Snob

I often get asked what makes me a geek. My usual response? Intense passion for something. So yes, “being a geek” to me isn’t necessarily relegated to the genre medium of comic books, video games, etc. People who get really excited over sports are no different than people who get really excited about a collectable statue. And collectors, well they’re tangentially connected. Not all collectors do it for the money but when a huge score falls on your lap, it’s hard not to get really excited.

Case in point, the Youtube account OpenBoosters recently posted a video in which they opened a first edition set of Magic: The Gathering Cards (which sell for up to $6,000 these days). Having no idea what would be found inside, you can’t blame the man for losing his ever-loving shit when he turns over an Alpha Black Lotus card. In 2013, a mint-condition of this card sold for $27,302.

According to ICV2:

“The “Black Lotus” card is part of M:TG’s “Power Nine”– the nine most powerful cards printed in the early years of the game (“Ancestral Recall,” “Time Walk,” “Mox Sapphire,” “Mox Jet,” “Mox Ruby,” “Mox Emerald,” “Mox Pearl,” and “Timetwister” are the others). “Black Lotus” cards were printed for the Alpha, Beta and Unlimited sets, with the Alpha being the most valuable because there were only an estimated 1,100 copies printed (the Beta card set run is estimated at 3,300). Though valued for their rarity, Black Lotus cards have been banned from all official tournament styles except Vintage.”

Much like rare comics, Magic cards also can be graded for their quality. The previous record sale had a grade of 9.5 from Beckett Grading Services and OpenBoosters are intending to send their’s to BGS to see where it lands on the scale. Putting the huge windfall aside (if they even choose to sell it of course), this reaction is a great example of what loving something so intensely can feel like. Whether we express it on the outside or not.

(via Gawker)

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La verdad es que han tardado mucho. La editorial Faber publica mañana un bonito volumen que recopila escritos de Ian Curtis, tanto letras de Joy Division –algunas de ellas, reproducidas también en su versión manuscrita– como otras piezas que dejó por ahí a su muerte. Y sí, me sorprende que hayan tardado tanto: en mayo se cumplieron 34 años del suicidio de Curtis, que se mató cuando tenía 23, y a lo largo de este periodo de tiempo su mito ha ido agigantándose como solo sucede con los artistas difuntos, cuya leyenda no tiene que asimilar ya las ocurrencias y los disparates propios de los vivos. El libro, en elegante tapa dura, se titula So This Is Permanence (como el primer verso de 24 Hours, una de mis canciones favoritas de Joy Division, que a su vez son uno de los dos o tres grupos clave de mi vida) y ha sido seleccionado por el periodista musical Jon Savage y la propia viuda de Ian, Deborah Curtis, que se ocupa del prólogo.

La participación de Deborah, protagonista a su pesar del himno Love Will Tear Us Apart, ha dotado de cierto interés añadido a los artículos de presentación del libro, en los que ella está evocando al primer Ian que conoció: nos hemos acostumbrado a ver a Joy Division con esa estética suya tan sobria y gris, como de la RDA, pero Deborah evoca a un Ian que «llevaba maquillaje de ojos, vaqueros ceñidos y una cazadora de piel sintética». Por lo visto, el hombre también tenía la costumbre de cargar con una bolsa de plástico en la que transportaba sus escritos, algo que siguió haciendo cuando Joy Division empezaron a despuntar. Deborah se muestra convencida de que a su marido le ajustaba mucho mejor el traje de literato que el de rockero: «Crecimos viendo programas de pop en la tele –ha declarado al Guardian–. La faceta de estrella del rock era parte de aquella era y la poesía se consideraba pasada de moda. Ponerle música parecía una progresión lógica, pero no creo que la fama y la vida en la carretera fuesen mucho con él. Creo que habría seguido escribiendo aunque no quisiese actuar más y, a los 40 o los 50, probablemente habría escrito un libro estupendo».

Así que esto es la permanencia…

 

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Post tags: Ian Curtis, Joy Division, letras, libros

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A new millennium New Dylan long before Jake Bugg came along and stole the crown, Pete Molinari always made hay of the comparisons to the Bard and Woody Guthrie, but unlike so many other latter-day troubadours, he also had an ear for good -sounding records. He worked with Billy Childish at the dawn of his career, but even that flirtation with garage rock offers little preparation for the colorfulness of Theosophy, his fourth album.
Working with producer Liam Watson, along with mixer/producer Tchad Blake and Andrew Weatherall, and finding space for a cameo from Black Key Dan Auerbach, Molinari pushes his music into the swirling head space of the psychedelic ’60s, spending as much time reveling in…

320 kbps | 107 MB  UL | MC ** FLAC

…the dimensions of sound as in the wonder of words. This unexpected emphasis on sonics makes Theosophy grabbing in a way Bugg’s cod-Dylanisms are not, but the groovy thing about this record is that its bones are as well-constructed as the production. Molinari’s songwriting is exceptionally tight, so all the flourishes — some borrowed from the swinging London of 1966, some borrowed from U.S. garage rock, a lot of ringing guitars coming out of Los Angeles — winds up accentuating, not distracting. It’s a nifty record: a double-edged throwback, evoking the singer/songwriters of the ’60s but sounding like a different part of that decade, which is why its retro-ism winds up as invigorating.

«México no son los tópicos con los que se le representa siempre», dice Roberto Rodríguez Aguilar, un diseñador mexicano que reside en España desde hace más de una década. Cuando llegué a Murcia, todo el mundo me hacía la broma del anuncio: «’¡Cuate, aquí hay tomate!’, y yo no sabía ni lo que era».

Después de diez años observando que existen muchos que aún piensan que su país natal «se encuentra en Centroamérica o Sudamérica, en vez de en Norteamérica», entre otros deslices, ha decidido utilizar precisamente esos tópicos típicos -más sus habilidades artísticas- para explicar por qué México es mucho más que eso. «Había que situarlo geográficamente para esclarecer su ubicación, para empezar», suspira.

Su idea ha sido elaborar una monografía con el tema México (Monografía Incomprendida) compuesta por 31 ilustraciones en formato tarjeta postal e impresas en serigrafía, una técnica muy utilizada en el país azteca en la que tuvo que ser autodidacta, ya que no se impartía en sus clases de diseño en España. Además, en su packaging, que de momento es una colección de 50 unidades hechas a mano, incluye un desplegable con la explicación de lo que realmente quieren decir cada uno de esos repetidos iconos.

«Más allá del folclore, la mexicanidad es una actitud. El contraste de cultura y brabuconeo de un pueblo valiente, pero sanguinario», responde a la pregunta de cómo definir el concepto exactamente. «Contarlo gráficamente ya es otro tema».

A primera vista, lo que se ve en su colección son efigies conocidas como el Chapulín Colorado, un luchador enmascarado, Frida Kahlo, las tortillas de hacer tacos, Zapata, Carlos Slim o un chile. Es en un segundo análisis cuando el observador se da cuenta de «la ironía, el sarcasmo y el humor» que Rodríguez Aguilar utiliza como recursos habituales. «Segundas lecturas o recovecos a modo de pistas que complementan el tema de cada postal, que empujan al receptor a pensar, conocer y comprender del tema más a fondo», en sus propias palabras.

Quiso sacar punta tanto a lo positivo como a lo negativo que caracteriza los 31 estados del país, número que determinó la cantidad de postales: Emiliano Zapata porta sobre la cabeza una jaula de la que brota un mundito con alas. Es como el diseñador quiso plasmar «tierra y libertad», el lema del revolucionario. Las coronas europeas se igualan a los birretes universitarios en un país donde, a falta de nobles, el título es el de ‘licenciado’.

 

En la serigrafía del archiconocido Chapulín Colorado, el personaje aparece ante un círculo celestial y un texto que denuncia la postulación del humorista por convertir el aborto en un delito federal.

«Quiero que cada dibujo represente las dos versiones de los hechos. El país de contrastes que es México, de aspectos diametralmente opuestos», cuenta tras hablar de una postal en la que la figura de Carlos Slim, el hombre más rico de la Tierra, se erige ante un grupo de manos que se ahogan ante sus ojos hechos de euro y dólar.

 

 

«México posee un sinfín de elementos que solo están allí. Abarcan el espacio, la sociedad, la economía, las tradiciones, las aportaciones a la cultura, sucesos contemporáneos, fauna endémica, costumbres, formas de ser, de vivir… cosas que lo hacen particular», da fe oral de la variedad de puntos claves que a veces pasan desapercibidos.

Según su opinión, «el ser humano siempre ha tenido cierto recelo ante lo desconocido, y es comprensible ante algo que nos resulta novedoso, extraño, diferente, raro», acepta. Por eso él, «perfectamente consciente» de que sus «orígenes y el bagaje cultural» es «parte del equipaje» que trajo consigo, está dispuesto con este trabajo a «derribar mitos y estereotipos». «O confirmarlos».

Entre las manías buenas de su país, como «la veneración a las madres», también hay nocivas, no lo oculta. Como ejemplo de ello habla de cuatro ilustraciones repartidas en su colección que denuncian cómo el color de piel es algo que aún marca la diferencia en México siglos después del fin de colonos y colonizados. Para lograr exportar el mensaje en esos dibujos, lo que hizo fue adjetivar el cuarteto de ilustraciones, en los que salen personas de diferentes razas, repartiendo los calificativos entre ofensivos y celestiales en función de sus tonalidades epidérmicas.

«Vivimos en un mundo que se compromete cada vez menos socialmente», esgrime; «creemos que con un click o un “me gusta” podemos cambiar situaciones nada amables como la violencia machista, la discriminación, la desigualdad o la ignorancia. Yo creo en el poder de la imagen, estoy plenamente convencido de que formular mensajes de crítica social al espectador puede, de alguna manera, emplazarle a sensibilizarse, concienciarse y llevarle a la acción».

Cuenta el diseñador que hace esto porque «debe existir acceso a información más allá de lo trivial, de lo que los mass media ofrecen en sus contenidos filtrados». Opina que «es necesario conocer más a fondo una cultura para comprenderla», y aunque es de la idea de que el racismo se cura viajando y el fascismo leyendo, es consciente de que «no todas las personas pueden realizar un viaje físico, pero sí que pueden hacer un recorrido visual y conocer otras culturas». Las suyas están colgadas en la red gratuitamente.

