tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78632231208986409122024-03-08T00:47:45.340+01:00de profundis ad valorem(from out of the depths, according to its worth)JASON MASHAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10894966416167058786noreply@blogger.comBlogger65125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7863223120898640912.post-61103537950243768602023-10-25T23:44:00.000+02:002023-10-25T23:44:08.820+02:00THE MOST FAMOUS VANS<br /><div class="MsoNormal">
Vincent (& Theo) Van Gogh</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eddie (& Alex) Van Halen<o:p></o:p></div>
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Van Helsing<o:p></o:p></div>
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Van de Kamp chicken<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Townes Van Zandt<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dick (& Paul) Van Dyk<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Camper Van Beethoven<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Gus Van Sant<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ludwig Van Beethoven<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rip Van Winkle<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Martin Van Buren<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Van Morrison<o:p></o:p></div>
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<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Van Nuys</st1:city>,
<st1:state w:st="on">CA</st1:state></st1:place><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jean-Claude Van Damme<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Van Wilder</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ricky Van Shelton<o:p></o:p></div>
JASON MASHAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10894966416167058786noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7863223120898640912.post-74068188130539476522023-10-25T23:30:00.000+02:002023-10-25T23:30:02.752+02:00Family Roots – Finding Great-Grandma’s Transcarpathian Origins<p>Countless hours of genealogical research over the years led me to so many dead ends, but I have finally discovered – via Facebook of all places – that multiple place names that were used across various documents are actually all references to THE SAME VILLAGE, which was once part of Hungary, then Czechoslovakia, and now Ukraine.</p><p>This is where my dad’s maternal grandmother Helena (Ilona) Straus came from, when she arrived to Ellis Island – and eventually Chicago – in 1911. I learned recently from my uncle that her parents wanted her to marry someone whom she did not want to marry, and so she fled to America.</p><p>In Chicago, she married Joseph Tikal, a Slovak who left a neighboring Transcarpathian village for Chicago seven years earlier, in 1904.</p><p>English translations below are via Facebook.</p><p>*</p><p>#історіяСвалява #Свалявськийрайон </p><p>Ervindorf - Neudorf with New Selo (New Suskovo), гадки: 1856: Ervinfalu, 1882: Ervinfalva, Szuszkó újfalu, 1895: Szuszkó-Ujfalu, 1910: Szuskóújfalu, Erwinsdorf, 1913: Szuszkóújfalu, 1925: Susko Nové Selo, Novo Selo, 1930: Selo Nové, 1944: Szuszkóújfalu, Сусково</p><p>The history of the village begins from 1850. His other name is New Suskovo, and at the times of the prosperity of the Austrian community, the settlement was called Neudorf and Erwinsdorf.</p><p>Because it was Erwin Schoenborn in 1856 that brought 12 families of colonists from German lands of the Czech Republic here to work in the forest. As Roman Catholics, the villagers belonged to the Drachyn parish. The immigrants held onto their language, their faith.</p><p>After World War II, many Germans were repressed. The church is on fire. Her remains were dismantled in the second half of the 1970s. A wooden cross was installed at the site of the church.</p><p>The Roman Catholic Church of St. Mary Wendelina in the village. New Village. A piece of historical knowledge. Anton Muller. Carpathian Ruthenia. Throwback (script). Ludwigsburg, 1954, s. 139-140.</p><p>Recorded in Novi Sela 1991 from the words of Maria Venk (1905 r. n)</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhOw9AetKfOKBHLoLYK5N1EDsL1VAEK-Vmlf4j-8_bYsH8kXKnkfxcCMaCbiNyxLyUHvx3p9imb0dV_ONJKX97HGltqjcDQGqEnY-Ps80OnPbv-TKGq1hEQf3yFe1Zt0vbb1yRqqv7arPMuJzgxeF1Z9MuzC8rNaRxnVlXJw32IAW3ec1nbleU8DEzlJiJu" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="869" data-original-width="1200" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhOw9AetKfOKBHLoLYK5N1EDsL1VAEK-Vmlf4j-8_bYsH8kXKnkfxcCMaCbiNyxLyUHvx3p9imb0dV_ONJKX97HGltqjcDQGqEnY-Ps80OnPbv-TKGq1hEQf3yFe1Zt0vbb1yRqqv7arPMuJzgxeF1Z9MuzC8rNaRxnVlXJw32IAW3ec1nbleU8DEzlJiJu" width="320" /></a></div><br />Source: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/972655726636505/permalink/1306109296624478/">https://www.facebook.com/groups/972655726636505/permalink/1306109296624478/</a><p></p><p>*</p><p>#MissingVillagesTranscarpathia - villages that no longer exist</p><p>301. Ervindorf</p><p>Ervindorf is a former village in Ukraine, in the Transcarpathian region.</p><p>United with the village of Suskovo</p><p>Сегадки: 1856: Ervinfalu, 1882: Ervinfalva, Suszkó new village, 1895: Szuszkó-Ujfalu, 1910: Szuskóújfalu, Erwinsdorf, 1913: Szzkóújfamu, 1925: Susko Nové Selo, Novo Selo, 1930: Selo Nové, 1944: Szusko New Village, Сусково</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg8QjNv8HOAtG405jvQc3LgAQyeH0PBhH6pVNN2bXnzQxIOA0O6VnqcnfQr4z57wY8UA8nrxIlmRIJ4d_KDsgmaMoNdO7n2W-_uEZBGaobk4hPVMHEXbSda67qGi3PPkFEMSgGfkYC_CyZv_bVpd8CuEOw1JwL_sU-_jjPsw0e3_tLG_q2IUhRVhp6PPXXa" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="960" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg8QjNv8HOAtG405jvQc3LgAQyeH0PBhH6pVNN2bXnzQxIOA0O6VnqcnfQr4z57wY8UA8nrxIlmRIJ4d_KDsgmaMoNdO7n2W-_uEZBGaobk4hPVMHEXbSda67qGi3PPkFEMSgGfkYC_CyZv_bVpd8CuEOw1JwL_sU-_jjPsw0e3_tLG_q2IUhRVhp6PPXXa" width="320" /></a></div><br />Source: <a href="https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0ELT6xJap9E7QYZUAs5GfnCUoniNBCeJHqJ8Ux9sYzkSTeD1XXJP2DiuU12KejtvUl&id=100003579045232">https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0ELT6xJap9E7QYZUAs5GfnCUoniNBCeJHqJ8Ux9sYzkSTeD1XXJP2DiuU12KejtvUl&id=100003579045232</a><p></p><p>*</p><p>Photo of Helena Straus and Josef Tikal with their children in Chicago. My grandma is on the far left.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgCOYmyIfsZoe85e0FRjXu87mwsb9j1EPGntxrdlriZSQmQF436k5o3D6QsToiqmFCmF0WTegxjSU5OOhFm6p6s0stJ2e4-FPBztA1zRrnNB2M4U2oSXBDrT7zYViwQR5p-6xlnWtG9RO8e3su9nONnuW0z8ejoCvycyVohu8977SesTZYM7OEDVXrBfuiX" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgCOYmyIfsZoe85e0FRjXu87mwsb9j1EPGntxrdlriZSQmQF436k5o3D6QsToiqmFCmF0WTegxjSU5OOhFm6p6s0stJ2e4-FPBztA1zRrnNB2M4U2oSXBDrT7zYViwQR5p-6xlnWtG9RO8e3su9nONnuW0z8ejoCvycyVohu8977SesTZYM7OEDVXrBfuiX" width="180" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>JASON MASHAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10894966416167058786noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7863223120898640912.post-71726712989716021472023-08-09T22:40:00.004+02:002023-08-13T14:56:39.660+02:00If You’re Going to Genealogy, Then Genealogy<p> What’s with DNA matches on genealogy sites that say “[Name] appears in a family tree with 5 people…”</p><p>So that person built a tree with him/her self, 2 parents, and only 2 grandparents… and then gave up and took a DNA test?</p><p>Do people even know how to do research anymore?</p><p>Here’s a good one, can’t even be bothered to add grandparents.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhqj5mmu75coJGe641RAGwdRK32azZ4WhwgWl4sWLVLn89epo-eIvea7l0JBFaa6V42vTWVChiYHeFGlxsJi5WUSonseEHE0JwGA_gGBlrR9CGZsDZMvLo9n0vYm5Ri_9mqlhgk5uisQx_I_GpPZZzNWxDfzIilyQnPU2i9E-8aQWhaT74t0Ss4OTFaKk0s" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="610" data-original-width="1242" height="157" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhqj5mmu75coJGe641RAGwdRK32azZ4WhwgWl4sWLVLn89epo-eIvea7l0JBFaa6V42vTWVChiYHeFGlxsJi5WUSonseEHE0JwGA_gGBlrR9CGZsDZMvLo9n0vYm5Ri_9mqlhgk5uisQx_I_GpPZZzNWxDfzIilyQnPU2i9E-8aQWhaT74t0Ss4OTFaKk0s" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>If DNA results via genealogy sites were more accurate:</p><p>“Great-grandmother’s 1st cousin 3 times removed… cut off from the family, sent into exile, and finally 86’d with the body dumped somewhere in the back 40.”