Bart Simpson

     There comes a time when words and friends can no longer comfort and ease.  The volumes upon volumes of unpleasant responsibilities overwhelm and that can not be helped.

     Seeing my father today for just a few minutes ripped at me, knowing I let him down last week (even though it couldn't be helped).  Conversing with my ex today and the previous days has left a sharp sting in my gut that will only heal with time.  

     The weight I carry alone of my mother's illness and my grandparent's quick decline has suddenly become too much.  I want to take my son and my dog to the beach and hole-up in a tent for days.  Books, picnic food and red wine for weeks.  We will wear nothing but our bathing suits and have no contact with the outer world.  

Maybe some space and enough wine will erase it all.

best friend. not a lap dog. hero. incessant barker. therapist. clumsy fool. 

     When the weight of my burden gets too much and I want to scream or throttle someone, Meelo and I go running.  We always end up at the river where we plop down in a shady patch of grass and relax a little.  When he is ready to go again he nudges me with his big black nose.

    On one particularly horrid day I went to happy hour with my girls to numb the pain and got rip roaring drunk.  This of course led to silly weeping.  I woke up at 3am on my kitchen floor. Arms around meelo's very tear soaked neck, high heels still on and purse still over my shoulder.  

     I found him when he was a puppy.  An eclectic and somewhat depressed neighbor had purchased this gorgeous champion Collie.  He named him Marko.  Which is stupid because when you call that name at least 3 people say, "polo" and think they are original and funny.  The point of the story is that he wasn't being cared for and he gave me the dog.  He has been So happy ever since!

     He does occasionally get too focused on something behind him and walk straight into a wall.  Or run too qickly up my wood staircase and completely wipe out.  But he doesn't complain.  Now I am off to bed with him snoozing at my feet.  

Whats that boy?  Billy fell in the well?  There are kittens in the barn?

   Milhouse of course smiled and gave me a low "wuff" in satisfaction that his night watch was over.  Jumping off of my half dead foot, all 98lbs of him trotted away happily to find a bone or chew toy.   

It took me a full 20 minutes to regain feeling in my foot.  Some day I will figure out how to keep a giant dog from lovingly mutilating me at night.

--Recording a podcast with recent ESPN.com Page 2 addition (and former Jimmy Kimmel Live writer) Dave Dameshek this afternoon. I'll post the podcast once it's up at ESPN, probably Wednesday morning.

--Team 990 AM (Montreal), Wednesday 9:25 am ET

Also, later today look for a couple of articles on Francisco Rodriguez, why closers are overrated, and a rundown of some of the worst MLB MVP picks of all time. That'll be up at ESPN.com's Page 2 this afternoon.

Finally, this marks the 100th post in the short history of JonahKeri.com. Thanks to the small but loyal group of readers who have me linked to their Google Readers and bookmark lists, as well as those who've happened upon the site by accident. At some point I'll actually publicize this site beyond Facebook and my circle of friends. For right now, all those Simpsons and Montreal Expos references are for you, dear readers.

Enjoy this classic clip, with my compliments.

Now, part of me looks at this trailer and thinks, "Wow... that is almost picture perfect!" Another part thinks that the last thing Watchmen is about are pretty pictures. This is a trailer, yes, which has one purpose: to get people excited and put asses in seats. But Zack Snyder strikes me as a director enamoured with glossy, stylised images - and that sort of thing tends to detract from the humanity of the characters. And one of the major points of Watchmen is that the superheroes in it (excepting Dr Manhattan, although that would make for a longer discussion) are utterly human. And the book is about ideas, not about wowing the audience with cool visuals.

Having said that, I like much of the casting. I like that Snyder didn't go for the superstars (although I do think that Adrian Veidt could easily have been played by a good-looking star, since he is pretty much one of the biggest celebrities in the world he inhabits). I like the visual metaphor of the clockwork in the trailer. And I find the CGI representation of Doc Manhattan strangely affecting, especially in that shot where you've got three of them.

What worries me, though, is what I've heard about the ending. If it's true... well, there's one way of pretty much ruining Watchmen, and that's by screwing with one or two elements of the ending. I just hope that they will be able to resist killing the 'bad guy'.

Oh, and one last thing...

I remember watching an episode of The Simpson's, where Homer turns Springfield into a living master piece by flooding the the city. One of the most memorable lines that will always make me laugh, is said from the awkwardly funny, Milhouse in that episode.

It takes place as Milhouse is leaving for school. Depressed that he has to wear High-water pants. Soon as he sighs from his unlucky choice in wardrobe, he opens the door and the water rushes in. The flood water never touches his hems, and excitingly says "YES!!! Everything is coming up MIlhouse'!!!

What sparked this whole Simpson's flashback in my head, you ask? Well its due in part of my obsession with men's pants looking more like classic pants and when I read 'Feeling For … High-Water Jeans' at The Moment. The article was about the author(Bruce Pask) feeling nostalgic when applying one of today's pant trends, flooding your pants

I'm a one cuff man myself, and maybe this summer I might roll my hem. I'm even tempted to do a peg fold like I wore styled into my jeans in grade school.

The hot weather this season is reason for us to cuff, roll, or just plain shorten our hems. If your already on the flood boat, than feel proud, Because- "Everything is coming up flooded"!!!

-Manuel Paul

Antes de vir trabalhar, estava ouvindo um podcast (tipo um programa de rádio, sendo que sem horário estabelecido, pois é baixado da internet) onde os dois apresentadores discutiam a dificuldade das pessoas em lembrar certas palavras (divulgaram uma pesquisa que concluiu que quanto mais tempo uma pessoa perde tentando lembrar da palavra, mais fortemente ficaram as conexões cerebrais daquele momento de dúvida, fazendo o sujeito esquecer a palavra com mais freqüência e facilidade posteriormente), aquelas que ficam “na ponta da língua”, quando um deles disse “pode ser um efeito parecido com o que causa a prosopagnosia, que é um defeito de cognição que causa com que o indivíduo não reconheça rostos”.

Após chegar ao trabalho, antes de começar o dia, abri a página do wordpress para atualizar o meu blogue. A página inicial muda constantemente, mostrando links de blogues variados, para fazer uma propagandazinha e ajudar todo mundo a ser lido. Quando eu a abri, uma das ligações lia “Maths * Chem = Ranting^2”, o que em bom português significa “Matemática multiplicada por Química é igual a Divagação ao quadrado”, o que foi mais que necessário para chamar a minha atenção (vocês já devem ter percebido que eu gosto dessas três coisas). Após ler o artigo (sobre como é difícil ensinar e escrever livros escolares com clareza), me interessei pela escritora e quis ler mais, aí procurei o quadro de “entradas mais lidas”. O primeiro era esse que eu havia acabado de ler (por estar na página de rosto do wordpress e por ser o artigo mais recente) e o segundo era intitulado “Eu sou um estranho, você é um estranho (Prosopagnosia)”!

Coincidência, certo?
Ou não??

Eu já havia lido um livro que toca no assunto (O homem que confundiu sua mulher com um chapéu, de Oliver Sacks) e já conhecia o termo, por isso que consegui identificar a palavra se repetindo e ligar as duas ocorrências (posso ter ouvido outras vezes antes mas nunca ter me dado conta).

Uma das minhas muitas cunhadas (essa uma ex-cunhada, na verdade) simplesmente não consegue compreender o conceito de Coincidência. Para ela não existe acaso, TUDO acontece por um propósito fixo, deliberado e imutável.
De acordo com a bizarra “lógica” dessa pessoa (eu acho, já que não é lógico ao mínimo), futuramente (pode ser daqui a pouco, pode ser em outra vida), eu sofrerei de cegueira facial, não reconhecendo semblantes.

Outro dia, estava saindo da casa da minha mãe, de carro, com o rádio ligado e, antes que pudesse mudar de estação (não gosto de propaganda), ouvi a chamada de uma seguradora de saúde. No exato momento em que o nome da empresa era anunciado, olhei para o lado, já do lado de fora, e vi uma ambulância da mesma empresa. Li e ouvi o nome quase que instantaneamente. Deveria estar esperando um acidente? Uma oferta de emprego da tal companhia? Plano de saúde vitalício? Para mim? Para alguém da minha família? Para um amigo? Para outrem, totalmente desconhecido e não relacionado comigo? Por quanto tempo devo esperar?

Como pode alguém não ACREDITAR em coincidências? É como não acreditar em espirros.

Milhouse van Houten – Quando você espirra, isso é a sua alma tentando escapar! Dizer “saúde” a enfia de volta para dentro! E quando você morre, ela se retorce e voa para longe!
Bart Simpson – E se você morrer dentro de um submarino, no fundo do oceano?
Milhouse – Ah, ela sabe nadar! E tem até rodas para o caso de você morrer no deserto e precisar dirigir até o cemitério!

Não acho que Milhouse ou minha ex-cunhada já tenham ouvido falar de Occam e sua poderosa navalha.

A “Navalha de Occam” é um artifício filosófico que reza que “se em tudo o mais forem idênticas as várias explicações de um fenômeno, a teoria que introduz o menor número de novas suposições é, geralmente, a mais correta”. O espirro sendo causado por um reflexo fisiológico, versus o espirro sendo causado pela alma (introduzir o conceito de alma e tudo o que deveria explicar sua existência) tentando escapar (uma alma que depois de explicada deve necessariamente ter vontade própria, além da do hospedeiro), que sabe voar, nadar e tem rodas (mais suposições).
Ou, duas coisas parecidas acontecendo independentemente por simples acaso, versus o Universo (representado aqui pelo Espaço e pelo Tempo) manobrando as próprias leis para que VOCÊ (estou apontando meu dedo em sua direção) sinta os efeitos de algo que já foi calculado, com absurda precisão, muito antes do surgimento da Vida, que envolve todos os Corpos Celestes, vizinhos (planetas) e distantes (estrelas) e que estão dando preferência à sua pessoa, em detrimento do resto das moléculas da infinita vastidão universal...

Hum...

“Use a navalha. Corte fora o ridículo antes de acreditar no absurdo”
-Perry DeAngelis-

[bell rings]
Milhouse: School's out! Up yours, Krabappel!
[runs out, while other students sit]
Krabappel: Well, I'm glad the rest of you remembered that summer
vacation starts at the end of the day, not the beginning.
-- Milhouse suffers heat stroke, "Summer of 4 Ft. 2"

Lou: Here you go, ma'am.
[escorts Milhouse back into the classroom]
Krabappel: Mmm. Quick work. How'd you know he was gonna run?
Lou: We got someone on the inside.
[everyone glares at Martin who laughs sheepishly]
-- Tell them what we do with squealers, "Summer of 4 Ft. 2"

[Fonte: The Simpsons Archive]

Pic: My Eyes! Ze goggles, ze do nothing!

Since the last post we've continued to enjoy all this lovely city has to offer.  We spent a day in Palermo - the posh bit - and it was gorgeous. The weather was still amazing (it's turned a bit now - but the clouds don't stop me wearing shorts and flip flops, natch) and we visited the most beautiful parks. Ok, so they were ringed by dual carriageways, but underneath the palm trees by the lake reading and listening to my pod the hustle and bustle of the city seemed miles away.  As you know, Sam and I are the games queens, and adored looking like old men as we played cribbage in the Japanese Gardens.

