The world at my feet

Many blogs are talking about Charles Manson’s record released under Creative Commons. It’s well-known Manson not only had a sympathy for the Devil but also for the rock stars. He has finally realized his dreams. I presume many people will download this record, evil is always fascinating. But I advise you against doing it. How will you feel when your notebook throws up and does somersaults? What will you do when your iPod starts “frying” every time you pass by a church or a crucifix? Follow my advice. Nowadays, it’s hard to find an exorcist. Now, I hope Evil doesn’t pick on me because I have spiked his guns. I feel a bit strange.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy All work and no play makes jack a dull boy All work and no play makes Ja 

Photo by mondopanno

I like Almodóvar, I’ve seen all his films. I suggest you to get his two first movies: “Pepi, Luci, Bom and Other Girls on the Heap” and “Labyrinth of Passion”. They are two mad, outrageous, entertaining cult movies that fully express the free spirit of La Movida Madrileňa (The Madrid Movement), the sociocultural movement that took place in Madrid after the death of Francisco Franco. In the last two decades, he has had a very enviable career. Currently, he is working on a new film, “Broken Embrace”, that has a typical Almodóvar plot: a plastic surgeon seeks revenge against his daughter’s rapist. The shooting will start in May and the protagonists will be his muse Penelope Cruz, Lluis Olmar, Blanca Portillo and Jose Luis Gomez. Meantime, the fans can already follow the first phases of it on his blog (in Spanish, English and French), that contains pictures, videos and snippets of Almodovar’s world. It’s not a new thing, blogs are popular with many directors by now, but good Pedro’s movies are always a guarantee. Then, it doesn’t seem the posts are written by a ghost writer. It is not a trifling matter.

Photo El Mambo Taxi 

We Tell Stories is a very interesting project. The publishing house Penguin has recruited some of the UK’s best young writers to create six short stories inspired by literary classics, but featuring web tools, blogs and games. The digital part has been entrusted to the alternate reality games company SixtoStart, with an excellent result.

The first story is Charles Cumming’s The 21 Steps, inspired by John Buchan’s thriller The 39 Steps. It utilizes Google Maps and Google Earth to follow the protagonist, a young Londoner, who witnesses a murder and is obliged to smuggle a mysterious substance onto a plane. The second work is Toby Litt’s Slice, based on M R James’ ghost story The Haunted Dolls’ House. Lisa (Slice for her friends), has moved from US to London with her parents. They live in a old house where strange and creepy things happen. Is it an haunted house? You can follow the story on Slice’s and her parents’ blogs or on Twitter. You can also interact with the characters.

The other authors involved in the project are Kevin Brooks, Nicci French, Matt Mason and Mohsin Hamid. In the next weeks they will submit their works. They will respectively take inspiration from Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales, Émile Zola’s Thérèse Raquin, Charles Dickens’ Hard Times and the anonymous Tales from the 1001 Nights. For sure, there will be other good stuff on We Tell Stories.

Have you ever seen the Italian film Boccaccio 70? It’s a old film framed in four episodes. One (La Riffa, directed by Vittorio De Sica) tells of a lottery that has a beautiful Sophia Loren as a prize. Like it often happens, reality surpasses fiction. But the times change and instead of a lottery there is an online auction.

Prostitution is legal in Germany and there are websites that put up at auction attractive girls. The participants are protected by a nickname and the best bidder wins a hot night with his “prize”. But not all goes smoothly. These twits worry so much to safeguard their identities, but not to have safe sex. A girl gets pregnant and wants to know the true identity of six clients who might be the father. The website doesn’t want to provide her with the information but the Stuttgart court admits she’s right. So, our modern fable ends with a DNA test: our baby will hug his daddy. But it’s better his mummy changes job.

Gaspar Llamazares is a politician that keeps pace with the times. He has a channel on You Tube and spaces on Facebook and MySpace, where he chats with the electors. Gaspar Llamazares is the leader of the Spanish Party Izquierda Unida (the United Left Wing) and runs for the general elections of 9 March. If he loses the Spanish elections, he will be able to revenge himself with those of Toontown. His last stunt is an animated cartoon whose protagonist is his alter ego Gaspi. Take the popcorn and enjoy the first compelling episode of Supergaspi saga. Our hero helps a chap imprisoned in a real estate bubble. I adore this man! If he also makes a puppet, I buy it in a rush.

Do you remember the iconoclastic, lecher, over zonked Fritz the Cat, the comic character created by Robert Crumb? Well, there is another cat named Fritz that is going to dwarf the predecessor’s fame. In Germany it’s a little celebrity and the poor bear Klut begins to shudder. But what does this cat do? Fritz is a reporter and goes around with a digital camera, programmed for automatic shots, hung to the neck. The mistress puts the photos in this site that, to be blunt, is quite ugly and the mainstream media create a case. The world in the eyes of a cat: what a big idea! Nowadays any boob can become a case, however these photos are better than mine, I’m a dog as photographer. An interesting experiment would be to stuff Fritz with beer, Viagra and marijuana. The world in the eyes of an iconoclastic, lecher, over- zonked cat: that’s a big idea!

The mysterious legends about rock have always piqued me. Is Paul McCartney dead or alive? Are the Led Zeppelin a nice bunch of wizards? Is there room for anybody else in the 27 Club ? What can you do about it? I’m a big sucker. So, when I heard The Mars Volta’s last album was born under malefic auspices, a shudder of excitement ran down my spine. Everything begins with the buy of a plate to invoke the spirits, tracked out in Jerusalem by Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, The Mars Volta’s guitarist and mind, and given to the front man Cedric Bixler Zavala. Make a sitting today, make one tomorrow, the little devils begin to get annoyed and to play dirty tricks. The recording studio floods, Cedric undergoes an operation, the drummer and “accountant” of the group is fired on the spot following a disastrous investment which dash a bundle. Dulcis in fundo, Omar has a nervous breakdown. So, for defeating the jinx, the band decides to utilize the words of the spirits, tacking on some positive element, for the lyrics of the new album. I won’t buy this album for sure. I repeat it, I’m a damned sucker and I’m afraid the Beetlejuice on duty visit me. But perhaps this story smells more of money than sulphur. Online there is the game “Goliath The Soothsayer”, exclusive for Amazon and in parallel with the worldwide release of the record. Is it  an advertising action or a real foray in the Unreal? Maybe we could ask the Blair witch or Orson Welles and his Martians about that.