Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, a Happy one to everyone!!!!!!!!!
All the best.

The Descent

When was the last time you literally jumped out of your seat while watching a movie on television? Well, this movie made me do that. Six women friends decide to enter a cave in the Appalachian mountains and things, well, don't go well. Saying anything else would ruin it for you. This is a movie so full of suspense, so claustrophobic and dark that it is amost uncomfortable to watch. This is a really amazing horror movie. Up there with the best.

as the year ends...

I am in a quiet mood. Just doing my ordinary Saturday morning house chores.
But in the back of my mind is the realization that another year is ending.
Should I make plans for the new year?
Try to make the usual list of things?
or simply go on doing my chores?

about weekends

Here comes another four day weekend. Which is a very rare event where I work. So it's funny because one places so many expectations on a weekend like that. I will do this, I will do that, now I finally will do this. And in the end, really, we just do the normal things we do every weekend.

So I guess the lesson learned is not to expect too much of days like this. Just go with the flow and see what happens. Like Anthony Hopkins said in an interview, "Ask nothing. Expect nothing. Accept everything."

Have a good one!

Little Miss Sunshine

I loved this movie. It is funny, touching, has some wonderful gags. A funny ending. And a great turn by Alan Arkin as a grandfather whose advice to his grandson is "Fuck as many women as you can". This is one cool movie.

The old books

Ever since I was a little kid I had seen the Shakespeare books in my parent's library. They were wonderful 1923 editions from Yale University. The kind of book binding you don't see anymore. I remember browsing them as a child and knowing how special they were.
Last month my parents decided to clean up the place and they told me whether I wanted the books. I inmediately said yes. I placed them in a bag and said I would take them to my apartment later. Well, I forgot about it for a month. And yesterday when I went to look for them, they were not there. The cleaning lady had mistook them for trash and had thrown them away.
I know it's silly to cry for books, but I felt such sorrow. This books are something I wanted to remember by father by. His love for reading. His love for Shakespeare. The thought of these books being taken away by a garbage truck was truly painful.

Well, I figured I should look for them. Maybe the garbage truck had not passed by my parent's house. I looked through all the bags. Nothing. Suddenly I looked in the bottom of a garbage can and there they were. I almost cried from the joy of it. The books were there.

I took them to my apartment today. I smelled their wonderful "old book" fragrance.
I was the happiest man on earth.

Peace

There is something special about Christmas morning. I love waking up early and just going into the balcony and enjoy the silence. There are no cars in the street, no trucks and their horns. I guess everyone is back at their homes, exchanging gifts or simply recovering from their hangover. But that's not really important, the important thing is this silence. This peace. And well, peace is what Christmas is all about, isn't it?

Feliz Nochebuena. Feliz Navidad.

Felicidades

Well, we are so close to Christmas weekend. A long one since yesterday they gave us Tuesday off. I did all my shopping already so I won't have to go to Plaza. So maybe it's time to catch a movie or keep watching the "Band of Brothers" DVD that someone lent me. Hmmm..maybe that's not great Christmas fare. I'm sure Turner Classic Movies has a few great films for the season.


Anyway, I'll have my share of pernil and pasteles and all the great Holiday food. And I'll spend some quality time with my family. Which is always a good thing.
Well, have a good one...Felicidades!!!

Apocalypto

I wasn't sure whether I wanted to see this movie, but I went to see it today. This is the kind of movie that creates mixed feelings. It is extremely well made, the acting is excellent (these people were all non-actors!!!), one gets involved in the story. And there are scenes such as the one featuring the sacrifices that are extremely effective.

But suddenly one realizes one is watching every action cliche in the book simply set in a different place and time. The wild animal chase, the jumping off a waterfall etc. But maybe that's the whole point, this is an old fashioned adventure movie and that's all. A Mayan Indiana Jones.

As for the violence, well, it's not as terrible as some critics make you think. Plus, it doesn't really shock you in the context of an adventure movie.

