I was recently highlighted in an article by a local news magazine Hämeen sanomat with an article "Global citizen returns home". You can find the full article here.
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I just came home from UATF, which was awesome! Thanks Säde for organizing! I presented there the following, which can be a help for aspiring artists. Please enjoy my presentation "Create and Sell Your Art in Internet". I hope it helps you.
Just a quick post to note that I begun using slideshare. A pretty nice way to share your content in a user friendly way. Easy, fresh and professional. This way I can..
Hi All. I am now running in the last meters of doing the post production for my first short film ever! And as such I am now offering you the chance to see the film as the first ones. Please check out the Kickstarter project and get your links to see the film.
It is a short story of an international Japanese contract killer doing a job in Detroit, USA. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/708308505/my-name-is-sapporo I have been now using my new web pages for some 1,5 years and been really happy about it. Previously I maintained my pages with self built (using Dreamweaver) html pages. A lot of my time was used to fix the small details and not being able to focus on the real thing - the content. Then I made the decision to move to a web content management system. I can't emphasize enough what difference this has made.
Although there are numerous available, e.g. Yola, Website, Jimdo just to name a few, I chose Weebly after reading some reviews since I was assured that it was the best option. And still think it is, even I have to admit I haven't been there too much scouting other options. One thing to say, is that if you want to build a professional web pages for your business, artist pages, for your professional project, you need to invest a little. Although, you can try any of the free options and see how they feel, you will soon get to know that they are missing some key features and that you are lacking control in some important areas. And, it's not expensive. You spend something like 100USD annually (what I pay for www.henriyoki.com) and you get all the control you need with easy tools to build it all as fast as you want. In addition, you don't need to be a IT nerd to get around Weebly back-end interface, the place where you do all the work building and maintaining your pages. To get a glimpse google some "Weebly tutorials", or see their Beginner's Guide to Weebly for a taste how it looks. Super easy. So, if you list the things you want for your own web pages CMS (Content Management System)
I hope this helps you if you are thinking to build a site. I would definitely recommend Weebly! =) In short, yes - yes there is. Though, please note that this article doesn't discuss the regular 75Mb upload limit per file that Society6 clearly states in their file prep instructions, rather this is about their limitation that prohibits uploading too many images within a certain timeline.
I originally noted this in my "Society6 Set Up and Promotion Strategy" - article, but I thought to write a small one just on this. I'm sure that I haven't been the first wondering this. In February 2014 when I discovered this, the limit was approximately 20 images within 2 hours. If you would try to post more in one session Society6 would just give you an error "This page is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later." I'm not sure why they haven't described this in their pages, I can only guess. Maybe because they want to keep modifying this and having it written somewhere would just be too much maintenance. Anyhow, artists uploading more than 20 images at one go should be rare, because not too many artist have that daily output in their production. Exceptions are like me, who wanted to upload the whole inventory at once there. Alright so just be aware of this. If you hit message take a break and continue some 2 hours later. It should reset after a while. If the upload limits has changed, please comment this blog so we'll get the latest news on this! =) Thanks for reading, I hope this has been a help to you. I originally investigated this a year ago and was first disappointed how complicated IMDb's process to create a new film title was (Adding a new IMBb title). It seemed daunting. Giving big thanks to Ben Taylor, on writing a similar article, I revisited the IMDb submission and this time found out that there was a nice short cut to it! A submission to a film festival! Wow, sounds good.
IMBb listing and the experience to submit your own film to a real film festival for the first time is exciting, at lest for me. Having your own work in IMDb increases your credibility as an film maker, and enables you to get reviews and ratings. Which are great to have. In addition, doing a festival submission raises your own bar. You wouldn't just do a submission to get the IMDb title, but would need to have enough trust in your work to display it for review. In my opinion, even it's my first short film ever, and I have still lots to learn, it's worthwhile to do all these steps as they prepare me as a filmmaker for the future projects.
