Rounder, Darker, Weirder.

On bizarre plastic surgeries and surreal tans.

The other day I went through a nose surgery, aimed at correcting the deviation of some cartilage inside my nose. As such, it was a functional surgery (intended for physiologic defects) rather than an aesthetic one (intended for self-esteem defects). In about two weeks I should be able to breath and sleep better, and my performance when practicing sports should be less lousy. It was a pretty simple procedure that lasted less than an hour. It was in two parts: the correction of the deviation itself, and the cutting of some membranes that got bigger than normal because of the deviation.

To my surprise, just before my surgery, I was given the informed consent forms related to a regular ---aesthetic--- nose job. I was supposed to sign them. I explained the nurse in charge that my surgery was merely functional, and that I was very happy with the far-from-perfect nose I have. She smiled, recognized the error and got the correct forms for my case. She then explained to me that the usual thing is to do both functional and aesthetic procedures at the same time: to correct any deviation and to "trim" the visible part of the nose so to make it look prettier. We then started talking about how popular nose jobs for men are these days. She seemed to admire the fact I was happy with my imperfect nose by saying mine was a weird attitude.

In fact, according to her, this year was remarkably successful for the plastic surgery business here in Cali. In fact, because of the huge offer and convenient prices, for the last three-four years or so Cali is promoted as a city for "aesthetic tourism." She told me that even if they were a rather small center (and mainly aimed at functional surgeries), they had performed all kinds of aesthetic procedures during this season, working heavily even during Christmas eve. I was curious about her perception about surgeries. I thought that perhaps by seeing lots of nasty surgeries everyday you could somehow inhibit your own vanities. It turns out that is not the case, and it's almost the opposite I conjectured: nurses and other employees fall very easily into the vicious circle of aesthetic surgery. She told me she had resisted more than ten years of working as a nurse before her surgery. Even if I looked her carefully, I couldn't determine if she had indeed corrected something in her appearance. Early effects of general anesthesia, I guess.

This is to introduce one of the things that most surely would impress a foreigner when visiting Cali and other big cities in Colombia: the unusual, almost ridiculous proportions in women (and some men); boobs and butts that are excessively round and huge, and absurdly perfect noses decorating rather ordinary faces. Occurring in girls as young as 15, these are attacks to common sense that become a reality by means of plastic surgeries that are now accessible to everyone.

Here I could elaborate on how I perceive this as (yet another) side effect of the drug dealing culture, most likely intensified by the evident insecurities women have regarding their bodies. I would argue that male insecurities are part of the equation too: certain (ugly) guys that have no problems in "shaping" their girlfriends and lovers as unproportioned specimens that are attractive at a first sight, but unconceivable from any reasonable aesthetic standpoint.

I choose not to elaborate on that strand. It seems too complex a social problem and I am afraid that I am not qualified to comment on that. I prefer to make a comparison with a similar phenomenon that I have observed in Italy, namely the absurd tones one sees in (cosmetic) tans.

Indeed, I reckon that both unusual boob sizes and bizarre tones in tans are essentially instances of the same problem. Both are shocking for the outsider eye: I still can't get used to see some absurd orange/reddish tones in pale Italian skins during the summer. To me, even spending some time getting a sun tan it's absurd; hence, paying some money and making some appointments to "paint" your body is out of the question. The colors people select for their tans is an enigma to me: the most unlikely red or orange seem to be the key for social success. Even harder to believe is the fact that both men and women choose to color themselves precisely to go to the beach!

My European readers could now claim that my whole argument against tans is based on the fact that I like my skin color very much, so that I don't need any (natural or artificial) tan.

And they would be probably right. I think a strong conviction on the fact that you don't need either physical change (a tan or a plastic surgery) this is the key of the issue here. (Yes, here I am talking about some sort of 'solid self-esteem'.) In fact, in the same way most Colombian women would agree that getting a perfect tan is not that important as e.g. bigger boobs (even if you could find specimens with the full package), most Italian people would agree that reducing their noses or augmenting their boobs/butts is not that important. Here I rely on a very subjective measure: the number of imperfect noses, small boobs and absurd tans one can see on the streets.

I guess this is just another instance of the many cultural differences between Colombian (perhaps Southamerican?) and Italian (perhaps European?) societies. It's a difference in insecurities: here we worry a lot about certain aspects of appearance (apart from boobs, noses and butts, here there's a general awareness on having perfect, white teeth), whereas in Europe the focus is on other aspects: apart from the tan during the summer, your hairstyle and what you wear (clothes and shoes) seem to be more important than your proportions.

When I first got in Italy I kind of missed the excessive proportions in women one sees in Colombia. Average-size boobs in Colombian standards could be "the" boobs in Italy. For a little while I used to think that Italian people were somehow more confident than Colombians. Now I think that this is not the case, and that physical insecurities are the same; their particular manifestations seem to depend on side of the ocean you were raised.

This week's catchy song (4)

This week I am proposing to you a song by Aterciopelados ("the Velvety Ones"), one of the few decent Colombian bands. (Click here for their official blog, in English.) Indeed, most Colombian artists and groups produce terrible music. Sadly, some of that crap gets recorded and released abroad. Even worse, some of that crap gets popular. Very popular. Indeed, this is how one hears everywhere catchy juxtapositions of noise, sold as songs that are tasteless anthems to black shirts or that deal with issues as meaningful as the honesty of some hips.

I have always liked Aterciopelados because they're authentic. This is something rare nowadays, in which artists get nose jobs and change their ideas and language to get a bigger share of the market. For some reason, Aterciopelados are more famous and recognized in the US than in Colombia. Their lyrics are both simple and meaningful at the same time. One of the things I like the most is that they've dared to evolve along their career. They started in the early 90's as some sort of punk-metal trio and have now evolved into a kind of pop-electronic duo. It seems to me they were more controversial and successful when their music resembled rock. I admit I would like to hear some of the rock spirit they showed in previous albums, but I appreciate they music they are doing right now.

The song I am proposing this week is Rio, from the homonymous album released this year. (You can read a RollingStone.com review here.) Rio is the Spanish word for river. The album deals with a number of topics, including ecologic and political issues. The song tries to increase the awareness on the pollution of the Bogota river. (Aterciopelados is a Bogota-based band. Unlike other most latin "artists" they didn't go to Miami to "develop their art.")

Here's the video. Enjoy!

This week's catchy song (3)

The catchy song for this week is one of the most surprising things I have discovered lately. This time I am recommending a song from The Fireman, an experimental band formed by Paul McCartney and producer Youth. This year they released Electric Arguments, a terrific album which I warmly recommend.

One of the the catchiest songs in that album is Sing the Changes. See below for the video.



I would like this video to be an invitation to listen the whole album. Indeed, the song should be appreciated in the context of the album, which succeeds in pushing the boundaries of the kind of music one would expect from Paul McCartney. It is quite refreshing to see how McCartney explores new things while producing a very decent piece of music in the process.

Homecoming

Tomorrow I will be flying back home, to Cali Colombia. I need to recharge my energies for my last year here in Italy, in which I am supposed to finish my PhD.

There is a number of things I will do there. They include: complaining about the warm weather, tasting real fruits (flavors that people in Europe can't even dream about), risking my life in the public transportation system, visiting old friends from all times, eating home-made food, fooling around with my sisters and brother, forgetting about pasta and pizza, walking for hours along the city with my father, reading again some good books (this includes finishing, once and for all, the Christopher Hitchens' book I started in Warsaw), getting the latest updates from my mother. Also, I will do my best to put some order in my pictures, as the mess I have since summer 2007 has prevented me from uploading all the material I have. You can thus expect not-so-good pictures from Greece, Colombia, Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna, France, Denmark, Sweden, and Poland. From the academic point of view, I will also bring with me a substantial amount of work (proofs and readings to do) and will co-organize a workshop in my old university, a great way of catching up with friends and colleagues that also return home for Christmas.

I have planned to visit other cities while in Colombia, as I really dislike Cali. I am looking forward to go to Bogotá, the city in which I was born. For sure I will visit my sister in Pereira (a small city located at the heart of Colombia's chain of mountains). Let's see if I can make all of those.

