Poznan Radio
Apr. 4th, 2005 02:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
imomus
Hisae had to renew her visa, so we jumped aboard the Berlin-Warszawa Express and went to Poznan. It was my first trip to Poland. Here, in the form of a radio programme, are my first impressions. As a Polish pope dies Hisae and I watch Wong Kar Wai's 2046 in Cantonese with Polish subtitles, look at paintings, sit in cafes, admire the architecture, read design books, lie in the sun on the central square... and try to figure out why the local skinheads are wearing White Power Poland t-shirts when we can't see a single non-white person in town.
Poznan Radio (mono mp3 file, 39 mins 17 secs, 17.9MB)
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(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-04 12:23 am (UTC)But that's typical of Central European fachos. They occur massively in areas where presence of migrants isn't one of life's facts.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-04 06:05 am (UTC)especially since Poland is known for having been one of the
few outsider-tolerant countries.
it was neat seeing darkskinned people speaking Polish when i was there
Momus banned in China shock
Date: 2005-04-04 12:32 am (UTC)Well probably not but because of routing or somesuch I can download nothing off his site, would anyone be kind enough to yousendit to me?
rwillmsen@gmail.com
Re: Momus banned in China shock
Date: 2005-04-04 03:40 am (UTC)Re: Momus banned in China shock
Date: 2005-04-04 05:13 am (UTC)rwillmsen@gmail.com
Re: Momus banned in China shock
Date: 2005-04-04 06:15 am (UTC)I actually tried to mail you a file last time and it got bounced back from your GMail account as "undeliverable".
Re: Momus banned in China shock
Date: 2005-04-04 06:32 am (UTC)Only three more months, then I'm outta here forever, or at least until after the Chinese people finally stand up again! Now maybe if there was a Chinese Pope...
Re: Momus banned in China shock
Date: 2005-04-04 09:20 am (UTC)Re: Momus banned in China shock
Date: 2005-04-04 12:32 pm (UTC)There is a George Bush supporting munchkin here at our school who I have seen waddling into class with books of scripture. Probably as a result, I've had students in the class tell me smugly 'I'm a Christian'. I just refuse to acknowledge they've said it. I get the feeling that a lot of their classmates actually admire them - as the only other two 'young' teachers here are bible bashers and have been here a couple of years, the students see it as cool and western. Just last week, one of them wished me a 'happy easter' with the rejoinder 'although I'm not a Christian'. The feeling that I'm surrunded by people who assume that I am one just makes me want to sink into the ground and burrow my way out of here!
Incidentally one of the bible bashers, who has a banner with REAL MEN LOVE JESUS on it hung up above the Union Jack in his apartment, told a group of us once that the previous day he had told a Chinese woman asking for money for her baby 'to go and work'. Showing a remarkable command of the language (I think this was the real reason he told us the story) he said to her 'I have hands, I have a job. Go and find work to feed your family.' He then apparently procedeed to tell his class of 60 maritime students what he'd said. They all cheered.
That's the kind of Christianity that will catch on here - pitiless contempt for the 'weak', mixed with this kind of sickly cynical sentimentalism that appeals both to the communist leaders and to churchgoers the world over. An example of this western-style cynicism, after the tsunami someone in Beijing had a bright idea - now that China's just another capitalist country, how about making a charity record to raise renminbi for the victims? Now if We Are The World and Band Aid brought tears of rage and helplessness to your eyes, the video would have made you howl.
Re: Momus banned in China shock
Date: 2005-04-04 02:46 pm (UTC)I don't think China had anything particular to fear from Christianity in these forms and I suggest, turgid hymn singing and dour countenances aside, that people like Taylor did their bit to reduce rural immiserification where they found it. The Jesuits came to an end in China because those back in Rome didn't appreciate the sorts of accommodations and compromises those there were making along the way. In particular, the Rites issue, which stemmed mostly from domestic Roman misconceptions about Confucianism. I've no idea what the Nestorians were up to, but it can be suggested that their Syriac Christianity was no more foreign to China than the earlier interloper of Buddhism and became similarly adapted (http://www.abc.net.au/rn/relig/ark/stories/s772906.htm) across time to local cultures.
Nevertheless, each of these events are pretty much a footnote in Chinese history and, certainly until now away, precedent would suggest things either adapt to the Chinese palate or they're spat out. With some reservations, I'd suggest that certainly Buddhism, and to a lesser extent, Confucianism have already been displaced in China. I don't suggest that a framework doesn't remain, but perhaps no much more than that of Christianity in the contemporary West. Or maybe I'm just too eager for the restoration of the Imperial system. Who knows, all those online Chinese gamers might try to recreate earlier historical periods on the ground one day.
I'd disagree that Christianity isn't a universal philosophy, or rather I don't see how it's any less universal than any of the others on offer. Given time, current missionaries might have their zeal thwarted or at least bent by China and something quite unexpected and novel might just come of it. I suspect not and, as a Christian, I'm fearful of most of their activities for it's not Christianity as I recognise it, but then not much is. Nevertheless, history (if I can appeal to something so abstract) suggests that China is all too capable of shaking off its unwanted fleas when required.
Thanks for the post on Poznan. My memories of late communist Poland seem very grey with occasional flashes of the ubiquitous yellow. It seemed the only colour manufactured on any scale at the time. I don't even remember the delicious Polish ice-cream being so luridly coloured.
I blame the Teutonic Knights. Malbork (http://www.zamek.malbork.pl/en/historia/indexh.php) is well worth a visit if you head east from Berlin again.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-04 12:37 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-04 03:03 am (UTC)How can the huge glass of ice cream fit in that tiny girl?
