tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8267004251189981892024-02-18T20:53:12.710-08:00Michael ShandrickAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11003837659916297742noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826700425118998189.post-54869900586688467982014-01-10T22:00:00.003-08:002014-01-22T17:18:38.562-08:00Purging Myself From the Internet<div class="MsoNormal">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_oJNmtvP8yLWb31hCMHPIQPgDyiL-gCgRicL6uaybjjm39QbleBDoPlJ7_wNbyYNqrg3wwky-9u9luBOMbZ6hsxUcODUk93YOeueJvdQr6RJw6_s4wwEnw-G8X4WIu42AZKbCtucPFvY/s1600/mythreebestfriends.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_oJNmtvP8yLWb31hCMHPIQPgDyiL-gCgRicL6uaybjjm39QbleBDoPlJ7_wNbyYNqrg3wwky-9u9luBOMbZ6hsxUcODUk93YOeueJvdQr6RJw6_s4wwEnw-G8X4WIu42AZKbCtucPFvY/s1600/mythreebestfriends.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>No More "Likes"</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There was a time when I was an evangelist for the Internet.
No longer. I had a moment. I saw all the crap on my news feed, which now looks like a ruptured sewage line in my garden. New people mysteriously show up as my friends on FB. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So, I have decided to review, revoke, reduce and recycle
my friends and followers. I will cull my news feed from all politically correct sites. I will no longer tolerate any material having to do with anyone's God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There are too many photos of cute animals, peaceful settings and posters of clouds. It's like we've all been given a dose of Ambien along with our purple Kool-Aid.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Gone from my sites will be many “friends” or “followers” who invite me to
join games. Who has that kind of time? To those who never commented on my blog posts. Gone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I no longer want to be tagged.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">From the beginning, I wanted only one thing from my friends and followers: Amuse me. Nothing
more. Nothing Less. Never try to sell me anything. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In my moment from going from Saul to Paul, (this analogy is the
only thing I learned from the Bible), maybe two people</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> know my opinions on whether the Oakland A’s should get a
new stadium or why Arsenal fans are a bunch of wankers. Or how I really feel
about Brazil hosting the World Cup.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I once enjoyed “sharing” my thoughts in blog posts, always
trying to be original. Now, however, I feel irrelevant in a room full of invading space aliens.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Maybe it all began with the introduction of “like”. This is starting to piss me off. I
want to be “Loved”, or at least feared. "Like" is an Ambien side-effect.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Giving a “like” is not as satisfying as giving a flirtatious
wink to someone on a busy street corner or in a crowded elevator.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">That
is rare enough, but it is so much, much more intimate in reality.</span></div>
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I have had “friends” pass away. I miss many followers who disappeared. I once enjoyed George Carlin quotes, and today I get Deepak Chopra.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Make no mistake, I am grateful for my good friends and supporters. With them, I know more
about their lives than my own family. They can sustain me as any friend would who
lived nearby. They already know I like them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">They will accept me as I find my way back to being amused.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11003837659916297742noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826700425118998189.post-65379211166447248712013-12-30T20:41:00.001-08:002013-12-31T22:06:05.425-08:00Found Objects # 7: Photojournalism<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwpAD8Rjez1HNmWLvI2EQmic2G9cOPaflWu6SkFJXRtAAfsZESi5UmxY1SUA65IMksAv737oh7yRIwHhNZB9xJRd3ihxIpLnX-fovZlssvQwtoZZ7JqTRZhjYl4qDGIgZeTcQlDjL_iko/s1600/JenniferWarnssings.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwpAD8Rjez1HNmWLvI2EQmic2G9cOPaflWu6SkFJXRtAAfsZESi5UmxY1SUA65IMksAv737oh7yRIwHhNZB9xJRd3ihxIpLnX-fovZlssvQwtoZZ7JqTRZhjYl4qDGIgZeTcQlDjL_iko/s400/JenniferWarnssings.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Jennifer Warnes from Broadway after Hair, 1971, Aspen</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">As I wrote in <i style="font-weight: bold;">Found Objects #2: Photos of Jackie, </i>I was a neophyte journalist and not naturally talented with a camera. After graduation I was headed for a galvanizing experience in Aspen, where</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"> two newspapers were locked in trench warfare, so aptly described in Hunter S. Thompson's</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b><a href="http://www.amazon.ca/The-Great-Shark-Hunt-Strange/dp/0743250451">The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales From A Strange Time</a>.</b></span></i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I later wrote my experience during that time in a piece, <b><a href="http://michaelshandrick.blogspot.ca/2012/11/from-same-volcano-as-hunter-thompson.html">From the Same Volcano as Hunter Thompson</a>. </b> I recount a humiliating rookie experience fresh out of J-School.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I photographed car wrecks, rugby games, graduations, high
school football games, rugby games and ladies’ wet t-shirt contests. Anything to stay away from reporting on the town's moronic politics.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One of the perks was meeting <b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_Hooker">Dwight Hooker</a></b>, the famed photographer of <i>Playboy's</i> double page spreads of the early 70s. I offered to be his guide to finding and interviewing girls for a series, Girls of Aspen. What I learned in a few days with Mr. Hooker could fill a library.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One of my first assignments for our paper was to photograph Jennifer Warnes fresh off the run of <i>Hair, </i>in which she starred<i>.</i></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH5vemiVuadBBGVdx3Hf1QJwkS7aHeu_f62SXitrep9AepcPXxmU2_pyK4qx1OnwLYQSa2NNpu7lqetaO6MVa5SI3qxfFrjWvguw_XeIjFzaJqL7S7lXhJTWLfKLOJmM45n4LBFQP4q0I/s1600/JenniferWarns+interview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH5vemiVuadBBGVdx3Hf1QJwkS7aHeu_f62SXitrep9AepcPXxmU2_pyK4qx1OnwLYQSa2NNpu7lqetaO6MVa5SI3qxfFrjWvguw_XeIjFzaJqL7S7lXhJTWLfKLOJmM45n4LBFQP4q0I/s400/JenniferWarns+interview.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Taken during interview with Jennifer Warnes.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Jane Dornacker</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This singer was a much beloved entertainer in San Francisco's Castro District circa 1974. Being fans we got a ring side table to see her Leila and the Snakes in performance of "Don't Touch Me There", which she co-wrote for The Tubes.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgigSd2H4QwapaSp4lTESAT35fHhKUEAOwVaMyI2MNaD_y4touWeud0vsWcTg5OxqsDadbHXBqtSv0lBvyZi33HxyXwv1kAUqA_nm25BTlJcHW-b-uqDWC0uAlBQVohiU1CNFfrK4kYPO8/s1600/JaneDornaker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgigSd2H4QwapaSp4lTESAT35fHhKUEAOwVaMyI2MNaD_y4touWeud0vsWcTg5OxqsDadbHXBqtSv0lBvyZi33HxyXwv1kAUqA_nm25BTlJcHW-b-uqDWC0uAlBQVohiU1CNFfrK4kYPO8/s400/JaneDornaker.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A crowd favorite:</span></b><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> "Don't Touch Me There."</span></b></span></td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The Boy and the Whale</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">I heard on the radio that a Blue Whale had washed up on the beach near Half Moon Bay, south of San Francisco. We beat the crowds and I got this shot of a boy contemplating the whale. This photo was later published by Friends of the Earth in "Progress As If Survival Mattered". 1977.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHJHVby2VqPDHBCS0b4Fvj0uWdjR6W_wiSZhr_txxhEiWxXYR7X4yPzaq3h-v2JK3Ms5dxWchuDlptqbbrTnXfC_PI5YN98AspVG6k9p8W3RM0NSDXVPTrmmwxcLPgkjILL_m1l0al65o/s1600/boy%2526bluewhale.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHJHVby2VqPDHBCS0b4Fvj0uWdjR6W_wiSZhr_txxhEiWxXYR7X4yPzaq3h-v2JK3Ms5dxWchuDlptqbbrTnXfC_PI5YN98AspVG6k9p8W3RM0NSDXVPTrmmwxcLPgkjILL_m1l0al65o/s400/boy%2526bluewhale.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Boy surveys a dead Blue Whale </b></span></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11003837659916297742noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826700425118998189.post-48021413415121547742013-11-30T17:00:00.002-08:002013-11-30T17:23:19.690-08:00Found Object #6: Brazilian Magic<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXcTIkDepvLdZhHcZkRUkibwNoaPhyaCsz6mHhPPoRg6VI6s-AbnWFlRkdpYkt_r4vWYz7-4uHlt4z80ZSK5UTwrbBpfuu1MrFuRL6BUCKgeEYNBNb_OJtsZ0ws_9PlYLjaAwxiuXNA4s/s1600/Mike_Abstract_Painting_Number_06_PS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXcTIkDepvLdZhHcZkRUkibwNoaPhyaCsz6mHhPPoRg6VI6s-AbnWFlRkdpYkt_r4vWYz7-4uHlt4z80ZSK5UTwrbBpfuu1MrFuRL6BUCKgeEYNBNb_OJtsZ0ws_9PlYLjaAwxiuXNA4s/s400/Mike_Abstract_Painting_Number_06_PS.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The painting embodies for me a Brazilian's approach to life. </span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You see this in futebol, bossa nova, samba, carnival, fireworks, the beach, street singing and dancing. Everything is a sacrament to the senses.</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Their movements are mirrored in smiles, and the way their bodies embrace a slow sexy dance with a cheeky flourish and a twinkle in the eyes. </span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Life is measured in a steady beat, like when the evening waves </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">wash up on the shore at <b><a href="http://temporarycarioca.blogspot.ca/2012/04/crespucolo.html">crespucolo</a></b>.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">16” 41cm</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">12” 31cm</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Acrylic</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This painting, ironically, has a life of its own.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Not only had it spent a lot of time as a half-finished painting in a box for two
decades, but it had been confined to a sketch book that had seen better days. </span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When I finally retrieved it I put it on a shelf in a small closet, where it lingered, and at
one point was crushed and torn. Soon, it was destined for the trash. </span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The painting would pay the price for my resistance to opening myself up to the art it was calling me to.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Then one day it virtually flew from its perch on the shelf and landed
across my feet. The painting was happily finished over the summer 2013.</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Whose to say it was not a bit of Brazilian magic.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11003837659916297742noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826700425118998189.post-41898815343709498792013-11-05T15:33:00.002-08:002013-11-30T17:15:30.014-08:00Found Object #5: Somalian Sunrise<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDOlTFyM2whvZ57CkQbQARcTNCtmUDsTPhcvkKol-QPuK7vBJIIPatIM8AGDXUz-wI6nsbtoAGUbqaq0owoqFfUfawFn27tb1LbTRjeEz1XIC-E57ELU9yDlAb2GFafBlrhIPhofo84dQ/s1600/Woman_at_sunrise_PS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDOlTFyM2whvZ57CkQbQARcTNCtmUDsTPhcvkKol-QPuK7vBJIIPatIM8AGDXUz-wI6nsbtoAGUbqaq0owoqFfUfawFn27tb1LbTRjeEz1XIC-E57ELU9yDlAb2GFafBlrhIPhofo84dQ/s400/Woman_at_sunrise_PS.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When I painted “Faduma's Ritual”, I envisioned Faduma Ali, a Somalian
woman, standing on a minaret in a moment of deep reflection.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">At the time of the painting I was writing a biography of
the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Duke-of-the-Abruzzi/296238900422315"><b>Duke of the Abruzzi</b></a>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Faduma Ali had known the Duke all her life, first as a young girl who lived in the village the young prince had created.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Throughout the
years, the Duke’s arrivals in the village was a time of great celebration. The
girl might have trekked to the coast and stood there awaiting the arrival of the ship's commander.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Faduma, a woman of considerable
beauty, would later begin a romance with the Duke and eventually they would live as a couple until his death.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The painting reminds me of my own rituals spent longing for someone or something we don't have a word to express.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arimo; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">12” 31 cm<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arimo; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">9” 24” cm<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arimo; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Acryic<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arimo; line-height: 18px;" /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arimo; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Faduma's Ritual</i> is a companion piece to <i>Toil</i>.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arimo; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 18px;">They had both been rescued from a box headed to a dump.</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11003837659916297742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826700425118998189.post-58597653201225711032013-10-28T14:23:00.001-07:002013-11-30T16:34:47.046-08:00 Found Object #4: Two Views of a Greek Isle<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDn6-4VYntqqaaaFcx1OSJeLoXz9xmOtITDuIiGuG-yzGNn1wJ9INezKKd_F7OR4Vg1cCMAR1OF3Y0rTxxAIKuRlU8ay_eYVlL0Uwr2PBq5w3-4o6e7K21huuwvQF8rJObvYvY_XVTqs8/s1600/fishing_village_painting_PS.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDn6-4VYntqqaaaFcx1OSJeLoXz9xmOtITDuIiGuG-yzGNn1wJ9INezKKd_F7OR4Vg1cCMAR1OF3Y0rTxxAIKuRlU8ay_eYVlL0Uwr2PBq5w3-4o6e7K21huuwvQF8rJObvYvY_XVTqs8/s640/fishing_village_painting_PS.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The scene was inspired by the fishermen of Naxos, a Greek island in the Cyclades of the Mediterranean. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Toil</span></i><span style="font-size: large;"> was painted over a number of months, some years after visiting Greece in the early 80s.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The two fishermen continue to fish while the other boats lie
in harbor. It could be early morning and perhaps these fishermen had already caught the best fish.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Or the scene might suggest the end of a long day like every other day, in which they had not caught as much as the other fishmermen, who were home enjoying their fresh fish. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">During the days, I spun stories like these on the beach, often after following Dionysius and his denizens around Naxos in a night of frivolity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Today’s hardworking residents of Naxos bear little resemblance to Dionysus, who
