Of all the things to celebrate in comedy this year, the resilience and power of standup’s cherished documents — the album and the TV special — remained impressively untainted by bite-sized viral videos, faux-documentaries, a flurry of late-night distractions, and a podcast landscape dotted with rabbit holes. Here are my favorites from a very good […]
1. “Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
–Muhammad Ali
2. “Just because something is traditional is no reason to do it, of course. Piracy, for example, is a tradition that has been carried on for hundreds of years, but that doesn’t mean we should all attack ships and steal their gold.”
–Lemony Snicket
3. “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.”
–Richard P. Feynman
4. “I respect only those who resist me, but cannot tolerate them.”
–Charles de Gaulle
5. “Humor is the contemplation of the finite from the point of view of the infinite.”
–Christian Morgenstern
6. “Where I cannot satisfy my reason, I love to humor my fancy.”
–Sir Thomas Browne
7. “Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.”
–Oscar Wilde
8. “Each man must look to himself to teach him the meaning of life. It is not something discovered; it is something moulded.”
–Antoine de Saint-Exupery
9. “If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
–Ralph Waldo Emerson
10. “The world belongs to the enthusiast who keeps cool.”
–William McFee
11. “As a rule, I am very careful to be shallow and conventional where depth and originality are wasted.”
–Lucy Maud Montgomery
12. “It is tact that is golden, not silence.”
–Samuel Butler
13. “There is no reality except the one contained within us. That is why so many people live such an unreal life. They take the images outside them for reality and never allow the world within to assert itself.”
–Herman Hesse
14. “It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.”
–Oscar Wilde
15. “The unreal is more powerful than the real. Because nothing is as perfect as you can imagine it. Because its only intangible ideas, concepts, beliefs, fantasies that last. Stone crumbles. Wood rots. People, well, they die. But things as fragile as a thought, a dream, a legend, they can go on and on. If you can change the way people think. The way they see themselves. The way they see the world. You can change the way people live their lives. That’s the only lasting thing you can create.”
–Chuck Palahniuk
16. “The questions are always more important than the answers.”
–Randy Pausch
17. “Intelligence appears to be the thing that enables a man to get along without education. Education appears to be the thing that enables a man to get along without the use of his intelligence.”
–A.E. Wiggan
18. “Nothing sways the stupid more than arguments they don’t understand.”
–Cardinal de Retz
19. “The truth may work for some people, but I’ve always found it’s best to be flexible”
–R. Nixon
20. “Our real discoveries come from chaos, from going to the place that looks wrong and stupid and foolish.”
–Chuck Palahniuk
21. “The work you do while you procrastinate is probably the work you should be doing for the rest of your life.”
–Unknown
22. “The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.”
–Dorothy Parker
23. – “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency. Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us. Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty. Think big.”
–Daniel Burnham
24. “In heaven, all the interesting people are missing.”
–Friedrich Nietzche
25. “You don’t really understand an antagonist until you understand why he’s a protagonist his own version of the world.”
–John Rogers
26. “All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring.”
–Chuck Palahniuk
27. “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”
–Albert Einstein
28. “I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living; it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life’s realities. Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.”
–Dr. Seuss
29. “Everything you can imagine is real.”
–Picasso
30. “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”
–Steve Jobs
31. “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”
–Aristotle
32. “I never attempt to teach my pupils, only to supply the conditions in which they may learn.”
–Einstien
33. “A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five.”
–Groucho Marx
34. “The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.”
–Groucho Marx
35. “It is perhaps the misfortune of my life that I am interested in far too much but not decisively in any one thing; all my interests are not subordinated in one but stand on an equal footing.”
–Soren Kierkegaard
36. “Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.”
–John Steinbeck
37. “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
–Mahatma Gandhi
38. “If your ship doesn’t come in, swim out to meet it.”
–Jonathan Winters
39. “The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.”
–Nietzsche
40. “Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.”
–Mark Twain
41. “I would never die for my beliefs, I may be wrong.”
–Bertrand Russell
42. “Tradition becomes our security, and when the mind is secure it is in decay.”
–Jiddu Krishnamurti
43. “Good judgment comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgment.”
–Unknown
44. “These are my principles and if you don’t like them… well, I have others.”
–Groucho Marx
45. “When choosing between two evils, I like to take the one I’ve never tried before.”
–Mae West
46. “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.”
–Mark Twain
47. “The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.”
–Randy Pausch
48. “When you want something, all the Universe conspires in helping you achieve it.”
–Paulo Coelho
49. “Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.”
–Oscar Wilde
50. “Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself. I am large, I contain multitudes.”
O 1 de xaneiro entran en vigor as novas comisións por retirar cartos dos caixeiros. Abanca acordou co resto de entidades de Euro 6000 e mais Bankia e Sabadell aplicar unha tarifa máxima de 65 céntimos.
Son aves, anfibios, moluscos, plantas e réptiles catalogados por Medio Ambiente e que teñen aquén do Padornelo o seu paraíso particular. Dificilmente poderás velas noutras partes do planeta que non sexan Galiza...
O espazo educativo Semente Trasancos lanza un disco de cancións tradicionais con cinco cantareiras da comarca. Alberte Maceiras encárgase da dirección musical e outros catro músicos completan Músicas para a Semente, un CD que está á venta a un prezo de dez euros.
Unha das cantareiras e pandereiteiras, Iria García, socia de Semente Trasancos, afirma que «traballamos moito as raíces das cancións tradicionais de Galiza e Portugal, é un agasallo para todas as crianzas deste país mais é un CD para todas as idades».
García comenta que os músicos tamén gozaron moito ao facelo e agradecen o gran esforzo de diferentes persoas da comarca que puxeron o seu coñecemento para que fose unha realidade.
O CD é en formato libro e está deseñado polos ferroláns Gelo e Juanlu. Dentro atópanse as letras das cancións e unhas verbas escritas polo dramaturgo, Marcos Abalde.
Iria define todo este traballo en dúas palabras ilusión e esforzo» e desde Semente engaden unha terceira «solidariedade», porque todo o beneficio vai para a Semente.
Os pontos de venta son: A Fundaçom Artábria en Ferrol, en Narón O Muíño do Fabal, xoguete didáctico e Semente Trasancos, en Ares a libraría Carpe Diem, en Pontedeume Colectivo Terra, bar futbolín e bar Valadouro.
En Lugo colectivo Madia Leva e bar a Fouce, en Compostela libraría NUMAX, en Ribeira tenda Rei Zentolo Ribeira e en Vigo Semente Vigo.
“Non me cabe a menor dúbida que algúns miles de nacionalistas conscientes non tiveron o menor escrúpulo en votar unha candidatura que non o era, simplemente por acreditar en que insería a suficiente dose de galeguismo na enxurrada poliédrica, televisiva e española de Podemos”, apunta. Acusa a En Marea de utilizar a “confusión e a trapallada”.
