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El Ogro

Autor: Doug Scott.

Editorial: Desnivel.

Imprescindible en la biblioteca de los buenos aficionados a la literatura de los espacios abiertos, “El Ogro” es la historia de una misteriosa montaña y de dos hombres que estuvieron a punto de dejarse la vida en ella. El lector viaja no solo a las entrañas del Karakorum, también visita el lado heroico de unos hombres que no solo quieren hacer cumbre. También quieren regresar con vida. Supervivencia, por supuesto, pero también solidaridad, compañerismo y un profundo amor por esa vida libre y salvaje que solo se consigue a cierta altura.

“Se considera que el Karakorum es el macizo montañoso más elevado de todos, con la mayor concentración de cumbres por encima de los 7.900 metros de altitud, lo que otorga al macizo una altitud media de 6.100 metros a lo largo de sus cerca de quinientos kilómetros de longitud. Otra estadística interesante es que hay más de sesenta cumbres de más de 7.000 metros dispersas en el Karakorum. Son las montañas más espectaculares e impresionantes que alguien pueda imaginar”.

Los protagonistas de esta fascinante aventura son tres. Dos de ellos, Chris Bonington y el autor del libro, Doug Scott, son leyendas del alpinismo. La tercera es una montaña llamada Baintha Brakk, a la que todos llaman El Ogro. En el centro del macizo del Karakorum. La montaña más alta de los Latok, 7.285 metros de granito y dificultades. La pesadilla de muchos montañeros obsesionados con las cumbres de este lado del mundo.

“Durante la noche, la tormenta redobló su violencia y volvió a bloquear la entrada de la cueva. Murmurando algo como que ´las tormentas del Karakorum no duran mucho tiempo`, Mo salió para descubrir que la atronadora ventisca continuaba. Empezaba a ser un problema real: aparte de no tener comida, el hecho de permanecer allí arriba a siete mil metros de altitud estaba produciendo un deterioro gradual de nuestros organismos”.

“El Ogro” se puede leer en dos sentadas. La primera parte describe la geografía de la región, analiza la montaña que nos ocupa y cuenta la historia humana que la acompaña, desde que los primeros occidentales llegaron a su base en la mitad del siglo XIX. La segunda parte, que se devora, está dedicada a la odisea de Scott y Bonington para descender con vida de la montaña. Sin duda un clásico, por su importancia histórica y por la grandeza de los personajes, lo dramático de la situación y lo emocionante de la narración.

Tags: Doug Scott, Editorial Desnivel

Facebook has announced a new wave of music products launching on the social network Wednesday (Oct. 24), aiming to better integrate music into how people share photo and video.

The collection of features include the launch of Music on Facebook Stories and an expansion of Lip Sync Live, as well as a forthcoming option to add songs to a personal profile.

Music on Facebook Stories, as the name suggests, will allow users to add a song to photos and videos shared to their stories. Users will also be able to use the new feature on their news feeds by taking a photo or video from their camera roll, tapping the sticker icon and then selecting the music sticker. There are a few other customizable features, such as adding other stickers and effects.

As Lip Sync Live is now rolled out to all profiles in many countries around the world, Facebook says it plans to provide more real-time interactions between artists and fans -- for example, Why Don't We and Jess Glynne have recently used the feature to perform their respective singles "8 Letters" and "Thursday." The new update will also begin adding lyrics to Lip Sync Live, starting with Dua Lipa's "New Rules," Khalid's "Better" and Maroon 5's "Girls Like You."

With the teased plans to allow users to add songs to a new music section on their personal profiles, Facebook explained the tracks will be pinned to the top of pages so friends and followers can easily see them as well. Those selections will visually showcase the artist and the track by playing portion of the song with an accompanying video featuring photos of the artists and album art. They will also allow users to add the song to their own profile or direct them to visit the artist's Facebook Page.

"Moments are remembered and accentuated with music," said Facebook Head of Music Business Development and Partnerships Tamara Hrivnak Head of Product, Music and Rights Fred Beteille in a statement, "and we can't wait to see all the ways people around the world get creative with these features, make memories and have fun with friends and family."

Wait! There's more Fall Pick-up and Cancelation Scorecard! Just click "Next" below:

The premiere of The Village aka NBC’s springtime This Is Us successor has been pushed back one week, to Tuesday, March 19 at 10/9c.

