So, you like Fairy tell of New York?

It's blasting from everywhere this holiday season. Enough is enough- I like Pogues, but at the moment I'm not that much into Christmas. Here's alternative:

Is it time yet

Just as the whole world around me is going crazy about Christmas holidays I got a bit fed up with the whole concept. It's not the new thing- just as Christmas decorations are being put out earlier every year, the sooner one looses this special festive feeling. It's basicaly the question of what Christmas holidays have come to.

Everybody's poisoned with buying more and more gifts. And everyone (at least in Slovenia) is expected to plan things to do on New Years Eve. Like life'd depend on how you spend the last day of old year and first day of new year. People are making unrealistic decisions about changing their lives, and when they broke those very decisions few weeks later they think that next year's gonna be different.
It's all shite if you ask me. Being there for people is more important than getting them gifts. And if you're sleepy on New Years Eve- go to sleep, you might as well do something good for yourselves and recharge batteries. And don't make any New Years resolutions. At least not to ambitious and not in public. ;-)

Just to get into Christmas spirit

I'm abit ashamed to admit I'm a brand new user of Windows Vista OS. Blush, blush. Couldn't help it- it came with the computer. So, since I've got quite some time while I wait for Vista to decide to finally install and run programs I chose- here's something to entertain me and get me into mood for C holidays. ;-)

St. James Infirmary

One of my favorite blues songs. I find Hans Theessink's version a bit better, but the version I found on youtube has very poor quality of sound and video. Feeling a bit bluesy today...

Let it snow...

This weekend brought first snow blanket of the season to us. There were few snow-flakes on several occasions before that, but only in a really small dose. And this time we got a fair share of that. True- it won't last for a long time- first snow of the season rarely does, but it's still really beautiful outside. First sign of mother nature taking a well deserved rest for next 3 months... Enjoy it people- I know I am. Bon Hiver!!!

Starčevačka tamburica 2007

For second year in a row our tamburica group attended Starčevačka tamburica festival in little town of Starčevo in Serbia. The festival itself took place on the 3rd November- on Saturday. This year we decided to do some more sightseeing of Belgrade, so we departed Vinica in early hours of Friday. By the time we arrived in Belgrade it was already late morning.
Our guide did a great job in showing us most interesting sights in Belgrade. We only had one afternoon, so the tour was short, but we still managed to see Tito's mausoleum, Marakana stadium (and next to it house of Svetlana Ražnjatovič), the temple of St.Sava and Belgrade fort with Kalemegdan. In the evening we took a stroll in center of Belgrade, where we rounded the day with sampling of Serbian cuisine in a joint on Skadarlija street. Mouth watering experience. ;-)

Paying respect to el presidente

Confluence of Sava and Danube rivers

Most of Saturday we got ready for the festival- recovering from previous night, practising, and doing the sound check. The festival itself was even better than last year- great tamburica bands (from Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Slovenia, Romania, and Hungary) and great players. I was particularly impressed by two prim players of bands from Osijek and Hungary. The first prize and prize of the public went to "Vojvođanski tamburaši" band from Novi Sad. I'm glad to say we performed even better than last year- the public was especially moved by the song "Ko te ima taj te nema", which they co-sang with Gašper. Altogether great-night! After festival all bands went to dinner, after which Kumanovski tamburaši and later ourselves provided entertaining.
What to say for the end? Damn I wanna go back. :-) The time's ticking slower back there. And with such a great entertainment and kind people who wouldn't want to come back...

