Copperhead Road

One of the cultural/political aspects of the United States I find absolutely fascinating is the us-against-them mentality, of independence from the government, a certain rebellious streak against any kind of strong government. The title to this post is from a Steve Earle song epitomizing this attitude very well (check out the video & lyrics). It is furthermore a sentiment that can be traced through time as well as space in the American history: Thoreau's Duty of Civil Disobedience, the (in)famous right to bear arms, states' rights, Faulkner's Gavin Stevens who in Intruder in the Dust argues for the South to resolve its race issue on its own without Northern (federal) interference.

I thought of this when I had my coffee/newspaper session this morning and the New York Times had an interesting article on a state that was never formed, Absaroka, in the South Dakota/Wyoming border region. So much still unexplored (for me in any case) in regard to American history (and everything else, I know), it's crazy.

Basketball outside the US

Josh Childress a sixth man with Atlanta last season signed with Olympiacos (Tue Hoop & ESPN). Brandon Jennings is also going to play in Europe (True Hoop & ESPN). As a European baller having spent a lot of time in the United States this feels really good. No matter how long the US has not won gold at either the Olympics nor the World Championship (10 years by now?), American arrogance on US basketball prowess has never diminished. Even my educated basketball friends that have been to Europe claim before every Olympics that the US will destroy its competition, pointing to the superior American roster (on a name recognition basis). Of course they are right, LeBron, Carmelo, Kobe, Dwight Howard, Chris Paul (and the list goes on), this will be a collection of great player. That just doesn't mean that they will win. Last time around the Greeks killed the US in the fourth quarter by playing a high pick-and-roll for what seemed like 10 consecutive posessions. Argentina destroyed (and I mean destroyed, I believe they were up by 18 at some point) the US a few years earlier on this advanced and innovative play called back-door screens.

Basketball is not solely an American sport anymore. Period. It might have never been, but that's a different argument. Americans have started going to Europe to make money. Europeans (+ Argentina) have started to beat the US regularly. I am walking on a court in the US and people have more respect once they realize that I am European because they know it'll mean I can shoot.

I just hope at some point people will start to realize that once you step on a court, it's 5 people on each side, and your name don't mean nuttin'. It's how you play (international in this case) basketball. Carmelo Anthony for example will possibly be the best player on the US team again. Kobe or LeBron might be more suited for isolation plays with no one calling traveling on fast break dunks (hi there LeBron), but Anthony adapts better to a (more effective imho) passing game. So, the Americans can lose against Greece, against Russia, against Argentina, against Spain, fuck, against Germany (well, maybe not, but then Dirk and the new German hick Mr Kaman might go off in the same game, you never know). Are they still favorites when it comes down to it? Of course, but so they were the last 10 years. As much as I like American basketball, as much as I follow the NBA (and UNC since last year), as much as I prefer playing in the US over most games in Germany or France, I hope y'all lose, just so you finally begin to realize that the game is not dominated by the US anymore. That's over.

Intellectuals

So, Foreign Policy published a list of the 100 top intellectuals in the world today. People were allowed to vote on this, here are the results now. Funny thing is that I know one of the top 10 (Orhan Parmuk, two I remembered once I had read the descriptions) a few more in the top 20 and only have read something by one (Orhan Parmuk) in the top 20. Embarassing for me to some extent (should have read some Chomsky or Umberto Ecco). The list is also apparently a typical case of regio-centrism, a massive influx of Middle Eastern and Turkish voters assured that 9 of the top 10 are Muslims. Kind of funny how a western publication, usually one to twist lists such as these extremely towards the US and Europe gets played at its own game here.

Lesson to be drawn? Be less Western-centric, read more and more wide-spread.

One point of criticism I should add, a popular vote such as this leads to famous people perceived as intelligent to be featured disproportionately on this list. Al Gore for example, or the highest write-in candidate Stephen Colbert, should not be on there or not as high in any case.

Le sursis

Jean-Paul Sartre de nouveau. Je n'avais aucune idée que son livre, que je m'avais acheté à l'occasion, l'Âge de raison est le premier d'un trilogie. Le sursis appartient à Les chemins de la liberté (et je vais commencer le troisième La mort dans l'ame ce soir). De plus, je n'avais pas d'image de Sartre vraiment. J'en ai connu son nom, sa femme (de laquelle je dois lire quelque chose aussi d'ailleurs) et sa visite à Baader à Stammheim et la façon dont il les (le RAF) a cru leur propaganda. Respect entre un intellectuel célèbre alors, mais rien de plus.

