The Back Door

This week, I would like to talk about a nation forgotten by most

of the world. I want to talk about the Principality of Sealand. Though it is not recognized as a nation by any countries or international organizations, the Principality sees itself as a sovereign nation, with a flag, a constitution and a Royal Family. Sealand was originally a British WWII sea fort, six miles off the coast of Suffox, England. Many of these forts, located in international waters, were abandoned after  the end of WWII, and though most of them were destroyed, Fort Roughs were simply left empty.

 

Well, that was until the ex-military officer Roy Bates came along. He and his family claimed the small landmass as their own in 1967, crowning himself Prince of Sealand, his wife being Princess. In addition to the fort, Bates claimed 12 sea miles around it as belonging to Sealand. When the British Royal Navy entered the waters in 1968, Bates responded by opening fire on the intruders. According to Wikipedia, petrol bombs were also used to defend the small nation.

 

After this incident, Bates was summoned to court in England. The court, however, found the case could not proceed, as the court  25 November 1968 declared that the it could not exert jurisdiction in Bates’ case, since Sealand existed outside of British National Territory.  Bates, now titled “Roy of Sealand,” proudly declared his nation as sovereign.

 

The tiny, yet brave country exists to this day – However it has a turbulent history. In 1978, the Prime Minister of Sealand, Professor Alexander G. Achenbach, together with several Dutch and German citizens, staged a takeover of Sealand while Roy Bates was away in Britain. They took Bates’ son, Michael as captive, before releasing him in the Netherlands. Roy Bates, however, returned from Britain with his own men in a helicopter, and recaptured the old fort, taking the Dutch and German citizens as prisoners of war. German diplomats were involved in resolving the issue, and the Dutch and German citizens were all eventually returned to their countries of origin.

 

You can read more about the crazy history of this tiny nation on its own website, www.sealandgov.com, or look up http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand

Until Next Time…

 -Phlegm

Editorial

If we commit ourselves to writing, as an act of self affirmation, as an assertion of will, then this writing becomes writing. In some sense the pure dedication of writing for ourselves does not involve any responsibility, any danger. In his book “What is literature?” Sartre stated one question which comes now to me, “What would happen if everybody reads what I wrote?” Start a publication, open this space to opinion, assertions, poetry, essays or any other manner which implies writing is certainly drink small doses of poison; it is to accept rejections, objections and even recognize when some errors are made.

 

As I’ve said several times before, I’m not a Poet, nor a Philosopher and even less a Writer, I am just occasionally either a Poet, Philosopher or Writer. Until now I’ve created nothing, merely a place where more places can be erected, altogether we offer odd methods to get drunk or intoxicated, to touch invisible butterflies and drink with certain elegance, certain devoutness to the silence. Now that the cigarettes´ smoke has taken the shape of dream and we can see how the sun falls, the ritual can start – just read and add some coffee.

 

Armchair Anarchist

An armchair,

A corner where the coffee is the night coming in the shape of cups.

Where the books never end.

Where the minuscule instrument of silence is played.

Where the music is spring and summer, is fall and winter.

Where the emptiness of the white paper is defeated by ink.

Where the ink is essence.

Where just the silence can die.

Where loneliness is not bear to be with oneself.

Where the Quixote was born.

Where the nonsense has sense.

Where you are now.

 

an Anarchist,

who drinks drops of wine.

who eats cramps of the moon.

who reads.

who paints.

who writes.

who blows the line of dreaming out the night and place it elsewhere.

who doesn’t know which song is better.

who has enough courage to dwell inside the thought,

who we are.

 

Take a sit next to us, drink, read, paint, listen. Take your time, our time.

Gospel

 

Cinema Anarchico

Clockwork orange

 Individual freedom vs. social order

—About Ourang and mechanisms.

 

What’s going to be then, eh?

Clockwork orange deals with ultraviolence, with Beethoven and his 9th, with an antihero and his non-heroic adventures. It’s perhaps a violent symphony interpreted by angels’ trumpets and heaven’s trombones, called a masterpiece—banned in Britain when shown for the first time. It might be an opera which overcomes us as a calling, as a frightful show, a vicious ballet which stands and questions our freedom, our humanity, and argument about choice, about being repressed: thus about liberty and social order. It is about a state and its ways of establishing order: manipulate elections—make everything fit as you like and have order, imposed order. A horrorshow film. Everything, from the old in-out-in-out and krovvy action to some bitvas between nadsats.

