This intriguing soundtrack was actually a popular LP in its own right throughout the '60s, and we're lucky to have the CAM series of Rota film scores (though all of them could use a sonic upgrade). LA DOLCE VITA is the score that propelled Rota to the first rank of film composers. The album is heavily composed of medleys--pop songs and Euro standards (two by Perez Prado)--juxtaposed against Rota's original themes, all of which evoke the bittersweet and, at times, eerie quality of Fellini's classic film. --- Richard Mortifoglio
“Ciudadanos ha anunciado que pretende la 'legalización' de la prostitución y la reapertura del debate teniendo en cuenta a las personas afectadas y lo hace en plena campaña electoral. Ésta es la parte positiva. La parte negativa es cómo se pretende hacer esta legalización, prevemos que al más puro estilo liberal (o neoliberal)”, señala un comunicado lanzado por nueve organizaciones de apoyo a trabajadoras del sexo y de derechos humanos en general, entre las que se cuenta Hetaira, la Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos de Andalucía, el Col.lectiu Lambda, COGAM o el Comité de Apoyo a las Trabajadoras del Sexo de la Región de Murcia.
El comunicado recuerda que la propuesta que ya presentó el partido político en 2010 para las elecciones catalanas recogía la regulación de la prostitución. “Ciudadanos no pondrá problemas a que cada vez mayor número de mujeres y hombres trabajen en la prostitución, obligándoles previamente a hacerse autónomos, lo quieran o no, reúnan los requisitos para serlo o no”. Sin embargo, tal como recuerdan, además de los obstáculos a los que se enfrentan los trabajadores autónomos, la propuesta dejaría fuera, y con mayor nivel de vulnerabilidad, a las trabajadoras del sexo que no puedan darse de alta por no reunir los requisitos, como las personas migrantes en situación irregular. De hecho, según recuerdan estos colectivos, ya muchas trabajadoras del sexo están dadas de alta como autónomas. “Este punto, por tanto, no sería una gran novedad”, señala el comunicado.
Los colectivos subrayan una trampa mayor en la propuesta de Ciudadanos, y es que, para optar a la 'legalización', las trabajadoras sexuales, dadas de alta como autónomas, tendrán que trabajar en locales convenientemente legalizados. “Esto significa que los empresarios de locales de alterne podrán tener a 'falsas autónomas' en sus locales y no se responsabilizarán ni de sus derechos laborales, ni de sus condiciones de trabajo. Un chollo que querrían emular los empresarios en cualquier otro sector.
La regulación de la prostitución de Ciudadanos también conlleva la prohibición de ejercer en el espacio público, lo que supondrá condenar a la clandestinidad a aquellas que decidan o no puedan darse de alta como autónomas.
El comunicado lanzado por estos colectivos señala también que la propuesta de regular la prostitución pasa también por velar por la salubridad e higiene, un mensaje detrás del cual puede haber el hacer obligatorios los exámenes médicos, una medida a priori positiva pero que lleva como consecuencia que para estas trabajadoras sea más difícil negociar prácticas de sexo más seguro. El buen estado de salud de la trabajadora estaría asegurado por estos exámenes, no así el estado de salud de los clientes.
“El discurso dominante y el pensamiento único en esta materia gana y será el mismo para muchas organizaciones políticas, sean del signo que sean: la prostitución es violencia contra las mujeres. Parece mentira y de muy mal gusto que se recurra a semejante ardid cuando la cifra de asesinadas y víctimas de violencia machista no disminuye, y no se trata precisamente de trabajadoras del sexo”, señala el comunicado, en el que también se subraya que, detrás del discurso de criminalización de la prostitución en base al problema de la trata de personas, en los últimos años el Gobierno español sólo ha concedido asilo para dos mujeres víctimas de trata.
Masterchef pertenece a toda esa gama de programas televisivos que despiertan en mí un interés equivalente a cero. Es más, es uno de esos programas que me cuesta asimilar, pues en mi particular concepción de lo competitivo articula un festejo que siempre me ha parecido más tendente a la burla que a la verdadera (auto)superación: el suspense al final depende más de estar a la espera de que alguien la cague que de realizar una auténtica valoración de méritos.
El pasado martes me sorprendió ver en instagram un fotomontaje que no comprendía: el logo de la Metro con una especie de retoque naif. Poco después, ya en twitter, descubrí que pertenecía al hashtag del momento, el ya famoso #LeonComeGamba, e inmediatamente fui a parar al momento del programa en que un concursante, Alberto, ejecuta un plato absurdo (cosa innegable) y recibe un tratamiento por parte de los presentadores que yo, mal espectador, no consigo comprender.
Reconozco, eso sí, que toda la retahíla de tweets al respecto la encontré absolutamente maravillosa: la gente hizo humor con algo que se lo merecía, y, sobre todo, no entraron a insultar a Alberto. Es más: fue protagonista del típico estallido de inteligencia colectiva que de vez en cuando te hace reconciliarte con internet.
Pero en su expulsión no vi eso. En su expulsión vi algo que en mi mente concebía como un maltrato, y sólo eché en falta en la Red que los espectadores del programa cayeran en la cuenta de que se había agredido a una persona para mantener un cierto tono de espectáculo, como si llegar a esos niveles ya estuviera asumido como necesario.
Por suerte Daniel Dieguez, a quien no conocí por haber participado en Deja Sitio Para el Postre sino ejerciendo sus increíbles dotes artísticas, escribió hoy esto en Facebook e hizo que me reconciliara un poco con el mundo:
Mucho me he callado, pero os voy a dar mi opinión con respecto a este asunto. Mal que pese.
Yo no veo la tele. No la veía antes de ser un concursante de mierdality y después… menos ganas me quedaron.
Tras mi experiencia sé varias cosas: -A los concursantes de los realitys el equipo del programa nos llama MUÑECOS. Esto lo digo para que entendáis el grado de objetualización que sufrimos. -El equipo del programa se sabe desde nuestro DNI hasta los lunares que tenemos en la espalda, y nos elige por que consideran que podemos generar AUDIENCIA. En general les importa una mierda el talento o ausencia de él que tengamos. -Para que os hagáis idea de la manipulación que sufren las imágenes en un programa en diferido: en la prueba de eliminación que viví en «DSPP» eran las 2 AM cuando terminamos, tras llevar en el estudio desde las 8 AM, yo tenía gripe y fiebre y el médico del programa solo me había dado unas pastillas para la garganta y a pesar de ello estaba medio afónico. Y cuando ya había terminado el tiempo de la prueba y yo mi postre, decidieron dar 10 minutos más para que mi compañera pudiese presentar algo puesto que su postre ni había salido del horno.