That's it! Today is my 34th birthday, so I'm dedicating this for the benefit of all filmmakers, current and aspiring ones. May this humble piece of advice bring many good things to as many possible creators as possible. I wish you best of luck in submitting, getting festival screenings, and to good ratings! =) Introduction
Here’s brief tips based on my personal experience having now, in the time of writing this, been an active practitioner and student of meditation techniques for little under a year. I sincerely hope that this writing can offer some humble advice and benefit to you, perhaps, who is trying out meditation the first time or doing an introduction to the topic. =) These tips are based on the book “How to Meditate” by Kathleen McDonald. The book first appeared in 1984 and now is in its second edition. There have been 17 prints and it has been translated to nine languages. Having studied this best seller myself, I can assert to the fact that it is a valuable source for a beginner. It delivers what it promises: “… a bridge into the art of meditation taught by Buddha and developed in Asia for the last 2500 years.” To begin, in my opinion, having started to meditate is one of the most rewarding, fascinating, and interesting things I have done so far in my life. For me, at least I feel now so, it has surpassed the experiences of summiting three big mountains, competing a full distance Ironman, and in wisdom aspect to some degree my three master’s degrees. Though, I feel sad I haven’t begun this 20 years ago, nevertheless I fell privileged and lucky to have found these techniques now. Given this, I will most probably continue with the practice the rest of my life. Reading tips Note: Part 1, 2, etc. refer to the “How to Mediate” book chapters. Very essential: Part 1 – Mind and Meditation Meditation, in short, is “Subduing the mind and bringing it to the right understanding of reality…”. This is a big thing. Not something that you can glance through from an evening newspaper and then cast off to recycling. This can have real and foundational impact and changes within you. I addition, the benefits are great. First of all, you become more aware of your thoughts, speech, and behavior. You can then go and monitor and evaluate yourself better. What you like and what you don’t. You begin to control yourself more and better. Adjust and change your negative behavior patterns towards yourself and others. Though, in all honesty, the practice you can go in waves. Sometimes you feel better than ever. Full of energy, mind clear and bright, and you might not get angry so easily than before. Many small benefits can arise even in the beginning, for sure. But sometimes, you just keep noticing a ton of negativities and things you don’t want in your mind nor in your behavior. You get to see yourself better. What you see, sometimes, is not what you like. But I like to think, it’s good to have the mirror of meditation there. At least I want to see my personal little monsters there so I can work to remove them. It’s a gradual process. Very essential: Part 2 – Establishing a Meditation Practice The basics. Get these right! Clear that confusion about the actual practice. It’s not something mysterious where you go and space out to another reality. No, it’s about very practical things. A good comparison is likening the practice to training in sports. If you want to run a marathon, while currently being a TV sofa potato, you cannot just put the sneakers on and run it. The sofa potato could die on a heart attack! You need to train first. Go to do little walking first. Then jogging. Then run weekly sessions, while increasing the number of weekly training days and running distances as you train. You need to train yourself in correct running position, right drinking, right eating, know your body and how to take care of it, so many things. Then when you are running around 50 km (30 miles) per week without too much of discomfort you could be ready to take on a full distance marathon. Same here. First study the basics: posture, correct environment, the structure of the session, the importance of having a regular practice, some general obstacles, and ways counteracting the obstacles. Don’t try to get cheap wins, but take rather a long-term approach. Agree with yourself to do a schedule and follow it for a while: A month, three months, or a year even. And then evaluate what you have learned. It’s more probable to see signs of progress with longer time periods. Very essential: Part 3 – Meditations on the Mind By this time you’ll know the two main types of meditation techniques and can tell their difference. Here, I recommend spending some time with the breathing meditation (p.37) to get a general feeling and experience of meditation. Do several sittings 3 to 5 at least to get some familiarity on the practice. Once, you have some stability proceed with the following ones (p. 42 and p.45). Especially the meditation on continuity of mind is interesting. See how far back you can map your thoughts. Can you find an absolute beginning that you are sure of? This can be a great exploration into your self! =) Very essential: Part 4 – Analytical Meditations After gaining some foundations to build on, it will be interesting to proceed to the contemplative meditations. With these you can find new ways of thinking, develop your positive sides and equally work on the negative aspects of your mind. I’ll do below bullets on some of my favorite ones, in my order of preference
