Gravity

 Gravity - 2013 - Alfonso Cuarón

I just watched this highly award-winning film—among them Oscars and BFCA awards, along with many others, and no fewer nominations in as many categories. As is well known, the film takes place in space, a few kilometers above Earth, where two astronauts are literally left floating adrift. The scenery is very good, I would say excellent, and the effects achieved during the impacts are magnificent. The collision scenes with space debris are genuinely frightening; they give a chilling realism to the danger represented in that situation, and watching them head straight toward you is a terrifying experience. But can you really see them coming? Given that everything is pitch black, or do you only see them when they are already right on top of you? We are talking about floating in space without any extra viewing equipment.

I didn't like the premise that sets the adventure in motion—a missile, a satellite, Russians, a chain reaction. It feels unreal, which isn't necessarily bad for a sci-fi film; even the US once exploded a comet using a missile, but that was part of an experiment and very far from the zone of artificial satellites orbiting Earth. The idea of a missile, satellite, Russians, and a chain reaction would have made sense to me if it had been set during the Cold War. But nowadays, it is common knowledge that disused satellites are often brought down guided toward the ocean. Perhaps, in my view as a mere viewer, I would have been more dazzled by something more natural or credible—for example, a collision with space debris, a crash with another satellite, an asteroid, or a meteoroid, or some malfunction that causes a sequence of events (in the style of the Final Destination horror saga).

I have never liked Sandra Bullock's acting in any of her movies—I've seen at least three—and in this film in particular, she spends the entire time complaining, sighing, and crying, even though as an astronomer (her role), she is supposed to be a trained professional prepared to go into space and face difficult situations. She spins around screaming, kicking, and thrashing; it looks more like a hysterical breakdown of an unhinged person than a desperate astronaut. George Clooney takes on a different role, and the voice of Mission Control—I didn't know it belonged to another actor, one who is much more professional in my opinion, Ed Harris.
Heading into the final third of the plot, it starts to decline compared to the beginning. The fiction takes on a less elaborate role (such as the method she uses for propulsion or the sheer luck she has in grabbing onto the Chinese station), and the music changes, no longer generating the emotion of the first part, which was far superior to the latter.

Although the film is science fiction and therefore allowed certain liberties, the science communicator Neil deGrasse Tyson (who hosts the show Cosmos, following Carl Sagan) has pointed out a few issues that wouldn't hold up in a hypothetical real-life scenario. To read them, I leave the following link: http://www.abc.es/ciencia/20131007/abci-errores-pelicula-gravity-pelo-201310071414.html

I am also copying a link to a review I really liked, http://codigocine.com/gravity/, a review more fitting for a cinephile than a mere spectator like myself.

Fear and Trembling

 Fear and Trembling (Note: the book is widely known by its original French title, "Stupeur et Tremblements")

Back in 2008, I read the book Fear and Trembling. Its author is Amélie Nothomb. It is a fairly short book that reads quickly. It’s not bad at all. You can read it in an afternoon when you're a bit bored. The author worked for a year in a Japanese company—she was a foreigner—and she tells us about that working year and everything she went through. She didn't have a good time at all; she was subjected to many humiliations, humiliations that the Japanese viewed as something natural. It feels as though she is trying to convey the clash of different cultures, or at least of different ways of behaving and working.

I thought I saw two messages at the end of the book. One of them tells me that the book was the result of a kind of revenge the author took against the company: while she was going through all that suffering, no one knew; now the situation is reversed, and she tells the world what that group of Japanese people was like—though anyone could associate that group with Japanese society as a whole, and I'm not sure to what extent they would be wrong. The second message relates to the goal the author set for herself and achieved with flying colors: a kind of self-improvement, a demonstration to herself of what she was worth—in this case, as a writer, as a personal success.

There are parts that are really enough to drive anyone crazy, or at least I don't understand them: attitudes she describes as if they were normal for any employee, though it seems to me she goes overboard, and her superiors were right about some things. But of course, their response was not the best—it was the absolute worst—and that's where the author is right to make this kind of accusation by describing the events. Parts of it sound a bit hysterical, and in others, you can tell she is speaking with some anger, but that's just how it seemed to me during my reading of the book. It's easy to read and well-written.

I came across this book on the recommendation of a teacher, when she commented on a custom described in it: the Japanese custom of swallowing snot instead of spitting it out when having a cold. In a couple of passages, she is harsh, but with delicacy. I was left wondering whether she uses fictional names or if they are real; I looked it up on the internet, but I didn't find anything that resolved this question for me.

A fragment of the book:

I was entering the century. It might seem strange that, after my fit of madness, things went back to normal as if nothing serious had happened. It is true that no one had seen me running around naked in the offices, nor walking on my hands, nor tumbling around with an honest computer. But, in any case, I had been found sleeping under the contents of a trash bag. In another country, I would have been fired for such behavior. Although it may not seem like it, there is a logic to this whole matter: the most authoritarian systems give rise, in the nations that apply them, to the most surprising cases of deviation—and, for that very reason, a relative tolerance regarding the most overwhelming human eccentricities. We do not know what an eccentric is until we meet a Japanese eccentric. Had I slept under the debris? They had seen it all. Japan is a country that knows what it means to "go crazy."
(pp. 68-69)

Beyond the Border

 Beyond the Border - 2011 - Richard Holm

This is a Swedish movie. Regarding Swedish cinema, I must say that I have only seen two films from the past, The Seventh Seal and The Virgin Spring, both by director Ingmar Bergman, and a third one that I thought was Danish, but was a Swedish-Danish co-production, Pelle the Conqueror. That is where my journey through Swedish cinema ends.

Beyond the Border, directed by Richard Holm and released in 2011, is a war movie set during World War II. It won an award for Best Makeup and was nominated for Best Visual Effects at the Guldbagge Awards, which are the annual Swedish film awards in their home country. The landscape, the setting, and the cinematography are magnificent in my opinion. However, there are details that push the movie away from reality; it is slow in some parts, action-packed in others, and at times too fictionalized to be believable or realistic.

In my opinion, the best performance comes from Wille Järvinen (played by Finnish actor Antti Reini)—I should clarify that I do not know him from any other role. In this film, he plays the role of a hero soldier from a previous war who is somewhat eccentric, to put it lightly. He is missing an eye and steals much of the show.

The movie is engaging and entertaining for those who enjoy the war genre. At one point, the characters rub grease on their bodies to protect themselves from the cold, with one saying, "it will reach 40 below zero." I couldn't find anything confirming this specific practice in that context, but I did read that the indigenous peoples of Tierra del Fuego, specifically the Yaghans, used seal fat to coat themselves as protection against the cold. It is also a custom among the Eskimos to rub seal or whale fat on their bodies to ward off the cold. In the movie, they used common industrial grease typically used as a lubricant; I am not sure if it was pure fiction or if it has a real historical basis.

How to Search for a Movie Title?

How to search for a movie title? How to find a movie without knowing its title? What was the name of this movie? I once saw this movie and I don't remember what it was called—what could its title be? These questions serve as triggers for the following post.

There are times when, for one reason or another, we remember fragments of a film, parts of a movie—sometimes isolated, other times not. Sometimes we only remember a performance, a saying, a dialogue, an image, or an ending. On other occasions, we believe a movie starred a certain actor when it was actually another. In short, we have partial information and cannot recall the movie's name.

With the internet, the search becomes much easier. However, we often run into issues with titles: they tend to vary from the original when the film comes from another country and language, and even within the same language, variations in titles frequently exist.

Here are some tips and tricks to undertake the search and reach a successful outcome. Sometimes it takes very little time to find the title; other times, the search extends over time, and occasionally it gets so difficult that you can't seem to find it at all. As the well-known saying goes: he who seeks, finds.

1. Try to remember as much as possible related to the film. Even if they are disconnected fragments, words, phrases, dialogues, music, songs, actors, dates, characters, movie genre, etc. The more data you have, the better.

2. Start the search by narrowing down the date as much as possible to when you remember watching the movie. Was it a theatrical release? Did you see it on television? Was it at a film festival or on a special occasion?

3. Turn to movie database aggregators. The most popular and comprehensive is www.imdb.com/; there is also http://www.filmaffinity.com/, which is quite good. A search on a meta-search engine like https://www.google.com/ remains an almost indispensable resource.

4. If the search is still difficult, there is still much to do. For example, if you know the name of an actor or actress, you can dig into their biography and look under the filmography section. If you know the director's name, you can do the same and check their filmography. If you know it was a true event or the movie was based on real events, it is advisable to go to an online encyclopedia, read about the event, and check the section listing related bibliography and filmography. If you know the movie is based on a book—usually a novel—you can look up the author and that novel in an online encyclopedia; at the end of the article, it is usually mentioned whether one or more movies were made based on it.

