By the (breaking) sea wave: A “Fluxus Eleatis” Discourse

Mr. FFF: Παρα θιν αλος. By the breaking sea wave.

MM: I see Priest Chryses praying. For his daughter Chryseis has been kidnapped by Agamemnon who does not want to release her.

βή δ’ ακέων παρά θίνα πολυφλοίσβοιο θαλάσσης…

πήρε βουβός του πολυτάραχου γιαλού τον άμμον

Ομηρου Ιλιας, Ραψωδια Α34

Without a word, he went by the shore of the noisy sea (or ‘sounding sea’)

Homer, Iliad, A34

Mr. FFF: The priest Chryses prayed to Apollo to punish the Greek army, so that Agamemnon is forced to return to him his daughter, Chryseis.

Mrs. T: The deep sound of the sea is in stark contrast with the priest’s silent suffering.

Είπε, και την ευκή του επάκουσεν ο Απόλλωνας ο Φοίβος,
κι απ᾿ την κορφή του Ολύμπου εχύθηκε θυμό γεμάτος

Ομηρου Ιλιας, Ραψωδια Α43-44

He spoke, and Apollo Phoebus listened to his wish

and from the top pf Olympus he rushed away full of wrath

Homer, Iliad, A43-44

MM: Apollo shot the plague to the Greek Army, and Agamemnon had to return Chryseis to her father.

Mrs. T: As a compensation for his loss, Agamemnon took Bryseis from Achilles.

Mr. FFF: Achilles is furious at the loss of Briseis.

Briseis returns, sculpture by Michael Talbot

Δακρυσμένος τότε ο Αχιλλέας απ᾿ τους συντρόφους του μακραίνει και καθίζει

μπρος στον ψαρή γιαλό, το απέραντο το πέλαγο θωρώντας,

κι απλώνοντας τα χέρια ευκήθηκε στην ακριβή του μάνα

Ομηρου Ιλιας, Ραψωδια Α348-352

Achilles in tears strays away from his comrades and seats

on the beach, and looking at the vast sea,

unfolded his arms and prayed to his mother

Homer, Iliad, AHomer, Iliad, A348-352

Mr. FFF: Greeks of any age, starting with Homer, have a special relationship with the sea.

Mrs. T: The sea was considered to be the home of many deities.

MM: The sea was also a place of catharsis, a cleansing place for mortals.

Wie Meerekuesten, wenn zu baun

Anfangen die Himmliwschen und herein

Schifft unaufhaltsam, eine Pracht, das Werk

Der Woogen, eins uns andere, und die Erde

Sich ruester aus, darauf vom Freudigsten eines…

Wie Merekuesten…

Friedrich Hoelderlin

As upon seacoasts, when the gods
Begin to build and the work of the waves
Ships in unstoppably wave
After wave, in splendour, and the earth
Attires itself and then comes joy
A supreme, tuneful joy, setting …

(translation by David Constantine)

Wie Merekuesten…

Friedrich Hoelderlin

MM: I see the beach walking and…

Stephen Daedalus: Am I walking into eternity along Sandymount strand? Crush, crack, crick, crick.

MM: Stephen closed his eyes to hear his boots crush crackling wrack and shells.

Leopold Bloom: I am wandering around, avoiding to go home. I am on Sandymount strand. Following Stephen’s steps.

(young) Gerty: It is almost dusk. Roman candles are fizzing through the air.

Leopold Bloom: I cannot get my eyes off her!

(young) Gerty: I pulled my skirt up and revealed my garters.

Leopold Bloom: I surrender, I am too weak to resist.

(young) Gerty: I behaved as an exhibitionist. Will I ever be as important as Molly is?

Leopold Bloom:  I behaved as a true voyeur. I am aging.

Mr. FFF: I like garters.

Mrs. T: The description of the episode with Bloom and (young) Gerty made the US Courts to ban the book as indecent.

 

The beach shines like a mirror, swallowing the confusion of forms, creating whatever it likes.

Here by the beach, I will be covered, in whole, by a layer of sugar, like snow.

It is a sin to be absent from the present.

Nikos Gabriel Pentzikis, Mrs. Ersis’ Novel

Ο γιαλος στιλβει σαν καθρεφτης, καταπινοντας τη συγχυση των μορφων, σχηματιζοντας ο,τι θελει αυτος.

Εδω στην ακρογιαλια, ολοκληρον, θα με καλυψει σαν χιονι ενα στρωμα απο ζαχαρη.

Αμαρτια η απουσια απο το παρον.

Νικος Γαβριηλ Πεντζικης, Το Μυθιστορημα της κυριας Ερσης

Πῶς δύναται τὶς νὰ γίνει ἀνὴρ χωρὶς ν᾿ ἀγαπήσει δεκάκις τουλάχιστον, καὶ δεκάκις ν᾿ ἀπατηθεῖ ;

How could anyone become a man without falling in love at least ten times, and betrayed ten times?

Alexandros Papadiamantis

MM: I see the kissing-on-the-beach sequence where Lancaster and Kerr roll around in the Pacific Ocean’s frothy waves, lips locked as the surf washes over them.

Mrs. T: Lancaster’s sergeant (Milton Warden) with Deborah Kerr playing Karen Holms, another officer’s wife

Mr. FFF: The American censors deleted four seconds from that provocative love-making scene.

Mrs. T: From Here to Eternity was nominated for 13 Oscars and won eight, including best film and best director. It won rave reviews and became one of the highest-grossing films of the Fifties.

Du musst das Leben nicht verstehen,

dann wird es werden wie ein Fest.

You should not understand Life,

then it will be like a celebration.

Rainer Maria Rilke

MM: I see the beach swimming after sunset

Mrs. T: I have never done this.

Mr. FFF: I had a friend who rejoiced every time she had a chance to swim during the night. She could stay up all night swimming.

Τα πρωτα μου χρονια τ’ αξεχαστα τα’ ζησα κοντα στ’ ακρογιαλι,

Στη θαλασσα εκει τη ρηχη και την ημερη,

στη θαλασσα εκει την πλατιεα, τη μεγαλη…

Στη θαλασσα εκει…

Κωστης Παλαμας

I have lived my first unforgetable years by the beach,

There by the shallow and quite sea,

the wide, the great sea, there…

There by the sea

Kostis Palamas

MM: I see the Hotel des Roses in Rhodes.

Mrs. T: I like roses.

Mr. FFF: This is where I was going to swim when I was a kid. For hours on and on. 10am to 7pm. Full time job.

MM: I see the bay of Ladiko, near Kolymbia in Rhodes.

Mrs. T: Looks great!

Mr. FFF: It was even better when there was nobody there! Years ago, access to the bay was blocked and the man who had the keys was a good family friend.

MM: I see food and drinks by the beach.

Mrs. T: Allow me. First stop is Damianos Fishtavern, Ambelas, Paros island, Greece.

Mr. FFF: Wonderful setting, and dedication to serving good seafood all year round.

Mrs. T: It is amazing how different food tastes when you smell the sea breeze!

MM: I see food and drinks on the cliff.

Mrs. T: Second stop. Akelare Restaurante, San Sebastian, Basque Country.

Mr. FFF: Up on a cliff, overlooking the Atlantic, stands one of the shrines of gastronomy in the wonderful land of the Basque people.

Mrs. T: The place is full of the joy of life.

