This blog is dedicated to contemporary 21st-century culture and internet pop. That includes oddities, subcultures, and anything else I find beautiful, from any era, according to my own peculiar taste. I do, however, have a set agenda of topics and goals.
Este blog está dedicado a la cultura actual nativa del SXXI y el pop de Internet. Eso incluye rarezas, subculturas y también lo que encuentre bello para mi peculiar gusto, de cualquier época que sea, pero tengo una agenda de temas y metas.
Links of interest/Links de interés:
(under construction)
My articles and posts will be published here from now on. I'll reblog content on @la-chacha-gris about the eroticism embodied in industrial pop culture, the subject of that older blog, and @chacha-shitposts will continue to focus on fashion, memes, and anything that doesn't fit in the other two.
Mis artículos y posts elaborados se publicarán aquí a partir de ahora. Habrá reblog en @la-chacha-gris de lo que trate el eros plasmado en la cultura pop industrial, tema de ese viejo blog, y el de @chacha-shitposts seguirá con moda, memes y lo que no quepa en los otros dos.
For personal reasons and due to the blog's history (these are musical topics previously covered), I've chosen only these two to present examples from this collection, which allows us to discover what's lurking in the Internet Archive @spaceintruderdetector
Just two: one is a guide to ambient music, which I was already familiar with, but I fell in love with the concept as a teenager when I discovered Brian Eno's definition: music to fill rooms where you go about your business in a way that's similar to light. The second choice is obvious: Cosey is a recent discovery for me, whose attitude and artistry with her music (and her body) never cease to amaze (and delight) me the more I learn.
Electronic Sound: Ambient Music
Electronic Sound: Cosey Fanni Tutti
Just like the blog mentioned, which points me to where to read and legally download these publications online, it reveals wonderful things that make me a little happier each time. Follow their blog.
Consumer life encourages speed, as well as the novelty and variety that are expected. The measure of success in the life of homo consumens is not the volume of purchases, but the final balance. The useful life of goods generally lasts longer than their utility for the consumer. But if they are used repeatedly, they frustrate the search for variety.
La vida del consumidor invita a la rapidez, así como a la novedad y a la variedad que se espera. La medida del éxito en la vida del homo consumens no es el volumen de compras, sino el balance final. La vida útil de los bienes por lo general dura más que la utilidad que tienen para el consumidor. Pero si se usan repetidamente, frustran la búsqueda de variedad.
Woe to those who, for lack of resources, are condemned to use goods that no longer promise new sensations; they remain trapped, unable to access the seemingly inexhaustible variety that surrounds them. They are the excluded, the failures of the consumerist feast.
Pobres de aquellos que, por falta de recursos, están condenados a usar bienes que ya no prometen sensaciones nuevas, quedan atados sin poder acceder a la variedad aparentemente inagotable que los rodea. Ellos son los excluidos, los fracasados del festín consumista.
The "purification" of sex allows sexual practice to conform to these advanced patterns of buying and renting. Pure sex is considered a kind of reliable guarantee of financial repayment, and the partners in a "purely sexual encounter" can feel at ease, knowing that the absence of "commitments" compensates for the troublesome fragility of their commitment.
La «purificación» del sexo permite que la práctica sexual se ajuste a esos patrones tan avanzados de compra/alquiler. El sexo puro se considera como una especie de garantía confiable de reembolso económico, y los compañeros de un «encuentro puramente sexual» pueden sentirse tranquilos, sabiendo que la ausencia de «ataduras» compensa la molesta fragilidad de su compromiso.
I know this soundtrack; I had it downloaded for years, playing on my portable MP3 player, and it stayed there, safe and sound, until it broke… that's why I hadn't listened to it in years. Akira is a technical masterpiece of anime, even if the condensed lore isn't very clear, that's undeniable… but the value of its OST is often overlooked.
What's it like? Extremely strange. I've never heard anything like it. Forget feel-good J-rock or classical music from other countries. This is due to Japanese instruments and folk tropes, but it's somber, strangely energetic, apocalyptic, and unlike anything else. Trying to explain it further won't work and will only further expose how little I know about music! I admit it, but I love it nonetheless!
How lucky I am to be able to remember it now!; it's on YouTube, of course; but I owe it to @postpunkindustrial for reminding me it existed when I saw this old post offering it for download.
Do it, at least to listen to it as an experience and/or understand why I'm so strange in terms of musical influences and everything else, lost without a compass and I love that to top it all off!
I have nothing to object to you doing witchcraft rites; I have been Gothic and young, but… with those shoes and clothes to sit or kneel on the asphalt? And with that posture you wait for who or what is invoked? What am I missing to understand, naughty girl?
