Archive | March 2009
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20th Century Mexican Authors
There is a great site dedicated to 20th century Mexican Literature called simply enough 20th Century Mexican Literature. Maintained by a professor at Wake Forest University it has a gigantic biography of Mexican Authors. It also contains a blog with somewhat regular updates about Mexican culture. Definitely worth a look. (Primarily in Spanish)
The Watchmen – A Review
The Watchmen is, perhaps, the best comic book movie ever made. It is a large qualification and one that does the movie a disservice, but despite the reworking of the typical comic book themes and an ending that avoids the superhero defeats super villain formula, some elements still cannot escape the genre and make the [...]
Historic Raymond Chandler in the LA Times
The Daily Mirror, the LA Times blog about LA and LA Times history, has been running a great series on Raymond Chandler on the 50th anniversary of his death. There are some great bits they have found. A lost kinesocope of the Long Good-Bye with Dick Powell. I’d love to see that one. An interview [...]
El Santo & Lucha Libre
This is a little bit old, but it is still worth taking a look at. It comes from La Plaza.El Santo was a Lucha Libre legend and this collection of clips from his movies is quite interesting and funny too.
Guatemalan War Photo Exibition
La Plaza reports that an exhibition Jonathan Moller’s photos are on view at the Mathers Museum of World Cultures in Bloomington, Ind. These are some great photos and are worth a look. Quite troubling, but a good reminder of the problems Guatemala has had. They also remind me of the time I was at Lake [...]
Brief Daniel Sada Interview at El Universal
A brief interview with Daniel Sada appeared in El Universal. It doesn’t get into too much but there are a couple quick quotes worth noting. In a novel “the characters are the most important, more than the language or the plot” [...] Sada took apart the argument of those who define him as a writer [...]
Best of Mexican Photo Journalism
La Plaza has a good presentation of the best in Mexican Photo Journalism. There are some excellent photos and a good narrative essay that explains what you are seeing.
The Kindle 2 and Usability – Not There Yet
Jakob Nielsen at UseIt.com has devoted his last two newsletters to reviewing the usability of the Kindle. In the first he talked about the user experience and in the second how one should write for the Kindle. I have seen many articles that talk about the Kindle in terms of free speech issues and the [...]
Some Thoughts the Spanish Civil War and American Imagination
The TLS had a good review of an interesting book about western Journalists during the Spanish Civil War. It is a good reminder of just how popular the war was as an image of communism, socialism, and fascism. The image would carry that weight for many years into the cold war, long past the books [...]
Gomorrah – A Review
Gomorrah is not glamorous; it is the opposite of almost everything that one has come to expect from a gangster film. Gomorrah has one goal: point out that the mafia is anything but good, glamorous or culturally redeeming. And it does succeed quite well. Yet the opposite of glamor—poverty, the mundane, fear—are harder to make [...]
100% Arabica – A Review
If you want an insightful film that will explain the problems of Algerian immigrants in France, this is not the film. Yet it does have its moments and is a Raï fan’s attack on those problems, which gives it a certain weight. At the same time the film is a was a young persons film, [...]
Interviews With Juan Rulfo
Youtube can be a wonder sometimes. I found all these interviews with Juan Rulfo. His way of speaking is different, but reflects his writing to some degree.
I’d Like – A Review
I’d Like is not just a collection of stories, but a way telling them that is fresh and reinvigorates the form. Amanda Michalopoulou has constructed a reinforcing set of insights into story telling that is not consumed in the tediums of art about itself. The focus on reworking how stories are told does not hobble [...]
Two Lovers – A Review
Two Lovers is the latest retelling of Dostoevsky’s White Nights and although Visconti’s Le notti bianche so beautifully retold the story, Two Lovers is a welcome reworking of the subject. Where as Le notti bianche had the claustrophobic feel of post war Italy, with its impoverished inhabitants seemingly unable to even populate their own towns, [...]
Yu Hua at Elliott Bay Book Co
Yu Hua was at Elliott Bay Book Co on March 1st. He is promoting his new book Brothers and is on a tour of the states. Since it is rare to have access to an author like him, especially since he doesn’t speak English, it was a treat to see him. He is a funny [...]
Cheb Mami – Bledi
This isn’t about books, but it is such a great song and since I finally found a live version it is worth promoting. I believe it is about the Bled, the country side of Algeria. I don’t speak Arabic, though, so it is only a guess, but Raï transcends language.