Η θέα

MM: I see seafood by the beach at night.

Mrs. T: Third stop. Ristorante Uliassi, Senigallia, Marche, Italia.

Mr. FFF: Now we are in the Riviera Romagnola, where the ITalians have invented the “beach without the sea”. Nevertheless, in this riviera, where everything happens, where the high and the low co-exist peacefully, Uliassi does his magic. It is worth the trip. Even if you do not make it to the sea.

MM: I see seafood on a balcony overlooking the beach.

Mrs. T: Aristodimos Fishtavern, Pachi, Megara, Greece.

Mr. FFF: Back to the homeland. An unassuming small seaside town 40 km from Athens presents the goods of the sea in a way that honors centuries of eating seafood.

Κουκλι σκετο, με το κλωναρι συκιας να βγαινει μεσα απο την προβλητα!

MM: I see Death encounters by the beach.

Mrs. T: Disillusioned knight Antonius Block and his squire Jöns return after fighting in the Crusades and find Sweden being ravaged by the plague. On the beach immediately after their arrival, Block encounters Death.

Mr. FFF: Black and White. The agony of Man in front of the inevitable. But the sea makes everything look natural. This is why the sea gives another meaning to life.

Mrs. T: (reading from a book): “The whole beach, once so full of colour and life, looked now autumnal, out of season; it was nearly deserted and not even very clean. A camera on a tripod stood at the edge of the water, apparently abandoned; its black cloth snapped in the freshening wind.”

Mr. FFF: (reading from the same book): “Some minutes passed before anyone hastened to the aid of the elderly man sitting there collapsed in his chair. They bore him to his room. And before nightfall a shocked and respectful world received the news of his decease.”

“Prayer does not change God, but it does change the one who prays.”
Soren Kirkegaard

“The essence of truth is freedom”

Martin Heidegger

Participants

Achilles

Ingmar Bergman, Swedish Film Director

Leopold Bloom

Briseis

Priest Chryses

Chryseis

Stephen Daedalus

Mr. FFF, wanderer

Caspar David Friedrich, German Painter

Martin Heidegger, German Philosopher

Friedrich Hoeldrlin, German Poet

(young) Gerty

Homer, Greek Poet

Soren Kirkegaard, Dane Philosopher

MM, partner

Kostis Palamas, Greek Poet

Alexandros Papadiamantis, Greek Writer

Nikos Gabriel Pentzikis, Greek Writer and Painter,

Otto Preminger, American Film Director

Rainer Maria Rilke, Bohemian-Austrian Poet

Mrs. T, gourmant

References

Akelare Restaurant, San Sebastian, Basque Country

Aristodimos Fishtavern, Pachi, Megara, Greece

Damianos Fishtavern, Ambelas, Paros Island, Greece

From Here to Eternity, A Film by: Otto Preminger

A Hole in the Head. A Film by: Frank Capra

Edge of Heaven (Auf der anderen Seite), A Film by Fatih Akin

Restaurante Uliassi, Senigallia, Marche, Italia

Blue Velvet: A “Fluxus Eleatis” Discourse

IN DREAMS, Roy Orbison

A candy-colored clown they call the sandman
Tiptoes to my room every night
Just to sprinkle stardust and to whisper:
“Go to sleep, everything is alright”

I close my eyes
Then I drift away
Into the magic night
I softly sway
Oh smile and pray
Like dreamers do
Then I fall asleep
To dream my dreams of you

In dreams…I walk with you
In dreams…I talk to you
In dreams…Your mine

All of the time
We’re together
In dreams…In dreams

But just before the dawn
I awake and find you gone
I can’t help it…I can’t help it
If I cry
I remember
That you said goodbye
To end all these things
And I’ll be happy in my dreams
Only in dreams
In beautiful dreams

Sandy Williams:  I don’t know. I had a dream. In fact, it was the night I met you. In the dream, there was our world and the world was dark because there weren’t any robins, and the robins represented love. And for the longest time, there was just this darkness. And all of a sudden, thousands of robins were set free, and they flew down and brought this Blinding Light of Love. And it seemed like that love would be the only thing that would make any difference. And it did. So I guess it means there is trouble ’til the robins come.

Jeffrey Beaumont:  You did not let me kiss you.

Sandy Williams: I don’t know if you’re a detective or a pervert.

Jeffrey Beaumont:  Well, that’s for me to know and you to find out.

Dorothy Vallens: He (Jeffrey) puts his dicease in me!

Mr. FFF:  We are in a sleepy, idyllic American town that hides a sinister underworld.

MM: Jeffrey Beaumont, a college student visiting his home town because his father is ill at the hospital, finds a severed human ear in a field.

Mrs. T: Jeffrey shares his “finding” with Sandy Williams, a local high school student he is courting. They decide to make their own inquiries and find Dorothy Vallens, a night club singer who is apparently connected to the ear. Dorothy is played by Isabella Rossellini, who makes her real debut in acting in this movie.

MM: Dorothy is somehow related to Frank Booth, a local man of the underworld.

Mr. FFF: Frank Booth is a foul-mouthed and violent sociopath, being sexually inclined toward dry humping and sadomasochism with Isabella Rossellini, while at the same time inhaling nitrous oxide and crying ‘Mommy!’

Mrs. T: Huffing nitrous oxide causes feelings of euporia, insensitivity to pain, and auditory/visual distorions. The only known detriment to one’s health directly related to nitrous oxide is severe vitamin b12 deficiency. This usually only becomes a problem in people who use nitrous oxide several times a day every day. Most, if not all, nitrous oxide-related deaths are a result of not using common sense, such as using it while standing up and falling and hitting your head or huffing from a plastic bag and having your airways blocked. Nitrous oxide is sometimes called laughing gas and dentists commonly give it to patients undergoing painful dental work.

Mr. FFF: Frank’s inhaling from the mask is a ritual. The mask is acting as his inway to the maternal womb.

MM: This may explain why intermittently, Frank inhales and then tells Dorothy “Baby wants to fuck”.

Mrs. T: And then Dorothy tells him “Mommy loves you”.

Mr. FFF: We may have a classic here, a repressed Oedipal complex that in the way becomes twisted and blends with a delirious impulse to return to “Mommy” for his own safety, to protect her, to make sure she is only his. To confine the real world to the world of the boy and “mommy”.

Mr. FFF: The protagonists’ sexuality is rather extravagant to put it mildly.

MM: We could have a case of perverse sexuality.

Mrs. T: How would define perversion?

MM: (reading from a dictionary) Sexual perversions are conditions in which sexual excitement or orgasm is associated with acts or imagery that are considered unusual within the culture. To avoid problems associated with the stigmatization of labels, the neutral term paraphilia, derived from Greek roots meaning “alongside of” and “love,” is used to describe what used to be called sexual perversions. A paraphilia is a condition in which a person’s sexual arousal and gratification depend on a fantasy theme of an unusual situation or object that becomes the principal focus of sexual behavior.

Mrs T: We have quite a lot of paraphilias in “Blue Velvet”, and Dorothy is only one of the actors in them. Lets start with Jeffrey, who is a voyeur. He is in a closet in Dorothy’s bedroom, watching Dorothy taking off her clothes and wig.

MM: Jeffrey initially pretends he is a voyeur, but as the story unfolds he appears to one, but a voyeur who seeks gratification not only from sex, but from danger as well.

