Vad kan väl vara en lämpligare avrundning på en lång dag fylld med stoj och stim än lördagsgodis och Madagaskar 2?

I brand più importanti nella moda classica e sofisticata, sono veramente tanti, ognuno dei quali ha delle particolari peculiarità.

Brioni, Allegri, Ermenegildo Zegna, Barba Napoli, Riva, Isaia, Ravazzolo, Gerani, Truzzi, Missoni, Versace, AvonCelli, Les Copains, Andrea Fenzi, Battistoni, Leonard, Balenciaga, Belvest, Canali, Gimo’s, Pal Zileri, Ballantyne, Cruciani, Fratelli Rossetti, GentryPortofino, 9.2, Daniele Alessandrini, TRT, Jomud, Herno, Sealup, Jaggy, Fred Perry, Latitudine45, Alexander Mcqueen, Puma by Mihara Yasuhiro.

Ognuno di questi grandi nomi della moda maschile, ha il suo stile e il suo modo di far apparire l’uomo.
Presso la boutique Michele Inzerillo, potrai trovare tutti questi marchi.

WARNER CHANNEL MARTES 24 NOVIEMBRE 20:30 HRS

SKY 205, CABLEVISIÓN 210

Robert Voets/CBS

Sheldon entra a una competencia de cambio de cartas, en donde escucha que Will Wheaton también participará y a quien le guarda demasiado rencor.

Mientras Wolowitz le pide a Penny que le presente a alguna de sus amigas.

“The Vengeance Formulation”

November 23rd, 2009

Last week, the show chose to split its story between something that works (Sheldon and Penny) and something that doesn’t (Leonard, Wolowitz and Raj on their own), resulting in an episode that was a mixed bag (although perhaps a bit better than I gave it credit for, as my distaste for the latter perhaps overshadowed the strength of the former).

This week, however, the show returns to more of an ensemble structure, and while nothing reaches the heights of adhesive ducks it’s a solid episode as a whole because it manages a reasonably emotional Wolowitz storyline with a cheap but not ineffective Sheldon storyline. There was every chance for these two elements to go off the rails (based on both the show’s tradition of misusing Wolowitz and the presence of Kripke), so the fact that they stayed moderately in orbit makes this a victory, if not exactly an overwhelming success.

When it comes to Wolowitz, I strongly believe that less is more, unless the show decides to do what they did here and turn Wolowitz from obnoxious to introspective. While interacting with a fantasy version of Katee Sackhoff isn’t genius or anything, it allows Wolowitz to stop acting like he runs the joint and actually come to terms with his delusions. The naked bathtub fantasy version of Katee Sackhoff spoke the truth, and while there were signs of the old Wolowitz (feeling more slighted by the fact that Sackhoff’s date was tall as opposed to handsome, since he actually believes he is handsome) for the most part he was honest with himself. Sure, he messes up his romantic overtures to Bernadette, but he was legitimately charming during his tone deaf wailing at episode’s end, and the fact that Howard was given any continuity at all in terms of a relationship is such a huge step forward that I think it’s commendable.

It also shows how even Howard, who to this point one couldn’t imagine in a relationship, is effectively getting the relationship stories that Leonard has been given in the past, except ones that are actually funny. While Sheldon in a relationship might be too ludicrous, and Raj in a relationship has been made impossible by the alcohol gimmick, Howard and Leonard are both effectively eligible, but the show has always resisted treating Howard seriously (by having his actual skills be so outmatched by his capability), sending him off to gothic night clubs and moving him away from legitimate couplings. However, while Leonard’s relationships tended to be neurotic and sort of dull, Howard’s relationship is (to use his own word) quirky in a way that adds a fun dynamic to the show. Sure, I’m not a huge fan of his relationship with his shrill mother, and I could have used less talk about what he was doing in the tub, but for once the show didn’t actually treat him like a horny 15-year old, and for this I was most grateful and certainly entertained.

As for the other half of the episode, it really comes down to how funny you find someone talking in a high-pitched voice and how you feel about Eric Kripke. Twitter user SnowDan mentioned that he likes Kripke because it’s ironic that the university bully has a lisp (which would, outside of that world, make him subject to bullying), but I’ve always felt like that joke has been long ago used up in favour of dialogue that calls attention to the lisp unnecessarily. The idea of Sheldon having a nemesis is funny on its own, which is why Leslie Winkle was more interesting to me (especially because the gender politics of it all wreaked havoc with Sheldon’s already problematic ability to respond in kind) than someone both more dully mean-spirited and less witty. Beyond the broad irony, that for me was not clever enough to sustain the character beyond a first appearance, the character is a normal guy who has a lisp, and most of the humour derived from the character has been through how he says it rather than what he says.

But I thought that this week’s story was less let down by Kripke (who on only a few occasions fell into traps like “Wiot”) and more by a single decision. I like the general principle of the storyline, with Sheldon’s big moment turning into an embarrassment and his attempt at vengeance going horribly, horribly wrong. There’s something very solid about that, and even when I know that we’re never going to get to see the aftermath (since everything will, conveniently for Sheldon, reset next week) the uncontrollable chaos of the final sequence was even communicated through webcam. However, where the storyline suffered was that the joke of Sheldon and his high-pitched voice didn’t appear to actually be Jim Parsons with helium, nor Jim Parsons faking such a voice. Unless I’m mistaken, the voice was looped in during post-production, which if true is a huge disappointment, and took me out of the scene regardless.

There were a number of things in this episode that bugged me a bit, like how the other guys so quickly joined in on laughing at Sheldon on the radio (as it was national radio, after all), or how Raj was too busy making fun of Sheldon to help Leonard try to get him out of bed, or how Penny’s self-awareness about her relationship with Leonard didn’t extend to her realizing that they have no actual chemistry and that sitting in close proximity to each other does not a relationship make. But none of these elements felt like they were the point of their respective storylines: Sheldon’s embarrassment was necessary to get to his vengeance gone awry, and Penny needed to be aware of her own relationship so she could objectively view Wolowitz’s and be able to ward off Bernadette.

And those two storylines worked, coming to solid conclusions that were either narratively satisfying or humorously destructive. They didn’t offer any particular comic highs, but they didn’t offend any of my sensibilities either, so I can’t really complain.

Cultural Observations

• Katee Sackhoff in the tub makes me realize that some part of me feels obligated to watch 24 this season with her being part of the cast.
• It says something about the show’s conditioning to not bother remembering things from previous episodes that it took me a while to figure out if Bernadette was actually the person on whom Wolowitz went on a double date a while back. However, I’ll give them this: her trait of not getting Wolowitz’s jokes was memorable enough that I was at least 75% sure.
• While some small moments bugged me, I thought Sheldon nailing the whoopie cushion gag on Leonard really did prove its comic validity.
• And just in case we weren’t sure, apparently Raj is delicious caramel.
• If Sepinwall writes a review, I think “as soon as I play Cylon and Colonist” seems like the obvious “after the jump” line. We’ll see if I’m right.