5. It may be that the plot of the movie matches what we are looking for—we must always read film synopses—but it might not be the exact movie we want to find. They might even share the same title, meaning we could be facing a remake. Remakes are different versions of the same movie. For example, there are 5 movies made in different years that are all titled The Four Feathers, which in turn are based on a novel also called The Four Feathers. Sometimes in a remake the plot remains the same, while in others it undergoes variations, which can confuse us. There is also the case of movies that are adaptations of a literary work, or movies adapted from another movie; even though the foundation is the same, the films and their interpretations differ from one another. This can cause confusion when we are looking for one specific version and not the others. On other occasions, we might find several movies that are completely different from one another yet share the exact same title. This is another source of confusion in our search. When searching for titles, we can also get confused because sometimes a movie, a short film, a TV series, or a miniseries (a middle ground between a movie and a series, such as Shaka Zulu or Horatio Hornblower) share the same name.

6. When the situation gets complicated and the title still doesn't appear, you can use synonyms or related terms for words identifying the images you remember. For instance, if you recall a "house" in the movie, you can try "apartment," "cabin," "home," etc. If you remember a "war," you can try "conflict," "fight," "battle," etc. If the movie is of foreign origin—say, an American, Canadian, or British film—you can search using keywords in its original language. If you remember there was "snow" in the movie, search for "snow"; if you remember it took place in "summer," search for "summer," etc. That is, we use keywords in two ways: as synonyms/similar words, or in another language.

7. Another possibility is to visit forums on websites dedicated to cinema (the 7th Art). You can go there, register, and leave a message. They often have dedicated threads specifically for searching for movie titles; other times, you need to post an independent thread where you can get help from movie buffs, who usually have extensive knowledge across a wide variety of films. Two websites of this kind are http://www.cinepatas.com/ and http://www.elseptimoarte.net/, but there are many more. There are even forums not strictly about cinema where you can leave a message requesting help to find a movie title.

Thays Park

During the second week of December 2006, I visited Thays Park.

It was a summer day, and I decided to go out for a walk, stroll around, and explore Thays Park, which I had never been to before.

I knew from reading the news media that Thays Park was created fairly recently, and that previously, a well-known amusement park called Italpark stood on that location. It was neglected in terms of maintenance and took the life of a young girl around 1900, which led the authorities (belatedly, as is often the case) to close it down, erecting Thays Park in its place. I was aware of the news because back in 1990 I had read about it in the newspaper. "Thays," the name given to the new recreational park, was also familiar to me, as it was named in honor of the architect and landscape designer who created several works in Argentina, one of the most famous being the Botanical Garden.

Nearby, as I was approaching the park, the first thing I found and photographed was the monument honoring Alvear in Recoleta, a work by Antoine Bourdelle. The artist created the piece in France and took 10 years to finish it before shipping it to Argentina. The location where the monument stands is called Julio de Caro Square.

From there, I crossed F. Alcorta Avenue and entered Thays Park. There were many people visible in the park, and initially, the route was to head back through a small square located in front of the Alvear monument.

As the Christmas season approaches, it is common to see metal trees used as decorations in parks and squares. They feature a star at the top and light up at night with the surrounding lights; some have lights, others do not, and others only have the star.

When I was about to cross the avenue, someone was asking me something, but I didn't realize it until the second time she asked. I turned around and saw a female tourist. She was almost impossible to understand, and she asked if she was in Recoleta, to which I replied affirmatively. Then she asked me about the "Círculo de Arquitectos" (Architects' Circle), about architecture, and I had no idea, so I told her I didn't know, which was true. Perhaps she was referring to the Museum of Architecture and Design, located at one end of the park, but I don't know if she meant that museum or another place I am unfamiliar with.

Once inside Thays Park, a few young guys dressed in orange and black crossed my path. I think they were promoting a radio station, and they were taking photos. In the photo, all of them can be seen, and in the foreground, the bust of Carlos Thays, which is a replica of the original by sculptor Alberto Lagos. The original work is located in the Botanical Garden.

The day was very hot, and many people were sunbathing. In one section of the park, water jets burst upward from the ground; after a while, they would stop spraying water, and shortly after, the water jets would return, with some people getting wet in them. Others were playing ball—several groups playing small two- or three-person matches scattered throughout the park. 

Others were reading on the benches.

There are some interesting artworks in the park. One of them is a donation from the Basque community from 1997, created by the artist Néstor Basterretxea and titled El Árbol (The Tree). It is a rather large work, apparently metallic, in a somewhat beige or light brown tone. To protect it from vandal attacks by individuals who misuse spray paint, it is surrounded by a fence—keeping in mind that the entire park is also surrounded by a fence, like many of the city's parks and squares.

Another piece is Torso Masculino (Male Torso) by Colombian artist Fernando Botero. This work dates back to 1994. A defining feature of this artist is that he creates almost all his works by exaggerating their volume; colloquially, his pieces appear inflated. Some critics speak of "Boterismo" to refer to the generality of this author's works due to the unique identity they acquire. To see it for yourself, simply type "boterismo" into the Google search bar, select image search, and they will appear.

The next artwork is a full-body female figure holding the UN flag, featuring the unique characteristic of being fragmented. This work is titled Venus fragmentándose. La Humanidad y las Naciones Unidas (Venus Fragmenting. Humanity and the United Nations), created in 1996 by the sculptor Marta Minujín. This artist is known for fragmenting several of her works; one of these fragmented pieces, called Cabeza fragmentada (Fragmented Head), is located in the National Museum of Fine Arts. She is also the creator of the graphic image for a well-known painkiller, which appropriately features a split—that is, fragmented—face.

I walked all the way to the other end of the park, and before heading back, I photographed an airplane that appeared to be landing at Aeroparque—a photo that turned out very poorly. Finally, I took a picture of one last small statue whose identity I didn't know. Later, searching on the web, I found that it is called Pro Cultura Nacional (For National Culture) and is the work of Italian sculptor Alejo Afani, with no further details available beyond that.

Brotherhood Festival - Tribute to Immigrants

Today, December 3rd, 2006, I went to the Brotherhood Festival – Tribute to Immigrants, which takes place in the sector of the city where the Planetarium is located. It is organized by the General Directorate of Communities of the City of Buenos Aires. This festival had already been organized in 2004 and had an attendance of 60,000 people, according to what they state on this website: http://www.radiojai.com.ar/online/notiDetalle.asp?id_Noticia=25689

Since the place is close enough to where I live, I walked there; just a few blocks and I was already at the venue. I missed the first day, which featured a parade of communities. The Festival lasted two days. It started at ten in the morning and ended at eleven at night. As I was arriving, I could already see a lot of people heading to the area; on weekends, the Palermo Woods are very busy.

The first thing I encountered was a stage being set up—quite large—which I later learned was for the concert that same night. It caught my attention, so I took a photo of it. At night, I saw on TV that there were more than 100,000 people at that spot for an opera concert; that was the reason for that stage. The concert was called Amadeus A Cielo Abierto 3 (Amadeus Open Air 3); I didn't know it was its third edition, serving as the closing grand finale of the international Mozart Year. It was held in front of the Monumento de los Españoles, at the intersection of Av. Sarmiento and Av. del Libertador, in the Palermo Woods. The concert brought together more than 100,000 people to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth (1756). It was hosted by FM 103.7 Amadeus. It started around 8:00 PM, and a hundred artists performed on the huge stage measuring 20 meters wide by 18 meters deep, as reported in the article by La Nación newspaper, whose direct link is http://www.lanacion.com.ar/864618
Crossing the next square, where the Rose Garden (Rosedal) is located, you reached the Planetarium Square, which is where the Brotherhood Festival was taking place. Brotherhood Festival is the name given to the fair held in honor of immigrants. The Fair consisted of a number of stalls representing many communities.

The ones I remember that seemed to occupy the largest number of stalls were the Peruvians, the Mexicans, and the Paraguayans. What I saw the most was the sale of food—mostly traditional food from each represented country. Next came the sale of handicrafts and clothing. There was something that practically all the stalls had: meat served in a sort of dough pocket open at one end. It seemed to be all the rage: meat rotating and cooking while someone shaved off small slices using large blades, stuffing them inside a dough that looked like an empanada crust. The meat was attached to a rotating vertical skewer—a sort of giant brochette that I used to associate with Middle Eastern food, although here at the fair, there was one of these at many stalls across various communities.

There were quite a few stalls, some police officers, ambulances, a fire truck, and a few people who were likely dehydrated, which I attribute to the heat and the very little to no shade available.

When I arrived, I saw another stage also being prepared, and I walked all around. One downside was the limited space to walk; when I arrived, there were already people, and after walking around for no less than two hours, it was packed—in some spots, it was impossible to move.

I finished walking around the whole area, reached the end, and stepped out onto the grass to walk back. There, I saw yet another stage—the third one—and there was a performance going on. A few people were sitting on the grass watching, so I set myself up back there and stayed to watch.

The group dancing with live music was the Banda Comunitaria de la Universidad Indígena (Community Band of the Indigenous University). They were followed by the Familia Diaguita with their rain dance; they told us all their names in Diaguita along with their meanings—one I remember was Agua Gris (Gray Water). Then they spoke about their demands and struggles, how they are trying to preserve the Diaguita language so it doesn't get lost. Finally, the Aymará played, and they also spoke a bit about colonization and indigenous suffering.

