The real meaning of MPH?

Well, depends how you put it...  aiight?
(I just had to post this...)

2011 Recap part 2: Schnecke renn

Aka "snail races". This was the most peculiar experience of the latter part of 2011. I witnessed snails running for trophy. Some people had brought their own snails, but should you lack one, no worries, your can rent your racer =).

The consumption of beer and other beverages was wayyyys faster than the proceeding speed of the animals. They were well taken care of though, there was a designated vet to check each contestant before each round. Highly professional and proper.

The deal is that you put your racer to the center of the table and then you're not allowed to touch it anymore before one of them has crossed the finishing line. To better steer your racer, spraying teeny weeny amount of water is allowed.

Open air - open mind?

Liestal Air is an annual one day open air music festival which brings on stage half a dozen Swiss artists.  It took place in the beginning of July and I was working on the team of light technicians there.

All pretty down-to-earth and simple. The weather was nice and everything rolled according to the plan. So no big need for posting in this sense.

Liestal Air

But something funny and quite unusual did happen. This I wanna share with you guys. Maybe I get some good laughs out of you.

It was some time later in the evening and the second last act was on stage. He was an artist called Baschi, who sings in Swiss-German and is supposedly relatively popular. Although I wouldn't know because I don't listen to that kind of music. Anyway, at least the teenage girls in the audience were screaming and kept on asking for more. "Zugabe, Zugabe...!"

I guess that you can say this bloke is sort of a looker, but I didn't have any idea of this at the time. No idea whatsoever to begin with who he is?? Realised that only now, when I looked up that link to his site here. He seems to be the one who wets the teenie pants with his sweet melodies about loving you for ever. And anyhow, he is some 15 years too young for me. Well, beside my point. Or maybe, not quite. Story continues...

So Baschi was doing overtime on stage and I was waiting beside the stage with a fellow technician (also girl) for him to finish so that we can go do the swap for the next act. But Baschi's gig goes on and on and on... so there we are blabbering about something and suddenly a shortish guy comes to speak to us.
- "Are you waiting?", asks the guy.
-"???" (like what's it to you anyway?)
-"Are you waiting for Baschi?", he rephrases.
- "Well, yes... actually we're waiting for him to finish", I say.
The guy looks at us in a very odd and insulted way.... Then I explain that we are the technicians working there and this guy finally sees our belts stuffed with multi-tools, working gloves, tape rolls and screw drivers.
- "Sorry, I thought that you were groupies.", he says in an apologetical way explaining that usually the groupies somehow always sneak through the security. Then he goes back to the stage. At this point I see that on the back of his T-shirt is written "Baschi" on big letters, so supposedly he was his tour manager or something. Oooops. I didn't know that he was part of this artist's crew, or othervise I could have been bit more polite.

The one in white shirt is Baschi

I'm not quite sure to whom this discussion was more embarrassing in the end, but it made me think that I have to really take a good look to my outfit. If somebody thinks that I look like a groupie, even with no make-up and dressed all black. Go figure. Maybe I'm too narrow minded? But to be mistaken as smitten teenie drooling over her Idol?

Maybe I should have asked for an autograph (preferably somewhere on my skin)? Whaddya think?

Truths of life as lighting designer might see it

In Facebook I stumbled on these little movies about ordinary situations in everyday life of a light designer. Their laconic humor shares some experiences that are familiar to all of us in this line of work. Indisputable truths, one may say. This just happens, quite often...

"Meeting the Set Designer" by Corypattak:



"The Lighting truck arrives"


Hmm, somehow both of these conversations sound vaguely familiar... Why the heck I never get the rental car? =)

Zürich without a map

Today I went walking. In Zürich. Without a map. I had only some brief instructions from Ingrid on a piece of paper.

I do know how to get around in Zürich, been here for various times already. But this time I wanted to explore something new. And new things I found, indeed. One can never tell beforehand in what kind of exotic place one ends up if only wandering aimlessly =)

First I sloughed my way into a jungle,
where all the traditional pot plants grow high as houses.

(Apologies for the lousy quality of these photos.)

In the jungle I exchanged some intel with a very friendly tucan bird,
who just wanted to get closer and closer. Didn't bite me, though.

These guys just minded their own business and
paid no attention whatsoever to me.

The details of the fine designs of Mother Nature
just blew me away.

Spiraly wonders.

If you're into seeing such things personally, visit the Stadtgärtnerei, in Hubertus, ZH. Quite nice greenhouses and gardens. Also a good option for a rainy day, because of the indoors.

