In praise of Jackie Guerrido

When people criticize Univision for being a dangerous cultural influence on our island, I say to them: "Jackie Guerrido". Can she be a bad influence?
I daresay no.

Because no one can tell us the weather like her, even though her body seems to cover huge parts of the Unites States map. I'm normally never interested on the weather in Montana, but when she tells us about it, I CARE. Yes, I want to know the weather in Casper, Wyoming, dammit.Fargo, North Dakota or is that South Dakota? Yes, I want to know. I really want to know.

Poem

Leisure

by William Henry Davies

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

my faith in humanity is restored

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Martin Scorsese's mob saga "The Departed" debuted as the weekend's top movie with $27 million, muscling out the horror prequel "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning."

It was a record opening for Scorsese, whose previous best was $10.3 million with 1991's "Cape Fear." Scorsese's films usually debut in narrower release and gradually roll out to more theaters, but Warner Bros. decided to launch "The Departed" in wide release of 3,017 cinemas.

Nip/Tuck

A few weeks ago I was changing channels, still on basic cable when I suddenly ran into a sex scene where a couple was enjoying some doggie style action. I inmediately stopped changing channels and realized I was watching FX, a regular cable network. And the program was Nip/Tuck, a show I had heard friends talk about, but had never seen. Well, I watched the show and now I'm hooked on it. This is the most fucked up show on television with characters doing the most outrageous things you can imagine. And it doesn't preach or cop out with a moralistic lesson. It is great, adult fun!!!
I couldn't watch last night's episode, but I recorded it so I can watch it tonight.
And quite frankly I can't wait.

Lawrence of Arabia

This was the Best Picture winner of 1962. The movie that made Steven Spielberg want to become a director. I finally saw it yesterday. And I can understand all the great reviews and popularity that this movie generated. It is an outstading movie. A rare epic that is also the intimate story of a man. One really strange. An Englishman who was able to pull together opoosing Arab tribes and make them fight the Turks during World War I. In a way, he was partly responsible for making all these tribes call themselves "Arabs". It is also the story of a compassionate, secretive,inmensely egostistical man.

The movie also features a "who's who" of British actors of that era. Puerto Rican actor Jose Ferrer is here too in a small but scene stealing role.

You will never see the desert photographed quite this way. This is a movie that must be watched in a big tv.

And the music! Maurice Jarre's score is a true gem.

All in all, a movie worth seeing.

"Strawberry Fields" is 40

One of the great songs John Lennon wrote with the Beatles is 40 years old today. In it he paid homage to a school for orphans in his native Liverpool. But somehow it is much more. When I first heard it, I imagine the most amazing beautiful place in the world. A place of dreams and imagination beyond belief.

Incredibly enough, and this tells you how amazing The Beatles were, this song is a B-side single! The A side was Penny Lane, a great one by Paul. And in a way, that single defined what fans (perhaps incorrectly) thought of each one. John, the one with the weirder songs, Paul with the melodic sound. And which song you like best (Strawberry Fields or Penny Lane) kind of defines which composer you like best.

I can't make up my mind which one I like best. "Strawberry Fields" takes me to another world, to a wonderful peace of mind. Hearing "Penny Lane" makes me glad I'm alive.

Happy 40th to both!!!

Showtime is the new HBO

There was a time when HBO was the edgy, daring premium channel. No more. Now Showtime is the best premiun channel by far. Just look at this amazing new series called "Dexter" a series about a serial killer who works for the Miami Police Deparment catching serial killers. The catch he is a serial killer too. Another catch, he only kills criminals.
This is a cool and strangely funny show.

Showtime also has shows like "Weeds", "Bullshit!", "The L Word" who really push the envelope in terms of content. And with Showtime,you get "Flix" a channel that shows Truffaut movies and gems from the 1960's and 1970's.

I think there's a Free Showtime Preview this weekend, catch these shows!

something I read last night

-A veces, las cosas más reales sólo suceden en la imaginación-dijo ella-.
Sólo recordamos lo que nunca sucedió.



Sometimes the most real things only happen in our imagination-she said-
We only remember things that never happenned.



from the book "Marina"

Marina

I have been reading this book by Spanish writer Carlos Ruiz Zafon, the writer of the amazing bestseling novel La Sombra del Viento. I'm half way through and it's quite an intriguing book about teenage love and a house full of memories and perhaps something darker. The thing is I know something dreadful is going to happen to the characters, but I don't know what it is yet. Which is the beauty of a book like this. Of course, I won't reveal the secret here when I get to it.
Anyway...quite a cool book, up until now.
I found it at Borders at Plaza.

sexiest woman alive

Esquire magazine has been teasing us with photos like this before announcing who they consider the sexiest woman alive..well..it's Scarlett Johansson.

