Listen to this wonderful music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3dXGy7WqDU
Ruby
Ali Farka Touré & Toumani Diabaté

Yosemite Park (USA): We are really small compared with Mother Nature

Eguberri On- Merry Christmas

Peace is coming to the Basque Country. Next year has to be the beginning of a new age.

The Basque people still maintain their dolmens and cromlechs as remembrances of our history but we have to look forward.

Old fights must be forgotten and weapons must be silenced.

Children wait for us to be able to build a better future.

We are going to need everybody to help us not only Basque people but also the rest of the world citizens.

Give peace a chance.

Eguberri On (Merry Christmas) and Urte Berri On (Happy New Year) Maddalena, Peter, Angeline, Nevin, Odia, Brizmus, Maggie, Anne Marie, … and everybody.

Thanks for reading my posts and comments.

Thanks for having so amazing blogs and for letting me share your experiences and feelings.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgSi5uLGv_E

Are Women Defeating Men?

Some weeks ago I read an article in Newsweek on manhood nowadays.

There are a lot of interesting ideas in this text. The first one is that men’s share of the labor force has declined. According to Newsweek as the U.S. economy has transitioned from brawn to brain over the past three decades, a growing number of woman have gone off to work.

The second idea is that women have matched or overtaken men as a percentage of students in college and graduate school.

And what have men done? Some men have turned to old models and mores of manhood for salvation. As a result the term “retrosexual” is replacing “metrosexual”. And this impulse transcends race and class.

As Newsweek says, in my opinion this reaction only perpetuates the problem. What men of the world should do is to look for models which help them to adapt to times.

Men must look at Sweden where they maybe can find the model for the new man.

Our society has got a new woman and now need a new man. We are going to need laws and rules which must help us to build a better world.

Newsweek

September 27, 2010

Go, People, Go

Lisbeth Salander Blues- Millennium, trilogy

Some years ago, I gave up reading detective stories, especially if they were bestsellers. So I should have not started to read the trilogy called Millennium written by Stieg Larsson.

There was a huge media campaign on these books which, of course, it influenced on my decision of reading them. Moreover, I read a review on this novel written by the recent Nobel Prize Mario Vargas Llosa. For him, this is a good book and his reasons encouraged me to read the book.

Besides, I was given the first two tomes as a present and I felt obliged to read them (or, at least, to try to read them). So I started and… I can not continue after the page 40,… It appeared to be too boring, too much foreseeable. So I surrendered.

However, one day I talked with a friend who was keen on Millennium and she talked me that the first pages were the worst and that if I continued reading, I would enjoy the book. She is a good friend and I trust on her so I gave the book another chance.

She was right. The story caught me and I have not been able to stop reading until I have finished the third part.

Although it is true that there are too much stereotypes in the plot, there are also some original ideas. I especially like the main character, Lisbeth Salander, a little and dark woman who is asocial, punk, bisexual, violent if necessary and incredibly strong. She is a little woman who is in war against the world. She appears no to need anybody because she knows how to take care of herself. She does not want to be helped.
And the first question which an intelligent reader must be made is what is the reason why Lisbeth is this way.
Do you want to know what is the reason? If so, you have to read it.
(And, please, tell me your comments)

  

Leuven- Lovaine

You can leave your bycicle, don't worry, this man keeps watch.

Just a woman and a man

They thought they were alone.

But there are always thousands of eyes spying the love

Ice Botanique, Brussels

It appears that this woman wanted to take a bath but water was frozen and then she also turned into ice, in fact into stone. She transformed into a statue.

The Running of the Bulls, in Brussels?

Ghent Can Wait

Regarding Ghent, my piece of advice is not to visit this town. I mean not to visit it just now. The reason is that all the town is 'in contruction'. Streets and roads are opened as after a bomb attack and there are a lot of scaffolds which hide the facades. 
It is better to wait for another chance. My recommendation is to let these people finish their works. Maybe in summer time...


By the way, I have not been able to avoid taking this photography. As you can see McDonalds does not respect anything. They do not mind to destroy the harmony of a beauty square with one of their horrible restaurants.

Children's Time: Waiting for Saint-Nicolas, Brussels

Brussels Winter Time

Should Banks Been Forbidden?

What would it happen if there were not any bank?
Would it be the end of the civilization?
or... the beginning of an era of peace and freedom?

Money or people, you decide

From shadows, the wealthier people who manage the world have launched the final assault for destroying all our rights. Will this massive attack be able to turn us into slaves?

All togerher must defend the Welfare state.

As somebody said, revolution or death.
We are in war.

