Television/2

Does Television show what happens?
In our countries, television shows what it would like to happen, and nothing happens if it is not shown on television.
Television, that final light that saves you from your loneliness and from the night, IS reality. Because life is a show, the system promises those who behave themselves a comfortable seat.

Eduardo Galeano, from "The Book of Embraces" p. 151.

The Power of Nightmares

This is a great three episode documentary produced by the BBC about the illusion of terror and politics. Each episode is an hour long. You can watch them on full screen by clicking on the Google Video link on the bottom right hand corner of each of them.

The Many Faces of a Tortilla

With all due respect to my Mexican friends, I found a concise description of how to read a menu at a Mexican restaurant and feel I should share it with everyone. I love Mexican food, but sometimes this is what it boils down to: "Just about anything can be called a taco, which essentially means “sandwich.” You take a tortilla and you put some stuff in it and you eat it; that’s a taco. (If you roll the tortilla, it’s a burrito, which appears to have been created in the American Southwest; if you layer food on top of it, it’s an enchilada; if you crisp it up and use it as a kind of plate, it’s a tostada; if you cut it into pieces and bake or fry it, it’s a chip; and so on.)" I need to print this out and carry it with me on my next visit to a Taqueria. (read the rest of the article, which actually gives a pretty good description on how to cook a perfect taco, here).

Procrastinating 101

1. Make sure you have a Blog.
2. Do the dishes.
3. Participate in discussion forums over pointless issues.
4. Read the news.
5. Comment on your blog about something pointles you read in the news.
6. Check what time it is.
7. Divide the number of hours before the paper is due by the number of pages you still have to type.
8. Factor in the number of hours of sleep you hope to get (do not allocate more than 3, if more are available it is not procrastinating yet).
9. Stare at your bed, then at your monitor...
10. Look at the clock.
11. Type a paragraph for your paper.
12. Take a shower.
13. Eat a snack.
14. Think about what you'll do AFTER you finish the paper.
15. Check your email.
16. Divide hours/pages again.
17. Realize you can't procrastinate anymore.
18. Log on to your blog.
19. Type something stupid, like, your own version of "procrastinating 101".
20. Get to work, there is no more time to spare.

Ingresos de todos los equipos de fútbol Colombiano no alcanzan a la mitad de lo que vale Ronaldinho

Sera porque los jugadores no valen un peso tampoco. Equipitos de mierda.
Articulo

What Have You Done Zizou?

I have a funny feeling in my stomach...what have you done Zizou? What was going through your head? The whole world was watching, and we all wanted to see you lifting up that cup on your last game. I almost want to cry. A headbutt? Just a few minutes earlier you used that same head to almost score what would have been the championship goal, but now we have to watch you walking out of the field, head bowed, past your coach, past the cup, down the stairs...
You took France with you, you know? As you walked into the tunnel, the spirit of the team went with you, and we all knew it was over. It was over for France, but specially for you.
To tell you the truth, I don't like the French. But that team, and that captain? I wanted to see it win. It was almost too good to be true. A country's star, retiring in a WorldCup final after reviving its team from the dead. Zinedine Zidane, I forgive you, but...what have you done?



Zidane y va marquer!

LEAVE ME ALONE

Have you ever felt like you wish nobody knew your damn blog's address? I might just do that some day, simply start a new blog and not tell anyone. I'm supposed to be able to say whatever I want on my posts, but I come from a place where once you know that X or Y will read what you have to say, then it is either no longer polite, or it is innapropriate to say it. I suppose I wouldn't make a good journalist.

I could succumb to a stupid and useless MySpace page and play "cool" music to greet my visitors while I try to outsmart all my friends into posting the "craziest" pictures of my self acting as dumb, or looking as hot, (or as cool) as my imaginary hotness would allow. Heck, I don't even know if the word "cool" is cool anymore or if I'm making an ass of myslef. That's when you know that there are one or two generations below you already...

Well, I suppose I hate the world tonight, for no particular reason, and I am pissed off just enough to be able to actually publish this rant.

Ok, I'll tell you. I HAVE MOVED. I HAVE A NEW BLOG. I just haven't decided if I should start using it or if I should stick to this one. It's not even hosted by blogger, and it is not indexed either, so don't bother trying to find it.

(...)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm so tough, and I sound so upset, or just plainly stupid. Then I'm pretending to be rough and all that. Anyone with "dos dedos de frente" (That's two fingers of forehead, and I'm not going to bother trying to explain it) would figure out what the new blog address is. [And I'm not pretending to say that if you can't figure it out your forehead is not large enough....(that's the usual me, already being apologetic and worrying about hurting someone's feelings)].

Well anyhow, it's out there, it exists at an 'undisclosed location', to borrow a term from the geniuses of this country, but I haven't posted anything on it yet, and even if I do, it was planned to be just a continuation of this blog, which I was going to retire. (And that last sentence was a run-on). In other words, it's more of the same. I was going (or maybe will) tell all of you where to find it...BUT I WANT ONE THAT IS MY OWN, and no, a journal just doesn't do the trick. What am I complainig about? All I need to do is get one.

(...)

Pheww.... I suppose ranting in an irrational manner for a few sentences does cool you off eh? Don't take it personal, I don't hate you, (maybe a little), I just wanted to vent. Tomorrow, I'll be posting about the birds and the bees and the flowers....or maybe even about Teletubbies. Maybe let's jsut not go there or I'll get pissed off again.

P.S. I wish my neighbor would stop laughing so fucking loud and my stomach didn't hurt. (Don't worry mom, I'm much better, and I've been eating fruits too. Aren't you proud of me? - For the rest of you, shut up-).

Good night.

Los Lonely Gringos?

"A recent study by sociologists at Duke and the University of Arizona found that, on average, most adults only have two people they can talk to about the most important subjects in their lives — serious health problems, for example, or issues like who will care for their children should they die. And about one-quarter have no close confidants at all."

Read the rest of this article in today's New York Times: The Lonely American Just Got a Bit Lonelier.

Salvador the Savior

What was I thinking? It has been quite a while since I don't feel inspired, and quite honestly, even I was gettig bored with my lame posts. I should have remembered a lesson I learned from a dear friend in League City: Music, Juan Pablo, it's all about the music!

After a couple hours of browsing through the All Songs Considered site, I found quite a few great live concerts, many of which are downloadable for free, and even more (also free) that can be streamed to your computer at any time. I highly recommend the Iron & Wine and Calexico concert, it was amazing. But what really blew my mind was this guy...Salvador Duran. As another confounded blogger said: "who is this guy"? You really should listen for yourself. Salvador is a Mexican trovador, and his impressive performance is even more mind bogging if you stop and think about the audience, the crowd was there to listen to a completely different kind of music, but at the end they cheered more for him than from the other two bands. (play the clip), and if you decide you want to download the whole concert, the page of Calexico and Iron and Wine's performance can be found here.

I decided to look him up, but there is no trace of Salvador, other than in random posts from other bloggers, all thoroughly impressed with his performance at Club 9:30 in Washington D.C. I did, however, find some art work (pictured above) by another Salvador, I assume, but his stuff was equally entertaining.

Anyways, I have three "thankyous" tonight, one for All Songs Considered for their great selections, one for Jennifer Schmalz for teaching me that life is not the same without music, and one for Salvador Duran, for Saving the night.