Usual ramblings, novelties and absurdities will be reported here. Yes, there are Internet access and computers in Colombia :-)

Jorge

On how (almost) no one can pronounce properly my name.

During a very long time I was under the illusion that my name was very simple to learn and memorize. In Spanish, apart from being very common, Jorge is a short, easy-to-remember name. (In fact, it is perhaps too short.) It is easy to pronounce too. It turns out that this is not the case for, apparently, a significant amount of people in the world.

In my experience my name is very difficult to pronounce for French-, Italian-, Danish- and Portuguese-speaking people. With some effort, they can be "trained" and get a very good pronunciation. At the beginning they have awkward "thinking" pauses before saying anything, but with some practice the weird 'J' and 'G' sounds are assimilated.

I am particularly amused with the approximations Italian people have for my name. They all are some degenerated form of the Italian version, Giorgio. So, I have heard 'Orghe', and 'Iorghe' and many people call me that way. At the very beginning the persistent mispronunciation thing was awkard to me, and I attempted to correct others all the time. Soon I realized that trying to do so makes little sense, and then I started to appreciate the name approximations: I am well aware that one does not learn a completely new sound from one day to another; my failed experience learning French taught me that very well. In any case, it is no fair (nor easy) to try to train every single person; I am more than happy that close friends do know how to say it properly. French speaking people have similar difficulties, and their attempts are usually close to the French version, Georges.

Even if for Italian- and French-speaking people I was kind of prepared for funny name approximations, I have to admit I expected a different outcome from Danish- and Portuguese-speaking people. I thought this would not be a problem for them. As for Danes, I guess I expected that sounds in my name were included in the large set of weird things Danish language comes with (perhaps in the form of some unusual consonant). That was not the case, and while in Denmark I heard quite interesting approximations (the Danish version for Jorge is Jørgen). A similar hope I had for Portuguese: I guess I expected that the sounds of my name were included in the many features Spanish and Portuguese share. That was not the case either, and although the Portuguese version is written as in Spanish, the pronunciation resembles that of the English: George.

So my problem reduces to find effective ways of teaching others how to pronounce my name. I have failed here as well. I though it was easy by using the following clue for English speaking people: pronounce 'Jo' as the 'Ho' in "Hospital" and "Horse" and 'Ge' as in "Hey". Even if there are funnier ways to approach the problem (see this and this from PhD comics), the above key is not helpful for French and Italian people, as they do not have the 'aspired' sound that is required. They say, for instance, 'Ospital' instead of 'Hospital' and 'peraps' instead of 'perhaps.'

So, the best thing I have found for learning how to pronounce my name is the following audio clip. That's me pronouncing my name:



I am afraid that learning how to pronounce my name is not that useful. In fact, even if the name is very popular, there are not too many famous Jorges in the world. The most prominent one is Jorge L. Borges, Argentinian writer. There are also: Jorge Amado (Brasilian writer), Jorge Valdano (Argentinian, former football player and coach), Jorge Lorenzo (Spanish motorcycle racer). My favorite of all, is, without a doubt, Jorge M. Perez, a billionaire, real estate developer in the US.

This week's catchy song (2)

Sometimes our present seems to suck so much that we appeal to memories from the past to try to feel better. Going to the past can be satisfying indeed. I think the trick is to use nostalgia carefully, in small amounts, so not to lose perspective. As an excercise with the past, during the last week I have analyzed U2's first album, 1980's Boy. I have to admit that I was reluctant at the beginning (as there's a lot of 'modern' music worth listening), but then my best friend's insistence finally convinced me. I thank him for pushing me into that album.

I have to admit that the only U2 albums I had carefully listened are rather recent: Pop, All That You Can't Leave Behind, and How to dismantle an Atomic Bomb. I guess that explains my surprise when listening Boy. The album is terrific. Now I understand why U2 fans complain about the kind of music they're doing these days. The attitude, the lyrics, the music, they are so different, so great. A notable aspect is the voice of Bono, as it sounds very different, somehow tougher. He was obviously a rebel teenager recording his first album.

Of all the great songs in Boy, my pick for this week's catchy song is the fantastic Another Time, Another Place. Awesome lyrics, great music. Enjoy!



Update (12/12/2008): Since some people can't see the video (which I find weird, as I still can see it), here's another video for the song, a live version. Please comment if you can't watch it.

Auf Wiedersehen Bernardo!

Recently I have decided not to bring my laptop to work. Apart from increasing my levels of concentration significantly, this has prevented me from reacting quickly to Internet-related events. So no email, no RSS reader, no chat, no sports news in the spare time. Today, when looking at the web after hours of no Internet, I was extremely surprised to know that Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster was fired by Sports Manager Pedrag Mijatovic. I think this decision surprised eveyone. In this post I will claim this was a very clever thing to do.

Real Madrid (RM) is, without a doubt, the most legendary football club. (It's perhaps the only thing I like from Spain, but that's an issue to be developed in another post.) Both players and coach are always under a great pressure: they're the best in the world and should win accordingly. Recent results have been quite disappointing, including a very unexpected elimination from the Copa del Rey. In addition to the bad game and subsequent bad results, serious injuries of key players such as Ruud van Nistelrooy and Mahamadou Diarra have complicated much the perspectives of RM. This is a really a problem because during the summer only Rafael van der Vaart was signed; obviously, some others should have been signed in order to cope with possible injuries and/or low performances.

The lastest defeat of RM was last Sunday, against Sevilla FC. The score was 3-4 in RM's stadium (the Santiago Bernabeu). Even if the team was able to get a 3-3 tie until the 80', the chaos in defense and a terrible referee made getting a victory impossible. Apart from the crisis in results, the same day of the game the president of the club (Ramon Calderon, who's elected by the popular vote of all the shareholders of the club) was in great trouble to get next year's budget approved.

All in all, these are complicated times for RM, even if the position in the Spanish league is not that bad and the team is still alive in the UEFA Champions League. Tomorrow there's an irrelevant UCL game against Zenit, but the real thing to come is the derby, against Barcelona FC, next Sunday. They have been showing a fanstastic performance along the league, displaying moments of great quality in their game.

The beginning of the end for Schuster was right after the match against Sevilla, as he said that "there is no way of defeating Barcelona; we'll do our best, but it will be most likely not enough." Terrible words to say if you're the leader of a great team. What kind of courage will the players put on the field if the leader feels already defeated?

So, today Schuster was removed from his position, in a quick move that put former Sevilla and Tottenham Hotspur coach Juande Ramos on charge of the professional team. Ramos' main credentials include a very solid perfomance while in Sevilla FC and the Carling Cup he won with the Tottenham. We all wish the best for Juande and RM.

Now, I think it was a very smart move. First, in this way the president and the sport manager show they're acting concretely during the crisis. They have saved their heads, at least for the moment. Second, it would have been way worse to change coach after an hypothetical defeat against Barcelona. To me, it would have felt like Barcelona deciding the fate of RM, something that certainly sucks. Also, in case of such a defeat, the new coach would have a great excuse, so to speak: the pressure for everyone would be less in case Juande gets a bad result in his second match in charge of the team.

My good friend Andrés Aristizábal (who is perhaps the only computer scientist that has a weekly sports column in a national newspaper) disagrees with me in this issue. He's a loyal Barcelona supporter and during these days before the derby he wonders for how many goals Barcelona will defeat RM. He says that it would have been better to change coach after the match, and that a defeat will affect Juande negatively for the rest of the campaign. He says prudence would have been advisable in this case. Any opinions on this important topic?

The Visitor

The Visitor (IMDB) is a 2007 independent movie that I warmly recommend. It tells the story of Walter, a university professor who feels unsatisfied with his life: he's a widower, frustrated piano learner, lame teacher, and hasn't done any proper research work in years.

In a trip Walter makes to New York ---to present a conference paper he coauthored but didn't write--- he confronts himself through music and a couple of young immigrants. The movie is a direct yet very elegant critique of immigration issues; the merit is that it does so without falling into the classic stereotypes. Photography is fantastic; the director uses New York's scenarios wonderfully. Here's a trailer:



The Visitor features outstanding performances. The main role is played by Richard Jenkins, an actor that you might surely remember from secondary parts in many movies. (A recent Jenkins' appearance is in Cohen brothers' Burn After Reading.) Jenkins' performance is excellent. The movie is completed by other three actors who are as unknown as their characters convincing thorough the movie.

