Albanians

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Have they made any contribution besides cheap cigarettes on Holloway Rd. and the comic catchphrase "FOO-OO-OOD FIIIIGGGHHHHTT!"?

dave q, Wednesday, 22 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Come on, let's not forget the hilarious pyramid sales fiasco and their love of Norman Wisdom.

Nick, Wednesday, 22 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I think he's known as Norman Pitkin over there. Something to do with Wisdom meaning Cockfarmer or similar in Albanian.

Richard Tunnicliffe, Wednesday, 22 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

A hilarious epsidoe of "Cheers".

Dan Perry, Wednesday, 22 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Also hilarious v ancient ep of simpsons, which simultaneously mocked albania (a teeny bit) and THE FRENCH. A Lot.

mark s, Wednesday, 22 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

My friend Jake, partially for linguistic reasons (that was his field of study) wrote and recorded an album called Albania Tonight!, which I think Brian was on as well, I can't recall. He specifically dedicated it 'the Enver Hoxha days, not this pyramid scheme crap.' He was also pleased beyond all measure when I found this line in Rabelais: "Get buggered by an Albanian, and wear one of their pointed hats." It became the opening line of a song.

Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 22 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Seem to have massive residual racial prejudice if the behaviour of the crowd in the Albania-England match earlier this year is anything to go by ...

Robin Carmody, Wednesday, 22 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Robin, stop making generalisations about Albania.

Nick, Wednesday, 22 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

a) I'm feeling frisky today and b) you're one to talk.

Robin Carmody, Wednesday, 22 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

'Albania: A Progressive Country'

Nick, Wednesday, 22 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

While Dastoor seems to be worrying ghosts unnecessarily here, I doubt whether Ashley Cole will ever play in front of a less progressive crowd than the Albanian one.

Robin Carmody, Wednesday, 22 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

They had a king named ZOG. What more contribution need there be?

Josh, Wednesday, 22 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Search: John Belushi. Destroy: James Belushi. (Would he have even tried "comedy" had his brother lived?)

Also, search: centuries-old blood feuds that leave elderly men in Chicago dead in their beds with slashed throats.

Benjamin, Wednesday, 22 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

two years pass...
Reviving because when I was looking for pictures to post on the "dopey world leader" thread I stumbled across the web site for Albanian President Alfred Moisiu and instantly liked the guy.

Why? Because anyone who uses this as the official "welcome to my web site" picture is completely bad-ass...

http://www.president.al/images/presidenca.jpg

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 07:17 (twenty-one years ago)

He appears to have NO IDEA what to do with the flowers

http://www.president.al/album/377.jpg

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 07:19 (twenty-one years ago)

And what's with the shabby suit?

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 07:20 (twenty-one years ago)

The caption for this is: "President Moisiu at the meeting of the High Inspectorate for the Declaration and Control of the Assets."

http://www.president.al/album/373.jpg

Control of the Assets? There are assets?

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 07:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Ummmm maybe a little less starch in your laundry?

http://www.president.al/album/337.jpg

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 07:24 (twenty-one years ago)

"Please don't overthrow me. Would you like some tea?"

http://www.president.al/album/326.jpg

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 07:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Which one of these is not like the other?

http://www.president.al/album/324.jpg

(jbr sez: "R.E.M. publicity shot circa 1995")

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 07:28 (twenty-one years ago)

President Moisiu personally welcomes each and every tourist to Albania.

http://www.president.al/album/316.jpg

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 07:30 (twenty-one years ago)

"OK, our country is kinda screwed up but we have the greatest old-school national emblems evah!"

http://www.president.al/album/294.jpg

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 07:33 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.purduenc.edu/te/stu/eet/fpx0073/domprob.jpg
Tie "the Albanian Aggressor" Domi throws down with Nicolars' boyfriend,

bnw (bnw), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 07:36 (twenty-one years ago)

I couldn't think of a caption for this. Really the picture says it all...

http://www.president.al/album/277.jpg

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 07:40 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.president.al/album/262.jpg

