"Three Identical Strangers" by Tim Wardle (2018)

Well, this was actually excellent - had my eye on this documentary for a while and it turned out even better than I expected. It was a real-life story about three twin brothers, separated at birth and given to adoption as babies, who discovered each other later in life (at the college, at the age of nineteen) and how their lives changed with time. The main question here is the difference between nature and nurture, in fact this was the reason why they were separated in the first place - someone at adoption agency had idea that perhaps these three babies should be given to completely different sets of parents so the scientists could from time to time check on them to see how are they doing and will the completely different household create them in into different people or would they basically stay the same. Perhaps not surprisingly, it turned out that the least wealthy family provided the most affections - maddeningly, adoption agency never let anybody know that babies have brothers so both parents and children were completely unaware about twins living somewhere. Mothers did remember that boys showed great stress and unhappiness in the start, but never understood why - it became clear much later that little babies obviously grieved for their siblings. Its actually very cruel and sound sinister to use unfortunate orphan babies for scientific experiments, but at least first part of the movie, where grown up boys meet completely by chance is very uplifting - and than it turns much darker, but I don't want to spoil anything here. 

The best is to watch this movie without knowing too much about it, as I did. I was only vaguely familiar with the fact that there were three identical brothers who met by chance, but nothing else. So both me and friend went trough real emotional roller coaster, enjoying their happiness and saddened how life eventually had its own way of connecting the dots and unearthing old scars. It really all comes down to childhood, in this particular case nurture and how parents forever scarred the children - yes, boys were wonderful and genuinely similar but they were also raised by different parents and this determined who will they eventually became later in life. The subject is of course, very close to my heart as mine was very similar story and I also have siblings fostered elsewhere, but we were not twins and never became very close, in fact at very early stage I consciously distanced myself from them as the gap between our upbringing was just too big and we were never able to re-connect properly. To this day we are strangers and I made up my mind that its better this way instead of forcing something that was not there from the start. 

"Riječi Čarobne" by Massimo Savić (1988)

Second in a trilogy of polished pop albums Massimo Savić recorded with composer and producer Zrinko Tutić. In later years, Savić metamorphosed and moved on, so chances are he probably don't like to be reminded on material here but actually its great fun and truth to be told, I play some of these lightweight songs ("Moja Ljubica", "La Lu La Le") rather than what came later. Unlikely collaboration between the singer who came from completely different, new-wave background and producer famous for his blockbuster radio hits is not really as bad as it sounds - for all his commercial ambitions, Tutić seems to genuinely enjoy working with somebody gifted as this young singer and he surrounds him with all than-current studio wizardry available at the time. Expanding a music formula a bit from their debut, guys add some more flavours to the mix so this time we get country duet with Bebi Dol, "Malagueña Salerosa" and obligatory cover of old Italian chestnut "Una Lacrima Sul Viso" with Croatian lyrics - covers were always Massimo's forte and no wonder later he will turn to all-cover albums.

This guy's voice was always sensational from the start - he might not have been obvious pop idol, but in capable hands of star-making Tutić this is closest he came to be actually accepted by mainstream and these songs were played on the radio a lot. So in a way, Tutić helped him a lot to stay visible on the market after disastrous demise of his earlier band and from here he will go on to stay relevant for decades. Personally I didn't care much for other artists this producer was working but his albums with Massimo are still enjoyable and they are produced with knowledge, understanding and just a bit of calculation what might be appealing to wide audiences. For example, "Pusti Me Da Spavam" (one of less played songs here) is a perfect pop-soul example of Massimo doing what he does best, basically he is a first-rate blue-eyed soul singer. Backing vocals of Bebi Dol are excellent and its a pity they didn't collaborate some more because they seem to have been kindred spirits and their voices work very well together - judging from the results here, they could have been our first couple of pop, both gifted with very idiosyncratic, recognisable sounds and strong artistic vision. 

"Hunt for the Skinwalker" (Colm A. Kelleher, George Knapp)

Collaboration between journalist George Knapp and biochemist Colm Kelleher, this book falls into category of "popular science" or perhaps even better "UFO phenomenon" which of course appeals big deal to me - I never get tired reading about Aliens  + I have never heard of Skinwalker Ranch where all sorts of freaky things happened and apparently there is even a movie made about it. The story starts with a bang, since Knapp knows how to thrill the readers and he is very enthusiastic storyteller - its kind of similar to all the stories about new family moving innocently into a house possessed with Poltergeist, except that in this case family moves into a isolated farm where they get harassed by Alien creatures. So far, so good - the beginning is actually genuinely frightening and gripping, unfortunately when we move into next chapters ("The Investigation Begins" and "Aftermath and Hypothesis") it all somehow fizzles away, because even with his best intentions Knapp can't come up with anything concrete - he repeats and repeats ancient ghost stories about strange creatures from various sources but it all sounds like old wive's tales without one single thing we can pinpoint or prove. So the book ultimately loses its initial momentum and eventually becomes just another frustrating saga without any particular explanation or a proof - theories pile on top of other theories, leaving the reader confused with so many possible variations of Bigfoot and such. It does sound very exciting but it really just vanishes in the thin air like Aliens and their strange lights. Personally I find similar books by Graham Hancock far more satisfying, because he keeps the excitement flowing and at least have some explanations for his stories. 

Farewell Maja Perfiljeva

Poets always live quietly at the edge of society and eclipsed by far more prominent "celebrities" who enjoy the spotlight - but if they touch your heart, it is forever. Lovely, late Maja Perfiljeva was lucky in a sense that her most famous songs were set to music so they became well-loved pop hits, though if you ever met her, you understand she was not really a businesswoman - she was one true poetess I have ever met, wonderfully sweet, almost absent-minded, dreamy person who lived in her own world and of course painted on a silk. 

By default, Perfiljeva entered pop waters via her than-husband Hrvoje Hegedušić who composed songs for the popular music festivals and she was the lyricist: many of them were fantastic, beloved songs and for a while the husband and wife team was unbeatable, real music factory, not unlike Carole King and Gerry Goffin - her lyrics were always special, completely different level from usual jingle stuff one could hear on the pop records, if you listen carefully her songs are timeless and still sound fresh as when she first wrote them.

Back in my student days, when I lived trough a brief but unforgettable chapter of enthusiastic journalism, I visited Hegedušić and his second wife, singer Ksenija Erker - lovely people, both of them, after a nice interview and perfectly relaxed conversation about their music, the name of Perfiljeva somehow popped in my head (probably because they wrote the songs together) and being too young to know the details, I naively asked do they have her phone number so I could contact her for possible interview. I must have been 21 or so, had no idea that I am talking about "first wife" - it was a embarrassing moment ("You don't know that she was Hrvoje's wife?") but they saw that I was honest and way too young to know about old gossip. Eventually I found my way to visit Perfiljeva who was everything I imagine poets to be - dreamy, sweet, lovely, very soft-spoken and actually strikingly attractive lady with exotic features (her father was Russian emigrant) - she lived alone, surrounded with her paintings and hats, laughed at my innocent blunder and commented "Ksenija is great" without any trace of bitterness. I imagined her life was not being easy - she made living as a teacher - but everything about her was tender and soft, really unforgettable person and trough many years ever since I always remember her as unique spiritual soul. I just found out that she quietly passed away few days ago and I am deeply saddened about this, because world would be such a completely different place if we have more people like her.

Tina Turner in the 1970s

Janis Joplin and Mavis Staples

Nina Simone