The concert highlight of the year belongs to the Rolling Stones in Vienna! Around 60,000 people were positively on fire during the two hour show at Ernst Happel Stadium in the Austrian capital. I mean, just watch the intro below!
This is the greatest rock band on the planet, hands down. From the iconic hits such as “Sympathy for the Devil“, “Gimme Shelter“, “You Got Me Rocking” to the huge, flashy stage, and of course, the four Englishmen who took the world by storm ever since they first rocked together, and are taking it again on every tour – you’ve got it all. A feast for the eyes, ears (legs too – I danced them right off!) and spirit, and one I definitely didn’t want to miss. Thanks to the concert travel agency SviKoncerti.eu, I had the time of my life with fellow Stones fans, plus I got to meet some cool new people while en route & there – cheers, Hrvoje, Biserka, Albin & Edvin! ;)
Also, check out the whole gang here (courtesy to Tomica & svikoncerti.eu):
What I especially liked (next to those sexy visuals on “Honky Tonk Woman“) were the outfits that Mick & Co. chose for the show – so stylish and cool! In love with Ron’s jacket (photos by Matthias Hombauer):
Of course, I splurged a small fortune on the official merchandise, grabbed a lángos on the way back to the bus, and spent the time travelling back to Zagreb in thoughts coloured with pure rock’n’roll!
Now, even though I’m ecstatic to have seen them live again after so many years (Zagreb ’98, anyone?) and probably on their last tour, I actually wish they have a new album and tour soon, because this is a concert experience like no other! I can’t get no satisfaction! ;)
Tag: Ilhana Skrgic
14 ON FIRE: Burch & TETA Conferences
For those of you not familiar with the title – it was actually the Rolling Stones tour this year where I managed to see one show (more on that in the upcoming post), so I thought it’s a nice way to describe the whole summer. ’14 on fire, indeed!
The unofficial start was all business. The long awaited conference at the Burch University in Sarajevo was an event I anticipated ever since I got the presentation acceptance letter back in February. This was an effective strategy to both research political metaphors in our surroundings, get much needed ECTS points for my studies, and test whether the idea will hold water in the long run (basically, will it be of interest to me to my PhD thesis on it) – and test it I sure did. This was my first solo presentation at a conference, but I had my faithful companion and dear friend Nizama with me, so I was simply „positively“ excited to present my work. Not only her, mind you, but also my professor from Osijek, Prof. Tanja Gradečak-Erdeljić, along with her colleagues, my PhD colleague Ružica, my colleagues from the faculty in Bihać… Their presence meant a lot, and I still can’t thank them enough! Just imagine the situation – the colleague who presented before me just ended his speech, which was taken as cue for the bunch of people to open the door of the hall and enter it – for me! So cool! The hall was full, and even though I didn’t have the planned time to present everything (due to all first-round presentations being late since prof. Langacker prolonged his keynote speech), I was pretty satisfied with how it all went. I prefer presenting on the first day, because I can relax after my speech and just hang out with my friends and colleagues, checking out interesting presentations or mingling at the buffet. In that aspect, it was like the lovely organizers at Burch read my mind.
Overall impression from Burch – it was like a rockstar show, only for linguists! Not only because they had some pretty big names of the academic world (aforementioned Prof. Langacker, then Professors Pinker, Mackey, Ellis and Schmidt), but also due to the fact that they had that special event vibe going on – and with 600 presenters and who knows how many visitors, it was a true academic beehive! As for Nizama and me, we loved buzzing around and we’re already planning our speeches for next year. Hopefully, we’ll finally get to see and meet Prof. George Lakoff, who was announced, but in the end couldn’t come or hold a video conference this year (he’s up on the 2015 poster though). We’re totally gonna fangirl over him and have him sign our copies of „Metaphors We Live By“, right, Nizama?
After we came back home, disaster struck our country (the May floods), so we were all, in one way or another, influenced by the whole catastrophe. For a while it was also touch-and-go for my third conference this year, organized by TETA – Tuzla English Teachers’ Association that currently dubs as the organization for the whole country, and does a pretty good job at it too. By then (second week of June), I was entirely spent by the exhausting work year behind me and ready to call it a day – or in this case, a year. Hence me being extremely tired at the conference and the days preceding it. I also had a solo speech there, and in the presence of several colleagues – English teachers there (Nizama too), and a couple of my students from Bihać who were helpers at the conference, I presented my research on the cognitive dimension of early acquisition of EFL, and was once more able to relax after that. I think my brain went officially on vacation the minute my speech ended. After that, it was mingling time again – and at the dinner TETA organized for us at an Irish pub in Tuzla, I actually won a pretty nifty tablet! How cool is that! The rest of the evening I spent in a very pleasant company of fellow English teachers from all across Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia. The late evening was blank, as I basically fainted and slept for close to 12 hours. Tomorrow held another journey for me, but more on that and the four Englishmen in the biggest rock band in the world soon! Until then, enjoy my gallery from Burch, with TETA being added soon as well!
My presentation (as you can see, I love to plug my fave horror movies in them – and “They Live” is a masterpiece!):
With colleagues Hakan and Nizama in front of Burch:
At the House of Sevdah in Sarajevo:
With Ružica at the Pope John Paul II statue in Sarajevo:
Where’s Waldo? :) (last photo courtesy of Burch University)
H.R. Giger (February 5, 1940 – May 12, 2014)
More than a month has passed since H.R. Giger died in Zurich, and I am still grieving. There is no fancy or more beautiful way to reflect on his tragic passing… Actually, there is, but those words are not mine (his longtime friend and assistant Tom Gabriel Warrior of Triptykon: www.triptykon.net). The shock subsided, but the emptiness announced its stay until the end of time.
My eternal love and devotion to his art does not stem from Alien alone, but this breathtaking creature did introduce me to Giger at a young age. Then, as I finally walked into the museum in Gruyères two years ago, the storm of recognition raged joyously inside me. This! This has been the world of my existence! Not the bleak copy outside, ridden of everything seductively dark and magnificent. I was home…
Incidentally, today was the tentative slate for the release of my second book “Memento Amores“, whose cover is graced by Giger’s Schacht VII, my favourite work of art. However, I decided to wait for a while. The realisation of this book being an homage to him played a crucial part in this decision. Ultimately, I will offer my verses to him and hope the winds will be my faithful servants, bringing them to the gates of his design.
However, this will not be my last bestowal. I will forever celebrate the genius of H.R. Giger, his remarkable talent and legacy, whether by visiting his museum and bars in Switzerland, art exhibitions around the world, acquiring books devoted to him, and more. A few days ago, as I was sitting in the bus bound for Zagreb, one thought appeared and hasn’t let go since then – what if I pay the ultimate homage by writing my PhD thesis on the visual symbolism in his art? I don’t think such a dissertation, especially from a linguistic point of view, has ever been done. The intrigue and challenge rest abound on this barely-seen semiotic path, and, by God, I will try to pave it. It’s like the call of Lovecraft to my August Derleth.
In the end, many artists will be born upon this world, and even more will try to portray their insides and outsides in various forms. Yet, since May 12 this year, the world itself has stepped into the final act of the play. Without H.R. Giger, we are all left with sundown and memories of a dimension our insectoid selves will never see again.
/photo by Willy Spiller – H.R.Giger at the entrance to the Giger Bar in Chur, Switzerland/