Viniški tamburaši at the festival

Wedding - English style

As such things happen- I'm again a bit late. It's been almost 3 weeks since Natalija & Dan's wedding, and I promised I'd write something about it two weeks ago. Well, here it is. Better late than never I always say. ;-)
Let me start by saying I don't generally like weddings. Saying "I do" in front of a minister and huge crowd of people- half of which you don't even know, and signing a paper doesn't make relationship any stronger. If relationship is bound to fail it is going to fail anyway. And if it is bound to last it's gonna last. I always perceived wedding as a show and big party for relatives. Sure- if you're traditionalist and you like such things it's OK. If not, and you're doing it just to make parents happy- don't do it. It's not the end of the world, and nobody's going to die if it doesn't happen. ;-)
Natalija & Dan's wedding was event I really enjoyed though. One was able to see, these two were having fun, they invited close friends and family and took great care in organizing it. And they really care about each other. There was a protocol as it was still a wedding, but everything went so smooth and without unnecessary stress and anxiety. Like a really close ceremony and dinner party among friends. I even loved church ceremony- it was short, and for the types of weddings I'm familiar with- really unorthodox- among prayers and hymns English translation of Slovene love song and Apache wedding wows were read. Even priest helped by chasing any possible stress with making funny faces. ;-)
The reception afterwards was also memorable- great speeches, loads of emotions, great band, and afterwards great party. It was really easy to fit in, and catch up with people you haven't seen a long time, and meet new people.
What I didn't like was the closing time. ;-) At midnight music stopped& we had to leave. Back home the party would last till early morning and even a bit longer. You can't have everything though. As our flight was due in the morning I was able to catch at least some sleep, although we did some extra drinking at the hotel.
What else to say at the end but - I wish a long and happy marriage to Natalija and Dan.

London baby!!! (a.k.a. revisiting scene of the crime)

This autumn is very fruitful. Flight-wise, and doing-something-interesting-wise. ;-) The latest journey was even more meaningful- Mojca and I were about to attend wedding of our friends Natalija and Daniel...

Official member of the UK tourist board

We decided we'd come to England a bit sooner- to do some sightseeing. I was in England couple of times before (including one time with a blog entry), but London is just such a big city, you could easily spend weeks doing something new and interesting every day. I mean- just a short stroll around the city and you're bound to see plaques commemorating famous people and events on virtually every second house...

Yes. It IS 11:30 AM ;-)

We flew from Maribor airport to Stansted on Ryanair. Maribor airport is something completely different (if I may borrow punch line from Monty Python). I mean- although I do think small is charming, the terminal building desperately needs to be rebuilt. If there wouldn't be newer computers at the check-in you'd have a complete feeling you fell through a time warp back to late 1970s. ;-) Hopefully next year should bring good things to this small airport. It'd be a good start if they'd manage to upgrade their web page from "in construction" mode after 6 months. ;-)
Me and Mojca stayed at the European hotel near Kings cross tube station. The "hotel" part should not be taken literally though. The general feeling is of a hostel without dorm rooms. And taken from the size of their toilets and showers it'd seem they do business mostly with exchange students from 3rd world starvation-struck countries ;-) The rooms were rather clean though. ;-)
Anyways- we didn't come to London to sleep, so that wasn't to bad. Based on pictures, you can see we had good time. Did the usual sightseeing. Was rather impressed with London Eye.
More on the rest of the voyage and wedding next time...

Bitter tasting at its best

One very touristy picture taken from London Eye with Mojca and Monika and Big Ben

Great views even on cloudy day...

Millenium bridge & St. Paul cathedral. Its galleries closed on Sunday. :-(

Dve kitari / Two guitars

The following video is performed by Slovenian singer Vlado Kreslin and tamburica band Sukar. The music is from Kreslin album "Muzika", which in my opinion is one of the best albums of ethno music there is. Who else but Vlado would be brave enough to mix some authentic music performed on zithern from Alpine Slovenia, with sevdalinkas from Bosnia, Mediteranean sounds from Istria, Roma music from Russia and Romania (performed on tamburicas), his slow (Panonia rhythms) from Prekmurje and deep south blues co-performed by one of the best blues performers of Europe- Hans Theessink. Not to mention that he's actually singing in all of those tracks. Hope you enjoy this video...

Flying...here and there

Recently I was rather blessed with air travel. And things are looking good ahead. And although flying today is far cry from the glorious days of aviation, it's still this special feeling of traveling the way birds do. Well they don't use planes, but I guess you know what I mean. ;-)
Anyways, for all of us who think a bit of air turbulence sounds like fun, here's a video of plane landing in crosswind. Successfully of course. ;-)

And here's a parody video of renaming the Ljubljana airport to Jože Pučnik airport. Now- all of you who can't speak any Slavic language say that loud: "Jože Pučnik airport". ;-) Our government is really smart, so I just can't wait for next elections when they'll be able to put all this intelligence to work. Hopefully somewhere far from levers of power. :-)