Cando hai vinte días, arredor dun cento de tractores iniciou os bloqueos contra as cadeas de supermercados, ningún gandeiro daba un peso polo éxito das protestas. Eran poucos, “fabas contadas” din eles, moitos menos que os miles mobilizados en setembro, cando as tractoradas remataran en decepción e desánimo. En decembro, sen embargo, o resultado foi outro. Tres semanas despois de iniciados os bloqueos, os gandeiros teñen acordos pechados con Carrefour, Dia, Vegalsa-Eroski, Lidl, Alcampo e Gadis.
A clave dos logros hai que buscala nunha lóxica similar á dos 300 de Esparta. “É máis importante ter xente concienciada, que sabe para que sae co tractor, cal é a estratexia e que se manteña firme, que unha mobilización de miles de persoas que veñen porque tamén vai o veciño”, resume Óscar Pose, representante de Unións Agrarias na Plataforma en Defensa do Sector Lácteo.
Os gandeiros son conscientes de que os acordos coas cadeas de supermercados son só un primeiro paso, pero tamén poñen en valor o xa acadado. “Rompemos o mito de que coas protestas nunca se consegue nada ou a historia esa de que nos venderon nas negociacións”, destacaba un gandeiro da comarca de Ordes o pasado día 24, na última asemblea celebrada ante o centro loxístico de Dia.
Valoracións
Falamos con Roberto García, de Unións Agrarias, e con Isabel Vilalba, do Sindicato Labrego, ambos participantes nas negociacións coas cadeas de supermercados, para coñecer a súa opinión sobre os acordos e os próximos pasos a dar na busca da revalorización do leite nas granxas.
“Os acordos acadados cos supermercados hai que valoralos como un primeiro paso importante” –sinala Isabel Vilalba-. “En xeral, as cadeas van pagar xa en decembro 2 céntimos máis polo leite que usan para as súas marcas brancas, aínda que tamén é certo que iso representa só unha parte do leite que se comercializa en Galicia. Temos tamén as marcas propias das industrias e outros usos do leite, como o leite en po, que nalgunhas industrias ten un gran peso na configuración do prezo”.
“Nada impide que a industria traslade xa en xaneiro unha suba xeneralizada dos prezos” (Roberto García, Unións)
Desde Unións Agrarias, Roberto García incide no “feito histórico” do acordo: “É a primeira vez que as cadeas de distribución se sentan a falar co sector e se remata en acordos, incluso cunha cadea como Dia que nunca quixo participar de negociacións. Para as industrias, era impensable que Dia renunciase á compra de leite a través de subastas electrónicas mensuais, que agora vai cambiar por contratos estables. Ese cambio terá que repercutir a súa vez nas granxas”.
O próximo paso do sector pasa pola negociación coas industrias. “Nada impide que as industrias trasladen xa en xaneiro unha suba xeneralizada dos prezos” –valora García-, “xa que o que estaba estrangulando ás empresas lácteas era o prezo das marcas brancas. Coas marcas propias da industria, os beneficios son maiores e hai marxe de manobra”.
Isabel Vilalba, do Sindicato Labrego, coincide no reto: “A industria aínda non demostrou claramente que vaia trasladar esa suba, polo que haberá que abordar unha negociación para que a revalorización do leite chegue ás granxas”, destaca.
Cuestións estruturais
A secretaria xeral do Sindicato Labrego incide tamén na importancia de afrontar cuestións estruturais, como o peso que teñen os primeiros compradores (intermediarios) na compra-venda de leite en Galicia. “O acordo coa distribución ten un carácter paliativo, pero os baixos prezos derivan en boa medida de problemas estruturais que cómpre afrontar”, advirte. “En Galicia hai unha gran cantidade de leite en mans de primeiros compradores, que son os que pagan prezos máis baixos. O Ministerio comprometeuse en setembro a publicar un decreto para regular esta figura, pero aínda non temos nin o borrador”, critica.
“Cómpre afrontar problemas como os primeiros compradores ou cambiar as fórmulas de pago en base ó leite en po” (Isabel Vilalba, SLG)
Outro problema que afecta ó prezo en orixe do leite é o pago de parte da produción en función das cotizacións do leite en po –agora mesmo a moi baixo prezo a nivel internacional-, unha práctica habitual en empresas como Larsa ou Reny Picot., con fórmulas como 80-20 ou 60-40, nas que o 20-40% do leite se lle abona ás granxas a baixos prezos. “En Francia, as industrias comprométense a pagar a prezo de mercado a cantidade recollida na anterior campaña e só se paga a un menor prezo os aumentos de produción. Aquí en cambio non hai esas garantías. Temos que sentarnos coas industrias e acadar compromisos”, conclúe Vilalba, que lamenta a falta de peso das Administracións nas negociacións do sector lácteo.
Stephen Carlton "Stevie" Wright nació el 20 de diciembre de 1947 en Leeds, Inglaterra, y falleció el 27 de diciembre de 2015 en Moruya (Australia). Fue el cantante de la mítica banda australiana The Easybeats desde su creación en 1964 hasta su disolución en 1969. Coescribió con su compañero de banda, George Young, numerosos éxitos como "She's So Fine" (1965), "Wedding Ring" (1965), "Women (Make You Feel Alright)" (1966), "Come and See Her" (1966), "I'll Make You Happy" (1966), y "Sorry" (1966). También fue el cantante del gran éxito internacional "Friday on My Mind" (1966) con el que llegaron al número uno en su país y ocuparon los primeros puestos de las listas de ese año y 1967 en Inglaterra, Francia, Alemania, Italia, Holanda y los Estados Unidos. Cuando se separaron, Wright formó otras bandas como Stevie Wright Band y Stevie Wright & the Allstars. En su carrera en solitario solo tuvo un gran éxito, en 1974, con el tema "Evie (Parts 1, 2 & 3)". Tuvo problemas con las drogas y alcohol y a partir de mediados de los setenta se sometió a varios tratamientos para frenar las adicciones. El 14 de julio de 2005 entró a formar parte del Salón de la Fama de la Australian Recording Industry Association con su grupo los Easybeats.
The Easybeats
La familia de Wright emigró a Melbourne, Australia, cuando éste tenía nueve años. Se mudaron a Sídney en 1960 y vivieron en Villawood, en el Villawood Migrant Hostel. Fue vocalista de la banda local, The Outlaws y en 1964 formó parte de los Chris Langdon & the Langdells. Conoció al holandés Johannes Hendrikus Jacob van den Berg (más tarde Harry Vanda nacido el 22 de marzo de 1947 en La Haya) que se alojaba en el mencionado albergue de Villawood y a su compatriota Dingeman van der Sluys (más tarde Dick Diamonde nacido el 28 de diciembre de 1947 en Hilversum). Ambos le convencieron para crear una banda beat con el escocés George Young (nacido el 6 de noviembre de 1947 en Glasgow). Más el también inglés Gordon "Snowy" Fleet (nacido el 16 de agosto de 1946 en Lancashire) formaron los Easybeats a mediados de 1964. La alineación de los Easybeats fue Diamonde al bajo, Fleet a la batería, Vanda a la guitarra, Wright a la voz principal y Young a la guitarra. Durante esa época Wright fue, popular y cariñosamente, conocido como "Little Stevie". Establecidos en la ciudad de Sídney, primero se llamaron Starfighters.
