Today's news

Updates of my friends on facebook are very boring by now. I am not quite sure if this means that my facebook friends are boring themselves. The situation with the tweets from people I am following on twitter is even worse; most of the times they are equally boring not to mention that they keep retweeting each other. These are the reasons that I bought a smartphone. I play a game with some bees which is fun. And I have the pulse application where you can gather different news agencies and read the news very quickly. The fun thing about the Pulse is that you realise once again that news differ from agency to agency. Also the fact that you can browse and read them quickly makes you draw some interesting links and connections.

Today's bad news

- For some time now there are some bad things going on in Syria. Government forces fight rebels. They also kill them. The United Nations General Assembly passed a Resolution on Friday saying that these bad things should stop. Some States seem to be happy with this development - 133 States to be precise. Some other States are being sceptical and still thinking about it. For example, 12 States voted against the Resolution and 31 abstained. 'Abstained' does not mean that they did not even bother attending the meeting but it rather means that when they were asked they ticked the box 'I dont know/ I dont respond' - like in polls. Well, there isnt a box like that when voting in the General Assebly but you get the point. Among the 'no's' were Russia, China, Syria, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Belarus, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Burma, Venezuela, Zimbabwe. Sounds like a communist conspiracy to me. These developments came from BBC.

- Aljazeera and the Haffington post are a bit more critical towards Russia though. It seems  that Syria asked for a loan from Russia. This is because Syria is running out of diesel oil. Russia will be generous as always. The Russian ambassador to the UN, Vitali Churkin, is very firm on his position that the Resolution undermines the chances for launching a Syrian process for a political settlement. He means that they have first to kill all the rebels and then they will discuss it over tea and biscuits. 

- Reuters News site was hacked. That was relatively easy to spot on the Wall Street Journal but quite difficult on Reuters. Weird, isnt it? By the way the news in both sites is under the 'Technology' heading. This is weirder since hacking involved a false posting purporting to carry out an interview with a Syrian rebel leader. Given the recent attacks against well established media and corporations (see the outrageous Arctic Ready hoax by Greenpeace, the Occupy movement and the YesMen and the Wikileaks attack/hoax against the New York Times) I would say that the situation is worrisome. We are running out of credible and trustworthy information.

 

Today's good news

- BBC reports that Peru burns 50-tonne marijuana haul. According to the US Office of National Drug Control Policy, Peru increased the coca production by 33%. And as if this is not enough, local coca farmers have started to cultivate marijuana plants alongside coca bushes. These developments are alerting for many reasons: 1) everydody knows that the colombian stuff is the best in the market and now Peru is overtaking the market - not fair! 2) More production, lower prices. Everybody knows - even the US - that self-regulation of the market doesnt always work. 3) To be honest, I am very concerned about the side effects of growing marijuana together with coca.

- Now this burning marijuana hauls situation may be linked to the fact that they saw aliens in Brazil. I dont know, it depends where you stand on this - literally.      

- Sweden's ambassador is one step before taking the boot out of Belarus. Belarus doesnt like him. Belarus is also one of the bad guys voting no in the Syria issue. Belarus will kick the ambassador out because he is allegedly involved in promoting democracy and human rights in the country. For example, he donated some books on human rights in a University library and had meetings with the Bularrusian opossition. Things are very tense after the teddy bear intrusion: 'the Swedish plane dropped about 800 toy bears near the town of Ivenets and near the capital Minsk, each carrying a message urging the former Soviet republic to show greater respect for human rights'. This is Aljazeera. Cold war all over again! I think this is the funniest part of my day.

- Tesco Bank will offer mortgages. Details on BBC.

- Syria's video activists use camera phones to fight the revolution. Guardian. But who watches them anyway?

That is all for today. 

PS Good luck to Curiosity!

So wrong and so right

Sometimes I read the comments people leave on youtube. Usually it is not worth it. This time I encountered the following.

Coming home after a day spent being fake in front of people whose attention you want to get, learning stuff just so that you can be appreciated in society which have no meaning for you whatsoever, hurting because you're not as smart/beautiful/talkative/creative as other people around you, putting this tender jazz on and forgetting yourself. Finally you can be a primitive, emotional creature that you really are.

So wrong and so sad.

And this:

In the sixties I used to come home after 2:am after washing dishes in an Italian restaurant, grab a beer sneak outside and take a couple of hits of weed while my family slept and put this music on my old record player and read.

 So right.

The song is Chet Baker, Almost Blue.

a song about the baddest man on the whole wide world

It was pointed out to me recently that I may like violence. It was in the form of a question though: 'do you like violence?'

My response was the following. I do not like violence. I do appreciate it though an intrinsic feature of our evolutionary journey. How you channel it in modern society and what you do with it, it is a completely different question. Murder is violence; so are certain of Pollock's paintings or Nick Cave's songs. What it disturbs me, however, is the hypocrisy of a society full of abusive patterns - not to say built upon an abusive structure. A society that revolts when the word violence comes on the table but ignores the abuse it takes and it exercises on a daily basis.


 At the National Gallery in London you can visit until the 20th of May (2012) the Inside Art: Creative Responses to the Collection by Young Offenders.

During 2011 National Gallery Education delivered the third annual series of four week-long practical art projects onsite at HM Young Offenders Institution Feltham, a juvenile prison and Young Offenders Institution for young men aged 15-21.
This display features work made by the 37 young men who participated in these projects, which focused on practical techniques including drawing, printmaking, painting and portrait sculpture, and explored themes including portraiture, still-life, abstraction and representing the world.

This is Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds in a song about the baddest man in the whole, wide world, Stagger Lee. There are two versions of this song, both equally interesting; i would say beautiful but people will think that I like violence.

no stamp no country

I am a huge fan of Eddie Izzard. One of my favourite shows is the Dress to Kill and I love the part where he explains the cunning use of flags and the rule of 'no flag no country'. 

I have been trying for some time now to think of another (smaller?) physical object - besides banknotes and coins - that could possibly encapsulate what the national flag signifies. And it hit me today. It is the stamp, the postage stamp.

It is the smallest (?) physical object that equally to the flag carries along a big part of the history of nation state.

• first adhesive postage stamp was invented and issued in the UK (1840). (Why I am not surprised?). Since then stamps have been involved and associated with the history of nation state. No stamp, no country.
• the Postal Service Act was a piece of US legislation establishing the US Post Office Department. It was signed by President George Washington (1972).
• the Palestenian National Authority established its own post offices and issued its stamps following an agreement with Israel.
• postage stamps are almost always government-issued.
• the Universal Postal Union will not recognise stamps issued by authorities or administrations which do not have independence. In other words: no country, no stamp.
• a profoundly effective and quiet way to mainstream your propaganda

 

Cant really think of anyone who would die over or kill for a stamp though the same way he/she would over his/her flag. Oh well, still, the devil is in the details. 

 

Your hand in mine

'Your hand in mine' is a band from Thessaloniki, Greece. Manos and George are 28 years old or something. They go up in the attic and make music. Just like that; i hope it stays like that.

Manos plays the wurlitzer piano, accordion, melodica, ukelele, electric bass, violin, accoustic guitar and pershephone. George plays the mandolin, accoustic and electric guitar, drums, trumpet and synth. 

They became sort of speaking well-known and started establishing their own bonding when they wrote music for a silent film (Every Night Dreams) by Mikio Naruse, a japanese filmaker. The film was screened at the 2007 Thessaloniki International Film Festival and they performed live music during the screening. You can get an idea here, although the video is not of a good quality. 

It is very difficult to describe their music. They do have a thing for Japan though. You can tell from their work, the music they wrote for the japanese film. Also their website and myspace acount is full of japanese cherry trees' blossoms. I suppose one of the reasons I am so fond of them is the fact that we share the same love for japanese cherry trees. 

The most recent work is 'The Garden Novels'. You can order it here.   

This is the Sluggish Postman.

Stay and Play

kicks in

From time to time sadness kicks in. You have to let sadness stretch inside you. Otherwise it will turn into clots in your blood and you re gonna have a stroke. That means permanent damage, my dear.

Yann Tiersen, La Chute

nana (like banana)

Nana was hanging above our heads for some time. But we fail to notice. I noticed when we came back from smoking. There was something about the neatness of the handwriting and the capital letters. It stood out for its effort. Some of the sketches were also neat and precise, but this one spoke to me. At first it surprised me that they were for sale. But soon it felt the most natural thing on the world that this sketch belongs to me and I bought it for ten quid. Ruth said that the handwriting was very similar to mine. And I write in capital and neatly only when I really want something to be readable. It was the only sketch that you wrote and it was real, serious; not making fun or telling everyone to piss off. So be it. But what I really wanted was to take a look at the back side of the paper. And I thought to myself 'stop that, it is stupid. You dont buy a piece of art and turn it around'. But I am fucking stubborn and I did. And there was this text with an incomprehensible handwriting talking crazy. And this is also so real and serious but I dont understand your handwriting, goddamnit. 

