It’s that time of year again.  The leaves are changing, Jack-O-Lanterns are on display, and college girls around the country are trying to come up with what “Slutty” something-or-other they will be this Halloween.  Which is what prompted this article.  I love Halloween.  So it goes without saying that I love an in-depth creative costume choice and loathe a generic, simplistic one.  Below are some 2009-centric ideas that I would LOVE to see out in the public domain this Hallo-day.

1. George Lukas and Steven Spielberg raping Indiana Jones, or a stormtrooper.

2. Shakira writhing around in some form of epileptic interpretive dance, as referenced in her She Wolf video.

3. Kanye West-run around all night interrupting people’s conversations with a mic in hand.  Bring a Taylor Swift with you to further interrupt.

4. The Mighty Boosh-Vince, Howard, Naboo, Bollo, and Bob Fossil in some form or other.  Bonus points for going as one of their more elaborate side characters, like the band from the episode, The Priest and the Beast.

5. Kate from Jon & Kate Plus Eight toting eight babies all tied to a single rope, sans-Jon.

6. A plethora of Lady Gaga’s all fighting for attention and leadership in that poor girl’s clearly multiple-personality-driven head.  It would have to be a group outing, but it would COMPLETELY be worth it.

7. I would LOVE to see the entire cast of The Office simply to see if it could be pulled off correctly.  As Michael Scott and crew have fairly uniform appearances, it would take quite the striking resemblance of ALL characters involved to pull this one off.  If done properly, however, it could be FAMAZING.

8. Christian Bale (who I still love) constantly attacking a lighting guy as he sets up his rig in the middle of the street.  This would obviously require two people, and some sort of lighting rig, but with an uncanny Bale look-a-like and a slipping Welsh accent, it could be kind of fun.

9. Fox Studios Destroying Wolverine-This one is VERY high concept but probably my favorite one.  Dress up clearly as Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine and then spend the rest of the night demolishing toy helicopters (as Jackman does in the film), crappy Deadpools with stitched-up mouths, and comic books in the symbolic act of Fox destroying everything sacred about Wolverine, The X-men, and Marvel Comics.

10. Zombieland-Go with me on this one, I know it sounds generic, but just think, if you and three friends dress as the characters from Zombieland (which was AMAZING, by the way), complete with weaponry, you can spend all night running around interacting with people who dressed up as zombies!  Namely, killing them, but that’s not the point.

Bears With Sparklers

#2!

Nota di Pao: La situazione descritta nell’articolo fa capire una volta di più quanto sarebbe comodo, sia per il cittadino, sia per le istituzioni, l’abolizione del bollo auto nella forma attuale; in alcuni paesi europei il versamento annuale è stato sostituito da un’addizionale sul carburante il che rende certo il pagamento e, nel contempo, è molto più equo in quanto chi circola di più, paga di più. Da un conto fatto da Quattroruote, in Italia l’addizionale potrebbe essere di 11 cent/litro che, detto così, sembra molto, ma ho fatto una verifica basandomi sul costo del bollo ed il consumo annuo di carburante ed ho constatato che non spenderei certo di più di quanto paghi adesso.

Detto questo, se questo bollo è da pagare, si paga, quindi ben vengano i controlli sui furbetti (la maggioranza) rispetto ai distratti. Quello che contesto è il fatto che su 2 milioni di “lettere bonarie”, la Regione Lombardia mi venga a dire che circa la metà dei cittadini ha dimostrato di aver pagato il bollo. La metà? Hanno rotto le scatole a circa 1.000.000 di persone che è stata costretta a perdere tempo per dimostrare l’avvenuto pagamento; senza contare che nel mare di bollette, ricevute, scontrini, ecc. che una famiglia normale deve conservare per anni ed anni, è facile perdere un piccolo tagliando relativo al bollo auto.