This group I managed to see represented the Native Communities segment.

Next up were the Italians. First, a singer sang a song—a bit boring for my taste, so I walked around for a bit and came back. I don't remember what song it was, but it had no musical accompaniment; it was a cappella. Then, two groups alternated dances: the elderly and the youth. The youth were kids, likely high school students, who danced two very well-known tarantellas. The elderly performed two other dances, which were almost certainly not tarantellas.

I watched the Italian segment in its entirety. A lot of people gathered compared to the previous segment of the Native Communities. I can't say the exact reason, but I'd guess it's because Italian immigration was the largest migratory movement Argentina ever received. Also, by that time, the crowd had grown significantly compared to when I first arrived at the venue.

Next were the Brazilians and the Uruguayans. They seemed to be together; I didn't watch much, just a bit at the beginning, and then I left.

Apparently, everything indicated it was going to be like that all afternoon and until nightfall: a continuous showcase of communities, each presenting some kind of performance. I noticed more groups preparing—possibly Germans, and some Arabs—or at least that's what I gathered from their traditional costumes, though I didn't get a chance to look at them closely.

By around three in the afternoon, I was already heading back. It would have been nice to stay and see the rest of the groups, but I had to return. If not for that, I would have stayed, as I was enjoying it. The day was beautiful, and I felt good watching those traditional dances from other communities that you don't get to see every day.

I found the following photos funny: one of the gentleman holding a spear—not to mock him, but because he wasn't dressed like the others—and the second one of the clown on stilts (there were two of them) entertaining the little kids with a multicolored umbrella.

The following is the official advertisement from the City Government regarding the festival, taken directly from their website:

Brotherhood Festival

Planetarium - December 2 and 3, 2006

Tribute to Immigrants

Asia, Africa, Europe, and America united in a celebration featuring traditional dishes, music, dance, and the joy of sharing a deep brotherhood rooted in diverse heritage.
For two days at the Planetarium, the communities of the City of Buenos Aires will display all their customs, roots, colors, and how these are expressed in their new generations across various stalls. There will be 300 stalls with traditional food and handcrafted goods, along with clowns, puppeteers, stilt walkers, and jugglers throughout the venue. Two stages. Daytime shows featuring music and dance from 25 countries. On Saturday, there will be a parade of all communities featuring traditional costumes and native instruments.

And for the closing event, a special gift from Argentina to all immigrants featuring performances by Likembé, Tanghetto, and Suna Rocha on Saturday, and La Magnética, La Bomba de Tiempo, and El Chango Spasiuk on Sunday.

Schedule
It will take place on December 2 and 3 at the Planetarium, from 10 AM to 11 PM.

Participating countries: Ecuador, China, Brazil, Greece, Germany, Senegal, Spain, Israel, Ireland, Peru, Lebanon, Colombia, Native Peoples, Italy, Uruguay, Japan, Egypt, Poland, Chile, Ukraine, Paraguay, Russia, Bolivia, Cuba, Haiti, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, India, Iraq, Austria, Croatia, Romani people (Gypsies), Romania.

Bernardino Rivadavia Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences

October 2006 One weekend that year, I visited the "Bernardino Rivadavia" Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences.

This museum is located in Parque Centenario. Around the park, there are several buildings: the Luis Pasteur Zoonosis Institute, the Argentine Association of Friends of Astronomy, the Luis Leloir Research Foundation, and the Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences. Although I had visited the park on several occasions, visiting the museum was still on my to-do list.

The museum opens its doors at 2:00 PM. Right there along the sidewalk is the market—there is an antiques market, a clothing market, and a market with book stalls. It was Saturday and starting to fill up with people; the weather was nice and sunny. When I arrived, they were just starting the preparations to open and a few people were waiting, so I took a walk around the park. By the time I was back at the museum entrance, it had already opened, so I went in.

Admission was $3 (this was back in 2006). They make you leave your bag; I was carrying a backpack—very old and worn out from use, but comfortable. Photography is not allowed in the aquarium because the lights harm the fish, but you are allowed to take as many pictures as you want inside the rest of the museum, so I didn't waste any time and made the most of it.

With your ticket, they give you a small map of the entire museum, which is useful and nice.

Then the tour begins with the aquarium, which is the first room to see. In one section, all the fish are from Argentine waters, so I had the chance to see several species I used to catch years ago when my friends and I went to the river. Another much smaller section features tropical fish. It is interesting, and I was left wanting to take notes on some very common ones whose actual names I didn't know beyond their popular nicknames.

The exhibition halls are nice. On the day of my visit, the bird hall was incomplete—or rather, completely empty—it had nothing in it as it was being prepared.

By the time I reached the mammal hall, my batteries had run out; my camera kept shutting off and I hadn't recharged any extra ones. For that reason, I had to give up and leave finishing the visit with photos for another occasion, which makes me plan on going back.

I went on a weekend, and since I like to stroll peacefully, it wasn't the best choice of date. It was quite crowded with some foreign tourists and many little kids running around and shouting. It’s nice to take young ones to see the place—they were amazed by the dinosaur bones, and rightfully so, as they were truly impressive. However, it was a bit uncomfortable for my taste due to all the shouting and the crowd.

The reptile hall had many animals preserved in jars, I assume in formaldehyde.
After spending a few hours exploring—I don't recall exactly, but around two hours or a bit more—I headed back home.

Costanera Sur Ecological Reserve

November 2006. A new visit to the Costanera Sur Ecological Reserve. I left early, arriving at around 8:00 AM. The day was very nice with clear skies and warm weather. The Reserve had already opened its doors, so I went straight in and started walking slowly along the trail, looking at all the nature around me, trying to find the photos I had come for. The lagoon was almost completely dry—in fact, both lagoons were.

There were many army members jogging and exercising, as well as a few from the National Gendarmerie, several cyclists, and a handful of regular people, mostly running too. It seems to be a good place to go train.

I started along the Camino de los Lagartos (Lizards' Trail). Halfway through, I turned onto the Camino del Medio (Middle Trail) until reaching the river. There, unlike last time, I continued along the Camino de los Alisos (Alders' Trail) and finally returned via the Camino de los Lagartos.

The first thing I photographed was a helicopter passing high above. Later on, I also had the chance to take a couple of photos of an approaching airplane.

On the Camino del Medio, I stopped to rest on a bench; it's the trail with the most benches. Under the sun, I stayed there for a few minutes before moving on. As noon approached, the sun was extremely strong. After the walk, I ended up with completely sun-tanned arms. I had brought a hat, and I'm so glad I did! To explore the Costanera Sur Reserve in the summer, you have to go prepared: at minimum, a hat, sunscreen, and water.

I had brought a pack of cookies to use as bait for the birds to photograph them, and it worked while I was sitting there resting. That’s how I managed to get a few cute photos of a house wren.

I managed to spot many rufous horneros, Great Kiskadees, chalk-browed mockingbirds, a few shiny cowbirds, spectacled tyrants, some small parrots clustered together in a tree, picui ground doves, rufous-collared sparrows, and a Southern Lapwing with its chick, which it was protecting from the other birds around. There was a situation where three elderly people had thrown something for the birds to eat, and it swarmed with ground doves and sparrows. The lapwing kept diving in flight to chase them off, and seeing its chick in the distance, I understood why it was driving the other birds away.

Some pigeons and two or three piculet/woodpeckers. The lizards kept running away whenever I approached, so I couldn't get a clear view of any of them. I managed to see a very large one, but it scuttled off before I could photograph it. I decided to wait for it to come back out, which didn't happen, but a few meters further along there was a smaller one. I approached it, and it didn't run away. I took a few photos, moved around, and the animal didn't bolt like the others.

There are some animals—which I later saw near the exit—that are injured, so they protect them in cages before returning them to their natural habitat.

This section of the Reserve, the Camino del Medio, is much prettier than the other side, or at least that's how it seemed to me. I saw a cuis (guinea pig/cavy); on the other side, you see them in large numbers. I saw a wattled jacana cross (known locally as a gallareta), but from what I've been looking up, I think I might be confusing them with another bird called an ipacaá (Giant Wood-Rail).

That's how I reached the point where the Camino de los Lagartos begins or ends, depending on how you look at it. That's where they care for the injured animals—there was a lizard, a dog, and three black-chested buzzard-eagles or a similar bird of prey. There was also a pool with aquatic turtles that had tape on them, likely for research studies. Apparently, at that end, there is another entrance/exit, but I didn't walk over to it, so I'm not sure.

I kept walking. Suddenly, ahead of me, I saw an animal I had never seen before—like a cuis, but longer and thinner, like a rat with a lot of fur. Just as I got my camera ready, one of those small trucks that the Reserve staff use came by, and the animal darted away super fast into the vegetation. The truck passed, raising a bit of dust, and suddenly I saw a tiny lizard running super fast, crossing from side to side just 10 cm away from me! It didn't even give me time to focus, but the way it ran was hilarious. It immediately disappeared into the grass.