Nobody will be able to avoid your death

What people told her was ‘you must forget that man’. She was warned by people who loved her, ‘this man is going to kill you’. She did not listen to people’s advice.
What she used to say was something about love and feeling, big words. 
She tried to hide bruises. 
Everybody knew the truth.
Nobody avoided this grey and rainy morning, nor our black clothes neither the solemnity of the old priest.

Black Water

Tonight I can write the sadder verses

I can write that today is over and tomorrow will be killed by routine

I can write ‘the night is so dark than it is impossible to know who is following whom'

I can even leave to write

Where are you when I need you?

I can not believe that you are not able to hear my desperate screams

I look at the bottom,… yet I do not see your face… I only see black water.

I look at the void, black water

Appel

Redemption Song

Old pirates, yes, they rob I;
Sold I to the merchant ships,
Minutes after they took I
From the bottomless pit.
But my hand was made strong
By the 'and of the Almighty.
We forward in this generation
Triumphantly.
Won't you help to sing
This songs of freedom
'Cause all I ever have:
Redemption songs;
Redemption songs.

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our minds.
Have no fear for atomic energy,
'Cause none of them can stop the time.
How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look? Ooh!
Some say it's just a part of it:
We've got to fullfil the book.

Won't you help to sing
This songs of freedom-
'Cause all I ever have:
Redemption songs;
Redemption songs;
Redemption songs.
---
/Guitar break/
---
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our mind.
Wo! Have no fear for atomic energy,
'Cause none of them-a can-a stop-a the time.
How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look?
Yes, some say it's just a part of it:
We've got to fullfil the book.
Won't you have to sing
This songs of freedom? -
'Cause all I ever had:
Redemption songs -
All I ever had:
Redemption songs:
These songs of freedom,
Songs of freedom.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGVSTsgcCvw&feature=player_embedded#!

11-11-1918

On 11 of November of 1918 the war was over,... 

...for a while

Dear Diary, Amazing Music, Excellent Film

You should watch this film... Caro Diario by Nani Moretti

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3GZbNy6dls

music by Nicola Piovani

the island of the families which only have a son or a daughter...

characters who think and feel,... people who try to understand

friendship, love, cheerfulness,...

landscapes, sun, sea,... the life

a man on a motorbike

Kiteya in New York

When I visited New York in 2007 the people who worked in this shop were really nice and they sold beautiful clothes.


If you are in NYC, I recommend you going to this shop and meeting those girls.


http://www.kiteyany.com/

Screams from the Graves

Yesterday, the boss of the criminals talked. 
Mr X wants to be remembered as a magnanimous man because he could have even killed more people.
Thanks Dr Death.

Good night sadness,... see you tomorrow

31010

Nothing to say. It is just a quiet Sunday before taking a decision. This Monday must be the end of something and the beginning of a new life. Too much time waiting for starting. Tomorrow is the day. Not more time goes by. From now on I am going to be who I believe I am.

I am the boss. I take decisions and people must do which I ask for.

The company trusts on me. Everybody appears to wait for my opinions.

I am alone like a long distance runner. Some people wait for me to be defeated. Other people believe in me. What do I want?

The mirror asks me: who are you?

I don’t know

Suddenly the cold and the night

Bye, bye summer.
As experts have decide that we have to put our clocks back, sky has been full with clouds and temperature has quickly fallen.

Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchen

The life should be this, or something like this. You met somebody. Ok, you have met a lot of people and you will met a lot more people. But a day, suddenly, you met a special person. We can say that you loved each other. In any case you got married. Then you started to live together. Then the time started to run more and more quickly. But… what would it happen if you stop and look at that woman? You might wonder, who is she?

I am at war with me

"If I commit suicide you will be the first who will know", he said
"Unbearable sadness", she replied

A little girl plays music on the street (Antwerp)

Who are you little girl? Who have you come here with? 
Who bought this sax for you? Who taught you how to play music? Who will spend the money that people give you?
…
Who will judge this sin?
...
I'd rather give you a kiss than some coins. They won't be able to use my kiss for their dirty business.
Little girl, I need you to promise me that when you are a woman you are still innocent and pure. Before continuing my walk I need to know that your music will always be so beautiful like your little face.
Bye, bye, little girl.

Some pictures of Antwerp

You only have to pay 7.4 euro for a weekend round trip ticket from Brussels to Antwerp by train.It is said that the train station of Antwerp is one of the more beautiful ones… I agree.
Inside

Outside

Do you like shopping? Here is the saturday market.

This is not a seaside town, so it does not have a beach. However, people have the Schelde river and they like resting reading or looking at the river flows.

As you visit Antwerp you must try the beer called 'Bolleke Koninck' and a really good place for drinking this local beer is Paters Vaetje

Have you ever been in this amazing town? Did you like it?

