Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Mucha lucha!

Para poder lidiar con este dia de anglicismos tipo change, hope y swing states y descansar un poco de la sobredosis de hockey moms, Joe the Plumber (o Tito the Builder), Clintons, Obamaxploitation y no-neck McCain, nada mejor que mirar de nuevo a nuestro continente donde dos fenomenos paralelos nos enseñan que el verdadero entretenimiento se encuentra en la tierra de la Copa Libertadores y no en los live coverages que analizan que significa cada variacion de un décimo de porcentaje en las urnas.

En esta esquina tenemos a las cholitas luchadoras. Efectivamente, con nombres como La Rompecorazones, La Vengadora, Carmen Rosa, La Alteña y el muy creativo La Campeona, la lucha libre de cholitas se inscribe dentro de los anales "bizarros" del folklore latino al lado de los ya famosos peces samurais bogotanos.

Aparentemente, el furor de la lucha libre de cholitas, bastante popular en los barrios humildes de La Paz y otras ciudades del Tibet Suramericano, se explica en la revindicacion de las mujeres y del pueblo indigena en general. Para la muestra, una cholita dandole su merecida paliza a La Alteña (luchadora no cholita, sino de piel blanca):


En la otra esquina tenemos al ya no tan underground Fray Tormenta, quien sirvio de inspiracion para Nacho Libre. Si, Nacho Libre existe, es mexicano y si, lucha para poder tener plata con que ayudar a los niños de su orfanato.

Otra prueba mas que el mundo de la WWF con sus payasos gemelos, bikers y robots se queda corto frente al sinnumero de personajes que nuestro creativo continente puede aportar.

Si el desocupe es maximo, aca se pueden ver videos de las peleas que espero poder alguna vez ver en vivo:


Sunday, October 26, 2008

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Greed & The City

As I watched the film adaptation of Sex and the City on a plane recently, I couldn't help but notice how ironic it was that the New York version that this movie displayed and encouraged was crumbling down just outside my window.

At this point, it is really hard to know if the series fueled a lifestyle of 500 dollar shoes, breakfast mimosas and hefty apartements on the average New Yorker or if, conversely, the appartements, restaurants, wardrobe and lounges of Carrie and friends reflected the average day of working girls at the time. But the question of which inspired which is irrelevant on an era where the line between TV and reality is blurry. What really matters is that in the future, when people want to understand what really happened during the credit boom and what caused the 2008 crash, they just have to watch a couple of episodes of the series (watching the whole movie is too much of a punishment).

Not coincidentially, the series and the movie cover the whole decade where excessive leverage, minimal rates and 1-800-FREEMORTGAGE made a whole generation believe that a one bedroom apartment in Greenwich Village, a Louis Vuitton puppy bag and daily Cosmopolitans at lunch were just around the corner. Just like small town blonds arrive in LA to make it in showbiz, Ivy Leaguers flooded the city to indulge in haute couture, VIP lounges and, of course, casual sex. This generation, boosted by Gordon Gekko's "Greed is good" motto (but misinterpreting the rest of Oliver Stone's Wall Street) managed, by means of 9 figure bonuses made up of just thin air, to turn Hugo Boss, Armani and Moët & Chandon into the new Gap and Heineken.

Well, fear is good too. And even if recession will negatively affect all of us non-hedge funders, hopefully housing will become reasonably priced, risk will be treated as such and ludicrous salaries will be curtailed. But best of all, we wont have to bear for some time with Mr. Bigs and Carrie Bradshaws, fiction and real.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Strike a Pose

Intro/Candyshop
Beat Goes On
Human Nature
Vogue


VIDEO INTERLUDE

Into The Groove

Heart Beat
Borderline

She’s Not Me
Music

VIDEO INTERLUDE

Spanish Lesson
Miles Away
La Isla Bonita/Lela Pala Tute
Romanian folk musical interlude
You Must Love Me

VIDEO INTERLUDE

4 Minutes
Like A Prayer
Ray Of Light

Hung Up
Give It To Me (Finale)

Thursday, September 11, 2008

A Rush of Blood to the Head Indeed

Life In Technicolor
Violet Hill
Clocks

In My Place
Speed Of Sound
Cemeteries Of London
Chinese Sleep Chant
42

Fix You
Strawberry Swing
God Put A simile Upon Your Face + Talk (Techno)
The Hardest Part
Postcards From Far Away
Viva La Vida
Lost
The Scientist
Death will Never Conquer
Viva la Vida remix
———
Politik

Lovers in Japan

Death and All His Friends
——–
Yellow
The Escapist

Saturday, August 30, 2008

A riot

Kaiser Chiefs

01: Everyday I Love You Less And Less

02: Everything Is Average Nowadays
03: The Heat Dies Down
04: Never Miss A Beat
05: Ruby
06: Modern Way
07: Half The Truth
08: Na Na Na Na Na
09: I Predict A Riot

10: You Want History
11: The Angry Mob

12: Take My Temperature
13: Oh My God


R.E.M.

