A writing residency can give you a room of your own, and hopefully a desk with a view, providing a temporary escape from the madding crowd. Most writers, especially the ones who actually devote time to their craft, are not rich. So, why are residencies so incredibly pricey sometimes? Well, it’s a market economy. There […]
El anhelo de un beso Yo tendría unos 6 o 7 años, un cumpleaños en mi casa. Me acuerdo que tenía puesto un enterito verde muy oscuro. En esa época todas gustábamos de Vartán, hoy uno de mis mejores amigos. En un momento de ese cumple que era en mi casa, pero no recuerdo si […]
Las circunstancias de la vida de un taxi boy o un sicario pueden variar de ciudad en ciudad, de país en país, pero la historia de Alex nos habla a todos. Sergio nunca juzga a sus personajes y eso es algo que se agradece demasiado.
ENTRADA DE DIARIO ACERCA DE MADRE FICCIÓN de MARIANO TENCONI BLANCO y LAS CONFESIONES DE SERGIO BLANCO
Montevideo, 19 de octubre 2024 Esta mañana escribí en mi diario “Maravillosa la obra de Tenconi. He pulled an Autofiction. And opened his heart. Saffores splendorous, to the point that I didn´t recognize him. J´aime comme [Tenconi] a mis en scène cette idée d´être laid et aimé à cause de ses pièces. I loved how he exposed […]
CONCURSO DE ESCRITURA para jóvenes de liceos públicos del Uruguay
CONCURSO DE ESCRITURA NOSTALGIAS DEL FUTURO PARA ESTUDIANTES DE LICEOS PÚBLICOS DE TODO EL URUGUAY DE 5TO Y 6TO AÑO ¿Cómo viven la pandemia los adolescentes? Si te gusta escribir mandanos un párrafo (máximo 120 palabras) contando lo que quieras de vos. Vamos a seleccionar 10 estudiantes para participar en un taller con 5 […]
Por Elbio Rodríguez Barilari (Revista Relaciones) Tenemos mucha suerte. Como letristas, Fernando Cabrera, Darnauchans, Caetano Veloso y Chico Buarque son mejores que Bob Dylan y están en un pie de igualdad con Leonard Cohen. O sea que, en el caso de Cabrera estamos hablando de uno de los “songwriters” más importantes a caballo de los […]
A Ravine Dawn – Sunrise as soundrise in La Pedrera
I recently went glamping in La Pedrera. The sounds, images and poem in this video are from a special sunrise during that marvelous experience. Related Images:
ALEPPO was ALEP – Remembering the Armenian Genocide
Yesterday, I learnt about Turkey’s tactics to turn the Armenian genocide-themed film “The Promise” into a box office failure. Apparently, they have been entering about 100,000 poor reviews on Imdb, buying seats in theaters and then asking for refunds, so the seats will be empty, harassing actors and producers, etc. Now that Turkey is even more […]
This is a strange post for this site, but since films are a great way of “traveling” sometimes, I thought I´d share a list of some of the fabulous French films I have watched over the last months. After making a conscious decision to avoid anything produced in Hollywood, I was able to discover many fabulous […]
Viaje hacia la luz – Nicolás Ibarburu prepara su próximo disco
Nico Ibarburu es una persona que me ha enseñado muchas cosas a lo largo de mi vida. Sobre todo, a escuchar, a dejar ser. Y no es porque sea o pretenda ser un ejemplo de nada. Nico es alguien que igual se queda hablando quince minutos con un tipo de la calle que le quiere contar […]
10 OKCupid Messages From Men that Almost Sent Me to a Nunnery
joined OKCupid a year ago, basically to remind myself that after breaking up with a great love, there could still be hope to find that perfect someone again. But I wasn´t ready for this.