We paid a visit to the city's modern art gallery - I've forgotten its name - which was pretty much exactly based on the Tate Modern. We're a bit rubbish with art though. It was real nice, but I'd have loved someone a little more knowledgable, like Jess or my little sis, to explain a bit about some of the works we were seeing. Plus, we'd decided to skip lunch - the sushi in the Japanese Garden was way overpriced - and i'm never at my best a meal down.

After walking for about 5 miles (my thighs will be like steel, seriously, by the time I come back) we got from there to Palermo Viejo, a buzzing suburb brimming with cafes, bars, restaurants, and eye-wateringly good shoeshops. Sam had to restrain me physically from blowing a week's budget on the cutest little navy patent mary janes. We'd planned to go for a steak dinner at a joint reccommended by our new Bible - the lonely planet - but found ourselves sucked into a pretty square lined with outside tables and cafes instead.

We'd been living the highlife in a private room with a little balcony but it was time to move into a dorm. Which was fine, if a little smelly. That'll be the boys in there. I'm sure they fart more in their sleep and deffo have worse b.o. Yesterday, we moved to the Milhouse hostel though. The atmosphere is brilliant - our other place was pretty much exclusively couples, but here there are lots of groups of mates and single travellers. Plus, they pride themselves on being a party hostel - and they do it undeniably well.

Last night there was a party in the bar downstairs with music that started off excellent, but admitedly went a little downhill as the time crept closer to 2 am. Which is when they go out here. The hostel sorted us out with tickets to Club 69 - a night billed as highly flamboyant ran by BA's biggest theatre company.

And oh my gosh but the nightlife lives up to the hype. Apart from Speed Queen, which always has a special place in my heart, it was possibly the best club ever. It was about a 15 minute taxi ride away and looked like an unprepossessing old cinema building from the outside.  But on setting foot inside, the crystal chandelier (that doesn't look like it's spelt right, soz), enormous dancefloor, huge stage, and dancers dressed in a bewildering array of eye-meltingly bright club-kid get ups assured us that this was THE place to be. The music was fab, although a bit like a Northern club it got harder as the night went on, and the atmosphere was incredible. People were really going for it. The floor show mixed burlesque with old-skool rave (what a combo) and the crowd just loved it. There was also an mc and a couple of amazing breakdancers. We raved it up on a podium for about four hours. We totally rocked it. Plus, it was great that there were lots of other people from the hostel there, in various states of drunkenness to chat to. Hence today's hangover...

A couple of bum notes: we got totally ripped off by the taxi driver - who gave us about 80 pesos change from our ride in false notes! Dammit! The night had kinda  blown our budget for the day anyway, so this was highly irritating. Apparently it's a bit of a common scam. WE were sure to check our change on the way back, and sure enough, one of the notes was another fake! And not one that time and effort had gone into creating either. It looked like a photocopy, and probably was one. We had a bit of an argument with the driver, who was far less annoyed at us questioning it than I reckon he would have been if it had been real. HE knew he was gypping us, big time. Eventually we got some actual pesos from the wily old goat...

The city's great, but both of us are kinda itching to get out to see some nature. Iguazu Falls beckons. We came from a city - I'm hungry for the jungle. In a big city, it's also hard to know whether  you're doing the right thing or not. There's always the slight worry that maybe the real must-see is right around the corner and you don't know where. Although I'm sure there can't have been a better night out than Club 69... How these people go to work the next day, I have no idea... I just reckon though, that we'll get more confidence as we go on, meet more people and act on their reccommendations. Bolivia and Peru sound mindblowing.

Right, I think it's time for me to go in search of some strong coffee, and possibly a lie-down.

Until next time chicos y chicas. And photos soon I promise. xxxx

It's always weird to see the media give Alan Moore so much attention when his movies come out, since that's the absolute last thing he wants. He is notoriously reclusive (save for an awesome cameo on The Simpsons,) and only steps into the spotlight to bash DC for destroying his works. Fun guy.

Here is a pretty good summary of the various problems Alan Moore has had with DC Comics over the years. One of the biggest concerns is that Moore wants to complete ownership of his creations. Unfortunately, given how popular his work has become over the years that's never going to happen.

