Hypericon

by Manuele Fior
translated by Regina López Muñoz

Another great comic from Fior. I was half expecting the protagonists go their separate ways. That would be more logical and the book almost comes to that point... I felt slightly annoyed by them coming back together, but hey, who wants 5,000 Kilometers Per Second 2? Not me. Hypericon could be an alternative universe version of 5,000 kps though... I said too much already.

Like in Celestia, I find most of the dialogue superfluous. Ditto the internal monologue of Teresa. With some exceptions, of course. Such as Teresa and Ruben’s bickering.

Kudryavka (perra de pelo rizado)

by Xenia García

How would you react to the news that the one whom you wished to be dead — ojalá te mueras! — actually is dead? Your ex; your abuser; and, as you’ll learn a bit later, not only yours. So?

I am one of those who judges a book by its cover, and the cover of this one, let’s be honest, is not the best. The only reason I took it from the shelf in the library was a word on its cover. No, I didn’t know that Kudryavka (Кудрявка), “Curly”, was the original name of Laika. Poor Laika. The book is not really about the dog, but I read a couple of pages and got hooked.

Xenia García’s debut novel is not an easy reading. It asks many questions; no answers are provided. It may keep you awake in the middle of the night. Also, it’s extremely well written. I look forward to read more from her.

La primera vez que te vi, acabé bailando desnuda bajo la lluvia. Fuera diluviaba, diluvia, pero nosotros nos resguardamos en el Citroën gris de tu padre donde muy pronto arañaremos nuestras horas y tú te harás río. Hay mañanas en las que soy río bajo la tierra, me dijiste, me dices, me dirás luego, me dirás siempre, aunque no esa primera vez, de esa primera vez solo recuerdo un aguacero luminoso tras los cristales empañados cuyo único objetivo fue hacer de nuestra primera vez el relato de nuestra primera vez, ese que recrearemos en cada ocasión a lo largo de nuestro tiempo juntos, engalanándolo con detalles de los que ni tú ni yo estamos seguros, porque contar es vivir dos veces, me dijiste una noche de tormenta en la que comenzamos a ser nostalgia de lo que fuimos.

Free live music and stuff in Las Palmas, September 2023

What we’ve seen in September:

• 6 September: Las Hespérides «Con voce festiva» @ Casa de Colón, Calle Colón, 1, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
  Featuring Magdalena Padilla (soprano), Sebastián Gil (natural trumpet), Juan Pablo Alemán (baroque cello), Carlos Oramas (theorbo, baroque guitar) and Vicent Bru (organ, harpsichord). The programme of the concert included:
  • Georg Friedrich Händel: Eternal source of light divine (Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne), HWV 74
  • Alessandro Scarlatti: Si suoni la tromba (from 7 Arie per soprano, tromba e basso continuo)
  • Johann Pachelbel: Chaconne in F minor
  • Alessandro Scarlatti: Mio tesoro per te moro (from 7 Arie per soprano, tromba e basso continuo)
  • Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel: Bist du bei mir (from Diomedes oder die triumphierende Unschuld)
  • Giuseppe Torelli: Sonata in re maggiore per tromba, archi e basso continuo, G.7
  • Domenico Scarlatti: Fille, già più non parlo (cantata)
  • Domenico Scarlatti: Sonata in do minore, K 58
  • Alessandro Scarlatti: Rompe sprezza (from 7 Arie per soprano, tromba e basso continuo)
  • Georg Friedrich Händel: Let the bright Seraphim (from Samson, HWV 57)

• 14 September: Jesús “Bachi” Bachiller @ Aula de Piedra ULPGC, Calle Juan de Quesada, 30
  The bassist from Málaga opens the autumn season of masterclasses organised by Mousikê La Laguna in a different (from the usual) venue. Two bass volunteers joined him for a jam.

• 21 September: «Vida y muerte en La Guancha» @ La Guancha, Gáldar
  A guided visit to the archaeological site La Guancha, organised by Cabildo de Gran Canaria and Tibicena. More information here.

