New entry starts now:
Hello, I have been quiet for a while because of computer trouble and I am now reduced to using a borrowed computer for now
Here is a list of stuff I have done/read/seen/thought/am doing/am loving/etc. :
1. I am almost at the end of Jorge Volpi's new novel "No sera la tierra" and it is hard, good but hard. It is a journey thru a lot of the 20th century's history, from the perspective of an american economist, a russian biologist, a hungarian mathematician told thru the eyes of russian writer and war veteran of the Red Army and survivor of the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. Not all of the characters work as fiction characters but some do, especially the minor characters, and the ideas and the historical events narrated work as food for thought and remainders of the many horrible things that happened in the last century. Among the highlights are the Chernobyl disaster, the invasion of Hungary by the Soviet Army, the 1929 crash of the stock market and the death of Stalin and the fight among the survivors to ascend to the leaderhip of the then very young Soviet Union. While it is not Volpi's best novel it is strongly recommended
2. Another book read last week was Nick Hornby's "About a boy" and loved it a lot!!! I am a big fan of the movie adaptation, especially for the very convincing and heartwarming portrayal of the friendship between Marcus and Will, and found myself liking the book's version of their relationship a lot too! The end of the book is very different, and the way the Marcus' character ends is different too, but I liked it a lot, also, Marcus' girl friend in the book is very different but in a good way, this difference between the book and the movie adaptation was my favorite, because the book's version has more depth and it works in the tale, I loved this book, a LOT!!!
3. My friend Elliot, Elga's dad, bought me as a gift the book "Peacemakers: the Paris conference of 1919 and its attempt to end war" by Margaret McMillan and I started it last week and so far it is a great read. It is fascinating to read about world leaders meeting for six months to work out solutions to big problems and now they barely have time to meet for three days or less. And it was very interesting to read at the same time as Volpi's novel, as they refer to the same events, but from different perspectives.
4. I am helping today my friend Elga to finish her syllabus for a college course she is going to teach starting this friday about sports, for students interested in "Culture and media studies", so I take recommendations anyone can make regarding books and articles about sports as social phenomena and gender and/or race and/or national identity, etc.
5. About music and the music business:
a. Have anyone else noticed how slow the music business has been for the last five or six months? The release new stuff has been veryyyyyy slow and this has has the consequence, at least in Puerto Rico, of radio stations being reduced to play more of the same tunes and more tunes out of old albums (they do not have any sense of adventure, instead of looking for new stuff to play, they rather play more reaggetton and RBD songs, so no, they are not playing any Shins or Of Montreal in my country's radio stations). I hope this changes soon, but it will not if record labels keep pushing crap that end up failing commercially, stuff like the last Janet Jackson, the last Ashley Simpson, the last Jessica Simpson, the Kevin Federline debut, the Paris Hilton debut, the last Christina Aguilera, the Brooke Hogan debut, the last Beyonce album, the Fergie solo album, the newest Gwen Stefani's album, etc.
b. New music acquired includes the new Shins, new of Montreal, new Apples in Stereo, new Long Blondes, new Tom Ze, new the Clipse, old stuff by Placebo and Kings of convenience and many others...
6. Last night started the 2007 edition of la Copa Libertadores, with a match between Club America of Mexico and Sporting Crystal and it was a goleada, las Aguilas del America won 5-0 ( I am not a fan of America, but I love some of the players, including Cuautemoc Blanco, Memo Ochoa and Nelson "el pipino"Cuevas)
7. The Club Atletico Boca Junior finally won again last night 2-0 against San Lorenzo with two goals or the recently acquired genious, Bruno Marioni This is the first time they win in a while, and I am happy!!!
8. Javier Saviola is on fire and Barca, with the tie 1-1 against Real Betis are on top of the league!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope Saviola remains a starter when on february they start the next round of the UEFA Champions league against the Liverpool.