Will she get a parade at her home state???

James Taylor song I heard last night

Walk down that lonesome road all by yourself
Dont turn your head back over your shoulder
And only stop to rest yourself when the silver moon
Is shining high above the trees

If I had stopped to listen once or twice
If I had closed my mouth and opened my eyes
If I had cooled my head and warmed my heart
Id not be on this road tonight

Carry on

Never mind feeling sorry for yourself
It doesnt save you from your troubled mind

Walk down that lonesome road all by yourself
Dont turn your head back over your shoulder
And only stop to rest yourself when the silver moon
Is shining high above the trees

The Notorious Betty Page

I saw "The Notorious Bettie Page" on DVD. It tells the story of the pinup queen of the 1950's. It deals with all the hypocrisy of the sexual mores of the day. And it is interesting to see how the U.S. was like in pre-Playboy era.

Gretchen Mol is amazing as Bettie. She delivers an Oscar worthy performance. The movie is not really groundbreaking, but it is entertaining.

The DVD also features a documentary on the real Bettie Page and a short film of that era. It could be rated PG-13 today.

U2 at the Superdome

Bono seems to heal people. Five years ago, his pot 9/11 performance at the Super Bowl was one of the most dramatic, fantastic performances ever. Last night his performance in the pre-Game "Superdome is back " NFL football game was truly amazing. It was something to see. When he sang "The Saints are Back", it was a cry for renewal, a cry for a whole city that wants to be back on its feet. Truly amazing.

the old cinema

This is what's left of the old, grand Paramount theater in Santurce. One of the original Santurce cinemas. A place where our parents and grandparents spent countless hours watching movies, dreaming their dreams with Cary Grant, Boris Karloff, Marilyn. The place big singers such as Carlos Gardel and Libertad Lamarque used to appear. The place I saw "The Godfather" as a kid. Now it is like this.

This is the way we treat our historic buildings. Either this or we tear them down to make a huge building with 200 apartments and a chain restaurant.

In the meantime, the Paramount is like this.

hockey!!!!!!!!!!!

Last night I went to the Rangers-Panthers game at the Choliseo. I don't know much about the game, but it was a fun time. And I guess everyone there was feeling the same way. It was such a strange sport to bring to Puerto Rico that one had to go just out of curiosity and out of a sense of rewarding the people who had the guts to bring something different here. Because I get the sense that the promise that the Coliseum would bring so many new things to the island has not really being fullfilled. 90% of the time it is filled with the same shit they used to bring to the Coliseo Robert Clemente.

Hard Candy

I just saw this movie. It is a dark, disturbing movie about a pedophile who takes home a 14 year old girl he met through the internet.Only things don't turn out as he had hoped. There are moments of great suspense in the movie. And it features the most intense torture scene since "Audition". The whole thing is not entirely believable, but I guess that's not the point.

All in all, not a popcorn movie, but interesting and offbeat.

Old talk show

I've been watching the old Dick Cavett shows on Turner Classic Movies and I am reminded of what a great program it was. Whereas talk shows today are so shallow and simply an excuse to plug a movie or a CD, Cavett shows made people talk. Which is the point of a talk show, when you think about it.

Last night show featured Robert Mitchum, one of the most mysterious movie stars ever. A guy who would never open up to interviewers (his "yes" and "no" answers were famous) and here he was talking about his life, his hopes, his philosophy of life. Suddenly this private person was willing to talk about anything. And the great thing was that it is not done in a serious way, but through anecdotes, jokes.

Next week's show is a 1970 interview with Alfred Hitchcock. I am sure it will be the best thing on tv all week.

Isn't it interesting?

For years this group has been bullying others, attempting to quiet every opposing point of view by force and intimidation. They don't believe in freedom of thought, they don't believe in freedom of speech.If you oppose them, they resort to the most basic thuglike tactics. They have done this for a long time.

So it's interesting to see people such as Silverio Perez and Jacobo Morales condemning them. These guys are the ones that supported them all these years. They supported them because they were bullying estadistas and populares, but now, when they act like thugs against "artistas", they are the bad guys.

