Il nuovo singolo di Norah Jones – vedere sotto – è entrato nella classifica 50 Songs di una radio ed una televisione nazionale. Forse potrete ascoltarla oggi pomeriggio, martedì ventiquattro novembre, dopo le quattro del pomeriggio. E chissà cosa si inventerà – dopo  – il programma rock previsto, alle sei del pomeriggio ed a mezzanotte e mezza.

Su un’altra emittente c’è il Trl da Roma e finora sono stati interessanti i Broken Heart College. E dovrebbe esserci anche una certa Ariel. Passando al cinema, dovrebbero esserci anche i protagonisti del film Meno male che ci sei, le cui musiche dovrebbero essere di un certo Antonio Barba. Ed in questo film  si dovrebbe sentire anche «Io camminerò» di Umberto Tozzi. Replica del programma dopo le sette di sera.

21.11.09 Come vi sono sembrati The Fall (L’autunno) e «Chasing Pirates» («Cacciando i pirati»), rispettivamente il nuovo album ed il nuovo singolo di Norah Jones? Se non sbaglio, la Jones dovrebbe avere ottenuto otto Grammy e credo siano davvero meritati. Cosa ne pensate, inoltre, della Blue Note Records, con cui ha inciso il nuovo lavoro? Un suggerimento: potreste votare qualche suo brano di oggi o del passato (come «Sunrise») qui sotto, per il mio blog, magari aggiungendolo.

Infine, questi pirati mi ricordano i pirati del filosofo Gianni Vattimo…

- Vattimo ed una discussione dell’Infedele di La7. Le donne, le prostitute e le escort. Mi scusi Norah Jones per questi dibattiti italiani…

04.11.09 – Bearzatti. Beh, il suo nome è abbastanza noto fra i musicisti ed il pubblico della musica jazz. Francesco Bearzatti mercoledì quattro novembre alla «Maison musique» di Rivoli, in provincia di Torino. E non mi sembrano molti cinque euro…

21.11.08 - Jane Bunnett ed il «Toronto Jazz Festival». Vivete in Canada, conoscete la lingua italiana e siete interessati al jazz?  La sassofonista Jane Bunnett di Toronto (quindi canadese) non suonerà stasera il suo ultimo album, Embracing Voices, al Toronto Jazz Festival, una rassegna della musica afro-americana della sua città. Secondo una newsletter, l’album della suonatrice – che è anche flautista – sarebbe stato cantato in studio in inglese, creolo e spagnolo e sarebbe lontano dal’abituale mix dell’interprete di musica cubana e jazz. Inoltre, le cantanti Molly Johnson e Kellylee Evans sarebbero state ospiti del suo album.

- Località turistiche straniere (Vota)

- Quale di questi monumenti italiani vi piace di più? (Vota)

- La musica. Quale il vostro brano preferito? (Vota)

Un browser europeo – Opera – e Mozilla o i sistemi operativi di Linux ed Apple. Neomedia

- Crema al cacao con nocciole ed anacardi, cioccolato fondente con nocciole o gianduia con nocciole intere oppure al latte con nocciole e nocciole intere

Spreadthesign, dizionario e linguaggio dei segni. Commissione europea – Istruzione e formazione

21 novembre ‘08 – aggiornato 24 novembre ‘09

calogeromira.wordpress.com – e-mail

Risparmio energetico (forse)?

Iván es la variante rusa y búlgara del nombre hebreo Juan, que a su vez proviene de Johanan, Yohanan o Yochanan, que significa ‘El bendecido por Dios’ o ‘El fiel a Dios’.
Su variante femenina es Yvonne, Ivone, Ivonne, Ivon o Ivana. Sus variantes en otros idiomas son Ivano (en italiano) e Ivanhoe (en inglés).

El nombre va siempre acentuado pero yo, libremente, siempre lo he escrito sin tilde; para eso es mi nombre y hago con él lo que quiero.

Mi abuelo se llamaba Juan Antonio, mi padre también se llama así. Mis padres, aún siguiendo la tradición, quisieron ser mas originales y me llamaron Ivan, un nombre muy poco común y controvertido para la época; en los años 60, y en plena dictadura, no se veía muy bien un nombre ruso. Mis padres estaban empeñados en llamarme así y, según también las costumbres de la época, el nombre debía ser compuesto, por lo que mi nombre es Oscar Ivan.

Pues sí, efectivamente no me llamo Ariel, ni Ivan a secas, me llamo Oscar Ivan. Pero aún hay más. Mi nombre completo, aunque sólo por la iglesia (ya imaginaréis porqué) es Oscar Ivan Jesús. Pero tanto Oscar como Jesús serán el tema de otros post.

