Freeway Eggs

I saw freeway eggs today!  Very creepy.  Will post a photo of them soon, maybe.

THE ALIEN

Ho Hum, just another day at the office. . .

Flitters & Crusps

Watching, with one eye - the one in the middle, Iron Chef. Eel is the theme ingredient. LOVE that show.

My brain hurts, in the middle. (Yes, I put the comma where I wanted it - punctuation and I wrestle alot, sometimes in the mud). I am cross and angry and impatient - makes me twitch, well, not really except in my mind. Work is stresssssssssssssssfulllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll. I work for several companies doing the thing that I do.

Seriously, I am hoping for rain. Poor little plants haven't a chance cause all the CE-ment in the city just sucks everything dry! I walk outside to get in my very old car (cause it is a good car) to go to work, and I can barely make it to the door cause the CE-ment in the driveway tries to suck all the moisture out of my person! I need to take a photo of that.

I want to make my photos bigger. Will Wordpress allow me to do that?

Gotta go now and herd some cats.

Iron Chef (Japanese)

Ironchef Japan

Anybody know about it? I've watched it for the past few years. . . now we are in reruns, I still watch. Chairman Kaga, the host of the show, was flamboyant and sported marvelous Micheal Jackson/Liberace type costumes. I think he would make a great Dracula type character (no, really I like him). http://stickofachef.wordpress.com/2008/03/25/iron-chef-collection/

When my chilrun were a little younger, we would cook together and play Iron Chef. I think I'll drag out the chef hats and aprons and command them to come over for an Iron Chef reenactment for the Mom Day!

From Wikpedia - The series, which premiered on October 10, 1993, was a stylized cooking competition featuring accomplished guest chefs challenging one of the show's resident "Iron Chefs" in a timed cooking battle built around a specific theme ingredient. The series ended on September 24, 1999, although occasional specials were produced until 2002. The series aired over 300 episodes. Oh, just go look for your self - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Chef.
My own young Iron Chef. . .

Befuddled

"Get out of bed." "Get out of bed." Over and over again, my alarm beckons me to get up. So I shut the dang thang off, so I can doze for a few minutes.

An hour later, my phone rings and wakes me up right in the middle of a dream. I have this car that kind of looks like Cinderella's coach without the horses and smaller wheels. Oh, and has big daisies all over it. I am with somebody, a friend I think, and we are going to get some lunch. I park right next to the restaurant door somewhat on the sidewalk - but is was ok for me to do so.

I happen to look out the window, and my car is gone! I start questioning everyone - I think the hostess had something to do with it. Then I go outside and look up and down the street for my car, saw a couple similar ones, but not mine. I notice that I am wearing my pajamas inside out. It is a very busy street - kind of reminds me of New Orleans, there are a lot of people on the sidewalks and in the street. My friend leads me to this alley and a door. He opens the door and it opens into a dank cement room. I follow him in and then he opens another door - I tell him that I am not going with him (I was scared), so he goes, and I go back out to the street.

I need to get home to feed the dogs that I forgot I have in the back yard (I've had this part of the dream several times). They are always ok, skinny, but ok. I feel so bad for forgetting them though.

So I try to hail a cab, but am getting nowhere cause it is so crowded, and I am not very tall.

There is a huge 18 wheeler electric blue truck (just the truck part, did not have a load) parked nearby and I climb on top of the cab to see if I can hail a cab from there. Then the truck starts to leave! Some nice people help me down, and I land in a pile of old clothes. And then I realize that I have a very short nightgown on. I am tugging at it and walking through an out door Japanese restaurant. There are crackly things on the floor that hurt my bare feet. I see a small enclosure, kind of like a cattle chute, but with wooden sides. I slide in there to change into something more modest, but get stuck - there is no room to move.

Two dudes come along, and now I'm really scared. They were Indians with black face paint on, and they were kind enough to help me get out. Now I have my long nightgown on inside out.

My bosses house is nearby, so I stop and pick up five gallons of vodka, and let myself in the back door. That vodka was soooo heavy that when I was carrying it, I became two inches shorter. They were going to have a party, and I knew they would be mad if they found me there (but happy about the vodka). There was a huge guesthouse behind their house that was the size of a regular house and some movie star was staying there. He came out and I got to meet him, he look scruffy, and I did not know who he was.

Then I started cleaning the floor with a hose as there was some catlitter that had spilled. And then the phone rang.

