Be Kind Rewind & Sweding films

Who 'ya gonna call? Ghostbusters!

I did see Be Kind Rewind. It was good! Heartwarming story of how to make life more bearable. Go and see.

The genuine major theme was Sweding films. Sweding? "You take what you like and you remake something from scratch using whatever you can get your hands on."

Okay, the plot in brief. No destructive spoilers here, I promise:

New Jersey. Current time. Two guys, Mike and Jerry, seemingly looking for trouble, help in a video rental store. Suddenly a strange electromagnetic phenomenon, caused by Jerry (as excellent Jack Black as ever) and the powerplant nearby, empty all the VHS tapes. In order not to dissapoint some - unfortunately very few - customers the guys are obliged to start re-making the films that have vanished.

Those "Sweded" (see the web site) ones are only 20 minutes, but hey, they are so much better than the originals. (Who would like to watch Ghostbusters anyway? Driving Miss Daisy? Rush Hour II? The Lion King? No idea. But I'd love to see any of these Sweded.) The Sweded films, but of course, become more popular than the originals. But not at all surprisingly the guys are soon in trouble again. In BIG trouble.

To make history they must Swede the history of the beloved hero of the main character's, Fats Waller, as well as the history their own with the history of the whole neighbourhood.

* * *

"Use the weapons at hand." This is what Francis Ford Coppola said in Sodankylä, in Midnight Sun Film Festivals, 2002. Never argue saying you can't do some work of art because you lack some equipment.

See: someone has Sweded Be Kind Rewind! You will hear this lovely tune at the end of the film.

* * *

Vaiheinen was there, too. Which films you are going to have Sweded first? (Give me a camera!) My list goes like this: Apocalypse. Now. (Imagine the pyrotechniques!) Jurassic Park. La Dolce Vita. The Searchers. And ALL Empress Sissi films, but instead of the usual 20 min they can be only five minutes each. And Terminator II! (I want to do both the evil robot and Linda Hamilton.)

Mike and Jerry Sweded Last Tango In Paris. How 'bout that.

A scene in the first version of Apocalypse. Now. before it was Sweded.

"Where are they taking us?"

Strong leaders with intellectual missions and great understanding of the future?
Thanks, M.U. for mailing me this link!



Look at the West's leaders - and be afraid

By Charles Moore, the Telegraph.

I don't lose sleep over nuclear or environmental Armageddon. It takes something much smaller to frighten me. This week, it was a photograph of the G8 leaders at their summit in Hokkaido.

IStori: But I do. I lose sleep over thinking about the big RBMK type Leningrad reactors in Sosnvyi Bor, Russia. I tend to stay awake thinking if Miss Funnybunny will ever be able to visit Amsterdam or whether it will be under water when she has reached adulthood.

Back to the Telegraph.

Charles Moore: It was not a physical thing. True, the attempt to make Silvio Berlusconi look younger has had the strange side-effect of making him look dead. True, Nicolas Sarkozy, perhaps distracted by his love for Carla Bruni, seemed quite alarming.

IStori: I tried to take a look at this family photo in the web but the quality was not good enough and the world leaders were the sice of flies. What's wrong with Berlusconi's appearance? The same surgeon Janice Dickinson and Lara Flynn Boyle are using?

Charles Moore: It was simply the thought that these people are in charge of our civilisation. Twenty years ago, the line-up included Reagan, Kohl, Mitterrand and Mrs Thatcher. Today, we have in George W. Bush a president who has literally and metaphorically used up his country's credit in the world. Angela Merkel runs Germany with decency but impotence. Mr Sarkozy is a walking dictionary definition of the word "mountebank". And then there is Mr Brown.

IStori: Why is Mrs Thatcher so respected nowadays? George W. has been just a joke for years.

Charles Moore: What do these leaders want? What do they believe? Where are they taking us? Do they understand what is happening?

IStori: Power. Having powerful friends is everything. The destruction, cultural poverty and future with even bigger problems. No.

Charles Moore: One of the essential gifts of leadership is to explain the state of the world truthfully, and then to say something about how it might be improved. In the 1980s, such leadership was provided.

IStori: Hah! See my previous post. And read the rest of this article in the Telegraph site.

Films. Afganistan, Afganistan, and Paris.

Congressman Charlie Wilson from TEXAS (!!!!!) and AK 47 in Afganistan.