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 07:44 (twenty-one years ago)

every single woman in these pictures is a knockout. where's my passport? ok maybe not the the one in plaid but that's a great er slide projector case. the flag is also wick-ed.

typo acapulco (gcannon), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 07:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Watch out Alfred, the American infidels are there to trick you

http://www.president.al/album/204.jpg

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 07:58 (twenty-one years ago)

My favorite Albanian.

http://www.tvtome.com/images/people/0/0/18-1064.jpg

(Eliza Dushku)

nickn (nickn), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 07:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, it worked when I googled it. I'll leave finding an image as an excersize.

nickn (nickn), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 08:00 (twenty-one years ago)

"Er... thanks I think?" (and some more pictures for typo acapulco)

http://www.president.al/album/168.jpg

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 08:00 (twenty-one years ago)

haha that american flag is seriously half-assed! i'm fallink in lahv vit these people...

typo acapulco (gcannon), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 08:02 (twenty-one years ago)

This is:

a) an eastern european music video
b) the presidents of Albania, Bulgaria and Macedonia signing a declaration
c) the presidents of Albania, Bulgaria and Macedonia starring in a tourist advertisement/music video

http://www.president.al/album/138.jpg

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 08:05 (twenty-one years ago)

albanian women have to carry enormous handbags at the presidential palace; Moisiu invariably hands out some old king crimson lps.

typo acapulco (gcannon), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 08:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Albania threw "Europe Day" but no one showed. Poor Alfred :(

http://www.president.al/album/91.jpg

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 08:12 (twenty-one years ago)

From earlier this evening...

jbr: i bet there's at least one PiL tribute band in Albania, and that band is my favorite band ever
ckb: agreed. i'll bet Albania has the worst Neil Diamond impersonator too
jbr:: YES

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 08:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Again with the "relaxed, but feared mafia don" look

http://www.president.al/album/113.jpg

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 08:18 (twenty-one years ago)

chris, go to sleep!

bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 08:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Couldn't find any pictures of Albanian cuisine, so here are some links instead.

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 08:41 (twenty-one years ago)

And their money is cool looking too. It might even be worth something.

http://www.banknotes.com/AL64.JPG

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 08:42 (twenty-one years ago)

They had a king named ZOG. What more contribution need there be?

apparently once King Zog was on a state visit somewhere. An assassin pulled out a gun and took a few shots at him. King Zog coolly drew his own and fired back at his assailant. This endeared him to the masses of Europe.

DV (dirtyvicar), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 10:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Albanians vs. Trojans, FITE!

Oh wait, not that kind of Albanian. Sigh.

Citizen Kate (kate), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 10:33 (twenty-one years ago)

that top note is what Dan Perry might look like in another 40 years

stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 10:33 (twenty-one years ago)

bah my ex-sister in law married an albanian. after i left oxford both seemingly vanished from the face of the earth (they were planning to move back to albania, which latter probably explains the former).

Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 26 November 2003 11:21 (twenty-one years ago)

My brother and his girlfriend live in Albania! But just for another 2 days or so. He used to e-mail me funny newspaper clips of the mayor of Tirana (until his weird-ass boss started firing people for sending e-mails at work).

I've not visited them but they tell me that the mayor ordered all the buildings in central Tirana to be painted in bright happy colours to disguise the shabbiness of the town. So parts of it now looks like a Lego city.

Hanna (Hanna), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 11:31 (twenty-one years ago)

it'd be even cooler of they had Lego Technical Set cars as well.

MarkH (MarkH), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 11:34 (twenty-one years ago)

incidentally, do they build cars in Albania? Weren't private vehicles banned in the Hoxha era?