I smell something... funny... ;-)

After almost a month of non-blogging behavior I only can say- I'm back!!! It was a heck of a month- project at work was pushing us all to the limits, working more than it's healthy. Jesus, I almost turned out to be such workoholic as Robi (used to be). ;-)
Anyway, last week we successfully overcame the last major obstacles, and now I'm back to my normal working hours. And I hope normal blogging.
Anyways- at the start of this week I attended SDC developer conference in Arnhem, Netherlands. It was great IT event, with lectures about .NET technologies and DotNetNuke project. Most interesting subjects, and I must say great lecturers.
Since conference finished on Tuesday evening, and my return flight was only on Wednesday evening that gave me chance to do some traveling. And I did my best for the day- this was my first time in Amsterdam, and hopefully not the last. What impressed me (beside the beauty of the city) was it's cosmopolitan nature, and liberal views of it's citizens. Hopefully I'll be back soon. In the meanwhile- here are some pictures...

Coffee shops... Dutch way. ;-)

Canals of Amsterdam...

Schiphol getting crowded

Summer's about to end....

Or should I say what summer? :-/

That's more ...

... like what I meant by strange yellow sky in my last post. Still doesn't do it justice though. Another crazy summer(ish) day... Nuts I tell you.

The spectral wonders...

On Tuesday evening, just before sunset Ljubljana got its fair share of weather related phenomena. At dusk, as we were heading home the thunder storm that lashed the city for some 2 hours passed over the city. It's clouds were crossing almost in complete straight line- hard rain on one side and clear skies on the other. Because of the rain and the sunset the skies were colored in this strange dark-yellowish glow. In fact the horizon of rainy sky was just of the right luminescence so that rainbow that appeared had the secondary bow visible. And on the clear side of sky few clouds that were there were colored red because of the sunset. The remaining of this side was this cool gradient of dark-blue to red color. At that stage I didn't have my camera with me, so all I can show here is the picture of the western sky I took as we got into apartment. Not as spectacular, but still beautiful, right?

Polish weekend

You might think (based on this and my previous post) that I travel a lot. The truth is I don't travel even near as much as I'd won't. Hope to improve that. So much to see, and so little time and €€€. :-(
Back to Warsaw weekend. Bought this promotion ticket for Adria Airways flight to Warsaw. Could you believe the promotion was that if you've bought anything in supermarket chain InterSpar, you could have purchased ticket for 100 € for various European destinations. Sweet, hey. ;-)
Why Warsaw? Well, why not? It's somewhere I wasn't before, not to expensive, rich culture, and (most important) not to near to home.
So, Vanja, Jernej and me decided to go on a 6 day break to Warsaw. And just to make things more interesting, we decided to visit Torun (UNESCO heritage site & birthplace of Nikolaus Copernicus) and Olsztyn (where couple of Polish friends Vanja studied with in Bayreuth live at the moment) by train.
I'm not going to write whole travelogue. But to make things short(er)- we had great weather, met some really nice and cool people (thank you Ana and Mateusz & this cool singer girl whose name I can't spell). If I had to rate this trip it would be just next to the best ones I took. Warsaw was great- from old statues, monuments, old city, hostel, all the way to jazz club & bars and restaurants we visited. Torun with its old gothic buildings has a great atmosphere and one of the best kept tourist secrets. What made Olsztyn so memorable were Ana & Mateusz, who showed us great hospitality and fun things to do in their city.
Dziękuję again!!!

Monument to unknown soldier

Decoration at the bar in hostel

Vanja, in our hostel "New Mexico" room after party night in Warsaw, and before 2-hour long phylosophical discussion about nature and religion and nature of religion :-)

Palace of culture and knowledge, Soviet gift to Warsaw

Palace on water, Warsaw

Lake near Olsztyn

Jernej, Ana, Mateusz, and Vanja at beer garden

After-party at And and Mateusz's flat

Testing the bed

View from train on the way back to Warsaw- FLAT!!!