  

• 30 September: «Escuchar con los ojos y ver con el oído» @ Conservatorio Superior de Música de Canarias, calle Maninidra, 1
  A part of III Festival Contemporáneo del Festival Internacional de Música de Canarias. Contemporary classical/chamber music, with some movie fragments, performed by Ensemble DifrAcción and Ensemble del CSMC and conducted by José María de Vicente. Really entertaining. It could have been even better if there was some sort of ventilation in the auditorio. (Who built it, I wonder. Didn’t they know it could get hot in Las Palmas?) The programme included:
  • Arnold Schönberg: Der Kranke Mond (from Pierrot lunaire)
  • Candelaria Dorta: El gabinete del doctor Caligari. Acto V (with a scene from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari)
  • Gustavo Díaz-Jerez: Tombeau de Perseus
  • Bernard Herrmann: Psycho (with scenes from Psycho)
  • György Ligeti: Musica ricercata II (with stills from Eyes Wide Shut)
  • Claude Debussy: from La boîte à joujoux
  • Olivier Messiaen: Plainte calme (from Préludes pour piano)
  • Tōru Takemitsu: Rain Coming

  

And that was it for September.

Slide

a film by Bill Plympton

Ah, if only they’ve made it four times shorter, this film would have been just perfect. Never mind the ridiculous plot or a yawning absence of likeable characters (maybe apart from some moles sticking out of the ground). It’s 80 minutes of country and western music that will destroy your faith in humanity, if you still have one.

La balada del mar salado

by Hugo Pratt
afterword by Gianni Brunoro
translated by Miguel Sánchez and Gema Moraleda

I knew about Hugo Pratt and his most famous creation but, until now, I’ve never read any Corto Maltese comic. I guess I was intrigued by Trazo de tiza whose author, Miguelanxo Prado, cited Pratt as one of his major influences. So I decided to start from the beginning: The Ballad of the Salty Sea.

There is a whole shelf of Corto Maltese (Corto Maltés in Spanish) comics in the library, but this one wasn’t there.

Primavera para Madrid

by Magius

Oh, the shining. “Take me!”, it called to me from the library shelf. “Take me with you!” This book just couldn’t be ignored. “Take me and read me!” I had to obey. That’s how, I suppose, it won the 2021 National Comic Award.

Of course, any resemblance to actual persons, companies or events is purely coincidental. It’s Banka, not Bankia. It’s Prince of Cantabria Award, not Prince of Asturias Award. It’s not the Emeritus, just some other guy killing elephants somewhere in Africa. And all these corrupt politicians are the other corrupt politicians, not those you thought. (Madrid is still Madrid though, right?)

In words of its publisher, Autsaider Cómics: “Impreso íntegramente sobre papel oro para reflejar el obsceno derroche de nuestros amados líderes” (“Printed entirely on gold paper to reflect the obscene squandering by our beloved leaders”).

The Martian

a film by Ridley Scott

How come I never watched this film until yesterday? Well, it’s not exactly true: I caught its less-than-convincing happy end some years ago on the telly and wasn’t impressed. Now that I saw The Martian in its entirety, I have to confess I quite enjoyed it. It’s got a sense of humour. It’s got ABBA, David Bowie and Donna Summer. And The Green Morning moment: “Hey there”. Hell, I even liked Matt Damon’s (ABBA, David Bowie and Donna Summer-hating) Mark Watney — he’s not as much Robinson Crusoe as Cyrus Smith. Science is cool. Be like Mark, and they’ll name a new potato species after you [see Martine (!) et al. (2016) Solanum watneyi, a new bush tomato species from the Northern Territory, Australia named for Mark Watney of the book and film “The Martian”. PhytoKeys 61, 1—13].

I doubt I’ll be using Watney’s life hacks any time soon, except for this one:

“If you can’t fix it with duct tape, then you ain’t using enough duct tape.”

Wait, that’s from a different movie.