It is a wonderful life

Summerish day at Pete´s and Ellus place. Aada´s birhday. Picture has caught something very essential and important - joie de vivre .....

thesis

Yes. It is done. If I go year back - my thoughts were a bit different - work i progress, for how long? I really wasnt sure. of course after I took the spring off I was actually able to really wrestle with my thesis and I got a good grip of it. And now ..when I almost havemy degree - what is my responsibility towards myself and society?

Altruism

I am inside of a very intresting discussion with Mark Twain. Twain asks in his book What is Man if there is a possibility of altruism. Book contains a dialogue of an old man and a young man. It is scuritiny of the causes that effect to mens decisions. Through the dialogue Twain comes to conclusion that always the the first mover behind every action is humans necessity to fulfill (or gratify) its conscience and secure the wellbeing of oneself. So every good deed towards our fellow-men also includes necessarily partly selfish action. Twain points out (or the old man of the dialogue) that the whole crux is to find a way to develop ourselves in a way that our actions taken are not in the juxtaposition with our fellow-mens needs or with our own will.

Good luck Mr. Ban?

In yesterday's editorial in Helsingin Sanomat the matter of new UN secretary was covered. What stick into my mind was that the name of the new secretary: Ban Ki-moon, foreign minister of republic of Korea. In the editorial he was all the time referred as Mr. Ban. I was thinking that if that was wrong - why is he called by his first name? We dont talk about George Bush just as a George, do we? Well then all came clear to me thanks to my clever live-in girlfriend (what a concept ,eh?) and UN webpages. Names follow different logic in Korea. First name is the name we see in the papers--but how does his family call him? Is it like - "Ki-moon, please take the carbage out". And guys in the bar call him - "Hey mooney, let's have another round"? or What?

I think this is actually good example of how we project our own ideas and thoughts to the other culture when we try to, or we dont try to understand it - and we can go really wrong doing that. Other good example is Iraq - what happened after this kind of projection? - I think "western" culture never did even try to understand Iraqi culture before all the actions taken.

Thesis

Friday. Thesis is almost done. I just sent it to my professor for the last time before taking it to grand jury. We are together till the bitter end.

Alcohol

The other day we had an intresting discussion about use of alcohol and about public debate about it which is going on in the media. One of my points was that ..yes I am addicted, but what does that actually mean?

This public debate somehow seems to miss the right questions. Some arguments lay confrontations between drinkers and non-drinkers and nothing between. Once you use, you are a user which is abuser. One writer wrote that motorist is always motorist if he only drives around the block or drives through Europe - following the same logic he described the use of alcohol... great thinking. And these people get their saying in the papers!

Other point is that our cultur is too approving towards alcohol use. Is it really? or is it only approving this kind of - let's get drunk attitude! I think we are very behind from europian way of drinking for example wine - because of its tradition , its taste, smell, color, caracter. So in actuality for example this kind of tradition where wine is considered as part of your meal is not actually approved. We only need to think about the taxation of wine (cause and effect - price of the wine) and we can clarify and prove this fact.

The other point is that alcohol has tremondous worsening effect to our national health. What about colestrol, sugar, stress, cars, pollution, eating meat - lets put labels to everything that have effects to our health (mental or physical) or to some other peoples lives or to nature. We would see cause and effects everywhere and labels everywhere. It is good to open our eyes and for example talk about the effects of using alcohol, but lets open our eyes to other things aswell. Question of alcohol is quite easy in a way because we have clear facts about it - how many alcohol related deaths (even they simplified relations,,nobody asks why do they end up drinking - these cause and effect chains are too difficult to follow), how alcohol effects our brain and so on..it is really easy to be judgemental about it and say don't use alcohol. But then again we have clear facts about global warming and melting glaciers...and what do we about it? Lets make it illegal!...I think the question is about control and how we can control ourselves as a consumers of alcohol and as a consumers of our natural resources...,If alcohol takes control of us we know the results...so the question is not really the alcohol itself as a media of devil but use of it.

For me alcohol represents another level of being - where some of the limits of my limited myself are broken for little while. It is also culinary product which I connect with gastronomia - the world of tastes and smells. It certainly has an chemical effect to my brain,,which in most cases I find enjoyable and necessary. For expamle beeing out with some of my friends in a bar - late nigth, I would probably not be there sober. I would be probably at home and sleeping and meet my friends during the day (which I dont, cause the lack of the time and my different day schedule). I think for most of the people alcohol builds their social capacity,,,,I find myself social but still I would have decide between staying home and staying in the bar sober talking with people - I would definetly choose home. I find it even hard sometimes to be socially active with my family and my old friends - how difficult it is to be socially active with new people,?. I think that human beeing is not in the stationary position...it is all the time in a process of becoming (becoming a beast sometimes)...as much we extend our "humanly" limits by using car or computers we extend or modify our ways of beeing by using alcohol. All these have effects healthvise, culturalvise, pollutionvise and use of them is not illegal.

Smiling Leo

Indian name - rather good i'd say - Hymyilevä Leijona. This blog proudly presents Smiling Leo Risto Johannes.

