Fausta's Blog

My friend Ximena’s Interview with Gustavo Santaolalla of Bajofondo

And their video, below the fold since it’s not quite suitable for work,
(more…)

First the blogging,

What Can Argentine Tango Teach You About Brilliant Blogging?

And baby’s first tango (via Silvio), Georgina, Oscar & Nicolas Mandagaran dancing to Poema

Hugo Mastrolorenzo & Angeles Chanaha dancing in Princeton,

I don’t call it performance art if anyone else other than the “artiste” would get busted for loitering if engaging in the same activity, but the MMA found the convergence of exhibitionism and celebrity worship:

Tilda Swinton sleeps in glass box for surprise performance piece at Museum of Modern Art
As part of her installation ‘The Maybe,’ the ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ actress napped in a transparent box full of cushions while museum-goers gawked.

The cot’s too short, too.

Here’s a group of bloggers engaging in performance art at a different venue,

UPDATE,

Wait… you can get paid for napping? tinyurl.com/d8ynqb5

— Jazz Shaw (@JazzShaw) March 24, 2013

Sure, anyone can have a parade; here at F’sB we have tango.

But will the Pope join in?

No green beer was spilled in the making of this video.

Ron Rosenbaum says, Let Them Eat Fat
Listening to the doctors on cable TV, you might think that it’s better to cook up a batch of meth than to cook with butter. But eating basic, earthy, fatty foods isn’t just a supreme experience of the senses—it can actually be good for you.

We are discovering that fatty delights can actually be good for you: They allow Spaniards, Italians and Greeks to live longer, and they make us satisfied with eating less. I’m speaking up not for obesity-generating fat, then, but for the kind of fatty food that leads to swooning sensual satiety.

And it’s all about sensual pleasure,

Something deeper than concern for nutrition and cholesterol is going on here. You don’t have to be a Freudian (I’m not) to see in the antifat crusade a cowering fear of sexuality. The evil of oral pleasure as Satan’s tool of seduction, dating back to Eve, is deeply embedded in American culture. Recall Cotton Mather’s denunciation of the hell-bound wickedness of the pleasures of the flesh and his call for self-mortification (anticipating today’s egg-white omelets).

Here are

Crème de la Crème

The Wall Street Journal’s 10 Fattiest Recipes:

• Stuffed, Stuffed Goose
• Flavor-Bomb Burgers
• Deep-Fried Pancakes With Warm Maple Cream Syrup
• Pappardelle With Tomato and Stewed Pancetta
• Truffle Tagliatelle
• Mortadella, Egg and Brioche Sandwich
• Fried Soft Shell Crab
• Tidewater Cinnamon Cakes
• Baked Penne With Cabbage and Pancetta
• Baked Hot Chocolate

Rosenbaum mentions lamb burgers, a big favorite at casa de Fausta. I just remembered, I’m out of ground lamb, so excuse me while I get some.

says this article (link in Spanish)

El cardenal argentino Jorge Mario Bergoglio, el Papa Francisco I, es un jesuita con una sólida formación académica, considerado un hombre dialogante y moderado, amante del tango e hincha del equipo de fútbol San Lorenzo.

Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francis I, is a Jesuit of a solid academic foundation, regarded as a moderate man of dialogue, lover of tango, and fan of the San Lorenzo soccer team.

Surely Pope Francis will enjoy this performance by The Best tango dancer ever, Mario Bournissen,

Last night I watched the new History Channel series, The Bible, and thoroughly enjoyed it, from the Irish-sounding Noah telling the story of the creation in the middle of the flood, to the ninja angels,

to the very awesome (in the old meaning of the word, “inspiring an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, or fear”) Moses.

As you may recall, locusts were one of the plagues of Egypt. Lo and behold, here’s the Drudge headline this morning, right on time for Passover,

NOW THE LOCUSTS

In case you want to blame that on the sequester, Kerry frees up $250M in U.S. aid to Egypt.

New Tax Rule Threatens Seattle Ballroom

Hallie Kuperman loves to dance. But what she loves even more is sharing this passion with visitors to her social dancing club, the Century Ballroom.

Hallie purchased the vintage dancing space 16 years ago, turning it into a Seattle institution. The Century Ballroom not only teaches swing, tango and the foxtrot, it also hosts cabarets and other live performances for an eclectic crowd of all ages. The club’s trendsetting owner has become a prominent and beloved figure in the community.

Business was swinging until a surprise bill arrived from Washington’s Department of Revenue. The state agency decided to reinterpret an obscure old tax, audited the Century Ballroom, and demanded a check for $92,000.

Here’s a tango show at the Century Ballroom:
Marcelo Molina Performing in “TANGO CABARET” Show at Century Ballroom, Seattle 2011 with Mirabai Deranja, dancing to Reliquias Porteñas.

h/t Gay Patriot, who says, New Tax Threatens Dancing In Seattle, Gays To Riot?

Ace featured this breathtakingly beautiful photo,

The location is the Casona del Tequendama in Colombia, which has the reputation of being haunted:

In 1924, the then-luxurious Hotel (Refugio d)el Salto was inaugurated on the cliff facing the waterfall but due to contamination of the river water, believed to be a result of the popular locale, it was closed in the early 90′s. There has been talk of reopening it and restoring it to its former glory (but as a museum or even a police station) which might help rid the place of its apparent ghosts. They are said to haunt the hotel and according to the caretaker, are believed to be from the old days when bar fights on the second story would end up on its balcony, sometimes resulting in a drunk patron losing more than the fight.

On the other hand, there are stories of those who checked out (of life) by jumping off the cliff. That’s right, despite its beauty or perhaps because of it, the falls is a place where people have been known to say their goodbyes. When one would find a letter or some sort of personal item without an owner, it was thought to have been left behind.

In the photo above, it looks haunting, like something Lord Byron would have loved,

But my Soul wanders; I demand it back
To meditate amongst decay, and stand
A ruin amidst ruins; there to track
Fall’n states and buried greatness, o’er a land
Which was the mightiest in its old command,
And is the loveliest, and must ever be
The master-mould of Nature’s heavenly hand;
Wherein were cast the heroic and the free,—
The beautiful — the brave — the Lords of earth and sea,

Or a vacation spot for the Addams family.

The good news is that the French government is funding the building’s restauration along with local authorities (link in Spanish).

Let’s hope the restoration is completed and the building becomes viable.