The thing I liked the most about the movie is the conclusion. It's hard to express without giving you spoilers. I will, however, say that the director could have taken the easy road and end up with the usual happy ending you see in romantic comedies. The ending is not happy nor sad, which is great: this makes you think about the characters and their developments.

Capsule of Absurdity No. 4

On how one of the longest chains of absurdity arrived to an end. A happy one, I guess.

In this special installment of 'capsules of absurdity' I describe the story of how of I didn't travel to present a paper to the US. It is a bit long capsule, so please bear with me.

Earlier this year I coauthored a paper in an important conference in my research domain: LICS (Logic in Computer Science). The conference was held in Pittsburgh, at the end of June. My boss decided I would go to present the paper. Presenting a paper in LICS as a first year PhD student is a rare thing, as far as I understand. One of my coauthors was attending the conference too, so I wouldn't be so alone in such a top event.

Apart from the obvious academic arrangements, in order to enter into the US I needed a visa. As a Colombian, I need a visa to enter into almost every known country in the world; even to Panama, a former state of Colombia! (For some countries, indeed, even if you're passing through an airport to catch a connecting flight you might need an 'airport transit visa'.) Having to get a visa for going everywhere is perhaos the most annoying consequence of being a Colombian. Because of the fame we have, visa procedures are absurd by default, and unavoidably humiliating.

The US visa is especially tricky to get. That's a fact. Some people say it's simply luck, and I agree with them. The main reason is that too many Colombians want to go to the US, so visa applications are usually analyzed by consular officers in a matter of seconds. To give you an idea: the consular section of the US embassy at Bogotá receives around 1500 visa applications daily; it is one of the busiest consular sections in the world (third, I think). I wasn't applying at Bogotá's embassy; since I live in Bologna I had to apply at the consulate at Florence. Some friends (both Italians and Colombians) had told me the procedure was annoying and long (half a day), but that after a couple of days I'd get my visa.

So on April 30 I went to the US consulate in Florence, and applied for a 10-day visa: enough time to present the paper, attend the conference and perhaps jumping to NYC. The visa procedure consists essentially of an interview with an officer. Since I have experience on getting visas for academic reasons (UK, France, Italy) I was pretty confident. The first part of the interview went OK; I had to answer rather routine questions (why do you want to go to the US, what are you doing in Italy, who's paying for the trip). The second part of the interview was different. The officer started to read my application forms, and he was curious about my degree in computer science (yes, apart from asking you whether or not you were part of the nazi holocaust, the visa application includes a set of questions on your education). He asked:

US: Here it says you were born in Bogotá, but that you got your degree in X university in Cali. I know X university has a main campus in Bogotá. How come you didn't return to Bogotá to get your degree?

Me: (Two seconds shock.) Well, I had lived in Cali for more than 15 years, as my family moved from Bogotá to Cali when I was little, so studying in Cali made sense at the time.

The officer made an unconvinced face and started to type at a very quick pace in his computer. Afterwards, he asked:

US: Where do your parents live?

Me: In Cali.

That was the trigger for even more schizophrenic typing. He did so for about ten minutes. After the typing, I was ready to hear that everything was OK and that my visa had been approved. To my surprise, he said instead:

US: Your visa application is not approved nor refused. We need to do an additional administrative process with Washington DC regarding your case.

I was like: WTF??? The only thing I could say was:

Me: But what's wrong with my application?

US. Nothing's wrong, really. We just need to do an administrative process.

He told me I would get contacted when the procedure was completed. According to him, this takes from 2 to 4 weeks. Only then, I should send my passport: they would print and stick the visa on my passport, and mail it back to me.

I was in state of shock for the rest of the day, which included the worst lunch ever in Florence train station. All what I thought were essentially four things:

1. This is the most abourd thing that has occured to me in life.
2. Damned Cali! Mentioning Cali twice was enough for him to relate me to the Cali Cartel.
   
3. How come this guy knows my university has two campuses in Colombia?
4. They're gonna look for 'Jorge' in some database in Washington. That must be the most time consuming database query ever.

Back in Bologna nobody could believe the story, in particular those co-workers who had gotten their study visas in less than two days, in the same consulate. I will never forget the surprised face of my boss. Argh.

I had no option but to wait the 2-4 weeks for my visa. Sadly, I didn't get my visa in time and the coauthor who was attending LICS presented our paper. Of course I wrote emails to the consulate asking about my 'administrative procedure' (they have an efficient customer service I must say) . The answer was the same every time:

Your administrative process is still pending. We will contact you once your visa is ready.

Once I couldn't attend the conference I almost forgot about the whole thing. The only exception was at the end of each month, when I always remembered about my US visa application. I 'celebrated' the occassion sending the usual question to the consulate. Every single time I received the same answer:

Your administrative process is still pending. We will contact you once your visa is ready.

In October I decided to ask a more inquisitive question:

I assume my administrative process is still pending. But, what if I want to go to the US and my process is pending?

This time I got a slightly different answer:

You assume correctly: your administrative process is still pending.

The situation was the same until early November, when I received an email confirming the administrative process was completed and my visa was ready to be issued. It was funny, as I wasn't sure about the length of the visa they'll give me. Usually, one gets a visa for the exact number of days you'll stay in the US. (The longest tourist visa that the US issues is 10 years; for Colombians this duration is reduced to 5 years.) At this time, I was wondering about the following:

1. What if they give me a visa for ten days in December 08?
2. What if the visa goes exactly for the period I asked, that is, what if it expires in July 08? (A visa for travelling in the past!)
3. Would the US consulate behave as the Italian police, which issues stay permits that are already expired, so that once you get your "new" permit you have to renew it right away?

Oddly enough, due to the randomized character of the US visas for Colombians, even an expired one would be more than good for me. This is because once you're granted a visa, renewals should be easier, and because some countries take US visa as a "reference" when issuing theirs. So, for instance, if I am not wrong, having a valid US visa excempts you from needing 'airport transit' visas in the UK.

So I mailed in my passport to Florence. There'sa protocol to follow fot this: to send your passport to the consulate, you have to do it though a special courier service that acts as an intermediate between you and the consulate. It's supposed to be fast, safe and expensive. It was all of those, in the Italian style (that is, not excessively fast). The week after I sent my passport to the courier, they confirmed the passport was already in the consulate. The day after, however, I got the following email from the consulate:

If you're still interested in the visa, you need to send us your passport.

Complete panic: the consulate had lost my passport! I wrote back immediately explaining the case, and asking for confirmation on the courier's information. Long hours waiting for a reply. It finally arrived and it was something like

Oh, yes, here it is. Sorry about that.

This week I finally got my passport back. And I got a visa that is useful in the future! All I need now is a paper in a top research conference, again. Very unlikely, I am afraid.

It is very important that I actually use the visa I was granted. It turns out that, if I don't do it, the visa won't get easily renewed. Then any given consular officer could be tempted to ask someone in Washington whether or not I deserve a renewal.

This week's catchy song (1)

A shameless initiative to draw your attention on this blog!

I have an advisory committee for this blog, which every once in a while gives suggestions and feedback on it. Recently, they have expressed their concern on the boring posts I've written; according to them, this has caused a sustained decrease on the number of visits. As a consequence, the incomes I get every month have also gone down (there's the risk the only money at my disposal will be that of the Italian scholarship). After a throughout study based on some fancy statistics and polls, the committee suggests a new direction for posts, based on the following: (i) a gradual reduction of political content; (ii) more emphasis on Italian absurdities (nobody cares about Colombia, or so they've said) and (iii) an additional effort to write shorter posts.

So today I am starting a new section, which shall be devoted to the music I am hearing during a given week. This an apolitical, economic approach: posts on music can be written (and read) very quickly. So the advisory committee should be happy.

The idea is to post a video or audio of the song that I consider most influential to my week. Yes, it's supposed to be a weekly section; this is a challenging thing, even if I am particularly proud of my taste for music and my ability to discover good music quickly.

This week's catchy song is Albert Hammond Jr.'s Victory at Monterey. Albert Hammond Jr. is the guitarist of The Strokes, a group I never found particularly appealing. He has two solo albums; the song in question appears in "¿Cómo te llama?", the latest one, released this year. The album is enjoyable, nothing particularly exciting. Here's a dull YouTube video with the song. Please do not look at the video, it's awful. Just hear the song. I love the bass.

On Pyramids

Some months ago some friends and I went to a Brasilian rodizio here in Bologna. One my friends was quite intrigued about the decoration of the place, which was indeed unusual for the Italian standards: the restaurant itself was huge, with a water fountain in the middle, and a randomly chosen set of huge, excessively colorful paintings. Everything was bigger, brighter, fuller than the average; apart from the disturbing lack of taste, the whole place was clearly a demonstration of excessive, and most likely sudden, wealth.

I could tell that the style of the place caused an impression on my Italian friends, who are certainly not used to this "excess as power" mentality (at least for restaurant decoration). This is a very southamerican attitude, I am afraid, and thus something possibly hard to understand from the European perspective. Here's a quick hypothesis of mine: social progress in countries is such a rare thing that when you finally get something better in your life you tend to show off. So, for instance, it could occur that when someone 'progresses' (say, gets promoted in a job), she or he gets the biggest plasma TV (car, apartment, boob operation) available and invites the whole neighborhood for an (equally excessive) party to 'celebrate' the promotion. Making sure others see your new plasma TV (car, apartment, boob operation) is way more important than the money/loans involved in paying it.

In the Colombian case, the "excess as power" approach is intimately related to the drug trafficking business. Drug money has reached pretty much every single layer and structure of Colombian society; the cultural degeneration it comes with is, in my view, one of the most disturbing effects of drugs. It is often an underestimated consequence too, I think. Here I am referring to a collective mentality that pushes people to get money and power by all means. This is beyond standard capitalism in that the respect of certain "core values" (let alone laws) has been abolished. Under such a mentality, the principle of hard, legal work and education as the basis for social progress is no longer valid. Why would you care about finishing high school when someone you know offers you a job that pays much more money than the allowance your dad gives you? More dramatically, why would you study when your father went from poor and excluded to rich and socially accepted without touching a book or getting a regular job? Why would you pursue a degree on Law when a "powerful friend" can buy you a political career and put you in Congress?

This kind of ethical/moral dilemmas are increasingly common in Colombia. We're a poor country, and given the lack of opportunities, many are tempted to take the easy road. Unfortunately, this is an attitude that won't be easily erased from the collective concious of my country. In fact, if this attitude ever changes, it will take several generations of Colombians.

What would occur in the meantime? Well, things as the events I am about to outline. These days Colombia suffers (yet another) social and political crisis because of a huge financial fraud, in the form of the major pyramid scheme in years. The idea of a 'pyramid' is simple: you 'invest' some money, convince others to do the same, you obtain absurd benefits (say 150% in a month), and make sure many others join as well so to keep the scheme running. Yes, you're stealing money from others, but the trick is to climb up to the top of the pyramid and get enough idiots for the base.

Of course, this is not a sustainable business and sooner or later the scam is discovered. This is not a new thing, and one is surprised to know that people are falling again and again in the old tricks. Very shocking stories arise. The intrguiging thing that makes me wonder is why people are so naive so to join pyramid schemes and similar 'businesses'. The best answer I can come up with is this perverse mentality when it comes to 'easy money' that has been triggered, among others, by the drug dealing culture. Indeed, although many people affected in the pyramids are indeed very poor, a significant amount of people are actually well-educated ones trying to take advantage. They sell their properties and obtain bank loans so to 'feed' the pyramid, with the hope that many others will join and the absurd benefits will eventually appear.

Why would someone educated (say, a university professor with a PhD) join such a scam? Of course he does it in the understanding that the 'pyramid bank' is indeed a scam and that he's actually stealing money from others. He's just trying to get advantage of the situation. In our distorted scale of values, this is the obvious thing to do. That's the real shame: how this 'pyramidal greed' turned out the be the main thing for people, and how it changed the lives of millions for ever. Apart from the obvious financial and personal consequences (say, broken friendships, destroyed families, collective depression and increased rates of suicide attempts) there have been political consequences (the government saw the thing coming and did nothing on time to stop it), as well as social consequences, including riots all over the country and manifestations supporting the pyramid banks initiators (!). This last consequence is not because of the illegal-distorted mentality or love to money, it is simply because people are really, really stupid.

Now, to conclude, a video of a (loosely related) song that I like very much and that conveys a lot joy and happiness; perhaps the same joy and hapiness those affected by the fraud will experiment during this Christmas.

Two suggestions

It's been a while since I don't write about music. Here's a quick post on two terrific albums you should definitely hear. Along with this album, they are among the best of 2008, without a doubt.

The first one is The Verve's Forth. It is simply splendid to see The Verve back again doing great songs. I have found many people who don't know much about them apart from the everlasting Bitter Sweet Symphony. That's a real shame. Forth features ten excellent songs. My favorites are Rather Be (a classic for sure), I See Houses, Columbo, and perhaps the most amazing song I have heard in years: Appalachian Springs. Here's the video:



I tend to create links between albums/songs and the situations I am living. I first discovered Forth while in Denmark, and now that I listen again some of its songs, I can't help thinking in Copenhagen and the great summer that now it's gone. A similar thing occurs to me when listening Elbow's The Seldom Seen Kid, my second suggestion for you. I started listening that album while in Rome's airport, waiting for my flight to Poland. Then during my week in Warsow I listened it a lot and  managed to appreciate it very much. Now it reminds me of my flight back to Bologna, and of a certain nostalgic feeling for Warsow.

I have to admit that I decided to listening Elbow only once they won the Mercury prize. I guess lots of people did the same and were nicely surprised with this record. This is not an easy album: do not wait for catchy songs or conventional melodies. Lyrics are excellent. It takes a while to get used to the music. At the end, in my experience, you'll end up enjoying it. My favorite song (so far) is Mirrorball. Here's the video:

Another rather decent album you'll like to hear is Dig Out Your Soul by Oasis. It is enjoyable but it's definitely not as good as the two above. 

Capsule of Absurdity No. 3

Imagine yourself, lost in the middle of nowhere, with a flight to catch and with an incompetent French bus driver that doesn't know how to take you to the airport.

In this post I offer you une capsule d'absurdité. As I mentioned at the end of this capsule, here I will describe some events related to a strike day in Paris.

Strikes (grèves in French, scioperi in Italian, huelgas in Spanish) seem to be a sign of developed societies. They're one of the expressions of the liberty working classes have to complain and fight for their rights. Unfortunately, unions and associations often misuse such a liberty to annoy the rest of the world. In Colombia there are no strikes, at least not legal ones: when people start to protest and not working, the government declares the strike as illegal. This scares most workers, and pretty much everything goes back to normal. In fact, I don't remember a single legal strike in Colombia. More common are the so-called turtle operations, in which services are offered up to some partial capacity. So, for instance, a turtle operation in a hospital might involve only providing ER attention and/or only practicing a few, randomly chosen, more delicate procedures. Even if technically turtle operations are not strikes, they're as or more annoying than fully-fledged strikes.

Here in Italy transport strikes are becoming increasingly frequent. These are rather gentle strikes: since most of them are announced in advance, they don't cause big problems provided you plan your travel schedule in advance. (Of course, there have been more problematic strikes but those are less frequent.) Indeed, recent strikes seem to be extremely gently when compared with the French transport strikes. During a recent visit to Paris (on which I commented here and here) I had the wonderful experience of a reduced train strike in Paris.

It was indeed a very reduced strike (at least when compared to those that took place when Sarkozy got into office). Paris is served by two train companies: one for the metropolitan part, and another that connects Paris with neighboring towns such as Roissy (north, where the airport is located) and Orsay (south, where I was staying). It was the second company the one that decided to go to strike the Monday in which I was supposed to return to Italy. In practical terms, that meant that instead of having a boring, very long trip from Orsay to CDG, I would have to go from Orsay to some intermediate station in Paris, take some metro line (using the company that wasn't in strike) and reach a certain station in which a train to CDG were available.

