Wednesday, 29 February 2012
Oscars 2012: The Artist vs The Tree of Life
So let's leave all of that, and focus on the last Oscars. In general I think you can not disagree with most of them.
But there is IMHO a bold fact deserving to be remarked:
A beauty such as The Tree of Life, which besides going into new ground in cinema, was capable of putting together some of the most captivating images in recent years, received no awards at all.
And, even if I admit that films like The Artist are entirely enjoyable, I think that it pales by comparison to the sheer talent for cinema displayed in The Tree of Life.
This is not complaining for the sake of complaining: I repeat I enjoyed The Artist, but a minimum of objectivity would be healthy when giving these awards.
Apart of that, let me rejoice in happiness after seeing that the old master, Woody Allen, received a much deserved Oscar to the best original screenplay for Midnight in Paris, which is a piece of joy, a pure work of art, a delicious movie which gives you hope to expect, once more, the best from good old Woody.
La Voz Dormida, directed by Benito Zambrano
The film is deeply moving, and you can't avoid to feel infuriated by the events happening those years in my country. But we found specially remarkable the work of María León, a young actress who does one of the main roles in the film, and who absolutelly excelled at it. She is natural, and convincing, and funny sometimes, yet profoundly sad in other occasions. I think she deserves absolutely the several awards she's received for this interpretation.
"Un pokito de rocanrol", new album from Bebe, is available
The full album is already available, and I have yet to listen to it in full. The first songs I have heard are very promising, but of course this will need some time before having a final opinion.
Pity that controversies derived from early promotional events have somehow disturbed the appreciation of this album, which in my opinion deserves attentive listening sessions, rather than oversimplifications derived from a bad day from Bebe.
You can listen to this album in Spotify.
New album from Paul Buchanan (from The Blue Nile): Mid-Air
MOJO Magazine Feb 2012:
we anticipate a release this year Mojo says April-May!!! This is unconfirmed- but hence the date is april-may for this virtual event. The Blue Nile’s sonorous voice returns as a solo artiste: “I was going to call it “Minor Poets of the 17th Century” says Paul Buchanan of his debut solo album due in April or May. “I found a book in Oxfam with that title and that's exactly how I feel about myself.” The singer’s first LP since the Blue Nile’s “High” in 2004, is “a piano at two in the morning with a dictaphone” affair. “It's very solitary and very empty.” he adds of the work, eventually opted to call it “Mid-Air”
Buchanan and Mojo are enjoying rolls and square sausage at his local Greasy Spoon in Glasgow, The singer, 56 in April, knows the middle-aged waitress by name. Parts of “Mid-Air” were recorded at his home and he also made use of Gorbals Sound, state-of-the-art studios bringing part of the city traditionally thought less than salubrious.
“No one else plays on the record” he says “it was just myself and a young engineer. I wanted the songs to be like someone speaking directly to you. The key thing for me is to try and capture those little elements of humanity. It doesn't matter where you live, if you hear an ambulance you go to the window and hope that it’s not coming for someone you know.
“The building that I live in looks onto other Glasgow buildings” Buchanan goes on, explaining the genesis of new song “Half the world”,” You’re sitting in the kitchen at three in the morning but if you look out, there are lights on all over the place, you think “what are they thinking about? What's keeping them awake?”
Buchanan says there were no extraneous pressures propelling the record that “it was written from a place of humility, born out of the loss of a close friend. “There's no smoky saxophones or set em’ up Joe piano chords though” he adds “it's quite celebratory and I hope its engaging. My friend was very moral, not for any religious reason but because he loved people. What I observed in him over the course of our friendship was bravery, I miss him.”
Though the singer says he has "no expectations, none" from “Mid-air” He also notes that what has looked like semi retirement from the music business, has made him feel “dangerous” as a songwriter again, enough to fight to die he concludes he “might not be John Lennon or Mahler but that's okay I have a modest life and I know the world won't care if I give up tomorrow but once in a while someone will stop me in the street and say to me, “My wife and I got married to your song”- it’s tiny moments like that that resonates with me”
Buchanan on the course of The Blue Nile: Does The Blue Nile still exist? “I'm not entirely sure. Neither Robert [Bell] nor myself haven’t seen the third guy [Paul Joseph Moore} for years. With Robert I know better than to ask him about the band but I love and respect him and I've hinted about us making another record. The more I look back on The Blue Nile, the more I feel like [Samuel] Beckett. Everybody has their criteria and their motives, but I cannot stress enough that we never saw ourselves as musicians. We tried to do the most austere, sackcloth and ashes self-flagellation thing that we could on the way to making a record that was free of any pose and it resonated with some people. We were never trying to make hits; we were trying to invoke something that has no name. I am grateful for what we had before. We thought we were The Marx Bros and we never bought into that “look at us, we’re in a band” thing. I wish we had been the Beatles but if “You said you can have that, but you can't have that time when your partner touched your face and told you she loved you” , “I’d say I'll take what we had.”
