El gustirrinín de una horchata en diciembre

English abstract: sometimes, life sucks, but we can counterattack ill-feeling by treasuring happy experiences... Today we deal with the taste of tigernut milk in December

Bueno, reflexionando sobre mi post anterior, he pensado que tal vez sería una buena idea empezar una sección de gustirrinines, osease, objetos y experiencias diversas unidas en un mismo fin: provocar gustirrinín.

Porque, amigos y amigas, la vida puede ser una mierda, pero en ella también podemos solazarnos en experiencias que nos producen pequeñas dosis de felicidad y generan endorfinas

Empezaré por algo que hice durante las fiestas navideñas. bajé a Barcelona para realizar varios recados (y alguna que otra compra propia de la estación), y de pronto me vino a la cabeza que no estaba lejos de la Horchatería Valenciana (en la calle Aribau), que sirve el preciado líquido incluso fuera de temporada.

Así que me digo que no me desagradaría tomarme horchatita fresca, artesana. Pues voy y me la tomo.

Beber una buena horchata es de por sí una experiencia gustativa que raya en lo sublime, pero en aquel momento en particular, y tras unos meses sin tomarla, es que era para poner los ojos en blanco.

A la felicidad por la chufa...

La felicidad

Esta tarde me he levantado (tarde, sí, estoy haciendo la jornada de noche *suspiro*), y, como tengo por costumbre, me he acercado a mi bar habitual a leer la prensa con un cortadito para acompañar.

Leyendo La Vangardia, me he topado con una entrevista a Josep Maria Castellet* en La Contra. me ha chocado que Castellet, cómo literato reconocido, que supongo que se gana la vida decentemente gracias a algo que a él le gusta (los libros), y vive rodeado de ellos, tenga esta actitud tan ceniza... Quiero decir, yo no me gano la vida en un oficio estrictamente vocacional, ni en mi juventud pertenecí a una jet-set socio-cultural, como él. Supongo además que los ingresos que tiene el Sr. Castellet son seguramente superiores a los míos (aunque es bastante fácil superar el salario infra-mileurista que sufro)... Y ahí lo teneis, pobre hombre, sin disfrutar e la vida!

Y si comento esto es porque esta tarde, mientras me tomaba el café, y luego mientras tenía que realizar varias faenas y encargos, me sentia, cómo decirlo... la mar de feliz! Me gustaba, no sé, ver que al coche aún le quedaba bateria (aunque no gasoil), la luz del sol por la tarde, el par de guantes para fregar que me he comprado... Yo que sé, me sentía bien y eso que ni siquiera estaba usando una compresa de esas tan maravillosas que te hacen ver la vida en colorines.

No es una cosa que pase todos los dias, ni todo el rato, pero pasa. En la vida hay momentos mejores y peores, y esto es una verdad de Perogrullo que la que seguramente sois conscientes muchos de vosotros.

Y no sé por que, pero me molesta que una persona que ha tenido la vida más fácil que yo, que vive mejor que yo, piense que la vida es una mierda. Que lo dijera una víctima de la guerra en Africa, que pasa hambre en un campo de refugiados, pues lo entendería... Pero lo de este hombre tiene delito...

Que cenizos son algunos, conioya!

* Fecha 18/01/2008, entrevista por Victor-M. Amela. Lo digo por que el link va cambiando cada día... La entrevista estará disponible en los archivos dentro de unas semanas si no la podeis leer ahora

Twenty-Four Eyes (1954)

Los comentarios sobre esta película se pueden encontrar en castellano en otra entrada de este blog


Nijushi no hitomi (Twenty-four eyes, 1954)
Based on a novel by Sakae Tsuboi
Director: Keisuke Kinoshita.
Actors: Hideko Takamine, Chishu Ryu, Hideki Goko, Yukio Watanabe, Eisei Amamoto,...
Full credits at imdb.com

An original Shochiku production. I am commenting on the Spanish DVD release of this film by Notro Films

"How difficult is to deal with women and children... they're crying, crying all the time!"

One of the good things of watching a film at home is that, whenever you're watching a good melodrama, you don't shy away from crying openly. And this film is perfect for that. I picked it because a) I love classic Japanese films and b) it's got Hideko Takamine in the lead... If you are already aware of her, I don't need to elaborate further, if you aren't... well, just make yourself acquainted with her work: honest, you won't regret it.

