Back by popular demand!

Ashes to Ashes back on stage JAN 19th!

 

Ashes to Ashes, Boom to Bust is the most recent production of the Toronto Theatre Company, an award-winning Finnish-Canadian theatre troupe.

After a sold out premiere,  Ashes to Ashes will be back on stage on
Friday, January 19th
at 8pm at the Toronto Centre for the Arts (North York City Hall, 5040 Yonge Street)

This promises to be a highly entertaining evening; a great opportunity to catch some theatre and meet and greet with finnophilers and others.

TICKETS are $15 and can be purchased online via Ticketmaster HERE or at the door.

Below you can read a preview of the play, directed by renowned Finnish director Janne Suutarinen.

PIKKUJOULU PUBNIGHT !!

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2006. 8PM – 2AM

Please join us this coming Thursday for an evening of traditional Finnish fun!

The first annual finnophile pikkujoulu (Little Christmas) will take place at the Black Swan Tavern on DEC 14, 2006. (Danforth/Broadview – on the subway line, lots of parking)

 After a string of successful pubnights, a handful of the “regulars” have decided to step it up a notch and bring a taste of a long-loved Finnish tradition to Toronto.

As always, the premise of the evening is simple: to meet new friends and greet old ones. However, this time good ol’ Joulupukki (Finnish Santa) will be joining us, bringing along special treats for everyone and serving hot glögg.

AND, if that weren’t enough there will be yummy homemade Finnish pastries and other baked goods and even my Mom is getting in on the act, promising a batch of her famous lihapiirrakkas (if you dont know by now you better get there early).

The evening will kick off around 8pm, however feel free to come earlier if you like.

This is an INCLUSIVE event so please feel free to invite/bring along friends and family as we share a little slice of Finland in the heart of Toronto.

And a BIG thank you to Tuuli, Samantha, Paula, Rita, Riitta, Markku and others for organizing our little soiree.

Christmas Cheers, Markus

Canadian Friends of Finland

Annual Symposium and Awards Dinner

Hello! As the colours change and the wind starts nipping, so does the event calendar start filling up. October is one of the busier months of the year and one of the events, a great Finnish cultural experience, is this coming weekend!

The Canadian Friends of Finland have long been on the leading edge of building cultural bridges between Canada and Finland. Throughout the year they put on a variety of cultural events like concerts, film nights and lectures. This coming Sunday is their Annual Symposium and Awards Dinner.

During the afternoon five of the most prominent Finnish-Canadian filmmakers will present their films and then join in a panel discussion with the audience. They are: Pirkko Karvonen, Susan Poizner, Albert Karvonen, Kelly Saxberg and Stefan Randstrom and they represent a very accomplished body of work.

Following the film symposium, the Awards Dinner will take place and it will include a screening of Randstrom’s short film, A Finnish Guide to Canadian Winter, which some of you may have seen on CBC.

The day and evening promises to be entertaining and enriching and all are welcome.

The Details:

what: CFF Symposium and Awards Dinner
where: 100 St. Joseph Street. Carr Hall, St. Michaels College, U of T
when: Starting at 1pm on Sunday, October 29th, 2006
tickets: tickets@cff.ca or call 416-730-8350
more info: http://www.geocities.com/heikkiwalden/SymposiumbrochureColour.pdf

Disclosure: I have recently become a member of the CFF Board of Directors, although I have been attending their events for many years.

Cheers, Markus

finnphile pubnight 3.2

Time for a finnophile pubnight

OKAY! i’m sorry. it’s time to get together..physically! meaning let’s get off this site, for a nite, and hook up at old faithful for a coupla coca colas (or whatever may be your beverage of choice).

For those of you new to finnophile pubnights, they are simply that; a gathering of Finns, Finnish-Canadians, their partners, friends and colleagues and any other interested parties therein, for an evening of revelry. We get together at a pub on the subway line and meet, greet and eat. (ok, there aint usually any eating going on but it rhymed so i went with it)

Usually there are anywhere from 50 to 120 people out anytime from 7ish to 1ish to chat and mingle, see old friends and meet new ones.

Always a great crowd and I’m super-pumped to see all of ya again!

So, we’ll meet at the ol’ Finn-friendly Black Swan Tavern on the Danforth next Thursday, Spetember 28th!

what: finnophile pubnight 
where: Black Swan 154 Danforth Ave (@ Broadview Station)
when: 7ish. Thursday, September 28th

check out some pictures from a past pubnight here

Always a fun evening so hopefully many many of you can make it out

any questions, gimme a buzz (416-875-6783)

cheers – markus!

Floorball season set to begin. You in?

Toronto Floorball League picks up steam for fourth season

 

You may think this is another sports posting and you’d be right and wrong! It is about sports and much more. Although I do have a penchant for staying active through sports, a by-product of engaging in various physical pursuits is the myriad quality folk you meet along the way.