We did see the Kite Runner, MR HP and I. It was quite ok. I usually like everything that has something to do with the end of the Cold War, The Soviet Union, Russia, Central Asia, 1970's and 80's... You get the idea.

This one lacked one big thing: showing the enormous guilt the main character must have been feeling. Or if he was not. I'll check out and read the book.

* * * * *

I rented two films yesterday. The first one I watched was an American political film, supposing explaining the cold war era, but it was not explaining much, neither was it artistic, peculiarly interesting or original.

Surprisingly I did not mind its strong right-wing ideology, hating both communism and the Russians in general. I forgive that now; the destruction and demolition of people and culture carried out by the Red Army in the film in Afganistan was outrageous, and you know what: in the 80's fear and hatred were as much hand in hand as today, but now the western hatred of communism has been equally wrongly changed into hatred of Islamic cultures, and with the American haters there are the racists groups in Russia, too), and it must be allowed to be filmed in documentary fiction, or how would one call that genre.

BUT. Instead of answering anything, it raised more questions (Iran-Contras? Who did train the Mujahedeen? The strong role of Pakistan that led into more trouble in 2001? The Taliban after the war?), which could have been a good sign, but in this case I think the most interesting questions were not included in the film at all, or were just small jokes in witty, well-written conversations.

And neither the manuscript not the actors were ok. (Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts! Mercy, mercy me. But luckily the CIA agent Gust Avrakotos is played by Philip Seymour Hoffman. Very good, he was!)

What a pity, since Charlie Wilson's War was based on a true story, and I could not help feeling I'd like to hear the guy himself talk about those times, the US Congress and his visits to Afganistan.

I pretty much agree with this comment in the Guardian, not read by me before this morning:

If popular art of this kind reflects what a nation has come to understand about its behaviour in the recent past, this film shows an America that has learned nothing from events, except that the principle that "My enemy's enemy is my friend" is not always a sound basis for decision-making. True, the film derives its energy and interest from America's current dilemmas in Afghanistan and Iraq, but it has, in the end, little to say, directly or obliquely, about them.

Looking back at the 1980s, what is striking is that both America and Russia thought they were struggling with each other, while what was really happening was that both states were trying and failing to cope with powerful new forces in the non-western world. Those forces were taking on the more marked ethnic and religious guises which are very familiar to us today. ... (Pls read the rest in here, the Guardian site.)

***

I miss Paris. That's what I noticed again and again when watching the other rental film. But this film was not good, despite the fact the actors were very god, my favourite being Anne Parillaud.

Reading carefully the back cover texts, I was not expecting this film to be a romantic comedy. I am not at all a fan of romantic comedies. But unfortunately it turned out, at times, to be something of the sort.

Bof.

***

But this evening: Be Kind Rewind.

Movies!

Kabul in The Kite Runner.


My Mom has come back from her summer cottage to Helsinki for a few days. The not-so-beautiful, a bit cold (unusually cold) and windy days of this, still early summer (even though this summer will soon be over...) made the Asikkala archipelago in Lake Päijänne seem boring and not very appealing week by week. So, what she really needs is to see Miss Funnybunny again! (Read IStori backwards: we have been at the Midsummer nights film festivals, in Vienna, and in Mr HP's country home. Among other places. Granny has received several postcards from Funnybunny, with confessions like "Dear Granny, I love You so. You are so dear to me. I will always love you." As an assistant of Miss Funnybunny typing the kinds of texts has been my duty.)

So this - granny visiting - means Mr HP and I get to go to the movies.

We are to see The Kite Runner this evening.

Tomorrov afternoon Mr HP and Funnybunny will leave for the Finnish countryside for a few days. Without me. I am to do some important organising here. (Organising work, home, life. Putting things in order, giving up working on stuff that will never work for me. Starting a new project.) And I am going to see some films. My list for three-four days goes:

* No Country For Old Men.
You'd better see the trailer. Javier Bardem said at the Oscar party he will eternally thank the Coen bros for that terrible hairstyle - the style helping him to win the Oscar, he thought. And that way he will never have his hair again, he swore. (Not seen the film? See the trailer, see the trailer.)

* Be Kind Rewind.
Jack Black was great in The School Of Rock. Yes, really!!!!

* Once.
I still have a soft spot for musicals. And Dublin. Ireland. (Never been there, though.)