I continued walking and saw groups of schoolchildren and various visitors arriving on guided tours. I reached the exit. That was my day until just past noon—by 1:00 PM, I was already on my way back.

I'm Leaving Now, Beautiful Spanish Lady

I wrote this on February 10, 2008. On that day, actor Roy Scheider died. He appeared in several films and achieved a certain degree of popularity, the best known of which was Jaws (1975 — Steven Spielberg). The film was a huge success, becoming the highest-grossing film of all time up to that point. If you haven't seen it, you should, because it's a cinema classic.
At one point, when the showdown between the shark and the three crew members aboard the boat begins, one of the most striking scenes takes place. At least, I liked it a great deal. It sets in motion the action that leads to the final struggle. Chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) is standing at the edge of the fishing boat, throwing out bait, when the shark suddenly appears, looking perfectly calm. It surfaces and then swims away, as if to say, I don't want those little fish; I want you. Brody is left in a state of shock when he sees it. He gets up and starts walking backward until he reaches the boat's cabin, cigarette in hand, and says the line: "You're gonna need a bigger boat."

And that is precisely what happens, since the shark practically ends up "eating" the boat—in other words, it tears the whole thing apart.

The line itself is no ordinary line, just another sentence in the film. It marks a before and an after in the movie. But it is not merely a substantial line within the film; it is also a significant line in the history of American cinema. The line "You're gonna need a bigger boat" was ranked 35th among the American Film Institute's 100 greatest movie quotes.
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anexo%27s_100_a%C3%B1os..._100_frases

I took this opportunity to say a few words about the film. In reality, I have nothing to add that hasn't already been said. It is a horror film, and a very well-made one at that. It blends realism with fantasy to create a wonderful story. Alongside Roy Scheider, the film stars Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss.

The film is based on a novel titled Jaws, written by Peter Benchley, which I have in my library waiting to be read. One of its major artistic predecessors is Moby-Dick, the novel by Herman Melville. I have that one on my reading list as well.

The soundtrack created a sound that has become one of the most recognizable musical themes in the history of cinema. The score won an Academy Award and was ranked sixth among the greatest film scores by the American Film Institute.

The film has attracted all kinds of criticism, ranging from strictly cinematic assessments to academic analyses. http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibur%C3%B3n_(pel%C3%ADcula). These opinions vary widely. I can't explore them in depth because I haven't read them all, only the summaries available on the internet. Even those summaries seem interesting in their own right.

I watched the film again, and I want to highlight three excerpts.

The first excerpt features a rhyming verse I wasn't familiar with, which one of the characters recites while making fun of the other two. In this scene, Quint mocks the shark cage. According to what I read, during the making of the film, the crew actually went to Australia to film real sharks inside a cage. However, they used a small cage and brought along a short actor to sit inside it, creating the illusion of making the situation—and the sharks themselves—seem much larger.

Dialogue (1:06:56–1:07:43)

Matt Hooper: Take all this stuff downstairs and put it somewhere safe. You hear me?
Assistant: Yes, sir.
Quint: Good Lord, you see some things in this world! When I was a kid, all we ever wanted to be was harpooners or swordfish fishermen. What have you got here? A portable shower or a monkey cage?
Matt Hooper: A shark cage.
Quint: A shark cage. (He nods.) For you to get inside?
Matt Hooper: (He nods, smiling.)
Quint: So the cage will be in the water? And you'll be inside it? And there'll be a shark nearby? Our shark?

I'm leaving now, beautiful Spanish lady,
goodbye, I'm going, oh, lovely woman,
for we've been ordered to sail for Boston,
and perhaps we'll never meet again.

Quint (Robert Shaw) is a tough, rugged, irrational, rough-edged character who doesn't beat around the bush. He is a man from another era, an anachronistic figure. As one critic put it, "Authority must be restored, but not by Quint." (Biskind)

Dialogue (1:08:29–1:09:09)

(All the lines are spoken by Quint.)
— Cut it out, Chief. We're gonna lose the daylight.
— The bow is in front and the stern is in back. Learn that well, little man, unless you want me to kick you out backward through the porthole.
— Come on, Chief. This ain't no Boy Scout outing.
— It's hard to leave, huh...? Ha, ha, ha!
— Here lies the body of Maria Chestnut,
who died at the age of 103.
She kept her virginity until she was fifteen,
which is a record around this neighborhood.
— Come on, Inspector, fasten your seat belt! Ha, ha, ha!
— Hey, if you see a shark coming, Hooper, don't swallow it! Ha, ha, ha!

In the last of the excerpts I've chosen, the song appears again. Quint initially sang it on his own, but now all three men sing it aboard the boat. I only have the translated lyrics, and I don't actually know the song's exact title or who wrote it.

Dialogue (1:23:29–1:30:39)

Martin Brody: What's that?
Matt Hooper: A whale.
Quint:

I'm leaving now, beautiful Spanish lady,
goodbye, I'm going, oh, lovely woman.

Matt Hooper:

How am I to get back home?
For I want to be in my bed.

Matt Hooper and Quint:

Those four little drinks I had a while ago
are making me dizzy now.

Matt Hooper, Quint, and Martin Brody:

Wherever I may go,
by air, by land, or sea...
How am I to get back home?
For I want to be in my bed.
Those four little drinks I had a while ago
are going to make me dizzy.
Wherever I may go,
by air, by land, or sea...

 

The song would go something like this:

I'm leaving now, beautiful Spanish lady,
goodbye, I'm going, oh, lovely woman,
for we've been ordered to sail for Boston,
and perhaps we'll never meet again.
How am I to get back home?
For I want to be in my bed.
Those four little drinks I had a while ago
are making me dizzy now.
Wherever I may go,
by air, by land, or sea...
Wherever I may go,
by air, by land, or sea...

Botanical Garden

Plaque and map of the Botanical Garden.

November 2006. A very hot day. A visit of just over an hour walking through the Botanical Garden. Everything green and peaceful; there aren't many flowers, except at the base of a few artwork sculptures scattered throughout the park. Admission is free.

Despite being a midweek day, it was quite crowded. Some people reading, others jogging, others lying on the grass, some mothers with their children—perhaps after school or right before heading in, from what I could tell—as well as many people going to the Botanical Garden to have lunch, a few tourists, three kids practicing juggling with balls, and a "cat feeder."

I took a lot of photos; the garden lends itself well to photography, with everyone from casual visitors to professionals taking pictures. Young girls turning fifteen go to take photos in their party dresses, commercial models go with professional photographers and assistants holding light reflectors, and occasional strollers also don't miss the opportunity—the paths, fountains, and sculptures invite you to take photos.

For the first time, I saw the cactus section near the butterfly courtyard. I didn’t know it existed, but there it was: small, but with several varieties grouped together.

"Cactus, you pricked my finger, and yet I still love you." (A popular saying I once read on a blog by someone whose hobby was growing cacti.)

The artworks—mostly sculptures, statues, or torsos—are, in my opinion, quite neglected, mostly due to dirt and accumulating cobwebs. The paths aren't the best either; some parts are in pretty bad shape. However, you can tell that every now and then they clean up and rearrange things. There is a significant number of them; you can find them listed with a description of each at the following link: http://www.buenosaires.gob.ar/jardinbotanico/obrasdearte

The main house in the center—or at least the largest building—was repaired and is now in very good condition; that is where cultural exhibitions and displays take place.
I’ve never been inside the greenhouses—there are two or three—but I was observing them from the outside. In one of them are the carnivorous plants, though they aren't large plants and are grouped together on a shelf along the side of one of the greenhouses. Despite the common and generic name by which they are known—"carnivorous plants"—they give the impression of being extremely delicate plants. They are all small and set in soil, but placed inside a kind of shallow water tray.

Something I don't understand is the presence of the cats. In some areas, the smell of cats is unbearable for those of us who notice it—surely someone who has cats at home is used to it—to which we can add some of the paths filled with cat droppings. It seems like there is an overpopulation of cats; I’d guess none of them are vaccinated, and knowing that they can transmit diseases, those cats aren't properly cared for. Furthermore, there are always "cat feeders"—people whose hobby is going and bringing food to the cats. You see them quite often, likely local neighbors. What do they gain from this? Why don't they take full care of them? Why don't they focus on vaccinating them and cleaning up the botanical garden? No, these "cat feeders" only care about bringing them food and nothing else. I don't know how the cats got there—whether they arrived on their own, if someone left them, or if introducing cats was part of the original plan when the Garden was laid out, which I doubt.

The following are two sculptures located in different parts of the Botanical Garden, both sharing the characteristic of being named Flora—I imagine they represent Flora itself.

An interesting piece is Saturnalia, a sculptural group created by Ernesto Biondi. It depicts figures from ancient Rome in an orgiastic scene honoring Saturn. It was censored and buried during the military dictatorship years.

