Quit the quitting habit

Overcoming obstacles of poverty and sadness with dogged persistence

Never enough to eat and doing odd jobs at a young age

But a lot of stubborn to persist till the end to make things happen

That’s why he is so well known today as Charlie Chaplin!

The iron hand of his conquerors pushed him to the limit

His people sometimes thought of his approach as obsolete

Little did it tell about him from his appearance when people saw him

But he didn’t retreat and that’s why he is known as Mahatma Gandhi today!

His associates told that he didn’t have the face or grace to make it

And the initial career graph showed a downward curve for others to mock at

When the odds were against him, he worked hard toward his ideal

That is the reason he is known today as Arnold Schwarzenegger!

Just a small garage as his office to work with and nothing else

But had great ideas boiling between his ears and the desire to execute them

No education, but determined and undertook great entrepreneurial ventures

That is why he is today popularly known as Steve jobs!

Experiencing educational difficulties because of her alcoholic dad

And shook off the gender criticisms and doubts by others on her ability

And conquering the air with her sheer guts and stick-to-itiveness

That’s why she is known as today as Amelia Earhart!

Schooling was the remotest thing to approach for this child

For he had little or no schooling and a “Hopeless” for many

Nature was harsh on him; stole his hearing faculty

But never could his “will to win”, for today he is well known as Thomas Alva Edison!

“what’s in store for me in my life?”, this person had been wondering

Until one day God showered His blessings on this child more than ever

That little soul relinquished the “Quitter” cloak and resolved to be courageous

after that wonderful soul stumbled upon a few lines of truth written for it;

Behold! And record your name here:— —–, for it is you who are to be the great among people!!

Wish you all the riches to come with God’s blessings

Peter Anand

Masih ingat dengan Den Bagus, salah satu tokoh komedi indonesia . Kalo di Indonesia ada Den Bagus, di luar negeri sana ada Charles Chaplin…pasti tau dong!

Charles Spencer Chaplin (lahir di East Street, Walworth, London, 16 April 1889 – meninggal di Vevey, Swiss, Swiss, 25 Desember 1977 pada umur 88 tahun), atau Charlie Chaplin, adalah aktor komedi Inggris yang merupakan salah satu pemeran film terkenal dalam sejarah Hollywood di era film hitam putih, sekaligus sutradara film yang sukses. Aktingnya di layar perak menjadikan Charlie Chaplin sebagai salah satu artis pantomim dan badut terbaik yang sering dijadikan panutan bagi seniman di bidang yang sama.

Menurut biografi Lucy Moore tahun 1920-an, Anything Goes, Chaplin ditemukan di New York “yang menakutkan dan tempat yang tidak ramah”, di mana ia merasa “sendirian dan terisolasi”. Rasa kemiskinan menembus dalam-dalam. Ketika ia akhirnya mendapatkan paket gaji yang baik, tiga tahun kemudian, ia memesan ke sebuah hotel mewah untuk pertama kali dan duduk di bak mandi memutar kran air panas dan dingin dan mematikan.

Belakangan ini proyek senilai $ 50m  sedang dalam proses  untuk membuka sebuah museum di tepi Danau Jenewa tahun 2011, didedikasikan untuk mengenang Charlie Chaplin. Ini layaknya film-film besar,  seperti City Lights, The Kid dan The Great Dictator, yang menceritakan kisah tentang kariernya yang panjang, menampilkan pameran multi-media dan dramatise proses pembuatan film pada awal abad ke-20.

Mengapa harus di Jenewa?

Rumah yang akan diubah menjadi museum adalah rumah jompo Chaplin di Corsier-sur-Vevey, di mana ia menghabiskan 20 tahun terakhir hidupnya. Dia tidak bisa tinggal di Amerika Serikat karena ia dituduh “anti Amerika” selama periode McCarthy. Dia kembali ke Amerika hanya sekali setelah itu, untuk menerima Oscar kehormatan pada tahun 1972 (dan bertepuk tangan selama lima menit.)

Ini akan menjadi penghargaan pas untuk perannya sebagai pembuat film. Bernard Shaw menyebutnya “satu-satunya jenius  dari industri film”,   karena ia melakukan begitu banyak: sebagai aktor, sutradara, produser, penulis naskah, bahkan komposer soundtrack. Proyek pribadinya berhasil untuk menghibur penonton Amerika, dan memperingatkan mereka tentang munculnya totalitarianisme. Dia adalah penguasa film bisu yang dapat dipahami dan dihargai global, khususnya oleh gelombang baru imigran yang tiba di Amerika.

