Inventions and Dimensions in Barcelona.
Category Archives: Digressions
Inventions and Dimensions
Filed under Digressions
For Bread Alone
Last night something very unique happened to me. I suppose it is not so unique in the sense of it being an astonishing or mysterious event. Nevertheless, it was a first.
I was reading Mohamed Choukri’s autobiographical novel, For Bread Alone. It tells the story of Choukri’s tragic first 17 years of life from fleeing the famine stricken Rif Mountains to Tangier where he goes from living with an abusive father to living as a street dweller. I had already researched a little about his life and association with Paul Bowles (whose The Spider’s House I thoroughly enjoyed) and knew that Choukri went from being illiterate until a very late age only to become one of the most influential writers in the Magreb. Continue reading
Filed under Digressions, Literature
When the Sun Goes Down
On Friday afternoon in Torrenova, Menorca, as the sun was going down, Burning Spear’s song “The Sun” came rushing into my mind. At that moment, I came up with a fantastic multimedia idea: to video the sun setting as I walked towards the edge of the farm, through the fields, up to the 14th Century lookout tower, to the edge of the cliff overlooking the sea…and all of this to the sound of Burning Spear singing, “when the sun goes down I will call on you.”
As often happens when I am momentarily inspired, the moment’s inspiration comes tumbling down into pieces when I see the end result. So, here I give you the worst video I have ever created, the one that will keep me off multimedia for a while. If you keep an open mind and squint your eyes, you can see off in the distance the beauty that lies between my intentions and the end result.
Filed under Digressions
A Little Walk in Menorca
Here are some pictures I took yesterday while taking a little walk around the farm in Menorca, listening to one of the greatest and least known Reggae artists of all time, Joe Higgs.
Filed under Digressions
In Menorca
I am in Menorca for a few days at my boss‘ farm house to help him out with an informal tech entrepreneur’s conference that he is hosting. It’s funny to watch all of them with their computers open ALL THE TIME and with two cell phones each and an array of other gadgets. While I am writing this, I have just been given a lecture on the benefits of switching to Ubuntu and abandoning Microsoft altogether.
In any event, Menorca is such a beautiful place, and my boss’ farm is the perfect place to enjoy it. More pix to come.
Filed under Digressions, FON
No Time and Nothing to Say
And even if I had something to say, I wouldn’t know where I’d begin.
Filed under Digressions
The Beautiful Sana’a
My friend Fadi has always introduced me to really fascinating stuff, like the works of Amin Maalouf, Carnet de Routes and Suite Africaine, Coltrane’s Olé, and one of my favorite novels of all time, Albert Cohen’s Belle du Seigneur. One thing I particularly enjoy is going to his apartment where he has wonderful things from all over the world. In particular, I always find myself staring at a painting of Sana’a, the capital city of Yemen. Sana’a (not to be confused with the Arabic name Sanaa) is portrayed like an intricate beehive of blues, browns and whites.
The other day, I decided to do some research on the city and found that it is just as interesting as the painting. Continue reading
Filed under Digressions, Friends / Family
Everything But You
It’s Sunday, May 6th, and after taking a long paseo in Madrid, I arrived back at my apartment. There is nothing in the frig, the dishes are dirty, the bed is unmade, and the house is a bit messy. But, I don’t care. It is Sunday and sunny. This is the view from Inside My Window to “Evertying But You”, once again from the album The Original Ellington Suite by the Chico Hamilton Quintet with Eric Dolphy.
Filed under Digressions, Jazz, Living la vida española
The Bronx and Eric Dolphy
I guess I must be pretty bored, but I keep playing with a video clip program and combining videos, photos, and music. This time I combined my videos from driving into the Bronx from the George Washington Bridge through the Cross Bronx Expressway with one of my favorite Eric Dolphy pieces, “17 West” (with Ron Carter on cello). I am not quite sure why, maybe because of the strings, but this piece always reminds me of Leos Janácek.
Filed under Digressions, Jazz
Grave Error 