«La ilustración es un vehículo idóneo para comunicar, y estoy convencido de que esta monografía puede cambiar la idea de ese México idealizado y mostrar que existe un abanico amplio de formas, colores, costumbres y maneras de ser mexicano».

*(Aquí podrás ver la colección de Rodríguez Aguilar junto a las explicaciones de cada ilustración)

 

The post La mexicanidad en 31 postales chidas appeared first on Yorokobu.

El edificio del parque de Vista Alegre estará a disposición del público en general hoy y mañana con entrada libre, de 10 a 14 y 16.30 a 20 horas

A la hora de hablar de Greg Rucka, el discurso que servidor podría llegar a hilvanar terminaría acercando posturas de forma irremisible con lo que en alguna que otra ocasión he tenido la oportunidad de afirmar acerca de Ed Brubaker (sin ir muy lejos, el otro día hablaba de él y de sus habilidades en la reseña del segundo integral de ‘Criminal’) y su completo, total y magistral dominio de los mecanismos que articulan el género negro en el cómic. Y es que Rucka, que colaboró con Brubaker en esa espectacular serie que fue ‘Gotham Central’, y que cuenta con una generosa cantidad de cabeceras en su haber de esas que hay que leer sí o sí, maneja con similares habilidades los engranajes del noir, algo que puede observarse si uno se asoma a las páginas de ‘Queen & Country’, ‘Whiteout’ o la actual y espléndida ‘Lazarus’: si bien todas ellas están “contaminadas” con otros géneros —que van del thriller de espionaje a la ciencia-ficción de avance— es incuestionable que en su núcleo laten con intensidad los fundamentos del citado cómic negro.

Unos fundamentos que, menos aliñados que en los citados títulos, son también los que le sirven para estructurar esta magnífica lectura que es el primer volumen de ‘Stumptown’. Con el sobretítulo de ‘El caso de la chica que se llevó el champú (pero se dejó el Mini)’ —huelga decir a qué trilogía literario-cinematográfica homenajea dicha frase, ¿no?— el guionista narra aquí las desventuras de una detective privada algo que se ve envuelta en un caso cuya resolución, desde el principio, parece abocada a tornarse en tragedia. Arrancando mediante esa fórmula tan usada como eficaz que es iniciar la acción con una “secuencia” impactante para después trasladarnos atrás un cierto espacio de tiempo, la pluma de Rucka consigue describir un hilo conductor asombroso y unos personajes que traspasan sin dificultad la barrera del papel, haciéndose casi corpóreos a medida que avanza la lectura.

Rodeado siempre como su compañero de profesión de artistas que saben lo que se traen entre manos y aportan un grado más de personalidad a sus cómics, parece que si hay un estilo que le va como anillo al dedo a los relatos noir redactados por ambos escritores ese es el de Michael Lark, Sean Phillips o, en el caso que nos ocupa, un Matthew Southworth cuyo trazo, narrativa y composiciones sea asemejan sobremanera a los que se desprenden de muchas de las páginas anteriormente apadrinadas por el guionista. La íntima relación que se establece entre narración escrita y narración visual consigue, como todo cómic intachable, que el lector se introduzca de pleno en una historia apasionante que te mantendrá en tensión hasta casi su última viñeta. Una cualidad que sólo está al alcance de una grandeza a la que Rucka puede tratar, sin despeinarse, de tú a tú.

Image: George Veltchev

So many animal species have familial bonds that, in their own ways, are equal the strength of ours. In a sense they are more intense than ours, in that humans rarely are forced to defend the lives of their family members in the face of predators looking to kill them. Whether protective and loving behaviors among animals are the result of instinct, emotional attachment or both, evidence of it abounds, and it makes for sweet photographs and in-person observations.

See more photographs from this collection here.  

Image: Daniel Cadieux

Image: Lina D.

Image: Marina Cano

 Image: Brendon Jennings

 Image: Thomas Kokta
 
 Image: Val

 Image: ysaleth

By Adam Tod Brown  Published: October 14th, 2014  The Internet ruins everything. Actually, that's not even sort of true, but people say it all the time anyway, and it's not for nothing. While "everything" might be a stretch, the Internet does indeed have an uncanny ability to take something great an

In Charleroi, Belgium, an event promoter had organized what was considered the largest senior citizen orgy in the European Union. But the so-called “50 Shades of Karolos” gang bang turned into an unfortunate game of hide-the-salami-and-die after seven people suffered fatal heart attacks.

Nord Presse reported that, on Saturday, event promoter José Deflandre had secured a secret location for the event, and only men and women over the age of 65 could attend. Of those 35 randy, naked seniors in attendance, an unknown number suffered cardiac arrests and were rushed to a nearby medical center.

The evening turned sour once two attendees reported feeling sharp pains in their chests during the event and were seen to by doctors on site. (Good of Deflandre to consider such a contingency.)

Hospital attention was soon required as more guests were suffering similar symptoms. Some say that the panic of others having heart attacks caused some kind of heart attack ripple among others, transforming the sex orgy into some kind of pulmonary circlejerk.

In the aftermath, the ambulance could not rush everyone to the hospital in time. Some made it. Others, sadly, did not. Deflandre was not available for comment.

h/t @nahuelacosta_/image: Shutterstock

The HORROR!!! Continues.... This one is called "Splinter" but there is another movie called "Splinter" that was made in 2008 near where I used to live in Oklahoma City. They even had a premiere at the Art Gallery downtown for it. It's a really decent body horror/monster flick. Look it up however you can!! BOO!!!! SEE YOU THURSDAY!

Eclipsed possibly only by his earlier "1928 Sessions", this album shows a more mature Hurt picking his way through standards and originals after the Depression years and Hurt's fall into obscurity before the folk revival of the 1960s. It shows, however, that all that the great bluesman has lost is years; his voice retains its characteristic Buddha-esque warmth and it is still difficult to believe that there is just one man playing on the seemingly effortless guitar work.

The music on the album comes from a variety of different influences, from the fun and poppy "Hot Time in Old Town Tonight" and "Coffee Blues," to the bluesy standards "Candy Man" (Hurt's most famous song) and "Spike Driver's Blues" to the soulful spirituals "Louis Collins" and "Beulah Land."

Hurt's tranquil guitar work - mixing country, Scottish folk, and Delta blues - strings all of the songs along the same simple and elegant thread. Hurt himself never could explain his guitar playing, as he used to say, "I just make it sound like I think it ought to." Regardless, that sound, along with a mellow and heartfelt voice, wizened here by decades, combine to make "Today!" an unforgettable whole. A truly essential album of the folk revival, unrivaled in its beauty and warmth.    

Tracklist

Mississippi John Hurt‎– Today! (1966)  
(192 kbps, cover art included)

En galego, como norma xeral, debemos escribir os grupos cultos -cc- e -ct- completos en palabras que leven diante as vogais a, e ou o: obxecto, acción, aspecto, afección. E suprimir un c do grupo cando usemos palabras con vogais débiles (i e u): frutificar, dicionario, ditadura, Vítor, redución, reprodución…

Mais en determinados casos, conservamos as dúas consoantes con vogais débiles. Por que? Trátase de palabras que pertencen a linguaxes moi especializadas, cultismos con pouca historia no noso idioma ou casos específicos onde manter o grupo culto evita confusións entre diferentes termos.

Para ilustrar o último dos casos, empregaremos as palabras adicción e adición. Unha adición é  a acción de engadirlle unha cousa a outra. Unha adicción é a inclinación moi forte a algún hábito coa conseguinte dependencia física ou psicolóxica. A diferenza (dunha letra) entre ambas palabras xa vén do latín (additio fronte a addictio). É o mesmo caso de invicto-a e invito-a. Aínda que na práctica é ben difícil que se fosen confundir a primeira (ou terceira) forma do presente do verbo invitar e o adxectivo.

Palabras moi cultas, nas que aínda se produciu o desgaste do seu grupo culto, son adicto-a, convicción, convicta-o, fricción e succión-succionar. Tamén podemos unir a este grupo dúctil, evicción, ficción, ficticio-a, fricción, friccionar, indicción, pictografía, pictórico-a, ricto, veredicto e vindicta.

Casos de termos de linguaxes especializadas (medicina, arte, dereito…) son os de amicto, anfictión, anfictionía, apodíctico, deíctico, dicterio, flictena, ictericia, ictérico, ictiografía, ictioloxía, ictiomancia, lictor, micción e nictálope.

La película escándalo del último Festival de San Sebastián se llamó Lasa y Zabala. Eso sí, escándalo entre comillas: las controversias sobre ETA y el cine ya no son lo que eran desde que la banda terrorista dejó de matar. En efecto, el paso por Donosti de Lasa y Zabala no levantó el ruido de antaño. Lo mismo puede decirse de las reacciones a Negociador, comedia de Borja Cobeaga sobre las negociaciones ETA/Gobierno que generó más risas que polémica.  

Coincidiendo con el estreno este viernes de Lasa y Zabala, repasamos las luces, sombras y broncas de ese subgénero del cine español/vasco llamado películas sobre el terrorismo/conflicto vasco. ¿Recuerdan ustedes la jarana que se montó cuando Julio Medem estrenó el documental La pelota vasca (2003)? Pues bien: es difícil que se vuelva a repetir algo así. 

Un escándalo de tomo y lomo

Corrían los primeros años de la década de los ochenta, ETA asesinaba sin descanso y en las cloacas del Estado se incubaba una ofensiva que acabaría en drama político/periodístico años después. Y en esas llegó Pedro Costa y dirigió El caso Almería (1983), basada en hechos tan reales como sangrantes: tres jóvenes asesinados y calcinados por la Benemérita tras confundirlos con unos etarras en 1981. Que la justicia condenara a varios guardias civiles antes del estreno del filme, no impidió que el estreno de El caso Almería fuera tortuoso:

“No pudimos alquilar los uniformes de guardia civil, los tuvimos que hacer, y también hubo que pintar los jeeps de verde. La extrema derecha actuó y en el estreno hubo incendios, cócteles molotov y amenazas de bomba. Se organizó una campaña para que la película se retirara de la cartelera, una presión que funcionó porque los exhibidores más importantes de Madrid no se atrevieron a ponerla en los cines”, recordó Pedro Costa hace unos meses en un acto en la Academia de Cine, donde se conmemoró el 30 aniversario del filme.