Le sursis a beaucoup fait pour changer de cet avis. Sans exageré, je n'ai pas encore lu trop de livres aussi fort. Putain, si je n'étais pas croyant, je le comparerais à Faulkner. Sartre décrit, utilisant le même personnage qu'au premier bouquin en plus que quelques caractère nouveaux, sept jours en septembre 1938. IL écrit dans une façon très difficile à suivre, échangeant les points de vues des characters au même paragraphes ou même phrases parfois. De plus il y a plusieurs fil de récit, et caractères, beaucoup d'entre eux n'ont pas la moindre relation. Lire ce bouquin, n'est pas alors une tâche facile toujours, mais se concentrant et lisant pendant quelques temps sans pause mérite l'effort.

Sartre réussit à décrire la France, ses caractères dans un temps très difficile, dès 23 jusqu'au 30 septembre 1938, pendant que les accords de Munich ont été négocié. Ses caractères ont peur d'être mobilisé, de la guerre, d'être seul, d'être obligé à partir (de la Tchécoslovaquie), des Allemands. Quelque-uns attendent la guerre plein d'espoir (pour soi-même, pour les juifs allemands, pour les républicains en Espagne), des autres essaient de lutter contre la mobilisation. Tous sont humain, et Sartre a un talent incroyable parfois à décrire ce que ses caractères ressent. Le lecteur ne comprend pas seulement pourquoi les gens réagissent d'une certaine façon, il ressent ses décisions, ses doutes. Surtout la pensée de Mathieu (le caractère principal de la première livre) sur la guerre sont d'une force incomparable. Sartre réussit à faire comprendre le lecteur ce qui s'est passé vraiment dans ces jours où la peur d'Hitler, la peur de la guerre, la mémoire de la première guerre mondiale ont dominé la politique.

Je ne peux pas seulement recommander ce bouquin, il faut que vous le lisiez.

News Update

• Gut für die Umwelt, schlecht für den allgemeinen persönlichen Komfort. Die Flugpreise in Europa gehen wohl wieder hoch. Ich hatte aber irgendwie auch immer ein schlechtes Gewissen mit dem ganzen hin- und herfliegen. (Zeit)


• La récession européenne vient. (LeMonde) Cool, que moi je chercherai un boulot bientôt.


• The cost of going to Heaven hasn’t gone up. Advertisement on a church in Ohio. (Krugman)


• Paul Krugman claims that federal politicans having no idea about Social Security is something that would not surprise him. I find it absolutely scandalous and shocking if true. In this case, John McCain wants to end present-day retirees being paid through the taxes paid by today's workers as he considers this a disgrace (and apparently thinks it is something new). I guess the only possible deduction from this statement is that McCain has no idea what he is talking about. How sad is that?(Krugman)


• The White House issued a truthful press statement, but don't worry, they retracted it right away: Mr. Berlusconi is one of the most controversial leaders in the history of a country known for government corruption and vice. (NYT)

Bad Lands

Tony Wheeler, author of Bad Lands - A tourist on the Axis of Evil, is the originator of Lonely Planet who in this book describes his travels to a variety of supposedly evil states (Lybia, Saudi-Arabia, North Corea, Cuba, Albania, Iran, Iraq (the Kurdistan part), Afghanistan and Burma). The book is not a pretty read in the sense that Wheeler is simply not such a great author, but it is interesting where it is a guide book, where he describes what he finds as tourist infrastructure in these countries. Wheeler is at his weakest when he tries to give political analysis of a country in two paragraphs, he also preaches to the choir too much when he derides American hostility against some of these countries. Yet, for the countries I was less informed about (Albania for example, or Lybia) his background information, if very short, was helpful and interesting. Furthermore, some of his observations were simply fascinating and made me go to these countries quite badly (Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Albania mainly). The only bad thing I guess then is that I have no money or time to do any of this anytime soon. But, who knows maybe I'll find a job that gets me to these places one day.

News Update

• Ce que la France veut faire sur la PESD pendant sa presidence de l'UE. En bref c'est une version très, très court et simple de mon mémoire. Ils adressent tous les problèmes majeures au tout cas.


• Highly interesting article on the emerging political and economical power Brasil (a little too comparative with Venezuela maybe)


• Herr Gusenbauer wird in der Zeit runtergeputzt. Ich hatte irgendwie immer ein sympathisches Bild von ihm einfach, weil es auf absehbare Zeit der einzige Regierungschef war mit dem ich mich je unterhalten hatte.


