Do it Yourself New Year's Eve (espíritu bricomanía)

It's time to introduce Pan Dudek (Mr. Hoopoe) to you and, after having read his wise ideas, alternative plans for tonight will emerge and multiply. There's no need to depend on money and dinners or discos, full of people. "Build yourself a night, that allows you to feel free and away from conventions", says Dr. Dudek. "we should give ourselves the chance to feel free, every moment, and more on so-called-special-occasions", states Dudek.

1- A healthy option is that of doing playback of any old song (80es songs are the best ones, on this purpose) and dance. Dr. Dudek reccommends dancing wearing white socks and no shoes. Movements must be free.

2- Try to get rid of all negative energies, accumulated throughout 2005, by doing exercise. This option is compatible with that one of doing playback (but in that case choose songs such as "hot stuff" by Donna Summer or "I will survive" by Gloria Gaynor"...or any hymn by YMCA...they simply work better)

3- Reading a dictionary while listening to relaxing music. Any dictionary will work. Latin or Polish ones are two good options. Those having a dictionary of Catalan Language have another good option. Dictionary option helps to widen the mind and build interesting links observing ethimology. In some cases, we can come across hilarious and amazing words that might change something within our minds.

4- Sleep and dream. Another healthy option. Ah!...welcoming the new year full of energy and health.

5- You can also watch some old movie on TV/VHS/BETA (keep the memory of Betamax videocassettes alive!!!!)/DVD...or some old collection of movies or any strange stuff recorded from tv (such as bRiCoMaNíA, Vaya Semanita, Videoclips from the 80es, the adventures of Steve Irwin & family and crocodiles or the adventures of Stéphane Peyron around the world).

6- Pray for Betamax, chicken and other birds menaced by birdflu, all people and nations suffering, endangered species, the souls of those who passed away, Heidi, Marco, Candy Candy and other old anime tragedy heroes, all almost-forgotten songs, Maxwell Smart, radiocassettes, Vinyl LPs from the 60es and 70es, pray for the healing of all kind of wounds...and all susceptible-to-be-prayed-for-things. Patience required.

Taking these ideas, some other analogue magical-do-it-yourself formulae might be discovered/created. It's all up to you. Have a nice New Year's Eve..and may 2006 bring many positive things to you all. Möge die Macht mit dir sein!!!

1966

Inner revival... When i started loving music, that's many years ago, what i used to listen, was mainly music from the 60es and 70es. I've never forgotten such songs and singers...but they haven't been in a first place in the list of my musical preferences for quite a long time. And suddenly, i found myself listening to Mina. I just knew and liked a song by her "Un anno d'amore" (1964...as far as i know), which i tend to sing while taking a shower (a good shower-song, indeed!..however, i prefer "Nova cançó de s'amor perdut", by Joan Ramon Bonet, a song love since many years ago). Ah..but more songs by her came across my way...songs i ended up listening to over and over and really liking: "Mai così" (1966), "Se telefonando" (1966, in Studio Uno 66), "sono come tu mi vuoi" (1966). My musical trip also reached old Sanremo festivals...mmm...i found really nice songs in 1966 edition: "io ti darò di più" by Orietta Berti (...well, i've read that it was sung by other people too) (6th place), "nessuno di voi" by Richard Anthony, rather well-known, and "Adesso si" by Sergio Endrigo. But i've not heard the winner song ("Dio come ti amo") yet, by D. Modugno and G. Cinquetti....although i think i've heard a version by Mina. The sound of music in those years vanished and never came back...although several bands and singers who began their career then, kept making music and singing for decades. But the sound changed, although i believe many people miss the 60es sound of that pop music made then, of songs in those old Sanremo, canzonissima, even Benidorm and eurovision song contest. Ah!!...i'm talking about the SOUND, not the festivals themselves. Mentally, lately, i was in some other period of time...or in any period of time, since i combine inside and outside me things from different moments. One moment might not be enough for me...better to take positive things from different periods of time and harmonize them. Sumireneko out of nowhere and out of time.

and i won't cry for yesterday...

Passing strangers, lights flooding almost all streets, trains passing by. Changing states and emotions inside me. Inner travels and physical catharsis this morning...and yesterday as well, with my feet hurting, having walked for a long time wearing high-heels. And today a song poped up in my mind: "ordinary world" by Duran Duran. First there was a mixture of peace and happiness...then it turned into a reaffirmation of my identity. Still i was happy. But from time to time i felt some sadness. A Ballad. A requiem for something dying somewhere out of nowhere. 7 crows. Something might be whispered to the hole of some tree, like one of the main characters in "In the mood for love". Today i'm still a ballad, sung with a trembling or broken voice (Bonnie Tyler+Janis Joplin+Edith Piaf+Bévinda...a bootleg of songs by all them). Casuality brought me to this point. I regret nothing. Positive thoughts and feelings should find their way out of our minds. We ought to be brave like Superciocia (see previous posts from December 2005)..and face any complicated stuff within us...and then smile like Władysław Sikora playing the role of a victorious Superciocia.

CORVIDAE and UPUPIDAE

Today, again, i was trying to find the name in Tibetan for hoopoe. But again i was unsuccessful... which means that i'll have to ask a professor, who once said that in class of Tibetan language. However, i was lucky in the sense that i found something precious for me. First i found some website about crow augury, in other words, how to fortell future events from the behaviour of crows, taking into account different moments of the day. I read that such method is used in Tibet (Bya-rog-gi skad brtag-par bya-ba...i can't paste tibetan script here, so just Wylie) and has its origins in India. I'm keen on ornithology and i like crows, so that website, http://www.jcrows.com/crolang.html , was really interesting to me. There's also information on crows, for those with no interest on divination and such arts.

On some other website, http://7thcrow.com/crows.html , i found more things on legends, myths regarding crows. That time what i read was about counting crows, nothing to do with their behaviour. There were some verses talking about events related to different numbers of crows. Here i reproduce 2 groups of verses:
1) Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable is:
One's sorrow, two's mirth,
Three's a wedding, four's a birth,
Five's a christening, six a dearth,
Seven's heaven, eight is hell,
And nine's the devil his old self.

2) Counting Rhyme (from The Folklore of Birds, by Laura C. Martin, 1993)
One for sorrow, two for mirth,
Three for a wedding, four for a birth,
Five for silver, six for gold,
Seven for a secret not to be told.
Eight for heaven, nine for hell,
And ten for the devil's own sel'.

It's not easy to spot crows around here, unlike what i've been told about Singapore and Tokyo...but i think that i'll pay attention to their number. I did like the rhyme (i read somewhere else that it was a nursery rhyme). I hope you too (or a few of you) liked this. Maybe some of you have already heard about this kind of things. ah.....if i hadn't heard the word in tibetan for hoopoe and, afterwards, having forgotten it, i wouldn't have had the chance to come across crow divination and the rhymes above. I'd not have looked for such word by myself, spontaneously since i wouldn't either have thought spontaneously about hoopoes. I'm thankful to that professor...

almost-magical music

Several years ago i came across a few songs which remained vivid in my brain: "hiroshima mon amour" (the B-side version)(1977), "Dancing with tears in my eyes" and "reap the wild wind" by ULTRAVOX, and a song by PINK MILITARY, "after hiroshima" (maybe from 1979, but appears in their LP do animals believe in God,1980). Both belong to the late 70es but their style is not so easy to classify or determine. PINK MILITARY is said to be a post-punk band, but they were really close to electronic music which we could find right before the arrival and triumph of new wave. SInce i don't know where exactly to place these 2 bands, i call them bands-making-almost-magical-music. Recently i suddenly decided to go on with some search on more about ULTRAVOX and PINK MILITARY. Of course i did find tones of information about ULTRAVOX. and also about one of their members, who started a brilliant solo career in the 80es, JOHN FOXX (see picture above). And thanks to my searching i got to know other wonderful songs: "did you see her" by PINK MILITARY (i must say that PINK MILITARY only have one album; Do animals believe in God, released in 1980...which i hope to find one day in CD version). And other musical wonders are "the garden" , "Like a miracle", "Endlessly", "My wild love" all of them by FOXX. Well, and i discovered the videoclip for "Dancing with tears in my eyes" by ULTRAVOX....absolutely beautiful and with important ideas flowing beneath the story and images....it 's the only videoclip which moved me. A scientist was working on something dealing with nuclear energy and suddenly they noticed some kind of failure in the system, some fatal error. The man goes back home and tells his wife/whatever what's going on what is about to happen. They are wrapped by memories and enjoy the last moments of their life. It feels like....what should we do when we know everything, even us, is about to vanish? I really felt some emptiness at the end of the videoclip, in the last images. Nothing remains, but the melody of the song. Everything disappears at last, like Pink Military...(however, its singer, Jayne Casey, also singer of Big in Japan, after Pink Military, she formed Pink Industry).

