a woman to start chatting if you get a match with someone. No unwanted messages from men and this helps to get the communication more respectful – they promise.

I cannot predict the life cycle of Tinder – or Bumble. They are functional as long as they have users. And in order to have users, they must renew themselves in time to time, get positive publicity and thus the potential to beat the competitors.

More about me: https://amholappa.wordpress.com/this-is-what-i-do/

 

 

Whaling – what an odd metaphor

My article about the ways Finnish talk and describe their looks in online dating profiles in the case they are not the ideal slim or athletic, was published yesterday in J@rgonia.

Buxom or the blue whale? Non-slim body type discourse in Finnish online dating profiles might the translation be. The article was based slightly on the conference presentation I gave on EUPOP conference 2013.

What´s this all about, anyway?

I have been studying the Finnish online dating profiles in normative heterosexual context for some time now. The research is limited to the ones looking for “True Love”. The research method has been close reading paying particular attention to the language.

The looks or the beauty has been known an important factor for a long time in human mate selection. The research of the ideal partner has usually been the research about preferred looks. Especially the evolutionary psychological research has claimed that passing on the good genes is the most important thing in human mate selection. Maybe a huge generalization, but never mind. Often beauty is associated with features like youth and health. And the demand of being attractive goes primarily for women.

But I don´t go with evolutionary psychology. I am more interested in cultural explanations; how the culture around us influences our thinking. We have, for example, the media and advertising world saturated with certain types of images of “perfect” women and men. That gives pressure to everyone. My interest is in the ways the Finns deal with a non-slim body size knowing that it is not what the ideal mainstream partner is.

The previous studies confirm the fact that obesity has been seen as a stigma in the human mating. For example fewer men responded to a personal advertisement in which a woman identified herself as obese than to one in which she indicated a history of drug addiction, claimed Sarah Sitton with Sharon Blanchard in their study at 1995. The theory of attribute trade is often referred to research on how a woman’s external attractiveness has changed with male´s higher education.

I have found that in online dating profiles the stereotypes are used in many levels, both the structure and the content. This is due to the fact that after people have been reading the dating profiles others have written, they start subconsciously to think that this is the (only) proper way to make an online dating profile: this is how the profiles are. They adapt the model themselves and either follow it or consciously do it otherwise. In the early days of online dating there were “shopping lists” in every profile. These days they are considered a bit old-fashioned. But this unconscious agreement of the dating ad “script” is an example of a shared cultural model.

Scripts are something we use in the theory of cultural models. Having the same cultural background we share similar ideas. We interpret the messages the same way and understand even that which is not directly said, but what is referred to. When we share the same culture, the same ideas, we know what content to expect from a particular phenomenon – like in online dating profile text. It is called cultural knowledge. Individuals learn the existing socio-cultural rules regarding sex, love and the search for a partner, and repeat these rules themselves. “Legitimate stories“, has Barbara Czarniawska said.

In my research data I had to lean on the search parameters of the services to get to categorize who was slim and who was not. Writing their profile they all had to fill a form as well and in the menu you had to select your body type. The options were: athletic, slim, average, round and XL. Options round and XL are the ones that I consider non-slim. No one can prove them right or wrong. They are just something the persons have chosen to represent them. Just like gender, sexual orientation and the purpose of searching a partner. I decided to treat all those features as they were valid, because if it was true or not – that really not mattered. The essential point was that these people had chosen these parameters to define themselves and I was about to see if they acted within a proper script considering this concept they had chosen.

Most of the online daters do tell their body type. For men it was easier to tell their exact numbers. It has been accepted as an integral part of the self-presentation in online dating context. Although fat is stigmatized for both sexes, it is clear that it applies more to women. That might be the explanation for the fact that women were not as excited for revealing their accurate measurements. One-third of the men and women continued the discussion of their body type in the free text area of the profile.

Those who indicated that they were something other than round or XL-type had some features in common. If they had a shopping list or a list of any kind, fat was often included in the negative list of features along with drug or mental health problems. If you are a size of a blue whale, go on, leave my profile immediately. This observation is comparable to Sitton and Blanchard’s study. The matching hypothesis could also be seen clearly within those slim or athletic people. It claims that people are more likely to form and succeed in a committed relationship with someone who is equally desirable: I don´t mind your being beautiful, because I am handsome myself.

