Trip down memory lane...

One street that I will always remember of Copenhagen is Bispebjerg Park Allé...or for the initiated... the road from the nightbus, back to home.

I got the idea for this post some weeks ago, when walking once again down this road, but didn't sit down to write about it until now. Don't even really know what I will write about or where it will lead me, but just thought of it...

So, this road. For years now I have walked that road at various moments of the days and mainly at night. At the dead of night, dark, cold and raining, or in the early morning of a lovely June weekend, with the sun rising already, a clear sky and a total silence except for the first early-rising birds singing and chattering away. With the best company one could ever wish for...

So yes, I walked down that road again this summer, with yet again other faces, others who come to marvel at the tranquility of the road. People live at it, and many at that, but it is always quiet, and the trees are tall and dark, seemingly giving 'cover' to the tired, weary and drunk that are yearning for some food and water before they will pass out in their beds...
Unaware of the many that went before them, but all have a left a trace in me, like a soft footstep in fresh moss, careful and pure, a memory of friends, different times, but all with the same nexus, the same hub, the same roots.

The other day I walked it again, stirring up many things again, remembering faces, smiles, laughter, stories of the stupid things we did walking those 5-10 minutes... road signs, canoes, street lights, bushes, mailboxes... I am not sad nor sentimental, just came to think of it... with a smile on my face, strapping the memories to me, like one straps on a backpack, tightening it for the long road ahead, making sure it fist comfortably, snugly and doesn't fall off at the wrong moment...

"The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

The Road goes ever on and on
Out from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
Let others follow it who can!
Let them a journey new begin,
But I at last with weary feet
Will turn towards the lighted inn,
My evening-rest and sleep to meet.

Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate;
And though I oft have passed them by,
A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon, East of the Sun. "
J.R.R. Tolkien - Bilbo Baggins' Old Walking Song

What a goal....

Have a look for yourself... probably the most beautiful goal of the season... and we have barely started...

Click on 'mid' in the left column where it says 'Ibrahimovic scoort 5-1 tegen NAC 23-08-04' and you'll see!!

Oh myyyy goooodd.....


*link updated...*

A secret?

"My wife and I have the secret of making a marriage last... Two times a week, we go to a nice restaurant.... a little wine, good food, lovely atmosphere.

She goes Tuesdays, I go Fridays..."

Motorcycle Diaries...

Or 'Diarios De Motocicleta'... stories about the 'travel itch', the search for all that is beautiful, the quest to go beyond the horizon, the tales of friendship, hardship and opening your eyes to something else that the sheltered life that we are used to... and what thoughts and feelings that stirs; leading one man to fight with all he had for the weak and underprivileged... becoming a hero, an icon, a symbol of the 'reds'...

Hmm, it's been some days since my last post, mainly because of a failing Internet connection, due to the various construction/destruction that is going on around here. Anyway, that's a different story!

So, about some diaries... You might have heard of Che Guevara, that guy that nowadays is degraded to a picture on t-shirts or posters, generally with lots of red colour around it. I think probably one of the first (and only) times anyone sees a picture of this Argentinean who became one of the icons of the 20th century and a hero in the eyes of those that lean towards a (blind) version of 20th century communism/socialism... like I said, mainly as face on many t-shirts, without the one wearing the shirt really knows what he was about and what he meant for so many around the world. "Yeah, he was this guy in Cuba right?"
Well, honestly I have to admit I didnt know much about him either except for the facts (which is more than most I guess); a main character in the Cuban revolution in 1959, fought as a liberator/terrorist in Zaire and Bolivia, and was killed in Bolovia, supposedly thanks to the help of the CIA... a hero for the poor and nowadays with the aura of cool and the symbol for the "alternative"... Don't get me wrong, I think I should know more about this person, and his importance in 20th century history, but I find the iconifying a bit sad to be honest. I am far from the political right (with the current American political climate transferred back to the McCarthy times, I would probably be branded a communist.... hahah!), but I loathe as well the forced way he is kept 'alive' by those who with their political background (if they stick to their true version of socialism) should detest iconifying like that... but ok, look at the statues of monstrous proportions that one could find of Lenin in Russia for example...

I am drifting... so far the facts...

