Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Succes 2010: Travis Pastrana, superstarul sporturilor de acţiune şi campionul de raliuri al Americii

Travis Alan Pastrana is a motorsports competitor and stunt performer who has won championships and X Games gold medals in several events, including supercross, motocross, freestyle motocross, and rally racing. He runs a show called Nitro Circus with some friends of his. For 2011, Pastrana has partnered with NASCAR team owner Michael Waltrip to form Pastrana-Waltrip Racing. He will drive the #99 Boost Mobile Toyota Camry for 7 races in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Pastrana has won two motocross racing championships: the 2000 A.M.A. 125cc National championship, and the 2001 125cc East Coast Supercross Championship. Pastrana also raced in the 2000 MX des Nations. He moved up to the 250cc class in 2002. His stand-up style, ability to spot jump combinations and great speed through the whoops make him easy to spot on the track. Although Pastrana has never won a 250cc race, his kindness to the fans and love of the sport still makes him one of the most popular riders of all time. Pastrana has always raced and competed on Suzuki motorcycles, and remains fiercely loyal to the brand. He races with Team Cernic's Suzuki. All of his motorcycles and rally cars carry the number 199. He even sponsors a Monster Jam truck called Pastrana 199, and Nitro Circus after the TV show on MTV.

In 2003, Pastrana opened a rallying career in the Race of Champions, and began driving for the Subaru-backed Vermont SportsCar rally team in 2004. Starting in 2006, Pastrana was signed by Subaru to lead their new Subaru Rally Team USA, being paired once again with veteran co-driver Christian Edstrom. On August 5, 2006 Pastrana won the gold medal in the first rally car competition at the X Games, edging out rally legend Colin McRae by 0.53 seconds after McRae rolled his car through the last jump.

Pastrana and Edstrom clinched the 2006 Rally America National Series overall and open class championship on October 22, 2006 during day one of the Lake Superior Performance Rally. The team finished out the 2006 series with another first-place victory at the Wild West Rally in Olympia, Washington on December 31, 2006.

On December 16, 2006 Pastrana competed at the 2006 Race of Champions at the Stade de France in Paris. He represented the United States in the Nations' Cup by himself, after injuries forced teammate Jimmie Johnson and his replacement Scott Speed to withdraw.

February 19, 2007 brought news that Pastrana's longtime co-driver Edstrom had announced a sabbatical to concentrate on his career and family. Although former McRae co-driver Derek Ringer is set to compete with Pastrana for the 100 Acre Wood Rally in Salem, Missouri and Rally America, he has not announced a permanent replacement co-driver.
Pastrana driving a classic Ford Escort Mk1 at the 2008 Colin McRae Forest Stages.

In September 2008, Pastrana took part in the Colin McRae Forest Stages Rally, a round of the Scottish Rally Championship centred in Perth in Scotland. Derek Ringer was his co-driver and they entered in a historic Ford Escort RS1600. He was one of a number of celebrity drivers to take part in the event in memory of McRae, who died in 2007.

On August 29, 2009 Pastrana claimed the overall victory at Ojibwe Forests Rally, his fifth of the 2009 Rally America season. The victory sealed his fourth consecutive Rally America driver's title, the most in series history.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Monday, May 17, 2010

Succes 2010: AC/DC - Brian Johnson & Angus Young



Dupa cum scriam si in postarea din 13 februarie, conform celei mai autorizate publicatii in domeniul colectionarii autografelor, Autograph magazine, Top 10 Rock 'n' Roll al celor mai scumpe semnaturi din lume arata astfel:
1. Elvis Presley
2. Sir Paul McCartney
3. Aerosmith
4. Eric Clapton
5. AC/DC
6. Bob Dylan
7. Jimmy Page
8. Sir Elton John
9. Eddie Van Halen
10. B.B. King.

Deci, vorba francezului: one down, 9 more to go! Desi am motive serioase sa cred ca Elvis nu mai da autografe nici mort! :)
Aerosmith, Dylan si Clapton vin si ei in Romania, in curand...