knew nothing about toil.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As I applied the paint to the canvas, I was the one who was now checking my metaphorical nets twice a day to see if I’d caught anything. The painting taught me something about daily toil.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">12” 31 cm<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">9” 24” cm<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Acryic<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Toil was recently discovered in a box devoted to last-minute packing
decisions made under duress.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11003837659916297742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826700425118998189.post-50993793051599866992013-10-10T14:22:00.002-07:002013-10-28T14:27:01.230-07:00Found Objects #3: A View of the Lake District<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpPMmSXO2wf81e3vmI77FXr77btQXR3FagBGPc2yFj2r4X7tamM3BOj0ALYlkvggMEF_bGYikw-fmuOitXMvWs1vFfRyNfbIWTROFt0uRkNLZk4o7mYMiEX1akMjhC8RqJ83CoAUXA_Dw/s1600/Picture_of_Wales_Window_PS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpPMmSXO2wf81e3vmI77FXr77btQXR3FagBGPc2yFj2r4X7tamM3BOj0ALYlkvggMEF_bGYikw-fmuOitXMvWs1vFfRyNfbIWTROFt0uRkNLZk4o7mYMiEX1akMjhC8RqJ83CoAUXA_Dw/s400/Picture_of_Wales_Window_PS.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This photo
looks </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">out on sheep grazing in the fields and
country lanes at the foot of the Fells in the Lake District of Northwest England.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">I took the
photo from a window in a B&B run by a family of self-proclaimed gypsies. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">Returning
from a run in the Fells, it was nice to see a table in the room set
with delicious scones garnished in crème
and cherries, and served promptly at 4 pm along with a pot of dark English tea.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">Shot with Nikon FE on
Kodak Color film. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">19 ¾” width (51 cm)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">28 ¾ lenth (73 cm)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">Mounted on hardwood
surface<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">This photo
was yet another object that was recently discovered rolled up and tossed in </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">a
box and forgotten. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">The paper was dusty and torn. It had been stored in the box</span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"> since 1982. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">The original color transparency had been taken
30 years before, then made into an inter-negative, and printed on a single
sheet of photo paper. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Now I will be able to look out a window and see this beautiful scene.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11003837659916297742noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826700425118998189.post-28289972692074448492013-09-30T17:14:00.000-07:002013-12-30T18:07:45.455-08:00Found Objects #2: Photos of Jackie <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">These three photos are my first rolls of film. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I took them as part of a photography class assignment. I was using a box camera at the time. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiBzEWGV8AgwwKujBt4EOD8-O9m9LFANw4C0dEMuGZYHuHlvLcR9IYiTzdMuaRA9_uUkxjpoiT8kryNZXQdTGUlvPV1RLXtvaHt6PVn5RS6sR4-mpxsVT9dn9Eo6YVu3VT1JopnYGtmok/s1600/box+camera.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiBzEWGV8AgwwKujBt4EOD8-O9m9LFANw4C0dEMuGZYHuHlvLcR9IYiTzdMuaRA9_uUkxjpoiT8kryNZXQdTGUlvPV1RLXtvaHt6PVn5RS6sR4-mpxsVT9dn9Eo6YVu3VT1JopnYGtmok/s320/box+camera.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My composition of the negatives was poor, no sense of depth of field and the weeds in the foreground were blurry. I got a D+ for the assignment. Yet this would set the stage for my later becoming a photojournalist and having my work published. I would also meet and work with well known photographers over the years who would greatly influence my work.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My model for this particular shoot was Jackie Cox, my girl friend from Littleton, Colorado. We were attending Colorado State University. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvYlvtCSjnqm7RhzL8m_r4LTjWgs_H_9R4EOG0BhA5u7-PMMIgm5JMs_bhexhGhysqgYWr2B_FYxyNqqXeecypzdnALxYmnDosvF7rJO4_tPnu9lodgK8_S0n_v_bbUe8_ErnJ-7ejEEY/s1600/Jackie+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvYlvtCSjnqm7RhzL8m_r4LTjWgs_H_9R4EOG0BhA5u7-PMMIgm5JMs_bhexhGhysqgYWr2B_FYxyNqqXeecypzdnALxYmnDosvF7rJO4_tPnu9lodgK8_S0n_v_bbUe8_ErnJ-7ejEEY/s320/Jackie+1.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What is this for again?</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtFTipZcmMsHGtlKRr0j6sbFRKSIQMHkwWfn7ChuS1BOoIq8QSKHQNLv7_NyarpTIEg1k1CraG-kW10lahKkd7XFnSF93B5W5hD8rlYYDV_AZpwKsKZQxtslFk8nnJiJhijS-Pvc5zLOY/s1600/Jackie2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtFTipZcmMsHGtlKRr0j6sbFRKSIQMHkwWfn7ChuS1BOoIq8QSKHQNLv7_NyarpTIEg1k1CraG-kW10lahKkd7XFnSF93B5W5hD8rlYYDV_AZpwKsKZQxtslFk8nnJiJhijS-Pvc5zLOY/s320/Jackie2.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How long this going to take?</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqay6RxcIR_l-9z77HBm59ekoYmhUyG9Co_JBOWsDQpS2dwq4YZRKKXqRyKVWZqM4h2do1WpCsCCQEhb6VkJ9iEqScInvripu0l87TPXMt5crgpWBhLFWDvG1NVLc0Lot0E17El59hff0/s1600/Jackie+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqay6RxcIR_l-9z77HBm59ekoYmhUyG9Co_JBOWsDQpS2dwq4YZRKKXqRyKVWZqM4h2do1WpCsCCQEhb6VkJ9iEqScInvripu0l87TPXMt5crgpWBhLFWDvG1NVLc0Lot0E17El59hff0/s320/Jackie+3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We done yet?</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Found: three 2 1/2" x 2 1/2 negatives</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">taken between 1966-1967</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">City Park, Ft. Collins, Colorado</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I found these negatives in a box sitting squashed underneath several pounds of paper layered with dust. I nearly tossed them into the trash, but then decided to get the negatives developed. I am so glad, because the result was a lasting and wonderful memory.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11003837659916297742noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826700425118998189.post-20239403151172996902013-09-17T12:22:00.001-07:002013-09-17T23:30:18.690-07:006 Reasons Why I Grudgingly Admire Vladimir Putin<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio_VLLNCBHHmhnk8EZdvQ8ff4TnnM1jnB_XJxnG0tyq2IvHRT6pWyBvI685j6IwoT8vnhYmnnpk8F7XPl4Pk6WGJdwYlDVn6YRZFuGvxSyhIlPqUf5GCC4z8TboSYmdbwwK8TCfJG9umo/s1600/Putin+the+apparachik.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio_VLLNCBHHmhnk8EZdvQ8ff4TnnM1jnB_XJxnG0tyq2IvHRT6pWyBvI685j6IwoT8vnhYmnnpk8F7XPl4Pk6WGJdwYlDVn6YRZFuGvxSyhIlPqUf5GCC4z8TboSYmdbwwK8TCfJG9umo/s400/Putin+the+apparachik.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Putin the Apparatchik</span></b></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">I have written previous blog posts about Vladimir Putin’s
lack of compassion with his government's cruel treatment of the </span><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://michaelshandrick.blogspot.ca/2012/08/pussy-riot-grrrrrls-jailed-in-anti.html">Pussy Riot Girls</a></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">, who are in their second year in a remote Russian gulag. This is Vladimir the KGB thug. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">But then I read Putin's opinion piece in the <b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/opinion/putin-plea-for-caution-from-russia-on-syria.html">New York Times</a></b>. It revealed a side to the man that is rarely seen. He is erudite, charming and cheeky. Other reasons I admire this new Putin:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 21.600000381469727px; line-height: 24.799999237060547px;">#1. </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Russian president Vladimir Putin is a martial artist in
judo. He used this in a body slam to the Americans with his piece in the<i> Times<b>. </b></i></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">He illustrated a clever way for a world leader to deliver a message. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">#2. Putin does not play golf, a game of the American bourgeois. He is by nature short, smaller than the legend he has artfully built. He hunts and fishes. He is a student of English. He wears his heart on his sleeve when he is around beautiful women. Sometimes, he’s just being a guy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">#3. Putin’s remark about American exceptionalism was as calculated and practiced as any judo move. He articulated what many world leaders feel but won’t say in public. (I agree
with Putin's assessment because I came from a generation of men who know
exceptionalism by its real name: imperialism.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">#4. As a life long apparatchik, Putin does not miss much. If not judo, his every
move is a calculated chess move. He would not play this game if he didn't think he could win. So far, he’s made a splash. I hope he keeps writing opinions about America. Our freedom of speech might rub off on him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">#5. Putin has attracted the admiration of American
ultra-right Republican toadies. It will be interesting to see how Putin plays the capitalists stupid then spits them out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">#6. As a Russian, Putin thoroughly understands irony and paradox. It's refreshing to see complexity in a world leader who is not so easily flummoxed. He is all about composure. He exudes his power. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 20.909090042114258px; line-height: 23.636363983154297px;">At international summits he emerges as the only adult in the room.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"> Putin understands his time in the limelight is limited. He is enjoying his celebrity on the world stage. Maybe, just maybe he might be able to meet fellow Russian,</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"> <b><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2422191/Russian-supermodel-Irina-Shayk-models-new-swimwear-collection-Beach-Bunny.html">Irina Shayk</a></b>.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11003837659916297742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826700425118998189.post-47198401212257669552013-09-03T15:32:00.000-07:002013-10-23T13:15:40.446-07:00Found Objects: Curating a Life of Lost Art<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">This is a story of a man who felt abandoned by his Muse, his talents,
his metaphorical lovers. Over the course of a turbulent departure, and a very
long interval in a foreign land, he eventually returns to find new inspiration
from what he had left behind. After all, it was he who abandoned his very self. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Now
he finds he is curating his own life from the found objects secreted in boxes
he once felt had no worth. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He discovers new dimensions of himself in the array
of his gleaming treasures – the un-produced screenplays, the unpublished
novels, the un-blogged blogs… the countless short stories / plays / poems /
lyrics / photographs / paintings… These are his personal works of
art and artistry, his mind and heart, his true loves.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">This is a story of a man who realizes, in the process of finding
himself, an unintended consequence of these treasures: his work has taken on
more than a newly inspired meaning; it has become an exhibition of priceless
worth.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr84mXl-II-oI7-ZKOf_8DOWRFi2zt3jkhdROXEI8Ox22RdcoUctL4EujvLYpBVOM8sq6PpIigKk6Jomgz8XAVSgf3c9k7eiUwIJ8ZwGQ82CnwJnAcZvjmsyRPlQzJQIf7wXH1dXdlzz8/s1600/abstract_painting_PS.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr84mXl-II-oI7-ZKOf_8DOWRFi2zt3jkhdROXEI8Ox22RdcoUctL4EujvLYpBVOM8sq6PpIigKk6Jomgz8XAVSgf3c9k7eiUwIJ8ZwGQ82CnwJnAcZvjmsyRPlQzJQIf7wXH1dXdlzz8/s640/abstract_painting_PS.png" width="432" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Watching Paint Dry- M.Shandrick</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Found Object #1<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Watching Paint Dry<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Symbol;"><img alt="*" height="10" src="file:///C:/Users/Mike/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.gif" width="10" /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">10 ½” w X 13 ½”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">acrylic<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">This worn
canvas was found underneath a pile of papers in a box, some 20 years after it
was painted. It had survived several moves and storage facilities before its
