Snow

It hasn't snowed since 1986. But today it snowed in Rome.

Ourlet invisible and globalization

In France they call it ourlet invisible, in Sweden it’s apparently called osynlig fållsöm, it may be called something like invisible hem seem in English, but I really don’t know. Learning about this thing, whatever it is called, may be the most unexpected Saturday night activity yet. But when a suit gets worn out, a man got to do what a man got to do.

So I am staying at home. Being tired after today’s IKEA trip. I have never been this frequently to IKEA before. I think it’s due to Rome and its habit of being extremely Italian. It may be the least globalized capital in the Western world. Which in many aspects is a good thing; it’s still quite genuine, there isn’t a single Starbucks in the entire town, and the McDonalds have abandoned the red color and adapted a dark green shade which matches the surroundings. But I am sorry to say that I am part of a globalized generation. I want variety. And I am fed up with pizzas and pastas. Therefore I found myself, once again, in the IKEA store craving for kaviar, daim and fläderblomssaft. I don’t even eat these things very often at home. But here these visits functions as very welcomed spiracles (yes I had to look up that word at www.tyda.se).

Talking about globalization, I am currently reading Naomi Klein’s No Logo. It was released in the 90’s, but today it’s probably more relevant than ever. It describes how large global corporations control our society. How public squares transforms into private shopping malls, were political rallies and public information is controlled or banned. How the cultural offerings are governed and censured by corporate empires controlling the entire supply chains of the movies we watch and the books we read. How the manufacturers of our running shoes and flat screen TVs force workers to abortions or move factories from Northern to Southern China to cut wages in half, wages that already were less than half of the official wages necessary for existence. And. So. On.

Reading this it feels bizarre making a trip to just another global corporation this weekend’s big happening. Especially as IKEA introduced the world to another concept I am not very fond of: mass consumption of furniture. Not sustainable at all.

The Architecture - part 2

This is the second part of the architecture posts, featuring photos from last weekend. My cousin showed me the important architecture of Rome, sites seldom visited by the ordinary hordes of tourists. It was cold, rainy, windy and very interesting. Today David wandered the streets of Rome himself. I joined him in the evening and we visited Pompi, or il Regno del Tiramisù as they call it. So we had some pretty good tiramisu.

My supervisor Jean Francois is leaving for Haiti this Thursday. Hopefully this will not influence my projects too much, and I think I can handle most of the projects myself by now. Jean Francois can probably guide me via e-mails in between.

Enjoy the photos. Pay attention to the placement of the carousel. Plain stupid. And the flying pillar. Plain strange.