Trip to heave and ho, up down, to and fro
You have no word
Trip, trip to a dream dragon
Hide your wings in a ghost tower
Sails crackiling at evry plate we break
Cracked by scattered needles
Little minute gong
Coughs and clears his throat
Madam you see before you stand
Hey ho, never be still
The old original favourite gran
Grasshoppers green herbarian band
And the tune they play in us confide...
So trip to heave and ho, up down, to and fro
You have no word
Please leave us here
Close our eyes to the octopus ride!
Isnt it good to be lost in the wood
Isnt it bad so quiet there, in the wood
Twenty even less to me than I thought
With a honey plough of yellow prickly seeds
Clover honey pots and mystic shining feed...
Well, the madcap laughed at the man on the border
Hey ho, huff the talbot
Cheetah he cried shouted kangaroo
So through their tree they cried
Please leave us here
Close our eyes to the octopus ride!
The madcap laughed at the man on the border
Hey ho, huff the talbot
The winds they blew and the leaves did wag
And theyll never put me in their bag
The seas will reach and always see
So high you go, so low you creep
The winds it blows in tropical heat
The drones they throng on mossy seats
The squeaking door will always creep
Two up, two down well never meet
So merrily trip for good my side
Please leave us here
Close our eyes to the octopus ride!
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Octopus (Syd Barrett)
Posted by me at 9:27 PM 0 comments
Weekend in Budapest
I'll spend the weekend in Budapest again, I am really excited about it, there are a bunch of people there I really miss hanging around with. There is a boat on the Danube called A38 which functions as a pub with concerts and such. Last time we saw Mike Patton there with his experimental fucked up russian jazz band. That was really not what we were looking for, but this time I hope that we will have a really good time. Next week me and my flatmate will fly to Amsterdam for the weekend so I really cannot complain, our endless workstream is interrupted with an outstanding frequency of 100% pure fun. Life is good.
Posted by me at 2:13 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Quote of the Day
Intuition, like a flash of lightning, lasts only for a second. It generally comes when one is tormented by a difficult decipherment and when one reviews in his mind the fruitless experiments already tried. Suddenly the light breaks through and one finds after a few minutes what previous days of labor were unable to reveal.
(Neal Stephenson: Cryptonomicon)
Posted by me at 11:54 AM 0 comments
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Who the hell is 2008?
A couple of weeks ago I read "October in the Chair" by Gaiman. It was about twelve people sitting around the campfire. There is a chair around and one after another they sit in the chair and tell a tail to the others. They are the twelve months of the year, each of them with the appropriate looks and personality.
In my mind months don't really have personalities that much but years do. In retrospect I think one can condense all what happened in a year and find an appropriate character which can represent the essence of it. Of course it will not be a perfect one to one match but I think it's a fair enough approach. For example 2006 was a Mad Joker , the worst year of my life, 2007 was much better, maybe a Fairy or a Muse full of dreams and lust. I haven't decided who this year is but it's definitely mad again. Now I see only a blurred hazy figure, in a large grey coat offering me some sweets. There is still a month or so left so things can improve a bit ... time will tell...
Posted by me at 12:40 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
How to become an anti-Apple evangelist in one easy step
I am in no mood even touching my laptop, I'm at work no so I have no other choice. I'm so frustrated by the shitty state of hardware industry these days. Seven years ago I spent all my money on an IBM Thinkpad, it's outdated now but then it was a fair piece of hardware. The amazing fact is that it still works, my mother uses it to write documents and such. Now I got this shiny new 2000 quid MacBook Pro (I got it for much much less but that's not the point). It's a piece of shit. The keyboard and touchpad stopped working, it seems that it's a hardware issue and the forums are full of it. How the fuck can this happen with the world's most expensive portable hardware. Fuck them!!!. Now I need to replace all the top part of this fuckin' junk cause some wise-guy at apple decided to link the keyboard to the touchpad in a manner that makes it impossible for them to work separately. Thank you very much Apple. First my iPod fuckin dying on me in a blink of a second and now this. I am starting to realize that a life without computers wouldn't so dark as I thought before. I feel urges to leave this fuckin industry behind and do something totally different something that doesn't even involve a fuckin' power plug. I'm sick and tired off all this, it's pointless, a great masquerade of bullshit and incompetence.
God I hate IT
Posted by me at 11:12 AM 1 comments
Monday, November 17, 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
On Blogging
I guess in the next couple of days I'll write a piece on the reasons why I am doing this obviously foolish thing as blogging.
Posted by me at 11:34 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
On my way home...
Sometimes after work I don't go home directly or at least skip a couple of Tube stations and just walk through the crowd. This is a good thing, you can just walk and think about the world, about London ...
There are many things I don't understand here like why the number of people is always inversely proportional with the amount of space in the Tube corridors and why people always make up their minds and turn around in the exact place where they can block as many people as possible to walk bye ..
