PingPong

In my opinion, short films are underestimated and discriminated against the champion of motion pictures that is the feature film. As far as I know, there is no particularly good reason for that, in the same fashion that there are absolutely no good reasons to rank short stories below novels in the literature domain. Just like the latter case, there is a challenge, and I would say as well a delight, in making (for authors) and assimilating (for readers/viewers) a small-packed message with no more stuff than needed.  I remember that Poe was a great advocate of short stories; in fact, I think he didn't write novels at all (ok, I checked: just one). Cortázar did write novels, but I would say he was biased towards short stories as well; probably, he better put this preference as a piece of advice to novice writers and using a boxing match metaphor: "A novel is always winning by points, while a short story ought to win by knock-out". I would say that (among other well-kn...

Omar Khayyam was a Persian mathematician, philosopher, poet and astronomer born in 1048 in Nishapur (modern day Iran). He obtained his early education from a scholar named Sheikh Mohammad Mansuri and later from one of the most renowned scholars of khorasan province. Mathematical Works Khayyam’s most famous works include his highly influential mathematical treatise called ‘Treatise on Demonstration of Problems of Algebra’ which he completed in 1070. This treatise highlighted the basic algebraic principles that were ultimately shifted to Europe. He laid the foundation of the Pascal’s triangle with his work on triangular array of binomial coefficients. In 1077 another major work was written by Khayyam namely ‘Sharh ma ashkala min musadarat kitab Uqlidis’ meaning ‘Explanations of the Difficulties in the Postulates of Euclid ’. It was published in English as “On the Difficulties of Euclid’s Definitions. In this book he contributed to non-euclidean geometry even though this was no...

This one is a bounce of Pedro’s post , and a way to say welcome! Some years ago I came across this great Argentinian theater company called Fuerza Bruta through a video of one their plays/performances/shows –I really wouldn’t know how to call them. I think they are quite novel in their approach to the audience (abandoning the fourth-wall theatrical scheme, for instance, but not only). Anyways, I should say I am not up-to-date with recent theater. In my opinion, however, the success of Fuerza Bruta lies in the sharp-minded observations about the modern life they want to convey, and their way to dress such observations so that the message is sound and clear (sometimes moving?) for the spectator. Here you have an example. Enjoy!

In line with another post , here I present yet another movie concerning the concept of reasonable doubt,  this time in the USA judiciary system. This particular movie is not concerned with the doubt as a driving force in the quest for truth, akin to the Cartesian method, but with the doubt as a halting mechanism, to call off any judgments once we've become aware of the intrinsic faults in our reasoning based on evidence. 12 Angry Men is a 1957 film to remember. Old fashion black and white, yes. But nothing in the aesthetical composition of the film will raise any eyebrow in a modern audience. At least, it shouldn't. It is all about full engagement in a logical (and psychological) debate and its smooth evolution towards a turning point. On the one hand, it leaves no time for distractions. One has to fully focus on dialogues. And on the other hand, it deals with universal and timeless topics, such as how to face preconceptions and the ethical need for expressing our own (and ex...