diamonds falling from grace.

three years ago i was quite in tune with my inner bookworm judging from a little note i wrote about admiration. nevertheless, being the one-click addict that i am, my amazon shipments have lately included a couple of memoirs – literature i knew to steer clear of before.

judging from how i feel right now, i probably should have kept on avoiding them.

since i never really discuss books here, this may seem an odd way to start – although i am not promising any continuance – but here goes nothing.

i adore beth ditto. i love the gossip. one of my most memorable starstruck moments was when i met her, post-show and after complimenting her singing she gave me the warmest, squishiest hug in the world.

it might have been the single incident that promoted a feeling that i already somehow was connected to her, that despite my overall hesitation to indulge in autobiographical storytelling, that regardless of my understanding of the perilous nature of stories describing subjective facts, that now, here, somehow it would be different.

her memoir, coal to diamonds, started as a light read that i trudged through. the unfastidious language annoyed me throughout, but it was really the structure – or lack of – that became increasingly irritating towards the end. it would be kind to describe the narrative as stream-of-consciousness or circular. truthfully, it was just a messy turmoil with no shape and time-leaps that were nothing short of confusing.

i will try to avoid the potholes of creating a mental image of beth as simple, actually i refuse to believe it, but the memoir's insights offer very little substance with heights such as – and excuse me for paraphrasing – not all people who look like punks embrace the punk mentality or queer people do not all share the same political agenda. the more interesting, complex personal-is-political issues – riot grrl, fat-positive thinking – were merely touched upon and not explained to the uneducated reader.

perhaps a good editor could have pulled this one up from its sad state that was, quite honestly, a waste of paper and time. far better queer coming-of-age stories come from jeannette winterson and, for example, ivan e. coyote – but they happily call them semi-autobiographical.

you can imagine the dread i felt yesterday afternoon when i picked up grace coddington's memoir grace. compared to the ditto version, her's is at least double the length – comparable with their respective ages – and i was afraid i would not finish it. my time is more precious than that. this morning over my cup of coffee, i turned the last page.

it was clear from page one that this was an eloquently written and well-edited story. nevertheless, after a few more pages, i already knew why my literature of choice stays on the fiction side of things: made-up stories are so much more real and insightful than actual life lived and described...

grace was a collection of entertaining dinner party anecdotes suitable for a night with acquaintances; the stories revealed only the surface of their protagonist although providing insight into the world of fashion  editing. the amount of dispensable namedropping at times felt rather ridiculous, but otherwise the accounts of adventures with famous household names provided a peek into a life normally hidden from mere mortals.

perhaps i will stick to fiction from now on then.

here.

i took the two required minutes to read my blog posts of last year. 19 in total; more pictures than text, so unlike me.

i was not here. i was hardly present anywhere.

2012 started in the limelight at the senate square and my year was boosted and shadowed by the blue ball wherever i went. a rewarding ordeal of a year workwise. the hours put in taught in many ways more than the miles of books i read for my dissertation: if i ever was, now i am pragmatic and practically prepared for any ordeal to come.

otherwise i shattered, collected myself, crumbled again, reassembled what i could find of myself with a clingwrap that muddled with its thick layers but still managed to reveal everyone around me how broken i was.

pieces are lost forever. new ones will surely caulk even the most gaping holes.

nonetheless, there were moments of happiness, many of them. i traveled, alone and with friends. i shared meals and moments of drunken exhilaration. i read books on which i wasn't able to concentrate for the past years. i danced for hours.

blowing off some steam.

midsummer and one of the best guarded secrets near my summer cottage.

ruisrock with silver.

sleepyhead.

boldly go wherever i want.

lavender in stockholm.

roxy in stockholm with bff.

kumpula.

reminders, part one.

fountain and flow festival.

flow festival.

restaurant day and hillbilly haystack.

reminders, part two.

new pups.

city happenings: laughs, speed and tight curves. this time with my little sis.

crazy, impromptu fun.

new puppies.

everyday discoveries at suvilahti.

farmers' market at teurastamo.

lovelies moving to their dream home.

london. sitting in a fountain.

dear friends getting married. love.

iceland. a dream come true. freezing.

muru pops down in tytyri and finlandia vodka platinum launch.

williamsburg, brooklyn, right after sandy.

i did not make promises for the new year.

i decided that i would just concentrate on being. being present. being here.

life happened.

despite my firm efforts, my return to writing did not go according to plan.

it was life that swept me off my shaky feet, bounced and twirled me around while gasping my breath and left me panting face down on a cold slab.

it's spring. the light brightens things up. new life emerges.

it'll all be ok.

cherry blossoms.

expiration

sharing life with animals comes so natural to many of us. our anthropomorphism fools us into thinking they share our complex emotional conundrums or that they love us with unconditional devotion. nevertheless, we often miss the more obvious similarities.

aging shows in our companios in a similar way to us but in acceleration. the signs are the same: greying fur and feathers, spots, warts, sagging skin, and so forth. cataract, hearing loss, aching joints and diminishing muscles. it's all there. terminal.

photographer isa leshko brings us a series of animals in their dusk. elderly and fragile, it is impossible to ignore them as beings with life experience. even when we're aware that they probably are not nearly as preoccupied with their demise and the collection of experiences they've gathered so far as we might be looking at them.

Rooster, Age Unknown

Marino, Bronze Turkey, Age 5

Handsome One, Thoroughbred Horse, Age 33

Violet, Potbellied Pig, Age 12 

Phyllis, Southdown Sheep, Age 13

all photos above © isa leshko

my dear little critter is showing so many signs of aging that every single time she takes more than half a minute (which is a long time, mind you) before waking up, i prepare myself for the worst.

she cannot see anything because of cataract, her hearing is almost gone and at her last vet's checkup her muscle mass had vaporized. she still has her smell and her appetite – and boy does she like to eat – and she loves going outside for walks and runs. everything's good so far, then.

but her grey snout reminds me that there is a day when a companion will be gone.

