Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Folkloristas


Last Thursday I was graced with the opportunity to attend prominent folklorists Inti Illimani's concert here in Concepcion. "Fue bien" (it went well), to say the least. The L.A. Times calls their music "floats within your soul, filling it with calmness and hope. Despite being a newspaper from l.a. (left intentionally uncapitalized), I can't say I disagree.

Probably the best part was the fact that every Chilean I talk to knows and loves Inti, which made it particularly odd to me that a band of such gravity would play such an intimate concert in Sala Dos (literally Room Two, but also the second, if not the third best venue for such an event). The historical context of their story lends a lot to why the band is so beloved, no doubt.

But for me, even if I don't understand every word, I can recognize that the music is just quality. Enjoy "Sobre tu Playa."

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Ridicurous

Reading Slate the other day I noticed an interesting news short about an official Paper, Rock, Scissors Tournament in Las Vegas. The Times reported on it over the weekend, and the gem quote in the article came from the USA Paper Rock Scissors League Co-commissioner (because they would need to share responsibilities here?), when it was reported that he said in all seriousness:
“This is the greatest sport ever to sweep the United States of America.”
He incredulously continues:
“To me, this is a great sport,” Mr. Leshem said. “Right now it’s got a little bit more of a carnival atmosphere than perhaps we intend, but I can tell people are buzzing. There’s a lot of energy here, and we’re culling the field down to the best of them.”
Apparently even ESPN was there. Finally, near the end of the article, everything is better explained. And we can blame bad beer.

Anheuser-Busch is the engine behind the national tournament. Beer distributors organized tournaments at bars around the country, producing regional finalists, and the company put up the prize money and paid for each finalist and a guest to fly to Las Vegas for three days.

Many contestants were having a bit of trouble getting their heads around the idea that they were in Las Vegas, on a free vacation, just to play in a rock-paper-scissors tournament.

Indeed. And it doesn't end there. Leshem goes on to explain that the sport "unites people from all walks of life," and that it is one form of athletic competition where "if you really want to get good at [it], you can.” Thus, the title of this post. Ridicurous.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

The Bay

I'm not a Cali fan, but I dig the acknowledgment of problems and I know what's it's like to "hardly get the love cuz we close to L.A." But ya'll don't wanna hear me ya just want to chill to this music.