Museum akan menampilkan perlengkapan pembuatan film : set film, mesin-mesin yang ekspresionis dari jaman modern, bahkan piano ketika ia menulis film penting. Hebaat….

Mungkin tidak ya di Indonesia terjadi hal yang sama???

I just discovered this Wired article from April about how schizophrenics perceive at least once thing more accurately than mentally healthy folks.

Look at the screengrabs of the Charlie Chaplin masks below, one pre-paint, one post-paint.

At least, so it appears.

Now, watch the following YouTube video.

What did you see? Did you see the two normal masks, or did you see the concave and convex masks?

Now, maybe I’m partially schizo, but I actually saw the thing right. At least the first time. Then my mind flipped it back the way normal folks see things, and I had to fight to see it the right way again.

From the article:

In the hollow mask illusion, viewers perceive a concave face (like the back side of a hollow mask) as a normal convex face. The illusion exploits our brain’s strategy for making sense of the visual world: uniting what it actually sees — known as bottom-up processing — with what it expects to see based on prior experience — known as top-down processing.

“Our top-down processing holds memories, like stock models,” explains Danai Dima of Hannover Medical University, in Germany, co-author of a study in NeuroImage. “All the models in our head have a face coming out, so whenever we see a face, of course if has to come out.”

This powerful expectation overrides visual cues, like shadows and depth information, that indicate anything to the contrary.

But patients with schizophrenia are undeterred by implausibility: They see the hollow face for what it is.

God doesn’t make sense. Jesus doens’t make sense. Believing in him doesn’t make sense. I realize that this is a different branch of psychology altogether, this concave mask illusion, but the principle remains: even if what we see makes sense to our brains, that doesn’t mean it’s true.

(article via)

Il Ministro Rotondi esprime contrarietà alla pausa pranzo. Può essere tranquillamente presa in considerazione una vecchia idea…

Erin and Kelli also rocked out their outfits for the Bruce Lincoln interview.  Aren’t my ladies just lovely?!  Also, Despite their loveliness, they’re fired from photography for leaving a plastic bag on the floor in Kelli’s photo.  Please don’t judge sartoriography by their inadequacies.  ;)

Erin: Charlie Chaplin pants (Unique Thrift Store), red and white Waldo shirt (Unique), beret, red cowboy boots (from Texas, borrowed from Kelli).Kelli: white tee (Gap), black vest (H&M), purple pencil skirt (H&M), black tights (Target), green loafers (Payless).

Kelli: white tee (Gap), black vest (H&M), purple pencil skirt (H&M), black tights (Target), green loafers (Payless).

(Photos by Christopher Stribley. Bowery, NY.  November 16, 2009.)

Organização é a nova palavra de ordem por aqui e a escolhi para me impor um desafio,  justamente  porque deixar as coisas arrumadas costuma ser um tanto difícil pra mim.

Decidi começar pela árdua tarefa de anotar pensamentos,compromissos, ideias, devaneios de forma mais sistemática, substituindo os famosos papéis de rascunho por algo, digamos, mais “centrado”. 

Para trazer ânimo à missão, nada melhor que um pouco de charme. Por conta disso, saí em busca do meu primeiro Moleskine, aquele clássico e elegante caderninho de anotações usado por intelectuais e artistas como Van Gogh, Picasso, Matisse e outros.

Apesar de nem tudo sair como o planejado – saí da Livraria Cultura sem o mimo e me prometi voltar para, daí sim, comprar um ou dois deles. Mas dessa busca ficou a inspiração vinda da leitura da frase de Aldous Huxley, impressa na embalagem do modelo city:

For every traveller who has any taste of his own, the only useful guidebook will be the one which himself has written

Por coincidência, o tema da aula de Francês de hoje foi viagem e o quanto gostamos ou não de viajar com tudo bem planejado, contar com serviços de guias e afins.

Como tenho duas viagens na próxima semana, o papo rendeu e comentei com a turma que eu gosto mesmo é de vivenciar as cidades para as quais viajo sem muito plano e me deixar surpreender pelo improvável, como já me aconteceu por diversas vezes, como durante as minhas férias em 2008, por exemplo.

Para comemorar o meu aniversário, decidi fazer a minha primeira viagem sozinha. Encontraria dois grandes amigos em suas respectivas cidades, mas teria dias só. E logo na minha primeira andança por Barcelona um episódio para ilustrar a citação escolhida para este post.

