Sunday, March 02, 2008

Lars Von Trier's Riget ("The Kingdom")

i rented in DVD the danish TV series
by Lars Von Trier, Riget or 'The Kingdom'

strange european TV series indeed
the series is 4 episodes, 2 on each DVD
last weekend i watched episodes 1 and 2
and going for the 3rd one right now...
there's a certain pleasure to watch ghost-stories
during the hours day
rather than dulling the day with its sun
the mystery, the mystery itself filters
into the little clouds up in the blue sunny sky
a good thriller is one that makes you chill your skin
at the plain sunlight

here the intro to the series
that have a spooky sepia-ish cinematography
and some angeled shots
wonderfully dark visuals of mister director
Lars Von Trier
some scenes taste very David Lynch too



here the text in English of the introduction
that talks of the origins and the land where nowadays
stands an advanced and modern danish Hospital
were strange things happens and the building itself
starts to cry down its own structure...

The Kingdom Hospital rests on ancient marshland
where the bleaching ponds once lay.
Here the bleachers moistened their great spans of cloth.
The steam evaporating from the wet cloth
shrouded the place in permanent fog.
Centuries later the hospital was built here.
The bleachers gave way to doctors and researchers,
the best brains in the nation and the most perfect technology.
To crown their work they called the hospital The Kingdom.
Now life was to be charted, and ignorance and superstition
never to shake the bastions of science again.
Perhaps their arrogance became too pronounced,
and their persistent denial of the spiritual.
For it is as if the cold and damp have returned.
Tiny signs of fatigue are appearing in the solid, modern edifice.
No living person knows it yet, but the gateway to the Kingdom
is opening once again.


and the trailers

strange days and smells

i haven't written in a while
last week's days were filled with strange episodes

.monday an ear infection
.tuesday a migraine kept me at home
.the rest of the working week flew OK
trying to rescue the 1st 2 lost days
.ein Wortschatz quiz on Thursday
.with a nice twist on Friday,
dinner a friend from México City
old ex-coworker from the Hard Rock Café

so, i haven't played with fotos
i have barely replied e-mails
surely i haven't written in a while

this morning came across
the stories sections on 23hq.com
i wrote these chunks of silly words there
before i created this blog

and remembered this one
the smell

so here today i remember
instead of creating
since still hurts my head

oh just hoping for more energy
for this Sunday
here i relate today again to a home-smell

the smell
my house smells like an older woman’s house
today’s sweet and strong
but a little dense
opened the door and it came in
in the core like a rush
the mixture of scents, an unrepeatable aroma
right now
there’s fig candle a cheap one
the expensive one is a stone mixture overprized store
of jasmine, & fig and all the-other-don’t-know
it changes every day
every minute you can say
if you got a nose or at all around come
for sure you can tell
and then the trash can left some little pieces of onion
very little not too strong
to make organic this matter at the most
it stands, food odors from there
and mixed with the rain outside and still a hint
(would said if preparing a perfume formula: add a 3%
of aroma reminiscent of fresh paint, just a 3 percent! not less no more)
and in 2 hrs i know won’t be quite the same
oh if i know
if my nose can calculate!!!

this
like the very first time you do something
unexpected
the first time while learning to drive you almost crashed
you didn’t, but learnt the fear
it left tracks
or the first encounter with someone
a friend of a friend
the aunt of the cousin of the neighbor
whatever
but then you become good friends, maybe even family
or co-workers or soul-companions
hopefully not insurance partners
and even less common-crime holders
but anyhow you’ll
remember that first encounter
blurry, escapes, like the memory of the almost-first-car-accident
because you didn’t expect it
and because it wasn’t impressive
you weren’t meeting somebody outrageous or too important
just a person
or you were just almost for the first time
a car crashing
what is the importance? if

as with aromas or acquaintances
most things around life
are a terrific accident

and now today is that smell
knowing it is happening but it won’t repeat itself
the old lady’s smell
and wish i could capture it ‘cause it suits my house so well
and surprisingly i so much like it
is not particularly good or too bad
it is just the smell of my home
and guess even if ever changing
and sadly probably won’t be able
to replicate accurately, the fortunate accident
immediately warm is & i can recognize it
is the smell of my house
and i like it!

Friday, February 29, 2008

Febrero 29

das Schaltjahr
Leap Year
Año bisiesto

oh another February 29...
a slit in the Gregorian calendar



you would've think that Leap Year would've been the word of the day
but not, here anyway Dictionary.com definition of a Leap Year:

"A year that contains 366 days, with February 29 as an additional day: occurring in years whose last two digits are evenly divisible by four, except for centenary years not divisible by 400."