Another spot inside the Botanical Garden is the Roman Garden, right next to the French Garden. There is a reproduction of the Capitoline Wolf; the original artwork is in Italy.

Parque Centenario

November 2006. I visited Parque Centenario early in the morning, around 9:00 a.m. The main goal of the visit was to get a few macro photographs. I needed them to submit to a contest, but I didn't really know what macro photography was back then, and I almost sent the wrong pictures by mistake. When I arrived at the park, there were already quite a few people, and by noon it was packed.

At that time, they were still remodeling the park; a whole section was already finished, but by then, work had been going on for over a year. By 2014, after the remodeling had been completed, it deteriorated again—partly due to a lack of maintenance and partly due to people’s lack of care and some vandals. I took a few photos, then left the park looking for a newsstand/kiosk to buy some cookies to lure the birds over.

I had the chance to witness a chase involving a man in a car and a young guy running away. Later, two police cars were chasing what seemed to be the guy on foot, while the man in the car pointed and guided them. The police cars drove by with their sirens on three different occasions spread over time. I didn't see any police officers on foot.

The street fair—which keeps getting larger and, according to some websites, opens at 11:00 a.m.—already had stalls set up when I arrived at 9:00 a.m.

While I was sitting down, two women approached me, one young and the other much older. I had already noticed them talking to a girl who was sitting on the grass leaning against a tree, drinking mate. They came up to me and said they wanted to talk. I told them I wasn't interested, and they replied that I didn't even know what they wanted to talk about. So I said, "Well, let's see, what is it about?" They dodged the question, and the younger one asked me what I thought about corruption. I told them again that I wasn't interested, so she asked for permission to leave a brochure so I could learn who Jesus truly was. That’s when it clicked—they belonged to some sect (or something similar, a religious cult), and when I looked at the brochure, they were indeed Jehovah's Witnesses. They then went on their way, walking at a very slow pace alongside other park visitors.

In Parque Centenario, there are two or three species of ducks and white geese. The smaller birds I noticed were sparrows, horneros (rufous horneros), various species of pigeons and doves (common pigeons, eared doves, and picui ground doves), and benteveos (great kiskadees). I also saw a bird I couldn't identify; it ducked into the tall grass on the little island in the middle of the lake—it was a bit larger than the other birds. Around 2006, they reintroduced some birds, ducks, and geese. The last ones had been around 1989 and vanished during the economic crisis of that time when, apparently, people ate them. As of 2014, I don't know what the current situation is.

In the fountain, they had added a few colorful koi fish, quite large ones.

A koi swimming around there.

The woman with the sword was wearing very peculiar clothing—violet, loose-fitting, with some embroidery or something similar, a very striking outfit that set her apart from everyone else.

When I arrived, a middle-aged woman practicing with a sword caught my attention. I stood watching for a moment and thought about taking a picture, but several people were watching, so in the end, I didn't. Later, it turned out she was the instructor for a group doing exercises, likely some form of martial arts, though she was the only one performing well. Those following her in the routine were using broomsticks. Later, closer to noon, I saw another group doing exercises right across from where I was sitting, but further away; this group all had swords.

And in this photograph, the ones across from me, almost all with swords, some with sticks.
There were many members of the Guardia Urbana (Urban Guard) around. It’s hard to tell what their actual role is—they just walk around with their walkie-talkies in their distinctive blue uniforms, and that's about it.

So, after spending a good while there—about three hours—and taking several photos, I headed back home.

Synopsis and Analysis of The Chorus

 Synopsis and Analysis of The Chorus (Les Choristes)

 
In 1949, Clément Mathieu, an unemployed music teacher, is hired as a supervisor at a correctional boarding school for minors. Through ineffective and repressive policies, the headmaster, Rachin, struggles to maintain discipline among these troubled students. Mathieu is taken aback by the harsh reality of the school's daily routine, but he begins to spark a change in these children. Through the power and magic of music, the teacher attempts to transform their lives forever.

This film is based on a true story set in the immediate aftermath of World War II (1), where wartime scarcity and economic hardship directly impact life inside the school (2).
I cannot choose any single character in particular because I wouldn't know how to address the central topic around them. There are two—or rather, three—main characters who represent three distinct perspectives found in the social reality of juvenile issues and justice (the headmaster, the teacher, and the youths). However, the secondary characters also represent aspects of this social reality, even if they lack prominence in the film (e.g., absent families, the social reality outside the reformatory, the concern of a relative, the guard's repression, etc.). 

Nor do I identify with any character enough to speak solely about them. I will attempt to discuss the film as a whole rather than focusing on an isolated character. Furthermore, I find the film somewhat slow and a bit boring—one that can be seen as a critique of a system when compared to the reality of reformatories in Argentina and Latin America, albeit a not very "aggressive" critique.

The film relates to criminal law regarding the issue of a minor's situation when facing an offense. From this premise, one can take many paths and connect it to other issues (social problems, abortion, adoption, psychology, recreational activities, alternative dispute resolution methods, etc.).

The situation of the French correctional school can serve as a point of comparison and a basis for criticizing not only one of the stances timidly portrayed in the film, but also the harsh reality faced in underdeveloped countries, perhaps using the idea conveyed through the main character as a better model.

Personally, I believe that France's situation from 1948 onward—as the second largest beneficiary nation of the Marshall Plan in economic terms—had an impact not only on the issue of minors and reformatories, but across all sectors of society and its institutions generally. Suffice it to say that from 1948 to 1952, Europe experienced the period of highest economic growth in its history. To this, we must add the prominent role France played and continues to play in the world following WWII.

It seems to me that the character represented by the director of the correctional institute and the school guard—though primarily the former with his concept of "action-reaction"—alludes to the system prevailing in Argentina and Latin America: the tutelary model (modelo tutelar). The film does not elaborate on details, save for a few phrases that do not say much, but if we pause at the scene where the director strikes a minor, accusing him of stealing money without any evidence incriminating him, we can surmise that he is accusing him based on his situation and background—a clear instance of offender-based criminal law (derecho penal de autor).

The concept of action stems from the theory of the tort/illicit act for which one is subjectively responsible, which can only be conduct and, as such, the conduct of an actor. This indicates that it is futile to ponder the punishability of legal entities, which can never act as individual agents assuming conduct. In our legal system, punishability requires that the individual be the author of an act (act-based criminal law, or derecho penal de hecho). However, in the modern evolution of criminal law, there have been attempts to base punishability on the personal characteristics of the subject without needing to view them as the author of an act (at most, the committed act would be the occasion for imposing punishment, but not its underlying rationale). Under this approach, a "personality" would be punished rather than an act: the thief, rather than the theft (derecho penal de autor).

In offender-based criminal law (derecho penal de autor), conduct is treated merely as a symptom of a personality deemed dangerous to the law, which as such deserves punishment. The legal definition (el tipo) no longer needs to describe the act (the conduct), but rather the individual's personality. While act-based criminal law bases punishability on guilt for the act (culpabilidad de acto)—that is, on the reproach for what was done when a different ("lawful") action could have been taken—in offender-based criminal law, guilt is constituted by the reproach of the "personality": of what the person is, not what they did. Moderate doctrines within this latter trend have emerged, tempering its consequences with requirements belonging to act-based guilt. In our legal framework, offender-based criminal law contradicts liberal criminal law and is unconstitutional (Zaffaroni).

"In general, tutelary criminal policy did not primarily rely on a classic dangerousness-based justification; instead, it used another, far more legitimizing argument: the protection of vulnerable childhood." (3)

In the film, we see no underlying argument, only the application of physical and psychological punishment.

Stratenwerth (4) addresses society's defining power: "It falls upon society to decide, within relatively broad bounds, which behaviors are permitted and which are prohibited (and punishable); this decision, considered appropriate for our level of lawmaking, is generally conscious. In other words, 'criminality' is also the outcome of a social selection process. This society is responsible for attaching the label 'criminal' to certain behaviors. In this sense, it is possible to affirm that Criminal Law produces the crime against which it directs itself." (5)

The film reveals nothing about broader society, save for a mother's visit. We cannot discern the origin of the minors' delinquency; we do not know why these specific youths ended up there instead of others, how they arrived, or what they did. It provides no parameters to understand their social background or condition, among other aspects. Showing this would have offered insight into criminality and the selectivity of the French penal system.

The tutelary model coincided for much of its tenure with the Welfare State model in the United States and Latin America.

Beloff notes: "The determinism between poverty, marginalization, and delinquency is present in all tutelary laws, practices, and institutions (the famous binomial 'abandoned minor/delinquent'). It is the personal conditions of the individual that empower the State to intervene." (6) "In populist States—such as certain Latin American nations in the 1950s—the 'protection' of childhood translated into welfare policies funneled through universal social initiatives." (7) "The tutelary conception briefly outlined above entered a crisis during the 1960s in the US and during the 1980s at the international community level." (8)

I mention the above because the film presents, in a rebellious way, the idea of an alternative to that system—here, undertaken by the teacher through music and tolerance rather than repression. Perhaps it represents an early spark of what would later become the comprehensive protection system that grew first in the US and subsequently in other countries.

