El Secreto de sus ojos

I've heard about this film a lot
good opinions, and great recommendations,
won the Oscar to best foreign film
and I knew Argentinian films are great,
this one is excellent!

El Secreto de sus Ojos

Mesmerizing, really
you get into the, as i read somewhere,
byzantine plot that interlaces
an unresolved crime with a love story
mixing past time & present
sometimes complex and always elegant script
the photography, the acting
the witty, poetic, and at times,
very funny dialogs, make of it
a complete film, i'd say a masterpiece

it's very well-done in every aspect
without expensive effects, but very classy resources

i'd love to watch more films by this director

i have the lovely advantage
of being a native Spanish speaker
so the fast spoken Argentinian accent
and the 'boludo' slang
weren't a problem but rather a delight

The secret in their eyes



i recommend you that if you need subtitles
do keep the sound in Spanish, there's a lot
to the acting that makes this film

i read a bit of the English subtitles when I was done
i was curious!, and even if they are not literal
[they said: "damn you!"
when is Spanish were saying: "que me cago en ti, boludo."
that is more like, i shit on you, asshole...
which is a common, even if very rude, thing to say in Argentina
in Mexico we have other insults]
this film is worth watching even in its native language

so, highly recommendable!
one of the best murder thrillers I've seen in a while
and a soulful love story

la fotografía y el internet

my very first love with the internet
was photography, yeah! digital, scanned
film, whatever, but images capturing still
a moving life
my most frequented site was 23hq.com
and somehow has been left behind
the silly Facebook, the blog, those more
instantly rewarding sites have kept me away
from doing more photography
also 'cause i have more limited time
and i have already too many times
photographed my front yard and my chubby cats
i feel i've become repetitive on themes
'cause i don't have much time left on the day
to go out and chase photographs

but anyway, it was refreshing to post
a couple of photos, all 35mm film
taken with my old Nikkormat camera
most taken with black & white film
an iso 100 film Kodak T-Max TMX

i really hope i get myself to photograph more
(i do photograph plenty but i don't post)
but also to do from more interesting themes
that my doorstep, my poor cats, who probably
think i am a Cat-paparazzi, and all the food i eat...

OK less blah and here are the images

the length of the days

i wish the days were longer
not like in the summer
but like 15 hours longer
making them each 27 hours long

i wish i had to work only 1/4 of that time
and have the rest of the day free
to stare at the clouds, and their capricious shapes
i wish i had 3 hours each morning to make breakfast
to slowly drink café

i wish i could play from 5 to 6 hours with each cat
every day & i wish to embrace a long book
without worrying about this time i waste

i wish to go for a 248 mile walk
without interruptions nor shortness of breath

i wish my life was long
not 70 years or so but
i wish i could live to a 300
with no sickness and no remorse

for the nights
i wish them to still be short
full of colorful dreams and not waking up
by asthma attacks or nightmares or burglars
or sirens of cops or firemen or choppers above

i wish my days were long enough
but sadly, they are not

Monday's gray & House's blue

clouds of steel &
mild's the rain

this Monday's gray!

fits the mood for
this House of Leaves
to read again

House of Leaves
Mark Z. Danielewski
an old review

re-reading this claustrophobic book

a haunted house's story
horror enclosed on the lay out
the word House always in blue
and other rather experimental fiction
examples of layout, typography,
and footnotes, a whole different narrative
gives you a second novel here
some photo-examples of the book


the cover, smaller than the rest of the book


not all the book has this lay-out but was the story
goes deeper, so the formatting


photos, polaroids, drawings, letter, and poems
complete the book, various Appendixes and an Index too


diagonal printing


and then more clastrophobia on semi-used pages
with XXX's and some with only 1 word...

if you like experimental fiction, give it a try
the story is good...

explosions in the sky

we've been having pretty strange weather in San Diego
Monday we broke record heat, it was 95°F (35°C) inside my house!!
the poor Gatos and myself were melting...
Tuesday was a little cooler
Wednesday the humidity started gathering in the shape
of wonderful fluffy clouds!!
reminiscent of a wonderful band
Explosions in the Sky



here a sample of their wonderful cinematic music
click on the name to listen to the mp3 on their site
song: Your Hand in Mine
from their 2003 album: "The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place"

i took these photos as i was leaving the office


[click on the photo to see the full size panorama]

today Thursday, we've been having a show off of
thunderstorms and erratic rain
wonder what's in for tomorrow...
Antonio Vivaldi would be happy here this week
4 seasons, one every day of the week