• The on-going racism watch. Today, if you sound 'black', you make less money.


• Sarko, more show than substance.

Boston II

• So, after having been here for nearly three weeks I finally found a bad-ass basketball court. It is right next to my work too and in case anyone is looking for me within the next few weeks anywhere from six to nine, you'll know where to find me. Why is it bad-ass? Because there are not so many Asian and white kids playing there as on the other playground that I went to before. It is pure racial stereotyping I realize that, but it strikes me over and over again how much of a difference there exists in this country between black and white (omitting Asians here for a second) ballers. The game is much more serious, everybody plays harder, talks more trash, is faster, more athletic and hits their shots at a higher percentage. Especially in Boston where the black population (downtown in any case) is a small minority, it is noticeable how much of black man's game this is. Maybe places like Indiana are different, but it has definitely been my experience so far wherever I went in the United States.


• Also, if you ever come to Boston. Check out Monday's blues night at Wally's Café. Great show, good musicians (especially one of the sax players and the female(!) Japanese(!!) drummer), nice crowd. A little too modern and funky for me at times, but they covered Junior Wells' Messin' with the Kid, so who am I to nit-pick.

News Update

• The peculiar American obsession with patriotism is really nothing new, whether it be the constant singing of the national anthem at any sporting event, the fervent display of flags by everyone from car dealerships to veterans-turned-homeless-guys. The gigantic flags in fashion now, really are just an expression of this superficial brand of nationalism. That's what it is though, superficial, I ran around Boston yesterday (the 4th of July) asking people how many of the luminaries that signed the Declaration of Independence they knew. Most replied with one only (John Hancock). Shouldn't you at least know about something before you are proud of it?


• The new American embassy in Berlin was unveiled officially yesterday. It is in a very prestigious spot, right next to the Brandenburger Tor. John Kornblum, the old American ambassador to Germany, is quoted in the article as saying: "For some reason, when we asked for our increased security enhancements a lot of people in this city went crazy. We endured all kinds of taunts and demands. ‘What do you Americans think you’re doing?’"
  
  Well, with all due respect, Mr Kornblum your early requests if I remember correctly involve having a security area around the building that would have virtually closed the biggest tourist attraction of Berlin to any visitors. So, yeah, sorry, but I thought that was pretty cheeky as far as security concerns go as well. Definitely, not just an anti-America attitude the way the article portrays it.


• Ever since this Jayhawker I know complained of my too optimistic portrayal of race in the United States, the New York Times has decided to show me that he is right. Seems like I have to rescind this post of mine and become more of my cynic old self in that regard.


• The impact of rising gas prices on the USA is quite incredible. It affects virtually every part of life here. Having read the New York Times daily ever since I came here again it is striking how this country will have to change in the mid- and long-term if these oil prices don't change anytime soon. (1, 2, 3)

Obama moving right

Not to be a Besserwessi (great word, learn German or look it up if you don't know it), but Obama is moving to the political center (aka right, since he was further left before) in order to appeal to the broader masses. His many young disciples that I encoutered during my UNC days (been like what, two months? feels longer) hopefully will come to the realization that he is just another politician in the end, a good one, a relatively left-wing one, but not more than that (and not less than that either).

Case in point 1, Obama like the incumbent supports welfare programs run by churches continuing the dubious seperation between church and state in the United States. While at the same time undermining any kind of universal welfare approach that is needed (as far as I am concerned in any case) in the US in order to end socio-economic deprivation occuring here (and create a true meritocracy, I could get carried away here, but will control myself).

Case in point 2, Obama is supporting "legal protection to the telecommunication companies that worked with the National Security Agency’s domestic wiretapping program after the Sept. 11 attacks." Do I even need to add anything? Spying on Americans? I'd call it unpatriotic just to mess with the conservative crowd, but then most of them tend to not even realize that that is what their revolutionary ancestors fought against.

Case in point 3, Obama supports the death penalty for the crime of child rape. While I obiovusly agree that this crime is "heinous" I do not support the death penalty. Never. And in this case it means that Obama is more conservative than a Supreme Court dominated by conservatives.

Case in point 4, Obama supports the Supreme Court's strike down of Washington DC's ban on handguns.

I like him, I'd vote for him, but they honeymoon period with the liberals and young ones is over it seems.

