>>> 02.02.2006
Boy, is my finger not on the pulse of the film
community. I try to follow the creative side of the industry quite
closely, but have noticed that I’m quite often diagonally
opposed to the opinion echoed in the media that gets wider readership
than what my writing does, which, of course, means every other media
out there. In the past I’ve been confused by Kill
Bill’s popularity and riled by Roger Ebert. Now I’m
getting cross about Crash, which to my guffaw has gathered a pile of
Oscar nominations.
I promise I’ll try and not go into the cast’s
previous careers gaffes. Everyone deserves a second chance. Some people
deserve many more. I’ll just talk about the movie. Great
set-up: a dramatic, stirring event such as a car crash ties in people
from all walks of life, all social classes, and most importantly for
this movie, from all races, in the car-crash capital of America:
Hell-A. So far so good: sounds it tries to be a bit like Magnolia. It
doesn’t look it, though. Come to think of it, nothing on the
celluloid struck me as special. Photography in particular was
particularly unpart— just, not interesting. So maybe
that’s a good thing – it allowed me to concentrate
on the message of the movie: racial tensions.
So, on to the heart of darkness: the little moral the story has to
offer is stuffed into your face. The racial element is dissected,
crystallized, laminated and shrink-wrapped on the assembly line of
finger-pointing and served like a day-old Big Mac on a silver platter.
Nothing about the movie saves it from its blatant obviousness. The
delivery is unmistakable, the plot turns unmissable from a mile away.
The manipulations to me didn’t look like parables, like Ebert
put it, but instead parallels – we get the same thing over
and over and after a few times I want to shout “yes, I got it
already” but still we keep on getting it.
This is filling, without substance. We have all seen this before, and
better. Nothing about the movie stands out, and yet everything IN it
stands out like a sore thumb.
Ok, I have to tell you my dislike for the flick started from the moment
I saw the poster and read the name. I’m a design buff, and
that poster was an insult. No message, nothing. It’s the
distilled dullness of selling a movie with instant identification.
Bullock, Dillon and Ludacris were probably enough to pull in 50% of the
crowd. And “Crash”? Little respect here, please. A
brilliantly daring movie by the same name was made by David Cronenberg
in 1997, and yes, it refers to car crashes too. In the 2005 film, the
impact of the crash is just not there – it’s all
ABS, SUV and too often the drivers reveal themselves to be mere dummies.
But maybe I’m not mad at the movie. Maybe I’m just
mad that we would need, as it sounds from the applause around, a movie
that feeds you the message of tolerance and humanity pre-prepared and
pureed on the spoon of uninspiredness.
>>> 30.09.2005
Nokia is no longer a Finnish company, and it's losing its core
competency as a marketing company as well, I'm afraid. No need to point
out that the majority of stock has been owned by non-Finnish investors
for years - I'm, again, talking about an ad I just saw. The Finnish
sentence "Tutustu Nokia N90-kuvaamislaitteeseen" prompts the audience
to, quite literally, "Get to know the Nokia N90 photographing
apparatus". The sentence is clumsy and the expression is archaic,
though not as bad as the transliteration, obviously (haven't seen an
English copy yet, let me know when you see the equivalent, please).
What happened to "camera phone"? Ok, so you are trying to position the
product above and beyond camera phones, but butchering the copy and the
message won't get you far. This communicates nothing - not the
differentiation, not the benefit.
This must have been derived from an English source
message, possibly localized outside of Finland. I've seen sentences
like this one up close, even carried responsibility for a couple of
slips like this, but never as prominent thankfully. Whoever is in
charge of localization there, wake up.
And in the first place, why the positioning
outside of the primary phone-category? Did you learn nothing from
N-Gage? Why would anyone buy a "photographing apparatus" from Nokia?
Not a whole lot of people bought a handheld gaming apparatus that you
could make calls with. You have to decide what the main value
proposition is. What is the differentiation your customers are the most
sensitive to? Is Nokia a choice when buying a phone? Is it a choice
when buying a camera?
There were two better options: 1) position the
phone as an upmarket camera phone, attractive to the people who
actually look at the specs before buying a phone, or 2) launch a better
separated, outside brand that represents - and leads - a new category
of, say, imaging communication (without any thought put into it, but
just as an example).
Why so? Because if your customers are confused
about your offer, they don't know what they should buy it as. This is
the result of a special case of marketing myopia - the brand extension
myopia. Nokia, flexing its muscles, starts to create categories under
the Nokia brand, instead of creating categories to position in the
customer's mind. This will not work, because "Nokia" is just a
placeholder in the buyer's mind - a placeholder for mobile phones. As a
straightforward example, people will not go out to buy "the best camera
phone from Nokia", instead, they'll want to buy "the best camera
phone". If it happens to be a Nokia, great.
Brand loyalty is simply a categorization thing -
who are the placeholders, and what is the category? And there can only
be so many categories. I'm too busy to start digging up the
psychological references, but I wouldn't be surprised if the number of
categories in an average person's mind would be close to the number of
mainstream celebrities there are in a culture at any given time. The
number is the same, in ballpark, regardless of the size of the cultural
area (nation, language area, MTV audience etc.) because the human mind
is only capable of holding a certain limited of names and faces
(categories) at a time.
Ok, this is starting to sound like I'm writing my
undergrad thesis all over again. I'm sure you got the point. If you
disagree - do let me know.
>>> 29.09.2005
No
update in 6 months... Nope, I'm still alive. But my G5 was dead for a
rather long time, and my pricey Apple Care wasn't being very helpful.
And when I finally got the machine back to action, I could no longer
access the client I'd used to edit my site, and of course, the
passwords to the servers were buried in the software... What a great
reason to switch to Blogger of MovableType for a site like this. It's
just aggravating. Web/thin clients are the way of the future anyway.
As a quick update: still in London, in the same
job (a couple of promotions later though) and still with grand plans
for the future, that, by each passing day, still looks to loom as far
as always. I'm already working on my mid-life crisis, I guess. Oh, and
I moved.
Goodbye, Soho. Or farewell. And I had a great summer in Finland, three
whole weeks, with rain on maybe two days the whole time. London has had
even more than its usual share.