Dicho esto, me parece que es evidente para cualquiera, aún desconociendo todos estos detalles, que la manipulación de contenidos en los medios de comunicación es inherente. Ya no solo en las noticias, lo cual muchos sabemos. El problema en esto es cuando se nos va de las manos y agredimos (sí, agredimos por que esto ha sido una agresión) a un chaval de 18 años que con toda su ilusión, y con el atrevimiento de su ignorancia (por qué no decirlo, todos somos bastante ignorantes, yo el primero) decide presentarse y supera un casting de más de 15.000 personas. ¿Y profesionales supuestamente cualificados se atreven a decirle cosas como que ha faltado al respeto? Sí señores, es una falta de respeto a este chico. Que le han tomado el pelo y con él a ustedes. Este chico seguramente se recuperará y seguirá adelante con su vida, no sin aguantar burlas de desconocid@s durante mucho tiempo y el deseo de no salir de su casa.
Y ahora piensen quien juega con quien o falta al respeto aquí.
Espero que algún día cambien los hábitos de consumo y la televisión, especialmente la pública, sea un lugar para el ocio y enriquecimiento humano de la sociedad y no al revés.
Con todo, no termino de entender nuestra tele, y mucho menos puedo entender que esto sea a lo que se dedica una televisión pública.
Se reeditan los tres primeros discos de The Specials, cada álbum en formato doble cargado de extras. Excusa perfecta para recordar los primeros y fabulosos años de la banda de Coventry que reivindicó la música jamaicana, abogo por la unidad interracial y se convirtió en la punta de lanza de un movimiento musical y social. Playlist (todas las canciones por The Specials excepto donde indicado); Nite klub (sintonía), A message to you Rudy, Gangsters, Too hot, Doesn’t make it alright, Concrete jungle, Hey Little rich girl, Mann at C&A, Enjoy yourself, Rat race, Maggies’s farrm, Ghost town, The Boiler (Rhoda and The Specials), Guns of Navarone (live) y You’re wondering now (radio live)
She’s the strongest pillar in my foundation, she genuinely supports me and makes my life happy—really simple things that are hard to find. Without her I wouldn’t know how I’d be able to stand on my own.
My girlfriend is cool because 1. She’s very sweet to my family and they all ended up loving her 2. She doesn’t make fun of me for listening to girly music 3. She lets me play with her boobs.
The girl I’m dating is my best friend and that makes her cool in my book.
We don’t have identical views, hobbies, or taste in music, but it works. I really do enjoy spending a ton of time with her. She’s OK with me being…well, me. And I’m happy just the way she is.
Neither of us are perfect and we acknowledge that but we can poke fun at each other, game together, cook. Everything is just more fun when we’re around each other.
I won’t speak of all girlfriends, but what makes my girl cool is how well she gets along with my friends. She is perfectly happy chilling with me and the guys and will even join us in our games at times. Once my friends started telling me they were glad I was dating her because of that, she was automatically cool!
Punk-loving, burp-expert, solid taste in movies/TV/music, lets me fart, curses like a sailor, has big boobs, loves hanging with me and my friends (and her friends are also awesome in more of the theater/artsy way that I like), out-smokes everyone (‘cept me), nice to talk to about funny or serious things and always likes to help.
She has a wonderful sense of humor. She always makes everyone laugh and it’s polite to everyone. Not only is she my girlfriend, she’s also my best friend. I can trust her with anything and she always gives me good advice and sometimes even calls me out on stupid shit I’ve done. Overall I love her and she’s fucking awesome.
It’s weird, really, that another human can have so much effect on you by virtually doing nothing. I mean, she could be reading a book on a couch and I’d just look at her and I’d see the coolest thing ever. And that’s the point, I think. She doesn’t have to go out of her way to be the cool girl. It’s the subtle things, like the way she laughs when she sees funny things on her phone. Or the way she talks about her favorite books and TV shows. Or the way she doesn’t look at me directly when I compliment her for anything. She makes everything else seem cooler.
The girl I’m seeing now is a welder and I’m a weld inspector, so we relate on a level I’ve never had with a girl before, we both go to the same shitty places to work and understand what each other goes through in the course of a day to get the bills paid. Right now we’re on the same boiler shutdown at a power plant and share a hotel room so we make tons of money on our live-out allowance, between the two of us we’ll make $50k this month so we’re going to have the summer off to have fun, doesn’t get much cooler than that.
My fiancé still has no clue. Tattooed, pierced, dresses in really fun unique stuff everyday. Is almost universally worshipped by every girl we know. Has her own place in Philly where she’s finishing getting a degree in Anthropology. Has been on digs to the Middle East. I dunno, my fiancé is rad, and if you asked her she would tell you all about how she’s the lamest person who’s ever existed. I love her to pieces.
My girlfriend, I could literally talk about how amazing she is for days. I truly don’t deserve such a kind hearted and loving person. We’ve been together for almost 2 years, between playing video games, watching anime, talking about silly thing that hardly make sense, skating, and just genuinely enjoying each others company, I feel like I can say, I not only found an amazing partner, but my best friend. We literally tell each other everything, from silly little articles on reddit (like Diddy Kong getting nerfed in smash today motherfuckers) to how some customer gave me a dollar tip at work. We have our problems but I think we can work through them, she’s the only person that has ever motivated me to strive for a better life and I thank her everyday for that. Thanks LB I love you. :)
My girlfriend is a pretty solid example of “cool girlfriend”. We live together and pretty much chill every night. I’ll get home from work and dinner will be made for me most days, then we smoke a joint, maybe crack open a couple ciders? Chill and watch TV together, sometimes read books in bed.
The thing is she doesn’t give a shit what other people have to say as well, tell you straight, which I definitely need most times as I’m quite a stressful person. She will kick me out of it and brighten my mood again. Very nice to have someone that understands you completely and knows what you’re thinking at all times. So might be worth mentioning similarity is going to be a key there. Also, she’s weird as hell, which makes us stand out a bit more than usual.
