Russian Gangsta style - leather, BMW, not cool (just stay in your car)

In the US, you have hip-hop, rap… many video clips, all look alike… Gangsta song, the flashy car, the flashy nearly naked girls you won’t introduce to your mother,… “a bit too cool” to be true, especially when talking about violence, and so on… the message being “Gangster is cool”.

I bumped into several videos on youtube, the theme being Russian gangsta style of song. You forget “HipHop”, you forget “cool”, you add violence*10, harsh cold + hardcore singers who seem to have experienced what they sing + don’t find it cool, at all. Great lyrics to be found out in this new world.

“Бутырка” (Butirka/butrka), quite well-known russian band whose singer dances like a boxer. “Бутырка” is the name of a prison (high security apparently) in Moscow, where the singer and the “pianist” spent some time in. You wouldn’t like to spend time there. You wouldn’t (80 prisonners in a cell tailored for only 20, very russian comfort). Try the song “Малец”.

From a movie point, you could try out the russian made hit “Бумер” (Bumer - 2003), movie all about a stupid BMW getting stolen - your call. Pretty different from the “Eastern Promises” that somehow glorifies “evil”, or manages to find “beauty” in it.

Posted on by tanguy
Filed under: ENGLISH, society, demography, global trends, Zeitgeist | No Comments »

Obama des Etats-Unis, impulsion africaine, apologie de la mixité

En début de matinée, lors d’un bonjour quotidien, au travail, Justin, camerounais, un géant aux mains surdimensionnées, carrure imposante, double Master en droit, mais camerounais, sans passeport ou nationalité européenne ; “…oui ça va très bien, Barrack Obama a gagné, le boulot est assez rébarbatif, mais là aujourd’hui j’ai la patate, je suis super content pour les afro-américains… !”

Ma réponse fut assez maladroite, “non, il n’est pas noir, il est mixte”… automatisme tel une mitraillette, que j’assène depuis quelques mois, à toutes remarques de ce style - car généralement “pour les noirs, il est blanc,… et pour les blancs, il est noir”… je vous conseille un de mes (excellents:-) billets à ce sujet (mixed people, “multi-racial” and mixed perception), si vous êtes intéressés par cette matière. Bref, je me suis rattrapé, en reconnaissant l’identité africaine de ce futur dirigeant, et non afro-américaine (car il ne descend pas d’esclaves noirs, son père étant kenyan) etc.

4 heures après, je me suis rendu compte d’un point primordial ; l’image africaine, de l’identité noire africaine, de la couleur de peau noire risque de fameusement évoluer ! Le racisme, les préjugés, même si latents, existent (ne nous voilons pas la face). Le fait que l’homme le plus puissant du monde soit noir (même s’il ne l’est qu’à moitié, ce fait-là d’ailleurs n’est pas réellement important car il est perçu par la communauté mondiale comme étant “noire” avant tout), montre un tournant clair dans l’histoire de perceptions des peuples. Auparavant perçu dans l’imaginaire collectif comme étant soit esclave, homme-singe, ambassadeur friqué, tyran à la Charles Taylor, basketteur, footballeur, sprinteur, chanteur de hip-hop, clandestin / boat people, on a maintenant, mesdames et messieurs, un homme de grande qualité qui a atteint le sommet du pouvoir, et qui est noir.
Je suis personnellement heureux de cet événement, heureux. J’espère de tout coeur qu’il tiendra, et qu’il n’y aura pas un demeuré fasciste qui fasse de conneries. Bravo les USA, vous avez enfin fait un choix raisonnable, votre image de marque risque de fameusement évoluer (surtout avec la présente administration avec sa vision du monde). La première démocratie du monde (qui a fait, et qui fait toujours, pas mal de conneries), avec le premier président occidental d’une origine ethnique différente de la majeure partie de sa population… bravo. L’histoire a changé.

L’autre point qui me rend fier, c’est la taille des files pour voter - bravo. Le vote aux USA n’est pas obligatoire, les gens ont attendu parfois jusqu’à 3, 4 heures pour voter - un acte de citoyen qui me confirme dans mon opinion contre le vote obligatoire en Belgique. Barack Obama a de la légitimité (et vice-versa si Mc Cain avait gagné) - les électeurs se sont investis. Chapeau bas étasuniens ! Voyons maintenant comment va se passer cette année 2009…

Posted on by tanguy
Filed under: FRANCAIS, expériences interculturelles, immigration | 4 Comments »

A virtual tour in Jerusalem - Israel/Ivrit/Palestine ?

If you want to (safely) discover Jerusalem from this PC screen, just enjoy this nice link… 3D images of chosen monuments. Be sure your connection is fast enough… click here.
You will have the choice between many destinations ; the Mahaneh Yehuda Market place (take the quiz, could you recognize from where these market places are ?), The (well monitored) Kotel by night (the Western wall or the Wailing Wall), the Cardo (the street of the Pillars), The lively Muslim old quarter (one of the four quarters of the old walled city of Jerusalem)… and so on, and so on. Have a nice surf.
In the same spirit, go and have a look to the world panorama’s. Have a safe trip…

Posted on by tanguy
Filed under: ENGLISH, travel | No Comments »

Globalization,… C’mon, stay optimistic :-)

or the “Sudden Wealth Syndrom”,
by Larry Brillant. Don’t shoot yourself, nor commit suicide after having watched this video. Our world is not that gloomy, c’mon, “always look on the bright side of life” (whistle, whistle) !

