OKURIBITU (DEPARTURES)

Like salmons, our lives are a journey to death. Actually like any living being. And death has different meanings for us, depending on our personal beliefs. But is too often a sad dark helpless thing. Okuribitu (Yojiro Takita, 2008) lights a little candle about the subject.

Daigo (Masahiro Motoki) is a cello player that has a sudden change in his carrier. His music carrier die. And the next new one has to do with death and the mourning of it. Is not an easy one. Almost a taboo. Many won't understand it (at the beginning not even himself) including his, other, perfect wife, just because the subject is not close or experienced. But someone has to do it. In fact, someone has always been doing it. We just don't think much about it.

Life, death, eating, love, stones and fishes sounds almost like a morbid combination. But, if we follow Daigo's journey through this beautiful movie (and I don't say good I say beautiful) we gonna have an almost mystic experience.

MARCO AURELIO DENEGRI Y LA CULTURA

Marco Aurelio Denegri (Lima, 1938), uno de los grandes intelectuales latinoamericanos contemporaneos, es el conductor del programa televisivo peruano "La Función de la Palabra" que en su edición del 29 de mayo del 2009 discute y comenta con el periodista y catedrático Juan Gargurevich (Mollendo, 1934) una interesante conferencia de Mario Vargas Llosa que el novel Nobel denominó "Civilización del Espectáculo" y que hace unos cinco meses vimos aquí, sobre el concepto de cultura y su democratización, el sensasionalismo de la prensa y la decadencia e involución de el desarrollo intelectual contemporaneo.

THE LOST PYRAMIDS OF CARAL

Egypt, mesopotamia, India, China, Perú and Central America are the six craddles of civilization in the world. Almost 5,000 years old this peruvian city answer us one of the greatest mysteries in archeology: the origins of cities and civilization. But there is a hidden message from the past that only humble science can reveal. And it seems we got it.

Caral, in Perú

MANHATTAN (1979)

Woody "The Woodster" Allen, at the top of his game, declares his love to the city of his life in the opening of this masterpiece (he has more then one, you see): Manhattan (1979).

We have three arts Literature, Music and Photography (or cinematography, if you prefer) combined like a Holy Trinity in one: Cinema.

"Chapter one. " 

"He adored New York City.  

He idolised it all out of proportion. "

Uh, no. Make that "He romanticised it

 all out of proportion. "

"To him,  no matter what the season was,

this was still a town 

that existed in black and white 

and pulsated to the great tunes of George Gershwin. "

 Uh... no. Let me start this over. 

"Chapter one. "  

"He was too romantic about Manhattan,

  as he was about everything else. " 

"He thrived on the hustle, bustle

 of the crowds and the traffic. "

  "To him, New York meant beautiful women

  and street-smart guys

 who seemed to know all the angles. " 

 Ah, no, corny. Too corny for a man of my taste.

   Let me... try and make it more profound. 

  "Chapter one. 

He adored New York City. "

  "To him, it was a metaphor for the decay

 of contemporary culture. " 

 "The same lack of individual integrity

 to cause so many people to take the easy way out...

 was rapidly turning the town of his dreams..." 

 No, it's gonna be too preachy.

 I mean, you know let's  face it, 

I wanna sell some books here.

   "Chapter one.

 He adored New York City,  although to him it was a metaphor

 for the decay of contemporary culture. "

"How hard it was to exist in a society desensitised

 by drugs, loud music, television, crime, garbage..." 

 Too angry. I don't wanna be angry.

   "Chapter one. "

  "He was as tough and romantic as the city he loved. "

  "Behind his black-rimmed glasses

 was the coiled sexual power of a jungle cat. "

  I love this.

"New York was his town and it always would be. "