UPDATE: The New York Times editorial of today argues pretty much the same point.

UPDATE 2: The Economist weighs in on this too now.

News Update

I am super busy at work (yeah right), so here goes from my daily NYT consumption

• If you want to kill someone and get away with it, better be white, guess someone was trying to show me that my post the other day was too optimistic.


• Great story. Some dude decided to present himself in a small town as a federal officer and start busting drug dealers and consumers. No search warrants, no justification, working only based on his convincing manners and badge from a previous job as a security guard. Funny how easy stuff like this even today (internet, telephone?) still is. Hauptmann von Köpenick II sozusagen (and with no apparent evil or selfish intent).


• Finally, Obama will be trying to contest the South (or so it seems), Thomas F. Schaller says that is dumb. I tend to agree with Mr Schaller, it seems to be a waste of resources to even try to compete in states such as Mississippi (check the numbers that he offers up for proof). Most interesting I found that Afro-Americans in the South apparently (and surprisingly as far as I was concerned) vote on par with their white (regional) compatriotes. I had thought blacks participate in far lower numbers in the electoral process.


• Letztlich bin ich zum Glück nicht der einzige, der sich diesem seltsamen en vogue geratenen Patriotismus verschließt, diesen stattdessen sogar als Gefahr wahrnimmt.

L'Âge de raison

Sartre alors, drôle comment un nom fait une impression, rencontrant des gens en le lisant, ils sont tous impressionné. Moi, je suis sûr que les ouvrages philosophes de Jean-Peaul Sartre sont difficile et complex, L'Âge de raison n'a pas été trop dur à comprendre. Je ne comprends toujours pas tous (au niveau des mots), mais je me débrouille quand même et j'espère que en lisant plus j'arriverai sur un niveau de français plus acceptable.

Le bouquin soi-même a été très agréable. C'est l'histoire d'un professeur de moyen âge (35 je crois), qui s'appuie sur sa indépendance, sa liberté, même s'il l'imagine plus qu'elle existe. Il apprend que sa mâitresse est enceinte au même temps qu'il se rend compte qu'il n'aime plus. Mathieu (son nom) est foutu, il ne réussit pas à faire rien de ce qu'il voudrait (dès draguer quelqu'un d'autre jusqu'à trouver de l'argent pour un avortement).

Pourquoi je l'ai bien aimé alors? Je ne sais pas trop, je trouve sympa les histoires sans espoir comme celle-là. Je peux sympathiser avec un mec qui souffre sous ses anciens décisions, qui n'est pas tout à fait heureux avec sa vie, sa façon d'être. Bien sûr que (j'espère au tout cas) je tire des autres conséquences, mais j'aime bien ce Mathieu quand même. Un peu froid, un peu trop intéressé à ses études parfois, un peu du mal à ce que les gens ils pensent grâce à un cynisme profond, c'est une décription de moi aussi à un certain degré.

À la fin, la vision de Satre des gens, de la communication inter-humaine me plaît. Elle est aussi negative que la mienne (ou aussi réaliste?), les gens, ils se malcomprennent, ils se font du mal et ils ne le réalisent pas ou ils sont en fou. Et non, je ne me suiciderai pas maintenant, mais il faut admettre, que cette vision a plus de raison qu'on ne le voudrait.

Jubelpatriotismus

Ach bin ich froh, daß die Deutschen gestern verloren haben, diesen Partypatrotismus, der sich in Deutschlandfarben auf der Wange und hawaiianisch anmutenden Girlanden in der gleichen Farbkombination niederschlägt, finde ich einfach nur furchtbar. Da setzen sich in eine Bar (oder auf stehen auf einer Fanmeile, einem Public Viewing Event(whatever the fuck that is supposed to mean, about as intelligent as Handy)) eine Gruppe von Leuten, die sich nicht für Fußball interessieren, keine Ahnung haben mit welchem Verein Michael Ballack zum ersten Mal Deutscher Meister wurde (um nur ein relativ simples Beispiel zu nehmen), stehen zusammen, stöhnen zusammen, schreien zusammen, jubeln zusammen, brüllen zusammen. Das Gehirn schaltet sich ab (Alkoholkonsum ist hierbei natürlich hilfreich, aber eine alkohollose Grundsubstanz ist leider meistens gegeben), jede negative Entscheidung des Schiedsrichters ist grundsätzlich falsch, jede vergurkte Defensivaktion ein Riesenapplaus wert, jeder schöne Übersteiger des Gegners wird kommentarlos übergangen.

