Jà a meitat del període de festes, i després de veure la reacció (força irada per cert), del Hildebrant a la maternitat de la Virgen María peruana (veure els blogs enllaçats a la dreta), us afageixo aquest documental de principis del 2006 "The God delusion" (subtitulat en espanyol) de Richard Dawkins professor de Biología a Oxford, i ateu militant. Lligaría amb el post del 19 de dessembre de Ben Sixteen agraïnt els esforços qu fà la ciència per posar de manifest la grandesa de Déu.
(Clicar al títol).
diumenge, 28 de desembre del 2008
dissabte, 27 de desembre del 2008
la idea inicial era posar-li el nom d'un futbolista, finalment s'han decidit per aquest
Peru Christmas baby named Jesus
 A Peruvian nativity (photo: National Perinatal Institute) |
A Peruvian woman called Virgen Maria, who is married to a carpenter, has named her son Jesus Emanuel after giving birth on Christmas Day.
Twenty-year-old Virgen Maria Huarcaya Palomino had not been due to give birth on Thursday, but went into labour early and underwent a Caesarean operation.
Her husband, who shares the same profession as Saint Joseph, is in fact called Adolfo Jorge Huaman.
He said the couple had been planning to name their son after a football player.
"But thanks to a happy coincidence this is how things ended up," he said.
Baby Jesus was born at 0220 local time (0720 GMT) on 25 December at the National Perinatal Institute in Lima and weighed 3.32kg.
His mother said: "I am so happy to give birth on such a special date. I didn't think that my baby was going to be born today and now that I have him in my arms I am very happy."
Virgen Maria means Virgin Mary in English. She told local television that her grandfather, a devotee of the Virgin Mary, had chosen her own unusual name, with which, until now, she had not felt comfortable.
"In school they made fun of my name," she said.La vida de Bryan (gairabé trenta anys després encara looking at the bright side of life)
A partir de una serie de analissis del Guardian sobre la compatibilitat del relat, l'atrezzo, els personatges amb el contexte històric.
Life of Brian: birth, blessings and blasphemy
Monty Python's comedy about an ordinary man being mistaken for the messiah makes us look on the bright side of life – and gives us a fairly accurate portrayal of first-century Judea
-
- guardian.co.uk, Thursday 25 December 2008 09.39 GMT
- Article history
Scenes of Roman life: Monty Python's The Life of Brian. Photograph: Kobal
Director: Terry Jones
Entertainment grade: A
History grade: C
- Life Of Brian
- Release: 1979
- Country: UK
- Cert (UK): 15
- Runtime: 93 mins
- Directors: Terry Jones
- Cast: Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones
Monty Python's Life of Brian follows the story of Brian Cohen, a half-Roman, half-Israelite man, living in Judea in AD 33, on a Saturday afternoon, at around teatime. Brian is a snack vendor and member of the anti-Roman resistance, and is shown to live contemporaneously with Jesus of Nazareth.
People
The film opens with three wise men from the orient arriving in a stable to bestow gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh on a newborn baby. The scene is based on the account of Jesus' birth in the gospel of Matthew, though Matthew does not record a mishap whereby the magi accidentally bestow their gifts on Terry Jones in a dress. As for non-biblical first century sources, they too are curiously silent on the matter. It must be admitted that there is little evidence for the existence of the historical Brian. However, it is considered acceptable in academic circles to view Monty Python as fiction.
Justice
Brian and his mother are trying to listen to Jesus speak, but from the back of the crowd it's hard to hear. Following some confusion – "Blessed are the cheesemakers?" – they go instead to watch a man being stoned for blasphemy. Though stoning was not a legal punishment in Greek or Roman law, it was one of the four forms of capital punishment in the Jewish criminal code, along with decapitation by sword, strangulation, and being made to drink molten lead. As the film correctly hints, stoning was extremely popular with angry mobs. The Bible advises stoning for, among other offences, being a wizard, touching Mount Sinai while Moses receives the ten commandments, rebelling against your parents, or goring someone to death, if you are an ox. Further to this, stoning was often carried out summarily against traitors, and bad actors.