Bilingual poems about candombe, the true essence of Uruguayan music Candombe blues (Montevideo, 24 de Agosto, 2012) Hay una melancolía salvaje en el candombe un trance que deshace lo que pasó todo es ahora todo es tambor Lo sagrado (Montevideo, 24 de Agosto, 2012)Las manos del Lobo en el tambor La mort de […]
Some trips take longer to process, to really find within ourselves what it is we went looking for there, REALLY, as opposed to what we set out to achieve. I took several as yet unreported trips in 2015, and perhaps the most unreported one among them was my sejour in breathtaking Sedona. There were many peculiarities […]
Hope for humanity – Pepe Mujica´s Speech at UNASUR
Here is another translation by a wonderful speech by Mujica. Enjoy and live well. Dream good dreams, and fight for them. Dear compatriots, presidents, gentlemen, foreign affairs ministers, colleagues of these years of vicissitudes, I have to thank you infinitely.I am a rough kind of peasant and the only merit I have is being a […]
Love must be pure. It has to respect us above all. Take care of us above all. Love wants our happiness. Love´s greatest satisfaction is the loved one´s joy and eternal bliss. But sometimes we give all these things, we feel we are receiving the same. We feel it in our soul, in our hearts, […]
A rendez-vous with producer Elias Ribeiro of Urucu Media in Rio de Janeiro Elias Ribeiro was born in Brazil. With awards and selections from several of the world´s top film markets and funds, he is arguably the absolute star of Africa´s independent cinema today. His South Africa-based company Urucu Media is committed to finding […]
Casapueblo – A perfect blend of Art, Nature, and Architecture
Few artists have had the chance to create their own living museums, their perfect havens. Carlos Páez Vilaró is one of them. A disciple of the likes of Picasso and Torres García, Páez Vilaró created Casapueblo, a dreamlike affair that combines a hotel, an artist´s workshop, and an art gallery. I once had a romantic […]
Don´t show me the coffins of children with that deafening orchestral scoring My sadness doesn´t need a soundtrack What do you want from me masters of montage and emotional chord strikes Don´t let me hear the Armenian tongue of my school days from the mouths of children displaced bombed their lives forever raped the familiar […]
Ever since the Beatles first landed in America, British musicians have been trying to make it in the US with varying degrees of success. Born into a family of British musicians, Hayley Jane had many options before her when she decided to study at Boston’s Berklee College of Music , arguably one of the world’s […]
Everybody wants to move to Uruguay, but not everyone should…
One thing I know for sure is this: wherever LIFE is happening, it´s never happening at a 4-star hotel. You can add as many stars as you like; it ain´t gonna happen.
The state of water in America and the true price of a glass of Fiji
Earlier this year, I saw a documentary about Chevron´s fracking exploits in the US and Poland. The film was presented by its director, who was hiding in a cave at the moment. Chevron was not very happy with the documentary, and his life was in danger. What I saw in the film included people getting […]
Film festivals are magical sometimes, and this is the case with FAM in the island of Florianopolis, in the South of Brazil. Island people are usually special, they love to enjoy life, they like to be outdoors and live life to the fullest, and Florianopolians are no exception to the rule.
Lament for St. Cecilia – Music by Paul Stanhope, Lyrics by Veronica Pamoukaghlian
How Lament for St. Cecilia, music by Paul Stanhope, lyrics by Veronica Pamoukaghlian.came about,
thanks to the magic of The Wander Life.
Includes a video with audio from a performance at St. John´s College, Cambridge, Jan 2013
We travel, supposedly, to know the heart of a place, to find what is unique about each corner of the world. In our globalized world, however, especially when visiting big cities, we tend to get, in reality, a bit of many worlds.