For reasons that are irrelevant now, and to keep things short, I will say that I ended up first taking the RER in Orsay until Châtelet – Les Halles; then I took the metro and arrived to the Opera. There, I took the RoissyBus (see the picture below), modern wonder that is the center of this capsule. This is a service intended to connect people in central Paris to the CDG airport. Given the strike circumstances, the RoissyBus seemed the most reasonable option to arrive to CDG in time.



I took the Roissy Bus and it quickly got out of the center of Paris. I had never reached the airport with a car or autobus, so I didn't know what the 'car entrance' to CDG would look like. Soon we were in a huge highway, and all the planes landing and taking off suggested that we were close to the CDG. All of the sudden, the bus left what it seemed to be the 'mainstream' entrances to the airport. I was surprised indeed, and looked at the faces of people around me: nobody looked worried or nervous, apart from the usual tension people in a rush have in these cases.

Soon we were inside the cargo part of the airport. We entered into some closed set of hangars and storehouses, with very narrow roads. Even if everything outside was a little strange, I was quite relaxed as I was certainly confident on the fact that we were taking a special route, carefully designed so to avoid traffic for all those who need reach CDG as soon as possible from the center. I was just behind the driver, who also acted very normal and confident.

Some minutes after, the RoissyBus stopped. The public part of the narrow road had ended: a fence separated us from some private property. The driver suddenly started to look at his GPS like crazy, and to look around. After some minutes, some radio communications between the driver and (I assume) the central control of the RoissyBuses took place. I couldn't understand what they said, but they seemed upset. We the passengers started to look to ourselves, and quickly realized our absurd reality. Our skillful driver had taken us into a very strange place, and we needed to go back to the main road.

So, we were in the middle of nowhere and needed to go back. In principle, this seems easy, but we had two main problems. One, the long, articulated bus needed to go back in an extremely narrow road, and two, we had a nervous, stupid driver. To give you an idea, imagine what is to leave a parking spot with cars in front and behind you: you have to go back and forth patiently, and repeatedly turn back, until getting enough space to turn completely to one side and go out. Our driver did precisely that, but all his effort was in vain. He obviously had never done that in his life, and the "acordeon" between the two parts of the bus was a nightmare for him, and also for us, who had no option but to observe the pathetic scene. We spent around 20 minutes in doing this: soon people inside the bus started to get anxious and to tell unrequested dramatic stories of how bad it would be to miss their flights. Argh.

At some point, the driver started to talk to some security guards nearby the fence. They had seen all the attempts of our driver and laughed. We didn't. The driver then found out that to one side of the road, there were some huge stones instead of some regular fence. That was our key to scape. The security guards stopped laughing and moved some of the stones, thus leaving some extra space for the RoissyBus to get out. It had to be done carefully, because of the 'second part' of the bus and the notorious incompetence of our driver. He did it very, very slowly.

We had been there for around half an hour and people were starting to suggest things, although not very loudly. I interpreted this lack of reaction in critical situations as another sign of developed societies, as strikes are. I was very calmed since, even with the delay, I had plenty of time. In fact, trying to anticipate any problem related to the strike, I had taken the first train from Orsay. Doing so had proven very wise, indeed.

At the end we managed to get out of the narrow road and to turn completely. I saw some unexpected expressions of joy: people were laughing, and when the whole turn back was done, my fellow passengers started to clap unanimously. I think I saw some hugging between complete strangers but I am not sure. Amazing! We went back to the main road, the driver followed the arrows he should never have ignored and we got safely to CDG. The most unlikely of the developments had arrived to a happy ending.

Now a concluding digression. The surprising clapping in the RoissyBus made quite an impression on me: in fact, clapping in public transportation means automatically brings back to me one of the most disturbing Colombian habits. Indeed, when any plane coming from abroad lands in Colombian soil, Colombians in the plane start to clap. Yes, they clap, and sometimes for several minutes! I never understood why is that, and let me tell you, I feel embarrassed when that occurs. Some people say that this is to honor the pilot. Nonsense. Perhaps my fellow Colombians just try to thank God the flight went OK, or they want express their happiness; in any case, I find it pathetic. It seems that things used to be worse in the past: I was told that there was a Colombian airline who played a fragment of the national anthem as soon as the plane landed, just before the clapping ritual.

(It has to be said that landing in Bogotá is a magnificent experience. The city is HUGE and flights from Europe usually arrive in the afternoon, so you can see very well the whole city from a privileged perspective. It is simply marvelous. You can see the landing here, and the see the landing and hear the clapping here.)

Here comes the sun

(Image taken from CNN.com)

The sun is shining today. Both metaphorically and literally. Indeed, after a few Copenhagen-like days, today the sun has returned to Bologna. The day is really splendid. There a few clouds, of course, but the fact that you can see some different perspectives can inspire you, and perhaps make your day. Also metaphorically the sun is shining today, after Barack Husein's clear victory last night. I think this is a so desired day for many people in the world; I would even dare to say that the enthusiasm outside the US is as big as it is today for more than 62 million people in the US.

Of course, just because today there's a shining sun it doesn't mean that there will be no more clouds around. After seeing both speeches last night this is even more certain. The speech by Obama was clear and inspiring, and at the same time, it was a statement of the huge challenges to come. I enjoyed the honesty in his words. But rather than digging on Obama's address, it is perhaps more insightful to pay attention to McCain's speech. I would like to comment on two particular moments.

First, when he opened his intervention mentioning Obama and the fact he had conceded him the presidency, McCain supporters started to boo Obama in several times. They interrupted McCain, who disapproved such a reaction. In my view, the face expression of McCain in that precise moment is priceless: it is a clear, authentic sign of disgust. Perhaps only in that instant, when hearing such an overwhelming negative reaction against the president-elect, John McCain realized the monster he had created by appealing to one of the most aggressive and nasty political campaigns in history.

The second moment that I find remarkable in McCain's speech is when he mentions Sarah Palin as the future driving force of the republican party. That lady certainly attracted a number of people who believe in conservative policies. The reaction to Palin's mention is almost the opposite to Obama's. Unfortunately, this campaign has put Palin in the top places of the political scenario in the US, and I am sure she will be the face behind powerful right-wing sectors interested in a new conservative agenda post-Obama.

Once again appealing to my weather metaphor, it is clearly a relief that the most influential person in the world is someone who not only can express himself properly, but that can bring inspiration to others in times of difficulty. Also, the fact that his vice-president is familiar with foreign policy issues (and that speaks his mind when he feels like doing so) is a killer combination. We should try to enjoy this sun while we can. We should also remember that even in the most splendid of the suns there are those little gray clouds that stand there. There will be always radical people like Sarah Palin that will play hard, not only against people like Barack Obama, but also against any manifestation of common sense. To conclude, let me provide a compelling example of this. According to Palin and her supporters, global warming is not man-made. I am sure that most of them would agree with Tina Fey on the fact that global warming is "just God hugging us closely".

(Almost) Everybody loves Obama

This post is tangentially related to the forthcoming US elections. I could have written a proper post on how I find this election historical and exciting, and on how hopeful I am in an eventual Obama administration. Also, I could have cited and commented on one of the many of the polls that say that the citizens of the world would elect Barack Husein as president of the USA. I could have done that indeed. Rather, here I prefer to comment on the country that is desperately wishing a McCain administration. Yes, you guessed it: that country is Colombia.

In fact: the government, the media and every semi-informed person in Colombia is convinced that a Republican in the office is the most convenient thing for Colombia. Their reasoning is rather primitive, and above all, stupid: the Colombian opinion tends to believe that a McCain administration will make effective a free-trade agreement (FTA, Tratado de Libre Comercio - TLC, in Spanish) between US and Colombia. You might ask: what's the deal with that?

Before answering let me explain a bit on the relation between US and Colombia. Colombia is important for the US as it represents the focus of the drug problem. Since the term 'war against drugs' was coined (around 30 years ago) Colombia has been understood and treated as the main producer of the drugs that are available in the US. The diplomatic and commercial relations between the two countries have been shaped accordingly. Not surprisingly, Colombia is the second largest recipient in the world of financial and military aid from the US. The most recent initiative for this ---the so-called Plan Colombia--- was approved during the Clinton administration, and maintained during Bush's. What started as a cooperation plan against drug production, slowly moved towards the direct use of US aid to combat the guerrilla. This is something that, to be honest, makes absolute sense, given the proven participation of such groups in the drug business. Naturally, the 'war against terrorism' made it easy to shift the focus of the planned aid.

