Monday, April 23, 2012

Surf Wappu!

If your plans are still open for celebrations of Vappu next Monday and you´re in Helsinki- fret you not! There are some awesome surf bands ( Surfer Joe (ITA), the Charades and the Dangermen) playing at Ravintolalaiva Wäiski AND me & Sandy are go go dancing there!

Check out the facebook link here!

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Nothingness

Oh glorious Sunday! Feels like the first Spring day, it´s been very warm, things are budding in the garden, butterflies and one bumble bee have been spotted...Hurrah! Hope of Summer!
It was so much fun performing yesterday at Hehku. Usually the gigs are at night so me, Sandy and Bent were discussing how peculiarly "naughty" it feels to be stripping in broad daylight, with big windows to the busy city street none the less. Just at the end of my number, when I was twirling for all I got I noticed this man looking in to the beauty salon with a priceless expression on his face! He was just a passer-by and when I waved to him he quickly disappeared :) Aaaw! A very bog thank you to everyone at Hehku for having us, everything and everybody was so well taken care of! A true pleasure!

This afternoon I gave an interview for a newspaper about being, well I guess: me. It´s real nice to talk people who are open minded and actually ask questions instead of assuming things. Thanks Amelie Quimby! You should check out a very cool blog (in Finnish) of "Löytäjät" aka The Finders and their adventures. I just added the blog to my bloglist but you can find it here.

I´m so full of love and sunshine that I can´t bother to be upset about anything so no political pukings today! I will leave you with a few snaps from yesterday! Ta!

Me and gorgeous Kirsi from Hehku salon.

Sandy, Bent and me backstage.

Self-irony. It´s a blessing.

My girl cat with a boys name with her boa.

Friday, April 20, 2012

Olivia Rouge

I just made a road trip to Tampere to see my girl Olivia R. - she´s making my new costume and also...since we could not resist while in the fabric store, a dress and a shirt as well. She´s also a great burlesque performer (also one of the two gorgeous ladies in the Holy Curves! burlesque duo) and giving tutorials in vintage make-up and hair as well as burlesque workshops. If you are in to vintage-style you should definetly check out this girl´s website here. It was very much worth driving a few hours for: the costume will be beautiful and my new dress for the Spring Awakening is bling-ee :)


Some secrets in silk <3 Hand-dyed as well!

Dresses...So many dresses!

One of my favourites.

A sneak peak. It´s blurry and  black&white on purpose :) 

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Under a train!

Hello guys and dolls!
Wow, since last week I really am feeling I´m SO not catching up on my to-do-list! Being away on the sex.councelor course meant come Monday I had a pile of papers and essays to correct. Among other things. I love my teens but it really is a 150% job so most of the stuff is left to be done after school, which of course is fine when you´re on schedule with your things.  Sometimes I think this job is 40% teaching and the rest is byrocracy, meetings, planning, correcting, checking absence and notes... I´ve also been making job applications since I have to find something new for next Fall, this distance from home to work is driving me (and my partner) crazy. Also I´ve forgotten how time consuming filling out applications can be! I try not to stress about what will happen in August, hopefully I find something... But moan, moan! I´ll stop whining and blogging and take out those goddamn papers I still have not finished!  :) There are some definite gold frames to all of this though:
May-day is coming and therefor also my and Sandy´s first ever go go dance-gig! We have the coreo figured out, the dresses are slowly made and our boots are ordered so YAY! I´ll let you know details soon. Also this Saturday I´ll be shaking my Diamonds at Hehku beauty parlor in Helsinki with Bent van der Bleu and Sandy Jungle. Showtime is at 3pm so come a take a peak! Hehku is the place where I do my nails so... *wink, wink* Tomorrow I´m taking a roadtrip to see the fantabulous Olivia Rouge to try on my up-coming costume and my dress for the Spring Awakening party. Hurrah!

I want to leave you with the World Famous Pontani Sisters, they are so inspirational and gorgeous! Kiss!

Friday, April 13, 2012

iBoom!

I found some shots in my phone that are slightly shady but oh what the heck! Beautiful ladies and some strapping lads for your Friday joy! Have a good weekend folks!

Tinker Bell and Kitty Litter

Brion Bonaventura and Sandy Jungle

Vera De Vil

Bettie Blackheart

Millie Mimosa and Vivian Wondrous

Timi and Welma Jackpot (and Lassi and Fiona Timantti in the background)

Lamey Crackhouse and the brave stripper punker

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

The Good, the Bad, The Body

Well howdy-ho everyone! Sorry for having been quiet, Easter and all. Too much chocolate to digest. Also it took me a few days to get over Boom Boom Burlesque that was a true pleasure! The venue was sold out, place was a-steamin´  and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves a lot. I know I did! Apart from having a nice reception for my new number I also got to see a cute punker-boy with a huge mohawk strip so my evening was as good as it gets! Thanks to Lamey Crackhouse for making both happen: she introduced me in a way that left the whole audience wondering about what kind of vegetables I grow at the farm...as well as she made all who crossed her stage strip. 

Lately I have been thinking about two things. The first I want to talk about is something a friend of mine talked to me about. Let me point out that he has never seen burlesque live and that he referred to a discussion he had had with some friends that had been to a show. They had been talking about *what people applaud to* when at a burlesque show. I don´t remember the conversation we had word-to-word but it went in the lines of 'are you applauding people outside the body ideal have the courage to take their kit off or are you applauding a good show'? This, to be honest with you, made a bit uncomfortable because we have all heard it, right? "Burlesque is ugly fat chicks who are too ugly and fat for normal stripping but have this urge to take their clothes off". I´ve seen this and I´m sure you have seen it if you have ever been brave/stupid enough to scroll down and read the comments on some interweb-articles and blogs.

It got me thinking. Why do people feel the need to EXPLAIN why they enjoy a burlesque show? Why is it, that when people go to see a play at the national Theatre and applaud, nobody asks them"why"? When was the last time you had someone explain you why they watch all football games they can find on tv? What makes gardening more socially acceptable than being a Star Wars-enthusiast? Or is it?
Is it because we feel squeamish about looking at (often) semi-nude persons that we have to find a reason for being there? Why is "because I find it FUN!" not enough? Why do a lot of people over-analyze it? Yes, it might be political. It might be sensual. It might make you feel really uncomfortable. Or it might make you do it yourself. Some people see it as pure stripping, some see it as an art form. I think it might be a bit of both. 

Why do I choose to spend a lot of time, money and false eye-lashes for something that makes me really nervous beforehand? Brace, brace this will be historical: BECAUSE I LIKE IT!  Woom! There! It´s out in the open! I don´t feel emancipated or united with Mother Earth (though I realize some might do and all the power to them!). For me it´s fun. It makes me laugh. I like it for a lot of reasons but one big one is the fact that people whom I met during this time are wonderful, openminded crazy-ass human beings who embrace quite similar thoughts on life. And nobody tells you how to live yours. 

So what did I tell my friend about applauding? Not much I realize now retrospectively. But T. -if you read this I´ll give you an answer now: come see a show and then you´ll know what YOU applaud to! 

The other thing I´ve been thinking about is body image (everyone look surprised! She´s at it AGAIN!) I know I´ve been writing about this subject a lot but as long as it´s fucked up, you´ll hear me moaning. So if you´re bored you should stop reading now and scroll down to the pictures. I still get really pissed off when one body form is compared to another as "better" or "hotter" or what not. Why can´t we just learn to accept that people look different and that it´s a good thing?! I get the fact that women feel stressed out because of all the skinny models in papers but it´s not OK to answer that with something that bashes skinny. You don´t fight stupid with stupid (stupid in this case meaning warped body ideals). Unfortunately it´s not just men doing this bashing, it´s also us women. That makes me really sad since women should stand up for other women, right? So why do we gloat when a celebrity didn´t lose that post-baby fat or feel joy at the realization that Halle Berry has cellulite (as most of us do - it´s just not caught on paparazzi camera)? It would be easy to blame the tabloids but come on...someone is buying those tabloids or they would not make them, right? I do realize that calling out some hippie-all-women-unite-thing is both naive and silly but the punker in me believes that a change happens when it´s being DONE. Ashley Judd came out with a great article about this (read the whole thing here): 

"The Conversation about women’s bodies exists largely outside of us, while it is also directed at (and marketed to) us, and used to define and control us. The Conversation about women happens everywhere, publicly and privately. We are described and detailed, our faces and bodies analyzed and picked apart, our worth ascertained and ascribed based on the reduction of personhood to simple physical objectification. Our voices, our personhood, our potential, and our accomplishments are regularly minimized and muted." 




Thank you Ashley for writing it down so brilliantly. Next time you read about a C.E.O or the leader of a World Bank or a President see if they mention gender and/or clothes. If it´s a girl I´ll bet ya they´ll mention both. I´ve never seen a man being referred to as a "male President".
I leave you with a couple of photos. Also a small reminder that you should get your tickets for Spring Awakening at Kaisaniemi-restaurant the 11th of May! Ta!  



Me & Lamey at Boom Boom last Thursday <3 Pic by Andrea H.

Pic by Jari B. Miettinen





Tuesday, April 3, 2012

BoomBoom!

                                                            Hello dudes and dudettes!


It´s almost Easter and that means it´s almost time for BOOM BOOM Burlesque! Tickets are 8,50e in advance and 12e by the door. Navy Jerry´s is a very cool place and there´s bound to be some cool cats and pretty ladies about so come in time to get good seats! I will see you there! All of us Dizzy Daisies have some new, hot numbers to show you <3