Sometimes we travel long and far and we don´t know what we are looking for. I have always been attracted to people who do not give up, who never stop searching. Sometimes we travel long and far and then we find what we wanted back in our home. All of these things have happened to […]
the silent drums will never play the same our heart is changed Acá va la segunda parte. Hay mucho dolor, pero también mucha belleza y mucho amor. Espero que disfruten y saboreen recordarlo una vez más y muchas, muchas más. Conocí a Osvaldo por los Shakers, cuando me contaron que el tocaba la bata y […]
Museum of Natural Sciences, La Plata, Argentina – An emotional journey
Quite honestly, I have seen my share of Museums around the world and, unless they are the home of a painting by Max Ernst or another favorite of mine that I am really dying to see, I’m sort of done with them, with the general idea of a Museum, especially while traveling, when I’d much […]
As I might head to NY City soon, after acquiring an addictive taste for it last Summer, I decided to find out what cool concerts were happening there during the rest of the Summer and early Fall. I was amazed at the quality and variety of the shows (and even surprised that some bands were […]
My favorite London band is actually the curently LA-based Purple Melon, so, I decided to commission this article from Rebecca Felgate, who is much better informed about the London music scene of today. Happy listening! London has always been celebrated for its enormous ability to house upcoming and diverse music. With notorious bands such as The […]
Men’s vs Women’s Holiday Habits Exposed – Johnny Depp’s wife will not be thrilled…
I’ve heard it’s been raining heavily in Britain during late Spring and early Summer. Apparently, it has been the wettest June on record, and forecasts for July are not very promising either. This made me curious about what Brits were doing to escape their disagreeable summer. I was actually planning to write about favorite destinations […]
Human happiness and the environment – Address by Uruguayan president Jose Mujica at Rio +20 Summit
This is a rare entry for my blog. I was deeply moved by this speech by Mujica, and it expressed many views I share with the man I am proud to have voted to be president of my country. Much as I was in awe of his eloquence and heart-warming simplicity, I was also appalled […]
MONSTRUO, Film shoot in Montevideo – A photo gallery
So, we´re about to show MONSTRUO to an audience for the first time. It´s only a private premiere, but we are superexcited after over a year of work on the film. Monstruo is a relentless thriller, directed by Berlin-based Carlos Morelli, starring two of Uruguay´s most renowned character actors: Roberto Jones and Roberto Suárez. If […]
GUEST POST BY BEN GALLIVAN, OUR MAN IN BERLIN There is a big misunderstanding of music that comes out of Germany – it isn’t all techno, opera and Rammstein (although there is a lot of that about too!); there are plenty of different styles of live music being played out nightly, especially in Berlin. The […]
Antes de poner un pie en las Malvinas, lo único que realmente sabía acerca de ellas era que había habido una guerra entre Argentina e Inglaterra por la posesión de su territorio en los ochentas.Los uruguayos, con una cercanía cultural muy profunda con la Argentina, nos habíamos visto naturalmente inclinados a apoyar el lema de […]
Melancholia by Lars von Trier and the creation of myth
By Verónica Pamoukaghlián About a year ago, an editor asked me to write an analysis of the creation of myth in an audiovisual product. I decided to write about a film trailer I had just seen, which I found fascinating. This article is the result of that commission. Hope you enjoy it. A film trailer […]
Queremos tanto a Luis – Spinetta por Elbio Rodríguez Barilari
Desde ese día en que todos nos enteramos que el cuerpo de Luis Alberto Spinetta dio su último suspiro, personalmente pasé por varios estados. Desée poder esconderme en alguna parte mientras pasaba todo el desfile de tristeza publicitada y mercantilización de la muerte, recordé los pocos pero inolvidables momentos que compartí con él, y los […]
Into the land of dreams – great travel films of all times
This is the second guest post ever on The Wander life, by travel blogger extraordinaire Joe, who shows a flair for film criticism as well. I added my favorite travel movie of all times at the bottom! Enjoy! If you’re a traveller, what’s the next best thing to travelling? Daydreaming about it? Writing about? Talking […]
Over the last few weeks, somewhere between watching a bit of Food Inc, as part of research for a documentary (I couldn´t stomach 10 minutes of it…), reading about the latest cutbacks to personal freedom compliments of the Obama administration, and watching Chris Hodges’ speech on the empire´s severe decline; somewhere along the line, I […]
For anyone blogging about travel, starting a travel magazine is the next big step. Much as people may keep talking about the end of printing, print news and advertising still lead the way in today´s world, and a magazine and blog can create a powerful synergy to market a variety of products. FOCUS If you […]
Imagining India: the ultimate spiritual pilgrimage
Most people I know who have been to India have done it to search for some kind of spiritual enlightenment. People may search for holidays to Goa, because it’s one of the most popular destinations, or choose to visit the Taj Mahal and Delhi. Tour operators often offer yoga and meditation tours of India. Some […]
Years ago, when I was planning my first visit to Istanbul, I tried to get hired to interview Pamuk, just because I wanted to meet him. I hadn’t tried hard enough, and I thought my chances of seeing Pamuk had vanished forever. A dream come true Only five minutes ago, a few blocks from my […]
Chicago travel – just for the music (First guest post ever! by Thomas Stone)
Who doesn’t know about the rich history of music from Chicago? Dixieland and Jazz ruled at the turn of thecentury, while the folk jams of the ’60s and the rugged rock of the ’80s and ’90s defined the nation’s, nay, the world’s tastes in their time. No matter who you are, and what you like, […]
ATLANTIDA, Uruguay: Film workshop on the beach – A photo blog
I have done many things in my life, but I am pretty sure this is the first time I´ve had a class at a beach bar, in a biking, drinking white wine and nibbling on calamari. NÉKTAR FILMS` project THE ISLAND OF JUSTICE was selected for a production workshop with a very interesting Argentinean producer, […]
Two poems on St. Cecilia´s day and the power of music
On this day last year, I was not in the best terms with Saint Cecilia. I was feeling a little bit angry about some of the sacrifices I sometimes made for music & musicians. What came out of those emotions on her day were this too half angry-half worshipy poems.
