doulter

Gives me the freaks....

2008-06-11T08:11:00.001+01:00

Catch Ahmet Polat, if you can…

2008-06-07T17:53:00.009+01:00

With his prophet-like style, Ahmet Polat is on a quest for identity, dialogue and stories. At merely 30 years old, Polat has exposed his work in more than twenty exhibitions since 1999, at galleries including Stroom (The Hague), RAM (Rotterdam), the Photo Museum (The Hague), Karsi Sanat (Istanbul), and the most prestigious Turkish art venue, The Istanbul Modern.

In 2006, the International Centre of Photography (ICP), the world’s leading photography foundation, has for the first time awarded Turkish photographer Ahmet Polat as “The World’s Best Young Photographer Award”. Polat, by wining the award, showed that he could stand proud in the international arena, along side veteran photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson, Thomas Rose, and Jeff Krueger. Son of a forcefully adaptive Turkish lorry-driver, Ahmet Polat’s extraordinary realization has naturally placed him as the new Turkish photography torchbearer. “I wasn’t going for it” he commented when we started recording, but still got successfully nominated by the ICP. “This award automatically put me in a bigger arena! And it also added my name to a long list of photographer I have always admired”. For Ahmet Polat, the award marked a new encouraging beginning, while the Turkish art scene expressed mixed feelings about his achievement. “There was jealousy too, and it is understandable as I was the newcomer.” Yet Turkey as a whole expressed great pride and recognition for AP’ achievement. “Turkey is very proud when someone with a Turkish background makes it out there, there was lots of public recognition. The moment your father is Turkish, you are Turkish. Even though my mother is Dutch and I was born in The Netherlands.”

Maturing into photography, AP also nurtured along the deep-rooted question of identity. “People in Holland have constantly questioned my background… What does it mean to be Turkish? I was always between defining and defending my identity.” Through his work, AP’s mirror reflection wonders “who is the other half?”, questioning his dual background while trying to find a place between both Dutch and Turkish culture. “My identity is always in movement, it is fluid”, he adds. Polat reminds us all here that neither concrete nor abstract concept can remain static, and it is up to us to go with the flow.

AP also regarded the prestigious ICP award as a payback, and he seems to be gradually finding peace. “I don’t feel attacked anymore, when we tackle these subjects”. In Holland, the country where he was born, educated and taught photography, “The recognition for my award was a small country’s typical small reaction…”. Rather than stabbed in the back, AP felt stabbed in the heart. An old wound by now that left a scar from which new ideas and initiatives are blossoming. “I am now more active in Holland than when I was in Holland. As strange as it sounds, being in Turkey allows me to work even more with Holland”.

In 2005, the quest for identity through photography and the passion for sharing stories inspired him to start teaching at the Istanbul Bilgi University (IBU). He then established cross media (design, architecture and video) workshops between Marmara University (Tr) and Aki Artez (NL) to create a platform of knowledge and culture exchange. “Last May, students from Rotterdam came to Istanbul for the first time, and by the end of the year Turkish students will go to Holland. The reaction of the students was amazing; they were so happy and excited. Plus they realized how beautiful Istanbul is. I hope that the great empathy expressed by Turkish students has crossed over to Dutch and German students.” To AP, empathy is a tool amid many to reach out to others, silently suggesting, “I recognise how you feel”. He warns however, “empathy’s downfall is that you can loose yourself if you empathize too much, extremes are always counterproductive.”

When asked his opinion about the Turkish art scene, AP expresses great enthusiasm with a touch of caution. “The Turkish art scene is very dynamic, energetic, sometimes lost and unfocused because of the education system that has a lack of knowledge of how to teach art in a contemporary manner. Both Turkish history and Turkish art history are very young. For example, look at how people deduct imagery. Advertising campaigns contain extensive texts also called “letter towers”. People are very visual, therefore there is a huge potential, but one should watch out! It can go right or wrong considering that 65% of the Turkish population is below 35 years old, as opposed to Europe, and if you don’t give Turkish youth a future, you are going to have to deal with a large group of unhappy people…”

You must also be aware that AP never stops. Along with various exhibitions, and a new book coming out in September 2008 together with the European Culture Foundation, workshops with the students, a presence at the “Visa pour l’Image photography festival” in Perpignan, etc… AP has embarked on a social awareness project in partnership with TOG (TOplum Gönüllüleri) and MAVI Jeans. “I am essentially following and photographing “TOGies” (TOG social volunteers) in action performing their “TOG attacks”. TOG Attacks consist of travelling to different places in Turkey to raise awareness, react on crucial topics and try to contribute to the environment, questions of identity, education and social awareness issues. Once again, I like the interaction with those students who feel involved and want to make the world a better place. Photography is about finding the story behind, that s why you need to be constantly there, shooting again and again…For me it is a very special experience and an interesting photography approach that takes a lot of time, but the result is magic”.

Sitting, listening and eating pasta with Mr Polat is a very optimistic and intimidating experience for some reason. His discourse sends us back to simple but essential questions we have never had time to ask ourselves regardless of our origin and background, too busy avoiding them. And the visual support of expression matches each answer to finally take us on a journey into Ahmet Polat’s Turkey.

AP’s Actualite in brief :

- Ahmet Polat’s next photography book will be published with Mets & Schilt Uitgevers (No name, September 2008), together with the EU Culture Foundation (ECF) publication « Managing Diversity ». Ahmet Polat also actively participates in workshops and roundtables about cultural diversity organised by the ECF.
- Student exchange platform AKI artEZ/Marmara University
- Breda Photo 2008 along with Martin Parr’s exhibition
- « Visa pour l'image », festival international du photojournalisme à Perpignan (August 30- September 14 2008)

For Further information regarding AP's photo's and exhibition, please contact :
Art Consultant, Ms Isabella Icoz, isabellaicoz@hotmail.com

Galata

2008-04-14T20:20:00.008+01:00

Exceptionally few people know about Geert Mak’s latest essay on the Galata Bridge, and more generally on Istanbul. Or few Turks should I add. The complexity of Istanbul’s history invites to read “The Bridge”, a wise reminder orchestred by one of the best contemporary journalist, Dutchman Geert Mak. Following the steps of chroniclers, writers and novelists such as Nazim Hikmet, Oktay Akbal, Rifat Ilgaz, Yasar Kemal, and Resat Ekrem who themselves had written about the Bridge at some point, Geert Mak gives a historical dimension of the Eurasian city’s oldest linking point over the Golden Horn.

Known through centuries as Nova Roma, Constantinople or Istanbul, the metropolis cultivates distinct points of views geographically, aesthetically and metaphorically. In this context, Geert Mak reminds us that, to some, the Osman Turks’ takeover in the mid-15th century meant “the day the world ended” while others called the fall of Byzantium, the Conquest of Istanbul. Back then, and still today, each neighbourhood had its own specific character – Islamic, Armenian, Jewish, Greek, Western- that lead foreign visitors passing through the gates to feel as though they were walking from one culture to the next. Reading Geert Mak’s book, Istanbul seems to be the most multicultural city of all time: a bizarre hotpotch of Europe and Asia, of West and East. Back then the capital of the world was, at the end of the day, concerned only with itself. Something regarded as lethal in today’s globalized and interconnected society.

In addition, Geert Mak highlights how trade on the Galata Bridge has always been a fairly accurate barometer of the city’s financial shape, and how even the slightest waver in the city’s economy was felt immediately on the Bridge. To Mak, almost everyone on the bridge finds themselves suspended between two worlds and all have dreamed at least once of making that great leap forward… to Europe that is.

Whereas a bridge carries a symbol of unity, the Galata Bridge has also been the place of several mutiny’s and revolutions. “On the bridge you don’t make friends, from the bridge you watch and see”, wrote Said Faik in his poem named after The Bridge. Galata and the whole area around were referred to as Pera – Greek for “outside”. An isthmus between Europe and the Muslim world. “From there you view Istanbul through a pair of opera glasses,” said a French ambassador in the late 19th century. Undeniably, “Islambol” was “where Islam blossoms bountifully”.

Geert Mak’s local testimonies give a sense of reality to the city’s historical dimension, and in “The Bridge”, he appropriately reports how Istanbul used to and today still is in a permanent state of flux, a perfect example of new nomadism.

Istanbul is a city of comings and goings, a straightforward-thinking city in the twenty-first century that urges for permanent change, which became a value in itself. The transformation of the Ottoman Empire into a modern, secular nation state is still today open to debate, but the ambition and adaptability of both the city and the nation were and are astounding. Ultimately, Mak urges not to let this communal effort cause a “collective amnesia”, which may happen as Elif Shakak puts it, when social change obstructs all historical awareness.

References:
- Geert Mak, The Bridge, Harvill Secker, London, 2008
- Elif Shafak, The Flea Palace, London, 2005

Ithaka

2008-03-20T14:36:00.005+01:00

Ithaka
Konstantinos Kaváfis
(Trad. Edmund Keeley & Philip Sherrard)

As you set out for Ithaka
hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.

Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
angry Poseidon-don't be afraid of them:
you'll never find the things like that on your way
as long as you keep thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.

Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
wild Poseidon-you won't encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope your road is a long one.
May there be many summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you enter harbors you're seeing for the first time;

may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony.
sensual perfume of every kind-
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to learn and go on learning from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you're destined for.
But don't hurry the journey at all.

Better if it lasts for years,
so you're old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you've gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you wouldn't have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won't have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you'll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

Central do Brazil

2008-02-20T16:11:00.011+01:00

Amid the numerous countries I had the chance to visit in the past 10 years, Brazil is the one I utterly promised myself to return. So I did for a month, bearing in mind that I also wanted to discover new areas and above all, lay a more analytic eye on this magnificent country, which could integrate 280 Belgium’s size-wise. Brazil is big, Brazil is proud and Brazil is becoming one of the most closely watched emerging markets along with China, India and Turkey.

Boosting a growth of 5% fuelled among other things by China’s soaring demand, Lula’s Brazil is showing signs of stabilization with a controlled inflation. I had not come back to Brazil in about 6 years, and my first reflex getting there was to “listen to the buzz”, in other words, what are people talking the most about… In Brazil it is rather easy since everybody talks a lot, furthermore in a language that glitters and shines. After some time it appeared quite obvious that Jose Padilha’s movie “Tropa de Elite” had monopolized the headlines for quite some time. So be it, “Tropa de Elite” would be my starting point. Funny enough, it is only half-way through my trip that someone gave me a ripped-DVD of the movie, and luckily enough I watched it with a Brazilo-Frenchman who tipped me on the very specific favela-like slang. And for the record I wasn’t the only one to watch a pirate version of the movie since most Brazilero actually saw the movie before it even came out, an unprecedented phenomenon in the Brazilian movie industry. Rumours say that even the Culture Minister, Gilberto Gil, organised a preview at home using a version downloaded on the Internet…

“Tropa de Elite e realidad” says everyone. A real-fiction based on a true story, which must be far from reality since it is still a fiction, are you following? The movie shows the VVC, the very vicious circle that surrounds Rio with drug trafficking, golden youth, blues police and, above all, corruption at all level. Corruption, described by Lawrence Lessig as “money guiding politics” has also grown to become one of the biggest concerns impeding emerging markets’ development.

In this context, “Tropa de Elite” (translate Elite Squad) plays a matchless role amid law enforcment divisions in Brazil. Also known as BOPE, these super cops operate above the law and you’ll find in the movie’s subtext that there is supposedly no room for corruption among them. In “Tropa de Elite”, The vicious circle is bluntly sketched. From the depressed BOPE captain who can‘t handle the pressure no more, to the Zona Sul’s golden youth ending with a full picture of how drug business is conducted in the concrete Favela.

For some, Lula himself is some kind of “Tropa de Elite” himself. Consistently asked by the press to respond on corruption accusations against his own cabinet, Lula uses a “I didn’t know” policy which allows him to avoid classic PR mistakes. To back this idea, Lula’s supporter would then tell you that the president hasn‘t even helped his own brother when he was involved into scandale galore. Flare or genuine transparency?

Further during my trip, I heard about IBAMA (not Obama), which appeared to be an institution that grew into becoming more powerful, as it is in charge of the environmental protection. Surfing on Al Gore’s wave of environment fanatism, IBAMA is now the sole gatekeeper to naturally wealthy regions such as the Amazon. Closing John Perkin’s book, “Confessions of an economic Hit man”, Brazil’s public TV station, Globo, reported on the controversial plans for a multi-billion dollar hydro-electric dam in the Amazon rain forest, which will allegedly contribute to delocalize around 10,000 people, and destroy large indigenous communities for the general good. Granting the authorization, one could wonder whether IBAMA act as a green protector or as a corrupted contract facilitator?

TV News is usually an accurate reflection of a country’s state of mind as well as the people willingness to educate and get educated. Two aspects are worth being noticed. First, I was pleasantly surprised to learn about my own country, during a half hour thorough explanation on what Belgium political situation (or rather non-situation) was going through. Any Brazilian watching this analysis would have had a better overview compared to any News program in Europe.

TV Desarollo? Next topic was of course Brazil’s extraordinary oil discovery, granting the country with a wild card into the world top 10 oil producer club. The announcement was made during a South American leader’s summit, during which Chavez qualified Lula as the new “Latino Sheikh”. Himself known as the King of Petrol, most of Latin leaders were pleased to see his support shrink in the last half year, leading to a vote contra his massive constitution change where he would have been granted increasing power and continued deprivatization.

All in all, the feeling is extremely positive and the enthusiasm is palpable, everyone wants a piece of the growing cake. Oil on top! Brazil is an integral part of the BRIC markets (Brazil/Russia/India/China), as used by Goldman Sachs to describe rapidly developing markets, leveraging vast amounts of capital through an increasingly mature financial market. Having just moved to Turkey, the same feeling is in the air and my feeling is that we should now add a T, for completeness sake.

Government, Media, corporations are now promoting internally Brazil’s growth through a heavy advertising campaign covering topics such as environment protection (of course), investment, introductory courses to capital markets etc… According to the 2008 BCG Top 100 Global Challengers Report, Brazil accounts now for 13 of the most promising global companies, in various sectors such as Energy, Agriculture, Food production and Manufacturing. But a large part of Brazil’s PR strategy comes naturally from its beaches, forest, amazing landscapes and infinite activities.

Nord-Este is developing in that sense, and destinations such as Jericoacoara, which were practically unknown 7 years ago when I first visited Brazil, has now become kite surfers and windsurfers’ Mecca. Born in Pernambuco, Lula has fiercely pushed for the state’s development, Recife becoming Brazil’s third largest economic centre, with brand new infrastructure and what was promised to be a state-of-the-art Stadium for the upcoming holly 2014 Brazil World Cup.

With no real opponents, this stand-alone victory will contribute to inject several billions of dollars into the economy, and according to analyst, boost construction material prices up to a point where Brazil could soon become an ‘expensive’ country to buy land and build on it. A bon entendeur, salut!

The point is, there is no point. Only a succession of interrelated observations illustrating Brazilian's awareness towards their own and their country's potential. Debt time is over, and Brazil along with other Latin American countries, are re-building their sovereignty ready to eat up a large chunk of the Global economic pie, notwithstanding major externalities, the main being corruption.