The protection of the "best interests of the child" translates into seeking the maximum fulfillment of their specific rights, recognizing the minor as a full legal subject. In this sense, it has been noted that "comprehensive protection means the protection of rights, and the best interest of the child means the satisfaction of those rights" (Beloff).

Minors must be granted all the procedural guarantees enjoyed by adults accused of committing a criminal offense. Additionally, beyond recognizing these standard guarantees, other safeguards stemming from their status as minors must be extended to them (9).

According to Ibáñez (10), democratic criminal law operates on a dual front: it seeks to respond to criminal violence with rationality and balance, and in doing so, attempts to prevent informal reactions.

The tutelary model coincided for much of its duration with the Welfare State model in the US and Latin America.

A similar dynamic occurred in France through the model represented by the school's director; however, the early emergence of an alternative—if not a full systemic overhaul of juvenile justice, at least an educational/rehabilitative alternative—marked a significant milestone. France is a country that, in my view, has historically been at the forefront of social change relative to other nations, for instance regarding adoption and abortion.
To illustrate the complications that differences in adoption legal frameworks pose (or posed) across countries, consider simple versus full adoption. In France, what was termed adopción simple (simple adoption) had for many years granted inheritance rights relative to the adoptive family (11). Furthermore, to protect anonymity, records containing the minor's and biological family's details were sealed in an envelope (I do not recall the exact procedure nor could I find it online, but I read about the changes brought on by advancements in genetics and new trends toward data protection, privacy rights, and professional secrecy, with special handling regarding automated medical databases) (12). All of this began with legislative amendments starting in the second half of the 1990s.

There is also a parallel with the topic of abortion in France, primarily because it was debated around 1975, whereas in Argentina, cases only began emerging slowly around 2007, still generating societal pushback even to the debate itself, causing further delay.
In France, the legal grounds for voluntary termination of pregnancy were codified in the so-called "Veil Law" of January 17, 1975, which was revised in 1982 to allow Social Security reimbursement of expenses. In 1993, faced with the growth of anti-abortion activist groups, the "Neiertz Law" was passed, establishing penalties of up to two years' imprisonment for those who threaten, intimidate, or assault medical personnel performing abortions. Abortion in France can only be performed in authorized public or private hospitals. The woman, who must explicitly authorize the procedure, must demonstrate that the pregnancy causes her distress and anguish. Unmarried minors must present written authorization from their parents (13). France was among the first European nations to legalize voluntary termination of pregnancy (IVG). The 1975 IVG law, supplemented in 1979 and still in force, does not require a pregnant woman to meet special conditions to obtain an abortion, provided it takes place within 12 weeks of amenorrhea. Beyond that timeframe, the law allows termination only on therapeutic grounds when the mother's health is at risk. Social Security reimburses 80% of the expenses for a legal abortion.

Returning to the film and the simplicity of music and the choir formed by the teacher: it served as a way to keep the youths occupied and train them in an activity away from the violence they already experienced, as well as the systemic violence characteristic of reformatories—an approach that works and is sought after (at least in the movie, it proves successful). I say "sought after" drawing a parallel with the Argentine context, no longer inside juvenile detention centers (often colloquially called "deformatories"), but in low-income neighborhoods and informal settlements (villas de emergencia). There, social workers seek alternatives such as sports (football) to keep young people engaged in healthy physical efforts, steering them away from crime and risk factors like drugs.

In conclusion, I see in the film's depiction of the choir and the development of the youths a manifestation of restorative justice as a response to both retributive and rehabilitative justice.
Skeptical views on custodial sentences caused a crisis in juvenile criminal justice in the United States, leading to a rise in neoclassicism and a return to retributivist ideas and negative general prevention. This resulted in a hardening of Criminal Law, including Juvenile Criminal Law. Consequently, a trend emerged in the US toward trying juveniles as adults, serving sentences alongside adults, and even applying the death penalty to minors.

Simultaneously, however, skepticism regarding imprisonment led to the rise of restorative justice ideas in the United States, emerging as a framework opposed to traditional criminal justice, which is arguably rooted in retributive principles. Thus, restorative justice has been conceived as a new paradigm to be distinguished from rehabilitative justice (linked to treatment ideology) as well as retributive justice. From this perspective, one can analyze how traditional criminal justice characterizes the imposition of punishment. It must be noted that restorative justice arose as part of what in North America was termed the "crisis of juvenile criminal justice," driven by the surge in retributive ideas regarding juvenile delinquency and skepticism toward rehabilitative models that had previously enjoyed strong support in Juvenile Law (14).

This is why proceedings involving minors should lack unnecessary complexity, aligning with the concept of comprehensive protection. The child is recognized as a full legal subject (4), yet "there is something paradoxical about this situation, as indirectly noted by Cunningham (Children & Childhood in Western Society Since 1500, Longman, 1995), Postman (The Disappearance of Childhood, Vintage, 1994), and Jenks (Childhood, Routledge, London, 1996): the era of children's rights as citizenship rights—which conceptually brings children closer to adults—conspires against the child's right to be a child, which maintains children in a conceptual dimension clearly distinct from adults." (5)
 

Citations / References
1.    http://www.familia.cl/ContenedorTmp/Coristas/coristas.htm
2.    http://www.familia.cl/ContenedorTmp/Coristas/coristas.htm
3.    Beloff, Mary. "Un Modelo para armar y otro para desarmar: protección integral de derechos del niño vs. derechos en situación irregular", in Los derechos del niño en el Sistema Interamericano, Buenos Aires, 2004, p. 22.
4.    Stratenwerth, Günter. Derecho Penal, Parte General I, Fabián J. Di Plácido Editor, Buenos Aires, 1999.
5.    Stratenwerth, Günter. Derecho Penal, Parte General I, Fabián J. Di Plácido Editor, Buenos Aires, 1999, pp. 7–8.
6.    Beloff, Mary. "Un Modelo para armar y otro para desarmar: protección integral de derechos del niño vs. derechos en situación irregular", in Los derechos del niño en el Sistema Interamericano, Buenos Aires, 2004, p. 21.
7.    Beloff, Mary. "Un Modelo para armar y otro para desarmar: protección integral de derechos del niño vs. derechos en situación irregular", in Los derechos del niño en el Sistema Interamericano, Buenos Aires, 2004, p. 44.
8.    Beloff, Mary. "Un Modelo para armar y otro para desarmar: protección integral de derechos del niño vs. derechos en situación irregular", in Los derechos del niño en el Sistema Interamericano, Buenos Aires, 2004, p. 31.
9.    Palomba, Federico. "Tendencias evolutivas en la protección de los menores de edad", in La niñez y la adolescencia en conflicto con la ley penal, San Salvador, 1995, p. 22.
10.    Ibáñez, Perfecto Andrés. "El Proceso Penal con Menores".
11.    http://www.salvador.edu.ar/ua1-4-menorms.htm
12.    http://www.gracielamedina.com/archivos/derecho/pdf/000005.pdf
13.    http://www.saludcolombia.com/actual/salud38/noveda38.htm
14.    http://www.pensamientopenal.com.ar/32llobet.doc
 

Originally published on 09-28-2007.

Election Dates at the Faculty

What follows was written in the last week of September 2006, the date of the elections at the Faculty.
Election week at the Faculty. Quite an event—many polling tables open in alphabetical order by last name. This year they are optional; they alternate year by year between optional and mandatory. This week, as happens every time there are elections, the Faculty feels like a party. It is a completely different world from the one we are used to seeing. There comes a moment when everything becomes unbearable.
So many flyers. Wherever you walk, people hand you flyers—flyers that the vast majority of people don't read; they just take them and throw them in the trash. But after walking just two meters, you are handed more flyers again, often the exact same one you just threw away.
The activists wandering through the hallways, the ones who enter the classrooms before class starts to give their campaign speeches, and the bolder ones who try to go in right in the middle of a lecture.

The Faculty darkens because of all the posters blocking the windows. Posters of every color: orange, blue, green, black, light blue, purple, white, and many more. Student groups appear that didn't exist before or that you never see, alongside others you didn't even know existed. Other groups have always been there. Some merge with each other to form alliances—it is no surprise to see unions of groups that just yesterday were opposed to one another. They all fight for the same position. They all claim to be independent, but I dare say none of them are. They all accuse each other, they are all backed by political parties, and they all deny it as if it were something bad. There is everything, from left to right, fundamentalists and moderates. They all give you their governing platform. They all have projects. They all accuse each other of having no ideas. They all accuse the governing group of doing nothing. The governing group accuses the rest of never having been present at the Faculty. They all accuse each other of bringing in paid activists. They all bring activists from outside, mostly from other faculties. 

There are papers everywhere; old ones are torn down—old meaning posters that have been up for more than two days. New posters are put up. They fight over who has the biggest poster. The bigger the poster, the more expensive it is. The ones that invest less money have fewer posters. Some groups even stick up pages printed from a computer.