Maybe later these, too:

* Muumi ja vaarallinen juhannus (Momin and a Dangerous Midsummer). Miss Funnybunny has already noticed this one, and she'd love to see it. (Next week, she will.) She watches Momin films at home as often as possible (read: every evening).

* Sex And The City.
But of course! LH has already promised to join me.

* Indiana Jones, the newest.
You should have seen Mr HP's face when I suggested this. He looked at me as if I had asked whether he'd like to join Bollywood dancing class: "never in my lifetime" sort of face.

I don't blame him. After the ones I listed, with enchanting, talented and personal actors I am not sure I can watch anyone as dull as Harrison Ford.

Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz do not seem to skip their workout routines.

The Finnish Countryside

Despite of my over-booked summer schedules consisting of work, humanitarian duties, festivals, travels, parties and celebrations, I was able to get here for a longer weekend.

Clever Mr HP had a slightly longer country holiday with miss Funnybunny.

The front yard. Needs more flowers, and there's plenty behind the fence.


Miss Funnybunny's gazebo.


...and one of the five corners of it.


Sauna by the river.


Lauhanvuori national park.

Vienna Report, part I: Downtown Wien

We are the Champions! We did it again! (Last time in 1998 with a slightly different team. Slightly.)


Birthday Celebrations. Football Euro Cup 2008. The Third Man. Mauthausen (Gusen) Concentration Camp.

Those were the overall themes of our recent visit to Vienna. We were ten happy Finns, four of us children between 3, sorry, 4 and 17.

* * * * *

The Third Man, Opening narrator:
I never knew the old Vienna before the war with its Strauss music, its glamour and easy charm. Constantinople suited me better. I really got to know it in the classic period of the black market. We'd run anything if people wanted it enough and whom had the money to pay. Of course a situation like that does tempt amateurs but, well, umm, you know they can't stay the course like a professional.

Now the city is divided into four zones, you know, each occupied by a power: the American, the British, the Russian and the French. But the centre of the city that's international policed by an international patrol. One member of each of the four powers. Wonderful! What a hope they had! All strangers to the place and none of them could speak the same language. Except a sort of smattering of German.


Good fellows on the whole, did their best you know. Vienna doesn't really look any worse than a lot of other European cities. Bombed about a bit.

Oh, I was going to tell you, wait, I was going to tell you about Holly Martins, an American. Came all the way here to visit a friend of his. The name was Lime, Harry Lime. Now Martins was broke and Lime had offered him, some sort, I don't know, some sort of job.

Anyway, there he was, poor chap. Happy as a lark and without a cent.


Anna Schmidt: You know, you ought to get yourself a girl.




Popescue:
That's a nice girl, that. But she ought to go careful in Vienna. Everybody ought to go careful in a city like this.


A monument respecting the Austrian victims in concentration camps. Mr HP, Miss Funnybunny and I have visited Salaspils near Riga, too. (Cheerfull travellers as we are.)


Harry Lime: What did you want me to do? Be reasonable. You didn't expect me to give myself up... 'It's a far, far better thing that I do.' The old limelight. The fall of the curtain. Oh, Holly, you and I aren't heroes. The world doesn't make any heroes outside of your stories.

The Final scene on The Third Man is taking place near this spot, the Schwedenplatz.


Really cool disco in Karlsplatz, the park nearest to our place.


The dragons helped when it was too hot hot hot.

Vienna Report, part II: Funny stuff

Prater, Vienna. A surprisingly cheap pleace to enjoy afternoon, and very few people were into the same treat. Miss Funnybunny and I tested several machines and ice-crean stands.

Football Euro Cup has decorated the Ferris Wheel.


Harry Lime, in the cabin of the Ferris Wheel, Prater: Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. So long, Holly.


Martins: Have you ever seen any of your victims?
Harry Lime: You know, I never feel comfortable on these sort of things. Victims? Don't be melodramatic. Look down there. Tell me. Would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving forever? If I offered you twenty thousand pounds for every dot that stopped, would you really, old man, tell me to keep my money, or would you calculate how many dots you could afford to spare? Free of income tax, old man. Free of income tax - the only way you can save money nowadays.


Our corridor. We had rented the place in the 4th floor of this beautiful building in the beginning of Favoritenstrasse.


