Synapse to synapse (How my mind works, Green & umbrellas)

Sometimes I think my mind (perception?) works like the Internet, maybe. Is it the same for everyone? I don’t remember it always being like this. It jumps from one idea to the next, often I can barely keep up. From one related concept to another. Like… stream of consciousness, free association or I dunno what. The ideas just branch out infinitely, like that Chemical Brothers video, you know, “Let Forever Be”? @ some point this became my reality. I just almost always associate things, involuntarily & immediately. Usually words, lyrics, images, things I’ve heard/read. Stuff ppl have said (well-known ppl or just ppl III know). My memory’s good, which helps.



The other day I went to this place ppl call Plaza Borges with my friend Martin. It was really green. So right away I thought
- “Green”, the Dandy Warhols
- “Green machine”, Apples in Stereo
- “For Reverend Green”, Animal Collective
- "A certain shade of green", Incubus etc etc etc...

Green is my friend Sofi’s fav color, I remembered. & in 1st year of Uni, we had to make a collage describing ourselves. She had cut out the words MUNDO VERDE (green world) & put them near the center of hers. I’m pretty sure there were also jungle leaves & a photo of Charly Garcia (maybe el Flaco Spinetta too?) but I could be wrong about that. Nyssa liked green too, but yellow better.

Green was my House @ school. See, @ my school here (a private, Catholic, all-girls) in Buenos Aires, the English department divided students into Houses, like I guess the private schools do in England. In Harry Potter, Hogwarts has got Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw & Hufflepuff. We had the Green, Blue, Red & Yellow Houses. Each had a patron saint. Blue: St Thomas More, Green: St Bede (who the hell?). Don't remember the others.

I enjoyed being in Green House as I always favored the color, still do in fact. My most comfortable pair of Chuck Taylors are green, FYI. I’ll think of my House mates such as Lucy A & Ceci D, both of whom I still really care about. Blue was pretty nerdy, IMO. I think the best grades ("top marks") usually went to Blue or Green. Cali was in Yellow. No offense but as far as I remember, Yellow tended to be fairly mediocre…am I wrong?

All this came up bc today the internet said Paco was listening to “Son of Mr Green Genes” by Frank Zappa. The next track was “Little Umbrellas”. Right away this orchestral-sounding line played in my head

♫ Just when I thought that my vista was golden in hue

one thousand umbrellas opened to spoil the view ♫

It's from one of my fav songs off Skylarking by XTC, recommended by Romo in 2006. The others are “Ballet for a rainy day” (which reminds me of ppl who paint -Pool, Consu L, Daniel Dubois, Kata, etc- bc it has this line: I push my paintbrush to conjure a new world as this one is slowly washed away) & “The man who sailed around his soul”.

See what I mean? But there was also

- “Preparen sus paraguas”, Fantasmagoria from the Clearence EP, which possibly my VERY fav song by them (”La Laguna”) is off
- “Under my umbrella”, Incubus...BEFORE Rhianna's! One of the last tracks from the album “Morning view”, the last album of theirs I really loved.
- Well of course the Rhianna song, although I h8 it. EHH EHHH…NO THX. Not even after the Manic Street Preachers covered it. I do recall NRS had the chorus line as her MSN name though. Only I remember these things, right?

So, it’s mostly got to do with music. But not exclusively. I also thought of how Jime P (schoolmate) had an umbrella with Tweety Bird (Looney Tunes) wearing a raincoat on the handle. "Mary Poppins", "Singin in the rain" (one of my fav movies), Gene Kelly "walking down the lane with a happy refrain", the girl from the salt I grew up eating in the States...



...how Laurita forgot her umbrella the night of that party on Altolaguirre (what a night that was...in my life, anyways), how I forgot my umbrella @ Lucinda's bday last year, the same night I met someone who didn't know who "Rock the casbah" was by (I couldn't believe it either).

If I hear something about the subway I’ll think things like “Subterranean homesick alien” by Radiohead or “Subterranean homesick blues” by Bob Dylan. When riding the Deutschebahn across Germany I thought “Train in vain” by The Clash & “Strangers on a train” by Lovage, although I knew there was a film of the same title. I haven’t seen, although Tute mentioned it when we talked a lot. I did seen “Stranger than Paradise”, the Jim Jarmusch movie, though. Richie had recommended that one. Esteban really likes Jim Jarmusch. & I saw a photo of Sol S with him (JJ) once. & so on…& so on…& so on.

