Didn’t get home till very early this morning… however despite the lack of sleep the following ad for French channel, Canal +, made me laugh:
And I also liked this here magic eye stereogram tetris thing. Defocus your eyes and use the cursor keys to steer the falling blocks. Or alternatively just try to not go permanently blind…
A good mate of mine, whose nom de plume is Pinguino Frog, wrote a short story which seems appropriate for the Día de los Muertos. He posted in in Spanish here in his blog. And since it’s all in the present tense and not too tricky I gave it the translation treatment.
Here’s the first paragraph:
They have arrived; I can feel them, their cold, their pain, their solitude. They wake me, brushing against my shoulder. It’s past 12 o’clock they inform me. With some difficulty I open my eyes and see them floating, there, at the side of my bed. They have arrived, they have arrived to give me a message from the other side, they have come to tell me that the dead are worried, that they are worried because I am getting dangerously close to their borders. They talk to me in an unknown language that all the same I understand perfectly. I sit on the edge of my bed to see them better, I rub my eyes to make sure that they aren’t merely some kind of trick. The spectres are completely unknown to me, not even by straining to see them better can I identify them; who they might be. I cannot avoid comparing this apparition with Dickens. I can’t help feeling like a Scrooge, victim of three Christmas spirits, even though, those who visit me number five.
Download the whole 5 page short story here (PDF 97k) . Not for the squeamish…
and therefore shouldn’t vote in the upcoming US elections. “C, You should consider not voting until you update your knowledge on contemporary issues.” Well, that and my green card status…
This is what happens when you get all your US news via the internets, Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, and whatever scraps of the Daily Show and Colbert Report they’ve left up on YouTube… I wouldn’t touch US politics with a 10 foot bargepole, mind, it’s gone to hell in a fundamentalist handbasket. Not that recently watching a seasonsworth of BBC 2’s Mock the Week and the latest Radio 4’s News Quiz inspires confidence in how my home country’s being handled neither. And then there’s Oaxaca, jaysis… At least there’ll always be scrabble…
Or will there? After a fairly hefty walk to where it was advertised I found an old abandoned café and nothing going on, so I rang the bloke’s number in the paper and he said ah, now it’s in Café Azteca where I went originally weeks ago. So I started walking then thought “bugger it” and got a taxi there or i’d get there too late. So I arrive and no one’s there and I phone my scrabble contact again and he says he’ll see where Virginia’s got to, who’s the other half of the organisers. She says due to, quote, Force Majeure, unquote, there’s no scrabbling this week but they’d love me to come next Tuesday. So anyway to cut (make, US) a long story short, no scrabble today. If you don’t count the 5 online games and half dozen on my pocket PC…
Sita’s got her tickets for MX today so I’ll be seeing her v. soon. Which is fantastic news. She’s got a nasty cold at the minute so send her an email and wish her well if you have a minute. Although I’m told Atticus is being the perfect nurse and sporting his hallowe’en devil horns. No photos though, I’m afraid…
In or around the Guadalajara area in December, 2006? Fancy learning how to make documentaries in the beautiful environs of Mazamitla with a sound bunch of peeps? Intangible’s new Flash site may just be for you… The mute button’s on the bottom left… and you might have to click on the box to activate it until I get my head round the javascript necassery for IE7 to autoactivate Flash objects…
And now I’m off to hunt down the Tapatian Scrabble Association again…
Click away for another vanity video of me mangling G’n’R’s Patience…
Too busy to post anything much right now, I’m in the middle of translating a document on “The creation of new cinematographic languages or the concept of ‘Filming the ineffable”” and it’s starting to do my head in… Nearly finished though…
Can anyone beat 30 seconds on this game? Almost worth losing for the taunts in French “That’s exactly the same time Paris Hilton got..” *Gallic guffaw*
If I get over 400 points in a two player game of scrabble, I’m happy with meself, but this geezer racked up 365pts with just one word…
As I wex lyrical to my jo, it’s not qua my abilities. Even when armed with my jax and the azo qi is flowing fortuitously through the qats.
