EDITORIAL H
alloween is here, and all the land is asleep - not now. This Americanized version of what in Finland is known to be for remembering the dead, saints and martyrs has taken over everywhere. Jack-O-lanterns, witches, scary movies, trick or treating, you name it. We at Godartet have not taken part in these festivities, which is not to say that we do not have anything to celebrate. Getting one more issue out of the oven is always an achievement followed by a huge sigh of relief. This issue is special for our team as well, because it is time to say farewell to Poland, at least for now. And to commemorate this, we have a little piece of sh - poetry written on these pages that we hope you will enjoy. The sh- poem is about the average life of and average average in wherever you live. It is not long and it is not good, but then again, sex, I mean life rarely is.
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ther things to look forward to are an interview as well as a review about theater. We are always thrilled to present talented artists and this time we got to interview the actor Sami Ratia. Just as a suggestion, you should read his interview as well as the theater review. Well, you should read the entire thing, not just the bathroom wall, but we at Godartet believe in positive encouragement and prefer to make suggestions rather than demands.
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e at Godartet seem to give a fair share of attention to video games, which only demonstrates the value of this medium as a narrative, interactive art form. To bundle games such as Call of Duty and Valiant Hearts is just ignorant, because block busters are not the same thing as beatifully made cinema. The review/thought piece about viking mythology discusses Jotun, a beautiful Indie game which shows what game can be, atmospheric and lovely.
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ut hey, let’s not give it all away before you’ve had a chance to dive into the pages. Read on!
OCTOBER
EDITORIAL 2 COLUMN 4 POEM 5 COLUMN 6 ESSAY 7 5 NIGHTS UNDER THE MIDNIGHT SUN 9 MALLER VENUES, BIGGER FEELINGS 10 COMIC 13 BATHROOM STALL WALL 14 LAST PAGE 15 3
COLUMN
VILLE KOSKI FOR THE LULZ VILLE KOSKI
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recently aquired tickets to see a relatively big international band in Helsinki. Having been a fan of this band for some time now, I was naturally happy and decided to share my joy on Facebook. Interestingly, the very first comment announced that the band was a joke. When I clarified if the commenter was joking or not, he made it clear that he meant what he said. I was baffled – and admittedly a bit depressed- about the incident and noted that what the person was doing was trolling. Later he did apologize and explained that he thought I had been joking about going to see this band. This made me think: Have we actually lost our capability of sharing our joy sincerely due to social media and internet?
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he whole concept of trolling is that someone posts something (usually negative) with the only purpose of gaining a reaction. Anyone who has ever spent more than 2 minutes on an internet discussion board knows them as everything that is wrong on the internet, so naturally it was confusing to see that they exist among my friends. Of course, then I realized he wasn’t trolling but giving his actual opinion. Which, in this case, is actually worse. Another interesting point is that he gave his opinion thinking that I would agree, that out of nowhere I would just post a song from a band I would hate just to piss on it. Not only he expected me to do so, he actively encouraged me to do it. I am aware of the internet’s habit of making fun of everything in the meanest possible way, but I do not see that as a constructive interaction. It was more insulting that someone of my friends would think that of me than the insult itself. However, I do love a bit of good old sarcasm and self-pointed irony, so where should the line be drawn? When am I making a joke with decent intentions and when am I being a dick? That is a line drawn in the sand, of course, but I’d say that if someone is posting how good something is or that he/she is going somewhere, shitting on it may not be the best of ideas. If someone is comically kicking themselves, throwing a decent jab probably won’t hurt.
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nother thing I thought about after this small incident was that when was the last time I actually posted something genuine in my feed? I couldn’t recall, actually, and a quick check proved that mostly I had posted something funny or meaningless or self-promoting. This was fascinating considering how much time we spend on social media. Most of my feed is filled with useless shit, and most of the stuff I post is the same. And whenever we post something genuine, it is attacked under the shadow of humor. Why? Maybe because of the difference of it; something genuine in the middle of something useless can actually seem awkward and threatening to an average user so it must be eliminated in a way that warns everyone not to behave that way. Not only is this depressing, it also tells something about us as people. Now that we have created the magnificent concept of mass communication, we have turned it into a self-policing dystopia where only two ways of behaving are accepted: Be funny or be aggressive.
