You gotta run, run, run, run, run

I’m too busy to write anything and since all I would do is post links to articles and videos, just add me to your google reader “people you follow”.

When I have some time I’ll write:

- Bubba takes the high-speed train to Málaga
- Racism in Spain: Who’s the racist?
- Bubba organises the PIPA2010 conference (1st Symposium on Parallel Implementation of Polymorphic Algorithms)

…and other delights…

Diary Entries Competition

Match the three diary extracts below to these three writers:

a) Fernando Pessoa
b) Bubba Tribunales
c) Krishnamurti

Correct answers by females win a night out with the authors of the diaries, if living. Correct answers by males get a free torrent download of their favorite pop song. Good luck!

1. Οι τεράστιες μάζες των ανθρώπων είναι πέρα για πέρα αδιάφορες για όλα αυτά – ‘ανθρωποι ανεύθυνοι που ψάχνουν να γεμίσουν τη δική τους εγωιστική ζωή εξευγενίζοντας τις επιθυμίες τους, αλλά παραμένοντας εγωιστές. (loosely translated by me and google-translate: The huge masses of people are completely indifferent to all this; irresponsible people looking to fill their own selfish life, by refining their desires, but remaining selfish.)

2. …so I did what the Danes do, I wrapped myself in the airplane style blanket and sipped my 5 euro coffee. Welcome to wonderful Kobenhavn. You WILL be happy! … on the SAS flight back to London, the screens were showing the pilots eye view! Yeah, that’s where the excitement ends, because NOTHING happens. No birds being squashed on the windshields, no aliens flying about, no juggling homeless angels cleaning the windows at the lights…

3. I experienced the pain of truth when I saw myself there, because, inevitably, it was my face I looked for first. I have never had a very high opinion of my physical appearance but never before have I felt such a nonentity as I did then, comparing myself with other faces, so familiar to me, in that line-up of my daily companions. I look like a rather dull Jesuit. My thin inexpressive face betrays no intelligence, no intensity, nothing whatever to make it stand out from the stagnant tide of the other faces. But they’re not a stagnant tide. There are some really expressive faces there. Senhor Vasques is exactly as he is in real life – the firm, likable face, the steady gaze, all set off by the stiff moustache. The energy and intelligence of the man – qualities which are after all utterly banal and to be found in thousands of other men all over the world – are stamped on that photograph as if it were a psychological passport. The two travelling salesmen look superb; the clerk has come out well but he’s half hidden behind Moreira. And Moreira! My immediate superior Moreira, the embodiment of monotony and routine, looks much more human than I do! Even the errand boy – I detect in myself, without being able to suppress it, a feeling that I hope is not envy – has a directness in his smile that far outshines the insignificant dullness of my face, of me, the sphinx of the stationery cupboard.

Three Little Gems

Three passionate voices. Dedicated to my neighbour

Birthday Blog

Happy Birthday Spiro’s Blog!

To celebrate, here’s another great article by one of the few good men left.

I don’t even have enough time to read it all, since I need to catch my flight to Thessaloniki. But I trust John Pilger, although he has been slightly naive with regards to the global warming scam, so you can go ahead and safely publish it.

Many happy returns.

The editor.

Time Stand Still

I turn my back to the wind, to catch my breath before I start off again. Driven on without a moment to spend, to pass an evening with a drink and a friend. I let my skin get too thin, I’d like to pause no matter what I pretend, like some pilgrim who learns to transcend, learns to live as if each step was the end. Time stand still, I’m not looking back but I want to look around me now. Time stand still, see more of the people and the places that surround me now. Time stand still. Freeze this moment a little bit longer. Make each sensation a little bit stronger. Experience slips away… experience slips away… Time stand still!

I turn my face to the sun, I close my eyes, I let my defenses down. All those wounds that I can’t get unwound. I let my past go too fast, no time to pause, if I could slow it all down, like some captain whose ship runs aground I can wait until the tide comes around. Time stand still, I’m not looking back but I want to look around me now. Time stand still, see more of the people and the places that surround me now. Time stand still. Freeze this moment a little bit longer. Make each sensation a little bit stronger.
Experience slips away… experience slips away… Time stand still!

