Snob

¿Punto de venta, lugar de encuentro de los aficionados, espacio para divulgación o improvisado gabinete psicológico? La librería especializada, la tienda de cómic, ese sancta sanctorum se merecía un buen homenaje por nuestra parte. Así con la ayuda de un buen puñado de librerías colaboradoras hablamos del origen de nuestro punto de venta favorito, de su estado actual y  de nuestras propias experiencias y anécdotas delante y detrás del mostrador.

Ir a descargar

¿Cómo surge la tienda de cómic? Antes de la llegada del mercado directo en los años 70, los tebeos eran prestados y vendidos en todo tipo de establecimientos, desde supermercados hasta jugueterías. No obstante también hubo una etapa intermedia en la que aparecieron proto-librerías en la que buscar y rebuscar entre cómics de segunda mano para completar las colecciones o bien encontrar material más underground y alternativo.

Ya en los años 70 empiezan a aparecer las librerías que hoy conocemos y a primeros de los años 80 los pioneros de nuestro país: Antifaz, Futurama, Arte 9, Continuará… En los 90 también aparecen librerías muy emblemáticas como Generación X, Akira, Joker o Universal. Mucho ha cambiado el panorama, la clientela, la orientación y precisamente damos voz a un puñado de libreros para que nos den sus testimonios y para que nos cuenten sus anécdotas. Akira Cómics, Alcalá Cómics, Arte 9, Joker, Omega Center, Milcomics.com y Universal son los amigos que nos acompañan.  Y además Dani  de Atom Cómics se suma a nuestra tertulia.

Tras hablar de los puntos de venta, llega el momento de hablar de sus productos más recomendables. Empezamos con la mítica saga de Aldebarán, que ECC ha retomado en Kenia y Antares. Ciencia-ficción franco-belga de la buena.

Dos estupendos retratos generacionales nos proponen Miguel B. Nuñez y Manel Fontdevila. Por un lado, Heavy 1986 (Sapristi), una entrañable mirada al rock duro y su tribu urbana en los 80. Por otro, La Parejita resucita bajo el nombre Las Nuevas Aventuras de Emilia y Mauricio (DeBolsillo.)

Finalizamos con otra maravilla de Jiro Taniguchi, Temoji (Ponent Mon), y las aventuras de espada y brujería que nos proponen Josep Busquet y Yayu en Proks (Amaniaco.)

A tablespoon of it will kill you, but most of us feel like death without it: we’re talking about caffeine this episode. Inspired by a listener question — does green tea have more or less caffeine than black? and what about yerba mate? — Cynthia and Nicky explore the history and science of the world’s most popular drug. Listen in as we discover the curious effect of birth control pills on how our bodies process it, calculate how much of an edge it gives athletes, and learn what dolphin dissection and the American Constitution have to do with each other, and with caffeine.

 

The winners of the 10th annual Golden Geek Awards were announced this Monday, and both the winners and runners up were outstanding

The world could use a few more people who have their minds set on being less stupid, because those folks seem to be in short supply these days and the internet only makes it easier to skate by without a brain.

So maybe what we need is a new web series aimed at turning the tides of dumbness, a series with a catchy title like Be Less Stupid, yeah, that's the ticket! (NSFW due to language)

(YouTube Link)

Be Less Stupid is a new series by former Penn & Teller: Bulls#%t! and Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher writer Jon Hotchkiss, who exposes the truth about hot button issues like Coke bleaching, cabin depressurization and whether having sex with a pregnant woman poses a threat to the infant. You know, smart people stuff!

-Via Laughing Squid

El 29 de marzo se cumplen 6 años de la llegada a España de Aliexpress, la plataforma de comercio online propiedad de Alibaba que planta cara a Amazon y eBay a base de gastos de envío gratuitos, artículos de bajo coste, un amplio catálogo de productos y falsificaciones.

Four best friends from Seattle have come together to create Lost Time, Tacocat’s third album, second for Hardly Art, and first with Shabazz Palaces producer Erik Blood. The band refers to him as a ‘wizard’ in the studio, and he’s brought some space to the band’s droll and sarcastic noise pop.
In their eighth year as a band, Tacocat have been accredited as a forerunner in the cultivation of their city’s “girlband” scene, but the group isn’t so quick to accept this label. Though Tacocat’s songs often present unabashedly feminist messages, members refused to be classified as anything other than human, arguing that both their music and their message are valid without being pin holed into as niche or a novelty. This biting and clever stance is embodied in music that’s as unapologetic as…

320 kbps | 77 MB  UL | MC ** FLAC

…it is well written.