Ville has been actively considering leaving Facebook for 5 years now. 4
POEM JUHA HEIKKINEN SOMEWHAT POLISH ME OR HOW I CAME TO LOSE THE ART OF GOD I LEFT JUST BEFORE ART OF GOD WAS BORN FOR THE CITY OF KRAKOW WISLA WAWEL ZYWIEC, TYSKIE, OKOCIM ZUBROWKA, SOPLICA, FINLANDIA I ATE WITH THEM AND DRANK WITH THEM THEY WERE MY INTERNATIONAL GROUP OF ALL OVER AND THEY WERE ONCE AGAIN WHAT MADE A CITY A CITY IS STONE AND METAL, BEAUTIFUL IN THE DUSK BUT EMPTY WITHOUT OTHERS TO FILL ITS STONE WALLS THIS IS A CLICHE THIS IS A THANK YOU THEY MIGHT NOT HEAR CULTURE IS BEER THEATER IS THE CIRCUS ALL AROUND YOU THAT ANNOYS YOU BEER IS LIFE, BEER IS THE SOURCE OF THOUGHT AND THERE IS PLENTY TRY, TRY AS YOU MAY, YOU WON'T FINISH THANK GOD. BEFORE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU HAD TO DO EVERY DAY IS OVER HERE AND YOU ARE MOVED THERE THIS ISN'T A POEM NOR IS THIS CULTURE THIS IS JUST THE AVERAGE LIFE OF A SOMEWHAT POLISH ME.
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COLUMN
FANNY GRAZZO
We at Godartet are slowly but surely losing the battle of sanity with this dude. Someone, please, make him stop!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN
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ell, hello, hello, hello! Are you just adorable little creature, meaow! And yes, it is me again, the legendary Fanny G is in da house so don’t shoot ‘cause you can’t miss me! Ha-ha-ha, clever isn’t it? Well, it is time to get to my point here. As the sweet boys told me, this paper is coming out of the closet on Halloween, which brought me back to the memory lane, oh, Halloween, oh October, oh Papa can you hear me!
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s we all know, Halloween is celebrated in honour of Jesus winning the legal battle against that horrible pumpkin salesman. But what you may not know, my dear children, is how that pumpkin salesman got the “horrible” in his name. And that, as you may guess, has everything to do with me! It’s kind of a funny story really, it was back in the day, when we were cool and hip. Man, I miss those days. This of course isn’t to say that I’m not cool anymore, but those days just happened to be so cool. I could go to the movies like “no tickets for me honey, I star this thing!” and all the theatre would awe. Those sure were the days.
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ut back to the point, sorry about that sweeties, old Fanny here may get a bit distracted every once in awhile. You know what else is distracted? Oil! I just happened to read that they somehow distract it from the ground and the sea and then do something weird to make it so it smells like strawberries and just put it for sale in sex shops. Man, that surely opened my eyes, only organic vaseline for me nowadays!
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o, back to the, oh, what is this, I’m running out of space. What nonsense! Well, have a happy and oil-free Halloween everyone! And don’t forget, if it’s trick or treat, Fanny Grazzo is both! Happy trails!
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ESSAY
JUHA HEIKKINEN JOTUN, A VIKING TALE JUHA HEIKKINEN
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ikings, now they were badass. Of course the impression I have of them comes mostly from films, games, comic books etc. Therefore I cannot really claim to have the most historically accurate image of what the daily life of a viking was, especially for those who stayed behind when the men – I assume – left for voyages. We only see the men, rugged, bearded and with pointy helmets (that I do know to be made up). But I have to be honest: The best part about the vikings is the mythology, the mighty Thor and Odin, the mischievous Loki and the rest of them who haven’t been depicted in Marvel comics (now available in live action films!) and who we don’t as a consequense really know about. No matter how badly popular culture warps the original stories, I just cannot get enough of them. Take the God of War trilogy on Playstation 2 and 3 for instance: You run around controlling a rage-aholic Spartan who ends up (spoilers!) killing everybody. I’d think the original storytellers who came up with the gods of Olympus would be a bit disgruntled about this turn of events.
