A Year at the Movies

• Most "What the fuck?" moment: Charlize Theron is also a superhero in Hancock? Worse, they were a couple in ancient times?
• Most "I can't recover from seeing that!" moment: Matthew Fox speaking spanish in Vantage Point
• Most "I want to like it more but I can't" film: Indiana Jones and the Legend of the Crystal Skull. Question: How is Indy's dad dead if he drank from the Holy Grail at the end of The Last Crusade?
  
• "Samuel L. Jackson's seal of crap" film: Jumper. Now you know it: if Sam's in a movie, it probably sucks.
  
• Most "Pretentious self-satisfying pet projet": Maradona by Kusturica. Apparently, Maradona's "hand of God" goal was planned as a socialist coup to the establishment. Best Fiction Ever.
  
• "Annoying Karaoke singer" award: Pierce Brosnan in Mamma Mia. It's bad enough that we have to endure musicals, there's no need for this Saw-inspired torture.
  
• "Maradona's Destroy the legend" award: Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in Righteous Kill. After a mediocre decade at best (Showtime? Simone? 88 minutes? Godsend?), are the two icons heading for leads in CSI:Wichita?
  
• Worst excuse for a film: X Files 2. They actually thought people craved for more Duchovny.
  
• "I am starting to hate her but I don't know why" actress of the year: Nicole Kidman. Maybe it's because she looks a little pretentious. Or because her pregnant belly is no larger than a beer belly. Or because she hasn't aged since Days of Thunder.
  
• "Follow Joaquin Phoenix and retire already" award: Eddie Murphy. Should've retired in 1989, along with Soul Glo.
  
• Wile E. Coyote award for persistence and utter failure: Madonna, now directing. How can this be stopped?
  
• "I thought this was a movie and not 24" award: Taken. Dishonorable mentions: Vantage Point, 88 minutes. I thought the phrase "real time" was buried with the crash of the dotcom bubble.
  
• "Typecasted in a corset" award: Keira Knightley in Atonement and The Duchess. Maybe its because all those costumes make us believe that your chest is actually full, maybe it's because your movies in present time are, hmmm, awful? (The Jacket? Domino?)
  
• "Was this really a movie?": Mamma Mia. It was more like a perfume commercial mixed with singing under the shower. Apparently, they just gave the camera to some innocent bystander and asked him to shoot.
  
• Worst career move: Mark Wahlberg (Max Payne? The Happening?). Hire Ari, bitch!
  
• "In your face!" award: Scarlett Johanson. She's everywhere, like your annoying friend that comments everything in Facebook but ultimately has nothing to say or show for herself. What is she's going to do when she's 40 and can't play precocious anymore?
  
• Most enlightning moment of the year: Audiences finally realized Mike Myers is NOT funny. Hope this kills all planned Shrek sequels.
• "Makes you think" moment: Oliver Stone directing W. After World Trade Center and Alexander, it seems to confirm that you lose your edge with age.
• Proof that kills the theory that Europeans are more cultivated and intellectual: Mamma Mia is the highest grossing film of ALL TIME in the UK, Bienvenue chez les Ch'Tis is the highest in France.
  

L'Interista

Milan

Mucha lucha!

Para poder lidiar con este dia de anglicismos tipo change, hope y swing states y descansar un poco de la sobredosis de hockey moms, Joe the Plumber (o Tito the Builder), Clintons, Obamaxploitation y no-neck McCain, nada mejor que mirar de nuevo a nuestro continente donde dos fenomenos paralelos nos enseñan que el verdadero entretenimiento se encuentra en la tierra de la Copa Libertadores y no en los live coverages que analizan que significa cada variacion de un décimo de porcentaje en las urnas.

En esta esquina tenemos a las cholitas luchadoras. Efectivamente, con nombres como La Rompecorazones, La Vengadora, Carmen Rosa, La Alteña y el muy creativo La Campeona, la lucha libre de cholitas se inscribe dentro de los anales "bizarros" del folklore latino al lado de los ya famosos peces samurais bogotanos.

Aparentemente, el furor de la lucha libre de cholitas, bastante popular en los barrios humildes de La Paz y otras ciudades del Tibet Suramericano, se explica en la revindicacion de las mujeres y del pueblo indigena en general. Para la muestra, una cholita dandole su merecida paliza a La Alteña (luchadora no cholita, sino de piel blanca):


En la otra esquina tenemos al ya no tan underground Fray Tormenta, quien sirvio de inspiracion para Nacho Libre. Si, Nacho Libre existe, es mexicano y si, lucha para poder tener plata con que ayudar a los niños de su orfanato.

