Friday, February 29, 2008

Febrero 29

das Schaltjahr
Leap Year
Año bisiesto

oh another February 29...
a slit in the Gregorian calendar



you would've think that Leap Year would've been the word of the day
but not, here anyway Dictionary.com definition of a Leap Year:

"A year that contains 366 days, with February 29 as an additional day: occurring in years whose last two digits are evenly divisible by four, except for centenary years not divisible by 400."

Enjoy your extra day!

Sunday, February 24, 2008

the 80th Oscars



the only movie i have seen so far
out of 5 nominated for Oscar
for the best picture is
No Country for Old Men
here an earlier review



and no wonder i went to watch it
the day it came out...
a combination of the always-witty Coen brothers
with extraordinary talented
spanish actor Javier Bardem
cannot go wrong

so tonight, it won
best director(s) - two in this case
best picture
and best secondary actor
Javier Bardem

2 great personal surprises
were
Tilda Swinton
for best supporting actress
i know her very well since she's the leading actress
of one bizarre film i love
Orlando

i am really curious about
La Vie en Rose
of the life of Edith Piaf
specially since this lovely french actress
Marion Cotillard
won the Oscar for best leading actress



a dusty evening
cleaning finally a little my house
while watching the Oscars on the TV
not bad ending for a rainy Sunday

now i have yet another 10 or 15 films
to watch
ah sigh! there's more movies than time...

pancakes, rain and coffee

another rainy start in San Diego this morning



and an early start for me
8.15 am and me, already munching down some pancakes
and doing some Hausaufgabe
at a local Denny's



nothing like an early breakfast
on a raining morning
with some pancakes on the side
sidewalk-staring drops falling
hot coffee and pretending to read...
die deutsche Sprache

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

for kitchen accidents

das Erste-Hilfe-Mittel
First-Aid kit
Botiquín de Primeros Auxilios

the more you cook
the more chances of getting burned
this past weekend, a too hot casserole

the best home-made remedy
that i have used since my childhood
is my grandmother's, Mami Pera, recipe:
rinse with cold running water the burn
and then apply

das Eiweiß
egg white
la clara del huevo



it is nourishing... and refreshing!
also good for

der Kratzer
some scratches
pequeños rasguños

and to stop the bleeding from a

Messerschnitt mit Küchenmessern
cut with a kitchen knife
cortadas con cuchillo de cocina

the best is to
rinse the wound and cover with

gemahlener Kaffee
ground coffee
café molido

posts from a sentimental geek

die sentimental Streberin
the sentimental geek
la nerd sentimental

that would be me
technology and objects
drive me to emotional tears
the magnificence of object creation
so today i thought that...

probably the most caressed object in this modern times
is... (keep on reading please)

'cause…
we have all hold one with a warm or cold hand?
and there is a high
very high chance that
your are caressing or holding one
just right now!!

beacause
Haven't we all grabbed one passionately?
With high hopes and or with impatience?
To check if we got that expected e-mail,
or to confirm if the deposit went through
in our electronic bank account

We have treated these objects fondly!
but also there are times when we want to smash them against
a table or a wall, or just step on them…
especially when it comes to download large files
or if the little ball got hairy, dusty or too stuck
with pieces of french fries
there is always that chance

it seem to me that there is at least one in every house-hold
And in the offices they reproduce freely, and in large amounts!
Yeah, like rats…

Such an common object
victim of nerdy virtual mouse & cat jokes
certainly a controversial object
that millions of humans touch every day
probably way more than you touch your own body
and surely more than most people touch their husbands or wives

so for today
I am a sentimental geek
Who wrote this little
Ode to the mouse

inspired by my own curiosity today
i asked myself...
and who invented the mouse?
probably you couldn't care less
but here i tell you

it was this very clever man
Dr. Douglas C. Engelbart
who created the first virtual
son of a rat
just a little later
the hordes of cyber mice came to life!