Weekend in Bratislava & Brno

A week ago Alenka, Gorazd and me had a great extended weekend in Bratislava, Slovakia. Went there by train (which reminded me how I don't like long journeys by train). But apart from that- it was surprisingly good relief from every day fuss at work. Brings you into perspective. Anyway- went there on Friday, came back on Monday. On Sunday we took a short train trip to Brno, Czech republic. I was in Slovakia twice before, but wasn't in Czech republic before-hand. My impressions all-in-all were great. As with most East-European cities, the suburbs are made-up of this shabby Communist-era living blocks. But old city centre is great- full of old buildings, churches and things to do. I think I will definitively come back.

The weekend (as such things go) ended to soon. But I definitively decided I should do more of this city breaks. We often don't realize how privileged we are living few hours from so many capitals and historic cities...

1st night, Slovak pub- weathering thunder storm- IMHO roof needs some repairing ;-)

1st night, somewhere near Danube; the end result of the storm

Saturday- drinking a beer at 10:30 in the morning? Why yes, and I LOVED it. ;-)

Saturday, vista of Bratislava- Petržalka with Novy most & Danube

Hiding from journalists... ;-)

Best legs of Bratislava 2007- get your own pick

Dragon in athrium of Brno city hall

Eddie Cochran: Summertime blues

The basic proof that rock music is art, is that rock musicians too get full credit of their work only after they die. And if they die young, like Buddy Holly or Eddie Cochran the tragedy only brings them more fame (although it really doesn't help afterwards, does it? :-). I intentionally didn't write more names of musicians who died later (because of drug overdose / their own vomit,...), just because in my opinion these two are pioneers of this music, and their death really set example of how things would go after them.

Damn right,

something is new... ;-) More about that, the memories, and changes whatever they bring in one of the post to follow...

MMS (or how & why not)

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts couple of weeks ago we (Viniški tamburaši) were recording song to compete at Melodije morja in Sonca festival (MMS from now on). Music and lyrics were written by Jernej.
Now the deadline for sending entries was Friday, a week ago. And one week later festival commitee was in session to choose the festival participants. And day after that- last Saturday we got first hint by one of the nation's tabloids Direkt (!!!), that song we recorded was not chosen for the festival. I'd be normally OK with that- we are not pop group, Jernej is not professional musician, and the singer- Gašper is only 16. But what upsets me is the fact, that the song nonetheless (even by opinion of some notable musicians who heard it) is by far better, than most of the entries that competed at the festival for last few years. And if you consider the fact that one particular author (of lyrics & music), who has quite some influence over members of entry commitee (let me not be to specific) has 8 (eight!!!) songs on the festival. MMS used to be main and best song festival in Slovenia, but backstage games just transformed it into shadow of what is used to be. Shame really.

Viniški tamburaši performing at internation tamburica festival in Dragatuš

Now the good news is that we were still early enough to enter etno festival Kostel. It's still gonna be on TV, the competence of festival commitee is still unshaken, and I'm sure we'll be good at it. Namely we are already chosen for it. :-) So- sometimes something good comes out of the things that don't start as such...

4 seasons - (late) spring

I promised I'd take pictures of path by Kolpa river (Radenci - Damelj) in all 4 seasons. Autumn turned out great. Winter was kindof shitty, cause of shortage of snow. And it seems I waited almost a bit to long for spring pictures. In only few days, geographical summer will begin.

And just to confirm that, today I took first swim in the river. As with all things, first things (even in year) you tend to remember, and this occasion is no different. Water was really good, with 23 C just the right temperature, although if I could choose a bit cooler water wouldn't hurt. But the good thing was, that there were almost no other swimmers, so I was left with my thoughts and smell of fresh cut hay and field flower fragrances... Absolutely per-fect. It's a bit shame, that next few days are going to bring cooler weather with rain, but that's how things go. It's only May, and this spring swim was just a sample of what's in store this summer. Like a first stolen kiss...

2 blog or 2 blog

Neverland Times was officially on blogging vacation for last week. Nothing special- I was just so busy at work & involved with our tamburica group I just didn't find time to write anything. And no, I didn't join Hare Krishna. :-) As for good news- the weather is fine, it's warm, sunny, perfect time for barbecues, and basking in the sun. Last thursday our tamburica group was recording a song which (if it's going to be picked) will be competing on festival Melodije morja in sonca in Portorož (link Slovene language only). The song was written by Jernej Mihelič, and is sung by his brother, Gašper. It's a nice ballad, called "Spomin na Julijski večer" ("Memories of July night"... or something similar).
Anyway- keep you fingers crossed we'll be chosen for main festival!!!

p.s. Posts to follow more often...

