Agua pa’ la Tierra

by Canteca de Macao

By their third album, Canteca de Macao perfected their trademark flamenco/punk/reggae/ska fusion sound: less ska/punk, more fusion and memorable melodies.

The CD is shorter than the band’s previous offering, and a good thing too: not “simply” great songs (I know, I know, there’s nothing simple about that) but the whole album glues together. There also is a “hidden” anonymous bonus track, which I suspect is called Agua pa’ la Tierra. As is the case with most bonus tracks, it is quite disposable.

The DVD contains (excerpts from) the concert on 8 September 2007, and two “official” videoclips, Bellas and Contigo. I love the music (coming from the band’s first two albums) but the video of the live performance could have been so much better — image, camerawork, sound, everything. Still, it is worth checking out, if only for the last song Moliendo Café with guests Alamedadosoulna. Don’t watch if offended by hairy armpits.

CD		DVD
Música Se va y no vuelve Vida de Carretera Green Yin Caños Agatea Madrizz Paco Jazzmín El atonte del vino Así es la vida La Lumbre Bonus Track		Concierto Circo Price (Madrid) 8 septiembre 2007 Backstage No llores La rabia Bellas Chistosos Sin solución Qué pasa?! Contigo Alternativa libertaria Despedida (con Alamedadosoulna) Videoclip “Bellas” Videoclip “Contigo”

The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

by Douglas Adams

Not really that long but, indeed, rather dark. Much darker than the first Dirk Gently novel, and significantly less funny, but not without some very funny bits.

The electronic I Ching calculator was badly made. It had probably been manufactured in whichever of the South-East Asian countries was busy tooling up to do to South Korea what South Korea was busy doing to Japan. Glue technology had obviously not progressed in that country to the point where things could be successfully held together with it. Already the back had half fallen off and needed to be stuck back on with Sellotape. It was much like an ordinary pocket calculator, except that the LCD screen was a little larger than usual, in order to accommodate the abridged judgments of King Wen on each of the sixty-four hexagrams, and also the commentaries of his son, the Duke of Chou, on each of the lines of each hexagram. These were unusual texts to see marching across the display of a pocket calculator, particularly as they had been translated from the Chinese via the Japanese and seemed to have enjoyed many adventures on the way. The device also functioned as an ordinary calculator, but only to a limited degree. It could handle any calculation which returned an answer of anything up to “4”. “1 + 1” it could manage (“2”), and “1 + 2” (“3”) and “2 + 2” (“4”) or “tan 74” (“3.4874145”), but anything above “4” it represented merely as “A Suffusion of Yellow”.

Miette

by Johanna Juhola

Music of rare beauty. And, indeed, a rare record. Here you can hear three tracks from this album: Hippo, Lyyrinen Aikuisuus II and Miette.

The Emperor’s New Groove

a film by Mark Dindal

Boom, baby!

We gave away most of our Disney DVDs. Kids just do not watch them any longer. This one is to stay though. The dialogue is perfect. The opening song alone (sung by Tom Jones — or should I say Sir Thomas?) stands head and shoulders above anything else I heard in any of Disney animations. One day I should try that combination of salsa and Riverdance.

See this palace? Everyone in it is at my command. Check this out: butler... chef... Theme Song Guy!

The Prince of Mist

by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

This is a young adult novel just waiting to be animated by the likes of Studio Ghibli. Three teenage friends, a lighthouse, a mysterious cat, a murderous villain à la Count Olaf... No happy ending, but quite a number of loose ends. Even though I feel that some of the lines could have been explored properly (rather than abandoned), I like that. I am sure it could be written better, and probably something got missing in translation, but still, I couldn’t put this book down. And here’s the passage that won me over:

Max had once read in one of his father’s books that some childhood images become engraved in the mind like photographs, like scenes you can return to again and again and will always remember, no matter how much time goes by. He understood the meaning of those words the first time he saw the sea. The family had been travelling on the train for over three hours when, all of a sudden, they emerged from a dark tunnel and Max found himself gazing at an endless expanse of ethereal light, the electric blue of the sea shimmering beneath the midday sun, imprinting itself on his retina like a supernatural apparition. The ashen light that perpetually drowned the old city already seemed like a distant memory. He felt as if he had spent his entire life looking at the world through a black and white lens and suddenly it had sprung into life, in full, luminous colour he could almost touch. As the train continued its journey only a few metres from the shore, Max leaned out the window and, for the first time ever, felt the touch of salty wind on his skin. He turned to look at his father, who was watching him from the other end of the compartment with his mysterious smile, nodding in reply to a question Max hadn’t even asked. At that moment, Max promised himself that whatever their destination, whatever the name of the station this train was taking them to, from that day on he would never live anywhere where he couldn’t wake up every morning to see that same dazzling blue light that rose toward heaven like some magical essence.

Henry & June

a film by Philip Kaufman

Henry & June is more a stylisation of a film set in 1930s Paris rather than a film set in 1930s Paris. Fred Ward is good as Henry Miller. Uma Thurman is overplaying her June Miller but this is perhaps all part of the said stylisation.

At two-something hours, it is a bit too long for a movie revolving around a rather predictable love triangle (later: quadrilateral and other polygons) involving Henry, June and Anaïs Nin (Maria de Medeiros). In spite of its numerous sex scenes, the film makes surprisingly unerotic viewing. The best parts are those featuring Henry’s friends: the magician, the clown and other performers.

Alive! in Lisboa

by Sara Tavares

Although I bought this box set some three years ago, it was not until now that I watched the whole Lisbon concert in one sitting. It is even better than I remember. Perhaps the next best thing to the actual concert of Sara Tavares.

In addition to the DVD, the set includes two of her earlier albums: Mi Ma Bô and Balancê.


The DVD opens with Barquinho da Esperança, a wonderful song that does not appear on any of Sara’s studio albums.