I'll be leaving Belgrade for a month or so, and, though the Big Plum has become something of a spiritual second home for me, I still have my moments of cultural puzzlement.
For instance, why would a Belgrade street-tagger choose to call himself "Mitochondria"? Isn't that weird handle just a little too Paul Di Filippo ribofunk for a normal, red-blooded Serbian teenager? How does he explain that choice of cognomen to his running-buddies? 'Yeah, dudes... from now on, you can call me "Mitochondria!" See, the mitochondrion is a tiny cellular power-plant that converts organic materials into adenosine triphosphate!' Are these Belgrade street-kids, like, down with that lifestyle choice?
What do they tell each other about him? "Wow, man, 'Mitochondria' is cool! His iPod's cram-full of techno music!"
If you ARE Mitochondria, why don't you send me some email and tell me what the heck you're up to?