</p><p>* * *</p><p>In my case, by researching and filling branches of the tree I’ve discovered real family connections I would’ve never known about otherwise.</p><p>The most remarkable to date are two connections in Germany to my great-grandmother Helena Straus, who migrated to Chicago from a small farming settlement in Transcarpathia, which at that time was part of Hungary, then Czechoslovakia, now Ukraine. She was a dead end, information-wise, but I now have contacts to both her father’s Strauss lineage and her mother’s Baumann lineage.</p><p>I’ve also found matches for my maternal grandfather’s relatives in Denmark and my paternal side in Poland… and my maternal grandma’s family I can now trace back to arrivals to North America as far back as the 1600s, with multiple ancestors fighting in the Revolutionary War – including later-arriving German Hessian mercenaries who arrived circa 1776 as reinforcements for the British forces, then gambled big by turning against their British employers for a chance at a new life in America (my how times have changed – for my chance at a better life I’ve migrated back to Europe).</p><p>* * *</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">A Tip Regarding Best Sources of Correct Names and Dates</h4><p>Census records are rarely a good source of correct names and birthdates. Think of it like this... when someone was responsible for quickly filling in the names and ages of a family of 8, 12 or 15 people, for a report that had a tendency to be focused on ethnicity, profession, and such, you will find a lot of discrepancies.</p><p>Birth, Marriage, and Death records tend to have the most accurate details for an individual, as they are more apt to be meticulously completed for that one person, with less time constraint.</p><p>I hope this helps anyone just beginning their genealogical research journey.</p><p>* * * </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Am I Back to Blogger?</h4><p>Yeah, this is an old blog and I’m dusting it off... might start musing here again.</p><p>Greetings from Brno, #GreatMoravia.</p><p>Jason</p><p><br /></p>JASON MASHAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10894966416167058786noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7863223120898640912.post-17029350360085369872014-02-23T22:38:00.000+01:002014-02-23T22:38:00.106+01:00It's Complicated: Relationships in 2014Three articles were making the social-media rounds this February and, together, they just might be an odd enough trinity to tell us something about relationships in the year 2014.<br />
<br />
First, an <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/02/when-you-fall-in-love-this-is-what-facebook-sees/283865/" target="_blank">Atlantic article showing how Facebook can predict who will be in a relationship</a> -- perhaps before the couple themselves are even aware of it.<br />
<br />
Second, a <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/feb/14/does-equality-kill-sex" target="_blank">Guardian reprint of a New York Times piece titled "Does equality kill sex?"</a> -- with the result being that men who do only 'manly' things and don't try to 'help around the house' have sex more frequently and with partners who report greater sexual satisfaction.<br />
<br />
And third, a short <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/love-sex/adultery-may-be-the-key-to-a-long-happy-marriage-psychologists-claim-9129127.html" target="_blank">Independent article suggesting that polyamory may be the key to a longer, happier marriage</a> -- that is, 'outsourcing' a few needs, as the needs couples place on each other are allegedly increasing over time.<br />
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*<br />
<br />
After reading all three articles, I started to get the feeling, however, that there may not be anything 'new' to any of these studies. Of course two people will increase their communications before 'hooking up', of course male/female gender roles are adequately hardwired no matter how much we may try to reprogram them, and throughout all human history, of course, it seems to have been too much for one person to fulfill all of another person's emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and physical needs. It seems that the old saying "The more things change, the more they stay the same" has struck again, despite whatever 'newness' researchers try to attach to their data. Human relationships are just... complicated.JASON MASHAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10894966416167058786noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7863223120898640912.post-55756113791116837882012-09-05T12:12:00.003+02:002014-02-23T22:41:38.412+01:00New Jason Mashak poems en routeI'll soon have new work coming out in Amsterdam Quarterly and the revived Lummox Journal.<br />
<br />
Earlier this year (2012), I had work published in <a href="http://unshodquills.com/2012/06/19/jason-mashak-featured-poet/" target="_blank">Unshod Quills</a> (as featured poet!) and some poems that appeared earlier in a printed volume, in both English and Czech translation, reprinted on the web edition of <a href="http://kumquatpoetry.tumblr.com/post/29819318616/wandering-through-prague-with-a-bratislava-map-bloumam" target="_blank">Kumquat Poetry</a>.<br />
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*<br />
<br />
UPDATE: You can read my poems in Amsterdam Quarterly here: <br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.amsterdamquarterly.org/issues/aq5-exile-and-emigration/jason-mashak-bratislava-airport/" target="_blank">"Bratislava Airport"</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.amsterdamquarterly.org/issues/aq5-exile-and-emigration/jason-mashak-prague-metro-2-june-2009/" target="_blank">"Prague Metro, 2 June 2009"</a></li>
</ul>
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Enjoy!<br />
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<br />JASON MASHAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10894966416167058786noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7863223120898640912.post-30622962491482122062012-06-08T09:49:00.001+02:002012-06-08T09:49:30.364+02:00Portland, Oregon's Orange Lining Art Project<i>“Hi Jason, We had over 1100 submissions of lines for the Orange Lining project and have chosen 103 for potential use. Your line, EVERY RUIN IS A THING WE HAVE MADE, was selected, during our second round of reviews.”</i><br />
<br />I’m pleased to announce that a line from my book <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8610941-salty-as-a-lip" target="_blank"><i>Salty as a Lip</i></a> has been chosen “for potential use” for an art installation that will accompany a new light-rail (metro) extension deep into SE Portland, Oregon.<br />
<br />
Other authors include people I’ve read with in Portland (e.g. Hurricane Katrina Benefit, Wordstock/Poetland) or whose work and professionalism I’ve admired over the years, and I’m honored to be listed among them:<br />
<br />Anatoly Molotkov, David Abel, Jules Boykoff, Kaia Sand, Laura Winter, Paulann Petersen, B.T. Shaw, and David Biespiel.<br />
<br />
More info: <a href="http://orangelining.net/" target="_blank">http://orangelining.net/ </a><br />JASON MASHAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10894966416167058786noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7863223120898640912.post-73152112109310724702011-03-26T19:37:00.000+01:002011-03-26T19:37:11.844+01:00April, the Kindest Month2011 has been a year of mostly Mondays. Maybe something to do with the moon's closest hovering in decades... or simply a convergence of obstacles to test my endurance. Regardless, April promises a new mentor in my life, a second daughter. My little Zoe will be a big sister to.. baby Chloe.<br />