ToDo PoR La pAtRiA (VaTiCaNa)!

y Ratzi se puso el tricornio!!!! uaaa uaaa! clamores en la Plaza de San Pedro. Que alegría para los Guardia Civiles que hasta allí habían ido. pero me pregunto qué estarían pensando el resto de gentes allí congregadas, que no creo que entendieran el acto en sí de probarse un tricornio...vamos, si ni siquiera el propio Ratzinger parecía entender la cosa más allá de lo folclórico que puede resultar el tricornio en sí en tanto que sombrero de charol con forma extraña....ay! las dificultades para acertar la posición correcta del tricornio. pero Ratzi se enfundó el tricornio....más chulo que un ocho verde pistacho (como dicen los Mojinos en una canción...no recuerdo cuál, por eso)...y eso que no le dieron un bigote postizo para conjuntarlo con el tricornio (o unas gafas oscuras tipo retro). Tan contento el con el tricornio puesto por unos segundos, que ya estoy pensando que eso de ponerse un tricornio da poderes....y más con la indumentaria papal de la Santidad. Y en las tierras españolas, Ratzi por aquí, Ratzi por allá en la anécdota del pasado de diciembre.

Tengo que decir que no vi el "momento" en la televisión el mismo día sino hoy por casualidad (no suelo ver mucha televisión)...pero recuerdo que un día en los informativos nocturnos (creo que eran los de tele 5) hablaron bastante largo y tendido sobre la evolución de los tricornios de la Guardia Civil, cosa que no entendí demasiado a qué venía a cuento. Seguro que fue el día 8....qué cosas. Va Ratzi y pone los tricornios de moda. Y los niños se piden para Reyes una figura de Ratzi con tricornio, para jugar con su action man, figuras de Star wars y demás criaturas de plástico.

Plastic People of the Universe

aaah....A couple of days ago i couldn't help having a drawing-need attack. My hand moved unconciously and started drawing, like some time ago. I've always loved drawing and i've never given it up (although it means sometimes drawing in books, which i could never lend to anybody, to reuse them...sorry). The picture above of the consequences of my having-to-draw that day. He's a Professor at University. uhm...i don't know whether i should give names here. And why drawing him? spontaneus drawing impulse (SDI). Since there’s not much to say about this SDI, I’ll build, this time, a multi-topic article, with no connections between topics.
Wanting to be like Beckham or so??? Beckham ist Quatsch mit Soße! (¡naranjas de la China!..nonsense in English, but it's not as funny, that's why i didn't write it first in English). Beckhamhood and all related fashiondelamuertehood is something temporary. Oh! tree leaves turning yellowish and falling sadly onto the ground of drowsy parks and forests, when the night has told stories about the coming hard winter. That's the death of beckhamhood.
By the way, Plastic People of the Universe (Milan Hlavsa,Josef Janíček, Vratislav Brabenec, Jiří Kabeš) was a band from the former Czechoslovakia. I once (quite a long time ago) heard about it in some TV report (i think it was in "sputnik", on canal 33) about music and political events. They talked about these people (they made interesting music, with mysterious sounds...some kind of rock, close to psychedelic rock, sometimes), Václav Hável and the Velvet Revolution. I liked the name of this music band.

SUPERCIOCIA!!! The Trilogy

First, i heard of Czesław Niemen and started liking his music, even though i’m unable to understand what he sings (but some words). Then, thanks to a version of one of the best-known songs by Cz. Niemen, “Dziwny jest ten świat”, by somebody named Grzegorz Halama, I discovered the interesting works of this Grzegorz Halama, who happened to be a Polish comedian. At first I didn’t pay much attention to his works, since I expected to find basically jokes in Polish I wouldn’t understand. But today...suddenly, something somewhere in my mind told me to investigate a little more. Aaaah!!! It was indeed a good idea!

And then Superciocia appears on scene!!!! It’s the star of a trilogy, like those with the bravest superheros, fighting against the most ferocious enemies: zadradziecki trawnik (treacherous grass), niewdzięczny kamień (ungrateful stone/rock) and śmiertelny plankton (mortal kind-of-grass...well, i didn’t find the word in my dictionary of Polish...but in the movie, plankton was some kind grass/plants near a path). The courageous Superciocia (lit. superaunt), fights with the only help of a powerful piece of reddish cloth. I read that there should me more chapters on Superciocia’s heroic actions....but who knows. I must say that there would be no Superciocia if Władysław Sikora wouldn't play the role of this Hero. If anybody else played the role of Superciocia, it wouldn't be the same. In other words, that wouldn't be the authentic Superciocia. Therefore, Superciocia's destiny is that of having only a temporary existence, and no future remakes, as many Hollywood movies do with old heroes.

Superciocia contra zadradziecki trawnik!
Superciocia contra niewdzięczny kamień!
Superciocia contra śmiertelny plankton!!!

Besides Superciocia, there were other interesting creatures, such as Pan Jabu (Mr. Jabu)...without being able to understand what he said in the video dedicated to him (check the video “deseczka” or “pan Jabu show” in the links below, where you can also find “Trylogia Superciocia”) I laughed lots.... I also recommend the documentary “Archetypowy ojciec”(archetypical father)... half sociological/anthropological...with that kind of rastafari father. It’s ok if you, as me, don’t understand Polish. Anyway...it's better than you have a look at some of those short films.

http://www.kabaret.art.pl/hifi/film/filmy.html

http://www.halama.pl/index.php?go=filmy

The kind of humour Halama and company make reminds me of the humour the spanish Cruz y Raya make, inventing strange and somehow surrealistic situations, but also several curious characters (such as Canduterio, a man wearing a torero hat, 70es style glasses, and dressing like somebody from a rural area). Any of them makes direct references to politics (well, Cruz y Raya sometimes, but never to the extent of many other comedians) and in any case they make a denigrant kind of humour based on attacking and making fun of somebody. Neither is scatology used as a resource.

ELEIKEKELEI y el gran Kitajima Saburo

¿Un grito de guerra? Quizás...pero no, es una especie de estribillo en una canción de Os Resentidos (aunque yo la descubría via Siniestro Total, otros de los grandes del género), que habla sobre Brezhnev(Леонид Брежнев. La foto, de Wikipedia, con esa especie de auréola luminosa, no tiene desperdicio). Quien la escuche, que quede advertido de lo pegadizo que es el eleikekelei. Estás cambiándote de ropa o en la ducha, e inconscientemente no puedes evitar entonar un eleikekelei. A saber si quiere decir algo en algún idioma de algún lugar remoto de estos mundos...que seguro que sí. Veo a chukchis por ahí por la otra punta del continente este, atravesando Siberia enterita, con términos parecidos a eleikekelei. Que conste que no tengo nada en contra de los chukchis. Bueno...chukchis, Rusia, antigua URSS, Brezhnev... tampoco está todo tan alejado.

