Black and blue.....

10.000 hits......!!! Don't you people have anything else to do ? Does your boss know you're on this site all the time ? Mom.....stop checking here 8 times a day ! Well thnx for regulary checking in on my irregular writing and I almost promise that it will become a more active site soon. Plans of a total overhaul of the ADC website are in progress and once that s done, I'll hit you once again with some pass-time articles about.......stuff. If you have any suggestions or if you wish to tackle a specific subject....you know where to find me. Until then....let nothing stop you from abstract thinking. Even if it makes people look at you in fear, anger, awe or disbelieve. Go create.....!

Composing

Everybody writes with their right or left hand and in recent years we’re often using both at the same time. A keyboard has replaced the mighty pen and it doesn’t matter if you use 5 fingers on each hand or just one, you ARE ambidextrous whether you like it or not. (A good kick I prefer to deliver with my left foot though) Until my 13th year it was impossible for anyone to read my handwriting. Darn… at the end of a sentence, I couldn’t even comprehend myself what it was actually about. Then, literally, from one day to the other I changed it drastically and it is still is in the same style and shape since then. That does not mean that you have to understand what I’m writing but at least you can decipher the words used in the sentence. The program on your p.c. will give you many choices in what style (font) you want to engrave but your own unique writing fashion is basically gone. That isn’t necessarily bad, it’s simply a technological evolution. The only genuine and proper writing still done is mostly performed by generations who haven’t caught on with the computer and the internet hype. Unfortunately and most likely these generations are now too old, they are too ‘Alzheimered’ and the hands too ‘Parkinsoned’ to write anything you could understand or decipher. Many interesting stories will be lost eternally in the progress. They were still dipping their pen or feather in ink when they learned how to write in their days. Not much stays original, which can’t and shouldn’t be avoided but even music has become a Copy-Paste business. New self-acclaimed artists take old hits or semi-hits and change the BPM (‘Beats Per Minute’ for you ignorant people who still didn’t discover I-tunes and embezzle music like I do) They throw in a few new lines and a video-clip with a lot of T&A (ask your kid) and a ‘new’ song is born. One side-effect of this thievery is highly entertaining, especially in family circles. It is madly entertaining to see parents, well in their 40’s, sing along with the lyrics of an artist of half their age who just released a ‘new’ hit. They are leaving their kids, who still don’t know these words, standing (or sitting) in awe and confusion about their hip and totally cool and updated behavior of, normally, un-cool parent(s). Nope, I’m not a parent myself (as far as I know) but it happens often enough that I can sing along on MTV or Music Factory when a new song is released. With my vocal endeavor, I am not stunning anyone in particular but just impressing myself with remembering the words flawlessly. Tough times for the music aficionado these days. Middle aged and renowned rockers are dying by the bunch lately. If you’re my age and had any hopes of Pink Floyd ever re-grouping or going on tour again and we are now permanently left on the Dark Side Of The Moon. Listening to vinyl versions of their masterpieces is as close as we will ever get to the original sound. Rick Wright has passed on to the next level and/or dimension, Roger Waters is only interested in hard to understand solo projects and David Gilmour is fading into oblivion with minimalistic but brilliant guitar works. This leeching and stealing, we ‘spoke’ about before, is not all bad. Strangely enough when people go to see and listen to Beethoven’s Ninth,( or Second, or Fourteenth ) at the local music hall, no one is ever disappointed or surprised to find that it isn’t actually the long haired and mostly deaf man himself on doing the honors. Actually, many obtain a great deal of contentment in hearing how other musicians interpret the great man’s work. In facto, when you stop and consider this for a moment, all of the Symphony Orchestras are basically tribute bands. They also stroll onto the stage and play music composed by someone else (who probably died poor doing it). They just jump and use make-up a great deal less than ‘Nine Inch Nails’ and the ‘Red Hot Chili Peppers’ (what’s in a name…right ?) You can argue over taste but quality and originality will survive in the long run. In one hundred years from now, not a soul will remember or hum tunes from the snotty and high pitched ‘Back Street Boys’(thank the lords !) but from some hidden speaker in the magnetic warp-elevator of a hotel on Venus, you will detect the sweet tones of Albinoni’s ‘Concerto No. 7 Allegro’. In case you’re wondering: ‘Allegro’ stands for ‘quick and lively’. ‘Nine Inch Nails plays a style called ‘Psychedelic Crunch Rock’ !!! Say no more…

P.S.

One of his shoe laces was undone... Maybe he can run backwards too on the next championship. Gold, silver and bronze on the womens' 100 m. sprint finals go to...right...Jamaica.

9.69...!

