Culture vulturing through Athens

In English this time, for no particular reason. Well maybe because Kulttuurikorppikotkailua Ateenassa doesn’t sound that cute. And perhaps some fellow Erasmus-people might get something out of this.

But first things first: just noticed this headline on the Iltasanomat webpage:

Victoria Beckham nukkuu alasti tunteakseen Davidin ihon
(Vic sleeps naked to feel David’s skin)

Awesome.

Ok, then some notes about cultural experiences here so far:

Destroy Athens
The great biennial of the year in Athens was extremely cool altogether, but slightly too modern at times. Set out in an old gas factory, and struck by a really damn loud thunderstorm when me and Miika were there, it provided us some sweet video installations like the most screwed up travel guide ever and the norwegian masturbating fake police officer. I guess you’d had to be there… Anyway, a stellar 8+

Body fluid artist Jan Fabre
What springs to mind when you think of body fluid art? Exactly: blood, tears, urine and – of course – man juice. Basically the guy has pumped the love gun on an A4 and then drawn something around the spillage, e.g. parrots and maggots. Charming. 5

Note: If you leave sperm on a piece of paper for about 15 years, it turns brown. Just so you know. Or then the guy has really consumed an insane amount of coffee.

Performance artist Marina Abramovic
The works of the self-proclaimed ”Grandmother of performance art” Marina Abramovic gave me the giggles. The videos, most featuring her husband, had plenty of tits and ass, added with some wtf-effect. All the ingredients for a 9.

But the best piece of trivia about her I read on Wikipedia. When she broke up with the hubby, they walked the The Great Wall of China starting from different ends and met in the middle and said goodbye. That’s 2500 km each. Now that’s a proper break-up! At least you’ve got time to think things through. That’s a lesson for all you sms-breakuppers. (Ok did it once too, after 3 mediocre dates and a highly unsuccessful and awkward attempt on sex. So does that make me an asshole?)

Art Brut
The only concert I’ve been to in Athens was great fun. The singer who looks just like Alfred Molina from Spiderman has some nice stories to tell, but when he got all sweaty he could’ve rethought ripping his shirt open. Squeeze some sit-ups in the schedule until the next time! 8

Ratatouille
Went only once to the cinema here, and just happened to be Ratatouille playing. Really, really predictable, but also super cute, liked it a lot. A french girl, Deborah, told me afterwards that she understood maybe 20 % of what the rats were saying. So the rats speak better English than the french. 8,4 (Just because imdb knows the best)

I’ve managed to do a bit of light reading here. Nick Hornby’s Long Way Down (10–) was a superhit of a book and enthrilled of Hornby’s excellence, I also picked up his earlier novel How to be good. Not that clever or funny, but still a well written trip to ups and downs of the married life.

Also spotted Zorba the Greek in the bookstore and thought: while in Athens, why not read the local Kalevala. What a piece of scheisse, got through 30 pages before I had to lay it down. Scores megahigh on the unintended gayness -scale. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, of course. Väinämöinen would kick Zorba’s ass so bad. 4

The Road by Cormac McCarthy was one hell of a read, perfect for the autumn melancholy. And while reading, I happened to be listening to the Burial album Untrue, which is totally not my kind of music but fit with the atmosphere book, like, magically even. The Road: 9+, Untrue: 9, combined: a juggernaut, 10

There’s an disgusting amount of albums released this year that I haven’t put the effort of listening to properly. At least these guys have released something this year and I know for sure that there are at least a few gems to be discovered there: The Raveonettes, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, The Shins, Sigur Ros, Silverchair, Smashing Pumpkins, Sunset Rubdown, Thrice, Tim Armstrong, Velvet Revolver, Kent, The Hives, Feist, Elliott Smith, Dinosaur jr., Iron & Wine, Interpol, Devendra Banhart, Jose Gonzales and so forth.

Well at least the gig calendar for Helsinki next year looks somewhat promising. Anti-Flag, Smashing Pumpkins, Bruce Springsteen, whose new song is the best freaking song ever!!

I’m coming home for christmas, so I’ll see everyone in Tavastia on the 20th for The Magic Numbers!

Tämä artikkeli on julkaistu mondayna 10. decemberta 2007 kello 17.39 ja sen aiheena on Aiheeton. Voit seurata tämän artikkelin vastauksia RSS 2.0 -virran avulla. Voit kirjoittaa vastauksen, tai lähettää seurantailmoituksen omalta sivustoltasi.