26th Sept 2011 Are You Bored With Malick?

No doubt most of us are familiar with Terrence Malick, the famous film maker. The kind that you either greatly admire or hate. His brand new film 'The tree of life' is being shown in Barcelona cinemas Full HD ACDC of Cornella, starred Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. On the night of the première over the weekend, there's a large bill-board placed by the door, announcing something never heard of (as far as I know), a rather strange and innovative offer, that 'if anyone hates Malick and finds the film boring, please leave the cinema within 30 minutes, and a free entrance ticket to any film of his choice would be given'.

 

It's a long film of 141 minutes, some feel that even if you do like the film, some might find it trying to sit through a serious drama for near 2 and half hours. Apparently about 10% of audience did leave, but not within 30 minutes during that first night. Not easy and not really fair anyway to judge a film of being very good or bad in the first 30 minutes I feel. It happened in Cannes Film Festival too, winning Golden Palm Award between enthusiastic applause and loud boos. It's the tree of discord.

 

As we know, nothing, however good or bad, can please everybody. There are also people who cheer and say they love it because others seem to, and the type who dislike it but don't want to admit it, for fear of being thought too shallow or uncultivated to understand anything more than comedies and cartoons.

 

Tags: terrencemalick

Prev: 25th Sept 2011 Wisdom & Observations

25th Sept 2011 Wisdom & Observations

• I had the blues because I had no shoes until upon the street, I met a man who had no feet. - Ancient Persian Saying
• Fate chooses our relatives, we choose our friends.Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after.
• A thing is not vulgar merely because it is common.
• If you have it (Love), you don't need to have anything else, and if you don't have it, it doesn't matter much what else you have.
• Never walk away from failure. On the contrary, study it carefully and imaginatively for its hidden assets.
• Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.
• Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build A bridge even where there is no river.
• Sometimes it's not what you do that matters, but what others think you are capable of.
• Human beings are the only creatures on earth that allow their children to come back home. - Bill Crosby
• A diplomat is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you actually look forward to the trip.
• More company increases happiness, but does not lighten or diminish misery.
• Oh what lies lurk in kisses!
• The fellow that agrees with everything you say is either a fool or he is getting ready to skin you.
• The first and worst of all frauds is to cheat oneself.

 

Tags: wisdom, observations

Prev: 23rd Sept 2011 Wisdom & Observations

23rd Sept 2011 Wisdom & Observations

We aim above the mark to hit the mark.

I wish I could be half as sure of anything as some people are of everything.

The happiness of most people we know is not ruined by great catastrophes or fatal errors, but by the repetition of slowly destructive little things.

The influential man is the successful man, whether he be rich or poor.

Laws and institutions, like clocks, must occasionally be cleaned, wound up, and set to true time.

Debt is the worst poverty.

Charity sees the need, not the cause. ~ German proverb

Have patience. All things are difficult before they become easy.

The only difference between a caprice and a life-long passion is that the caprice lasts a little longer. ~ Oscar Wilde

Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination.

The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine.

A throne is only a bench covered with velvet.

 

Tags: wisdom, observations

Prev: 22nd Sept 2011 Conspiring Against Oblivion - My Fiction Story

22nd Sept 2011 Conspiring Against Oblivion - My Fiction Story

"First you cut the onion in large pieces," she dictates and he writes it down in a notebook ... She says everything in a neutral tone; he writes in big, clear lettering. Both try to tint the situation of normality.

 

"While the onion pieces are being fried, burn the little feathers off the chicken on the flame ... " she pauses slightly. He continues to note down every word she pronounces and he pauses a little too, choked by sadness. "You add the chicken pieces, fry them on all sides till lightly brown, pour on the beer, and let it cook slowly on gentle fire ... "She paused again, this time for a long while.

 

"For how long?" he asked. She shrugged her shoulders seemingly irritated. "That's it. It's done", she answered impatiently. The husband obeyed, but thought: "No, not yet surely."