What´s going to be then, eh?

 

Individual freedom vs. social order

Clockwork orange

 

Friday, 29 February 2008

20:30

Fore dayroom

 

Gospel

 

 

I know you are but what am I?

Well, you are post-rock. You are a harmony. You are mid 1980’s! But still rocking the underground scene stronger than ever before.

 

Rock is dying. Or it’s as alive like never before?

 

In the indie world of Montreal, Chicago or Iceland post-rock animates the scene with a non-conventional approach on the guitar, bass and the drum set.

 

Bands like Explosions In The Sky, Mogwai, A Silver Mt. Zion, 65daysofstatic, Sigur Ros and the epics Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Slint have gave up long time ago power riffs and sat down, holding the same instruments that AC/DC or Metallica used. And what they came up with was Post-Rock!

 

The Term was first proposed by Simon Reynolds – critic.

 

He used ‘post-rock’ to describe music “using rock instrumentation for non-rock purposes, using guitars as facilitators of timbre and textures rather than riffs and power chords”.

 

STOP!  but what is, in fact, post-rock?

 

Post-Rock is a music genre. IT is characterized by the use of musical instruments which you might associate with rock music, but making use of rhythms, harmonies, melodies, timbre, and chord progression that are not found in rock tradition. Post-Rock is not just Guitar-Bass-Drums-Synth.

 

Other, less common, instruments are present such as The Sax, Oboe, Glockenspiels, Piano, Violin and ‘maybe’ Cello. Vocals are omitted! …most of the time. The P-R pieces are lengthy and Instrumental, containing repetitive build-ups of timbre, dynamics and texture. The Sound embraces a wide range of music genres like Ambient, Jazz, Electronica and Experimental.

 

POST_ROCK_BEARS_NO_RESEMBLENCE_TO_INDIE_MUSIC!

 

Godspeed You! Black Emperor, A Silver Mt. Zion, Do Make Say Think are generally characterized by a leftist politic ethic and an aesthetic rooted in, among other genres, musique concrète, chamber music, and free jazz.

 

OK! BUT_NO_RECOMMENDATIONS?!

 

Mogwai

 

Rock Action and My Father My King (2001)

 

Composed of 2 cd’s, the full length Rock Action and the Steve Albini-produced EP, My Father My King. “My Father My King” is a 21-minute song that is an addition to the already brilliant Rock Action. It takes a Jewish hymn and turns it into a full-blown rock anthem. It’s the kind of track that will cause you to sit up straight in your seat and learn the Hymn like you were in Hebrew School all over again. Rock Action, on the other hand, doesn’t rock as much as the previous releases. Standout tracks: “Sine Wave”, “Take Me Somewhere Nice”, “You Don’t Know Jesus” and the beautiful yet apocalyptic “2 Rights Make 1 Wrong”

 

THANKS!

 

Who said that the modern music scene is dead?!

Lazarus

 

The Soundtrack of Our Lives

Sometimes it is all about these slow, yarning love songs. At times it happens to be these high-beat music for partying wildly. It is not good and it is not bad. It is gonzo48k. I went to their concert at Tetris, a cultural club in Trieste.

Gonzo 48k categorises itself as indie electro. However in my opinion they play electronic pop music. Electro pop as a genre is not as easy as it sounds. Yes, you need only a computer and a couple of guitars – but you also need a lot of talent to make it successful. Gonzo 48k doesn’t fully achieve it.

Their songs are, most likely, intended to vary from slow, cute songs to more danceable ones. However, when listening to the live performance, you cannot really make a difference between the songs. Sometimes you don’t even notice when the song changes.

I think that some of the songs would sound good if you play them separately. In some of the songs you can sense some nice elements, like neat beat patterns and even some well-accomplished Moby-like effects. In one of the songs the band had mixed a clip of metallic noise as the background and it is definitely one of their most interesting songs.