This film won a good deal of awards, in fact, it won the Kinema Jumpo Award as best film of 1955 over no other than Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai", so you get the idea of how successful it was upon its release. The films about teachers are not considered a genre per se, though that subject has given some very memorable movies about learning and growing up, and this film is a fine example. Keisuke Kinoshita deftly directs the film in a beautiful, lyrical way, if inevitably melancholic in its vision of Japan's recent past.

1928. In a little Japanese island, the first year students at school are about to meet their new teacher, the spirited Oichi-san, quickly dubbed by the naughty kids as Koichi-san ("Miss Pebble", a pun, since Oichi means "Big Stone"). Hisako Oichi soon wins her student's hearts with her open smile and her lively manner. Parents, though are not enthusiastic about that young woman who dresses with western clothes and rides a bicycle: too modern a girl for their tiny rural island. But Hisako ultimately earns the respect of the genitors and her older colleagues (who didn't welcome her new methods). Due to an accident, Hisako has to leave for other school, bidding temporary goodbye to her twelve children, who shall meet her again in the sixth year.



When Hisako meets again her students as teenagers, they look towards the future with dreamy eyes, though reality will start soon to show her ugly face. There's a filmic turning point, as the ship in which Hisako and her class are doing a school-trip crosses with the ship where "Miss Pebble"s Husband works as a sailor. The ships approach each other as to lovers who are going to embrace, while the music speeds its tempo. As the ships meet and the travellers and crews wave hands, nobody is aware that these happy days are going to vanish soon.

In fact, in the same trip, Hisako meets one of her students who had to look for a job after her mother's death: forced to be an adult before time, she works in as a waitress in a restaurant where her former teacher stops to have some tea. During the trip, the boys talk about their wish to serve the emperor: dreams of glory which are more appealing to them than the simple life of the island. Hisako is concerned: she doesn't regard war as something desirable, and more when she has grown to love these kids as if they were her own children.

"The colour of the sea and the shape of the mountains remained the same. Tomorrow became today"

Hisako finds out that she's been teaching "forbidden" stuff to her students... In fact, she just thought that she was opening their eyes to the world, but she learns from her superiors -who consider her a "red"- that her duty is to produce patriotic and unquestioning subjects to the Empire's militaristic regime. That implies shutting up and burning prohibited books on the stove. Hisako is not keen on teaching her students to become cannon fodder, so she quits her job ( The situation depicted here was somewhat reminiscent of the film This Land is Mine, and also of Miss Oki's plight in Osamu Tezuka's comic Adolf). Hisako will even be misunderstood by her own son, who thinks that a mother who doesn't want him to become a soldier is cowardly and unpatriotic.

Meanwhile, adulthood starts to take her toll as Hisako's students have to face poverty, disease or her dreams of youth being shattered, and then war. Hisako's life is touched by tragedy as well. A group photo of their first year becomes a symbol of the lost paradise.

War is never actually seen, only its effects on the community. When Hisako's boys are drafted, she goes to the harbor to bid them farewell. As she holds a streamer, held in the other extreme by one of her alumni , we get the ominous feeling that an umbilical cord is a bout to be broken.







The war is over, and Hisako returns to teaching. Heartbroken about the fate of the children she brought up to believe in the future, she will nevertheless be comforted by the survivors of her doomed class, who show her that she didn't sow the seeds in vain -well, sort of-.

Some links:
- Freda Freiberg's review at Senses of Cinema
- Slarek's review at DVD Outsider l
- Joan Mellen's essay on the film at Eureka Video
- Online documents about "Twenty-Four eyes" and other films by Kinoshita atCinefiles

Peter Parker dixit

(Update 18 de Enero: 3 links añadidos)

English Abstract: Not even the webcrawler himself is happy about the OMD conundrum

Que conste que no sólo lo digo yo, mirad que opina el mismísimo trepamuros:

Declaraciones exclusivas en Daredevil, Vol. 1 nº 77. Cronica por Gerry Conway y Cene Colan

Pues eso.

¡Pasen y vean!
De nuevo, unos cuantos links selectos sobre el tema:

- David Willis se pregunta si realmente Spiderman ama a Mary Jane.

- Chip Zdarsky nos revela la exclusiva: la culpa no es de Quesada, en realidad, quién está detras de todo el fregao es ¡Ozimandias! (ya sabeis, el hombre más listo del mundo).

- El primer ciudadano marciano de la blogosfera opina sobre "Brand New... Gay?".

- Keith Giffen reflexiona sobre lo que puede ir mal en el matrimonio de un superheroe".