L envers du decors... dedicated to remaining music lovers

2007-09-05T21:27:00.002+01:00

The music man
By Lynn Hirschberg
Sunday, September 2, 2007

Rick Rubin is listening. A song by a new band called the Gossip is playing, and he is concentrating. He appears to be in a trance. His eyes are tightly closed and he is swaying back and forth to the beat, trying at once to hear what is right and wrong about the music. Rubin, who resembles a medium-size bear with a long, gray beard, is curled into the corner of a tufted velvet couch in the library of a house he owns but where he no longer lives. This three-story 1923 Spanish villa steeped in music history — Johnny Cash recorded in the basement studio; Jakob Dylan is recording a solo album there now — is used by Rubin for meetings. And ever since May, when he officially became co-head of Columbia Records, Rubin has been having nearly constant meetings. Beginning in 1984, when he started Def Jam Recordings, until his more recent occupation as a career-transforming, chart-topping, Grammy Award-winning producer for dozens of artists, as diverse as the Dixie Chicks, Slayer, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Neil Diamond, Rubin, who is 44, has never gone to an office of any kind. One of his conditions for taking the job at Sony, which owns Columbia, was that he wouldn't be required to have a desk or a phone in any of the corporate outposts. That wasn't a problem: Columbia didn't want Rubin to punch a clock. It wanted him to save the company. And just maybe the record business.
What that means, most of all, is that the company wants him to listen. It is Columbia's belief that Rubin will hear the answers in the music — that he will find the solution to its ever-increasing woes. The mighty music business is in free fall — it has lost control of radio; retail outlets like Tower Records have shut down; MTV rarely broadcasts music videos; and the once lucrative album market has been overshadowed by downloaded singles, which mainly benefits Apple. "The music business, as a whole, has lost its faith in content," David Geffen, the legendary music mogul, told me recently. "Only 10 years ago, companies wanted to make records, presumably good records, and see if they sold. But panic has set in, and now it's no longer about making music, it's all about how to sell music. And there's no clear answer about how to fix that problem. But I still believe that the top priority at any record company has to be coming up with great music. And for that reason, Sony was very smart to hire Rick."
Though Rubin maintains that his intention is simply to hear music with the fresh ears of a true fan, he has built his reputation on the simultaneously mystical and entirely decisive way he listens to a song. As the Gossip, which is fronted by a large, raucous woman named Beth Ditto, shouts to a stop, Rubin opens his eyes and nods yes. This is the first new band signed to Columbia that he has been enthralled by, but he is not yet sure how to organize the Gossip's future. "Let's hear something else," Rubin says to Kevin Kusatsu, who would, at any other record company, be called an A & R executive. (Traditionally, A & R executives spot, woo, recruit and oversee the talent of a record company.) "We don't have any titles at the new Columbia," Rubin explains, as Kusatsu, the first person Rubin hired, slips a disc out of its sleeve. "I don't want to create a new hierarchy to replace the old hierarchy."
Rubin, wearing his usual uniform of loose khaki pants and billowing white T-shirt, his sunglasses in his pocket, his feet bare, fingers a string of lapis lazuli Buddhist prayer beads, believed to bring wisdom to the wearer. Since Rubin's beard and hair nearly cover his face, his voice, which is soft and reassuring, becomes that much more vivid. He seems to be one with the room, which is lined in floor-to-ceiling books, most of which are of a spiritual nature, whether about Buddhism, the Bible or New Age quests for enlightenment. The library and the house are filled with religious iconography mixed with mementos from the world of pop. A massive brass Buddha is flanked by equally enormous speakers; vintage cardboard cutouts of John, Paul, George and Ringo circa "Help!" are placed around a multiarmed statue of Vishnu. On a low table, there are crystals and an old RadioShack cassette recorder that Rubin uses to listen to demo tapes; a framed photo of Jim Morrison stares at a crystal ball. In Rubin's world, music and spirituality collide.
"That's why they call him a guru," Natalie Maines, the lead singer of the Dixie Chicks, explained to me in August, calling from her home in Los Angeles. Maines, who has been with the label since 1997, first worked with Rubin in 2004. "At first, I didn't know if I was down with all that guru stuff. I thought, We're making a record — I don't want to be converted. But Rick's spirituality has mostly to do with his own sense of self. When it comes to the music, he's so sure of his opinion that you become sure of his opinion, too. And isn't that what gurus do? They know how to say the right things at the right time and get the best out of you."
Kusatsu, who has elaborate tattoos on both forearms and a match stuck behind his ear, puts the CD into Rubin's wireless system. This is the fourth male singer-songwriter with an acoustic guitar that Rubin has heard today. The music is heartfelt, spare, poetic. "There were a lot of girls in the audience," Kusatsu says as the track begins. Rubin closes his eyes and gently rocks back and forth. His hands are resting on his stomach, and he seems to be almost meditating. "Everything I do," Rubin told me earlier, "whether it's producing, or signing an artist, always starts with the songs. When I'm listening, I'm looking for a balance that you could see in anything. Whether it's a great painting or a building or a sunset. There's just a natural human element to a great song that feels immediately satisfying. I like the song to create a mood."
He also seeks a melody. As a kid growing up in Lido Beach, on New York's Long Island, Rubin loved the Beatles. "I never really liked the Stones," he said. "Although, I loved the Monkees — they had all the best songwriters." Through his passion for the Beatles, he became fascinated by the seductive, addictive power of songs. From the first hip-hop records he produced for L L Cool J and the Beastie Boys, he insisted on classic song structure. "Before Def Jam, hip-hop records were typically really long, and they rarely had a hook," he continued. "Those songs didn't deliver in the way the Beatles did. By making our rap records sound more like pop songs, we changed the form. And we sold a lot of records." The Beastie Boys' "Licensed to Ill" (released in 1986) went on to sell what was then an astonishing four million plus records; earlier that year, "Walk This Way," which combined Run-D.M.C. and Aerosmith, was the first crossover rap single and revitalized Aerosmith's career. Rubin masterminded both.

Whenever he agrees to produce an album, Rubin scrutinizes the songs before going into the studio. Currently, he is producing records for the hard rock band Metallica, the nerd power-pop band Weezer (it is part of his deal with Columbia that he can produce albums for acts that are not signed to the label) and the legendary Neil Diamond. At the moment, Metallica is touring in Europe, Weezer is writing a new batch of songs and Diamond has just started in the studio. Rubin works slowly — it can take him years to finish an album. "A lot of that is because of the songs," Rubin explained. "I try to get the artist to feel like they are writing songs for the ages rather than songs for an album. As they write, they come over and play the songs for me. For some reason, most people will write 10 songs and think, That's enough for a record, I'm done. When they play the songs for me, invariably the last two songs they've written are the best. I'll then say, 'You have two songs, go back and write eight more.' "
His responses are instant, specific and constructively definitive. "He doesn't even take notes," Maines recalled. "He listens with his eyes closed, presses 'pause' and then says, 'You need another chorus,' or 'There isn't enough of a bridge.' He's really precise, and you go back to work." In the early Metallica sessions, Rubin has been exacting about different drum sounds. "Lars" — Ulrich, the drummer — "will play two things for me, and I'll say, 'This one is great and that one is terrible,' " Rubin recalled. "Lars will say: 'How do you know? They both sound good to me.' Well, I just know. The right sound reaches its hand out and finds its way. So much of what I do is just being present and listening for that right sound."
Back in the library, the singer-songwriter's demo is ending. Rubin opens his eyes, blinks and says to Kusatsu: "We may have found one. Does he have any other songs I can hear?" While Kusatsu cues up the next sampling, Rubin texts an assistant on his BlackBerry. Within minutes, a chocolate protein drink is brought to him. As Rubin sips, he listens to the next track — a derivative, meandering song that drones like early Dylan without the lyric sophistication. With his eyes closed, Rubin begins to shake his head slowly. He looks disappointed. "And you wonder why people don't buy CDs anymore," Rubin says. "One song is great and the other is. . . . "
His voice trails off. As a producer or the head of a small independent label, Rubin could afford to be very particular. But Columbia, which is the home of established stars like Bruce, Beyoncé, Bob, Billy and Barbra, desperately needs a jolt of the new. It has also been years since Rubin worked with an artist who is not yet established. Since producing System of a Down in 1998, he has focused on reinvigorating the careers of Johnny Cash and producing records for well-known musicians like Tom Petty, U2 and Justin Timberlake. One of the biggest challenges of the Columbia job is to find unsigned artists and help chart their course.
"I don't know about this guy," Rubin says diplomatically. Kusatsu nods. "I don't want to make a decision for the wrong reason," Rubin continues. "The most important thing we have to do now is get the art right. So many of the decisions at these companies have not been about the music. They sign artists for the wrong reasons — because they think somebody else wants them or if they need to have a record out by a certain date. That old way of doing things is obsolete, but luckily, fear is making the record companies less arrogant. They're more open to ideas. So, what's important now is to find music that's timeless. I still believe that if an artist gains the belief of the listener, then anything is possible." Rubin pauses and looks at Kusatsu. "What else can I hear?" he asks.
This summer, Columbia Records began a program called Big Red. The company invited 20 college students from Harvard, Penn State and the University of Miami to work on various music projects. The interns concentrated mostly on the digital marketing and promotions departments in Columbia's offices in Midtown Manhattan, which are on Madison Avenue in a granite skyscraper designed by Philip Johnson.
At the end of their paid internships, the students took part in focus groups that were closely observed by Steve Barnett, Rubin's co-head at the label, and Mark DiDia, whom Rubin brought in as head of operations, as well as by other Columbia executives. The focus groups may have been the real point of Big Red — Barnett and the New York executives, especially those who had been at Sony for years, wanted to try to take the pulse of the elusive music audience. "The Big Red focus groups were both depressing and informative, and they confirmed what I — and Rick — already knew," DiDia told me afterward. "The kids all said that a) no one listens to the radio anymore, b) they mostly steal music, but they don't consider it stealing, and c) they get most of their music from iTunes on their iPod. They told us that MySpace is over, it's just not cool anymore; Facebook is still cool, but that might not last much longer; and the biggest thing in their life is word of mouth. That's how they hear about music, bands, everything."
Few of the kids knew that record companies participate only in the profits from records — that they derive no income from a band's merchandising or touring revenues. And they all thought that the Columbia logo stood for something prestigious, except in the hip-hop world. There it was deemed too commercial and corporate, but anywhere else it still represented a kind of impressive imprimatur. "Which was good news," DiDia continued. "It means we still have a brand that commands respect."
His insecurity on this point reflects the trepidation that is consuming the music business. Seemingly overnight, the entire industry is collapsing. Sales figures on top-selling CDs are about 30 percent lower than they were a year ago, and the usual remedies aren't available. Since radio is no longer a place to push a single, record companies have turned to television and movies. "High School Musical," which originated with a Disney Channel television show, was the top-selling album of 2006, and not only has "American Idol," with its 30-million-plus audience, created best-selling singers like Kelly Clarkson and Chris Daughtry, but an appearance on the show can also boost sales. When Jennifer Lopez performed on "American Idol," it was considered worth noting that her album "Como Ama Una Mujer," already out for four weeks, dipped only 7 percent rather than falling by the usual double digits. More impressively, songs that are heard on popular shows like "Grey's Anatomy" become instantly desirable. When the Columbia artist Brandi Carlile's song "The Story" was featured on the ABC show, it posted a 15 percent jump in sales and was downloaded 19,000 times in one week. Before being heard on the show, the song had been available for nearly two months without any notable interest.
"Until very recently," Rubin told me over lunch at Hugo's, a health-conscious restaurant in Hollywood, "there were a handful of channels in the music business that the gatekeepers controlled. They were radio, Tower Records, MTV, certain mainstream press like Rolling Stone. That's how people found out about new things. Every record company in the industry was built to work that model. There was a time when if you had something that wasn't so good, through muscle and lack of other choices, you could push that not very good product through those channels. And that's how the music business functioned for 50 years. Well, the world has changed. And the industry has not."
Steve Barnett, who is 55 and was the sole head of Columbia until he agreed to split his role with Rubin, was president of Epic Records, also a division of Sony, until 2005 and was well aware of the seismic shifts in the business. Barnett's corner office on the 25th floor of the Sony building is like a miniversion of the Hard Rock Cafe — autographed guitars belonging to Jeff Beck, Korn and Angus Young from AC/DC rest in their stands, and the walls are covered with vintage posters from the celebrated New York rock venue the Fillmore East. To the right of Barnett's large desk, above the framed Johnny Cash portrait, is a sign that reads, "Your Faith Needs to Be Greater Than Your Fear." "I have always believed that," Barnett told me in mid-August, "but it seems particularly relevant at the moment."
Barnett, who is English, is a sharp counterpoint to Rubin. He lives with his wife and two of their four sons in Connecticut. He has neatly parted sandy brown hair, and on the day we met, he was dressed in a blue button-down shirt, tan slacks and Gucci loafers with dark socks. Barnett is polite, careful, aware of his corporate status. Yet he supported recruiting Rubin. "My wife's father is Dick Vermeil, the former coach of the St. Louis Rams," Barnett explained. "My sons would go to training camp, and when Marshall Faulk started playing for the team, they called me and said, 'Not only is this guy a great player, he makes everyone around him better.' Of course, the Rams went on to win the Super Bowl. I think Rick Rubin is our Marshall Faulk. I knew he would change the culture here."
By the time Barnett first approached Rubin about coming to Columbia, Rubin had already decided that he would have nothing more to do with Columbia Records. This was because of the company's handling of the Rubin-produced Neil Diamond record "12 Songs" in 2005. Diamond was a hero of Rubin's, and he spent two years working on the album, persuading Diamond to record acoustically, something he hadn't done since the '60s.
"The CD debuted at No. 4," Rubin told me at Hugo's, still sounding upset. "It was the highest debut of Neil's career, off to a great start. But Columbia — it was some kind of corporate thing — had put spyware on the CD. That kept people from copying it, but it also somehow recorded information about whoever bought the record. The spyware became public knowledge, and people freaked out. There were some lawsuits filed, and the CD was recalled by Columbia. Literally pulled from stores. We came out on a Tuesday, by the following week the CD was not available. Columbia released it again in a month, but we never recovered. Neil was furious, and I vowed never to make another album with Columbia."
But when Barnett flew out to Los Angeles to discuss the job with Rubin, Rubin was intrigued. "I felt like I could be a force for good," he explained. "In the past, I've tried to protect artists from the label, and now my job would also be to protect the label from itself. So many of the decisions at these companies are not about the music. They are shortsighted and desperate. For so long, the record industry had control. But now that monopoly has ended, they don't know what to do. I thought it would be an interesting challenge."
As a kind of test, Rubin made some unusual demands. "Oh, God, I would have liked to have heard those negotiations," Natalie Maines exclaimed. "Rick knows what he's worth, and I can just hear him telling them, 'You might never see me, I may never wear shoes, you're not the boss of me.' And I'm sure they were saying, 'Whatever you want, Mr. Rubin.' I was surprised Sony made such a smart decision: someone who knows music should be running the company."
In addition to his "never wearing a suit, never traveling, never going to an office" demands, Rubin also suggested (strongly) that Columbia become the first major record company to go green and abolish plastic jewel boxes for all its CDs. "They thought about it and agreed," Rubin said. "And that made me think they would listen to me. It was also a turning point in terms of how big my reach could be. In the past, I would not normally have access to that kind of sweeping change. At Columbia, I'm able to operate on a much larger scale."
That was in late April. By August, Rubin still sounded optimistic, but a weariness had crept into his voice. "It's a big ship to turn around," he told me in the Hollywood Hills house. Simon and Garfunkel was playing in the background and Rubin was padding through the templelike rooms. "Columbia is stuck in the dark ages. I have great confidence that we will have the best record company in the industry, but the reality is, in today's world, we might have the best dinosaur. Until a new model is agreed upon and rolling, we can be the best at the existing paradigm, but until the paradigm shifts, it's going to be a declining business. This model is done."
While Columbia has made some small changes in its organizational structure, it has not instigated the kind of extensive alterations that Rubin says are crucial to the salvation of the business. Barnett is promoting the division at Columbia that sells music directly to TV, so that a network or cable show can introduce an artist to audiences the way radio once did. At Rubin's suggestion, he has also set up a "word of mouth" department, which will probably employ some members of the Big Red focus group along with dozens of other 20-somethings. The "word of mouth" department will function as a publicity-promotional arm of the company, spreading commissioned buzz through chat rooms across the planet and through old-fashioned human interaction. "They tell all their friends about a band," Barnett explained. "Their job is to create interest."
Rubin has a bigger idea. To combat the devastating impact of file sharing, he, like others in the music business (Doug Morris and Jimmy Iovine at Universal, for instance), says that the future of the industry is a subscription model, much like paid cable on a television set. "You would subscribe to music," Rubin explained, as he settled on the velvet couch in his library. "You'd pay, say, $19.95 a month, and the music will come anywhere you'd like. In this new world, there will be a virtual library that will be accessible from your car, from your cellphone, from your computer, from your television. Anywhere. The iPod will be obsolete, but there would be a Walkman-like device you could plug into speakers at home. You'll say, 'Today I want to listen to ... Simon and Garfunkel,' and there they are. The service can have demos, bootlegs, concerts, whatever context the artist wants to put out. And once that model is put into place, the industry will grow 10 times the size it is now."
From Napster to the iPod, the music business has been wrong about how much it can dictate to its audience. "Steve Jobs understood Napster better than the record business did," David Geffen told me. "IPods made it easy for people to share music, and Apple took a big percentage of the business that once belonged to the record companies. The subscription model is the only way to save the music business. If music is easily available at a price of five or six dollars a month, then nobody will steal it."
For this model to be effective, all the record companies will have to agree. "It's like getting the heads of the five families together," said Mark DiDia, referencing "The Godfather." "It will be very difficult, but what else are we going to do?"
Rubin sees no other solution. "Either all the record companies will get together or the industry will fall apart and someone like Microsoft will come in and buy one of the companies at wholesale and do what needs to be done," he said. "The future technology companies will either wait for the record companies to smarten up, or they'll let them sink until they can buy them for 10 cents on the dollar and own the whole thing."
Given the competition among record companies, the subscription model is bound to be tricky to organize and implement. One problem with iTunes is that, with some exceptions, all the songs are priced equally — a Justin Timberlake smash costs the same as an Al Jolson classic. Since a listener would, ideally, pay more for a Top 10 hit, that egalitarian system costs record companies potential millions of dollars. The opponents of the subscription model feel that making all music by all artists available for one flat fee will end up diminishing the overall revenue stream. They would also have to pool their talent, which is difficult for companies that have spent decades fighting over who signs with whom to accept. "There would have to be a new economic plan," Geffen explained. "And it would have to be equitable, depending on the popularity of the artists."
Steve Barnett is nervous about the subscription model. "Smart people have told me if the subscription model is not done correctly," he said, "it will be the final nail in our coffin. I've heard both sides of the argument, and I'm not convinced it's the solution to our problems. Rick wants to be a hero immediately. In his mind, you flick a switch and it's done. It doesn't work like that." Barnett has other ideas, which he is discussing with Rubin. For instance, asking Columbia artists to give the record company up to 50 percent of their touring, merchandising and online revenue. This is unprecedented — even successful artists like the Dixie Chicks make a large percentage of their income from concerts and T-shirts. "Artists should never give that money up," Natalie Maines told me. "The companies are all scrambling because of the Internet, and they will screw the artist to meet their bottom line. I can't imagine Rick will go along with that."
Rubin won't say — he'd rather concentrate on honing the new model for the industry. "I don't want to waste time," he said, sounding a little frustrated. "The existing people will either get smart, which is a question mark. Or new people will understand what a resource the music business is and change it without us." Rubin paused. "I don't want to watch that happen."
One sunny day in June, Rick Rubin was trying to decide where the new Columbia Records headquarters in Los Angeles should be located. He may not want to go to an office himself, but he still recognizes the influence that a workplace can have on a staff. "I told the corporate Sony people that we have to get out of our old space in Los Angeles as quickly as possible," Rubin said as he disembarked from his Range Rover, which was parked outside a large, one-story former factory that now functions as a sound stage. "The Sony people thought I was insane. I'm also trying to get them to move out of their offices in New York. That space is tainted with the old way. And it's not an artist-friendly place — they search you when you walk in."
Rubin, who was wearing, as usual, khaki cargo pants and a white T-shirt, was trailed by two architects who had flown in from Manhattan for this meeting. He discovered these architects, Dominic Kozerski and Enrico Bonetti, when he saw a chair they designed in a magazine layout. Rubin loves research. He's always on a quest to find just the right thing, whether it be a book or a building. Recently, he hunted down the brand of water that claims to have the greatest level of purity (Ice Age); he pored over architectural manuals to determine what kind of hinge would have been used in 1923 (for his house); and when Johnny Cash was ailing, Rubin discovered a kinesiologist whom Cash credited with extending his life. And so on. Rubin has always been passionate, even compulsive, about his interests.
"From the time I was 9 years old, I loved magic," Rubin recalled as he walked around the cavernous loftlike space. "I was an only child, and I think that had a big impact on me. I always had grown-up friends even though I was a little kid. I would take the train from Lido Beach into Manhattan, and I'd hang out in magic shops. When I was 14, I had magician friends who were 60. I learned a lot from them — I still think about magic all the time. I always think about how things work, the mechanics of a situation — that's the nature of being a magician."
In high school, around 1980, Rubin started listening to a mix of heavy metal and punk rock. (He recalls buying the Germs' record "GI" and "Back in Black" by AC/DC on the same day.) "I saw the Ramones play every week," he said. "I was the only punk in my high school." Rubin paused. "I've always been an outsider. When I did magic, I was the only kid. When I worked with Johnny Cash, I was completely out of place in Nashville. And when I started Def Jam, I was the only white guy in the hip-hop world."

