Everyone watching the news, watching documentaries and learning encounters moments of great sadness at the state of the world that has become in which we live.

When you turn on the news, you watch faces of people. Some of the faces people encounter are people aiming for grandeur, or people in great grief. These are the face that you remember for life.

I got to watch Robert Fisk’s documentary (Ends of the Earth) Beirut to Bosnia.

One of these faces which captured my attention was of an old lady who was a victim of the Bosnian war.

She was uprooted from her home because of the war, and managed to escape the direct effects of the war. When asked about what her plans are, she kept a strong face, and that maybe the international community will take care of them.

She radiates a sense of confidence which people around her do not have. This may be because she has a child-relative she is hugging.

Robert Fisk continued on asking questions to people with many moments of silence of people wondering even if they should have been alive.

In a few minutes, Robert interviews the woman again, but this time with a photo of her enjoying a picnic with her relatives. He asks her which ones are dead. Most of them were, including her mother and husband.

Then Robert asks, "What do you think when you look back at these days now?"

It was a rather blunt and direct question.

She get caught off guard and says,

"What?"

"Why ask when you know everything? Please don't ask me."

She raises her hand and gets up, with a shakey voice.

She continues, "I'm sorry. I don't have any strength anymore."

The fascade she was trying to put up that everything is all right had been broken down. She walks away crying, trying to wipe the tears. She is going to be a refugee and then scattered somewhere in Europe.

I realise that she is more of a victim and her dead relatives as she has to live with great grief throughout her life.

Another face that I can’t forget was aired recently in “Unreported World - Kosovo , State of Denial”

Sam Kiley reports about Susan, who is a Serbian mother of three living in Kosovo. Her children, and the Albanian husband died in recent raid by “security forces”, during which she was raped. Now she is the only Serbian in the town.

Being a Serb, she is unable to find employment in Kosovo. She now feeds what is left of her family from the city dump (see bottom right of the photo). This includes the cloths that she is wearing. I saw the same attempt in her face to be willingly presenting a mask of strength for the camera, as the Bosnian woman had.

In the deep recesses of the night, you think about what the world has turned into, this is symbolised by the faces of extreme grief that you can’t ever forget.

]]> http://infusedtv.wordpress.com/2008/07/26/the-pisco-sour-the-cocktail-spirit-with-robert-hess-small-screen-network/ Sat, 26 Jul 2008 18:26:28 +0000 alpinebluesky http://infusedtv.wordpress.com/2008/07/26/the-pisco-sour-the-cocktail-spirit-with-robert-hess-small-screen-network/ A favorite from Peru is becoming an international favorite as well. This luscious drink is easy to make and provides a great introduction to Pisco, a type of brandy made in South America.
Another great recipe from the Small Screen Network.

[vodpod id=Groupvideo.1423876&w=425&h=350&fv=file%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fs3.amazonaws.com%2Fsmallscreen%2Fpisco_sour.flv%26image%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.smallscreennetwork.com%2Ffiles%2Fphpthumb%2FphpThumb.php%3Fsrc%3D%2Fvideos%2Fcocktail_spirit%2Fpisco_sour.jpg%26w%3D453%26h%3D340%26zc%3D1%26showdigits%3Dtrue%26showfsbutton%3Dfalse%26width%3D453%26height%3D340]

There's rumors going around that the Rx Bandits are playing, but there's no official word on the matter. Portugal, The Man and Maps & Atlases would be opening the show. I'm almost certain it's not going to happen. The Bandits's straying from ska has caused me to lose some interest in the band. Not so much in their own sound which I still enjoy, but in the fact that they don't seem to be a part of the ska community anymore. They're playing with some experimental/indie whatever you want to call them, and last time they came around, they were touring with two hip-hop acts that at best just didn't fit with them at all. It looks to me like they did some shift and the show isn't happening. I don't really mind, especially having seen them probably five or six times now.

Zolof is coming nearby too, it seems. I'm not that thrilled about it, but I might go because Robert will probably want to.

Psyopus is also having a show in a couple weeks where they'll be filming video for a music video or dvd or something. Jason explained the whole thing to me, but I don't really remember at this point. It's free. August 20th. Be there.

Red Sonja will be directed by Douglas Aarniokoski from David White's script. Filming is set to begin in October.

Red Sonja is based on a character created by Robert E. Howard in the short story "Shadow of a Vulture" and adapted into Conan's Hyborian age in Conan the Barbarian #23 by Roy Thomas.

