"Maravilla"

Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez is a 35 year old boxing champ from Quilmes, Argentina.

 In April 2010 he outclassed Kelly “The Ghost” Pavlik and won the middleweight championship of the world. Then he was to face Paul “The Punisher” Williams who had previously defeated him in a controversial decision in December 2009.

The much anticipated clash took place in Atlantic City, New Jersey on November 20, 2010. Williams, billed as “the most avoided fighter in the world”, didn’t waste time and opened up the stanza by firing hard overhand hooks. But it was this whirlwind offense that set him up for the counter that Martinez had prepared for. At 30 seconds of the second round Williams chased Martinez attempting to land a hook but instead he walked directly into a devastatingly vicious    left hook that landed squarely on the “Punisher’s” chin. Williams fell with a blank look in his eyes and “Maravilla’s” one punch knockout was dubbed the most impressive performance of the year.

Now, with a record of 46-2-2 with 25 KO’s “Maravilla” has been declared “Fighter of the Year” by Ring Magazine and will be presented with the Sugar Ray Robinson trophy on May 6 in Las Vegas. His next foe will be the Ukrainian Sergei Dzindziruk. The bout will take place at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket in Connecticut on March 12, 2011.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSgNDsnA7lc
Composer: Compay Segundo
Composition: Chan Chan
Performers: Buena Vista Social Club
Audio Visuals: Samuel G. Montero

The Sleeping Dragon

 

I first became acquainted with the Chinese culture as I grew up in my native Peru. My earliest memories recall an old Chinese gardener pulling the weeds in my mom’s garden. And then there was the ubiquitous “Chino”, the little corner store, owned by Chinese folk, where the whole family lived and sold essential foodstuffs, sweets and cheap toys.

In my adolescence I discovered the “Chifa", that delicious and unique blend of Chinese and Peruvian cuisine. Other than those humble early acquaintances I basically knew that China was a huge, far away country with an astronomic population, an inscrutable language and a mysterious reputation.

In the U.S I saw the Chinese mostly concentrated in their own “Chinatowns”, like in San Francisco. I never thought I would one day visit China. But the opportunity materialized when my son attended Tsinghua University in Beijing to study Mandarin.

It was in this extraordinary land that the first emperor Shih Huang-Ti ordered the erection of the great wall and the burning of all books because he wanted history to begin with him. It was this culture that first gave us silk, the folding umbrella, lacquer, toilet paper, playing cards, gunpowder, porcelain, printing, the abacus, the compass and gunpowder.

My two week Beijing experience included the following historical sites: The Great Wall, Chairman Mao’s Mausoleum, The Bell Tower, The Forbidden City, The Gate of Heavenly Peace, Tian An Men Square, The Hutongs of Chong wen men, The Summer Palace, The Lama Temple and the Imperial College.

 

Bicycle madness

                                  

Traffic madness

 

Marching Dragons

 

The Qilin

 

The Sage

 

The Drum Tower

 

Scorpion shishkabobs

 

Beijing cityscape from the Summer Palace

 

The Immortal

No one is anyone, one single immortal man is all men. Like Cornelius Agrippa, I am god, I am hero, I am philosopher, I am demon and I am world, which is a tedious way of saying that I do not exist.
J.L. Borges