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November 27, 2007
Random notes from a trip to Mexico City
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Figurine from Isla de Jaina, Campeche, 600-800 d.c.
According to the Lacandón creation myth, the Gods were born from flowers.
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Self-Portrait from the author's papers at Princeton University
"There was once a lightning bolt that hit twice on the same spot; yet, he found that the first hit had caused damage enough, that he was no longer necessary, and he became severely depressed."
Augusto Monterroso
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"And, finally, the guide showed Palinuro a special section from the museum of what might have been and for which a number of experts and computers had calculated all eventualities and possible internal and external factors, including hereditary and environmental, somatic and psychic, nutritional and climatological elements that might have affected the bodies of numerous historical figures had they lived another ten years, thirty years, fifty and, on the basis of these results, created a series of wax figures giving the idea of the likely physical aspect of these individuals. And Palinuro saw that Jesus was a man of ninety years of age, stone death and with a sizeable nose and stomach. And he saw that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was sixty years old, bald and with wrinkled hands. And he saw Marilyn Monroe, who had passed the half century mark and was immensely fat as a result of a glandular malfunction. And he saw Popeye on a wheelchair and Tarzan who had gone blind and Batman who had turned into an old pederast."
---Fernando del Paso, "Palinuro de Mexico"
*****
Quesadilla de Huitlachoche
"Huitlacoche is the fungal, culinary delicacy Ustilago maydis that grows on ears of corn. Inhabitants of Mexico and indigenous people from the Southwestern United States enjoy this rich, smoky ingredient in foods like tamales, soups, quesadillas, appetizers, and ice cream. While farmers treat huitlacoche as an infectious affliction that ruins corn crops, it has a long history in the cuisine of Aztecs, Hopi, and Zuni.
The word huitlacoche, pronounced whee-tla-KO-cheh, comes from two words in Nahuatl, the language of ancient Aztecs occupying the area that became Mexico. "Huitlatl" means excrement and "coche" means raven. Europeans have tried to rename what they consider a grotesque word to popularize the unusual fungus by calling it Mexican Truffle, Aztec Caviar, or Maize Mushroom. Yet huitlacoche remains a regional specialty because it is best fresh, but has also been canned or frozen for export." --from Wise Geek
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Leon Trotsky's Dictating Machine
Trotsky's house, Coyocan, Mexico City
"By about 1910, the Thomas A. Edison Company (the name of the firm that made dictation equipment changed several times over the years) and the Columbia Phonograph Company split the U.S. market. About this time they began promoting their brand names; Columbia began to advertise its Dictaphone, while Edison countered with the Ediphone. "Dictaphone" would become the generic term for dictation equipment, to the chagrin of the Edison interests." -- from recording-history.org
Posted by claudia
Comments
Posted by tristan at November 28, 2007 04:09 PM