LifeJournal

Autumn, Syksy 08

2008-11-02T11:20:00.000-08:00

Hello friends, Hei Ystävät!

( I'll write in Finnish this time and make some kind of summary next time in English, okay?)

Juu, kaikenlaista on tapahtunut sitten viime kerran. Usein näissä blogiposteissa tulee kerrottua lähinnä vaan kouluprojekteista vaikka Elämässä toki tapahtuu paljon muutakin. Koetan kirjoittaa muustakin.

Kalaopetus-video on valmis, meidän pitäisi vaan polttaa siitä muutama dvd. Siitä tuli minusta hyvä. Ja hyvää palautetta ollaan saatu tähän mennessä. Kyllä sen kanssa duunia tehtiinkin. Se lähetetään sitten kouluihin oppilaiden katsottavaksi.

Tällä hetkellä työstän tyylilaji-käsikirjoitusta. Tarkoitus olisi kuvata noin kuukauden päästä. Käsikirjoittaminen on haastavaa, mutta usein myös todella mukavaa puuhaa. Aika erilaista minusta kuitenkin verrattuna tavalliseen fiktiiviseen kirjoittamiseen. Aihe ei ole helpoimmasta päästä, mutta uskon kyllä että onnistutaan.
Mari on mun kanssa työstämässä tätä käsikirjoitusta.

Mulla oli tossa taannoin syntymäpäiväkin. Vietin sitä muutamassa paikassa. Jyväskylässä käytiin syömässä ystävien ja perheenkin kanssaa ja Helsingissä niinikään syömässä ystävien kanssa. Käytiiin Helsingissä mountainissa ja ne tarjosi mulle ison jäätelöannoksen kun kuuli, että oli synttärit. Oi sitä lapseniloa.
Nykyään ei enää lahjat merkkaa paljoa vaan se kun saa kavereita kokoon. On upeaa kun kokee, että 'hei minulla on monta ystävää jotka välittävät minusta paljon.'

Ikäkriisi ei ole vielä iskenyt päälle. Tosin mietin kyllä usein juuri synttäreiden ja uuden vuoden aikaan, että olenko oikealla kurssilla elämässä, teenkö sellaisia asioita joiden parissa voin olla onnellinen ja ylpeä. Itsetarkastelun paikkoja ovat ne, niinsanotusti.
Sen ainakin tiedän, että tahdon tehdä luovia asioista ja kommunikoida työlläni toisille ja toisten kanssa.

Monenlaisia hyviä kirjoja ja elokuvia on tullut luettua ja nähtyä. Ruotsalainen 'Niin kuin Taivaassa' oli upea, samoin Antonionin 'Yö', jonka kävin arkistossa katsomassa.
Kirjoista Toby Youngin 'How To Lose Friends and Alienate People' oli sekä hauska että liikuttava. Stephen Kingin kirjoittamisopas on myös tosi hyvä. Luen myös tällaista Michael Newtonin 'Sielujen Kohtalo' nimistä kirjaa. Se herättää ajatuksia ja tunteita. Siinä kerrotaan elämästä elämien välillä. Kyllä vaan. Mister Newton on hypnologi(vai onko se hypnoterapeutti)ja hän pohjaa kirjoituksensa asiakkaiden kertomuksiin. Tosi kiinnostavaa, mutta välillä myös hämmentävää.

Olen myös ollut mukana sellaisessa näytelmä-projektissa: Woody Allenin 'Jumala' on näytelmä. Esitetään Lahden pikku-teatterilla nyt marras-joulukuussa. Tulkaa katsomaan. Minulla on melko pieni, mutta ei lainkaan merkityksetön rooli siinä :-)

Kuntavaalit meni ja mun äänestämä ehdokas meni läpi. Hyvä homma. Mietin, että voisi mennä mukaan politiikkaan enemmän. Vähän kokeilin jo sitä Yliopistoaikoinani. Olen ollut pari vuotta vaan syventynyt tähän draaman, fiktion ja elokuvan maailmaan. Ei-fiktiivinen todellisuuskin kiinnostaisi. Hehe.

( Tänne nettiin kirjoittaminen on vähän kummallista siinä mielessä kun mulla on ainakin toistaiseksi avoinna tämä blogi kaikille- mitä haluaa kertoa elämästä tämän tyylisessä foorumissa? Kuka avautuu netissä ja kuinka paljon? )

Lopettelen nyt. Rauhassa kaamosajan yli sisäisen tulen voimalla. Jeah!

Spring/Summer of 08

2008-08-08T06:36:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

It is a rainy day here in Lahti. I hope there will be couple more of those sunny days before the autumn really arrives! The months roll by fast. Summer especially seems to pass qiuckly. Hope Life is going well for you my friend. I am doing allright here. After summer I always seem to be filled with new ideas of what to do and how to organize my life... This year is no exception to that.
Well, back to the blogtrack now...

Last Spring, after finishing the documentary, we started working on our next fiction-pieces. We also had a course on scriptwriting(writing screenplays),which I really enjoyed. It was inspiring. I did not finish any screenplays, but I did work on couple of stories, that I might return to later on.

Everyone in our group wrote a synopsis (core idea, a brief description of essence of the film) for Fiktio3 -fiction3. Then our teacher decided which one he liked best. Well, I protested at this point, because originally we were supposed to have a collective chat about this. Now, the time was running out so we had to make quick decisions. So, our teacher left it in our hands eventually to decide which ideas we'd like to pursue further. It was a tough call, because we had so little time.

Me and Ville (the other director) read everyone's synopsis' and poured some sweat over which ones would be most interesting to do. After scratching our heads for awhile, we decided to go along with the ones that our teacher had also picked. Ville took Mari's synopsis and I took Antti's. Then I started to work with Antti. He would write a version, and I would make comments and suggestions to it. We kept going like this for some time and then had a meeting with the whole group. Everyone (including Erkki, the teacher) could comment on it now. The script got more polished all the time, and I started seeing it coming together. First, the idea of the movie seemed hard to realize, but after awhile I understood it well(in my opinion).

This was the first movie we made with professional actors, so that made it more interesting. And, of course, the quality of acting would be a bit better now. (I like to work with 'amateurs' and other students too, mind you. It's just different.) I found the actors from the City Theatre of Lahti. We did not rehearse much, had one read-through and a chat. That's all. Next time, I want to have a rehearsal.
Actually, this was not the first time we met paid actors and worked with them. We had had a short course on Directing Actors earlier on. But it was short. Plus there were teachers present there. It was good that we got to have that experience before shooting this film. This time we'd be left to our own devices :-/

Before the first shooting day, I still had few questions in my mind about the film that I had not fully resolved. I hoped that once we would start shooting, I would see the direction clearly. Well, I think it happened pretty much like that. The film focused more on drama and less on suspense. We shot for three days in my own flat.
(at that time our cinematographer, Italo, was still living in the same place too.)
We stayed well in our timetable and managed to get all the material we wanted.
Plus, maybe most importantly, I think people had good time doing this film. Well, I know I did. Before the first shooting day I was quite nervous. I wondered if had prepared well enough. I woke up couple of times early in the morning before the alarm stomach filled with butterflies. But once the process started rolling...then I just went with the flow...

During the spring there were other projects too. One was the 'Feeling'(tunne)-video. The task was to make about three-minutes long video that would express a certain feeling/emotion. I pondered for a long time what I would like to do with this one. My first idea was to make somekind of supernatural, paranormal, film. A Ghost comes for a visit or something like that. After that I thought I'd make something abstract. I abandoned that too. Eventually, I made a pretty straight-forward video in my own flat.
Drama, again. Guy is meditating, but he finds it hard to relax. Then an ex-girlfriend /ex-lover shows up for a visit. This stirs up lots of emotion in our main-character.
That inner peace is even more distant now, but by expressing his emotions he finds balance. That kind of simple story. I was satisfied with the result. This time I did not work with professional actors, but I had good time doing this film. We shot most of the material in one day. Afterwards I edited the piece myself.

Our school also offered us a document-project for the summer. We'd get paid for it too. Not much, but still...it was my first paid film-project :-) Our task was to make a film about fishing for teenagers. Well, to be more precise...to make a film that would get young people in high school to become interested in being a fisherman/woman.
I don't go fishing myself, so I had my doubts if this would be a good project for me. I decided to go for it. It would be more experience for me. We are still working on this project, so I won't write more about that now.

I didn't work that much this summer. For one week I went to youth-camp and shot some short films with teenagers there. So, I was both a youth-worker and a director. Good combination, I liked doing both. The days were long there...I'd wake up early and finish ten o'clock in the evening. Few youngsters very quite motivated about the project, so that was good. I'm gonna edit the films now and send them a dvd later.

I was a roadie in Celine Dion-concert. We did not get to see the show because it was sold out. That was annoying. I always want to see the show, if I have been building the stage all day.
In early July, I went to a soccer-tournament in eastern Finland. Leka-Cup at Juva. We gathered together with our old junior-soccer team Palokan Riento-81 and took up the challenge. It was great fun. I am glad I went there. I was afraid that I wouldn't be up for it, but it went really well actually. I shot one goal and our team came second in the tournament. It was cool to play with the old buddies again. Maybe we do the same thing again next year. Then only the gold can be our goal.

Now, my work is calling me back to the editing-room. Much love&light to you all. Enjoy the remaining warm days if you read this in Finland. If you are in Australia or somewhere else...well, all the best to you!

Lauri Anssi M

ps. If you are interested in seeing films i've been working on. Contact me and i can make you a dvd. None of them are subtitled yet, but i am working on that right now.

What I've been up to...for last 10 months (Part1)

2008-04-16T15:00:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

It has been some time since my last update. I don't know if people still come here, but I quess I could write something. It is spring now. Last time I wrote it was summer.

During the summer-time I worked at some concerts... Metallica, Rolling Stones, to name a few. And UMO-jazz festival too. Summer went pretty fast. It was good to see Metallica play. I was a Metallica-fan... when still in highschool. It was cool to see them. The crowd sang with one voice in classic-songs...not only in choruses, but also in guitar-solos! Finns are big on metalmusic.

I made one kind of experimental film last august. It was one weekend with Salla and Ville. It is called Kiirastuli- Purgatory. I was pretty happy about it. Happy about the result, and the process. It was enjoyable to make it. It is about a guy who dies and then angel escorts him to a next level or phase. It can be seen as a sequel to a movie made in October 2006--Suuri Kohtaaminen (the great encounter)-that was my first short fiction movie ( Well, I made few movies as a kid, but they are a little bit different thing.) I think the acting might have developed in Kiirastuli, if compared to movies I made before that. We did not rehearse. Straight into it.

