What does 2020 bring to mind? The pandemic, unfortunately… But that is not what this conversation is about. We are rewinding much further. Back in 1989, if we wanted a T-shirt of our favourite metal band, we first had to find a plain T-shirt—and that was not so easy. We had already practised drawing the Iron Maiden logo in our school notebooks. Today, anyone can buy a T-shirt of a band they have never heard. Progress? Depends who you ask. Ask Bert Stein, and you will get a whole article.
That article is one of those selected for “Arno.mk 2020”, the second e-book collecting selected articles from our website. Following “Arno.mk 2019”, we have opened the archive again. This time, metalheads, punks, Don Quixote, George Carlin and a hoverboard await you. Einstein, as usual, is there because he has been a lifelong inspiration to Bert Stein—think (Al)Bert (Ein)Stein! Not because the latter is a genius, but because he admires the idea that science can reach the minds of ordinary people and transform the world for the better, in a spiritual sense.
When Skateboards Ran on One-Foot Power
What was life like before the internet? If you wanted to hear a song you did not own, you waited for it to come on the radio. If you wanted to find something out, you went to the library. If you wanted to ride a skateboard down a hill, nobody could guarantee you would not end up with a hole in your head. Sometimes the most interesting part was precisely that you did not know how it would end.
There are also Skopje’s tattoos, from the days when they said something about the crowd you belonged to, to the days when they became part of fashion. And for a Skopje gradually losing its character, there is the comic by Gjorgje Jovanovikj – Gjole. While the city tears down its old houses, at least someone managed to draw them first.
Punk Instead of Lexilium, Don Quixote Instead of Common Sense
The book includes an article about Idles titled “Music Instead of Lexilium! Punk Instead of Turbo-Folk!”. The title, just to be clear, is a musical recommendation. There is also an article about how Monty Python leads to Don Quixote, as well as a confession from a long-time Star Trek fan who, because of The Mandalorian, sat down to watch the entire Star Wars saga again. It happens even to the most loyal.
We also return to “Elektrolit”, the question of why we write, and Bukowski, who makes good company when it starts to seem there are more people writing around you than reading.
And What Were We Doing in 2020?
We stayed at home, among other things. In “In the Midst of Difficulty Lies Opportunity”, we begin with a saying attributed to Einstein, move on to Newton during the plague, and end up in front of a shelf of unread books. In “Forget Black Friday, Remember ‘Give, Don’t Throw Away!’”, we start with something even more practical: if you have a bicycle sitting at home that you never ride, perhaps it is exactly what someone else needs. Small things like these were the beginning of a group that gave us a reason to trust strangers a little more.
From the Archive, Back to Readers
We collected these articles because they still have something to say beyond the occasions that first prompted them. We would write some of them differently today. That is exactly what makes it interesting to read them as we wrote them then.
At the end of each article, you will find its original publication date, a short link and a QR code leading to the original post (in case, by some twist of fate, we decide to print it as a book—so you will not have to tap the paper with your fingers!). If an article makes you put on a song, look for an old comic, or check whether George Carlin really said what we shared, the book has done its job.