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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in al-x's LiveJournal:

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    Monday, January 3rd, 2005
    8:59 am
    this journal has lost most of its raison d'etre. it will therefore cease here.

    al-x
    Saturday, December 25th, 2004
    1:09 pm
    it appears that [info]livarot is keeping herself a secret cellar of coca light cans. this is because they are supposed to taste better than diet coke. a special luxury.

    other people keep themselves a nice clos de la marechale. not so she. this is america.

    she is to be mocked.

    al-x

    Current Mood: disbelief
    Current Music: cora vaucaire, la complainte de la butte

    (13 Comments |qu'est-ce que le fuck?)

    Wednesday, December 22nd, 2004
    7:01 pm
    keep the dream alive!

    it appears that sega has just released a new game for the dreamcast: chaos field. i shall try to procure it.

    al-x

    Current Mood: happy

    (4 Comments |qu'est-ce que le fuck?)

    Tuesday, December 21st, 2004
    1:32 pm
    this is where they told me you'd look

    this is an advertisement for [info]projustitia.

    al-x

    (qu'est-ce que le fuck?)

    12:55 pm
    why is america so weird?

    after having frequented this country for many years, and after recently even establishing myself here, i continue to be amazed by the intrinsic weirdness of this land.

    today's subject will be windows. although i had noticed before that some american houses and apartments have very curious windows - a fact that i ascribed to the fact that they were old - i have recently noticed that a very large majority of all american constructions, both old and recent, are adorned with this very same kind of curious window. to wit,







    as you can see, this kind of openable window is composed of two glass panes. you can "open" it by sliding the lower pane up. and that's it. air will come in. or pollution. there seem to be standardised sizes. to close it you slide it down again. if the window is old (shoreland) the sliding is hard.

    now what i, as a european, have always considered a window is something like this:









    as you can see, this kind of openable window is composed of two panes that will move in (or out) in opposite direction to enable the opening of the entire window hole. i don't think that i have ever seen this sort of window in the united states of america.

    now i can't help but wonder about the profound reasons of this fundamental divergence on the matter of windows. i have been looking at windows a lot recently. and thinking about them too.
    i have not seen any european kind of window here. (i also think i never saw an american kind of window in the old world.) what could be the reason? better isolation? i doubt it. easier to handle? i doubt it. the examples i've seen here were quitty shitty on both counts. is there a window lobby in either of the continents that forbids application of the other, weird, concept? is it un-american to have windows open entirely? or does it encourage gang-warfare? what kind of windows did the confederates have? as you can see i am truly at a loss. new questions keep on arising.

    i would therefore like ask all my american friends to share their experience with windows, and all my intelligent friends to propose some kind of explanation. please help! and tell me how the windows are in your city or area!

    al-x

    Current Music: vivaldi, missa per l'assunzione di maria vergine

    (61 Comments |qu'est-ce que le fuck?)

    Friday, December 17th, 2004
    8:53 am

    (5 Comments |qu'est-ce que le fuck?)

    Tuesday, November 23rd, 2004
    3:35 pm
    wisdom

    sometimes ugly parents will beget beautiful children.

    in a similar fashion two perfectly disgusting ingredients put together can, when one would safely expect not much of such a terrible union, a quite acceptable result.

    this is what i have learned about mixing the utterly vile heileman's old style with the quite insipid diet coke. of the miscegenation i expected not much, but the sum of the parts proved to be vastly superior in taste and agreement than the components taken by themselves.

    perhaps coca cola has in itself a special value, or role, as the disgusting liquid that makes other ingredients better. it might be a kind of redeemer among the liquids, a kind of deliverer that sacrifices its own taste for the common good.

    this is the wisdom the honorable morimoto masaharu must have held when he added coca cola to natto.

    al-x

    (30 Comments |qu'est-ce que le fuck?)

    Friday, October 22nd, 2004
    10:19 am
    le chant du cygne
    le grand journal le monde decouvre la complexite et l'omnipresence des processus segregatifs. il faut plus de lois!

    "Les politiques de la ville et du logement menées depuis vingt ans pour faire progresser la mixité en développant les logements sociaux ou les aides personnalisées au logement ont peut-être atténué quelques symptômes, mais n'ont jamais atteint les causes intimes de la ségrégation."

    ergo? que faire, mais que faire? je propose la validation obligatoire de tous les mariages par l'etat pour remplir des quotas d'egalite, ainsi qu'une obligation de domicile pour favoriser l'integration et l'egalite.