Mr. FFF: Another case of paraphilia is Dorothy’s sexual sadism. When she gets a chance, she cuts Jeffrey with a knife.

Mrs. T: We also have sexual masochism. When Jeffrey hits Dorothy and then apologizes, she proclaims that she actually liked it.

Dorothy Vallens: Hit me! (pause) Hit me! Hit me!

MM: Fetishism is also present. Blue velvet is a fetish.

Mr. FFF: And the blue it is not any kind of it. It is Yves Klein blue! Or this is what I see in it.

Frank Booth:  (addresses Dorothy) Baby wants to fuck. Get ready to fuck. You fucker’s fucker. You fucker. Don’t you fuckin’ look at me!…Baby wants blue velvet…Don’t fuckin’ look at me. Don’t fuckin’ look at me. Don’t you look at me. Daddy’s coming. Daddy’s coming home. Don’t you fuckin’ look at me. Daddy’s coming home…Don’t you fuckin’ look at me. [blows out the candle] Now it’s dark.

Mr. FFF:  “Don’t you fuckin’ look at me.” The power of seeing without being seen.

Frank Booth:  Stay alive baby. Do it for Van Gogh.

Dennis Hopper: I am Frank! Thats what I said to David (Lynch) to get the part.

Isabella Rossellini: Most people have strange thoughts, but they rationalize them. David (Lynch) doesn’t translate his images logically, so they remain raw, emotional. Whenever I ask him where his ideas come from, he says it’s like fishing. He never knows what he’s going to catch.”

Mr. FFF: I saw Isabella Rossellini perform live in the Epidavros open theater in September 2001. She was Persephone, but in my eyes she was Dorothy. Blue Velvet in Epidavros. This was my dream during and after the performance. A dream as good as real.

Ben: To your health

Frank Booth: Ah, shit, let’s drink to something else. Let’s drink to fucking. Yeah, say, “Here’s to your fuck, Frank.”

Frank Booth: Mommy. Mommy. Mommy. Mommy.

Dorothy Vallens: Mommy loves you.

Arthur Schopenhauer: All life is suffering, and suffering is caused by desire. The only way to escape suffering is to escape desire alltogether.

Frank Booth: Goddamn you’re one suave fucker!

Dorothy Vallens: I am not crazy. I know the difference between right and wrong.

Frank Booth: All right. Let’s hit the fuckin’ road, we’re givin’ our neighbor a joy ride. Let’s get on with it. Bye, Ben. Anyone, uh, want to go on a joy ride with us. [to Dorothy] How about you? Huh? Hey, no smile for Frank? No? OK. Fuck it. Let’s go. Now it’s dark. [shouting] Let’s FUCK!I’ll fuck anything that moves!

Mr. FFF: Jeffrey has no fear of Frank whatsoever because Jeffrey is like Frank. As we see the film, we see Jeffrey being metamorphosed from a benign college student to Frank’s double. Frank is Jeffrey’s evil double. This is like a journey of discovery for Jeffrey.

Frank Booth: [to Jeffrey] Don’t be a good neighbor to her. I’ll send you a love letter straight from my heart, fucker. Do you know what a love letter is? It’s a bullet from a fuckin’ gun, fucker. If you receive a love letter from me, you are fucked forever. Do you understand, fuck? I’ll send ya straight to Hell, fucker!

Jeffrey: I did not mean to hit you. I am sorry.

Dorothy: Don’t be sorry, do it again! I loved it!

David Lynch: I equate openness and truthfulness with a recognition and acceptance of inner drives and passions. The pretence of inherent goodness is equated with lying and self-deception.

Blue Velvet, Boby Vinton

She wore blue velvet
Bluer than velvet was the night
Softer than satin was the light
From the stars
She wore blue velvet
Bluer than velvet were her eyes
Warmer than May her tender sighs
Love was ours
Ours a love I held tightly
Feeling the rapture grow
Like a flame burning brightly
But when she left, gone was the glow of
Blue velvet
But in my heart there’ll always be
Precious and warm, a memory
Through the years
And I still can see blue velvet
Through my tears

Participants

Jeffrey Beaumont, a college student

Ben, an associate of Frank’s, not exactly a nice guy

Frank Booth, the film’s protagonist, a pervert and sociopath of sorts

Dorothy Vallens, a night club singer

Mr. FFF, wanderer

Dennis Hopper, American actor

MM, partner

Roy Orbison, American singer

Isabella Rossellini, actress

Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher

Mrs. T, gourmant

Sandy Williams. Police Detective John Williams’ daughter, a high school student

On the Dark Side: A “Fluxus Eleatis” Discourse

Ludwig Wittgenstein: “In a conversation: one person throws a ball; the other does not know whether he is supposed to throw it back, or throw it to a third person, or leave it on the ground, or pick it up and put it in his pocket,…Any interpretation still hangs in the air along with what it interprets, and cannot give it any support. Interpretations by themselves do not determine meaning.”

Socrates: So it is that the good man too could sometimes become bad, either through age or toil or disease or some misfortune – for doing badly is nothing other than being deprived of knowledge – but the bad man could never become bad – for he is bad all the time – but if he is to become bad he must first become good.

MM: Are you a good man?

Mr. FFF: I am good and bad at the same time. And not because of lack of knowledge.

Mrs. T: Are you then disagreeing with Socrates?

Mr. FFF: Good and bad is only one of the “dialectical” dichotomies of man. Others being: reason / faith,  bright / dark, rational / irrational, sacred / profane, Apollonian / Dionysian, nature / culture. Dialectics dictate that both sides are taken together, and dealt with as a whole.

Friedrich Nietzsche: Every human embodies a compound of nature and culture, chaos and order, instinct and reason… symbolised by Dionysus and Apollo.

Mrs. T: What are the origins of bad, of the dark side? Was man in the past a unitary entity? How did this dichotomy of bright and dark come about?

Mr. FFF (Reads from Genesis): “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made and he said to the woman, ‘Indeed, has God said you shall not eat from any tree of the garden?’  And the woman said to the serpent, ‘From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said you shall not eat from it or touch it lest you die.’  And the serpent said to the woman, ‘You surely shall not die for God knows in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate.  She gave also to her husband with her and he ate.  Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked.  And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.”

St. Augustine: We took away an enormous quantity of pears, not to eat them ourselves, but simply to throw them to the pigs. Perhaps we ate some of them, but our real pleasure consisted in doing something that was forbidden. .. the evil in me was foul, but I loved it. I loved my own perdition and my own faults, not the things for which I committed wrong, but the wrong itself. My soul was vicious and broke away from your (God’s) safe keeping to seek its own destruction, looking for no profit in disgrace but only for disgrace itself.

Mrs. T: Surely the Judeo-Christian view is not the only one.

Mr. FFF: Of course not. To take an example, daemons were benevolent spirits in the time of Hesiod. It was Plato and his pupil Xenocrates, who first characterized daemons as dangerous spirits. This was later absorbed by the Christians.

Mrs. T: Is the dark side a moral construct?

Mr. FFF: The dark side is a multifaceted construct. It has moral and religious connotations to say the least.

MM: The seductress of Juliette claimed immediately after the act that morality and religion are meaningless.

Mr. FFF: Lets put two of the prominent “dark side” attributes on the table: sin and evil.

