1984 otra vez

Se ha convertido en algo popular el volver a mirar el 1984 de Orwell. Desde la victoria de Trump, el libro se agotó en Amazon, la película ha sido revivida en cines y hay una obra en Broadway a punto de estrenar.

Así que el otro día encontré el libro de The Bookmark en San Patricio y comencé a leerlo una vez más.La última vez que lo hice debe haber sido 30 atrás. Y me doy cuenta que estos 30 años de conocer más de política hacen que el libro sea mas interesante y que, en cierta manera, de más miedo. Porque ya el peligro no es la Unión Soviética, sino el mismo Estados Unidos que cae en una era de doublespeak, de jugar con la verdad y de destruir la privacidad de las personas. Ahora resulta más real, más cerca. Mucha gente pensaba que al pasar el año 1984, la novela de Orwell desaparecería. Porque en los 60 y los 70 la idea era pensar si el mundo de Orwell se haría realidad. Lo veían como una especie de predicción. Y se comentaba que "Orwell no lo predijo correctamente."

Pero el que el mundo de 1984 no se convirtiera en realidad ese año no era el punto. Ahora vemos que el punto es que muchas de las prácticas comunes en el país Oceania que inventa Orwell, se puede hacer realidad en cualquier momento.

El ver como en estos días, bajo Trump, Alemania es malo, Rusia es bueno, de pronto Rusia no es bueno...y luego leer como Oceania siempre estaba en guerra con alguien, pero cambiaba todo el tiempo de enemigo causa cierto terror.

Solo esperemos que no acabemos , como en el libro, loving Big Brother. Aunque según las encuestas ya 40% de los americanos parecen ya amarlo.

Libros, sueños, viajes. Iberia de James Michener.

En estos días he estado leyendo un libro realmente fascinante. Es Iberia de James Michener. Contrario a muchos de sus libros que son ficción, Iberia es un libro sobre los viajes de Michener a España durante los años 1960. Y es muy interesante viajar con el autor a través de España, sobre todo durante la época de Franco.

Pero este libro es más que un simple reportaje de un momento en la historia. Michener se detiene en varios lugares y a través de ese luagr nos lleva a través de toda la maravillosa historia de ese país. Desde la Epoca romana hasta la de los Moros e Isabel La Católica. Conocer esta historia para mí es conocer mi pasado. Mis raíces cientos de años atrás.

Lo más que me llama la atención de esta obra es que aunque fue escrito en 1968 y el autor describe un presente que ya no existe, el libro hace que uno quiera tomar un avión de Iberia y por par de meses perderse en ese país.

Iberia es un libro enorme en tamaño. Sólo he leído hasta la mitad. Quizás porque estoy disfrutando mucho del viaje y lo leo poco a poco cada noche, antes de dormir. Un viaje literario antes de un viaje a los sueños. O quizás ambos viajes son sueños. Eso es lo que me gusta.

Fright Night on Channel 9

Back in the late 1970's our cable system simply carried two stations from the USVI. Then by 1978, a real breakthrough occurred. We suddenly had three superstations from the US mainland in our system. They were WTBS, WGN and WOR. These were basically small independent stations that sent their signal via satellite to cable systems everywhere. These channels really changed the way we viewed cable tv and offered a great alternative to local tv.

Even though WTBS carried the best programming. I always had a soft spot for WOR from New York. WOR was the lowest rated tv station in the Big Apple, offering a fare of reruns, Benny Hill, NY Mets games and old movies. And old movies was the reason I loved this station. For the first time I was able to enjoy all the old RKO classics which were the bread and butter of the station. (Channel 9 was owned by RKO General, so they owned these wonderful movies.)

But of all their movie shows, the most amazing, unpredictable and thrilling was something they would show at midnight on Saturdays (1am our time). It was called "Fright Night". It hard to describe the truly eclectic and downright bizarre movies WOR would show at that time. Being at that late hour, the combination of weird movies and sleepiness one felt made for a completely surreal experience. One in which reality, tiredness and maybe an alcohol buzz would meet in a truly awesome manner.

So I was thrilled to buy the book "Fright Night on Channel 9" by James Arena. This books describes the behind the scenes dealings that resulted in this wonderful tv experience. It explains how the channel, in its aim to get the most inexpensive movie packages possible, ended up with a combination of horror movies that included Euro horrors, movies from the Philippines, sexy independent movies and much more.

The book also describes in detail every movie shown on 'Fright Night" from 1973 until 1987.Something that made me search for some of these movies on DVD or on Netflix streaming.Of course, it is impossible to truly replicate the experience of seeing these movies on WOR, but it was a nostalgic thing to do, nevertheless.

Of course, all things must come to an end, and when WOR was sold to Universal, they changed the station from a small, quirky one to your average, generic station full of talk shows and infomercials. At that moment WOR also stopped being a superstation.
WOR became respectable, I guess.

But it's really special to have this book that takes one to a time when small tv stations were unique, when they were not looking for respectability and just wanted to entertain. A time when turning on the tv at midnight could result in a truly weird, fun time.

I cannot recommend this book enough.

Tales from a battlefield

I was a History major so almost almost 30 years after graduating, I am still drawn to history books. But history books written by scholars and people sitting in university don't appeal to me. I'd rather read something like "Brothers in Arms, Best of Friends" in which two ordinary WW II soldiers tell their story in their own words. Here we don't get a wide view of battles and strategies, but of how it felt to be in the middle of a confusing, scary situation. How to deal with the day by day. How to face life after a friend has been blown to bits or has simply vanished into thin air after being hit by a bomb.

It is also interesting that each soldier has an entirely different personality and style from the other. "Wild Bill" is more explicit in his tales of violence and his womanizing. He tells a rough, no-nonsense tale. "Babe" emphasizes the small moments and has a more sentimental approach to life.

This is a wonderful read. It may not win any awards, but it is a truly absorbing book.