_Happy boy

Next year, Good Omens turns 30. In those three decades, it has sold millions of copies around the world and been adapted for radio. Terry Gilliam once attempted to make a film of it and it is (probably) going to be a huge TV series later this year. Its authors, meanwhile, have both individually sold several million more books and had entire industries set up around them. But in the notes in the back of my copy of Good Omens, both Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett insist that writing the book “wasn’t a big deal”. The thing they say we should remember is that “in those days Neil Gaiman was barely Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett was only just Terry Pratchett”. That’s not quite how I remember it. When I got hold of Good Omens, aged 14, I’d read just about everything Pratchett had published up to that point. The idea that he’d teamed up with a gothy longhair to write about the end of the world seemed about as big as book news got. By the time I realised the book existed in 1991, a year after it first came out, it was definitely a “big deal”. Unusually for a so-called fantasy book, it had received favourable reviews in the UK press (alongside the notice in the Times that generated the memorable cover quote, “not quite as sinister as the authors’ photo”) – and it was selling in huge quantities. It had also launched in the US with considerable fanfare, and even more confusion. Publishers Weekly used the damning descriptor “zany”, while Joe Queenan in the New York Times seemed furious to be dealing with such an import. He first described the book as a cure for “the recurring disease of Anglophilia” – and then really put the boot in: “Good Omens is a direct descendant of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a vastly overpraised book or radio programme or industry or something that became quite po[CENSORED]r in Britain a decade ago when it became apparent that Margaret Thatcher would be in office for some time and that laughs were going to be hard to come by.” I quote at length in humble appreciation of just how wrong we critics can be. It got worse for Queenan, who complained about “an infuriating running gag about Queen, a vaudevillian rock group whose hits are buried far in the past and should have been buried sooner”. Ah yes, Queen. Who recalls them now? But I shouldn’t mock. It’s actually quite a witty review – and time embarrasses every critic sooner or later. My sympathy has limits, however. It’s hard to feel anything but chagrin when Queenan writes: “Obviously, it would be difficult to write a 354-page satirical novel without getting off a few good lines. I counted four.” Advertisement Oh really? Here’s four from the first four chapters: “God does not play dice with the universe; He plays an ineffable game of His own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players, to being involved in an obscure and complex version of poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a Dealer who won’t tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time.” “Even a casual observer could have seen that these [model aeroplanes] were made by someone who was both painstaking and very careful, and also no good at making model aeroplanes.” “Milton Keynes is a new city approximately halfway between London and Birmingham. It was built to be modern, efficient, healthy, and, all in all, a pleasant place to live. Many Britons find this amusing.” “There are some dogs which, when you meet them, remind you that, despite thousands of years of manmade evolution, every dog is still only two meals away from being a wolf. These dogs advance deliberately, purposefully, the wilderness made flesh, their teeth yellow, their breath astink, while in the distance their owners witter, ‘He’s an old soppy really, just poke him if he’s a nuisance,’ and in the green of their eyes the red campfires of the Pleistocene gleam and flicker.” There are plenty more where those came from, as well as some fine running gags, quick (but wonderful) jokes about Welsh TV and several long and beautiful set-ups that only work within the context of the book. I almost pulled a muscle when I got to the end of the long sequence ending “I’ll call him dog” – but you have to be there. And I hope you do get there, because this is a funny book, no matter what Queenan says. Here’s a fifth “good line”: “It may help to understand human affairs to be clear that most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused, not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally bad, but by people being fundamentally people.” That isn’t just amusing – it is quietly profound. Which is the other big deal about Good Omens. Perhaps people bought it for the jokes, but my suspicion is that the novel’s gentle humanism and determined irreverence resonate with readers just as much as the one-liners. Pratchett and Gaiman are both capable of good writing – but more on that next week. For now, please feel free to continue to prove poor old Queenan wrong by posting more of your favourite lines from the book. I don’t think there’ll be any shortage.