E’ assurdo che la Regione non riesca ad avere la certezza dell’avvenuto pagamento da parte di 1 milione di cittadini. Altro che contabilità creativa…vien da chiedersi come facciano a  gestire i nostri soldi…

°°°

La maggior parte sono già ar­rivate. Le ultime stanno parten­do in queste ore. Trecentomila cartelle esattoriali. Che chiedo­no conto di bolli auto non paga­ti tra gli anni 2000 e 2003. Cen­totrentamila cartelle riguarda­no soltanto Milano: in pratica, un cittadino su 10 riceverà un avviso di pagamento. Con ri­chieste che vanno da 40 a oltre mille euro. E il rischio, se non si paga o non si riesce a dimo­strare di aver già pagato, è di ri­trovarsi con il fermo dell’auto. Un accertamento di massa che provoca la reazione dei con­sumatori: «Il condono è assolu­tamente necessario». Non con l’idea della sanatoria. Ma secon­do il principio che «c’è troppo caos, il rischio di errori è altissi­mo».

Più di un miliardo di euro. È quanto ha incassato la Regione nel 2008 dalla riscossione di 8 milioni di bolli auto in tutta la Lombardia (nel 2007 l’incasso era stato di 914 milioni). La so­la città di Milano, l’anno scor­so, ha contribuito alle casse del Pirellone con quasi 420 milio­ni. Se le cose filano lisce per gli anni in corso, i problemi riguar­dano il passato.

La gestione dei bolli è passata infatti dall’Aci al­la Regione nel 1999. In quel mo­mento sono transitati ovvia­mente anche gli archivi: «Nella gestione dei bolli auto ci sono due enormi ‘buchi neri’ — at­tacca Marco Donzelli, presiden­te del Codacons —. Uno riguar­da il passaggio di una mole enorme di dati alla Regione. Il secondo è l’inefficienza ende­mica nel meccanismo delle no­tifiche. È assurdo che un ente debba costringere i cittadini a conservare ricevute di paga­mento per 6, 7, 8 anni. Non è da Paese civile».

Le cartelle esattoriali inviate da Equitalia in questi giorni ri­guardano proprio il quadrien­nio critico 2000-2003 (75 cartel­le per ogni anno). La Regione spiega di aver fatto «una grande opera­zione di trasparen­za e pulizia», invian­do circa 2 milioni di «lettere bonarie» ai cittadini che non ri­sultavano in regola con il bollo. Obietti­vo: dare la possibili­tà di controllare, di­mostrare di aver pa­gato o fare il versa­mento, il tutto per evitare la cartella esattoriale.

Bilancio di questa campa­gna: «Più di metà delle posizio­ni — spiegano dal Pirellone — è stata regolarizzata con il paga­mento, un’altra parte è stata corretta una volta che il cittadi­no ha presentato la propria me­moria difensiva e si è scoperta l’anomalia. Un piccolo gruppo di persone infine, circa l’uno per cento di chi aveva ricevuto l’avviso, non ha risposto. A quel punto è stato necessario l’invio della cartella esattoria­le».

Nel 2008, attraverso il mec­canismo degli avvisi, sono stati recuperati 168 milioni. C’è però un altro dato che de­scrive la difficoltà affrontate per la gestione delle banche da­ti: negli ultimi anni, negli archi­vi sono state corrette un milio­ne e 400 mila posizioni (mac­chine rottamate, vendute, tar­ghe sbagliate). Un milione di correzioni sono arrivate «d’uffi­cio », il resto su segnalazione dei cittadini.

I consumatori sono inferoci­ti: «Si stanno scaricando sui cit­tadini tutte le inadempienze della burocrazia», continua Donzelli. Gli sportelli delle as­sociazioni elencano centinaia di casi: un disabile (esente dal bollo) che per due anni conse­cutivi ha dovuto spiegare la propria posizione; cittadini che hanno dovuto rintracciare i do­cumenti di auto che avevano rottamato anche sei o sette an­ni fa; altri che hanno dimostra­to di essere in regola e l’anno dopo si sono ritrovati con un nuovo accertamento.

