corazon roto

Call it stress, call it love...It breaks hearts!

the bagel and you

I was thinking in Manuela my friend from Austria and I had to look this up. The bagel!
"The origin of the bagel is up for debate, although it seems to have early taken a foothold in Poland. The first printed mention occurs in Krakow, in 1610 in a list of community regulations that stipulate that bagels are to be given to pregnant women. (Interestingly, given the bagel's association as a 'Jewish' food, there is no mention of religion in this regulation-apparently Christian women ate bagels as well). Others support the theory that an Austrian baker created a stirrup (or 'beugal') made out of dough to give to the King of Poland in 1683, in thanks for his help in defeating the Turks, and in honor of his great horsemanship. (Other German variations of the word are: 'beigel', meaning 'ring', and 'bugel', meaning bracelet.)"

Bjork drunk and loving cats

I have always had a good feeling for her work...
My significant other liked my Bjork look alike face when we met. At that time I had what I reffer to as a more "Bjrkolian look": short dark hair. I'm happy just to hear her sing and loving all that is alive. What a wonderful artist. She makes me happpYYYYYYYY! Check out the other non bjork videos on that website!

Guilt therefore drama

Herein the social being and sex after a Woody Allen experience.
I saw today "match point" the latest Woody Allen Movie. Woody Allen is pretty good in defying and exposing conventionality through his movies. I liked the movie. A little extreme... I think the end is way to dramatic...Probably to make a point about luck and fairness, and how far can those be from moral ideals. But really really creepy scenarios if one considers how many people fall in the hands of lust. Morality is tricky when lies give appearance of control. When a person becomes instrumental to other, dynamics are then only means to gain control. Lust exist no mater social conventions. I would dare to say that lust is only based on prohibition of those same conventions: the allure of the illicit: the borderline of darkness. How much people are willing to take desire as a test to all that they are? A test of how free they can be from the rule of "the others"? From getting all without giving anything?

Noses and stuff

As a designer sometimes I need a lot of useless stuff....Hopefully in digital form so I only clutter my head for a few minutes. Good place to find stuff...

MOVIES!

or in this case
SHORTS!
SUNDANCE
FILM
FESTIVAL
I recomend supermarket love song...I'm definetly more a shorts person than a movie person.

R.I.P.

I read the whale ordeal in different online news papers around the world.
It is interesting how different the story is told accordingly to the country's audience.
My favorite.

Can you hear me?

Technology fused with jackets (still to casual to call it fashion) is now available for cold weather inhabitants.

So beautiful!

There is something about utilitarian clothes with a girly attitude that I find so whimsical. ZERO a dry and blunt approach to uniform style from a girly attitude. Simple with heart, and sensibility, not the empty luxe of the minimalism from the 90's.
Maria Cornejo/ZERO is one of my favorite designers. The image has a link to previous collections and the ZERO website. Here is the SPRING COLLECTION
Here is the link of my favorite ZERO collection up to date

lola and chia duermen

Trajan

weird, informative, and kind of funny.

Simple yet complex

interesting work

the current system of freedom and slavery

In the cover story, leading feminist writer Joan Smith provides a telling investigation into the extent of sex trafficking into the UK. She argues that, while lad culture may have decreed that prostitution is respectable, many men might wittingly or otherwise be committing rape for having sex with women compelled into prostitution.

Minneapolis the most fun city in the USA, EVER!

The beauty is in the eye of the beholder...

"the goal was to find a city that is an "outrageously fun experience with something for everyone." Minneapolis won because it's the home of Mary Tyler Moore, four professional sports teams, and the best mall in America. Minneapolis has more theaters than Boston, more parks than Denver, more golfers per capita than any other city in America, and with 10,000 lakes in the state, Minnesota, has more coastline than California, Florida, and Hawaii combined. It even has 15 dog parks. Woof! Cranium CEO Richard Tait said, "It's almost a no-brainer" to crown Minneapolis the Most Fun City."

The good samaritan

Website dedicated to showcase design work for social causes.