After airing at 10/9c (and giving New Amsterdam some bedrest) for its first three weeks, The Village will take over This Is Us‘ 9 o’clock time slot starting April 9, at which point the acclaimed drama will have concluded Season 3. The Village‘s finale will now land on Tuesday, May 21 (at 10 pm), following The Voice‘s two-hour finale.

The Village follows a group of people dwelling in the same Brooklyn apartment building. “While these characters are not related by blood, they have become an unlikely family,” reads the synopsis. “As each resident grapples with their own personal struggle, their neighbors come together to support them and the show gives true meaning to the phrase ‘family is where you find it.'”

Among the series regulars, Michaela McManus (SEAL Team) plays Sarah, a nurse and single mom raising a creative teen; Daren Kagasoff (The Secret Life of the American Teenager) is Gabe, a young law student who got a much older and unexpected roommate; Warren Christie (Alphas) plays Nick, a veteran who has returned from war; and Frankie Faison (The Wire) and Lorraine Toussaint (Saving Grace) represent “the heart and soul of the building” as Ron and Patricia.

Moran Atias (Tyrant), Dominic Chianese (The Sopranos), Jerod Haynes and Grace Van Dien also star.

by Andy Dehnart 9 Nov. 2018 | 10:41 am

VH1 just announced the Drag Race Holi-slay Spectacular, a one-hour special that airs Dec. 7, and this December will include another gift from the franchise: RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 4.

The fourth all-star season is airing a lot earlier than I expected: Season three preceded Drag Race season 10 last spring, and I was expecting a similar schedule this year, because VH1 hasn’t previously seemed eager to air new seasons until the spring.

Instead, All Stars 4 will premiere Dec. 14 at 8, airing Fridays at 8 with “supersized, 90-minute episodes,” according to VH1.

That’s a return to Friday nights for the show, which aired on Thursdays this year. Drag Race season 9 also aired on Fridays at 8.

Between the Christmas queen special and the premiere of the new season, VH1 will air every single episode of the show ever. That’s 13 seasons total, including regular seasons and all-star seasons. (RuPaul’s Drag U does not seem to be included in the marathon.)

The marathon will run from Dec. 7 at 10 to Dec. 14 at 8.

The RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 4 cast (Photo by VH1)

Since the series filmed this summer, and since these queens are high-profile performers, their participation in All Stars 4 is not a surprise; the cast list released by VH1 today matches the rumored cast list perfectly.

Here’s are the 10 queens returning to compete this season, with their VHA bios:

Farrah Moan, season nine
“Farrah moaned her way through season nine, and your favorite Vegas showgirl is back for All Stars four! The cotton candy queen may have gotten lost in her emotions in her season, but on All Stars, she’s ready to highlight (wink) her talents. She wants to prove to the world that she’s more than just a cry baby and take her place on a pink pedestal in the Drag Race Hall of Fame!”

Gia Gunn, season six
“Gia Gunn is back, but does she have the firepower to blast her way into the Drag Race Hall of Fame? Absolutely. Gia wants to show she’s more than sassy catchphrases from season six. She’s fully seasoned and ready to snatch that All Stars crown!”

Jasmine Masters, season seven
“Her name is Jasmine Masters, and she has something to say: she’s here, b*tches! Back for more, on All Stars four! Since season seven, Jasmine has gone viral on social media making her the ultimate meme queen. But Jasmine wants to prove she packs more than a punchline and has the skills to take home the crown.”

Latrice Royale, season four and All Stars 1
“She’s large and in charge, chunky yet funky… she is Latrice Royale! Latrice competed on season four and as half of Team Latrila on All Stars one, but she failed to make her way to the top both times. She’s back in the werkroom to prove that an OG queen can serve it to the younger queens and finally secure her spot in the Drag Race Hall of Fame!”

Manila Luzon, season three and All Stars 1
“Runner-up on season three and gone-too-soon on All Stars one, Manila is back again hoping the third time is the charm. She’s got a closet full of campy couture and the comedic chops to make Manila an All Stars thrilla, but will it be enough to finally take home the Drag Race crown?”