Scritti Politti in facebook - list of shows in 2012
My beloved Scritti Politti, aka Green Gartside and a few friends, have started a page in facebook, which is being regularly updated. Besides some infos about recent gigs, some of them cancelled, they recently posted a list of shows they will perform in 2012. If you are interested, have a look here.
Hopefully all of this means they have new music in the pipeline.
Hopefully all of this means they have new music in the pipeline.
Sufjan Stevens' new project: "Beak & Claw"
From Pitchfork:
Sufjan Stevens Teams With Son Lux and Rapper Serengeti as s / s / s, EP Due on Anticon
By Jenn Pellyon February 27, 2012 at 02:00 p.m.
Sufjan Stevens has teamed up with two Anticon artists, Son Lux and the rapper Serengeti for a new project called s / s / s. They'll release the four track Beak & Claw EP on March 20 via Anticon.
The six-minute track "Museum Day" features Sufjan singing Auto-Tuned lines alongside rap verses from Serengeti. The EP features vocal contributions from Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond on "If This Is Real", while Doseone from Subtle and Themselves appears on the closer, "Octomom".
Sufjan and Serengeti were introduced in 2009, when they worked together on Buck 65's remix of Sufjan's cover of Castanets' "You Are the Blood" for the benefit compilation Dark Was the Night.
Serengeti will release the Kenny Dennis EP on Anticon on April 3. Watch the video for "Shazam" here.
Beak & Claw EP:
01 Museum Day
02 Beyond Any Doubt
03 If This Is Real
04 Octomom
Sufjan Stevens: "Blood Pt. 2" (Buck 65 remix ft. Serengeti)
After reading this description of the project, I'm a bit scared. But on the other hand, you can't deny that Sufjan has big bollocks and is not afraid of exploring new territories. Which is something I miss big time in my other favourite musician, lately, as he keeps on having big bollocks as well, but seems afraid of going to new places in music.
Ice Cream Sandwich running on Sony Xperia Neo V
Since my phone (by now) is a Sony Xperia Neo V, I was digging today for updates on the Ice Cream Sandwich update which is reportedly in the works. And I found out a recent video, posted by Sony showing this phone running a beta version of the new operating system, which is not fully operative yet.
Further information available at The Verge.
Further information available at The Verge.
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Monday, 27 February 2012
Adele, raw talent
Yesterday, during a trip, I heard quietly the Adele album (21), and my first impressions got confirmed. She's got a pretty damn voice and she's an excellent singer, in sharp contrast with most "singers" you can find today in charts. A friend suggested recently that she had a talent comparable with that of Amy Winehouse, and I agree
For me Amy was even better, but there's no denying that Adele, in a different style, is absolutely stunning. And to listen an album made of voice & piano, sung by a lady who is not a top model, topping charts everywhere gives me a bit of hope: not everything is lost in the world of music.
BTW, yesterday, while listening to "21", I suddenly recognized a melody. And after a few seconds I identified it. Adele's rendition is entirely different, yet soulful and entirely enjoyable as well; I was not aware of this version by Adele, and this was a very nice surprise.
This is Adele's version:
And this is the original Lovesong from The Cure:
Tuesday, 21 February 2012
Interview with a Pentax-Ricoh representative, made by the Pentaxforums team
Quite a few things to learn about the future of my favourite photography company:
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Monday, 20 February 2012
The Revolution reunion
Listening to purple songs is always a pleasure; listening to them by such a band as The Revolution reunited is a sheer pleasure:
Do it all night
Purple rain
Do it all night
Purple rain
Stevie Wonder performing Ribbon in the sky for Whitney
Sometimes words don't even come close to music:
Friday, 17 February 2012
The Revolution reunion on February 19, 2012
This has been widely reported, but just in case somebody forgot about it among readers of this blog: The Revolution is going to reunite and play together, in a show organized by Bobby Z. The legend of The Revolution needs no further introduction, although it might be worth to stress that they are fully accomplished musicians, even if they were the band of a certain Prince.
Of course the big question is whether the purple guy would appear or not, to put the icing on the cake. I'm not holding my breath, but who knows...
Thursday, 16 February 2012
Spanish changes are scientific suicide
This letter from a Spanish scientist has been published in today's issue of Nature, and is therefore subjected to copyright, I hope they won't get infuriated.
I am copying it here, in full, since I fully and wholeheartedly agree with it:
I am copying it here, in full, since I fully and wholeheartedly agree with it:
Spanish changes are scientific suicide
Spain no longer has a ministry of science. In the last days of 2011, its new government transferred national science policy to the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, a duty for whichthis ministry seems most unsuited. Science was an unwelcome addi- tion that absorbed more than half of the €1,083-million (US$1,438- million) budget cut imposed on the ministry. This sends an alarming signal of the sacrifices that science may face when the government releases its budget for 2012 next month.
This is the first time that neither ‘science’ nor ‘research’ have featured in the name of any top Spanish government department. It is not just a symbolic shift: it continues our country’s trend of deliberately under- mining and playing down the importance of science.
The official line is clear: science is not a priority in Spain. Of course, we are immersed in an economic crisis and austerity measures are needed. However, the government’s irrational and draconian actions will cause long-term damage to the scientific infrastructure and send contradictory messages to other countries and investors. Although its rhetoric promises a shift to a knowledge-based economy, every step it takes is in the opposite direction. The results will be a borrowed-know- ledge economy with little domestic know-how.The problems did not start with the new government: the previous administration attempted to pass a Kafkaesque by-law for public universities that would have created a merit-evaluation system that diminished the weightassigned to research and technology transfer. The by-law stated that trade unions would negotiate the criteria for faculty promotion, making academic careers “more predictable and more egalitarian”. It would have been the death of meritocracy. The same by-law would also have bal- looned bureaucracy to such a level that it would have threatened to swamp any university administration.
The previous government also opposed attempts to create a genuine tenure-track system for researchers in universities and national labo- ratories, on the grounds that tenure track is unconstitutional because access to civil service should be “egalitarian” so tenured jobs should not be targeted to tenure-track researchers. This is a consequence of the narrow-minded thought that all researchers in the public sector should be civil servants, but civil service is unsuited to research activities.
Spain likes to boast that it has an equivalent to tenure track: the Ramón y Cajal programme. Launched in 2001, this is the only nationwide programme that has managed to attract and retain highly qualified researchers from Spain and abroad. However, drastic cuts in hiring over the past three years and a hiring freeze announced this year will kill this firstattempt at a tenure-track programme. The prospects are so grim that despite being eager to return to Spain, some of my Spanish colleagues in the United States are rejecting Ramón y Cajal positions.
The hiring freeze is suicidal. Researchers who retire will no longer be replaced. Unlike many of its neighbours, Spain has a very limited science and technology industry in which to absorb highly qualified workers, so scientists aged 20– 40 years will have no choice but to leave if they want to further their career. The country will therefore face a multigenerational brain drain, with corresponding losses in innova- tion, inspiration and credibility. The damage from this decision will take decades to reverse.
The new government is now effectively trampling on the best hope that Spanish researchers had for the future. Legislation in the pipeline could have improved the situation, but the gov- ernment has, abruptly and without explanation, closed the two political science commissions — one in the Senate and one in the Congress — that would have been responsible for steering through this legislation. The legislation includes moves to allow universities and research centres to be funded privately, to develop a new science and technology strategy and to create a proper national research agency with a multi-year budget. We urgently need such a system in Spain, where severe and unpredict- able fluctuations in year-to-year funding make medium- to long-term planning impossible. The strategy is crucial if Spain is to coordinate its increasingly anarchic 18 sets of science policies — laid out simultaneously by the 17 regional gov- ernments and the central government — and tointroduce a smarter, top-down, approach to tackling national problems. Spain must bring its science and technology investment (currently 1.39% of gross domestic product) in line with European standards (2%) and closer to the 3% goal set by the European Council Lisbon Strategy for 2010. It also needs a science council, similar to the German Wissenschaftsrat, constituted mainly of scientists who have been elected by the scientific community to take the lead in delivering the national science and technology strategy. Spain’s situation is summed up by a poster for a recent Hollywood blockbuster: “No plan. No backup. No choice. Mission: Impossible. Ghost Protocol.” Spanish science cannot afford ghost protocols. With- out the proposed strategy there is no plan, and without a well-funded and non-political national research funding agency, there is no backup. The results leave research in Spain with a mission impossible.
Amaya Moro-Martín is a Ramón y Cajal Fellow at the Spanish National Research Council in Madrid.
