The Almost Timely January Random

Well, it must be said, to my defense, that I had all the pictures ready on January 31st. And then I stared at the computer screen for a while and fazed out, because it was Sunday, no, actually, because I tend to do that every now and then.

I also swore this wouldn’t be a post about the weather, and really, I might as well not mention the weather ever again in written form, since the photos will be kind of revealing as to what happened in the heavens above any place I found myself in.

However, I should mention the fact that I managed to stick to one of my new year’s non-resolutions, and checked out a new coffee place- yes, I am painfully aware of how essential my non-resolutions are. My Green Cup proved to be a great choice because, uhm, they have green cups- my mind has been poisoned enough by Instagram to crave that shade of teal that sneaks on you every now and then from the shots of someone immortalizing their latte in Shoreditch.

Besides the fundamental excitement of what shade their cups are, the place is also quite ideal for reading- at least in my case, as I do not insist on comfy chairs, but I do expect proper light, especially during wintertime, and My Green Cup has some pretty amazing spotlights- which also allow for great Instagrams of your coffee indeed.

And here I might as well sum up my reading exploits for this month, which include two books I started a while ago and somehow didn’t get the hang of at the first try. They were peering at me a bit accusingly from the stack of unread books by my bed, so I decided it was high time I gave it another go.

The first one was Hannu Rajaniemi’s Causal Angel, which I bought in a flurry of excitement in a Malmö Sci-Fi store -where I felt just as out of place as the book’s hero on Mars. I generally don’t consider myself a Sci-Fi fiend, although I have read and mostly enjoyed the usual Asimovs and Arthur C.Clarkes, but there’s something utterly mesmerizing in Rajaniemi’s writing- concepts that would otherwise be totally alien to my not overly scientific mind come alive and suddenly seem utterly believable and almost tangible. And I must also give some extra brownie points to someone writing in such spectacular English without being a native speaker. There’s always hope, it seems, at least for some of us.

I’m even more distanced from the world of fantasy than from that of Sci-Fi, but I pick the occasional nugget from there as well, and Neil Gaiman happens to be that nugget most of the time. I’d previously enjoyed both American Gods and Neverwhere a great deal, so Anansi Boys spinning off the American Gods universe and being set mostly in London just tickled me pink- I simply can’t resist someone being almost as fascinated by useless British trivia as I am.

I had no problems with reading The Infatuations by Javier Marías at the first go, yet I probably liked it considerably less than either the Causal Angel or Anansi Boys. Although there are undeniably good things in there, the man is just trying too hard most of the time, and I was particularly enraged by his assumptions about how his female hero would feel and act in certain circumstances. Which brings me to the book I basically started the year with, and, horror of all horrors, failed to photograph. William Boyd’s Sweet Caress succeeds in having a believable female lead and is most interesting in the way the author weaves a story out of actual random shots, which become the oeuvre of his fictional photographer.

Light and Pretzels (Sophisticated Name for Another Random)

So here comes another random in which I will try not to gush about how fantastic autumn light is. There's not much of it, true, but the little we get is splendid. Autumn lights in Hungary and Romania somehow, strangely, remind me of Scandinavian summer light- there's finally texture in the light, not just straightforward, violent shine. 

The problem however is that, especially after the late October 'time adjustment', this wonderfully textured light is increasingly fleeting, with sunsets sneaking up on you five-ish, or even earlier on the Pest side, with the sun playing hide and seek over the Buda hills.

It's therefore pretty worth it to wake up early, even if the mornings are by now decidedly crisp. Once you made it to the safety of the coffee shop, you can even venture into philosophical musings of great importance, such as how Budapest has many things, but it fails to produce good Darjeeling tea and honest pretzels. Actually, there are some fine pretzels, but of the Germanic, alkaloid soaked sort, with no proper representative of the magnificent Balkan pretzel. Good Darjeeling can also be found in tea houses, but you cannot buy your own leafy version- one more papaya infused goji berry tasting Chinese green tea and I am not responsible for my further actions. Or another black tea served with lemon, then followed by the offended look of the waiter when you ask for milk.

Autumn also tends to provide good reading material- the new Orhan Pamuk was well worth the wait, both for the English translation and for the shipment to finally get here from the UK (they could have thrown in some Darjeeling, as well, actually) and provided for for 'black hole' in my reading schedule, which led me to finally read some Isherwood randomly found in my mum's library and realize what I'd been missing all this time.

I'm also keeping my fingers crossed for a swift Hungarian release of Brooklyn's film version, and in the meantime I indulged in the first Daniel Craig Bond that I liked, and almost loved. Or better said, I loved it, minus the atrocious opening song (a fine suggestion for a torture song if there ever was one) and I still haven't fully made peace with Craig- more like a ceasefire. Otherwise, welcome back silliness, one liners and proper martinis.

I'm reading the American critics don't really like the movie, I guess because it's not another one of those larger than life super hero action flicks dealing with the metaphysical pain of the entire universe, and how Superman finally wears his undies as he should. Let them have some Batman suffering in the gutters of Gotham nonsense, and I'll just revel in another ludicrous chase sequence absolved in a spotless suit, which is the one superpower I really wish I had.

May Random #1

The plan was, as always, to post the shots nicely in order as they happened, but then this project, as many others, somehow went up in smoke. So there goes May, with various flowers, books, coffees (yes, I'm predictable like that), lots of architecture porn (time to discover the nooks and crannies of Budapest I never shot before) and the beginning of cherry season.