Poissons à la figure by Jean Fajean
To me, nobody more than spokesman Capezzone gives the idea of a puppet on the ventriloquist's knees. But years ago, when he was still speaking from the Radical Party's lap, he looked more like the Maliardo (roughly: the Lounge Lizard), a character created by Carlo Dapporto in the post-war period. No matter where or when or why, the Maliardo was always treated like dirt by everybody. Or, according to his mild paraphrase, he got some "poissons à la figure". I use this as a pretext for the following short eulogy of booing.

Elogio de la renuncia by Alejandro Dolina
After praising defeat, imposture and unhappy love, Alejandro Dolina goes through the perfect Gentleman of Misfortune's curricular bouquet by singing the praises of renunciation. The numberless of us who are not proud of what we did so far, will cop out with it. At least this easy alibi will allow us to brag about what we pretend we didn't want to do.

Dog eat dog by Juan Sasturain
Our readers use to know the Juan Sasturain's pointed pen. Slang master, like almost anyone in Buenos Aires, and graduate in asphalt, curbs and old cafés at the Street University, like everybody in Buenos Aires, Mr. Sasturain is also a specialist in city survival and advisor in tricks and expedients. Here he writes about the intersting makeshift business that an entrepreneur had put on in the seaside sector. Please, meet the legendary Mr. Klondike.

Hasta la victoria siempre by Emanuela Audisio
Today, losing is not enough to be be successful. If you want to excel in life, you need to overlose, to become loser number one or the very last one among the winners, which is the same thing. Normal beatings won't get you anywhere but in the middle of the ranking with all of us, the common, not intersting everyday defeated. Here comes quite another story, someone who made it up, a fighter who hit the canvas so many times that they used to rent his soles as advertising space. Ladies and Gentlemen, here's to you Peter Buckley, The King of Losers.

El arte del encuentro - part 2 by Alejandro Agresti
Man dies of starvation but kills himsef for love. This bombastic sentence marks the beginning of "Buenos Aires Viceversa", one of the best films on the Argentina return to democracy. Director Alejandro Agresti doesn't waste his wide talent just with the Disney Company, but he throws it at everything he does, such as for instance the following story. It's the second and final instalment of that balcanic novelòn issued by our review almost two years ago, in the TQR number 12.

La nuit of the living deads by David Sedaris
A classic humorist, one of those who make laughs from scratch and sometimes surprise for the depth of their remarks. Perhaps it's not the case of the following short story, but everywhere in the David Sedaris production you will certainly find plenty of laughs and surprises. Nevertheless, this is pure domestic splatter which seems to feel at home even outside the house, in the real reality. As a matter of fact, nowadays, whoever in his right mind can call himself non-paranoic?

La verdad sobre el caso Locatelli by Eduardo Mendoza
A few subscribers wrote to me mistrusting the veracity and even the existence of Tj Locatelli, full-time disc-jockey in the nuthouse and accidental contributor in our magazine. Is it possible - they asked - that someone locked the TQR influential critic between mattresses? Sure. I don't mean to depress his colleagues' ambitions, but at the moment Mr. Locatelli is the only musicalizador to be steadily admitted to the Borda Hospital in Barracas. The following is his autobiography by Eduardo Mendoza, a writer who used to know Locatelli very well. Every word of it is worth its weight in dud.

Of poets and fighters by Marco Castellani
We talk often and with pleasure of Vinicio Capossela, not only because is a good friend of ours - his friendship is a judgement and a praise in itself - but also because he is a great tango man. A book by Vinicio has been recently released. Its title is "In clandestinità" and it has been written with or, better, versus Mr. Vincenzo Costantino Chinasky. Actually, the book is the story of their 15 rounds long friendship. It also provides pictures for those who are always hunting for evidence. Our contributor Marco Castellani reviews the book after having read it for real: he too swears on the Prime Minister's immortal children.