Tres décadas después, uno puede rememorar estos sucesos en clave de chascarrillo histórico de otra época. Entre otras cosas porque el espectador de 1983 es muy diferente al de 2014. “La sociedad civil ha cambiado el chip muy rápido”, cuenta el director Luis Marías para explicar por qué las películas sobre terrorismo ya no generan la ansiedad de antaño.

Marías es el último director en sumarse al actual boom con Fuego, drama sobre un policía (José Coronado) con ganas de venganza tras perder a su mujer en un atentado.

“De pronto hay muchos filmes sobre el terrorismo, pero no creo que haya una saturación, porque Lasa y Zabala, Negociador y Fuego son tres películas muy diferentes. Hablamos de una comedia, un recreación de un caso histórico y un drama”, afirma el director vasco de Fuego, que se estrenará en el Festival Internacional de Gijón y llegará a las salas el próximo 28 de noviembre.

Imanol Uribe, un género en sí mismo

Preguntado por algún filme de referencia sobre el tema, Marías habla de Días contados (1994), largometraje sobre la relación entre un terrorista y una drogadicta que ganó 8 premios Goya.

Y no es raro que Luis Marías mencione a Imanol Uribe: es el director que más veces ha tratado el terrorismo. Hablamos de películas como El proceso de Burgos (1979), La fuga de Segovia (1981), La muerte de Mikel (1983) y la mencionada Días contados.

Si El proceso de Burgos y La fuga de Segovia levantaron las iras de los sectores conversadores españoles, que acusaron a Uribe de hacer el juego a ETA, La muerte de Mikel se le indigestó al mundo abertzale. No hay más que repasar la temática de cada una de las películas para entender por qué.

El proceso de Burgos era un documental sobre el juicio sumarísimo a 16 miembros de ETA en 1970. “El proceso de Burgos es mi película, no la de Herri Batasuna”, declaró Uribe a El País en 1980 en medio de un gran escándalo cultural. Por su parte, La fuga de Segovia era una ficción basada en otro caso real: la huida de treinta pesos de ETA político-militar de una cárcel en 1976.

La muerte de Mikel, por último, contaba las desventuras de un militante de HB de clase media (Imanol Arias) al que sus camaradas izquierdistas marginan tras descubrir su homosexualidad.

Terrorismo de serie B

Las tramas íntimas y sentimentales estuvieron también en la base de uno de los filmes españoles más polémicos y taquilleros (1 millón de espectadores) de los ochenta: El pico (Eloy de la Iglesia, 1983). La historia de dos amigos de Bilbao, yonquis y con antecedentes familiares antagónicos: uno es el hijo de un comandante de la Guardia Civil; el otro, el de un líder de la izquierda abertzale. Lo que separaba las bombas, lo uniría la heroína.

Tras el éxito llegaría la secuela, El pico 2 (1984), donde el director vasco asentó su mito como icono del cine quinqui dispuesto a tratar sin filtro (con valentía y sin mesura) los temas más conflictivos de la sociedad española.

Y es que, lo crean o no, ETA y el conflicto vasco ha dado para muchas películas de serie B.

De hecho, el primer filme sobre el terrorismo estrenado en democracia fue Comando Txikia: muerte de un presidente (1976), producción de José Luis Madrid sobre el atentado a Carrero Blanco.

La cinta no sólo se adelantó tres años a la mucho más seria Operación Ogro (Gillo Pontecorvo, 1979), sino que contó en su reparto con el legendario licántropo español Paul Naschy... en el papel de etarra. Comando Txikia era, por tanto, una bizarrada de tomo y lomo. Otro filme oportunista de José Luis Madrid, referencia del explotation cañí setentero, que había estrenado el año anterior El último tango en Madrid (1975), cinta presuntamente cómica rodada al calor del éxito de El último tango en París.

La serie B volvió a la carga con el indescriptible thriller Goma-2 (1984), dirigido por otro mito del cine quinqui: José Antonio de la Loma, director de Perros callejeros (1977) y Los últimos golpes de El Torete (1980).

La última muestra de ese subgénero cutre capaz de mezclar terrorismo, sexualidad y macarreo se llamó Clandestinos (Antonio Hems, 2007), que resucitó un argumento de Eloy de la Iglesia para narrar la fogosa relación entre un abertzale y un guardia civil (o sea, una vuelta de tuerca a El pico). La película daría que hablar… por su cartel.

Memorias desde Euskadi

En otro tono radicalmente diferente estarían las películas y documentales dirigidos y producidos por Ángel Amigo, exmiembro de ETA político-militar en los años setenta. Amigo debutó en la producción con La fuga de Segovia, basada en sus propias experiencias como preso huido.

Luego llegaron títulos como Ander eta Yul (Ana Díez, 1999), que consiguió cabrear por igual a los dos bandos al tratar la conflictiva relación (a tiros) entre ETA y los traficantes de drogas en los ochenta. “La recepción de la película por parte del poder, gobernaba el PSOE, no fue clara y tuve también problemas con cierta parte de la gente de San Sebastián, donde se rodó, porque nos llamaban españolistas… Estoy absolutamente satisfecha de que no gustara a nadie”, ha explicado recientemente la directora Ana Díez.

Amigo también ha producido recientemente filmes de aires biográficos como El cazador de dragones (2011), donde un antiguo militante de ETA político-militar tenía que rendir cuentas con su pasado. Una de las últimas películas dirigidas por Amigo es el documental Memorias de un conspirador, en el que el político socialista vasco Jesús Eguiguren contaba los detalles de la fallida negociación ETA/Estado de la pasada década, que el director y guionista Borja Cobeaga ha convertido ahora en comedia en Negociador.

Desmitificación cómica

Cuando se supo que Cobeaga iba a buscarle las cosquillas cómicas a la negociación, Amigo dijo lo siguiente a El Correo: “Es muy importante que entendamos que pasan las generaciones y cambia la percepción que cada uno tiene de ETA. Yo no me siento preparado para hacer comedia sobre ETA, que Cobeaga y San José [guionistas de Ocho apellidos vascos] sí puedan es sencillamente un cambio generacional, y me pica la curiosidad”.

En efecto, la última tendencia del cine español sobre terrorismo es que los dramas han dejado sitio a las comedias, mutación genérica que refleja el cambio de ciclo histórico.

Tiene lógica que fuera el dúo Cobeaga/San José el que conquistara al mainstream español con sus gags sobre el conflicto vasco, porque antes habían hecho lo propio con el mainstream vasco al escribir alguno de los sketches del programa que marcó un antes y un después en la desmitificación del terrorismo: Vaya semanita. El show cómico de la ETB empezó a emitirse en otoño de 2003, ocho años antes de que ETA anunciara el “cese definitivo de su actividad armada”, de ahí su carácter rupturista: Vaya semanita como vanguardia del futuro deshielo cultural.  

 Ha sido dejar de sonar las armas y empezar a oírse las risas. Un contexto que explicaría tanto el éxito popular de Ocho apellidos vascos como la actual abundancia de versiones desmitificadoras sobre Euskadi y sus conflictos: de Asier y yo (Aitor Merino, 2014) a Negociador.

Borja Cobeaga, director de Negociador, zanja la función contando qué pretendía al convertir las negociaciones con ETA en chirigota costumbrista: “Mi  intención no era tanto retratar la negociación en sí como reflejar lo que había vivido todos estos años en Euskadi: cómo dividíamos a la gente en función de que saludaran con ‘buenos días’ o con ‘egun on’ o que dijeran 'Euskal Herria' o 'País Vasco'. Antes de comenzar a negociar en serio se pasaron varias semanas discutiendo esos pequeños detalles del lenguaje. Las negociaciones, por tanto, fueron una versión a pequeña escala de lo que había pasado en Euskadi, con todo el mundo pendiente de qué pie cojeaba el otro, esos años en los que todos nos volvimos locos al dar demasiada importancia al lenguaje”.

Años de plomo, sí, pero también años susceptibles de ser ahora reducidos al absurdo cómico. De la bomba al drama. Y de la tregua a la comedia. 

Algunos estudios revelan que existe un sexo de derechas y otro de izquierdas y que la ideología política deja su huella, también entre las sábanas.

Dice la sabia voz del DRAE que un meapilas es un santurrón. Pero no nos cuenta que además de eso, que dicho así, a palo seco, puede parecer hasta entrañable, tiene unas connotaciones negativas bastante más fuertes.

Porque un meapilas es una persona de esas que se pasa la vida rezando u ordenando la vida de los demás según su dignísima y perfectísima moral religiosa, pero que luego, por detrás, hace todo lo contrario de lo que predica. Es decir, un hipócrita de tomo y lomo, lo que le hace aún más asqueroso.

El término en cuestión es una palabra compuesta por el verbo mear y el sustantivo pila.

La pila de la que habla se refiere a la cubeta de agua que se coloca en la entrada de las iglesias, donde los feligreses meten los dedos en agua bendita para santiguarse cuando acceden a ellas. Aunque según otras opiniones puede ser la pila bautismal.

Y mear está usado en sentido figurado, tal y como nos explica Pancracio Celdrán en El gran libro de los insultos: «lo que mea el santurrón es agua bendita de tanto tomarla», nos dice.

Así pues, meapilas es un término hiperbólico y, si seguimos la reflexión de José Antonio Peñas en su blog Episcohagus, una blasfemia que llama la atención en un pueblo tan tradicionalmente religioso como el español.

«Su significado», comenta, «contrasta con la imagen que recoge, ya que el acto de orinar sobre el agua bendita resulta clara y agresivamente blasfemo. También resulta extraño (en apariencia) que el más católico de los pueblos haga objeto de chirigota a los que manifiestan públicamente su piedad». Y no le falta razón.

Pero, qué queréis, España es asín.

 

Foto de portada: Elzbieta Sekowska / Shutterstock.com

The post Y tú más: ¡Meapilas! appeared first on Yorokobu.