1. Bad Day
2. Living Well Is The Best Revenge

3. What's The Frequency Kenneth
4. Drive

5. Man Sized Wreath
6. The Great Beyond
7. Ignoreland

8. Hollow Man
9. Electrolite
10. Imitation of life
11. I'm Gonna DJ
12. The One I Love

13. Fall On Me
14. Let Me In

15. Horse To Water
16. Orange Crush

17. It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
18. Supernatural Superserious (Encore)
19. Losing My Religion (Encore)
20. Man On The Moon (Encore)

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Thursday, August 14, 2008

It's Just Good Chicken

First you have to see this:



To enjoy this:

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Ingrid In The Sky With Diamonds

Como siempre, Ingrid mirando al cielo:


Si, todos estamos contentos y aliviados. Pero si molesta un poco que todo se haya enfocado en la libertad de Ingrid, libertad a la parisienne, llena de hoteles de lujo, Paris Match, islas Seychelles, Carla Bruni, etc, todo con un poquito de mistica de renacida, con arrodillada, gracias a Dios, la Virgen, el Rosario, etc, etc. Esta bien que lo disfrute y lo crea, pero por favor, no nos lo refrieguen en la cara.

Parecen olvidarse de lo mas importante, libertad para los que faltan:

Saturday, July 19, 2008

They Looked Like Giants

The New Year:

A Movie Script Ending:

Photobooth:

Title and Registration:

Transatlanticism:

Saturday, July 05, 2008

It's a Lifetime Commitment

1. Le Ballet D'Or
2. Have You Seen Me Lately?
3. Hanging Tree
4. Mr. Jones

5. Colorblind

6. Anna Begins
7. Cowboys

8. Good Time
9. Mrs. Potter's Lullaby

10. Big Yellow Taxi
11. Accidentally in Love
12. Recovering the Satellites
13. On Almost Any Sunday
14. You Can't Count On me

15. Sundays
16. A Long December
17. Hanging Around

---------------------------------------
18. Washington Square
19. Come Around
20. Hard Candy
Bonus: Holiday in Spain

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Zen of the Dead

To complete the last post, I would suggest that the yoga section of the Wii Fit incorporates the following new trend:



You can read more about it here.

Yet one more reason to visit NYC.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Wii Fit circa 1985

Ok, now you can just put a board on the floor and, guided by virtual trainers that look like Playdoh dolls, you can do some step exercises, box a little, hula hoop, and even snowboard, ski, practise some yoga and eat fish dressed as a penguin. All in the name of fitness.

But 20 years ago, before Nintendo hit it big for the first time with two mustached italian plombers, doing exercise at home was even more fun:



For all of us who woke up during our school years before 6 am, Mousercise was a fixture. Inspired by the aerobics fad that was sweeping the world and established the leotard and headbands as fashion staples (and into "hard rock" bands), the Disney Channel thought that the best way to keep kids (and their moms) entertained at 5 in the morning was to make them follow the moves of such coordinated and suave characters as Goofy and Donald Duck. Just add a semireplica of Olivia Newton John from "Let's Get Physical" as the host (nevermind Steve), and you get the show that surely seeded the dance moves of Britney, Justin and Christina.

If you don't know this show, it means that you used to wake up later and ended up watching Dumbo Circus and Welcome to Pooh Corner. In that case, you probably are today one of those "sensitive" guys that managed to go and see the Sex and the City film or that cries with every episode of Grey's Anatomy. If you had some good cable, then you ended up watching the japanese cartoon version of Tom Sawyer followed by an annoying seal called Seabert.

But if Mousercise makes part of your childhood and you still remember Pluto doing jumping jacks, you will probably think that Wii Fit exercises are a little boring. For the next version, I suggest that all trainers and additional characters should be cartoon icons. I, for once, would definitely love to box Butters, do some hula hoops with Weyland Smithers, jog with He-Man and all the Masters of the Universe, snowboard with a Gummy Bear and practise some yoga with Willie Coyote.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Everything In Its Right Place

Let the set list and videos speak for themselves:

01. 15 Step
02. Bodysnatchers
03. All I Need
04. Airbag
05. Nude
06. Pyramid Song
07. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
08. The Gloaming

09. Dollars and Cents
10. Faust Arp
11. Videotape
12. Optimistic
13. Just
14. Reckoner

15. Everything In Its Right Place

16. Fake Plastic Trees
17. Jigsaw Falling Into Place

Encore1:
18. House of Cards
19. There There
20. Bangers and Mash
21. The National Anthem/Hunting Bears
22. How To Disappear Complètement

Encore2:
23. Super Collider
24. You And Whose Army?
25. Karma Police
26. Idioteque


At the end, in rainbows:

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Melinda Culea et al.


