A night to remember with McCartney

Talk to anyone who went to the Paul McCartney concert in the Coliseo and they will tell you it was the best concert they have ever seen. And I completely agree. It was truly a magical night. Puerto Rico is going through so many problems. Everyone seems to be fighting and arguing about things. And on this amazing night 13,000 of us, people from all ages, sang with Paul. There was such a great vibe when everyone sang "Hey Jude", "Obladi-Oblada" and "Give Peace a Chance". And when he sang "Yesterday" everyone sang along quietly, with a profound sense of knowing what those lyrics meant. For a moment, everyone was longing for yesterday.

Personally I was amazed that I was watching Paul in my hometown. I never thought it would really happen. There were times in which I had to take the whole experience in and simply enjoy the moment. The Beatles have been a part of my life since my teenage years. Back then their music helped me make it through that era. And in most instances in my life, the music has been there for me. How fitting that the exact night when I was turning 49, Paul was there singing live. Here I am, entering another stage of middle age and The Beatles were there for me. There were moments in songs like "Let it Be" and "Yesterday" in which I got a bit teary-eyed. But interestingly enough, that night the song that meant the most to me was that silly "Obladi-Oblada"...I am 49 and "life goes on, la la how the life goes on"

I'm back

I seem to have abandoned this site. But here I am again. My workload has increased a bit and I feel less and less like sitting at home and writing.

I have seen quite a few movies. I went to the McCartney concert. And I will be writing this weekend.

Good Friday at the movies

Tomorrow is Good Friday. And I decided to take a look back at a time when this date was celebrated in Puerto Rico in a very peculiar way. That is movie theaters would stop showing regular movies and they all would show a religious movie that day. Even the porno houses would do that!

I recall vividly seeing "The Ten Commandments" at the Radio City and the Regency. The movie houses were always full and everyone was at their best behavior. Seeing those movies was part a moviegoing experience and part a religious ritual, so everyone acted as if they were at church. As a boy, I found this movie to be kind of long, but I recall being amazed by the parting of the Red Sea scene.

I also saw "The Robe" in one of those Good Fridays. The first Cinemascope production, this movie tended to be less grueling to watch. It has some action scenes and all in all, it was ok.

"Ben Hur" was my favorite as a kid. I guess because it is more of an epic action movie than a religious movie. The chariot race was and still is a joy to watch. It was a long movie, but the payoff was great. I recall seeing this movie in a packed house at the Music Hall in Santurce.

The last movie I remember seeing was "The Greatest Story Ever Told" a star studded movie who was kind of boring, except for doing the "spot that star" quality of it. As a kid, I kind of liked it, but I really don't recall why. Or maybe I do. I think it was the fact that it was a Good Friday kind of movie and even though I was young, I realized there was something that people found special about that day,. Or maybe the fact that it was cool to watch old movies in a movie theater. Or perhaps, that the movies were so different.

I've seen some of these movies on DVD. I can still watch "The Robe" because of the colors and the scenery. I can watch "Ben Hur" and realize it is a fun movie. "The Greatest Story Ever Told", I can see as a product of its era, a time when Hollywood was heading into the wold late 1960's and this movie is still refusing to accept that fact. And Spotting the star is still cool. I mean the blond guy from "Man from UNCLE" is in it!

"The Ten Commandments" is kind of problematic. It is the cheesier one. The sets look kind of tacky. The acting and dialogue is really bad. And it has very little historical value. Still, it takes me back to a Friday afternoon with may mother and my late grandmother. And to a period of my life that I recall with much nostalgia.

Make Way for Tomorrow

I saw one of the saddest movies ever last night. It's a forgotten classic from 1937 called "Make Way for Tomorrow." It's about a husband and wife who lose their house to the bank when they are in their 70's. Their children cannot take them both into their homes and they must separate. It sounds like melodrama but it isn't. It's a thoughtful, wonderful movie. And for a movie made 70 years ago, it feels so modern.

I especially enjoyed the last 30 minutes when the couple decide to spend a last day together. I don;t want to spoil it, but I can say that there are so many touching moments in that half hour. And the ending, the ending of this movie must rival "City Lights" and "The Third Man" as one of the most heartbreaking in movie history. The DVD from Criterion has some great extras , especially an interview with Peter Bogdanovich.

A true gem.

McCartney in Puerto Rico: can't wait!

Paul McCartney is finally doing a concert in Puerto Rico. I am so thrilled. I've seen him a couple of times love, and they were the best concerts I've attended in my life. And you can ask anyone who has seen him live and they will probably say the same. SOme people are complaining about the price, but one has to understand that seeing Paul live is a privilege. A true living legend. One of the greatest composers (if not the greatest) of the 20th century. Seeing it is something you can tell your grandchildren.

Blog

I seem to have been away form this blog for a while. The company that I work at has a new blog and they are "encouraging" me to write in it. Oh, well. I will do more writing here.