The one with the deep thoughts....

Due to the late hour and lack of will from the side of the author of this blog this post is officially postponed to a later date. However, since I don't want any reader of this blog to end up wondering what the f*** is he (the author that is) talking about, I just want to point out that this blog entry should be about wondering if something that never happened should be considered as a missed oportunity, or an event happening in paralell universe, or nothing at all. And when does something that happened between (let's say) two people- which at some point one of those two chose to forget- stop being actual fact, but a made-up fantasy of the other one. In the end, to the outside world- we are what people around us decide we are, n'est pas?

May holidays

This year has to be the best year considering public holidays in Slovenia- they all come on week days (Monday - Friday). Which basically means a lot more of free time. For example- the Day of fight against occupation (27th April) came on Friday, Day of work (1st & 2nd May) came on Tuesday and Wednesday. And if you could take a day off on Monday you got to be home for 6 days.
I didn't take full advantage of it though. I mostly lazied around this time- sleeping late, going to pub for couple beers and stuff like that. Completely enjoyed it though. On Friday we (people from our folklore group) did the "Watermill path"- walking path from Damelj to Vinica (it's similar, but a bit further down the river as a path I walked in November) by Kolpa. And in the evening we completed it with celebrating golden prize on national tamburica competition- we played tamburicas at local pub, and emptied some 5 beer steins. Well, it doesn't sound much considering we were a group of 12, but considering half of people there were women, and each stein holds 6,5 liters I think we might call it extraordinary. ;-)
Anyway, the day I enjoyed a lot was Tuesday. Together with my nephew and niece we went walking down the river from Vinica- all the way to Dejani (Balkovci). It was a glorious day- here are some pictures, so judge by yourself...

Dam in Zilje

Dam in Grduni

View from bellow

Vista as we came out of the canyon

Smithwicks

First time I travelled to Ireland, in 1997, at least at first I didn't acquire a taste for Guinness. As I was one of those people who drank exclusively lagers before, it had a taste I've had to get accustomed to. For a first time stout drinker the pint tastes really bitter, and (even stranger) flat. And every lager drinker would tell you flat is bad. :-) But anyway- on that trip I got a chance to browse through lager and ale beers you can get in Ireland. There were many foreign brands brewed under licence- like Carlsberg, or (American) Budweiser. Ireland has only one major lager brand- Harp brewed by Guinness. It was so/so, but the true discovery of that trip was wonderfull world of Irish ales. The beer I got REALLY fond of was Smithwicks, which is brewed in Kilkenny. It has a great taste, and I'd recommend it to anyone travelling to Ireland (who wants to taste something else but Guinness).
Now the bad thing is, it isn't exported to Slovenia. As aren't many other things, but what we get is an Irish ale called Kilkenny. Which isn't that bad actually- it is a bit smoother, and has creamier head- like Guinness.
Anyway- if you go to Ireland- try it, you won't be sorry. Even if you acquire a taste for Guinness at some stage. As I did. :-)

Just the update...

Update: video from competition

We had a national tamburica competition this saturday (link in Slovene). The good news is we were quite good. :-) Based on percentage of points each band / orchestra received from 3 judges you could get gold / silver / bronze / nothing. I'm glad to say we were one of only three bands / orchestras which got gold. Based on points we were third, but considering the two forerunners were actually orchestras that makes us the best tamburica band of the competition. What's even better we received special price for a band that made biggest progress, which came together with brand new shiny instrument. ;-) So, what can I say- SWEET! :-)
Pictures and videos to follow...
Bellow are two photos from competition 2 years ago (first) and last year (second).

Sometimes it's all blur

Or sometimes the easy way out is the right way out I heard being said. Not that stupid if you consider everything... But you just wonder anyway.
Enjoy the spring people...