RAUL se retira de Atlantidoc, un festival poco serio
Recientemente enviamos nuestra película Raúl a ATLANTIDOC.
Al pasar el proceso de selección, y como hay una sección competitiva de documentales uruguayos, con premio para el mejor de ellos, y dado que solamente se habían seleccionado cuatro largos, de los cuales uno no debería de estar compitiendo por estar dirigido por el propio director del Festival (RICARDO CASAS), estábamos seguros de que el Jurado internacional tendría la oportunidad de ver nuestra película.
We shot an unforgettable film and we survived (and thrived).
MONSTRUO by CARLOS MORELLI. A NEKTAR FILMS production.
Coproducers: La ofi cine Berlin, Cinescopio Mexico.
With funding from the Uruguayan Film Institute.
Es muy raro ver un show en donde ninguna canción pierde un poco el interés, donde la magia no decae en ningún momento, donde los músicos sienten que están viviendo un momento especial, único, irrepetible, y el público, es parte de esa deliciosa complicidad.
Acompañado por sus dos maravillosos guitarristas Jeremías di Polito y Juan Pablo Chapital, Francisco Etchenique en batería y Nino Restuccia en bajo, Pablo y sus amigos nos regalaron, sin duda, el mejor show del año.
Fake idols and real dreams – From Manhattan to Hollywood
Flying towards JF Kennedy airport in New York, I recognized a bridge out a F Scott Fitzgerald novel. It was the bridge that Gatsby crosses to go into the city. I remembered the description of ash heaps and the mechanic who looked as grey as the ashes. The place looked grey and dull enough […]
The condo where my friend was staying looked exactly like TV´s serial killer cop “DEXTER,” which is actually set in Miami. The feeling of being in Dexter-land was augmented by the headline I read on a local magazine my friend had lying around: “Bigger guns, no permits needed, Page 10.”
The death of the common enemy – Obama and Osama´s head
Seeing Obama tell people to be happy because Osama had been killed felt exactly like one of those political meetings in 1984, where people enter into a hate frenzy against "the enemy."
Hitler said " Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?" to counter the argument that it would be impossible to "get away" with wiping out the Jews. That´s what pushing a genocide under the rug will do; beget another one.
Though I knew little about Ebert and had never seen him, in my mind, he was not necessarily a "nice" man, more like a Neptune with his trident, letting films pass in front of him, and decreeing which ones would live and which ones would be sentenced to death.
I have a friend who is obsessed with muses. She keeps saying, jokingly, "what did she have that I don´t?" referring to women like Gala, who inspired Paul Éluard, Max Ernst and Salvador Dalí alike.
No, this is not a post about how wonderful it is to travel round the world. It is about the death of children, the most unnatural of all unnatural things upon our ailing Earth.
Japan, nuclear tsunamis and what is wrong with “progress”
Recently, Kenzaburo Oe wrote an article about how intrinsically disrespectful of the memory of the nuclear bomb's victims it was for Japan to keep developing nuclear power
RAUL at Punta del Este Film Festival; cinema & pastoral bliss
When my friend Sergio, who was organizing the Fest told me that our preview was going to be shown at Fundacion Atchugarry, I didn't think much of it. I had never heard of the place, though the prospect of it being en route to beautiful Jose Ignacio and in the middle of the country sounded very appealing.
