Lands of passion, inspiration is abundant, find yours.

What can I say, it is Venice. This city has nothing to say that words have not already said. I would love to start waxing romanticly about what kind of place this is, what kind of feeling it exudes and provokes; but I wont because what I have felt here is for me and what you will feel here is for you.


So instead I will leave you with this.

A man has only so much time to practice so many things, some are more efficiant than others, some more talanted, and then, some gifted; but in the end, we are men.

Love,
Matthew

Art and writing from the world part III (Love in energy, not in time)

But I, like the pounding cry, detonation and babble of my heart, is more musical than the frenzic perplexity that the rest of the world has fixated on habitually and roughly disregarded on purpose and with antipathy or bad blood; but as unfrozen as a lost orchid in a bereft of life landscape called hominal, present, standing and subsequent day scape I stand like the path perfected to a degree which would shy even the most precise of all absolute existence.



But I love enough, I breath enough, and I have all the time in the world. She is searching, I am searching; the planet is a big place; my heart composes abundant sound, heard without ears, seen without eyes and felt without breath; draw near to me.

-Bart€

Wien (A big step into not suck)

Vienna!!

Oh, lovely Vienna. Right on, now here is a people with their proverbial heads out of their asses. Great city, again, great city. Long beautiful streets filled with quaint shops, cheerful people, laughing and joy full children and to boot this little bad boy is CLEAN.

I know what your thinking, "So your telling me the streets are not literally crumbling apart without attention or care? every nook and cranny of each window is not filled with random bits of garbage that you are lucky to notice since you just stepped in dog shit again?"

Nope dude, this town is well managed and full of lovely sights such as the Parliament gardens and palace gardens, long luxurious mother fuckers of gardens which smell and feel wonderful. Such a breath of fresh air, figuratively and spiritually.

The English name of Vienna, the German name Wien, and the names of the city in most languages, are thought to be derived from the Celtic name of a settlement, but opinions vary on the precise origin. Some claim that the name comes from Vedunia, meaning "forest stream", which subsequently became Venia, Wienne and Wien. Others claim that the name comes from the name of the Roman settlement Vindobona, probably meaning "white base/bottom", which became Vindovina, Viden and Wien.

And the food and drink can not be beat, well, we will see. Vienna, along with Paris, Prague, Bratislava (shudders) and London is one of the few remaining world capital cities with its own vineyards. The wine is served in small Viennese pubs known as Heuriger.

Visit this city, so says I

Cheers friends, thanks to those who are reading, commenting and emailing me.

If you want a postcard from Europa, let me know, I need you Addy.

LOVE YOU ALL

Bratislava (Back on the blog)

All right kids, I finally found a good spot to get me some interneting done. Parts II and III Czech will be later.


Bratislava (aka go fuck your self)

OK, so I found a place I "Don't" like. Bratislava. This town had bad vibe all over it from the minute I stepped off the platform, which I might add I have become alarmingly talented at; showing up in a brand new gigantic city where they do not speak your language and probably hate you, then finding your way around almost immediately, I call it "Au Currant Counseled" which is English for, "In the current handled and managed"

Any who, back to Bratislava. In defense of the city it DID have a nice square and nice Japaneses restaurant, but that's it. This town was filthy, unkempt, boring, rude broken down and generally irritating. Most of the people here are poor, as is the city; and it shows.

Even the palace is a dump, but hey! its under maintenance and they are trying. Notice the messed up window second from left in the middle? yeah, that's two window build on top of each other... I think the dumplings are going to their tiny Slovak brains. This was a stock photo as I can not upload my own at this point, but the good news is it actually looks MORE retarded right now that it does in this picture, yeah its possible.

So, the moral of the story is "Fuck Off Bratislavska" as will be seen in the following photo, when I have a chance to upload it.

Cheers jerks! more to come, and yes, back to cheery ole shit like you are used to, not this non sensible garbage about goat fucking Slovaks who cant build windows, but I know what your thinking "Matthew, are you not Czech, they are Slovak by root?"

Yes, piss off.

CAIO!!!!

The Czech expierence (Part one of three)

This will be the first of three parts :: No Pictures for now, as I can not upload/they will be added.

Czech Republic:

All right kids, I dont know if anyone is reading, but this one will be a bit long so I hope you have some patience.

As some of you know my roots on my fathers side are from Bohemia, Some of the oldest settlers of the Czech lands were the Boii, a Celtic tribe that inhabited the region from around the 4th century BC and gave Bohemia its name. The Celts were later replaced by Germanic tribes, and around the 6th century AD, the Slavs finally reached the territory from the east. In the 7th century, a Frankish merchant Sámo succeeded in uniting the Slavic tribes under his empire and defeating the tribe of the Avars that occupied today's Hungary.