Jorma-Irmeli, Italian Greyhound, Age almost 13

it gets better.

very late this october a surprising (to me, that is) group in finland decided to take action. they were not people who were unrelated to the topic at hand nor people who had not taken action before – there were think-tankers, digital marketing professionals, celebrities, corporate leaders, politicians, etc – but many of the members of the group had hardly taken a personal is political stance previously.

in a couple of days they put together a video that premiered at the TEDx helsinki conference on one of the first days of november.

i had read about my friends' facebook statuses that "great things were on the way", but nothing prepared me for the actual viral. i cried, and i wasn't the only one.


(if you cannot see the english subtitles, click on cc.)

the past year in finland has felt abrasive. last summer the pride march was attacked. people interviewed on tv, columnists and bloggers have taken their liberties seriously and uttered hurtful words using both their impressions about religion and their right to free speech as excuses. yesterday a "style consultant" asked the gay couples who dared to dance at the president's independence day reception to "show some respect" and refrain from dancing.

just like everywhere around the world, gay kids are more likely to take their own lives than straight ones – the bullying and marginalization is a reality as much here as it is in where the "it gets better" campaign was started, the us.

curiously all of these people claim to know plenty of lgbti-people and that they have close friends from sexual minorities. i am sure they find nothing religiously, stylistically or veraciously problematic about hurting (intentionally?) their other friends, either.

some even ask why gays are above criticism... although none of them can give any other "critical" argument but that they're grossed out about gays (that is, imagining sex between gay men, let's be honest here) and seeing gay people being treated just like others feels like an insult on normality (i.e. forces them to imagine sex between men).

the video above was shown at schools and on all national tv stations and it created such a wave of applause that the force behind it quickly gathered people to write their stories. today, they are launched as a book. it will be available in bookstores nationwide and online (for example here).

all the proceeds go to the youth help line funded by the mannerheim league for child welfare – about which i have distressed views because of their psychiatrist's inexplicable views about gay parenting. nonetheless, the helpline is the only viable one nationally and their work is without hesitation thoroughly admirable.

the book launch is tonight at jenny woo from 7.30pm onwards. there will be a couple of short speeches, some live music, excerpts read from the book and djs, myself included.

welcome.

mergers.

during the last decade, the eventual downfall and probable disappearance of print magazines has been on the lips of media enthusiasts, and for many of us who design and work with user interfaces with their myriad of possibilities, the problems online newspapers and magazines suffer from are more than apparent and acute.

there were brief (although probably still continuing somewhere, i suppose) discussions whether blogs posed a threat to professional journalism, but as with most oppositions between pros and amateurs, there seems to exist at least some kind of a concordance about their valuable and mutually beneficial coexistence. the most obvious example of this is the inclusion of blogs written by amateurs in official newspaper and magazine sites.

bloggers also took making money to their own hands rather unexpectedly: at first there were blogshops that were an inexpensive way to create a small business on a free blog platform – a kind of a self-built catalogue online with varying methods for making purchases, but usually no additional content. by no means a disappearing breed, there are several still around the blogosphere.

moreover, many bloggers started to host a secondary site where they sell their own handiwork or items they no longer need. they're similar to the blogshops mentioned above, but these sites are indistinguishably linked to blogs by design or, if hosted by other services, such as etsy, carry the signature elements of the original blog. in fact, they resemble brand sites that combine designer/product/brand information and a separate store, and in this case the brand bloggers rely on is obviously their blogger persona.

blogshops as byproducts of otherwise non-commercial blogs are one of the creations of the merging of internet applications that take a direction that was not expected. nonetheless, lately i have noted an emerging trend that seems to be coming to meet blogger entrepreneurs halfway visually, but acts from a different angle altogether.

many conventional webstores have changed their layout to resemble blogs, such as the newly launched us site of finnish design shop. their commercial purpose is recognizable on the front page but in order to land on a page that creates a visually familiar webshop experience, you'll need to feel inspired to do some clicking. there is brief additional content, but the store is still more or less only a place to buy interesting items and learn only what is necessary to make the purchase.

nevertheless, there are further mergers that interest me now.

that is, some have gone as far as concentrating on content creation to the extent of almost hiding the shop aspect of their webstore. one of the latter example is hanna sarén's new website which differs very much from a traditional designer site+store concept, but rather suggests a digital magazine with multiple contributors or a more professionally created lifestyle blog. the site lists interesting products that are not associated with sarén herself, events that might appeal to her followers and occasionally a pop-up of a product listing that can be bought from the (still very unfinished) webstore.

the kinds like this suggest a shift in creating online content that relies on providing a fuller experience in lieu of taking the chances of ending up linked rather randomly to other sites that gather a regular following. point being, why not be the site your customers want to follow for interesting news, not only the site that's being linked to where they regularly hang out, right?

sure, it might not be for everyone. it is more time-consuming to gather and post newsworthy substance from various places and several angles: anyone who blogs knows that producing content is an effort whether we're talking pictures or text. needless to say, having others do it for you is expensive.

nevertheless, it may prove to be a lucrative venture business-wise, because keeping people at your site seems to be one of the key elements in closing a sale online. when you appeal to your potential customers at times when they do not even consider buying or browsing what's new, the chances of creating whims are greater.

what do you think? do you look for certain certain telltale signs when you land on an online store site? could you consider stores that visually resemble stores only vaguely reliable or not?

edit 22 sept: finnish design shop launched their new, bloggy look today in finland, as well.

duel of cyborgs.

i would not exaggerate one bit if i said that my livelihood and my life itself was dependent on my computer. i am on my fourth macbook pro and have gone through numerous traveling vessels of the digital highway before them.

i am very much a gadget freak: i had to have an ipod when there wasn't even a click wheel, yet (anyone remember? there were buttons above the wheel...) and naturally i've had an ipad since june although they're still not available in finland and getting apps is a slight hassle. i tap on my iphone constantly and have a habit of clicking and twirling any other phones or players my friends might be carrying.

gadgets are my toys, but also my way to enter and activate reality; my online being is deeply intertwined with my irl (sic!) being and i have trouble grasping people who consider online life somehow distinct, less real or more artificial than physical interaction. "real", for me, does not mean outside digital...

i am, very much, a harawayan cyborg: a being whose sense of the world cannot be explained without machines nor can my sense of reality be understood without digital realities. in other words, a bonafide nerd who rejects dichotomous binaries and boundaries between natural and artificial.

therefore, sometimes it is extremely healthy to pick the bubble of exclusivity – which the ability to be a cyborg in the previously mentioned sense undoubtedly is – and take a look at the cost of my transcendence.

despite never owning a car – and feeling some sense of satisfaction over it – i contribute to a waste problem of a gigantic sort. i sometimes wonder where the tools of my trade and my escapism have ended up once they've been deemed useless.



pieter hugo's permanent error is a collection of photos taken at agbogbloshie market, ghana. as one of the largest wastelands of the digital revolution, it is a toxic environment full of the corpses our freeriding on the information highway produces.

of the 50 million tons of digital waste western countries produce each year, only a fraction is handled here and recycled. the rest of the old hardware is shipped from europe and the us to developing countries supposedly as "digital aid", but ends up burned for its metal contents producing corrosive fumes and polluting the soil.

all pics from here.

the apocalyptic images of melted plastic and recognizable parts are hard enough to grasp, but when people appear as parts of the equation, i see a cyborg of a different type, of a kind whose world has not been enlarged or enhanced by endless improvements of technology. there's no transcendence here, only immanence and restriction.

it seems powerful images are sometimes needed as a reminder of the dystopic side our utopia is built on.

flowers.

there are roughly taken two types of personalities when it comes to relating to unexpected little events in normal life: those who plan ahead to avoid uncertainty and those who flow. the former find changes in plans stressful and always like to settle things ahead, the latter go out to find what the day and night might offer.

although no-one is probably strictly one extreme, people's comfort zones usually tilt towards one or the other. i know both kinds, but am definitely of the latter type. i flow, and i enjoy the unplanned to the extent of often infuriating those few people who are planners and who still hang out with me at times. i do make plans but mine are open to changing any minute...

sometimes it is incredibly hard to find a common ground with people who think not wanting to make solid plans is a sign of selfishness or disregard – i find it understandable but difficult to truly grasp since it is not meant to offend anyone, quite the opposite. on the other hand, i love bumping into new or old friends and taking them as part of the group, and often have noted that planners are more rigid with their idea of who can join them at what point of the night and feel almost possessive about company. selfishness exhibits itself in multiple and almost untranslatable forms, i guess.

just so i make myself clear i am not in the habit of failing to show up or leaving people behind because something "better" came up. i also can stick to plans and the prearranged group of people when circumstances so require.

i am not alone with the mentality of the free floater. some social applications, such as foursquare, were created for people just like myself: those who bar or event hop and love to have people join them without the fuss of invitations and meet-ups. once you're in the circle of friends, it's as good as an open call to come join me wherever i may be.

here, as well, the difference in mentality becomes visible: planners often seem to believe that not making the effort of contacting is as rude as butting into strange company, for me staying open is the most polite form of not intruding and assuming anyone wants to hear from me. it's my least obtrusive way of saying: "i'm here if you want to see me." again, the attitude opposition may seem untranslatable.

last weekend was one of those perfect successions of three days and nights when almost all plans evaporated as fast as they emerged, but the crowd stayed happily moving, separating, and uniting from one place to another losing track of the vistas of summertime responsibilities. there were rock shows, after work bubbles, openings, picnics, drag queens and, to top it all off, an eleven hour brunch...

thanks to outi for the diabolic shot of me. jorma wears american apparel to remind certain other types of planners that everyone should have the right to live without fear.

thank you everyone who was there this weekend at any point, any moment. we make such perfect flowers...

what way are you – a flower or a planner?

see the rainbow.

heteronormativity refers to the common assumption that people are straight and that interpreting the world around oneself as if everyone was straight is totally ok and realistic. anyone deviating from the norm is exactly that, a deviation, and only deserves recognition as an abnormality – if not abhorration – in our perfectly normal, normatively heterosexual world.

of course, statistically speaking it is reasonable to assume people are straight, since most are (if you define straight by usually experiencing some kind of affection towards a person of the opposite sex (which in itself may or may not be easily definable (let alone speak about the variety of practices of affection people who consider themselves straight take part in (but let's just not go there now, shall we...)))).

nevertheless, since in everyday life we do not meet and greet statistics, but individuals, it would truly make sense not to live according to generalizations. heteronormativity creeps into such a variety of daily assumptions and practices that, while they hardly surprise anyone of the glbtq community, it hides and suppresses the versatility of humanity all people represent and the forms of kinship we are able to build.

it's pride week. love in all its forms is precious. let's listen instead of assuming, ok?

princess sabrina.

i stumbled into reading a – whatchammacallit – critically conscious blog, and a certain post about ideals that promote artificial means of beautifying oneself. while i agree that many beauty standards are ludicrous and that they put both aesthetic and financial pressure on young women (and men), i find very little newsworthy about it.

nonetheless, it were the reactions to the blog post that really aggravated me – women competing with each other telling how awful it was that natural beauty was no longer appreciated and that the poor children had to deal with unrealistic expectations. one mother felt pressured to get rid of her fashion magazines in order to prevent their effect on her little girl...

well, guess what: read a little history and the current selection of methods seems humane and accessible. beauty ideals are by definition supposed to be unattainable for the majority. that's just how human society works.

moreover, natural beauty has never enjoyed the status of a standard – no matter what women's magazines try to tell us. altering what we have naturally is what socially constructed beauty (which is all there is, btw) is all about. the illusion of naturalness is only a current and rather novel trend that coexists with other standards, such as the barbie look built around peroxide fauxness.

yup, and some fortunate individuals are better endowed than others. some have better means to alter themselves, others come better equipped naturally, and sometimes, infuriatingly, the same people are naturally beautiful and rich, too. if there weren't individuals who represent the ideal, we'd have nothing to aspire towards... it's tough, i know.

nonetheless, when i read pseudo-intellectual outrage over beauty ideals or when a mother feels forced to protect her daughter from exposure to fashion or when bloggers start accusing other bloggers of promoting unreasonable or unattainable beauty treatments, i cannot help but shiver. seriously, now?

i don't know about you, but i was lucky enough to be raised by a mother who told me i was great as i am (no, she didn't call me pretty, but i don't blame her for refusing to lie) and who also told me that no matter how much i used the line every single kid knows – "all my friends have it, too" – i wasn't about to have anything she thought wasn't worthwhile.

for example, i had my ears pierced at 15 because my mom decided that was the proper age. everyone else had them before me. really.

and no, i do not recall my youth as a struggle around deprivation nor was a damaged emotionally. as a parent, you have the right and the responsibility to decide for your child. i'm sure i tormented my mother for her decisions, but hey, that's life with children. (sorry mom.)

as adults we should know better and prepare our kids for facing the world with its ideals. sure, most of us are not immune or capable of dealing with the pressures of the beauty industry ourselves, and i guess many actually suffer if they cannot afford bleaching their teeth or liposuction. the fact that not everyone can do it does not imply that there's something essentially wrong with trying to attain beauty – however one perceives it.

ultimately, s**t is hard. i just hope those who have enough willpower and mental endowments to approach these aspects of our culture analytically (or attempt to do so), would go a little further than complaining about how media (and bloggers) are setting an impossible example. why not start with providing support for fellow moms to have the strength to raise their girls (and boys) as they best see fit acknowledging the media pressure we all need to deal with?

as a kid, i wanted to be a princess who looked like sabrina (the boobylicious italian singer) and live on a farm. i wanted a perm, a nose job and breast implants (since mine didn't grow until i was 18) and, unsurprisingly, i survived without any of those and lived happily ever after. point being, have some faith in your kids and take responsibility for yourselves and the example you give.

now, let's hear your princess stories – wanna share?

urban spring (s)troll.

it was wear a suit day yesterday, and despite the fact that i did not wear a full-on suit, together with a discussion i had last night it inspired me to bring up a phenomenon that i've thought about sporadically.

a friend of mine noted that if you sit on a terrace in the middle of punavuori district around the time people return from work, you're bound to see a galore of style hopping off trams and biking past you. however, if you stick around for another hour or so, the same people appear in what can only be described as "comfortable home gear": usually an outfit including something that is notably a piece of exercise clothing (to be distinguished from sportswear which can be rather dapper).

and no, this is not a complaint of finns being unstylish or inappropriately dressed, far from it. it's just an observation of a distinguishing factor between us and other city dwellers, and which interests me.

the issue came up as i walked past the terrace dressed like this: i was on my evening walk with my dog and did not think twice about what i was wearing until he brought it up. simply put, i was in what i wore to work, nothing special or spectacular.

tee and blazer by cos, belt and jeans by monki, ballerinas by rizzo.

he's an adorable snob for pointing out that i did not look like a dog walker, but it does raise a question that i have thought about before: do people wear terribly uncomfortable clothes to work or do they just desire an increase of comfort no matter what the starting point is once they are off duty, so to speak?

i never had home clothes until a few years ago. don't get me wrong, i have a habit of lounging in my pj's all day and even running errands in them, but once i get into something, i just stick with it.

in other words, it just did not occur to me that i should change into something more comfy because my clothes are not generally uncomfortable to wear. if they were, i would not wear them anywhere; for me the comfort level of an outfit is dependent on other factors than properness for work and such. after i got a pair of sweatpants, i have started to wear them on days i am working from home, but i still do not habitually change into them once i'm through the door.

the most plausible explanation i have heard is the protection of office clothes from mundane scruff that's a part of normal family life. for a dog owner, who is an obsessive friend of the sticky tape roll, it makes perfect sense not only because family activities can get messy but because constantly cleaning suits and dressy outfits is both a waste of money and a strain on nature and the clothes themselves. thus, i do see the point of changing a suit into something more casual.

it does not, however, solve the issue completely. most finns do not wear dressy outfits, let alone suits, to work – quite the opposite, actually. most finnish jobs where a uniform is not required have a smart casual dresscode at most, but usually by international standards the clothes people wear fall into the category of smart sportswear or lower. therefore, to me at least, it seems the outfits should be leisure friendly and comfortable. they are also usually washable and not worn for several consecutive days.

thus, i have speculated that the reason for opting towards more comfortable clothing is not actually justified by comfort but by the need to distinguish between work and leisure. i may be completely missing the mark here, but the prosiness of training gear on our streets seems to suggest that either people are really, really into exercise or that stepping into leisure mode requires hopping that far stylistically.

thus, i ask you to contribute: do you have an alternative explanation for the phenomenon? do you change into home clothing once you're off work? if you do or don't, please explain why.

wait for me.

the increasing popularity of crowdsourcing – term coined by jeff howe in wired in 2006 – follows the tremendous force of DIT; do-it-together. it essentially means combining an open call for amateur (or not so amateur) efforts to reach a common goal whether a movie, a party or, as i've heard as the latest, an opera.