MarkH (MarkH), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 11:36 (twenty-one years ago)

http://llwyd.tripod.com/male/aria2.jpg

Theresa Russell IS King Zog

H (Heruy), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 11:45 (twenty-one years ago)

sadly, first thing I think of in regards to Albanians is the gratuitous (but v. funny) bashing that takes place in "Tune in Tomorrow"

H (Heruy), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 11:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Can't believe no one has mentioned Adil Hoxha, exchange student/spy.

http://www.lewzworld.com/simpsons/adilhox.jpg

fletrejet, Wednesday, 26 November 2003 13:01 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/eastenders/walford_hotspot/images/roy.jpg

Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 13:25 (twenty-one years ago)

i grew up in a town called albany. i've made absolutely no contribution to the world whatsoever.

gem (trisk), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 02:30 (twenty-one years ago)

acc to this, and if i'm reading the vowels in that last word right, that means "electric guitar without clothes,"

WHICH IS TOTALLY AWESOME.

g--ff (gcannon), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 02:48 (twenty-one years ago)

tho i don't get the question mark. and i don't think it's clothing anymore

u b the judge:

fashë = bandage
fushë = area, field
kofshë = thigh
lafshë = prepuce of penis

g--ff (gcannon), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 02:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Prepuced penis? Vs. premauved?

Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 03:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Drita Kotaji, singer of Berntholer.

Tag (Tag), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 07:05 (twenty-one years ago)

four months pass...
Don't mess with Albania.

TIRANA, Albania -- Near the end of his 40 years in power, Enver Hoxha prepared his tiny country for an invasion he warned was sure to come. The Marxist dictator built 750,000 concrete bunkers in the 1970s and 1980s and imported large quantities of weapons to repel an expected attack by Americans, Soviets, Yugoslavs or perhaps all three at once.

But his most prized weapons acquisition was a state secret known only to the Albanian leader and his closest advisers -- a secret that only now is coming fully to light.

In the mid-1970s, U.S. and Albanian officials now believe, Hoxha arranged the purchase of several hundred canisters of lethal military chemicals to be used in weapons against invading armies. The chemicals included yperite, or sulfur mustard, one of the chemicals used by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to slaughter thousands of Kurdish civilians in the 1980s, as well as lewisite and adamsite, which are based on arsenic.

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 05:02 (twenty years ago)

This has to be the goofiest camouflage ever:

http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/images/I61981-2005Jan09L

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 05:03 (twenty years ago)

Alfred wishes you a happy 2005!

http://www.president.al/album/1395.jpg

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 05:06 (twenty years ago)

No comment here, it's just a great photo

http://www.president.al/album/1338.jpg

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 05:08 (twenty years ago)

Um, is that Cthulhu back there on the right? (xpost)

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 05:08 (twenty years ago)

Um, is that Cthulhu back there on the right?

Like I said, don't mess with Albania.

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 05:10 (twenty years ago)

Carrot Top punks Alfred

http://www.president.al/album/1330.jpg

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 05:10 (twenty years ago)

Like I said, don't mess with Albania.

Similarly unpronouncable names...

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 05:14 (twenty years ago)

Sauna or Moldovian Parliament?

http://www.president.al/album/1102.jpg

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 05:16 (twenty years ago)

Man, I wanna go to Moldovia

http://www.president.al/album/1108.jpg

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 05:17 (twenty years ago)

Filming commences on Albanian version of Oceans 11

http://www.president.al/album/1070.jpg

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 05:19 (twenty years ago)

I really want to find out what's in the bread, if anything.

The prospect of an Albanian/Moldovian alliance, it must be said, does not make me tremble.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 05:21 (twenty years ago)

I have nothing to say here...

http://www.president.al/album/895.jpg

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 05:23 (twenty years ago)

It's the little guy up front who intrigues me the most.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 05:26 (twenty years ago)

six months pass...
Update!

The New Yorker on Tirana mayor Edi Rama

Rama has been in office for nearly five years (he was elected in 2000, at the age of thirty-six, and reëlected three years later), and the first thing he did as mayor was to order paint. He blasted the façades of Tirana’s gray Stalinist apartment blocks with color—riotous, Caribbean color—turning buildings into patchworks of blues, greens, oranges, purples, yellows, and reds, and the city itself into something close to a modern-masters sampler. (Art in America put a Tirana façade on its December cover; it looked like an abstract painting.) It was an extravagant gesture, but Rama thinks in extravagant gestures. “The city was without organs,” he says, meaning that it was a dump, and that nothing in it functioned. (“Kandahar” is how he usually describes it.) “I thought, My colors will have to replace those organs. It was an intervention.”

