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It is no secret that I am quite a fan of magical realism, the representation of a sense of the other-worldly, yet still explicable through a narrative interpretation of dreams, hallucinations, and madness. It interests me how well Latin American and continental European cultures (e.g., Jorge Luis Borges, Alejo Carpentier, Gabriel García Márquez, Isabel Allende) inherited and transformed surrealism to this genre with a lineage that includes gothic romanticism, and how it differs from and connects with explictly realist works and other-worldly works such as fantasy, science, and other genre fiction. It would be appropriate to mention in this context the recent series Lovecraft Country, which I recently finished viewing with Erica H. and even more appropriately with a recent re-watching of El Orfanato (The Orphanage) with Ruby M. The explicit action-orientation of the former contrasts with the ambiguity and subtly of the latter. Whilst both have been billed within the "horror" genre, the former also includes a necessary emphasis on political realism and an anti-racist message that must condemn Lovecraft's horrid racism whilst recognising his inspiring mythos, whilst the latter includes an exceptionally touching psychological and emotional depth. Finally, credit is due to Melbourne's Rising art exhibition who have been playing an evening song with Boonwurrung, Woiwurrung and English vocals, which easily carries to my apartment - now that's magical realism as a direct experience.
Firmly in the real world and without much magic at all (at least for those in the know), it's the exciting world of supercomputing. On Friday I hosted a presentation by Melissa Kozul, Research Fellow in Extreme Scale CFD, Mechanical Engineering, on her project's development of gas turbine technologies using specialist Fortran software with GPU accelerators and their use of systems from our home-grown Spartan system to the world's #1 supercomputer, Frontier. The second item of note is the welcome introduction of a new staff member from overseas who comes with plenty of experience and who I am spending a few days introducing our system and our way of doing things; we can certainly do with another smart person in the room. Finally, on Sunday visited former workmate Martin P., and their family (and their delightful pet rodents) who provided me with a rather wonderful South African-inspired lunch, as I picked up a bottle of Vin de Constance which they had brought back from said country; the first time I tasted this was at a University of Melbourne wine-tasting several years ago and the stuff is like liquid gold (with a price tag to match). It's a complete folly getting it, even with its aesthetic history, but I can engage in folly once every four years or so. Another welcome folly was a workmate who gifted me last week a grand vintage bottle of Moet & Chandon, provided by their real-estate agent; they don't drink, whereas I relish a fine drop; thanks Naren!
Firmly in the real world and without much magic at all (at least for those in the know), it's the exciting world of supercomputing. On Friday I hosted a presentation by Melissa Kozul, Research Fellow in Extreme Scale CFD, Mechanical Engineering, on her project's development of gas turbine technologies using specialist Fortran software with GPU accelerators and their use of systems from our home-grown Spartan system to the world's #1 supercomputer, Frontier. The second item of note is the welcome introduction of a new staff member from overseas who comes with plenty of experience and who I am spending a few days introducing our system and our way of doing things; we can certainly do with another smart person in the room. Finally, on Sunday visited former workmate Martin P., and their family (and their delightful pet rodents) who provided me with a rather wonderful South African-inspired lunch, as I picked up a bottle of Vin de Constance which they had brought back from said country; the first time I tasted this was at a University of Melbourne wine-tasting several years ago and the stuff is like liquid gold (with a price tag to match). It's a complete folly getting it, even with its aesthetic history, but I can engage in folly once every four years or so. Another welcome folly was a workmate who gifted me last week a grand vintage bottle of Moet & Chandon, provided by their real-estate agent; they don't drink, whereas I relish a fine drop; thanks Naren!