Bright Star

This fine movie based on the three-year romance between 19th century poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne, which was cut short by Keats' untimely death at age 25. It has excellent photography, good acting and one does get involved in the love story. Unfortunately, this movie seemed to have been forgotten by the public. But it is a nice movie to watch on DVD. It's not a great movie, but an interesting little one.

Shutter Island: Go see it!

It's sometimes fun to see a world class director take material that is, in a way, beneath him and see him turn it into great fun. That's what Hitchcock did many times and this is what Martin Scorcese does with "Shutter Island"
From the very first shot you realize you are in the hands of a master: the music, the oppresive atmosphere. This a movie about insanity, doubt, violence, traumas. It is over the top but in good way. I remember a professor from my college days who used to say that the best pop culture was "intelligent fun". And this is exactly what the movie oozes.

Saying anything about the plot will basically spoil the fun. So I'll just talk about the acting. Leonardo Di Caprio is amazing in a role in which he is competing with such strange things happening around him. And there is a scene with Jackie Harley which is truly unforgettable.

Grab some popcorn, get a Coke, and sit down and let yourself be carried away by the best living director in the world.

privacy

A few weeks ago a married woman I work with got too drunk at a Christmas party bus and decided to start pole dancing like a stripper. Several people took photos of the whole event. This same woman also decided to sit on men's laps during group photos. Next day at work there was widespread panic that someone would put those photos on Facebook. I had actually taken video of her stripper-like antics ( I love my Canon G10!) and she was really freaked out. I, of course, told her that no one would see that video online.

So this gets me to the how technology has changed our lives. A few years back, nobody would carry cameras around. Now everyone does. And hell, everyone has a phone with a small camera. A couple of years back there was no Facebook. Nobody had a place to post these photos. Now everyone can.

I am all for technology. I love my digital camera and I love taking photos of random things with my IPhone. But I do realize how different things are these days. And I think twice before posting something that could wreck a marriage or someone's reputation. It's all about responsibility.

Tomorrow I have a bachelor party in which strippers will surely be invited. I was already warned: Please don't take photos. I won't. But I'm sure someone will.

Catcher in the Rye

A week ago I decided to read "Catcher in the Rye" once again. I had not done so in over 30 years. I really did not recall much about the book. But it was interesting to note what I did remembered. And that was the scene in which Holden hires a prostitute and decides he does not want to have sex with her. I guess when I read it I was still a virgin and any scene in which sex was involved was attractive due to the mystery that sex represented to me. I thought about what I would have done in that situation and figured I would have tried to have sex with the prostitute. Anyway, that was the part of the book that I recalled.

Reading it more than three decades later, that section of the book is the least interesting. Reading it now, the wonderful part of the book are those in which Holden spends time with his sister. In a book that basically consists of a teenager whining about everything in life, those scenes emphasize the best things in life. The small, wonderful moments that happen once in a while when we are with friends and family. Those are the sections of the book that I really enjoyed. In fact, there were passages that made me go back and read them again.

The fleeting moment. The idea that one has to enjoy the moment because everything is destined to change. In a way, I know understand the title. We are catchers in the rye, trying to hold on to moments, to people and situations. We may be foolish for doing so. But it's one of those things that make us human.

A Nun's Story

I have no idea why I decided to see this movie. Maybe it was because it was directed by Fred Zinnemann, Maybe because I read somewhere that it was pretty good. And perhaps because I was trying to figure out what was so great about Audrey Hepburn. Well, I was really surprised by my reaction to it. I loved it. This movie tells the story about a young woman who becomes a nun, only to find out that she wasn't meant for that kind of life. I know it sounds awful. But the movie is so accurate in describing the whole insanity behind the convent walls. A life of chastity is crazy enough but, al least in those years (the 1930's), that was just the beginning. We are talking about things like avoiding things such as happiness, contentment, a sense of success is called "pride". Everything that makes one human is considered a sin.

I was surprised at how this movie is able to expose the hypocrisy of the Catholic Church, especially considering when this movie was made (1958). Today this movie would be condemned. So maybe we have become a more close minded society when it comes to discussing religion.

Then it struck me, that maybe it was really the presence of Audrey Hepburn that made this whole palatable for people. She is such a symbol of honesty and down to earthness that no one could criticize this rather rebellious movie. A movie to check out. It plays on Cinemax and on Turner Classic Movies rather frequently. It also on DVD. And by the way, the DVD looks great.

Good Netflix news!

Netflix is finally allowing its Puerto Rico subscribers to stream movies to their computers and TV's. That is great news. One more company that stops treating us a foreign country.

20 years later

The other day I was looking at some old photos in a friend's Facebook account. It seems that more and more people are posting old there. These photos were taken 20 years ago and consisted of snapshots taken at various places such as pubs, beaches. It was so strange looking at those photos. I looked at each, trying to figure out where they have been taken and trying to remember the names of people. Funny how time erases so many names from our memory. We recall the faces, but the names fade away.

