Books 2

Another fun discovery, courtesy the good graces of the Mazatlán membership library, is Brian Thompson’s The disastrous Mrs. Weldon : the life, loves, and lawsuits of a legendary Victorian. 

   As for the book's content I can't offer a lot more beyond the excellent review by Catherine Pope, but an inevitable question that arises is whether the colorful Mrs. Weldon is really enough material for an entire book. Well, probably not, truth be told, but the milieu and atmosphere of Victorian London certainly is, from health food restaurants to the women’s suffrage movement to all the quirky supporting characters, chief among them being the imperious French composer Charles Gounod, a good friend, and more, of our heroine.

   Then there’s an unlikely appearance by Oscar Wilde, who penned a most gracious letter to Mrs. Weldon which probably ranks as the the best commendation she ever received. It’s also refreshing to come across a book on late 19th and early 20th century England in which the dominant artistic persona is not Richard Wagner.

   In an era filled with eccentrics, Georgina Weldon stands out as one of the great undiscovered characters - in all senses of the word - of the of the later nineteenth century.






“At many points while reading this book I actually found it quite hard to believe that it was true. The book read to me more like a Fredrick Forsyth novel than an autobiography of a senior intelligence officer. It is a much better read than fiction as it is written by a man who has been there and done that.”

  -- Peter Hutchinson, Blog About Books, March 29, 2006

I’ve aways liked spy stories both fiction and nonfiction, but my favorites are the tales of real life spies in all their prosaic day-to-day glory. One of the best is Peter Wright’s Spycatcher [1], in which Wright and co-author Paul Greengrass tell a spanking good yarn complete with all sorts of heroes & villains, adventures, tragedy, and sadness.

But there’s humor too, like the Gilbert & Sullivan-esque episode when the über-gay Guy Burgess was ordered by his Soviet masters to woo Churchill’s daughter Clarissa with the eventual goal of marrying her as the perfect cover for his espionage activities. The attempted romance was, comically, and - perhaps for all concerned - mercifully, unsuccessful, and Clarissa eventually married Anthony Eden and became lady Avon. Then there was the Soviet agent ‘Grogovin,’ who was caught literally with his pants down but still refused to come over to the West. He was eventually sent back to Russia and never heard from again. And of course there are lively accounts of  Wright’s encounters with CIA legends William Harvey and James Angleton.

But the crux of the story is Wright’s longtime and ultimately unsuccessful search for a Soviet mole at the highest levels of MI5, the principal candidate being Roger Hollis, Director General from 1956 to 1965. Myself I find Wright’s interpretation of the clues, the connecting of the dots, if you will, convincing. But who knows? And, one might ask, a half century on, who cares? These ruminations aside, Spycatcher can be recommended as a fascinating slice of Cold War nostalgia and sensibilities, organized and told very well. A fun read.


  [1] Since its initial publication Wright’s opus maximus has been much discussed, both pro and con. The unsuccessful attempts in the 1980s by the British government to censor its contents have gained renewed attention in light of the current WikiLeaks phemonenon. For an analysis see Katy Barnett’s Spycatcher and Wikileaks: History Repeats.
    Ideas and theories put forward in Spycatcher have been covered by Chapman Pincher in Treachery : Betrayals, Blunders, and Cover-ups : Six Decades of Espionage against America and Great Britain (Random House, 2009), which constitutes a kind of revised and expanded version of Spycatcher. In addition, Wright has been supported by the comments of former MI5 official Stephen de Mobray. Conversely, Wright’s theories have been just as vigorously refuted, a principal example being Christopher Andrew, Defence of the Realm : the Authorised History of MI5 (Alan Lane, 2009). Finally, Paul Monk’s Christopher Andrew and the Strange Case of Roger Hollis, while sympathetic to Wright’s point of view, nevertheless brings a welcome nuance and balance to the debate. See also : Debating the Case of Roger Hollis.

[Thompson, Brian. The Disastrous Mrs. Weldon : the Life, Loves, and Lawsuits of a Legendary Victorian. N.Y, Doubleday, 2001.]


[Wright, Peter. Spycatcher : the Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer. N. Y., Viking, 1987. With Paul Greengrass.]

Mexico Deco

One of the advantages of residing in Mexico is the wondrous quality and variety of architectural styles -- historic, modern and in-between -- sprinkled throughout the country. One of my favorites is the Art Deco, or moderne look popular in the early 1930s. Here in Mazatlán, however, to my untrained eyes anyway, Deco is far from the predominant or most memorable style (I would say the prize goes to the ornate nineteenth century French/New Orleans look). Nonetheless, there’s a nice sampling of Deco and Deco-ish architecture in the city. Here then is my modest tribute.

