These days I’ve been in a very memetic mood, so it is a natural move to post all those memes here. So, enjoy your early June memes:
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
RIP Ray Bradbury, the First Martian
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| All hail Mr. Bradbury, the First Martian! |
I’m not a Ray Bradbury erudite, but I’m mourning his demise anyway. As I said with my Jorge Luis Borges post before, a good writer can claim posterity with a powerful image, like Cervantes’ Don Quixote tilting at windmills. And boy did Mr. Bradbury succeed with that. The image of firefighter Montag burning books or that of Carl Sagan in the Cosmos minisieries clearly evoking The Martian Chronicles, by stating that with terraforming Mars the Martians would be us is enough to claim a huge success.
It wonderful that a sci-fi writer, usually associated with hi-tech vocabulary and prosaic writing could use such powerful imaginaries and lyricism in his writing style. But sci-fi is still a poor man in the literary banquet (Just imagine Bradbury’s or Asimov’s Nobel Prize acceptance speeches! No, it won’t happen anyway.), because of a stubborn pretentiousness that puts politics before art and originality.
And boy Mr. Bradbury’s oeuvre is artsy and original. To highlight, the Fahrenheit 451’s discourse in which why reading books and being an intellectual deserves scorn (Take that, Nobel Prize committee!), or how the book predated the isolating trend of the current social networks and iPods (Go ask Guy Montag’s wife)!
But what I like the most of what Mr. Bradbury did, is that he did equate books with happiness, thru the heroine of Fahrenheit 451.
God rest your soul, Mr. Bradbury. And thank you.
It wonderful that a sci-fi writer, usually associated with hi-tech vocabulary and prosaic writing could use such powerful imaginaries and lyricism in his writing style. But sci-fi is still a poor man in the literary banquet (Just imagine Bradbury’s or Asimov’s Nobel Prize acceptance speeches! No, it won’t happen anyway.), because of a stubborn pretentiousness that puts politics before art and originality.
And boy Mr. Bradbury’s oeuvre is artsy and original. To highlight, the Fahrenheit 451’s discourse in which why reading books and being an intellectual deserves scorn (Take that, Nobel Prize committee!), or how the book predated the isolating trend of the current social networks and iPods (Go ask Guy Montag’s wife)!
But what I like the most of what Mr. Bradbury did, is that he did equate books with happiness, thru the heroine of Fahrenheit 451.
God rest your soul, Mr. Bradbury. And thank you.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Men in Black 3, or why we need more good cosmic convergences
*Warning: May contain spoilers*
One-hit wonders Mickey and Sylvia made their shot at posterity with “Love is Strange”, a haunting melody with a latin rhythm section and an unforgettable guitar riff used later by the likes of Buddy Holly and The Beatles. That was before the oh-so-neutral Wikipedia honchos decided to neuralize the entry of the song, it was properly called “a cosmic convergence”, a big no-no for the site.
It is not a surprise then that the song is heavily featured in the new Will Smith blockbuster “Men in Black 3”, since the cosmic convergence is virtually the main theme of the movie. Deeply self-referential, it reflects the hopes of a Will Smith returning to acting since his 2008 Seven Pounds disappointment. He surely is tired of constantly being snubbed for Oscar consideration and his milieu there were doubts about his bankability and status.
Maybe this is another lousy year for box-office records (except for the Avengers, until now), but “Men in Black 3” deserves more success and attention. The plot is noticeable better than its predecessor, and the final act has the classic sentimental touch that characterizes most of Will Smith’s movies.
And the music… well, I thought I never wanted to hear “2000 light years from home”, but it was surprisingly well used in the movie, as The Velvet Underground’s anthem “I’m Waiting for the Man” obviously was. I surely missed a few obscure references, but the CRM 114 was a classic. President Obama was referenced in more than one occasion, especially when Agent J’s pay grade is referred by other characters. In that way, “Men in Black 3” was like a Beatles album.
And the acting… well, impeccable. From the main villain Jermaine Clement to Tommy Lee Jones to Emma Thompson to Will Smith, absolutely everybody delivers, with the plus of an almost kiddie fare free screenplay (Frank the Pug, the worms – almost – and Jack Jeebs were conspicuously absent from the film).
Demotivational Posters for early June 2012
This time is more memetic than demotivational, but it's time to start June with our traditional post. Enjoy!
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Scumbag Pablo: Escobar, the evil boss in memes
A TV channel decided to profit from the unspeakable evil genius Pablo Escobar. The lame excuse is that "the new generations need to know", like there is no YouTube nor Wikipedia out there. You see, Al Gore's invention is barely used by the youngsters, stubbornly clinging to their TV sets. Here in sipmacrants! we won't do the same lame attempt as that dreadful TV channel, we will turn Pablo Escobar into a meme instead!
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