Wednesday, March 12, 2008

ON FORGETTING


''The present is an ungraspable advance of the past devouring the future.
In truth, all sensation is already memory.
''

From Kafka on The Shore by Haruki Murakami

The past has always interested me. Memories; even my two latest plays have been dealing with memories and the past. I know well sometimes it is useless to long for the things that are gone. I know well things change, and sometimes they change in a way that hurts. So it is. Yet there are still issues in this life I cannot understand. Perhaps I am too naive, perhaps I just cannot accept this world as it is.

What has partly brought me to Finnish language and culture was this communication I have had; well, the tag friendship can sometimes feel as a good, nice and polite mask for all the emotions floating beneath. For sure I was thinking a lot about meanings, values, purposes of friendship at that time. Friendship became a theme I have been exploring and rethinking over and over again. However, in my opinion, if the friendship is real, without that fake cover of the word only, without serving just one Ego, one does not have to think about friendship that much. Real friendship just exists. Both Egos equal.

It has never happened to me that I would finish a friendship. At least not in such a way. Overall, it felt cruel. There was one person, the Other in my life for some time - and the relationship was important for me. Finally, I have kind of realised the relationship seemed more important to me than for the Other, but still. So far, this has not been my way. Being in an active contact with somebody, and then just cutting it off. Theoretically, the Other is now gone from my life, as this person has never even existed. Regardless the traces left behind.

No, this has never been my way. And I still cannot get it. Why such things happen? All that time, the energy exchanged, was it all for nothing? Words meaningless and empty. Is a human relationship just something one can cast away so lightly? One day, the Other is in your life, this Other kind of cares about you, and you care about the Other. There is a contact, two lives are connected. Then, things change, the Other is gone. Silence. You do not exist for the Other no longer. And vice versa? Well, it depends, I guess.

Sometimes, words are said in affect. Pain, anger, disappointment, and all that. The friendship that finished died within a couple of sharp letters. But still. After some time, the Other is still in mind. After some time, one perhaps feels slightly sorry for what has happened. Then, there is this battle. You somehow do not wish to meet the Other; it still hurts if you see the person. However, you would like the Other to recall you.
You still hope the Other did not perceive you just as some kind of a chatbot, robot, or something. A paradox of emotions. Perhaps, somewhere deep inside yourself, you still wish to see the Other again. To talk. To tell over some coffee how life goes now, after all this time, and so on.

Yet you do not know what the Other is thinking. You perceive the Other as a closed fortress with high walls, guarded with Other's personal Gods and Goddesses that are impossible to overcome. Cold and distant Other, forever lost from your world. And you so wonder if the Other ever thinks about you. Nevertheless you have existed once for the Other much more than you exist now. Finally, as nothing moves and silence just grows bigger, you end up with the thought the Other has probably forgotten about you.
Is it really so easy to forget?

Writing this from my particular experience, I think I am not among those that can just cut off people as they would never exist. New people bring new energies and new interactions; still the ones from the past would keep their places in my mind. It depends, but still. I cannot replace people like things can be replaced. For me, it is hard to forget people with ease. It all feels cruel; or it just reaches beyond my naive mind.

Friday, February 29, 2008

LEAP DAY


Just because it occurs only every four years. Just because it feels strange. Just because the past days, today including, were not that very cheerful...

Uuno Kailas: Contemplation

Ei seesty pääni päällä,
tuo vanhat pilvet päivä uus.
Ja joka päivä täällä
on pieni ikuisuus.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

SKYWALKING TO SPRING


Past days were glittering with sun, it felt so magical after those dark winter days. Life is coming back. Happiness is awaking. It was well under zero last week, but regardless crispy cold air I have spotted some distant traces of forthcoming spring. Hope. The smell of spring, floating above deeply frozen grounds and waters.

Partly sunny Sunday offered milder weather today. As I went for a walk, I have noticed some Skywalker has forgotten her/his additional pare of trainers on an electric wire high up in the air. Perhaps she/he just dropped those, as they seemed so warn out, not considering all recycling possibilities Finland offers to inhabitants. What's more, that Skywalker might just wanted to feel the air filled with frost and blasting sunlight under bare feet… feel, enjoy and follow those distant traces of spring.

Finally, I think such things occur on electric wires high above the ground if one lives in a neighborhood full of students and constant student parties.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

MAGYAR POSSE, AGAIN


Magyar Posse


Time for some post-rock sounds. Last Friday in Lutakko, Magyar Posse from Pori, Finland. With them, surprise and so impressive discovery, similar post-rock group Cold Fairyland from Sanghai, China. Atmospherical, epical, magic. Both bands highly recommended!

Cold Fairyland

It was summer in Helsinki two years ago when I saw Magyar Posse live for the first time. Next day after the gig, I went to see someone. After all the troubles/shit between us. Before all the troubles/shit between us that had yet to come.

I don't miss that troubles, but I would surely miss this music. Great gig again.



Magyar Posse

Saturday, February 02, 2008

I AM RIVER, I AM FLAME

Olen joki, joka padotaan
olen mets
ä joka poltetaan
peto joka vangitaan rautah
äkkiin suljetaan
olen tila joka aidataan
liekki joka sammutetaan
tahdon sisimp
äni vapauttaa
ihmisyyteni nujertaa

Mokoma - Nujerra ihminen


After some weeks of constant dealing with studies, thus meaning writing essays, the time for some live music has come again. Finally! Going to a good gig was something I have really been missing for the past month.

On the first day of February, there was Mokoma playing in Lutakko. It seems Mokoma is among the most favorized Finnish metal bands at the moment. Their lyrics is intirely in Finnish, their music feels diverse, all the way from thrash and death to black metal, even some softer pieces included. Since the start of my studies in Jyväskylä, Mokoma has already visited the city once; the gig was sold out completely. So it was now, too; well, metal is a part of mainstream culture here afterall.

No matter atmospheres band features are melancholic, far from some kind of romantic stories, their rythms produce enough energy and power I sometimes really need to hear and feel. A bit masculine music, yet the band seems to have enough even sligthly hysterical female fans; at least so sounded those screams from the audience. However, frontman Marko Annala is supposed to be among the best lyric writers. Lyrics do not seem bad and Annala also seems skillful vocalist, featuring nice clear vocals as well as for my opinion proper growls. Overall, Mokoma made good performance, with lots of stage presence and flaming energy. In this case, I don't care if the band is becoming too mainstream - I will listen to them whenever I will feel like it.

Apart from the gig, some socializing happened as well. One thing was that I spoke in Finnish, and I was told I had not appear as a foreigner; my Fake Finn story kind of repeated. Whenever I get such compliments for my language skills, I am of course proud, and I try not to be too proud as I still do not master the language well enough, in my opinion. Yet it is true that I have started to learn Finnish only two years ago; I have noticed this fact sometimes seems surprising to native speakers.

I know where the power for liking and learning Finnish has come from. I know why I grasped the language so quickly that I had been able to chat, somehow, even after less than one year of learning. Some small events in life can redirect the way one walks, and all of a sudden one speak a new language. That time is over now, new things are going on, and I meet new people on my way. But whenever I see a good gig here in Finland, thus meaning Finnish music I have got to know in that particular period of my life, I am sort of happy. I guess one of the best outcomes of that particular time has been some amount of good music.