Archive for Uncategorized
Obama: Lula the most popular politician on earth
Going back to the topic of building bridges, here’s a 49-second video with Obama, Lula and Rudd chatting in-between meetings in London, where Obama calls Lula the most politician of earth:
What amazes me about this is that without speaking English, Lula manages to create an atmosphere of incredible playfulness and intimacy. I wish I were so talented!
Scalded cat…
So intuition was just pessimism? That’s an excellent thing, no? It is always such a good thing to be pleasantly surprised. Thanks to all of you who proved me wrong and helped to make history!
But maybe it wasn’t pessimism: it was just hubris-prevention. Celebrating victory is great, but when we do it ahead of time, it may be wise to be cautious. Pride comes before a fall (or, as we say in Brazil, the taller the coconut tree, the greater the fall). Scalded cat is afraid of counting the eggs inside the chicken: better wait until they’re in said cat’s tummy. Humility, caution and chicken soup never hurt anyone (another great Brazilian saying). Experience is the mother of wisdom. And of traumas.
Modesty aside, I have a great memory for collecting and reciting popular wisdom. I just wish that said wisdom would make its permanent abode in my head.
Signed,
Scalded Cat herself
“Do what I say, not what I do…”
Remember Al Gore…
I’m rarely ever pessimistic, but I do pay a lot of attention to my intuition. And for some reason, for the past few weeks I have been unable to stop thinking of Al Gore in 2000 (or why go that far back: just think Harper last month!). Maybe I’m conditioned/traumatized by years of seeing my candidate losing an election that seemed won (my favorite exceptions being Lula 2002-2006).
My point is: my heart feels really heavy right now. It’s just one of those extremely rare occasions where I really want and sincerely hope to be proven wrong… (if you can, please prove me wrong: go vote!)
Oh, the suspense, the suspense… Maybe I should go worry about my dissertation instead, maybe that will distract me, maybe that will even calm me.
And who could ever have imagined that the concept ”dissertation writing” could one day elicit the word “solace” to anyone’s mind (let alone my own…)?
(for a related esterical post, check:
http://estersblog.wordpress.com/2008/02/13/presidential-race-and-gender/ )
Fast-Forward?
Oh, dear! It’s been two weeks!
The Toronto International Film Festival has come and gone, and I haven’t finished my story yet…
Feels like my life is on fast-foward… Where do I find pause and play?
Making the most of what you’ve got
Lately, I’ve been getting all sorts of signs about the importance of carpe diem. Today’s sign is a particularly powerful one: the news of the death of Randy Pausch, a 47-year-old professor in Pittsburgh.
Now, I had never heard of Professor Pausch before today, the last day of his life. And as a matter of fact, his life only started impacting me after it was over. But it has made quite an impact already. I wish I could be more articulate — maybe I’ll return to this topic later this week. At the moment, I’m experiencing that type of unspeakable awe that one feels when something absolutely unfathomable has happened. So I leave you with the words of someone much more qualified to speak about this than I could ever be:
“Ester saw the Hulk at U of T”
“That’s such an ambiguous sentence! I mean, it probably just meant that Ester was at U of T when she saw the movie ‘The Hulk.’ But from the way it’s written it could mean that she actually saw a green moster walking around U of T, which is quite unlikely — one could even say ‘incredible.’ Unless of course the movie was being shot in Toronto, and she saw when that happened ”
“Well, maybe this sentence isn’t ambiguous – maybe it is actually polysemic.”
“What do you mean?”
“For it to be ambiguous, then it would have been intended to have one or the other meaning you mentioned (or someother meaning) , but not all of them. But maybe all those meanings were intended — which makes it much cooler to call it with a word such as “polysemic” rather than just plain “ambiguous.”
“You mean to say that not only was Ester at U of T when she saw the movie ‘The Hulk,’ but that she actually saw the Hulk walking around U of T?”
“Well, she could have been at the Varsity Theatre — which is across the street from U of T, which is U of T enough. And the movie *was* shot in Toronto last summer, so she could have been here for that. And even if she was not, she could probably tell that some of the scenes that are supposed to be in Virginia and New York are actually across the street from where she lives.”
“I still find that incredible.”
“Well, incredible maybe, but not altogether impossible… One never knows…”
