I wore a t-shirt yesterday that said "FREE HUGS" and went around hugging anybody who wanted to claim their free hugs that day. (I wanted to wear the t-shirt today also, so I washed it by hand, but because university accommodation office is so frustratingly unfair all the time, the heating wasn't on all day so it didn't dry in time today - and I was trying to dry it with a hairdrier too! But you can always claim a free hug from me, even when I'm not wearing that tee).

Anyways, some may know what it was all about, some might not, so I thought I'd just link you guys to where it originates from. It's the free hugs campaign by Juan Mann, which has gotten a lot of attention all over (he was interviewed by Oprah about it, for example) and it spread far and wide. I came to know about it through the very inspiring video on YouTube - you can watch it
here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4

I just thought of writing free hugs on a teeshirt on monday night when I was already half asleep, had to get out of bed to do the shirt and then wore it to uni the next day.

It is awesome and I heartily recommend doing that to everybody.

Another quite interesting art project: www.braball.com/

Never in my life I imagined that I would complain about this but... the word limit for one part of my professional practice degree show report is too short! o.O I need to write 150 word report about the setting up of my individual degree show space. I've written 550 and that doesn't even start on the physical setting up, only the mental process behind it. o.O And on the other end, I'm meant to write 500 words about individual roles within the groups we were assigned to for degree show preparation... that's... doable, although I do have to write a lot of bs to fill all those words, and another 450 to describe the professional context of my work - this is the painful one, I just don't have interesting things to say about the context of my work. -_-

So. How do I show all my beautiful 550 words of text to my teacher without going over the word limit a zillion times? Ah-haa, appendices to the rescue! What was meant to be my report will become relevant evidence to the report! Hooray! So instead of being a report it will become thoughts written down, more accurately, a diary entry. So yeap, the following might be completely meaningless to you guys, yet I do not apologise for doing it. Because it's pretty cool stuff. :P


READ MY THOUGHTS
To me the thought-process behind the artwork is very important and thus it is something I'd wish to share with the viewer, hence all the notage on the walls. The note-writing is a habit natural to me for many years now, while the idea of actually exhibiting these extensions of thought was prompted by a tutor in a crit. The selection and presentation of the notes is influenced by Marcel Duchamp's boxes of notes that accompany his Large Glass, and by a deaf artist Joseph Grigely (!Check this!) whose work consist of organizing and exhibiting little notes people have given the artist when they wanted to tell him something.

WELCOME TO MY WORLD
I need my degree show space to feel comfortable, inviting and intimate to the visitors. I wish them to feel at home and confident enough to sit at the computer for a while and explore the Flash-work. This is why the space evolved into a kind of installation: I wanted to make it welcoming by making it different from the usual intimidating gallery environment. My work when accessed through the internet will most likely be seen in the user's own home or office, which is a very different space to that of the gallery, so I wished to simulate or at least suggest a more comfortable, casual space. I realised that the space should be a frame for the work, but I also wanted it to promote curiosity and exploration in the viewer and thus introduced many elements that would spark those emotions, such as ambiguous-looking machine parts and interesting books. There were other things I considered adding to the space to create atmosphere, but during the setup of the exhibition I needed to take a step back and remember that I wasn't creating a space, I was using one, so I decided to leave some of the furniture I had considered in order to bring the focus back to the work.

I was very worried about making the space stand out too much from the other spaces near it, but it seems to have worked out quite alright: the natural shape of the area outlined by the walls hides the space from a distance, and only if the viewer approaches the corner can they see the setup. The decision to leave half of the space blank helps isolate the environment, and putting my statement outside the main work helps pin point the entire space as my artwork.

My original plan was to put the pencil drawings on the desk, since I don't want to force any idea of 'right-way-up' on them, and I really want the viewer to touch the drawings. But since they are done on paper with pencil, they have that certain preciousness to them, and I was concerned over the work getting damaged during the exhibition. So I decided on a compromise of hanging the drawings on nails on the walls with bulldog clips: the drawings can be easily taken down and examined closely by holding the paper, allowing the viewer to turn it, and it also heightens the exploration and rewards the curiosity, because when the viewer takes the drawing down, more notes are revealed for them to read.

This is coolness:
http://www.automatedbeacon.net/

Finnish friends, go read an idea for a book in here
http://www.kirjeitaaidille.net/kirjaidea.html

It's fantastic. Someone in Finland is planning to comple a book about letters to mothers, written by normal people. She is currently collecting letters so anyone and everyone is asked to participate (I asked in her guestbook if she'd be interested in getting letters from non-Finns, and I also volunteered to translate if she'd like foreigners - if that's the case I'll ask all of you kittens to join)

The project is still much in the beginning, but she seems to have some very solid ideas, and she is discussing giving most of the profit from the book to a charity.

I will now make a point.

