Rihanna is everywhere these days so instead of posting her 1,000 times here’s a recap for those who want in including here interview with Angie Martinez…Rihanna’s Interview With Angie

When by the beginning of the season I predicted the midtable for Swansea City, I was aware that the great majority of bloggers and betting odds was against me, foreseeing the great fall for the Swans after Roberto Martinez left the bench. The man who was more than just a manager for the club; he was in a way, “the father” of the team and a creator of the characteristic passing play and offensive tactics, but left to Wigan Athletic this summer and took two best players with him: striker Jason Scotland and Jordi Gomez.

Former Portuguese midfielder, trophy-winning Paulo Sousa took over, who has won European trophies with Juventus and Borussia Dortmund, though he hasn’t got significant coaching experience. Last season on QPR bench he had some partial success, always in the shadow of ever unsatisfied owner Flavio Briatore who chased him away from the club by the end of last season.

Upon his arrival at Liberty stadium Sousa found a weakened team, unsatisfied and injured team’s best player, Ferrie Bode who wanted to change the midfield and faithful fans that expected the team to repeat the last season at least. Last season Swansea were active play-offs contenders till the very end.

They got off to a clumsy start, many things didn’t work in defense, while the team also had scoring problems. Having fallen near the bottom, the Swans struggled, Bode renewed his injury, but Sousa called for patience and by the end of September things started looking up. Manager’s impact and the restructuring of the team started giving results and it all began with the defense. Swansea conceded only two goals in nine matches before the derby against Cardiff. Sousa had to rely on defense, as he couldn’t count on the breakthrough in the attack. After Scotland left, Craig Beattie slowly emerged as a good striker but the question is if the has what it takes to replace Scotland and to what extent the club can rely on his scoring skills.

All in all, the Swans started the derby against Cardiff at the back of nine unbeaten games and a granite defense with dominant captain Gary Monk. Monk’s absence definitely resulted in two goals inside Swans’ net, but their scorers again rose to the occasion and Swansea triumphed 3:2 in one of the most attractive and most exciting Welsh derbies ever.

Can Swansea make it to the play-offs, against all odds? Of course they can; the defense is the key and excellent players from Liberty stadium lead by calm and modest Portuguese manager hold that key. Paulo Sousa is nothing like his more illustrious compatriots, Jose Mourinho and Luis Felipe Scolari. Once a diligent working bee in the midfield, this young manager definitely realizes the importance of a good defense. That, among other things, is the reason why he failed in Flavio Briatore’s club, Queens Park Rangers, but precisely that is why he will succeed in Swansea and hopefully in Premiership one day.

By Jocelyn Martinez
Contributing Writer

Photo by Christina Cernik, Photo Editor

After years of planning and working on the City Commons area of the West Palm Beach Waterfront, a lot of hard work is about to pay off.

“This project has been part of Mayor Frankel’s vision for downtown as a whole since she came into office in 2003,” said Peter Robbins, public information officer for the City of West Palm Beach.

Now all that is left is to get the project completed. The area should be finished by Feb. 20.

The $30 million project will consist of a visitor’s center, tree-shaded walkways, a pavilion, piers and a beach at the sea wall. The city expects the new area to transform the waterfront at Flagler Drive and Clematis Street into a new and improved area of public space.

Mayor Lois Frankel is very excited about the project.

“This is an exciting event and a significant part of our commitment to enliven our downtown, embrace our waterfront and bring people to West Palm Beach,” Frankel said.

According to Frankel, she sees this waterfront as a way to attract people and tourists downtown so they can enjoy the businesses already there, as well as the new and coming attractions.

“This project is about transformation,” Robbins said. “It’ll give everyone a completely different view of downtown.”

In place of the old library, the area will be an open, green area with fountains and seats for people to enjoy. It will also be a place for entertainment and concerts.

Three docks are already open to the public.

“These new docks will be enjoyed by boaters and pedestrians alike,” Frankel said.

Dock usage is free, including for boaters. Although rafts are not allowed on the docks, commercial vessels may dock with a city-issued permit. Docks are open
seven days a week from 5 a.m. to midnight.

Boaters are required to register their vessels with the dock supervisor and each dock has a maximum capacity.

“I love the docks. They are convenient and a smart idea,” said local resident Chris Pastorick, a PBA alumni from the class of 2009. “They’re good for visiting during the day and should bring in more business for the restaurants because a lot of other dockside locations around here benefit greatly from boaters but West Palm Beach has had nothing to offer them like PGA, Jupiter or Boynton Beach.”

