Quasarr Feat.Josipa Lisac

My all-time favorite female singer is 63 now and surprisingly still very much active, just saw her newest video clip.

I had written about Josipa Lisac many times on this pages. She was a big and influential part of my formative years when as a young person I searched for idols and people to look up as inspiration. As I grew up and changed, most of these idols felt sideways but I always kept a soft spot in my heart for Josipa who has never changed - she always was and continued to be a fascinating, eccentric and likable artist who is at the same time biggest prima donna and earthiest person around. Not only there is a huge body of work behind her (that covers more than four decades on music scene) but she is consistently entertaining in her interviews: mannered one moment, than completely down to earth and straightforward the next, she is absolutely fascinating subject of any TV or radio program. I think that even my own Croatians slowly came to understand that now elderly Lisac is a very original,national treasure who deserves love and respect, and should not be mixed up with the rest of pop music stampede - for better or worse, she is in a league of her own.

Since the death of her beloved husband/composer Karlo Metikoš, it was very hard to get new material from Lisac. Mainly she had focused in keeping his memory alive trough series of concert tributes to him and somewhat reluctantly accepted occasional duets and cameo appearances with new hit makers. Besides live recordings she created only two studio albums and those were extremely short (eight song each), frankly pale collections where her charisma far overshadowed the material. In all honestly, I think that nothing here matches the spark and inspiration of Metikoš- penned songs and she must have been aware of it. So on she goes with spectacular concerts, theatrical outfits, witch-like hairstyles and   occasional guest performances where she gives her regal approval to some new pop band, in this case a bunch of gothic rockers from band "Quassar". It all keeps her still working and media worships her footsteps while the rest of her contemporaries are long retired, however I am not completely convinced with this new collaborations. The song is not specially interesting (sounds too much like already old-hat "Depeche Mode") and the final result (including video clip) feels too much like necessity for both sides - guys need a star cameo to get media visibility and lady herself needs some fresh input in her career. It is of course very complimentary that she does not collaborate with commercial artists and associate herself with left-field young rockers but in all honestly I don't see any particular reason why should she be involved in this - her part is mostly background vocalizing anyway and this sounds very much like a parody of her younger self.

Hans Koeberich

On this picture is Mr.Hans Koeberich - the passenger who recently died on our ship, just as he was returning back from shore excursion in Yalta.
I felt strangely moved by this - the passing of unknown elderly gentleman with a nice, tender eyes who travelled alone and like all of us, living and breathing, had still some plans for the next day but had not lived to see the next morning.

Big majority of cruise ships passengers are elderly people - once retired, now they have time and possibilities to see the world and everything they missed during life of hard and constant work. Alas, perhaps it would have been better if they sacrificed a little from their younger years because now in the Autumn of their lives, body is not so strong like before - it is difficult to climb all those rocky roads and cobblestone streets under the scorching sun or in the drizzling rain, not surprisingly some elderly passengers die on the cruise ships because heart gives away under such a pressure. Though they might be a little tiresome sometimes during my working hours, I still feel compassion for them and try to be understanding when I see they are a little lost (not to mention the language barrier). In fact, I am glad when I see couple of very elderly friends traveling together and still having their own little adventure, even at such late chapter in life.

Mr.Koeberich traveled alone - I know nothing about him, was he a widower or single gentleman, apparently nobody knew him. All we can tell is that he had nice, intelligent eyes and was curious about cultural sights of Yalta - he had chosen to see not commercial tourist traps but museums, galleries and castles. And perhaps it was all too much for his heart, all that walking up and down, the sheer physical effort was perhaps too exhausting and eventually probably the heart gave away. What stops me in my track and made me think about him not as another number in statistics but as a human being who lived between us just a moment ago is the fact that death never comes in "appropriate moment" - in this case in the middle of the cruise. Mr.Koberich never expected this would be his last journey, had he known this, he would probably stay at home instead packing his luggage and carefully selecting which shore excursions he wants to see. Each single of us has his own plans, dreams and "things to do" but we can't possibly know the exact moment when this earthly life will end for us. If we know, we might relax a little bit and take it easy without getting upset or stressed, letting life flow its natural flow. As it happened, Mr.Koeberich never finished his cruise and had not seen the places he wanted to see, at the end of that day he has already left our world. The final chapter came unexpectedly as it would for all of us. Of thousand of people here on this ship (his death was kept a secret as not to upset the other passengers) I might be the single person who mourns him and waves goodbye to him, because he travelled alone and did not had friends with him. Rest in peace, Mr.Koeberich.

The Black Sea

The very first time on the Black Sea - as a difference from my young colleagues who couldn't care less for these "less sophisticated places" (they were ready to take a train ride from Dover to London, but would not bother to simply walk out from the ship in Odessa) I am still excited about traveling,visiting places, discovering their story, history and present, enjoy the atmosphere and simply soak everything in, even now, after 10 years of sailing. The fact is - I am still struck with awe and wonder that it's ME walking these strange streets in different parts of the world, where by any regular, logical expectations I should not be. All of my Croatian childhood acquaintances have completely routine lives with TV dinners, steady work and barbeque weekends, occasional vacation once a year somewhere - and here am I, walking the streets in Odessa after being already familiar with Lisbon, Barcelona, St.Petersburg, Cape town, Naples and Athens. Sure, nowadays all these places are slowly losing their own particular character and same poster advertises product all over the world - the only difference in local trinkets being just a name written on a keychain & ashtray (and even this does not guarantee the background of the product). McDonalds is McDonalds, be it Turkey or Norway.

