Da oggi sono ufficialmente secondo allenatore dell' under 19 di basket della pallacanestro Lucca. Appena finito il corso di allievo allenatore e gia chiamato da una squadra così importante....non ci credo ancora....

Speriamo di fare bene questo anno e si essere richiamato il prossimo :D

aguratime un grande in bocca al lupo....:P

Lo faccio raramente, ma un post di uno dei migliori blogger che stanno su piazza merita l'eccezione.

E poi mi serve per introdurre quella che passerà alla Storia (di Champ's Version, che vi credevate...) come "La Trilogia di Sarah": tre post in serie dedicati alla Running Mate di McCain (che poi, se mi diventa Vice Presidente, sai come crescono gli accessi al blog...).

Io non mi sono mai creduto un Occhio particolarmente clinico; eppure, ve lo giuro, la prima volta che ho visto questo orrore ho pensato: vabbè, ma è un fake. Una bufala. Uno scherzo fatto con photoshop, se non direttamente con lo scotch. Cioè, ma l'avete vista per più di due nanosecondi? Non si vede chiaramente che quella faccia pentagonale è rudemente appiccicata su uno sfondo nero?

[continua su Leonardo]

Quantos toques de bola dás?

O Yordanov,
e o Leonardo da Vinci!

caracteres: 60

por: desconhecido

enviado: desconhecido

It ain't easy being green!

PLOT:

The film opens 3,000 years in the past, during which time a powerful warlord and his four generals discover a portal to a parallel universe, on the other side of which is said to be a great power. Upon opening the portal, the warlord was granted immortality but his four generals were turned to stone and his army was wiped out. The portal also released 13 horrible immortal beasts that were to plague mankind until the next opening of the portal.

Present day sees that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have grown apart. After the defeat of Shredder, Master Splinter sent Leo away to Central America for training. The rest of the Turtles have settled into lives in New York; Donny works as an IT specialist and has become the de facto leader. Mikey moonlights as a clown for birthday parties. Raph appears to the others to do nothing except sleep all day, but it is revealed that he has continued fighting crime at night while disguised as the vigilante "Nightwatcher". April O'Neil has seemingly given up journalism in favor of archaeology. She runs a company that locates rare relics and acquires them for collectors. She works and lives with boyfriend Casey Jones.

While on a business trip, April finds herself in Central America where she runs into Leonardo. She tries to convince "Leo" to return to New York, but he is hesitant to do so out of fear that he hasn't completed his training yet. April tells him how the other Turtles have drifted apart and leaves Leo to ponder his next move. April returns to New York with a stone statue for her client Max Winters, the wealthy CEO of a financial empire. Leo stows away on board the plane and returns as well. April and Casey deliver the statue to Winters at his corporate office, after they leave he brings all four statues out and reanimates them. The statues are the four Stone Generals of the myth, and Winters is the warlord made immortal by the portal. Winters is then visited by Karai and the Foot Clan, whom he hires to scour the city searching for the 13 beasts from the legend. The beasts will be drawn to New York by the reopening of the portal, scheduled to happen in days.

Leo returns to the sewer home of the Turtles and faces Splinter. Splinter wants him to reunite his brothers as a family, and forbids the Turtles from fighting until they are all a cohesive team again. While training, the Turtles encounter one of the thirteen beasts battling with the Foot Clan. Seeing the Foot losing control, the Turtles defy Leo and Splinter's orders and engage the beast as well. The beast easily defeats the Turtles, but before they can be finished off the four Stone Generals arrive and capture the beast, spiriting it away in a disguised garbage truck. Leo and Raph have an argument, and Raph leaves to go out as Nightwatcher. Later on, as Nightwatcher, Raph encounters Casey on a rooftop and takes Casey on as his sidekick. Together they encounter the Stone Generals again, and are pursued by one until the police interrupt the fight. Raph is knocked unconscious by a dart fired by the Generals, and Casey takes him to his apartment and calls the other Turtles to come and help. While checking Raph over they discover a throwing star from one of the Generals, and Casey tells April that they battled the statues she delivered to Winters. April recites the warlord myth for the Turtles and they deduce that Winters is attempting to reopen the portal and complete his bid to control the world. After coming to, Raph declares he is quitting the Turtles.