The docks are a key component of West Palm’s downtown waterfront revitalization project. The plan is to beautify and re-energize the entire downtown waterfront, from Banyan Boulevard to Lakeview Avenue. Completion of the revitalization is expected in December.

“They should make weekend dock hours later for boaters who want to take their boats downtown then and go out,” Pastorick commented.

Some worry that the construction on Flagler Drive is hindering some businesses downtown.

Bradley’s waitress Jessica Wieder, a PBA senior, said, “It took the view away from Bradley’s and the construction is taking too long. It is also taking business away from Bradley’s because people do not want to drive completely around just to get there.”

Businesses on Clematis are suffering from the months of detours and barricades, but once the project is completed a great increase is expected in the local economy, especially with the docks.

“The docks are convenient for boaters and will bring in more people downtown,” said PBA sophomore Lauren Mareri.

“It’ll be a completely different view of downtown,” Robbins said.

An opening party is set for February. The city hope the face lift will benefit downtown businesses.

“I am excited to see this project completed already,” said PBA junior Natasha Da Silva. “I believe it will make downtown look so much better and bring more people to our city.”

In the 13th round of Serie A, the RedBlu played the island derby at Palermo and came away with a tie (1-1) that does not help much in the standings. The home team scored in the first minutes of the match and controlled most of the first half while failing to built on the lead. In the second half, coach Atzori however made a couple of substitutions that changed the match with Martinez (photo) clinching a tie within minutes after entering the pitch.  The RedBlu insisted and created a couple of more chances seeking a win without succeeding. With only 9 points after 13 matches, the RedBlu are at the bottom of the standings and with competitors starting to built an advantage. Although the gameplay is improving, the RedBlu’s results are still disappointing and remain key to avoid relegation.

Końcówka drugiej walki Rendalla Munroe’a z Kiko Martinezem. Pojedynek odbył się 27 lutego 2009 roku.

Nowości w sklepie Pretorian – sprawdź teraz!

So, I am not a graphic designer but oh how I wish I was! I am in the midst of the logo debate. What should I brand myself with? I know that this step, as far as marketing is concerned, is very important. But I am so blank! Well, I am going back to the drawing board, I may post up my logo as it transform, who knows maybe I’ll get it right the first time!

CHA destinará un año más el 1% de su presupuesto a financiar proyectos de cooperación internacional. El Rolde de Solidaridad de CHA aprobó las bases de la convocatoria y recuerda que las propuestas se podrán presentar hasta el próximo 12 de diciembre.

El Secretario de política social, movimientos sociales y participación, José Manuel Latorre, señala que “consideramos que la solidaridad internacional es vital para hacer frente a problemas globales que requieren de una lucha conjunta” .

El coordinador del Rolde de Solidaridad de CHA, Antonio García, indica por su parte que “somos partidarios de financiar proyectos relacionados con la acción política y la lucha social, y no tanto con los meramente asistencialistas, para que el cambio lo protagonicen los líderes de los países afectados por las injusticias”.

Tal y como señalan las bases de esta convocatoria:

Podrán ser beneficiarios de dicha cantidad, organizaciones aragonesas que trabajen en el ámbito de la Cooperación para el Desarrollo, con implantación real en nuestro territorio, y que presenten un proyecto en colaboración con una contraparte local en un país denominado “del Sur” o bien directamente se podrá conceder a una contraparte local. También a organizaciones que desarrollen un proyecto de sensibilización en Aragón, directamente relacionado con la naturaleza de los proyectos que se mencionan en el punto siguiente.

Las Organizaciones tendrán carácter solidario, social, político y/o sindical, con un claro compromiso por la justicia social, la defensa de los Derechos Humanos y la lucha contra las desigualdades entre el “Norte” y el “Sur”.

Se priorizarán aquellos proyectos de cuya realización se beneficien personas de los países con menor índice de desarrollo humano.

Los proyectos en los que colabore Chunta Aragonesista, tendrán como objeto principal alguno de los siguientes puntos:

- La promoción de los Derechos Humanos

- El libre ejercicio de las libertades políticas y sindicales

- Los procesos de descolonización y/o pacificación

- La abolición de la pena de muerte y la tortura

- La igualdad de género

- El respaldo a refugiados políticos y a presos de conciencia

- La promoción de la libertad de expresión

- El apoyo a las minorías culturales y/o nacionales

- Empoderamiento de los líderes locales, de los jóvenes.