However, he does seem to have a lot of say in the merchandising of his characters. In the past he has ordered that entire lines of Watchmen action figures be cancelled before they reached production, and only a handful of officially licensed products have ever been made with his characters.

Does this mean we'll ever get an Alan Moore Essential Collection? Probably not. But I'd rather see no Watchmen merchanidse at all than a bunch of hastily thrown together crap.

Huh. My total stream-of-conscience writing has lead to some serendipitous syncronicties with these album covers. Weird. Anyway, enjoy the song 'cause it rules.

mp3: Czar - Tread Softly On My Dreams

[audio http://www.hotlinkfiles.com/files/422786_pqzzx/Czar%20-%20Tread%20Softly%20On%20My%20Dreams.mp3]

Espero que se pasen por la web y les guste, e inscribanse en el foro para poder debatir temas o pedir material!! muchas gracias por aver participado en este blog asta el dia de hoy!!!

LINK DE LA WEB :D!! ( http://www.achemafia.com.ar/index.php )

L'altro Cristo, libro di Sergio Luzzato fresco d'uscita e su cui in questi giorni si discute. Chi è l'altro Cristo? Il santo di pietrelcina, of course. L'uomo con le stimmate nel ventesimo secolo, altro che Francesco D'Assisi, il poverello. Dietro Padre Pio ci sono miliardi su miliardi, anche la Chiesa di Roma se n'è accorta e dopo l'ostilità iniziale l'ha beatificato e ha cominciato a gestire il business in prima persona.

Sulla figura del santo non si può certo trarre una conclusione drastica, di sicuro era un uomo e in quanto tale appartenente al mondo animale come tutti. Probabilmente avrà avuto le sue storielle con le compaesane, come tutti d'altronde. Il carteggio ritrovato da Luzzato mostra i "traffici" di acido fenico, probabilmente utilizzato per crearsi le stimmate, data la sua azione corrosiva. C'è chi si fa i piercing e chi le stimmate, mi pare chiaro che non ci si sveglia la mattina con due buchi sulle mani per caso.

Padre Pio, quindi, era un impostore? Dipende dai punti di vista. Intanto va approfondita meglio la questione, magari leggendo il libro di Luzzato. Di oggettivo c'è solo l'immenso giro di soldi intorno a San Giovanni Rotondo, uno dei tanti posti costruiti con l'obolo di gente senza speranza né cultura che cerca nel soprannaturale un modo per andare avanti.

L'articolo del corriere della sera: http://www.corriere.it/cronache/07_ottobre_25/padrepio.shtml

"...Esto es lo que yo pienso de Puerto Rico. Yo soy el mesías,
el anticristo no me asusta. El anticristo viene
vestío de Escorpión..." - Senador Pedro Rosselló

"...A esto me refería con un Puerto Rico de Primera.
Gozen ahora pendejos..." - Gobernador Acevedo Vilá

"...sonrían a la cámara tontos. viene, viene. uno para todos,
y todo para...nosotros...buajajaaja..."
- 3 imbéciles certificados

"...y mi compromiso, de elegirme como mejor que Rosselló, es hacer que hagan
un episodio de Los Simpsons en Puerto Rico..." - Milhouse Fortuño

"...¿presupuesto? Te hablo claro, yo no se nada de eso. Yo vine
a trabajar aquí porque le quería caer arriba a esta gata...grrrr" - Sec. Hacienda

"...el problema con Rosselló es que lo tiene así y solo tengo que
levantar el piquito asi para que lo inserte y quepa..." - Gov. Acevedo Vila

"...Bueno, pues la respuesta a tu pregunta de que cuanto es el % de educación
diplomacia y ética requerido para ser Legislador es bastante sencilla. Solo
mira mi mano y la de artistas de 2da que terminan ahí..."" - Rep. Antonio Silva