Their straightforward and irreverent music is a fine balm for the darkness that invades the media (case in point: the current election coverage). So it comes as no surprise that “I Hate The Weekend” (‘paint the rainbow shades of beige’) is a firm favorite, followed by “You Can’t Fire Me, I Quit”, which channels a bit of 50s/60s girl group and throws it down with some spiky punk energy. For some reason, “Plan A, Plan B” reminds me of early Blondie (when they were good), and I love the handclaps on “Talk”. “Men Explain Things to Me” is 1:58” of raw female energy and frustration with the male of the species. “Night Swimming” sucks you straight in and soon you are drowning in its massive hooks. The album is short (less than 30 minutes) and to the point. Highly recommended for fans of female-driven pop punk that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Adam Conover has found a lot of success tearing apart our preconceived notions about things like engagement rings, hymens, and salary transparency on his truTV show Adam Ruins Everything, so when he was asked to enlighten the audience at a recent marketing conference about how to appeal to millennials, he presented them with an interesting […]

Perhaps the only thing that is more crowded than the GOP this election season is the late night crowd. From Stephen Colbert to Jimmy Fallon, Larry Wilmore to Trevor Noah, and everyone in between, it’s hard to keep track of all the late night hosts throwing potshots at politics. However, the newest person to the […]

I woke up last Friday with a familiar thought: I don’t want to adult today! Have you heard of adulting? It is a word millennials use to describe annoying grown-up tasks like putting on pants and holding a steady job. It’s a hassle, but adulting is something I do pretty much every day—that means feeding myself, making sure my pets don’t die, and washing my hands after touching raw chicken. But just last week, adulting took on a whole new meaning: I had to identify a corpse. Ugh!

 

My phone rang and there was an unfamiliar number on the screen. Usually this means my gyno is calling to remind me I haven’t had a pap in three-and-a-half years, but my gut told me to answer it. It was the coroner’s office, and they called to tell me that my old, lonely, next-door neighbor died while on his morning walk, and they wanted ME to identify the body. I was tempted to give them some excuse like, “I have a hair appointment” and just crawl back into bed, but my therapist keeps telling me that sometimes you have to “do the hard thing” and I knew I should probably try to do the adulting thing here.

 

I know; in my parent’s generation people probably identified three or four corpses by my age (more if they went to war or whatever). But I went to a six-year college and majored in Floral Management. My longest job was as an assistant to a woman who poured soy candles out of her home. My parents still subsidize my rent. I’ve just rarely been given the opportunity to adult, especially when it comes to identifying corpses.

 

 

So as soon as I got off the phone I started adulting really hard—I even remembered to write down the morgue address in a legible hand. I didn’t just put on pants, but I put on non-jeans pants, #adulting! I put on red lipstick that screamed #girlboss (#adulting!!!!), and even remembered to throw a Luna Bar in my tote before heading out the door (#adultingsohard). On the way to the morgue, I decided not to listen to Taylor Swift’s “1989”, but put on Miles Davis. #Adulting. When I finally arrived, I had a Starbucks venti Flat White in one hand and my cell in the other. I practically stomped through those double doors and said into my phone “hold on, Ma. There is a corpse I need to identify” (except that I technically still need to remember to call my mom and thank her for the care package). So I adulted on down to the morgue, looked at a picture of my dead neighbor Robert’s face and said, “Ugh I hate this!!! Yes that is def him. Hashtag #adulting.”

 

So it turns out the process of identifying a corpse is pretty mundane. They don’t even show you the actual body, which is pretty boring, but that’s adulting for you, right? Still, the entire experience totally motivated me. I went home that day, scheduled that pap, used my stove for the first time ever, and finally Googled, “How to make a resume.” #adulting #corpsing!!

So you finally did it! You cut out your daily cup of joe because it kept leaving you with racing thoughts and the jitters. But it turns out you kind of miss the increased heartrate and relentless anxiety. Here’s how to make sure that your chronic anxiety persists even after the traces of caffeine have left your bloodstream.

 

Call your mom, or someone else who is triggering!

Now that your body’s default setting isn’t chemically in high alert, make sure to seek out life stressors that exist in your life organically. This will justify why you’re “on the verge of a nervous breakdown” when people ask how you’re doing. A judgmental sigh from your mother on the phone should do the trick. She just wonders why you struggle so much and if you’ll ever truly be happy. Thanks, Mom!

 

Explain to everyone why you stopped. Constantly.

Since you’re an anxious person, you might feel the urge to explain to all your coworkers why you’re not partaking in everyone’s favorite morning pick-me-up. That’s why you’ll want to be clear that the anxiety you formerly exhibited due to the caffeine will now be exhibited due to caffeine withdrawal. It’s stressful and embarrassing to admit that this low-grade stimulant has such a hold on you, but that’s the kind of stress that you thrive on, so get it, girl!

 

Find a new destructive habit to do with a destructive friend.

Does Party Heather from HR go out to the patio seven times a day to enjoy her pack of Marlboro 27’s. Did you two just become best friends? You’re damn right you did! Did she just ask if you want a sip of her vodka water bottle? At 11am? This will get you worried, but just remember you can go back to caffeine at any time.

 

 

Stress about what it means that you would rather be incredibly anxious than give up coffee.

Are you a masochist? It’s almost like you don’t even WANT to be happy. Have a soothing but soon to be worry inducing sip.

 

Go back to drinking coffee.

Fuck it. You cut out caffeine but you still felt super anxious all day. What is even the point? Screw the whole thing and go back to drinking coffee. Heck, have two cups. It doesn’t fucking matter.

 

We all have our vices. Yours is the need to feel anxious camouflaged in the need for caffeine. So just go with it!

... ainda que estén feitas a máquina ...


Xa postos, non sei se vichedes algunha vez a maquina dunha tortillería en marcha... así que aquí vai o video:

Via historytoday.com

The Forward recounts the Strange and Violent History of the Ordinary Grogger (also known as a ratchet), and why they are rarely found in orchestras.

As Matt Damon explained in The Guardian, "Ben's wife, Jennifer Garner, sells a shitload of magazines in the midwest. Magazines that — Ben explained this to me — you and I have never heard of, but that appeal to the mom in the midwest, who for some reason identifies with Jennifer and wants to know what she's doing as a mom."

Nixon aide/Watergate jailbird John Ehrlichman confessed to Dan Baum that Richard Nixon started the War on Drugs because "We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities." (more…)

If you've ever received a worried text from a friend who feels it's time for a "talk"—because you're too distant, too this, too that—then you have probably also asked yourself why you have friends in the first place. Maybe you'd rather be alone, capturing a selfie that gives Mona Lisa a run for her money, or writing the next great American blog. According to a new study, this desire to isolate may be a symptom of the fact that you're wicked smart: Satoshia Kanazawa and Norma Li, evolutionary psychologists in the UK, recently vouched for the genius of loners. Their data found that while most people's happiness increased in correlation to a decrease in population density (as well as with a high level of social interactions with loved ones) people who are "extremely intelligent" are actually happier when they don't spend time with their friends.

From their findings' abstract: "More intelligent individuals experience lower life satisfaction with more frequent socialization with friends." Lovely. I don't know about you, but when I think of genius, I think of Mensa—the world's largest and oldest high IQ society. Ann Clarkson, communications manager from their UK division, told me that these findings are "probably partly down to personality—you can have gregarious people with high IQ as well as introverted people with a high IQ."

Photo by Jelena Jojic via Stocksy

But, Clarkson didn't burst the bubble completely. "It is also recognized that very intelligent people can sometimes feel isolated from those around them just because they think and see the world differently. Finding someone else who processes information as you do can be difficult if your brain works the same as only two percent of the population," she said. That number, two percent, just refers to the layer of people that Mensa skims off the top of society to include in their collective of masterminds. It isn't, as Clarkson informed me, the number of highly intelligent people that a psychologist would necessarily cite to exist.

Dr. Robert Sternberg is a professor of human development at Cornell University specializing in intelligence and relationships. "There is no psychological meaning to the word 'highly intelligent,'" he said in an interview with Broadly. Psychologists, he explained, have many conflicting opinions on what constitutes high intelligence, and how many different "kinds" of intelligence there are. "In my own theory of successful intelligence, I distinguish among analytical intelligence (IQ), creative intelligence, and practical intelligence (common sense)," he said. "High IQ does not guarantee either of the latter two. Our schooling so rewards kids with high IQ that those kids have little incentive to develop high social/emotional/practical intelligence, with unfortunate results."

Kanazawa and Li's so-called "savannah theory of happiness" is presented in terms of evolutionary psychology: The situations we experience today are seen in the context of our ancestral experiences. According to the Washington Post, the researchers "theorize that the hunter-gatherer lifestyles of our ancient ancestors form the foundation for what make us happy now." Smart people can likely deal with challenges better on their own than less intelligent people can, thus relationships may be less important—but, as Dr. Sternberg points out, "a challenge with evolutionary psychology is that it requires us to imagine what life was like in prehistoric times, and we have enough trouble imagining what it was like in the Middle Ages, or even the 1940s."

Photo by Brian McEntire via Stocksy

He says that it's arguable that highly intelligent people desire fewer close friendships because they are exceptional and likely to be brought down by those around them, such as when bright students prefer to work alone than in a group of classmates who they feel are less intelligent. But, he explains, "it's not always the smartest kid (or adult) in a group who prevails (compare with our current Republican primaries), so the intelligent person may be forced to accept the direction set by the less intelligent people. Moreover, the highly intelligent person may be just too busy with career to spend the time talking extensively with friends."

But that's just one angle. Dr. Sternberg also says that it could be argued that "highly intelligent people are the ones most in need of friends because their high (academic) intelligence does not always translate to high social/emotional/practical intelligence." This brings up the different "kinds" of intelligence that people possess. For instance, you might suck at tests but excel at manipulating your teacher into giving you a good grade anyway—or maybe you're a creative genius, bad at numbers, but brilliant with something... creative. There are people who are technically of high intelligence, but whose interpersonal abilities are so inadequate they mangle social interactions, therefore failing to achieve their goals. "The intelligent person may fail to get his or her way because he does not see how to interact with and successfully persuade others in groups of importance (again, compare with our current Republican primaries)," Dr. Sternberg explained.

"High (academic) intelligence is only poorly correlated with social, emotional, and practical intelligence," he continued. "Ironically, the smart person who does not want to interact with others may be the person who most needs to interact with others to succeed in life. There are just so many high-IQ people who can't translate that IQ into worldly success, or who do so in ways that are less than fully productive."

Like Mensa, Dr. Sternberg questions these findings, pointing out the inaccuracy in over-simplification. "Catchy headlines do not always strong science make," he said.

Just like human women who walk innocuously down the street on two legs, female animals also endure unwanted catcalls (or worse) from their male counterparts. And while other animals haven't developed pepper spray or the vocalization "fuck off," they have their own defenses against unwanted sexual attention. Some female butterflies, for example, emit an anti–aphrodisiac when a male tries to mate with them after they have already mated with another; the unpleasant substance drives horny males straight away. The female African swallowtail butterfly employs a unique tactic to avoid harassment: it dresses in drag by morphing its usual markings to resemble that of the black and yellow male.