Looking at them, I also tried to remember how I was and how I felt during those days two decades ago. And that is even harder. Have I changed? Does anybody really change? Tough questions and ones that are impossible to answer.

Of course, when one gets involved in this type of nostalgic trip, there is always one photo that makes one want to stop and look at it again and again. This time around for me, it was a photo of a woman that used to work with me all that time ago. I remembered her name. I forgot her last name. She was incredibly beautiful. Sexy. And she was funny and intelligent. Everyone at the office was in love with her. Of course, I was too. People would tell me to ask her out. That she would say yes. And yet I did not do it. And quite honestly I can't recall why I didn't. Maybe I thought she was too hot for me (my self esteem was in the dumps back then). Maybe that she would turn me down and I would be crushed. Yes, that was it. I was avoiding being crushed.

Funny thing how life is though. Because looking at her photo again, 20 years after my decision not to ask her out, I felt a bit nostalgic, a bit sad and a bit crushed.

Lady Chatterley's Lover

The other day, I woke up early and found the Just Jaeckin-Sylvia Kristel version of "Lady Chatterley's Lover" on a premium cable tv channel. And I decided to have breakfast while watching this rarity. This movie was made in 1981 by the notorious Cannon Group, a movie studio from way back headed by the hack team of Golan and Globus. They were heavily into exploitation movies such as the "Death Wish" sequels. And once in a while they would try to come up with a prestige movie that ended up being worse than their cheap, violence filled movies.

But maybe "Lady Chatterley's Lover" is not that bad, as compared to other versions of the novel. They all have that "this is serious literature" attitude. But the fact is that the novel, which is a serious study of human sexuality, involves a lot of the character's thoughts and feelings. And movies are not so great doing that, so invariably movies based on this novel end up being "Woman is married to impotent cripple. Woman fucks gardener." The wonderful DH Lawrence prose is gone.

Anyway, I enjoyed it, I must admit. Shane Bryant is pretty good as Clifford and Sylvia Kristel is actually not so bad as Lady Chatterley. Her nude scenes, especially remind one, that she was a true beauty. No implants or surgery.

So, if you wake up early one of these days, give it a shot. Or Take advantage of your DVR and record it.
By the way, a piece I wrote on Sylvia Kristel two years ago is the most visited page in my blog. So it will be interesting to see how this piece does.

these days

In a few days, a friend is coming over for the last time. I really can't write too much about it. But that is a fact. I will still see her, but I will have to visit her in New York or talk to her on the phone, something I do quite frequently. So i'ts no big deal.

But still, I will miss the times when she was over here. The Saturday morning talks at Starbucks. And the nighttime talks drinking a bit of wine. I will miss her wilder, freer perspective about life. I tend to go the safer route on most subjects, so her more liberal views are refreshing. They remind me that there is that other side. The one where feeling dominates over thought. Where craziness is ok. It's not always the most advisable route, but one that she reminds me, we have to visit once in a while.

We will have our last Puerto Rico wine talk next Friday. We will be having red wine while watching the ocean. I can't wait.

Moon

For a while the words "science fiction" and "intelligence" have not been together, at least in regards to movies. All sci-fi movies have been basically about aliens, blood and guts. I admit some of them were fun. But I was missing the spirit of movies like "Silent Running" and "2001" that touched upon the human aspect of space travel. Well, amazingly enough here is a new movie that is inspired by those two movies I just mentioned. It is called "Moon". It stars San Rockwell as the sole worker in a moon project. He is to stay there for three years. And well, after a while, one can lose it in those lonely circumstances. Or maybe not. I really can't say much more about the movie without giving away key plot points. What I can say is that Sam Rockwell is amazing carrying the movie alone. And that the robot with him is the most memorable since HAL. This is an interesting movie that dares to be different, that doesn't go where one expects it too. Yes, it does get kind of slow sometimes, but then again that is the whole idea behind the movie. I can't believe this movie was able to get made in this Avatar age. But it did. I just hope it makes some money on DVD or else it will be the last of its kind.

Eric Rohmer dies

It is interesting that in the day that a big, dumb movie became the 7th highest grossing film in history, the director of small, intelligent movies passes away. Eric Rohmer, the director of such wonderful little movies such as "Claire's Knee", "Pauline at the Beach", "The Green Ray" and "Boyfriends and Girlfriends" died during the weekend.

I discovered his movies years ago, when a small VHS video store near my home started renting his movies, perhaps thinking that they were sexy comedies. Anyway, I fell in love with his type of low key moviemaking right away. I love his ability to create interest based on the smallest, most mundane situations. A man in love with a woman's knee. A woman trying to find happiness while vacationing. Two couples who decide that maybe they should switch partners and find happiness.

