Letter from Europe

**Barbara Nadel** · May-06-11, 08:28 AM

Originally Posted by Pam

I never heard this one. So who was the woman in the car that crashed? Her secret double? Or did she get better and go into hiding?

Who knows? Maybe on the beach with Elvis. There's no logic to any of this!

**scbaker** · May-06-11, 09:07 PM

Originally Posted by Barbara Nadel

Who knows? Maybe on the beach with Elvis. There's no logic to any of this!

Actually Elvis was with Dolly Parton last year. They were together in Elvis's pink Cadillac driving from Memphis to Dollywood in Pigeon Forge. Y'all must not have seen the Tennessee Dept. of Tourism ad on TV. lol

Today, al Qaeda confirmed the death of UBL. Maybe, that will keep the conspirancy theorists at bay. However, it doesn't help with the cluster f... of reporting from Washington.

IMO, UBL made a fatal mistake that the U.S. had been waiting for, for almost 10 years. He mistakenly felt quite safe in his surroundings. The Operatives, while expecting the worse, were able to invade the compound with little resistance from the residents and assassinate UBL. Mission accomplished.

**Barbara Nadel** · May-12-11, 10:19 AM

Just back from London, which is actually hot at the moment. A crazy fact finding expedition for a new book - more later as I am shattered. Just to let you all know that it's the Eurovision Song Contest this weekend! Will have a full report for you on Sunday!

**Barbara Nadel** · May-15-11, 07:24 AM

Well the Eurovision Song contest is now over for another year and was won this time by Azerbaijan. So next year in Baku which is a crazy city by the sound of it full of casinos and the smell of oil. But fantastic architecture too. So that'll be a treat. The UK didn't come last or even in the last ten this time which was great. 'Blue' the band who represented us are a good group of lads who can actually sing. But there was also the usual madness - people in conical hats unicycling from Moldova, the weird Jedward twins from Ireland [[last year they were represented by a rubber turkey called Dustin) and some very dodgy costumes from just about everyone. It's a laugh even though we all do vote along national alliance lines. You won't for instance find the UK and Ireland not voting for each other. Not quite as mad this year as in the past however. One year the Russians had a ballet dancer emerging from a hole in the top of a piano. Eurovision is something you just can't make up.

**gazhekwe** · May-15-11, 07:54 AM

That sounds fantastic. I actually never heard of Eurovision, must go find out about it. Where was the contest this time?

Aaah, Dusseldorf! Fascinatiing stuff:

http://www.eurovision.tv/page/dusseldorf-2011

**Pam** · May-15-11, 04:58 PM

I actually never heard of Eurovision, must go find out about it.

The contest that made Abba famous.

Abba:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FsVeMz1F5c

French and Saunders spoofing some Eurovision singers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2T8ehEoD4E

**sumas** · May-18-11, 04:53 AM

Just thought I would say Hello. Keep posting interesting stuff! Sumas

**ronaldj** · May-18-11, 07:36 PM

As Sumas will attest, I am one of the laziest people ojn Earth. But I want to keep in contact.

Head of the IMF is in jail for sexually assualting a hotel maid from Guiana. What a horrible farce and crime is that. Fortunalely, the cops picked him off the plane to Paris.

Weather terrible here.is terrible. Wet, cold and rainy.However, Tigers[[baseball) have stuck to their winning ways, Red Wings [[Hockey) blew their chances in the play-offs. Ah, next year.

Should just pick up the phone and call otherwise this will turn into a measly twitter.\

Hope you are doing well and look forward to your next epistle and visit.

Best regards, Ron

**Barbara Nadel** · May-23-11, 03:16 AM

Originally Posted by ronaldj

As Sumas will attest, I am one of the laziest people ojn Earth. But I want to keep in contact.

Head of the IMF is in jail for sexually assualting a hotel maid from Guiana. What a horrible farce and crime is that. Fortunalely, the cops picked him off the plane to Paris.

Weather terrible here.is terrible. Wet, cold and rainy.However, Tigers[[baseball) have stuck to their winning ways, Red Wings [[Hockey) blew their chances in the play-offs. Ah, next year.

