new adbusting.

subvertising refers to the practice of making parodies of recognizable advertising imagery by creating an illusion of recognition only to be followed by the realization that one has been duped. it relies on cognitive dissonance as an effective tool for promoting critical thought. by altering already existing billboards or even purchasing space for subverts, adbusters act towards creating a more media and corporate literate world.

much of the world’s artwork can be read through political glasses. as of late, and increasing number of artists have taken a keen interest in the marketing industry and many refer to corporate efforts in their politically inclined works. the true subvertising pomo artist is the anonymous high culture appreciated graffiti ninja, like the uk’s own banksy whose satirical artwork is a mixture of naturalistic painting, graffiti and political commentary. he’s smuggled and hung his art in notable galleries, but is perhaps best known for painting the israeli west bank barrier with ladders and children digging through the wall. banksy’s identity is unknown although speculations are vast.

while banksy uses publicly owned ”canvas” for his expression, there are other artists who target advertising, but differ from your average graffito by their explicit political commentary. new york city has "poster boy". he’s the graffiti adbuster who transforms subway advertizing into political commentary. while remaining anonymous for years, he was arrested two weeks ago for vandalism and his identity is still up for question.



another way to comment on advertising and current affairs without risking being sued for destruction of public property is to work the insights into more traditional artwork. hank willis thomas makes compelling images which comment on the use of racial images in advertizing, especially the presentation of the african-american male body.

his two series b®anded and unbranded explore the imagery of commercialization and americans of african descent. giving 'corporate slave' a whole new meaning, willis uses a familiar language for us all, advertising, to talk about race and the historical pains of modern america and has exhibited his work in spaces reserved for adverts.



banksy’s artwork can be purchased at no cost from his online store. poster boy’s flickr page holds his artwork which obviously gets cleaned promptly -- sometimes even while he’s still working on them. hank willis thomas is currently showing at jack shainman gallery in nyc.

the greendress.

while walking my dog this afternoon i popped into the greendress, a new eco-chic boutique that opened last week. they offer carefully selected vintage pieces that were moderately priced, some new eco-fashion and their own collection made of second-hand materials.

as i browsed through their selection it was apparent that the items were mostly good quality and the number of designer pieces was quite considerable. they also function as a consignment store which actually is something i could use. the garments needed an indication of size in addition to price, since at times i had trouble figuring out whether a dress would be worth trying on or not. all in all, it really seemed like a store i could frequent.

what was surprising was the complete lack of attention i got. as i stepped in steering my dog (she's blind and stairs are a hassle) and looked up to greet the salespeople, i was met with an avoiding glance. no hello. nada. zip. after i was done browsing through the entire store, another salesperson greeted me briefly, but disappeared faster than i had time to respond. when i left, they brought another customer (or friend) a cup of coffee, but ignored me leaving the store...

maybe they were busy. perhaps i didn't look like a potential customer with my sloppy beanie and loose jeans. i hesitate to believe they are rude people since they explicitly invite people over to the store for coffee and cake on their website.

the idea behind the store is great, but minimal sucking up to random walk-in customers (such as greeting them) is kinda required for running a profitable business. a concept relying on approachability is antithetical to the experience i got. not a good start.

tellier like it coulda been.

i was excited about seeing sebastien tellier hop on the stage of tavastia, since he did a great job at last summer’s flow festival and usually smaller venues imply a more intimate show.

it was, well, up-close and personal. he started beautifully and after the first two songs talked to the audience. his remarks seemed to take forever, and when the third song was up, the audience was more than ready to dance. it felt pretty great being part of the party.

if only had he stopped there. he is a funny guy, but seemed sligthly too impressed by his own wit and seemed to forget that his art was music not comedy. it could have been the two bottles of wine he gurgled down while performing, but i suspect it was some sort of boredom that inspired the nauseatingly long speeches between each one of the eight (or nine?) songs he managed to deliver during the hour and a half he was on stage.

sure, the fact that we were tired going in and had a heavy dinner before wasn't helpful, but we weren't the only ones unimpressed by his babble. i don’t recall seeing another show at tavastia where the audience slowly leaves the room and vanders to the bar before the concert is over.

