Tuesday 23 April 2013

Shorts

I've always said that one of the wonders of writing short stories is that you can cause a bigger impression in the reader, the unexpected is easier to create. At least to innovate. I'm not quite a big fan of shorts, but I guess that it happens the same than with short stories.

Today I've seen some of them, and I liked them all, particularly "The butterfly circus". So, if you have time, I guess it is worth it to watch these short movies: (the links go to Filmaffinity)

- The butterfly circus: 20', English (with Eng "youtube" sub). The best I'm linking. Talks about overcoming and being positive. Very cool.
- L'Accordeur (The piano tuner): 11', French (with Eng sub). I really like the effect that achieves. And I'm not gonna say anything else, you'll have to check it on your own (wink, wink)
- True. Paris, je t'aime (faubourg saint denis): 7', English and French, no sub (the French is easy to understand... I've understood it at least! And although I have some idea, I really suck at French, so if you have some knowledge, it's not hard!! Otherwise look for the subs, I've not done it hehe) It's about love, but in a different way.

THE BUTTERFLY CIRCUS


L'ACCORDEUR (THE PIANO TUNER)


TRUE. PARIS, JE T'AIME


And well, I finally will say that some of you might like "Schneckentraum (El sueño del caracol) (Snail's dream)" (German, Spa sub... but look for it) I found it VERY typical and not surprising, but it's sweet. Particularly the Amaral music part it's just awesome...

Be happy!

Sunday 21 April 2013

The "give back 1 €cent" news

Quite a messy week... but since I'm moving to Barcelona, I guess quite understandable!! Anyway, as I don't know if you're quite interested about this, I will be quite direct from now on: do you like non sense news?

Because I loooove (love love) absurd news. They provide a funny topic to talk about, and allow you to break a bit the speaking topics routine. Who doesn't know the Belgian driver who went to Zagreb by error? (REALLY, if you don't know it, the story is completely worth it,  WAY FUNNIER than it is this [great] blog post in fact)

When we Spaniards travel abroad, we many times see things well done. In such cases, we tend to say something like "Spain is different", because here these things are done differently. Normally when we see well done things, ye. And now, I'm gonna cry for a minute, wait.

Done. So. This news I'm gonna talk about today (Spanish URL, srry) will allow you to understand this "different Spain" (you can put again this post in the category "spot the differences" I'm doing lately) Because dear readers, this news I'm gonna translate you today is the "1 eurocent story"

Visualize it, ok?
Spanish state claims for a cent which had been overpaid to unemployed woman

In the claim letter, she was reminded that if she didn't pay to the bank before a month passed, she would have to pay an extra 20% fee

A young woman from Tortosa has been involved in a bureaucratic mess because she had been paid one extra cent than corresponding to her unemployment benefit.

Following the common procedure in such situations, she received a registered letter claiming the devolution of this extra cent. "When I read it, "- she says - "not only I discovered the state requiring me this cent that, btw, I hadn't realized; but I also was said that if I didn't pay it back in one month, I would have to pay an extra 20% fee over this cent"

The letter also explained her that after this voluntary refunding period she hadn't done it, it would start the enforced recovery process as stated in the article 32/2 of the royal decree 625/1985.

But this wasn't the end of the process for this cent, because this woman had to go to the employment office to give evidence that this debt was already paid off.

"But once there, I was said that without a previous appointment, I could not give any receipt nor do anything", so she had to come back other day to solve the problem.

"I guess this is the normal procedure for this matters" - she concludes - "but something must not been working right in this system if they need to spend a probably higher amount of money for asking back a sad cent"

Asterix and the 12 tasks. Do you remember this one?

Monday 15 April 2013

Thought of the week (III): About supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Or the equivalent "Supercalifragilisticoexpialidoso" (Spanish)

And the Thought of the week iiiis: why is so cool "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" written in Telugu?

I know, I know, you can't withstand anymore, you NEED to know it, you NEED to know how is written the Telugu's way.

Resist a bit more!
Here you are Chu's readers, just for you, in premiere:

సూపర్ చేతివ్రాత పెళుసైన చల్లగా ఉన్న లేత డోజోను ఉంది

(aka "Super calligraphy fragile is it cold is pale dojo" There's no other way the translator could get it!)

And that's what I was talking about last Friday night with a friend! Isn't life great?(then I was so tired that I went soon to bed, but that's other story lalala)

And besides, I had the chance of knowing the Telugu language for the first time, and inform myself about it. Quite interesting, in fact. From several India's regions, it's the 13-15th most spoken language in the world, and I had never heard about it. And therefore, I share it with you... in the way I found it.

P.D. Julia's version: నేను ఫ్రా గిల్ కు సూపర్ సి ఆధ్యాత్మికం ఆహారం మీరు సి లేదా ఏమి కాబట  (aka "super c al i fra gil is ti c o espi ali do so", or lazy version name it as you want) (Special prize to the one who spots the 7 differences among them!!!!)

Monday 8 April 2013

The Shrike. And the shrike.

Have you read Hyperion? No? Then you should! One of the best science fiction stories I've read, if not the best (though that's a hard thing to say) Yes, you read it? Then you know the Shrike, our dear friend the Shrike:

"Uuuuuuh"
One definitely feels respect for him. The Shrike.

Yesterday afternoon I was playing to a trivial game for Android, and I was asked what a meridional shrike was: a reptile, a bird, a fish or a mammal. What would have you said? Provided the first image, what would have you said? Just guessing, I thought "ok David, this is gonna be most likely a reptile"

No! No, it wasn't!

What is it then? What have you guessed guys?

What a shrike actually is... this:

"Uuuuuuh (?)"

WTF???????????

... and this is how a myth falls down...

Sunday 7 April 2013

Origami! (Éric Joisel exposition)

On Friday evening I had the chance to attend a very cool exposition whose topic was... yeah, your guess was correct, origami! Although I still don't know how you made this guessing... Never mind haha. Having a friend very keen on origami (greets Guillermo!), and being my hometown Saragossa seat of the first origami association created in the whole Europe, there is an origami exposition there (until June 2nd) And so, I went there with the already mentioned Guillermo, and mister Alex Beltrán.

And oh yes, it was totally worth it, very very cool. That cool that I am sharing it with you. The exposition consisted of a first floor with three quite impressive rooms focused on sea, earth and air  (highlight the paper tunnel with stalactites, various holes and toilette paper) (not because of the toilette paper, he) There was a vid on how they made the rooms (specifically for this exposition) and trust me, it was amazing the amount of time... and space that required it. Then, there was a second floor, with a compilation of different pieces made out by Éric Joisel, a guy who was incredibly good at this (just have a look below) and who has an incredibly sad story I'm not really keen on talking about, sorry people.

Hope you enjoy it!

I have no pics of the paper tunnel. But this is the air room. All of these are filled with air, and as the room has also a ventilator so all of this is kind of moving smoothly.
"The magic of the paper" - Éric Joisel exposition

This are 46 cranes folded in 46 different styles in (of course) just one paper sheet




Imp orchestra. There were a lot of imps, and as you can see, they were extremely well done


Balrog 

Don Quixote

Legolas 1 (LoR)

Legolas 2 (LoR)


The Captain. According to what it was written (because I have no idea of this), this one was the hardest to make.
(*Apart from the first one, photos shot by Alex Beltrán. Thanks! (although quality could be slightly improved next time lalala...))


Gruzapa website (Saragossa's origami association) (Spanish, English, French, bottom left corner of the menu)

Le Crimp (Centre de Recherche International de Modélisation par le Pli) (French)

Monday 1 April 2013

NOT recommended readings (at all)

Buf. Or... I don't really know how to describe the feeling I had when yesterday afternoon I eventually finished the books 1 & 2 of 1Q84, by Haruki Murakami. I will read the third one of the saga, but I must admit that I definitely understand why the first and the second books are sold altogether: the first one is such a boulder, such an indigestible piece of shit that if it had come out separated from the second book (where actually happens something, and that something it's ok), no one would continue reading the saga. Unless you're a fanatic, of course. Or as stubborn as I am when reading is concerned, hehe. Don't worry, I'll make a review of the whole thing when I come to its end. Now I guess I can say I'll be able to make it! (trust me, I almost leave the reading of this. Buf. Indigestible first book, yeah)