The Easybeats
Sus primeros sencillos los produjo Ted Albert con títulos como “For my woman”, “She’s so fine”, “Wedding ring” o “Women (make you feel alright)” más los legendarios Lps “Easy” (1965), “It’s 2 Easy” (1966) y “Volume 3” (1966) con los que consiguieron los primeros puestos de las listas australianas. En 1966 se trasladaron a Inglaterra donde pasaron a manos del productor Shel Talmy de Parlophone. En Inglaterra no tuvieron tanto éxito pero triunfaron con “Friday on my mind” (número 6 en Gran Bretaña) a la que siguió otros grandes temas como “Do you have a soul”, “Pretty Thing”, “The Music Goes Round My Head”, “Falling Off The Edge Of The World” o “Land of make believe”, entre álbumes como “Friday on my mind” (1967), “Vigil” (1968), o “Friends” (1969). Ese mismo año decidieron separarse al no conseguir el gran éxito que hubieran merecido en las Islas Británicas.
The Easybeats
La pareja de compositores formada por Vanda y Young se dedicarían a la producción y composición con el nombre de Flash and The Pan, y grabaron algunos discos a partir de mediados de los setenta. Wright se incorporó al proyecto en 1982 en el disco "Headlines". Los hermanos de Young, Malcolm y Angus, tuvieron mucho más éxito con su grupo AC/DC al que los dos ex Easybeats producirían sus primeros álbumes.
Por su parte, Wright volvió a Sídney tras acabar los Easybeats y formó el grupo de sesión Rachette. Produjo a la banda Bootleg. En 1971 se unió a los Likefun y en 1972 interpretó a Simón el Zelote en la versión australiana de Jesucristo Superstar. Ese mismo año también estuvo en los Black Tank. En 1973 colaboró con sus ex compañeros Young y Vanda que habían regresado de Inglaterra y creó Stevie Wright & the Allstars. En 1974 sacó su disco en solitario “Hard Road” con el single "Evie (Parts 1, 2 & 3)". Siguió grabando algunos discos entre alguna reunión de los Easybeats, y aquejado por serios problemas con las drogas, que arrastró en los ochenta y noventa, incluida una demencial terapia de desintoxicación. Finalmente, Wright se retiró y vivió en la costa sur de Nueva Gales del Sur hasta su fallecimiento en el hospital de Moruya este pasado 27 de diciembre de 2015.
Documento sonoro:
"She's So Fine, tema de 1965 de los Easybeats compuesto por Wright y Young
Su mayor éxito, cantado por Wright,“Friday on my mind”(1966)
"Evie (Parts 1, 2 & 3)", de mediados de los setenta, único hit de Wright en solitario.
Since our launch in August, we have sent correspondents across the globeto the GermanPolish border, to Japan, to Turkey, to Kenya, to the Gathering of the Juggalosin order to provide an in-depth look at the issues that matter most to women. Below are six of our favorite documentary videos from this year.
The medical abortiona non-surgical procedure that induces a miscarriage through a cocktail of pharmaceutical drugsis both widely legal and increasingly hard to obtain. To understand the limits of what could be a breakthrough in making abortions easier to access, Broadly editor-in-chief Tracie Morrissey traveled to the German-Polish border, to Mexico, to Texas, and to Washington, D.C., meeting with anti-abortion protesters, with activists who help women access abortion pills in countries where the procedure is illegal, and with former senator Wendy Davis. What we really want to know is: Why is it so hard to get a medical abortion when so much research has shown that it's a safe, effective way to terminate a pregnancy?
In July 2014, Japanese artist Rokudenashiko was arrested on obscenity charges after building a vagina-shaped kayak and distributing 3D printing data of her vulva. Legal experts see her ongoing case as a landmark one for Japan, where strict obscenity laws forbid the depiction of genitals in all mediumsincluding art and pornography. Despite these harsh laws, however, traditional Japanese fertility festivals take place annually, many of which openly celebrate genitals. Broadly editor Callie Beusman traveled to Japan, visiting Rokudenashiko in her studio and attending Kawasaki's annual Festival of the Steel Phallus, in order to try and make sense of this apparent contradiction: Why is a 3D-printed vagina classified as obscene, while a penis parade is seen as family friendly?
On the backs of everyone from Coco Chanel to Hillary Clinton, the power suit has evolved from a declaration of liberation to an assertion of dominance. In this episode of our series Style & Error, Broadly host Rachael Finley finds out what women are wearing to feel in charge today and meets the feminist civil rights attorney who perfectly personifies the power suit: Gloria Allred.
25 years ago, Rebecca Lolosoli founded Umoja village as a safe haven for the region's women. Umoja, which means "unity" in Swahili, is quite literally a no man's land; the matriarchal refuge is now home to the Samburu women who no longer want to suffer abuseslike genital mutilation and forced marriagesat the hands of men. Throughout the years, it has also empowered other women in the districts surrounding Samburu to start their own men-excluding villages. Broadly correspondent Michelle de Swarte visited Umoja and the villages it inspired to meet with the women who were fed up with living in a violent patriarchy.
Adnan Oktar is the most notorious cult leader in Turkey. Beginning in the 1980s, the Muslim creationist introduced the world to his bizarre take on Islamic religion; he also credits himself with introducing his followers to feminism. Oktar refers to his cadre of devoted women as "kittens." At his behest, the "kittens" shirk hijabs and traditional dress. Instead, they wear designer outfits, apply heavy makeup, and undergo plastic surgery. They also happen to be wealthy socialites. Broadly host Meher Ahmad traveled to Turkey to spend three days with Oktar and his followers.
Three years ago, Juggalettes reclaimed the annual Miss Juggalette Beauty Pageant. Formerly hosted by porn star Ron Jeremywho would inevitably turn the event into a nude bacchanalthe pageant has been taken over by Lette's Respect, a feminist movement within the community. While there's still nudity involved, it now rewards women of all different body types for their talents. Some girls rap, other strip, and a few sing rock songs. How have the Juggalettes built a 21st century beauty pageant within the male-dominated Juggalo culture? Broadly traveled to the pageant at the Gathering of the Juggalos to find out.
Sobre el papel todo parece muy loco y divertido, pero desafortunadamente Sharknado 3 es aburrida y sin ritmo. En Teenage Thunder siempre hemos defendido las películas “malas”, pero obviamente no nos vale todo. Los chicos de The Asylum se han dormido en los laureles, y pese a todas las ideas buenas que hay en esta TV movie, la desgana es lo único que se percibe. Nos da rabia, porque Sharknado 2, manteniendo su condición de subproducto sin complejos, era muy divertida y entretenida y mucho mejor que la primera parte. Estamos seguros de que con un poco de esfuerzo podrían haber hecho un Sharknado 3 con algo de interés.
Unfriended (Eliminado) puede hacerte cierta gracia como curiosidad. Es tediosa, pero no tanto como otras cosas sobrevaloradas como It Follows, aunque podrían haber tomado nota de otra película similar que sí consigue dar miedo: The Den, que usa el mismo recurso de la pantalla del ordenador como escenario de la acción.