Leo, Donny, and Mikey return to their sewer home to plan their next move. Donny discovers the reopening of the portal will be directly over Winters Tower, and they plan how they can stop Winters. Splinter calls Leo asideand tells him that his team is not complete, and that he knows what he must do. The Stone Generals meet without Winters and figure out that Winters is planning to betray them. They decide to substitute a different beast for the 13th beast, to prevent Winters from sending the beasts back and ending their curse (and their immortality). While out looking for Raph, Leo encounters Nightwatcher. Leo tells him to step down and stop acting as a vigilante, but instead the two end up fighting. Leo wins, knocking Nightwatcher's helmet off and revealing Raph. Raph unloads all his anger at Leo, challenging him to duel as ninjas. Raph defeats Leo, snapping Leo's swords off and pinning him down. Raph, horrified at having beaten his own brother, suddenly stops and runs away. The Stone Generals, meanwhile, capture Leo and decide to use him to trick Winters.

Raphreturns to Master Splinter in an agitated state and hands Splinter Leo's broken swords. He tells Splinter that Leo was captured, and decides to lead the team to rescue Leo. Splinter and the Turtles get April and Casey to join them, and they decide to confront Winters. After defeating Karaiand the Foot, the Turtles encounter Winters insidehis tower. They are too late, and the Stone Generals have betrayed Winters and attempted to kill him. Winters revives, and explains to April and the Turtles that he wants to return the beasts and end his immortality. The Stone Generals confront them all and offer the Turtles and Foot a deal - betray Winters and join them and be spared their wrath. They all refuse, and the Foot with April and Casey go off to find the real 13th monster as the Turtles, Splinter, and Winters engage the Stone Generals in combat. The Turtles repel the Generals and send them into the now open portal, but the Generals return. Finally April, Casey, and Karaicrash the Turtles party van into the tower withthe last monster behind them. The monster loses its footing and slams into the generals, sending them all into the portal with it. The portal explodes and closes, leaving Winters once again mortal. Winters begins to laugh as he slowly and peacefully dies, transforming into glittery particles of air.

As the Turtles regroup, Karai and the Foot tell them to enjoy the victory while it lasts, as they will soon have business with an old enemy (implying the return of The Shredder). With that, the Foot leave and the Turtles return home. Raph retires his Nightwatcher persona, and adds his helmet to Splinter's trophy case. The movie ends with the Turtles once again patrolling New York and fighting crime.

REVIEW:

Along withTransformers, Go Bots, G.I. Joe, and He-Man, I grew up with the turtles, so you can imagine I expected a lot from this movie. I was not disappointed.

I like that they didn't try to reboot the franchise or go back and tell the origin (except for a slight mention during Laurence Fishbourne's beginning oration). I love the plot. It was good to not see Shredder as the villain, but if there is a sequel, he needs to come back.

I may be a little biased since Donatello is my favorite, but it seemed as if this was all about Leonardo and Raphael. Everyone else took a back seat to them. Sarah Michelle Gellar seems a bit wasted as April, though.

Old school turtle fans will not be disappointed with this movie, unless they're expecting to see the turtles eating some kind of funky toppings on their pizza and April as a reporter. Non turtle fans will enjoy the breathtaking animation.

4 out of 5 stars

Como se chama o filho do Leonardo DiCaprio?

Caprisone!

caracteres: 54

por: André

enviado: tavjo

At 1.6 meters (5' 2 -1/2") the show jumping fences at the Olympics looked enormous to me. It's hard to imagine the multiple jumping efforts required of these horses over the days of competition.

However, when only a single jump is required, there are some horses that can jump significantly higher. People started keeping track of height records in the early 1900s when high jumping was a popular class. The records that were set for this feat are old ones, but they still stand.

One of the first to achieve fame was Heatherbloom, a Canadian TB foaled in 1895 and owned by Howard Willets of White Plains, NY and ridden by Dick Donnelly.

Although he was only 16 hands, Heatherbloom was an outstanding jumper. His "official" horse show high jump record was 7'10 1/2", made at Richmond, Virginia. Unofficially he jumped even higher: once in 1902, he cleared 8'2" for a Harper's Weekly photo. Another time he cleared 8'3" at Willets' farm.