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On the poetic front, I'll be reading at the <a href="http://prague.usembassy.gov/american_center.html">U.S. Embassy's American Center</a> here in Prague, along with legendary Czech underground writer/musician/artist <a href="http://www.radio.cz/en/section/books/pavel-zajicek-a-czech-poet-who-crosses-the-line-between-words-and-music-reality-and-dream">Pavel Zajíček</a> and the notorious American fiction writer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brad_Vice">Brad Vice</a>, to celebrate the release of a new Czech-English anthology (with a theme akin to 'self-exile') recently compiled and translated by poet-professors <a href="http://www.anglistika.upol.cz/Sweney.htm">Matthew Sweney</a> and <a href="http://www.anglistika.upol.cz/Hysek.htm">Bob Hýsek</a>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBMDPUqR4h65R3sW_aTYGuKI6UUYwsnACu6LmPDE-H4QLlqmPVpl3D8k1GwuY8bLKdRMtu7TMyvMVWrQhvHDEkU9olaNZwenNHPhyphenhyphen_6Ru6HT6JU6ZPTNpppqOyAZDLJzmXSibcp7L9956j/s1600/FleetingHomes-Poster-A6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBMDPUqR4h65R3sW_aTYGuKI6UUYwsnACu6LmPDE-H4QLlqmPVpl3D8k1GwuY8bLKdRMtu7TMyvMVWrQhvHDEkU9olaNZwenNHPhyphenhyphen_6Ru6HT6JU6ZPTNpppqOyAZDLJzmXSibcp7L9956j/s640/FleetingHomes-Poster-A6.jpg" width="451" /></a></div>JASON MASHAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10894966416167058786noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7863223120898640912.post-91757849062341484872011-02-12T21:48:00.001+01:002011-02-13T09:05:48.115+01:00Small Towns and BombsWhat is it with small towns having so many bomb threats? I recall that as a teenager in north Georgia (the US state) the nearby towns would have them, and they were typically traced back to prank callers.<br />
<br />
After attending <i><a href="http://www.cirquedeglace.com/">Cirque de Glace</a></i> today in Prague, which turned out to be a bit of a bomb but at least my daughter loved it (I would've preferred <i>Cirque Erotique a la Plage</i>), we headed home a different way to avoid the traffic that we were stuck in for far too long on the way to the event, and we ended up in the Czech town of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C4%9Bln%C3%ADk">Melnik</a>, where we had dinner at a pizzeria and then stopped by TESCO (like a British Wal-Mart chain) on our way home.<br />
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We'd been there about 10 minutes when employees and a couple police officers began guiding everyone to the front, along with the news that there'd been a bomb threat.<br />
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In the US, a message like this would have sent shoppers running in a panic... but not here in old Bohemia -- no, Czechs being the infamous skeptics that they are, people just looked pissed off and slowly trudged along toward the front, many even stopping to buy smokes on the way out. I too doubted the reality of the threat, but I quickly got my daughter outside (just in case).<br />
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Afterward, I sent an sms to a friend who lives not far from there and mentioned sarcastically that "Melnik seems to be a hotbed of Muslim activity" (actually, probably the only extremist group anywhere near there would be Czech neo-Nazis), to which he reminded me that Czechs did invent <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semtex">Semtex</a>.JASON MASHAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10894966416167058786noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7863223120898640912.post-38846309280484417832011-01-01T15:12:00.000+01:002011-01-01T15:12:55.218+01:002010 in Literary TermsIn terms of English-language literary endeavors in Prague, 2010 was a flourishing year, seeing multiple launches and events surrounding: <br />
<ul><li><a href="http://www.grasp-journal.com/">GRASP Journal</a> </li>
<li>the Rakish Angel Poetry Pamphlet Series</li>
<li>the <a href="http://ekleksographia.ahadadabooks.com/mashak/index.html">Czech issue of Ekleksographia</a> (which I edited)</li>
<li><strong></strong><a href="http://www.praguepost.com/tempo/4270-anthology-tracks-prose-and-poetry-of-past-20-years.html">The Return of Kral Majales: Prague's International Literary Renaissance 1990-2010</a> anthology</li>
<li><a href="http://vlakmagazine.blogspot.com/">VLAK Magazine</a></li>
<li>and many other notable publications I am currently forgetting.</li>
</ul><a href="http://www.czechlit.cz/interview/expat-writers-focus-on-what-s-foreign-to-their-own-culture/">Czech Literature Portal interviewed me (in English)</a> early in the year (<a href="http://www.czechlit.cz/rozhovory/pisici-expati-se-zameruji-na-to-co-je-jejich-vlastni-kulture-cizi-/">Czech-language version of the interview here</a>), followed by a an <a href="http://blackheartmagazine.com/2010/08/18/an-interview-with-jason-mashak/">interview with Black Heart Magazine</a> at summer's end.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ15ME557oKdSS-GevYosMPHgQgKHGOA3Cd2XLnK4jIXeV6rR7w1vlXqIY4_UhY3RZ5ngP3kbdRDBczv5y7tSqa4GgLJ0_DN2c6DkdBdxzGviXhq01RHYUM2civrX7J4eGKeb_JRGtS04n/s1600/Fullscreen+capture+112011+25615+PM.bmp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ15ME557oKdSS-GevYosMPHgQgKHGOA3Cd2XLnK4jIXeV6rR7w1vlXqIY4_UhY3RZ5ngP3kbdRDBczv5y7tSqa4GgLJ0_DN2c6DkdBdxzGviXhq01RHYUM2civrX7J4eGKeb_JRGtS04n/s320/Fullscreen+capture+112011+25615+PM.bmp.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Haggard & Halloo Publications (Austin, Texas, USA) released the <a href="http://www.haggardandhalloo.com/products-page/order-jason-mashaks-book/">first printing of my own first book, Salty as a Lip</a>, which SOLD OUT by the end of the year!<br />
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After various readings during the year at Shakespeare & Sons (Rakish Angel and Prague Microfest), Globe Books (GRASP), Anglo-American University (AAU Library - Spring Series), and Radost (Kral Majales launch), I was invited to read at <a href="http://www.bezhranic.net/">Ostrovy bez hranic</a> (Islands Without Borders festival, in conjunction with Palacky University), in the Moravian city of Olomouc (eastern Czech Republic), an experience that has turned out to be loosely connected with my poetry starting to be published in Czech (e.g., January 2011 issue of <a href="http://www.bkc.cz/kam.php">KAM v Brně</a>, as well as an upcoming dual-language anthology of "self-exiled" poets in Czech Republic). Hopefully, my work will eventually make its way also into Slovak and Polish.JASON MASHAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10894966416167058786noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7863223120898640912.post-38350089108530776992010-04-28T09:23:00.001+02:002010-04-28T09:24:47.329+02:00Gmail Spam Alert: This did NOT come from Gmail (and their spam filter missed it!)from: Gmail accountsalert.era@gmail.com<br />
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The Gmail TeamJASON MASHAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10894966416167058786noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7863223120898640912.post-76724606313165891022009-06-17T19:41:00.004+02:002009-06-17T19:52:50.357+02:00Market Research - Data That Matters<span style="font-size:130%;">On 24 July 2008, <a href="http://www.last.fm/">Last.fm</a> showed the following figures:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Uncle Tupelo</span><br /><ul><li>Listeners: 76,728</li><li>Plays: 1,105,499</li></ul><span style="font-size:130%;">Son Volt</span><br /><ul><li>Listeners: 46,355</li><li>Plays: 648,940</li></ul><span style="font-size:130%;">Wilco</span><br /><ul><li>Listeners: 492,169</li><li>Plays: 17,326,297</li></ul><span style="font-size:130%;">Jayhawks</span><br /><ul><li>Listeners: 52,068</li><li>Plays: 792,006</li></ul><span style="font-size:130%;">Whiskeytown</span><br /><ul><li>Listeners: 59,864</li><li>Plays: 1,297,201</li></ul>-----<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Jay Farrar</span><br /><ul><li>Listeners: 18,467</li><li>Plays: 148,837</li></ul><span style="font-size:130%;">Jeff Tweedy</span><br /><ul><li>Listeners: 34,192</li><li>Plays: 