discovery in 2012.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11003837659916297742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826700425118998189.post-57499633197334453012013-08-23T16:16:00.000-07:002013-09-03T15:51:09.549-07:00Hazards of Writing On A Beach In Rio<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPkOul-W-xuoYbtYPHCDViVtzyZtolrAxlt1NiK863HQXg6PU7wKT3yGCrkgU2NtGW5LCtQ5A7J3pPnt1vcf391PmEvXQY4JdlgPHbfhjFqDRoK0WxZ8e9FR6z7-z8atXNN8RgBAhmjO8/s1600/393778_371229342893958_100000206863489_1726670_861120349_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPkOul-W-xuoYbtYPHCDViVtzyZtolrAxlt1NiK863HQXg6PU7wKT3yGCrkgU2NtGW5LCtQ5A7J3pPnt1vcf391PmEvXQY4JdlgPHbfhjFqDRoK0WxZ8e9FR6z7-z8atXNN8RgBAhmjO8/s400/393778_371229342893958_100000206863489_1726670_861120349_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>End of the day at Ipanema</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moritz_Thomsen" style="color: #cc6600;"><b>The Saddest Pleasure: A Journey on Two Rivers</b></a></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> by Moritz Thomsen was a memoir travelogue I was reading during my travel to Brazil. The book came into my hands at a particularly propitious time from a friend. He travels a great deal and thought I could use the book as an inspiration.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.796875px;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">I soon discovered from the book that I had come to Rio about the same age as Thomsen, who visited the city in the Seventies. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">His life and viewpoints were similar to my own. Soon enough I began to write a modest travel blog in the same style as his wonderful travel classic. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.796875px;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Tomsen refers to his title as the state of paradox, of his being in two worlds at the same time, arriving and leaving, always conflicted by the joy of arrival and sadness beyond words of departure. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.796875px;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">My early writings in <i>Temporary Carioca</i> were done while sitting on the beach. The early notes were difficult to read because I had spilled a beer on them while sampling tasty beach edibles under an umbrella at Ipanema. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Then once, a wave crashed nearby and got my paper wet. The waves were persistent in calling me from work to play. And so I did. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Daily I rode a bicycle to the beach, had a coconut drink and quickly succumbed to the allure of the Brasilian waters and never ending array of beautiful women to watch.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Much of what I wrote in my six months of posts was truly inspired and I am grateful to myself for the wisdom to keep writing these posts. Especially now as the years go by.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.796875px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.796875px;"><span style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">I will continue to add posts from stories that were not published in <i>Temporary Carioca</i> in this blog,<b> </b><b style="color: #999999; text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://michaelshandrick.blogspot.ca/" style="color: #999999; text-decoration: none;">Michael Shandrick</a>.</b></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> </span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11003837659916297742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826700425118998189.post-1920883172681482252013-08-11T12:49:00.000-07:002013-09-03T15:48:26.179-07:00A Look Back At August 2012 and What's Happened Since<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Detroit Now a Third World City</b><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL1X5eB2jFbjSk7_WO4amxGMUoIDpTBgZasZ51kkNoN5dPqhWBDPuokvQG8TJ1nbvt7POt28kQ1G4AJNNBXG7thsGOVy8A5agirswnqXvlk6JJai7mKfRBbnRisOPgm-Et_9tKpUVQJb0/s1600/detroit+as+slum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL1X5eB2jFbjSk7_WO4amxGMUoIDpTBgZasZ51kkNoN5dPqhWBDPuokvQG8TJ1nbvt7POt28kQ1G4AJNNBXG7thsGOVy8A5agirswnqXvlk6JJai7mKfRBbnRisOPgm-Et_9tKpUVQJb0/s320/detroit+as+slum.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>The Ruins of a Once Great City</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">On August 4, 2012, I wrote my first posting, “<b><a href="http://michaelshandrick.blogspot.ca/2012/08/us-is-now-officially-banana-republic.html">U.S. Now A Banana Republic</a></b>”. This post could have
been written off as a rant by political comedian Bill Maher were it not for the
fact that the entire state of Michigan is now in deep water economically and the
city of Detroit is in default and bankrupt. It has come to pass that the city cannot be saved.
Both the American system of government and the economic system resemble
an oligarchy more than a capitalistic democracy. Remember: America came up with the Marshall Plan after World War II -- and now we can't save </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Detroit or New Orleans. Maybe the Detroit city fathers should turn the Detroit football stadium into a soccer stadium. All third world countries have soccer. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>What is Really Going On In Rio?</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Last year, one of my first posting was about Julia Michaels who was writing about the turbulent changes going on in Rio de Janeiro in her blog <a href="http://michaelshandrick.blogspot.ca/2012/08/what-is-really-going-on-in-rio_16.html"><b>Rio Real</b></a>. She wanted to know how, with all the changes, could there still be parallel improvements in income equality and social justice. She saw potential change amid so much chaos, so she kept asking: "Will It Last?" Julia got her answer just last month when a few million people across Brazil took to the streets to protest the changes that had disrupted their lives. The police are in disarray, the people in Rio are looking to dump their city officials and construction has come to a virtual halt on Olympic and World Cup projects. What happened to the promised social justice programs that were supposed to be built in tandem with the new soccer stadiums? For the answer: Read Julia's most recent <b><a href="http://riorealblog.com/2013/07/29/rio-protests-pope-politics-police-and-pacification/">posting</a>.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Don't Go to Russia If You Are Gay</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Vladimir Putin, evidently no longer worried that a handful of young
female punk rockers could topple his regime, has moved on to torment gay people
in Russia. With two of the <b><a href="http://michaelshandrick.blogspot.ca/2012/08/pussy-riot-grrrrrls-jailed-in-anti.html">Pussy Riot Girls</a></b>
remaining in a Soviet-era gulag the past year, Putin's new assault on civil liberties sets the stage for a Nazi-style repression unseen since Hitler began rounding up the gays and gypsies in the late 1930s. In any event, no one has told Putin yet that parading
around bare chested after taking off his shirt at every public event is pretty gay
by most standards. Putin himself no longer has control of events. Olympic organizers are giving Vancouver another look as an alternate site for the 2014 Winter Olympics, already plagued with delays and corruption and Soviet politics.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Arsene Wenger Refuses
to Break Vow of Silence<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A year ago the Arsenal manager lost his best player from the squad in a heart-breaking defection to Manchester United, which won the English Premier League title with the help of the striker's outstanding season. Meanwhile, Wenger's team struggled to a fourth-place finish and narrowly made it into the Champions League without a striker who could take Arsenal to a championship. Wenger endured several public protests in the streets by fans who wanted him fired. With the new season set to begin in several weeks, Wenger is no closer to landing a top striker. At one point Wenger had his choice of five of the world's best. In my post, <b><a href="http://michaelshandrick.blogspot.ca/2013/02/what-wenger-isnt-telling-arsenal-fans.html">"What Is Wenger Not Telling Arsenal Fans?”</a></b> I thought he would have explained his reasons for not signing someone. He has chosen silence. I am going to answer the question for Wenger: “ I’m not going to
bankrupt the club chasing an over-rated striker who wants $50 million US to
play for Arsenal." It's a reason he's often used in the past, but not one fans want to hear again.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11003837659916297742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826700425118998189.post-78593158948284200232013-08-02T21:20:00.000-07:002013-08-20T15:23:21.763-07:00Pope Stops Time In Rio<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiewTS9vakIyME86MdQ9C3hv0hzvlIkILS-SBRwX5tNBtPBX8fcfKdKCoofV1mhmWwb4t0uQNgAbf43XatOcut61BfHbrJU62EOGqy3ClfRoCuNmpyy2xQlnpKhmrsMXlGyTl4M5kAZ67k/s1600/Pope+Brazil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiewTS9vakIyME86MdQ9C3hv0hzvlIkILS-SBRwX5tNBtPBX8fcfKdKCoofV1mhmWwb4t0uQNgAbf43XatOcut61BfHbrJU62EOGqy3ClfRoCuNmpyy2xQlnpKhmrsMXlGyTl4M5kAZ67k/s400/Pope+Brazil.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Time stopped during Pope's visit</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Pope Francis during his trip to Brazil created a miracle when he stopped time in Rio. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">City authorities noticed that during the pontiff's visit that the famous Hublot clock is now stuck at 365 days in its countdown. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR3fHJ-RriRBKi4r2nCMvM4PSLC0-lF7lGk5LfiiWU_mT4RBtPSHrvzw6ZGCUE1hW74VsPdegy1iM-yeqgPokfbwTgrKQNr7p4lJ4bbek0nZwr8TSBY-dzfcjtQjSE-k4Xlx97uhLEOFg/s1600/hublot+clock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR3fHJ-RriRBKi4r2nCMvM4PSLC0-lF7lGk5LfiiWU_mT4RBtPSHrvzw6ZGCUE1hW74VsPdegy1iM-yeqgPokfbwTgrKQNr7p4lJ4bbek0nZwr8TSBY-dzfcjtQjSE-k4Xlx97uhLEOFg/s320/hublot+clock.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Will all work stop now on the Copa </span></b></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It is now 11 months until the 2014 World Cup begins in Brazil.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It is not known whether work will continue on World Cup construction if the clock cannot be fixed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Already delayed by numerous obstacles, including mass demonstrations weeks before, World Cup organizers face further delays in construction, including a massive clean-up after millions of Catholics went to Copacabana beach to attend masses.</span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11003837659916297742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826700425118998189.post-54563650105801233422013-07-26T18:40:00.003-07:002013-09-03T15:53:07.160-07:00 First Anniversary For Gonzo Blog<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdXEGXwypt3XEaM5YdXYz81r3ufgvi9q_c6m5mj-F-d9jg6OiDJ_c6mHITDcLqULU84dB_eyA0o4Z3jE_EiTXuRpO-l4hbHR5wey087YlGzxY31nDBbqfuDfsk3y97Cte31i1tQ1OsJOU/s1600/mikeportraitblog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdXEGXwypt3XEaM5YdXYz81r3ufgvi9q_c6m5mj-F-d9jg6OiDJ_c6mHITDcLqULU84dB_eyA0o4Z3jE_EiTXuRpO-l4hbHR5wey087YlGzxY31nDBbqfuDfsk3y97Cte31i1tQ1OsJOU/s400/mikeportraitblog.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Author Michael Shandrick</span></b></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On August 4, 2012, I wrote my first posting, “The U.S. Now A Banana Republic” . It was my first
attempt at a topical (news worthy) blog. That piece </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">garnered a modest 40 page views.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">As of today (July 29, 2013) I have received more than 5,000 views from 34 posts.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Here are my most popular posts over the past year:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>1.</b> <i><b><a href="http://michaelshandrick.blogspot.ca/2012/09/a-new-wail-to-fail-in-america.html">A N</a></b></i></span><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://michaelshandrick.blogspot.ca/2013/02/the-straw-that-broke-tigers-back.html">e</a></b></i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><b><a href="http://michaelshandrick.blogspot.ca/2012/09/a-new-wail-to-fail-in-america.html">w Way to Fail in America</a>, </b></i></span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://michaelshandrick.blogspot.ca/2012/09/hasty-sale-of-digital-domain-to-foreign.html">Hasty Sale to Foreigners</a>, <a href="http://michaelshandrick.blogspot.ca/2013/02/the-straw-that-broke-tigers-back.html">The Straw That Broke The Tiger's Back.</a></b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">These three posts took an in-depth look at how Hollywood
and Wall Street banksters have ruined America’s visual effects industry by reaping profits from ruined companies and then selling assets to foreign buyers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>2. <a href="http://michaelshandrick.blogspot.ca/2012/09/moneyball-paying-off-for-oakland-as.html">Moneyball Still Working for the Oakland A’s</a><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Two companion posts illustrate how Moneyball keeps paying
off for the underdog Oakland A’ baseball team during last season’s dramatic finish – and now the A's are
at it once again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>3. <a href="http://michaelshandrick.blogspot.ca/2012/11/three-reasons-why-math-is-new-sexy.html">Three<span style="color: red;"> </span>Reasons Why Math Is The New Sexy</a>, <a href="http://michaelshandrick.blogspot.ca/2013/02/what-wenger-isnt-telling-arsenal-fans.html">What Is Wenger Not Telling Arsenal Fans</a></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">These posts examine how math is changing soccer, politics
and baseball.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>4. Screenwriting </b></span><br />
<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://michaelshandrick.blogspot.ca/2013/02/lucky-charms-needed-for-irish-filmmaker.html"><span style="font-size: large;">Lucky Charms Needed For Irish Film Director</span></a></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>5. </b></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://michaelshandrick.blogspot.ca/2013/01/a-touch-of-brazilian-magic.html"><b>A Touch of Brazilian Magic,</b></a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><a href="http://michaelshandrick.blogspot.ca/2012/11/from-same-volcano-as-hunter-thompson.html">From the Same Volcano as Hunter S. Thompson,</a> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><a href="http://michaelshandrick.blogspot.ca/2013/05/inmates-running-zoo-of-canadian-politics.html">Inmates are running the Asylum in Canada</a></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">These posts range from the poetical to the political.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you are new to the blog, I invite you to take a peek at 33 posts: </span><b><a href="http://michaelshandrick.blogspot.ca/">http://michaelshandrick.blogspot.ca/</a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">For my supporters: Thank you. Stay tuned.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11003837659916297742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826700425118998189.post-59983201057583887382013-07-07T18:19:00.001-07:002013-07-08T20:24:06.849-07:00Why I'm Not Going to the World Cup in 2014<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The fires are out but the protests continue in Brazil</span></b></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZApBgNQgKPU">"No, I'm
not going to the world cup"</a> </span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>stand in
solidarity with Brazilians, like the young woman who made the video in the link (above). She refuses to support 2014 World Cup. Her video now has 3.3 million hits.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I say good riddance to FIFA and their fellow corrupt<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>cronies, property developers and
cement moguls who line their pockets with all the money that should have been spent on higher teacher salaries, better schools, more hospitals and health care centers for the elderly and poor.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Those projects are still in the promise stage. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">At least this was one of the many promises Dilma Rouseff made when
she was running for president in 2010. The government had promised
it would devote an equivalent amount spent on building new stadiums on adequate
low-cost social housing. To date, all the stadiums are nearly built. Rouseff’s political PT party, the Workers Party, has forgotten those promises to improve the lives of its citizens.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The riots across Brazil was a reminder to her government of those
early promises.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">But why riot now?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">It was the culmination of many causes, of which transportation
clearly played a role.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">As bad as driving is in Rio --in perpetual gridlock -- it is
far better than having to take the public buses. Most drivers are poorly paid
and rarely trained. The drivers are driving on very narrow streets that were built for