After a while we returned to our smoking point. This guy came, at his mid sixties maybe. And he addressed me saying that I am something but I couldnt get what was that. Ruth realised at some point that he was saying that I am posh and my coat is posh. She also added that I am a foreigner but I really didnt understand what this had to do with my so-called posh coat. I told him that I bought it 'cause I am cold and it was the warmest thing I can get on the market. Which is true. Then he smiled at me and told me to look at the graffti at the wall behind me. To my great surprise I did turn around and he took my hand and kissed it. Ruth thinks we made him happy because we didnt ignore him and talked with him. And that his chavish words are mostly incomprehensible. I hope they are not lost in the place where all the ties and the single socks are. 

The thing is that incomprehensible or not you have to take your chances and turn around. 

   

Nana

'WE TRAVELLED MANY MILES TODAY. I DO NOT COUNT THE STEPS, ALTHOUGH SOME DO. WE SAW OLD MEN WITH STICKS WHO CANT STIR THEIR COFFEE AND TALKED ABOUT OLD STUFF AS IF IT WERE NEW, ALTHOUGHT WE DIDNT TALK MUCH. I HEARD THAT SOME DO. WE WROTE STUFF ON OUR HANDS IN BLACK INK, THAT WE THOUGHT WE NEEDED TO. WE HAD A DRINK AND TOLD SOME LIES TO MAKE US FEEL BETTER. MAN IT WAS ROCK'N'ROLL. I 'DO IT AGAIN IF THAT WERE THE CASE'

Nana, secret message side

The one that Ruth bought. She says it is a RED squirrel.

dont trust the thinking look

it's not gonna work out. love, me.

'cause i dont want to keep calm and 'cause quizzing fucking bores me.

Secret features ipad 2 (or there is a huge fly inside your head)

This year Santa was extremely generous to me. ipad 2. !! Spent all christmas vacations exploring its features. Came up with some cool stuff that not many people are familiar with. Take a look.

First you will need to buy some additional gadgets. No worries, easy to find and fairly cheap. 

If you are a proud owner of an ipad 2, you should be aware by now that the reader feature is simply amazing. It is like reading from your notebook.  

Still, for the old-fashioned ones you must know that the ipad new version has a special scanning feature. This way you may scan all your hand-written notes and have them uploaded!  It looks something like this

For the lovers of cinema, please take a close look at the special apps you have on ipad 2. Latest and exclusive news available..

 I left the best part for the end. Ipad 2 has certain almost thought-provoking features. I cannot see the future without all similar devices adopting them in due course. For example social networking online and  connecting to your friends will take a completely different form. Believe it or not!

Not to mention the 3D effects..

It is a truly inspiring device and I really dont know what you are waiting for and you havent bought yet.

I will finish with a poem/dialogue. 

Me: There is a huge fly inside your head.

A:    Its true. It keeps quoting Shakespeare.

Me:  And it drinks port. Or maybe there are two flies in your head. I think you have a situation.

A:    A schizophrenia situation?

Me:  Dont be melodramatic. Its just a drunk fly in your head. If your head turns into a fly then you do have a situation

A:    I could do with a drink. Can we drink? My fly is thirsty.

PS I will soon upload a video on youtube with a proper narrative and spread the news. Dont worry, I will keep you updated.  

 

trapped

at Athens airport

Spot the difference

I recently watched a video on the news. It was taken during the earthquake in Japan on the 1st of January 2012. Someone recorded it in an office space. While I was watching it I had the feeling that something was not right. It took me some time to spot it. I was unable to find online the same video. But I found something close to it taken during the March earthquake again in Japan. 

Watch this, 0.23-0.53. 

In the video I watched the other day there were 5 people in an office. Even though the earthquake was quite strong, nobody tried to somehow protect themselves which is supposed to be an instinctive reaction. All 5 of them were holding/protecting the monitors of their desktops. More or less like in this video. Weird. Who are we?

Good & Better

If you play by the rules you have to be good.

If you don't play by the rules you have to be better.