the king of pop

I went to this concert. It was in this city with these people. Some of them wore those white shirts, which was a bit strange for a rock concert, I thought. Well actually, it wasn’t a rock concert, they call it trip-hop, whatever that means. First your trip then you hop, I guess. A bit unusual – normally you’d expect a fall after a trip, not a hop. Well these people …
Anyway, the king of trip hop came, they say. So I went to see the king. I quite like they guy, his music that is, not him. But I would never say he is a king. Tricky, that’s the guy’s name, a king? No way. Well, actually he’s no Tricky either, he’s Adrian Thaws, born 1968 in Bristol, England, musician. Well, and actually not even that, you could hardly call him a musician: he is noted for a whispering sprechgesang lyrical style – that’s what Wikipedia has to say about him and I guess they are right. The guy can’t sing, he only speaks. Surprisingly he’s got no rhythm either (I had a chance to find out at the concert). Not bad for a world-famous artist. But there’s one thing this guy can do – he can make good use of other musicians, and in that there is hardly a replacement for him.
But these people. I think I have a problem with them. When he sings, pardon, says his stuff, they stand motionless, emotionless, absent-minded, white-shirted, jaded, spoiled with money. But when he says a nice word to them or lets them shake hands with him, or just brush against him, they treat him like a king, more, like a superhuman, a saviour. If Jesus was jealous he would probably envy Tricky such respect. That’s pop for you.
But I ain’t get fooled. Tricky’s just a boy, a kid. I know it. He knows it: Tricky Kid, Knowle West Boy* these are his own words. So I tell you: no king of trip-hop, pop, or any other. Just a kid, but tricky.
*Knowle West is a district of Bristol of poor reputation

white-shirted

The country brought to a halt

If you are planning your visit to Poland, it shouldn’t be at the end of October or the first two days of November. There are All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day then. These days are one of the most important religious holidays in the Roman Catholic Church in Poland. Beside the uncertain weather, as a foreign tourist, you might find a lot of difficulties in a typical activities of daily life. If you are travelling by car or local transport you will find a lot of traffic jams, closed streets and diverted traffic on them. There might be also changes in the railway, city buses and coach timetables. On these days the statistics for road accidents are very high, so take care if you rent a car there – Polish roads are notorious for being dangerous. The atmosphere of these holidays is very momentous and full of reflection. Although cemeteries are lit with candles and people who visit the graves of deceased relatives, you have to be very carefull if you visit these places! There is a very high risk of being pickpocketed. Most of the tourist attractions and shopping centres are closed on these days. TV programmes bring memories of people who passed away. The main attraction seems to be prices of hotel accommodation. In my opinion visiting Poland at that time would be an interesting experience, but certainly not as the first trip to this beautiful country.

When the freedom dawned

The 11th of November is a special day for Poles, celebrated as the Independence Day meaning the return to the map of sovereign European states after 123 years of foreign rule.
Naturally, regaining independence is not an event that could be discussed in terms of one specific date in calendar but rather a long and complex process. This special date, however, marks a series of important events that gave the day a symbolic meaning: the Compiegne armistice is signed, ending long and bloody World War I. Most of German troops deployed in Warsaw since August 5, 1915, have been disarmed; Jozef Pilsudski, the architect and leader of Legions, the most esteemed politician at that time, holds talks on taking over power and re-creating the Polish state ‘from the scrap’. (more)

It’s the 11th November 1918. Who are you and how do you feel?

things that have lost their power

Feel free to add new items to the list.

snow in May
a light bulb in my bathroom
a black hole
Bush after the last election
a father who lied to his children
a river in the last part
my motivation to learn English
a man after runing
a broken car engine
an old battery
radio as one of the mass media
a supermodel in her 50s
stories for a teenager
a used bus ticket

Doctor Ricardo*

B’s voice sounded odd on the phone this morning, as if gasping for air. News like this doesn’t get across without disturbing breathing. News like this instantly freezes the present and forcefully turns the memory down a single track, on which dates, events, words and faces resurface all with a surprising acuity. We both new Krzysztof for years, B, however, for much longer and differently than myself. Most of us at GV new him through Ewa, his only daughter, for whom he was the focal point in the world, and she always made sure that at all important moments of her/our life, her father was around. He was never on the stage, but we felt him in the audience or in the wings. A careful, understanding observer and wise supporter.
From a number of private encounters I remember him as a quiet, gentle, almost self-effacing man, sparse with words, asking questions rather than indulging in monologues. On most occasions, it was hard not to notice Krzysztof’s most evident trait – his outstanding job-related sense of duty and necessity. It was his aura, something that unmistakably transpired and confirmed that he was on a mission, working tirelessly both for others – his patients, and with others – his team. This quality of his alone summarizes the human condition – as a doctor he knew only too well that there is no equilibrium between man and the forces of nature, yet as man he managed to recreate that equilibrium through work and compassion, the ability he also successfully grafted onto his younger colleagues.
I bumped into him a few months ago in front of the barber shop near the hospital. As it happened we had the same hairdresser. Today, while Agnieszka was cropping my hair, I told her that her regular customer was no longer with us. She gazed into the mirror and held her arm raised. A minute of awkward silence followed.

*Krzysztof Kanigowski, surgeon, died in Warsaw today

Haribo

‘Oh, darn it! There are only three yellow gummy bears in my packet!’
Yeah, I have heard it so many times. ‘Haribo is cheating! They ALWAYS put the smallest amount of my favourite flavour! It is a discrimination – well, you can say it is racism – yes, you can!’
Now you officially can. I made an experiment. Science does not lie. Haribo is cheating, believe it.
I bought ten packets of Haribo’s ‘Gold Bears’, 100g each, which equals 1kg of gummy candies (nevermind the money it cost…). I soon learned that there are six kinds of bears – red (raspberry flavoured), transparent (pineapple flavoured), orange (surprise surprise – orange flavoured), green (apple flavoured), yellow (lemon flavoured) and reddish-pinkish (strawberry flavoured).
So, which one of them is the most popular?
After a quick, one-hour lasting counting, I got the results. But they were not the most exciting! The interesting thing was that amount of items in one packet varies. One packet included forty gummies, while the other one was packed with whole forty-six bears! However, the most common number of candies in one packet was forty-three – I cannot really understand why. The perfect pack should be made of forty-two gummies, seven bears of each flavour, so that amount of every colour is identical even in 1kg, whilst…
Out of 428 bears
sixty-four are yellow,
sixty-five are orange,
sixty-seven are reddish-pinkish,
seventy are red,
seventy-nine are green,
eighty-three are transparent.
On the one hand, personally I am satisfied with the results, as I am a green and transparent gummy bears fangirl and they are two largest groups (yay!). On the other hand, what should yellow lovers say? Or pineapple haters? Transparent sweets make almost 20%!
Now, does anyone want a gummy bear? I have quite a few.