Desde que descubrí las obras maestras de Os Resentidos y, sobre todo, de Siniestro total, me gustó un surrealismo subyacente (como no) en sus letras y ritmos. ¿¿¿Temas recurrentes para hacer la elaboración de las piezas más rápida y fácil??? Para qué! Si hay temas tan suculentos como: Brezhnev, discos de los Shadows y las Shangri-Las y otros utensilios musicales que aparecen en “bailaré sobre tu tumba” como objetos de un crímen hipotético, Bryan Ferry y la hipótesis sobre su aliento, Assumpta, Polonia y Karol Wojtiła, elefantes rosas, Vietnam (“fuera las manos chinas del Vietnam socialista”), la higiene personal y un largo etc., y sin caer en vulgaridades...ahi, los componentes de Siniestro Total muestran disimulandamente sus amplios conocimientos en áreas diversas y variopintas. Qué majos estos gallegos.

Y otro de los grandes es Kitajima Saburo, un personaje sin traducción posible a otras latitudes. No hay un equivalente español para este japonés...como tampoco hay un equivalente para el Enka, estilo musical en el que está ubicado felizmente desde hace décadas y décadas. Tan grande es su figura que hasta tiene un museo con su nombre...ponte a contar cantantes con museo propio... Bueno, y el merchandising que se puede ver gracias a esa web...si palabras. Que puntazo el poder comprar galletas (o similar) con la efigie del señor Kitajima (Sabu-chan para los fans más acérrimos y para sus allegados, supongo). Nada...840 yenes y uno/a se va tan contento para casa con sus Sabu-chan cookies...Ay! pero eso de comerse efigies de Kitajima, no sé yo. Que creo que a muchos les dará una pena enorme...como también grande la pena que puede dar que las galletas se te estropeen con el tiempo y el chocolate (o sucedáneo, llamémoslo pocholate), se deshaga y se desfigure la majestuosa efigie del artista sólo por no haberse comido las galletas en el momento adecuado. Yo no me comería un Sabu-chan de pocholate...Casi que mejor las camisetas, que, por cierto, son un poco feas, con el juego que podrían haber dado (con lo larga que es la carrera musical del bueno de Kitajima....). El merchandising textil no me acaba de convencer por estar alejado de la figura de Kitajima y su estilo. Pero lo mejor viene cuando una servidora descubre los colgantes/adornos para móvil (no sé si tienen ya un nombre más concreto, bueno, una especie de equivalente para strap tendría que ser) con una banda de tela con el nombre del cantante y un muñequito representando al maestro Kitajima. No veo yo a los seguidores más fieles de kitajima, con más de 50 años seguramente en la mayoría de los casos, con figuritas de Sabu-chan colgando de sus teléfonos móviles. Pero muchas cosas extrañas son posibles en Japón, pienso. Pero que si alguien les da la idea de la Mona de Pascua, (pastel con huevos de chocolate o figuritas/complejas construcciones de chocolate que se les compra a los niños por Semana Santa...Lunes de Pascua, creo –no soy una adepta de las mones ni nunca lo fui sino sólo de los pollos amarillos que se suelen poner como decoración-), van los japoneses, que habiéndoles fascinado la idea y el juego que da....ya está, mones de Kitajima Saburo y todo lo que se pueda imaginar. Y lo de la Pascua será ya algo superficial y, puesto que por San Valentín, las mujeres regalan chocolate a los hombres...¡¡¡anda que no quedarían bien regalando una mona de Kitajima Saburo!!!

Pero yo soy feliz con lo que me evoca “Hakodate no hito”; un mundo en blanco y negro,una película de los años 50, un drama, otros valores. Y también me quedo con el eleikekelei. Nada....a ver si alguien hace un bootleg de “cuando Brezhnev...” y “hakodate no hito”...o una versión dance...o chill out, que viene estando muy en boga. Creo que el resultado sería algo parecido a poner una canción al revés (uuuuh!). Quizás hasta hay mensajes ocultos y hasta que no se mezclan ambas piezas bien no se obtienen. Seguro que es algo catárquico y bueno para la felicidad de las almas. Y si no, pues siempre nos quedarán las galletas de pocholate.

back into the 60es: minimalism,colours, birds & physics

Unexpectedly, as most good things in life, recently (i always refer to things that happened recently...), i felt i was travelling back to the 60es, a time i never lived, but from which i've loved music for many years (Beatles, Janis Joplin, Joan Baez, french singers from the 60es...usw.). First came songs by VASHTI BUNYAN, especially "Love song" (1966), which by now i've listened to i-don't-know-how-many-times, over and over. A simply beautiful song, with a wonderful melody and precious lyrics, simple and rich at the same time. Then i came across a quite well-known Polish musician (well, famous in Poland and in the former East-Germany), CZESŁAW NIEMEN.... Again i was stuck in 1966 by his song "dziwny jest ten świat" (the translation i found is "strange is this world"), the same name as the album that includes it, but the album is from 1967...What did i find in his songs? a good mixture-combination of psychedelic rock (reminiscences of Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, Procol Harum...), jazz, a bit of folk. All in one. And, despite not being able to understand the lyrics but some words in Polish, my intuition and what i read about Niemen's music, tell me that the lyrics were as good as the melodies or even better. Niemen was indeed an interesting person, musically but also visually, with his colourful clothes, and later with his hat and round dark glasses, half between hippy and folk singers.

And yesterday, my friend Tomek (oder Thomas, Tomasz...wie du willst), sent me a beautiful poem by a Brazilian poetess (we usually exchange poems in portuguese, especially from Brazil), Cecília Meireles. The poem is "Os dias felizes" (Meireles, C., Obra poética, Rio de Janeiro, 1967). Poems from the mid of the 20th century have a different taste...like some poems by Tomaž Šalamun (Slovenian), Jaroslav Seifert or by Jacobo Fijman....Different things said in a different time and sometimes Same things said in a different time, and thus having a different meaning. Happy days aren't the same in poems from Romanticism or from the early 20th century...as in the mid 60es or nowadays. It's just like the sound of the music by The Raveonettes (Denmark)...60es sound (not in all their songs, though) made in the 21st century.

Os dias felizes estão entre árvores como

os pássaros: viajam nas nuvens,

correm nas águas,

desmancham-se na areia.

[...]

Cecília Meireles

And besides, having a look at an old book on Physics (García Santesmases, J., Física General, Madrid, 1968), i found 4 old stamps of 50 céntimos each (Peseta times!!!!!!!!!!!!), with an image of a writer, Concha Espina. What a thing to find!...Those stamps had been there for over 3 decades...inside an old book i rescued some summers ago from dust and oblivion (the book belonged to my father and somebody had placed most old books in old suitcases made of cardboard and wooden boxes, piled up together with boxes cointaining old tools and other old stuff). The stamps were close to chapter 38, about Optical instruments (it even talks about the human eye...hehe). The reason why i was having a look at a Physics book...well, the book was staring at me insistently, wanting me to pick him from the shelf. A book of Chemistry, dwelling next to the Physics one, sometimes does the same thing to me. Mysteries. I can't help feeling their presence.

Lo del manganeso caqui!