Monday, 13 February 2012
Whitney passed away
There is little else to add, after the countless articles posted in the last days about Whitney and her death.
So I just wanted to add my little homage, to one of the most beautiful voices in modern music. She was definitely gone too soon.
Whitney made this song hers, and still today it moves me:
So I just wanted to add my little homage, to one of the most beautiful voices in modern music. She was definitely gone too soon.
Whitney made this song hers, and still today it moves me:
Saturday, 11 February 2012
Editorial of The New York Times about Garzón: "A Chilling Verdict in Spain"
The New York Times published this editorial, regarding the recent sentence of Garzón by Spanish supreme court:
A Chilling Verdict in Spain
The enemies of Judge Baltasar Garzón have finally gotten their way. Spain’s Supreme Court this week found the judge guilty of misapplying the country’s wiretap law and suspended him from the courts for 11 years.
Judge Garzón has played an important role in Spain’s transition to democracy, as a scourge of corrupt politicians left and right and a powerful champion of international human rights law. His efforts to prosecute the former Chilean dictator, Gen. Augusto Pinochet, and investigate the horrors of the Spanish Civil War era, though unsuccessful, advanced the principle that there can be neither amnesty nor impunity for crimes against humanity.
Thursday’s ruling stemmed from prison wiretaps of conversations between lawyers and their clients that the judge ordered in a 2008 case involving bribes allegedly paid to local officials of the now-ruling Popular Party. Judge Garzón was not alone in ordering those wiretaps, but he alone was prosecuted, even while the public prosecutor argued that there were no grounds for a criminal proceeding. Convicting a jurist over a court ruling is an appalling attack on judicial independence. Two other cases against him are pending — one involving his inquiry into mass killings during the civil war and the Franco dictatorship, and another concerning allegations of conflict of interest in a tax fraud case.
Judge Garzón is far from perfect, but the decision by the Spanish Supreme Court to remove him from the bench is enormously damaging to the prospects of fair and impartial justice. What investigating magistrate would not now hesitate before pursuing politically sensitive cases? Will the Franco-era crimes that scarred Spain for two generations remain forever uninvestigated?
Judge Garzón cannot appeal in the Spanish court system. But he can challenge this decision in Spain’s Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. We hope he does. As this week’s miscarriage of justice plainly demonstrates, Spain still needs his help in keeping its judiciary fearless and independent.
Thursday, 9 February 2012
Garzón declared guilty
I never had too much faith in Justice in general, and specifically in my country.
Today, after learning that the judge of the Gürtel scandal, Baltasar Garzón, has been declared guilty in his own trial, I lost the few bits of faith that I kept.
I'm far from being a fan of Garzón, whose inclinations towards fame and popularity are well known. And his behaviour in different cases was subject, with reason, of many criticisms.
But in this specific case, there has been a bunch of people stealing public money under the protection of leaders of the right party. And the judge who was investigating that robbery, has been himself subjected to judgement, and then declared guilty, and therefore excluded from the career of judge.
Conclusion: it seems that, depending on your political preferences, and depending on who are you investigating, the supposedly blind Justice is no longer blind.
What a shame. And what a huge scandal for my country.
Today, after learning that the judge of the Gürtel scandal, Baltasar Garzón, has been declared guilty in his own trial, I lost the few bits of faith that I kept.
I'm far from being a fan of Garzón, whose inclinations towards fame and popularity are well known. And his behaviour in different cases was subject, with reason, of many criticisms.
But in this specific case, there has been a bunch of people stealing public money under the protection of leaders of the right party. And the judge who was investigating that robbery, has been himself subjected to judgement, and then declared guilty, and therefore excluded from the career of judge.
Conclusion: it seems that, depending on your political preferences, and depending on who are you investigating, the supposedly blind Justice is no longer blind.
What a shame. And what a huge scandal for my country.
Psycho Siri
Thanks to a friend, I discovered this short movie, and I must say I am blown away by its quality.
Wednesday, 8 February 2012
Buenafuente returns
In "Buenafuente", he followed the usual scheme of initial monologue, and then a series of funny interviews, together with short humour sketches and live music performances. It was a show of fine sense of humour, good scripts, and overall an excellent example of how tv can be both entertaining and interesting. In other words, it was the opposite of the daily shit broadcasted by Tele 5 and other chains owned by Berlusconi, and also it was the opposite of what most commercial tv looks like, these days, worldwide.
Olympus OM-D E-M5 officially announced
Plenty of information around the web, but I suggest to have a quiet look to Imaging Resource and DSLR Magazine. There is also an insightful article at The Online Photographer.