So, during the last eight years or so, the relations between US and Colombia were mostly based on issues related to the Plan Colombia. There was also a minor commercial component. This is something fundamental for Colombia but certainly irrelevant for the US, as you might imagine. Up to now, there exist some small agreements that make trade somewhat flexible, but these are temporal and full of conditions. (It is worth mentioning that in the legal side, main Colombia exports to the US include flowers and coffee.) So there was a need for a more open agreement eliminating the trade barriers between the countries.

The above of course sounds logic and even necessary. The problem is that the agreement that both governments approved is simply terrible for the majority of Colombian interests. Just think in the following: once the Democrats took the majorities of the congress, they made several changes so to make the thing less unfair. One of the many problems with the agreement, in my view, is that it advocates a notion of commerce that is so wide that it is outrageous.

A couple of examples are useful at this point. One of the things the agreement regulates is the amount of hours of TV produced and aired by Colombian broadcasters. In other words, by means of the agreement, Colombian TV channels should buy and air a fixed amount of movies and TV series made in the US. This is because unregulated TV production in Colombia could potentially affect US companies (!). This is not symmetric, as you can imagine. A second example is the following: thanks to the agreement, US pharmaceutical laboratories and companies would have the right to patent native medicines and fauna and flora present in Colombia. So, for instance, if someone discovers that a certain plant is beneficial for some disease, US laboratories not only could patent that plant and the procedure to extract a medicine out of it, but also Colombia would be forced to buy them that medicine from the US (!)

In this way, the agreement covers a wide spectrum of what can be considered as commerce. Of course, there are portions of the FTA that are convenient for some components of the Colombian economy. The incipient Colombian software industry is one of them. Flower producers would get benefits as well. The position of the government is rather clear: the FTA is far from perfect, and we need it desperately for those who will get benefits of it, regardless of the fact that (i) Colombia is not ready for such an agreement (for instance, we don't have proper highways from/to main ports); (ii) many interests would be affected; (iii) we have no other big commercial partner in the world.

So, this takes us again on why the Colombian government and media really wish another Republican administration. They ignore that the Democrat majorities in the congress will prevail, even in the (hopefully unlikely) case that McCain comes into office. They must think that a scripted speech from Sarah Palin will make the FTA a reality. In fact, for more than a year Democrats have systematically delayed the study of the act enforcing the Colombian FTA, just to make George W really upset. Colombia has become part of the bipartisan discussions and tensions by accident; Nancy Pelosi is a really hated person in Colombia. They have claimed arguments related to human rights violations to justify this position (heavily supported by the Colombian opposition and many leftist Non-Governmental Organizations). The reality is that a FTA is something tremendously unpopular among Americans, specially nowadays. Obama knows this and hence opposes to the FTA, at least in the current terms. He also proposes to shift the focus of the Plan Colombia. Republicans claim that the FTA is necessary to support a 'loyal ally' in the war against terrorism, and that Plan Colombia should be maintained untouched. This is McCain's position. This topic was quickly mentioned in the third presidential debate; this short, predictable mention was largely discussed and analyzed in Colombian newspapers. The same newspapers that gave huge coverage to McCain visit to Colombia, and that only now realize that Obama perhaps could win.

To conclude, if you think that everyone in the world wants Obama as president, think twice. Apart from the neocons and creationists, a significant amount of Colombians might like to have a 72-year old war veteran as president, and a hockey-mom that sees Russia from her balcony as vice-president. Let us simply hope for the best next Tuesday.

Piazzolla and Me

I got into Astor Piazzolla's music by mistake (or, more precisely, by serendipity). It was a Saturday afternoon after a nap, that I turned the TV on and saw a rather attractive girl hitting her violin with a stick, while the rest of a symphonic orchestra was graciously playing. The scene was rather strange, but the music rapidly captivated me. Soon after that piece, the director started to explain the differences between Vivaldi's Four Seasons and Piazzolla's Estaciones Porteñas. Even if I was still sleepy, I managed to realize that the percussive rhythm of hits on the violin was only one of the many hints on how Piazzolla understood the spirit of seasons in the city of Buenos Aires.

After hearing Piazzolla's four seasons for the first time, I became an avid listener and follower of his music. I've accumulated a lot of albums of him and his bands, as well as of performances other musicians have done. I can truly say that Piazzolla's is one of the most inspiring things that have come to me. A whole range of feelings come to the outside thanks to Piazzolla compositions. His music is both catchy and profound; happy and deeply sad at the same time. The melodies are complex but somehow it feels you can relate to them very easily. Sometimes I get tired of "modern music", and then I return to any Piazzolla album and then everything makes sense again. My favorite, without a doubt, is Libertango, which I recommend to everyone.

Piazzolla lived a very passionate life. Not surprisingly, the several stages of his artistic life were intimately related to the circumstances of his personal life. Born in 1921, at the age of four, Astor and his family moved from Argentina to New York, where he grew up and lived till he was 16. It was in NY, at the age of 9, where he got into the Bandoneon, and developed a passion for it and for Tango music. In 1937 he returns to Buenos Aires, and joins the most important Tango group of his time. He managed to interact with famous performers and composers, soon detecting a sense of disgust with the traditional Tango style. In 1954 he decides to study piano in Paris, under the guidance of Nadia Boulanger, who encourages Piazzolla to follow his very own style in Tango compositions. At this point it might be useful to remark that the many cultural influences of Piazzolla (he was an Argentinian with Italian ancestors, grown up in New York and formed as pianist in France) were fundamental in creating in him a very clear sense of uniqueness in his art.

Until 1958, the life of Piazzolla was essentially devoted to develop his new style in Buenos Aires, where his new ideas were not welcomed by those radical defenders of "true Tango". In that year, he and his family (wife and two kids) go to New York to start a new life. It is in 1959, with the death of his father that one could say that the first period of Piazzolla ends. Indeed, such an event marked Astor in such a profound way, that after that his musical and personal life took a very diverse path. The sadness caused by the death of his father was Piazzolla's main inspiration to compose "Adios Nonino" (Goodbye Nonino), a sort of Tango requiem for his late father. (Astor's kids called their grandpa "nonino", a word derived from the Italian "nonno", which means "grandfather".) Adios Nonino is one of the most popular compositions of Piazzolla.

After that, Piazzolla not only starts a new artistic period, with he also starts a new life. Indeed, he left his family to pursue new artistic and personal adventures. Some say that Nonino's death suddenly removed any moral yardstick in Astor. He then starts a new relationship with a young singer, and along with Horacio Ferrer, creates "Maria de Buenos Aires", the first Tango opera. Perhaps the most famous piece of this rather positive period (both artistically and personally) for Piazzolla is "Balada para un Loco" (Ballad for a madman).

After that period, around 1975 Piazzolla forms the Electronic Octect, one of the most interesting expressions of his so-called "new tango." The group includes elements and performers from Jazz, percussions and synthesizers; these two last components being clearly unconceivable from the traditional Tango perspective. This is a rather short period (around 2 years). It is worth mentioning that in his personal life this is a sweet period, as he gets very close to his son Daniel, who is part of his band.

A third and final period is again determined by the irruption of a new woman in Astor's life. This is around 1976, where he meets and marries his second wife. They move to Paris, where he continues in his artistic and personal evolution, getting close to performers such as Richard Galliano. In fact, during this period Piazzolla continues with his musical experimentation, composes soundtracks for movies and tours around the world. In 1990 he collapses in Paris, being in coma for twenty-three months, and finally dies in Buenos Aires in 1992, leaving behind an splendid legacy to contemporary music.

It is always interesting to wonder about the lives of extremely talented people as Piazzolla. Some say he was an extremely selfish person, kind and warm in the everyday contact with family and friends. He also was a rather contradictory and inflexible person regarding social and political aspects. In fact, Piazzolla was known to sympathize with Videla's dictatorship in Argentina. In the musical aspect --the one that should interest us the most-- he was the most rigorous of the directors while being the most adventurous of the improvisers. He accepted no mistakes from his musicians, but was enthusiastic enough to take any "reasonable" contribution that would enrich the pieces.