Although Rubin's parents — his father was a shoe wholesaler, and "my mother's job was me" — wanted him to be a lawyer, he had other ideas. In 1983, while he was attending N.Y.U., he borrowed $5,000 from his parents and recorded "It's Yours" by T La Rock and Jazzy Jay, a 12-inch single that became a local dance hit. Rubin then invented a label, calling his company Def Jam ("Def" meaning great, and "Jam" meaning music), and ran the business out of his dorm room. "The clerk at the front desk handled all the shipping," Rubin recalled.
Russell Simmons, who was then a hip-hop producer, loved "It's Yours" when he heard it on the radio. "I thought for sure that Rick was black," Simmons said. In 1984, a 16-year-old named L L Cool J (Ladies Love Cool James) sent a demo tape to Rubin's dorm room/Def Jam. "He was much better than anything else I heard," Rubin recalled. "And he still is. 'I Need a Beat,' L L's first single, was the real birth of Def Jam." Rubin did not release the track right away — he tightened up the structure, editing the rhymes so they more closely resembled verses in a song. The result is a spare, clean sound, rather than the endless repetitions of most early rap. "I thought the record would do well, and I asked Russell to be my partner at Def Jam. I did all the work from my dorm, and he did the promotion. Russell was five years older, and he was established. By myself, I was just a kid making records. He gave me credibility."
"I Need a Beat" sold 100,000 copies, and in the next year, Def Jam released seven more 12-inch records, selling a total of about 300,000 units. The major labels had ignored rap, dismissing it as a regional fad, but they took notice of Def Jam. CBS offered Rubin and Simmons $600,000 to pick four acts a year, a kind of finder's fee. "I was 20," Rubin said. "I sent a Xerox of the check to my parents. That's when this stopped being a hobby. At that point, I wanted to live the life of an artist."
By 1987, Rubin had already discovered the Beastie Boys, three upper-middle-class guys from New York City who could rap. The trio's anthemic hit, "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party!)," which was produced by Rubin, was an instant classic: the rhythms of the words form a hook that circles and loops around your brain and will not leave. The Beasties' debut album, "Licensed to Ill," was the first rap album to go to No. 1 on the Billboard chart. "And we were still in the dorms," George Drakoulias, a successful producer who worked with Rubin for a decade, told me. "Rick didn't want to leave. He got college credits for running the record company. He stayed until he graduated. And by then, he and Russell were fighting over the direction of the company."
Each had a different idea of which bands Def Jam should produce. The partnership fell apart during renegotiations for their contract with CBS. Simmons wanted to get the biggest monetary advance possible from CBS, while Rubin wanted to bet on Def Jam, take a small amount of money for the sake of independence and make most of the cash on the back-end profits. They couldn't agree, and Def Jam was split in two, an arrangement that took nearly three years to finalize.
When things went sour, Rubin flew to Los Angeles to work on the soundtrack for the film "Less Than Zero." "I never really moved here," Rubin said now, still walking around the former factory space. "I never packed and moved. But I never left Los Angeles, even though I hadn't planned to stay." He lived in the Chateau Marmont for nine months and started a new record company, Def American. Rubin changed gears: he signed the hard rock bands Slayer and Danzig and gave a record deal to the misogynist comic Andrew Dice Clay. "At every stage of my career, there have always been people telling me not to do whatever it is that I'm doing," Rubin said. "After my initial success in rap, I started making rock records, and people said, 'Why would you do this?' I made a comedy album, and they said, 'Why this?' Now people ask me, 'Why do you want to do this Columbia job?' It's always the same answer: 'I've always liked doing the stuff that I like.' I just like good music or comedy or whatever it is, and now I have the chance to bring that to a big record company. I have no training, no technical skill — it's only this ability to listen and try to coach the artist to be the best they can from the perspective of a fan."
The architects were still daydreaming about where to put the lobby and the conference room in the factory-turned-soundstage when Rubin suggested that they drive over to another potential site for the new Columbia offices. They piled into his Range Rover, which was being driven by Nino Molina, one of his assistants. In the front seat, Rubin turned on the satellite radio and Sinatra's "Fly Me to the Moon" flooded the car. "Where we are going could not be more different than this spot," Rubin told the architects. "In a way, this factory is like a cool, old vintage Mustang convertible and the next building we're seeing is a Rolls-Royce. In the end, they are both great and they probably cost the same money, but they are completely opposite in style." Rubin fiddled with the radio. "Every Picture Tells a Story" by Rod Stewart replaced Sinatra. "They couldn't be more different, but both work," Rubin continued.
We drove east until we arrived at the former CAA building on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. I. M. Pei designed this curvy, cream-colored travertine structure, and the most dominant feature of the space is its vast, soaring, three-story lobby. "This is a significant building," Rubin said. "How often do you get a chance to reinvent a landmark? Los Angeles doesn't have too many marquee buildings, and this is one of them."
The two spaces — one raw and full of promise and the other established and perfect for reinvention — are a neat metaphor for Rubin's divergent music tastes. "I've always been attracted to both new stuff and older stuff," he said as he opened the door to a plush screening room. "When I came to Los Angeles and started producing more, that became clearer to me."
At Def American, Rubin concentrated on a harder rock sound: Slayer's "Reign in Blood," which is considered to be a heavy metal classic, or the Geto Boys, whose rap song "Mind of a Lunatic" depicted vivid scenes of necrophilia and murder. "I just couldn't put out a record about sex with dead bodies and cutting off women's breasts," said David Geffen, whose company Geffen Records was the distributor of Def American. "I begged Rick not to put out the Geto Boys. In the end, I lost. He left and went to Warner Brothers."
Although Rubin claims that Geffen fired him, he stood by the Geto Boys: "I thought the art was good. As a fan, the Geto Boys were thrilling in the same way that a horror movie might be thrilling." In 1993, Rubin saw that the word "def" was now in dictionaries, and he decided to change the name of his company. Inspired by a documentary he'd seen about the hippie movement, Rubin held a formal funeral for Def. "When advertisers and the fashion world co-opted the image of hippies, a group of the original hippies in San Francisco literally buried the image of the hippie," Rubin explained. "When 'def' went from street lingo to mainstream, it defeated its purpose."
The funeral was lavish. The Rev. Al Sharpton was flown in from New York to deliver the eulogy, the Amazing Kreskin performed and Rubin purchased a cemetery plot and engraved headstone. The death of Def also marked a change in Rubin's career. He had never signed what he calls "grown-up artists," and he wanted to work with someone with enormous talent whose career had been eclipsed. "The first person I thought of was Johnny Cash," Rubin said now. "He was a little like this building — already a legend, but ripe for something different. I knew I could do something great with him."
In many ways, the Cash phase of Rubin's life, which lasted 10 years and produced five albums, has overshadowed all his other accomplishments. Rubin had worked intensively with artists before. When he produced the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1991, he helped reinvent their sound by persuading them to incorporate melody and a more lyrical approach in their songwriting. The Chili Peppers defined their music narrowly — as rap infused with funk — and Rubin imagined a different quality. "My job was to break down those boundaries," he explained. "No band has to fit into a little box. I saw the Chili Peppers as being like the Beach Boys in some ways. They represented Los Angeles, a place of dreams." Anthony Kiedis, the lead singer, showed Rubin his notebooks, and the producer homed in on a poem about drugs and alienation called "Under the Bridge." He persuaded Kiedis to set the words to music, and the resulting song was a career-altering hit for the band.
Rubin installed the Peppers in a mansion in the Hollywood Hills that was rumored to be Harry Houdini's former home. It actually wasn't, but the house did have secret passageways, and the rumors of its history lingered. A studio was built, and the Peppers moved in with Rubin's personal chef at their service. As he always does when he produces a record, Rubin came and went. "I do not know how to work a board. I don't turn knobs. I have no technical ability whatsoever," he said. "But I'm there when they need me to be there. My primary asset is I know when I like something or not. It always comes down to taste. I'm not there to hold their hands and baby-sit, but I'm there for any key creative decisions."
And yet it was different with Cash. While Cash was an excellent songwriter, Rubin handpicked rock songs like "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails, "Personal Jesus" by Depeche Mode and "Rusty Cage" by Soundgarden for Cash to reinterpret. (He also suggested "Addicted to Love" by Robert Palmer, but that didn't work.) He was much more involved with every aspect of the production — from the choice of songs to the arrangements to the videos — than he had been with any other artist. Rubin and Cash also had a deep spiritual kinship: during the final months of Cash's life, they took communion together every day, even though Rubin, who was born Jewish and now sees himself as not having any specific religious orientation, should not be eligible for the holy sacraments. Even after Cash's death, Rubin would close his eyes and hear Cash's voice as he said the benediction. "It was like hearing a song that you love," Rubin said. "He was there with me."
When Cash was in Los Angeles, he often stayed at Rubin's house. His bedroom, with its view of the city, was on the third floor, and Cash would take the elevator down to the recording studio in the basement. "I was always aware of how important Cash was," Rubin said. "But no one under 40 who didn't live in the South knew much about Johnny Cash besides a few hits and his name." What seems so clear now was not obvious when Rubin began working with Cash — it was risky to reinvent a living legend for a new generation.
After Cash's death, Rubin was searching for a challenge with an even higher degree of difficulty, a greater test for his powers of listening. The Columbia job is a different kind of reclamation project, but Rubin knows that, just possibly, he could restore an entire institution to greatness. "I can imagine people coming up with brilliant, creative ideas here," Rubin told the architects as they finished their tour of the building. "But Sony has to agree. I'm not sure they realize that they are selling art. Right now they could be selling any product. That's why we have to move — we're in the art business."
For the last two years, Rubin has lived in a house in Malibu that overlooks the ocean. In a way, this house is a return to his childhood in Lido Beach, where he spent his days near the water. "It's inspirational to live out here," Rubin said as he settled into a lounge chair with linen cushions facing the sea. "You feel the rhythm of the planet more keenly. I am never this aware of sunrise and sunset when I'm in town. The daily changes of nature at the beach can be deeply affecting."
Rubin has many of his business meetings here now. The '70s architecture of the house is nondescript, but the views from every room are spectacular. There's an old, elaborately carved grand piano in the living room alongside an enormous four-poster brass bed with a striking white linen canopy. When I arrived, Amanda Santos, Rubin's fiancée, was having a private yoga session. While we sat on the terrace, a small Yorkshire terrier named Henry ran between the living room and Rubin's lap. Despite a state-of-the-art sound system, there was no music playing. Only the sound of the waves.
All this Zen calm notwithstanding, Rubin, who was drinking ginger tea, was working. "Do you know about Paul Potts?" he asked as he went to the kitchen to get his laptop. "You have to see this. It totally blew my mind." Rubin found the proper link and turned the screen to face me. The clip was from a British show called "Britain's Got Talent," a version of "American Idol." Despite its popularity, Rubin has never seen "American Idol," and he had never heard of Simon Cowell, who is a judge on both programs.
"This is insane," Rubin said enthusiastically as the clip began. In the video, an ordinary-looking middle-aged man waited nervously backstage. When he faced the judges, he told them he worked at a mobile-phone store and wanted to sing opera. The studio audience looked annoyed — they clearly wanted to hear a pop song — and the judges were cold and dismissive. No one expected anything remarkable from this dull-looking, forgettable guy.
But then Paul Potts sang — "Nessun dorma" from "Turandot." He had an improbably beautiful voice. "Where does that come from?" Rubin said as he watched. Tears were rolling down his cheeks. "I can't look at this without crying," he said. "His voice is so beautiful." When Potts finished his song, Cowell said, "I thought you were absolutely fantastic." The studio audience roared with approval, and Potts beamed.
"It's August now — that show was eight weeks ago," Rubin said. "In England, Paul Potts is already gigantic, but we are going to launch him in America. This just blew my mind."
No one could have predicted that one of the first new Columbia artists to excite Rick Rubin would have been a would-be opera singer from a televised talent contest. "I certainly didn't expect his response to be so positive," said Steve Barnett, who originally brought Paul Potts to Rubin's attention. "I was surprised and pleased that he wanted to jump on it."
Rubin has an immediate plan for Potts — he wants to test the powers of his "word of mouth" department. "I want to see if we can create interest without there being a record to buy," he said. "I've told our whole staff to send it to everyone, to tell everyone, to mention it everywhere. I want to get Paul Potts out to the world." Rubin stopped for a moment. "Although, if someone tells you how great this is, it's not as moving. It's the element of surprise that makes you interested in Paul Potts: he looks so bland, and then he sings so well. If you expect him to be great, will the clip still be great?"
The question cannot be answered. A word-of-mouth campaign, like so many possible remedies for the ills of the record business, feels forced. "I just don't know how else people will see Paul Potts," Rubin said. "And I'm really glad I saw him." He paused and looked out at the surf. "I know this sounds hard to believe, but I never had any expectations of success," he said finally. "I knew what I liked, and I didn't really care if anyone else liked it. I still never assume that anyone will like anything. But I can't imagine that they won't, either."
"Sam Cooke built this," Neil Diamond said as he greeted Rubin at ArchAngel Studios in West Hollywood on a gray afternoon in late July. "I bought the place around 30 years ago. It's not open to the public, but I let Rick use it sometimes."
Rubin smiled. "I think the Doors made their first demo here," he said as he followed Diamond down the hall, past the walls of gold and platinum Neil Diamond records, past the framed album covers and into a glass recording studio. "And now, Neil."
For the past two weeks, Rubin and Diamond had been working on new material, and Diamond wanted Rubin to hear some songs that were near completion. "You know, initially I stalked Neil," Rubin said as an engineer prepared the first track. "Yes," said Diamond, who is trim and was wearing a suede baseball hat, dark shirt and jeans. "At first, it was a little scary — I didn't know what to make of it."
A classic Neil Diamond song about the renewing power of a relationship boomed from the speakers. Diamond looked down, a little self-conscious. Rubin, eyes closed, was seated at the engineer's console with his arms resting lightly on the mixing board. When the song ended, Rubin paused, opened his eyes and said: "You really caught a good mood on that. It lived for the first time." Diamond nodded. They discussed the merits of adding strings or changing the structure so that the bridge didn't sound so much like a chorus. "Some strings might inspire you," Rubin said. "And maybe some amplification near the end. It needs a little polish."
Diamond agreed, and four more tracks were played for Rubin's opinion. He was encouraging and specific — "a little percussion element could go here," he said. Or, "Let's shorten that rolling piano." After about an hour, Rubin hugged Diamond goodbye. They agreed to reconnect in a month, after he'd written some more songs. "I'll settle in without distraction," Diamond promised. "And then I'll be in touch."
Rubin headed back to his Range Rover. In the car, he said he had some live footage of the Gossip that he wanted to show me. "I saw the group at the Troubadour, and they blew my mind," he said. "It was the best show I've seen in five years. Afterward, I met with the band. They felt stressed, and they were having trouble writing songs. The energy in the room when they were performing was so intense, and I'm not even sure how we'd get it to feel like that in the studio. So we decided to record a live show during their European tour, and we're going to release a DVD of the live album as their first release."
Rubin looked pleased. Beth Ditto, the lead singer of the Gossip, is exactly what he has been looking for since he took this job at Columbia: she is an outsize personality in an outsize body with a Joplin-esque, bluesy voice. Ditto is the kind of artist Rubin loves — unique, ambitious and open to guidance. "For a band like the Gossip," Rubin continued, "the support of a record company like Columbia is still really important. I grew up in the independent music business, and you still really need the muscle of the majors. A record company call can still get you heard like nobody else."
Rubin paused. "That's the magic of the business," he said. "It's all doom and gloom, but then you go to a Gossip show or hear Neil in the studio and you remember that too many people make and love music for it to ever die. It will never be over. The music will outlast us all."

