My own little private balkans

Me: Did you make this?
Him: Yes, it's a traditional serbian recipe.
Me: It's delicious, what's it called?
Him: We call it "Meat And Potatoes".

Eyes.

Fictional Friends

"And that’s because of people arguing over things that many people regard as imaginary. Chiefly, gods, religions, and national boundaries, which are absolutely imaginary. They’re completely notional. They don’t tend to exist. As soon as you pull back half a mile and look down at the Earth there are no national boundaries. There aren’t even any national boundaries when you get down and walk around. They’re just imaginary lines we draw on maps."

-Neil Gaiman, interviewed at Bookslut.
(An interview where he actually just talks about stuff completely unrelated to the above, but i loved that quote anyway and wanted to put it here)

Pun Headlines

Steve Winwood run over by truck
He was playing in Traffic.

Unfair

My dad was teasing me at lunch today because he has a copy of Eric Hobsbawm's Autobiography and i don't.

Oh, and i also still do the occasional freelance office work

ML: Marco, turn that pc on for Robin.
MP: That one? It's already on.
ML: Yeah? When did you turn it on?
MP: Some three weeks ago.

As you may have noticed, i've been rather busy lately.

l-r: The Webmaster, The Mystery Accomplice, The Chuk from the Trabant.

Completely random update post

As you may have noticed, i've been rather busy lately. Which accounts for the lack of updates around here.

The type content on this website has been rather erratic over the past years. It started out as a sort of diary-like thing as i suppose most blogs begin. Then when i realized that reading about other people's lives on the internet is about as boring as an unsuccessful comparison, the blog started to center more on stuff that i found interesting, links and the like. I don't link much to interesting articles, websites, etc. anymore mainly because i've started to use de.licio.us quite conspiciously over the last few months. Here's a link to my account. I'll eventually add it to the sidebar. I wish i could have direct links to de.licio.us pages on the sidebar like pino, for one, has. But i assume that's not really possible on a lowly blogspot template.

Just to contradict what i just wrote, here are two links i found interesting today:

• John French aka Drumbo officially declares the natural ending of the Magic Band's reunion. Lovely recap of three years of reconstituted greatness.

• Momus reviews Cornelius' new single. I didn't think i'd ever say this nor probably will i ever again, but in this specific case i could not possibly agree more with Momus' opinion. (Although i obviously appreciated the Point album much more than he did)

(There's also another reason i'm not posting many links to cool stuff anymore - said reason will be revealed in a month or two, but i can assure you it's something cool)

While we're here, sorry about all the conversation snippets i've been posting lately. I realize they may be found uninteresting or incomprehensible, but that's just the way things go. There's no telling how things will evolve here but usually it's just stuff happening randomly and ending up on the internet. Although i do admit i may have been toying with the idea of giving a completely different twist to this blog, but as i said, there's no telling.

(If you've read until here, please notice that this has been a really long post centering basically on "sorry for not posting")

Also, i've had a cold lately. Was brought a lemsip few minutes ago. Plus a glass of lemonade "while the lemsip cools down". As i gulped on the lemonade, the cat on my lap watched me with compassion, still puzzling over why us humans insist on wasting time by eating with utensils and opposable thumbs instead of just using the mouth like he does, which is so much more practical. Can't blame him. Of course, this is the same feline quadruped who leaves in a huff if fed from anything other than his own personal bowl. So it's all relative.

Weekdown Endload: Start Wearing Purple

Location: ShagooFest, last week.
Her: Did you see that guy's T-shirt? "Start wearing purple". It's true, more people should wear purple.
Me: Hey, i wear purple all the time!
Her: Yeah, but you're Robin. You don't count.



Gogol Bordello - Start Wearing Purple (128kps 5Mb Mp3)

The Webmaster once almost saw Gogol Bordello live but since the drummer had broken his arm he went to a party instead. And what a party that was.

YouTube Goodness - The Beatles

I knew it was on YouTube somewhere. And of course i found multiple copies. The following is, hands-down, my favourite Beatles live performance. (Second favourite is Paperback Writer live at the Budokan, which is sadly absent online. Pure energy in that one.) Paul screaming, George messing up the backing vocals and laughing, John playing keyboards with his elbow. Ringo...well, just being Ringo which is what we all love him for. This one is dedicated to all those who think pre-Revolver Beatles aren't worthy of their time. Think again.

