García Marquez cuenta una historia sobre el momento en que comprendió el significado de la soledad del poder: en las últimas de un dictador, una multitud de periodistas lo ve abandonar el palacio desde donde gobierna, lentamente, caminando de espaldas, fusil en una mano, el botín en la otra. Siempre me pareció irreal esa experiencia, o por lo menos como de otro tiempo. La soledad del poder, como la comprendo yo, se parece mucho a estas fotos que la Casa Blanca ha empezado a publicar. Un hombre solo en la pausa del desastre de turno, mirando en la distancia; un par de hombres anticipando lo que viene, balanceando los pros y los contras, la ambiguedad de las cosas, sin disimular la duda.
Ultimo reporte del fin del mundo:
OMS: El nivel de panico es 4. Cuando llegue a 5 es hora de empezar la pachanga de despedida. Mientras llega, es hora agregarle cultura a la cosa con una presentación excepcional sobre pandemias.
Tenemos otra cosa de la qué culpar a Mexico? La teoría ya aceptada es que Todo empezó en La Gloria. Un niño de 5 años es el paciente cero.
La BBC tenía una nota ayer de la que me quedó esto:
Sabemos con certeza que los puercos que se mantienen confinados en estas granjas ya han sido vinculados en el pasado a infecciones entre los productores y sus familias", le dijo la experta a la BBC.
"Pero la razón principal por la que deben investigarse es porque los estudios demuestran que en el proceso de reproducir grandes cantidades de animales -que pueden ser entre 3 y 6.000 puercos en un solo edificio y hasta 75.000 pollos- se crean condiciones para una mezcla muy variada de patógenos."
Hermano Cerdo en un oportunista aprovechamiento de la tragedia invita a combatir el p´nico con tragedia. Si no se ha contagiado (y/o muerto) antes del 2 de mayo, todavía tiene tiempo.
Y lo último: deben haber pocas maneras menos poeticas para morirse que morirse de gripa.
Que no cunda el pánico:
Todas las portadas de los diarios más importantes de latinoamérica y España cubren la gripe (gripa?) porcina. No es motivo para entrar en pánico, sólo para alarmarse. La diferencia entre lo uno y lo otro es del tamaño de la que hay entre el amor y el odio.
Los periodistas le preguntaron a un viajero que llegaba de Mexico al aeropuerto de San Francisco, sobre qué tan preocupado estaba. El hombre aclaró las cosas: "El gobierno dice que lo tiene todo bajo control, que ya saben cual es el antidoto y de donde vino todo. Yo no me preocupo tanto, me puse la mascara por precaución, tampoco quiero morir."
Thomas Bernhard en Concrete:
"We publish only to satisfy our craving for fame [...] To publish anything is folly and evidence of a certain defect of character. To publish the intellect is the most heinous of all crimes, and on a number of occasions I have not recoiled from committing this most heinous of crimes. It wasn't even done out of a crude urge to communicate my ideas to anybody. That has never attracted me. It was a craving for fame pure and simple [...] If I am nauseated by all the thousands and hundreds of thousands of publications by other people, I should be unutterably nauseated by my own. But we can't escape vanity and the craving for fame. If necessary, we are prepared to yield to it with our heads held high, even though we know that we are acting in an unpardonable and perverse manner."
Haruki Murakami en Berkeley, Parte 2
Una continuación de lo que empezó en la Parte 1
I wake up every day between 4 and 5 in the morning. I go to bed between 9 and 10 at night.
-What is your favorite band?
-In the morning I listen to classical music. In the evening I listen to jazz. During the day I listen to rock music. I like Radiohead. You know, Thom Yorke says he likes my books. He's in Tokyo now. He said that he'd like to meet me. But I can't. I'm here. So, I'm missing Thom Yorke and a baseball game. I'm doing a lot of sacrifices today.
I also like The Beach Boys.
I write in the early morning, when it's dark. Then I run. Work in the dark, work in the sun. It's a good balance.
