Today’s update is a bit different – from a bit more personal and less medical terminology point of view. It is Sunday morning, May 3, 2009.
I have just returned from my morning walk. The sun has risen and is burning off the small amount of morning mist and fog with a little grey mist still hanging over the mountains behind us. The sky is a deep blue with a few puffy cotton-candy looking clouds scattered around. A few of the small beach restaurants have fired up the BBQ’s, preparing to cook the catch of the day. Delivery trucks are making the standard drop off’s as they do each morning, from the Coca-Cola trucks to the “Sabritas” (potato chips and snacks) to the small stores. A few fisherman stand knee deep in the water throwing out their nets. The dedicated exercise people are doing some speed walking or jogging. City maintenance guys with their green uniforms are sweeping the streets as they always do and give me a cheerful “Buenos Dias!”. Various forms of seabirds track lightly along the beach looking for some type of breakfast morsel. What would normally be a bustling and busy morning due to a long, holiday weekend here is quiet. There are many parking spots everywhere. Returning home I check my patio garden and see that two of my orchids are beginning to bloom. My plants seem to welcome a fresh watering and respond quickly, standing up straight and tall. My office is a disaster with piles of papers sliding off the desk, newspapers and printed articles all over the place. My computer has begun to rebel, moving quite slowly most likely rebelling from handling nearly 2,600 emails in a one week time period. It’s time to clean and organize this mess and attempt to return to a sense of “normalcy” in my work schedule this week which actually seems pretty darned inviting. Selfishly, my heart aches for Puerto Vallarta, my home, my base, my family’s home. What will become of us? How will we repair the economic damage? The flu seems to be under a good control. We are “clean”. How do we make the world and future tourists understand that?
Archives for May 2009
TV for the Flu Bound » TCM broadcasts “Latino Images in Film” in May
Since the Government of Mexico, prodded by the US and Canadian Governments, has shut down the country, socially, economically and culturally, why not just curl up in front of the TV with a cold cerveza or two (max limit) and see what being a Latino is all about, cinematically speaking.
TCM—RACE AND HOLLYWOOD: LATINO IMAGES IN FILM
Throughout the month of May, TCM’s “Race and Hollywood: Latino Images In Film” will showcase 40 films, past and present, that show the progression of how Latino characters and culture are depicted in cinema. Joining TCM’s Robert Osborne in hosting the festival will be UCLA professor Chon Noriega, author of Shot in America: Television, the State, and the Rise of Chicano Cinema.
“As has been shown in our past ‘Race and Hollywood’ editions, the way in which Hollywood depicts different cultural groups can have a tremendous impact on how those groups are viewed in society as a whole,” said Charles Tabesh, senior vice president of programming for TCM. “We’re proud that TCM has the library and resources to delve deeply into issues like racial and cultural identity in a way that no other network on television can. We are also thrilled to welcome the participation of noted scholar Chon Noriega as co-host with Robert Osborne for this project.”
TCM’s “Race and Hollywood: Latino Images In Film” festival will take place Tuesday and Thursday nights in May, beginning at 5:00PM (PT). Each night’s collection of films will be centered on a particular theme, such as a look at depictions from the silent era, views of border towns and small ethnic towns, musicals, stories featuring interracial relationships, explorations of social problems and Latino representations in past and current westerns. Also included in the festival line-up will be several contemporary films making their first appearance on TCM, including The Milagro Beanfield War (1988), La Bamba (1987), The Mambo Kings (1992), Stand and Deliver (1988), The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (1983) and Lone Star (1996). In addition, each evening will feature a specially chosen film for late-night movie fans.
Chon A. Noriega, who will co-host the festival with TCM’s Robert Osborne, is professor of cinema and media studies at UCLA and director of the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center. He is author of Shot in America: Television, the State, and the Rise of Chicano Cinema and editor of nine books, including Visible Nations: Latin American Cinema and Video and I, Carmelita Tropicana: Performing Between Cultures. Since 1996, he has been editor of A Journal of Chicano Studies, the flagship journal for the field since its founding in 1970. Noriega has curated numerous media and visual arts projects, including Phantom Sightings: Art After the Chicano Movement, which is currently traveling to venues in the U.S. and Mexico. He has also helped recover and preserve independent films, including the first three Chicano-directed feature films, which have been restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive. Noriega has received the Getty Postdoctoral Fellowship in the History of Art and the Rockefeller Foundation Film/Video/Multimedia Fellowship. He is co-founder of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (est. 1999) and served two terms on the Board of Directors of the Independent Television Service. He is currently completing a book on Puerto Rican multimedia artist Raphael Montañez Ortiz.
Past editions of TCM’s “Race and Hollywood” festival series include explorations of how Hollywood has portrayed African-Americans in 2006 and Asians in 2008. In addition, TCM looked at Hollywood’s depiction of gay images in film in 2007.
The following is a complete schedule of TCM’s “Race and Hollywood: Latino Images In Film” (PT). An asterisk in parentheses (*) designates which movies are making their TCM debut. Please check TCM’s website for Eastern listings. http://www.tcm.com/2009/lif/index.jsp
All films are in English. In Puerto Vallarta, TCM is channel 54, Telecable.