- "Brand New Art" Rich Johnston y Michael Netzer nos presentan a la competencia de Nelson & Murdock.

- El autor Erik Larsen da su opinión sobre el asunto. No es un partidario del matrimonio, pero cree que las cosas podrían haberse hecho de otra manera (y con él, unos cuantos/as)

Daredevil #103: Crossing lines

Spoiler warning: Review of "Daredevil" Vol. 2 #103. Some plot details are dealt with here, so beware if you haven't read this issue and the previous ones as there are spoilers ahead.

Nota a los seguidores de la edición en Castellano de Panini: para los que sepais inglés, recordad que actualmente hay un año de diferencia entre la edición USA y la española de Daredevil, eso quiere decir que en este post sobre "Daredevil" Vol. 2 #103 se destripan elementos de la trama. Avisados estais.

The issue opens with an spectacular fight on the streets of Hell's Kitchen: Mr. Fear's junkie-ruffians against the Wrecking Crew's Thunderball and Bulldozer. I would say that Fear's men don't stand a freaking chance against those guys... I wonder, is Mr. Fear really interested in taking the streets? So far the Hood seems the winner in this gangfight. Lark draws the scene in a way that makes you realize how powerful the Wrecksters are: the scene is drawn in a very down-to earth, realistic style, which makes one realize further what mayhem people having actually such an unearthly strenghth might create.

The fun thing is that, during this earth-shattering brawl, Daredevil is there. But he's just there sitting and watching. Now-wait-a-minute!? Isn't he jumping right into the fight? Welcome to Murdock's new policy: no Innocent bystander involved, no action. Wow. this is new...

But the Devil has his reasons: his top priority now is Milla, who is the victim of Fear's drugs, which have turned her into a dangerous, murderous person. Matt is aware that his going on the chase of red herrings has made it more easy for his deadly enemy, Mr. Fear/Larry Cranston, to target his wife. So now he just sits and watches, and waits for the right clue to come: the clue that leads him to Cranston. Matt is acting clever this time: he can't afford otherwise.


"Devil-team, assemble!"

It is funny to learn of Matt's new sidekicks: no less than the incomparable duet of Merv and Chico... Yes, you heard well. The interesting thing is that he's got that quid pro quo agreement: he doesn't send them to jail, and they act as their eyes and ears in the streets: Not that anyone there is overenthusiastic, but it's one of those grin and bear situations.

I like that development: as I mentioned in comments on previous issues, I like Daredevil not being a lone hero all the goshdarned time, I like him making good use of his supporting team, and have them helping instead of being mere spectators. Till now, I was mighty glad to have Foggy, Decky, Dakota Inspector Kurtz or the Black Tarantula lending a hand to good ol' Hornhead. The partnership with Merv and Chico, though, picks up an old tradition: remember when, in the Kesel and Nocenti times, the Fatboys and neighbours of Daredevil would help the Crimson Swashbuckler? I'm glad Matt is resorting to someone more than just himself and his enhanced senses & radar. Networking is the word, O yeah!


"Huh-oh...."

Merv and Chico's information lead Matt to the premises of Doc Parker's (the supervillain equivalent of the Night Nurse), where Fancy Dan is recovering from his wounds: Matt lets Dan know that he's going to forget he's a poor freshly-stitched convalescent if he doesn't tell him where the Ox is. Dan, at realizing that Matt is no longer Mr. Nice Guy, sings La Traviata. And Matt finds Ox. And Matt gets the Ox... And let's him know that he's going to do "Whatever it takes" to get to Cranston: and he solid means it!

Matt not sticking to the Geneva Conventions of the eternal Good vs. Evil brawl sets up a new scenario for the character. Maybe the theme of this issue, of this saga, is that Daredevil is ready to cross a line.

I recall a discussion in online forums about the nature of the line, and most people were considering that Matt, in his rage, might be capable of actually killing Mr. Fear when he gets at him... But the line he seems to be crossing here is as nasty as murder would be, because it would appear that Daredevil is going to resort to torture if required... I'm not talking about the usual villain-clobbering here, but about methods that the torture specialists of the specialists of former South-American dictatorships would resort to. So far it seems that it's just the menace of doing it, rather than actually doing the nasty deed. Not that this makes me feel easy, as a reader... I know, Matt feels his enemies have crossed the limits, and wants to send a message back which sounds loud and clear, yet Matt had been always concerned about right and justice, and this was one of the ethical strongpoints of him as a hero... I wonder if this is, actually, Cranston's real objective: to corner the hero and make him loose his halo, and turn him into a vicious, vendetta-thirsty fiend... Not unlike hunting the ermine by surrounding it with a circle of mud.