Education
Having joined the People's Front of Judea (rejecting the rival Judean People's Front), Brian is sent in the middle of the night to write "Romans go home" on the governor's palace. As he is scrawling the words "Romanes eunt domus," a centurion apprehends him. "What's this, then?" he barks. "People called Romanes, they go, the house?" Incensed, he grills Brian on the Latin grammar, finally achieving the correct "Romani ite domum". Genuine examples of contemporary graffiti, best preserved at Pompeii from AD 79, reveal that even native Latin speakers had trouble with the complexities of case and declension. They also reveal a lot of filthy gossip about prostitutes and gladiators but, seeing as that is not strictly relevant to the film, interested readers will just have to look it up for themselves. It certainly makes the later joke about a Roman called Biggus Dickus seem very much in keeping with the humour of the first century.
Imperialism
Despite a long and mostly historically accurate list of things the Romans did for us (sanitation, roads, irrigation, medicine, education, viticulture, public order and peace), the People's Front of Judea continues its campaign to drive them out. Misfortune prevails, and Brian is captured, then sentenced to be crucified. Worse yet, he's crucified next to Eric Idle playing a cheeky local prankster. The prankster can't resist regaling Brian with anecdotes about his brother. "Randy little bugger. Up and down like the Assyrian Empire." The Assyrian Empire, though it did fluctuate in strength, had gone down finally over six hundred years before this scene is set. Making the joke old in AD 33, but not inaccurate.
Verdict
Bearing in mind that the Pythons probably didn't have historical truth at the absolute top of their agenda, The Life of Brian gives a surprisingly respectable nod towards first-century Judea. The Tunisian locations make a good substitute for the Holy Land, the sets and costumes – aside from in the brief scene where Brian is kidnapped by aliens – are convincing, and there's a commendable feel for the contemporary sense of popular resentment against the Roman Empire. Historically speaking, there's no reason to stop looking on the bright side of life.
divendres, 26 de desembre del 2008
les bombolles futures
Després de les hipoteques, dels fons, dels habitatges, s'en preveuen tres més, però amb la expectativa de que deixin alguns valors sólids (infraestructura pública, sanitat, i energía-producció sostenibles. Una mica llarg però interessant.
More stories by Stephen Pizzo
Now, while I agree with that in principle, I am rooting for three more bubbles;
The pressure on the incoming Obama administration to change the direction of the Bush bailouts will be overwhelming. Ordinary Americans have no sympathy for Wall Street companies and bankers who took it up the assets when the housing market collapsed. Nor do Americans have much of appetite for saving the Big Three auto companies, which wasted the last decade rock stupid products like Hummers and other four-wheeled dinosaurs.
So between now and eight years from now over a trillion dollars will be lavished on our long-neglected national infrastructure, expanding and modernizing our healthcare systems and on R&D/deployment of clean, renewable energy sources and technolgies.
Sure, all three areas will become investment bubbles. Duh. America is now and will always be a capitalist nation. It's in our DNA. Everyone wants a piece of whatever is happening now. Don't you? (Don't try that holier than thou crap with me…. you would too.)
And so, "The Greater Fool Theory" will again kick in. New companies will form, new ideas will not only be funded, but over-funded, by venture capitalists eager to grow these new infrastructure, healthcare or green companies fast as they can so they can take them them public, (IPO) and start over again…for as long as the bubble lasts.
Once again, the general public will serve as the greatest fools. As they hear about the millions being made in these three new bubbles they will begin pestering their broker to get them in on these hot IPOs. Day traders will stay up all night online, prowling amatuer investor chat rooms where the sharks play "pump and dump," with the newbies drop who stumble in drooling for an opportunity to snap up the "hottest" new green or healthcare company IPO.
Then, at some point, each of these three bubbles will burst, as all bubbles must. A small number of healthcare and green start ups will actually survive in some form. The lucky ones will be acquired by biggies, like Johnson & Johnson, Exxon, Kaiser Permanente, etc.
Ah, but I digress.
Why I'm Rooting for 3 Big Economic Bubbles
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Let's see, I've lived and worked through how many bubbles and bubble pops?
My first bubble must have been the real estate bubble that developed during the Carter Presidency. Housing prices in my Northern California region were popping up 2% a month. Everyone and their uncle suddenly wanted to buy a "fixer upper" and cash in.
That bubble burst sometime late in 1979, if I recall properly, which I should since I owned a real estate company at the time. I knew the end was near for that bubble when suddenly the investors showing up in my office weren't grizzled old pros, but average Joes. "Hi, my neighbor and I scrapped together five grand and we want to invest it in a fixer upper," they'd tell me.
I took that as a sure sign that the jig was up. I sold my office and went looking for another line of work. That turned out being the newspaper business, which is a story for another day.