MM: Juliette’s aim in life is to to enjoy oneself at no matter whose expense. What is the meaning of sin and evil for Juliette?

Clairwil: I expect Juliette to do evil – not to quicken her lust, as I believe is her habit at present, but solely for the pleasure of doing it…one must proceed calmly, deliberately, lucidly. Crime is the torch that should fire the passions.

Mephistopheles: Das beste, das du wissen kannst, / Darfst du den Buben doch nichts sagen.

(Mephistopheles: The best of what you know may not, after all, be told to boys.)

Georges Battaile: Sexual reproductive activity is common to sexual animals and men, but only men appear to have turned their sexual activity into erotic activity. Eroticism, unlike simple sexual activity, is a psychological quest independent of the natural goal: reproduction and the desire for children…Eroticism always entails a breaking down of established patterns, the patterns, I repeat, of the regulated social order basic to our discontinuous mode of existence.

Adolfo Bioy Casares (Reads from “The Diary of the War of the Pigs”): “Την κοιτουσε απο κοντα. Καρφωνε το βλεμμα του στα χειλη, στις λεπτομερειες της επιδερμιδας, στο λαιμο, στα χερια που του φαινοντουσαν εκφραστικα και μυστηριωδη. Ξαφνικα καταλαβε πως αν δεν τη φιλουσε, η στερηση θα ηταν ανυποφορη. Ειπε μεσα του: “Ειμαι τρελος”. Κι επανελαβε πως αν την φιλουσε, θα κατεστρεφε ολη αυτη την τρυφεροτητα, που τοσο αυθορμητα του προσφερε εκεινη. Θα εκανε ισως τη λαθος κινηση, που θα την απογοητευε και θα τον εμφανιζε σαν ενα ατομο χωρις ευαισθησια, ανικανο να ερμηνευσει σωστα μαι πραξη γενναιοδωριας, σαν ενα υποκριτη που παριστανε τον καλο, ενω μεσα του κοχλαζουν οι χυδαιες ορεξεις, σαν εναν ανοητο που τολμα να τις εκφρασει. Σκεφτηκε: “Αυτο δε μου συνεβαινε αλλοτε” (και ειπε μεσα του πως αυτο το σχολιο του ειχε γινει πια εμμονη ιδεα). “Σε μια παρομοια κατασταση εγω θα ημουν ενας αντρας μπροστα σε μια γυναικα, ενω τωρα…” Κι αν τωρα εκανε λαθος; Αν εχανε εξαιτιας μιας αγιατρευτης ντροπαλοσυνης την καλυτερη ευκαιρια; Γατι να μη δει τα πραγματα απλα, να μην αφησει τον εαυτο του να καταλαβει πως η Ν κι εκεινος…”

Adolfo Bioy Casares (Reads from “The Diary of the War of the Pigs”): He was watching her from a close distance. His stare was penetrating her lips, the details of her skin, the neck, the hands, mysterious and ever so expressive. He told himself: ” I am mad”. And repeated that if he were to kiss her, he would destroy all the tenderness that she was so spontaneously offering to him. He might make the wrong move, that would disappoint her and present him in her eyes as a person without sensitivity, unable to interpret correctly an act of generosity, like an hypocrite who was pretending to be good, while inside him burn all sorts of vile desires, like a fool who dares express them. He thought: “this was not happening to me in the past” (and told himself that this was becoming now a persistent thought). “In a similar situation in the past, I would be a man in front of a woman, while now…” And if he were wrong? If  because of this incurable shyness he was to miss the best chance? Why not see things in the simple way, not let himself understand that N and himself…”

Michel Foucault: …transgression is not related to the limit as black is to white […] the outside to the inside […] their relationship takes the form of a spiral which no simple infraction can exhaust…sexuality is a fissure – not one which surrounds us as the basis of our isolation or individuality, but one which marks the limit within us and designates us as a limit…transgression and the limit has replaced the older dichotomy of the sacred and the profane.

Marlow: And perhaps in this is the whole difference; perhaps all the wisdom and all the truth, all the sincerity, are just compresses into that inappreciable moment of time in which we step over the threshold of the invisible.

Brother Medardus: One morning when I was going to the choirmaster for my music lesson, I caught his sister by surprise in a light negligee, her breast almost completely bare. She swiftly covered it up, but my prying eyes had already seen too much. Words failed me. New, unknownfeelings welled up within me and drove the red-hot blood through my veins so that my pulse beat out loud for all to hear. My heart was held in a convulsive grip and nearly bursting, until I eased my torment with a gentle sigh.
Georges Bataille:  …eroticism fell within the bounds of the profane and was at the same time condemned out of hand. The development of eroticism is parallel with that of uncleaness. Sacredness misunderstood is readily identified with evil.
Michel Foucault: If it is extremely dangerous to say that reason is the enemy that should be eliminated, it is just as dangerous to say that any critical questioning of this rationality risks sending us into irrationality… if critical thought itself has a function…it is precisely to accept this sort of spiral, this sort of revolving door of rationality that refers us to its necessity… and at the same time to its intrinsic dangers.

Mr. FFF: The spiral negates the dichotomy. A new paradigm is born. I am a descendant of Gerard de Nerval.
Friedrich Nietzsche:…morality takes good and evil for realities that contradict one another (not as complementary value concepts,which would be true), it advises taking the side of the good, it desires that the good should renounce and oppose the evil down to its ultimate roots – it therefore denies life which has in all its instincts both Yes and No.
Alexander Nehamas: The essential unity of what we commonly distinguish as good and evil is one of the most central themes in Nietzsche’s writing.
Georges Bataille:  If they want to elevate sexuality above its organic matrix and turn it into a spiritual activity, human beings cannot but conceive erotism as a gateway to death and the diabolical. The taking over of evil is an extreme and sovereign value. This process would not require the excision of morality, rather it would bring forth a higher level morality, an a-theological “hypermorality”.


Marlow: We penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness.
Mr. Kurtz: The Horror, the Horror!
Marlow: I saw the inconceivable mystery of a soul that knew no restraint, no faith, and no fear, yet struggling blindly with itself.
Friedrich Nietzsche: It is with people as it is with the trees. The more they aspire to the height and light, the more strongly do their roots strive earthward, downward, into the dark, the deep – into evil.
Marlow: The mind of man is capable of anything – because everything is in it, all the past as well as all the future… Droll thing life is – that mysterious arrangement of merciless logic for a futile purpose. The most you can hope from it is some knowledge of yourself – that comes too late – a crop of unextinguishable regrets.
Friedrich Nietzsche: Human beings need what is most evil in them for what is best in them… whatever is most evil is their best power and the hardest stone for the highest creator… human beings must become better and more evil.

Adolfo Bioy Casares (Reads from “The Diary of the War of the Pig”): “Πιστεψε πως δεν ειχε πια ουτε δυναμεις ουτε ψευδαισθησεις για ν’αντεξει τη ζωη. Η φιλια ηταν αδιαφορη, ο ερωτας ποταπος και απιστος και το μονο που περισσευε ηταν το μισος. … του περασε απο το μυαλο μια λυση που αξιζε τον κοπο να την μελετησει κανεις¨το ιδιο του το χερι, οπλισμενο μ’ ενα φανταστικο ρεβολβερ να τον σημαδευει στον κροταφο.”

