The Poni rides again! *went to town today by bike* I just have the coolest old-fashioned bike, y'see.
And I re-created my burning romance with the public library, and will begin to stake out the corner by the art shelf as rightly mine. Since it is a kind of a smaller library, I might make a goal of reading all the art books they have on that shelf. :3 And then starting random-firing with the search engine because they have a lot of the art books in storage that you can get if you ask for them. In order to ask for them, you need to know they are there. To find that out you use the search engine. This I found out today trying to find Botticelli books and there were none on the shelf (and I thought "come on, Sandro Botticelli is big enough for a little library"). And after searching, I found a lot of books about him in the county libraries and they were all in storage, in every library. Seeing the copies that I got out in my local I can understand that they are in storage, they were a little tattered. But that makes me wonder: what other treasures are hidden in there? :O Maybe I just need to make friends with the librarian and get her to let me browse the storage.

Also, assuming that no one of you watched the finals either, I'll just tell you: Finland won. Second time for them to win the World Thingie, second time when they won against Sweden. The game was cool and had some cool, a little sloppy (I didn't watch it on Sunday night of course, but I taped it and watched it after I found out who won, so not a lot of excitement there, but I don't really get that emotionally attached yet anyway), except towards the end where the Finns just made a million goals. Guys, you would have won 2-1, you didn't need to win 6-1. So it was sad to see all the Swedes all sad. Maybe the thing for me to learn from this is to not watch the final anymore, only the earlier games. But then again, the next one of these is in a year, so I'll probably forget what I learnt just now. Now if only there was a way to watch some more hockey somewhere. I think they show NHL games on some channel, but I think you need to pay extra for that channel or something... Bleh.

Think Before You Think review

In case some of you my dear friends weren't watching the semi-finals between Finland and Russia (I can't actually think of any of my friends bar maybe Viking who would have watched...) Here's the goal that takes hockey beyond sport and into art.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzbQSJxB7I4

At the point where the announcer starts going crazy he says "guys did you see that, did you see that goal?" and before the slo-mo version I had to admit: no, no I did not, what happened. And then they show it over and over from every angle, and you really gain an appreciation to some of the finest hockey-moving that goes on out there. <3

The goal is scored by the 19-year-old Mikael Granlund.

And the win by the Finns here means that the final is once again between Finland and Sweden. I don't understand why any other countries even ever bother to enter the contest, it's always about Finland and Sweden. And either one that wins I'll be happy :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GugzLSbOQE&feature=autoplay&list=AVGxdCwVVULXci8NVBkg1DH9zKU7if41qQ&index=10&playnext=7

A very beautifully done video to an incredibly beautiful Tom Waits song. There is some lovely ephemeral quality to the photography and the strange way that the video is put together from the pictures. Makes the result a little jerky sometimes, but still beautifully fleeting. Like most Tom Waits things. He just does that strange feeling very well. And I hate it when he's doing one of the funny ones (tragic and funny, like the Christmas card from a hooker or what it was called, and the Piano has been drinking in this playlist) and the audience is just roaring in the background. It ruins the feeling. I would want to listen to it without the laughter, it makes it cheap somehow. I'll see if I find one without laughing, and see if I would laugh at it by myself, or cry and laugh at the same time.

This was also an interesting internet fail in that I couldn't figure what was the URL to the video alone, I was in the playlist and didn't want to miss my place by too much faffing. There used to be a box to the side with a couple of type-boxes that had the URL and the embed-URL in them... Whatever happened to them? :/

Also, I watched The Newton Boys today and thoroughly enjoyed it (I have a thing for stories that don't have proper endings, and that one was rather anti-climactic). Now I'd like very much to get a hold of some of the soundtrack of that film, the music was wonderful. :) So when [Ms. Steel] put a link in her diary to the Ross sisters and [Viking] in his diary linked to a trailer with the voice of Tom Waits - it was all perfect :) Thank you, perfect people.

