Sundance 06

Write them down now, try to find them later.

Happy New Year!

So Happy New Chinese Year. This year is the year of the DOG.
Is that good or bad? I am not sure. I am just confused. So I am an Scorpio Rabbit living in the Dog Year trying to find a Piscis, Virgo or Capricorn that is at the same time a Goat or a Pig. Uff. I am tired already.

But it's going to be a good year. The year of the dog is known, not surprisingly, for loyalty and generosity. The Dog is an ethical and idealistic sign, and the year that bears its name will also bring increased social awareness and interest in society's less powerful members. So.. Happy New Year and Gong Xi Fa Cai (may you have wealth and prosper)!

(pd. Carles tenies raó.. un poco de morro.. unos cuantos animalitos i muntem tu i jo un xiringuito de pitonisos en qualsevol cantonada del village.)

Cache (Hidden)

So.. great movie, but I left the cinema totally confused. Mmmm. I kind of like the confusion, but I am interested in hearing your interpretations. Leave comments here.

Buff...

El Lincoln Center tiene un ciclo de cine catalán que empezaba hoy. Yo he aprovechado a ver esta que me quedé sin ver en Barcelona en Navidad. Nos ha sorprendido que Marc Reixa, Roman Guvern y la misma Isabel Coixet estuvieran allí para presentar el festival y asistir a una ronda de preguntas y respuestas.

La película me ha dolido mucho, pero me ha gustado. Dicen algunos que es sensiblona y va a la lágrima fácil. Sentí un poco eso en "Mi vida sin mi" pero aquí creo que es maravilloso que sintamos un poco del dolor que sinitió aquella gente. Creo que el cine que conmueve y que recuerda que siguen habiendo guerras horribles, que se nos olvidan, y gente maravillosa intentando arreglar las consecuencias, vale la pena. Al menos nos hace un poquito más humanos al salir. Os dejo con una de esas webs. www.irct.org

Midnight Eye

Gracias a Rafa descubro Midnight Eye (me hace gracia que ahora todos los nombres tengan ojos de por medio... o quizás es como pasa con las embarazadas, que ahora me fijo más. No en las embarazadas, sino en los ojos.)
Alucinante página sobre lo último y lo mejor del cine japonés. Para perderse mil horas. Y también mola ver lo que a los japos les ha gustado del cine del resto del mundo. Hay una selección de lo mejor del 2005 aquí que no está mal.

The Lottery

Once you have a green card, what next?

This week's New Yorker has a wonderful story about the green card lottery. Totally worth reading. I applied to the lottery this year, but after reading this I almost prefer not getting one.

Read the article here.

Intransient

Una web de fotos alucinante. Mira aquí y aquí.
Y cómo se hace esto exactamente?

Robin Rhode

Taking pictures as if life was a flip-book.
I couldn't really find good references, but this guy takes a pic a frame of him interacting of something he just draws on a wall. Pretty cool. See more stuff here and here.

Lars Von Trier at IFC

I have a fascination for this Danish director, and now there is an opportunity to see his more obscure creations on the big screen. Info here.

Ya tenemos nombre!

Gracias a todos.
Y a Maria, claro. La mente pensante.

Caminos varios

Me ha mandado esto Elaine esta mañana y me ha gustado.

[...]- ¿Cómo? ¿Hay alguna manera especial de evitar el dolor?
- Si, hay una manera.
- ¿Es alguna fórmula, o un procedimiento, o qué?
- Es una manera de agarrarse a las cosas. Por ejemplo, cuando yo estaba aprendiendo sobre la yerba del diablo, era demasiado ansioso. Me agarraba a las cosas de la misma manera que los niños agarran dulces. La yerba del diablo es sólo un camino entre entidades de caminos. Por eso debes tener siempre presente que un camino es sólo un camino; si sientes que no deberías seguirlo, no debes seguir en el camino bajo ninguna condición. Para tener esa claridad debes llevar una vida disciplinada. Sólo entonces sabrás que un camino es nada más un camino, y no hay afrenta, ni para ti ni para otros, en dejarlo si es lo que tu corazón te dice. Pero tu decisión de seguir en el camino o e dejarlo debe estar libre de miedo y de ambición. Te prevengo.