Posted on by tanguy
Filed under: ENGLISH, society, demography, global trends, Zeitgeist | No Comments »

Localingo & its own world… well mine, for 2 years.

You are right… the editorial is pretty weird ; not many articles (1 or 2 a month), sometimes in French, sometimes in English - no advertising, no clear editorial line, sometimes articles about Belgium, about the Balkans, songs, jokes… and a bunch of pretty personal ways to express viewpoints. Yes, this blog is just for my own pleasure, I’ll try to be more active in the coming months,… like in the old times when I wrote something different every day.

Hereunder is a reader’s world map for the past 2 months (yeah, I know, this is pretty limited).
France and the US seem to be the most enclined to read my articles ; Top10 being France, US, Belgium, Canada, Germany, UK, Switzerland, Poland, Australia, the Netherlands. From a language point of view, French, closely followed by English, and then far away German, Dutch, Polish, and so on.
Interesting to notice a few countries haven’t been “enlightened” by my bulb yet… I could maybe understand for Honduras, Cuba, Algeria, Iraq, Central Asia, North Korea, Burma, Sudan, Zimbabwe,… but for Serbia, and Estonia, I am a bit puzzled (and sad:-( very great countries).

The world is nearly mine... ?

Localingo, the blog at least - the business itself (teaching languages on the internet) probably won’t never be operational - will never be plugged off. It will maybe last 10 years, 20 years, or why not during my whole life (it is already ON for 2 years).

As maybe the earliest readers noticed, the style changed (and still does), the way to approach “ethnical specificities” - the concept I cherish - as well.

There is no advertising on this site, I have been sometimes approached by companies or writers to talk about their books, but well, I have never shown much of enthousiasm (maybe these were not that great), and time did the rest. Sometimes, I participated to “blog buzzes”, created some even, but the blog sphere is a merciless one, where the most successful ones are often hiding marketing agencies behind, or freelancers just in love with this medium (total respect), and (let’s be honest) very talented.

To carry on this honesty attitude, when I started this blog experience, I wanted to make money with LocaLingo, but well, a year ago, I realized with the kind of blog I am writing, this would be very difficult… I want to write about what I like, not what people want to read about ; and this is a very strategic mistake - a common one by the majority of the bloggers.

I might put some “google” style advertising though in the future… maybe, just for the sake to pay the server - hopefully, you won’t mind, even if this could lead to a “keyword strategy”. Let’s see.

Posted on by tanguy
Filed under: ENGLISH | 3 Comments »

Belgrade et ses ambassades…

Un indicateur pour connaître la qualité des relations d’un pays avec ses voisins ; l’aspect extérieur de ses ambassades - Exemple pratique ici avec la Serbie !
Toutes dispersées le long d’une avenue qui débute par un bâtiment administratif “stakhanoviste” en ruine, mortellement blessé par des cadeaux du ciel appartenant, 10 ans auparavant, à “l’oncle Sam”. Ce bâtiment est toujours debout, inoccupé - pour la mémoire ?

beograd nato nationalistes

Par ordre croissant de protection,… ou de son absence.

- Ambassade d’Italie : bel immeuble - normal, sans aucun signe extérieur de sécurité… un peu comme plus loin dans le quartier, celle de la Biélorussie - accueillante. A noter l’ambassade du Canada - un énorme bâtiment neuf à 4 façades ; pour accueillir des nouveaux immigrants ?

- Ambassade d’Allemagne : grand immeuble, aux allures “Allemagne de l’Est” - machine à air conditionné visible. Une couche de fenêtre semble plus épaisse que l’autre. La cabine du gardien est occupée par un agent de police… comme celles de toutes les autres ambassades - la protection est officielle et présente… la Pologne semblait être en état d’alerte à ce moment-là (très proche de celle des USA) - à raison ? Ennemi public n°1 de la Serbie ? Un appel d’air à mon sens.

- Ambassade de Croatie : un petit peu plus loin, une maison villa plus modeste, dont toutes les fenêtres sont recouvertes de panneaux métalliques - pare-balles ? Une cabine de gardien est prévue à l’extérieur. Il était 10.30 du matin - en pause déjeuner peut-être… une porte sur le côté ouverte,… ? Un Serbe se devant de protéger des officiels croates - mmmh, ça laisse à réfléchir.