sturia, Agosto 2019. Non tutti sono rientrati al lavoro. Molti sono già al pezzo e in generale gli girano a fondo scala, molti sono ancora lì sotto l’ombrellone, terrorizzati dall’incombenza dell’imminente fine delle vacanze. Ci vuole qualcosa che li risvegli da questo stato di contro-trance che rischia di invalidare gli ultimi giorni di ozio. Ecco la notizia-bomba. Francamente la vedo più come un diversivo letterario che come una cronaca documentale. Riprendo qua e là brandelli di notizie, metto insieme con il gusto del frammento rimesso al suo posto e “posto” a mia volta il ricomposto mosaico di sensazione. Fernando Alonso farà la sua prima Dakar, la 2020 prima in Arabia Saudita. È dalla fine della 2019 Perù, però, che se ne parla. Ha già provato la Macchina, con entusiasmo, sorpresa e con… Giniel De Villiers, uno degli Assi del Team, ed è stato benedetto e welcomed da Nasser Al Attiyah, il Campione e Principe del Qatar. Sì, perché si tratta niente di meno che della Toyota Campione in carica, della Hilux che ha trionfato sotto il traguardo di Lima condotta magistralmente da Al Attiyah e dal fido Navigatore Mathieu Baumel. Nella serie delle “prime” ricordiamo che è un successo storico, il primo di Toyota nell’Inferno del Rally-Raid. La mayonnaise monta. Uova fresche, olio di quello buono, un pizzico di frizzante limone, sale, mestolo e… olio di gomito. Tanto migliori sono gli ingredienti e tanto più buona viene la “mayo”. C’è quasi tutto, di buono e di più. C’è la formidabile Hilux, c’è il sistema Gazoo Racing, top, c’è l’eclettico fuoriclasse che deve lavare con il sangue la disdetta di non essere riuscito a conquistare il Triple Crown, la non ufficiale ma emblematica Tripla Corona che riunisce una vittoria alla 500 Miglia di Indianapolis, un Gran Premio di Monte Carlo Formula 1, la 24 Ore di le Mans. In clima di news storiche, credo che ci sia riuscito solo il mitico Graham Hill. Ecco, all’asturiano due volte Campione del Mondo di Formula 1 è sfortunatamente mancata la 500 di Indy, come a Tazio Nuvolari, Bruce McLaren e Jochen Rindt, quindi non ufficiale per non ufficiale vedremo di sostituirla con l’altrettanto feroce e mediatica Dakar 2010 Arabia Saudita. Media bombardati, edizione speciale continuativa perfettamente riuscita, l’estate del prurito scoop ha riempito i vuoti lasciati dall’indolenza degli… spiaggiati. Manca un ingrediente, e la mayonnaise è pronta e della migliore, manca il Navigatore di Alonso. Entrano in scena gli spagnoli, diretti interessati e formidabili “spioni”, incapaci di custodire un segreto e indifferenti alla necessità di essere documentali. Notizia certa? Possibile? Fantasia? Non importa, è una buona notizia, tutta spagnola, e merita tutte le prime pagine. Del resto sono loro i bene, i meglio informati. Ed ecco la notizia dell’annuncio imminente, poiché “segretamente” già stra-ufficiale, del nome del Navigatore di Fernando Alonso: Marc Coma! Sì signori. Il signor Marc Coma, cinque volte vincitore della Maratona afro-sudamericana e presto araba, il Direttore Sportivo della Dakar per 3 anni, fino allo scorso anno, il leggendario Marc Coma da Avià, Catalogna. Marc Coma era già stato in aria di passaggio alle Auto, e già si era parlato, e discusso, con Toyota. Non era andata a pallino e non ci si è pensato più, soprattutto quando, poi, è arrivata la notiziona del passaggio del catalano dall’altra parte della barricata, da Pilota a Organizzatore. E questa volta ci eravamo quasi messi l’anima in pace. Via dalla Dakar, la poltrona di Direttore di KTM Spagna. Il Ragazzo si è messo a lavorare, e siccome fa tutto molto seriamente, basta con l’attività sportiva in prima persona. Ma il tarlo. Il tarlo della Dakar che non demorde, l’inverno che è sempre periodo di calma nel commercio delle Moto, la proposta “indecente”. Salire in Macchina. sorpresa nella sorpresa, dalla parte sbagliata. Non attraverso la portiera dell’autista bensì quella del passeggero. Il catalano incontra l’asturiano ed è affare fatto. Dakar 2020 Arabia Saudita, Toyota Gazoo Racing, Fernando Alonso y Marc Coma. Intanto Fernando continua la preparazione. Mentre voi siete ancora lì a non far nulla, test in Namibia, Harrymith 400 in Sudafrica, quinta prova della South African Cross Country Series a settembre. La notizia dell’Estate resta “ufficialmente” in lievitazione.

Українська поп-виконавиця Настя Каменських насолоджується останніми літніми днями, проводячи їх поруч з басейном. Зваблива співачка, яка полюбляє продемонструвати свій стрункий животик та сідниці, не змогла не засвітити ще кілька подібних фото. Еротичні знімки, на яких Настя Каменських демонструє свою фігуру, вже стали частиною її Instagram-сторінки. Співачка щодня ділиться інтенсивними тренуваннями, а після цього вважає за потрібне показати результат ранніх підйомів. Читайте також: У чорній мереживній білизні: Настя Каменських пікантно показала голе тіло Так, чергові знімки у крихітному купальному костюмі Настя показала своїй кількамільйонній аудиторії сьогодні вранці. Ймовірно, після повернення з сонячної Італії вона вирішила провести кілька днів поруч з басейном, аби перехід у робочий ритм не був надто різким. Так, для засмагання Настя Каменських обрала чорний крихітний купальник, завдяки якому продемонструвала свої пишні груди і сідниці, а також красивий животик.

Parents of a teenager who had his hair style filled in with a black marker pen have filed a civil rights suit against the Texas school district. In April, a 13-year-old identified as JT came to Berry Miller Junior High School with an M shaved on his head. The school principal, along with two colleagues, "took the jet-black Sharpie and started colouring JT's scalp" without his consent, the suit says. The haircut allegedly violated the school's dress code policy. At the time, according to CBS News, the code mandated that hair "must be neat, clean and well-groomed. Extreme hair styles such as carvings, mohawks, spikes, etc. are not allowed". 'My hair is a symbol of pride' New York City bans hair discrimination How is the US marking 400th anniversary of slavery? But the lawsuit says that the teenager felt "extremely degraded" after the incident, which it alleges was racist. "The haircut did not depict anything violent, gang-related, obscene or otherwise offensive or inappropriate in any manner," the suit reportedly says, noting that a fade haircut "is common with African American youth". JT's parents have filed their complaint against Pearland Independent School District, as well as Principal Tony Barcelona, disciple clerk Helen Day and teacher Jeanette Peterson. All three school officials allegedly laughed as they used the permanent marker to colour JT's scalp. But the lawsuit notes that the pen "made the design more prominent", and says his parents would have had the haircut changed had they been notified. Pearland Independent School District altered their dress code policy in May. Earlier in August, in nearby Galveston, police apologised after officers on horseback led a handcuffed black man by a rope, which many decried as reminiscent of the slavery era.

Accspted XD i hope u will lost ?

V1 : V2 :

> Opponent's nickname:: @W A L K E R ™ > Theme (must be an image): > Work Type: Sign : Battle . > Size & Texts: 150*250 > How many votes?: 15 > Work time: 24 h