Sunday, September 30, 2007

Ha*Ash: tras probar varios ritmos musicales, se quedan con el country


Es un dueto pop de hermanas adolescentes, integrado por Hanna y Ashley
Desde muy pequeñas descubren su inquietud artística, viendo una película musical, imitando noche tras noche a la niña protagonista de la cinta. Fue así cuando empiezan a demostrar su talento en la iglesia a la que asistían cada domingo.

Al cumplir 12 y 13 años participan en un concurso de talento en la escuela donde estudiaban y ganan el primer lugar. A partir de ahí emprenden un largo camino de intensa preparación y disciplina profesional tomando clases de tap, jazz, ballet, hip-hop, gimnasia, actuación, teatro, expresión corporal, piano y guitarra, entre otras actividades, convirtiendo el canto y el amor a la música en parte integral de sus vidas.

Durante este trayecto, y al demostrar su pasión y entrega en cada presentación, descubren que su esencia, al igual que el pop y el rock, es el country.

Ya adolescentes, comienzan a recibir invitaciones para participar en importantes festivales, como el de Railroad Festival, en Dequincy; Angola State Prison y Contraband Days, de Louisiana, o el The Lousiana Music Cavalcade, entre otros.
Más adelante, ya con bases sólidas y firmes respecto a la música y ahora su profesión, emprenden la aventura de tocar puertas hasta llegar a Sony Music, en donde, al escuchar sus voces, diferentes, y su propuesta, fresca e innovadora, creen en su proyecto. Así nace Ha*Ash, y su primera producción musical, con el mismo nombre.

Es en febrero de 2003 cuando se estrena oficialmente Ha*Ash y su primer sencillo, "Odio amarte", que entra rápidamente en las principales listas de popularidad de la radio en México, al cual siguieron "Estés en donde estés" y "Te quedaste", tercer sencillo de esta producción, compuesto por Leonel.

NYFF & FREDERICK P. ROSE HALL


The Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, is the location for most of this year's screenings of the New York Film Festival (NYFF).


As a venue for films it has both advantages and disadvantages.

The screen was big and clear. The sound was good. I ended up (you don't know what seats you have until you pick up the tickets) in the last row of the balcony, thankfully in the center, so I gave the visibility and audio a pretty good test.

The rows are wide and the seats are comfortable.

On the other hand, there are some features that are not good for film screenings:

- It would be hard -- maybe impossible -- to see from some side seats. At the screening I went to the side seats were empty, and I'm guessing and hoping that they would not be sold even if the demand for tickets was heavy.

- There is a security bar in front of each row of balcony seats. It is positioned so that anyone who is about 5'1 or shorter has an obscured view. Short people really need to bring a pillow to sit on!

- All access to a row of seats is from the side. There is no aisle in the middle. So latecomers need to cross in front of everyone to get to the middle.

All in all, a mixed grade for the theater as a film venue. I'm hoping the renovated film sites at Lincoln Center (now under construction) will be terrific!

Ronaldo: para muchos el mejor delantero del mundo…


Nacido en Bento Ribeiro, uno de los más pobres de Río de Janeiro.
Ronaldo debutó con 17 años en la selección de Brasil y al año siguiente vistió la camiseta del PSV Eindhoven, donde comenzó a destacar a un ritmo impresionante. Se convirtió pronto en una joya que todos querían y fue fichado por el fútbol club Barcelona, donde estuvo diez meses, ganando una Liga y convirtiéndose en el Pichichi del fútbol español.

Más tarde fichó por el Inter de Milán donde tuvo se lesionó de la rodilla y estuvo un tiempo sin jugar. Su recuperación y buen estado se vio confirmado en el Mundial de Corea y Japón (2001-02) donde su selección ganó y él fue el máximo goleador del torneo, con ocho goles. Ronaldo fue elegido FIFA World Player dos años seguidos (1996 y 1997) y que logró el Balón de Oro (1997).

Dotado de unas cualidades excepcionales, con el balón en sus botas es imprevisible, insospechado, mágico, demoledor y certero. A pesar de su corta edad, sus 1,83 m de estatura y sus 75 kg de peso lo han convertido en una gran estrella; es el "crack" del fútbol mundial y el sucesor de las grandes estrellas de los años ochenta.
It's that time of year again...

I've heard everyone who has asked me if I'm going to celebrate Halloween on this blog the same way that I did last year. Fear not, because starting tomorrow I've got 23 new Halloween tracks for you all, one each weekday. Some are spooky, some are cheesy, and some are actually kind of scary. I've had to dig deeper this time, but this October is definitely going to rock!

PUBLIC BATHROOMS


Someone once said (I think it was Nicholas Negroponte, from the MIT Media Lab) that a Japanese toilet knows more about you than your home computer. (This was in the days when a self-flushing toilet was the vanguard of environmental technology.) I think this was meant to be both critical of your home computer, and complimentary to Japanese toilets.


Unfortunately, bathroom technology sometimes is actually sadly lacking, and other times is getting completely out of hand. When it is out of control it may seem like those horror movies where technology develops a mind of its own, and then strikes back in revenge. However, the truth is more prosaic. The problem is not smart toilets but stupid toilet programmers and designers.

Here are some of the problems with public bathrooms: both of commission and omission, randomly ordered.


- In heavily used men's bathrooms -- such as the ones at Thruway rest stops -- the floor is nearly always all wet -- and not from the last mopping.

- Toilets which self flush often self flush while you are still close by -- or on them. And they are powerful. Which means the (lethal) spray is sprayed far and wide, and on you. (Some people fight back by plugging the seeing eye with chewing gum.)

- In fancy bathrooms (usually in fancy hotels and fancy restaurants), it's sometimes hard to figure out how to use the toilet or the sink or the dryer. It may require instructions (a manual or a tutor, perhaps) to learn where and how to wave your hands to coax some water from the sink, a paper towel from the automatic (non) dispenser, or a flush from a less agressive toilet than I described above. There have even been some men's rooms where it's not at all clear where to urinate.

- Blowers are often used instead of paper towels. While paper towels do need a disposal can which has not filled up yet, blowers blow toilet air all around -- which is not pleasant, and they don't work for drying your face or wiping your eyeglasses.

- No comment is needed on broken toilets, toilets that get stuffed up too easily, toilets that are rarely cleaned, sinks that don't work, soap dispensers that are empty, etc...

- When some bathrooms are crowded, there is no easy way to get to the sink, or having gotten to the sink, to get to the towels.

- There should, by now, be enough information on the relative usage of men's and women's restrooms at concerts and plays and other events to design and maintain enough rooms for each (though it's always interesting when some frustrated and uncomfortable woman crashes the men's room because they haven't the patience to wait long enough for the other).

- It can also be annoying when the bathroom is designed so that passers-by can look in.

- As for people issues, I don't know how anyone can bring food into a public toilet for any reason other than to throw it out. I think women are completely wrong about wanting men to put the toilet seat down: in any public M/F toilet (such as on an airplane), women should be fanatic about leaving the toilet seat up, because some men will be too lazy to lift it up before urinating (on it, as no doubt happens from time to time).

