What you see is what you get

Ljubljana, Slovenia, Nov. 2007

As I said before, Ljubljana gets filled with friendly ghosts that wander the streets at night, looking for a place to sleep and trying not to disturb the new owners of their previously owned houses (when they were alive, of course).

But those are not the only ghosts you get to see around here.

A ghost can be an image that reminds us of somebody from the past. They are there because we still fear them, or because we just cannot let them go. Those ghosts are around because we want them to.
But if ghosts are an image of something that existed in the past, then we may be surrounded by ghosts all around.
Centromerkur (or Urbanc House), for example, is both a ghost, and a real presence. It's located in the corner of Presernov trg. It's a beautiful and well preserved building, constructed at the beginning of the twentieth century, with the only purpose of holding the first department store in Ljubljana.
Why a ghost? Definitively it's an image of something that existed in the past. It's an image that brings us to the present the daily life of people living hundred years ago in this very same place. Looking at it, we see the image of a lifestyle that, having physical presence in the present, has been long gone in the past.
But if you still need a scary look to properly call it a ghost, just stand below the glass canopy and look upside down. That will give you the effect, and validate the definition.

Frozen Ljubljana

Ljubljana, Slovenia, Nov. 2007

When you come from places with mild winters, you are scare of this moment. You know it's going to come, and you know that you will survive it. But the fear doesn't go away.
The cold has come to Ljubljana. Real cold, the one that puts the thermometer upside down, with temperatures below zero. But instead of being a moment to suffer, it's just another moment of beauty. The color of the light change its hue to a colder palette, the naked trees show forms that reminds mathematical graphs, and all things around go through this metamorphosis that slightly shifts the way they look. In this way, the fear leaves its way to curiosity.
Stay tuned. More winter to come.

Ghosts in Preseren square

Preseren Square, Ljubljana, Slovenia, Nov. 2007

When night falls in Ljubljana, people go to sleep. They don't go because they are tired, or because they have to wake up early the next morning. They go to sleep because the city doesn't belong to them at night.
At night, previous owners of the ancient buildings wonder around the city, at slow pace, asking themselves were to sleep. People in Ljubljana are friendly. Ghosts are as friendly as they were in their human lives. That's why they don't show themselves on their previously owned houses. They don't want to scare new owners, or their kids. That's the secret of the pact. People stay in their houses, so ghosts are free to wonder around the city. That's the least they could ask for.

Where the world changed the colours

Novigrad, Croatia, Nov. 2007

Nothing is infinite. Everything has a beginning and an end. Berlin's wall, 11-S, Mexico '86. The world, as we knew it, cease to exist. Some are lucky enough to witness such transcendent moments. The rest of us enjoy the small ends, the repeated beginnings. Less is less, but still enjoyable.

Things that happen while you're at home watching TV

Ljubljana, Slovenia, Nov. 2007

Actually, I was at home watching TV. Luckily I realized that a funny light was coming from outside, so I took my 'always ready to shoot' camera and came up with something like this.

Clouds over Ljubljana II

Ljubljana, Slovenia, Nov. 2007

Now it's rainy, almost snowy outside. My eyes can hardly go beyond 10 meters. Everything else is white. White fog, white snow, white vision. But sometimes, when it's not like that, it looks like this.

Instructions on how to get the good old mood back

Poreč, Croatia, Nov. 2007

As it appears, this blog only get posts when I am in the mood to do it. And this doesn't happen very often. It's like a wave, it comes and go in chunks... a few posts last month, nothing afterwards, then a few posts again...
Only this time is not about the mood. I have just too much work. This doesn't help very much to get any kind of creativity, so don't expect much from me for the rest of the year.
That being said, I still hope to come back with a few surprise posts, so I wouldn't give up on this site at all. Keep your fingers alerts, and your history of visits enabled, so before you start, everyday, you just type backint and your friendly browser will help you complete the name and take you to this wonderful site.
Keep the good work!

Nothingness, or small Immensity called Utopia

Lençois Maranhenses, MA, Brazil, July 2003

Utopia is a popular word used to describe an ideal society. But the origin of the word can also be interpreted as "non existing place".

For me Utopia is an empty place, like an empty canvas. A place to start from scratch. It's where we have the opportunity to change things back to where we fucked it all up. It's an immense desert, where we can be aware of our nothingness.

When I search for Utopia, I search for the unexplored places, the unknown gestures, the unspoken words, the unlimited land of nothing. I search back for our nothingness.