..and next door there was this beautiful church. Outside it looked small and modest. Just a plain door in a plain old building, no special decorations. But the inside... like a treasure castle.

Vienna Report, part III: The Match. Hrvatska - Türkiye

Ernst-Happel. June 2008. Turkey-Croatia Quarter Final.

As a beautiful act of loyalty – respecting the international fraternity, and love for the whole mankind – I sang the national anthems of the both teams! Which was not that difficult since the words ran on the huge screens in karaoke style.

The Croatian cheer went Hrva-Hrva-Hrva! Hrvatska!

Vienna Report, part IV: KZ Mauthausen (Concentration Camp)

These pictures tell more than thousand words, so I comment on (some of) wthem only briefly. Please see the official pages of Gusen /Mauthausen, too. These are quite informative pages, too.

We took a train from Vienna to a small village of St. Valentin, in the district of Amstetten in Lower Austria. We had lunch in a beautiful little beergarten of a hotel near the railwaystation, and took a taxi from there to Mauthausen. The distance being too long for a stroll.

The weather was hot (for us Finns, especially): +32 C, in sunshine almost unbearable. Mr HP and I kept giving Miss Funnybunny water, but we did not complain. For the prisoners it was unbearable constantly.

The camp is on the hill in the middle of a beautiful landscape and Autsian villages. Only 20 km from Linz, and near Vienna as well. The Donau valley begins from around here.


In these barracks there are now museums and exhibitions.


"Steinbruch and Todestiege". The rocks used by Speer for the Congress Hall in Nuremberg (Nürnberg) came from here. (See IStori post of Oct 2007.)






Between the memorial monument and the farmhouse in distance there lies the quarry, and behind it, the river Donau is flowing towards Vienna. The "Todestige", "Steps Of Death" lied up from the quarry. Many prisoners died on the steps carrying the rocks.






These look scary, don't they? But people have right to live next to a concentration camp.


Linz. Hitler's favourite town. Very industrialised nowadays. In the middle of it there was a spectacular cathedral, and we heard there is an Old Town, too, but we did not have time to visit it.

In Vienna!

Dear Friends

IStori is now visiting Vienna. If you'd like to spot me on TV, bear in mind that I'll be in the audience of the Hrvatska (Croatia) – Turkey game on Friday the 20th.

On Sat we will celebrate several birthday anniversaries! The "we" equals 10 people from Finland in two flats of quite handsome sizes with several bedrooms. Rented them year ago. Needless to say, Miss Funnybunny and Mr HP are here, too.

Updates coming up, but in the meantime: if you wish to see very good photos on Midnight Sun Film Festival (the best film festival on earth), please see the recent posts of Sedis!!!!!

Talk to you soon!

IStori


The Prater amusement park can be very exciting.

"It was not at all like we were told by the officials."

As my memory card reader does not work, I had to put some photos taken with my telephone. Not good, but that'll do for now.

Ella Kesayeva and Oleg Kozlovsky. Kesayeva's stories on what really happened in Beslan were mind-blowing. I have wondered how these women who were there, who lost a child or children there, how do they cope? And I still do wonder that. (In 2004, in the Beslan school attack 365 people died, half of them children.)


Svetlana Gavrilina and Valentin Gefter. Soldiers' Mothers Committee and Memorial. Among other posts.


Hard talk is hard to listen to. But so so very interesting.


Andrey Babitsky´s (2nd from the right) team getting ready.

From Beslan to Helsinki, Groznyi to Paris. Finrosforum 2008

Bob Amsterdam. Again.

Andrei Babitsky.

Anzor Maskhadov, son of the late President of Itchkeria, Aslan Maskhadov.

Ella Kesayeva, from Mothers of Beslan.

Yuri Schmidt, the lawyer of Nikitin and Pasko. (Who were here last year, by the way.)

Whoa –– what a team!

They are here now.

* * * * *

FINROSFORUM 2008 | Speaker Bios

ROBERT AMSTERDAM (Роберт Амстердам) is Partner at Amsterdam & Peroff, a law firm based in Toronto and London, representing the jailed businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky, former major shareholder of the YUKOS oil company. Mr Amsterdam is a vocal critic of the policies of the present Russian government, and comments regularly on events in Russia on his blog at www.robertamsterdam.com.

