Just stopping by to tell you

I will no longer be updating this blog. Might start another one, though. But not now. I’ll let you know when and if such a feat happens. In the meanwhile you can reach me via GMail (vuokko dot aro) , Facebook (Vuokko Aro), Delicious (VXX5plus), Jaiku (vuketsu) or Twitter (vuokko). Thanks. High five!

People who aren’t as friendly as you’d think they’d be

Saw this sort of thing done in a magazine somewhere. The title pretty much sums it up, so this is my list of people who aren’t as nice as you would think they’d be. No offence to anyone in particular, and please don’t take it too seriously. Enough said. So here goes:

- off-duty cops

- hippies

- guidance counselors

- pastry chefs

- God

- nurses

- the gays

- radio show hosts

- other hosts

- clowns

- grown-up men named Ricky/ Riku etc

- owners of mom-and-pop style little shops

- Grandmas.

That’s it for now. Who’s on your list?

Hammer Time ain’t over!

Daaamn. Looks like MC Hammer found a way to get over the mountain of debt, or whatever his financial troubles were. He’s got a new tech start-up called DanceJam and… Surprise! It looks promising.

The site isn’t really up yet, but there’s a couple of Aunt Jackie videos etc. to give you a taste. And where did I read about this? MC Hammer’s blog, of course.

I’m ashamed about getting all excited about Hammer, but I guess it drops in the same category of Instant Retro as VHS cassettes. VHS has been getting a lot of love lately, especially from the upcoming Mos Def / Jack Black movie “Be Kind Rewind”. Yey!

Watch the trailer.

wishlist part 2

Wow. I started work as a Communications Consultant and now I don’t have time to write my own stuff. Ergo… This is going to be short.

Found this super-sleek instrument on Kanye’s blog. Want me one of those to play with. Boom-boom-chi-boom-boom-boom-chi. Check it out:

the jesse james flick is goood. blurbs not so much.

Bumped into the worst blurbs of 2007 as picked out by Gelf Magazine. You know, the annoying and overly-entusiastic texts you find on movie posters and dvd boxes. You can find the worst of last year’s batch… here.

My favorite one is about the newest Die Hard movie. Jack Mathews of the New York Daily News writes: “Hysterically overproduced and surprisingly entertaining”. The blurb says: “Hysterically entertaining”. Nice.

But it’s not like anyone ever trusted a blurb, right? Makes me think. It wouldn’t necessarily have to be this way. Blurbs could actully help people pick out movies.

Moving on to a brighter subject: I treated myself to a movie today and checked out “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”. The mood and the costumes in the film were awesome, and I think I got a little crush on the very sleek actor Paul Schneider.

Other than that, the movie was dark and creaky and slow and moody, and it left me pretty much speechless as I walked out of the theater. Also made me think about my own reasons for attempting greatness.

staying ahead of the competition (with a 50€ sticker)

What’s the value of a sticker? Tens of euros, apparently. I finally found and bought a New York Mets cap of the right size yesterday, and I noticed something funny: New Era caps used to stand out because of the round sticker on the lid. It’s been over a year since I bought my last cap, but I’m pretty sure there was just the one sticker the last time I got one. So what did I find yesterday? You guessed it… a second sticker.

Why? Well, I found out that most of the bootleg caps out there have copied the original, and now they too have a round sticker with the size number and the “59Fifty” written on it. Because of this the real New Era has replied by slapping another “this is authentic, original, etc.” badge on top of the famous round sticker. Take that!

I guess what this boils down to is that the second piece of sticky plastic is the reason why New Era can charge 50 euros for a baseball cap. And why others can’t.

ps. I know you’re supposed to leave the round sticker on the hat when you wear it. But what about the new one? What’s the proper way to go?

too many moguls

I just finished reading Chris Rock’s interview in the 40th anniversary issue of Rolling Stone, and I was really impressed with his thoughts. I especially agree with him on the fact that hiphop is in such a sorry state because every rapper wants to be a businessman and a mogul.

I love Diddy as much as the next girl, but the fact is that quality of music suffers if the artist is dividing his efforts between the new hit record, a clothing line, and maybe a signature fragrance etc. I mean, how good would James Brown’s albums have been if he had also been designing items for a lingerie line?

Not everyone can be a businessman. And I’m not dissing. It’s not like this works the other way around, either. I don’t know about you, but I’m not necessarily waiting for Warren Buffett’s new CD to hit the stores, if you know what I mean.

bon temps

Here’s a tiny list of things I want to do this year:

- go island-hopping on a sail boat, hopefully in Greece

- cut a plastic skull out of an old cassette tape

- eat salmiakki during a thunder strom

- wait, watch, and pounce

- put tons of more words together

And… here are some hott things I’ve already enjoyed during the first 6 days of ‘08:

- attended Aleksi’s ninja workshops (parts 1 & 2) at Ruka

- smoked a nice Cuban at Rafla

- decided not to smoke any more cigars until next summer

- checked out Tuukka Kaila’s photography at Myymälä2

- played soccer with nephews. Children grow up quickly, at least when compared to trees.

- watched Cassandra’s Dream by Woody Allen

- finished reading The New New Journalism

- cheered for ToPo’s basketball team. Scottie Pippen helped them open up a can of whoop-ass when they played against Honka on Saturday.

And last but not least:

- drooled over the Nike 2015 sneakers and hoverboard from Back to the Future II

hello new addiction

With 20 monkeys standing in front, sometimes it’s hard to see who the real guerrilla is. So here’s an attempt.