A friend from army days just moved to London to
start his studies at LSE, and talking with him and his friends really
prompted me to think about going back to school as well. The business
undergraduate degree I have has served me well for the last 3 years,
but I know I need an upgrade, but don't quite think I'd like to do an
MBA yet (if at all, really). A more specialized Master's degree would
suit me better - something that would actually result in gaining new
skills. Technical or analytical, most likely. I just trust numbers.
>>> 19.03.2005
I was
reading the news on CNN just a sec ago, and an Orbitz ad popped under
one of my windows. I was about to close it when I took a better look at
it - a point-of-view on ice over a puck ready for a slamshot, facing an
ice hockey goalkeeper. With the rather ingeniuos Flash-animation, you
can point to the direction you want to shoot - but next to the
goalkeeper, on the ice, are some guys walking with signs, without
helmets or any relevant gear for that matter. Oh, boy. It would really
hurt if somebody shot the puck their way? They can't let me do that,
can they?
But whaddayaknow. I take the shot clicking on the
ad and hit one of the innocent bystanders. He falls down and is not
getting up. And what do the friendly people at Orbitz think about this?
Here's a screengrab: Cheap
Shot: We knew you'd try to do that. Fun, isn't it? There's a
guy lying on the ice, not moving, thus apparently unconscious or dead.
FUN, ISN'T IT? Assholes. If you book a trip with Orbitz and get violent
at a hockey match, you can surely sue them for false advertising if you
get into trouble. I'll personally steer clear of Orbitz, thanks much.
People who work in marketing... jeez.
>>> 07.02.2005
On a lighter note (than yesterday's post), I just saw Sideways.
A real damn good movie. Go see it, but don't identify with the guys too
much (as I did, guess which one?). "No, I'm not drinking Merlot! If
someone orders fucking Merlot, I'm leaving!" Whole-heartedly agreed
with.
>>> 06.02.2005
There
seems to be an error in the world. I just added the white band to the
upper corner, in case you were wondering, and this post relates to the
same issue. I’m very sympathetic to the cause, and
Mandela’s visit was well-timed: in the UK media there has
been increasing talk about Africa and promises made on improving the
situation of the forgotten continent.
Making poverty history begs for a social and
economic reform. It demands fair rules for foreign trade, dropping the
debt on poor nations and more aid for ailing countries. But in essence,
it demands a different distribution of wealth. How can we make poverty
history? I’m far from even hinting at suggesting an answer,
but let’s take a look at the numbers – show me the
money.
The global GDP in 2003 equaled some 36,356,240
million US dollars (using millions since billions & trillions
have a varying number of zeros in the UK and US). At the end of 2003,
the world population was an estimated 6,300 million people. When
talking about poverty, we can use GDP to equate wealth and for the
purposes of wealth distribution. Thus, a crude calculation shows us
that the average value per capita produced in 2003 was about $5,700.
For nearly anyone with the access to the technology to read this text,
that sounds very low, but it must be put in perspective with buying
power. Although GDP is not pure money, it consists of goods and
services that must have trade value.
The Economist Intelligence Unit ranks living costs
around the world, using New York as 100. Well, that’s really
starting the bargaining from the higher end of the price range. There
are a few places more expensive than the Big Apple, but they
don’t contain much of the world’s population. The
price indexes are mostly measured for cities, too (though most of the
population does prefer to live in urban areas). I don’t have
a good calculation for this, but let’s estimate: the cost of
living in the world on average is about 35 to New York’s 100.
This would mean that if weighed wealth was evenly distributed, you
should try to get by with about $16,400 if you lived in Manhattan. West
side, East side, doesn’t really matter – you get
the point.
Naturally, this calculation doesn’t take
into account the fact that poor countries are much less productive than
rich Western countries. The 2003 US GDP per capita was app. $37,500.
This can’t be transferred directly in the above scenario,
since equal productivity worldwide would probably mean changes in
scarcity of goods and services produced, and under any sustainable
economical model, scarcity is equaled with wealth. It must also be
noted that not all areas of the world are equally suitable for
production of the goods and services needed in large quantities. You
can get by with $37,500 a year, right?
Let’s bring this into perspective, then.
In 2001, an estimated 2,700 million people were living on under $2 per
day, or $730 per year. That is 13% of the average $5,700 we saw
earlier. That is also 13% of average health, education, safety
– the human suffering is hardly quantifiable at this level.
And that's only when compared to the global average of welfare.
Compared to a person living on $50,000 per year, these 2,700,000,000
people would only reach 1.5% of that person's level of good in economic
terms.
At $5,700 you would be living on $15 a day. That
is livable, that is doable. But when that is the average –
the rule, not an exception, not something you can grow out of
– the picture is pretty bleak.
But it’s not as bad as I thought at
first – my hypothesis was that “there is not enough
money in the world for everyone”. And since the above figures
are based on GDP, that may well be the case (sometimes it seems
there’s never enough money for anyone). The way out? Equal
development, increased investment in poor and low-return countries, and
aid – like many have established before. But we are, even in
the best case, moving towards an average that may be unsatisfactory.
Cut-throat capitalism can’t get us there, socialism has
failed repeatedly. Superbowl's on right now, BTW - look at those ads,
count the seconds, count the money - count how many years of good those
seconds could have bought somewhere else. The context was different,
but I feel like this belongs here: Detective Somerset in the end of the
film Seven quoted Hemingway; “the world is a good place, and
worth fighting for”, and added, “I agree with the
second part.”
Sources used:
http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/popclockworld.html
http://www.worldbank.org/data/databytopic/GDP.pdf
http://www.finfacts.com/costofliving4.htm
http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html
http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/
http://www.makepovertyhistory.org/
http://hivinsite.ucsf.edu/InSite.jsp?page=pa-00-00&doc=pa-3098.0181
>>> 24.11.2004
Some
time ago, out of the blue, I bought Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal,
and saw it just a moment ago. What a masterpiece. Truths after truths,
beautiful dialogue and an ideally balanced screenplay, allowing all the
heaviness and solemnity to be delivered and still carrying enough
energy to uplift the viewer. Movies like this are no longer made, it
seems.