Giorni e giorni persi per rintracciare vecchi bollettini e ricevute, con­siderando che i tempi di pre­scrizione per i bolli sono di cin­que anni. «Non si può chiedere a un cittadino un documento che non è tenuto a conserva­re », spiega Sandro Miano, del­l’Assoconsumatori Italia. Che aggiunge una domanda provo­catoria: «Non vogliamo proteg­gere i furbi e non siamo per il condono in generale. In questo caso però servirebbe. Se passa uno scudo fiscale per riportare in Italia enormi somme di dena­ro versando il 5 per cento, per­ché un semplice cittadino deve pagare più del doppio un bollo che forse ha già pagato?».

La Regione si difende attra­verso una «capillare opera di prevenzione». Spiegando: «Gli avvisi inviati per gli anni 2002-2003 sono stati 2 milio­ni ». Come dire: chi voleva di­mostrare di essere «innocen­te », ha avuto tempo e possibili­tà.

Fonte: www.corriere.it

Greetings All,

Time now for another massive combination post today. Sorry if they get to be a bit much, but it’s a lot easier than doing 85 separate posts, which would probably leave your head spinning.

First of all, I recently found the greatest place in the world (click on the picture to see the website):

My God. I am not kidding. This place was glorious.

I happened upon this humble eatery quite by accident after a long day of babysitting in the Cobble Hill area of Brooklyn. I was cruising for a “Congratulations, You Fail.” meal for myself, considering my recent hard luck here in the city (to be elaborated upon later.) I read the menu in the window, and no sooner than I had finished reading I was sat at a small table near the kitchen.

I ordered the first thing I saw on the beer menu that caught my eye, which was a Creme Brulee stout. It was supposed to be a dessert beer, but to be honest, I really didn’t care. It was a wonderfulcreamydelicious (and very potent) half-pint. It was exactly like drinking a Creme Brulee except the alcohol hadn’t all the way burned off. Lovely!

Next, after much deliberation and flipping about the menu in awe, I ordered the fried macaroni.

I wish that I could have kept this cuddly little ball of oil-scalded joy forever as a best friend in my jacket pocket, but alas, the allure of the melty-noodle insides got the better of me and I devoured him hastily with hot sauce of two varieties. I think the staff was worried I might have been kept somewhere without food for days, the voracious way I was eating.

Now, for the main course, I simply HAD TO HAVE fish & chips. It’s the measure of a good UK based restaurant. There were 2 kinds, and the waitress suggested I got the haddock. I was glad to have done what I was told. She returned shortly thereafter (as I was continuing to browse the menu and frantically, slightly tipsily, text-message my friends to tell them I had found heaven) with a hot plate filled to the brim with chips (NOT fries) and a strip of haddock, thi size of which would put the average oven-mit to shame.

I was really embarrassed and shocked when I couldn’t finish the majestic pile topped with vinegar, lemon juice, and ketchup. (note: I dislike tartar sauce, but I will tell you that this place is the closest I’ve ever been to liking tartar sauce.) I had it wrapped and went without dessert (which could have been fried sweets.) This is very unusual for me, who is usually a deep vortex of savage appetite. I had to ask about the “Twice Fried Cherry Pie” which was banned by the NY health dept. (really!), because you know if it was a direct cause of Heart Attack, it was very tasty. Arteries be damned!

It was the best $30 (including tax & tip) I had ever spent on myself. And they have takeaway if you live in the area! Truly dangerous!

—————————————

Next off, I recently attended a Musical Saw Festival (yes, that’s right.) In Astoria, Queens.

The festival was hosted of course by the “Saw Lady” Natalia Paruz at the Trinity Church. Now, as soon as I heard about this from my friend Nicki (my Saw sensei) I absolutely had to see it.

Saw players from all over the world (quite literally!) gathered into this small, hot church to see each other play and to break the Guiness World Record for “Largest Musical Saw Ensemble.” There were hundreds of people there, and mostly sawists, sawyers, and saw players. They were as young as 15 and as old as 83. They came from South Carolina, New York, Japan, Germany, and Guyana. 53 of them played “Ave Maria” all together to attempt to break the world record.