- As a sanitary practice, some people take a piece of paper towel to open the bathroom door and exit. So it would be good to have a waste basket near enough to the door so that the paper towel does not end up on the floor. Or, just have the door push out, not in.

Please add your own gripes about public toilets in the comments; or compliment and recommend some particularly well architected, designed, and maintained rest rooms.

Friday, September 28, 2007

Bill Clinton

Major Maker - Window



"Every lie that you say, I’ve said before"

Major Maker is a Canadian rock/pop band with a hit (Rollercoaster) that is apparently featured in some advertisement on TV. It might just be Canadian TV, though, because I’ve definitely never seen it. Regardless, they’re a great, catchy band that kind of reminds me of my beloved Whyte Seeds from Sweden. Window is a raspy, full throttle 60's style rocker with a great chorus. I don't know a whole lot about these guys, but I can definitely see them being successful in the States. They're very radio friendly.

Major Maker - Window (mp3) (zshare)

(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists! Buy the album here!)

Federal Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer


Alfred Gusenbauer, Federal Chancellor, Austria

Alan J. Patricof , venture capitalist


Alan Patricof is Founder and Managing Director of Greycroft LLC.
In addition he founded and is chairman of the board of New York magazine, which later acquired the Village Voice and New West magazine.

He has helped a number of global companies, such as Apple Computer, America Online, Cadence Systems, Office Depot, FORE Systems, Cellular Communications, Inc., NTL and Audible, Inc.

Coctel: Amaretto Stinger, receta de Jorge Kanashiro

Leí su interesante libro llamado "Cocteles", donde podemos observar una variedad de cocteles para toda ocasión. A través de este blog publicaremos sus mejores persentaciones de este talentoso profesional en Bar.

INGREDIENTES
-Una y media onza (45 ml) de Amaretto
-Uma y media onza (45 ml) de crema de menta blanca
-Cuatro Cubos de hielo

PREPARACIÓN
Batir en la coctelera con cubos de hielo durante diez segundos. Servir colando el hielo.

ADORNO
Cereza y hojas de menta al borde de la copa.

COPA
Cóctel helada.

Colin Angle, Co-founder&CEO, iRobot


Robots that Clean gutters, What will Irobot think of next?
Colin Angle, Co-founder&CEO, iRobot unveils the New iRobot for Looj

Move over Apple! Gateway unveils The new "ONE" a new all in one personal computer with style.


Bob Davidson, SVP, Worldwide retail, and Gary Elsasser, SVP, Products with the new ONE from Gateway.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Hillary4UandMe

This years election will be the toughest decision I will ever make for a presidential candidate however
A new pop music video with a nice beat for Hillary Clinton is gaining popularity. It was written and produced by Gene Wang of HP. Gene's playing the flute and his 9 year old daughter is singing in the chorus.

Joe Belefiore


Joe Belefiore, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft's eHome division.
Ground breaking digital convergence that includes a new use for your Microsoft media center.

Ed Colligan, Danny Bowman


Ed Colligan, Ceo, Palm.
Danny Bowman, Corporate Vice President, Sprint Nextel,
The new
Palm Centro for $99.99 will be available exclusive on Sprint Nextel in two colors

Ed Colligan, Ceo, Palm.


Ed Colligan, Ceo, Palm. unveils the new Palm Centro for $99.99

Mark Simons


Mark A. Simons Kicks off 2007 Digital Life Keynote series on September 27, 2007
Mark serves as vice president and general manager for Toshiba America and is on the advisory board of Digitalife.

Digital life is the ultimate consumer, technology, gaming and entertainment event.

HAMPTONS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2007



The Closing Night film, August Rush

Trainwreck: My Life As An Idoit


The 2007
Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) runs from October 17th through 21st, 2007, centered in East Hampton, New York with additional events in Southampton, Sag Harbor and Montauk.

Josh Koury has returned for his fifth year of programming with the Festival, joined by David Nugent, who comes as a special consultant from the Newport International Film Festival.

This year’s event features 103 films including - 17 World Premieres, 11 US Premieres, 17 East Coast Premieres and 13 New York Premieres.

The festival has several prize categories:


  • Golden Starfish Award and the films in the competitions for Best Narrative Feature (over $185,000 in goods and in-kind services)
  • Best Documentary Award ($5,000 in cash)
  • Short Film Award ($5,000 in cash)
  • The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize in Science and Technology ($25,000 in cash)
  • The Kodak Award for Cinematography ($6,000 of goods and in-kind services)
  • The Brizzolara Family Award for Films of Conflict and Resolution ($5,000 in cash)
  • The Zicherman Family Foundation Award for Screenwriting ($5,000 in cash)
  • Best Undergraduate and Graduate Student Films (eight $1,000 cash awards)

and new this year,

  • The Lifetime Movie Network Award for Best Female Student Filmmaker ($5,000 in cash)
  • The woozyfly.com Best Music Award and
  • The ¡Sorpresa! Youth Film Competition (a one-week scholarship to the New York Film Academy).

Opening night, Wednesday, October 17th, features the World Premiere of Bob Balaban’s Bernard and Doris (US), written by Hugh Costello and starring Susan Sarandon and Ralph Fiennes, which focuses on the twilight years of tobacco billionairess Doris Duke and her relationship with her gay butler, to whom she left her fortune.

Closing the festival on Sunday the 21st is the music-driven drama August Rush (US), starring Freddie Highmore, Keri Russell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Terrence Howard and Robin Williams. Written by Nick Castle and James V. Hart, directed by Kirsten Sheridan, the film follows a guitarist (Meyers) and cellist (Russell) who fall in love and have a child, yet circumstances tear them apart before their son is born. Years later, the child (Highmore) uses his musical talent to seek the parents from whom he was separated at birth. August Rush opens nationally November 21.

Among the actors, directors, and other celebrities expected to attend are:

Lauren Ambrose, Bob Balaban, John Cusack, Phil Donahue, Alison Eastwood
Chris Eigeman, Ralph Fiennes, Alex Gibney, Marcia Gay Harden, Hannah Herzsprung Famke Jansen, Harvey Keitel, Yun Jin Kim, Lisa Kudrow, Frank Langella, Blake Lively Sidney Lumet, Sirio Maccione, Al Maysles, Gretchen Mol, Jeff Nichols, Amanda Peet Scott Prendergast, Vanessa Redgrave, Keri Russell, Susan Sarandon, Sean William Scott Lili Taylor, Egbert Jan Weeber, Jess Weixler, Gahan Wilson, Alec Baldwin, and Lauren Bacall.


There will be special "conversations" with legendary actress Vanessa Redgrave, moderated by Alec Baldwin and celebrated director and East End regular, Sidney Lumet, moderated by journalist Adam Green (The New Yorker, Vogue) - on Oct 18th & 19st at the Bay Street Theatre.

I've seen Sidney Lumet's new film, "Before The Devil Knows You're Dead," and it's absolutely terrific. In his mid-eighties, Lumet is at the top of his form!

At Miss Redgrave’s ‘Conversation,’ The Hamptons International Film Festival will honor her with this year’s Golden Starfish Award for Career Achievement in Acting.

Rising Stars: There is a special program for "rising stars," young actors in important new films. There is also a panel with the Rising Stars.

