Žižek on Charity

I have a lot more posts to put up here and I promise I'll do it soon. But until then, have a look at this excellent dynamic animation of a speech by my second favorite Slovenian, Slavoj Žižek, on the ethics of charitable giving.



An RSA Project

Who Even KNows Where Slovenia Is?

While I am of the mind that anyone who can't be bothered to go to Google Maps and find out where Slovenia is is basically a lazy cow. I am also OK with people making Slovenia the butt of these kinds of jokes, because it really isn't an insult to the country, it is more about making fun of a funny "foreign-sounding" word and it really is funny.

Greetings from the American South

Wondering where I been? Well, here's a clue:

Black and On The Sunny Side of the Alps

Just "discovered" this provocative short film while cruising the 'nets. It appears they got an all-black cast to play Slovenians. The director (and local dude), Janez Burger, was trying engage Slovenian people and get a sense of how racist/tolerant people were, so he took money from the national film fund telling them he was making a "promotional movie" for the country and shot this. Too good. Gotta get my hands on it. And this picture kinda needs to be a fixture on this site.



DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT (from their VERY NOISY, BE CAREFUL website)

‘ON THE SUNNY SIDE OF THE ALPS’ used to be the slogan of a promotion campaign of the Slovene Tourist Board, which wanted to present Slovenia in the best possible light – as a beautiful sub-alpine country, full of hospitable and friendly people. However, recent racist and xenophobic events present Slovenia in a far darker light. It is most concerning that racist and xenophobic rhetoric is being used also by political elites, but even more concerning is the fact that their populist tendencies find fertile ground which helps their political credit to grow. This film is a reaction to the increasingly bizarre situation in my country. A film about a typical Slovene family, which would never find shape if finance officials knew that this is the first Slovene black-African film.

ON THE SUNNY SIDE OF THE ALPS is a film about Slovenia. About a beautiful country where happiness, joy, mutual understanding and tolerance prevail. Nobody ever says anything to hurt anybody. A neighbour is always ready to help his neighbour. Birds sing merrily, red carnations blossom on balconies and there is an inviting smell coming from village kitchens. The sun always shines in this country. The sun also shines from the hearts of the people which makes this country the sunniest in the world. Even sunnier than Africa.

a Ijubljana moment

A meditative little moment a few weeks back in the tunnel from Ljubljana's Tivoli Park. The city recently "cleaned up" the graffiti in the tunnel and I'd been complaining that it felt lifeless and dull, but this guy brought a nice warm energy to the place.

The city is coming up aces these days, really growing on me!

Culture Day of Shame

One of my pet slogans for this country is "Slovenia: Underachieving in our Underachievement", and today I was given just another reason why that is.

I went to a friend's house today for a little visit. Her teenage son came into the room and I asked him how school was going. He informed me that today was Cultural Day at school and they'd all gathered in a hall to watch...wait for it.....

Gran (muthaf%&#in') Torino.

If you have not seen this movie, here is a synopsis. Clint Eastwood plays Awful White Supremacist (which is, curiously enough, what he plays in real life too). A nice Asian family (Hmong, to be specific) moves next door. Awful White Racist has a negative interaction with the son of the Asian family. Awful White Racist then takes on the son as a helper and tells him and his family awful racist things. He continues to be awful and racist until someone (probably angry at the incredibly racist, infantile, and horrifically stereotypical way that people of color were depicted in this awful racist film) finally shoots him. The End.

Here is the 2 minute version of the movie



Slovenian School Systems - A Bunch of Dimwitted Underachievers Committed to Churning Out the Next Generation of Underachievement --- For You!

Nora Chipaumire in Ljubljana's City of Women

On Saturday, I took my friend Pat from Zimbabwe into Ljubljana to see a dancer from Zimbabwe. The performance was a shortened lower-fi version of Nora Chipaumire's Chimurenga.I thought it was a little too short, but The Captain thought that 30 minutes was all he could handle. Pat found it very moving, as did I.

Anyway, we met up with Nora (who was gorgeous) afterwards and then this other guy from Zimbabwe showed up and there was this impromptu Zimbabwean lovefest and Pat was teary-eyed since she hadn't seen any other Zimbabweans since she had to flee the country (and landed in Radovljica) a few years back.

Thanks to Mesto Žensk (City of Women) for organizing the event and facilitating the Zimbabwean expat lovefest.


Nora again, because...why not?

The Danger of A Single Story

In response to this, but also something to keep in mind when reading this blog.

Thanks for posting this Whitney!

David Byrne!!

On Friday, I had the distinct pleasure of getting to see David Byrne live in concert here in Ljubljana.



There was a lot of back and forth about whether I was gonna go and it really came down to a few hours before the concert where I was racing out the door and to the ticket counter, but it was WELL worth it. David Byrne is one of my favorite artists and people (see his blog here) of all time and has been a big influence on me. It was an honor and a pleasure to see him in concert and I promise I will never hesitate on something like that again. My face was hurting from smiling and cheering. Bravo!