Para quienes aún no conocen el excéntrico mundo de The Big Bang Theory, una de las series más populares del momento en el cable (Warner Channel), Sheldon es como el rey de los nerds. Sabe mucho (quizás demasiado) de física, pero no tiene habilidades sociales. Por eso, que el asesor científico de la serie, David Saltzberg, diga que conoce a gente más extrema que él, es la primera prueba de que este programa -aunque más parezca una caricatura- tiene mucho de realidad.

Jim Parsons interpreta a Sheldon Cooper

Saltzberg, físico de la UCLA, se encarga de que la verdad de la ciencia esté en pantalla. Y sus aportes incluyen desde cómo se comportan los físicos, hasta las fórmulas que llenan las pizarras blancas que están en el departamento que comparten los cuatro amigos de la serie. Y son todas reales y sobre materias impensadas en tv, como la materia oscura o la teoría de cuerdas.

-¿Cómo llegó a convertirse en asesor científico de “The Big Bang Theory”?
Aun cuando vivo en Los Angeles, he pasado muchos años sin tener ninguna conexión con el mundo del espectáculo, sólo física y astronomía. Un día de 2006 recibí una llamada de un amigo de un amigo de los productores que estaban haciendo el piloto de la serie. Los guionistas me pidieron que revisara el guión. Ellos están completamente inmersos en los mundos de los personajes de la serie: desde los comics a las películas de ciencia ficción. Ellos también se entienden bien con la ciencia, pero querían que la parte científica de la vida de sus personajes fuera tan auténtica como todo lo demás. La vida real de los físicos es que son completamente quisquillosos cuando se trata de la ciencia en la TV y en las películas. Así que los guionistas me pidieron que sugiriera cualquier cambio que debiera ser hecho para hacer más auténtico al público lo que ellos ya saben y es que ellos aman la física y la astronomía.

Mientras, el diseñador del set visitó nuestros laboratorios en mi universidad, UCLA, y además departamentos de algunos de nuestros estudiantes. Esto se convirtió en una tradición: antes de cada temporada los guionistas y productores vienen a UCLA a ver nuestros laboratorios y conocer a nuestros estudiantes. Una vez también vinieron los actores. Esto se hizo de la típica manera en que la industria encuentra a los científicos, pero más recientemente la Academia Nacional de Ciencias ha tratado de hacer algunas conexiones de manera más fácil a través de su página http://www.scienceandentertainmentexchange.org/ , es un trabajo magnífico.

-¿Por qué usted, un físico, se involucró en una serie como esta?
Una buena parte de mi trabajo en la UCLA es mostrarle al público lo que estamos haciendo. En estos días en que la cobertura de ciencia se ha reducido en los medios, es aún más difícil para el público conocer las noticias de ciencia. Pero ‘The Big Bang Theory’ tiene más de 13 millones de espectadores en Estados Unidos, y muchos más cuando incluyes a gente de otros países. Esa es una audiencia mucho más grande de la que los científicos suelen tener. Conozco a mucha gente que ve televisión en sus computadores y sospecho que muchos van a Google o a Wikipedia, para buscar lo que oyeron en la serie y tratan de aprender un poco más acerca de eso; desde la materia oscura hasta los polos magnéticos.

Por otro lado, supe que unos pocos años después del estreno de Indiana Jones, aumentó el número de estudiantes de arqueología. Será interesante ver si esta serie tiene un efecto parecido en el número de físicos y anstrónomos.

La otra razón por la que me involucré es porque cada persona en la producción, es increíble. Me encanta pasar el tiempo con gente tan creativa, talentosa, inteligente y dedicada y eso hace adictivo merodear en torno a la serie cuando se está haciendo. Cada uno en el set es extremadamente amistoso conmigo. Además, es entretenido quebrar la rutina de físico por unas horas a la semana.

-Los personajes de la serie son muy nerds y divertidos también. ¿Usted cree que los científicos son como ellos?
Reconozco esos caracteres, frecuentemente en mí y muchos de nosotros conoce a gente aún más extrema que Sheldon. Leyendo las publicaciones de los fans en internet, parece que hay un montón de gente que encuentra a estos personajes muy atractivos. Pero hay físicos de la vida real que son bien parecidos, usan moto y son cool. Pero los fans de la serie prefieren a estos personajes. Un departamento real de astronomía y física tiene muchas más mujeres que las que puedes ver en la serie. Pero supongo que eso es porque esta historia particular sucede en torno a estos cuatro tipos y Penny (su vecina), antes que mostrar un estudio antropológico de los departamentos de física y astronomía.

-Me parece que el conocimiento científico que se usa en la serie es muy elevado, no creo que todos puedan entender su trabajo por completo. Aún así es uno de los aspectos más atractivos de la serie, ¿tiene una idea de por qué funciona tan bien?
Creo que el público de televisión ávido de conocimientos que el crédito que habitualmente se le da. En mi vida he conocido a muchos no científicos interesados en saber qué está pasando en este mundo de la física moderna y la astronomía y eso es extensible a otras áreas. Frecuentemente los personajes de la serie están hablando sobre conceptos de física que son accesibles para cualquiera que haya tenido un curso introductorio en el colegio. Por ejemplo, una de mis escenas favoritas es cuando Sheldon y Leonard van empujando una caja escalas arriba mientras van discutiendo la física de un plano inclinado. En esta temporada además hay cosas divertidas, como cuando Sheldon le enseña física a Penny. Yo sospecho que buena parte del público entiende lo que están diciendo. En otros momentos la charla científica es deliberadamente un poco impenetrable. Por ejemplo, cuando Sheldon está trabajando en la teoría de las cuerdas que usa algunos de los conceptos más abstractos de la matemática, la física y la astronomía actual. Aun así, lo que él dice es real y creo que el público lo sabe. Mi experiencia es que la gente quiere conocer lo nuevo en ciencia. Algunos espectadores buscan eso en las noticias o en algunos especiales de la televisión pública. The Big Bang Theory es otra alternativa y es una que atrae a espectadores jóvenes. En caso de que sus lectores estén interesados, yo posteo cada semana mis explicaciones sobre el capítulo después que salió al aire. http://thebigblogtheory.wordpress.com.