War, money, and religion

I read this morning some news about Iran and Iraq confronting each other close to some geographic point that has always been cause for disputes. It seems that Iraq has fallen into the state of limbo that creates conditions for Iran to take over those regions. I guess the latest nuclear developments in Iran is a reason for many to fear: specifically any efforts in making Iraq wholesome. I foresee this situation as the next war...I'm so sorry that the Arabic region is maintained through the cohesion of a system of belief so strong and absurd as (any) religion and the power of the arms. It seems to me that those countries are still governed like many regions in my home country: Colombia. The power of oil (in Colombia's case: cocaine) plus the power of violence gives "legitimacy" to some sort of crooked "democracy". At least in Colombia women have way more freedoms than women in the Arabic/Persian region. Religion plays a huge role in making people be submissive to abusive power,without any challenge. South America is very religious but not to the point of choosing a self imposed exclusion from the rest of the world,human freedoms, or the capitalist establishment. Still religion makes people behave abandoning life to a superior being...Not taking reponsability of their lives or other's lives. That is a crucial element of poverty and underdevelopment in many countries. That and the institutionalizing of exclusion of people from a competitive level of education locally and internationally.

Anyhow...Whether the news are a fact or not the reference to the past makes a strong precedent for future "incidents".War in the Persian land is getting closer.

Slow down

I have problems understanding that I need 8 Hours of sleep, when those same 8 hours can be used for something creative. I guess it is a non cool trait that all that are productive share in capitalist times. There are plenty of urban getways that will be happy to see some money spent in "free times".
Too much perhaps.

The Swiss, yummy!

Awesome tourism campaign for Switzerland.

burning Paris every once in a while

I have been pretty much amazed by how one of the first world countries; France, deals with immigrants. France is not dealing with what I think is the cause of the the isolation of some by mainstream culture..."Minorities" in France are not "French", because to be French is to cease to be many things in favor of "Frenchness" (what it is only those very proud french would know). To understand one self as "French" one should abandon whatever is not French...And of course that might be anything that might be "unacceptable" by "French" standards. Let's say that the most recognizable trait of "unfrechness" is to be poor... "Mais oui!" might say some...not understanding that integration consists in being flexible about the way oneself, (french), or one's culture (French) might change when there are immigrants...Difficult topic in deed, moreover when French have resisted even integration to "equal" Europeans, in the European Union, by the fear of loosing the frenchness.
I ask my self: Is it possible to be "minority" and French at the same time? "Mais oui!" might say some... But the reality says otherwise. During the early construction of the city states in Europe's late middle ages, in Paris was illegal for many to wear clothes that belonged to the few that had the power: wigs and moles! Mon dieu! Yes! At early stages of "frenchness" development those that decided who belonged and how did not, did it based on how far from muddy environments was the individual...not much has changed...and frenchness is still defined by "the location on the mole on the face"!. Social Mobility is regarded as a European right: for some europeans...and almost inexistant for those who are not. A good book about this topic.
Social Mobility for minorities (non french individuals) is not part of the idea of "frenchness". It might have it's exceptions, of course...but France is failing to offer that possibility to many.. I'm afraid that is the case in many day to day situations against what logic might say. (E.G.:age is one of the most common elements in labor selection: age discrimination is perfectly OK for employees in France,contributing to classism within european citizens). And let's keep in mind that a resume has to offer the very specific schools that only some attend being born in european territory: not very open for integration of minorities. Affirmative action anybody? I love some of the "french" traits...but to marry that perspective of "rightness" to the point of killing rationality, and succumbing to neglect real inequalities?

Rioting by some rebellious minorities, is of course fuel for the antimmigration policies. Silly silly immigrants (sans papiers) if they think that using violence anything will change in their favor.

Now,the burden is in France's government as director of "justice" and "frenchness". Are those good values that make part of the french identity going to spoils for keeping the "Frenchmen" away from the reality that the many non French experience in France? Why is it that Minorities in the US or other European cities don't go on a rampage for lack of opportunities? May be because there are options to achieve social mobility through effort or maybe not...

My point is: cultural identity has to do with the level of integration of one self and others to a common idea. Cultural identity is a construct of a group in relation to other. Men to Women, child to adult, Frech to non French...In that sense when an identity is in conflict with other identity might be for the lack of possibilities of integration, and lack of balance. Any effort to extinguish the conflict by hiding symptoms rather than attack the cause is futile.
The following is a series of reports on the state of affairs with Minorities in France form the BBC:

"In 2002 Abdel and Mohamed Djaiziri bought a small supermarket chain in one of bleakest of these estates, Les Pyramides - named after one of Paris' glitziest areas.

