It takes two to Tango, and just one to say NO

There is a point in everyone's life when they realize that sometimes grownups say one thing but do something else. Shocking? no, just one of those unavoidable epiphanies of life. I am much more pragmatic and cynical than my younger hirsute self. Having said that, practical does not mean devoid of beliefs and sense of justice.

I have always been a very politically inclined person, I guess you have to be when you have lived almost half of your younger existence in a country that was ruled by a Dictator for 16 years. 1988 was my senior year in high school and also the year of Chile's plebiscite to decide with a Yes or No whether Pinochet could stay for a bunch of more years keeping the "Marxist" at bay. The country was almost evenly divided between those in favor and those who wanted democracy back on the books. My senior class (a small 50-something bunch in a private school), was a pure reflection of the national reality. Lunch breaks would find us arguing why we should vote one way or the other, these discussions would end unequivocally in people not talking to each other and childish epithets thrown around like powdered sugar on this carb unfriendly "Berlín".

  Why I am reminiscing of these days? because both groups eventually turned into these blind cattle-like following fans. Then, people supporting Pinochet could not see any wrongdoing from him or his government, if you supported his removal or questioned the legitimacy of him staying for another 8 years you automatically were a traitor and a child eating communist. On the other side we NO supporters just spewed blind hate towards anything or anyone associated with the government of Pinochet and his persona. If someone pointed out that there were a few positive aspect of the economic uphill of Chile or how allowing private university would create a more educated population, you were labeled a Fascist loving democracy hating Nazi.
A friend of mine posted a note on facebook in relation to Rev. Warren giving the invocation on Inauguration Day that generated some replies from others, this motivated me to go back on memory lane and also start writting in my blog again. One phrase from these replies stuck out to me.

"From the above description this Rick Warren sounds like scum but I doubt Obama chose him to give the invocation for the sake of his homophobic beliefs. For now I urge us all to have some faith in Obama's choices, even if we don't completely agree with them"

Although I am a Catholic Gay Left-Handed Latino (talk about a minority, and other left-handed would agree), I always have had trouble with the word Faith used in a non-religous context. Faith means not asking questions and a blind trust of some idea or entity that works in the spiritual personal realm but in politics and policy-making it just leads to reckless decisions (Hello Bush anyone?) and a sense that you don't need to explain your actions. I don't believe Obama is homophobic or that he plans to send all gay people to Guantamo, but this Warren issue was an unforced error that hurt me as a gay man and as an American. For the secular population this may just be a political move, but understand that half the globe and most Latin America is going to be watching the religious aspect of the ceremony, and what are they going to say? "You know who is giving the "blessing?" it is this "pastor" who by the way, believes gay people are pedophiles, and that anyone who disagrees with him are a bunch "Christophobes". WOW way to set the tone for your goverment and to be a world leader.
I am tired of being the odd family member that is left in the cellar for the official family gatherings, a la Alberto Blest Gana's "El Loco Estero". I am all about inclusion and being the bigger person (and God knows I have fought for it) and waiting for my turn, when is it my time then?

Testing

Testing cellspin for blogging

Some like it hot....

OK here we are in San Diego, after a week of annoying and sticky hot weather ( of course hot in San Diego terms) and I am thinking of how in general as we grow into our ages we get less and less tolerant towards things that happens us.
During the last week I have been recontacting friends and acquaintances through Facebook. These people were a huge part of my life during my recent and not so recent past. One of them is a guy I met in Chile, I was around 25 and my mom had sent me to see a therapist because she was worried I didn't have an emotional life ( obviously she and I still had not admitted to may "gay issue"...that is another blog I should write).
Tolerant or maybe just young and impulsive, I fell in love with a married man... (he had a BF not wife and kids). Life does not warn us when certain events or people will become milestones in our life. He became just that, my emotional life can be divided pre and post HIM. I am sure he doesn't know that and I am not sure if one day I will tell him, I did write various poems about those days, those I may release. The main reason that I pursued this relationship was at the advice of my therapist who had just told me I was " incapable of love". This actually sounds harsher and more definitive than what it really is.
Fear and disappointment was the root of why I was where I was emotionally. Years ago, during my first gay Long Term Relationship, I had caught my boyfriend in bed with another man. I made myself believe that mundane situations like that didn't affect me, I was above jealousy and suffering. All the men who dated me afterward would probably tell you otherwise.
When I reached the turning point in my life when I met this "married" guy and I started my therapy, my therapist counseled me to continue this relationship as a way of him to work through my process of dating and relating with others emotionally. To make a long story short the whole 5 months we were together (with therapy and with my "boyfriend"), was worth 5 years of marriage. To make a long story short I broke up with him 5 months later when I realized that I needed more than the few hours a week he could spare out of his real relationship. I was WORTH more, yes! I have never dated someone with a BF again (knowingly). Crushes on unavailable men, yes... but that is a blog I already wrote months ago. This spiel come to me when I realized all the NOs I have when it comes to dating and how just 12 years ago this laundry list just had one item: Must be a MAN.