En las imágenes que acompañan este post podéis ver algunos de los dibujos más antiguos que conservo. No sé la edad que tendría, pero es simpático ver como “dibujaba” más que escribir mi nombre para firmar.

Steven Boyett is a well known author as well as a DJ. His first book, Ariel, he wrote when he was just 19. He runs several successful music oriented websites, inlcuding Podrunner. He lives with his wife and a split personality, the DJ versus the Writer.

Q1: What draws you to write Speculative Fiction?

SB: I think the appeal of speculative fiction in general is its inherent ability to provide perspective, to step outside of the framework of the world, of everyday life, of even the human condition, and be able to comment on it, often uniquely by contrasting these with something else. Unfortunately I think it rarely aspires to this. Usually it steps outside because the reader and/or the writer simply wants the hell out. That has value, too, but it seems a shame to waste a valuable resource and squander such potential.

Q2: What was the first piece you ever had published?

SB: My first novel, ARIEL.

Q3: What did it feel like?

SB: Relief, honestly. I know I was young, but I’d been sending out fiction for years and banging my head against the wall looking for solutions and angles, and ARIEL had utterly occupied my every waking moment. So when it was accepted, I’m sorry to say that I didn’t feel elation, euphoria, a glorious epiphanic confirmation that I was truly bound to the shining golden rail of my writerly destiny. I felt relief. The kind of painful pleasure that comes after a long-clenched muscle can finally relax.

Q4: What was the defining moment that made you say “Yes I’m a writer”?

SB: There wasn’t one. I’ve been a writer since I was at least five. There was a defining moment when I realized I wanted to write for a living, though. When I was fourteen I picked up Samuel R. Delany’s Dhalgren. I loved the original cover, and the first sentence (“to wound the autumnal city.”) intrigued me. The book begins and ends midsentence. There in the bookstore I looked to see if they joined up, and they did: the book looped. (Though now I would offer that there’s a halftwist in the narrative that makes the book a Mobius strip.) At the time I had not read Finnegan’s Wake, so the idea that an author could reach out through a page and make me do that and by implication serve me notice that I was in for a deeper, more involving experience than I might be accustomed to, had me from the first line. It opened up the idea of fiction for me, something like the way 2001: A Space Odyssey opened up the idea of movie when it was released. And the rest of the novel only continued unfolding and subverting the conventions of novels themselves. This guy was using fiction to write about language. Holy shit.

I’d been writing fiction since I was about five, but I clearly remember the moment I realized I wanted to write for a living. I was in the school cafeteria about to be late to class because I couldn’t stop reading this book. Everyone had picked up their trays and gone to class and I was almost alone in the big room and totally absorbed. And it hit me: I want to do this. I want to write something that does for someone somewhere what this book is doing to me. I’m fourteen years old, and I want to do this for a living.

Q5: How long have you been writing? What keeps you writing?

SB: At least since I was five. What keeps me writing now is volition. I quit entirely for about five years, around 1999, and learned a lot of other things and became quite successful at some of them. I learned that this whole notion that you have to have no choice about writing is absolute bullshit. I’ve come to feel that it’s a motivational lie, something writers perpetuate to keep themselves writing. I told myself that lie for decades. What I learned by quitting is that if you really are an artist, then that engine will operate in whatever vehicle it is given. And that I’d rather have a good life than a good career, if it comes down to making a choice. The years that I quit writing were some of the happiest years of my life.

Now I write because I want to, not because I have to. That’s astonishingly different from the attitude of my younger self. It’s so much less romantic, so much less mysterious. But I just don’t have the patience or temperament for that navel-gazing drama-queen self-importance anymore. I write because I’m a writer and it’s fun and I want to do it, and I try to spare myself and the world all the usual trumped-up angst.

Q6: Who are some of your influences? (Authors, Personal Friends, Teachers, etc.)

SB: I’m a very critical reader, so it’s fair to say that everything influences me in that even the worst book is educational if you ask yourself why it sucks. That can be just as difficult to answer as why something is great, really.

Q7: What’s your favorite speculative fiction work?

SB: Dhalgren, by Samuel R. Delany (assuming we can count it as such. I dunno if Delany does).

Q8: How do you balance writing and music, being an author and a DJ?

SB: By sleeping four hours a night.

Q9: Who are some of your musical influences?

SB: I am totally serious when I say that I would have to be a much better composer to have influences. There are plenty of people I like but I honestly don’t have the chops to learn, borrow, or steal from them the way artists do. I just plink stuff out a note at a time. I haven’t composed in a few years, though; I have so little time. I really miss it. (My wife is one of the most naturally gifted composers I have ever met, and fascinatingly the only one to exhibit no discernible influences.)

Your readers can download one of my tracks at http://www.djsteveboy.com/steve_boyett_-_rachele.mp3, if they’re morbidly curious.