This year’s Rising Stars are Hannah Herzsprung (Four Minutes), Jess Weixler (Teeth), Blake Lively (Elvis and Anabelle), Egbert Jan Weeber (Vivere).

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation hosts a panel discussing issues raised by the film they have selected.


Here is a breakdown of the different sections in the film festival, with some brief notes on the films.


Golden Starfish Narrative Competition:

Elvis and Anabelle (US, East Coast Premiere) Dir. Will Geiger – with Blake Lively & Max Minghella. Elvis is a mortician in his family’s funeral parlor. Anabelle is a beauty queen who has dropped dead. An innocent kiss brings a corpse back to life, and romance ensues.

Just Buried (Canada, US Premiere) Dir. Chaz Thorne – with Jay Baruchel, Graham Greene & Rose Byrne. A young man inherits a nearly bankrupt funeral home from his estranged father. He falls in love with the alluring young mortician, only to find out she's offing people to keep the place in business!

Kings (UK, US Premiere) Dir. Tom Collins. In the mid 1970s, a group of six young men left their homes in the West of Ireland, took the boat out of Dublin Bay and sailed across the sea to England in the hope of making their fortunes and returning home. Thirty years later only one, Jackie Flavin, makes it home - but does so in a coffin. Jackie’s five friends reunite at his wake where they are forced face up to the reality of their alienation as long term emigrants who have no longer have any real place to call home.

Turn The River (US, World Premiere) Dir. Chris Eigeman – with Famke Janssen. As this story of a pool-hustling mother and physically abused son hell-bent on fleeing from their terrible lives builds to its inevitable climax, the two desperate characters must take their one last shot at escape, against the odds, and without regard to the possible consequences.

Valerie (Germany, East Coast Premiere) Dir. Birgit Möller. The camera follows Valerie throughout a week in her life as she stumbles through Berlin trying to scrape her life back together.


Golden Starfish Documentary:

Do You Sleep in the Nude? (US, World Premiere) Dir. Marshall Fine. Featuring celebrity testimonials and footage of Rex Reed's television appearances, this documentary reveals many of the same characteristics of journalism’s enfant terrible that have fascinated the public and frightened celebrities for decades.

Gahan Wilson: Born Dead, Still WEIRD (US, World Premiere) Dir. Steven-Charles Jaffe. This portrait of legendary cartoonist Gahan Wilson offers a fascinating and candid glimpse into the artist’s life and work, simultaneously reveal a nightmarish perspective on modern adult life. Featuring interviews with Bill Maher, Stephen Colbert, Hugh Hefner and Stan Lee, among others.

I Am an Animal: This Story of Ingrid Newkirk and PETA (US, World Premiere) Dir. Matthew Galkin. The most well-known and controversial animal rights organization, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), is as equally reviled as it is esteemed.

Pool Of Princesses (Germany, East Coast Premiere) Dir. Bettina Blümner. Docudrama about three teenage girls struggling for personal identity and freedom in urban Germany brilliantly captures the bittersweet moments of youth as each girl talks of her hopes, desires, and fears.

Resolved (US, East Coast Premiere) Dir. Greg Whiteley. This film will destroy every stereotypical thought you’ve ever had about kids who engage in debating, the reasons they do it, and how level the debate playing field really is, or isn’t.


Spotlight Films:

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (US) Dir. Sidney Lumet – with Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei & Albert Finney. "May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you’re dead," or so goes the Irish toast from which Sidney Lumet’s latest tour de force borrows its title. (Highly recommended!!! See the story below.)

Body of War (US, US Premiere) Dir. Ellen Spiro & Phil Donahue. This powerful documentary confronts the physiological and psychological effects of war as it follows Tomas Young, a wounded soldier who served in Iraq and is now speaking out against the war.

Grey Gardens: From East Hampton to Broadway (US, World Premiere) Dir. Albert Maysles. A documentary on the transition of Maysles’ 1976 documentary Grey Gardens from film to a Broadway musical.

Kabluey (US, East Coast Premiere) Dir. Scott Prendergast – with Lisa Kudrow, Scott Prendergast, Christine Taylor & Conchata Ferrell. 32-year-old loner Salman is the ne’er-do-well brother-in law of Iraq War bride and mother Leslie. In this poignant satire, Salman tries to save his brother’s family even as the children threaten his life, their mother deceives him, and the world in general abuses him.

Martian Child (US, World Premiere) Dir. Menno Meyjes – with John Cusack, Joan Cusack, Bobby Coleman, Amanda Peet & Oliver Platt. Crushed by the death of his fiancée, a writer adopts a 6-year-old boy in an effort to create a family. The boy, who desperately wants a father, is troubled by the idea that he's from Mars.

My Sexiest Year (US, World Premiere) Dir. Howard Himelstein – with Harvey Keitel, Frankie Muniz, Amber Valletta, Karolina Kurkova & Haylie Duff. The coming-of-age story of Jack Stein, a Brooklyn kid who is sent to Miami to live with his horse race-betting father. As Jack tries to adapt to Florida and to his eccentric father, he meets Marina, a model who sets Jack’s future on course.

Rails & Ties (US) Dir. Alison Eastwood – with Kevin Bacon, Marcia Gay Harden & Miles Heizer. Unable to face the possibility of losing his wife to illness, Tom Stark buries himself in his job as a train conductor. But when Tom’s train hits a car on the tracks, a young woman is killed and her son, Davey, is left to cope with the loss of his mother. The accident puts the Starks and Davey on their own collision course. But instead of leading to tragedy, this crossing could mean new hope for a woman who has only one chance left to fulfill her dreams, for a man who must learn to open his heart before it is too late, and for a boy who has never known the true meaning of family.

The Savages (US, East Coast Premiere) Dir. Tamara Jenkins – with Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman. A sister and brother face the realities of familial responsibility as they begin to care for their ailing father.

The Shell Seekers (US, World Premiere) Dir. Piers Haggard – with Vanessa Redgrave, Maximilian Schell, Victoria Smurfit & Victoria Hamilton. A tender tale of romance, remembrance and renewal. The Shell Seekers spins a cautionary tale of true love and profound loss, while preferring a harsh lesson for those who know the price of everything but the value of nothing.

Starting Out in the Evening (US, East Coast Premiere) Dir. Andrew Wagner – with Lauren Ambrose, Frank Langella, Lili Taylor & Adrian Lester. Heather Wolfe convinces Leonard Schiller, a past-his-prime writer, that her graduate thesis can resurrect his career. How far will Heather go in her quest to revive a man who’s been her idol? And what will her digging reveal about Schiller’s past?

Table in Heaven (US, NY Premiere) Dir. Andrew Rossi – with Sirio Maccioni, Marco Maccioni, Mauro Maccioni & Woody Allen. Sirio Maccioni, owner of the world-renowned New York restaurant Le Cirque, is the star of this delectable documentary, which chronicles the closing of Le Cirque 2000 in the Palace Hotel and its reopening in midtown’s Bloomberg building. Will the impending move turn out to be a recipe for disaster?

