Another funny thing you can let the bunnies do…
Author: Bas
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Weekend in Sofia!
So yesterday evening I was walking home, and I noticed people setting up a living room set in the park. Seemed to be related to a magazine launch, who cares. So I went home, got my stuff and went outside to take some pictures. Then I went to the barbershop on the corner and got myself my first Bulgarian haircut. 10 points for courage. Then it was getting dark, so I decided to go home and see if anyone was going out… I tried James, but he was tired, so no party.
Now I was at home, just surfing the internet and decided that’s not the way I’m going to live here. So around 11.30 I decided to go to Bilkova Apteka (herb pharmacy), a cool bar. I went there, but before I went in I was told it was closed… but it was okay to go inside if I was looking for people. So I went in anyway. Once there I ran into a guy I met there earlier. Tried ordering a beer, but no chance. He negotiated for me (he knows the people there) and I got my beer anyway. I decided to find out what’s a good place to go out on a Friday night, but they couldn’t really tell me.
Anyway, after a beer we all left and I headed to a club called Yalta, to see some American DJ play (kind of a London-style dance DJ). Was pretty good, but the whole place was packed with people trying to impress each other, so I left kind of early (3ish).
I woke up with a strange feeling in my body. I guess drinking beer, switching to vodka, drinking another beer, having a whiskey and then drinking another beer will do that to you ;-). So I decided that the first thing I should do was eat. So I went outside to the shop, got some cereals (oh yeahhh) and a bunch of other things, went to the shop nextdoor, bought grapes. Went to the shop across the street and got flowers. I suppose I was compensating for having a hang-over and I wanted to feel like I was doing something constructive.
Since I moved in to my apartment, I’ve had an empty vase that I’ve been desperate to fill. So finally I did it!
Later today I’m going to be hanging out with James and some Erasmus students in Studentski Grad (Student City)! It’s supposed to be an awesome place and I can kinda predict I’ll be hanging out there a lot in the next few months. So tonight is my introduction. Sweet. Then there’s supposed to be a drum ‘n bass party in Black Box again. I think we’ll check it out. Only 3 euros entrance fee anyway.
Oh, the weather here’s beautiful… 25 degrees & sunshine baby! 😉
Enjoy your weekends!
Go check out my new web album with pictures I made yesterday and today!
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For the people in Burma.
May all beings everywhere
plagued with sufferings of body and mind
quickly be freed from their illnesses.
May those frightened cease to be afraid,
and may those bound be free.
May the powerless find power,
and may people think of befriending one another.
May those who find themselves in trackless, fearful wilderness ~
the children, the age, the unprotected ~
be guarded by beneficial celestials,
and may they swiftly attain Buddhahood
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Quick update!
Just a very quick update!
Two nights ago I met a whole bunch of Erasmus students from France, Holland, Germany, Belgium and Lithuania through James, who I met through Facebook. First we went to watch 10 short movies, which all lasted about 10 minutes, in some cinema. The cinema was full, but they don’t really care when it comes to ticket sales, so err… there were a lot of people sitting on the floor (welcome to Bulgaria). Quite the experience.
Later on we went for a drink and everyone was slowly falling asleep so no party. Ahh well, had to go to work the next day anyway.
So yesterday I took it slow. Went to a restaurant which served some great food. Had fries with white cheese, brocolli, Brussels sprouts, peas and small pieces of veal, with a little bit of lemon.. And a large beer. Total cost… 10.50 (excl. my tip), which amounts to about 5 euros. I love this country 😉
So now the weather is AWESOME. 27 degrees. Hence the minimal update. Going to go outside, enjoy the weather, make some pictures, see if I can meet some people. Tomorrow I’m probably taking the train out of Sofia to go swimming somewhere. The exact plan is still to be designed though. I guess I’ll have to buy some swimming trunks.
Oh, and I decided to start putting up restaurant reviews on my blog. Just so that whenever I’m alone in a restaurant, I can enjoy myself by making the waiters nervous with my pen and paper 😉
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Take Action Now! (Update)
And it gets worse by the day…
Junta’s crackdown in Burma intensifies
Internet access ‘cut off’ in attempt to silence BurmaSo basically the monks have dissapeared and nobody really seems to know what happened to them… Maybe we should stop threatening them with sanctions (the junta has lived with sanctions for decades anyway) and start threatening them with something more serious. These sanctions will hurt the people more than it will hurt the government.
Original post
Words, words, words, words… Maybe for the first time in a very long time, we have a good reason to intervene and step in. Why are we only sending ONE guy there to ‘monitor’? Isn’t what we’ve seen and heard in the media enough? It’s unacceptable to stand by and let soldiers kill monks… Peaceful monks and also civilians. The UN has to act before it’s too late. NOW.If you haven’t, please sign the petition. It takes one minute, so don’t postpone it, do it NOW.
