Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society. Mark Twain She looked amused. Or terrified. It was hard to tell. I had only spent three, maybe four hours with her, …
October 18, 2007
Europe
French Fashionista
Turning Viennese
Austria is not Mexico. That's the slogan Ron and I devised after our third day in Vienna. The whole slogan goes, "Hey, settle down, man. This isn't Mexico," which means: There are rules you aren't …
October 11, 2007
French Food
To the sober person, adventurous conduct seems insanity.-- Aristotle I awoke to the same rhythmic rocking that had lulled me to sleep seven hours earlier. I could hear David stirring on the bunk above, an …
October 11, 2007
Night and Day in Portugal
This restaurant is closed. "Point Loma and Ocean Beach were the traditional centers for the Portuguese in San Diego," said my friend Laura, a native San Diegan, as we settled down to our first meal …
August 23, 2007
France Meets California
"Old school vs. new school, Bob Hope vs. Adam Sandler, dirt vs. fruit."
Dimitrios Kyranas in Athens, Greece
The Catch On one of the many beautiful -- thanks to global warming -- winter mornings, I decided to take the bus to university. My intention was to attend a student assembly, gauge the political …
May 31, 2007
Dimitrios Kyranas in Athens, Greece
Flashback Yesterday afternoon I looked at photos of my high school graduation. After going through them, I could not help proceeding to the album's following chapter -- my first days as an undergraduate student. The …
May 24, 2007
Dimitrios Kyranas in Athens, Greece
Spatiotemporal Unfairness The other day I leisurely rode the escalators of the central subway station of Athens, at Syntagma (Constitution) Square, situated right in front of the parliamentary building. It was ten minutes before the …
May 17, 2007
Dimitrios Kyranas in Athens, Greece
A Greek capital crime I was strolling this afternoon along the wide avenues that crisscross the center of Athens, the Greek capital, perusing its wonderful fauna -- stray cats, dogs, and pigeons -- posters advertising …
May 10, 2007
Dimitrios Kyranas in Athens, Greece
The Fake Greek It all began in late 1994: I realized that my English was superior to that of my schoolmates, all of whom had more or less the same exposure to English that I …
May 3, 2007
Deconstructing Spain
'I smell red fruit - red plums, red cherries, a little cranberry.'
Gods Need Their Space
Benedictum played Italy's Gods of Metal festival over the first weekend of June. Def Leppard, Whitesnake, and Guns N' Roses were the bigger acts on the bill. "On the first days, each band had their …
July 6, 2006
San Diego's Crawdaddys big In Spain
"In the future," Andy Warhol predicted, "everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes." But for a few San Diego musicians, it seems that the future's arrived ahead of schedule and landed them halfway around the …
March 9, 2006
Vine Writer
'I actually broke the story in the state. Pretty nice for your first time out.'
If You Get My Continental Drift
Your Mattness: Who decides what are continents? Why is Greenland not a continent? It is bigger than the island/continent of Australia and has more people than Antarctica. How can Europe and Asia be one continent? …
February 2, 2006