Semantic Space’s Weblog

This is what I would have on the walls of my AIR-coolness-inspired demeure (which is of course the title of a Stereolab song, how appropriate). But seriously, this is superbad. Very nice work.

Image courtesy of Greenland’s Tourist Office.

Here are, according to BeliefNet, my most likely religious affiliations. While 3-6 are not surprising, I should probably read up on Unitarians and Quakers… I might be surprised (??)

And given the fact that today I missed South America really bad. Here are, Sei Shônagon-style, some differences between the Ecuadorian and the Thai capitals:

• Quito
• very cultural, lots of colonial buildings and Inquisition-era relics (the Inquisition museum is scary though)
• really crisp air (if you care); huge booming sound when planes came in for landing, because the city is between really high Andean ranges
• nightlife is ok
• girls are so-so (and the population in general is not what I would consider attractive; you get the occasional Spanish-looking minx but usually it is an Amerindian mix that is supposedly better represented in Colombia); also this is Latin America where macho is in and melodrama is a fact of life
• food is ok (other than ceviche, not too impressed although it is cheap)
• can have a nice house with a great view for 25k US$
• 4 hour drive to the Pacific coast @ Montañita or Manta
• a few hours away from the Amazonas (but do you really want to go there)
• there is a palpable feeling of insecurity - people just aren’t proud to be Ecuadorians, a relatively unknown and somewhat impoverished (but in my opinion, charming) South American backwater. Ok I am on thin ground here but, just like in Indonesia, there is a lot of discontent and I’m finding myself defending the place against the opinions of those who live there. Incidentally although the place is virtually unknown to the American public opinion, Americans do have a disproportionately significant influence in Ecuadorian life. I suppose United Fruit really was badass in its heyday (cue to Eduardo Galeano).
• Bangkok
• well, it is a hip and up and coming Asian megalopolis but I would not call it cultural despite Wat Arun, etc
• polluted and hectic
• nightlife is phenomenal, from normal clubbing/jazz/live music to downright naughty
• girls are some of the most beautiful (and approachable) in the world; they are also very matter of factly and there is (for a Westerner at least) no need for machismo
• food is awesome
• still cheap by western (or HK, SG, Tokyo) standards although not dirt cheap like Quito
• a hundred grand US will get you a condo, but with all sorts of legal quandaries
• 2 hours to Pattaya beach… a sh*thole. Longer time to get to the really nice beaches. But those are indeed spectacular
• well you could go upcountry to the hill tribes (but why would you want that). SE Asian demographic patchwork can be fascinating though, negritos, sea gypsies, etc.
• Thais are fiercely proud of their country and of their Chakri dynasty.

So, which one to choose?

Listening to Nightmares on Wax.

Discovered (but unconvinced by) Aimé Césaire. Will watch the Malcolm X movie, maybe it all fits together. The ending of Burn! was a letdown although the movie was really good. And yes there is an underlying theme to this post.

Is it Carlos Slim? Is it Alejandro Fernandéz? Is it (Sinaloa drug lord) Alfredo Beltrán Leyva? And BTW this could be any nation. Carlos probably has more in common with Bill Gates than with Alejandro who in turn has more in common with [name pop star here, I haven't a clue], just as Dianita monita verde has more in common with me than with a quiteño pickpocket (my behavior in that gorgeous city, Quito, still needs some explaining).

What of nationalism, then…

Liddell Hart’s book. The more I read it the less I understand how can someone write history without an understanding and a deep study of military strategy. Anyway, here are some ideas that go contrary to what is perhaps common thinking:

• in WW2, the Germans vastly outmaneuvred and resisted the Allies, sometimes to a ratio of 1:6 to 1:12. Also they inflicted significantly higher casualties on the Russians, whose army was anything but nimble or subtle;
• the Allied strategy of bombing the populated areas and of demanding unconditional surrender was ineffective and lengthened the war significantly;
• the British-supported guerilla wars (in occupied France, Yugoslavia, etc) would prove extremely costly for the Western world in the long run as they would encourage the post war ‘liberation’ movements and struggles that continue sometimes to this day. Waging war outside the official boundaries of war will in fact instill a mentality of lawlessness and a encourage a breakdown of social order that will be hard to heal (perhaps this is why the Middle East is a mess - remember T.E. Lawrence?).

There was a time when I used to find both (Asia Times‘) Spengler and Edward Luttwak deep, hyperintellectual writers, not afraid of going out on a limb and contradicting complacent mainstream thinking. I was even humbled by their apparent surface and insight. Maybe it is a sign of the (changing) times (in America), but both are exposed/cut down to size around the same time. NY Times just wiped the floors with a Luttwak op-ed, and Spengler’s screeds are beginning to get their comeuppance too - awesome article here. There is something to be said about theories that tie all the facts together all too well and present too neat an explanation; I guess in real life we have to deal with the messiness of details and the lack of pretty, clear pictures.

From this…

to this…

The first is the rather pedestrian poster for a 60’s movie. The second is the cover of Air’s song inspired by/somehow dedicated to the movie. While the poster is functional and perhaps even humorous, it lacks any punch in its almost 50’s aesthetic. Air’s cover however manages to perfectly capture the mood of that hip, swingin’ time, as idealized by 40 years that have gone since then: the Richard Neutra, midcentury modern architecture, (not to mention the cool downtempo beats of the song) - I want to live in Air’s version of the secret of cool.

Of course, it would entail living in a quarters such as this one:

However, the soundtrack could well be Stereolab:

And the readings would be from this author, perhaps.

Are you sure? Wow. How about some of this. Brings back fond memories of Peter’s Pop Show, Paul Young, Vzglead, etc. I guess you had to have been there; my particular generation’s Woodstock. As I’m saying in one of my tweets, I really don’t relate to Jimi or Led Zeppelin. Cool yeah I’m sure, but what does it for me is Miracle Man. Seventh Son of A Seventh Son. Battery (so, that song is about the Battery Park area of SF. I’m like, wow, so cool). The Last In Line. Maybe, just maybe (moving on) Angel Dust. Towards the Within. These are my classics and that’s that.

However. One of the shredding moments I wish I would have attended was The Stone Roses’ seminal concert in Blackpool, 1989. The whole story is documented here, and although I did not attend the Blackpool concert, or knew much about the scene back then, I sort of caught the tail end of it (was in Bournemouth in 1990 and saw something on the news about ‘acid house’ parties). How I wish I was there and could reminisce of it now. As it is, I will have to contend myself to the memories of talking to (potential) escapees from that scene in a bar in Khao San Road; all of us reminisced 90’s England as seen through different eyes, but over the same beer and amongst the same kratoey under the same Thai night sky.