When I watch his movies I become as relaxed as the setting of his stories. It is the equivalent of sitting at a quiet beach and listening to people nearby go about their lives. One realizes there is nothing outstanding about them, but one is still interested in how things will turn out. They are movies that stress in a delightful, easygoing way, that the small things are the ones that matter. The word said or unsaid. The small gesture. The short, quick gaze at a young woman's beautiful knee.

Puerto Rico left out of Netflix, Amazon downloading

Today Netflix announced that they have reached an agreement with Warner to be able to get access to their back catalog pf movies so people can download them. Unfortunately because of Puerto Rico's confusing political status, Netflix considers us an international market and does not allow people in the island to download movies directly to our homes. The same thing is true with Amazon.com. This may seem like a silly thing now, but in a couple of years, downstreaming will be the main way of getting access to movies and people in the island will be left out. I don't know what the solution will be short of becoming a state, but I wonder if our legislators and our resident commissioner in COngress can do something about it.

Secret Diary of a Call Girl" Third Season on Showtime January 25

Nobody I know watches this show. I guess they must think it's a sleazy soft-core cable series. But it's not. It's actually a funny, witty, extremely clever British made tv series about the adventures of a high class call girl in London. It explores sex in an intelligent way and at the same time it makes you laugh, it makes you realize many things about the hypocritical way people deal with their sexuality.
And the star of the show, Billie Piper, is the hottest woman in the world. I love her sense of humor and the sexy gap between her two front teeth. I love that. But that's just me.

Fuera de Carta: Another awful Fine Arts theater hit

The more a movie plays in the Hato Rey Fine Arts, the more it sucks. FIrst, it was the the horrendously corny "Elsa and Fred" playing one whole year and now it's "Fuera de Carta" a mediocre and predictable comedy from Spain. The first I couldn't even see more than 20 minutes before I turned off the tv. And last night I saw a DVD of the latter.

"Fuera de la Carta" is a comedy featuring actors from Antena 3 tv series. And this movie is just that, a feature length sitcom about a gay man suddenly faced with the appearance of two kids he had when he had married years earlier. This set up has potential for an interesting comedy, but it is played for cheap, easy gags. The acting is almost theatrical in its complete lack of subtlety. The gay man is one big cliche. And he is probably the most realistic of all of them. The rest are such caricatures that it is truly painful to watch.

But, is it funny? Well, it has two funny , sitcom style laughs. So why was it so popular here? My guess is that the Puerto RIcan people's tendency to laugh at gay stereotypes and at non-stop Spanish language cursing made it a smash hit here.

Anyway, I wonder what the next big Fines Arts hit will be. How about a movie about two gay old people who fall in love and curse all throughout the movie. Hell, I better tell that idea to a movie director I know. He may have a blockbuster with that plot.

soft spot for soft-core oldie

The other day I woke really early. So when I turned on the tv, the soft core movies from the West Coast Showtime feed were still on. Normally I don't watch them. There is something so boring about them. But a movie was on from long ago. It was "Private Lessons" a movie starring gorgeous Sylvia Kristel of "Emmanuelle" fame. I recall seeing this movie at the Regency theater in Santurce. It is still as bad and cheesy as I remembered. But something was different now. I now realize how this movie could never be made today. After all it tells the story of a woman seducing a 16 year old boy in order to implement some sort of blackmail scheme. First it couldn't be made today because of the central premise. And it is kind of amazing that they could get away with scenes like the one in which Kristel invites the boy to share her bathtub. In fact, it is cringe worthy.
But most important it could not be made today because movies like these were made independently and were released to theaters by small companies. Today, all the major studios control 100% of the screens in the US. There is no space for a movie such as "Private Lessons".
Anyway, I enjoyed the movie. It is nostalgic and well, Sylvia Kristel was truly a sexy and beautiful woman. She did not make many movies and most of them don't play on cable tv. So it was kind of cool to see her in all her glory, beauty and sexiness.

blogs

I made a promise to myself to write more this year. I used to write so much more, but then for one reason or another I stopped. And it is always interesting to do so. Mainly because it is interesting to look back at what one wrote long ago. And I did just that the other day. Around 4 years ago I had started a personal blog about my daily life and thoughts. It was a private blog, only visible to me. I wrote for around 3 months in it. I had forgotten all about it. And then the other day I remembered it and decided to read it. There were things in it that I recall, but 90 % of it was completely new to me. I did not recall the events I write about and in many ways I do not recognize myself in those words. It was a truly strange experience. An interesting one nevertheless.
It shows how all our days tend to blend into one gigantic hole, only a few days here and there standing out. It also shows that despite what we think and what writers and philosophers tell us, we do change. The changes are subtle but they are there.

cool horror movie shot in Puerto Rico

I've always been a sucker for B movies. And when I was a teenager there were plenty of them around. Not so much now though. So it was refreshing to see a brand new B movies...and filmed in Puerto Rico! It is called " A Perfect Getaway" a story about newlyweds in Hawaii (panoramic shots are shot there, the rest was shot in Puerto Rico) who find out there is a serial killer couple loose in the island. The newlyweds are, of course, doing some hiking in a place with no cellphone reception, you get the picture. The movie is fun, not gory at all, and keeps you guessing as to the identity of the serial killers. I won't say too much more because I don't want to ruin it.

