my favourite vancouver pic

my flightmate gordon, or: facts about canada

on my frankfurt-vancouver flight i had a very chatty seat neighbour... i think he spoke for a good third of the 10 hrs or more, but it wasn't annoying, actually kept me company...
and i found out a lot of facts about canada!!

for example:
* canadians are pretty harmless. they do have more weapons per inhabitant than in the usa... but they use them to hunt! like if you live in the northern territories you go out one day and shoot at a moose, put it under salt and have meat for the whole winter...

* you cannot smoke in the street if you're standing closer than 5 meters to the door af any public place. seriously!

* there is a valley in british columbia some 100-200 km east of vancouver where the weather is great, bec the perturbations coming from the ocean hit the rockies and shower all their rain over vancouver, and then the wind continues dry onto this valley. they grow any kind of fruit there for the whole state, and wine too. does this also explain why vancouver is way more rainy than victoria?!

* there is a small tiny island close to greenland which is contended between canada and danemark bec probably there are huge mineral resources beneath the ground. so when the canadian navy passes by takes away the danish flag, puts a canadian flag and leaves some canadian alcohol under it, and the same do the danish with their flag and alcohol... (am not really sure i understood the alcohol part correctly, sounds kind of gross!)

ok now i don't remember anything else... but i'll keep updating the post, i'm sure he said so much more...

thalassa thalassa

finally, the sea. again!
and not a regular sea. the ocean. the ocean.
not really ocean, we're in a bay. but still... the sea!
makes me feel high. can't feel the fever, can't feel the cold. i'm high on the sight of the sea. maybe it's the fever too that makes me feel high. maybe the jet-lag? no...
it's just sea, sun, wind. & fever.
and i am taking pictures. not exactly my favourite, but who cares?
i'm high on photography. and fever. and the ocean.

the cut runs deep

horrifying. drops of own blood, spilling all over the place.
the sight of blood quickly spreading through the water, it's one, two, three drops, and the water is already red.
your nerves freeze. you can't think. not because your head is wide open. your blood is motionless all over the body, except these drops. they seem they're never going to stop.

no explanation
the cut runs deep

fair enough

finally we have a new sign in the Weltladen, the heidelberg fair trade shop where i sometimes work... it was a struggle to prepare it, a real odyssey... plus me and Ute not being professionals, that doesn't really help! but finally, after 1,5 months & everybody doubting about it, we made it through!!!


i like the idea of leaving something of mine in the middle of a city, even though it's not exactly beautiful... at least i hope it's going to last!!!

actually, since i made it, i kind of like it, especially the rough touch - it's not unprofessional, it's artistic!!!
and i know not both sides look really the same, but still... for how much i know about painting and graphics, i would really say... it's fair enough :)


and also, i just found out that, today, one of the possible choices for the english exam in the italian maturita' (sort of A-level/end of high school exam) was about fair trade and sustainability and how much european consumers are aware of these issues... would have never thought people in the ministry of education would come out with something like that... unbelievable - but nice, obviously!

coney island

sometimes i find myself liking strange photos. a few months ago i was at an exhibit of Salgado, and although there were plenty of great shots (actually there were plenty of photos... was probably too much... even when it's good stuff, i believe too much is still too much) and i'm sure many were much "better" than this one... still, it is the one that came to my mind again.

don't know why, just makes me curious.
makes me want to go there...


even when i can't say what i really like in a photo, or whether i really like it (like for this other one by a Ciaran Tully), some of them still deliver an atmosphere and carry me far far away... i see stories in these photos. i see stories and would like to go there right now and look for the story they're telling me, and maybe take some shots and speak around, end up finding a totally different story...



but this time i might have picked the wrong coast...

Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill

W. Shakespeare, Macbeth, act III - scene 2.

haven't blogged in a while. was actually trying to come out with a serious post, but was always lazy and kept forgetting about it. then tonight, as i was cycling back home, i found a big bag of garbage lying in the middle of the street. pretty unfamiliar, here around. at first i was kind of scared, thought it was a dead dog or something else that bad. fortunately not, was just garbage. probably some germany supporters celebrating their terribly boring victory were too much euphoric and decided to throw stuff around. semel in anno... v. german.

or maybe they just wanted to make me feel like at home.
so here's my serious post. collecting stories i read and others i heard from friends (special thanks to eu and eleo). couldn't possibly do information, not being there. will limit myself to express some feelings. quoting Macbeth to comment on garbage. seems like a good start.

to summarise: a few weeks ago, finally (?!) a new solution for the garbage problem in campania has been found: 10 new dumping grounds & 4 burning plants, whose ability in producing energy as a bypass product makes them an incredibly lucrative deal, as opposed to what they really are, ie. polluting & highly inefficient.
plus, one of the dumping grounds is going to be set up in a green area, one of the last in the region. is there anybody going to check what kind of waste is actually going to end up in there?! guess...

did we need 14 years to get this solution? i believe not. 14 years is a lot. 14 years to decide the most obsolete way to attack the problem is the one to be pursued. AGAIN.

many words have been spent elsewhere on this issue. but not lately.
lately the point is just the protests.
people protest because they don't want the garbage to pile up in the streets.
people protest because they don't want the garbage to go into dumping grounds.
kind of contradictory, isn't it? but with no further explanations, both statements are accepted as being products of the same source. doublethink.

and to avoid going beyond such a shallow and fast description of the protest, a new penal trend has been approved, along with dumping grounds & burning plants. which are going to be controlled by the army. and any protest form against the solution could be in principle prosecutable. another pillar of democracy bites the dust. what the definition of such protest form is, that is unclear. as is the explanation why modern, concrete and efficient ways to dispose of the garbage are not even remotely considered. not the reason. the reason is surely not unclear. the explanation.

the communication link has long gone missing.
ignorance is strength, after all.

because the night

do i need more of a proof?
it's dawning... and i'm not even tired. i'm ok.
just finished now. now. and i'm perfectly fine...
guess i'm just a night person.

and i know i'm going to feel like crap tomorrow morning. no need to have lots of shiny shiny slides when you're totally sleepy and don't even remember what to say.
but still, can't help.
e-ve-ry time.

(should find a night job perhaps)

too much, too few

oscillating.
that's what's happening to me these days. oscillating between feeling totally inspired and then completely unmotivated. between cheerful with no reason and absolutely apathetic...
and have no time to be unmotivated. too many things going on. which usually is better than having too few, because you don't have time to think about stuff. but if you ever start thinking, then it's over. tchüss. everything else is absolutely fucked. start falling into my own destructive chain of thoughts.

and i can look wherever i want, nothing is an inspiration anymore.

"If your everyday life seems poor, don't blame it; blame yourself; admit to yourself that you are not enough of a poet to call forth its richness; because for the creator there is no poverty and no poor, indifferent place."

once more quoting Rilke... wouldn't even need to, this time. guess i blame myself enough already.

boing boing boing...