There is an unforgettable scene in Gerald Martin’s biography of Gabriel García Márquez, when the Colombian writer, who is leading a hungry and desperate existence in Paris, spots his hero Ernest Hemingway wandering down the street in Paris one morning in 1957. García Márquez, shy but determined not to let his idol walk on by, shouts out: “Maestro!” Hemingway replies: “Adiós, amigo!” and disappears. The image of a young, still undiscovered García Márquez chasing after a writer he reveres contrasts sharply with that of the García Márquez we have come to know. For at least the last 20 years he has been an easy-going grandfather figure, oozing gnomic bonhomie and magical tales. In the … [Read more...] about Unmasking the weaver of dreams
Archives for January 2010
American breakfast and prayers for Zapatero
The decision by Spanish leader José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero to accept Barack Obama’s invitation to the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington on February 4 has sparked plenty of controversy and even outrage on the political right, as critics accuse the “lay” prime minister of hypocrisy. The Prayer Breakfast is seen as a meeting place for political, economic and social figures and while it does have a clearly religious dimension, Zapatero’s decision to attend has nothing to do with prayer and everything to do with his relationship with the US president. Putting aside the Spanish political furore over the breakfast, the invitation itself looks like a significant development as Zapatero … [Read more...] about American breakfast and prayers for Zapatero
Naked but (probably) no safer
Ever since Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly tried to blow up a plane on Christmas Day with explosives hidden in his underwear authorities in the United States and Europe have been touting the benefits of installing body scanners at airports. It may be a new technology, but it is just the latest embodiment of an old debate pitting security against privacy - one in which Spain, as the current EU term president, has chosen to sit on the fence. The privacy concerns raised by these machines are understandable: if they can be used to spot a bomb in someone’s boxer shorts they can also detect prostheses, the results of plastic surgery and evidence of transgender. But while the thought of … [Read more...] about Naked but (probably) no safer
Spain, Europe and the world: Zapatero’s moment
The six-month rotating presidency of the European Union passed on 1 January 2010 from Sweden to Spain. At the formal ceremony of transition in Madrid on 8 January, the Spanish prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero outlined a bold agenda: he reaffirmed that his country’s tenure would be one of action and initiative in which financial recovery and the boosting of the EU’s place in the world would be his foremost priorities. It sounds like the expression of confident leadership that a Europe buffeted by the economic crisis, the failure of the Copenhagen summit and its shrinking global role badly needs. But what are the prospects of Zapatero fulfilling his lofty aims? The centre-left … [Read more...] about Spain, Europe and the world: Zapatero’s moment
Sahara countdown
Resistance is often the key to winning any conflict, and although the best part of two decades have passed without any significant military action in the war for Western Sahara, the pro-independence Polisario Front has always set great store by the power to resist of the Sahrawi refugees in the camps at Tindouf, Algeria. While Morocco, the occupying force in the territory that was known as Spanish Sahara until the European country withdrew in 1975, has kept up a whispering campaign about dwindling numbers in the desert camps – the Polisario’s constituency, although there is also an unknown number of supporters of independence inside the territory – officials of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic … [Read more...] about Sahara countdown
Halftime for Real Madrid’s neo-Galácticos
What do you buy with €250 million? If you’re Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez, you acquire a handful of the world’s most highly valued football players in a bid to create the best team on the planet. After his uncontested election as club president last summer, Pérez went shopping for a gaggle of superstars. Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaká, Xabi Alonso and Karim Benzema were the biggest signings – major talents who had established themselves in the English, Italian or French leagues with style and goals. Six months on from the euphoria (at least in Madrid) surrounding Pérez’s arrival and consequent recession-defying splash-out, it’s a good time to take stock and gauge the success of … [Read more...] about Halftime for Real Madrid’s neo-Galácticos
If language be the food of understanding, talk on
"Why are you interested in learning Arabic?” the teacher probed. It was a question intended to get us talking, to introduce ourselves and explain why we had chosen to give up two hours of our lives twice a week to sit in a drab high school classroom in Palma de Mallorca. For travel, said some of my classmates; an interest in Arabic culture and music, answered others. A few wanted to learn the mother tongue of a husband or wife. The first two of those reasons were also in part my own. But I also had other motives: “Because of the world we live in,” I said. As a journalist writing about Spanish and European politics and social issues for the last decade, I have borne witness to the … [Read more...] about If language be the food of understanding, talk on
A real feel for virtual reality
Computer graphics have come a long way since the painfully pixelated days of Pac-Man, yet few people would think virtual characters or objects are real. Place someone in a virtual reality environment, however, and they will almost certainly interact with their digital surroundings as if they were physically there. In trying to understand presence – defined, in this case, as the propensity of humans to respond to fake stimuli as if they are real – researchers are not just gaining insights into how the human brain functions. They are also learning how to create more intense and realistic virtual experiences, opening the door to myriad applications for healthcare, training, social research … [Read more...] about A real feel for virtual reality