Heatherbloom was so famous in his time that Barnum & Bailey offered $25,000 for him. Willets turned them down. Challenging Heatherbloom for the record is Freddy Wattech Jr., who jumped his horse, King's Own, 8'3-1/2". Once again, the record is unofficial, as it did not take place at a sanctioned event. However, it was witnessed by 25 people, including a photographer. The horse cleared the fence with room to spare.  

Wattech came from a well-known horse family and was particularly enamored of the high jump. His father bought King's Own, an Irish bred, as a polo prospect, but it soon became obvious that the horse's true talents lay as a jumper. It's hard to imagine riding at that fence and having even the slightest belief that your horse would consider jumping it! The air time over a fence that high is obviously substantial as Mr. Wettach has time to look back and consider the effort.  

The "Official" World Record Holder is Captain Alberton Larraguibel Morales, who jumped Huaso 8' 1-1/4".

Huaso was a Chilean TB that started life as a racehorse. After he retired, he went to the Chilean Cavalry School where he was trained by Cavalry Officer Major Rafael Monti, who had several horses in training in hopes of setting a new record.

In February, 1949 there was a jump off held for the two most promising of the horses: Huaso (then called Faithful) and Chileno on the show grounds of Vina Del Mar, Chile.

Each horse had three tries at the fence. Chileno crashed through the fence, fell and retired. Huaso refused the first time (who can blame him). The second time he jumped, but knocked the rail. And the third time, s turn at the gigantic 2.47m fence came next. On his first try, he refused. On his second, he jumped, but knocked the rail off with his belly; the third try was the charm and he cleared the fence.

A movie of the jump exists, and it's an amazing sight.

The high jump is no longer an attraction at shows; the closest thing is the Puissance class, where for the last rounds only two fences are included -- a warm up and the great wall. The current record for the puissance is held by German rider Franke Sloothaak, who jumped (a mere) 7' 10" on Leonardo.

“Body of Lies”

Now, we don’t know about you, but the idea of Leonardo DiCaprio as a journalist hired by the CIA to traipse around Jordan looking for an Al-Qaeda leader is pretty darn awesome. Coupled with the fact you’ve got Russell Crowe as his boss and Ridley Scott directing, we’d say we’re onto a winner – A classic Vicky and Dre kinda film.

It’s been like two years since any new Leo, and following his stunning performances in “The Departed” and “Blood Diamond”, we expect nothing but good things when it comes to “Body of Lies”.

En el famoso cuento de Borges “El Inmortal”, el protagonista Flamino Rufo, se enfrenta a dos laberintos en su búsqueda de la ciudad de los Inmortales. El primer laberinto está formado por oscuras y enormes salas circulares que tienen nueve puertas, de las cuales ocho conducen por intrincadas galerías a la misma sala y una sola a través de otro laberinto conduce a una nueva sala virtualmente igual a la anterior. Es la pesadilla del orden. Su resolución exige el empleo minucioso de la razón, la frialdad matemática, no rendirse a la locura y recorrer pormenorizadamente las galerías, sin atajos, hasta dar con la salida. Pero una vez hallada, Flamino se encuentra con el segundo laberinto: la propia ciudad de los Inmortales. Este laberinto apenas puede ser aprehendido por una enumeración caótica y adjetivos del tipo “increíble”, “antiquísimo”, “inextricable”, “interminable”, “atroz” y “complejamente insensato”. Su descripción escapa a las posibilidades del lenguaje humano. El primer laberinto había sido construido por los hombres para nublar la razón, éste había sido construido por dioses, sin finalidad alguna, sin dejar una posibilidad a la comprensión.

“Yo había cruzado un laberinto, pero la nítida ciudad de los Inmortales me atemorizó y repugnó. Un laberinto es una casa labrada para confundir a los hombres; su arquitectura, pródiga en simetrías, está subordinada a ese fin. En el palacio que imperfectamente exploré, la arquitectura carecía de fin” (1996, 537).

El primer laberinto es la razón, la casa de lo humano; el segundo es el mundo, la vasta naturaleza exterior. A través del primero alcanzamos el segundo, pero solo para comprobar que su aprehensión escapa del todo a nuestras posibilidades. La culminación del primer laberinto nos conduciría a la verdad; el ideal, en términos humanos, del segundo tiene que ser la belleza.

