One Big Damn Puzzler
October 28, 2006
Imagine a small, remote, exotic and sweetly primitive island.
There live a whole bunch of good-natured islanders – some of them have somehow lost a limb or two. Among the characters, an old one-legged sorcerer, called Managua, that is trying to translate Shakespeare’s Hamlet into the local pidgin English in order to stage it for his fellow islanders; some suspicious-looking “girls” who get their flashy bras and shoes from a mysterious white Miss; another powerful sorcerer, some angry wives and some beautiful girls.
The islanders have of course many taboos (for instance only men can eat a hallucinogenic sweet and get in contact with their dead relatives, or shit all together while exchanging amiable conversation in a social setting, on a beach that is subsequently washed at high tide…) but sex, or death, are not one of them. And magic seems still to work effectively.
There arrives a young American with an agenda, full of good intentions and affected by a somehow bearable form of OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder).
His arrival starts a snowball series of events that, for better or worse, will change the life of everybody…
This is a terribly incomplete description of “One Big Damn Puzzler”, by John Harding (Black Swan, 2006).
The tale of how the islanders lose their innocence is full of inventiveness and packed with carefully intertwined episodes; drama, comedy and grotesque are perfectly mixed together: you laugh a lot, and, when it is time, you get moved to tears.
You can even read the best rendition of an attack of jealousy I’ve ever found in a book – it perfectly matched my own experiences in the field… 
And in the end Harding masterly manages to bring together all the lines he has thrown out: everything goes at its place, everything gets its proper conclusion.
You do not see this very often accomplished, and it is the sign of great authorship.
This is really one of the best book I’ve read in the last few years. Warmly recommended.
P.S.
The title is nothing less than Managua’s translation of one of the most famous verses of the Great Bard:
“Is be, or is be not, is be one big damn puzzler…”
iPod turns five, many happy returns!
October 23, 2006
Exactly five years ago Steve Jobs launched the iPod.
Lot of skepticism in the beginning (who on Earth would buy a 400$ mp3 player with a hard disk??!?) and then the huge, gigantic success that’s under everybody’s eyes.
Why? Music, of course.
But, beyond that, is it necessary? Certainly not.
Is it beautiful? Certainly yes.
It puts together a zen aesthetics and a zen simplicity.
But remember, Beauty is very often absolutely “unnecessary” from the business profit-productiveness point of view, and yet we crave it, and enjoy it.
And sometimes, after all, it can be turned into profit, as Apple very well know…
I have seen the movie on Go Seigen
October 17, 2006
Beware, you may find some spoilers ahead…
Last Sunday I went to see the movie on Go Seigen. In fact almost the whole go club of Rome was there.
It was the première at the Rome Film Festival, section Cinema 2006 (i.e. the official concourse), so the director, Tian Zhuang Zhuang, one of the most important contemporary Chinese directors, and the protagonist, Chen Chang (also in Kar Wai Wong’s 2046 and Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), were there to say a few words of circumstance before the show.
Really few… all the director said was that go is such a difficult game that the movie doesn’t intend to explain it. Nothing more, not a single word on the movie itself. A little strange, if you ask me.
Being a go player, it is a bit difficult for me to give a non-biased evaluation of the movie. The game of go is certainly represented in all its beautiful aesthetic and, if you like, mystic.
The dedication and devotion of go players toward their art is shown very well – just consider how well the WWII times are depicted, when players were playing in military uniforms, not expecting to return alive to continue the tournament, or the scene when they resumed the game after the atomic blast in Hiroshima had thrown the playing room in total chaos (which is historical, see this article on the atomic bomb game).
Maybe the most charming go scenes are those where Kitani Minoru, Go Seigen best friend and rival, and his go dojo are sweetly described.
The dojo was unique: Kitani and his wife trained in time some 60 pupils, hosting them in their house and treating them as their own children. All the players that dominated the go scene in the ’70, ’80 and ’90 came out from the Kitani Dojo.
Strangely one aspect of Go Seigen life is not openly portrayed: in 1947 he was made to leave the Nihon Ki-in, the professional association – this was probably due to his strong involvement with that suspect religious sect. This is the reason why he didn’t took part for some years to professional tournaments but instead played a lot of newspapers-sponsored jubango (a ten-games one-to-one challenge) against all the strongest players, defeating them all.
Finally, the last scene is just perfect: 1984, to celebrate his retirement from active play an old Go Seigen plays his last game as a ceremony in a beautifully formal setting. After the beginning rituals, his opponent carefully picks a black stone from the bowl, and slowly plays THE move, placing his stone on Tengen, the centre point of the Goban.
For non-go players, read this to understand the meaning of such a move as a homage to Go Seigen’s whole career.
Having said so, the movie itself sort of disappointed me. Go Seigen’s life has been full of events, including a world war, so history, plot and adventure are all there. Visually the movie has all the magnificent beauty that Oriental directors have accustomed us to.
Still, something is missing, IMHO.
It is true that biopics are a very difficult genre, and those that turn out to be also great movies are those that, beyond plot and adventure, from a famous life issue a moral (just like in Aesop or La Fontaine), a general principle or a way of conduct that could appeal or be of inspiration to us normal people.
Maybe this is just how I saw it, but, putting myself in the clothes of a non-go-playing person, I’ve found this aspect somehow lacking. In other words, I couldn’t perceive necessity in what the director proposed us with this work.
Am I too picky? Go and see for yourself!