The supposed key to everyone's happiness, and the explicit goal of politicians, is the growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), measured by the total amount of money the population spends. Jonathan Rowe and Judith Silverstein write: “Stripped of the obsession with success and euphoria, growth simply means ‘spending more money.’ And where that money goes and why is of no importance whatsoever.”
La supuesta llave de la felicidad de todos, y el propósito explícito de los políticos, es el crecimiento del Producto Bruto Interno (PBI) que se mide en función de la suma total de dinero que gasta la población. Jonathan Rowe y Judith Silverstein escriben: «Despojado de la obsesión por el éxito y la euforia, el crecimiento implica simplemente ‘gastar más dinero’. Y a dónde vaya a parar ese dinero y por qué no tiene la menor importancia».
Most of the money spent on problems caused by the exacerbation and subsequent relief of past deprivations and whims, and on investment in medical treatments, largely necessary to combat the scourge of obesity, grows and grows […] As long as consuming (and spending) more remains the sovereign path to solving all social problems, insurance companies and prison misfits will continue to be the biggest contributors to GDP growth. It is impossible to accurately measure the enormous and growing role that stress, stemming from the worries that consume our lives as modern, fluid consumers, plays in GDP growth.
La mayor parte del dinero que se gasta en problemas causados por la exacerbación y luego el alivio de carencias y caprichos del pasado, y la inversión en tratamientos médicos, en gran medida necesarios para luchar contra el flagelo de la obesidad crece y crece […] Mientras consumir (y gastar) más siga siendo el camino soberano hacia la solución de todos los problemas sociales, las compañías de seguros y los inadaptados carcelarios seguirán siendo los mayores contribuyentes al crecimiento del PBI. Es imposible medir con exactitud el enorme y creciente papel que juega en el crecimiento del PBI el estrés emanado de las preocupaciones que consumen nuestras vidas de modernos consumidores líquidos.
The most widely accepted method for calculating "gross product" rests on an unverified and rarely explained assumption, despite repeated challenges to it. According to this assumption, the sum total of human happiness increases as more money changes hands. To mention a few examples cited by Rowe, money changes hands when someone is disabled in an accident and the car involved is a wreck beyond repair, when lawyers handle divorces, or when people decide to buy bottled water because tap water has become undrinkable. In all these cases, "gross product" grows, and the politicians in charge, the economists of the day, and their expert groups rejoice.
El método más aceptado para calcular el «producto bruto» descansa sobre una presunción no verificada y rara vez explicada, a pesar de las repetidas impugnaciones de la que es objeto. Según dicha presunción, la suma total de la felicidad humana aumenta a medida que mayor cantidad de dinero cambia de manos. Por mencionar algunos ejemplos señalados por Rowe, el dinero cambia de manos cuando alguien queda inválido como consecuencia de un accidente y el automóvil en cuestión es un amasijo que no puede ser reparado, cuando los abogados se ocupan de divorcio o cuando la población decide comprar agua embotellada porque la que sale del grifo se ha vuelto intomable. En todos estos casos el «producto bruto» crece, y los políticos al mando, los economistas de turno y sus grupos de expertos se regocijan.
I remember the uproar when this movie premiered. As dictated (or rather, monetized) by the logic of content creation and social media, opinions were polarized: masterpiece or utter garbage. The reality, at least mine, can't be summed up in a tweet. Shall I tell you?
Recuerdo el alboroto cuando se estrenó esta película. Como dicta (o más bien monetiza) la lógica de creación de contenido y redes sociales, eran opiniones polarizadas: obra maestra o caca infecta. La realidad, al menos la mia, no cabe en un tuit ¿les cuento?
This film is brilliant for putting the director on the map. His wise choice of Cage (a living internet meme, the Paris Hilton of acting if you've read my post about her), his use of color to bathe everything (remember my post about Bava and the color Argento), and the inclusion of chainsaws should already make us suspect that Cosmatos wanted to make something that would sell or at least go viral on social media to generate its own promotional campaign without spending money he didn't have. Mind you, I haven't said anything bad about him or the movie. I think it's perfectly fine; he has the right. Being a complete unknown doesn't pay the bills or fund projects, and the movie is enjoyable.
Divina película por ponernos al director en el mapa, su sabia elección de Cage (meme viviente de Internet, la Paris Hilton de la actuación si han leido mi post sobre ella), tomar la estética de colores bañando todo (recuerden mi post sobre Bava y el color Argento) o el incluir motosierras ya nos debería hacer sospechar que Cosmatos quería hacer algo que vendiera o al menos fuera viral en redes para hacerse la campaña de promo sola sin gastar dinero que él no tenía. Atentos, que nada he dicho malo de él o la peli, me parece perfecto, tiene derecho, ser un maldito muy desconocido no paga facturas y proyectos y la peli es disfrutable.
