28 de desembre 2009
The Asia without Borders magazine published the winning pictures of their 2009 competition, which intended to "capture the striking facets of Asia's land, people architecture and wildlife" The grand prize was awarded to the above picture taken in India.
I would like to know what lead the photographer to take such a picture and in which place the picture was taken as there is no description if this took place in a hospital where they were weighing this person with problems. Is this person shouting of anger due to pain in his body or due to the pain of being photographed? A prize which will give the winner a great camera to enjoy himself taking even more pictures with the flight ticket he will get to go to Delhi. Although this picture does declare a clear health problem, and might be "denouncing" it, it feels a fully unethical picture to me. What did the photographer do after the picture? Who is this person? Where is the picture taken. I would not have voted for this picture as the winner of the competition.
The other winners can be seen in the following link http://www.asiangeo.com/awb09_results/flipviewerxpress.html and I feel they much more adhere to capturing the facets of Asia.
25 de novembre 2009
24 de novembre 2009
29 d’octubre 2009
21 d’octubre 2009
Mourir ou voyager ? Le choix des SDF en hiver
Mourir ou voyager? Le choix des SDF en Hiver (Rue 89)
http://www.rue89.com/blog-de-lecrivain-mouloud-akkouche/2009/09/15/mourir-ou-voyager-le-choix-des-sdf-en-hiver
Aujourd'hui, personne ne parle de lui et tout le monde semble s'en foutre royalement. Pourtant on le croise tous les jours, parfois plusieurs fois. Un être sans doute comme, vous et moi, capable aussi du pire et du meilleur. De temps en temps, on échange avec lui un regard, un sourire. Bientôt, ce passant ou un autre lui ressemblant va mourir : une question de semaines. Sa mort pré-inscrite dans un calendrier.
Quand notre tatouage de saison aura entièrement disparu et les vacances plus qu'un souvenir, il commencera peu à peu à apparaître et occupera plus de territoire dans nos yeux, deviendra réellement visible. Notoriété éphémère de l'hiver. Plus la température baissera, plus il remontera à la surface des consciences et journaux. Mais il ne lira jamais sa nécro dans le futur numéro du quotidien coincé sous son corps raide.
Au premier SDF mort de froid, des ministres vont sillonner ventre à terre les plateaux télés ou radios pour, la main sur le cœur, expliquer avec des trémolos dans la voix que c'est un scandale de mourir d'hypothermie dans un pays comme la France. Qui pourra leur donner tort ?
Puis, la scène de la trois ou de la une achevée, ils annonceront que les services concernés, tous les services concernés, plancheront sur ce sujet d'une extrême importance pour le pays, et convoqueront officiellement une réunion d'urgence : la même que l'hiver dernier. Et les hivers précédents depuis le coup de gueule d'un fameux Abbé.« La vague de froid tue » : le retour. Une série hivernale avec dialogues inchangés d'une année sur l'autre. Seuls les personnages principaux changent à chaque épisode car ils ont le mauvais goût de mourir au début du film.
En septembre 2009, cet homme ou femme « estampillé » donc SDF est beaucoup moins côté que la grippe A, le bourrage des urnes du PS et des têtes, ou les « brèves de pouvoir » d'un digne représentant de l'Etat. Ce concitoyen assis au pied de notre immeuble ou endormi sous une tente ne représente rien pour l'instant sur le degré Richter des dépêches de presse. Un moins que rien ne prenant de l'importance qu'à partir de moins cinq degrés. En attendant les grands froids, il patiente au guichet des priorités en écoutant un employé très courtois lui expliquer :
« Désolé, nous avons des choses plus importantes que vous à traiter en ce moment. Mourez d'abord, on verra si on peut s'occuper de votre cas après. Juste un conseil : si vous voulez vraiment nous faciliter la tâche et bénéficier de notre meilleure communication, essayez dans la mesure du possible de mourir sur un carton à l'entrée d'un restaurant un soir de réveillon. Si vous laissiez des enfants derrière vous, ce serait encore mieux. Et là, on vous offre le grand jeu : télés, radios, ministres, et même peut-être votre Président. Sauf s'il participe à un gala pour des œuvres caritatives organisées par son épouse. »
Pendant que j'écris bien peinard à mon ordi, des anonymes ne se contentent pas que de mot et agissent sur le terrain. En ce moment précis, ils préparent des lits pour héberger ces morts -espérons le moins possible- en suspens qui feront bientôt la une des magazines et quotidiens. D'autres s'activent pour être opérationnels dans la distribution de vêtements et vivres, sans oublier les repas chauds de différentes associations. Une armée de bénévoles sur le pied de guerre chaque hiver.
Contrairement à ceux qui, à chaque victime du froid, ressortent les mêmes phrases mécaniques apprises dans des grandes écoles ou les coulisses de partis politiques. Pas un ne se remet en cause, toujours la faute du prédécesseur ou de la crise internationale. Bien sûr, les ministres ne peuvent pas porter toute la misère de la planète. Certains restent peut-être au fond sincères. Qui sait ?
Mais, contrairement à la plupart d'entre nous, ils se sont battus pour obtenir ses responsabilités publiques. A eux de les assumer, trouver des solutions ; bref : bien faire le boulot pour lequel ils sont payés. N'importe quel salarié échouant dans sa tâche (certains se suicident) en paye les conséquences. Sauf les traders dont tout le monde règle les dettes, on efface l'ardoise en attendant la prochaine.
Au risque de me faire traiter de bien pensant, je reste persuadé que la casse sociale, culturelle et économique -profitant à un petit nombre- est un des éléments qui pousse des gens à survivre dehors. Et y crever. Jetés à la rue pour satisfaire l'appétit insatiable des actionnaires. Fini l'époque du clodo philosophe avec son litron de rouge et éructant ses tirades poétiques, heureux de vivre à contre courant de la société. A part de rares individus, la marge n'est plus un choix. Et le clochard céleste remplacé par le fin de droits ou licencié.
Combien de repas des restos du cœur servis avec les frais d'un seul voyage avec avions à rallonges de notre couple présidentiel ? Et de centres d'hébergement ouverts avec tous les parachutes dorés de France, le fric reversé aux traders ou l'évasion fiscale en cours d'amnistie ? Quelques évadés fiscaux et pestant contre les impôts trop chers chantent d'ailleurs très sympathiquement pour la tournée des « enfoirés ». Bien rôdée, la tournée reprend chaque hiver. La ronde de la misère aussi.
« Si tu veux être apprécié, meurs ou voyage », dit un proverbe. Le SDF, sans possibilité d'un tour du monde écolo en hélico, se contente de mourir dans nos campagnes et villes sous une couche d'ozone polluée. A chacun ses possibilités d'attirer l'attention. Mais pas inquiétude : le thermomètre est encore au beau fixe. Surtout pour ceux qui tirent la couverture à eux.
P.S. : En écrivant ces lignes, je me suis remémoré un très beau roman sur entre autre la figure du SDF de Franck Magloire : « En Contrebas », aux éditions de l'Aube. Et aussi un collectif d'auteurs intitulé « Sans visages. L'impossible regard sur le pauvre », aux éditions Bayard.
08 de setembre 2009
24 de juliol 2009
Dutch Symbols
ntop of the cup as if it was a "lid". The heat of the drink will make the syrup melt and transform the stroopwafel into one of the most delicious things you have ever eat. Yes, its fat. Here are the ingreedients;flour, butter, brown sugar, yeast, milk, and eggs and for the syrup syrup, brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon
CHEESE
YELLOW TRAINS
How to know that you have crossed the border? Besides the fact that when looking through the window you will start to see more and more bicycles you can know you are in the Netherlands once you see that the trains are painted in yellow. Most of the trains of the Netherlands are operated by the NS (Nederlandse Spoorwegen). I have to say that the trains in the Netherlands offer one of the best services of the countries where I have lived so far. Not only are they clean and people are relatively quiet in them, but except for certain days where there are vertragings (delays) or when the electricity station in Delft breaks down trains do run smoothly. In particular connections between the major dutch cities Amsterdam,Rotterdam,The Hague,Utrecht,Eindhoven are very often and one can choose between Intercitytreins. These trains will mainly stop in the big cities or Stoptreins which stops in all the small middle stations between the major cities.
23 de juliol 2009
Camins
Camins, que ara s’esvaeixen,
Camins, que hem de fer sols,
Camins, vora les estrelles,
Camins, que ara no hi son.
Vam deixar-ho tot, el cor encés pel món,
per les parets de l’amor, sobre la pell,
erem dos ocells de foc, sembrant tempestes,
ara som dos fills del Sol, en aquest desert.
Mai no és massa tard per tornar a començar,
per sortir a buscar el teu tresor.
Camins, somnis i promeses.
Camins, que ja son nous.
No és senzill saber cap on has de marxar,
pren la direcció del teu cor.
Mai no és massa tard per tornar a començar,
per sortir a buscar el teu tresor.
Camins, que ara s’esvaeixen,
Camins, que has de fer sol,
Camins, vora les estrelles,
Camins, que ja son nous.
