Nietzsche was right all along. How the hell did it take me so long to figure it out?!

Nietzsche said that the Superman, who the Nazis so viciously twisted to their own purposes, is the one who proves his loyalty to Earth. He accepts life just as it is, no Heaven above us - only sky, like another nice man said. Even for atheists, this has to be tough. Loyalty to Earth?! You mean no consolation prizes in the end? No happiness guaranteed? The possibility of it all going wrong and still have to accept that this is all we have? Yes, actually. That's exactly it.

Like I wrote before, an interesting thing about people being so hung up on football is that their dreams of glory seem to have a realistic chance during the match only to be confronted with the harsh reality after the game is over. The realization that shit does, indeed and royally, happen is awful. And the realization that there is nothing beyond that is even worse. But, at some point or, that's what you have to do. Accept it. Try for happiness in the cold world we live in and relish in the glimpses of bliss you ocasionally have.

Of course this is hard. In the words of Brad Pitt in the great Fight Club, 'our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off. '

Indeed we are. For example, right now I'm so pissed off that I could join a terrorist association. I'm so pissed off that I would like to tell Nietzsche and his Superman to piss off themselves. But the man (Nietzsche) is right. Accept your life as it is, acknowledge that it is all you have and make the most of it. Don't look for excuses. We can't all be Brangelina and we just have to find a way to deal with that and be happy about that fact. But it is tought. And it does piss one off. And it makes you ask someone, anyone, possibly God, 'what do you mean I don't get my cake and eat it after all this work?'. Well, you don't. But perhaps you can have a slice of the cake, and perhaps the cake is really, really good. I'm still waiting, I hope I get my slice, I hope my slice is less bitter than it is now and I hope I'll love it. Trying to be a Superwoman by remaining optimistic.

And with this piece of poor wisdom I shall depart.

So, goodnight. And good luck.

The modernization of China

Smoke on the water _ version zen
Uploaded by buzzleclair-leblog

My friend MS sent this to me and it is great. As he says, it gets better by the second.

I know I have better things to write about (the first gay marriages in Greece amidst chaos from the conservative, family-preserving right wing idiots) but I couldn't resist posting this. On the topic of gay marriages in Greece, the Ellinofreneia guys said the best thing ever:
Η Μύκονος πέθανε, ζήτω η Τήλος!!!

Portugal olé, Portugal olé, Portugal olé

I know I shouldn't pollute this intellectual, beautiful blog with football, but this little boy here is my pride and joy. People in this country have the perpetual problem of complaining when everything is wrong and complaining even more when something is right. If we didn't have good football players, we would moan about the fact that we're a bunch of losers ; when we do have good players, like the little boy above, we complain about the fact that he makes too much money and that he can't speak properly. I would like to say the following about these attacks:
1) yes, he makes too much money. He should give some to charity. No disagreement here
2) he's a football player. He's not an academic. He's a poor boy from Madeira who is truly tallented at playing football. That's how we made his way in the world. We should be worrying instead about academics (and yes, journalists) who make grammar mistakes. These days, all you have to do is buy any Portuguese newspaper to encounter that sad reality. And, while we're at it, we should worry about all the other poor boys from Madeira (and they are a lot for such a small, holier-than-thou, bourgeois little island) who need proper help and cannot play excellent football.
Football can say a lot about a country, I truly believe so. My people wave flags during world cups and Euros and sing the national anthem and worship footballers like gods during matches only to go right back to hate their country when the match is over. Invisibility is a hard load to carry and when confronted with it, after the Euro is over or after losing the game, you have no other choice but to look life in the face, with no hymns of glory to crown it or embellish it. Sometimes it is not a pretty picture. But not accepting it does most definitely make you a loser.
My final thought: you go, Cristiano.

