TeaM

We love to work and we love to play, 

Sometimes in color and sometimes in gray...

At times moody and at times gay...

                                               Oftentimes casual, 

but true to ourselves we stay... 

...and always sexy in our own way! 

We Love Smallwood!

For those who are not familiar with my 'hood, Šumice is the biggest park in the Municipality of Voždovac, and the most inspiring area in this part of town. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%A0umice_(Belgrade)

It is also a home to a sports hall that nobody ever had a problem with until somebody decided that it was perfectly OK to issue a permit to a company to cut down Šumice's sycamore trees and erect a sports tent instead!

We protested, signed petitions, held vigils for the dead trees, organized peaceful rallies and even opened a Facebook page.

Peaceful protests were held every day at 5 p.m. and mothers with their babies guarded the trees for hours on end side by side with the Community Police. 

Alas, it was too late for this guy.

The children kept playing in the park just the same and somewhat alleviated the somber mood that prevailed in the park that day. The earth was still scarred from deep tire marks from the heavy machines. 

Finally, the building permit was revoked!

Though nothing can bring back the hour of 
splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower, 
we will grieve not, rather find
strength in what remains behind. 

Couple of weeks later, I snapped a photo of these newly planted trees. 

"This is not the end. It is not event he beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

Winston Churchill

People from bus no. 17

Every morning I ride bus No.17 from my home in Konjarnik to my office in Novi Belgrade. 

Most of the time I spend my 20 minute long ride reading (this morning it was Murakami's "1Q84", 3rd book), but sometimes I secretly snap photos of some great-looking people on the bus. 

 I kept waiting and waiting but this Eminem lookalike wouldn't turn around...

Loved his bad-ass attitude!

Another fine example of male species... but tranquil and pensive.

And that Indian chief tattoo that you can make out under his white T-shirt, compounded by our bus driver's  maneuvering wizardry, had a knee-weakening effect on me... 

I held on to the bars for dear life though I felt more like holding on to him with no holds barred... 

Saw this girl this morning in Konjarnik. 

Entirely oblivious to my stalking, she kept walking up and down this stretch of Ustanička Street, waiting for the No. 17. 

Some No. 17 buses are just as great-looking like this new bus I rode yesterday, complete with AC and a TV screen. 

I love seeing good-looking strangers but nothing beats familiar smiling faces.

It's great to share small, everyday, seemingly insignificant moments in your life, like riding bus No.17, with people you love. 

\m/

June 8 will be one-month anniversary since Metallica's concert in Belgrade. That is how long it took me to come to terms with the fact that, no matter how long I waited, one month or one year, my linguistic skills will not magically improve to be able to fully and truly convey the experience of the best Metallica concert I have seen so far. Unfortunately, I do not have any pics from their 2004 concert at FC Partizan's stadium in Belgrade but the one I do have from their watershed concert in Zagreb on May 16, 2010 speaks volumes.

  I was the lucky one in rubber boots. The owners of the other 2 pairs of mud-soaked boots were also my company at this year's Belgrade event. Here is the rest of them, my brother (R) and his godfather (L), an avid guitar player:

And here we are with some of 30 000 or so members of our Metallica family, who were at Usce Park that night. 

 We were in fan pit, where else?!

That is about how close we were to the stage.

 They opened with Hit the Lights then moved on to the  Master of Puppets. During the famous solo (starts at 3min30sec) I was still trying to convince myself that I was at a Metallica concert. One of those "pinch-me" moments.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN73odl4zJ0

What followed was the entire Black album but played  in reverse order, which was Lars' idea...

and not a bad one at that.

 But my heart obviously lies somewhere else...

They saved Fuel, One and Seek and Destroy for encore, all accompanied by awesome visual effects and pyrotechnics. And for a split second I thought "Oh no, James did it again!!!" Thank God I was wrong.

The Fuel pyrotechnics was impressive but One was gut-wrenching scary!

 Please watch at least the first two minutes of this clip, even if you are not a Met fan. Truly amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4-MnX5PfO8&feature=related

 Green Bojan!

And that was how green I was (with envy) when he told me, but only after he swore me to strict secrecy, that he HAD CAUGHT ONE OF THE GUITAR PICKS THROWN BY NONE OTHER THAN HETFIELD!

He would not show me his until we reached the safe confines of my home so I had to beg this die-hard fan to let me take a photo of his.  

Don't tell me I will have to wait for two more years before the next one...