Summer’s going fast, nights growing colder. Children growing up, old friends growing older. Freeze this moment a little bit longer, make each sensation a little bit stronger. Experience slips away… Experience slips away…

Educational Toys

Toy of the month.

Educational Toys

Some of the reviews are quite funny…

Been thinking about beans. Here’s a recipe I made up (and never tried):

1. Soak a cup of coffee beans in water overnight.
2. Make some caramel, however it is you make caramel, in a pot and add the beans.
3. Add water and bring to a boil. Keep adding water until the beans are cooked.
4. Serve on a bed of whipped cream.

Goya Burger

Goya Burger, sponsored by Carrefour

Dia de los Reyes in Spain tomorrow. The Kings came from the East today and arrived in Madrid and all over Spain bringing gifts to the children that have been good all year and coal (!) to the nasty ones… It’s a big carnival-like parade in Madrid. Apparently a lot of children cry in awe when they see the kings (the wise men). I hate to tell them: It’s all a damn lie!

Meanwhile, Israel continues bombing the fuck out of the Palestinians.  It’s no lie. It was planned a long time ago.

Going to Lisbon on Wednesday for a few days, then London on Monday for a week. Bubba has a son. His name is Herbie Tribunales Ramirez. Sorry I hadn’t told you earlier, I just recently found out myself.

Public Service Announcement

Tip of the day: For a longer day, wake up early.

Song of the day.

Bubba latest:

I saw Him in a shoe shop in Athens
with cars burning up outside
trying on a pair of Prada’s
for size

When Bubba met Juana – Scene 1: Boots of Spanish Leather

Bob Dylan himself was scratching his guitar and croaking away in the corner of this brightly lit bar as she threw the lit butt on the floor and didn’t even step on it with her long boots of Spanish leather. Bubba observed this scene and wondered how often there were fires on the floors of the bars in Spain. What with all that paper, cigarettes and grease… surely it’s a common occurrence? Yet, from what he had heard by the locals, the quality of a bar is dependent on the amount of rubbish on it’s floors. The more rubbish, the more popular the bar, hence the better the place to be. How fitting then, he thought, if there are little fires on floors, in small bars, being put out and set alight again by proud people who like to eat every bit of a pig you can imagine, while discussing life, death and death and … death.

 

…to be continued…

 

(tune in next time to be enlightened more about Spain, witness Bubba introduce himself to Juana and her long boots and join us in musing at Tom Waits´s and Camaron’s brief multimedia cameo appearances.)

Bullshit

I’m going to Greece, Θεσσαλονίκη, for a long weekend. I really need to get out of London. I’ve been here for nearly 2 months now without a break. It’s enough to drive anyone crazy. No wonder people turn to drugs and alcohol to “enjoy” life here…

It always creeps up on me, this overwhelming sense of BULLSHIT when I’m living here. If I think back to when I used to live in Greece, then, yeah, I guess I had the same feelings. Maybe I couldn’t pinpoint it like that, but then I was a teenager and it was understandable and even excusable to be able to find only one word to describe the current state of affairs. Now, nearly 40 years old, I still expect to wake up one morning and see the headlines in all the papers: “BULLSHIT”

Just that. I guess it would be a possibility if there was any such thing as independent media. But of course, the media is governed by bullshit as well. So how could that work then?

“BeeeBeCeeeeee ray-dio twoooo… and now the news, read by Jeremy Vine… (Jeremy comes on)… US presidential candidate Barack Oba… bullshit… (pause)… Prime Minister Gordon Brown is meeting with his cabinet today to discuss the impending reshuffling of… bullshit… (pause, deep breath)… The turmoil in the financial markets continued to send… bullshit…”

Here’s the great Jonathan Richman (and what a fantastic introduction!):

Thank fuck for Jojo!