Two Weeks…

Well then, I guess it was coming. Not that I want to ‘market’ myself as a religious/anti-religious blogger, but sometimes, I feel that this ain’t just so random and might deserve its own category.

I know you probably never read a short story by the Czech writer Werich called ‘Three Sisters and One Ring”. Needless to say, the highly comical plot involves a bet in which the three sisters hold a contest which one of them can make their husband look most foolish.

The second sister convinces her husband that he’s been elected pope by the secret council held that day. She tells him to dress up as a priest and wait for the Holy Spirit to find him. She also told him that, to attract the Spirit’s attention, he should shout “Oh, beware of Sin, beware!”. Surely, this is comical enough.

The mass I attended today wasn’t. Although I’m not religious, I go to Church couple of times a year, because my grandmother does and because I don’t really see much point in arguing about it. In the beginning, the priest’s speech (which, I believe, is called sermon in English) ran along those funny lines from that short story.

First, the priest started off with love. This is logical enough, considering that love makes the world go round, love thy neighbor and all that other stuff. What rather ruined it was the ending; ‘when two young people meet, they might fall in love, and one or two weeks later, they will probably already be in mortal sin, that is not love’.

Hello! I’m not saying there aren’t people like that, but pleeze. Have some faith in people! You might be pleasantly surprised. How can someone hope to better peoples’ lives if he assumes they’re all born without any morals. How can someone have faith in Jesus, and not in the people that attend the mass. I seriously doubt, nay, I am certain, that someone who commits ‘mortal sin’ with their girl/boyfriend after one or two weeks of going out DOES NOT go to church, or at least not this one. So really, the plea fell on deaf ears, or ears that already practice what this man preached.

Then we heard all about loving Jesus, which was fair enough, except that the way he said it (stylistically and grammar wise), it was almost like the sort of loving that Cartman’s Christian rock band sang about in the episode “Christian Rock Hard” (South park, season 7, episode 9). But this was not the point. The priest then concluded that we should try to be useful in our lives, which is something that no-one should disagree with.

What really freaked me out, was the lack of faith demonstrated toward the people. Surely, the best way to teach faith is to have faith, isn’t it? (then again, I’m not an actual Christian, so I wouldn’t know).

Peter

Mad Chase For Madonna, 25 April 2008

You might not know or care, but yesterday was the day that Madonna’s new album debuted in the Netherlands.

Me, being a Madonna fan, was eager to get my copy as soon as I could, which meant that very morning as soon as the stores were open. But, that day also being a Friday right before the May holidays, it was decided that we were to leave our home to travel to our destination 9:30 sharp.

After doing a little research, I was disappointed to find out that stores actually open at 9:30 and not 9:00 as I was hoping. But, there seemed to be light at the end of the tunnel. One store, only about 10 minutes by bike opened at the right time. At least, that’s what the internet said.

So I grabbed my  bike and took off. The only good that did was the exercise, since the store had actually gone out of business, just like many others in that sad little mall.

But, being the optimist I am, I decided that the exercise was good enough, and an currently waiting till I can get my hands on that cheeky album.

The “Tao of Pooh” book that my good friend lent me a couple of months ago was right. Never try to force things to go your way, if you acknowledge things for what they are, your life will be much more enjoyable.

The fact that we actually left our house at 11:00 could have pissed me off, but i) I cannot stay angry for a very long time and ii) The whole “Tao of Pooh” left me not caring that much. But remember: One way, or another, I’m gonna find you, I’m gonna getcha…. But all in its proper time.

Peter

PS: I promise, no more articles about Madonna for at least another 6 months. But really, this wasn’t about her, but rather about being patient. You could substitute the name with almost any other artist and context-wise, there’d be no difference.

Ads – A Little Differently

HSBC bank once had this series of ads that showed differences in perception in different countries. So an unlucky number in one country (13 for the Wester World) might not be unlucky in other countries. The ad then went to say on how local knowledge helps.