People stop me in the street and say "hey I really liked your latest book." And I reply "oh great, I'm honored, please buy my next book." Other people stop me and say "hey I didn't like your latest book" and I say "well, I'm sorry, I try to do my best every time. I'm sorry that my best was not good enough for you. But please buy my next book. You may like that one."
I get some questions in the internet. This guy sent me a really stupid questions. And I like stupid questions. He wanted to know about squids. You know how squids have like tentacles? He wanted to know if those were hands or feet. Why did he ask me? I don't know. But I answered anyway.
Murakami: I like to sing while I'm swimming.
Roland: how do you do that?
Murakami: Well, I swim like a mile every day and it gets boring.
Roland: but, how do you do that? Every time you go for air you sing a little?
Murakami: No. I just sing. Like, I decide I want to sing yellow submarine and I sing it.
I have to go deep underground when I write. Touch my obsessions. That is why I run. You need to be strong to face that.
I wanted to write a story about sharpie cakes. I didn't know what sharpie cakes were or how to bake one. I liked the sound of it, I guess, I don't know. One day it just popped in my head. I don't know why.
When I started, most of my readers were in their 20s and early thirties. Almost thirty yeares later, most of my readers and in their 20s and early thirties. Some things don't change.
Some friends tell me they talk to their sons and daughters about my books. Otherwise they don't talk at all! They feel grateful for that.
Haruki Murakami en Berkeley, Parte 1
El 11 de octubre pasado Haruki Murakami fue a Berkeley. Murakami es uno de los escritores japoneses más populares del momento. Lo primero que leí de él fue Norwegian Wood cuando era un extranjero reciente en Estados Unidos. Luego leí casi todo lo demas. Sus novelas se convirtieron en una especie de hermano mayor. El 11 de octubre tuve la oportunidad de ver en vivo a uno de mis heroes. Esto es lo que recuerdo que dijo.
***
Hello, I'm happy to be here. I believe I'm missing a baseball game. I'm a Rays fan. This guy (says name of japanese player) was a player for a low money team in Japan. He came [to the US] to play for a low money team like the Rays. My kind of guy.
Tonight I will read a story. In Japanese. Then Roland will read the same story in english. We do it this way because japanese is my mother tongue and english is his mother tongue. It could be more interesting if I read in english and he reads in japanese. But we cannot do it that way.
I realize that a lot of you don't speak japanese. Which is unfortunate. But you know, that is not my fault. And it is not your fault either. So, we're even. In any case, if you don't understand japanese, sit back, relax and enjoy the sound.
I wrote my first novel when I was 29. Before that I hadn't written anything at all. Before that, I had nothing to say. I was born in the suburbs. Middle class. No war. So: nothing to say. I had to live first.
I wrote my first novel, I sent it to a publisher. They liked it. They published it. And it sold well. Like a hundred thousand copies. So I was writer. It was quite easy, you know.
I write because I want to know what it is that I'm thinking. I have to write it down. Smart people don't have to do this. They know already what they're thinking.
I don't think with my brain. Or my heart. I think with my fingers. I have a macintosh and I have a keyboard. When I'm front of the keyboard, I'm happy.
I write because it gives me pleasure. It's fun.
Writing a novel is like making a videogame, where I am both the developer and the gamer.
Everybody has obsessions, but most people don't get closer to them. A writer must confront his obsessions.
Catcher in the rye is a very dark book. It's funny, but very dark. J.D. Salinger had very big obsessions. Like three or four times bigger than mine. I'm here (points to stage), he'd be there (points to behind the curtains).
When it comes to books, the longer the better. But I get a lot of complaints from readers. A lot of my readers read during ther commuting, in the train. And a long book is heavy. So I get a lot of complaints. "oh you know, my hands hurt, the book is too heavy." I decided to print my books in very thin pages. People still complained. "Oh we have a fan because it's too hot in the summer and I can't read your books because the pages don't stay still. The pages are so thin." It's hard to keep people happy. There's always someone complaining.