Otra prueba mas que el mundo de la WWF con sus payasos gemelos, bikers y robots se queda corto frente al sinnumero de personajes que nuestro creativo continente puede aportar.

Si el desocupe es maximo, aca se pueden ver videos de las peleas que espero poder alguna vez ver en vivo:

City Crumbling

NYC

Greed & The City

As I watched the film adaptation of Sex and the City on a plane recently, I couldn't help but notice how ironic it was that the New York version that this movie displayed and encouraged was crumbling down just outside my window.

At this point, it is really hard to know if the series fueled a lifestyle of 500 dollar shoes, breakfast mimosas and hefty apartements on the average New Yorker or if, conversely, the appartements, restaurants, wardrobe and lounges of Carrie and friends reflected the average day of working girls at the time. But the question of which inspired which is irrelevant on an era where the line between TV and reality is blurry. What really matters is that in the future, when people want to understand what really happened during the credit boom and what caused the 2008 crash, they just have to watch a couple of episodes of the series (watching the whole movie is too much of a punishment).

Not coincidentially, the series and the movie cover the whole decade where excessive leverage, minimal rates and 1-800-FREEMORTGAGE made a whole generation believe that a one bedroom apartment in Greenwich Village, a Louis Vuitton puppy bag and daily Cosmopolitans at lunch were just around the corner. Just like small town blonds arrive in LA to make it in showbiz, Ivy Leaguers flooded the city to indulge in haute couture, VIP lounges and, of course, casual sex. This generation, boosted by Gordon Gekko's "Greed is good" motto (but misinterpreting the rest of Oliver Stone's Wall Street) managed, by means of 9 figure bonuses made up of just thin air, to turn Hugo Boss, Armani and Moët & Chandon into the new Gap and Heineken.

Well, fear is good too. And even if recession will negatively affect all of us non-hedge funders, hopefully housing will become reasonably priced, risk will be treated as such and ludicrous salaries will be curtailed. But best of all, we wont have to bear for some time with Mr. Bigs and Carrie Bradshaws, fiction and real.

Strike a Pose

Intro/Candyshop
Beat Goes On
Human Nature
Vogue


VIDEO INTERLUDE

Into The Groove

Heart Beat
Borderline

She’s Not Me
Music

VIDEO INTERLUDE

Spanish Lesson
Miles Away
La Isla Bonita/Lela Pala Tute
Romanian folk musical interlude
You Must Love Me

VIDEO INTERLUDE

4 Minutes
Like A Prayer
Ray Of Light

Hung Up
Give It To Me (Finale)

A Rush of Blood to the Head Indeed

Life In Technicolor
Violet Hill
Clocks

In My Place
Speed Of Sound
Cemeteries Of London
Chinese Sleep Chant
42

Fix You
Strawberry Swing
God Put A simile Upon Your Face + Talk (Techno)
The Hardest Part
Postcards From Far Away
Viva La Vida
Lost
The Scientist
Death will Never Conquer
Viva la Vida remix
———
Politik

Lovers in Japan

Death and All His Friends
——–
Yellow
The Escapist

A riot

Kaiser Chiefs

01: Everyday I Love You Less And Less

02: Everything Is Average Nowadays
03: The Heat Dies Down
04: Never Miss A Beat
05: Ruby
06: Modern Way
07: Half The Truth
08: Na Na Na Na Na
09: I Predict A Riot

10: You Want History
11: The Angry Mob

12: Take My Temperature
13: Oh My God


R.E.M.

1. Bad Day
2. Living Well Is The Best Revenge

3. What's The Frequency Kenneth
4. Drive

5. Man Sized Wreath
6. The Great Beyond
7. Ignoreland

8. Hollow Man
9. Electrolite
10. Imitation of life
11. I'm Gonna DJ
12. The One I Love

13. Fall On Me
14. Let Me In

15. Horse To Water
16. Orange Crush

17. It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
18. Supernatural Superserious (Encore)
19. Losing My Religion (Encore)
20. Man On The Moon (Encore)

Again

London 2

It's Just Good Chicken

First you have to see this:

To enjoy this:

El Corazon que a Triana va

Sevilla

Ingrid In The Sky With Diamonds

Como siempre, Ingrid mirando al cielo:


Si, todos estamos contentos y aliviados. Pero si molesta un poco que todo se haya enfocado en la libertad de Ingrid, libertad a la parisienne, llena de hoteles de lujo, Paris Match, islas Seychelles, Carla Bruni, etc, todo con un poquito de mistica de renacida, con arrodillada, gracias a Dios, la Virgen, el Rosario, etc, etc. Esta bien que lo disfrute y lo crea, pero por favor, no nos lo refrieguen en la cara.