In addition to this background, my Grandfather and Grandmother served in World War two, these two corralate later in my story as we explore the magnificent and amazing story of the Czech people before during and after the war.

The first slovic tribes arrived in about 500 ad and were quickly conqured by the Great Moravian Empire: 830AD, the Great Moravian Empire (Velkomoravská říše) which did not last long after the great Hungarian Invasion after 907. The check people were nomads wandering through the lands,  Around 880, the Prague Castle was founded by prince Bořivoj, the first of the Přemyslid princes, and the seat of power was moved there.  it also said that the city was founded by a phsycic princess and after the city was founded they decided that it was not proper to be led by a woman so they made her marry a farmer. Přemyslid.

The Czech lands had a high economic, cultural, and political status during the Přemyslid rule, which was further strengthened by Vratislav II being granted the royal crown and becoming the first Czech king in 1085 - The Přemyslid dynasty ended with the death of its last member, Wenceslas III, in 1306.

Things in the 15th Century is when the real turmoil of the city began, at the beginning of the century, a reform movement (reformace) was started and lead by priest John Huss (Jan Hus). Influenced by the writings of John Wycliffe, Huss spoke against the corruption of the Catholic Church. He was said to have invented Protistantism, and would not be cited for it and Marin Luther would take credit for it over a hundered years later in England. However, the Catholic Church decided to give him credit, by burning him at the stake in 1415.

The killing of Hus started a massive protest movement by his followers, the Hussites. In 1419, the First Defenestration (Defenestration means, throwning people out of windows.) of Prague took place when the Hussites threw seven counselors out of the windows of Prague's New Town Hall.

1419 the Pope Declared the Czech Republic a "Heritc State" and sent army after army, cursade after crusade into Czech. The Czechs had little to defend themselves with and may have done something that could be considered the first "tank" ever used in war, A big spikey cart with a man in the middel with a gun (the English would take credit for the tank 500 years later) The war did not end well for the Czech people and left them without a King untill Rudolf II.

Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, was crowned the Czech king in 1576 and moved his court back to Prague in 1583, thus promoting Prague to the imperial seat of power again. This era is sometimes referred to as Prague's Second Golden Age. It was during his reign that Prague earned its nickname "Magic Prague". Rudolf's court attracted scientists and artists from all over Europe, including astronomers Tycho de Brahe and Johannes Kepler. The legend of the Golem comes from that time, too.

Rudolf's successor Matthias attempted to deprive the Protestants of the few freedoms they were left with since the Habsburgs took the throne, and this oppression resulted in another Protestant uprising. The rebellion started with the Second Defenestration of Prague in 1618 in which the Protestants were severly defeated, 27 Protestant leaders were executed on the Old Town Square in May 1621 and all religions except Catholic were banned. The Czech language and national consciousness were suppressed for the next 150 years. Prague lost its importance and the Prague Castle deteriorated. This period in Czech history is referred to as the Dark Age (doba temna).

This is the end of Part one.

Ill give you a breather before parts 2 and 3.

No bones about it.

First off, I am working on a larger write up for Prague, it has been some work and I want it to be complete so that is coming, for those of you who like the info stuff, this one means a good deal to me as well, as the Czech land is host to half my blood.


The Sedlec Ossuary (Czech: kostnice Sedlec)

Wow.. Not really even sure where to begin with the things there are to say about this place. I have many photos that I will upload and I encourage you to find more on the internet other than the one picture I have included here.

The story of the Bone Church (‘Ossuary’ to be more correct or ‘Kostnice’ in Czech) in Kutná Hora is that, in the 13th century, Jindřich, the abbot of Sedlec monastery, returned from a visit to Palestine with a pocketful of soil and sprinkled it on the cemetery surrounding the Chapel of All Saints.

This direct association with the holy land led to the graveyard becoming a sought after burial site among the aristocracy of Central Europe. At the time of the thirty years’ war in the 17th century, the number of burials outgrew the space available, the older remains began to be exhumed and stored in the chapel, and it’s estimated that the chapel now contains the bones of up to 40,000 people.

The feeling even for me the agnostic is that of presence and power, it is hard to feel no spirituality in a place of this magnitude. The bones are laid out in a magical and artistic display giving what I see as a high level of respect to the dead.

Above the centre hangs the chandelier that is often touted as the highlight of the bone church because it contains at least one of each bone in the human body. It is AMAZING, the artist even signed the wall.. in bones.

Perhaps even as non religious person, some prayers were said today. We are all headed for death, this is not a morbid thought. Death is the perfection of life, a luminous unknown we all face and some fear. I know and recognize that I have but so much time to learn what I need to learn before making my very own leap into the unknown and the next level of existence, I want to be ready.