Needless to say, discovering Piazzolla's life and music is a long yet extremely rewarding process. At the beginning, it's no easy to get a grasp of what he tries to convey with the music. It is certainly worth listening, specially nowadays when one hears all kinds of crap, supposedly called music.

Capsule of Absurdity No. 2

Many of my readers and fans have asked me to write something concerning Alitalia and its recent crisis. So here's the second installment of 'capsules of absurdity', the successful series started here.

As most Italian public services, the circumstances of Alitalia are full of absurd events and developments, not only in the relation with the customer but in the very essence of its life as a company. I won't enter into the details of the corruption and bankruptcy in Alitalia nor describe the recent tricks to keep it alive; they're so absurd that I would bore you unnecessarily. Instead, here I shall describe some events related to my recent trip Bologna - Warsaw with Alitalia.

I had never flown with Alitalia. I had heard that the service was terrible, but the same I had heard of other companies, such as Lufthansa. (It is worth pointing out that I don't travel a lot, and that I mainly use AirFrance. I have used BA and Iberia.) So, back at the end of June, flying with Alitalia for the first time didn't seem like a stupid thing. Of course I had heard that it had problems, but (i) the whole sector was/is in trouble because of oil prices, (ii) I was somehow confident in Silvio B's promises of an "Italian Alitalia" (Alitalia owned by Italian shareholders), and (iii) I had heard that they had money to work normally till December this year. Based on all the above, and in the fact that I found the cheapest fare (250 Euro), I bought my ticket to Warsaw with Alitalia, doing Bologna-Rome-Warsaw.

Problems began the weekend before my trip. The newspapers announced that the group of entrepreneurs ready to save Alitalia and the unions weren't able to reach an agreement. As a consequence, the existence of the company was in serious risk. Many rumors indicated that the situation was really critic, as the company had problems ensuring provisions of fuel.

Immediately, I entered into panic mode and looked for my ticket's rules for cancellation. They weren't with the things I had been given, and I forgot to ask them explicitly. I went to the travel agency, where I was informed that in case I wanted to cancel my ticket I would only receive 100 Euros back and that a different ticket with another company would cost more than 400 Euro. They also critizied me for following the "alarmism of media", claiming that Alitalia had been in crisis for 3 years and that nothing had happened. Moreover, the owner of the agency, who was overhearing my case, quickly pointed out that she had herself Alitalia tickets for her vacation and that she wouldn't cancel them for some "silly rumors."

The following week I spent/wasted a significant amount of time following the developments in media, quickly discovering that getting informed in this country is simply impossible. I decided not to change the ticket, essentially because the price difference was huge. My hope was that the final collapse of Alitalia would occur just after my flights.

Real panic returned to me the afternoon before my flight, scheduled to depart at 11am from Bologna. I was trying to print a copy of my online itinerary and then I got the following message:

We can't display your itinerary, as your flights have changed. Please consult your travel agency.

I ran to the agency to find out what was going out. The answer was really absurd. I was told:

Your flight has been canceled for logistic reasons. There's an earlier flight at 9am, would you like to take it?

Of course I took the earlier flight. Even if the whole idea of having a flight canceled without getting any notification is outrageous, the fact that the only possibility for me was an earlier flight was simply beyond any limit of absurdity. What if I don't check the online thing and arrive to the airport to take the 11am flight? There were no other flights to Rome so that I could connect to Warsaw, and I would have wasted a lot of energy, time and mental sanity in the process.

The reservation was corrected and I printed the online itinerary. The night before I couldn't sleep and decided to check again the itinerary. I got the same error I got in the afternoon. Complete panic. Then I decided to contact Alitalia's call center. My conversation with the Alitalia operator (AZ) was amusing:

(Me): I would like to confirm my flights for tomorrow, please.
(AZ): All flights are confirmed.

(Me): Wait a second, I haven't given you my flight information...
(AZ): Mmm, OK. What's your last name?

After giving my information, they confirmed all the data of the corrected booking and I felt relieved. I still want to think that the "all flights are confirmed" greeting was due to the fact that operators are allowed to feel tired every once in a while. Since stupidity has universally prevailed in history, I am afraid it's not difficult to imagine the following hypothetical conversation, between a stupid customer (SC) and the same call center:

(SC): Hello, I would like to confirm my flights for tomorrow, please.
(AZ): All flights are confirmed.

(SC): Oh, good to hear, thank you very much.
(AZ): You're welcome. Thanks for choosing Alitalia.

Luckily, the two flights to Warsaw were OK. You could tell how all the employees were stressed with the whole situation. It must have been really hard for them, the ones who actually work, to answer the challenge while the government and the union leaders played their stupid political games. The situation was kind of solved last Thursday, so I didn't worry about the returning flights. Those were also OK. In fact, they corresponded to the infamous motto given to Alitalia: "Always Late In Take-off Always Late In Arrival." But that didn't matter: I managed to go and return from Warsaw without significant problems (the huge delays that I had to suffer were no surprise).

On Golf

I have always thought that one of the most striking aspects of a poor country like Colombia a foreign visitor could easily appreciate is the fact that social differences are extremely evident. You can see it in the transportation means. You can see it in the people that lives in flat places with all proper public services (clean water, electricity) and in the ones that have to live in risky hills without elementary living conditions. You see it in the nice neighborhoods that are not very far away from other neighborhoods where houses are older and smaller.

In this line, many other comparisons could be drawn. Social differences, as expected, affect many things, from education and living conditions to trends and ways of expression, passing through entertainment habits. For instance, even if poor and rich people might like to have fun every weekend (most likely, this means dancing while getting drunk), they do it in different ways and with different means. Naturally, the causes and repercussions of those weekend habits depend on your place in society. That's how, for instance, whereas for a rich person having fun is just only another aspect of his/her social life, for a poor person the possibility of having fun during weekends could be the only reason to maintain a crappy, not-so-well paid job.

The above --rather obvious and biased-- preamble on social differences is only to justify my aversion towards golf. Yes, I hate what golf (and people that play golf) could represent in a poor country like Colombia. Of course that comes from my social prejudices. Let me elaborate. In a country like Colombia only extremely rich people play golf (of course, as usual, there are those who hang out with rich people but are far from rich). Why is that? Well, that's because most golf courts are placed in exclusive social clubs. Clubs that the 98% of the population can not afford. Clubs that make sure that only the right people become a member. So, I find it fair to say that golf is the only sport that represents social exclusion in Colombia (this might possibly apply to other countries). Both rich and non rich people play soccer: they're fields everywhere (both good and not so good). Other sports, to a lesser degree, traverse the whole structure of the society.

I think of golf because recently a young Colombian golfer won some PGA tournament (something that in the golf world is supposed to be good). Nothing wrong with that: winning has its merits, so this guy could go back home (surely not in Colombia) and enjoy his money. What really pisses me off is that, preserving the low self-esteem we have as a country, this lame golf victory was the national event last week. This golf thing was top news to the most annoying level. It was very sad to see such a coverage, since --as already argued-- the 98% of Colombian population don't know nor care about what a birdie or a putt are. It was also weird to see a non poor, winning Colombian sportsman, but that some sort of corollary, given that the sport in question is golf.

I find the situation absurd. It's like if I appear in media because I publish a paper or finish my PhD. Indeed, pretty much as the golfer represents social exclusion in sports, when it comes to education I do represent social exclusion, considering that most Colombian people don't get university degrees (let alone PhDs) or have the possibility of living abroad. For the young golfer and myself life circumstances have place us in rather comfortable places. Places that most of my fellow Colombians would not even dream about. Both of us are lucky enough to put our talent and sacrifice on something we enjoy. Granted, in our society a sportsman has obviously more media appeal than a researcher, and in that point the comparison is unfair. But it is about time that media (and most importantly, ourselves) give the right proportions when portraying things, including arguably important golf victories.

A lazy post

Even if there are several things to comment on (most notably, the presidential campaign in USA), and as a side effect of my post-vacation depression, these days I am do not feel like writing a proper entry for the blog. I have several half-written, potentially nice entries, but my laziness has prevailed. 

Since I don't want to disappoint all the readers that follow this blog around the globe --and that send me all kinds of emails everyday--, here's something you all might be interested in.