Should just pick up the phone and call otherwise this will turn into a measly twitter.\

Hope you are doing well and look forward to your next epistle and visit.

Best regards, Ron

Absolutely. We will stay in touch.

**Barbara Nadel** · May-23-11, 03:24 AM

Back from London now and also the weather has closed in again. Oh joy, more gloom! Also we are expecting another Icelandic ash cloud at any minute because yet another volcano has exploded over there. Goodness knows what it will do to flights in and out of the UK, last time this happened it was total chaos for about 2 weeks.
But all that aside, I had a great but tiring trip down to London. As well as attending publication meetings I was also scoping out locations for my new crime series which is going to be set around the new Olympic site in east London. I know or knew this area well but it is changing all the time now as the vast stadia take shape on what was once a massive industrial area. A lot of old buildings have already been knocked down but what remains is fascinating. A load of artists have moved in and there are ad hoc studios and installations everywhere. Also a lot of very angry graffiti! Many of the buildings are Listed and so cannot, in theory, be knocked down, but the Olympic developers are taking every inch that they can. They're even building a tower block in the playground of an old school that is now an artists complex. The apartments will be so close to the studios the artists and the athletes will almost be able to touch each other!

**Barbara Nadel** · May-25-11, 04:19 AM

Looking at my photos of east London today alongside my photos of Detroit. I must get those on to this site for you. Even I hadn't realised just how close we are. You look at these pics and you think, 'Bloody hell we are twinned!'

**gazhekwe** · May-25-11, 08:27 AM

That sounds like a great comparison. Also the images of the transformation into an art and olympics colony are interesting. It would be possible, but where would Detroit come up with that kind of incentive? I guess we are in it for the long haul.

**Barbara Nadel** · May-26-11, 03:32 AM

It's difficult. But if it's any consolation people thought that the east end of London was dead until very recently. Redevelopment is, I think, part people with vision and part luck. In the 60s and 70s nobody went to the east end. Everything was falling apart and the crime rate was appalling. Also the River Thames stank and was full of terrible things. If you fell in you had to have your stomach pumped and have shots against things like typhus. It was terrible. And even when the development did first start in the late 80s, it stalled. Now we have the mixed blessing of the Olympics. So there is now a lot of redevelopment and interest. But once the Olympics are over, who knows? A lot of us fear that the east end will just be left with a big stadium and a lot of debts. But we have to see. I think that really great places like the east end and like Detroit can have new incarnations. I also think that all cities with problems are in it for the long haul. But it has to be worth it.

**Barbara Nadel** · May-29-11, 07:17 AM

Branching out onto mainland Europe this coming Wednesday with a visit to Spain. I'm off to Malaga and hopefully some jaunts to some historic cities, namely Granada and Seville. May even make it to the Rock of Gibralter. Lots of social unrest in Spain at the moment and so it'll be home from home! Will tell you all about it when I get back.

**Django** · June-10-11, 10:49 PM

http://abc.go.com/watch/detroit-1-8-...tor-city-blues

Heres the Detroit 187 episode with the scene at the Grand Trunk Building we visited. Check 6:32 of the episode.

Hope your well.

**Barbara Nadel** · June-13-11, 11:40 AM

Originally Posted by Django

http://abc.go.com/watch/detroit-1-8-...tor-city-blues

Heres the Detroit 187 episode with the scene at the Grand Trunk Building we visited. Check 6:32 of the episode.

Hope your well.

Thanks, Django. Hope you're well too. I know that things have been tough. Keep in touch and let me know if you manage to get around to seeing that film I sent you. The accents may be a bit challenging!

