I saw a sign

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.

About yours truly (and caveifying)

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

Mad Max Fury Road review

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/

A god among men

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

The incredible true story behind the Toronto mystery tunnel

Always look over your shoulder

It is with sadness that I have to report something like this so early on in this Manisphere journey. In an outer suburb of Helsinki a man who wishes to not be named ( so I will refer to him as Auvis) is in the midst of a very disturbing situation. His studio which adjoins onto the main part of the house is slowly being eaten up by common family domesticity. I visited him a year ago and at that stage, he had a very lovely set up for his musical endeavors and just for “being”. It is a room that appears to have been intended as an office when the house was built and with his passion for making music, it was an obvious choice for  a ManCave. The room itself is only separated from the rest of the house with a light partition but hey, better than nothing!.  With his studio headphones on, he was able to transport into manlyland.         Don’t get me wrong, he has a lovely family of 3 kids with his wife but I don’t think they understand the urgency of the situation. Little by little Auvis’ studio is becoming another cupboard for stuff. And that’s not the worst thing as it is becoming  a regular occurrence for  Auvis to find notes on his workspace of things that he has to do around the house…..on his workspace!!!!!

Wow

The mancave in it’s present state. You can feel the tension in the photo that there is something not right. And whats the deal with that cat?!

A slightly different angle, I still feel the tension and now the cat is looking at me. I’m outta here!

This is a sweet home studio that is being slowly battered by a regular family tsunami. It goes to show that you can never be TOO relaxed in your space as things like this are possible as outlined here. It reminds me of a saying I made up 10 seconds ago that “complacency breeds invasive tendencies”. You need to have the metaphorical sandbags at the ready at all times.