DJ-wise, John Digweed was an enormous influence until I found my own flavor, which I call New Old Funk (much more evident in my Groovelectric [www.groovelectric.com] mixes than in my Podrunner [www.podrunner.com] mixes).

Q10: Did you really expect to have ARIEL published when you began writing it?

SB: Why else put 150,000 words on a stack of pages? I don’t have any patience with writers who say they’re doing it for themselves. Who are they kidding? They sat on their collective ass and filled up a stack of blank paper with words with no intention of them being read? I’m so sure. In my life I have known exactly one artist with that kind of purity, if I can use that word in this context, and I married her.

Of course, when you’re young you have no idea how the deck is stacked against you, and that very ignorance paradoxically allows you to accomplish more than you’re likely to when you’re older & wiser. When you’re older you know that the windmill always beats Quixote, and that tilting at it isn’t romantic, it’s stoopid. When you’re young, though, you’re like the Fool card in a tarot deck. People tend not to understand that’s a very positive card. It sort of means being blissfully oblivious.

Q11: What do you think has kept ARIEL relevant even over 25 years later?

SB: Well, I’m glad you think it is! Besides good luck, I think the fact that it strives to be about more than its events, that despite some dated details it isn’t a slave to its time, and that it’s about some of the painful tradeoffs we make as we enter adulthood, resonates with readers.

Q12: Who was your favorite character in the original book and why?

SB: In a cinematic, scenery-chewing, character-actor sort of way, Malachi Lee steals the book. He’s crazy as hell, fearless, quirky, fun to cast (there’s a thread on my forum [http://www.steveboy.com/forum] devoted to casting the novel, which is kind of fun).

But more substantively it’s Pete, because he’s an interesting character and a fun voice to speak with. People often assume he’s simply my alter ego, and that isn’t true at all. Pete is as sarcastic as I am, but he’s much more innocent than I ever was. I was nobody’s innocent at 19 when I wrote the book. Pete’s a weird combination of raw nerve and survivalist utilitarianism. I think he’s kind of imprisoned by this, a feeling that’s definitely borne out in ELEGY BEACH.

Q13: What’s the best positive reaction you’ve received from ARIEL?

SB: Many years ago a schoolteacher wrote me to tell me about a problem student who was failing everything across the board. He wasn’t motivated, didn’t care, couldn’t see why he should bother. He discovered ARIEL in the school library, I think simply because he liked the Barclay Shaw cover, and it sparked something in him, struck some responsive chord. He started reading voraciously after that, applied himself, focused, improved his grades, got himself on track. I don’t by any means take credit for that. To hold yourself responsible for positive influences means you’re just as accountable for negative influences as well – people who shoot cops after hearing rap songs, etc. But the thought that the product of your imagination has made some concrete difference for the better is hugely rewarding. That’s been equally true for my Podrunner and Groovelectric podcasts as well. It’s unexpected, not something you think about when you set out to do these kinds of things, and very humbling.

Q14: What drove you to write ELEGY BEACH, even after you swore you’d never write a sequel to ARIELl?

SB: Well, the afterword to ELEGY BEACH, “Note to Self,” is almost entirely about that question, and it’s not easy to answer it briefly. The somewhat snarky version is that I felt the story in ARIEL was finished, and I had nothing more to say about those characters and no urge to squeeze money from it for the sake of keeping the conversation alive. Thirty years later it turned out the writer in me had some things it wanted to say in that milieu and with those characters. The rest of me absolutely didn’t want to do it. In a certain strange sense the rest of me still doesn’t. I had to compartmentalize myself to write the book. It was kind of odd.

The shorter answer is that I simply didn’t have anything to say in that regard until now.

Q15: ARIEL represented your growing up as much as it did for Pete Garey. Does ELEGY BEACH hold the same level of meaning for you that ARIEL did?

SB: I don’t believe ARIEL “represented” my growing up at all. I utilized my growing up for it, I mined my heart in the ruthless way artists dig into themselves to unearth and convey true feelings that will resonate with their readers. Similarly I mined my own life for ELEGY BEACH, and in some strange sense also unearthed my current feelings toward ARIEL; on one level you can read ELEGY BEACH as a commentary on ARIEL. But ELEGY BEACH is a much more laminated, mature, inferential work than ARIEL. It had better be, else what have I learned in three decades? A readership approaching it as ARIEL 2: MORE OF THE SAME is going to be disappointed.

I’ve joked that as ARIEL is my coming-of-age novel, ELEGY BEACH is my midlife-crisis novel. But it’s a mistake to read that as meaning that ARIEL is about my coming of age (though I mined it for that) or that ELEGY BEACH is about my middle age (though I’ve mined it for that; the midlife crisis either hasn’t happened or has been around since I was about eleven, I’m not sure which).

