Monday, September 6, 2010
After the boxing matches the lucha libre starts, in the basement of a gym at the corner of Buenos Aires and Independencia, down two flights of thincarpeted steps, in a ring lit by floodlamps.
La Lucha Libre – ValparaÃso – Chile from paulboccaccio on Vimeo.
The skinny kid dressed like a neglected Mortal Kombat sketch is called Elementál, and the guy in bike shorts with the muffintop named himself Bestia, which I think roughly translates to “The Awesome One.” One fellow painted half his face white, but through shenanigans wiped his cheekbone almost clean. The winner was the “Arab,” named Zardoz, complete with a head scarf, a scowl, a potbelly, and sitar theme music. Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to sit by the wall and duck when they throw plastic chairs.
Monday, September 6, 2010
LORD POLONIUS: My lord, the queen would speak with you, and presently.
HAMLET: Do you see yonder cloud that’s almost in shape of a camel?
LORD POLONIUS: By the mass, and ’tis like a camel, indeed.
HAMLET: Methinks it is like a weasel.
LORD POLONIUS: It is backed like a weasel.
HAMLET: Or like a whale?
LORD POLONIUS: Very like a whale.
HAMLET: Then I will come to my mother by and by. They fool me to the top of my bent. I will come by and by.
—William Shakespeare, Hamlet
What looks like a camel and a weasel and a whale? A toady.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Falling asleep, with a vague impression of anti-aircraft guns firing, found myself mentally back in the Spanish war, on one of those nights when you had a good straw to sleep on, dry feet, several hours rest ahead of you, and the sound of distant gunfire, which acts as a soporific provided it is distant.
—George Orwell, his diary 8-31-40
Saturday, September 4, 2010
1. Find a subject you care about.
2. Do not ramble, though.
3. Keep it simple.
4. Have the guts to cut.
5. Sound like yourself.
6. Say what you mean to say.
7. Pity the readers.
—Kurt Vonnegut, quoted in Science Fictionisms
Things to keep in mind until you no longer need to keep them in mind.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Since I was in Buenos Aires on Jorge Luis Borges’s birthday, I thought there would be some hubbub or revel, but there was none. I found a tour of the houses in which he lived, and other sites important to him, and walked the route. Some of them, like the first, where he grew up, have been knocked down and replaced by apartment buildings, and none of those still standing wanted strangers. But the walk through the city was lovely, and a pleasant way to spend the day.
Zoobound Giraffe – Buenos Aires, Argentina from paulboccaccio on Vimeo.
JardÃn Japonés – Buenos Aires, Argentina from paulboccaccio on Vimeo.
Waterfall, JardÃn Japonés – Buenos Aires, Argentina from paulboccaccio on Vimeo.
Carp Frenzy, JardÃn Japonés – Buenos Aires, Argentina from paulboccaccio on Vimeo.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
I don’t think he really knows how to play that well, but I gave him some money anyway.
Bagpipe busker – Buenos Aires, Argentina from paulboccaccio on Vimeo.
Piazzolla Tango, a café dedicated to Astor Piazzolla in the restored Teatro Florida, keeps a wall of photographs, one of Piazzolla’s bandoneons, and one of his arrangements, framed, written in his own hand (with notes in marker).
Ãstor Piazzolla’s bandoneon – Buenos Aires, Argentina from paulboccaccio on Vimeo.
Arrangement handwritten by Ãstor Piazzolla – Buenos Aires, Argentina from paulboccaccio on Vimeo.
Teatro Florida – Buenos Aires, Argentina from paulboccaccio on Vimeo.
Noble in the sound which
marks the pale ease
of their dreams, they ride
the bel canto of our time: the patient en-
circlement of Narcissus &
as he pines I too
am wan with fever,
have fears which set
the vanished child above
reproach. Cry as you
will, take what you
need, the night is young
and limitless our greed.
—Jeremy Prynne, “Love,” from White Stones