viernes, 28 de enero de 2011

Kaboom (2010)

Marianne Williams/IFC Films

Thomas Dekker in “Kaboom.”

End of the World? Maybe. First, Sex.

Published: January 27, 2011

Smith, the bisexual Southern California college student whose misadventures — some possibly in his own head, many in other people’s beds — are at the center of “Kaboom,” is a cinema studies major. This fact in itself may not be enough to establish him as an alter ego for the director, Gregg Araki, but it does allow Mr. Araki to offer some hints about what he is up to in this chaotic, trifling, oddly likable film.

More About This Movie

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At one point Mr. Araki’s super-bright color scheme gives way to flickering black-and-white images culled from the early, silent, aggressively Surrealist work of Luis Buñuel. Buñuel’s insight in “L’Age d’Or” and “Un Chien Andalou” — independently repeated a few years later by Leo McCarey in the Marx Brothers vehicle “Duck Soup” — was that the syntax of film could make the incongruous appear coherent. An illusion of continuity is produced that can turn nonsense into sense, even as the medium’s compression and fracturing of time can have the opposite effect.

And Mr. Araki works the logic both ways. “Kaboom” is both crazily disjunctive and smooth, jumping from polymorphous sex comedy to murder mystery to paranoid apocalyptic science-fiction freakout, with nimble nonchalance and up-to-the-minute pop music cues. As Smith (Thomas Dekker) and his best friend, Stella (Haley Bennett), trade sarcastic banter and exercise their late-adolescent libidos, weird things start to happen. Strangers whom Smith has seen in dreams show up at parties. Shadowy figures in animal masks commit grotesque acts of violence that leave behind no evidence. Stella’s lover, Lorelei (Roxane Mesquida), turns out to have supernatural powers, which come in handy during sex but turn scary once Stella tries to cool things down a little.

So there is the stalker-witch-lesbian spoke of the narrative, which ultimately joins — haphazardly and almost facetiously, true to the movie’s governing spirit — a bunch of others. Smith lusts after his roommate Thor (Chris Zylka), a hunky, blond, clothing-optional surfer who is avowedly heterosexual but whose behavior illustrates the axiom that “straight guys are gayer than gay guys.” This wisdom is offered by London (Juno Temple), a pixieish adventuress who becomes Smith’s frequent bedfellow and might almost be mistaken, if “Kaboom” allowed such conventional terms, for his girlfriend.

Smith is also picked up by a stud on the beach, courted by a sweet nerd named Oliver, and more and more obsessed with his strange visions. To say that the various loose ends are gathered up in the end is accurate enough, but really beside the point. Mr. Araki is not trying to harmonize the disparate elements of campus soap opera, soft-porn farce, serial-killer thriller and (what was it again?) apocalyptic science-fiction freakout, but rather to shake them all together until they explode.

Several characters say they feel the world is coming to an end, a signal that the movie is accelerating toward its own conclusion. Which raises, in the viewer’s mind, the usual question: bang or whimper? A little of both, really, but mostly a hollow pop, like a Champagne-bottle party favor filled with confetti. And this, too, is part of the point. It would be silly to fault “Kaboom” for being shallow or unserious; its whole mode of being is profoundly antiserious, playfully assaulting any form of earnestness other than Smith’s emo melancholy.

But there is also a peculiar undercurrent of nostalgia. In the 1990s Mr. Araki made his reputation on a series of films that pushed sexual freedom and youthful rebellion to the point of nihilism. Their titles — “The Living End,” “The Doom Generation,” “Nowhere”and one that can’t be printed here — evoke the basic attitude, if not the full measure, of Mr. Araki’s furious wit. “Kaboom,” following the somber, beautiful drama of “Mysterious Skin” and the relaxed goofiness of “Smiley Face,” represents the director’s desire to get back in touch with his old, bad-boy self.

