Ok hows this for a potential ManCave? A slovakian company has developed the “Ecocapsule” as a means of sustainable living in a small (but still decently spaced) and portable pod that apparently could sustain living conditions for up to a year with its integrated wind and solar panel battery as well as a water filtration system.
Yes please!
This post is a full blown going off on a tangent as opposed to my normal mini tangents. As I have mentioned previously, I live in Arabia, but this is in Helsinki, no gold plated Lamborghinis driving around with leopards hanging out the window licking the air. I very much like this place except for a few design flaws that can be found sprinkled amongst the (generally) aesthetically pleasing architecture. Arabia, Helsinki is synonymous with arts and design and in the effort to separate itself from the other suburbs, the general flavour is “artistic”. i’m generally cool with that, whatever rocks your boat but check out the vid below.
What do you see? Well I’ll tell you, It’s a triangular balcony.
Just imagine that you get one of these flats and you want to put a sofa out there (vague ManCave territory reference). The lack of squareness renders the possibility of having a sofa (or anything larger than a footstool) impossible. The vid from above was sent to me from my good friend Jack who, upon hearing my rant about this in person decided to send it to me at what could be seen as a strategic attempt to flare up my dormant OCD. Here is another example.
Look how the space just tapers off into a sharp,useless corner of depression
It’s like the designers only made half a balcony because the summers are so short here. What the hell are you supposed to do with that tiny corner!
Here is another example. I do almost like the tunnel vibe it gives off but it’s still pissing away balcony potential
Another thing I should point out is certain buildings that look normal until the top when it looks like they commissioned the local kindergarten to randomly design the top part with bloody Duplo Lego. Observe
What a bloody eyesore
Different angles of the same buildings make them look like a spaceship landed on top (www.seti.org)
Close encounters of the turd kind
Ok if that would be a ManCave then i’ll let that one slide
Thank you for your time
When I called to have a chat with musician/producer Alec, he was in the process of pouring a rum for himself and his wife before placing himself on the balcony. This way he was out of potentially troublesome earshot from the inside of his flat but he needn’t have worried. I let him have a few slurps of his drink before settling into the nitty-gritty. Alec lives with his wife and 2 small kids in Vuosaari, a very tasty place on the outskirts of Helsinki, particularly in summer. The fact that Alec has a room to himself for all of his equipment (of which there is an assortment of punchy synths) is a miracle when it’s considered that he lives in an apartment building. Helsinki apartment living, or any apartment living is generally not condusive to enough rooms for a man to have his space as I well know. Alec obviously knows he’s onto a good thing and almost feels guilty about it, “I feel overindulged to have this room” he said with the ever so slight tone of a kid who has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Of course there is the ever present spectre of the room eventually being given to one of the kids when they grow older. Hold on dude, just hold on!! With this in mind, he knows that he simply has to enjoy the now, whilst it lasts. Hold on…!
Happy as a pig in the proverbial
Whilst every man chooses to use his “me” time in different ways like the guys who hole themselves up in their space to work on an engine that they already know ain’t gonna ever fire up, Alec is very active in that he is constantly working on his music. His main project is “to feed a neon forest” which could be described as neo-romanticist-synth-punk and as you can hear when you treat your ears to the toons below, they are on the noisy side so this means that headphones must be utilized most of the time. Alec says that maybe this is a good thing as he can’t hear the T.V. in the next room and get tempted to leave his cave.
Because his cave is in a room easily accessible by other inhabitants of the abode, Alec has sometimes found his shit being tampered with and synth settings have been changed willy nilly.
A bit of detective work unearthed this slightly more worn in room pic
Alec feels that the reason ManCaves are so important to men are associated with gender specific roles (it was right about now that ears from inside the flat were getting ready to burn). I pushed him further on this issue however and he stated that whilst he didn’t agree with the conservative gender stereotypes, a man needs a very separate space to be himself. You betcha.
On the subject of improvements that could be made to the current space, “All I want is for maybe a little more room and complete soundproofing so I could get a drum kit and make a bloody big noise!” I hear ya bro..
When asked what his ultimate ManCave would be, “ I would want a nice old wooden shed on a little island in Finland with all my stuff to make music, and a sauna” quite humble when I said there were no limits to what he could think up. It would be good to have a swim in your birthday suit after a hard days/night of punky synthing and in Finland there aren’t any sharks so it makes for a calming experience. I love sharks, especially great whites but they scare the bejesus out of me.
Howsabout something like this Alec?
Or did you mean something like this?
