January, 2007 | SLEEPING WITH PENGOVSKY

Science Fiction?

Barack Obama for president?

The Land of Plenty is gearing up for post-Bush era… US Senator for Illinois Barack Obama has just set up a Presidential Exploratory Committee – the first step of many which could possibly lead to his running for the Oval Office. But is the switch from a “compassionate conservative” to the first black President of the US of A really possible? Pengovsky is sceptical…. I’d like to see it, but this is the real world…

BTW: to quote Robin Williams: “Compassionate conservative? I don’t know what that is… Sounds like a Volvo with a gun-rack 😀“

Voices From the Grapevine…

…are increasingly loud about this guy being the next to go…

Before shit hits the fan, let me make one thing clear: thusfar there is almost not a piece of information around to actually confirm the capiton under the picture. This is all purely speculative and based on bits an pieces I keep hearing from various sources (various both in number and their background).

But the truth is that Slovenia is to preside over the EU in a year’s time and Minister of Foreign Affairs Dimitrij Rupel is apparently losing his grip rapidly. He hasn’t made any headway regarding open issues with Croatia, he failed to reach a deal regarding the final statement of the OSCE summit in Ljubljana and he seems to have outlived his usefulness to PM Janez Janša. While Janša still defends Rupel publicly that is by no means a tell-tale sign that Rupel enjoys the support of his boss. Janša consistently supported his agricultulrar minister(ess) Marija Lukačič, but she resigned a couple of days ago, citing medical reasons.

And given Rupel’s recent blunders (he allegedly spilled the beans to the press, disclosing the contents of a closed-doors session of EU foreign ministers in Finland about a month ago) Janša would do good to get rid of Rupel ASAP.

There are other signs as well, seemingly unconnected. The youth organisation of SLS (one of the junior coalition partners) put up several leaflets around Ljubljana, saying “Mr. Golobič, why don’t you admit that Danilo Türk will be the next president of LDS?”

At first glance it makes no sense, as Gregor Golobič (formerly of now-oppostion LDS – Liberal democrats) is at odds with the current LDS leadership, while Danilo Türk (former right-hand man of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan) is known to be close to right wing parties, notably Janša’s SDS. But if one takes into account that SLS were always agents provocateurs, making it their purpose in life to make life difficult for the senior coalition party (any senior coalition party, that is) than a possible scenario goes like this: Rupel is on the verge of “being resigned”, Danilo Türk is most likely to succeed him but SLS like their pond murky so they link him to LDS, aiming to destroy his chances of becoming Janša’s FM. Sounds like a conspiracy theory, but why in the world SLS try to contaminate Danilo Türk with LDS-virus if he wasn’t up for a job? And there’s only one job good enough for him in Slovenia…

To go on… Rupel being a resident “guest star” in Saturday’s edition of Delo newspaper is bad news for Janša who likes to run a tight ship. And that includes Rupel, who always prided himself in being a sort of a maverick. Which can be good, but not if you’re Foreign Minister. And this article by The Economist calling Rupel “oddly abrasive” is not to Rupel’s credit. Not to meniton the recent discovery by Dnevnik that he had his driver run errands for his wife… In their own right none of these events warant Rupel’s dismissal, but put them together and the picture becomes much darker.

Not to mention the rumour which was floating around some time ago that Janša and Rupel have a deal where Rupel resigns as soon as they find him a cosy ambassadorial spot. You see, Janša doesn’t have the foreing policy expertise Janez Drnovšek had (and probably stil has). Once a journalist asked “Drle” (who was still PM then) why does he make Rupel do all the dirty work and Drnovšek answered “You think so? It seems the other way around to me…“. But now, as Janša was stuck with Rupel, the latter holds his boss a virtual foreign policy hostage. And the fact that Rupel is losing grip is plainly obvious in the fact that JJ has yet to make a formal visit to any of the neighbouring countries. Helloooo?

The man’s been in power for two years and he hasn’t payed a visit to Zagreb, Rome, Vienna or Budapest… You see, when Germany elects a new chancellor his (or her) first order of foreing policy business is to formally visit Paris. The first foreing visit of an Austrian chancellor is either to Bern (Switzerland) or to Prague (as it happened a couple of years ago, to the dismay of many).