The Concept of Completion and Completion Error

"The basic point- which can also be illustrated by considering the phenomenon of the blind spot- is that with any incomplete perception- and needless to say all perceptions are incomplete- the observer "fills in" by extrapolating from experience. Or from desire. Or from desire's other face, aversion. So basically, we focus fuzzy images by transforming them into what we expect to see, or what we most dread to see. By what, in other words, already exists in our mind, what we already have available on file, however dusty the folder."
from Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchen

Are the Belgian people crazy?

What can we say about these people who dress a little statue with strange clothes and dance around it while this statue urinates over people who look at this crazy parade?

The Last Image Before My Camera Was Stolen

Before being stolen in the bus between Brussels and the Airport of Charleroi, I could take some pictures of a cold and grey Brussels morning.

This one shows the pub called Zebra. It is a really good place to have a good time. It is usually full of people and there is live music but thanks to the magic of photography I could catch this quiet and silent instant of serenity.

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

He put his hands in his coat pockets and turned back eagerly to his scrutiny of the house, as though my presence marred the sacredness of the vigil. So I walked away and left him standing there in the moonlight watching over nothing.

First he nodded politely, and then his face broke into that radiant and understanding smile, as if we’d been in ecstatic cahoots on that fact all the time.

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

(This is the last sentence of “The Great Gatsby”. This sentence is also on the grave of Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda.)

She Never Loved Any One Except Me!

"I've got something to tell you, old sport. 
Your wife doesn´t love you. She's never loved you. She loves me.
She never loved you, do you hear?
She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart she never loved any one except me!"

The Great Gatsby

9910 Theory of Love

Having breakfast. Close to the “Puerta del Sol” in Madrid. As you can see in the attached photo it is a really delicious breakfast. Yogurt and forest fruits (I do not know if this expression makes sense in English).
On holiday, yes, the life is easy.

The background music is jazz and softly enter our minds… There is a lonely girl reading. She would be a character of my current reading (The Great Gatsby).

Three noisy Spanish people speak louder than the rest but the general sensation is good.

Behind me, in the other side of the window, the Sun. Although it is 10:08, this town appears to be awaked just now.

Scott Fitzgerald is really good. I found him some years ago when I read “Tender is the Night”. Last December I read an interesting book on his wife Zelda and him. Since then I love this couple.

Another point for Fitzgerald: one of my favourite current writers, Haruki Murakami, likes him. In fact, Murakami has translated “The Great Gatsby” into Japanese.

I love the way he describes people, not only their bodies but their behaviours and thoughts too. The way he is able to paint people with words. 

 This is a love story. I think this is one of the two best books on love I have ever read. The other one is “62 Modelo para armar” by the Argentinean writer Julio Cortázar.

(I have just known a lucid moment and it is clear for me the fact that I should leave all and try to live. Maybe I am a poet… or something.)

(Excuse me boss, don’t worry, next Tuesday I am going to be working again.)

Here I live

Ludwig Wittgenstein

"What can be said at all can be said clearly; and what we cannot talk about we must pass over in silence."

Murakami_What I Talk About When I Talk About Writing

Hi everybody,

The following excerpt is from the book "What I talk about when I talk about running" by Haruki Murakami. I recommend you this amazing book because Mr Murakami doesn't only talk about running but about the way he writes too.

As I suspect is true of many who write for a living, as I write I think about all sorts of things. I don't necessarily write down what I'm thinking; it's just that as I write I think about things. As I write, I arrange my thoughts. And rewriting and revising takes my thinking down even deeper paths. No matter how much I write, though, I never reach a conclusion. And no matter how much I rewrite, I never reach the destination. Even after decades of writing, the same still holds true. All I do is present a few hypotheses or paraphrase the issue. Or find an analogy between the structure of the problem and something else.

This has been the fourth book written by Mr Murakami I have read. All of them are really good though  for different reasons.

The first one was The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. A magic novel about love and mistery.

The second one was Norwegian Wood. The same rithm, the same music behind the words,... excellent.

Then I read a really hard essay about the terrible terrorist attack in Tokyo (The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche) . (I talked about it in a post of this blog on XXX),

And this autobiographical text has been the last one (until now).

...

Sun & Beach

About a Crazy Man

In my opinion he was a crazy man. He was sure of being gone after by somebody. He was sure of being surrounded by enemies. I thought he was a crazy man. Not because I did not believe that people were gone after him but because I did not mind what people did. He was a crazy man but he belonged to the social system. However I was a crazy outsider far away from the society.

Calm After Storm

Jarauta Street

My First Speech

Here you can see my first speech for the people. The problem is that I am too shy... I know what you are thinking and,... yes, I also wonder what is the reason why my partners wore bread on their heads. Everything is crazy... I hope me to be a good politician... or something.