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Unlike in most film festivals I’ve visited, in SXSW I’ve actually had time and opportunity to visit and see some of the films they are showing here. Around the center of Austin there are several film theaters with films for the festivals, and to get in you need to line up about 30 minutes prior to the beginning of the film to get in with the pass.

What I really love about the theaters is that they act as a very discreet restaurants at the same time. Between each row of seats there are aisels where the waitresses can walk around, and you can order food and drinks during the shows. That’s really a thing I would love to see in Finland, and propably would boost up people visiting film theaters as well, as you can really build an experience around watching films.

Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie

The first film I went to see was called NOT YOUR TYPICAL BIGFOOT MOVIE, a documentary on two guys who really strongly believe they are tracking bigfoot in the forests nearby. It’s a heartwarmingly saddish story on these two elderly gentlemen who have a very special relationship between each others, and who really see what they want to see - bigfoot in every pixel of crap-quality pictures they’ve been taking from the woods. The synopsis says:

NOT YOUR TYPICAL BIGFOOT MOVIE provides a look at the trials and triumphs of life Appalachian foot hills. Through the experiences of Dallas and Wayne, two amateur bigfoot researchers in southern Ohio, we see how the power of dreams can bring two men together in friendship, and provide hope and meaning that transcend the harsh realities of life in a dying steel town.

The film is slow-paced, with slow guitar music in the background, and floats through the lives of Dallas and Wayne slowly. It’s funny in a sad way, and at one point you start feeling bad laughing at these two men chasing their dreams, really believing and wanting to believe into something in the woods, that doesn’t exist. I think I might say I liked the film, but I have to admit that after spending 20+ hours in an airplane and airports, I dozed off few times, and didn’t get to see the big picture very well to actually rate the movie in any way. I blame the super-comfortable soft seats in the theater… This is not a film to see when jetlagged, the slow pace really get you.

Dance Of The Dead

The next day we went to see the midnight show at Alamo theater called DANCE OF THE DEAD. It was a pretty risky shot, since we had to stop partying and go out to a film theater to see a zombie movie I had never heard of, but it turned out to be a good decision. Dance of the Dead is a story about a zombie infection that turns loose during a high school prom. In the best possible American way, of course, the ones who save the day are nerds, and a cute girl, while the high school athleths and staff get killed and turned into zombies. So in many ways, Dance of the Dead is nothing new. What I loved about the film was that the director was really able to pump enough adrenalin to every part of the film - actors did a good job, cinematography was excellent and even the makeup and special effects worked. Obviously, Dance of the Dead is not a big-budget zombie movie, but it pretty much succeeds in keeping up with enough production value and good-enough cast and script to make it stand out among most of the zombie flicks out there.

Woodpecker

WOODPECKER was a film that many people were talking a lot about in the festival, so I had my hopes up when entering the theater of seeing a really worthwhile film. Instead of trying to explain, I let the synopsis speak for itself:

Fanatical birdwatchers have descended upon a small town in the Arkansas bayou in hopes of finding the celebrated Ivory Billed Woodpecker. Declared extinct in the 1940’s, the bird has apparently been spotted by numerous experts. Enter amateur birder and poet Johnny Neander, who has convinced his taciturn sidekick that he will be the one to find the elusive woodpecker. The ensuing chaos divides the small town between believers and non-believers, rabid environmentalists and opportunistic entrepreneurs. Much like the bird itself, Woodpecker explores the intersection of fact and fiction, manipulating our notions of documentary and narrative techniques within a tragic comedy about hope, perception, and some very very strange birds.

From the first moments on this film reminded me of Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie. It was shot in a document format, and had some real documentary elements on it, the camerawork was very simple, handheld and not very high quality, and the two main actors, Johnny and Wan, were improvising most of the lines. The story started to unfold a bit slowly, and it took me a while to understand why I should be interested in Ivory Billed Woodpeckers that should have been extinct for several centuries, but pretty soon I started to understand about the characters in the film, and see this more like a tragic comedy of people chasing their dreams. There’s that subject again… Americans seem to love people chasing their dreams.

At one point, there film was so great I wished for it to never end, watching the main character Johnny slowly losing his grip to the reality as problems started to pile up and the bird was nowhere to be found, but then the film was Kummelized, the joke was over-streched, and some unbelieveable elements were introduced, newsflashes and fake environmentalists and that sort of things, that took off the edge from the story of slowly drowning into insanity and alcoholism. Without knowing what parts of the story have actually happened and what have been scripted in I can’t judge on how strong the script actually was when compared to real events, but eventually I felt the film to be a bit too long, but overall a very good experience, that’s gonna win a lot of awards in smaller festivals around the world.