¿Qué es la cosa más complicada que ha puesto en la serie?
Podría ser ésta: en un momento Penny le pregunta a Sheldon por qué el no sacó su licencia de conducir a los 16 como todos los demás. Él le responde que estaba ocupado “en examinar las amplitudes perturbadoras en N=4 teorías súper simétricas que llevan a un re-examen de las propiedades ultravioleta de la súper gravedad N=8 usando una teoría Twistor moderna”. Uno de los físicos teóricos que está trabajando en eso lo muestra en un video clip durante un seminario muy serio que está dando en Caltech. Casi siempre hay bromas internas que están en las pizarras. Por ejemplo, poca gente ha notado que cuando Howard estaba trabajando su baño espacial, las pizarras tenían la ecuación de Bernoulli, que describe cómo se comportan los fluidos como los de una taza de water. Para el episodio de la máquina del tiempo, en las pizarras había ecuaciones que algunos teóricos defendieron para describir el viaje en el tiempo.

-Los experimentos que se ven en pantalla son reales? ¿Son muy caros? ¿peligrosos?
Los lasers que Leonard y Leslie han usado son reales. Eso fue en el ajedrez con obstáculos láser. En todo caso, no tienen un poder tan grande como aparecen en el guión. Por ejemplo, el agua caliente o los objetos calientes. No queremos hacer un agujero en la mano de un actor. Los experimentos que ellos discuten en los cuales está trabajando Leonard, como la materia oscura o los supersólidos, son trabajos reales. Cuando hacen referencia al trabajo de otros, como los “investigadores italianos” ellos se refieren a unos bien conocidos en la actualidad.
-¿Ha hecho el mismo trabajo para otras series o películas?
Big Bang Theory es la única serie en la que he colaborado. A veces contesto las preguntas de otras series por email y telèfono. Y también hice una broma en la película “Ángeles y demonios”.

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to have been invited to the first ever Ability Media International (AMI) awards held at the impressive Kings Place in Yourk Road London.

The awards celebrated the achievement of highly talented individuals across all forms of media: dance, opera, theatre, film, television, interactive, online, community etc.

The recipients were all at the top of the league and all have a disability or have enabled disabled people to realise their talent.

The point of the day was to emphasise not that each of these people were in some way exceptional (though they all were) but that each of these people is mostly normal, mostly just another soul trying to live a fruitful life, trying to achieve some goal.

Like other people a few have big dreams that they have managed to turn into reality.

I was truly excited by the awards. I felt the breadth of achievement, judged purely on the merit of the talent under scrutiny, not weighted with sympathy or well meaning, was a clear signal that this country’s talent pool comes in every shape, size and shade.

We are incredibly fortunate to live in the UK; it enjoys an enviable global respect for its arts and media output. We could lose that respect if we don’t nurture it.

The industry brings valuable money into our economy and employs around half a million people. But what drives the creativity? What forges the talent? Where do these extraordinary people come from?

We used to believe they came, pretty much exclusively, from white men, aged around 20 to 40. Well educated, fit. Able bodied.

We don’t think that is true any longer of course but we are still missing rich seams of valuable potential talent by assuming disability negates creativity or ability.

I believe our country should have the best, the very best, people with the most creative ideas, the most honed talents, leading the way. In my view that means seeking out those special people across the entire population, no matter what state they are in physically, mentally or socialogically. White, twentysomething, fit, able bodied men are just as valuable as anyone else but they are not the only source of our nation’s creative fuel.

Our society, in common with many others, has assumed people with disabilities are not as creative as an able bodied person, but that simply isn’t true. The AMI awards showed that to be the case incredibly clearly.

The AMI Awards is an initiative by Leonard Cheshire Disability, itself an astounding organisation.

Hope I get invited again next year!

XD

matapos ang malakas na unos na dumating, isang lindol naman ang bumagabag at yumanig sa isip niya habang binabagtas ang daang may mga parisukat na disenyo, paikot sa university oval na iyon..maraming tao ang naglalakad, para bang hindi na mauubos pa kahit magsabog man ang kalangitan ng dilim dahil sa pag-alis ng liwanag ng araw..at sa puntong iyon, tila tumigil ang oras ng katotohanan, hindi lang dahil sa naguguluhan ang isip ngunit sa hindi na niya matanto ang susunod pang mga mangyayari..wala ng kalinawan pa ang mga bagay na darating..

isang buntong-hiniga matapos tumagaktak ang pawis dahil sa kainitan ng kahapunan..minsan payapa ang kalooban, sa tuwing ang mga mata niya ay sumusulyap at nakikipagyakapan sa mata ng kanyang kasama..at sa tuwing inaalis ang mga bisig ng kanilang mga mata, tila bumabalik ang masalimuot na nararamdaman na nadama kani-kanina lamang..sa sa nalalapit na pamamaalam, ibinuka ng isa ang mga katagang tungkol sa pagpigil..hindi niya maunawaan ngunit pumasok iyon sa kanyang isipan..hindi malaman ang gagawin, hindi malaman ang sasabihin..tanging “ingat” lang ang nanggaling sa bibig hanggang sa ang kanilang mga landas ay nahati at  parang napunit na  pati ang mga sulsi niyon..

“sa wakas! nakapagsulat din..sa dalawang linggong nakalipas, tanging mga salitang ingles at mga numero na muna ang nakikita ko..siyempre, dahil sa pinalad na “makalusot” sa upcat at sa dost scholarship, hindi na ko nagdalawang isip na kunin ang opportunity na makapagreview at makapaghanda sa college life na tinatawag..freshy kasi eh..marami na ring akong napuntahan, at mostly sa manila..medyo palagi nga lang ako sa up diliman dahil may soep na tinatawag..ai, summer orientation and enrichment program pala iyon..at speaking of that event, masaya naman ako sa bagong experiencce dahil marami akong natutunan na bago, (na para bang gusto ko ng ikahiya ang highschool life dahil kulang ang natutunan..) marami din akong nakilalang kaibigan..at take note, mas masasayang kaibigan..”

“ang mga huling araw ko noong highschool, masasabing isang plane crash iyon, puro kabiguan, at nalayo sa mga kaibigan..at ngayong summer, ngayon ko lang naramdaman ang sinasabi nilang isang buhat..at para bang sana, soep na lang ang mga mangyayari sa buhay..wahaha..bang saya kasi..hmm..masaya..masaya..tama, masaya nga..magulo, magulo..siguro, magulo..ewan ko, haaay..”

“mula sa mga corny kong jokes, mga hagikgik ni trixia, ang pagiging emo ni leonard, pagiging cute at sexy “daw” ni mona, ang mga out of this world na jokes ni prince, ang kaliitan ni jara, ang pagiging bida ni pevee( senxa kung mali spelling, haha..), ang kaweirdohan ni stephen, ang pagsasayaw ni jp, ang survivor type ni arem( spelling?), ang mga tingin at kakulitan ni rico, at hanggang sa pagsasamahan ng iba pa, parang sana, sila na lang ang mga taong makakasama ko sa kolehiyo..kaso, pagkatapos nito, magkakahiwa-hiwalay na ng landas..habang sinusulat ko ito ay dalawang linggo na lamang ang nalalabi..”