Everything COmes Back....Geeorge Michael

With the release of George Michael's new CD and new Tour I just had to rehash my top 3 favorite music videos from this 80s icon.

This is THE SONG I fall in love with...(future BF out there.. if you dedicate this to me, I WILL marry you)


All time best video

I'm to sexy

Wow! sometimes words just are an unnecessary extra. Colton Ford is an ex Porn Star that has "cracked" the singing industry... color me amazed and hooked.


and this extra gay hottie


This one is dedicated to you know who

Arthur C. Clarke RIP

Last March 19, 2008, died one of the masters of Sci-Fi... Arthur C. Clarke who together with Isaac Asimov was one of the authors that made me fall in love with the genre.
2001: A Space Odyssey was the movie that opened my eyes to the amazing world of scientific fantasy, although we are way beyond the years that were depicted in the movie and much of its predictions did not come true ( Sorry Pan Am), it still was riveting and groundbreaking way beyond special effects. It was The Matrix of its time.
Great loss.

AIDA and how theatre is done

Being a musical "queen" and a chorus singer I was very much intrigued and excited this Saturday when I went to see Aida performed by the J*Company, a youth troupe at the La Jolla's Jewish Community Center. These are high school kids between the ages of 14-18 directed by Joey Landwehr who also happens to be the choreographer director of our chorus' next performance... Heart and Soul.
Seeing these kids perform was a moving and fun experience I was not prepared for. All the leads were just stunning, Amneris had a powerhouse voice and a sense of timing hard to find in musical theatre... my only quip would be that wig!!! reminded me of the Facts of Life's Blair worst hair days. Aida was sweet and tender but with the strength you expect from her character. I think she was the best duo/trio performer moving with ease from solo performance to blending without effort when needed.
I am a little biased towards Mereb (played by Andrew Miller), Andrew has helped the chorus in previous chorus productions as he will do in this one. His portrayal of the Egyptian slave was just a joy to watch and hear. Besides his soothing vocal performance I think his stage presence and timing was refreshing and worthy of bigger stages.
Finally, Radames had a very interesting actor filling those shoes. I think his solos where well handled and his onstage chemistry with Aida were his "strongest suit" I have to admit I was missing a sort of TOUGHNESS in his role that we expect in the character, it did not make me unlike him just wished for a little more umph.
Overall I think we paid for a show that was well worth much more.

nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine BC

Why or why,
Sometimes I think movie producers think the average movie goer lives in a bubble world in total disconnect with World History and unable to follow more than one plot line at a time. If they are going to campaign against pirating and promote forking more and more money to sit in a barely comfortable seat for a zillion seconds for just a hint of FX and an extreme suspension from reality, they are going to wake up in a bootleg world very soon.
This flick had the potential to be a fun loosely fact checked movie, á la The Day After Tomorrow. But no, once they start the first 5 minutes explaining to the audience that the whole premise is going to revolve around a pre-historic Love Story (without the cancer) you better have a sure exit plan because you will be going to the bathroom more than once. Between the incredibly sharp goatees these men had before Gillette was founded to the amazing idea that the only tribe that spoke a different language where the white grungy D'les, while all the black tribes spoke the same common language...wow.
A Sabre-Tooth that just because the main character saved him from drowning was now his BFF and at the end only appeared for 2 seconds on the next frame.... waist of crappy CGI.
I have to say the most annoying thing of the movie was the old lady leader of the tribe... she almost died every 5 minutes... OMG 'mam die already... didn't you know that the life expectancy in those days was around 30 not 300.
Geography was lost here tooo... snowy mountains that lead to a desert and a "river" ( I can only assume it was the Nile). Last time I checked the Nubians were to the South of the Egyptians (also considering that the Egyptian culture is from 5000 BC not 10000) and finally DOMESTICATED mammoths????
Guys... only rent this movie if your Netflix queue is empty.