Muse, heute Abend

i have been sadly away from here
too much work
my cousin visiting
too much reading
etc., etc., etc...

but tonight, i escape and go see live Muse
i don't really know the latest albums from these English guys
but i remember back in 1999, i used to get goosebumps
with their 1st album Showbiz
tonight i see them live for the first time in my life
here in San Diego

Showbiz from Showbiz to blog about...



rock out with this falsetto 'cause
the power of rock music never dies

been away from my blog for too long, (posting this from my cell)

The vanishing of Katharina Linden

a couple of Twitter fellows organized and declared September 7
as the National Buy A Book Day

i didn't know this until later that night
yet... on September 7 and after my visit to the bookstore
on Sunday Sept.5 i decided to go back and buy the 2nd book
that called my attention that day
I was thankful to have bought it on Sept. 7
therefore being part of the National movement of supporting
books and dying bookstores

the book is The Vanishing of Katharina Linden



this book sounds so appealing to me
i am like an old lady, and i've been like that since i was 12 years old
i loooove mysteries! and the quirkiest they are
the more i like them

i think my love with mysteries started with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's
Sherlock Holmes, and also with the Edgar Allan Poe short horror stories
which i started reading around age 10
since then, my love for books has evolved, i like to read other
kind of fiction too, i love classic books, and now & then
i will grab a non-fiction book... yet...

Mysteries are my favorites!

this book sounds perfect for me, a mix of fairy tales,
a haunted German town, and school stories
also, it was many words in German, so i can practice my German
the book and writer are British but the location is in Germany
the small town of Bad Münstereifel

and love how the characters are named
Oma Kristel, Onkel Thomas, Tante Britta, etc.
ah! the kids like very much to say Scheiße!

here a video-review of the book



can't wait to read more!

day off, book in

yesterday i was off work, it was the Labor day holiday
i like these days off to have long/late breakfasts and to read!
and in spite of having so many books to read
i went on Sunday to get yet another one...

i was undecided between two books
but i made up my mind and got this one
[see photo below]
since lately i don't seem to have the time
nor the frame of mind to read a whole book
these European short stories sounded like a good deal



i've read already the 1st one
an Albanian story, hilarious and rather good
then i read the 2nd one, from Austria
rather strange dreams... even more strange literature

i am glad i am getting into the obscure though...

here a review
http://www.theworld.org/2009/12/05/world-books-review-best-european-fiction-2010/

the tea? ah! Rooibos!

pre-Labor day burgers & the fading of the Summer

i have mostly cut red meat from my diet
but when Sunday night my friend perro & his lovely wife m (m&m)
invited me to have some hamburgers, knowing perro's dedication
and detail to food, i gladly accepted...

so may the cows and pigs forgive me but i ate one of these!
delicious grilled hamburgers made of grass-fed beef
with bacon, grated Gruyere cheese, spicy guacamole,
tomatoes, and served on his own baked kaiser rolls

all made from scratch!






delicious stuff! the finished product below, before i munched it down



now the 3 day weekend is coming to an end
and that melancholy that belongs to Sunday nights
now it's here on a Monday of Labor day
i am glad to have a job, but i would love a couple of extra days off

Labor day marks the end of the Summer
although we barely had a summer here in San Diego
only a handful of days it was hot, most days were cool and some nights
were very cold, i personally prefer cool temperatures
so i was delighted, but the absence of heat made the summer fade faster

today was unusually coldish, gray, and windy, it felt
like the Autumn and having had a Holiday
i ended up thinking of Christmas!!

and to celebrate the end of my summer
which is always wasted, a lovely song
A Summer Wasting by Belle & Sebastian
from one of my most listened albums The Boy with the Arab Strap



Summer in winter,
Winter in springtime,
You heard the birds sing:
Everything will be fine.

I spent the summer wasting,
The time was passed so easily.
But if the summer's wasted
How come that I could feel so free?
I spent the summer wasting,
The sky was blue beyond compare.
A photograph of myself
Is all I have to show for
~A Summer Wasting, Belle & Sebastian