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s I said before, my knowledge about the viking mythology is extremely shallow, a collection of bits and pieces of possibly false information, tailored to suit the storyteller’s needs. In the case of Jotun, an indie game about Thora, a female (Nordics being in the forefront of female empowerement once more!) named after the god of thunder Thor, I cannot be sure if the legends told in the game are faithful to the tradition or not. However, this does in no way diminish the fact that roaming around the
hand drawn world of the Norse underworld is not a chillingly beatiful experience. The game starts when Thora dies a disgraceful death by drowning and is given a second chance to redeem herself and be allowed entry into Valhalla. Thora must traverse Ginnungagap, the void, and search for runes in order to gain access to the giant waiting in the end of each area. It is not an action game, but a game where you explore and enjoy the scenery. And let me tell you, they did well with the perspective: Whether it’s running against a vast background or standing next to one of the imaginative boss giants, Thora looks really small. Absolutely the biggest thing going for this game is its atmoshphere. It lets you take your time, almost as if the makers were saying ”Look at what we made. Isn’t it pretty? We won’t put too many things in your way that can kill you. Except for the giants. They will kill you.”
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very special feature that really helps in setting the tone for this game is that the narration is done entirely in (some sort of Nordic language, more on that later). This definitely brings a level of authenticity to the game that you really don’t see that often. Even though I could not understand the language, it did sound familiar and there were words here and there that I could place, realizing that I was actually listening to something close to home. It may even have been this familiarity that was so good about Jotun. Even though Finns were not vikings, we can definitely claim to have been very close neighbours to them, geometrically speaking that is. So if I had to choose between the mythology where the world comes to an end when a giant wolf eats the sun and gods 7
battle each other to the end, destroying everything in their path, I would choose this option instead of for instance the exotic but still familiar Greek counterpart. One thing that these types of myths do have in common is the amount of not-so-pleasant people. The gods are not nice people. Of course we could also talk about our Judeo-Christian God who in his younger days, depicted in the Old Testament, had some issues with his/ her temperament and jealous nature, but let’s not alienate our more devout readers.
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eing born into a middle class existence with modern comforts and an outlook on life that reflects this way of life, I’m always fascinated by the vikings and their relationship with death. The vikings, as other famous warrior peoples such as the Spartans, are famous for glorifying death rather than avoiding it. Of course I am once again bound to a view of the Hollywood warriors, not the ones that stayed behind. But let’s imagine that the vikings truly were what we think they were. To die outside battle was a disgrace. You would be denied the ultimate reward, Valhalla. Heaven does seem to be in the mind of the beholder. I cannot imagine an eternity with people built for war to be a relaxed one. But then again, some might think that an eternity on the couch with a nice cold beer and Netflix is a waste of time, especially if you were to do it until the end of existence.
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s I was saying before I got a bit carried away into the wrong direction, this glory and danger is something that still appeals to us and so the tale of a disgraced warrior who wishes to make up for disappointing the gods is a damned nice one. Be the viking you always wanted to be and impress the gods. You’ve earned it.
The writer knows he couldn’t be a viking, so he’ll play Skyrim instead. Close enough.
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5 NIGHTS UNDER THE MIDNIGHT SUN DAY III
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woke in an absolute freezer that I just yesterday had called “tent”. My head ached from the cold it had suffered throughout the night and my whole body was stiff as the blood had frozen still. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t make it to the first morning discussions, but managed to somehow stumble my ass to the festival site just before noon. I had a well-made plan on what we wanted to see, but to Godartet’s disappointment, most of the movies were already full-booked, so we had to come up with a new plan. Which we did. The amount of people buzzing around the festival site was both nice to see (later we learned that the festival had broken its record this year), but also had an ominous vibe to it: It was like something was utterly different that ever before. We couldn’t quite put it into words, but we were about to witness that difference first hand.