The movie stars Chris Hemsworth, Milla Jovovich, Kiele Sanchez, Timothy Olyphant, Steve Zahn and all of them are fine doing B movie acting. I specially liked Hemsworth and Sanchez.

This movie actually received positive reviews when it played theaters. Unfortunately it was a flop. It is now available in DVD and is really worth a look.

resolution

I normally don't make New year's resolutions, but here's one I have to make. I want to lose weight. For a long time now, I have let myself go in terms of eating. No more. I don't have a clear goal in mind, but let's say 10-15 pounds before my birthday in April.
I'm writing this so that I'm reminded of this goal.

I made a couple of other resolutions...but this one I have to keep.

Images 2009

Some photos I took this year.

Up in the Air: Best Movie of the Year

Finally a movie for adults showing adults facing adult issues. No CGI. No blue creatures. No vampires. It's been quite a while since I've seen a movie like this one. Based on a novel, this is the story of a man who basically travels 300 days of the year, traveling from city to city laying off people at different companies. This is a movie that deals with various subjects and does so intelligently. It deals with relationships, with the fear of commitment, with expecting too much from relationships. It also deals with a current issue, how people everywhere are losing their jobs. It is a funny movie sometimes, it is sad too. There is not a single false moment in it. And just when you think the movie may be going corny on us, it throws us a curve that a director like Francois Truffaut would have loved.

I can't say enough god things about this movie. BTW, I was the oldest person in the auditorium watching this movie. All the young people seemed to be going to see "Avatar". Kind of sad. Because this movie could teach them a thing or two about life , love and happiness.

Sherlock Holmes before he was an action hero

Now that the most famous detective in the world has been turned into Jason Bourne, it's great that TCM is having a Sherlock Homes film festival. It is a good chance to see how the movies have traditionally portrayed the character. I have seen a couple of the Basil Rathbone ones. They are fun to watch, even though Dr. Watson is portrayed too much like a bumbling fool, something that goes against the Watson of the Conan Doyle novels. But Basil Rathbone is indeed great as the great detective. He is brainy, smart, cool and clever. I love his portrayal, especially his voice.

TCM also showed The Hound of the Baskervilles with Holmes being portrayed by Peter Cushing and he does a excellent job. Cushing was a really underrated actor, stuck with the label of being an actor of horror movies.This movie shows he could have been more.

Of course, the best Holmes was not in the movies, but on tv. Jeremy Brett's portrayal in the British Granada Tv series is indeed the definite one. His Holmes is eccentric, strange and brilliant. When I read the novels, and I do once in a while, I read them with Brett's portrayal in mind.

Will I watch the new movie? I won't. I refuse to see Holmes for the ADD generation. I just can't.

Remembering Brittany

When the other day I read about actress Brittany Murphy's death, I must admit I wasn't sure who she was. I thought she was one of those Disney created actresses Hannah Montana and Mylie Cyrus. Then I heard people talking about how she has begun her career in the movie "Clueless" and then I remembered who she was. I saw "Clueless" during a really rainy day in Miami. The theater complex next to the hotel was full of not so promising movies, but I had read a couple of good reviews about "Clueless" and I decided to see it. The movie is actually quite entertaining. It was set to make a movie star out of Alicia Silverstone. But there was an actress in it that projected such niceness, vulnerability and honesty that she won me over in a minute. I somehow wished the movie would have been about her. And now I realize it was Brittany Murphy. She steals the movie in every scene she's in. She was that good. She really was.

Last Days of Disco.

I had no idea that this movie was any good until I read about it in Mike Clark's USA Today column. I ordered it form Netflix and I'm glad I did. This is a well, written, impeccably acted movie about a group of young professionals during the early 1980's , their love lives and how disco shaped their social lives. It is an adult movie that treats characters in an intelligent way. I was spacially impressed with the acting of the two lead actresses: Chloe Sevigny (a sort of crush of mine and someone I admire for her gutsy role choices) and Kate Beckinsale (which has never been an actress I like).

The movie does something films rarely do today; it shows the relationships between men and women and says intelligent says about it. There is a scene in which one character talks about how "The Lady and the Tramp"'s whole point is to teach little girls to fall in love with jerks. It is a funny scene that speaks volumes and is better written and executed than similar dialogue in Tarantino's movies. Don't let the disco on the title fool you. this is not "Thank God it's Friday".

The movie was written and directed by Whit Stillman in 1998. And he hasn't made a movie since. The fact that he hasn't says a lot about the state of movies today. Highly recommended.

