New York woman falls, rips Picasso painting
 
 (AFP) January 25th, 2010
 NEW YORK — A significant (£80million/$130million/
 E 92million) Pablo Picasso painting was damaged after a
 woman attending art class lost her balance, fell into
 "The Actor" and tore it, The Metropolitan Museum of Art said.
 The unusually large canvas, measuring 77.25 by 45.38 inches
 (196 by 115cm), sustained a vertical tear of about six inches
 (15cm) in the lower right-hand corner in the accident on
 Friday.

 The Met said the damage did not impact the
 "focal point of the composition" and that it should be repaired
 in the coming weeks. It has been removed from the gallery and
 taken to the museum’s conservation studio for 'assessment
 and treatment', the statement added. Repair work should be
 "unobtrusive," it added.
 
 The museum did not elaborate on why the woman fell. The
 woman was uninjured, the museum spokesman said.

Just saw the trailer for the new Sherlock Holmes movie starring Robert Downey jr. This unshaven and fighting Holmes character looks nothing like the previously visualized Holmes by a.o. Jeremy Brett and Rupert Everett. 

In Sherlock Holmes and The case of the silk stocking we see Everett as Holmes smoking in an opium den. All stories on Holmes speak of his drug habits, occosional cocaine and morphine user, but it seems Holmes expressed a strong disapproval on visiting opium dens and according to Wikipedia:

"Victorian London's reputation as a center of opium smoking is quite unjustified, and testifies to the power of literary fiction over historical fact.......Scholars have yet to unearth a single historical photograph of opium smokers in London—in marked contrast to the relative abundance of period photos depicting smokers in the United States, Canada and France."

Looking at a picture of Holmes on the website of The Sherlock Holmes Museum in London, it seems that Jeremy Brett resembles the real Holmes most with his "hawk-like features and piercing eyes".

I have missed it again. Oktoberfest. Sausages, kraut, black bread and beer.
Oktoberfesten are supposed to be very enjoyable and although from The Netherlands to Munchen - Germany is only a short distance I have never be to one.

Oktoberfest began as a celebration of the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig (who later became king) to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen on October 12, 1810. Today the annual celebration continues, beginning the third  weekend in September and continuing through the first Sunday in October.
Today I came across some authentic German recipes so maybe I can start my own Oktoberfest.

Knockwurst with Sauerkraut

 * 1/3 cup chopped onion
 * 2 slices cooked bacon, cut up
 * 1 cup beer
 * 1 cup water
 * 2 tablespoons cornstarch (maismeel/maismehl)
* 2 tablespoons coarse-grain brown mustard
* 2 tablespoons molasses (stroop/sirup)
* 2 teaspoons caraway seed (komijn/kummel)
* 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice (piment)
* 1/4 teaspoon pepper
* 1 large rutabaga (yellow turnip/koolraap/kohlrabi), peeled & cut into 1" cubes
* 1 pound fully cooked knockwurst, bias-sliced into 2- to 2-1/2-inch pieces
* 2 medium cooking apples, cored and cut into 8 wedges each
* 1 16-ounce can sauerkraut, drained and rinsed

In a large pot cook onion and bacon until onion is tender but not brown; drain fat.
Stir in beer.
In a 2-cup glass measure combine the water, cornstarch, brown mustard, molasses, caraway seed, allspice,
and pepper; stir into bacon mixture.
Cook and stir util thickened and bubbly.
Add rutabaga; cover and cook 15 minutes.
Stir in the knockwurst, apple wedges, and sauerkraut.
Cook, covered, 15 to 20 minutes more or until apples are tender.

Michael Moore's newsletter, October 10th 2009:

Last night my wife asked me if I thought I was a little too hard on Obama in my letter yesterday congratulating him on his Nobel Prize. "No, I don't think so," I replied. I thought it was important to remind him he's now conducting the two wars he's inherited. "Yeah," she said, "but to tell him, 'Now earn it!'? Give the guy a break -- this is a great day for him and for all of us."

I went back and re-read what I had written. And I listened for far too long yesterday to the right wing hate machine who did what they could to crap all over Barack's big day. Did I -- and others on the left -- do the same?