Parecen olvidarse de lo mas importante, libertad para los que faltan:

Not Milan, not Minsk

La Rochelle

They Looked Like Giants

The New Year:

A Movie Script Ending:

Photobooth:

Title and Registration:

Transatlanticism:

It's a Lifetime Commitment

1. Le Ballet D'Or
2. Have You Seen Me Lately?
3. Hanging Tree
4. Mr. Jones

5. Colorblind

6. Anna Begins
7. Cowboys

8. Good Time
9. Mrs. Potter's Lullaby

10. Big Yellow Taxi
11. Accidentally in Love
12. Recovering the Satellites
13. On Almost Any Sunday
14. You Can't Count On me

15. Sundays
16. A Long December
17. Hanging Around

---------------------------------------
18. Washington Square
19. Come Around
20. Hard Candy
Bonus: Holiday in Spain

Zen of the Dead

To complete the last post, I would suggest that the yoga section of the Wii Fit incorporates the following new trend:



You can read more about it here.

Yet one more reason to visit NYC.

Wii Fit circa 1985

Ok, now you can just put a board on the floor and, guided by virtual trainers that look like Playdoh dolls, you can do some step exercises, box a little, hula hoop, and even snowboard, ski, practise some yoga and eat fish dressed as a penguin. All in the name of fitness.

But 20 years ago, before Nintendo hit it big for the first time with two mustached italian plombers, doing exercise at home was even more fun:



For all of us who woke up during our school years before 6 am, Mousercise was a fixture. Inspired by the aerobics fad that was sweeping the world and established the leotard and headbands as fashion staples (and into "hard rock" bands), the Disney Channel thought that the best way to keep kids (and their moms) entertained at 5 in the morning was to make them follow the moves of such coordinated and suave characters as Goofy and Donald Duck. Just add a semireplica of Olivia Newton John from "Let's Get Physical" as the host (nevermind Steve), and you get the show that surely seeded the dance moves of Britney, Justin and Christina.

If you don't know this show, it means that you used to wake up later and ended up watching Dumbo Circus and Welcome to Pooh Corner. In that case, you probably are today one of those "sensitive" guys that managed to go and see the Sex and the City film or that cries with every episode of Grey's Anatomy. If you had some good cable, then you ended up watching the japanese cartoon version of Tom Sawyer followed by an annoying seal called Seabert.

But if Mousercise makes part of your childhood and you still remember Pluto doing jumping jacks, you will probably think that Wii Fit exercises are a little boring. For the next version, I suggest that all trainers and additional characters should be cartoon icons. I, for once, would definitely love to box Butters, do some hula hoops with Weyland Smithers, jog with He-Man and all the Masters of the Universe, snowboard with a Gummy Bear and practise some yoga with Willie Coyote.

Everything In Its Right Place

Let the set list and videos speak for themselves:

01. 15 Step
02. Bodysnatchers
03. All I Need
04. Airbag
05. Nude
06. Pyramid Song
07. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
08. The Gloaming

09. Dollars and Cents
10. Faust Arp
11. Videotape
12. Optimistic
13. Just
14. Reckoner

15. Everything In Its Right Place

16. Fake Plastic Trees
17. Jigsaw Falling Into Place

Encore1:
18. House of Cards
19. There There
20. Bangers and Mash
21. The National Anthem/Hunting Bears
22. How To Disappear Complètement

Encore2:
23. Super Collider
24. You And Whose Army?
25. Karma Police
26. Idioteque


At the end, in rainbows:

Melinda Culea et al.

Es dificil acordarse de ella, sabiendo que el suyo ha sido uno de los roles mas insignificantes en serie alguna. Si hoy uno pregunta a cualquier rodillon calvo cuantos eran Los Magnificos, 9 de cada 10 personas responderan que 4. Porque claro, todos sabemos que Los Magnificos fueron acusados de un crimen que no cometieron, y a todos nos encanta cuando un plan se concreta, y hasta nos acordamos que en entre todas esas explosiones nadie moria, pero nadie puede responder a ciencia cierta quien era Amy. No, lo unico rescatable de Amy era que en la vida real se llamaba Melinda Culea.