Monét X Change, season 10
“On her season, Monet X Change won the hearts of all and the Miss Congeniality title. Fresh off of season 10, she’s back with a fire lit under her padded ass to serve some polished looks and prove she has everything it takes to soak up the All Stars crown!”

Monique Heart, season 10
“Monique Heart came to Season 10 with talent, glitter, and Jesus. What she lacked was the funds for a closet full of costumes. Since her season, she’s performed all over the world, making that coin and amassing a stunning collection of lerks. Monique is back for All Stars, reclaiming her time, and vying for a spot in the Drag Race Hall of Fame!”

Naomi Smalls, season eight
“On Season eight, Naomi Smalls put the LEG in ‘legendary’ and stomped her way into the top three. She’s back on All Stars to prove she can outperform the best of ’em and to show the world you should never underestimate the tall, pretty fashion model.”

Trinity Taylor, season nine
Trinity Taylor is back as Trinity the Tuck—and this tuck has teeth! On Season nine the pageant queen, with body for days, made us laugh all the way to the top four. But now, full All Star confidence, she’s here to claim her seat in the Drag Race Hall of Fame.

Valentina, season nine
It’s fan favorite, Valentina! She was chopped from season nine for not knowing the words, but since her season, there’s no masking her talent. The glamorous, high fashion, Latin American diva is back on All Stars for her Telenovela redemption story—and the All Stars crown.”

Zayn—fka Zayn Malik, fka one-fifth of the British boy-band supernova One Direction—named his second album after the myth of Icarus, the seraphic optimist who flew too close to the sun and snuffed himself out as a result. It’s in keeping with Zayn’s status as a reluctant pop star: He was the first member to depart from his Simon Cowell-sutured group (four months before the other four went on indefinite hiatus), his social-media presence is mostly low-key, and the promotion around his new releases are comparatively low-key affairs. Too much excess chatter, after all, results in the music, the reason Zayn became Zayn in the first place, receding to the background.

Mind of Mine, Zayn’s 2016 solo debut, was steeped in the dry-ice chills of modern R&B, Zayn’s still-lithe tenor guiding the listener through tremulous, sexually charged tracks. Icarus Falls, its followup, treads more of the same ground—a lot more, actually—while also serving up a few surprisingly sublime pop moments.

On first glance, the 27-track length of Icarus Falls indicates a data dump, those streaming-age behemoths made to be played on repeat by stat-happy fans while they sleep. And it’s partly that; Zayn told British Vogue that some of its tracks were rescued from the sessions for Mind of Mine, which resulted in some “60-something” completed songs. But Icarus Falls is actually a double album, cleaved in two by “Icarus Interlude,” which features Zayn hammering home the concept over spindly guitars. “I guess I flew too close to the sun/Myth’ll call me legend, that might be why,” he muses before label-dropping Yves Saint Laurent.

Icarus Falls opens with Zayn in love, or at least something like it: “Sweet baby, our sex has meaning,” he murmurs over the percolating guitars and plush synths of the album’s first track, the bedheaded devotional “Let Me.” (His ability to just barely pull off that bodice-ripper-worthy line is a sign of his skillful interpretative sense.) It’s a gorgeous opening, straddling the space between the breezy acousti-R&B that dominated the late ’00s and the snare-heavy rhythms of modern trap-pop while also flaunting Zayn’s falsetto. It’s followed by a slew of love songs, some of which leap from speakers a bit more readily: The sparse, snap-assisted “Back to Life” turns a lover into a lifesaver; “Stand Still” places Zayn, pleading in chorus with himself, within chilly synths and a rubbery guitar solo; the sumptuous “I Don’t Mind” rides a laconic groove with hope and swagger. Zayn’s belief in the power of love utterly blinds him on that last one—“You can tell me all your lies/I don’t mind,” he declares.