A quick and dirty career quiz, with the following questions (my answers in bold)

You prefer to work:
In a group
Alone

You rather have a job that...
Challenges your mind
Helps people in some way

You work best:
In a less structured environment
With deadlines

You rather solve a problem with:
Reasoning and logic
Solid facts

RESULTS:
Archeologist
Astronomer
Book editor
Business manager
Civil engineer
Designer
Economist
Inventor
Judge
Scientist

Now, if I change the question

You work best:
In a less structured environment
With deadlines

The RESULTS are:

Architect
Artist
Business strategist
College professor
Computer programmer
Mathematician
Neurologist
Philosopher
Photographer
Video game developer

Err, what? At least (possibly all of those) the architects, artists, college professors, programmers, photographers and video game developers all need to work to deadlines in a structured environment. o.O
This quiz's maker doesn't know much about professions, I gather.

Dear English people.
My degree show is on the 2nd of June til the 7th of June. Please come see. :) It's free. In Coventry, West Midlands, from 10am-5pm every day. You are also most welcome to the private view (opening night, free wine) is the Friday 1st of June from 6-8pm (with possibly something else somewhere else afterwards), but I'd like to point out that I'll have to rub elbows with all the really important arty people that evening, and thus won't have much time to just hang out. So if you want a cool arty evening surrounded by art and arty people, do come for the private view; if you want me to show you around the exhibition and what-not, come any other time, I'll be there all the time probably because I've got nothing else to do :P

Wow.

http://staff.xu.edu/~polt/typewriters/tw-collection.html

Future project: draw them all.

Also the http://www.officemuseum.com/

Boring thing I yoinked from the Devil's lair (aka MySpace) and filled in and posted here. It contains an uber-macro-pathogen-virus that'll drain the life enegry from the Evil One (aka MySpace) so if we all post it in our diaries, we will suck the living daylights outta that place and r00l the dubdubdub as a Collective (of which the Ginger One (aka [Fishbiscuit]) is Queen)
Oh and since we are cooler than MySpace: make an effort filling this out :P

22 Questions (in honour of Yossarian)

1. Is anything wrong?
I am hungry, but other than that, no. Just been to the cinema to see the new Mr. Bean movie, and I was actually writhing with laughter. He is a comic genius. So it's good... I've arranged to go teaching with the new sister missionaries tomorrow, because that is the easiest way to get to know them, so looking forward to that. I also did a fair bit of work today, got some good plans for future Flash-artworks as well as a fair bit done on the current ones, and talked to JM, who is cool. My friends were teasing me about him though. I actually blushed. XD But I was also laughing my ass off. So a lot of laughing happened today.

2. Would you kiss anyone on your relations?
Yes, [Kayne]. <3

3. Where do you want to go to college?
I intend to stay right here in Coventry. :3 But after that, if I go to Finland I'll try to get to that teacher training course in Rovaniemi. Then again, I'd like to go to the army too, and on mission, and do sail training, plus I'd kind of like to stay in England as well... So we'll see. But for the next year or so I'll stay in Coventry for uni.

4. Do you have a good relationship with your parents?
Hmm, kind of. I respect them and their authority a lot, always have and still do. We don't talk muchos, especially when I'm all the way over here. And we don't do like closeness too much - like I've never told them "I love you" (such an awkward and ugly phrase in Finnish >.< To quote Ismo Alanko: Rakkaus on ruma sana - love is a dirty/ugly word) But I do like to spend time with them and talk/listen to them. And I share a lot of interest with them both, music and books with my mom, history and mechanics and some current issues with my dad.

5. Do you wanna change your name?
Do you mean I-naaaaaah-ri or Eeee-nari or Innn-nari or Inari or iippo? :P Not that it matters, I don't want to change my name. It's just annoying (my real name), because nobody - not even Finns - get it right the first time. XD But since it is a gift from my parents and it's a very unique name, I wouldn't change it for anything. And I love the name iippo so much too, it's so fitting and multi-layered and people would hate me if I changed it :D

6. What did you do for your last birthday?
It was a weekday so I went to uni. I wore a little badge that said "21 today" (oh noes you found out my age :P). I went to pick up my parcel form the post office with Fish and shared the chocolate inside. My roommate got me a small gift, but other than that nothing much since nobody really knew it was my birthday (I didn't advertise it). And of course got birthday greetings in ET. :D

7. What time did you wake up today?
Annoyingly 7.30, even though I hadn't put my alarm on. I woke up to the clonking sound of my heating turning on (it's timed for 7.30, even though it says in some paper we got recently that heating goes on at 7 am >.< Bastard uni trying to save in heating bills)

8. What were you doing at midnight last night?
I must have been asleep, because I had a hard day's work behind me... I went to uni at 8, got home around 6, went to Institute lessons at 7 and got back from there after 11pm X_x It's not my fault really, I assumed I'd get a lift and I didn't (because I wasn't being very social, I was helping K. do some voice recordings so we were basically hiding in the stage) and ended up catching the bus to town and walking home (after a half-an-hour adventure in Priory Hall trying to contact some guy who might have been able to join me and K. and walk me home and then walk back with K. or something like that... it was funny at the time).