Now, a new paper from UK researchers at the University of Exeter, led by Professor David Hosken, suggests female animals across most species have subtly weaponized their appearance.

Read more: Evolution Explains Why Women Love Rolling Their Eyes So Much

Male animals typically attract female mates through flagrant visual displays that signal they're the best reproductive choice, but males can also be discerning about their partner's appearance. In that case, Hosken muses, "Why do females not signal their sexual quality via ornamental secondary sexual traits like males do?"

It's long been observed that females are typically less decorated than their male counterparts—the sexual dimorphism displayed amongst peacocks is an obvious example—but previous explanations for the penchant for drab plumage among female animals have focused on the increased need for females to camouflage from predators and conserve energy for reproduction. But Hosken theorizes that, "given that selection can favor female signals that reduce male harassment"—such as emitting an anti–aphrodisiac or forming communities away from males entirely—"it is very likely that the costs of male harassment could also select against ornaments that positively signal female quality, even if these ornaments would increase fitness in the absence of sexual harassment."

In other words, Hosken suggests that females look deceptively dull in part to ward off unwanted male attention because the threat of sexual harassment outweighs the potential benefits of being able to attract a better mate. To test his theory, Hosken told Broadly that he is currently doing work to determine if "attractive females are more harassed" than "non-attractive" females.

Brigit lives in Hamilton, New Zealand. Her hobby is collecting men’s underwear. Brigit’s owner, Sarah Nathan, would catch the cat burglar with a sock every now and then, but did not realize the extent of her thievery until the family got ready to pack up and move to a new home. She posted Brigit’s haul to Facebook, hoping to find the owner of the socks and underwear. She also posted the above notice and slipped notes into her neighbor’s mailboxes.   

The pictures went viral when they were posted at reddit. One man has responded and said the underwear looked familiar. Meanwhile, Nathan and her husband are moving to the countryside, and hope that Brigit will find a new hobby.

“Hopefully there's something there she can find to catch but if not we may have to stash some undies around the farm to keep her stimulated."

-via Arbroath

"... We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did."

Legalize It All

After porn actress Stoya claimed that James Deen raped her, nine other women came forward with stories of his violent misdeeds. With Deen's career not quite over, Zak Smith profiled him for "A Very Old And Important American Magazine"—whose lawyers got cold feet about the results. So on Medium it goes. (more…)

Armenian folk music meets early USA rock and roll nonsensical jibberish freakout? Kitschy soundtrack to a 1950s spy movie, in the scene where a potbellied bemoustached man is jiggling his way through a market waving a scimitar and knocking over baskets of fruit? What the hell is this??I've been told that Ganimian's music can be lumped into the genre "Jungle Exotica," early rock and roll songs based not on the real jungle, but the "jungle" as exotified in Hollywood movies. These songs feature signature traits such as "chest-beating ape mating calls and bird noises ... not to mention phrases like the fake Chinese "Ah, so!" or [Ganimian's] Bela Legosi-intoned 'Come with me to the Casbah,'" all of which "skirt stereotypes that, in later times, would be called politically incorrect." - BY CAMILLA at http://www.truepanther.com/2007_06_01_archive.html

Donald Trump wants to build a wall on the Mexico-US border — a big, beautiful wall, of course. And while this idea may sound inherently ridiculous to a lot of people, Trump is very serious about it. So on Sunday's Last Week Tonight, Oliver decided to take Trump's primary policy proposal seriously.

There are lots of problems, according to Oliver:

• Cost: Trump has at varying times estimated that the wall will cost anywhere from $4 billion to $12 billion. But according to the Washington Post, experts put the estimate closer to at least $25 billion. And while Trump insists Mexico will pay for the wall, there is zero evidence for that: Mexican officials have flat-out rejected the idea.
• Geography: Where does the wall go? As Oliver points out, this isn't as easy a question to answer as you might think. Large parts of the border are made up of the Rio Grande river. The wall can't be built to obstruct the flow of the river, per a 1970 treaty.
  
  As a consequence, big parts of the border fence approved in 2006 were built inland, sometimes actually blocking off US territory, such as the Fort Brown Memorial Golf Course. As the Guardian put it, the fence has turned into a "costly logistical nightmare."
• Effectiveness: It's not clear whether the wall would do much, if anything, to stop the flow of unauthorized immigrants into the US. In a 2006 report, the Pew Research Center estimated that "nearly half of all the unauthorized migrants now living in the United States entered the country legally through a port of entry such as an airport or a border crossing point where they were subject to inspection by immigration officials" — and then they just remained in the country without authorization. A wall wouldn't stop them.
  
  Not to mention all the people who would get around the wall with a ladder, rope, or underground tunnel.

Does this matter to Trump and his supporters? Maybe not. As Oliver noted, many people may want the wall as a symbol — it feels like it keeps the US safe. Trump has said it keeps out Mexican immigrants whom he characterized as "rapists" and "criminals." But a century of empirical research suggests Trump is wrong: Immigrants are potentially less, not more, likely to commit crime than their native-born counterparts. So it's not clear just how much safer it would make America.