DayDreaming
How amazing is it to sit here and daydream, and read blogs, and more websites and have the BRYN THOMAS trans-siberian handbook by me. Leave home,and embark on a train direction Russia, spend there a day and then off to the Siberia. Either in an icy-cold -20 winter or in a mild 5 degree autum. Visit the baikal lake... all direction MONGOLIA...
Dreams.
22 de juliol 2009
Pensant fort à Paris
-Images "stolen" from the internet- Music La Vase from the film Amelie Poulain
1001 reasons to dream and go back, this only shows the most typical, tourist images. . . I could have transformed the video into a never ending thing, just couldnt upload more pics and music or the size was to heavy.
21 de juliol 2009
. . . HEC. . .& J.N. KAPFERER + BASTIEN
Only two questions remain:
First, since when does he speak with such a good english accent??
Second, (besides exchanges students) are there really that many foreign students at HEC?
Et après ...Bastien et Kapferer dicutent leur nouveu livre.
And to think how hard it was for me to understand them when they spoke in class due to their "speed" ... (ei, gracies eh Miquel)
19 de juliol 2009
It is our friends, family and sometimes an unknown person's smile who make our world and change the moments of the days by making us laugh and smile.
The M.I.L.K. collection is one of my favorites as with images and sayings they clearly transmit a messages that touch the heart from deep down.
M.I.L.K. also has several books with images and sayings. Next november, a new book will be published with images that have been selected from the M.I.L.K. contest at the beginning of this year.
18 de juliol 2009
Departure minus X Days
After my bachelor degree and a three year dream I headed off to India with my visa and backpack ....
Later, when I finished my first master I took my 3 month holiday to do an around the world trip, visit old friends and quickly discover those american cities that I had so much heard of and the mysterious and tranquil Laos that I had dreamt of since at age 16 I had backpacked around Vietnam with my parents.
Month after month I recieve the lonley planet magazine, and for the past two years I have been rushing up and down in the parisian metro going to work, classes and enjoying life in the Parisian capital. Daydreaming at Monceau and Luxembourg parcs, and looking forwards to the day that Id have time to leave for longer than 10 days. I knew that I only had two days a week to "relax" - saturdays and sundays.
Now that another chapter is about to come to an end. Ready to graduate from my double master degree and ready to close another "chapter" of life why not take care of those things that we wount be able to redo. In 2006 I already posted a link saying that I was looking forwards to take the transiberian train. Its been ages that I have pondered the idea. Mongolia in particular has been a choice since the day I saw the documentary on its poverty and children leaving in sweage to keep themselves warm. Why it was that documentary and not another that got stuck in my mind, I do not know.
In these last weeks of "thesis" and "obligations" the motivation and moving force to keep going is knowing that afterwards I will be F.R.E.E. no obligations, no tasks, no dependancy. I know I will soon need a job to continue to "survive", but why not go ahead and enjoy one of those amazing adventures that if I dont do now I might not be able to do later on? So, as I finish my last paragraphs and reedit the last phrases I start pondering if my next destination should be Mongolia and the transiberian train. . .
. . . more to come. SOON.
10 de juliol 2009
When youre close to tears remember
Some day itll all be over
One day were gonna get so high
And though its darker than december
Whats ahead is a different colour
One day were gonna get so high
And at
The end of the day
Well remember the days
We were close to the edge
And well wonder how we made it through
And at
The end of the day
Well remember the way
We stayed so close to till the end
Well remember it was me and you
cause we are gonna be forever you and me
Youll always keep me flying high in the sky of love
Dont you think its time you started
Doing what we always wanted
One day were gonna get so high
cause even the impossible is easy
When we got each other
One day were gonna get so high
And at
The end of the day
Well remember the days
We were close to the edge
And well wonder how we made it through
And at
The end of the day
Well remember the way
We stayed so close to till the end
Well remember it was me and you
cause we are gonna be forever you and me
You will always keep me flying high in the sky of love
High, high, high, high...
18 de febrer 2009
10 de febrer 2009
Happiness
photo by me, Raiatea
The purpose of our lives is to be happy.Choosing to live a happy life is not only our greatest gift to ourselves, it is also the greatest gift we can give to those around us. When we are happy, we radiate happiness, and that is infectious. Consider giving the gift of happiness to yourself as being your gift to all humanity.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama
The BBC Container Box
Together with it you can find videos on how the container got painted, what are containers used for after their "life" is over,the arrival of the container in multiple ports Singapore/Santos/Shangai or the passage through the suez canal. The effect of the crisis can be seen throught the videos were they state how much the cost of container transport has droped, sometimes reaching to a 50% decrease, ships not traveilng at their full capacity and some ships being "layed out". The importance of the supply chain gets into the light in these videos. If the goods do not arrive right on time to the port, they are not shipped, so they miss their train in the other side to arrive to the other side of the country and on time to the shop. For seasonal products a miss might be a loss. A delay and you may losse your client... but with so many players in a supply chain, how can one reach full efficiency?
The videos are short and superficial, but if you are intrested dont forget to go into the link!
07 de febrer 2009
03 de febrer 2009
Incredible the amount of none french people that you can get to know in less than 1 year in a place.
Incredible that in Paris I met the largest amount of Catalan people in my life.
Incredible that only 1 person is still in Paris, and soon to leave: Ana. 1 Non French Person.
Incredible to think about the amount of people we will meet in the future.
Incredible how similar people that just arrive in the city are lost as you.
Incredible how many different languages people can speak.
Incredible how fast time passes by.
02 de febrer 2009
The future store
I visited in Germany 2 years ago, and its quite awesome when you have it infront of your eyes...
It will make you the itinerary in the shop, tell you the offers on the products you are searching, no need to take the things out of your cart to pay :)
Here is the video :)
Caos a Londres i a París per la Neu
01 de febrer 2009
6 Billion Others
The exposition 6 millards d'autres can be seen at the Grand Palais in Paris until mid february. Its a project lead by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. He is the famous photographer that did the exposition on the world from above. He took photographs of the world seen from a helicopter.
Now he has done 5,000 interviews in a total of 75 different countries in order to show how different/similar all humans are in this planet. The questions raised in his interviews go from " what are your first memories" to " what does family represent for you", " what is happiness", "what message do you want to pass to the next generation" etc. It is intresting to see the different answers of people from diveresed cultures.
This exhibition is meant to be "moved" around the world, so I highly suggest you pay it a visit when it comes to your city.
21 de gener 2009
Death at the Metro
F mort sur les voies du RER
RER A : Suicide à Nation
Accident voyageur 16/09/08Electrocuté à Juvisy-sur-Orge
Nuit Blanche: un mort dans le métro
Ligne 13 : Accident grave de voyageur à Pernéty
Mort du journaliste italien agressé dans le métro parisien ...
Nothing against people killing themselves, but do they need to do it in the metro. At the end that will only lead to more and more suicides, metro drivers who will be shocked, people who will miss their job interviews, people fired for arriving late at work.....a chain of suicides :) Just a Joke, but the numbers are estonishing. It appears that the RATP (the parisian metro company) has a group of psychologist to assist people that see these suicides take place. According to a Canadian study, the people that commit suicide in the metro are usually people that are living in marginal conditions and have been under the influence of drugs or alcohool before jumping on the rails. Nevertheless, the study notes that for people who live in the metro it is hard to distinguish if their deaths are due to accidents or suicides. Besides all the real dealth, there are also the "temptatives" of suicide.... which leads to us hearing often in the Parisian metro " accident grave voyageur.."
People To Meet 1
19 de gener 2009
The end of Polynesia
Unbelivably the greek girls that so annoyed us at Raiatea showed up again at Bora Bora, in the same hotel!! But something good came out of our meeting, they recommend us to go to Maupiti, and so we did. Took a boat for 2 hours to do 50km to the island "infront" of us.... Maupiti! The boat - The Maupiti Express- only goes there twice a week, so when we arrived there was the entire population of the island waiting for us. With bike to rent, cars to do an island tour (tour took 15minutes!). It was like being in Paradise, we ate at the only restaurant of the island. Maupiti is definatively the island to visit, and relax while away from the world. While we were swiming but right by the beach we saw a moray eel and the parents of the kids "shouted" " faut pass toucher"" (do not touch!).
New Years was spend seeing the home fireworks that the house next to our hotel did... I though the resorts around our little hotel such as ClubMed,InterContiental or Sofitel would do big things... However no fireworks were seen but the never ending ones of the house next to us. It was nice, we watched as we had our 12 spanish grapes, and then headed to bed!
And the days passed by, rainy days, sunny days,snorkling,insulations, island tours, water, photography....and soon back to Paris through LA...
Everything being imported from either USA,Canada, NZ, Aussie or Chile the prices were expensive in the supermarket. Leading to the question ...how do people survive there? There are great subsidies from France, they have tourism, fish, and coconuts, vanilla and pearl plantations but not much more.... A question to be answered.
- Tot Forma Part d'una Epoca-
Food:Thoughts
Medecine:Travel
Equipment:Cameras
Communication: Signs,Looks, and languages
Places that I like to call home
1985-1989 Barcelona
1989-1990 Tokyo
1990-1993 Barcelona
1994-1999 Buenos Aires
1999-2000 Barcelona
2000-2003 Prague
2003-2007 Rotterdam- Den Haag
2007-2009 Paris
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