El Fabuloso Destino de Amélie Poulain

I'm gonna post some film reviews I did for a couple of courses I took during Uni. They're en Español ; ) This is the very last one, from a class where we were allowed to choose what we reviewed. Here it is, my final...a paper on Amélie, one of my fav films. I saw it for the 1st time in Paris in 2001 with my cousin Nicolas, no subtitles. He's a sensitive dude so it's also one of his fav films. He'd just bought a copy @ the FNAC on Champs-Elysées. I think we also bought tickets to Incubus au Zénith that day. Anyways, I didn't know French thaaat well @ the time -although it's arguable whether I know French thaaat well nowadays- but I understod the gist of the story, & I liked. Later it came out in cinemas here; I recall going to see it @ the Patio Bullrich with Ceci D & Agus V when it was still summertime.

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El Fabuloso Destino de Amélie Poulain
“La suerte es como el Tour de France. Estás esperando y de golpe pasa como una ráfaga”.
“Amélie” (Comedia, romántica, drama. Dir: Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Francia, 2001)

Reventar las burbujitas de los embalajes de plástico; sonarse los nudillos; lustrar sus zapatos. Las marcas de la almohada en la cara, que se arrugue la yema de los dedos en la bañadera, la frase “bendito sea el fruto de tu vientre”. De esta forma original y simpática presentar Jean-Pierre Jeunet a los personajes en Amélie: con una breve enumeración de sus gustos y disgustos específicos. Hasta se menciona que cierto gato ama oír cuando les leen historias a los niños. Tanto por su forma como por su contenido, la película enfatiza los detalles e invita a redescubrir el encanto de lo cotidiano. Amélie (Audrey Tautou) vive una infancia excepcionalmente solitaria. Su hogar era tan denso que la llevó a refugiarse en un mundo interno de fantasía y ensueño y además fue causa de las tendencias suicidas de su único amigo, un pececito dorado. Este relato la encuentra a los 23 años, sin amor pero disfrutando de los pequeños placeres: hundir la mano en una bolsa llena de semillas, quebrar la superficie de la crème brûlée con una cuchara y tirar piedritas al canal de St. Martin. En una sala de cine repleta, se vuelve hacia la cámara y confiesa pícaramente que durante la función, adora darse vuelta y espiar los rostros de los espectadores. Tautou había comenzado a actuar en 1996 pero recién tras su excelente interpretación en este filme obtuvo reconocimiento a nivel mundial y desde entonces, ha jugado importantes roles en producciones francesas y extranjeras (El Código Da Vinci).

Quizás el París que se ve intente reflejar la imagen que tiene Amélie de su ciudad. Lo cierto es que se corresponde menos con la realidad y más con la mente de una chica ingenua, dulce, aniñada, sensible e imaginativa. Hubo críticas por esta representación totalmente ficticia de La Ciudad Luz, ordenada, impecable y segura y además porque soslaya el multiculturalismo, las diferencias sociales, los conflictos y el ajetreo general de la ciudad. Sin embargo esta versión de París tiene otras características llamativas. Se remarca por ejemplo un cuidado especial en preservarla de la occidentalización (el Inglés no aparece) y globalización. Podría decirse que también se desliga de los tiempos actuales. Por los modos y costumbres de los personajes, por la ausencia de elementos típicos de la actualidad -entre otros: tecnología de avanzada (no se ven PCs, CDs ni celulares), supermercados, fast food, shoppings, rock & roll- y porque la mayoría del material televisivo está en blanco y negro, podría suponerse que la historia ocurre en los años 30 ó 40. Sin embargo la muerte de Lady Di señala que tiene lugar en 1997.

De pronto la suerte de la joven cambia. Descubre tener una vocación oculta que trae abundante felicidad a quienes la rodean. Se trata de seres bastante particulares, igual que ella. Una tabaquera hipocondriaca, un anciano que pinta el mismo cuadro todos los años hace dos décadas, un muchacho empleado de un sex shop y un tren fantasma, un coleccionista de fotos despedazadas, una ex gimnasta a caballo y un hombre con demasiado afecto por su gnomo de jardín, entre otros.

Gracias a la cinematografía de Bruno Delbonnel, da la sensación que todo lo visto en pantalla resplandece de belleza. Puede inferirse el uso de filtros color miel que, como las hojas de un viejo libro, remiten a otras épocas. El mismo tono predomina en muchas locaciones del filme, igual que el rojo y el verde. Un clima casi de cuento infantil resultan del esquema cromático deliberado sumado a algunos otros elementos tales como la amplificación de los efectos sonoros; el estilo caricaturesco de los personajes (típico en Jeunet); los efectos especiales (Amélie se disuelve, hay visión rayos x), la capacidad de objetos inanimados de moverse y hablar. Por otro lado existe un cuidado meticuloso respecto de los planos; muchos de ellos podrían ser fotografías artísticas.

