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Saturday, June 24, 2006
Depeche Mode, a Night of Nights
Motto: A Lifetime Waiting for This Night!
There were indeed people at this concert that have been waiting for it all their life. I remember, as I was 8, groups of fans going around the cities, with rockers as major oponents. They were my age now back then and loved this completely personal style that Depeche Mode had. And still has! I got my tickets pretty late, two days before the concert, as a result of a miracle :). Anyway, it was my first concert on a stadium and as you can see, the view of before the concert was impressive. I am going to do this a few times more a presume. Actually, if I didn't have a day job and need of it, I would really go travel around the world to see each and every "Touring the Angel" concert of Depeche Mode! Opening acts, Sue Paparude and System. Nice, cool, but we were all waiting for them to be over. We wanted DM, not the opening acts! In the mean time, we tried to get some drinks! Or something to eat! That was quite daring of us, impulsive and with no result...All drinks finished before the actual concert started and they didn't really bring more supplies...Really dump! Bad points for those organizing the concert! When the actual concert started, we all forgot our thirst, hunger, whatever else was bothering us. In my case, mosquitos who have a passion for me! They sang new songs, old songs, their songs...Each stirring the crowd more, each making them scream, whistle and applaud harder and louder. Most of the pictures here are from before the concert. I was way far and did not have a professional camera. But cameras (digital, phone, whatever), were the new lighters of the night. You could see flash lights everywhere, all that crowd trying to immortalize a sight, a song, a feeling actually! The lights and images aired were a true delight! The very Depeche Mode style, perfectly harmonized with the 21st century! There were lifelong fans, fans my age and teenagers screaming in delight. They were all captured by the show and probably thinking " I cannot believe what I am actually experiencing!"For me, Depeche Mode live had the same effect it always has. Putting me in a trance. Contacting the past, the present and all the times their music was the right tune to describe everything, what I felt, what I wanted...
My personal favorite, then, now and always: "Enjoy the silence"! They played for about 2 hours, with a 10-15 minutes encore. Yet they have so many amazing songs that I think a double in lenght show couldn't have been enough for all the songs I love! Now, while writing this post, I realize taking photos, writing about it, this is all a failed attempt of describing a feeling, a vibe, an experience. A concert this big can only be lived!
I wanted to look into who discovered air conditioning. Most people would do that to thank him/her/them. Well not me, no, I want to know who to hate. You might find it revolutionary, but a lizard like me…
I am tired of shivering in the middle of the summer! 22 degrees just does not do me justice! I need heat people! That is why I’ve been waiting around for 30 + temperatures! I don’t care that hundreds in our building are enjoying the coolness. It is still quite chilly at 24-25!
I got to tell you, I thought I was going nuts. Felt I was the only one…Till I saw and heard other people complaining…We, lizard-like creatures, demand our extreme heat!
What I love most about blogging is the ongoing conversation. Writing your posts is just the beginning. Posting and receiving comments is the most thrilling part for me. A comment can bring anything and everything: support, humor, sharing, understanding, a smile or a tear…The permanent reassurance that there are people watching, standing by for your next post and for your next comment on theirs…
A common topic of debate can always be found. A certain event, a feeling, a trip, a book, a movie, knitting (I’ve never understood this one), a way of life. All is debatable and share-worthy.
You can tell a story or half-story and have someone glimpse at what you’ve actually meant!
Lots of toughts coming towards my brain. All at once because there’s so much to think about. Yet I think, analyze and wonder and still cannot make sense of how my life will be in the next 12 months. The “I’m small but I’m strong” line from Cabron (Red Hot Chilly Peppers) doesn’t quite cut it anymore. Changes, lots of them. The shadow of doubt hanging over work and over everything actually.
However, no tears, no despair, no depression…The little red and extremely expensive thing that will soon enter my life does compensate a little. Yet I would give it all away, you know that, just to move mountains and seas and stop this…Clock is ticking, days are passing, 14 days left, today included…
Last weekend was this summer's first weekend that K and I spent outside Bucharest. We went to the mountins and chose to stay in Sinaia. We made a one-night reservation at my favorite hotel there, Anda (picture below), and headed to Sinaia early on Saturday. At about noon we got there, got our room and then left. We wanted to go to Brasov for a little sight seeing and grabbing a bite and then going to see Bran Castle.
