Monday, January 29, 2007

Ordinary People

It seems that I flew all the way to Zagreb just to find a tv soap opera and make it my favorite. It is called Obicnji ljudi (Ordinary People) and it airs weedays from 6.40pm to 7.15pm on a state tv channel, HTV1. My favorite female lead actor is Helena Minić, who plays Saša Kincl. I also like her best friend, Zrinka Kusevic, who plays Hana Hrvatin My favorite male actor, even though he plays a supporting role, is Robert Krubasa, who plays Robert Knezevic. More later. It has to do with walking down the street and seeing one of the characters and thinking I should go say hi because that is a good friend. It also has to do with finishing the book on which the show is based, "The Family Way" (2004), by Tony Parsons, just a few days before the series ran its first broadcast last fall.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

New Trams in Zagreb


I took this photo (the second one) Sunday around 1pm. I was walking from the street up to the tram stop on the South side of Savksi Most (The bridge over the Sava that connects Novi Zagreb to older parts of the city), going North. I wanted to take tram 6 because I can ride it directly to my neighborhood, but this one, tram 7, arrived first. I rode it to Autobusni Kolodvor (the bus station), where I switched to tram 6 after a few minutes' wait.

I took this photo (the second) because I had taken a similar one, at the same time of day, of tram 6, in late October. I like this one better because it has better contrast with the light, since this was a sunny day, and the composition is better. For the first photo, the composition came into frame as I was waitng for the tram and talking to a friend. I like them together because I think the old and new trams present life in Zagreb. But there is something different about the old and the new trams, although I am not quite sure what. I guess the old tram is part of the time when all of this concrete was laid, and the new tram more about the present.

Friday, January 12, 2007

"Fashion Never Takes the Day Off"

I like this cover spread from July 1966 issues of Svijet magazine. I'm working on a reserach project about how to dress for summer holidays in socialism. I'm calling it "Fashion Never Takes the Day Off." Posted by Picasa

Monday, January 08, 2007

Passing through

This is the view from Dolac to trga bana Josipa Jelicica on a Sunday afternoon. Posted by Picasa

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Three Kings


January 6 is the festival of the Three Kings, or the Three Wise Men. These days, I could see from my living room the decorated Christmas tree in the apartment across the street from me. Last night, most people returned from their ski holidays (not much snow here in Central Europe for skiing this year). Some people have asked me about Christmas traditions in Zagreb, and I knew about most of them from my family. For example, decorating the tree on Dec 24, eating fish for dinner, and opening presents that night. One I didn't expect was walking around town yesterday afternoon and today to find many Christmas trees waiting to be picked up by the city. Posted by Picasa

Benches


There is a great pleasure in hunting the benches of Zagreb. I like to take photos of people sitting on benches. I like the photo to ask something about how people share space. Do strangers sit with a specific posture? How intimate can men and women be in the theatre of the park, on the stage of the bench (if they are teenagers, men and women can sit very close). Can you sit alone on a bench in the park? Are you there because you have no where else to go to be alone, or to find company?
 Posted by Picasa