Maradona's worst nightmare

I hope that you can access this advertisement. It has been in the news in Latin America because it is about the football god Maradona and the bad effects of drinking to much Guarana, a Brazilian drink.

His nightmare is about him playing for the Argentinian football archenemy: Brazil.


http://www.lanacion.com.ar/anexos/Video/06/31776.asx

Veracruz' Pics II

This is my second installment of Veracruz. This is part of the sierra (mountain system) of the province, located in Huatusco, between Cordoba and Xalapa.

On that day we climbed a small mount, but the thing is that the mount begins from the town centre. This means that part of it is very much populated and urbanised, as many places in this part of the sierra of Veracruz. I am only showing the green parts of course.



Below we can see some of the very beautiful view from one side of the mount.

Veracruz' Pics I

This is the mangroves and palm tress route towards Jicacal in the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The boat ride costs £0.20 one way. Of course they use quite small boats and fill them up with people who carry loads of stuff with them to spend the whole day in Jicacal.



This is Jicacal on a windy and wavy day. Although one can bring its own food and drinks, one can order some freshly caught fish and they prepared it as one wishes. There are caguamas (beer bottles of one litre) and loads of snacks to buy. The day goes quite fast in this kind of place.



This is the first of the two posts I offer on some contrasting things that Veracruz has to offer. Since Veracruz is not on the Caribbean or the Pacific, it is a place not so famous among the common European tourist. Therefore, I have the pleasure to show you some of my favourite places there. Still, I have to admit that there is so much for me to explore in that province, which I intend to do little by little.

Holidays - the end

The title says it all. It's all over for this spring break. I will write a little trip report from home once I find a moment but wanted to quickly acknowledge that we're back from the tropics and all's well and good, apart from being back at work.

Mexico is a great country with great people. This was my third trip and not once have I felt uncomfortable anywhere (if you don't count the tiny microbuses and colectivos in which I feel a little bit less comfortable). Maybe I've been lucky or maybe having my better half from that part of the world has helped me. You see, it's quite common to see the exact opposite too amongst the tourista. People complaining and whining about pretty much anything and anyone in their way. I guess there's no way of satisfying everybody is there?

Anyway, I will write more once I'm home with some photos maybe... It seems now that the world has not stopped rotating nor has the office stopped working while I was away. So, back to work it is then, unfortunately. For now, the holidays are over.

Muted

Right at this moment I can't think of anything more silly than music videos. Unintentional comedy in music videos sems to be without any boundaries.

I made this discovery earlier this week when I went to the gym. They have tv screens in front of the exercise bikes, and if you are using one of those bikes you get to plug in your headphones. If you don't have a headset all you can do is to watch the screen and pretend you hear something.

But anyway, what struck me was that the videos are absolutely awful. There was not a single female artist or group who weren't desperately trying to get rid of all their clothes before the end of the video, whilst sticking their asses on to the camera. Now, don't get me wrong, I have nothing against beutiful women, or their asses, but these are MUSIC videos, not ads for Victoria's Secrets.

And then there are the rappers. Sweet Jesus! Fur coats in the desert, fur coats by the pool. And, of course, jewellery that even Liberace (see picture below) would reject for being too gay.


There must be some web based tool for all wannabe rappers to make their own videos (choose from a selection of over-sized shirts, bikini girls and ridiculous ways of crossing fingers) because they all look exactly the same. Exploring the possibilities within the genre is clearly not a cool thing to do.

I'm not even going to get started on the solo male artists... Awful, is all I need to say about that.

Honestly, I don't know what's wrong here but it seems that there are no good music videos at all. But more worryingly, it seems that the songs that go with these videos are even worse. The radio gets crappier by the day... And now I really have to stop before I start sounding like a real old git!

Soul Inc.

I just heard this on the radio, and decided to cash in instantly...

Apparently someone in China wanted to sell his soul to the highest bidder on the internet. Well, the problem was that the company providing the e-commerce service reckoned they needed proof from "higher authority" to guarantee that the person was in a place to sell his soul and would be able to deliver the goods.

That's when it hit me: Goods and services my arse! Souls are where the smart money is in the new millenia. So, Electric Vihta is proud to present SOUL Inc. The first company on the net to provide assurances from higher authority that you are eligible to sell your soul. With a nominal fee we will provide you with all the doccuments you need to sell your soul.

Imagine the possibilities: you can buy a few extra souls and show off, or make a bit of cash by selling your own.

C'mon now soul sisters, make me rich!

P.S. According to reliable sources (South Park) Japanese people don't have souls, so don't be fooled by cunning fraudsters offering discount Japanese souls.

Holiday of a kind...

While Nygard and Xinola are downing Pina Coladas and relaxing under the Mexican sun, I'm having a holiday of a different nature...

In order to finally finish my studies I have taken two weeks off from work. In this time I'm supposed to dive into the disturbed mind of probably the single most repugnant caracter in human history (no, not Berlusconi or Lukasenko, we're looking for a 20th century German dictator here), and then resurface with a balanced account of how it all went wrong. A task, that seems to me to be deeply ironical in the first place. Well, I only have myself to blame for the topic of my paper.

Anyway, after that paper is written, I can finally say good bye to the wonderful world of academia. Not much of a change really, since I've been working pretty much full time for the past few years while claiming to be a student to save a few cents in museus entries etc. Sad, I know, but there you go.

As you can probably tell, I'm not exactly packed with energy and enthusiasm when it comes to finishing my studies. I mean, a person who rather writes a blog entry about having to write something else is hardly a prime example of the kind of academic determination needed to bring one's studies to an end.

Right, back to work (i.e. sulking, cursing, and utter unproductivity).

N and X, I leave it to you to come up with something positive and life-affirming for this blog.