I would also suggest to the marketing guys at Olympus to look for better names when they have a hot camera to sell.
Tuesday, 7 February 2012
The Nikon D800 is out there
Yes is true: the even-more-mouth-watering camera, the brand new Nikon D800, is finally available to preorder, after a very long wait. You have full specs at the official Nikon page, and if you look at the usual big online shops, you can already submit your order.
Neither my amateur needs, nor my even-more-amateur budget, will ever allow me to put this camera in my hands, but what the hell: desiring does not pay taxes (yet!).
Monday, 6 February 2012
About Super Bowl, circus and music
The buzz of the day is the performance of Madonna at the Super Bowl halftime show. But those of us who remember Prince's performance in 2007 are rather unimpressed.
This is circus & lip-synching:
And this is a music genius onstage, using the bad wheather to make a mindblowing performace:
No more words required.
This is circus & lip-synching:
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And this is a music genius onstage, using the bad wheather to make a mindblowing performace:
↵ Use original player
← Replay
No more words required.
Saturday, 4 February 2012
Rubalcaba, new leader of the PSOE
After long controversies and a very tight poll, Rubalcaba has won the leadership of the Spanish socialists. I personally think it was the best choice, even if it is fairly obvious that the candidate for the next elections could probably another guy, namely Patxi López. But that's another story.
For the time being, Rubalcaba has all the requirements to become a very good leader of socialists, in these difficult years after losing most of their power in Spain. We will see if he is up to expectations, and whether the government of Rajoy is capable of reaching the necessary agreements with socialists to push Spain forward again.
For the time being, Rubalcaba has all the requirements to become a very good leader of socialists, in these difficult years after losing most of their power in Spain. We will see if he is up to expectations, and whether the government of Rajoy is capable of reaching the necessary agreements with socialists to push Spain forward again.
The new Olympus OM-D surfaced
In a leak which curiously happened at Amazon Japan, reported by 43rumors.com, and with 6 days in advance of the official embargo date, here you have the new Olympus OM-D, or E-M5:
Friday, 3 February 2012
New Fiat 500L, another great design
They had a series of smashes with the Grande Punto/500/Bravo/Lancia Giulietta. But at the same time they had some fails like the Idea and the Croma.
Recently they took the ugly decision of using several Chrysler models and rebadge them as Lancia, in a strategic mistake that will possibly harm the image of Lancia for years.
When I expected the worst, I discovered first the new Panda which came to the market, in an excellent reimagination of the classic Panda designs from Fiat. And now, these images of the new Fiat 500L, which seem to continue in the right direction. Furthermore, it will strongly compete in the segment of mid MPV, and certainly it draws big circles around the previous Fiat Idea, which was possibly one of the most boring designs from Fiat ever.
At this point I don't really what to think about the strategy of Morchionne.
Hands-on preview of Pentax K-01 at Imaging Resource
As usual, the guys at Imaging Resource have put plenty of meat in their hands-on preview of the new Pentax K-01. Together with the article of DSLR Magazine, this is a must-read article if you are interested in the new beast.
Thursday, 2 February 2012
The Pentax K-01 is out there
Full specs are provided at many sites in English and besides you have a very nicely done introduction at DSLR Magazine.
So, despite all people saying it was impossible for Pentax to release two mirrorless systems, they have done it: the all tiny Q system, and now at the other side of the size spectrum, the K-01 system, providing full compatibility with current and legacy K lenses. To top it all, Pentax released their lens roadmap for 2012 and 2013.
I think their game is smarter than competitors were thinking.
Wednesday, 1 February 2012
"Google making the world better" bollocks
I found, via Daringfireball, an article where an old employee from Google, and longstanding supporter of Google, Nelson Minar, expresses his disappointment with the current status and strategy of that company.
I was reading it and found this sentence:
Making the world better my bollocks.
Apple, Google, Microsoft, Intel and on and on: they want to make money. Their strategies differ, and I love some products of some of those companies. But their goal is the same: business.
Now, "making the world better"??
Yeah, sure.
I was reading it and found this sentence:
But I think Google as an organization has moved on; they're focussed now on market position, not making the world better.I don't know if this guy is ingenuous enough to believe (or at least, doing it in the past) that Google's goal was "to make the world better".
Making the world better my bollocks.
Apple, Google, Microsoft, Intel and on and on: they want to make money. Their strategies differ, and I love some products of some of those companies. But their goal is the same: business.
Now, "making the world better"??
Yeah, sure.
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