September 2007 – Kejda Gjermani

failed ideas for Alba shirts

I love Albania Alright, so I’m not the most outspoken Albanian patriot. But I’ve seen some radically fugly Albanian t-shirts out there, none of which I would ever wear no matter how gung-ho I was about the land of the eagles. So I put up these designs on Cafepress, but no one bought! I guess my compatriots shall unapologetically continue to declare their love of country with incredibly tacky shirts.

Pretty damn cool, huh? Inverting the color scheme and making the eagle into a heart, though I must admit she now looks like some sort of mutant chicken.

Yeah, I thought I had a winner. Oh well… Albanian Domination

The fattest cat-hole!

Been very busy with school and all. There’s a piece I’m dying to put up here, but it’s just not perfect yet. I’ve barely had time to work on my writing, hence the rat-droppings consistency of my latest posts. That’s all I’ve got for this time too:

Meet Tefta, my cat. It’s a silly Albanian name I had to settle for since Michael’s other choices were even sillier. It suits her well enough though. She’s a fatty. Michael is her sole caregiver for now, while I’m in Waterloo, and she doesn’t seem to miss me! Go figure…

The Very Best of Albanian Music

Such a rarity for music as esoteric as Albanian Pop to be universally enjoyable even by foreigners who have no idea what the lyrics mean. It’s now hard to fully recover just how isolated communist Albania was in those days. Big Brother was busy sanitizing almost every aspect of the culture, relentlessly screening out any hints of decadent bourgeois Western influence. Yet these songs clearly evoke sounds from the American music scene of the early 20th century. I have no idea how this amazing music managed to make it out to the public. “Naten Vone” is probably my favorite song. In fact, I recommend listening to the album backwards. Enjoy!