The 1985 version of Red Sonja starred Brigitte Neilsen and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The total days we were in both countries are 8 days. Ira and mom went to S'pore on July 6th, and vivi came afterwards on July 8th.

In front of Little India Arcade in Singapore.

Weather in Singapore was hot and humid. We stayed at Orchard Rd at Lucky Plaza Apartments. Hotels in Singapore were unbelievably expensive. The cheapest bedroom is about USD $300. Luckily mom's friend know somebody who has a flat and they are renting their room to us. The room was small, but good enough for three people. The flat was so close to everywhere, MRT, shopping malls, and restaurants.

One of the malls in S'pore that we visited that became an instant favorite for mom was Takashimaya mall. The only reason was because they have food court that serves lots of interesting food and beverages.

During our stay in Singapore, we got this brochure that says 'ten things you must eat in Singapore'. I think total we probably tried 4 out of ten that they recommended. See here for ten things you must eat at Singapore. We definitely tried their chili Crab and Pepper Crab- which was really tempting- so we ask our friend (our former roommate), Constance to bring us to a really good Chili Crab restaurant. She brought us to Eng Seng Restaurant at Joo Chiat Road (this restaurant is featured in the Uniquely Singapore website - their article "20 Unique things to do in Singapore")

[caption id="attachment_63" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Chili Crab, Black pepper Crab, Stingray fish, Noodle, etc"][/caption]

The food was great, but moreover- the accompanies that made us all feel like Singapore is part of home :)

[caption id="attachment_64" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Peter, Robert, Constance, I jen, Vivi, Mom, and Ira"][/caption]

They surely cleaned the table fast :) I didn't notice how clean our table afterwards.

Besides eating- we also went shopping at Bugis Village and mostly to 'This Fashion' boutique. We got some cheap deals at Bugis Village.

Couple of good friends that we met also was Isabel and her son Rafael, who came to meet us at the airport.

Total of days we spent at Singapore was 3 days - it wasn't enough- we surely will come back and explore Singapore in depth :) maybe next time could be one whole week :)

Raila also criticized the African Union for welcoming Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe to its summit in Egypt. "The African Union singularly failed in condemning the sham elections in Zimbabwe ... You only have to look at the credentials of some of its leaders and know what binds most of them together," said Raila in remarks likely to distance him from the continent's leadership.

During his speech at Chatham House, Raila paid tribute to former South African President, Nelson Mandela, Sir Seretse Khama of Botswana and the late Leopold Senghor of Senegal. He described them as positive role models for Africa. The three former African leaders are famous for willingly resigning from power.

According to a press release from the Prime Minister's office, Raila is heading a delegation comprising government officials and private sector representatives that is in London for an investment conference. The conference aims at promoting Kenya. During the trip, Raila met British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown at No. 10 Downing Street.

Raila had harsh words for African leaders: "Mugabe's victory was accepted by the world's longest serving President, Omar Bongo of Gabon, with a strange logic. 'He was elected, he took an oath, and he is with us, so he is President."

Analysts say that Raila was disappointed by the lack of support he got from the rest of Africa during Kenya's election crisis early this year. Raila believes he won the 2007 elections and that President Mwai Kibaki robbed him of victory. Majority of African leaders quietly supported Kibaki and a few, such as Uganda's Yoweri Museveni, went ahead and recognized Kibaki's victory.

The East African weekly reported that during initial mediation following the election crisis, President John Kufuor of Ghana told Raila that he was lucky that Kibaki was willing to talk. Kufuor's remarks made Raila and the ODM party to reject his involvement.

On Zimbabwe, Raila says that ongoing negotiations should recognize MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai as the legitimate winner. However, Zimbabwe did not necessarily have to copy the Kenyan model of a grand coalition government.

In recent weeks, the Zimbabwe government has dismissed Raila's opinions, saying that Raila has, "blood on his hands." Violence between Raila supporters and those of President Kibaki left close to a thousand Kenyans dead and half a million displaced. Protests over election results turned into ethnic clashes.

In his London speech, Raila said that Africans should stop blaming the past. "It is pointless for some to look back to yesterday's colonial period. Most of our people are too young to have known anything except our own independence."

"Africans may be poor and getting poorer, but Africa is not poor. It has all the resources - human, natural and mineral - it needs for its development, but these have been exploited over the years to support other economies."

Below is a picture of Robert Plant I took a while back, its one of my favourite pictures of the 300 odd bands/musicians I have taken pictures of.