Es claro que los productores querian asegurar su audiencia, y por eso inventaron este pusilanime personaje, una periodista que acompaña a nuestros mercenarios favoritos en sus misiones a traves de las granjas de los estados sureños. Pero mientras Murdock hacia su rutina Jim Carrey, Mario Baracus se ingeniaba como no ser sedado para volar y nunca lo lograba, Face seducia a las clientes (porque siempre eran mujeres) y Hanibal se disfrazaba y se las daba de George Clooney, nuestra Amy se limitaba a echar una sonrisita pa qui, otra sonrisita pa llà, y a balbucear los populares monosilabos de interrogacion: "What?", "Who?", "When?", "Where?", "How?". Es que su guion debia ser de maximo una pagina, porque mas de dos frases no hilaba en un solo capitulo. No por nada, al cabo de un año y medio su personaje desaparecio sin que uno se diera cuenta.

Otro de nuestros programas favoritos de domingo en la tarde, de justicia en estado sureño, si pudo encajar en cambio entre su humor infantil a un personaje que termino siendo sex symbol:

Daisy Duke, la mesera del bar de Boss Hogg, la sobrina del tio Jesse, la prima de Bo y Luke (primos incestuosos yo creo, porque eso le echaban unas miradas) y muy seguramente la tiniebla de Cooter y de todo el pueblo (porque parecia no haber mas viejas). Si, fue Daisy Duke, la que, por encima de Los Angeles de Charlie, rompio el mito que a los niños chiquitos no le gustan las niñas (porque aunque La Mujer Maravilla no estaba nada mal, un superheroe era solo eso). Y fue ella la que empezo a mostrar mas pierna y estomago, la que popularizo el hot pant de jean que, merecidamente, empezo a denominarse el "Daisy Duke".

Ya de ahi pa lante estabamos en pura era Reagan, puro laissez faire, que se tradujo fielmente al mundo de la television. Si Los Magnificos se anclaba en antiguos heroes de Vietnam para entretener y las mujeres eran un estorbo, Lee Majors le aposto a lo contrario y aprovecho el superficial mundo del cine y de los dobles para meter una "aprendiz" que de entrada nos mostraba su valor agregado:

Heather Thomas fue la precursora del bikini en prime time, la que inspiro los infinitos afiches de viejas que adornaron los cuartos de cualquier adolescente ochentero, afiches que se podian comprar en Bima o en frente de Unicentro por cierto. No por nada participo en Zapped!, maximo exponente de la pelicula de adolescentes de los ochentas, con aquellos teenagers que con telekinesis levantaban faldas y desabotonan blusas (si, en esa epoca eran blusas).

Tanto avanzo el tema en los ochenta, que ya al final hasta la abogada de Colt Seavers, la seria Terry, se unio a la corriente:


A esas alturas, ya no habia vuelta atras y un poco mas tarde, el iconico David Hasselhoff, mamado de hablar todo el tiempo con un carro chistosin, llevo el asunto a otro nivel en las playas de Malibu.

Y llegamos a hoy en dia, donde de Nip/Tuck al porno primetime estamos a esto...

Ceci n'est pas un chapeau

Fancy a pint of ale and a meat pie?

London

Big in Japan

Bonsai has strong root, just like you Daniel-san!

Tokyo

Kyoto

Nara

Never Enough

3 hours and a half =

• The extended edition of any of the Lords of the Rings movies
• 10 Simpson episodes
  
• Two football games
• Bogota - Girardot with heavy traffic
  
• Half a day's work in France
• Direct flight Paris- Cairo

or the length of The Cure's concert:

Pongalo en la cassetera

La semana pasada, durante el maratonico concierto de The Cure, me fue inevitable pensar en la época de Disintegration y Wish. No solo porque en esos años todo rockero que se respetara (y que ahora es yuppie) tenia alguna camiseta de The Cure. No, yo, que nunca fui fan enfermo de Robert Smith, no tenia los 27 CDs que esta secta poseia, desde el disco por año que el grupo lanzaba hasta los conciertos piratas, bootlegs y rarezas.

