Ms. Cristina drives a 9.44

These two

gave us this and the song below from the same album yet performed by a different artist in the privacy of his bathroom. Seems right since the song is called "swallowed by the cracks".

Coelho Netto

I have been reading a play by Coelho Netto, being unfamiliar to any of the author's work research was needed beforehand.
So here it is in English and in Portuguese.

Some of his work can be downloaded and/or read in pdf format here.

Dnit ( The neat building)

Think about it

"In this whole world, what is fair?"

Do not know. Until then will take a break from thinking about it.

Go Stevie Winwoodmeister.

The Book of the City of Ladies

Christine de Pizan argues that women have less achievements then men because they are not afforded the same opportunities and also that when it comes to achievements and if women were afforded these same opportunities the results would be different because women differ from men.
The book of the City of Ladies was written in 1405. Perhaps it should be food for thought for mysogonists and feminists of today.

A gender is not inherently inferior nor superior nor the same to another gender nor are all those of the same gender carbon copies of each other.
I can subscribe to that.

He sank beneath your wisdom like a stone (Nina Simone reaches for Cohen)

And she feeds you tea and oranges that come all the way from China.

Oh Lord.

Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, and a moron.

Classic.

Oh well

It was not meant to be. I scored 10 points in this week's Loteca hence 3 points shy of winning some money.
Guess I'll have to tell my boss that he really isn't an enormous a-hole, that I actually love the atmosphere at the office ( what? I said "lovely," did you hear "rotting hell hole", oh funny you) and would appreciate being reinstated.
Only 3 points short of a win and four for the larger portion of the pot, oh man.
On a brighter note I got this one right. Corinthians always chokes, it is a tradition.

The importance of being Laurence

You ruled dude.

Specialty, or not....

Perhaps Mr. Jones is your cup of tea

'Bout time you realised
You are a specialty
There is no one like you
Spend your life worrying
'Bout what you could have been
Can't you like being you

Mummenschanz offers a different view.



I wonder where they got that idea.

A Nation Seen Thru the Eyes of a Lottery Ticket

The Loteca is a lottery. The game consists of 14 soccer matches and the player must select an outcome for each match. He is awarded when getting 13 to 14 predictions right.
The deadline for weekly Lotecas are Saturday's at 2:00 pm. I decided to play this week. If there aren't many winners and if the pot is big enough (the state retains 60% of the pot levying taxes) then come Monday my financial status will have improved greatly. The player can also select more than one outcome for a match, a double ( two possible results) or a triple ( 3 results hence getting that match right). There is a limit to double and triple selections and the price of the coupon goes up accordingly.

Let's look at my prognosis.

Game 1: Here I chose Flamengo over Vasco. Vasco was the first team to open their doors to black players. Soccer in Brazil was a sport for the aristocracy when first introduced, only whites from that class were allowed to play.
Game 2: I'll take Ponte Preta Over Santos. The Peixe (Santos) can no longer qualify for the Paulista finals so I am guessing they will play with a weaker squad and save their best players for their Libertadores matches.
Game 3: Cruzeiro is my pic. Tupi have always got the short end of the stick in Brazil.
Game 4: Will take a draw and Gama ( a double selection here) over Brasiliense. There is a ongoing quarrel between two of Brasileinse's main players. One is accusing the other of taking a friend to their last match who fired racial slurs at him after the team was defeated. This can't be good for morale, or anything else.
Game 5: Vila Nova will beat Crac. I can't endorse a team with a name like that. Just say no kids.
Game 6: Anapolis because I like the name. I think I'll name my daughter Ana if I ever have one.
Game 7: Nautico is stronger.
Game 8: Two teams from Santa Catarina. The best place in Latin America. I will take the underdogs over Florianopolis powerhouse Figuerense.
Game 9: Sergipe.
Game 10: Ipatinga is sponsored by that state's local powerhouse (Cruzeiro of Minas Gerais) and thus has a better team.
Game 11: Palmeiras has a great team and a great coach. It was founded by and represented the Italian immigrant community of Sp but was forced to remove any refrences to Italy because of this.
Game 12: Guaratinguetá is having a great season. This is a no brainer (or so it seems to the uneducated eye) so I will take a double (draw plus Guaratinguetá) and eliminate other players who aren't as clever as I.
Game 13: Paulista here. Bragantino hasn't had a good season for a long time.
Game 14: Never underestimate the ability of Corinthians to screw things up in the end, even when they are having a good season. I will take a double.

There it is. I spent 4 reais (2.33 USD) on the bet.
Wish me luck.

Jennifer Beals was a cutie, which raises the question...

Why do chicks like her

Often end up with guys like him?


Perhaps I should beg the question, but then again...

Sillyness for a silly thing

Virgo
August 23 - September 22
People claim that age is nothing more than a state of mind, making this week's stroke revealing on a couple of different levels.

The Onion putting the horoscope in its proper place.

Punctuation

An English teacher known to be a strong lady, wrote these words on the blackboard: "woman without her man is nothing". She then turned towards the students and asked them to punctuate the words correctly. The boy students wrote: "Woman, without her man, is nothing." The girl students wrote: "Woman! Without her, man is nothing." There you go...

From here.

Speaking of Niemeyer and selling the contradiction

This has always bothered me.
Look at the foundation that supports the weight of the bells outside of the cathedral. I am guessing that the structure is sound but it doesn't look sound, at least not to me. The impression I get is that the foundation is not strong enough to support the transverse piece which in turn holds the bells.
So it was decided to paint it white. Well white enforces a sense of lightness to the whole thing, except, err, the bells.
Oh and how about some upkeeping before a complete renovation is needed.I mean wouldn't it be less expensive, if you want to keep it proper, to waterproof the whole thing and then use appropriate protective paint? Also to my knowledge those bells haven't been used for a long time, probably bats living up there by now.
That is the problem with putting people up on a pedestal to a point that it becomes an insult to scrutinize them. You can't question Niemeyer even if you have to pay for the whole thing including the poor guy who has to clean the bat crap.

Selling the contradiction

I am new to this blogging thing. I am unfamiliar with the protocol. Perhaps I have indulged too far into the world of youtube, of pictures and of songs and my blog so far has been in most part a collection of these. I wouldn't go as far as that famous line from Karma Chameleon ( "I'm a man without conviction, I'm a man who doesn't know how to sell the contradiction...) because I lack Boy George's wisdom , depth and fashion sense plus a few other things, yet I am starting to notice a pattern to the blog which will not be broken today.
A friend once said that most lives are interesting if the beholder has the knack of finding interesting angles to what is happening to him or her. According to this same friend almost everything that happens has an interesting angle to it. Well today I had an unusual chore to do. I swept bat droppings from the floor of a small, decrepit house in the outskirts of Brasilia. A weekend home lets say that needs a lot of refurbishing. I was going to use "upkeep" but did not want to offend the word since it would be like using "a little fixer upper" and "post katrina New Orleans" in the same sentence. Since I was unable to find any angle to this that didn't lead me back to cleaning up a dump I will just remind all you boys and girls that when sweeping bat crap one should always use gloves, a mask and protective clothing. Think golashes, not havaianas.
Now that I have done my good deed for the day it's time to kick back to some Whiskeytown while reading this which is reminding me that better than selling or buying the contradiction is dealing with reality.

Just like thinking of your childhood home...