We are weary, weary of war. The trillions that will have gone to these two wars have helped to bankrupt us as a nation -- financially and morally. To think of all the good we could have done with all that money! Two months of the War in Iraq would pay for all the wells that need to be dug in the Third World for drinking water! Obama is moving too slow for most of us -- but he needs to know we are with him and we stand beside him as he attempts to turn eight years of sheer madness around. Who could do that in nine months? Superman? Thor? Mitch McConnell?

Instead of waiting to see what the president is going to do, we all need to be pro-active and push the agenda that we want to see enacted. What keeps us from forming the same local groups we put together to get out the vote last November? C'mon! We're the majority now -- the majority by a significant margin! We call the shots -- and we need to tell this wimpy Congress to get busy and do what we say -- or else.

All I ask of those who voted for Obama is to not pile on him too quickly. Yes, make your voice heard (his phone number is 202-456-1414). But don't abandon the best hope we've had in our lifetime for change. And for God's sake, don't head to bummerville if he says or does something we don't like. Do you ever see Republicans behave that way? I mean, the Right had 20 years of Republican presidents and they still couldn't get prayer in the public schools, or outlaw abortion, or initiate a flat tax or put our Social Security into the stock market. They did a lot of damage, no doubt about that, but on the key issues that the Christian Right fought for, they came up nearly empty handed. No wonder they've been driven crazy lately. They'll never have it as good again as they've had it since Reagan took office.

But -- do you ever see them looking all gloomy and defeated? No! They keep on fighting! Every day. Our side? At the first sign of wavering, we just pack up our toys and go home.

So, at least for this weekend, let us celebrate what people elsewhere are celebrating -- that America now has a sane and smart man in the White House, a man who truly wants a world at peace for his two daughters.

Many, for the past couple days (yes, myself included), have grumbled, "What has he done to earn this prize?" How 'bout this:
The simple fact that he was elected was reason enough for him to be the recipient of this year's Nobel Peace Prize.

Because on that day the murderous actions of the Bush/Cheney years were totally and thoroughly rebuked. One man -- a man who opposed the War in Iraq from the beginning -- offered to end the insanity. The world has stood by in utter horror for the past eight years as they watched the descendants of Washington, Lincoln and Jefferson light the fuse of our own self-destruction. We flipped off the nations on this planet by abandoning Kyoto and then proceeded to melt eight more years worth of the polar ice caps. We invaded two nations that didn't attack us, failed to find the real terrorists and, in effect, ignited our own wave of terror. People all over the world wondered if we had gone mad.

And if all that wasn't enough, the outgoing Joker presided over the worst global financial collapse since the Great Depression.

So, yeah, at precisely 11:00pm ET on November 4, 2008, Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. And the 66 million people who voted for him won it, too. By the time he took the stage at midnight ET in the Grant Park Historic Hippie Battlefield in downtown Chicago, billions of people around the globe were already breathing a huge sigh of relief. It was as if, in that instant, one man did bring the promise of peace to the world -- and most were ready to go wherever he wanted to go to achieve that end. Never before had the election of one man made every other nation feel like they had won, too. When you've got billions of people ready, willing and able to join a cause like this, well, a prize in Oslo is the least that you deserve.

One other thought. The Peace Prize historically has been given to those who have worked to throw off the yoke of racial discrimination and segregation (Martin Luther King, Jr., Desmond Tutu). I think the Nobel committee, in awarding Obama the prize, was also rewarding the fact that something profound had happened in a nation that was founded on racial genocide, built on racist slavery, and held back for a hundred-plus years by vestiges of hateful bigotry (which can still be found on display at teabagger rallies and daily talk radio). The fact that this one man could cause this seismic historical event to occur -- and to do so with such grace and humility, never succumbing to the bait, but still not backing down (yes, he asked to be sworn in as "Barack Hussein Obama"!) -- is more than reason enough he should be in Oslo to meet the King on December 10. Maybe he could take us along with him. 'Cause I also suspect the Nobel committee was tipping its hat to all of us -- we, the American people, had conquered some of our racism and did the truly unexpected. After seeing searing images of our black fellow citizens left to drown in New Orleans -- and poor whites seeing their own treated no better than the black man they had been raised to hate -- we had all seen enough. It was time for change.

Thank you, Barack Obama, for giving us the opportunity to redeem ourselves. Now for the tasks ahead. We need you to do all that you promised to do. We need it. The world needs it.

My prediction for the future? You become the first *two-time* winner of the Nobel Peace Prize! Yeah!

Fred (that's Norwegian for "Peace"),

Michael Moore

If you can, try to get hold of these films and make up your own mind.

Zeitgeist (2007):

1e film focuses on suppressed historical & modern information about currently dominant social institutions, while also exploring what could be in store for humanity if the power structures at large continue their patterns of self-interest, corruption, and consolidation.

2e film (Addendum) attempts to locate the root causes of this pervasive social corruption, while offering a solution.

If you haven't seen films on 9/11 before I highly recommend:

Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup (latest released edition 2009)

An American Coup first examines mysterious and infamous events that reshaped world history – from the Reichstag Fire in 1933 that catapulted Hitler to dictatorship – to the Gulf of Tonkin Incident in 1964 that led to the Vietnam War, and then takes viewers on a turbulent journey through several pivotal moments in history before delving into the most significant catastrophe in recent memory, 9/11.

Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004):

Fahrenheit 9/11 shows us a nation kept in constant fear by FBI alerts and lulled into accepting a piece of legislation, the USA Patriot Act, that infringes on basic civil rights. It is in this atmosphere of confusion, suspicion and dread that the Bush Administration makes its headlong rush towards war in Iraq and Fahrenheit 9/11 takes us inside that war to tell the stories we haven't heard, illustrating the awful human cost to U.S. soldiers and their families.

Other films on government and capital industry manipulation:

• All other Michael Moore films
  
• Wag the Dog (1997): Before elections, a spin-doctor and a Hollywood producer join efforts to "fabricate" a war in order to cover-up a presidential sex scandal

Films I haven’t seen yet bu are on my list:

- The U.S. vs. John Lennon

- Superpower

Of course the situation portrayed in these movies also apply for governments, banks and large corporations in other countries than the USA. I welcome your suggestions.  

Some time ago I witnessed a photo shoot of a female bodybuilder. When she came in she looked like a small woman in a training suit. When she had put on her glamour bikini and she had oiled herself she began to do some exercises to pump up her muscles and it seemed she turned twice as big.

After she left I started looking for more information on professional bodybuilders -- intrigued as I was by her stories of her all year round training and dietary schedule. The pictures and movies of contests I found on the web left me speechless.

These are people who have perfectly healthy and normal shaped bodies when they start out. After training there is nothing normal about them anymore.

They were not born malformed, they turned themselves into misshaped creatures. And this is supposed to be a sport?

Why? Why would people want to look like freaks. `Why would a young woman want to look like the Incredible Hulk` someone commented on a blog where they had posted a picture of Arnold Schwarzenegger congratulating Iris Kyle after she won the Miss International bodybuilding competition during the Arnold Sports Festival on March 6, 2009, in Columbus, Ohio.

Here´s my comment:

The "why" question seems very relevant to me for either men or women and for either this type of sport or any other kind of body mutilation. To me ‘bodybuilding’ seems a strange positive term by the way for such an unnatural result. In my opinion the same goes for people who need to go jogging or work out every day. Somehow these people need the kick or rush it gives them. I know the happy feeling I get from exhaustion after a walk along the beach, in the mountains, or dancing all night long but these feelings don’t stimulate me to go exercising at a gym every day. So, to me it’s an interesting question what the difference is between me and these fanatic sportspeople. I guess they probably don’t understand the feeling I get from drinking a glass of wine, eating chocolate or a very smelly French cheese.

About a week ago I saw 'Calamity Jane' once again. Although I love the old feel good, happy ending movies from the 50s and 60s, I wouldn't mind if they skipped some of the songs in some of the musicals. And yet, everytime I see it I get tears in my eyes when Doris sings 'Secret Love'. Whenever I see golden daffodils, like today, her singing this song in this movie springs to mind.  I think Ms. Day really is a talent. She can dance, she can sing and she can act. In the movies she is mostly remembered by you might say that her acting skills aren't challenged to the extreme but even in the comedies you can tell she has it in her.