Sorry Silverio. Sorry Jacobo. You created these monsters. You suported them.They are your little Frankenstein creatures. And now like in the Mary Shelley book, they are turning against their masters.

So fuck you, Silverio. Fuck you, Jacobo. I am really happy to see you complain. Because now you know how it feels to be in the other side of these assholes you supported all these years.

Seduced and abandoned

I have never been a big fan of Italian comedies. I don't like the broad humor in them and sight of actors trying so hard to be funny. But I read this one was diferent. It's about a man whose daughter gets pregnant and the crazy steps he takes to save his daughter's and his family's "honor". It's a movie that pokes fun at the all the absurdities of a male dominated society. It has some really dark humor and there are moments of real genius as when the son in the family, a wimpy guy, is sent to kill the father of the baby. As is usual in any Criterion Collection DVD, it is full of extras. You can become an expert on Italian cinema just watching them.

On renewing friendships

The other day I finally found the e-mail of a long lost friend. Someone who was very close to me in the late 1980's. I mean, we would see each other every day and talk about life all that. We lost touch around 1990 and had not heard from her since then. Well, I wrote to her. And gave her an update of my life and of common friends. She wrote back, happy to hear from me and asked about a couple of other friends. I wrote and told her about them. End of e-mails.

Once again I realized something. You can't go back to your old friends like that. Yes, you can keep in touch. But you can't renew an old friendship to the way it was. It is naive to think that the old magic is going to be back. All the things you had in common are gone, they are years in the past. Each person has a different reality, some new things to face in their everyday life.You can talk about the good old days for half an hour, but that's it.

I don't regret I was able to get in touch with my old friend.It was great to know she was doing well. And I thank the new technology that now makes it possible to find long lost friends. But no amount of technology can bring back things the way they were. Ever.

It was one year ago today....

Exactly one year since I went to Miami to see the Paul concert. From "Magical Mystery Tour" as the first song to "Penny Lane" to the "Hey Jude" sing a long. The greatest concert I've ever seen.

I swear this appeared in Primera Hora today

----------------------------------------------------
NASHALI AUMENTA SUS PECHOS
por: Héctor Aponte Alequín PRIMERA HORA

Grandes como sus metas. Firmes como su compromiso con la actuación. Saludables como su sentido de responsabilidad al cuidar su cuerpo.

Aunque el aumento de 20 por ciento en el volumen de sus senos es relativamente pequeño, para Nashalí Enchautegui simboliza el crecimiento que se le avecina como actriz y como mujer.

Verlos en su nueva dimensión, de copa C a copa full C, la remite, además, a otra de sus grandes ilusiones: ser madre.

La Grande Illusion

Quentin Tarantino once joked that the movie "Platoon" could be summed up as "war bad."
Well, here is a war movie much more complex. A masterpiece. A movie in the Top 10 best movies of all time list.

It is the story of some French prisoners in a German POW camp during World War I. You can see how the nature of war is changing. You see how the aristocratic officers on both sides have more in common with each oher than with the common soldiers on their side. It shows how soldiers on each side have more in common with each other than with the ruling classes from their native country.

And what is the "grand illusion"? Perhaps the idea, common until that time, that war was somehow "civilized". But more than anything the "grand illusion" was the concept that World War I was "the war to end all wars." The one that would end fighting forever. An illusion indeed.

This is deeply humanist film from perhaps the most humanistic director ever, Jean Renoir. There are moments of humor, love, pathos and scenes of real beauty.
It's on Turner Classic Movies as part of their "Janus Movies Month"

5 movies that make me smile

1.Local Hero
2.Top Secret!
3.Ed Wood
4.Monty Python and the Holy Grail
5.movies on Mystery Science Theater 3000

quote

Nada es nada, a no ser que nosotros mismos convirtamos ese nada en algo.

Nothing is nothing unless we ourselves convert that nothing into something.

Emilia Pardo Bazan, El Revolver.

United 93

Shot in a documentary style, this acccount of what happened on United flight 93 and on the ground on September 11, 2001 is one of the most emotionally draining films I have seen in my life. It is so brilliant, so well made, acted, photographed that you feel as if you were right therein the middle of the chaos.

We relive all the confusion, terror and horror of that day, both on the ground at the FAA and on board, in a very real way. And the uprising of the passengers is not treated in a "Americans fight back" spirit, but in the really basic sense of people who decide to take a risky decision because it was better than simply doing nothing.