Dimitrij Rupel failed to advise his boss to visit any of the neighbouring countries. And if Rupel is unable to provide sound advice, then he should be replaced as soon as possible. The prospect of his chairing the EU council of ministers is supposedly scarry to a lot of people. You don’t believe me? Apparently Tone Rop (the man who succeeded Janez Drnovšek as PM) wanted to get rid of Rupel quickly, so he thought of proposing him as a candidate for EU Commisioner to the Cabinet of then President of the Commission Romano Prodi. When word of that got out calls were made from Prodi’s cabinet not to name Rupel (Rop heeded those calls, naming Janez Potočnik instead, which was a wise long-term move).

Tone Rop eventually dismissed Rupel, who became a turn-coat, rapidly supporting Janez Janša in his bid to win the elections (which he did). Rupel was rewarded with his former job again, but ever since he became more of an obstacle than an asset – mostly for the reasons cited above. And that’s why I think he has outlived his usefulness to JJ. And we’ve seen how Janša deals with politically expendable people. There is no reason to think that Rupel will be exempt from such treatment. Also, it seems that Rupel has been slightly sidelined lately…

But then again, I may be dead wrong…

Ljubljana Escalator Redux (and some good music)

On Tuesday I posted some more or less random thoughts on Ljubljana Escalator which opened a day later. I also wrote that heads will roll if the thing doesn’t start making profit soon. Well now… Heads might roll, but not in the near future as the escalator is expected to return the investement in forty years!!!!!. For fuck’s sake! Even I will be either geriatric and heavily demented by then – but most likely already six feet under… Jesus… Seven million euros divided by 2,5 euros (the ticket fare) means that the poor thing will have to transport at least 2.8 million passangers (provided they all buy a return ticket) just to break even. And that’s not counting the operating costs, repairs and necesary overhauls. Sheesh!

So, if you want to see how the gala opening went, here’s the piece I did for the Firm™ (in Slovene)

The voiceover is a bit screwed up because of compression and the camera work is not all it could be, but still…

The legendary jazz musician (and City Councilor) Miha Jazbinšek performed at the soiree and here they are: Miha Jazbinšek and His Legends, doing Gershwin’s Summertime

This video wasn’t aired anywhere, so it’s kind of exclusive 😀 Note how he looks into the camera at the end of his solo 😉

Women, Music & Me

I don’t know happened… Perhaps it was Sunshine’s introspectiveness that got me thinking, or it could be a song I heard on RSI the other day… In any case I started thinking about women with whom I was in a relationship at one point or another (i.e.: considered them my girlfriends). Even funnier: I didn’t feel bitter about it. Just memories. The fact that in my head every one of them is connected to a specific song is only a testament to me being a rather sick person (especially due to the fact that I’m tone-deaf and have no rhythm). But here they are:

M #1 – was my first and since we were both young it lasted for an appropriately long period (it really did). But all good things must come to an end and this song was the definition of the end of that particular relationship

J #1 – ah yes… the love, the pain, the suffering, the waiting… To be honest, I’ve partly myself to blame, since I was too blind to get the message (“let’s just be friends” interpreted as “maybe there’s still hope” – silly me ;)), but this one made a lasting impression – as did this relationship

M #2 – it lasted for only a brief period, but I’d say I finally got a whiff of the “real life” – just like this song

T – This too lasted briefly, but it was liberating in a way. Both mentally and -yes- sexually. So it’s no wonder this one almost always brings back memories.

J #2 – Fiery and yet we weren’t on the same wavelenght. But I remember how she partied to this music.

L – Ah… From heaven to hell – and then back to reality. This relationship was a true roller-coaster ride. And then it was no more

I was never romantically involved with P. – although I could’ve been, had I been thinking straight at the time. Things might have gone better (or worse, who knows). Sometimes I can’t help but wonder, what if… And this song usually gets me thinking about those fateful couple of days.

And now for something completely different: To make up for this rather boring post I will give away one (1) prize for the first person which will (in the comments, obviously) give correct titles of the songs and names of performers. Where there is more than one performer of the particular song, you are required to give both (or all) of them.

This one should be easy so I will cut y’all as little slack as possible 😀

Now That’s What I Call Erotica

A couple of days ago Alcessa provoked me in the comments to say something about the actors and actresses I’m fond of… Well, more than just fond of – for me Humprey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Ava Gardner and maybe even Judy Garland represent an age past, when there was love, murder, betrayal, cigarette smoke, values and it was all in black and white. The H’wood version of film noir. Bogey is one of my all time favourites, but the purpose of this post is to show that one does not need tits and a lot of skin to show passion. Sometimes, a look is all it takes:

The “Acme Bookstore scene” from “The Big Sleep“

This is probably one of the best scenes Bogart ever played in. And the yummy-looking woman next to him is Dorothy Malone (and not Judy Garland as I have though). Boy does she look sexy…

Stairway to Heaven

The Ljubljana Escalator building site (source)

The infamous Ljubljana Escalator will officially start operating tommorrow. The project started way back in 2001 when then Mayor Viktorija Potočnik during one of her fits of grandeur announced that Ljubljana will get an escalator to the Castle hill. The project costs were initially estimated at around SIT 600 million (€ 2,1 million). For various reasons (including the fact that she was ultimately responsible for the fiasco of SIB Bank and the fact that she promised a new football stadium and repeatedly failed to deliver) Vika Potočnik lost the elections of 2002 to Danica Simšič, who put the escalator project on the back burner.