The ring of fire

2007-09-05T21:01:00.000+01:00

This piece starts out 30,000 feet above greek ground. The now infamous satellite picture of the flames raging is literally recreated in front of my eyes, and the combination of “Indian in Me” by Cobblestone Jazz playing in my headphones renders it even more horrendous. Now that I am back, and that everyone wonders what the “hell” happened to their country this summer, during which 66 people have lost their lives, theories (conspiracy and others) have emerged… and I question…
Someone told me the other day “you know Greg, there are always fires BEFORE election period…”, some kind of rule of law which in my head sounded like “there are always fights between supporters AFTER an Italian football game”. What do I know? Indeed Prime Minister Karamanlis has decided on August 15th to call for early elections, initially scheduled to take place in March 08’. Even though many analysts had predicted this very “strategic” move a long time ago, everybody seemed surprised and the MP’s were called back from their luxurious holiday homes to come and help out for the upcoming campaign. In batallion formation On the right corner we have New Democracy (the blue ones) vs. on the left one, PASOK (the red ones) are now throwing the fires’ blame at each other… lovely political turmoil. ND, which had a large edge in pre-summer political poles is suddenly paying for its devastating lack of fire prevention and forth stalling, and has fallen drastically leading now with only 1 point ahead of PASOK. My question might sound silly, but why the heck do they organise elections in the summer, when Greek soil is so conducive to hungry blazing flames??? Anywayz, just a technical detail in this gigantic mess… On top of that is the issue of the land itself. Yes, in Greece you need to burn to get land, and this theory, much more probable than any scandalaous political sabotage is well explained in the following Financial Times article : “You could say that sparks from electricity pylons cause about 20 per cent of fires and human error another 20 per cent. The remainder are set deliberately, usually to clear land for development,” said a recently retired official.
While Greece requires burned forest areas to be immediately replanted, developers have few problems in finding a way round the law. Burned areas are re-classified by local officials as farmland that can be sold for development.
“Because of the lack of political will to implement the law, it’s easy to build on forest land,” said Theodota Nantsou, policy co-ordinator in Greece for WWF, the conservation agency. “Ahead of an election, for example, thousands of illegal buildings suddenly become legal.”
Fast-growing demand for second homes, driven by north Europeans as well as Greeks, has increased pressure for development of forests, especially in the Peloponnese and near Athens.
Alexia Papadakis, a real estate agent, said the island of Evia is a prime target for developers because of its proximity to Athens and improved transport connections. “Sadly, it’s no surprise that there is a big fire on Evia,” she said.
Greece’s next government would come under pressure to complete a much-delayed land registry, establish a separate registry of forest areas, and strengthen the forestry service, Ms Nantsou said. “As a tourist country Greece needs year-round fire-prevention measures,” she said.

Grasping the moment

2007-06-13T15:37:00.000+01:00

Been a while now that I haven t properly posted an article or pictures, but now that I have had time to look thoroughly at my new host country, Greece, I am ready to speak out... You might or might not know that Greece is one of the "best student" in the EU classroom. GDP reaching above 4.6% (double the average of most EU mammuth) and a budget deficit below 3% as agreed during the stability and growth pact within the [Maastricht] treaty framework. This very academic statement has the purpose of underlying one thing... The EU taxpayers' money has been used extensively in Greece, and since the entrance of Romania and Bulgaria in the family, Greece's prospects regarding future investments in South East Europe are looking bright. On the tourism side, Greece is practically virgin... I know it must sound surprising, but if you are already planning your retirement, I would seriously look at buying a blue and white house on one of the 2005 islands that form the Hellenic Republic.

One particular topic has nowadays attracted my attention, it is the extremely complex love-hate relationship between Greece and Turkey. The two nations have confronted their views and political interests, both thriving to increase their landbank for a few yards in Cyprus, and we still regularly read in the local press that clashes do happen between their respective armforces. Historically, relations with neighbouring Greece have known periods of tension. The long divided island of Cyprus and the disputes over the air and sea boundaries of the Aegean Sea remain the main issues of disagreement between the two neighbours. Recently, the issue of Cyprus has become one of the main points of contention in Turkey's accession negotiations with the EU since Turkey is refusing to open its ports to Greek Cypriot traffic. Nonetheless, following the consecutive earthquakes of 1999 in Turkey and Greece, and the prompt response of aid and rescue teams from both sides, the two nations have entered a much more positive period in their relations, with Greece actively supporting Turkey's candidacy to enter the European Union.In opposition, at the same time, Turkey has now become for the past 3-5 years a partner of choice for banks, construction and manufacturing companies. The relatively untapped turkish market of 71 million is naturally attracting large Greek corporations which see now that, beyond their mere political conflict, lies a great deal of business opportunities. On a more human note, Greeks greatly appreciate travelling to Turkey and, according to most, feel extremely welcome.

This just make me wonder to what extent the great Corporation, which is so often criticized for "levelling" societies and cultures, could not be used as a PRIME tool for bringing conflicting parties back to the negociation table...

Yann Arthus Gregoire

2007-04-10T20:34:00.000+01:00

Gratitude stone

2007-04-02T22:01:00.001+01:00

The Island of June

If you're feeling the need of real relaxation,
In a climate that's lazy, a perfect vacation,
Away from the snow and the slush that annoys you,
Away from the worries and cares that destroy you,
Try Nassau, the Island of June.

There are bluest of seas at your door to enthral you,
With no sudden temperature changes to gall you,
And laziness comes on you, quietly stealing
Along with a cheerful, a 'world's all right' feeling,
In Nassau, the Island of June.
-'A Song of Nassau" by Fred Winslow Rust

Hasta la Revolucion!

2007-03-08T23:08:00.000+01:00

2 Dias en Cuba,
Con Muchas ganas de volver...

Mucho mas divertido todavia con Mr Moore...

How one's country is perceived by so-called "outsiders"

2007-03-06T20:37:00.000+01:00

Nassau has neighbourhoods that range from exclusive enclaves for the extremely wealthy to slums inhabited by the chronically unemployed and underemployed. Construction materials are roughly evenly divided between limestone and wood.

The upper class consists of wealthy business owners, corporate managers, professionals, high-ranking government officials, and some foreign citizens. Historically, this class was composed of Britons, white Bahamians, light-skinned Bahamians of mixed race, and a few Americans and Canadians. Most were self-consciously British in speech and behavior.
In addition, we are led to believe that "the upper class today includes many more residents of African ancestry. Emulation of the old colonial elite is less common. The middle class consists of small business owners, some professionals, civil servants, and lower-level corporate managers.

This generalized depiction of The Bahamas stands in stark contrast and contradistinction to other scenarios that depict The Bahamas as a truly despondent place, a country where very many people are living and dying in the throes of distress and despair. That other Bahamas is a place where there are very many Bahamians who make it their business to live just for the day and whose business it is to revel in the moment, thus that endless round of so-called functions, parties and other excuses for wasting money. On some occasions, money is used that should be put into the education and care of children. On other occasions, scarce resources are blown on showing off to the neighbours. Another Bahamas exists in the very belly of that Bahamas that is seen to be some kind of tropical paradise. That Bahamas is the Bahamas where anchor projects are providing much needed jobs. It is that other Bahamas where Bahamians are scheduled to vote for the representatives of their choice. And for sure, that other Bahamas is the one that has been transfixed by the saga of one Anna Nicole Smith and a motley crew of other hangers-on and other assorted riff-raffs and money-grubbers.

c est un peu n'importe quoi...

2007-01-28T18:08:00.000+01:00

welcome to the bahamas

2007-01-14T23:57:00.000+01:00

censorship

2006-11-23T15:26:00.000+01:00

I take the opportunity to be in Hong Kong to update my blog, since the chinese authorities don't seem to allow blogspot to work properly within their "internet range". So here are random pics from Beijing, Hangzhou (where I am currenlty staying for my project) & Shanghai!!!

I wish I could update my world more often and with more extensive text, but time is running short in the "outside world"

Take care

Killing Lolo

2006-10-04T15:21:00.001+01:00

If flags could only speak...

2006-09-24T14:34:00.000+01:00

Revista Grande Reportagem:
United States of America

Somalia

European Union

Brazil

Burkina Faso

Angola

China

Colombia

You've got mail Mr. Bush

2006-09-18T09:35:00.000+01:00

Pope seeks to calm muslim anger... good luck

2006-09-18T08:40:00.000+01:00

Pope Benedict XVI has weighed in on the sensitive issue of rapport between Islam and the West: He said that violence, embodied in the Muslim idea of jihad, or holy war, is contrary to reason and God's plan, while the West was so beholden to reason that Islam could not understand it.
Nonetheless, in a complex treatise delivered Tuesday at the university here where he once taught, he suggested reason as a common ground for a "genuine dialogue of cultures and religions so urgently needed today."
In all, the speech seemed to reflect the Vatican's struggle over how to confront Islam and terrorism, as the 79- year-old pope pursues what is often considered a more provocative, hard- nosed and skeptical approach to Islam than his predecessor, John Paul II.
As such, it distilled many of Benedict's longstanding concerns, about the crisis of faith among Christians and about Islam and its relationship to violence. And he used language open to interpretations that could inflame Muslims, at a time of high tension among religions and three months before he makes a trip to Turkey.
He began his speech by quoting a 14th-century Byzantine emperor, Manuel II Paleologus, in a conversation with a "learned Persian" on Christianity and Islam -"and the truth of both."
"Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached," the pope quoted the emperor.
The pope went on to say that violent conversion to Islam was contrary to reason and thus "contrary to God's nature."
But the section on Islam made up just three paragraphs of the speech, and he devoted the rest to a long examination of how Western science and philosophy had divorced themselves from faith - leading to the secularization of European society that is at the heart of Benedict's worries.
This, he said, has closed off the West from a full understanding of reality, making it also impossible to talk with cultures for whom faith is fundamental.
"The world's profoundly religious cultures see this exclusion from the divine, from the universality of reason as an attack on their most profound convictions," he said. "A reason which is deaf to the divine and which relegates religion into the realm of subcultures is incapable of entering into the dialogue of cultures."
Several experts on the Catholic Church and Islam agreed that the speech - in which Benedict made clear he was quoting other sources on Islam - did not appear to be a major statement on, or condemnation of, Islam. The chief concern, they said, was the West's exclusion of religion from the realm of reason.
Still, they said that the strong words he used in describing Islam, even that of the 14th century, ran the risk of offense.
Renzo Guolo, a professor of the sociology of religion at the University of Padua, in Italy, who often writes about the church and Islam, said he was struck by the suggestion of Islam as distant from reason.
"This is maybe the strongest criticism because he doesn't speak of fundamentalist Islam, but of Islam generally," he said, "Not all Islam, thank God, is fundamentalist."
The Reverend Daniel Madigan, rector of the Institute for the Study of Religions and Cultures at the Pontifical Gregorian University, in Rome, said the central point was that "if we are really going into a serious dialogue with Muslims, we need to take faith seriously."
But, he said of the quote from the emperor, "You clearly take a risk using an example like that."
Marco Politi, a Vatican expert for the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, said that "the text reveals his deep mistrust regarding the aggressive side of Islam."
"Certainly he closes the door to an idea which was very dear to John Paul II - the idea that Christians, Jews and Muslims have the same God and have to pray together to the same God," he said.
The speech was a central moment in Benedict's six-day trip home to visit Bavaria, where he grew up, became a priest, a prominent theologian and, finally, a cardinal.
Earlier in the day, at an outdoor Mass here attended by some 250,000 people, he expressed similar concerns as in the speech, urging believers to stand up against the "hatred and fanaticism" that he said were tarnishing the image of God.