She loves the person she is and she loves me for the person I am. But most importantly, she loves and appreciates everyone around her because she knows that there are admirable traits in just about everyone.
She challenges my line of thinking on a daily basis. Not only that, but I can see herself challenging her own line of thinking on a daily basis as well. I’ve watched her grow and develop over the years into the independent woman she is and I find it unbelievably attractive.
She’s a tremendous leader. She knows how to make people believe in themselves and feel empowered. As a result, people tend to gravitate to her (clearly I was one of them).
She’s passionate and she stands up for herself. She cares about doing the “right” thing, not the fashionable thing.
Finally, she’s driven. I’ve never met a more motivated person in my life. We are both very career-oriented and we challenge each other to be the best we can be in our respective fields. But at the same time, we know how to “shut down” at night and hang out and have fun.
These are the traits that make her “cool” to me. The fact that she is incredibly attractive is just a bonus.
I am a ridiculous, silly, goofy person. I have a ton of hobbies and my girlfriend wants me to enjoy my hobbies. She’s never told me “video games are for kids and immature you shouldn’t play them”, because she realizes that they make me happy and it’s not her place to tell me my harmless hobby is stupid just because she doesn’t like them all that much.
My current girlfriend is the coolest I’ve dated so far. She’s an artist (who can sew, knit, draw and oh yeah, weld) who can speak three languages and likes teaching children to combine fabric and technology. She loves me for who I am and makes me believe in myself. My friends enjoy her company, and she can hold her own with them without my presence. She doesn’t get angry when I get too drunk and will occasionally participate in my antics. She also goes out of her way to see my perspective on things and isn’t afraid to speak her mind. She’s kind, smart and the most beautiful girl (to me) I know. I’m quite lucky now that I think about it.
It was her depth of character and ability to hold her ground that made her that girl. I mean she was gorgeous, smart, sharp, talented, all that — but it was the fact that she had so many facets to her personality that caught me. She’d be working on a dance routine and be super focused, and very into it; and a few hours later she’d be sitting doing entomological research in her glasses with a completely different air about her.
Sometimes she was insecure and introspective, sometimes she was completely confident; sometimes she didn’t say much, sometimes she sang for hours; sometimes we fucked around, and sometimes we just sat there and listened to music in silence.
But she was always genuine. All the time, she was who she was, flaws and all. And that’s fucking cool.
She’s not the videogame-playing, muscle-car-loving, hard-rock-listening, hard-liquor-drinking, cool-girl-stereotype you’re thinking of. She wears pretty dresses and likes folksy music and doesn’t really “get” most games. She wears make up to feel pretty and she’s careful when she drinks and she gave up smoking pot, she’s still one of the coolest people I know.
She was a friend of mine before we started dating. We like the same shows, we laugh at each other’s jokes. We feel comfortable around each other. We’re both pretty upfront with each other, both emotionally and sexually. I don’t need to guess what she’s thinking: if I’m not sure, I can just ask her. That’s what makes her cool.
Been dating my gf for 2 years. We already know we’re getting married. She’s the best. Always interested in my interests. As I am hers. Is friends with all my friends and gets along with my family great. Is always down to go out or just chill at home and smoke and watch a movie. And every time we’re in bed and start kissing it automatically leads to sex, which is nice.
My gf right now just…is cool. It’s all subjective anyway. Whatever you personally like about them is why they are cool to you. She laughs at my corny jokes, teases me and jokes with me. Honestly, you don’t fall in love with someone because they are “cool”. They become “cool” when you fall in love with them…
My girl is badass because she is her own person. She likes what she likes and I like what I like, with some overlap.
Do we both love RPGs? Hell yeah we do tabletop or otherwise. Do we both enjoy Japanese cars? You bet your ass. Do we both like football? Fuck no I can’t stand it. Do we both like to play an instrument? Hell no she ain’t got time for that.
That’s my relationship and I wouldn’t change it ever. She’s quiet and I talk my head off. She visits with her friends once a month my friends are family and come every weekend for dinner.
She’s a great cook, my family loves her, and I love her. She always up for an adventure but still enjoys quiet evenings with wine. Always supportive and doesn’t tolerate me being stupid. We have great conversation on basically any topic. It also helps that she’s smoking hot… All those things are pretty vague, it doesn’t hurt to keep an open mind about another human being.
She can talk to me about the rent, paying off a car, or other financial bullshit without it being accusatory for either of us. If she can save money, that makes her fucking amazing, because I’m just not that great at it.
She’s interested in what interests me. She doesn’t need to be as into it as I am, but like, don’t just look at me weird when I talk about the things I do with my free time.
She wants to be spending time with me. Not be in the same space as me, but spend time with me. Talking, cuddling, watching a show, playing a game, listening to one or the other practice something. Which probably better branches into my next point…
Wants to be an active part of my life. She wants to be involved in my life and the things I do. She doesn’t just want me around as it’s convenient, but all the time. Just hearing the stories about my life isn’t ideal.
Showing affection. Holy. Fucking. Shit. When did it get cool to act disinterested in someone as a way of getting their attention? Fuck that shit with fire.
She has funny catch phrases like the one I just used.
She wantsme. Not just another heartbeat.
She loves me for the person that I am. Flaws, and all. I’m not going to be perfect every single day of my life, and I want to be accepted that I’m not going to be that. I’m going to try my fucking hardest to be it, but I’m not always going to succeed.
She makes me feel like the most sexy dude around.
She reminds me that I’m important to her, and that I’m special to her. All the time.
I am the unfiltered me without it ever occurring to me that I’m not using my “representative me” around her. And she loves that person.
The fact that I just described my actual girlfriend in every respect reminds me how fucking lucky I am to have her in my life.
So my girlfriend is brilliant, funny, outgoing, creative, loves beer, my sense of humor, video games, football (even though I hate it), and poker, and is extremely interested in anal sex and threesomes (I brought up the threesome but she proposed anal). She can party harder than I can, and she’s levelheaded, modest and is a classically trained artist. She’s the fucking coolest person I’ve ever met, and we’re best friends.
The downside? She’s a bit overweight. You know what that means? She was immediately overlooked by almost half of the guys who were too shallow or busy looking for 10s to notice. Never in my life have I been so overjoyed to find someone who wasn’t perfect. I love her.