527,717</li></ul><span style="font-size:130%;">Ryan Adams</span><br /><ul><li>Listeners: 329,524</li><li>Plays: 12,038,710</li></ul><span style="font-size:130%;">Billy Bragg & Wilco</span><br /><ul><li>Listeners: 90,978</li><li>Plays: 1,334,270</li></ul><script src="http://shots.snap.com//client/inject.js?site_name=0" type="text/javascript"></script>JASON MASHAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10894966416167058786noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7863223120898640912.post-23682713365563384892009-01-05T11:48:00.012+01:002009-01-05T12:15:19.578+01:00First Translation of Celine's *Journey to the End of the Night* was to Czech<span style="font-family:courier new;">Here's an great tidbit on Celine and translation, reported by </span><a style="font-weight: bold; font-family: courier new;" href="http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2008-04-15-eurozinerev-en.html">Eurozine</a><span style="font-family:courier new;"> as featured content of </span><a style="font-weight: bold; font-family: courier new;" href="http://www.revolverrevue.cz/">Revolver Review</a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:courier new;" > #70</span><span style="font-family:courier new;">, the contents of which are unfortunately not available in English (though the excerpt is). I've been trying to learn Czech (and Slovak) for two years, partly so I can read stuff like this, as well as a plethora of Czecho-Slovak underground literature known as </span><a style="font-family: courier new;" href="http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelplang/czech/czechsamizdat/czechsamizdat.html">Samizdat</a><span style="font-family:courier new;">.</span><br /><br /><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:courier new;" >The very first translation of Louis-Ferdinand Céline's </span><i style="font-family: courier new; font-weight: bold;">Journey to the End of the Night</i><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:courier new;" > was into Czech, reveals Anna Kareninová in </span><i style="font-family: courier new; font-weight: bold;">Revolver Revue</i><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:courier new;" >. Exactly 75 years ago, Céline happened to come to Prague for the first time. There he met the German filmmaker Karl Junghans, who had directed German and Czech films, including </span><i style="font-family: courier new; font-weight: bold;">Takovy je zivot / Such is Life</i><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:courier new;" >. Having seen the film in France and admired it greatly, Céline had a spontaneous idea for collaboration: "Although I do not understand [film] and am not sure whether a film could be made of it, I know that you are the only director in the world who could film </span><i style="font-family: courier new; font-weight: bold;">Journey to the End of the Night</i><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:courier new;" > according to my conception." Like many of the best ideas, it never came to fruition.</span></li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:courier new;" ><br /></span><span style="font-family:courier new;">It's interesting to note that Celine himself wished for a Czech or German film version of the novel, if one was to ever be made. I can't help but wonder what <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milo%C5%A1_Forman">Milos Forman</a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_%C5%A0vankmajer">Jan Svankmajer</a> would do if they had a go at it.</span>JASON MASHAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10894966416167058786noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7863223120898640912.post-22679450514327334712008-12-01T10:25:00.008+01:002009-04-27T10:37:21.219+02:00U.S. Occupation of Czech Republic -- Can it Be Stopped?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjON4uMfT7QjyAsuIaYowxzfkGdtFvrxEZur6pDkdmw5yAlVwOUZN8iZZ8b9E4s9rtFV2S1afq5a9xbIwZWR8Ty427tLy2IHVVuFMWIV6QrTzyGpZEkgPDmBwvTIvo0oNvg-hjnd89KCYWX/s1600-h/no+us+radar+in+cz.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 193px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjON4uMfT7QjyAsuIaYowxzfkGdtFvrxEZur6pDkdmw5yAlVwOUZN8iZZ8b9E4s9rtFV2S1afq5a9xbIwZWR8Ty427tLy2IHVVuFMWIV6QrTzyGpZEkgPDmBwvTIvo0oNvg-hjnd89KCYWX/s320/no+us+radar+in+cz.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274758359892422786" border="0" /></a><br /><p> <span style="font-family:times new roman;">"Czech Senate ratified today the two radar treaties signed in July [2007] by Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. By doing so it openly positioned itself </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:times new roman;" >against the will of the majority of Czechs as polls have been showing for the last two years that most Czechs disagree with the plan</span><span style="font-family:times new roman;">. </span></p><span style="font-family:times new roman;"> “From the point of view of democracy in our country this is a major setback. The government-controlled </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:times new roman;" >senate clearly showed that it does not care about the will of the Czech people</span><span style="font-family:times new roman;"> and that’s simply unacceptable,” said Jan Tamas[...] / Read </span><a style="font-family: times new roman;" href="http://www.nenasili.cz/en/2430_senate-marked-black-thursday-in-czech-history">entire article</a><span style="font-family:times new roman;">.</span><br /><br />_________________<br /><br /><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:130%;" >A Few Reasons Why I Am Against a U.S. Radar Station in Czech Republic:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">1. The U.S. already spends far more on its military than all of its "enemies" combined. Conversely, its education system is in ruins, the population increasingly illiterate (evident by the number of people who voted for Geezer/Dingbat (McCain/Palin), against their own interests, in the 2007 elections).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">2. Czechs were occupied by Russian military for several decades. During this time, they began to love anything "American." Those who actually support the radar (and subsequent U.S. military bases) are still under this spell (caused mostly by Hollywood films - for example, they don't believe there are homeless people in the USA). The powerful minority of radar supporters have not yet realized that they'll be trading Russian occupation for American occupation.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">3. It makes the Czech Republic, and especially Prague, a target.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">4. It serves no strategic purpose that could not be better placed in already-occupied countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">5. The U.S. went nuts when </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis">Russia put similar weapons in Cuba</a><span style="font-family:arial;">, yet expects Russia not to mind it doing the same thing - putting missiles and radar bases on Russia's doorstep. How would the U.S. react if Russia installed a similar setup in Cancun or Montreal?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">6. The majority of Czechs don't want it (apparently, Czech Republic is not a real democracy).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">7. Iran, a formidable country, is surrounded by U.S. military</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> (Afghanistan/Iraq)</span><span style="font-family:arial;">... Russia is being threatened by radar and missile bases on its doorstep... America needs to relax a bit, get its own problems taken care of (education system, economy, unemployment, etc.), and not be so globally self-important.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><a style="font-family: arial;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggkAZwC469YyBxkE8tADEpyHB3nCy5oeorNH_GUc1FcBIf-yYRPvIgtJ-9oEg1lVh0AKWPKFTI7R9vfAQr-ZyuCN5ndnr6NdROB4TjC65CFvSMiYcRUJzgSdl3xQAaNcKta1SNPp6D8F33/s1600-h/radar+ideal+plan.