Eclectic

Songoro Consongo (de Mamey), Hector Lavoe
Jaan Pechechaan Ho (Ghost World Intro song)
President of What, Death Cab for Cutie
De Cuba Traigo un Cantar, Carlos Puebla
Sentimental Journey, Ruth Brown
La Salsa de Hoy, El Gran Combo
Cambumbo, Tego Calderon
The Kids are Alright (live), Eddie Vedder
La Ci Darem La Mano, Mozart:Don Giovanni
The Mansion, John Vanderslice
Penso Positivo, Jovanotti
Fools Rush In, Elvis

The end result is always better than "The Plan"

I saw the first part of Best of Youth two weeks ago, a Saturday matinee the day before M. got back from a dog trip to Austin. Now "The Plan" was to see the second part the next day during the Sunday matinee. Unfortunately for the completion of "The Plan", it is veritably impossible to go from Oakland to the other end of San Francisco in 20 minutes (score 10 nerd points for using the word veritable). But I was in no rush, just happy to be enjoying the beautiful sunny day with el Marco. And, as usually happens whenever we dare to venture out of the house on a sunny weekend in Northern California, we got stuck in a traffic jam. However, as usually happens whenever we dare to venture out of the house on a sunny weekend in Northern California,we managed to find something cool and fun to do. In this case we stumbled onto the Cherry Blossom Festival in Japantown(cause of the horrible jamming of the traffic).


Japantown

I love it when things like this happen!
Who invented Parades? What a great concept! Can you tell this was my first Parade ever? I know, it's like I'm a martian.


Here come the singing ladies!

I've decided that the next hobby I take up shall be the Japanese Drumming. Can you think of anything cooler? OK, you probably have a good enough imagination but you can't deny me japanese drumming is cool enough. It's called
Taiko and it looks like a work-out. I bet it gets rid of the flabby underarms (you ladies know what I'm taking about...)



And I should mention I took almost all these pictures standing on my tippy-toes holding the camera way-up in the air and using the flip-out viewer to try not to catch the bald-spot from the guy in front of me. I risk my life for art.



The one regret I have is the turning into an idiot gawker when His Royal Dreamboat, the mayor of The City by the Bay, Mr. Gavin Newsome walked by. How did I miss the chance to immortalize the moment?! I was too busy being surprised at how young and handsome he was. I always thought myself more of a Matt Gonzalez type, however, you have to give due where it is.. um... due. Plus his hair wasn't as oily as I was lead to expect.


Shake those flowers Sister!

In the end it was a great weekend, even if I didn't get my intended way.

If soap operas were works of art of existential meaning...

...they would be something like this. Have you seen it? Es excelente.
A saga that deals with the epic struggles of average human beings living their normal lives. I realize the title of this post might be off-putting.I don't want to give the impression that the movie is a melodrama. It's just that we get to know the characters with such intimacy, such familiarity and empathy, it's like we were truly watching the evolution of a family over time. Most movies are a snapshot, an idea, this movie is a novel, a dissertation. I saw it over two Saturdays at the Balboa. I'd never been there before. It took me over an hour to get there from Oakland. I went alone each time, and each time I emerged from the darkened movie theater startled by the sunlight and by the strange language spoken around me. Whenever I come back from Puerto Rico it takes me a while to get used to English, it feels like I am surrounded by actors in a sit-com. I felt the same way after watching La Meglio Gioventu. I had been living these peoples lives. As far as I knew I was in Roma, Palermo, La Toscana. I would call the movie vouyeristic except I had no sense of self or shame. How could the acting have been that good?
...I want to go back to Italy. I was so happy to find out I could still understand Italian...
Anyway, you should see this movie because I know you would like it. Because you love your family and friends, because you believe in goodness, and beauty, and beauty even within the daily ugliness, because your life, like all our lives is epic and illuminating.

Lo Mejor de la Juventud