VALENTINA ANUFRIEVA (Валентина Ануфриева) is Vice-Chair of Izvatas, an inter-regional association of the indigenous people of the northern part of Russia's Komi Republic. She has been an active campaigner for the rights of the local people to determine their own future amid growing pressure from the oil and gas industry and the local administration. More information at www.izvatas.ru.

ANDREY BABITSKY (Андрей Бабицкий) is a long-time correspondent for Radio Liberty's Russian service, Radio Svoboda, now based in Prague. He has extensive experience in reporting on the ongoing crisis in the North Caucasus, especially Chechnya, both during and after major combat operations. More on Mr Babitsky's kidnapping and subsequent release in 2000 at www.rferl.org/specials/russia/babitsky.

RUSLAN BADALOV (Руслан Бадалов) is Chair of the Chechen Committee of National Salvation (CCNS), based in the capital of the neighbouring Republic of Ingushetiya, Nazran. Mr Badalov and his organisation has been targeted by the authorities under the draconian legislation against "extremist" activities, and there have been several attempts to close down the organisation. More information at CCNS's website at www.savechechny.narod.ru.

OKSANA CHELYSHEVA (Оксана Челышева) is Deputy Executive Director of the Nizhny Novgorod-based Russian-Chechen Friendship Society, which was refused registration in Russia. The society has since been registered in Helsinki. The organisation is active in protecting the rights of Russia's Chechen minority and promoting interethnic dialogue. Ms Chelysheva's activities span across the wide spectrum of human rights work in today's Russia.

ANDREY DMITRIEV (Андрей Дмитриев) is the Co-coordinator of the opposition's Other Russia coalition (www.theotherrussia.ru) in St Petersburg. He is the former leader of the now banned National Bolshevik Party (NBP) in St Petersburg. Mr Dmitriev has been active in organising the Marches of Dissent in St Petersburg. He is Editor-in-Chief of the St Petersburg-based news agency, APN Severo-Zapad (www.apn-spb.ru).

NIKOLAY DONSKOV (Николай Донсков) is head of the North-West Russian bureau of the independent newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, in St Petersburg. Prior to this, he served as Editor-in-Chief of Novaya Gazeta's St Petersburg edition. The newspaper has written extensively on government corruption, the war in Chechnya, the curtailment of civic freedoms, and other major issues facing Russia today. More information at www.novayagazeta.spb.ru.

VALENTIN FERAPOSHKIN (Валентин Ферапошкин) is a journalist working for the newspaper, The Caucasian Knot ("Кавказский узел"), and a member of the Committee of Anti-War Action (www.voinenet.ru) and the Memorial Foundation (www.memo.ru) in Moscow. Mr Feraposhkin is one of the founders of a new organisation, Union of Solidarity with Political Prisoners. More information at www.kavkaz-uzel.ru.

SVETLANA GAVRILINA (Светлана Гаврилина) is Press Secretary of the Committee of Soldiers' Mothers (www.ucsmr.ru) in St Petersburg. She is an active member of the St Petersburg-based regionalist movement, Ingria (www.ingria.info), which campaigns for regional autonomy and promotes interethnic dialogue. Ms Gavrilina is a former journalist at the local newspaper, Nevskoe Vremya, apparently ousted for her reporting on the Orange Revolution in Kiev.

VALENTIN GEFTER (Валентин Гефтер) is Director General of the Institute of Human Rights in Moscow. The institute's President is Sergey Kovalev, veteran anti-war and human rights activist. In addition, Mr Gefter is a member of the supervisory council of the human rights centre, Memorial. More information at www.hrights.ru.

YELENA GRISHINA (Елена Гришина) is Director of the human rights information centre, Centre of Public Information (CPI), and Editor of the monthly Chronicle of the Moscow Helsinki Group (www.mhg.ru). She is now head of a joint project of the CPI and the Russian Union of Journalists (www.ruj.ru) to promote cooperation between journalists and NGOs.

ARTO HALONEN (Арто Халонен) is a documentary film director based in Helsinki. His latest works include "Shadow of the Holy Book", a harsh look at the collusion of corporate capitalism with the government of Turkmenistan, one of the most oppressive regimes in the world. The film sparked an important debate about the relationship between business and democracy. More information at www.artfilmsproduction.com.

