Finally the weather caught up and it’s high summer at long bloody last. Since “moderation” clearly is out of the equation what it comes to changes in climate, it’s now ridiculously hot after weeks of below-average temperature and rain. I have a very demanding long weekend behind me, spent in Finnish countryside, at the Loved Ones’ mothers’ summer place, accompanied by various other relatives including my mother. My mother-in-law-to-be is fabulous but unfortunately the same can’t be said about my own mother and the way we interact with each other. Things came to a head on our way back, in a scorching heat, in a car without air-conditioning, with us two exchanging opinions, mine reasonable and hers mostly not, in a mode of conversation known as “shouting”. This episode of raised voices with not much content reminded me of how lucky I am not to live in my hometown anymore and fortified my resolution never to move back there. It also reminded me never to relent in my struggle to rise above the (to me unwanted) qualities so evident on my parents I’m entirely unwilling to let surface in me.

All in all the weekend still held some moments of peace (mostly when my mother was elsewhere) and tomorrow we head towards more peace and tranquillity as we start our two weeks in Spain and the empty house of my future father-in-law.

The Dog is feeling hot hot hot. And the option to comment on this blog proved as fruitless as I thought it would so it’s now duly removed. I might tinker with the layout once I return from Spain, if I can be bothered.

RECENT EXPOSURE TO RECORDED MUSIC:
For the past several weeks it’s been either ”Skyforger” by Amorphis or ”Abnormally Attracted To Sin” by Tori Amos. Both albums are excellent in my opinion and both albums have already grown so dear to me that I can’t really start analysing what makes them so special. Obviously it’s easier for me to be overwhelmed by Tori’s album since it’s, you know, Tori after all, and the album is clearly a lot better than the ones she came up with at the start of the decade. But I’m still deeply impressed by Amorphis too. There are no weak songs on their album, at least none that I’m able to detect, and to hear lyrics that passed through me turned into songs adds a level of intimacy. Brilliant albums and brilliant songs with melodies that stick to my head and refuse to leave. Normally this would be a problem but with these albums I don’t mind.

So how was my Midsummer? Helsinki turned into a ghost town for the weekend with people heading towards countryside in droves, seeking out mythical, unattainable pastures of calm tranquillity and the metaphorical womb to return to, probably in vain. I knew better and stayed home. It rained a lot, our first floor apartment got infested with ants, the lightbulb in our bathroom reached an almost-terminal kind of point where steady no-frills illumination is replaced by surreal flashing and flickering, just as the shops had closed down and acquiring a new lamp had become impossible, and my computer monitor reached a terminal kind of terminal point where everything that normally shows up on the screen is replaced by utter blackness. We had some pretty decent wines though.

I tried typing on the Loved Ones' laptop, after three evenings of moderately sampling some pretty decent wines, with my frankfurter-like fingers, a thin film of sweat decorating my troubled brow, and in not the best of possible moods. This hapless attempt did not avail to much, apart from solidifying my already deep suspiciousness towards portability in personal computerism. My own monitor continued to stay in the terminal point of utter blackness and replacing the cable didn’t help either. I suppose computer monitors belong to a group of home electronics that, once the warranty has expired, wither rapidly like a non-Finnish person in a sauna, before blinking out of existence completely and for good. In my case the warranty expired on March and the apparatus expired on June so that’s rather rapid I´d say.

I then went out and bought a new monitor, as soon as the stores opened again, some days later. I swore not to get another LG Flatron since the old one was a LG Flatron but I got another LG Flatron anyway. It’s wider and broader and generally more stupendous than the old one and it cost only half of what I coughed up for the previous one, three years ago. If this new one croaks too in 3 years, 3 months time I might consider looking into what other manufacturers have to offer, but until then, or at least for the duration of this evening, I’m happy with and continue to be amazed by my new monitor of expanded specialness and more width than is possible to perceive in one go.

So amazed, in fact, that the typing of this blog entry must stop here.


Still Life With A Skull. How very seasonal in a summery kind of way.

I’m starting to lose faith regarding the positive qualities of this year. It started badly enough, with an exceptionally lightless and gloomy winter, additional frosting provided by the onslaught of recession. If there was a springtime I failed to notice it and now, suddenly, it’s June and ”midsummer”. Supposedly. With outside temperatures circling around the magical 10 degrees mark and gusts of wind whipping rain in all directions the notion of summer solstice at the end of this week feels absurd and far-fetched. The bleak weather is, of course, fluently in line with the general spirit and prevailing mood of 2009. If last years’ attitude was that of careless over-optimism and Icaros-like soar, this year lies slumped in a corner in quiet resignation, with broken wings and an empty purse. To put a somewhat pompous and melodramatic emphasis on it. But that’s how it feels to me.

