Monsiváis

Hero in San Diego!

“Mamá, soy Paquito...”: May 28. Writer and cultural critic Carlos Monsiváis will give this conference on Mexican popular poetry as part of the series Los Rostros de México at the Peace & Justice Institute, University of San Diego. Sponsored by the Mexican Consulate. 7 p.m.

I'm bummed I missed Carlos Fuentes last month. I won't miss this one. I can hardly wait...

Where the Wild Things Are

Spike Jonze's new film Where the Wild Things Are has snagged an acoustic version of one of my favorite Arcade Fire songs, "Wake Up", for its trailer. Based on Maurice Sendak's book, Jonze collaborated with Dave Eggers on the screenplay. To make it just a little bit cooler, Karen O is doing the soundtrack.

Les Savy Fav covers Superchunk

Check out Les Savy Fav's cover of Superchunk's, Precision Auto. Perfect for snowboarding!

Tragic Mtn: Sylvia's son follows in her footsteps

Nicholas Hughes, the son of the poets Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath hanged himself at his home in Alaska after battling depression for some time.

Ted, wrote of how, after Plath’s death, their son’s eyes

“Became wet jewels,
The hardest substance of the purest pain
As I fed him in his high white chair. "

Too much tragedy has eaten mouthfuls of that family. Depression is such a complex monster...

There's poetry in Baseball!!

Ichiro Suzuki referring to a failed bunt attempt in a game against Cuba:

"That failed bunt put another crack in my already tattered heart. It was as though I was the only person on our side wearing a Cuba jersey. "

Isolation and despair. Ichiro, the poet.

Protest Reading

The french are reading Nicolas Sarkozy's least favorite novel, "La Princesse de Clèves,” an anchor of the French canon, to express displeasure with the President.

Protest by reading. Brilliant!

What would UnitedStateseans (to steal a word from Javier Huerta) do to protest a U.S. President? The last time "Americans" were displeased with French leaders it lead to the revolutionary changing of the name of the "french" fry...

Migra Corridos

The U.S. Border Patrol has just released their new album, Migra Corridos. Meant to dissuade illegal crossers from risking their lives for bread, any bread, the propaganda tunes are being played by radio stations throughout Mexico. They meant to call the album 'songs of the immigrant' but somebody screwed up on the translation. How's that for transparency, Tio Sam?