Nunca compré ningun disco de ellos, solo me conforme con grabar tres o cuatro de sus albumes (cortesia de Maximus). Y es por esto que para mi pensar en The Cure es equivalente a pensar en un cassette, a rememorar como mi grabadora de doble cassetera se encargaba de copiar "de cassette a cassette" en lo que esos mismos yuppies llaman ahora tiempo real.



No hay que equivocarse, el iPod es de lo mejor que le ha pasado a Calimenio. Tener toda la musica de uno en el bolsillo, con caratulas y letras, es casi tan apoteosico como ir a un Mundial o comerse una bandeja paisa cuando esta nevando.

Sin embargo, el buscar un torrent o ripear el CD del partner de cubiculo no se compara al ritual de grabar un cassette en el viejo BASF o TDK, desde el momento en que uno espichaba play y rec play al tiempo, hasta cuando uno terminaba de marcar las canciones en esas lineas de la caratula que en realidad era puntos diminutos muy pegados el uno del otro. Y si lo que se queria era que el cassette pareceria original, pues hasta se fotocopiaba la caratula o, en su defecto, se trataba de dibujar la caratula con los mismos colores.

Todo ahora es muy facil. Ya no hay que pensar en los diez segundos ingrabables del principio o el final del cassette, que dejo a mas de uno sin el Hold On Tight de Dangerous o le mochaba a uno la cancion numero 13. Y ni que decir del eterno problema: cabe en uno de 60? O toca comprar uno de 90? En esto, The Cure si era un experto en joderlo a uno. Mientras que en un cassette de 90 cabia un disco de R.E.M. por cada lado, a Robert Smith y compañia les da por hacer discos de 64 minutos. Seguro era su metodo socarron de evitar la pirateria, cual Metallica vs. Naspter. Todavia me acuerdo cuanto me saco la piedra Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me mientras que Achtung Baby en uno de 60 quedaba pa pintura.

Ya despues la vaina se empezo a sofisticar con los cassettes de cinta metalica. En la época en que la palabra "quemar" no tenia nada que ver con musica (salvo para Beavis), el cassette metalico era lo mas cercano que el pirata tenia del CD. Para ser sinceros, si sonaba mejor; Close to Me del Mixed Up de The Cure le copetia al CeDé. Lo malo era que ese berraco cassette se enredaba muy facilmente en el iPod amarillo:



No era entonces raro encontrar rollos de cinta tirados en los charcos, ahi pegadito al anden. Claro no solo de cinta metalica, cualquier cassette se enredaba en el radio del bus, cuando uno introducia a todos los de kinder al mundo de Dr. Feelgood y del Unskinny Bop.

La version mas prostituida del cassette era el popular mixed tape con canciones del Top 20 de la "superestacion". Uno pariendo piñas, con los botones rec y play espichadas y el dedo preparado para soltar el pause cuando el capi cerrara la jeta, para que cuando empazara a grabar los vergajos de la emisora le metieran el trademark en mitad de cancion con su susurro de "oooccchhheeenta y ooochoo puunto nuuuuueeeveee", que a fuerza de oir la cancion grabada mil veces despues, uno lo incorpora como parte del "tema".

Era una epoca en que se era mas recursivo, eso si, en que todo no era tan hermetico. Si la pila se la acaba al iPod, uno se jodio. Si uno ve que le queda poca pila al Walkman, pues para retrodocer o adelantar uno engrapaba ese cassette en el kilometrico de turno y pongalo a girar. Y si se acaban las pilas, pues a la nevera. Y cuando realmente se acababan, las pilas tenian nombre propio: Victor Aristizabal en el Campin.

Ni es lo mismo, ni es igual

Hernan Camargo sigue siendo el mismo sabroso, un tipo excelente, ala.

And now the best

I guess I can't complain about the movies that won last night at the Oscars. Although I have not seen them all, the winners and nominees seem fair to me. And for once there were actually too many good things to choose from this year, and the nominee lists should have been extended to 10.