Watching this movie I noticed how much I moved my body sitting in the sofa. I was cringing, covering my mouth, placing my arms over my chest in an almost protective mode. It is that emotional, it is that amazing.

Rent this today.

things we don't do anymore- part one. Studying a music album.

Remember the experience of buying record albums? In this age of dowloading music and buying CD's, we have forgotten the experience that buying albums used to be. We would go to a record store, study the cover (remember how huge they were!)and read the songs list. Since we couldn't possibly know how the songs were like, we looked for clues in the song titles. A clever, interesting title could mean a good song. Maybe.

When we took the record home ,we would look at it and examine the cover art then we would open it and look at the gatefold. There we would find the song's lyrics. So we would have our first listen while reading the lyrics at the same time.If a certain lyric attracted our attention or touched us in some way, we would read it again and again.

After a couple of listenings, we would read the gatefold again and look for names of guest musicians playing in it. "Look, such and such a guy is playing the keyboards...". That would add an extra special something to the enjoyment of the music.Hell, we even read the "Thanks" section to see if we recognized any musician.

In a way, a record album was not just about the music. It was about an artist making a complete statement through sounds,lyrics, art direction.

Believe me, I don't miss the scratchy records of old and all its problems. I love what digital recording has done. But I somehow miss that special experience that only a record album was abe to provide.

that day

It was five years ago.
I was at the office when a co-worker commented "A plane crashed into the World Trade Center." I thought maybe a small plane had lost it's way and done that. There was a famous incident in the early 30's when a plane had crashed into the Empire State Building. So I figured it was something like that.

Then we tried to get into the CNN site and couldn't. There was no huge tv in the office but somebody had a small B&W set. And there we saw the whole thing as it unfolded. With a million thoughts in our heads, from how many people were dead to what this all meant. And how everything was going to change because of it.

Nobody really worked that day. We all sat there, dazed and stunned.

great PJ O'Rourke quote

"The weirder you're going to behave, the more normal you should look. It works in reverse, too. When I see a kid with three or four rings in his nose, I know there is absolutely nothing extraordinary about that person."
P. J. O'Rourke

getting all deep

I bought this book at Borders a long time and have been re-reading it. Although it sometimes gets a bit pretentious, there are some interesting points made in it about
myths across all cultures and how all religions basically tell the same tales and share the same myths.

It also has some pretty cool quotes,like this one from Zen philosopher Alan Watts, about concentrating in the here and now:
"You're wishing for a situation that is not the one you are in. Just realize that you are ruining the experience that you could be having there while waiting by thinking it should be otherwise."

from my window today

This is so cool!!!!!!!!

This is one wonderful thing I never thought would happen. Cat Stevens is back!!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From Rolling Stone magazine.

Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens)
An Other Cup
Out November 14

The artist formerly known as Cat Stevens' first album of pop songs since 1978 recalls the heart-tugging folk-rock of classics like Tea for the Tillerman. But because of Islam's 1977 religious conversion and subsequent world events, the new songs - about love, faith and world peace - have an added resonance. "Midday," about Islam's native London, carries a somber message: "I like to take a walk out in the midday/And avoid the city after dark." Listen for the lovely "Heaven/Where True Love Goes," on which Islam sings lyrics that seem to reflect his famous conversion experience in the surf of Malibu: "If a storm should come and you face a wave/That may be the chance for you to be saved."

this woman is a genius.

Reina en la Casa de las Leyes

Por Libni Sanjurjo Meléndez lsanjurjo@elnuevodia.com
* (11:38 a.m.) Zuleyka Rivera Mendoza, Miss Universe 2006, aseguró que de ser legisladora propondría un proyecto de ley para mejorar a Puerto Rico.

the stupidity never ends

I saw this documentary in 2002 on CBS. It is THE document about 9/11 simply because it was so real. Two French filmmakers were doing a documentary on NYC firemen when the towers were attacked. They actually went in the towers filming what was going on in the lobby, on the staircases. Forget about Oliver Stone'smovie, this was the real thing.It was one of the most amazing things I have seen in my life. Now it's running into trouble because of the FCC tough rules on indecency following the Janet Jackson
Super Bowl prank. Un-fucking-believable.
-------------------------------------------


Network affiliates balk at 9/11 doco
04 September 2006

LOS ANGELES: Dozens of CBS television affiliates are balking at network plans to rebroadcast the acclaimed documentary 9/11 for fear that coarse language by firefighters in the film may incur stiff new fines for indecency.