carriages 500 years ago by the Portuguese. The roads in are finally wearing out
but there's no space for new lanes.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I know this as a bicyclist in Rio for six months. I learned
quickly that to survive on a bike, it is necessary to understand that there is
no courtesy for bikes or pedestrians. Rarely does a cyclist find a bike lane. A
cyclist has to compete with motorbikes, as well as cars and buses. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Biking actually provides the best mobility in a city in love with
its cars. For the infirm and elderly, the buses are the least popular option.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I rode the buses daily. They are old and breaking down under the
crush of people and lack of maintenance. Several months ago a woman was raped
on a bus and no one could stop it. In another incident a man came on the bus
and fought with the driver, causing the driver to swerve and drive off a bridge
killing several passengers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">As in the US, the elderly, students, the working class and the
poorest comprise bus ridership. Then, on the heels of these incidents described
above, Rio’s transportation bureaucrats decided to raise bus fares, an
equivalent of ten cents. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">What does it cost for a police escort of FIFA officials from and
to the airport?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">During my stay in Rio I found that Brazilians are
general are slow to burn, given the inconvenience of getting around the city.
They are always getting hit with a new fare, a tax, a fee, and bolsa, a word
covering a wide number of corrupt ways to get your money. Maybe the bus fare was the straw
that broke the camel's back.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Being middle class is a slippery slope. People are beginning to
wonder: why are the only people to suffer are those least able pay. They are
witnessing the “divide”.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<h1 style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<h1 style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">On one side are the
prominent and on the other are the poor who live from day to day in places where hope
had fled decades ago. <o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<h1 style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">In the middle is a
perception that you could fall even further into the gaping void of the poor. Why would you want to be reminded of them sitting next to you on the bus.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"> There is no air conditioning.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<h1 style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<h1 style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">To fill in for the aging buses,
mini cabs began appearing on the road this several years ago.They are unlicensed
vehicles owned and operated by gangs or drug syndicates to launder money. They
operate like taxis but are not approved or regulated by the city.<o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<h1 style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<h1 style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">If you are stuck when
a bus is not on schedule or is broken down, your “ride” is a mini cab and you
share it in a dark confined space with others. The charges vary and have to be
negotiated several times during a ride.<o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<h1 style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<h1 style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I wrote about the swindles in my </span><a href="http://temporarycarioca.blogspot.ca/2010/05/jesuswhat-swindle.html">Temporary Carioca </a><span style="font-weight: normal;">blog about trying
to get up the Corcavado by one of these gangster mini cabs. The price for bringing you
down the mountain would increase once you were at the top.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></h1>
<h1 style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<h1 style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">Thousands of tourists
are fleeced this way every day by these shady drivers. Until recently, commuters took their
lives in their hands by commuting in them. When a female tourist was raped by
people in a mini cab, stories began coming out that this had been going on for some
time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<h1 style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<h1 style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">The city, state and federal authorities made more inquiries and studies. The only action to this point was that the mini cabs
were banished from the streets. And still there is no alternative to the old buses.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<h1 style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<h1 style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">Meanwhile, more new
stadiums are being built, along with luxury condos and big hotels. Really, was this a
good time to introduce a fare hike on the poorest?<o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<h1 style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<h1 style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">Somewhere in Rio and
Sao Palo, there is a tire burning, sending black smoke into the air. It is a
reminder of a fire fight between a police invasion and trafikers. And it has
become worse now that the UPP, once a peace keeping force that has morfed into an
invasion force.<o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<h1 style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<h1 style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">A couple of months
ago in the North and Western Zones of Rio the favela residents began filming
these invasions to show the public how they live.<o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<h1 style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></h1>
<h1 style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">Formerly, the trafickers would protect
residents from the police, but now that more favelas are pacified, the lines are
beginning to blur. </span></span></h1>
<h1 style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></h1>
<h1 style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">In a recent invasion, the UPP used tear gas, pepper
spray to disperse a crowd then shot into the crowd. From the video footage,
there was no measured response to favela people protesting the invasion. The video showed a 10-year-old boy lying
in his blood.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<h1 style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<h1 style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">In another UPP
action, Indians had been forced from their traditional homes in Rio to make way
for a new condo development. The Indians made a make-shift shelter to house
them in the old Maracana stadium. When the "pacification" force arrived the
Indians protested peacefully, but were brutally beaten.<o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Was this a good time to have a Confederations Cup with blood still
on the streets?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Part III: <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<h1 style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<h1 style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">For the first time in Brazil’s history,
the international soccer team will be on the wrong side of its people.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<span class="textexposedshow" style="font-size: large;">
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<u1:p></u1:p>
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<u1:p></u1:p>
<u1:p></u1:p>
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<u1:p></u1:p>
<u1:p></u1:p>
</span><br />
<h1 style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<h1 style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: 1.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
</span></h1>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11003837659916297742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826700425118998189.post-87469515062173469842013-06-27T14:13:00.000-07:002013-07-08T20:25:06.532-07:00Why Is Rio Burning ?<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu5cs8Z7OIE5h8hRjalcJ8_k1f5oNzn_VQnN0DSZgtDY8Iyiu80xA8sMkrRNH-6DZVqNqvmTwnL1WMm-fWDzaO4YCBHtj0A-_MzGz0_dbDG0Q1WTmbh4tZ3GqiFoTupjlhpt2S8AoxPNU/s1600/favela+in+rio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu5cs8Z7OIE5h8hRjalcJ8_k1f5oNzn_VQnN0DSZgtDY8Iyiu80xA8sMkrRNH-6DZVqNqvmTwnL1WMm-fWDzaO4YCBHtj0A-_MzGz0_dbDG0Q1WTmbh4tZ3GqiFoTupjlhpt2S8AoxPNU/s400/favela+in+rio.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>I visited Rocinha before it was pacified. The favela comprises 150,000 residents</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">People don’t just pour into the streets by the
millions for no reason.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Especially, the Carioca. In more than 100 cities across Brazil protests broke out during the week of June 20. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The last time this many Brazilians gathered in the
streets of Rio was just 24 years ago. At the time they were celebrating the fall of the country's brutal military dictatorship. For most, the protests were their first taste of freedom.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Over the past two and a half decades the people have been provoked and sometimes they took to the streets. But this new protest movement that began on June 20 is different, it has no name or label. No one claims to have organized it. It's not about transportation fare hikes. The causes are innumerable.</span><br />
<br class="MsoNormal" div="" />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Brazilians have become quite accustomed to washing their dirty
laundry in public with so much corruption at every level of government. At the same time, the Carioca remain people of a guiles, peurile
nature. They have learned to be tolerant and have adapted. Yet, with this new movement, something has pissed them off in a big way. For once, they don't care that the rest of the world is watching.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Never having fought in a war for independence or any war for that matter, Brazilians treasure their
family and peace. Their culture demands it. How else could such a complex culture survive without a civil war. The races, sects and nationalities, the rich and the poor blend in on occasion with uncompromising equanimity, creating a country that is both benevolent and violent in times of uncertainty. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Brazil ranks first in the number of people using Facebook. It took the normally easy going Brazilians just three years to wire the country from one end to the other. Now Brazilians are on the verge of taking on a $400 billion upgrade to its shipping ports, airports, railways, roads and bridges, a feat that only China could match for sheer audacity.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the face of this, the Brazilian middle class and working class have found they are
being squeezed like the people in Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain. The bankers are pushing for austerity while the middle class is feeling the pinch on wages and standard of living.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">They have seen too many friends move away in search of jobs and neighborhood businesses closing up. Too many services have been uprooted. Low cost housing is a thing of the past in Rio. Entire city blocks of affordable housing are being destroyed and replaced by luxury condos.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">More and more Carioca are losing their jobs once thought secure. Food is becoming more expensive, along with basic services. Brazil, which has a shaky history with inflation at best, has slowed down its investment in small business. Once lavish and fashionable malls sit nearly empty.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Somewhere there was a miscalculation. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Against the backdrop of unprecedented propaganda
about Brazil becoming a rising world power and hosting the World Cup of Soccer (futebol) next year in Brazil and the 2016 Olympic Games two years later, Brazilians are asking themselves "What is happening?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">One of those asking is <a href="http://michaelshandrick.blogspot.ca/2012/08/what-is-really-going-on-in-rio_16.html"><b>Julia Michaels</b></a> who began a blog to answer questions often lingering the minds of Rio citizens. In Rio Real she wondered if Rio could really pull it off. Moreover, would the good intentions, harmony and collaboration continue.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #333333;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #333333;">"</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Her question all along was: “Would it
last?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">She took a micro-view at the city and state of Rio de Janeiro, focusing on the
many small steps being taken during its dramatic revitalization. She met with city planners, the foot soldiers in the battle to balance the huge infrastructure projects.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">What she found was that the inevitable “divide” was rising over the city in recent months. Her blog reveals a chilling trend and tragic unfolding amid so much confusion, money and hype.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When the protesters emerged into the streets last week, Ms. Michaels saw a diversity of protesters, many of them young. She was asking, “Who are these young people?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It will take time for the smoke to clear from a fire that had been burning for years. There is no easy remedy. This new movement with no name is a coalition comprising many movements.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I lived in Rio for six months. I was a temporary Carioca, the name of a blog I wrote at the time. When tens of thousands of Rio residents, middle class and poor turned out, I wasn't too surprised from all that I had seen in my time there. Upon reflection, I could see the new movement was a perfect storm.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.174999237060547px;">Next Post: Why is Rio Burning Now?</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11003837659916297742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826700425118998189.post-57848244440147085302013-05-29T14:34:00.000-07:002013-06-08T21:48:34.014-07:00Inmates Running the Asylum in Canada<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>NOTE:</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>On May 31, 2013 the B.C. government announced it would not support the Enbridge pipeline project. While this is seen as a major win for environmentalists, the backers of the project, especially Prime Minister Harper and his conservatives buddies in the Alberta Oil Sands lobby, will continue to push their agenda. </b></span></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>Hopefully, the environmentalists won't go to sleep, which they are prone to doing. Anyone concerned must keep asking the question: is it sustainable to keep gouging the earth for fossil fuels at a time when climate change has accelerated?</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>We share the planet, even with oil barons, but we must take a stand to balance our concerns with big oilogarchies which usually get everything they want.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>Remain vigilant for any backdoor compromises over the 5 steps that Enbridge could not guarantee. The oil and gas people will no doubt try to change the narrative and turn public attention against the B.C. government through a battering ram of fear-mongering advertisements on the Internet and regular media. Take a stand.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">-----------------------------------------------------------------------------</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">THE INMATES ARE pretty much in control of this nut house. Only here we