Sobre el papel la idea parece muy chula. Y la película está bien contada y el guión tiene su lógica, pero por desgracia la película no da NADA de miedo y es un aburrimiento bastante importante.
Se podría decir que la película pertenece al género del home invasion, de moda últimamente tras joyas como The Purge o You´re Next. Pero el principal problema de Sweet Home es que es una película sin ritmo ni tono definido. A veces pretende ser una película seria y en otros momentos quiere jugar a Evil Dead. Y eso descoloca al espectador, y mucho. La escasez de personajes tampoco ayuda mucho. Hay muy buenas películas de terror con pocos elementos, pero en este caso quizás habría venido bien un poco de carnaza para dar un poco más de colorido al asunto. Si hubieran metido a una pandilla de chavales habría tenido sentido y le habría dado gracia a la película. Un slasher habría sido la solución, y quizás el siniestro señor con el hacha que persigue a la rubia durante media película quizás se podría haber convertido en un nuevo icono del cine de terror patrio.
Hay que reconocer que los primeros minutos de la peli están muy bien llevados y son prometedores, pero la trama que al principio es complicadísima y superdifícil de entender se convierte en poco tiempo en una súper aburrida película de acción con mucho bla bla bla y ni rastro de la épica de las dos primeras películas de Terminator. ¿Qué es esta película? ¿Una secuela, una precuela, un remake, un reboot? Terminar Genisys es UNA PARODIA.
It Follows ha llegado precedida por una ola de entusiasmo. ¿La mejor película de terror de los últimos quince años? ¿Un homenaje al cine de John Carpenter? ¿Un slasher? ¿Una película muy sorprendente? Habíamos oido y leído tantas cosas sobre esta película que estábamos con el hype a tope y, claro lo que nos ha pasado es que nos hemos encontrado con UNA SOBERANA MIERDA CON TODAS LAS LETRAS. Bueno, la película no es una mierda. Estamos exagerando, Pero desde luego no es tan impactante como nos han hecho creer.
CONFIRMADO: el cine de terror de esta década APESTA.
We’ve still got a few months to go before season 4 of Orphan Black premieres in April 2016, but the first teaser trailer went up yesterday! While it is definitely very, very brief, it’s certainly enough to whet my appetite until the next trailer drops to the world.
While we left some of our clones in a good place at the end of season 3 (most of them even sat around the table together in a heartwarming and slightly twisted version of a classic family dinner), this teaser looks like it’s partly alluding to the fate of one clone in particular–who was left alive but maybe not well:
As far as the show’s co-creators are concerned, season 4 will be all about returning to themes from very early on in the show. In an interview with Variety earlier this year, John Fawcett spoke briefly about what season 4 will look like:
“I want from season four a vibe of season one again,” Fawcett said. “I want a lot of that paranoia back, and Sarah following a first-person mystery, and a feeling of not knowing where we stand again, and having the audience not know where we stand. When Graeme and I talked about it, it was like, ‘How do we give it a feeling of conclusion after three seasons and now push towards our bigger mystery?’ We just wanted a reset after season three and a big emotional ending.”
Considering the intensity of season 3, I’m intrigued to find out what that means for the overall tone of season 4–and we’ll likely be getting a few more sneak peeks before April comes around.
...it's also a laudable goal to want to make people sensitive to fascism, and the dynamics that can help it along. Here are a few to watch out for. One is desensitizing people to fascism's consequences. Another is to reframe its historic perpetrators as little more than mascots and thematic bunting. A third way to make fascism seem appealing is to demonstrate its remarkable ability to move units. As a game, Secret Hitler claims to be about subverting the mechanisms of tyranny. As a marketing campaign, it seems to rely on emulating them.
When described at The Verge, in a story about the creators' physical work space, no such misgivings are in evidence.
We set out to make a game to help us reflect on the ways that others - good, bad, indifferent - were complicit in Hitler's rise to power. Our game doesn't model the specifics of German parliamentary politics. Instead, we try to model the paranoia and distrust he exploited, the opportunism that his rivals failed to account for, and the disastrous temptation to solve systemic problems by giving more power to the "right people."
Se le llama “protomartir” porque tuvo el honor de ser el primer mártir que derramó su sangre por proclamar su fe en Jesucristo. Después de Pentecostés, los apóstoles dirigieron el anuncio del mensaje cristiano a los más cercanos, a los hebreos, despertando el conflicto por parte de las autoridades religiosas del judaísmo. Como Cristo, los apóstoles fueron inmediatamente víctimas de […]
Al comentar la amplitud de miras de la obra de Adam Smith, el gran economista liberal del XVIII, su colega Joseph Schumpeter lamentaba que "entonces un hombre era capaz de recorrer toda la ciencia y todo el arte, y trabajar en campos muy distantes sin condenarse al desastre". Schumpeter escribía a principios del XX, y las fuentes se han multiplicado exponencialmente desde entonces. ¿Quién se atrevería hoy, en plena sociedad de la información y tras el paso de la picadora de carne posmoderna, a acometer una historia global?
Jürgen Osterhammel es nuestro hombre. Sin concesiones a la profesionalización de la historiografía, el profesor alemán de la Universidad de Konstanz ha agotado todos los ángulos del periodo esencial que explica nuestro presente en 'La transformación del mundo' (Crítica), una historia global del XIX que llega estos días a las librerías españolas. Un volumen imponente de más de 1.500 páginas que sobrevuela tiempos y lugares, sistemas de poder, guerras, revoluciones y estándares de vida, la religión y el conocimiento del siglo largo que lo cambió todo, el que arranca en 1789 con la toma de la Bastilla y baja el telón en 1918 en las trincheras embarradas de la Primera Guerra Mundial.
La tortuga de Darwin
En 2007 falleció el penúltimo superviviente británico del Titanic, en 2008 el último veterano alemán de la Primera Guerra Mundial. En 2006 y en un zoo australiano había muerto la tortuga Harriet, la misma que Charles Darwin se encontró en las Galápagos en 1835, en el mítico viaje del 'Beagle' que funda la biología moderna. Desprovistos así de cualquier resto de memoria personal de aquella centuria, nos queda sin embargo su representación. Pero esta es inmensa, porque los más resistentes refugios de la memoria jamás imaginados, y aún vigentes, son inventos del propio siglo XIX: el museo, el archivo estatal, la biblioteca nacional, la fotografía, la estadística, el cine...
Saludado como "el Braudel del siglo XIX", Osterhammel defiende la vigencia de una historia global confeccionada además por un único autor que centralice "las preguntas y los puntos de vista, las materias y las interpretaciones". "Quien se sumerge en el papel de historiador universal durante un tiempo (pues debe seguir siendo experto en algo específico) no puede sino intentar dar en el clavo y resumir en pocas frases el penoso y laborioso trabajo de investigación de otros. Esta es su auténtica labor y debe conseguirla siempre que pueda. Al mismo tiempo, su trabajo carecería de valor si no procurase acercarse lo máximo posible a los mejores estudios, que no necsariamente son siempre los más recientes".
