UNA FOTO / UN DIA: DESESPERACION

photo caption: Richard Prince's "Cowboys" poster, Paco's Tacos, Punta
Salinas, PR

THE CRITICS
A review of The "Addams Family" musical
by John Lahr
The New Yorker, April 19, 2010


[excerpts]

The musical theatre has decided to pit the transgressive power of Charles Addams's mischief against the bromidic power of Broadway. The result: Addams's poisoned brew turned into Kool-Aid.

Except for an occasional blip of wit, fifteen minutes into this palaver the audience can feel the show flatlining.

At the finale - in a perfect piece of Broadway balderdash - the cast sings about moving towards darkness, something that the show resolutely refuses to do:

Move toward darkness
Don't avoid despair
Only at our weakest
Can we learn what's there


J.Galligan
75GRAND/SUR
Santa Olaya, PR

-----------------------------------

UNA FOTO / UN DIA: OTRA VEZ

photo caption: beauty school promotional display, Canton Mall, Bayamon, PR


Lydia Davis
ALMOST NO MEMORY
[stories]
ECCO Press, 1997

excerpt from: TO REITERATE

original text:
To write is to travel, to write is to read,
to read is to write, and to read is to travel.

George Steiner says that to translate is also
to read, and to translate is to write, as to
write is to translate and to read is to translate.

To translate a travel writing, for example, is to
read a travel writing, to write a travel writing,
to read a writing, to write a writing, and to travel.


Google - english to spanish:
Para escribir es viajar, a escribir es leer,
leer es escribir, y leer es viajar.

George Steiner dice que la traduccion es tambien
para leer y traducir a es escribir, en cuanto a
escribir es traducir, y para leer es traducir.

Para traducir una literatura de viajes, por ejemplo, es
leer un relato de viajes, para escribir un relato de viajes,
para leer un escrito, para escribir una escritura, y viajar.


Google's spanish - back to english:
To write is to travel, to write is read,
read is to write, and read travel.

George Steiner says that the translation is also
to read and translate is to write, in terms
write to translate, and to read is to translate.

To translate a travel literature, for example, is
to read a travel story, to write a travelogue,
to read a letter, to write a script, and travel.


J.Galligan
75GRAND/SUR
Santa Olaya, PR

UNA FOTO / UN DIA: EXTRAORDINARIO O PRODIGO

We were talking about nature and culture.
About how they seem a dichotomy.
We were trying to think of a third element,
but couldn't - unless it's the extra-terrestrial.

 

 

 

 

J.Galligan
75GRAND/SUR
Santa Olaya, PR

-----------------------------------

UNA FOTO / UN DIA: AGUJEROS NEGRO

photo caption: Full moon | Santa Olaya, PR | 09-01-10

BLACK HOLES

[ed. note: Loosely translated from El Nuevo Dia Science page. Originally published by BBC WORLD]

"Pudimos ver en imagenes tomadas con grandes telescopios que una fuente optica debil estaba presente en el sitio conde se ubicaba la fuente de rayos X, localizada cerca del nucleo de una galaxia grande y brillante," le explica el cientifico a la BBC.

 

 
Type text or a website address or translate a document.
 Listen

Spanish to English translation (via google)

"We could see in images taken with large telescopes that a faint optical source was present at the site with the X-ray source located near the nucleus of a large and bright galaxy," explained the scientist to the BBC.


BBC article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/


El Nuevo Dia article (google translated): http://translate.google.com

J.Galligan
75GRAND/SUR
Santa Olaya, PR

UNA FOTO / UN DIA: Lets the Cats Out of the Bag


photo caption: still life with Jim Steinmeyer's biography: "Charles Fort: The Man (from Albany, NY) who Invented the Supernatural"

REVELARS LOS SECRETOS


DIEZ FOBIAS - 10 Phobias

From: The San Juan Weekly, Sept 9-15, 2010
Crossword: edited by Will Shortz
from the New York Times, 2001

PHOBIAS (answers to clued entries)
  •   1. AILUROphobia
  •   2. MONOphobia
  •   3. ENETOphobia
  •   4. THALASSOphobia
  •   5. MYSOphobia
  •   6. XENOphobia
  •   7. PSYCHROphobia
  •   8. BATRACHOphobia
  •   9. ANDROphobia
  • 10. AGORAphobia

SPANISH
  •   1. GATOS
  •   2. SOLEDAD
  •   3. AGUJAS
  •   4. EL MAR
  •   5. MUGRE
  •   6. EXTRANJEROS
  •   7. FRIO
  •   8. ANFIBIOS
  •   9. HOMBRES
  • 10. ESPACIOS LIBRE

ENGLISH trans.
  •   1. Cats
  •   2. Loneliness
  •   3. Needles
  •   4. The Sea
  •   5. Dirt
  •   6. Strangers / Foreigners
  •   7. Cold
  •   8. Amphibians
  •   9. Men
  • 10. Open Spaces


J.Galligan
75GRAND/SUR
Santa Olaya, PR

-----------------------------------

UNA FOTO / UN DIA: The Stuff of Life

One of the foibles (sp. trans. punto flaco - "flat point") of island life is the lack of what we consider good bread. Around here, pan (bread) made daily at any local panaderia (bakery, lit. a place that makes or sells bread), comes in three varieties: 1) sobao - small loaf of highly sweetened bread, 2) pan de agua - large loaf of less sweetened bread with water instead of milk base, 3) pan criollo - native bread, presumably the people's bread. The problem with all three types of bread is they have the weight and texture of sponge cake. A little like Wonder Bread, only in loaves that look handmade.