In the end I could distinguish six categories – or cultural models – of the ways the round or XL type were treated in the profiles. The first one was being aware of the norm of being slim and the person commenting that. The weight loss goals were mentioned. Like someone is just going to start a diet and letting everyone to know it. The same kind of discussion is often used in dieting shows. Trainers are trying to convince us that inside every fat person there is a slim one and after the fat is gone, the person can charm us with her/his “true self” or “real personality”. Ideal body types are socio-culturally structured, culturally shared knowledge.

The second category was just to notify the non-slim body type in the form, but leave the discussion into that. Category was clearly present, but it is difficult to draw conclusions about what it means. Doing so, the person does not necessarily have a problem with the body type.

In the third category, the profile was highlighted with other features than body type. This is a bit similar to the exchange theory: “bad” features might get forgotten if you have some “good” features to trade them for.

The fourth category was humor and stereotypes. Like saying the body size a bit funnier or giving a nick like Chubby or Fat ass princess. I was able to guess in advance this humor approach. It is the most stereotypical way the popular culture shows a non-slim person: funny, clumsy, good-natured and harmless in all respects.

The fifth category was straightforward, a bit more aggressive, a way to express the non-slim. I named the category as attack is the best defense category. The texts were pretty rude. If you are having problems with the persons that are not slim but otherwise decent human beings, just take a hike or go f**k yourself.

The sixth category was accepting one. Online dater might be size XL but she/he does not hesitate to add pictures in the profile. The person has a high self-esteem and might provide a “shopping list” of her/his own. SHE/HE can demand and make wishes, SHE/HE is acting powerful.

As a conclusion, the self-presentation in online dating context is more or less in line with Western hetero-normative script. Quite many of these categories are actually working against the ideal norm. Either with the positive attitude or rudeness. The aggressive attitude I did not predict, even though it is actively trying to work against the good-natured harmless fat image.

Kathleen Rowe Karlyn has spoken about the “unruly woman” taking the example of a TV comedienne Roseanne Barr. The idea was that the woman herself is taking over the command of how her body and image are seen and spoken. I´m sure I could see glimpses of good old Roseanne in some of those profiles!

Searching for cultural models in my case was close reading the data and making categories. Although one should always remember that the cultural models are not static but living with the different variations.

More about me: https://amholappa.wordpress.com/this-is-what-i-do/

That mildly frustrated conference feeling…

…but let me start from the beginning…

Greetings from London!

 

I arrived yesterday from a 5-day-journey to tropical hot capital of United Kingdom. I participated in The third annual international conference of the European Popular Culture Association (EPCA) which was held in The University of the Arts, London.

The first key note speaker in the conference was Feona Attwood  from Middlesex University about pornography and popular culture. Maybe even useful for me, because I think I might use something like the charts she showed about the “normal” heteronormative versus pornography with my own studies. The idea of pornoish picture which includes an innuendo but what is really not the real thing – something like that can be found also in my research data.

I had my presentation on the second day. One of the conference themes was nationality so I decided to go through my research data from this perspective. My aim was to concentrate on the features of representing the Finnish nationality in online dating profiles. When I was talking about Finnish nationality, I was more or less talking about ethnic nationality which includes Finnish language and roots in Finland. This is justified because the Finnish culture has been homogeneous for a long time. According to Statistics Finland there are almost 90 % Finnish speakers at the moment in Finland. Swedish speakers are about 5 %. So, still most Finnish people have also their ancestors from Finnish background.

Like all nationalities, Finnish ethnic nationality carries some stereotypes. Sisu is a well-known feature that can mean a couple of things: no snowstorm or frost can stop a Finn if he just decides to have a cup of coffee out in the backyard. Except the weather, sisu also means that you can handle any kind of extreme situations. It also means that someone is tough and hard working. Finns also love going to sauna all naked. Finnish people drink a lot. And they are quiet and shy first but very loud when getting drunk. Ok, I am dealing with stereotypes here. Someone might think they cannot be used in academic research because being everyday thinking. But I claim that they are very useful because with online dating profiles I am studying exactly that: everyday thinking.