mighty bummer.

recessionista.

i remember people around me talking about giving up shopping or diminishing their spending for significantly over a year now. as a topic of conversation, consumer boycotts and trying to buy less have appeared regularly since my teen years, but for the past year buying less has been trendier than ever. many people talk about taking a full break from shopping for a month, half year or even a full twelve months. i really admire people for their ability to do that.

there are different reasonings behind making the choice of consuming less. ecological reasons are by far the most popular, and ethical considerations drive an increasing number of people to think carefully before buying. origin, washability, longevity and combinability are all important factors when making a morally sound consumer choice although finding a combo where everything is ethically in order can sometimes feel like a battle bound to fail.

however, other arguments appear almost as often. an interesting one is concentrating on what you already have, i.e. many of us have become so accustomed with updating our look with new items that we forget the many exciting things we already own. buying something new also seems to interfere with the process of creativity and our ability to combine individual garments in novel ways. taking a break from shopping can reaffirm our love for the existing contents of our closets. therefore, going shopping in your own wardrobe can be a refreshing experience which is both ecological and frugal.

and since we are in the middle of a full-blown economic crisis (or approaching it, depending on whether you work in finance or not...) a reason which has become acceptable to utter nonchalantly over coffee as of late is the lack of money. it may be that people save because of the recession or that they’ve lost their jobs – i’ve witnessed around three people a week report losing their jobs or fearing that they will at facebook alone. while most people enjoy exactly the same income and we’re supposed to keep the capitalist wheels rolling by consuming as we did, many find themselves scrutinizing their spending habits, and defer more expensive purchases and completely abstain from quick fixer-uppers.

i have had my ecologically spurred episodes, but they’ve never been exactly long lasting. when it comes to comfort shopping, i am terribly weak-willed and my ability for self-deception is notorious when it comes to clothes. i do dwell on ethical matters, but have trouble acting according to my deepest convictions. i also revisit and re-evaluate my closet regularly, but have tended to concentrate on what is missing rather than what i already have.

my weakness is the inability to reassess my consuming without being forced. dualistic to the bone, abstract reasoning, however detailed, hardly inhibits my corporeal shop-a-holic and i have to suspect the ghost in the machine is definitely not in control of this fashion cyborg. i admit to being one of those young women who believed that an outfit could be destroyed by heels half-an-inch too low (which obviously meant i needed a new pair just perfect for the outfit), and who never wore the same party dress twice (meaning that one wedding crazed summer i had the opportunity to convince myself – and it wasn’t that hard, really – that i desperately needed six new dresses). i religiously started my weekends by ”reinventing” myself with a new top or dress which i often wore just once, if i ended up wearing it at all. there are still a couple of items in my closet with tags.

everything changed because of the fact that i chose to take a sabbatical, sell everything valuable i own (well, my apartment...), and live off my savings right before what’s been described as the most devastating global recession. re-entering the job market at a time when everyone is being laid off has taught me – obviously – that telling the future is not my forte, but also that i can consume less and feel quite content. i have learned to love many of the clothes i already own, realized that i do not need several egg shaped black dresses and that i can wear the same outfit to a party more than once. actually, the fact that i can speak of ”outfits i rely on” is news to me.

it is embarrassing in a way to realize that i have close to no control over my whims and desires. i thought i was more rational than i seem to be. when i started to run out of money at the end of my sabbatical, i hesitantly grew more cautious with how i spent my vanishing funds also because finding a new job proved more difficult than i predicted. new appreciation in longevity and good quality became something of an epiphany because they mattered more: quality turned out to be more than just an aesthetic and a feel of luxury since it became also something i would enjoy repeatedly and count on. i have finally learned to leave items i feel slightly iffy about at the store in the store. i am not concerned with reinventing my look every single weekend and am happy to reuse outfits i have learned to love. nowadays, i shop very little and, thus, am much closer to my moral aspirations.

all this said, i wouldn’t mind a crazy shopping spree in new york city, and once i get my finances back in shape, that is exactly what i will do. be it my diminutive act of recession suffocation.

