1. Who are you?
I’m Jesper Larsson, a Swede now working as a creative in Shanghai. I hate traveling, experiencing new places, meeting new people, trying out new food and drinking wine⸮ But I love irony and I’m thinking a lot about why the use of the irony mark never really took off.
2. Where are you now?
I’m at a music / art / sport festival in Gagnef, Sweden, where we are arranging our annual tennis tournament Gagnef Open right next to a pyramid-shaped techno stage. The idea of Gagnef Open is to pay homage to tennis’ artists and artists who want to play tennis. We therefore encourage both amateurs and amateurs who think they are professionals to sign up and play. The tournament is settled in short matches in front of a live audience who are also entertained by music, free champagne and live commentary. People seem to like it so we keep doing it every year. Here is a video of last year’s tournament: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqSlL-xYdQc
And here are some photos my friend took with his iPhone of the very photogenic festival: http://vsco.co/mosesson/journal/gagnef-2016
3. What do you do when you’re not travelling?
I’m thinking about what makes me happy in life and what has the opposite effect. And then I try to make more of the things that make me happy and less of the stuff that don’t. That could mean I should eat more cheese and work less. It’s working out pretty good so far.
4. What was the last piece of music you listened to?
I listened to “Skammens Vogn – Kender Du Det” which is a pop song sung in Danish. After living in Shanghai for a couple of years I find myself listening a lot to music sung in Scandinavian languages. I guess it’s a form of geographic nostalgia.
5. Tell us briefly the travel story you shared in LOST.
Me and my friend Robert went to a hair and wig fair in Zhengzhou, China which had the theme: Hair Changes with Mood, Fashion From Your “Head”. I learned what “smoke” means in the iOS weather forecast app and that there is a black market for selling natural hair stolen from corpses.
6. What do you love about travel?
I’m still always amazed by the act of flying. I guess it’s me and Louis CK who still is. I can sit nailed to the airplane window like a kid watching the surreal miniature landscape beneath me or just gaze out over the white puffy clouds. I really get why people have imagined god living above the clouds.
7. What do you hate about travel?
I really hate when you’ve had a really stressful day with delayed flights and almost missing your connecting flight so you have to run to the gate, and then you just make it onboard all sweaty, and then you are really happy because you realize that no one has booked the seat next to you just as the staff announces that boarding is complete and you imagine how nice it’s gonna be to spread out and finally get some sleep, but then just before take off a family sees their chance to rearrange their internal seating to gain more space and all of a sudden you have a smiling old granny next to you – which happened to me on my last flight to Shanghai. I mean, I like grannies but I like a double seat on a flight more.
8. Do you like to travel alone or with people? Why?
I like the fact that travelling alone forces you to meet new people, but I could never manage to do that without wine. Travelling together means you have someone to share the experiences with, such as a bottle or a box of wine.
9. What do you think about during travel?
I usually come up with a lot of art and project ideas that will never be realized.
10. Any future travel plans?
I’m going on a spiritual journey to Tibet with my mom. It’s the last thing on her bucket list so I’m really looking forward to sharing that experience with her.
1.你是誰?
我叫 Jesper Larsson,在上海工作的瑞典人,創意顧問。我討厭旅行、體驗新地方、結識新人、和嘗試新的食物和酒⸮ 但是我喜歡諷刺,我常常想為什麼帶有諷刺意味的標點符號沒有被成功地運用起來。
2. 你現在在哪?
我在瑞典 Gagnef 的一個音樂/藝術/運動節上,那裏每年會舉辦 Gagnef Open 網球公開錦標賽,賽場旁邊是一個金字塔形的電子音樂舞臺。Gagnef Open 的存在是為了向網球藝術家、以及想要打網球的藝術家表示敬意。因此我們鼓勵業余愛好者,或者那些認為自己是專業人員的業余愛好者前來登記參加比賽。比賽被設置為短時比賽,現場的觀眾同時還能享受音樂、免費的香檳以及現場解說。下面這個是去年比賽的視頻:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqSlL-xYdQc。
還有我朋友用iPhone拍的很上鏡的一些關於這個節日的照片:http://vsco.co/mosesson/journal/gagnef-2016。
3. 你不在旅行時平常會做什麼?
我在思考生活中有什麼能讓我開心,以及什麼會導致我不開心。然後我會盡力多做一些讓我開心的事,而少做一些讓我痛苦的事。那意味著我應該多吃一些芝士,少一些工作。到目前為止這都很奏效。
4. 你最後聽的一首歌是什麼?
我聽的是“Skammens Vogn – Kender Du Det” ,一個丹麥人唱的流行曲。在上海生活了這麼多年,我發現自己聽了很多用斯堪的納維亞語唱的音樂,我想這可能是思鄉的一種表達吧。
5. 用一段話,簡單地告訴我們你在《LOST》分享的個人旅行故事。
我和朋友Robert去到了中國鄭州的一個美發博覽會,那個博覽會的主題是:發型隨心而變,時尚源於你的頭。我了解到在 iOS 的天氣預報 app 裏“smoke”所代表的含義,也了解到人們從屍體中盜取真頭發來進行買賣的黑市交易。
6. 旅行最讓你喜歡的是什麼?
我總是會對飛行著迷。我猜想只有我和 Louis CK 還一直這麼對飛行著迷了吧。我能像被釘在飛機窗邊一樣坐著,如同一個孩子一般看著我身下的超現實微型景觀,或者凝視著那些浮雲。我想我真的明白了人們所謂的雲上的神仙日子。
7. 旅行最讓你討厭的是什麼?
我真的很討厭在充滿壓力的日子裏航班還延誤,而且幾乎要錯過轉接的班機,於是你不得不跑向艙門,大汗淋漓地上了飛機,然後你聽到工作人員通知登機已結束,這時你看見自己的座位旁邊空著,你感到無比開心,想象著這一趟班機你可以如何伸展自己,而且還能睡上幾覺。然後就在要起飛的時候,有一家子人看見了你身邊的空位,決定重新安排座位,就這樣突然間你的身邊多了一個笑瞇瞇的老奶奶——這一切就發生在我最近一次飛上海。我的意思是,我喜歡老奶奶,但是我更愛飛機上的雙人座位。
8. 你喜歡獨自旅行還是跟朋友一起?為什麼?
獨自旅行促使你去結識新的人,我喜歡這個可能性,但如果沒有酒,我從來都是沒有辦法完成的。結伴旅行意味著你能與人分享體驗,比如伴著一瓶或一箱酒。
9. 旅行時經常會想到什麼?
通常我都能想出許多藝術的東西,或者是關於項目的點子,但是那些後來都沒有實現過。
10. 接下來有什麼旅行的打算嗎?
我將和媽媽一起展開一趟前往西藏的心靈之旅。這是她願望清單裏最後一件事,我真的很盼望和她一起分享旅程體驗。