Finalmente, ayer, estrenaron el nuevo programa de Óscar Terol, con algunos de los colaboradores del Vaya Semanita. Era a horas bastante intempestivas para mi persona, pero no obstante, opté por ver una parte. La criatura fue mejor de lo que esperaba (y lo digo no por infravalorar a los creadores, sino por la suerte que suelen tener las adaptaciones de formatos). Podría comentar muchas cosas, pero ahora me quedo con el sketch donde se mencionó el manganeso caqui. A mi es que me gusta el humor surrealista... El sketch en cuestión versaba sobre una máquina (revolucionaria, un fenómeno) capaz de formular nombres de futuras exitosas telenovelas (d.h. culebrones). El funcionamiento de la máquina (que en realidad era un armatoste de hojalata, con cientos de artefactos, botones e indicadores, a modo peliculero, con un hombrecillo --el actor que hacía del mítico Pelanas!-- dentro) consistía en combinar el nombre de un mineral con un color. Al principio salieron un par de buenas alternativas...a lo topacio anaranjado, o algo por el estilo....pero luego, ah! sorpresa! MANGANESO CAQUI!!!!...fashion de la muerte...ahora ya la moda trasciende el mundo humano y altera a los elementos químicos. Y digo yo que a algunos a lo mejor les da por ponerse a dieta para reducir su masa atómica. Por algún motivo extraño atribuido a mis asociaciones mentales o similares, manganeso caqui me resulta hilarante. Como vengo diciendo a menudo, "es paranoia", gran oración agramatical, pero muy práctica y económica. Y la pregunta es...por qué manganeso y no, digamos, por poner un ejemplo, algún elemento de los grupos de tierras raras???? (hablando de tierras raras, de los lanánidos, más concretamente, Lutecio, el elemento 71, es un Lunni....q útil es la tabla periódica para los no-químicos....en los estudios de tve deben tener tablas periódicas preciosas por ahi por las paredes, enmarcadas)
El momento apoteósico del surrealismo fue hoy, cuando escribiendo un mail (el mail que et vaig respondre, Dr. Karl!!), descubrí asociaciones latentes en mi cerebro entre el manganeso caqui y el googolplexian (bueno, y más cosas)...Primero aparecen las cosas o temas de que hablar y yo solita, bastante inconscientemente a veces, los acabo asociando majamente.

Lo cierto, es que yo, con mi visión romática de la matemática y la química, quedo maravillada con esas cosas surrealístico-poéticas-humorísticas.

Día extraño: intercambio de fotos con gafas que regresan a la moda, olor-de-lavavajillas-transparente-de-carrefour, más fotos experimentales con look un tanto sixties-setentero, melodía repetida de Vashti Bunyan, manganeso caqui, imagen de un googolplexian hecho de manganeso y en color caqui, ocupando el universo, me desperté con la paranoia que cambiaban la hora pronto o que ya la habían cambiado (no había visto las noticias en días pero lo intuía), olor acechante a castañas asadas, recuerdo del "pa calent" (largo de explicar), una web sobre peces abisales ("peces abisales" me resulta hilarante, por motivos muuuy desconocidos) que daba miedo, intentos con Juanma de encontrar similitudes entre el tibetano y el euskera, la versión del porompompero en vasco hablando de temas gramaticales ("nor nori nork", Gozategi)...y encima hoy nos regala la UE, a través de una de sus directivas, una hora más de sueño y un supuesto ahorro energético enoooooorrrrme. (ná....escuché que 1 euro mensual por familia)...con lo que dan de sí mis sueños, de los que normalmente me acuerdo bien. Con lo caro que viene siendo el cine...me quedo con mis sueños y el surrealismo de la vida diaria.

strangers on a train

It's easy to find, from time to time, people who get to know each other on the train...or that simple start talking, let's say, about the weather (the deep topic) and then fade away once they get off the train...and might never meet each other again. I always enjoy seeing such spontaneous and quite fresh interactions, that break the serious faces of passengers using our "wonderful" RENFE. Sometimes you might have observed a person with a certain interesting or curious look, or the opposite, that is, a very common person, or somebody reading something. Unconciously we build an image and identity for that person based on intuition. Ah! and then, suddenly, that person meets somebody or he/she begins to talk on the phone. Then it's when the image we had build collapses, because normally those "observed" people have an identity which doesn't trascend their appearence. The moment when one discovers the voice, the way of talking and the kind of information he/she shares is always interesting.

Something very different is when the unexpected interaction affects the observer. It can be sometimes scary but other times nice and even pleasant. Yesterday i came across this second time of interaction surprise....and the reason why the interaction bloomed wasn't The Weather (in fact, it was dark and no clouds to observe, as good orators on Weather do) but learning chinese. I sat randomly, like always when i come back home, and next to me there was a young man wearing suit (well, without the jacket, since it was a bit hot) but i didn't pay attention to him....i saw the free seat and sat. I was having a look at my brand new photocopies for tibetan language class and then at my book of chinese (not brand new, but almost). The curiosity attacked that guy and made him ask me whether i was studying chinese....and then the communication went on smoothly. The image i got from him when i sat, that of a serious person, disappeared as we talked and sometimes laughed. I guess he had also thought that i was a serious person. I'm always curious about the image i give, which i think is most times that of a very serious or distant person. The casuality also made us get off the train at the same train station. Then, after giving each other our names, we became aquainted. We're no longer strangers on a train. Maybe, in some other wagon some other people became acquainted...or maybe just shared a few words or exchanged some questions.

A couple of renfe slogans:

¿Cuánto hace que no subes al tren? (old one)

Los sueños viajan en tren.

crueldad publicitaria....cf. telefónica

Réquiem

por el Trabi

en la charca...

Recientemente, por casualidad, topé con el nuevo anuncio de la gente de telefónica para promocionar uno de sus números de información (acabado en 22...siendo uno de los caros...es mejor el 11818; más económico y menos publicitado). Y bien, en el anuncio en cuestión (que he visto entero sólo 2 veces) sale un pastor con su ganado, cerca de un árbol...y de repente se acerca un coche....ah! que es un trabant, azul cielo que acaba por caer tristemente en una charca enorme llena de barro. Y seguidamente entra en acción el número de atención telefónica mencionada y se supone que se arregla todo...pero no rescatan el automóvil accidentado, noooo!!!...enfocan un modelo de fiat nuevo, amarillo, que dicen sortear. ¿¿¿Y el trabant quéeee???.

Es un anuncio un tanto extraño porque en España no llegaron a haber trabant, que yo sepa (automóviles rusos, como Lada, o checos, como Skoda, sí, por eso)...y no sé por qué no escogieron otro coche relativamente antiguo, más conocido por los que veamos el anuncio. Pongamos, no sé, un simca 1000 (que tiene canción y todo), un seat 600 (aunque quizás sea demasiado entrañable como para verso abandonado en una charca sucia mientras todas las miradas se van a un fiat amarillo, nuevo y reluciente)...otro seat de los viejos, un renault 4, 8 , 7, 17, 14 (poco recordado) ó 12...incluso un 2 caballos de la citröen. Con lo bien que hubiera quedado un R-8, que tiene un aspecto más siniestro con los cuatro faros redondos y la curiosa forma del capó a modo de ceño fruncido...(que quede claro que no tengo nada en contra de los seat y simca antiguos, el 2 caballos o los citroën viejos....sino todo lo contrario).

Y es que encima, en la mayoría de pases del anuncio, éste sale cortado y tan sólo aparece una esquina de la parte trasera del Trabant...para que se reconozca, quitándole aún más importancia en el anuncio.

Réquiem por el Trabi en la charca....

masters of the universe and bureaucracy

Finally... After asking via email and phone to 3 different places about the final part of the enrolment process...today they replied properly (on the phone), with a beautiful affirmative answer. The course begins next Monday (yes!!! finally!! how exciting)...and that bureaucratic stuff will take place once the course has begun....that's not very normal to pay a course after it has started, especially when it has to do with university courses. But finally, worries faded away and i'm ready to begin the course. If there wasn't so much bureaucracy, delays, different "modus operandi" (or should it be "modi operandum/operandorum" in plural?) depending on the university and studies...it wouldn't be Spain.