Athlete as a jerk: "Downhill Racer"

All movies about sports feature the athlete as a dreamer, a driven person, almost a religious figure. So it's so refreshing to see a movie that features an athlete as a vain, shallow person. Which is probably closer to reality in the case of 90% of athletes. Just looks at all the sports figures in the news today.

The movie stars Robert Redford as an Olympic hopeful from a small town in Colorado who is trying to win a gold medal in the Olympics. He cares nothing about his team, his coach. There is no dream of hearing the Star Spangled Banner when he wins. He's in it for the money and for the chance to go to bed with as many women as possible.

The skiing sequences are amazing, especially considering that in the 1960's cameras were not as as small as today. They are all thrilling, even for someone who is not a skiing fan.

I loved this movie. Rent it today.

Avatar scares me

I have zero interest in watching "Avatar". But I will probably go to the Metro theater to see it simply because everyone will be talking about it. All the hype about "the future of movies" is kind of scary. Because if the future of cinema is overblown 3D movies aimed at 14 year olds, well, then movies are over for me.

ABBA is rock n' roll!

If there was any doubt that pop culture is heading to hell, it is now clear it is. ABBA has been elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Under what definition of rock does ABBA fall? And this is not the only weird selection. Last year they elected Madonna, who may be talented and created some interesting music, but it was certainly not rock n' roll. Oh, and reggae singer Jimmy Cliff is in this year too. Bubble Gum. Dance Music. Reggae. I don't get it.

I guess these selections are a symptom of rock's falling popularity. So the Rock N' Roll Museum figured that adding people from different genres would attract more people. That's fine, but please change the name of the museum to something like the "Pop Music Museum".

Christmas

This morning I did some Christmas shopping. I went to the mall early when it was not so crowded and basically did most of my shopping in 3 hours. A friend of mine suggested I do my Christmas shopping online. But I told her it wasn't the same. Online shopping works for most everything else, but not for Holiday shopping. I like the ritual of having a list, going to the mall. I enjoy hearing the Christmas muzak at Macy's. I like seeing the little kids in line to get a photo with Santa or waiting for the fake snow machine to start.

And I am touched by these small things not because I am a believer in the Christmas story. I guess it's a more that the ritual reminds me of the passing of time, of the ending of a year. It is also in a way, the time of the year that is really unique. The music is different, the look and the decoration of the city, too. You turn on the tv and Charlie Brown and Rudolph are there or some choir singing carols is once again on PBS. Even the food we eat is different. So I am willing to put up with all the cheesiness of the season because it does give me small pleasures. And as one gets older, one realizes that the small pleasures are what life is all about.

The Summing Up

As we are approaching the end of this year, I wanted to make a list of cool things about 2009 in my life. They are in no particular order.

1. Getting my career back on track. After five years at a retail agency, being fired from there and spending 8 months forgotten by the industry, I was lucky enough to find a job where I am able to do good work AND get home by 6:30pm.

2. The trip to England and Scotland. Walking on Penny Lane in Liverpool was the equivalent of a Muslim visiting Mecca. And Edinburgh was amazing, the kind of city you want to visit again.

3. The trip to Canada. A truly beautiful place. And in spite of all the snide jokes about it, Niagara Falls is impressive. Loved Quebec City and the food in Toronto and Ottawa.

4. NYC. It was great to hang out with E. and seeing "Hair". And of course, the philosophical talks after a couple of glasses of wine are always great. And the fact that An. was also in NYC with her husband made the trip really cool. Loved walking around the city with Ch. and taking photos around Washington Square.

5. Photography. I have taken photography as a hobby and I think I am getting pretty good at it. A couple of photographers I know have told me I have a great sense of composition and that my photos are interesting. Photography has become a way of doing creative work apart from my job.

6. Class reunion. Well, it sucked. When I went in the party, I wanted to get out of there....it felt as awful and strange as, well, high school. BUT I did get to see JE, a good friend I had not seen for 30 years. It was really special to see him, away from the actual reunion party, and have a couple of beers and talk about life.

7. Books. This year, reading has supplanted movie watching as a pastime. And I have read so many good books this year.

Of course, there are the things that are not something new this year. They are small things that are not so small. The lunches with An. The telephone calls with E.. The dinners with J.. Talking with my mother about old movies. The lunches with Na. and Li The Saturday lunches with my father and my sister. And many, many other things. And....the fact that I revived my blog....I am really proud of that.

Psychomania

When I was a boy the local channel 11 was broke so they ran really weird movies, the cheapest they could find, I guess.
Well, one night I saw this movie about bikers who find out that if they commit suicide, they can come back as undead bikers and terrorize the world for eternity. This all due to some witches who worship frogs. I can't begin to describe the weirdness here.
In a way it is an awful movie, but one has to admire a movie which combines bikers, zombies, women in miniskirts, and bad 60's music. And did I mention that the bikers kill babies at supermarkets? And that George Sanders, the Hollywood star who had made "Dorian Gray" in the 1940's, committed suicide after doing this movie?