>>> 20.11.2004
I’ve
been off for a while, turned off from the world, tuned down. Right now,
very slowly recovering from a flu that doesn’t seem to go
away, just hangs there like an awkward comment in the air in the middle
of a hot date.
A lot of other things have gone wrong as well. The
election was horrible indeed. I stayed up most of the night, first
watching the news in disbelief, then lying awake in my bed wondering
what the hell is going on in the world. That’s been the
slogan of the overarching theme in my life lately: “What the
hell is going on?”
Which, of course, could partly be due to my
catching up on my Lynch. I’ve bought, and viewed (a couple of
times in some cases) Eraserhead,
Lost
Highway, Dune
and Blue
Velvet, accompanied with the screenplays whenever possible.
Releases like these rarely come with a commentary track – and
I really don’t think we would have David explaining his
movies to us anyway. That would be surreal: I think he should,
actually, as FBI Regional Bureau Chief Gordon Cole from Twin Peaks.
Which reminds me of my early Christmas present to myself: the boxed
Twin Peaks seasons from Fopp.
Oh shit, now I spoiled my surprise.
A week ago I met two old friends, Jan and Peter,
both a bit older so we never got to hang as kids, but met both in
London and Lappeenranta on a few occasions. We got pretty drunk, so I
just mostly remember that Jan has a great blog
(a top 50 movie list? thumbs up) and that Pete plays Halo 2 for living.
Or on those lines.
A couple of days ago I stopped to help an old man
who had fallen off his bike on a busy street and hurt his hip, and
learned that 1) you really should always help others in need, 2) the
other people who stop to help as well are good people; 3) if you get
hurt within 1 kilometer of a hospital, it takes two phone calls and 30
minutes for the ambulance to arrive; and 4) London taxi drivers are
mostly assholes.
>>> 31.10.2004
What an
October... I've been travelling nearly every week, and at the same time
felt a growing urge to give myself more time - more from work, more
from old routines. I have succeeded to some extent, but a dog likes to
live a dog's life. I did get through a quite a few books I've wanted to
read for long (Stanislavsky
and Mamet,
for example), and I've started to write more (no, not on this site,
obviously).
Otherwise I've been degenarating to some of my old
ways and tastes, and have filled my iTunes with good old Nordic Metal.
Tonight there's a small Halloween-gig which I'll try and go enjoy. And
then, crossing fingers on Tuesday when the leader of the free world is
again drawn (or the issue taken to court).
>>> 30.09.2004 I was traveling in
Dublin for work this week, which happened to coincide nicely with the Dublin Fringe Festival.
I managed to catch three plays - and hopefully will have time for one
or two more next week when I'm going back for two days.
My Foot My Tutor was the first one. A very
physical, very accurate and articulate even without dialogue, the 60
minute 2-man piece depicted the relationship between a ward and a
warden. It was a pleasure to watch and interesting to decipher - many
pieces started to fall to their place only towards the very end of the
play, and Articulate Anatomy (I just checked the name - very
representative, I must say) did a very professional job. Very fringe
too. The intro says it's "Brecht and Beckett" combined, and I sure do
agree with the Beckett part.
Same night, later, I decided to go see Gryffhead.
Apparently the production was shortlisted for Best New Writing Theatre
Wales Award in 2003 - and unless it was the only contender in Wales, I
can't see why. The resumes of the cast were good, even impressive on
some accounts, and impressive was also the flatness and lack of life
with which the play was delivered. It must not have only been a bad day
for the cast, but I think the director had to be asleep for most of the
rehersals. All I have to say is I would've walked out, but I had kicked
my other shoe too far under the seat and couldn't find it in the dark.
The last one, by accident, was Byron And Emily Go
To Work. Two poet kids take up temp jobs in a multinational corporation
"just to pay the bills", and end up hating every breath they take
there, yet turning more and more complacent and numb to their
situation. Let's just say it struck a chord with me. Above and beyond,
the delivery was excellent. The cast, mostly American, from the New
York company Quattro Gatti, gave a very versatile and professional
show. The text was good - nothing phenomenal, nicely experimental at
parts, but too often somewhat repetitive and losing its rhythm. All in
all, a great experience, which surely made me think (too much - ouch)
>>> 19.09.2004
Nananaa,
still updating this old trash heap of a homepage. And dear boys and
girls, I've actually been busy lately. Work's kicking in again, had a
friend over for a week from Finland, another friend moved in from Costa
Rica, and just recently I made another visit to my sister's place to
see my wonderful, now 7 weeks old, niece
Freya. But - have I been doing something
worthwhile? Remains to be seen - stay tuned. Oh, I did start collecting
"Heman and Masters of the Universe"-figures, after a break of 17 years.
Yeah, the original ones, obviously.
I also found a great web app that helped me make
my room much more interesting, and cheaply too. The
Rasterbator from the friendly folks at Homokaasu.org (just
try to live with the names). Look at some
of the images I managed to
crop-rasterbate-print-tape-together-and-on-the-wall (this one featuring
bro Markus and lil'sis Sandra).
>>> 22.08.2004
Today was a Sunday. A Sunday is what you have when you grow old, when
inspiration is gone and when you sit and wait, holding in your hands a
face of a faded color. When you are old every day is a Sunday. When you
are in hospital every day is a Sunday. Sunday ends the week, and
fittingly it ends life as well.
This Sunday I finally went to see the Hopper
retrospective, and after two hours in Tate Modern, my feet ached, I was
tired and dizzy, and yet I thought the exhibition was too short.
I first got the shivers and the hair on the back
of my neck stood up as I stood in front of "Sunday" - what else. A
peaceful painting: a solitary man in cold but all-encompassing
sunlight, sitting on the curb - and waiting. The lighthouse paintings
of the same period were overwhelming as well. Edward's over-dominant
wife Jo said that the lighthouse was her husband's self-portrait, and
there she must have been absolutely correct. I have never before felt
such sympathy toward a picture of a building.