Em negrito – o jogador e o time que pretende contratá-lo
Em itálico – a posição e o time atual do atleta

A fonte do boato está linkada no nome do jogador

DEMOROU!

Corinthians – Lima (Z-sem clube) - Williamestá em uma fase pouco confiável fisicamente, então o time precisa de um reserva melhor que Paulo André.

Flamengo – Kléber (A-Cruzeiro) – Pode ser um ótimo substituto de Adriano ou até fazer uma dupla muito interessante com o Imperador.

Vasco – Rafael Sóbis (A-Al Jazira) - Chegou a ser jogador de Seleção quando atuava em grandes centros do futebol. Não seria diferente no Rio de Janeiro.

TANTO FAZ…

Corinthians – Douglas (LD-Goiás) – Não chegaria pra ser titular, mas pode ser uma boa aposta para o futuro.

Corinthians – Leandro Domingues (M-Vitória) - Fez um ótimo 1º turno pelo Vitória, mas caiu muito de produção e já teve passagens apagadas por outros clubes grandes.

Palmeiras – Manoel (Z-Atlético-PR) - Não chegaria pra ser titular, mas pode ser uma boa aposta para o futuro.

Vasco – Keirrison (A-Benfica) - A passagem do atacante pelo Palmeiras foi irregular e só gera desconfianças, mas ele tem qualidades pra voltar ao Brasil e se destacar.

CAI FORA!

Atlético-MG – Durval (Z-Sport) - A defesa precisa de um jogador mais experiente para atuar ao lado do jovem Werley, mas é necessário que seja alguém com qualidade de verdade.

Atlético-MG – Souza (A-Corinthians) - Atrapalharia todo o estilo de jogo do Galo, que sabe usar a velocidade como poucos no setor ofensivo.

Goiás – Wellington Saci (LE-Atlético-MG) - É muito otimismo imaginar que ele vai jogar bem só porque vai voltar ao estado que o revelou.

Palmeiras – Xandão (Z-Barueri) – Não chegaria pra ser titular e ainda seria uma aposta arriscada para o futuro.

Vasco – Dodô (A-sem clube) – Como é difícil acreditar em um retorno triunfal do “artilheiro dos gols bonitos”!

NÃO ENXERGAM?

Martinez (V-Cerezo Osaka) - É um jogador que teve boas passagens por Cruzeiro e Palmeiras, já está no Japão há um ano,  superou uma lesão recentemente e pode querer voltar ao Brasil a qualquer momento.

Relembre:

• Rumores sobre o próximo ano
• Mais boatos para 2010
• Especulações para 2010
  

Martinez,Chris Larsen & More @ Milkrun – Toronto (14.11.09)

By Christopher Hernandez
Contributing Writer

At first glance, Wendy Martinez may look like just an average college student, but this former police officer has seen in real life what her classmates only see in gory cop shows.

Her first call as a police officer came in as a reported suicide. As Martinez interviewed witnesses, she realized she had stumbled onto a domestic dispute turned deadly. When the victim’s boyfriend found out she was cheating, he stabbed her in the face 36 times.

“It was just the whole rush of the crime scene: people writing down the accounts and taping off the area,” Martinez said.

Now she’s put that rush somewhat behind her, becoming just a reserve police officer and studying pre-law. She hopes to become a criminal defense attorney, and she heads toward that goal with a perspective born out of personal trauma.

“I grew up with the cops around all the time because of my parents,” said Martinez, whose father was abusive. “It’s hard to see the kids in domestic disturbance calls because I knew what they were going through. I can see it in their eyes.”

Having allowed time to heal the wounds of the past, Martinez has since forgiven her father and has so much love for him. However,
“I saw my mom with no power. She was belittled by my father,” Martinez said. “During these situations of domestic disturbance, I show the women that you can be strong and put your foot down and say, ‘I am not going to take this from you. I am not going to tolerate this abuse.’

“My biggest issue was domestic disturbance because I had to put my emotions aside,” she said.

Martinez feels that during these situations it is essential to put the title of cop behind and be a confidant, a friend to the abused.

“I like to not be like I came, I called, and I left. I want to leave an impact,” she said.

Martinez misses the rush of being a police officer, but school is her main priority now. She wakes up every morning, goes to class and then works at an internship in a law office from 2 to 5 p.m.

When work ends, she goes back home to catch her favorite show on A&E, “The First 48,” a show documenting real-life crime scene investigations. At any time, she may be called to enforce the law as a reserve officer.

