Miel de Maple

It’s been six months since my grand-mother passed away. She died at the age of 76 because of ventilatory complications; she was as hard-core smoker.

The same night she died I had a dream with her. I can’t remember it at all but we were having a big time just chatting and smoking like chimneys.

Ancients believed dreams were visitations which could predict the future or carry messages. I feel more sympathetic for Freud’s Interpretation Of Dreams: dreams as messages from our deep-self, as a resource of inner knowledge and a key for self-description. But, who knows?

Farewell, Grandmother…

Now you can start listening to my podcast!

It’s called “A Dar El Rols Rois“, it’s in Spanish and the drill is much like this blog: a smart-young look to everything that could worry a college student.

I can’t wait ’till Saturday to start recording Episode Two: my co-host, Hector Flores, is going to buy a new mic (a fancy SM-58), I’m going to start recording in Pro Tools and we’re having a special guest in the show.

Suscribe to the feed with iTunes.

Visit our Liberated Syndication website.

Or become a fan in Facebook.

Back in 2006 while on a business trip in Southern Spain, I came to met someone really special. Her name is Malia Walsh (MS) and she is the hottest performing artist I’ve seen, I mean… she is a fire specialist.

Know more about acrobatics as a lifestyle and imagine the feel of flame’s thermal radiation with this 7-question interview about Malia’s career in circus and her vision of life.

hZ: I believe performing arts require a special dose of discipline. How is it involved in your life and in your training?
MS: I train 6 days a week and on top of that I’ll have 4 or 5 gigs, rehearsals and workshops (which are the most exhausting). I usually train for about 4 hours and fill the rest of my day with emails, show proposals, venue inspections, costume stuff and stretching. But I wouldn’t call what I do disciplined…. I’d call it fun.

I love the people I work with and rehearsals are filled with giggles. Training is hard but usually causes you to fall on your arse… more giggles. Teaching is wonderful because of the delight in students faces and gig’s are just the best, weeks worth of work crammed into an explosive 10-min of adrenaline.

hZ: Fire hoop’s, flaming poi and life as a fire girl looks like a risky business. Are your decisions  and personal life so fearless?
MS: I think choosing the arts for a carrier choice is fearless: never knowing when your next pay is coming, artistic block, never having any job security and risk of injury is bloody terrifying. But I love what I do and I’d only be half a person if I had a normal job. I guess I do like to jump off buildings, climb tall tree’s and drive really fast… is that fearless or is just stupidity?

hZ: What about love? Would it be easy for you to start a relationship with an “average” citizen who’s thrills reside on pie charts or excel spreadsheets?
MS: Ahhh love…. that’s a tricky one! I think that if you really love someone you are happy that they are pursuing their dreams, even if it means you don’t see them for a while. As the saying goes distance make the heart grow fonder. As for falling for someone who gets his thrills from spreadsheets, I’m a little nerd at heart. I too get a little excited by excel, I’m overly organized, I’m not very fashionable and I’m secretly a big fan Dr Who, eeeeekkkk!!!

hZ: Have you ever feel isolated while touring across countries? 
MS: Touring can be very isolating, it sound very glamourous but you usually live in this little bubble of venues and hotel rooms. You see the sites from a car window as you are on your way to the airport and you are so exhausted from back to back shows. Sounds very depressing right, but the minute I ever feel isolated I roll out of my hotel room and find the closest bar, not to get drunk but to slide up to whoever is there and hear their story. People are amazing and every one has an incredible story, you just gotta get it out of them.

hZ: Has Australia a long heritage on circus stuff? Tell us a little more about it!
MS: Australia has a relatively short circus history compared to Europe and Asia, the first circus only arrived in Oz in the late 1830’s.  The Romans had a sort of circus in the Coliseum, and the Chinese have been doing acrobatics since, well, forever really.

Australia being fairly new to circus has it’s advantages though, we were inspired by some of the greatest Circus’ of the world… the Russians, American Equestrians, Japanese, Italian, etc. Therefore, I think we have a fresh and eclectic take on what circus is to us. We still have a long way to go before we are recognized for our circus, but maybe one day circus, not beer, will be our biggest export. For some examples look up Circus Oz, Acrobat and Snuff Puppets.

hZ: For you, what’s the extra ingredient needed to be an outstanding performer?
MS: Emotion and a story without a doubt. We are all so spoilt these days with outstanding performers that can do the most amazing things with their bodies. Almost everyone has either been to or seen a Cirque du Soleil and they are truly amazing, they make my jaw drop every time. But when I see someone in a small Cabaret pour their heart out onstage making love to a hula hoop or showing how much they hate their brother through the art of juggling, that stuff takes guts and personality, that stuff takes my breath away.

hZ: What’s the oldest image of fire you can find in your memory?
MS: I remember camping in the great Murray River in the Australian outback. I would have been about 5 or 6 and I remember building a great big bond fire with all the fellow campers, it would have been 10 times my height… Huge!