Mr. Nelson getting a new perspective of things

Matt is not the only one to cross a line, though, his loyal partner Foggy Nelson, in order to save Milla, uses Lily's pheromone power to convince the DA Assistant about Lily's sudden change in her version of the facts, something which would sound hard to beleve to any prosecutor, but not a prosecutor charmed by Lily's smell. Foggy is aware that he's using a lie to save his best friend's wife, and in so doing, he's playing dirty. His relationship with Lily is full of subtleties: witnessing, as an spectator, the effects of her pheromone power, Foggy is disgusted: he can't dislike her, but he doesn't trust her either. I believe that the mere thought of being susceptible himself to Lily's power notably disturbs the Fogster. With Brubaker being so respectful of past continuity, I bet he has Nelson recalling uneasily when his ex-wife Debbie manipulated him into lying to harm Matt and Becky, back in the Micah Synn saga.

I mentioned previously how I liked Lark's take on action scenes, but he also handles quieter indoor scenes as the one here with great skill. The interplay between the three characters is worthy of a Mankiewicz film.

A further notion which I got in this issue is that Lily might, after all, be really innocent, and not an accomplice of Fear, as widely suspected, only that her well-meaning attemps to help and are often the harbinger of disasters. Lily, even before her being powered-up by Cranston perfume, was already a girl who grew in a golden cage, a spoiled creature used to do what he pleases without being contradicted: her annoyed look whenever Foggy, politely but firmly, says her "no", is very telling. Maybe the most dangerous thing about her is her lack of awareness.

...And well, little else to add, except that I'm hooked waiting for next issue (where a lot of things are set to happen)

Querido señor Quesada...

English Abstract: OMD! OMG! The horror... the horror...

"El cuerpo me pide guerra: ¡¡Atenea dame fuersas!!"

No sé, que quiere que le diga... Puestos a recurrir a la magia potagia para resolver un nudo gordiano producido por décadas de continuidad y una ristra de guiones cuestionables, ¿No podía haber recurrido, que le diría yo... a Mary Poppins?

Porque pienso yo que con un poco de azucar igual nos tragábamos mejor esa rueda de molino que nos da para comulgar, tra-la-rá.

¡Pasen y vean!
A aquellos/as chicarrones y mozas curtidos que no le tengan miedo a nada (incluidos los spoilers y el film "Garganta profunda") os invito a visitar los siguientes links:

En primer lugar, vean a Joe Q confesando su crimen con espeluznante detalle en Comic Book resources :
Primera parte...
...y ahora viene la segunda, que es la mas interesante:
la tiraron al barranco... (tercera parte)
...la tiraron al barranco... (cuarta parte)
...La tiraron al barranco, toda vestida de blanco (quinta parte)

Vean también la réplica del sufrido señor Straczynski.

Y para desengrasar un poco, diviertanse con la propuesta alternativa de Bully, el torito relleno ;D

Le voy a pedir cine japones a los reyes de oriente

Queridos Reyes Magos,

Como este año me he portado muy bien, os voy a pedir una lata de diez películas de Kenji Mizoguchi que edita DeAPlaneta... Mira por donde, os va a salir barato porque esas películas salieron hace un par de años en dos paquetes separados (ada paquete valía más de lo que vale esta edición conjunta)... Vamos, que suerte que no me los trajísteis en años anteriores.

Os pediría más pelis, porque, la verdad es que para los que nos gusta el cine japonés clasico es una buena época... o mala segun lo mireis: porque se está editando tanto material que una no da abasto... y en lo que a vosotros respecta, no quiero jorobar a los camellos, que bastante faena tienen ya.

Veamos: Filmax ya va por su cuarta serie de "maestros del cine japonés", Notro Films también está recuperando películas estupendas, de las que ha ha sacado DeAPlaneta creo que las tendré casi todas si me traeis lo de Mizoguchi, pero creo que me voy a pasar varios años para que me traigais todo lo que está ahora en el mercado.... en fín, "amb el temps i una canya" que decimos por quí...

Otra cosa si que os pediría: que a ver si a alguien se le ocurre editar aquí "Crisantemos Tardíos", "Nubes de Verano", "Diario de una vagabunda" y "El relámpago" de Mikio Naruse... Bueno, y si quieren editar el resto de la filmografía de Naruse inédita, pues por mi estupendo.