Did you have a terrible day and are now on the look for a fast fix in a few seconds?
Why not jump and log in to your Instagram or Facebook account, type in “Blokess” in the search bar and get ready for a good old laugh.
Blokess is a Finland based comedy group formed by three business students, who have become a social media phenomenon during the past year.
Now two of the funny triplet have just landed in Bangkok, for their study abroad semester in Siam University.
– We had an idea, that we need to go somewhere. I wanted to go to Bali, because of good surfing opportunities, but Jussi (Pulkkinen) insisted otherwise. Then I came up with an idea about Bangkok, as there is so much to do and a lot of opportunities, Martin Kalliola explains.
They heard about Asia Exchange from their friends, who had been studying in both Bangkok and Bali.
– They told us that it was super easy. And so it was, the application process was really effortless, despite trying to get a visa in July in the middle of the holiday season, Kalliola laughs.
New plans and some changes
Blokess will continue making videos, even though the third member of the group, Matti Roth, is staying back in Finland.
– Absolutely! We probably concentrate on topics around our studies. We are going to study and have fun, the themes come from there, Kalliola says.
The very first video from Bangkok was called “a Finn in a tropic”, a 54 seconds description of a Nordic person facing the Asian heat. In the first 12 hours of its release, it collected more than 80 000 views!
So far, Blokess has used Finnish language in their videos, but they’ll are looking into producing some clips for the international audience as well while in Bangkok.
– We will probably make videos with basically no speech, but with some English texts. They will be based on acting and all kinds of different actions.
Acting and facial expressions have indeed played a big part in their videos before, but the exchange semester in Asia might bring some fresh ideas to the acting part.
– We have talked with the chaps for a long time, that we’d like to go and try improvisational theatre. We are sort of actors already, so we should probably learn what it really is at some point, Kalliola laughs.
Bangkok will certainly offer plenty of options for improvisation and more or less anything imaginable.
– In a big city you can basically find anything you like. Personally I’d like to get to know people there and see some different places. It’s good to explore life outside the borders of Finland.
Born by coincidence
Blokess has been around for about two years. In those two years, they have released more than 400 Instagram videos.
Everything started more or less as a coincidence, as Kalliola and Pulkkinen happened to meet during their first day of studies at the University of Eastern Finland.
Kalliola had spent the previous summer recovering from a painful knee injury, and got into the world of short Vine videos.
– On the second day of school I started showing those videos to Jussi and we had so much fun watching them. Actually we set up our own account there and then.
The triplet became complete very soon, as Matti expressed his interest to join the guys in the comments section of the fourth video.
– We took him on board and started off. Bit by bit we moved on from the university stuff to basically anything that crossed our minds. And we did never quit.
It took some resilience though, as the number of followers took some time to develop.
– After about a year the number did skyrocket all of a sudden. I think we just became so much better in what we did and attracted more people.
This summer they could already make a living with their videos.
– We decided in January that we’ll pay our own wages in the summer. It was a dream, really. But now we are back to being students.
Bangkok is another chapter in their lives, something neither of them has experienced before.
– Let’s see what life brings us in Asia. You never know what happens next. Life can change in any given minute, Kalliola reminds.
Asia Exchange wishes Blokess a truly memorable semester in Bangkok and all the best with standing the heat.
For all the others, we highly recommend following us and Blokess in Instagram and Facebook.
Blokess
Instagram: Blokess
Facebook: @instablokess
Asia Exchange
Instagram: AsiaExchange
Facebook: @asiaexchange