About 12 CBS affiliates have opted to skip the documentary altogether and run other programming in its place, while a dozen others plan to air the film later at night when fewer children are watching and more mature content is generally allowed, network sources said on Friday.

They said two dozen additional affiliate stations were still undecided about whether to preempt or delay the documentary, set to air on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on America by suicide hijackers.

The two-hour film, produced by French filmmakers Gedeon and Jules Naudet and retired firefighter James Hanlon, was aired twice before by CBS in 2002 without regulatory consequences.

But broadcasters have become extra cautious about running afoul of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission amid an ongoing crackdown on profanity and other content the agency deems to be in violation of its decency standards.

The real Yasuri

We were fooled. Wikipedia reports that the Yasuri video was a joke from the beginning, created by a Panamanian model-tv personality called Catherine Severino.

"The panamanian reggaeton tv show "Sin Censura", adquired the rights and made a video. Catherine didn't want to star on the video, since she tought that her image is not in anyway like the character the song is about, the producers of the video went directly to the panamanian ghetto of Chorrillo, mentioned on the song, and picked a woman more related to the character to play it. It was filmed as a joke too."

So we cannot feel superior and laugh at the video anymore. We were tricked. What is the world coming to?

a favorite movie. still.

I had not seen "The Idolmaker" for over 20 years and last night I saw it again. It has always been a favorite of mine. I remember seeing it when I was in college at the Grandview theater in St.Paul, Minnesota and really liking it. I liked the music, the way it reflects the music scene in the pre-Beatles rock world when music talent had nothing with to do with success in pop music. It was all about looks (kind of it like it is now).

I also really like the performance of Ray Sharkey as an Italian-American guy who makes a living creating pop idols. I imagined that Ray Sharkey was going to be the next big actor, the DeNiro of the 1980's. Sadly the movie was a flop. Sharkey became a drug addict, ended up in grade Z movies and died of AIDS, although he did create a sort of tv icon with his supporting role in a tv series called "Wiseguy".

Anyway, it was great seeing this wonderful little movie after so long. I still love the silly music, the corny but wonderful Italian restaurant scenes and the once in a lifetime performance by the "should have been famous" Ray Sharkey.

It's on DVD. You can order it from CD Universe.

WTF??????

Was she taken hostage by Hezbollah and liberated or something?
How completely stupid and melodramatic....

bedside reading

1.Foreign Correspondent- a novel about Italian exiles in France during World War II. A really, cool, spy thriller-romance.

2.Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film-Bought this years and years ago and have been browsing it again. A movie full of reviews of the weirdest movies ever.This book is so much fun.

Two light books for a long weekend.

horror classic finally on DVD

As you can tell, I love horror movies. But this one is really special. This is one of the great ones. Released in 1971, I saw this one as a kid at the old Paramount theater in Santurce and I always wanted to see it again. Finally it's on DVD and I decided to take a look at it and see whether it's still a scary movie.It is.

The movie has a simple plot. A woman (Jessica) just out of a mental institution, her husband and a friend move into an old house in a small New England town. They meet a pretty strange young woman who becomes friends with them. But then Jessica starts seeing ghostlike people and hearing voices. Are they real? Are they just in her imagination? Is everyone there a ghost? Is this all a dream? You keep changing your mind every minute.

This is a perfect movie to watch with the lights out. There's no blood, no special effects. Just a feeling of unease and yes, pure terror.
Available at Borders and Suncoast.

Nike Maria Sharapova

I bet all the people who pride themselves in winning ad awards at Cannes would trade all their little statues for a chance to shoot something like this.

"not after we bought super-duper doppler radars!!!!!"

I find it interesting that no local tv station mentioned this on their weather reports.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------


MIAMI (Reuters) - The number of hurricanes churning through the Caribbean toward the United States this year is likely to be less than once feared and may even be less than normal, a noted U.S. hurricane research team said on Friday.

The Colorado State University team formed by pioneer forecaster William Gray cut its forecast for the Atlantic hurricane season for a second time and predicted there would be 13 tropical storms with five of them becoming hurricanes.

The new reduction reflected a widespread trend among experts to cut their expectations for 2006 to well below the record number of storms last year -- bringing some relief to millions of American coastal dwellers.

One factor leading to the revisions are indications the El Nino weather phenomenon may take shape in the Pacific in the autumn. El Nino conditions, an unusual warming of Pacific waters, suppress hurricane activity in the Atlantic.

Another factor was a high level of West African dust over the Atlantic, Colorado State University researcher Philip Klotzbach and Gray said in a statement.