Meanwhile, my puritanical Scrabble for my pocket PC refuses to accept “poo”.
Matando Cabos (2004). Hilarious, one of the best comedies I’ve seen in ages. Sort of like “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” but infinitely funnier and with better acting all round. Some nice lucha libre moments too… 4.5 Lulus…
Erm, what else? I’ve been busy translating corporate documents for a chain of car dealerships and putting the finishing touches to this here lycra sports clothing shop. I’ve got to do a fair amount of work on Intangible’s site before tomorrow evening, and there’s rumours of a party being held here on Friday with Javier and a load of his students from England… I’m also off to buy tix for Julieta Venegas which is on the 4th, so keeping busy as ever.
Sita asked me what to dress up Atticus as for Hallowe’en. This page has a few ideas: http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/2006/10/lets_just_get_t.html though he’s more Princess Leia than Darth Vader… Being a schipperke, or Belgian boat dog, he’s be a good Hercules Poirot…
I’m liking FireFox 2.0, by the way definitely worth installing. Mind you, if IE had extensions IE7 would be up there with it. There’s a new TotalPodCastrophe out, Desmond 22 so I’ll be giving that a play on my next round of errands…
Erm that’s it. Have a photo of some taco ingredients that i’ll almost certainly not be trying anytime soon. Tacos de Trompa (snout)
The Tacos al Pastor come highly recommended though. Mexico City style…
but prompted to post after being put on hold for 3 minutes and force fed an orchestral/muzak rendition of Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall Pt II”. I’d have stayed on longer to see if Nine Inch Nail’s “Hurt” or maybe M.A.S.H. theme, “Suicide is Painless”, was going to be next, but cell phone calls cost a fortune round this way… TelMex have the Beatles catalog when you’re put on hold. I wonder if they’re paying the royalties. Shall have to ask them next time my bill has more anomolies…
Last night I went cantina hopping with Jose, his sister and a couple of other peeps, it was grand to be out of the house again after what seems like an age. La Fuente first, which was packed. It’s going through a fair few changes. It’s one of Guadalajara’s oldest cantinas but recently it’s been refurbished, expanded and now features art exhibitions and several plasma flatscreen TVs which really don’t help the ambience. There’s a bike above the bar that someone left in 1947 or thereabouts saying they could keep it until he came back to pay his tab. Needless to say he never returned. Anyroad, it was missing last night with a plaque saying it’s been leant to an exhibition on collectibles in the Casa de Cultura. Once they replace the live musicians with a video jukebox we’ll know it’s all over… Anyroad, after there on to El Rincón de la Doa in Calle Heroes, not far from the Coliseo (The lucha libre arena). Much more sedate… We were there till around 1:30 then headed to Los Famosos Equipales where I got involved in a very strange argument about bullfighting.
Strange because I completely agreed with the bloke arguing with me. My every other word was, “exactly”, or “I completely agree”, or “you’re totally right” but it seemed like after years of arguing bullfighting ethics with foreigners he didn’t believe anyone who wasn’t Spanish or Mexican could possibly be in favour of it. I’ve never been to a corrido de toros which is pretty odd considering my lifelong obsession with all things hispano. When I was vegetarian for 3 years I was passionately against it but once you’re an omnivorous, leather-wearing, animal-tested-medicine-taking co-conspirator you’ve not got a leg to stand on. It’s all about using animals for non-essential human ends, and in for a penny, in for a pound reckons I. Bullfight bulls certainly have a better quality of life than your average dairy cow or battery hen. And on their last day alive at least they have a chance to get even in front of a paying audience rather than being transported across the county in a small box, shot up with antibiotics, shuffling into an abbatoir and having a bolt put through their brain…
Today if all goes according to plan, off to the Tianguis Cultural downtown, then watching native Guadalajaran, Guillermo del Toro (coincidentally enough)’s new film El Laberinto del Fauno (Pan’s Labyrinth) which has been getting impressive reviews.
