Quotes

Sport - Viggo the Sports Fan

Argentina November 2005
Argentina November 2005.
© GOFF INF.
"The highest honor in my life is to be a San Lorenzo fan; we have a noble spirit... we know how to win and how to lose with dignity; and the only time we have an ugly face in the stadium is when we play." Viggo's speech - 100th year San Lorenzo celebration

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Viggo the Sports Fan

....the Cuervo ambassador to the world.

Jorge Barros
San Lorenzo Supporters Subcommittee interview
Transcribed/translated by Ollie, Rio and Zoe
SCH tv
20 May 2011




Mortensen speaks five languages, and seems happy to discuss football in all of them.

Interview: Viggo Mortensen, actor
Scotsman.com
9 February 2012




"I never thought I´d write a column. I asked if I could write about anything and they said yes; then I accepted because I wanted to talk about life, about literature, about cinema, about many things, and not only soccer. Although some heavy things have appeared of late."

Viggo Mortensen on writing his San Lorenzo column
Soledad Villamil - Viggo Mortensen: Brothers In Arms
By Nazareno Brega - translated by Ollie and Zoe
Clarin
29 August 2012




CUERVO, WE ARE CHAMPIONS!!!
I woke up with my clothes on, my head wrapped in a flag with the image of Pope Francis, as if it was some sort of turban, and the TV full blast showing The Mummy with Boris Karloff, but we are still champions!

In This Heat
By Viggo Mortensen and Fabián Casas - translated by Ollie and Zoe
Sobrevueloscuervos.com
18 December 2013




"There isn't much difference between sport and drama -- except in sport, you don't know what's going to happen. But otherwise, it's about conflict and rising to the challenge before you. Both have props. Both have a stage, whether it's ice or a field. In a lot of ways, they're the same."

Viggo Mortensen
Mortensen delves into America's cowboy mentality
By Katherine Monk
Canwest News Service
7 September 2008




'I ran from one side of my hotel room to the other, jumping and shouting like a man possessed. I opened the window and shouted the goal at the crescent moon.'

Viggo Mortensen in Algiers watching San Lorenzo
For It To Rain
By Viggo Mortensen and Fabián Casas - translated by Ollie and Zoe
Sobrevueloscuervos.com
19 October 2013




'If CASLA loses, I'm devastated for a while and when they win, the world seems like a stupendous place.'

Viggo Mortensen demonstrates to this newspaper that the great never lose their humility
By - translated by Ollie and Zoe
TiempoSur
9 June 2013




"I don't play soccer well... I sing just like I play soccer! But I like it, so I do it anyway, it's just a matter of starting, fear is useless..."

Viggo Mortensen
A Hollywood star in RSM
Argentinean TV interview with Mariana Fabbiani
11 October 2008




'Yesterday, my limousine was blockaded by people. The fans were banging against the windows. I opened the door and escaped down a small alley. And who did I run into? King Pelé and his bodyguards. I asked for an autograph...but his bodyguards stopped me. King in his limousine, poor beggar in the street. A good lesson,' concludes Mortensen, who invites you to reflect on the morality of such a story.

Viggo Mortensen - The Lord Touches All
By François-Guillaume Lorrain - translated by Margarita
27 October 2005
Source: Le Point




When asked why he always sports [San Lorenzo] gear during interviews (today it's a pullover with their logos) he jokes, "mind control."

Viggo does 'Good'
Mortensen shows us his softer side
by Tina Chadha
Metro New York
9 January 2009




"Every time I go to Argentina, I go to the San Lorenzo store and I buy all the decals they have because I have the habit of sticking them up in cities, airports, in the stadiums of other teams, " he recounts and ends with a sly smile, "to mark territory."

"We are all artists" - Viggo Mortensen
By Susana Parejas - translated by Ollie and Zoe
7 Dias
2 September 2012




"I'm spreading "the cuervo gospel" all over the world. That's not only my mission, but my career, that's my job. Cinema, poetry and all the rest are hobbies. Spreading the cuervo gospel, that's what I'm dedicated to..."

In The Name Of The Father
By Natalia Trzenko - translated by Ollie and Zooey
La Nacion
22 June 2010




"He's a Cuervo," I kept shouting. "The Pope is a Supercuervo!"

On hearing who has become the new Pope
This hell where we live
By Viggo Mortensen and Fabián Casas - translated by Ollie, Rio and Zoe
Perceval Press
15 March 2013




'... now at least I won't have to work as hard to be an ambassador for San Lorenzo around the world. The pope is taking a big load off me. '

Viggo Mortensen: Lay off the pope
By Andrew O'Hehir
Salon.com
20 March 2013




'I could care less about the Vatican but if you got to be pope, you might as well be a fan of San Lorenzo.'

Viggo Mortensen on Everybody Has a Plan, Argentine Popes and His Beloved San Lorenzo
John Lopez
Huffington Post
21 March 2013




Does this mean that San Lorenzo is now officially God's team?

Well... the good thing about it is I don't have to go around explaining to everybody what San Lorenzo is as much in my travels.

Viggo Mortensen on Everybody Has a Plan, Argentine Popes and His Beloved San Lorenzo
John Lopez
Huffington Post
21 March 2013




[He]....wears a San Lorenzo shirt like it's tattooed on his skin.

"I feel honored to be able to give a hand to poets"
By - translated by Zooey and Sage
Pagina 12
14 August 2009




'I have enough shirts to field a whole San Lorenzo team...'

Viggo Mortensen Q&A
By Richard Deitsch
Sports Illustrated magazine
5 August 2004
Sports Illustrated magazine




How would you define San Lorenzo fans?

Brothers, sisters - forever.

Viggo, A True Cuervo
La Revista de San Lorenzo
Translated by Ollie, Rio, Sage and Zooey
18 April 2010




"I would rather see San Lorenzo win the tournament than get an Oscar, definitely."

Viggo Mortensen
By Juan Cruz Sanchez Marino - translated by Graciela
GENTE
26 December 2008




Oh God, no! Viggo Mortensen is wearing the sweatshirt of San Lorenzo, the Argentine soccer team of which he is a big supporter. The effect is what I feared: all male journalists present at the meeting with the actor unleash questions about who will win this game, this season, the derby ... with the result that the first 20 minutes with one of the most fascinating men in the world are wasted with talk about sports!

Viggo Mortensen: "Do I look sexy?"
By Simona Coppa - translated by Ollie
Grazia
9 October 2012




"Have I behaved? I haven't talked about San Lorenzo too much, right?"

Viggo Mortensen in a Todos tenemos un plan interview
Soledad Villamil - Viggo Mortensen: Brothers In Arms
By Nazareno Brega - translated by Ollie and Zoe
Clarin
29 August 2012




Q: You're known to be a rabid San Lorenzo supporter. Blue and red. Don't people mistakenly think you're for Barça?

A: I'm an unconditional supporter. Yes, a few years ago they tried to beat me up at the Puerta del Sol because I was on my way to watch a San Lorenzo game wearing blue and red. I had to break one of the two bottles of wine that I was bringing to the party over one of their heads. By the way, we lost 1-7.

"When I wake up I think of death"
By Karmentxu Marín - translated by Ollie, Rio and Zoe
El Pais
9 September 2012




MP: Did you go to San Lorenzo matches when you lived in Argentina?

MORTENSEN: No. I would listen on the radio. I was pretty fanatical about it. At the time it was unusual, because we weren't a very good team. We were interesting, but most of the kids in school were Boca Juniors or River Plate or other teams, and then the year before I left, suddenly we won it all. It was the only time that it's ever happened that we had an undefeated season, so that was a big deal. All of a sudden, the day after [that], a kid at school said, "I like San Lorenzo, too," and I said, "Bullshit. You're Boca Junior. Whatever."

Viggo Mortensen - For The Good Of The People
By Elliot V Kotek
Moving Pictures
Winter 2008-2009




What do you remember of the first time you saw San Lorenzo play live in a stadium ?

That we lost... but that the passion, the unconditional support of the fans, the non-stop singing, were exactly what I had always imagined and felt. Every time I go to a match I get excited and enjoy myself just as much, no matter what happens soccerwise. As the song says "... it´s a feeling you carry deep inside.."

Viggo, A True Cuervo
La Revista de San Lorenzo
Translated by Ollie, Rio, Sage and Zooey
18 April 2010




'I left Argentina when I was eleven, in '69, and there was no cable TV, no Internet, nothing. I was in the northern United States with my picture cards, my little t-shirt, my flag, and nothing else.'

Viggo Mortensen
"I feel honored to be able to give a hand to poets"
By - translated by Zooey and Sage
Pagina 12
14 August 2009




Do you feel nostalgic about that kid you were, who lived here?

"Ah...What one remembers from childhood is often mixed with things we are told. Memory is like poetry, just one version of reality, not accurate at all. I left when I was eleven years old, at the beginning of the '70s, and only returned in '95. More than twenty years in which I was cut off from Argentina. There was no internet; it was very difficult. Do you know what I had left of those years? All I had were these soccer picture cards of the Carasucias of San Lorenzo (the team from which came his idolized Bambino Veira), a Martin Fierro, a Don Segundo Sombra, a little San Lorenzo jersey...and nothing more. When I returned, at age 37, I got off the plane and I went downtown to look for my places. The little park where I played soccer with my friends, for example. I found different things: there was a McDonald's, new immigrants. But the sounds, the smells were the same. I rented a car and took off for everywhere. I went as far as La Pampa, I don't know...It was a lot of fun to stop in any location, take photos, talk to people. I came back because I had unfinished business."

Viggo Mortensen: "Writing and acting are like being a kid again"
By Eduardo Bejuk - translated by Zooey
Gente
25 August 2009




Wearing all manner of Buenos Aires and soccer trappings (socks, bracelet, and a San Lorenzo pin, plus a complete mate set and the sports section of The Nation on hand), Viggo Mortensen greeted the Argentinean press on his recent visit to Buenos Aires..... He takes off his black boots and allows us to see the wide stripes on his socks in the colours of the team he loves.

Viggo Mortensen: The Biggest Soccer Fan In Hollywood
By Lorena García - translated by Margarita
La Nacion
16 November 2005




"These characters, the father and his son, in spite of seeming to be very cold, in fact, beneath the rags they wear, happen to have San Lorenzo t-shirts," says the actor, and laughs.

Viggo talking about The Road
In The Name Of The Father
By Natalia Trzenko - translated by Ollie and Zooey
La Nacion
22 June 2010




"The highest honor in my life is to be a San Lorenzo fan; we have a noble spirit... we know how to win and how to lose with dignity; and the only time we have an ugly face in the stadium is when we play. It will always be like this for me; and stealing some words from the great Homero Manzi (tango writer)... something like this: (singing) "I love you today more than I did yesterday, but less than I will tomorrow; my passion is azulgrana (red and blue), and it demands your fervor". Thank you San Lorenzo! Go Ciclón!"

Viggo's speech
100th year San Lorenzo celebration
Buenos Aires
Translated by Silver




Go San Lorenzo! My membership card says "supporter from another country", but I am not a supporter from another country; that does not describe me properly... I am a "local" supporter, [a supporter] from the bottom of my heart, from a heart that is ours, that belongs to all the "cuervos", in the past, in the present and for ever.

Viggo's speech
100th year San Lorenzo celebration
Buenos Aires
Translated by Silver
2 April 2008




"...these are my heroes. The one group of people or thing I support unconditionally. They can do no wrong,"

Viggo on San Lorenzo
Sympathy for the devil
By Chrissy Iley
The Observer
19 April 2009




...he went to see the game his team played against Tigre in Victoria Stadium. The management had reserved a box for him, but Mortensen preferred sitting in the stands among the fans.

Viggo at a San Lorenzo game
Viggo Mortensen - Lights, Camera... Passion
By Eduardo Bejuk - translated by Ollie, Rio and Zoe
Gente
10 May 2011




Have you managed to get Agustín and Ariadna to drink mate and be "cuervos" (followers of San Lorenzo)?

Laughing and in unison, Viggo, Ariadna and Agustín exclaim: "We're cuervos till death!"

The Lord of Simplicity
By Ernesto Garratt Vines - translated by Margarita
Wikén - El Mercurio
30 March 2007




"We had our chances, but things didn´t turn out for us as we would have liked.
I was furious, very depressed. I watched the match on my laptop, in the restaurant of a gas station near Boston, USA. People were staring at me, sitting there with my San Lorenzo shirt, behaving like a crazy man, talking to the little screen, shouting at the players."