remember to floss!

a song for the weekend: flosstradamus feat. caroline polacheck. at first i thought the song was boring, but i'm easily persuaded by accordion playing and now it's really catching on. it's kinda goofy, but makes me wanna dance.



downloadable via greenlabelsound.

bawl like a baby.

i suffer from what i call "ceremonial sensitivity" which means i burst into tears every single time something traditional and ceremonial takes place. at weddings and funerals i blend in because weeping is appropriate. the fact that my eyes water even in situations when i do not know the couple or the deceased sometimes raises an eyebrow or two, but often i'm just considered fittingly emotional. mind you, in these cases my tears are not driven by subjective feelings of joy or grief, but merely by the ceremony itself.

the tendency is downright embarrassing at other types of ceremonies: i, for example, started crying when i saw the headmaster of my alma mater lead the professors into the university at our yearly opening ceremony. i cry when i watch the president give her new year's speech. i cry at every oration given by somebody's (anybody's!) close family member or friend at any party. the worst, however, are official meetings which follow a strict convention, because my eyes tend to water when semi-ceremonial phrases are uttered, such as "this concludes the matter, let's have a vote?" and people say "aye" in concession.

as much as i love the arts, fashion and music, i am hardly ever brought to tears by them. some music typically used at ceremonies i call psychological warfare, but aside from albinoni's adagio and such, music evokes all sorts of emotion, but never sobbing. this morning changed everything: i guess i've never been pushed with the right combo before.

pelse wrote in his blog that he found a couture show with music by klaus nomi and photography by nan goldin somewhere. if you're unfamiliar with nomi, i cannot but recommend browsing through youtube for his genius. my appreciation of the photos of goldin is, perhaps, unprecedented and i revisited her show at kiasma several times only to love her imagery more. combined with this fall's couture, what could hit the aesthetic spot better than this package. eagerly i googled and was directed to ny times (i was about to miss it, for goodness sake!) and here.

i wept. it's beautiful. go see.

quicksand.

on every kitsuné compilation there is a standout song. on the latest, it's synthpop act la roux fronting elly jackson. enjoy!

La Roux - Quicksand
Uploaded by MaisonKitsune

die die die!

it all started out as a normal, rather inspiring day: i was about to run some errands and decided to wear my fairly asymmetric, but lovely vivienne westwood wool dress. as i slipped it on, i noted a hole in the hem. knowing myself, i blamed my stuffed closet where hems easily get stuck between shoe boxes. hence, sometimes delicate fabrics rip. the thought that i might have harmed it during our move occurred to me, as well. ultimately, i wasn't devastated and just gathered the hem up with some safety pins: westwood with holes is at another level compared to a flawless westwood -- the punkier the better, right? normally knee length became a rather short miniskirt, but i think it worked out fine.

off i went, ran the errands and popped into a clothing store. in the fitting room i noted that the entire garment was covered in tiny little holes. my punk attitude deserted me instantly: something was eating my precious dress!

no matter how much we like to diss synthetic fibers, they've got a perk one hardly ever thinks about: critters do not like to munch on plastic! there are all kinds of minute larvae after your shreds: the clothing moth enjoys wool and the carpet beetle will savour almost anything but has a preference for fur and wool. oh so savvily, i've filled my closets with cedar wood moth repellents, but the science behind the method is unclear to me. they smell nice, though, but obviously do not work all that well...

thankfully, we've got a sauna. i found no further damage, but i am not taking any chances. heating up the b*tards is a handy way to kill almost any kind of creepy crawler and while my meticulous search gave no clue as to who might be blameworthy, i hope the heat treatment will solve the problem. die, creepers, die!!

greased up.

imaginative people never fail to amaze me. i find myself regularly in awe with the fact that someone came up with radio waves and the microchip. i've never bought the anachronistic crap that an airplane was something which became a reality out of inevitable necessity because humans have a general desire to fly since, obviously, we don't. we actually tend to fear flying more often than not. but isn't it amazing that some people did have an urge to conquer the skies, which enables us to hop on a plane and actualize the idea of flying around the globe?