Ben Affleck comes Out!!!

Bitch is the new Black!!!

Hillary's Closes at the Presidential Debate in Texas

This is why I voted for Hillary...
made my skin crawl.

Barack Obama: There Will Be Bamboozling

I want to like Obama...but for some reason I just can't... I feel BAMBOOZLED

night and day

Ok... Nothing like an awesome song with clips of hot men to make a day SO much better

Jumping Spiderwicks

Do you remember those good old days at the beach when you could go to the movies for a double feature and super sized pop-corn ( you know, before some smart ass told us how many carbs those exploded corn puffs had), and enjoy a "slightly" passé movie for not much money? Well this last weekend I went down memory lane and repeated those adventures of yesteryear, well.... without the carb-corns, the movies were just released and the price was not a deal (we did see one of the flix in IMAX). This whole incident got me thinking of the whole movie going experience per se and how it has changed during my lifetime. Besides the fact the movies and movie theatres have changed dramatically, I think this only accounts for about half of the experience. We, as spectators, also change during time... we are less impressionable and more cynical. I can remember that just hearing the overwhelming pre-Dolby-surround-digital-7.2 analog sound made my skin crawl; colors and surreal worlds made me quiver. I was happy with just a consistent plot and likeable characters. People would sit down without excited and not talk or eat loud from credits to credits. I personally believe that there is some sort of "been there- seen that" attitude.

After you have seen Trinity leap in the air and “slow time" the first time you will never see again a unanimous crowd spontaneously dropping their jaws in awe and vocally expressing their wonderment. For me that was the epitome of my love for movies. I always go back reminiscing that moment expecting the same. Movies are getting less ambitious and fluffier. As long as you have an A-list actor/tress it is ok for a movie to be full of loop holes and devoid of depth (I am Legend..HELLO).

We saw Jumpers and Spiderwick (IMAX) on Saturday and the best thing from that experience was the ice cream sandwich that I sinfully ate. Jumpers was such a big disappointment- you know those movies that are good if they had just showed what appeared in the trailer. It was a sci-fi chick flick, don’t get me wrong I love those two genres, but rarely do they work when they mix them up. Slow beginning, took forever to develop the characters and once you saw the cool "jumping" effect it got old pretty quick. God bless Hayden but he is the new Keanu Reeves, cute but with a monotone and flat acting skills.... I am sure he would be awesome in a prequel to The Matrix but that would be it.

Spiderwick was sort of better, or maybe it just looked better compared to the previous bland experience. It was Narniaesque and the special effect where interesting enough. Acting was not amazing but cute. If I had to choose between both I would recommend Spiderwick but don't bother in paying for the IMAX experience.

Now back to my regular poll watching and political blog lurking.

My Endorsement 2008

Some of you may know that I am very politically active and love a good debate, checking polls every day and reading right and left-wing blogs. It may be that almost all my formative years where spent under chilean Dictator Pinochet, with no Democracy and no electoral process. In 1988 I was swept by the political winds of change trying to remove our self-crowned King and finish 16 years of authoritarian rule.

When I returned to the US in 2000 it was right a month after the General Elections that had the legal battle between Bush/Gore. I was very taken aback by the intensity and furor of the political process. This didn't last long.... during the last 7 years I have seen how a bad choice can REALLY take a whole nation from the global leadership and admiration it had for decades to a position of international pariah and economic blunder.