the basis of crowdsourcing is in the expansion of professional or semi-pro tools in the hands of amateurs because of their reasonable price and the growing number of freeware. anyone with a computer and a set of software can become a graphic artist, make movies, produce music, etc. as long as the talent and willingness to develop one's skills is there. it is a revolution of a sort, but not entirely unproblematic.

while the cynics claim that crowdsourcing is only a way to employ amateurs instead of trained professionals for work that is of lower but doable quality, those in favor celebrate the possibility of the web-based collaboration to have your talent known and utilized without diplomas or enviable agency jobs. taking part in a collaboration is a more efficient cv of your talent than linkedin or a personal website could ever be.

nonetheless, the downside is that the cynics have a point: it is a slippery slope down the collaboration slide towards exploiting talented people. why pay anyone for a great job if you can get similar quality for free? the phenomenon is more than apparent in interning (especially in the usa) that is a despicable field of abuse of graduate workforce – especially in fields of art, design and marketing. graduates must land internships in order to find a job – to gain practical knowledge of their field – but are increasingly finding it impossible to find start level jobs because agencies use interns for everything imaginable. interns are a free workforce, so why bother actually paying anyone...

the spirit of crowdsourcing echoes elitism, the idea that people can and are willing to work for free or for a minuscule compensation. the underlying assumption is that amateurs, the lovers of their chosen hobbies, are busybees who have a steady income supporting them while they take part in collaborations they feel a calling for. at another level there is a promise of future fame and possible work – as is with interning – which may or may not actualize. the problem is that the more eager to collaborate we become, the less likely it is that those promises will be bought and paid for.

i do, nevertheless, want to believe that crowdsourcing projects are not a way to create an underclass of creatives who depend on other means of making a living – already a familiar status quo for artists. nor do i want to believe the undercurrent that screams for the kinds of feminist critique towards describing some work as "a calling" and, thus, not requiring decent pay.

with results as great as these, i am more than happy to enjoy crowdsourcing projects. moby's competition for a video for his single "wait for me" produced hundreds of entries. what strikes me as odd is that the winner below by nimrod shapira – a cute, naive little flick – is posted on moby's site without any info on the maker or even a link.



another entry by jessica dimmock and mark jackson that moves at a level so fundamental it is impossible to ignore the human suffering. point being: these are great videos that moby did not pay a dime for...



i'm just not fully sold on the idea... what do you think?

event sponsorship 101.

for years i helped organize or solely put together fundraiser concerts for amnesty international. it was my way of participating in a cause i considered worthwhile because i find meetings and group discussions tedious and mostly a waste of my time. a yearly practical activity was how i felt i was most useful; i had strong ties to both restauranteurs and professional musicians, and i used my connections for the promotion of something beneficial, human rights.

the events themselves were not huge – three bands, a dj, info stand selling t's, a few hundred people –, but basics are the same whether you're doing a big event or a small one. some things are essential, that is.

every year i started the concert planning meeting with a list of tasks and stressed the order of doing things. i was often found annoyingly arrogant for pointing out that group members were not to run to their friends and promise them gigs nor were they to call anyone before we had a location agreement. although i was called a bitch for acting patronizingly, i knew better: my list was based on past mistakes that happened when people were overly excited about doing good.

at the time i thought the incapability to hold oneself down for the requisite time was a feature of ngo youth: excited about saving the world without a second to waste. i also blamed the inability to realize that people who had something to offer – whether it was products, their artistry or time – had to select where and to whom they'd donate it, on youth and single-minded optimism. even if my fellow amnesty activists felt human rights and the concert was the coolest thing on the planet at the time, not everyone necessarily shared their conviction.

judging from discussions of late with friends i have come to realize that this haphazard pomposity was not left behind at ngo level. musicians, representatives of cosmetics companies and those in the business of alcohol are approached all the time and asked for collaboration in a myriad of projects. some of the stories i hear are unbelievable and, incredibly, well-known brands are not exempt from acting amateurishly.

it seems simple enough: you want stuff, they want visibility, right? well, yes, but there's more to building a successful sponsor deal. therefore, i want to share some pieces of wisdom when in search of sponsors...

here's a check list:

one, have a complete proposal. throwing a great idea is nothing but a waste of time to sponsors. and they are busy people.
-fully develop your idea before approaching anyone. the amount of requests people send that only state that "this is an incredible opportunity for you to portray your talent or promote your product to international/interesting people" is overwhelming. the baffling part is that the claim is completely vacuous unless there is an actual planned event with a list of planned invitations. in case this sounds self-evident, the reason i am pointing it out is because there often is none of those when people start approaching sponsors and performers. seriously, you cannot really think that a request stating "incredible" without any feasible meat around it would convince anyone, now did you?

two, have a date and venue first – unless you have free access to venues which most of us in need of sponsorship do not.
-musicians and companies need a date before making a commitment. plan a date that's reasonable for realization. for example, fiscal years do influence the amount of funds corporations have for sponsorship, tour dates determine where bands are, etc. timing your requests indicates you have the decency to find out who you're dealing with.

three, do calculate. determine your expectations according to your position.
-if you cannot offer any compensation, you cannot expect a full concert from your favorite band. if you want samples of products, know the number you require before asking. if you want alcohol, have a plan for the amount of people and the length of service. do not ask for a vague "collaboration": you may think that it's a cunning way to lure a company to pay or give more than you first imagined, but your clever thoughts are unfortunately unfounded. they've got marketing budgets and they're not going to accidentally throw a huge amount of money at you if you cannot even determine what you need nor have the balls to be frank about it.