HEIDI HAUTALA (Хейди Хаутала) is Chair of the Finnish-Russian Civic Forum. She is a Member of the Finnish Parliament, representing the Greens, and a former Member of the European Parliament. Ms Hautala is Chair of the Committee of Legal Affairs of the Finnish Parliament. She was the Greens' candidate in the Finnish presidential elections in 2000 and 2006. More information at www.heidihautala.net.

ANDRES HEINAPUU (Андрес Хейнапуу) is Coordinator for Estonia of the Consultative Committee of Finno-Ugric Peoples. He was founder and director of the Informationi Centre of Finno-Ugric Peoples, based in Tallinn, Estonia. He is an expert on the situation of the Finno-Ugric minorities in the Russian Federation. More information at www.fennougria.ee.

YURI IGNATYEV (Юрий Игнатьев) is Vice-Chair and Board Member of the Mari national organisation, Mari Ushem, based in Yoshkar-Ola, capital of Russia's Republic of Mari El. Mari Ushem, the largest NGO of ethnic Maris, was established in 1917. The organisation has faced severe harassment by the local authorities since the election of Leonid Markelov as the republic's President.

TARJA KANTOLA (Тарья Кантола) is head of international affairs at the Finnish service sector union, Service Union United (www.pam.fi), Chair of the International Solidarity Foundation (www.solidaarisuus.fi), and Chair of the Finnish Refugee Council (www.pakolaisapu.fi). In addition, Ms Kantola serves as a deputy of the Helsinki Cty Council. More information at www.tarjakantola.fi.

ELLA KESAEVA (Элла Кесаева) is Co-Chair of the Voice of Beslan, which represents the relatives of the victims of the school hostage crisis in Beslan, North Ossetia, in 2004. The organisation has criticised the authorities for their failure to properly investigate the facts surrounding the events in Beslan. Ms Kesaeva and her colleagues have faced continuous intimidation and several court cases have been brought against them. More information at www.golosbeslana.ru.

PÄIVI KESKITALO (Пэйви Кескитало) is lawyer at the Refugee Advice Centre in Helsinki. The Centre is a non-governmental organisation founded in 1988 by other Finnish NGOs. The Centre provides legal aid and advice to asylum seekers, refugees, and other foreigners in Finland. More information at www.pakolaisneuvonta.fi.

TIMO KIRAVUO (Тимо Киравуо) teaches Information Security and Data Communication at the Helsinki University of Technology. He has experience in building data security systems, including those used to block free access to information. More information at www.tml.tkk.fi/~kiravuo.

ANDREY KOLOMOISKY (Андрей Коломойский) is a journalist at the Vyborg-based daily, Vyborgskie Vedomosti (www.vyborg-press.ru), specialising in political and cultural affairs, civic rights, and freedom of speech. In 2005, Mr Kolomoisky received the Danish Cultural Institute's prize, "Free Press in Russia". In Soviet times, he took an active part in St Petersburg's underground press ("samizdat").

OLGA KONSKAYA (Ольга Конская) is a film actress, producer, and playwright at Dreamscanner Productions in St Petersburg. Together with Andrey Nekrasov, she authored the prize-winning documentary, "Rebellion: The Litvinenko Case", which recounts the fate of the former KGB officer, Alexander Litvinenko, who was murdered in London in 2006. More information at www.dreamscanner.com.

ALEXEY KOZLOV (Алексей Козлов), PhD, is Co-Chair of GROZA (Green Alternative) and member of the Expert Council to the Ombudsman of the Russian Federation. His expertees covers problems related to racism and xenophobia, freedom of assembly and association. Mr Kozlov is co-editor of Resist.ru. His blog: http://global-evil.livejournal.com/.

OLEG KOZLOVSKY (Олег Козловский) is the Moscow Coordinator of the opposition youth movement, Oborona (www.oborona.org), in Moscow. Oborona is an active participant and organiser of the united opposition's Marches of Dissent. In late 2007, Mr Kozlovsky was illegally drafted into the Russian Army. Following an international campaign in his support, he was finally released after 75 days in captivity. More information at www.kozlovsky.ru.

HENRIK LAX (Генрик Лакс) is a Finnish Member of the European Parliament, representing the Swedish People's Party (www.sfp.fi). He is a member of the European Parliament's delegation to the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee and the Committee on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights, Justice, and Home Affairs. More information at www.henriklax.nu.

