Bądź Wege, Rugby, Comics Fest and more

Big Day Over poster

Drown my Day

While the school week was busy and exciting, those interested in the specifics can email me, but the real fun started on Friday (1st October) I met Roman, who is going to be my future Polish teacher, so my language learning will be official, though like many other Poles he admits the complexity and difficult nature of the language. He was suprised to meet an English man with a beard, are we that rare?!

Later I made my way to the current punk venue fave, the Bycze Oko. The gig, 'Big Day Over' was a mix of emo, rock and death metal bands, tied in to celebrate World Vegetarian Day. There was free and delicious Vegan food, with free Vegan Zine Cookbooks (Bądź Wege - Be Veggie). Plus talks and videos about a Polish ecological group, linked to Greenpeace who were campaigning to extend the protected area of the Bialowieza Forest in Eastern Poland, which also stretches across into Belarus. Only 17% of the park is protected, yet the remaining 83% is free to abused, damaged and destroyed, whether it's woodland or woodland creatures. We were exposed to sickening and shameful videos of hunters and their meetings, many of them trying to justify their actions with hypocritical statements that some animals are scum and need to be shot and others need to be cared for, then shot. Anyway, I spoke to one of the activists later and she gave me the full story. You can get more info on the situation in the Bialowieza Forest here -http://tydecydujesz.org/ and here

There was also donations and information on Food Not Bombs, a worldwide project set up to feed the homeless good and healthy vegan food, with donations mainly recieved at gigs and demos. The group typically accept food and monetry donations, food is then prepared and distributed to those on the streets and to those in need.

Though none of the bands really grabbed me, Drown my Day were solid and funny, but Setting the Woods on Fire, were a nice suprise, as for someone who is very specific about the kind of emo they enjoy, they seemed to have the right mix, without becoming whingey, moany or too melodramatic, which is where most emo starts to irritate me. Linkage - 

Saturday (2nd) included some work then to a Rugby, to see local team, K.S. Budowlani Łódź. Though my rugby knowledge is pretty limited, and despite the cold, the match was enjoyable! Though I've stayed away from so much sport in recent years, being at live matches and certain events still get me excited. Easily the better side and claiming a well deserved victory, K.S. Budowlani Łódź are currently top of the Ekstraliga.

Polish Rugger

Later went to the International Comics and Games Festival at - though we arrived a little late, missing Mr.Alex Robinson, writer of Box Office Poison, we still managed to see many of the exhibitions and displays on show. A vast range of styles and plot lines were on offer from writers, illustrators and artists from all over the world; from crude and crass, to dark and apocalyptic and to surreal and funny. Though many of the texts were in Polish, which I understood with the help of translation, there were many in English too.

Finishing of the day included sampling some Polish beers and discussing; grindcore, films and politics.  

Sunday (3rd) included a nice little stroll with the housemate to 2 of the many parks of Lodz... see photos below... And we finally made it to see the main exhibition of the Biennale Festival, to which we are neighbours. Located in an old cinema, the cinema currently not in use and is instead used for one off arts events and festivals. The exhibiton felt like an adventure, with homemade arrow signs pointing in all directions around the building, with us not knowing which rooms were empty and which had art, needless to say the; broken windows, radiators, flaky paint on the walls and other signs of degradation added to the atmosphere of the show.  You could chose to float in each room as you pleased, some simple pleasures including floral sketches on walls and blocks of abstract painting. And to more complex videos on traditional Polish funeral song, Italian volcanos, naked men on Piotrkowska and other films focussing on birthdays, memories and the past. Easily one of the best art exhibitions I've been to in a long time.