L' Orient

All my recent intellectual stimulation seems to come from "the East": I am reading Naguib Mahfouz's Cairo trilogy, my friend is from Tunisia, I saw Persepolis, I listen to Souad Massi, I am going to Istanbul and I really want to go to Morocco. I am often going through phases where I am obsessed with a certain geographical region and read a lot on that and in general get inspired. Some time ago I was reading only Latin American writers (Marquez, Sepuldeva, Sabato, Fuentes and later Borges) and was listening to bossa nova (Bebel Gilberto, Adriana Calcanhotto, Elis Regina and Tom Jobim) all the time. Now it's the time of the East and it's proving to be a very interesting time. The best thing about it is that I feel I am getting a glimpse of their culture and their oh-so-hated religion. Islam, I think, is so badly portrayed these days. People all over the world think that Muslims are all fundamentalists, crazy fanatics and uncultured people. From what I know and read, I strongly disagree.

Persepolis deserves a specific mention. It's not as great as I expected but it was very good nonetheless. I had read the books beforehand so I really knew what to expect. The way Marjane Satrapi's graphic novels have been adapted for the screen is visually stunning, such surrealism, such wit. The first part is really moving, and deep down I got affected not because I understand living under an oppressive regime so well, but because I know what it feels to have this love/hate relationship with your home-country.

Two men alone, waiting

Why is the thought of two men sitting by themselves, confined in a real or imaginary prison, waiting for some ill-identified entity to come and give them some kind of direction, so extensively used in modern theatre? Beckett did it in Waiting for Godot, Pinter does in the Dumb Waiter and McDonagh copies him in In Bruges. Perhaps it is the ultimate theological metaphor: people, we are prisoners in our lives, not knowing that there is a world out there. And God is irrational (sending wrong orders down a dumb waiter, according to Pinter) and most of all absent. Don't put your money on him coming to save you or give you any direction whatsoever.

It's up to us folks, only.

Should Big Lebowski be afraid?

I am one of Big Lebowski's biggest fans. In fact I think it is my favourite Coen brothers movie. But seeing this trailer made me think, could it be that the brothers are at it again? Should el duderinio be afraid that someone else might take his reign, that someone could take him down from the top of my list? From this trailer it seems that indeed, something really good is being cooked and Brad Pitt is in it.

The cool

Is this cool or is it cool?

I always thought Amy wrote amazing, heart-breaking lyrics but I never thought my old University would rise up to the challenge and acknowledge that. I mean a comparison of Amy with Billie? A-fucking-maxing! Well done Cam! (I never thought I'd say that...)

Inspired by this, the blog administrator (i.e. me) will administer an online competition.
Compare and contrast the following two songs by Billie Holiday and Amy Winehouse. What do they reveal about female psyche?

Bille Holiday: Lady sings the blues




Lady sings the blues
Shes got them bad
She feels so sad
Wants the world to know
Just what the blues is all about

Lady sings the blues
She tells her side
Nothing to hide
Now the world will now
Just what the blues is all about
The blues aint nothing but a pain in your heart
When you get a bad start
When you and your man have to part
I aint gonna just sit around and cry
And now I wont die
Because I love him

Lady sings the blues
Shes got em bad
She feels so sad
The world will know
Shes never gonna sing them no more


Amy Winehouse-Back to black



He left no time to regret
Kept his dick wet
With his same old safe bet
Me and my head high
And my tears dry
Get on without my guy
You went back to what you knew
So far removed from all that we went through
And I tread a troubled track
My odds are stacked
I'll go back to black

We only said good-bye with words
I died a hundred times
You go back to her
And I go back to.....

I go back to us

I love you much
It's not enough
You love blow and I love puff
And life is like a pipe
And I'm a tiny penny rolling up the walls inside

We only said goodbye with words
I died a hundred times
You go back to her
And I go back to

Black, black, black, black, black, black, black,
I go back to
I go back to

We only said good-bye with words
I died a hundred times
You go back to her
And I go back to

We only said good-bye with words
I died a hundred times
You go back to her
And I go back to black