The 'new Middle East' Bush is resisting

2006-09-10T10:36:00.000+01:00

By Sa'ad Al Deen Ebrahim, Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service_

US President George Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice may be quite right about a new Middle East being born. In fact, their policies in support of the actions of their closest regional ally, Israel, have helped midwife the newborn. But it will not be exactly the baby they have longed for.
What is happening in the broader Middle East and North Africa can be seen as a boomerang effect that has been playing out slowly since the horrific events of September 11, 2001. In the immediate aftermath of those attacks, there was worldwide sympathy for the US and support for its declared "war on terrorism", including the invasion of Afghanistan. Then the cynical exploitation of this universal goodwill by so-called neoconservatives to advance hegemonic designs was confirmed by the war in Iraq.
The Bush administration's dishonest statements about "weapons of mass destruction" diminished whatever credibility the US might have had as liberator, while disastrous mismanagement of Iraqi affairs after the invasion led to the squandering of a conventional military victory.
Against this declining moral standing, President Bush made something of a comeback in the first year of his second term. He shifted his foreign policy rhetoric from a "war on terrorism" to a war of ideas and a struggle for liberty and democracy. Through much of 2005 it looked as if the Middle East might finally have its long-overdue spring of freedom.
Lebanon forged a Cedar Revolution, triggered by the assassination of its popular former prime minister, Rafik Hariri. Egypt held its first multi-candidate presidential election in 50 years. So did Palestine and Iraq. Qatar and Bahrain continued their steady evolution into constitutional monarchies.
But there was more. Hamas mobilised candidates and popular campaigns to win a plurality in Palestinian legislative elections and form a new government. Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt achieved similar electoral successes. And with these developments, a sudden chill fell over Washington and other Western capitals.
Now the cold war on Islamists has escalated into a shooting war, first against Hamas in Gaza and then against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel is perceived in the region, rightly or wrongly, to be an agent acting on behalf of US interests. Some will admit that there was provocation for Israel to strike at Hamas and Hezbollah following the abduction of three soldiers and attacks on military and civilian targets.
On July 30, Arab, Muslim and world outrage reached an unprecedented level with the Israeli bombing of a residential building in the Lebanese village of Qana, which killed dozens and wounded hundreds of civilians, most of them children. It is too early to predict whether Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will survive the recent war. But Hezbollah will survive, just as it has already outlasted five Israeli prime ministers and three American presidents.
Born in the thick of an earlier Israeli invasion, in 1982, Hezbollah is at once a resistance movement against foreign occupation. Despite access to millions of dollars in resources from within and from regional allies Syria and Iran, its three successive leaders have projected an image of clean governance.
In more than four weeks of fighting against the strongest military machine in the region, Hezbollah held its own and won the admiration of millions of Arabs and Muslims. People in the region have compared its steadfastness with the swift defeat of three large Arab armies in the Six-Day War of 1967. Hassan Nasrallah, its current leader, spoke several times to a wide regional audience through his own Al Manar network as well as the more popular Al Jazeera.
According to the preliminary results of a recent public opinion survey of 1,700 Egyptians by the Cairo-based Ibn Khaldun Centre, Hezbollah's action garnered 75 per cent approval, and Nasrallah led a list of 30 regional public figures ranked by perceived importance. He appears on 82 per cent of responses, followed by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (73 per cent), Khalid Meshal of Hamas (60 per cent), Osama Bin Laden (52 per cent) and Mohammad Mahdi Akef of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood (45 per cent).
The pattern here is clear, and it is Islamic. And among the few secular public figures who made it into the top 10 are Palestinian Marwan Barghouti (31 per cent) and Egypt's Ayman Nour (29 per cent). None of the current heads of Arab states made the list of the 10 most popular public figures. While subject to future fluctuations, these Egyptian findings suggest the direction in which the region is moving. The Arab people do not respect the ruling regimes, perceiving them to be autocratic, corrupt and inept. More mainstream Islamists with broad support, developed civic dispositions and services to provide are the most likely actors in building a new Middle East. In fact, they are already doing so through the Justice and Development Party in Turkey, the similarly named PJD in Morocco, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Hamas in Palestine and, yes, Hezbollah in Lebanon.
These groups are not inimical to democracy. They have accepted electoral systems and practiced electoral politics, probably too well for Washington's taste. The rest of the Western world must come to grips with the new reality, even if the US president and his secretary of state continue to reject the new offspring of their own policies.
- Sa'ad Al Deen Ebrahim is an Egyptian democracy activist and a sociology professor at the American University in Cairo, Egypt.

Michaelangelo, Leonardo, Donatello & Khadijo

2006-09-09T16:55:00.000+01:00

UBERCOOLISCHE!

2006-08-24T16:32:00.000+01:00

"Underground Berlin’s community of controlled madness — where radical thinkers and doers enjoy the freedom to be uncomfortable and social at the same time, in a town where work itself is being redefined in a local economy that rarely offers more than potential income-earning via government subsidies (for German citizens) and projects at home and (more likely) abroad for everyone else — is an opportunity for an artist that must be seized." Metro Times - Losing your mind in Berlin

Rocket Science

2006-08-24T14:38:00.000+01:00

Renaissance

2006-08-20T17:55:00.000+01:00

This animated movie just won the "crystal du long metrage" at the annecy international animated film festival... You liked Sin City and Max Payne? Check Renaissance!(right click and save as...usual)

Astrological map - Where is it best for me to go next? Go figure...

2006-08-20T17:44:00.000+01:00

Greg vs. Mubarak

2006-08-20T17:07:00.000+01:00

On May 22nd, I had the opportunity to take part in the World Economic Forum in Sharm El Sheikh, one of the highlights in my "career". Still, i found the video footage where you can see your humble servant asking a question to the future egyptian head of state, namely Gamal "Jimmy G" Mubarak himself (Jump to 1h:10min:28sec)....Gloups!. Just listen to the question, the answer is not worth it ;)

Hot PlayList August 2006

2006-08-19T16:46:00.000+01:00

Dear all,

Most of you know what a music freak I am... Took me a while, but i finally found out a way to share my favorite (old and new) tracks. I'll try to post a 10-track playlist each month, just for you! Hopefully the links will work properly (Just scroll down and follow the instruction on the webhoster)

Offbeat News

2006-08-17T12:25:00.000+01:00

A Sudanese man has been forced to take a goat as his "wife", after he was caught having sex with the animal.
The goat's owner, Mr Alifi, said he surprised the man with his goat and took him to a council of elders.

They ordered the man, Mr Tombe, to pay a dowry of 15,000 Sudanese dinars ($50) to Mr Alifi.

"We have given him the goat, and as far as we know they are still together," Mr Alifi said.

Mr Alifi, Hai Malakal in Upper Nile State, told the Juba Post newspaper that he heard a loud noise around midnight on 13 February and immediately rushed outside to find Mr Tombe with his goat.

"When I asked him: 'What are you doing there?', he fell off the back of the goat, so I captured and tied him up".

Mr Alifi then called elders to decide how to deal with the case.

"They said I should not take him to the police, but rather let him pay a dowry for my goat because he used it as his wife," Mr Alifi told the newspaper.

blogcounter

2006-08-12T13:07:00.000+01:00

Blog Counter

no comment

2006-08-11T11:48:00.001+01:00

French journalist stabbed to death at his home

Reporters Without Borders said today it was “very shocked” by the murder of French journalist Grégoire de Bourgues at his home in Almaty on 2 August and called for an immediate investigation.

De Bourgues, 24, had been in Kazakhstan since 22 April as an editorial adviser for an Athens-based firm called SML Strategic Media, which had sent him there for three months to do an advertising feature for the US magazine Foreign Affairs.

“We urge the authorities to do all they can to solve this murder and we hope the French government will follow the investigation very closely,” the worldwide press freedom organisation said. “We express our sympathy with his family and his employers.”

Three armed men, two of them masked, broke into De Bourgues’ fourth-floor apartment in Kurmangazy Street in the middle of the afternoon. The journalist’s Kazakh interpreter/translator was with him at the time.

The intruders tied both of them up and demanded money in Russian. The prisoners did not resist and the the attackers took a computer, digital camera, mobile phone and a lot of money. Then they took the journalist into another room and stabbed him to death. The interpreter managed to break free after they left and called the police. An autopsy on De Bourgues’ body showed the attackers first tried to strangle him.

He had had several meetings with top government and parliamentary officials as part of his reporting assignment and had been due to fly to Greece the day he was killed.

business vs peaceness

2006-07-28T18:34:00.000+01:00

What struck me the most in the past weeks during which we have witnessed a growing violence added to anger in the region, is that Egyptians who had constantly described Egypt as one peculiar entity compared to the "arabs", now and since the isreal attackes on Lebanon, start colluding with them. It is not "us and them" anymore, it is just "us". In a series of anti-Israeli protests in Cairo in the past few days, demonstrators raised portraits of the late Egyptian President Jamal Abdul Nasser with a caption reading "the symbol of Arab dignity". The protesters chanted slogans against incumbent Arab leaders whom they accused of weakness towards the Israeli attacks on Lebanon.Israel's sustained onslaught against Lebanon coincides with the 50th anniversary of Egypt's nationalisation of the Suez Canal. Back then, the decision proclaimed by Nasser on July 26, 1956, culminated in what came to be known as the Suez Crisis, which pitted Britain and France against Egypt.
Consequenlty, Nasser nationalised the strategic waterway to spend its revenues on building the High Dam in southern Egypt after the World Bank turned down an Egyptian request to fund the project. In the end, Nasser had emerged from the crisis as the unchallenged leader of Egypt and the architect of Arab nationalism. In recent protests, many Egyptians likened Hezbollah's Naserallah to Nasser... I leave it to your judgment.