Ultimately, Oliver suggested that buying a $75 electric waffle iron for every American would be a better use of the money than building a wall.

"I know what you're thinking: 'John, this is a stupid idea.' But is it? Is it, really? Yes, obviously, it is," Oliver said. "But is it significantly stupider than Donald Trump's wall? Because this waffle iron plan will cost less, it'll do nearly as much to keep out immigrants and drugs, it won't harm our relationship with our third-largest trading partner, if it is racist it's only toward Belgians, and, unlike Donald Trump's wall, this makes fucking waffles."

---

Watch: Donald Trump's rise is a scary moment in America

Raxoi lo ve necesario para asegurar la rotación diaria y no pasará del euro por jornada

FERROL360 | Lunes 21 marzo 2016 | 11:51

Si os habíais quedado con las ganas de visitar el Palacio de Capitanía de Ferrol no os preocupéis, vuelven las visitas guiadas a este edificio histórico. A partir de este jueves habrá nuevas oportunidades para conocer el recinto. Tomad nota.

Las visitas se programarán para un máximo de 20 personas, a las 10:00 y 11:00 horas los días 24, 25, 26 y 27 de marzo. Después de la Semana Santa, las visitas se mantendrán los primeros sábados de cada mes.

Las personas que deseen realizar la visita tendrán que abonar el servicio de guía, fijado en 3 euros por persona, y los menores de 5 años están exentos de pago. Los interesados pueden apuntarse en el teléfono 696.531.070 o en el email ferturguias@yahoo.es.

Tras un período de inactividad, la Armada pone de nuevo en marcha este proyecto aumentando su colaboración con La Ruta de la Construcción Naval al poner el Palacio de Capitanía a disposición de los visitantes. Las visitas estarán gestionadas por FERTUR y la Armada aportará el personal de seguridad.

El Ministerio de Defensa, a través de la Armada, inició en octubre del 2014 estas visitas al Palacio de Capitanía de Ferrol, sede de la extinta Zona Marítima del Cantábrico, con objeto de acercar tanto a turistas foráneos como a los ferrolanos el patrimonio cultural y militar que alberga.

Studies have found writer's block to be a simpler problem—unhappiness—than the legends around it suggest. But there are different kinds of unhappiness, and it's the blockee's job to be honest about which one they're suffering from.

The first, more anxious group felt unmotivated because of excessive self-criticism—nothing they produced was good enough—even though their imaginative capacity remained relatively unimpaired. (That’s not to say that their imaginations were unaffected: although they could still generate images, they tended to ruminate, replaying scenes over and over, unable to move on to something new.) The second, more socially hostile group was unmotivated because they didn’t want their work compared to the work of others. (Not everyone was afraid of criticism; some writers said that they didn’t want to be “object[s] of envy.”) Although their daydreaming capacity was largely intact, they tended to use it to imagine future interactions with others. The third, apathetic group seemed the most creatively blocked. They couldn’t daydream; they lacked originality; and they felt that the “rules” they were subjected to were too constrictive. Their motivation was also all but nonexistent. Finally, the fourth, angry and disappointed group tended to look for external motivation; they were driven by the need for attention and extrinsic reward. They were, Barrios and Singer found, more narcissistic—and that narcissism shaped their work as writers. They didn’t want to share their mental imagery, preferring that it stay private.

I bet group 1 (self-critics) account for most, though. Turn off your inner editor—and if necessary, move to a medium (longhand, typewriter) that deprives you of editorial tools

Un sorprendente reportaje mostró a unos modernos «vampiros» en el Matadero de Madrid acudiendo con sus vasos listos para beber sangre. Algunos incluso fueron fotografiados.

Fueron fotografiados sin pudor alguno, bebiendo grandes vasos de sangre recién extraída de vacas y toros. «Casi ocultando el rostro, con la cabeza baja —narraba el periodista— por el antiguo paseo del Canal hacia el Puente de Andalucía, caminan a primera hora de la mañana unas mujeres cuyos rostros pálidos destacan en el contraste de los negros vestidos. Dos ancianas las acompañan. Apenas hablan. De vez en cuando rompe la monotonía del silencio una tos débil.

—Son bebedoras de sangre—me dicen confidencialmente.

Ante mi expresión de sorpresa, me añaden:

—No lo dude. Aquí en Madrid hay un buen número de bebedores de sangre. Si quiere podemos verlo. Todas las mañanas, a estas horas, concurren varias personas ansiosas de beber la sangre caliente de animales recién sacrificados...».

El reportaje, publicado el 26 de agosto de 1933 en la revista Estampa, produjo un gran escándalo, cuando se comprobó la existencia de numerosos «vampiros» en Madrid. Todo sucedía con absoluta normalidad en una de las grandes naves del Matadero. Se toleraba y permitía. Nadie preguntaba nada y, regularmente, una muchedumbre acudía con sus vasos listos para ser llenados. Los matarifes hacían su trabajo, mientras los bebedores de sangre esperaban en fila ordenadamente. «Ha terminado la matanza —continúa diciendo el reportaje que muestra varias estremecedoras fotografías—. No queda una res en pie. Unas sobre otras aún cocean en el suelo resbaladizo y ensangrentado. Los bebedores que presenciaron los sacrificios esperan el momento de recoger la sangre humeante. Todos entregan a los mozos los vasos que al efecto llevan».

