Epic Roadtrip!

As a person who values science and it's explanatory mechanisms, I have alway rejected superstition as a way to understand the events of my life. Instead of relying on the concept of luck, I choose to blame all of my daily ocurrences on the laws of probability. However, a series of very fortunate events this past week have forced me to accept that I am, indeed, a very lucky guy. 

A friend of mine asked me a favor. He wanted me to fly to San Diego and drive his new SUV back to Vancouver, all expenses paid. Given that the Pacific Coast Highway has always been in the top tier of my "List of things to do before I die", I instantly said YES.. A day later, I realized that Coachella would be happening on the same weekend that I would have to fly to San Diego! 

To make this story short, I'm blogging from a bus that will take me from Vancouver to Seattle. I will then board a plane that will take me to California, to meet all of my good friends. I'll be rocking in the Palm Desert for three days, listening to some of my favorite bands. Then, I'll start an epic road trip by myself from San Diego to Vancouver, with stops in L.A., Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Frisco, Napa, Portland, and Seattle. 

The itinerary is obviously very flexible... so please, dear readers, send me some suggestions! 

p.s. hooray for buses with Wi-Fi. And yes, I do intend to visit Malibu, in honor of the Dude.

Animated me

Reenacting one of my childhood nightmares.

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Loftcube

"Imagine a place where your neighbors fly, and windows are 360º wide. A place where you can work, relax...and share life with your friends. Imagine the possibilities...of living on a rooftop. Welcome to the Loftcube! A living unit for passionate individuals. See you on the rooftop."

Jajaja. Creo que para la Condesa la campaña sería, "Imagina cambiar tus tinacos por... LOFTS, goooeeeiii"

In Vancouver, of course, this would contravene a number of bylaws protecting the flight paths of endangered winged species.

Omegle

My friend Chris shared this link today and I think he doesn't know the potentially devastating effect it can have on me. I love talking to people, especially to random strangers! Yes, I'm one of those people that turns around and talks to you in the bus, or tells you what cereal he likes at the supermarket. So Chris, thank you... this will officially be the end of my leisure time.

OMEGLE

The Watchmen

I'm waiting impatiently for tomorrow's release of the movie The Watchmen. Following in the footsteps of many a hipster, I've had the comic sitting in my bookshelf for about a year, acquiring the dust that invariably settles on projects that are indefinitely postponed. 

I must confess that I was one of those poor souls that first heard about The Watchmen in 2008, when news about the movie's production was already in the airwaves. And yes, I was also one of the many hundreds of sheep that payed attention to the book only after seeing it lying around in one of those temples of hipsterdom, Urban Outfitters. 

Like a new pair of Onitsuka Tigers, the bright yellow cover was too cool to ignore. Like an avid consumer of trends, I relaxed my muscles and let the store decide what I needed to have. And so I bought the book, skimmed through it on the way home, and shelved it thinking I would get to it eventually. 

Months passed, moths sat on it, and it was only after I saw the poster for the movie two weeks ago that I realized I had an urgent date with a comic book. Today I'm at the last chapter and my mind is racing in all directions. The moral dilemmas of vigilantism mixed with philosophical considerations of the value of life on Earth, all wrapped in a superhero story full of intrigue and placed in the middle of Cold War geopolitical dilemmas, is simply too complex and incredible to describe in this simple post! 

I understand that to many of you I'll sound like an idiot who all of a sudden realizes that the White Album is pure genius and tells you "duuude, you have to listen to that band, The Beatles"... but to all of you who haven't discovered The Watchmen, this book is not just a fad, it is literature at its best, and I suggest you read it! 

P.S. For a more academic reading on The Watchmen, Prof. Jason Dittmer discusses the comic's treatment of the Nietzchean dilemma of the Superman (Übermensch) in his article "The Tyranny of the Serial: Popular Geopolitics, the Nation, and Comic Book Discourse" (Antipode, Volume 39, Issue 2, p. 253).

Slumdog Millioncrap

Tonight will probably serve as confirmation that the Oscars are not (and never have been) a measure of good cinema. According to most predictions, Slumdog Millionaire will win best picture and many of its other 10 nominations. I simply don't understand. To me, Slumdog Millionaire was not worth the 8 dollars I paid to see it. Yes, it's about the life of a slumdog that becomes a millionaire. Wow, never heard of anything like it. And yes, the plot moves through a series of constant flashbacks of the kid's life. Wow, how original. Then there's a good brother and a bad brother. Wow, such intrigue. And then, believe it or not, they both fight for a girl and in the end, the good brother gets the girl! Unbelievable.

Now, if we forget this painful and cliché ridden plot for a second, what do we have left? Spectacular actors? Hell no! (unless you're into soap opera style fakeness) A groundbreaking message? Pleeease. Good laughs? Yeah, maybe that scene when the kid jumps into a pile of feces was fun...and maybe one or two of the scenes had interesting lighting. But is the Academy really going to give this mediocre film the Oscar for Best Picture?? If the Oscars were really about recognizing good cinema, Milk would be the top choice of the night.

Needless to say, I agree completely with the more serious criticism by Chei Amlani.

--------------------------- update Feb 23 -------------------------------

I really don't understand how Slumdog won best film yesterday. I guess Hollywood was hit hard by the "Exotic" factor and the Academy was hypnotized by the saturated colors, like kids in a candy shop. 

Anyway, my friends Miriam and Juan Pablo shared a couple of excellent reviews, one by Anthony Lane, the other by David Denby.

Y luego está este graaan post de Uno y Uno Son Demasiados.

Human Rights

Ahhh the marvelous world of animation...