-Matthew


--

"Love will free us of all the weight and pain of life"

Art and writing, from the world (part 2) The Beggar

If there were one last rustic memory for retainment, to hold on to as an absorbed death; my last thing to keep possession, would it lastly conclude with you in hand? Shuttering breath and condensation, but the warmth I know on my cheek it is a worlds sigh, an unbroken promise spelled in a minds language gone and lost, poured out and evanesce with space like inhale. Cool and pink my skin is stained, once my exhausted memory of you breathing my flesh now a cold vacuum; an ambitious and jarring intrusive reminder that my choice is to return here forever. Its a place not reserved for an affair or apparatus so explanatory as you or I, as effortless or light as time and place, no, this eternal reestablishment is for the unabbreviated, the replete, the everything and... the path.




Love.
 
 
 
Barta

Berlin, Dresden and the German exp.

No posts in a bit, got tied up in Berlin

Which, is an amazing city. For some reason I felt as though I may not enjoy the German people or Germany. I was wrong, Berlin and Germany are wonderful and the people are great.

Berlin: What a wonderful city, boasting a population of 3.5 million it is the largest and capital city of Germany, and the second largest city in the European Union. First documented in the thirteenth century, Berlin was successively the capital of the Kingdom of Prussia (1701–1918), the German Empire (1871–1918), the Weimar Republic (1919–1933) and the Third Reich (1933–1945) The city is rich with life and they are on the throws of a new election.

This is a progressive city with a population able to revive a nation, just less than 20 years after the fall of the Berlin wall, this city is a Metropolis of Museums, research institutes, sports, orchestras, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts and the list goes on.

The German countryside is amazing, taking a train thus far from Berlin to Praha, along the River Elbe and through Dresden, yet another amazing German city.

Dresden: Dresden has a long history as the capital and royal residence for the Electors and Kings of Saxony, who for centuries furnished the city with cultural and artistic splendour. The city was completely destroyed by the controversial Allied aerial bombing towards the end of World War II. The impact of the bombing and 40 years of urban development during the East German socialist era have considerably changed the face of the city.

After being placed on the list of endangered World Heritage Sites in 2006, the city had formally its status as world heritage site removed in June 2009, for the wilful breach of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, through the construction of highway bridge across the valley within one mile of the historic centre. It thereby became the first ever place in Europe to lose this status, and the second ever in the world.

Pictures are of Berlin and Dresden.

Later peeps, keep in mind you dont need an account to comment here, and I took the word verification off.. so, you know. :)

BYE!!!

Art and writing, from the world (part 1) I have all the keys.

Every now and then life becomes an admissible applicable and fitting reformation with revival.
Every now and then time becomes inept and inoperative, rather than absolute arrogant and bossy.
Sometimes I look just hard enough, sometimes you were looking too hard.

There is that moment again, its two breaths away, one last inhalation before the glass breaks, because I've been staring at its fractures and its hair line readiness. If I push up against it too much then there is only follow through, and it just may be; we are both all systems go, at hand and at the ready for this speculative enterprise.

But for now there is only exhale, expel, a puff against the pressure I feel and instead of your sweet answer, there is vapor. My anxious ardent cravings become more recognizable as brainless absurdity.

Every now and then the world brings you into one place regardless of your size.
Every now and then you bring the world into your heart.
Sometimes it happens at the same time, sometimes you were looking for it.

-Bartá

Haarlem and NEMO

Ahh, Haarlem, now this is my kind of Netherlands. Had I known that this town was so much better, I would have spent the majority of my time here and not Amsterdam; although the history in Amsterdam is more my speed, the town is not.

Haarlem is home to the St Bavo church which holds The Christian Muller Organ, it is the focal point of St. Bavo. It's 30 meters high and has 5068 pipes. Constructed by Amsterdam organ builder Christian Muller between 1735 and 1738, Handel and Mozart both have played it, Mozart when he was 10. A picture above. Man, people build some crazy shit for this God fella, popular Deity he is, eh?

Haarlem is much more quaint and relaxed. There is a good shopping element here and a giant general square in which to enjoy some lunch. I decided upon a Thai spot, there was a gentlemen there who burned a hole through my head the entire meal. This was strange because for the most part people do not make much eye contact, let alone, stare.. intensely.