I'm not going to dwell on all the nominated movies, for which enough has been said. So, to sum up what I think should have had more praise and recognition, here's a quick list:

1. Many actors, who usually are overrated or underrated (and who I usually hate) actually gave performances that at times singlehandedly made their movies stand out from the lot. I can mention Richard Gere in The Hoax, Angelina Jolie in A Mighty Heart, Tom Hanks in Charlie Wilson's War, Michael Douglas in King of California, Russell Crowe in American Gangster, Ed Harris in Gone Baby Gone and Ashley Judd in Bug.
2. Zodiac: Such an underappreciated movie, it exudes style in every single shot and performance.
3. Ratatouille: It should have been there in the Best Picture category.
4. La Scaphandre et le Papillon: One of my favorites this year, it is flawless technically and artistically, and the performance from Matthieu Almaric should have gathered more attention.
5. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead: A little movie that seems to come from the 70's, it is nearly as good as No Country for Old Men.
6. Into the Wild: Sean Penn's consecration as a director, it is the best film in a long time about the freedom and responsabilty of youth.
7. I'm not there: Too offbeat for the Oscars, it is an undescribable visual and musical experience.
8. Once, Control: The first is wonderful if you love music and how it makes you feel alive. The second is wonderful if you love music and how it makes you feel vulnerable.
9. Sweeney Todd: Not since Ed Wood has Tim Burton made such a complete movie in every artistical term. Burton is at this point a style in itself, and he should get more recognition.
10. The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford: I'm amazed how under the radar this movie showed when, in my opinion, it is the best of the year. Brad Pitt gives his best performance yet: everytime he's on screen he installs fear even in the audience. Without much fanfare and eloquence, he manages to present all the different shades of being a myth. Sam Rockwell and Casey Affleck are equally powerful. If you add up the cinematography, which makes the movie look like a living painting, plus the poetry in every dialogue and shot, you get nothing less than a masterpiece.
    

The Trapezoid

Definitivamente Colombia se parece cada vez mas a Springfield. Primero fue el monorriel de Samuel Moreno, ahora es People Winner, la nueva version de la piramide de los 80 y que tiene a miles de ignorantes perdiendo plata en el pais. De la entrevista a su creadora, la Victorino Umaña de esta decada, recato estas perlas:

¿Cómo se le ocurrió?

Yo siempre he sido muy buena para las matemáticas. En el colegio ocupaba los primeros lugares. Cada momento que me quedaba libre en la costura me sentaba con lápiz y papel a hacer cálculos, hasta que cinco años después encontré la fórmula de la fundación.

¿Y cuál es esa fórmula?

Yo no la puedo hacer pública. Es como si Coca-cola diera a conocer su receta. Solo puedo decir que no se trata de nada ilegal.

¿No es captación de dinero?

No. Porque con el mismo dinero que la gente lleva se le paga a otras personas. No tengo plata en depósito.

Pero eso es una pirámide.

Tampoco, porque yo no le estoy diciendo a la gente que lleve más personas, ni que consigne a cuentas bancarias de otros clientes. Para atraer gente yo tengo promotores a los que les pago un sueldo para que consigan afiliados. Este es un negocio que se sostiene entre más personas lleguen a diario. Algo parecido a lo que hacen los bancos.

Tengo que insistir ¿entonces cómo paga rendimientos tan altos?

No hay nada ilícito. Es un programa inteligente que no genera intereses sino utilidades. Aquí se les entrega a los afiliados un 'utilidaad social'.

De cada persona que mete su plata, yo sacó para pagarle a otras. Existe una fórmula para cada monto (de 50 mil a 1 millón de pesos).

Esto funciona como un espiral, en el que una persona entra y da la vuelta en tres meses. En ese tiempo la función mía es conseguir mínimo 30 personas que respalden la inversión del afiliado. Aquí el ciclo se cierra, contrario a la pirámide que pretende ser infinita y por eso colapsa.

¿Esa es su fórmula?

De ahí parte mi fórmula, pero entienda que no le puedo revelar algo que me tomó cinco años encontrar. Le voy a dar parte de mi secreto: entre más afiliados hagan parte de la fundación, puedo garantizar que el dinero no se va a perder y que las utilidades se van a entregar.

¿Y cómo garantizar que la gente no va a dejar de invertir?

En un país con gente tan pobre como Colombia nadie se va a cansar de ganar dinero. La gente mete un millón y a los tres meses, que reciba su dinero, reinvertirá. Nunca se va a acabar porque los ciudadanos siempre van a tener necesidades.

¿Cuántas personas han invertido en su fundación?

No le puedo dar una cifra exacta porque todos los días se cierran y se abren nuevos ciclos. No son pocos, pero tampoco son muchos.

Después del respaldo que recibió el pasado viernes ¿ha pensado en lanzarse a la política?

Eso me han propuesto. Ya hay personas que me ven como la próxima alcaldesa de Villavicencio. Eso no lo descarto.

