Feliz Navidad

Bush in 30 seconds

Moveon.org has already received more than a thousand homemade commercials challenging the Bush administration. The winner will be shown on TV during the week of the State of the Union address. Next month the entries will be voted by the judges: Moby, Michael Moore, Janeane Garofalo, Margaret Cho and Gus Vas Sant and everyone that wants to log in and vote. Due to bandwith problems the viewing has been limited to 20 ads a day. Worth checking out, here.

La organización Moveon.org, un movimiento político que opera desde la web en contra de Bush y la ocupación de Iraq, propuso el pasado octubre un curioso concurso: crear anuncios caseros de 30 segundos contra la administración Bush. Ya han recibido más de mil. El spot ganador se emitirá durante la semana previa a las elecciones presidenciales. La mes que viene se anunciará el ganador, basado en las votaciones de los jueces: Moby, Michael Moore, Janeane Garofalo, Margaret Cho, Gus Vas Sant y las votaciones populares.
Los spots se pueden ver aquí. Pero por sobresaturación en la red, sólo se puede acceder a 20 al día. Que los disfrutéis.

Nominaciones

Se han hecho públicas las nominaciones a los Globos de Oro, el preludio de los Oscars. Así que como cada año, hago el macarrilla y mi propia quiniela. Quién se apunta a una porra?

Mejor película: Mystic River
Mejor actriz drama: Charlize Theron-Monster
Mejor actor drama: Sean Penn-Mystic River
Mejor película comedia: Lost in Translation
Mejor actric comedia: Scarlett Johansson-Lost in Translation
Mejor actor comedia: Bill Murray-Lost in Translation
Mejor peli estrangera: The Barbarian Invasions (la unica que he visto)
Mejor actriz secundaria: Hope Davis- American Splendor
Mejor actor secuandario: Tim Robbins- Mystic River
Mejor guion: Lost in Translation
Mejor adaptacion: Big Fish (no he visto ninguna de estas. pero es Tim Burton!)
Mejor cancion: “Time Enough For Tears”—In America (esta es a boleo)
Mejor TV Drama: Six Feet Under
Mejor actriz TV Drama: Frances Conroy-Six Feet Under
Mejor actor TV Drama: Kiefer Sutherland-24
Mejor TV comedia: The Office
Mejor actriz TV comedia: Sarah Jessica Parker (puff todas son terribles)
Mejor actor TV comedia: Rick Gervais
Mejor Peli para TV: Angels in America (pero es a boleo. no tengo HBO)
Mejor actriz peli TV: Maggie Smith (sin haberla visto..)
Mejor actor TV: Al Pacino (porque es Al Pacino)
Mejor actriz secundaria: Cynthia Nixon-Sex and the city
Mejor actor secundario: Jeffrey Wright

y... mejor documental?
y... mejor peli de animacion?

What do you want my words...

Yesterday I watched an amazing documentary on PBS "What do you want my words to do to you" about the work of an activist Eve Ensler that carries on a writing program on a women's prision.

You can try to watch it on future showings, buy it, visit the website or whatever you want. But don't miss it !!

Quiet parties

I have never been to one, but it sounds pretty interesting.

Quiet Parties By WARREN ST. JOHN
Published: December 14, 2003 in The New York Times.

Fran Lebowitz once said that if she could will any technological innovation into existence, it would be a silence machine: turn it on, and all those cellphones, beeping trucks and -- worst of all -- human voices that pollute our lives would instantly be hushed.

Until Lebowitz gets her dream gadget, the noise-averse will have to settle for 2003's decidedly low-tech solution to modern cacophony: the quiet party. ''It's a social event where people communicate by writing notes instead of speaking,'' says Paul Rebhan, a 42-year-old Manhattan artist who started the phenomenon with his friend Tony Noe, a musician. ''It's a noisy world now, and people want to take a break from all that.''

Rebhan got the idea in September of last year, when he and Noe searched vainly for a bar in New York with ambient noise low enough to support actual conversation. The next morning, Rebhan, who describes himself as ''noise sensitive,'' typed a quiet manifesto of sorts. ''Tired of all the noise?'' it began, before proposing a party with no speaking. He sent it out to friends and posted it on Internet bulletin boards. Within a few days, he had received 200 supportive e-mail messages. Rebhan found a bar owner willing to hold the event (''After he stopped laughing,'' Rebhan says) and started a Web site -- www.quietparty.com. He held his inaugural event at a Midtown lounge called Scotch Bonnet, and 130 people showed up; this year, Rebhan sponsored quiet parties in New York, Washington, London and Beijing.

Quiet parties are like Internet chat rooms in 3-D: strangers sit in a circle at a round table passing handwritten notes, giggling and making (silent) snarky comments about others in the room. Reprimands are handed out to those who break the quiet code. As in cyberspace, it's hard to know exactly whom you're dealing with when you're simply trading one-liners. Lisa France, a 36-year-old filmmaker, went to a quiet party and says it wasn't until she left that she learned that the man she had been chatting with had a Southern accent.

Rebhan conceived quiet parties as a stress-free way to meet people. But as anyone who has received a ''Dear John'' letter knows, even silence can't take the sting out of rejection. France recalled being hit on in cursive by a man she found profoundly unattractive.

''What's the word?'' he wrote.

She scribbled her response: ''Lesbian.''

Ladies & Gentlemen...

... this is my backyard.
Nos hemos levantado con la noticia de la captura de Saddam y una sensación extraña en el estómago. De alguna manera me alegro de que haya un loco menos gobernando en el mundo, pero me da un miedo horrible que este arresto de puntos al otro.
Los canales de televisión no paran de pasar los titulillos que debían tener preparados hace meses... "El fin de Saddam", "El triunfo del mundo libre" u otros mensajes que implican como la policía americana ha vuelto a triunfar contra el mal. Parece que ahora la guerra tiene sentido. Parece que han cambiado las cosas desde ayer cuando una chica americana me decía que no viaja por miedo a no ser bien recibida. Hoy ha resurgido el orgullo patriótico y es como si a todo el mundo se le hubiese olvidado aquello de las armas de destrucción masiva.
A los que empiecen a sufrir de amnesia patriótica, les recomiendo un paseo por aquí.
Ahora me doy cuenta que debería haber escrito esto en inglés. Pero quizá prefiero irme a que me deporten.

Expressionism

This website has been around for a while. It's one of my all-time favorites. Take a look. It's a thorough approach to the Brücke movement, its political ramifications, artistic connotations, and the majority of the Brücke artists' visual work.

Michael Miller

He is one of my favorite illustrators. I am a big fun of his work for Puma, but he has pretty cool funky stuff. Check his work here.

Ugly dolls

I love these dolls. Check this out.

Spanish Cinema in NYC

The Film Society of Lincoln Center presents the yearly Spanish Cinema Festival from december 5th to the 24th.

The movies showing this year are:
- OUT FROM GRANADA / AL SUR DE GRANADA. Fernando Colomo, 2003
-LA CASITA BLANCA - THE HIDDEN CITY / LA CASITA BLANCA, LA CIUTAT OCULTA. Carlos Balagué, 2002;
- IN THE CITY / EN LA CIUDAD. Cesc Gay, 2003;
- SOLDIERS OF SALAMINA / SOLDADOS DE SALAMINA David Trueba, 2003;

- LIFE LEAVES MARKS / LA VIDA MANCHA Enrique Urbizu, 2003;
- WHERE IS MADAME CATHERINE? / LES MANS BUIDES Marc Recha, 2003;
- THE GALÍNDEZ FILE / EL MISTERIO GALÍNDEZ Gerardo Herrero, 2003;
- BULGARIAN LOVERS / LOS NOVIOS BULGAROS Eloy de la Iglesia, 2002;
- A BEAUTIFUL SUNSET / UNA PRECIOSA PUESTA DE SOL Alvaro del Amo, 2003;
- NOVEMBER / NOVIEMBRE. Achero Mañas; 2003;
- NOBODY'S LIFE / LA VIDA DE NADIE. Eduard Cortés, 2002;
- CARLOS AGAINST THE WORLD / CARLOS CONTRA EL MUNDO Chiqui Carabante, 2002;
- THE HOURS OF THE DAY / LAS HORAS DEL DIA Jaime Rosales, 2003;
- THE CARPENTER'S PENCIL / EL LAPIZ DEL CARPINTERO
Anton Reixa, 2003;
- THE WEAKNESS OF THE BOLSHEVIK (LA FLAQUEZA DEL BOLCHEVIQUE)
Manuel Martin Cuenca, 2003;
- THE SUIT / EL TRAJE Alberto Rodriguez, 2002;

For film descriptions and times go here.

Llegó la nieve

La primera nevada del año.
Pese al frío y a lo difícil que es ir a ningún sitio, me encanta Nueva York con nieve.

Utah

I went to Salt Lake City for a photoshoot on Thursday and Friday. The mountains there are amazing.

Gina Triplett

Amazing illustrator. See more of her work here.