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggkAZwC469YyBxkE8tADEpyHB3nCy5oeorNH_GUc1FcBIf-yYRPvIgtJ-9oEg1lVh0AKWPKFTI7R9vfAQr-ZyuCN5ndnr6NdROB4TjC65CFvSMiYcRUJzgSdl3xQAaNcKta1SNPp6D8F33/s320/radar+ideal+plan.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274763253385350514" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">See the </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.nenasili.cz/en/">chain of events</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> that have led to this point, or sign an </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://petice.nenasili.cz/?lang=en">online petition</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> to stop American (U.S.) military occupation of the Czech Republic.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Join the official facebook group "</span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.facebook.com/inbox/?ref=mb#/group.php?gid=13049171690">No US military base on Czech Republic territory</a><span style="font-family:arial;">."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">And here's a larger Euro-wide movement called </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.europeforpeace.eu/">Europe for Peace: Europe free from nuclear weapons</a><span style="font-family:arial;">.</span>JASON MASHAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10894966416167058786noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7863223120898640912.post-80419199491910396562008-11-13T15:28:00.006+01:002008-11-13T15:37:12.643+01:00Tribe.net to be Revamped<span style="font-weight: bold;">I received the following email today from Tribe.net, which I discovered (and liked) long before I found Myspace, and later Facebook and LinkedIn. It appears that Tribe.net is back in the game.</span><br /><br /><br /><p> San Francisco, CA (<a href="http://www.prweb.com/" target="_blank">PRWEB</a>) November 11, 2008 -- Utah Street Networks and New Systems Associates today entered into an operating agreement to manage <a title="Tribe.net, one of the first social networking sites" href="http://www.tribe.net/" target="_blank">Tribe.net, one of the first social networking sites</a>, add competitive social networking features to the site, and revitalize the Tribe community. </p> <p> </p> <div style="padding-left: 5px; float: right; width: 250px;"> <div><img alt="tribe logo" src="http://www.prweb.com/prfiles/2008/11/10/139567/gI_tribelogo.gif.jpg" style="margin: 10px 5px;" align="right" border="0" /></div> <div style="margin: 1px 10px; text-align: center; clear: both; font-weight: bold; width: 250px;"><br /></div> </div> <p> The first priorities for New Systems Associates are to stabilize the platform and improve the site's performance. To accomplish these goals, the company is committing substantial resources to upgrade Tribe's hardware and application. The hardware migration will begin immediately, resulting in better performance and stability users expect from a world-class social network. New Systems Associates will also add new features to improve connections within the Tribe community and to other social networks and widgets. </p> <p>In the longer term, New Systems Associates will grow the Tribe community by developing features including advanced privacy features, profile control, regional relevancy, personal discovery, and free-range connectivity. The company is committed to strengthening Tribe's alternative community and the unique ways in which users interact. </p> <p>Utah Street Networks, Inc. is the owner of Tribe.net, one of the oldest social networking sites on the Internet and pioneers of social graphing. </p> <p>New Systems Associates is an LLC formed by long-time Tribe members who believe in protecting and expanding Tribe's unique culture. </p> <p> For more information please email info @ <a href="http://tribe.net/" target="_blank">tribe.net</a>. </p>JASON MASHAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10894966416167058786noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7863223120898640912.post-265150538115531662008-11-03T09:00:00.006+01:002008-11-03T09:15:14.098+01:00De Profundis in Your Pocket<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://ny-image2.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.43297514.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="http://ny-image2.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.43297514.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.etsy.com/">Etsy.com</a>, "your place to buy & sell all things handmade" (and support hard-working artisans instead of corporations), offers an <a href="http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16833741">Oscar Wilde De Profundis Pocket Mirror</a>.<br /><br />Artist Tiffini Elektra X makes other mirrors, as well, featuring collages based on themes ranging from Buddha to Alice in Wonderland to Shakespeare to the Muses. At her own site, <a href="http://www.tartx.com/">tartx.com</a>, you'll find a range of her other handmade items that include jewelry, magnets, and bookmarks.JASON MASHAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10894966416167058786noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7863223120898640912.post-88181601099005377412008-10-31T16:18:00.004+01:002008-10-31T16:44:41.831+01:00Central / East European Literary Anthology - Free PDF Download<a href="http://www.litcentrum.sk/en/">Slovakia's Centre for Information on Literature</a> (Literárne a informačné centrum) has done a great thing for literature and language: They have placed a <a href="http://www.litcentrum.sk/en/43139">downloadable PDF of an anthology of Czech, Slovak, Polish, and Hungarian literature</a>, called <span style="font-style: italic;">Visegrad 4 Countries</span>, on their website. Additionally, and most important for folks like me (linguistically challenged), there's a translation of the anthology text in English.<br /><br />Pal Bekes (Hungary), the anthology's editor-in-chief, headed the project that received support by the following country editors: Ivory Rodriguez (Czech Republic), Ina Martinova (Slovakia), and Piotr Marciszuk (Poland).<br /><br />Authors include: Jan Balaban, Stanislav Beran, and Jachym Topol (Czech Republic); Karol D. Horvath, Marius Kopcsay, and Ursula Kovalyk (Slovakia); Pawel Huelle, Olga Tokarczukova, and Daniel Odija (Poland); and Lajos Parti Nagy, Szilard Podmaniczky, Margit Halaszova, and Gyorgy Spiro (Hungary).<br /><br />*<br /><br />As I have only read Jachym Topol from the above list of Central/East European writers, I'm looking forward to reading my own downloaded copy over the holidays.JASON MASHAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10894966416167058786noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7863223120898640912.post-13384934326099817312008-08-28T13:07:00.006+02:002008-08-28T13:26:29.096+02:00U.S. Coast Guard Cutter "Dallas" Lost at Sea<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/stupid-2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/stupid-2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />Hmmm... U.S. Coast Guard cutter "Dallas" seems to have gotten lost, since (last time I checked) THE U.S. COAST IS NOWHERE NEAR THE BLACK SEA.</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23545668-details/Military+help+for+Georgia+is+a+%27declaration+of+war%27%2C+says+Moscow+in+extraordinary+warning+to+the+West/article.do">thisislondon.co.uk article</a><br />(with pic of "Dallas" arriving in Batumi, Georgia - a port on the Black Sea)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/coastguardnews/2786818551/">official US Coast Guard photo on flickr</a><br />(of "Dallas" at a port in Crete, Greece)<br /><br />It doesn't matter whether the Coast Guard cutter ship is there "for humanitarian reasons" or not, it's the type of action that makes the US look either a) aggressive, b) stupid, or c) both a & b.JASON MASHAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10894966416167058786noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7863223120898640912.post-23762254603392207592008-08-21T15:35:00.005+02:002008-08-21T15:40:59.578+02:00Originial Blade Server<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBMwdNynMJ-eZ6TMVwjafubKviZquPKXgYlOK-OhgULGCJDc-2yhhMonLOS-3U98P2TNlbNeJYcVliwiI1KPIEC1dZvYIzo0oUKLCEZheELDWGCDZpyBVDlIGUJDIizIZsUXTVa4x2RYhi/s1600-h/zorro.