“bro never fails me to give mind-boggling situations that i must solve for myself..walanja kasi, bat ba ganun? may mga bagay talagang akala mo ok na, tapos kinabukasan hindi pa pala..”

sumakay na siya, nag-iisip pa din, naguguluhan pa din..may dumaang magkahawak kamay..may sumakay sa jeep na magkaibigan..may lalaking dala ang mga anak niya..hanggang sa napuno na ang jeep na kung nasaan siya..iniisip pa din ang mga matang iyon..mga mata niya..siguro hanggang sulyap na lamang siya? hanggang sa dumadaan na sa mausok na siyudad, hanggang sa bumaba siya upang maghintay ulit ng sasakyan pauwi..

“siyempre, nakakamis din naman ang mga kaibigan kong matagal ko ng hindi nakikita..”

“at tungkol naman sa buhay sa maynila, ayun, medyo iba sa kinagisnan kong lugar..siguro, magiging mas maraming experience at adventure na naman ang mangyayari kay sarimau sa pagkakataong ito..”

hanggang sa nakasakay na ulit siya, nakauwi, at matapos gawin ang mga dapat gawin, nakatulog siya na gulung-gulo pa din ang mga bagay sa isip niya..ipinikit ang mga mata, napanatag ang paghinga, ngunit, hindi malaman, kung ang unos na iyon, ay humahagupit pa din sa kinabukasan..

“may mga panahong ang nararamdamn ko ay pagkatakot, siyempre, ibang teritoryo na ang papasukin ko, at sa mga nababalitaan ko sa buhay na iyon, baka maculture shock ako sa panibagong pamumuhay..pero, isa lang sure ko, kailangang magawa na ng tama, at ayos na, hindi ko na makikita ang mga magulang, hindi ako iyong tipong mahohome sick dahil sa kanila, hehe, independent ata ito, siguro may pagkakataong hahanaphanapin pero kailangang maging mag-isa na lang..”

sa pagbukas ng kanyang mga mata, siya na agad ang naisip niya..hindi pa rin malimutan ang mga katagang ngayon ay hindi na niya maintindihan..hindi pa ito ang oras para isipin ang mga bagay na iyon pero sa tingin niya, hindi naman maaaring ipag-walang bahala na lamang ang nararamdaman..

“panibagong buhay na naman ang tatahakin ko..kaya goodluck na lamang sa akin..hanggang sa susunod na lang..”

at matapos niyang magising, dumeretso na kagad siya sa kanyang panulat at inihayag ang mga nararamdaman ng isang lalaking naguguluhan, kasabay ng mga nangyari sa dalawang linggong pinagdaanan..tinapos na niya ang mga letrang bumubuo sa pagkakomplikado ng nararamdaman..isang buntong hininga..isa pa..

sana isang panaginip na lamang na hindi na muling magising pa..

isang buntong hininga..

isa pa..

XI

After the exhibition at the Petit Palais, the Museum of Fine Arts in Paris, save the date of the Designer Frimousses dolls auction on 19 November at Drouot Montaigne, Paris’s prestigious auction house. Since 2003, fashion designers and artists have worked to create something beautiful to help children of Darfur, crafting dolls that become veritable works of art. The whole amount raised during the auction will support the vaccination programme in one of the regions most devastated by the deadly conflict there. Today, more than 4.7 million people are affected, of which 2.2 million are children. Thanks to the Designer Frimousse operation, under the aegis of Laeticia Hallyday, ambassador for UNICEF France, UNICEF carries out the fight for children vaccination every year in the region of Darfur. Vaccination, a method that is both very effective and inexpensive, would prevent these deadly diseases from a very young age (diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio) and would eradicate this scourge that affects thousands of children every day. The 2008 sale raised 219,130 Euros, used directly on the ground to finance emergency : in the Darfur region, 260,000 children and 195,000 pregnant women received vaccines. Don’t forget these dolls will be sold at auction on 19 November at Drouot Montaigne: 

 Public exhibition : 19 November 2009 from 12 p.m. till 6 p.m. 

Sale at Drouot Montaigne : 19 november 2009 @ 9.30 p.m

The fashion designer Chantal Thomass (photo ©Thomas Arrivé)

Related posts:

Chrismas Trees of Fashion Designers, in Paris: the bids

Chrismas Trees of Fashion Designers, in Paris

Après l’exposition au Petit Palais, n’oubliez pas la vente aux enchères des Frimousses de créateurs  demain: 19 Novembre, à Drouot Montaigne, Paris. Depuis 2003, créateurs de mode et artistes créent des poupées de collection uniques, de véritables oeuvres d’art pour venir en aide aux enfants du Darfour. La totalité des fonds collectés lors de la vente aux enchères soutiendra les programmes de vaccination dans une des régions les plus dévastées par des conflits meurtriers. Soit aujourd’hui, 4,7 millions de personnes, dont 2,2 millions d’enfants affectées. Grâce à l’opération Frimousses de Créateurs sous l’égide de Laeticia Hallyday, Marraine de l’Unicef France, l’Unicef se bat tous les ans pour la vaccination des enfants dans la région du Darfour. Car la vaccination est un moyen très efficace et peu couteux de prévenir et d’éradiquer les maladies invalidantes meurtrières dès le plus jeune âge (diphtérie, tétanos, coqueluche, poliomyélite, rougeole). L’édition Frimousses de Créateurs 2008 a permis d’envoyer sur le terrain 219 130 € pour financer les activités de vaccination en urgence. 260 000 enfants et 198 000 femmes enceintes recevront des vaccins. Vente aux enchères des Frimousses de créateurs:

Exposition publique : jeudi 19 novembre 2009 de 12h à 18h

Vente à Drouot Montaigne : jeudi 19 novembre 2009 à 19h30

La créatrice Chantal Thomass (photo ©Thomas Arrivé)

Autres articles:  

Les Sapins de Noël des Créateurs: les enchères

Les Sapins de Noël des Créateurs

Martes 17 de noviembre

WARNER CHANNEL a las 20:30 hrs, SKY 205, CABLEVISIÓN 210

THE BIG BANG THEORY Warner 2009

Raj necesita encontrar un trabajo rápido o de lo contrario tendrá que regresar a la India. Mientras tanto, Howard hace papel de mal tercio con Leonard y Penny.

“The Adhesive Duck Deficiency”

November 16th, 2009

I’ve not been remiss in noticing that the Sheldon/Penny shipping community has taken an interest in these reviews, and I want to make sure they know that I always appreciate the comments. And, because I’ve been following along with the group, alarm bells went off when this week’s episode of The Big Bang Theory separated Sheldon and Penny from the rest of the group. In some ways, the episode’s opening scenes actually played out like fan fiction, and we were reminded that, as usual, this sort of pairing is when the show is at its best (even if I feel as if the show will never, ever, take this relationship to anything beyond a tenuous mutual tolerance).