These were some of the most beautiful people I had ever seen. It really felt like a tightly-knit community, though we were all from far-off places.

I was so happy to attend, meet new people, and see others with the same passions. I met the great sawist Katharina Micada:

(She was positively sweet!) ,among others:

Nicki Jaine

Natalia

I had a marvelous time with these charming folks. I’m convinced we’re out of our minds in the best way possible.

Sawing with Katharina and Nicki in Union Square. Probably around 2am.

————————–

On my most recent adventure, last night I attended the Secret Mighty Boosh show at the Bowery Ballroom!

Now, if you’re not familiar with The Mighty Boosh, get familiar.

I found out the DAY BEFORE from a couple of far-away friends who couldn’t attend. I had no time for a costume, unfortunately, but I was still elated that this was actually happening. For FREE.

My friend Chris caved in and came here all the way from New Hampshire. We ventured over to Other Music for the signing of the new Boosh DVD coming out in the States. We quickly discovered that it would be difficult to wait in line for both this and the party coming later, so we dashed over to wait in line at the Bowery Ballroom around 4:30.I was curious if this was the right place, so I walked up a bit in the line and saw that Michael Fielding and Rich Fulcher were hanging out in the doorway. “Oh.” I said.

We waited in line for 4-ish hours in the rain. But we made the most of it. We made friends in line, who eventually helped us make a cardboard box and plastic bag fort to keep dry when umbrellas failed…

Breaking my fucking umbrella.

We went in teams down the block for cheap Chinese food. Rich Fulcher gave us high-fives for waiting. Some of us drank oversized Heinekens in paper bags. It was like homeless-camp. But well worth it, when the line finally moved and we were allowed in the lounge!

We drank beer, Gin & Tonic, Vodka & Tonic, and shots of Bailey’s (in honor of Old Gregg.) I drank a singular Gin & Tonic and split a shot because I’m too cheap for the bar there. About an hour later, we burst through the doors.

The crowd was huge, and still not everyone got in. We waited some more, but then, oh then…

(Psst…click the photo for the complete set! read the descriptions if you want to know what’s going on in the shot!)

The show was so much fun! Live comedy + DJ party dancestravaganza + chaos = a damn good night.

Thanks to the cast for coming to New York! You truly helped make my last week here for quite some time volumes better than it would have been otherwise!

Also, if you’re familiar with the Boosh, you’re probably familar with Noel Fielding, who plays the character of Vince Noir on the show. I’ve recently discovered some cooler-than-fucking-cool music videos starring the bemulleted young-lady tractor beam, Mr. Fielding. (If you don’t think he’s attractive, tell it to the crowd of barely-legals clobbering him in the on-stage clusterfuck that ensued at the end of the show last night.)

Enjoy!:

(The second one is from Noel’s girlfriend Dee’s band, which is pretty damn good.)

————————

And lastly, did you catch the part about “my last week”? Well, you read right. I’m heading back to New Hampshire early on Saturday this week. New York has been a little bit of a shit-show of poverty, struggle, and fraud for me and I really need a break from cities for a while.

Take my advice: If you do something spontaneously, be prepared for it to have a 50/50 chance of working out.

Never trust shady landlords or their building managers, you could lose a lot of money.

Sometimes, a tiny bit of planning and preparation is beneficial.

And that’s all I’ll say about that.

Au revoir, NYC. Until next we meet…

xo K

]]> http://recetasbystef.wordpress.com/2009/07/22/bollo-prenado/ Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:33:56 +0000 stef http://recetasbystef.wordpress.com/2009/07/22/bollo-prenado/

Esta receta es típica de la Semana Santa asturiana.

Ingredientes:

500 gr de harina de trigo
40 gr de levadura
35 cl de agua
Chorizo
Bacon
Aceite de oliva
2 yemas de huevo
Sal

Preparación:

Para preparar la masa se pone la harina en un montón y se hace un hueco en el centro añadiendo la levadura, la sal, el aceite, el agua y los huevos. Remover todo hasta formar una masa homogénea. Espolvorearla con harina, realizarle unos cortes y dejarla reposar unos 45 minutos cubierta con un paño.