Which might well mean quite a few posts of film & book reviews and pictures of various pets appearing in this blog just for archival purposes…
It’ll save me $7.95 a month on hosting and 20 bucks or so a year on the domain name, and though it’ll be a shame to lose my pagerank and all the potential SEO that goes with it, I’ll get over it… I’ll invest the money in continuing my Flickr pro account and maybe a few tacos…
Have a gander’s at its present incarnation here. T’was good while it lasted and served as a useful “Sandbox” (US) Sandpit (UK) for trying out new webbery ideas and such like… I haven’t updated it for months. Turns out it’ll probably be on the WayBackMachine’s servers embarassing me till the end of time anyway… Relive the heady days of Gwynunlimited in from February 2004 onwards on the WayBackMachine
Word of the week: Loperamida, which is Spanish for Loperamide, the active ingredient in Imodium…
And here’s the first of many archived images. My scanned Ivor the Engine wallpaper featuring one Netherland Dwarf/ Lop brown rabbit…
Everything I know about World of Warcraft comes from that South Park Episode… (Thanks, Annelise) anyroad, here’s a DDR / WoW Mashup thing that brings back fond memories of this Summer round M’n’M’s house jumping around the living room to Beyoncé and friends. If this here Flash game makes you sweat and out of breath, you’re in trouble mind…
Also, thanks for your comments and well-wishing emails. Much appreciated : )
Just to follow 10 days of a common cold and a bang on the head on Sunday, last night I experienced one of the worst gastrointestinal traumas I’ve ever had. Truly, truly grim. I’ve been on the Pedialyte (fruit flavoured electrolyte and water concoction) all day and been trying to catch up on sleep, but it was a real shock to the system. The only thing I ate yesterday was tacos from a popular local stand that I trust implicitly, but I’ll not be going back for a while.
I didn’t feel up to working today so I finished season 1 of Arrested Development and watched Nacho Libre properly in between naps. I think I’ll be up all night finishing some fairly urgent projects tonight though…
Other stuff accomplished: I booked me flights to Blighty for December. I was feeling right homesick today, not just for friends and family, but real bread, Ribena/ Robinson’s Black Currant and Apple Juice and the NHS… I also made a fair dent in Neil Gaiman’s ‘Anansi Boys’ between crawling to the bathroom and back a hundred times. Looks like our Morrissey tickets have been purchased for November and also a plan is forming to see Julieta Venegas next week or the week after. Good times…
What can I say? She surpassed even my high expectations singing her little heart out and shaking it like a poloroid picture for a good 2 hours. Because of the rain, lack of infrastructure and tapatian penchant for heading to these things at the last minute it took a few hours to get there (normally a 30 minutes journey), involving a tire change among other things… so she waited for most people to arrive before taking the stage. “”Es un honor estar en la casa del gran Vicente Fernández. Gracias por su paciencia por el retraso. Espero que la pasen bien, que canten y bailen”” Gracious to the last. That means that all the reviews in today’s local papers start with this info and her first song, and that’s all they could phone in before going to press…
I definitely wouldn’t have been able to get me camera in, but there were enough mobile phones for some photos to surface soon. 20,000 people were there and it felt like it. I happily joined in with songs way out of my natural “range” and it was a fun smiley evening out with a lovely atmosphere and stellar presentation. Thanks to all the many people who got it together to make it happen, Javier, Meghan, Luisa and co 😀
For those of you interested in the set list, this is nicked from Wikipedia with a few edits “#”s denote my top 10 favourites choons:
* Estoy Aquí #2
* Te Dejo Madrid
* Don’t Bother #10
* Antología #8
* Hey You
* Día de Enero
* Inevitable #7
* Si Te Vas #9
* Obtener Un Sí
* La Tortura # (And yes she dances just like in the video in the last post but one, where does she get the stamina?)
