TinderVator

You have heard of Tinder. You have heard of elevators. Now get ready for...

TinderVator is the new hit reality tv show you MUST see! The idea is as simple as one could get: Find your one true love before the elevator hits the top floor. Sounds like a fun ride, doesn't it? (pun intended.)

TinderVator introduces you to a single contestant looking for their soulmate, the soulmate who has been carefully evaluated and chosen by a team of professional experts, and nine other well trained actors posing as the soulmate to confuse the poor contestant. The contestant needs to approach everyone in the elevator and find out which one of them matches their heart's desires - but they have to be quick, because time is running!

Every ten floors the elevator stops and opens, and one possible soulmate has to be eliminated. When the final beep comes at the 100th floor it is time to face the final trial - is the last candidate standing truly the right person? If teh contestant gets the green light, true love and a dream holiday are theirs to take! But if the light is red, they know they are doomed to stay forever single since they couldn't find their true match in a single elevator ride (weak).

But worry not! The contestant doesn't need to be completely alone with their decisions as the audience can interact through real time Twitter voting. Time to dig out your detective hats when you sit down to indulge in the show because pointing out the Right One™ is a real puzzle! In addition to external help the contestant can also a pull a few aces from their sleeves, like a single-use hint letter and an emergency button that momentarily stops the elevator for more time to think. But of course, not every elevator ride is identical to one another and interruptions can happen...

What makes TinderVator especially educational and different from other tv shows is the way it forces the contestants out of their personal space bubbles which, especially for us Finns, are even harder to break in an elevator. Thus it is also helping the audience step outside of their comfort zones as they can learn a trick or two from the contestants. Are you used to staring at your shoes when entering an occupied elevator? Well let me tell you honey, that ain't giving you any luck in your search for the one true match!

So buckle up and take a good seat, because elevator rides are about to move to a whole new level!

TinderVator. Coming to your local broadcast channel in the end of this decade.

#tindervator #realitytv #concept

Ready, Set, Ink! - Inktober 2016

It's October again, and time for what? Forget Halloween preparations, it's Inktober time of course!

Inktober (ink+October) is a yearly challenge that started already back in 2009. A Utah-based illustrator Jake Parker challenged himself to make one ink drawing on each day of October to improve his inking skills, and since then the challenge has grown into a worldwide phenomenon. The rules are simple: make a drawing with ink, post it online with hashtag #inktober, repeat every day for the whole October.

Unlike one might expect the point of Inktober is not to compete with other artists over skills and prizes but instead to focus solely on enjoying, improving and sharing one's inked dreams. Everyone is free to make the kind of art they personally want to - there are different prompt lists to help people come up with ideas - so you can either choose between the official Jake Parker prompts, nature based prompts and Halloween prompts (to name a few), or just draw whatever feels the best for you!

The official prompt list of 2016

What makes Inktober worth pondering over in my media diary is the role of social media: pretty much half of the fun of the challenge comes from sharing your artworks in your preferred social channel, mainly Instagram and Tumblr. Artists who take part in the challenge can find new people to follow, make it rain with likes and stop by to leave nice comments. It's all about having a good time together with other artists all over the globe! And it doesn't stop to traditional ink either, if you are a digital artist you are just as welcome to show your digital inking skills. Some digital drawing applications like Autodesk SketchBook even offer free trials specifically for this month!

For several years I have personally wanted to take part in the challenge but each and every time I backed away at the last moment. This year I finally got a grip of myself and put the precious inks I have paid more than just a single money for to a good use. If you're interested you can follow my progress in my Instagram! (Shameless self advertising, hha)

The beginning of my journey (let's see how long it continues)

If this got you interested - worry not, it is totally fine to take part a bit later too! So find your inks and sketchpads, sit down and start creating! ☆

Happy inking!

#inktober #ink #art #socialmedia #mediadiary

Miike Snow - Genghis Khan

Are you yet familiar with Miike Snow's 2015 hit song Genghis Khan? If no, heads this way because I'm about to tell you why you should be! (ayy ☆)

Written by a Swedish indie pop band Miike Snow, Genghis Khan is a song from their third studio album iii (2016). The song was initially published in December 2015 but gained major popularity only in January 2016 when the music video (by Ninian Doff) was released and it went viral. The video features a James Bond-esque story of an agent captivated by a nameless, gold-nosed villain who theatrically threatens to destroy the agent but at the same time is conflicted over his feelings towards his captive. The video parodies the tension that is created between Bond and the villains in 007 movies and that often takes a step (or more like a huge leap if you consider Daniel Craig's Bond) towards homoerotic subtext.

Genghis Khan falls into the indie pop genre with its cheerful, light pop tune and melodic beat. It is also described as electropop due to its distinct use of synthesizers. Veiled in the catchy, upbeat tune lies a pretty basic story of jealousy in a relationship: "I get a little bit Genghis Khan / I don't want you to get it on / With nobody else but me / With nobody else but me". Genghis Khan, the feared Mongol emperor from the beginning of 12th century, is said to have been very possessive over his wives' lives and thus the reference to him can be interpreted as the song's protagonist being jealous over his lover and willing to keep them only to himself.

Now, as the song features a male singer it could have been interpreted as his possessiveness over his girlfriend as it usually is, but with the addition of the music video the situation is turned upside down. Instead the singer now seems to struggle with his inner conflict and feelings toward the man he has captured, establishing instead a gay relationship (yaass!)

Why is it a conflict, you ask? In the beginning the villain (the argued protagonist of the video) is shown having a rather normal-looking 50s household and family with his wife and children. However, he is clearly not happy with this life as he obsessively keeps thinking about the man kept in his laboratory, keeping him from dinner and sleep. When he gets back to his captive and to the plan to annihilate him with a showy laser beam it is revealed that he is actually torn between killing him and saving his life. Ultimately he chooses to release the agent and turns away as a sign of surrender. The agent is about to escape but, after a moment of uncertainty ("I wanna make up my mind / But I don't know myself / No I don't know myself"), turns back to the villain as a sign of returned feelings. For the first time the villain is shown truly smiling, and later on he returns home to be happily welcomed by the agent-now-husband and their children.

Could the meaning have changed if the song had been sung by a woman? It could be argued that then the song would be from the perspective of the villain's wife, singing about her jealousy towards her lost husband - and indeed, she is shown in the very end of the video (SPOILER) monitoring Gold Nose and Agent being perfectly happy together. Her stance and tone spill vengeance as she speaks the very chorus of the song: "I get a little bit Genghis Khan. Don't want you to get it on with nobody else but me."

What the song and video together put forward is a reaction to the underlying subtext in spy movies: just stop strutting, put down your masculinity for once and engage in a joyful dance number with your nemesis, I know you want to.

#MiikeSnow #GenghisKhan #musicvideo #music