Simo Sakari Aaltonen
What Now with Simo
A freeform, wide-ranging podcast by writer and composer Simo Sakari Aaltonen on any topics foremost on his mind at the time of recording. The seasons are also collected in book form. Some favourite topics include creativity and all the arts — music, films, screenplays, fiction, poetry, comics, games, comedy, and everything in between. Messages from listeners welcomed for possible inclusion in an episode. Note that sending a recording for inclusion in an episode of this podcast implicitly gives permission to do so.
Where to listen?
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Episodes
5.17 End, Middle, and Beginning 20.07.2025 1:04:20
24 March 2025 — Final episode — Café de Halle — Tampere Market Hall — Past, present, future — The decision to end this podcast was made before David Lynch left for the White Lodge — Major Briggs — Timings converging — Five years, seasons, and books — Started on 24 March 2020 in Iceland — The last two transcript books — Modern type of journal — Looking back — Hallituskatu — Lake episodes — Episodes...
5.16 On a Train, Mystery, Love, and the Four Elements 20.09.2024 1:01:15
Train — Substantial — The aims of this podcast — Monty Python’s Flying Circus — Village idiot sketch with John Cleese — Providing a useful service — An effect behind the surface effects — Writing sketches also for or featuring the others — Introducing the next topic — The themes of mystery, hope, and love — “Platitudes” — Shorthand for something less damning? — Troubling — A sickness of thought —...
5.15 Windows of Opportunity, Aims, and Seven Works in Seven Months 19.08.2024 26:07
8 August 2024 (recording date) — Beautiful summer morning — Slice of dream country on the outskirts of Tampere — Rowing service gone — The wooden bridge — The cover of At Dawn: Early Short Stories — Bridge modifications — Lagoon — Esthetics — Windows of opportunity — True also with creative works — This podcast — No song-and-dance person — Leafing through the volumes of the podcast transcript book...
5.14 4th Anniversary Special: Passages Dark and Light II 24.03.2024 45:46
24 March 2024 — Passages Dark and Light II : Passages 1–43
5.13 In the Dream Spa Part Under Construction 09.02.2024 1:16:11
Friday, 9 February 2024 — Table of contents not available for personal reasons
5.12 Rendezvous at the Dream Café 01.01.2024 1:05:59
A place of the imagination — Bar / café — Still under construction — My music in the background — Albums and singles — The person in charge of the music — Passages Dark and Light — Tales from the North, Book I — Early Music Archive — “Land of Youth & Beauty” — 1 January 2024 — David Lynch’s weather reports — “January one” — Being and becoming yourself — Finding your own things — Patreon plan —...
5.11 Summer Day, Rainy Night 29.09.2023 41:40
PART 1: SUMMER DAY: One last summer day — Boat on the shore — Did go rowing — Times I had the beach to myself — Later realised why — Water just right — Giving thanks for the beautiful day — Phone alarm — Many motivations — Boat drifting — Oh, a fish | PART 2: RAINY NIGHT: Rainy night on the balcony — Most of the lake recording unusable — Something discussed in season 1 — Artist Curt Swan — Known f...
5.10 Danger of Triviality, Creative Practicalities, and New Music 28.08.2023 30:15
“Season 5 Opening” (@ 0:00) — Second episode of the day — Recorded on different dates — Closer to the mic again — Nicer listening experience — Lake episodes — Drifting ever so slowly — Without larger goals, danger of falling into triviality — Dreams, aspirations — Not selfish things — Couples bickering in grocery stores over trivial things — Triviality has taken over their lives — Many different f...
5.9 Programmed Addictions, Wasted Life, and Alternatives 28.08.2023 24:41
“Season 5 Opening” (@ 0:11) — Programming of people — Behaviour patterns — Part of the control group — TV, films, games, stories in every medium — More and more inhuman — Even subhuman — Since 9/11 — Torture — Non-critical depictions — Troubling — Many went along with it — The time torture was made legal — Antarctica — Arctic polar region — No justification ever — No free advertising from me — Cre...
5.8 Early Music Archive, Lou Doillon, and Room to Imagine 31.07.2023 44:45
“Season 5 Opening” (@ 0:12) — Heavy heart — Talk it out — Reconsidering last episode — A little knoll — Past discarded recordings — Attempt to have a little fun — Reasoning behind the collage — “I like messes.” — Not letting myself off the hook — Moving on — Possible problem for creators — The best I can — By the time I publish a book — Able to justify everything included and excluded — We could d...
5.7 In Which I Talk Baloney in the First Collage Episode 24.07.2023 7:17
Veil of darkness — Morning row — Swimming on the beaches — Great privilege — My flashlight — Juice left — Creative activities — TV a lot — Arcane matters — Discussion — Completely against — About seven — Word-for-word perfection wandering off to one side — Come out later — Art is a circle — Talking baloney — At Dawn — Fresh inspiration — You will regret it — Properly continue — Early Music — Ten y...
5.6 In Which I Share Rainy Night Thoughts on My Balcony 03.07.2023 27:42
Long period of rains — On my rainy balcony — “Autumn Leaves” — Chet Baker’s version — English lyrics by Johnny Mercer — Forecast — A promise of sun — The rains started — Ray Bradbury’s “The Long Rain” and “All Summer in a Day” — The 1982 TV adaptation — Days for summer dreams — Beaches overrun with blue-green algae — Dangerous — Things I’m here for — Obstacles — Rejected by Finland — Collectively...
5.5 Anti-Podcasting, Demystifying Creativity, and Lasting Work 29.06.2023 33:45
Ray Bradbury’s writing process — Secret self — This podcast — 2020 — Spontaneity — Backlog — My wandering way — Some intentions behind my podcast — Almost an anti-podcast podcast — Special guest episodes — One-person operation — No haphazardness — Morning at the lake — Calm — Now you’re closer — Experimentation — Learning — Alan Moore — J. Michael Straczynski — Babylon 5 (1990s) — Online before mo...