Best method is to practice one meditation at a time. So, do not jump all over the place. Do a period focusing on one type about 3 to 5 sitting sessions, again to build up familiarity. Try neither to have any expectations nor to judge yourself. Just do it and observe your thoughts. That’s enough. Optional: Part 5 and 6 – Visualizations, Prayers, and Other Devotional Practices These dig now more into the devotional side. But if your interest has peaked during the earlier part of the book, I would recommend finalizing the whole book. Especially the mediations on purification, the simple one (p. 148) and the Vajrasattva purification (p.219) are really worthwhile doing several times, even taking the as regular practice! You really feel better after these. Best is to end the day with a purification, so you get a good nights of sleep! Conclusion Practicing meditation can be a wonderful thing in so many ways. Therefore, from the bottom of my heart I wish you all the best in your endeavor. I hope you will have the enthusiasm and energy to study and practice further. The fruits that you will be able to harvest will be great for you and those around you. Thank you. I was just the target of a Paypal scam - here's the short story. You can help me, if you want. =)
I was selling my Xbox set in a Finnish web-auction site when I was contacted by this Kaja Donald that she(?) wanted to buy the set from me. I accepted. I then immediately got back a (really good looking from "[email protected]" <[email protected]>) fake Paypal email telling I need to ship the products and send Paypal the tracking code. I did this, paid 43€ post fees to ship it to Italy, only to get more (fake Paypal) emails that I need to send 300€+ to western union so I can get the original money that I can get the money that I was going to get in the first place. Same time I was discussing the shipment via email with this person. So, this gave me the alarm bells ringing. I sent the fake email to Paypal and got from them that they never ask any tracking codes, nor wester union transactions. Yep. International deals are ok, but I did here the basic mistake that I sent the goods prior payment. All in all I lost that shipping fee plus 125€ of value of the set (I had a new buyer 2 days after shipment), and 2-3 hour working on this. Disclaimer here: Paypal is not to blame at all. My fault completely. If I would have monitored the transaction only from my account and not trust these emails, I would have not been scammed here.. I don't feel anger toward this person and would like no other to feel such. Instead, if you want to help, in my opinion, what would make the best contribution is that if you want to send a plea to this fellow to stop the scams and find a decent work to earn money. I just send mine as of 14.19 on 30.11.2014 Finland time and didn't get a bounce, so at least the recipient email works still. So, if you feel like it send a email to him/her: ----------------------------------------------------- To: [email protected] Subject: Henri's scam - Please stop hurting others Body: "Henri suggested I send you a plea to stop running scams and hurting other people. He is right. This has many negative effect to you and to other people. Please stop and find a decent was of life" --add your text, if you want (but please be polite) Yours sincerely, Your name here ----------------------------------------------------- Please reply to this FB thread if you do send the email. Maybe we get here some positive fun while doing this! =) Everybody can join this, I don't mind. It's a little better world if we plea this fellow thoroughly for not scamming others. Not ever again! =) Thanks. And happy Sunday all With a recent experience in uploading my whole catalogue (300+ images) in Society6 and kicking off with my promotion, I feel I have some insights to share tips how to do this well.
Hi Everybody! Here's a few lines to summarize my year. Also, I wanted to send you my best wishes along with some heads up what to expect. Lot's happened and more to come! =)
So, I spearheaded the Detroit Demon sauna project, made in total 6 new songs while going several levels up in my music production, I published my first book, I totally redid my web pages, I did a hell of a job with my first Kickstarter project, I changed my name officially to Henri Yoki (Former Henri Jokinen), I got to hang out in Detroit Art scene while doing a residency and having my first solo Art show at North End Studios, I did performances in New York, Detroit, and Las Vegas, I made a ton of new friends, hang out in cool places with inspiring people, and became a father. Also I got a pretty awesome experience living and working in the USA in an electronic medical records implementation project, but that's another story =) One thing I'd like to let you know and give a sneak peak, is my current short film project "My Name is Sapporo". It's an fantasy action documentary set in Detroit. A Japanese assassin comes to do a hit with a quite the unexpected ending. Please see the link to the trailer below. The full film will be out in 2014, exact date to be announced. My Name is Saporo (2014) - Trailer with English subtitles http://vimeo.com/henriyoki/mynameissapporotrailer Have the best year 2014 and thank you for your support! =) Yours sincerely, Henri It's stolen. Simple as that. I heard of this now more than a week ago, but I had to go and see it my self. It's true. It's not there anymore. I felt sad. So huge work and so many was people involved making it happen. Now it's gone...  Doors busted, ripped off from the joints. Stones thrown around the place. Buckets and the hose missing. What a hollow place. I felt so sad to be there. All that work..
Hi All,
Here's the new pages. I'm pretty exited as these seem to be pretty cool to maintain. Thus, I can focus more on doing the content than using my time with hassling code in Dreamweaver =). I have used Weebly to create these and am pretty happy how things have turned out. I'm doing everything here my self and would argue it doesn't need too much skills. I would recommend using this platform to nearly anyone basically. Stay tuned, lots to come!! Br, Henri Ps. I've migrated the two old articles here what I have written in other platforms Can you imagine living a life, as a human, together with a one hundred million intelligent aliens right here on Earth? Peace and harmony and everything. How cool would that be? It certainly would raise multicultural issues to a far higher level.