I'm really looking forward to being back to university life and beginning with something i'm really keen on....Master on Asian and Pacific Studies. No other word would describe what i feel towards it but "dream"; it's like a dream for me to have found such Master and even more, to begin with it so soon. I don't know what could happen after the 2 years the master lasts....but i have a really positive feeling about it and, moreover, i'll be enjoying it no matter how hard it might be (i'm choosing subjects in the fields of politics, economics and languages).

Glamourocity

Diria que aquesta pintada encara decora una paret relativament cèntrica d'un dels carrers de la ciutat (carrer Enginyers, crec que és on era mostrant-se majestuosa als vianants). I no és l'única pintada d'aquesta mena que es pot trobar en tot el nucli urbà...però aquesta em va cridar especialment l'atenció, tot i que el "pijisme" està en relatiu auge a d'altres llocs potser més...bé, "pijisme" i fashion victims. Potser l'autor/a o autors/es van pensar en les gents, però potser també en la quantitat de botigues de roba, complements i calçat inundant el centre de la ciutat...cada cop més, més diverses, i més de les de marques o venent peces de marques....aquí, una ciutat abans bàsicament industrial, sense cap atractiu especial tret d'alguns monuments o construccions memorables, reconvertida amb el temps en un àlgid centre comercial...però amb cada cop més indrets donats a allò considerat "glamourfashiondelamuerte", pijisme-sec-estirat-de-mirar-per-sobre-les-espatlles...i creant més adeptes d'aquests dos termes. Bé...també he de dir que hi ha casos més extrems (pobles més petits, gairebé cap mena d'oferta d'oci decent tret de bars i restaurants...però amb gent que els dies de festa/ocasions especials/celebracions s'hi passeja ostentosa amb vehicles dels que volen mostrar la marca més que no pas utilitzar-los com a mitjà de transport, i amb les millors gales). COm va dir una amiga, referint-se a una part de la fauna de la UPF:

"Por llevar un caballito no eres mejor que yo" Carol Ibáñez

No és que estigui en contra del pijisme i la gent que vol seguir les modes (jo també en segueixo algunes)..tothom és lliure en el vestir....sino de posar-los per davant de tot i com una mena d'objectius i també trobo bastant desagradable els aires i actitud que a molts els dóna una marca del que sigui (ja sigui falsa o no, tot i que això és un altre tema....veure gents comprant bosses falses louis vuitton a passeig de gràcia, contribuïnt a l'economia submergida però donant-li una part del sustent a immigrants que ho necessiten potser més que els directius de marques d'aquesta mena, per posar-ne un exemple).

D'una banda estan les botigues i alguns tipus de gent i d'altre, altres col.lectius i les pintades reivindicatives de tota mena, com crits contra molts canvis i fets sense massa cap ni peus ni justícia....com els preus de la vivenda, el rol dels diners i, per extensió, del materialisme avui dia. Però no hi ha una barrera, una separació clara entre aquestes dues visions, ans al contrari, tot sembla estar barrejat, camuflat. Però al cap i a la fi, no puc evitar sentir que s'estan perdent moltes coses i que molts valors estan bastant per terra. Pluralisme estètico-ideològic...sempre bo :)

A outra cousa maripousa; Hablando de pijismos y similares, hubo un tiempo que una moda instalada era la de llevar polos de tonos claros, con pantalones claros o tejanos (en el caso de las chicas, Samblancat...bueno, estos pantalones siguen en auge)"fisnos"...bueno, y las joyas, en el caso de las féminas jóvenes eran pendientes de perlas y collares con bolas enormes (lo de los collares de cuentas grandes fueron algo más democrático, y no adscrito a ningún estilo en particular...aún tengo el mío, en negro, del H&M, un poco en el ostracismo) y apenas nada de maquillaje. Así, sin ningún más comentario, no tiene nada de especial este detalle....lo bueno fue, ante mi curiosidad por el término "preppy" y su verdadero significado, descubrí a que los denominados "preppies", les iba bastante lo de los tonos bastantes y discreción...alguna joya fisna y nada de maquillaje (bueno, las marcas aparte, claro). Es curioso recordar las gentes que se veían con ese look por aquí, que parecían una adaptación del "look" preppy....y más aún la diferente percepción de esta gente, sin nada que ver con lo que son los preppies auténticos (sin ningún ánimo de ofender, claro). Lo que no sé del todo es qué se suele entender por preppy en españa....con un sistema educativo muy diferente del americano, y con todas las diferencias culturales.

C.O.N.T.R.O.L. mourns...K.A.O.S. too, probably

Last Sunday (but i didn't hear the news until today) Don Adams passed away (13th April 1923 -25th September 2005) . Maybe he's not very well known for most readers of this blog...but at least, those living in Catalunya have more chances than those in the rest of Spain (except for Castilla y León) to know who he was since the series "Get Smart" is, since over a week, back on tv (as "superagent 86"). I had the chance to watch it again last summer in a regional tv channel from Castilla y León (Canal 4 Castilla y León), with the original dubbing into spanish, with some kind of southamerican accent (in spanish, the title is "superagente 86")

I've always liked the series and today i was surprised and sad to know the starring actor had died. Not so long ago i had looked for more information about "get smart" on the net, after seeing the series was back. I wouldn't have expected then to get such sad news today. Now it feels different to watch the series...

Characters and series don't die and will keep among us some actors and actresses worth to be remembered, some actors and actresses, like Don Adams, without whom some characters and stories wouldn't have been possible. Agent 86 can't be imagined in any other way now but interpreted by Adams...the same with 99, and with the Chief. Those who have Canal 33 tv channel are lucky ones, being able to watch once more this series (i don't know whether it's still on Canal 4 Castilla y León...), sometimes, depending on the chapter, able to watch the original voices, but always with the option of an excellent dubbing.

I have no doubt that many people of different generations will remember Don Adams and his Agent 86 role. Better than other words, it's to watch some chapters. All are good, all full of intelligent humour and parodies, surrounded by the aesthetics of the 60es.

jazz, life and coming across Tete Montoliu's music

Jazz!!! For a long time i had been looking for some cd with music by Tete Montoliu, a well-known Catalan jazz musician (Barcelona 1933-1997), especially since i knew he played Jazz on piano (i prefer jazz played on piano). And this week i managed to borrow some CD from the local library and right now i'm listening to it (i had to wait for a moment to play it at my PC, since all CD players we have at home appear to be still dead). Today i looked for some information on his life and works on the net. It was nice to read that jazz, a music style closely linked to freedom, could find talented people and develop lively, but timidly seing the music scene as a whole, in the kind of Spain we had in the 50es and 60es, with Franco ruling the country, the early stages of the tourist boom, spanish pop music of that time...

What a wonderful thing! naughty musical notes, full of colours dancing across all imaginable spaces, reaching every nook and corner of one's mood (yes, i believe it has corners....the mood could be dimensional)..filling them up with some energy, and colourful dancing shapes, just like the visualisations in windows media player or musicmatch :) It's the same feeling i got when i started listening carefully to all songs i found by Thelonious Monk, although his style is different (Most of Monk's compositions belonged to bebop style within jazz). It's a pity i didn't find his music before...It'd have been really great if, in the 90es, when he was still alive, i could have heard him in some concert. But the fact is that i wasn't really into jazz at that time. Musical taste is always evolving and we become more demanding as we grow older. Jazz came to my life relatively late, a couple of years ago, i'd say, but it's remained by my side, staying closely to me, becoming a part of several memories and a tool to change things in life, to make moments different. And knowing some friends (too few) who love that style, and thus being able to share this interest it keeps very alive and i could get to know more jazz musicians (hey! thanks again Arief for the info on Indonesian jazz musicians!). It's really a pity that we reach some things maybe-too-late, but it's indeed better, when things seem to arrive at the moment when we'd likely enjoy and appreciate them better. Actually it doesn't happen always...but as years go by we learn to appreciate things we come across along our path.