Teeth (US, NY Premiere) Dir. Mitchell Lichtenstein – with Jess Weixler, John Hensley, Josh Pais, Hale Appleman & Ashley Springer. Sure to be one of the most talked-about movies this year, Teeth features an unforgettable performance by rising star Jess Weixler as a teenager who discovers – quite accidentally – that her body can be used as a weapon. Underneath the movie’s sunny, comic surface lurks a darker story about sexual power.

Trainwreck: My Life as an Idoit (US, East Coast Premiere) Dir. Tod Harrison Williams – with Gretchen Mol, Sean William Scott, Deirde O’Connell, Kevin Conway & Jeff Garlin. A dramatic comedy about a self-induced attention-deficit disordered, learning disabled, Tourette's syndrome suffering, balance impaired, ex-alcoholic young man from the Upper East Side of Manhattan and the gold-digging girl who inspires him to try to get it together. Based on the memoir The Little Yellow Bus by Long Island native Jeff Nichols.

The Walker (US) Dir. Paul Schrader – with Woody Harrelson, Lauren Bacall, Lily Tomlin, Ned Beatty & William DeFoe. An escort who caters to Washington D.C.'s society ladies becomes involved in a murder case.


World Cinema Features:

Caramel (Lebanon, East Coast Premiere) Dir. Nadine Labaki. Lebanon’s entry for the 2007 Academy Awards, this romantic comedy is centered on the daily lives of five Lebanese women in Beirut.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (France) Dir. Julian Schnabel. This is the story of Elle France editor Jean-Dominique Bauby, who, in 1995 at the age of 43, suffered a stroke that paralyzed his entire body, except his left eye. Using that eye to blink out his memoir, Bauby eloquently described the aspects of his interior world, from the psychological torment of being trapped inside his body to his imagined stories from lands he'd only visited in his mind.

Four Minutes (Germany, NY Premiere) Dir. Chris Kraus – with Hannah Herzsprung. An unlikely bond grows in an all-women's prison between a solitary piano teacher and a troubled but very talented young murderess.

House of Life: The Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague (US, World Premiere) Dir. Allan Miller. This documentary tells of The Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague, the site of layer upon layer of buried members of the once-vibrant Jewish community of the Ghetto.

Irina Palm (Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, UK and France, NY Premiere) Dir. Sam Eduard Garbarski – with Marianne Faithfull. A middle-aged Maggie must find enough money for her grandson’s lifesaving medical treatment. When a "Hostess Wanted" sign catches her eye, she naively stumbles into a sex club.

Jump! (US, East Coast Premiere) Dir. Helen Hood Scheer. A fervent documentary about stunningly talented young athletes who are devoted to an underappreciated yet attention-deserving sport: competitive jump roping.

Please Vote For Me (China) Dir. Weijun Chen. A classic election drama, although the 60 year-old candidates have been replaced with 7-year-old versions.

The Substitute (Denmark, US Premiere) Dir. Ole Bornedal. The story of a group of Danish 6th graders who discover their new substitute teacher is not merely peculiar, but an extraterrestrial.

Taxi to the Dark Side (US) Dir. Alex Gibney. This film examines the death of an Afghan taxi driver at Bagram Air Base from injuries inflicted by U.S. soldiers. Academy Award Nominee director Alex Gibney takes us from a village in Afghanistan to Guantanamo and straight to the White House.

The Unforseen (US) Dir. Laura Dunn. Executive producers Robert Redford & Terrance Malick. A documentary about the development around Barton Springs in Austin, Texas and nature's unexpected response to being threatened by human interference.

Vivere (Germany, Netherlands) Dir. Angelina Maccarone – with Egbert Jan Weeber. Fate entangles the lives of two sisters and a lonely older woman, after the younger sister runs away from home.

Wade in the Water (US, World Premiere) Dir. Elizabeth Wood and Gabriel Nussbaum. A New Orleans YMCA class put digital cameras in the hands of eighth-grade students whose lives were devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

Yella (Germany, East Coast Premiere) Dir. Christian Petzold. Yella is plagued by a mysterious post-traumatic stress disorder, and finds herself teaming up with a handsome, roving banker named Philipp, to unlock a secret to try to put together a new life.



Films of Conflict and Resolution in Competition:


AFR (Denmark, North American Premiere) Dir. Morten Hartz Kaplers. AFR is a mockumentary that questions the public's consumption of modern media. When the Prime Minister of Denmark is killed by a terrorist bombing, all sorts of suspicions emerge. Combining existing press materials of actual political leaders with fictional interviews, Kaplers composes the perfect investigative piece.

AmericanEast (US, North American Premiere) Dir. Hesham Issawi – with Sayed Badreya & Tony Shalhoub. Mustafa is a widowed Egyptian immigrant who dreams of opening an authentic Middle Eastern restaurant with his best friend Sam, who's Jewish. But their religious differences are just the first of many obstacles present in post-9/11 Los Angeles.

Behind Forgotten Eyes (US, East Coast Premiere) Dir. Anthony Gilmore. During World War II over 200,000 Korean women were forced to work as sex slaves by the Japanese Army. Decades later, they are fighting to tell their story before history forgets them.

Soldiers Of Conscience (US, NY Premiere) Dir. Gary Weimberg. An in-depth look at the conscientious objector experience concerning the war in Iraq, Soldiers of Conscience is an important film for anyone attempting to understand human beings engaged in violent conflict. T

To Die In Jerusalem (Israel, US Premiere) Dir. Hilla Medalia. In this powerful documentary we follow a mother who has lost her daughter in a suicide bombing as she meets the parents of her daughter's killer. One hopes that differences could be set aside to grieve, but To Die in Jerusalem shows us just how hard that can be.


Films Of Conflict And Resolution Out Of Competition:

Beyond Belief (US) Dir. Beth Murphy. A journey with two women who lost their husbands on 9/11, and decide to harness something positive through their suffering, in the form of a spiritual and literal journey: charity work in Afghanistan.

India Untouched (India). Dir. Stalin K. Motivated by ancient religious edicts, no amount of governmental encouragement has been able to stem the tragic custom that separates human beings according to their birth.

Steal a Pencil for Me (US) Dir. Michele Ohayon. Jack and Ina are Jewish, they have fallen in love in 1943 and they are prisoners in a concentration camp.


SHORT FILMS:


Golden Starfish Shorts:
  • A Letter To Colleen (US, World Premiere) Andy and Carolyn London’s autobiographical animation about the loss of innocence.
  • At The End of The Sentence (UK/Scotland, East Coast Premiere) Dir. Marisa Zanotti. Grammar stickler Sue learns of his father's Christmas-time release from prison, and suddenly finds his ordered world complicated by neon lights, lassoing cowboys, and Helena MacReadie's tits.
  • The Guitar Lesson (France, NY Premiere) Dir. Martin Rit. A man decides to start a new chapter in his life after seeing an advertisement for guitar lessons in the paper.
  • Joyriders (Ireland, US Premiere) Dir. Rebecca Daly. Set against a stark urban Irish landscape, a young girl acts out in response to the loss of her father.
  • Milk Teeth (UK, US Premiere) Dir. Tibor Banoczki. The tales of a young boy who follows his sister into a field as she sneaks out to see her boyfriend. Lost in the strange world of the cornfield, the siblings experience fear, love and learn more about themselves and their relationship as brother and sister.