Bourdieu steps to a restaurant

It would be interesting try to understand how the restaurant world works through the concepts of Bourdieu. The restaurant that has a dominant situation in the market would be probably well explained by Bourdieu. Bourdieu would ask what kind of capitals (and in what amount) would one restaurant need to be at least profitable? More you have ecnomical capital more you can invest to your bussiness - equipment, professionality, interior, design, marketing.... that is evident, but Bourdieu would also argue that restaurant needs cultural capital which would include prestige, status in the restaurant/gourmet field. Cultural capital (status, diplomas, critiques, Michelin stars..) is of course is bound to economical capital at least in certain point - if we think for example what it means for restaurant to have celebrity chef in their rank. Social capital would mean how restaraunt uses and makes its social connections. In the very end it is the image that has been created in to peoples minds that sells the restaurant. More coherent and accurate the image (what kind of food and how good it is) is more it will attract people - we only need to think all the succesfull fastfood chains we would then understand the importance of this imagined image of the product for the companies.

False image

Mirrow changes the perspective. Everything seems to be real but still out of place. If you are about to visit Helsinki in near future you should find these two bars which are cool and antistress locations. This picure is taken from bar called Bar - you´ll find it in Porvoonkatu. The other bar situates in Helsinginkatu - Kola is its name. Guy on the right - well actually on the left -- is Uli from promised land of beer.

About classical narrative

Next time you watch a typical Hollywood movie think what David Bordwell has to say about it. "By virtue of its handling space and time, classical narrative makes fabula world an internally consistent construct into which narration seems to step from outside. Manipulation of mise-en-scène (figure behavior, lightning, setting, costume) creates an apparently independent profilmic event, which becomes the tangible story world framed and recorded from without." (Bordwell 1995, 162 - 4th ed. Narration in the Fiction Film)

It is just like Bazin said much before - by careful construction of story world (framing, takes, focus, mise-en-scène, narration) the feeling of reality is possible to catch. Feeling that is constructed from cultural elements, which are not there automatically as a profilmic event.

Mediating myself

Right now I am trying to mediate myself to other parts of social environment. My cultural capital (as Bourdieu might say) has increased in a such level from where I might have enough power to, first legitimate my competence, and then mediate it to the areas where this competence might be wanted. Then it is a question also (again Bourdieu) of social capital which I actually lack very much, but it could be also an illusion - this feeling of lack. In order to achieve power in the social field person has to act and be social. Mediating myself therefore means putting myself in motion using I, as a medium of gaining social acceptance in employers' eyes.

Asem

Finland hosted the ASEM meeting last weekend. The meeting is big happening where no real resolutions are made (approaches towards the resolutions), but it has lots of visibility in the media, which made it also interesting for civic organisation and other groups of people that wanted to demonstrate their opinion. "Organisation" called Smash-Asem (http//:asem.anarkismi.net) and its try to have their demonstration was smothered before it actually had chance to start. Well most people would say that it was good but some defenders of public demonstrations found police action as limitation and violation of democratic action. Well it is hard to see this clearly because we dont know how far Smash-ASEM would have gone to decide if police´s action was overplayed. What is very important to understand is that meetings like ASEM and the space it takes in actuality and in mediated virtuality is a space also for non-corformists who want to be seen and who want to give their message. It is a space where contradiction are made and have to be made because then their are most effective (this is why Heidi Hautala (1.6.06) used brilliantly her chance to critizice russian politics towards autocracy instead of making lame speeches about finnish parliament ). Then it is always intresting to analyze what kind of sides are taken by the media and by the politicians.

Rivoli in a process of becoming

Deleuzian term becoming now identifies the changes or attempts to change that are happening in Rivoli restaurant in Helsinki. Any restaurant that has existed over forty years has always difficulties to change its way to appear in restaurant scene because of its strong traditions. There are always spokesmen for sticking to classics and sticking to the old (good) ways and others that say why dont we try something totally new. But we need to realize also that restaurant that has actually existed such a long period, definitely does something really well. There is no absolute truth in running restaurant bussiness but one has to react when customers are not overflowing to restaurant anymore because of the harsh competition that the restaurants have deal with. Then it is a question of capability to change in a way that restaurant would find the golden path that twingles between tradition and new ideas which would be also appealing to the customers. Idea is to act - action causes reaction - and not just wait and try to survive by bringing down the labour costs like many other places (not only in restaurant bussiness) do. Therefore restaurant(s) needs to push its rigid limits in the level that it first deforms and then reforms and finds new dimension to exist. Rivolis new à la carte with its form and content is a start for becoming something that uses tradition as a tool to carve openings to new way of thinking the lunch hour eating. Rivoli´s new approach does not say that less is more - instead it argues that more is more, which is to say that wider the possibility of choice more customers it will attract.

What are the limits of street art?

Yesterday we had interesting discussion about the street art and if the city should allow it to exist or not. Our argumentation started from the juxtapositon that on can find from photo installation in bar called Kola in Helsinki. There are quite many pictures in the wall but two of them made (at least that moment) made rather strong effect to us. In the other picture there were the "tags" written to the walls - like D.K. or WUtang or whatever,,,things written with big magic marker ...and in the other there were pictures or silhuettes - used certain distinct techniques to make an image to have a form and shape in the wall - more than just writing. So the question is how canwe draw the line between these kind of wall statements....and if the city actually could approve certain type of pictures or images,,does that make then these pictures with certain statement lamer in a way?

This is me and Hanski.....walking in the sun

philosophy here and there

this morning when I woke I realised after seeing myself from the mirrow that I had turned to be an ant....yes you might say that this is so Kafka that I am talking about but honestly I have now the form and shape of ant,,,,and my mind,,,does it seem to like ant´s mind ,,hmmm,,,never been ant before so How would I know?