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 02:40 (twenty years ago)

They're kind of like Trekkies.

Leon C. (Ex Leon), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 02:44 (twenty years ago)

Or Claymates.

Leon C. (Ex Leon), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 02:45 (twenty years ago)

Are Trekkies so colorful? Beyond primary colors, I mean.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 02:52 (twenty years ago)

two months pass...
I'm into Albanians again, or suspected Albanians.

Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Thursday, 3 November 2005 17:50 (twenty years ago)

http://www.albany.edu/main/homepagev1/2005/oct2005/10-31-05/images/ualbanylogo.gif

^albanians

jbr: the little-known, idiosyncratic nutball (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 3 November 2005 17:57 (twenty years ago)

harold pinter doesnt like them-

The playwright was just as outraged by NATO's 1999 air war in Kosovo. Though the bombing was essentially a last resort in the face of Slobodan Milosevic's savage campaign of ethnic cleansing, Pinter described it as "a criminal act" - the U.N. Security Council hadn't approved - designed to consolidate "American domination of Europe." He complained, in fact, of "the demonization and the hysteria" that accompanied the NATO campaign against Milosevic and the Serbs.

_, Thursday, 3 November 2005 17:58 (twenty years ago)

Opposing bombing of civilians/civilian infrastructure is the same as not liking Albanians? Pinter isn't the only one who has described it as a criminal act. I was not following much news at the time and I've never thoroughly looked into it, but the criticisms of the U.S. air offensive in Kosovo don't sound ridiculous to me.

Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Thursday, 3 November 2005 18:58 (twenty years ago)

A lot of actual leftists, as opposed to Clinton liberals, have a problem with what was done.

Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Thursday, 3 November 2005 18:59 (twenty years ago)

Also, the U.S. used shitloads of cluster bombs and depleted uranium weapons in the former Yugoslavia, weapons many people outside of the U.S government consider to be illegal, or at the very least, verging on illegal.

Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Thursday, 3 November 2005 19:03 (twenty years ago)

Nice. I'll be taking an (ill advised) day trip to Albania in August. I've been told not to take a camera or carry much cash. I'll probably be amongst a gaggle of other tourists looking conspicuous and over excited.

Rumpie, Friday, 4 November 2005 12:01 (twenty years ago)

three months pass...
REVIVE!

President Moisiu handing the flag to the Albanian team participating in the Winter Olympics.

http://www.president.al/album/2774.jpg

Note: that guy IS the Albanian olympic team.

The Equator Lounge (Chris Barrus), Saturday, 11 February 2006 19:36 (nineteen years ago)

two years pass...

:(

Albanian arms blast toll rises

At least eight people are now known to have been killed by massive explosions at an arms dump in Albania, as rescuers continued to search the site.

More than 240 others were injured in Saturday's blasts, which struck outside a village near the capital Tirana.

Elvis Telecom, Sunday, 16 March 2008 21:10 (seventeen years ago)

two months pass...

Sometimes the headlines just write themselves...

Cat and mouse blamed for blackout

Albanians may have found a new villain to blame for the frequent power cuts that have been blighting their lives.

The country's main electricity company says a cat chasing a mouse caused a 72-hour blackout in parts of the capital, Tirana.

The animals ran into an area of high-voltage cables and were electrocuted, a spokeswoman for the firm - Kesh - told Reuters news agency.

"We took pictures because we've never had anything like this," she said.

Power cuts have been endemic in Albania for many years.

The authorities usually blame drought and the dilapidated state of the communist-era grid, which appears to be buckling under the strain of the extra demand caused by the Albanians' recent access to modern amenities.

