I vividly remember that Sanyo (or was it a Sharp?) huge digital radio alarm clock next to her bed, one of those with bright green LEDs, which would invariably wake her (and me, sometimes) with the same loud music every morning: the opening credits of “Magdalena Tempranísimo”.

It was a wildly popular morning radio talk show with news, weather, interviews, and political commentary, widely considered today as one of the most important radio shows of all times in Argentina. The host of the show, which aired from 1987 to 2006, was the late Magdalena Ruiz Guiñazú, and back in the 1980s, it was part of the standard program of Radio Mitre

In particular, one of the memories I have of that show was waking up every rainy morning to the music of the film “Singing in the Rain” when it was raining… or with the voice of Ms Ruiz Guiñazú telling us to “dress like bears” during the short but rather intense porteño winters.

Here’s an anecdote: in 1996, years after we moved to Switzerland, I got my first dial-up internet connection at home, and to demo the power of the Internet to my mother, I pointed my Netscape Navigator browser, bundled with the classic and (at the time) unique RealAudio plugin, to the Radio Mitre website.

I kid you not, fate dictated that at this precise moment, the opening credits of “Magdalena Tempranísimo” would be playing, and of course, my mother got very emotional. We both stayed there listening to the news, in silence, just like a decade earlier in Buenos Aires, with my mother barely believing what was blasting through the speakers of my 486 PC.

If you have plenty of items in your Zotero library, and you need to find those that don’t have at least one tag associated with them, follow these steps:

1. Right-click over “My Library” at the top-left of the navigation tree.
2. Select “New Saved Search”
3. Fill the options as shown in the image below:
   1. Name: Untagged (or any name you’d like)
   2. Search in library: My Library
   3. Match “all” of the following:
      1. “Tag”
      2. “does not contain”
      3. Empty field
4. Click OK

The logic is a bit weird: “all items that don’t contain any tag” does the trick, but in my head that phrase sounds like “all items that contain some tag” (you know, negation of a negation is an affirmation) which would mean that the list should show exactly the opposite… anyway.

I hate negative logic, really. It’s like those checkboxes that read “Disable” instead of “Enable” and you have to think twice before clicking or not.

To a large degree, and I don’t chew my words, Geneva is a shithole and definitely the place in Switzerland that I abhor the most. Maybe the only one, really, because the rest of the country is quite lovely. It’s the only city in Switzerland I don’t recommend to foreigners to visit; actually I literally tell them to avoid it at all costs.

But, as fate would have it, I had to go to Geneva recently for work, and thankfully the project and the team I dealt with were wonderful, because the city itself is an unlivable mess of idiotic proportions. I also got to visit plenty of old friends of mine in the area, so that was lovely too.

The government of Geneva has tried (and succeeded) for the past 30 years (at least) to make Geneva a worse place to live, go shopping, travel, stay, and move around. It is absolutely fucking impossible to like this place.

(And don’t tell me that the problem is the socialist government; Zürich has also a socialist government and is an absolutely fantastic place to live in general.)

The origin story of such a mess has some interesting twists. In the 1960s (this was a story relayed to me by old Genevois who lived that era), Geneva made the conscious decision to privilege cars over public transport. This was notably different to other cities in the country, like Zürich, where public transportation was privileged (or, at the very least, not degraded to second-class citizen).

I moved to Geneva from Buenos Aires in 1991, and at the time the city was an agreeable place to live, even if the amount of cars was quite a problem already. The quality of public transportation was reasonably good (although slow as hell), although after traveling a bit around the country I realized that other cities had it much better.

One of the things I remember that shocked me about Geneva and its relationship with public transportation was this: there was a massive parking next to the offices of the TPG (I don’t remember if it was at Bachet-de-Pesay or Carouge). That meant a simple thing: many (if not most) of those in charge of public transport in Geneva… did not use public transport. Think about that.

(Yes, I understand that bus and tram drivers need to go back home easily, particularly when they finish their shifts at 01:00 in the morning. I’m talking about all the other people, particularly those designing the system for others to use.)

Fast-forward to 1994, and Geneva decided that it needed more tramways. Thus started the nightmare for the inhabitants of the city, whereby for the following years streets became a construction site of gargantuan proportions.

But even worse than the degradation of the quality of life for the Genevois was the philosophy behind this initiative: quite literally, one of the founding philosophies of the transport system in Geneva consists in a so-called “cohabitation” (allow me to laugh a little before continuing) between buses and trams and cars and bikes.

Let us be very clear: there is no possible “cohabitation” between cars and anything else. Cars have taken Geneva hostage, public transportation is a joke (really? You call a rate of one bus per hour a “reasonable service”?) and entire swathes of the city unaccessible to pedestrians or even bikes, with infrastructure only dedicated and usable to cars, cars, and more cars.