Para finalizar, cito al People Winner que engatuso a Homero Simpson:

  "First, let me assure you that this is not one of those shady pyramid
  schemes you've been hearing about.  No sir.  Our model is the trapezoid!"

The worst

In this Tuesday of financial crisis, Oscar nominations, low Fed rates, Carla Bruni and Uribe's european tour, I focus my attention to the most significant event of them all, the Razzies.

If you don't know what the Razzies are, you don't know much pop culture, and you should probably go back to reading The Economist. But for all of us who know how the Razzies select the worst American cinema of the year, their nominations confirm that we were right when we avoided going to see a lot of crap at the movies. Therefore, since I didn't see 90% of the pictures nominated (you can see the nominations here), I will try to point out all the disappointments that stole my precious time.

1. Threequels of course: From the first two, it was clear that Spiderman 3 was going to continue the trend of "Days of Our Lives" with special effects. And from the second Pirates, with its unintelligible plot, it was obvious that At World's End would suck (actually it confirms the notion that shooting two sequels at the same time, like for The Matrix, it's a very, very bad idea). But I was disappointed that, after redifining originality in animation with Shrek, and winning skeptics with its sequel, Shrek 3 was so, so bad and most importantly, so not funny, even boring. Now I read that they're going to open Shrek on Broadway. Wasn't all this Disney business model the one that was mocked in the first movie anyway?
2. Hannibal Rising: The "back to the origins" treatment didn't work so well for Hannibal Lecter. The character is only interesting when played by Hopkins, and besides, it is most disturbing if we don't know anything of his past. Plus, it is enervating how making Hannibal such a pop culture figure undermines the masterpiece that Silence of the Lambs is.
3. Nicolas Cage: I didn't watch Ghost Rider (how could anyone?), but Next was as stupid as they come. I can expect that from the mongoloid (thank you, South Park) but not from Julianne Moore.
4. The Number 23: Speaking of stupid, how about this? The plot twist comes from realizing that Topsy Kreet is really Top Secret!
5. Javier Bardem playing spanish speaking characters but speaking in english. No doubt he's one of the best, but watching him speak english in Los Fantasmas de Goya was not pleasant. You can't help but feel a little infuriated that a story that is so intrinsically Spanish is being filmed in English but with a spanish actor! Fortunately, I have avoided El Amor en los Tiempos del Colera, where not only him, but italians, americans, english, etc make your ears bleed in outrage.
   
6. Every single horror movie that was released. Apparently horror today means torture, loud electric guitar riffs and MTV editing.
7. Bee movie: For the first hour, I thought I was watching Antz. How come the creator of TV's most original sitcom comes up with animation's most derivative movie?
8. Elizabeth - Golden Age: It doesn't surprise us anymore that Cate Blanchett is good in anything she plays. But the rest of this movie is a truckload of garbage. Yes, the whole decor and costumes are impressive, but this is a movie, not a Karl Lagersfield show (well, actually, that's exactly what it feels like). The first insult comes from all the actors playing the spanish soldiers, who speak spanish in the movie but are actually english. It's like a complete armada of Bumblebee Men (que bueno pano de cako!). Add to this the spanish supervillian, King Phillip, some religious nut who is a cross between the girl from The Exorcist and Silas from DaVinci code. Then take the dreamy, wet and glowing Clive Owen, straight out from a cheap novel you can buy at your local grocery store. You add up a zillion camera angles, shots and editing that make Transformers seem like Dogma filmmaking plus the soap opera plot with all the bedroom intrigues, and you get a two hour history lesson for dummies.

Nevertheless, dud's like these ones are nothing compared to all that I was able to avoid this year: fat Eddie Murphy, Ninja Turtles again, Mr. Bean, French comedies, 50 year old bikers, Kevin Costner, Adam Sandler, Jason Statham action movies and talking chipmunks.

2007, Year of music

If 2006 was the year of football, with the World Cup in Germany and Barcelona's Champions League title, 2007 highlights were all related to music.

Best film: I'm Not There, with Once and Control not far behind

Records: Monster albums by Radiohead and the Arcade Fire (probably the best CD of the decade). Also really good ones from Modest Mouse, Bright Eyes and The Shins.

Concerts: Again, Arcade Fire was monumental. Pleasantly surprised by The Hives and Bright Eyes. Modest Mouse and Interpol can't be bad with that material. The Killers made up for their dissapointing album by showing that live is their thing. The other side of the coin were The White Stripes; excellent music, pretentious on stage.