She adds color to my life. Literally. Before we moved in together I had the perfectly matching furniture, everything was espresso black and square and white walls and wood floor. All the cups in my kitchen were black and the exact same shape. All the knives and forks had to be from the matching set. I threw away/gave away a lot of stuff because it was breaking a set. My life was symmetrical. Then she walks in and buys orange pillows, a polka dot orange carpet for the living room, bring her gigantic Tinker bell green cups, lime green spoons and work on cross stitch of Nintendo characters to decorate the bathroom. Every change was negotiated and we both had to do compromises but looking back and the big mess we did together. Mixing psychopath businessmen and Disney turned out great. Our condo is a reflection of our relationship.
Anita is a feminist for the digital age, using modern tools and platforms to engage thousands of people who want to hear her thoughts and respond to the challenges she raises. A lesser person may throw up her hands and unplug her game console, but Anita is determined to ensure that video games are inclusive and representative of everyone who plays them. As her detractors grow increasingly unhinged, we have proof that her efforts are working.
Sarkeesian is joined on TIME’s list by rad ladies like Youtube CEO Susan Wojcicki, ballet dancer Misty Copeland, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Emma Watson, Laverne Cox, Sarah Koenig, and Malala Yousafzai. Not a bad group to be influenced by, I’d say.
Have you ever gazed into your dog's eyes and sensed a remarkably strong connection – almost as if that little fur ball were your child? The results of a newly published study could help explain why this is — and how dogs evolved from wild wolves into the domesticated companions we know (and love) today.
Marcel Duchamp's
readymades disturb the conventional notion of what art is. A
metal wheel sitting on top of a stool isn't what we would traditionally think of as art, but because Duchamp said it is, it is. Art is stuffy, and Duchamp injected his works with a witty wink-nudge to that stuffiness. "[I]t's only because of humor that you can leave," he said, "that you can free yourself."
If he were alive today, Duchamp might have been a moderator on the subreddit /r/fifthworldproblems. While most of Reddit blends aggregation and forum functionality with users posting links, images, videos, or text that other users comment on, /r/fifthworldproblems is more an art project than a place to share Imgur photos. Here, users gather together to discuss the mundane challenges they face as powerful eldritch creatures of the Fifth World.
Related: The Man Behind @DadBoner
The "fifth world" is an extension of the Cold War-era
"three worlds" ideology, where the first world is the capitalist West, the second is the Soviet Bloc, the third the developing world, and the fourth is uncontacted peoples. So what would the fifth world look like? It's a place stripped of normalcy and tinged with what the mods refer to as "dark surrealism."
/r/fifthworldproblems was created three years ago by redditor Happybadger. He's described by moderator spacemanaut as "ur-god emeritus and mother brain of the subreddit," and the moderation team was hesitant to speak with me without his go-ahead. "We're not allowed to discuss specifics," spacemanaut tells me via reddit private message, "But membership initiation involves ritual sacrifice of a mid-sized aquatic mammal as well as agreement to, if necessary, take on a second shoulder-head (for tax purposes)."
In the Fifth World, Reddit itself is part of the artwork. Redditors remain in-character at all times, speaking as occupants of the Fifth World, and participants in Happybadger's three-years-running art project.
"[P]eople like being dark gods, people like space, and people like cryptic symbols," Happybadger explains. "[S]o my approach has been accommodating them, while using my own contributions and the visibility of mod posting to steer the conversation toward ideas that I think have a lot of potential and funny behind them." He moderates with a light hand, ensuring posts are unique, in-character, and not leaning too heavily on pop culture for inspiration. "I want people to take a very basic idea—this is a world where the fabric of reality is turned on its head—and create their own interpretation of it. Pop culture references give a ready-made template for creative expression which simultaneously strips it of any creativity and turns the whole thing into a circlejerk." Other than that, Happybadger lets the community run wild with the theme, as long as they remain in character. He likes to use his status as a mod to "inject" ideas into the community—like
the arrival of Zalthor as presidential candidate—but their success is dependent on if the community latches on or not.
Zalthor is an amalgamation of "Bill Clinton's sexual escapades and Richard Nixon's defensiveness and Barack Obama's image and Teddy Roosevelt's over the top bravado" and his posts exist to push redditors to use the Fifth World to explore and critique people and events going on in the real world. Zalthor's candidacy led to the creation of
/r/fifthworldpolitics, which encourages ongoing surrealist critique of the upcoming US election, through candidates running against Zalthor. All interested candidates must submit "name, home planet, ages in quantitative AND transdimensional times, and US birth certificate."
Zalthor is Happybadger's auteur hand in the forum—it's not a rule, and it's only canon if the community accepts it, but it is the artist suggesting the content move in a way that he deems most compelling. Zalthor's posts include
multimedia, not just for laughs, but to show users that Fifth World art can go beyond text posts. It hasn't fully taken off yet, but the existence of offshoot subreddits like /r/fifthworldpics shows there's interest.
/r/FifthWorldProblems differs from shocker subreddits like
/r/spacedicks in that it's not there to revel in violence or offend for the sake of offending. It's pleasantly strange, and the delicate bizarreness of the posts – standard Reddit fare, tinged with a touch of the uncanny—is humorous in its unexpectedness.
"Upvote for visibility" is
typically a request that users upvote a post in order to push it to the top of the subreddit. In /r/fifthworldproblems it is a request to become visible in a corporeal sense. In one piece of advice, a user riffs on the response format of redditor Unidan, the "excited biologist" who is known for enthusiastically sharing ecological and biological knowledge. Fifth World redditors ask for their version of travel advice, bizarre relationship advice, and participate in very surreal "Ask Me Anything" posts.
Like Duchamp's readymades, /r/fifthworldproblems lives somewhere between art and not-art, daring the viewer (or participant) to choose a side. Reddit is a place where
art can be shared, but usually, the content itself is not art. But in the Fifth World, the subreddit structure allows the community to create art as a collective. Happybadger recognizes that /r/fifthworldproblems is unique, and with the introduction of new "canon" characters like Zalthor, he encourages the community to tackle the concept of the "Fifth World" in more complex and challenging ways.
