Despite the overwhelming popularity of major social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, the internet is also proving to be fertile ground for alternative social media.

SOCIAL media websites are undoubtedly the most groundbreaking communication innovation of the modern era. Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are not only means of socialising but also provide a modern, convenient and efficient way of political campaigning, music distribution and citizen activism.

Abandoned houses, polar bears roaming the streets and arctic regions threatened by global warming - Mieland speaks out against negative news and clichéd images of Lapland through modern design filled with humour and political satire.

IN 2006, four students at the University of Lapland’s Faculty of Art and Design got together within the Arctic Pearls competition for innovative design concepts. The designer team of Katariina Imporanta, Marjo Remes, Erja Tuhkala and Ilkka Väyrynen did not win, but the foursome received an honourable mention for their fresh take on traditional Lappish elements. From that initial cooperation, Mieland was born.

Since the beginning of cinema film makers have revelled in depicting the annihilation of our species. Hollywood has certainly benefited greatly from this obsession. But has all of this thirst for carnage gotten out of control?

ACCORDING to Tero Koistinen from the Finnish Chamber of Films, there are currently five tales of the apocalypse being screened in cinemas, with many more to follow in the coming months. Ranging from art house (The Road), to animation (9) and popcorn blockbusters (2012), destroying the world seems to be the “in” thing this season.

“2012 alone was in the top ten list for eight weeks in Finland in 2009 and was the fifth highest grossing film internationally in that year,” notes Koistinen.

Playing second fiddle to the Bollywood dream 

India’s Bollywood is the largest film industry in the world, offering the tantalising lure of fortune and fame in a country where 220 million people live below the poverty line.

MUMBAI is where Indians come to get rich. With the average wage here three times the national average, the streets are bulging with the hustle of touts, cabs, people, markets and beggars, all engaged in a mad scramble for rupees.

The photographic art of ‘Don’t think, just shoot’

Recent interest in old Soviet cameras has sparked an entire art movement: the Lomography movement. One little camera in particular, the LOMO LC-A, has revolutionised photography ideology, serving as a reminder of what art should be about.

RUSSIAN manufacturers Leningrad Optical Mechanical Amalgamation (LOMO) first produced their Kompakt Automat (LC-A) in 1982. Allegedly it was originally intended for espionage, but the quality of the images meant that the technology was sold to the public instead.