Who wouldn’t want to? Then again, who can? “Kaboom” has some of the passionate awkwardness of a punk-band reunion tour. But there is something forced and inauthentic about the way the film throws itself at its characters, a bunch of smart, randy, uninhibited kids who frolic like rabbits and talk like junior semioticians. Those kids are all right — and cute as can be — but what about the guy with the camera who’s always following them around? Is he the too-hip junior professor, or another sad, aging graduate student checking the mirror to reassure himself that he’s really still young, and still cool?

KABOOM

Opens on Friday in Manhattan.

Written and directed by Gregg Araki; director of photography, Sandra Valde-Hansen; music by Ulrich Schnauss, Mark Peters, Vivek Maddala and Robin Guthrie; production design by Todd Fjelsted; costumes by Trayce Gigi Field; produced by Mr. Araki and Andrea Sperling; released by IFC Films. At the IFC Center, 323 Avenue of the Americas, at Third Street, Greenwich Village. Running time: 1 hour 26 minutes. This film is not rated.

WITH: Thomas Dekker (Smith), Haley Bennett (Stella), Chris Zylka (Thor), Roxane Mesquida (Lorelei), Juno Temple (London), Andy Fischer-Price (Rex), Nicole LaLiberte (Red-Haired Girl), Jason Olive (Hunter), James Duval (the Messiah), Brennan Mejia (Oliver) and Kelly Lynch (Nicole).

A version of this review appeared in print on January 28, 2011, on page C4 of the New York edition.

Waves of Unrest Spread to Yemen, Shaking a Region

Hani Mohammed/Associated Press

Protesters in Sana, Yemen, waved Yemen’s flag at a rally on Thursday. Many are calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down, but some opposition leaders seek less drastic change. More Photos »

By ANTHONY SHADID, NADA BAKRI and KAREEM FAHIM

Published: January 27, 2011

REPRINTS

Thousands of protesters on Thursday took to the streets of Yemen, one of the Middle East’s most impoverished countries, and secular and Islamist Egyptian opposition leaders vowed to join large protests expected Friday as calls for change rang across the Arab world.

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Slide Show

Third Day of Protests in Egypt

Seizing a Moment, Al Jazeera Galvanizes Arab Frustration(January 28, 2011)
Cables Show Delicate U.S. Dealings With Egypt’s Leaders(January 28, 2011)
Times Topics: Tunisia | Egypt |Yemen

ROOM FOR DEBATE

What Can the Protests in Egypt Achieve?

Will the uprisings change the country’s future?

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Reuters

Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel laureate who is now an outspoken critic of Egypt’s government, arrived in Cairo on Thursday. More Photos »

The Yemeni protests were another moment of tumult in a region whose aging order of American-backed governments appears to be staggering. In a span of just weeks, Tunisia’s government has fallen, Egypt’s appears shaken and countries like Jordan and Yemen are bracing against demands of movements with divergent goals but similar means.

Protests led by young people entered a third day in Egypt, where Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel laureate who has become an outspoken opponent of President Hosni Mubarak, returned in hopes of galvanizing the campaign. The Muslim Brotherhood, long Egypt’s largest organized opposition, ended days of official inaction and said it would join the Friday protests, declaring “a day of rage for the Egyptian nation.”

Dr. ElBaradei called on Mr. Mubarak to step down. “He has served the country for 30 years, and it is about time for him to retire,” he told Reuters. “Tomorrow is going to be, I think, a major demonstration all over Egypt and I will be there with them.”

Though a relative calm settled on Cairo, smoke rose over the city of Suez, as sometimes violent protests continued there.

In Yemen, organizers vowed to continue protests on Friday and for weeks to come until the 32-year-old American-backed government of Ali Abdullah Saleh either fell or consented to reforms.

At least visually, the scenes broadcast across the region from Yemen were reminiscent of the events in Egypt and the month of protests that brought down the government in Tunisia. But as they climaxed by midday, they appeared to be carefully organized and mostly peaceful, save for some arrests. Pink — be it in the form of headbands, sashes or banners — was the dominant color; organizers described it as the symbol of the day’s protests.