We spent the fall semester doing documentaries. Our group did two documentaries. One was a so-called epic documentary ( directed by Ville) and the other one was a documentary about one person, like a portrait ( that was the project I directed). Perhaps the most difficult thing was to find a topic. First I wanted to do a documentary about Zen-Center in Lahti or Helsinki. We would film one meditation-session, from beginning to an end. Well, that did not happen. Then I thought about doing a movie about Scientologists in Lahti. That did not happen. We went to a huge beer&lemonade-factory...maybe that could be the topic. Nope. I wrote to people who saw themselves as contact-people for UFO's...but could not find a right type of person before the deadline. So...there were many steps in this process. Finally I met Sari.

One guy in our filming crew was working with people who were unusually short- he edited their magazine. So, I contacted a person who (i think)was the editor of the magazine and she recommended that I contact Sari. Sari is a very positive, strong-willed and energetic person. When she was young she wanted to find out the reason for her condition-diastrofia. Her doctor told her to do research on her own roots. That's where she would find a reason. So that's what she started doing. She found out that it was fascinating work (this research)...and that she was good at it too. Soon she realized that she had actually become a researcher: she was getting job-offers. And she did also find a genetic reason for her condition. So, it can be said that her illness led her to a work she loved doing. This was the guiding idea of this documentary for me: When Life gives you lemons, you make lemonade-kind of thing. Showing how one can turn really challenging conditions if one has a strong will to live, a good attitude to life.

Doing a short documentary required more work than what I expected. However, once I had a subject for my documentary it became easier. Plus..Sari was a good subject because she was open and interested to tell us stories from her life. I wanted to have Sari's husband and her parents in the film too. They all agreed. That was really a good thing too. Sari let us film material in her 50th birthday.
We shot lots of material for this movie. Eight cassettes or something like that. Editing the material was a big job. Our editor did fine work there.
I was happy with the result. I think it was a kind of short film that could be shown in Finnish tv. I thought the duration was good too. Maybe it could've been a little longer, but I think it is fine as it is.
I learned a lot doing this documentary. I quess I would do some things differently now...looking backwards to this project. But, in this field of work, the best lessons are often learned through doing.

The other documentary our group did ( I was not involved in this one though) was about a horse-race in Lahti. There was no dialogue in this movie. You could hear people talking but they were not narrating to a camera. (unlike in Sari-documentary) This group managed to make this horse-race an interesting and beautiful visual experience.

The Fall-semester went fast. I was happy to go to Christmas-holiday after working quite a bit with the documentary. My parents went to Vietnam for last Christmas. We managed to have an early Christmas-dinner before they left, with my brother Tomi and his girlfriend Hanna being there too. At Cristmas-eve I went to my friend's place. Family Leppänen had invited me to spend the evening with them. I had good time there. I also became the Santa Claus at Olavi's place. That was fun too. I made a little dance when people sang. Santa's Christmas-dance. I had a didjeridoo with me. Santa had just returned from AUstralia.
I received some good gifts: One r'n'b music soapopera, a gift-card to local filmstore, one classic movie, a perfume bottle...just to name a few.
Duting the Christmas-time we got along well with each other, me and Napoleon. Napoleon turned fourteen last December. He is becoming an old dog. I wish and pray that he will live a long, healthy and happy life.

New Year's party was at Tuukka's place. There were some lovely people there. We had some fireworks too. There was not much snow though. But we ignored that and celebrated.
I was pretty satisfied with the year 2007. I made progress both in my studies and in with my personality too. Progress with one's personality is generally slow though.
I hope 2008 will be a good and blessed year for me, my friends and for this whole planet.

I will write a part two soon...we are shooting a movie tomorrow, so i gotta get some sleep now. Oh sweet sleep, sweet dreams. But now I am back on the blogtrack again!

Reflections from Spring 07

2007-06-15T10:15:00.000-07:00

Dear friends

It has been couple of months since last time I wrote a lenghty blogentry. Time goes fast. It is now summer.

By the way: I noticed that it has not been possible for you to leave comments earlier to this blog. Or it has been possible only for the registered users. But I have changed that now: You can leave comments whether you have a blog here or not. Hopefully you will leave comments!

School has finished for this spring. Last time I wrote about my life..we had just finished our first short-films as a group. During the spring we made three more movies: Jälkiä-( Traces ), Veljesi Aaron ( Your Brother Aaron ) and Serkku ( Cousin ). Veljesi Aaron was the film I directed. I made the original screenplay for Serkku. They are 3-5 minutes long. Aaron being the longest one.

Little bit about those films....
In these films we were allowed to use some dialogue. This made the projects more challenging but also exciting. In Fiktio-1 we had two days to shoot the film, now we had three full days. It became clear quite early that everyone in our group wanted to improve from our last projects. It is cool to notice this natural progress, everyone learning new ways of doing things and setting the standard somewhat higher.

Aaron is a short story about communication, acceptance and love. I won't tell the plot, because I'd like to show this movie to you someday. Serkku is a story about dysfunctional relationship, violence, use and abuse of personal power. Our movies are done with almost no money, so the settings and effects are not like in "big films". However, many people have been willing to help us without any financial reward. So that has been great.
In these movies our group was still doing the acting-work by ourselves. This will change next year...as there will be drama-students and professionlan actors working with us. This makes me both nervous and excited. In my heart it is more the excitement that I feel.

Next autumn we start making documentaries. I am directing one of them. I am looking for a good idea at the moment.

Last weekend there was a good gig in Jyväskylä. Profeetta ja Uusi Maailmanuskonto released their debut-album and they held a concert to celebrate that. I like their music...and also the memebers of the band are my friends.

This spring went really fast with these film-projects. I really didn't do much more that made films and watched them. I was fun thoug, mostly. Sometimes it was quite stressful. I want to learn to work without stressing out too much. Being flexible but centered in my spirit.

I really like this flat that I am living in. This is on the 9th floor...I've got such a cool bird's eye view from here. It is not cheap for a student like me...but I hope I can still stay here for sometime. It is also a peaceful neighborhood. I like that too. Just few hundred meters from my house there is a lake and a beach. I just swam there couple of days ago. Bliss, bliss, bliss. That was the first time since last summer ( in natural water ).

Right now I am doing my work-practice in one production-company. Filmiteollisuus it is called. I have enjoyed it. We are making a comedy-miniseries for tv. Ten episodes. We are doing it in a fast rhytm.
I have been doing all sorts of things there. Helping the producer and screenwriter. Running errands. Acting a little bit ( Yes, it is true. ). Helping the cameraman/cinematograper. Being an assistant director ( in this instance that meeans that I am taking orders from director and passing them on to actors. The director is not always able to be physically next to the actors. )

Favourite films this spring....
April: Shortbus, Inland Empire ( that new Lynch-movie. Inspiring. ) and Three Extremes ( Asian horror-movie. THree stories in one. Not for the weak stomach. ),
May: The squid and the whale ( good dialogue. good acting. ) Wicker Man ( Classic. Really original. Disturbing. Provokes emotions. ) Science of Sleep ( Visually pretty amazing. Beautiful. Directed by Michel Gondry who is among my favourites. )

In april I went to see Nine Inch Nails concert in Helsinki. They were one of my favourites in High School. Enjoyed the gig.

I did short documentary about a pizza-place near my flat ( Three minutes in length ). People who work there have migrated here from Iraq. To escape the war. I felt sorry for them. One of them said that people who are setting up bombs there and creating chaos are really not from Iraq. Many of them just use this chaotic situation of Iraq to fight their battles there. I haven't studied the situation that much lately so I don't really know. It does not look good at all, that is something I do know.

It seems to me that we ought to co-operate much more on this planet to resolve this kind of conflicts. We are eager to go to other countries if there is some profit to be made or some exotic experiences to be experienced...but when other countries are in real trouble we don't want to dirty our hands.
It is not that we all ought to go to hotspots of this planet and sacrifice our lives...but that we shouldn't say that it is none of our business. It is our business. We are all interconnected. Not only because we live on a same planet and thus share the natural resources etc. But because we are brothers and sisters spiritually. If we don't care about our brothers and sisters...we are doing harm to our soul. We are connected on a level of our Heart/ Soul.

This is why racism and all other prejudices are so off the mark- If we put those 'blinders' on, we are forgetting who we truly are. Cutting ourselves from our Home, this Soul-space, where we are all connected to each other. That is not a nice space to be in. AND it is especially inappropriate attitude to take in this time...when LOTS of co-operation is required to save our ass! From what? Global warming, pollution, terrorism, clash of cultures/ethnic groups/political groups, corporate corruption etc.

But let us enjoy the summer here in northern hemisphere.. and lovely winter-days for my friends in Australia. I wish to hear from you soon.
Send comments now. It is easy. I might create a myspace-site for myself soon too. Maybe I can add some films and pictures there.

Much love. I think of you all often and that makes me feel warm and good.

Peace, Lauri Anssi M

36 questions

2007-05-16T12:28:00.000-07:00

I usually enjoy these little questionnaires. I found these questions from one blog.

1. Full Name: Lauri Anssi Moilanen

2. Age: I was born 1981

3. Eyeglasses? Yes.

4. Piercings? No, I considered getting one once. But that was long time ago.

5. Tattoos? No, and I probably won't get one either.

6. Birthplace? Jyväskylä, central Finland.

7. Current location? Lahti, southern Finland.

8. Languages? Finnish is my mother-tongue. English is my second language. I also speak some Swedish.

9. Bad habits? Oh, many. Procrastination. Hedonism. General nervousness. To name a few. I try to be honest with myself about myself...and about Life. Patience and self-forgiveness are needed.

10. Can you drive a car? I am learning right now! Today I had my 3rd driving lesson. It is intense.

11. Pencil or a brush? Pencil, but I'd like to learn more about the brush too.

12. Star Wars or Star Trek? Star Wars. Great characters and story. Fascinating world. Star Trek is not bad either. Use the force and do not underestimate the power of dark side.

FAVOURITE...

13. TV-show? Seinfeld, The Office ( Extras is good one too! ), Twin Peaks, Lost.

14. Movie? Too many to mention. Movies that inspire.. visually, emotionally and spiritually.

15. Magazine? Hesari, Keskisuomalainen, Time, Sight&Sound, MinäOlen-lehti, Image.... to name a few.

16. Shoes? Sneakers. Sandals when it is hot.

17. Candy? Chocolate and Ice-cream.

18. Ice-cream flavour? Mmm. Chocolate. Mango. That is niiice.

19. Scent? Nature. Forest. Fresh air in the nature. And water... lakes. Certain fruits.

20. Season? Late-summer. Everything is ripe and blooming. But really, all seasons are beautiful.

21. Vacation? Summer-vacation and christmas.

22. Rapper? This is a tough one. Tupac is wonderful. So I mention him at least.

23. Style of music? I like music that evokes emotions. Usually I listen to music with strong vocals and melodies. But I also like ambient music...peaceful music. I mostly listen to current music.