Desde localizar a un pasajero en tu mismo avión con el que mantener un encuentro sexual hasta evitar consanguinidad en lugares con pocos habitantes.

2014 has truly been the Year of Bruno Cathala: by my estimation, he had at least eight new releases in the U.S. alone this year. While most of the buzz has been on Five Tribes and Abyss, Bruno also has a love of small abstract games, such as his Niya, new from Blue Orange Games. What happens when Monsieur Cathala takes away the special action cards and characters? Let’s find out… Here’s a reminder of my scoring categories:

 

Components – Does the game look nice? Are the bits worth the money? Do they add to the game?
Accessibility – How easy is the game to teach, or to feel like you know what you are doing?
Depth – Does the gameplay allow for deeper strategies, or does the game play itself?
Theme – Does the game give a sense of immersion? Can you imagine  the setting described in the game?
Fun – Is the game actually enjoyable? Do you find yourself smiling, laughing, or having some sense of satisfaction when it’s over?

 

Components: This is a small game, in a small tin, with a small price. The MSRP is $12.99, and inside the tin is a great foam insert that holds 16 cardboard tiles, 16 chunky plastic player tokens, and the rulebook. The cardboard tiles could be a little thicker, but the art is very nice and the plastic player pieces each have different characters on them and feel great in your hand. My only niggles with the components are that the two icons overlap in a way that makes them hard to differentiate, although they look great, and the tin is a bit too large to fit in your pocket. Overall, really great pieces here, and an amazing price.

 

Accessibility: This game is easily explained in two or three sentences, although I managed to forget one the first time I taught it. The cardboard tokens are laid out in a random 4 x 4 pattern, and each has two of four symbols (a plant and a poetic symbol). On your turn, you remove a piece and replace it with one of your tokens (the first player of the game must play on the edge), and the next player does the same, but removes a cardboard token that shares at least one characteristic with the piece just removed, and so on. You win if your pieces make four in a row (horizontal or diagonal), a 2 x 2 square, or if your opponent cannot move. That’s it! The game is extremely simple, and you can see how to do basic strategy before you even move a piece.

 

Depth: This is a ten-minute game, so keeping that in mind, there’s still a lot to think about here. You can do a fair amount of analysis before any moves or even made, but I tend to just pick a move based on some basic principles (for example, maybe an opening move where the opponent can’t play directly adjacent to you). Even if one particular game becomes rather easy to think through, the random setup of the 4 x 4 grid adds a lot of replayability to the game. I’ve actually been trying to analyze this game quite a bit, and hope to actually write a paper on determining the probability of the first player winning if both players play completely randomly (but legally). That approach to the game has already made me realize just how deep the mathematics are in this game, yet it plays quick and doesn’t overstay it’s welcome.

 

Theme: The theme of this game is…. Japan? I don’t know. It just seems to be a mish-mash of oriental tropes, that of course have nothing to do with the abstract game being played. On one hand, the setting and nice art seemed to go really well with a half-hour tea and light conversation with students whereupon I first played the game… On the other hand, it seems a little nonsensical and disconnected, and it might’ve been better just to be colors and shapes like Qwirkle or the GIPF project.

 

Fun: For the time you invest to it, and the extremely tiny ruleset, I found this to be a fun, light, yet mathematically interesting game. To me this is basically the For Sale / No Thanks / etc. style filler for abstract lovers. The movement mechanism reminds me of Kamisado, mixed with the lightness and simple ideas of Connect Four. When you add in the random setup absent to both of those games, you’ve got a real winner.

 

Although this game probably isn’t for people who hate abstracts, everyone else will find a quick, simple filler for two in Niya.

 

Rating

4 out of 5

 

 

Antía é un dos nomes máis utilizados entre as galegas desde hai tres décadas. Aínda que coñecemos persoas maiores con ese nome (Antía Cal, prestixiosa educadora, por exemplo), o certo é que a meirande parte delas teñen menos de 40 anos. Antía Otero é poeta e actriz; Antía Paz é comunicadora, especialista en redes sociais; Antía Moure é unha artista monfortina…

Un dos mitos máis estendidos é considerar que o nome Antía é unha forma galega de Antonia. Non é certo.

Como explica a profesora Ana Boullón, Antía é un nome de orixe grega, utilizado na Antigüidade como epíteto da deusa Hera (deusa do matrimonio, da familia, deusa nai na antiga Grecia) co significado de Florida. É dicir, Antía ten a ver coa floración e poderíase relacionar con outros nomes vexetais como a propia Flor e Flora, Margarida, Violeta…

O conto de que Antía ten a ver con Antonia hai que procuralo na popularidade que cobrou en Galicia, un feito diferencial a respecto doutras partes do Estado ou da propia Portugal, onde o nome non se usa tanto. Esa diferenza galega foi xustificada por ser Antía unha tradución. Ese é un pensamento lóxico, xa que o nome de Antía non existe nin na nosa xeografía nin nas advocacións de santas, algo que ocorre cos nomes propiamente galegos Aloia, Navia ou Olalla e Comba.

Segundo Boullón, Antía fíxose popular a raíz da publicación do libro 400 nomes galegos, do Padre Seixas, un auténtico éxito no seu tempo, que lles serviu a miles de pais para escolleren nomes para as súas crianzas. Para Xosé Luís Méndez Ferrín, o motivo de que Seixas incluíse o nome de Antía na súa listaxe tivo a ver coa admiración que sentía por Antía Cal, quen recibira o nome da tradición cubana, moito máis atrevida e variada que a onomástica tradicional galega, estritamente vinculada cos designios eclesiásticos até o final do franquismo.

Hoxe, Antía é por feito e dereito un nome galego, tan autóctono coma Uxía, Sabela ou Catuxa. O primeiro nome galego contemporáneo.

El otro día nos hacíamos eco de un hallazgo reciente en que se vinculaba genéticamente la atracción que sentían las moscas y la cerveza. Hoy toca hacerlo con los chinos, pero en sentido contrario.

Los estudios genéticos realizados con poblaciones chinas del grupo étnico de los han y tibetanas muestran que estos son portadores de una variante genética que les hace menos propensos a sufrir alcoholismo. La razón hay que buscarla en el cultivo del arroz.

Alcohol en el arroz

Como explica el experto en biología evolutiva Mark Pagel en su libro Conectados por la cultura:

El gen del alcohol-deshidrogenasa o ADH ayuda a los animales, incluidos los seres humanos, a metabolizar el alcohol, lo que nos protege el hígado y también el cerebro. La mosca del vinagre es portadora de este gen por verse expuesta con regularidad a fruta en proceso de fermentación natural.

Esta habilidad para degradar el alcohol también fue evolutivamente potenciada entre los chinos debido al modo en que se domesticó el cultivo de arroz en la China meridional. Se ignora todavía si estos pueblos adquirieron este gen por el consumo regular del vino de arroz o solo para protegerse de la exposición cotidiana al alcohol de resultas de la fermentación natural del arroz.

Sin duda, estamos a uno de esos extraños micromotivos o conexiones accidentales que son capaces de cambiar la dirección de un buen número de personas, como las que explico en La luz eléctrica produjo la epidemia de obesidad, Napoleón inventó el ordenador... y otros micromotivos que originaron macromotivos.

Interdependencia

Otra cosa que diferencia a los cultivadores de arroz chinos de los que no lo eran, es decir, entre sur y norte, fue analizada en un artículo reciente en la revista Science.

Según explica el autor principal del trabajo, Thomas Talhelm, estudiante de psicología cultural en de la Universidad de Virginia, bajo la llamada "teoría del arroz": los métodos de cultivo cooperativo de arroz, común en el sur de China durante generaciones, hacen que la cultura de esa región sea interdependiente, mientras que las personas en el norte que cultivan trigo son más individualistas.

Para llegar a esta conclusión, Talhelm llevó a cabo análisis psicológicos sobre la forma de pensar de 1.162 estudiantes universitarios chinos de la etnia Han en el norte y sur y en los condados en las fronteras de la división de arroz-trigo.

En Xataka Ciencia | El aroma de una cerveza afecta a las moscas

Imagen | candi...

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La noticia Los chinos que eran menos propensos al alcoholismo fue publicada originalmente en Xatakaciencia por Sergio Parra.

El cine gitano es una realidad, aunque muchos traten de ningunearlo. La película Mis quejas hacia Dios es, posiblemente, el Star Wars de esta filmografía: un hito, algo que cambia la manera de entender el cine, la obra que descubrió a muchos la existencia  de esta fascinante no-propuesta. De entre los miles de detalles maravillosos que contiee su metraje, destacamos, esta maravillosa secuencia ambientada en tiempos bíblicos.

Pinche aquí para ver el vídeo

Y si queréis pelis chungas… el día 26 de Octubre tenéis gratis la Monstrua de Cine Chungo. Y ahí sí que vais flipar pero de verdad.

In 1903, Huddie William Ledbetter was one of the strongest voices in American folk and blues. Known as Lead Belly, Ledbetter was known as the King of the Twelve String Guitar, but he also played the piano, the mandolin, the harmonica, and the violin. He wrote songs about racism and politics. His songs have been covered by everyone from Elvis Presley to Nirvana. They tell hard stories about what it was like to be black and a musician in the early 1930s. They are treasures.

But many of Lead Belly's original recordings no longer exist. The tapes that held his last sessions were beyond saving after the oxide on the top of the record fell off rendering it unplayable. Because conservators couldn't get to them earlier, those songs are lost forever. Let's repeat that — some of these songs, among the most significant in music history, are less than 100 years old but still lost to us for all time.

All sound recordings are equally at risk of disintegrating. Before digital technology, record companies created reels for albums by recording different sections of songs, then splicing those sections together using tape. Some of those original tapes are stored in several collections at the Smithsonian Museum.

"You can only imagine what has happened to these pieces of tapes," Jeff Place, an archivist for the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage told me. "Over time, every one of those tape breaks is going to break, and it's going to take an hour to transfer three minutes of a recording into a digital format where we can store it. So there are albums that take a whole day to save."

