Another year is about to close

I'm typing sort of in a hurry, because New Year's Eve tends to be a whirlwind of preparations and mood swings which go from slightly pissed while doing the sketching of it all, to incredibly happy when it is all going on, to melancholic five minutes to midnight, to hopeful and cheerful at the stroke of twelve to pissed again for having to clean the mess.

For all that was worth, this year was good to me, as I discovered that between the dodging and the taking on life punches, there are pockets of peace and moments of wonder that make it all worthwhile and in the long run, if we really sit down through it; peace and the wonder have a bigger share than misery, if we let go that horrid human habit of brooding in the bad stuff.

I am grateful because I have found myself a being the with ability to take the best life has to offer and give a bit forward. Am I hoping things will be better? Hell Yeah.

The quote... it was written in 1999. I found it in 2000 at a card shop in the East Village and I keep it in my poetry journal. I pull it out when I need perspective or when I forget that the impossible is as possible as my imagination allows it...

HOW TO BE AN ARTIST
"Stay loose.

Learn to watch snails.

Plant impossible gardens.

Invite someone dangerous to tea.

Make little signs that say "YES!" and post them all over your house.

Make friends with freedom and uncertainty.

Look forward to dreams.

Cry during movies.

Swing as high as you can on a swingset, by moonlight.

Cultivate moods.

Refuse to "be responsible."

Do it for love.

Take lots of naps.

Give money away. Do it now. The money will follow.

Believe in magic. Laugh a lot.Celebrate every gorgeous moment.

Take moonbaths.

Have wild imaginings, transformative dreams and perfect calm.

Draw on the walls.

Read everyday.

Imagine yourself magic.

Giggle with children.

Listen to old people.

Open up. Dive in. Be free.Bless yourself. Drive away fear.

Play with everything. Entertain your inner child. You are innocent.

Build a fort with blankets.

Get wet.Hug trees.Write love letters."
by SARK ,1999

I believe...

I decided to take a break from general internet hassle during the holidays, however this is my Christmas Eve Post, a tradition of sorts :)

Our Christmas celebration promises to be a quiet one, dedicated to family. No, we are not tired, it is just that sort of common accord we decided that we just want to be together, appreciating the incredible gift that life grants when you are given someone to lean on. In our list of Christmas gratitude, there is first and foremost our humble thanks for the gift of life, which granted us two marvelous occasions this year to feel there is Someone beyond our selves that takes care and listens: the safe arrival of Lysanel and Mom's recuperating with flying colors of her heart attack.

Out my window the world looks gray, but not dead at all. It is the gray of nights that come a little earlier, as it usually happens in winter. The breeze is swift, but not cold. It is the favorable breeze that reminds us all it is Christmas.

I am lucky enough to look out and see early rising stars. I love living in Wesley Chapel because you can still see a bit of open country... I had a flash back courtesy of an early star. I am 12 years old on my way from Grandma's house to our own in Christmas Eve. I looked at the sky and saw, as if for the first time countless stars, you know the ones you see on an open field a little after midnight. In my mind, still untarnished by adult trials and worries, I swear I heard and saw the universe before me as I have never perceived it: a place of wonder and magic in which music and color collide to create a harmony among many spheres.

It is customary to close your eyes when making a wish, but me being me, I opened them widely, to absorb ever glitter, every tone from velvet black to deep purple, the cold and the heat of astral bodies and the spaces between, and I said to myself: I believe.

Ever since I've always stepped out at midnight on Christmas Eve, to a place where I can see the stars enough to reach them... and if this post seems inconclusive, it is meant to be, because each of us carry within our selves the perfect recipe for a Christmas Wish and I will dare not to suggest one for you... Mine, however, has a bit of welcomed chilly breeze, a sprinkle of stars, the taste sherry, the warmth of loved ones and if any uncertainty crosses my path I shake it away with a bit of hope.

Merry Christmas.

