Showing posts with label YouTube. Show all posts
Showing posts with label YouTube. Show all posts

Sunday, August 31, 2008

ciudades inmensas habitadas por cyborgs

El otro día en el curro a la hora del café, hablábamos sobre el timo de las energías renovables y la necesidad de construir nuevas centrales nucleares. Pregunté si les sonaba la canción Nuclear sí de Aviador Dro. Ni uno solo de ellos la conocía. ¡Pero qué incultura, por Dios!

"Nuclear sí" destila un ansia futurista de retirar la obsoleta humanidad del escenario de la Historia, y sobre sus ruinas construir una civilización de alta tecnología, mecánica, alienígena e impersonal.

(Aclaración: no estoy a favor de convertir la Tierra en un erial atómico, es sólo que quiero tener disponible electricidad abundante para que me funcione la PlayStation.)

En el vídeo al que enlazo no se pronuncia la línea "ciudades inmensas habitadas por cyborgs", que recuerdo haber oído en otras versiones de la canción. Esa línea siempre me recuerda a Moderan de David R. Bunch, originalísima distopía, injustamente olvidada, que precisamente trata sobre una civilización postapocalíptica formada por cyborgs empeñados en dejar sus orígenes atrás, muy atrás, en una huida hacia adelante de continua deshumanización.

Bunch no llegó a conocer las recientes esperanzas milenaristas en torno a la Singularidad, comedura de tarro también conocida como "the Rapture of the nerds". No creo que le sorprendiesen, la verdad. No cuesta mucho imaginarse a Ray Kurtzweil como uno de los cyborgs de Moderan.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

give me a time machine

Some time ago I saw posters in my city announcing a Ladytron concert. They looked intriguing (lets be frank: I though the chick at the front was really hot). But since I hadn't listen to anything by them at that point, and was too lazy to search for a sample of their music, I let the concert slip.

How dumb was I! Turns out I totally dig their electropop. Like the song Destroy Everything You Touch from his latest album.

Band member Mira Aroyo seems to be a quite smart gal. Reminds me of Chromeo's David Macklovitch, who is currently earning his Ph.D in French Literature. Maybe electropop/funk musicians tend to be just plain smarter than other pop musicians?

Saturday, August 23, 2008

alien atmospheres

Edgar Atemiev's Meditation theme from Tarkovsky's Stalker.

György Ligeti's Lux Aeterna from Kubrick's 2001.

Cliff Martinez's First Sleep from Steven Soderbergh's Solaris.

Brian Eno's Prophecy theme from David Lynch's Dune.

Friday, August 01, 2008

The Beginning is the End is the Beginning

The song that plays in the trailer for Watchmen is "The Beginning is the End is the Beginning" by The Smashing Pumpkins, which is a slower, moodier version of another song of theirs called "The End Is the Beginning Is the End".

That inversion in the titles reminds me of a pair of Gene Wolfe stories, "The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories" and "The Death of Doctor Island". I wonder if that trope has a name, and what are other examples of it.

Sunday, May 04, 2008

A perfect day

Today happened to be a perfect day.

Maybe too perfect. I'm wary about so much happiness; maybe Destiny is trying to lull me into a false sense of security before unleashing some terrible catastrophe.

Anyway, here's what Lou Reed has to say about the matter.

Saturday, October 06, 2007

Undead commentary

We have now discovered a motive which can explain the idea that the souls of those who have just died are transformed into demons and the necessity felt by survivors to protect themselves against their hostility.

(Sigmund Freud: Totem and Taboo)

- They were chasing me... screaming... I was scared.

- Who were chasing you?

- My mom... my dad... They were trying to kill me. There were others, too.

(a bit of dialogue from 28 Weeks Later)

Roger: You'll take care of me when I go, won't you, Peter?

Peter: Just rest, man. Save your strength.

Roger: I don't want to be walkin' around... like THAT!... Peter... PETER?

Peter: I'm here, man!

Roger: Don't do it until you are sure I *am* coming back! I'm gonna try... not to... I'm gonna try... not to... come back. I'm gonna try... not to...