No caminho para o Palau Nacional e sua fonte mágica, descobri o Centro Cultural Caixa Fórum, e lá nada menos que a exposição Chaplin en imagénes, baseada em fotos do acervo familiar de Chaplin para contar a trajetória desse mito das telas.

Sem planos, sem guias, sem programação preestabelecida e lá estava eu visitando uma exposição maravilhosa sobre esse grande gênio. E, de quebra, acabei por conhecer um endereço para lá de interessante na cidade, com programação cultural bastante democrática e o melhor, entrada gratuita!

Por essas e outras histórias do meu diário de bordo, queridos leitores, tenho a dizer que Huxley estava realmente certo. O melhor guia de viagem é o escrito pelo próprio viajante.

Fachada do Centro Cultural Caixa Fórum

Entrada da exposição

"It Just Doesn't Grow Here and Here."

Mustaches aren’t like hair styles where there’s this unlimited number of them to choose from. There’s only like five of them out there. When Hitler went out and murdered 8 million people, he kinda reduced the options by like 20 percent. It was pretty cool when it was called the “abbreviated-stache.” Not so cool when it suddenly became “The Hitler.”

For men of my generation, you don’t miss what you’ve never had.  But for  those who were wearing it duringWWII?  The following is a brief conversation between one of those men and his peers.

One of his Boys: Dude, you gotta either grow it into a goatee or a full mustache, or you gotta shave it off all together.

Charlie Chaplin: Man, I’ve been rocking the abbreviated-stache since the 20’s, son.

One of his Boys, Doesn’t matter. You need to lose it.

Another One of his Boys: What about the fu manchu?

One of his Boys: Donnie, shut the fuck up.  Charlie, people are heil-ing you behind your back.    Believe me, you don’t need the aggravation.

Charlie Chaplin: But the Tramp…

One of his Boys: Trust us. Just lose it.

___________________________________________________

J’ai retrouvé un lien récemment, totalement par hasard. Et il se trouve que j’en avais parlé récemment sur la Kaverne. Après Scrat l’écureuil préhistorique de Ice Age et le Coyote de Road Runner, bien que moins connus, les Nestor et Polux (les deux premiers albums sont en ligne) de la bande dessinée sont à placer au panthéon des personnages représentant la condition humaine. Ils se nourrissent exclusivement de yaourt, adorent la saveur à la framboise, mais doivent, ô malheur, prendre du yaourt au pruneau une fois sur deux. Les premières planches ne sont pas terribles, mais elles servent à mettre en place les runnings gags nécessaire à la suite. Amusez-vous bien.

Bien entendu, dans ce panthéon, il faut aussi faire une place à Charlot, cet homme à la recherche du bonheur, même si pour cela il doit… travailler! Il n’a pas pris une ride depuis sa création.

Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent’s fate.

Sun Tzu, The Art Of War

This is a ruthless world and one must be ruthless to cope with it.

Charlie Chaplin

Man is still the most extraordinary computer of all.

John F. Kennedy

Concern with pleasing humans causes the loss of all spiritual growth.

Umberto Eco, Baudolino

He called so loud that all the hollow deep
Of Hell resounded:–Princes, Potentates,
Warriors, the Flower of Heaven–once yours; now lost,
If such astonishment as this can seize
Eternal Spirits! Or have ye chosen this place
After the toil of battle to repose
Your wearied virtue, for the ease you find
To slumber here, as in the vales of Heaven?

John Milton, Paradise Lost

It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.

Walt Disney

It is better to take what does not belong to you than to let it lie around neglected.

Mark Twain

Before all else, be armed.

Niccolo Machiavelli

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Isaac Asimov

Name// Charlie Chaplin
Occupation// Actor
Where// Dunno source
Why Pouting// He was such a cool sample of  classic pouters…

Depuis quelques années, bien des citoyens se questionnent sur le fonctionnement de notre économie.  Nul besoin d’être membre d’un parti politique de gauche pour s’apercevoir que certains aspects du système capitaliste sont dysfonctionnels.  Le système semble impuissant devant les nombreuses escroqueries, fraudes et les faillites douteuses qui ne cessent de se répéter.  Des milliers d’épargnants, de travailleurs et de retraités ont perdu leurs économies.  Alors que les gens les plus fortunés ont vu leurs salaires et leurs richesses atteindre des sommets inespérés depuis les 30 dernières années (les 100 premiers dirigeants d’entreprises canadiennes ont empoché en moyenne plus de 9 millions chacun en 2005), la rénumération des travailleurs est paralysée et leur pouvoir d’achat diminue graduellement.