Adolfo Bioy Casares (Reads from “The Diary of the War of the Pig”): Adolfo Bioy Casares (Reads from “The Diary of the War of the Pig”): “He felt that he no longer had any powers or illusions to stay alive. Friendship was indifferent and love unworthy and vile and the only thing in abundance was hatred… a solution emerged in his mind to be further explored “his own hand, armed with a imagined revolver, aiming his temple”.

Participants

Georges Battaile, French writer and philosopher

Adolfo Bioy Casares, Argentine writer

Clairwil, character in de Sade’s “Juliette”

Mr. FFF, wanderer

Michel Foucault, French philosopher

Mr. Kurtz, half-English, half-French, ivory merchant and commander of a trading post

Marlow, main character in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness

Brother Medardus, a Capuchin Friar

Mephistopheles

MM, partner

Alexander Nehamas, professor of philosophy

Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher

Socrates, Greek philosopher

Mrs. T, unknown ethinicity, gourmant

Mushrooms and Truffles: A “Fluxus Eleatis” disourse

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin: The word gastronomy has been revived from the Greek; it sounds sweetly in French ears, and although imperfectly understood, simply to pronounce it is enough to bring a joyful smile to every face.  We have begun to distinguish gourmandism from greed and gluttony; it has come to be regarded an admissible inclination, a social quality welcome to the host, profitable to the guest, and beneficial to the art: and gourmands are now classed with all other enthusiasts who share a common predilection.

Mrs. T: Mushrooms are primarily texture. Truffles are primarily flavour. Mrs. T: We had grilled mushrooms, in the Dimatis Tavern, Aghios Dimitrios, West of Mount Olympus in Greece. The mushrooms were collected earlier on the day we had lunch, grilled and sprinkled with coarse sea salt, crushed garlic, parlsey, olive oil and lemon juice. Perfection in simplicity, the apotheosis of texture.

Mr. FFF:  Mrs. T will reveal herself today, as a person, of unknown ethnicity, born in Romania, a few days after the Revolution of 1989 in Timisoara. Her parents died in a car crash the day after she was born. I found her by accident – most important things in life happen by accident – and we have been together ever since. She has become my gourmand alter ego. Mrs. T: I met Mr. FFF in Targoviste. It was 24th December 1989. I was 3 days old. Abandoned in a trash can.

MM: Why was Mrs. T found in Targoviste, a town 500 kilometers east of Timisoara, on the day the Causescus were arrested and taken into custody?
Mr. FFF: After the grilled mushrooms west of the mount of Greek Gods, I beg to travel East, and taste crispy deep fried mushrooms with wasabi flavor. I thank Arlene B. Hsu for the recipe, I fell in love with the dish. Arlene says it can be found in variations as street food in Taiwan. This alone is a good reason to visit the island country. Succulent juicy but firm mushroom flesh, coated in crispy dough, oozing wasabi heat and intensity, gives you a reason to live, in spite of the fiscal mess in Europe.
Manuel Vázquez Montalbán: Cookig is a metaphor for culture. Eating means killing and swallowing a being which has been alive, whether animal or plant. If we directly devour the dead animal or the uprooted lettuce, one would say that we were savages. However, if we marinade the beast in order to later cook it with the aid of aromatic Provençal herbs and a glass of rancio wine, then we have effected an exquisite cultural operation, equally based on brutality and death. Cooking is a metaphor for culture and its hypocritical content.
Fricando +

Mr. FFF: The road has been opened centuries ago and traversed billions of times since then. From the grill to the frying pan, and then to the stew pot. Fricando (beef stew) in Restaurante Ramon Freixa, Barcelona, Cataluna. Wonderful flesh, superbly cooked slowly until it becomes soft and delicious, with the tasty mountain mushrooms “moixernons”. It was served with garlic cloves (like candy) and the green stuff that was absolutely amazing: bitter, crunchy, full of flavour!  This dish is like a volcano of flavours!

Ferran Adria:  the creative inspiration I have drawn from Japan is a revelation, a drink from the fountain of youth.

Akelare: Wild mushrooms and egg pasta (Μανιτάρια με παστα)

Mr. FFF: Wild mushrooms and egg pasta in Pedro Subijana’s restaurant, Akelare, near San Sebastian.

Pepe Carvalho: She asked me to be taken “somewhere where we can  just  eat anything”,  just anything being, precisely, what I never wanted to eat.

Mrs. T: Who was this she?

Pepe Carvalho: Teresa Marsé, a spoilt member of the bourgeoisie dedicated to shopping.

MM: Pepe Carvalho tiene una relación  tormentosa con Charo, su novia. Charo es puta; puta feminista para más señas… ante la promiscuidad de Carvalho ella  se enfada, aunque no ocurre al contrario ,el detective comprende y acepta el trabajo de su novia…

Amanita muscaria

Amanita muscaria: I do not know what to say, may be it is enough to say I am beautiful.

Mr. FFF: Between dishes it is always good to cleanse the palate with fizzy water.

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin: A saute of truffles is a dish of which the mistress of the house always does the honours herself; in short, the truffle is the jewel of cookery. I set out to find the reason for this preference, for it seemed to me that several other substances had an equal claim to the honour; and I found that reason is the widespread belief that truffles are conductive to erotic pleasure; what is more, I became convinced that nearly all our tastes, predilections, and admirations are born of the same cause, so closely are held in thrall by that most capricious and tyrannical of the senses.

Mr. FFF: Mugaritz. Loin of duck, served with iodized compliments; crumblings and shavings of summer truffle in the Mugaritz restaurant, near San Sebastian.

Julia Kristeva: Analysis strictly speaking exacts payment of the price set by the subject for revealing that his or her complaints, symptoms or fantasies are discourses of love directed  to an impossible other – always unsatisfactory, transitory, incapable of meeting my wants or desires.

MM: I did not set a timeframe, but I expected to see a mushroom article – an exhaustive one.

Amanita phalloides: I am deadly poisonous! I contain both phallotoxins and amanitins. It is the amanitins that are responsible for the poisonings in humans. Amanitins are cyclic octapeptides that stop protein synthesis in the cells they encounter. All human organs are effected, but damage to the liver is most severe and liver failure is primarily responsible for the death of my victims. Symptoms usually appear 8-12 hours after ingestion. Death occurs in 7-10 days in 10-15% of patients.

Julia Kristeva:  My commitment to analysis … is ultimately shaken by the discovery that the other is fleeing me, that I will never possess him or even touch him as my desires imagined him, ideally satisfying.

Mrs. T :  Artichoke cream with black truffle, in Restaurant Cilantro, Arles, Provence, France.

Pepe Carvalho: Sex and gastronomy are the two most serious things there are.

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin: Hence it may be taken for certain that the truffle is a food as wholesome as it is agreeable, and that, eaten in moderation, it goes down as easily as a letter into a postbox.

Mrs T: When we went  to Arzak’s restaurant, we had the wonderful truffle egg. But Elena does not want us to publish any of our photos, and we respect this wish. I therefore share a photo from Arzak’s recipe book published by “El Pais”, Baked potatoes stuffed with truffles. Wonderful in its simplicity.