Although both Democratic candidates (it goes beyond saying that the Republican bunch is totally undesirable) have there pros and cons, and they pretty much are very similar on policy issues... I have chosen the experience and Health Policy of Hillary Clinton over the Hope and Charisma of Senator Obama. I think Barrack has a promising future ahead of him and he WILL be the President of the US in a 8 years from now. He just needs to play with the political system for a while. We all know how ugly the general elections can get.... HILLARY '08!!!

It Takes 2

There is no excuse for me being such a procrastinator with keeping up with my blog. I am not going to rant on there is so little time to put down in words thoughts, events or just plain gossip. So, I will not.
As usual there are certain events that slap you in the face and makes you ponder about you surroundings. For me it was the untimely death of Heath Ledger a few days ago.
Everyone knows that my heart-stealing actor is Jake Gyllenhaal, but I would do a disservice to the movie that was Brokeback Mountain if I didn't acknowledge how this actor made a complex and deep character available to the masses and especially to the gay followers.
I have to admit that before Ennis Delmar he was not in my radar (blonds don't do ti much for me...with the exception of Ronnie in Make me a Supermodel), after BM I went back to discover that I had actually seen his good performance in other flicks without noticing who he really was. Time has made me more cynical and I am not going to go all mushy saying that this event changed my life. I will however confess that tragic and sudden events do have pro-catatonic effects on my behavior.
Being the spontaneous person that I am it always shocks me when random life events can make me shiver and afraid... Have I done enough? Do I sabotage my search for love? am I doing it right?
It is hard to ask people close to you for details on what we might be doing wrong, people are afraid of pointing out errors on others afraid of finding those same mistakes in themselves. Maybe mishaps are all we have to feel alive?

Across My Universe

It has been exactly 2 months since I last posted in my blog, why? probably becuase I was busy, maybe I ran out of words (hmmm yeah right!) sometimes we just need a break to accumulate lots of life events to plaster over the net.

First I have to comment on the movie I saw, Across The Universe, I don't want to call it a musical because that wouldn't exactly describe what I saw. To me it would be more of a musical reinterpretation of The Beatles' songbook. As you may have guessed by my eloquent and poetic definition, I LOVED this movie. To begin, you have the most adorable and sweet man playing the main character: Jude (Jim Sturgess). Some of you may know that I have a soft spot for deep and expressive eyes... add eyelashes for days and a sensual voice and you had me at "Close your eyes and I'll kiss you...."

Because the last few musical movie experiences had not been up to par with my expectations, I was anxious but cautious. This was one of those movies that captured me right from the first note coming out from his mouth. Musical magical experiences in movies are hard to come by, Moulin Rouge comes to mind. Each song was a mini video in itself, to point out my favorite on or ones is a task. T.V. Carpio did an exceptional job retooling and interpreting I want to hold your hand this set the tone for what would become a succession of amazing visuals and music. Two songs/visual combinations have to be mentioned in this blog.The ensemble's performance of Because, an incredible acapella arrangement that just makes your skin crawl, and the choreographed I want you (she is so heavy).

I've always liked Beatles' songs but this rendition of their art was true to the times they lived and the transition from romantic early-mid 60s to the revolutionary Vietnam era America was smooth and real. This is going to be a sure DVD purchase, I will second anyone who proposes a Broadway adaptation of this magical work.

No Hay Burro

A nice way to start the weekend is with this mulato brasileiro nicknamed Bandido.

He is obviously the object of the cameraman in this video clip whomever he might be, Thank You.
On Sunday I went with the boys to see Stardust, I admit I wanted to see it because of Michelle Pfeiffer. She is in my opinion an incredible actress that is not as appreciated as her work of art deserves. The last time I saw her in a worthwhile flick was in "What Lies Beneath". I was not disappointed. The movie was fun and not overly ambitious, with the right amount of subtle adult humour and eye candy. Prince Charming was one of those adorable brunettes that can pull off long hair.

But don't let those droopy eyes, furry chest, bitable lips,the "protect me" aura............... ehm... where was I? oh, don't let those qualities fool you, he is a up and coming actor that is also putting in jeopardy the long lasting position that Jake Gyllenhall has had in my "allowed to cheat with" list.

