Last night got a free ticket for The Village.  It is one of those movies where you feel in the minority for liking it.  I thought it was a great allegory of Christianity but my fellow moviegoers didn't think highly of it.  In fact, popcorn flew, guffaws abounded and people were demanding their time back. I was in an alternate movie reality, enjoying and being genuinely surprised by Night's trademark twists (I had not read anything about this movie, so the common spoilers thrown about in message boards did not affect my viewing.  I went in with the vaguest idea what it was about and it came out great)

For all those who want to give Night a chance, this is cinematic poetry in motion.  If you want to be scared or entertained, rent The Ring...

Today's newspaper supplement talks about the average American's knowledge of Puerto Rico. Funny as all hell, outside New York and Florida we are a mystery. Answers to the most elemental questions include these gems:

1. "Isn't that Al-Qaeda terrorist (referring to Jose Padilla) from there?" -uh-oh, not good...

2. "I don't know anything" - Pa. engineer - middle of the road, patriotic ego desinflates a little.

3.  "First thing that comes to mind are the hotels and golf parks.", Hope Mouhot, TN - Erm, hotels and golf parks are definitely SO NOT Puerto Rico, any tourist who comes here and golfs for a vacation definitely fucks his/her father...

4.  "They have lots of beauty queens" - Sadly, this one is right on target.  We live for and obsess about beauty queens.  It is a source of national pride that a 100 x35 mile island has more Miss Universe queens per capita than the US and Venezuela.  What's more:  all  Puerto Rican women are  expected to look the part, ugliness and dishevelment are frowned down upon.  At work, several times, I have been warned against showing up not wearing make-up.  Combing your hair and wearing a neat uniform is not enough to wait on customers, you MUST wear lipstick and eyeliner or you are breaking the dress code. GRRRR....

5.  "They have great coffee" - Damn right you have it, yipeee...

6.  "Many have come to the US, 'West Side Story' said so..."-  I wonder what else you learned about Puerto Ricans  from  'West Side Story'...

7.  "They should become a state and pay taxes..." - We shouldn't become a state (sorry, L. and please don't tell your Dad I said that, I want a safe place to stay when I go to Tampa) and we already pay taxes, we just don't fill out the forms.  Actually, the person who gave this answer did not find any difficulty in annexing a Spanish speaking country to the United States. 

8.  "They have a U.S. Senate delegate who votes in Congress" - Sorry, off mark, he doesn't vote, he just make friends with others and tries to convince them to vote the way he wants to...

9.  "They are not American citizens" - Way off, too.  We ARE American citizens, we just don't vote for President.  Next time I go to the states and anybody who knows I am Puerto Rican asks for my passport I am going to scream...

10.  "They are on the south"  "They are on the east" - Southeast, people, southeast, point toward Florida and Georgia and you got it.  By the way, while you are at it, Rhode Island is northeast.

11.  "I was there with the Army in 1950, all of the canal zone people are American citizens" - Erm, you mean Panama, right?

12.  "Ask me about Mexico, I know more about that" - I am running off to cry my national pride out, it is enough that we never appear in cheap world maps...

Sometimes I get into a frame of mind where I don't believe I will ever ever post here again.  Then, I WANT to post but I am late for work.  Another day, I believe it is too late for a train of thought to be mantained and the journal is unsavable. Quirks of the brain do that, usually.  Until one day something happens and I have to write here.

Let's start by saying I went to Borders with my friend.  Thankfully she (as all my best friends do) reads. So she helped me out by giving me her 20% discount coupon AND restraining me from adquiring books I already had (But it has a different cover!....look! Gabriel Garcia Marquez's bio in ENGLISH!!) or books she had that I could borrow.  I also went to the Commemorative Acts for the Hundred...erm,  let's call it Nerudacon. Now, that was weird:  the Porta Coeli museum director gave me his e-mail address to talk anytime about it, a poet friend told me that I MUST take her new book jacket picture and another writer agreed for me to interview him. It was a very productive night and the only thing I did was sit in front so I didn't have to talk to people...

I wrote the article about that writer, got a call back from him and he suggested that I talk with another writer who happens to work with Editorial Isla Negra and is publishing a new history book.  At the mention of a normal human being who lives 10 minutes from my house being published by Isla Negra I sped there.  Had a fine talk with this guy about the different literature generations in Puerto Rico and the weird happens again.  He is editing an anthology of the newest of the new writers and he wants ME to submit a story.  Word unseen, don't ask me why. The catch?  Deadline is Monday...

My boss was testing the waters asking me if I was willing to cover an assignment after work hours. I say: Sure. She told me that she would like me to go to the local writers' celebration of Neruda's 100th birthday. That I must talk to the writers, ask for names and contact numbers, interview them for future articles. She will foot the entrance fee. I love doing her dirty work...

I never follow all the stupid court cases that the media likes to wax endlessly about... There is one case that I followed,though. Some guy was tried for the theft and illegal sale of a blue and gold guacamayo worth over $1000. The defendant argued that this was not the accuser's bird. Today, the guy was found guilty with two years probation. The damning witness? The bird. The owner brought the guacamayo as witness to court. He stood in front of the bird and shouted: "Freeze!", his hands at gunpoint position. The guacamayo threw himself down and raised his legs in a surrendering gesture...

No, it is not a joke, this really happened...

Waiting on two friends to decide what I'll do Sunday. If Friend #1 answers e-mail I am going to San Juan. If not, then I will go with co-workers and see Spiderman.I really want to go to SJ.

After posting about surrealists on the Shocklines board, I dug up Horacio Quiroga from the forgotten texts of high school. Reread some really weird stories of his, the ones that are in the textbooks but teachers usually ignore. I had a funny-weird Spanish lit teacher who gave us university type assignments. In four years I took classes with her, she never taught Spanish grammar. Everything was literature, the girls in my class used to hate it. I loved it and I will always be grateful to her, because now I am unearthing these little subversive jewels I didn't understand then.

What does this have to do with a four hour drive? Well, that is how I get to Borders, the nearest decent bookstore, two hours away. Cortázar, Quiroga, Bécquer, Carlos Fuentes: my grocery list is ready...