Enjoy your extra day!

Sunday, February 24, 2008

the 80th Oscars



the only movie i have seen so far
out of 5 nominated for Oscar
for the best picture is
No Country for Old Men
here an earlier review



and no wonder i went to watch it
the day it came out...
a combination of the always-witty Coen brothers
with extraordinary talented
spanish actor Javier Bardem
cannot go wrong

so tonight, it won
best director(s) - two in this case
best picture
and best secondary actor
Javier Bardem

2 great personal surprises
were
Tilda Swinton
for best supporting actress
i know her very well since she's the leading actress
of one bizarre film i love
Orlando

i am really curious about
La Vie en Rose
of the life of Edith Piaf
specially since this lovely french actress
Marion Cotillard
won the Oscar for best leading actress



a dusty evening
cleaning finally a little my house
while watching the Oscars on the TV
not bad ending for a rainy Sunday

now i have yet another 10 or 15 films
to watch
ah sigh! there's more movies than time...

pancakes, rain and coffee

another rainy start in San Diego this morning



and an early start for me
8.15 am and me, already munching down some pancakes
and doing some Hausaufgabe
at a local Denny's



nothing like an early breakfast
on a raining morning
with some pancakes on the side
sidewalk-staring drops falling
hot coffee and pretending to read...
die deutsche Sprache

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

for kitchen accidents

das Erste-Hilfe-Mittel
First-Aid kit
Botiquín de Primeros Auxilios

the more you cook
the more chances of getting burned
this past weekend, a too hot casserole

the best home-made remedy
that i have used since my childhood
is my grandmother's, Mami Pera, recipe:
rinse with cold running water the burn
and then apply

das Eiweiß
egg white
la clara del huevo



it is nourishing... and refreshing!
also good for

der Kratzer
some scratches
pequeños rasguños

and to stop the bleeding from a

Messerschnitt mit Küchenmessern
cut with a kitchen knife
cortadas con cuchillo de cocina

the best is to
rinse the wound and cover with

gemahlener Kaffee
ground coffee
café molido

posts from a sentimental geek

die sentimental Streberin
the sentimental geek
la nerd sentimental

that would be me
technology and objects
drive me to emotional tears
the magnificence of object creation
so today i thought that...

probably the most caressed object in this modern times
is... (keep on reading please)

'cause…
we have all hold one with a warm or cold hand?
and there is a high
very high chance that
your are caressing or holding one
just right now!!

beacause
Haven't we all grabbed one passionately?
With high hopes and or with impatience?
To check if we got that expected e-mail,
or to confirm if the deposit went through
in our electronic bank account

We have treated these objects fondly!
but also there are times when we want to smash them against
a table or a wall, or just step on them…
especially when it comes to download large files
or if the little ball got hairy, dusty or too stuck
with pieces of french fries
there is always that chance

it seem to me that there is at least one in every house-hold
And in the offices they reproduce freely, and in large amounts!
Yeah, like rats…

Such an common object
victim of nerdy virtual mouse & cat jokes
certainly a controversial object
that millions of humans touch every day
probably way more than you touch your own body
and surely more than most people touch their husbands or wives

so for today
I am a sentimental geek
Who wrote this little
Ode to the mouse

inspired by my own curiosity today
i asked myself...
and who invented the mouse?
probably you couldn't care less
but here i tell you

it was this very clever man
Dr. Douglas C. Engelbart
who created the first virtual
son of a rat
just a little later
the hordes of cyber mice came to life!



Here the 1st computer mouse ever!
in a little wooden box...
and this is what i call a prototype!



hope today if you read this
you stroke softly and carefully
your rolling, fun, little mousy-pal

the sentimental geek is
over and out

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Schopenhauer / alone / today



mi mala traducción al Español:
"Nuestra miseria esta basada en el hecho de que no podemos estar solos"

Saturday, February 16, 2008

sankofa

collections
my sound-soulful accumulations
my petit musical
plastic agglomeration

i roughly counted
tonight

i own about
- 600 cds (originals)
- 200 vinyl records
mostly LPs
but some 45's too

when i moved to USA
i left my about
- 70 tapes
and
in México

apparently
an advocate of the recording
industry am i
but mostly
a soulful aficionado
of the notes
the tempos
and the silences
that rhapsody-me
from netherworlds
to utopia
faster than an instant

cassandra wilson's sankofa
a sample among what i have
if not this, then what?

hören Sie bitte
please listen
escuche Usted por favor