After the jungle experience I decided to familiarise myself with some samples of Zürcher contemporary art. For this I chose Helmhaus, which is presenting some new sculpture at the moment and located conveniently downtown Zürich.

The exhibition "AZB for ever" didn't move me at all. Or perhaps I'm just too thick to understand the finesse of sculptural art. Most of the exhibits were in my opinion very minimalistic and geometric forms with fancy names that didn't really connect. And the other end of the style scale was very detailed and bright colored genital figurines. This also continued in some of additional sketches.

So, if I put two and two together it seems to me that Swiss sculptors might have some serious issues about their sexuality or have difficulty thinking out of the box. This is totally personal impression and opinion, so don't take it too seriously. Check it out yourselves, rather =)

Very plastic and detailed. Jumped out of the collection.

Willies & co. aka "Get Physical" by Mickry 3

After Helmhaus I wanted to get a second opinion about art and found my way to Löwenbrau in Limmatstrasse. Kunsthalle and various galleries are located in these premises. But no major quakes on the emotional front there either. I ended up spending ways more time in a very decent artbook store they have there than prowling through the exhibitions.

All in all I think that my "Zürich without a map"-experience was quite enlighting in the end. And it gave me sore legs by the end of the day, so one can say I got at least decent excercise out of it. And after this my in-built citymap also got bit more connected and detailed. So why heck not to spend a sunny afternoon on following your nose?

Boxeo

My last entry, with blooming flowers and all, was bit more romantic than this one =).

Anyhow, last weekend I had A brand new experience. I was was doing the light for Sound and Light Pool on a boxing event, Boxeo. The lobby of Airport Hotel Basel was jam-packed with nearly 500 spectators who were all cheering for the local heroes punching the opponents in the nose.

I've never experienced anything of such in real life before. Of course I've seen the Rocky movies and some Muhammed Ali stuff in tv, but this was in a way even more brutal than in the telly. I personally find it hard to imagine that someone would voluntarily climb up to the ring to get his/hers ass kicked, but then again, I guess the whole point actually rather is kicking someone else's butt. Doesn't always happen though, as I quite literally witnessed when, instead of hanging in there for scheduled 6 rounds, a boxer goes down in 2:25.

The last professional heavy-weight fight.

The popularity of the event somehow surprised me. It was already sold out well before the start. And the amount of finely dressed ladies in their diamond jewellery and sipping champagne actually blew me away the most. Perhaps boxing is after all a sport for the cream of the society. I rather enjoyed more the tricks of the magician who performed between the fights. But to live is to learn... =)

The Local Hero Arnold "The Cobra" Djergjaj
bringing it down for Hungarian Norbert Sallai

Cheeky chipotle & co

On a perfectly ordinary day, during perfectly mundane and deadly boring grocery shopping trip to a local supermarket, Citymarket to be exact, I just cracked up seeing these:

Such witty steak sauce bottles, hundreds of them nicely aligned on shelves. All stating matter-of-factly "Pain is good". I'm convinced, even converted.

Mild and Medium.

It says on the label: Wimpy mild! =)

For a deeper culinary dive: Original Juan

Accessories

Hi folks! So,this is an update on my beret project and other stuff. I did finish it with success, but it turned out to be a bit too big and ball-like for my preference. Apparently, my calculations weren't accurate enough. But not to worry....

Here it is.

... it was a perfect Christmas gift for my mummy, who absolutely fell in love with it. "Soooo soft and fluffy..." she said.

The happy new owner.

I was lucky to finish this project already couple of weeks ago, since just now it would be bit hairy. All this because of the fact that I decided to try out new sport -that being sledding. Obviously I should have stuck with the mountain sports I'm already familiar with since this try-out resulted 20 centimeters of steel attached onto my arm with 8 big screws and support for following month. Naja, one cannot win everytime. But at least I don't have to worry about wristwarmers and / or knitting them for a little while, since Spital Schwyz equipped me with this quite fashionable one:

Color leaves something to desired for, though.

Anyway, this is the latest from the cheese territory. Happy New Year, everybody!!!

Counting down to Christmas...

Let's admit it in the very beginning of this post; I've never been such a Christmas loving person, at least not until I really moved out of Finland. I've always thought of a nice escape to tropical island to be quite adequate alternative to all the holidays fuss. Never did I really get it why people create such a stress about the couple of free days in the end of the year... Ah, well.

