Big Fish!!!

A Sunday afternoon stroll with JD allowed us to stumble upon all sorts of bizarre and unknown gastronomical finds. This big fish? He can be found somewhere between Calle Hortaleza in the city's finest gay neighborhood, Chueca, and Calle Conde de Austrias in the old Hapsburg quarter.

Another random day of photography in this crazy city.

By the way, you can't tell from the photo but this creature's mouth could easily fit a small child in it and them some. The white object pertruding from its gaping frozen jaws is indeed its tongue despite the fact that it appears to be another fish (this was Mike's original comment upon seeing this image). The tongue itself? It has, naturally(?), hundreds of tiny little teeth on it. Shocking? Yes. Hideous? Absolutely. I looked at it, amazed, for several minutes.

La vida secreta de las palabras

This past week's outtings have been pretty fabulous. JD and I caught a transexual flamenco act at La Lupe in Chueca: speechless! My roommate Dani introduced us to some great spots in La Latina neighborhood, the highlight being Matias' bar where over-the-top las vegas style caberet covers of suicidal Radiohead songs can be heard: again, speechless. And, last night my lovely friend Cris (I'll post some photos soon so you all can see the lovely and talented gallegas) invited us to el cine. The feature was Isabel Coixet's latest film La vida secreta de las palabras (The Secret Life of Words).

Speechless.

It was one of the films where the wheels start turning in my head, know what I mean? A film which actually gets me excited about working on texts, and on visual culture, and on thinking about the ways in which we see things that cannot be told or said or related. A film which actually reactivated that hidden desire that I think we all have at some level to just write, without hesitation. Immensely photographic and beautifully composed, the film left me with something I'm not quite sure of yet. Different episodes kept coming in and out of mind throughout the night. A definite must see again, and a definite recommendation.

So if you're into all the strange and fantastically odd things that I'm into: pain, trauma, horror, scars, landscape, photography, memory, wounds, stories, seams and oceanography, well...check it out. You might dig it. If not, there's always Tim Robbins, Javier Camara, or a soundtrack that just about everyone should own.



Gracias Cris! Como siempre, me asombras con tu inteligencia y belleza. Besos...

El dia de San Anton: Or, Throw Some Holy Water on Your Pig...

Or any other farm animal, household pet, mascota, mammal, reptile, what-have-you... actually any animal that you love or love to eat will fit into this category. Category? For what?, you may be wondering. Ah yes, Spain's very own semi-national holiday: El dia de San Anton, the patron saint of domestic animals, every 17th of January. Right. (Who would have thunk it?)

Well, apparently the Spaniards did. No, no there's no joke here...tonight's version of the 6 o'clock news featured stories about Iraq, Zapatero, Spain's new anti-smoking laws, sky-rocketing numbers of newly arrived immigrants, the latest news in futbol, and, that's right, you guessed it: ample news coverage concerning thousands of Spaniards who flocked to nearby churches and some even forming processions in the street, family pets in hand, as local priests blessed them with holy water, granting each kitty-cat, lizard, or gallo the benediction that it so deserves. In the photo above/right you can see a priest reaching out to bless "chincheta the cat," as hundreds in the background wait to ensure that their beloved pets make it to heaven. Meow...

Once again, Catholicism reigns. In addition to mounted processions and bonfires used to inaugurate the traditional celebrations, certain towns such as Ciudad Real get really into the swing of things by preparing a special bread (also blessed) and parading around demon effigies as part of the ritual. Of what? Who knows!? Who cares!? It shouldn't make sense, that would be somewhat...let me see here...intelligent and inappropriate.

My sacrcasm, albeit somewhat lame (ok, mostly lame), has made me tired. (Yawn). Maybe tomorrow I'll look for Pet Cemetery en espanol...

For now, I leave you all with these photos which, I think, accurately display the wonders of idiocracy into which our species has so deliciously delved...













(In the words of our sweet Nicholas: "Very sexy! Very sexy indeed!" Forget about the Japanese love for mail order man-sized pillows, this year's rage is blessing your cock!...or putting a bow-tie on it...)

Arrival in Madrid: Take One

So, I've been away awhile, getting ready for the trip to Spain, spending time with family and friends, freaking out, not freaking out, going through the usual Keller family routine of rediscovering the outer limits of pre-travel panic and stress. But, three days ago I finally arrived in Madrid--tired and worn out, but happy to finally be here after so long.

After talking to an academic/jazz singer on the plane for almost 8 hours (yes, Mike apparently I do attract jazzy wherever I go), I decided that sleeping was overrated and watched the sun come up instead (actually, I suppose we were landing into the sun, right?). The photo's not very good since there were fingerprints all over the window and I was super out-of-it. But, I guess that pretty much sums up how I felt anyway: grimy and beat above the clouds.


JD couldn't meet me at the airport, since he had a sexy date with sleep in his Ikea bed (wink, wink bb! don't break another one!), but I managed to navigate myself to my new home despite my two huge 4-ton bags.



Milagros (yes, that's right, "Miracle" the maid) let me
in and showed me around the place. She was great--a very warm welcome after a semi-hectic morning of sweat and panic at the airport without JD. And after carrying my luggage up the 5 flights of stairs to get to my fourth floor apartment (1 = 0, has been my most recently renewed montra), I stepped into the kitchen sunlight, took a deep breath, a much needed sigh of relief, turned around and there it was peeking out from behind the door: the gigantic pata negra of jamon iberico.


Ah, Spain...

Needless-to-say, the apartment is absolutely lovely and spacious! Dani, my new roommate, is awesome, very funny, and totally relaxed. He's already shown me the digs around the barrio, so I'm getting settled in more and more.

I miss you all! Please write, or call, or post photos, or send a lil' shout out...I hope all is well with everyone across the Atlantic.

More news to come soon...