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBMwdNynMJ-eZ6TMVwjafubKviZquPKXgYlOK-OhgULGCJDc-2yhhMonLOS-3U98P2TNlbNeJYcVliwiI1KPIEC1dZvYIzo0oUKLCEZheELDWGCDZpyBVDlIGUJDIizIZsUXTVa4x2RYhi/s320/zorro.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5236964700324348114" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Wikipedia mentions plenty about blade servers <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_server">here</a>.<br /><br />But strangely... in Wikipedia's "history of blade servers" section, no mention is made of Zorro.</span>JASON MASHAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10894966416167058786noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7863223120898640912.post-60489095949474821762008-02-18T21:27:00.013+01:002008-03-17T01:15:53.778+01:00Why the World Laughs at AmericansDo you want to know one major reason so many Europeans laugh when they see an advertisements like the following pop up on their computer screens, assuming that they (and everyone else not born in the USA) naturally would want to live there?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8aHW29w0CjBH4-fcr3IJckNWglsfq0hUw7JlJ7jFsf-vcvktSGNtWnPSVkma6onDB1Dpy_2tffrQXNM5aTY5y2_lG9IY2nYJIuZ5Gf28Nn87WnlSJJO5AZ9zHMetvOA3oF30LFteE0qDe/s1600-h/ad+with+passports.gif"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8aHW29w0CjBH4-fcr3IJckNWglsfq0hUw7JlJ7jFsf-vcvktSGNtWnPSVkma6onDB1Dpy_2tffrQXNM5aTY5y2_lG9IY2nYJIuZ5Gf28Nn87WnlSJJO5AZ9zHMetvOA3oF30LFteE0qDe/s200/ad+with+passports.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5168420769991418930" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmCyg9R4NxtUfz36OLcpFKL-aKx2r-Yqw2EQQDWl4ehMPrvVH0TCWYn33ggTWxbn13MLCKFV_5TnzPzhdJocHLWUy7pIFpQdYGIZp-mv8L8qaKRAhuLIFSt_n3m579Rmvb_byw07YtEUDm/s1600-h/ad+with+flag.gif"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmCyg9R4NxtUfz36OLcpFKL-aKx2r-Yqw2EQQDWl4ehMPrvVH0TCWYn33ggTWxbn13MLCKFV_5TnzPzhdJocHLWUy7pIFpQdYGIZp-mv8L8qaKRAhuLIFSt_n3m579Rmvb_byw07YtEUDm/s200/ad+with+flag.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5168426035621323906" border="0" /></a><br /><br />They laugh because of the utter arrogance of such assumptions, the downward spiral of the US Dollar... and also because of stupid things like this (note location of Iraq):<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP8mYU4CqVVwSiCfE0Hu6QWQmswYb95ti0YS-5xjfkCZP-Q2Ui1ZBqQEX2sbUY3FFgMuWKiKTmR5ZlWc8ScolKuKfkJK2OIuhaNf9YJJDSVd21vOHylz6skgcE-yF18bdrshlSLdU9wqci/s1600-h/Iraq+is+Germany.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP8mYU4CqVVwSiCfE0Hu6QWQmswYb95ti0YS-5xjfkCZP-Q2Ui1ZBqQEX2sbUY3FFgMuWKiKTmR5ZlWc8ScolKuKfkJK2OIuhaNf9YJJDSVd21vOHylz6skgcE-yF18bdrshlSLdU9wqci/s320/Iraq+is+Germany.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5168421298272396354" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Apparently, CNN thinks Iraq has relocated to where Germany used to be.<br /><br />And in another interesting change of geography, Hungary seems to have shifted west - far enough to have replaced Austria - thus moving Slovakia's capital, Bratislava, to the southernmost tip of Czech republic...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtTmHCgKRYkGgztGJo3ToiBnbJpaX0c_9ZU_6H-dP3SdTLFJNRyKutWNsWarmw7qggx9NswcTCsSGQowbcrqVCYZLdlQnu0WIGC7jJZtzhBdgMtpJK7JRWJGIfWPoN6VmC_SHAgXtAvqxS/s1600-h/Slovakia-Hungary+Move+West.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtTmHCgKRYkGgztGJo3ToiBnbJpaX0c_9ZU_6H-dP3SdTLFJNRyKutWNsWarmw7qggx9NswcTCsSGQowbcrqVCYZLdlQnu0WIGC7jJZtzhBdgMtpJK7JRWJGIfWPoN6VmC_SHAgXtAvqxS/s320/Slovakia-Hungary+Move+West.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5168421925337621586" border="0" /></a><br /><br />So how does Czech Republic feel about their acquisition of Slovakia's capital, Bratislava? Well, one can't be sure. You could ask them, but... Czech Republic is now apparently called "Switzerland"...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfxx4PTYrgXQqvNOsNO0OWcVOmiY9aE29oeWJ0CGS6IohSpl6sbuh16VYXGIK5VVetR-rAmQ-l0oMUGndUBVXjKi2V_Cl_XO5fLuAk4PR7eHn57VnS0McOJWF4UFR-PG4Sfi1uiBI12Uwz/s1600-h/Swiss+Take+CZ.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfxx4PTYrgXQqvNOsNO0OWcVOmiY9aE29oeWJ0CGS6IohSpl6sbuh16VYXGIK5VVetR-rAmQ-l0oMUGndUBVXjKi2V_Cl_XO5fLuAk4PR7eHn57VnS0McOJWF4UFR-PG4Sfi1uiBI12Uwz/s320/Swiss+Take+CZ.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5168423162288202850" border="0" /></a><br /><br />So maybe we should ask Slovakia how it feels about its capital having been moved to Czech Republic (now known as Switzerland). But wait... I don't think they're going to care! Slovakia has now moved a few hundred kilometers southwest to a Mediterranean climate, apparently to take over Slovenia's territory. And thus, the former Ljubljana, Slovenia appears to be the new Bratislava, Slovakia...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKAOpWShgNB0SN19Ozf51JeOD2vHJewPESd5iNjkfb2N1a3ZHJtzjsf19zESl46jr7MeYlZ7gJXM0SXQ_P1ccx4hmP9et5NLzCr53Oy9wn_gwZasLcV1Vbt852Fik95hK99my70EPHH88i/s1600-h/Slovakia+Visits+the+Sea.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKAOpWShgNB0SN19Ozf51JeOD2vHJewPESd5iNjkfb2N1a3ZHJtzjsf19zESl46jr7MeYlZ7gJXM0SXQ_P1ccx4hmP9et5NLzCr53Oy9wn_gwZasLcV1Vbt852Fik95hK99my70EPHH88i/s320/Slovakia+Visits+the+Sea.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5168424309044470898" border="0" /></a>JASON MASHAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10894966416167058786noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7863223120898640912.post-35722918025494146392008-02-15T22:06:00.006+01:002009-08-09T09:25:47.228+02:00Some Concerts I've Experienced<span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >Most of these at various venues in ATLANTA (GA), CHATTANOOGA (TN), or at CALHOUN (GA)'s own little "Concerts in the Country" venue. Notice the list starts country (when I was only allowed to attend concerts with my mom & stepdad), but gets much better...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> The Righteous Brothers & Kenny Rogers. Alabama. Sawyer Brown (numerous times). Ray Stevens. John Snyder. Larry Gatlin & the Gatlin Brothers. The Beach Boys at Fulton County Stadium (after a Braves game). Chicago at Six Flags.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">James Brown, TLC, the Atlanta Rhythm Section, & Dick Clark at a pre-Olympics celebration.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Rush & Mr. Big at the Omni (the night Paul Gilbert got a drill caught in his hair during a typical 80s guitar wank, and they had to cut it out backstage).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The Black Crowes on the last night they opened for ZZ Top, before the latter kicked them off the tour (supposedly for using foul language -- what?! that's what rock n roll is for! -- but more likely because Chris Robinson made mention to the audience about ticket prices being too high).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Lollapalooza II: Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ministry (with cameo by Kirk Hammet), Lush, Ice Cube, Porno for Pyros, House of Pain, Stone Temple Pilots, etc.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Lollapalooza III: Alice in Chains, Fishbone, Primus, Arrested Development, Dinosaur Jr., Rage Against the Machine, Luscious Jackson, Tool, etc.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Lollapalooza IV: Beastie Boys, George Clinton & the P-Funk All-Stars, L7, The Breeders, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Black Crowes, etc.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Spin Doctors/Soul Asylum/Screaming Trees & Bad Company/Damn Yankees – Lakewood Amphitheatre. Lenny Kravitz & Blind Melon at Chastain Park. Prince at the Fox. Jayhawks & Dramarama at the Roxy for $2.49.