24. Place in your room? Near the window. I like to gaze outside. Somewhere where I can see the sky. I've got a really nice view from my window in my home currently.

25. Game? Football games, if we are talking about video-games. Scrabbles.

26. Place to be? Heaven. Being right here and right now. This moment.

27. Places you have visited? Too many. I loved Australia. Melbourne. South-Australia. The outback. Italy. Venice, Rome. Los Angeles was fascinating. Little places in Germany were beautiful. And of course Finland. Lapland. Hankasalmi. Jyväskylä.

YES or NO questions...

28. Are you a vegetarian? Yes. Have been for a long time.

29. Are you an artist? Yes, I am. Artist is a person who lives creatively and expresses one's self with creativity.

30. Do you write poems? Yeah, but not that regularly.

31. Are you a fast runner? I used to be in school. But I don't run that much nowadays.

32. Do you hear voices? Yes. I try to focus on the positive voices. LOL.

33. Do you own a pink shirt? No, I don't.

Could you ever...

34. Do bungee-jumping? I could. But probably I won't.

35. Steal your friends boyfriend/girlfriend? No.

36. Walk out of a restaurant without paying? I have actually done this. It happened in Estonia. We went back there to pay the bill next day. Embarassing. It was this philosophy-course/camp. I quess we got too deep into our thoughts.

Recommendations: Books

2007-05-07T08:41:00.000-07:00

Here are some of my favourite books:

Neale Donald Walsch: Converstations With God Books 1-3
I have read pretty much everything NDW has written and it has changed the way I look at Life. They helped me to come closer to Divinity. I read the first one when I was still in Australia back in 1999. All the books are good, but if you read the first three you already get into the spirit. Some of the ideas you might have heard before, but I bet there are some things that are fresh to you too.

Joshua David Stone: Soul Psychology
I've read many books from Joshua Stone and they have all been great. Another teacher who has really been a big influence for me. Some of the books go deep into area of metaphysics, this one deals especially with psychological issues. It is practical book, and the core ideas are very clear and uplifting. I love the chapter on personal power. You read this book and some other books of his at www.iamuniversity.org . It is Joshua's site so you are not ripping off the author.

Teachings of Ramana Maharshi ( Edited by Arthur Osborne )
One of the clearest and simplest teachings on non-duality one can find. Maharshi was an amazing teacher...his teachings might appeat quite extreme for many, but I was definitely very impressed by them. Osborne's comments are not really necessary, so if you can find another edition it might be better. I think Shambhala has published his works too. Ask the question: Who am I? Do not let the mind answer to this one (with concepts and thoughts). Let me know how it goes...

Sanaya Roman: Spiritual Growth
This book contains teachings from a spiritual teacher called Orin. Great stuff. Have had a big influence on me. They helped me to reconnect with my Soul. Also the book Soul Love is a great one from this author. Book has many helpful exercises and meditations in the end of each chapter. Teachings are clear, relevant and communicated with love.

Eckhart Tolle: The Power of Now
If Ramana did not do the great trick for you, you could try Eckhart. Eckhart is a modern-day spiritual teacher. His big mission is to bring people back to present moment and free them from compulsive thinking and anxiety-filled existence. Tolle looks a bit like a peacefull hobbit. Joking. Lots of exercises included. If you do them..I'd be surprised if it wouldn't bring you more peace.

Thom Hartmann: Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight
I wish everyone would read this one. Thom is the man! This book is a wake-up call. It deals with the energy-crises we are facing soon... and actually we are already in it. The oil is running out, we can't rely on fossil-fuels no more. We need to deal with the climate-crises. This book looks at how we got into this mess, whatkind mess it is and gives solutions of how we can get out of it. Many fresh perspectives and well-written. Not only for "spiritual folk". There is important stuff for everyone.

Erlend Loe: Naiv. Super
In finnish this is called Supernaiivi. It has been many years since I read this. But I still remember the warm and honest tone of this book. Loe is norvegian writer. This book is about young person's existential anxiety. But it is dealt with in a humorous way. Some big issues like Love and nature of time are being explored. His writing style is fresh, clear and easy to digest.

Life in February 2007

2007-03-12T13:05:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

How are you doing? Very well I hope. Month has passed again I notice. Not great changes, but still it has been an unique month.

Mostly it has been about school. We had the critique-session for Fiktio-1, first fiction-movies made by our group that is. Fiktio-2 means the second fiction movies made by our group and so on. These are short-films of course, not full-length movies. We don't get to do full length feature-films in this school. You gotta wait till you are pro I quess.

The short-film Tahdon, the one I directed, got both positive feedback and critique. On the whole the feedback was constructive I thought. I felt better after this session than I had felt in the previous critique-sessions we've had. Maybe I am getting used to this.

Some hightlights for this month: One weekend in Jyväskylä...Seeing and hearing Profeetta at Lutakko. ( Check out Profeetta's myspace profile.) There was also a great norwegian DJ who threw us a good party. Electro-stuff. My friend Soila left to Italy. We had a party at her parents place. Afterwards we went to a nightclub. That was a very good evening too. I hope Soila enjoys Italy.

Olavi and Emma won Emma-awards ( Finnish music-awards). Olavi for best jazz-release.. Oddarrang: Music Illustrated ( Check out Oddarrang's myspace-site). And Emma for female-singer/artist of the year. Olavi and Emma rules ok.

Nice party at our school too. The Studio-party, Last wednesday. Band called Silvio played there. I knew the guys in Silvio. We played football in same club when I was still living in Helsinki. I bought their album Amass all you can. Original stuff.

I've been trying to look up some summer-work. So far, no luck. I need to make a proper CV and spend more time with this.
I hope I will get to do something that is meaningful for me.

Best movies I saw in February: Lady Vengeance and Tristram Shandy. Also Ingmar Bergman's Saraband was good one.

Last weekend I went to Tampere film festival. I saw some brilliant documents there. French, Polish, American and documents made by Sami people from Lapland. Sami's are the indigenous people of Lappland. They are the only indigenous people in European Union. There are about 100.000 Sami people. They live mostly in northern Finland, Norway, Sweden and Russia. I liked the Sami-documentaries. They had warmth and presence in them. Some very lovely people were interviewed.

Last month I told you about this Home With God book. Here are few quotes from the book:

"YOu are always immersed in the Divine. You are immersed in it right now. Indeed, you are it. YOu are divinity, immersed in Divinity, expressing Itself as the Individuated Aspect of Divinity know as YOu." p.35

" There is nowhere to go, nothing you have to do, and nothing you have to be, except exactly what you are being right now., in order to experience the bliss of the Divine. YOu ARE the bliss of the Divine, and you simply do not know it." p.185

And here is one poem I wrote awhile ago....
it is called
256 lives.

After 3 lives I had gained some consciousness

After 9 lives I had learned something about cause and effect

After 15 lives I knew something about lust and affection

After 30 lives I knew something about hate

After 33 lives I knew about revenge

After 40 lives I knew about betrayal

After 49 lives I knew much more about pain and depression

After 57 lives I knew more about sickness

After 64 lives I knew something about compassion

After 71 lives I knew something about Holiness

After 79 lives I knew something about humbleness

After 85 lives I knew more about friendship

After 89 lives I knew about disappointment

After 94 lives I knew much more about perseverance and determination

After 102 lives I knew about power

After 107 lives I knew about sex

After 111 lives I knew about passion

After 119 lives I knew about art

( I will finish this poem in my next mail. Something for you guys to keep you coming back, eh? )

Have an enjoyable month. Let us try to remain joyfull and count all the good things in our lives.

Much love to you , Lauri Anssi Write to me. I love to hear from you.

ps. If you have not seen it watch Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth. Everyone on this planet should see that movie.
Peace.

Winter-days. Reflections from Jan.07

2007-02-21T11:04:00.000-08:00

Dear friends,

Long time no post. But Life does not stop. New year started, holidays ended, school started. During my holiday time I finished one school project. It was titled " Significant event" -Merkittävä kokemus. One had to choose one experience from one's life and make a 1-min film about it. My topic was a religious crisis. So, I played myself being 17-years old and very confused and looking for clarity. I still have confusion in my life I quess but perhaps not that much and not in that exact form.

Next project was fiction film made with a crew of 10 people, largest group I have worked with so far in film-projects. I was directing this project. I think it went well considering it was my first time in this kind of situation. Almost half of the movie was shot outside. And it was quite cold there. Our group took it pretty well I think.
The story in this little film was about a young couple and their relationship. The woman has been paralyzed from the waist down, so she's in a wheelchair. And the guy has hard time with this situation too. I won't say more now in case I'll show it to you one day. It took us three days to shoot this project.

The school started full-on in early January and it hasn't really slowed down. I am trying to keep up. And I ought to start looking for summer-jobs too. That's how this wheel spins in my life.

What else? I don't really know. It seems that school takes most of my time. In the evenings I am in the internet... surfing, chatting with friends or then I watch a movie. I don't really have hobbies, except occasional meditation-classes at zen-center.

It was really cold few weeks back. Well over -20 C. First it felt crazy, this weather, but somehow the body adjusted. Now it has warmed up a bit.
Talking about weather... the energy-debate is very much on here in Finland now when the parliamentary-elections are approaching. And there was also this big EU-conference where they agreed to reduce 20% emissions in EU by year 2035. ( I quote from my memory. Figures might be wrong. ) That is the goal anyhow.

I also read interesting articles about how our brain works. I had been convinced for a long time that our mind can actually alter our physical brain-structure, but I had not seen many articles, scientific articles abou this. Well, now there was many articles devoted to this stuff in Time-magazine.
" In its place ( the old dogmas about brain being very much fixed in form and hard-wired. ) has come the realization that the adult brain retains impressive powers of neuroplasticity- the ability to change its structure and function in response to experience." ( from an article How the brain rewires itself by Sharon Begley ) The mind can change the brain seems to be the conclusion from some recent studies in brain-science. Thinking can change patterns in the brain... patterns that are related to depression for example. Richard Davidson, neuroscientist, has also studied Buddhist monks with FMRI scans to find out if positive states of mind such as compassion and happiness are something that could be developed by systematic mental training. The results are strongly suggesting the affirmative.

