BEAVERS

BEAVERS

Beavers live where there is enough water to dive, they build the entrance to their burrows underwater for greater safety, then if the water level is not sufficient, they build a dam.

We learnt the ‘beaver – dam’ association of thought from an early age, do you remember any cartoons in particular?

I mention cartoons because the beavers I want to talk about are definitely characters.

The beavers I want to talk about live in Brdy in the Czech Republic.

The name of this area: Brdy comes from brdo meaning hill, precisely because it is a hilly/mountainous and wooded area.

The presence of a military zone in this area meant that the area was not affected by any urbanisation, thus preserving the naturalistic aspect: flora and fauna.

Having become an environmentally protected landscape for Brdy, it had become necessary to repair a drainage canal built by the army and restore the wetlands.

Huge and extremely expensive works, the plans for which had run aground under the weight of bureaucracy and waiting for appropriations.

But the beavers magically solved the issue by building a dam!

Zero cost and a great lesson to be learned.

Nature teaches us about life in harmonious balance.

Beavers always know what is best. The places where they build dams are always chosen in the right way, better than when we design them on paper,’ these words are from Jaroslav Obermajer, head of the Central Bohemia office of the Czech Agency for the Protection of Nature and Landscape (AOPK). 

What can I say?

I would use the words of Jules Verne:
Nature’s creative power is far beyond man’s instinct of destruction.

Do you know another similar case?

MEMENTO MORI

MEMENTO MORI

Memento mori are the words on the official of Depeche mode website, written in an original way, under a countdown in red.

Memento mori is the title of Depeche Mode‘s  new work to be released on March 24th.

Do you ever find particular connections on multiple levels, with respect to artistic forms that represent elements that are particularly close to your heart?

Here it is: on the official Instagram profile you can find this video showing, somewhat in speed painting style, a huge mural depicting wings … and you know I have a thing for wings, right?

But my connection with Depeche Mode is very very far back in time: my first concert in Milan.

By the way, Milan recurs in their story because Violator was partly recorded right in Milan in the Mecenate area.

Legendary is the anecdote of the sound of footsteps on the staircase trumpet, other than electronic percussion …

Speaking of Violator tomorrow is the anniversary of its release: March 19, 1990.

33, like Jesus age, that Personal Jesus they wanted to personalize, humanize, make tangible.

Feeling unknown
And you’re all alone
Flesh and bone
By the telephone
Lift up the receiver
I’ll make you a believer

This concept expressed in the song was somehow made real with the launch to promote the single: a simply brilliant idea.

On a page of the Melody Maker appeared only a telephone number accompanied by the words Your Own Personal Jesus.

Those who called the number had the opportunity to hear the fragment “reach out and touch faith” followed by the very famous riff.

Isn’t this music history?

By the way, doesn’t it make you nostalgic for the days when phones didn’t follow us every minute of the day, and when the idea of “fearing” unknown phone numbers as a potential source of commercial stalking would never have crossed our minds?

But back to Memento mori: it means “remember you must die.”

I fortunately or unfortunately can never think of these words without associating them with Non ci resta che piangere, so instead of crying, I smile.

Also Dave Gahan and Martin Gore want to mean their Memento mori in a positive sense, as a Carpe Diem: live to the fullest.

As Fletch would have it.

And so here they are, in the video once again edited by Anton Corbijn playing chess with death as in Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal

Ghosts again

The journey of life: from trying to make the spirit tangible, to thinking about being happy even after something is over.

Do you think it’s really the perfect balance of melancholy and joy like Dave Gahan?

Can you remind yourself that “you have to die”?

I know, posed like this, this question seems absurd, I often get angry with myself: when I get caught up in the daily delusions instead of valuing every single day, every single moment.

Tell me that you are better at this than I am.

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