I think it goes even further than that. I this people are so divided not in between, but also within a society.

Let me show you with a small HSBC-esque collages, made on ms paint. Just before all of the die hard Christians send me hate mails, I’m not criticizing Jesus, just pondering why we treat different artists differently if they use the same symbol…

Here they are..

The statue is a piece of work by Bernini, commissioned by the Catholic Church. So much for traditional values. The rest of the things you should be familiar with, if not, use Wikipedia to find out.

Lolz and so long,

Peter S

I’d Rather Wear Fur Than Go Naked

A filler, from our very own Bradley.

Activism always seems short sighted, and guided by a group of individuals with one-track mentality. We could talk about all sorts of activists and activism, but that would take too much of your (and let’s face it, my) time.

So, let’s just talk about PETA. I am not an animal hater, and certainly do not enjoy torturing animals. I do, however believe, that people should be able to make up their own mind about the products they want to eat, wear or use, but should be properly informed about the products they purchase.

But, before you all take out your buckets with red paint and start opening them, let me tell ask you: What do you think false fur is made of? Of course it is made from oil-based polymers. So while the real fur is biodegradable, owing this amazing property to its biological origin, the fake fur will certainly not decompose naturally, and will produce toxic gases that end up in our increasingly polluted atmosphere.

Now imagine a world where all fur would be false. When the current generation of hip-hop artists dies (and they all end up in that big ghetto in da sky), how do you think we’ll be able to dispose of those ridiculous outfits safely?. The world will be facing a waste disposal of epic proportions…

Or, if you PETA activists really want to stop the slaughtering of thousands of animals, I suggest you stop buying the red paint and paying those sexy models to pose in your campaigns. In this way, you could save enough money to buy up a fur farm, and being the animal lovers you are, set those minks free and convert it into a veggie burger restaurant. This way, you could stop the cruel industry, one firm at a time…

So, next time extreme activists try to persuade you to do or not do something, just think that even false fur has its real problems…

BSJ

Whore of Moscow – Short Story or What’s Left Of It

More than a year ago, all of us at ISH had a reason to feel uneasy. Our school’s creative magazine “Mirage”, which usually cost 50 cents became available for free, but that wasn’t the only reason people read it, especially in our year. It was no secret that the newly appointed editor (a very nice person and a good friend of mine) had several romantic proposal from a slightly creepy person. She turned him down.

Now, a normal person would probably get drunk once and forget all about it. What did the unsuccessful suitor do? He wrote a semi erotic story about caressing a sleeping girl and kissing her feet. I’m not a prude, but I think this type of prose should be kept private, like celebrity homemade sex videos. I guess the only reason it was printed (along with Daisy’s suicidal poems, don’t even get me started on those) was that those were the only pieces they recieved.

I guessed that my friend, the editor was probably looking for something less creepy, I offered to write her a short story that would eventually be split into two or three parts, which would be short enough to publish in one edition. Anyway, she agreed and I got down to writing. I had the first part written, when she came in, looked at it and then the computer crashed. Since I’m slightly stupid, I did not save it, the story was gone and I refused (partly due to my laziness) to re-write it again.

So, come the next issue, another creepy, semi-erotic piece of prose followed. I let my friend down…

But I still remember what the story was about. As horribly bad I am with writing poetry (which is why I only attempted it twice, but that will be explained much later) I can actually sweat out some decent prose (at any rate, way better than any of my poetry).

The story was as follows:

During the last years of the Soviet regime, a girl in Moscow gets raped by the teenage son (around 18 or so) of the American ambassador. Since this was such a delicate case, it wasn’t publicized at all, the son got off free and the girl was put into an asylum. After being released, nobody wanted to give her a job since due to her being a ‘madwoman’ and the fact that Russia was recovering from Communism. She therefore ended up as a prostitute and worked her way in the back alleys of Moscow to the present day.