Shorts Program 1 - Gray Matter:

  • Arthur Halpern’s Futures (and Derivatives) (US, East Coast Premiere);
  • Robin Fuller’s The Ballad of Mary Slade (UK);
  • Signe Baumane’s Verterinarian(Latvia/US, World Premiere);
  • Andrew McPhillips’s Blood Will Tell (Canada, US Premiere);
  • Bryan Wizemann’s Film Makes Us Happy (US, World Premiere)
Shorts Program 2 – Comedy:
  • Kurt Kuenne’s Validation (US, NY Premiere);
  • Don Hertzfeldt’s Everything Will be OK (US);
  • Steve Sullivan’s A Bit on the Side (UK);
  • James Griffiths’s The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island (UK, US Premiere)
Shorts Before Films:
  • Michael Dreher’s Fair Trade (Germany, East Coast Premiere);
  • Bob Giovanelli’s Tis the Season (US);
  • Jesse Epstein’s The Guarantee (US, NY Premiere);
  • Dave Tucker’s Bowl Cut (UK, NY Premiere);
  • Chelsea Franklin’s Halloway Park (US, East Coast Premiere);
  • Gloria Dios’s All the Livelong Day (US, World Premiere);
  • Josh Safdie’s The Back of Her Head (US, NY Premiere)

Descriptions and synopses of short films are available on the web-site and the festival catalogue.




Undergraduate and Graduate Student Film/Video Awards:

  • Abajee (Pakistan/US) Dir. Maureen Bharoocha. Omer is a young rebellious boy living with his family and his beloved pet rooster in Karachi, Pakistan. When he enters his rooster in a cockfight, the result is one he never thought possible.
  • lan and Samir (UK) Dir. Yann Demange. Two brothers share the same father but different mothers and a night out in London reveals hidden tensions.
  • Blue Dress (US) Dir. Katie Stern. 12-year-old Hadley is devastated when her older brother goes way to camp for the summer. But when the bookmobile rumbles into town one dusty morning, Hadley discovers a new source of companionship.
  • Dear Lemon Lima (US) Dir. Suzi Yoonessi. A lonely 13-year-old girl with a vivid imagination overcomes her first heartbreak on a serendipitous summer day.
  • Quincy & Althea (US) Dir. Doug Lenox. With their beloved New Orleans home in ruins, all they want is a divorce.

Ticket Information:

Passes and tickets can be ordered on-line through the festival website, http://www.hamptonsfilmfest.org/ or through the new East Hampton Box Office location at Design Within Reach - 30 Park Place, East Hampton.

Tickets by phone – 631-747-7978. Founders Pass- $1000; Spotlight Package $350, Southampton Package $150, Film Discovery Package $100, Opening Night Package $100, Starfish Screening Member $100, Opening Night party - $75; Saturday Night Heineken Filmmakers’ Reception $75, A Conversation With - $25; Spotlight Films - $20 - $35; Panel Discussions- $10; Films- $12; Early Bird Screenings - $9, Children 12 and under –$8.


Festival Venues:
  • United Artists Theatres - 30 Main Street, East Hampton;
  • The Ross School, 18 Goodfriend Drive, East Hampton;
  • Hospitality Suite & Press Office at The Huntting Inn - 94 Main Street, East Hampton;
  • Southampton Regal Cinema - 43 Hill Street Southampton;
  • Montauk Movie - 3 Edgemere Road Montauk;
  • Panel Discussions - Bay Street Theatre Long Wharf (at the foot of Main Street) Sag Harbor;
  • Daily Festival Lounge: HIFF "Green" Tent, Lawn of the Ladies Village Improvement Society, 95 Main Street;
  • Filmmaker & Industry Lounge, Turtle Crossing 221 Pantigo Road
No festival can survive without sponsors. Here are some principal sponsors of HIFF:

Presenting Sponsors: American Airlines and Altour International.
Host Sponsors: Fox 5 New York.
Patron Sponsors: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, New Line Cinema, Prudential Douglas Elliman, Regal Entertainment Group; Silvercup Studios, Newsday, 91 East Productions, The Hallmark Channel, OK! Magazine, Heineken, Time Warner Cable Media Sales, VOX Magazine, Woozyfly.com, WVVH Hamptons Television

For further information on the 2007 Hamptons International Film Festival please visit http://www.hamptonsfilmfest.org/ .

Tokio - Smoke/Loud



"Let me get you high"

Denmark's Tokio are what this blog is all about. They are unsigned, fairly unknown, and absolutely bursting with potential. They've got it all: the sound, the tunes, the look, even though they've only released two songs so far. I'm posting them both here today since they're available for free elsewhere and I know once you hear one of them you'll want to hear more. The band's sound is definitely electro pop, maybe a mix between Alphabeat and The Lovemakers. It is incredibly catchy, fantastically colorful, and completely irresistable. Consider these guys a band that I will be keeping a close eye on for sure. Like Alphabeat, my previous discovery from Denmark, they will be going far.

Tokio - Smoke (mp3) (zshare)
Tokio - Loud (mp3) (zshare)

(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists! No album yet, but be sure to watch for one!)

La Catedral de Trujillo luce una nueva imagen..!



Esa es nueva imagen de la Catedral de la Ciudad de Trujillo. Luce espectacular durante la noche. si hacen click en la imagen podran verlo en su tamaño real, como para fondo de escritorio. Se los recomiendo.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Bill Clinton, Dikembe Mutombo

Chevy Chase

Ted Turner, Elizabeth Dewberry

An Alienhits Blog Recommendation....

Well, not so much a blog as part of a blog. It's A Trap! has been around for awhile and hardly needs my promotion, as it's one of the biggest and most reliable sources of information on Scandinavian music on the web, but I've still got to highlight its fantastic store.

I've only just purchased my first album from the store, and I've gotta say, for U.S. fans of Scandinavian indie rock and pop, there is no better option. You don't get those ridiculous import prices, they've got amazingly cheap shipping rates (they actually charge you for how much it costs to ship the item! How novel is that?) and the cds get to you fast. I've spent months (literally) waiting for stuff to come all the way from Sweden so this in particular is a real treat.

Anyways, go check it out. They've got both the new Laakso album and the new Superfamily one in stock for extremely reasonable prices. And, if you haven't got those two cds yet, how can you really call yourselves an Alienhits fan?