The thing is, of the three things I've mentioned, only the lead actor and that phallic weapon adored by idiotic horror fans differentiate this film in terms of its foundations from its predecessor, Beyond the Black Rainbow. I'd even say the former is more aesthetically pleasing and makes better use of color, which goes beyond simply applying filters to everything. This is a very quiet film with little-expressed lore (like Mandy, although there's more to it than meets the eye in both), and I'd even say it's anticlimactic because of how it plays with our expectations. But while Mandy plays with 80s references, this one goes back to the 70s, to psychedelia and the lingering effects of early pop music surrounding MK-Ultra. Like Mandy, it won't change your life or become your favorite film, but it's NOT more of the same and it's a highly aesthetic experience. Both are good films. We discovered this with Mandy because it was designed to appeal to fans, but for me, it borders on dishonest (almost) because of how little it offers that's new compared to the previous film. That said, both have an incredibly personal and unique style…
Lo que ocurre es que de tres cosas que he dicho, solo el actor principal y esa arma fálica adorada por los fans del terror idiotas diferencian a esta peli en mimbres de su anterior Beyond The Black Rainbow, incluso diría que la anterior es más esteta y mejor emplea el color siendo esto algo más que filtros para bañar todo. Este es un film muy silencioso y de lore poco expresado (como Mandy, aunque hay más de lo que se ve a simple vista en las dos), diría que anticlimático incluso por como juega con nuestras expectativas. Pero si Mandy juega con referentes de los 80, este se va a los 70, lo lisérgico y los coletazos del primer pop alrededor de Mk-Ultra. Como Mandy, no cambiará su vida ni serán su peli favorita jamás, pero NO son más de lo mismo y son una experiencia altamente estética. Ambas son buenas pelis, lo descubrimos con Mandy por estar concebida para tener gancho en la afición, pero roza para mi lo deshonesto (casi) lo poco nuevo que ofrece frente la anterior, eso sí, ambas en un estilo propio increíblemente personal y único…
But it's a style woven with references to the extreme in its essence and in the superlative nature of its exposition. The occasional social media idiot complained about not understanding anything in the film (everything is explained, it's just that it's verbalized for idiots or people who are looking at their phones) or that it was an empty film when others were hailing it as a resurrection of the vengeful or vigilante macho genre… Look, those films were always very direct and exploitative! Mandy is none of those things; it's a very auteur-driven cultural artifact, very much of this century, a time where revisions of genres and subgenres abound, where cinema is highly referential, and where daring—perhaps misguided—experiments with the past are commonplace. But Mandy isn't about politics, cancel culture, #MeToo, or femininity dressed up as a genre film. It's a sincere, out-of-date genre film, an auteur film that treats genre clichés like a checklist to be completed, but in the most organic and artistic way possible. The result? A good genre film, very strange and very beautiful. You watch it and have a great time, appreciating how carefully they crafted this museum-quality subgenre masterpiece, without letting that hinder its ability to deliver what it promises. Watch it or revisit it, but with a fresh perspective, free from the nonsense that was said back then, and above all, don't forget to watch the aforementioned film.
Pero es un estilo tejido con referencias al extremo en su esencia y en lo superlativo de su exposición. El idiota de redes ocasional entonces se quejaba de no entender nada en la peli (está todo explicado, otra cosa es que sea verbalizado para tontos o gente que mira el móvil mientras) o de ser una peli vacía cuando otros la entronizaban como resucitación del género de machos vengativos o justicieros… miren, esas pelis siempre fueron muy directas y de explotación! Mandy no es ninguna de esas cosas, es un artefacto cultural muy de autor y muy de este siglo, tiempos donde abundan las revisiones de géneros y subgéneros, de cine altamente referencial y de hacer experimentos osados ¿puede que errados? con lo anterior. Pero Mandy no habla de política, de la cancelación, del mee too o de lo femenino vestida de peli de género, es una peli de género sincera fuera de época y peli de autor haciendo de los clichés del genero una checklist a completar pero de la manera más orgánica y artie que pueda. Resultado? una buena peli de género, muy rara y muy bonita. La ves y pasas el rato muy bien, y viendo como han cuidado todo para esa belleza de museo de subgénero, pero sin que eso lastre a darte lo que promete. Vedla o revisitadla pero con la mirada limpia de estas tonterías que se dijeron en su día y, sobre todo, que no se os pase ver la anterior mencionada.