four, be reasonable. ask for what you need, make an agreement and stick to it.
-do not expect a company to pay for your event unless that is what you explicitly asked and agreed on. do not come adding items to the bill because you think a large company can afford it better than you – if you agreed on 3 free beers per invitee, do not add cleaning costs or napkins. (yeah, i thought this was self-evident, but apparently i was clueless...) make sure the band has everything you agreed on – a missing backline is pretty hard to come across in a matter of minutes.

five, be humble.
-even if human rights is the most important cause for you, it might not be for someone else. musicians try to make their living in music and if they agreed to perform pro bono every time someone asked, they'd play hardly any actual gigs. if your event feels like the coolest party in town, the company you're asking for liquids may not agree to get you and your fifty friends drunk just because you deem it fun. giving out gift bags may be the rave, but full-size shampoos cost enough to require a reasoning beyond "my guests liking shampoo and you getting free promotion by making them happy".

six, be open to suggestions and restrictions.
-the musician may have a new album coming out and may want to try playing new songs instead of hits – pro bono means they decide. the brewery may want to promote a new product or requires a bartender to be present. the cosmetics company may suggest a guidance corner at your event. listen to them, but do not expect them to plan your event for you (see point one above).

seven, act respectful. whatever you receive, always present it in a respectful way.
-do not comment loudly on your performers if they fail to play exactly what you wanted. do not throw free bottles of hairspray around the room or have vodka bottles on a dirty table with smashed fruit next to a passed out host. these days the pics and comments will make it to the company. needless to say, that is the end of your sponsor deal.

eight, be grateful.
-it is true your event provided visibility to your sponsors. it is deceptively delicious to believe you gave them a huge benefit and that they should thank you for free promotion. unfortunately, that is only the partial picture and many deals are not as lucrative as we as event organizers might like to think. therefore, if you cannot send an invitation to a representative of the company, send a short report, some pics and a thank you note afterwards. it's hugely embarrassing if the main sponsor shows up at your event through friends who are invited. for bands, make sure the backstage is fully stocked. i remember having trouble explaining to my fellow amnesty enthusiasts that bands expect some alcohol backstage no matter what is in their usual raiders. it's just polite to have soda and snacks. and beer.

with this list you should be good to go. the word of mouth is a terrible or a wonderful tool – depending on how everything went – but there's tons you can influence by just being respectful.

anything you might want to add? another perspective?

"now everyone feels the internet is a free-for-all."

my love for the free forms of expression the interweb provides is profound. especially the manyfold nature of social media provides continuous moments of felicity and awe. the myriad of ways people digest and continue each other's contributions online feels admirable and often truly novel.

sometimes i also wonder how rigidly it is all approached: every time a blogger receives a comment that they should do something differently (improve pictures, write better, create requested content, etc.) in order to please his/her readers i am baffled by the boxes so apparent in the expressed desires. although blogs have existed for a very short time, there seems to be a inflexible set of rules which a proper blog should follow and standards which it should fulfill.

already blogging as a form of original self-expression – doing yer own thang exactly the way you wish – seems undermined.

as might be clear by now to my readers, i like to write and my photos are (intentionally) crappy.

although this sort of meta-discussion may bore those of you who do not actively create content for the web, it is a reoccurring theme in my mind's wanderings, and i am not alone. just recently, sugar kane expressed her anxiety about socializing in her blog.

for many a blogger, readers' comments are a crucial part of the blogging experience – given the attitude behind blogging is social rather than one-sided communication. undoubtedly the expectations of bloggers vary and some are happy without conversation, some even find it unpleasant especially if the tone is critical.

i take the 'social' aspect of blogging quite seriously, and find very little worthwhile about shouting out into the void. i find social media is akin to a large dinner gathering where people who know each other sit down together with others they know only superficially and some that base their knowledge on the other people present on mere hearsay. but it is a gathering.

the dynamics are tentative and careful listening is crucial. naturally, the form of interaction varies, but there is pressure in taking part. pitching in is important, but as in any social group there are bound to be individuals who never say anything. moreover, there will always be attendees at the party who cannot read the nuances of others, there will be a joker who intends to tell the same stories repeatedly no matter whether they fit into the conversation, there will be the one who drinks a few glasses too many, there will be the one who listens on the intent of gossiping everything at first chance, there will be the silent observer who shuts everyone up with a snarky remark on something touchy, etc.

blogging posits you as the one sitting at the end of the table, telling everyone a story about something you find interesting. receiving a wassail is always encouraging, but rather empty as a result. an echoing silence feels like you just made a complete fool of yourself. well, you get the idea...

the fact that blogs are still read – and often written – as collections of articles composed by wanna-be amateur journalists or photographers feels strange for someone like myself and, i presume, sugar kane, who consider blogging first and foremost as a form of interaction with actual people.

although i may repeat myself to exhaustion with this one, i want to encourage you, my readers. i adore every comment i find in the box, but often wonder the lack of questioning and critical points. it sometimes makes me think whether i could be considered the bully at the end of the table: the person who tells people at the dinner party about her thoughts and who only accepts praise for her self-assumed genius. the person i certainly do not think i am nor want to be.

examples from the blogosphere do, nevertheless, insinuate that the desire for genuine interaction and embracing the many folds of social media may not be as common for bloggers as i have assumed. it may be that people who love giving monologues are often behind blogs, but there might be something else at play here, as well.

direct comments are not the only form of commentary, but cross-linking and, as i am doing here, continuing a topic or combining a few topics at another site are common forms of internet socializing. seeking popularity is a driving force behind many bloggers, but there is also unfortunate evidence that achieving it may distort their idea about what enabled their success.

i thought i was alone in slowly disregarding the sartorialist as a prominent street style recorder; during the past year his photos have started to speak less to me and the people he shoots have become predominantly established fashion faces, not original dressers from the streets, that is, the "real people" he used to shoot. as someone commented: many of his street styles nowadays only appear on the street between the car and the entrance paved with a red carpet. in other words, it seems he stopped strolling the streets looking and expects his subjects to come to him when he posits his camera at a locale he deems worthy of fashion.