Succes 2010: Rafael Nadal

Rafael "Rafa" Nadal Parera is a Spanish professional tennis player currently ranked No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time; his success on clay has earned him the nickname "The King of Clay", and has prompted many experts to regard him as the greatest clay court player of all time.

Nadal has won ten Grand Slam singles titles,including 6 French Open titles, the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles, a record 19 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments, and also was part of the Spain Davis Cup team that won the finals in 2004, 2008 and 2009. He completed the career Grand Slam by winning the 2010 US Open, being the seventh player in history, and the youngest in the open era, to achieve it. He is the second male player to complete the Career Golden Slam (winner of the four grand slams and the Olympic Gold medal) after only Andre Agassi.

Nadal had a 32-match winning streak in 2008, starting at the 2008 Masters Series Hamburg to the 2008 Western & Southern Financial Group Masters and Women's Open, which included titles at Hamburg, the French Open (where he did not drop a set), Queen's Club, his first ever title at Wimbledon, and the Rogers Cup. In 2011, by winning the Monte Carlo Masters, he became the only player to have won seven editions of a tournament in a row at the ATP level. Nadal was ranked world No. 2, behind Roger Federer, for a record 160 consecutive weeks before earning the top spot, which he held from 18 August 2008 to 5 July 2009.[8] He regained the world No.1 ranking on 7 June 2010, after winning his fifth French Open title.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Succes 2010: Plantu, caricaturist francez al ziarului Le Monde


Jean Plantureux - Plantu, este un caricaturist francez celebru specializat in satira politica. Colaboreaza cu Le Monde din 1972. I-am solicitat o caricatura cu dedicatie, insa s-a nimerit sa-i trimit emailul pe adresa Le Monde exact in ziua in care hackerii romani au atacat site-ul ziarului, asa ca m-am impacat cu gandul ca emailul meu nu va primi niciun raspuns. Cu atat mai mare a fost surpriza azi, chiar daca amicul meu, postasul, s-a straduit sa impatureasca plicul in patru inainte de a-l baga in cutia postala, sa nu cumva sa iasa Ştrumfii afara prin fanta...

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Succes 2010: James Leavelle, detectivul care îl escorta pe Lee Harvey Oswald în momentul în care asasinul lui JF Kennedy a fost ucis de Jack Ruby




I-am trimis o scrisoare detectivului James Leavelle, cel care l-a escortat pe Lee Harvey Oswald in momentul in care asasinul lui JF Kennedy a fost ucis de Jack Ruby. Il puteti identifica in poza dupa costumul crem si celebra palarie Stetson. Pe langa cele doua poze semnate, detectivul mi-a trimis si o nota-surpriza, in care imi spune ca ii datorez un dolar, din cauza faptului ca oficiul sau postal din Dallas nu mai preschimba in timbre Cupoanele Internationale de Raspuns. Pentru un colectionar, scrisorica face toti banii, sau, ma rog, dolarii!

James Leavelle a avut un destin extrem de interesant, in 1941 asistand, ca membru al echipajului navei USS Whitney, la masacrul de la Pearl Harbour.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Succes 2010: Henry Kissinger, Secretar de Stat al administraţiei americane în timpul lui Nixon şi Ford, premiant Nobel pentru Pace în 1973



Henry Alfred Kissinger, Secretar de Stat al Administraţiei Americane în timpul lui Richard Nixon şi al lui Gerald Ford, a jucat un rol cheie în diplomaţia mondială între 1969 şi 1977.

În anul 1973 i-a fost acordat Premiul Nobel pentru Pace pentru contribuţia sa decisivă la încetarea devastatorului conflict din Vietnam (il imparte cu generalul vietnamez Lê Ðức Tho)

Henry Kissinger a devenit un oficial de rang înalt al organizaţiei masonice evreieşti B’nai B’rith şi, de asemenea, membru al grupului Bildeberg şi al Comisiei Trilaterale. Aparţine Marii Loji Elveţiene Alpina, Clubului elitist Bohemian şi este un membru al Cluburilor Phi Beta Cappa, Cosmos, Federal City şi Century.