Books

As I ponder why I brought certain, selected, books with me to Mexico, I don’t really have a good explanation. For whatever reason, various titles had a sentimental significance to me. I seemed to have a special fondness for the coffee-table species; to wit, the very tut-tut British, regrettably little-known Meet You at Raffles. Raymond Flower writes with barely concealed delight and nostalgia for the good/bad old days, presenting us with a popular history of the British Empire’s ultimate colonial hotel.

Flower’s pithy text, permeated throughout by a whiff of British old school superiority and ethnocentricity, is a total delight, but the real highlight of this tome is the collection of vintage photographs from the legendary hotel's glory years. There are pics of golden age and post-modern glitterati like Lord Mountbatten, Grace Kelly, Noel Coward, the cast of BBC’s Tenko, and, of course, the writer virtually synonymous with Raffles, W. Somerset Maugham. Also, building designs, panoramic vistas and more, but especially the plethora of - to current tastes, anyway - rather corny cartoons (maybe you have to be English to get them).

Another title with colonial overtones, Dutch this time (though to be sure the British have their say) is Winchester’s Krakatoa. The book has been praised to the skies [1], thus I have little original to add. However .... perhaps a few observations are in order. 

To begin, this book was admittedly not part of my personal collection but rather came my way through the good graces of the Mazatlán membership library, where I’m fortunate enough to have a subscription membership which entitles me to borrowing privileges. Anyway, I had already read Krakatoa a couple of times, sort of -- listened to, to be exact, a books on tape version which had the added benefit of the author’s mellifluous narrator’s voice.

But one of the mixed joys of the written version are the many footnotes which, as I recall, are omitted from the tape format. They give us a wealth of [almost too much] detail but they tend to interrupt rather than illuminate the narrative. Another minor quibble is that the author goes rather heavily into the technical aspects of geology. 

But ultimately one mustn’t grumble; the benefits include the very same detail, elegantly presented in smoothly flowing prose. Indeed, few books have so much texture, and many are the historical, cultural, scientific, political, and yes, even spiritual confluences and connections, in sometimes unlikely places. By way of two examples : erstwhile pulp author and movie tie-in specialist Michael Avalonne turns up as the author of the book which was adapted into the infamous 1969 film version Krakatoa: East of Java [2].  Also, by felicitous coincidence, I had the luck of a chance viewing, on the Ultimo network, of Krakatoa : The Last Days, the much less well known, but, in this writer’s estimate, far superior BBC sibling to the aforementioned Krakatoa, East of Java. The later film has a great dignity and authenticity, providing a harrowing flavor of how things must have been in and around the erupting volcano. Its special effects are pretty good too.

Another Mazatlán Library discovery, and a happy one at that, is Tony and Maureen Wheeler’s Unlikely Destinations : the Lonely Planet Story, which chronicles the improbable rise of a seat-of-the-pants publishing concern to a multi-billion(?) dollar company and arguably the world’s premier travel publisher. Among the joys of the present volume are the many color photographs and the fluid, non-pretentious writing style. But a particular pleasure for me was the memories of my own, idiosyncratic travels in Southeast Asia some quarter century ago [3], and especially relating to the book’s descriptions of similarly traversed locales. Sometimes even the same hotels showed up [4].

A minor weakness is that the book omits two features which are always strong in the Lonely Planet publications, an index and recommended readings. There’s also a paucity of maps. It all leaves one wondering how much editorial control the authors ultimately had over the final product.

[1] But even the most perspicacious of reviewers couldn’t have anticipated all the recent geologic goings on in Chile, New Zealand, Japan and elsewhere. Thus the text has a remarkable timeliness and prescience -- or does it? Author Winchester might argue that those in the tectonic know can always predict these things (up to a point), in the sense that they are ongoing and are bound to happen eventually. Geologic business as usual, so to speak. It’s just the where and when of very specific events that elude us. 

[2] It’s a little unclear whether the novel was written before, during or after the release of the film. And yes, it’s been much pointed out that Krakatoa is geographically east of Java. Finally, to be fair, a glance at Amazon and IMDB does reveal that the film indeed has its partisans, with particular praise going to the special effects.


[3] An Australasian variant of the Hippie Trail, if you will.


[4] A particularly memorable example being the infamous Chunking Mansions in Hong Kong.

[Flower, Raymond. Meet You at Raffles. Singapore, Kuala Lumpur : Times International Books. Revised edition, July 1987. First published in 1985 as Year of the Tiger. Author Flower’s loving tribute to the legendary hotel. Includes many vintage photos].

[Winchester, Simon. Krakatoa : the Day the World Exploded, August 27, 1883. NewYork :  Perennial Edition, 2004. Originally published in Great Britain by Viking, 2003]. 


[Tony and Maureen Wheeler. Unlikely Destinations : the Lonely Planet Story. Singapore : Periplus, 2005. Distributed by Tuttle Publishing. "How two backpackers trekked across Asia-- and revolutionized the world of independent travel"--Cover]. 