Here is some footage from Belgrade


and another from Vermont

Jose James

Late last night, The Captain and I had the distinct pleasure of going to see my favorite singer, Jose James, live at Klub CD (which is a kindy sucky space, but....) in Cankarjev dom in Ljubljana* . The show was magical from beginning to end. I tried to take photos but my hands were trembling from the good vibes. So, instead, I'll post this video of Jose from last year with the (also fantastic) Soil & Pimp Sessions from Japan.

Support this man. Buy his music. Go to his shows.







*"In my opinion, the greatest gift to Slovenian art would be -- and here comes my terrorist side --to place a giant bomb under Cankarjev dom, while all the cultural workers are gathered there." - Slavoj Žižek

Happy Independence Day- Amurrkah

Happy Independence Day to all my American readers. Be careful with those fireworks, now!

Berlin Diary Nummer Neun: Carneeeeval!

Some people are lucky enough to go one carnival in their lives. I've already been to two this year. The first was in Venice, and the second was last weekend here in Berlin.  Last weekend, I was fortunate enough  to attend the four-day dancing in the street debauchery of Karneval der Kulturens. It was parades and bands and music and of course tons of drinking and bootyshaking in the streets of Kreuzberg in the name of multi-cultism.

Here are some images and video!

walking around Radovljica

Once upon a time, I had big plans to become a filmmaker. After a few years of dabbling, I kinda let film go by the wayside.

However, these last few weeks I've been noodling around with video. Here's my latest masterpiece. Maybe this is the start of a comeback? Enjoy!


Walking around Radovljica from Camille Acey on Vimeo.

(if this freezes, watch the lower quality version on Youtube)

A Slovenian In Uganda

Yesterday on Vest, there was a nice profile of Slovenian Miha Logar* and his beautiful wife/business partner Pamela Kanyunyuzi, founders of Ugandan-based free-trade workshop/tourism/education/multimedia company Edirisa. They are currently here in Slovenia conducting workshops and working with Slovenian students to educate them on the work and talk about developing new products.

See the interview below(which is mostly in English)& click above to read about Edirisa


*I'm gonna forgive him for calling his kids "our two little mulattoes", but only once. Good thing they live in Africa...

Trkaj- Poker Automat

Happy Monday!

The band is Trkaj (Knock), the song is called Poker Avtomat (Poker Machine), and I'm officially riding for this song. Yes, that means I (*gasp!*) really and truly like it.



Ker življenje je kot poker avtomat
Hočes vendar ven dobit
Treba najprej noter dat
Reven al bogat
vse ta teb je brat
nikoli ne pusti stat
Daj življenje notr
kaj boš tu ta rezultat
*
(my poor translation)
Life is like a poker machine
If you wanna get something out
First you must put something in
Poor or rich,
Whatever you get
Never let it go
Put it into your life
See what you get

Just Don't

Ok, I know that no one here has directly meant to offend me when using it, but the word just makes me absolutely sick to my stomach every time I hear someone here utter it. So, Slovenia, Europe, and the rest of the world. Here's the memo. Please watch it to the end.

Roma Women

Beautiful Amnesty International ad for Roma awareness. I hope this kind of stuff works. I seriously have some days where I lose faith in this part of the world. Sometimes I wonder, what chance do new immigrants have considering the way the long-standing "minority" groups are already treated? For now, I'm keeping the faith.

The Crisis of Credit explained

I know this a little off-theme for this blog, but I thought this short film was highly informative and something everyone should see.

I am of the firm belief that because of the nature of our market and the amount of exposure most companies here have had, Slovenia has only seen the tip of the iceberg of the financial crisis compared to many other countries around the world. But I think within at most half a year, things will dramatically change here. Needless to say, I am trying to spend conservatively, plant a BIG garden this year, and master the fine art of food storage for the winter months.


The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

I Shouldn't Laugh....

....but this busted Backstreet Boy/Jeremy Jordan (if you don't know who this is, I encourage you to click and compare) wannabe cracked me up today! Part of the humor is in the words so if you don't understand Slovenian you miss part of the hilarity, but it is still pretty ridiculous without the lyrics.



Soulgreg feat 6pack Čukur - Nisi Ženske Zame (You're Not The Woman For Me)

Unfortunately this is one of the best songs I've heard here, so I shouldn't laugh too much.

Oh Dear!

I got up early because I couldn't sleep and this video came upon the screen. Everyone involved in this video needs to get slapped....hard. I'd be more than happy to do it. I've slapped people for lesser offenses.

Sandra Auer - Vroče Kakor Afrika (Hot Like Africa)





File under: White People What We Gon' Do With You?, What Were They Thinking?, Black people who are out they minds.