just found it funny

2006-07-12T14:12:00.000+01:00

Lynchpin of Middle Eastern politics

2006-07-01T18:21:00.000+01:00

Hi eveyone, t's been a while...
Find below a very interesting piece of article (written by Paola Caridi www.lettera22.it form the independent journalist association) to give you a better insight on the extremely complex situation in the middle east, and the difficult and strategic relationship with the US. I added a couple of pictures of the recent trips to relax your eyes and (hopefully) make you jealous...hehe
Nation of strategic importance. Element of regional stability. In the view of American foreign policy for the Middle East and North Africa over the last thirty years, Egypt has merited mostly flattering comments on the regional role it has played. And all things considered, the compliments have reflected what Egypt has really meant to the USA’s political strategies towards the Middle East, the Arab nations, and the whole region. Including Iran. If only because, in that part of the world, the alliance with Egypt has been the most important and most unexpected diplomatic success, the Department of State and the White House’s prize exhibit from the last fifty years. Made possible, for the most part, by the presence as Egyptian leader of a statesman capable of making astonishing choices, Anwar el Sadat. Protagonist of a drastic change in alliance after the 1973 war, and of an equally sudden abandonment of traditional Nasserite foreign policy which had as its three fundamental pillars the Soviet Union, the Non-Aligned movement, and pan-Arabism. While it is true to say that Sadat’s presence was essential to Washington considering Cairo as its Arabian bridgehead in the Middle East and North Africa, one has to admit that the alliance between the United States and Egypt has succeeded in surviving without Sadat, and above all in surviving various political earthquakes in the region that could have damaged the alliance’s stability and indeed destroyed the entire relationship between Cairo and Washington. But despite initial misgivings, despite the difference in character between himself and Sadat, and the difference between their conceptions of Egypt’s political role, Hosni Mubarak has nonetheless managed to maintain the commitments made by his predecessor. That’s to say, he has managed to preserve the alliance with the United States. Although in different terms than those foreseen by Washington. And it may well be that Washington has benefited from the changes that Mubarak has imposed during his twenty years of rule, in some cases without its ally’s approval.The relation between Egypt and the United States was founded on certain premises, but these soon evolved in ways that corresponded more to Egypt’s than to America’s strategy. The final balance, after twenty years of Mubarak’s presidency, is nonetheless positive for both partners in the alliance. The United States have had in Egypt the lynchpin of its foreign policy for the region, based on four priorities. Firstly, guaranteeing safe passage for crude oil from the Persian Gulf through the Suez Canal. Secondly, protecting the security of Israel. Thirdly, containing those nations in the region which, at different moments, have most threatened American interests (Iran and Iraq). And finally, during the first half of these twenty years at any rate, limiting the influence of the Soviet Union and exporting the policy of global containment to the Middle East and North Africa.Mubarak’s regime too, from its point of view, has obtained more positive than negative results from maintaining the alliance with the United States. On the one hand, as a reward for its role as a bridgehead, it has continued to benefit from the largest economic aid package dispensed by America in the whole area, indispensable for the country’s internal stability. On the other, in an analysis that is only apparently paradoxical, it has exploited its privileged relation with the Americans to gradually revive and reinforce its own position within the Arab world.All things considered, therefore, this has been an alliance that has given satisfaction to both partners. Despite its ups and downs, and despite the changes which the United States could never have foreseen at the time when Sadat put himself decisively in the American camp and carried out the two principal acts of his presidency: the leap from one side of the Iron Curtain to the other, and the peace with Israel. The Americans could never have imagined that Sadat would have disappeared from the scene so soon, and in such a sudden and tragic way. They therefore witnessed Mubarak’s coming to power with considerable scepticism, based on what they knew of him from his visits to the US as vice-president before Sadat’s assassination. During which Mubarak had shown himself to be quite different from his president. Less brilliant, in the first place, both in public and in private. Among American politicians and political technicians the main fear was that Mubarak “was seen as demanding, somewhat abrasive and unbending”, as Hermann Frederick Eilts has written. The worry was, in other words, that Mubarak would not have honoured the peace with Israel, still in its infancy, and might even have returned to the path set down by Gamel Abdel Nasser.Were these worries founded? History informs us that, as it turns out, Mubarak has respected the commitments made by Sadat, showing an unexpected degree of loyalty. But he has done so without his predecessor’s enthusiasm. Without Sadat’s open and passionate conviction. Whereas the former defied the entire Arab world by making a state visit to Jerusalem, the latter went there only for the funeral of Ytzhak Rabin, in November1995. In profoundly different circumstances, with Mubarak having only recently managed to re-enter the diplomatic manoeuvres surrounding the Oslo Agreements (from which he had been excluded). And in a regional context where the impetuous winds of change of Oslo, the handshake between Yasser Arafat and Ytzhak Rabin, and the 1991 Gulf War, had long since petered out. Mubarak has always done his duty towards the alliance with America, but without overdoing things. Indeed, especially in the second part of his first 2 decades in power, being always careful not to lose touch with the mood of the Egyptian man in the street and shifts in the internal political situation, in contrast to Anwar el Sadat, who paid with his life for his inability to understand what was happening in radical Islamic circles. To use the words of Ali Hillal Dessouki, on a national level Mubarak’s foreign policy “did not replace Sadat’s, but worked paralleled to it, with the aim of balancing the side-effects of his predecessor’s policies”.During the 1990’s in particular, the relationship with the United States was strained by major shifts within Egyptian society, which underwent an Islamic revival that – despite the regime’s efforts to restrain it – imposed socio-political restraints on the Egyptian government that had previously been inexistent or at any rate negligible. The season of radical Islamic terrorism (directed above all against tourists and Israeli objectives), and the ambivalent relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood (only formally illegal), has put a brake on the United State’s powerful influence over Egypt, to the point of creating a chasm between the regime’s pro-American stance and the widespread and intense anti-Americanism within society. From this has stemmed a kind of self-censorship in Mubarak’s presidency regarding choices to do with religious observations or foreign policy. At the same time, on an economic level, the system of cliquish favouritism adopted by Mubarak has disillusioned American expectations of rapid and virtuous privatisations in Egyptian industry, still encumbered by clogging Nasserite mechanisms. Mubarak has always tried to walk a tightrope between a society increasingly resentful of American influence on the one hand, and his special relationship with Washington on the other. And he has done so by seeking a less subservient role for Egypt than Sadat had envisioned. This meant steering a middle course. Which is what Mubarak did from the beginning. The first symptoms of this change in the course of bilateral relations and regional politics became evident from early in his presidency. To be precise, from shortly after the handing-over of the Sinai Peninsular by Israel. Once this issue had been resolved, apart from the dispute over Taba, by 1982 the new Egyptian president was already demonstrating that the relationship with the United States would no longer entirely follow the patron-client formula. What sparked the process was the Israeli government’s launching of its Operation Peace in Galilee in 1982, with the attack on the Lebanon and the PLO bases in the Land of the Cedars.
At that point Mubarak’s foreign policy began to move in parallel with the unfolding of events and the reaction of Egyptian public opinion, which for the first time was able to follow on television the developments in the Lebanese conflict. Mubarak immediately condemned the Israeli aggression, despite Egypt still being an outcast in regional politics due to its expulsion from the Arab League after the unilateral peace treaty with Israel. Really it was Israel’s attack that offered Cairo its first chance to mend relations with the Arab world, to the point where Mubarak requested holding a summit between all the nations in the region. Later, when events became intolerable for Egyptian public opinion, Mubarak took stronger action, withdrawing his ambassador from Tel Aviv. The subsequent massacres in Sabra and Shatila, and Arafat and the PLO’s exile from Beirut, contributed to the continuation of this hard-line stance.To be more precise, Hosni Mubarak’s relationship with Abu Ammar in those circumstances was the sign of the first partial rehabilitation of Egypt by the Arab nations, immortalised in the arrival in the Suez Canal of the Odysseus Elytis from Beirut, in Arafat’s disembarking at Ismailia, and in his encounter with Mubarak in a Cairo where long before he had been a student and a refugee. An encounter which signalled simultaneously both the end of the six year freeze in relations between the Egyptian leadership and the PLO, and the end of the Arab embargo on Egypt after Camp David. The relationship with Arafat, who had always preferred Egypt as a sponsor rather than the fluctuating Jordan of King Hussein, stood up to the strains imposed by incidents such as the hijacking of the Achille Lauro, in which Egypt – instead of putting at risk its relations with the Palestinians – preferred to put at risk its alliance with the United States. It was not easy for Washington to digest the tensions caused by Egypt’s mediation and by Cairo’s attempt to fly Abul Abbas and the hijackers to Tunis on an Egyptian aircraft. Just as for Cairo, and for Rome, it was not easy to digest the Sigonella incident. Basically, anyway, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was one of the trampolines (if not the main one) that Mubarak’s Egypt used to return to the Arab fold. It is no coincidence that Cairo’s definitive readmission to the Arab League came about in 1989, after the first Intifada and the open and undercover diplomatic contacts between Egypt and the PLO, carried out in spite of American worries about the repercussions on Israeli-Egyptian relations. Expert opinion is unanimous that the relationship between Egypt and the United States has always existed within the context of an Egypt-United States-Israel triangle, in which Cairo is the weakest side of the geometrical figure. Until Egypt’s self-appointed role as broker between Israeli and Palestinian adversaries recently assumed a profile more acceptable to the Americans, Washington had always feared that the relationship between Cairo and the PLO might go against Israeli interests. Despite the fact that Palestinian autonomy was one of the objectives of the peace with Israel negotiated by Jimmy Carter.The fact is that Egypt has never warmed to peace with Israel. It has always tried to camouflage the peace, both through its privileged relation with the Palestinians and through gestures aimed at reducing internal opposition from Nasserites and Islamic fundamentalists, the main anti-Israeli hardliners. Over the years these gestures have been numerous, recurring every time the brief periods of optimism broke down into periods of violence and outrage. In those phases Mubarak has always been ready to launch anti-Israeli signals for local consumption, such as convoking the Arab League in the most difficult moments (as he did after the election of Benjamin Netanyahu in 1996) or recalling the Egyptian ambassador in Tel Aviv (the last time was after the beginning of the Al Aqsa Intifada in 2000). Signals perhaps insufficient for an Egyptian public ever less willing to pardon Israeli policies. But necessary to Mubarak in order to appease anger on the streets and, at the same time, avoiding over-irritating the American ally. The Palestinian conflict has however been only one of the testing-grounds, as well as one of the priorities, in relations between the United States and Egypt. And when we shift our attention from the area of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to that of inter-Arab relations we find that Egypt’s role and function in American strategy change dramatically. This is the context in which Mubarak plays to the full – and without ambiguity – the part of the USA’s most important ally in the region. The most obvious and revealing example is the whole operation undertaken by Mubarak before, during, and after the 1991 Gulf War, which was also the Egyptian president’s opportunity to express his ambivalent strategy towards the United States. A policy which, especially during the twenty years between 1981 and 2001, would give him a significant role to play at the various diplomatic negotiations in which he has participated.
It is at the level of inter-Arab relations, for that matter, that Mubarak has managed to extract as many benefits as possible for his own power at home. From an economic point of view, for example, through the policies followed during the Gulf crisis and war Mubarak succeeded in obtaining – for the Egyptian contingent of 35,000 soldiers in the coalition against Saddam Hussein – recompenses that were fundamental to reinforcing the national economy. The reduction by 50% of Cairo’s international debt, decided by the Paris Club and the USA (50 billion dollars discounted to 25 billion), a new relationship with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Nations boosting the policy of Egyptian emigration in the Arabian peninsular, new investments in Egypt by the Saudis and the Emirates.From a political point of view also, Mubarak succeeded in creating a decisive role for himself, to the point where, just one year after its readmission to the Arab League, Egypt found itself guiding the whole region and even improving its relations with a Syria willing to enter the anti-Iraq coalition. A leader who had seemed colourless when compared to Sadat’s daring flair in the end proved capable – without at that time losing the support of public opinion at home – of supporting Iraq as an anti-Iranian force during the first Gulf War (as originally requested by the Americans) and then, after just three years, supplying the United States with an enlarged coalition as an anti-Iraq force. Reconstructing and maintaining, at the same time, a highly respected status among the Arab nations and obliterating from his passport the image of a country submissive to America’s will. Through his inter-Arab policies Mubarak has also managed to obtain, at least in his first years, and to a reasonable extent, public support at home. Partly because of Egypt recovering its original role as the centre of the Arab League, lost under Sadat. Partly because of being able to combine pro-American policies with his regime’s tolerance of the ever-growing social and religious conservatism in the country. This aspect becomes even clearer if we look at how the sending of 35,000 Egyptian soldiers to Saudi Arabia was rendered acceptable to a public opinion which, on the one hand, was reminded of its resentment towards Saddam Hussein over the question of Egyptian migrant workers in Iraq, and on the other was persuaded to accept the justifications offered for Egypt’s participation in a coalition guided by a non-Muslim nation like the USA and stationed close to Islam’s most sacred sites. The most effective support for Mubarak’s line during the Second Gulf War came from the most popular preacher in the country, Al Sha’rawi, who clarified that prophet Mohammed had also appealed to infidels to defend the holy sites, because “God makes the truth triumph over impiety, even when he uses impiety to do so”.The Muslim Brotherhood’s opposition, after some initial ambiguity, to Egypt’s participation in the anti-Iraq coalition has caused considerable problems for Mubarak’s regime, forcing it after the war to dilute American requests for a regional security agreement and to flatly turn down any hypothesis of stationing American troops in bases on Egyptian soil. The increasing distaste of the population of Egypt for American policies in the Middle East and North Africa has grown still more intense from the mid 1990’s, spurred by the Anglo-American intervention in Iraq in 1998 and by the beginning of the Al Aqsa Intifada in the autumn of 2000. Since the final years of the nineties it has become ever more difficult for Mubarak to distinguish, in the public’s perception, the table of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the table of inter-Arab relations, in order to demonstrate a non-subordinate relationship with Washington. From the moment that these two levels of Egyptian foreign policy have become inseparable, Mubarak has had increasing problems in justifying his alliance with the United States.The overall picture that emerges from these few observations tells us that, when all is said and done, the balance of pros and cons in the relationship between the United States and Egypt has benefited both parties. If, however, we concentrate on the consequences that Cairo’s relation with Washington between 1991 and 2001 has had on the situation inside Egypt, we realise that the price paid by Hosni Mubarak’s regime has been high. The nation that set out to be the champion of Arab moderation, in the sense of a focal point for a solid relationship with the Western world, has turned out to be a nation whose 25 years of alliance with the United States has increased its own internal weakness. Both from an institutional viewpoint, with the emergence of an autocracy, and from a socio-political point of view, with the failure to carry out the democratic reforms requested by, among others, Washington. The Mubarak regime’s internal weakness has also had repercussions on its standing in the Arab world, distinguished at times by the president’s undeniable capacity for mediating between the profound divisions within the Arab League, and at others by his inability, especially in recent years, to exert any influence on American policy in the Middle East. et paf! Peace out, Greg

World Economic Felouk

2006-05-24T06:39:00.000+01:00

Mayooooooooo

2006-05-14T20:40:00.000+01:00

Take a large deep breath...

2006-04-15T10:19:00.000+01:00

In the last weeks, we have worked extensively and it was clearly time for some time off...Disappointed with Sharm el Vegas, we decided to head north to Dahab where the ambiance is known to be much more chilled and relax. The town is crowded with divers and windsurfers which changes radically the atmosphere. Some play cello on the beach, others horseback ride, while we... dived. Diving... something I had always heard of... but never had the opportunity to do. Known in Cairo as party people, it was time to become PADI people! Since we had only 3 days, we agreed with our instructor to race to get the precious license within this short timing meaning wake up 7.00 and intensive diving exercise until 17.00, yeahhh holidays... In the end it was an amazing experience and we all got it! Now I am looking forward to diving again to explore more of the underwater world. The region is tighlty controlled by the military force after the terrible events which took place last summer in Taba heigths and Sharm. Not all of them are focused...It is also time to introduce my beloved team! Once again, i have the pleasure to be working with two lovely ladies, Alexandra aka Alexandria and Winzi aka Scotchy (refering to her love for the scottish liquid...). Our flat has an egyptian touch and overlooks the city being on the 14th floor.Next to being our hangout, it s above all the office where the magic happens. That makes things easy but your job becomes a large part of your life, you enter a mode of living and thinking which increases dramatically your dependency towards woooorrk. It's a never-ending commitment, the line between "the day is over" and "one more thing to do" is rather thin. Egypt surprises us everyday and I hope you feel the power of the pharao's reading my lines... Don't miss next week's post: more on egypt to come right after the break: You'll get to see Alexandria a sif you were there, some party pictures and finally my parent's arrival, wowoooo, exciting in'it? Joyeuses Paques et bonne année a tous, take care and keep posting

Zamalek

2006-03-31T20:06:00.000+01:00

Here we are people! Manhattan Cairo aka Zamalek, an island of "peace" where "everybody' lives because of the location, the standard of living, but above all because everything gets delivered to you in 20 minutes. Egypt can turn easily you into a laaaaazy boy. Pizza+DVD+Beer+laundry+groceries+anyyything without sweating a single drop, isn't that amazing. A good thing is that tennis courts are not that far either... Quentin took me last week end for another tour in the center and to what is called "islamic Cairo". We walked for hours in the neighbourhood's labyrinthus, just wandering where to find something, and i guess we still don't know exactly what this something was, but it got us to discover colorful streets which aren't full of "rambo" tourists who come to cairo dressed as if they were on a hike in the desert. Cairo remained the central city of Egypt throughout the period of British rule and afterwards. The 20th century saw massive growth in the size of the city as peasants left the farmlands in pursuit of work in the factories and commerce of the metropolis. The city was especially burdened by refugees from the various wars with Israel: much of the population of the Sinai peninsula and the cities along the Suez Canal left for Cairo between 1967 and 1978. Today Cairo is Africa's most populous city and the Arab world's cultural centre. THE FIFTH LARGEST CITY IN THE WORLD!Yesterday, we went to a party in the outskirts of Cairo (by outskirts I mean one and a half hour... If you drive that long in Belgium, you automatically leave the country, hehe). They obviously have predicted even more popultation growth since they have "caterpillared" most of the area in order to build "New Cities", one of the is New Cairo.Here when they decide to do big, they do huge. Everything has to be oversized for obvious reasons but also because Egyptians are very ambitious, and think themselves as the region's natural leader, which is a reality. It is written in his eyes...hehe

Where is the sharm?

2006-03-24T14:22:00.000+01:00

Human beings have a strong tendency to spoil places... I guess sharm el sheik is a great example. 25 years after the "touristic goldrush" of the Sinai Peninsula, there not much charm left in sharm. Couple hundred thousand italian, russians, english tourists walk around this resort that looks more like vegas or disneyland than paradise. As usual, it's a question of taste, but I was still highly highly disappointed, snif. In sign of protest I am posting a nightshot pic, which I like very much btw!hehe. Still Sharm is a paradise in itself, and as you all know it gives you the possibility to dive in the clearest water on earth. At the very moment I was writing these words, My father was in Vegas. Having travelled to both places, he posted: "Sharm is no Vegas : I can swear it. That will change when Celine Dion will spend a whole season untertaining 4.000 people or so every day (I mean night) : that's Vegas ! Plus a few other things ...But Vegas does not have the Red Sea with the blue/yellow/green/red/ black/white/... fish that poke your nose when you give them a chance nor the muezzin at 5 in the morning." He has a point there! PADI is still on my to do list and soon I'll post underwater pictures! Since you are all very involved in my private life, I would like to introduce you all to ... Felix, he 's just turned ONE month!!! yeahh, Joyeux Moisiversaire! I already have a playlist prepared on my iTunes, making sure he listens some good music from the very young age on... extremely important! I am also planning to help acquire the domjuan skills that every single man in this family masters to a high level ;)

Keep track!