Place's job is to save sounds by whatever means necessary, so that recordings from 50 years ago sound as clear as they did when they were made — and sometimes even better. This means preserving the original recordings in the best possible condition, and for many albums, it means transferring the sound of the original recording to a digital format that will be easily accessible in the future.

Without sound archivists, we would not only lose access to early recordings of Elvis and R&B, as albums decayed and technology changed, but we'd also lose radio broadcasts from 50 years ago and oral histories of lost neighborhoods of New York City. Without archivists, we would be losing sound rapidly; instead, we're gaining it.

Keeping Up the Classics

Bill Haley, one of the earliest rock 'n roll musicians, performs with his live band. (Getty)

The most important actions for establishing a great library of sound are collection, storage, and preservation. Collection varies by institution. At the Library of Congress, when an album is produced and copyrighted by Sony or Universal or a tiny indie publisher in the United States, a copy enters the library. At the Smithsonian, the museum collects specialty items, like limited-edition vinyl albums and rare recordings.

"We certainly take in digital recordings of contemporary music and upload them to servers. But we are more in a race against time with the older pieces in our collection, so those take up most of our time," Matthew Barton, the curator of recorded sound at the Library of Congress, told me.

Curators try to fill out their collections with sounds from the past they might have missed, and they try to make sure that those sounds stay preserved for future generations to enjoy. That's where storage comes in. To keep the recordings safe, physical copies of sound (like vinyl, cassettes, and CDs) are kept in moisture-controlled and temperature-controlled climates.

"The thing about archives is we are thinking 50 years from now," Place told me. What format — be it vinyl or high quality digital recordings — conservators decide to save new music in, then, has a lot to do with what kinds of machines they think will be readily available in the future.

Vinyl, Place told me, is a prime example of a good medium for conservators. Keeping vinyl albums playable is easier than cassettes, because turntables are highly abundant. There is no worry that in 30 years, people won't be able to find a way to play an old vinyl album, the way there is with more obscure mediums such as laserdiscs or micro-cassettes.

"LPs don't need much. It's a very stable format, so long as you don't abuse it by exposing it to heat or something like that," Barton told me. "Things like wax cylinders and tape are different stories." Those are the sounds curators worry about losing.

Barton told me about a recent situation: a recording by a 1940s bluegrass mandolinist Bill Monroe that was done on a lacquer disc, a form of vinyl popular just before the advent of the cassette tape. One of the problems with lacquer discs is that they start to separate. The recording of the sound on the outer layer will start to peel away from the disc that makes it playable.

"That was starting to happen with the Monroe disc," Barton told me. "To get it recorded, we had to tack down that one disc using a coin and get a few grooves at a time." The archivists would then painstakingly move the coin to get the next few grooves, and so on, until the entire disc was preserved.

But conservation is only part of the job for curators; they also have to try and make these old albums accessible to researchers, which is where the importance of preservation and digitization comes in.

Finding a digital groove

As mediums fade, archivists have to find a way to keep the industry preserved.  ( Scott Barbour/Getty)

"Preserving found archives is all about redundancy, so that if something turns out to be a total screw-up, you have it in another form," Place said. "Right now, with digital, we have everything. We can embed metadata in the recording, so then you can go through the system and search. We can add keywords to albums to help researchers, and we can back up our recordings in physical and digital formats."

Transferring albums to digital formats helps archivists create multiple versions of the same song. On top of preserving music and sound for the future, transferring it to a digital format makes it easier for the public to access and study it.

This has limitations, of course. Libraries cannot make digital music available to stream or use by the public for free without owning the copyright to those items. But the digitization of sound has another benefit as well.

Archivists can also make old albums sound better in a digital format than they do on a turntable. They will change the width or the geometry of the record player's stylus so that the song plays more clearly and can be recorded at a higher quality.

"That's a process of the engineer's knowledge and experience. It's very important to know how good an old recording can sound. Even before high fidelity, excellent recordings were being made," Barton said. "In some cases, what we have is better playback than what was available at the time. The turntables we use are much better than anything that was available to users back in the day."

Some of the best examples of this work are in the Library of Congress's National Jukebox, an online digitization of over 10,000 historical sound recordings from between 1901 and 1925 that anyone can listen to. "All of these things were recorded without microphones, and some things recorded better than others," Barton said.

In the National Jukebox, the variance between the recordings shows just how much archivists can do with old sounds. Even the grainiest recordings can be understood, and the best recordings sound almost as clear as any single released today.

"That whole era of recordings was lost, except to collectors," Barton told me. Now, due to proper storage and a team of highly qualified sound engineers, those songs and radio recordings can be downloaded by anyone, anywhere.

But conservators still worry that what they're doing now might become obsolete in the future. When artists were recording on vinyl, the medium seemed stable and high-quality. No one could have predicted the rise of computers and digital media, yet here we are. Music is being archived today as MP3s and Advanced Audio Coding in the smallest formats available. "There will be new systems, but there is too much digital info in the world. They will have to be able to be migrated," Place told me. The technologies used to record them are also being archived, in case they are needed later to replay an old file.

Migrating digital content, Place expects, will be easier than trying to migrate physical albums to a digital format. But just in case, Place continues to back up music in physical formats, because there is the fear that a digital drive will fail or get wiped — and all of that music will be lost.

"We're almost always to salvage something from a recording," Barton told me. "In recent years, with the equipment now available to us, we've been able to greatly improve on earlier transfers of historical recordings — one more reason why it is so important to keep them."

Conservators are working to recover old albums that they might have missed their first time around — while trying to find the sounds that need to be archived today.

"We are catching up on many fronts. I'm sure we'll be catching up with so many fronts forever," Place said.

Archivists don't quite have plans in place yet to deal with the amount of digital sound being produced today on the internet. How do you archive YouTube? Or Soundcloud? Or Spotify? A song that seems insignificant today could influence the biggest new band in 20 years, but by then it's possible that those songs could have morphed and disappeared from the internet. Archiving is a constant race against both the past and the future. Here's hoping the preservationists win it.

I've maintained that the pumpkin spice latte — a gooey, unctuous, saccharine, brown liquid that is sold at coffee shops across this country — is one of the greatest tricks capitalism has ever pulled on the American people. It's a perfect storm of marketing (there is no pumpkin in a PSL) and trend forecasting, that has resulted in over 200 million PSLs sold at Starbucks since 2003.

John Oliver, the people's hero, had the week off but still managed to find some time to rightfully eviscerate the popular drink which "tastes like a candle":

It's somewhat old hat at this point to point out that Christopher Columbus — in whose name children are off school and mail isn't delivered today — was a homicidal tyrant who initiated the two greatest crimes in the history of the Western Hemisphere, the Atlantic slave trade, and the American Indian genocide.

Rehashing all of his crimes would require a much longer article, not least because evaluating the claims of contemporary primary sources is a somewhat tricky historiographical enterprise. Philadelphia Magazine's Michael Coard has a good survey here; Howard Zinn's work on this is controversial, but you can find a good excerpt at Jacobin and an illustrated version at the Oatmeal.

Here are just a handful of specific cases, mostly culled from Laurence Bergreen's recent biography, Columbus: The Four Voyages, of almost unimaginable cruelty inflicted by Columbus and his crew during their time in the Caribbean.

1) Columbus kidnapped a Carib woman and gave her to a crew member to rape

Bergreen quotes Michele de Cuneo, who participated in Columbus's second expedition to the Americas (page 143):

While I was in the boat, I captured a very beautiful woman, whom the Lord Admiral [Columbus] gave to me. When I had taken her to my cabin she was naked — as was their custom. I was filled with a desire to take my pleasure with her and attempted to satisfy my desire. She was unwilling, and so treated me with her nails that I wished I had never begun. I then took a piece of rope and whipped her soundly, and she let forth such incredible screams that you would not have believed your ears. Eventually we came to such terms, I assure you, that you would have thought she had been brought up in a school for whores.

2) On Hispaniola, a member of Columbus's crew publicly cut off an Indian's ears to shock others into submission

Hispaniola, now divided between the Dominican Republic and Haiti. (NASA/JPL/SRTM)

After an attack by more than 2,000 Indians, Columbus had an underling, Alonso de Ojeda, bring him three Indian leaders, whom Columbus then ordered publicly beheaded. Ojeda also ordered his men to grab another Indian, bring him to the middle of his village, and "'cut off his ears' in retribution for the Indians' failing to be helpful to the Spaniards when fording a stream." (Bergreen, 170-171)

3) Columbus kidnapped and enslaved more than a thousand people on Hispaniola

According to Cuneo, Columbus ordered 1,500 men and women seized, letting 400 go and condemning 500 to be sent to Spain, and another 600 to be enslaved by Spanish men remaining on the island. About 200 of the 500 sent to Spain died on the voyage, and were thrown by the Spanish into the Atlantic. (Bergreen, 196-197)

4) Columbus forced Indians to collect gold for him or else die

Columbus ordered every Indian over 14 to give a large quantity of gold to the Spanish, on pain of death. Those in regions without much gold were allowed to give cotton instead. Participants in this system were given a "stamped copper or brass token to wear around their necks in what became a symbol of intolerable shame." (Bergreen, 203)

5) About 50,000 Indians committed mass suicide rather than comply with the Spanish

Bergreen explains, page 204:

The Indians destroyed their stores of bread so that neither they nor the invaders would be able to eat it. They plunged off cliffs, they poisoned themselves with roots, and they starved themselves to death. Oppressed by the impossible requirement to deliver tributes of gold, the Indians were no longer able to tend their fields, or care for their sick, children, and elderly. They had given up and committed mass suicide to avoid being killed or captured by Christians, and to avoid sharing their land with them, their fields, groves, beaches, forests, and women: the future of their people.

6) 56 years after Columbus's first voyage, only 500 out of 300,000 Indians remained on Hispaniola

Population figures from 500 years ago are necessarily imprecise, but Bergreen estimates that there were about 300,000 inhabitants of Hispaniola in 1492. Between 1494 and 1496, 100,000 died, half due to mass suicide. In 1508, the population was down to 60,000. By 1548, it was estimated to be only 500.