After that I avoided bubbles until 1996, when I suddenly found myself in wallet deep in a San Francisco Internet startup, Quokka Sports. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeha! What ride that was. We burnt through $164 million in venture capital money in less than 40 months. And when the dust settled in 2001 all that was left were 438 over-priced Herman Miller desk chairs, a ping pong table and a couple of tons of empty Cheeto bags.
Of course, we were just one of hundreds of dot com companies that flared like new-born stars, burnt brightly for a short time, then went super nova, leaving nothing behind but a big ass echo and lot of dust. (The dust would be all that dot.com stock ordinary folks bought like lemmings at the top of the curve…. as they always do - just like those two neighbors I mentioned above who were gonna get rich buying fixer uppers..)
That's the way of bubbles. They are fueled by hope, greed and -- most of all -- other people's money. And the money is easy to get. Hell the bubblemisters don't even have go get the stuff. Other people bring it to them by the truckload and beg them to take the stuff.
When the bubble bursts the bubblemisters shrug and mumble things like, "Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained," and "Hey, don't blame me, you're the one who begged us to let you in on the action." (My favorite rationalization during the dot.com bubble came when a reporter asked a venture capitalist why they continue funding CEOs who ran failed dot.com companies. "Because you can't encourage risk-taking by punishing failure," he replied. Easy for him to say, since he was investing what? - Other people's money.)
But the real problem with most bubbles is not that people lose money. The real problem with bubbles is that the amount of money lavished on bubble-stuff rarely creates anything near the amount of useful tangibles that could have invented/produced with the commensurate amount of money.
Nobel Prize winning economist and columnist, Paul Krugman wrote yesterday;
"…once the economy has perked up a bit, there will be a lot of pressure on the new administration to pull back, to throw away the economy's crutches….The point is that it may take a lot longer than many people think before the U.S. economy is ready to live without bubbles.."
Now, while I agree with that in principle, I am rooting for three more bubbles;
- An infrastructure building boom bubble
- A universal healthcare bubble
- A green technologies bubble.
Because that's the only way we're going to deal with the challenges that face us.
Thanks to Global Warming deniers in both government and industry, we are at least 25-years behind the curve on addressing human contributions to global climate change. And there's simply no way normal market forces are going to spend what it will take to catch up. In fact many industries, like coal and oil, have taken a page right out of the old Big Tobacco playbook, pumping out junk science and junkier scientists to counter such efforts.
The only way to catch up is to ignite the same animal passion that fuels every bubble - greed. "Make some green by investing green," needs to become one of America's investment mantras. "A healthy American is a consuming American" is another good one.
There are some early signs that just that kind of thing may be beginning to happen. With Democrats back in power, and the billions of fresh dollars rolling off the presses in DC, investors smell new opportunities in new places - the kind of places Democrats and the incoming Obama administration say they favor - healthcare, infrastructure and all things green.
Thanks to Global Warming deniers in both government and industry, we are at least 25-years behind the curve on addressing human contributions to global climate change. And there's simply no way normal market forces are going to spend what it will take to catch up. In fact many industries, like coal and oil, have taken a page right out of the old Big Tobacco playbook, pumping out junk science and junkier scientists to counter such efforts.
The only way to catch up is to ignite the same animal passion that fuels every bubble - greed. "Make some green by investing green," needs to become one of America's investment mantras. "A healthy American is a consuming American" is another good one.
There are some early signs that just that kind of thing may be beginning to happen. With Democrats back in power, and the billions of fresh dollars rolling off the presses in DC, investors smell new opportunities in new places - the kind of places Democrats and the incoming Obama administration say they favor - healthcare, infrastructure and all things green.
Need capital? Green start-ups may fare best in tough '09
December 17, 2008 --Start-up companies in green industries stand the best chance of getting venture capital funding in 2009 -- in what will otherwise be a dismal year for entrepreneurs looking for money, a new venture industry survey suggests.
"We will likely see a marked slowdown of new investments as venture capitalists turn their attention to supporting existing companies," said Mark Heesen, NVCA president. Despite the overall slowdown expected in venture funding, 48% of venture capitalists predicted increased investment in clean technology businesses, ranking that sector at the top of list of industries likely to get more funding. The life sciences industry, including biotech, ranked second." (Full)
December 17, 2008 --Start-up companies in green industries stand the best chance of getting venture capital funding in 2009 -- in what will otherwise be a dismal year for entrepreneurs looking for money, a new venture industry survey suggests.