Guys. I just accidentally found out what Ira Glass looks like, by watching this trailer http://myheartisanidiot.com/ and recognising his voice instantly right before his face came up on the screen. I wish I'd realised to close my eyes. I don't want Ira Glass with a face. I just want his voice. It's not that he's unattractive or such, but... there is something very disconcerting when you have grown accustomed to a voice, learnt to love a voice and then you find out that person who owns the voice doesn't look like you imagined.

This has happened to me before. Twice. First time when I found out what [windowframe] looks like. Okay fine, voice was not involved, but typing. But it still had that strange effect of "hmm, there is an actual person behind these signs and symbols that I've learnt to associate and have an emotional response to (such as seeing the word SilverFire on my online friends list, or see her MSN icon pop up in the corner of my screen)." I did know that the person was there, but the sudden evidence of it causes an interesting feeling.

The second time was on my mission. My second area, first time I'm away from Norrland and the friends I made there, here to now make friends with a new bunch of missionaries. And our district leader and his companion (aka sort of our allocated friends) are on the island of Gotland. Which means we never get to meet them, until about after a month. Elder G. claimed that we had met before, but I have no recollection of this event. He says that we had a proper conversation - but I have forgotten completely. Anyway, so he's the only person who knows what everyone else in this district look like. Anyway. We talk on the phone every night, he is still the District Leader and we have some amazing District unity going on here. I learn to love these two elders so incredibly much. And then comes the time of Zone Conference, when we meet. And it's so weird. Now these voices that I love have faces, and I have to learn to love these faces.


Now in case you care, this is what Ira Glass looks like: http://todayisgreat.com/?tag=ira-glass
And to hear his voice, listen to www.thisamericanlife.com and have your mind blown away by awesomeness.

^{http://thegloss.com/fashion/random-photo-the-star-wars-text-scroll-dress/}


What was the first thing you thought of when you saw this picture?

If it was "maybe I could make that dress by..." then we need to talk. :)


Also, dis:
http://thegloss.com/fashion/poll-star-wars-corset-or-star-trek-corset/

I want them both.

One of these.

My greenie (aka the missionary who had me for her very first companion - that makes me her mum) emailed me news from Sweden. Just in time for Mother's Day and everything. And the news is that she's going to Gothenburg! <3<3<3 That means she'll be there until at least July... Duuuudes, I totally need to go visit Gbg this summer. It's the best place, I swear.

We should all just move to Gothenburg and be happy forever and buy books from really cheap second-hand bookstores and visit nautical antiques stores with the biggest dogs that humanity has ever laid eyes on and meet snarky Elsalvadorians and laugh at their self-deprecating jokes and amazing talents at languages and ride the spårvagns and party in the Göteborg Kalas and be happy forever. Are you with me, yay or nay? :D

In other news, I watched Good Will Hunting yesterday night. It's a very interesting movie (minus all the swearing, but I guess it creates atmosphere or gives insight into these people - or maybe it's just gratuituos) and caused some interesting reflection. He tried to describe the way he thinks about math, how it just kind of comes.

So I started to think of how I think and what my experience of thinking is. I've had that "it just comes" in languages, especially grammar. Especially in Swedish, but also when I did French, my downfall was the lack of vocab that I learnt. I had all sorts of complex grammatical constructs that made perfect sense to me, but no words to put in it.

Also in art my thinking it seems to work la: I have to do the mediocre struggling along to keep my conscious mind busily doing something so that the truly awesome things can happen on their own. This hasn't happened very often (twice that I can account for). But I still get things done with the mediocre part too, and it keeps me busy, productive and out of harm's way :P

Drawings are coming along marvelously, I thought about uploading an excerpt/WIP, but I don't think I can be bothered to do the photographing and uploading and everything. Maybe. But it's a lot of fun and I'm doing a lot of thinking at the same time, so there'll be an essay and everything to go with it. I'll even find a way to exhibit when it's all done.