 

There's not the slightest emotion in the kitchen, just like other days recently when they did dictation and jolting down notes. No expression at all on her face and he, just sadness and resignation. There's no more discussions, confessions, not even occasional arguments like before; nothing at all accompanying this much loved dish she had been cooking for her family for 30 years. Around them used to be children who had since stopped being children - now they claim this favourite dish when they come round with the grandchildren to visit on Sundays. But no more toasting at the meal table, nor cheerful, lengthy and lazy chitchats after the meal either; even the children had been warned not to run around making too much noise, so now they behave as if they were being punished for having done nothing to deserve it; quiet, and bored.

 

The doctors had said Alzheimer develops slowly, but steadily, and she had decided, while still able to think more or less logically, to make an inventory of her life. He helps putting down all she wants to say, writing, noting, reminding if she falters a bit, quietly and inwardly crying. He sought often to understand and interpret her looks into words to record her true and inner thoughts, but finding it harder and harder each day ... He is himself lost.

 

Tags: fictionstory, alzheimer

Prev: 21st Sept 2011 Alzheimer Is Our Responsibility

21st Sept 2011 Alzheimer Is Our Responsibility

The figures are certainly alarming. Within 20 years the number of people affected by the Alzheimer disease in Spain will increase from 900,000 to 1.5 million, and exceeds 60 million in the planet. On this the World Day of Alzheimer awareness, the medical advances, still insufficient, in the precocious diagnose and prolongation of the expectation of life. Medical science help us to live longer, but no guarantee against Alzheimer. We are facing the fast advancing magnitude of an epidemic, that devastates not only the minds of the so affected, but the heart and soul of their families.

 

"We have a system of social protection that we can not permit" is the new motto, under which, in the era of global economic spasm and cut-backs on social and health service especially everywhere; some seem interested in dismembering - who knows, so as to privatize later(?) - the State of wellbeing which all of us have constructed. The trend now is to taunt and sneer at that socialist government, together with the left wing Parliament, recognised as universal right the attention to people with dependency, like those debilitated in mind and body by Alzheimer, hugely forgotten or ignored by all public administrations.

 

It's true that the estimation of the law of dependency was badly calculated in times of bonanza, but not for that any government, left or right, should be legitimated to back and help such a tragedy that affects hundreds of thousands of families. Mentally we keep our fingers crossed that the misfortune wouldn't happen to our loved ones (let others have it!), but palliate the effects suffered by the sick is the responsibility of all of us.

 

Instead of cutting expenses here, there and everywhere, it's time we decide what kind of State of wellbeing we want and how willing we are to finance it. Ignoring the issue doesn't make it go away. It will continue it's course. It's senseless to forget the future.

 

Tags: responsibility, alzheimer

Prev: 21st Sept 2011 About Mother-In-Laws

21st Sept 2011 About Mother-In-Laws

** My mother-in-law is banned internationally from playing poker, as she keeps all the chips on her shoulder.

** Adam and Eve were the happiest, and the luckiest, couple in the world, because neither of them had a mother-in-law.

** What is the difference between outlaws and in-laws? Outlaws are Wanted.

** Fred and Rick were in a pub. Fred says to his mate, 'My mother-in-law is an angel.'

Rick replies, 'You're lucky. Mine is still alive.'

** Harry was travelling down a country road in his native Yorkshire, England when he saw a large group of people outside a farmhouse.

It was a cold January afternoon, so he stopped and asked Farmer Giles why such a large crowd of men was gathered there.

The farmer replied, 'Eddie's donkey kicked his mother-in-law and she died.'

'Well,' replied the man, 'She must have had a lot of friends.'

'Nope,' said Giles.' We all just want to buy his donkey.'

** in a restaurant:

She: This wine is described as full bodied and imposing with a nutty base, a sharp bite, and a bitter aftertaste.

He: Are you describing the wine or your mother?

** Newlywed Surprise

The newlywed wife, Monica, said to her husband , Nick, when he returned from work, 'I have great news for you. Pretty soon we're going to be three in this house instead of two.'