I am Legend... I won't kill it

Geez! Lately this looks like a movie blog... anyways is that time of the year in which theaters protect movie goers from the imaginary cold... where did my winter go?

I had just stepped off the Christmas Dinner Party and was happy as hell with my bonus as I said before and to make my night even better Izzy and Michelle call me to go to the movies.

In an unexpected move, Izzy called for I am Legend, and even if I didn't wanna, I would because Izzy hardly ever calls for vamps/suspense. Ahhhh... but he has a nose for action, and this was an action movie.

The general prediction is that this is the one for which America has been saving hard earned dollars because there was a looooong line to wait, about 20 minutes in queue. But then, Tampa midnight breed love their vampires...and Will Smith.

I must confess the movie surprised me. I was waiting for it to start with a bang and never stop, but it actually managed to keep the initial pace of Matheson's book, even with the change of scenario. In fact there were a couple of scenes that only New York city could provide that proved to be real effective in the way of creepiness and I'll get to them later.

The first half or so of the movie is pure Matheson and Smith plays it brilliantly. He is a man that lives in a world in which all books have been written, all movies filmed, all songs composed and he tries to avoid this by building a strong routine of survival. People will inevitably laugh at some of his devices at first, but gradually, as the big picture of total isolation unrolls, if there is any laughter, it will be of the nervous kind, followed by a perhaps I would have done the same thing kind of shit, that we know we wouldn't have done anyway.

He lives through his day hoping to sleep at night without nightmares, and there are nightmares every night, they come as flash backs and sometimes they wake him up realizing that is not what has happened what torments him, but what might happen. The nights in New York are filled with echoes of what once were human voices, enough to drive anyone crazy.

Smith manages to capture the agony of a man that has no human beings around him to test his sense of sanity and it works pretty well. Until someone decides to push the action button and it all makes a very fast left turn in Albuquerque. If you read the book, you will see it coming a million miles away, if you didn't read the book, you'll buy it, because the introduced character have a meaning towards their end.

Worse things have been done with adaptations, and as I said this one translates pretty good to the screen as an action movie. In fact I liked it a lot better than 30 Days of Night...however the vampire fan in me missed the whole quiet tension and drama that gave the movie and the novel it's title: a world in which nightmare creatures became the norm and the one last human being was considered a first class monster of legend. I miss the whole inverted hunter/ prey game that made this novella unique at it's time.

There is a couple of good scares as I said, courtesy of NYC. Those of you who have been there know that the structures in Manhattan work basically as a man made canyon and the wind can do wonders... the way those empty buildings worked the noise, or lack there of, was creepy enough for me to never complain about the sounds of the city again, also there is a scene with a deer... you'll know what I'm talking about when you see it... it is classic suspense... vampires are dumbed down as always happens and in this case we are lacking the half breeds of Matheson's book... once again, this is not the movie that will single handedly bring forth vampires again, but is a hell of an action film carried by none other than Will Smith... so enjoy!!!

"I can fix this. Let me save you. I can save you; I can save everybody."- Will Smith as Robert Neville, playing the whole I will save the world with nobility and all.

Office Party 2007

It was the night of the party

All all through the site

Not a person had shown up...

We thought geez this ain't right

Then that's when we realized

The accountant was parked

Waiting with his wife,

For the party to start

We came out of our car,

Meeting them at the lot,

Walking into the restaurant,

Ordering some Merlot

Doctor J., he came late

As it is to be expected

We all waited for him...

Some of us quite collected

There was a couple of Cubans,

The needed Nicaraguan,

All the rest puertorrican,

Good enough for parranda

[Don't frigging blame me if it doesn't rhyme, is not like it is the most inspiring subject you know]

Anyhooo... It was a lot better than last year's, the highlight of the night being a DVD with RUN DMC -yes you heard right- Christmas Special. Congratulations Doc, you discovered the eighties... now it's only two more decades to go.

The mojitos were minty, the Spicy Shrimps hot, the grilled beef sensational, the company was even better, the whole toast thing by Doc was.... errrrrrrr.... more inspiring that I expected, the games were not that Chucky Cheese's and actually none of us tried to excuse themselves to jump out through the bathroom window. The Christmas bonus was...worth a wacky year through and through.

After it all, I still had time to catch up with I am Legend, but I'll talk about it later boys and girls because it is almost 2:00 am and I have visions of Bob Marley dancing in my head which means it's time to go to bed...

Yes, I'm a fangirl... that's all I'm saying

The Golden Compass...the looong way

After years of Comparative Theology I've reached the following conclusion: The Devil is a complicated being. In my mind's eye he acts like Al Pacino and looks like James Bond... so when people tell me that Satan wants me to watch this movie, my reaction is to look at them with a twinkle in the eye and ask them... "so you are a fan of Daniel Craig too?" (Consider that the lame joke/ comment of the day).

Okay, Rafa, brace yourself, this IS a Review :p








This movie would have been a walk in the park, if it hadn't been for the controversy generated by it, which forces me to throw a bit of Liberation Theology into the mix. I'll eventually get to the supposed tale from the dark side... let me concentrate in the movie and the story it tries to translate to the screen first.

The film is epic in intent, yet doesn't make the cut. As of this moment this is not a bulleted review, but let me give you a couple of examples... the following segment will be sponsored by the word HOWEVER

• The visuals are stunning, the set designs are sure to make the cut to the Oscars... HOWEVER, in a movie in which the embodiment of the soul is a daemon companion, an animal, in this case; not much importance is given to the CGI for the critters. Pixels distracted me, and there is basically a CGI critter for every human character in the screen... take a bunch of children running on a field full of gorgeous tones of gold silver or clerics on a darkened room... all around them something is flying or purring or slithering or worse... VOICING IT OUT... in this world, there is no such thing as a private thought, your sometimes fuzzy and out of focus daemon will surely mess it up. And as I said before, this movie had much more money input than Beowulf or Shrek, the least they could do is provide decent daemons, since they are so vital to the story.
• Golden Compass pretends to follow the path taken by Lord of The Rings and the Narnia series HOWEVER, the pace and the scope of it doesn't help. The movie is marketed to children and young adults, yet the metaphysical nature of some of it's subjects, makes it inevitably a talking head piece... most of the kids around me were getting restless and that is a bad sign on a family movie.The scope of the piece is so big in intent that adults will not be able to enjoy it thoroughly, without saying WTF?! at least once. I am not saying that it is so deep we will all drown... it is as simple as plot development versus running time. It felt like X-3, cast of thousands, but we really know no one. Oh peoples of the Internet, don't even get me started with the Cliffhanger ending... it has the cockiness of a studio that swears they have a hit in their hands... sorry to say, it might be the number one movie this week, but it might not make enough to give us the pleasure of finding out what the hell was meant to happen... it is called CLOSING people, and all fabulous trilogies have it. Imagine for once, Raiders of the Lost Ark ending in an Island with a bunch of Nazis dressed as priests and Harrison Ford just saying "don't open your eyes"... you will be cursing the day...
• As far as star power goes, you cant get better than a cast that includes Ian McKellen. Christopher Lee, Nicole Kidman, Eva Green, Sam "I'm every Cowboy" Elliot and Daniel Craig HOWEVER their screen time is minimal.Craig, who seems to be all over the place in the promotional cut barely has about 15 minutes on screen. Kidman's Miss Coulter is in fact a Golden Monkey like her deamon clearly states. I mean, she is supposed to be REALLY EVIL, you know the kind of person that swears she is doing something good, the most dangerous villain of all, yet her dialogue is weak were it shouldn't be, is not her fault really. I wanted more witches and more gypsians, and perhaps a bit more bears, but time was running short....

A Shout out to the witches of the Northern Sky... Eva Green makes the best out of what she was given, she plays it gorgeous, like a real witch, and we all know that the real power of a witch is living her life without being bothered by the social dictations of what a woman should be. She plays it as she should, graceful and sensual, maternal when needed.Peoples of the movies, don't promise actors that will not be there, bad producers, bad,bad.

On the lighter side Sam Elliot was tryly enjoyable as Lee, the sorta out of place cowboy and his hare Hester was a hoot. He is one of the best developed characters and you'll find out why soon enough...

POLAR BEARS... if there is anything close to epic proportions in this movie is in fact that polar bear fight, you'll never see Coca Cola ads quite the same... bring it on!!!!

All in all is a nice popcorn ride, but nothing to stir the nerd in me as to wishing for the second installment to come my way. I liked it enough not to kill it with 15 bullets or less... I will probably watch it again on DVD...

Ohhhhhhhhhh, I see it coming, it's sort of bending in sharp angles Yessss, is The Little Theology Corner.

Going back to that whole Satan thing... lots had been said about the hidden agenda in this movie. Peoples of the Internets, it is not a hidden agenda when it is in plain sight...Pullman delivers it with impunity.

Ms. Lighshadow, here is one for you...Look closely on the air shots of the Magisterium, the ample piazza, closely safe guarded by mirroring walls that extend towards the main building, look closely and may be you'll discover that from the air, it sorta looks like a key... a Rome inside joke.

Pullman did not set out to stir waters with Christianity,(insert rolling eyes here)... otherwise, why would he call the basis of the human intellect "daemon"? you know that word makes nuns run...or identify his main scientific guy as Lord Asriel- a British guy with a very Jewish name in the lines of "he who battles God"as a meaning...

As a Christian I sort of laughed at the whole controversy. I didnt see it as much an attack on Christianity as an attack on the very human institution of the Church as the center of organized religion; represented by the Magisterium. If Lord Asriel's discoveries sound a little like Galileo's it is obvious...

Much like the Church of Rome in the Middle Ages, or the Pharisees in Jesus' time; the Megisterium dictates the truth, proclaims the truth and forces the truth down your throat. As far as truth goes, there a main difference between human and Divine perception. In the world of the Divine truth is an absolute, in the world of human beings, truth is relative. It has been the struggle of the Religious Institution for centuries to reconciliate Divine ruling with human nature... sometimes they screwed up royally; even after God Himself took care of it by coming into this world to sort out the big mess... well, mostly after it.

In their effort to convey the Divine, they rather bend the truth a little in order to get their way (and in the process, they have sent more than one down a very painful highway) It happened before, and I'm not pointing fingers solely at the Catholic Church, The Protestants did very well in Europe also, with this nonsense of forcing you to see what I see... it happened before, and sometimes books like these are written to remind us it shouldn't happen again...no offence taken, Mr. Pullman: your Magisterium is not my Church.

In real Christian Dogma, the institution should not have preeminence over the message. In fact is funny to think that Jesus Himself made a whole issue about it.

I could easily quote from the movie, but I'd rather leave it to a more credible source among Christians... go Jesus, as always, it's your birthday...


Matthew 23: 13-15


"How terrible it will be for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You pretenders! You shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. You yourselves do not enter. And you will not let those enter who are trying to.
"How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You pretenders! You travel everywhere to win one person to your faith. Then you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are."


Very much a la Jack Nicholson, Jesus knew that the institution couldn't handle the truth, even if you shoved a frigging compass down their throats. All because the seat of Organized religion is based on earthly power, when the Founder of it all advised them not to seek it, because their kingdom is not of this world... is a matter of absolute power corrupting absolutely.

I went to Rome recently and I saw it myself, the effort of one man, who actually "got it" and humbly asked for forgiveness for all the major screw ups. A shout out to John Paul II who saw through it and deemed it decent and Christian to recognize the right of people to be, think and act outside of the box. It takes a lot of guts to understand that the absolute truth of God is not necessarily that expressed by his most loyal or fanatic followers.

I live in a world in which an absolute truth called Love can reconcile the outcasts, the witches, the gypsies, the nay sayers, the scientists, the philosophers, the rebels and the men of faith, with no other rule than one that is by the way, Golden also.