All the kids had balloons for some reason and being a little anarchist I threw mine into the fire. Amazingly, the balloon didn’t pop, the heat of the fire made the balloon soar into the night sky.  Sure enough all the kids who were camping threw all the balloons into the fire watching them fly into the air… hours and hours of fun.

Being so little I knew to stay away from the fire as it was dangerous, but this was the first time I saw how beautiful and powerful it could be… t’was the start of a very long and happy love affair with flames.

We interrupt our regular scheduled programming to bring you important news regarding the new flu virus that terrorizes Mexico City.

A deadly and brand-new menace has arrived to Mexico City. Its 10 ^ 11 times smaller than Godzilla but still, creates fear, confusion, paranoia, and a death toll that could rise to 68 fatalities. Ladies and gentleman, our city is probably the ground zero of a worrisome new swine flu strain which combines genetic material from pigs, birds and humans.

Schools, museums and public libraries were closed on Friday. Public events were canceled by city mayor Marcelo Ebrard from now to 10 days and people in the streets, bars, public transportation, restaurants and almost everywhere, is wearing surgical masks.

The victims, surprisingly, are not the weary elderly nor the powerless childhood but the always spry and handsome young-adulthood.

Until now, no vaccine specifically protects against this new threat, so even if you had your influenza shot the last winter, it’s OK to start feeling an uncontrollable fear and anxiety.

In the meanwhile, wash your hands as often as possible, avoid hospitals unless of a medical emergency (but pay a visit immediately at the first flu symptoms), hold back from kissing girls or even shaking hands with strangers and avoid any kind of crowded places.

Good luck!

“I love BJ”.

Or sort of. But don’t get me wrong, I’m just quoting a slogan from the political party Nueva Alianza.

In the vicinity of the legislative elections that will take place on July 5, 2009, in Mexico, the self-proclaimed liberal party is helding a “I love NY“-inspired campaign in the municipality of Benito Juarez (BJ), one of the 16 boroughs that constitute Mexico City. 

Other than this posters I haven’t seen any other kind of advertisement, needless to say any kind of information, but the phrase and its relationship with other sort of BJs, just keep me smiling every time I see it. ;)

I was born and bred  in the district of Benito Juarez. I remember my childhood and adolescence in its streets: riding my first bicycle, playing football or just walking at dawn after a long party.

But besides good memories there are factual reasons to love the place if you are one of the approximately 356-thousand lucky BJed inhabitants of the place.

According to a Human Development Report from the United Nations (1), the borough of Benito Juarez, is supposed to have a similar life expectancy and level of economic and educational development as in Italy or New Zealand, which held the fancy nineteenth and twentieth place respectively.

Half of the economically active population of the district is employed  in  the tertiary sector  of the economy. From each 100 residences, 93 have a refrigerator, 86 enjoy telephone service and 60% of them own a car. 

In addition to  Human Development Index numbers, you should also know that BJ is the motherland of the poet Valentín Gómez Farías and Fernández de Lizardi, the writer of The Mangy Parrot, the first novel written and published in Latin America.

So, yes indeed, I love BJs.

It was a calm Sunday evening. With no big plans or big expectations, merely a waiting room for an inexorable Monday. A day in which a simple visit to the cinema sounded like a plan, or at least, like a way to comfortably surf the remaining hours.
The movie? The Unborn (2009). The experience? Let me explain you:

Besides porn and horror, I can’t recall another film genre with such bad stories, unconvincing acting and bad music. It doesn’t matter how much they spend on special effects, how much computer-generated imagery has evolved or how pretty or blond the porn-star is, both genres are an ode to “bad taste”.

Now think about all the horror films you watched since the mid-nineties. Can you remember something relevant about them? Surely nothing with the exception of a blurry memory of hot chicks and mildly erotic scenes. Yeah! of course there are some interesting and thrilling horror films. And, sure thing! Odette Yustman looks hot in sleepwear. 