The Tunisian brothers then did a fateful thing. They turned the supermarket, affiliated to the Franprix chain, into a halal shop.

It was purely a business a decision, they insist: In a predominantly Muslim area, there was no point stocking pork or alcohol that would stay on the shelf.

"When a shopkeeper has a range of 15,000 products available to him, he will choose those that will sell," Abdel Djaiziri said in a recent interview."

But the mayor felt the move contributed to creating a ghetto by making life difficult for non-Muslims, and tried to get the store closed on health grounds."

art, peace at the top

I guess if one has made millions, it only makes sense that the next thing to do is to find peace by giving others a little tea...

"In New York, a Frenchman has taken tea to another level: he practices the tea ceremony in a wooden hut and Japanese garden he designed and built on the rooftop of his Manhattan townhouse. What's more, Pierre Sernet takes his act on the road, using an open-air, cube-shaped teahouse he designed. Sernet is a banker-turned-performance artist, and he performs the ancient Japanese tea ceremony in exotic locations and spreads a message of acceptance and peace in the process.

He calls his act, "Guerilla Tea." He has brewed and served tea in places ranging from the Thar Desert in India to the Great Wall in China to Niteroi, Brazil. He sets up his portable teahouse and invites local strangers to share a cup of tea and a tranquil moment."

Cartography as a tool of domination

Whenever I stumble upon this map, I can not stop thinking in the madness in human nature and how political power shapes ideas across many cultures.
"The Mercator projection creates increasing distortions of size as you move away from the equator. As you get closer to the poles the distortion becomes severe. Cartographers refer to the inability to compare size on a Mercator projection as "the Greenland Problem." Greenland appears to be the same size as Africa, yet Africa's land mass is actually fourteen times larger (see figure below right). Because the Mercator distorts size so much at the poles it is common to crop Antarctica off the map. This practice results in the Northern Hemisphere appearing much larger than it really is. Typically, the cropping technique results in a map showing the equator about 60% of the way down the map, diminishing the size and importance of the developing countries"

What's stronger: Jaws or brains?

A woman gets eaten by sharks. That is a sad story for humans in deed, specially for the deceased's "church group". Now, how is that after the shark attack, trying to find the "guilty" sharks, killing them and trying to find pieces of the woman is going to change the fact that sharks are carnivorous animals? The shark community will be happy to take a few out of the water, more food for the other sharks! That solution is just senseless! How is that taking the life of some sharks is going to help humans to become more respectful towards animal territory or animal instinct. Call me a "shark huger" but I think the efforts of finding predators after they do what they do to very inopportune humans wondering, swimming , hunting in their territory is just futile, and completely out of the scope of the real solution: don't swim where there are sharks!
Or get a strong cage!

The dragon and the little cricket

Microsoft "unplugged" a website from the world wide web, only because the government of China asked to censor a Chinese user....Interesting news, where Chinese laws (censorship) and Mutinational interest get mixed. Microsoft being an American (supposedly free) enterprise has to obey Chinese censorship logic because of the fear of losing the Chinese market...A favor from Microsoft to the not very open Chinese government. Crazy!
"Michael Anti, also known as Zhao Jing, a researcher for The New York Times, wrote the Beijing-based blog, which featured coverage of subjects such as a string of cat murders in Shanghai that attracted the attention of the outside press. The blog was deleted New Year’s Eve."
"Former CNN correspondent Rebecca MacKinnon revealed in a posting on her own blog on Tuesday that Microsoft had removed the blog. She pointed out that Mr. Anti had recently covered a walkout called by journalists at the Beijing Daily News after several editors there were fired for writing about recent accounts of police shootings of protestors."

Rivers of silver and bood

When I was 16 years old I read a book tittled : "Las venas abiertas de America Latina" by Eduardo Galeano ... After more than a decade, it remains as one of the most forcefull books, reavealing dynamics of power and economics in multinational times. This book is very usefull for anybody that would like to understand the shift towards social governments in South America, the adoration of el CHE, or the latest president of Bolivia, as examples of solutions to post-colonialism (not for that being a factual solution).
The intro to the book. Spanish. English (very rough automatic internet translation)

ohhh so pretty!

I love this collection by Claudia Rosa Lukas.(AW56)
The underwear is fugly! And some of the fashion photos are freaky...
But again AW56 is beautifull!!!!!! Little red riding hood chic.