El arte, con toda su transcendencia antropológica que lo liga al origen de las religiones, ha sido siempre el encargado de explorar el mundo exterior en busca de la belleza: la ciudad de los Inmortales. La ciencia, mucho más moderna, se ha encargado de construir y recorrer el primer laberinto. Pero no olvidemos que solo a través de este primer laberinto podemos llegar al segundo con seguridad. Solo fatigando las galerías del primero arribamos a la nítida incomprensión del segundo. No en vano hay una métrica en poesía. Los propios relatos de Borges son arquitecturas científicamente diseñadas para producir efectos, aunque a veces, esos efectos vengan derivados de la obscena demostración de los límites de la ciencia.
Los practicantes y hermeneutas del arte se han distribuido tradicionalmente en corrientes falsamente opuestas entre aquellos que legitiman la ciencia, con su búsqueda de la verdad como medio para comprender la belleza y aquellos para quienes la belleza no halla explicación haciendo uso de la ciencia. Es un debate magistralmente ilustrado por Pierre Bourdieu en el prólogo a su libro significativamente titulado Las reglas del arte (1995, 9-15). Pero mientras no haya un Inmortal que comprenda el lenguaje divino, el común de los hombres no podrá eludir ese primer laberinto que conduce con torpeza al exterior. En Microsiervos dicen que Albert Einstein dijo:

Toda nuestra Ciencia, medida comparándola con la realidad, es primitiva e infantil, pero por otro lado es lo más preciado que tenemos.

Así, el rechazo de Gadamer a la intrusión del método científico en las humanidades y su reivindicación de la inefabilidad de la obra artística, no impidió que sus teorías (contradictoriamente útiles y conclusivas) pasaran a engrosar el repertorio de conocimientos académicos de la misma institución científica a la que pretendía desautorizar (Bourdieu, 1995, 10). O, por el contrario, Poe, considerado por todos el genio exaltado, el arrebatado traductor de los misteriosos vericuetos del alma humana, expresaba en sus escritos teóricos que la poesía debe avanzar hacia su fin con la precisión y la rigurosa lógica de un problema matemático (Baudelaire, 1988, 108).
Los métodos artísticos y los científicos se contagian, se confunden y se interponen. No hay más que acudir al significado griego de la palabra "tecne" para comprender hasta qué punto las fronteras entre arte y ciencia son difusas.

Muchos artistas han recurrido a la investigación científica para perfeccionar sus técnicas artísticas de producción de belleza. Es el caso de Leonardo Da Vinci, por ejemplo. Pero aquí nos van a interesar otro tipo de experiencias artísticas: aquellas que a través del arte reproducen la satisfacción del conocimiento que produce la investigación científica. Es el caso de Góngora y la corriente culterana de la España del siglo XVII. Los poemas de Góngora deben ser estudiados pormenorizadamente mediante un proceso de investigación y aplicación de conocimientos en distintas áreas del saber para llegar a ser decodificados, comprendidos y por fin disfrutados. Es un proceso parejo, mal que le pese a Borges con su pretendido antigongorismo, al que utiliza la novela policiaca para acaparar la atención del lector, quien se ve desafiado a resolver el enigma a través de una investigación. Al fin y al cabo, el arte de la modernidad, heredero del positivismo decimonónico, no ha cejado de abundar en este tipo de “estética del conocimiento” o “de la investigación”. ¿Acaso no requiere de un estudio minucioso y del orden de lo académico, la comprensión de la obra de Breton, Lorca, Joyce o Cesar Vallejo? ¿Es acaso accesible el arte de Kandinsky, Malevich, o Duchamp sin una reflexión intelectual profunda? Algo del orden de la satisfacción del conocimiento racional estaba contagiando las fórmulas naturales de la belleza. No en vano fueron los modernistas quienes revaloraron la figura de Luis de Góngora.