Seeing "Nighthawks" in it's full, original color
is a unique experience as well. No print, no poster of this famous
masterpiece can do justice to the light that seems to shine from beyond
into this world in that nightly New York cafe. Many paintings later,
after standing outside dimly lit buildings in the wind, peering through
big windows in the tired sunlight of the late afternoon and endlessly
guessing why is the proscenium curtain always drawn, I had to face the
empty room with perfect light flooding in from a small window. Where
this light comes from is impossible to say - the sky, the sun, the
heaven itself? Here, there is no action, only a state, which claims its
existence with or without an observer present. An existence for its own
sake - in my mind a dramatic deviation from the earlier themes. I want
to believe that this image is balance, at long last achieved.
Finally, I bid farewell to the final portrait
before the curtain was drawn forever. Interestingly, the last link is
the only one to break the chain - the direct human contact of the
image, the depicted characters standing hand in hand, waving, looking
at the viewer. For once in Edward's art, the characters are explicitly
not what they seem to be. They wear costumes, they wear make-up, and
they stand on the edge of a stage in plain view facing the audience,
the curtain still open. Even the light in this picture looks benign,
forgiving almost - but the show is clearly over. He may have called
them two "The two comedians", but standing there, I had a hard time
fighting my tears in front of the inevitable.
>>> 15.08.2004
Some people still check this page? Well, hello again then. I have just
had the most sweaty weekend building a little friggin' Ikea-land in my
room in London's Soho. The living space works a bit better now, but the
room itself is still rather funny with its tilted floors and crooked,
wholly un-euclidean ceilings. The back window gives to the backyards of
clubs and restaurants, with hellish air-conditioners humming and
blowing day and night. It's a desolate wasteland at the heart of London
- only two alley cats live there, the other one striped like a tiger,
the other one pitch black; both very large.
>>> 30.04.2004
Happy May First! Hyvää Wappua! It's official now -
I'm moving to London in a few days, hopefully for a longer period, too.
Good two months of relaxation and reflecting has been fruitful, I
think, and it's time to move on. I won't be updating this in a while,
I'm afraid, as I'm planning to upload a completely different, better
virtual self-representation that will likely be more multi-faceted.
What comes to the sound track of my life, there are quite a few good
songs about London, but even then I've been spinning most of them to
exhaustion lately.
>>> 02.04.2004
Since leaving the States the end of February, I've been mostly on the
road, hanging form the ends of crappy modem connections and haven't
been very motivated to update. Not very much has happened either
– I've been filing papers for a few schools, catching up with
friends and family and taking it easy. It's been a good period of
reflection and tying together a few loose ends – fleshing out
life's plotline to the storyboard. And it’s great to have
those idle mornings when the only decision you have to make is whether
you draw with inks or try your hand with paints.
I’m writing this at my mom’s house where
I’ve been helping with practical things and playing with my
little sister’s guinea pigs. At slower times I’ve
started devouring my mother’s library of art and design books
and gained a whole new appreciation for Nordic design. I find it silly
now that I wasn’t up in San Fran every weekend going through
the small galleries and museums I never made it to.
Next I’ll start practicing what I preach and finally
re-organize my site so that it support more of direct
blogging-functionality. Bear with me
>>>
02.02.2004 ...And I’m so used
to being the youngest in any group, be it school or work. I have a
feeling that might change. A good end to my 23's was at Squaw Valley.
This has been the fastest year to date, and
looking back it seems that every year has been faster than the previous
one. That’s not the kind of progress I want from life, quite
frankly. Either I’ve filled my days with too much things to
process or then my memory has just been getting worse. Remedies to both
seem unrealistic options, so better just swallow the chalk? My bro just
called me again and told me how he’d seen some of the
schedules I’d done for myself in the past and how packed they
were - and then he told me to learn from him. And then we both laughed.
I have a very good year behind me in the States, I
only spent 3 weeks of my 24th year outside of the US, which, combined
with the preceding Texas-experience has given me what I believe is a
pretty good and accurate image of the country. And although bashing
America is still the favorite past time of many Europeans, ex-pat or
not, there is much good in this country. And even more good intent. At
least the politics are more interesting here, although often following
the commentary on the boob tube is ended with a swift click of the
remote a small sigh “bullshit”. Maybe I just read
too much Franken and still watch Fox. OK,
OK, just for entertainment purposes (yeah, their news are subliminally
funny).
Google recently launched a service called Orkut, which gets
more than a few chuckles from the Finnish audience... A good, although
not entirely accurate, explanation was given by The Register. The topic of the
story is just not very flattering (although that must've been fixed by
now. Disclaimer: I actually have no inside knowledge about any of
this.). To set things straight, "orkut" is actually
a plural form of the word "orkku", the Finnish slang
equivalent for "orgasm". A networking product calling itself roughly
‘multiple orgasms’ does convey a strong positive
connotation – but yeah, try using that for business
networking in Finland now. But even the best of names are not perfect
– my own given name was a good laugh for over a year in one
of my very favorite countries.
>>> 09.01.2004
I finally got the long-anticipated Kaucas’s
Saastaa Suusta CD. Authentic stuff, congrats and a bow deep to the
East. And rather different from the music featured in the previous
update, granted. Since then, the holidays passed nicely in Tahoe and in
numerous coffee shops with good books and slowly filling notepads. And
after that quite a lot in the gym as well, in accordance with my
15-point New Year’s resolution compendium. Trying to remember
all of them should keep me busy during 2004. I sincerely wish a happy
2004 to you too, friend.
>>> 17.12.2003
I had the joy and honor of seeing Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
last night, minute past midnight in the packed Coronet theater in SF. I
didn’t wear pointy ears, but I sure was cheering with the
rest of the fanatics. And yes, it’s worth it. Worth seeing a
few times – and why wait, I’ll go see it again in
two hours.
After watching the extended versions of the previous parts of the of
the trilogy, it was rather peculiar how looking at ROTK you could tell
that there was probably something more to a particular scene, comment
or character reaction. I was earmarking the movie all the time. Thank
goodness there is still something to look forwards to. And by the time
ROTK: Extended DVD version comes out, I hope they’ve already
secured the rights to film the Hobbit. Why settle for reality when you
have Middle-Earth?
Sticking to the high-level topic, I marched into
Tower Records in Mountain View, rather skeptically, but there they had
it – Battlelore’s
Sword’s Song! Maybe not a big surprise, their contract is
with Napalm Records after all, but it was very cool to buy the record
of a band featuring some people I’ve known from way back on
the other side of the globe. Especially as they rock as much as they
do. Out of the blue, I also stumbled upon old records by Amorphis and
Samhain. Back to basics, I say.