This theater of the uncanny has expanded into an empire of the weird, organically, with no guidance from the moderation team. There's
/r/28thworldproblems (like the Fifth World, but about ants), /r/fifthworldpoetry ("Did your auto-soul ring briefly in harmony with the celestial matrix?"), the 45th world, the 54th world, and the infinite world. Reddit's easy-to-use framework and popularity online allow users to create art in new internet-specific ways. /r/fifthworldproblems represents an online democratization of art—the subreddit structure allows one artist with an idea to create an ongoing performance where other users can float in and contribute to the performance canon in ways they deem fit, guiding and shaping the piece as they go. Duchamp's works let the viewer in on a secret—that art is a bit ridiculous. Happybadger and the Fifth World community let the viewer create the art itself, and it can be as wild and ridiculous and surreal as you desire—just don't drop any Welcome to Night Vale references. Zalthor 2016!
“León come gamba” es una secuencia lógica redactada como una oración simple con su sujeto, su verbo transitivo y su complemento. El sota-caballo-rey de la comunicación, el abc de las lenguas indoeuropeas. Sin embargo, no podemos ignorar que esconde algo marciano, porque uno no se imagina un felino en la sabana conviviendo con una gamba, que sería un turista insólito en esos parajes. Sin embargo, en las últimas fechas es un concepto familiar, pues resulta ser una frase recurrente gracias al penúltimo reality culinario del ente público –a este paso deben quedar minutos para que a algún productor se le ocurra pagar con mi dinero un concurso sobre limpiar mingitorios, me temo- en el que un chaval fue humillado delante de una audiencia enorme. Todo por rodear una patata adornada con una melena leonina de estos simpáticos crustáceos del orden decápoda. Todo por hacerlo cuando el mundo parecía estar esperando la enésima catarsis televisada, la última sublimación de la lucha por cumplir el sueño de turno, la redención definitiva del ciudadano medio: un plato de comida hecho en tiempo récord.
“León come gamba” no es tan solo una oración muy simple en lo sintáctico que refleja una situación insólita en lo biológico, sino que resulta que quizá esconda también un símil, e incluso una metáfora. Imaginemos zoológicamente, en base a lo que se pudo ver en la tele y leer en las redes (en ese país que solo tuitea de fútbol y realities), que el concursante es el débil y el juez, en vez de ser el justo, es el fuerte. En el caso que nos ocupa, fue la gamba la que se vio rodeada de leones y no al revés.
“León come gamba” es una situación fácil de concebir si obviamos que es un disparate geográfico y trófico, no como la opuesta. No te imaginas a una gamba devorando un león, ni con este muerto y troceado. Pero en el terreno práctico es fácil. Tan fácil como ser león cuando eres hijo de leones, nieto de leones. Porque es fácil ser león en casos como el de una de las leonas-juezas-triunfadoras-con-estrella-michelín, especialmente cuando tu apellido es Vallejo-Nágera y lo que ahora es una 'g' antaño fue una 'j'. Es fácil ser león –o leona en este caso- si tu abuelo se llamaba Juan y le dio por hacerse psiquiatra militar. Es además lógico ser leona cuando tu abuelo fue considerado “el Mengele de Franco”. Quizá –perversa mi imaginación- es hasta comprensible ser cruel cuando ese león mayor buscó y encontró, allá a finales de los años 30, algo que se dio a llamar “el gen rojo” para justificar una matanza de gambas.
“León come gamba” no es una oración que garantice que un león sea fiero, pero sí es un transmisor que posibilita que el concepto –la secuencia lógica- que reside tras todo lo comentado se perpetúe, y con él un modo de ver el mundo. Es un meme, y no sólo hablamos de esas imágenes –desternillantes sin duda- que circulan por la red. Un meme es, como dijo Richard Dawkins en su obra El Gen Egoísta, una unidad mínima de transmisión de significado, una herramienta que asegura la supervivencia –y en el mejor de los casos la expansión- de una idea, de un concepto, de una manera de pensar acerca de algo, de una forma de ver el mundo. De un paradigma.
“León come gamba” esconde en su núcleo un modo de percibir el mundo dentro de un programa de televisión, pero también fuera. Porque esos programas de búsqueda de excelencia televisada, de realidad paradójicamente irreal, guionizada y postproducida, se basan en ese principio trófico mediante el que el abuelo de la única y necesaria jueza entre jueces (hay que respetar ciertas formas) pretendía legitimar un genocidio. Supercocinas, superpiscinas, superaudiciones, superconciertos de dos minutos: escenarios todos en los que la oportunidad de enseñar y aprender es reventada entre aplausos y vítores por el mantra de la hipercompetitividad -la misma que reduce los salarios a miserias en nombre de la excelencia y catarsis final- y del darwinismo mal entendido que obvia la oportunidad de adaptación que la naturaleza brinda al animal al transformarlo poco a poco.
Dentro de las pantallas, pero también fuera, leones devoran a gambas y las escupen al suelo mientras muchas otras gambas presencian el espectáculo sin tan siquiera considerar a qué especie pertenecen. Sin reparar en que, quizá por sobredosis de entretenimiento, estas no dejan de ser crustáceos por mucho que no dudarán en actuar como los crueles reyes de la selva cuando el zoológico en el que viven así lo exija. No sin antes tratar de disimular que, en este jardín patrio, algunos leones siempre han sido leones y todas las gambas siempre han sido gambas.
Este manual no habla de tiempos, espacios, técnicas, ni posiciones. Hay sólo tres cosas que saber y repetir como un mantra:
El sexo oral lésbico es un fin en sí mismo
Ningún choro es igual a otro
El lamido habla
The 74th annual Peabody Awards' entertainment category recipients were announced today, and among the winners are a few new and returning comedy series. Ahead of its season 3 debut next week, Comedy Central's Inside Amy Schumer earned an award while HBO's Last Week Tonight and CW's "immaculately conceived" breakout hit Jane the Virgin also won awards for their work this year. The Peabody Awards will be handed out in New York on Sunday, May 31st; check out the full rundown of the comedy-related winners below:
Fargo (FX)
MGM and FX Productions
“Fargo,” the series, boasts the same snow-swept backdrop and dark, deadpan ambience as the Oscar-winning movie but tells a different, more complicated story. Its villain, Billy Bob Thornton’s mischievous, murderous, charismatic Lorne Malvo, is a character worthy of Norse mythology.