Going back to Thelonious Monk, it's rather curious, that i got to know him thanks to a not-so-famous German movie i watched in July 2004, as one of the activities in the German course i was taking. The movie, "nach fünf im Urwald" (1995) wasn't especially interesting, but one of the "characters" was an old vinyl record of Thelonious Monk. Curiosity made the rest...i looked for information on that musician and got some cd by him. We shouldn't underestimate any kind of movie.

Then i went on (and still go on) looking for some other jazz pianists...and the one i can't find anything from is Takehiro Honda...But it's a matter of having patience, searching and moving forward...and having luck; just how life seems to work.

other possibilities within Catholic Church

Yesterday i had the chance to watch again an interview to the former bishop of São Félix do Araguaia (Mato Grosso, Brazil), Pere Casaldàliga Pla. I have know the figure of this man for a long time, but it wasn’t till several months, when I first heard him talking in a TV report about his actions.

Personally I don’t really agree with Catholic Church and its hierarchy, and it’s slow adaptation to the changes taking place in society, not to mention what happened in the past promoted by catholic church. But the members of such hierarchy are not inherently bad, of course, like what can happen within some big or powerful organizations. Something is the organization as a whole, and another very different thing are the members and people who agree with the ultimate causes of the existence of the organization and its role. However, we can find examples, such as the one of Mr. Casaldàliga, who take a path along their faith and beliefs, but not necessarily being closely tied by the Vatican orders and idea of what’s right and what’s wrong. I admire the works Casaldàliga, together with some other people close to him, as he said (he shared his merit with other people, because otherwise it wouldn’t be fair) carried out for over 30 years in that region of Brazil and his ideas and arguments making them even more solid. He devoted his life (and still does so) to improve the lives of many people, to make things better, facing many powerful people and institutions. He fought for the respect of the rights of indigenous population, and to help poor people in the region to have somehow more strength and life better, in a world and country where they play no important role but that of victims.

His point of view regarding religion is very interesting. I must say, that he follows the so-called Theology of Liberation, very popular in several countries in South America. I’m not going to describe this philosophy but the ideas of Casaldàliga because I’ve not read much on the topic. But I’m sure there are many points I’ll mention, which coincide with the very Theology of Liberation. Casaldàliga, I would say, has quite a progressist view of Christianity, and quite left-winged. In fact, Christianity, as other religions, could be interpreted as thoughts and values placed in quite a left-wing position, in the sense of protecting individuals, families, the community and helping those with fewer possibilities. That willingness of helping and giving real help is nothing but words in the case of many churches. Well, in fact, religion is different in developed countries than in countries with fewer resources...here the new religion, capitalism+liberalism have been changing people and the way to see religion. Even the way to give communion to those attending the mass, he performs it following his ideals: seeing all people inside the church as equals, he lets the parishioners get themselves the consecrated wafer, instead of giving them himself, so as not to feel different. Casaldàliga admitted not needing power, and had no problem when he stopped being bishop, although he remains in the region. Unlike many people who say that they do not want power, nor that they feel it’s important for them and then act in an hypocrite way, Casaldàliga seems to be consequent in all his thoughts. That’s really praiseworthy, either because of the commitment needed as for the difficulties to act this way in this world full of contradictions. I was surprised when i heard what he thought about homosexuality, wanting respect for them, and about women and Catholic church. He didn't say nothing directly about this last topic, but indirectly, his words were towards progress and giving women more chances in the Church.

Recently, I got to know more on an Indonesian scholar, Nurcholish Madjid (also known as Cak Nur), thanks to my friend Arief. And I just remembered my feelings after reading his article. Maybe Casaldàliga played a similar role as that Cak Nur played in Indonesia, but within Islam. Moderation and willingness to be closer to the people and adapt to changes in society seems to be the best and the most desirable thing nowadays.
* * *
You can read some articles and interterviews on the following website: http://servicioskoinonia.org/pedro/textos/index.html most of them are in Spanish or in Portuguese.

txipirones/as y kulebras

Pues esto va a ir de la figura del pelanas. El pelanas es, para quienes desconocen tal personaje, una criatura de las gentes del vaya semanita (Oscar Terol ha fichado por TVE1, verdad?). Una criatura con su mundo, su lenguaje, su estética (que por lo que leí en su momento, hizo furor en los pasados carnavales por las tierras vascas), sus muletillas...bueno, y la portu. Sí, La portu, con ese lenguaje tan rico, esa elocuencia, ah! y siempre muy educada ella siempre y sonriéndole al prójimo. No son personajes dignos de muchos elogios pero la labor que hay detrás hay que destacarla. De acuerdo que los guiones no sean lo que se dice ricos, vale....pero cada episodio resulta ser una parodia de alguna situación que se da en la realidad (bueno, el pelanas también es una realidad desde que sus pautas han alterado comportamientos en el “exterior”..antes era una pura ficción): tanto en política, como en deportes como en sociedad.....ah! y en publicidad también. Puesto que no se trata de un humor que se base en el insulto o la burla directas (a no ser que sea la de los personajes hacia sí mismos), como suele pasar en muchos casos, no se hace indigesto. Bueno, todo hay que decirlo; el lenguaje no es muy agradable a veces aunque siempre, el tito Pelanas —como él se hace llamar en ocasiones—, utilice metáforas e imágenes alegóricas, no demasiado poéticas ni finas, pero con su ingenio y surrealismo. Como el asunto de las culebras en sus juramentos.

Ya no sé cuántos episodios (si así se les puede llamar) sobre el pelanas y la portu he visto hasta el momento. Qué grandes los de “el partido pelanas, por un extrarradio mayor”, “ el pelanas de farrero ronchón” (parodia del anuncio de ferrero rocher que, digo yo, que algún año lo cambiarán), “otxarkoaga 2012”...”los trucos de la universidad de la vida” (muy bueno) y también destacaría el “una vez soñé...” (parodia del megane que anunciaba Alonso pero mucho mejor). Las parodias y sátiras son en todos los casos ingeniosas, aunque a veces el lenguaje del sujeto Pelanas no sea agradable...pero siempre acaba teniendo su gracia, bien por la percepción que se tiene de él en su globalidad como por el acento y los errores programados que tergiversan las cosas y crean otros mundos: anarosaquintero, el nikis de redecillas (y tantas otras cosas acabadas en “s”, Sodoma y Andorra, el Don Simón del 85, Gariñano (que no Arguiñano), estrellas Milechín, la chavalería. Lindakari, los Benidores, la fregoneta, la eskurriña, kingüis (que no kiwis...porque supongo que se refería a los kiwis ya que en el la frase hablaba de invernaderos)...

Vive tus sueños, kulebra

KochiKame is back!