Meanwhile, the American boy got into Yale, and became a diplomat, just like his father. Now, he is being sent to Moscow, to take the post that his father once held. Having changed very little, he soon becomes drawn into the decadent Moscow nightlife and starts employing the services of prostitutes. Our heroine hears about this and prepares for revenge. He will be her last client and she will be his last tine… ever.

I will spare you the details of the killing, but the heroine escapes into the dark, never to be seen again.

I personally think that this is somewhat more pleasant to read than confessions of a sexually frustrated teenager (although the Freudians might argue that everything is a confession of a sexually frustrated person). But to make a distinction, my short story would not be pseudo-erotic, it was meant to be as a simple story of revenge and justice.

Peter

PS: Maybe I’ll start writing that story sometime, but I don’t see that happening in the near future. What do you think?

Form Study 2.2

Curves are the new straight lines. What I always liked about Form study was that no matter how unconventional or weird your product is, you can always get away with saying “I tried it out, and it looked really cool”. If you ever said that to one of your teachers, you’d be lucky if you passed your project.

Anyway, if the last piece was a bit controlled, here, all those free forms break loose. But don’t let those bent forms deceive you, they are constructed on and using Fibonacci’s ‘golden’ grid. Official grade:8.2. Which is very good. The teacher said I’ve done too much, and that the white element would have been enough, as the point of the assignment was ‘facade’, rather than ‘facade and space’. Maybe, when I’m trying hard to be the best, I could be a little less (Yes, I ripped that off a pop song, so what?).

Peter

Back In The Days

Nostalgia… In today’s overcomplicated and busy world, many people long to return to the days when life was simple and pure, or, as one of my friends said; ‘when the air was still clean and sex dirty’. Everything was better back then. Tomatoes did not taste like plastic, there were enough parks, the roads were less busy and a beer cost you just 50 cents.

And yet, all this looking back is not at all productive. We are not looking back and reflecting on what we as a society did better and what we did worse. A lot of times we blindly ignore all the negative things and tend to surround ourselves with memorabilia from those bygone ages. We then start to believe that progress must at least stop, or even be turned back, in order to finally arrive in the long sought utopia.

It is true, progress does usually cause as many problems as it solves, and as Professor Umbridge points out “progress for progress’ sake must be discouraged”, however, progress rarely happens for its own sake, though individuals with their minds clouded by fundamentalist ideas fail to see that.

And so, more and more people jump onto the nostalgia bandwagon, which mass produces soulless copies of objects from the past, while we cannot see that the invisible aspects of human life stagnate. Arts, politics, literature are usually the first ones to go down, the rest will fall like domino stones…

The best way to deal with past is to analyze it critically, highlight significant and positive aspects while keeping in mind that back in the days, there were things that went wrong… just like today.

Copying and following the past blindly will never lead to utopia, but a cheap, romanticized retro kitsch that can only be called bad taste.

Yay

Peter

Unemployed In The Hottest London Club

Oh dear, what will I write this time? I have no idea, and after reading some of my earlier pieces, I realized that the stuff I’ve been writing lately is not as fun or light hearted and not interesting at all. But then I thought, let’s talk about jobs.

In my nearly 19 years of life experience, I suppose I did some work, but I’ve never been employed. I did more DIY than I ever wanted do do, I scared my little cousin to sleep, I helped my brother during his brief, but real job of a newspaper delivery boy. But I’ve never really received a paycheck and never had to pay tax (which, I suppose, is the silver lining).

Not so long ago, a friend of mine, who is currently studying in London (at a college he ALWAYS wanted to attend, especially after he couldn’t get to LSE) said to someone, who said to someone else, who, I suppose told me, that he’s a freelance bartender. Not only do I have a hard time picturing a busy student like him being a bartender; after all, he always claimed he was a good surfer, karate-kid and really, really awesome in everything else;  I always thought he would continue these things and therefore he’d just have enough time to relax, alone for a job (even though the reader at this point might thing I’m a lazy pig, this is not so, I am a student, which is really like having a job, you just have to pay them).

