Recent Ph. D Readings

Cool graphic, pending.
So I'm getting distracted. But I wanted to let my fellow hispanists know about an amazing book, La muerte de Alec. It's a Columbian novel by Jaramillo and it's got some cool pseudo-Borgesian detective things going on. If you get a chance, it's a quick read.
In other news, I just read El lugar sin límites. After overcoming my initial shock, I really enjoyed the novel.
And now I need to stop getting distracted and finish reading El falso cuaderno de Narciso Espejo. Ciao for now.

Ultimate Frisbee

In case you didn't see this on my wife's facebook page, I thought I'd share the laughs (It's by the lead singer of Nerf Herder, Parry Gripp).

The uncanny valley

So yes, I freely admit I listen to NPR. My wife thinks it's boring, but even she may admit that this is fascinating. I was listening to a discussion of the uncanny valley and thought it would interest my fellow post-human scholars. It talks about the uncanny valley and the problems of animating people who are too realistic (or who have creepy eyes). You can read or listen to it here.

And for those of you who enjoy the story from a slightly different angle, enjoy this cool bonus link!

The Sound of Silence

I was listening to this song before Cluff's class today. I've heard it many times. Those of you who have had Dr. Stallings will probably see why this caught my ear.

"Sound of Silence"

Hello darkness, my old friend,
Ive come to talk with you again,
Because a vision softly creeping,
Left its seeds while I was sleeping,
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence.

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone,
neath the halo of a street lamp,
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of
A neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence.

The line "My eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light" jumped out at me. Notice before the other words about eyes and visions "the vision softly creeping"

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more.
People talking without speaking,
People hearing without listening,
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence.

Fools said I, you do not know
Silence like a cancer grows.
Hear my words that I might teach you,
Take my arms that I might reach you.
But my words like silent raindrops fell,
And echoed
In the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon God they made.
And the sign flashed out its warning,
In the words that it was forming.
And the signs said, the words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls.
And whispered in the sounds of silence

We then move from eyes to ears. The message doesn't arrive at it's destination, even with the flashing neon sign "stabbing" our eyes. I love Simon and Garfunkel. What poets!


Check out the song here if you need a refresher

Can we trust the experts?

After watching F for Fake I thought this article about Frida Kahlo was fascinating. A "trove" of Frida Kahlo's art was supposedly discovered. Some experts say it's absolutely authentic and others can "tell" from reproduced images that it's fake. I noticed that neither those who authenticated the art or those that called it a fake had very good grounds. It feels a lot like the Welles' movie....



Kahlo Trove: Fact or Fakery

Vampires in the news: A dream come true

I think I could not have asked Guillermo del Toro to write a better op ed piece. It's Frankenstein meets Dracula meets Tom Cohen writing about technology in literature (or film). It's fantastic (bad pun intended)! Enjoy.

"Despite our obsessive harnessing of information, we are still ultimately vulnerable to our fates and our nightmares. We enthrone the deadly virus in the very same way that “Dracula” allowed the British public to believe in monsters: through science. Science becomes the modern man’s superstition. It allows him to experience fear and awe again, and to believe in the things he cannot see.

And through awe, we once again regain spiritual humility. The current vampire pandemic serves to remind us that we have no true jurisdiction over our bodies, our climate or our very souls. Monsters will always provide the possibility of mystery in our mundane “reality show” lives, hinting at a larger spiritual world; for if there are demons in our midst, there surely must be angels lurking nearby as well. In the vampire we find Eros and Thanatos fused together in archetypal embrace, spiraling through the ages, undying.

Forever."



You can read the full text here:

Why Vampires Never Die

I finally finished Cien años de soledad. Many thoughts to come but for now, I need to read Paul's paper again now that I know what it's about. Hopefully I'll get a copy of La Marca sometime soon....