2006-03-24T14:00:00.000+01:00

Where have you been? Where should you go next? You think you've been everywhere and discovered everything, well this website will prove you wrong... According to this website, I have visited about 15% of the globe, there is still some traveling to be done, huh! But working on it, though...

create your own visited countries map

Take Caire

2006-03-12T21:20:00.000+01:00

Two weeks... that's about the time I have now spent thinking how I was going to describe Cairo to those who actuall read this blog, and I know there is at least one person (won't tell you who though;). There are indeed many ways to do it. According to several sources,someone's vision on this massive gigalopolis changes frequently with time passing by. So, let's gather our thoughts, and start from scratch... Not exactly cause I had the chance to visit Egypt two times in the past, my best "ivorycostian" friend Christian having lived here for four years.
At that time, we were all about leisure and entertainment. This time, it's all about work! My job which, in the end, gives me an amazing opportunity to discover a nation, a region, a culture, as well as what's is happening behind the curtains of power...
We are now set up in a beautiful flat in Zamalek which is Cairo's ile St Louis, a little world on his own. It is definilty quite chic to live here, surrounded by most Embassies and beautiful appartments, we are once more spoiled little kids!
You know how much i like to express my political opinions, and once again, I won't restrain myself because I trully believe in the butterfly effect which has even more meaning in this globalization era. What is happening in Egypt, the strongest and most powerful country in the region is most certainly influencing european and american policies in term of investment, military strategy as well as foreign political decisions. Enough for today and I am already running very late as for the postings, but be sure that I am doing my best to keep up with your expectations!!!!

MAhaaaaaaa salam a tous

Here are my coordinates here in case you wanna give me a ring

Mob: +20109556964

On the Road Again

2006-01-21T14:11:00.001+01:00

It is my pleasure to wish you all a very Happy 2006!!! I don’t know about you , but as far as I am concerned the year couldn’t have had a better beginning: very good friends around, great music, museums and good booze,… what else do you need? More over, I just got out of a well deserved time out, during which I could rest as well as spend moments with my lovely family and take the time to do what I wanted to do. Paradisio.

I know what you are thinking... Where the hell did Greg disappear? Well amigos, a lot of things have happened during the last two months which have somehow changed my professional situation as well as my location. So without getting into too much details, I am happily doing the same job but not with the same people...If my calculations a correct, It has been now 2 full months that I haven't posted anything, and believe it was really heartbreaking. The good news is that I now have many things to write about and some cool pics to share. Moreover, I am now in a very different atmosphere than kazakhstan... From -30° to +30° here I am in cairo, EGYPT. Many of you have been to with granma for a family cruise on the Nile, visiting Assouan, Luxor (j adore), and maybe for the luckiest among you dived in Sharm and cruises through the Sinai.
That's why, my mission which I have already accepted will be to be more original than the usual tourist view (I am everything but a tourist here ;)

Alright, Welcome back to my world and enjoy the pics which describe best the higlights of the past 2 months...

pool!

2005-12-18T15:13:00.000+01:00

This is most probably going to be my last 2005 post, and I find it an excellent opportunity to share my last 2005 moment in Kazakhstan J to be continued…

As mentioned in my previous piece, Nazarbayev is now sure to remain in the office for the next 7 years. Bravo! Still, opinions clash whether he entirely deserves it or not… Here again, various points of view have to be taken into account. The local one first: with a GDP growing around 9% per year, Kazakhstan has nothing to complain about, President Nazarbayev has indeed done a good job by reforming the country economically. Reforms’ inspirations came from the world’s “Economic Best Practice”, where you tend to avoid repeating similar country’s mistakes and adapt their successful policies to your model. Rendez-vous in a couple of years to see whether, all in all, it worked out. On the other hand, the country’s stability has a price, and Kazakhstan, counting many ethnies and influences, needs a strong power. Everybody acknowledges this fact. Therefore, at the cost of freedom of press, which is widely criticized (including by me, as you can easily imagine), despot Nazarbayev rules the world’s 9th largest country as well as the richest in the region… not bad. "Regrettably, despite some efforts which were undertaken to improve the process, the authorities did not exhibit sufficient political will to hold a genuinely good election that is in line with international standards," Bruce George, head of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and coordinator for the short-term election observers, said in a statement. What about someone else, another candidate? Clearly, It seems like the opposition remained divided, and did so on purpose to make it easier for the former president to win. So, was there really any opposition? Was it theatrical?

I finally managed to bother everyone with my lousy mixes in Almaty as well. After Kiev, the “Assorti” club has welcomed me to play my set, which was, once again, an amazing experience! Winter is here, and I can tell you it is nothing comparable to where most of you live… it reached –27° in Astana last week, and –17 in Almaty.Surprisingly enough, one get rather quickly used to it, although I couldn’t help getting sick for a few days. After recovering, Rachel, Matthew and I went clay pigeon shooting near Almaty, which was an immensely relieving moment… I needed to shoot things and thoughts.

We also visited one of the many huge markets around the city, where we desperately searched for xmas presents, not an easy task considering local tastes. What about these extremely elegant women?

Well, Time to go, I'll leave kazakhstan next week to return on January 7th... To be continued!
I wish you all the best for 2006! Take care and have fun!

In the hall of the moutain king

2005-12-04T08:15:00.005+01:00

This post will be devoted to 3 subjects. First, I’ll take you with me in a little promenade around the colourful Zhelion(Green) Market of Almaty as well as the Chimbulak ski and skating resort, 15 minutes away from the city center. Radically different, I’ll explain you how Astana, the newly-born capital, has great strategic and demographic importance. Finally, I’ll say a word about the presidential elections, which are taking place today.

An empty fridge is never a good sign… Too much work, no free time, and non-stop delivery meals… It was time for action! Rachel, Simon and I, decided to hit the market located in the south of the city, next to the Mosque.
Known as the Green Market, this immense Labyrinths-like concrete building offers you anything you can think of. Since we were there for fooooood, and most of you know how important it is for me, we did a first pit-stop at the meat station. Mmmmmh, accurately divided into sections, one will easily find any part of any animal standing on 1, 2, 3 or 4 legs. It’s just a matter of taste in the end, in’it?

A few meters further, sweet fresh honey for your honey honey’s, asian spices and dry fruits.
As Simon wisely explained, the strategy consists of walking around for 1/2 an hour, have some interested looks, touch and weight the product’s quality, but resist to the temptation of buying everything at once… tough task, I can tell! Then, stage 2, the negotiation process can start, in Russian… loads of fun! Jarachooooo! Each of us left the market happy as sheeps, with their head under our arm…hehe

I enjoy my job for many reasons, and one of them is the given opportunity to meet country’s high dignitaries. In the case of Almaty, we have been invited by one of them to discover Chimbulak (the ski resort) and the great skating stadium (the highest in the world).

We then drove 15 minutes uphill, to discover what alamty count as most impressive and powerful, its mountains. I went back this week end with my mate Bertrand. Needless to say that experiencing central asian slopes was as much of an awesome time as it was unexpected when I first arrived… It still needs an extra layer of snow though, which we are expecting very soon!

To keep things clear and not confuse you guys, my team and I live in Almaty, ex-capital of 1.5 million residents. 2 hour-flight away, Astana is being created as the new, shiny capital. President Nazarbayev wants it to display a mix of several influnces, from Roma to New York, en passant par Singapore and Vegas. One wonders whether it is real. Various adjectives would define this “polis”: Sim City, Lunar, Mad max,… no one really knows what it is going to look like at the final stage, since it changes at an amazing speed.

Astana won't let leave you indifferent, but as far as I am concerned it lacks charm, ambiant and spirit. I have an enormous respect for the expats who manage to work and live there... of course, it takes a good oil & gas salary $$$$ to convince someone to remain there!!!!

December 4th 2005 is presidential election day, it also means that there are 99% chance that the great leader Nazarbayev will remain in power for the next 7 years. As I explained alreday, many awkward events have occured, such as banning of the opposition speech time in the press, assassination of former ministers, and repression on demonstartions. Still many people think that Nazarbayev is the best option to manage a country with a transitional economy which shows amazing potential growth. I'll tell you more when the results are published, but there not much suspense...

Finally, let me introduce you all to Zélie, an angel from the stars weighting 3kg. ... New born daughter of Odile, my beloved sister. Welcome to this amazing world, I wish you all the best and as much passion for life as I do! Looking forward to holding you in my arms at Xmas...

Mangez des pommes!

2005-11-20T14:03:00.000+01:00

Well, Well, amigos, I haven’t had a single second to announce you the two-fold great news. Firstly I have been promoted to the rank of Editorial Coordinator! Can you imagine? A promotion! To celebrate this great news, the office has decided to send me to what the world counts as most opposite to Algeria… Kazakhstan. Most of you must have heard about this country through Ali G’s performance as Borat Sajdieyv,

the funniest Kazakhstani reporter ever. (I guess there is only one…) I then left Algeria very rapidly, for a two-day transit via Brussels. In Brussels, needless to say, I just had the time to hug my family and friends, empty a couple of Jupiler with them, and swap my swimsuit against a warm polar jacket.
Thursday morning, I was on a flight to London, where I enjoyed a hangover and my first briefing as Coordinator. London is a place I don’t know at all, and where a couple of my friends live. A new project means a new team! Two lovely ladies now surround me: Sabeena, our project director, from UK with Indian origins, and Rachel, our trainee, from UK as well but with Spanish blood. Both of them have a great sense of humour, and it looks like we will have a great time together. After the French “verlan”, I know get to hear the typical English expressions. “Bollocks”, “OOOOOOh Noooo”, “Riiiiiight”,…

Here I am back on the blogworld. Needless to say that my last post wasn't the greatest one, but it was just to let you know that I was still alive... in case some were still doubting;) MMMMhhh Kazakhstan...
This very ambitious country, #9 on the world's largest country ranking, has seen its economic growth booming to become the most developed country in the Central asian region. Mr Nazarbayev will most certainly be elected to enter its 3rd mandate as the head of state with diversification of the economy as a main objective. Dependence on oil has alarmed the government, therefore they asked for the help of several Harvard economist to draw a startegy which would reduce the risk of suffering the so called "ducth disease". Very young CEO manage most of banks and there seems to be a strong will to 'turn the soviet era page". They permanently underline the fact tha Kazakhstan is doing much better than Russia in terms of Growth. Corruption is still a curse. recently a former head of state has been shot in his house, two bullets in the chest, one in the head. he was a strong opponent to the president... the police does not reject suicide:).

Almaty (the city of apple) is an interesting city which is definitly worth visiting. It has an interesting taste of switzerland, located on the moutains' edge, it still remains a very soviet influenced architecture which adds or doesn't (depending on the taste) to the local charme. This week end, we finally had the time to walk around with our lonely planet, and act as tourists for real.

Thomas and Adrien, my two lovely cousins, came to Almaty 6 months ago while driving the silkroad with their minivan. They got me in touch with Mara who organizes motorbike tour in the surroundings of almaty. What a ride!!! It was one of the nicest landscape I had the chance to see: a lunar vision with frost and myst. Surreal!

I am posting loads of pictures which will give you an idea of where, with whom, and how I live... Are you jealous? hehe. I wish you all the best, take care and above all, have fun!!!!

If you wish to reach me:
Mob:+73007780152
Landline: +73272371664

On tour...

2005-11-02T11:00:00.000+01:00

Enough of Algiers’ traffic jams and Aurassi Hotel! We were given the opportunity to get out of there and finally look around, and we didn’t miss such a wonderful opportunity… First, we walked around the Casbah, which is the old town where the time seems to have stopped. Unfortunately, this labyrinth is collapsing. Since they have installed running water and pipes in most houses, the fragile cement is struggling against humidity.By chance, we asked our way to the owner of the highest house uphill with a beautiful view on the Casbah itself as well as Algiers’ impressive bay. He invited us kindly to visit his jewel.Little backyard, drying laundry and garden on the rooftop, it was just a perfect introduction to this special world in the heart of Algiers. The day after, we have been invited by friends of friends to join them for their visit of Tipaza. One of the oldest “modern” ruins in Africa, dating 12000 years B.C…There, Camus found inspiration to write “les Noces”, and 50 Years later Thibault kisseda stone where his master left a message “Je comprends ici qu'on appelle gloire le droit d aimer sans mesure”. Inspired thibault? Beautiful site, thank you Charlottex2 and Augustino ;) Finally, on Friday we went on a road trip through the Kabylian region.

Beautiful landscape, delicious melon and dirty monkeyzzz… tranquille le marcassin!

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Thoughtfull moment

2005-10-29T17:40:00.000+01:00

The time has come for this blog to host my thoughts and impressions on a culture, which surrounds me every day here in Algeria, namely Islam. To me, Algeria is a very puzzling place because it represents greatly the edge between certain radicalism and a progressism that has emerged after the end of the terror period, in 1997. There are many signs of a relative opening towards a more occidental culture since president Bouteflika, who leads this country with an iron glove, has come into power. The « new » Algerian generation like many developing countries, faces a very trivial choice ahead: Either they pack up and immigrate to neighbouring Spain or France for a « better » future, or remain in Algeria and create a middle class that is desperately lacking. A friend of mine told me how easy it was to literally climb on a boat, bribe a couple of officials and travel to Marseille, join relatives or friends for a Pastis on the Canebière.On the other hand, Algeria experiences a great economic growth thanks to oil & gas production, which helps to improve its infrastructure and standard of living. I can’t wait to see what will happen when tourists will come over and start to fill up the beautiful beaches, walk one of the world’s most beautiful desert and visit the ancient roman ruins. Everyone is « Bienvenue » in Algeria, and Algerian will remind it to you on every occasion. They are truly warm and welcoming people! So what prevents Algeria from being the next Tunisia or Morocco? Islam is a key to the answer. Since September 11th, beards, jelaba’s and veils terrify the world. I was myself surprised to feel a shiver when taking off to Algiers, sitting on the plane next to somebody who corresponded exactly to the terrorist’s stereotype. They say that W.Bush’s administration intend, with the help of Israel which they still fail to recognize the legitimacy, to destroy the Muslim “verbe”, or language. The language is doubtless the strongest link among Muslims. An expression like “Inch Allah” has already been incorporated into vocabulary, because nothing happens unless it is with the help of God. Still and foremost, I feel the power of Islamic belief since I got here, since it is everywhere. TV shows you images of the Mecque, Coran verses are broadcasted and commented, and the Imam sings 5 times a day to remind you that « Allahu Akbar » !Above all, during this period of Ramadan, Islam demonstrates the world as well as Muslims themselves how much the holy book regulates their lives. Society in Algeria, unlike many other Islamic countries, is not differentiated from Religion. The one lies on the other, and they strategically consolidate each other. I had never witnessed the power of Islam, and, trust me on that, you feel extremely alone when it grabs you. The second day after my arrival, a taxi driver had tough words for my confession. At the end of what came close to an attempt to convert me, he asked me a very simple question: “We know a lot of famous people who decided to turn their souls towards Islam: Cat Stevens, Mohammed Ali… Can you name any Muslim who made the choice of becoming Christian?” No answer came to my mind… Immigration, Religion, Politics, Oil & Gas; Algeria gathers all great society’s issues. And I wonder, what should a young Algerian boy feel when he gets to France or Belgium and discovers that girls look more attractive with a miniskirt. Does he feel confused, fooled maybe? My girl colleague, Anne Sophie, has experienced here a true clash feeling men’s eyes in the street making her sense as she would be something dirty, while she really is a beautiful woman, more sophisticated than most, that’s it. As I said, it is puzzling.
My discourse might sound, rather pessimistic, negativist and critical, but once again, I was touched by their true kindness, and afraid by their obsessions. Additionally, I would just like to emphasise the responsibility that we all have to make the effort to understand what is happening, because it is happening, right in front of our eyes and ears.

Inch Allah véritéééé!

2005-10-25T20:07:00.000+01:00

Salem Alikoum everyone, Alikoum Salem,

With a little bit of luck, I shall be able to hold an experience with you… namely, follow a little drop of oil, extracted from the southern alegrian plants of Sonatrach (10th world largest hydrocarbures holding), through out the process, all the way to Algiers. Then I will watch the 50 000 barrel-tanker gracefully leave the bay carrying it to your tank station where ever you are in Europe. And all this while sitting on my terrasse. I can prove it!