Ich habe ja schon prinzipiell eine Abneigung gegenüber jeglichen Ausdruck von Massenekstase, dem überbordenden Ausdruck von Gefühlen in Gruppen, aber gerade in Bezug auf die deutsche Fußballnationalmannschaft kann ich diese nicht nur nicht teilen, sondern finde sie sogar abstoßend. Habt Ihr denn nichts aus der Geschichte gelernt? Seid Ihr Euch denn nicht darüber im Klaren, daß das schöne, das lobenswerte, was sich andere Länder ruhig abschauen könnten, eben dieser mangelnde Patriotismus ist, diese leidvolle Lehre der Vergangenheit, daß jede Form von Patriotismus eine Art von Nationalismus und damit eine Ausgrenzung der (oder des) Anderen ist? Nein, ich stehe hier nicht mit dem Moralhammer und sage: "Ihr Deutschen dürft nicht, weil Ihr den Holocaust verursacht habt." Aber warum muß man dies tun? Die anderen doch auch sagt Ihr. Natürlich, aber macht es das besser?

Das, was ich aus der Geschichte gelernt habe ist eindeutig, ich brauche keine Identifikation mit einem Staat, mit einer Nationalität, ich will sie auch gar nicht erst. Ich bin zuallerst ein Individum, ich denke, ich entscheide für mich selber und renne nicht blind wie ein Huhn vom Sommer- zu Winter- und wieder zurück zu Sommermärchen. Meine deutsche Kultur prägt mich, klar, aber gerade deswegen will ich ja dieses Nationalitätsgefühl nicht haben. Schließlich stellt sich die Frage, welcher Natur diese deutsche Kultur ist, Goethe, Schiller, wer hat die schon gelesen in meiner Generation? Was verbindet mich mehr mit einem Stoiber, als mit französischen Freunden von mir, welche ähnliche kulturellen oder sozio-ökonomischen Interessen besitzen?

Jedwede Selbstidentifikation ist nichts anderes als eine Exklusion der anderen. Das will ich nicht. Ich will keine Trennlinie zwischen mir und einem Polen, zwischen mir und einem Österreicher ziehen. Das ist (oder soll ich sagen war?) das schöne, das bestaunenswerte am Deutschland der Nachkriegsjahre (wohl erst ab 68, aber das ist ein anderes Thema), es brauchte diesen dumpfen (und niederen Gefühle weckenden) Patriotismus nicht. darauf bin ich stolz nicht auf eine Rumpeltruppe die glücklich gegen die Türkei gewinnt um im Finale unterzugehen.

Packt Eure Flaggen weg, fangt an zu philosophieren!

New York Times Ramblings

• Most of you will know that I leaned towards Clinton in the Democratic primary mainly because the Obama craze made me feel uncomfortable (not that this matters since I will never be able to vote in the US anyway). Now I am of course mentally supporting the Democratic candidate against McCain (as much as I prefered this guy over his Republican competitors). Anyway, what always intrigued me was the kind of ground-support that Obama received. Here is another wonderful example of it.


• I always knew that Dylan was the most influential musician of the 20th century. Here is some proof.


• Finally, for all of you UNC students not in North Carolina or not follwing the news. An update on the Eve Carson trial made it into the New York Times.

USA

So, I've been in Boston for two weeks, I've had my ups and downs (socially and professionally). I like the town. Too expensive, too fancy for my taste, but very chill anyway. Highly international, I was sitting in a coffee place yesterday with some Syrians (speaking Arabic) on one side, some Bulgarians on the other and me talking French with a Haitian girl on my phone. I like these things, this conglomerations of people from all over the place. Today, I played ball with three Iranians (who were pretty good, but some skinny white motherfucker from Germany killed everyone on that court) and some Spanish-talking guy. Sitting in a park yesterday, I noticed the amount of Americans walking by who most obviously have somekind of an ethnic background. While none of this really is anything new I just figured I should point it out again.

The United States is easily (becoming in any case) the only non-ethnic society of the world.

I saw a little league game yesterday, with both teams being Hispanic, black and white. I had a conversation with nice black British gentleman the other day who has been living here for 20 years is married to a white American and in a very evident manner has been accepted by his white step-son as the surrogate father. Please don't get me wrong, I realize that the US has a long way to go, that blacks and hispanics earn less, are less educated, less represented in power positions. But at the same time, the irrelevance of race has moved further here than any other place in the world that I know of, especially among children and with an eye towards the future isn't that all that really matters?