I was so befuddled and tired for most of the day. I really needed to finish that dream. Whenever I shut off the alarm and fall back asleep, I almost always wake back up in the middle of a dream. If the dream is bad, I don't want to wake up because I always try to make it work out ok.

What do you think of that?

The post before this one was in honor of Conchita Cintron - Female Bullfighter

I have the book she wrote, you can borrow it if you'd like. Maybe. (Gotta edit this post later. . .)


Thu Feb 19 2009

The Sun Sets On Famed Female Bullfighter Conchita Cintron - Conchita Cintron

Conchita Cintron, who broke into the male-dominated sport of bullfighting at the age of 13 and became one of the world's most famous female matadors, has died at the age of 86.

Cintron was born in Peru to a Puerto Rican father and American mother and began bullfighting in 1937, reports MSNBC. There were few female matadors at the time, and during the 1940s, she was one of the most famous bullfighters on the international circuit. She became popular with crowds because of the grace, style and bravado she showed in the ring, and was dubbed "La Diosa Rubia," or "The Blonde Goddess."

She travelled to Mexico, Portugal, and Columbia to compete throughout the year, as well as Spain, where it was illegal for a woman to fight a bull on foot or dismount to make a kill. In 1949 Cintron decided to retire after a bull gored her in the thigh; she was taken to the ring's infirmary but ran from her doctors and reentered the ring, killed the bull, and collapsed.

Later that year, in the final corrida of the season, which was held in Spain, Cintron entered the ring on horseback, but dismounted and coaxed the bull closer to her with each pass, according to her biography on The Women of Action Network. When it was time for the kill, she dropped her sword and poked the bull with her fingers in the spot where she would have stabbed him, and turned to exit the ring. Cintron was immediately arrested for breaking the law against women bullfighting on foot, but she was pardoned after the crowd screamed for her to be set free.

Cintron killed 750 bulls in her career and won over traditional fans in many countries, fans who didn't believe women should be matadors, all before the age of 30. She married and had a son and spent the rest of her life writing, working as a diplomat, and raising dogs. She died in Lisbon on Tuesday of a heart attack. According to Wikipedia, Orson Welles wrote in the introduction to her memoirs, "Her record stands as a rebuke to every man of us who has ever maintained that a woman must lose something of her femininity if she seeks to compete with men."

The video below, from 1945, shows Cintron in the ring.

http://www.youtube.com/v/FyqnEnEbP7E&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22







Her record stands as a rebuke to every man of us who has ever maintained that a woman must lose something of her femininity if she seeks to compete with men.—Orson Welles