As going got tough for Mayor Simšič she revived the project, hoping that it would be finished in time for the elections. Of course it wasn’t and the fact that the costs now soared to SIT 1,7 billion (€ 7 million) might have contributed to the fact that she lost the elections of 2006 to the incumbent mayor Zoran Janković.

Thus “Zoki” as he is popularly know will preside over tommorows official unveiling of the escalator, hopefully bringning to a more-or-less sucessfull end someone’s pet project. A couple of thought on the issue:

Ljubljana doesn’t really need an escalator to the Castle hill. While I agree that the capital city must have some sort of glamour, the escalator will hardly achieve that. Despite the fact that it is apparently high-tech (and has already broken down during a test run, trapping people inside) it is not a landmark and I cannot imagine scores of tourists barging down on Ljubljana just to take the 2,5 € ride to the top of the Castle hill. Especially not when Ljubljana sports a lovely (even somewhat mooshy) train service from the Triple Bridges (Tromostovje) to the Castle – that is to say from one landmark to another.

But now that we’ve got it, there is no use bitching about it. Sure, we could use a couple of more apartement buildings, but hey, they decided to spend the money… Ah, therein lies the rub… If this project fails (i.e.: doesn’t create profit), heads will roll. One of the most prominent heads on display (should an unfortunate chain of events occur) will most definitely be the head of Darko Brlek, general manager of Festival Ljubljana. This city-owned company won (or – some say – lost) the tender to manage both the Castle and the escalator. And should there not be enough fat German tourists to fill the city coffers, the manager of the Castle might face decapitation – in a political sence, at least.

Nothing like that is obviously going to happen to Mayor Janković, of course. Not only is he still in his bullet-proof stage, when little can hurt him, but he also made sure that people remember who is actually responsible for the project. Despite the fact that he maintans his anti-political facade, he acted in the shrewdest political manner, as he invited both former mayors to the grand opening, sacrificing a litlle limelight just to make sure people remembered who concocted the whole thing. Cunning little bastard…

Oh, and if you want to see how the thing looked like just before the opening, check out Jonas’ post.

Media Naiveté

Anything wrong with this picture?

Watching Robert Newman’s History of Oil (for the n-th time) the other day, I found myself chuckling to a part of his stand-up performance where he scorns the corporate media for their acquired naivete. He cannot get over the fact that media happily report on a “British and American plan to bring democracy to the Middle East” as if the plan were a fact and not just another attempt to control the oil fields in the region, which (by the way) the West has been doing for the last ninety years.

But he also notes that from time to time the corporate newsmedia basically fuck up and report the truth. He quotes the Times which apparently (I was unable to confirm that) ran an article in 2003 titled “West Sees Glittering Prizes Ahead in Giant Iraqi Oil Fileds“. Which basically sums up the reasons for US occupation of Iraq.

Now all this would be just an episode, it it weren’t for yesterday’s web edition of Delo newspaper, which ran this article. The title reads “Nato lani v Afganistanu ubil preveč civilistov” (NATO killed too many Afgan civilians last year).

Eeeerrrrr….. Exquiz me? Baking powder? What the fuck?

Are NATO and Delo trying to tell me that there is an allowed number of civilians that you can kill?! And if you kill too many, you just call a press conference and say: “Look, we’re sorry, we screwed up. We had a mandate to kill 145 civilians, but the Yanks felt trigger-happy and we went above two hundred. I mean we tried to compensate by cutting down the numbers of allowed civilian kills for the Brits, Canadians and the Aussies, but it just didn’t add up…”

Furthermore: How stupid can you be to actually report something like that? This is almost as bad as “embedded reporting“. No wonder Delo is a shitty newspaper if its editors let slip-ups like this happen. Maybe the guys in NATO HQ are going “great, at least this Delo-thing published it the way we wanted it to be published“. Jamie Shea must be really proud…