5.4 Book Vision, More Silence, and Finnish Woods 20.06.2023 31:57
Recording conditions — A topic — Filming — Bridge — Last summer — Perfect shot — Land of Youth & Beauty: Early Poems video — The vision of the book — Updated YouTube video descriptions — Illusion or mirage — What caused it? — Long winter wait — Andrew Mellor’s book The Northern Silence: Journeys in Nordic Music & Culture — Serialised discussion — First two paragraphs — Special, even sacred...
5.3 Lake, Respect, and a Simple Question 12.06.2023 12:17
The Paul Williams lyrics — Can you guess? — Following up — Talking past things — Too noisy and windy — Not morning — Golden time for lake episodes — The wind — Human and animal activities — Bird fight — Their own business — At the lake and in the boat — Past summers — Ran the boat ashore — Weather forecast — More regular podcasting — Broadcasting — Radio shows — Always liked finding my own way — M...
5.2 Tales of Tales, on a Train, Heading South 10.06.2023 48:27
Hello — Song by Paul Williams — “Nice to Be Around” — An interstitial episode — On a train — Family trip — Cup of coffee — Wooden stirrer — Second album — Tales from the North, Book I — 12 pieces — Piano duets — The nature of the album — The primary function — Introducing the pieces into the world — One rendition — For others to perform — Not mimicking actual performances — In the digital realm —...
Pierre Estève 2022–2023 Special — Part 2 24.03.2023 1:29:37
Sky Flowers : “Murmuration” pt. 1 (@ 0:00) — Intro — Sky Flowers : “Murmuration” pt. 2 (@ 0:39) — Locations — Megaliths of Carnac in Brittany — Shapes — Sourcier — Pythagore / Pythagoras — Special properties — “Gymnopédie Baaka” pt. 1 (@ 2:34) — “Sunriders” — High place — Echo — Rhythm — “Afterlife” (@ 4:28) — Fresh air — Temperature — Senses — Creating outside — Atlantis II : “The Sunken Isle” (@...
5.1 Nordic Insights, Future Plans, and Past and Present 01.01.2023 30:41
“Season 5 Opening” (@ 0:00) — Welcome to the heart of Tampere — Café — The year 2023 — Several episodes in preparation — Following season 4 — Collections of full seasons on YouTube — Season 5 will also have other audio elements in every episode — Music — Natural sounds — Lake episodes — Outdoors — Rowboats — Sound design — Context — Anti-podcast podcast — Ginger tea — Andrew Mellor: The Northern S...
Pierre Estève 2022–2023 Special — Part 1 23.12.2022 1:24:17
Atlantis II : “Astralia 1” (@ 0:00) — Welcome — Sky Flowers — Installation and album — Part of the main exhibition Flowers of Change — Roppenheim The Style Outlets — Village of brands — Consumerism and art — Sky Flowers : “Clouds Above” part 1 (@ 3:26) — The street — Special mental place — Senses — QR code — Sky Flowers : “Clouds Above” part 2 (@ 6:13) — Relaxed with beautiful things — Unusual — S...
4.16 Creative Basics, Visions, and Fog 25.10.2022 47:35
“In the Fog, Deep” (@ 0:00) — Season 4 finale — Grief — Doors closed — An Iceland Symphony — Progress in life — Age and new directions — Making music — People driven to art and people doing art as a hobby — Creating something new — David Lynch and his life’s work — Inspirations — Ideas — Never copy — Basis in reality — Possible misinterpretation of my aims — Ray Bradbury — Pierre Estève — Vangelis...
4.15 Northern Dream, Morricone and Tiomkin, and Tremendous Freedom 20.07.2022 13:01
Northern Exposure dream — Rich and long — Many scenarios and segments — Dreams are a gift — Places familiar from earlier dreams — Another puzzle piece — Stan Jones song “Riders in the Sky” (1948) — A seed for Ennio Morricone — Great Western music — Finding my own way — Sergio Leone asked him to write in the style of Dimitri Tiomkin’s Western soundtracks — Born in Russia, moved to the United States...
4.14 Sky Flowers, Just One More Thing, and Three Ravens or Crows 30.06.2022 14:08
Back at the lake — Episode of updates — Water perfect for swimming — One of my very favourite things in the world — Immersing myself in water — Lake, swimming pool, bathtub — When I start to float — Your own private world of blueness — The good type — The fresh smell of the lake — If you could bottle that… — Pierre Estève’s new album Sky Flowers — On Bandcamp — You never know what to expect — All...
4.13 Wild at Heart, Negative Space, and Petering Out 24.06.2022 8:20
Weather totally amyaazing — Midsummer — Drifting and talking — Quick course correction — Too close to a marker — A whole episode about negative space — Other thoughts — David Lynch film Wild at Heart (1990) — Starring Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern — Beautiful sequence — Gas station — Drive through a desert — Trying to get good music on the radio — 100 miles to go — Horrible stuff — Violence, death,...
4.12 In Which I Go Rowing Without Talking 17.06.2022 20:14
A short afternoon row from beginning to end without talking, with some quieter parts when filming.
4.11 Lake, Land of Youth & Beauty, and Plans 13.06.2022 26:07
Good morning from the lake — Back to rowing — Future presentations of my books — At Dawn: Early Short Stories — Land of Youth & Beauty: Early Poems — Hardcover and ebook — Low profile for the moment — The Land of Youth and Beauty — Feeling truly loved — Then you feel young and beautiful — Chronological age — Chris Stevens in Northern Exposure — A kind of companion book — Title, cover design, n...
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