Update from the last month: we gave thanks in Las
Vegas, although I believe we were rather ungrateful. No biggie, a very
good pilgrimage again. Death
Valley on the way was a great experience, and I got some good
road trip footage
from our 4-day endeavor. Two weeks ago I also got to try a few
interesting things – finally started to learn how to juggle
(big thing for me) and got to try a flying
trapeze for the first time, even with a catcher. All this and
more goes on in the SF Circus School. And of course we celebrated the Independence Day of Finland
with sauna, traditional drinks (=anything straight up) and
Eija’s makaroonilaatikko (our version of macaroni and cheese,
every kid’s favorite).
>>> 16.11.2003
Updated the Top List page
a little bit.
>>> 15.11.2003
As I write this I'm talking with my bro on the phone who is partying
with other Finland-residing Kaucas members at 6a.m. at our old flat in
Helsinki. They just had Kaucas's release gig for the new record, which
I've heard has been really well received in for example Sue Magazine.
After listening to those same deep-east Kaucas songs for a couple of
years I can't wait to press my ear against the new material. Dammit,
I'm sure they showed Helsinki some good ol' 53 spirit. Wish I was there
to see that.
>>> 11.11.2003
It's Tuesday night and I think I'm still recovering from Saturday
night. It started as a very regular paint-the-town-red-tour (this
time's limo ride),
and after leaving the first club (around 1:30 when they close in this
wonderland), we luckily got the coordinates to a house party, which
ended up being stuff of legends for a night out in San Francisco - an
obviously underground party with brilliant DJs, stiff drinks, a sweet
smell hovering heavy in the air and a huge loft filled with beautiful
people. With a door man of impressive size, mind you.
After the previous post (below) and what I'm going
to say next some people are going to hold me in even lower regard than
before. Whatever. The final episode of the Matrix Trilogy was actually
pretty... good. It almost avoids the worst clichés that epic
conclusions often fall prey to, and even as it trips a few times (less
than #2, thank goodness) on its own mystery and vagueness the story
stays solid. If I had a few extra days I'd like to write a full
analysis of the story with some backup from a few German philosophers.
Hmm. Maybe I'll do that.
In the other news, saw Mike Patton, Rahzel, Saul
Williams... and a Stanford Cardinals game, which made me miss the
Longhorn games though.
>>>
28.10.2003 I saw Kill Bill, vol. 1.
recently. It is a phenomenally bad movie. Whereas Q. Tarantino may be
under the impression that he can do absolutely anything to a movie and
get away with it. Now, I don't know if he got away or not, but I do
know that the movie is bad. From storyline (non-existent, 90 minutes
includes two events), characters (paper-thin and totally unimaginative)
and dialogue (canned clichés) to photography (silhouettes!
anime! zoom in! pan up! jump!), music (same score thrown in everywhere
like glue over a model plane, about to fall apart) and continuity (all
the amateur mistakes) - it's downhill from the first frame. Realism, of
course, is not a consideration. It is just blatantly obvious that
anyone involved in the script has never held a sword, thrown a knife or
fired a gun. Or if they have, they also think they can do anything to a
movie. Well, you can, but it's probably going to be crap.
>>>
09.10.2003 Haha! I have a camera again
(no, I'm not lifting the curse on the guy who has my previous one). A
beautiful Minolta Xt now follows me everywhere I go.
My dad dropped by from Finland for 72 whole hours
and we took to Yosemite for most of that time. Of course, in October,
the park is really dry, so instead of waterfalls we concentrated on
Glacier point (a look at Half
Dome from there), Sentinel Point (second tallest peak close
to the Valley - me
on the top, between the domes) and a black bear
(here showing his/her behind).
In the civilized world, another fun fellow joined
the jolly Google/AIESEC-family. Here's Simon with
Aradhana and Patty (more fun people) at Adam's party last
Saturday.
I went to see Billy Idol at the Warfield a day
before that. The show pretty much sucked, but hey, it's "Billy fucking
Idol", as the artist himself introduced himself to the crowd, jumping
on the guitar monitors. In addition to needlessly long and not so
talented guitar solos à la the 80's, we got to hear all the
classics. Plenty of panties flying onstage, too.
>>>
22.09.2003 Whoops. Was that just two
months without an update? Maybe I haven't had anything worthwhile to
say...
Last weekend I spent in Ensenada, Mexico, with the
usual suspects. Latin American countries are definitely not the same. I
think I had a culture shock of some kind with my still vivid memories
from Costa Rica a little over a year ago. Ensenada is not
super-touristic, but it has just enough of cruise ships and 4-by-4's
heading its way from the States to spell out: gringos, easy money. So
the town is divided in two: the gringo Ensenada and the mexican
Ensenada. And guess where all the money, effort and attention goes?
That's why the "authentic part" of the town is not worth it, and the
"unauthentic part" is -- well, just that.
But that's the overtone. There are things to do
and see, and it's easy to have fun (in either part of the town). The
beaches are trashy, though. Real trashy. You can expect that of the
cities, even the highways, but when the countryside looks like one big
junkyard and the beaches are littered with cans, bottles and organic
residue (shit), it makes me think that it's a wonder that the area
draws any kind of foreign investment in real estate. Hey: for the same
money, you can get the paradise you want a few countries further down
south (and real tropic).
Okay, sounds like last weekend sucked. It was fun.
Four weeks ago I returned from a two-week Finland
trip, which was an adventure from the beginning, from the mandatory
second-to-last-minute boarding to the East Coast blackout that left me
and a few thousand others stuck on the JFK airport for 24 hours.
Finland kicked ass, frankly. The people are the
best, and even the weather was okay for once (yeah, no snow). Thanks to
everyone I met.
Oh yeah, Markus put up his blog finally. www.jarvenpaa.org/mks.