My research data includes almost 1000 semi structured online profiles and about 600 profile pictures. The data is limited to heterosexual context and those looking for serious relationship. When asking What kind of features of Finnish nationality or stereotypes are to be discovered in Finnish online dating profiles? I have to emphasize the significance of context. People are trying to convince the world in online dating profiles that they are the best possible mates. My quest is to seek whether they use the national or ethnic stereotypes in doing that.

I used close reading and categorizing the data by themes as research methods. Then I interpreted the results. Leaning on the idea of cultural models in cognitive anthropology, I claim that being myself the member of the same culture, I get the idea what they are trying to say and mean in their online dating profiles. I have the same ability to read between the lines as the other members in the same culture. That´s way I am able to for example place a common phrase under a certain category because I know what the actual meaning behind the phrase is.

Sisu as courage or strong self-will was mostly presented in the Life motto or the My Guidance for life sections. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, is probably the best known phrase of that kind in the world. Usually the references to sisu were examples people were telling in the open text field about how they have been dealing with difficulties, how they have not gave up, how they have been determined or hard working in their lives. Still, references SISU weren´t that common; only one percent of the profiles had any references to sisu. Actually, the word sisu was not mentioned almost at all, but the thing was to find the themes with the idea of sisu.

So, sisu was my first category and  the next was mentioning the Finnish in some connection. Either someone was looking especially Finnish person or the company seeker bragged being Finnish. The most often case was that being Finnish was connected with being just ordinary, normal. I´m a normal Finnish guy, like there´s nothing special with me. It seemed also taken for granted that mentioning normal Finnish guy gives the right impression to the reader, like everyone must have an idea what kind of person a normal Finnish guy is. If there was any further explanation, the normal Finnish girl was mostly connected to the idea of next door neighbor girl or old fashion country girl type; kind of ordinary looking, but hard working and nice person. With men, if there was any continued sentence it referred to honesty, reliability or being genuine. Also Finnish values were mentioned as appreciated.

Earlier I mentioned the stereotype of Finnish being quiet and shy at first. That was a surprisingly common thing to describe oneself. They were emphasizing the fact that they are shy and quiet only in the beginning but then when they feel more comfortable, they will be more talkative. Some people said it right in the beginning that being so shy is the actual reason that they were looking for company in the internet. I have to point out that nobody mentioned that being drunk gets them more social. That underlines the fact that the stereotype about heavy drinkers was not a good stereotype in this particular context.

The most common in Finnish online dating profile texts was mentioning the nature or cottage life as a hobby or as a place to relax. There are so many things you can do in nature, like  hunting, fishing, hiking and so on. So that also explains the high number in this category. Many people were referring to sauna as the best place to relax or just in the text in open text area. With sauna there were many associations not just sauna and beer but also sauna and swimming, sauna and massage and going to sauna was also connected with good meal. Sauna was maybe the most common but not the only thing people were mentioning about Finnish culture. In the favorite food part I could find several meals that are common only in Finland or are kind of traditional meals in Finland like Carelian Stew. Also old proverbs are references to Finnish culture. They are understood only by other Finnish and while being that,  the same time they construct the image as a Finnish person.

How do the profile pictures support the text considering the national or ethnic aspect? Most of profile pictures were facial or half up images, about half of them were selfies. Most of them were realistic in a way that there weren´t any major photoshopping or something like that. Usually the photos were taken at home, you could see for example a kitchen, or a hall or the bathroom if it was a bathroom selfie.

First of all I think that the realistic photos support the stereotype of Finnish being genuine and honest. Nothing fancy there, just this is the way I am. Of course one could point out some stereotypes also in photos, but that was more an exception than a rule. If you think about shy people, for example, sure there were those who loaded a picture but not really revealed themselves or their faces. Also I think that ethnicity is shown in any picture where you can see the kind of racial features: these people look like Finnish, they look like the ordinary people you meet every day in Finland. So the pretty ordinary picture can be seen as an evidence of being Finnish.

As a summary I claimed that Finnish online dating profile photos seek to honesty. Most of the photos are about the company seeker him/herself, they are taken at home in everyday situation, persons are giving eye contact. And most photos were lacking any manipulation. As a final summary I pointed out that Finnish do use common national stereotypes in some extent for describing themselves and giving the certain image of their personality.