Here the 1st computer mouse ever!
in a little wooden box...
and this is what i call a prototype!



hope today if you read this
you stroke softly and carefully
your rolling, fun, little mousy-pal

the sentimental geek is
over and out

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Schopenhauer / alone / today



mi mala traducción al Español:
"Nuestra miseria esta basada en el hecho de que no podemos estar solos"

Saturday, February 16, 2008

sankofa

collections
my sound-soulful accumulations
my petit musical
plastic agglomeration

i roughly counted
tonight

i own about
- 600 cds (originals)
- 200 vinyl records
mostly LPs
but some 45's too

when i moved to USA
i left my about
- 70 tapes
and
in México

apparently
an advocate of the recording
industry am i
but mostly
a soulful aficionado
of the notes
the tempos
and the silences
that rhapsody-me
from netherworlds
to utopia
faster than an instant

cassandra wilson's sankofa
a sample among what i have
if not this, then what?

hören Sie bitte
please listen
escuche Usted por favor

Friday, February 15, 2008

vestidos

geöffnet
open
abierto



der Februar / February / Febrero

meine kleine Küche und mein wenig Leben
my little kitchen, and my little life
mi cocinita, y mi vidita



because i think is good to learn how to survive
with just a piece of fruit
and a soul that can still smile

15 steps and code

ColdFusion
or...
confusion!

i was so excited today
i am back to programming!

it took me a while to figure out this code
to feed dynamically a combo box
with a query on SQL
(another language i am trying to learn)
and well, my boss "spoon-feed" me
some of the code

but it is just so nice when things start
to make sense

here here
the simple html for a combo box is

-select-
-option value ="a"-a-/option-
-option value ="b"-b-/option-
-option value ="c"-c-/option-
-/select-

to create this


but the dynamic one
with ColdFusion is
-cfoutput-
-select-
-cfloop query = "getAgencyNames"- -option value ="nada"-#agencyName#-br--/option--/cfloop-
-/select-
-/cfoutput-



notice i had to replace
the opening and closing brackets (<, >) for -
to be able to display the html here


now i just have to study for my Deutsch Test
am Dienstag
don't know what is harder
if learning a programming language
or German
seems that i am setting myself for failure
with the choices of learning

wish me luck
i am going to need it!
with these choices...

and here a cool little song to go
with the

15 steps

Thursday, February 14, 2008

is Valentine's day again / die Liebe

Oh that little thing called LOVE
in February 14 we celebrate the romantic kind of love
That one that brings us beautiful moments in the clouds
But sometimes followed by intense sorrow and disappointment

But such is life, and even more capricious than life
is romantic love
it sweeps you to the sky
and the drops you strong on the floor

Valentine's Day is an old old tradition
coming all the way from Europe from the Romans
and getting more popular during the Middle Ages
In 496 A.D. Pope Gelasius set aside February 14 to honour St. Valentine
and then it became official
even Shakespeare mentioned it, by Ophelia in Hamlet
"Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's Day", she said
To her attemptive lunatic lover Hamlet
And now and since the roman times, lovers have been handing chocolates
And flowers to their beloved ones

But as usual I like the darker side of things
I have always find the date a little overwhelming
Borderlining ridiculous, maybe I am just a little "sour"
But I have always been like that…

For me the story that fits perfectly this day
Is the one of Charlie Brown with the little red-hair girl
Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown
Oh dear Charlie Brown with his collection of disappointments and failures
Always reminds us that tragedy can fun
Here a clip of one of my Favorite episodes
Poor Charlie, always hopeful, waiting for a card from the cute little red hair girl
Again, disappointed, yet… he got at least a used Valentine's



And here how Lucy deals with The Tortures of a Memory of a Lost Love
hilarious! and good to see I am not the only neurotic woman around here



So regardless of your love state
Regardless of Hamlet and Ophelia's non-existent love story
And the jealousy of Charlie Brown while seeing Snoopy dancing with the little red hair girl

I hope your sweetheart gives you a big kiss today!
or a little remainder of love...
and that you have a lovely Valentine's Day!

and the German phrase of the day:

"Schön ist eigentlich alles, was man mit Liebe betrachtet"
"Beautiful is everything, which is regarded with love"
-Christian Morgenstern

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

my punk and my rock facts

fact 1: mogwai is one of my favorite bands of all times
fact 2: i respect iggy pop (even though i am not a big fan...)
fact 3: mogwai used an iggy interview as intro to this superb song punk rock
fact 4: a good man synchronized it all and uploaded it on youtube
fact 5: if you punk or if you rock (verb form) then watch, and read below



"...I'll tell you about punk rock: punk rock is a word used by dillitante's and ah... and ah... heartless manipulators about music that takes up the energies and the bodies and the hearts and the souls and the time and the minds of young men who give what they have to it and give everything they have to it and it's a... it's a term that's based on contempt, it's a term that's based on fashion, style, elitism, satanism and everything that's rotten about rock'n'roll.