Ever since being here in the Switzerland I have realized my opinions shifting slightly, though. I actually nowadays feel it to be a pretty cool idea to get a tree and prepare some traditionally finnish dishes. But, still, only ever so slightly - I refuse to wreck my nerves over it. I guess this all comes from the idea of being together with my family and reminding them also of my roots back in the snowy North. Nothing better to achieve that than real and original "Joulukinkku" - the Christmas ham =)

But... This year I had to give in to yet another Christmassy thing, actually for the very first time in my whole life. How funny is that... Never say never and all the other clichées...

Never, even as a small child, have I had one of those advent calendars that contain small bit of chocolate under every lid. And never have I really craved for one either, so far so good. Of course I have had those things that have only pictures behind the lids, the ones that you get for free from banks or insurance companies etc. I remember the coolest of them, when I was seven years old or so, having these silvery thingies that one can scratch the surface off with a coin and reveal the picture of some space-theme it was, if I remember correctly, underneath. Pretty much the same method as with lottery cards etc.

But this year it was actually my mum that spotted this thing out in one of the big automarkets we visited when I was in Finland last time. This is an advent calendar indeed, but not with chocolate but salty licorice -"salmiakki" that is, inside. I was was sold on the spot, since salmiakki is one of the few things I'm really passionate about (but only when it's good...) So, now I have advent calendar with edibles for the first time in my life. Better late than never, I guess.

Njam....

Curiosities of Figueres

Figueres, app. 40 km's north from Girona, is one of the three most important landmarks of Salvador Dali. He is by any no means one of my favorite artists, but when in proximity, I just had to go to check out the Dalí Theatre Museum in this nearby town.

La Rambla, the main plaza of Figueres sleeping through siesta.

The museum looks very much "Dalían" in and out. Who else would have thought of this weird egg-shape design for a building and little knots covering all of the red walls. Surreal, literally. I spent good three hours there exploring the exhibits. I have to admit that my opinion and knowledge of the guy evolved a great deal. I hand't had any idea how important his muse-lover-wife, Gala, actually was for him. Such dedication... love of a lifetime... amazing.

Curiosity 1: Exterior of the museum.

I also do have to admit that I quite liked some of the stuff in the museum, like the drawings on the "Rue Trajan" collection on the third floor. The finesse of the touch and detail is overwhelming.

Don Q.

The other thing that probably never seases to amaze me is the complexity of the names of the artworks =) I guess Dalí never heard (or cared) about the idea of "keeping it simple st*****" or he just wanted to make sure you won't get it wrong =) =) Example below...

Curiosity 2: Explanation.

The Artwork. I can find the tiger and one of the Lenins, can I?

After visiting the museum the siesta got the better of me again. therefore I had to come up an idea that doesn't require necessarily opening-hours. So, I walked around a bit and saw the signs pointing to the direction of a fortress. This could be something accessible even during the siesta. I trekked up to the hill and entered the Castell Sant Ferran, supposedly the biggest fortress built during the era of Enlightment in whole Europe. Whoooa, sooooo cool. I just went there for the views =)

There was nobody else there, but it was open, yeah. The guy in ticket-office was bit strange but I managed to get past him eventually. He just was so determined to tell me that they will close the place up after three hours, but that I was allowed to stay only one hour. Then he gave me a map and pointed out the spots where there would be information about the place. So off I go....

And reach the first information point. Yes, there is a big number one painted on a plate and a sign of audio. I turn the little map over and see the instructions that at this point I should listen to the first entry in my audio-guide, which I obviously didn't have, because the strange guy didn't give me one. Tja, I can't be bothered to go back to the office to ask for one, so I just continue, in silence. It would probably have been boring anyway...

Curiosity 3: A silent audio-guided point at Castell Sant Ferran.

All in all, the fortress was mostly just a big wreck. Views over the region were naturally pretty cool, as they usually are from tactically important military establishments. The thing I liked the most about it, was the interesting filtration of light inside the buildings.

Stables.

Beautiful light in a small chamber,
purpose left in the dark forever.

After my stroll around the fortress I was standing by the trench observing the deer residing down there. And guess who comes up to me? The guy from the ticket-office and says "vamos, vamos...". Ok, I'll go, don't sweat, although there was still five minutes to go of my given hour. Some people just have tight asses....

Since the siesta was still setting obstacles on my route, I decided to just have a nice lunch back in downtown adn then visit a church or something.

There is a cathedral just next to the Dalí Museum, which I went to see. I have this habit of lighting a memorial candle for my grandparents when I have that chance, so I looked for such opportunity here also. At first I tought that, strangely enough, there is no such thing in this church. The I spotted out these little panels in from of the side altar and a crusifix. Couldn't figure it out in the first place - a control board, but for what??? So, I went to have a closer look and then it dawned to me.

