...my golden basil

This song featured in a powerful scene in the film 'Head On' (1998). The film is about a 19 year-old second generation Greek man living in Melbourne and the issues and struggles he has to face with his family, culture, relationships and ultimately his sexuality. The film is moving and confronting and I couldn't help seeing similarities between the Greek and Latvian communities which exists in Australia; the difficulty in communication and conflict between the generations endure in both cultures not to mention identity crises. In one scene Ari (played wonderfully by Alex Dimitriades) starts dancing a beautiful Greek dance in the family kitchen after being pressured by his heavy-handed father. Ari lunges and sways around the kitchen and his father joins him. A young man caught in a dance with himself, his father, his culture and his identity.

I've put an English translation for the song which Ari was dancing to. The music and words were written by Stavros Kougioumtzis (1932-2005). This version is by Giorgios Dalaras.

Do not be angry with me, my dearest,
now that I am leaving for foreign lands,
I will turn into a bird and I will come
back again, to you.
Open your window,
my golden basil, my princess,
and with a sweet smile, wish me a good night.

Do not be angry with me, my dearest,
now that I am going away from you,
and come here awhile, let me see you,
let me say goodbye.
Open your window,
my golden basil, my princess,
and with a sweet smile, wish me a good night.

Cashmere sweater babes

Danny: Do you ever wonder if its all a big con Flip?
Flip: Eh?
Danny: This. Everything. What if none of it really exists? What if it's like some big experiment and we're like ants trapped in a giant petri dish? What if there is a greater intelligence out there and it's creating everything purely as a way to stop us going insane on them? What if nothing really exists until we sense it? My room doesn't exist till I walk into it. Front yard doesn't exist till I experience it. You don't exist.
Flip: I don't exist?
Danny: Well, you could be just a projection of my inner psyche materialised for my brain in order to keep me company.
Flip: What about the cashmere sweater babes over the road, with their swishy little skirts and all? Would they be from your inner psyche or mine?
Danny: Probably yours I reckon Flip.

Hemingway

Just bought 'A Farewell to Arms' by Hemingway at Robert's Books for 2 lats (approximately 4AUD) .

The edition I bought, it turns out, might be worth a little bit.

Photos by Ani

Leaving Rīga by ferry 23.08.10 (photos by Ani)

Boy on the deck

Seagull reflection

Coal cranes

Workers on a barge

Having a break

52 suburbs

In my morning trawl of the internet I discovered an exceptional blog called '52 SUBURBS: A search for beauty in the Sydney 'burbs''. Here's the author's little preface:

My name is Louis. I've lived in Sydney for over 30 years but have never set foot in most of its 600 plus suburbs. Now I'm on a mission to explore and photograph one new Sydney suburb a week for a year in search of the beauty in the 'burb. Care to join me?

You get the picture. The photos are incredibly gorgeous and make me miss Sydney, and Australia in general. The use of binary photographs (I guess that's the right description) is clever and the whole thing makes me want to start venturing into photojournalism myself (watch this space). Of the suburbs I've managed to wander through today a particular favourite of mine has been beautiful Bondi. Thanks Louis.

Samizdat Issue 2

Samizdat Issue 2

Samizdat Issue 1

Samizdat Issue 1

Zine

I've been known to occasionally foray into zine publishing when I'm inspired enough and can find the time and the motivation. A good friend and I once published two issues of a zine called 'Samizdat'. I've managed to get the pdf files on here. Just click on ' fullscreen' and scroll away.

Ali

I'm in the mood for desert blues...right down to my shoes...




On a side note, I'm reminded of a mnemonic which I learnt in primary school. It's for remembering the difference between desert and dessert:

There are two 's' in dessert because you always want a second helping!

Now you'll never make a misstake again...

Nip it in the bud

"Charity pays addict $320 to have a vasectomy"

"A drug addict has become the first person in Britain to be sterilised in exchange for cash under a new project...

Project Prevention, the charity running the scheme, has made similar payments to thousands of men and women in the US in a campaign to prevent them having children who may inherit their addictions... "

are they for real? ... hey, i know, how about the homeless, unemployed, or mentally ill!

"Forced sterilization has been recognized as [a] crime against humanity if the action is part of a widespread or systematic practice by the Rome Statute Explanatory memorandum, which defines the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court."

- Wikipedia

Yeah I know, this isn't 'forced' sterilisation... but you wave $320US under a junkie's nose who's got a 15-year habit and see if he declines...

October snow

First snow! This is my first first-snow ever.... superb

Got men?

"Latvian man shortage leaves women lost for love" - BBC News 13/10/10

I just gotta survive through my 30s and I'll be set!

..but seriously, it seems to be a reality here unfortunately.

Mingus

I read Charles Mingus' autobiography recently. He's certainly a disturbed cat, but an extraordinary bass-player (two inalienable qualities maybe)...

It's cold

Kono michi ya
yuku hito nashini
aki no kure

Along this road
Goes no one,
This autumn eve.

Matsuo Bashō

Open the folk up

Last Friday night, after a tiring evening of lugging furniture out of the old apartment and into the new, I eventually managed to get to the opening night of the new bar ''Folkklubs ala' pagrabs', a Latvian folk-themed bar in the historic part of Riga.
The co-owner and manager of the bar, Krisjanis, is a good friend of mine, and we used to get up to all sorts of mischief back in Adelaide, so I'd be lying to say I have no bias... but it really is a nice place, trust me.

I arrived at 11pm and the festivities had been going on since 7 (this was obvious by my friends' glazed eyes and my frustration I wasn't as liquored as them) but there was no sign it would soon cease. I greeted all I knew in the warm basement and was soon by the bar quenching my thirst with an exquisite 'Madonas alus', one of the many great beers offered at Folkklubs. Apparently I'd missed an awesome set by Latvian bagpipe and drum group 'Auli' which I could imagine would have sounded momentous in the subterranean chambers which make up the bar but I was glad to catch the set of Krisjanis' own group 'Folkvakars'. The group, consisting of guitar, double-bass, accordeon, violin, and drums (all musicians I know personally... more bias?), plays well known Latvian folk tunes loud and proud. As I watched the quasi-mosh pit bouncing in front of the small stage and the sweaty and talented musicians joyfully ripping through each number, my fatigued body started moving a bit and my almost-switched-off mind reawakened for a while. I was smiling and thinking 'why hasn't there been a band like this before? By God we've all needed one...' (well...those of us who have been 'into' Latvian folk music for a while).

I downed my second beer and made a bit of a sneaky exit - for I wished not to explain to every single person why I just couldn't stay awake any longer - and I walked past the unfinished mural which lies over the stairs leading into the folk-den, and out into the crisp air where all the smokers mingle, and rode home thinking how much potential the bar has and that I shall surely return (not just because I'm a biased friend!).