Last term paper

It's 3am and I'm writing my LAST term paper. Wow! If it wasn't for the caffeine pumping through my body, I can assure you that I would almost be able to feel the premature nostalgia. Anyway, given that this last undergraduate all-nighter is a very special event for me, I hereby grant you blogfans the chance to read the intro paragraph to my (still unfinished) last term paper:

When writing about international affairs, newspaper reporters express themselves through a particular geopolitical discourse. Their news reports use claims about geography to paint a vision of the world that situates their stories and their arguments in a specific ideological realm. Given that most popular newspapers are owned by large corporations, the geopolitical assumptions inherent in the stories they publish can be indicative of their political or economic agendas. Thus, by analyzing newspaper reporting and identifying the particular inclinations of the writers, it is possible to challenge a story’s air of objectivity and unmask the hidden bias towards a specific discourse.

In this context, the present essay will explore newspaper reporting of a military deal signed between the United States and Poland on August 14, 2008, where Poland agreed to allow the installation of American missile silo’s in its territory. The move was controversial and aroused strong criticism from the Russian government, who interpreted the deal as an affront to its national security. The first part of the essay will present a brief history of the issue. Then, the essay will analyze four news stories on the issue that were published on the same week by four different sources: The New York Times, Fox News, The Independent, and The Daily Telegraph. By deliberately choosing two American and two British sources, and a left leaning and right leaning source in each country, the essay pretends to explore geopolitical differences based on the newspapers’ ideological lines. Also, choosing articles from the same week helps to control for differences in information that may accrue when comparing stories published within a larger time frame. The essay will ultimately argue that by favoring a specific world view while marginalizing others through their geographic assumptions, each news source displays a distinct political agenda.

Econ Final

Aaaaaaaaaa. It's 3pm and in half an hour I'll be sitting down taking my last ever undergrad Economics final. Dang. I'm nervous and excited. And I just had to share that. Fingers crossed.











-----------------------------update-7pm--------------------------

Yes! The exam went great! As my mother would say, "train hard, fight easy." Wise woman. Now I have to eat something and start writing my last term paper, due tomorrow at 3pm. Dang.

You're one of those...

I love it when someone you know suddenly figures you out. It's especially funny when they summarize the "essence of you" in a simple, totalizing phrase.

Today, I was sitting on a comfortable couch studying for a final with my friend Olivia, interrupting her every now and then with a comment or one of my random stories. And then, in what seemed like a sudden epiphany, she put down her book, looked at me straight in the eye, and said:

"Oh my God. You're one of those people that socialize while waiting in line at the bank."

A sudden silence. And then....

"My grandma would slap you in the face."

Hahahaha.

Hitchcock's hiccups

I don't have much time to write this week, but my friend Dana shared this and I couldn't resist posting it.



(all together now, "Thaaaank you Danaaaa")

As a result, as a result, as a result.

As a result of being in the library for six hours, I found this utterly amusing:

We the Patriots

I'm writing a term paper addressing the issue of representation of women's bodies by feminist artists. My research today led me to a piece by Barbara Kruger that I had never seen before: "Untitled" (Questions). The artist appropriates the image of the American flag and fills it with questions about authority and power. In this sense, the image invites the viewer to contest the idea of patriotism and forces a critical (feminist) look at American values.



By questioning the values that this flag represents, Kruger's image made me think of all the American flags that today wave freely atop military bases in Afghanistan, Iraq, Guantanamo, etc. It made me think about the freedom and justice embedded in the stars and stripes, and how these waving stars and stripes must look ridiculous when juxtaposed to the nighttime stars and scars of occupied lands. (And who better to explain this hypocrisy of American values than Don Mitchell in his famous "You Who Are The Bureaucrats of Empire, Remember Who We Are.")

This also reminded me of the recent US election. It made me think not only about the enormous patriotic pride generated by Obama's victory, but also about the wave of false patriotism that the McCain-Palin camp unleashed when they rhetorically divided the country into "real America" and "_____ America." Two visions of patriotism, one inclusive, one divisive. (Is any of them desirable?)

p.s. in a few days, Mexico celebrates the anniversary of the Mexican Revolution, a struggle that generated much of the imagery that has been used and reused as symbols of Mexican national pride. I wonder if this celebration is not just recycled patriotism and protocol but still means anything at all. (an interesting viewpoint with Andrés)

Visual premonition?

It's 2 pm on this historic election Tuesday and I came across an image in the NY Times that caught my attention. To me, it correctly depicts the attitudes of both candidates during the last stretch of this race:













McCain looks worried, insecure. He has an awkward, forced smile. His hands make him look uncomfortable with himself. It is the image of a man that is almost embarassed, that doesn't want his picture taken today. His eyes have an air of avoidance. He reminds me of the "He's a Muslim" incident, and of the fear rhetoric of this past week. His face here and his attitude in the last stretch of the electoral race reflect the feelings of a man that is unsure of achieving victory.

Obama is standing confident, strong. His pose indicates that he wants this picture taken because he feels comfortable today. His right arm is held high, proudly showing a card, his left is resting calmly on his side. It feels as if he's thinking, "the polls are on my side so I'll have nothing to explain tonight." He is making strong eye-contact, but is not smiling...he retains an air of urgency, expressing the seriousness of today's voting. This attitude reminds me of his last speeches, where he appeared self-assured about the merits of the campaign, but still reminded his listeners that the race was not over.

The way the diptych is constructed drives me towards Obama. Not only do we read from left to right in the languages that I speak, but McCain's eyes push me outside the picture to the left, whereas Obama's bring me into the picture, to the center third of the image, where the important subject is his confident hand.

My point? That this image speaks a thousand words, mostly unfavorable to McCain. I hope this is a premonition of tonight's results.