(a bit of dialogue from Dawn of the Dead [1978])

Having a loved one turn into an inhuman (but still recognizable) monster who seeks to harm you is a primal fear. The modern remake of Dawn of the Dead knows this and exploits it to the maximum. From sleeping happily in her husband's arms, in a matter of seconds the protagonist finds herself being chased by that same husband, now suitably zombified. Meanwhile, the Apocalypse rages around her.

This review of the movie in Cinematical states that the film (especially the terrifying beginning set to Johnny Cash's "The man comes around") manages to evoke the feeling of horror and disorientation of 9/11, at least for the reviewer.

I would also say that the underrated 28 Weeks Later is a perfect metaphor for some aspects of the situation in Iraq, and for our current climate of fear in general. The first three minutes of the movie are here. Zombie films: great sources for sociopolitical commentary.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Things to Come

December l0. Stanley calls after screening H. G. Wells' Things to Come, and says he'll never see another movie I recommend.

(Arthur C. Clarke's 2001 Diary at The Kubrick Site)

sfsignal has posted the video of the movie.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Predicando

Y Paul Le Jeune se quejaba en 1635 desde Nueva Francia porque un chamán local, viendo comprometida su propia reputación como sanador milagrero y hacedor de la lluvia, solía "divertirse a mis expensas, sugiriéndome palabras indecentes en su idioma [para que] tomase nota de ellas y asegurándome que no hay nada malo en las mismas, a fin de conseguir que yo pronuncie esas palabras soeces en presencia de los salvajes".

(Jonathan Wright: Los Jesuitas)

El episodio recuerda un poco al sketch "El diccionario de húngaro" de los Monty Phyton:

No es prudente aprender la lengua local precisamente de la persona a la que pretendes dejar sin trabajo, y que se encuentra comprensiblemente preocupada por tu intrusismo laboral. Me pregunto si serían posibles versiones más sofisticadas de la treta, por ejemplo: en vez de hacer decir palabrotas al pobre jesuita, construir cuidadosamente el "diccionario" de manera que lo que predique resulte herético para su propia doctrina.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

The Penis is Evil

"The penis is evil. The penis shoots seeds, and makes new life, and poisons the earth with a plague of men, as once it was. But the gun shoots death, and purifies the earth of the filth of brutals. Go forth and kill!" Why oh why there can't be more science fiction movies like Zardoz?

I think Borges would agree with Zardoz, about penises if not about guns. "Mirrors and copulation are abominable." Come to think of it, wasn't a long mirror scene of some kind in Zardoz?

Wikipedia has a list of fictional depictions of immortality, including Zardoz and Borges' The Immortal. But, no Jack Vance's To Live Forever!

A remake of Zardoz could tap into modern blue state / red state anxieties in the US. The problem is, where to find an actor as hairy as Connery? Because Zed must be hairy, to make him stand out from the effete, metrosexual immortals. And yet, I don't think Robin Williams would be good for the part.

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

28 pitufisemanas después

Ya casi no me acordaba de este estremecedor episodio de Los Pitufos... empieza normalmente, pero a partir de 2:15 se transforma en una versión pitufa de 28 Semanas Después y su predecesora 28 Días Después. Los pitufos infectados exiben todas las características de los "zombies rápidos" imaginados por Danny Boyle: extrema agresividad, un aumento de su fuerza física... cierto que les falta vomitar pitufisangre, pero quizás fue censurado para emisión. Tendremos que esperar a la edición especial en DVD con el director's cut.

Los Pitufos: una serie adelantada a su tiempo. Ahora supongo que debería comenzar con las típicas bromas sobre Pitufina, y el carácter totalitario de la sociedad pitufa. Pero te las ahorraré, estimado lector. Tienes cosas más importantes que hacer con tu tiempo. (Ojalá la un tanto sobrevalorada Donnie Darko hubiese tenido la misma delicadeza.)

Monday, March 26, 2007

Monday, March 12, 2007

Jumping, Falling

Jumping:

Falling: