my top ten list of popcorn-lit

Books that will only make you happy, the written version of chick-flicks.

1. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
2. Bridget Jones: The Age of Reason (so much better than the first one), H. Fielding
3. The Alchemist (yes, yes, I read it, and enjoyed it), Paulo Cohelo
4. Strain, Guillermo del Toro
5. Mal de amores, Ángeles Mastreta
6. Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden
7. How to be Good, Nick Hornby
8. 84, Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff (heartbreaking, lovely)
9. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, J.K. Rowling (my favourite)
10. Arráncame la vida, Ángeles Mastreta

worth dying for?

I couldn't help it. I thought of C while I read this entertaining story about George Clooney. And not because they look alike –although, maybe in 20 years, when C's got more gray hair, but because he is always talking about the actor, his projects and bla, bla, bla. But I definetly prefer Mr. Clive Owen. Here is the link to Time, just in case you want to read it.

George Clooney

more muppets & sesame street characters

Wonder what might had happend if this cover had hit the stands in 2001?

The very first time my mom told me she was dating someone, I was quite happy. Her voice and her attitude reminded me of a teenager; a happy teenager that's just discovered love. And for a moment, I felt like the mother. And for a moment, I felt like the friend.
But now he is real. Although my father died almost 13 years ago, it is so weird. We are having lunch with them on Sunday. It sort of bothers me, but if she is happy… I guess everyone, especially when they are over 60, deserve a second chance and lots of love.

I simply don't believe

If someone had told me a year ago that today I would be living in a world sunk in an economic crisis worse than the one in 1929, that the greatest newpapers are almost in bankruptcy, that two earthquakes would strike Mexico City, that swine flu would kill thousands, I would have said: I don't belive you. But today this is the reality, the facts. And a zillion other things can be part of that list, like the fact that millions and millons have lost their jobs, houses and families. But there are worst things, for example, lack of values, divorces, water shortages, crazy prophets.
I have to confess that two weeks ago I stopped reading some parts of the newspapers, I was really tired of only reading about wars, money, death and health problems. Today, I tried again and here are the results. It is from BBC, and it is sad, so sad, like a nightmare… Why? I don't have an answer. This should not happend. To read the full text go to bbc.co.uk

The rise of Hate 2.0

By Daniel Emery Technology reporter, BBC News

It is thought nearly 3 million people died at Auschwitz

The number of hate and terrorist websites has increased by a third in the past year, according to the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

The Los Angeles-based Jewish human rights organisation put the figure at more than 8,000 in its 2008 report Hate 2.0. It said the presence of such sites "demeans and threatens African Americans, Jews, immigrants, gays and virtually every religious denomination".

And the number of so-called hate sites is growing fast, while the use of social networks to push controversial messages is also on the rise.

In May this year, Facebook became embroiled in a row after a number of Holocaust denial groups were set up on the site.

Critics said Facebook was propagating anti-Semitism, others said that free speech was a cornerstone of society and Facebook should keep its hands off.

At the time, Barry Schnitt, a spokesman for Facebook, said it should be "a place where controversial ideas can be discussed".

"The bottom line is that, of course, we abhor Nazi ideals and find Holocaust denial repulsive and ignorant," he said.

"However, we believe people have a right to discuss these ideas."

A few days later, the site had closed two of the groups, Holocaust is a Holohoax and Based on the facts... there was no Holocaust. It said they had breached the firm's terms of service.

But there are still plenty of other Holocaust denial groups on Facebook: Holocaust is a Myth, 6,000,000 for the TRUTH about the Holocaust, The problem of forged Holocaust photos, and Holocaust Deniers, to name just four.

Denial outlawed

In a visit to the Buchenwald concentration camp in June this year, President Barack Obama criticised Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who had called the Holocaust a "great deception".

"To this day we know there are those who insist the Holocaust never happened, a denial of a fact or truth that is baseless, ignorant and hateful," Mr Obama said in a brief address.

Holocaust denial is illegal in 13 countries, including France, Germany and Israel. It was also a crime in Slovakia, although this law was repealed in May 2005.

The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, and the United Kingdom have all rejected Holocaust denial legislation.

In Europe, citizens are covered by the European Convention on Human Rights which states: "Everyone has the right to freedom of expression."

But it adds that governments can restrict free speech, among other reasons, in the interests of national security, to preserve public safety and for the prevention of disorder or crime.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told the BBC that it was not a freedom of speech issue.

"Holocaust denial is a perfect example of how a hateful idea was incubated on the internet. It promotes hatred, it promotes violence and it's a kind of precursor to genocide.

sites

"It's not the idea that needs to be scrubbed; it's fact that the internet elevates crackpot theories to a level it doesn't deserve.

"These sites aren't about the discussion of ideas; they are about getting people to subscribe to the ideal of hate."

But speaking to the BBC, Douglas Murray, director of think tank The Centre for Social Cohesion, said that society should be able to accept any point of view, even if that view was proven to be false.

"You have to allow different opinions, even lies, as long as they don't incite violence. Otherwise what is true becomes dogma and then becomes incapable of being defended," he said.

today is another louise bourgeois day