"Current conditions in the Atlantic indicate that we will now see a slightly below-average hurricane season with far less activity than was experienced in each of the last two years," Klotzbach said.

a movie favorite

This movie about students in their first year at Harvard Law School is a favorite of mine. First because when it came out, I had no idea what college life was like and it provided a small glimpse. Most movies only show you the frat house side of that life. But this movie showed you the academic side. The hours of study. The butterflies before a really hard exam.

The story concerns a Midwest student (Timothy Bottoms) and his study group at Harvard. Simple enough, but then he starts dating the Profesor's daughter ( a really beautiful Lindsay Wagner, before her "Mujer Nuclear" days) and in a way has to decide between law school and the woman he loves. By the way, the Professor (John Houseman) became an pop culture icon with his tyrannical demeanor.

This movie was later turned into an excellent tv series (when is the damn DVD coming out?) that won multiple awards and lasted around 4 seasons.

The Paper Chase is playing on Cinemax at odd hours.

rain

The other day it was raining and I took this photo from my window.
I liked the way it turned out.

Why I love Showtime

Last night I was flipping channels and came across this amazing movie from the 1960's.Obviously inspired by the James Bond movies of the era, this is actually better and more entertaining than most of the 007 flicks. It's called "Dealier than the Male" and it stars Richard Johnson (The Haunting) as the man who must solve a series of murders of high profile, influential business leaders. They are being bumped off by
ravishingly beautiful female assassins, hence the title. Contrary to 007 ripoffs of the era, this film is perfectly serious about it which makes it really cool. It also stars
Elke Sommer and Sylva Koscina, two famous euro beauties of the time. Lots of fun, especially for guys. Check it on Showtime.

vacation

I'm three days away from taking a small 3 day vacation. I'm not traveling this time but will probably head for the beach. Maybe just walk around and take photos. Read. Maybe go to the Metro theater and catch a couple of afternoon flicks. A vegetar se ha dicho.

The Roaring Twenties

These days I have been going way back in time in terms of movies I'm watching on DVD. Like this classic 1939 movie called "The Roaring Twenties" a gangster movie set in the 1920's of fun, jazz and illegal booze. In it, a young man (James Cagney) comes back from World War I and finds out he can't find a job so he ends up selling booze during the Prohibition era. The movie is very real in showing you the stupidity behind Prohibition, a time in which booze was available anywhere and organized crime and gang wars for the control of alcohol distribution were the headlines of the day. While watching the movie one couldn't help noticing the parallels to the "war on drugs" today. Cops getting bribes from the mob, the ridiculous and meaningless police "raids", the politicians in on the action.

But in simple entertainment terms, this is also a great look at a very special era in American history. It also shows you, how intelligent and gritty old movies could be. The fact that its also stars Cagney and Humphrey Bogart, makes it even better.
I found this on DVD, but it plays regularly on Turner Classic Movies
(channel 77-OneLink)

my favorite all time quote. ever.

"No human being can really understand another,
and no one can arrange another's happiness"

Graham Greene, "The Heart of the Matter"

one day long ago

Must have been 1976. The whole world was listening to a new thing called "disco" music. Everyone at school loved the music. All radio stations played it. Over here, rock was dead. I bought a couple of singles and I hated them. Thought there was something wrong with me. At that age, thinking different was always traumatic.

Anyway, one afternoon I was walking by Ponce De Leon Avenue and I went into the New York Department Store. In the basement there was a record store. I started browsing through the albums, one disco album after the other. Nothing new caught my attention. Then I came across "The Beatles 1967-1970". I had heard about the group, knew a couple of songs. I decided to figure out whether they were any good. Bought the album, wondering whether it was worth the investment of a double album.

Went home and played it. And for the first time, I felt an inmense joy about music. I listened to it again and again. "Hey Jude" was the one that made me a convert. What an amazing melody, what an amazing lyric to listen to. As a teen, I needed to hear that despite everything, you could make a sad song and make it better. And then "The Long and Winding Road", I knew nothing about love but I could relate to the feeling of loss in the song. I also liked "The Ballad of John and Yoko" and "Obladi, Oblada" two goofy songs I really loved. I still listen to them and feel joy.

It was quite a day of discovery, that one. The blue album had changed my life. But there was the red album to discover. I must have revisited the New York Departent Store
quite quickly after that.

Bill Maher quote

"All stereotypes are true."