Mira cada camino cerca y con intención. Pruébalo tantas veces como consideres necesario. Luego hazte a ti mismo, y a ti sólo, una pregunta. Es una pregunta que sólo se hace un hombre muy viejo. Mi benefactor me habló de ella una vez cuando yo era joven, y mi sangre era demasiado vigorosa para que yo la entendiera. Ahora sí la entiendo. Te diré cual es: ¿tiene corazón este camino?
Todos los caminos son lo mismo: no llevan a ninguna parte. Son caminos que van por el matorral. Puedo decir que en mi propia vida ha recorrido caminos largos, largos, pero no estoy en ninguna parte.
Ahora entiendo la pregunta de mi benefactor: ¿tiene corazón este camino? Si tiene, el camino es bueno. Si no, de nada sirve. Ningún camino lleva a ninguna parte, pero uno tiene corazón y otro no. Uno te hace gozoso el viaje; mientras lo sigas, eres uno con él. El otro te hará maldecir tu vida. Uno te hace fuerte, el otro te debilita. [...]

Carlos Castaneda
"Las enseñanzas de Don Juan"

Uff...

A veces se me olvida que sigue la guerra. Supongo que es ley de supervivencia porque sino no podríamos levantarnos por las mañanas. Y entonces, cuando te metes en tu vida y en tus proyectitos, llamas a un amigo con el que te has estado dejando mensajes en el contestador desde hace unos días para hablar de cualquier tontería, y te dice que esa chica de la que no para de hablar CNN, que esa periodista de cara asustada, no es otra que aquella amiga suya de la que te ha hablado tantas veces.
Y entonces, te haces pequeñita. Y te sientes fatal por haber dejado de acordarte de que no tan lejos siguen con una guerra absurda. Y te invade el silencio, la rabia y la impotencia.

Odilon Redon

The MOMA has an amazing exhibit of the drawings of Odilon Redon. Worth spending some time checking them out and discovering the dark mind of an artist that draw lots of monsters.
"My originality consists in bringing to life, in human way, improbable beings and making them live according to the laws of probability, by putting-as far as possible- the logic of the visible at the service of the invisible."
If you cannot get to 53rd street, you can visit the exhibit online here. Not the same, but pretty close.

A Zen thought to start the year good

Fully Committed To Now

Sometimes, we may find ourselves wishing we knew what our lives are going to look like or what gifts and challenges are going to be presented to us in the coming months or years. We may want to know if the relationship we're in now will go the distance or if our goals will be realized. Perhaps we feel like we need help making a decision and we want to know which choice will work out best. We may consult psychics, tarot cards, our dreams, and many other sources in the hopes of finding out what the future holds.

Usually, at most, we may catch glimpses. And even though we think we would like to know the whole story in all its details, the truth is that we would probably be overwhelmed and exhausted if we knew everything that is going to happen to us.

Just think of your life as you've lived it up to this point. If you are like most of us, you have probably done more and faced more than you could have ever imagined. If someone had told you as a child of all the jobs and relationships you would experience, along with each one's inherent ups and downs, you would have become overwhelmed. With your head full of information about the future, you would have had a very hard time experiencing your life in the present moment, which is where everything actually happens.

In many ways, not knowing what the future has in store brings out in us the qualities we need to grow. For example, it would have been difficult to commit yourself to certain people or projects if you knew they wouldn't ultimately work out. Yet, it was through your commitment to see them through that you experienced the lessons you needed to grow. Looking back on your life, you would likely be hard pressed to say that anything in your past should not have happened. In fact, your most challenging experiences with their inevitable lessons may have ultimately brought you the greatest rewards. Not knowing the future keeps us just where we need to be-fully committed and in the present moment.

A History of Violence

The Canadian director David Cronemberg (Crash, Naked Lunch, The Fly) presents this amazing movie. It's violent, pretty bloody indeed. But I think it's worth seeing. I loved it.

Colaboradores

Alf y yo queremos montar un espacio cultural online.
Hay varios, sí, la diferencia es que este es el nuestro, así que vamos en busca de un toque personal y totalmente subjetivo. Una web que hable de la cultura de manera que se entienda. Sencilla, democrática, donde todos podemos participar en crearla y en opinar sobre ella. No hacemos periodismo objetivo. Somos gente hablando de cosas que nos apasionan o compartiendo piezas que hemos hecho. (Esta parte es mi preferida: one deadline a month para hacer cosas. Sabiendo que tendrás público.)
No pretendemos ser una revista de tendencias. Somos una web de cultura atemporal. Vale tanto hablar de pelis de los 30 como del ultimo cd de una banda underground.
Si te apetece participar envíame un email y te cuento más.
Y si se te ocurre un nombre... envíalo...

