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cinema dominicano

¡Damas y caballeros! ¡wercome to Dominiwood!

Ok, so perhaps these two upcoming flicks are not centralized in the entire history and diverse culture of my beloved 60 something percent of the island Hispaniola. They also don't have an all-Dominican cast either a-la-slumdog millionaire, but we quisqueyanos have to take whatever shows us up in technicolor and the big screen.

 And after a poor, but still  appreciated, attempt by reknowned and respected actor Jeffrey Wright at a dominican character in the last Shaft flick (I would link a clip of that here, but we are a family-friendly website, and quite frankly, Peoples Hernandez is a potty mouth) I'm quite exhilirated about both "Sugar" and the new "Fast and Furious" movie.

 Both Sugar and Fast and Furious were filmed partly on location in the beautiful Quisqueya la bella, and both dealt with two things that are very Dominican in nature, racing and pelota (baseball for us platanos)

Sugar is a  well told tale, pretty accurate in most parts, about an aspiring Dominican pitcher who plays good enough to peak the interest of a major league franchise and is sent to a minor league team in its farm system. But it's not all sugarcubes for Miguel "Azucar" Santos, the main character. The movie attempts to show the slings and arrows of the outrageous fortune of making it as a baseball player from the DR. Considering the success we've had in baseball throughout the years (sans our dissapointing loss to the Netherlands in the WBC) it's pretty tough on a young boy from "la isla." to make his name among large names such as Alex Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa, Pedro Martinez, Juan Marichal and other luminaries.

Here's the trailer for "Sugar"

Fast and Furious needs no long intro. I don't think either Paul Walker or Vin Diesel are going for the oscar gold here. Just another twist in their story together. Michelle Rodriguez, who is of Puerto Rican and Dominican descent returns to her role as Diesel's girl and local girl bully. While I will watch this to see if I recognize any of the Dominican spots, I am looking forward to Rodriguez' performance in the upcoming "Trópico de Sangre" movie. This one won't be based on the popular novel "In the time of the butterflies" which had it's own film adaptation with a subpar Salma Hayek in the lead role, and an inspiring Edward James Olmos in the role of the failed cattle thief (couldn't they get a Dominicans to play at least one of the leads in this movie?)

Anywho, here's one for Fast and Furious, both flicks open nationwide on April 3

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Posted by Maurel Merette at 9:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

penniless and heartbroken

My life is one of those stories you hear about.

I came to the U.S. at the mid-center of my years on this earth and suffered through struggles like many, I don't consider them to be unique or special, but mine.

To say that I was poor would be disrespectful and insulting to some truly poor folks from back in the island who could barely afford to feed their family, but would invite you to christmas dinner. (And woe be onto you if you dared to decline).

I've been homeless (more than once) lost jobs without notice and went through some tough times. Yet with perseverance and pure ganas, bounced back, ready for the next episode. Trust, Latinos and developing country folk are qute elastic when it comes to falling into hardships. The stuff you see in movies, we live everyday.

So it's no surprise that when I hear that someone took the time to put some film into production to portray, frankly and pointedly, the shortcomings of our largely affluent society that spares billions to bail out financial institutions, but often frowns on millions going to help out its poor, due to a belief in an outdated and unreal mantra of "pull yourself by your own bootstraps" I get quite excited and want to spread the word.

I've always wondered why most folk who watch the many film adaptations of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" find its message to be quite apropriate for the holidays, but somehow forget that Scrooge's misguided assertion "Are there not workhouses?" or "decrease the surplus population" can and should be applied to all days of the year. But that's another, related subject, back to the film.

So here's a preview to "Explicit ills", a must see in this time of great need for many around our nation.

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Posted by Maurel Merette at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

light bulb status: ON...ePapers could save us all!!!

Greetings ladies and gents, welcome to a world where journalism is on the defensive. And loosing.

The headlines (which interestingly enough, are written by members of some type of editorial staff) continue to spell the death of newspapers.

I'm on the fence on this one (yes, I should be pulling for newspapers blindly because my livelihood depends on it) But I can see the varying opinions on the issue. Reality, however, is that whether you are arguing for or against the demise of news print as we know it, you actually get your information (vis-a-vie, your news) from somewhere physical (like a newspaper) and consume it somehow (read it).

I've always read newspapers. I grew up in one of those places that staunch free press advocates refer to when they want to brag about our strong freedom of press in the US. You know? One of those places that once (or more than once) had government all over their press. I did not breathe during the decades in which this took place in the DR, but I can only imagine what the news were without the fearless reporting of someone whose sole purpose was to inform. (Point your google search to One Rafael L. Trujillo if you want more insight on this)

I've always read newspapers. My paper of choice, el Listin Diario, had the most amazing international news section. I read the financial/business section like it was suspense fiction. (as in, I loved the stuff) I knew at a very young age what acronyms like UNESCO, IMF, OAS, UN, UNICEF, NRA, did and what they stood for. I read every, single, day.

Not only were newspapers dear to me as a young, avid reader, but also as a teenager and adult. I can't imagine life without them.

But the widespread use of mobile devices and the internet are now what's in vogue, what's hot and cool. What is now almost described as indispensable. The days of the commuters and coffee addicts inmersed in a broadsheet of print are leaving us, just like the morning newspaper in your driveway (or through your front window) making way for a more portable and granted, less plant-consuming medium.

So what is the solution? I of course hope that the fearless captains of the kind corporations that steer us newsfolk retool the current newspaper business model. After all, money has to be made somehow so the corporate raiders can make their money and pay us ants down here our due so we can in turn distribute it to utility providers, daycare facilities, the loan sharks, entertainment content pimps (cable),  the government, etc.

But what about the medium? Some have said that newspapers should go to the web only. I say, why not just retool the medium and make it more dynamic?

Enter the e-paper.

Not as catchy as the iPhone, or iPod (which are copyrighted already, darn it) but more along the lines of the futuristic USA Today on Minority Report.  I won't take any credit for putting this out there since tons of folks have already done so. In fact, these folks are already pumping them out and they are being tested in various places throughout the world.

Could ePapers save us? This blogger  thinks that is not out of the realm of possibility. I personally hope so. While I will likely find another occupation should newspapers suffer an entire collapse, the lack of a product by informed, tireless, sometimes inadequately compensated, body of journalists under an editorial structure would be disastrous.

Not to rest entirely on our laurels, but who is going to get you the skinny on what's going on outside of your window? Certainly not the Huffington Post. How about what's going on with your local government? Your local economy? Your school district?

We are.

Because it is what we do.

Here's a dirty little secret, where do you all think Bloggers get their stuff? Often (and I mean, like almost always) in their postings they find some news source (be it TV news, the AP or a local newspaper) that reported xy about z, link it to their posts and then they build their commentary around it. Newspapers are what in the social science called history we call a primary source folks.Nothing essentially wrong with bloogers doing this, but when those same bloggers (and others of their ild) tout that newspapers should go the way of the dinosaur while they gladly "borrow" our hard work to make their case "is disengenous at best and criminal at its worst" (c) Jon Stewart

So yes, some changes are in order for the prescription eyewear, laptop-toting, who got liberal arts degrees so-called "elitist" news junkies to survive and continue to provide the news that you sometimes hate to read, but berate us for if we don't have them readily available. Good luck to all of us.   

Posted by Maurel Merette at 9:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

bloggings

ladies and gents, it's been some time.

I have no idea why I haven't posted anything on this blog for more than 3 months (geee ouch!) There has been plenty happening, but somehow money matters have taken over the conversation.

I vow to make better use of this space. Honest.

Posted by Maurel Merette at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)