Atrapar la vida en común
Describe Osterhammel las dos vías tradicionales para atrapar un periodo histórico completo sin que desborde. La opción clásica, la de historiadores como Roberts o Hobsbawm, apuntala las claves y características de la época y las dispone en un flujo narrativo continuo. Otra vía más moderna, a la que se aplica por ejemplo Christopher Bayly en 'El nacimiento del mundo moderno' (Siglo XXI, 2010), prefiere la simultaneidad al avance cronológico acelerado, busca cortes transversales, paralelos, y analogías que resuman la época narrada, tales como el nacionalismo.
Osterhammel radicaliza en su libro esta última vía hasta mutarla: "Las narraciones maestras son legítimas. La crítica posmoderna no las ha convertido en obsoletas, sino que nos permite explicarlas de forma consciente". Su libro vuelve una y otra vez a la vida en común de los hombres y mujeres que cargaron sobre sus espaldas el XIX.
En 1847, Hector Berlioz todavía sufrió "penalidades atroces" al desplazarse desde Tauragé (Lituania) a San Petersburgo en un trineo helado ("una caja de metal herméticamente cerrada", describe) durante cuatro días y cuatro noches. Pocos años después, podría haber realizado rápidamente, y sin heridas, el mismo viaje en tren. Osterhammel señala a la aceleración como la gran característica global compartida por las gentes del XIX. La máquina de vapor y su combinación mecánica con las ruedas y hélices navales, junto a la "milagrosa" irrupción del telégrafo, puso al planeta 'espídico'. El tiempo se desnaturalizó.
Mundo 'espídico'
No solo los trenes viajaban a toda velocidad hacia el futuro. También las esperanzas. Las revoluciones brotaban por todas partes en abigarrada legión: burgueses, obreros, campesinos, mujeres, esclavos y milenaristas de toda planta exigían su billete hacia un mundo mejor. De Filadelfia a San Petersburgo pasando por Nankín, la idea de 'revolución' infectó las mentes y acabó por borrar del mapa al final del recorrido algunas de las organizaciones estatales más antiguas y poderosas del mundo. Las potencias coloniales española y británica, el Antiguo Régimen, las monarquías china y persa, los imperios otomano, austro-húngaro y alemán, se fueron por el sumidero de la historia.
'La transformación del mundo' es un libro inagotable que mata el hambre de los curiosos sin dejar de acompañar por ello a los que gustan de mayores profundidades. Al llegar a las conclusiones finales, Osterhammel brinda un sugerente epitafio del siglo en el que transcurrió "el mundo de ayer":
"El siglo XIX preparó el camino para las catástrofes de 1914 en adelante; Hannah Arendt y otros autores se lo reprocharon. Pero también desarrolló tradiciones -el liberalismo, el pacifismo, la noción de los sindicatos o del socialismo democrático- que después de 1945 no habían caducado ni caído en desgracia por entero. Mirando atrás desde 1950, el año de 1910 -el año en el que el carácter del ser humano se transformó, según un apunte ingenioso de Virginia Woolf- parecía ser un pasado muy remoto. Pero en muchos sentidos, era más próximo que los horrores de los años de guerra más reciente".
Idioma original: inglés Título original: Cockfighter Año de publicación: 1972 Traducción: Guido Sender Valoración: muy recomendable
Gallística, gallero, reñidero, descrestar.
Son algunos de los conceptos con los que el lector de Gallo de pelea habrá de familiarizarse. Porque no es que la novela no lo proclame desde el principio, en su título. Gallo de pelea habla de eso, del detestable espectáculo, tildado de deporte, (...) consistente enentrenar a estos animales y hacer que se peleen entre ellos, armándolos con afilados espolones atados a sus patas. Peleas a muerte, ilegales en la mayoría de los países, peleas en las que se cruzan apuestas.
A eso se dedica Frank Mansfield, narrador y protagonista de esta novela. Un curioso tipo que, a raíz de la pérdida de un combate (impactante primer capítulo) hace un voto de silencio. Decide no hablar hasta que consiga ser nombrado el mejor gallero por una especie de oscura pero rígida asociación del sector.
Será un mérito de la literatura el lograr que mundos tan ajenos como el de Gallo de pelea tengan interés. Pero lo que hay debajo, la carcasa desnuda de la historia, no es más que otro reto de superación, una especie de enfrentamiento de la persona sola ante un mundo que a veces es muy hostil. La de Mansfield es una historia extraña, sórdida, para nada modélica pues se nos muestran muchos vicios y virtudes extrapolables al comportamiento individual: tesón y constancia, aunque sea a costa de los espeluznantes requisitos propios de la profesión; sentido de la ética profesional, acatamiento de los códigos sociales propios del entorno corporativo; pero también escasa catadura moral en lo concerniente a la vida personal. Frank, 32 años, perpetuamente sin un centavo, siempre pendiente de a quién convence para que le acompañe o secunde en su plan maestro, sea una viuda de vida algo disoluta, sea un compadre del gremio dispuesto a un intercambio de favores, a un quid pro quo donde el prestigio de Mansfield y su experiencia van procurándole un apaño siempre temporal en su tortuoso discurrir vital. Uno podría enzarzarse en peligrosas discusiones sobre lo despreciable que es el modus vivendi de Frank Mansfield. Seguro que los símiles no tardan en caer. Vivir a costa de la explotación y el sufrimiento de una especie animal. Willeford, que debía conocer en profundidad el mundo que describe en esta novela, escribe sin entrar en nada que pueda atisbarse como un juicio de valor. Obviamente no se nos pueden pasar por alto ciertos detalles sobre Frank. "Cede" a Dody, adolescente con la que se encama, a otro gallero, cuando pierde una apuesta que le obliga a renunciar al remolque que es su precario hogar. Engaña a Mary Elizabeth, prometida. Pone en la calle a su hermano cuando consigue que un juez decrete la impugnación de su herencia. Frank no parece tener muchos escrúpulos en lo personal, por lo que no vamos a exigírselos en el desempeño de su profesión. Aquí podríamos establecer analogías con la vida real. Se cumplen los acuerdos a los altos niveles, pero conforme bajamos, todo es sacrificable y todo es desechable, y desde luego los gallos de las diversas razas y procedencias no se libran de ese execrable proceder. En esos párrafos, la descripción de las peleas, el proceso de entrenamiento y hábitos que acaban generando un gallo apto para batirse en duelo, están los momentos difíciles de digerir para estómagos delicados. Aquí podemos evocar pasajes crudos de McCarthy o Kenneth Cook, incluso hallar posibles influencias posteriores hacia cierta narrativa fronteriza o hasta lisérgica. Precio que igual el lector escrupuloso no quiera pagar, pero que está largamente justificado.
