how gala can you go?

perks of the job come in the form of big parties and exclusive events.

despite the fact that i most often wear a rather androgyne collection of clothes, a mix'n'match of women's and men's, and feel that i do not need to do neither my face nor hair, it's fun to get dolled up for a gala.

or a photoshoot just before.

dress by tiia vanhatapio, tights by wolford, sandals by miumiu, bracelet by kalevala koru.

oh, the smug smug face i have...

dreamscape.

i am absolutely in love with these videos. kinfolk are a group of artists who have combined their talent to produce work inspired by their love of small gatherings.

sure, they are a little too dreamy and perfect and at the wrong moments aggravate more than soothe. sometimes – ok sure, much of the time – life seems to consist of just managing between piles of laundry, dirty dishes, dustballs, hurry and short, snappy words to those around us.

but at most times, the serenity in these little clips draws me close and reminds me of the really important things: food, friends, and the details that make the moments we share so precious.

sit back, relax and enjoy. and if you feel the urge to write thank you notes by hand or quit your job to bake bread, do not blame me...



and there are more on their vimeo page. but remember i warned you.

have a beautiful weekend.

fragile vessel.

it's been a while since i've posted music.

too many mediocre songs and meaningless albums have passed by or i've just assumed that you know about the good ones way before i have time to say anything.

 yes, i assume you are a busy lot well informed and all...

even this one isn't new although porcelain raft's debut album strange weekend is just coming out next week. the dreamy, lofi pop that sounds as brumous as his videos look like are beautifully accompanied by the voice that assumes nothing resembling arrogance or pomposity, just gently adds to the haunting float that becomes a song.

he's opening for m83 at tavastia on feb 27 which is a combination bliss, if anything can be.

 

on relativity.

my mentor had a poignant suggestion to people who insisted that everything is relative: "just try jumping off a ten storey building and see how relative things are." naturally, his little remark was as beyond the point as the original suggestion was hasty, but there was a brief reminder of some things being universal.

talking about universals gives certain people the chills – and reassures some – but the mere acceptance of the existence of universal laws explains very little of the world. the thing is, once we start making sense of what happens around us, we start putting facts together and the glue we choose has an immense effect of what kinds of conundrums come about.

to put it simply, our explanatory stories – or narratives as the good old hermeneutic inquirer would say – are construed by us with whatever material we have at our disposal and the results are selective and biased in every beautiful sense of the words.

i have a paradoxical but loving relationship to moments when little details force me to reassess the storyline i put together. a challenge to my factoids which are built for self-defence or out of pure fatigue can illuminate where i picked the wrong jar of adhesive and give me a reason to reconstruct what i consider real.

lately i have found myself pondering the nature of being busy. my most common greetings start with oughts and shoulds, and i find myself explaining my absence from everywhere including the present moment.

or, to be honest, i feel like the artist faye mullen's model who chose bricks as her point of reference:

photo from series i am an artist and i weigh by faye mullen 2010.

whatever i give feels like a brick is lifted off my shoulders but provides the exact pleasure to the recipient that can be expected after being a given a solid block of clay.

to be honest, it ain't a great feeling.

thus, i have concentrated on doing things that give me pleasure. slowly finding time to browse the tubes of glue at my disposal and rearranging the bricks and bringing forward other elements that build up who i am and what my reality consist in.

i started with my nearest and dearest and am slowly moving towards friends and this blog. i refuse to let my narrative get stuck with beginnings like should've and ought, and will soon be distributing marshmallows and fountains of down.

the ultimate goal? i checked out that my weight equals about 9 spider monkeys and i think transforming my busyness from laying bricks into little monkey-gone-crazy is more like the narrative i want to believe in. i'm still not quite at handing out bananas, but trust me, i'll get there. i will still be more busy than i have ever been in my entire life, but it's all about finding the right relativity, right?