WORLD CUP 2010 - SOUTH AFRICA

Today was the draw of the groups with the teams who will face themselves in the World Cup, next year. In the first World Cup held in the African continent, Brazil is in group G, with North Korea, Ivory Coast and Portugal.


US is in group C. Their first game will be against England, not an easy task. Then they have Slovenia and Algeria.


The Brazilian first game will be on June 15th against Korea, in Johannesburg. Although the first game is against a relatively weak team, Ivory Coast comes after. They have one of the best current African players, Didier Drogba. And then they will face Portugal, team that has the best player of the world in 2008, Cristiano Ronaldo.

The group already is being called this way “death group”!

TV Series - Monday, House

For me, TV series in the US is a fever comparable with soap operas, in Brazil. But they are not as shallow and dichotomists as the last ones. Their plots are profound, most of the time, and the production is far more complex.

There is an American TV series for every taste, intellectual disposal, cultural laziness or entertaining reasons. Most of them are in the open channels here, but there are some good ones in the cabo channels as well.

They start their new seasons in the Fall - current season in the Northern Hemisphere - and in Spring. Everybody waits for this time of the year, anxious to see the new episodes of their favourite series.

Last week was the premiere week for most of them. Some have their time schedules at the same time others are playing in different channels - nothing that the Internet does can not help!

Everyday this week, I am going to give my humble opinion about each premiere. Although I do not intend to make a high level critic, I will tell you what I liked, what I didn't, and I will make a summary of the premiere chapter, trying not to pass too much information to the point of ruining it for you, or not bringing spoilers.

Monday is day the of House. I like this series since it started, in 2004. The premise of having an honest doctor - Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) - to the point of being rude, but super-extreme-mega competent, is good, in a world where medicine “for the good of the sick person”, as Hippocrates wanted, is long forgotten. And the similarities with Sherlock Homes also amuse me: they are both geniuses of forensic, musicians, drugs users, aloofs, and friendless, misanthropists I would say. And all the discussions about certain behaviors that it presents are cool, new, fresh. I love it.

The premiere day for this season was 2 hours long, with the plot going all around House's inner fight in the clinic in which he had gone to, at the end of the last season (for those who missed it, Dr. House started to have allucinations which he thought were from the abuse of the opium medicine Vicodin and decided to go into rehab voluntarily).

I loved the psychologist, Dr. Nolan (Andre Braugher) who treated him and all the dramas of the other patients showed in the hospital. The editing was a surprise, as also as the strong images.


The bad thing is that House is in the FOX channel at 8pm, exactly the same time Heroes is playing on NBC, so I didn't watch that one. I will have to find sometime and watch it on the internet.


A complete description of the House series you will find in the site Wikipedia.

On Mondays there is also a series that had only one season called “Lie to me”, with Tim Roth. The Fox calendar says that it will be played on Mondays, after House, at 9pm. But the season premiere is tonight, so I will talk about it tomorrow.

Angels and Demons

I read the book and I liked it.
Now, today I went to the movies to watch "Angels and Demons" - in what book is that based on?
I think director Ron Howard went overboard in changing things. I understand that different languages need a different approach in showing a story, but that was too much. He even changed the ending! And the elected Pope!!!
The movie is just a good entertaining piece, that is all.

Obama conquests the world

Four hours and a half. That was the time necessary for the Group of the 20 (G-20) to resolve the problems of the world. Or at least some of them.

The British prime-minister, Gordon Brown, announced the main points of the final document of the summit conference of the G-20, that happened yesterday, in England. The group, that congregates the 19 richest countries of the world and the European Union , organized what is being called the “Declaration of London”, that promises to create a new world-wide order for “together, manage the globalization process”, keep the commitment of aid to the poor countries and to promote green economic recovery. A new meeting still must be carried through this year.

The inauguration of Barack Obama in the international circuit is being considered a success. Besides having separately negotiated with leaders of before difficult countries for the U.S.A., as Russia and China, he will be in a NATO meeting where they are going to try to reorganize the organization and make it more agile and capable to prevent conflicts in the future.

A far different vision of its predecessor, George W. Bush. Definitively a change in attitude that the Obama couple is bringing for the international scene. Therefore already it was only valid to the American people to have elect this president.

Commanders in chief together

President George W. Bush with President-elect Barack Obama and ex-presidents, George H. W. Bush (1989-1993), Bill Clinton (1993-2001), and Jimmy Carter (1977-1981). Reuters

An entire generation has gone by since the nation last saw this tableau of American history: every living U.S. president together at the White House.

Consider it time for a reunion among the members of one of the world's most elite clubs, plus the one man about to join it — Barack Obama. Picking up on an idea from Obama, President George W. Bush on Wednesday was hosting a lunch for the incoming president and the three former presidents: Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter. It will be the first time all the presidents have gathered at the White House since 1981.

“All of the gentlemen here understand both the pressures and possibilities of this office,” Obama told reporters before the lunch. “And for me to have the opportunity to get advice, good counsel, and fellowship with these individuals is extraordinary.”