A night at the movies 70 years ago

Warner DVD has done of the coolest things. They have recreated in many of their classic DVD's a night at the movies from long ago. So when you buy a movie like "G-Men" (1936) with James Cagney, you get a newsreel, two short features, coming attractions, a cartoon and the movie. All of them exactly the ones that played when the movie was exhibited seventy years ago. The same way our grandparents probaly saw them at the Riviera theater or a place like that.

A wonderful idea. By the way, the movie is pretty cool. No one like James Cagney to play a tough guy, this time on the right side of the law. Plenty of action, thrills and tough "dames". All in all, a fun time. Prepare the popcorn and go back in history, for just one night.

time

It's almost Labor Day. Blink and it's Thanksgiving. Blink and it's Christmas.
Fuck.

I am a Vitamin World junkie.

Some funny things start to happen when you reach 40. Suddenly, out of the blue, maintaining a youthful life becomes an obsession. And you become a Vitamin World kind of a person, actually believing all the health claims "not approved by the FDA". You start taking supplements that may work, others that a study somewhere said might work.

First, the multivitamin. But no ordinary one, a multivitamin "for men" with herbs that add "vitality" (nudge, nudge). Then Vitamin C because, well, it's good for you. Then Saw Palmetto, supposed to be good for the prostate. Then Gingko, for the brain (a study said it's good). Then Soy, because I read somewhere in Men's Health that its healthy. Then Fish Oil, for cholesterol, this is one that is really supposed to be great for your health. Then Calcium. Then Blueberry extract, also supposed to work, plus it tastes like Flintstones vitamins. Finally, Oat Bran...fuck I don't have to tell you why I take that.

So there you go, the over 40 "I want to be healthy- I am wasting my money on Vitamin World" diet.

Sick , isnt it?

Reassuring movies

Last night I was changing channels and, of course, checked out what Turner Classic Movies was showing. Well, they were showing a really corny Christmas movie called "The Bishop's Wife". Well, it's a corny movie starring Cary Grant, David Niven and Loretta Young, so it is a really good one. I had seen it maybe 20 years ago and well, I saw it again. Cary Grant plays an angel who helps the bishop realize what a good life he has.

Which takes me to the idea that we sometimes need this kind of movie. I don't believe in angels and organized religion is not my thing. But one finds reassurance in this kind of movie. It presents a simple world where good is rewarded and evil is punished. Where the good guys get help from above and live happy lives. We know it's not like that in real life but it's good to see it happen, even if its just a corny movie. Well a corny movie starring Cary Grant, David Niven and Loretta Young.

hockey at the choliseo

Remember all those that were suddenly soccer fans when the World Cup was on? All the people with the Brazil shirts? Well, in September, they have something new to do. NHL Hockey is coming to town. Yes, the top hockey league in the world is playing its season inaugural game in Puerto Rico. The New York Rangers vs. Florida Panthers. Get your shirts at Champs. I will.

Sunday musing

This is the nice swimming pool of my building. Heated and everything so the temperature is perfect. It's one elevator ride from my apartment. I've swam in it maybe four times in the last year. I used to swim in it a lot, but now, I forget its there. People are amazed when I tell them that. I wonder what it is that makes take wonderful things for granted, forget about them, ignore them. We move on to other new wonderful things. Everything has to be new.

This search for something new reminded me of a story. I once told a friend, a wise 60 something year old man, "I am bored in Puerto Rico. This place is getting old. Maybe I should move to a more exciting city." And he told me; "Even the most exciting city, in the end, gets boring.Just enjoy what you have here".

So look around today. And rediscover what you had forgotten in the search for a new thrill. The forgotten park, the long lost book, the forgotten friend.

communication

A friend of mine moved to New York a few weeks ago and I'm suddenly realizing how much the world has changed in terms of being in touch with family and friends. When I went to college all those years ago, my only contact with my family was a weekly long distance "collect" phone call. Talking to them once a week was quite an event. As for friends, an ocasional letter would be it. Sometimes one had things to talk about, concerns to discuss, but you could not share them. One had to talk them over with newly met people at college, not with people who had known you for years and years. One got homesick, there was nothing to do. Just face it and that was that.

Now, long distance phone calls are so common. With cellphones, they are part of the monthly plan. One can call and just say hi. One can text message and do the same. One can go to messenger and have long conversations or simply wish the other person a good day. There are e-mails where one can send photos or just share a stupid joke with people half a world away.Then there are the blogs, when one can vent everything and people, known and unknown can comment on it. It's really mind boggling, when you think about it.