call the crazies "elected officials". </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For starters, the Conservative Canadian Prime
Minister Stephen Harper won’t explain his role in a money laundering scheme in
which his staff paid Senator Mike Duffy $90,000 to help the Senator with debts he incurred on "party business" at various </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Conservative Party functions. The word "scandal" is being used liberally the past two weeks. Harper continues to evade further investigation, calling the cash discrepancy politically inspired. What </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">is known is that Harper asked his chief of staff to walk the plank for him. Now the entire staff at the PMO are on alert looking over their shoulders to see who is next to be pushed under a bus or has to take a bullet for the boss. As long as there are enough staffers Harper won't have to talk about it. . .</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">THE PMO SCANDAL should have dominated the news but the focus shifted when the
Mayor of Toronto grabbed the headlines for the past week. Allegedly, Rob Ford snorted crack and was caught on video with persons known to police. Ford, a right-wing radio talk show host can't be impeached and somehow has remained popular among his
listeners and constituents. Stephen Harper is relieved to see his own scandal has disappeared from the news media. . .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">WHILE FENDING OFF reporters PM Harper has been busy at the Bank of Canada discussing the issue of a <a href="http://www.timescolonist.com/jack-knox-the-90-000-duffy-buck-stops-here-bank-of-canada-decides-1.231196"><b>new $90,000 currency</b></a> note. . .</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">ASIDE FROM LAUNDERING conservative cash, PM Harper is busy
dismantling CBC, the country’s last public communications network. Harper has
been trying for years to get rid of what he views as a far left cable channel. Now that the CBC is being de-fanged, Peter
Mansbridge, the CBC news anchor and host, introduced a piece of film taken of Harper in 2005 when he first became the Prime Minister. In the film Harper made a speech in which he
said that any person associated with scandal over financial dealings would be immediately expelled from the party. The
look on Mansbridge’s face told the full story: "Ok, Mister Harper. We’re still waiting. Clear out
your desk. We’re having somebody escort you to your car."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">APATHY WINS A MAJORITY in
British Columbia. With 3,116, 626 registered voters in B.C. only 23 % voted for the winning party, the Liberals. This was the lowest total turnout of any provincial
election in B.C. history, 48 percent of registered eligible voters never even bothered. <a href="http://vancouversolitudes.blogspot.ca/2011/03/hockey-mom-stuns-crowd.html"><b>Christy Clark</b></a>, a single hockey mom, took over the provincial Liberal party in 2011 when the last premier was found in a cave writing frantic press releases and talking to killer whales. Clark, despite trailing by 20 points in the polls, won a majority on a policy platform of</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> “family values”.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> Before she had a chance to celebrate her win, an aide tapped Ms.
Clark on the shoulder with the bad news, “Madam Premier, you lost your seat in West Point Grey.” Ms. Clark cannot open the provincial legislature until some backbencher is
paid to fall on his sword in a “safe” riding. Avid readers of this blog may recall in <a href="http://michaelshandrick.blogspot.ca/2013/04/three-dot-journalism-is-alivet.html"><b>my last three-dot column</b></a> that I suggested this might happen. . .</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">ALBERTA’S OIL RICH lobbyists are pumping millions of $$$ into social media site like music and film. The campaign in B.C comprises scores of YouTube videos promising the younger demographic to get stoked about job security working in the oil sands and earning a steady income when the revenues kick in. Only problem with that, the young people stayed home during the election and the hype may be lost on them. Nevertheless, they will see a tidal wave of ads aimed at them. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The Alberta oil and gas lobbyists are hitting the lamestream television and radio shows to illustrate how British Columbia can become one of the largest oil colonies in the world. Read: Blue-Eyed Arabs. . .</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">WHAT DOES A Liberal stand
for in today’s Canada? Energy development? Clark did not win with the Liberal vote alone. In a post mortem survey
of the 2013 election in B.C. Clark was swept to victory by wooing conservative voters to vote for her overwhelmingly. . .</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">JOBS TRUMP CLIMATE change is the message from the business elites at the Vancouver Board of Trade and the Chamber of Commerce. Oh, yeah, remember <b><u><a href="http://michaelshandrick.blogspot.ca/2012/10/5-scary-st-stories-to-haunt-this.html">FIPA ?</a></u></b> This was Harper's plan all along to bring Asian workers to work in B.C. as part of a sweeping trade deal with China. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">IN CANADA the provinces have jurisdiction over the development and the export of resources.
PM Harper wants to change all that. The man who will make this happen has an eerily sounding name like a Bond villain. Mr. Lounds. He and his <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/bc-resource-champions-backing-questioned/article10823270/"><b>British Columbians for International Prosperity</b></a> is a murky conglomerate of international heavy oil barons representing oil pipelines, heavy oil construction, oil tankers and dams. Lounds is leading what he calls</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> the fight "against environmentalists". </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">With such friends as Lounds, Harper and his federal conservatives, it looks like lots of suits will be unpacking their bags for a long stay in B.C. over coming
months and years to make sure Madam Clark is walking the federal line. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">THE CHRISTY CLARK two-step
will look something like this: she will promise jobs with her new pipeline agenda
but will begin her next session in the legislature, (presuming she can find a riding to win in), by cutting the provincial budgets for social welfare, unions wage increases and
education. She’s already turned her back on raising tax subsidies
on the once healthy film industry in B.C. forcing a lot of skilled talent to
leave the province. As of this writing, Ms. Clark is still calling herself a Liberal. </span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11003837659916297742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826700425118998189.post-15086923844235207352013-05-09T21:30:00.003-07:002013-08-20T15:39:12.928-07:00Moneyball A's Still Got Cluster Luck<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Time Running Out on A's Frugal Moneyball?</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>UPDATE: June 7,2013</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>As of today, the A's have won 17 of their last 20 games, the longest win streak in the majors. And they are winning with "Cluster Luck". Once again they are winning at the last at-bat, and most recently came from behind with a bases-loaded home run</b></span><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> in the 9th inning to defeat the Chicago White Sox 4-3.</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b> The A's then proved it on defense, catching a home run ball to rob the White Sox of a sure home run. The A's now lead the Western Division of the American Conference, overcoming the Texas Rangers (again) after being behind the Rangers by 7 games a couple of weeks ago. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>The biggest smile in the room these days are those in the front office, the guys who put together this rag-tag group of under-rated guys over this past winter. Billy Beane and his staff tinkered with the line-up, experimented and then put what they had on the diamond. Look at what happened.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b> For comparison, you can follow the Toronto Blue Jays.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Post from May 9, 2013</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My most popular posts since beginning this blog have been about the Moneyball Oakland A's. Throughout this blog you will find some earlier posts about their incredible 2012 season. Or, then again, maybe baseball is not your thing. That's okay.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Oakland A’s are playing at the .500
mark after playing 36 games in the 2013 MLB season. The A’s are in the midst of
a prolonged and brutal eastern swing through Tampa Bay, Baltimore, Boston, Detroit, the
Yankees and Cleveland, big money teams expected to be among those fighting for
divisional playoff spots at the end of the season. The A's have suffered some injuries and are 4-6 in their last ten games.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To start the season the A’s fed off Houston, the LA Angels
and the Seattle Mariners to build up the win column to the delight of the
faithful, who are still pretending general manager Billy Beane won’t move the A’s to San Jose in the future. The elephant in the Coliseum all year will be "the move".<o:p></o:p></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The A’s are are now four games behind the
Texas Rangers, the most expensive team in baseball. The heavily
favored Rangers fell in a short series when the A’s demolished them in an thrilling finish last season.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What should still be good news for A's fans so
far this season is that the team's “Cluster Luck” is intact. This, according to <a href="http://tradingbases.squarespace.com/blog/2013/5/2/oh-brother.html">author Joe Peta</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Cluster Luck is when
something unidentifiable happens that allows a team to win in the most dramatic
fashion consistently. The A's led the majors in the most walk-off wins last year, a sure sign that their mojo is working.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Already this season, the A's recently played the season's longest game, a 19th inning affair in which the A's came from six runs behind to tie the game in the 9th inning, then played another ten innings to win the game with a home run. I gave up and went to bed in the 13th. I understand the game will be nominated for game of the season. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A couple of days ago, the A's battled back to tie the Cleveland Indians in the 9th with a dramatic home run, only to see an umpire call it a double. The A's lost.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Peta wrote, <i>Trading</i> <i>Bases</i>, a book that gives baseball fans yet another book on how professional baseball teams are run. Peta, did not pick Oakland as a divisional winner last year nor has he seen great things this season for the A's, but his analysis of the "x" factor, as in cluster luck, certainly fits the A's.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Peta, a high-flying </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Wall Street trader, used his theories in stock management and applied them to baseball, a sport he follows like a fan, only he places really large bets to underscore how well his theories are working on the baseball field. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In fact, Peta</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> came up with a system and took
it to Las Vegas where he tested his theory in the gaming pits betting on games. His book describes how he built up an impressive gambling fund over the course of a year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">“What I learned is that baseball teams do do</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"> a lot better job evaluating their players as investments than business
does,”says Peta. “Business might look to baseball to see how they ca</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">n better
evaluate business managers and staff.”</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Luckless Blue Jays in last place all season</span></b></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">By contrast to the A's frugal Moneyball system, there remains the unfolding story of the Toronto Blue Jays' effort to buy their way to the World Series with bucket loads of billionaire cash.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">Now at 13-23 and holding last place of arguably the toughest division in baseball, the Blue Jays find ways t make baseball look difficult.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Blue Jays were supposed to come out and dominate their division, but the team hasn't lived up to the astonishing promotional hype. The Blue Jays languish, fully exposed to the greatest folly of the season. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But the season is young as the buds of spring shed the winter and seasons past.</span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11003837659916297742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826700425118998189.post-74187299871263573102013-04-26T21:14:00.000-07:002013-05-07T09:25:21.542-07:00An Alien Encounter Over Rio<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij4vfNHcZaHdMevoGa4w65AFrrbDZYB8xIc7Rgufw5n_6zcWTOG-7gduoAjUsuS_5yPEfWWxWzYZkR-0fCAq5Osx72WsI-e792eOhvP5nGTndu1utV-XsnNRwghcGuoarc6ZJFpFco2Rs/s1600/panoramaofrioat+night.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij4vfNHcZaHdMevoGa4w65AFrrbDZYB8xIc7Rgufw5n_6zcWTOG-7gduoAjUsuS_5yPEfWWxWzYZkR-0fCAq5Osx72WsI-e792eOhvP5nGTndu1utV-XsnNRwghcGuoarc6ZJFpFco2Rs/s640/panoramaofrioat+night.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>As with all things in Rio that evening, it was magic</b></span></td></tr>
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I clearly remember the night of April 25, 2010. I had finished the dishes and put away the food. It was nearly 11:00. I went out on the veranda of a house in Jardim Botanica. Often I went out to breathe in the cooler air and watch the stars and planets, which seemed much closer in Rio.<br />
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The heavenly sights always stirred me in a way as to make me sleepy. On that particular night the moon was 93% full gibbeous and the huge lights shone over Christo's shoulders and washed across the Corcavado.