In Brasov it was raining cats and dogs so we decided to go directly to Bran. After a little trouble we managed to find to right road and got there at about 1.30. It was not raining when we got there anymore. Gladly, we went to visit the castle. As you can see in this picture, it was pretty crowded. On the way to the entrance, I also ran into a friend from work who was kind enough to let me know the castle was full of annoying little kids...
Well, the castle was full of American tourists...They all come here in search of Dracula's myths and residence. Well, Vlad Tepes was imprisoned here, yet he was not a vampire, really...The creepiest thing in the castle is a secret passage which used to be hidden behind a fire place. Now it is out in the open...You can see pictures of the castle, showing it's redecoreted rooms (Queen Maria of Romania redecoreded it, as you can read on the museum's site, therefore it lost most of its medieval fortress charm) here. I've also uploaded the pictures I took on the way to Sinaia, with rain clouds on sight here and will later upload the remaining photos from Sinaia.
Well, we were planning to have an exciting Sunday in Sinaia, visiting the Peles Castle and going up to enjoy the view from 2000 m above...But K got a call and we had to be in Bucharest by noon...Of course when we left it was bright and sunny and warm...enough to make us even more upset about leaving...
However, our Sunday was not so bad after all. While K was working I did a little book shopping. Funny thing: I saw some Llosa books I was interested in but the guys were rearranging there, so I decided to come back to that shelf later on. So I looked around, bought myself Love in the Time of Cholera and when I returned to the Llosa books, they were nowhere to be seen...They really rearranged!
We then had lunch at Ruby Tuesday. K ordered a Colosal Burger that turned out to be quite colosal...They had stuck a long bladed knife in the middle of it to hold it together...You can see a picture of it here. We then continued with a movie, Hoodwinked.
The movie turned out to be quite fun and relaxin. Oh, and the squirrel, that's me talking to most people :). Untrue as it might be (I am not that fast when speaking, but close), that is how they see me...
Businessman Ovidiu Tender is currently being investigated for some illegal affairs. What and if he did it is not the subject of this post, what he said is. Now I agree being held in prison for two days with no reason and no legal backup is an abuse. But Mr. Tender said he will appear in history books as a victim of Capitalism, along with the victims of Communism. Could someone tell me how do those two days compare to years of imprisonment, severe beatings and hard labor? Yeah, maybe he will be mentioned as a footnote of a footnote!
I love my mom dying my hair. Of, course when it’s not that complicated, just changing my hair color. She combs my hair, dyes it, then washes and dries it, with no action what so ever from my part. And I suddenly go back to being a little girl! I do miss the ducklings in the bathtub though…
We have no problems. We have no important situations to discuss. We have nothing to criticize! This should be the slogan dedicated to our country’s promotion
Andressa has written a very interesting post here. It is in Ro only and it criticizes a so-called pop star and in a more general view, what’s happening on the Romanian music scene. She is, in my humble opinion, right to dismiss all fake videos with no voice backup (Live performance? I don’t do that, I can’t sing really!), no real choreography and no style what so ever. Plus, everyone is entitled to an opinion, for Christ’s sake!
Well, one reaction to her comments really surprised me. It said something like: thank God we are good and smart to criticize others…Well, this is one of our major problems: us, Romanians, do not take criticism that well. Better shut up, have no opinion on any matter and let it flow (or flor Sim?). Do not say anything, opinions are not welcomed (this suddenly reminds me of certain emails I received after daring to have a personal opinion on a Cioran book on this site…). If you put a little critical spirit in it, beware! We will not come with actual facts, we will explain you that the world is not as pink as you thought it to be and we will show you how wrong you are: no real arguments!
Oh, and people…MTV awards? Romanian style? C’mon! I am sure you can do better than that!
Well I criticize. Everything. Myself, my life, my friends, my family, my company, my home, my city, my country, Europe, the World for crying out loud! Didn’t anybody hear of constructive criticism??? Any type of criticism can help: to re-evaluate a situation, a state of being, a fact, whatever…Even if the criticism was based on nothingness, periodically re-evaluating our beliefs can only be of help!