Their performance was not that good. Firstly, it was impossible to hear the lyrics due to the loud beat. However, the pieces of singing I could hear did not seem very impressive by repeating the same, cryptic phrase over and over again. The performance also lacked that home-made enthusiasm and anarchy which is an important part of indie music. The lack of a playlist didn’t make it any better.

Gonzo 48k is not the type of music you want to listen for a longer period of time. It is the kind of music I would like to have on my iPod to appear out of the blue when the player is using shuffle. The soundtrack of my life. That’s what I want it to be – neat and happy.

During the latter half of the concert the songs became so similar that my friends could not stand it any more. We left before the last song.

www.myspace.com/gonzo48k

 

The Worldaholic

 

 

 

Tertis?

Everybody knows the game – but Tetris is also a small cultural club in Trieste. It offers concerts and parties ranging from gothic metal through psychedelic rock to bubblegum pop. Something for everyone. Usually the gigs are rather intimate with an audience of 20-30 people. In February there are going to be evenings of, for example, an American acoustic band, a gothic metal band and a La Jazeera web radio party.

www.myspace.com/gruppotetris

 

The  Worldaholic

 

 

About Poetry and Language

 

Poetry is the mirror

                                The deepest voice,

                                Secret verb,

                                Dream’s labyrinth,

 

Who denies poetry

                will deny his right to the Word

                will enter in the kingdom

                                                of eternal silence.¹

 

Is that true? Allow us to begin with a poem, as the small waves of invisible silence, as some note of this subtle instrument called language opens a broad sense without limits, an infinite bound to the ephemeral eternity². Firstly we should understand that human thought is fully generated as words, our whole intelligence starts with language, with the shape of words which have been growing like trees: numbers, colors, adjectives, ideas; thus concepts, the world is made of concepts, everything falls from their branches as small fruits. We cannot develop any concrete thought without the steamy form of the words. Now, poetry itself is a play of words, a performing in the theater of every morning, of every night, between the lapse of the day and the night, outside the silence but mixed with it. Since (everything) comes to us through the eyes, as images, the act of view is a dance of thoughts, a soft and violent mutter of a bell, a vibrating substance of the violins, a crashing symphony in the hair of the sea— we conceptualize all in names, as sonorous-ideas. Even if this world comes to our minds as images —I quite agree that sometimes the words will collapse struggling against the colossal echo of a falling waterfall, or just sometimes the breath of trees— the way to illustrate it to other people is through words, all concrete communication is conceived in the means of language, hence ideas—concepts.

  Certainly language might be the highest achievement in the development of humankind, without it humanity would return to the true state of nature; the fact that we both conceive the fire as fire and not as a book it is the beginning of social behavior, acknowledging that fire is indeed, something which can burn, that emanates light, or scares animals, but acknowledging between us embraces us on a relation based in this language which is just the order of thoughts. However that is bare language, all these words are truly the mirror of the world. There are other sorts of voices that dwell in our notion of feeling the world, something inside and above, smooth as breezes with a strength of the silent and invisible horses that carry the weight of the night over our eyelids or bring the agitation of the sun to our bodies in the shape of light. Such words are pure ideas, not shapes nor images, abstract sensations which have no equal, no true definition. It can be summarized as an image, but it allows interpretation thus ambiguity. The only way to reach it is with the word in itself as a complex net of infinite possibilities, of vast significances.

The Wor(l)ds community and communication have the same Latin origin, are both one at certain point, we create a society based on language, on talk. Little things were created when poetry appeared; more words came as soft gasps, as an elegant excitement, or just as pure sublimity.

To place poetry as another notion of the world is, certainly, to open ourselves to this humanity made by feelings…

 

Gospel 

 

____________________________________

¹ Maria Fernandez

² History (though, I will leave it for another occasion)

 

 

 

A H(e)aven for a Modern Art Lover

Finally Saturday, end of a long week. Two of our editors decide that they feel like modern art.