Una vez reposado trocearlo según los “bollus” que se quieran hacer e introducir los chorizos enrollados con una loncha de bacon cada uno.

Poner los bollus en una bandeja con harina e introducirlos en el horno a unos 190º hasta que estén doraditos.

Y ¡¡listos para comer!!

Neil Armstrong…he walkin’ on my face. Buzz Aldrin…he walkin’ on my face.

The Mighty Boosh is one of the funniest shows of all time, hands down.

Ingredientes:

• 2 huevos
• 150 gr de harina
• 100 gr de azúcar
• 1/4 bote de vainilla azucarada
• 50 gr de mantequilla derretida
• 100 gr de chocolate con leche
• 100 gr de avellanas
• 1/2  sobre de levadura
• Ralladura de naranja

Preparación:

Separar muy cuidadosamente las yemas de las claras, batir las claras a punto de nieve y añadir poco a poco el azúcar y la vainilla, sin dejar de batir, después ir incorporando las yemas poco a poco, la mantequilla líquida.

Por último añadir la ralladura de naranja, la levadura en polvo y la harina hasta formar una mezcla poco espesa.

Rellenar los moldes de magdalenas y meter en el horno previamente calentado a 200º y después puesto a 180º.

A mitad de la cocción sacar la bandeja del horno y rápidamente introducir en las magdalenas trocitos de chocolate y avellanas ( o cualquier otro fruto seco) y dejar cociendo hasta que estén doradas.

Si se desea se pueden poner más trozos de chocolate y avellanas por encima durante los últimos minutos de cocción.

Y ya está, deliciosas magdalenas de chocolate!!!

Ver otras recetas de postres.

The Mighty Boosh comes to the USA!

Walking on the Bowery I gasped as I was greeted by two familiar faces: Howard and Vince!

The ‘Boosh’ has hit airwaves in the USA, courtesy of Cartoon Network and Adult Swim.  It is difficult to describe what ‘The Mighty Boosh’ is all about-except to say that it is delightful, surreal and absurd.  The show speaks to my eccentric, creative impulses.  If you haven’t heard of Old Gregg, well, wait, because you will-oh will you ever!

“The show surrounds the exploits of Howard Moon (Julian Barratt) and Vince Noir (Noel Fielding), two music enthusiasts and general naifs that encounter any number of incredibly eccentric, bizarre and roundly bent individuals on a daily basis.

If you’re looking for that “next big thing,” then look no further. The ‘Boosh’ is coming” (wearemoviegeeks.com).

It goes without saying that I am please!  Very, very pleased!

No, malditos malpensados, no estoy hablando de ninguna experiencia sexual con lesbianas.  

Estoy hablando de eso, de bollos.  Y si hay un bollo que haya marcado mi vida, ése ha sido… (redoble) ¡¡la pantera rosa!!

¡¡¡¡Tan-ta-ta-chaaaaaaaaannnnnn!!!!

Lo recuerdo desde que yo era pequeñajo (el siglo pasado) cuando lo tomaba desde mi más tierna infancia.  No me importaba ir andando la tira de kilómetros para llegar a una tienda de Bimbo que había en un polígono industrial donde los vendían muy baratitos.

Y es que… hmmmmm… ¿quién puede resistirse a semejante tentación bañada de rosa? Hmmmm…

Grompfff… ¡¡qué rrrrrrriiiicoooooo!! Grmpfbuenísimo.  Siempre que salgo de viaje o escapada con soletegordo acabo grompfprando uno y zampándomelo por el camino.

¡¡Buengrpomfísimo!! ¡¡Ñam, grompff, ñam!! ¡¡Espfffectagrular!! ¡¡Grom su cremita y grtodo!! ¡¡Ñam!! ¡¡Largffa fffida a la Pantbferagh Rogbggbsa!!