Q16: Will we see any more stories based around the spellware concept you developed in ELEGY BEACH?

SB: Spellware itself seems to want to be elucidated and explored, but right now all I have are ideas. I don’t write books about ideas; my main problem with science fiction is that it tends to be primarily about its ideas, and the characters are little meat puppets dropped into the scene to act as tourists to explore them. In my view the ideas are simply a stage on which the important parts are presented. I need more than ideas and events to make me write. I need emotional resonance, thematic cohesion.

The shorter answer is that I’ll write them if I have something to say.

Q16: Before spellware, did you have any experience with writing computer software?

SB: Nope. I used to write macros as a word-processing operator, and I’m relatively computer-literate and do my own websites and yadda yadda, but I’m no hacker.

Q17: The world of ELEGY BEACH seems much more complex and filled out than the world of Ariel. What do you attribute that to?

SB: Not being nineteen anymore.

Q18: Though in ARIEL, Pete met mostly white, mostly male characters, in ELEGY BEACH it comes to light that his wife and Fred’s mom was black. This gives Fred a duality beyond pre-Change adults and post-Change children, but it’s not expressed in the book. Do you think, in a post-apocalyptic society, things like race and religion will take a far back seat to survival? Why or why not?

SB: Well, I don’t agree with your second sentence. The reason it isn’t addressed in the book is because Fred has no duality at all, and isn’t treated (by the narrative or by the other characters) as if he does. That’s the entire point. In fact no one’s ethnicity is ever described in ELEGY BEACH; it’s all adumbrated. In Fred’s world, culturally very different from our own, no one gives a shit.

Personally I think that in most postapocalyptic scenarios race and religion would play an enormous role. If people banned together they would also ban against, and identifying with tribal units is pretty fundamental stuff that takes an evolved framework of culture to strive against. In many ways civilization itself is a striving against baser instincts for the greater good. But I didn’t want that to be the case in ELEGY BEACH because I didn’t see the point in writing a book about that. I wanted to deal with the clash between generations who seemed alien to one another, to discuss the dissonance between the outgoing Baby Boomers and the displacing generation, which my friend Ken Mitchroney has brilliantly dubbed Generation Eloi. The truth is that the young generation in ELEGY BEACH would be far more alien than it is depicted, but this was a case where the natural consequence of such speculation would have led to narrative difficulties that would have alienated the reader, and it would have increased the signal-to-noise ratio to pursue that too fully. Their strangeness is more suggested than detailed.

Q19: What do you think Pete’s reaction would have been had he known that Fred and Yan were lovers?

SB: What makes you think he doesn’t? In any case, Pete wouldn’t give a shit.

Q19.2: What made you write the boys that way, instead of simply portraying them as close best friends?

SB: Who says I did? Who says they aren’t? Nothing about anyone’s sexuality in ELEGY BEACH (and with some characters in ARIEL) is stated directly. The degree of Yan & Fred’s involvement in a sexual sense is up to the reader. The fact that you noticed it is great, because I think many readers didn’t pick up on the possibility, but to me whether or not they were lovers is irrelevant. As with Fred’s (or anyone’s) ethnicity, no one among Fred’s generation gives a damn. The important fact is that Fred loves Yan. Where people put their genitals doesn’t have a thing to do with that beyond confusing the issue, in my experience.

Q20: Do you think, twenty-five or thirty years from now, you’ll become compelled to write a sequel to ELEGY BEACH?

SB: When I’ve got something to say, I might. I don’t want to crank something out just to keep a product out there. I think part of the reason ARIEL has been remembered is because (to be tautological) it’s memorable. Take the fantasy elements out and it still deals with important issues and inevitable consequences of adulthood. I hope that’s the case with ELEGY BEACH. I’m sure I could tell some whizbang story with a third book, but so what. Plenty of people and companies across all media produce either carnival rides or soporifics. I don’t want to be one of them.

Q21: Where do you think the future of speculative fiction is going? More inclusive of diverse characters, or more exclusive?

SB: I’m not really qualified to answer that, because I haven’t read much current speculative fiction in the last twenty years or so. Or much fiction generally. Aphoristically, though, I think speculative fiction has a great future behind it.

Q22: What are you working on right now, music-wise and writing-wise? Any other series or stories in the works?

SB: With a full-time life involving two DJ podcasts and a full-time life as a writer, I haven’t had the time to compose music in years. I miss it, but it’s not as if I’m missing out (or as if the world is, either).

It’s odd to be asked if I have any other series in the works. I’ve never had a series in the works. I can’t imagine writing a series. I’ve never approached a thing I’ve written that way.

I’m about to begin what I hope is final revision on a novel that I’ve worked on for a long time, but I’ve learned to be leery of discussing anything I’ve written before it’s scheduled to appear. There’s writing, and there’s publishing. They ain’t the same thing.

I’d like to get back to short stories because they’re my first love and I miss them terribly (I never wanted to write anything but short stories, hard to believe now), but it’s a time and admittedly a motivation issue. The money for short stories is exactly what it was twenty five years ago – and you didn’t exactly write short stories for the money then, either.

Q22: Finally, do you have anything else you’d like to add?

SB: I’d like to plug the book websites, if I may. ARIEL (http://www.arielbook.com) and ELEGY BEACH (http://www.elegybeach.com) have dedicated websites featuring online & PDF chapters, audiobook chapters, and even Google Earth route maps that let you follow the novels in real-time with satellite imagery – one of the unexpected benefits of my obsessive need to be as real-world accurate as I can manage in my work.

I’d like to thank you for your questions and for interviewing me!

*****************************************************************

For more information about Steven R. Boyett and his writing visit the sites he listed above or head over to his writing blog, Write Now.

You can purchase Ariel and Elegy Beach through Amazon, Borders, and Powell’s Books.

Wooowwww… mau tahu aksi ranjang si cantik gebetan mas ariel peterpan ini ?? Yup , Luna maya, sapa seehh yang gag kenal ma artis cantik nyang satu ini… Silahkan disimak gan….

heheheeee, piss gan …

“Many of you ask for peace as though it is hard to obtain.   Peace is the choice to live in love, not fear.    Love of self, love of others regardless of circumstances, and love for the Creator.   Call on me when you are having a hard time with this and I will help you reconnect with your heart chakra and the love within it to bring you peace.” – Archangel Ariel

Please share as guided.

Many Blessings
Lisa C. Beachy
Angel & Spiritual Intuitive -Reiki & Adv. Theta Healer
Connecting you with your Spiritual Team
http://www.LisaBeachy.com

as amiee put it, i am also quite *delighted* to join the heathen-jewish-foodie-blogging team!

ah, cooking. as dafna can attest, cooking and i have not always been the best of friends–i.e. trips to the supermarket spent wandering for far too long and failed recipes gathering dew in our fridge were the norm after moving out of the dorms. but after a remedial cook book crafted by momma schneider and lots of practice, it has become my go-to stress relief and secret tool for bringing together all of my favorite people. in the last year my jewish cooking has evolved quite a bit. when i moved to nyc a year and half ago my living situation lent itself to lots of recipe sharing. picture this: twelve jews picked to live in a house, work together and have their lives taped! okay, not that last part…but i did find myself in one of the most religious neighborhoods in brooklyn (aka: midwood) sharing food with 11 other young jewish activists with a huge array of cooking expertise. though i’ve moved a bit north to prospect heights and my overt jewish inspiration has decreased, (not to mention the quantity in which i have to cook) i nonetheless retained a diverse database of jewish food.  good times.

okay, enough with introductions. shall we get cookin’?!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

to honor the shabbat tradition in my crazy, over-crowded house, i want to share with you our favorite: challah french toast. yes, i am claiming this as a jewish food despite its availability at almost any nyc brunch spot. who else would have leftover challah lying around on a sunday morning? challah is asking to be french toast: it’s sweet, it’s fluffy, and it toasts wonderfully. i had the pleasure of cooking with a friend today, and she shared her favorite proportions of the ingredients you will see below…

i started with amiee’s wonderful challah recipe and changed it a bit by using whole wheat flower.

six strand style

ingredients:

challah bread (at least one day old is best)

4 eggs

1/4 cup milk

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 tablespoons butter

steps:

1. whisk together eggs, milk and cinnamon in a shallow bowl.

2. slice the challah however you like–the thinner the slice, the more crispy the toast will be.

3. place your slices of bread into the egg mixture. make sure both sides are coated and well soaked in egg and cinnamon.

4. let your slices rest for a few minutes before plopping them into the pan. you can do this on a cookie sheet or plate. (fun tip c/o my favorite: alton brown)

5. melt butter into pan and add slices of bread. cook until browned to your liking and then flip! it’s done when both sides are browned and crispy. *each time you add more bread to the pan, make sure you add more butter, too!

6. serve hot with maple syrup, honey, powdered sugar, fruit…or whatever you like!

yields about 6-8 slices

enjoying our creation with CANADIAN maple syrup. clearly, the best kind.

This is the one word I could come up with to sum up the latest (and most likely last) Heathen to join our little clan. Ariel S. will be delighting us with her wonderful baked goods and recipes, some of which I am quite certain will have been passed down from mother to daughter. Ariel was a frequent kitchen companion to all of us, before she headed off to adventures in New York. I can recall the day she attempted to teach me the complicated six strand braid when making challah together. Let me just say there is a reason mine continue to be three stranded, but her’s consistently rise to masterpiece level.  She is an exceptionally creative person and one of the few who I have ever met that is just as comfortable with a sewing machine as she is with a hammer. She even beautifully decorated my hard-hat on a service trip to New Orleans. Ariel has also recently, like the rest of us, become very interested in local and sustainable food production. Between that and her presence in the birthplace of Jewish-American cuisine,  I know she will have a lot to contribute our little corner of the web.

I agree with Meg, we do see a lot of reinforcement of gender roles through Disney movies– not just masculinity, but obvious femininity as well. Whether or not these roles, enforced on mainstream culture at a very young age, affect us as we get older is a huge concept to tackle– so I’m going to look at specific instances of masculinity and specific instances of femininity within Disney Movies.

Masculinity: stereotypically male characters are broad shouldered, deep voiced, handsome, strong, reliable (unless they are evil), heterosexual, and loyal. Those males who do not exhibit these characteristics are usually given the role of the sidekick or are cast as the bad guy. Let’s look at The Little Mermaid. Prince Eric is the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome. Why do you think Ariel falls in love with him and not Grimsby?

Prince Eric

Grimsby

Femininity: stereotypical female characteristics are narrow-waisted, high-voiced, beautiful (unless she is evil, or evil is an extreme beauty), semi-weak (she needs her man), submissable, heterosexual, and loyal. Like in masculinity, those females who do not fit these characteristics are usually given the role as enemy or sidekick. Again looking at The Little Mermaid; Aerial is one of the original Disney Princesses. She has a waist about as narrow as her neck, a beautiful voice, and she is submissive to the will of Eric and her father. Ursula on the other hand is obese, ugly, and has a rotten voice– therefore she steals Aerial’s.

Ariel

Ariel and Ursula

Next week’s Author of the Week will be fantasy author Steven R. Boyett. He wrote the ultimate boy and his unicorn story in 1983. Ariel is post-apocalyptic, with samurai swords, hang gliders, and evil wizards. Don’t miss this interview on Monday, November 23rd! Two reviews will cover Ariel and its long awaited sequel, Elegy Beach, released just this November.

Steven R. Boyett is a musician as well as a writer, and does podcasting and DJ’ing in his other guise.

Como vai indo, Ami Ortiz?

ARIEL, Israel, 13 de novembro de 2009 (CDN) – Na manhã do dia 10 de março de 2008, na cidade de Ariel em Israel, David Ortiz abriu sua Bíblia ao acaso, e na página leu palavras de advertência sobre a morte em Jeremias 9:21 e ficou preocupado. “A morte entrou por nossas janelas e penetrou em nossas fortalezas; dizimou as crianças das ruas e os jovens das praças.” Jeremias 9:21 -“Eu fiquei com medo”, disse David Ortiz. “Aquele versículo era uma promessa para mim, mas uma promessa diferente”.

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Durante semanas, David Ortiz vivia com uma sensação de que algo horrível iria acontecer com ele ou sua família. Seis meses antes, durante uma viagem à Noruega, Ortiz observou como uma tempestade violenta abateu-se sobre uma área rural. O vento arrancou árvores e as jogou do outro lado de um campo. Mas, mesmo depois dessa tempestade violenta, algumas árvores sobreviveram. Ortiz sentiu que Deus estava usando a tempestade para lhe dizer algo.

“Aqueles bem enraizados são os que permanecem”, disse ele.

Meses depois, no dia 20 de março de 2008, os receios de Ortiz se tornaram realidade. Quando seu filho de 15 anos Ami Ortiz abriu uma cesta de presente que a família recebeu de um anônimo em comemoração à festa de Purim, uma bomba dentro da cesta explodiu. A bomba foi devastadora. Danificou o apartamento de Ortiz e destruiu quase tudo que tinha lá dentro.

Quando o jovem Ami Ortiz foi levado ao hospital, ele estava cego, coberto de sangue e queimaduras e cheio de pregos e parafusos que estavam dentro da bomba. Os médicos disseram à sua mãe, Leah Ortiz, que Ammi estava “Anush”.

“Literalmente, em hebreu isso significa que o espírito estava deixando o corpo do meu filho” disse ela. Ami estava morrendo.

Hoje, 20 meses depois, Ami tem 16 anos e está de volta à escola e jogando basquete. E no dia 3 de novembro de 2009, o homem que cometeu o crime foi indiciado por tentativa de homicídio.

Fora do que foi informado no processo legal, pouco se sabe a respeito de Jack Teitel o homem acusado de enviar a bomba para a família Ortiz. Uma coisa é certa – ele acredita que estava agindo de acordo com a vontade de Deus. Entrando na audiência judicial, o imigrante de 37 anos nascido nos Estados Unidos gritou que Deus estava orgulhoso dele.