    "De même, les politiques ciblées en faveur des territoires les plus désavantagés, comme les zones d'éducation prioritaires (ZEP) ou les zones franches, s'avèrent très décevantes."

    c'est scandaleux. evidemment les zep ont ete minees par des strategies d'evitement elitistes et racistes. je propose que par la loi chaque lycee envoie dorenavant sensiblement le meme nombre d'eleves a chaque universite. cassons les ghettos de riches. il faut des actions fortes pour mettre fin au monopole de henri-iv et d'autres sur l'education dans ce pays. il faut redistribuer les chances.

    "Mais un nouveau pas doit être franchi : alors que beaucoup considèrent encore que les déchirements de la ville affectent essentiellement une minorité d'exclus, il va falloir accepter l'idée que les mécanismes de la ségrégation traversent toute la société et non seulement ses franges."

    quelle societe pourrie. on nous fait croire que les ghettos sont des phenomenes rares et superficiels, mais c'est le corps entier du peuple qui est attaque par les elites! enfin la verite!

    "Ce tableau (...)laisse entrevoir une société à la fois fragmentée et figée, hantée par la peur du déclassement. Une société où l'on change souvent de trottoir."

    c'est pas beau la france. moi j'veux pas vivre dans une france comme ca!

    "S'il en est ainsi, c'est parce que nous croyons que la qualité de l'environnement social immédiat pèse de tout son poids sur la réussite ou l'échec de chacun."

    pays raciste et elitiste! il faut decrotter ces vues 19e siecle, une bonne fois pour toute.

    "Il faut pour cela appliquer résolument un principe : donner davantage aux jeunes enfants et aux adolescents les plus démunis de ressources familiales."

    aider les pludemunis! mais ne sont-ce pas la que des paroles en l'air? qu'est-ce vous faites, vous, monsieur le journaliste, pour aider?

    "L'ensemble de nos politiques publiques pour la santé, le logement ou la formation peut être réorienté de manière à se concentrer réellement sur les jeunes les plus démunis et à éviter de se disperser sur un trop grand nombre de bénéficiaires, ou de territoires, choisis selon des critères manquant de transparence et de souplesse. Les évaluations disponibles convergent toutes pour souligner que les investissements publics pour l'amélioration des conditions de développement des jeunes les plus démunis ne sont pas seulement justes, mais parmi les plus rentables qui se puissent concevoir."

    il faut lancer un grand chantier republicain! creer un ministere d'egalite des chances de la jeunesse! il faut plus de fonds, il faut mieux cibler, mieux suivre!

    "Dans la foulée des politiques alternatives que j'ai tenté d'illustrer, je crois notamment nécessaire de promouvoir une école moins sélective, moins anxiogène, avec des programmes moins lourds et plus concrets, autour desquels pourraient se déployer des scolarités obligatoires dont le redoublement et l'échec seraient quasi bannis (comme c'est d'ailleurs le cas chez la plupart de nos voisins européens)."

    voila! mort a l'orthographe et aux vieilles regles racistes! vive la creativite! vive la diversite!

    "Suspendre la sélection précoce et promouvoir un véritable "collège pour tous" reste un projet d'actualité, dont l'objectif serait l'acquisition d'une culture commune par chaque classe d'âge, culture discutée et définie par l'ensemble de la société et non plus seulement par les spécialistes de chaque discipline."

    un college pour tous! oui! abolition des privileges! abolition de henri-iv! occupons democratiquement les lycees et les ministeres! montrons a ceux qui nous gouvernent que l'energie du peuple est la! finissons 1789!

    "Un premier problème, le plus évident, est de définir cette culture commune, adaptée à un collège de masse. Il s'agit d'un problème évidemment extrêmement délicat, mais de nature essentiellement politique. Il doit pouvoir se résoudre sur le forum démocratique."

    democratique, voila le maitre mot! qu'ils sortent, et qu'ils viennent parler au peuple dans la rue, ces riches et ces elites! on verra bien qui a raison.

    "Il doit être possible de converger vers des programmes accessibles à un plus grand nombre de collégiens. Ce faisant, on pourrait espérer régler en partie le problème posé aux enseignants par l'hétérogénéité des publics fréquentant aujourd'hui le collège."

    convergeons vers des programmes accessibles a tous! assez du racisme et de la haine! assez de l'elitisme!

    "Toutefois la véritable difficulté n'est peut-être pas tant de redéfinir les objectifs de la scolarité obligatoire que de modifier les rapports des familles avec l'école, et notamment des familles les mieux informées des enjeux d'une bonne formation initiale. Autrement dit, il semble difficile d'imaginer un collège moins concurrentiel et inégalitaire sans réformer également le lycée et l'enseignement supérieur et, plus généralement, sans promouvoir une société plus fluide. Il serait utopique d'espérer désamorcer la concurrence pour les meilleurs lycées en gardant l'enseignement supérieur tel qu'il est, avec des grandes écoles ultra-élitistes, des filières universitaires de relégation, et très peu de passerelles entre les deux."

    fluidifions la societe! nous savons ou ils se cachent!

    "Plus fondamentalement, c'est notre modèle de société tout entier qu'il faut interroger."

    oui!

    l'article dans son integralite )

    al-x

    (28 Comments |qu'est-ce que le fuck?)

    Tuesday, October 19th, 2004
    8:32 am

    (11 Comments |qu'est-ce que le fuck?)

    Thursday, October 14th, 2004
    6:28 pm
    [info]livarot and i went to the shop and bought some live crabs.

    so, tonight, the menu will be:

    tofu a la chinoise, ou, a la [info]livarot

    steamed blue crabs with white wine sauce

    accompanied by a gavi del comune di gavi docg, palladino & c., 1998.

    al-x

    Current Mood: happy

    (15 Comments |qu'est-ce que le fuck?)

    Sunday, October 10th, 2004
    10:55 am
    reassurance

    even in the new world, a cardinal is still a cardinal.

    al-x

    Current Mood: relieved

    (5 Comments |qu'est-ce que le fuck?)

    Saturday, October 9th, 2004
    5:13 pm
    i miss watching fashion-tv with [info]jmhudson and [info]jacquesk and annoying the latter by not finding all the models beautiful.

    gucci girl


    al-x

    (10 Comments |qu'est-ce que le fuck?)

    12:43 pm
    this is america

    friday afternoon

    chicago oktoberfest with [info]jacqus. it was a bit weird. you had to exchange your money against paper that you could redeem against beers and foods. there was a 2 beer limit per person! (crazy americans.) the beer was good. hacker-pschorr oktoberfest. we had three pints (or whatever 22 ounces is). then we sympathised with a berber-looking anglo from montreal living in los angeles who sat at our table. the bratwurst was excellent.

    friday night

    some kind of bar, somewhere up north. joined by [info]livarot and other people who don't have a livejournal.
    they put a white paper bracelet around your arm and you got unlimited beers. this is america! i believe i consumed quite a few hefe-weizen and pilsner urquells.

    tonight: fondue.

    al-x

    (7 Comments |qu'est-ce que le fuck?)

    Friday, October 8th, 2004
    12:04 pm
    floccinaucinihilipilification.

    i just discovered the existence of this word.

    al-x

    (7 Comments |qu'est-ce que le fuck?)

    Tuesday, October 5th, 2004
    7:48 am
    anonymous strikes again )

    Current Mood: putain

    (2 Comments |qu'est-ce que le fuck?)

    Monday, October 4th, 2004
    1:09 pm
    al-x activity update - chinatown happenings update

    saturday night was spent in happy viewing of a totally idiotic film about americans traveling abroad to london, paris and rome. beers were consumed: hacker-pschorr weisse and leinenkugel's honey-weiss. we drank a decent amount. it made the film bearable and the conversation soon veered off into drunk ramblings about this and that. eventually we played scotland yard and i kicked arse as mr. x.
    i notice today that the seeds planted during this memorable evening conducted the excellent jacques to create a livejournal. he shall now be known as [info]jacqus. we must do more muscu.