It must have some effect; everyone is annoyed by the flyers and posters, but there are always more. A visual effect—I don't know if it translates into votes, but that it works is for sure. Accusations of all kinds; all the groups are already hardened to it, it's as if it were nothing. Nobody proves anything, but accusations come in every variety. Some make jokes, others play music, others ride around in collage-carts; before, they used to hang flyers from carousels—inventiveness knows no bounds. They all tell you they were always there for the students. They all remind you of even the smallest detail of what they did, from handing out legal rulings, CDs, and even a flower, to reminding you of their administration providing computers, giving you a flower, hosting a conference, giving away a book, or signposting the Faculty. Anything goes. It was all for you, the student. They all have ideas and projects, all of them good, but they all know the other party's project is always bad.

And many students complain about the dirtiness, many of the very same ones who later throw their cigarettes on the ground; many question where the money for the flyers comes from, the same ones who later photocopy a book; many complain about the noise, the same ones who then spend an hour and a half of class chatting (distracting) with their classmate; and many complain about the flyers they take anyway, the same ones they refuse to accept when walking down the street; and many complain, with good reason, about the inconveniences caused. Everything is negative; no one says anything positive, and when they do, it is only to justify a critique that follows right after the nice things they said. The sound of a song bothers those studying in the quiet library.

Now the celebrations are approaching: the winners and the defeated, the taunts and the chants, a few sad faces, and then everything goes back to normal. The life of the activists is just like any other at the Faculty; they spend a large part of the day at their group tables, socialize, make friends, argue, run around, drink mate, sing, organize parties, study, gossip, chant at each other in groups, pretend to be serious, some are serious, some dress scruffily, others wear suits, always ready to help. Sometimes it’s nothing more than saying a few words; other times it requires drafting documents and guiding the disoriented. There is a lot of usefulness in their existence, yet many times one is left with the feeling of: what are they even here for? Perhaps for not being part of that group, for not belonging to that world, for having a different way of being at the Faculty. No one is there to question their actions; there has always been a time when the existence of these student groups was useful for even the smallest thing.

These young people have their world there. They don't judge the students who don't participate; it’s their way of living, they have their projects there, and no one can question what they do with their lives. "Participation" is the word—most don't participate. Many go, study their subject, and head back home; a few, the minority, get involved in teaching, and others in political activity. The rest use the Faculty as a stepping stone for their future plans, complete their 5 or 10-year cycle, and then never return. They aren't interested in anything regarding the institution, nor what the Faculty will become in the future; their priorities lie elsewhere, and at the Faculty, the only thing that matters is finishing the degree—and this perspective is also very respectable, just like all the others.

Respect for the Institution, and the Institution encompasses everything that keeps it alive, including political activity, the activists, the flyers, and the posters. That is how it works, and it is good that it is so. There is variety and freedom for it to operate this way. The elections last one week a year, 5 days, and then everything is over until the next year. In that week, you have choices—even the option proposed by those who wish this week didn't exist. Nobody ever chooses that option. Despite all the inconveniences this election week causes, everyone wants it; nobody wants it gone. We have the chance to choose, we have plenty of options to choose from, and we even have the choice not to participate at all. It makes me happy that it is this way, and that this election week exists at the Faculty.

The Use of Capital Letters on the Web AND Netiquette.

(ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON 7/6/2007)

I DON'T REALLY KNOW HOW TO START THIS, BECAUSE EVERYTHING I WANT TO WRITE ABOUT IT IS MIXED UP IN MY HEAD, BUT I AM GOING TO TRY TO SAY WHY I THINK IT IS A LIE TO "ASSOCIATE THE USE OF CAPITAL LETTERS WITH SHOUTING AND THEREFORE NOT ALLOW IT". I BELIEVE WE MUST TOLERATE THE USE OF CAPITAL LETTERS HOWEVER THOSE WHO WRITE FREELY ON THE INTERNET WISH TO USE THEM. ITS PROHIBITION, MOSTLY IN WEB FORUMS, IS AN IMPOSED LIE, OR RATHER CREATED BY SOMEONE, POSSIBLY WITH GOOD INTENTIONS, BUT ONLY USED MALICIOUSLY BY INTOLERANT INEXPERTS IN WEB FORUMS WHO MERELY SEEK AN EXCUSE TO CARRY OUT THEIR ANTICS AS MODERATORS. IN MOST CASES, TO MAKE USE OF THE DELETE/EDIT BUTTON AND FEEL LIKE SOMEONE IMPORTANT ON THE INTERNET.

What is netiquette? A brief summary, which is generally accepted by everyone: Netiquette, a word derived from the French étiquette (good manners) and the English net or network, is the set of rules that govern the behavior of a user in a newsgroup, a mailing list, a discussion forum, or email (e-mail).

In the same way that a protocol exists for physical encounters with people, the so-called Netiquette describes a protocol that should be used when making electronic "contact."
The first thing to clarify is that I do not intend to justify the use of ALL CAPS in every type of writing; there are some where the need not to use it prevails—for instance, a work message. But for the rest of the messages, those public messages that reach everyone and that anyone can read and participate in, which are mere opinions and/or views, I find it truly pointless to try to justify one's own incompetence by banning all-caps writing.

-- These “gentlemen” of strict netiquette control, as far as capital letters are concerned, usually say that using them throughout the entire message is an “abusive use” of them.
Abusive use? Abusive of what? Isn't using lowercase letters, perhaps, abusing lowercase letters? If I write a message half in uppercase and half in lowercase, am I balancing its use? Is there abuse or is there no abuse in this case? These are questions that find no answer, and I was never able to find one from any of those who “enforce this rule.” I am convinced they don't have an answer.

-- Some say that writing entirely in capital letters means the person is shouting.
Here we have to see if the person has the habit of living “at full scream”; perhaps shouting might be common and natural for them. And what if the person doesn't shout but speaks loudly? Speaking forcefully is different from shouting, and in both cases, one speaks LOUDLY. Is it possible to determine which of the two cases the use of capital letters might be due to, should it be one of these two? It is impossible, but it is impossible because the rule itself is ridiculous.

Now let's suppose the person does not habitually “live at full scream”; how is it possible on the internet to associate shouting with letters? Did they study graphology and are now applying it online? It is an argument so weak that even a preschooler could shatter it with a shout. It stems from something as INCONSISTENT as associating physical reality with virtual reality; they view the act of writing as absolute, when it is not.

Let's imagine one last case: that of a person who, without hurting anyone, decides to shout and likes to shout, and shouts with all their heart because shouting feels good. Is it wrong? Does it affect anyone? In real life, it might indeed affect those around, unless they happen to be cheering for a team; but right here on the internet is where the difference is marked. From behind the screen, shouting affects no one. One can shout as loudly as possible in front of a hundred, a thousand, or two hundred thousand people, and not a single one will suffer the slightest discomfort in their ears, their focus, or anything else. The difference between shouting in person and shouting in virtual reality is crystal clear: in virtuAliTy it isn't bothersome, and instead of taking advantage of this benefit, SOME PEOPLE try to impose something as ridiculous as denying reality—and in this case, virtual reality.

-- Another argument brandished by these gentlemen BOTHERED by the use of capital letters on the internet, preferably in forums, is the one that says “that using capital letters gives the appearance of being angry.”

It goes without saying that this is not an argument, and we return to the previous point. A simple question gives us the answer: how is it possible to know someone's mood over the internet solely through the use of capital letters? The inability to answer this in the affirmative gives us the solution: it is an entirely meaningless argument. I admit one can recognize, or get an idea—however minimal—of a person's mood through what they write, but not through the format it takes. By this same VACUOUS logic, one could think that someone writing entirely in italics lives life in a rush, and so on. Consider someone who writes a sequence of three or four jokes all in caps and then, also in caps, laughs at other jokes—is it possible to think that person is angry?

Unfortunately, I know no further “arguments” from the gentlemen who apply the rule against using capital letters in writing—gentlemen who do not hesitate to drop the word “netiquette” while in many cases knowing nothing of the French language, and occasionally stumbling through Spanish. What I do have in abundance are reasons to justify the use of capital letters in writing for those who wish to do so and proceed accordingly.

-- For a moment, let's think about people who have vision problems, who cannot see well, who have some difficulty, however minor, and for whom seeing capital letters improves their reading of the text and does them good. Why should these people with a physical impairment be deprived of feeling better and not having to strain their eyes just for the whim of a select few? The Windows OS includes a feature called “Magnifier,” web browsers include a feature called “Zoom,” etc. In short, these are features specifically developed for people with vision difficulties. Now, if there are people who can avoid these functions simply by using capital letters, and it doesn't affect the rest in any way, what is the problem with using them? Is supposed netiquette more important than a health issue? Where is the solidarity?

-- An inconsistency present in many forums is allowing abbreviations typical of text messages, which consist of shortening words—for example, “u” instead of “you” or “pls” instead of “please,” and so forth. Yet this is not considered bad, nor is it seen as a violation of netiquette rules.