It is very frigging simple, God said Love Me and one and other as you do yourselves... shit, I can't get easier than that, if you really get it going, no one will dictate what you should do, where you should go, what you should wear... you'll have your own golden compass.

Is that time of the year again...

The dreaded words have been spoken. The Office Party will be held at... some restaurant ridiculously near the Office... let's forget about forgetting the woes of the job.

Anyhooo... what really set off my nerves was the jolly phrase "there will be PRIZES and GAMES" I just hope they don't get all Chucky Cheese's... I'll just frigging quit. I'm not the Grinch who stole Christmas, I swear, I'm just a woman in the verge of a Christmas Meltdown... just gimme a frigging long weekend and let me do what I want... UGGHHH.

PS: Ms. Wendy, if you can read me, although you will be sadly missed, there is nothing to fear, it will probably suck anyways...

Beowulf... no spoilers

Alas... no spoilers but those of war... okay is not like I've always wanted to say that, but I just did.

Anyhoo, I just stepped out of the theater and this is a gut reaction to a movie I've been looking forward to see ever since I was in Italy... whole royal houses in both this world and the fantastic crossed my way before I got to it ( I got to see Isabella- Elizabeth- while in Rome, and Enchanted while still jet lagged. Now after 3 weeks of antici...pation, did it make the grade for me? Hell Yeah.

This is a moment of silence dedicated to all the purists and Literature Fiends that will want my head...

OKAY, it is not the original, people. It is an adaptation by Roger Avery and Neil Gaiman. It is at heart, still the oldest poem ever written in the English Language; however, the plot holes- you know those chunks we need to fill in with our imagination, while keeping the integrity of the piece-are filled with the suppositions, assumptions and very funny "merry making"songs of one of the most prolific fantasy masters of our time... SHUT UP BITCHES DON'T COMPLAIN.

Lots will be said about the quality of the animation... also about the PG 13 that should have been an R, wheter or not there was a slippery nipple somewhere, Beowulf's quasi Austin Powers naked scene, etc. etc. etc... I feel like doing something classy so I'll just leave it to you guys to go see.

I'll give props to the ones I haven't heard even mentioned... let's start :

This guy right here, Crispin Glover. He's the King of the cult followers, absolutely gorgeous in a very weird way. It would have been easy to be lost in a world of pixels that do no favor at all, yet those eyes, they came across through scaly, ulcered skin, to tell you there is something wrong with cheering for those who kill a monster, that there might be a reason other than evil behind his action. On top of it all, to you bastards who didn't catch it: of all the frigging actors in that movie, he was the one who delivered his lines in THE ORIGINAL... alliterative verse... Anglo-Saxon that made me shiver and for once made me worship at the altar of Nicholas Haydock who taught me to appreciate it.

Next... peoples of the Internet... the best Dragon ever committed to film. This dragon was designed and written by TOP CLASS NERDS... the whole sequence is fascinating. I just watched, mouth gaping, the mechanics of flight for this magnificent creature... once I got over it, the dragon hits me over the head with the infamous STONE GRINDING, towards breathing fire. I mean they got close to it in REIGN OF FIRE "they eat ashes" they said and left it there... these guys went through the whole conversion process of how a certain type of stone, combined with a naturally produced gas could ignite and make a giant flying reptile breath fire and keep his massive weight afloat like an air balloon would... don't get me started.

Third... thank heavens for these guys

Gaiman and Avery... wizards in their own right... Thanks for not messing it up royally and bringing forth a tale about flawed humanity and dying gods, heroes with terrible secrets and monsters in both human and inhuman form.... also songs about pursuing virgins and general drunken Geat train of thought.

The bitter sweet quote sums it all up, here's Beowulf saying farewell, or perhaps welcoming a whole new age:

"The time of heroes is dead: the Christ God has killed it, leaving nothing but weeping martyrs and fear and shame."