I think everyone is familiar with idealization. Idealization is, after all, what we always do. It is how we deal with the real, we adapt it in a way that can provides us with reassurance, with a certain logic. Philosophers like Zizek would affirm that, in fact, fantasy can be stronger than reality. Because, in the end, what is reality but an amount of statements and common sense that we all agree upon?
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| Las Palmas, Asia |
Cecilia, a waitress trying to survive in the middle of the greatest financial depression in America, lives a common life. She barely makes enough money to get by, she’s married to an abusive, alcoholic and jobless man. And she has no real future ahead of her, rather than spend her youth, her whole life washing dishes in the local diner.
Her only cheerful moments take place in the cinema. She goes every day and watches the same movie. For a couple of hours she feels transported into a world of glamour, of beautiful men and women, a world in which everything makes sense, a world where happy endings are possible. In an era of poverty, movies are the ideal escapism. Movies are a window that allows the impoverished people to see life not as it is but as it could or should be.
Woody Allen is not only a great director but also a true connoisseur of cinema. Hollywood’s films in the 20s relied deeply on spectacular images just as they do now, but what today is CGI (and explosions or big action sequences), decades ago was grand sets, hundreds of extras, complex choreographies, exotic scenarios and so on. That’s the kind of films that Cecilia has access to. And as enamored as she is with this world of richness and splendor, she must come to reality and accept the hardships of life.
That is of course, until Tom Baxter, the adventurer, the handsome hero from the film, starts talking to her through the screen. He knows she loves the movie, she’s been there every day. And he knows he loves her. And just like that, Tom Baxter is no longer a black and white, two dimensional character, he is now a person walking out of the screen and reaching out to her.
It happens in the movies, but it can also happen in real life: love at first sight. Cecilia and Tom are in love, but she doesn’t know how to deal with this strange situation. He is a fictional character, he has never been in the real world, and he carries a certain naiveté but also a certain magic, a sense of wonder that reminds her that being alive, and making choices, is all that matters.
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| my sketch / mi boceto |
With a very ironic venue, Woody Allen reminds us that Hollywood is a cruel machinery in which profits and lawyers are more important than directors or actors. And once that these businessmen realize that the impossible has happened in New Jersey, they decide to fix the situation. Giles Shepherd, the actor that plays Tom Baxter, is worried about having a duplicate of him running amok in the streets. He has a career to protect, a reputation to uphold. When he discovers that Cecilia knows where to find Tom Baxter he tries to convince his creation to return to the screen, where he belongs, but to no avail.
Psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan used to say that desire towards our ‘object a’ depends on the phantasm; which in a way means that the object of our desire is never ours, our thirst is never quenched and we are doomed to unsatisfactory pursuits, always. This happens because the object of desire comes to us mediated through a veil that conceals the real, and thus strengthens what in this case is only an idealized image, a reflection of something that doesn’t necessarily has to be there although that is all our eyes can see. Tom Baxter is the mirrored ideal that originates from Giles Shepherd, but at the same time, both are the ideal partners for Cecilia. One of them is fictitious and because of that he is also perfect; the other one is human, flawed, but authentic.
As the days go by, Cecilia falls in love with Giles, and dreams of leaving behind an awful reality, a mediocre existence. At the same time, she has some of the most amazing experiences of her life with Tom Baxter, as he takes her into the screen and into the very world she has always fantasized about. He takes her to the exclusive clubs and the mansions she had only seen in screen. He makes her know a new world, visually stunning; a black and white universe where things have a way of always working out in the end.
And then comes a moment, a moment in which she has to make a decision. Will she stay with Tom Baxter or Giles Shepherd? The character or the actor? The fiction or the reality? The ideal or the real? Making decisions is what makes us humans, but then again, pain, hunger, poverty and decay inevitably come with humanity. I won’t spoil the ending, but suffice to say that I have never seen a greater, sadder and more significant sacrifice than the one seen here. The Purple Rose of Cairo is truly one of the most magnificent classics ever.
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Durante el año asisto a eventos de todo tipo, pero hay muy pocos que me entusiasman tanto como la cata de vinos argentinos en el club Las Palmas de Asia. Siempre me he considerado algo así como un enólogo neófito, aunque debo admitir que gracias a algunas charlas con Cristina Vallarino mi aproximación empírica a la vid y a sus frutos ha podido apoyarse en fundamentos teóricos un poco más firmes.
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| Cata de vinos 2012 |
El tema del vino es fascinante, y no hace falta invertir demasiado tiempo o dinero para tener un conocimiento mínimo sobre el delicado balance de los taninos o las distintas variedades de uvas. Para los que hayan mirado las fotos de mis almuerzos, habrán podido comprobar que jamás falta una botella de buen vino.
Hace tres semanas, junto con la revista Asia Sur y todas las otras que aterrizan en las casas de Asia los fines de semana, llegó la invitación para la séptima cata de vinos. Así es que durante estas tres semanas estuve esperando con impaciencia a que llegara el sábado 28.
Este fin de semana extrañé a mi gran amiga Pamela Campos, a quien inmortalicé en las páginas de este cómic (lamentablemente tuvo que permanecer en Lima). Además, en la noche, Rodrigo decidió quedarse (y si estás leyendo esto que conste que hice lo posible para convencerte), pero por suerte pude acompañar a Richard Quantrill y a Ximena Castro de Quantrill (a quien pueden escuchar todos los sábados de 8 a 9am en Radio San Borja).
Pasamos una noche divertidísima, y probamos vinos que jamás se ofrecen en eventos como la Expovino de Wong. Y es que la diferencia entre la cata de vinos de Asia y la Expovino de Wong es abismal: En la Expovino participan un gran número de bodegas de diversos países, pero todas ofrecen sus líneas más básicas, vamos, lo más barato que tienen. Las líneas reserva o premium están sólo de ‘exhibición’. En la cata de vinos de Asia, por el contrario, no tienen ningún problema en ofrecerte vinos de 180 soles o más, y además de los mozos que van y te lavan las copas (algo que no sucede en la Expovino de Wong), tienes la mesa de quesos y embutidos de Don Mamino, y la infaltable parrilla argentina (aquí participan diversas marcas de carne y restaurantes de parrilla todos argentinos).
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| parrilla argentina + vino |
Entre los vinos que probé me gustaron el malbec reserva de Rutini, el merlot de la bodega Azul (no la conocía y fue una grata sorpresa), el shiraz de Cicchitti, el pinot noir de Fabre Montmayou, por supuesto el cabernet sauvignon gran reserva de Navarro Correas, también probé un agradable sauvignon blanc de bodegas Alta Vista y el chardonnay de bodegas Escorihuela. Además, como quien hace un buen maridaje, disfruté de un magnífico lechón a la parrilla, asado de tira y lomo fino, además de los habituales chorizos y quesitos gourmet.
Ximena y Richard se encontraron con varios amistades, y yo también me encontré con amigos, algunos que los conozco porque habíamos coincidido antes en esta cata de vinos, y otros que conozco de la PUCP, como Alberto de Belaúnde, con quien conversé brevemente.
Fue una de esas noches maravillosas que no quieres que se terminen nunca. De lejos, esto ha sido lo más divertido que he hecho en los últimos meses. Salud por ello.