Normally, all Sundays in the afternoon there's never anything special happening (nor anything special we should expect to happen). Pretty dull days....but today, i happened to discover that KochiKame was back into catalan tv tomorrow. I just wanted to check the time of something....and i got a nice surprise (that happens to me quite often). It's already a very well-known series (not as much as pokemon and so on), so many of you might already know Kochikame. I'm not a fan of anime nor manga...but i'm really keen on KochiKame and it's surrealism. It really makes me laugh. It's curious that suddenly, some day in june (i think), there were no more KochiKame chapters.....ooooh. I thought there were no more chapters, but in fact, it's normal that some series disappear temporarily on summer and come back in september, when life goes back to normal in Spain and many other places. September is like some kind of re-birth, even more than New Year, i'd say.

uhm...i missed ryotsu's ideas and actions, honda's personalities (yes, it should be plural in his case), Ohara's daily challenges...and all strange, weird and so on characters that pop in from time to time....oh..i'm moved .... ^^! And it's also a good thing to practice japanese and learn new useful things or good-to-know-things.

those you also like it, enjoy it!! (it's more fun than counting the amount of brackets i use when writing....indeed)

TV galega

Por algún motivo desconocido ayer, habiendo comido, me decidí a buscar una página de internet, que hacía tiempo había descubierto, desde la que se podía ver (medianamente bien) TVG (bueno, no precisamente la misma programación que en tierras galegas, sinó la de nivel europeo). Tuve suerte y pude encontrar la página en cuestión fácilmente. Y también estuve por la página de la televisión gallega (que por otra parte, desde allí también se puede acceder a la programación en directo online). Estaban aún con los deportes, cosa típica en todos los canales....y también típico fue que se hiciera semi-eterna. Luego un sacrilegio....un culebrón, pero de los míticos, de vete a saber de qué año, "Rubí", cuyo título me suena mucho....ay....pero es que hablaban en galego!!! toda la programación en galega está muy bien y es muy loable...pero un culebrón, cuya gracia reside en una gran parte en el acento de los personajes (muy enriquecedor), si se dobla al galego, pues pierde mucha gracia. Lo que no me dió tiempo a comprobar era si habían traducido también los tan resabidos nombres compuestos telenoveleros. Nada...muy surrealista todo. Hubiera estado casi mejor ponerlo con subtítulos. En fin, siempre hubo una tendencia a traducir nombres de películas, personajes, lo que fuera, ya para bien o para mal.

Y ahora están hablando sobre el voto de los emigrantes gallegos (tema importante) en la argentina. hablan argentinos reunidos con gallegos-gallegos, no gallegos a secas (que vendrían siendo españoles o gentes de origen español para las gentes de la Argentina). Pero en realidad puse ahora, bien pronto la TVG para ver si por casualidad los sábados también emitían "KochiKame"...porque en la autonómica catalana hace tiempo que acabaron de emitir todos los capítulos (sniff)...y quedó un gran vacío, básicamente porque están repitiendo series ya emitidas antes (emisiones cíclicas...KochiKame volverá, digo yo). Afortunados os galegos....porque luego descubrí también que por internet, KochiKame, no entra en la programación.

Lo que hay es un programa de orientación cristiana hablando sobre gente de todo tipo afectada por el problema de las drogas, hecho de una manera respetuosa, lejos del sensacionalismo de diarios de patrícia y similares. Pero no podía faltar un elemento un tanto surrealista....en vez de visualizar teléfonos y animar con algún premio en metálico o algo-digital-de última tecnología, regalan un nuevo testamento a los que llamen...extraño en los días que corren, pero para nada negativo.

Seguiré indagando sobre TVG. Lo que ya no puedo comprobar es el cambio de la tv autonómica antes y después de Fraga. Lo que sí creo que puedo decir es que los contenidos parecen ser mejores que los de las 2 tv privadas principales (con sus programas del corazón que lo inundan todo, tertulias verduleras, es decir, a gritos, y todo tipo de contenidos sensacionalistas y muy escasa programación infantil)...mucho mejores.

HIROSHIMA...60 years have passed

august 6th 1945. 8:15

Secos e molhados/ Ney Matogrosso
(lyrics by João Ricardo and Vinícius de Moraes)
“ROSA DE HIROSHIMA”

PENSEM NAS CRIANÇAS
MUDAS TELEPÁTICAS

PENSEM NAS MENINAS
CEGAS INEXATAS

PENSEM NAS MULHERES
ROTAS ALTERADAS

PENSEM NAS FERIDAS
COMO ROSAS CÁLIDAS

MAS OH! NÃO SE ESQUEÇAM
DA ROSA DA ROSA

DA ROSA DE HIROSHIMA
A ROSA HEREDITÁRIA

A ROSA RADIOATIVA
ESTÚPIDA E INVÁLIDA

A ROSA COM CIRROSE
A ANTI-ROSA ATÔMICA

SEM COR SEM PERFUME
SEM ROSA SEM NADA
**********
Georges Moustaki
“Hiroshima”

Par la colombe et l'olivier,
Par la détresse du prisonnier,
Par l'enfant qui n'y est pour rien,
Peut-être viendra-t-elle demain.

Avec les mots de tous les jours,
Avec les gestes de l'amour,
Avec la peur, avec la faim,
Peut-être viendra-t-elle demain.

Par tous ceux qui sont déjà morts,
Par tous ceux qui vivent encore,
Par ceux qui voudraient vivre enfin,
Peut-être viendra-t-elle demain.
Avec les faibles, avec les forts,
Avec tous ceux qui sont d'accord,
Ne seraient-ils que quelques-uns,
Peut-être viendra-t-elle demain.

Par tous les rêves piétinés,
Par l'espérance abandonnée,
À Hiroshima, ou plus loin,
Peut-être viendra-t-elle demain,
La Paix !

me congratulaaaa

Hey!! thanks to all those who made the effort to read some article on my blog....waa....i'm moved :D. really...thanks a million. I read all your comments and it was really interesting to see the interest some of you had to talk about communism. Danke Lukas, für deine Meinung nach, weil du, wie Deutscher, eine besondere Meinung über das Thema hast...You are closer to the reality of communism in Germany, which is an interesting case.

By the way...i didn't want to make apologia for communism since i believe it's an utopy, unless it's used to rule a small community of the extension of a family or people who can live in a house....or a small tribe. In any case a whooooole State (well, some island, lost in the middle of the Pacific wouldn't be bad). The cases of communism in this world are all quite sad...But the values of communism are not bad themselves. Communism without stalin, fidel castro, kim il sung, kim jong il (worse than his father), pol pot, mao zhedong, jaruzelski (it's written like this, isn't it?), and so many others would have been very different. But anyway...tomorrow is the 60th anniversary of the bombing of hiroshima by a democratic state. Even in a war context, i don't think people would really choose massively to drop a bomb like the A-bomb and leave sequels in a population till nowadays. Happy and lucky those who live lost in the middle of out of nowhere, in the middle of a jungle.

About what you wrote, Carles (a.k.a Dr. Karl)...it's true...there's not much change to develop hi-tech in communist countries....well, unless you want to show your country better than capitalist ones, as was the case of the former USSR and the race to space, competing with the USA....or unless the country wants to promote developement for the welfare of the community. Si m'ho permet, dr. Karl, la tecnologia no ha portat cap món millor perquè el progrés humà ha importat a pocs. Potser si que tenim més opcions i drets (sobretot les dones), però en general la societat va per uns altres camins. Llàstima, pq amb el progrés que tenim avui dia, la qualitat de vida és molt millor i podriem tenir la possibilitat de viure en un món superidealdelamuertetelojuro. Politics are quite depressing because the power is given, in most cases, to the wrong people..and economical interests (or of another kind) are more important than the population, but when they're voters. And anarchy isn't the way either. I vote left/green parties, though i don't really like the candidates, nor believe in all promises...but we must vote, to have chances to get the least worse political option.

Yes..here in spain we all heard about that german woman, who killed 9 of her sons. Very sad...but it's not difficult to go mad in a world like the one we have....and the fact that welfare state services are decreasing or worsening in many places (or simply, they don't exist)...i guess many people feel they have no protection in some cases...the Market won't help anybody nor will cover all necessities. Thanks also for the info about Schönbohm. Maybe many people from Ostdeutschland, having lost their jobs after the fall of the Wall, having emigrated to the east with fewer chances that people already living there....and feeling they were less protected than before...they can't feel fine (i've heard such theory and, besides, it's all pretty logical). But that can happen in other circumstances too. And in all cases there are many variables to bear in mind. Besides, human mind is quite fragile and mysterious. Unexpected entrepans, com deia l'anunci aquell del pans & company.

happy digestion.