I would love to see some episodes of the television series she hosted during 1968-1973 to get a glimpse of how she really is. Of course you can't tell by watching movies how an actress might be in real life but I often assume that actors aren't randomly casted for a particular role; I think in most cases the real life character fits the role. Well, she seems like a sympathetic person to me and I admire her work for the animals (ddal.org and ddaf.org). 

I can only speak for myself, so I would like to take this opportunity to thank Ms. Day for bringing soo many hours of joy into my life and I hope this inspires others to see some of her work.

A couple of days ago I bookmarked a link to an interview with Laura Kipnis, a professor of media studies at Northwestern University. She is best known for her contention that adultery sustains rather than undermines marriage. People tend to react rather emotional on the subject of adultery.

I did too ……at age 25.

Now that I am 43 I have come to a different point of view. Some time ago I was utterly surprised by the reaction of an acquaintance we had over for dinner. A woman in her late forties, an accomplished illustrator. An independent working woman who studied at an Art Academy and later married a rock band bass player. A woman who can be found in a neighborhood bar every day. Her rock band husband -- before he passed away -- had to ‘drag’ her home for dinner. He did all the grocery shopping and the cooking; a devoted husband so to speak.

This woman exploded when she was reminded of a boyfriend who had cheated on her about 17 years ago. SEVENTEEN YEARS ago! Such a strong emotion for something that happened so long ago... You would think you were dealing with a free spirited creative mind, someone who has been around. Not your average suburban housewife who married her high school sweetheart and who’s special night out is watching a school play leading one of her three children.

This does not only raise the question why a middle aged person would react so violently to a personal event that took place ages ago (and I don’t consider this a PTSS) but also why a middle aged person would react this way on this subject. Maybe this person doesn’t want to acknowledge herself aging or she has an early case of Alzheimer’s (although Korsakov would seem more likely) and in her mind it happened only yesterday.

Maybe even strong feministic feelings block her way to forgiveness. Whatever her motivation, I do not consider this a healthy response for a person that age but I do recognize this being a difficult subject. I think most people like to enjoy and cherish one special person in their lives. I never believe the happy singles who claim to do just fine without a significant other. Fortunately lots of people find a coping strategy living a singles life but I do not think people are meant to be alone.

And when people do find a SO they have to fight dreariness and imperfections after a while. Many psychologists say that it’s no use changing partners at this point. The same thing will happen again with the next person. Nobody is perfect. It is just a matter of accepting the imperfections of the person you love. But we are not talking about little annoyances like the other person leaving their dirty laundry lying around everywhere or other domestic unpleasantries.

Of course the big question here is: is it sexual inadequacy of the SO that leads to adultery or is it sexual boredom? Can sexual frustration be labeled as an imperfection? And... is that an imperfection that can be acceptable?

Maybe it is easier to find someone to fill the sexual needs your SO cannot deliver than to find someone who understands you and complements you in everyday live, someone you trust and feel safe with. Or maybe it is all about being naughty every now and then to avoid madness in a society that is turning in to ‘1984’ more and more.

Recently I discovered the books of Henry Miller. I first picked up 'Tropic of Capricorn' and in the first chapter I was struck by the following passage were he writes about his family: "Never once had they opened the door which leads to the soul; never once did they dream of taking a blind leap into the dark. After dinner the dishes were promptly washed and put in the closet; after the paper was read it was neatly folded and laid on a shelf; after the clothes were washed they were ironed and folded and then tucked away in the drawers. Everything was for tomorrow, but tomorrow never came. The present was only a bridge and on this bridge they are still groaning, as the world groans, and not one idiot ever thinks of blowing up the bridge."

The doctrines of righteousness and cleanliness, in the Netherlands the Calvinistic way of live that doesn't really allow you to enjoy life. Work, follow the rules and be clean. I recognize it, I hate it and still I have a hard time to shake it off.