A full time cop, according to Martinez, works eight to 12 hour shifts, has 24-hour access to a SWAP car, carries a gun and is called in for traffic related instances, domestic disturbances, fender benders and homicides. She has weathered the adrenaline-driving scenes and also the mundane.

“Fender bender reports are super long,” she said. I felt like I was writing a paper for school.” Now she’s in school for real.

“I wanted to go to school and be a cop,” Martinez said. “With the economy I knew I needed to get a degree. They are laying people off all over the place.”

Along the way, Martinez has already showed perseverance as a female in a male dominated profession. One of four women during her days in the police academy, she recalls the varied attitude toward women.

“They treat you like you are different,” she said.

“They would say, ‘If you want to do girl push-ups, that’s okay,’ or give us a shorter distance to run, but all of us would just do just as much as the guys. We were all so strong willed,” Martinez said. “It’s always like they are the strongest. It makes us women work twice as hard or three times as hard just to prove ourselves.”

Martinez said the toughness taught at the academy has definitely spilled over into the love portion of her life.

“I’m really funny and easy to get along with, but my job required me to be tough,” she said. “It has shaped me and is part of who I am.”
Martinez feels this is the reason that long-term relationships have never worked out.

“It’s not that I am not laid back,” she said. “It’s just I am very demanding.”

“When I have children,” Martinez said, “I want to show them that there is no specific gender for any specific career. It’s beneficial to dirty your nails as long as you are happy doing it.”

W październiku 2002 roku Aleksy Uchański i Marcin Przasnyski wraz z grupą zapalonych redaktorów (m.in. Dariusz J. Michalski, Michał Nowakowski, Tadeusz Zieliński, Krzysztof Papliński czy Jakub Kowalski) reaktywowali pierwsze polskie czasopismo o grach. Ich cel nakreślony we wstępniaku był jasny: przywrócić wiarę w dobre teksty, przypomnieć na czym polega radość z inteligentnej lektury.

Wydawcą pisma został Axel Springer Polska (znany polskim graczom m.in. z takich tytułów jak Play czy Komputer Świat GRY).

W pierwszym odnowionym Top Secret mogliśmy przeczytać łącznie piętnaście recenzji  takich tytułów jak m.in. Aliens vs Predator 2: Primal Hunt, Age of Wonders II, Beach Life, Disciples 2, MotoGP czy Zanzarah: The Hidden Portal. Oczywiście nie obyło się też bez recenzji wielkiego hitu tamtych czasów, gry pt. Nina Kroniki Agenta: Tunele Afganistanu .

Redaktorzy TS’a donosili w obszernych tekstach o nadchodzących hiciorach: Counter Strike: Condition Zero, Hitman 2, Icewind DAle 2, Neverwinter Nights czy No One Lives Forever 2.

Jednym z hitów numeru był ośmiostronicowy poradnik do Warcraft III (co ciekawe: w spisie treści podano zły numer strony) przygotowany przez Dariusza Michalskiego.

Nowością w tego typu czasopismach (tj. poświęconym grom na PC) był dział Tapeta, jak pisali redaktorzy: Coś dla oka. Nowe gry chwalą się piękną grafiką. Tutaj podziwiamy najlepsze z nich. I przyznać trzeba, że był to dział niezwykle efektowny. Szerokie ujęcia m.in. z trzeciego Dooma mogły przyśnić się  po nocach, a i zmęczeni gracze uciskiem szkoły/pracy czasem po prostu wolą zawiesić oko na jakiejś ładnej grafice w dużej rozdzielczości.

Inne działy nowego TS’a to News, Tipsy, WWW, Techno, Forum, Tylor (…humorystycznie) i dobra publicystyka zamieszczona w Varii i słowie od Martineza.

Całość kosztowała 15zł, a poza tekstami nie brakło też dwóch płyt CD (na jednej z nich pełna wersja kultowego Thiefa).

a

Kilka zrzutów z niniejszego numeru:

This week I decided to watch Mean Streets (Scorsese, 1973) as a supplemental screening. Considering how much I like Goodfellas (Scorsese, 1990) and The Departed (Scorsese, 2006), I decided that it would be a good idea to look into Scorsese’s earlier work. Widely considered to be the breakthrough film for both Scorsese and De Niro, I was not sure what to expect at first, but I still held high expectations for such a revered film. After watching this movie, I was amazed at how early in his career his definitive style was imposed so clearly on his films.