“To Jidda, oh Ali!” some shouted, in reference to the city in Saudi Arabia where Tunisia’s president fled this month. “The people’s demand is the fall of the government!”

“We are telling them either he delivers real political reforms or we’re going to deliver him out of power,” said Shawki al-Qadi, an opposition lawmaker and organizer of the Yemeni protests. “He’s closed all the doors of hope. The only glimmer is in the streets.”

Unlike in Egypt, the peaceful protests in Yemen were not led by young people, but by the traditional opposition, largely Islamists. And the opposition remained divided over whether to topple the Saleh government or simply push for reforms.

But the potential for strife in the country is difficult to overstate. Yemen is troubled by a rebellion in the north and a struggle for secession in the once independent, Marxist south. In recent years, an affiliate of Al Qaeda has turned parts of the country, a rugged, often lawless region on the southwestern corner of the Arabian Peninsula, into a refuge beyond the state’s reach. Added to the mix is a remarkably high proportion of armed citizens, some of whom treat Kalashnikovs as a fashion accessory.

“I fear Yemen is going to be ripped apart,” said Mohammed Naji Allaw, coordinator of the National Organization for Defending Rights and Freedom, which was one of the protests’ organizers. “The situation in Yemen is a lot more dangerous than in any other Arab country. It would be foolish for the regime to ignore our demands.”

He said a phrase often heard these days was that Yemen faced “sawmala” — the Somalization of a country that witnessed a civil war in the mid-1990s.

A portion of Mr. Allaw’s worries sprang from the inability of the opposition to forge a unified message. Some are calling for secession for the south, he said, while others are looking to oust the president. Yet the mainstream, he said, simply wanted Mr. Saleh to agree not to run for another term after 2013 and to guarantee that his son would not succeed him.

“The opposition is afraid of what would happen if the regime falls,” said Khaled Alanesi, who also works with the human rights group in Sana, the capital. “Afraid of the militant groups, Al Qaeda, the tribes and all the arms here.”

The government responded to the protests by sending a large number of security forces into the streets, said Nasser Arrabyee, a Yemeni journalist in Sana. “Very strict measures, anti-riot forces,” he called them. But the government suggested that it had not deployed large numbers of security forces, keeping them peaceful.

“The Government of the Republic of Yemen strongly respects the democratic right for a peaceful assembly,” Mohammed al-Basha, a Yemeni Embassy spokesman in Washington, said in a statement. “We are pleased to announce that no major clashes or arrests occurred, and police presence was minimal.”

A pro-government rally, in another district of Sana, organized by Mr. Saleh’s party, attracted far fewer demonstrators, Mr. Arrabyee said.

The protests sprang from political divisions that began building in the country last October, when a dialogue collapsed between the opposition and Mr. Saleh, a 64-year-old strongman who has ruled his fractured country for more than three decades and is a crucial ally of the United States in the fight against the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda. Though Mr. Saleh’s term is supposed to end in 2013, proposed amendments to the Constitution could allow him to remain in power for two additional terms of 10 years.

Opposition lawmakers, an eclectic bloc dominated by Islamists, organized protests that swelled into one of the largest demonstrations during Mr. Saleh’s tenure. But unlike the antagonists in Tunisia and Egypt, both sides seemed at least willing to engage in dialogue over demands that are far less radical.

“Political parties are pushing for reforms more than they are pushing to oust the president,” Mr. Alanesi said. “The slogans say to leave, but we actually want change.”

In a televised speech on Sunday night, Mr. Saleh, a wily politician with a firm grasp of the power of patronage, tried to defuse the opposition’s demands. He denied claims that his son would succeed him — as happened in Syria and, some fear, might occur in Egypt. He said he would raise army salaries, a move seemingly intended to ensure soldiers’ loyalty. Mr. Saleh has also cut income taxes in half and ordered price controls.

Yemen’s fragile stability has been of increasing concern to the United States, which has provided $250 million in military aid in the past five years. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in a visit to Sana this month, urged Mr. Saleh to establish a new dialogue with the opposition, saying it would help to stabilize the country.

The protests were the latest in a wave of unrest touched off by monthlong demonstrations in Tunisia that led to the ouster of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, the authoritarian leader who ruled for 23 years and fled two weeks ago. On Thursday, Tunisia unveiled major changes in its interim government in a bid to end the protests.

The antigovernment gatherings in Yemen also followed three days of clashes between protesters and security forces in Egypt.

Dr. ElBaradei, the former director general of the International Atomic Energy Agencywho has sought to refashion himself as pro-democracy campaigner in his homeland, is viewed by some supporters as capable of uniting the country’s fractious opposition and offering an alternative to Mr. Mubarak. Critics view him as an opportunist who has spent too little time in the country to take control of a movement that began without his leadership.

Safwat el-Sherif, secretary general of Egypt’s ruling party, called for restraint from security forces and protesters and raised the possibility of a dialogue with the young people who have powered some of the biggest protests in a generation.

“We are confident of our ability to listen,” he said.

“But democracy has its rules and process,” he added. “The minority does not force its will on the majority.”

Tendencias, claves para la conversación en los social media (ampliación)

El caparazón: Tendencias, claves para la conversación en los social media (ampliación)

Tendencias, claves para la conversación en los social media (ampliación)

Posted: 27 Jan 2011 11:57 AM PST

Me sorprendía positivamente ayer comprobar la similitud del discurso de Loic Le Meur en Davos, en unacharla en el World Economic Forum y el que he estado trabajando durante los últimos meses para distintas instituciones (destacar el recorrido, aún por finalizar, que he ido haciendo por las distintas cámaras de comercio de la comunidad valenciana).

Se trata, en ambos casos, de analizar elementos clave en el nuevo ecosistema web o lo que es lo mismo, qué factores son importantes a la hora de planificar estrategias de éxito en los social media.

Me quedo, porque creo que mejoran y amplían mi propuesta básica sobre el tema, con los dos puntos siguientes, con interesantes ideas e imágenes que incorporar:

Un iPad montado en un coche, convirtiéndolo en una plataforma

Todo se convierte en una plataforma, la web está en todas partes:Mercados, app stores en todas partes: comento siempre la necesidad de crear apps, extensiones en distintos lenguajes, dispositivos, formatos en atención a la satisfacción de las infinitas preferencias que el usuario puede manifestar. “La web ha muerto” si la entendemos como el acceso a la información desde navegadores en nuestras computadoras. Aparecen, como véis en la imagen superior, coches con iPad incorporado, neveras con apps para dietas o recetas de cocina e incluso un lavabo japonés que analiza nuestro estado de salud.

Pero más allá de “fricadas” varias, la Televisión será la próxima plataforma, la que como también comento a menudo, terminará definitivamente con cualquier atisbo de brecha digital.

Incluso el cuerpo se convierte en plataforma: Básculas conectadas a internet, apps que controlan nuestro peso, twitter como entorno de motivación para dietas, la posibilidad de grabar nuestro sueño, información sobre nuestro DNA, Google health registrando nuestra salud en la nube, control calórico, de dietas a través de aplicaciones móviles, la moda de las aplicaciones de fitness (en la imagen), etc…

En fin… como vemos en el vídeo, todo tipo de objetos se convierten en ricos, interactivos, gracias a su interconexión con la web. La era postdigital ha comenzado

This Winter, New York City Is the New Buffalo

Earl Wilson/The New York Times

Shoveling out in Brooklyn Heights on Thursday morning. More Photos »

By JAMES BARRON

Published: January 27, 2011

REPRINTS

There was the recently familiar annoyance — at the buses that did not come, at the thigh-high stoops that had to be shoveled.

Steve Berman/The New York Times

A limousine, unable to drive uphill going west on 57th Street in Manhattan, was pushed back onto Avenue of the Americas by passers-by early Thursday. More Photos »

There was the unmistakable beauty — the snow-laden trees, the backdrops that Norman Rockwell could not have improved upon.