Pero si el arte de la modernidad utilizó la ciencia como aval de su verosimilitud (novela policiaca, ciencia ficción dura), o como modelo de prestigio y justificación a su originalidad (intensa producción teórica en torno a los movimientos vanguardistas), hoy en día es la ciencia, en muchas ocasiones, epígono del arte. La tan aclamada caída de los Grandes Relatos, la aporía deconstruccionista de Derrida, la revelación del gran simulacro de Baudrillard... han producido una suerte de “desencanto” weberiano de la ciencia, la cual, consciente de sus limitaciones, no se arroga en exclusiva la capacidad de búsqueda de la verdad, pero tampoco renuncia a la posibilidad de explorar la belleza . Jaime Alejandro Rodríguez, en su libro-Web Literatura, Posmodernidad y otras yerbas, lo expresa de la siguiente manera:

"(...) las operaciones del saber científico no son más que derivaciones o subconjuntos de esa gran operación del arte que es la ficción (así, por ejemplo toda proposición individual innovante o toda hipótesis del tipo ¿y si...?, estarían revelando el carácter esencialmente ficticio del saber científico y/o filosófico, en cuanto "anticipan" una realidad o una estructura). Construir una hipótesis científica, incluso verificarla, sería ejecutar un ejercicio de ficción, proponer un artificio, y la verdad científica se reduciría a un caso más de verosimilitud del lenguaje "(Rodríguez, 2000).

Una cláusula indispensable a todo texto que haya evidenciado el cambio paradigmático de la modernidad, desde Barthes a Jameson y Bauman es la de que, en la contemporánea práctica cultural, toda representación se vuelve altamente “meta-signica” al incorporar la reflexión sobre sí misma y su propia naturaleza. Y en el ámbito de la literatura, en plena época de transición hacia nuevos tipos de textualidades, esta reflexión se vuelve sobre su propia materialidad, en busca de los nuevos cauces tecnológicos por los que fluir en el futuro.
En los albores del nuevo milenio, el magma todavía informe de lo digital está afectando profundamente a las maneras en que nos relacionamos con y a través del texto, al tiempo que las condiciones epistemológicas actuales favorecen la participación activa del artista en esta reconfiguración técnica de los modos textuales y quizás literarios. Hoy no está sólo en manos de los científicos, sino también de los artistas, el ensayar y errar, construir y experimentar con las nuevas posibilidades abiertas a la experiencia productora y receptora del signo lingüístico por las nuevas tecnologías. Pero, incongruentemente, la institución arte y especialmente el circuito académico-editorial-comercial literario (de manera más flagrante en Europa que en Estados Unidos), ofrece una incomprensible resistencia a asumir y gestionar esta situación. No se aviene a aceptar la reestructuración que la nueva era de la globalización, del consumo y del informacionalismo ha generado en la industria de la cultura (Oleza, Joan 2007, 15).

En cambio, aquí nos hemos centrado en la obra de dos artistas: Antonio Muntadas y Jaime Alejandro Rodríguez Ruiz, que se han lanzado a la imperfecta exploración de esta disciplina sin tradición que es el arte digital. Un arte (contrariamente a lo que pudiera parecer por el apelativo digital con el que lo denominamos) cuya cualidad principal no es la de constituir un medio específico, sino la de romper con la caduca era de la información de sentido único y abrir paso a una nueva fase de interacción (Castells 1996, I 415-416). En el descubrimiento de estos autores hemos sentido la satisfacción culterana, no del ego en forma de confirmación de nuestra propia sabiduría, sino del ansia de saber y ampliar conocimientos del mundo real.

Hemos querido dar cuenta de dos obras y dos artistas que, al margen de la corriente generalizada de autores afiliados a sociedades generales, han apostado por construir y recorrer su propio laberinto tecnológico encaminado a encumbrar o, cuanto menos divisar, ese otro laberinto que es la belleza artística. Se trata por supuesto de proyectos inacabados, del mismo modo que nos encontramos en un proceso inacabado de implantación digital. Alguien se aprestará a advertir que sus propuestas son imperfectas, que son transitorias, que carecen del aval y el rigor de lo canónico; no serán nuestros autores quienes nieguen estas crudas y veraces observaciones. Al fin y al cabo, es en esa misma reflexión sobre la incapacidad que se desarrolla la totalidad del paradigma cultural contemporáneo.

Kazuya Akimoto Art Museum

named and added to gallery #11,2008  at Kazuya Akimoto Art Museum

"The Abstract Holy Grail"

acrylics 21"x18"

lisited in New Paintings  2008

Today's Keyword

within Museum paintings

"holy, sacred "

latest contents: "holy, sacred "

]]> http://finickypenguin.wordpress.com/?p=996 Sat, 23 Aug 2008 13:28:31 +0000 Finicky Penguin http://finickypenguin.wordpress.com/?p=996

Thanks.