But on this night, two red lights blinked above against the clear black sky.<br />
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These new brighter lights were much the same in scale and distance of Venus. I had to crane my neck. They were certainly not aircraft. They were stationary, not darting around or zooming here and there. But they blinked.<br />
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Below these lights I saw a new array of blinking white lights going in a circle under the initial blinking red lights. Then they began to whirl around like a sparkler in a fireworks display. I called to my girlfriend to come out to the veranda. She had lived in the house for nearly 30 years and often star watched from here. She confirmed what I was seeing and she broke out laughing and calling her friends on the phone.<br />
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Just then the lights began to criss-cross and turn more rapidly in a circle. This was followed by three more blue\white lights appearing below the red lights. The earlier white lights now blinked furiously. Then this display was followed by stationary white lights appearing one …two…three…four…five….all the way down to nine… at the end of a chain. The entire formation was in a straight line and neither moved laterally nor vertically. By now it was evident we were watching something beyond human.<br />
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We stood on the veranda breathless and enchanted, in awe and aware of something marvelous. We dared not take our eyes away. At 11:10, the white light on the very bottom of the cosmic necklace went dark. Then one by one each of the white lights slowly went dark from bottom to top. The white circling fireworks stopped. Each of the rapidly blinking red and white lights went out, and finally only two, the original red lights remained. Then they, too, went dark.
Then it was over.<br />
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Later we scoured the Internet to see if there were any other sightings around Rio -- and there are hundreds of new UFOs captured on film each week in Brazil -- but nothing similar to what we had encountered.<br />
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We looked for news reports. We had seen something inexplicable, and the impact was eerie. We needed confirmation.
Over the next week there was a meteor shower from the Pleiades but this display was feckless, distant and cold compared to what we had seen. Helicopters flying over at night seemed rather puny to what we had seen.<br />
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Ironically, it was the same week that Stephen Hawking’s documentary on alien life appeared on television. He discounted the idea that we will one day make contact with aliens. He said that a superior life form would simply not recognize us as anything but inferior life forms. Or worse, they might think we were a food source.<br />
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Also, that day, Arthur C. Clark was quoted in a documentary as saying that making contact with aliens would be made more difficult for us because their advanced technology would be so superior that we could not possibly perceive their advanced technology as anything "indistinguishable from magic".<br />
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And magic it was.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11003837659916297742noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826700425118998189.post-42008025563266878632013-04-18T16:27:00.000-07:002013-04-26T20:13:10.040-07:00What Silence Is: A Poem<br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic';">This is a poem I wrote about what silence is. This was my way of contributing to poetry as art in a tribute to John Cage, called <i>Silent Series</i>, story number fifty-six. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic';">Silence is simply the beat between the words. Drum roll. beat, cymbals.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 14pt;">Rrrrrrrip!</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 14pt;">Pow!</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 14pt;">Thump!</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 14pt;">Whomp!</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 14pt;">Biff!</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 14pt;">Bang!</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 14pt;">Slurp!</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 14pt;">Bam!</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 14pt;">Squeak!</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 14pt;">Slam!</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 14pt;">Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 14pt;">Arggghhhh!!!!</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 14pt;">"Wha?!"</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 14pt;">Slap!</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 14pt;">"No...."</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 14pt;">"Yes..."</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 14pt;">"Ahhhhhh!"</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic';">I have written other poetry, often in small reading circles. Bur one night I decided to read this poem in a small café on Commercialized Drive, where it was cool to be hip and hot enough that evening to melt plastic. I opened a window to let the air out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic';">A poetry lady asked me if I was a poet. I said I’d be in the wrong place if I wasn’t. Anyway, her calling me a poet sounded too much like a job.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic';">This night, the poets mostly read about people who lived under bridges. I doubted if any of them ever had themselves and I suspect they drove there in nice cars.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic';">In the middle of the reading some anti-war people came into the restaurant and took over the room. They said there was a scheduling problem. There was some friction: Poets versus anti-war types. After a lot of talk, both sides pulled back from the brink. The poets would lend the microphone and amplifier to the anti-war guys. The anti-war people said: “Okay, we’ll let you read for another half-hour, but you have to read anti-war poetry.” The poetry lady agreed to donate some money to the anti-war cause, while the anti-war people agreed to be quiet during the reading. The poets even bought the anti-war people beer and bought some anti-war t-shirts for sale. The anti-war people shared the food they brought to the rally. The moment was calm, but robbed of its irony.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic';">I was up to read next. The poetry lady asked me: “Do you have any anti-war poems? I said: “Yes, all my poems are anti-war.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic';">I sat down at the microphone and read the Cage poem. The anti-war people in the audience were not amused. I explained. “It’s war between the sexes,” I said vacating the stage.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic';">I had overstayed my welcome. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic';"> I walked to the bus stop under a full moon. A young man in torn jeans limped on one crutch across the street, shouting at someone who owed him money. I missed my bus and began walking, enjoying the moonlight, happy to be the silence.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11003837659916297742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826700425118998189.post-6087196753996515212013-04-11T21:44:00.000-07:002013-04-12T11:11:55.677-07:00Three Dot Journalism Is Alive<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">TEN DAYS of good weather have really thrown me off stride. The things that I was jazzed up about eight months ago </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">have receded with the rain clouds and grey skies. I am listening to more birds and less to mind chatter.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">IT'S THE BEGINNING of the baseball season and after 10 games the Oakland A's (<a href="http://michaelshandrick.blogspot.ca/2012/10/after-watching-moneyball-last-year.html">see Moneyball</a>) are off to a great start (8-2). I will also watch the Dominican Blue Jays (In Canada they are called the Toronto Blue Jays). This vaunted super team is supposed to be the best money can buy but the team has tripped over its own bats this week just trying to get out of the dugout. They are 3-6 and falling.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I WAS INVITED to participate in the opening anniversary game to celebrate the 46th year of a weekly softball game in Berkeley. I</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> wrote a short history of the guys who began playing at UC Berkeley in 1967. I joined them in 1974 and played for six seasons before being traded. In all my days I could never hit Lewis Dolinsky, a founder of the team. He always beat me in tennis and got me to ground out in softball. I was easy prey so he had it fixed I would never be selected to his team. He had a menacingly slow and jerky delivery. Today, Lewis has left the mound and devotes his time to writing about each game. He's covered virtually every game at Monclair Park in Berkeley and other fields, since the beginning. There must be hundreds of us waiting for his e-mail to arrive. This past Saturday, he writes: </span><span style="color: maroon; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;"><strong>Michael hit a home run on the second pitch of the 2013 opener, and his squad led 15-0 in the third inning. The M's eventually won 18-9. The hitters were clearly ahead of the pitchers. In addition to his homer, Michael had a triple and two singles. Gary, starting his 98th season, had two doubles and a single. In six plate appearances, Ian tripled twice, doubled twice and singled twice. But since he failed to hit for the cycle, he will be required to take extra batting practice. Casey led the Andys with a homer, a triple and a single. Big Jeff made the play of the game, a running over-the-should catch in center field. The field was not wonderful after rain on Friday and a bit more on Saturday, but the grounds crew did fine work and then the legendary Mike O'Connor threw out the first pitch. Attendance was 10 geese and a raccoon. The raccoon was limping. That's a tough way to start the season.</strong></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;"> </span><br />
<strong><span style="color: blue;">Next Saturday at Montclair: Batting practice at 11:30, Game at noon.</span></strong><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">KUDOS TO THE EmotionBeats for keeping it real:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 28px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>You sometimes think you want to disappear.. But all you really want is to be found... </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; line-height: 28px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">BIG LOSERS OF the Week: The CEO of the Royal Bank of Canada gets caught lying over the firing of Canadian IT workers while hiring non-documented workers from Asia. The capitalists are circling the wagons as other Canadian banks are similarly listed as suspects in international drug smuggling and slavery. Wasn't retail banking good enough for your profits?</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; line-height: 28px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 28px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER Stephan Pipeline is still planning to hire un-documented Chinese workers to build his personal oil reserve on native land in British Columbia's wilderness without resolving land claims. Next, he will build a wall around himself.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; line-height: 28px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I INVITE YOU TO check out my fan page: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/La-Demoiselle/275433022518877"><b>La Demoiselle</b></a>, a script I wrote about a young woman who was abandoned on an island for being a witch in the 1500s. Become a friend and "like". </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 28px; white-space: pre-wrap;">SPEAKING ABOUT rough justice: Christy Clark, BC's Liberal Premier, is so unpopular that a first-time politician could realistically take her riding in the May provincial election. Despite being more than 20 points behind in the polls</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 28px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Clark spent $11 million on a gala event this past weekend promoting B.C. to East Indian "Bollywood" filmmakers and producers to film here in B.C. At the same time, Clark is telling B.C.'s beleaguered filmmakers that her government will not increase much needed tax subsidies to help keep the province's film community competitive. Say what?!...</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11003837659916297742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826700425118998189.post-80628366003705837952013-03-04T23:14:00.000-08:002013-04-08T20:48:56.396-07:00Sometimes when you get the blues, there's a reason<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Z2xmuZjLVxk7bAgXfubFn-21pXTB2RWDHI6t69N9ZZD-FnPMPu-FshOV9wHfOUKpO_iOxQQ_rxk9eLjUn2tkHLdooKAm8JBxEjYh5qTjA5-DadywRh2qgI6aIavw-DyAKQ-EFp9GdmI/s1600/charlesbukowskipoem0_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Z2xmuZjLVxk7bAgXfubFn-21pXTB2RWDHI6t69N9ZZD-FnPMPu-FshOV9wHfOUKpO_iOxQQ_rxk9eLjUn2tkHLdooKAm8JBxEjYh5qTjA5-DadywRh2qgI6aIavw-DyAKQ-EFp9GdmI/s400/charlesbukowskipoem0_n.jpg" width="322" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">"it only takes 6 or 8 inept political leaders<br />or 8 or 10 artsy-fartsy writers, composers, and painters to<br />set the natural course of human progress<br />back<br />50 years<br />or more,<br />which may not seem like much to you<br />but it's over half of your lifetime,<br />during which time you're not going to be able to<br />hear, see, read, or feel that<br />necessary gift or great art which<br />otherwise you could have experienced,<br />which may not seem tragic to you<br />but sometimes, perhaps, when you're not feeling so<br />good at<br />night or in the morning or at<br />noon,<br />maybe what you feel that's lacking is<br />what should be there for<br />you<br />but is not.<br />and I don't mean a blonde in<br />sheer pantyhose,<br />I'm talking about what gnaws at your guts<br />even when she's<br />there."<br /><br />-Charles Bukowski</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11003837659916297742noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826700425118998189.post-51355834914633483052013-02-27T18:03:00.002-08:002013-08-18T12:57:16.635-07:00The Straw That Broke The Tiger's Back<div class="MsoNormal">
