JOY DIVISION - ATMOSPHERE

Até à proxima.

Walk in silence,
Don't walk away, in silence.
See the danger,
Always danger,
Endless talking,
Life rebuilding,
Don't walk away.

TARABAS A GUEST ON EARTH

Joseph Roth, "Tarabas a guest on earth", 1934. "Here rests Colonel Nikolaus Tarabas: a guest on this earth.’ Tarabas tells the story of the restless life of Colonel Nikolaus Tarabas. Exiled to America by this father, for taking part in anti-Czarist activities, Tarabas becomes jealous over a woman and seriously injures a bar owner in a drunken rage. ‘The hearts of foolish, easily intoxicated people are impenetrable.’ A gypsy has predicted that Tarabas will be both a murderer and a saint. Thinking that the bar owner is dead, Tarabas uses the declaration of the Great War as an opportunity to flee America to join the Russian military. Here, as the Great War becomes the Revolution, Tarabas again commits an act of violence, this time against a Jewish man. Again he flees. This time, as a beggar trying to atone for his sins, he eventually finds peace when the Jewish man forgives him. While the main themes of the novel are crime and punishment, guilt and forgiveness, it is Tarabas’s restlessness and inability to settle and to really belong anywhere that has stayed with me. Yes, Tarabas is guilty of inhumanity, but he is not alone. I find this novel thought-provoking, bleak and unsettling: I love it. I am tempted to reread Dostoevsky to seek out parallels with both ‘Crime and Punishment’ and ‘The Idiot’. But the reread will have to wait. There are a number of Joseph Roth novels to read first"

NICOLETTE - NO GOVERMENT


Sempre achei que grande parte do desinteresse dos jovens com a política nacional advêm do péssimo exemplo que alguns pais deram quando se referiam aos “políticos” como uma “casta distante”, que “não largavam o poleiro” e que eram a raiz de todos os males e problemas. Por isso, quando chegou a minha altura, não o quis fazer. Acho que tenho a responsabilidade de perante os “…seres humanos em vias de desenvolvimento…”, como o Miguelito do Quino um dia os chamou, explicar porque existe uma classe politica, qual a sua função, importância e realçar que muitos são trabalhadores e responsáveis. Só que ontem, confesso, estava com um bocado de dificuldade em explicar isso à Sara. Quando ela perguntava porque razão os ânimos estavam tão crispados entre os principais intervenientes políticos, só apetecia dar uma resposta irónica: “…estão a jogar ao “eu tenho uma maior do que a tua”…”.

TURBO NEGRO - BACK TO DUNGAREE HIGH


Se falha um comboio (por greve ou problemas técnico) os seguintes vão carregadinhos de "gado". Especialmente de miúdos que se dirigem para as escolas. Um deles dizia que, nestes dias, preferia ficar em casa. Se todos tivessem o Hank Von Helvete (aka Hertugen, Hertis ou Hank from Hell) como Professor... Nao diriam isso. Palavras sabias: "You need more education, yes!  and I have come to educate you. You can call me professor Denim. And now you go back to Dungaree High... " Turbo Negro, 1998, Darkness Forever : I didn't mean to turn you on; Just wanna dance and sing my song; Clocking in, clocking out; No I don't mind it at all; Me and the danger dudes; Were on the news; So just don't bother to call; It's just a way to stay alive, boy; It's such a trip just to survive; So it's back, back to dungaree high; Just to get by, back to dungaree high; Just a great big boy - With a teeny-weeny alibi; Just a soul on ice; With a mirror and a blade; And a pocket full of mice; Cheap thrills done and the dirt cheap ants; 'cause I got a headache in my pants;