The French Philosopher vs. the Venezuelan Strongman

Bernard-Henri Lévy takes on Hugo Chavez and the useful idiots who are his fans.  Here's a taste of it: "to pretend that the overall record of Chavezism has been positive is an insult to the Venezuelan people."

Venezuela's Chávez Dead; Exiles Rejoice

Venezuelans in south Florida respond with cheers.

BiblioFiles: Mario Vargas Llosa's "The Dream of the Celt"

It's the Peruvian author's first novel to appear in the US since he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2010.  Here's more about it.  I previously posted about (and praised) the freedom-loving Mario Vargas Llosa here.  Here's his website. In fact, I'm going to pluck the Quote of the Day from an archived interview with him (the lines are from his 2000 novel "The Feast of the Goat"):

 "It must be nice. Your cup of coffee or glass of rum must taste better, the smoke of your cigar, a swim in the ocean on a hot day, the movie you see on Saturday, the merengue on the radio, everything must leave a more pleasurable sensation in your body and spirit when you had what Trujillo had taken away from Dominicans 31 years ago: free will."

Land Grabs: Maps and Territorial Disputes

Bring it on!  Well, at least it's better than Apple Maps.

Falklands Facepalm

*Sigh.*  UPDATE: More *sigh.*

History: How the Potato Changed the World

Po-tay-to, po-tah-to!

History: The Incas and Writing

Hmmmm.  String theory!

Congratulations to Peru's Mario Vargas Llosa, New Nobel Laureate for Literature

Vargas Llosa absolutely sounds like my kind of guy:

Mr. Vargas Llosa was deeply involved in politics from a young age. He was an early backer of socialist causes especially the Cuban Revolution. He parted ways with Havana in 1971 after protesting the government's persecution of Cuban poet Heberto Padilla who was forced to make a Stalinist-like recantation of his critical poetry.

The Peruvian author later became known for his defense of free market and pro-democratic policies. In particular, he became the ying to the yang of Mr. [Gabriel] García Márquez [the 1982 Colombian winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature]. Mr. Vargas Llosa has acidly referred to Mr. García Márquez, who is still a good friend of Fidel Castro, as a "Castro courtesan."

Their friendship came to a spectacular end in 1976 when at a Mexico City movie premiere, Mr. Vargas Llosa greeted Mr. García Márquez with a right hook that knocked the Colombian author on the red carpet and left him with a bloody nose and a black-eye. 

... The author [Vargas Llosa] led the fight against an eventually unsuccessful attempt by Mr. García to nationalize banks in Peru in the late 1980s.

The thought does occur to me: apparently this year, the Nobel Committee has regained a hint of common sense. It awarded the Peace Prize to someone who actually works (and suffers) for freedom and human rights in China, and it awarded the Prize for Literature to a writer who criticizes authoritarian regimes, slams Castro and Chavez, and champions free markets and democracy.  (Here is his official website.  Read this fascinating interview with him.)

Kudos, sir, and felicidades indeed!  I give you something even better than congratulations: 

"He is a reference point for all those who defend freedom in Latin America," said Carlos Alberto Montaner, an exiled Cuban writer. "And now with the Nobel, his voice will have much more weight."

OH YES.

UPDATE: An amusingly snarky observation by Kyle Smith on Vargas Llosa punching García Márquez:

Is Vargas Llosa, the freedom-and free-market-loving Nobel prize winner for literature, the first Nobelist to have the honor of having punched out another Nobel prize winner? Too bad he didn’t punch out Arafat, but he did manage to floor a chum of Fidel Castro...

The Miseries of Chavez's Venezuela: Beauty Queen Edition

I had mentioned this previously, but this time there is a bonus. Check out this lovely combination of beauty, heart, and nerve as the outgoing Venezuelan Miss Universe Stefania Fernandez holds her own protest.  Look carefully at the flag.  It has only seven stars, meaning it is a pre-Chavez configuration. I shall post the photo as (a) evidence, (b) fan service, (c) both? 

Protest babe.

Living in Venezuela Can Be Murder

Venezuela's homicide rate is worse than Iraq's.  I had no idea.

Obama, Argentina, the Falklands, and the UK: A Rant By Nile Gardiner

It is a magnificent rant, too. Here's a teaser:

Even by the relentlessly poor standards of the Obama administration, whose doctrine unfailingly appears to be “kiss your enemies and kick your allies”, this is a new low.

A related note: thoughts by Daniel Hannan and ChicagoBoyz. Obama does seem bound and determined to alienate all our allies, especially Great Britain -- a fact that I find both depressing and infuriating.

Movie News: Yakuza-Flavored Brazil Nuts

And by Brazil nuts, I don't mean the tasty snacks.

I'm taking about this goofy premise for a new movie project: a Brazilian company wants to make an English-language movie set in Tokyo, with a story about the Yakuza, a Brazilian girl, and an American boy. Confused yet? The kitchen sink makes a cameo appearance.

Nerd Notes: On this day in 1911, the discovery of Machu Picchu

Who did it? Yale professor Hiram Bingham. Well, actually, he probably wasn't the first European to see this lost city of the Incas in Peru, but he was the first to conduct excavations, explore the site in detail, and also to publicize it.

Nerd kudos, Professor Bingham.

Goodness, I'd love to go see it myself someday!

Still, my favorite archaeology-discovery story is probably that eccentric Heinrich Schliemann and his mad quest for (and discovery of!) a historical Troy . . . or the 1922 discovery of King Tut's tomb by Howard Carter. You?

*Insert Indiana Jones-type fantasies of nerdness during the school year and high adventures in exotic locations during the summer holidays . . . Ahhhhhhhh . . .* (Yes, I'm back in the Library of Doom as I type, and I'm not too happy about it! Maybe I'll just go and buy a pith helmet.)