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<b>NOTE: A bankruptcy sale of Rhythm & Hues remaining assets are going to be auctioned off on July 23, 2013. The assets include workstations, chairs, desks, flat screens and an array of technical gear. The last vestiges of the company will be gone following the <a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-company-rhythm-hues-auction-20130716,0,1774751.story">auction</a>. </b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Maybe you were one of the billion people watching the Oscars’ 85th Academy Awards ceremony last Sunday. I was tweeting & texting my comments to a friend while watching the show. He is in the VFX industry and was particularly interested in who would win the Oscar for Best Visual Effects.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">When Rhythm & Hues supervisor Bill Westenhofer accepted the Oscar for the studio’s work on <i>Life of Pi,</i> Westenhofer thanked everyone and said, "Sadly, Rhythm & Hues is suffering severe financial difficulties right now, and I urge you all to remember..." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">His mike went silent and the band was playing him off with the Jaws theme music. This awkward moment left countless Twitter followers breathless. No doubt Academy attendees were embarrassed by the non-scripted screw up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">My friend’s blood was up. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">“You see that! They cut off his mike!”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">For VFX artists, like my friend, along with <a href="http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/visualeffectsprotestatoscars/"><b>VFX artists who were protesting </b></a>down the street from the Dolby Theatre, this was the last straw. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The artists wanted Westenhofer to tell the world about the inequities of the entire American VFX industry. The artists were thwarted by the motion picture industry -- once again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">In what should have been a triumphant celebration of <i>Life of Pi</i>,the evening turned sour, illustrating that there are indeed cracks in the fantasy world of the Oscars. And for the first time, there was no one in VFX to “fix it in post.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">And neither would the humiliation stop with the Jaws music.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Later on in the program, Ang Lee accepted the Best Director Oscar for <i>Life of Pi</i>. Earlier his film won the Oscar for Best Cinematography. In accepting the Best Director's award, </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Lee never mentioned that the company that created his visual effects was filing for bankruptcy. Instead, Lee thanked his wife,</span><span style="font-family: Verdana;"> </span><st1:country-region style="font-family: Verdana;" w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Taiwan</st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: Verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">and his lawyer. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Lee, who has publicly criticized <a href="http://vfxsoldier.wordpress.com/2013/02/24/an-open-letter-to-ang-lee/">the <b>VFX industry for being too expensive</b></a> could have been magnanimous and acknowledged Rhythm and Hues dedication, professionalism and craftsmanship during a time of turmoil for the VFX studio. Lee could have admitted that without visual effects artists, the Bengal Tiger never would have come alive. </span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfFX2Jk1FB7vWE7ObQHRn7BFScgXoJ4tlVZjMQ1Gr8kY-jxmOf8TL3hZg_QwzwurwrEMlk9JTebKtpbBbOdlJERESL15ianCXHSEowY7A3OVfIq9BX8PJ5TGoxzTpet4vOloePJrNR-K0/s1600/life-of-pi-movie-image-slice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfFX2Jk1FB7vWE7ObQHRn7BFScgXoJ4tlVZjMQ1Gr8kY-jxmOf8TL3hZg_QwzwurwrEMlk9JTebKtpbBbOdlJERESL15ianCXHSEowY7A3OVfIq9BX8PJ5TGoxzTpet4vOloePJrNR-K0/s400/life-of-pi-movie-image-slice.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>The Tiger Is Not Real</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Lee’s acceptance speech probably infuriated the some 400 protesters down the block, among them 250 former employees from Rhythm & Hues who were laid off following the company’s filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy February 13.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">On Tuesday came the news that Dreamworks animation will lay off 350 artists after 4th quarter results from 2012 revealed a $83 million loss.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Rhythm & Hues' demise comes six months after Digital Domain’s massive failure. <a href="http://michaelshandrick.blogspot.ca/2012/09/a-new-wail-to-fail-in-america.html"><b>(See in “A New Way to Fail in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>”)</b></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">There is no single factor to blame, not even the current recession. There are no culprits, as there were with Digital Domain. But rather, the seeds of these bankruptcies were planted well before <i>Life of Pi</i> was ever a book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">There have been many poor decisions made in the VFX industry in retrospect. Perhaps none were more important that failing to create a business worthy of respect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Visual Effects has never been part of a business plan for motion picture studios. While hundreds of entrepreneurial boutiques built extremely sophisticated technology, married to creative genius, VFX never developed into a business model.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Instead, VFX grew up as a wonder child and remained an adolescent for far too long. It never matured and remained child-like and slow. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">As it grew up in the shadows it became the lost step-child no one wants to talk to at parties.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd42A-wFN-TzJCjC6_Ptxc6keaKlCUU6ZdTg72XLw7bEJ0jKbP7p5eYl3CwBo1YtMV6EpMn47nUmMhixoHJ31ViqsUze254Mwkr7v4nHQC9O7laMXsXzyazA5rz1TRr2A8mLDKdHzjHW4/s1600/vfx+tigermeme.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd42A-wFN-TzJCjC6_Ptxc6keaKlCUU6ZdTg72XLw7bEJ0jKbP7p5eYl3CwBo1YtMV6EpMn47nUmMhixoHJ31ViqsUze254Mwkr7v4nHQC9O7laMXsXzyazA5rz1TRr2A8mLDKdHzjHW4/s400/vfx+tigermeme.jpg" width="247" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Why VFX works and other methods don't</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Most business decisions were “one-offs” and based on small change. Because they were stunted from a young age the artists were prey for bullying producers who made them feel inadequate and not worthy enough to ask for what they felt they deserved. Along with periodic humiliation from parent-like producers, the step-child exhibited poor self-esteem and would always be glad to do more for less. There was no one they could model themselves after. Why would they? But then again, even writers had agents and unions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">In every day terms, when a producer or director had a problem with an under-developed script that hampered the shooting schedule or if the creative talent needed to spike up the story arc, producers would go to the dark secret closet and ask the unworthy to “fix it in post”. This became standard practice, paving the way for producers to ask for the moon if for no other reason than to see if they could.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"> Unlike a collaboration with other creatives,the big movie studios never gave VFX people a place at the table. So, VFX took on the role of janitors. Typically, their wages were minimal and their job status fell as a result. They were never respected well enough to be given a fee for service, like the unionized crafts and art design departments.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">“In VFX it’s like being hired to do the costumes for a movie --- and then making one costume at a time,” says my friend, experienced in such matters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">If a small VFX company ever tried to negotiate for a better budget, producers would suggest they had the option of going younger or going off-shore where VFX artists work cheaper than free—for longer hours.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">A salary discussion nearly always implied that there was someone out there who would gladly do the job for nothing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Inevitably, you as an artist are invisible and don’t deserve recognition even when you win something, say like Best Visual Effects at the Oscars. .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">When <i>Life of Pi</i> began production, the big studio producers were already exploiting this uncommon labor force.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">With a go or no-go decision, and with no power to negotiate, Rhythm & Hues was in no position to quit. Rather, they chose to risk business failure in order to finish the film because they had faith in what they were doing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">In a not-so-perfect world, that alone should be worth paying for.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11003837659916297742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826700425118998189.post-16978465828134458222013-02-19T16:33:00.001-08:002013-08-18T13:05:24.093-07:00What Is Wenger Not Telling Arsenal Fans<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEislBAdDb3jrteK0qsyp3gHRlZsvjPF3D3eLwGJqOyg1kvncUjqFvxiq0QVz5dVv0H5ed1gm6dpmzY8c4JrrV6VAe74MY69ANMH7fb6wcZMcsvl4tAZ0ReUPE95FKflGwvxo0uL-9G-AGI/s1600/aresenewegner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEislBAdDb3jrteK0qsyp3gHRlZsvjPF3D3eLwGJqOyg1kvncUjqFvxiq0QVz5dVv0H5ed1gm6dpmzY8c4JrrV6VAe74MY69ANMH7fb6wcZMcsvl4tAZ0ReUPE95FKflGwvxo0uL-9G-AGI/s400/aresenewegner.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In sunny <st1:state w:st="on">Florida</st1:state>,
few baseball teams are as anxious to get back to spring training as the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Oakland</st1:city></st1:place> A’s. <a href="http://michaelshandrick.blogspot.ca/2012/10/after-watching-moneyball-last-year.html"><b>Billy Beane</b></a>, General Manager of the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Oakland</st1:place></st1:city>
A’s, can't wait for his 2013 team to take the field on opening day. Beane is better known
as one of the more popular characters Brad Pitt has played in the movies, (<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=826700425118998189#editor/target=post;postID=5455371479707811952"><b>Moneyball</b></a>).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Across the pond in the chilly dark and damp soil of the English Premier League, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ars%C3%A8ne_Wenger">Arsène Wenger</a>, manager of
Arsenal FC is leading a fifth place team into the last leg of the season, some 21 games behind the leader, <b><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=826700425118998189#editor/target=post;postID=703023784059766380">Manchester United</a></b>. The end of the season may not come soon
enough for the beleaguered French-born Wenger.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Beane and Wenger share more than a
job title and attitudes, they share a philosophy borne out of a need to make their small market clubs competitive in a highly unbalanced sports
league. Both teams had once dominated their leagues and were perennially headed
for the championships. Today, the Oakland A's and Arsenal need to do more with less -- again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Both Arsenal and the Oakland
A’s play in a league dominated by rival teams that can spend their way to a championship, buying the best
players and giving the fans what they want: trophies. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">While Billy Beane has enjoyed
his new celebrity, following the film <i>Moneyball</i> and a spectacular 2012 season in which the A's brought a prestigious trophy back to Oakland, Wegner
has been all but tarred and feathered by Arsenal fans. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Mid-way into the season, Wenger could
not sign a prized striker and had to let him go to a money-rich Manchester United. Now Robin van Persie is
tearing up the league. Wenger has also
failed to sign anyone who could replace Persie during the transfer
window. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">All this occurred at the same
time as Arsenal ticket prices have increased, annoying fans who were used to watching
their team dominate the English Premier League. Nostalgic to a fault, the Arsenal fans have
protested bitterly in countless blogs, calling for Wenger’s head because he’s
failed to bring home the cherished vanity silverware to the posh <st1:place w:st="on">North
London</st1:place> club.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The taciturn Wenger has shown the strain under the pressure. At a press conference this past week the soft-spoken Wegner parried with querulous sports
writers, refusing to answer questions because
reporters were conducting it more like a mock trial than a press interview. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Outside </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">the Emirates Stadium, fans were
carrying placards calling for a <i>mea culpa</i> and booing Wenger after a home game loss to a lesser club in a lower league. The fan blogs convey a profound frustration over Wenger's refusal to spend money. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Arsène Wenger has tried to allay their fears but the fans are not hearing what he’s not saying. Wenger refuses to discuss off-the-field business with sports writers or fans.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As club manager for Arsenal
the past 16 years, he has been lauded as as a brilliant on-field manager as
well as a crafty general manager who has built a career on knowing when to sell a player when his value was high. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Wenger may be the only manager in English or European football with a degree in economics. He rarely lets on to anyone about the off-the-field role of the manager or how he works with the Board. </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Because he refrains from
disclosing much information it is impossible to understand the constraints Wenger must face.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">One of the constraints may be working with an absentee American
billionaire owner who asks for a profit. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Perhaps Wenger is limited to operating on thin margins and no rewards. Whatever the problems, Wenger is keeping them to himself, which gives rise to more speculation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The best insights into that role comes from Billy Beane, who can relate to the job of turning one of the poorest