Heavy Metal In Baghdad

‘Till now, the last film I saw was called HEAVY METAL IN BAGHDAD, and so far it has been the greatest film I’ve seen here, and one of the best documentaries about war, and about heavy metal, I’ve seen ever. The story starts when a reporter for MTV went to Iraq to do a story on the only heavy metal band in Iraq, Acrassicauda (“Black Scorpio”). Later on, after USA invasion, they came back to see if the band is still alive, and filmed footage on their last show in Iraq, while car bombs were blasting around the city, AK-47 -fire banging endlessly and mortar explosions ringing al over. That is true heavy metal.

The documentary follows the guys of Acrassicauda and their struggle to survive in a total chaos, but it also describes very well on how the civil war in Iraq actually is. It’s rude to see the pictures of an middle-eastern city bathing in beautiful sunlight, cars passing by, people walking along, and in the background people talking about that if they stop here they will most definitively be killed.

For a person living in Iraq, Baghdad, the everyday life is really hard, since it’s totally impossible to know when a sniper kills you, a car bomb takes you out or your family out or whatever - but for a metalhead singing “americanized” music “for satan”, as local people think of that, it’s totally impossible. Wearing a Slipknot t-shirt can really get you killed. But the guys, one of them being a father of a young child, just keep on pushing. They’ve managed to organize 5 gigs in 6 years, and every time it has been a full house of Iraq metalheads pogoing around, but the death keeps on lurking outside.

One example of how just normal things can be hard in a country that’s in a total state of chaos is headbanging: it resembles the jewish praying in some ways (they keep on bowing their heads when praying), and people don’t dare to do that because if Iraq police would see that, they would put you in a prison for the rest of your life. Just for headbanging. And not to mention growing a long hair, that’s just totally out of the question.

As the director said in Q&A after the show, the bands in the west are getting it very easy. Yeah, it can be hard to organize a gig or two now and then, or find money to go to a studio, but it’s nothing compared to the fact that every day you go to your training joint, you have to carry openly a gun for not being killed.

You need to really check out the website of the film, there’s a lot of more information on Acrassicauda and a possibility to donate them to help them further, and be sure to check out their blog, it’s an interesting read. They managed to raise enough money through the Internet after Toronto film festival screening that they were able to travel to Syria, then Turkey, and they are right now in Istanbul, but are having a very hard time over there as well.

All in all, this film was a great piece of documentary, be sure to check it out when it’s available. Here’s the trailer:

Ok, that’s it for now. Today I’m heading again to the festival, although now the Film-part of SXSW is starting to be over, there are screenings still but no other programme, and everything is Music. I’m gonna go and see some bands, and spread the good word of Iron Sky!

The things we find on the Internet! Today, it’s the thesis work of a German film student. Check it out; apart from the pretty CGI, the music and graphic design combine to depict a haunting, surreal world that reminds me, at least, of the decidedly otherworldly French science-fiction animation, La Planète Sauvage (translated to English as Fantastic Planet).

It’s also artsy-fartsy as all hell! It is a question of personal preference whether that is a good or a bad thing (I like it, director Vuorensola seems to disagree). It also says “die.art” with a fancy logo at the beginning of the end credits, which is just asking to be punned (like in the title of this post), if you ask me.

Oh, and in case you’re worried, no, Iron Sky will not look like this… or will it?

Hot Rod is a film from the Lonely Island comedy troupe, who made their name by posting their rejected Fox pilot Awesome Town online. They released it under a Creative Commons licence and it got quite popular, getting them hired on Saturday Night Live.

Awesome Town

The main players are Akiva Schaffer, Andy Samberg and the curiously named Jorma Taccone. For you foreigner readers, the curious part is that “Jorma” is a rather traditional Finnish name pretty much equal to the english “Dick”.

Check out the Awsome Town intro above with it’s undying lyrics like “My name’s Jorma motherfuckers”. Check out the whole episode on their site. I recommed watching the “dude’s cut” first, it’s less traditional, but a lot funnier than the Fox version.

Hot Rod

Hot Rod is their first feature, shot between seasons of Saturday Night Live. It was released last month and thus far has made some $14 million worldwide. I think that can be classified as step up from YouTube fame.

It tells the story of Rod Kimble, a self-proclaimed stuntman who decides to sget the money needed for his step-dad’s operation in order to get to kick his ass in a fair fight. The plot, as usual, is pretty meaningless. Many of the funniest parts of the film look like they come straight out of the fictional tv show “Ow My Balls” in the non-fictional film Idiocracy, with Rod getting hit, punched, set on fire and crashing in to large objects. But the plot does it’s job without getting in the way of the funny stuff. And yes, the film is funny. Not constatly, nor does it come anywhere near to suffocating you with laughter, but it’s funny. The humor ranges from slapstick to weird and post modern - quite like what Awesome Town had, even pulling some of the jokes straight from the pilot.

The main thing for the film is that it has the feeling of being honest and natural, that’s enough to make it stand out from the sea of *movie and *trip franchises. I wouldn’t be suprised if the Lonely Island dudes would be the next comedy superstars to come out of SNL. Indeed, internet video stars have done good. It’s a shame there isn’t a SNL in Finland to hire people like the Huba guys. We’re still waiting to see a TV series from them. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

Trailer

If I hadn’t been watching Stardust in a movie theater, I could have been mistaken to think that is was made for HBO or Scifi channel. Now, I know that sounds like an insult, but I assure you I mean it in the nicest ways possible.

Stardust is based on a novel by Neil Gaiman. All in all I have a quite weird relationship with his writing. Somehow I keep imagining that I’ve read a lot more of his work than I actually have. From his novels I’ve only read American Gods and from Sandman I’ve only the earliest stories. I haven’t read Stardust the book, but those better educated tell me it’s quite different from the movie.

There is a lot of good in the film, but let’s start with the bad. Most of the film the main characters wander around locations in rural England without any clear direction. Then, in many scenic locations they stumble on something fantastic or dangerous and there is a scene of action and/or special effects. Then, without actually doing anything themselves they get out of that situation and onto the next. There is a plot running in the background, connecting all these seemingly random encounters, but that’s not helping. The main plot offers no suprises. It’s very clear where everyhing is going and how the film’s many characters will come together in the end. It all feels both too random and too convenient at the same time.

This isn’t the first time I say this of things Neil Gaiman has been involved in, but I think the script would have worked a lot better as a miniseries. There really isn’t that kind of a tight narrative that would keep the film together for two hours. However spreading it our over several episodes would let the good things shine. Either that, or then a lot of the random wandering should have been left out and more meat given to the remaining parts of the story for it to work better as a movie.

If the script feels more like a miniseries, then the effects make Stardust look more like a movie of the week. They’re not exactly bad, but they don’t look like they belong to a $65 million film. I wouldn’t mind the obious bluescreen work or airships that look like CGI, but I do object to effects sequences being boring. Most of the effects in Stardust are either green or purple glowing things zipping around the green. This becomes boring very fast and there’s a lot of that in the film.

Among the smaller annoyances there is certain Ricky Gervais, who - for some un-godly reason - has been cast as a merchant. The Office is completely unwatchable and the most overrated comedy since Seinfeld, but I don’t really hate the actor, I even like his new sitcom Extras - but Gervais can only play one character and as a lightning dealer in a fantasy world that character sticks out like a sledgehammer banging on a sore thumb. He just doesn’t fit in.

The good things in Stardust are numerous as well. First of all, it has Airships in it. They’re pretty much the coolest thing ever not really invented. And it has lightning pirates. In the cool ladder they’re just step below steam-powered dinosaurs and alien ninjas. And I have to admit that the idea of falling in love with a fallen star is a romantic one.

There are some great scenes and characters. Claire Danes is always beautiful and lovely and most of the actors do a good job. And the goatman Billy is excellent. If there was an Oscar for the best potrayal of a goat I’d bet my money on this guy.

In the end we have a film that has great parts, some parts that are less than great. It’s a fun movie to watch and very likable, but it’s not as good as it should be.

Trailer

I finally finished Joe Haldeman’s novel Forever Peace last night. It kept me up until 4 in the morning just because the story kept kicking on higher and higher gears so I couldn’t leave the book with only fifty or so pages left. It was funny in a way. After all, I’d been reading the book for quite a while already, in tiny snippets every night before bed. (Oh, what I’d give for the time to sit down with a good book…)

I bought the omnibus edition Peace & War at Finncon last July, after listening to the author being interviewed Actors Studio style and realising three things at once. One, the man is funny, intelligent and an incredibly gentle person. Two, I’d only read two pieces by him: a translation of his seminal Forever War back when I was in school, and the Vietnam-themed poem (!) DX in the anthology Demons & Dreams edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling (ISBN 978-0712630214, good luck finding a copy). And three, those two works - a three-page poem and a translation (for crying out loud!) - had left me with a lasting impression of a terribly skilled novelist. It was time to reacquaint myself.

True, the title of the omnibus - Peace & War - is a reference to a classic (I should really say, another classic). But it’s also very accurate: that’s what Haldeman writes about. Not content with merely describing either, he recounts the lives of people taking part in war in a way that makes the necessity of peace achingly evident. His style is remarkable - friendly, casual, like listening to a friend relate something that happened to him. That style gives his works a light and approachable quality, but also emphasises the understated way he describes moments of savage action. No build-up of tension, no deceptive calm before the storm, it really brings home the horror of combat when you have to re-read the last two sentences before it sinks in that an ambush has just been sprung and someone lies dead from stepping on a land mine.

And the sheer scope of it! Not for Haldeman the simple statement that war is hell. No, he goes right ahead and demonstrates that if war is indeed an intrinsic part of human nature, why then, the evolutionary quantum leap necessary to rid us of war is worth it. True, being one of a dying breed (as his protagonists tend to be in these stories) does leave one feeling rather forlorn. But then, war also leaves one feeling rather forlorn, or rather dead. Think about it.

Hey, there’s even a way to link this rant with Iron Sky. In 2004, Mr Haldeman split the James Tiptree, Jr. Award with Iron Sky writer Johanna Sinisalo. According to her, he was so much of a gentleman that he spent most of his acceptance speech praising her work. Having listened to and read the man, I’m inclined to believe it.

(This entry is in Finnish, and talks about a science fiction –themed album by a Finnish band, CMX, called “Talvikuningas”. You can download the album for 12,50€ from this address.)

Blogissamme on harvemmin levyarvosteluja, mutta kotimaista tieteismusiikkia arvostelemme aina kun sitä jostain vastaan putkahtaa. Tässäpä pari sanaan CMX:n uutukaisesta, Talvikuninkaasta.

”Taivas alkaa punertaa, se tietää mitä odottaa
kun telakointiasemilla hehkuu keulat alusten.
Ne lepäävät kuin haavoittuneet eläimet, niin väsyneet,
niin herää kaupunki saarrettu aamuun päivänsä viimeiseen.”

Jos albumi alkaa näillä sanoilla, se ei voi olla kokonaan paha. Ja miksi olisikaan, onhan kyseessä suomen parhaita ja omaleimaisimpia rockpumppuja – CMX. Kahdeksankymmenluvulla nuorten poikien punkkibändistä ollaan edetty hevin, suomirokin ja tupla-proge -albumin kautta ihka oikeaan teemalevyyn, Talvikuninkaaseen.

Teema-albumit ajavat vanheneville artisteille saman kuin moottoripyörä viisikymppisille insinööreille. Ja aivan kuten moottoripyörätkin, myös teemalevyt voivat hurauttaa bändin sataaseitsämääkymppiä päin tiiliseinää. On enemmänkin sääntö kuin poikkeus, että elähtäneiden rokkikukkojen pompöösit vuodatukset kiedotaan pakahduttavaan läjään levyjä, monitahoista sekavaa tarinaa ja huimia visioita, jotka purkautuvat väsyttävinä kymmenen-plus –minuuttisina eepoksina kuulijoille, jotka eivät ymmärrä mistään yhtään mitään.

Myös CMX:n Talvikuninkaassa toistuvat nämä elementit – massiivinen taustatarina, kymmenen minuutin moniosainen avausraita, hämärä tulevaisuudenvisio ja DVD-kotelon kokoinen jättimäinen cd-kotelo maalautettuine levyvihkoineen. Ainoa kysymys on: kantaako levy itsensä? Lyhyttä vastausta ei ole, joten mennäänpä pari askelta taaksepäin ja pureudutaan elementteihin, josta albumi on tehty.

Ensimmäiseksi on hyvä havaita, että levy edustaa harvinaista, joskin syyttä unohduksiin jäänyttä musiikin alasuuntausta, suomalaista tieteismusiikkia. Scifi-teemaisia levyjä eivät suomalaisbändit emoilultaan, hevitykseltään tai inhorealismiltaan juuri puske pihalle, joskin yksittäiset artistit jaksavat ilahduttaa meitä scifi-friikkejä irtobiiseillä. (Näistä on SF Rediscovery –niminen porukka koonnut ilahduttavan kokoelman, joka kantaa nimeä Avaruus Suomessa – levystä lisää vanhemmassa blogientryssämme, ja tarkemmin albumiin pääset tutustumaan SF Rediscoveryn MySpace –sivustolla.) Siksipä kokonainen albumillinen täynnä tulevaisuudenvisioita, teknobabblea ja mystiikkaa saapuu täyttämään tyhjyyttään ammottavaa lokosta maamme musiikkikentässä.

Musiikillisesti CMX tunnetaan proge-heavy –henkisestä, omaleimaisesta soundista joka aikanaan toi shamanistisuudessaan tunnelmia rauta-ajan suomesta, mutta hitaasti kääntyi kohti futuristisempaa ilmaisua, menettämättä kuitenkaan perusvirettään. Talvikuningas on selvää jatkoa aikaisempien albumien Dinosaurus Stereophonicus ja Aion viitoittamalle tielle, jossa monimutkaiset biisirakenteet saavat ystäväkseen hienovaraisesti käsiteltyjä lauluja. Sävellykset ovat tuhteja, soljuvat eteenpäin hyvässä tasapainossa ja välistä löytyy niin kevyttä fiilistelyä Pink Floydin maisemissa, hevijunttausta Mokoman hengessä ja punkkihuudatusta Wastedin malliin. Kokonaisuutena Talvikuningas on raskaampi kuin viime aikojen levyt, eikä sieltä löydy ensimmäistäkään sinkkukelpoista rallattelua, toisin kuin useimmilta levyiltä sitä ennen.

CMX:n vokalisti-basisti A.W. Yrjänä on sanoittanut ja säveltänytkin suurimman osan levystä. Hänen helmasyntejään ovat osaa kuulijoista ärsyttävät, osan taas suuresti rakastamat kryptiset sanoitukset ja melko yksipuolinen laulusoundi, joka ei kestä kovin monimutkaisia revittelyjä. Talvikuninkaalla A.W. kuulostaa kuitenkin paremmalta kuin aikoihin, laulut istuvat musiikkiin hyvin, eikä bändin muuten erittäin korkeatasoinen soitto tällä kertaa tunnu kiilaavan sen ohi, kuten Aionilla pääsi käymään. Tasapaino on tärkeää.

Selvää on, että Yrjänä on scifinsä lukenut. Tekstit ammentavat bensansa tieteiskliseiden määrättömän syvästä arkusta, ja yhdistävät langat eivät tunnu erityisen kestäviltä. Enemmän kuin loistavia kokonaisuuksia, sanoitukset tarjoavat herkullisia soundbytejä. Vai kenet jättää kylmäksi sellaiset lauseet kuin ”Kerran jäätyy kaikki aine, pimeys ottaa omakseen joka hiukkashitusen, ja entropia lakaisee peilin tyhjäks fotoneista, muistoista ja tallenteista, avaruus on tyhjä taulu, aika loputon.” Mitään järkeähän siinä ei ole, mutta hyvältä kuulostaa! Bravo!

Kokonaisuutena Talvikuningas on upean näköinen (erikseen pitää hattua nostaa konseptitaiteenomaisen kuvituksen maalanneelle Sami Saramäelle) ja kuuloinen paketti, joka kuitenkin jättää toivomaan niitä paria erinomaista, esiin nousevaa kappaletta. Tasaisen hyvät biisit eivät juuri toisistaan tyylillisesti erotu, mikä saakin levyn sujahtamaan ensimmäisillä kuuntelukerroilla ohi korvien. Vaikuttaa kuitenkin siltä, että Talvikuninkaassa on kätkettyjä ominaisuuksia, jotka – jos levylle suvaitsee antaa vain aikaa – kypsyvät ja kohoavat pintaan, lunastaen kaikki ne lupaukset joita rouhean visuaalinen levy roiskii ympäriinsä.

Jos jotain yleisarvosanaa pitäisi levylle antaa, pistetään nyt vaikka nelonen. AMK-asteikolla.