El procedimiento, perfectamente dispuesto, es relatado por un periodista que sin ocultar su asombro narra lo que está presenciando: «En aquellos rojos manantiales los vasos van llenándose repetidas veces de sangre humeante. Los bebedores aproximan el vaso a sus labios y sin reparo, dominados sin duda por la fuerza de la sugestión, injieren el contenido. Alguno tiene que hacer un gran esfuerzo para apurar el vaso; el estómago parece oponerse, pero, al fin, sonríe satisfecho, como si con ello hubiera adquirido un poco de la salud que le falta. También se hallan presentes otras personas que no participan del festín. Son los que representan a los que no se atreven a ir. Los comentarios que puedan suscitar entre las gentes les impide hacerlo. Pero allí están unos chiquillos que, provistos de pucheros o cafeteras, llevarán la sangre aún caliente a otros bebedores».

La mayoría bebía la sangre en ese instante, puesto que pensaban que sus propiedades medicinales eran mayores al ser tan fresca. Otros, en cambio, la guardaban y corrían a entregársela a quien le había encargado ir a por esta. El periodista intentó obtener alguna declaración, pero no fue fácil: «todos nos miran con recelo. Las mujeres especialmente. No quieren que se hable de esto, que casi lo llevan como un secreto. La presencia del fotógrafo les inquieta.

Al fin obtenemos una respuesta:

—Nos falta la salud —dicen—. Nuestras débiles energías y nuestra anemia podemos curarlas, y para fortalecernos bebemos sangre».

Los vio partir, satisfechos y dispuestos a acudir a la mañana siguiente. «En algunos casos aseguran que así puede ser, aun cuando haya otros medios más eficaces que éste para el fin que persiguen. Hasta hace poco tiempo el número de bebedores de sangre era extraordinario», concluye.

Te das una vuelta por internet (incluyendo el glosario feminista de este blog, que necesita una limpieza de polvo y telarañas) y te encuentras con unas cuantas palabras que a fuerza de uso repetido acaban usándose mal, o demasiado, y extendiendo sus significados hasta que significan “lo bueno” y “lo malo” de una manera que solo sirve para crear confusión. Lo que voy a decir es una reflexión personal sobre los peligros de este proceso, y sé que muchas compañeras no van a estar de acuerdo conmigo. Allá voy.

Un privilegio no es toda ventaja injusta. Si quieres que lo tenga todo el mundo, no es un privilegio. Es un derecho, y su ausencia, discriminación. Por ejemplo, trabajo estable, vacaciones, o la posibilidad de desplazarte con seguridad por las calles. Si quieres eliminarlo, pero todos reconocemos que es injusto, o que es ilegal, es una injusticia, o una ventaja injusta. Sigue sin ser un privilegio. Por ejemplo: si dices algo que parezca terrorismo etarra vas a la cárcel, si dices que las mujeres maltratadas se merecen todo lo que les pase no. Si lo tiene poca gente y  está amparado por leyes, rompiendo con todo principio legal de igualdad, eso sí es un privilegio. Por ejemplo, en España la Iglesia no paga IVA ni IBI, y eso es legal. Por lo tanto, es un privilegio. El rey es inviolable según la Constitución: otro privilegio.

Muy despacito para que lo entiendan los despistados del fondo: el privilegio es legal y desearías que desapareciera. Los privilegios son malos y no quieres extenderlos, quieres que no existan. Si llamas “privilegio” a un salario dices que quieres que no exista, si llamas “privilegio” a que no te peguen una paliza por la calle estás diciendo que las palizas por la calle deberían formar parte de la normalidad. Privilegio no es desigualdad, sino un tipo muy concreto de la misma. Si lo que quieres es tener tú eso que otros disfrutan, no lo llames privilegio, porque no lo es. Llámalo derecho.

Esto nos lleva a la expresión “revisar privilegios”, que ya he criticado en más ocasiones. En el enlace traduzco un artículo que analiza los problemas de ese proceso, pero aquí mis críticas son solo semánticas, puesto que la frase en cuestión significa varias cosas contradictorias entre sí. ¿Qué me ordena alguien que me dice que revise mis privilegios?Lo primero sería hacerme consciente de ellos, y después quizá un proceso que en el catolicismo se llama examen de conciencia. Es decir, para una persona que piense que privilegio quiere decir “derecho, ventaja, lo contrario de discriminación”, sería para empezar mi admisión de “sí, mi vida es más fácil por ser blanca, cis, adulta y sin discapacidades”. Examen de conciencia terminado.

Hay quien va más allá. En el enlace del párrafo anterior comparo la revisión de privilegios con el calvinismo. “Revisar mis privilegios” suele querer decir que debo sentirme culpable de ser blanca, cis, etcétera,  y tengo que aceptar que las ventajas que he obtenido a lo largo de la vida por ello me impiden trabajar en igualdad con quienes están peor que yo. Existe una brecha insalvable, de la que soy responsable aunque esa no sea mi intención. Esto se llama depravación total. No es “pecado original” porque éste se perdona con el bautismo, y los privilegios no se “perdonan” tras la revisión, como mucho se eliminan (un día dejaré de ser joven, por ejemplo).