I’ll take that one
I look forward to seeing “to feed a neon forest” on one of their live dates to experience the full fruits of Alecs synthy playground.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/to-feed-a-neon-forest/1396858237261807?fref=ts
Right, let’s get cracking with the knacking
I had the privelage of becoming aquainted with Johnny Hubbocks, he of Johnny Boy Signs.
https://www.facebook.com/JohnnyBoySigns?fref=ts
We met in his natural habitat of the local booze servery in Kallio so I could get the low down on what he is all about. If you live in Helsinki and go drinking in the centre then you have probably seen one of his classy chalkboards or A-frame signs in and outside of the bars. He really is a talented man.
Don’t believe me? then check out some of these.
Whilst this kind of work has been predominantly has been his bread and butter, I am pleased to announce that he has decided to dip his whole foot into the warm and tingly ManCave waters. This meaning that he is available to do custom chalkboards for your personal bar, door designs and anything else that the paint will stick to!! I’ve seen one of his guitar jobs and it was killler. Hell, he will even do your whole room if you want and it won’t look like the photo below which is the best likeness I could find of a horrendous monstrosity of a room that I was shown in Derry, Northern Ireland many years back. The story goes, from a guy I was hanging out with (who may or may not have been an unsavoury I.R.A character) was that his upstairs neighbour was dealing in hard drugs and the I.R.A. gave him his marching orders, out of the country, on account of dealing in anything harder than wacky backy was frowned upon. Anyways, from the looks of it he made a quick exit thus leaving his flat with all of his skanky belongings still scattered about.
Think this but with dull pastels and dark lighting and that is what it was like
I digress. Whilst talking with Johnny about his work, I couldn’t part ways without asking him why ManCaves are so important to men. He looked whistfully in the direction of an approaching tram, paused for what seemed like a long time and said “It’s a sanctuary”. Beautifully put.
Keep Johnny in mind for any of your artwork needs and get his contacts from his facebook page.
We shook hands and went our separate ways. Johnny, who had been pondering whether to go home and put on his running shoes to train for the upcoming Helsinki Half Marathon, or to go down the road and have another coldie disappeared around a corner. I’m not sure what he chose but I’m sure he made the decision that felt right to him. And remember, if Johnny and any of you others are planning on taking part in the Marathon, never trust a fart after the 3/4 point.
In 1963, a man in Cappadocia, Turkey was doing some renovations in his house when he took swing at a wall with his sledgehammer and inadvertently opened a tunnel, one of many that led to the ancient city of Derinkuyu. This was an entire city carved underground that was utilized in the 12th century and periodically up until early 19th century. It had 18 levels in all and had churches, residences, a school and pretty much anything else that contributed to the running of a city. It was designed to house 20,000 people as well as livestock. It had vents to the surface and a number of other discreet tunnel entrances so it’s quite amazing that it remained a secret for so long. The man doing the renovating was probably so gobsmacked that he made a critical error in announcing his discovery to the powers that be as…
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Hello and welcome to my mancave blog. I will profile (as often as possible) mancaves and their proud owners along with any content I deem relevant to the world of mancaves. I also strongly encourage any of you out there to contribute contacts for anyone anywhere in the world that has a kickass mancave and/or contribute your ideas for your dream mancave in any form you like, I want to see it!! It can be in the form of written description, drawings, animations. Whatever!!
No idea too out there
In the U.K. ManCaves are called “sheds” which to me sounds like the place you stuff your lawnmower in with assorted garden tools. But holy crapola, these finalists have hit paydirt with their epic hideouts.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/photos/shed-of-the-year-2015-finalists-revealed-1431941454-slideshow/
Maybe you are wondering about whether this blogger has his own ManCave?, maybe you aren’t and it’s not for me to say. Well the simple answer is no I don’t and that is a great sadness in my life. But you deal the cards you have been dealt..or something like that. When you are in a similar situation like me, you don’t just lie down and wait to rot without first chilling out and enjoying whatever it is that rocks yr boat. You must learn to adapt and caveify your surroundings when the moment is right. Here in Finland, especially in any of the town centres, a lot of us men don’t have the luxury of having a permanent space to make our own so we are resorted to caveifying our surroundings when time permits. (On a side note there was a potentially exciting developement in my abode when my kids were discussing how fun it would be to move into the same room which would have freed up one of the rooms. BANG, my head started to go into ManCave mode but the combined kids room talk eventually fizzled out and with that went my temporary dreams.)