Nick started glowing with happiness and kissing Monica purred, 'Oh darling, I'm the happiest man in the world.'

Monica smiled and added, 'I'm glad that you feel that way, Nick, because tomorrow morning my mother moves in with us.'

Tags: motherinlaws

Prev: 20th Sept 2011 The Thief And The Parrot

20th Sept 2011 The Thief And The Parrot

Late one night, a burglar broke into a house that he thought was empty. He stealthily crept through the lounge and was stopped dead in his tracks when he heard a loud voice clearly saying, "Jesus is watching you!"

 

Silence returned to the house, so the burglar crept forward again.

"Jesus is watching you," the voice rang out again.The thief stopped dead again. He was frightened out of his wits. Frantically, he looked all around. In a dark corner, he spotted a bird-cage and in the cage was a parrot.

He asked the parrot,

 

"Was that you who said Jesus is watching me?"
"Yes," said the parrot.

The burglar breathed a heavy sigh of relief and asked the parrot: "What's your name?"

"Moses," said the bird.

 

"That's a stupid name for a parrot," sneered the burglar. "What idiot named you Moses?"

The parrot said, "The same idiot who named the rottweiller Jesus."

 

Tags: moses, jesus

Prev: 19th Sept 2011 Facts - Funny Or Not Commonly Known 2

19th Sept 2011 Facts - Funny Or Not Commonly Known

• If you are an average American, in your whole life, you will spend an average of 6 months waiting at red lights.
• It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
• Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.
• Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.
• Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.
• Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
• The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.
• The cruise liner, QE2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.
• The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
• The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely solid.
• There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
• There are more chickens than people in the world.
• Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
• Now you know everything - Almost.

 

Tags: funnyfacts

Prev: 19th Sept 2011 What Do You Get If ...?

19th Sept 2011 What Do You Get If ...?

What do you get if ~

** What do you get if you cross a chicken with a cement mixer?
A brick layer!

** What do you get if you cross an elephant and a kangaroo?
Big holes all over Australia!

** What do you get if you cross an insect with the Easter rabbit?
Bugs Bunny.

** What do you get when you cross poison ivy with a 4-leaf clover?
A rash of good luck.

 

Pay Rise ~

One Wednesday Martin demanded of his boss,

"I must have a pay rise. You should realise there are three other companies after me."

"Really?" replied Martin's boss, "And who might these companies be?"

"Southern Electricity, British Gas and British Telecom," answered Martin.

Tags: payrise, if

Prev: 18th Sept 2011 The Blind Sees; The Cripple Dances ...

18th Sept 2011 The Blind Sees; The Cripple Dances

People are often surprised, even amazed (me included, sometimes) how some totally blind people manage not just getting around their home ground, attending to their daily and personal needs, but can work efficiently in many professions. One guy here is the director of a photographic company and in the varied fields of photography and graphic design!

We, the sighted, forget that being blind doesn't mean they don't have visual concepts, especially those who lost their sight some way along their life, after they had already seen quite a bit of the world and life. They had conserved the images in their 'mind's eye' so to speak, and ideas and out of their head have shapes, forms and colours.

 

I know a man, well I don't actually know him, but have been seeing him for more than 5 years in the same night club where I regularly go dancing. He is rather short, has only one leg, no artificial one either, just a stick, but he often has very tall and pretty dance-partners; because he's a fabulous dancer. Waltz, Tango, Pasodouble, Rumba ... nothing defeats him. Not just managing the steps, but the more important part, the style! I once said to my dance-partner I wished he was mine, and that didn't go very well with my companion!

 

Do you bogs out there know this, that if you are a good dancer, you always, always get all the prettiest girls? 

 

Tags: blind, cripple

Prev: 18th Sept 2011 Why Didn't No One Tell Me This Before?

18th Sept 2011 Why Didn't No One Tell Me This Before?

Hey, why didn't anyone tell me this before? I should have figured it out sooner. It's the sampoo I use in the shower. When I wash my hair, It runs down all over my whole body.