So in the last two days, I have talked to my friend a couple of times. I will probably see her in messenger this weekend and I may send her a couple of photos.I may visit her blog to see what's new, she will visit mine.
And all the distance between us, will magically disappear.
Think about that.

L'enfant

This movie, already on DVD, is now playing at the Fine Arts. It won the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2005. It's about a young couple, at the bottom of Belgian society. They have a baby. He decides to sell it in the black market, in order to get some cash(he is a petty thief). I won't explain what happens later, but this is a grueling movie to watch. It's a powerful movie and it feels very real. And the ending is the kind that will have people talking. It's a movie about redemption or maybe it isn't. You decide. Anyway, it's worth a look.

Interesting quote

A lot of good has come from drugs. I think 'Penny Lane' is worth 10 dead kids. Dark Side of the Moon is worth 100 dead kids. Because a lot of kids wouldn't even be born if it weren't for that album, so it evens out.

Bill Maher

The New Land

The United States is a nation of inmigrants. And there have been movies dealing with the inmigration of the Irish, Italian, Greek, Mexican. But there has only been one movie, and a forgotten one, about the inmigration of Swedish people into the nation. This excellent movie is it. It's called "The New Land" starring Max Von Sydow and Liv Ullman and it's playing at odd hours on Cinemax.

It tells the story of a Swedish family in the 1850's who decides to settle down in Minnesota and begin a new life there. While other ethnic groups settled into a crowded city and had to deal with crime, gangs etc, the Swedish, peaceful people that they are, settled in houses by the lake where they built their new life in an atmosphere of peace, tolerance and camaraderie.This is a story that needed to be told. After all, these are the ancestors of the people who created America's breadbasket, the farmers who today, basically, feed the world.

This is an excellent movie. We see all the heartbreak, homesickness and struggle of these early settlers. We realize their courage in trying to build a new life. We also realize the beauty of the land and why they fell in love with it. This is one special movie.

about the morning

After posting about "the 8 things about me" I figured it would be cool to explore some of the things I wrote about in more detail.

The first thing i write about is the "madrugador" aspect. This is something that is now becoming part of my everyday life. It used to be I loved to sleep late,especially on weekends. This phase of my life reached its peak in my early 30's when I suddenly became a night person, hanging out and drinking the night away. So sleeping late became the norm.

But now, I am much calmer, and I love waking up early and just enjoying the morning. There is a silence at that time of day, a silence that ends around 8am, when all the trucks start appearing on the streets and the noise from all the construction sites remind you that you are in the middle of a city.

There is also the peace of mind that the morning brings. The old, dark thoughts of the night are gone and you are faced with a new day. A new opportunity, a new chance to change whatever you want to change.You probably won't change a thing, but there is always the feeling that you COULD change it if you wanted to. It's the old Cat Stevens song come to life:

Morning has broken, like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning
Praise for the springing fresh from the world

Sweet the rain's new fall, sunlit from heaven
Like the first dewfall, on the first grass
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden
Sprung in completeness where his feet pass

Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning
Born of the one light, Eden saw play
Praise with elation, praise every morning
God's recreation of the new day

Well, enough about the madrugador. I must take a shower, get dressed and go to work.
Mornings are for that too.

tagged

Goddess tagged me. So here are 8 things about me:

1. madrugador-will wake up early no matter if its a holiday.
2.hate shopping mall movie theaters.If a movie doesn't play at the Metro or at Fine Arts, I will wait for the DVD.
3.have seen Paul McCartney live four times, at two Super Bowls and at two concerts in Miami.
4.Believe Graham Greene books teach you more about life than all "self help" books combined.
5.have a inmediate mistrust of anyone who talks a lot about being "a Cristiano"
6.must have a Diet Coke or Diet Sprite at 3pm every day.
7.hate "Stars Wars", the absolute ruin of American movies in the 1970's.
8.love looking at the ocean.

I tag...
1.carol
2.rita
3.nanel(when he decides to write a blog)

Once you have been tagged, you have to write a post with 8 facts/things/habits about yourself and say who tagged you. In the end, you will need to choose the 6 people you tag and list their names. No tag backs.

great quote

"I have prepared one of my own time capsules. I have placed some rather large samples of dynamite, gunpowder, and nitroglycerin. My time capsule is set to go off in the year 3000. It will show them what we are really like."

Alfred Hitchcock