Il est très mal vu de remettre en question le système économique dans lequel nous vivons depuis notre naissance.  Avez-vous remarqué que si vous prononcez le mot “capitaliste”, les gens vous regarderont avec un air suspicieux?  N’avez-vous pas l’impression qu’un grand nombre de gens ne vous permettront même pas de remettre en question le fonctionnement du système économique?  Certains le considèrent comme une religion, intouchable, sacrée.  D’autres vous diront que ce système existe depuis la nuit des temps, qu’il était prisonnier du féodalisme et que sa libération a permis aux êtres humains de profiter des bienfaits du libre-marché.  Les grands défenseurs du système vous diront que, finalement, la liberté est parmi nous, la redistribution de la richesse fait maintenant partie de notre quotidien et que tous et chacun ont l’opportunité de vivre dignement.  Y croyez-vous?

Depuis la libéralisation du commerce vers le 18ème siècle, des citoyens, des travailleurs, des philosophes, des politiciens, des artistes et même des scientifiques ont constamment remis en question le système économique.  Grâce à la collaboration de l’armée et des gouvernements qu’ils contrôlent depuis l’effrondrement des monarchies, les grands commercants, les banquiers et les financiers ont constamment rabroué toute contestation et questionnement envers le système capitaliste.  Lors la guerre froide, le sénat américain a lancé une commission d’enquête sur les activités anti-américaines.  Des professeurs, des politiciens, des journalistes et des artistes furent associés à une liste noire.  Un des plus grands cinéastes américains, Charlie Chaplin, s’est vu forcé de quitter son pays et s’exiler en Europe.  Les discussions, les réflexions et la remise en question de “l’american way of life” était interdit.  Une histoire en noir et blanc, les années 50… loin derrière nous?  Pas du tout.  Voyez ce que le professeur des HEC et fidèle disciple de l’Institut Économique de Montréal, Nathalie Elgrably, a publié hier dans le Journal de Montréal:

“…Certes, le capitalisme a également ses failles. Mais il faut admettre qu’elles sont bien modestes si on les compare aux atrocités commises au nom du collectivisme. Puis, que ça plaise ou non, le capitalisme est le seul système économique qui permet l’enrichissement, la liberté d’expression et la créativité. Les économies planifiées, au contraire, ont toutes été synonymes de misère, de famines et de pénuries, de censure et d’oppression. Le capitalisme a donné lieu au mouvement pour les libertés et les droits civils, contrairement au communisme qui a permis à des dictateurs sanguinaires de tyranniser des populations entières.

Évidemment, la gauche d’aujourd’hui affirmera que son agenda diffère radicalement de celui des gouvernements précités. Je n’en doute pas. Mais l’histoire nous apprend que c’est également par souci de justice sociale qu’on a ouvert la voie au communisme, et que c’est la progression lente des idées et la consolidation continue du pouvoir qui a donné le nazisme, le stalinisme ou le maoïsme. Mais, évidemment, ces propos ne seront jamais tenus par les idiots utiles!“

Lorsque les maîtres de la cité décident de nous faire peur, ils n’attendent pas l’Halloween…

Russian television satirists imagine a silent-era Matrix. Of course, it stars Charlie Chaplin. My favorite sequence is Neo and Morpheus in the construct as Neo learns to fight. Old timey boxing! How could I not share this with everyone?

How would ‘The Matrix’ look liked if it were made as a comedy without sound starring Charlie Chaplin?

bron: www.youtube.com

Wußte ich es doch – MATRIX war nur ein Remake!

¿ Y si Matrix hubiera sido rodada en la época del Cine Mudo ?, ¿ y si la hubiera protagonizado Charlie Chaplin ?.
A unos rusos se les ha ocurrido la brillante idea de rodar la película como si asi hubiera ocurrido, y este es el resultado:

Ok, I was having lunch on campus yesterday with Dan when who should appear but some god-mocking, frequently guitar-twanging, big word using Psychology prof by the name of John V. who proceeded to complain that the old Thinking Shop has been featuring too many cats and not enough slinky babes of late.

John’s complaint seems to be based on the fact that I haven’t celebrated a carnival for a while. Well, it’s not my damn fault. Despite submitting a number of posts to the monthly Biblioblogger’s Carnival I didn’t get a look in for the October edition (which I’m not bitter about). And the same thing happened with the fortnightly Carnival of the Godless (which I am bitter about since the last edition had only about one third as many entries as usual). So, I wasn’t in a carnival mood so NOBODY got slinky carnival babe photos. SO HERE IS WHAT YOU DO.