**Barbara Nadel** · June-13-11, 11:49 AM

Well, Viva Espana! I'd never been to the south of Spain before and it is absolutely beautiful. We went to Granada to see the wonderful Moorish palace of the Alhambra as well as to the mountain town of Ronda which is bisected by the most dramatic gorge you can imagine. Contentiously Ronda is the home of bullfighting and there is still a working Plaza de Toros in the centre of the town. But you don't have to go and see that of course. We spent our time wandering about on the edge of the gorge listening to a couple playing a harp and an ocarina in an old bandstand. There was also what I like to call a 'Museum of Everything' in Ronda, a private collection, open to the public of stuff collected by a Spanish aristocrat. There were watches, carriages, fans, movie posters, weird magical equipment [[including a creepy faux mermaid) and a load of Inquisition torture machines. Really quite blood curdling if totally amazingly fascinating. One of the great things about living here in Europe is that we can get to other European countries really quickly. Southern Spain takes only 2.5 hours to get to from the UK. I know how lucky I am.

**Barbara Nadel** · June-16-11, 05:42 AM

Now here's thought for the day for you! A British journalist and film maker called Jon Ronson has just written a book about psychopaths. His thesis is that many of the world's captains of industry, politicians and movie movers and shakers have psychopathic tendencies [[lack of empathy with others, self absorption, vaunting ambition). This, I can tell you, has been the opinion of people who work in psychiatric services for years, but it was interesting to see it out in the mainstream. Of course it's not always a negative thing as I believe that a lot of those who are driven by monomania can do a lot of good. Think of all the fab music, books and even medical cures that have been developed by the single minded and arrogant. It's when it comes to politics it gets weird. But I think you can see it. Our politicians will say anything we want before an election and then they forget that we exist. Psychopathy? Could be. Could very well be.

**Gannon** · June-16-11, 06:18 AM

There is a great documentary called The Corporation which compares the definition of psychopath to the behavior of corporations. They concluded very powerfully that this business structure allows the worst of human behavior to be sheltered from the usual societal restrictions and corrections, yet grow large enough to affect WAY more than any individual's immediate area of influence.

As for the rest of your statement, I believe the difference between positive and negative effects of this sort of behavior stems from the discipline of the 'ego' of the individual and/or group. Wanton egoic behavior creates havoc and destruction, while more controlled it seems to create beauty and truth. One seems good ONLY for the individual, the other good for the whole.

Up until just last night, I've been on a mystical quest to destroy or kill off my ego...but am coming to the conclusion that it exists for 'some' purpose, so I merely need to learn to direct it towards better use!

Cheers!

**Gannon** · June-16-11, 06:24 AM

I'd LOVE to take his research to another level, too.

MY theory, from direct observation of CEOs and other execudroids in their native habitats, is that every corporation shows the EXACT personality of their leadership. Excrement runs downhill, they say, and if the person at the top is an asshole and a crook...the organization will show that same face at every level of public interaction, no matter how hard they try to reign it in.

BUT, if the person at the top is honest, generous, encouraging, etc.; then THAT is how the organization will act in the world.

I don't think EVERY corporation is evil, only that it is MUCH more likely than with individuals...because mere humans can make decisions in committee which they'd NEVER be able to justify personally. Especially if they are shielded from liability and responsibility.

John

**Jimaz** · June-16-11, 12:49 PM

Originally Posted by Barbara Nadel

Now here's thought for the day for you! A British journalist and film maker called Jon Ronson has just written a book about psychopaths. His thesis is that many of the world's captains of industry, politicians and movie movers and shakers have psychopathic tendencies [[lack of empathy with others, self absorption, vaunting ambition)....

I've seen this guy interviewed. He says that his own mental problem [[I think it was some kind of neurosis.) is the exact opposite of a psychopath. I.e. he's too concerned about what others think of him. Psychopaths have zero concern for others. He was very courageous to do this research. Interesting guy. Interesting subject.

THE PSYCHOPATH TEST by Jon Ronson

**Gannon** · June-16-11, 02:13 PM

"The madness that makes the world go 'round."

Wowza, thanks for that link, Jimaz.

**Jimaz** · June-16-11, 06:19 PM

Originally Posted by Gannon

Wowza, thanks for that link, Jimaz.

You're most welcome, John. Welcome home.

**Barbara Nadel** · June-18-11, 05:29 AM

Well, you know what I always used to tell my son when he was a kid, 'Be careful of all the sane people out there. If they get their hands on you, who knows where it will all end?'