Camilo Sesto: Conocido como el Romantico de todos los años


Conocido por el nombre artístico Camilo Sesto; cantautor español. Es uno de los cantante español más importante de las décadas de 70 y 80, quién tan sólo con 23 producciones discograficas, en las cuales fué interprete, autor, compositor y productor, ha vendido más de 120 millones de discos, haciéndose celebré por su voz potente capaz de llegar al almas y corazones más fríos …. Estamos hablando de Camilo Blanes Cortés.
De chico era revoltoso y fue expulsado de dos colegios. Tenía buena voz y lo reclamaban siempre para cantar en el coro y también para cualquier representación teatral de fin de curso. Y como, además, dibujaba muy bien, se encargaba de caricaturizar a sus compañeros.
En 1975 logró su éxito soñado en un escenario: Jesucristo Superstar. Cuando en España nadie se arriesgaba a montar un espectáculo europeo de la categoría de esta ópera-rock aclamada en Londres, Camilo se convirtió en protagonista y empresario, saliendo victorioso de ella, más en el sentido artístico que en el económico.
Estos son algunos de los albums de romantico Camilo sesto:
Sentimientos (1978)
A voluntad del cielo (1991)
Agenda de baile (1986)
Algo de mí (1971)
Algo más (1973)
Alma (2002)
Amanecer '84 (1983)
Amaneciendo (1980)
Amor libre (1975)
Amor sin vértigo (1994)
Empire State Human - Digital City



"Where all the girls are pretty"

Empire State Human has been around for awhile so I'm surprised that I haven't heard of them before recently. They have a retro electronica/synthpop (Human League are an obvious influence) with a modern edge. Digital City, one of their most recent tracks, doesn't have a lot of lyrics (basically the same ones repeated over and over) but it's just so damn danceable that I had to post it anyway. The band hails from Ireland, making them one of the few Irish groups that I've posted on this blog (though there are no bagpipes to be found).
Empire State Human - Digital City (mp3) (zshare)

(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists! Buy the album here!)

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Paul Cosgrave, Technology Commissioner for the City of New York, officially kicks-off Digital Technology Week.


Paul Cosgrave, NYC Technology Commissioner; Monica Villa,vice president,Ziff Davis, Lane Bess,president Trend Micro; and Jason Young, CEO Ziff Davis.(Left to Right)

Pandora's Mighty Soldiers


You Guessed it, PMS Girls!!!

PMS is the first, largest, and most competitive all-female XBOX LIVE and PS2 ONLINE Clan. They focus on the FPS genre and can be found on any platform that has a gun!
They offer a fun and positive environment to other female gamers, while maintaining competitiveness, fairness, and respect in clan matches.


REDACTED




Rob Devaney as Lawyer McCoy, Kel O’Neill as Gabe Blix,
Izzy Diaz as Angel Salazar and Patrick Carroll as Reno Flake in
Redacted
Directed by Brian De Palma, US, 2007; 110m
Photo: courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

Redacted is one of the most harrowing movies I have ever seen. My stomach was still churning long after the screening.

Brian De Palma has made a fictional film inspired by events from Iraq: a teenage girl reportedly was raped by American soldiers, who killed her family, shot her, and torched their house. The movie describes the before, during, and after of a fictional, similar event.

Interestingly, the story would not be credible if it were not inspired by a real event, and yet it is much more powerful than any documentary can be.

The film is constructed brilliantly. It unfolds as if it were a video blog made by one of the solders; and then as a documentary made by a foreign journalist; as a surveillance video; and again as a video blog. The camcorder used by the soldier, "fortunately," has the resolution and quality of a professional Hollywood camera. (It was shot in HD.) -- This is not a grainy, soft-focus simulation of an amateur camera.

The acting is excellent. It is hard to believe, sometimes, that these are actors (mostly relative newcomers, in fact) and not real, vicious, criminal soldiers.

The film was shot in Jordan, and certainly looks like the Iraq shown in news footage.

One of the producers was Mark Cuban (who can be seen on this year's Dancing With The Stars!) and his company,
Magnolia Pictures (which recently released Fay Grim -- a picture I liked a lot) .

Some years ago, Brian De Palma made a film,
Casualties of War, of a kidnapping, rape and murder of a teen in Vietnam, in a film with Michael J. Fox and Sean Penn, written by Daniel Lang (book) and David Rabe (screenplay). (David Rabe is currently working on a screenplay about Capone for De Palma.)

At last year's
Hampton's Film Festival (HIFF), the opening night film, The Situation, was about Iraq from the point of view of a journalist... in the Green zone and visiting with friends among Iraqis. This gave a picture of a hopelessly divided country, with clueless American administrators. Another film about Iraq is at HIFF this year.

I found the title just a bit strange. Although portions of the report on the soldiers raid were shown as redacted (redacted -- prepared for publication; especially by removing portions not wanted to be made public), this hardly seeemd to be the real subject of the movie. But here is De Palma's statement about the title. After hearing about the incident, he thought,

"I told this story years ago in my film Casualties of War. But the lessons from the Vietnam War have gone unheeded. But how to tell the story today? And how did it all begin?

"How could these boys have gone so wrong? In searching for the answers, I read soldiers' blogs, books, watched soldiers' home made war videos, surfed their web sites, and their YouTube postings. It was all there, and all in video.

"To redact is to edit, or prepare for publishing. Frequently, a redacted document or image has simply had personal (or possibly actionable) information deleted or blacked out; as a consequence, redacted is often used to describe documents or images from which sensitive information has been expunged. The true story of our Iraq war has been redacted from the Main Stream Corporate Media. If we are going to cause such disorder then we must face the horrendous images that are the consequences of these actions. Once we saw them in Vietnam our citizens protested and brought that misguided conflict to an end. Let's hope the images from this film have the same effect."

SMOKING


There is an awful lot of smoking lately on the big screen and small screen. Several of the New York Film Festival movies are so choked with smoke one might imagine Big Tobacco was a festival sponsor. Mad Men, set back in an ad agency that works for Tobacco, also is full of smoke.


When actors drink "liquor" onstage it's usually "apple juice" or some other benign, colored liquid. I don't know what they do for cigarettes, but acting could become a dangerous profession if there's a proliferation of shows with relentless fumes and no safe substitute for tobacco.

Frutas: La tuna puede curar tus riñones


La tuna sirve para mantener en óptimo estado los riñones y las vías urinarias, puesto que la penca de tuna ayuda a reducir la sobrecarga de trabajo de estos importantes órganos, colaborando en la adecuada depuración yeliminaci6n de las toxinas del organismo.

Este fruto existe en el departamento de Cajamarca, y otros lugares del Perú. Generalmente no es cultivada ni tiene el cuidado requerido. Es un fruto silvestre que crece en determinadas tierras abonadas, así como también en cercos de piedra y tierra, que sirven de delimitaciones de terrenos fértiles.

La penca de Tuna tiene propiedades que no solo curan el mal estado de los riñones sino otros malestares de nuestro organismo como el colesterol, la diaebetes, el sobrepeso, etc. Si deseas profundizar en este tema de las bondades de la Tuna puedes encotrar en la página web de RPP

Kate Miller-Heidke - Mama



"Mama, I wanted to please you"

Australia's Kate Miller-Heidke is kind of a cross between Tori Amos, Lily Allen and Nellie McKay. Basically she screams "critical darling." Her debut single, Words, is one of the better pop songs I've heard this year, while the rest of her debut album, Little Eve, is made up of more piano-based, quirky pop. At the forefront is Mama, a thumping, dramatic track that highlights Miller-Heidke's operatic tendencies in the terrific chorus. I wouldn't be surprised if she breaks out of Australia and into the international market. Words alone could do it for her.

Kate Miller-Heidke - Mama (mp3) (zshare)

(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists! Buy the album here!)

Monday, September 24, 2007

La fiebre en los niños genera angustia en los padres


La fiebre es el principal motivo de consulta en los niños, ya que genera angustia en los padres. Por lo regular, cuando un niño está enfermo se piensa que es un problema grave, y amerita tratamiento, puede ser una infección, para mayor seguridad debe de consultar al pediatra.

