Brand New Blog

As promised, here we go!
New Blog

Lisbon-Porto-Lisbon

Last week - form the 2nd to the 8th - I went to Lisbon...had my post-graduate holydays....eh eh...by now it is the only post-graduate thing that concerns me...we will think about the degree in some months...by now I am satisfied with this....
May I say you came as well, Paterok? I hope so...we had fun, for real....Edgar has been a wonderful host and a very patient guide throughout the city center and on the coast too...he lives in a very quiet and beautiful neighbourhood, not far from the center of this amazing city...just in front of his apartement there are three or four (how many, Edgar?) bars, mostly run by Brazilian guys, that are vey cozy and comfortable...for laid-back people...and we were soooooo much relaxed....
That city is an ever-ending up-and-down on its hills ( they are seven as in Rome...very funny coincidence)...steep streets, trees growing up on tiny stairs...very old and amusing houses, a thin rain covers the typical portoguese sidewalks kind of often in March...

The language sounds like a poem, like a song...I cannot catch it that much...it is much better when it is written...you have to know that, if plural, almost every word gets and s that has to sound like the czech š....I cannot give many more tips about this sexy language...maybe at first hear it sounds like a Polish dialect...but now it is me who sounds so superficial....so enough of this....

We had very tasty dinners in Bairro Alto...a quarter that is the pulsing heart of nightlife in Lisbon...imagine a hill covered by packed and small old buildings, any of them very low ceilings...in every street there some pubs, restaurants and bars open till four in the morning(!!!!). People in Lisbon like jazz a lot, apparently, and I like them because of this....
People look so peaceful and relaxed everywhere: Id say I did not meet a single person who behaved wrong to me....but I know that holydays (with your favourirte travel mate, by the way!) can give a distorted perception of reality...but, man, it has been such a pleasant feeling to feel so welcome...and so often...
We visited Sintra(++), the western border of the European Continent, Capo de Roca (++), and then we walked on a rose sand in front of kind of angry oceanic waves(+++)....so cool and touchy....

After few days we rent a car, in order to visit Porto on sunday and monday...first we went to a Football match in the most beautiful stadium I've ever been into...Porto won...so Fernanda and her family (so nice people....) were so happy about it...35 thousand supporters in a brand new stadium, no riots, no violence, no embarassing police presence and people, family, kids who just want to enjoy their time!!!!In Italy this would be impossible, for real...and I kind of felt embarassed for our close mindedness...

Porto has such a beautiful river that runs just in between Gaia and Porto...the docks on both sides are impressive, at the sunset striking...the Port-wine tasting was a compulsory stop and we did not escape it...What I really loved about this city is this idea of quietness that the river can express...Lisbon is amazing but the river is, let's say, at the border of it while in Porto it looks like the element who balance the two parts of the city...but Porto is soooo steep, damn'...I remember when Fernanda complained about the small road going to Vinarska from Vystavyste: too steep in her opinion...that was nothing if you compare it with the streets in Porto!!!!

We would have probably liked to stay there longer but we had decided to go back to Lisbon for a Fado night! The bar where they played it is so small and typical - as far as I can judge - that Ill remember that evening for ages....we even saw a Japanese guy singing Fado (!!!!): indeed on mondays it is a sort of open concert for Fado singers: you ask for it at the boss and you have your chance...amazing...
I just wanted to give you some impressions of this amazing country, where Ill try to go again in the future...
With this post the short life of this blog is over...nobody is probably so interested in such a development...but I write it anyway...I move to Berlin in 6 days so Ill make up a new blog for this new experience(hey, English native speakers, any tip for a catching new name? Uh?)

The last post will then tell you the addresse of the new one...hope that: somebody will arrive at the end of this very long post; will check the new one at least once; will, from time to time, send me some news about his/her life (my email is not gonna change, guys!!!!) ...take care you all...

THE END

Last Carnival Day

I have been working everysingle night since last thurday...been working also during the day form time to time...the result is that I am tired, my mother forgot she has a son, my father as well...I touched so much money and threw so much garbage that I'd say: it is a scandal!!!!