Inside Amy Schumer (Comedy Central)
Jax Media LLC
Schumer’s wholesome, disarming “Brady Bunch” looks belie and enhance a comic intelligence that’s smart, distinctively female and amiably profane, whether she’s applying it to sketch comedy, stand-up, or person-on-the-street interviews.
Jane the Virgin (The CW)
Eye Productions Inc., CBS Television Studios Inc., Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., Electus; RCTV; Poppy Productions.
Immaculately conceived, it’s a smart, self-aware telenovela that knows when and how to wink at itself. Its Latina lead, Gina Rodriguez, is incandescent.
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
HBO Entertainment in association with Sixteen String Jack Productions and Avalon Television
A most worthy addition to the news-as-comedy genre, “Last Week Tonight” doesn’t just satirize the previous week’s news, it engages in fresh, feisty investigative reports that “real” news programs would do well to emulate.
Like Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis before them, two members of Lodi, New Jersey’s Misfits changed their tune and got right with Jesus. In the late 80s, exchanging devilocks for golden curls and “...
A Mesa pola Normalización Lingüística ha asegurado este jueves que la comisaría de la Policía Nacional en Ferrol ha sido el escenario de un «caso de discriminación lingüística», al sostener que se incumplió «a lexislación sobre a oficialidade do galego». El colectivo afirma que se «vulneraron gravemente os dereitos dun cidadán ao lle negar atención polo feito de se expresar en galego».
En un comunicado, argumenta que «un funcionario da comisaría de Ferrol negouse a atender a chamada dun cidadán porque este se expresaba en galego». Los hechos habrían acaecido el pasado domingo, jornada en la que «un veciño de Caranza chamou por teléfono á comisaría de Ferrol para informarse de como denunciar un ataque informático do que fora vítima».
Afirma A Mesa que al exponer su caso «o funcionario que atendía o teléfono pediulle que se dirixise a el en español; ao se negar este cidadán a cambiar de lingua, manifestando que tiña dereito a se expresar en galego, o funcionario colgoulle o teléfono».
Denuncia
La plataforma matiza que el agente instó al interlocutor a que «se quería algo fose pola comisaría e intentase contarllo» a «outra persoa que o entendese». En su nota de prensa, considera que este hecho supone un «grave prexuízo e unha discriminación para este cidadán».
A su juicio, se «vulnera claramente non só a lexislación vixente sobre os dereitos lingüísticos da cidadanía na súa relación coa Administración, senón tamén o deber dos empregados públicos de tratar co respecto que merece a toda a cidadanía».
Ante lo acontecido, se han dirigido tanto a la propia comisaría como al Valedor do Pobo, el Ministerio del Interior y la Secretaría Xeral de Política Lingüística.
Louis Wain was an artist born in 1860s Victorian England who was as intensely gifted as he was mentally disturbed. His fanciful work is examined and featured on the internet from time to time (including on Neatorama in 2006) because his pieces, particularly his cats, are popular and his name is sometimes mentioned when correlation is drawn between artistry and madness.
Wain lived a hard life fraught with extended stays in the dismal insane asylums of the time, though notable people such as H.G. Wells and Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald interceded on his behalf in order to get him placed in better facilities. Yet no one could help his desultory mental states that included periods of psychosis.
Wain once said in explanation of his process:
"I take a sketch-book to a restaurant, or other public place, and draw the people in their different positions as cats, getting as near to their human characteristics as possible. This gives me doubly nature, and these studies I think my best humorous work."
Read more about Wain and see the gamut of his artwork, from the whimsical to the bizarre, at Dangerous Minds.
To the ignorant ear, being a professional submissive doesn't sound all that appealing. Imagine the job posting on Monster: "Yeah, you'll pretty much just be tied up and flogged by a stranger for an hour." Probably not going to get too many clicks.
Of course, if you enjoy that kind of thing—and get paid well to do it—it's actually not far from the perfect job. But considering that more than three quarters of women who enjoy BDSM
are believed to be submissive, there are relatively few professional subs compared with dominatrices.
Subby Katie, an American who now lives in London, is one of the few working in the UK. I spoke to her recently to find out a little about her day-to-day life.
VICE: What made you decide that you wanted to be a professional submissive? Katie: I got laid off at my job, and the job market was absolutely awful at the time. I couldn't find another job and was very stressed out. I went out for drinks one night with my ex-girlfriend, and she, knowing my proclivity towards all things BDSM, suggested looking into work in a dungeon.
The next day I started doing research and applied to a few dungeons. I got hired at a very beautiful dungeon in midtown and trained there. It was mainly dom work, with some submissive sessions on occasion. I don't have a dom bone in my body, so being a dom always felt forced. In this profession, if you don't love what you're doing, it's very obvious, very unfair to the client, and not good for the worker. For that reason, I decided to take everything I'd learned at the dungeon and start freelancing, doing strictly submissive sessions. It was a great decision, and now I absolutely love what I do.
Is being a submissive your only source of income? It's definitely my only source of income. I get some people who disapprove of sex work and ask why I don't get a respectable job, and I always have to giggle. I'm my own boss, I make my own hours, I chose my clients, and I make more in a few hours than most people make in a month. I was actually just asked by a friend of a friend if this was what I envisioned myself doing when I was little. I think my goal, being raised by a strong woman, was always to be independent, so the answer to that question would be a huge yes.
How much do you make each session? It really depends on what the session entails. It's normally between £300 to £600 [about $450 to $900] an hour.
And what do your sessions typically entail? Caning and bare-handed spanking are very popular. Role play as well—usually the classic schoolgirl or secretary. I find lots of clients like controlled orgasms, which involves restraining me in some way, then using a vibrator to stimulate me but not allowing me to orgasm without their permission. If I do so before they allow it then there is some form of punishment. Forced orgasms are also a favorite of my clients. They're pretty much exactly what they sound like: I'm restrained and made to orgasm repeatedly. It sounds amazing, but becomes very intense and painful. A forced orgasm session was actually one of the only times I've ever used my safe word. Those are some of the things I do, but if you can think about it, I've most likely done it—or at least been asked to.