Printed very clearly on the shampoo label it reads, "FOR EXTRA VOLUME AND BODY."

I have gotten rid of the shampoo and I am going to start using Dawn Dish detergent.

It's label reads, "DISSOLVES FAT THAT IS OTHERWISE DIFFICULT TO REMOVE."

Problem solved!

Geeze! It sure pays to read the label!

Tags: detergent, shampoo

Prev: 18th Sept 2011 Why Didn't Np

18th Sept 2011 Thought Provoking Quotes

• If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
• Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth. - Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C.)
• I don't know if there are men on the moon, but if there are they must be using the earth as their lunatic asylum - George Bernard Shaw
• See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence...we need silence to be able to touch souls. - Mother Theresa
• Man is now able to soar into outer space and reach up to the moon; but he is not moral enough to live at peace with his neighbour! - Sri Sathya Sai Baba
• Reach for the moon, because even if you don't make it you'll land among the stars. - William Cullen Bryant
• There is more to life than simply increasing its speed. - Mahatma Gandhi
• Never play cards with a man called Doc. Never eat at a place called Mom's. Never sleep with a woman whose troubles are worse than your own. - Nelson Algren

 

Tags: quotes, provoking

Prev: 17th Sept 2011 Listen To The Experts ...

17th Sept 2011 Listen To The Experts ...

Good advice from a top psychologist ~

Dr. Neil proclaimed the way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started.

So I looked around my house to see things I started and hadn't finished; and, before leaving the house this morning, I finished off a bottle of Pinot Noir, a bottle of Chardonnay, a bottle of Baileys, a bottle of Kaluha, a packet of Penguins, the remainder of bottle of Prozac, Valium prescriptions, the rest of the Cheesecake, and a box of chocolates.

You have no idea how good I feel.

 

According to biological scientists ~

At a weekend convention of biological scientists, Hannah, a researcher remarks to another in a different laboratory, 'Did you know that in our lab we have switched from mice to lawyers for our experiments?'

'Really? Why did you switch? the other inquired.

'Well, for two reasons. First we found that lawyers are far more plentiful, and second, the lab assistants don't get so attached to them,' chortled Hannah.

 

Tags: mice, lawyers, experts

Prev: 17th Sept 2011 Any Arab Sheik Availale?

17th Sept 2011 Any Arab Sheik Available?

The president of the Emirates Arabic United saved, with a €250,000 cheque, the last chacuteria (butcher shop specialised in all varieties of sausages) in a little town north of Paris where the Sheik has one of his residences. The owner of the establishment could not afford the cost of renovation, and was forced to close up his shop after 50 long years.

 

How many Sheiks do we need to save so many businesses in time of the financial crises, obliged to close up for good during the recent difficult years? One only needs to take a stroll in the markets dotted with small shops especially in city suburbs, to see sad scenes of drawn down blinds and closed windows, and notes pasted on the doors informing of 'for rent', 'for sale' or 'closed indefinitely'. Notices of gloom, dismay and impotence. Accumulation of illusions and efforts sealed off behind the sad and grey curtain. Family business with decades of anecdotes like the one started by the grandfather carpenter, then the next generation turned it into a hardware store, with yet one more life as a clothing shop, by 2 young designers who inaugurated with torrents of hopeful dreams. It's now dark and shut tight.

 

The cold and indifferent Venetian blinds is the lock of a labyrinth of longings that didn't materialize, the shattered hope, and the cruel balance sheet of heavy loss. The door hardly ever opens for weeks now, maybe months already. The silence is the outcry of desperation ... with not a Sheik in sight.

 

Tags: crisis, sheik

Prev: 16th Sept 2011 Accident Or Emergency ... You Choose When

16th Sept 2011 Accident Or Emergency ... You Choose When

It was only yesterday I mentioned in one of my Blogs about the worrying general cut-backs happening in several European countries Including Spain. What caused most concern and disquiet are the closing or fewer hours of attention to sanitary and health matters, like the closing of pharmacies, primary health clinics and certain hospitals. It's announced today yet another health centre is closed in Catalunya, making it 56, so far, out of the 185 with 24 hour emergency services.