I usually end up in Borders and check all the floors Audio Books, Fantasy, Comic Books but most of the time I come out empty-handed wondering why the best authors are exiled to the lover rafts so you can only check them out crawling on your knees like some literary-religious book-freak and there is always someone just reading a comic book in front of your favorite author's stuff. If this happens I never ask them to leave or to make room, I just stare like God at final judgement for ten seconds or so and leave. They never notice. Maybe I drop by to HMV to check out the new music releases already knowing that I will not buy any of them cause probably those are already on my Ipod downloaded by me or one of my friends but it's cool to browse through all the hundreds of CD-s and DVD-s with colorful artwork. I remember in Hamburg I was amazed by the big tech shops like Saturn, we ended up there once or twice a week to check the notebooks and wireless stuff but now I just don't give a shit, there is "tech city" here with all the brand new stuff, the latest technology but now it all looks like bullshit to me which doesn't worth a second glance.
On my way home I usually end up in our general store. There are three indian girls working there all beautiful, two of them are probably twins but I only like to shop from the third one, cause the other two have a tiny but noticeable mustache and I'm afraid they will notice that I stare at it. The third girl on the other hand has some cool symbols tattooed on her hands which I really like. It looks like something religious or tribal, indians have and air of mystery around them which is really cool. Tribalism is not dead in this new century....
Posted by me at 8:06 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
REM : King of Comedy
Make your money with a suit and tie
Make your money with shrewd denial
Make your money expert advice,
If you can wing it
Make your money with a power ply
Make your money with a buyout bribe
Make it lie as long as you mean it
I'm not king of comedy,
Grease the pig, give a squeeze (squeeze me)
Make your money with exploitation
Make it holy illumination
Say a prayer at every station
Don't forget to ask for mercy
Make your money with a pretty face
Make it easy with product placement
Make it charged with controversy
I'm straight, I'm queer, I'm bi
I'm not king of comedy,
I'm not your magazine,
I'm not your television
Make your money, make it rich
Make it young and make it quick
Make your money on the jukebox, baby,
It's pick up sticks,
Make your enemies, make your moves
Make your critics fumble through
Make it smart and make it schmooze
Make it look easy
I'm not king of comedy,
I'm not your magazine,
I'm not your television,
I'm not your movie screen
I'm not commodity (all together now)
I'm not commodity
I'm not commodity
I'm not commodity
I'm not commodity
I'm not commodity
Posted by me at 7:59 AM 0 comments
Friday, November 7, 2008
Everything in its right place
This song IMHO is one of the best song ever, I read some interviews on the net and found out that before their album Kid A came out Yorke had a shitty period of depression, he was burned out after all the fame and glory that came with OK Computer.This song is about overcoming depression, it's about the first breath of fresh air you take after a long time under water in the dark. It always makes me smile, and gives me a sensation of comfort and happiness. It's a masterpiece.Enjoy.
Posted by me at 10:45 AM 0 comments
Divine Intervention
Earlier this evening I had a couple of beers with one of my friend in Coven Garden. Everything was fine, we had a chilled talk about life, girls, work you know things people usually talk about. After the third or fourth Guinness I thought it's time to go home. So we went. At Tottenham Court Road I had the excellent idea of having a Chips with Cheese so I reach for my wallet but I cannot find it. Check all my pockets, nothing, my bag, nothing. Fuck I'm so dead. Debit cards, social security, entry cards, some money, all gone. Let's go back. Now I know how enlightenment is. My mind was empty. No thoughts at all except one that said: I'm a fuckin moron, asshole and all the synonyms you could imagine. Maybe Buddha lost his wallet and got so pissed that he started a religion. I guess we will never know. There is a five minute walk back to Coven Garden but it felt like hours. When we got there I saw some ladies sitting at our table and below my chair there it was: my wallet with all my shit. That's what I call divine intervention, Pulp Fiction like. God came down to earth, stopped all the bullets in L.A. and he arrived just in time to make sure I get my wallet back. I'm not religious, but if there is a God he sure loves me a lot. I'm his favorite puppy :)
Posted by me at 12:29 AM 0 comments
Thursday, November 6, 2008
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
"I can believe things that are true and I can believe things that aren't true and I can believe things where nobody knows if they're true or not. I can believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and Marilyn Monroe and the Beatles and Elvis and Mister Ed. Listen-I believe that people are perfectible, that knowledge is infinite, that the world is run by secret banking cartels and is visited by aliens on a regular basis, nice ones that look like wrinkledy lemurs and bad ones who mutilate cattle and want our water and our women. I believe that the future sucks and I believe that the future rocks and I believe that one day White Buffalo Woman is going to come back and kick everyone's ass. I believe that all men are just overgrown boys with deep problems communicating and that the decline in good sex in America is coincident with the decline in drive-in movie theaters from state to state. I believe that all politicians are unprincipled crooks and I still believe that they are better than the alternative. I believe that California is going to sink into the sea