In addition to the Haarlem area I visited the science center (NEMO) in Amsterdam. This progressive atmosphere is yet another testament to the forward thinking of the old world and a large example to the blind ignorant bible thumping bureaucratic ways of the west. The science center has an area for sex education. Did he say sex education? yeah you know that thing that we all do? Humping like rabbits? yeah well it turns out its a good idea to teach and learn about it before actually doing it. Unlike in the USA where we believe that sex education is a bad thing... Abstinence education, pffft, Turns out that never works. Along side this educational area is some wooden dolls showing examples of brilliant ways of having sex.(picture above is an example, a favorite of mine "Pounding the spot") Nothing is crude, nothing is revealing; simply human. In addition to this progressive education is gay advocacy as well as a healthy write up on the lifestyle, gay rights, recourses and a cheerful lists of hints on healthy ways to "come out" Go Holland GO!!! very well done.

Tommorow I am off to Berlin!! Caio!!

-Matthew

2 posts

There will be two posts today, one of which will be a normal entry and the second will be for Michael Cornelius, about whores, drugs and museums about whores and drugs, as per his request

Post 1 (not for Mike)

I went to two museums, the first was the Dutch Resistance Museum. Filled with artifacts of World War II and of the history of the Dutch resistance.

The Dutch resistance: Prior to the German invasion, the Netherlands had adhered to a policy of strict neutrality. The Dutch had not engaged in war with any European nation since 1830. The Germans did not invade the Netherlands during the first world war so it was a shock to the Dutch when On May 10, 1940, German troops invaded the Netherlands without a declaration of war. The day before, small groups of German troops in Dutch uniforms had entered the country. Many of them were wearing Dutch helmets, some made of cardboard as there were not enough originals. Although the Dutch army was inferior in nearly every way, four days later it looked as if the Dutch had stopped the German advance. Hitler, who had expected the occupation to be completed in two days, ordered Rotterdam to be annihilated, followed by every other Dutch city if the Dutch refused to surrender. The Dutch, who had quickly lost the bulk of their air force, realised they could not stop the German bombers and surrendered.

Nevertheless, while the Dutch envoy who had just signed the ceasefire agreement with the Germans was on his way back, German bombers roared overhead, and Rotterdam was indeed bombed. The Dutch soldiers who died defending their country, together with at least 800 civilians who perished in the flames of Rotterdam, were the first victims of Nazi occupation which was to last five years.

The Museum was throughly interesting and engaged with memories of sorrow and anger. I find it a bit fitting that I am in Europe on the 70th aniversery of the start of World War II.

The Dutch had several layers of resistance, first, Already on May 15, 1940, the day after the Dutch capitulation, the Communist Party of the Netherlands (CPN) held a meeting in order to organize their underground existence and resistance against the German occupier. It was the first resistance organisation in the Netherlands. As a result, some 2000 communists would lose their lives in torture rooms. Additional resistance groups:

The LO ("Landelijke Organisatie voor hulp aan onderduikers", or National Organization for Help to People in Hiding);

The KP ("Knokploeg", or Assault Group), with 550 members conducting sabotage operations and occasional assassinations;

The RVV ("Raad van Verzet" or Council of Resistance), engaged in sabotage, assassinations, and the protection of people in hiding;

And the OD ("Orde Dienst" or Order of Service), a group preparing for the return of the exiled Dutch government, and its subgroup the GDN (Dutch Secret Service), the intelligence arm of the OD.

The Picture above was posted through The Netherlands during WWII it reads "Berlin will fall today or tommorrow - do not give in to the hunger - continue the resistance"

Tommorrow I am going to go look at windmills, and lighter subject matter.

Geen definities gevonden!!

Later my people,

Matthew

P.S I think that photobucket will work to post more pictures, but it takes goddam forever for it to upload, so mayhaps you only get one at a time.

Amsterdam

Ok, so it's coming together!

Arrived at 6:00 am Amsterdam time this morning after a 8 hour flight in (cough) first class (cough)... Dude, rich people got it made! I was able to recline my seat into a bed when I pleased, there were two full meals, video games, movies and what ever the hell else you wanted; thank god for parents with connections.

Amsterdam is neat, the weather reminds me of Portland actually. The area is real flat and the city has all these amazing canals. The city forwardly destroys Portland in the amount of bicyclists... flat out, and they are all old junky cruiser and comfort style bikes; essentially no one I have seen has a fancy bike.

The people thus far seem a bit on the less friendly side, but you would think being from the hipster capital of the US I would be used to that. They seem to know immediately that you are an American, I assume that is part of the cool shoulder. Can you blame them though really? not this chap, I hate people from my country for the most part also; you have to admit, we are mostly douche bags.

Currently sitting at the Amsterdam Library, this place is dope as fuck. First of all, how great is it that people still use libraries here! I mean, I know we have one in Portland, but I don't know where it is...

Later today, Van Gough...

Later my people,

-Matthew