 

For more than 2 weeks and in several clinics affected, many local folks have been staging silent protests, camping round the medical centres, quiet, orderly, but firm in keeping their posts. The number of people following suit is increasing by the day, so are the number of centres thus 'occupied', some right inside with their mats and sleeping bags, absolutely refuse to go home. The centre in Viladecavalles has been closed for a month, and about 50 towns folks had installed themselves there, turning the ambulatory into a culture centre with make-shift beds.

 

So, if you 'must' have an accident or sudden pain or attacks on some parts of your body, first make sure it's not night time - nobody at all would see to you. You need to wait till 8am, the habitual opening hour. And, not at all on Saturdays and Sundays - no services of any kind in some of them, emergency or not! Meanwhile, try not to bleed to death. Best of all, try to have accidents or emergencies only on the specified days and hours.

 

Tags: accidents, emergencies

Prev: 16th Sept 2011 The One In A Brillon Shot

16th Sept 2011 The One In A Billion Shot

The following photo was taken at the entrance to Katlian Bay at the end of the road in Sitka, Alaska ... 

The whale is coming up to scoop up a mouthful of herring ... (the small fish seen at the surface around the kayak). The kayaker is a local Sitka Dentist. He apparently didn't sustain any injuries from the terrifying experience. The whale was just around the corner from the ferry terminal, and all the kayaker could think at that moment in time was: "Paddle Man - really fast!"

The whale's mouth is fully open with the bottom half

under the boat. If the whale had closed his mouth

before he furiously paddled away -

He might have been LUNCH!!!

Look at the picture again - He is in the whale’s MOUTH!

Tags: man, whale

Prev: 16th Sept 2011 Bless The British

16th Sept 2011 Bless The British

A big earthquake with the strength of 8.1 on the Richter scale has hit Pakistan. Two million Pakistanis have died and over a million are injured. The country is totally ruined and the government doesn't know where to start with providing help to rebuild. The rest of the world is in shock.

 
The USA is sending troops to help.

Saudi Arabia is sending oil.

Latin American countries are sending supplies.

New Zealand is sending sheep, cattle and food crops.

The Asian continents are sending labour to assist in rebuilding infrastructure.

Australia is sending medical teams and supplies.

Britain, not to be outdone, is sending two million replacement Pakistanis.

God Bless British generosity.

Tags: british

Prev: 16th Sept 2011 The Y Generation

16th Sept 2011 The Y Generation

People born before 1946 were called The Silent generation...

- People born between 1946 and 1964 are called The Baby Boomers.

- People born between 1965 and 1979 are called Generation X, .
- And people born between 1980 and 2010 are called Generation Y ,
Why do we call the last group Generation Y?

Y should I get a job?

Y should I leave home and find my own place?

Y should I get a car when I can borrow yours?

Y should I clean my room?

Y should I wash and iron my own clothes?

Y should I buy and cook any food?

A cartoonist explained it very eloquently below... 

Tags: y-generation

Prev: 16th Sept 2011 Giggles - The Drunk & The Blonde

16th Sept 2011 Giggles - The Drunk & The Blonde

The Early Morning Drunk ~

Rodney and wife Wilma are awakened at 3 o'clock early one Saturday morning by a loud pounding on the door. Rodney gets up and goes to the door where he sees a drunken stranger, standing in the pouring rain.

"Give us a push" says the swaying stranger.

"Not a chance," says Rodney, "It is three o'clock in the morning." He slams the door and returns to bed.

"Who was that?" asked his wife.

"Just some drunk guy asking for a push," he answers.

"Did you help him?" Wilma asks.

"No. I did not. It is three o'clock in the morning and it is pouring with rain outside."

His wife said, "Don't you remember about three months ago when we broke down and those two guys helped us? I think you should help him, and you should be ashamed of yourself."

