My fave athletes, part II

Erki Nööl. Estonia. Athletics. Olympic achievements: 2000; gold. One of the best decathletes of the late 1990's and the Millenium. I admire decathletes for being incredibly skilled in so many disciplines. I admire their willingness to become great in their craft and thereby some of the better prepared sportsmen on Earth. Apart from that Nööl comes from a small, but very proud nation, which irrelevant in size, but is relevant enough to have produced the most complete athlete of the 2000 Olympics. Too bad Erki is retiring, but still I admire his determination.

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Roman Šebrle. Czechia. Athletics. Olympic achievements: 2000; silver; 2004; gold. The best decathlete of the past quadriennium. I have to admit I first liked him because of his very hot looks, but later I got over it and just concentrated more on his immense talent. Another guy from a small but very proud nation. Decathlon has got to be one the most demanding and at the same time one of the cruelest disciplines. Decathletes have to take part in 10 grueling events yet there's only 3 medals and lots of pain on the way, and no recognition whatsoever I you don't do go past a certain number of points. I love Decathlon, let it deliver us more awesome performances like we have seen.

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Michelle Kwan. United States. Figure Skating. Olympic achievements: 1998; silver, 2002; bronze. She's actually made me cry. Another athlete I've sort of grown up with. She's ruled the sport of Figure Skating since 1996, however, she's yet to skate a satisfactory program at the Olympic Games, and if my worst premonitions happen, she may leave skating without the Gold, which would put her sort of in the same league of succesful-yet-tragic-athletic-queens as, say, Franzi van Almsick. I'm going to be cheering for her come the 2006 Olympics, and I'm going to cry like Mary Magdalene if she doesn't get the gold. I love Kwan basically because of her determination and persue of absolute excellency. I'm convinced she's matured into an artist and hopefully she'll give us a lot more.

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Aleksandr Karelin. Russia. Wrestling. Olympic achievements: 1988, '92, '96; gold, 2000; silver. Contemporary Greco-Roman wrestling has been fortunate enough to see the mighty Karelin in action and absolutely dominate the sport for many years. The man is an imposing figure, he's also a bit mysterious and quite reserved, not the flashy diva you may expect from someone that didn't lose a bout in 15 years. His winning streak ended in Sydney 2000, but still the absolute excellence of Karelin has not stopped to impress me and inspire me to kick the sorry asses of my rivals just like this mightly Siberian did.

Cuatro veces he muerto ya

¿Alguna vez se han experimentado de una manera tan diferente que pareciera que la persona que fueron ayer ya no lo es más? ¿Alguna vez se han sentido tan vivos o tan muertos que da la impresión de que ya no hay marcha atrás? ¿Alguna vez han logrado discernir entre sus paradigmas de ayer y entelequias de hoy?

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Cuatro veces he muerto, y sin embargo estoy aquí.

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1993: La promesa de la vida

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Murió el chico de brackets horribles. En realidad la vida me empezó a saber a tal cuando en 1993 aterricé en mi mismo. Mi ser adolescente de 16 años había vivido en un mundo ficticio en el cual había mucha imaginación, desolación y ante todo, inseguridad. ¡Qué gusto tener 16 añitos! Parecía que la vida estaba delante de mí. Paradigma: la vida es vida. Problema: en mi contexto se me estaba educando para militar en la mediocridad absoluta de la casi insostenible clase 1/2 salinista. Resultado: inseguridad + mediocridad + ficción: adolescencia + ó - normal, primera adultez demasiado difícil.

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1999: Mi camino "espiritual"

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El chico que de 1993 a '98 había encontrado la vida demasiado difícil, absolutamente pesada, increíblemente incomprensible, pero que al mismo tiempo tampoco quería ser un loser tan obvio plantó cara sus "aspiraciones" y cambió la entelequia mundana por la entelequia espiritual. Murió el chico promesa, nació el chico spiritual. No quería ser buga, no quería ser gay, no quería ser bi; no quería ser rico, ni tampoco tan pobre, no quería ser famoso (más por inseguridad que por convicción), y ciertamente la gran promesa de la entelequia espiritual ofrecía una idea abrumadoramente tentadora: ir a refugio... El enamoramiento para con la "religión" devino en una cantidad eventualmente de ideología y heartache.

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2003: Los fantasmas del armario salen para jalarte las patas

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Mi adolescencia real comenzó en 2003. La carga era demasiada: una salud que a los 26 años era espectacularmente frágil; una ideología pseudo-espiritual que era ya insostenible ante la autorefutación de sus tesis; años de negar mi naturaleza muy mundana, contradictoria, pero también espiritual. Además, la crisis económica me clarifica que se acabó la época de ser parásito, la época de la buena viva, y ahora sí, sea bienvenida la verdadera edad adulta. Le plaisir, C'est fini.

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2004: Resurrección. Rough&Ready. Worldy, mildy spiritual & lovin' it!

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El año antedicho debe estar ranqueado entre los peores que jamás haya vivido. Un año emocionalmente horripilante. Pero un año muy bueno para la cabeza. Fuera ideologías exorbitantes, fuera prejuicios, fuera inseguridades. Hay que luchar, hay que vivir, hay que tener ambiciones y llevarlas a cabo. El mundo es un pastelote, y ciertamente quiero más que un pedacito. Sí, tengo una aspiración genuinamente espiritual, pero también vivo en el mundo de la vida. Mi definición: I'm a Buddhist mugged by Reality. Una muerte muy violenta, pero cuya resurrección ha sido la más importante.

A tale of cowardice. An inspired response to "The Onion" by Marina Abramovic in Catalenglish and whatever else comes in between.

I am tired of my multiple fictitious worlds.
-I am tired of my calculated career moves
-I am tired of pretending I'm optimistic, forsch und selbstbewußt.
-I am tired of the endless conversations I engage in to obtain benefits.
Estic cansat de la meva malaltia.
-I am tired of hating my looks in the mirror.
-I am tired of feeling disgust for my own dick.
Estic cansat de desitjar.
-I am tired of lusting for the str8 silly billies I meet every now and then.
Estic cansat de ser tan covard.
-I am tired of my putting on a show of grace.
Estic cansat de la meva impossibilitat de canviar de debó.
-I am tired of thinking less of people with just an average intelligence.
Estic cansat de la meva luxúria.
-I am tired of masturbating to hot-ass rimming.
Estic cansat de perdre i haver de llevar-me una vegada més.
Estic cansat del pseudoBudisme.
Estic cansat de les meves fantasies.
Estic cansat de la gent.
Estic cansat de la família.
Estic cansat de Mèxic.
-I am ashamed of your self-pity.
-I am ashamed about your inferiority complex.
-I am tired of looking at those long expressionless dark faces.
-I am tired of your always looking for approval.
Estic cansat de tractar de fugir.
Estic cansat de somniar.
Estic cansat de planejar.
Estic cansat de la història.
Estic cansat de l'art.
Estic cansat dels meus alumnes.

Mèxic. Si tan sols poguessis fer-te un auto-exorcisme.
Francesc, vull ficar-me als teus pantalons.
Marina Abramovic, you go girl!
Lluiset, mai ho sabràs. Em fas sentir. Em fas voler. Em fas patir.
Alejandra, grow up u stubborn woman!
Nandavajra. Te trobo en falta.
FWBO. No comments.
Catalunya. Triomfant. Quina llàstima que hi visquin los Catalanes.
Drugs, Rock&Roll, Bad Ass, Vegas Whores. Shiny Disco Balls!
Mami. Te equivocaste. Lo hiciste muy muy mal. Pero gracias anyway.
Edmundo O'Gorman, you go girl!
I want not to want anymore.
I shall practice resignation (?).

I will swallow my pride.
I will lick my wounds.
Take a deep breath.
Dope my self in dope.
Acceptance, Resignation.
Start over. Reset.
Fight.

I am tired of...

Más citas textuales para ponerse a pensar

"Fear prophets ... and those prepared to die for the truth, as a rule make many others die with them, often before them, and at times instead of them"

Umberto Eco through "Brother William" in "The Name of the Rose"

"After coming into contact with a religious man I always feel I must wash my hands"

Friedrich Nietzche

"The great trouble is that the preachers get the children from six to seven years of age and then it is almost impossible to do anything with them"

Thomas Alva Edison, "Atheism and Other Essays"

"An atheist, like a Christian, holds that we can know whether or not there is a God. The Christian holds that we can know there is a God; the atheist, that we can know there is not. The Agnostic suspends judgment, saying that there are not sufficient grounds either for affirmation or for denial. At the same time, an Agnostic may hold that the existence of God, though not impossible, is very improbable; he may even hold it so improbable that it is not worth considering in practice. In that case, he is not far removed from atheism."

Bertrand Russell

"I cannot believe in the immortality of the soul.... No, all this talk of an existence for us, as individuals, beyond the grave is wrong. It is born of our tenacity of life -- our desire to go on living -- our dread of coming to an end"

Thomas Alva Edison, New York Times interview

"Atheism is a non-prophet organization"

George Carlin, American Comedian

"A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death"

Albert Einstein, New York Times Magazine

"I prefer rationalism to atheism. The question of God and other objects-of-faith are outside reason and play no part in rationalism, thus you don't have to waste your time in either attacking or defending"

Isaac Asimov

"I cannot conceive of a God who rewards and punishes his creatures, or has a will of the kind that we experience in ourselves. Neither can I nor would I want to conceive of an individual that survives his physical death; let feeble souls, from fear or absurd egoism, cherish such thoughts. I am satisfied with the mystery of the eternity of life and with the awareness and a glimpse of the marvelous structure of the existing world, together with the devoted striving to comprehend a portion, be it ever so tiny, of the Reason that manifests itself in nature"

Albert Einstein, The World as I See It

"So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in praise of intelligence"
Bertrand Russell

"I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotisms"

Albert Einstein, obituary in New York Times, 19 April 1955

"Organized religion: The world's largest pyramid scheme"
Bernard Katz

Repertori de primavera

L'Orfeó Català de Mèxic ja té repertori per la primavera de 2005. Suposo que la presió d'alguns membres de la coral o la iniciativa del director mateix ha tingut un efecte clar: es cantarà molt poc en català aquesta temporada. Suposo que no m'agrada gens ni mica això per què si volgués cantar només en castellà ho faria en una altra coral. Bé, ja veurem si funciona l'experimentació aquesta. Aleshores, la música per aquest any, molt vella per cert:

"Cant de la Senyera" (Himne de les corals catalanes) Maragall/Millet
"Els Segadors" (Himne Nacional de Catalunya) Guanyavents/Tradicional
"¡Aunque quieran o no!" Cortázar/Esperón
"El charro mexicano" Cortázar/Esperón
"La feria de las flores" Monge
"La norteña" Vigil y Robles
"Las dos puntas" Osvaldo, Montbrun
"Teté" Gabilondo Soler
"Yo vendo unos ojos negros" Heitman

Encara cal confirmar les següents peces ans suposo que també es cantaran:

"Ave Maria"; "Ave Verum Corpus"; "Corales de la cantata 147"; "Gloria"; "Virolai de la Mare de Déu de Montserrat"; "La moreneta".

Blogs que m'agraden

La meva ignorància sobre l'ús dels 'templates' dels blogs em fa impossible posar links o enllaços com m'agradaria. Aleshores passarà una estona abans que arribi a aprendre bé tot el llenguatge HTML o com sigui dels blogs. Per això poso així només en un missatge la direcció d'un dels meus blogs favorits:

http://arsvirtualis.blogspot.com

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