Ok, that was what I wanted to say. What was the feedback like? First of all, my audience was considered about the ethical aspects of my research. Well, that is the usual first reaction to my presentations. Another thing I was suggested was getting interview material. The feedback was frustrating. Because the audience was uplifting issues that were far away from what I had just spoken. Of course it was also learning the hard way. I should have added a couple of slides to my presentation. One with the ethical points and another with the background theory which might explain the reason I am not using interview material. The third feedback was a question about social classes. I know Britain is all about social classes. But what about Finland? Sure the ideal would be just say that we don´t live in a class society. But.. that´s not true. We are not all equal, also our society is divided…but social classes…that´s something I have to think about.

While I was waiting for my turn in the conference I was reading Time Out London.

Wait a minute. Is this this brother right-swiped about Tinder???

Meanwhile I was in London, the article about Tinder – which I was also interviewed for – was published in Helsingin Sanomat. Tinder, still in the top of online dating evolution…

 

More about me:  https://amholappa.wordpress.com/this-is-what-i-do/        

Tinder in the top of online dating evolution?

The history of online dating begins at the mid 1990s when Internet had first gradually reached the working places. The use of personal computers with internet connection then crawled into homes as well and suddenly you could not imagine the everyday life without internet. The global pioneer in online dating services might be Match.com, which began 1995, and spread all over the world. In Finland among the first and still operating service is probably Deitti.net, as a part of City magazine, which started operating a year or two later than Match.com. In the side of Deitti.net, Suomi 24, which began at 1998, is also one of the oldest and still popular Finnish online dating sites.

Many online dating sites launched a variety of mobile applications in the beginning of 2000s, but they were all alongside of the online page, not the main thing. That was an international evolution in online dating field. For example Deitti.net launched the mobile application at 2003 at the same time with OkCupid and Zoosk. In the early 2000s WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) was used but that is no longer supported, at least not in Finland. Mobile applications had the novelty of adding photos and that was new in the field. In that time, at least in Finland, the majority of online daters hesitated about adding their photos into their profiles. Was that Tinder already? No, because the problem of mobile dating services was that they did not function so well in the mobile. They were slow and connection was unstable. The easiest and most pleasant way was still to operate on computer than with the mobile.

Social media took place in a high rise of Facebook in 2007. That was also a year I joined Facebook myself.  From the beginning of Facebook there have been all kinds of applications around, some I clearly see influential to Tinder as well. And what is better site for testing new ideas? Right. In fact, I remember Are you interested application which already had the idea of getting the profile photos of unknown people in front of you and then you had to choose if you were interested or not. Actually Are you interested is still operating service which claims to be integrated to Facebook, IPhone, Android and to web pages. At first I was really confused with this application on Facebook. ME ranking unknown people with yes/no??? But this application accustomed us to the idea that you could do just that.

Another thing that has risen with social media, especially which Facebook and Instagram have brought, is the strong visuality in online communication. Selfies are the perfect example of this. Especially among the young female there has been common for a some time now taking selfies and loading them online to get self-esteem uplifting praise from the peer about the looks, new hair cut or new dress. Sander De Ridder and Sofie Van Bauwel wrote an article about it (Commenting on pictures: Teens negotiating gender and sexualities on social networking sites. Sexualities 2013 16: 565-586). Part of this involves nothing more than to get approval and feeling accepted, which is very important to teens. Another view is to see narcissistic appearance with certain posing styles like making duckface. But these posing styles get worn and old quite fast.

Tinder was established in 2012, at the same time as TheCompleteMe. These two represent the new generation in online dating. The novelty is that they are combine many social media accounts from different sources. They are both technologically developed using geographical user positioning and easy logging with Facebook account. I find TheCompleteMe much more interesting because in addition to Facebook it collected information from LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ and Foursquare and thereby had more possibilities to analyze the best match among the users. Tinder uses Facebook profile and spatial data and seeks and puts together people close to each other, pre-strangers to each other. TheCompleteMe did not succeed as expected. But Tinder did. Why was it? The users´ fear of letting the application get inside too many different social media accounts? Tinder being more simple and fast to use? Or just better managed  advertising?