minor inventions have me equally delirious at times. for example further, a luxury hand soap made out of used restaurant grease. i kid you not: the oil used to fry french fries and calamari can be reused for biodiesel (through extracting glycerin and adding potassium hydroxide and methanol) and soap (the remaining glycerin plus some essential oils). the makers actually create a sustainable circle by taking bottles of the soap back to the restaurants that provided their oil.

human ingenuity rocks.

nothing to wear.

i know i listed a few reasons why i do not post photos of my outfits and sort of said i wouldn't. then i broke the promise at least once. it seems i'm doomed since today i got a surprise invitation to see a pre-showing of the musical spring awakening. the catch was that there was an awards ceremony for magazine ads and the crowd would be media people from the more conservative end.

i easily end up looking a little overdressed or i-assume-you-work-in-advertising when pushed timewise, and utterly panicked, i ripped my favorite "smart casual" shreds which did not scream "artsy!!" from my closet.

i have a few outfits i rely on when in a hurry. here's one of the ensembles i have grown to trust: dark drainpipe jeans by julian red, silk blouse with ruffles from zara, leopard print pumps by christian louboutin and epi leather clutch by louis vuitton. and i had time to snap a couple of shots, too.



(the flash does not do the shoes justice nor is my waist quite that high up. i also changed the belt to a subtler one after seeing the photo. yikes.)

if you're into musicals and don't mind the fact that the theme relies on assumptions of anglo-american hypocrisy to really prove its point, spring awakening is worth seeing. honestly, i looked forward to the meal served afterwards more than what came after the intermission since it was just a tiny bit too obvious. and the food was yummy, yay!

DIY vs. DIT.

okey, i broke my rule of no caps... bummer. i also apologize the artificial opposition in the title, since DIY (do-it-yerself) in the sense of creating something derived from an inspiration yourself is still very cool and dandy in my view -- and not exactly opposite DIT in this sense.

but to my point which is that in this age of virtual socializing and connecting, do-it-together (DIT, duh!) is making a comeback. big time! groups in facebook titled "why are we friends in facebook if we don't greet each other irl?" and "let's meet for real coffee" reveal a disturbance in our sense of social interaction and it seems the perks of re-establishing contact with long lost pals over the interweb has created a void we're more than eager to fill with real-life encounters.

i do not mean to dismiss the value of facebook, by any means; that is, i'm not one of those "i'm so over facebook" kinda people. i have witnessed several friends lose their jobs/apartments, post it as their status, and receive recommendations which lead to new jobs/apartments. i can follow my friends' kids grow in ways never imaginable before. the ability to invite people collectively over to a party through events is amazing. but it certainly does not cover everything and tends to create a false sense of connectedness with people who you might otherwise call sporadically to figure out how they are. i have noted that instead of visiting my friends with kids, i just ask for new photos in fb... and it's just lame.

another thing completely is relating to strangers, meeting new people and making contact with like-minded individuals. exchanging glances and nods at bars or at the gym hardly ever develop to actual encounters and perhaps they do not need to. most people like me who aren't into group sports or any other group activity miss out on feelings of belonging to a whole or a community -- something i do recollect from my times of playing in an orchestra. being a component of a larger mechanic is a valuable immersion that provides contentment an individualistic life never touches upon.

groups like the terror pigeon dance revolt! (yes, with an exclamation mark) are spreading the news of partaking and social interaction. their gigs come with the main performer (neil fridd), prop makers and his entourage of party starters who mingle with the audience with the sole aim of getting everyone involved in the concert. according to fridd, most of his fans are so into playing in their costumes and sword fighting that they're actually clueless as to who's in the band and who is not.

here some group of people sing together about their hearts going to explode. don't you wanna just sing along?

le'ggo of my lego!

this morning's feel good post for all you nyc lovers out there: illustrator christoph niemann's blog entry in ny times made me smile.

neighborhood recommendation #3: hangout.

an obvious place i have to recommend is restaurant tori. i wasn't sure how to label it, though, since it is my fave for lunch, coffee, brunch, and breakfast. i don't visit every day, but several times a week -- enough to be such a household name that the staff are not always certain whether they already took my order or not.