Also, the combined moods of my current online friends say that "life was created for people like [iippo] or worse" :D

This is astonishing. It's Google Street View, curated by an artist:
http://9-eyes.com/

And the essay that goes with it:
http://www.artfagcity.com/2009/08/12/img-mgmt-the-nine-eyes-of-google-street-view/
Really worth reading, gives so much depth and meaning to what you see in 9-eyes

He also has a video art piece of Orpheus missing his Eurydice
http://jonrafman.com/youtheworldandi.html

I don't care whatchoo say. I think Yoko is cool. She was cool before she started hanging out with the Beatles, and she's still cool.

Anyway, her thoughts on Mother's Day :)
http://imaginepeace.com/archives/11159

When I woke up on Sunday morning, I found a dead bumblebee in my bed.
Yes, I was worried and puzzled too.

Happy new week everybody. I had things to say but I forgotted them.

If I'm ever late... It's probably like this:



*is never late*

The Original Coca-Cola recipe.
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/427/original-recipe/recipe

By the way, I love Ira Glass. Just... Love him.

COULD YOBS MOLEST ENGLAND?
Haven't they already?

COULD BRUSSELS INFECT BRITISH JUSTICE WITH AIDS?
Safe sex, yo.

ARE PAEDOPHILES TURNING MIDDLE BRITAIN GAY?
:O Yes amg

HAS BINGE DRINKING STOLEN THE IDENTITY OF THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY?
Bloody drunken Tories... -_-

WILL CANCER IMPREGNATE YOU?
The explanation to the immaculate conception! :O

COULD GYPSIES KILL THE ROYAL FAMILY?
Actually, yes. It's not even funny.

IS THE METRIC SYSTEM MAKING BRITAIN'S FARMERS OBESE?
There is a strange logic to this one: "Measure in stones: I'm fine. Measure in kilograms - holy heck I'm fat!"

IS THE LABOUR PARTY STEALING FROM HARD-WORKING FAMILIES?
And leaving the lazy families be?!

COULD FOXES DESTROY PENSIONERS?
...could they?

And this is where I leave you.
Good night, from today's installments of Daily Mail-o-matic.

http://www.qwghlm.co.uk/toys/dailymail/

I'm looking into all them polytechs around Finland. There is a number of them, and some of them are doing cool stuff. :3

I really like lists. List seem to be something that define a lot of my wiki-art. There's also something cool about the process of making lists, the monotony of typing them (I never cheat - I create my own lists from scratch).

I'm thinking of making something like dis http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=343486.0 for my mum for Mothers' Day (in Finland we don't celebrate Mothering Sunday, only Mothers' Day. Which is cool, because I can make Mothering Sunday my English Mum's day, and Mothers' Day my real mum's and my mission mum's day. :3 But when I'm a mum, we're having it the English time, no matter where I live :P)
I found the thingie by looking for "craft community" because I couldn't remember what your thingie was called Silvie (but then it dawned on me that maybe the one you talk about a lot if only for yarn things?)

News about R.E.M.
Don't worry, nothign earth-shaking. They are still cool, and Michael Stipe has a beard. o.O
But they are doing... something. With YouTube. They are... curating YouTube.
So they made a playlist of cool things, and a little introductory video to go with it.

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=8A8DD4BF397CFA4A

I do believe that this makes them more cool than they were before.

I can't get my parenthesis right with this paragraph, so I took them out. And then I took out all other punctuation too, in despair:
Then on to iippo Today I drove 35 minutes to another town with my father the town where my brother who was having a day-off and using it to fix up his car and having had asked my dad to come help him lives with his family I tagged along in order to meet up with an Italian girl who is here on a study exchange whom I met last Sunday in church and translated for her She is studying design and I asked her to show me her school and their facilities because it sounds interesting and also because I did not know there was any kind of an art school near here There is albeit it's a polytech but I have since going to Cov after the initial feeling of betrayal when I heard that my dear Alma Mater used to be a polytech up until they allowed polytechs to start calling themselves universities had I known that I probably would have been too snobbish to apply and wouldn't have met the wonderful people I did though I probably would have met other wonderful people... but it's better to not be a snob about polytechs learnt to not be snobby about polytechs I want to teach there.

Sorry about that.