However, unfortunately for this episode, something about the storyline never quite lived up to its full potential, and more problematically the other half of the episode was the epitome of half-baked (yeah, I went there). While the Sheldon and Penny storyline was enjoyable in the way that Sheldon stories always are, and Jim Parsons is as hilarious as ever, it lacked (until the end) the heart of their more enjoyable plots. And since the show’s two most interesting characters in terms of creating different dynamics were on their own, this left the rest of the guys to fend for themselves.

And while Sheldon and Penny might be a good combination for the show’s comic potential, nothing can give me back the time spent on the other half of this episode.

By the time Sheldon and Penny got to the end of their storyline, the heart was there: “Soft Kitty” tends to bring out the best in these two to begin with, and playing into the legacy of their past interactions (like when Sheldon was sick and the “Soft Kitty” story was first originated) is a good way to tie everything together, and the scene was legitimately very funny. However, the storyline as a whole felt like a number of scenes that either went too broad (like Sheldon touching her in an inappropriate place while she was naked) or felt laboured (I don’t see why Sheldon wouldn’t have been able to call a taxi considering they had all of the time to wait for it while she was slowly getting dressed, making it just an excuse to put Sheldon behind the wheel). While there’s a lot of comic potential in this pairing, the show didn’t really stretch its boundaries at all when it came to their interactions. I thought the scene in the Hospital waiting room had some fun lines, but to be honest there was something disturbing about Sheldon being so quick to diagnose Penny with various disorders considering the eccentricity of his own behaviour.

There’s a point where Sheldon’s lack of social awareness is fun and clever, like when he writes the cause of the fall as “a lack of adhesive ducks.” There are other moments, though, where he’s legitimately offensive and mean to her, and while I understand that this is part of the character (judging Penny as overly emotional pretty much at all times) I don’t find it particularly humorous. I’m not suggesting that the two need to get along like gangbusters, but there’s something somewhat artificial about the fact that they can only tolerate one another when one of them is deathly ill or hopped up on painkillers. It’s like the running gag with Raj being unable to speak without alcohol: it was a funny gag once, but over time it becomes a hindrance to telling any new stories, as all interactions default to the same basic mode when certain characters are involved. If this was the first time we had seen a Penny/Sheldon story like this, I would have probably enjoyed it more, but it fell into a pattern that sort of took me out of it.

It was still leagues better than the subplot, however, which has is Leonard, Raj and Howard all getting high in the desert waiting for the Leonid Meteor Shower to start (it’s actually starting tonight, hence the storyline). The problem with this storyline is that these three characters together have no actual context of interaction: this was literally just Leonard, Raj and Howard getting stoned, with no underlying character theme or even some sort of hidden motivation. With other characters, these three can on occasion be quite funny, but individually and without anything to work with they’re pretty lifeless. I thought Raj’s bunny empire was moderately clever at points, but the incent storyline from Howard was downright bizarre, especially when they chose it as the main joke of the coda – I wasn’t aware that sleeping with your cousin was laugh out loud hilarious.

I thought that Galecki, Nayyar and Hedberg all did an admirable job with absolutely no material (all had some fun performance beats even if the lines were terrible), but the problem was that it never bothered to actually do anything with the fact that they were high. None of the characters had to interact with someone in a tense situation, no one had to operate some kind of machinery, and as a result there was no comic tension. It was literally like an improv skit about people being high in the desert, first beginning with some light hallucinations before extending into some deep thinking before eventually reverting to the munchies. While I complain about Sheldon and Penny’s storyline being rote in the sense that the show has tread on the same solid ground before, this was the show using the same gags that have been omnipresent in any depiction of being stoned on the face of the planet, and for the show to rely on them almost exclusively with characters who brought very little original to the table was a zero sum game.

It doesn’t help that I just watched “Chokin and Tokin’,” the episode of Freaks and Geeks which most directly deals with what marijuana can do to you. In that case, the character chooses to take marijuana, and is forced to babysit while under the influence and thus creating some sense of tension within her life. The fact that this was done with cookies makes it a terrible TV trope to begin with, but the fact that all of them got high, leaving no one to react to the fact that they were in fact tripping, made this a fundamental failure of a storyline.

I know that I usually argue that Sheldon and Penny should be paired more option, but this (like “The Vegas Renormalization” before it) suffers as an episode overall because of what’s left behind when those two characters separate from the pack.

Cultural Observations

• Jim Parsons again did get to knock one scene out of the park: his comforting of Penny was honestly terrifying to watch, to the point where I don’t know if I can even go watch it again with cringe-laughing myself to death. Just really creepy and wonderful, and I just wish he’d get an episode full of those moments to submit for the Emmys.
• I thought I was over the “Knock Knock Knock Penny” bit, but I will admit that Penny’s interruption of his attempt to perform the ritual at her bathroom door was quite fun.
• I usually complain about scenes where the rest of the group celebrates Sheldon being absent, so I was a little bit frustrated to see the writers have Sheldon justify such behaviour by admitting that he wants nothing to do with human companionship either. It simplifies their relationship to a dangerous point for me, but it was at least funny so that’s something at least.
• I think Sheldon’s lowest moment in this episode was his racist comments to the Sian Palace, and in fact the whole conversation was problematic: Sheldon’s smart enough to do his own math, and while asking for a quarter of an appetizer selection is anal asking for half of two orders of something is downright ignorant and totally inconsistent.
• I hope Penny’s reading of Wall-E was just the drugs talking, because Wall-E was about 500% more personable than Sheldon from the moment we met him in that movie.

Todo Mundo um dia já foi nerd, ou ainda é nerd. Esse universo é o tema central de “The Big Bang Theory”, onde conta a historia de Leonard, Sheldon, Raj e Howard, 4 adultos de mente superdotada onde passaram boa parte da sua vida no meio de teoremas físicos, sendo adulto antes da hora e curtindo o bom da infancia na vida adulta. Mas esse mundo é colocado de cabeça pra baixo quando Penny, a tipica vizinha gostosa, chega no predio onde mora leonard e sheldon, virando a cabeça de todos eles.

É uma série divertidissima no estilo sitcom americano.

No post abaixo, coloquei os links pra primeira temporada e quando eu descobrir como colocar os links em uma pagina só, sem ter que gerar uma busca enorme eu posto mais.

Enjoy it!

Sgt. Leonard Matlovich's grave in the Congressional Cemetary.