I also finished reading Neale Donald Walsch's book Home With God. It is the latest and possibly the last from Conversations With God series. These books have had a great impact on me. They have been changing the way I think and live my life. I was especially moved by these book when I was in college and in Snellman-school few years ago. These books are so positive.. but not in a make-believe "oh the world is just pink flowers and butterflies" kind of way. It addresses the biggest problems too. I really recommend these books. Books can't change your life by themselves but they can remind us of the important things we might have forgotten. They can be pointers to truth and beauty within ourselves.

I also saw Joona Toivanen trio playing in Kypärämäki last weekend. That made my day! Many friends were there. My parents came to see the concert too. The atmosphere was warm and peaceful. I had my video-camera with me there. oh yeah, I did not tell you about that earlier. I got a way cool video-camera from my parents for christmas-present! They brought it from Malaysia. It was lot cheaper there. Camera uses mini-dv's. It is very handy. I love it.

Best movies in January: Samaritan Girl ( Kim Ki-DUk) Stalker ( Tarkovsky) , Pan's Labyrinth ( Del Toro ?) and Ordinary People ( Robert Redford). These four movies are really good, so if you find them watch them. Highly recommended. More movie ratings from my flixster-site. I do not know if you can browse my ratings without signing in? Not sure.

One semi-secret hobby that I've had lately has been O.C- the first season. OC works for me. Yeah sure, it is not perfect but it is entertaining and at times it has some well-working serious drama too. I like it. I am gonna finish the whole season soon.

I wish you very magical and beautiful and enjoyable month.
At your service,
Lauri Anssi

Movie-ratings!

2007-01-16T14:11:00.000-08:00

Hello dear friends,
Check out my almost new flixster-site. I have rated hundreds of movies. So now if you are in doubt which movie to watch this weekend you can just go to this site and choose from my selection. Just kidding. Each to his/her own taste, right?

Anyways, this is the address:

http://anssi7.flixster.com
Consider joining yourself, because I'd love to see what are your favourite movies. No, this is not an add for flixster, I just love talking about movies.
Have a great day,
Blessed Be,
Lauri Anssi

Greetings my friends! November&December revisited.

2006-12-28T07:34:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

It will be again two posts in one here. Right now I am on holiday. Yes! I am very much enjoying it. It has just snowed here in Jyväskylä. It was not very white christmas this year. Maybe five centimetres on snow at christmas eve. I am staying at my parent's house for this holiday. Taking care of Napoleon. We are doing two walks a day, and I am feeding him well. My parents are in Malaysia. In Kuala Lumpur at the moment. They are enjoying the place. It is very warm there.

The critique for my 3min-film was pretty good. Some said that it was hard to understand what it was about. I don't mind that. It is good to have room for many interpretations. Especially if it is an experimental film. The name of that work was 'Suuri Kohtaaminen' - the great encounter. A man is visited by another man who is about the same age but claims to be his father. That's how it starts.

The next larger project was the first fiction-film we were doing as a group. My role was to be an actor. In general, I like acting. So I was looking forward to this project. I think it went pretty well. This movie was about a dysfunctional couple, who lives in small apartment. The guy is treating the woman badly. The woman is resentful. Then the man wins in lottery. A big sum. Now woman sees that her chance to avenge has come. That's the basic plotline for this film, as I saw it. The genre would be comedy.

We also did a drama-project with no pictures involved. A recording, from a script that our main-teacher Erkki had written. The script was divided in three parts. Each director was given one part to direct, one third from the whole script approximately. Director could choose the genre or perspective of his segment. This was a hard project. I wanted my part to have somekind of hook in it, so that it would be interesting. But because the part was quite short, only two pages or so, and one could use only sound...it was not easy to make it very original. Well, I did my best. We still have the post-production work to do with Toivo, the sound-engineer for this project.

The cristmas-party for our movie-department was good fun. We had made a little comedy video for it. 'Kuusi-video'. In this little sketch I am the leader of the bunch and I order them to get me a christmas-tree. The group does its best, but they start to fight with each other. So, in the end nobody really gets credit for the tree-operation. Boss gets his tree though.
I was little nervous in the party before they showed our 3min-films for the older students. But it went very well. Older students were supportive. Laughed in the appropriate parts and said right kind of compliments afterwards..hehee!

There was also quite big christmas-party for the whole school. There was a good band and a good dj there. People were in cheery mood. Everyone was ready to go to holidays. We had almost finished our recordings and I had moved into a new flat. It was a good night to have a party. I like it that they have these parties in out school and not in some bar in the city.

I did not leave to Jyväskylä right away. I had to clean my old flat first. And I decided to visit my godfather and godmother in Hartola, which is not that far away from Lahti. Pretty much halfway between jyväskylä and Hartola. That was a good trip.

It took some days before I really started to relax. It is different kind of mentality that I strive to have in holiday-time. I want to do "pointless" things, not worry about getting things done. Holidays are being-time, not doing-time. I love doing things and creating things, but I am not able to appreciate 'doing' if I don't take time to just 'be'. It is so easy to turn even your 'freetime' into somekind of chore, somekind of have-to-do thing. Like, ' I gotta read this book during this holiday. I gotta see these and these people before my holiday ends.' This kind of thinking creates unnecessary stress.

The christmas went fine. We visited our grandmother in Palokka. She lives in this old people's home. They have their own apartments in that building though. Later I ate delicious christmas dinner at my friend's house. They were very kind to invite me there.
I have also spent plenty of time with Napoleon. Walking in the neighbourhood, throwing the ball, stuff like that.
I received nice christmas-gifts: movies, music, money, a book by DalaiLama ( my brother gave me that. I am very pleased. )
for example.

And of course I have watched many good movies during these two months. One very good one was Emir Kusturica's Underground.

I hope you all had good Christmas. And I also hope you are having a peacefull and joyfull holidaytime. Much love to you.

Lauri Anssi

Greetings from September and October!

2006-11-22T13:21:00.000-08:00

Dear friends,

It's been a long time since I've updated my blog. So, now I try to cover up more things than usually.
How are you doing? I am doing rather well. I am in the new school. Learning about movies, making movies. New city, new flat, new place to live.
What have I done here so far?
Well, like I told in my last mail there was this little problem I encountered here: The school had taken already three directors to our group. They thought that that was enough. So they asked if I could consider doing more camerawork and editing. That was not cool with me because I had applied into that school with director/screenwriter role in my mind. In the exam I had done tasks that were tailored for students who are to specialize in directing/scriptwriting.
Well, Then we talked about it. And we talked a little bit more about it. Finally we, meaning teachers, myself and our group, came into a conclusion that I would be the fourth director in our group. I was happy about this. I hope I can fill these boots well.

Many things are different here compared to my life in Jyväskylä ( being in University and Steiner-school ) earlier. I don't have much old friends here. There is more work to be done for the school. There is more group-work here. The tasks we are doing are more artistic and creative by nature. I quess, all in all, I enjoy doing this type of work more than doing academic work, though academic work can be fulfilling too.

What kind of work have we been doing here? We have done scripts, story outlines. They look like comics. We did lot of those during the first few weeks. Then there is design/art classes- they resemble the classes I did back in art-college. Visual art.
Then there is camerawork, editing, movie-analysis and art-history.

I have done three short-films now. First assignment we got was to make a 1-minute documentary about this city-Lahti. No dialogue. I shot lot of material for that assignment. It was hard to decide which shots I should include. For me the first task was mostly about just learning how to use camera and editing-program.
Second assignment was to do a 1-minute film about some person I knew. No dialogue. I chose Asla, a five-year old boy, who is my friend Sanna's son. I enjoyed that task. I gathered lots of material for this film also. Again it was hard to edit it to one minute. I was quite pleased with the result though. The last project was a "free" one. Three minutes max. One could use music and dialogue. And this could be experimental too. I liked this project a lot. I went Jyväskylä to do it. Few of my friends helped me with it. I am thankful for them about this. I think the end result was pretty good, considering that none of us did not have much experience in doing movies. Tomorrow we have a critique for these 3-minute films. I am a little bit nervous about it.

The critique-sessions we have after the projects are finished are interesting ...and challenging. One hears the opinion of one's fellow students and Erkki's opinion. Erkki is our "head-teacher", the main-teacher sorta. Both he and other students are often honest and tough with their comments. This has been sometimes challenging for me. Maybe because I am myself very aware of all the areas I not so good at, and rather than getting that pointed out I would need encouragement and tips of how to do it better. The standards are the same for everyone regardless of our background. But some of us have more experience of doing movies than others. But I am not saying that this is necessarily bad.. how we are doing things here. I am just reflecting on how I've experienced it. And of course we also get "positive" feedback too here. It's not only about what does not work.

I've been watching plenty of movies here. In this school we also watch films in schooltime. We study them. Some good films I watched in September... Road to Guantanamo, Godfather 2, Innocence, Koyaanisqatsi, Battleship Potemkin and Citizen Kane.
Some good films I watched in October: Born in 4th of July, Heat, The Time of the Wolf, Clockers, Powaqqatsi, Devil wears prada.
These are not all good in same way of course. Some are more entertaining, some are more intense emotionally.

In October I had my 25th birthday. I had a party both in Jyväskylä and in Helsinki. It was so good to see all these friends together! Thank you everyone for coming. Now I have been here for one quarter of a century! I plan to stay here for quite a long time still. Lots has happened but even more is yet to happen in the future!

In October Mother Amma visited Finland again. I went to see her and hug her. She is known as the hugging saint. This was a very good weekend. It was very uplifting to be in that atmosphere.

That's going to be all for now, for I need to be awake tomorrow in the critique. However, I might loosen up a bit with my blog and write short updates and thoughts whenever I feel like it. Okay, we will see how it goes.
I hope you have had a good Autumn/Spring! Have a great day today! Lots of love and blessings to you my friend,

peace Lauri Anssi

Greetings, August06!

2006-09-07T07:55:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

How are you? Very well I hope. It has been quite a month for me.

The big news first: About three weeks ago I got an unexpected phonecall. The call was from this movie-school I had applied to last spring. They said that they would have a place for me in the school. The schoil would start in early September, which meant that I had about two and half weeks to find myself a flat in a new city, quit my job and basically rearrange my plans for near-future big time. But since I thought that this was my big break I said yes almost right away. I had been trying to get into this school for three times.
I thought that I did not have any chance to get in this year, because they had not picked me in the first place- I had a chance to get in only if someone ( who got chose right away ) would not take the place. They take only ten people in, so not many people decline the offer. There are lots of people applying to the school.
But so it happened that I got this call and I got the place. I was happy.
I was worried, though, about the situation at my workplace ( Jyväskylä Steiner School). We had made a verbal deal that I would be there at least half a year. I did not want to let them down. But neither did I want to miss this chance. I asked my "boss" nicely if she could try to find someone to replace me quickly, so I could start my studies in Lahti. She was very understanding and said yes. I agreed to work at the school untill they find someone to replace me...or untill my school starts.