Tuesday, May 5
Spanish Dons and Señoritas in the Silent Era
- 5:00PM Ramona (1910) (*)
- 5:30PM The Mark of Zorro (1920)
- 7:00PM Old San Francisco (1927)
The Old West
- 8:45PM Big Stakes (1922) (*)
- 10:00PM In Old Arizona (1929) (*)
Overnight Feature
- 1:45AM The Gay Desperado (1936) (*)
Thursday, May 7
Border Films
- 5:00PM Bordertown (1935)
- 6:45PM Border Incident (1949)
Boxing Films
- 8:30PM Right Cross (1950)
- 10:15PM Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962)
Overnight Feature
- 1:00AM Revenue Agent (1950)
Tuesday, May 12
Small Ethnic Towns
- 5:00PM Tortilla Flat (1942)
- 7:00PM …And Now Miguel (1953) (*)
- 8:15PM The Milagro Beanfield War (1988)
- 10:30PM Salt of the Earth (1954)
Overnight Feature
- 12:15AM The Garment Jungle (1957)
Thursday, May 14
Miscegenation
- 5:00PM Mexican Spitfire (1940)
- 6:30PM My Man and I (1952)
- 8:30PM Giant (1956)
Overnight Feature
- 1:00AM The Texican (1966) (*)
Tuesday, May 19
Social Problems
- 5:00PM The Lawless (1950) (*)
- 6:30PM Trial (1955)
- 8:30PM Cry Tough (1959) (*)
- 10:00PM The Young Savages (1961)
Overnight Feature
- Midnight Blackboard Jungle (1955)
Thursday, May 21
Musicals
- 5:00PM Greenwich Village (1944) (*)
- 6:30PM West Side Story (1961)
- 9:15PM La Bamba (1987) (*)
- 11:15PM The Mambo Kings (1992) (*)
Overnight Feature
- 1:15AM Cuba (1979)
Tuesday, May 26
Youth and Gangs
- 5:00PM Stand and Deliver (1988) (*)
- 7:00PM Walk Proud (1979) (*)
- 9:00PM Boulevard Nights (1979) (*)
- 11:00PM Badge 373 (1973) (*)
Overnight Feature
- 1:00AM Strangers in the City (1962) (*)
Thursday, May 28
Families
- 5:00PM Popi (1969)
- 7:00PM My Family (1995) (*)
Western Revisions
- 9:15PM The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (1983) (*)
- 11:15PM Lone Star (1996) (*)
Overnight Feature
- 1:45AM Terror in a Texas Town (1958)
No Mas “Nonessential” Kisses
Televisa Cuts “Nonessential” Kisses From Telenovelas, Sparking Outrage Among Old Women, Bloggers Everywhere
1 May 2009, 6:00 PM. By Camilla Rowan
Thanks to the Mexican government recommending its citizens avoid close contact, Televisa has said they will cut all “nonessential” kisses from their telenovelas. What don’t you ruin, swine flu!?
Televisa says it’s merely following the mandated hygienic precautions but we think they’re trying to ruin our fun. If they were really worried they would make the actors wear tongue-condoms or cancel filming all together but instead they’re just being giant cock-teases. A spokesman for Televisa made an unofficial statement, “when the script of a telenovela requires a kiss, the kiss will be give in accordance with the guidelines so as not to expose the actors to any risk,” which we’re guessing means a whole lot of panting and eye-fucking but no licky licky. Lame.
La Gripa del Marrano
[youtube kMEFCRbbi0g]
LYRICS IN ENGLISH
This is the story of a pig
that came to our city.
It infected us with a flu
that started to disturb us.
This is the story of a sickness
that was first discovered in the capital.
No one knows how or where it started
it was the first pig that screwed us all.
They say that the first victim died
my grandmother told me he was messing around with a pig
Grab each other’s hands but please don’t get too close
and take care when changing your partner.
Cover your mouth if you’re about to sneeze
the swine flu is about to start!
—————————————- ———————
(CHORUS)
It’s the swine flu, let’s all dance to the rythm
All the ladies in the front and the gentlemen at the back.
It’s the swine flu, don’t get sick
There aren’t many vaccinations
let’s all dance!
¡Laa laa laa lara lara lara laaa!
¡Laa laa laa lara lara lara laaa! (x2)
—————————————- ———————
They closed all the schools in the entire city
so that the kids won’t get infected
78 dead, it seems that there will be more
The swine flu makes you dance!
The taco-shop’s customers are getting fewer
because of the rumors that are getting spread about the meat
Cover your mouth if you’re about to sneeze
The swine flu is about to start!
(CHORUS)
It has already reached London and continues even further
soon the Chinese will start to cry
If you ask me it was the gringos who let it loose
because the pigs spread from Texas and Alabama
the pigs spread!
(CHORUS)
¡Laa laa laa lara lara lara laaa!
¡Laa laa laa lara lara lara laaa! (x5)
Cumbia de la Influenza
[youtube acTCWDmOsPc]
Puerto Vallarta Swine Flu Pandemic Ends
OFFICIAL NOTICE
8 pm, May 1, 2009
OK, I’ll be the first to admit it, the swine flu “pandemic” was a bust. Just when you thought something exciting was going to happen and the commercial media was all wound up and the hysterics were coming out of the woodwork like our seasonal termites; NADA.
So few cases, so few deaths from this disease that it wouldn’t even register statistically on any type of Richter Scale for communicable diseases. The casualties were far below expectations, desires or fears, much lower, even, than what would be expected from any “normal” flu in an off season. Insignificant.
Sure, millions of dollars were lost to local economies (translation: the people of Mexico). Sure, the reputation of Mexico as a tourist destination is dirt for the next year or two. Sure, lots of people revealed how easily manipulated they are and how basically ignorant they are when it comes to fear mongering. They won’t be invited to parties anymore.
But we’ve seen all of this before with SARS, bird flu, Y2K, etc. Chalk the 2009 Swine Flu Pandemic up to just another episode in the stupidity and gullibility of modern mankind.
Oh, well, it was good while it lasted, but adios, swine flu. See you (in your new incarnation) next time around. We’ll all be waiting, anticipating, the next big fear extravaganza.
– Rick Hepting