Dawn of New Age

I saw dream of my unborn son. In the dream he said: “There is no time, there is no universe, there’s no country. There’s nothing but you.”

He haven’t experienced the cold breeze or hardness of the world. He doesn’t know how sunshine feels on his skin. But he already knows what’s important.

Coming this far, my conclusion is that life has no meaning. This lifetime is one time experience. Like ice hockey. Game with absolutely no meaning whatsoever.

Maybe even the gods have already left our universe, and there’s nothing but us. There’s no reason why we live or die, so we should really take care of ourselves and the others.

We are the people with the artist’s brush. Whether we try or not, we are creating a new world, painting it with our colors, all the time, every time, everywhere.

Since this life happens only once, why not make it something beautiful?

Sorrow

If there is one thing with ultimate importance, one thing that defines us and one thing which makes us human, it would be the sorrow we feel.

Sorrow is what links us to the fellow animals on this planet and sorrow is what makes life possible. When we meet someone we love, the connection is often made possible by sharing the same pain.

The pain really hurts, goes into the bone and is ever so difficult to bear. Yet, it’s necessary to understand and see it fully. Anything else would be cheating. The counterweight is that much necessary.

By feeding happiness, we feed sorrow. By living, we feed death. Life is like a thin piece of silk, which is ever so easily flipped by a faint breeze.

Art helps me to feel my sorrow and to understand myself.

Anteeksi

Anteeksi is a finnish word which means “Sorry.”

I’ve always liked the sound of it. It’s apologetic but also beautiful and elegant, the word just flows naturally.  I used to know a design studio in Helsinki by Japanese designer which used that name, which I thought was interesting.

I’ve always thought that just before I die, I would like to say this word.

It’s not sentimental, but functional word. I want to say sorry for the world for taking my weight.

Photo essay by Maya

I found beautiful photo essay by MaYa Sinji Jung 鄭信智 in JPGMag. http://jpgmag.com/stories/18598

Reading it brought tears to my eyes.

She writes lines like “None of the birds fly without the weight.”  and “Freedom, and peace should have buried next to the cat you killed.”

Her beautiful self portraits do excellent justice for her poetry.

Photography is stuff of men? Says Sonny

I think Sony’s remark in their Chinese website “girls couldn’t shoot” is perfect symbolism for the company’s values.  It’s probably good that they are going to focus on software since industrial design surely wasn’t one of their strongest areas since maybe, Walkman.

I can’t say I like any of the company’s present line of cameras and I think that their comment is right in line just how serious they are about photography.

DigitalREV translated the remark in the website: “from now on, shooting is no longer stuff of men”. The guys made hilarious video about the topic that is spot on: http://youtu.be/IDFCMHLtNl8

Hey Sonny, have you ever heard of Anna Atkins or , ehm. Annie Leibowitz? Women were shooting photos long time ago there even was Sony.

Baghdad

I have uploaded my short story Baghdad. Please download it for free. (pdf) (eBook).

I wrote this in 2006 and it’s based on a dream I saw. Now that I read it, I think it somehow summarizes my feeling what I had about the decade. Invasion war repeated once again, dictator in Middle East fell and the cowboy told his lies to the world.

I had shivers while typing my Macbook’s keyboard in my empty apartment in middle of the night. I had fever, but I couldn’t stop writing. The dream felt so vivid. The main body of the story came out in couple of hours. I sent the original manuscript to Random House and much to my surprise, received reply from the chief editor Mr.Rowley. According to him the story could have been published if my English writing would have “flown more”.

My short story received two passes of edits and this, what will the last version of the story, is quite readable in my opinion.

Please feel free to download and read the story and send me the comments. I’d love to hear them.

Yours,
Jaakko

Danger Coast

I went to Tojimbo cliffs in Fukui Prefecture some years back. The place was just as eerie as it’s reputation as famous place for suicides in Japan. The cliff’s shape was very unique and sharp rocks looked very lethal.

There are free telephone booths which can be used to call for help, should one find himself in desperate situation, and also people patrolling the area. All of these are organized by volunteer force.

Japan’s suicide rate is among the highest in the world. There are about 24,4 suicides per 100,000 people. Japan was ranked second in 2009, after Russia.

While mass media is thriving..

News Release

Here is the News Release regarding my incoming exhibition in Yokohama. This is intended for immediate release.

“Here Sometimes” News Release

If you want to help to distribute flyers please let me know and I will send them.

Edmund Burke's famous quote

Regarding Edmund Burke’s famous quote (on war and peace):
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

I think it should be:
“All that is necessary for the triumph of peace is that good men do nothing.”