YOU NOMINATE SOME OF MY POSTS FOR THE CARNIVALS, AND I WILL PROVIDE THE DANCING GIRLS!

All the info is on the links below which are also on the sidebar.

• Biblical Studies Carny
• Carnival of the Cats
• Carnival of the Godless
• Humanist Symposium

AND THEN… Just the other day, the (unglorious) Dr. Jim (West) whinged that all I feature here are “skanky” Rio Carnival women, even though he himself has been known to dabble in the “photoGRAPHIC arts” (i.e., on the scandalous side of the lens) of late.

What the heck am I supposed to blog about?

So, just to cheer me up and to get both sides of the blinkin’ complain-o-chorus off my case, here is something that should satisfy everyone!

Below the break

YES INDEED! ITS THE

CARNIVAL OF SLINKY BIBLE BABES!
Part the First.

First off is the First One:

Eve

From TVSpielfilm.de

Ulla Bergryd as Eve from the 1966 “The Bible” (Director John Huston).

Ok, I suppose I should also include a blog post about Eve. Here is Jim West from Sept. 2008 discussing a claim that Eve’s burial site has been found. Notice that he calls it “bunk”. We know what he has been thinking about. That’s right, dancing.

Potipher’s wife

Library of Congress photo

Pauline Frederick as Potiphar’s wife. Photo taken in 1910

For those who don’t know the story, one of the sons of Jacob ended up in Egypt slaving for a guy named Potiphar. Potiphar’s missus rather liked Joe and grabbed onto his robe. Joseph ran away in his birthday suit only to be arrested after the jilted Mrs. Potiphar accuses him of rape. In April of this year Chris Heard wondered who Potiphar was mad at (I bet it was the guy who first set him up with her…)

Pharaoh’s daughters

Ok, there are two of interest. The first was the girl who found baby Moses in a basket in the Nile and adopted him.  Matt Page at the Bible Film Blog had a post this past July on an 8 minute film from 1910 on the scene: Henri Andréani’s Moïse Sauvé des Eaux. I couldn’t find a still from the film, but I did find this:

Click to go to full size, preverts...

Joan Collins in Land of the Pharaohs from 1955 is probably totally historically accurate. Found the pic at DoctorMacro.

The other Pharaoh’s daughter is Solomon’s wife. It should be a different daughter. Probably neither Moses or Solomon  existed, but they didn’t exist at rather different times. Couldn’t find any pictures of Mrs. Solomon, either. Here is a reasonable facsimile.

Click the pic to buy this outfit for your own wardrobe.

Ummm, I suppose I should find a blog post about this…. I’ll um, get right around to it. The picture might need more study, first, ummmm, just for research’s sake, of course…

Moving right along, Solomon was quite the lady’s man. He even showed all his assets for visiting monarchs:

Queen of Sheba

Gina Lolabrigida in Solomon and Sheba

Now the Queen of Sheba was rich, powerful, clever, and almost completely topless. Alas, Solomon did not marry her, laments Renita J. Weems in a post from September who would probably be outraged at being included in so objectifying a carnival, so don’t go around assuming that she agrees to any of the vile sexist drivel.

Now, then, who else to include? We can’t have a carnival without

Delilah

Hedy Lamarr in de Mille’s Samson and Delilah.

As it tuns out, Matt Page has a post on this very film!

Anyway, one more will bring us to the end of Part the First, and who else would would do other than

Jezebel!

Stolen from Atlas Visuals

Hmmmmm, Paulette Goddard..mmmm…. She also starred in my all time favourite movie of all of forever, The Great Dictator with Charlie Chaplain:

Chaplin and Goddard in The Great Dictator, from Wikipedia

There is a whole industry devoted to defeating the “Jezebel Spirit”. Go on, just google “Jezebel Spirit” and you will see what I mean.

Yeah, “throw her down”, hope she calls the police, ya $#@*%!

Well, I would have thought Christians might have wanted her to keep her veils on. Oh well, who am I to judge.  Here is a mostly unveiled Jezebel…

Well, what the hell, let’s have some “music”!

Technorati Tags: carnival, humor, bible, Jezebel, Spirit+of+Jezebel, Paulette+Goddard, Charlie+Chaplin, Hedy+Lamarr, Delilah, Gina+Lolabrigida, Solomon, Queen+of+Sheba, Moses, Joan+Collins, Potiphar, Pauline+Frederick, Eve, Ulla+Bergryd