In Bejing, the Jamaican born Usain Bolt ( ...'of lightning', I'd like to add ) just ran a new world record on the 100 meter sprint. Could well be a record in the universe ( two legged creatures only ) My god man.... 9.69 ! That is close to 40 kilometers an hour. That's where most mortals, like you and me, think about shifting to 3rd gear when we're driving our vehicles ! To make things better (worse ?), the last twenty meters, it seemed that he was holding back...really, he was actually cruising ! Perhaps afraid that he couldn't slow down and stop in time before the spectator stands at the end of the sprint track, thus possibly ending up on the 5th row ? Soon they (the sprint boys) will meet legal speed limits in most municipalities that now stands at 50 kilometers an hour. We'll have police on motorbikes chasing and fining these sprinters. Organizers will have to increase prize money in order to make it worth while to be or become a sprinter. Last year I actually landed on Jamaica, was holiday-ing around and didn't see to many runners. Actually, I didn't see any runners at all, never mind sprinters. Au contraire...from the Blue Mountains till Montego Bay I found that life on this amazing Caribbean island was very laid back, moderately paced and relaxed, just as Bob always sang, promoted and envisioned. He was so right. During my stay, my semi-sunstroked and partially clouded mind decided to go for a run. Now clouds i saw very rarely during this work-out in the bright, blue and blazing Jamaican skies. I DID get a taste of temperature mixed with Hamam-like humidity during my ill fated and chosen run though. White men can't jump... but damn, they CAN sweat! After forty minutes my legs simply refused moving at any speed faster than strolling. The only choice I had was a long hike back to where I had taken off from and where a deep blue pool and a coke-light would be my hardly deserved reward. Needless to say that it was my only run on this fine but sweat stained island. Back on topic. No runners were to be seen but there must be something on the island that produces an unusual amount and relatively high percentage of very speedy runners. The time it will take you to read this sentence,if you read at a normal pace (speed readers excluded), is exactly the same amount of time it took Usain Bolt to run a 100 metres and leave the world stunned for way more than 10 seconds. Is he the fastest Jamaican ever ? Nope ! For this you have to look into the files of the Winter Olympics in Calgary were the Jamaican bob sledge team (no kidding...it was real) had an average speed of over 110 kilometers an hour. Ok, they didn't win a medal but they WERE the team with the fastest starting time. For those who don't know; Starting a bob sledge run is basically a push-start ( 'push-sprint' ) but there's no engine to be fired up along the way. Oh....and nobody fell out. Yah man! The sled is on permanent display man, inside Sangster Airport (terminal 1) of Montego Bay, if ya don't believe me man! If this trend continues at this rate and the guys (and girls) keep on going fast, faster, fasterder...then, in about 30 years from now, the 100 metres will be run in about 5.8 seconds ( blink your eyes twice and you'll lose half the race ) The 10.000 meters in sixteen minutes flat. And the marathon will be under 1,5 hours. Don' t even get me started on the swimming and cycling. We can start and finish "the Games" in just over a week !!! The opening and closing ceremonies will take more time then the sporting events themselves. 'We' divers have it better and do it way slower. Actually we're stalling as much as depth, air and our air sucking buddies allow us. The slower the better and everyone is a winner. Not to much sweating, no records to be broken and always 'Cool Runnings'. Yah man !

Chinese to me...

This week I got this really cool idea that involves fortune cookies. And the best thing is that three days later (today), I still remember it. It all started while watching a commercial (one shouldn't...) of a giant Greek electrical appliance ware house. They were announcing with a lot of sensible tact that they were 'Going Chinese', implying that everything Chinese is cheap. What an injustice to Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea! Oh...and try a Chinese restaurant in Greece and you'll be in for a unpleasant financial upset and setback. Now, as a reasonably frequent runner I burn a lot of calories, I mean...a lot and subsequently have my mind on food, big parts of the day....and night. Chinese food has always been a particular favorite of mine because you always get hungry an hour, or less, after you eat it, which means that I get to eat even more delicious preservative-strewn goodness and get a little fatter which, in turn, leaves more space in my body for even more food later down the (running-) road, which is usually Chinese food, which always makes you hungry an hour, or less, after you eat it and so on and so on and so on. Anyway, eventually, when you finally get to the end of the (3rd...!?) meal the waitress brings the check and your fortune cookie, which is in my opinion the most ingenious and mind blowing invention in modern cuisine since the Souvlaki wrapper. How many other foods can say that they have the means or at least the know-how to forsee what events destiny will unfold in your near and/or far future? Then again, how many other foods can say anything for that matter? Actually, come to think of it, 'Subway' had at least some cool reading on their trays in their days ( I'm such a poet). But then again, those trays were very hard on the digestive tract. I crunch mine (fortune cookie) open. Mmm...interesting blend of tastes, vanilla and hair conditioner. Don't know if I wanna swallow or rub it in my hair. It reads: "The wealth you have will soon exceed the breaths of your ancestors." Okay...great !But.... What the hell does that mean ? I need more info...how much wealth (in case of my ancestors, that's exceeded easily), when, in what currency, is it tax deductable, did they brush their teeth ? Ancient Chinese wisdom seems a bit lost on current generations. So here is my idea. 'CRAP' (Chinese Readable Ancient Proverbs) It's the same good old wisdom in a modern and adapted style. Some examples: "Yeah, that’s right. You found the fortune in a 'fortune cookie.' Yep. That's me, the fortune... in a ‘fortune cookie.’ Man, what are the odds of that happening?". "You are getting fat. Stop eating so much Fu Yung Hai. Women don't like that." "The road less travelled is less traveled for a reason. Get a GPS ." "If you keep eating this stuff, your arteries are seriously gonna clog up and kill ya. That’s not a prediction." "Only you can prevent Greek forest fires, but then again, only you can start them". "You really shouldn't believe a stupid prediction, that won’t come true, from a weird tasting piece of foreign confectionary." "No one can be told what the universe is. You have to go outside and see it for yourself." "To whoever finds this, please help me. I am being held captive by the owners of this restaurant and am forced to kill the hamsters that go into the dishes served here. Call the police and don’t eat the Foo Hams Tur" The Bejing Olympic Games in a week. Wonder if they "Went Greek" during the Games in Athens 2004. It' s all Chinese to me. The next one is for all the athletes that compete from next week on: " If you must play, decide on three things at the start: The rules of he game, the stakes, and the quitting time"