    sunday was spent in penitence for the sins of the previous evening and of its early morning. [info]boubique would have been proud of us. waking up at 8:30 am enabled [info]livarot and yours truly to attend high mass at the saint therese chinese catholic mission, formerly known as santa maria incoronata church. this church was built exactly hundred years ago by italian immigrants to this neighbourhood after the model of a church in the hometown of some of them. the building has miraculously survived the transformation of the neighbourhood from a european into a chinese territory, as well as the transformation of houses into highways, parking lots and housing projects prevalent in this area.
    however, in a true catholic manner, the church has had had to make some concessions to win over asian catholics. there is, for instance, one of those red miniature temples with offerings of fruit right next to the altar.
    the old italians and a few young ones had gathered for the celebration that was to ensue the mass. the chinese and other asian catholics were there too, as well as the schoolchildren from the catholic school. an auxiliary bishop conducted the mass and produced one of those sermons intended to disgust decent people of catholicism. the priest of the parish however, is a real italian and seems most excellent.

    after mass, led on by an american and an italian flag, as well as music, the procession started. suv's carrying large platforms adorned with the image of the holy virgin mary slowly began to make their way through chinatown's italy-like messy traffic. the chicago coppers were incapable, so mafioso-looking men with nice shoes and real trousers took over. one platform moved by itself, i.e. without being pulled by a car. a miracle, i presume. one of the cars was driven my a man who had an american flag and a italian flag tattooed on his neck. the first cars were reserved for the italian-american notables, a few white ancestors, and an excellent-looking fat priest. many seats were empty. the chinese on the main street looked baffled. the people on the carts waived, mostly at other whites on foot. some tourists, people from outside chinatown, were there too. then came other cars, overflowing with chinese kids who were throwing candy. the chinese population still looked baffled, but fat young chinese boys picked up some candy.

    next week, chicago's cardinal will be here. i hope to hear a better sermon than this time.

    al-x

    ps.: did you know that germany is the only country, territory or zone in the world that does not have a 3 digit iso code?

    (12 Comments |qu'est-ce que le fuck?)

    Sunday, September 26th, 2004
    1:46 pm
    taking up good habits again.

    gym with jacques tomorrow. ca va pas rigoler.

    al-x

    Current Mood: discipline

    (15 Comments |qu'est-ce que le fuck?)

    Friday, September 17th, 2004
    9:31 am
    "Retired [US-]general William Odom, former head of the National Security Agency:"

    [America] going into Iraq was the equivalent of the Germans in Stalingrad )

    al-x

    (12 Comments |qu'est-ce que le fuck?)

    Tuesday, September 14th, 2004
    2:36 pm
    al-x activity report

    new favourite automobile and other nonsense



    yesterday i went to get all my shit from switzerland that had been stored at some warehouse at itasca while the us customs were clearing it.

    several remarks on that.

    0. the warehouse is run without an office. logistics is an impressive business. the moral antithesis to administrations and bureaucracies.

    1. i picked up a u-haul in or nigh cicero but i was unable to visit and inspect this great town. it will have to be done another time.

    2. americans sometimes are amazing. at the warehouse, after all paperwork had been taken care of, i was told: "please wait while this gentleman gets your pallets."

    3. i had to discard my pallets in some dodgy back-alley since the u-haul manager wouldn't let me throw them away in his trash bin. one of the pallets was quite destroyed. the second one was in perfect state. it was, of course, a sbb pallet. a shame i had to get rid of it.
    i was unable to display sprezzatura during the discarding operation.

    4. i have a new favourite car. i used to want this:

    lancia thesis


    now i want this:

    gmc savana


    it's an amazing object. while we drove 71 miles, of which at least 30 charged with 1600 lbs, we spent only 3 usd worth of fuel. the acceleration is amazing (was it a v8?), it's not too noisy, the air conditioning works well and it's not even uncomfortable.

    al-x

    (8 Comments |qu'est-ce que le fuck?)

    Thursday, September 9th, 2004
    9:14 am
    this is most excellent, and of particular interest if you are an american smoker.

    the nzz reported.

    edit 9.ix. 2004 19:00: obviously my entry was too sober to attract any attention in the harsh world of livejournal.

    this website absolutely rules!!
    check out the supercheap cigarettes!
    check out the snobbish pasta sauces!
    check out the raunchy stories about blowjobs!

    stop sponsoring the us fiscal administration today! sponsor two nice swiss-italian entrepreneurs instead. you know your money will be better spent!

    al-x

    (12 Comments |qu'est-ce que le fuck?)

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