TCM showed this movie as part of it's late night Underground series. And I must thank them. After a week of hard work, this is the sort of nonsense I really needed.

one year

A year ago my career was basically over. I was in theory, a freelancer, but in reality I was a has been. Nobody would call me for a job and I ended up writing letters for a Medicare supplement company. Nor exactly the coda I wanted for my advertising career. Then while sitting at a Starbucks browsing the Internet and drinking coffee I got a call from an old workmate. He was forming a new creative group and was wondering whether I was interested. Well, I was.

A year later, I have just completed a new campaign. Some of the ads have drawn praise from peers, something I had not received for many years. The other day when they were shown at the agency, people laughed and applauded. And looking at them I realize, dammit, they are pretty good. So here I am one year to the day when I was sitting in that Starbucks, brooding about where my career was headed. Little did I realize it was eventually heading back up. Funny how life is.

the other night

Wednesday night I had a shoot during the night in a store in one of the worst parts of town. It is a crime ridden area full of drug related crime. I have no idea why we ended up shooting there. Well, I know really. The agency was putting a lot of pressure on the production company to shoot quickly and this was the only place they found. Anyway, while leaving the shoot after midnight, i had to drive through a lonely, dark section of the city. The only cars around had tinted glasses and were driving slow, for god knows what reason. They were the scariest five minutes in my life in a long time. And I felt so alone, so vulnerable. And as usually happens, every traffic light was red. I finally reached the expressway and felt ok. I turned on the cd player and listened to some music, Holiday music actually. As I listened to a choir singing "Oh Christmas Tree" I felt such relief. I got home, undressed, grabbed a book and read. I read without concentrating on what I was reading. All I was thinking was, I'm home.

Barbara Hershey: two movies

This weekend I saw two movies by underrated actress Barbara Hershey. First I saw her notorious 1981 horror movie "The Entity", a truly mediocre movie "based on a true story" about a woman who is regularlt attacked and raped by a poltergeist. It was widely attacked by feminists and ignored by the public. And one can see why. The movie is boring, repetitive and half an hour too long. Still, one can see for it Hershey's amazing performance. Her acting keeps this movie from becoming truly risible. If one wants to see a fine example of an actor saving a movie, look no further than this movie.

Much more interesting is "Boxcar Bertha", an early Martin Scorcese movie made for the Roger Corman B movie factory. It has the usual Corman touches: violence, nudity. But Scorcese turns it into a Depression era, thoughful movie about capitalism, poverty, racism and class warfare. There are truly beautiful moments here. But again, Barbara Hershey delivers a truly special performance. She is unafraid of nudity (in fact at the time she alleged that her sex scenes in the movie were real) and has an intensity that one doesn't see these days.

Sadly, Hershey never really became a star. She did have her moment in the sun in Woody Allen's "Hannah and her Sisters". But she has sort of vanished since them. A real shame. Maybe someone like Quentin Tarantino will create a movie in which she can show again what a great actress she is.

Paul McCartney: Good evening New York

Today I bought the Paul McCartney Live concert DVD. It was filmed at the Citi Stadium concerts he did earlier this year. I don't know why I didn't simply catch a plane and go see them. I have friends in New York that maybe would have accompany me. But I didn't. All the reviewers said it was great concert. And tonight I will watch it at my home. Paul is the last Beatle still active, still making music. He is a link to my youth when in 1976 I went to the old NY Department Store in Santurce and decided to buy my first Beatle record. I had heard a few of their songs, but I hardly knew their music. That afternoon when I heard that record (Beatles 67-70), I was hooked and I consequently bought all their albums and their solo records.

So today I went to Borders and participated in a ritual I hope to continue doing. I pulled from the shelves a Beatles record.
I bought it. Looked at the cover. And Said to myself " I am listening to this tonight. Yes I am".

Last Blog Standing

Two years ago most of my friends had blogs. They would write and share ideas and feelings. Today I looked at some of them and they haven't been updated since 2007. And it's a real shame. It seems people prefer to write short updates on Facebook rather than take the time to express things in more depth. For a while I abandoned this blog, but I came back to it. Because it means something to me. And because I love to look back and see what was I feeling and thinking a few years back. There is something fulfilling and lasting about a blog. And I love that.

Sun Also Rises

Great books make bad movies. Bad books make great movies. That seems to be an old movie theme. A terrible novel like "The Godfather" made for an excellent movie. And well, if you want an example of a great novel turned into a bad movie look no further than "The Sun Also Rises" made in the 1957 and shown on Cinemax the other day. A story about the post World War I generation wasting their young lives in 1920's Paris and Spain, Fox decided to cast the movie with 40 year olds and turn it into a movie about people having middle age crisis. And the magic of Hemingway's novel is completely gone.