* No #1
* Suerte
* Whenever, Wherever #6
* La Pared
* Pies Descalzos, Sueos Blancos
* Ciega, Sordomuda #4
Encore:
* Ojos Así #5
* Hips Don’t Lie #3
Morissey’s next on the list for world class concerts… We’ve got people waiting for the phone lines to open as I type…
I almost knocked myself out cold yesterday afternoon trying to throw a towel up onto the landing. I was in the act of throwing then suddenly a loud noise, bright lights and me wandering dazed around the room holding me head. So instead of Shakira photos today, have one of me with my special icepack fashioned from my headphones, two plastic bags and the contents of me freezer:
And here’s today’s wanderings around town trying to find an exhibition on “Tequila- Que haría sin él” and then some (quite a distance…)
I liked this, bloke figures out how Stonehenge might have been done. And not just because 3/4s through he used one of my favourite Americanisms: Teeter-totter (a see-saw)
Colbert on Demand
All Family Guy episodes
and, of course YouTube…
It looks like I won’t be able to take me camara to the Shakira concert, sorry Tewbewks. I wrote a comment in this bloke’s blog because he’d put up some photos he’d taken in the Arena. He kindly wrote back saying they almost certainly won’t let camaras in and since I’ll have nowhere to put me camara if they decide not to let it in, I’m not going to risk it.
Yesterday was another stocking up on DVDs day: Season 1 of Arrested Development (never seen it, but been recommended it many times), Nacho Libre (a better quality version, the last one was nigh on unwatchable), Edmond (David Mamet directed stuff with William H. Macy) and Old Boy. Javier came round and we watched Old Boy last night. T’was excellent (4.5 Lulus), it’s a Korean take on the Count of Montecristo and then some. Bloke gets locked up for 15 years for no reason then has 5 days to find out why/who/etc. Can’t really do it justice right now, but I might manage a review one of these days.
Have a butcher’s at the comments, a phonetic alphabet based on (my favourite film evah, The Big Lebowski. D is for Dude etc.
This would be well handy to have as a poster or summink. I’m forever on the phone to TelMex spelling my name. G de Gacho, W de Whiskey, Y de Yelapa y N de Nihilista…
Cold’s almost gone, btw…
From The Telegraph of all places… who manage to dumb down scientific research to a point where it makes almost no sense then fail to provide a link to the original paper… :
A second language ‘changes personality’
By Robert Matthews (Filed: 03/07/2005)If only Basil Fawlty had learnt a little Spanish.
Psychologists have discovered that people take on the characteristics of foreign nationals when they switch into their language – and such a change in the embittered hotel owner could well have improved life for the hapless Manuel.
The personality changes, however, run deeper than a desire to gesticulate wildly when talking in Italian or to plunge into gloom when speaking Russian. According to research, using different languages alters basic characteristics traits such as extroversion and neuroticism.
Researchers at the University of Texas made the discovery while studying the personality traits of bilingual English and Spanish speakers in the United States and Mexico. They began by establishing the attributes of native speakers, using the results of personality tests on almost 170,000 people.
The results showed that English-speaking Americans are typically more conscientious, agreeable and outgoing than native Mexicans, but also less neurotic.
I always feel more extraverted and less neurotic when I’m in Spanish speaking mode, happily talking to strangers, smiling and all that. But the second bit of the article makes no sense to me. Does racial profiling via 170,000 personality tests make it OK? And how the chingada do you measure “agreeability” and “conscienciousness”? Are they including undocumented immigrants in the test, I’d feel less outgoing too if I thought I was in constant danger of being deported and the government of the county I lived in was hell bent on building a 4.5 metre wall along its border with my home country with funds left over after waging a ill-thought-out and illegal war on abstract nouns and then legalising torture round the world… And then there’s the socioeconomic aspects of the respective countries…
Meanwhile, somewhere in Torquay:
Basil Fawlty: Manuel…
[Basil thwacks him on the forehead with a spoon]
Basil Fawlty: …You’re a waste of space.