Then come the aforementioned interlude and the back half of the album, the new mood signaled by a sample of the tremolo guitars that open Nancy Sinatra’s torchy version of “Bang Bang.” Zayn’s wail zooms in, and we’re off to the races, plunging into love’s dark side on “Good Guy,” being emotionally withholding on “You Wish You Knew,” and writing a poison-pen letter to an ex on “Entertainer.” The more volatile lyrical content of the back half seems to feed into its more exciting, varied music—“Sour Diesel” reforms the “I Wanna Be Your Dog” bassline into a tether for blissed-out funk-pop, “Scripted” smashes and glues back together the string-laden ballad ideal, and the tense “Fresh Air” pairs fuzzy yet insistent drum-machine hits with a drowsy loop, underscoring the pressure-cooker lyrics that outline a relationship on the rocks. (There’s also “Good Years,” a jaundiced look back at One Direction past that, possibly ironically, echoes the sort of Ryan Tedder-style balladry that might have padded one of the group’s earlier albums.)

Icarus Falls, as a high-concept pop album, is fine. It shows off Zayn’s reluctant charisma and love-song-ready voice amid R&B ideas that are fully immersed in the present, for the most part for the better. True, it’s long, but given that its whole concept hinges on the idea of excess and its trickery, maybe that’s yet another sly wink from one of teen idoldom’s most enigmatic artists.

The daring banjo player and singer Nathan Bowles opens his fourth album with a cover of “Now If You Remember,” written by the seven-year-old Jessica Constable and first recorded 40 years ago by popstar-turned-folkie Julie Tippetts. It’s an interlude on Tippetts’ Sunset Glow, but for Bowles, it is an overture, almost like a last-week-on recap that runs before your favorite TV show. “Now if you remember, we were talking about God and you,” Bowles sings in a hushed monotone, his words buttressed by a prismatic riff split by piano and banjo. The cover slyly summarizes his first three albums in order to prepare us for Plainly Mistaken’s departure while reframing his catalog (and maybe even a century of American roots music?): God and you might just be the true subjects of every folk song that Bowles or anyone else has ever played.

Though Plainly Mistaken is rooted in specific musical traditions, these nine songs are deeply irreverent toward those traditions, too. As a banjo player, Bowles eschews the rocket-fueled runs of bluegrass players like Earl Scruggs in favor of a modified clawhammer technique that stylistically and spiritually pulls from the likes of John Fahey and Billy Faier. Rather than pluck and strum, Bowles hammers and pounds. The banjo is “a drum with strings on it. I tend to play everything percussively,” as he told Bandcamp. (Bowles has long played drums for Steve Gunn.) That’s most evident on romps like “Elk River Blues” (originally by West Virginia fiddler Ernie Carpenter) and the Bowles original “Fresh & Fairly So,” both of which move with the loping energy of a walk down a deserted gravel road.

That’s due in part to the rhythm section of Bowles’ new trio, featuring drummer Rex McMurry of Cave and bassist Casey Toll of Mount Moriah. Loose and versatile, more interested in breaking the songs down rather than keeping time, they constantly reshape and reshade Bowles’ banjo themes. They lend a rambling fervor to the winding “The Road Reversed,” as though the point of the trip were to get lost. Similarly, they infuse the bluegrass staple “Ruby” with loopy abandon, pushing Bowles to sing and play at an ever-faster gait. Based closely on the Silver Apples’ 1969 rendering of the tune, this performance sounds like it might disintegrate at any moment. Bowles seems to relish in the danger, that sense he might faceplant on his own record.

As that moment makes clear, Bowles draws just as much inspiration from avant-garde composers like Harry Partch and Terry Riley as he does from folk artists. He favors the natural drone of the banjo, the sustain of the notes over that drumhead, which he supplements with bowed cymbal and bowed bass. (Bowles also plays in the Black Twig Pickers and Pelt, bands that respectively honor old-time music and then smear it into infinite acoustic drone.) “In Kind II” sets those various hums against each other in a kind of narcotic dissonance. “Umbra” begins with Bowles slowly picking a stargazing banjo theme, then doubling and tripling it with peculiar mutations—one steady in its repetition, another that bends the notes as though Bowles were playing a sitar. The effect is quietly meditative, a bit of calm between two upbeat tracks, but there’s something slightly mysterious under the surface, as though you’re watching him astral-project.

Bowles is not the first to bridge the traditions of folk and avant garde; in fact, bridging them has become its own tradition, especially among fellow North Carolina musicians like House and Land, Jake Xerxes Fussell, and the late Megafaun. But there is something thrilling about the way Bowles lays them side by side, approaching regional folk idioms with the same curiosity he applies to contemporary composition. That pursuit allows Bowles to wring an array of sounds from his banjo, to use it as a means of getting closer to God and you. The result is his best album to date—his most mystical and earthbound, all at once.