And what is worse, the literal corruption of language is commonly accepted—for instance, writing “k” instead of “okay.”

Yet the SAME PEOPLE who accept these expressions deny—deny to themselves—the act of writing a text in capital letters. That is of AN IRREPARABLE GRAVITY for THESE INDIVIDUALS.

-- And what is the Caps Lock key on the keyboard for? If it were only meant for capitalizing the start of a sentence or writing a proper noun, the existence of the “Shift” key would be enough; and not only would it be enough, but on every keyboard we have two “Shift” keys. So, the key specifically named “Caps Lock”—why was it included on the keyboard? To decorate it? To take up space? So that it wouldn't be used? And if it is used, it is meant for typing in capital letters.

These people who raise a hue and cry regarding the use of capital letters seem unaware of the existence of said key. Perhaps in their eagerness to deny a virtual reality, they attempt to deny a real reality; they see the key, but they refuse to see it. They are that kind of blind—not because they are actually blind, but because they do not want to see.

-- Let's talk a little about habit: about those people whose habit is the repetitive practice of writing everything in capital letters whenever they can. Why should a different practice be imposed on those people? If their habit is not bad, or as I see it, if it cannot be proven that such a practice is bad—at least I have never read anything to that effect—then I see no reason to make them change that habit of writing in capital letters merely for the whim OF A FEW.
I will conclude by stating what I think of all those—generally forum moderators, rarely an administrator, in my view due to the privileges administrators hold that spare them from resorting to such a crude excuse, besides the fact that administrators are always somewhat above moderators, but that is another topic—returning to the point, I believe these people use this netiquette rule for several reasons:

•    because they cannot adapt to reading uppercase text; it proves difficult for them
•    because it is a very simple excuse, and a simple brain contentedly settles for simple excuses that spare it from seeking more complex justifications
•    because they are intolerant, and this serves as an excuse to cover up that intolerance THEY SUFFER FROM
•    because it is a means that justifies arbitrariness when it comes to editing/deleting a message
•    because through this excuse, the attitude of “I'm in charge here” is made explicit
•    because they like to show off, and through this excuse, they get noticed, especially when dealing with the unsuspecting
•    because when they have no other argument, this one never fails to delegitimize what the other person wrote

in short, I can think of many more reasons, but all as ridiculous as the ones I have just listed. It only remains for me to say that this message is written entirely in capital letters, and the question is: did I write it all in uppercase, or at the end of having written it ALL IN LOWERCASE, did I select IT IN ITS ENTIRETY and, under MS Word-Format-Font, check the “All Caps” box? I leave this question for any censor of capital letters to answer, because this last point ends up being another one of my justifications.

WHILE I WROTE THIS AROUND 2007, NOW IN 2014, A SIGNIFICANT DECLINE HAS BEEN SEEN IN WEB FORUMS, AND THE WELL-KNOWN SOCIAL NETWORKS HAVE EMERGED. PARTICIPATION IN SOCIAL NETWORKS DOES NOT ENCOURAGE WRITING, DEBATES, AND DISCUSSIONS, NOR DOES IT ENCOURAGE “MODERATION”; THEREFORE, THE “MODERATORS” HAVE DISAPPEARED AND THEY HAVE NEARLY ERADICATED THE “CONTROL OF CAPITAL LETTERS.” EVERYONE CAN WRITE AS THEY WISH WITHOUT BEING SUBJECTED TO THIS RABBLE OF FORUM MODERATORS, MODERATORS OF CAPITAL LETTERS, WHO ARE NOW NO LONGER THERE.

The Bone Woman

Back in January 2008, I finished reading another book. This time it was El lenguaje de los huesos (The Bone Woman) by Clea Koff. It has approximately 280 pages, and its cover features a few bones and is bone-colored, appropriately enough. The book was written by an American forensic anthropologist whose website is http://www.thebonewoman.com/—which is the original title of the book. It seems to me that they translated it as they saw fit; at least to me, it feels like they changed the title and/or didn’t respect the original, though I can't say for sure. It is about a book written by this forensic anthropologist who completed overseas missions for her country. She was very young when she went to Rwanda, which is where the book begins.

The book, as categorized by the publisher, deals with real events. Specifically, it tells us about her work for international tribunals. It is not a technical book or one about a specific niche topic, as it might seem—I say this in case anyone thinks it is strictly aimed at anthropologists. In fact, throughout the text, comments about archaeologists, pathologists, etc., appear.

It serves to give you an idea of what a genocide is, told after the fact. It seeks to find the truth of what happened, or at least evidence or traces left behind on the primary victims of a genocide—that is, the dead. This may result in some grim or graphic descriptions, but they are no less interesting for it. The book is or was a bestseller. The author shares that while studying at the university, she read a book about the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team called Witnesses from the Tomb, and that book had a profound influence on her, leading her down the path she later followed.

Furthermore, the book features rich language that allows readers to learn a lot of terminology and, moreover, some of the customs of the places she visited. This includes not only the locations themselves, but also the people who went there and worked alongside her or had some form of relationship with her. Since these were international missions, there was a mix of people from all over the world.

Throughout the 1990s, she was in several places discovering and studying mass graves as a consequence of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda (Kibuye and Kigali), and later addressing the aftermath of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo).

She describes the feelings and expressions of many of the people she had the opportunity to observe in her work, from her own teammates to timely visitors, victims' relatives, journalists, etc. She also discusses how the way of working varied from Africa to Europe, as well as the organizational aspects and other details.

In the middle of the book, there are a few pages with photos of her working with her team.

It caught my attention, for example, how in Rwanda they worked more as a cohesive team, whereas toward the end in Kosovo, the organization began to fragment and become more individualistic. Also, looking at which forces were present in Rwanda versus the Balkans, it felt to me as though the Balkans were given higher priority. I suppose that, naturally, a conflict on the doorstep of the First World is not viewed the same as one in developing countries; in any case, that is just a conjecture of mine.

Later, the author mentions that upon her return to the U.S., she conducted some studies on history—or at least implies it—which helps explain how she describes certain parts of her book regarding the internal dynamics of the conflict itself, as well as historical, social, and political matters. It is worth remembering that her work centers on the study of mass graves and multiple graves containing hundreds of victims of different regimes or groups. However, her last mission was no longer about graves containing numerous bodies, but rather individual graves where they sought evidence that the deceased were victims of murder rather than killed in combat, as some of the criminals maintained. At the end of the book, there is a list of some of these criminals—some convicted and others awaiting trial—though that list is now outdated since the book was published in 2004. A notable feature is that the crimes had been committed not long before the author took part in studying and analyzing them.

In the following paragraph, I believe I found a small typo: where it says 1977, it should almost certainly say 1997.

"It was something I had occasion to experience repeatedly during my second mission to Bosnia in 1977. On sunny days (...)." (p. 132)

Below, in my opinion, is an example of a journalist who doesn't know how to ask questions and only bothers those being interviewed. Although both parties (the journalist and the anthropologists) were doing their jobs, one (the journalist) didn't know how to do it properly, causing a degree of annoyance among the rest.

"Next, Bill came over with a Reuters journalist, Eli Kaban, whose questions were almost all personal, including how we coped with death and the families of the deceased. We all answered that we were scientists doing our jobs, that we tried to make our work useful, and that we left emotions for another time. Bill pointed out that we would get nowhere if we dwelt on the tragedy while working, as we would just become 'blubbering idiots.'" (p. 49)

I will conclude by transcribing a few paragraphs that I chose for the blog post out of the many interesting ones in the book.

"I knew that in Srebrenica, thousands were missing, and up to then we had only recovered about two hundred. Just as in Rwanda, I sensed them in other plots, at the end of other dirt tracks. A whole community of corpses surrounded us, though all male. I felt rage toward people who consider murder an acceptable policy. I felt the last vestiges of my innocence vanish as I discovered more and more murdered people with their hands tied behind their backs. And I felt two distinct duties: one to the corpses—to identify them and allow them to incriminate their killers—and another to the relatives—to help return the remains to them." (p. 145)

"Clint asked me to guide the group, and one of the visitors, an American holding a clipboard, asked me: 'Aren't those a pair of jeans?' I answered: 'Yes, you're right.' And he said to me: 'But there's nothing inside those clothes, is there?' It couldn't have been a joke, as the corpse he was pointing to had plenty of flesh left. It was hard not to sound sarcastic, and I had to restrain myself from replying: 'What do you think? That everyone inside had been resurrected?' What I actually answered was: 'Yes, sir, there is a corpse inside those clothes. All the clothes you see have a corpse inside.' I couldn't believe he didn't see the corpse. But as I watched him tilt his head, trying to find the best angle to look at it, I realized he wasn't seeing what I was seeing. It wasn't a matter of angles. He was simply incapable of conceiving it. I had to respect that." (pp. 185–186)

The conclusion with which the book closes is important to read because it lays bare—or rather, clearly shows us—the common points between both genocides, or what the "corpses tell us," which turns out to be "the very same story," revealing the underlying reasons that led to such a disaster.