Joni L. McClain: In March of 1985, four illegal aliens who had been without food for several days consumed fried wild mushrooms after picking them in a field in Southern California. They each ate between one a nd six mushrooms and, approximately one to two days after consuming the mushrooms, all four men developed gastrointestinal symptoms including nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and watery diarrhea. They went to a local mission for the homeless where they were unable to eat. Their symptoms continued and they were taken to two local hospitals. On admission, all four men appeared dehydrated and three were hypotensive (blood pres- sure less than 100/50). One man stated that he had developed “white stools .”  Three of the men were initially assessed as having gastroenteritis or acute hepatitis or both. The fourth man had been admitted to a sepa rate hospital with the diagnosis of possible acute mushroom poisoning when he was able to ident ify the mushrooms he had consumed f rom a picture of Ama nita phalloides. The hospital where the other three victims were being treated was contacted and the diagnosis and treatment were modifed accordingly…Three of the men died within three days of admission (five days after eating the mushrooms ), and the fourth died eight days following admiss ion (eleven days after eating the mushrooms) . At autopsy, each of the men d emonstrated findings typical of hepatic failure ..The kidneys were pale, swollen, and  in one case displayed multiple cortical infarct ions. The heart in each case demonstrated hemorrhage ranging f rom patchy petechiae to confluent subendocardial left ventricular intramuscular hemorrhage. Two of the men demonstrated hemorrhagic gastritis , one had focal rectal ulcers, and the fourth had no gastrointestinal abnoralities. Mrs. T:  Veal Sweetbreads with artichokes, black truffles and mashed potatoes, in , Restaurant Cilantro, Arles, Provence, France.

Pepe Carvalho: One must drink to remember, and eat to forget.

Terence McKenna: … the transformation from humans’ early ancestors Homo erectus to the species Homo sapiens mainly had to do with the addition of the mushroom Psilocybe cubensis in its diet – an event which according to his theory took place in about 100,000 BC (this is when he believed that the species diverged from the Homo genus)…In higher doses, the mushroom acts as a sexual stimulator, which would make it even more beneficial evolutionarily, as it would result in more offspring. At even higher doses, the mushroom would have acted to “dissolve boundaries”, which would have promoted community-bonding and group sexual activities-that would result in a mixing of genes and therefore greater genetic diversity. Generally McKenna believed that the periodic ingestion of the mushroom would have acted to dissolve the ego in humans before it ever got the chance to grow in destructive proportions.

Porcini e fegato di vitello

Mrs. T:  A divine combination, porcini mushrooms with tender ultra sweet calf’s liver, from “dal Pescatore”, in the Park of River Oglio in Northern Italy.

Mr. FFF: Carles Abellan. Deconstructed three-part tortilla (omelette).

MM:  You are a mushroom and truffles man.

Mr. FFF: truffle is the fruiting body of a subterranean mushroom; spore dispersal is accomplished through fungivores, animals that eat fungi. Almost all truffles are ectomycorrhizal and are therefore usually found in close association with trees.

Robert Burton: Cookery is become an art, a noble science: cooks are gentlemen.

La Famiglia Urbani

Olga Urbani: Truffles grow wild, underground, usually at the base of an oak tree. They used to use pigs, but they ate the truffles.Very rich American people they only see truffles on the table of a very elegant restaurant. They don’t see this. Now you know why they are expensive, right?

Florence Fabricant:The prized, richly fragrant black truffles of France have been called black diamonds. But for some swanky dishes this season, zircons may be more like it. Another, cheaper kind of black truffle, the tuber himalayensis from China, has been flooding the market. This influx has created a problem because unscrupulous dealers in France have been mixing the two and selling them all as French truffles, tuber melanosporum, to restaurants. Dealers in the United States have been doing the same. Although the two types look the same, the Chinese truffles, when cut, are likely to be blacker, with less veining. They tend to have a chemical odor and very little flavor.

Animelle co i funghi

Mr. T: Sweatbreads with mushrooms. Animelle co i funghi del Monte Algido, in Osteria di San Cesario, San Cesario, near Rome, Italy.

Daniel Boulud: Right after Christmas I started getting some truffles that I thought were overripe at first. They were very dark and had very little veining. They smelled of benzine and tasted like cardboard. Then I began hearing about the Chinese truffles.

Mrs. T:  Venison tournedo with foie on top, potatoes, chenterelles and black truffle, in La Provence Restaurant, Vilnius, Lithuania.  . The meat was medium rare, as it should, and it was delicious! The combination with the foie was also a good one, it worked!

Roland Griffiths:As a reaction to the excesses of the 1960s, human research with hallucinogens has been basically frozen in time. I had a healthy scepticism going into this. [But] under defined conditions, with careful preparation, you can safely and fairly reliably occasion what’s called a primary mystical experience that may lead to positive changes in a person. It is an early step in what we hope will be a large body of scientific work that will ultimately help people. When administered under supportive conditions, psilocybin occasioned experiences similar to spontaneously-occurring mystical experiences that, at 14-month follow-up, were considered by volunteers to be among the most personally meaningful and spiritually significant of their lives. One mechanism underlying these effects appears to be that psilocybin occasioned an experience having features similar to spontaneously-occurring classical mystical or religious experiences. A limit to the generality of the study is that all of the participants reported at least intermittent participation in religious or spiritual activities before the study. It is plausible that such interests increased the likelihood that the psilocybin experience would be interpreted as having substantial spiritual significance and personal meaning. A systematic replication of the study comparing groups having different levels of spiritual/religious dispositions or interests could be informative.

Mr. FFF: Psilocybin mushrooms, also known as “magic mushrooms”, were used in ancient times, and were depicted in rock paintings. Many native peoples have used mushrooms for religious purposes, rituals and healing. In modern day society they are often used to evoke a “high”, which is sometimes described as spiritual experience and is often euphoric in nature. Sometimes however, the disorientation of psilocybin and psilocin’s psychedelic effects may bring on anxiety such as panic attacks, depression and paranoid delusions. However, recent studies done at the Imperial College of London and also at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine conclude that when used properly, psilocybin acts as an anti-depressant.

“I had a rough day. Lets have a smoke and some mushrooms…”

Roland Griffiths:When administered under supportive conditions, psilocybin occasioned experiences similar to spontaneously-occurring mystical experiences that, over a year later, were considered by volunteers to be among the most personally meaningful and spiritually significant experiences of their lives and to have produced positive changes in attitudes, mood, altruism, behavior, and life satisfaction. In addition to possible therapeutic applications, the ability to prospectively produce mystical-type experiences should permit rigorous scientific investigations about their causes and consequences, and may provide novel information about the biological bases of moral and religious behavior.

Funghi Porcini

Participants

Amanita muscaria

Amanita phalloides: also known as the Death Cap, is the most deadly and poisonous mushroom on Earth.

Ferran Adria, Catalan chef and co-owner of the El Buli restaurant in Roses, Cataluna

Daniel Boulud, chef and owner of Restaurant Daniel in Manhattan, New York

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, French gourmand and author

Robert Burton, English Scholar and Vicar

Pepe Carvalho, Catalan private investigator

Florence Fabricant: American, New York Times journalist

Mr. FFF, wanderer

Roland Griffiths, of the department of neuroscience and psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medical School, USA

Julia Kristeva, Bulgarian-French psychoanalyst

Joni L. McClain,  American M.D.