For the past couple months we have longed for a baguette loaf, or some other firm, dense bread to which we are accustomed. We've searched upermarkets, plain and gourmet, numerous panaderias and more than a few local bodegas - and come up empty handed.

This week we took matters into our own hands. Fortunately, I had packed Penelope Casas's The Foods & Wines of Spain -- "the definitive book on Spanish cooking," according to Craig Claiborne. Knopf-published, ours is the fourth, 1984 printing. She dedicates her book to: "Lusi y Elisa, infatigables companeros de viaje y gastronomos de primera clase." (Indefatigable friends for first class trips and food.)

Fortunately, Casas drops down to steerage for her bread recipe, PAN DE
PUEBLO (basic long loaf) which has only four ingredients: flour, salt, yeast and water.

As she says: "Eating bread in Spain is a treat, and for a Spaniard an essential part of every meal. Baking bread at home is an exciting and rewarding experience and the ONLY way to sample authentic Spanish bread outside of Spain."

To quote Lillian Mulero: "Just what we needed."

I can only add: AMEN.

ps: while kneeding we listen to either - James Brown, or Charlotte
Gainsbourg


NEXT: VEGETALES VERDE (green vegetables)


J.Galligan
75GRAND/SUR
Santa Olaya, PR

UNA FOTO / UN DIA: Extrano, muy extrano!

CHUPACABRAS ATACAR FINCA EN BARRIO DE PLAYA
dateline: Barrio Playa, PR
source: El Nuevo Dia

CHUPACABRA ATTACKS A FARM IN PUERTO RICO

A total of 28 animals were found dead Tuesday, in the Barrio Playa section of Anasco, Puerto Rico in what appears to be a Chupacabra attack.

The dead animals were found by the owner, Sra. Providencia Rivera Mercado. They included "17 rabbits, 4 guinea hens, 4 chicks, two hens and one kitten."

Each dead animal had "perforations on the neck" and was "bloodless."

According to Officer Rogelio Orsini Cabrero of the Anasco, P.R. police, who investigated the crime scene, "The animals had two perforations made with some kind of sharp object and with no blood in them. This is strange, very strange," he told the newspaper El Nuevo Dia, "What they say about the
Chupacabras must be true, because there is no other explanation."

"He added that the major organs had been extracted from two of the animals, and that a circular opening had been made in the metal mesh of the cage..."

Mrs. Rivera stated that she'd gone to bed at 11:30 that night, and although she'd heard a strange noise, she paid no attention and slept peacefully."

"When I woke up, I saw all the animals dead and scattered. It lifted the covers of some of the cages and opened holes in others. The animals were sucked dry and appeared as if cut by some double-edged surgical knife," Rivera said.

Humberto Rivera, a neighbor, said he returned from work at 1:30 in the morning and the neighborhood dogs were howling. "There was a strange feeling in the air, like in a mystery movie. The dogs howled like wolves. The environment itself felt strange."


FROM WIKIPEDIA:

The chupacabra (from chupar "to suck" and cabra "goat", literally "goat's blood sucker"), is rumored to inhabit parts of the Americas. It is associated more recently with sightings of an allegedly unknown animal in Puerto Rico (where these sightings were first reported), Mexico, and the United States, especially in Latin American communities.

The name comes from the animal's reported habit of attacking and drinking the blood of livestock, especially goats. Physical descriptions of the creature vary.

Eyewitness sightings have been claimed as early as 1995 in
Puerto Rico, and have since been reported as far north as Maine in the US.

Biologists and wildlife management officials view the chupacabra as a contemporary legend.

=================
J.Galligan
75GRAND/SUR
Santa Olaya, PR

UNA FOTO / UN DIA: testing & redundancy

Al igual otras formas de expresion artistica con la musica, la danza y el teatro, la gastronomia ha evolucionado desde tiempos immemorables par convertise en un estupenda manifestacion de la creatividad humana.

trans.: All arts are equal, but eating, drinking and cooking are more equal than the others.


[ed. note: for unknown reasons, uploads to
posterous blog and link to FB are not
operating correctly - today... THIS WAS A TEST]

PIENSA con LIMITES (some limit to what you can say)

J.Galligan
75GRAND/SUR
Santa Olaya, PR