A friend and me are putting together a online cultural space.
There are some already out there, but the difference is that this one is ours. We will offer a totally personal take on things. A web that talks about culture in a way that it can be easily understood. Simple, democratic and plural. You can either comment on something you've seen, or show something you've done. That's my favorite part, because it works as "a deadline a month" to do cool stuff, knowing it will be shown and you will have public.
We are not trying to be a trendy magazine. We are just offering an space to talk about culture we like, from movies from the 30st to the latest graffiti artist in the Lower East Side.
If you are interested in knowing more or even participating, send me and email and I qill let you know more. Thanks.
And if you can think of a great name.. hmm... that would be even better.

Chipp Kid

(esta es para Alf)
El otro dia fuimos a ver a Chip Kidd dar una conferencia sobre el diseño de sus portadas, con el motivo de la presentación de su libro.
Una portada al final, es como un poster. Tantas posibilidades de hacer cosas chulas! Readerville tiene una interesante selección de portadas aquí. A mi me encanta esta y esta.

Litost

Litost is a Czech word with no exact translation into any other language. It designates a feeling as infinite as an open accordion, a feeling that is the synthesis of many others: grief, sympathy, remorse, and an indefinable longing. The first syllable, which is long and stressed, sounds like the wail of an abandoned dog.
Under certain circumstances, however, it can have a very narrow meaning, a meaning as definite, precise and sharp as a well-honed cutting edge. I have never found an equivalent in other languages for this sense of the word either, though I do not see how anyone can understand the human soul without it.
Let me give an example. One day the student went swimming with his girlfriend. She was a top-notch athlete, he could barely keep afloat. He had trouble holding his breath underwater, and was forced to thrash his way forward, jerking his head back and forth above the surface. The girl was crazy about him and tactfully kept to his speed. But as their swim was coming to an end, she felt the need to give her sporting instincts free rein, and sprinted to the other shore. The student tried to pick up his tempo too, but swallowed many mouthfuls of water. He felt humiliated, exposed for the weakling he was, he felt the resentment, the special sorrow which can only be called litost. He recalled his sicky childhood-no physical exercise, no friends, nothing but Mama's ever-watchful eye and sank into utter, all-encompassing despair. On their way back to the city they took a shortcut through the fields. He did not say a word. He was wounded, crestfallen; he felt an irresistible desire to beat her. What's wrong with you? she asked him, and he went into a tirade about how the undertow on the other side of the river was very dangerous and he had told her not to swim over there and she could have drowned-the he slapped her face. The girl burst out crying, and when he saw the tears running down her fave, he took pity on her and put his arms around her, and his litost melted into thin air.
Well then, what is litost?
Litost is a state of torment caused by a sudden insight into one's own miserable self. (...) Litost works like a two-stroke motor. First comes a feeling of torment, then the desire for revenge. The goal of revenge is to make one's partner look as miserable as oneself. The man can't swim, but the woman cries when slapped. It makes them feel equal and keeps their love alive.

- From "The Book of Laughter and Forgetting" by Milan Kundera

Tim Marrs

Cool illustrations here.

Erica Shires

Wonderful girly photography here. She is really nice too, I met her at the ADC photography review.

Heads of State

Cool posters. A lot of them for Wilco. ( I love that band!)

Woody Allen

De vuelta a NYC. Tengo mono de Woody Allen.
Todavía no he visto "Match point" (aquí la estrenaron en navidades), pero he vuelto con ganas de sesión continua.
Nacido en Brooklyn en el 35, Sagitario por si esto de los signos dice algo a alguien, empezó como stand-up comedian a los 15 años y más o menos ha hecho una peli por año. Por lo que hacer una retrospectiva se complica, ya que ha escrito 56 y ha dirigido 40. (según dicen aquí)
De todas maneras, es un buen ejemplo de lo que tanto he hablado estas navidades: de que hay que hacer, hacer, hacer, hacer... con criterio, probando mucho y conformándose con poco... pero haciendo siempre. Inspira mucho. Pensar que él puede hacer una peli al año y el New York Times puede hacer un periódico al día cambia mucho el concepto tiempo/posibilidades. Hmmm.

Así que aquí tengo Alice, Radio Days, Husbands and Wifes, Zelig, Hannah and Her Sisters, New York Stories,... para ver o volver a ver. Mi favorita sigue siendo Manhattan, pero esa ya la he visto demasiadas veces.

Infinite cat project

A cat looking at a rose.
A cat looking at a cat looking at a rose.
A cat looking at a cat looking at a cat looking at a rose.
A cat looking at a cat looking at a cat looking at a cat....
times= infinite
The Infinite Cat project. Check it out here. So far there are 1131.
(esta es de Rafa. Mil besos!)

Rich Jacobs

In front of Cafe Colonial (the best spicy corn in the cob in town) in Soho, you can see one of these amazing posters.
He is part of the Beautiful Losers exhibit too.