Viggo on watching San Lorenzo lose
Knowing How To Lose
By Viggo Mortensen - translated by Ollie, Rio and Zoe
Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro
5 March 2012




"Unconditional love, unconditional loyalty, I don't feel those for any team, or any country or anything, only for San Lorenzo. Although they fail again and again, and only end up champions occasionally, although we have a glorious but hard, and sometimes tragic, history. I like how the San Lorenzo supporter behaves; I like their traditions. They have the best songs and are the most witty, and the other supporters recognize that. And besides, they sing non-stop; it doesn't matter if we're losing 0 to 7. San Lorenzo supporters have a very rich history, of endurance above all, and a special dignity."

El mundo de Viggo Mortensen
By Manuel Martínez ? translated by Ollie, Rio and Zoe
Esquire Latinoamerica
15 march 2012




This cuervo that exhales cigarette smoke, tracing a blue and red circle that starts from his feet, is Viggo Mortensen, the seductive Aragorn of the Lord of the Rings, David Cronenberg's fetish actor, fanatic supporter of the Cyclone, who did not win the Oscar for his interpretation in Eastern Promises, and display the San Lorenzo flag on the stage of the Kodak Theatre, as he had planned.

"I feel honored to be able to give a hand to poets"
By - translated by Zooey and Sage
Pagina 12
14 August 2009




It's almost three o' clock in the morning. He is sitting next to the fire on a wood and leather chair. The "asado" (barbecue) is over. The people he was preparing mate for, two at the same time, have said goodbye. He is wearing a gray San Lorenzo goalkeeper's soccer shirt, and he throws a cigarette butt into the embers. Viggo Mortensen, 49, now has a needle in his hand and he starts sewing his red and blue flag, which suffered a passionate tear in the victory against Lanus: "I like to sew it myself."

A Trip With Viggo Mortensen Through The Heart Of The Province
By Robustiano Pinedo - translated by Graciela
14 May 2007
Source: El Tribuno Salta




Going to the airport last week, near Barcelona, someone stole my wallet with my license, bank and credit cards, CASLA membership card, family photos, a small antique medal, almost everything I need to travel. Fortunately, they didn't steal my passport. I went to the local police before catching my flight, the mossos d'esquadra as they call them in Catalonia, to let them know in case anyone finds anything and turns it in. They were very nice. They took down my information and told me that if anything turned up, they'd call me. I contacted the bank to cancel the cards, and got on the plane. Today, a couple of hours ago, when I was already getting over the incident, the mossos called me to tell me that they'd just found my wallet. They told me that unfortunately the only thing in the wallet was my membership card. This could be seen as an insult - that the thief didn't think that such a thing could have any value - or simply as a bit of luck, a good sign. In reality, I think the thief didn't have enough intelligence to understand that that card was the most important of all the things in the wallet. Next week they're going to give me the wallet and my card, and I'll give them my thanks. I'm going to be very happy.

Piece of Luck
By Viggo Mortensen - translated by Ollie, Rio and Zoe
Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro
25 July 2012




'I grew up in Argentina, and I loved soccer. My favorite team was San Lorenzo, and when the cast of Lord of the Rings went to Argentina to promote the movie, they heard about it and invited me to a game. I met the players and they gave me an autographed team jersey.

'It was a real thrill for me, and for once, I understood the benefits of being famous.'

Viggo Mortensen on meeting the San Lorenzo football team
A Reluctant Star
By Barry Koltnow, Orange County Register
7 March 2004




A global star since his turn in Lord of the Rings, he could easily lay claim to the title Lord of the Nuevo Gasometro, the stadium home of Argentinian side San Lorenzo de Almagro.

Fans in high places
FIFA
20 February 2009




So who would Viggo side with if, for example, Denmark and Argentina met in the next World Championship final?

"Oh, that's a very difficult question that I have often asked myself. It's not unthinkable at all, because both Denmark and Argentina play good football," Mortensen says, and adds: "But if they really met each other in the World Championship final, I'd buy both countries national team jumpers and cut them through the middle. And then I'd sew them together again to make one jumper. In that way I could cheer both Denmark and Argentina. But I think it would be very difficult as far as I can see if the two teams play against each other."

I Love Danish Football
By Kim Kastrup - translated by Chrissie
Ekstra Bladet
24 July 2007




'Sometimes I don't know how to answer those who ask me where I'm from, where I feel more at home. Argentina, United States, Denmark...The truth is there are many places where I've made some space for myself, that I carry in my memory and in my heart. I think it's positive to be able to find a way to understand different people in places that initially seemed strange to me.