¿Cuáles son las enfermedades que comúnmente causan fiebre?

Durante la edad pediátrica suelen presentarse frecuentemente infecciones respiratorias, mismas que pueden ser banales, de origen viral y que se autolimitan, o bien infecciones más complejas con los mismos síntomas pero con diferente evolución, en las que hay participación de bacterias.

Entonces es necesario utilizar antibióticos para tratarlas. Pero no sólo las infecciones respiratorias causan fiebre, también podemos mencionar las infecciones gastrointestinales, en las que los agentes causales pueden ser virus, bacterias o parásitos.

Otro problema que no siempre sé tiene presente es el de las infecciones de vías urinarias, problema que es más difícilde sospechar. Otras infecciones frecuentes en los niños son las conocidas como exantemáticas como, la rubéola, la varicela y el exantema súbito, entre otras, las cuales son causadas por virus. Algunas otras infecciones como la hepatitis, la meningitis, la fiebre tifoidea, etcétera pueden causar fiebre como primera manifestación.

Lo importante de esto es saber que cualquier infección puede manifestarse con fiebre independientemente del agente causal: virus, bacteria, parásitos u hongos, y que el tratamiento será diferente en todos los casos.

¿Cuáles son las medidas generales que debo aplicar en caso de fiebre?

Existen medidas generales como la aplicación de medios físicos para controlar la fiebre. Esto es, colocar paños húmedos en la cabeza, axilas, región inguinal, mismos que se deben cambiar activamente. También se debe ofrecer una mayor cantidad de líquidos para evitar la deshidratación y mantener a los niños con ropa ligera, con lo que evitaremos que la temperatura se eleve con facilidad. Es importante que a la par de estas medidas usted debe ser muy cuidadoso al usar medicinas para el control de la fiebre y que el uso de éstas sea bajo recomendación médica.

¿Cuáles son las medidas que debo evitar?

Se debe evitar la aplicación de alcohol frotado en el cuerpo, pues además de no presentar el efecto deseado para bajar la temperatura, representa el peligro de una absorción masiva a través de la piel lo cual puede causar intoxicación y descenso brusco de la glucosa en sangre (hipoglucemia). El baño en agua helada o la aplicación de hielo, no sólo resulta en una desagradable sensación sino que puede ocasionar efectos graves en la presión arterial el estado de conciencia, etc.

Fuente: boletin de la Clinica Peruano Americana - Trujillo
Radio LXMBRG - Score On The Floor



"Score on the floor, won't ask for more"

I've always been this close to fully embracing Stockholm's Radio LXMBRG. But, with their new album, I think I've been completely converted. This single was provided free from their myspace (as well as two older tracks) and it is incredibly good. Mixing old-school 80's synth with a punky edge, the band have crafted something that is at once instantly catchy and also very odd. It's yet another example of a Swedish band mixing it up and creating a sound that's heads and tails above most of the stuff out there.

Radio LXMBRG - Score On The Floor (mp3) (zshare)

(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists! Buy the album here!)

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Los Caribeños: la orquesta musical mas exitosa del 2007


Se formaron a inicios de los años 70, creado por Santiago Aspericueta Reyes, un hombre que supo creer; primero, en lo que mejor hacía: la música, luego en su capacidad y aptitudes para la empresa, lo que le valió para juntar a lo mejor de Guadalupe, luego a los talentos del Valle Jequetepeque y también aceptar personas de la zona norte con gran habilidad musical.
El primer cantante de la Orquesta Los Caribeños era el famoso José Pacherre. Quien llevó mucho aporte al grupo, se logró incluir dentro de su repertorio una canción de rock clásico de envergadura.
Desde sus inicios han sabido amoldarse a los cambios donde la preferencia del público es la que cuenta; y de esta manera vienen logrando el éxito no sólo en la región norte del país sino también en los conos de Lima y en diversos lugares del extranjero.
Fernando y Santiago Aspericueta Cabanillas, hijos de don Santiago, quienes identificados con el quehacer de su padre, ejemplo de vida en el esfuerzo, sacrificio y dedicación; han continuado con este gran movimiento Los Caribeños de Guadalupe, Lamentamos el fallecimiento del cantate Edwin Alcántara Limay, del trompetista Angel Francisco Calderón Pairazamán, profesor de música del colegio de mujeres Santa Inés de Guadalupe y del Colegio Nacional 89 -Hermanos Albújar y Guarniz-, así como el promotor Teófilo Fernández Anhuamán, y el conductor del vehículo que siempre transportaba a los Caribeños Segundo Hernández Gonzáles.
El 17 de agosto del 2002 dejó este mundo don Santiago Aspericueta Reyes
"Los Caribeños es un patrimonio musical de Guadalupe", teniendo en consideración y grado de desarrollo artístico, científico, industrial, en una época, grupo social, etc", según la Real Academia de la Lengua, debo finalizar diciendo que Los Caribeños de Guadalupe es Patrimonio Cultural de Guadalupe y el Valle Jequetepeque.
En la actualidad LOS CARIBEÑOS DE GUDALUPE está conformado por 18 personas, entre ellos el gerente Santiago Aspericueta, el director musical Fernando Aspericueta , los vocalistas Tommy Portugal (ex Tornado), Darwin Torres, Armando Vasquez (también percusionista), Alejandro Farro, Julio Chicoma, Esaud Suarez(ex kaliente), Elvis Omar Atoche los trompetistas Oscar Pomape, Rodolfo Calderón, el trombonista Carlos Camacho, el pianista Miguel Mestanza, el timbalero Daniel Montoya, el baterista Juan Reque, el bajista Miguel Rivasplata, la primera guitarra Martin Farroy, el percusionista César Yunque y el animador Roger Nieves.
Hace 34 años, el señor Santiago Aspericueta fundó la orquesta en la que cual era el trompetista y director de la agrupación. En ese entonces todos los integrantes eran parientes pero con el tiempo las cosas cambiaron, Pese al tiempo de existencia de este grupo y a ser mas antiguos que los reconocidos Armonía 10 y Aguamarina, resulta curioso que sólo hayan tenido cuatro producciones, la última de las cuales, en formato CD, es una recopilación de los éxitos mas resonantes del grupo.

