In Spanish, a set of pots and pans is called a batería de cocina. Batería also means battery (as in a car battery), but also means drums (as in the whole set of drums that bands play). As my kids sit in the kitchen floor, using whisks and spatulas to beat against the bottom of pots and pans to make something that sounds very much like music, I can’t but smile at the similarity in the words.
I’m also learning from them. I’ve learned that metal spatulas are way too loud, while whisks make a not unpleasing noise – and that small aluminum pans are actually louder than bigger and heavier steel pans. Teflon coated pots have a lower sound.
Author: marga (Page 114 of 158)
Bullies, well, they bully. They can be young kids at school making fun of someone for being different. Or they can be big old men who don’t know what to do when they can’t get their way. Often times they start as one, and end as the other. Bullies are scared of people who are different – be it because they are another sex, another race, another sexual preference – and they try to cover up their own feelings of inadequacy through intimidation and even violence. But mostly, bullies are pathetic.
I was confronted by one tonight, a big guy well past middle age who really should know better. He was drunk, he tried to intimidate me. He didn’t manage to, and I left feeling he was truly pathetic – but also potentially dangerous. Apparently we need to address bullying not just in the schools themselves.
UC Berkeley will be hosting a 2-day conference on “the Undead”, those spirits and ghouls that haunt our minds, at least during Halloween’s. The actual program of the conference doesn’t sound nearly as interesting as its concept – which is good, as otherwise I’d want to go and I can’t really afford the time (or the babysitting) – but the concept is just too rich not to share.
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October 19-20, 2006
Conference: The Undead
From age-old whisperings of spirits and ghosts to the contemporary explosion of cultural interest in zombies, the concept of the undead is one that refuses to die. This conference will bring together speakers representing various disciplines, from literature, film, and art to anthropology, politics, and science, who will explore texts, concepts, bodies, and cultures that are at the intersections of life and death.
The conference opens on October 19 with a film screening and discussion in 142 Dwinelle Hall. Graduate Theological Union professor Naomi Seidman will introduce The Dybbuk, a film about spirit possession, and give a related talk from her paper “Ghost of Queer Loves Past.” The conference continues with panel discussions October 20 in 370 Dwinelle Hall. Speakers will include: Roy Chan (Comparative Literature), Josh Weiner (English), Alexei Yurchak (Anthropology), Jonathan Cohn (Film Critical Studies, UCLA), Suzanne Daniels (Comparative Literature, NYU), Cathy Hannabach (Cultural Studies, UC Davis), Melanie Micir (University of Pennsylvania), and Sonali Thakkar (English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University). Writer Kelly Link will close the event with a literary reading.
The conference is co-sponsored by the Townsend Center for the Humanities, the departments of Comparative Literature, Spanish and Portuguese, French, Rhetoric, English, Ethnic Studies, Italian Studies, and Jewish Studies, and the Center for Latin American Studies.
For event information email undead.conference@gmail.com or visit http://undeadconference.com.
I’ve been too busy to watch much in the way of movies lately, and most importantly, to finish bad ones, but still it’s one thing I’ve done beyond working on Mike’s campaign. So here is a quick recap of what I’ve watched lately.
Vidas Privadas. This movie about a woman who returns to Argentina after 20 years on exile in Spain is just too unbelievable to make it worth your while. There are coincidences after coincidences, the whole tragedy of a nation is simplified and spoon fed and I’d even say the movie is an insult to those who survived the military dictatorship. In all, it mostly seemed exploitative and my whole reaction was “come on!”
National Treasure. This movie was so silly, so uninteresting, with such lack of character development as well as so improbable that I didn’t finish watching it.
Harem. This was a movie about an Italian girl (I think) who was brought into the harem of the Ottoman ruler in the last days of the caliphate. Mostly it involved harem politics, though there was some boring sex as well. Whatever major point it was supposed to have I didn’t get, and I didn’t finish it either.
Hellraiser V. I’d actually seen it so I didn’t bother with it. Hellraiser I was great, all the other ones sucked and I don’t know why I bother with them.
Tristan and Isolde. I’ve never seen the opera but I figured I should familiarize myself with the story. The story itself is quite simple and predictive – but being so old, what can you expect?. But the production values were great, and the story kept me interested the whole way (no small feat lately). Plus I love Rufus Sewell.
El Coronel no tiene quien le escriba. This was another of those Salma Hayek Mexican movies based on an important work of literature, this time a great novella by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Unfortunately the story did not have enough material to extend it to a full length movie (that’s why it’s a novella, not a novel) which meant the movie itself drag throughout it. I didn’t like the Mexico setting – why not keep it in Colombia – and mostly, I didn’t like how the last line was delibered. The last line carries the whole of the movie – as is often the case on Garcia Marquez books – so getting this right (aka how I read it myself) is what makes or breaks the story. In this case, it broke it.
The Tooth Fairy. Another lame, lame, lame horror movie. Not scary and very boring. Keep away.
Ocean’s Twelve. Why pull out a heist if you are not prepared to deal with the consequences and you fold as soon as you get threatened? Whatever. The second heist was lame and did not have the power and interest of the one from the first movie. Again, not worth your time.
so yes, I have had horrible lack in movies lately. I hope it changes.
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