Cyclops City

London, U.K., Feb. 2006

They say Cyclopes were giants with only one eye. So it's fair to think about London as the Cyclops City. It's definitively giant, and surely has one eye. Funny thing is that this only eye is a blinded one, so in order for London to survive the myth of being a Cyclops they replaced the inability to see with millions of cameras disseminated all around the city, so the blinded Cyclops it's really the open eye monster, where everything can be seen, where the tracks are not lost, but saved.
Think twice before doing anything in London. The Cyclops is looking at you.

Moonlightning

Tivoli Park, Ljubljana, Slovenia, Oct. 2007

I went back to Tivoli today. We went together with Kam, to take pictures and learn a little bit more. This night, the same one that started in Tivoli a few hours ago, it's already in Flickr. Forever. Pretty good, isn't it?

Hyde Park, or example of how to fear

Hyde Park, London, UK, April 2007

A possible nightmare example would be depicted by sudden clouds turning everything dark and moody. Add some trees waved by the wind, and you will get an instant feeling of 'Something is going to happen here'. Add some sun light to this creepy landscape, and you will get a wonderful picture. But still, don't feel confident. Something is going to happen.

Tivoli (III)

Tivoli Park, Ljubljana, Slovenia, Sep. 2007

It looks like a setup. Those colors cannot be natural, and the same applies to the simmetries. But things are there to proof that we are wrong. In its unpredictable sort of way, life gets organized from time to time.

Ljubljanica river side

Riverside, Ljubljana. Summer is long gone, and first signs of real cold are making serious appearances, specially in the morning.

But we still have the afternoon.

In the afternoon we can still seat at the side of the river, next to the weeping willows, and enjoy some time thinking that the good times are not really gone. Of course, until the sun falls and the good times are off, at least until tomorrow, same time, shorter length...

Tree on fire rehearsal

Sometimes things happen without us having any notice. Is this an evidence of the existence of a parallel world? Maybe. Or maybe somebody up there is making us part of its rehearsal, on this big scenario of life...

PS: This foto is for real, not a Photoshop creation or something like that. Same sunset moment as the posting with the dragon...

The Dragon is back

Not in the mood. Holidays, laziness, lack of subject, blah, blah, blah
But now I am back. As a dragon, to spit my fire!

Standalone

Let's enlarge the clouds collection.

This one was taken a couple of years ago, in central square of Guanajuato, Mexico. As a solitaire cloud, it really has a good attitude.

Micro climate

Summer in Ljubljana. Hot temperature, as the almighty sun heats the city during the long hours of daylight. Not so many cloudy days, and even fewer rainy ones. This, could be well said, is the general situation in Ljubljana at the end of July 2007.

But let me correct myself. I would like to emphasize the word general. When I say general, I might say average, or maybe "the situation that you might find almost everywhere in the city". So, almost everywhere in Ljubljana we get good weather is a better way to say it.

The areas excluded by the word almost are the ones that we want to talk about. The ones with their own micro climate just inside the city. Up to now I only know one of such areas, and as far as I am concerned it's a brand new one. And it's in Prešeren Square, just in the city center.

How is it like to be there? Doesn't matter how hot and sunny the city is. In this small portion of the square, you will get rain. Unfortunately, weather forecasts on Internet and on TV are still not aware of it, so pay attention while walking in this area! Fortunately, some signs are there to warn us about the possibility of getting wet.

Unlike other micro climate areas, this an artificial one. It was created by the hand of clever Slovenian artist Zmago Modic, responsible of many other performances and installations in the city center. One of the signs states "The area with Ljubljana's own weather", so let's consider it the name of the œuvre. Well done!

Forbidden project - Part 2

Back to forbidden things to do or bring while entering shops in Ljubljana.

I've doing some research around the city, with very interesting results. I was not sure how to publish this. Should I do a statistical count of forbidden things? Should I just focus on some outstanding cases? Well, let's see, I am not sure yet.

Generally speaking, it is forbidden to smoke inside places. This, we could say, it's the common rule. You won't find a place that forbids to enter walking upside down with your hands, without also forbidding to smoke. So, remember, don't smoke, even on cigar shops!!



Second general rule: Dogs. You can have a dog, that's not a problem. But you cannot bring it into places. You can be with him only at your house, or in the street.