So, are horror movies an excuse to  soft-core pornography? Did Victor Salva think: Jeepers Creepers is such a good movie that it’s going to make of this world a better place? I’m not sure but, why not? Possibly,  he was aware that this kind of movies work better as mood setters than as cinematographic pieces, and what he wants you to do with his films is to invite your current affair to your house, put on the DVD, relax and let your witty movements and fearless strategy make you become the movie hero. 

However a call from you saying: “My parent’s aren’t home. Want to see The Texas Chainsaw Massacre tonight?” can only have one signified.

PS: The illustration is supposed to be a disappointed phantom.

Hey! Glad to see you.
Just wanted to suggest some great albums and share the pleasure they have given me.

Ulver: Perdition City.

It was an everyday afternoon in high-school. A friend of mine took his discman out of his knap-sack and said: listen to this, I think you are gonna like it. He put the first track and in a few seconds, there was something inside me saying: I’ve been waiting 16 years to hear something like this.

Perdition City is the fifth studio LP of the norwegian band Ulver. Its themes are passionate, full of  melancholy and their development, intelligent and fierce. The ultra high-frequency textures across the entire album will make you remember Pierre Henry, but along with a lot of cool synths, beats, clicks, cuts and an audacious digital production you can hear the drums, distort and lyrics of a true rock band.

A deep and  cinematographic experience with every listening.

Steve Jansen: Slope

Jansen’s first album is simply wonderful. So carefully produced, and able to arouse such intense feelings, that I’m sure David Sylvian is, again, jealous of his baby brother.

It’s something difficult to describe. It sounds like ambient, prog and experimental electronica mixed with delicate vocals and contemporary arrangements.

The mood of the album is a strange feeling between happiness and nostalgia, perhaps like crying when remembering something wonderful that is gone. 

Something to listen carefully on a quiet afternoon.

Maybe it’s because your work demands a considerable amount of socializing,  or because you recently overcome a serial and uninspiring adolescence, or maybe it’s just because your life is tremendously hip, but the fact is that you are concerned with etiquette (and hence, style).

You have developed a chromatographic nose for wine, an incredible sense of fashion and you try to put on practice the genuine and timeless habits of a true gentleman; still, you answer your cellphone in company of the new girl you invited to that fancy restaurant. Jesus… 

You don’t look cool placing your mobile on the table and you look worst when answering. Fancy or romantic restaurants aren’t public booths. Relax, enjoy your meal and call back Mr. Gutierrez. 

The same goes for movie theaters and any other kind of auditorium: silence is expected. And, unless you have a justification like: “Excuse me, it’s a call from the hospital. The pop is in the intensive care unit  and they were supposed to call in case they needed authorization to start resuscitation attempts”, stay away of your phone on any date (no matter how boring), one-to-one conversations (business meetings included) and dinners.

Discretion is advised on any other circumstances, such as elevators or public transportation.

Some final words: Cell phones, regardless of their cost, doesn’t make you  look connected, sophisticated or hot. Headsets remind me kids with phony walkie-talkies transmitting to imaginary commandos: wear them intensively only to convey the impression of imaginary clients and colleagues.

I’m a Software Engineer, believe me when I say: Technology is an ungrateful biatch, treat it correspondingly.

This post is dedicated to my friend, Arturo T, who is annoyingly fond to microwave communications.

What’s the sound of war on the poor? Maybe it’s like a noisy blender, a controversial and desolate silence, an experimental opera or something else.

PublicRec, an internet-based archive of the Ultra-red organization, asked this same question to several people, including worldwide audio artists, and published a two-volume compilation with their 1-minute replies.

Volume two features my very own answer. Go ahead!

During this week (and thanks to a logistic miscalculation of my airline), I had the chance to visit, for the second time, the city of Monterrey and its superb Contemporary Art Museum (AKA MARCO).

MARCO “targets on promoting  international contemporary art with a particular bent towards Latin American visual arts” and is, by itself, an impressive work of art designed by the Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta.

The current exhibitions feature the oneiric work of mexican painter, María Izquierdo, and a vast retrospective of  English sculptor, Antony Gormley.  

Gormley’s work is a serious thought about the body and its relationship with its environment wrapped in a playful and spectacular way. Definitely, a must during this winter season.

If you live in the city or if you are lucky enough to visit Machaca’s potentially birthplace, pay a visit to this exhibition held until March 2009. Hurry up!