when the big one comes, while Florida is going to dissolve into madness and alligators and toxic waste. I believe that antibacterial soap is destroying our resistance to dirt and disease so that one day we'll all be wiped out by the common cold like the Martians in War of the Worlds. I believe that the greatest poets of the last century were Edith Sitwell and Don Marquis, that jade is dried dragon sperm, and that thousands of years ago in a former life I was a one-armed Siberian shaman. I believe that mankind's destiny lies in the stars. I believe that candy really did taste better when I was a kid, that it's aerodynamically impossible for a bumblebee to fly, that light is a wave and a particle, that there's a cat in a box somewhere who's alive and dead at the same time (although if they don't ever open the box to feed it it'll eventually just be two different kinds of dead), and that there are stars in the universe billions of years older than the universe itself. I believe in a personal god who cares about me and worries and oversees everything I do. I believe in an impersonal god who set the universe in motion and went off to hang with her girlfriends and doesn't even know that I'm alive. I believe in an empty and godless universe of causal chaos, background noise, and sheer blind luck. I believe that anyone who says that sex is overrated just hasn't done it properly. I believe that anyone who claims to know what's going on will lie about the little things too. I believe in absolute honesty and sensible social lies. I believe in a woman's right to choose, a baby's right to live, that while all human life is sacred there's nothing wrong with the death penalty if you can trust the legal system implicitly, and that no one but a moron would ever trust the legal system. I believe that life is a game, that life is a cruel joke, and that life is what happens when you're alive and that you might as well lie back and enjoy it." She stopped, out of breath
Shadow almost took his hands off the wheel to applaud. Instead he said, "Okay. So if I tell you what I've learned you won't think that I'm a nut."
"Maybe," she said. "Try me."
This book is my favorite for some time, I cannot specify the genre, its fantasy with flavors of horror and sci-fi. It explores the interesting idea of the mortality of Gods. Gods do not live forever, they live as long someone worships them. New gods are on the rise like Money, Technology, Media etc etc. The old Gods of mythology are only shadows of former selves, they are scattered across the world surviving as they can. This book is an epic story about their last stand against these new Gods with a twist of course but I cannot tell what that is (don't wanna be a spoiler). I can only recommend it, to those who knows Gaiman and to those who don't. It's definitely a must-read.
Posted by me at 1:31 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Puzzle of the Day
There are ten differences and three ninjas hidden in this picture.Try to find them :)
Posted by me at 1:32 PM 0 comments
Hail to the King
I am no american and I gathered a thick layer of cynicism against politics in general and politicians but today I feel unprecedented joy that Barack Obama won the presidency of USA. Oh man, I'm ashamed but I shed tears of joy. This is real hope. We are living in very interesting times. I am very happy I have witnessed this. For the first time in my life I am thinking of visiting the States.
Posted by me at 8:38 AM 0 comments
Quote of the Day
It's true that we don't know what we've got until we lose it, but it's also true that we don't know what we've been missing until it arrives.
Posted by me at 12:53 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Nadraguja
Atropa belladonna, along with related plants such as jimson weed, has occasionally been used as a recreational drug because of the vivid hallucinations and delirium that it produces. These hallucinations are most commonly described as very unpleasant, however, and recreational use is considered extremely dangerous because of the high risk of unintentional fatal overdose. In addition, the central nervous system effects of atropine include memory disruption, which may lead to severe confusion.
So guys do not worry I will just pass on this one, I am not suicidal ;)
Posted by me at 9:29 PM 0 comments
Monday, November 3, 2008
Weekend in Budapest
It all started with a plane trip, the usual stuff ... Gatwick Express, checkin, a cool one-pound massage chair ride, a boring never ending flight topped with the shitty food they serve on airplanes. Bored to hell, sick and tired I finally met up with my friends. We ended up in a pub and stayed till about dawn...
There were these really cool people around the table. I am really happy I got the chance to know them better ... I heard a couple of really far out stories and anecdotes, a nice conversation about the meaning of life, religion, education, free will, you know, the usual stuff:). For all those people down there probably it was nothing out of ordinary, it was like any usual friday evening, but for me was really special. What made that evening so special? I cannot recall the last time I had this feeling ... looking around I saw everyone smiling and having a good time and what I felt is the utter lack of alienation, that in that moment all around the table are in the one place they have to be ... all these different people each with their own way to see things ended up for a short time in perfect harmony ... and all those different viewpoints ended up complementing each other instead of confronting. It was beautiful.
As for my good friends who let me sleep in front of their fuckin' huge LCDTV (not plasma), made me sandwiches, reefers and soft drinks and kept me company, man I am really grateful, you guys are the best. I ended up regretting I have to come back to London, this hasn't happened in a very long time .... see you really soon.
Posted by me at 10:58 PM 1 comments