9. Name something you CANNOT wait for?
Degree show's kind of in the expectation... Can't wait to see everybody's work all done... Especially Fish's temple/church thing and Donna's boxes... And even my own :P And to see everyone who comes to the private view *is social* I'm also looking forward to the summer. And the MA course in september! Plus some wicked cool movies coming out soon: Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third, Transformers, Pirates of the Caribbean 3...

10. Last time you saw your dad?
Early January when he dropped me to the airport ;_; I haven't even emailed him after that. Gonna soon though, to ask him to do the money transfers.

11. What is one thing you wish you could change about your life?
Hmm... I'm pret-ty happy with stuff atm. I wouldn't mind having a computer of my own... And being hard-working when it comes to uni-things, especially the Flash-art, because I love doing it so much. Possiblah a little more sociable and talk to more people I see everyday (kinda like Sue does)

13. last thing you ate/drank?
Half a bag of M&Ms that I shared with my roommate in the cinema... some water. We'll eat fish fingers soon :3

14. Whats your favorite month?
I'm quite fond of autumn, it's so dynamic with things changing... A lot of things start in autumns... Plus it's my birthday in November, and it's stuff like Hallowe'en and Christmas just around the corner at that time... So it's thereabouts, September-October-November.

15. What is your least favorite month?
February is too short and miserable. I dislike winter so much, after living in the land of horrible winters for 18 years.

16. Do you like peanut butter?
Yes, I must say I do. Especially pbj sammiches :9

17. Who's making you feel the way you are right now?
...God? I'm pretty happy at the moment but it's a combination of many things. Like that Mr. Bean -film really gave me a boost, I loved it lots, but I can't say that Rowan Atkinson is the sole reason for me being cheery. JM is also quite... boostful :P

18. Most visited website?
Elftown, no doubt. I use it to work as well as hang-out. It's a fact that I keep in touch with my friends in ET way better than any other way - and this includes real-life friends, even the ones that are in uni with me (the only exception being my roommate, since I see her everyday). So seriously, if you want to keep touch with me (and have a really cool place to hang in online), it's Elftown. I also go to my uni web-course tools site a lot, myspace, hotmail, google, writersco, milliways and lds linkup. I also try to go to that blogspot "Does Today Suck" and I frequent Yahoo! and YouTube alot too.

19. Last person to make you sad?
Migth have been the sister missionaries when they got transferred.. ;_; That was a misty occasion, saying bye to them.

20. Would you help your best friend fight if he/she was losing?
Of course. But why would they be losing? I'm friends with cool people who can handle stuff :P

21. coke or pepsi?
Grah, you pointless question >.< Coca-Cola.

22. Have you been kissed by anyone in the last week?
Pecked on the cheek by a granny in church, but not properly kissed, no (virtual kisses don't count). Not too fust about that stuff, kissing and so on, anymore.

Shaving_Private_iippo. I'll do a proper before-after shot at a point, but those who can't wait, clicky on linky. :)

Dear Diary.
Today Isilando called me a vadelma! :) I was so chuffed, and still thinking about the moment makes me all happy and twinkling inside.

I know I'm a bit early anniversary-wise speaking, but I came across this site today and wanted to share. Maybe it's better to be a bit early so you'll have time to think about it before the acual day...

What I'm on about is April 26th. It will be the 21st anniversary of the Chernobyl accident. And the site I am talking about in relation to that is http://www.kiddofspeed.com/default.htm It is a photographic journal by a biker who rode her motorcycle through the dead zone, recording the area and putting it online, to bring it to the public attention. So please pay attention to it.

A photo from the site that is of interest to me specifically, considering my line of artwork.


You might find the images of the last three chapters most interesting. To me at least they speak the most strongly.

Finska v'a'nner, titta h'a'r:

http://mee.fi/musiikkikysely

Why I'm speaking (bad) Swedish is beyond me. Sorry to the rest of you, the link is an interesting questionnaire thing about music used for a study of some kind.

My future in Geek Tragedy! XD XD XD

http://www.geektragedy.com/strips/2006/20060704.htm

(You'll love it Silvie :P)

Ah-ha! Second GT moment! Remember Hallowe'en? I had my picture up with the nun a while back, remember? 

http://www.geektragedy.com/strips/2005/20050721.htm

This is what friendship is all about.
http://www.geektragedy.com/strips/2005/20050531.htm

Thanks for [All_Most PUNK] for pointing GT out to me. :)

This for me.
http://www.amazon.com/Five-Hundred-Seven-Mechanical-Movements/dp/1879335638

(UK version http://www.amazon.co.uk/Five-Hundred-Seven-Mechanical-Movements/dp/0917914252/ref=sr_1_3/203-7592960-5365526?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1176467485&sr=8-3 )

Sorry guys, I just have gotten diary-active again. <_<

http://www.deletedyoutube.ftvteen.com/?v=agK2uZBNbnU

One of the coolest things I've seen in a while.
(But then again, I haven't seen Fonzie in a while... *misses*)