JUKKA MALLINEN (Юкка Маллинен) is Chair of the Finnish PEN society (www.pen.kaapeli.fi) and Deputy Chair of the Finnish-Russian Civic Forum. He was Chair of the Finnish Institute in St Petersburg in the 1990s. Mr Mallinen studied literature at Moscow State University. He has translated several works of Russian prose and poetry. His most recent work is "Varastettua ilmaa - Vapaamuotoisia ja -mielisiä esseitä Venäjästä" ("Stolen Air - Essays on Russia Free in Form and Mind").

ANZOR MASKHADOV (Анзор Масхадов) is Chair of the Chechen Diaspora in Norway. He is the son of the late President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, Aslan Maskhadov. Anzor Maskhadov enjoys the respect and reverence of the entire Chechen diaspora, and has first-hand knowledge of the plight of Chechen refugees forced to leave their homeland. More information at www.chechnya.no.

ANDREY NEKRASOV (Андрей Некрасов) is a Russian film-maker and playwright from St Petersburg, most famous for his two films, "Disbelief" and "Rebellion: The Litvinenko Case". The latter, on the fate of the former KGB officer, Alexander Litvinenko, was screened at the 60th Film Festival in Cannes in May 2007. More information at www.dreamscanner.com.

PEKKA NISKANEN (Пекка Нисканен) is a contemporary artist who has worked many years in visual arts, producing various works with texts, film, and video. At present, Mr Niskanen is directing a documentary, "Virtual War", which sets out to describe the way wars and conflicts spill into the internet. The film documents the establishment of a "Virtual Chechnya" within the Second Life community. More information at www.illume.fi.

BURAK ÖZTAŞ (Бурак Озташ) is a member of the sizable Chechen minority in Turkey. His interest in the Chechen culture and the plight of his people has led him to work as a volunteer at the refugee centre in Bialystok, Eastern Poland, temporary residence to several hundred Chechen refugees. Mr Öztaş studies International Law at Istanbul University. More information at www.jedenswiat.org.pl.

KERKKO PAANANEN (Керкко Паананен) is Board Member and Secretary of the Finnish-Russian Civic Forum. He works as an Information Analyst at Esmerk Oy (www.esmerk.fi), where he is the trade union representative of the Finnish Media Union (www.viestintaliitto.fi). In addition, Mr Paananen is a personnel representative at Finnish media group Sanoma's European Works Council. His blog: http://kerkko.paananen.fi/.

OLEG PANFILOV (Олег Панфилов) is Director of the Centre of Journalism in Extreme Situations (CJES) in Moscow. He has worked as a journalist since 1974. Until 2004, Mr Panfilov presented the weekly radio programme, "Power and the Press", on Radio Liberty's Russian service. More information at www.cjes.ru. Oleg Panfilov's blog: http://oleg-panfilov.livejournal.com/.

ILYA PERESEDOV (Илья Переседов) is a teacher, journalist, internet commentator. Mr Peresedov graduated from the St Petersburg Institute of Theology and Philosophy in 2003. At present, he is writing his Ph.D dissertation on the social-philosophical analysis of the internet at the Russian State University for the Humanities (www.rsuh.ru). Ilya Peresedov's blog: http://peresedov.livejournal.com/.

ARVI PERTTU (Арви Пертту) is a writer and translator born in Petrozavodsk, capital of Russia's Republic of Karelia. For the past five years, he has lived and worked in Lappeenranta, Finland. Mr Perttu has worked in several periodicals in Karelia and translated various works of literature to and from Russian. Arvi Perttu's blog: http://arviperttu.vuodatus.net/.

ANDYU PETRYAN (Андю Петрянь) is a St Petersburg-based activist working to preserve the language and culture of the Erzya people in Russia's Republic of Mordovia. He has administered several internet sites dedicated to the Erzyan culture, including Erzyan Zhurnal (www.erzia.org). He is member of the Russian Association of Finno-Ugric Journalists (RAFUZh) and the Russian Union of Journalists. Mr Petryan's blog: http://erzianj-jurnal.livejournal.com/.

ANDREY PIVOVAROV (Андрей Пивоваров) is Chair of the St Petersburg branch of the Popular Democratic Union of Russia (www.nardemsoyuz.ru), led by former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov. Mr Pivovarov characterises himself as a conservative democrat. His party has some 2,200 members in St Petersburg.