A movie came out about his travels in 1952/1953... based on his diary entries he wrote during that loooong trip straight across and through the South American continent. He went on an old motorbike with his best friend, and travelled, for the sake of travelling... baffeling people, his friend, and himself with the resilience shown in all face of all the challenges they encounter.
A beautiful movie, a lovely movie about friends, having the eye-opener of their life... It's not about politics... it's about the vastness and extra-ordinary beauty of the South-American continent and about its variety of people... the warmth and openness they encounter and hilarious descriptions of their adventures with their motorcycle 'La Poderosa'...

It's touching, it's lovely, it's beautiful, it's hilarious, it's brilliant in its simplicity... it's a tribute to South America... it's road movie... and as with 'Y tu Mama Tambien', and with having heard so many stories about the countries there, with friends all over the world, with "un cachito de mi corazon" in one of the countries that is shown, I can only say this... my travelling days are not over yet... the 'itch' is definitely not gone... so much more to see.... so much more to feel... so much more to breathe...
It's scary, that big world out there and yes, I am feeling well here in Copenhagen... yes, it is a good place to be... but... well, you know...

Always wondering...

Some days ago I cleaned up very thoroughly in my room and came across a bunch of old magazines... One of them was a copy of GQ from 2000, sifting through it I came across an article showing the different kind of wear riot police is clothed in around the world...
The main part of the article was a 2 page spread of pictures, taken all over the world, from Santiago de Chile to Jakarta... showing people being beaten up by riot police basically, basically showing a world in disarray is my conclusion...

Some questions though, did the writer/editor/reader of the article actualyl consider why these people were demonstrating? Did they consider the political climate of these countries, and the way people are 'forced' into a strait jacket? Not giving them a voice to think or express themselves? Did they consider how desperate the 'rioters' are to actually reach that point?

Why show something like that at all... and why the hell write an article about it, is it cool or something? Showing the world is on fire? Governments trying to maintain the little foothold they still have, the little foothold of their uniform ideas, not allowing creativity, not allowing difference in thought, trying to brainwash and keep control...

Did 'they' ever consider that?

Am I crazy, or...?

Baloo was back...

All that was missing were the coconuts... just have a look at the pictures... the return to Dakota!

The 'Alvaro' move was haunting CPH again... the victim this time: poor Rikke... For those who are uninitiated... this is THE move he makes before 'going for the kill' Hahah!

Of course... we did the *Sean* as well...

the Sean

Sean, this one was for you! We missed our partners in crime... returning to the 'scene of the crime' without the 'dinner club' was weird...

Henri Cartier-Bresson - bon voyage...

Black and white pictures still have this 'magical' essence, bringing us back (in our perceived and created reality) to 'simpeler' times, to times where everything was more calm and serene, more pure...
I mean, there is a reason why the newest digital cameras have various settings for taking black & white pictures...

The master of these pictures, Henri Cartier-Bresson, died some days ago, at the very respectable age of 95. Well done I think!
He has taken pictures that are still capturing our imagination, still frames of a lost and forgotten time, catching famous and not-so-famous people in a very special way.
Many of us have his pictures on our walls, sometimes without even knowing it, like me... when I was in Paris 2 years ago (already!! it seems like yesterday...) I bought some black and white pictures of various scenes of Paris. These pictures just ooze the atmosphere that is the myth 'Paris', calm, tranquil, smoky jazz cafe's, mist hanging over the Seine in the morning, just stepping back in history, hearing the accordeon of the street musicians, the soft muted sounds of a saxophone coming from some backyard... and yes, these pictures were taken by Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Leaving a legacy that still stops us in our tracks when we come across it...

Another one...

China's past, America's future? Anne-Marie Slaughter Wei Jingsheng - openDemocracy

Hmmm... interesting...

Big words...

Sometimes you just come across something that catches you and actually is useful to the stimulation of thought...

"Today's terrorism is not the product of a traditional history of anarchism, nihilism, or fanaticism. It is instead the contemporary partner of globalization. To identify its main features, it is necessary to perform a brief genealogy of globalization, particularly of its relationship to the singular and the universal. "
Jean Baudrillard

(english) http://www.ctheory.net/text_file.asp?pick=385

(spanish) http://www.ctheory.net/text_file.asp?pick=386


The following article is definitely worth reading as well... the authur connects the 'image' of Dubbya with Jerzy Kozinsky's brilliant book ' Being There'... or not there...
It's called: "Being Nothing: George W. Bush as Presidential Simulacrum"
http://www.ctheory.net/text_file.asp?pick=427

Enjoy...