Terence McKenna, American philosopher, psychonaut, researcher, teacher, lecturer and writer

MM, partner

Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, Catalan writer and journalist

Spencer, private detective

Mrs. T, unknown ethnicity, the gourmand alter ego of Mr. FFF

Olga Urbani, Italian truffle merchant

Women in Men's Clothes

Today I want to address the subject of women wearing men’s clothes.

In spite of the Bible’s (Deuteronomy 22.5) urge:

“A woman shall not wear a man’s garment, nor shall a man put on a woman’s cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your God.”, women have been wearing men’s clothes for many centuries now.

Amazon wearing pants, Attic white-ground alabastron, British Museum, 470 BC As the 470 BC white-ground alabastron from Attica Greece shows, the Amazons were wearing pants many centuries before Christ (it is in the British Museum’s collection).

Cross-dressing is the wearing of clothing and other accoutrement commonly associated with a genderwithin a particular society that is seen as different than the one usually presented by the dresser.[1] Cross-dressing has been used for disguiseperformance art and as a literary trope in modern times and throughout history. (Source: Wikipedia)

What are the motives behind women’s wearing of men’s cloths? Lets see some different cases.

Case 1 (A means to an end): The wife tries to liberate the husband form the prison

In Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio, Act 1 begins with Florestan’s wife, Leonore, came to Rocco the jailers door dressed as a boy seeking employment, and Rocco hired her.

Yvonne Howard as Leonore in Opera Holland Park's 2003 production of Fidelio

Case 2 (Artistic): The woman is a mezzo-soprano and has to dress as a man, before her role is a man

In Act 1 of Richard Strauss’s “Der Rosenkavalier,” Princess Marie Therese von Werdenberg (the Marschallin, the title given to a Field Marshal’s wife) and her much younger lover, Count Octavian Rofrano exchange vows of love. In this case, Octavian is a role sung by a mezzo-soprano. Therefore, the role is male, but the singer is female.

Renee Fleming as the Marschallin and Susan Graham as Octavian

Case 3 (Stylistic): Diane KEaton in Woody Allen’s Anny Hall

This is the moment in Annie Hall, Woody Allen’s classic 1977 romantic comedy, when the world (and Alvy Singer) fell in love with Diane Keaton’s distinctive and quirky style. When the 30-year-old actress had turned up on the set, the film’s costume lady complained to Allen that she looked “crazy” and couldn’t possibly wear her own gear onscreen (as often happened in Woody movies). But Allen replied: “Leave her. She’s a genius. Let’s just leave her alone and let her wear what she wants.” (Source: Style Matters)

Case 4(Love): Alice in the Navy – In a Greek movie of 1961, Alice enters the Naval Academy’s Training Center dressed as a Cadet, in order to meet her lover.

Η Αλικη στο Ναυτικο: Αλικη Βουγιουκλακη και Δημητρης Παπαμιχαηλ

Case 5 (Stylistic): Marlene Dietrich in 1928 was photographed by Alfred Eisenstaedt. The photo was part of a set published by LIFE Magazine.

Marlene Dietrich

Case 6 (Stylistic): Catherine Hepburn ten years later, also in a Alfred Eisenstaedt photo.

Catherine Hepburn

Case 7 (Fashion): Thanks to the “How to spend it” Financial Times’ magazine, I can publish the following pictures, for private non-commercial use only.

The irresistible power of … UPDATED 8pm – (Το μ…νι σερνει και το καραβι και τον αρχηγο του ΔΝΤ) ΕΝΗΜΕΡΩΣΗ 8 μμ

Εμεις οι Ελληνες εχομε βαθειες παρακαταθηκες.

Ειμεθα και ναυτικος λαος.

Εργο του Παναγιωτη Τσεσμελη, μαθητη Γυμνασιου Σαλαμινας

Και ως εκ τουτου εχομεν επιγνωσιν των δυναμεων εκεινων που δυνανται να τιθασευουν τα πλωτα αυτα σχηματα που τοσα και τοσα πλουτη και δοξα εφεραν και φερνουν στην πατριδα μας ανα τους αιωνες.

Max Beckmann Ulysses

Αυτη η δυναμη που σερνει το καραβι εσυρε το μεσημερι του Σαββατου και τον πανισχυρο Στρως Καν, τον επικεφαλης του λαοφιλους ΔΝΤ. Με τροπο ομως σκοτεινο.

Ευρισκομενος εις την σουιτα του ξενοδοχειου Σοφιτελ, αρτι εξελθων του λουτρου, εν αδαμιαια περιβολη, επετεθη – συμφωνα με το ρεπορταζ – σε καμαριερα που ειχε μπει για να καθαρισει.

Ουαι!!!!!!!!

Η καμαριερα δεν επιθυμουσε το ιδιο που επιθυμουσε ο πανισχυρος ανηρ.

Ουτε χαμογελουσε. Αντισταθηκε και επαλεψε. Και επαλεψε ξανα.

Μολις ξεφυγε απο τους εναγκαλισμους του Αρχηγου, η καμαριερα κατηγγειλε τον Στρως Καν στη Διευθυνση του ξενοδοχειου για αποπειρα βιασμου.

Ο Στρως Καν που αμεσως μετα αποπειραθηκε να φυγει στο Παρισι, συνεληφθη επι του αεροσκαφους της Αιρ Φρανς και ανακρινεται απο την Αστυνομια της Νεας Υορκης. Συντομα θα του απαγγελθουν κατηγοριες και θα ασκηθει ποινικη διωξη.

ΜΕΣΟΛΑΒΗΣΑΝ 12 ΩΡΕΣ

Επανερχομαι στο θεμα μας κατοπιν ωριμου σκεψεως και επιχειρω αναλυσιν ερμηνειαν και αναδειξιν ηθικων αυτουργων.

Φαινεται οτι εξερχομενος του λουτρου ο Αρχηγος του ΔΝΤ υπεφερε απο υπερβολικην στυσιν. Εμπεσων επι της καμαριςρας επιχειρησε την ανακουφισιν ή “πνιξιμο” της θηριωδους στυσεως, ητις υπερεβαινε και τα αγγουρια Ιεραπετρας (αυτα με τα πολλα λιπασματα).

Τυφλωμενος απο την φυσικην του αναγκη, ο Αρχηγος ξεχασε οτι εχει ηδη επελθει η Γαλλικη Επαναστασις, και οι καταπιεσμενοι και πτωχοι πλην τιμιοι ανθρωποι μπορουν να αντιστεκονται στις επιθυμιες των ισχυρων, οταν αυτες δεν εχουν σχεση με τις επαγγελματικες και κοινωνικες συμβασεις.

Ειναι προφανες οτι ο Αρχηγος σκεφτοτανε συνεχως και την επερχομενη υπερατλανιτκη πτηση, και τον ταραζε η ιδεα οτι θα πεταξει πανω απο τον ατλαντικο με την ματζαφλαρα στην τσιτα.

Εδω ομως φαινεται και η ελλειπης αυτογνωσια του Αρχηγου,. Εφοσον παρατηρουνται τετοια φαινομενα εις την φυσιολογιαν του, θα επρεπε να εχει εξασφαλισει την συντροφια εσκορτ κυριας, που ειναι διπλα σου για μια στιγμη αναγκης κι ετσι δεν κινδυνευεις να θελεις μετα απο την βλακεια της καβλας σου να αυτοκτονησεις.