For more on BDSM, watch our doc 'Slutever: Love Is Pain':
What's the strangest request you've ever had from a client? I've been doing this for so long that nothing seems strange. I had a man who asked me to lie in an ice bath for as long as I could take it and then lie perfectly still in silence. There was also a client who was completely symmetry-based. All bruises and marks had to match, so after so many hits with a cane on the left side, the other side had to then be marked exactly the same amount. I had a client who wanted me covered in as many clothes pins as he could clamp on. The entire session was spent with him counting the number of pins he could attach to my skin. Really, though, nothing shocks me or seems that strange anymore.
Do you ever worry for your safety, since you give these men an element of control over you? Yes, definitely. By the very definition of their profession, submissives allow themselves to be dominated, and that comes with a lot of risk. That being said, pro subs aren't a huge market, so those who seek us out do so not for malicious intentions, but because we offer something they're looking for. Also, I never meet a client who can't give me a phone number or address. For the most part, I meet new clients in public for a coffee or a glass of wine first, and if anything feels off, I apologize and leave.
Do you think that being a submissive is riskier than providing other adult services—for example, escorting? Riskier? I'm not sure. I think it has the potential to be, certainly, but any adult service where you meet a client alone has its risks. Sure, we allow ourselves to be restrained and dominated, but because of those things we have specific systems in place to make it as safe as possible. Someone always knows the name, phone number, and address of the person I'm meeting. I text when I arrive and when I leave. Although the danger factor that is associated with pro subs might seem more obvious, I think that all sex workers are at risk, and that backwards laws and discrimination make our jobs unsafe. As long as we're criminalized and thought of as a lesser part of society, no one in the sex work industry will ever be completely safe.
What kind of men use your service? Do you have a typical client? Not really. The majority are middle-aged professionals, many in the financial sector or CEO types. I do get a very broad range of clients, though. I have some who are more my age who tend to want to learn about and explore BDSM in a safe and nonjudgmental environment. I also have much older clients, who are looking for some younger companionship. I had an absolutely amazing client for a while who was 89 years old, but you would never have guessed it by the strength with which he could spank.
Is your main motivation sexual or financial? First and foremost, this is my job. It's how I make my living, and I definitely think of it as such. That being said, I don't think you could do this job if you didn't enjoy it. If you aren't enjoying the session, the client can tell.
Why do you think dominatrices receive so much publicity but professional submissives receive so little? Being a dominatrix is, for the most part, fairly acceptable in our culture. Doms are generally portrayed as being strong, powerful women, which is an image that many people are comfortable with. Society looks at professional submissives as victims. They assume that we're weak because we allow ourselves to be tied up, spanked, and flogged, and because our hair gets pulled and we beg. They think that we somehow need saving, and believe that we promote violence against women. None of this is true; submissives are very strong people who are in no way victims. We enjoy what we do, and anyone in the BDSM community will tell you that we are certainly not weak or helpless in any way. I think society definitely needs to start understanding what we do and giving us the respect that we deserve.
How accurate do you think 50 Shades of Grey's portrayal of a submissive was? I didn't read the whole book; the writing was so godawful that I couldn't get through it. It made me want to stab myself in the eye. That said, I read a good chunk, and even if you forgive everything else, the fact that, at one point, the girl calls her safe word and it's ignored means that the book is supporting domestic violence. Anyone in the fetish community knows that the safe word is everything, and if it's spoken, everything stops. If, like in the book, it's called and ignored, the person that ignored it is not only an asshole, but also a criminal.
Finally, what advice would you give to women who are interested in becoming professional submissives? First and foremost, don't do this job if you don't truly enjoy being submissive. I've talked to many women who, because they'd done escort work, thought they could switch to pro sub work, and they were miserable. It's very easy to fake your way through a role play session or some light bondage, but when taking a caning, or even a hard spanking, the pain is very real. I would also say to always trust your instincts. If a situation feels off, leave. If you meet a new client and you have even the slightest gut feeling that something is off, walk away.
Pienso en Nando Cruz como un héroe. Las mil páginas de su libro “Pequeño circo” (Contra, 2015) sobrevolaban nuestro cielo, como cuervos cada año más enfebrecidos, recordándonos que había una historia no contada.
Supongo que muchos de los periodistas que participamos de la música en la década de los 90 hemos valorado la idea de acometer este trabajo, ya sea en el formato de historia oral que ha elegido Cruz, o en el de crónica. Yo misma lo he pensado varias veces. Muchas personas me han animado a ello en los últimos diez años y aun sabiendo que alguien tendría que hacer callar a esos malditos cuervos, no sacaba ganas de alimentarlos. Tenía miedo de darles carroña.
Nando Cruz no ha pasado un año y medio entrevistando a más de cien personas para entregar a la editorial el cadáver sangrante del indie, listo para su desgarro final. Esta es una obra potente en la que sus protagonistas cuentan cosas desagradables, historias fascinantes, exageraciones y espinas clavadas. No era fácil, pero es el libro que nos merecíamos. En cuestión de una década hemos visto pasar a la bibliografía del indie de cierto objetivismo enciclopédico al opuesto terreno de las expiaciones personales. Este periodista musical, nuestro héroe, ha sido capaz de poner la historia en su sitio. Me alegra que lo haya hecho él.
Aunque la voz del narrador esté oculta —el libro ha sido construido con el método “Por favor, mátame”— no podemos absolver al autor de una responsabilidad, más allá del coraje y el esfuerzo titánico. “Esta no es la historia que yo recuerdo” me leo a mí misma en un capítulo del libro, sobre un detalle concreto en relación a Silvania y Ciëlo, pero también me viene a la cabeza esa misma frase en otros puntos de la lectura. Por otro lado, hay otros pasajes que leo y digo sí, esto fue exactamente así. Es verdad que yo tenía cinco años menos que la media de personas que conocía en 1994 y había muchas cosas que pasaban fuera de mi alcance y mi comprensión. No solo por la edad sino también por mi procedencia y mi bagaje anterior, mi punto de vista era diferente a los de las personas que estaban en la escena de Madrid en ese momento.
En algún sitio Nando dice que, aunque no estén contadas todas las historias, él confía en que haya la suficiente representatividad como para que los que han quedado fuera puedan reconocerse en historias muy semejantes. Puede ser, algunos cuervos pueden dejar de graznar. Hay quien puede cerrar la tapa y decir ya está, “¡nunca más!”. Pero también pienso que este libro desencadenará otros, escritos por otros pájaros, otras pájaras, que dé lugar a tramas y personajes secundarios.