What one can find in the streets of Geneva is nothing else but noise, unruly and stressed drivers yelling at each other, literal buses and trams stopped in between rows of cars at rush hour, and an overly unpleasant and pervasive smog that is slowly making everyone angry, ill, or both at the same time.

This tramway fever has not stopped, and I had the bad idea of finding an apartment (to stay at for the duration of the project) in the neighborhood of Grand-Saconnex (yes, next to the Petit-Saconnex I talked about previously), a neighborhood about to become the next victim of this flawed “modernization” project. Apparently in a few years time there will be yet another tram line going through that place. Hopefully.

The Grand-Saconnex also hosts a novelty I discovered during my stay: a literal tunnel that injects traffic from the vicinity of Ferney-Voltaire right into the neighborhood of the international organizations. Of course! Instead of reducing the numbers of cars in the city, let’s make a tunnel so that more cars can enter the city. That’s exactly what you need.

The morons in charge of traffic in Geneva have long ago decided that buses had to travel at 20 km/h, while cars can rush inside a tunnel towards downtown at 60. The same bus trip, from the Grand-Saconnex to Plainpalais, used to take me 30 minutes in 1995 (to go from home to university), but it took me one hour to complete in November 2025.

Slow clap.

In the meantime, Buenos Aires created this thing called Metrobus, and I was astonished to realize that what used to be a one-hour trip back in the 1980s can now be completed in half an hour. The trick? Separate lanes, preferred traffic lights, and faster speed limits.

So here’s my recommendation. If you have never visited Switzerland, avoid Geneva. Actually, you know what, avoid Geneva Airport altogether as well. It is shit and believe me, I know what I’m talking about. Just land in Zürich Airport and you’ll thank me later. (I don’t have a recommendation to the Genevois reading this other than moving out of the city.)

I’ve already linked to this short segment with Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman raving about the Fernando, the national drink of Argentina. In the same occasion, I mentioned Liam Gallagher raving about Argentina and some other celebrities like Will Smith and Ozzy Osbourne.

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But there’s many more reels showcasing raving celebrities: to name a few, and focusing on musicians, we have Mötley Crüe, Megadeth, Guns N’ Roses, Queen, and even Coldplay playing live a famous Argentine rock song, “De Música Ligera”, written by the legendary band Soda Stereo.

Understandably enough, upon hearing the first notes of this classic, the audience gave a new meaning to the word “wild”.

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He composed this gem at the age of 15 (around 1965), and was almost expelled from his school because he shared it with his friends. (Yes, Argentine culture has always been extremely conservative, and Rock and Roll was literally banned during those years at some point. No comments.)

This version of “Barro Tal Vez” (literally translated as “Mud, Perhaps”) is outstanding.

But don’t hit play right away; at least, not yet. Follow these instructions instead. Make sure to lower the blinds, or turn down the lights. Make yourself a cup of tea, your preferred brew, preferably of the calming kind. Sit down in your preferred spot at home with your legs crossed and your body relaxed. Close your eyes. Think of the art that makes you the most vulnerable; bring to you the thoughts that take you the furthest away from your body; recall those memories that strike like a proverbial lightning of feathers on your backbone and bring all the shivers to your spine.

And then, only then, while you hear yourself breathing calmly, while your mental notebook is filled with coffee stains and green ink, and a tear of gratitude is about to roll over your cheek, then, and only then, open your left eye slightly and hit the play button on your laptop.

The lyrics go like this, and seriously, only a lucid one like Spinetta could write this at the age of 15. It gives a separate meaning to the word “awaken”.

If I don’t sing what I feel
I’ll die inside
I’ll shout to the winds until I burst
Even if there’s only time left in my place

If I want to, I’ll touch my soul
Because my flesh is nothing now
I’ll merge my remains with the awakening
Even if my mouth rots from silence

I’m already wanting it
I’m already becoming a song
Mud, perhaps

And this is my bark
Where the axe will strike
Where the river will dry up to be silent

The moments are already rushing me
My temple is already a lament
My brain already spits out the end of the story
Of the beginning that, perhaps, will start again

If I want to, I touch my soul
For my flesh is nothing now
I’ll merge my remains with the awakening
Even if my mouth rots from silence

I am already wanting it
I am already becoming a song
Mud, perhaps

For this is my bark
Where the axe will strike
Where the river will dry up to be silent

When the song ends, just stay like that, with your eyes closed, your legs crossed, breathing deeply, smiling.

She is quite the legend down there in Buenos Aires. She’s 98 now, and she hosted the same TV show for… 54 years. Not only that, her career in cinema had actually started in 1941, so literally before my dad was born in 1943.

Precisely, my father told me once this anecdote, relayed from my late maternal grandmother Janina: when Mrs. Legrand and her sister (also an actress who passed away in 2020) came to Buenos Aires, they were living in the same neighborhood as my Polish grandparents. My grandmother used to ride a particular tramway line to go to the hospital for the regular checks on my newborn uncle Jorge, and she’d meet the Legrand sisters on the tram and exchange a few words, around 1941, precisely.

Mirtha was married to a French movie director, Daniel Tinayre, from 1945 until his death in 1994.

One of her nieces was kidnapped by the military dictatorship between 1976 and 1983, and the celebrity status of her aunt made all the difference; 48 hours after her disappearance, her niece was released alive. This niece later testified in the Trial of the Juntas.

(Speaking of which, have you seen “Argentina, 1985”? I recommend it.)

Mrs. Legrand hosted “Almorzando con Mirtha Legrand” (literally translated as “Having Lunch with Mirtha Legrand”), a show where she received celebrities of all horizons as lunch guests from 1968 to 2022. The program has changed channels, it was censored at least once, it went from black and white to color in 1980, and it has had an innumerable quantity of bloopers and epic moments, but the formula has stayed the same ever since.

To say that it’s a staple of Argentine television is not enough. The lady isn’t hosting the lunches anymore, but still has a nightly talk show, and was recently awarded a honorific “Martín Fierro Award”, the Emmy Award of Argentine television, for her trajectory.

PS: The name “Martín Fierro” comes from the book of the same name, considered the most famous literary work in Argentine literature of all time… a work of poetry that I cannot read without shedding a tear. But this is a story for another day.

Anyway. You might have seen this Saturday Night Live sketch pop up in your algorithm, or maybe not; it was in October last year, with Bad Bunny as a special guest.

The sketch might not ring a bell unless you know the cultural reference. It’s based on a TV show for kids from the 1970s, which is 50 years ago, called “El Chavo del Ocho” (“The Kid of Number Eight”). It was created by a genius called Roberto Gómez Bolaños:

Roberto Mario Gómez y Bolaños (21 February 1929 – 28 November 2014), more commonly known by his stage name Chespirito, or “Little Shakespeare”, was a Mexican actor, comedian, screenwriter, humorist, director, producer, and author. He is widely regarded as one of the icons of Spanish-speaking humor and entertainment and one of the greatest comedians of all time. He is also one of the most loved and respected comedians in Latin America. He is mostly known by his acting role Chavo from the sitcom El Chavo del Ocho.

This explanation on Instagram (in English) is spot on, and provides much better context. I don’t need to explain more than this.

What I can add is the effect that I had seeing this sketch. Nostalgia. A longing for a time of innocence. Laughter. Respect. This show was watched by literal hundreds of millions of little kids every evening, from Argentina to Mexico and even in Spain. You have no idea how much of a fan I was, of Chespirito and all the characters he created: El Chavo, El Chapulín Colorado, El Doctor Chapatín, El Chómpiras…

Among all these, El Chapulín Colorado (“The Red Grasshopper”) was a favorite of mine. It was a literal superhero, with various super weapons and capabilities, but it was the clumsiest of them all. It was absolutely hilarious, a long sequence of catchphrases and slapstick comedy that entertained my childhood to no end.

The character would be “invoked” by a damsel-in-distress-type of character with the famous phrase:

– “Oh! Y ahora, quién podrá defenderme!” (“Oh! And now, who’s going to help me!”)
– “Yo!” (“Me!”, says the Chapulín, popping up from seemingly nowhere, with his signature heroic music in the background)
– “El Chapulín Colorado!” (would claim the damsel)
– “No contaban con mi astucia! Síganme los buenos.” (“They didn’t count on my cunning! Follow me, the good ones.”, would claim the Chapulín before entering into action.)

The man would almost always, by definition, fail to accomplish his mission or save the damsel, but he would always try, give it the max it could, and always with the best intentions. But he wasn’t particularly strong or fast, and in many cases he had to be saved himself.

As the title credits of the show said,

Más ágil que una tortuga! Más fuerte que un ratón! Más noble que una lechuga! Su escudo es un corazón!

(Translated) Faster than a turtle! Stronger than a mouse! More noble than a lettuce! His shield is a heart!

PS: You might have noticed the amount of “CH” in the names of these characters (and even on the chest of the Chapulín Colorado), just like in the stage name of the actor, “Chespirito”. This “CH” used to be considered a full letter in the Spanish alphabet until a few decades ago; at least when I was a kid (or so I was told in primary school, anyway), it was still considered a single letter in and of itself, and there was a whole section in most Spanish dictionaries for all words starting with it, between the “C” and the “D”.

(By the way, here are the playlists of 2022, 2023, and 2024.)

• Barro Tal Vez by Luis Alberto Spinetta
• Before We Drown by Depeche Mode
• Can You Pay? by Paul Woolford & Pessto
• Childhood’s End? - 2017 Remaster by Marillion
• Comme ce rouge me plaît by Palatine
• Conselho by Samba de Raiz
• Crimen by Gustavo Cerati
• Destiny - Extended Mix by Zero 7, Sia, and Sophie Barker
• Don’t Dream It’s Over by Crowded House
• Don’t Lose My Number - 2016 Remaster by Phil Collins
• Doña Laura - En Vivo by Manal
• El Ritual De La Banana by Los Pericos
• Eso by Los TNT
• Feels Like We Only Go Backwards by Tame Impala
• Free As A Bird by The Beatles
• G O O D D A Y by Dali
• I’d Love to Change the World - 2004 Remaster by Ten Years After
• Jack To The Sound Of The Underground by Hithouse
• Je t’aime melancolie by Mylène Farmer
• Jugo de Tomate by Manal
• Le Bien, Le Mal by Guru & MC Solaar
• Let It Go by Saults
• Lover, You Should’ve Come Over by Jeff Buckley
• Lucky Man by The Verve
• Magalenha by Sérgio Mendes
• Melodie - Disco Town Remix by Mousse T., Cleah, & Angelo Ferreri
• Mountain Spines by Marika Hackman
• Numb by Barcelona
• Pecados para Dos by Virus
• Playground For A Wedgeless Firm by The Chemical Brothers
• Popcorn Salé by SANTA
• Rubin Steiner Plays Jazz by Rubin Steiner
• Run, Baby, Run by Sheryl Crow
• Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido by Karol G
• Silverlake by SANTA
• Sincerita’ by Ricardo Cocciante
• Slipping Away (Crier La Vie) by Moby & Mylène Farmer
• Souvenir by Morphine
• Sporty Animal Loving Extrovert by U96
• Sublimación by Luciano Supervielle
• Tell Me It Ain’t So by Micah P. Hinson and the Red Empire Orchestra
• That’s Where I Should Be by MA:RK
• The Night Before by The Beatles
• Three Little Birds by Bob Marley & the Wailers
• Too Drunk To Fuck by Nouvelle Vague
• Wasting My Young Years by London Grammar
• When The Sun Comes Out by Slowly Rolling Camera
• You And I by London Grammar
• Zita by Astor Piazzolla

Here’s the complete list of books I read and enjoyed in 2025. There’s a lot, and a little bit of everything.

You can check what I’m reading right now if you’re interested, too. Enjoy!

• A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
• A History of Computing in the Twentieth Century by Nicholas Metropolis, Jack Howlett, and Gian-Carlo Rota
• Bootstrapping Computing by Alexander Obenauer
• Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams
• Clases de literatura: Berkeley, 1980 by Julio Cortázar
• Colors of The Mind by Fraya Mortensen
• El Eternauta by Héctor Germán Oesterheld and Francisco Solano López
• Ernest Hemingway on Writing by Ernest Hemingway
• Fine Print by Stjepan Šejić
• Kissinger: A Biography by Walter Isaacson
• Last Words of an Ego on Death Row by Victoria Brugger
• Le 2e pilier by Pittet Associés and Mix & Remix
• On Photography by Susan Sontag
• On Women by Susan Sontag
• PoC||GTFO by Pastor Manul Laphroaig
• Regarding the Pain of Others by Susan Sontag
• Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse
• The Age of Revolution: Europe 1789–1848 by Eric Hobsbawm
• The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff
• The Dream Machine by M. Mitchell Waldrop
• The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore
• The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway

The Outstanding

• Anora
• Before Sunrise
• El Eternauta
• Green Book
• Mulholland Drive

The Great

• A Single Life
• Chicken Run
• Edward Scissorhands
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
• Flow
• Kinds of Kindness
• L.A. Confidential
• Lost Highway
• Lughead
• Materialists
• Shame
• The Menu
• The Substance
• The Tin Star

The Good

• A Simple Favor
• Alien, terreur sur grand écran
• And Just Like That… (season 3)
• Another Simple Favor
• Appassionata
• Avicii - I’m Tim
• Bram Stoker’s Dracula
• Coup de chance
• Eat Pray Love
• Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights
• Emily in Paris season 5
• Frankenstein
• Nine 1/2 Weeks
• Superman
• The Fantastic Four: First Steps
• The Life List
• The Mamas & the Papas - California Dreamin’
• The Man from Earth
• Thunderbolts*
• Victoria Beckham
• We Are As Gods
• Woman on Top

The Bad

• 2 Hearts
• A Bad Moms Christmas
• Army of Darkness
• Back in Action
• Bad Moms
• Book Club: The Next Chapter
• Captain America: Brave New World
• División Palermo
• Evil Dead II
• Find Me Falling
• La Dolce Villa
• Lune de miel avec ma mère
• Nonnas
• Nosferatu
• Oddity
• Overboard
• SNL50: The Anniversary Special
• The Evil Dead
• The Hustle
• The Marvels
• Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
• Wednesday (season 2)
• Wicked: Part I