Leonard Matlovich was among the first gay activist to fight for gay rights in the military. The Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy didn’t exist when he was alive, there was a ban on gays serving in the military. He was discharged from the army after earning a Purple Heart and the Bronze Star. When he returned to the United States he began teaching Race Relations classes and trained other instructors to try and mitigate racial tensions throughout the military. Soon he realized that the way gays were treated was no different from the way African Americans were treated in the military and he told his commanding officer that he was gay. He was discharged and he fought for his reinstatement. Later in life he began to campaign for HIV/AIDS rights, at a time when the Reagan Administration was completely ignoring the epidemic. He died in 1988 under a large poster of Martin Luther King. His tombstone is meant to be a memorial to all gay veterans and does not bear his name.
I think this poem, which is a time-honored Canadian poem that I was raised reciting every year on remembrance day touches on the point that dead soldiers need to be honored for their sacrifice. Regardless of our stance on war, violence and pacificism, they died with passion and conviction and a mandate to protect the country they served.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

— Lt.-Col. John McCrae (1872 – 1918)

WARNER CHANNEL, MARTES 10 NOVIEMBRE

20:30 hrs, SKY 205, CABLEVISION 210

Cliff Lipson/CBS

Howard lleva a Raj a que chequee el mundo gótico de las citas. Sheldon, por su lado, experimentará con chocolate en un intento por modificar la conducta de Penny.

“The Guitarist Amplication”

November 9th, 2009

I want to play devil’s advocate and imagine, for a moment, what actually works about Leonard and Penny’s relationship. See, I don’t think that there is a fundamental incompatibility between these two characters so much as there is a fundamental inconsistency within both characters which often collides in ways that are less than entertaining. When Penny is intelligent and charming, and when Leonard is nervous but earnest, the couple is entirely inoffensive, within the realm of belief if not really setting the televisual world on fire.

However, when their worst character traits are amplified, their relationship is the worst sort of chemical reaction. “The Guitarist Amplification” decides to depict the couple’s first fight, and thus runs into two key problems. The first is that in order to create the fight the show exaggerates Leonard’s worst qualities, making him equal parts clueless and massively insecure. The second is that the show, by never quite dialing in on the relationship enough to make the audience care about it, wants us to root for something that we’re likely not rooting for. The result is a fight that is more annoying than it is funny, and an episode where the writers are almost entirely aware that the only value the show is getting out of this fight is how Sheldon responds to it.

Which isn’t a terrible strategy for the show, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not going to convince me this relationship is going to work.

There’s a stunning moment in this episode where Sheldon, as Raj and Howard are fighting over a cooking class incident, breaks down. The episode has established that he doesn’t deal well with confrontation and fighting, and in that moment we discover why: it’s because his parents fought when he was younger, and it has scarred him significantly. Jim Parsons absolutely destroys the recreation of one of his parents’ fights, switching between impressions of Sheldon’s mother and father and proving damn funny doing it. The episode is not actually about Leonard and Penny’s fight so much as it is about Sheldon’s response to it, as he events games and makes snow cones and gets out of cars and creates nests in comic book shops in order to escape the conflict.

In terms of the show’s strength, which is sometimes only Sheldon, it’s not a bad strategy. The episode becomes a collection of scenes which are either expressly about Sheldon, like the explosion in the comic book store, or are about Sheldon’s relationship with other characters, like his discussion with Penny at the Cheesecake Factory. The show has moved away from scenes featuring just Sheldon and Penny as of late, and I thought it worked well. I think that Kaley Cuoco is at her best when playing off of Sheldon, and her return to the table after realizing that Sheldon suggested she had her own problems in the relationship was a nice piece of broad comedy that she doesn’t get to play sometimes. Sheldon is just a really engaging foil for the show, and placing his phobia of arguments in the presence of Raj and his parents, and Howard and his Mother, were small beats that didn’t do for anything more than watching Jim Parsons squirm his way out of awkward situations and a chance to revisit parts of the show that are usually quite reliable.

However, the problem with the entire storyline is that we want to escape the fighting between Leonard and Penny just as much as Sheldon does, and to some degree the show felt the same way. The focus on Sheldon shows that the writers are no more interested in the fight than Sheldon is, and it shows in the fundamental lack of logical reasoning behind it. The cold open escalates from a potential squabble to an outright shouting match so fast that it implies this relationship has always been that unstable, which doesn’t jive with what we’ve seen to this point. Also, perhaps most problematically, Leonard was being insecure to the point of being both a jerk and an ass (synonyms or no, he earned two descriptors) while Penny was being petulant if not quite as frustrating (since she was helping a friend in a well-intentioned fashion, albeit while remaining blind to the potential problems). What was fascinating about the entire scenario is that, in the end, the only reason that Leonard didn’t suggest Justin sleep on his couch, or that an ultimatum be made, is that the show needed the fight to continue for the Sheldon story to work. The episode also struggled with the ending because it seemed as if Leonard and Penny reconciled when they shifted into a parental role for a child-like Sheldon, which reduces his character and compromises theirs in ways I don’t think the show really wants to deal with.

If this is how they plan on using this relationship, it’s never going to feel like a natural part of the show, and I really don’t foresee it ever integrating into the context of the series. I understand that the fight in question gave us what was a really nice little Sheldon storyline that gave Jim Parsons a lot of great material, which means that I shouldn’t be complaining perhaps as much as I am, but the way it was depicted shows that the writers either don’t understand that it’s not working or, perhaps more dangerously, don’t care if it’s not working. They might be shrugging their shoulders and deciding that it’s a way for them to tell a few different types of stories, which is true but which shows the unnatural machinations behind the pairing as opposed to drawing on any sort of emotional baseline. It reveals the storyline as a plot without a pulse, being kept alive effectively for the purpose of propping up the parts of the show that are working more consistently.

And, such, we return to the million dollar question: if the only reason the storyline exists is because of its impact on characters who are not actually in the relationship, at one point is the storyline more of a drain on the show’s comedy than it is an element of its success? I think this is an episode which shows that the writers are already to the point of using, rather than developing, the story, which says to me that it’s about time that this couple (and not the couple on the other CBS Monday comedy I watch) get back together as friends.

Cultural Observations

• Reasons I love Twitter, as per usual: Jaime Weinman makes a comment about how Raj and Howard’s relationship often seems to go beyond bromance to something domestic and dependent, but how there doesn’t seem to be a fandom for that particular pairing (as far as he can tell). Then, moments later, the show plays the joke about Raj’s parents considering Howard the closest thing to a daughter-in-law they have – television is listening, Jaime.
• I was disappointed that Stewart, who was so confident with Penny before, reverted to a hormonal teenager around her in this episode.
• I would totally buy a copy of Research Lab: the physics are theoretical, but the fun is real! Hey, that sort of works for Leonard and Penny too: the chemistry is theoretical, but the pain is real!
• The Black Eyed Peas joke was an unfortunate extension of the idea that the real reason Leonard isn’t good enough for Penny is that he doesn’t know the different between a food product and a pop band – that couldn’t have been less relevant in this storyline.
• I like how they put Justin’s guitar next to the couch in the coda, just in case we didn’t put together that it was Justin. I’ll admit, though, that based on the show’s track record I expected them to give us no sense of resolution, so the coda serving as a finale rather than a joke was a welcome change (even if it seemed like Leonard and Penny’s fight ended as quickly as it started).