as a side note, it may also be that i find the phenomenon of recording fashion celebrities in blogs quite repulsive and boring beyond belief. as fascinating as anna dello russo is as a fashion connoisseur, seeing her picture in every imaginable style blog is nauseating mostly because it feels so unoriginal.

but back to mr sarto, scott schuman. i had inconspicuously stopped visiting his blog before reading about the sartogate. imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and, naturally, as the most recognized and applauded street style blog the sartorialist has inspired many imitation sites. unfortunately to mr. schuman's sentiments, some are ironic, such as the catorialist and some take the art beyond schuman's own vision, like the fake sartorialist.

i assume you were hardly aware of these sites before – as was i. the catorialist proves to be great parody. additionally, i find the collages at the fake sartorialist exponentially more interesting than the current photostream of the original. but mr schuman did not agree and asked the fake sartorialist to stop altering his original images, because he felt responsibility for his subjects and their presentation.

i catch his idea about respect, but i also sense an echo of arrogance over what kind of online production and commentary is respectable. publishing original photos is only one way of expressing oneself online out of a myriad of methods. some create content from combining input from others, and as long as credentials are clear and the tone isn't blasphemous (no need to diss for example perez whose idea of good taste is quite far from mine), who's to limit their expression? isn't social media about social commentary anymore?

because what, if not social media commentary, is creating a blog that utilizes a part of a recognizable source and transforms it to something original? i hope schuman remembers what enabled him to become a somewhat respectable photojournalist: turning fashion photography into blog form.

moreover, i hope more of social media thrived on interaction of all kind where success did not imply that certain content remain sacrosanct or that only certain forms become approved of. not every blog will be your favorite, but it does not mean there's something wrong with the blog. moreover, not every comment or the form it comes in may be pleasant, but that's kind of part of taking an active role in any conversation.

now, speak your mind.

list of lessons.

things i learned today...

1. when your best friend calls and tells you she's been selected as one of ten best dressed women in finland by the poshest women's magazine in the country, the correct response is not to burst out laughing. even if the first thought in your head is "crap, didn't realize we're that old..."

2. cutting recipes from magazines might induce inexplicable cravings. all i could think about yesterday was a hamburger and i finally had one late at night at morrison's grill and green (a humongous veggie burger with halloumi, recommended although they could improve the patty and the ambience in general...). the reason became clear after i tidied our dining table at home and found a clipping of a fish burger recipe with a mouth-watering picture. and no, i could not wait long enough to take the photo before taking the first bite...

3. despite your stern wishful thinking, the gym does not meet you halfway. if you never walk all the way to the gym, you'll never exercise. ahem. bye bye chanel...

4. some recent events have convinced me that some finnish companies and company representatives really need an explicit policy when it comes to dealing with blog publicity – here's an example from while back of dealing horribly (i.e. condescendingly) with especially the negative kind. i will consider this a job opportunity (consultant, anyone?! haha!) in addition to my other little projects inspired by witnessing incredible albeit avoidable messes.

5. speed shopping can sometimes be extremely gratifying. although i believe in considering every purchase carefully beforehand, i somehow shun basics whilst doing that. running into zara 15 minutes before closing time exposed my hands to this subtly pink leopard tunic/tee/dress which i would have considered for too long and left it at the store, if i had the time. now, i'm happy i just intuitively grabbed it because it's light, long enough and comfortable. leopard print rules my world.

boots and tee by zara, wax coated jeans by cos.

any lessons you want to share?

shelf it.

one of my constant sources of wonderment is the products arts and design students or graduates decide to sell at school fairs and xmas markets. it seems little recycled cosmetics bags, quirky jewelry made of old toys or beads and felted wool are something that reoccur without leaving an imprint and not arousing a desire to buy. i am not alone – at least anu has lamented on the matter before. i mean how many cutesy little pouches does one need? (many, but let's not dwell on that, now shall we...) sometimes, if you're lucky, you might find a strangely shaped clump of glass or a tilted/distorted photo.

we've seen it all already and keep on seeing the same. it's not that artisanal fairs should not sell whatever comes out of the hands of people who are skilled at crafts. my curiosity is directed towards students of our colleges and university of design. the same trinkets are presented on their sales tables every xmas and these are supposed to be the foremost creative minds of our country. what gives?

i have entertained the idea that design students fear that their original ideas will be stolen by others – some sort of mass production espionage – if they present them at public fairs before they have the opportunity to produce and sell them. it would make sense, really. somehow. maybe.

i have been told that the students often have very little time to prepare for the fairs and shows and, therefore, they just quickly put together something to sell. sure, makes sense. kinda.

additionally i have heard the claim that people are not willing to spend money at these seasonal markets, but are rather on the lookout for something inexpensive. they consider buying student work "charity", and are willing to invest just enough to show that they are into new design. therefore, the students do not offer work they'd have to ask a decent price for. this also makes sense. sorta.

a vicious circle really, it seems these events provide nothing interesting to anyone involved – assuming you're not on the lookout of yet another toy brooch or recycled cotton pouch. if i've understood correctly there aren't many opportunities for self-promotion for design students. at least cheap ones and ones that reach the general (buying) public.

needless to say, there are competitions for which entering demands quite a bit and publicity is, even for the winner, modest. sending out portfolios to manufacturers is probably important later in studies and after graduation, but hardly grows the knowledgeability of the consumers. one is lucky if they make it on the pages of a respectable magazine; many careers are made by just the simple preference of a magazine editor.