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ne of the most interesting films of the day was Nazarin by Luis Bunuel. It was part of a Masterclass series of the festival and therefore presented by Miguel Marias, one of Spain’s most prominent film critics and overall gurus of the medium. Naturally, he talked a lot about Peter von Bagh and his legacy, with a tear in his eye. After that he proceeded to talk about the film in hand, Nazarin, and gave us his in-depth analysis of the film. We at Godartet were naturally thrilled, although we do understand that some of the younger film-goers may find this kinds of events where an elderly gentleman who has dedicated his life to researching films and Luis Bunuel’s lifework shares what he knows in a cool, relaxed way. The audience that day were part of that younger generation, and instead of listening what the man had to say, they decided to just start applauding him away in the
middle of a sentence. It was horrible to watch, the man had flown from Spain to Sodankylä just for this one event, to share his knowledge, and he stood right there, with a baffled look on his face as he realised the audience in front of him didn’t give shit and wanted him out. It was a horrible, depressing moment seeing him kind-of smile his way out. The film was amazing, but that massive lack of respect from people took away the good feeling of it.
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ater that day we also had the pleasure of visiting a small gala, where the annual Sodankylä-award was handed to cinematographer Timo Salminen, who also shoots all of Aki Kaurismäki’s films. As a truly independent magazine that lives and breathes exposing nepotism wherever we go, we thought the gala was cool and the drinks they offered for free (alongside with the snacks) were marvellous! The dude receiving the award also lives in Brazil, I think. Once again, the rest of the evening went along with movies, until I had to once again go back to the freezing hellhole that was my tent. Before I finally passed into sweet, frosty sleep, I couldn’t help but to wonder, why am I doing this?
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SMALLER VENUES, TEXT: GODARTET CREW PHOTO CREDITS: LIISA AHOKAS
BIGGER FEELINGS
ABOUT
a year ago we at Godartet went and saw The Diary of a Madman at the Group Theater in Helsinki. It was an utter piece of shit and we left during recess. Then, a bit later, we went to see Club 27, a musical about dead musicians, at the Peacock Theater that also was horrible and we left during recess. Both of these were big-time productions, by big theaters and with big stars and used at least somewhat digital effects during their shows. After these we were a bit worried: Does the current state of theatre look this grim? However, just a few weeks ago we got invited to Mäntsälä T h e a t e r ’s premiere of Year of the Hare and to interview the male lead, Sami Ratia. With a couple of bad shows under our belt, we approached with caution.
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he theatre itself is located in the outskirts of the small town of Mäntsälä in Southern Finland, about an hour’s train-ride from Helsinki. The venue is a charming old-school dance hall and all in all works supremely as a theatre stage. The theatre is run on a volunteer-basis, meaning all the players and behind-the-scenes people do it for free. In a way, one might say it’s a hobby, but we at Godartet think these small-time theatre people do something 1 0
more than just a hobby; it’s an important channel of creativity and a challenger for the big league theatres that have to think more about what the audiences like. If a completely new and refreshing play comes from somewhere, it’s probably a place like this, a smaller, more genuine theatre that does it for the theatre instead of a paycheck.
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he play we saw in Mäntsälä, Year of the Hare, is based on a Finnish bestseller of the same name and tells the story of everyman c a l l e d Vatanen, who is on the verge of a breakdown with his life and one day decides to leave it all behind and escape to the woods with a hare whose leg is injured when he bumped into it with a car. From this starts the adventure, the journey through the everlasting questions of human life: Why are we here, why do we love, what does it even mean and what should we think about all of this weirdness? In Mäntsälä Theater’s version, the production wasn’t a game-changing spectacle, and neither did it try to be, but still it was an ambitious and successful play. The players had enough charisma and skill to keep the grip of the audience through the whole time, and the main characters, Vatanen and the Hare, were especially good performances.
It’s always nice to see people who really love what they are doing. The play did what all plays should achieve: It raised emotions and made us think, wondering about the questions raised by the play.
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fter the performance, Godartet had the pleasure of joining the actors and the creators of the play in their premiere’s after-party. It was really nice to see and feel how kind the people were towards each other and their play. After witnessing the uptight, bitter rivalry of so many other art gallery openings and such, we were thrilled to see the actors sharing their “war stories” from the rehearsals and throwing inside jokes to each other. It was a small community that with unity had created something bigger than the sum of its parts. And we salute them for that!