Ο Leonard και η Penny έχουν τον πρώτο τους καυγά ως ζευγάρι. Μήπως αυτή η κατάσταση θα τους οδηγήσει στον χωρισμό???

This Comme des Garcons jacket is awesome X infinity. $77 with 2 days less. This is one of the best jackets EVER.

I can’t believe this Lanvin bracelet is $0.99 with 4 days left.

This BCBG leather jacket with a removable fur collar is perfection. $130 with just under 2 days left.

I am totally feeling this Marni belt. The price is tempting at $41 with just about 1 day remaining.

A stunning blue Phillip Lim Dress. $122.50 with 1 day remaining.

Adriana Orsini Pave Pyramid Bracelet. Was $325, now $89 on eBay. I was thrilled to see this because I recently saw a similar bracelet in pewter/silver on BCBG.com and it sold out quickly. I like this gold one better anyway. Ends soon!

Love love love this Alexander Wang Jacket. This one is a size 2, so if that’s you, BUY IT. This is a no-brainer. Look at the fabulous wool with the hyper-shiny zipper. HOTNESS!

Topshop Shoes. About $49 USD with 1 day and 19 hours to go.

Someone is basically giving away this Dolce & Gabbana blazer for a fixed price of $19!

Anthropoliogie Scented Drawer Liners. $10.50 ending soon. I think I may have put scented drawer liners on the blog once before. It’s one of those things that doesn’t pass my mind frequently, but I when i see them I get excited. Stocking stuffer?

Chanel Top. $85 with 3 days left.

Somehow this lovely pink Etro purse (retail: over $800) is only $44 ending in 8 hours.

It’s a lamp. I like it. I had to share it with you. $20 with less that a day left.

Someone smart needs to buy this Cacharel coat. Fixed price at $135.

Sexy Blumarine gloves in black and pink leather. Fixed price of $199.

Isabel Marant Blouse. Crystal buttons. Only $36.43 with less than 2 days left.

Yoana Baraschi dress. Just $34 with 18 hours left.

This sort of thing is why I love Reiss.$73.88 with less than 2 days left.

Leifsdottir Dress. $9.38 with 2 days left.

Leonard of Paris jacket, $124, 2 days left.

Tracy Reese Woven Belt. Fixed price at $50.

Gryphon Studded Coat. $102.50 with 2 days left. I’ve seen this dress once on eBay before,

Oscar de la Renta dress. $51 with 4 days to go.

Catherine Malandrino Handbag. A rare find. Just under 5 days to go. $149.

Ports 1961 Skirt. Just $39 with 3 days left. Awesome.

Anthropologie Charm Cardigan. $76 with 2 days remaining. Another one of those rare cardigans I think is worth a little extra money.

Someone lucky should be scooping up this Zac Posen skirt bargain- $38 with 2 days left.

Dolce & Gabbana Blouse. Fixed Price $139.99. Love love love love love…

Another ridiculous bargain- Lanvin dress, $66, just under 2 days left.

Vena Cava Top. Fixed price of $75.

Antik Batik Dress. Priced buy-it-now $230 or best offer.

So, after work, I decided that to lessen the blow of having to go to the Halifax to make an appointment to see a mortgage advisor, I would visit Bookcycle and see what they had in.  Of course I needed to go via Sainsburys which means a compulsory stop to The Boston Tea Party and an oppurtunity to ravage WH Smiths.
So, Bookcycle brought up a few gems.  First off, a book of Baudelaire’s selected poetry which was brilliant as he was mentioned by Luke Kennard at a recent book launch, and the inspiration behind one of his new poems in his new book ‘The Migraine Hotel’ entitled ‘Spade’.  One of the first French Symbolists, if not the first, his poetry was recognised by the surrealism and symbolic nature that came to be the signature of the movement. 
Most of the book is in french but has translations as well.  I also picked up a book of talks given by Betjemen about hymn writing and a book of poetry by Leonard Nimoy when he suddenly realised he was crap at acting anything else other then emotionally anal aliens, so he’d better try and find something else to do.  He seemed to end up doing photography in the end, but here was his foray in to poetry.
After that I had to go to Bostons and read through my acquisitions over a nice cup of house blend and a sausage bap.
Next was over the WH Smiths to root through the sale items, picking up a good notebook and a parker fountain pen for £2.00, I was also chuffed to pick up a copy of ‘The Bloggers Handbook’, a book/magazine thing that has the content of a magazine but strangely the price of a book.  I have looked through and the price of the information really isn’t worth it, so I’ll take it back tomorrow after work as really…£12.99 for tutorials you can get online and information that really is out there in the open domain.
So tonight, reading, eating and an early night.  Oh and some writing too.

It is an observation of mine, and certainly not an original one, that advertising appears to be encroaching on every aspect of our current life. It appears that it has hit a point of such fervour that from the time we wake up, serenaded by adverts on our radio alarm clock, our eyes and ears continually feast on a commercial market stall whereby every trader wants your business.

However, it took a small and insignificant notice in an off-licence window to make me consider this clamouring world of marketing and its effect on our daily routine and how ‘they’ get you hook, line and sinker- because they do.

The advert in question was the most ineffective and flawed piece of advertising I had ever seen, which made me completely stop in my tracks and peer quizzically at, number one, the product on offer, and number two, the gall this seller had to think this would work.

The ad was a rectangular piece of card about 15 x 8cm, and on it, scrawled in illiterate childish handwriting, was:

“Viagra (underlined) Original 100%
Made by (word scribbled out and then rewritten) Pfizer
Phone me on 079********
Leonard”

See the attached photograph.

Now obviously, there are a few key errors in marketing this sale item that would make any advertiser’s face peel inside out. Even if you’re not in advertising, you may still appreciate that Leonard may not have been at the top of the business world, but: does that make it a bad advert?

Consider this: Leonard’s advert actually made me stop and look closer. It wasn’t because of the wording or content, but the first thing that any consumer sees is a collective picture of the advert and that entices us to read more. Leonard: Creepy old man or Advertising Genius? It may have been his carefree attitude to the advert, a ‘devil-may-care’ debonair dandy demure if you will, but lets not escape the fact that this man is trying to sell Viagra in a newsagents shop window.

Forget the piano lessons, rooms to let, and the far too obvious ‘friendly massages’, my eyes were drawn to his brilliant (and I’m sure tactical) use of underlining the word ‘Viagra’. This was then swiftly followed by a reassuring (maybe even medical) statement ‘Original 100%’. Can you get 95%?