Es dificil acordarse de ella, sabiendo que el suyo ha sido uno de los roles mas insignificantes en serie alguna. Si hoy uno pregunta a cualquier rodillon calvo cuantos eran Los Magnificos, 9 de cada 10 personas responderan que 4. Porque claro, todos sabemos que Los Magnificos fueron acusados de un crimen que no cometieron, y a todos nos encanta cuando un plan se concreta, y hasta nos acordamos que en entre todas esas explosiones nadie moria, pero nadie puede responder a ciencia cierta quien era Amy. No, lo unico rescatable de Amy era que en la vida real se llamaba Melinda Culea.

Es claro que los productores querian asegurar su audiencia, y por eso inventaron este pusilanime personaje, una periodista que acompaña a nuestros mercenarios favoritos en sus misiones a traves de las granjas de los estados sureños. Pero mientras Murdock hacia su rutina Jim Carrey, Mario Baracus se ingeniaba como no ser sedado para volar y nunca lo lograba, Face seducia a las clientes (porque siempre eran mujeres) y Hanibal se disfrazaba y se las daba de George Clooney, nuestra Amy se limitaba a echar una sonrisita pa qui, otra sonrisita pa llà, y a balbucear los populares monosilabos de interrogacion: "What?", "Who?", "When?", "Where?", "How?". Es que su guion debia ser de maximo una pagina, porque mas de dos frases no hilaba en un solo capitulo. No por nada, al cabo de un año y medio su personaje desaparecio sin que uno se diera cuenta.

Otro de nuestros programas favoritos de domingo en la tarde, de justicia en estado sureño, si pudo encajar en cambio entre su humor infantil a un personaje que termino siendo sex symbol:

Daisy Duke, la mesera del bar de Boss Hogg, la sobrina del tio Jesse, la prima de Bo y Luke (primos incestuosos yo creo, porque eso le echaban unas miradas) y muy seguramente la tiniebla de Cooter y de todo el pueblo (porque parecia no haber mas viejas). Si, fue Daisy Duke, la que, por encima de Los Angeles de Charlie, rompio el mito que a los niños chiquitos no le gustan las niñas (porque aunque La Mujer Maravilla no estaba nada mal, un superheroe era solo eso). Y fue ella la que empezo a mostrar mas pierna y estomago, la que popularizo el hot pant de jean que, merecidamente, empezo a denominarse el "Daisy Duke".

Ya de ahi pa lante estabamos en pura era Reagan, puro laissez faire, que se tradujo fielmente al mundo de la television. Si Los Magnificos se anclaba en antiguos heroes de Vietnam para entretener y las mujeres eran un estorbo, Lee Majors le aposto a lo contrario y aprovecho el superficial mundo del cine y de los dobles para meter una "aprendiz" que de entrada nos mostraba su valor agregado:

Heather Thomas fue la precursora del bikini en prime time, la que inspiro los infinitos afiches de viejas que adornaron los cuartos de cualquier adolescente ochentero, afiches que se podian comprar en Bima o en frente de Unicentro por cierto. No por nada participo en Zapped!, maximo exponente de la pelicula de adolescentes de los ochentas, con aquellos teenagers que con telekinesis levantaban faldas y desabotonan blusas (si, en esa epoca eran blusas).

Tanto avanzo el tema en los ochenta, que ya al final hasta la abogada de Colt Seavers, la seria Terry, se unio a la corriente:


A esas alturas, ya no habia vuelta atras y un poco mas tarde, el iconico David Hasselhoff, mamado de hablar todo el tiempo con un carro chistosin, llevo el asunto a otro nivel en las playas de Malibu.

Y llegamos a hoy en dia, donde de Nip/Tuck al porno primetime estamos a esto...

Monday, May 19, 2008

Ceci n'est pas un chapeau

Fancy a pint of ale and a meat pie?

London

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Big in Japan

Bonsai has strong root, just like you Daniel-san!

Tokyo


Kyoto


Nara

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Never Enough

3 hours and a half =
  • The extended edition of any of the Lords of the Rings movies
  • 10 Simpson episodes
  • Two football games
  • Bogota - Girardot with heavy traffic
  • Half a day's work in France
  • Direct flight Paris- Cairo
or the length of The Cure's concert: