Blog Blender

Chasing auras

Dennis Lehtonen has dedicated his life to photographing auras.

One night in 2018, I was viewing the international space station through a telescope in the observatory of Helsinki. Suddenly, I looked into the opposite direction and there, for the first time ever, I would see the northern lights dancing over the city below. The experience was otherworldly and I wanted to see them again and again.

To do so, for nearly five years, I have lived in the small remote corner of the Finnish Lapland, above the artic circle. Since 2021, I have lived in a total of three different locations in Finnish Lapland in order: Salla, Sodankylä and Kilpisjärvi. I have also worked in a total of seven different Greenland-based fish factories all in different, mostly small and remote, locations, despite hating fish.

PJH Studios artwork, Portrait of a sun

PJH Studios

Movies, music, books, whiskey, and culture in a blog blender

  • Chasing auras

    Dennis Lehtonen has dedicated his life to photographing auras. One night in 2018, I was viewing the international space station through a telescope in the observatory of Helsinki. Suddenly, I looked into the opposite direction and there, for the first time ever, I would see the northern lights dancing over the city below. The experience…

  • The Oatmeal on AI art

    The Oatmeal on AI art. Astute and poignant.

  • The craze of 6 7

    most previous Internet meme trends were based in some grounding of logic. 6 7, however, has become a prime example of how brain rot can ascend into pop culture. Now teachers avoid breaking kids into groups of six or seven, or asking them to turn to page 67, or instructing them to take six or…

  • Adopting a coffee name

    There are lots of different reasons to adopt a coffee name, giving a barista a name other than your own.

  • Climate change, creating hybrid species

    One of the consequences of climate change is the creation of hybrid species. Hybrid species are surprisingly common in the plant kingdom, but less so among animals, with around 10 to 15 percent of bird species known to hybridize. But as the ranges of animals shift due to changes in global climate, the likelihood of…

  • Lost albums

    Steve Hyden goes long on lost albums: These are the three kinds of “lost” albums I am interested in: 1. Albums that remain unreleased, either by artist’s choice or record-label maleficence. 2. Albums that were unreleased for a time but then came out after they achieved iconic“lost” status, to the point where even now they…

  • Hampsters getting an MRI

    Veterinary medicine has to get creative to provide treatment. Here’s a video of a hampster getting an MRI.

  • The bankification of everything

    Every company offers credit card now. This has led to every company becoming an unregulated bank. Upward of 40 percent of Americans now pay for basic items like groceries and health care using borrowed money — and this excludes credit cards. A third of younger Americans hold their savings on nonbank tech platforms like Venmo, and industries from retail to transportation derive anywhere from 14 percent to half of their profits from…

  • Taco Bell 50K marathon

    In Denver, someone figured out a 50 km loop that stops at 10 Taco Bells. Naturally, you would create an ultra marathon involving eating Taco Bell menu items.

  • Wednesday’s Karly Hartzman and MJ Lenderman broke up. Then she had to record a love song for him

    Karly Hartzman wries an essay about her breakup, yet having to record a love song. It’s full of lyricism and captures a certain feeling. I filled my Marvin the Martian cup with tequila on our neighbors’ porch next door. While swaying on the wooden porch swing, I ate collard greens with pork-jowl bits that my…