This surly kind of feeling might partially stem from the realisation that lately I’ve been swallowing a total amount of ten pills a day, of various sizes and shapes but mostly uncomfortably large and foul-tasting. And I hate swallowing pills, always have and probably always will. Luckily this pill-swallowing is not a chronic state for me, and the recovery room mentioned in the title is my living room, whereupon I ponder, upon other things, the unfairness of the weather and, seemingly in vain, wait for it to get better. The pills have been antibiotics and painkillers to calm down the upheaval in my tooth department, and some bogus ”herbal cleansing tablets”, allegedly detoxifying my body without fasting, with results so far best described as ”nonexistent”. Woe unto me to have fallen unto such folly.

And woe unto this year of 2009 for it might well be doomed to fall into the category of lost causes. It is halfway through soon, and in principle there’s still plenty of time to pick up speed and start getting better. The first thing to do would be to bring forth a decent summer at once. This mostly failed to happen last year, and if it fails to happen this year too I’m prepared to Take Steps To Rectify The Situation. Like petulantly stamp my foot in impotent rage, and possibly also hold my breath until things go my way. And I will too!

RECENT EXPOSURE TO VISUAL ARTS:
”Defiance & Melancholy” is an exhibition of ”German masterpieces covering a period about 200 years, from Romanticism to the present”, in Helsinki. It looked promising on the ads and was utterly boring on the spot. After failing to be impressed by any of the paintings on display, I briefly glanced at the gift shop on my way out and saw this postcard:

I was transfixed by the circle of owls, gathered around a shaft of light, seemingly coming from nowhere and casting a most eerie and arresting illumination on the forest clearing. It’s called ”Valkoinen Alue”, probably translates as”White Area” in english, and it’s by a Finnish artist called Pekka Barman. I couldn’t find much info of him on the net, nor pictures of his other works but I don’t really need to. The postcard is here on my table for me to stare at and although my scan of it doesn’t really reproduce all the tones and depth it’s still haunting enough to be engulfed by.

RECENT EXPOSURE TO WRITTEN WORD:
”Giants, Dwarfs And Other Oddities” by C.J.S. Thompson, M.B.E. (presumably meaning Member of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire). Originally called ”The Mystery And Lore Of Monsters”, it was released on 1931 and tells of legendary and real human abnormalities, with refreshingly non-modern and unembellished language and terms that continuously raise eyebrows of a 21st century reader. The most interesting chapters are probably the ones dealing with conjoined (Siamese) twins of the past several centuries and some older deformities before the time of photography. Source after source is quoted, in a manner of ”Aldrovandus tells of..” of just plain hearsay, but it’s all very entertaining and not meant to be too scientific. The pictures are quite hilarious too, with even mr. Thompson at one point, while quoting lenghty pieces of text from couldn’t-fathom-out-what-ancient-book, dryly noting ”it is evident that the artist who illustrated this book had a vivid imagination, and drew his portraits from the quaint descriptions given by the author.”

It gets a bit tedious when the book goes on to list heights of famous giants and dwarfs, although some dwarf descriptions are amusing, along the lines of ”is very small indeed but perfectly able to beat a drum on time and simultaneously sing with a loud and clear voice, as well as sewing with a needle as well as any normal sized person (also is very mild-tempered and wears his own hair)”.

In addition, the book offers an explanation to most of my personal shortcomings: ”Tall men are generally much more weak and slow than short men, with exertions both of body and mind. Tall men are mostly tame and insipid, like watery vegetables; insomuch that we seldom hear of a very tall man becoming a very great man. Little men manifest a character more firm and decided than those lofty and soft-bodied people, whom we can lead more easily, both morally and physically.” This must be the reason why I can’t seem to be able to update this blog as often as I’d like to, being 193cm tall (that’s 6.332 feet). Not exactly a giant alright, but a lot taller than, say, mr. Tomi Joutsen, my friend and colleague in Sinisthra. Who is an international rock star whereas I am anything but. Oh how the world would be my oyster, if only I wasn’t this tall and therefore like a watery vegetable.

Here’s a list of some other books by mr. Thompson. Their titles are insanely exciting and I’d sure like to read most of them, if not all. Lure And Romance Of Alchemy!