The Queen

Nowadays there are very few movies that challenge. That do not take the easy way out.
Here's one of the few. An intelligent, sometimes even funny movie about Queen Elizabeth's II's reaction to Lady Di's death. Instead of taking the easy way of showing what a terrible person she must have been to react coldly to her death, the movie makes us understand her and even sympathize with her. Here's a woman brought brought up with the old English ways, having to react to the E! entertainment world of today where the death of an ex-princess creates world mourning.

Anyway, the movie has an amazing performance by Helen Mirren as the Queen. She's a shoo-in to win the Oscar. Watch it at Fine Arts.

A childhood memory

Maybe it's the season. But I've been reminiscing about things I used to like as a kid. And one of them was Peanuts. I guess I learned English reading the comic strip. There was something wonderfully reassuring about its world of little kids. And, although I didn't realized it at the time, there was a whole philosophy of life in it.

So when I learned that there would be a Peanuts movie I was thrilled. And finally, the movie arrived in Puerto Rico. And my uncle, who knew about my love for Peanuts, invited me to a Gala Premiere!! You can imagine how special I felt. Gala Premieres used to be a big deal way back then. People would dress up and everything. So there I was, 9 years old, dressed with jacket and tie, at my first movie Gala Premiere with my uncle and aunt. As you can imagine, I loved the movie. Many of the gags and situations were lifted from the strip, so it was wonderful to see them in the giant screen of the Radio City theater in Santurce. Well, I loved it so much that I made my parents take me to see it again three days later.

Anyway, I saw this movie again yesterday. And it was wonderful. I had not seen it since 1970!!!! Maybe it's the season. But I love revisiting it again.

Happy Feet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today I took the day off and went to Plaza to do my Christmas shopping. After doing that, I decided to catch a movie. I was not ready for the gore of "Apocalypto", so I decided to see "Happy Feet".

Well, I was really surprised by it. I thought it was going to be all cute, dancing penguins but it turned out to be quite different.But this is an animated movie directed by the man who made "Mad Max" and "Babe". Which means that this is a movie full of nice moments followed by some pretty dark sequences.

Still, it was a cool movie to watch. Some nice songs (the movie begins with The Beatles "Golden Slumbers" and there's a reference to the famous last Beatles tune "And in the end/ the love you take is equal to the love you make"). But they are mostly funky tunes.

Robin Williams supplies one of the voices, but is mercifully not allowed to go wild.

The movie is bit too long though, but well worth seeing. And those Latino penguins are funny as hell.

thought

The New Year is arriving. And with it a milestone in my life. In April of 2007 I turn 46. I would be past the middle of the decade that an older friend of mine called "The last really good ten years". I always remember when he told me that on my 40th birthday. And now almost six years later, those words come to my mind.

Then again, fuck it. I'll start jogging, eating really healthy and start taking Viagra and go on. Anyway, there are still four years left until that. There's today and tomorrow. And tomorrow. Yeah, fuck it.

true

"I never think of the future. It comes soon enough." ~Albert Einstein

Christmas magic

Once upon a long time ago, local tv channels used to show these wonderful Christmas shows, "Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer", "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and others.But these two were always favorites of mine when I was a kid. There was so quaint and reassuring about them. There is an innocence to them that is so incredibly irristible. No wonder they are shown year after year in the national networks.

A couple of years back I bought them on DVD and it felt great watching them again. This year I gave them to a friend that has a two year old boy and he loves them too. And that madem e feel so good. To think that another little boy discovers a bit of the magic of this season through the work of Rankin Bass and their amazing stop animation specials.

"Scoop"

I wonder why this movie got so many mixed reviews. It's a light, funny farce about a college student who receives a big news scoop about a serial killer from a dead reporter. It's pretty cool and reminds me of old 1940's movies full of wonderful comic moments. Maybe after "Match Point", critics were expecting another masterpiece from director Woody Allen and instead he delivered a solid little romantic comedy. A romantic comedy a million times better than the crap that plays at Plaza theaters every week. Check it out and be surprised.

on cold and snow

I was watching the news channels on Friday, seeing all the images of the winter storm that hit the Midwest. The cars stuck in the snow or slipping down icy roads. And it made me realize one of the main reasons I didn't stay in the Midwest or Northeast when I graduated from college or grad school. I never got to enjoy snow and cold weather. Sure, if you're on vacation, it's great to see snow and then come back to warmer weather. But when you live there and you realize that the cold weather will last form November through April, well, it's not so great.

Anyway, it was cool to see the images on CNN, and then go to my balcony and enjoy the warm breeze.

new channel from Onelink

I've been watching this new channel available on OneLink called Vene Movies, from Venevision. And it is quite interesting. It features movies from Spain, Argentina, Mexico and other Latin American countries. They are shown uncut and without commercials. I prefer the ones from Spain and they seem to have a nice library of them.
Check it out on channel 144.

Visual Arts closes down

One of the the weird things about growing older is seeing places you love vanish. The candy store where you bought baseball cards, the movie theater where you saw your first movies.Now another such place closes down: Visual Arts Bookstore in Condado.

I remember the first time I saw the store, it had a small sign outside. I walked in out of pure curiosity and inmediately loved the place.It was full of books about movies and had movie magazines I had never heard about. It was unlike any bookstore in Puerto Rico.

Soon word got around about this wonderful little store with all the books you could not find anywhere else. And there was also this talk about how Dominique, the owner, used to work in high finance but gave it up to create the store. It's something all of us who work for others, simply dream about.

Thanks to Dominique's store I learned about all kinds of movies, from Italian horror flicks to Oriental movies. When he had Viva Video there I was able to rent Chabrol, Truffaut and Orson Welles movies. I was also able to discover great magazines such as Video Watchdog and others.

But, that's the past. Visual Arts is closing down. There's a Liquidation sale. I will go there and buy a few books at a low price. But it will be a sad day nevertheless. A small of oasis of art and culture amidst the cheesiness of Condado is gone forever. Damn.

crime

Today some tecato broke my car window . I guess he was looking for CD's or things like that. Unfortunately for him I had left nothing inside the car. Anyway, it's really not that big a deal, I guess. Although I do hope he overdoses and dies...

Scumbag

I read something today that made me realize how low peple can stoop in order to make some money. It seems tv host Hector Marcano has been seeking high ratings by hiring alleged psychics to "solve" the disappearance of a little boy (Rolandito) that happened more than 10 years ago. Every Sunday, a psychic goes in the show and then hits the road seeking the body of the child. Each one comes up with a wild theory about it being here or there.

Meanwhile, the parents of the boy have to see this circus played out on tv. One can imagine the pain they must feel by reliving their personal tragedy thorough the horrendous spectacle Marcano has created. Yesterday they finally wrote him begging him to cease exploiting their child's death for ratings. Amazing.

Marcano should stick to presenting hald naked women and ripping off Argentinian and Antena 3 game shows. That's what he should do and stop being such a heartless fuck.

WTF????????

This has to be the weirdest DVD ever. A LONGER cut of the most unnecessarily long movie ever. My God, I had to fast forward through the entire island dinosaurs scene. Who in his right mind thought "Yeah..that King Kong movie was too damn short. Give me an extra hour"

By the way, a friend of mine noticed something weird about "King Kong"...here is an island full of DINOSAURS ...and this moviemaker prefers to take home a stupid giant gorilla!!!!

lazy days

Sometimes a long weekend arrives at the correct time.

The Last Tycoon

This is a movie from 1976, a time when "a Robert De Niro movie" meant something. When he was the greatest, most interesting actor in movies.

It is based on an unfinished novel by F.Scott Fitzgerald. And it tells the story of a Hollywood studio head in the early 1930's who is working himself to death and is suffering a terrible case of unrequited love. The movie is truly interesting and it features some great actors in their last significant roles (Robert Mitchum, Ray Milland and others).

The movie drags a bit but it is worth seeing simply to remember how great De Niro used to be.

It's playing in Cinemax Thriller (For no apparent reason. this is not a thriller)

Thanksgiving Day

Let's break all the healthy diets in the world. Enjoy!!!!!!!

10 pop culture things I am thankful for ( A Thanksgiving thing)

10. The ending of "The Third Man"
9. The movie "Local Hero"
8. "If I Laugh" by Cat Stevens
7. Bach
6. "TopSecret" by Zucker-Zucker-Abrahams
5. The Beatles voices singing together in "Because"
4. Brigitte Bardot's nude scene in "Contempt"
3. The last sentence in Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises"
2. The Black Knight scene in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"
1. "Penny Lane"

Don't Move

This is a very good Italian movie that starts playing at the Fine Arts Cafe on Thursday but has been on DVD for a while. A sucessful surgeon with a beautiful wife falls in love with a woman who cleans hotel rooms for a living. OK. Sounds like a soap opera, but it isn't. This is a complex, terrific film with an amazing performance by Penelope Cruz, maybe her best.

saw this from my room the other day

Casino Royale

In the last, say...15 James Bond movies, there is a scene so stupid, so adolescent in its visuals or mainly in its dialogue, that everyone in the theater groans as if saying "Oh,please, no". Well there are none such scenes in this movie. Which means this is the best 007 movie in decades. There is no 007 theme. No corny, Playboy style opening credits. And it has the best James Bond since Sean Connery. In fact, well, at times he was, do I dare say it?...yes, better than Sean Connery. In terms of plot, well, it is not as outlandish and the action scenes are good. In fact they are a bit reminiscent of the "Bourne" movies. Eva Green is pretty good as the "Bond girl". The vilain is also kind of interesting. So, all in all, this is a very cool 007 movie. Loved the ending, by the way.

The Cat is back (and I am so glad)

There was a moment in the early 1980's when I realized something. After John Lennon's death, The Beatles were never going to get together again. Sean Connery was never going to play 007 again. And Cat Stevens was never going to record another album. These three pop culture favorites of mine were gone for good.
Then suddenly, 25 years later, a small miracle happens. Cat Stevens, now Yusuf Islam, was recording a pop album.
And here it is. And I am so happy about it.

Getting a new Cat Stevens album was always a cool experience. Because it was not only about the music, but about the album art. About the illustrations. About the small quotes he would write in the liner notes.There was something special about it. Something I had not experienced in 30 years.

So I am happy to report, the music by Yusuf is pure Cat Stevens circa 1972, which is perfect. In this age where whole albums are simply about sex, it is so wonderfully refeshing to listen to simple, melodic songs about life, happiness, longing.

It is amazing to listen to Yusuf's soothing voice, sounding the same as it did so many years ago. There's a song in the CD called "Maybe There's a World" which seems to be straight of out of Cat's masterpiece "Tea for The Tillerman". It talks about a perfect world, a place where people take no sides. And living in this cynical world of war, lies, torture, prejudice..it is interesting to feel for a moment that there could be a world like that. A world of peace. I don't know, maybe I just get corny listening to a song like that. But I can tell you one thing, I have been humming that song all day.

Underrated

I don't remember the first time I saw Maria Bello in a movie. Wait a minute, I do. It was on a really awful that used to play on cable a lot called "Coyote Ugly" about some young women who worked as bartenders-dancers. But I recall I didn't seem to care bout the young bartenders but more about the thirtysomething woman who seemed to run the place.
Anyway, I saw her again in "The Cooler" a pretty good movie. And she was terrific in it. Her acting was excellent but also she projected so much sexuality in it, but not Pamela Anderson fake sexuality. She proved that attractiveness was not just about a pretty face, but about so much more. Then I saw her in "A History of Violence" and she deserved an Oscar for that performance. In a time, where actors don't take much chances, she did. It was a raw, amazing performance. But Oscars only go to showy performances and her performance was too real for wimpy Acedemy members.
I haven't seen her in any recent movies though. Which is kind of scary. It would be terrible to see her disappear from movie screens and see her in some Lifetime network movie. She could run the fate of so many actresses who grow old and are forgotten.
Anyway, catch her in any movie she's in. The movie can be awful, but she will never be.

reading two books at the same time

I usually don't do this, but I'm reading two books at the same time. First, there's this fascinating memoir by Gore Vidal. It's an excellent view at American history from 1960 until today. And it also contains some excellent essays about life and loss. Vidal can be moving and cynical at the same time and it makes for a great read.

"Thunderstruck" is a terrific book. It contains two stories. The development of wireless communication by Marconi and the story of a murder who became a sensation thanks to the development of that invention. It's a great History book and a great murder mystery too. The author also wrote "The Devil and the White City" and "Isaac's Storm" two other amazing non fiction books.

Healing through dancing

Someone mentioned to me the other day that any time things in life got tough, he would watch a Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers movie and suddenly everything would be fine. This coming from a person who have had a serious injury that had left him bedridden for 3 months.

So I decided to watch my first Astaire-Rogers movie in its entirety. I had seen bits and pieces of their movies on TCM, but never the whole thing. So last night I watched their first big movie together "The Gay Divorcee". And I think I understand why these movies have healing powers. The plot is very light, there are some good one liners. But the music and the dancing are something else. Their first dance scene in the movie is flawless and it flows so amazingly well. It is a scene in which basically seduces Astaire by dancing. And in a way, it is so much like a love scene that when they finish dancing, Astaire offers Rogers a cigarette.

And there's the music, the highlight which is "Night and Day" by Cole Porter.

Anyway, it was great seeing this movie. And something tells me I will be watching out for their movies on TCM.

3:10 to Yuma and why I like Westerns

I like westerns. That's something not many people my age like. Western movies were really popular in my parent's times. In the 1940's and 1950's. Bu I've come to enjoy them a lot. They are a truly original American art form. They have their own rules, their own storytelling myths. And they allow for the telling of some really radical ideas. "High Noon" allowed Fred Zinneman to comment on the Communist blacklist of the 1950's. Directors like John Ford, Howard Hawks and Sam Peckinpah took the genre and elevated it to true art. It is also not strange, that almost every big director, American and European has tried his or her hand at creating a Western.

Which brings me to this great film I saw this afternoon. It's called "3:10 to Yuma".
a 1957 classic movie about a man (Van Heflin) who is about to lose his farm. He's presented with the job of taking a prisonener (Glenn Ford) and making sure he gets on a train to Yuma. Only an interesting realtiosnhip develops between the two men. Honorable man and outlaw each begin to respect and understand each other. It is an amazing psychological movie. It also refuses to see the world in terms of good and evil. The outlaws seem to have a higher code of honor than do the good guys. This movie is full of such themes.

This excellent movie is palying on Encore Westerns.

well, I had to take a photo of this, right?

Finally

Finally. The American people realized the complete lie that George W had sold them. The unnecessary war. The using "fear of terrorism" to get votes, insinuating that Democrats would be soft on terrorists. The making decisions based upon what religious fanatics think.
It took them a while. They should have kicked his ass on 2004. But they did it.
George W. is now a lame duck president. Finally.

around NYC

Isn't the Chrysler building much cooler than the Empire State?

freedom 1, religious nuts 0

As the world moves in one direction, there are people who want to move it in another way. And here, we have these groups of religious organizations that want to take us back to an age of complete sexual repression. They want to censor, to impose their beliefs on others. And this week, they tried by trying to intimidate the producers of the sex expo "Exotica 2006". Even asshole Monsenor Roberto "I represent the Church with the Pedophiles" Gonzalez joined in. But no avail.

The free and the horny won. The activity went on as scheduled, althouth they did chicken out a bit and placed pasties on the stripper's breasts to avoid trouble.
But the point is, freedom won. And the small minded lost and showed everyone how few they are and how little power they still possess.

so true......