We take the morning-train to Venice, and spend most of the day walking around in the complex labyrinth of alleys, without a map, frequently running into dead-ends. Finally we find the Grand Canal and sit down. The sun is burning hot. We feel the need of getting under shadow. No, not those huge, dusty museums which haven’t seen light in centuries. There aren’t many other options. Except the Biennale – well, it’s not happening this year. So let’s see something else:

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection is undoubtedly one of the best places to see 20^th century art in Venice. It has a broad variety of works from the entrance hall’s Picasso to Joseph Cornell’s box constructions. It offers an exemplary spectre to the European and American modern art, giving examples, for instance, of cubism and De Stijl movement. A great add to the collection of modern art is the sculpture garden located outside the former home of Peggy Guggenheim, where the main exhibition is.

Some of the pieces definitely worth checking out. Max Ernst’s surrealistic paintings  present nude figures with fabrics which turn into flesh looking mash. Giving a nice contrast to Ernst’s surrealism, the exhibition presents also works of the faimous French surrealist, René Magritte, whose Empire of Light shows with amazing accuracy the differec of night-lights and broad daylight – in the same picture!

Amongst the sculptures there are numerous interesting pieces. One them is Yoko Ono’s conceptual installation, using a live olive tree as the sculpture to dim the border between art and non-art. In an other corner, the man-sized triangular glass-chamber of Dan Graham makes us keep going round and round, trying to figure out our position amongst the mirrors and holes in the wall.

On the terrace of the villa, facing the Grand Canal, is installed Marino Marini’s sculpture of a large naked man horseback riding. There’s an urban legend about the sculpture that in the beginning the penis of the man was detachable for it to be removed before arrivals of important guests. However, the part was stolen so many times that nowadays it is fully attached to the sculpture itself.

In summary, the museum’s extensive mix of European and American modern art, sculptures and Italian futurism should be on the “to-see” list of a modern art-loving Venice visitor.  However when going there, beware that watching and interpreting the abstract ‘messes’ might take longer than intended, and you may end up trotting around in small alleys in the dark, hoping to catch the train, and again meeting dead-ends…

www.guggenheim-venice.it

 

The Worldaholic

 

 

The Giraffe

 

 

In this photography column, we will try to give you something new to look at every fortnight. We will propose random photographers, contemporary and classic, not yet discovered and famous, selected to amuse you, cheer you up or shock you. To show fragments and interpretations of our reality, which—perhaps—would pass unnoticed if these artists wouldn’t be there to fix them. 

The articles won’t seek to give professional analysis of their work. All I want is you to find some time just for yourself, sit down, look up what we propose (that is to say type the link into the browser) and have a relaxing visual experience.  

Now let me start with a favourite of mine: Pete Turner.

He was born in Albany, New York, and graduated  Rochester Institute of Technology, in the “Golden Class” of 56. His first assignment after school was a trip to Africa with National Geographic Magazine. His accidental shot, “The Giraffe” and several other shots immediately got accepted into the permanent collection of Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (1967). That’s where it all started. Since than he got over 300 awards from various photography and design groups, his jazz album designs covers have became legendary, his works are exhibited worldwide. By developing an image-modifying system long before the digital software, he quickly gained reputation in commercial and stock-photography. In the future, he plans to keep on doing what he loves, which is travel-photography. 

The main characteristic of his photography is the supersaturated, sometimes surrealistic colours. Looking at the vivid, sunlit images makes you smile – colours have a therapeutic effect, that’s psychologically approved. Perhaps that’s why :)

He often chooses unusual perspectives to create almost surrealistic, geometrical compositions out of everyday reality. He makes close-ups of  small objects that catch the attention (ribbon in a horse’s tail,  painted lips), and portraits of people who characterize their environment—yet stick out of it (old men in a bar, painted African women), or just depicts the surprising geometry and lighting of buildings.  On his website we can see his Africa series, his colourful jazz-album covers, and a section of pictures shot all over America during his journeys. 

I choose to propose him because once he cheered me up on a difficult day. I hope it will work: 

 www.peteturner.com

copycat

 

The Back Door

As a closure for this week’s issue, I feel we should all take a moment to read what in my opinion is the greatest Bible verse of all time:

 

Passage 2 Kings 2:23-24:

    ²³ From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. “Go on up, you baldhead!” they said. “Go on up, you baldhead!” ²⁴ He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths.”

The Bible, New International Version (1978)

 

You’ve got to love the Old Testament God. So remember, kids: Obey the Lord, or Bears will Eat you.

  - Phlegm