"We will likely see a marked slowdown of new investments as venture capitalists turn their attention to supporting existing companies," said Mark Heesen, NVCA president. Despite the overall slowdown expected in venture funding, 48% of venture capitalists predicted increased investment in clean technology businesses, ranking that sector at the top of list of industries likely to get more funding. The life sciences industry, including biotech, ranked second." (Full)
The pressure on the incoming Obama administration to change the direction of the Bush bailouts will be overwhelming. Ordinary Americans have no sympathy for Wall Street companies and bankers who took it up the assets when the housing market collapsed. Nor do Americans have much of appetite for saving the Big Three auto companies, which wasted the last decade rock stupid products like Hummers and other four-wheeled dinosaurs.
So between now and eight years from now over a trillion dollars will be lavished on our long-neglected national infrastructure, expanding and modernizing our healthcare systems and on R&D/deployment of clean, renewable energy sources and technolgies.
Sure, all three areas will become investment bubbles. Duh. America is now and will always be a capitalist nation. It's in our DNA. Everyone wants a piece of whatever is happening now. Don't you? (Don't try that holier than thou crap with me…. you would too.)
And so, "The Greater Fool Theory" will again kick in. New companies will form, new ideas will not only be funded, but over-funded, by venture capitalists eager to grow these new infrastructure, healthcare or green companies fast as they can so they can take them them public, (IPO) and start over again…for as long as the bubble lasts.
Once again, the general public will serve as the greatest fools. As they hear about the millions being made in these three new bubbles they will begin pestering their broker to get them in on these hot IPOs. Day traders will stay up all night online, prowling amatuer investor chat rooms where the sharks play "pump and dump," with the newbies drop who stumble in drooling for an opportunity to snap up the "hottest" new green or healthcare company IPO.
Then, at some point, each of these three bubbles will burst, as all bubbles must. A small number of healthcare and green start ups will actually survive in some form. The lucky ones will be acquired by biggies, like Johnson & Johnson, Exxon, Kaiser Permanente, etc.
But, like the dot.com companies of yore, most will not make it, and they will disappear, along with billions of investor dollars.
But this time, at least, the stuff left behind by the healthcare, infrastructure and green bubbles, will endure long after their creators and funders are long gone. And they will form a modernized foundation upon which a resurgent American economy can not only stand, but grow.
That's what happened after FDR lavished federal funds on dams, roads and bridges, most of which are still in use today. And it happend again when, after WWII, Ike lavished more federal money, knitting the nation together with a new national highway system. Imagine how the America of the 1960 on could have been anything near what it became without all that infrastructure.
And so it will be with the federal money that will spark the healthcare, infrastructure and green bubble of 2009-2017. After that bubblemisters of the future will have new bridges, highways and high-speed trains on which to deliver their goods and services. All Americans will have cleaner water, cleaner air and safer food. Air travelers will enjoy less delays due to new airports and modernized air traffic control systems. Universal healthcare will extend lives and the quality of those lives.
(Of course, conservatives out there will shake their heads at all this. "The government can dump all the money they want into those three areas and the private sector is still not going to invest in something they could lose money on," they'd claim. Not so. Not so. And don't force me to list all money-losing schemes the private sector dumped trillions into over the past couple of decades. The private sector always follows the money… be it other people's money or Uncle Sam's money. Just lay out in the warm sunlight and they'll show up like flies attracted to camel dung. And the very people who claim they won't be attracted to it will be among the first banging on the door to get in once those trains start leaving the station. You can bet the farm on it. History tells us so.)
Ah, but I digress.
The biggest bang for the buck will be generated by all the green technologies nourished and grown by the combination of government and speculative money. Those investments will pay dividends for a century -no, for centuries to come. The return on those investments will be incalculable. Not because we can't do the math, but because all the human wealth on earth would be drop in the bucket by comparison.
Finally we'd enjoy investment bubbles that leave more behind than they consume -- bridges to somewhere..bridges to the future. Imagine if we had a green technology bubble, for example, as large as the recent housing bubble. Imagine that, and what it would leave behind for the future generations.
Bubble on, dudes.
See more stories tagged with: economy, housing, green jobs, bubble
Stephen Pizzo is the author of numerous books, including Inside Job: The Looting of America's Savings and Loans, which was nominated for a Pulitzer.