therefore, ignoring opportunities like school fairs and sales baffles me. the short term benefits of selling a dozen clumps of glass or a few cosmetics bags seem irrelevant when there is a free opportunity to make an impact on random people you might never reach otherwise. what is a hundred euro for thirty pairs of button earrings, if someone sees and remembers the amazing piece of dress jewelry you designed and orders it for the red carpet somewhere and makes it to a magazine?

my modest example is here.

i visited sprouts young designers 2009 last spring at stockmann's. this particular fair was a collaboration of better known and already established young designers and newcomers. nonetheless, nothing there really struck me as entirely impossible to realize with just graduate students.

i remember screening the room and my eye focusing on a piece of metal on the wall. a clean-looking yet funky shoe rack called me and i recall thinking "one day i'll need one of those..." i grabbed the business card.

when we moved, i realized that we had the perfect spot and the need for a shoe solution just like the one i saw. i had lost the card in the process of moving and could not remember the name of the designer. after some serious googling, i found it. the item in question was designer martina carpelan's "shoe shelf." i contacted the vasa born, central saint martin's educated designer and a fortnight later fetched the shelves from a few blocks away.

i needed two to be placed on top of each other and here they are: the perfect hallway accessory. promptly filled, they are a streamlined way to present the best of the sneaker freak's collection.



i am not saying my personal purchase was much value to the designer, but feel brave enough to suggest that i am probably not alone in spotting items that leave an imprint strong enough to create a desire later when a need emerges. at a later time i might be willing to spend more on something i need rather than dishing it out right there at the fair. the benefit of showing something worthwhile may not be instant, but if you're planning on making a living in your chosen field, what's the rush really?

i, among many others, visit design fairs regularly, and if even half of the times i left with at least one designer or design worth remembering, there'd be a possibility of future transactions taking place. unfortunately, in the past years i cannot recall a single designer from the graduate sales or fairs of the university of art and design, and i truly consider it a shame.

if you are a student in the abovementioned fields, can you explain why it seems sales have very little original design on offer? if you're just an avid follower, have you bumped into anything memorable lately? any young designers who have made an impact on you?

irregular choice.

the sound of heavy thump followed by a clickety clack promises a great night ahead. your favorite magazine has just been delivered to yer mailbox and there's an inexplicable itch preventing you from keeping your hands off the pages. a great feeling, right? you are a member of the subscriber team.

i believe in yearly subscriptions and still prefer a printed version of my favorite readings. knowing that i'll be among the first to get their hands on a certain piece of journalism is exhilarating. winnowing your own selection from the myriad of available magazines tells something about you as a person: i'm voting for this team here. i also like the hassle-free method of receiving my monthly dose of information: sometimes i enjoy browsing magazines and journals at bookstores, but mostly i cannot be bothered.

at this moment i only have one subscription, though. the reason comes down to feeling repeatedly unappreciated. for me, part of sending a subscription out is the message that "i do not care if not every issue is perfect – i believe in you." point being, when i decide to take the chance that not every issue of the chosen magazine is interesting or well-made, i promise to contribute whether there is a failure and not abandon my magazine for lapses in concentration. my financial bestowal is my handshake: "i have deemed you worthy and promise to stand by you, no questions asked."

the feeling of being unvalued is derived from the trend of rewarding us continuous subscribers with ever-increasing yearly fees. increases in prices are not newsworthy by themselves, but when they occur together with significant decreases elsewhere one cannot help but feel troubled. not only are several issues of almost every imaginable magazine on sale every year, the offers for new subscribers feel like a smack in the face every time i flip through a magazine.

for the fear of sounding like a whiney bitch, i must assure you that i am not entirely clueless and do understand the importance of hauling new subscribers. nevertheless, it has become significantly more lucrative on my part to end my subscriptions and settle for a few sale issues and short term subscriptions – i actually end up saving money that way.

the paradoxical part is that treating continuous subscribers well ought to be important to magazines and journals. while i'm ready to remain a steady source of income for a significant number of magazines, i actually have to prefer being harassed by their sales people (who aren't exactly cheap to employ) on a regular basis because i end up losing money for being daft and loyal. what is the point, really? it's a lose-lose situation if there ever was one.

moreover, knowing full well that publishing a fashion or a lifestyle magazine in finnish is not exactly a remunerative business, i'd love to promote those who are willing to take the risk and do their best. nonetheless, i find it useless with the kind of special offers i see fluttering down from between the pages and landing next to my subscription bill.

saddened, i stopped subscribing to image after an uninterrupted period of fifteen years just because of the incompatibility between what i was paying and what i saw others being offered. it sucks, and it seriously pisses me off knowing that there's an institute of finnish journalism suffering, but that i'd be buffoon accepting their inexplicable tokens of gratitude. if i wanted to donate to charity, i'd still choose worthier causes – despite being aware that many people involved in creating these magazines are not exactly well-off.

thus, the only magazine i subscribe to is new york magazine. it pops through my mailbox almost every week, filled with well-written stories and news from the big apple. it is my humble way of keeping track of my favorite city in the world. the subscription is 75$, delivered – less than 2$ per issue. i am well aware that they're not making profit from my contribution and i wouldn't dare suggesting that a magazine should come that cheap. but it does feel like a reward for my commitment.

soon i will renew my subscription for another year. moreover, i am considering subscribing to intelligent life which has not failed me once during its existence, but four yearly issues are not too troublesome to fetch from the newsagent. i am continuously on the lookout for something else, hopefully finnish worthy of subscribing, but feel like my hands are tied.

am i the only one frustrated? any suggestions?

p.s. since i am aware that people from several publishing houses visit my blog regularly, i feel brave enough to suggest a small improvement: could you please add a little tick-box to your subscription cards where one can refuse to receive any additional crap with the subscription? no, i do not want your large logo towel. no, i do not want your trashy jewelry. no, i do not want that plastic pouch you for some incomprehensible reason call a "purse". no thank you, i just want the magazine.