Worst Carnival Ever

If it was not for the increase in the number of policemen and dustmen, this Carnival would look like a depressive and ugly November week-end....

March the 17th 2006

I ve just bought the ticket to Berlin: this time is a one way ticket...sounds as much strange as cool though...Anyway the Carnival is almost started and I am sure this few weeks will pass so fast....
Take care you all!!!

Konec

I am done with the uni. had the final discussion this morning. I will party hard tonight so if any of you will have something alcoholic in his surrounding, he is kindly requested to cheer to me!!!! Let's say around nine p.m. on the European Central Time. Cheers, Nazdravy, Salute, Santé, Prosit, Nazdrovje or whatever you say!!!!

Shut the Fuck up Mister Berlusconi

He said once he had been oiled by the Lord; then he said the Western Culture was superior than the Arabic; in these days he is getting to the heights we never thought he could reach: in a row he said that: Italy is more communist than any other country in the world: newspapers, banks, companies, judges, etc they are all stalinists trying to eat children and win the battle against capitalism; then he promised his priest to avoid sex for the whole electoral campaign - please shut the fuck up; then he said only Napoleon had been better than him in history; yesterday he declared that he is as Jesus Christ: bearing any kind of suffering for the good of his electorate....
With the approaching of April, the 10th I do believe this is a Truman Show: a very bad one but nothing else...

Danish biscuits again: We need this kind of people!

Click the link and tell me your opinion on this article. I read it this morning on my newspaper, the material one...have you ever read "The Magic Lantern" by him? It is a very good book about the Velvet Revolution. He turned to be very influential for me. So read this article: he says exactly what we need now to overtake this break.

Timothy Garton Ash

Danish biscuits part II: I am really getting annoyed by this story: it does not make any sense

Have a look

Bitter Danish Biscuits

This story of the Dahish cartoon - apparently - is not ended yet. I think it is getting far beyond its natural borders. My personal opinion is that some irony is always welcome and it is a product of the people who do it. I'd swear the Danish cartoonist did not think that his drawings could have had such a big audience. It is a question of freedom of expression. Should it be applied to all the fields of a society? Almost to all, in my opinion...and I would say religion is one of these fields. It cannot be the untouchable sphere, the reign of seriousness and nothing else. Some wonderful and poetic Iranian movies (Kiarostami's for instance) are banned in Iran for some very obscure reasons, while in other countries they are considered masterpieces, and I agree.
I remember that many people made fun of Pope Wojtyla, the way he talked in Italian and things like this. Nobody ever showed a gun or a rifle in this country, one of the most religious of this continent. This is a huge difference. Burning flags or shooting is the border-line reaction, while many other people in the Arabic countries had a different reaction, less noisy and exaggerated: I know this. I think there is nothing morally wrong in some irony, and being ironic means also to say something unpleasant. The France Soir reacted in the best way, according to my point of view: in the first page there was another cartoon which said something like:" Oui, on a le droit de caricaturer Dieu". Its director has been fired because of this: probably the pages looked an example of islam-phobia, and for this reason it could have been avoided, but the idea is right!
Until it is not offensive.

Article Spiegel International

Some more pics

Last October I met up with some of my ex-school mates. It had been ages since the last meetings and it was a nice and entertaining evening. Have a look!
Click on it and then choose "Foto compleanno"....

Photos

Fuck Yeah, guys!

After months and months of stupid delays, after several disappearances of my teacher, after holydays, vacations, seasons, travels, promises and bullshits.....I HAVE FINALLY WRITTEN ALL THE SHIT TO GRADUATE!!!!!!
I can't believe it yet....don't even know if I will realize it before the final discussion that is due to be February, the 15th.

Not very democratic, Mister Putin

Have a look

Summer 2006

I guess it is the first time in my life that I already have some really specific plans for my summer. Indeed I will be a volunteer in Berlin, working with children...
If you are interested, have a look at the description on the web.
I think our plans concerning the holydays in some Croatian lighthouse will be postponed....prominte!

EVS Project in Berlin

A collage from New Year's Eve