Understandably, some natives fled to the mountains to avoid the Spanish troops, only to have dogs set upon them by Columbus's men. (Bergreen, 205)

7) Columbus was also horrible to the Spanish under his rule

Bartolomé de Las Casas, one of the primary chroniclers of Columbus's crimes. (Antonio Lara)

While paling in comparison to his crimes against Caribs and Taino Indians, Columbus's rule over Spanish settlers was also brutal. He ordered at least a dozen Spaniards "to be whipped in public, tied by the neck, and bound together by the feet" for trading gold for food to avoid starvation. He ordered a woman's tongue cut out for having "spoken ill of the Admiral and his brothers."

Another woman was "stripped and placed on the back of a donkey … to be whipped" as punishment for falsely claiming to be pregnant. He "ordered Spaniards to be hanged for stealing bread" (Bergreen, 315-316). Bergreen continues:

He even ordered the ears and nose cut off one miscreant, who was also whipped, shackled, and banished from the island. He ordered a cabin boy's hand nailed in public to the spot where he had pulled a trap from a river and caught a fish. Whippings for minor infractions occurred with alarming frequency. Columbus ordered one wrongdoer to receive a hundred lashes — which could be fatal — for stealing sheep, and another for lying about the incident. An unlucky fellow named Juan Moreno received a hundred lashes for failing to gather enough food for Columbus's pantry.

8) Settlers under Columbus sold 9- and 10-year-old girls into sexual slavery

This one he admitted himself in a letter to Doña Juana de la Torre, a friend of the Spanish queen: "There are plenty of dealers who go about looking for girls; those from nine to ten are now in demand, and for all ages a good price must be paid."

9) Indian slaves were beheaded when their Spanish captors couldn't be bothered to untie them

Benjamin Keen, a historian of the Spanish conquest of the Americas, noted that multiple sources confirmed accounts of "exhausted Indian carriers, chained by the neck, whose heads the Spaniards severed from their bodies so they might not have to stop to untie them."

Update: A prior version of this article used another translation of Columbus's letter that wasn't as clear that he was speaking of 9- and 10-year-old girls; a different translation was substituted for clarity.

(Image: Warner Bros. Pictures)

Healthy bacteria within the colon are essential to fighting off infections of the bacterium Clostridium difficile. If you don't have the proper bacteria in your colon to do so, then it may be necessary for doctors to perform a fecal transplant. That means that the doctors take fecal matter from one person and, by means of a colonscopy, tranfer that fecal matter inside your own colon.

A colonoscopy is rather invasive and uncomfortable--or so I've heard. Thankfully, a study led by Dr. Elizabeth Hohmann of the Massachusetts General Hospital Infectious Diseases Division may have found an alternative approach. Dr. Hohmann and her colleagues took fecal donations from healthy people and turned them into pills that patients can swallow. Rachel Feltman writes for the Washington Post:

The process starts the same way as usual, Hohmann said: "Sort of gross, but pretty simple." Exceptionally healthy young people — those that pass all requirements for blood donation, as well as being screened for other health factors — provide stool samples, which are then blended with medical-grade saline and filtered.

But instead of that uniform liquid being pumped into a patient, it's concentrated into a single capsule. Another layer of capsule goes on top, and the whole thing is kept frozen. A single treatment requires a gulp-worthy 30 pills — 15 on the first day and 15 on the second. But don't knock it: In a trial of 20 patients, it brought normal bowel health and function to 18 — which is the same rate of success seen in more invasive methods.

Plus it's cheaper. Hohmann estimates that the entire course would cost $500 — one sixth the price of either a colonoscopy or a standard course of antibiotics.

-via Dave Barry

Photos by George Nelson and Cat Allen

On October 12, Latin America celebrated "Day of the Race," the region's equivalent of Columbus Day, which has evolved into a celebration of resistance against colonialism. So it's no surprise that this Sunday, the indigenous Mapuche people demonstrated their distaste for the arrival of Europeans on the continent by storming into Santiago for a demonstration, after which all hell broke loose.

Indigenous rights supporters came to Santiago riding a wave of fury after the murder of a Mapuche activist named José Mauricio Quintriqueo Huaiquimil on October 1. They surged up from the south of the country to demand the return of ancestral lands stolen by the young Republic of Chile over a century ago. 

Last year’s march exploded in a blizzard of tear gas, arson, and mayhem as opportunistic hooded vandals known as encapuchados unleashed carnage. These hooligans are a common feature of protests in Chile and often appear toward end of student and indigenous rights demonstrations to carry out arbitrary attacks on police in an effort to bait confrontation. This year was no different.

Huaiquimil’s death—he was run over by a tractor-riding farm worker during conflict between Mapuches and landowners—was untimely to say the least. Two policemen were seriously injured after authorities descended on the Bío Bío Region to quell the violence that followed the murder. One copped a slug in the leg while another’s face was severely disfigured by a shotgun blast.

Given these recent events, there was a tangible undercurrent of hostility as the march began. There was an ominous inevitability to proceedings underscored by a heavy police presence.

Chile has been in a protracted battle with its indigenous inhabitants since the 1882 annexation of Mapuche land in Araucanía. The government promised to return much of the territory but progress is slow, leading to occasionally fatal exchanges between indigenous communities and authorities. Many Mapuches are incarcerated as a result. “We are here to rise up against the government and claim back land rightly belonging to us,” one Mapuche demonstrator told me. “We are here to secure the immediate release of all indigenous political prisoners.”

Thousands gathered in Providencia’s Plaza Italia and despite the march starting peacefully, simmering tensions soon boiled over as the procession rumbled down Liber Bernardo O’Higgins toward the presidential palace.

Armored Carbineros—Chile’s uniformed cops—and heavily reinforced riot wagons awaited protestors a few blocks before the government building. Seemingly out of nowhere an angry hoard of people wearing masks attacked, pelting police with anything they could get their hands on including jagged hunks of concrete and homemade Molotov cocktails. A scrum of gas-masked photographers instantly gravitated towards the ruckus as police retaliated with a hailstorm of tear gas and muscular jets of water laced with irritant. This was the first of many skirmishes. 

One guy picked up a metal barrier and hurled it at the police. As he did so, his friend was telling me to, "get that fucking camera out of my face.” With stinging bloodshot eyeballs and a throat full of tear gas, I bolted up into a doorway where a charitable Chilean handed me a bit of vinegar-soaked cotton wool to soothe my irritated eyes—it was agony.

Meanwhile, the majority of Mapuche protestors stayed out of trouble and continued to chant the names of fallen activists and dance to the dull, heavy thud of drums. One of them confronted the encapuchados for sullying the indigenous cause, only to be bombarded with stones and bottles. The encapuchados soon turned their attention to defacing public property, leaving uprooted traffic lights, shattered shop windows, and burning bus stops in their wake.

After two hours of fighting, the authorities swarmed the area in front of La Moneda, dispersing crowds with water cannon and yet more tear gas bellowing from armored vehicles. Police also arrived on foot from all angles to break up the party.

The Mapuches weren;t going anywhere. They had set themselves up in front of the palace, commanding President Michelle Bachelet to hurry up and give them back their ancestral land, much of which is occupied by large timber companies.

Previous governments have vowed to return indigenous land only for these promises to stagnate. In June, Bachelet announced a plan to buy disputed ancestral land from forestry companies and local farmers and return it to better incorporate indigenous communities into Chile’s political and economic development.

Meanwhile, when conflict flares up, the Mapuche—who make up roughly 10 percent of Chile’s population—continue to be charged under the controversial 1976 antiterrorism law, which allows for the use of secret witnesses and prolonged prison sentences. Following a 39-day hunger strike by indigenous prisoners in May, politicians pledged to review the legislation.

For the Mapuche, this is only a first step, and they will continue to fight to get their land back. “Columbus Day is not a reason to celebrate,” the protestors shouted. “We defended our lands against European invaders and now we will defend them against the government!”

Sugar: the evolution of a forbidden fruit

Sweetness was meant to be irresistible. We are born with a sweet tooth. Babies drink in sugar with their mother's milk. Sweetness represents an instant energy boost, a fuel that kept our ancestors going in a harsher world where taste buds evolved to distinguish health-giving ripeness and freshness from the dangers of bitter, sour, toxic foods. Sugar gives us drug-like pleasures – lab rats deprived of their sugar-water fix exhibit classic signs of withdrawal. When things are going well, we blissfully say, "Life is sweet."

Sugar - Part I

But in looking through some of my usual sources, I realized you can't possibly discuss sugar monopolies without delving into the history of this sweet substance. And, in truth, without sugar there probably would not have been a slave trade in America.

Sugar - Part II and Sugar - Part III

Blame Napoleon for Our Addiction to Sugar. Sugar and the expansion of the Early Modern World Economy, Jason W. Moore, Review (Fernand Braudel Center), Vol. 23, No. 3 (2000), pp. 409-433 [JSTOR]
At the University of Michigan, Sugar and the Atlantic World

Barbara L. Solow, Sugar [PDF]

Sugar featured heavily in the Industrial Revolution.

Sugar can be made from sorghum, sugarcane, sugar beets and maple syrup.

Sugar, previously

It's the most trivial of offenses in light of the rest of his rap sheet, but the fact remains that Christopher Columbus led directly to the worst ever episode of The Sopranos. (Warning: the following contains extensive Sopranos spoilers, but really, it's been seven years since it ended. It's fine.)

The plot of the episode — titled "Christopher" and written by Michael Imperioli, the actor who played Christopher Moltisanti on the show — is silly on just about every dimension. It's Columbus Day. There's going to be a parade. A Native American group is planning to protest the parade, because genocide. And for no apparent reason at all, Silvio Dante — who has previously demonstrated no interest in politics or history or really anything other than the operations of the Bada Bing — decides to devote substantial DiMeo crime family manpower to preventing the protest.

It'd be one thing if the group happened upon the topic organically — if, say, Meadow Soprano had picked a fight with her father on the topic, and then he decided to make a big deal out of it. That'd make a modicum of sense. Meadow loves nothing more than showcasing her sophistication in front of her parents (see her fight with Carmela over whether there are gay themes in Billy Budd). But no. Silvio happens upon the issue because Bobby Bacala read about it in the newspaper. It's the flimsiest possible foundation to ground an episode upon.