"The divine wrath is slow indeed in vengeance, but it makes up for its tardiness by the severity of the punishment."
[Lat., Lento quidem gradu ad vindictam divina procedit ira, sed tarditatem supplicii gravitate compensat.]
- Valerius Maximus I, 1, 3

At the MOMA

Wish I had spent more time there. But I did enjoy the time I did. Watching the paintings by Van Gogh, Picasso and others. It was also cool seeing the really pretentious stuff,like the timer switch that made a light go on and off in a room, which I guess was some kind of conceptual art.

Borat movie

Is is as funny as they say it is? Yes.Yes.
It's niiiiiiiicccccce.
Plus, I saw it on the Sunday 11:00am showing at Plaza. No previews!!!!!!
No teenagers and their cell phones!!!!!
Very niiiiiiiiice!!!!

Spamalot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's been a long time since I shed tears from too much laughing. And I did last night when Iwent to see this play with my friend who now lives in NYC. The play based on the cult movie "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" is truly funny. I especially loved the Andrew Lloyd Weber parody, a song called "The Song that Goes Like This"...a musical wonder that makes fun at those awful " Don't Cry for Me Argentina" and "Memories" songs that seem to appear again and again in Broadway musicals.

For a Monty Python fan like myself, this was heaven. And my friend who had never heard about them, well...she was also shedding tears from laughing too hard.

Nowhere else can you find a giant Naomi

Hello from Times Square.

cause I'm in a.....I'm in a......

a New York State of Mind.......

5 favorite Halloween movies

1. Night of the Living Dead-the original black and white version.
2. Horror of Dracula- Christopher Lee is the best Dracula
3. Black Sunday-spooky black and white Italian movie
4. The Haunting-the original black and white, no CGI version
5. Eyes without a Face-dreamy, spooky movie that stays with you.

starry night

I have always been fascinated by this painting by Van Gogh. There is so much beauty, sorrow in it. There is also something so moving about it. It's what one would paint at 3am one dark night of the soul.

Maybe its also because of the old Don McLean song about it. It's kind of corny, but it sums up the whole feeling of the painting.

I just learned surfing the net that it is on exhibition at the MOMA in New York. Five blocks from my hotel. Five. I can't wait.

true

Today I actually fell asleep at the beach, listening to the waves.
Am I that relaxed? Am I that tired?
Am I such an idiot asking msyself why?
All that matters is that it happened.
And it was good.

sunset

Yesterday afternoon I saw this through my window. A terrific sunset. And I just had to take a photo of it. We miss so many of them because of work etc. So here's one I wanted to keep.

vacation

My vacations have started. I will spending a couple of days hitting the beach here
and then to the Big Apple, which I haven't visited in 15 years(!).

Actually I was going to go to NYC tomorrow but there's a major, major storm hitting the city this weekend, the people at WABC TV are telling folks to stay indoors. So I figured that, well, maybe it's not such a hot time to go there.

and yet life is good

tired

I'm so tired, I haven't slept a wink
I'm so tired, my mind is on the blink
I wonder should I get up and fix myself a drink
No,no,no.

I'm so tired I don't know what to do
I'm so tired my mind is set on you
I wonder should I call you but I know what you'd do

You'd say I'm putting you on
But it's no joke, it's doing me harm
You know I can't sleep, I can't stop my brain
You know it's three weeks, I'm going insane
You know I'd give you everything I've got
for a little peace of mind

I'm so tired, I'm feeling so upset
Although I'm so tired I'll have another cigarette
And curse Sir Walter Raleigh
He was such a stupid get.


You'd say I'm putting you on
But it's no joke, it's doing me harm
You know I can't sleep, I can't stop my brain
You know it's three weeks, I'm going insane
You know I'd give you everything I've got
for a little peace of mind

"I'm so Tired" by Lennon-McCartney

brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

On Sunday... low in the mid 30's...fuck. I used to be so tough in cold weather. A high near 40F would be almost t-shirt weather. But that was so long ago in Minnesota. Now I have become a tropical kind of person...60F is cold...50F is really cold...mid 30's???
bring on the thermal underwear.