I also think that the perfect date is October 10th. Autumn is the best season, and October is there in the productive middle of Cats Days. Get some nice strong wind, leaves blowing in the air, get to wrap up a little but not so much that you'd die without...

I keep having to log in. Why is this?

I am currently making more job applications.

I draw every day now and am pretty excited about it.

I need to give a talk in church tomorrow. I had forgotten.

I have managed to get in contact/keep in contact with a bunch of people I want to keep in touch with. :)

Final travelog


If you don't care to read about my travels, you could go look at other things that'll drive you insane in http://lolthulhu.com/


So I'm home in Finland. I traversed England's green and pleasant land, learnt a lot of things (mostly things I missed in my absence: Inception! :O :O and Hello to Jason Isaacs and this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/5live/films/code_of_conduct.jpg ). The trip home went almost marvelously, I had one kilo of excess luggage (after hiding all my books in my carry-on bag that didn't get weighed :P) and the plane was an hour and a half late. I've always had great luck with flights, but this one was dreadful. There was a problem with the plane so we had to change planes before take-off, and it was really windy in Finland so there was a lot of turbulence before landing. I'm pretty zapped right now, I left Coventry at 3am.

I climbed in my dad's car outside the terminal, and found out on the radio that Finland had its election while I was away (so I missed it and didn't vote :O And I also missed the census in England by a week - I really wanted to be signed up in the English census). Kokoomus (the Finnish version of Tories/Republicans) won, but only by a wee bit (Socialist Democrats and True Finns had almost as many). But still, they won. It's so interesting how that seems to be the trend all over Europe, we lean to the right. And I was reading the Spectator on how in the States the Republicans don't really have anyone they could put up against Obama for his next run at presidency in 2012. How interesting, we go right, they go left. Maybe there is some unspoken rule that there needs to be this balance. Or maybe it's just that us voters think short-term and go "they messed up our economy, get the other guys in!" and then few years later we'll go "now the other guys messed up our health services! Get the earlier ones back!" Although these True Finns (Perussuomalaiset) are the interesting thing, they asploded all over the place. And no one even knows if they are left or right, or what. It's a little nerving, they went from tiny party to (probably) government.

Enough of politics.

Well, there isn't anything else to say.
Back to art.

Everyday Superpower

Diary a la [Viking]:

Interview with the Man Who Made World's First Cell Phone Call
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/04/10/greene.cellphone.cooper/index.html?hpt=Sbin


Diary a la [iippo]:

Still tramping through England, visiting friends. Currently in Silvie visit 2.0 at her family home. This trip has gone marvellously well considering how badly planned it was. I have now a flight to go back home on Monday, so that makes the entire duration of the trip almost three weeks. I've met many of the people I really wanted to meet, some by wonderful "coincidences" (I don't believe in coincidences remember); I've stayed at the homes of the people that I really needed to stay with to properly rebond after my long absence, and had drinks or lunch with the people with whom that was enough or whom I couldn't visit properly. I've also developed further this idea of mine to drive through Europe to bring my belongings from England to Finland, and it might work and I think I can afford it, now the question really is "when". The most exciting part of this whole idea is that my bishop¹ has expressed keen interest in doing the trip with me. I'd love that so much, I never have enough time with him to just talk, so five days of road trip with him would be great. If only I can bring myself to accept his offer to take him away from his family and responsibilities and life... I probably could.

Other than that... I have new pokemans, new books, my old books, couple new friends, new clothes, inspiration and direction for arty things, and a lot of new determination and hope for the future. Y'see, I haven't been particularly happy about my decision to go live in Finland, because Coventry just is my home and I love it too much. But I stick with my decision, and this trip has helped me do that. It's almost like... England is rejecting me. o.O I'm a little afraid of the political situation here, and everything seems to have moved on without me. Friends are still friends, and the people who I'd like to be more than friends are also still "just" friends too :P The love hasn't faded, and that is a great comfort. I can rest assured that I can come back whenever I want. But now it''s onwards.