Spring has sprung

As in most of Europe this Easter was blessed with sunshine and warm weather. And just to show us the winter (as short as it was) is over, nature blessed us with new green and flowers. It seems like whole universe is waking up- there's birds everywhere, air is full of fragrances of spring flowers.
The Green George has finally come; he didn't reach the mountain tops quite yet, but he's getting there. And just as a piece of evidence- here's a picture from a birch patch on the edge of the forest back home. Hope this spring energy's carried over on each one of you. I know it affects me. :)

Some of my blog bookmarks

It's really incredible how this blog thing spreads. Even one year ago, there was only couple of real bloggers, and these days it seems like everybody's sharing her/his thoughts.
There's couple of blogs I regulary check. Here's a short list of my favourite:

-Moj plac by Jernej Mihelič. It's in Slovene in includes even section in Vinica dialect. Good place to remember your roots. And to remember what you did (didn't do) last night. (one of these days someone will be filming Jernej - just for revenge) ;-)
-Glory of Carniola by Michael Manske. He's a journalist for Radio Slovenia international and born New Yorker (I think). It's great to see how people who weren't born here see life in Slovenia. His blog contains some legendary categories, including eternal Slovakia/Slovenia mixup and Great Yugoslav album covers. And here and than there's such jewels, like 35 facts about Slovenes (well- of Slovene ancestry and living in USA/Canada). Great entry.
-Ireland Logue by Seán . He's also an American who moved to Athlone, Ireland in 2002 (I think). Here you'll find everything you ever wanted to know about ever-changing face of modern Ireland. From travel tips to such jewels that really make me wanna move there at least for a while. ;-) What's also special about this blog is how productive the author is. There might be more than 3 blog entries per day!

Louisiana blues

No faulty mood this time. I just like the sound. :)

Paul gardner band performing live

THUD!

"Well, he's a fellow officer, isn't he? Won't he help us?" said Sally.
"We are naked, lance-constable!"
"Only technically. This mud really sticks."
"I mean underneath the mud!" said Angua.
"Yes, but if we had clothes on we'd be naked underneath them too!" Sally pointed out.
"This is not the time for logic!" This is the time for not seeing Nobby grinning at me!"
"But he's seen you when you're a wolf-shaped hasn't he?" said Sally.
"So?" snapped Angua.
"Well technically you're naked then, aren't you?"
"Never tell him that!"


Just a snap from Terry Pratchett's deadly funny Discworld novel THUD!
It's actually much funnier when you're familiar with the whole context. Angua is a were-wolferin, Sally is a she-vampire. They're both serving in Ankh-Morpork City Watch. And so is corporal Nobby Nobbs- the acne-faced, cabbage smelling, former member of guild of thieves (I'm not sure of that- he's a kleptomaniac anyway). He's also better known as the guy who's been turned down by women so many times (because of many reasons including SMELL), he's got the courage to ask even most beautiful women on a date.
OK, to make a long story short- both female officers just came out of dwarf mine narrowly escaping mud flooding. They're both naked- Angua because she was wolf part of the time (and lost bag with clothes), and Sally because she apparently used her alter form as 100+ bats who can't remember to take her clothes when she changes shape. And just as they managed to (almost) reach the exit Angua picked up a smell of fellow officer Nobby Nobbs (which aparently has a very distinct smell).
Anyway- it's a deadly novel, as most of Discworld novels. Terry Pratchett is a master of mixing great fantasy with issues relevant in modern times. The story is evolving around the anniversary of Koom Valley battle- where dwarfs ambushed trolls, or trolls ambushed dwarfs (nobody is really sure). Since it's an anniversary the tensions are high, and Ankh-Morpork City Watch (which employs among others dwarfs, trolls, couple of golems, one Igor and Nobby Nobbs :) commandeered by Sam Vimes is the only force which can stop a bloodshed of forgotten battle. Pratchett manages to incorporate modern issues- like racial tension, and social differences in a way the whole story is incredibly funny I read 450+ page paperback (in English language) in 3 days after work. I really recommend it. And I'm even not being paid for that. :-)

What a difference a day makes

Crazy weather... Actually a sunday picture should be more unusual conserning it's still March- but things are screwed up alltogether...

Bela krajina, Sunday, 18th March, 21 C

Ljubljana, Monday, 19th March, -2 C

Another picture of snow- it's been just so rare this year