I grew up like that, flexible, able to adapt. I think in part I cling to CASLA because it is a fixed point for me, an ideal, a flame that never dies.'

Viggo Mortensen
Knowing How To Travel
By Viggo Mortensen and Fabián Casas - translated by Ollie, Rio and Zoe
Sobrevueloscuervos.com
30 March 2013




....if he were called to face the end of the world as we know it, he would do it with a t-shirt from his team pressed to his heart.

In The Name Of The Father
By Natalia Trzenko - translated by Ollie and Zooey
La Nacion
22 June 2010




As he turns away I see that his football shirt has been signed by a player called The Frog, who wrote: "Thank you for being simple," which I ask him to explain. Is he thanking you for being a half-wit? He laughs. "I think he means thank you for being real. He was a childhood hero of mine. A great player. Kept it simple."

Simple is the last thing you would ever think of Mortensen. He's very complicated, but also very real.

Sympathy for the devil
By Chrissy Iley
The Observer
19 April 2009




I met Maradona once on Susana Giménez' program.... The idea was that his arrival would be a surprise at the end of the broadcast, but someone got excited and told me a few hours before going to the station. I took with me in my pocket a CASLA t-shirt with "10" and gave it to him during the program. I told him that there was a gap in our lineup because of injuries (maybe it was Walter Montillo that was hurt, I don't remember now) and that the following day, since we were playing against River, maybe he would like to join us. The idol took it very well and Susana, who's a Cuervo, laughed too.

In the last minutes of the program, I took off my boots to give him the San Lorenzo socks I was wearing and I think I told him that he'd have to look for the shorts himself. He also accepted that gift with a lot of dignity and in an extremely generous spirit. If he thought that I was an idiotic Cuervo, he didn't say so.

Viggo Mortensen
In This Heat
By Viggo Mortensen and Fabián Casas - translated by Ollie and Zoe
Sobrevueloscuervos.com
18 December 2013




"The sport that I grew up watching and still love is football - or soccer. When I moved up to northern New York in 1970, we didn't have Internet or cable TV. I would listen to Canadiens games on Radio-Canada, which is actually how I started learning French; watching Montreal play in the early '70s is when I really started to learn about hockey. My favorite player was always Guy Lafleur.!"

Viggo Mortensen
The Last Word : Viggo Mortensen
Canadiens Magazine
8 December 2009




'.... I come from Argentina and all of a sudden I was in a place where there was nobody who spoke Spanish. There was certainly no soccer, there was no cable TV, there was no Internet, obviously. So I was completely severed ? the culture I had growing up with San Lorenzo and the frenzy and the passion that goes with it was just gone. And I started to see on TV the Montreal Canadiens ? at the time it was Guy LaFleur, and those great teams from the '70s. Not only did they have the same colors as San Lorenzo, but their fans, the French-Canadian fans in particular, seemed just as passionate as the Argentines, as opposed to some of the fans of the other hockey teams. So I jumped on that and became a big fan of that team. During those years, they took the place of San Lorenzo, or at least helped me get over it until I reconnected with San Lorenzo. But I've remained a Habs fan and I follow them closely.'

Viggo Mortensen on supporting the Habs
Viggo Mortensen: Lay off the pope
By Andrew O'Hehir
Salon.com
20 March 2013




...an enigma wrapped in a Mets T-shirt.

Viggo the Sponge
By Jake Coyle, MSNBC
21 Sept 2007




You, Michael Vartan and Jerry Seinfeld have publicly proclaimed your love for the Mets. Explain how you got started.

I was about 11 when I came to the U.S. in '69. I got a crash course in baseball that October when the Mets won the World Series. Even though we moved to northern New York -- it was a Yankees town if anything -- the Mets were my team from then on. I've stuck with them through thick and thin. If I'm in town when they come to L.A., I'll see them play. It's not any easier being a Mets fan than it is being a fan of San Lorenzo. You have to have a lot of perseverance -- that's what being a fan is about. You can't be a bandwagon guy.

