This week movies,

This week, I can recommend the following movies,

1. Repo, The Genetic Opera, *****
   
   A self proclaimed Goth, but I would say Cyberpunk Rock Opera. Great music, great apocalyptic ideas, great costumes, the songs lyrics are not so great. If you liked Dr. Horrible, just watch this.
   


2. Boy A, ****
   
   The tagline for this film is "Who decides who gets a second chance?". Thus explores the film through the story of a teenager who has been in jail serving a sentence for murder. What is a second chance, in the end?
   


3. Iron Man, ****
   
   This is what Iron Man is about. Robert Downey Jr. at his best, is he acting? The best Marvel film shoot to day due to the great reinvention of the character. A possible reason behind this opinion is that I grew up reading X-Men and I know nothing about Iron Man.


4. Be Kind Rewind, ***
   
   An enjoyable comedy with Jack Black, Danny Glover and Mia Farrow. An old man reluctant to change, his VHS rental business, an old demential lady, and two stupid men. One of them manages to erase all the tapes, then they start remaking the films. I wonder if Jack Black can do some other type of character.


5. The Spiderwick Chronicles, ***
   
   If I were a 10 year old kid this could have got me sit through the movie pointing and yelling at the appearance of each of the aos sí and complain that there was a mixture of mythologies. Indeed, I was a weird child. In my defense, I had the normal dinosaur stage too.
   


6. Planet B-Boy, ***
   
   A documentary on breakdancing revival around the world and what it seems the most important breakdance competition in the world. I'm surprised about the importance of dancing for the Japanese and Korean competitors. Great moves, I wish I could do at least one of them.
   


7. Speed Racer, **
   
   The Wachowski brothers revisit the Japanese anime from the sixties "Manha Go". I grew up watching reruns in the early eighties, that is the reason for one star. It is a good reinvention of the old story, that is another start. As an exploration of new filming techniques it is an interesting proposal, but not of my liking.
   


8. The Ruins, *
   
   Another scary movie that happens during spring break. A nice touch is the location, a Mayan Pyramid in the Yucatan peninsula. I will say no more as it is quite predictable.
   

The seventh episode of The Big Bang Theory third season is out there and it is great. Wanna talk about family discussions and spoiling your child? I really wonder where all the events on the Koothrappali - Wolowitz relation will lead.

I have the best girlfriend ever...

Lydia wrote a calavera for me because it was All Hallows day.

In my home region, the Huasteca in Mexico, All Hallows day is known as Xantolo and the indigenous tradition is quite similar to the Irish Samhain: On november 1st, the date is fixed due to Catholic Missionaries influence I guess, as the days come shorter the dead are allowed to come back and roam the earth. We prepare for our dead relatives an altar with their favourite food and drinks. In order for them not to get lost, a road of cempazúchil petals is laid from the street gate to the altar.

By night, Xantolo is a huge party. Los viejos (spanish for the old men) start roaming the streets as they go to the main square. Los viejos are an ensamble of young men lead by a horn holder, half of them wearing male costumes and half wearing female costumes, nowadays women are giving the chance to participate too, who represent the death. They walk the streets from the graveyard to the mainsquare stoping now and then to perform a two line dance to a certain traditional tune played by a violin and a guitar. As the tune finishes they dancers break loose and start chasing children around until the horn holder blews the horn and calls them again to walk the street, I loved this when I was small. Truth be told I still love this now.

In the past, during our dictatorial periods, All Hollows days represented an oportunity to conduct political satire through verses known as calaveras. Also calaveras are written for those you care about. My girlfriend wrote me one for this Xantolo:

Estaba Blas en su hora de comida

saboreando arroz como de costumbre

cuando de pronto aparecio la temida

esa que dicen trae pesadumbre

La figura vestida de negro

comenzo entonces a hablar

no importa que estes en el extranjero

de mi no te vas a escapar!

Solto blas una carcajada

que hizo a la flaca enojar

no digas tanta pendejada

mi novia me va a rescatar!

Los dos me hacen los mandados

y a los dos me los voy a llevar

sirve que ya no estan separados

y juntos x siempre se van a quedar!

--- o ---
Here goes my free translation...

Blas was having his lunch hour.
Eeating rice as usual.
Suddenly, the dreaded,
that they say brings grief,
the black-clad figure
began to speak:
"No matter that you're abroad
you will not escape me! "
Blas laughed out loud.
This made the skinny mad.
"Do not say so much crap,
my girlfriend is going to rescue me! "
"The two of you do my errands
and the two I'm going to take.
Serve you well, that you are no longer separated
and together forever you will always be!"

This week movies,

This week, I can recommend the following movies,

1. Primer, *****
   
   Time travel paradoxes, too much time travel for me. I have watched it twice and I cannot get half of the paradoxes. I will give a third round.


2. Rachel Getting Married, ****
   
   It has the feelings of a documentary with all the camcorder feeling of the takes but it is a movie. I liked it, I always like them movies about families and their dysfunctional way of functioning.
   


3. Son of Rambow, ****
   
   Great movie about childhood friendship and the evolution of a pair of families coping with loss and religion, at leas one of them with the latter. Good takes, great combination of comedy and seriousness.
   


4. Forgetting Sarah Marshall, ***
   
   Is this a chick flick or a dude flick? 14 years ago I was the dude, but without money and the girl was not a tv star, and I didn't get the very nice girl who changed my world, well you get the idea.


5. American Teen, *
   
   My first thought was that this was really a crappy movie, it didn't make sense at all. Then I saw the flash of a microphone. I went to imdb.com and realized this was not a movie but a documentary. My skin crawled just of thinking this could be an average high school in U.S.A.
   

The sixth episode of The Big Bang Theory third season is out there and it is good. I never thought Sheldon having such a prolific knowledge of football.

Awful, Beautiful Life...

I like country music. I like stories. With country music you can almost be sure you will be listening to a story, sad, fun, romantic, true, ficticious...

I was doing some algebra today; a not easy to solve problem, maybe one without a solution, as always. I Youtubed a playlist for "the best of country" and in between my favourites and well known songs from Willie Nelson, Brad Paisley, Mr. Cash, Keith Urban, Garth Brooks, Toby Keith, Hank Williams Sr and Jr, well you get the idea, a song from Darryl Worley popped up "Awful, Beautiful Day"

Embedding has been disabled for the original video, which you can watch here.

This one just made me laugh myself out loud,

Embedding has been disabled for the original video, which you can watch here.

Well, it is time to stop working the problems I like and start doing calculations on those that pay the bills.

It's a beautiful life and now it is even better with Lydia at my side.

This week movies,

This week, I can recommend the following movies,

1. Apaloosa, *****
   I like westerns, and this has a nice twist to it plus Ed Harris, Vigo Mortenssen and Jeremy Irons.


2. Quantum of Solace, ***
   I like this new Bond, the transitional feeling of it, an evolving Bond.
   


3. Religulous, ***
   A very small survey of non-important people about religion, but I really value the comments from the two priests interviewed.
   


4. The Incredible Hulk, ***
   I liked this version more than the first one and I just love the idea of The Avengers they are making. I am curious about who is going to play The Captain.


5. Frost/Nixon, ***
   I do not have an idea about US modern history and this moved me to look for the original interview.


6. W, ***
   Ibidem.


7. Burn after reading, **
   I got to this one with high expectations, a great cast but it didn't deliver to me.


8. The Duchess, **
   This was weird, I'm not really sure what to think about it. I'm not sure if it was just a biographical portray, some kind of statement or something else.
   


9. Meet Dave,
   I did not find this one fun enough.

This week there was no episode for the Big Bang Theory for some reason unknown by yours truly.