And there was the nagging question: Is New York City the new Buffalo, where snow — snow on the ground, snow on the roof, snow on the windowsill, snow in the forecast, snow measured with a yardstick, not a mere ruler — is just a fact of everyday life? All snow, all the time.

“I’m so used to it at this point,” said Diana Biederman, a publicist in Manhattan. “What days don’t we have snow?”

And so a fresh sense of snow fatigue settled over a city that has been hit hard in the last few weeks. Nineteen inches of heavy, wet snow fell on Central Park. That was only an inch less than the 20 inches that paralyzed the city a month ago, according to the National Weather Service. Parts of Connecticut and New Jersey got nearly as much, and snowfalls totaled at least a foot from Philadelphia to Boston.

In New York, where the slow response to the Dec. 26 blizzard became a black eye for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and other officials, the battle was joined early. The mayor said on Thursday that 1,700 plows had worked overnight and that the city had hired 1,500 people to shovel crosswalks and bus stops.

But the city canceled school — Thursday was the ninth school day lost because of snow since 1978 and the fifth under Mr. Bloomberg — and transit officials suspended bus service until the storm had blown through, something they did not do as the December storm was bearing down and hundreds of buses got stuck in the snow, blocking plows and other traffic.

This time around, the mayor said at a news briefing, several dozen ambulances got stuck in the snow, but relief ambulances arrived quickly to carry patients to hospitals. And while the 911 system was flooded with calls and dispatches were slowed, “no calls ever remained in a queue,” the mayor said.

Transit officials also curtailed subway service when the storm was at its fiercest. Jay H. Walder, the chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, said a few trains were stuck in the snow “for short periods of time,” but in contrast to the post-Christmas storm, few passengers were trapped onboard overnight. A transit spokesman said some remained on a train at the end of the line at Coney Island — they had nowhere else to go, and the heat was on in the train.

Mr. Walder said that the Metro-North Railroad through Westchester County and Connecticut “lost all service” for a while early Thursday. He said the Long Island Rail Road coped with delays during the morning rush as crews cleared station platforms and stairs.

At the airports, delays and cancellations were the order of the morning, though there, too, things were clearing up by the middle of the day.

There were signs that the snow was changing people’s routines. People sent e-mails and text messages about how a snow shovel was their new BFF — even apartment dwellers like Annie Tan, who lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn, bought one. Or they did what Alan Flax, a real estate broker from Forest Hills, Queens, did. He hired someone to help dig out his car, which was in Manhattan, on East Houston Street near Essex Street.

“It seems like an awful lot of snow in a short window,” he said. “Every week or every 10 days, it’s not just a little snow, it’s a lot of snow. It’s got me scratching my head — when did New York City become so snowbound?”

This is now the snowiest January since the National Weather Service started keeping track in 1869, and could end up being the snowiest month ever. So far the January total stands at 36 inches, 8.6 more than in 1925, the previous record-holder.

Tim Morrin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s New York-area office on Long Island, also noted that this was already the sixth-snowiest winter on record, with a total of 56.5 inches. The snowiest was 1995-96, with 75.6 inches.

“And we have all of February and all of March to look forward to,” Mr. Morrin said. “We remain in a pretty cold pattern that would be conducive to more snow.”

Even in January. The Weather Service is calling for more snow, but only a little, by Saturday.

Which will bring New York closer to Buffalo’s total for the winter so far, 61.6 inches.

Steve McLaughlin, a weather service meteorologist there, said measurable snow had been recorded in Buffalo on 39 days.

“We keep getting our inch a day, an inch a day,” he said. “All we do up here is nickel-and-dime it, but we’ll beat you anyway. We have to keep up the reputation.”

Colin Moynihan and Andy Newman contributed reporting.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: January 27, 2011

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the Port Authority had closed La Guardia airport early on Thursday morning. It was Teterboro Airport that was closed, not La Guardia.