Lo que más me duele del libro es tener que esperar 200 páginas para escuchar la voz de una mujer fuerte con relevancia en la historia y también en la narración. Esto no sucede hasta que no aparece Teresa Iturrioz (Aventuras de Kirlian, Le Mans, Single). ¡200 páginas, sí! Si te saltas el capítulo de Bullas, el indie parece una época de la historia en el que las chicas participaron anecdóticamente, mujeres de hoy sin memorias del ayer, novias, hermanas, socias. “Los de RCA llamaban todos los días, como una novia pesada” dice Joaquín Pascual (Surfin’ Bichos, Mercromina). “A tus colegas se les cortaba el rollo de estar entre abuelas, niñas con carricoches y el tonto del pueblo con un helado [...]. A mí me echaron de una caseta por pegarme un morreo con mi novia. Me dijeron ‘¡a follar a la calle!’” cuenta Eric Jiménez (Lagartija Nick, Los Planetas).
También es Eric quien dice que montó un grupo paralelo a 091 con “una novia de Antonio [Arias] a la que llamaban La Pelos”. Vale, ¿y cómo se llamaba esta chica?, ¿qué tocaba?, ¿cómo se llamaba el grupo? Iñigo Munster, dueño del sello del mismo nombre, nos habla de “dos chicas” que tenían un fanzine “de corte gótico y afterpunk” llamado Algo Me Moskea. Y ya está, no sabemos nada más de ellas. Unai Fresnedo, del sello Radiation, hace una alusión a “Estíbaliz de [el sello] Goo”. Y nadie nos cuenta nada más de Estíbaliz Hernández. Tito Pintado (Penelope Trip) nos dice que empezó a escuchar música gracias a los singles de sus hermanas. Víctor Malsonando admite que quien era importante en su fanzine era Sara, “la novia italiana” de Jesús Llorente (Acuarela), “una supermillonaria de Roma”. Murky (Patrullero Mancuso) nos habla mucho de Eva (Solex), pero a mí me hubiera gustado escuchar a la propia Eva. Montse de Elefant habla poco. Gema de Subterfuge creo que nada. (Si el libro llevara un índice onomástico, que lo pide a gritos, me sería más fácil comprobarlo. Pido disculpas si me equivoco).
De las 26 personas que hablan en el capítulo de Madrid sólo hay una mujer: Ana Béjar (Usura). Sé lo que me vais a decir: que el libro es un espejo de la sociedad. Que así era el indie del Madrid de los 90. 25 chicos haciendo fanzines y grupos y 1 chica cantando en inglés. Y será verdad. Las personas más ambiciosas y activas eran hombres. A veces lo copaban todo. Algunas mujeres estaban en un segundo plano, silenciosas, espectadoras. Otras se movían mucho, pero no eran amigas de los protagonistas de esta historia por lo que, asombrosamente, quedan fuera de sus narraciones y recuerdos. Será así, para ellos. Pero esta no es la historia que yo recuerdo.
The CRISPR Revolution [ungated: 1,2,3] - "Biologists continue to hone their tools for deleting, replacing or otherwise editing DNA and a strategy called CRISPR has quickly become one of the most popular ways to do genome engineering. Utilizing a modified bacterial protein and a RNA that guides it to a specific DNA sequence, the CRISPR system provides unprecedented control over genes in many species, including perhaps humans. This control has allowed many new types of experiments, but also raised questions about what CRISPR can enable."
CRISPR Natural History in Bacteria - "We've barely begun to understand how CRISPR works in the natural world. Microbes use it as a sophisticated immune system, allowing them to learn to recognize their enemies. Now scientists are discovering that microbes use CRISPR for other jobs as well. The natural history of CRISPR poses many questions to scientists, for which they don't have very good answers yet. But it also holds great promise. Doudna and her colleagues harnessed one type of CRISPR, but scientists are finding a vast menagerie of different types. Tapping that diversity could lead to more effective gene editing technology, or open the way to applications no one has thought of yet."
A New Kind of Evolution: Did this mean that CRISPR meets the requirements for Lamarckian inheritance? "In my humble opinion, it does," said Koonin.
Après nous le déluge - "Rumors are rife, presumably from anonymous peer reviewers, that scientists in China have already used CRISPR on human embryos and have submitted papers on their results."
Gene drive - "George Church, a geneticist at Harvard Medical School in Boston who is a leader in the field, believes the new study should not have been published, because it does not include measures to restrain the spread of unintended mutations. 'It is a step too far', he says."
Scientists Have Created 'DNA Scissors' That Can Alter Your Genes, but Should They Use Them? - "A spectacular discovery made in 2012 has turned human genome research on its head. Careful what you wish for, comes the warning... The genetic code is the software that runs living things, and just as with digital technology, DNA is being upgraded, from a read-only to a read-write medium."
Derek Lowe on CRISPR, from the comments - "Many of the possibilities that people are most worried about are harder to pin down, though. There's no single gene for height, for example, or intelligence (or Alzheimer's or diabetes, for that matter, to stick with the fixing-what's-broken part of the landscape). Many of the really sticky issues are still a bit downstream, awaiting a better understanding of the human genome, but the big fundamental one is indeed here now: the first deliberate editing of the human genetic inheritance."
Texas-style barbecue is, of course, the finest in the world. The best of this emerges from my father-in-law’s backyard pit.
But other barbecue methods, with the exception of Memphis-style, are edible, if not enjoyable. Among them is the asado style of the southern cone of South America. Barbecue dinners in this style, When on Earth informs us:
. . . consist of embutidos (chorizos, black puddings, and the like) and varieties of meat grilled over charcoal made of native trees. The meat cooked for asado is not marinated but only salted.
The 74th annual Peabody Awards' entertainment category recipients were announced today, and among the winners are a few new and returning comedy series. Ahead of its season 3 debut next week, Comedy Central's Inside Amy Schumer earned an award while HBO's Last Week Tonight and CW's "immaculately conceived" breakout hit Jane the Virgin also won awards for their work this year. The Peabody Awards will be handed out in New York on Sunday, May 31st; check out the full rundown of the comedy-related winners below:
(Photo: Max Besser)