Como no podía ser de otra manera hoy tenemos preparado nuestro especial navideño. Villancicos y antivillancicos de rocknroll para toda la familia. Feliz Navidad. Playlist; Tiki Joe’s Ocean (Jingle bells), The Brian Setzer Orchestra (Rockin’ around the Christmas tree, Yabba daba Yuletide), Santiago Delgado and the Runaway Lovers (La dimisión de Santa Claus), Buguibún (Navidad Buguibún), Jose Estragos (Blue Christmas), The Longboards (Bullwinkle Pt II), Los tembloores (Quiero morir en Navidad), las Kasettes (Navidades con carbón, versión del Merry Christmas Loopy Lu de The Kaisers), Andy Shernoff (Fuck Christmas), Glutamato Ye-Yé (Glutamato Navidad), TNT (Ra-ta-ta-ta-ta), Reigning Sound (That’s all I want), The Yobs (Rub a dum dum), The Fleshtones (Mr Santa Claus), Burt Rocket (Santa’s hot rod), The Connection (Merry Christmas (I don’t want to fight tonight)), Johnny Casino (The Christmas time) y Brook Benton (You’re all I want for Christmas).
Mark Rosewater, the head designer of card game Magic: The Gathering posted to tumblr about a rejected card.
Magic: The Gathering is a complex card game where each card has rules that affect the outcome of the game. The card in question:
Disrobing Scepter. Artifact. Activate: Target player either discards a card or removes a piece of clothing.
Again, this is not a card that will be seen in play.
Rosewater's tumblr post was submitted to reddit. Magic enthusiasts started an earnest discussion on the rules and protocols of Strip Magic.
The discussion is focused on Magic rules, useful cards and is surprisingly mature.
Gross and offensive replies to the reddit thread are appropriately downvoted.
The discussion is ongoing. Enjoy.
Este año he elegido un recopilatorio navideño centrado en uno de los sonidos preferidos del blog: el punk. Desde el punk rock en ocasiones algo duro de Berlín 80 hasta el punk pop ye-yé de Los Aeropatines del Espacio Exterior he incluido grupos de punk pop ramoniano al uso como The Bikinis o Los Marqueses entre otros. Comenzamos con Berlín 80. La vuelta a la primera linea de Silvia Escario desde la separación de los míticos Último Resorte se extendió desde 1995 hasta 2002 dejando grabadas dos maquetas y el disco "Punk Fiction". Las cuatro canciones que aparecen en esta recopilación pertenecen a su segunda demo "Buscando gente rara". La canción que da título a la demo junto a "Capitán Kirk" y "Solo en el cementerio" me las pasó muy amablemente la propia Silvia, mientras que la tórrida "Orgasmo" la grabé de Flor de Pasión en el lejano año 2000 cuando editaron esta segunda maqueta. Los Marqueses aportan "Oh nena" que también grabé de la radio aunque estoy pendiente de conseguir la maqueta completa. Este trío madrileño de la década pasada hacían un punk pop acelerado a la manera de Depressing Claim y Shock Treatment. Los siguientes son Durango 95 (otros ramonianos como indica su nombre), el grupo de Benito (el legendario Crom de Terry Cuatro) durante la segunda mitad de los noventa. Canciones como "Balas de plata" les hacen figurar entre mis bandas preferidas de siempre. Diego, cantante y guitarra del grupo, me envío hace poco, "Confesiones a Lauren Bacall", la única maqueta que grabaron Durango 95 junto a las de GTO 95, la banda que surgió de las cenizas de la anterior. Nuestros siguientes invitados son El Club de Los Cinco, el proyecto paralelo de Pepillo Airbag, donde muestra su vena más pop y con los que ha grabado preciosidades como "Ya no es primavera en El Corte Inglés". De las cuatro canciones que aparecen aquí, dos me las mandó Pepillo y las otras dos están grabadas del programa de Juan de Pablos al igual que "Amigos", la canción de The Bikinis. Este trío juvenil de Elche grabaron una maqueta y un EP para el sello Flor y Nata antes de separarse y que sus miembros pasaran a formar parte de grupos como La La Love You y Vocoder. Los Aeropatines del Espacio Exterior son un grupo paralelo y menos conocido que Los Summers pero comparten con estos el carácter festivo y la querencia por las playas y el ye-yé. Su éxito "La playa del amor" así lo corrobora. Un tema de cada demo de GTO 95 son los siguientes para dar muestra de la nueva encarnación de Durango 95 que con el cambio de formación y de nombre se acercó más a la fórmula de Los Nikis. Para acabar cinco canciones de las tres maquetas que publicaron Los Reactivos de Castellón, la continuación natural de Depressing Claim.
Once a year, we pull out some familiar hit songs from the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60, which we never do in any other season but Christmas. Many new Christmas songs come out every year, but few become standards like “White Christmas” or “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” Ben Yagoda tells us how that happened, and gives us some memorable tidbits about Christmas music, like the story of “Silver Bells,” written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans for the movie The Lemon Drop Kid.
Ever the efficient and compliant craftsmen—and aware that their contract was up for renewal in a brutal time for studio songwriters—they produced a simple but memorable song called “Tinkle Bells,” about the Salvation Army workers on busy city streets. When Jay told his wife about it she said, “Are you out of your mind? Do you know what the word ‘tinkle’ means to most people?’” The boys kept the melody and changed title to “Silver Bells.” Bing Crosby and Carol Richards’s recording, released before the film, was so popular that the studio called Hope co-star Marilyn Maxwell into the studio to reshoot a more elaborate production number. Hope made “Silver Bells” his Christmas theme, performing it every year on his holiday television special. The website devoted to Ray Evans’s legacy lists 224 recordings of a song, from Clay Aiken through Stevie Wonder. And, yes, their contract was renewed.
When you're sitting down to watch Christmas movies with the fam, sometimes it can be easy to fall into a slumber. But staying woke is a 24/7/365 proposition. Especially on the birthday of our most problematic religious figure, it's simply not an option to allow your Male Feminism to slip beneath the level of being insanely vocal at all times, no matter the situation. To help with this endeavor, I've prepared a helpful guide to some common Christmastime entertainments...and the proper Male Feminist responses, of course.
First, though, a word on presents: People always say that it's better to give than to receive, and folks, never is that truer than when it comes to Male Feminist opinions. If dad gets mom some jewelry, make sure your opinions"Heteronormative much? And are those conflict diamonds?"are locked and loaded. And make sure you pipe up if too many people give books written by white men, white women, or otherwise problematic figures. As Male Feminists, we love books, but not everyone can handle the responsibility of Hemingway.
Anyway, onto the movies. Here's exactly what to say if your family member dares to suggest that you watch any of the following "holiday" "classics."
Christmas with the Kranks
The heartwarming story of how a family decides to skip Christmas (patriarchal holiday in which a fat guy is celebrated for breaking into people's homes) and have a relaxing time soaking up the rays and making charitable donations. Unfortunately, the Kranks' good time is ruined when their voluntourist daughter brings back her Peruvian fianc to rub everyone's noses in her cultural appropriation. Tim Allen's Botox face makes me uncomfortable in ways I still haven't fully explained.
People always say that it's better to give than to receive, and folks, never is that truer than when it comes to Male Feminist opinions.
Die Hard
I didn't know Le Epic Bacon Reddit School was in session over Christmas break. Die Hard is a classic example of the white male hero complex. Bruce Willis thinks he can save the Nakatomi Plaza from a group of ragtag freedom fighters that are just trying to redistribute wealth from the one percent. John McClane is a crypto-fascist anti-hero that steals recognition from more deserving people, like Reginald VelJohnson.