- Ambassade des USA : la palme d’or. Occupant un coin, avec étonnement de parts et d’autres des panneaux d’interdiction de photographier le bâtiment. Toutes les fenêtres ont été murées. Des bacs de béton blanc délimitent le trottoir, des fleurs tentent d’en faire oublier le côté massif - ils doivent certainement être efficaces dans le cas d’une voiture bélier ; voire de chars. La ruelle d’intersection est interdite au public ; un système de pont-levis empêche toute pénétration possible. Une floppée de gardes veille.
Sur la façade en face, des graffitis - “le Kosovo appartient à la Serbie”… tout s’explique. Un mois auparavant, l’immeuble avait été pris d’assaut par des manifestants.
D’autres articles sur les Balkans, et l’Europe de l’Est

Posted on by tanguy
Filed under: FRANCAIS, guerre | No Comments »

Financial crisis & its GeoPolitical consequences.

Less money —> Less travel —> Less contact abroad —> Less efforts to understand each other’s difference —> Less cohesion from an international point of view —> Ghettoisation effect —> Navel effect

More Poverty —> Less security —> More criminal “organisations” —> More violence, Alcohol & drug —> Less education —> Less Dreams —> More political populism.

“First time poors” —> Deception, depressive —> “Pride upset” effect —> Revenge, angerness
hey France, kiss my american ass

Now, this current stage should be very carefully managed :
IF we manage to limit the crisis to just a normal “every 10 years” one, that’s fine.
IF it slides further, the State should definitely provide help to its citizen (and not let the situation to naturally get worse). the State has to be very cautious on how to communicate the present crisis - the most effective remedies having to be prioritised - however immoral they might look like at first sight.

The risks : Strenghtening Far-Right & Far-Left wings, eventually leading Wars inside the EU.

Posted on by tanguy
Filed under: ENGLISH, Europe, cross-cultural, ethnic, "race", multicultural, mixity, economy, society, demography, global trends, Zeitgeist | No Comments »

Україна - My Ukrainian trip… !

Yes indeed, that sounds as a weird touristic destination… for the first time for 7 years, I have taken the plane for the UNIQUE purpose to just visit a country (even to enjoy it), as an “average” backpacker.
Of course, it was out of question to pick up a dummy touristic blockbuster destination like “Spain”, “Egypt”, “France”, “Croatia” or worst of all “Tunisia (& its all-inclusive)”… ; no, I am TANGUY, and I am going to places that mid-range brainwashed people usually despise, because I am just more experienced and clever (if this is not about provocation…), and because it is my source of inspiration.

Which “exotic” destination at a 3 hours flying range from Brussels I haven’t been yet to ? Which destination would make me look like as a “weirdo” to my fellows, developing the wildest fantasies, when mentioning about it ?

UKRAINE, of course !

Ok, frankly speaking, my dreams of an unfriendly-unsafe-soviet-maffia-shithole got quickly disappointed…
- no “2-months-in-advance” visa (for EU citizens at least, upon arrival) were requested to enter the country (yep, Ukraine is not “Russia”)
- “rightly” considered as a safe country (level 1 ; the maximum) by the Belgian Foreign Affairs Ministry (WHAT???)

But (fortunately),
- the latest (very thin) edition of the Lonely Planet guide was from 2006 (good feeling, they don’t make any yearly issue, the demand must be very low, just the necessary information should be covered then), c’mon trucker/secretary backpackers, go to Croatia
- no-one overthere really speaks English (speak Russian, Ukrainian, or have fun with your hands),
- everything is in Cyrillic (good luck in restaurants) - again, having a pretty ok level in Russian definitely helps… a lot.
- alcohol is pretty expensive (Western Europe level), including clubs and everything linked to nightlife (your budget * 2)
- western tourism is not that much developed (usually all tourists come from Russia and Belarus), so if you are in troubles, have fun with… (if you have any left one :)… !
- …

I lOVE UKRAINE. I LOVE KIEV.

Gentle and curious people, lovely food (really), splendid architecture, amazing countrysides (Crimea is just surreal), Orthodox churches there are just about spirituality - a dimension I believe my Belgian catholic churches is currently missing. Kiev is actually considered as a holy place in the orthodox world, it is as well the historical origin of the Russian empire. A bit like Philadelphia/ Boston for the US… except those cities are still part of the US.

I felt like being home in Kiev, and I hope I’ll be able to go back there with a better level of Russian (probably when I’ll be able to sing these songs by heart ; Kalinka and Katyusha). I got my stereotypes completely broken ; “no-one” there smoke (no young people at least) - which is a premiere in developing countries (usually this is completely the opposite), and the lesser you drink, the better you are considered (even if you could notice “everyone” is carrying/drinking bottles of beer on the streets). After this trip experience, I got convinced that smoking was just so stupid (even when drunk, I just don’t want to scap a fag anymore - smoke in my lungs, not anymore).

But well, this paradise might again anytime soon to the westerners close its doors (maybe for a better) - politically, as you might have read on the news, it is indeed not going that well. I can see critical community and identity problems appearing (Russian speakers vs Ukraine ones), fostered by the 2 totally different neighboring worlds (European Union VS Russia). Torn apart, that might be a probable ending for this country that has already suffered so much (”special treatments” from Nazis and Soviets)… The world has indeed evolved since Yalta, when Roosevelt, Churchill and Staline split the world ; where will this city stand in 10 years time ?

Posted on by tanguy
Filed under: ENGLISH, Europe, travel | Comments Off
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