Who knows, I might even get to love Keo one day (man, he’s in desperate need of a better alias!), maybe even Andressa will get to be a fan! But that will never happen to anyone (get to be a fan/get to have fans/followers/admirers etc), if the first thing we do is reject all criticism thrown at us!
Yesterday was an exquisite day… Bright blue sky and white clouds that I love so much as passers-by. I got a few snapshots of them from my window and later on downtown after my lunch with K. You can play with more of the clouds I photographed here.
There is this one thing about lunch dates and dinner dates with K and my friends: I am crazy about them! As I was in high-school, facing a future in a significantly larger city (yeah, I am a busy, large, crazy city lover) I was thinking of this as one of the great things I’d be doing. Going out for a drink was something I was already doing, but lunch with friends consisted only of occasional BBQ get-togethers and pizzas when traveling to different cities.
Now, it all has a special glow, but still when the enthusiasm wears off, I then see it: this is it, I am a grown-up! Not at heart, not yet, but in the eyes of the others (never mind the occasional strangers that take me for high-school student) I am a grown-up…
As K didn’t read the book and didn’t want to care about all the bad reviews, we did it, we went to see The DaVinci Code. Well, yes it disappointed me, as the riddle leading to next riddle part of the quest was dismissed, as some of the facts were changed and as it all was a little boring.
I cannot say the book was the best I have ever read, but the film really didn’t do it justice. And to be honest, I was a bit displeased to see they kept the only riddle I discovered on my own. Isaac Newton’s APPLE…To be honest, I was so impressed with the story about an apple hitting his had and leading to the discovery of gravity that the name Newton and the mention of an orb/sphere had only one meaning to me.
Well, I cannot say I feel sorry for going…We ate out, did a little shopping and a movie is always better than watching TV at home. But judging by the story it was based one and the large number of great actors it aired, I believe it could have been a great story if some other choices were made.
This has been a pretty busy weekend. Yesterday I went at a colleague’s house to a little trio gathering to see a different movie. Tristan and Isolde. I was curious about the legend; however, it was a bit cheesy…Thank God for the battle scenes that saved it. Other than movie we also had ice-cream, peanuts and bear and a little girly talk after the movie.
Then I met K to get something to eat and do a little shopping and got home to see three episodes of Lost which were not yet aired here. I have a feeling we will have a season 3! Also finished Memoirs of a Geisha and started to read the book on the Dead Sea scrolls. I have to say, for me the Da Vinci Code was only the beginning. I then moved to more researched books on the theme: started with a book on the Templar Nights and now am continuing with the Dead Sea scrolls. It is only a translation, not an interpretation of them. I want to also continue with the Gospels that were rejected from the Bible, just to see what they reveal…
But I have to say something, if Christianity is the biggest con in modern history, if everything is distorted and the personality of Christ mystified and modified, well, indeed, the message it was turned into was what we would now call a hook, something catchy. Something with the power to spread worldwide…With what casualties? All free thinkers, identified as scientist, witches, different than the rest. All the victims of the Crusades. Funny how power lies behind religion in any era and is always used politically.
Was this the con? Or was turning the love message of Christ into a reason to kill and oppress people a larger con? God or human or both, He sent a message of peace and love that was then used to lead ward and vendettas. The irony of it! And the bigger irony is that most existing religions are stained by the killings done in their name…
So is there a right faith? Or only faith as a pillar for our survival? There are times when we all need to feel we are not alone, we have someone to stand by our side and to pray to. Does it matter which religion we are part of or how we are called at that time? No. Only the Divine help that we believe in matters in such moments. We all need to believe in something, in a purpose, a destiny, a gateway after death…We see it in different shapes and colors, but is there any of us ready to state: it is just nothingness; we are born, we live and then nothing happens when we cease to exist? I believe there are just a few stating it but I don’t think they really believe it…
June 1st, Children’s Day! A day I have always loved but that had stopped bringing me presents. This year our bosses thought we are actually big kids, so we all found a toy on our desks when coming to work.
I got a panda bear. Others got toy cars, toy dogs or mice. It was really fun watching everybody play with their toys, alone or in small groups. It was a nice reminder of how things were when we were children, playing all day long…
Name: Alina Home: Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania About Me: "This is my church. This is where I heal my hurts". It's also where I feel free and my preferred means of expression. See my complete profile
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