The whole opening scene (which, like the rest of the videos linked here, is sadly not embeddable but can be seen here) amounts to a clunky attempt to cram background on the Columbus controversy into dialogue. "It's these Indians and the commie fucks," Ralphie Cifaretto, a sociopath with no previously demonstrated interest in current affairs, offers. "They want to paint Columbus as a slave trader instead of an explorer." It sounds like a more profane version of the "Controversies" subsection on Columbus's Wikipedia page, as dictated for an audiobook. It'd be one thing if the script played it for laughs, as an example of the team's willingness to opine at length on topics about which they're ignorant. But it doesn't. It's played completely straight. Silvio's position is even treated a little sympathetically.

The show couldn't really explain why without breaking the fourth wall, but The Sopranos provoked a bit of a backlash among Italian-American groups for perpetuating Cosa Nostra-related stereotypes of Italians as a whole. The episode at times reads like an attempt by the writers to thumb their noses at the critics, but at others it appears to be apologizing to them by showing that yes, the Mafia is a tiny fraction of the overall Italian-American community. All the mob wives go to a talk by a professor specializing in issues of Italian-American identity, hitting on these exact notes. "For those who say Italian Americans eat smelly cheese and sip cold wine," she declares, referencing a stereotype I'm pretty sure isn't an actual thing, "tell them we're from the land of aromatic Asiago and supple Barolo." Sure?

The protesters assemble. (HBO)

Similarly, what Native Americans are portrayed in the episode are shown to be either fanatics (the protestors), or else corrupt and willing to sell out their heritage for cash (the chief to whom Tony reaches out in an attempt to stop the protest). Even though David Chase and the staff clearly agree that Columbus Day is unseemly, they for whatever reason decide to put that case in the mouths of wholly unsympathetic characters. "Mussolini was Hitler's bitch!" one protestor yells, as if that has anything to do with anything.

The Soprano who turns on Columbus isn't Meadow, but AJ (AJ?), who's depicted unthinkingly regurgitating Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. "It's the truth, it's in my history book!" he declares, because he's AJ, and AJ is very dumb. Ultimately, the episode seems to come down on Tony's side: Yes, Columbus was a hero, but Silvio's focus on Italian heritage is myopic, and at some point you have to move on.

But the worst part isn't even that the politics of the episode are inconsistent and often wrongheaded. It's that the dialogue sounds like it was written by an eighth-grader assigned by his history teacher to write up Columbus's pros and cons. It's basic to the point of insulting, lacks any of the wit or verisimilitude of the show's writing at its best, and doesn't reflect anything about the characters assigned to speak it. It's hard to believe it comes in the same season as "Whitecaps," which featured perhaps the best-written marital fight in the history of television.

The other plots in the episode mostly amount to place-setting for the rest of the fourth season, and are rushed through to make room for sophomoric exchanges about Columbus. Ralphie dumps Rosalie Aprile, and is dumped by Janice Soprano in turn. Bobby's wife dies, setting up his marriage to Janice, a huge part of later seasons. Pie-O-My, Ralphie's horse who Tony came to love more than any human living or dead, is introduced for the first time. Johnnie Sack learns that Ralphie mocked Sack's wife for her weight, prompting a significant rift between the New York and New Jersey crime families. These are all interesting, important plot developments that easily could have consumed the whole episode — and should have. But for some reason they got mashed up with a middle school term paper about Italian-American identity instead.

Michael Imperioli: great as Christopher Moltisanti, horrible on Christopher Columbus. (HBO)

My colleague Todd VanDerWerff wrote up a much more comprehensive takedown of the episode at the AV Club, which really drives home what a perverse accomplishment it is: "It’s not just the worst episode. It’s the worst episode by SEVERAL DEGREES. The show had not been this bad before, and it would not get this bad again." Thanks, Christopher Columbus.

If you're a Sopranos fan, be sure you read Martha Nochimson's great piece on how David Chase ended the show.

VIDEO: The controversial ending of The Sopranos, explained

Celebrating sixty years since the launch of one of the most successful independent record labels in US Popular music.
Received wisdom would have us believe that before Motown, no black-owned record company had made a significant impact on the US mainstream. However, the actuality is something else entirely. Way back in the early 50s, long before Berry Gordy had written his first song, Vee-Jay Records – a black, family owned and run, Chicago-based label – was establishing itself via a steady stream of Blues, R&B, DooWop and Gospel hits. Vee-Jay opened for business in 1953 and for a dozen or so years – until their spectacular fall from grace, under a welter of debts, in 1966 – they flourished virtually unchallenged as the premier black…

320 kbps | 1.67 GB | UL | UP | FS ** FLAC

…label in the United States, registering not only a flood of hits on the R&B charts, but regularly crossing them over to the Top 100.
In addition to their Blues, R&B and Soul successes, they also charted with white acts – most notably The Four Seasons, whose first three Vee-Jay singles went to #1 – and with licensed-in material from the UK (they famously issued the first Beatles records in the US). They were certainly the first black indie to acknowledge the significance the albums’ market – they even cut a double-LP on Jimmy Reed at Carnegie Hall – and they scored equally heavily with mainstream Jazz and Gospel recordings.
This 10-CD set traces the history of Vee-Jay records from its very first hit, ‘Baby It’s You’ by The Spaniels, through to Jerry Butler’s re-cut of his perennial ‘For Your Precious Love’, their very last chart record in early 1966. Due to restrictions of playing time it is not possible to include every chart record, nor – for contractual reasons – is it possible to include more than a couple of tracks by The Four Seasons, The Beatles, or other licensed-in UK hits. Nonetheless, these ten discs present a coherent, enjoyable history of the Vee-Jay family – as well as the ‘parent’ label, there were also the Falcon, Abner, Tollie and Interphon subsidiaries – including a plethora of fascinating releases that didn’t quite make it.
Features a generous 269 tracks, including 112 hits, by more than 120 different artists, and a 72-page, memorabilia-laden, perfect bound booklet comprising a detailed history of the Vee-Jay family of labels and their artists, together with wealth of photos.

Disc 1: The Hits Vol.1

1. The Spaniels – Baby, It’s You
2. The Spaniels – Goodnite, Sweetheart, Goodnite
3. Jimmy Reed – You Don’t Have To Go
4. The El Dorados – At My Front Door
5. The Spaniels – You Painted Pictures
6. Priscilla Bowman & The Jay McShann Orchestra – Hands Off
7. The El Dorados – I’ll Be Forever Loving You
8. Jimmy Reed – Ain’t That Lovin’ You Baby
9. The Magnificents – Up On The Mountain
10. The Dells – Oh What A Nite
11. Jimmy Reed – You’ve Got Me Dizzy
12. Jimmy Reed – Little Rain
13. The Spaniels – Everyone’s Laughing
14. Jimmy Reed – The Sun Is Shining
15. Jimmy Reed – Honest I Do
16. Gene Allison – You Can Make It If You Try
17. Gene Allison – Have Faith
18. Jerry Butler & The Impressions – For Your Precious Love
19. John Lee Hooker – I Love You Honey
20. Wade Flemons – Here I Stand
21. Dee Clark – Nobody But You
22. Jimmy Reed – I’m Gonna Get My Baby
23. Dee Clark – Just Keep It Up
24. Dee Clark – Hey Little Girl
25. Rosco Gordon – Just A Little Bit
26. Dee Clark – How About That
27. Jimmy Reed – Baby What You Want Me To Do
28. Wade Flemons – Easy Lovin’

Disc 2: The Hits Vol.2

1. Jerry Butler – He Will Break Your Heart
2. Jimmy Reed – Hush-Hush
3. Dee Clark – Your Friends
4. Jimmy Reed – Close Together
5. Jerry Butler – Find Another Girl
6. Eddie Harris – Exodus
7. Jimmy Reed – Big Boss Man
8. Dee Clark – Raindrops
9. The Pips – Every Beat Of My Heart
10. Wade Flemons – Please Send Me Someone To Love
11. Jerry Butler – I’m A Telling You
12. Jimmy Reed – Bright Lights Big City
13. Jerry Butler – Moon River
14. Gene Chandler – Duke Of Earl
15. The Dukays – Nite Owl
16. The Pearlettes – Duchess Of Earl
17. John Lee Hooker – Boom Boom
18. Gene Chandler (as The Duke Of Earl) – Walk On With The Duke
19. Jimmy Reed – Good Lover
20. Jerry Butler – Make It Easy On Yourself
21. The 4 Seasons – Sherry
22. Frank Ifield – I Remember You
23. Dee Clark – I’m Going Back To School
24. Jerry Butler – You Can Run (But You Can’t Hide)
25. The 4 Seasons – Big Girls Don’t Cry
26. Gene Chandler – You Threw A Lucky Punch
27. Frank Ifield – Lovesick Blues
28. Gene Chandler – Rainbow

Disc 3: The Hits Vol.3

1. The 4 Seasons – Peanuts
2. Jimmy Reed – Shame, Shame, Shame
3. Birdlegs & Pauline – Spring
4. Gene Chandler – Man’s Temptation
5. Betty Everett – You’re No Good
6. Jerry Butler – Need To Belong
7. Betty Everett – The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s In His Kiss)
8. Jerry Butler – Giving Up On Love
9. The Beatles – Love Me Do
10. The Beatles – P.S. I Love You
11. Jerry Butler – I Stand Accused
12. Betty Everett – I Can’t Hear You
13. Joe Simon – My Adorable One
14. Little Richard – Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On
15. Jerry Butler & Betty Everett – Let It Be Me
16. Betty Everett – Getting Mighty Crowded
17. Jerry Butler & Betty Everett – Smile
18. Jimmy Cross – I Want My Baby Back
19. The Standells – The Boy Next Door
20. Jerry Butler – Good Times
21. The Dells – Stay In My Corner
22. Jerry Butler & Betty Everett – Since I Don’t Have You
23. Fred Hughes – Oo Wee Baby, I Love You
24. Joe Simon – Let’s Do It Over
25. Little Richard – I Don’t Know What You’ve Got (But It’s Got Me) – Parts 1 & 2
26. Jimmy Reed – I’m The Man Down There
27. Fred Hughes – You Can’t Take It Away
28. Jerry Butler – For Your Precious Love [1966 version]