Φωτο Αρχειου - Η σημερινη (15 Μαιου) συναντηση δεν εγινε

Ας ελθωμεν ομως και εις το θεμα των ηθικων αυτουργων. Η σκεψη αυτη μου ηρθε καθως διερωτομουνα πως θα αντιδρασουν αυριο οι αγορες. Πως θα εξελιχθει πλεον η “διασωση” της φιλτατης πατριδος. Κατεληξα στο συμπερασμα οτι πολυ πιθανα πισω απο ολα αυτα ευρισκονται οι μυστικες υπηρεσιες μεγαλης ευρωπαικης χωρας που δεν επιθυμει την διασωσιν της ελλαδος και των αλλων φαληρισαντων, αλλα δεν μπορουσε να αντισταθει στον Γαλλο Αρχηγο του ΔΝΤ που το ειχε παρει εργολαβια να “σωσει” την Ελλαδα μεχρι να εκλεγει Προεδρος της Γαλλικης Δημοκρατιας.

Hellas, Europe, Panathinaikos UPDATED 10th May 2011 – Ελλας Ευρωπη Παναθηναικος

Μεσα στα βαρεια συννεφα που σκιαζουν τη χωρα, η τριφυλλαρα πηρε το 6ο κυπελλο ευρωπαικης καλαθοσφαιρισεως – την κουπα – και ανεπτερωσε το καταρρακωμενο ηθικο μας.

Συσσωμος ο λαος του Παναθηναικου κραυγαζει: “Γιαννακοπουλε Θεε, παρε αμεσως την ΠΑΕ”, μηπως μπορεσουμε και ξαναδουμε πρωταθλημα στο ποδοσφαιρο πριν μπουμε στον εικοστο δευτερο αιωνα.

Το βιντεο κλιπ που ακολουθει το αφιερωνω στην εξαδελφη Δεσποινα που με ενεπνευσε με τον παναθηναικο οιστρο και παλμο της.

“Οσο για τις ψαροκασελες, τις αφηνουμε στην θλιβερη καταντια τους.” εγραψα και ορθα ο εξαδελφος σχολιασε οτι αδικω την ομαδα μπασκετ του ολυμπιακου. Σωστα, και συμφωνω. Η αδεξια και ελλιπης προταση μου αφορουσε τα χουλιγκανια που απο φθονο πανε και συγκρουονται με τα δικα μας χουλιγκανια και χρησιμοποιουν και καλασνικοφ!

Freud on the Acropolis

On his only visit to Greece, in 1904, Sigmund Freud experienced

brief but unsettling feelings of alienation as he

stood on the Acropolis. Haunted by this experience,

Freud did not succeed in analyzing it to his own

satisfaction until 32 years after the event, in 1936.

In 1936 he wrote to his good friend Romain Rolland a letter, where he tried to self-analyze what happened to him back in 1904 on the Acropolis.

Romain Rolland

Freud had started to exchange letters with Romain Rolland since 1923. The French thinker influenced the father of modern psychoanalysis, to the extent that Rolland’s “oceanic feeling” was featured in the opening of Freud’s “Civilization and its discontents”.

Athens and the Acropolis were not in Freud’s travel plans in the summer of 1904. They(he was accompanied by his brother) were going to visit Corfu. However, while in Trieste, they were advised not to go to Corfu, but instead visit Athens and the Acropolis. Freud narrates:

When, finally, on the afternoon of our arrival I stood on the Acropolis and cast my eyes upon the landscape, a surprising

thought suddenly entered my mind: ‘So all this really does exist, just as we learnt it at school!'”
“. . . the whole psychical situation, which seems so confused and is so difficult to describe, can be satisfactorily

cleared assuming that at the time I had (or might have had) a momentary feeling: ‘What I see here is not real.’
Such a feeling is known as ‘a feeling of derealization’ [‘Entremdungsgefuhl’ (literally, ‘a feeling of alienation’)].”

“I might that day on the Acropolis have said to my brother: ‘Do you still remember how, when we were young, we used day after
day to walk on the same streets on our way to school, and how every Sunday we used to go to the Prater or on some excursion we knew so well? And now, here we are in Athens, and standing on the Acropolis! We really have gone a long way!’
. . .
It must be that a sense of guilt was attached to the satisfaction in having gone such a long way: there was
something about it that was wrong, that from earliest times had been forbidden. . . .
It seems as though the essence of success was to have got further than one’s father, and as though to excel one’s father was still something forbidden. . . .
The very theme of Athens and the Acropolis in itself contained evidence of the son’s superiority. Our father had been in business, he had had no secondary education, and Athens could not have meant much to him. Thus what interfered with our enjoyment of the journey to Athens was a feeling of filial piety….”
Sigmund Freud

“I was already a man of mature years [forty-eight] when I stood for the first time on the hill of the Acropolis of
Athens, between the temple ruins, looking out over the blue sea. A feeling of astonishment mingled with my
joy. . . . [M]y astonishment . . . has something to do with the special character of the place. ”
Freud might had the most sincere intention of self analyzing his response to the Acropolis, but his explanations appear to be rather cliche. A man who had deep and rounded knowledge of Ancient Greece and its culture, could not have stayed only at the father -son conflict. Quite obviously the conflict was much deeper and broader. And we will never know enough about it.
Following comments by Despoinarion and Manolis, I venture into an assumption for the further exploration of the issue. The assumption is that the feeling of acute alienation that Freud experienced on the Acropolis is somehow related to his “link” to “Athena”, the goddess.
From the catalog of “Sigmund Freud’s Collection“, I borrowed the following description on the Athena bronze statute that Freud owned since 1914.
Athena
Roman, 1st or 2nd century AD, after a Greek original of the 5th
century BC
bronze, 12.5 x 4.5 x 3.8 cm
LDFRD 3007
Collection Freud Museum London
Athena was Freud’s favourite work. When he bought Athena, sometime after 1914, he positioned her in pride of place at the centre of the antiquities on his desk. In 1938, when the Nazis invaded Vienna, Freud and his family prepared to fl ee. It seemed that Freud might lose his entire collection so he selected two works to be smuggled out, to
represent all the collection meant to him. One of those was Athena, the other a tiny Jade Screen (Qing Dynasty, 19th century, not in the exhibition).
Athena was restored to Freud in Paris, when he was en route to London. Princess Marie Bonaparte, Freud’s close friend and a psychoanalyst, had spirited the statue out of Vienna. When the Princess returned it to him, Freud said that he felt ‘proud and rich under the protection of Athene.’
Freud did not treat his artworks as sacrosanct. During the analysis of the American poet Hilda Doolittle,
known as H.D., he picked up Athena and handed it her. ‘This is my favourite’, he said. ‘She is perfect … only she has lost her spear.’
Athena is a masculine goddess. As the protector of Athens, the Parthenon was her temple. She was the daughter of Zeus, his favourite child, born fully formed from his head. She was a fi erce warrior who, with her enormous bronze-tipped spear, helped the Greeks fi ght the Trojans. When Perseus fought Medusa, the snake-haired
monster, Athena assisted, advising him to use her great shield like a mirror because those who gazed into Medusa’s eyes were turned to stone. On her breast, Athena wore Medusa’s image, an emblem of a vanquished force she had turned to her own advantage. Like most of the gods, she had a range of characteristics: in times of peace, she
was benevolent and inspiring, a patron of the arts and a wise, civilising influence.