I don't know Johnny Rotten but I'm sure... I'm sure he puts as much blood and sweat into what he does as Sigmund Freud did. You see, what sounds to you like a big load of trashy old noise is in fact the brilliant music of a genius, myself.

And that music is so powerful that it's quite beyond my control and ah... when I'm in the grips of it I don't feel pleasure and I don't feel pain, either physically or emotionally. Do you understand what I'm talking about? Have you ever felt like that? When you just couldn't feel anything and you didn't want to either. You know? Like that? Do you understand what I'm saying sir?..."

-Iggy Pop


and for avid listeners of what i think is the most beautiful music in the world
here another Mogwai song

Yes! I Am a Long Way from Home



the intro by Mari Myren goes

"...'cause this music can put a human being in a trance-like state, and deprive them of the sneaking feeling of existing, 'cause music is bigger than words and wider than pictures. If someone said that Mogwai are the stars, I would not object. If the stars had a sound, it would sound like this. The punishment for these solemn words can be hard, can blood boil like this, at the sound of a noisy tape that I've heard? I know one thing, on Saturday, the skies will crumble together, or something, with a huge bang, to fit into the tape."

Sunday, February 10, 2008

dreaming books? yes!

Walter Moers
and his book
The City of Dreaming Books
is the perfect elixir for

Bücherwurm
Bookworms
Ratones de Biblioteca



so if you are one
and if you love books
here is a lovely recommendation
by miss d

i am tired
and a little more sick today
and not very animated
lugubrious light thru the late window
and an OFF TV claiming for me...
yet i cannot stop turning pages
seems that
books about books
are just delicious!
distilling passion for literature
in a funny and very clever way
i would say almost like adult-fantasy
let your soul get lost on the pages of Bookholm
and other wonderful realms
it is like being a kid again...
and the illustrations are great
do not miss it!
i go back to mine now...

Friday, February 08, 2008

pizza

last night i dreamed of...
pizza!...

oh i am dying for a nice thick warm
slice of...

pizza!

ahhh but i cannot open my mouth over a centimeter
i cannot chew anything yet, my left cheek is very swollen
and certainly cannot eat too much fat or spicy foods
even less pizza
after this oral surgery

but i would give away my "kingdom of nothingness" for a nice
warm, crunchy, delicious piece of

pizza!

Monday, February 04, 2008

focus rain

guess just winter
and windy rains on
early february days

thru my car window
a stop light
and
i try to focus on the rain



the rain remains unfocused
nevertheless



keine Bildschärfe

these weekend
was
rain rain rain
wind
some more rain

unusual in san diego
unusual these days

dunno why
the rain?
the fish?
the teeth?

surely
the wind
the rain
the mood of these days

cannot find myself
comfy, on my own skin

cannot wait to wear again
my pijamas of non-stress
and selflessness

a nap in the meantime
is that time of the night
again.

Saturday, February 02, 2008

Kiyo y su banda de Piratas



Kiyo, the fish
finally recovering
from Popeye
to my surprise and relief
he spent many days on a
"hospital tank"
under a 150 watts lamps
and 2 antibiotics
Maracyn-Two and CopperSafe



i put a thermometer and he
adopted it as his home

but today i finally set him up
in a new 2 gallon tank
with heather, some nice rocks
a cave, and a pirate skull
it seems that mister Kiyo
after surviving strong sickness
has decided to sail to more dangerous adventures
now he lives a life on the edge
he's Kiyo, der Korsar, der Pirat
Kiyo, el corsario, el Pirata!
beware...

and my smiling final again
after a long week
and another one to come
as wisdom teeth surgery awaits for me
this coming Wednesday...
to confess i just don't want to deal
with the whole thing
but i guess it is not option
anymore

here, to cheer-up a bit
this is not a love song
from the wonderful album
Nouvelle Vague
just covers of post-punks classic songs
in bossa nova versions
this one originally by Public Image Ltd.
who remembers them?
i guess i did tonight