Asked what he will learn from his predecessors' mistakes, Obama smiled and said he will learn from "their successes."

All the presidents were last at the White House in 1981 were Richard Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan, who was president then. The three former presidents were there before leaving as part of the U.S. delegation to the funeral of Egypt's Anwar Sadat, who had been assassinated. On that day, all the presidents stood in a circle inside the White House, discussing news of the world. The dominant topic? The Middle East. They were joined in the conversation by one other leader — Vice President George H.W. Bush, who later went on to join their presidents' club.

Too much coincidence? It looks like hte USA has a lot to learn from its past.

Obama talks to the nation on YouTube

In his weekly address, bradcasted on YouTube's website on Sundays, President-elect Barack Obama discusses solutions for our struggling economy in the new year.

Obama intends to generate 3 million jobs, 80% in the private sector. He is presenting his plan today to the Congress. He wants the plan to be approved soon so that it is in place as soon as he takes office, in January, 20th.

The idea is to reedit the Hundred Days action plan from president Franklin Delano Roosevelt, elected in 1932, at the height of the Great Depression (1929-39).

2008 was a year of structural changes in the American society, I would say. From the economy to politics, through culture, health, science and fsport, some barriers had been surpassed and many surprises, good or not, had arrived at the pages of periodicals.

So, I tried to bring those images that reflect the more important narratives and moments of each month, but certainly not all stories will be portraited. Moreover I even chose images that are no too conventional of each story and some have very eccentric angles. And, although I agree that an image worths more than a thousand words, the credits explain each clicked moment.

REUTERS/Tim Sloan/Pool
President George W. Bush winks to a member of the audience before he delivers the final State of the Union address of his presidency at the US Capitol in Washington, On January.

Anthony Suau for TIME
Hillary Clinton departs a campaign event in Nashua, New Hampshire on January.

REUTERS/Nicholas Roberts
A photograph of Heath Ledger from the movie “Brokeback Mountain” rests among flowers at a makeshift memorial in front of the building where the actor died in New York January 23, 2008.

REUTERS/Gary Hershorn
Javier Bardem (R) celebrates as he receives the Oscar for best supporting actor role for “No Country for Old Men” during the 80th annual Academy Awards, the Oscars, in Hollywood, February 24, 2008.

REUTERS/Eric Thayer
Spectators watch from a pier as the space shuttle Endeavour launches from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, early March 11, 2008.

Christopher Morris / VII for TIME
John McCain gets patted down before boarding a plane in March, after a campaign stop in San Antonio, Texas.

Callie Shell / Aurora for TIME
Barack Obama works the phones during a campaign stop in Providence, Rhode Island, in March.

REUTERS/Osservatore Romano/Pool
Pope Benedict XVI waves from his plane as he arrives in Washington for his pastoral visit to the United States in this picture shot April 15, 2008 and released April 16, 2008.

REUTERS/Robert Galbraith

A foreclosed home is shown in Stockton, California May 13, 2008.

Callie Shell / Aurora for TIME
Barack Obama is joined by his wife Michelle and aide Valerie Jarrett, among others, as he makes his way to a victory speech St. Paul, Minnesota. The speech would be his first after clinching his party’s nomination in June.

Ray / Cedar Rapids Gazette / Rapport Press
Boathouses borne by rising floodwaters collide with a railroad bridge in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in June.

Callie Shell / Aurora for TIME
Not to be outdone by two aides who each did a pair of pull-ups, Obama does three before stepping out to address a crowd at the University of Montana.

Heinz Kluetmeier / Sports Illustrated

In pursuit of his seventh gold medal, US Swimmer Michael Phelps (left) races Serbian Milorad Cavic in the 100M Butterfly. Phelps would push past his opponent in the final meter of the race, miraculously beating him by .01 second. In China, on August.

Danny Wilcox Frazier / Redux for TIME

A video of departing President George W. Bush plays at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota on September.

Smiley N. Pool / Houston Chronicle / Rapport Press
A house is engulfed in flames as floodwaters and crashing waves inundate beach homes on Galveston Island as Hurricane Ike approaches the Texas Gulf Coast on September.

Christopher Morris / VII for TIME
A young supporter of the GOP ticket arrives at a campaign event on Halloween Day dressed as vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin in October.

Gary Hershorn / Reuters
Obama and his wife Michelle depart the stage in Grant Park after winning the Presidential election on November 4, 2008.

It is Summer time!

On Saturday, June, 21st, Summer began in the Northern Hemisphere. The previous week already gave us a taste that my favorite season has arrived, with temperatures soaring to 110 degrees, only to be eclipsed by higher temperatures on Saturday!

The 21st marks the day of the year where that this section of the planet receives the most hours of sun light, because the Northern Hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun. This day is called the Summer Solstice, a holiday in many ancient cultures.

Even Google joined the celebration! If you opened the site that day, you would have found the Sun substituting for the second letter 'O'.