So, we have drawn the consumer in with underlining and then medical reassurance. What next? Leonard gives us a maker and his contact details. What more do you need? I would, however, question why Leonard chose to scribble out the miss-spelt ‘Pfizer’ and write it again, rather than going to his roller-top desk and getting a new piece of card. And anyway, would you know the incorrect spelling of ‘Pfizer’ if you had never heard or seen the word before? I doubt it.

Credit to the man, he has used a fantastic trick at the end. Advertisers these days are desperately trying to make their advertisers more personable and sincere to the consumer. We like to feel like it is only use who are being advertised to. This usually entails simply putting the word ‘mate’ at the end of whatever spiel they have created to make it sound like it’s your best friend selling it to you.

However, unlike many newsagent windows’ adverts, which conclude with sign-offs like ‘call Dave on 07*********’ or simply ‘Tel: 07*********’, Leonard has followed the personal practice and signed his advert like he’s finishing a long letter to Aunt Maggie in Chipping Norton. I don’t doubt that Leonard is still yet to find a purchaser for his product. However, this does not neglect the fact that selling Viagra via an advertisement in a shop window is going to be just as hard as if he said he made the stuff in his own bathtub.

However, this spawned an investigation into signs and adverts that do make me wonder what the marketing department were thinking when they put these out there. All of the collected photographs are my own.

1. This was taken at Charing Cross rail station. It is an advert for the rail station itself, yet it is in the actual rail station. This seems a bit counter productive. If I am already there, surely the mission is already accomplished? Do the marketers want me to want to be there more? It will make your head hurt thinking about it. It’s like reading a newspaper only to find there is a huge double spread advert inside, encouraging you to read the very same newspaper.

However, what I also want to question, is what is the woman on the right holding? The whole photograph looks like front cover to a classy pornography film. This is further accentuated by the line ‘Your ooh perfect match station’. I cannot fathom what this advert was trying to achieve or what it is trying to display.

2. Marks and Spencers are one of those stores that my Grandmother shops at. Their food is good but expensive and their clothes are plain and sturdy. You know what your getting with M&S. Every man in Britain owns of has owned underwear from Marks and Spencer.

So, imagine my consternation upon seeing this advertising leaflet being given out to the public. Are advertisers so clueless that not one of them flagged up the error that ‘Pocket Rocket’ is a term often used for a male state of arousal? There must be a young intern in the marketing department who could have stuck his head around the boardroom door and gone, ‘Uh, guys…’.

3. This one is a particular favourite of mine. An advert for Roehampton University. Now, for a university advert, having three cleverly diverse individuals standing together laughing is the optimum shot. The photograph is flawless. It took me a while, though, to realise why this advert wasn’t quite right. Having the line ‘We can open doors’ next to the photograph that advertises a place of education suddenly looks like they literally couldn’t open doors before. As if door handles, door knobs etc were just beyond their grasp. Take another look and you will understand what I’m talking about.

It’s as if there was a course module in ‘Door Opening’ and all three just passed. The line below doesn’t help in the slightest.

‘For an education that gives you the skills to succeed in your chosen career…’

Door opening is one of those skills offered by Roehampton University.

4. Here is one of those adverts that I am clearly missing the point of but still, as a consumer, it is important to be able to understand the advert at least. I’m talking about the British Airways campaign.

The scene is of a generic city street, with a hotdog/burger salesman behind his grill, frying up food for his customers. Now, the line is:

‘You can’t smell a city from a coach.’

This just makes we wonder if the person who came up with the line knew he was working for an Airline company. You can’t smell a city from a coach? As opposed to what? An aeroplane? I’m sure you can smell the city less at 30,000 feet in the air, in a sealed metal capsule, flying at over 500 miles per hour. I could be wrong though.

5. An advert for the supermarket Sainsbury’s this time. This is actually a sign in the store. It took me a while to figure out what was wrong with it, especially if you look at the photograph. However, I will type it here anyway:

‘We are amending ours prices following the recent budget changes.’

I guess the people at Sainsbury’s took even longer to figure it out. Say it out loud if you still don’t get it.

6. I think this one is so obscure, it’s a wonder it ever got made. Now, please believe me, this has no reflection on Ho Chi Minh, he was an impressive leader, there is no doubt. However, I must ask why the plaque was put up at all when you actually read it.

‘Ho Chi Minh (1890 – 1969) Founder of modern Vietnam. Worked at the Carlton Hotel in 1913, which stood on this site’

Now, if we had to put up a plaque everywhere that a famous dignitary once worked, they would be everywhere. The fact the Minh worked there in 1913 is pretty obscure, but the fact that the Carlton Hotel is not even there anymore makes it even worse. It’s like saying Minh once bent down a petted a dog outside the New Player Theatre which hadn’t even been built at that time. Make that man a plaque.

7. The one on the transport system, I assume is fake and is a prank, but is a fantastic one nonetheless. The sticker reads:

‘Peak Hours may necessitate that you let other people sit on your lap.’

I really hope that it’s real, but somehow, you know that it would never work in your favour. You would get a thirty stone sewage worker on a packed train point to your crotch and say ‘is that seat taken?’

8. This one is for fun. ‘Ramped Access to Tigers’ sounds like a great band name, but even worse, it faintly sounds like there is a disabled ramp that runs straight into the tiger enclosure. That would be a gladiator battle like you wouldn’t believe.

Thank you for being a part in The Ukiyo,

I am an advertising person.

The Ukiyo

Aujourd’hui je vais vous parler d’une série considérée comme culte par de nombreux geeks : The Big Bang Theory.

Le pitch de départ : Sheldon et Leonard sont deux surdoués, chercheurs en université, et geeks de surcroît. Quand ils ne bossent pas, ils sont sur les jeux vidéos, jeux de rôles ou autres “geekeries”. Ils passent leur temps libre avec Howard et Rajesh, leurs deux autres (et uniques) amis. Leur vie va être bousculée par l’emménagement de Penny, une fille pour le moins jolie et dotée de beaux “atouts”, dans l’appartement d’en face.

Je vous laisse imaginer les étincelles que peut produire ce contact entre ces deux “mondes”. On rit franchement, on s’attache aux personnages, la recette des bons sitcoms en somme. Vous l’aurez compris, c’est un sitcom donc les épisodes durent une vingtaine de minutes. La troisième saison est en cours aux Etats-Unis sur CBS. On peut la retrouver en France sur TPS Star ou NRJ 12.

Liens : Site officiel Site Francophone de fans

PS : Je vous rappele que je suis sur twitter @notAconit

Ο Leonard προσπαθώντας να γίνει αποδεκτός από τους φίλους της Penny αποφασίζει να μάθει πώς να παρακολουθεί ποδόσφαιρο. Ιδιαίτερα μαθήματα θα παραδώσει ο Sheldon. Από την άλλη ο Raj τα βάζει με τον Wolowitz, καθώς αυτός ευθύνεται για την απώλεια του συλλεκτικού του χαρταετου και πιο συγκεκριμένα του patang του.