Things I lost in the fire

Today I have one of my shitty days. One of those days where I think back of all the stupid shit I pulled in my life and how daft I've been for so long. Sometimes I'm just amazed by the fact that I still have people around me and sometimes I wish they were near more often cuz sometimes I feel so fucking alone.


I write, I still do sometimes. I havent written any shitty piece of poetry for ages. I just cant anymore. What the hell happened to that silly drive I used to have to put every crappy piece of emotion in words, words no one really would read and words that would only remind me of how shitty I feel sometimes.

I'm so much older now than I was. And still such a long stretch of the track to run. So many books to read and so much knowledge I might never actually gain. I steel thoughts from great minds without fully comprehending what it is they say. I drive around sometimes looking for a place and never taking the short road cuz I just like the drive.


So I'm sometimes looking back for those things I lost in the fire. Life is the fire cuz it burns away the years you have left. I am drinking whiskey that is actually to expensive for my tormented taste buds but I like it anyways. Makes me feel decadent and hell I'm a decadent fellow allright!

I listened to the words of good ol' Kurt. Kurt Schwitters ofcourse, hero of the past. Arent we all heroes of the past, little flames turning into embers and then ashes. Ashes, I love that word. Ash is really depressive in its own way but it just has a great ring to it doesn't it? I love this automatic writing, I'm letting my mind guide the keys and total sillyness appears.

I still thing boredom is counterrevolutionairy, but I wish I remembered what revolution was.

Latvian Beer Experience Part 1

Currently I'm in the cheery country of Latvia. The offer of beers is quite different so I am going to try to map them here.

Uzavas Alus comes in 2 types. A light and a dark one. This is 'fresh' beer, by which I mean that you cant keep it in your basement too long, preferably not at all. Specially the darker one is divine. If you manage to purchase it fresh from the keg with some meal, because in Latvia you dont just toss a pint down your throat, it is super. In all honesty, the light one I probably tasted once because, well lets face it... You drink what you are, lovely stuff!

Obolon is kind of special. Its not a Latvian or Russian beer, but a Ukranian one that is sold on only a few places. This beer I just happened to take simply because the label said 11%. This is offcourse not weird here, where you can buy the so called superstrong beers in big plastic bottles. Contrary to Western Europe, wine and beer arent the top drinks here. Its the all too famous vodka. Second is beer, because some smart guys realised its a whole lot less alcohol and thus better for your health. Superstrong beers just appeal to the people in the vodka belt. Allthough this is getting less with younger folk I think. Anyways, Obolon doesnt taste like its from Kiev. Its way to fresh and sunny. Seems almost mexican to me. Get your hands on this one if you can!

Zigulevskoje, well unfortunately no link for this one, only a picture. This one is really interesting because I can hardly make out where its from even. What I do make out with the help of my girlfriend is that is has less bubbles. Probably it is a Russian beer. I thought I would vomit cuz, well in all honesty the label didnt look very promising. Nonetheless it was a nice fresh beer, that drinks away just a little more easy due to its lower bubbliness. Not too great though, if you have a choice take something else. Unless you hate bubbles that is.

More tomorrow or so! Cheers!

Priekaa!

Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder

I've always been quite the reader. Since a year or so I just stopped reading in my native language, being offcourse dutch, and switched to English. The book I've recently read is Sophie's World and seriously I can hardly imagine a better book for a person like me. Well why is that, one would wonder. Well I'll come around to that now because the rest I want to dedicate to the book itself. I always had questions, I always wanted to know how the world worked and was constructed and life the universe and everything. And though I've always had doubts about religion and stuff I felt attracted to mystifying the world as in Pagan beliefs. My first contacts with philosophy were rather enlightening.

Well this book is not an ordinary fantasy book. This book explains to us the history of philosophy. Now this is no easy task I can tell you. Philosophy has developped in my opinion according to a dialectic system of thesis, antithesis and finally in some occasions a synthesis. The dialectic system can be seen on this picture here, but probably doesnt fully explain it. Believe me, that is a pretty simple thing if you get it in your head. Its derived from Hegel's philosophy and I'm sure I got it in a way totally wrong but still I'd like to keep up the expectations that I know what I'm doing. If you don't get this, just use the magic of google. Basically what happens is that one statement, for example a totalist regime, is not accepted by others. Therefor an opposing force comes into existance, for example Communism. Well both are quite extreme and start debating (or fighting, whatever they prefer). Then they come to some peace negotiations, because both are similar in strenght (unless we look at Marx his view of this thing, but remember this is my example of Hegel). They come to an agreement of a constitutional monarchy because its in interest of both partys. This again could be reduced to some sort of utilitarism but lets not do so today. Thats all for Hegel now. Oh! One thing, lets not forget that Hegel has a superb vision on woman. I don't agree or anything, but check it out.

After studying philosophy as a minor and really delving deeper into it, I still usually felt a stranger in a strange land there. Its so huge and complicated and the ideas and thoughts of the likes of Immanuel Kant, Socrates, Martin Heidegger or GWF Hegel are so all envelopping that one really has to know where his towel is (smart reference to the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, a book that explains everything as well). The idea of having your towel with you means that you've sure got your wits about you.

Now, Gaarder, the writer of Sophie's world, really must have had his towel at hand when he wrote this. I cannot imagine a better initiation into the world of philosophy. I'm not going to write any spoilers, just suffice to let me say some things on it. Sophie Amundsen is a girl, 14 years of age. She starts receiving a mysterious philosophy course from Alberto Knox, a weird man that seems to know everything about history and philosophy. During these courses strange things start happening and nothing seems to be exactly what it seems to be. Someone is playing with them and its a dangerous game. Talking dogs, fairy tale figures and a huge pile of postcards adressed at Hilde Moller Knag /co Sophie Amundsen. Who is this Hilde? Why all the mystery and what is happening?

Nothing is what it seems, suffice to know: Berkeley ... or is it Bjerkeley?

If you are curious about philosophy, or just want to read a nice book, this is your choice. It's translated in many languages and apparently a movie is coming out soon. I'm not to sure if it will be a good one since they pitch it between Alice in Wonderland and Harry Potter... I'm curious about that, though I think it will lack the knowledge the book has. There also has been a TV series and another Norwegian movie, the most expensive one to date apparently.

Hope to have informed you well.

PS if anyone has a clue where I can get that Norwegian movie with some subtitles I'd be so over the moon, please let me know. Any clearer news on the upcoming movie would be welcome too.

House Training

I've been a big fan of House MD for quite some time now. Mainly because of the excellent actors, enthralling story line and Hugh Laurie. Hugh has many faces for me and at first I didnt even know he was the guy playing Gregory House, since I remembered him mainly as a sidekick of bad ass Edmund Blackadder in the BBC series of Blackadder.

Blackadder with its cunning jokes and witty humor. "I've got a plan so cunning that you can put a tail on it and call it a weasel!". Laurie plays mostly not the smartest guy in these series. On the picture one can see the cast of Blackadder 4, during World War 1. Laurie is on the top right next to his long time sparring parner Stephen Fry (Fry and Laurie, check it on youtube). Also in Blackadder 3 he plays Prince 'thicky' George, with Blackadder as his servant. Its hard to recognise the thick, open and happy Laurie from Blackadder when it comes to House. House is witty and funny, but its black humor and he's not the most likable character. Still brilliant acting and without Laurie House wouldnt be the same for me.

Not much to say about it at the moment, just wanted to show my appreciation for the series and its main character and actor. Definitely one of my favorites. Apart from that one should look for his songs on youtube "mistery" or "sophisticated man".

Boredom is counter revolutionary

always..