For more paintings, click here.

Starting Monday, posts will typically be made in the afternoon.

Why did I do such a thing? (the operation could trash my whole “masterpiece”...)

Well, for one thing, it will give my painting UNITY, a quality old masters paintings usually has... The yellow layers would “melt” down colors stringencies, and would give me the final opportunity to finely “tune” the color contrasts and the value contrasts... We'll see if I am or not (probably not yet...) a “master”...

We know that this isn't superflyingly funny but heyyy whatever! :D

Leonardo di Caprio è l'attore ideale per impersonare Lenin. Non ha dubbi il regista russo Alexander Borojanski, che sta lavorando a una commedia dal titolo ''Lenin's Brain'', ''Il cervello di Lenin''. Confrontando le foto di Di Caprio con quelle del leader della rivoluzione bolscevica da giovane la somiglianza è lampante. Il film, che avrà un budget gigantesco per il cinema russo, circa 20 milioni di dollari, racconta la storia di un clone di Lenin che porterà la rivoluzione bolscevica in America.

Repubblica

I publish this mostly to OBLIGE myself to finish it. Also, because it could be a testimony of the creative phases, a thing I did sometimes (photographing the "brut" variant of a painting, the successive variants...)

And it could be also the ONLY thing that will remain from this project (since I'm a lazy bum)...

[caption id="attachment_36" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="Não parece a capa do disco "Década Explosiva"?"][/caption]

16º Too much heaven (The Bee Gees): Mais um petardo dos irmãos Gibb! Aqueles falsetes inconfundíveis em uma canção única!

17º Without you (Nilsson): A música é dos membros do Badfinger, Pete Ham e Tom Evans, e foi gravada pela banda em 1970. Não fez sucesso algum. Um ano depois, Harry Nilsson gravou a canção e estourou nas paradas. Fez muito sucesso ainda com Air Supply e Mariah Carey. Segundo a letra, o narrador não pode viver sem o seu ser amado. Ironicamente os autores cometeram suicídio tempos após o estouro da música. Mas não foi por causa do seu sucesso...

18º All out of love (Air Supply): Graham Russell e Russell Hitchcock, o duo Air Supply, é outra fábrica de sucessos românticos. Seu "the best of" é realmente the best...

19º I can wait forever (Air Supply): Mais Air Supply: "eu posso esperar para sempre..." O amor é paciente, não é?

20º Love hurts (Nazareth): De longe o maior sucesso da banda escocesa de hard rock Nazareth. É a regravação de um sucesso dos Everly Brothers. Até hoje toca nas rádios e eternizou a voz rascante de Dan McCafferty, um dos grandes vocalistas do rock setentista. Pura dor de cotovelo amplificada pela guitarra econômica de Manny Charlton.

21º Never my love (Fifth Dimension): uma das mais belas canções de amor de todos os tempos. Simples, mas profunda. Coisa que não se faz mais hoje em dia. Fez sucesso também com o grupo The Association.

22º I need you (America): Houve um tempo em que a melodia era valorizada na música popular. Era o tempo do folk rock. O trio America, formado por Dewey Bunnell, Gerry Beckley e Dan Peek, fazia imenso sucesso com suas canções. O America vendeu milhões de discos e ainda hoje, reduzido a Beckley e Bunnell, tem um público fiel.

23º My love (Paul McCartney & Wings): Grande sucesso da carreira solo do grande Macca e sua banda. Mais uma canção de amor que o Macca fez para a sua esposa Linda, numa relação que só terminou com a morte desta. Depois ele se casou de novo, mas se arrependeu da brincadeira...

24º Wonderful tonight (Eric Clapton): Essa é uma canção para quem acha que a namorada/esposa demora a se vestir, ao se preparar para uma festa. E, em tempos de "lei seca", a música fala dos cuidados que uma mulher tem com o seu amado, que encheu demais o caneco. Bela canção, destruída posteriormente por uma versão fuleira do cantor Leonardo...

25º Me and Mrs. Jones (Billy Paul): É o relato de um adultério. Mas que relato! A senhora Jones é a amante... Belíssima e premiada canção de Gamble & Huff.

(continua...)