And then have a look here.
Developments:
Myanmar troops threaten gunshot (Reuters)
10,000 protesters face down Myanmar forces in Yangon (Forbes)
Burma’s Saffron Revolution (a big explanation)
Shots fired at Burmese protests in Rangoon (BBC)
Myanmar troops open fire on protesters, 9 dead (Reuters)They’re murdering people! Wake up!
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My First Interview (Picture)
Not much too add. You can’t listen to the interview, because err… well, it was my first, so it kinda sucked 😉
Here’s the picture anyway, a French b-boy and myself.
To check out my first broadcasted interview and published article, click here.
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Nooooooo!
So I think I just auto-emailed my whole Gmail address book, since I’m now getting replies from service desks that they’re handling my question.
Dear Bas,
This is an automated response from the Lunarpages Webhosting Support Team to inform you that your question titled:I’ve added you as a friend on StumbleUpon has been received.Great. I wonder if they can help me. Sorry everybody, didn’t mean to spam you. I have no idea how it happened since I don’t recall giving my permission to email my whole contact list (and you know how selective Gmail is with adding people to your contact list)… The quality of the computers here might have caused me to miss that though. I guess this pet peeve might one day frustrate people more than people walking REALLY fuckin slow on the pavement. 😉
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A Manifesto For A New Environmentalism
By way of the Survival Acres Blog:
“Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, like Silent Spring, was considered powerful because it marshaled the facts into an effective (read: apocalyptic) story. But, ironically, for more than seven years, research that environmentalists have privately conducted on attitudes toward global warming has found the opposite: Cautionary tales and narratives of eco-apocalypse tend to provoke fatalism, conservatism, and survivalism among voters–not the rational embrace of environmental policies. This research is consistent with extensive social-science research that strongly correlates fear, rising insecurity, and pessimism about the future with resistance to change.
In promoting the inconvenient truth that humans must limit their consumption and sacrifice their way of life to prevent the world from ending, environmentalists are not only promoting a solution that won’t work, they’ve discouraged Americans from seeing the big solutions at all. For Americans to be future-oriented, generous, and expansive in their thinking, they must feel secure, wealthy, and strong.” (more…)
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EvilAngle – NobodyLikesSoftcore
A new mix! Don’t download it unless you like loud electronic music!
Tracklist
The Beatsquad – The Beat Goes On (00:00 – 1:58)
Solid Base – Can’t Stop (1:48 – 3:02)
Cixx – Gimme Da Dope (2:19 – 4:38)
Juggernaut – Ruffneck Rules Da Artcore Scene (4:38 – 6:14)
DJ Isaac – We Like Marihuana (5:53 – 7:19)
Knightvision – Search for Marhiuana (6:57 – 9:55)
3 Steps Ahead – Drop It (9:34 – 11:56)
Dune – Hardcore Vibes (11:56 – 12:46)
Stingray & Sonicdriver – Cold As Ice (12:34 – 13:42)
RMB – Spring (13:36 – 18:01)
DJ Paul Elstak – The Promised Land [Digidance Edit] (18:01 – 18:35)
Critical Mass – Believe in the Future (18:24 – 20:05)
Hardsequencer – Brain Crash (19:14 – 21:12)
Manu Chao – Promiscuity (20:28 – 22:03)
The Stunned Guys – Musica Nevrotica (21:12 – 22:08)
DJ Neophyte and Evil Activities – One of These Days (22:06 – 25:53)
T-Marc ft. Vincent & Cleon – One Two (25:31 – 27:31)
Megaman – Megaman (27:20 – 28:35)
Highlander – Open Your Eyes (28:13 – 29:39)
Nina Feranzano – Keep it Up (29:39 – 31:19)
2 Brothers on the 4th Floor – Come Take My Hand (30:58 – 33:11)
Skorpus Ravers vs. Cyntex – Bomdebomb (33:11 – 36:21)
Roni Size – Time Out (36:21 – 37:04)
Promo – The Tablet (37:04 – 38:26)
Angerfist – Broken Chain (38:26 – 41:03)
Tieum & Hellfish – You Want To Stop Us? (40:42 – 42:29)
DJ Lancinhouse Meets The Stunned Guys – Atmosfera (42:09 – 43:30)
DJ Paul and DJ Rob – Lords of the Hardschool [Paul’s Forze Mix] (43:10 – 43:30)
DJ Jappo and DJ Lancinhouse – Exlxaxl (43:30 – 46:25)
Promo – Shut Up! [Mix 1] (45:05 – 47:17)
DJ Gizmo – The End of the Beginning (46:25 – 48:04)
DJ Paul and Teenage Warning – Brohymn (48:04 – 50:36)
Rotterdam Remix Project – Loving You (50:17 – 51:52)