Just to piss of this Texan dirt farmer I know, the United States from my point of view is a post-modern society based on modern sentiments (Europe I would argue is the opposite, a modern society based on post-modern sentiments). As a disclaimer I should say that the definitions of post-modern and modern I use here are really personal, I am not up to date on the discussion of the concepts, I make up my own meanings so to speak. Anyway, what I mean is that the in the United States race is not as relevant as in Europe (Germany in any case, but with some exceptions in regard to France I think this is very generally applicable), making it a post-modern society not dominated by one homogenous people. The ironic thing about all this is that this society is based on concepts of nationalism of a pride in one's country that is far less existent in Europe (because of reasons of size, history, whatever), a very modern concept in the end that really should have left any validity with the Second World War.

But maybe the American society is schizophrenic in general, making this combination less bizarre than it seems at first glance (and one could of course argue that these two interact supporting one another (again, look at France)). Look at this country after all, I have never seen a place where truly gigantic (fat) people at least outwardly portray less shame at their weight (and why would they, I like that they do), yet at the same time I know no other place where more guys clearly take drugs to bulk up. A country where certain events are broadcast on TV with a three second delay in order to prohibit another nipplegate, but where girls going out might as well wear no top at all considering their cleavage. A country that has produced Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison, Franklin, Twain, Faulkner, Hemingway, Auster to name just a few, but where intellectualism is seemingly frowned upon. A country where the beer is light in order to preserve one's looks but one whose traditional food sources are greasy as fuck. Amazing the contrasts one can find here really.

Again, please don't misunderstand me. There a massive problems to deal with here, just bike along E Berkley anytime in the evening, go to the basketball courts of Dorchester, check out the bums on Newbury (and anywhere else), yet this racial post-modernity I find intriuiging, that's all I'm saying really.

Plateforme

Une copine m'avait donné Plateforme de Michel Houellebecq et je le dois avouer je l'ai trouvé fascinant. Je ne veux pas dire, que je l'ai trouvé très fort, mais fascinant, plutôt dans une façon negative que positive parfois, mais intéressant en tout cas. Seulement la dernière partie du bouquin m'a fatigué un peu, parce qu'il devient trop répétitif à la fin.

La première moitié du livre est très fort, un fonctionnaire d'une quarante d'année, qui n'a aucune intérèt à rien, ni dans sa vie, ni dans son travail, il n'a même pas d'ami. Ayant reçu un héritage considérable il se met en voyage en Thaïlande. Ses obsérvations sur la vie occidentale, sur la société moderne en général sont super cynique et d'un humour sec que j'aime très bien. Quand même (en vue de son cynisme et manque d'intérèt) il tombe amoureux d'une fille et ils sont heureux dans la deuxième partie du livre. Je ne veux pas raconter trop de l'histoire parce qu'elle n'est pas trop surprenant où même intelligent.

Ce que m'intéresse sont les observations sur la société de Michel qui, je crois, est plus ou moins représentatif de l'écrivain soi-même. Lui, - ou les deux à mon avis, parce que même si Michel n'est pas Michel, il, l'écrivain, donne l'impression de s'identifier avec son caractère - il montre des convictions complètements repoussants et hypocrites. Les decriptions de Michel baiser quelqu'un ici, être soufflé là et lécher sa copine dans une troisième endroit devient très ennuyant. Sa accentuation sur l'importance du sexe est ridicule à mon avis. Oui, c'est important, oui je l'aime bien aussi moi, c'est quelque chose très spécial entre deux gens, mais premièrement je ne dois pas parler du sujet toujours et en plus même si je baise comme un fou je peux bien être malheureux. Michel se moque des films pornos, mais ses descriptions sont exactement la même chose (avec des gens qui voient lui et sa copine en train de baiser quelque part et décide de les joigner tout de suite). En plus je trouve l'importance qu'il donne sur la fellation ridicule. Oui, je l'aime bien aussi moi, je ne vais pas mentir, mais son obsession avec ça me fait mal, surtout parce que il parle toujours de donner plaisir et que ça aurait été tué dans la société moderne parce tous se concentre sur soi-même aujourd-hui, mais cette plaisir est toujours par des femmes, alors que lui montre beaucoup moins d'enthusiasme enthousiasme. Sale hypocrite.