- Timo “3114/8000″ Vuorensola

UPDATE: CMX:n Talvikuninkaasta on tehty myös lyhytanimaatio, jonka lukijamme Ville ystävällisesti kaivoi netin kätköistä. Videon ovat ohjanneet veljekset Sampsa ja Janne Kukkonen, eikä se ole oikeastaan yhtään hullumpi scifi-fiilistely. Jos nyt kaivamalla pitäisi kaivaa jotain natistavaa, hahmojen turpavärkit ovat karuhkoja, muuten liike, kuvat ja yleinen tunnelma osuvat nappiin. Kyllä se suomalainen scifi tästä vielä ponnistaa, hienoa!

UPDATE 2: Sydänpysähdys!

Jee! CMX tietää meitin! Lainaus kysy/vastaa -palstalta:

[9.9.2007]
Star Wreck -tiimi kiittää CMX:ää! Suomalainen tieteismusiikki kunniaan. Talvikuningas on erinomainen. Danke!

Iron Sky vaan sinnekin! Ja joskushan täältä on lähdettävä.

So, the first of the Babylon 5: The Lost Tales, Voices in the Dark has been released in the US. Even though Finland had a very rapid Babylon 5 fandom, there hasn’t been that much expectation for them. Possibly due to Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers tv-movie that I still haven’t managed to finish watching. Mostly because it sucks worse than the vacuum of space in the Alien films.

This time however, I not only managed to watch the whole thing, but I have to admit that I liked it. Sure, Voices in the Dark has it’s problems, but it felt like the good old B5 I stayed up watching all those years ago and didn’t get enough sleep before school. Actually, it had much of the same problems, they just seemed more obious now when the quality of TV productions is a lot higher in general than in the early 90’s.

Let’s start with the format. Now, Voices in the Dark isn’t really a fish nor a bird, it’s a chimera, containing a bit of both and looking mighty odd. It’s two 45 minute episodes wrapped into one 90 minute dvd movie. There isn’t any real connection between them, exept for a thematic one, but they aren’t separated either. So if you watch this as a movie you’ll be scratching your head. Just take it as two episodes watched together.

There were entire scenes contaning nothing but exposition in dialogue, the sets were cheaper than ever and even though the CGI was done by the same company as Galactica, well, let’s just say that Energia would have delivered better quality for less cash (so JMS, if you’re reading this and not completely pissed at the LotR bashing, give us a call…).

Then again, I found it very refreshing that the two stories in the film didn’t rely on visuals or action. Instead there was a lot of long, poetic speeches and pondering between moral choises - the things that B5 did best. And unlike the rather misleading trailer lets you believe, this time there was no ancient evil threatening to drown the whole galaxy in darkness. Instead there was humor and some self-consious put-ups of certain elements of the show.

So, all in all, it was fun watching B5 again, I especially liked the ideas in the first part, consentrating on Lochley, while the second part about Sheridan felt more complete and polished. I’ll be waiting for the upcoming parts.

In Europe the DVD is released in September and for once it’s not too expensive. Play.com offers pre-order for 15.49e. At least for me that’s a price I’m willing to pay even for nostalgias’ sake. Compare that with, for example, the HD releases of original Star Trek clocking in $217 per season. Well, I guess if you have money to buy a HD player and a TV you can afford expensive box sets as well.

I found myself spending most of the saturday watching the world’s longest, biggest and whatever superlatives you can come up with concert Live Earth, a 24-hour huge event set up by Al Gore and Kevin Wall. The main aim of the concert was to gain attention towards the climate crisis Earth is facing, and I think it succeeded pretty well. Most of the bands performed at least reasonably well considering how big an event it was and how many artists were playing on the stage after each other.

Most of the show I watched on a stream from MSN (where quality was obviously bad), but also on our TV as well (and no, I don’t have digibox). Too bad YLE thought that horseracing and mobile games had more important message than Live Earth did (and I was amazed what kind of an idiot extravaganza they had called to the studio as commentators…), so there was only small fraction of the concert on Finnish national TV.
Between the bands there was a set of short films from 60 directors which offered a different kind of ways to deliver the message. Many of them were either boring or too educational, but some of them were able to shine above the rest with a humoristic approach or just plain good idea. You might want to check out the following ones:

Chris Bran: Switch On, Switch Off

Sophie Keller & Oli Barry: Bob & Harry: The Last of the Polar Bears

Joe Cole: Lighbulb

Sam Arthur: Super Power Bloke