Disc 4: Doo-Wop Doyens & Heavenly Harmonisers

1. The El Dorados – My Loving Baby
2. The Rhythm Aces – Get Lost
3. The Five Echoes – I Really Do
4. The Dells – Zing Zing Zing
5. The Kool Gents – This Is The Night
6. The Hi-Liters – Bobby Sox Baby
7. The El Dorados – Bim Bam Boom
8. The Kool Gents – Crazy Over You
9. The Orioles – For All We Know
10. The Spaniels – You Gave Me Peace Of Mind
11. The Delegates – Mother’s Son
12. The Spaniels – Great Googly Moo
13. The Magnificents – Ozeta
14. Dillard Crume Jr. – It’s You I Love
15. The Prodigals – Judy
16. The Co-Hearts – My Love
17. The Capers – Miss You My Dear
18. Sheriff & The Ravels – Shombalor
19. The Goldenrods – Wish I Was Back In School
20. The Senators – It Doesn’t Matter
21. The Senators – ’Til Forever More
22. The Spaniels – I Know
23. The Spaniels – Bus Fare Home
24. The Flamingos – Golden Teardrops
25. The “5” Royales – Much In Need
26. The Moonglows – Real Gone Mama
27. The Sheppards – Tragic
28. The Dukays – Tango Bop

Disc 5: Blues Masters & Blasters

1. Floyd Jones – Ain’t Times Hard
2. L.C. McKinley – She’s Five Feet Three
3. Billy Boy Arnold – I Wish You Would
4. Morris Pejoe – Hurt My Feelings
5. The Five Echoes – Fool’s Prayer
6. Billy Boy Arnold – I Ain’t Got You
7. Billy ‘The Kid’ Emerson – If You Won’t Stay Home
8. Eddie Taylor – Big Town Playboy
9. Jimmy Reed – Can’t Stand To See You Go
10. John Lee Hooker – Dimples
11. Eddie Taylor – You’ll Always Have A Home
12. Pee Wee Crayton – The Telephone Is Ringing
13. Billy ‘The Kid’ Emerson – Every Woman I Know
14. Jimmy Reed – Honey, Where You Going?
15. Elmore James – The 12 Year Old Boy
16. Pee Wee Crayton – I Found My Peace Of Mind
17. Larry Birdsong – If You Don’t Want Me No More
18. Elmore James – It Hurts Me Too
19. The El Cincos – Oh, Baby, You Have To Go
20. Memphis Slim – Stroll On Little Girl
21. Jimmy Reed – Take Out Some Insurance
22. Memphis Slim – Rockin’ The House (Beer Drinkin’ Woman)
23. Jimmy Reed – Found Love
24. John Lee Hooker – No Shoes
25. J.B. Lenoir – Oh Baby
26. John Lee Hooker – My First Wife Left Me
27. Jimmy Reed – Aw Shucks, Hush Your Mouth
28. Jimmy Reed – Baby, What’s Wrong

Disc 6: R&B Dukes & Duchesses

1. Hazel McCollum & The El Dorados – Annie’s Answer
2. Earl Phillips – Oop De Oop
3. Camille Howard – Rock ’n Roll Mama
4. Dee Clark – Seven Nights
5. Dee Clark – Oh Little Girl
6. Lee Diamond – Hattie Malatti
7. Lee Diamond – Mama Loochie
8. Hank Ballard & The Midnighters – The Twist
9. Bobby Parker – You Got What It Takes
10. Bobby Parker – Blues Get Off My Shoulder
11. Leonard Carbo – Pigtails And Blue Jeans
12. The Impressions featuring Jerry Butler – Come Back My Love
13. Priscilla Bowman & The Spaniels – A Rockin’ Good Way
14. Gene Allison – Everything Will Be Alright
15. Jerry Butler – Lost
16. Rosco Gordon – No More Doggin’
17. Wade Flemons – Slow Motion
18. Kip Anderson – I Wanna Be The Only One
19. The Rockin’ Rs – Mustang
20. Wade Flemons – What’s Happening
21. Jerry Butler – A Lonely Soldier
22. Donnie Elbert – Baby Let Me Love You Tonight
23. Dee Clark – You’re Looking Good
24. Wade Flemons – I’ll Come Runnin’
25. Donnie Elbert – I Beg Of You
26. Christine Kittrell – Mr. Big Wheel
27. Preston Jackson & The Rhythm Aces – Be Mine
28. Grover Mitchell – That’s A Good Idea

Disc 7: Soul Stirrers & Shakers

1. Wade Flemons – At The Party
2. Marie Gladness – Cops And Robbers
3. Wade Flemons – Welcome Stranger
4. Nancy Love – As Sure As I Live
5. Dee Clark – Dance On Little Girl
6. Nancy Love – Baby, I’m Not Over You Yet
7. Nancy Love – It’s Really Real
8. Gene Chandler – Tear For Tear
9. Gil Hamilton – Move And Groove
10. Jerry Butler – Whatever You Want
11. Dee Clark – Shook Up Over You
12. The Pyramids – Shakin’ Fit
13. Browley Guy – Do Somethin’ Baby
14. Yvonne Carroll – Please Don’t Go
15. Jerry Butler – I Don’t Want To Hear It Anymore
16. Betty Everett – It Hurts To Be In Love
17. Barrett Strong – Make Up Your Mind
18. Barrett Strong – Gonna Take A Journey
19. Jerry Butler & Betty Everett – Ain’t That Loving You Baby
20. The Daylighters – Whisper Of The Wind
21. The Daylighters – Here Alone
22. The Rivingtons – I Love You Always
23. The Dontells – In Your Heart (You Know I’m Right)
24. The Dells – It’s Not Unusual
25. Betty Everett – Gonna Be Ready
26. Joe Simon – The Whoo Pee
27. Jerry Butler – I Can’t Stand To See You Cry
28. Jerry Butler – Just For You

Disc 8: Hits, Misses & Regional Breakers

1. Marilyn Britton – Big Mr. Heartbreaker
2. Tracey Dey – Jerry (I’m Your Sherry)
3. Orville Couch – Hello Trouble
4. The 4 Seasons – Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
5. Johnny Cymbal – Bachelor Man
6. Tracey Dey – Jealous Eyes
7. Barbara Jackson – Second Best
8. The Society Girls – S.P.C.L.G. (Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Little Girls)
9. The Angelos – Just Like Taking Candy From A Baby
10. Noreen Corcoran – Love Kitten
11. Mac Davis – Hey Monkey
12. Wade Flemons – Watch Over Her
13. Ray Smith – Rockin’ Robin
14. Noreen Corcoran – Dreamin’ Of You
15. The Sensations – You Made A Fool Of Me
16. The Rubies – A Spanish Boy
17. Billy Joe Royal – Get Behind Me Devil
18. The Monsters Four – Farmer John
19. Hoyt Axton – Double Double Dare
20. The Honey Bees – One Girl, One Boy
21. Peggy Sans – Snow Man
22. The Clinger Sisters – Shoop Shoop De Doop Rama Lama Ding Dong Yeah Yeah Yeah
23. The Sunbeams – Good Old Days
24. The 4 Seasons – Apple Of My Eye
25. Hoyt Axton – Bring Your Lovin’
26. Joey Paige – Dream For Sale
27. Terry Black – Unless You Care
28. Shelley Fabares – Lost Summer Love
29. Melinda Marx – How I Wish You Came
30. The Standells – Big Boss Man

Disc 9: Inspirational Gospel Greats

1. The Staple Singers – If I Could Hear My Mother Pray
2. The Staple Singers – This May Be My Last Time
3. The Kelly Brothers – Prayer For Tomorrow
4. The Silver Quintette – Sinner’s Crossroads
5. The Staple Singers – Uncloudy Day
6. The Swan Silvertones – Sinner Man
7. The Staple Singers – Let Me Ride (Swing Down Chariot)
8. The Harmonizing Four – Motherless Child
9. The Mighty Skylights – If Jesus Came To Your House
10. The Interns – The Road Home
11. The Swan Silvertones – Oh Mary, Don’t You Weep
12. The Original Five Blind Boys Of Mississippi – Leave You In The Hands Of The Lord
13. The Staple Singers – So Soon
14. The Friendly Brothers – Operator
15. The Highway QCs – God Has Not Promised
16. The Harmonizing Four – Wade In The Water
17. The Caravans – What Will Tomorrow Bring?
18. The Original Five Blind Boys Of Alabama – I Can See Everybody’s Mother
19. The Watson Sisters – He Lives
20. Marion Williams & The Stars Of Faith – Surely God Is Able
21. The Highway QCs – Walk With Me
22. Dorothy Love Coates & The Gospel Harmonettes – Camp Meeting
23. The Original Blind Boys Of Alabama – I’m Journeying On
24. The Original Five Blind Boys Of Alabama – Precious Lord
25. The Argo Gospel Singers – Jesus Is The Answer
26. The Swan Silvertones – Nobody But You

Disc 10: Hot & Cool Jazz Gems

1. Wayne Shorter – Mack The Knife
2. Lee Morgan – Just In Time
3. Wynton Kelly – Joe’s Avenue
4. Victor Feldman – On Green Dolphin Street
5. Frank Strozier – Runnin’
6. The Leroy Vinnegar Trio – Doing That Thing (Double Stopping)
7. Ann Richards & The Bill Marx Trio – I Only Have Eyes For You [Live]
8. Eddie Harris – Whispering Bossa Nove
9. Cannonball Adderley & Paul Chambers – I Got Rhythm
10. The Bill Marx Trio – Streets Of Laredo
11. MJT+3 – Love For Sale
12. Ira Sullivan & The Chicago Jazz Quintet – Love Letters [Live]
13. Buddy De Franco & Art Blakey – Cousin Mary
14. The Eddie Higgins Trio – Zarac, The Evil One
15. The Louis Hayes Quintet (featuring Yusef Lateef) – Hazing
16. The Young Lions – Fat Lady
17. Bennie Green & Gene Ammons – Juggin’ Around

El mayor encuentro de personas vestidas de bruja, de más cortadores de jamón o el la hilera de sándwiches más larga, entre los retos logrados