I think I did not tell much about my job at Steiner-school earlier. Well, I was helping one student specifically but also acted as a helping-teacher in the class. In the breaktime I was outdoors seeing that "my student" and the other kids were behaving nicely there. I got to teach couple of lessons by myself to the class plus in the music-lessons I got to teach them 'Waltzing Matilda'(the Australian version).

I enjoyed that job. It was demanding, but it was nice to teach my student and the class, see them learning things. It would've been interesting year if I would've stayed there. Maybe one day I return to that school. The kids had drawn me comics as a farewell-gift. Actually, they were not just comics, but ideas for movies that they would like to see being done. A great gift.

So, I've been very busy with this shift. I managed to find myself a decent flat in Lahti quite quickly. Lahti is a bit larger city compared to Jyväskylä. There is about 100,000 people here. The city is located about 100km north from Helsinki. They just built a new train-connection between Lahti and Helsinki. Now you can get to Helsinki in about 50 minutes. That is good news. I've got many friends in Helsinki, and there are often interesting events taking place there.

One interesting event took place yesterday. Me and Olavi went to see Finland play against Portugal ( a football-match that is). Finland has played very well now. They beat Poland abroad 3-1 and had a 1-1 draw with Portugal yesterday. The stadium was sold-out. If they keep playing this well, there will be football-fever here soon.

I like my new school. Our student-group seems to be a good bunch of people. Our teachers seem to be good people too. We have good equipment here, good setting to make interesting projects.
There is one problem that has arised since I started here at this school, but since I cannot formulate it well enough yet, I will not attempt to do so now. I will tell more about it in my next mail. I am sure I will be wiser then.

My mind is still dizzy about these changes. I try not to do too many things in the evenings. I try to take time just to relax and contemplate. The rhytm in the school is not very fast yet. We just started on monday. It is exciting to be here. Wish me good luck/blessings with this new school and with my adaption-process to new city.
I wish you a happy month and send you lots of love and light!

Take care my friends, Lauri Anssi

( ps. I have started to use mainly my first name Lauri here at the school. It is not a new idea. I have been thinking about using my full name or the first one for a long time. However, if you are used to Anssi only, you can also call me Anssi. I like both of my names. But I figured that since my first name is Lauri in my birth-certificate, I want to try and see if it fits me. )

Greetings, July06!

2006-08-13T13:06:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

Hope things are well with you. For me, this month too has been mostly peaceful and relaxed. It has been a long and sunny summer and it's still on. I heard this is the dryest summer in about 50 years or something here in Finland.

Apart from enjoying the good weather and going swimming I did few roadie-gigs. Gun's 'n Roses and Eric Clapton. Both projects went well. It was fun to see Gun's n Roses live, for I was a fan of them in Primary School. My first cd was a G'n'R album.
Clapton's gig was different. More older folk. Everyone was seated. More blues-orientated material. They had a big band, maybe eleven or twelve people on stage. Back-up singers, horn-section, three guitarists.

I also saw few really good concerts in Ruisrock this month, which is a rock-festival, obviously. My favourite there was definitely Tool. Great music and great visuals projected to big screens. The band played very well, and the singer Maynard Keenan was extraordinary. Morrissey also pulled a good concert at this festival. He predicted that Italy would win the world-cup that night, as they did. He actually said that he already knew the result because the match is being fixed, then he added quickly that he's just joking. One's who have been following the European football-scene lately know what this joke refers to.
The Tool-concert was a wonderful experience, it was like a big meditation. I knew the songs and people around me were as excited as I was. I did not expect it to be this good. It had been almost 10 years since last time I went to a rock-festival.

I spent couple of days helping my dad in the forest this month. He has this big chopping machine now, with which we are able to make quick progress. It is nice to do occasional physical work like that, especially in that setting...beautiful forest at summertime. Even the bugs and insects have left us in peace so far. I haven't seen any bears yet, but I've heard there are bears in that area.

We have started a study-circle with few friends. We have met once a week or once every two weeks. First one person speaks a little about some topic ( usually they are about spiritual philosophy ) and then we have a discussion. There have been good discussions. Topics have included: Non-dualistic philosophy, Gnostic philosophy, Rudolf Steiner and his lifework and finnish writer Pekka Ervast's ideas.

What else? I've been playing football twice a week. It feels that my touch is getting better than what it was in early summer. This feels good. We have a good group there. My brother Tomi is playing there too.

I also went to Keitel-jazz happening to hear Olavi do a solo-gig there. This was the second one of this kind of gigs for him. It was different than the first one, but equally enjoyable.

I've been also watching lots of movies. Not surprising, eh? Some good ones this month: Mar Adentro ( Meri Sisälläni ) ..spanish movie about euthanasia...movie about Life and Death...very touching. Very recommended. Good Night and Good Luck, political film by George Clooney. A black and white-movie. Deals with communist " witch-hunt" in the 50's.
Interesting movie. I like political movies that have courage as a major theme in them. This is one of those.
My brother had a birthday this month, we went to see Pirates of the Caribbean 2, good entertainment, few good laughs. A bit too long in my opinion. Recommended if you want some easy-going entertainment with well-done special effects.

One great comic-book, or maybe a graphic novel would be a better term, I read this month: Neil Gaiman's Endless Nights. Part of the Sandman-series. This is one good example of how 'comic-books' can well be art.

Tomorrow I start my work at Steiner-school again. My work is going to be different from what I did last spring. I am assistant for the main teacher in the class. Then I will be special assistant for one student. I am a bit nervous right now, but also looking forward to it. I am going to work in this class and with this student untill christmass-holiday at least. Wish me luck and send me loving thoughts.

Situation in Middle-East has not been good. Let's hope that the cease-fire that is due to start tomorrow will be as long as possible. Let us send prayers and love there. And if there is a chance to do something more for peace, let's do it.

It is almost midnight now and I am starting early so it is time for me to hit the sack. Better start adjusting my summer sleeping rhytm now.
Keep writing to me. We stay connected!

Much love to you,
Anssi M

Greetings from June06!

2006-07-04T11:03:00.000-07:00

Dear friends,

Hope you are very well! Enjoying your summer in Europe (or North America) or enjoying your winter if you are Australia!

I have had quite a laid-back month. Officially I am a student the whole summer, but I don't have as many courses going on as I have when the autumn or spring-semester is on. I finished approbatur(basic-courses) for psychology. That is cool. For me, the courses were more challenging in that subject than the ones I've done in philosophy so far. This summer I am still doing courses in philosophy and politics.

The weather has been mostly warm during this month. Warm and sunny. And the past few days it has been hot. I enjoy it! It is hard to get focused on the university-work if it is a wonderful weather outside! For the past two weeks I have given myself permission to just relax and be on a holiday.

I've been playing and watching football actively. I play football with an informal group once or twice a week. Most of the people there know each other. The rhytm and quality of the game can sometimes be quite high. It is a good workout to play couple of hours football in summertime.
The championships in Germany are almost finished. Few great games left- in fact, I am leaving this computer soon to watch one, the semifinal match between Germany and Italy.

I spent my Juhannus - the mid-summer celebration- 'the nightless night'( as it is called...because it doesn't get dark at all during this time in Finland )- with my parents and grandmother at our summerhouse in Hankasalmi. We heated up the smoke-sauna and had a big bonfire. It was a beautiful evening. I loved going swimming and I loved the beautiful nature. It was good to spend time with family too.

I attended to few big parties this month. My friend's mum had her 50th birthday during Juhannus-time, they live just a block away from my parent's house. That was a very nice party. And then two friends of mine, Aino and Antti got married. I attended the after-party. That was a great party too. There was a great band playing there. They managed to get us shy finns dancing. Many attendants were musicians themselves. So, later in the evening there was a wild jam-session!

I watched few good movies this month. Documentary about the rapper Tupac Shakur -'Tupac- the resurrection'- I recommend it- and Spieldberg's 'Munchen'.
'Munchen' is about the vengeance that Israel government initiated after the palestinian terrorists had murdered 11 israeli athletes at 1972 Olympic games in Munchen. Munchen deals with a dark topic and it is quite a dark movie. The movie seems pretty realistic to me. When following the events that are now taking place in Gaza & the whole-hostage situation, it seems to me that not much has changed since the seventies. One action is leading to another. It appears that it is almost like a chain-reaction but there has to be a better way than this! This can not be the best we are capable of, not in near-East and not in any other place either where there are conflicts like this. But we also have to realize that when there is a long story of hurt and pain in the history ( on both sides ), the change will probably will not happen easily, many steps need to be taken.

I wish you a great month! Enjoy the sun, enjoy the nature! Keep in touch with me.
Much love to you,
Anssi

Greetings from May 06!

2006-06-11T13:10:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends!

How are you doing? I am very well. The summer is on and the football-championships are on and I am mostly on a holiday!
I received more response last month when I reminded you with an email about the new update. So I am doing that again this month.

My teaching-job is now over. I am grateful that I got that experience. I learned a lot about how to be a teacher and how to construct good lessons for the students. I would not be surprised if I would do similar work one day again. As I have said before, it is tough but rewarding work. My lessons with the 1st class got a bit better in the end too. I was happy about that.

Right after I had finished my lessons it was time to go to movie-school exams in Lahti.
Before that I visited few friends of mine in Röykkä, small place about one hour from Helsinki. One good friend of mine moved to countryside last year and I had not yet visited her there. The place was adorable. And they had a great sauna. It was easy to relax there and feel peaceful. We had delicious barbecue and we watched how Finland gained it's first victory in the Eurovision song-contest. A hardrock band named 'Lordi' did it for us. There was a bit of controversy surrounding the band, for the whole band is dressed as monsters. Their costumes could be taken from some horror-movie. We all cheered for Lordi as the band scored the highest points in eurovision history. Finland has never done well in that contest, so they put up a big celebration in Helsinki afterwards, something like 90,000 people showed up, including the president Halonen.

I was satisfied with my performance in the exam. But, sadly, it was not enough. I was ranked 14th and only 10 people got in. I worked hard for this exam, so I was quite disappointed that I did not get in. Maybe I will try again next year. But if I do, I will also apply to other school. They take so few students in at this school. And maybe some other school likes my style and way of doing this type of work even more.