Elvis Telecom, Monday, 19 May 2008 18:17 (seventeen years ago)

Is Al still president?

Ned Raggett, Monday, 19 May 2008 18:20 (seventeen years ago)

http://www.deadprogrammer.com/photos/worker-and-parasite.jpg

Gavin, Monday, 19 May 2008 19:12 (seventeen years ago)

Worker And Parasite was the first thing I thought of also

Elvis Telecom, Monday, 19 May 2008 19:39 (seventeen years ago)

Is Al still president?

Nope. He retired from public office at the end of his five year term. Dr. Bamir Topi is the new president...

http://www.president.al/album/4976.jpg

Elvis Telecom, Monday, 19 May 2008 19:54 (seventeen years ago)

http://www.president.al/album/4803.jpg

Elvis Telecom, Monday, 19 May 2008 19:54 (seventeen years ago)

http://www.president.al/album/4725.jpg

Elvis Telecom, Monday, 19 May 2008 19:55 (seventeen years ago)

That one story wasn't kidding about the building colors.

Ned Raggett, Monday, 19 May 2008 19:56 (seventeen years ago)

Here's Alfred handing over power. Looks like he's got a speedboat waiting to take him to a beach resort or something.

http://www.president.al/album/4154.jpg

Elvis Telecom, Monday, 19 May 2008 19:59 (seventeen years ago)

eight months pass...

In Albania, Einstürzende Neubauten isn't just a band but an urban design principle.

The city of Tirana and an international jury announced MVRDV winner of the competition for the urban masterplan creating a new dense urban neighborhood with a park and public facilities at the shore of Tirana Lake, in the south of the Albanian capital.

Tirana Lake is one of the highly valuable green areas of the city. The project foresees the regeneration of a 20ha site on the north shore of the lake by creating a dense urban neighborhood liberating space for a park, recreational facilities, new public spaces and ecologic interventions.

The cantilevered and leaning buildings allow for a great variety of apartment types, shopping and offices and ‘echo’ the Tirana typology. The stacked and twisted volumes create spectacular public spaces and provide dramatic vistas. Clad in local stones the buildings turn into a series of ‘rocks’, the ‘Tirana Rocks’.

http://bustler.net/images/uploads/tirana_rocks_mvrdv_04.jpg

Chris Barrus (Elvis Telecom), Tuesday, 3 February 2009 02:26 (sixteen years ago)

eight months pass...
one year passes...

"Not Your Typical Picnic But an ALBANIAN PICNIC!!!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3MuVNe_mhA

Stockhausen's Ekranoplan Quartet (Elvis Telecom), Thursday, 7 April 2011 23:19 (fourteen years ago)

two years pass...
ten years pass...

I remember when they disguised Albania as a white space on an Interail map which I guess is fitting with that name.
Maybe thought nobody'd notice it or something. But they were expecting everyone to get a pass/ visa whatever to go across the border so hered a bu7nch of people off the train I was on and made them spend the night in the waiting room .

Stevo, Saturday, 2 September 2023 15:14 (two years ago)

three months pass...

🇦🇱 Opposition MP Flamur Noka from the Democratic Party tried to set the Albanian Parliament on fire.

For weeks, the DP has been disrupting parliamentary sessions with smoke flares, following corruption charges against Sali Berisha, their de facto leader, who has been sanctioned… pic.twitter.com/y7vT6fgzCj

— kos_data (@kos_data) December 4, 2023

Flamur Noka living up to his name

anvil, Monday, 4 December 2023 17:35 (one year ago)

eight months pass...

I hope all the locals systematically loot, rob, and grift him up and down the line...

"Jared Kushner wants to turn a wild stretch of Albania into a luxury resort"
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/ar-AA1oXrd0

Elvis Telecom, Monday, 19 August 2024 07:00 (one year ago)

one year passes...

soccer in the good old days

https://www.theguardian.com/football/article/2024/may/16/football-in-stalinist-albania-inside-the-hermit-kingdom-book

Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, 7 November 2025 22:53 (four days ago)


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