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Mail Art exhibition in San Pedro street, Marchena

Mail Art consists of the exchange of postcards or works of art on paper or cardboard or any other object through postal services. Organized by the Isidro de Arcenegui and López de Arenas secondary education institutes, with the collaboration of ACUPAMAR, a cultural association for the Marchena heritage, and with the collaboration of artists from 21 different countries, it is shown on San Pedro street during this week.

Category: Blog

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20 December, 2024

17:31

Flamenco Bonfire at the Arco de la Rosa in Marchena – Christmas 2024

By the warmth of the bonfire and beneath the imposing presence of the centuries-old monument Arco de la Rosa, we enjoyed a magnificent performance of flamenco carols (traditional Christmas songs adapted to the flamenco style). The evening featured the Asociación Cultural El Roete, with Miguel Ángel Talaverón – who will portray King Melchior in the 2025 Marchena Three Kings Parade. In the second half, the flamenco zambomba group Vivencias de la Avenida, composed of Calé Roma, left us in awe.

The audience spontaneously joined in with dances, and at one point, we saw Lole Ortiz, who will take on the role of King Gaspar, and Agustina Galán, King Balthazar, dancing alongside Miguel Talaverón.

It was a performance I truly enjoyed.

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24 January, 2021

00:00

Three cult videogame sagas

Castlevania

Castlevania = Castle of Transilvania.

It is a Konami saga inspired by Bram Stoker’s Dracula. In these platform games we face varied mythological enemies (not necessarily from the world of vampires) although the final boss of the game is always Dracula.

It differs into two different types, the classic platforms in which you hit the enemies and progress through the levels. And the “metroidvania” that includes RPG and exploration elements, and that have gained much fame since they began with the work of art “Castlevania: Symphony of the Night” from Playstation 1 and Saturn. A game that everyone should play because it is a masterpiece that elevates you to the quintessence. Its soundtrack alone is already a real gem.

I have read “Dracula” by Bram Stoker 2.5 times. Twice the complete novel and once “The Powers of Darkness”, which is an alternative version discovered recently in which the first part, when the protagonist is welcomed in the castle, is much longer, narratively rich, and more things happen, but the rest of the novel is a dirty, quick and poorly done draft that makes no sense and does not match the final work. It is possible that it was one of the drafts that Bram Stoker did before finishing the entire novel. It’s a shame he removed so much from the castle part, which is so much better in draft.

Silent Hill

I take my hat off to this wonder. There is something special, I can’t get the touch on it, that totally connects with me and my style. It’s so surreal, dark, inspired by mystical cults, and psychological terror, and it makes such clever use of the artwork, the colors, the lighting, the camera angles. The story is absorbing, it keeps you in constant tension, as well as being a challenge. My favorite is the first one from Playstation 1, followed by Silent Hill 2. Pyramid Head is GOD.

DOOM

Here I have to clarify that I am referring above all to the first MS-DOS DOOM, the one that came out in the 90s (although DOOM 2 is basically an expansion of 1), but anyways I include the complete saga. It has something that makes it special to me, and it hooks me like no other. Demons of all kinds attack you mercilessly as you constantly search for secrets and the damn exit that allows you to advance. It’s insane gameplay, and if you dare, try the “Nightmare” mode. Warning: it is completely unplayable. That’s done on purpose.

If we look closely, the three have something in common, they are dark, mystical, with supernatural beings and terror. That means something, and I have to keep digging around. I’m still looking for my style.

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18 September, 2023

23:55

If the plan doesn’t work, change the plan, but never the goal

Now that the second video of the Marchena 2023 fair is almost ready to publish, I would like to clarify some things.

The first thing is that I am not going to publish the photos here on the website until I have published the third video on YouTube, so as not to “spoil” any surprises ahead of time.

The second thing is that I do all of this by myself. I don’t have any team of people by my side, no assistants or anything. And I do everything with a very small budget. My camera is a Canon DSLR, yes, but a very cheap, beginner’s model. If it looks so good and so professional it is because I know how to get the most out of it due to my many years of experience taking photos. However, I only started making videos a year ago, during Easter 2022. Many problems with my videos are due to my lack of experience and others are due to using a cheap camera. Problems with focus, with sometimes everything looking TOO close, and above all, problems with STABILIZATION, or rather, the lack of it. Because my camera does not have a stabilizer, and I have to use an option in the video editor on the computer to stabilize by software, but it is super slow and makes a lot of mistakes, it makes strange movements, as you can see in the videos. To avoid having this problem I need a 4,000 euro camera (Canon R5), which would also solve the problems of blurring and everything being seen too close.

Another thing is that the videos take me forever to make. Apart from the fact that it is a laborious job in itself, the computer takes a long time processing. And between the analysis of the stabilization, the export, the reconversion to 4K, and the upload to YouTube, hours and hours are spent. I have a 2011 Mac Mini that is already asking for retirement.

Since I have to add a photo to the publication, I’m posting a preview of one of the photos from the fair. The one on the right is my cousin Teresa.