Ausflug am 22.Juli: Radio+Kunst

Hier schreibe ich eun bisschen über eine Ausflug, die ich mit die Leute im Deutschintensivkurs gemacht habe. Wir sind in einen Radiosender und danach in eines Museum gegangen. Im Museum gab es eine Kunstausstellung der Künstler, die "die Brücke" begrundet haben...d.h. am Anfang des Expressionismus.

Welle, die durch Barcelona fliegen

Unser Treffpunkt war in eines Kleinen Straße direkt an der Plaça Reial, weil eine der Ziele unseres Ausflugs war, eine Radio zu besuchen. Alles war vom Anfang interessant, als wir ins Radio gegangen sind. Da waren überall Plakarde, Papiere mit Parolen, um die Welt zu verbessern. Ein Radiosender, der in einer alten Wohnung —aus dem 19. oder dem Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts— ist, hat einen besonderen Charme. Darin hatten wir die Gelegenheit, an einer Radiosendung teilzunehmen. Das war wirklich eine sehr gute Erfahrung. Die Themen der Radiosendung, die „Niemandsland“ heißt, waren die Ausstellung über die „Brücke“, die wir später besuchen wollten, ein paar Filme, deren Kritiken wir gelesen haben, Ovidi Montllor und was manche Politiker auf Ibiza mit der Natur machen wollen. Wir haben auf Deutsch, Spanisch und Katalanisch frei gesprochen, was alles einfacher gemacht hat.

Etwas Lustiges war die Katze, die frei über Stühle gelegen hat und durch die Wohnung ohne Einwohner frei gegangen ist. Diese Katze hat mich zum Nachdenken gebracht; freie Katze im freien Radiosender.

Farben, die tanzen

Das MNAC hat auf uns gewartet. Dahin sind wir mit der U-Bahn und auch zu Fuß gegangen. Die Ausstellung, die wir sehen wollten, war über eine Künstlergruppe, die am Anfang des letztes Jahrhunderts, Etwas Anderes machen wollte. Der Stil der Künstler, die „die Brücke“ begründet haben, hat eine sehr enge Beziehung mit Expressionismus, Fauvismus, Afrikanischen Kunst, Japanischen Bildern, Puntillismus und noch ein paar mehr Tendenzen. Wir konnten Bilder von vielen Künstler betrachten. Die bekanntesten Künstler sind E. Nolde, K Schmidt-Rotluf, E. Heckel, E.L. Kirschner und M. Pechstein. Die Formen und Farben, die immer reich und dynamisch sind, in den Bilder bringen die Zuschauer in eine andere Welt. Eine Welt, in der alles möglich ist; in der keine Farbe zu keiner Sache konkret gehört; in der alles unabhängig und frei ist, wir die Katze, die wir vorher gesehen hatten. Die Farben da waren wie Katzen.

Ein Teil der Bilder waren Spiegel, in denen man das Lebenstil einer früheren Epoque betrachten konnte. Die Künstler, die die Brücke gebaut haben, sprechen über nackte Frauen, über Musen, wie Fränzi, von den die Maler geküsst wurden, über Häuser, die nur in Träumen von Kindern existieren könten, über legebdige Objekte, über Bäume und Flüße, die aus verrückten Farben bestehen, über das Leben in der Stadt, d.h. über Alles lebhafte. Die Brücke hat Augen, die alles anders sieht. Sie hat einen Mund, die über alles anders spricht.

OST is not Original SoundTrack

Recently i got to know the name of those interesting -to me- old cars which appeared in old movies or in movies referring to the "ostblock",Trabant or Trabi. I can't help loving all kind of old cars, so different from those we have now, although not better. Well, that's relative since maybe a slower car is better than a fast one. There are fewer risks to take when driving up to 100 km/h. I'd like to see all those old cars back, but with their engines improved so as to pollute less. Waaa...imagine a trabi workin thanks to the power of hydrogen or electricity. perfect!

When i was little, the Iron curtain still existed and divided the world. I remember movies and cartoons where "the russian people" were pictured as the evil characters. But i don't remember much, besides that. I don't even have images in my mind about the fall of the Wall in 1989 because i was 7 and i'm sure all things happening then were a bit (just a bit) surrealist to me. Fortunately i saw the images later several times, though it wasn't the same. Spain was taking off in those years, having opened the doors of democracy to people not so many years before...and having had some crisis in the mid 80es (which, obviously i can't remember)...Spain was a bit out of nowhere, though she became a member of the EEC.

I don't think Communism is bad itself...the problem is when some people try to impose it and the leaders or people with some kind of power or links to the power, are corrupt or become corrupt. But the values are pretty positive and could work well if they come out spontaneously or from rational thinking (of what's the best for all) in a small community. Those values of not wanting luxury items, giving a high value to work for the community and belonging to it are much better than those values ruling the society we have nowadays in most "western" countries. The functionality of things is relegated to the background and things such as the image it gives to the society are considered more important in many choices. A trabi or a wartburg were enough....and a seat 600, in Franco times was enough for most families who could afford having their own car, although there were some other models. Now we have too much of everything, but yet people try to follow what is socially better...and homogenisation is not strange despite the diversity of products we have. We grow up feeling we can choose among a wiiiiide range of things and that but also we're thaught, by people around us but also by the media, what is socially desirable. And we end up desiring things because they're socially better, which we don't really need, while the media keeps bombing us with messages tellin us what to do. Happyness? not much, not enough in most cases. Just have a (discrete) look at the expression of the face of people walkin on the streets of big cities, where they can reach all kind of goods, modernity and so on. I can't find many happy expressions in people's faces...and those which aren't sad, look quite bitter or stressed. But i'm not making a call to set up communist values. I don't think either people in communist countries were or are happy, feeling somebody imposes a lifestyle on them, and seeing what lifestyle people in other countries have. But it's all a matter of education and what we get used to seeing...and how we face human impulses (those who make us love possessing things, wanting more, desiring, being better than others and so on).

"have a nice trip with Trabant". Buddhism and other Asian philosophies make me think of communism sometimes...The values they have are not so far away from eachother...and they are all distant from the existing values we have in most western cultures (i'm using "western" adjective but it's not just the west...i should include japan and some other places praising capitalist values). But nowadays people don't really thing about the relationship capitalism-communism (well, Fidel Castro and Kim Jong Il politics are still a hot issue), but about christianity and western culture, facing it with islamic countries. The world keeps changing, but not to better. :( Hey..comments for this post are very welcome. I hope i didn't offend anybody..and please correct any mistake i could have made (i didn't sleep much and morning thoughts can be sometimes a bit weird and clumsy) :)

the beginning

Ah..today, my friend Arief suggested me creating a blog here. I had already thought about it but never did anything in the end, basically because i already have a website to take care of. But today -i believe there are several reasons that tell why it IS and SHOULD BE today and not any other day-, i took the first steps ahead and here is the result. I want to thank you....maybe it brings sth positive to me, who knows. Another suggestion from Arief was to create 2 blogs so as to have 2 language versions. Uhm...there's a lot of "bureaucracy" to create one so i think i'll let languages life together. I hope you don't get scared if suddenly, something you can't understand appears right after a text in english....All languages are welcome as long there's people reading this who will understand it.

I dit tot això, bé, només cal que digui que de mica en mica aniré escrivint una mica de tot. No sé pas què sortirà, però millor. Planificar provoca patologies. "Que vagi de gust i, salut!", com diria l'Isma Prados.