DIN VIATA, GURA LUMII, ROMANA, SCRIERE CREATIVA

ABBAtaruri // ABBAtars

Printre premii literare, schimbări climatice și coșmaruri politice iată și ceva nou. ABBAtaruri. Vineri, 5 noiembrie, pe o arenă din Londra, construită la comandă. IA, fani loiali și răbdători și, bineînțeles, încasări. După cum spune The Economist Espresso: „Negativiștii vor spune că totul este motivat de bani, bani, bani. Fanii vor fi doar recunoscători pentru muzică”.

Adevărul este că privim un proces fascinant care, probabil, este încă de domeniul fantasticului. Intrați în al șaptelea deceniu de viață, după o carieră de un succes pe care toți și l-ar dori, dar puțini și-l pot imagina, iată un grup de legendă întorcându-se pe scenă. De ce? Björn și Benny explică pe scurt un proces care a durat 40 de ani. De la inițial două melodii noi, (‘I Still Have Faith In You/Încă am încredere în tine’ și ‘Don’t Shut Me Down/Lasă-mă să vorbesc‘) la un album complet și, la formarea unei echipe de profesioniști de câteva mii de oameni, concertul de lansare vrea să sărbătorescă, printre altele, capacitatea umană de a-și imagina lucruri de neimaginat și de a păstra prietenii în ciuda multor încercări care ar putea s-o distrugă.

Among literary prizes, climate change and political nightmares here’s something new. ABBAtars. On Friday, November 5, on a custom-built arena in London.  AI, fan loyalty & patience and, of course, revenues. As The Economist Espresso says: “Naysayers will argue it’s all motivated by money, money, money. The fans will just be thankful for the music.”

The truth is that we are looking at a fascinating process that is probably still somewhere between reality and fantasy. In their seventies, after an incredibly successful career that everyone would love to have, but few can even imagine it, here’s a legendary group returning to the stage. Why? Björn and Benny briefly explain a process that lasted 40 years. From initially two new songs, (‘I Still Have Faith in You’ and ‘Don’t Shut Me Down’) to a full album and to bringing together a team of professionals of several thousand people, the launch concert wants to celebrate, among other things, the human capacity to imagine the unimaginable and to keep up friendship in spite of many attempts at destroying it.

CREATIVE WRITING, ENGLISH, LIFE, Uncategorized

On old age … or how we become invisible

I discovered Ursula K. Le Guin first through leadership and later on as a fascinating writer. She started her blog at 81 and wrote on it for eight years. Her last post was on 25 September 2017. She died peacefully in her home in January, 2018.

Approaching 70 myself, I’m amazed at the lack of interest for real, meaningful discussions about old age around me. So, when I discover Le Guin’s post from May 2013 I feel I know what she’s writing about. Her post is now part of her book No Time to Spare, published in December 2017, from which I reproduce the fragment below.

She wisely points out that the insistence of a lot of people that we are not old is somehow insulting, even if it is meant as a sign of respect or encouragement.  

Becoming invisible is something that happens today not only with the old, man or women almost equally. It also happens to a lot of other people as we become socially more and more distanced, masked and interacting mostly virtually. Some categories fade slowly, but surely away.