I stumbled upon floorball almost by accident, by way of covering the inaugural Canada Cup tournament a couple of years ago whilst working for Vapaa Sana. Soon I was playing the sport and one of the engaging young chaps I met was Juha Mikkola, Toronto’s floorball guru. I now have a clutch of floorball friends, and while I am taking this season off (these old knees are crying for a break), I would strongly recommend you to check out the scene if you are looking for a fun way to stay fit.

Floorball is an exciting cross between ice hockey and floor/ball hockey, employing the best of both without the stickwork or contact. It also incorporates elements of basketball and the result is a fun, fast-paced indoor hockey game. It has quickly grown from a grassroots sport in Sweden to the sport of choice in Sweden, Finland (Finnish floorball info), Czech and is now quickly gaining fans in Canada. 

The Toronto league has both competitive and social divisions and is stacked with all manner of Finns, Swedes, Canadians, amongst others all playing and partying together. Another bonus is that the league is fully co-ed with men and women playing together. Or, if you prefer (and are female , there is a women’s division.

AND, it’s cheap. All you need is a stick and sneaks and you’re set to go!

Check out the Toronto Floorball League and Social Scene for more info and to sign up, and for more on floorball itself, surf to Floorball Canada’s site. The league starts soon so don’t delay.

Nokia takes on Blackberry

Finnish mobile giant launches potential Blackberry and TREO killer

Canada will be first to receive the new much-hyped Nokia E62, dubbed by tech reporters as a potential Blackberry and TREO killer. The phone (if it can still be called that), is a serious piece of equipment, offering cutting edge wireless Internet, an MP3 player and the usual bells and whistles.

What’s the big deal you say? I guess it really isn’t one except to note that the unit looks a lot like…a Blackberry! Usually one to lead, in this case Nokia, by its own admission is content to follow a design paradigm that works. Kudos to Canada’s RIM.

Read more on the E62 and its launch in today’s Globe and Mail.

more live music!

Another local Finnish-Canadian band is hitting the downtown scene this week. This time it is China Jean, a fresh yet familiar sounding rock band, which features Jarkko Ylänkö on guitar.

They will be hitting the stage Lees Palace in the Bloor-Bathurst neighbourhood on Thursday, September 7 at 1015pm so make sure to check them out!

An emergin soccer threat..?

It feels like the World Cup just ended, and indeed it did, however qualification for the world’s second largest soccer tournament -the European Championships – is under way.

Finland has never qualified for a soccer tournament of any significance. They have always run up against at least two world-calibre sides in their qualifying groups and hence never advanced.

Could EURO 2008 be their coming out party? Finland opened qualifying with a resounding 3-1 victory over World Cup qualifiers Poland last weekend. This is significant in that, along with heavy group favourites Portugal, Poland is expected to qualify as the second-place team.

Finland now takes on World Cup semi-finalists Portugal on Wednesday in Helsinki. In fact, the game is the lead story on Google (I googled EURO 2008 qualifying) which you can read about here in the International Herald Tribune.

The game will kick-off at 1pm EST (Toronto time) so make sure to schedule your lunch break accordingly. The game will be shown at any of the myriad Portuguese watering holes in the city. One which I can highly recommend is the home of Team Portugal, the Cervejaria on College (aka College Street Bar and Grill). 842 College St. Good food. 

Check out this great FinnCan band!

Laura Repo getting ready to heat up Mitzi’s Sister

Okay, this post I’m super pumped about. One of Toronto’s top folk musicians just happens to also be half-Finn. Although Laura Repo has been touring these here parts for some time now, I really just discovered her music at the most recent FinnPower event in North Toronto in April where she performed a few magical pieces (including a masterful rendition of J.Karjalainen’s Kolme Cowboyta).

Repo’s souldful blend of bluesy folk rock with twangs of country sweeps you to another place and another time, away from the constant commotion of Everyday. She is a real treat to listen to and to watch.

And did I mention she’s a Finn-Canuck?

 Repo will be taking the stage at Mitzi’s Sister at 1554 Queen St. West next Tuesday, September 5th @ 9:30pm.

She will be followed on stage by “country swing-a-billy” band Whoa Nellie whose singer Vera Colley is also half-Finnish!

This event is marked Highly Recommended on the ol’ finnophile Scale of Guaranteed Good Times. Check it out..and see you there!

The Finnish SISU needs you!

Finnish hockey team looking for elite players for CMHL tournament

 

Last year the inaugural championship tournament of the Canadian Multicultural Hockey League took place in Toronto. It featured sixteen teams of various etnicities battle it out for three days for the Canadian Cup. The Irish Shamrocks, loaded with ex-NHL and other pro and junior-level talent, beat a skilled but undermanned First Nations Thunderbirds squad for the title. The tournament proved to be a great success (with the trophy and jerseys on display in the Hockey Hall of Fame) and even greater expectations await this year’s tournament.

The Finnish SISU, the first team to sign on in the new league, has its work cut out for it. After an impressive debut that saw them finally bow out to the Korean Tigers in the consolation semi-finals, the SISU look to add depth to their roster for the coming season.