P.D.- Gracias a Nando por proporcionar la materia prima para este reportaje culinario.

Well how many of us would have forseen the the ECB’s (English and Welsh Cricket Board) torrid affair with Sir Allen Stanford would end so soon. It looks like the ECB have got cold feet and plan to stand Sir Al up at the altar. Looks like the marriage between the pair of love-struck teenagers is off.

To be fair there wasn’t much in the way of romance was there? It was all based on greed and a desire to get rich quick. After the disasterous ‘Stanford Series’ last year where Sir Allen really endeared himself to all and sundry, especially the WAGS, the ECB really should have kept it’s cock in it’s pants so to speak.

Now the poor bride has baulked at getting into bed with this hunk of manliness. The reason? Well looks like Sir Allen has been charged as part of an $8billion investment fraud. That’s a lot of honk, especially given these stricken financial times. Now I don’t want to judge, he’s innocent until proven guilty. What I do find distasteful the the ECB’s shameless pursuit of money and lack of any true direction in terms of Cricket in England and Wales; it really does seem some at the ECB went on a bit of a mental safari.

All round a very sad episode in the history of the ECB but not an entirely unexpected is it. In short it’s a whole load of bollo.

 Maybe the ECB will learn from this debacle…

PS a quick tour of Wikipedia reveals how a Texan can be knighted. It seems he was knighted by the former Governor General of Antigua and Barbuda.

PPS nothing on the ECB website this morning strangely.

stavolta mi son ricordato per tempo di fare il bollo del motorino

forse forse miglioro

FRIDAY JULY 4 2008 its 252 in the morning. Some lady called me from Conroe. A nurse in fact. Before that i ate too many short tacos. U are supposed to have hot sauce with them. A beer or 2 would help. Right now im kinda tired. Having all that waste products in the colon was not to wise. And going to the john so many times . That caused hemroids bad. I fixed that problem hot water did and drinking water. Pizza dont have all that greese in them.

Tuesday August 05 2008 === Well some one went to that low life security office. During no electircty some giant female wolf came a knocking on the door. Well i was a speep. Then i heard a knocking on the window. I wen to the door and opened it bg mistake. Some spanish lady that was like 5.3 or 5.4 feet tall did me good.   Please help gofer go to sleep i been rasteling with a fatlady thats form Austin all nite.  O that sweet stuff   mmmmm   

No existe un niño en el mundo que no se haya cogido un buen cabreo porque su madre no le ha comprado alguno de los geniales productos de Bimbo, sí, esos que ahora mismo miramos cuanta grasa tienen y se disparan de nuestra dieta.

De pequeños y de mayores, nosotros por lo menos, seguimos teniendo antojos en forma de bollitos pequeños con sabores muy parecidos entre unos y otros. Las maquinitas de los curros han ayudado mucho a que no se nos olvide que siguen ahí. El tridente de la bollería bimbense no era otro que el Bony, el Tigretón y la Pantera Rosa.

Bony y Tigretón eran, casi por unanimidad, queridos por todos los niños. Lo mismo daba uno que otro y si no había siempre podías recurrir al Bucanero. En cambio, el Pantera Rosa fue la primera gran segregación de nuestra vida; o lo odiabas o lo amabas, no había término medio. Probablemente competía con aquella mítica discusión entre Nesquik y ColaCao. Menos mal que ya hemos crecido y ahora de mayores todo el mundo sabe que Nesquik es infinitamente mejor (aquí busco la polémica, yo soy del conejito).

Los hay que todavía necesitamos que el sabor de esa especie de masa rosa, que Dios sabe cómo la harán, invada nuestros paladares y que tengamos a una persona cerca que nos diga “¡Argh! no sé cómo te puedes comer ese bollo, yo de pequeño lo odiaba”

Ayúdanos a conocerte mejor. ¿Tú de qué eras? ¿Odiabas o amabas el Pantera Rosa? ¿Recuerdas los bollos del Punto Rojo? ¿Cómo se dice, el o la pantera Rosa?

Luis Crespo