My Berlin is a Wendersness. It is an existential black and whiteness where Bono and Lou Reed are singing a song on streetcorners and Nick Cave is crooning hypnotic tunes in some run-down basement
Love story at the Llamadas: Candombe drumming and amour in Montevideo
We followed the drummers dancing like crazy. The llamadas consist of each group playing and dancing candombe and walking for some 10 blocks over a street called Isla de Flores. They start around the corner from my apartment, actually, but our seats were near the end of the line, so, when we followed the drummers as they exited the gates, police closed them behind us and said we couldn´t go back inside.
Ana couldn´t care less: she was going to be reunited with him, and nothing else mattered.
Iemanja: Uruguayans celebrate the goddess of the sea
Every February 2nd, thousands of Uruguayans go to Ramírez beach in Montevideo to offer their gifts to the goddess of the sea and ask for her protection, for their secret crush to fall in love with them, for work, money, or whatever they may desire.
An Egyptian mirage: Mayhem in the land of the pharaohs
In a country where a blogger goes to prison for four years after criticizing the president, it is no secret that freedom of expression has been a standing concern.
After 30 years living in an ipso-facto dictatorship under Hosni Mubarak, it seems that Egypt has had enough.
However, when I saw images of an Egyptian museum after it had been ramsacked during protests, I felt a sense of terrible loss.
Beach concerts in URUGUAY. One of the summer´s highlights. Videos of two concerts at the Fabulous Punta del Diablo beach: DIZZY NATY FAFA TRIO and CONTRA LAS CUERDAS.
The Med is one of my favorite places on the planet. Since Europeans decided to switch to Euro and the dollar went downhill, European travel has become very expensive. Coming from Uruguay, some of the local prices seem outrageous, considering the exchange rate with the Uruguayan peso. In any case, I have been around the […]
Pablo Damonte, un diamante que ya no está en bruto
Pablo es esa cosa rara de ver: un músico de la cabeza a los pies, además un cantautor exquisito y, sobre todo, alguien capaz de una entrega en escena sólo paralela a la de su ídolo máximo Luis Alberto Spinetta.
Lucas Martí, un artista inencasillable (gracias a dios)
Lo primero que escuché de Lucas Martí era una canción rara, inencasillable, quizás casi tanto como su autor. Pasarían años antes de mi enluquecimiento.
World traveler with a herniated disc? Goodbye surgeon, hello fitness guru
Hardcore workout is the only way out for people suffering from low back pain and herniated discs. A researched paper and an account of my personal story as living proof of my firm belief.
La historia es así, AC y yo nos conocimos cibernética y tangencialmente cuando escribí un guión y él aceptó componer la música, además de hacer un cameo. Eran épocas de Honestidad Brutal y luego El Salmón, y mi mente estaba completamente acalamarada. Después nos cruzamos a lo lejos varias veces, sin jamás llegar a coincidir, […]
Celebrating Uruguay´s soccer triumphs: are we all like sheep?
High schools were shut down, military planes were hovering over the Uruguayan House of Parliament, the crowd was cheering at random, and I got to thinking about Orwell´s sheep.
The New Yorker said we were an ordinary team, but we made the top four. Returning from LA, I was able to witness and celebrate Uruguay´s triumphs in the soccer world cup.
So, I am back home after that crazy LA sejour. Today was a special day in Uruguay. Our team was playing Korea, and we had to win to stay in the world cup. I had made plans for my friend Arpi to pick me up to go over to our friend Trici´s to watch the […]
LA Film Festival 2010, the changing landscape of film distribution, how LA public transportation surprisingly works, and some notes on the peculiar film festival fauna.
Sting and the US Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl
What an experience, to see a 50-year old Sting, his vocal chords intact, in better shape than ever, accompanied by an amazing backup vocalist and a genius conductor leading a superb Phil. The arrangements were next to perfection, the song choices, made in heaven, the slim moon was shining over Hollywood, and one could ask for nothing more.