JANUARY 10--Is there anything sexier on a balmy winter night than two middle-aged Floridians having sex in public atop the hood of car parked near the entrance to the Gulfport Veterans Memorial Park?

Well, perhaps.

According to police, Penny Snoots, 56, and Thomas Lewis, 58, were arrested early Tuesday evening for publicly engaging in lewd and lascivious behavior.

A witness told cops that he was pulling into his driveway around 7 PM when he spotted a man “standing in the middle of the road receiving oral sex from the female subject.” The couple then proceeded to have sex “on the vehicle’s hood.”

When Officer Selena Ramos of the Gulfport Police Department arrived on the scene, she identified Snoots and Lewis, pictured above, as the individuals seen consorting by the witness. As she drove up in her cruiser, Ramos saw Lewis, a St. Petersburg fireman, pulling up and buttoning his pants. The cop also spotted Snoots, whose rear end was exposed, walking away from Lewis and pulling up her pants.

Snoots and Lewis were each arrested on a misdemeanor lewd and lascivious behavior charge and booked into the Pinellas County jail (from which they were later released on bond). Snoots was also hit with a marijuana possession charge after a small amount of pot was found in her bag. (2 pages)

[Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers from the “A Million Little Things” premiere episode, “Pilot.”]

Suicide is never a simple subject. Even if a note or some other documentation is provided, the questions of “Why?” and “How could we have missed/prevented this?” persist for those left behind. Trying to come to some sort of understanding or peace is inherently going to be imperfect because the one person who could answer all of those questions is gone. Therefore trying to create a TV show with an ongoing storyline about suicide is fraught with potential pitfalls because it is told by and from the point of the view of the living.

With Netflix’s adaptation of “13 Reasons Why,” a series of audio cassettes left by the deceased serve as a suicide note of sorts to meticulously reveal the depth of bullying, peer pressure, and violence that the girl experienced in high school. ABC’s new drama “A Million Little Things” is less explicit, but similarly gives its deceased a voice through, well, a million little things set in motion before his death.

The somewhat convoluted premise, which was thoroughly laid out in the trailer, involves four friends — big-shot businessman Jon (Ron Livingston), wisecracking cancer survivor Gary (James Roday), music teacher Eddie (David Giuntoli), and filmmaker Rome (Romany Malco) — who became best buds after getting stuck in an elevator together. Besides that shared experience, it turns out they’re all fans of Boston Bruins ice hockey, and their season tickets gave them ample time to bond. By extension, each of their significant others and offspring were pulled into this bro orbit and became part of a big found family. When the perpetually optimistic go-getter Jon commits suicide, it sends the group reeling, secrets come to light that can potentially tear them apart, and plans that Jon executed before he died start to play out in unexpected ways.

Grace Park and Stephanie Szostak, “A Million Little Things”

ABC

Well, they’re unexpected if you’re anybody but Jon. His mantra is, “Everything happens for a reason,” and his role in the group was often to find or mastermind that reason into happening. The reason for getting stuck in the elevator was clearly so they could become friends, and therefore Jon bought them those Bruins season tickets. He set phone alerts for special events, gave pep talks to troubled spouses, and was basically the glue that held together the group. Even in death, he doesn’t seem to be slowing down. But more on this later.

“A Million Little Things” will bring to mind another marquee network drama: NBC’s “This Is Us.” Both present a large, diverse cast that provide some game performances, all the better to handle the emotionally laden scenes. They both also like to play with numerous flashbacks and narrative twists. The difference is that while “This Is Us” usually does better with the emotional punch of its twists, “A Million Little Things” tends to spawn more questions and reveal more character flaws with each new development. Below is a breakdown of the twists from the pilot episode alone:

Early, Smaller Twists

• Gary’s cancer is… breast cancer. Yep, men can get it too. And yes, his new girlfriend is someone he hit on in his breast cancer survivor’s group. And yes, even though that inappropriateness is acknowledged on the show, it doesn’t make it any less gross. And yes, he brought her as his date to Jon’s funeral.
• Rome was on the verge of suicide himself. But then Jon’s death interrupted Rome’s attempt mid-swallow.
• Gary’s new girlfriend Maggie (Allison Miller) is a psychiatrist whose specialty is… depression. That seems convenient for Rome.

