Montreal May 06

Lots of artistic decorations outside the buildings


Modern buildings that don't require any decoration


Decorative clown-mascots


A massive cathedral, with tones of decorations inside (ok I am gonna stop it...)


This is a music instrument in a secluded room of the cathedral all covered in gold (damn how can I forget it's name...)


Always chat up locals and someone will invite you for dinner.


If they are as friend as this Caribbean couple they may even host a party for you. In the picture there is an Moroccan taxi driver, a ex-pilot from Ghana,... Canada is sort of immigrants.


If you look carefully, you'll see one of them is daydreaming.


Not the only "leisure center" in town


"Ugly Americans" a fun read I never finished.


The Olympic spirit passed from Montreal at some point. Don't ask me when.


The picture doesn't give justice to how tall this building is.

There is no monopoly in common sense

The Taliban have released a 28-minute video showing a US soldier captured in Afghanistan last month.*

In the video, the soldier, in grey clothes and with shaved head, says being a prisoner is "unnerving" and that he misses his family.

He says the US public has the power to bring US troops home to be "back where we belong and not over here, wasting our time and our lives".

The US military in Kabul said the man in the video was the missing soldier.
...
US military spokesman in Kabul, Capt Jon Stock, condemned the use of the video.

He told Reuters: "The use of the soldier for propaganda purposes we view as against international law.

"We are continuing to do whatever possible to recover the soldier safe and unharmed."

Leaflets have been distributed and a reward offered for his safe return.

The US military said the soldier disappeared after walking off base with three Afghan colleagues.

He is believed to be the first soldier seized in either Iraq or Afghanistan for at least two years.


*http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8157795.stm
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There is no monopoly in common sense
On either side of the political fence
We share the same biology
Regardless of ideology
Believe me when I say to you
I hope the "russians" love their children too


Sting

Are you a rock-chick or a pop-princess?

What did Michael Jackson leave behind?

It's pointless to answer this question. Think of all the inspired kids (all over the globe) trying to pick up his dancing moves or the debt of his bank accounts and the list goes on. But like every other human being Michael Jackson left a dead body behind. Well not exactly. MJ's body like every genuine star's body had the signs of excess on it. So here's a question for you:

Should MJ donate his body to science?


PS: If such a thing happened I would see it partly as a humorous partly as a revengeful action. - For all the damage science did to me, the best way to retaliate is give my body back. -

Should there be limits on art?

I think yes and the audience, viewers, spectators are the ones responsible for applying them. In light of the release of the movie Bruno by Sacha Baron Cohen, there will be many discussions on where art stops serving as a means of entertainment and becomes a means for provocation. In my opinion the answer is to be given by those who pay to watch it(as well as those who refrain from doing so). I am personally not very interested in listening to "experts'" opinions.

Art of course is not solely a means of entertainment. Aristotle considered tragedy to have unique qualities with its roots in the cause and effect nature of the universe. He also suggested that fear and pity should be invoked within the audience. Plato on the other hand disregarded any form of art.

Did an important "individual" passed away recently?

It goes without saying that not every human being shares the same values, has the same interests and so on... If I carried on this path I would soon hit the wall of individuality. Each human being is different and has to be respected for that. Sure.

The millions of people standing in front of the television watching Michael Jackson's funeral are different, even though they are having exactly the same reaction to MJ's death. No matter how different they are then, they should still be sharing something in common. Is it that they are all equally manipulated by the media on what is important? Is it that they are all equally desperate in search for a role model so that the profile of a talented musician accused for numerous things, can serve as one? Is it that they have so much free time to sit and watch the funerals of celebrities? I don't know but it's almost intriguing how much interest people find in the show Jackson's family and the media put together.

PS: Apparently hours after MJ's death someone put together a web domain titled something like www. Is m j still alive. com Once you clicked on the site there was a big no coming up. Some friends were laughing over it. I am curious how funny they would find it if it was referring to a relative or friend of them?

Jupiter's Travels by Ted Simon

On page 153 Ted Simon quotes someone "We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate." How ironic can such a sentence seem in a book whose author tried to connect dots so far away on the map? But it's not; and there are millions of fascinating stories connecting all these places. Ted Simon put's together his own, in a genuine, vivid, humorous and insightful way.

http://www.jupitalia.com/

The most representative costume of your country is...

The Austrian fashionista Bruno is on his global tour promoting his latest film (hoping at the same time to become the 2nd most important gay actor coming out of Austria after Terminator II). In his appearance in different cities he showed up dressed with a costume resembling the country he was visiting.

In London he was dressed as a beefeater, in Madrid as a bull, in Hollywood as a general riding a tanks.

Facebook is watching you?

Citizens of different countries will not take national issues equally serious. I am not here to state the obvious and you probably already know what diplomacy means for Brits. You can now read the following abstract:

Wife of Sir John Sawers, the future head of MI6, in Facebook security alert*

Lady Sawers disclosed details such as the location of the London flat used by the couple and the whereabouts of their three children and of Sir John’s parents. She put no privacy protection on her account, allowing any of Facebook’s 200 million users in the open-access London network to see the entries.

Patrick Mercer, the Conservative chairman of the Commons counter-terrorism sub-committee, said that the entries were a serious error and potentially damaging.
“Sir John Sawers is in a very sensitive position and by revealing this sort of material his family have left him open to criticism and blackmail,” he told The Times. “We can’t have the head of MI6 being compromised by having personal details of his life being posted on Facebook.

“As a long-serving diplomat and ambassador, his family have been involved in his line of business for decades. I would have hoped they would have been much more sensitive to potential security compromises like this.”

*Michael Evans, Defence

Let me get this right: The problem is that John hasn't trained his family well enough? No, That his wife wasn't smart enough to think of the potential threats for her husband's life and career? Hmm maybe but then again this means that people that her husband is after, are spending time on facebook as a source for information for blackmailing hmmm Then maybe John's family should avoid the usage of other stuff that can help terrorists track him down: loyalty cards at the local sushi shop, tesco bonus point cards and maybe even credit cards? Nahh I still cannot tell where the real problem lies...

Ohh What if the press lacking any serious reports tried to dramatize a story of the (hurt?) British diplomatic pride? Damn that cannot be it. Why would they ever do such a think?

If there was one single thing I would like to know in order to tell if Sir John Sawers is the right person for the job that would be: How good he was at high school at cheating with his exams? Was he any good at getting away with murder? Cause I am a big believer that it takes one to find one.

Feel the love generation

Come on, come on, come on,

Feel the Love Generation
Feel the Love Generation

Don't worry about a thing, gonna be all right

Why most the children play in the street?
Broken hearts, faded the dreams
Peace on earth to everyone that you meet
Don't you worry, It could be so sweet

Just look to the rainbow you will see,
The sun will shine 'till eternity
I've got so much love in my heart
No one can tear it apart

On the 4th of July 2009 London was holding it's Gay Pride for the year. The city was flooded with cheerful people form early in the morning and with the help of the weather the event seemed in my eyes as a successful one. I had the chance to check out Old Compton street which had a fantastic vibe and with this opportunity I would like to express a few scattered thoughts:

- The distinction between gay and straight is the starting point of discrimination.

- I hope it wasn't only gay people cheerful yesterday. Being straight I would consider it pathetic not to be in a jolly mood with so many people in the streets laughing, dancing,... meeting.

- Even though festivities like the gay pride are great to remind us: how much fun house music is, that we should all be treated equally and how important it is to keep fit, at some point have to take them as a given.

What should I pack?

Every trip, journey, excursion, expedition starts the moment I start packing my things. It’s not until I take out my backpack or luggage out and start putting things inside that I know I am off for another adventure.

- I think there is a good reason for that: No matter how long ago I have booked the flying tickets and got the visas deep inside I know these are not really part of the traveling process. For centuries people were traveling without advising travel agencies or requesting admission and vaccination proofs. So it is very likely that these complications are not still wired in my DNA as the beginning of a journey. On the contrary though, packing …-

…packing yes, is definitely the starting point. So what should I take with me this time so that I am prepared. Here we go then:

- Independent of what is your latest purchase, what you would like to see yourself in and what sounds cool learn what do people living in the place you go wear at this time of the year. If for instance they do not were waterproofs while in a rainy season, it’s probably because it’s also very humid the rest of the time or because sun comes out afterwards drying everything quickly. The scenarios are infinite but keeping rule number one in mind will save you from carrying unnecessary things or looking silly.
- Travel light. I cannot emphasize much this one, even though it has become a cliché. There are so many times we have to carry the full load of our language, especially when commuting or when it’s just the safest thing to do. Keep also in mind that the weight and volume of our luggage rarely goes down during the trip. On the contrary we tend to purchase presents and clothes appropriate for the local weather conditions. I try to keep 30% of the space in my luggage free before I leave for a trip.
- Packing needs to be done in a priority order. Keep underwear – socks / toiletries handy. Same thing is true for tickets, passports and money. Spare bags for dirty clothes…



PS: Ohh my God, I forgot to mention extra batteries for the camera :-)

PS2: I am proud to have learnt these tricks not while traveling for leisure but with the army!

PS3: In the picture I am with my friend Yo Stuller leaving Boston (with all my belonging) for Buenos Aires. 1 hour before the picture was taken the following story takes place: I am driving to Yo’s place with an old white Toyota Corolla so that we have a bear and he can give me a ride to the airport. The plan was that he would keep the car and try to sell it for me (as he surprisingly managed to, a few months later). I was running low on gas but having full faith in Toyota’s and not much spare time to spare I decided I can postpone filling it up for later. As soon as I arrived at Yo’s, I saw him with his always welcoming smile raising a bottle of bear towards me. Until now I don’t know what possessed me that moment and without turning off the engine, I step out of the car locking the door behind me. My car running low on fuel, with the engine on, all windows shut and all doors locked had all my belonging including passport and tickets 2 hours before my flight out of the country. It was Sunday! With the help of a police officer! We managed to brake in the car 30 minutes later…

priceless