Kazhes pierakstu burtnīca

Pēc "Killing Bono" noskatīšanās man radās vēlme drusku paklausīties astoņdesmito gadu U2, kas visai sen nebija darīts. Ir jau gana bieži novērots, ka mana attieksme pret kādu izpildītāju ir mainījusies, laikam ejot, un kādu dienu pēkšņi izrādās, ka Bobs Dilans nav tikai garlaicīgs čīkstulis, bet viens no baudāmakajiem 20.gadsimta dziesmniekiem. Un varbūt kādreiz pienāks tā diena, kad U2 man sāks šķist interesanti arī viņu mūzikas, nevis tikai tēla dēļ?

Tikko par šīs filmas eksistenci uzzināju, tā man to nekavējoties vajadzēja noskatīties. Kālab tā? Džons Maikls Makdona ir brālis "In Bruges" režisoram Martinam Makdonam, bet galvenajā lomā šajā filmā ir Brendans Glīsons - arī "In Bruges" zvaigzne. Ja kas - Maikls Makdona ir viens no šīs filmas producentiem, un vispār šīm filmām ir gana daudz kopīga.

Šodien teju visi ziņu portāli pārpublicējuši stāstu par slēpņojot gandrīz nositušos mazdēlu. Kā cilvēks ar tomēr zināmu slēpņošanas stāžu, mazliet dalīšos savās pārdomās.

Sekošu Lienes ieteikumam - dokumentēšu sīkas atmiņā palikušas epizodes no Ķīnas, kurām neatrodas vieta garajos aprakstos.

Kad 2004.gadā iznāca "Karalienes Loanas noslēpumainā liesma" un Umberto Eko paziņoja, ka šis ir viņa pēdējais romāns, tas daudzus lasītājus, tai skaitā mani, nopietni apbēdināja (par spīti tam, ka "Noslēpumainā liesma" nekādi nebūtu saucama par viņa veiksmīgāko darbu). Tagad, pēc "Prāgas kapu" izlasīšanas, zinot, ka Eko atkal ir paziņojis, ka šis jau nu gan noteikti ir viņa pēdējais veikums daiļliteratūras laukā, es būtu daudz vieglāk gatavs samierināties ar to, ka "Rozes vārda" un "Fuko svārsta" autors varētu vairs nerakstīt.

Pagājušo sestdien izlēmu, ka vajadzētu aiziet uz Rīgas Dinamo spēli pret Salavat Julajev. Tā kā @zingis pirmdienas vakaru grasījās aizvadīt lekcijās, bet Liene nekādi nav saucama par sporta pasākumu cienītāju, biju apņēmības pilns iet uz hokeju viens. Kā nekā, uz Dinamo-Lev arī gāju viens, un sevišķi man tas netraucēja.

1983.gads, kurā man palaimējās piedzimt, rokmūzikas kontekstā nekādi nav saucams par izcilu. Protams, ja ar izcilību tev neasociējas tādi ansambļi kā "Culture Club", "Wham!", "Spandeau Ballet". Apskatoties britu zemē šajā gadā 50 top pārdotākos ierakstus, vienīgi U2 albums "War", Pink Floyd "The Final Cut", Genesis "Genesis" un Police "Synchronicity" kaut kādā mērā šķiet tīkami, bet neviens no šiem albumiem ne tuvu nav manu mīļāko ierakstu sarakstā.

I`m giving up - I can`t force myself to complete the China travel diaries, as honestly it seems that there`s not much point to it - writing doesn`t go very smoothly and I have to force myself to complete each sentence. I`ll probably write a short summary to Ardalan (my penpal in Iran), but as for the rest of the story - if there happened to be someone reading my description, Liene`s one in her blog is much more readable and much more fun than mine. I usually consider myself a rather good documentary writer, but this time I feel myself that I`m failing and I`m not so sure that I want to fail more. I suppose it`d be much more fun for myself to go on with the China drawings/comics than writing about whom we saw in Fenghuang and how did a squished tapeworm taste. So - for now on - I`m switching back to writing in Latvian. It was certainly a useful practice to write in English for a while, but - if I`m getting no kicks from it, I guess I`ve proven my point (if there was one), and - that`s it.

When you tell your friends that you`re going to Zhangjiajie, their normal reaction is: Where? And then you start explaining about the amazing hanging cliffs that probably inspired James Cameron to create the wondrous world of Pandora and how the Chinese even renamed one of these cliffs as “Avatar Cliff”. And then they get it. But what they don`t get is, what it takes to get to the world where the magical blueskinned catlike creatures don`t really live.

To be honest, I had expected much more from a bullet train. I had never ridden one and all my previous experience with trains of this kind had to do with the song of such title by “Sparks” where the train is called “immaculate”. The Guangzhou-Changsha express was by no means immaculate – it`s interior was inferior to regular trains that I had ridden in Europe, and the speed wasn`t breathtaking either – it never went over 310km/h, and I didn`t feel that it was fast at all. Of course, my bitching in the previous sentences doesn`t necessarily mean that there was anything wrong with the train – it just wasn`t a life changing experience as I had thought it would be. In the seats next to us sat an English family with two teenage kids who were complaining about the food, the daughter was outraged by a milkshake that was purchased at a McDonalds and when the father got a call from someone inviting them to a feast, none of them seemed very happy. We were meanwhile feeding on wassabi flavored peas and enjoying the fact that we were leaving Guangzhou behind, as that city hadn`t impressed us much.