Giedre tyttö Leijonakaupungista

Consuming and consuming arts

Yesterday I went to Takashimaya shopping center for lunch and was completely amazed with the magnificence of it all. I can not really comprehend how much money is circulating around everyday in Leijonakaupunki - crowds, thousands of people wholeheartedly consuming any time fo the day, any place on the island! Takashimaya conveys so beautifully the essence of it all - the greatness, the pleasure, the overwhelming grandeur of money. It is a temple of consumption and its full of devoted worhipers... wow...

One more feeding picture, just because we eat so often... And it is really an event in itself.. :) The most difficult part is to choose what you want... Because just everything is available. I saw ads for some investment firm - a crowd of people in suits and only one thing in their minds - "lunch", and there's one, who things differently - he thinks about money and benefits for the client. He's from that particular investment firm. I think you can really understand this ad only after spending some time in Leijonakaupunki... Lunch and food is holy... I read somewhere that when the taxi drivers don't stop and show some signal, like imitating eating, it means that they haven't had lunch and are just driving to some feeding place. So you have to understand and excuse them.. It is a serious matter!

Today I also made a pilgrimage trip to some multimedia arts exibition and arts museum. The museum itself is a really cool old colonial building, very beautifully renovated. Most of the old Leijonakaupunki has that kind of terrace houses. The great colonizer Raffles had an idea that you should be able to walk all across the town without having to step out into the sun. Great idea! Although most of the time the passageways are crammed with stuff from the shops, it still works somehow. Living in Leijonakaupunki you don't risk too much developing a proper suntan...

There wasn't much of arts in the museum, some paintings and few sculptures, nothing too impressive, but just hanging out in that environment I think I start breathing differently. It is so peaceful and you have time to think and look at things, see what kind of feelings and ideas you get. Its great!

Some things from the papers after a debate about maternity leave benefits - somebody asked why unwed single mothers do not get full benefits. The minister said: "the state can not become a surogate father. We can not give the impression that we support that kind of family. That would be a wrong message to the society. We strongly believe that a child is happier in a nuclear family. We have to understand that there's a break in the relationship. It is different from widows and divorced mothers.. In their case becoming a single mother doesn't happen because of their fault." More or less in these words. Jesus Crist! What kind of thinking! What a country! I always thought that single mothers are the most vulnerable members of the society, aparently not here.. Aparently they are single because of their fault! Next thing I'm going to find out about abortion legislation here and the statistics...

Posted by gkligyte at September 24, 2004 09:03 PM