Japanese Go players in Rome
October 14, 2006
On Saturday 7 October a group of 33 Japanese go players from a Nagoya go club came to visit Rome and asked to play go with local players. They were lead by Baba Shigeru, 9 dan professional, and Shigeno Yuki, 2 dan professional and Secretary to the International Go Federation and assisted by Oka Isamu, from the go club of Pisa.
The go club of Rome took care of the local organisation of the event and of the subsequent dinner.
We were very lucky to obtain the support of the Japanese Cultural Institute in Rome, thanks to its Vice-Director, Omori Hiroshi, a go player himself.
The Institute is really beautiful, situated in one of the greenest area of Rome (close to Villa Borghese) and graced by an astounding Japanese-style garden. A truly incredible setting for this goodwill meeting.One of the poetic names that the Japanese gave to go is “Shudan”, that means “Hands talk”. A beautiful metaphor of how this game allows people of different languages, cultures, races, religions, to share and dialogue in peace and respecting one another. Having fun in the process…
The talk of hands started Friday night at the hotel of our guests. They let us know that they were a little tired, having just come from a two-days excursion to Napoli, Sorrento and Pompei, so they prevented us that the playing wouldn’t last long in the night.
Now, you must know that another poetic name of go is “Ranka”, that means “Rotted handle”: the legend goes that two woodcutters working in a forest decided to have a short rest and play a quick game of go. When they finished they reached for they axes only to find that the wooden handles had rotted during the years spent playing… Another version of this legend is reported here.
All this to say that when I left to go back home at 1:30 in the morning, everybody was still there playing…
The “official” event was on Saturday afternoon. Omori-san had arranged things in the theatre of the Institute, that offered an incredible view.
The go club of Rome, beside having brought the necessary refreshments (you know, playing go makes you thirsty…), fielded a team of 23 players, with two guest players from Napoli, Carlo Nitsch 1 dan and Luca Esposito 6 kyu.
Needless to say, we all had a great time. No better way to start a friendship than a couple of games of go.
Baba 9 dan pro and Shigeno 2 dan pro gave running commentaries on games, so that everybody got at least two stones stronger… 
Then we all went to a traditional pizzeria-trattoria overlooking the Tevere river. After having gone through the formality of eating, gobans and stones appeared again and playing was seamlessly resumed.
I started a conversation with three Japanese gentlemen in a mix of Italian, Japanese, Spanish, English and gestures (hand talk again…). The subjects? Weeeell… Gina Lollobrigida, Sophia Loren, Romolus and Remo, Julius Ceasar…
A beautiful experience. I don’t know how, but Paolo Scattini stole from Baba Sensei the promise to bring back the whole group next year.
See you all next October, then!
P.S.
To see more pictures, click on the film looplet below:
The movie on Go Seigen
October 12, 2006
The much awaited (at least by us go players) movie on the life of Wu Qingyuan (Go Seigen in Japanese), probably the greatest player of the XX century (somebody says of all times), will be shown at the first Rome Film Festival next Sunday 15 October.
Born in China, Go Seigen was brought to Japan in 1928 as a child prodigy to play go at professional level.
In 1930 he was already one of the few top players. In 1933, together with his friend-rival Kitani Minoru, he developed a new theory for the opening (“Shin Fuseki”) that took by storm the traditional way of playing. He quickly became the strongest player of the time.
Being a Chinese naturalised-Japanese, he was sometimes the object of racist intolerance in Japan, and, conversely, the Chinese Authorities in post-war Japan subjected him to harsh treatment (passport retired, etc.) for his ambiguous state.
In 1947 he was forced to leave the Nihon Ki-in, the Japanese professional go association. One of the reasons was allegedly his joining a suspect religious sect. Despite this, he kept on beating regularly all the Japanese top players in a series of one-to-one challenges expressly organised by sponsoring newspapers. I will soon post an account of these thrilling challenges.
Today, at 98, he still plays go and leads a study group for professional go players.
Your favourite PodRadio is growing…
October 10, 2006
RadioRockTo, your favourite PodRadio of which yours truly is one of the podcasters, has a renewed site. It sports, among other new features, the first issue of a regular “column” of news (called “Il Korriere Kosmico”, the Kosmic Kourier…) that is available for download with the same modalities of the music podcasts.
There will be other audio columns (interviews, thematic issues, etc.) pretty soon, so stay tuned!
World Flashiest DJ
October 4, 2006
DJ Peedie is having a blast at my Podcast DJ Set…
Fake Steve is back!
October 2, 2006
Couple of months ago I told you about a hilarious blog, called “The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs, aged 51 1/2”, written by somebody that mockingly gave him/herself out to be Steve Jobs, Apple CEO and “inventor” of the iMac and iPod.
Success was immediate, at least among us MacFreaks.
Then the blog content was completely erased by its owner for no evident reason (the blog site was still there, empty).
Cries of protest arose all around the net, so after a while a practically identical blog appeared again, seamlessly continuing the satire of everything non-Apple.
It appears that the new “Secret Diary” is written by the same bloke, who just changed again his/her mind (if you go to the old address you are redirected to the new blog), but it seems to me that his/her touch is a tad heavier than previously, see the tongue-in-cheek (how much tongue-in-cheek?) tirade against Greenpeace.
Still there’s a lot of fun to be had, if you’re a real MacFreak! Comments by readers are mostly written just as they were addressing the authentic Steve Jobs…
Now, just imagine if it really is the real Steve Jobs having a helluva lot of fun!!!