The Santa Clause
Tim Allen stars as a man accidentally conscripted into being Santa after murdering the real Santa.
Hermey is woke, but is Rudolph bae? Image via Wikimedia Commons
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
A beloved Claymation film in which an outcast uses his differencesglowing red noseto guide Santa to a successful Christmas. This is much like how Male Feminists use their differencesbeing insanely woketo guide the world as it moves forward into 2016. The Island of Misfit Toys is basically about Male Feminism, because we don't fit into traditional understandings of the patriarchy. Unfortunately, Rudolph should be overthrowing Santa's corrupt white male hegemony over the distribution of wealth (presents). SMDH.
Home Alone
Doesn't pass the Bechdel Test.
It's a Wonderful Life
At first blush, this seems to be the work of a Male Feminist. George Bailey, who runs his family's Bailey Brothers Building and Loan, is fighting against the corrupt capitalist Mr. Potter (the Bad Patriarchy) when his incompetent uncle loses a major deposit and potentially sends the family into ruin. Bailey then tries to kill himself until he's rescued by a guardian angel who shows him how much worse the town would be without him. But if you dig a little deeper, you will actually see that Bailey's Building and Loan was among the predecessors to the subprime mortgage companies that started the financial crisis. Not only that, but when George marries Mary he prevents her from having a successful career as a librarian. And did we mention the Male Tears that George is crying when he's about to kill himself to save his family? #MasculinitySoFragile, much? Also, the guardian angel probably has some very problematic views about abortion.
The Island of Misfit Toys is basically about Male Feminism, because we don't fit into traditional understandings of the patriarchy.
The Santa Clause 2
Tim Allen is in this one, too.
Nightmare Before Christmas
This is the story of what happens when a problematic holiday (Halloween) tries to merge with a more problematic holiday (Christmas). Halloween may promote dressing in skimpy outfits and cultural appropriation, but Christmas perpetrates an even worse crime: consumerism. The little girls and boys arguably deserve to get spooked by the non-traditional gifts because they're falling prey to the classic American trap of thinking they deserve presents. Jack Skellington is a anticapitalist hero. The only problem is that he's a man. Or former man. Whatever.
Like many Male Feminists, the Grinch is misunderstood, but cute. Screengrab via YouTube
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Another movie about a heroic loner trying to teach the town that Christmas is about more than just receiving gifts. The town tries to taunt the Grinch by doing the equivalent of singing "We're not mad, we're not mad, we're not mad" until the hero succumbs to his weakness and answers the siren call. A true American tragedy.
Miracle on 34th Street
This movie is fucking insane; you should watch it. A Supreme Court case to decide the reality of Santa Claus hinges on the delivery of some letters from the USPS. I don't even have anything to say.
Shane MacGowan in his living room in Dublin. All photos by Mark McGuinness
It's the Saturday before Christmas and Shane MacGowan, the singer and songwriter most famous for being the toothy face of the Pogues, is lying on a sofa bed in his living room in Dublin, holding an electronic cigarette in one hand and a tumbler of whiskey in the other. On one chair next to him stands a half-drunk bottle of white wine, the dregs of a bottle of Smirnoff, a load of glasses, and an empty Bart Simpson mug. Placed on the other is a pharmacy bag stuffed with boxes of pills.
Over the summer, he fractured his pelvis leaving a studio in Dublin and has barely been able to move since. "It was a fall and I fell the wrong way," he says. "I broke my pelvis, which is the worst thing you can do. I'm lame in one leg, I can't walk around the room without a crutch. I am getting better, but it's taking a very long time. It's the longest I've ever taken to recover from an injury. And I've had a lot of injuries."
If any time of year feels more obvious to visit one of the greatest lyrical poets of his generation, and writer of what is ubiquitously cited as The Greatest Christmas Song Of All Time, "Fairytale of New York," it's probably the week he is croaking out of speakers in every pub, shop, and shitty Christmas party you'll go to. But ostensibly we're meeting Shane to discuss his recent dental surgery, which has transformed his gummy grin into a set of Hollywood whites, the process of which was filmed for an hour-long documentary titled Shane MacGowan: A Wreck Reborn.
If there's one thing that's shadowed Shane's career more than "Fairytale of New York," it is his constitution for drinking and hard drugs. A "wreck," however, feels a bit harsh. "Nah, the title was my idea," he says. Shane's wife of 30 years, the writer Victoria Mary Clarke, is sitting on the sofa next to him. "I wanted to call it 'A Fairytale of New Teeth,'" she says, "but he didn't like that." He gives us a grin. The color, he says, is A1—"the brightest white it's possible to go," which, under Victoria's orders, were based on Michael Fassbender's. "There was a picture of him on the cover of Tatler Man, and I just said to the dentist—do you think Shane could have teeth like that? And he said no problem."
Shane and his wife, Victoria
Unlike Fassbender, Shane insisted on having one gold tooth. "I went to the Greek islands years ago on holiday and I was really impressed with the Greek fishermen. I drank a lot with them," he says. "They had really rotten teeth but they all had one gold tooth—that was their bank account. If they were ever stuck for money they had gold in their mouth."
By the time the film came to be made, Shane's face was, he says, "falling to bits... I looked awful."
"It was," adds Victoria, "but you do look nice now."
"I don't know," he says.
"You do," she says again. And gets up to make sure his pillows are straight.
It's often said that if it wasn't for Victoria, Shane might not be here at all. Today, she moves around him constantly, making sure he is comfortable, fetching him drinks. When she shifts over to the sofa bed to have her photograph taken with him, Shane perks up—and he's the most animated I see him.
"I'm not going to be eating Christmas dinner, I'll tell you that... I can't stand all that sort of stuff."
The couple met, they tell me, at the now-closed Royal Oak pub in Temple Fortune, north London, via their mutual friend Spider Stacy—the tin whistle player in The Pogues. "We swore at each other," says Shane.
"No, I told you to fuck off, you didn't swear at me," Victoria snaps back.
"You told me to buy Spider a drink."
"Well, it was his birthday and I'd run out of money," says Shane.
Victoria was 16 at the time. She'd just moved to London from Ireland. Her and Shane didn't start dating straight away, but instead entered a kind of old-fashioned courtship that was quite uncommon by the mid-80s. Shane would pay for her to get a taxi home from Pogues gigs, and they'd go dancing at Northern Soul clubs and watch late-night horror films. "We'd go to the Scala in Kings Cross and see like George Romero and Creepshow and Night Of The Living Dead and all those zombie films," she laughs. "We did like to stay up all night. We loved eating in restaurants, too. For a really long time. One time we stayed at the same table in a Greek restaurant for 13 hours." Thirteen hours? "The waiters were really nice, you know. They would come and say, 'Would you like dinner now?' And then we'd have the next meal."
