Blogmenbashi the Great

Destiny's Child Video Of The Week

2009-08-03T03:46:00.000-07:00

Bills Bills Bills
This is the last video that Destiny's Child made before both Letoya and Latavia left the group. This is also what 5th grade sounded like.

I CAN HAS?

2009-07-11T00:56:00.000-07:00

For my birthday I want:

a). Tickets to the Dragacevski sabor trumpet festival in Guca, Serbia. Three days of Goran Bregovic, Boban Markovic and Serbian beer (or sljivovica!) sounds like heaven.

In the words of Miles Davis, after attending: "I didn't know you could play trumpet that way."

b). Sljivovica

It's made from plums so it must be better than vodka, right?

What better way to celebrate my impending demise?

On Bosnia

2009-07-04T00:31:00.000-07:00

"Our country is full of war criminals, but you can feel safe."

Interesting.

Another Reason To Love Tito

2009-07-01T01:48:00.001-07:00

Not only did Tito hold together a multi-ethnic state, he also gave the world the National Library in Pristina, Kosovo.

I wish Butler looked like that.

Greece

2009-06-29T23:46:00.001-07:00

When I visited Greece last summer, its Classical past seemed to be a facade. This Classical legacy, which is so often impressed upon the students of Western civilization, is manifest in the ruins of the Parthenon. These are simply the remains of what once was, existing in what seemed like relative isolation from the lives of contemporary Greeks; though the Acropolis was teeming with Western Europeans and Americans, the only natives I saw at the Parthenon were the tour guides who earn a living by feeding the Classical past to Westerners who eagerly eat it up.

Though the Classical past is often used to connect Greece to a Western identity with which tourists can identify, it struck me as a markedly Balkan country. In wandering the streets of Athens, I came to see contemporary Greece as the product, chiefly, of Byzantine and Ottoman legacies. These imperial legacies are what make it such an incredibly charming, but potentially "peripheral", place.

Robert D. Kaplan's take on Greek music in Balkan Ghosts summarizes the nation's contemporary identity:
"The undulating quarter tones of bouzouki music...are, in fact, siblings of Bulgarian and Serbian rhythms, and are close cousins of the Arab and Turkish music that, heard in its pure form, gives most Western listeners a headache. Yet run through a Mediterranean musical filter, these monotonous and orgasmic sounds of the Orient appeal perfectly to Western ears...The fact that this music is often very sad - because for the Greeks it is meant to evoke memories of the loss of Byzantium, Hagia Sofia, and Smyrna - made it no less beautiful."

Naturally, Kaplan displays a Western bias in regarding both Greece and the Balkans (as do I); I'm curious to see how my thoughts will change once I read Maria Todorova's Imagining the Balkans.

Series

2009-02-16T06:06:00.000-08:00

In order of occurence:

1. MoMA showed the Ruhnama documentary this weekend.
2. I found myself a couple seats away from Ezra of Vampire Weekend infamy at this screening yesterday afternoon. I applaud his awareness of Central Asian geography and hope that a Turkmen tour is in the works.
3. The film: Ahmet Chalik is the mastermind behind the renaming of months of the year after bread, the Ruhnama, and Turkmenbashi's mother.
4. Q & A: Steve from Wisconsin is real!
5. There are five pages dedicated to "How do you plan to decentralize the Niyazov cult as the focus of Turkmen popular culture?" in the director's book about Turkmenistan. In the second edition, I will be identified by name so that I can be officially PNG'd in Turkmenistan.

Little Jonathan/The Wall

2009-01-30T08:32:00.001-08:00

Moscow To The End Of The Line

Kosovo Fun Facts

2009-01-16T12:45:00.001-08:00

The main street of the Kosovar capital, Pristina, is called "Bill Clinton Boulevard." His autobiography is also the best-selling book in the country (yes, country). His image is already on half the buildings in Pristina. Bill Clinton is the new Turkmenbashi?

Forget Barnard, I'm Moving To Bosnia: Sarajevo Edition

2009-01-10T00:52:00.000-08:00

It has come to my attention that Sarajevo is number 43 on Lonely Planet's list of the greatest cities on Earth. Not bad for a recent warzone (longest siege in modern military history, 1992-1996)!

"...and then WWI started. All Serbia's fault!" Oh Bosnia...not like they're bitter or anything.

Kalmykia is no longer the singular earthly home of oversized chess pieces!

Is this proof that I feel worse for Bosnia than I do for Serbia?

Dear Mikhail Bulgakov

2009-01-03T23:35:00.001-08:00

I love you.

You too Pechorin!

i am seeing beirut in february YES

2008-12-26T01:03:00.000-08:00

http://www.pitchfork.tv/videos/beirut-elephant-gun
this is fucking weird but i love zach condon unconditionally. only he could, so seamlessly, blend my two favorite things: gulags and balkan gypsies.

A Hero of Our Time

2008-12-16T01:23:00.000-08:00

in the midst of reviewing for russian lit, i remembered how flyyyy pechorin is. and so in keeping with the theme of the "superfluous man" и так далее

taman

it's perfect

(evil? lermontov says no!) circassian

Serbiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

2008-12-09T18:14:00.000-08:00

it's not like that

2008-12-08T21:34:00.000-08:00

everyone has the wrong impression of my intentions, but to be completely sincere all i want in my life is to be a certified deep-sea attorney. it's just hard because very few people have this authority, you know? ima sail into the sun, nukka, just wait.

my honest dilemma

2008-12-08T21:33:00.000-08:00

not like i have any executive privileges, but seriously.

albania's weird

2008-12-08T21:32:00.001-08:00

mother fucker who the FUCK

Albania Mania

2008-12-08T21:09:00.000-08:00

Tirana:

Gjirokastra:

over the summer i met these humans at a farmers market.
http://www.albaniamania.com/

(In Albanian, Albania is) Shqipëria.

++

2008-12-08T17:26:00.001-08:00

Neutrality Day celebrations

Tolkuchka Bazaar

+

2008-12-08T17:16:00.001-08:00

and emelyn says hi to everyone

For the moment, it'll have to do.

2008-12-08T13:56:00.000-08:00