Rodney does as he is told, gets dressed and goes out into the pouring rain. He calls out into the dark, "Hello! Are you still there?"

"Yes," comes back the answer.

"Do you still need a push?" calls out Rodney.

"Yes. Please." comes the reply from the darkness.

"Where are you?" asks Rodney.

"Over here on the swing," replies the drunk.

The Determined Blonde ~

A young blonde was on vacation in the depths of Louisiana. She wanted a pair of genuine alligator shoes in the worst way, but was very reluctant to pay the high prices the local vendors were asking.

After becoming very frustrated with the "no haggle" attitude of one of the shopkeepers, the blonde shouted, "Maybe I'll just go out and catch my own alligator so I can get a pair of shoes at a reasonable price!" The shopkeeper said, "By all means, be my guest. Maybe you'll luck out and catch yourself a big one!"

Determined, the blonde turned and headed for the swamps, set on catching herself an alligator.

Later in the day, the shopkeeper is driving home, when he spots the young woman standing waist deep in the water, shotgun in hand. Just then, he sees a huge 9 foot alligator swimming quickly toward her.

She takes aim, kills the creature and with a great deal of effort hauls it on to the swamp bank. Laying nearby were several more of the dead creatures. The shopkeeper watches in amazement. Just then the blonde flips the alligator on it's back, and frustrated, shouts out, "Damn it, this one isn't wearing any shoes either!"

Tags: swing, crocodileshoes

Prev: 15th Sept 2011 Wanted - Virgins

15th Sept 2011 Wanted - Virgins

There's a message running like wild fire the last few days in Twitter, recruiting virgins to offer themselves as sacrifice to the market!! After the initial impact of a giggle, the smile began to fade and twisted into a sad face of clown. Because, despite centuries of civilization, we can't help but feel hopelessly impotent, ignorant and incapable of foretelling the future, like those in the ancient time who even sacrificed their own daughters to pacify the Gods. (And why always have to be a female and virgin?)

In both cases, it's a matter of a group of humans that, desperate after long periods of disgrace and zero efficiency of petitions and prayers, began to detach and unfasten themselves from their most loved ones, in the belief that the Superior Being - whom nobody had ever seen but some seem to know their tastes for virgins; try to appease, placate and satisfy, so as to rid themselves of the bitterness of life. A lamb here, a virgin there ... Or, like now, in our time of crisis, the labour reform, mass cut-back, closing of schools, those that are open but with one hour less of lecture; some pharmacies and hospitals too as happening in Spain ...

Only the perspectives of history told us how pointless and salvage the sacrifices in the past were. In the same way, only time will prove or condemn the spiral of political and social renounces in which Europe is deeply submerged; with the only usual winners being those magicians of financial wizards, and the intermediaries, taking their profitable turns.

Tags: virgin, europe, sacrifice

Prev: 15th Sept 2011 An Answer For Everything 4

15th Sept 2011 An Answer For Everything 5

** What does a farmer drink?

Cocktails.

** Why is a fishmonger such a mean man?

Because his business makes him sell-fish.

** How do you start a bear race?

Ready, Teddy, Go!

** How do you start a flea race?

One, Two, Flea, Go!

** What bill never needs paying?

A duck's bill.

** What is it that is too much for one, enough for two, and nothing at all for three?

A secret.

** How did the frog die?

He croaked it.

** Who has no control over her pupils?

A cross-eyed teacher.

** What is the best way to make a fire with 2 sticks?

Make sure one of them is a match.

** When is a pie like a poet?

When it's Browning.

** Why do cows wear cowbells?

Because their horns don't work.

** Why must birds in a nest always agree?

To keep from falling out.

** What is a lawyer's favourite pudding?

Sue-it.

** What is the least dangerous kind of robbery?

Safe robbery.

** What is red and white, has 22 legs and 2 wings?

Manchester United.

Tags: 4, a's, q's

Prev: 15th Sept 2011 Strange Facts Of Coincidences About Letters & Words