Shane was born in Kent on Christmas Day, 1957, but he spent most of his early years living with his mothers' family in Tipperary. "It was like growing up in pub, it was brilliant," he says. It was busy, full of music, books, and the occasional IRA man, as his family offered their home as a safe-house for republicans. He was an avid reader—Joyce, then Burroughs—and won a literature scholarship to London's Westminster School. "I was smart," he says. "I did A-level English when I was 13 years old. But I was busted for drugs, dope, pills, and acid, and kicked out. I didn't try to fight it. I didn't really want to go." Punk was kicking off, so he got a string of laboring jobs, shifts working in pubs and also worked at a record shop.
In December 1976 he put out a fanzine called Bondage with the Sex Pistols and the Jam on the cover. "Sniffin' Glue, the most famous fanzine at the time, cost 10p," he says. "I charged 30p for mine. I made a pretty packet out of it—I gave up my job. I never got around to doing another one, though. I was 18 years old—I had gigs to go to, clubs to go to, girls to go out with."
"The Pogues just got a bit sick of each other. We're friends as long as we don't tour together. I've done a hell of a lot of touring—I've had enough of it."
He formed the band Pogue Mahone in 1982, named after a Gaelic phrase meaning "kiss my ass." They were a hybrid of punk and traditional Celtic folk that sounded unlike anything that had gone before it. By 1984, the band had morphed into the Pogues, signed to cult punk label Stiff, supported the Clash on tour, and put out their debut album—Red Roses for Me.
Victoria remembers attending the bands early gigs: "I came from a place that was really quite reverential about Irish music. When I saw the Pogues for the first time I was shocked. I thought they were totally taking the piss. It was crazy. Everyone was throwing chairs and throwing drinks. It was dangerous, for the band as well as the audience."
The band's seminal second album was 1985's Rum Sodomy & The Lash. Produced by Elvis Costello, it is a flawless collection of craggy balladry and raucous abandon. In 2013 Johnny Depp called Shane "one of the most important poets of the 20th century." Listen to "The Old Main Drag" and "Pair of Brown Eyes" from this album and it's hard to disagree with him.
The Pogues' great success came in 1988 with their third album, If I Should Fall from Grace with God. It featured "Fairytale of New York," Shane's duet with the late Kirsty MacColl, the daughter of Ewan MacColl, whose song "Dirty Old Town" was famously covered by the band. How does he feel when he hears the song now? "Bored," he says. "It's nice to hear Kirsty sing." He pauses for a second. "It's a great record—I can be objective enough to hear that it's a great record. We all know that we made a great record. We were a great band."
Shane's Christmas tree
The Pogues got together in 2013 for a one-off Christmas tour, but since then have been quiet. Are they no longer active? "We're not, no," he says.
Shane was fired from the Pogues in 1991 as a result of his drinking. They carried on with various replacement frontmen, including Joe Strummer, but eventually fizzled out in the mid 1990s. In 2001 they reformed, something Shane freely admits was for the money. "I went back with Pogues and we grew to hate each other all over again," he says.
"You don't hate them!" Victoria says. "Every time people print that you hate them they get upset."
Shane retracts that last bit: "I don't hate the band at all—they're friends. I like them a lot. We were friends for years before we joined the band. We just got a bit sick of each other. We're friends as long as we don't tour together. I've done a hell of a lot of touring. I've had enough of it."
Shane spends most of his time these days in this red brick terrace. On the front door hangs a Christmas wreath, there's a spindly tree in the corner with a card of Prince William and Kate Middleton on top and a painting of Che Guevara draped in tinsel. Above the fireplace is a mirror with "Fuk U2" scrawled on it. He's known the band since they started, and even went to see them in Dublin a few months ago in his wheelchair. He stayed at the party until 5 AM.
I ask Shane how he will be spending Christmas this year. "Well, I'm not going to be eating Christmas dinner, I'll tell you that." Not even with his new teeth? "No, I can't stand all that sort of stuff. I don't like Christmas—I think it's gross. And I'm not eating much, even with the teeth." So you're not doing anything at all, then? "You are!" says Victoria. "You're having dinner at your sister's. But he's vegetarian, so it's not turkey." Suddenly Shane pipes up, disapprovingly. "I'm not vegetarian!" he bellows, almost spitting at the suggestion. "I just went off it. I ate meat all my life. Most of my early life growing up on a farm in Ireland, I ate bacon, cabbage, and potatoes. I ate what I was given. I'm not a vegetarian, I just don't like lamb. I don't mind the odd steak."
Did having a birthday on Christmas day piss him off as a kid? "It was the 50s and 60s—there was no money—people got pairs of socks for Christmas. The last thing you worried about being born on the same day as Jesus Christ was that you got one load of crappy presents instead of two loads of crappy presents," he says.
So what's next then for Shane MacGowan? "I want this to get better," he says, pointing to his injured pelvis. I ask if he'd ever consider writing fiction like his friend Nick Cave, with whom he collaborated with on a 1992 cover of jazz standard "What a Wonderful World."
"No," he says. "Real life is far more interesting." I guess if you're Shane MacGowan, it is.
"Imagine a therapy that had no known side effects, was readily available, and could improve your cognitive functioning at zero cost," the researchers wrote in their paper. It exists, they continued, and it's called "interacting with nature."
Demetrio Fernández ha recordado que la reproducción asistida convierte a los niños en productos de laboratorio y la importancia de la complementariedad entre el hombre y la mujer. Navidad y Familia Van muy unidas. La fiesta de Navidad reúne a toda la familia. La fiesta de Navidad es una fiesta de familia. El Hijo de Dios al hacerse hombre se […]
by momstuff@howstuffworks.com (Stuff Mom Never Told You)
Raised during the Progressive Era crusade against abortion, Margaret Sanger devoted her life to making birth control and familiy planning accessible to women from all walks of life. In this second installment of the two-part cultural and legal history of abortion, Cristen and Caroline highlight Sanger's legacy and eugenics controversy and how the development of Planned Parenthood coincided with midcentury women's fight to access abortion by whatever means necessary.
Filmmaker Andrew Jarecki's HBO miniseries The Jinx made a pretty solid case that extremely creepy real estate scion Robert Durst had a hand in multiple killings. And next summer, the 72-year-old will finally have to deal with a murder charge for a 15-year-old incident in California, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
The New York Timesreports that Durst will be extradited to Los Angeles by mid-August 2016 to stand trial for allegedly shooting his friend, writer Susan Berman, back in 2000. Durst has been jailed in Louisiana since March on a weapons charge, for which he apparently reached a plea deal.
The Jinx hypothesized that Durst murdered Berman because she was considering speaking to cops about his alleged role in the disappearance of his wife in 1982. Berman was found dead in her home with no sign of forced entry.
Durst's lawyers maintain that he's innocent, regardless of the whole hot-mic bathroom rant that closed out The Jinx.
"Bob Durst didn't kill Susan Berman and doesn't know who did," Durst's lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, said in a statement Tuesday. "He is eager to go to trial and prove his innocence."
Idioma original: inglés
Este año he elegido un recopilatorio navideño centrado en uno de los sonidos preferidos del blog: el punk. Desde el punk rock en ocasiones algo duro de Berlín 80 hasta el punk pop ye-yé de Los Aeropatines del Espacio Exterior he incluido grupos de punk pop ramoniano al uso como The Bikinis o Los Marqueses entre otros.