"How to become a SON OF A BITCH" - Spanish book. "Son of a bitch" the worst thing you can say anyone in Spanish, is like being a really, really bad person. Why this? If you look closely, you'll see how the cover is "empty" in the "son of a bitch" letters, so as when someone is sunbathing you can place the cover on his back. And I'll let you guess the rest of the story...
And I was thinking, that maybe I could do my best to prevent you from reading some of the most unreadable things I've ever put my eyes on. TVW. The Very Worst. Things that you're not gonna be able even to swallow, or that if you do, you'll think about them in one in two ways: as a drama or as a comedy. TVW. Today some of them, other day another bunch to complete this. And someday, an extra: a masterpiece, the most inconsistent ever written thing (although very entertaining)

* ATTENTION: I mainly talk about what happens in the first chapters of the books, so there are not big spoilers. But some of you could think that, so I'm not responsible for it. Although, truth to be said, do yourselves a favour and don't ever read these books, there is pretty good stuff over there to be read.

ELIJAH'S CHAIR (Igor Štiks):

Chapter 1: "Hello, I am mister blabla and I'm going to commit suicide. Let me explain you why". Then, 300 pages where nothing quite interesting happens in the Sarajevo of the 90's war, which is actually quite disappointing (come on! It's a very good place where one can place a story!) But out of curiosity, one goes on reading: why does he want to commit suicide? One wants to know the reason. Last chapter: "So guys, this is the reason why I am going to commit suicide". Reason? What reason? There was a reason? Where? Did I miss it? Or was that a reason? Ok, reason... define reason, man.  Because I simply can't believe that a person commits suicide just because of the reason stated in the book.

So, you have 300 pages of a book that are boring and besides that provide a reason (ye, I can't avoid using italics...) that you can't believe. At all. Mesdames et messieurs, there you have: a book not to be read. Fortunately, it is short. Not like our next friend.

Although it is very interesting to know what an Elijah's chair is.

THE INNER CIRCLE (Brad Meltzer):

It turns out that I keep track of the books I read in somewhat of a short review plus a grade. It's kind of useful I think to remember things, compare them and give recommendations, but that's not the point now. The point is what I wrote for this "The Inner Circle" book when I read it, as I see it as funny (and being in English, I can share it with you!!!)

- The Inner Circle (mystery [english] - Hey! My name is Beecher, I'm really annoying. This is the history of how the strangest and most unbelievable events happen to me and how I stupidly react. My writer smokes good stuff by the way - 0)

And when I say unbelievable, I mean unbelievable. Particularly, I would place the first one hundred pages in the "genius" level of unbelievable-ness. How can one author dare to plot something in the US National Archive, find in the room reserved to the President (?) inside the leg of a chair (?) because they drop on it a cup of coffee(?) a book which they believe (?) belonged to Lincoln and the best thing which comes to their mind is deciding to flee (?) from there? How can one author think this book is good acceptable? (the first word was way too much for this) What if I tell you that they get into that room to impress a woman? (oh man! I've been so many years completely mistaken!)  Or what if I tell you that the protagonist is such a big paranoid that you hate him from the very beginning? That there are some kind of sects involved? And if I tell you that these are not the only unbelievable things? (at all, this is just the peak of the iceberg, the premise from where the book starts building an unbelievable plot)

I don't know what I was thinking about when I bought this book. But what I really would like to know is how the hell did I end up this book. Please, DO NOT read it. Otherwise, you will do have a real reason to commit suicide.

You know how it is. Now you can avoid it.
H.P. LOVECRAFT:

Booooring. What an author! Before I said I am stubborn when I read. Ok, I didn't finish the book when I read this guy, and he's supposed to write like this always (I've talked with many friends about this). I had a book with four short stories (around 80 pages each). I read two, and started the third. Enough. 80 pages per story where NOTHING happens are just too much for me if I do it thrice.

I mean, let me give an example. One story I read. They go to the South Pole, where there are footprints of something. They follow the footprints into a mountain. And then they listen to a noise, a very very frightening noise, so they run away. The end.

I still don't get where the meaning of this history is, or what the hell is trying to transmit. The second one I read was like this. And the third one seemed one more time the same, so I just desisted. Man, try at least to transmit I don't know, something. Even if you are really bad at that (*see "Elijah's Chair" and "The Inner Circle", just above), please, do something.


Incoming: "The works of Persiles and Segismunda" (Miguel de Cervantes), "The fourth realm" (Françesc Miralles), "Star Wars: the new order Jedi: agents of chaos I" (James Luceno). I will write about good books too, don't worry. I just write this just in case, so as you already know what you should avoid.