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Bob Dylan.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. J.J. Cale. Morphine. All in Little Five Points (Atlanta). The Band – numerous places, among them Market Street Performance Hall. Government Mule at the Sandbar. Drivin n Cryin at the Sandbar. Widespread Panic at the National Guard Armoury. Phish in Nashville with guest appearance by Bela Fleck. </span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >Go west, young man... Most of the following in/around PORTLAND (OR)...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Wilco/John Hiatt/Los Lobos in Pioneer Square (Wilco numerous other times/places). Southern Culture on the Skids. White Stripes at Berbati's. Jayhawks at Music Millenium. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. Neil Young, solo & acoustic at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Kelly Joe Phelps at the Aladdin with Tom Waits' bass player & Morphine's drummer.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Tom Waits in Eugene. Willie Nelson at Clark County Fair. Chris Isaac at Portland Zoo. Jeff Tweedy solo – Aladdin Theatre & Crystal Ballroom.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">And then, halfway around the globe -- PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC...</span><br /><br />Kackala at Roxy NOD, Marian Varga at Vagon, Hudba Praha and Morcheeba at Lucerna, Jaroslav Hutka at a tiny cafe/pub, Brad Huff all over town, many many times... Niceland (Misha, my former flatmate for six months), Psi Vojaci, and Plastic People of the Universe at Bohnice...<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">And now I've got a baby, so no concerts for a while. :-)</span><br /></span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span></span></span><script src="http://shots.snap.com//client/inject.js?site_name=0" type="text/javascript"></script><script src="http://shots.snap.com//client/inject.js?site_name=0" type="text/javascript"></script>JASON MASHAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10894966416167058786noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7863223120898640912.post-70544070087231624492008-01-28T10:56:00.000+01:002008-02-05T23:43:32.273+01:00Social Networking for Book Lovers<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.fromoldbooks.org/pictures-of-old-books/pages/p7110009-grose-antique-books-with-candle/p7110009-grose-antique-books-with-candle-499x384.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.fromoldbooks.org/pictures-of-old-books/pages/p7110009-grose-antique-books-with-candle/p7110009-grose-antique-books-with-candle-499x384.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>I didn't know social networking sites for book lovers existed before a friend sent me an invitation to <a href="http://www.shelfari.com/">Shelfari</a>. I was pleased. A typical list-making (over-analyzing) Virgo, I've been tracking the books I've read in an Excel spreadsheet for over 10 years. I was more than glad to have a way to share that information with friends, a way to see what they might be reading, and to answer any questions they might have about the books I've read.<br /><br />So I signed up with Shelfari, and it was only later that I found there are several similar sites to choose from. So I did some digging around, and here are a few more I found:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/">http://www.goodreads.com/</a><br /><a href="http://www.gurulib.com/">http://www.gurulib.com/</a><br /><a href="http://www.librarything.com/">http://www.librarything.com/</a><br /><br />If you want to know which is right for you, there's a fairly in-depth review and comparison of Gurulib, Shelfari, and Librarything at the <a href="http://librarytwopointzero.blogspot.com/2006/10/librarything-shelfari-and-gurulib.html">librarytwopointzero blog</a><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span>. Also, here's an article/review at <a href="http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6458174.html">Publishers Weekly</a>.<br /><br />Google, never to be outdone, launched their own version in Sept 2007, called <a href="http://books.google.com/googlebooks/mylibrary/">MyLibrary</a>. You can read more about Google's version on the <a href="http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/09/googles-mylibra.html">Wired Blog</a>.<br /><br />And if you're still undecided, a few other sites are available:<br /><a href="http://www.whatsonmybookshelf.com/">http://www.whatsonmybookshelf.com/</a><br /><a href="http://www.bookswellread.com/">http://www.bookswellread.com/</a><br /><a href="http://www.revish.com/">http://www.revish.com/</a><br /><br /><br />As for me, I'm glad I didn't research this earlier, before joining Shelfari, or I might've gone crazy with all the options. Overall, <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.shelfari.com/deprofundis">my Shelfari page</a> is perfect for what I need it for, and it's got other features I don't even use (such as book reviews and book groups).<br /><br />If you know of other sites, or would like to comment on any of the above, please leave it in the comments section.JASON MASHAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10894966416167058786noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7863223120898640912.post-7998810828723037242008-01-25T23:41:00.000+01:002008-01-25T23:50:38.624+01:00Ross Perot - On Money & Happiness<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://images.forbes.com/media/lists/54/2006/C6KA.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://images.forbes.com/media/lists/54/2006/C6KA.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:130%;" ><em>"Right after my company got successful, as a young man I met some of the wealthiest people in the world. I found that they were such unhappy, lonely people... I learned that money and happiness are unrelated."<br /><br />~ Ross Perot<br /></em></span>JASON MASHAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10894966416167058786noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7863223120898640912.post-40104832395255057182008-01-23T12:10:00.000+01:002008-01-23T12:24:03.468+01:00Bye Bye, Mr. American Ledger<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://images.popsugar.com/uploads12/heatrh_ledger.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://images.popsugar.com/uploads12/heatrh_ledger.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Yes, I know <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005132/">Heath Ledger</a> was Australian, but he seems to me now to have been more "American" than most USA-born celebrities. He was, after all, living in Brooklyn. By <span style="font-style: italic;">choice</span>. When he didn't <span style="font-style: italic;">have</span> to.<br /><br />I just heard about his death via <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/01/23/heath.ledger.dead/">www</a>... and while I was reading about it, about him (synchronistically, Don McClean's song "Bye Bye Miss American Pie" was playing on my speakers), I realized the most 'tragic' aspect of his loss: <span style="font-weight: bold;">he was reported to have been a good father</span>. And now his young daughter, Matilda, will feel the void more than anyone else.<br /><br />My hat is off to the late Heath Ledger. Pending autopsy will show this or that, rumors and suspicions may or may not be confirmed, some overzealous religious wingnuts will proclaim it as God punishing him for playing a homosexual in Brokeback Mountain, but none of that matters.<br /><br />What matters is that, even for the two years of her life, Ledger was a good father. And for that he has my respect.JASON MASHAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10894966416167058786noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7863223120898640912.post-7910753136030204932008-01-13T01:13:00.001+01:002008-06-17T20:25:04.658+02:00Oscar Wilde's De Profundis<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKp26mDWYGD_WpALsyFYIOXYBor2KZ1cxXqavbKMVF9qPEsuKwKlPJRIK2J545jFhkgXZRYklH5E_k-qnPvonQ7LoWXczIeXgzWF07-EgTNZfCvzTXC0Yl5Hb-hb-lleJwoW47bROK5qVT/s1600-h/Oscar_Wilde.