Cheers

Clark

Já faz um bom tempo que eu vi todos os vídeos que fazem parte deste post (alguns já faz anos). Mas, mesmo assim, resolvi postar sobre eles. Por quê? Bom, hoje um amigo me mandou a seguinte matéria: "Cinco Momentos Inesquecíveis da Fórmula 1"; do Autozine. Ela me fez refletir sobre o meu fascínio pela Fórmula 1. Muitos dos que me conheceram recentemente devem estar se perguntando: "Que porra de fascínio é esse?". Pois, com certeza, nunca me ouviram falando (ou assistindo uma corrida) de Fórmula 1. E eu tenho que admitir: "Esse fascínio ficou em algum passado distante.".

A que conclusão eu cheguei? Sem exageros, acredito que esta minha descrença (na Fórmula 1) foi causada por dois fatores. O primeiro, e talvez o mais importante, é o conjunto (de regras, pistas, tecnologias, etc.) que impossibilitam, cada vez mais, a existência de pegas emocionantes. E, o segundo fator, foi a ausência (por muitos anos) de um brasileiro competente na categoria.

Não entenderam nada? Então, irei explicar melhor estes dois fatores:

Primeiro: A partir da década de 90 a FIA passou a impor regras, que visam aumentar a segurança dos seus pilotos. Tudo bem, isso (a segurança) é realmente uma coisa necessária. Além do mais, quantos pilotos já não morreram dentro das pistas? Inclusive, nós brasileiros, lamentamos até hoje a perda de um ícone (eu diria até: um herói). Mas, na minha opinião, algumas destas regras só serviram para empacar o espetáculo.

Vocês não sabem de qual ícone me referi? Então, vocês mercem permanecer na ignorância (rs).

Bom, continuando. Para completar ainda temos as pistas obsoletas (ou muito travadas) e as tecnologias. Como assim? Muitas das tecnologias adotadas na Fórmula 1 ajudaram a tornar o espetáculo, cada vez mais, monótono. Um exemplo? O controle de tração que, finalmente, a FIA decidiu proibir. Esta tecnologia ajudava (em muito) os pilotos, pois deixava os carros mais firmes nas pistas. Porém dificultava as ultrapassagens.

Não estão acreditando que esses detalhes estão atrapalhando o espetáculo? Então, vejam o vídeo de um pega sensacional entre Gilles Villeneuve e René Arnoux:

Estes vídeos foram extraídos da década de 70 e 80 (respectivamente). Agora parem para pensar: "Quanto tempo ficamos sem ver um pega desses?". Quase trinta anos? Sendo que, toda esta ressaca só foi quebrada graças ao Felipe Massa e Robert Kubica:

É disso que eu sinto falta na Fórmula 1! Para mim, o que importa, é o piloto por trás da máquina, e não a equipe que tem mais dinheiro.

Segundo: Sobre este pequeno detalhe, eu prefiro não dizer nada. Deixo apenas um vídeo que ilustra bem o que (eu acho) é o sentimento de todo brasileiro:

Fonte: Autozine

Observação: O herói brasileiro que perdemos nas pistas foi o Ayrton Senna.

Sono vicino alla sua famiglia e ai suoi cari, di un ragazzo che condivideva con me le stesse emozioni, sensazioni, gioie e dolori.

Questo non è un post sul perchè o percome sia venuto a mancare questo ragazzo, in questi casi sono solo parole al vento, bisogna solo pensare a lui e a chi gli era vicino in vita. Mio malgrado ho letto tante speculazioni su questo tragico evento.

Non mi sembra il modo di porsi di fronte a queste situazioni.

At Robert Sledge's party

And there you stayed 'till morning came

And you were not the same after that

You gave your life to Jesus Christ

And after all your friends went home

You came down, you looked around

And you were not the same after that

(Ahhh ahhh)

You were not the same after that

(Ahhh ahhh)

You were not the same after that

You see 'em drop like flies from the bright sunny skies

They come knocking at your door with this look in their eyes

You've got one good trick and you're hanging on you're hanging on...

To it

You took the word and made it heard

And eased the people's pain and for that

You were idolised, immortalised

And you were not the same after that

Walking tall, you'd bought it all

And you were not the same after that

Till someone died on the waterslide

And you were not the same after that

You see 'em drop like flies from the bright sunny skies

They come knocking at your door with this look in their eyes

You've got one good trick and you're hanging on you're hanging on to it

(ooh ooh ooh ooh)

(YOU WERE NOT THE SAME!)

You see 'em drop like flies from the bright sunny skies

They come knocking at your door with this look in their eyes

You've got one good trick and you're hanging on you're hanging on:

You're hanging on:

You're hanging on:

Henry Rollins is coming as well, and I've seen him a whole slew of times, but I guess he's doing a wrap up of the presidency of Bush, and I'm always curious to hear what he has to say. My oratory also greatly increases in quality after I see him, so I can look forward to that as well. If anybody happens to want to replace my copy, I owned Letters To Rollins, and I don't anymore and I'd really like it back.

Around that same time, Mindless Self Indulgence will be coming around. The new album is enjoyable enough, but Never Wanted To Dance is the clear highlight. Hopefully they'll play some of the other hits, or rather, songs that I learned to particularly like for whatever reason. They may've pioneered the whole Hot Topic thing, but there's not a whole lot of stuff similar to MSI I feel, so it's nice to get some different things in there.

Last and certainly not least, SNFU is coming pretty close, so I think I'm going to try and make the trek to see, well, at this point, one of the guys who invented the music I grew up listening to. Even if the membership is quite different, and arguably it's not the same band at all, I'd still rather see a questionable SNFU than no SNFU at all.

See my post on UEPI News & Commentary.

F1 teams Toro Rosso and BMW-Sauber may be interested in accommodating rising GP2 driver Sebastien Buemi in the near future.

The Swiss daily Le Matin quotes BMW boss Mario Theissen as praising the developing talents of the 19-year-old, who is currently a test driver for Red Bull.

With Sebastian Vettel moving on to the senior team in 2009, speculation has linked Buemi's name with the vacant seat at Toro Rosso.

But Theissen may also be interested, particularly following Buemi's run of good form in GP2, the F1 feeder category.

"When he was in formula BMW, he was very young but immediately very fast.

"He can still make the odd mistake, but I am following the GP2 championship very closely and I find that Sebastien is making consistent progress."

He would not, however, be drawn on suggestions that Buemi is at the top of the list for a BMW-Sauber contract, perhaps initially as a test driver.

"Let's see how his season progresses, but I am not saying no."

Neal's View: With Hiedfeld under pressure there may be a seat at BMW for next season. Unless Kubica signs a new contract there will be a spare seat at BMW next season. A Swiss driver would satisfy the needs of the Swiss-based team, and Swiss sponsors, Credit Suisse. Toro Rosso have a spare seat after Sebastien Vettel was promoted to the Red Bull squad and the Red Bull-backed racer could be next in line.

McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen was frustrated to endure yet another difficult race after he missed out on a podium finish for the sixth consecutive grand prix.

The Finn looked on course for just his second top three finish of the year at Hockenheim after running strongly behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Felipe Massa in the race’s first half.

But, not for the first time in 2008, the safety car period and ensuing pit lane melee cost him three positions and although he gained one back with a brilliant overtaking move on BMW’s Robert Kubica, was disappointed to end up fifth.

Kovalainen said:

"A very difficult race for me."

“I had a good start and almost managed to pass Felipe but, unfortunately, my speed was not good enough, and I couldn’t make the tyres work to their best.

“The safety car period didn’t help me either, and I lost positions during my pit-stop.

“Then I lost time behind Kubica.

“However, I managed to overtake him again two laps later and, from then on, it was a rather uneventful race.”

Kovalainen now hopes his luck will turn at the next round in Budapest.

“Fifth position was not what I had hoped to achieve here,” he admitted.

“But I am now looking forward to the Hungarian Grand Prix, where I will try my hardest to fight for a podium finish."

McLaren boss Ron Dennis reiterated his faith in Kovalainen to start scoring stronger finishes soon and praised the Finn’s move on Kubica on the exit to the complex section of the lap.

Dennis said:

“As I've said before, Heikki's time will come."

“In difficult circumstances he raced tremendously well today – his overtaking manoeuvre on Robert Kubica was just sensational – and once again he showed a winner's grit and determination.

“It's a joy to have two drivers who are not only super-competitive but also super-cooperative."

Neal's View: Kovy hasn't performed as strongly as he would have liked. The silly season has started and Rosberg is being linked with his seat. If McLaren are to finish in the top two of the Constructors' Championship they cannot rely on Lewis alone.

Käytiin tänään myös Kukkolankoskella siitä on
tuossa muutama kuva :)