So without further ado:
The Beatles - I'm Down - Live at Shea Stadium, 15.8.65

The alternative was handing it to the lost and found.

J: What happened?
C: Robin found a beer.
J: You found a beer?
R: Yeah, i found a beer.
A: (arrives) What's up?
R: I found a beer.
A: You found what?
R: A beer.
C: He found a beer.
J: So what?
R: So i drank it.

I also tasted my first ever tofu yesterday, thanks to these guys.
It wasn't bad, but i expected it to come as a little cube and dance around like in all those anime.

Update: bands i saw at the festival that are worth checking out, quite surprisingly because i don't usually listen to this kind of stuff:
Exit Failure,
Inner Glory,
Ornaments. <--particularly good

In Memory of C's defunct cellphone

C: My cellphone broke down this morning, i had to buy another one.
R: How did it happen?
C: I walked into a shop and bought it.
R: No, i mean the old one breaking part.
C: A bottle of conditioner i was carrying in my bag broke open and swallowed it.
R: I understand. I lost a relative that way once.
C: What?

(Disclaimer: perhaps a small portion of this conversation may have been made up)


This image has no relation whatsoever with the above conversation. It's only here because it made me laugh. Please ignore it. (Tnx to Kombatt)

Two in one. Last night's dream and: Later, in the library.

Last Night's Dream:
I dreamt that one of The Residents had died, and when they took his mask off it turned out he was Wolfgang Flür.

Later, In The Library:
Him: "What about her? Do you like her?"
Me: "Are you crazy? She's thirty! That's only one digit away from forty!"

Could be worse.

Trieste, 30.8.06

(No, not really.)

Sgonico, 1.9.06

(Perhaps)

Another weekend, another download.

So i had this wierd dream. Some friends and i had been asked to list two or three songs that should be used to remember us when we're dead. The only one i remember choosing was this one, definitely an odd choice:
Pizzicato Five - Collision and Improvisation (Dizzy Fugu Mix) (Remixed by Maxwell Implosion) (128kps Mp3, 5.57Mb)
Actually, the stevereichesque opening marimba loop added to a Piero Umiliani sample makes the tune quite appropriate for such a destination. I like it. I'll go with it.

(No, Stevereichesque is not a word. I just made it up. Please avoid using it in future, i promise i will too.)

Popular Wisdom (Excuse our french)

Overheard at the Osmizza of Ceroglie, 26.08.06:

Se te son cussì bon a far conti, fa conto che te son un mona.

(sorry folks, absolutely untranslatable. But i couldn't help sharing it here anyway.)

The Webmaster Loves his Mom

Her: Hungry?
Me: Actually, yes!
Her: I was talking to the cat.
Me: Oh. Sorry.

The Continuing Adventures Of My Ringtone

This just in from The Idiot:

The Tehran Symphony Orchestra played Frank [Zappa]'s Dog Breath Variations at the start of a weeklong visit to Germany, seen as an exercise in cultural diplomacy. The 80-member ensemble, which included more than a dozen women playing in headscarves, got a standing ovation as they opened the Orient Festival on Sunday 20 August in Osnabruck.

Which is probably the most beautiful piece of middle-east related news i've heard in the past year or five.

The webmaster fondly remembers smuggling a taped copy of Sheik Yerbouti through persian borders back in 1997, cunningly camouflaged as "Bunny and the Dandelions".

On the other hand, this picture just made my brain implode. Thank you, the internet.(via)
For future reference: please include this topic among those never, ever to be mentioned in my presence so as to avoid headaches, stomach pains, frothing to the mouth and cold-blooded homicide.

So anyway, speaking of borders, you may have noticed i'm back in italy since the 15th as promised. The previous six or so posts were flashbacks from my short-but-all-too-sweet holiday from the rest of the world. Almost a week without the internet - such a luxury. Highly recommended.
I would also like to mention that i miss that serendipitous little what-in-the-world-am-i-doing-here-and-where-is-this-anyway place terribly, and would like to thank all involved even if they don't really read this because, like, they're busy and clever.

We now return to our regularly scheduled program.


One week ago this moment i was on a ferry somewhere in international waters and i miss that, too.

Acercamientos Linguísticos

Her: Sorry, we weren't talking in english, you couldn't understand a thing.
Me: It's fine, as long as you don't say 'robin' or 'malakas' i know you're not talking about me.

From N.'s Window - 2