Within the first couple of minutes of the film, I could tell that Scorsese’s imprint was going to be obvious. The jump cut he uses as Charlie, played by Harvey Keitel, lays his head down on the pillow starts one of the many sequences that go perfectly with the music. The perfect use of popular music is one of the things that stood out to me, including “Be My Baby” by The Ronettes and “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” by The Rolling Stones.* I don’t think the use of popular music was something revolutionary – films like The Graduate (Nichols, 1967) had done this before- but the choice to do it, and do it well was an excellent one by Scorsese. I think that the music helped to set the environment and nostalgia in the movie, and helped to set the tempo of the editing, like in the first scene. I read an overview article about the film, and it mentioned the fact that one of the producers was “a former road manager for Bob Dylan and The Band (both of whom would become the subject of future Scorsese documentaries).” ** I found this interesting, and I think that the fact that Scorsese had people around him who had knowledge of the music industry definitely influenced his choice of music.

One of the other things the article mentioned was the fact that Scorsese meant for this film to be almost an autobiographical film about his life growing up in Little Italy, a neighborhood in New York. This was evident to me after reading the article, because I found the film to be centered around the interactions among these characters, and the unique environment that they lived in, much more than focused on a “central question,” typical of a Hollywood film using the classical style.

Another one of Scorsese’s marks on this film is the inundation of the screen with the color red. Dr. Thomas Schatz has mentioned in lecture for RTF 317 that Scorsese has an obsession with the color red, which is very evident in Goodfellas and Casino (1995), along with this film. The color is almost omnipresent, whether it is the crimson red atmospheric light of the bar, the blood red walls of the fancy restaurant, or in the attire of Johnny Boy (De Niro) and Charlie; the bright red in Charlie’s tie comes to mind.

The color red is constantly present in the film.

The use of a dynamic camera was very eye-catching in the film. One of my favorite shots is when Charlie enters the bar, and the camera is tracking him as he grooves on to the stage and ends up dancing with the girls. Another shot, and an example of subjective camera work is when they are partying, but there is just a permanent close-up shot on Charlie’s face as he dances, takes shots, and ends up crashing down to sleep at the end of the sequence.

With an almost abrupt ending, the film thrives on what the viewers probably feared that would eventually happen to them. The character I found to be the most sympathetic is Amy Robinson’s: Teresa. As hard as she tried to be strong and independent, she was too attached to Charlie, and I felt bad for her throughout the movie; most notably when she had an epileptic seizure, and was left alone on a dirty hallway floor. Robert De Niro’s character, Johnny Boy was hard to like, which speaks volumes about his performance. I just wanted to slap him upside the head like Charlie would, and make him think clearly about what he was doing.

De Niro, Scorsese, and Keitel

Mean Streets was definitely a good choice for me, and I am glad I can add it to my arsenal of film knowledge. Although there were some obvious production quality flaws, like bad dubbing at times, it is easier to forgive because of such solid performances and directing. The movie was shot in twenty-seven days, which just boggles my mind, and makes it a bigger accomplishment in my eyes.** I would definitely recommend it, and I hope that my thoughts on it encourage people who read them to rent it.

*http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070379/soundtrack

** http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=83170&category=Articles

My heart beats faster and faster the closer I get to the eggshell door, now to think of it I really did feel as if I was walking on eggshells, sorry random, but I make it and is asked to lye down. I feel like they are going to rip my arms out of their sockets when the two dentists come in.

WAIT NO! Don’t stop reading because I said dentist, what happened is actually pretty life changing! Take your hand off the mouse.

Okay, so as I was saying, I was quivering like a Chihuahua on Christmas day with kids rejecting it by the dozens. The first words out of her mouth was, “Don’t worry, this won’t hurt a bit,” LIAR! She came up to be and thrusting a needle about the size of my middle finger and as thick as a pen into my mouth. Okay, maybe I am exaggerating a bit, but it hurt like is was.

I couldn’t feel my mouth as they made me, involuntarily, withhold sticks and stones being throne into my mouth! When they were finally done with both cavity fillings, I opened my eyes and saw it, the light. I swear, I thought I was one of the victims that die from not being able to handle an anesthetic. The first thought that went into my head was, “Man, this is an embarrassing way to die,” yep, on my death bed and I felt humiliated. I then saw how it wasn’t the light light, but was a regular light bulb used to look inside the spit filled walls of my mouth.

So, yeah, I spent the rest of the day starving because I could not eat and I couldn’t feel my gums or the tip of my tongue. Today, I woke up and I found a huge bite mark on the side the interior gums. Yep, I tried to bite off my mouth in my sleep and didn’t even feel it.

Life changing, isn’t it?

Look at this, a kid who went through what I did. If you laugh, think of me.