2015
isn’t just the Year of the Hare, it is also the 25th artistic anniversary for the play’s main player, Sami Ratia. We got to interview him about theatre and his 25 years within the stage.
What was the first play you were in? The play was called Erittäin salainen, “Top secret”. My character was sheik Ali Hassan. I was seven years old. How many plays have you been in in these 25 years? I have been in 18 plays as an actor. Anything exceptionally memorable? Michael Cooney’s farce Puhtaana käteen, “Cash on delivery”, was a great and different production to participate and a huge success back in 2013 at my home theater Mäntsälän Teatteri. Have you done anything else in the theater-scene besides acting? Directing? Producing? I am the founder of Mäntsälän Teatteriyhdistys ry, the association that runs Mäntsälän Teatteri and from 2004 to 2006 I was the chairman of it. I have also produced numerous productions there. Nowadays I am the vice chairman and member of the association’s board. Do you see yourself doing this for another 25 years? As I said in my speech after the opening night of the play The Year of the Hare, “Jäniksen vuosi”, it’s been 25 years and still I haven’t found my way away from here. So yes, I think I’ll still be doing this in the year 2040. 1 1
Favourite line ever? “-At school the teacher ordered a punishment: a hit with a stick to every other pupil’s hands. I was always the every other.” Johtaja Palkeinen, Pikku Pietarin Piha. How do see the current state of smaller theater in Finland these days? Are they struggling or can they find their audience still? From my point of view smaller theaters find their audiences and are doing ok. Especially summer theater productions are very popular. The thing that the smaller, non-professional theaters are struggling with is the financial support from the municipalities and companies. The amount of money given to culture is decreasing every year. How about the appreciation of these theaters, do you find that they enjoy the appreciation they deserve or are looked upon by the public? Why? I can only speak about the theaters that I myself have been involved with, but I think that the public really appreciates also smaller theaters. Why would they come to our shows if they didn’t ;) Smaller theater that work on a volunteer basis naturally have their challenges, but what kind benefits do they have comparing to bigger, “professional” theaters? Smaller, non-professional theaters provide a change for everyone to join. For example, we at Mäntsälän Teatteri organize yearly, during summer, a week long theater camp for children. A new generation of culture makers is growing. We also have all kinds of events during the year. I also feel that many professional theaters are lacking “the freshness” that smaller theaters have. When everything is done on a voluntary basis, it is harder to get tired of doing it. In “The Year of the Hare” you play Vatanen, a middle-aged man struggling and eventually getting fed up in the rush and pressure of modern age, how hard was it to jump into this character? Have you played any similar characters before? 1 2
I haven’t played anything similar before, but I have to admit that jumping into this character wasn’t hard at all. It’s almost frightening how similar many things in Vatanen’s life are compared to my own ;) Seriously speaking I couldn’t get so much out of this character without the help and discussions I had with the play’s director Marko Pohjanrinne. I dig you M. The play somewhat wraps around the sentence “The world is a magical place”, and emphasizes the dream-like world of the story. Do you find that theatre as an art form in general also shares these kind of attributes? If so, what kind of responsibilities you think theater has towards its audience? The world and the theater as a whole are magical places, and everyone, despite of being an actor or member of the audience, experience every production and happening through one’s own eyes. Did I answer your question? Which one is more unreal, the life happening onstage or the life happening outside of the stage? Definitely the life happening outside is more unreal.
The Year of the Hare is currently running in Mäntsälä Theater until 12.12. Tickets and additional info www. mantsalanteatteri.fi
Once again, to our massive surprise, Rufus was unhappy. He had felt that way for a long time now and couldn’t find any way to cheer himself up, so he went to Simon the Sassy Salamander for help. “Man, sad to see you so blue. You should find something positive in your life. You know what, go to a doctor, it always cheers me up to know I’m fine!” Sammy the Sassy Salamander said.
“Oh, man” Rufus thought, “that Sammy sure is smart, doctors will surely find something positive for me”. And so Rufus went to the doctor. The doctors took some tests, and after some waiting, came back with the results. “There is a lot of positives here” the doctor said, “Chlamydia, Syphilis, Gonorrea and HIV are all…”
“... negative, so you do have a lot of reasons to be positive!” he said and Rufus smiled the whole day through. If you thought that this comic would end in any other punchline, you are a horrible person. The End.
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ONE MORE THING, JUST FOR YOU, OUR DEAR
NORWEGIAN/SWEDISH/FINNISH/ESTONIAN/POLISH READER!
ARE YOU AN ARTIST, OR DO YOU KNOW ANY ARTISTS OR THOUGHTFUL PEOPLE IN SOME OTHER FIELDS? YES? WOW, THAT IS SO COOL! IF YOU OR YOUR FRIENDS WISH TO SEE THEIR NAMES IN THIS MAGAZINE, THAT CAN EASILY BE ARRANGED! HERE’S WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR: WRITERS!
ARTISTS!
Essays, short stories, poems. You name it, we’ll take it! If you have anything in your drawer just waiting to see the light of day, send it to us and we might just publish it. We’re not telling you how to write your stuff, but in essays we’re looking for something that’s related to Nordic arts or culture. Poems and short stories are of course a free-roam, but local point of view is preferred. We don’t have any word or character limitations like those silly professionals, but we hope that you remain in a maximum of 15 A4 pages with some basic size 12 font. Also, no politics, religion, sports or other unrelated boredom!
This is why we do this, to give visibility to amazing artists. Whatever is your medium, from painting to sculpture and photography to textile design, we’re willing to let you promote yourself. In each number we have room for 5 artists and each artist gets a total of 6 spreads to promote themselves (1 spread is a mandatory cover, so 5 is just for art) that you can use any way you wish. Not all of them have to be used, of course. We’ll take care of the lay-out and the end result will always be approved by you before publishing and all the copyrights remain with you.
TIPS!
READERS!
Do you have local knowledge of the best culture events in your town that nobody else knows? Or maybe you have a great idea for a feature story, Gonzo-concept or otherwise great ideas on how to make Godartet a better magazine? If so, do contact us! We’re eager to know what’s happening out there.
If you don’t have anything to contribute, but just like to read our nifty little paper, do share us with the world! We’re on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Issuu, we have our own webpage and a YouTube channel so there are many ways for spreading the word about Godartet. And for this, we salute you! Sharing is daring... Or something like that.
And just for all to know, we can’t compensate for your writings, as Godartet works purely on voluntary work (this includes Ville and Juha). However, we also won’t be charging you for anything, and we hope to help you in any way we can. Also, don’t worry about your English, because Godartet has a professional proofreader, who makes sure your words are solid. Hope to hear from you soon!
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LEGAL INFORMATION GODARTET IS A NON-COMMERCIAL, NON-PROFIT MAGAZINE AIMING TO SUPPORT, SPREAD AND ANALYSE ART AND CULTURE FROM NORWAY, SWEDEN, FINLAND AND ESTONIA. THE MAGAZINE IS BASED IN HELSINKI, FINLAND. EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: VILLE KOSKI. SENIOR EDITOR: JUHA HEIKKINEN. EVERYTHING PUBLISHED IN GODARTET IS PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT AND ALL OF THE COPYRIGHTS BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE MAKERS UNLESS SPECIFICALLY MARKED OTHERWISE. DO NOT COPY, ALTER, SHARE OR IN OTHER WAYS USE THE MATERIAL IN GODARTET WITHOUT THE PERMISSION OF THE SPECIFIC COPYRIGHT OWNER, WHOM YOU MAY CONTACT DIRECTLY OR THROUGH GODARTET MAGAZINE. ANYONE BREAKING THESE RULES WILL BE CAUGHT, FOUND AND - FOR YOUR INFORMATION - WE THINK LANNISTER IS THE COOLEST HOUSE IN GAME OF THRONES. ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS CAN BE SENT TO GODARTETMAGAZINE@GMAIL.COM. HAPPY READINGS!