Son défense du sexe tourisme aussi est déplorable (pour manque d'un mot plus fort), il donne l'impression que les filles dans tous ces pays attendent seulement pour que il se peuvent prostituer. L'argent contre le sexe, comme si cettes filles ne feraient d'autre chose s'il le pouvaient.Il cite un arabe pour pouvoir dire que il n'aime pas (de nouveau, manque d'un mot mieux) l'islam, je trouve ça lâche. Les Ivoiriennes sentent le sexe à son avis, alors il est rassiste aussi, sympa. Et à la fin, il trouve rien quand un mec d'une quarantaine d'année commence une relation sexuelle avec une fille de quinze ans. En fait, sa description de cette fille est comme si elle a 20 ans au moins, dans sa façon de se donner et tous, peut-être ce mensonge (ou cas peu représentatif) lui fait se sentir mieux.

À la fin, écœurant, complètement. Oui, c'est bien écrit. Mais les raisons pourque je l'ai trouvé intéressant à lire ont été presque tous lier à ma aversion de ce qu'il dit.

Boston

I have been here less than 48 hours so just a few notes on my first impressions:

• My first conversation with a Bostonian showcased ... nothing really, but it was pretty funny. I was sitting on the bus going downtown with my bags, when this guy sitting across the aisle from me asks what the ZRH on my bags stood for. Response: Zurich, where I had come from. Bostonian: "Where is that? Africa?" And no, I don't think he was kidding.


• Boston makes a very clean, very European city. Lots of white people with suits on the buses, little parks, community gardens, the houses not too big. Me being me (aka dumb) I decided to walk home from work yesterday though and, having had no map, got completely lost somewhere in the project area of South Boston. Basketball courts, toothless black men that greet you when you walk past, hispanic women sitting on the porch yelling to each other across the street. Some cops stopped me at some point figuring a white dude with a nice shirt and pants was in the wrong area, but I never felt threatened or anything. As far as my experience is concerned Americans tend to exaggerate the danger of these parts anyway.


• As a side-note, this phenomena of older (especially but not exclusively), poor black men greeting you with a 'how's it goin' or something similar without prompt nor any desire on their part to bum anything off you is something I have never quite figured out. I kind of like it actually, I figure it is a respect thing of some sort, but it is very much restricted to a certain socio-economic group.

Le rouge et le noir

En préparent mon séjour en France je essaie de découvrir la litterature francais maintenant. Mon coloc (pas vraiment, mais oauis...) m'a donné son exemplaire de Stendhal Le rouge et le noir. Après Dumas mon deuxième oeuvre ancien en francais. Honnêtement j'ai du mal à m'exprimer sur les bouquins comme ca, je les aime bien (celle-là aussi), mais les discussions ne sont pas les miennes, il y a plus de difficulté à s'identifier avec les charactères.

Stendhal parle d'un homme qui essaie de se lever de sa position basse dans la vie à l'aide de intélligence et en travaillant dûr (une thème americaine si on veut, sauf que...non, je ne le dis pas, mais peut-être vous pouvez déviner la diffèrence quand même). En tout cas, ce monsieur (Julien Sorel) et décrit profondement, ses amours, et ses tentatives de se lever. Il y en a une mélange de la politique, la mobilité sociale, l'amours. Quoi d'autre peux-je dire? Beaucoup, mais je suis trop fatigué honnêtement, il reste trop de chose à faire avant que je parte demain. Alors, lisez-le, il vaut la paine, vraiment.

España

Having spent 10 days in Spain now (I got back to Berlin yesterday evening only) I believe I can consider myself an expert on the Spanish mentality per se and thought I should share my insight on this. Yeah, ... right. Well, I wanted to get a few things of my chest in any case.

I had never been to Spain before (geographically and culturally that is, I had spent some time in secluded German areas of Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife as a teen), did have some preformed opinions (mostly negative) based on the overwhelmingly (and lame) positive perception of everything Spanish (party, sun, beach, party (including 'exotic' music and latino dansers/lovers/whatever, nothing else really) by my compatriotes. So, I went to Madrid and Barcelona staying with friends in both places (Spanish in the former, American in the latter, my experiences logically having been tainted by these different circumstances).