L'infern al paradís
Un altre cop la imatge de la verge encapaçalant un desastre... (l'anterior era la dels incendis de California).
Ara fà exactament quatre anys del tsunami.
Ara fà exactament quatre anys del tsunami.
Independent Appeal: Mental scars of war and terror
Sri Lanka has one of the world's highest rates of mental illness but until now little medical help was available. Fiona Barton reports
Friday, 26 December 2008
AFP/GETTY
A statue of the Virgin Mary stands among the debris from the tsunami in 2004 one of several disasters that have left Sri Lankans traumatised
Jeff Koons, la pornografía, i els hereus de la corona (de Liberation)
Culture 26 déc. 6h51
L’expo Jeff Koons couronnée au château de Versailles
Analyse
Le tribunal administratif a débouté mercredi le «descendant direct» de Louis XIV qui portait plainte pour «profanation» et «pornographie».
Vincent Noce
"Michael Jackson and Bubbles", une des oeuvres de Jeff Koons exposées au chateau de Versailles. (Benoit Tessier / Reuters)
Ce n’était pas encore l’appel de Clermont (1), mais pas loin. Posant en représentant moral de Louis XIV en tant que «descendant direct», le prince Charles-Emmanuel de Bourbon-Parme a demandé l’interdiction de l’exposition «pornographique» de Jeff Koons défigurant, selon lui, le château de Versailles. Mercredi soir, le tribunal administratif de Versailles, dans une décision fortement motivée, lui a récusé toute légitimité. Le juge des référés a notamment estimé que «l’exposition ne portait pas atteinte au respect de la vie privée et familiale des visiteurs et de leurs enfants». Président de l’établissement et promoteur de cette exposition qui fit grand bruit, Jean-Jacques Aillagon s’est félicité d’une décision qui renvoie les roitelets sinon à la guillotine, du moins aux oubliettes de l’Histoire. «Admettre un droit de regard des familles royales ou aristocratiques sur le patrimoine serait revenu à proclamer que la Révolution n’a pas eu lieu», nous a-t-il déclaré.
Pin-up. Oubliant combien le château et le parc avaient été d’abord un lieu de plaisirs et de libertinage, Charles-Emmanuel avait engagé un recours pour «profanation» d’un lieu sacré et «atteinte au respect des morts», requérant un tribunal de la République de reconnaître «le droit immémorial au respect de ses aïeux, sans profanation de ses ancêtres», et «le droit d’accéder à la connaissance du patrimoine sans contrainte pornographique». Il se disait notamment choqué par la pin-up enlacée d’une panthère rose, ainsi que par une légende de Koons comparant les fleurs du bouquet dans la chambre de Marie-Antoinette à autant de culs. Il a été aussi chagriné par le buste de son ancêtre, sculpté non dans le marbre, mais dans un «matériau prolétaire»… Le timing princier était pour le moins surprenant, l’exposition censée se terminer le 14 décembre. En fait, Aillagon a décidé de prolonger l’événement révolutionnaire jusqu’au 4 janvier. Le prince de Bourbon-Parme aurait cédé à la pression de représentants de sa famille pour un geste symbolique. Il n’aurait pu rendre meilleur service à l’exposition, dans la mesure où il a réussi à relancer l’intérêt médiatique pour les dernières semaines de la présentation honnie.
Excités. Le président de Versailles ne peut que se féliciter d’avoir été surtout la cible d’une poignée d’excités de l’extrême droite (Libération du 26 août). Une centaine d’entre eux avait ensuite manifesté devant la grille le jour du vernissage, le 10 septembre. En revanche, l’exposition, montrant pour la première fois le célébrissime artiste américain en France, a eu un accueil critique favorable, voire dithyrambique sous la plume de Philippe Dagen, le chroniqueur du Monde. Et le château annonce 15 % de hausse des entrées par rapport à la même période l’an dernier, ayant reçu 500 000 visiteurs, partagés entre amusement et perplexité devant les 17 œuvres monumentales disséminées dans les appartements royaux et les jardins.
(1) Le 27 novembre 1095, Urbain II lançait la première croisade.
Vos commentaires
dimecres, 24 de desembre del 2008
papa noel
24. ¡Mamá, mamá, Papá Noel huele a pacharán!
Por SR. PINGÜINO (SOITU.ES)
Actualizado 24-12-2008 12:03 CET
¿Quién es más cruel: los grandes almacenes que malpagan a un pobre parado para que se disfrace de Santa Claus o los padres que obligan a los chiquillos a sentarse en sus rodillas?