Carnaval '11

The Carnaval ’11 just finished here. As it’s our first year as residents in Mazatlán we made an effort to attend a few of the goings on. It’s said to be the third largest such event in the world after the Rio carnaval and Mardi Gras in New Orleans. I’m not sure how these things are measured but I’ll just accept their word for it.

Anyway, some of our favorites were :  the vendors - love all that stuff they sell; a fabulous symphony and opera concert at the Angela Peralta Theater, featuring guest soloists soprano Elizabeth Balncke-Biggs and tenor Stuart Neil and the Symphonic Orchestra Sinaloa de las Artes, conducted by Enrique Patrón de Rueda; the parade of course;  the many food booths and music stands along the malecón at Olas Altas beach. Despite its reputation for large, noisy crowds, it all seemed rather subdued to us but then again we tended to clear out at ca. 8:30 pm well before things got in full swing around 10 or 11. Anyway Roberta took some great photos . . . . . . . 

Flan!

The candy man is one of the most popular vendors.

Mazatlan's favorite son

Before moving to Mexico I’d heard of Pedro Infante but never seen any of his films. So it only seems fitting that the first movie I saw of Mazatlán’s most famous resident * took place only a few weeks after I’d moved here. The film in question, Sobre las Olas ** (Over the Waves), is a biography, loosely based on the life of Mexican composer Juventino Rosas, best known today for writing the famous song Sobre las Olas. Infante portrays Rosas in the film, which gives us generous samplings of musical numbers and especially the title theme, which subsequently has come to be associated with fairs, magic acts, and circuses, especially trapeze performers. It's often mistakenly attributed to Johann Strauss, Jr. Fair enough. Myself, I always got it mixed up with Waldteuful’s The Skater’s Waltz. BTW Mexico Bob has a brilliant post on the history of the composition here.

Sculpture of Pedro Infante at Olas Altas Beach, Mazatlan

In any case the film, which is also cited as the first color feature in Mexico, is an admirable attempt to portray the composer’s all too brief life story. It certainly uses color to good advantage with the lush ballroom scenes and period costumes, all providing a pleasing if romanticized touch of cultural history, and in particular the extent of the French influence in Mexico in the nineteenth century. Another cool Mazatlán connection is a scene which depicts a performance by the legendary Mexican soprano Angela Peralta, who died here in 1883 and for whom the famous local concert hall is named. Rosas was reputedly her accompanist for a time and does so here in the film ... well, sort of.

Pedro Infante is of course much represented on the Web and I have little original to add. See especially the post at M! magazine for a nice summary of his life and career. Since Sobre las Olas is the only film of his that I’ve seen I can’t say too much about its place in his tragically shortened acting career. As for Infante, he was said to have been a  synthesis of Bing Crosby and Clark Gable with a touch of John Wayne. To these I would add a bit of Charlie Chaplin and more than a hint of his compatriots Tin-Tan and Cantinflas. He was also a musician of great versatility and, in this film anyway, he actually seems to be performing his double bass, tuba and especially violin solos. And of course there’s his silken smooth singing voice.  

He wasn’t the handsomest guy on the block or necessarily a great actor, but he brought a warmth to his performances and had a quality that made you like him, screen charisma if you like. But I’ve rambled on far too long, and will conclude simply with Viva Infante!

* To be sure he was born in Mazatlán in 1917 but was only here the first 2 years of his life, as his family moved to Guasave, Sinaloa, in 1919.

** oops! I just checked and the film seems to be available for viewing in its entirety on YouTube.

Estamos aquí!

The beginning of the New Year, well, the first month of the new year anyway, seems a good time to start a blog about expat life in Mazatlán. What to say about life here so far? To begin, we love the weather. They tell us it’s a cold winter here and indeed some of the nights and evenings have been on the cool side but it still feels mostly warm to us.  (Check back with us in August for an update on how we like the weather!).

General comments about expat life so far : ours has been what might be described as a functional, as opposed to intellectual/cultural, lifestyle here in Mexico. True to what we’ve read in other blogs, everyday life tends to be dominated by mechanical, eminently practical pursuits like getting groceries, arranging for phone and internet service [we now - finally - have both!], learning the bus routes, practising our Spanish, getting the laundry done, finding a place to live etc., all minus a car! I guess those visits to the pyramids and museums will have to wait for now.

The above comments notwithstanding, this blog’s content will be mostly from the cities, events, culture & history perspective, and as much as possible will avoid  general expat life/practical realities-of-living-in-Mexico type of postings, which are well covered elsewhere in both print and online sources. On the other hand there will be occasional parochialisms and personal interests, which may seem off-topic, so we ask for the the reader’s indulgence.

A visitor to our back yard.

This is our first expat experience so there’s not a lot to compare it with. But for now the advantages include the Hawaii-like coastal setting, with its ~ 75-80 degree weather, the nice people, all the free time, and the great restaurants, of which we’ve discovered a few; our favorites include Paulina’s, Molika  and Cueva de Leon (the Lion’s Cave).