http://www.woa.tv/images/athletics/at_cintronc/at_cintronc_06_564x379.jpg
Faced with a 1,000-pound raging bull in the ring—its nostrils flaring, its head down, poised to charge—Conchita Cintrón would meet the challenge with enthusiasm and courage. Centuries of gender discrimination before her, however, made a far tougher opponent than any angry toro (bull).
Armed with a cape and a sword, or a breakaway spear known as a rejón, this half-American, half–Puerto Rican woman—born in Chile and raised in Peru—would ultimately overcome patriarchal attitudes to become, according to many bullfighting aficionados, the greatest torera in history.
Born to Ride
Conchita Cintrón Verrill was born in 1922 in Antofagasta, a city in northern Chile. Great bullfighters tend to hail from great bullfighting families, but that wasn’t the case with Cintrón. Her father, Francisco Cintrón Ramos, was a Puerto Rican–born soldier and bureaucrat; her mother, Loyola Verrill, was an American from a long line of academics.
Ruy da Cámara operated an equestrian school in Lima, Peru, where the Cintrón family settled. Cintrón rode her first pony at age three and joined the riding school at age 11. Da Cámara became her bullfighting teacher and longtime mentor (ultimately, she married into his family), and, noting her extraordinary riding skills, fearlessness and continuing progress, he kept presenting her with new challenges.
Soon, Cintrón graduated to bullfighting on horseback, a Moorish-born, Portuguese-practiced sport known as rejoneo. Instead of fighting live animals, the teenager practiced by fending off a chair. In no time, da Cámara and Cintrón’s family agreed she was ready to face her first bull. She was only 13 years old.
The Blonde Goddess
Two years later, in 1937, Cintrón graduated to a greater stage, making her debut at Lima’s main arena, where she showed much promise. The following year, again in Lima, she debuted as a novillera dressed like the men—in breeches, a short silk jacket with gold buttons and wide-brimmed hat. This event established her as a professional rejoneadora, a rare honor for a woman.
She traveled to Lisbon, and then was invited to appear in Mexico. At her first performance there, she failed to kill her assigned bull, but local newspaper critics and the public were captivated. One periodical noted that the girl soon to be nicknamed Diosa Rubia, or Blonde Goddess, had “caused pandemonium in the stands.”
In the late 1930s and early ’40s, Cintrón’s courage, equestrian expertise and status as the sole female rejoneadora on the circuit made her a big draw. That meant visiting Mexico in the winter; Portugal, southern France, Colombia and Venezuela whenever convenient; and Spain, bullfighting’s mecca, in the spring and summer.
Unfortunately, in Spain it was illegal for a woman to fight a bull on foot. She could remain on her horse as a rejoneadora but could not dismount to make a kill. Other nations permitted Cintrón to make her kills on foot, and eventually local Spanish officials found ways around their nation’s laws, allowing Cintrón to perform at closed-to-the-public charity events.
Such opportunities arose in Carabanchel, San Sebastian, Madrid and Oropesa. In Oropesa, in front of an audience of foreign diplomats, Cintrón stayed close to the bull, a dangerous tactic admired by crowds. In the ring, she displayed particular grace, style and bravado, a combination known as duende, before killing the bull.
By October 1949, Cintrón was ready to retire from bullfighting. She’d seen the world and wanted to soon start a family, but after she stepped into the ring one last time.
The Final Standoff
After a corrida a bath is a torero’s greatest pleasure. —Conchita Cintrón
The final corrida of that 1949 season was held in Jaén, Spain. A bull with coal-black eyes entered the ring. Bugles blared. On horseback, as required, Cintrón stared at the creature. Then, shockingly, she dismounted and approached the bull on foot, matador-style. The crowd went wild.
Cintrón toyed with the bull, coaxing him closer with each pass. When it came time for the kill, she dropped her sword to the dirt and beckoned the animal toward her. Then, instead of stabbing him in the soft, deadly spot between the shoulder blades, Cintrón poked the bull there with her fingers. Triumphant, Cintrón turned to exit the arena, forever. The novillo who was assigned to kill the bull for her (as was the ritual in her Spanish corridas) then entered the ring and killed the bull as planned.
It was almost a storybook farewell—except Cintrón was promptly arrested for violating the prohibition of women bullfighting on foot. The crowd screamed for her freedom. The regional governor, a savvy politician, yielded. He pardoned the bullfighter and exchanged bows and respectful kisses with her. A barrier to inequality had been broken, against all tradition, and with true duende.
Outside the Ring
During her illustrious career, Cintrón defeated over 750 bulls. Traditionally, a bullfighter receives the vanquished animal’s ear or ears as a trophy. Over the years, Cintrón not only earned a lot of cartilage, but an enormous amount of respect.
Remarkably, this blonde, teenage gringa became the most famous Latin American bullfighter of her day, winning over traditionalist fans on multiple continents and making her adopted home country, Peru, proud.
After traveling so often, and so widely, all before the age of 30, Cintrón settled down. In 1950, she married Francisco de Casteo Branco, the nephew of Ruy da Cámara. With time, Cintrón’s fame faded. She did some writing, worked as a diplomat and raised dogs.
Decades later, in 1991, Cintrón made a symbolic return to bullfighting, riding at the alternativa of María Sara, a young French rejoneadora. Once the sole rejoneodora on the bullfighting circuit, Cintrón rode beside a young woman who had spent a girlhood inspired by the legendary torera, the blonde goddess of the bullring.

Famed Bullfighter "Blonde Goddess" Dies [MSNBC]

Conchita Cintron [Women of Action Network]

Conchita Cintron [Wikipedia]

Twitter: natgaz

The Bullfight!

I am sickly fascinated interested in bullfighting, don't know why really, but I have been for a long time. Probably means something. . .

So pilgrims, I have a treat for you! I am going to share my perverse pleasure exciting photos of a REAL BULLFIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you are a queasy type person, just skip to the bottom of this post.

And oh, since I don't know how to make the photos bigger (yet), do click on them as there is some wonderful detail to be found. If you'd like to have a signed limited edition of any of the photos, do let me know.

Peebles, why won't the below photo display in landscape? It is saved that way. It was really hard for me to stand perfectly sideways and take this photo.