Archivos diarios: 14 de julio de 2003

Cosmos Latinos -subtitulado An Anthology of Science Fiction from Latin America and Spain- es una recopilación de cuentos de ciencia ficción escritos originalmente en español. La han compilado Andrea L. Bell y Yolanda Molina-Gavilán (las dos profesoras de español). Se trata de una edición crítica, por lo que hay muchas notas, varios comentarios teóricos y un intento de situar cada cuento en su contexto. Acabo de recibir mi ejemplar y lo comento especialmente porque incluye el cuento «El día que hicimos la Transición» que co-escribí con Ricard de la Casa hace ya unos años. Es muy divertido leerte en inglés, y más aún con notas al pie que explican detalles que en España no precisaban de mayor aclaración pero que evidentemente en inglés son más que necesarias.

De la contraportada:

Opening a window onto a fascinating new world for English-speaking readers, this anthology offers popular and influential stories from over ten countries, chronologically ranging from 1862 to the present. Latin American and Spanish science fiction shares many thematic and stylistic elements with anglophone science fiction, but there are important differences: many downplay scientific plausibility, and others show the influence of the region’s celebrated literary fantastic. In the 27 stories included in this anthology, a 16th-century conquistador is re-envisioned as a cosmonaut, Mexican factory workers receive pleasure-giving bio-implants, and warring bands of terrorists travel through time attempting to reverse the outcome of historical events.

The introduction examines the ways the genre has developed in Latin America and Spain since the 1700s and studies science fiction as a means of defamiliarizing, and then critiquing, regional culture, history and politics—especially in times of censorship and political repression. The volume also includes a brief introduction to each story and its author, and an extensive bibliography of primary and secondary works. Cosmos Latinos is a critical contribution to Latin American, Spanish, popular culture and science fiction studies and will be stimulating reading for anyone who likes a good story.

Para los interesados, el contenido completo es:

«The Distant Future» de Juan Nepomuceno Adorno
«On the Planet Mars» de Nilo María Fabra
«Mechanopolis» de Miguel de Unamuno
«The Death Star» de Ernesto Silva Román
«Baby H.P.» de Juan José Arreola
«The Cosmonaut» de Ángel Arango
«The Crystal Goblet» de Jerônimo Monteiro
«A Cord Made of Nylon and Gold» de Álvaro Menén Desleal
«Acronia» de Pablo Capanna
«The Las Refuge» de Eduardo Goligorsky
«Post-Boomboom» de Alberto Vanasco
«Gu Ta Gutarrak (We and Our Own)» de Magdalena Mouján Otaño
«Future» de Luis Britto García
«When Pilate Said No» de Hugo Correa
«The Falsifier» de José B. Adolph
«The Violet’s Embryos» de Angélica Gorodischer
«Brain Transplant» de André Carneiro
«The Annunciation» de Daína Chaviano
«A Miscalculation» de Federico Schaffler
«Stuntmind» de Braulio Tavares
«Reaching the Shore» de Guillermo Lavín
«Gray Noise» de Pepe Rojo
«Glimmerings on Blue Glass» de Mauricio-José Schwarz
«The Day We Went through the Transition» de Ricard de la Casa y Pedro Jorge Romero
«Exerion» de Pablo Castro
«Like the Roses Had to Die» de Michel Encinosa

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p class=»media»>[Estoy escuchando: «It’s Coming Down» de Cake en el disco Fashion Nugget]

¿Puede ser buena una película basada en una atracción de Disney? Pues, aunque sorprenda, parece que sí. The Flick Filosopher (mi nueva crítica favorita) está totalmente entusiasmada:

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl isn’t just the biggest colon-ated mouthful in a summer of movies with colon-ated mouthfuls of titles. It’s everything we go to The Movies for… Okay, it’s everything I go to The Movies for: To escape, to vicariously live some other life that’s more interesting and more dangerous (if also more absurd) than my own, to meet people I didn’t know I wanted as friends. It’s big and bold and loud but never dumb; it’s smart enough, for all its thrills and edge- of- your- seatness, to be laid back, to be unconcerned with any Deep Meaning, and smart enough to know that a lack of Deep Meaning is not the same thing as vacuousness.

Mis otros dos críticos también la ponen bien aunque son más cautos. Roger Ebert le da un 3 sobre 4 y dice después de criticar la extensión en el tiempo de las escenas de acción:

And yet the movie made me grin at times, and savor the daffy plot, and enjoy the way Depp and Rush fearlessly provide performances that seem nourished by deep wells of nuttiness. Depp in particular seems to be channeling a drunken drag queen, with his eyeliner and the way he minces ashore and slurs his dialogue ever so insouciantly. Don’t mistake me: This is not a criticism, but admiration for his work. It can be said that his performance is original in its every atom. There has never been a pirate, or for that matter a human being, like this in any other movie. There’s some talk about how he got too much sun while he was stranded on that island, but his behavior shows a lifetime of rehearsal. He is a peacock in full display.

James Berardinelli también le da un 3 sobre 4 y comenta:

Pirates of the Caribbean belongs to Johnny Depp. Keira Knightley (now a familiar face in the wake of Bend It Like Beckham) and Orlando Bloom (The Lord of the Rings‘ Legolas, sans ears and blond hair) make a cute couple, and Geoffrey Rush is typically over-the-top as the bad guy, but the star of every scene is Depp. With several gold teeth in his mouth and beads in his hair, Depp plays the part with an engaging goofiness that sets the movie’s tone. In one scene, Sparrow becomes blind drunk, but his behavior isn’t all that different from when he’s sober – a clear indicator of where Depp elected to take the character. Sparrow is a rogue through-and-through, and, although he may have a heart of gold, it’s definitely tarnished. Take away Depp, and you’re left with a derivative and dull motion picture.

Ayer vimos el trailer y visualmente tiene muy buena pinta (en un trailer moderno se hace muy difícil juzgar la trama).

[Estoy escuchando: «Friend Is A Four Letter Word» de Cake en el disco Fashion Nugget]