>>>
19.07.2003 Okay, I caved in. I'm
staying here. Yes, maybe I have been away for so long that my dreams of
the Old World have started to fade and lose color, to get that
sepia-tint. It just seems that there is more to be done here, things
that I have wanted to do, but did not manage to get done in the past 5+
months. And simultaneously it feels like days are shorter and hours run
past quicker than ever before... Is this how one gets trapped in the
rat race? Ask me in ten years, if you can find me.
I think the problem is that it is a bit too safe
here. I find myself taking risks, financial, physical and mental, that
I didn't feel a need for before this. And even as I see I feel the
need, it is nearly impossible to see what fills the need felt. In vain
it is to try to heal the wounds of the world with tricks of words.
>>>
09.07.2003 Well... I haven't been too
keen on updating this since my camera ended up being one of the
casualties of my Austin trip in late May. That, and my health. After
recovering from all that for a very long time, it seems, it's time to
pick this habit up again. What's news? I still know nothing about how
long I'll stay here, but things seem to happen quite fast and
unexpectedly in some circles - like flying me off to Florida for four
days one and half weeks ago. With a two-hour warning. Which was cool,
of course.
>>> 01.05.2003 A few snippets
of news: Santa Barbara, last weekend, was cool and hot, like last time
but differently… Thanks for a place to crash Will! And to
Isla Vista for putting up the maddest party, again! No photos? For the
better, trust me.
The Finns (a select few really) took a trip up to North Cali over a
week ago, which would have been relaxing if it wasn't for Kales
tendency for winding roads and, eh, performance driving to put it
nicely. To share a few photos: windy
shores at Mendocino, Thuong
trying to fly (almost succeeded), Kalle throwing stones
and building a boat
(after 40 minutes of hard work, it sank immediately. Stick to coding
Kalle.), us hugging
a big ol’ tree, me taking a breather on a cliff
and some beautiful
woods…
And last but not least, I got myself a car, fulfilling the claim that
the first one I'd buy would be a Porsche.
>>>
07.04.2003 Scotland Ye Brave
Adventures continue: from Wednesday to Monday I was in Scotland, more
specifically Edinburgh and St. Andrews, where my big sister Mirka got
married with Scott – now Mr. And Mrs. Barclay.
After arriving to Edinburgh we drove around the Scottish Lowlands (on
the wrong side of the road) before checking in to Hotel Rusacks in St.
Andrews. Even the first day was very temperate and nice, very
non-Scottish as I heard. An extended evening
walk on the beach next to our hotel and the 18th hole of the
Old Course was what we all needed, and it was nice to hang out with
part of the family
for a change. The setting was beautiful and I really like how the
photos turned out: here’s a few, Markus
doing a headstand, Sandra
doing a cartwheel and myself
trying the same. St. Andrews nightlife isn’t
anything to write home about, but we stuck around in Pub Central until
they tossed everyone out.
Next day was dedicated to some serious sightseeing. We headed north,
first toward Castle
Glamis which used to be for example the childhood home of the
Queen Mother. From there we sped on up to Blair
Athol to see whisky
production as close as possible. The tour ended with a tasting
round, and we took home a series of excellent malt whiskys,
my favorites being 16 year old Lagavulin and 12 year old Blair Athol.
We came back just in time for looking at St. Andrews in the dimming
daylight, and found that if you use the door
which says “No Entry” to the cathedral
ruins, you don’t have to pay the admission. Very
convenient. The night was dedicated to some live music and this time
Belgian beer. It’s good to change the theme even though the
substance would be the same… This time Markus got a bit lost
on the way back though.
Saturday came along, and so did Mirka’s and Scott’s
great day. The bridesmaids Sandra
and Tuuli waited patiently for the bride to arrive while
listening to the bagpiper at the door. Finally the 1930’s
Alvis pulled up to the entrance and Heikki could take her daughter to
the altar. I
do’s were exchanged in a modern manner and soon
enough we were all enjoying haggis
(in a very digestable form this time) and wedding
cake. Atmosphere was very Scottish
indeed. The night was another long one, concluding in Lizard Lounge
(where I had a price on my head, as I later learned), the only good
night spot in St. Andrews.
Sunday the rest of the bunch took off and left me in Edinburgh, where I
tried to stay awake to be able to see the
castle and maybe other parts of the city, but I kind of
failed… after a strong nap it was up and out again
– Edinburgh on a Sunday night is very good too, I learned. In
contrast to the US, almost all European places seem to have the
partying down pretty well… But damn, I too had to pack up
and leave, running around Heathrow trying to make the connecting flight
and not sleeping on the way back as The Two Towers was on all the way,
some three times.
>>>
31.03.2003 Tahoe!
How funny that snow should reflect light, no? Saturday, after five
hours on the slopes
I understood the value of sunscreen after a long pause. Yes, I sure did
burn my face,
but actually it was worth it this time: Kirkwood was an
excellent ski resort, I got to do more than a few runs in a t-shirt and
finally, really started to get the hang of the board strapped to my
feet.
We arrived on a Friday, took it easy at the
casinos and got home just in time for sunrise. The gang was mostly
composed of friends
from Google and the plan was to share a cabin (that sleeps app. 8) with
15+ people. I got the floor spot, the one just next to the heater,
under the dining table. Jolly.
After the Saturday runs, a lot of after-sun lotion
and a good dinner we relaxed at a beautiful cabin provided by Regina,
sipping cocktails in the Jacuzzi on the deck, under a starry northern
sky. Around 2 AM we finally decided to hit the casinos, which for
fortunate as that covered the days ski ticket and equipment rentals for
my part. All weren’t that lucky…
On a Sunday morning, after having cramps on the
floor for 3 hours that were supposed to be for sleeping, we headed down
to Napa Valley with
Jens and Anders (thanks for the photo, Jens!). The trip was
a good addition to Jens’s Geo Metro’s resume. Great
thing we made it all the way, and even better, found two nice, small
wineries and tasted a variety of wines, even taking a few good ones
home.
>>>
24.03.2003 A link I want to make known
to y'all: 1. The March of Death , a web site
that hosts the song by Zack de la Rocha and DJ Shadow, with lyrics. Not
for the propaganda-challenged obviously, but a great way to get the
message around. For me, greater than the message is the utilization of
the medium by the artist who is seeking to make an impact on the world
he (or she or they, as is this case here) observes and interprets.