Viggo Mortensen Q&A
By Richard Deitsch
Sports Illustrated magazine
5 August 2004
Source: Sports Illustrated magazine




Just how fearless is Viggo Mortensen? Forget his naked fight scene in the movie Eastern Promises. The man is wearing a Habs T-shirt in the middle of Leaf Nation.

Mortensen delves into America's cowboy mentality
By Katherine Monk
Canwest News Service
7 September 2008




We heard a rumor that Aragorn is also a big Habs supporter - did you really wear a Canadiens T-shirt under your armor while filming The Lord of the Rings trilogy?

VM:
I did - I wore it quite a bit, actually. I'll always look to see if the shirt peeks out on screen but I've never been able to see it. In The Road, you'll see it a few times. It sort of stands out because it's a movie that's very muted in terms of its colors so you'll notice my red, white and blue under there.

The Last Word : Viggo Mortensen
Canadiens Magazine
8 December 2009




'I had a running joke with the crew of the movie "cause I'm a Canadians fan, ' he says with a hint of glee. 'I was raised in northern New York on the St Lawrence across the river from Kingston and I always liked Montreal. I made the mistake one day, I wasn't thinking, and I walked in wearing a Montreal T-shirt. The crew saw me and said "Holy sh-t, whatya doing!' And then I realized, God, all these guys are wearing f-ckin' Maple Leaf caps every f-ckin' day.

'So every Thursday I didn't just wear a Montreal T-shirt, I wore a red Montreal hockey jersey.'

Viggo Mortensen during the filming of A History of Violence
Interview: Viggo Mortensen, By Ingrid Randoja
Famous, September 2005




Viggo Mortensen has a trick. He performs it to amuse himself during back-to-back interviews, when he needs something, other than cigarettes, to keep himself alert.

The trick is this: He is wearing a Canadian Hockey League pendant - one of those pewter souvenirs you buy at any arena gift shop. He starts the interview with the pendant facing forward on his chest. Then, at some point, he flips the pendant over. On the other side is a Montreal Canadians sticker.

"First I try to guess if the interviewer is a hockey fan and secondly if they're a [Toronto Maple] Leafs fan. Then I wait to see how long it takes them to notice," he says. "This one guy stopped the interview and just starts going, 'No, no, no!' "

Profile: Viggo Mortensen
By Leah McLaren
Globe and Mail
23 September 2005




Prizes for Cronenberg's intellectual period drama "A Dangerous Method" included best supporting actor for Mortensen as a cigar-chomping Sigmund Freud.

The lanky actor drew enthusiastic cheers from the audience by unfurling a Montreal Canadiens flag on stage as he thanked his fellow nominees.

"It's a very beautiful trophy and I think in order to cross the border safely I'll have to wrap it very, very carefully so I brought some very strong material with me," Mortensen said as he unfolded the red, white and blue fabric to hoots from appreciative hockey fans.

"I think this will do nicely. I said 'I thank David Cronenberg' but I dedicate this award to the Montreal Canadiens. We'll be back next year with a vengeance. Thank you very much."

Viggo accepting his Genie Award
Global Edmonton
8 March 2012




'It was unbelievable. You were kind of hoping they'd win, but you knew there was no way it would happen. And right before your eyes, a miracle. It was such an underdog story. That's what fascinated me. Maybe that's why I love the Mets.'

Viggo Mortensen on watching the 'Miracle on Ice' against the Soviets at the Lake Placid Olympics in 1980
Viggo Mortensen Q&A, By Richard Deitsch, Sports Illustrated magazine, 2004




Rove: I know you used to be a translator with, I think, the Swedish Hockey Team in the Winter Olympics?

Viggo: Well, I was meant to be a translator for the Danish Olympic Team but nobody showed up. Literally. And they said "Well, can you understand the Swedes?' I said "I probably can. I'm not sure they can understand me.' But it became...what I really got to do was go to a lot of hockey games with drunken Finns and Swedes...'

Rove Live interview
Melbourne
February 28 2006




Best sporting event you've attended?

The 1972 Olympics in Munich. I didn't have tickets, but there was a huge glass wall at the swimming hall, and me and some other kids illicitly climbed up to the glass to watch. I saw Mark Spitz and Gary Hall Sr. Since I swam it was amazing.

Viggo Mortensen Q&A
By Richard Deitsch
Sports Illustrated magazine
5 August 2004


Last edited: 29 June 2014 04:48:01