Neophyte and Evil Activities – Alles Kapot (51:52 – 54:48)
Wargroover – British Nightmare (54:44 – 55:20)
I:Gor – Bassdrum Generation (55:20 – 58:10)
Catscan and Promo – Toch Welleuk (58:10 – 60:32)
Nosferatu and Ophidian – Psychiatric Ass (60:01 – 61:19)
DJ Paul Elstak – Rage (61:07 – 63:53)
DJ Dione – Pain Till I Die (63:34 – 66:07)
Art of Fighters – Earthquake (65:55 – 67:28)
Ophidian – Butterfly [VIP Edit] (67:17 – 68:14)
Meagashira – Through Inner Core (67:51 – 69:06)
Tommyknocker – Showtime (68:42 – 70:50)
T-Junction and Osiris – What’s Up With Life [Masters of Ceremony Remix] (70:38 – 72:34)
The Prophet vs. Deepack – Stampuhh!! [The Beholder & Max Enforcer Remix] (72:23 – 74:30)
Tommyknocker vs. Sunbeam – Twisted World [the Viper Mashup Mix] (74:19 – 76:44)
Black Identity – Blckr Thn Blck [the Prophet vs. JDX Rmx – EvilAngleFasterForward Edit] (76:38 – 79:16) -
So about Ahmadinejad…
If I could think of one word by which I could express all the thoughts and feelings about Ahmadinejad’s visit to Columbia University… I would probably not speak it, since I’d be too busy explaining people the meaning of life.
It’s just a bit overwhelming really… Let’s just take some of the things we’ve seen in the last 2 days or so.
– “Evil has landed“, very coloured headlines from US media, simply indicating how ‘balanced’ US media is;
– The awfully unprofessional and disrespectful introduction given by the Dean;
– Ahmadinejad reversing the terrorist issue, which I must say was a good point, but a half truth;
– Ahmadinejad actually making good points, such as calling for a referendum and explaining why Iran opposes the US (he did not deny that the Iran was aiding “terrorists” (defined by the US, NATO & a group of UN countries));
– The opportunity of hearing the opinion and views of a majority of the people in the Middle East when it comes to international affairs, and the way American and a lot of other international media simply refused to listen to this opinion;
– The threat of cutting public funding to Columbia University for letting this man speak.. I have nothing to say about this;It just shows how caught up and fueled we are by propaganda and double-standards. The following is from an article of the Columbia Journalist: “Ahmadinejad made a mockery of the freedom of expression,” said Ari Gardner, a 22-year old student. “He took every single accusation against Iran and lodged it against the U.S. and the western world.”
Of course, dipshit. Has Iran attacked the U.S. before? No. Has the U.S. attacked Iran before? Yes. They have a very different view about current affairs than we do. By turning this around, he points it out, but by being so caught up in this whole “War on Terror” (what happened to “ism”?) you refuse to see the point. Actually, the “war on terror” is a perfect example of Orwellian psychology. Doesn’t war cause terror? Isn’t terror part of war? How can you fight against fighting?
The U.S. is the biggest defender of democracy and freedom, yet in the country itself, laws like the Patriot Act or other terrorism-related laws are breaking down freedom bit by bit from all sides possible. And democracy… Don’t start. The UN should have stepped in during the previous elections, because some strange things were going down. Exactly the type of things the international community sends UN observers to developing countries or former dictatorships for. U.S. democracy is run by money, friends and networks. The U.S. democracy is no better than Iran’s and I’m sure that if they could, these self-righteous, conservative, let’s-use-Jesus-as-an-excuse Republicans would love to execute homosexuals. I bet they envy Ahmadinejad.
So now I’m probably ‘abusing’ or ‘making a mockery’ out of freedom of speech, because I speak my mind freely, which is not what some people want. It seems like freedom of speech is only extended to those that have the least necessity for it. If there was no freedom of speech, they would be the only ones speaking.
It’s time for a change. Not through violence, but through courage and non-violence. Just look at the Burmese monks. Civil disobedience. Just stop taking the crap, just refuse. Don’t fight.
Holy shit, two police officers just came into my office… No idea what they were saying, it was in Bulgarian.. Something about “preventive” and “computers”. Maybe reading 1984 spooked me, but damn that’s scary when you’re typing a post like this. Wooh! Adrenaline rush, haha. I don’t know where I was going with the post, but I guess this is a good ending.
