Everybody's Weird

Forgotten Cambodia. A good easy-to-read article that says it all.

just a rat in a cage (again and again)
Getting off the subway station this morning, i had the most disturbing encounter. There were three or four retired senior citizens from Attac, the most important pro-Tobin tax and -alternative ways of living organisation in Europe. They were giving away leaflets.
In our times, your life is drawn for you from the start. From 0 to 22, distract yourself (don’t ever forget to drink Coca-Cola, wear Nike and listen Sony), and learn to be productive. From 23 to 65, you’re really useful. Give everything to economics and trade (don’t ever forget to make children). After 65, you’re useless, that’s all. If you were gregarious enough to invest lots of money in a bank, you’ve got the right to travel in sunburnt places, but please don’t deal with business and society matters anymore. You fully deserved your right to be mute and watch stupid TV shows.
As I was seeing the retired senior citizens distributing leaflets at the exit of the subway station, I was thinking to myself : those people are much more useful to the society and to any of us than the 20.000 of us executives in this business district together.

See what brings a bad working environment, you bosses : anarchists.

At least !
Okay, guys, I won’t say it twice, so open your ears and listen well:

You probably already knew that I’ve been bearing the nickname of « Manur » for quite a while (10+ years!), because Emmanuel often becomes Manu, and the ‘r’ make it sound like « Ben-Hur ». I still keep it ’cause it’s hardly taken as a login (much less than my first name), and lots of my friends are used to it.
Anyway, from now you can visit this page by simply typing manur.org in the location bar. I guess it’s a huge improvement with respect to the actual url :), so feel free to update your bookmarks and/or keep it in mind : it’s easy.
Technical remark : this is a mere redirection, so eventually you’ll end up at the exact same place than before (it’s a pity for bookmarking, i just understand…).
And by e-mailing me to the new address manur@manur.org, your messages will end up to my regular e-mail account, too. Isn’t technology great ?

Pictures of our september trip to Greece
My God, I want to go back there !.. The weather was so perfect, people so nice, time so fulfilling…
We made our way to two different islands of the Cyclades: Santorini and Paros. The first one is particularily famous for its volcano, in the middle of the crescent-shaped bay. One can even take little boats and go there, ON the volcano.
Surprisingly, we enjoyed Paros even more than Santorini, precisely because sightseeing spots are modest, not overcrowded, and much more typical of what we think is Greek life. The two main cities of the island are Naoussa, a very picturesque village of fishermen and sailors, and Parikia, the « capital », a very lovely and moderately sized resort.
Last but not least : wonderful sunsets !
<- And, oh, that's me re-reading The Catcher in the Rye on our hotel room’s balcony…

Quick Update.
Nick and Marie-Noelle’s baby is a girl, and her first name is Keesha. She weighs 3.5 kg, so she’s in good wealth… Let us wish her a long and happy life in her loving family !

There’s nothing wrong with love
Built To Spill’s old album does not usually stand as the one people prefer (kids tends to like ‘keep it like a secret’ or ‘perfect from now on’ better), but it definitely grows on me. Wonderful music and smart lyrics. I love Distopian Dream Girl…
And, yes, There’s Nothing Wrong With Love ! I make them #1 in my best-album-name-of-the-decade contest.

Oh, and The Man Who Was Already Dead, the live Venus album, featuring the Ensemble Musiques Nouvelles orchestra, has been released since the beginning of the week. It’s truly wonderful (except Royalsucker, ruined). ‘Perfect Lover’ and ‘Mingle with the Night’, a new song, are masterpieces ! Venus is definitely the most exciting band in Old Europe, and they’re nice people.

No links today. Sorry. I have a great surprise for the next time, so forgive me.

It has been the most glorious week.
Sunday, I saw Dancer in the Dark. When movies are a whole senses experiment. Von Trier is a sick genius.
Monday, I tasted what probably is the best wine I’ve ever drunk : a St-Estephe Cru Bourgeois 1995.
Tuesday, one year of happiness.
Wednesday, seen a couple of great friends, but most of all : Nick is now a proud father. Don’t know whether it’s a boy or a girl. Gotta call back…

Some links for you people:

Conversations about « good » and « bad » popular music generally have two productive aspects, at most. One is that, as in any conversation which contains the names of bands, some of them may be new to you, so somebody’s indefensible pro or con assertion might lead you to discover music that changes your life. The other is that people in the conversation, about whom you haven’t made up your mind, may prove themselves to be smug jackasses, which is a better thing to discover in a casual debate about Radiohead than it is in a screaming argument about whether your first child ought to be named Spartacus.

This is the first sentences of this week’s issue of the war against silence. Glenn then backs the new U2 album, which is brave in a way. I have « easy » albums I truly like too, so I understand that need. Anyway, it’s a wonderful reading as always, and it ends up with a reference to my so-called life that definitely moves me. I have to say a few words about this show someday.

A deep analysis about the Smurfs. Anyone can tell me if this guy is serious about it ?
Ever wondered what was #1 in the charts in uk and usa on your birthday ? (If so, you’ve got to read High Fidelity, man.)