Ray Kurzweil discusses in his inspiring book "The Singularity Is Near" the possibility of upgrading our own intelligence. Literally from humans to superhuman. In fact, he states it as the natural continuum of the billion year exponential development from the big bang where it all started. Computers and IT are already deeply integrated into our society and we have the first virtual reality application, the mobile phone, in daily use. Next with the help of nano- and biotechnology we will begin to push the human intellectual power to new levels. Kurzweil bases his analysis on solid facts. From my background as an engineer I can not help but to agree. It will be very interesting times ahead of us. And, the accelerating development is all seen around us already so visible. Therefore, I could not help but to wonder what all we could do with this new technology. And, being the animal lover I am, I begun to think a world of utter multiculturalism, a world where every animal could have as high intelligence as we or even higher. Why only limit the intelligence upgrade to humans? As Kurzweil postulates it is the choosing of the individual that will eventually determinate individual entity's intellectual level. If one chooses to stay as such and not to "upgrade", it'll be like being a pet to a higher intelligence. What a lovely destiny. Being the pet to your own super dog. Very funny, at least. Personally, I would love the chance to have a nice chat with my cats, or with dolphins in the sea, or even with my girlfriend's Chinese fire lizards. Though, I am not too sure about king cobra nor spiders. But curious still, I have to admit. Further, imagine what huge innovation potential would this introduce to us. I have now idea how many new inventions these aliens could contribute to our society. But sure I expect it would significantly upgrade our creativity. Think for example how good mathematicians ants could be? Or how beautiful music could some of the birds compose? And more, would then humanity compromise of all the intellect we have, would these aliens become a part of the humanity? Of course these are pretty wild ideas. But then again so is the trend of accelerating development and where it is taking us. On the basis of Kurzweil's projections this all is possible during our life time. So what can we do? Buckle up Dorothy, because Kansas is going bye bye. By reading the book by Greg Gianforte, "Bootstrapping Your Business: Start and Grow a Successful Company with Almost No Money", I made myself wonder why there was not more this bootstrapping-thinking around? Given the majority of the entrepreneurial artists, and would-be ones, in the world today have only little or zero capital, it would seem essential to teach everybody to create companies by only what they have. You do not need capital to start, it is a fact. Instead, here's more useful concepts to get you further.
Learn everything of your focus field (industry) By sitting the International Leadership Management classes in Aalto University, in Helsinki a few years back, I had the privilege to listen Rabbe Grönblom's, a leading and very successful entrepreneur from Finland, lecture on entrepreneurship. I still remember him saying that it is crucial to learn everything of your target industry. A concept easilly applied to the creative space, Basically, you create value by first understanding the industry problems and then solving them. You can not solve anything, if you do not understand the key problems. Thus, to fit this in your case, think what is your industry and then take a deep dive in to it. Learn what your customer wants and SELL Yep. It's not a bad word. The more you sell, the more time you have for creating your work. Despite this can be regarded obvious, in art scene it is too often neglected. As it is known, the best money comes from the customer. And, you do not need to wait for this. A clever entrepreneurial artist will contact the customer with a pilot value-proposal, and tests if this is what is really wanted. Then a quick adaption on the basis of the feedback, perhaps adding or strippingitems , and the offering is ready for cash making. This simply means that you ask a deposit, say 50% of the end value, and then get this money and use it to develop the first product/service. Then, get the rest on a successful delivery. By this you engage the customer and build stronger relationships. However, essentially in the center of all this is that YOU GET THE MONEY before you deliver. A good venue for this is Kickstarter. Create and test your business models As an artist you have your limited resources, namely time and money. So, when you play with big stakes, you want to be sure you will succeed. Therefore, do not fly blind. With today's web tools it is rather inexpensive to test different value proposals cheaply and quickly. You can build very small and simple websites, use web surveys, create blogs, tweet, create emailing lists, or Facebook groups, etc. Rather, it comes down to the idea, and then thinking what would work best for you to learn more. For example, if you want to test the market for a book title, just go ahead and use GoogleAdwords to try which titles get the most hits. Thus, you'll know what title will get you those sales. Start today What are you waiting? Today is as good day as it is tomorrow. Too often, I hear people saying this and that and making plans of doing something in the future. Honestly, I think this is just bollocks. The sooner you start the better. In fact, from the perspective of money's time value, it always is better to begin sooner than later, because the value you create will itself grow interest. And, when building sales, it all starts small, and takes time to grow. This year amount of x in sales, next year 2x, third 3x, and so on. It is very hard to jump to 3x in the first year. Dream big, but be a realist, it all takes time. Therefore, begin today. You owe that to the fan that you don't know you already have! =) Conclusion The World of art is changing with a pace faster than ever before. We are increasingly getting more tools and means of creating value and otriginal works. To be on top of all this progress and be able to take the full benefit, one needs a network of friends and colleagues. They will together act as a premium source of tips and insights. With this network in place one can surf this new wave of development, and do it well. This is my way of contribution, I thought I would start today. Keep the surf up! |