Or maybe because during our high school days, mots people spent their Friday nights  (some even every other night) in front of the bar rather than behind it. But that’s besides the point. What someone pointed out to me was the word ‘freelance’, which I came to understand is meant to be interpreted as unemployed. So perhaps, he pours drinks to his friends and older schoolmates at the fraternity, but I am quite certain, the I will not find him pouring drinks to Madonna, Prince Harry, Kate Moss or Hermione Granger in the hottest of London’s clubs (Yes, apparently there is a place where the celebrities and young royalty hang out and discuss, whatever people discuss when they’re drinking).

And just like my friend, I’m a freelance amateur journalist/writer. I found a sophisticated word to replace jobless. After all, we’d all like to be freelance than jobless losers (something that I thought I was, up until now). But, I recently applied for an editor’s post at our faculty newspaper (B Nieuws), which might mean, that in a short time, I’ll hopefully be closer to being a journalist, even if an amateur one (because freelance amateur journalist makes you sound really desperate).

Hopefully, I can work on Dystopia High, one or two diary entries and discuss how to actually get into London’s hottest club to meet and greet Hermione Granger (or whichever celebrity is available at the moment).

Peter

The Art Of Detailing

Some architects say that well designed details are a work of art. I seriously doubt that the detailing I’ve worked on was any good, but the AutoCAD drawings with all the colorful lines (which are later plotted as black lines of different thickness look really cool. Judge for yourself.

Peter

Project BSc 2: The Exhibition Hall

We left off at week 3. After that, much has happened. I decided that the facade of the exhibition wall be made out of travertine (white stone), and that the transparent section of the building be made out of tinted glass panels in a parallelogram grid.

These are images from week 4. It is a collage of different materials. the stone is travertine, the glass grid part is taken from the Seattle Central Library to create an impression of the look I wanted to achieve.

After week 4 I found out that these materials and the consequences they have for the building aren’t exactly eco-friendly and sustainable (well, it was meant to be an integral part of the design), I decided that the rest of the building had to be as ‘hippie’ as possible. Therefore, insulation was sheep’s wool, all the rubber used in the building was natural rubber and the floors and ceilings were supported by a series of wooden beams. Plus, the walls were not covered with conventional plaster or wallpaper, but with sheets of linen (not that anything was going to hang on the wall, the exhibits would be more likely to stand in the open space or that’s the way I interpreted it).

Weeks 5 and 6 I spent drawing all my plans in AutoCAD, which was really difficult at first, but in the end, I managed. Then I spent my easter weekend drawing interiors. This is how they came out (note the restaurant concept of blob forms in open spaces was meant to emphasize the orthogonal nature of the glass part of the building).

Projection room

Cafe/restaurant

Offices (with a kitchen unit)

Exhibition area

Anyways, here are some plans that I made of the pavilion itself in AutoCAD.

Now, that’s that. I also did a little clumsy drawing of the exterior, which although not so bad for my level, was instantly criticized by my parents.

I actually used Photoshop to get this picture to look somewhat decent, but that’s besides the point. Week 8 I spent printing, photocopying, making the presentation and building a model (one whole day, I actually cut my finger while cutting vivak (thin transparent plastic). The model looks much better.

Sadly, last weekend, the model was destroyed by my cats. But I didn’t need it anyways. And what was all this effort finally worth. A 7.5/10. Quite good.My mentor commented that I deserved higher, but this was a ‘punishment’ so that I don’t do as much but try to focus on one thing, otherwise my intentions become unclear.

Anyways, out of 14 people who stared with me on the project, 8 of us made it for sure, while the fate of one person is still unsure. Here are all the designs from our studio (nr. 18). Which one do you like the best?

Peter

PS: I’ll post some ‘raw’ AutoCAD detail drawings on here in the next couple of days. Although you might not understand them, they look really cool before they are plotted.