Let's say you come back from work and you want to award your dog with a nice walk. Let's also say that, while your dog is doing his thing under a tree, you notice that wonderful shirt that you wanted to buy on the shop window across the street, with a nice discount on the price. So, you pull the dog's lead and run with him to the shop, to buy the shirt. Here, my friend, is when you have to stop and think. This is "the" crucial moment. Even though you're all excited about the discount, and you get anxious because they might run out of shirts for your size in any second, you have to calm down and carefully watch the shop's door before entering. Look thoroughly. Are you 100% compliant with the rules? Do you have any cigarette lighted in your hand maybe? Or maybe a dog? Do you have a dog with you? Ok! Let's get rid of him, because he cannot come in with you! Unless, of course, you want to push yourself into a violent situation with the employees.
Let's be honest. This rule does not apply only for Ljubljana, it's common to find it in many other cities, specially in food places like bars or restaurants.

But in any case, if you have a shop and find yourself needing to forbid dog's entering on it, would you use this sign?:



Besides the pipe and the roller blade, you have a beautiful little puppet with a red forbidden sign on it. That's not just a dog. It's a little puppet. And if you look closer, you'll see that he's moving his tail. This is mean!! It doesn't just imply that you cannot enter with dogs. They want to emphasize that, even if you have an innocent small, super cute baby puppet willing to play and make new friends, it is FORBIDDEN to let him in. Doesn't matter how cute he is. Yes, that's cruel and, of course, mean.

Same applies to this one:



Again, look at the dog. What does it mean? Does this apply for all dogs? Or they have specifically something against fox terriers? (well, it seems like a fox terrier to me!) It's not clear at all.

But let's put dogs on the side for a moment, and let's focus on other dangerous things that are more specific to Ljubljana. Roller blades, for example.



You will find it's forbidden to enter roller blades almost everywhere. So, why roller blades and not ostentatious multi colored Nike boots, for example? Well, because they are not forbidden based on fashion horrors (although they should be). Since the city has reserved paths, it's common to see people using them everywhere to move around. Everywhere, but on shops. I mean, the idea is great. You want to go to the grocery store, so you put your roller blades on, use the designed path and get there in a couple of minutes. Once there, you have to take them off to enter the shop.
The basic message would be: You can hurt yourself, hurt anybody else or break anything while using them on the street, but don't even think about creating any kind of problems inside my shop. So, even I know it's very uncomfortable for you, if you want to enter, take them off!!
Very impolite, don't you think?

So, up to now, no smoking, no dogs, no roller blades. Anything else? Yes, still a few things to take care of before entering a shop. One of them it's also very common in Ljubljana and if you are into details, you may have noticed a couple of them on previous pictures. Yes, we are talking about ice creams.



I have an explanation. Maybe it's not the right one, but let's give it a try. For what I've seen, people in Ljubljana like ice cream very much. They eat lots of ice cream. During hot season you can buy it everywhere, almost in every corner. Of course, that's only during the hot season. Since here in Ljubljana hot season doesn't last for long, they need to satisfy their need for ice cream in a short period of time.
Why is that a problem? I guess that the problem is not related with people eating ice cream, but with people having ice cream in their hands, but not eating it. It basically melts. And melted ice cream is known to be dangerous.



So, if you want to stay safe, DON'T enter with ice creams!!

Finally, a couple of additional things. Let's say it's ok to have some common rules to avoid problems. But what happens when you get picky?






At the end, you need a tutorial book to enter each place. Sounds a little bit rude. Why being so specific? What do you have against hot dogs or plastic cups? And mobile phones?

Last, but not least, people has its own judgment about what is the right or wrong thing to do in certain places. This was found on the street:



That's it for today!!

Ljubljana rain

It could have been a simple, unpretentious rainy moment.

But instead it was a shiny, bright, delightful rainy moment in Ljubljana, city of wonders.
That's how things get done here.

Prešernov trg

It's highly probable that you have no idea what I am talking about. Of course, that's only if you don't speak Slovenian.

Prešernov trg, or Prešeren Square, is the main square in Ljubljana. It's also the heart of the city, and where most social events happens. This is the most common meeting point when you go out with friends, and also the place where you find the biggest number of tourists. If you have not seen Prešernov trg, you have never been in Ljubljana.

The square's name is a tribute to France Prešeren, considered the most important poet in the history of Slovenia and one of the most important european poets that followed the Romantic school. To complete the tribute, a huge statue with his figure stands erected below his inspirational muse at one of the sides of the square.



Besides Prešeren statue, the Franciscan Church of the Annunciation stands as an icon in front of the square, flooding it with its eclectic character, a mix of solemnity coming from its baroque architecture, and informality provided by its pinkish color.

Other important buildings, like the Central Pharmacy and the first department store of Ljubljana complete the architecture of the square on the east side. On the south side, the Ljubljanica river shapes the other end of the square, crowned by three bridges that connects it with the old town.