Yakov Teitel: "Deus está orgulhoso do que fiz"

“Foi um prazer e uma honra servir ao meu Deus”, disse Teitel. “Deus está orgulhoso do que fiz. Eu não tenho remorsos”.

A polícia informa que Teitel é um judeu ultraortodoxo que escolhia suas vítimas baseado na sua ideologia nacionalista. Além da família Ortiz, a polícia diz que Teitel é responsável pelo assassinato em 1997 de Samir Bablisi, um motorista de táxi palestino. Dois meses depois, diz a polícia, Teitel atirou em Isa Jabarin, um pastor palestino que estava mostrando a Teitel como chegar de carro em Jerusalém.

A polícia também disse que Teitel tentou por fogo num monastério cristão e colocou várias bombas, que falharam. Ele também é acusado pelo atentado a bomba de setembro de 2008 contra Zeev Sternhell da Universidade Hebraica de Jerusalém. A bomba deixou o professor emérito levemente ferido.

Teitel disse à polícia que não tentou matar Ami Ortiz, mas sim seu pai David Ortiz, que é pastor da igreja messiânica judaica chamada Congregação de Ariel. Mas como o próprio Ami Ortiz disse ainda no hospital: “Quem mandou a bomba sabe que os presentes do Purim são abertos pelas crianças”.

Mesmo depois de toda a dor por que passou a família, Leah Ortiz diz que ela viu muita coisa boa vindo dessa tragédia, inclusive curas milagrosas. Ela disse que a bomba ajudou a esclarecer a opinião do povo de Israel sobre os cidadãos israelenses cristãos que acreditam que Jesus é o Messias prometido pelos profetas.

Howard Bass, o líder da congregação messiânica na cidade de Beer Sheva, Israel, disse que não concorda. Ele acha que esse atentado pode estimular outros judeus ortodoxos a fazer o mesmo. Bass foi vítima de pelo menos um ataque dos judeus ultra-ortodoxos anti-missionários.

No dia 24 de dezembro de 2005, uma multidão de várias centenas de judeus ortodoxos atacarou um culto cristão ao ar livre, liderado por Bass. Os atacantes destruíram o equipamento da igreja, aterrorizaram a congregação cristã e jogaram Bass dentro da piscina batismal.

Bass está procesando a Yad L’Achim, uma organização anti-missionária que ele afirma ser responsável por incitar o ataque de Teitel. Fontes informam que o financiamento estaria vindo de judeus ortodoxos norte-americanos. A justiça deve publicar uma decisão sobre o caso no final de novembro de 2009. No seu website, a Yad L’Achim afirma que os missionários são “desviados” e que estão tentando “destruir o povo judeu”. A organização não faz diferença no seu website entre missionários e Judeus Messiânicos.

De acordo com o Relatório Internacional de Liberdade Religiosa de 2009 emitido pelo governo dos EUA, existem 10.000 judeus messiânicos em Israel. O relatório informa vários casos de violência contra os judeus messiânicos, inclusive um caso no dia 15 de maio de 2009 quando “judeus ultra-ordotoxos residentes em Rehovot – um subúrvio de Tel-Aviv – atacaram e surraram um grupo de judeus messiânicos que estavam distribuindo folhetos do Novo Testamento na rua”.

Além disso, Bass cita um livro publicado esta semana em Israel: “A Torá do Rei”. Bass disse que este livro encoraja o assassinato de gentios (não judeus) e qualquer um que se considere uma ameaça para Israel.

“Nós estamos notando um sentimento crescente”, disse Bass, “onde eles sentem que têm o legítimo direito de matar qualquer um que ameace o Estado judeu”. Mencionando o livro, David Ortiz concorda com Bass e chama o atentado à bomba contra seu filho e as recentes agressões contra cristãos “um aviso de acontecimentos que virão”. Mas ao contrário dos países muçulmanos, onde um cristão que tenta dar queixa na polícia é preso em vez do criminoso, em Israel a justiça funciona e pode dar proteção aos cristãos israelenses, mesmo os cristãos.

Independente do que acontecer na justiça, a família Ortiz já perdoou a Jack Teitel, que enviou a bomba. David Ortiz espera um dia poder sentar cara a cara com Jack Teitel e conversar. Ele sente no coração que Jack Teitel se tornará outro apóstolo Paulo. Paulo (Saulo) perseguia, prendia e matava os cristãos até que Deus o tocou e ele se transformou naquele que lançou as bases do cristianismo na Ásia, Europa e Norte da África.

“Existe algo dentro de Jack Teitel que faz com que ele queira matar pessoas. Se Deus tiver misericórdia de mim, talvez Ele possa ter misericórdia com Teitel”, disse Ortiz. “Meu objetivo e minhas orações são para que ele se arrependa e seja salvo”.