 

 

Tinder has a game-like structure; you have to react to incoming stimuli fast and make quick decisions based on minimal information. The same speed you have in other social media today; there is the eternal news flow running in both Facebook and Twitter. The media literacy today includes the ability to follow such a flow and make quick decisions about whether to like the post or not, whether to read more about it or let it pass, whether to stop following the certain source or keep ordering the notifications. Game-like-structure makes Tinder also addictive experience. When sweeping yes or no when seeing a profile picture of Tinder user, it brings the feeling of power. And the power feels good. Also the dating situation is totally different comparing it to traditional online dating service site. You don´t have to wait for the possible answers to the mailbox for days but you can do the immediate date to the nearest cafeteria, because you are both in the same neighborhood anyway.

The visual first impression is very important in Tinder. And it means also the quick first impression. It really differs comparing that the “old-fashioned” way on online dating service sites, where purpose is to explore the profile, get to know the person, read the profile text which could be an outcome of a very long thinking and writing. The way of ranking a person yes or no based on the appearance might feel very superficial and rude. Is it possible to even look someone for a serious relationship or is Tinder-date more like for impulsive fun and casual dating? But surely, you can build up a love story from any kind of first meeting. That´s only human.

Game-like-structure and the speed of the game might affect to users in the way that they don´t pile so much expectations for Tinder as a match maker. It might feel like low-threshold way of meeting new people. You might reveal so much personal information on traditional online dating site; Tinder does not require the same kind of input. Possible rejection or the fact that the new contact does not wanna meet you in the end might not feel that bad because of that.

I do not have any statistics on Tinder users. Actually I´m not even doing any research on them because I´m more interested in traditional online dating profiles. But I would expect it to be popular among young urban people, at least at first. Those usually are the trendsetters in these kinds of new things. Time shows if Tinder spreads outside cites. Online dating sites have been there for almost 20 years. I am sure they feel like safer solution for many. There has been suspicions during the years but also many positive experiences and success stories.

More about me:  https://amholappa.wordpress.com/this-is-what-i-do/

What makes them fall in love?

A journalist asked me why or how people attract to each other or anyone in the net. They might have never met before face to face. Still they might fall in love. The journalist was talking about the game world, but I think some rules are valid in all web-based interaction.

The local yellow paper had asked the readers about falling in love. Sure it depended of the person:

• sense of humor
• curly hair
• lovely smile
• he accepted me just the way I am
• friendly
• kind
• gentleman
• cute
• masculine
• polite
• honest
• socially-skilled

But one doesn´t fall for every curly-haired or kind person. Why the particular person caught the attention? Why that person made cuteness so special?

I think we all have a vision of the possible Right one, the perfect spouse. Or at least we have some ideas what we like and what we would not like. It is more or less culturally built vision, but sure it must have had influence from person´s own parents, close relatives, neighbors, friends, ex-girlfriends or boyfriends. Also media performances are huge influence these days. The older who used to read a lot, might have built the ideal character from the books they have read. It might not even be a conscious vision, but it is still there.

Of course good looks attract us. And it is a good way to make the others notice us, catch the attention. Visuality has been the rising feature among online dating for some time now. But it does not help in future if you have nothing in common with the divine person.

I think the other way to catch the attention is similarity. If you belong to the same age group, you probably have had same kind of experiences. You might have watched the same children´s program, loved same bands and songs, went to similar events. Similarity gives the feeling of closeness and sometimes makes the other person more interesting. Sometimes it doesn´t. “We are too similar”, I have heard during my young adult years when a guy did not want to be my boyfriend. Yeah, that sucked.

But that is all to attract the attention. When you start to discuss/chat/fight the virtual war with each other, you´ll get more information of whether to get more or less interested of that person. What if someone is good looking, has done same things as you have, but who speaks or acts against all your believes or values and against that vision of the ideal match you somewhere have in the back of your head. Then you should know it is not going to work between you two. But if the person strengthens the vision, you will find him/her more attractive.

I think you cannot maximize the luck in love, because these deeper components base on something you cannot reach. Everyone keeps maximizing their expected utility, says Paul Oyer on the other hand. If you would like to know what he means and read the economic rationalizing of the online date hunting, I´ll recommend you his book Everything I ever needed to know about economics I learned from online dating (Boston : Harvard Business Review Press 2014).

Paul Oyer ´s book reminded me of the other – more fun –book I read recently, The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion. That book I´ll recommend even more.