>>>
23.03.2003 Another numerically funny date. I'm sure the
Psychic TV people knew how to appreciate this one. This week we were
glad to welcome Laia, from Barcelona, into our Googlien-community. This
also includes me soon moving three doors down and her taking over the
room I have stayed in for the last 6 weeks. A week ago I met the first
Finns in the area, and we got wasted and took a limo to Ruby
Skie, a very regular Friday… Yesterday we had the joy of
BBQing at Kelly’s place and later the same night hosting a
Jacuzzi-after-party at our place (1:Steph,
Weiwei, Laia, Aaron; 2: The Trainees).
It ran into the after hours too, so we had the manager join us for a
quick word or two, and the party sort of died off. But we also got to
inaugurate the pool season (Jacuzzi is heated, the pool is not, and it
sure was cold) after the whole drunken mad international crowd followed
Martin’s example and dove in. Much fun!
Right now I'm sitting on the pool side enjoying a
sunny and warm Sunday afternoon, occasionally writing this, listening
to old surf punk and reading the Tipping Point, a book I wanted to read
for a long time already. The great, blessed idleness.
PS. I try to keep this as impartial and low-level
as possible, but: there is more to freedom than cheap gas. I have
watched with disbelief and partly denial the advancing army, heading
toward Baghdad. The news that trickle to us are without a doubt very
partial, in all senses, and with the latest news it seems that you
don’t need a jungle to have the invaders go through very hard
times. We already know Vietnam was a mistake, with this crisis we can
only wait and see.
>>>
11.03.03 Last weekend was a blast. Oh my
goodness, if I would have known that a place like Santa Barbara exists
before I decided where I wanted to study the choice would have been an
easy one! This is how it went...
After a good all-night party at Nicola's place in
San Jose I drove our little ´89 Acura down to Santa Barbara
with Katja and Weiwei. The trip was good, except that the manual
gearbox' 5th gear occasionally popped off at speeds over 70 m.p.h. Made
the trip interesting...
In Santa Barbara the reception was warm and very
AIESEC-y, group photos and line dancing to Cotton-Eye Joe. Well, I got
over it :-). After meeting some amazingly nice people and pow-wowing
about different stuff it was time... to... party! And right now, I have
to give the biggest thanks and hats off to the Santa Barbara AIESEC
crew (there were at least Jamie,
Journey, Meagan, Shauna, Alice, Michelle, Mira, Shane, Matt,
Jeremy... and if I got someone's name wrong, correct me, now) for
putting that evening together so well! Respect! I'd say I'll never
forget it, but hey, there was a formidable amount of alcohol involved...
Another general thing about SB that really
conquered my heart (the other isn't a reference to alcohol, it's the
people, just that you know) was the atmosphere created by the
combination of the beach, the campus area and the laid-back style of
living all mixed together. And the amount of skateboards on the
streets. On a hot Saturday afternoon, sitting on the sidewalk,
listening to punk rock blasting from passing pickup-trucks and watching
a boy and a girl skateboard past hand in hand - I thought, oh my, I
think I could drop it all right now and not go anywhere from here.
But there were places to go that night for sure.
An international progressive house party that had everybody completely
soaked, hammered, wasted and having
a real good time. The houses were all decorated with
different international themes and the package came with drinks
pertaining to the particular culture. We rushed from a house to
another, from a punch bowl to another (some tried to catch
dinner in process) and many ended up dancing on the tables
(and posing
nicely, or just doing their native dances
:-D)- I might have been there too but you have no proof... And, at some
point the San Diego posse was coming up with an AIESEC-adaptation
of 50 Cent's "Birthday".
Sunday was great too. I welcomed my royal hangover
like an old friend who has been away for too long, and we ended up
lying on the beach for an hour or two. Steph had to
go for a swim, quite spontaneously. There, throwing cartwheels on the
sand and watching dolphins
play in the water close to the shore I decided to slightly re-draft my
future plans. No, I'm not telling yet, but when we started our drive back, I
was left with a mixed feeling of serenity as well as passion... Darn
California, I am getting soft!
The story didn't end here... Jack had his camera
along too, his photos are available in his Yahoo-album (son muy buenas,
aunque no hay ni un solo gringo en la foto "Gringos". Y yo tengo un gran
problema en lograr salir con cara normal en las fotos...).
>>>
03.03.03 The day of the Great
TripleThree! I don't know yet what that means, I just coined it this
morning when I realized what the date was. Funny. This won't occur
again until a hundred years. Not that it has a meaning...
Working
with a bigger company, albeit a very start-up minded one, is actually
quite different from what I expected. The routine is not there, which
I'd think is quite good. You visualize life after school and you think
9-to-5 working, steady stuff and regular paychecks. Thank goodness
that's not the case. Can't feel bad about the paycheck though. I don't
think I'd be quite as comfortable with a job that requires complacency
and averts questioning and constant development. Yes, I feel satisfied,
but I'll never feel complacent.
The
constant flow of work has changed me though. Unlike back in school,
especially in Austin where the environment was relatively competitive
and really motivating, I have been concentrating much more on the
issues at hand and planned notably less. I haven't drafted a single
irrelevant business plan in a month now - I think my attention span has
finally expanded beyond three minutes.
>>>
25.02.2003 Third week at Google rolls on
and life is good. A few more photos from a short scenic drive: Golden Gate Bridge,
the
trainee-bunch on the hill and me at same spot.
Another photo-addition from Jonna's birthday party
back in Finland in the beginning of February. Just linking to them
fast, battery is running out and someone wants to see them in a few
hours, on my site... 1,
2,
3,
4
!!!
>>>
17.02.2003 Someone was
asking me to share photos of a few bands I saw in Austin. It wouldn't
be fair to share if it wasn't for everyone, no?
>>> 15.02.2003 Photo time! A
few additions from Mountain View, California...
Pool
area
Passageway
View from
the balcony
João
and Ana
Me, Ana,
João and Weiwei
>>> 07.02.2003 California....
knows how to party... California... This has been one of the fastest
move-ins ever. I'm writing this sitting on the floor of an unfurnished
but gorgeous apartment with João from Portugal and Weiwei
from Sweden. The apple trees are blooming and the jacuzzi next to the
big pool is warm and waiting for good company with a few cocktails. And
it's definitely getting it pretty soon.