My drawing-job is almost finished now. I still got one picture to draw, then I can give you a link so you can take a look at the drawings if you like. That job was quite enjoyable too. I could do more of drawing-work too.

I also went to another entrance-exam last Tuesday. It was Politics, Valtio-oppi, at Helsinki University. I did not have very high hopes about it, because I had put lots of energy to those other projects that I just wrote about. The exam was tough. Five hours and six essay-questions to write. It was still good to give it a go. Even if I don't get in, I now know more about how to do well in this subject's exam.

I also held couple of meditation-evenings at Mandala-talo. They all went well. Not a lot of people, but all of the evenings have had a good atmosphere and I think people have got good experiences there. I am not sure yet if I am going to keep organizing them next semester at Mandala-talo. I have to consider it.

I went to see DaVinci Code at the movie theatre this week. It was quite entertaining, but after all that hype, I have to say that I had set my expectations a bit too high. I enjoyed the historical stuff in the movie, I dont' know how much of it is 'strictly historical' though.
Another movie I have watched lately is 'About Schmidt' by Alexander Payne. Jack Nicholson is playing the leading role. It is not a new movie, but I wanted to see it again. I really liked that one. Good actors, good story, good atmosphere.

Now when the WorldChampionships in Germany have started I have been watching lots of soccer. Every day there is at least one good match coming up. I don't know which team is my favourite. Good thing that I don't have too much work-projects on now. This summer I am mostly going to do just University-work. Maybe be a concert-roadie in couple of concerts if I get a chance.

It is so nice that it is summer. Here in Finland you appreciate it a lot. I haven't gone to swimming yet, but next time when I write to you I promise that the situation will be different!

I hope you have a wonderful month! Lots of Joy, Blessings and Peace to You! Let's be in touch!

Lots of Love,
Anssi

Greetings from April 2006!

2006-05-14T13:45:00.000-07:00

Dear friends,

I hope this letter finds you in good health&Spirit! Again, almost one and half months have gone since my last update. Time flies.

Many things happened last month for me. I finished my work to Muotoiluinstituutti- that movie-school. And I also got to know later that I was accepted to the second stage of the exam! Good news! But there is still one-week exam that would need to pass if I'd like to study there. I am going to do my best! It is nice to go there and do some creative work!

I am still working as a teacher. Still one week to go. It has been a good experience so far. I finished the history-classes. Now we are doing a finnish-course with the class six. It is interesting to see how you become more consciouse of your own personality-traits when you are being put in the spotlight so to speak. Little habits, behavioral patterns that I have within myself become kinf of magnified when I am in front of a class. This is very interesting. It is also challenging because sometimes I notice some not so good habit that I got, and that habit or trait has certain effect to the class. Of course I also have many positive traits. I hope that if one would count them there would be more positive traits than negative ones! :-)

I find working with younger children still more challenging than the work with older ones. I've made some progress along the way with the young ones, but there is still lots to learn for me.

I am still working on the drawings for the english department at our university. I am trying to finish them soon now. They will be in the web in June if everything goes as it is planned. I will give you the link then, so you can take a look.

I haven't had much time to look for summer-work as my hands have been full with the projects that I've got. But I think I am going to find something. Maybe I will be a concert roadie again.

I also did couple of courses in University in April. One was ' Yhteiskuntafilosofia' , which was mostly political philosophy or philosophy about the society. Other was 'Politiikan perusteet- kirjaosa' - The basics of Politics. I did not go to lectures, just read the books. I liked both of the courses. The books were mostly quite interesting. In the Politics-course I studied thinkers like Plato, Aristotle, Bacon, Rousseau, Hegel, Marx, Kant, Bakunin etc. Their thoughts about the state and structure of society.

I haven't had time to read much books this month, so I don't have recommendations either. I did take time to watch some good movies.
I went to see movie called 'V is for Vendetta'. The script was made by the same guys who directed The Matrix.
When I first read about the movie I thought that I would not like it. But when my friend said that it is good one, I gave it a try.
The movie is a vision of UK in near-future. It is an Orwellian vision, a dystopia, not a pleasant place. One big theme in the movie is terrorism. Who is a terrorist, how do we define terrorism? Is terrorism ever justified? When does the government become terrorist itself if it suppresses it's people and rules them by fear and illusions? Thesekind of themes are being brought up. It is clearly a kind of fantasy-movie, but still there are many connections to our present reality and our collective history. I am glad I saw the movie. It made me think, but it was also entertaining and had emotional impact for me.

I also wen to an EU-school in Helsinki. There were many speakers who dealt different relevant topics related to EU. I enjoyed the conference. One speaker spoke about EU's relationship to Turkey. One spoke about the history and values of EU and the integration-process within EU. One speaker spoke about the EU-budget, what it consists of at the moment and how will it might look like in the near-future. Those kind of themes. All the speakers were well-informed about their topic I thought.

We have had some very warm days here in mid-Finland. Now it had cooled down a bit, but the trees are green and it is hard to find any snow-patches. I have been eating plenty of ice-cream and enjoying the sun.

I wish you all good month! Let's keep in touch!
Much love to you,
Anssi

Greetings from March 06!

2006-04-02T10:44:00.000-07:00

Dear friends,

I hope you have had a good month. I hope this mail finds you in good spirit and health.

I had a enjoyable month myself. I am still working with the entrance-exam work for the 'movie-school'. It's not really only a movie-school but that's one of the things one can study there. I am quite pleased with my work so far. However, it is hard to quess what sort of work they are exactly looking for. The guidelines and requirements are pretty broad. My goal is of course to get into that school, but at the moment I just concentrate on creating a good body of work to present to them.

I don't have many courses for this spring at University anymore. I am attending Clinical Psychology and Research Methods ( for Psychology). I am also planning to do few courses by myself (without attending to lectures). Politics and Philosophy. By the end of the Spring-semester I am hoping to have finished the basic-courses ( Appro ) in both Philosophy and Psychology.

One big unexpected and interesting thing that happened to me this month was that I received a message from local Steiner-school in where they asked if I could come and teach there for a while. I would be teaching mainly class 6 but also give some lessons for the first class. The job would last until their usual teacher would come back again. But, at the moment I don't really know how long that will be. Perhaps couple of weeks. So, I accepted the offer, despite the fact that I had my hands quite full with the movie-school work. It just seemed like one of those moments where you would later regret that you didn't take up the challenge.

I've been teaching those kids for about a week now. I am teaching history for the class six. The theme is the Middle-Ages. I am concentrating mostly on the events that took place in Europe, but I also get a chance to teach them about Islam, Muhammad and the history of Arabic culture. Next week I am going to talk about vikings and monastery-life among many other things. I am fascinated myself of this subject, this historical period. I was not so passionate about history when I was at the sixth grade myself but now I find it very interesting.

For those of you, who have experience in teaching, especially the ones who have taught at Waldorf/Steiner-school, I am looking for ideas of how to make the lessons as colorful and interesting as possible. So, if you have any tips, I really appreciate it!

For the 1st class I am teaching religion. We have been singing some Christian songs in the beginnign. Then I read them a story and then the kids will draw a picture related to that story. First class is wild. I need to utilize all my energies and skills so that it will be a good lesson for everyone. But I do enjoy it. It is a good experience. After all, I think it is a positive thing that kids have lots of energy and that they are a bit wild.

I watched a very good movie this weekend. A korean movie. In english the title is ' Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring'. 'Viides vuodenaika' is the title in Finnish. The director is Ki-Duk Kim. It could be said that it is a Buddhist film...or that the Buddhist philosophy and way of life play a big part in the film. It is a beautiful film.

Today is was a very beautiful sunny day. Perhaps the first real spring day this year. I took a walk on the ice with my friend Soila. I took nice photos there that I might use for my entrance-work. It is so good to have all the time more and more light here. I liked the winter, but I am also happy that the Spring is coming.

I send you much love dear friends. May this month be a very good month for you.

Love, Anssi

My Movie-list, 100 movies I enjoyed!

2006-03-26T10:49:00.000-08:00

Hello friends,

I love movies and I watch lots of them too. I decided that I want to express my love for movies by writing a 100 GREAT MOVIES-list for this Blog-site. They are not in any specific order. These are just the films that came in to my mind first when I started to make this list. ( I might change this if and when I see new great films. ) I have also included the director of the movie in the brackets. I think the director is one major factor in the making of a great movie. I hope you enjoy it. Here it goes...