La nueva vocación de Amélie le dio también alegría y satisfacción a nivel personal, y en sus andanzas fue haciendo nuevos amigos. No obstante, por el temor y la incertidumbre, continúa experimentando sola el mundo, se siente incompleta y a veces insignificante. Hasta que un día, encuentra a Nino...

Amélie es una comedia romántica acerca de la vida, las relaciones, los sentimientos, la casualidad, la fantasía y las cosas simples. Su protagonista fresca y poco convencional junto a los demás personajes refuerzan el paradigma del individualismo y el ser uno mismo. Es una historia optimista y risueña que tuvo un gran éxito no sólo en Francia sino en todo el mundo. "Todos necesitan una historia positiva. Cada ser humano tiene algo bueno adentro. Es poco común en el cine hablar de las cosas buenas. Es más fácil y está más de moda hablar de violencia y armas", opina el director. En definitiva, Amélie es ideal para quienes creen o desean creer que aún hay algo de magia en el mundo. Y dado su éxito, no son pocos.

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See this? Do you remember what happens to Amélie after this sucession of images? If you don't know, I'll tell you, & don't worry, the movie won't be spoiled. She's watching Nino, right? But she's too afraid to talk to him. & then she looks down & turns into a puddle of water on the floor. It's brilliant. I have felt EXACTLY like this...so...many...times. SIGH...BOYS.

You a cutie/ you should let me put you in my movies

These past couple of days I did something I don’t normally do: spent hrs lounging on the couch in front of the TV. This happened bc I had the energy to do nothing but watch TV, drink Gatorade, eat ice cream in massive amounts (I can’t do things just a little bit) & sleep -of course-. To make a long story short on Thurs -while hanging out w/ a friend @ a park- I started puking & continued 8 more times until I was rly dehydrated & could barely walk. So I had 2 go 2 the hospital, get IV fluids, blood tests, etc. They said according 2 my results nothing’s wrong…I demand 2 see Dr. Gregory House!

Anyways. I was hanging out w/ my friend. Her name’s Ceci & she has a bb daughter, Olivia, who is 1. She already plays the harmonica & xylophone, how cool is that?! They are both ~sooo~ beautiful. & I don’t rly like bbs. Well, unless they belong 2 ppl I ~love~. Ceci told me she’s been listening to: Kings of Convenience, Owl City, Peter Bjorn & John, Iron & wine, Alvy Singer Big Band, Marcadores Nuevos. She asked me to recommend stuff & that as I could see she was into calm things @ the moment. I said: Cousteau, Robert Francis, M83, The softies, Calexico, Wilco, The whitest boy alive, Frente!, Morcheeba, George, Fiona Apple.

“Baby”, PNAU
“If fingers were xylophones”, Gorky’s zygotic mynci

& the songs I had in my head that day were the following, which I don’t particularly like
“After every party I die”, I am X (good title, though)
“Just a song about ping pong”, “Get what you want”, Operator Please
Although Operator please is cute IMO & I approve of them.

So, about TV. I mostly watched

- E! Entertainment Television: Streets of Hollywood, Girls of the playboy mansion (loves it. Always watch it when I’m sick. Kendra is my fav), a Miley Cyrus bio (I didn’t mind her…why do I find all the teen queens likable? Taylor Swift is the prettiest though, non?), random making-of/behind-the-scenes clips for instance Nine (Someone dared to allude to Fellini’s 8 ½? What is this fuckery?!), New Moon (Haven’t seen it yet…boo!)

- MTV Hits: This was good since I’m always outta the loop when it comes to singles & clips. So I saw vids by current acts whose vids I’d never seen (I’m 2 lazy 2 YouTube them) such as La Roux, Vampire Weekend, Owl City (who I’d never heard of b4 Ceci mentioned them), Adam Lambert (which reminded me of Holly Interlandi), Black Lips, Locksley, etc. I also saw “Video Phone” by Beyoncé & Lady Gaga. Dunno if I’d seen a vid by Lady Gaga, or even heard a song of hers aside from “Just dance”. OOPS. What can I say? Those ladies got style, they got moves!

- LOST Season 5: Hurley throwing a hot pocket @ Ben, Jack Sheperd blasting The Pixies in his car, Aaron is a really ugly kid, LaFleur is a st0ne f0x, Daniel Faraday is a teddy bear, Richard Alpert wears eyeliner & it becomes him, Ben Linus I feel u, “Why not me?”, etc...

Anyways. I dreamt Sayid got killed by by a werewolf-skeleton/ghost type thing in a haunted house : (
LOST meets New Moon?