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKp26mDWYGD_WpALsyFYIOXYBor2KZ1cxXqavbKMVF9qPEsuKwKlPJRIK2J545jFhkgXZRYklH5E_k-qnPvonQ7LoWXczIeXgzWF07-EgTNZfCvzTXC0Yl5Hb-hb-lleJwoW47bROK5qVT/s320/Oscar_Wilde.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5154757040556162530" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">I recently saw the film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120514/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Wilde</span></a>, about Oscar Wilde, a man whose wit will be forever quoted. I was a little disappointed that the film was more about Wilde's homosexuality than his writing, but that seems to be the trend these days.<br /><br /><a href="http://upword.com/wilde/de_profundis.html">Oscar Wilde's <span style="font-style: italic;">De Profundis</span></a> is a long and sappy letter he wrote to his lover while imprisoned for their 'transgressions'. (Yes, I'm obviously obsessed with all things <span style="font-style: italic;">de profundis</span>.)<br /><br />I've included here some of the more notable quotes from the text:<br /></span><br /><span style=";font-family:Bookman Old Style;font-size:100%;color:Navy;" >Suffering is one very long moment. We cannot divide it by seasons. We can only record its moods, and chronicle their return. With us time itself does not progress. It revolves. It seems to circle round one centre of pain.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />*<br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:Bookman Old Style;font-size:100%;color:Navy;" >Prosperity, pleasure and success, may be rough of grain and common in fibre, but sorrow is the most sensitive of all created things. There is nothing that stirs in the whole world of thought to which sorrow does not vibrate in terrible and exquisite pulsation.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />*<br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:Bookman Old Style;font-size:100%;color:Navy;" >The poor are wise, more charitable, more kind, more sensitive than we are. In their eyes prison is a tragedy in a man's life, a misfortune, a casuality, something that calls for sympathy in others. They speak of one who is in prison as of one who is 'in trouble' simply. It is the phrase they always use, and the expression has the perfect wisdom of love in it.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />*<br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:Bookman Old Style;font-size:100%;color:Navy;" >Nothing seems to me of the smallest value except what one gets out of oneself. My nature is seeking a fresh mode of self-realisation. That is all I am concerned with. And the first thing that I have got to do is to free myself from any possible bitterness of feeling against the world.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />*<br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:Bookman Old Style;font-size:100%;color:Navy;" >I am completely penniless, and absolutely homeless. Yet there are worse things in the world than that.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />*<br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:Bookman Old Style;font-size:100%;color:Navy;" >I am a born antinomian. I am one of those who are made for exceptions, not for laws. But while I see that there is nothing wrong in what one does, I see that there is something wrong in what one becomes.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />*<br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:Bookman Old Style;font-size:100%;color:Navy;" >Religion does not help me. The faith that others give to what is unseen, I give to what one can touch, and look at[...] </span><span style=";font-family:Bookman Old Style;font-size:100%;color:Navy;" >Every thing to be true must become a religion. And agnosticism should have its ritual no less than faith. It has sown its martyrs, it should reap its saints, and praise God daily for having hidden Himself from man.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />*<br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:Bookman Old Style;font-size:100%;color:Navy;" >Reason does not help me. It tells me that the laws under which I am convicted are wrong and unjust laws, and the system under which I have suffered a wrong and unjust system.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />*<br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:Bookman Old Style;font-size:100%;color:Navy;" >The only people I would care to be with now are artists and people who have suffered: those who know what beauty is, and those who know what sorrow is: nobody else interests me.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />*<br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:Bookman Old Style;font-size:100%;color:Navy;" >I now see that sorrow, being the supreme emotion of which man is capable, is at once the type and test of all great art. What the artist is always looking for is the mode of existence in which soul and body are one and indivisible: in which the outward is expressive of the inward: in which form reveals.<br /><br />*<br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:Bookman Old Style;font-size:100%;color:Navy;" >We call ours a utilitarian age, and we do not know the uses of any single thing. We have forgotten that water can cleanse, and fire purify, and that the Earth is mother to us all. As a consequence our art is of the moon and plays with shadows, while Greek art is of the sun and deals directly with things. I feel sure that in elemental forces there is purification, and I want to go back to them and live in their presence.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style=";font-family:Bookman Old Style;font-size:100%;color:Navy;" ><br />*<br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:Bookman Old Style;font-size:78%;color:Navy;" ><span style="font-size:100%;">I have grown tired of the articulate utterances of men and things. The Mystical in Art, the Mystical in Life, the Mystical in Nature this is what I am looking for.<br /><br /></span><br /></span>JASON MASHAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10894966416167058786noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7863223120898640912.post-77679977005893929182008-01-06T13:44:00.000+01:002008-01-07T12:33:00.165+01:00What People Seem to WantMy blog statistics show that a large percentage of my hits are from folks searching for "<span style="font-weight: bold;">nude girls</span>," which directs them to my reposting of <a href="http://deprofundisadvalorem.blogspot.com/2006/11/girls-skateboarding-nude.html">a funny video with naked mannequins and skateboards</a>. What disappointment!<br /><br />Another big target is my recommendation of a <a href="http://deprofundisadvalorem.blogspot.com/2007/11/being-flogged-by-naked-russians.html">Lonely Planet article about Russian spas in which the attendees flog each other</a>. They find this when they search "<span style="font-weight: bold;">naked Russians</span>." Again, big disappointment.<br /><br />So in tribute to these misguided search attempts for visual stimulation of a more pornographic nature, I am posting here a photo that will disappoint yet again! It's for all those who google "<span style="font-weight: bold;">cameltoe</span>" hoping for a glimpse of tight cloth against the female genitalia. YOU AIN'T GONNA GET IT HERE! LOLOLOLOLOLOL :P<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3deuvR6_NBDu060QsVbqDf6teiP9nIfQZlN39YnwT_MRSJTNKkvqouqEbxBW9ENxSCX4cghY5D1eH-EsElV5PwAusXjRad1HZ9D3NN7GKDbXq-aOTSktLfBaXYf_9PsSkE4Q5Lg5uA7kE/s1600-h/cameltoe.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3deuvR6_NBDu060QsVbqDf6teiP9nIfQZlN39YnwT_MRSJTNKkvqouqEbxBW9ENxSCX4cghY5D1eH-EsElV5PwAusXjRad1HZ9D3NN7GKDbXq-aOTSktLfBaXYf_9PsSkE4Q5Lg5uA7kE/s320/cameltoe.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5152346438621674850" border="0" /></a>JASON MASHAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10894966416167058786noreply@blogger.com0