tori is a great spot to meet friends for coffee or just linger by yourself in the corner reading a magazine. the clientele consists mainly of regulars and many of us seem to live in the neighborhood. there is something extremely comforting in seeing familiar faces on a regular basis even if i do not know them personally. somehow the place reminds me of my hangout in brooklyn, called atlas cafe, where the same crowd gathered daily over their laptops (me amongst them) and enjoyed the atmosphere sipping beautifully roasted coffee.

tori's big plus over atlas -- in addition to being located diagonally opposite my home instead of the other side of the atlantic ocean -- is great food. almost every sunday i stroll over with a group of friends for breakfast to enjoy a cheese and tomato toast, some scrambled eggs, and some loud chatter. their daily lunch menu usually has some good old home cooking and fresh fish and the serving size is generous. the famous meatballs are such a staple dish that when i was part of creating kortteliravintola kerttu in me olde hometowne of turku, we included a version of the dish on the menu, and it's been a huge success ever since.

strictly on a walk-in basis, they take no reservations, but sometimes are willing to extend their kitchen opening hours if you're running late with the munchies. they've improved their service speed significantly from a few years ago when it was excruciatingly slow, and now things usually go quite smoothly... unless the staff is relying on reino to help out, because then you just have to live with the warmest and sweetest waiter creating ultimate chaos.

some velvet morning.

this morning i went shopping in my closet. it is a wondrous store i always find something new in (read: i spend way too much time in my black jeans and tees) and since i was feeling good i decided to dare wearing a pair of velvet pants i bought at least two years ago. a tight, slightly short cigarette shape in emerald green, it's just the right amount of color for a subdued day.

velvet is not for every day: the heavy fabric does not work in every situation and like any girl aware of the hype around size 0, i have days when i feel fat. velvet being a thick, nonreflecting material, it is a perfect exaggerator for feelings of bulkiness. and yes, i know i am anything but fat, but subjective states are often out of tune with reality... since i sprained my back a week ago and have been over-consuming painkillers (which i hate), i dared not try hovering on heels today -- and we all know that a good pair of heels works as an instant diet whenever you're feeling a little on the wobbly side.

but since none of the body-conscious issues applied today, it was a velvety morning that continued into a soft, sheeny day, and i kept going to the rhythm of this song. the original is one of my alltime favorite songs, but this version by the primal scream (featuring kate moss!) is pretty cool as well.

scrumptious.

my sweetheart and i celebrated our one-year anniversary last saturday. because of finnish eurovision finals, which holds a special place in our hearts, not only because some of our first dates were heavily eurovision infested, but also because of our love of camp, we had to dine early. my duty was to find a place where being seated in a half empty restaurant would feel intimate enough for the big date.

one of my favorite restaurants in helsinki is raku ya. the place has cosy booths for parties up to 6 people in addition to traditional seating. an izakaya style japanese restaurant, they serve amazing sushi in addition to delicious dishes for sharing and socializing. their new chef comes from the kitchens of nobu restaurants, a chain of world class japanese cuisine. nobu's legendary new york flagship is an establishment everyone who loves sushi should eat at least once in their lifetime. (as a tip, try to walk in slightly before dinner servings and you might get lucky. otherwise, book months earlier for reservations. nobu next door is slightly easier, but despite their claim on the website, not exactly something you can just pop into. worth a try, definitely -- especially if you've got scandinavian good looks. yes, the place is very much "to see and to be seen" and strangely they're genuinely preoccupied with looks...)

at raku ya, the sushi is always recommendable, but you can build a whole delicious meal without a grain of rice in sight. my favorites are their broccoli salada and tofu salada, their fish du jour is always excellent and i could gnaw on the edamame endlessly. moreover, the staff is worth listening to: their recommendations are often spot on. for the quality of the food, the pricing is extremely moderate and there's plenty to share in their hefty portions. we left extremely satisfied.

i've managed to get seated without a reservation off peak without a hassle -- if a spur of the moment desire for sushi overcomes me.