It was not a control board although the little blinking lights would easily indicate so. -This was the candles I'd been looking for. So I had to come to a conclusion that they had moved to the next technical level in this church. One just need to drop some coins into a slot and set of led-lights will lit up for you. In my opinion, and forgive if somebody's religious views are hurt by me saying this, they kinda lost the idea there. There is absolutely nothing living or organic in these leds. To me the whole idea of remembering your family-members and friends no longer there, sort of concentrates to the living flame. But perhaps this is only a matter of taste.

Curiosity 4: A memorial candle slot-machine.

After an inspiring day of many kinds of curiosities in Figueres I took the train back to Girona and there I met the very last curiosity. The train ticket for this 40km's costs only 2,75€!! So unfair, in Finland you'd have to ad one digit in front of the comma, approximately ten euros to it.

Heissi Marroni =P

Ojee, in central Europe autumn is the season for hot chesnuts. All around the downtown of any city or village, you can spot a little cart selling these nuts for you. Or, more precisely, you are sure to smell them before you see them.

Anyway, I've been here more than three years and I've never managed to taste these things. The smell that the carts transmit to the air is so heavenly delicious that it makes my nose tingle. And the carts are so idyllic, somehow old fashioned and welcoming. So now, by the time of the annual Autumn Fair in Basel, I had set my sights to get the tasting thing over with.

I went to the "Häfelimärt", a sort of bazaar of handicrafts and stuff at Petersplatz, to check the merchandises. So, this was the time to hit the nuts also, since in the same location there is all kinds of food stuff too.

I let my nose guide me to a cart and bravely bought a bag of nicely warm chesnuts. Oh yeah, this was gonna be it, culinary bliss. So, what you do is, you pop open the brown surface and throw the insides to you mouth. Light brownish mass reminds me vaguely that of a brain. Hmm... Mmmm... ? ..... ? .... ???? Bgrrrhhhhlääääggh, disgusting!!!!

What a disappointment and a downfall!!! The expected culinary adventure was cut short, because the long-awaited contentment didn't fill me, at all, I tell you. The taste of these buggers remind me of those floury peas that people grow to feed their cattle with.

Anyhow, I ate bravely four of those and then gave the bag to a friend of mine. Some people actually seem to voluntary eat this stuff and even like it. What a luck that the tastes are different, huh?

But doesn't it look cute and inviting??
This one in Bordeaux, France.

Berlin Berlin!

I spent a really nice week in Berlin in the beginning of July. Weather was peachy and I hung out with my dear friends Julia and Anna, who both live in the city.

Since this was my third trip to Berlin, I didn't feel compelled to do all the touristy stuff anymore. So mostly it was just about hanging out and enjoying the atmosphere and the vibes of the place.

I stayed at Anna's who lives in Kreuzberg / Neukölln area. This is probably my favorite region of the city. Loads of cool little shops and boutiques, delicious eats in variety of nationalities, easy going atmosphere. It's so cool just stroll on the streets and spend some sunny hours by the channel in Urbanhafen. There is almost always somebody with guitar, playing nice tunes. Bring along a small picnic with you and you're all set for a nice afternoon.

Nice picnic could also take place on Kreuzberg hill. From there you can also see nice views over the city in all directions.

Facing north from Kreuzberg.

Lots of people are aware of this area, so if you yearn for more peace and quiet, the destination for you is by the Spree in Treptower Park in the east of the city (link in german, because of more photos). It's less crowded there, but equally nice. I spent a really cool day with Julia in this area, walking through this huge and very green park.

Eternal joyride?
One of the curiosities about Treptower is an abandoned amusement park in the middle of forest. Julia knew about it but hadn't never been there. So we set out to find it. This was a bit peculiar experience. -We we're by the water and saw this huge ferris wheel in the distance behind the trees, probably a kilometer away. We started to walk towards it and suddenly it vanished from the view. We walked closer and closer but it just wasn't there anymore. Then we reached the edge of the forest and, logically thinking, decided that the park has to be in there. We walked into the forest and started to follow this path.

After a while we finally come up to this fence, behind of which we can see some park gadgets all grown over with grass and shrubs. But the bloody wheel is nowhere in sight. We cooked up this storyline that would make a blockbuster horror movie: once in a lifetime you perhaps see this mirage-like ferris wheel in distance and if you try to find it, you'll end up into a forest never to be seen again. -A horror movie about this abandoned fun-park that traps people to eternal "joyride", cool huh?