Before that, I have to solve a couple of issues. Firstly, Food. Algerian chef might cook the best Tajin, the most delicious Couscous, the crustiest Mechoui, it is useless during Ramadan. This is going to sound very silly, and I take it on me 100%, but “not being muslim in a muslim country ain’t easy”… Indeed, even though time difference is only one hour from Brussels, adaptation is a rather tough mission. As an example, Week end’s start on Thursday (sounds easy but try it on…) then, they break the Ramadan at 18h so they close everything at 16h to make sure they will be on time for their only daily meal. This is only a matter of logistics, after all. In 7 days this will be over, and there will be finally room for celebrations everywhere... Algerians might be a little tensed because of muslim diet, they are still extremely friendly! most of them welcome you with a colgate smile and you become their frere in a sec...sisisis la vééééritéééé! They try to imitate the cow... many people have tried, few have succeded;) Finally, let me introduce you to Thibault. My new coordinator. Journalist, writer and great tennis player. Therefore, he spends a lot of time inhaling inspiration from the Arabic world, to, hopefully, give birth to his second piece. On the other hand, Anne Sophie remains my mentor but as a director now. It's great to work together again, as we already know and get to know each other better every day!

Last thing before wishing you to enjoy a great pinte of beer that i will hardly find over here... Some great friends of mine have decided to enter the blog world, so pay them a little visit: Pipovitch aka krakovitch aka philippe @ http://pipovitch.blogspot.com !!!! Adrien Mahy aka le plongeur aka mr tequila : http://adrienmahy.blogspot.com !!!! Scott Drummond aka scotland aka Mr Mixism : http://ogblogmagog.blogspot.com !!!! Suzy Voulzy aka Loduch aka mademoiselle chante le blues : http://suzyvoulzy.blogspot.com !!! Andreas do Brazil aka bodybuilder aka capete con cafe : http://andreasemkiyv.blogspot.com... A très bientot, inch allah!

2 Weeks Standby

2005-10-14T17:11:00.000+01:00

Connected,
Back home, I finally have the time to think about my first experience and miss the amazing moments I went through in Ukraine. After All, Indian summer's here, in Brussels, and it is sooo good to see my family and most of my friends again. So that you know, Alex left to Egypt for a wonderful project...lucky boy! And AnneSo and I continue the adventure together! Next stop Algeria (Normally;). As I did in Ukraine, I am going there aprehensionless, and very eager to discover what will most probably be on the other extreme of the cultural line: No more Vodka "to the (w)horses", no more mini skirts in the streets and most probably no food for the next 2 weeks... Ramadan oblige. Still, I am ready to peregrine in the desert, and open to a world that I know very little about. Interesting times ahead :)

Besides, I enjoyed being in brussels again, but also went to Paris to attend the FIAC (international contemporary art Fair of Paris) which was full of people and pretty much the same as you could find @ ArtBrussels... nothing very new but still a magic creativity hub. We also wondered in the city of love, and I couldn't advise you more to visit the exhibition "Big Bang" in Beaubourg, centre Georges Pompidou: All pieces of arts from very different periods and artists classified on a theme basis. Fantatstic idea! The following pictures are a courtesy from Arno des Cressons, gifted photographer en devenir whose work I admire greatly...

I have had very enthousiastic feedbacks about my blog, and that pleases me a lot! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it... Morover, the next pics will be mine since i invested in a new toy, hehe.

DaSvidania Ukraine...

2005-10-05T08:31:00.000+01:00

Goeie Morgen Everyone,

First of all I would like to apologize for my Lazyness... Since Anne Sophie and Alex have left last week end (snif!) I have had to deal with more things than expected. Anywayz, I am on the verge of leaving and that gives me a mixed feeling of excitment and sadness. Heading somewhere else with the impression that I haven't seen what I should have, "real Ukraine", will certainly be a excellent reason to come back to this country en devenir.
But Ukraine also rimes with various human styles. In a little more than a month I have met stuburn civil servants, smart business men, creative artists, charming women, great friends, total morons and humping dogs. Pick your category, mates! It was trully a pleasure to meet you all and I hope our path will cross again very soon... Kazantip for example...;) We could all dress as rockets? Guess who is in the Rocket?
As far as activities are concerned...Kiev had still a lot to offer, so I took as much as I could! Next to my ritual Dj Session @ Pret-à-Café, we went to the Opera, to watch la Traviata, which ended up not being such a great experience after all... Bad Sound, Worse Acting, and the Worst Voice, so I didn't make it further than the 2nd act. Then came the time to "farwell" party together! Diner @ Amy & Favio's who il cocinare piu meliore de Kievi!!! We then had a great party @ Orangeria where I could show some more dj skills in front of ... 10 people! Apparently you don't compete with R&B in this country ;((((( So I guess some of you are interested in my next destination.... WelL I will soon be aBle to tell You All more about it, so wait the next post! hint: It's a very polite place??? heu heu

Ukrainian History...thank you Amy!

2005-10-04T12:16:00.000+01:00

A bit of history – if you’re interested!

Among the Slavs' earliest settlements was that of the name of Kyiv along the Dnipro River. The state known as Kyivan Rus-Ukraine arose in late 9th century. The Kyivan Rus-Ukraine reached its zenith in the 10th and 11th centuries under the rulers Volodymyr I (Volodymyr the Great) and his son Yaroslav I (Yaroslav the Wise). Volodymyr adopted Christianity as the official religion of his realm in AD 988. Christianity gave the eastern Slavic peoples their first written language, called Church Slavonic and Kyiv became eastern Europe's chief political and cultural centre. At this time Moscow was a small village in one of the northern principalities of Kyivan Rus, which later developed into Russian Empire. The 12th and 13th centuries saw the decline of Kyiv owing to internal dissension, struggles with the invading nomads. The Mongol conquest in the mid-13th century decisively ended Kyivan power, but a Ukrainian principality in western Ukraine that had emerged about 1200 continued into the 14th century.

In the 14th century Lithuania annexed most Ukrainian lands except for the Galician principality, which passed to the kingdom of Poland; and in the meantime southern Ukraine remained under the control of the Tartars. After the Union of Lublin in 1569, rule over Ukraine was transferred from Lithuania to Poland. Religious dissent and social strife between the Ukrainians and their Polish overlords were augmented by the Zaporozhian Cossacks, who were in fact a class of free warriors. From their stronghold along the lower Dnipro River, the Cossacks in 1648, led by their Hetman (military leader) Bohdan Khmelnytsky, rose against the Poles and formed a semi-independent, if short-lived, state. Khmelnytsky's need for help against the Poles led to an agreement with the Muscovite tsar in 1654.

In the late 18th-century the Russian Empire obtained the Ukrainian lands west of the Dnipro, except for Galicia, which went to Austria. A Ukrainian nationalist movement developed in the 19th century, but in Russian-held Ukraine the movement faced political repression and restrictions against the Ukrainian language. After the Russian Revolution of February 1917, Ukrainian and Bolshevik forces struggled for control of Ukraine until 1921, when the Soviet government won.

Beginning in the 1930s, the Soviet government under Joseph Stalin carried out by brutal force a policy of rapid industrialization and collectivization of agriculture in Ukraine. This policy met with peasant resistance, which in turn prompted the confiscation of grain from Ukrainian farmers by Soviet authorities, with the result that a famine in the early 1930s took an estimated five million lives.

Nazi Germany's attack on the Soviet Union (1941) brought devastation to Ukraine and enormous suffering to its population. A major reconstruction effort after the defeat of the Nazis restored the country's economy to its pre-war level in a short time.

After the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev introduced the reforms in the late 1980s, Ukrainian nationalist feelings gradually awoke, leading the newly democratized Ukrainian parliament to declare the republic's sovereignty in 1991.

Kiev or not to Kyiv

2005-09-13T15:27:00.000+01:00

Party @ Pret à Café, Sept 9, 2005/Pomka in Action!!!!

To illustrate and put words on the pictures, Here are the comments of Amy, a lady friend who took the time to share her impressions on the country..."Ukraine has long been a crossroads between Europe, Arabia and the Orient, and the modern Ukrainian Rus have acquired a strong admixture of Asiatic and Arabic blood: giving them an average height, slender build and fair complexion.
Strictly speaking, the popular-image of beefy Slavic people are found mostly in western Ukraine (bordering on Poland, Hungary and the Slovak states) and in the north and northeast adjacent to Russia. For over a century, the official language was Russian. Since independence, Ukrainian is being promoted as the state language although Russian is still the most widespread, in the east, especially in the major cities. In villages people speak both Russian and Ukrainian. As a rule of thumb, you can manage by speaking Russian, although you may receive a bit of resistance from public officials who are being pressed to use Ukrainian. Ukrainians are passionately nationalistic- having only recently been freed from two centuries of Russian domination. English is commonly taught in public schools and is becoming an informal second language amongst the young, but still it appears that English is either spoken very, very well - or not at all. A typical city in Ukraine is a study of contrasts. You will find elements of the pre-Soviet era, with the ornate domed architecture of churches and public buildings. Much of this, however, was leveled during the Great Patriotic War and replaced with drab Soviet factories, public structures and workers flats (as they refer to apartments)."
Ahhh the main symbol, the friendship arche between Russia and Ukraine, exhausting...!

Happy Birthday Ukraine! Almost a year ago, hundred of thousands were camping and protesting here for change which is hardly happening. Now they can celebrate independance day with the idea that something has been accomplished...

Andreevskiy church on top of the street bearing the same name... Very nice neighborhood with a jewish tradition.

(courtesy pics Fabio@Global)

Mikhaylovsky Monastery

from an island to another, smells like the end of summer...(what a poet!)

When Alex and his best friend Myroslav are going to work out their amazing muscles together, it's for reallll! This gym has unbelievable stations, made with old iron bar, traktor engines,... that's what I call Recyclage!

Lyviva la Revolucion!!!!

2005-09-07T15:57:00.000+01:00

Dobre Den a tous,

Hai Hai caramaba, la revolucion otra vez! Indeed, since this very morning nobody knows whether President Yushenko has a real plan after his government dismissal or whether it was just a reaction against several corruption allegations accusing his entourage. In any case, this shows how fragile this "coalition" was and the desperate need for Ukraine to form an strong and transparent government backed up by an active parlement. One could expect Former Prime Minister Timoshenko to backfire very soon...revenge is a cold dish!!! As far as my team is concerned this could jeopardize much of what we have been doing here, on the editorial side as well as the advert's...we watch the news carefully and wait for postive signs. If the office decides so, I might as well stay longer... hehe!

Still, I am not here to talk about politics, but rather about...ME! of course ;) I had my first opportunity to leave Kiev last week end. We (Anne-Sophie, Alex, Marte and I) jumped on a train friday to Lyviv, "the florence of the east", which is basically Ukraine's main "western" city. It's counts a little above 600 000 people, almost as many churches (One of them had a sign saying "please close the door! let's save a bit of wormth with god and among each other...Word!) The city reminded me Salamanca... Ukrainian style of course. People, as opposed to Kiev speek mostly ukrainian, and more english, since they are closer to the EU...Poland, of course! Sunday was dedicated to a walk among the 400,000 tumbs of the Lychakivsky Cemetery (local "Pere Lachaise").

The revered Poet and national hero Ivan Franko (not to confuse with the other one...) is buried there, along with dozens of other famous Ukrainian and Poles. Before catching the train, we had the honour to attend a free concert of the national Lori/Mylene Farmer/Britney Spears... Very charming, playbacking and Ukrainian!

Wednesday night was football night, so we went to the stadium to see one of the most boring and aweful game I had the misluck to watch!!! Turkey won 1-0. Since they are already qualified, teh Ukrainian team had brought only their worst players. Schevchenko didn't even fly from Italy... Very Disappointing! But luckily the Duracell Rabbit was their to make us laugh our asses!

Plus we found refugee in a sweet club afterwards to confort ourselves...hehe...

As you know I am very amateur dj, but I love it! So tell eveybody... Tomorrow it's Dj Gregor from USA....heu, NO! (those dumbass got it wrong...Belgium!!!!) @ Pret à Café, Andreevskiy, 10a, Kiev, pour vous mesdames, pour vous messieurs mais surtout pour vous mesdames!

Sur ce, Take care, enjoy and have fun above all!!! En direct live depuis Kiev, a vous les studios... G.
TO reach me MZZZZN or Skype : doulter@hotmail.com/ +380974713135. Comments are welcome!!!

1 Week more or less

2005-08-28T21:57:00.000+01:00

Hello Hello, ça fait un baille!

Voila on y est... premier point de la situation! It's been now a week that I am trying to become a "Kievois" and it's been a real delightment until now. In a country that has a sad past and a bright future, the whole thing is a true paradox... Kids playing on a heavy sovietic tank in front of the Rodina Mat (Monument celebrating the russo-ukrainian everlasting friendship), which in turn stands above the museum dedicated to patriotic suffering...

Please, Do Believe signs asking you to watch your feet when you step out of the escalator... Gives a little grungy style!

Relaxing time @ the beach. Fashion Tv which hangs on every restaurants and bars' walls. I guess it is a brainwashing strategy, and it obviously works...;) Your are Fashion Tv! As Adam Freeland (great DJ btw!) properly said "You are free to do as we tell you, We want your Soul." And ultimately, My best friend here, j ai nommé ma playboy mansion....trrrr trrrr trrr: The Sauna!!!!It seems to be more important here to have a sauna @ home than a fridge...

And finally, let me introduce you to my team: Ladies first, Anne Sophie, charming and bright blonde venitienne. Alexander or Sacha here, funky and sensitive reporter. The rest lies in the relationship we created through or worky-party-friendly living experience, which is not very different from Maastricht with da boys. I basically joined a small and functional team that has set up an actual office and company within 3.5 months. We try to adopt a rythm that maximizes our quality of working and our time of leisure! And leisure there is!

That 's it for tonight Girls and Boys! Big up to my family that i love very much;) Don't forget to visit "Out of Brussels" to follow Paoluxch em Do Australia, Ced au Nigeria, TonyTawain and many others... If you wanna reach me MZZZZN or Skype, +380974713135! Comments are welcome...

The Sky is Clear

2005-08-19T16:34:00.000+01:00

After an unforgettable farewell diner in my garden, I finally took off Thursday morning @ sunrise from Zaventem, via Frankfurt, to Kiev. Both my Team-mates (Anne Sophie & Alex) came to pick me up @ the airport where I could have an aperçu of what Ukrainian Bureaucracy is about… Stamps!
My job now is essentially to learn, listen and watch with the help of Patricia (former trainee here who will leave to Indonesia tomorrow) until Monday when everything starts for me. I’ll keep you posted… Peace Out

Enfin la consecration...

2005-08-13T16:27:00.000+01:00

Aahh Sacré Bush!

2005-08-12T17:14:00.000+01:00

Cliquez sur le lien et decouvrez a quel point il est fort...;)

First Stop: Ukraine

2005-08-11T18:37:00.000+01:00

Pays Orange, dirigé par un president empoisonné, plein de vodka et de jolies filles, l'Ukraine m'ouvre ses bras... J essayerai de ne pas la decevoir!

So Long

Genève Juin 2005

2005-08-11T01:42:00.000+01:00

Au bord dul, un petit bains des pakis à aaaâa Jnêeêêvvv

St Pieters Mars 2005

2005-08-11T01:39:00.000+01:00

J'ai toujours pas pigé où il était parti en voyage de noce...????

La Vie est Dour

2005-08-11T01:33:00.000+01:00

Une première a Dour qui m a vraiment bluffé... Ambiance champêtre et détendue, sans negliger la qualité!!!

Don't Forget Suzy Voulzy...

2005-08-10T17:14:00.000+01:00

Viva El Sonar!!!

2005-07-01T16:02:00.000+01:00