This apartment style living with limited space has been a regular fixture of my life (and many other men) but I consider myself fortunate to have access to a couple of top notch places when they are aren’t occupied by others.
So apart from the classic armchair right in front of the TV to emulate the cinema experience that I am reduced to (and when everyone else has gone to bed), there is a communal room with a sauna on the top of our apartment building that is generally free at night. This means that i take my chosen form of entertainment up there, be it one of my guitars and/or my laptop for dicking around with music or simply to watch a movie.
Pro’s
The view isn’t too shabby though for me, ManCaves should be in relatively dark lighting and away from wide open spaces. Imagine a dog being put in the middle of a wide open space, it would think all its Christmases have come all at once. Now put a cat in the same space and that little bastard with clam up. Same difference
The space is mostly free when I want
There is a sauna
Great acoustics for guitar playing (sweet roomy echo)
Kitchen facilities for cooking up some munchies
Cons
Possibility of surprise when entering that the room is already taken on account of certain individuals in this building not honoring the intranet booking system
It’s not my space
It’s not my space
Another place that I use when possible in the summery months is a little summer cottage in a quaint little allotment of similar cottages not far from here. They are really glorified cubby houses but you can sleep there and there are amenities as well when you need to do your business. My mother in law occupies the place for the whole time that its bearable to be (its not made for the bullshit winters in this country) so she normally has to be asked nicely to vacate the premises and go back to her city abode for the evening. Sweet old lady that she is, she sometimes forgets the arrangement and stays put, wanting to talk about whats on the radio. I gently start off with some slightly intense expressions on my face to indicate the need for her to leave and these will gradually increase in intensity until she realises. Then the place is mine.
An aerial view, duh!
A very similar example
Once I have fortified the cottage for my means, it’s actually very pleasant and even though the old neighbours are all very closeby, this is Finland so they are either pissed off and or reserved. In any case, they leave you alone
I know that this is a mancave blog site but the link below is for what might possibly be my first and last movie review and we are talking Mad Max here! If I was gonna have a Mancave all to my own (more on that later..) then it would simply have to have some kind of reference to the glorious interceptor which made a welcome return to Fury Road. And this is my blog so I decided to share this because because.
http://finlandtoday.fi/this-is-why-mad-max-fury-road-receives-five-stars/
I would like to bring to your attention a story about a man who is actually the inspiration for this blog. A 22 year old construction worker from Toronto and whom I am endeavoring to get an interview with one day.
Maybe you have heard the story but maybe not, so I would like to share with you something that made massive news in Canada and was covered briefly elsewhere in the world about one Elton Mcdonald. Word got out earlier this year that a mysterious tunnel had been found out in the woods with very well made reinforcements and electricity supplied by a generator nearby. The alarm bells went off as police and public speculated about the intention behind this, not helped by the fact that a crucifix and rosary beads were found down there as well. Could it be terrorist activity aimed at the approaching Pan American games? Oh what could it be!!!
It took a while before Elton eventually fessed up with his reason. “ I just wanted to make a Mancave..”
When I first read that I laughed but then I thought about it and it struck such a nerve with me that I am still reeling. This guy did what I have wanted to do since I was a child! You see this blog celebrates the Mancave in all its forms but digging a tunnel underground that leads to a TV room…..that’s a whole new level, and all with his own hands. I have personally always been fascinated with tunnels since reading about former Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley having a tunnel that led to his personal studio.
Ace Frehley in his studio/mancave. Might’ve been a bit tricky navigating the tunnel with the boots dude
5 years ago Elton decided to dig a hole in the backwoods not far from his house. What started as a simple digging exercise became an obsession to keep digging and make a tunnel that led to one or two recreational rooms. “It was going to be my underground cottage” he said after the police discovery. It was going to be meaning past tense in that as soon as the fuzz got wind of it, they filled it in. Now I don’t want to resort to potty language on this blog but FOR FUCK SAKE!!!. He spent 5 years digging that thing, sometimes staying overnight with the rain pissing down on him and he even had very well made reinforcements installed along the way!. It seems that the authorities were spooked by the crucifix and the rosary beads that Elton kept down there to “feel safe”. This led to speculation about some wacko terrorist activity that might be afoot. Even after Elton came forward and confessed, they filled it in, all in under one day and that was that. After all of this he said he had just wanted somewhere to disappear and get away from it all……..(excuse me while my eyes well up).
He has said that he will definitely make another one but when he has his own property.
Still smiling after “the man” took away his dream
This was a very summarised version of Eltons story. If you want to read a more thorough version, check this out
Manisphere 