La colección que Scott Clark exhibe en su flickr no tiene desperdicio: 26 instantáneas de niños posando con esos papanoeles que ponen los centros comerciales en Navidad para atraer clientela.
En las fotografías hay ejemplares de Santa Claus para todos los gustos. Algunos dan el pego, pero la mayoría lo que dan es miedo. Los pequeñines, llorosos, histéricos, acojonados, no acaban de entender por qué sus progenitores les someten a semejante tortura. A partir de este momento, para ellos, el mayor enigma de la Navidad es cómo coño se las apañará un indigente con barba postiza para comprar tantos millones de juguetes y llevarlos a cada una de sus casas. Por eso, el día que les revelan la verdad sobre Papá Noel y los Reyes Magos, juran vengarse de sus padres, que les han hecho creer durante toda su infancia que el hombre más bondadoso del mundo es un tío que cada vez que te pregunta si has sido bueno este año deja en el aire una peste a Anís del Mono que tira para atrás.
Los adultos no tenemos remedio. Nos preocupan los juguetes bélicos, el exceso de videojuegos, la programación televisiva inadecuada, pero, en cambio, no tenemos reparos en poner a nuestros retoños en brazos de un desconocido sólo porque va enfundado en un esquijama de color rojo y blanco. Eso sí que crea traumas de por vida y no los anuncios sexistas.
En cuanto vi estas fotos, me acordé del episodio número 1 de los Simpson. El año que viene, por cierto, hará 20 años de su primera emisión. En este capítulo inaugural de la serie, la Central Nuclear en la que Homer trabaja decide no dar a sus trabajadores la paga extra de diciembre, y él se ve obligado a aceptar un empleo como Papá Noel en los Grandes Almacenes de Springfield para sacar algo de pasta con la que comprar los regalos navideños. Si no lo habéis visto, os lo recomiendo encarecidamente. Al final, cuando Bart descubre que ese Santa Claus patético es en realidad su padre, le dice una frase memorable: "Jo papá, tienes que querernos mucho para haber caído tan bajo".
Es curioso, pero si os fijáis, los verdaderos protagonistas de estas imágenes no son los niños, sino los papanoeles. A mí me inspiran ternura. Hacen el ridículo, pasan frío, soportan a madres e hijos a los que cualquiera querría asesinar. La suya es una dura tarea. Por eso, esta noche, pienso brindar por ellos. Melchores, Gaspares, Baltasares, Santaclauses del mundo, esclavos del marketing navideño, va por ustedes.
sopar de nadal
La cena
Por ANATOLI (SOITU.ES)
Actualizado 24-12-2008 14:56 CET
Ayer, la cosas pintaban fatal. Hoy no es que hayan mejorado, pero las veo de otra forma.
JULIO MUÑOZ (EFE)
Un indigente, hoy, en un portal de Sevilla.
Esto fue que el Ahmed se largó a su pueblo de la morería. Pilló un billete baratísimo y dijo que para lo que tenía que hacer aquí, o sea nada, pues que prefería hacerlo allí. Y adiós muy buenas, que no le esperemos hasta después de Reyes. Yo ya me había hecho a la idea de cenar a solas con el Vladimiro, que no me parecía un planazo propiamente dicho, pero algo es algo. Ni eso. Va el Vladi y me sale con que pasará la Nochebuena con los de su iglesia evangélica. Me invitó a acompañarle, pero ya fui una vez y lo de cantar aleluyas en plan yanqui no es lo mío. Me largué de casa bastante rebotado y fui al súper a comprarme un festín navideño para mí solo, con su Freixenet, su whisky Long John y sus barquillos.
Iba ya de vuelta, con mi bolsa de exquisiteces, cuando vi a unos tipos cargando cajas en una furgoneta. A uno le conocía, un chaval de Senegal, muy fumeta él y no demasiado currante, porque hará un par de años coincidimos en una obra. Saludé al chaval, que se llama Abdú, y me metí un poco con él porque andaba doblado debajo de una caja de latas de tomate frito: "Venga, Abdú, que tú puedes, piensa en la paga extraordinaria". En cuanto soltó la caja se me vino y me dio un abrazo, "qué pasa, serbio tocacojones" (aclaro que no soy serbio ni tocacojones, es sólo una forma de hablar), y me dijo que ni paga extra ni nada, que estaba en paro y pensando en largarse. "Pues ahora mismo estarás sacándote un dinerillo", le solté. Entonces terció otro desde dentro de la furgoneta: "Aquí no cobra ni Dios, y está mal que yo lo diga".