I had to catch up the gossips. The whole blogger community can’t stop talking about this romance. Lovely.

I tried to type my first name in the location bar today. A bit disappointing : emmanuel.com and emmanuel.org are proselytizing christian pages. Did I ever mention my christian name means « God is with us » ?

New funny hits from google : aiwa mm-vx100 help, radiohead ring tone (!) and one armed scissor lyrics, which is cool…

Last but not least, a french one : Disques de l’annee. Records of the year : come and vote for your favorite album of the year, and consult previous years results (very typical of french taste, despite a few lame CDs from times to times). I voted for Grandaddy. Plus a database of the annual lists from the french, british, european and american musical press.
As an extra bonus, the mega poll for your five favorite albums of the decade. Those things are totally heart-breaking for me, but here’s my final and obviously dissatisfying list :
1. Jeff Buckley, Grace
2. dEUS, The Ideal Crash
3. Radiohead, OK Computer
4. Chemical Brothers, Exit Planet Dust
5. Björk, Post
There’s no LP from this year in my list. Do you think there’s a Y2K release worth outrunning one of these ?? Sad.

Ooooops when will this stop ? Now a search with « john lennon » « jealous guy » mp3 download brings you here too (’cause of this entry about Elliott Smith who played the song live…). This is the most funny day.

Ok, now, just to try : > penis enhancement <. THIS will bring me a bunch of new readers through google !!

By the way, if you search « everybody weird » on Google, you will find this page first too. I even appears *before* the lyrics of the dEUS songs that gave this blog his name…

(I’m just a child but) This is great

Have you ever tried to use Google with the « weird pokemons » search expression ? Guess who’s the first response in the list ?!!.. Yeah…

I was checking my stats, and it seems somebody did this search and ended up here 🙂 The funny part is that I couldn’t name you any other Pokemon than Pikachu…

So I have to thank a few people for this major achievement in the field of electronic personal publishing : first BlogStart, the weblogs portal through which I was actually linked by Google, and Wolfgang, who showed me the web page I subsequently linked here in an entry that included the word « Pokemon ». Isn’t all this completely weird ?!

A frightening Cambodian news, about the customs of some women there… [via the Cambodia-News portal, a daily updated log where you will find links to Cambodia related news on the Internet (soon to be on the sidebar)].

Crazy american news : the Witches are back (what is the kkk doing ?) and Why chatting on your workplace in not safe (what about blogging ?).

To cheer you up, you poor american boy eager to know who’s your next emperor :

Voters in Mendocino County [California] decided Tuesday to legalize the cultivation and use of marijuana for personal use — the first move of its ind in the country.[link]

This genetic study is fascinating AND scaring. I mean it.

The ILoveBacon.com lads have a truly uplifting (for a monday) gallery of girls showing their tits, mostly at rock concerts. Miam.

And following one of their links leaded me there, which is an adorable place, and should be even more enjoyable if you’re an american comics fan (i’m not).

Venus are releasing their live album with an orchestra at the end of this month. I’m so impatient !

And, oh, I’ve got a *scanner* ! Prepare for some surprises, friends…

Amazing Link

While the futile American Election is on the first page of every newspaper in the world (Bush or Gore ? What’s the difference, anyway ?), really important events often remain unnoticed.

Since last summer, a 15 km-long bridge links Copenhagen in Denmark and Malmö in Sweden. Actually, there’s a 3,5 km immersed tunnel first (to let large ships navigate through the Channel ?) and the rest is a bridge stricly-speaking. Hence the denomination « Fixed Link » for the whole thing, and this is what I call an amazing link. Check the 3D video simulation and this impressive pictures gallery.

[via the very nice cut-and-paste webzine]

Check also the indie rock KickBright zine, especially the At the Drive-In wig affair. [via the best of us: kempa]

An outburst of post-situationnism ; <french>

Le post-situationnisme attaque, donc. Sous les pavés, enfin la plage présente pour ceux qui veulent rattraper leur retard, un admirable travail de recherche de liens vers des publications on-line de Debord, Vaneigem (mon préféré des deux, pour son lyrisme en sus de la critique), l’Internationale Situationniste, et des sites consacrés à Bataille, Bourdieu, Deleuze, Foucault, Chomsky etc etc… Une référence.

Vous serez peut-être intéressé par l’Ecologie Révolutionnaire de JZ, et son énorme contenu. Si tu ne t’occupe pas de politique, elle s’occupera de toi…

Quant au côté « post-« , la sensation underground (pour combien de temps ??) du moment, c’est Tiqqun, et leur intransigeance bien de mise. Cela vaut le détour pour la beauté théorique de la réflexion.

En ce qui me concerne, j’ai longtemps cru que j’étais situ, avant de revenir à plus de modestie. Aujourd’hui je suis un rebelle quand j’écris mon blog au travail, comme maintenant…

Plus sérieusement, il est possible que ces gens-là nous sauvent, peut-être. Restons donc à l’affut.

</french>

The Society of The Spectacle, by Guy Debord, in English, online. Just read it or leave it.