teams in baseball into a profitable and competitive team --- at a fraction of the budget of
the New York Yankees and other big money teams. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">“When I think of Arsene Wenger," Beane says. " I think of Warren Buffett. Wenger runs his football club like he is going to own the club for the next one hundred years.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">From time to time Wegner has reject the prevailing
opinion of the fans, traditional English football pundits and reclusive owners when it comes to buying big name players. The transfer season is an open seller market of players with inflated prices and Wenger admits to looking at players but when the window closed, Arsenal didn't spend a Farthing simple because the data doesn't support it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Wenger is smart enough to know that with his budget he could never
compete in an era of inflationary paychecks and rising costs. Instead, he may have turned to finding a way through numbers and data to help making the club more efficient. This sounds suspiciously like “<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=826700425118998189#editor/target=post;postID=7096992268597686846"><b>soccernomics</b></a>”, the European equivalent to Moneyball.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In a rare admission during
one of the many nasty post-game interviews with sports writers, Wenger was
asked about a loss to one of the lower-level clubs and whether it was time to
bring in a highly skilled players to challenge the league leaders for the
remainder of the season. Wenger shot back,” I don’t think anyone realizes that
we are the only team in the Premier League that is making a profit.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">His comment went largely un-noticed and
unchallenged by sports writers. Wenger must know that the two Manchester
teams are not making enough revenues to service their rising debt, despite
Manchester United’s Initial Public Offering (IPO). Manchester City, now in second place, revealed it is spending some $200M US alone on trades, transfer and the like, well beyond its means. Compare this figure to what was forecast in 2013 for <i>all</i> Premier League teams spending: $300M US in player acquisition. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Arsenal is not in the same league as Manchester City when it comes to spending money.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Recently, <a href="http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20121126&content_id=40424906&vkey=news_oak&c_id=oak"><b>Beane</b></a>, who is
finally getting the attention he deserves at the winter baseball meetings, knows about fan revolts and attacks from sports writers. For the first time in his career Beane is a
celebrity among men who had mistakenly discounted him during the past decade.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It seems unlikely Arsenal fans and the
Board will give Wenger much more time to prove his methodology: to build a competitive level team without going into bankruptcy. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">After Arsenal's loss in the Champions League on Tuesday, British
sports writers and pundits were back in their offices throwing dirt over Wegner’s career. This loss, on the heels of another loss last week, will mean Arsenal will have no trophies from the 2012-13 season. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Wenger will have failed to bring back trophies to <st1:place w:st="on">North London. </st1:place>Somewhere, someone will remember in the future that it was Wenger who last delivered a profitable and a winning season.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It is unlikely his critics or fans will ever comprehend Wenger’s lasting contribution at Arsenal. Being a man of few words, he may have to go somewhere else for a while and wait for the
rest of European football to arrive at where
he’s been all along.. </span><span style="font-size: 22pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11003837659916297742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826700425118998189.post-13663635719048779932013-02-15T15:25:00.001-08:002013-10-01T12:31:45.815-07:00Lucky Charms Needed for Irish Filmmaker<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBnpHvgjSc4kjk6o_soSc87Fj2bgriL2ZxcgBx4iU78Lz_KQRi-e5eKzDIXGMyu3tGF7XhaFMUGpLXjjk_s5kfSK5vmZSaT3AT9QUYERLTiwQxZ13zeSWb40TsiO8DigGnU2kXiLf2VxE/s1600/leprechaun1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBnpHvgjSc4kjk6o_soSc87Fj2bgriL2ZxcgBx4iU78Lz_KQRi-e5eKzDIXGMyu3tGF7XhaFMUGpLXjjk_s5kfSK5vmZSaT3AT9QUYERLTiwQxZ13zeSWb40TsiO8DigGnU2kXiLf2VxE/s1600/leprechaun1.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Irish filmmaker calling on the wee people for funding help</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>NOTE TO READERS: Lessons Learned. This funding project (Harmonica Blues, below) came up short, no pun about the wee people intended. I learned a lot from the experience, and I believe that with my other projects:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>1- I will ask for a larger amount to fund the project. We asked for too little. People are more likely to be a part of something larger than their day-to-day lives. I don't mean raising super huge amounts of money, but a respectful amount.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>2- I will have more marketing collaborators involved in marketing a film with posters, trailers and other promotional material at least one year before the funding drive begins. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>3- I will do more research along the way in terms of learning what people are looking for in a movie in which they can participate. Mostly, people who give money want to be a part of the FUN. This is their ticket to get into a fun project, where they might even get to name a character, suggest a story line or come up with a fabulous "movie line", even a tag line. And even get a film credit for it. </b></span><br />
<b><br /></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>4. Next, I think it's important to focus on the film's story, not just the script. What is the vision for the film? Why make it? A script is an evolving document, a blueprint on paper, while the story cuts through to</b></span><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> the heart. The story is beyond the words of actors, it is the feeling people get when they hear a story. Message: Serve the story not the script.</b><br />
<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></b><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">5. Lastly, too often in the film world there is the race to have a hot writer, a hot acting talent, or a hot script to raise money. Well, inflated hype does not serve the story. And besides, who knows what the f**k is "hot" is anymore. Stick to the fundamental of making a story the best it can be. Focus on what is real, not crowd funding hype. (Sure, a measure of promotion is needed and it can be clever, but the craft of telling a story has to be there. ) </b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I am not writing this blog, I am working on several screenplays and pitches scattered here and there across the known universe. Recently I got word from Alan Walsh, a gifted Irish director, who tells me that <i>Harmonica Blues</i>, the script we'd been working on as co-writers the past three years, is now ready for production.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With a polished script in hand, a veteran crew, and a superb cast we're now ready. All that's needed is funding and the clock is ticking. The funding cycle ends just six days before St. Patrick's Day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Walsh intends to raise the money from "crowd funding", a venture now common among independent filmmakers who have watched traditional sources of film funding dry up in the wake of austerity measures. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As of this writing, there are 20+ days to raise the money. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As a co-writer on <i>Harmonica Blues</i>, I am keen to see these actors in roles I helped create. After working with them on paper, I crave to see them come alive on film. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I invite you to take a look at the <a href="http://www.fundit.ie/project/harmonica-blues-1"><b>Fundit film project</b></a> for <i>Harmonica Blues<b>.</b></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You will see a brief description of the story along with a short promotional trailer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is not just a film, this is an entertaining collective work from people who have put it all on the line to make their dreams come true.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We appreciate your support.</span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11003837659916297742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826700425118998189.post-74135202777032193692013-01-29T22:20:00.000-08:002013-12-03T20:10:37.402-08:00A Touch of Brazilian Magic<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>The magic of Brazilian futebol was always calling me to play</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6em;">Since returning to Canada and its arctic winters I've had plenty of time to read in the long dark nights, and I've found a wonderful book to provide solace to my </span><a href="http://temporarycarioca.blogspot.ca/2012/07/why-are-brazilians-always-so-sad.html" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6em;"><b>saudades</b></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6em;">. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The book explains to me in a palpable way what makes futebol so special, or more to the point, what makes Brazilian futebol players so good. The answer goes beyond the sport and soccer can't be divided from Brazil anymore than Brazil cannot be separated from the beautiful game it nurtured from birth. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Alex Bellos, the author of <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Futebol-Brazilian-Life-Alex-Bellos/dp/0747561796"><b>Futebol,The Brazilian Way of Life</b>,</a> has produced a masterly work of literary journalism in telling that story in a succinct and moving way. It is a story that is bigger than the country where the sport is played in with the passion of a new religion.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6em;">I originally wrote this piece below as part of </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6em;"><b><a href="http://temporarycarioca.blogspot.ca/2011/04/touch-of-brazilian-magic.html">Temporary Carioca</a></b></i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6em;"> a travelogue I kept during my visit to Rio de Janeiro a few years ago. I can no longer play soccer as I did once, and during my stay it was difficult to keep any pace in 35 + Celcius temperatures with even the most minor effort. Yet, the soccer gods played with me, taunting me to forget the heat and play a free-spirited game on the beach, in the alley or at the schoolyard. </span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 1.6em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">T</span>hroughout my stay in Rio I found that there was rarely a day I did not see or hear a futbol being kicked somewhere across my path. All too often at night I could hear players yelling from a nearby indoor club where balls bounced heavily on a concrete wall next to our bedroom.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Occasionally on the street I would run across a ball that had been kicked over a fence from a nearby sandlot. Wearing sandals I took my time kicking it back. At 40 Celsius I was content to retrieve balls only. Sometimes a ball found its way through a crowd at Ipanema beach, arriving at my feet, enticing the soccer player within to show off his stuff. “Come on, man.” Instead I put a foot to the ball and made a simple pass direct to a dozen or more young people who had a lifetime of show-stopping heroics ahead of them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Wayward soccer balls have always had a way of finding me, then urging me to come back to the sport if only for a moment of reflected glory. I had kicked makeshift balls made of rubber and clothing strung together while playing on a makeshift field near a village on the way to Mt. Everest in Nepal. Once I found a game in Guatemala City when a team needed a player to even a side. In Mexico at high elevation I played a portion of a game before the altitude and heat got to me so they made me a referee for the rest of the game. In England I played games on a village road well into the night with two brothers keen to have someone to play against. As a youth in Colorado, decades before soccer became popular in North America, I kicked a ball against walls and fences at university as a way of seeking equanimity in a turbulent world of my own making.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One night while walking along a beach in Cabraglia in the state of Bahai, I came across a game being played on a worn tennis court. The players wore old tennis shoes and some played barefoot, yet their skills were well advanced at a tender age. Then extraordinarily an errant ball flew into the air and bounced well out of bounds and came to a stop on the sand, confronting me. Giant waves from the Atlantic crashed not a few meters away in the last light of day. This particular ball dared me to take it ---skillfully. The young men were watching. I knew that local custom demands that when a ball arrives it is imperative to control it with style. Wearing sandals I flipped the ball on my right foot. Then I put the ball to my left foot and guided the ball back along the pavement, bringing it back to the eager players anxious to get on with their game.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>What is a carioca? </b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana; line-height: 1.6em;">I coveted the moments. This was no ordinary ball and I was no ordinary gringo. I was respectful with the ball, it was the sum of all those feet that had touched it over its time. I passed on my inside left foot to their coach standing on the sideline 20 meters away. He nodded as he guided the ball effortlessly from his foot, up his leg as if it were on a string, bounced it on his knee and in mid-air, shot it flying back to the young men. The show was as much for me as for the players. </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana; line-height: 1.6em;">With a respectful glint in our eyes, we two old warriors shared a touch of Brazilian magic between us, and with the future, the present and the past.</span></div>
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