In comparing these two cities I like to invoke the similar distinction between New York and Chicago. One is better known, more popular, on first sight more attractive maybe, and more touristy, the other more low-key, less well-known, more quiet and less beautiful on first sight. In the end then I cannot really pass judgements on two cities as different, Madrid was fun (thanks to my knowledgable tour guide (Q: Who is Alonso XIII? A: The Son of Alonso XII!), I liked its tranquility while being alive at the same time. Barcelona is a completely different story, overrun by tourists (French and German mainly it seems), strikingly beautiful with a historic center right at the beach and with its streets (in that part of town anyway) crowded at all times (I personally feel like one could call it Kreuzberg with older houses, a beach, and a massive amount of tourists (profound comparison, I know)). Honestly, as much as I liked being in Barcelona, the touristy aspect is painful at times, also because my lack of any (active as opposed to passive) Spanish knowledge made me feel this even more so. I also feel that Madrid's beauty is undervalued, in its central district it showcases an impressive array of beautiful apartment and governmental buildings. Thus, go to both, not just one of them, if you can and get yourself some Spanish friends before you do.

The latter mainly because the Spanish (in general, there are no exceptions, no, really) for some reason that I couldn't quite discern are enviably proud of not speaking any other language. Asking someone in Spanish whether they spoke any of my three languages just produced a proud: 'No! Espanol!' The fact that I was aware of a) us being in Spain and b) of him/her being Spanish and included both aspects in my decision to start asking in Spanish in the first place seemed to make no difference here.

What else? Spanish women wear no tops at the beach (and are accordingly and continously assailed by men twice their age when sun-bathing). People don't go swimming in the ocean (and I always felt kind of dumb for actually doing so when everyone else obviously was only working on their respective tans). Spain is a lot cleaner than I had though, less Italian so to speak. Starting conversations with 50 year old men who speak no foreign languages is surprisingly fun and easy. Stereotypes about Southern European effectiveness are true (I missed my plane back home because the trains didn't run (a fire in some station), there were no buses (well, like one every 20 minutes with a queue of maybe 300 metres) and the cab drivers were striking). No one thought an anouncement on any of this (even in Spanish) would be necessary of course. There is bad-ass, super comfortable and fast train connection between Madrid and Barcelona, just a tad too expensive though. For some inexplicable reason Spanish males think that mullets constitute an attractive hair cut.

Yeah, Spain. Good fun I have to admit, just don't give me those dumb stereotypes as a reason please.

On a last note (and this is nothing new, I know), I hate not being able to speak a country's language. I abhor it in fact. No possibility of properly conversing with locals, always staying at this sad tourist level. It makes me feel really uncomfortable honestly. Think I am made to live in other countries, even to visit friends there, to learn languages (I need to finally start a fourth one), but not to be a tourist only.

La Peste

Je suis à Barcelona pour l'instant et je crois que je ferai une poste sur l'Espagne avant que je sois parti d'ici, mais jusqu'à maintenant il faut attendre.

Je viens de finir mon deuxième livre de Camus La Peste il y a quelques jours. Mon français n'est toujours pas assez bien pour être capable de juger les œuvres litteraires comme celle-ci je trouve, alors je vais me garder de dire grande chose là-dessus. J'ai bien aimé Camus, il est capable d'ouvrir des sujets très complexe dans une façon facile à accéder. La seule chose que j'ai trouvé bizarre dans La Peste est que j'ai eu l'impression qu'il (Camus) ouvre une pléthore de sujets sans y rester ni les résoudre. Il parlent de l'amour et les effets de la séperation là-dessus (un sujet que moi je connaîs plus que je n'ai jamais voulu, croyez-le-mois), la désintegration sociale au cas d'une situation critique, des gens qui cherchent une dédications pour leurs vies... On le pourrait continuer, je ne critique pas que Camus l'essaie, j'ai trouvé bizarre seulement qu'il reste avec tous sujets pendant quelques pages seulement avant qu'il se concentre sur quelque chose d'autre.

En fin pour tous entre vous, qui réalisent pas encore la génie d'un certain écrivian. Savez-vous que Camus a traduit Requiem pour une nonne d'anglais. Je le vous dis seulement :)

Being Bush

If it wasn't so sad, and horrible for the world, it would be kind of funny how delusional Bush still is (NYT):

“Success will be when Al Qaeda has no safe havens in Iraq and Iraqis can protect themselves,” he said. “Success will be when Iraq is a nation that can support itself economically. Success will be when Iraq is a democracy that governs itself effectively and responds to the will of its people. Success will be when Iraq is a strong and capable ally in the war on terror.”

How does one spell miserable failure again?