Vocês viram como está Ami Ortiz, na foto acima. Saudável, um adolescente normal, graças às orações de seus pais e de cristãos em todo o mundo. Aqui está a reportagem sobre o atentado e como Ami estava no hospital. Notem como a mãe de Ami, sra. Leah, canta Romanos 8:38-39 enquanto troca as bandagens do filho. A polícia israelense tentou impedir a difusão deste vídeo por duas vezes, mas a Justiça permitiu que fosse exibido.

Ami Ortiz ainda tem que usar roupas especiais de pressão durante 23 horas por dia para tentar eliminar as cicatrizes da bomba. Ele passou por vários transplantes de pele. Precisará ainda fazer várias cirurgias.

Essa reação dos radicais ortodoxos judeus acontece por que a comunidade cristã protestante em Israel está crescendo rapidamente. Hoje existem entre 10.000 e 15.000 cristãos israelenses, o triplo de 10 anos atrás e estão havendo muitas conversões.

Oremos todos para que Deus exerça sua justiça neste caso e fortaleça a família Ortiz. Que uma minoria de judeus fanáticos não possa destruir a democracia israelense e o ambiente de tolerância e liberdade religiosa em Israel.

Aqui um filme sobre os cristãos de Israel. E aqui uma menina israelense cristã filma como são as reações anti-cristãs e até racistas dos judeus ortodoxos (o pai da menina é negro). Esta congregação tinha 60 cristãos há dois anos, hoje tem 200. Louvemos ao Senhor.

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You crazy Brits and your Bedazzlers

I was afraid of McQueen having a nervous breakdown, he’s been driving himself too far.. (A tear runs down my face) McQueen was on edge lately, and these shoes show that he just.. “snapped, pushed, and popped”
Nonetheless,  the man is armed and dangerous, Ladies. Do not approach him quickly, if spotted, stay still, he is known to shoot rhinestone triangles at speeds up to 30mph.

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Okay, let’s assume for one nanosecond that Alex wasn’t stoned or so high off his ass he shit out glitter for half of Fashion week… I took some serious looks at these shoes and thought about the possible inspiration he had in creating such ‘high’ fashion. And at around Midnight with a Full Moon, I FOUND THE ANSWER!

(Anyone else notice the shoe’s a near replica in shape to that electrified cat..?)

           Only Lady Gaga has been brave enough to imprison her legs in these props leftover from Saw VI in her Bad Romance video.  If you took these crusty sea urchins off his shoes, don’t they almost seem like Martha Stewart’s cheap stab at mixing Crafts and Footwear on QVC? Lastly, May we please observe a moment of silence for the funeral of Ariel, little mermaid, pictured farthest on the right.

It is far more impressive when others discover your good qualities without your help. – Judith Martin

A woman never forgets the men she could have had. A man the women he couldn’t. – Edward A. Murphy

Speaking without thinking is like shooting without taking aim. – Anonymous

Keep those dreams, keep those ideals, keep hoping to be the best that you can be. – Josh Groban

Love is like a stalker, it will find you no matter where you hide, and when you realize it’s there you get startled – Ariel

É isso mesmo, galera!! Hoje vou postar o primeiro sorteio do blog Da Nossa Janela. E pra começar com o pé direito, vamos sortear um produto novo no mercado e que vai ajudar muuuuita dona de casa, que ADORA cuidar de casa, assim como eu. (Abraaaaaaça!) Hehehehe! É o novo Ariel Líquido 7 Soluções, com Toque de Amaciante.

Ariel 7 Soluções com Toque de Amaciante

O novo Ariel remove manchas (dá pra fazer pré-tratamento, como a gente faz com qq tira-manchas), perfuma e amacia a roupa. Além disso (e o mais legal pra mim), é que dilui bem rápido (porque é líquido) e reeende que é uma beleza porque a gente pode deixar a tampinha dosadora na máquina, junto com a roupa durante a lavagem. Assim, utilizamos até a última gota. Não tem essa de desperdício.

Essa garrafa, que está sendo sorteada eu ganhei da minha querida amiga Elaine Moreira, q faz assessoria da marca. A gente não faz propaganda aqui no blog. Temos essa política. Mas quando o produto é bom, já testado por um de nós, corremos pro abraço. E esse eu testei. Tira mancha mesmo, deixa a roupa suuuper cheirosa e bem mais macia que usando sabão em pó comum. Então aproveite. Para participar, basta deixar um comentário aqui no post, com a frase “Eu quero o novo Ariel 7 Soluções”. Ah, não esqueça de deixa nome e email!!

Serão aceitas as inscrições até às 23h59 de sábado (dia 14), aniversário da pessoa mais legal desse blog – EU – e o resultado será colocado aqui, no domingo de manhã. Boa sorte a todos!

Bjo e fui!