Well, anyway, we were determined to find this ferris wheel. How can something that is more than 20-meters tall just disappear like that? Not possible. We walked along the fence and finally by one gate we met this guard, who instructed us some 200 meters more south. And there it finally was, the long lost wheel. But you still had to walk all the way up to the fence down there to see it behind the trees. But, yeah, it was a relief to finally find it, because we were already starting to think that we're just imagining things =)

Julia and the lost and found.

Sushi.
One of the things I absolutely love about Berlin, is the fact that you can find good Japanese food in ridiculous cheap prices. I really really love sushi and stuff and cannot afford it here in Switzerland. The prices are just outrageous in Basel. So the solution is to make it by myself or go elsewhere.

It's curious in Berlin, all the sushi joints seem to have an eternal happy hour. Generally daily 12-22 all the sushi is priced -50%. But in reality this extends through whole opening hours. And therefore one can get a meal containing miso-soup, tea and 3-6 nigiris and 6 makis for just 5 or 6 euros. My kind of city, indeed.

For the best quality sushi, head down to Aki Tatsu restaurant on Bergmannstrasse 93. Aki Tatsu is restaurant chain, so they are in several places in the city, but the Bergmannstrasse is definately the nicest and best quality. -Tested and proven opinion.

Other curiosities
Arena Bade Schiff is a place to go if youre not repelled of too many other sun-bathers on a restricted area. It is actually a floating swimming pool in the Spree. Go early and there might be a chance to place your towel down somewhere and even spread it out. I was there with Anna one afternoon. It was crowded, but nonetheless okay one-time-experience, because while we were there, a sort of gospel choir turned up. So, we had this entertainment of about twenty really skilled people floating in the swimming pool and singing =) (really well, I might add...)

In the evenings on the same area one can find a wide selection of nice restaurants by or on the water. Cool hang outs, definately. But these also seem to be the must-destinations in Berlin, so lots of people find their way there.

Mauerpark flea market in Prenzlauer Berg area every Sunday. This is a place to go even if you have no interest in flea markets. A big maze of booths and tables with all imaginable items for sale. Prices are reasonable and variety is great. My tip of the day would probably be the great selection of relitively cheap vinyl-albums and some cool designer items. Here I could spend a whole sunny day exploring the assortment and chilling out in one of restaurants.

Wall paintings and graffitis all over the city. -these I find very interesting. I could spend so much time just browsing these through the city. East Side Gallery is something special: a strip of the old Berlin Wall all covered up with wall art, paintings and, of course, messages of numerous visitors from all over the world.

Happy together in Kreuzberg. Cute.

Generally. In all the places I go, I enjoy just to walk around and see what's around me. Sometimes I find very cool and curious things, other occasions I amuse myself with funny sentences and / or mis-spellings of things. Some samples follow:

Bakery in Wedding: we bake. you king.
Okay, if they sa so...

Ladies rest room, quite literally, in Burger-King in Treptower:
Holder for paper bags for sanitary stuff.

Same place:
Toilet paper holder.
I don't even wanna know
what the designers were thinking.

Aliens in Tikkurila?

It felt sort of surreal to go to work yesterday morning. The whole universe seemed to be frosted and thick fog embraced the scenery. One could imagine having been teleported to eerie and silent Siberia or something. Or perhaps to some distant planet... Even all the sounds seemed to have been muffled through the fog. I nearly missed my exit from the bus because my stop was preeetty difficult to spot :-)

Below is a picture taken from a big empty space just next to the Raatikko theatre in Tikkurila, Vantaa. Those construction site machines look really alien in the fog =)

Aliens in Tiksi?

Frost also created some quite pretty things, like these frost flowers on the surface of a bus-stop wall.

Frost flowers on Tikkurila railway station...

...Platform 4.

Here is more artistic approach to the subject of the first photo.

Innovations =)

You know those mornings that you just NEED to have your coffee? -Nothing seems to work or to be right until you've reached the point, where you have that hot mug in your hands and can gently take the first sip of it's foamy contents?

Yeah, so it goes sometimes. And sometimes it just gets bit difficult to get there, hmm. Like in the possible scenario, that you equipment just don't fit together? Hå? What's that then, what to do? Like this it was in Bern, in the guest apartment of Theater Schlachthaus. There was plenty of coffee and I had remembered to bring the milk. Pot was on the kitchen table and I happily filled it and....

Pot was too small for the stove. Jihaa, we have a winner!! So, of this realisation followed frenzied search through the content of that kitchen and below you see the imaginative solution to the present problem:

New adaptations of the appliances.

And finally it's brewing!

And my Finnish speaking friends might find the cup amusing with additional "L", at least I did, when I finally had my coffee in it =)