>>> 28.1.2003 I just received
another one of those damned chain mails. This one was had me worried
for a moment but after 5 seconds it was clear that it was yet another
piece of junk. Titled USA WAR, the main text had
the following snippet:
>The US is about to dictate that a
war take place. We are currently
>undergoing a worldwide imbalance that could [at worst] lead to
a third
>world war. If you are also against this threat, the UN is now
collecting
>signatures to try to prevent this tragedy. Please copy this
e-mail into a
>new one, add your name to the end, and send it to everyone you
know. If you
>receive the list with more than 600 names please send a copy
to:
>unicwash@unicwash.org Even if you decide not to add your name
please send
>the petition on to others.
I mean come on people. The dumb letter had almost
600 names on it already. It sounds cheesy and is clearly conflicting
with all the other UN activities we hear and read about. Or just try
checking out the www.unicwash.org
web site. Not convincing.
>>> 25.1.2003 I've now spent
over a month in Finland, enjoying four hours of light per day (okay,
there's more, but I don't wake up before 12 anyway) and listening to Monty Python
sing "Finland, Finland, Finland, the country where I want to be, pony
trekking or camping, or just watching TV, Finland, Finland, Finland..."
But I still wasn't convinced, so I changed the music to Tom Waits's "Going out West"
and took up Google's
offer to go work in Mountain View, California.
>>> 30.11 .2002 It
comes to this: too few are the days now – and too short, I
notice, waking up mostly without an alarm clock for the first time in
years. I do assure you, life seems much more interesting when you throw
over the conventional daily rhythms and just let it go, let it go, let
it go, like PowWow said. Am I saying goodbye? Soon, too soon. Finally
it is autumn though - it has to be, because it is so much easier to go
in the autumn; the wind whipping the little drops of cold water against
your face, concealing the pain of giving up the place you hold dear.
To wrap things up for those of you out of the loop: this place kicks
ass. The people are amazing, both the locals and the temporary
immigrants. The Castilian
guys have been good friends (and Andreas,
the rockin' poet), Marie
(one,
two)
taught me how interesting life can be when you tilt the angle just a
bittle lit (yeah, sounds weird but that's how she puts it). Briggsy
and Crossy, the Australian bastards who just wouldn't drop
under the table even as all the Americans had passed out long ago. And
Lauren: thanks.
Brass Ring Team
D! Long days, long mornings, at the times I could make it
there. It was worth it however: I met you girls, and you are cool. Keep
it up.
Ham,
Steph: thanks for the education, and the NY Times of course.
In a country where no one walked anywhere, I
walked everywhere. In a world where everyone had a car, I took the bus.
In a country where everyone did and acted and made – I was
thinking. You can buy Freedom
for $1.99 (Tower Records), but basic allergy medication is over $80 for
two months. America: step out of your Suburbans and take a ride on your
buses one day and you’ll be shocked. A chain is only as
strong as its weakest link – remember that when you want to
stand united.
And, as if in passing but still as the conclusion
to this rambling: Hook
‘em!
I mentioned names: that doesn’t mean
the unmentioned ones are of lesser importance. You know who you are.
And, there’s a lot of photos – and the best
one’s will be here. Leave your mark, life.
Corona,
sun
Burned horizon through
a window of shit
And the Strip
at night, slowly extending
Always will this be carried within
Accompanying the memories of old
Devotions, forgotten
Dreams regained
Dreams unfulfilled
Don’t trust a strike of luck
Or valiance
Don’t bet on the kindness of strangers
And never say forever
Don’t get me wrong: they are all very very good
But oftentimes it is even better
To just sit back and wonder at the wonderful wonderful world.
>>>14.11.2002
It's been too long since I last updated, but "It
is late but it ain't never..." So, Austin has been very kind all these
months and life has been good, even despite the ghosts of past that
sometimes return to haunt us... and by this I'm not talking about my
brother's visit. He was awed by the wonderful country of America and baffled by the lights of
Las Vegas. Oh well...
Anyway, Las Vegas was a real trip. We were
secretly hoping for it to turn into a kind of a pilgrimage in the
spirit of Fear and Loathing in Las
Vegas, and in a way it did. Saturday night was especially
nice, with great people
(and even more)and
a magnificient view from the VIP-lounge of Studio 54.
Back in Austin, the city has once again offered
its finest and my keyboard has felt the weight of an inspiration that
was blocked for such a long time. Soon it would be time to get a job,
get a life, get my drink on and so forth... But I'm in no hurry, for
once in my life. 37 days left - that's painfully little.
>>>06.08.2002 Links
page functional, although quite short.
>>>
18.8.2002 Share the nightly view from
the roof of our building! Three photos featuring the UTA Clocktower,
the city area and the university area:
>>>13.08.2002
Austin is big and damn hot. CR was nice and temperate in comparison.
Added some video material, partly from Costa Rica.
>>>06.08.2002
Time to close books on CR. Like before, the country has shown its best
and worst sides to me in a single trip. Both oceans, a number of
jungles, beach resorts, exotic animals and even more exotic bug bites
and food poisonings have again kept me busy here. Next Austin - luckily
I've arranged to have some free time before university starts.
>>>20.07.2002
Greetings from Costa Rica! Two weeks down and more to go. Added a
bookreview: The Beermat
Entrepreneur. Links-page still not functional, sorry.
>>>23.6.2002
Midsummer's fest at our cottage was a blast. Thanks to all
participants, and the elements. We even managed to have the bonfire
going for three minutes.
>>>
20.06.2002 OPEN! Finally I've published.
My personal pages have a four-fold mission:
1. To give me an uncensored forum to post my
material on.
2. To be able to post video material from anywhere
I'm at.
3. To act as a source of information about myself
and my prospects.
4. To force me to push out material and ideas - I
don't want to leave my expensive domain unused now do I?
I will use my eccentric English as the lingua
franca of these pages - I'm of the generation that assumes that
profound ideas are presented in a universal language.
Totally immature
Top Ten & Five lists
Videos plus
other material
Literature
reviews, by category (old)
Links to friends and other
places (right...)