Alex James is a former drug addict, and bass player from the british rock band Blur. Recently, he was invited by the Colombian government to see with his own eyes the war against drugs. He made a report for BBC's Panorama in which he relates his experience in Colombia, which included a visit to jungle where cocaine is produced and an interview with Colombia's president. Below you might find the 30-minute report, divided in 3 parts; hope you find it interesting. 

An inspiring place

I have been in Copenhagen (CPH) for the last two weeks. As usual, it took me a bit to put my thoughts together on my impressions on Denmark, in particular considering that this is my first time in a first-world country (sorry France). Here's an attempt to give a written account of that impressions.

The initial reaction concerns that naive ---almost childish-- surprise in appreciating the simplicity of modernity. Clean streets, automatic, easy-to-use transport means, and in general, an organized society. People is in general friendly, an impression perhaps accentuated by the fact it's summer. Another remarkable thing here in CPH is the huge amount of families with small babies. There are baby strollers everywhere! Bologna is certainly not the proper place to see young people (apart from the students) and young families. Most city structures are now customized to the many parents with strollers moving around the city. The outstanding civility in the use of bicycles is something that also strikes me. Of course in other countries using a bicycle as a transport means is common, but here you can tell it is something that is part of the danish character. This is specially true when I think of the marvelous chaos of people in bicycles in Bologna and around.

Being a port, CPH has an special spirit. In its forms CPH is, essentially, a horizontal city. The architecture is different to everything I had seen before; both old and new buildings transmit a sensation of serenity, in which both the great history and the recent changes of the country are reflected. Denmark is a very old country and has gone through a number of events along time. Yet, in CPH you can appreciate a dynamic spirit that provokes creation and even re-creation. In some sense, the old doesn't look that old and the recent looks modern in a very classy way. This can be witnessed in districts and neighborhoods that are very recent or that are being built. The splendor of the modern Danish architecture and (specially) design can be seen everywhere.

In short, I can say now that CPH is a truly inspiring place. I am here for academic reasons, staying at the IT University of Copenhagen. That's the most inspiring CS department that I have visited (not that I have visited many CS departments, though). The infrastructure is amazing, really impressive.

When I visit a place that impresses me, I can't help thinking how much I wish to have my family and close friends to be with me and see the things I can see. In that sense, I feel fortunate. My feeling is that visiting CPH could be an amazing place to inspire anyone back in Colombia. Things are very different here, and differences can be appreciated even in the minor details. Many times I see small things and I say "hey, that's something extremely clever, that's something we should bring to Colombia!" I think of young people in Colombia that feel lost or skeptical about their future. I understand that for them life might seem only a handful of possibilities, something completely opposite to the options young Danes have. I can't help thinking how spending only one day in places like CPH or Paris could inspire a young Colombian for the rest of his/her life. Not only because of the mere experience of traveling and seeing different things, but also because of the shock of seeing that a better world (or, a world that works, if you want), built by people equal to them, is indeed possible.

Soccer and Summer

One of the downsides of the summer is that there are no official soccer competitions. Actually, the real problem is that the sport press doesn't stop during the summer. Soccer news in the summer can be extremely annoying, as every single year it's the same thing, with all kinds of rumors regarding big teams signing new players.

Those who know me know that I am a supporter of Real Madrid. I won't elaborate here on why this is; I will only say that it's the best team of the world. In fact, Real Madrid is perhaps the only thing I like about Spain. (Actually I don't know why I don't like Spain in general, never had a bad experience nor a Spanish friend. It must be the fact that in Spain, as a Colombian or Ecuadorian immigrant you might get a free beating.) Because of Real Madrid, part of my daily routine is to give a quick look (not so quick when there's some important game) to the main sport newspapers in Madrid: As and Marca. Since most people in Madrid are RM followers, these newspapers usually only publish news related to the team. One of the beautiful things about soccer is that when you decide to support a team, you're automatically deciding to hate your team's rival. In case you don't know, RM's all-time rival is FC Barcelona. This rivalry follows the traditional one between the two cities, and comprises many things, including politics. Because of this, sometimes I also read the Barcelona newspapers, Mundo Deportivo and Sport. I enjoy doing so when FCB loses in pathetic ways (which is frequent). They also start stupid rumors about RM and its players, which are also funny to read sometimes.

This summer sport newspapers in Madrid and Barcelona have been especially annoying, and this certainly deserves a post. The story of the summer in Madrid is Cristiano Ronaldo signing for RM. I am so fed up with the thing that everyday I wake up wishing the story is over. My position in this is clear: I don't want CR in Madrid. Granted, the guy is an outstanding player, but it's my impression that he's not psychologically strong enough to become the best soccer player in the world. And RM must have the best players in the world. Just take a look in the way he kicked the penalty in the UEFA Champions League final. He was scared. Think about real extraordinary players in soccer history (say Zidane): they would have kicked that penalty properly, with confidence. Ronaldo was lucky enough that John Kerry did much worse than him kicking his penalty. Otherwise, Cristiano would have been remembered as the idiot that gave Chelsea the trophy.

Now let's turn to the situation in Barcelona. They have a lot of problems: they want(ed) to get rid of good (yet problematic) players (Ronaldinho, Deco, Etoo), there's a new coach, the president of the club has little support. However, the story of the summer concerns Lionel Messi going to the Olympic games. The club doesn't want Lio to go to the games as they coincide with the preliminary qualification round for the UEFA Champions. However, FIFA regulations say that the club must allow Messi to play with his national team. The player seems to be too shy to make his position clear, which I really can't stand. It's some sort of endless situation in which both parts (the club and the Argentinian soccer association) are right. Things are really annoying because there are lawyers and courts taking part of the dispute. The latest news is that Messi went to China (based on a decision of some court), but today a higher court said that FC Barcelona wasn't obliged to let Messi participate. The Argentinian association replied saying that there's no way Messi is returning...

All in all, I hope these two stories to reach a final. I really don't care how the things evolve. Really. I look forward for the beginning of the new soccer year, which should be exciting.

Also a Saturday, 28 years ago

Today could be considered the first day of summer vacation. Bologna has been in "summer mode" for some days already: the streets are considerably emptier, the lessons and exams are evidently finished for now so there are no students around, and many business have closed. In spite of the unbearable humid weather, I find this a very enjoyable atmosphere of relax. Many have already escaped from Bologna or, as in my case, are close to do it.

This atmosphere is, unfortunately, very convenient to forget that the worst terrorist attack in the recent Italian history took place in Bologna, exactly 28 years ago. I kind of knew about the Bologna massacre (strage di Bologna, the "official" name given to the attack) but only now I cared to read a bit more about the issue. It is very difficult to me to assimilate that the Bologna train station ---a place that for me only evokes happy, positive memories-- was destroyed by a terrorist attack that took the life of 85 persons and wounded more than 200.

It is weird, but somehow I feel "attacked" only to read about the subject. (Yes, perhaps I have learned to love Bologna.) The thing is that I have been so many times in the very same waiting room in which the bomb exploded. I can easily imagine the people, waiting for their train at 10:25 am. For them, what it was supposed to be the beginning of a promising summer ended up being the end of their lives. Not only people in the waiting room died; also people in the train that was waiting in the platform next to the room suffered the explosion. Indeed, the west wing of the station collapsed, and a substantial part of it fell over the train. The blast was heard for miles.

One remarkable aspect here is that Bologna people has managed to keep the awareness about this tragic event. I am extremely glad that occurs, as civil awareness for such a long period is something that doesn't exist in a tragic country as Colombia. You can see it in the station: apart from the usual commemorating stones, the hole the explosion left in the waiting room, and a clock signaling the time of the attack, are preserved. I understand that several civil manifestations will take place in Piazza Maggiore. Besides, civil organizations created after the attack were crucial to demand objective investigations of the responsibles for the attack,

Even if I am tempted to comment on the politics behind the attack, I prefer not to do so as those are pieces of history that I know only very superficially. Perhaps when I have read more about the violence and political tensions of the time I will write about them. For now, I will only say that it was determined that the attacks were planned and executed by neo-fascist movements, and that the two main responsibles (a young couple) are serving life imprisonments.