Blog Marco

For the frugal at heart, parking sucks in Parramatta. Parking is of course a cash-cow for the council and necessary to pay for the services the local citizens use such as the library and as well as the snacks provided for the local council and mayoral chambers. As the council says on their website: "Revenue from parking meters is reinvested back into the community via neighbour revitalisation projects, resources and infrastructure." They want us to come to Parramatta - but not to stay too long: "Parking meters help turn over parking more regularly, making it easier for visitors to find parking and encourage greater patronage in business districts."

I have the mother of all conspiracy theories... The robots and the bears are quietly planning their conquest for world domination. The bears have been busy examining bikes and learning how to cycle. While robots are advancing so fast... Where am I coming up with all these weird and crazy ideas?

There were two articles of interest in my weekend reading: "Bear-Proof Can Is Pop-Top Picnic for a Crafty Thief" and "Scientists Worry Machines May Outsmart Man".

Be Afraid... Be very afraid... the robots are soon going to be taking over the world... complete with Skynet and Terminator...

The sexy teen movies are those which aren't too scandalous to become porn but wouldn't also be for general patronage either. These movies often depict issues that teens are experiencing, with puberty and all. The Sexiest Teenage Movies of all time are the following:

• Coyote Ugly (2000)
• Step Up (2006)
• Wild Things (1998)
• Cruel Intentions (1999)
• Thirteen (2003)
• The Girl Next Door (2004)
• Weird Science (1985)
• Havoc (2005)
• American Pie (1999)
• American Beauty (1999)

COYOTE UGLY stars Piper Perabo and Adam Garcia with a supporting role by Tyra Banks and is about an aspiring songwriter who leaves her small-town home for New York City in hopes of starting a music career. But life in the city is harder than she imagined. She hears about a job opening at a bar called Coyote Ugly and there she becomes a bartender. When Violet arrives for work she is hit by a wall of throbbing music and howling men. Two women are atop the bar, pulling a customer back over it, pulling up his shirt, and pouring beer on his chest. Coyote Ugly, a sexy teen movie, has more to do with hot, sexy women dancing on a bar in a wet T-shirt contest.

Old School is a 2003 comedy film written by Phillips and Scot Armstrong, released by DreamWorks and directed by Todd Phillips. Old School, in the urban dictionary, literally means anything that is from an earlier era and looked upon with high regard or respect. The term can be used to refer to music, clothing, language, or anything really. The film Old School stars Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn, and Will Ferrell.

Mitch, Frank and Beanie are the three lead characters in Old School. They became disillusioned with their personal lives when Mitch's nymphomanic girlfriend, Heidi, cheats on him. Then former party animal Frank gets married, but was not willing to get go of his wild life, and Beanie is a family man who wants to reclaim his wild and crazy youth.

Beanie suggests that they form their own fraternity in Mitch's new house on a college campus to re-live their glory days by bringing together a variety of misfit college students, losers, middle-aged and elderly retirees as their new friends and later try to avoid being evicted by the new Dean of Students, Pritchard, whom still holds a personal grudge against all three of them. Old School evolved in the tribulations they encounter in doing so.

Nastia Liukin was born on October 30, 1989, in Moscow, Russian SFSR, USSR. Her parents are two former Soviet champion gymnasts: gold medalist Valeri Liukin who won the 1988 Summer Olympics gold and Anna Kotchneva who is the 1987 World Clubs Champion in rhythmic gymnastics. Her nickname Nastia is a Russian diminutive for Anastasia.

When Nastia Liukin was two and a half years old, her family moved to the United States after the breakup of the Soviet Union. At the age of three, Nastia was "always hanging around in the gym" with her parents, who could not afford a babysitter to look after her while they were working as coaches. She competed in her first National Championships as a junior in 2002, when she was 12½ years old.

During that competition, Liukin suffered a fall on the uneven bars which rendered her unable to finish the routine. She continued through the rest of the competition and finished 15th, which landed her one of the final spots on the U.S. National Team. She was chosen to compete with the U.S. team at the 2002 Junior Pan American Championships, and there she contributed a gold medal and placed second on the uneven bars, balance beam and all-around.

Michelle Renee was an abused runaway, at times homeless, during her teenage years. But that didn't stop her from becoming successful in life. Renee became a bank executive. However, her life was shattered and was changed like she wouldn't ever imagine when she, at age 35, and her 7 year-old daughter were kidnapped, held hostage, and taped with explosives. Michelle was then forced to rob a bank. Luckily, after 14 hours of being held in captive, she managed to save their lives.

Because of her resiliency, inner strength, courage and optimism, Michelle Renee became the MSN Hometown Hero for her work with survivors of violence, abuse and trauma. She is now known as a radio & TV host/personality, an award-winning published author, international speaker, owner of dreamBIG® Consulting, and Creator/Founder of Women Who dreamBIG and Rock to Stop Violence.

Michelle Renee is also the creative consultant and associate producer for a new film based on her book, Held Hostage. The film is set to depict not only the violent kidnapping and brutal judicial process for victim/witnesses, but also post trauma, recovery, inner-strength and how critical treatment is in a very real, sensitive, and honest way so that the viewers can relate to it in one aspect, if not all. The movie will be aired on July 19, 2009 on the Lifetime Movie Network.

President Ronald Reagan designated July as National Ice Cream Month in 1984 and the third Sunday of the month was proclaimed as National Ice Cream Day. This is due to the fact that President Reagan recognized ice cream as a fun and nutritious food that is enjoyed by a full 90% of the nation's population. During such proclamation, President Reagan called for all people of the United States to observe these events with "appropriate ceremonies and activities."

The proclamation was very much supported by The International Ice Cream Association (IICA) who encourages retailers and consumers to celebrate July as National Ice Cream Month.

The U.S. ice cream industry generates more than $21 billion in annual sales and provides jobs for thousands of U.S. citizens. About 9% of all the milk produced by U.S. dairy farmers is used to produce ice cream, contributing significantly to the economic well-being of the nation's dairy industry. So aside from being very delicious, ice cream also has other benefits particularly to a nation's economy.

The cast of the 2004 comedy movie Eurotrip Eurotrip Movie are as follows:

• Scott Mechlowicz – Scott "Scotty" Thomas
• Jacob Pitts – Cooper Harris
• Michelle Trachtenberg – Jenny
• Travis Wester – Jamie
• Jessica Böhrs – Mieke
• Kristin Kreuk – Fiona
• Nial Iskhakov – Bert Thomas (Scott's brother)
• Vinnie Jones – Mad Maynard (Hooligans' leader)
• Patrick Rapold – Kristoff
• Matt Damon – Donny
• Fred Armisen – Creepy Italian Male on Train
• Lucy Lawless – Madame Vandersexxx
• Jeffrey Tambor Scott's Father
• Rade Šerbedžija – Tibor
• J.P. Manoux – Robot Mime from the Louvre.
• Anetta Keys, Veronica Vanoza – Club Vandersexxx Girls (uncredited)

The soundtrack of the movie Eurotrip was released February 24, 2004. With this soundtack, you can remember all the funny experiences the characters in this movie came across. It has 14 songs sung by different artists.

EuroTrip is a 2004 American comedy film. The story tells about how a guy and his three friends travelled across Europe to search for his German pen pal, whom he initially thought was a man. Realizing that the guy has feelings for her, they visit London, Paris, Amsterdam, Bratislava, Berlin, Vatican City and Rome, encountering awkward and embarrassing situations along the way. This movie is about funny experiences. The film ends with the two lead characters embracing one another and kissing the girl on the bed.

The film was shown in 2,512 theaters all over the United States and Canada, on February 20, 2004. Eurotrip grossed $6,711,384 over its opening weekend and went on to gross $17,771,387 in the United States and Canada and $3,025,460 in other territories for a worldwide total of $20,796,847. Eurotrip is a product of DreamWorks SKG Company.

Stage 15 of the Tour de France stage 15 was dominated and won by Spaniard Alberto Contador who wears the yellow jersey, one minute and 37 seconds ahead of Astana team mate Lance Armstrong in second. In this cycling race, the breakaway in the 207.5km stage 15 from Pontarlier to Verbier came in dribs and drabs, which was started by Frenchman David Moncoutié (Cofidis team) after 42km, joined by Italian Franco Pellizotti (Team Liquigas), then six others, then another four, and then another three for a total of 15.

Spaniard Mikel Astarloza of Euskaltel, one of the three in that last mini-group, was the virtual leader on the course when the breakaway’s time gap rose almost a minute above his three-minute deficit to Rinaldo Nocentini in Tour de France Stage 15 cycle race. Team Astana gradually lessened the gap and the breakaway was caught with six kilometres to go, which was then the time for Frank Schleck and then Contador to attack. However, Lance Armstrong did not respond to Contador, and eventually lost 94 seconds on his Astana team mate.

Leonard Bernstein was born on August 25, 1918 in Lawrence, Massachusetts to a Russian Jewish family. His grandmother insisted that his first name be Louis, but his parents always liked to call him Leonard. Bernstein's father initially opposed to his interest in music. Despite this, his grandmother frequently took him to orchestra concerts. Bernstein, at a very young age listened to piano performances and was immediately captivated so he subsequently began learning the piano.

During his teenage years, Leonard's enthusiasm for music exploded. He staged amateur operas, dabbled at composition, and played on a radio show sponsored by his father's beauty supply company, a harbinger of the broad scope of his future professional activity. He became particularly adept at improvising variations in the styles of various classical and pop composers. Lennny, as what people sometimes call him, practiced the piano voraciously at all hours of the night. However, he was rather the type of player with a spontaneous outburst of the sheer joy of playing and invention.

Jason David Schmidt is a Major League Baseball pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was born on January 29, 1973. On December 6, 2006 in Lewiston, Idaho and is a born-again Christian. Schmidt considers his place of childhood, Kelso Washington, home. He was a 1991 graduate of Kelso High School where he lettered in Football, Basketball and Baseball. While in this school, Schimdt once threw a seven-inning, 20-strikeout no-hitter against Hoquiam High School. During his senior year, he tossed a no-hitter, striking out 20 of 21 batters he faced.

Schmidt was then named Washington's Gatorade State Player of the Year and All-State MVP in baseball. A scholarship to the University of Arizona was offered him but Schmidt chose to sign with the Atlanta Braves after they drafted him in the 8th round of the 1991 MLB Draft. And from there, Schmidt made his professional debut with the Gulf Coast Braves, starting 11 games and finishing with a 3-4 record and 2.38 ERA. He made his major league debut in relief on April 28, 1995 against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Schmidt recorded his first ML victory in his first start, pitching eight scoreless innings against the Chicago Cubs on September 3, 1995.