This is very off-topic, but I just wanted to share an update from my day job with my regular readers. Yesterday I was awarded the Topelius Award, given annually to the journalist of the year within Finland’s 6% Swedish language minority. When I’m not reviewing science fiction movies, I work as the editor-in-chief of a Swedish-language left wing monthly culture and current affairs magazine called Ny Tid, or “Modern Times”. It’s a small, but well-respected magazine with a voice larger than its size. As per the award jury:

Janne Wass’s sharp social analyzes command respect and help the reader understand background and context. He is quick and precise in relevant comments on political and cultural developments both nationally and internationally. During his time as editor-in-chief, Ny Tid has developed into a tone-setting cultural magazine that is read across language boundaries as well as party political boundaries. With a personal style and an integrity that does not chase clicks but takes time to think, Wass argues bravely, thereby broadening, balancing and deepening the discussion in the Finland-Swedish media field.

I am overwhelmed and a bit ruffled, as previous winners include some of my most important journalistic inspirations. We have a very small staff of five, and I am also the CEO of the magazine, meaning much of my time is spent juggling administration, fundraising and promotion. I woulnd’t have received this award without the hard and professional work of my colleagues and collaborators, or our enthusiastic community, who help shape Ny Tid into what it is.

With rising production and distribution costs, slashed funding for the press and culture, the rise of right-wing populism and fascism across the globe, the climate crisis, wars and the crushing effects of turbo-neoliberal market capitalism, our magazine doesn’t suffer from shortage of issues to write about, but being submerged in these questions on a daily basis does also take a toll on one’s psyche.

In addition to my wonderful girlfriend and my dear friends, my work with Scifist is what gives me a breathing hole, and keeps me sane and happy. Being able to pour my energy into something I am passionate about, apart from work, is such a priviledge. I have also come to have a huge appreciation for the small, supportive community of readers and co-creators in the world of genre movie research and criticism (YOU GUYS!), sparring me to always do better here on the blog, feeding me with information, inspiration and insight. I thank you dearly for the support.

These movies we love to watch and write about can be an respite from the bleakness of the world we live in, moments of pause and escapism. But I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t also find them meaningful and important. Science fiction is, in my opinion, the ultimate genre for discussing the big questions of social and moral philosophy, politics and the question of how to live together as humans – or even what it is to be human. An interesting paradox about watching old science fiction movies is that they often inadvertedly tell us much more about the times and societies they were made in than what they are explicitly trying to tell us through the purposes of the filmmakers. The often duelling philosophies of what the movies are trying to tell us, and what they tell us in spite of themselves, make for some of the most interesting aspects of SF movie reviewing.

Well, that’s all for now, I just felt like sharing this news with you. I’ll be back shortly with a review of 1957’s The Unknown Terror, about explorers fighting fungi monsters in the West Indies. Until then, thanks for the continuing support and inspiration!

Cheers,

Janne Wass