In general the whole ensemble was cohesive and fun with beautiful cinematography and enough fx to keep us die hard fantasy/scifi geeks interested.

Monday and Tuesday were days of remembrance, another anniversary of 9/11. So much has happened since then and at the same time so little has changed. I really try not to think much of it, every time I see documentaries and TV specials about that dark day emotions take a hold of me and cloud my judgement. I really think our nation and the world is ready for some real Hope and some sort of global reconciliation... how we will achieves this... I don't know but if History has taught us anything is that " No hay mal que dure 100 años, ni burro que lo aguante".

After 5 years of singing with the Gay Men's Chorus and besides all the drama that has come together with the musical commitment, I realized this Wednesday in rehearsal that this group of men and the institution per se is one of the main anchors of my sanity. It keeps me grounded with short term achievable goals and a group of friends/brothers that accepts me with all my quirks and personality traits (or at least they make me believe they do).

Second week of my working out at the Park with Les, I have increased the interval to 3 times a week.... I am loosing weight, I have more stamina and in general I think my endorphins levels have increased to an addicting level. Let's see if I can pull it off... for my birthday/Xmas concert I expect to have a Montreal '04 level of fitness.

Cambio y Fuera

Piropo

Pi-ro-po \pi-‘ro-po\n. pl-pos [Sp. Piropear]1. An amorous compliment 2: A flirtatious remark.

There are those words that are very hard to translate without them losing all of the impact and significance they have in it's original language. Piropo is one of them. In Latin culture there is a very common practice among men to compliment women with smart little poem like phrases. Women ( and gay men also) usually act nonchalantly towards these comments because it is the right way to react ( well bred people) but in most cases they just love it.

In American culture the closest thing we could find that has a similar appeal is the pick up line. Although the pick up line, as the name implies, has a defined purpose; the piropo does not. In context the piropo is just meant as a token of admiration of the beauty or sexiness of the "victim" and usually it is done in a public environment where there is an increased chance of not seeing the admired person ever again.

The reason for this blog entry is that this week as I was walking down the streets, sunglasses and ipod blasting Chayenne's Salomé and maybe I was sort of walking with the rhythm of the music- well this guy passes by me and says "It should be illegal for something this hot to be out in the streets with this heat wave"... I could only smile and feel refreshed that after all these years of cynicism and aloofness these kind of gestures totally make my day, what the heck it made my year.

With all this culture of sexual harassment and political correctness it bring hope back to life's routine to know that old fashioned courting and spontaneity is still alive ion the XXI century.

Sloppy Seconds

I saw this movie at home the other night, you know those nights when there is absolutely NOTHING to see on the stupid box. I thought it was time to grab one of my gay flicks from my "to see" list. There are some movies with the homo thematic that assume that just because it has man on man love scene we LGBT members should just run and see it. Well, we do. We do it for the same reasons we go see every single Broadway musical adaptation into movie, we buy every Cher, Xtina, Madonna and Kelly CD before listening the them.... to keep them coming.

Seriously, some of these movies don't even try, they just grab a bunch of hot straight actors who are "comfortable with their sexuality" that are hoping that they will be the next Jack Twist or Ennis Del Mar. This movie, Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds" (yes, a SEQUEL), is about this gay lonely average looking gay guy (American Idol alumni Jim Verraros) who is dumped by his "out of your league hot" boyfriend Marc (Brett Chuckerman, look at those eyes Daniel-pic #1). Of course he and his pair of nymphomaniac fag hags have the same art class.... and guess who is the male model for the day, sexually confused Troy (Marc Dapper- Sorry Matt he IS mine). To get into Troy's pant they join into a Coming In group of ex gays where they meet Octavio (Adrian Quiñones) and we have the trio of male hunkiness needed to make a gay flick...well, gay.

At the end it turns out that after making Marc jealous with Troy (and Troy discovering he is bisexual....ehmm yeah) Jim Verraros ends up with Marc and they live happily ever after. I would not call this the worst gay movie ever.... but definitely worth it if you have a friend who has the DVD because the pseudosex scene between Marc and Troy is really HOT, and I know about hot scenes on the screen. ;)