1. Amistad ( Director: Steven Spielberg )
2. Schindler's List ( Spielberg ),
3. E.T ( Spielberg )
4. Lord of the Rings , the whole trilogy! ( Peter Jackson )
5. Heavenly Creatures ( Jackson )
6. Star Wars, especially 4th, 5th and 6th episode! ( George Lucas )
7. About Schmidt ( Alexander Payne )
8. Sideways ( Payne )
9. Some Like It Hot ( Billy Wilder )
10. Magnolia ( Paul Thomas Anderson )
11. Punch drunk Love ( Paul Thomas Anderson )
12. Royal Tenenbaums ( Wes Anderson )
13. Rushmore ( Wes Anderson )
14. Shine ( Scott Hicks )
15. Truman Show ( Peter Weir )
16. Being John Malkovich ( Spike Jonze )
17. Adaptation ( Jonze )
18. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ( Michel Gondry )
19. Elephant Man ( David Lynch )
20. Eraserhead ( Lynch )
21. Lost Highway ( Lynch )
22. Mulholland Drive ( Lynch )
23. Blue Velvet ( Lynch )
24. The Matrix ( Andy&Larry Wachowski )
25. Lost In Translation ( Sofia Coppola )
26. Godfather ( Francis Ford Coppola )
27. Paris, Texas ( Wim Wenders )
28. Der Himmel Uber Berlin ( Wenders )
29. Land of Plenty ( Wenders )
30. Million Dollar Baby ( Clint Eastwood )
31. Unforgiven ( Eastwood )
32. Crash ( Paul Haggis )
33. Friday Night Lights ( Peter Berg )
34. Three Colors: Red ( Kieslowski )
35. Three Colors: Blue ( Kieslowski )
36. La Double Vie de Veronique ( Kieslowski )
37. Heaven ( Tom Tykwer )
38. Apocalypse Now ( Francis Ford Coppola )
39. Piano ( Jane Campion )
40. Traffic ( Steven Soderbergh )
41. Ocean's Eleven ( Soderbergh )
42. What's Eating Gilbert Grape? ( Lasse Hallström )
43. Big Fish ( Tim Burton )
44. Edward Scissorhands ( Burton )
45. JFK ( Oliver Stone )
46. The Doors ( Oliver Stone )
47. One flew over the cuckoo's nest ( Milos Forman )
48. Man On the Moon ( Forman )
49. Amadeus ( Forman )
50. Of Mice and Men ( Gary Sinise )
51. 2001- Space Odyssey ( Stanley Kubrick )
52. Dances With Wolves ( Kevin Costner )
53. The Upside of Anger ( Mike Binder )
54. The Fugitive ( Andrew Davis )
55. Gegen Die Wand - Head-On ( Fatih Akin )
56. Amelie ( J-P Jeunet )
57. The Ice Storm ( Ang Lee )
58. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ( Ang Lee )
59. Yi Yi ( 1+2 ) ( Edward Yang )
60. Mies vailla Menneisyyttä - Man without the Past ( Aki Kaurismäki )
61. Kivenpyörittäjän Kylä- The Last Wedding ( Markku Pölönen )
62. Wedding Crashers ( David Dobkin )
63. Dumb&Dumber ( Peter& Bobby Farrelly )
64. Bruce Almighty ( Tom Shadyac )
65. Groundhog Day ( Harold Ramis )
66. Elf ( Jon Favreau )
67. Reality Bites ( Ben Stiller )
68. Philadelphia ( Jonathan Demme )
69. 25th Hour ( Spike Lee )
70. Wonderboys ( Curtis Hanson )
71. The Last temptation of the Christ ( Martin Scorsese )
72. Il Vangelo Secondo Matteo ( Pier Paolo Pasolini )
73. Short Cuts ( Robert Altman )
74. Breaking The Waves ( Lars Von Trier )
75. Festen ( Thomas Vinterberg )
76. Mifune ( Anders Thomas Jensen )
77. Fucking Åmål ( Lukas Moodysson )
78. The Last Emperor ( Bernardo Bertolucci )
79. Forrest Gump ( Robert Zemeckis )
80. Son's Room ( Nanni Moretti )
81. Tierra ( Julio Medem )
82. Sex and Lucia ( Medem )
83. Autumn in New York ( Joan Chen )
84. Good Will Hunting ( Gus Van Sant )
85. Dead Poet's Society ( Peter Weir )
86. 12 Monkeys ( Terry Gilliam )
87. The Usual Suspects ( Bryan Singer )
88. Bagdad Cafe ( Percy Adlon )
89. As Good As It Gets ( James L. Brooks )
90. Four Weddings And a Funeral ( Mike Newell )
91. The Thin Red Line ( Terrence Malick )
92. The Straight Story ( David Lynch )
93. American Beauty ( Sam Mendes )
94. Hotel Rwanda ( Terry George )
95. Blade Runner ( Ridley Scott )
96. The Maltese Falcon ( John Huston )
97. Spirited Away ( Hayao Miyazaki )
98, The Incredibles ( Brad Bird )
99. Finding Nemo ( Andrew Stanton&Lee Unkrich )
100. Rain Man ( Barry Levinson )

There are so many films that I did not mention, maybe I'll get round to it one day! If you don't know what film to get.. the ones I mentioned here are all worth checking out! Of course, this list is being done only according to my taste ;-) !

Greetings February 06!

2006-03-16T07:44:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

how are you doing? Very well I hope. My february-mail is a bit late, because I've been lazy with it :-)
Things are fine in my life and the winter/early Spring is just beautiful here. It is sunny and not very cold anymore. It is very nice to take walks outside, especially on the ice at Jyväsjärvi. Many people are skating and skiing there everyday.

Good things that have taken place since last time I wrote? Well, there was a cool techno-party at Ilokivi nearby. It was called This Is Not Ibiza. Few live-artists and dj's. I enjoy listening and dancing to good electronic-music! Maybe one day I learn to create that kind of music myself too!

I am still doing yoga and meditation regularly. In February there were two Meditation-evenings at Mandalatalo that I lead. Everyone near jyväskylä, you are very welcome to join us there. Previous experience is not essential to attend.
My yoga-practice is getting better. I have learned to not demand so much of myself and that has made the practice more enjoyable. This week I also tried Chi-Kung and enjoyed it very much. In a way, Chi Kung is not so intense and physical as yoga. It is more relaxed and meditative, this is not to say that one could not experience yoga as meditative of course.

There was also a basketball-tournament here at the University in February. The philosophy-department has been not been very victorious in terms of how many matches we've won in sport-competitions. But...this time is was different! We came third! And it was fun. I had not played basketball in a team before. I mean, this was not a pro-level tournament, but it was still very enjoyable to really go for it, to compete in a positive spirit. It was harder than I thought, but the more I played the more I got the hang of it. In the last games I even made a few points for the team.

I also went ice-swimming once last month. Very energizing experience! If you guys who don't live here come and visit me in the winter-time, I might dare you to try!

I completed few courses too. The philosophy of Science, Argumentation and Rhetorics and Psychology of Personality. I found the last one most interesting, although in the Argumentation-course I got to make an interesting presentation. I analyzed President Bush's this year's State of The Union-speech. I did not find many things from the speech that I was not already aware of, but the section that dealt with the energy-issues and oil-politics was quite interesting and even surprising. Check it out if you are interested from White House website for example.

I finished last night a good book. Paulo Coelho's 'Veronica Decides to Die'. It dealt with questions like What is madness? How many of us are really crazy here? What makes us lose our passion and will for Life and what makes us discover it again? I enjoyed that book. Despite the dark themes that it dealt with, I found the heart of that book to be warm and optimistic.

I am now working on the prelimenary-work for the movie-school that I am going to apply to. It's a bit like doing a small portfolio, except that they give you the topics. The topics are challenging but quite interesting. I hope that I am able to create a good body of work to send to them.

I wish you a joyfull and exciting month! I am always glad to hear from you, so email me or find me from messenger or Skype!
Lots of love to you dear friends everywhere,

Anssi

Greetings! January 2006

2006-02-08T12:57:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

I hope you are all well and that this year has started very well for you.
This has been an interesting month for me, I knoe I always say this same thing but it is true. That seems to be how Life is.. it is very interesting and rich!
The year started with a great new-year's party. I made few new year's promises, almost the same promises as last year.

The University didn't start right away , so I managed to have quite a long holiday, which was very nice. My parents were came back from India in early January and brought me a beautiful indian shirt and many stories to tell. With my brother we had been taking care of our family dog, Napoleon, while they were away.

During the holidays I was pondering which subjects I'd like to keep studying at spring-semester. Philosophy will be a natural thing to do, as it is still my major here. I decided to keep going with psychology that I started last fall. I wanted to study some new language, preferably french, but the courses were full, so I ended up choosing some new subject. I decided to try economics. For those who know me this might strike as a surprising choice. However, I have been interested about the "down'to-earth" matters of society and our planet for awhile now and I have wanted to understand why things are the way they are here. This led me to study politics and this is also a major reason why I have now decided to sit in the economics-lectures. We shall see how long I will manage stay there!

In the beginning of January I had a 4-day fasting period, during which I drank only juices. After that I had couple of days where I ate only soup. I had never done a fast for a this long time and I wanted to see how it would be.
My experience was both negative and positive. On the one hand, the fast seemed to make me more weak and irritated, at least in the beginning. But on the other hand, it made me slow down my rhytm. To stop and just sit. Also I did experience more peace and calm during the latter part of the fast-period. And it was great to eat again after that! The food tasted so nice! It was also interesting to notice how much more time I seemed to gain when I did not have to worry about cooking and eating. All in all, I am glad I tried it, but don't expect me to do this every second month! Perhaps I will do it again next January!

During this month we had our presidential elections in Finland. I started from a clear table, I was not sure about the candidate I would support in the beginning. I fluctuated between Tarja Halonen, our current president and the green-candidate, Heidi Hautala. I decided to support Tarja. The election was not settled in the first round as was expected. 'Kokoomus' ( that's the name of the party )- candidate Sauli Niinisto did better than many would've expected. Kokoomus is more of a right-wing party where as Tarja Halonen was the candidate of Social Democrats and the Left-wing party in Finland.
I decided to join Tarja Halonen's election-team. We did campaign-work both in Jyväskylä and Helsinki. It became a very tight election. Niinistö gained many votes when many voters of our prime minister Matti Vanhanen, who also represented a right-wing party ( 'Keskusta'), decided to support Niinistö when their own candidate didn't make it to second round. Vanhanen said that he would support Niinistö.
Despite this, Tarja Halonen did won! The marginal was not big though. Less than four percent. I think this was a good thing for Finland. I think Halonen stands for good things, has done good work and she has good relations to many world-leaders.

I also kept going in January with my meditation and yoga-practice. This brings very good balance to University-life. Meditation and prayer bring peace and insight to my life. Yoga does this too, but in a different way. I find yoga quite challenging.

There was also a big mind-body-spirit-festival, MinäOlen-messut, in Helsinki last weekend. I decided to participate. I like the atmosphere at that festival. There were many interesting lectures there and inspiring musicians! There was an artist called Iasos, who did a concert there. I loved that concert! The music was very peaceful, beautiful and meditative. Iasos had also done some amazing visual-stuff to go with the music.

My good friend Olavi released two albums this month. One with Joona Toivanen Trio ( That's a Blue Note- album by the way!), the album is called 'Frost'. I got it and it's a very good album! The other album is Olavi's own band Oddarrang's debut-album. I recommend both of those albums!

This month I also had an experience that I hopefully won't be repeating: The dentist pulled out all my wisdom-teeth! All four of them! The operations, there were two sessions, went quite smoothly, without any complications that is. I am still recovering from the second session. I wanted them to give me my teeth with me, if they stayed in one piece. They did, so I still have them. Not in my mouth, but still with me.

The weather here in Finland has been mostly cold. There have been some very cold days when the temperature has been reaching -30 at night-time. On the other hand there have been days when it has been close to zero.
I missed last winter because of my aussie-trip, so now I have tried to enjoy it again! So far, I have managed to enjoy it, most of the time.
One just has to dress very warm. And The sunny winter-days are very beautiful!

I wish you all lots of love! I hope you will have a great month! Let's keep in touch! If you have Skype or Messenger, let me know so we can have a chat some day!

Lots of love,
Anssi

Greetings-December2006!

2006-01-03T06:20:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

I decided to try this: Writing my monthly updates&thoughts straight to my blogsite. This might be an easier way and I could also add writing/pictures to this site whenever I feel like it, not just once a month.

Well, first of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR 2006 to everyone! I hope that it will be a great year, full of great experiences, joy, growth, learning, blessings and excitement!