There are some ok scenes most of them shot during the running of the bulls during the San Fermin festivities. But they don't compensate for a really big, pretentious, boring movie. All in Cinemascope to make the fiasco even bigger. Sometimes I complain about how today's movies are big and empty. Well, producer Daryll Zanuck was making them back in the 1950's during his reign in Fox. No wonder he was fired after churning out disaster after disaster. But that's another story.

Valentino and celebrity culture

"Valentino" was a movie directed by notorious British director Ken Russell. During his heyday in the 1970's he specialized in creating over the top biography movies. Most of them were critically panned, but none as much as his Rudolph Valentino biography. Critics pointed out that most of what appears onscreen never happened. They stressed how awful Rudolph Nureyev was in the title role.

But watching it last night on TCM, I agree on those points. But I guess Russell was making more of a statement on celebrity culture. After all, Valentino was the first cinema idol, he was cinema's first true star. IN a way he was the first mass media rock n' roll type star.

And I love how Russell builds his movie around Valentino's funeral. During the funeral, several people who knew him make grand statements about him and how he influenced his or her life. They are all exaggerating his influence, some of them telling obvious lies. But that is the beauty of the movie. It reminded me so much of the Michael Jackson funeral where hangers on and people who I'm sure couldn't care less about him were making grandiose statements about how Jackson touched their lives.

Russell created a biography based on lies because most celebrities lives and biographies are built on lies. This is not a terrible movie. Actually, it's quite brilliant. And I loved Leslie Caron as a horny lesbian. Only Ken Russell could have done such casting.

Jaime Bayly

For some strange reason, extreme left wingers dominate debate in Latin America. And they are so smug about it. That's why it is so refreshing to hear someone like Peruvian writer, tv show host Jaime Bayly. He is the extreme left winger's worst nightmare. A brilliant, intelligent person who refuses to deal in anti-American, left wing cliches. And he is not the usual right winger. He is openly bisexual and is open minded in a great variety of topics. But he calls them as he sees them. He doesn't fall for the Castro Chavez mythology. He realizes both are simple dictators.

And when not dealing with politics, he has an amazing, perceptive sense of "no bullshit." The day following Michael Jackson's death, instead of being politically correct and saying wonderful things about the recently dead singer, he decided to cut the crap and give the audience a reality check about the whole circus that was the singer's life and death. Yes, sometimes it was cruel, but it was brilliant. And true.

See his show on the NTN24 website or on You Tube.

Jacques Demy's The Model Shop

I am a sucker for goofy movies from the 1960's. Especially movies from major studios desperately trying to be be cool and appeal to the rebellious generation of that era. I was expecting :The Model Shop", shown recently on Turner Classic Movies, to be such a movie. I was expecting LSD sequences, women in mini skirts dancing to music played by a band goofy looking kids. What I got was a thoughtful, sad, almost depressing movie about two very lonely people. One a French woman who went to LA and ended up a model in a sleazy joint where pervs take photos of her. The other a drifter type who has no goals, no plans. But he is not a likable guy either. He is a total loser in every way. They meet by chance and well, he falls in love. She, well, is not sure about the whole thing.

The movie was directed by Jacques Demy, the director of such movies as "The Umbrellas of Chembourg" and "The Young Girls of Rockefort". But this movie is so different. There is none of the color and music of those movies. This is a bout sad reality. About unrequited love (there are two such stories here). There are scenes that don't work that well, some of them go on for two long. But, like watching real life, one can't take the eyes off the screen. And that's more thats more than one can say about 99% of movies.

Politics and Facebook

I am in Facebook. I admit it. I use it mainly to keep in touch with people I don't see for long periods of time. It is a way of saying "Hi" twice a year, to comment on their photos. Thanks to Facebook I have been able to reconnect with people from my past.

But lately I have been noticing people who use Facebook to throw their political beliefs out there. And they do so in such an arrogant way. Putting down other people's beliefs, insulting people. I think this is such a stupid thing to do. At first I thought that was ok, I'll just move on to other things. But then it started to bother me, to make me angry. Because implicit in their words was the idea that I was a moron because I don't share their beliefs.

So I have been dropping them as friends. So long. It was great to catch up with you after so many years. But the thing is, respect for others is something I cherish. It's something that means so much more than your virtual friendship.

Antony Beevor "D-Day"

These days I haven't been doing much movie watching since I have been absorbed in a truly amazing history book. It's an account of D-Day. I know what you're saying...another book on that topic, but this is such a superior book to all others. The author has a talent for telling a story full oh historical facts without making it boring. But the most interesting thing is how he tells the story from the point of view of so many, soldiers, officers. And from the point of view of the Allies and of the Nazis. This is the kind of book that places you in the middle of it all in such an interesting way. This is a book that one wishes would go on and on. Very few books are able to do that. Something which makes it a true classic.