I think I will end this now, as it is very long, but hopefully I will write more during the weekend, bye all!! Tons of love to all, have a great one
Hello, I have been quiet for a while because of computer trouble and I am now reduced to using a borrowed computer for now
Here is a list of stuff I have done/read/seen/thought/am doing/am loving/etc. :
1. I am almost at the end of Jorge Volpi's new novel "No sera la tierra" and it is hard, good but hard. It is a journey thru a lot of the 20th century's history, from the perspective of an american economist, a russian biologist, a hungarian mathematician told thru the eyes of russian writer and war veteran of the Red Army and survivor of the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. Not all of the characters work as fiction characters but some do, especially the minor characters, and the ideas and the historical events narrated work as food for thought and remainders of the many horrible things that happened in the last century. Among the highlights are the Chernobyl disaster, the invasion of Hungary by the Soviet Army, the 1929 crash of the stock market and the death of Stalin and the fight among the survivors to ascend to the leaderhip of the then very young Soviet Union. While it is not Volpi's best novel it is strongly recommended
2. Another book read last week was Nick Hornby's "About a boy" and loved it a lot!!! I am a big fan of the movie adaptation, especially for the very convincing and heartwarming portrayal of the friendship between Marcus and Will, and found myself liking the book's version of their relationship a lot too! The end of the book is very different, and the way the Marcus' character ends is different too, but I liked it a lot, also, Marcus' girl friend in the book is very different but in a good way, this difference between the book and the movie adaptation was my favorite, because the book's version has more depth and it works in the tale, I loved this book, a LOT!!!
3. My friend Elliot, Elga's dad, bought me as a gift the book "Peacemakers: the Paris conference of 1919 and its attempt to end war" by Margaret McMillan and I started it last week and so far it is a great read. It is fascinating to read about world leaders meeting for six months to work out solutions to big problems and now they barely have time to meet for three days or less. And it was very interesting to read at the same time as Volpi's novel, as they refer to the same events, but from different perspectives.
4. I am helping today my friend Elga to finish her syllabus for a college course she is going to teach starting this friday about sports, for students interested in "Culture and media studies", so I take recommendations anyone can make regarding books and articles about sports as social phenomena and gender and/or race and/or national identity, etc.
5. About music and the music business:
a. Have anyone else noticed how slow the music business has been for the last five or six months? The release new stuff has been veryyyyyy slow and this has has the consequence, at least in Puerto Rico, of radio stations being reduced to play more of the same tunes and more tunes out of old albums (they do not have any sense of adventure, instead of looking for new stuff to play, they rather play more reaggetton and RBD songs, so no, they are not playing any Shins or Of Montreal in my country's radio stations). I hope this changes soon, but it will not if record labels keep pushing crap that end up failing commercially, stuff like the last Janet Jackson, the last Ashley Simpson, the last Jessica Simpson, the Kevin Federline debut, the Paris Hilton debut, the last Christina Aguilera, the Brooke Hogan debut, the last Beyonce album, the Fergie solo album, the newest Gwen Stefani's album, etc.
b. New music acquired includes the new Shins, new of Montreal, new Apples in Stereo, new Long Blondes, new Tom Ze, new the Clipse, old stuff by Placebo and Kings of convenience and many others...
6. Last night started the 2007 edition of la Copa Libertadores, with a match between Club America of Mexico and Sporting Crystal and it was a goleada, las Aguilas del America won 5-0
( I am not a fan of America, but I love some of the players, including Cuautemoc Blanco, Memo Ochoa and Nelson "el pipino"Cuevas)
7. The Club Atletico Boca Junior finally won again last night 2-0 against San Lorenzo with two goals or the recently acquired genious, Bruno Marioni
This is the first time they win in a while, and I am happy!!!
8. Javier Saviola is on fire and Barca, with the tie 1-1 against Real Betis are on top of the league!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope Saviola remains a starter when on february they start the next round of the UEFA Champions league against the Liverpool.
I think I will end this now, as it is very long, but hopefully I will write more during the weekend, bye all!! Tons of love to all, have a great one
VIEW 8 of 8 COMMENTS
merritt:
Awesome, dude! Whether or not we get paired up in the PSW we should exchange mixes! Thanks for the support, too.
cinnamongurl:
Thank you my love!