Planeta

~ Clarissa

The second most valuable literary prize in the world- Spanish Premio Planeta – went to. . . some woman I never heard of. She wrote a mammoth mystery novel with supernatural elements. 

Hey, if the Nobel went to some dime-a-dozen pop singer, why not give the Premio Planeta to a supernatural mystery writer?

Of course, I now have to read the mammoth supernatural mystery because that’s my job. I’m super happy I didn’t become an English professor, at least, and don’t have to listen to Bob Dylan, at least. 

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Published by Clarissa

9 thoughts on “Planeta”

  1. Actually, some of his work is good poetry. No, I’m not trying to justify the award. Just trying to be fair. My favorite is “Tangled up in blue.” They did give him the award for writing, not singing. 🙂

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  2. Mama, take this badge off of me
    I can’t use it anymore
    It’s gettin’ dark, too dark to see
    I feel like I’m knockin’ on heaven’s door

    (Chorus)
    Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door(Repeat 3 times)

    Mama, put my guns in the ground
    I can’t shoot them anymore
    That long black cloud is comin’ down
    I feel like I’m knockin’ on heaven’s door

    (Chorus)

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  3. “I now have to read the mammoth supernatural mystery because that’s my job”

    Are you still over mysteries are do you enjoy them again?

    Is reading a mystery in Spanish too much like work?

    Are supernatural elements a deal breaker?

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    1. “Giving the award to any white male writer, no matter what form he writes in, is in no way innovative or inspired. It is simply a return to the status quo – albeit in a different genre.”

      • Hilarious. :-)))

      “It makes me wonder if Brown has heard of Toni Morrison, Margaret Atwood or Elena Ferrante.”

      • Toni Morrison has a Nobel. Who is this dumbass?

      “The Guardian listed Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Don DeLillo and Haruki Murakami as favourites to win the prize this year – and all of those would have been a better choice than Dylan. ”

      • Is Don DeLillo not male? Or not white?

      “That Dylan should be the next American to win after Morrison is an enormous step backward.”

      • That’s true. But not because he’s white. It’s a step backwards because his writing is primitive and cloying. And Morrison is a genius.

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  5. “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means?”

    Primitive?

    Once upon a time you dressed so fine
    Threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn’t you?
    People call say ‘beware doll, you’re bound to fall’
    You thought they were all kidding you
    You used to laugh about
    Everybody that was hanging out
    Now you don’t talk so loud
    Now you don’t seem so proud
    About having to be scrounging your next meal

    (Chorus)
    How does it feel, how does it feel?
    To be without a home
    Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone

    Ahh you’ve gone to the finest schools, alright Miss Lonely
    But you know you only used to get juiced in it
    Nobody’s ever taught you how to live out on the street
    And now you’re gonna have to get used to it
    You say you never compromise
    With the mystery tramp, but now you realize
    He’s not selling any alibis
    As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
    And say do you want to make a deal?

    (Chorus)
    How does it feel, how does it feel?
    To be on your own
    Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone

    Ah you never turned around to see the frowns
    On the jugglers and the clowns when they all did tricks for you
    You never understood that it ain’t no good
    You shouldn’t let other people get your kicks for you
    You used to ride on a chrome horse with your diplomat
    Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
    Ain’t it hard when you discovered that
    He really wasn’t where it’s at
    After he took from you everything he could steal

    How does it feel, how does it feel?
    To have on your own, with no direction home
    Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone

    Ahh princess on a steeple and all the pretty people
    They’re all drinking, thinking that they’ve got it made
    Exchanging all precious gifts
    But you better take your diamond ring, you better pawn it babe
    You used to be so amused
    At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
    Go to him he calls you, you can’t refuse
    When you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose
    You’re invisible now, you’ve got no secrets to conceal

    How does it feel, ah how does it feel?
    To be on your own, with no direction home
    Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone

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      1. “nothing provokes people as much as the word “primitive.””

        At one time in Poland, ‘prymitywny’ was one of the worst insults.

        Being dumb and/or behind the times was considered a far worse personal failing than mere moral trespass…

        This was accompanied by a number of very non-PC expressions for various kinds of unsavoury situations including (in roughly ascending order) Hanoi, Meksyk and Afryka…

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        1. In order to put somebody down, we say “Are you from the tundra or something?” A slighter less contemptuous one is, “Are you from Siberia?”

          I’m now wondering what people from Siberia use as a put down.

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