Red Hot Chili Peppers: en su primer concierto se desnudaron para marketearse


Todo comenzó a principios de los años '80 en Fairfax Highschool en Los Angeles California (USA).Allí Anthony Kiedis conoció a Michael "Flea" Balzary y a Hillel Slovak (quien conocía a Jack Irons porque tomaban clases de música juntos). Un tiempo después, en 1982 formaron una banda llamada "Tony Flow and the Miracously Majestic Masters of Mayhem" ,que luego a partir de 1983 se llamaría "Red Hot Chili Peppers"(el nombre de Red Hot Chili Peppers viene de un chiste sobre "Chili Willi and the Red Hot Peppers"una banda country de los años '70). La primera canción que crearon fue "Out in L.A.", compuesta por Kiedis, quien paso toda la noche componiéndola porque quería sorprender al resto del grupo. La formación original era Kiedis en voz, Flea en bajo, Slovak en guitarra e Irons en batería.
Su primer gran show fue en un concierto, donde para llamar la atención se desnudaron para actuar, lo que les dio una tremenda publicidad en Los Ángeles y les valió para firmar un contrato con una gran discográfica.
Irons y Slovak dejan el grupo para dedicarse a otros trabajos y son sustituídos por Cliff Martínez y Jack Sherman, y en 1984 publican su primer álbum, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, que no tuvo demasiado éxito.
Tras este pequeño fracaso, Slovak vuelve al grupo en sustitución de Sherman y se dedican a promocionarse a través de conciertos, antes de editar su segundo disco, Freaky Styley, con nuevo productor. En esta ocasión la suerte sí les sonrió y se hicieron un espacio en el panorama musical en los Estados Unidos.
Un nuevo cambio se gesta en el grupo. Jack Irons regresa y sustituye a Cliff Martínez, volviendo a los orígenes del grupo. Pero algo había cambiado. Los problemas de adicción a las drogas de Slovak empezaban a hacer mella en la calidad del grupo en sus actuaciones.
Con el disco siguiente consiguen superar el listón de ventas: Uplift Mofo Party Plan. Después de la gira del disco, Slovak muere de una sobredosis, y aquello parecía el fin de la banda.
En 1989 el grupo resurgió con nuevos nombres: se unió John Frusciante como guitarrista y Chad Smith en la batería. Junto a Flea y Keidis ya estaban de nuevo en marcha.
Ese mismo año publicaron un nuevo disco, Mothers Milk, considerado como uno de sus mejores trabajos. Realizaron una gira por todo el mundo que resultó un gran espectáculo.
Dos años después publican Blood Sugar Sex and Magic, y en 1995 One Hot Minute.
En 1999 batieron todos sus registros con el álbum titulado Californication, uno de sus mejores trabajos. Y por fin, tras una larga espera de tres años, llegó el lanzamiento de By the Way, con 16 canciones repletas de coros pegajosos y notas punzantes.

Alberto Kaynia Fujimori: su gobierno fue nefasto para el Perú por la forma autocrática en la que administró el país


Nació el 28 de julio de 1938 en Lima (Perú), en el seno de una familia de origen japonés. Sus padres fueron Naoichi y Mutsue Fujimori, quienes se embarcaron solos en el puerto de Yokohama en 1934. Según los documentos migratorios, la pareja no trajo niños consigo, con lo que se despeja la hipótesis de que el ex mandatario hubiera nacido en el Japón.
En 1957, Alberto empezó sus estudios en la Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, donde se graduó en 1961 en Ingeniería agrícola. En 1964 estudió física en la Universidad de Estrasburgo en Francia, y posteriormente estudió en la Universidad de Wisconsin-Milwaukee en los Estados Unidos, donde en 1969 obtuvo un master en ciencias matemáticas.
Ganó las elecciones presidenciales de 1990, derrotando a Vargas Llosa. Puso en marcha un duro plan de ajuste para paliar la grave situación económica.
Durante la campaña electoral, Fujimori hizo un llamamiento especial a los votantes de las zonas rurales, a los indígenas, a los mestizos y a las clases menos favorecidas quienes desconfiaban de la relación de Vargas Llosa con la élite del país y que podían creer en el programa populista de Fujimori. Ambos afirmaron que acabarían con la desastrosa situación económica de Perú, que se había complicado por los estragos causados por los ataques terroristas de Sendero Luminoso y el Movimiento Revolucionario Túpac Amaru (MRTA). Su programa estaba basado en el desarrollo económico y en la mejora de las condiciones de vida de los campesinos. Ganó la segunda vuelta de las elecciones con el 60% de los votos, lo que le convirtió en la primera persona de ascendencia japonesa que gobernaba el país.
En 1992 Fujimori disolvió el Parlamento de forma temporal, anunció la creación de un gobierno de emergencia y la supresión de la Constitución de 1979. En noviembre de 1992 su partido pasó a denominarse Nueva Mayoría-Cambio 90.
Fue reelegido en 1995 y en 2000. En noviembre de este año dimitió durante un viaje a Japón. Apenas asumió su tercer mandato fue acusado por corrupción, espionaje político y cercenamiento de las libertades públicas, lo cual generó una creciente inestabilidad. En sus gobiernos pudo desarticular a las guerrillas de los grupos Sendero Luminoso y Movimiento Revolucionario Túpac Amaru, llevando a cabo métodos de terrorismo de Estado.
Estuvo viviendo en Japón hasta noviembre de 2005, fecha en la que llegó a Santiago de Chile, donde fue detenido por orden de un ministro de la Corte Suprema. En mayo de 2006 esta Corte le otorgó libertad bajo fianza, aunque se le impide salir de territorio chileno mientras se desarrolle el juicio de extradición a Perú.
Su gobierno fue nefasto para el Perú por la forma autocrática en la que administró el país, la corrupción que fomentó, la violación de derechos humanos expresada en homicidios, desaparición forzada de personas, tortura y otros delitos de lesa humanidad y el descalabro económico caracterizaron su gestión al frente del país.
El ex presidente arribó a las 4:40 p.m. a la Base Aérea de Las Palmas en Surco. Fujimori llegó a la capital en un avión Antonov que lo trajo desde Chile y será trasladado en un helicóptero a la sede de la Dinoes en el ex Fundo Barbadillo. En la estos momentos es trasladado a la dependencia de la Policia Nacional.

Rivaldo: deportista de altísimo nivel dotado de gran olfato para el marketing deportivo


Su nombre original es Vitor Borba Ferreira, pero todos lo conocemos como el gran Rivaldo, quien demostrara su mano dura en los tratos al negociar en 1999 su subida de contrato con el Barcelona, que había pagado por él 4.000 millones por arrancárselo al Deportivo en 1997.
En sus inicios como todo futbolista fue muy difícil, su familia era muy pobre por lo que él vendía souvenirs en la playa de Recife y andaba cada día 25 kilómetros para ir a entrenar porque no tenía dinero para el autobús. Considerado el mejor jugador carioca del mundo, juntamente con Ronaldo, es un creador de fútbol espectáculo: es capaz de hacer globos impresionantes y de marcar goles desde 40 metros. Es la zurda de oro de la liga española, un magnífico delantero: creativo y resolutivo.
Antes de llegar a la liga española, el gran Rivaldo se inicio en 4 equipos cariocas.
Fue a las olimpiadas de Atlanta con su selección, y aunque consiguieron la medalla de plata, le culparon por la derrota en semifinales ante Nigeria. En 1998 hace ganar la liga al Barza y en el 99 consigue la Copa América. En 1999 le coronan como el mejor jugador del mundo: la máxima distinción de la FIFA y el Balón de Oro de la revista France Football, entre otros. Por eso se permitió el lujo de presionar al Barza para convertirlo en el jugador mejor pagado del 2000: más de 1.000 millones anuales.
Algo anecdótico de este gran jugador fue cuando jugó contra el Atlético de Madrid y marcó un gol que en el pasado Pelé intentó sin éxito: en el minuto 11 de partido lanzó el balón desde medio campo y en cuatro segundos atravesó la portería.