Snow

A breathtaking picture I found on the internet yesterday. A high-speed train in a snow storm approaching my hometown approximately a week ago. To remind me in this sunny and still relatively warm place that Christmas time is around the corner, Madrid Christmas lights were turned on yesterday night. Apparently, there are nine millions bulbs around the city (1 million more than last year), but in total they will consume 8% less energy than in 2006 due to new technologies.

Jesus cut his hair

PR S04E02

This week's Project Runway was about creating a 2-piece outfit for Sarah Jessica Parker's BITTEN line, which is a super cheap, mostly trashy looking garbage. The designers had to work on a $15 budget in couples, with team leaders selected from all 14 designs by SJ. Victorya (team leader) and Kevin won with a simple yet beautiful black dress paired with a vest:

The bottom two designers' teams were Christian (TL) and Carmen with a freaky monstrosity from the 80's, and Marion (TL) and Steven, who didn't expect how badly their fabric would behave. Subsequently, Marion as a team leader was eliminated. During the presentation and also during the whole episode, Marion's sweet and genuine personality sharply contrasted with Christian's self-centeredness. I hope I won't have to wait too long for Christian to be eliminated.

Finally

Fog in Cantoblanco! Grey is totally the new black.

T2[in] Victim

There was no way I could leave without this pair of shoes. To further deepen the superficiality of this post, I can assure you that the straps are actually silver.

PR S04E01

Project Runway is back with its 4th season. Even though it was more or less obvious who would celebrate at the end, Rami Kashou (who, by the way, looks like a Right Said Fred member) really deserved to win, the execution was flawless and the presentation fortunately avoided the usual "sculptured European-inspired tailored piece" talk. You go boy! I am looking forward what is coming next week, from the preview it seems that this season will be pretty dramatic.

DEXTER

Smart + witty = my new obsession.

¿Por qué no se callan?

OK, a controversial post that I wanted to write for some time, but recent incidents triggered my final decision. For some time, I am thinking about the immigration issues. I've started to have an impression that many Latinos have some unreasonable feeling that Spain has to let them stay because Spain did something horrible to them in the past and that they have rights to make comments about the Spanish politics (or European one, in general). Spain is a member of the EU, thus it has to coordinate its immigration politics with the rest of Europe. I know that these people won't probably move to Germany or France, as they don't (and won't) speak the language, and that's why the other European countries keep quiet about this influx. If I hadn't faced some arrogance towards people from the north of Europe, who have a real right to live here because of all the treaties that Spain signed as the EU member, I wouldn't write this. But because we are just guiris for you, read something about the European law and shut up.

A quote worth reading

Concerning the dating business: "If you can not find someone better than or equal to yourself, it is better to travel alone than journey with a fool." Thanks, Dub! from MySpace.

Private: My Secret Lover

The next big thing, trust me.

Quite shocking

A new study by medical researchers has caused consternation among public health professionals by suggesting that, contrary to conventional wisdom, being overweight might actually be beneficial for health, The Independent reports. The study, published yesterday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, runs counter to almost all other advice to consumers by saying that carrying a little extra flab – though not too much – might help people to live longer.
Does it mean that all my starvation and pescado y ensalada con ensalada was just a waste of time? LOL.
(No way, the Hedi Slimanesque 31" black pants are totally worth it).

MIT vs. Gehry

MIT sues renowned architect Frank Gehry for alleged flaws in unusual building. I hope MIT wins. The l'art pour l'art style of Gehry is monotonous and tiresome. Lately, he is trying his hardest
to leave me unimpressed.

Recognizing the Saints

The last movie that left me feeling totally sick was Requiem for a Dream. Today, I've had the very same nausea while watching A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints. It's a story of a guy growing up in a desperate neighbourhood of Astoria, Queens and finally leaving all the horrors but also his loved ones behind and moving to the West Coast. The performances were stellar and the storytelling almost surreal, even though it's based on Dito Montiel's autobiography. Highly recommended.

Hallowmas

Maulik Pancholy

I love this season of Weeds. All the characters are so well written, including this out-of-the-closet future father:

Mak

Today, my boss has made something super smart, so I told him: "That was a pure MacGyverism!" The girls in my lab looked at me with curiosity and asked me who was that person I just mentioned. I said: "You know the one who was able to make a nuclear bomb out of the box of sugar cubes and half a bottle of bleach." And they said: "Oh, you mean [Mak Giber]!" Yes, that's exactly who I meant.

For Kids, By Kids

Gap Inc. has been caught in a child labor scandal as Dan McDougall's reports in The Observer: Jivaj, who is from West Bengal and looks around 12, told The Observer that some of the boys in the sweatshop had been badly beaten. 'Our hours are hard and violence is used against us if we don't work hard enough. This is a big order for abroad, they keep telling us that. 'Last week, we spent four days working from dawn until about one o'clock in the morning the following day. I was so tired I felt sick,' he whispers, tears streaming down his face. 'If any of us cried we were hit with a rubber pipe. Some of the boys had oily cloths stuffed in our mouths as punishment.'
Living and shopping in Spain, I am keeping in mind that "50% of the products Zara sells are manufactured in Spain, 26% in the rest of Europe, and ONLY 24% in Asian countries and the rest of the world."

X.5

John Siracusa reviews MacOS 10.5 at the Ars Technica. This may as well be the only review that matters.
Summary: John hates the GUI visual "improvements" and likes the internals. For me, that's a good thing, as the makeup can change or be wiped off later but the guts must stay.

Zoé: No Me Destruyas

Imaginationland

The South Park show continues its 11th season with a second part of the Imaginationland trilogy. The Imaginationland is invaded by some terrorists that broke the barrier between the good part, inhabited by creatures like Luke Skywalker, Zeus and Popeye, and the bad, bad part, the home of Freddy Kruger, a Xenomorph and many others. Watching the first two episodes, I had the feeling that it might be a parody of the current US politics with the "monsters from the other side" (but from the SAME land) being the good, patriotic citizens who went berserk after 9/11. Consider this: Strawberry Shortcake is captured by the monsters that want to question her when The Woodland Critters appear with the cruellest ideas. These cute little squirrels, raccoons and porcupines reminded me the soccer mums with the "Support our troops" bumper stickers.