Read More:‘The Good Doctor’ Premiere’s Surprise Ending Brings Back a Fan-Favorite Character for a Promising Season 2

Bigger Twists

• Jon knew that Eddie was unhappy in his marriage to Katherine (Grace Park) and even offered Eddie money to help him leave her because “Life’s too short. Just be happy.” Jon had also helped Eddie get sober.
• Jon’s assistant Ashley (Christina Ochoa) knows something incriminating about Jon that she’s covering up. She took a file folder labeled “Rutledge” and deleted files off his computer with that name.
• Jon called Eddie right before killing himself, but Eddie claims his ringer was off because he was in the middle of a music lesson.
• Eddie has been having an affair and is in love with one of his student’s mothers.
• Jon’s last deal was getting the deed on a former bakery for Rome’s wife Regina (Christina Moses) to finally open her own restaurant.
• Maggie is still dealing with cancer and missed her last chemo treatment.

The Biggest Twist

• Eddie’s lover is Jon’s wife, Delilah (Stephanie Szostak). Dun, dun, dun!

“A Million Little Things” is meticulous in how it builds to each of these reveals, laying the groundwork with flashbacks and carefully chosen words. This is the pattern throughout the first three episodes given to critics for review. There’s an expectation that more sordid secrets will have to be exposed before viewers learn why Jon killed himself.

But herein lies the show’s most troubling problem: The way it spins out the mystery makes his death and their grief into morbid entertainment. It’s like a murder-mystery dinner but stretched beyond one evening. Or, to compare it to “This Is Us,” it’s as if Jack’s Super Bowl snuffing were the driving force behind the entire show. Death by murder or accident isn’t as sensitive as suicide, though. Adding to that gruesome, game-like aspect is how Jon anticipated several events that, even in death, still are taken care of for his friends and family. The bakery is just the tip of the baguette that is Jon’s caring and generous plan for the group.

There’s a sick fascination in wanting to see what comes next. By the time the third episode rolls around, one of those schemes is executed in such an over-the-top way that were Jon alive, his friends might want to wring his neck. If he’s this intrusive and controlling in death, imagine how much more overbearing he was in life. Even before Delilah reluctantly voices her issues with being married to him, viewers can sympathize.

Allison Miller and James Roday, “A Million Little Things”

ABC

Another worrisome aspect is that Jon is made out to be a sort of untouchable sage. Sure, he was aggravatingly perfect, but he appeared to have unlocked the secret to happiness and thus wanted to spread it to his unenlightened friends and family. There’s no arguing that a more positive outlook in life — the “everything happens for a reason” argument — affects one’s personal happiness, no matter what life throws at you. But if this is taken to its logical extreme, then Jon’s suicide was done for a reason, and a good reason at that. Grief, depression, or desperation are heartbreaking rationales accepted reluctantly by society. But for Jon to willingly kill himself in a way that is consistent with his M.O. would mean he sacrificed himself for something better to happen. This is a bonkers and dangerous idea, but also one that seems to reduce suicide into a noble act.

Through all of this, Roday is arguably the breakout as the sardonic Gary who rages against the Jon machine the most, while Giuntoli and Malco, while adequate in their portrayals, feel underwritten as far as exhibiting actual personalities. With such a big cast though, no doubt they’ll get their chances to shine. They’re similarly balanced by the women, with Miller proving to be Roday’s equal. Park, who joined the cast late, doesn’t really get to come into play until the third episode, but her character appears far more promising than the workaholic character seen in the pilot.

There are more character depths to be plumbed, and this is what gives the show an opinion to change. The series has many more episodes to go before possibly reaching some sort of answer, and that means more unearthing of shameful secrets and Jon’s postmortem arrangements. Each twist can potentially upset the direction that the show seems to be heading in and instead create something profound. But for now, it feels like a well-orchestrated attempt to force melodrama into meaning while hooking viewers with an icky sense of ghoulish curiosity. After all, “A Million Little Things” happens for a reason.

Grade: C+

”A Million Little Things” airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.

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