This is really inventive use of Norwegian language. It is probably of no interest at all to you if you do not know Norwegian, but wow, I was pretty impressed with how all of this added up and made sense in the end.

(These were made as a wall sticker set a couple of years ago, I thought they would look nice in a big white room with minimal furniture.)

1. Wikipedia’s article about sushi. This is a really nice article about sushi and sashimi. A lot of people think that sushi is the same as raw fish, but in fact sushi is the rice, and not the fish. This article about sushi is good reading if you want to know more about different kinds of sushi.
2. The Beauty Of Typography: Writing Systems And Calligraphy Of The World. This is a Smashing Magazine article about different exotic writing systems, mainly focusing on Eastern Asian Languages and Arabic writing systems. I learned a lot about how Arabic is written from this article, and the illustrations are beautiful. It almost made me want to learn Arabic, just to draw those beautiful letters.
3. Kari Bremnes lyrics. Kari Bremnes is my all time favorite artist. A lot of people just quote “Åpen Post” (Norwegian TV show that made a joke about her name) or mistake her for other people (why do people think she is Lynni Treekrem, there is nothing similar about them apart from having a northern dialect). If you have actually listened to any of her songs, you will find a beautiful melancholic and poetic voice. She is absolutely wonderful, and I found out that there is a part of her web page which has lyrics for most of her albums, and it made me so happy. I have been humming to myself all day, even if I can not sing, because her words are so beautiful.
4. Sinhala script. God, it looks beautiful. I first saw it in a bible in a hotel room in Yokohama last summer, and I wanted to find out more about it, so I found some beautiful examples doing a google image search.
5. Lang-8.com. Regarding language studies, lang-8 is absolutely awesome. You write a diary entry in whatever language you are studying, mark what language it is (by choosing from a drop down list), and then native people will correct your diary entry for you. In return, you can correct journal entries written in your naive language. I have found a lot of cool people learning Norwegian and English, and there have been so many kind people correcting my Japanese on this site. No matter what language you are studying, this web page is a great resource.

How cute, a confetti bow from Hello Sandwich!

There is a strange dissonance in the air these days, this week, I feel removed, or simply… not quite here. I am observing it all from the outside, looking in, my life projected onto a screen, I have popcorn and wine and I am silently watching it all from the sideline. It has been a strange week. A woman down the street was screaming on Monday, glass was shattered – it is so unlike Tokyo. I got sick on Tuesday, I still felt sick of Wednesday, skipped classes, spent hours in bed waiting to feel better. Thursday came along, I spent four hours reading Japanese news articles and little tidbits, but the Japanese text just looked like little squiggles on the paper, a code, I could not decipher it. Friday is here, I am staring at the piles and piles of homework, my tests are coming up next week, the piles, they keep growing, and instead of treating said piles as weed and remove them, it is almost like I am nurturing them, like a plant or a small animal, I see it grow, and I do nothing about it. I simply observe, I do not act.

I have wondered a lot about time and space lately, what do those words really mean? We categorize time into hours and days and months and years, we compare events to each other by looking at the span of time in between them. Maybe time is like a movie reel – all the frames are there at all times, but we see them chronologically, one at the time, maybe it is just our way or organizing chaos into order in our heads.

I hope things will return to normalcy soon, I feel so floaty and detached.

I wish I had a Hasselblad, if I had a lot of time and money I would buy one. These were some random shots taken with a digital camera through the viewfinder of a Hasselblad.

I found out a couple of years back that people are making pocket shrines, but I wasn’t quite sure of what it was. I did a quick google search, and I found all of these whimsical, glittery shrines small enough to fit in your pocket, so I made quite a few of them myself as well. As with most other things I make, I thought they were more fun to make and not so fun to keep around after I was done.

A couple of years ago I decided to use a different kind of portfolio for a while, so I got a first aid box, and I mounted all the prints on foam board, and had them as little charts inside the box. I was pretty happy with the result, but I think that if I am going to make a new portfolio again, I want to try a different idea. I thought about making my next portfolio like a family photo album or a cabinet of curiosities, but it is a hard line between making something just because it is fun and it is a hobby, and making something you can show clients and employers. If you have seen any creative portfolios around, I would love to see them. I am not planning on making a new one any time soon, but I really want to stock up on ideas for later.