 

About me:  http://amholappa.wordpress.com/this-is-what-i-do/

The only aggressive there is the music: The annual meeting of Tuska heads

The first Tuska festival was held as a club event in 1998. The first open air festival was in 2000 in the old VR makasiinit (the abandoned storehouses of the national railway company). That was also my first experience of Tuska festival. The storehouses were burnt down in 2006 but the festival had already moved into Kaisaniemi Park.

Kaisaniemi Park was a marvelous place because with the gravel field there were also green areas there. I had the best festival feeling sitting under the trees with my crowd and listening to the bands. The thing was that there were always some old and always some new. I think it was in Tuska 2001 I kind of found Finntroll. God damn funny, I thought. And I might have never heard of Indonesian Noxa if they weren´t playing in Tuska 2008.

I think the worst big crisis for Tuska festival was when it had to find the new location. The Park and mostly the green area could not handle the festival. First Tuska festival in Suvilahti was held in 2011 and I know many of regular Tuska users where wondering whether to go or not any more. Just because it would not be the same anymore. Kaisaniemi Park had become the essential part of the Tuska experience. There was a debate on the net, but most of the people decided to give the new place a chance. Even though people knew it would be mostly asphalt and gravel.

In addition to the normal beer serving area and food serving tents, there have been many temporary transactions during the years.  Like bungee jumping, doing the laundry for free, art exhibition, high bar meaning a huge crane lifting you up to the air seeing the view and taking photographs, Saludo giving away free cups of hot coffee etc. Coca cola delivering free drinks during the past years has been very nice idea.

Tuska is usually held in the summertime with the highest degrees. Hot as Hell, you could say, and wearing black that really feels. And the reminding of drinking is repeated also by the organizer. This year´s Tuska was not as hot as usual which is always bit of a disappointment. Staying out several hours a day you´d prefer nice weather.

When I first participated into the festivals, the doormen in the beer serving area were indeed needed. You had to bring your ID with you to prove your age. Nowadays you rarely see an episode like that in Tuska. More and more of metal heads or Tuska heads are on their 40s. And the beer serving area has grown and grown during the years. You see the youngsters in a mosh pit and some kids with their Tuska head parents but actually there aren´t growing such a metal generation like the generation x has been. Over 65-year-old are allowed to participate free to the Tuska festival. There is a joke going on that soon there aren´t any participators under 65.

Most of us lived our childhood in the same way. We had two national television channels and one national Rockradio broadcast few hours in a week. The commercialized and diversed media culture hit Finland only in the beginning of 1990s and of course gave the youngsters more choices to find their own reference group. But is that really the reason? Maybe not the whole reason, but I think it has something to do with it. In 1990 I was about 20-year-old and had chosen my side. And heavy music is not the rebel thing any more like it was back in 1980s. Sure there are extreme sub metals which you could say rebel, but hey, everyone today loves Metallica, right? Many things have become main stream. My 13-year-old daughter loves dance music. Cultural education gone terribly wrong? Yeah, that too, but it is the part of growing up, you know. You have to differ yourself from your parents. And the top hit music is something she had found herself. We surely never pushed her into that direction.

In my mind I have always considered the Tuska head gathering as a some kind of tribe meeting. It is something I belong to. It also resembles in some way the ceremonial or spiritual meeting. Not mentioning any religion we were remembering the deceased members of the heavy metal family while Anthrax played the song for Dimebag and Ronnie James Dio.

Maybe because of the old age of participators, Tuska always offers some old time giants. Nostalgia sells, no doubt, and our generation has the money. Because during the years we have begun being those who give the public meteorology forecasts, research the climate change, teach the kids and run the factories in Far East and come to Tuska just spend the well earned holiday. And earnings you need to get in. This year the 3-day-ticket was 122 euro bought in advance. Yaiks. But despite the wealthy you might have – or have not, dressing up to the black Tuska uniform melts all the social class boundaries.

My favorites this year were of course Satyricon, but that has been my favorite only since the album Now, Diabolical (2006), and definitely seeing Metal Church live for the first time and them playing my very old favorite Gods of Wrath. I was like WOW listening to this as a 14-year-old in small town in Northern Finland. Can you picture that? Try and enjoy.

Picture show

 

About me:  https://amholappa.wordpress.com/this-is-what-i-do/