IGOR SAZHIN (Игорь Сажин) is Chair of the human rights commission, Memorial, in Russia's Komi Republic and member of the international human rights organisation, Memorial. The mission of Komi Memorial is to protect human rights and promote the establishment of institutions capable of supervising the actions of the state. More information at www.memorial-komi.org.

YURI SHMIDT (Юрий Шмидт) is Founder and Chair of the Russian Lawyers Committee for Human Rights in St Petersburg. He is one of Russia's most eminent lawyers and a long-time advocate of human rights. At present, he is member of the legal team defending Mikhail Khodorkovsky, jailed former shareholder of the YUKOS oil company. Mr Shmidt's biography at Lentapedia: www.lenta.ru/lib/14161540.

ALEXEY SOCHNEV (Алексей Сочнев) is Editor of Kasparov.ru, the website of Garry Kasparov, leader of the United Civic Front. In addition, he is a moderator of the LiveJournal community of the March of Dissent, one of the main channels of information on opposition activities. Many opposition websites in Russia have come under increasing pressure in recent years. Mr Sochnev has witnessed first-hand many of these attacks. His blog: http://alex-dars.livejournal.com/.

MIKAEL STORSJÖ (Мкиаэль Стуршё) is a Finnish entrepreneur, journalist, and civic activist. He is Board Member of the Finnish-Russian Civic Forum and Electronic Frontier Finland (www.effi.org). Mr Storsjö is a vocal advocate of the right of the Chechen people to decide their own fate and an ardent critic of the ruling regime in Russia.

TAUNO TIUSANEN (Тауно Тиусанен) is Professor of International Operations and Transition Economies at Lappeenranta University of Technology (www.lut.fi). His research areas include foreign direct investments in transitional economies, investment climate in transitional economies, and the eastern enlargement of the European Union. Prof. Tiusanen is one of the foremost experts on the Russian economy in Finland.

MAYRBEK VACHAGAEV (Майрбек Вачагаев) is former chief of staff and press secretary of Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov and former general representative of Chechnya in Russia. He is now working for a doctorate at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris, France. Mr Vachagaev is author of the book, “Chechnya in the 19th Century Caucasian Wars.”

MAGOMED YEVLOEV (Магомед Евлоев) is owner of the main opposition website in the North Caucasian republic of Ingushetia, Ingushetiya.ru. The site has come under constant attack by the republican authorities. In the latest move, a court in Moscow ordered the closure of the website under legislation intended to counter "extremism". Mr Yevloev has vowed to keep the website running. The security situation in Ingushetia has severely deteriorated during the presidency of Kremlin appointee Murat Zyazikov.

KONSTANTIN ZAMYATIN (Константин Замятин), originally from the Republic of Udmurtia, is a long-time expert on the situation of the Finno-Ugric minorities of the Russian Federation. He has served as Coordinator of the Youth Association of Finno-Ugric Peoples (www.mafun.org) in Estonia and has worked at the Fenno-Ugria Foundation in Tallinn. Mr Zamyatin has studied extensively linguistic and minority rights. His paper on state nationality policy and human rights: http://www.suri.ee/papers/lund.html.

Oslo Report. Part II

Rosie Whitehouse (left) had a successful career at the BBC World Service until she became a mum. She then spent five years as a housewife in the war-torn Balkans married to the correspondent of The Economist. Back in London she continued developing her ironing skills as she built a new career as a freelance journalist. Rosie has written on parenting and family issues for a wide range of newspapers and magazines and is the author of Are We There Yet? Travels With My Frontline Family. Rosie lives in England with her husband the frontline reporter Tim Judah and their five children.


Firstly, I'm sorry my friends, for the delay, as I have not been able to update my blog. Secondly, I'm even more sorry for the fact that I have not been able to include the photo report II, since I have been too busy to replace my broken memory card reader. So I do not have new photos here.

The meeting I participated in Oslo was all in all the best happening in the field of non-fiction literature I have ever experienced. I came home full of ideas, thanks to both the excellent program with many encouraging speakers, and the wonderful international team of guests.

Dear Oslo guys, I will send you lots of photos! And let's have those reunions we discussed, the first one taking place in Frankfurt, and the second in Calcutta, India. And to New York, right after that.

Iris from Munich, Germany, with the brochure of the Nobel museum.