Half of my December was quite busy. There was still some University-work to do, which took most of my time.
Many things took place last December. There was the independence-day of Finland on 6th. The gig of hiphop/electronica-band Ceebrolistics at Lutakko, in Jyväskylä. Ceebrolistics is one of my favourite bands here in Finland. They sing and rap both in Finnish and English.

One course at University that took lots of my time was the one on Cognitive- and Neuropsychology. I spent many days at University-library getting familiar with the course-books. There were so many new terms and concepts to learn for that course.

Another course that I completed in December was 'Ontology and Epistemology' (or 'Metaphysics and Theory of Knowledge'). There were some interesting areas in that course. But parts of the course I found quite dry too, too theoretical perhaps.

After the exams were over I had lots of time for myself. I had planned to write couple of essays in December, but I realized that I needed holiday-time- so I did not worry about the essays.
My parents left to India for Christmas so me and my brother got the job of taking care of the house and the dog of the family, Napoleon. Napoleon turned twelve this Christmas.

We got lots of snow for Christmas. Very white Christmas, It is very nice to do long walks in the woods at this time. The forest has transformed into this white, gorgeous, massive work of nature's art.

Many friends of mine were in Jyväskylä for Christmas, so I did plenty of socializing, which was great. One friend of mine came back from Nicaragua after spending the fall-semester there and the other had had a holiday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

At Christmas-eve, on 24th me and my brother visited our grandma and had a very good Christmas-dinner. In the evening I had another Christmas-celebration at my friend's place, whose parents live naerby my parents. On 25th I went to Christmas-church in the morning. I thought it was seven am but it started eight am, so I sat one hour in the morning waiting for service. No problem. I read many brochures about what churhch is doing nowadays. It was good to sing Christmas-songs there. Atmosphere in the church was warm. Later that day we visited my uncle, who lives near Jyväskylä with his family.

I thought that I would have too much holiday-time, nearly three weeks, but as it often turns out there is not too much holiday time. It just took me awhile to get into a more relaxed holiday-mood. The days before Christmas one tends to worry about the presents, celebration-arrangements etc. I especially like the days after the Christmas-eve, they are very peaceful.

I had very enjoyable new year's eve. First I had an amazing dinner at my friend Olavi's parent's house. Later I went to two different parties. In the latter one we sang karaoke, very loudly. That was very entertaining. And then we watched the fireworks from the balcony as the year 2005 turned into 2006. It was a wonderful and touching way to start a new year, among one's dear friends, watching fireworks and singing good songs. I bet that with a start like that this is going to be a good year for us!

The year 2005 was a great year for me personally. One of the best ones I have lived. The whole Australia-trip that ended in April. Meeting both old and new friends there. One week in Los Angeles. Meeting my friends again in Finland. Spending good time with my family and relatives. Moving back to Jyväskylä and finding work fairly quickly. Doing two gigs with our band Osminen Koppi. Being part of a Art-comic-magazine that was released last spring. The Finnish summer in general. Doing roadie-work in rock-concerts. Finding a good flat in Jyväskylä and a great flatmate. Meeting spiritual teacher Katie Byron, whose work and life has inspired me, in Helsinki.
Starting my studies in University of Jyväskylä. Getting good results from my studies and finding new friends through University. Attending to some interesting lectures. Watching many good movies. Doing many great group-meditations throughout the latter part of the year. Joining my friend Olavi at his gig in Raahe and also travelling with JoonaToivanen-trio in Eastern Finland. Meeting the Christian minister Rob Crickett in Jyväskylä again and having a good chat with him. Many great warm evenings with friends when it was very dark outside.
There are too many things to mention, so I shall leave it here.

I wish you all a great new year, great new month. I hope we all have made good new year's resolutions and have managed to keep the ones we did last year :-)
Lots of blessings to each one of you! Enjoy the winter, if you are in the northern hemisphere, and Enjoy the Summer, if in Sourhern hemisphere!
Much love,
Anssi

Postia Suomeksi ( +Infoa Joulukuun meditaatiosta.)

2005-12-16T05:29:00.000-08:00

Tervehdys kaikille jotka lukevat tätä!

Nimeni on Anssi Moilanen, Lauri Anssi on koko nimi, (mikäli joku ihmettelee tämän blogin osoitetta). Ajattelin, että koska kuitenkin suurin osa ystävistä ja niistä jotka tälle sivulle saapuvat ovat varmaan suomesta niin voisi olla hyvä idea kirjoittaa myös suomeksi. ( Tajusin myös,että tämän blogin kautta voin tiedottaa meditaatioista joita aion pitää tulevaisuudessa.)

Hieman itsestäni ja tästä blogista ( blog= lyhennelmä weblog sanasta= netti-lokikirja, päiväkirja)
Olen 24-vuotias opiskelija. Opiskelen tällä hetkellä Jyväskylän Yliopiston Yhteiskuntatieteellisessä pääaineena filosofia. Ensimmäinen vuosi tässä oppilaitoksessa. Olen kiinnostunut monista asioista. Henkisyydestä, itsensä kehittämisestä, maailman tilanteesta ja sen parantamisesta, musiikista ja lähestulkoon kaikesta luovasta toiminnasta. Harrastan meditaatiota, lukemista, kirjoittamista, elokuvia ja hieman liikuntaa sekä joogaa.

Olen Jyväskylästä kotoisin ja täällä opiskellut kunnes muutin Savonlinnaan, jossa kävin Taidelukion. Vuoden 1999 olin vaihto-oppilaana Australiassa, Melbournessa. Sen jälkeen kun valmistuin ylioppilaaksi vuonna 2001, muutin Helsinkiin jossa suoritin opintoja Snellman-Korkeakoulussa, Steinerpadagogisessa opettajankoulutus-ohjelmassa. Välissä kävin myös siviilipalveluksen Lahdessa. Viime syksynä 2004 palasin Australiaan, jossa suoritin opintoja opettajan-apulaisena paikallisessa peruskoulussa Mt.Barkerissa Etelä-Australiassa. Harjoittelun jälkeen tutkin Australiaa lisää. Palasin Suomeen keväällä 2005.

( Tiedote: Siis seuraava meditaatio on 22.12 Torstaina Mandala-talon hoitohuoneessa, klo 18-20. Te, jotka olette täällä Jyväskylän alueella silloin tulkaa mukaan! Kyseessä on Ylösnousemus-meditaatio. Luvassa on henkistä työskentelyä Sielumme, henkisten energioiden ja Henkisten Opettajien kanssa. Opetusosuudessa käsittelemme Joshua David Stonen kirjoituksia Jeesuksesta ja Kristuksen merkityksestä otsikolla 'Sisäinen ja ulkoinen Kristus'. Luvassa on oikein hyvä meditaatio sekä hyvin kiinnostavaa tietoa. Tervetuloa! Namaste! )

Some directions for this blog.

2005-12-05T10:11:00.000-08:00

Now when I have spread the word a bit about this site to my friends, I think I ought to write some more, so that you will have something to read.

I was going through some other blogs just to see whatkind of blogs people are doing here. ( One very popular blog is called 'Where is Raed?' I think that's the name. That is a very interesting blog. You can also find it if you just put 'Baghdad blog' as the serch-word in the Google. The writer lives in Baghdad and in that blog he has written about his experiences during the time when the coalition-forces came into the country and the Saddam's regime was being thrown out.)

I think in this blog I would like discuss about all the events that I see happening in the world and also about the events that happen in my life. I would like to discuss about what life is all about, where have come from, who are we and where are we going? All the big questions. But still integrate it to the events in our everyday-life. This could be both a philosophical blog and an experiental blog. A real Life-experiences but also intense thinking about and within Life. Not only would I like to contemplate about nature and experience of life, but I would like to be actively creating truthful but positive views about life and to be actively creating a fulfilling, creative, Light-filled collective experience of Life. This blog would be one one small part of that huge process.

Some basic thoughts about Life. I am convinced that Life is not merely a chance-occurrence.
What i mean by this is that I am convinced that Life and Consciousness is not just a side-product of random happenings in a material-universe. Life is much more than that. Life is the same thing as God! Life is Conscious. It is one, essentially undivided, Being, that is beyond all classifications. We are Life. I could say that we are part of it, but because I view Life as being undivided whole, we are not 'just' parts of it. We are Life itself. The stuff of Life.
In that sense, we are already united with God.

How have I come to view life in this way? My views have developed over the time, as has my experience of Life.
Many teachers and thinkers and life-experiences have had a big effect on this development.
One thinker whose writings have had a big influence on me has been Neale Donald Walsch. He is the author of the book-series 'Conversations With God'. I recommend his books to everyone. In those books he articulates a new view of Life/God, and a new Spirituality. I find his thoughts to be very liberating and I have found lots of wisdom from his writings.
There are many thinkers/teachers whose Life and teachings have had a big influence on me, these include Jesus, Buddha, Mother Amma for example. The ones I mentioned there are well-known Spiritual Teachers but I have been very influenced by many other type of teachers too, like artists or social commentators. And of course by the people who have been in my life, people who have lived around me, people with whom I have spent time and shared experiences. All that has been shaping the view and experience that I have about Life right now, all that has lead to this moment.

Launching my blogspot...

2005-11-19T02:38:00.000-08:00

Namaste!

Hello everyone who is now reading my new blog! Welcome to this journal! I haven't yet decided whatsort of blog this will be, but I think I shall find it out as I keep writing. Probably some of you who read this know me personally and some do not. I don't know how much people browse through blogs of whose writer they don't know personally. Anyway, welcome whoever you are!

I quess because this blog is available to everyone in the web it will be slightly different from my monthly emails that I also send to my friends.
This whole blog-phenomenon is still quite new to me. I just found out about this site today. I decided to try it out right away. We'll see how this works. I think blogs are a cool idea!

I am not going to write long this time, because it is pretty late, but I tell you few things about myself. I am a male-student, 24 years old, living in Finland. My main-interest in Life is Life itself. Path of Spiritual Growth or God-Realization are good ways to describe what I think/feel/experience to be the purpose of my life. Within this large context I have lots of interests: relationships...be it to other people, to animals or to nature, then there is the worldsituation, current politics, religion, music, movies, art, different God and Self-realization techniques like meditation for example, and the list goes on. You get the picture, I have many interests. I love a good conversation. But what I love even more in life is this feeling of unity, experience of unity that we sometimes have with each other. Maybe it is there all the time, this underlying unity of Life, but we are just not that conscious of it?! I feel that that is how it is.

bye for now, Big Blessings,
LauriAnssi