Back to the Black Sea - I was very excited and curious about visiting it now for the very first time. (I am slowly running out of places to discover) From what I read on Internet,it is the Black Sea (and not the Greece) that was the true "cradle of civilization" - here were the very first big cities and long-forgotten kingdoms, probably all buried down under the water as the Mediterranean sea bursted trough once-solid Bosporus and what was a huge lake, became even bigger sea (a myth about great Flood probably dates from this time). Greek sailors have brought home new ideas and art from the cities they have discovered on the Black Sea and whatever culture later became famous as "greek" and "roman" actually originated from the Black Sea.

However, history was not kind to the Black sea - one brutal warrior tribe replacing the others, cities completely burned down to the ground, new religions, new political regimes. What we see today are leftovers of once magnificent vacation spots for wealthy classes who used to enjoy sunny summers at the Black Sea. The weather did not permit me to see Yalta (hopefully next time) but I did manage to roam trough the streets of Odessa one sunny morning - like a twisted mirror image of my own Zagreb, this is the city that proudly exhibits some typical bourgeois "beauties" (Opera house, neo-roman buildings and parks) while real life is hidden a little bit behind the scenery - grey buildings covered with posters (rappers and philharmonic orchestra), unbelievable and unreal supermodels posing with elegant clothing while ordinary, grumpy people walk the streets badly dressed and not smiling. My attempts to change money in banks was welcomed with firm "niet!" (without passport one can't change the currency and as a seaman I have to keep my passport on the ship) and all these restaurants and bars were not really inviting - a lot of strip clubs and late night bordellos. So on one hand there is a former beauty in some old palaces and buildings, on the other grim reality of present time - no funds, no hope, not much to smile about. That was my impression of Odessa that reminded me a lot of my own hometown some 20 years ago (Zagreb did progressed in the meantime, I must admit).

Romania - to be precise, Constanţa  - was a huge eye opener. Whenever one think his town is dirty, impoverished or simply boring, just look at Constanţa. It is the biggest and most famous vacation spot for locals, however the city is definitely very depressing, dirty and yes, ugly. Not the first choice for vacation. The present Constanţa is situated a little further from the original city (that used to be one of the oldest cities on the Black Sea) and centuries were not kind to it, particularly past regimes that used it for port and than closed all the jobs that brought money to locals. Now is basically a ghostly shadow of once-prosperous city with depressed people walking trough depressing streets. The architecture looks very much like Belgrade (lots of quaint little houses with small gardens and backyards) but far more dirtier - which is something I don't understand, it does not take money to clean the streets and beautify one's surroundings, my opinion is that these people simply don't know how to live and don't care for being clean or healthy. Again, huge difference between posters that advertise better life and reality on the streets. It must be very frustrating and confusing for locals to see these posters with happy,smiling and clean faces advertising kind of life real people don't have and can't have because reality is completely different: it also must have create completely twisted sense of values, I guess its all about having, buying and spending. From what I had seen, the Black Sea today is not the place one wants to live safely or happily: just like ancient Carthage was eventually razed to the ground by Romans never to achieve its former glory, whatever cities, art or beauties used to be situated here on the Black Sea, communism managed to destroy them all - nowadays its all about survival and hopeless longing look towards the West, like West has anything better to offer. I read very interesting interview with young romanian movie director who claims that his work is never appreciated at home because locals couldn't care less for their own home-based art, everybody looks upon West like real quality (which is just product of well-financed advertising) - he might have been awarded on international film festivals but his own people still believe that Hollywood is far superior, simply because its far glossier.

It is pity I won't see Bulgaria this time around, but who knows, maybe later. Whatever I have seen so far wouldn't make me pack my bags and live there.

"The Time-traveller's Guide to Medieval England" by Ian Mortimer

As much as I enjoyed "The Mill on the Floss", all that quiet, pastoral little stories made me drowsy and I needed something more "meaty" - the perfect choice to keep my attention and curiosity (combined with interesting informations) was "The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England" by Ian Mortimer.

It is a lovely, inspired and passionately written peek to daily life of 14.century England - not only aristocratic life of castles, wars and fair ladies but life of ordinary men and women. Thought the human nature basically stayed the same - as Mortimer points out, at every time in a history people loved each other, cleaned their houses, laughed, cried and died - it is behaviour and expectations that changed a lot with time and if things seem strange from our perspective, just think what will future generations think about us.
The book starts with a picturesque entry of reader (time traveller) into a medieval Exeter with its cathedral, bridges, children begging, shop sellers and a "Shitbrook" where all the  excrement of the city was emptied. From a Shitbrook we continue this fascinating introduction to a life back than - what people ate, how did they live, how long did they live, what kind of house/furniture they had, what were they wearing, where did they travel, about food/drinks/hygiene/ health/medicine, the law back than and finally a chapter about games,music and literature at the time.

It is utterly fascinating story because strange as those people might seem to modern eyes, we recognise ourselves in their passions, fears and joys. Children were supposed to be regularly beaten and parents were irresponsible if they didn't do so. Boys at the age of seven were hanged for theft. This kind of violent discipline had shaped character of medieval men who were regularly fighting wars at the age of 17 and 18, burning witches and torturing servants (life span was very short at that time). Religion was everywhere, present in daily life and often the reason for travelling - just as today tourists travel to "see the world", 14. century pilgrims would travel to see cathedrals with fingers, beards and bones of famous saints (Virgin Mary's milk in Walshingham Priory) and bringing home souvenirs from their journeys. Some of these journeys were described by Chaucer in his classic "Canterbury Tales" and it is with Chaucer that Mortimer chooses to end this sweet and too short book. Definitely one to re-read.