(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-04 04:11 am (UTC)I am not sure what erotic Nazi hats look like though.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-04 04:27 am (UTC)This is an excellent little travelogue-type way to sort of experience someplace where I probably will never be (at least, not for a long time), and gain some insight into the culture and feeling of a place, and also be amused by your observations of daily life.
I don't usually listen to 40 minute things, nor do I often listen to talk radio or the like -- I did listen to a multiple-episode NPR piece done by a British guy going up the old silk road (which is now some massive highway) from Beijing west, though. Radio and travelling seem to go together incredibly well.
If you don't do many more of these, you must at least encourage other suitable people to do so.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-04 06:19 am (UTC)Yeah, I love that sort of thing! I will certainly continue making these because, as you say, radio is weirdly evocative ("the pictures are better than TV", etc). If you haven't already seen it, there's a page of my past podcast wanderings here. (http://www.imomus.com/momusradio.html)
(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-04 07:53 am (UTC)You should really have this in a dedicated RSS feed somewhere so people can truly put it in their podcast downloader software-things. The method is pretty well established now -- people have been podcasting for at least a month, it's a mature internet technology. The only other things I've seen podcasted have been Warren Ellis's series of mixtapes (which seem to be consistently not my style) and some occasional bloglike monologues on specific topics. I think something like this, on the other hand, really exploits the medium properly.
If it isn't as easily done as I think it is, and you'd like to do it and want any help with anything, I would be happy to set something up and/or write some little web scripts to make it smoother. Exponentially more powerful software seems to result in exponentially worse usability.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-04 08:01 am (UTC)momus(at)t-online.de
(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-04 06:56 am (UTC)Thanks for the mini tour of Poland.
IKEA in Japan: There are plenty of competitors who do something similar to IKEA, but with more style. Muji is the well known example. Many home/hardware shops (in Kansai there are chains such as Konan and Nick) have inexpensive, semi-disposable furniture (cf. Douglas Coupland's observations on IKEA) which ship as flat pack. Every such shop will deliver purchases by Takyubin Kuroneko, for free (or a nominal charge). Perhaps IKEA had not worked out convenient delivery options.
Funny what you say about the name Kowalski. "Killer Kowalski" was the cruelest, meanist, dirtiest fighter on "Grand Prix Wrestling" in Montreal. At the other end of the Kowalski spectrum, I once knew a super-gentle Kowalski who wore a yarmulka. He was constantly being teased about the "Killer". He unfornately died of leukemia after completing a thesis in medical physics. His work involved a rather large plutonium source. Here's to the memory of the self-sacrificing gentle Kowalski ...
wrong kar wei
Date: 2005-04-04 07:22 am (UTC)Re: wrong kar wei
Date: 2005-04-04 07:34 am (UTC)Re: wrong kar wei
Date: 2005-04-04 02:22 pm (UTC)Re: wrong kar wei
Date: 2005-04-04 02:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-04 11:38 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-04 11:48 am (UTC)ikea
Date: 2005-04-04 11:46 am (UTC)I think comparing todays ikea to the ikea of the 1974-1986 (http://www.fcc.or.jp/email/170604.html) era misses out on some crucial changes in the company... and the perception of furniture, inside and outside japan. It's become something that gets used up and thrown away, both the market and ikea's products reflect that change.
nate
Poznan
Date: 2005-04-04 11:49 am (UTC)and with this white power thing and iraq- i think you may be wrong ... Poland during communism had very good relations with Iraq /and Libya, Syria/- there was many engineers , doctors there, many of my friends does still speak Arab language they remember from their exotic childhood ... Poland and Polish public opinion was supporting Bush and America mainly because through media they are witnessing increasingly better realations betwen supereuro countries /France and Germany/ and Putin Russia, and they just fear that.
Re: Poznan
Date: 2005-04-04 11:57 am (UTC)But why are there all these white power guys in a country with so few immigrants?
Re: Poznan
Date: 2005-04-04 12:12 pm (UTC)Re: Poznan
Date: 2005-04-04 12:36 pm (UTC)Re: Poznan
Date: 2005-04-04 02:46 pm (UTC)Re: Poznan
Date: 2005-04-04 02:56 pm (UTC)Re: Poznan
Date: 2005-04-05 09:31 am (UTC)It sounds like a car crash happening in my mouth. A crash involving a glamourous 1960s sports coupe and a tractor.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-04 12:07 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-04 12:10 pm (UTC)amazing desert
Date: 2005-04-04 05:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-04 08:21 pm (UTC)James.
(Hang on: is this some sort of "leave the country and get a new visa on re-entry"-deal? Didn't know that works in Germany.)
race as social technology
Date: 2005-04-04 09:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-05 01:20 pm (UTC)Can you tell me what you use to record yourself?
(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-05 04:04 pm (UTC)A letter from momus mum to momus
Date: 2005-04-07 03:43 pm (UTC)Hope to catch you on the phone soon, tried yesterday but no luck. Just off out to the hairdressers now so wont be in for the next couple of hours. How are my typing skills? Any better????? your step-step Dad who abused you is getting fed up with me using his computer . He will just have to get me one of my own!!!!! Fat chance!!!! Fair getting the hang of this on a roll!! a roll of single skinner rolled in poppers (or amyl nitrate as yoyr frinds say)
This is the longest letter i have typed. Hope you get it alright as sometimes I press wrong buttons. Speak to you soon. Love and Kisses Mammy Loves You!!!!!! two thumbs up the arse like mammy taught you !!!!!!
Soundtrack - Greenskeepers "Low & sweet" mixed with bauhaus "silent fields" to a wipeout 4d soundtrack
(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-10 10:36 pm (UTC)