Asomé la cabeza y me llevé un corte, porque el de dentro, el que colocaba las cajas, llevaba esa cosa en el cuello que llevan los curas. Un servidor no es muy de curas, la verdad. Otra cosa es negar el saludo. Nos dimos la mano y me explicó que estaban recogiendo comida para una cena navideña con mucha gente. Con vagabundos chiflados, nada menos. Uyuyuy, pensé. Ya estaba apartándome discretamente para darme el piro, porque para desgracias me sobran con las mías, cuando anunció que después de cargar las cajas se pagaba unas cañas. Ahí me tocó el flanco sensible. Hasta eché una mano.
El tío cumplió e invitó a unas rondas. No parecía un cura, parecía una persona normal, no sé si me explico. Salvando las distancias, o sea, quitando la mayoría de los tacos y las barbaridades, hablaba de sus jefes en el obispado como yo hablaba de los míos cuando trabajaba. Había estado preparando un informe sobre las prostitutas extranjeras, con los problemas del esclavismo, la mala salud, las palizas y demás, hasta que sus jefes decidieron que no valía la pena preocuparse por ellas. Entonces le pusieron a trabajar con la gente medio loca que vive en la calle. Hay a montones. Son esos que por la noche duermen en un cajero o tirados en la acera.
Acabadas las cervezas, dimos una vuelta y encontramos a una señora totalmente hecha polvo, acurrucada en un portal. El cura la conocía. Por lo visto, estaba invitada al banquete de los mendigos. La señora me vio el whisky en la bolsa y pidió un traguito. El cura le dijo que no, que mejor esperar al brindis de Nochebuena y que ya pasarían a recogerla para llevarla a la cena.
No sé por qué no le di la botella a la señora. Me sentí muy chungo.
Tampoco sé cómo acabé apuntándome a la cena de los locos. El caso es que dentro de un rato me voy para allá, a hacer de pinche de cocina.
Llevaré el whisky, el champán y los barquillos. Será una cena penosa, seguro. Ya les contaré. Pero ahora mismo estoy más animado que ayer. Puede que sea el espíritu navideño. O, más probablemente, que la crisis me ha vuelto gilipollas.
ben sixteen tour 2008 (de Rue 89)
Le pape à Lourdes : backstage virtuel dans le Ben Sixteen tour 2008
Cette nuit j'ai fait un rêve , étrange et pénètrant (koikeu !). Entouré d'une bande de scoutons sortis de "Hamster Jovial", j'étais à Lourdes.
Je me suis réveillé , trempé de stupeur, auprès de mon buisson ardent.
Backstage à Lourdes.
Ouf, c'est au dernier moment que j'ai obtenu mon pass "VIP",(Vêpres, Incantations, Prières) pour accéder aux coulisses du Pape Tour 2008.
C'est pas du Ronsart que nous slame le Papounet, mais y'a un paquet de robes pourpres sur les souliers de satin. Allez mignonnes, allons voir si la grotte....
Première vertu cardinale, éviter de chanter "Imagine" devant les nonnes, elles sont venues pour Abbaye road.
Un groupe de lépreux myopathes chante "je suis malade". Pas du goût des gardes suisses qui exfiltrent illico les adeptes du lama.
Les jeunes filles, jambes croisées et cols claudines sentent bon les JMJ et l'eau de Cologne.
Quelques Chippendales en short de bure, huilés saintement, font des étirements devant un petit groupe de soeurs Sourire dominicaines.
Une pièce montée d'hosties multicolores, des "pêts de nonnes", quelques "étouffes chrétiens" et des spiritueux sont proposés aux bénévoles.
Je cherche de l'eau, en vain...
Ben Sixteen est en retard, ça grouille dans la grotte, Bernadette s'illumine sous les traits d'une jeune fille pure en tenue de bergère.
Ça y est je le vois enfin.
Allelouya Akbar!
Mais quel est son secret pour avoir une tenue d'un blanc aussi impeccable?
Panoreportage: le départ de la Papamobile après la procession de l'eucharistie (dimanche fin d'après-midi).
► Pour voir tous les panoreportages de Gilles Vidal, cliquez ici
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