^{1 A mormon bishop: In the church no one is paid for the service or leadership they are called to provide, and it is only for a short time anyone is called as an anything. My bishop at the moment is a young father of three and a civil servant (I think? Something to do with immigration legal business) and I consider him a dear friend. He's just awfully busy all the time and I don't want to be all needy and stuff and hang onto him.}

Well, I had a very different way of enjoying that movie. See, I had set it to record from TV on Sunday. Sunday is when we changed to summer time. TV digi-box thingie wasn't aware of the change. So it had recorded an hour of a program about how Africa was a white man's playfield (interesting-ish topic, but I fast-forwarded) and then it had cut the movie short. So I watched some cowboys first separate from a pioneer trail (whoo pioneers!) and start a ranch, and then in a blink of an eye it was fourteen years later, they were all old (or grown up in the case of the kid) and there had been a war and there was no need for beef in Texas. So they decided to drive ten thousand moocows a thousand miles north to Missouri (boo Missouri!) And they started and it was hard and there was some mutiny and a stampede, and some people said they should go to Kansas, and then the movie ended.

I kind of like unfinished stories. :) <Mission story> There's this CD we found in an apartment once, that has what we call "some guy's conversion story" and it's him giving a lecture or something, telling how he went from Lutheran minister to mormon. And it end´him being stuck in California, living on the beach, then he goes to church and the missionaries invite him over for dinner, and they eat potatoes and Kool-Aid, then the CD breaks and the four or five tracks at the end don't play. :) *really likes CD as it is* </mission story> I might upload it here at some point as part of sharing mission stories...

We had another one of these with Silvie, watching a talkie called The Pulse. It was a horror film with something to do with computers etc and I thought "hey that might have a cool concept of viri perhaps, or a commentary on how social networking technology is making us all braindead, or something, y'know. Well we started it and weren't much in the mood for the thing, and the guy and the girl were just about getting on to something, and then they had a car crash. And we decided that it would be awesome if the movie ended there: they died in the car crash, and they were the only ones who could have saved everything. The end. So we stopped the film and that's how it ends for me now. :)

AhhahahahI'm screwed >_>

So remember when I maybe can't vote because I haven't officially changed my address? Well, the National Insurance people also know I don't live here, and sent me a letter saying "since you don't live here, we won't give you back your social security status. Go set your life in order at the correct office before the 6th, 'cause that's when we'll do this thing." Well, I can't go there before the 6th because I'm going to England tomorrow. My only hope is going by a Post Office right before I board my plane to get temporary login details to the Post Office web-service, where I can change my address details. The reason I can't do it any other way is because I have forgotten my internet bank password (which is the other way to login to the Post Office), and my bank told me to come in and get it reset - but it's 5km (half a swedish mile! :O) away and there's no blooming way I'm walking over there in these blizzards we've been having lately (okay fine, I could take a bus, but even that is over a km to walk to... Which I did to go to church, and instead of asking for a ticket to Rantahaka, I said Haaparanta. :P Rantahaka is about 5 minute busride away - Haaparanta is in Lappland, on the other side of the Finnish-Swedish border :P I saw signs to Haaparanta a lot in Sundsvall, so it's just a more familiar name and I wasn't paying attention at all :P). So yeah. Whatever. We'll start this process over after I come back from England *seriously consideres not coming back*

Oh, and turning clocks to summer time seriously messed up my sleeping pattern. I can not for the life of me, wake up at my usual hour anymore. Which makes me snooze past any kind of reasonable time, or worse yet, I fall asleep during studies. I migth have to adjust and accept that my wake time is not officially an hour later than it used to be. Perhaps that is best.

In other news... I have none. It's just continuing: drawing (come to the stage of colouring things now :O), watching movies (a mormon movie The Mountain of the Lord, then a re-visit of As Good As It Gets, later today an old western, and a live tv-show where important people talk about the internet. Need to listen in on that one to see where they at :P), I'm doing all sorts of mission recording (to be revealed at a later date), walking the dog, sing and play guitar a little sometimes (mostly sing, I hurt my hand with the dog one day), and of course all this internet business. All of which (except the internet business) is coming to a halt from tomorrow, because I leave for England. :3