“Revisarse” puede estar conectado con el autoexamen y ser también un proceso más activo, más orientado al exterior. Si observo cómo mis circunstancias afectan al mundo que me rodea, y a mí también, “toma de conciencia” es sólo el principio de cómo podríamos llamar a esto. Pero ya dejaría de ser un proceso de autoexamen, con lo que el uso de la palabra “revisión” dejaría de tener sentido. Una revisión del coche no es una reparación.

La verdad es que no sé qué quieren decir las personas que dicen “¡revísate los privilegios!”, y si se están refiriendo a un proceso solo mental o a una puesta en práctica. Y un concepto tan amplio y deformable se vuelve inútil y peligroso.

Unos SS leyendo un libreto que realmente no contenía poesía de Hitler. Imagen modificada vía Wikipedia

Hitler, Mussolini y Stalin eran hombres con tendencias homicidas, pero había otro denominador común a estos tres dictadores que gobernaban con mano de hierro: todos ellos hicieron gala de una vena romántica que manifestaron a través de la lírica.

Paul Damen, escritor y periodista holandés, ha reunido tantos de aquellos poemas como ha podido en un libro que tituló Bloemenvan het Kwaad , publicado la semana pasada por la editorial Koppernik.

Contacté con Paul para que me contara por qué los dictadores muestran cierta inclinación por la poesía, cómo surgió la idea del libro y si la obra lírica de los dictadores tiene algún valor literario.

Una de las poesías de Hitler

VICE: ¿Por qué te interesan tanto los dictadores?

Paul Damen: La verdad es que no me interesan. Es más bien una afición que se me fue de las manos. Sabía que Hitler y Mussolini habían escrito poemas, y que Nerón era también muy prolífico, lo que me llevó a preguntarme si el resto de dictadores también tenían una vena poética.

¿Cómo conseguiste todos esos poemas?

Fue muy complicado, porque cuando empecé, internet no era tan exhaustivo como ahora. Recuerdo que fui a la biblioteca de la universidad de Nápoles para leer enteritos los treinta y seis volúmenes de la Opera Omnia de Mussolini. Poder buscar cosas por internet me facilitó mucho la labor.

El proyecto fue bastante arriesgado. No tenía ni idea de cuántos dictadores poetas encontraría. Si hubiera encontrado solo cinco después de una larga búsqueda, habría sido una pérdida de tiempo. Como mínimo hacían falta veinte para que fuera viable.

Poema del emperador Hiroito

Háblame de la traducción de los poemas.

Sé hablar siete idiomas o así, por lo que me las pude apañar con la mayoría de los poemas. Algunos capítulos eran más difíciles, como en el caso de la poesía árabe y del Lejano Oriente, pero avancé bastante basándome en el contexto.

La poesía de Hiroito es un buen ejemplo: pude deducir el contexto averiguando determinadas palabras clave. Si lees "montaña", "nieve", "árbol verde" y "vistas panorámicas", puedes hacerte una buena idea sobre el tema del poema. Después, comprobaba los caracteres uno por uno —porque mi japonés no es tan bueno— para buscar una traducción apropiada según el contexto. Finalmente daba con una traducción que entregaba a personas que sabían japonés para que la revisaran.

¿No habría sido más fácil contratar a traductores desde el principio?

No. Me daba la sensación de que habría sido mostrar una debilidad. Quería hacerlo todo yo. Además, muchas veces los traductores la cagan mucho: muchas traducciones, como las de los poemas en chino de Mao, no tienen ni pies ni cabeza. Preferí hacerlo todo yo mismo y que luego me lo revisaran.

Poema de Bin Laden

Resulta muy raro que un dictador despiadado pueda tener una faceta romántica, ¿no?

Bueno, en la mayoría de los países musulmanes es perfectamente normal que los dictadores o dirigentes escriban poemas. Forma parte de su cultura, como ocurre en China o en Japón. Un guerrero también debería ser capaz de escribir poesía; ese es el concepto. Puede sonar raro para el mundo occidental, pero la excepción somos nosotros, no el resto del mundo.

Todos esos Kims de Corea del Norte son una panda de gilipollas, pero tienen nociones de poesía. Lo mismo pasa con Osama bin Laden, de quien también se esperaba que escribiese versos, para lo cual recibió clases de retórica y lírica, como las que nos daban a nosotros en el instituto.

Poema de Isabel I de Inglaterra

Imagino que un dictador tendrá otras obligaciones ¿Por qué se molestarían en dedicar parte de su apretada agenda a escribir poesía?

Sus motivos varían. Unos cuantos de ellos querían demostrar que eran capaces de hacer algo provechoso con sus vidas, aparte de ser dictadores. Buen ejemplo de ello es Hitler, quien siempre se ha considerado a sí mismo un escritor. Alguien como Isabel I, que mandó matar a un tercio de la población irlandesa, también escribió para expresar sus sentimientos. Y Suleimán I.

Pero también había otros que lo hacían con fines puramente propagandísticos, como Mao, Fidel y Ceaușescu. O el horrible dictador católico de Portugal, Salazar, que escribía himnos cutres a la Virgen María, a Dios y a la bandera lusa para propagar el nacionalismo y los valores católicos.

Ya.

Mussolini también es un caso curioso. De joven escribía poemas y cuando llegó al poder como dictador, se sirvió de su talento lírico para difundir su propaganda. Así, por ejemplo, estableció un día para honrar al pan y escribió un poema sobre él que se imprimió en pósteres y se distribuyó por todas partes, del rollo: "honremos todos al pan, viva el pan, vamos a hacer una fiesta por el pan".

Poema de Solimán I

¿Has encontrado poemas buenos?

Me gustan los de Suleimán. Se aprecia también cierto talento en Mussolini y, sorprendentemente, en Karadžić, el asesino psicótico. Él es un capullo y sus temas son horribles —gente que llega de las montañas en busca de venganza—, pero escribe bien.

La verdad es que estos versos hay que leerlos intentando obviar que fueron escritos por locos sanguinarios. No son los típicos poetas románticos que se levantan una mañana y deciden escribir sobre lo bello que es vivir. Casi todos ellos escribieron su obra con propósitos ocultos o ulteriores.

¿Te falta algún dictador en la colección?

Me habría gustado incluir a personajes como Enver Hoxha, Franco, Pinochet o Jaruzelski, pero desgraciadamente ninguno de ellos escribió poemas. También hay algunos dictadores poetas que no he incluido. Según mi baremos, el profeta Mahoma también podría considerarse un dictador: tenía su propio califato, y en tu califato, tú eres el jefe y, por tanto, el gobernador absoluto. Además, la mitad del Corán está escrita en verso, pero decidí no traducirlo porque aprecio mucho mi vida. No me interesa meterme en problemas.

Poema de Mussolini

Es curioso que haya tantos dictadores poetas. ¿Podríamos darle la vuelta y decir que hay muchos poetas con rasgos de dictador?

No sabría decirte. Un poeta debe albergar cierto grado de romanticismo en su interior y dominar su lengua, puesto que es la herramienta que ha de usar para conmover, sorprender o, cuando menos, influir en el lector. En ese sentido, se produce un paralelismo con una dictadura: el dictador también desea ejercer influencia.

Has trabajado en este proyecto durante casi ocho años. ¿Qué vas a hacer ahora?

Todavía no lo sé. He escrito varios sonetos y quizá los publique, pero no tengo claro qué voy a hacer a continuación.

Gracias, Paul.

A continuación puedes leer más poemas de Bloemen van het Kwaad. El primero de ellos es de Mao Zedong y el segundo, de Fidel Castro.

Despair Fatigue - How hopelessness grew boring. The big lie of austerity, how the crushing of the working classes was commodified, the rise of Corbofuturism and how it might shape a radical 21st century.

These days there are essentially two ways to obtain music on-demand. One can buy MP3s from places like iTunes or for those looking to make their pennies stretch further, streaming solutions like Spotify are just what the doctor ordered.

Services that allow users to download MP3s are more expensive than streaming options and no wonder. Offline listening features notwithstanding, streaming is somewhat transient. Like a diamond, an MP3 is forever.

No surprise then that Spotify users squealed with excitement back in March 2013 when a new Chrome extension hit the web. Downloadify by Robin Aldenhoven allowed Spotify users to permanently download MP3s to their devices from the Spotify web interface, a move that sparked a frenzy of people doing just that.

Now, three years on, it appears that downloading MP3s from Spotify is a thing again. This time around it’s not quite as easy as installing a simple extension but for those with a PC and a modicum of patience it shouldn’t prove too much of a problem.

The original code for the aptly named Spotify Playlist Downloader (SPD) was created by Lordmau5 and has been kicking around for a few weeks. Given a few parameters it happily dumps playlists full of 160 kbps MP3s to the host machine in seconds and names them nicely too.

However, SPD requires people to fiddle around using a command line, something the majority simply can’t be bothered with. So, what SPD needed was for someone to come along and augment it with a nice Windows GUI to make the whole thing more user-friendly.

Thanks to dekiller82, Spotify Playlist Downloader now happily runs via a basic GUI, provided people also install NodeJS and Microsoft’s .NET framework up front.

Spotify Playlist Downloader

Admittedly it’s a bit clunky but it definitely works and does so with both premium and even free Spotify accounts. There are reports that free accounts can seize up after vigorous SPD use but eventually they begin to work again although no one seems to know why.

So with tens of millions of tracks now available to anyone with a PC, one might expect there are celebrations to be had. Indeed, in some quarters they’re probably going on right now.

But without the whole Spotify package, complete with recommendations, superb music discovery opportunities and a beautiful interface, the hand stacking, sorting and categorizing of MP3s feels somewhat primitive. Sure, the tracks come at a bargain price, but using them seems like a step back in time.

There’s little doubt that sooner or later Spotify will plug the hole exploited by SPD but in the meantime thousands of people will be greedily filling their hard drives with MP3s. For some it will entail grabbing some treasured classics but for others it will mean revisiting a life filled with soulless Windows Explorer folders that lead first to excitement and then musical dead ends.

Everyone knows that forbidden fruit is alluring but sometimes the realization dawns that while it’s definitely exciting, it’s not necessarily more tasty.

The license-bending, label-annoying Spotify Playlist Downloader project can be found here.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.