HEALTH REFORM, HOLLYWOOD AND LOTS OF IRONY

(This time in Spanish)

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

Hollywood y sus actores, como siempre que hay discusiones políticas polémicas, no se pierden una. Afortunadamente no todos eligen hacer campaña de ubicuidad tipo Bono o Sean Penn sino que prefieren pelear con el arma que les da de comer: la interpretación. Yo creo que con el talento que tienen deberían concentrarse en este tipo de campañas, resultan más efectivas que aparecer en la Onu dándole la mano a Ban Ki Moon pero supongo que es cuestión de gustos. En este video, muy similar al trailer de la nueva película de Michael Moore, en el que pedía dinero para ayudar a los jefazos de los principales bancos de su país, los actores salen en defensa de 'la integridad' de los directivos de las aseguradoras. Con el país completamente dividido frente a la reforma sanitaria, y con los enemigos del cambio comiéndole terreno a los defensores, Hollywood ha optado por tomar cartas en el asunto -a favor de la reforma, obviamente- con este negrísimo PSA (Public Service Announcement) . La idea ha sido de Will Ferrell - el video es mucho más gracioso que sus previsibles películas- y entre los participantes está el hombre-sex symbol de Mad Men, Jon Hamm. Menos mal que en lugar de esvásticas y rifles -como la derecha- los actores han optado por el humor negro!

FAKE NEW YORK POST OPENS CLIMATE WEEK

This morning you could get this fabulous fake New York Post all around the city. It was a hoax paper but still, some people believed it was the real one! They used the same language than the tabloid usually uses, like the cover, We Are Screwed. In it's well known apocalyptic tone, the paper screamed all over the city that climate change is a real threat. Although the paper is fake, everything in it is 100% true, "with all facts carefully checked by a team of editors and climate change experts" the authors said. It was made to call attention on the climate issues that this week are being discussed in the Climate Week in NYC. Of course the Yes Men and many activists groups are behind the hoax. They did the same with the New York Times a few months ago. The idea then was a paper full of good news that they wished Obama will have bring to the world six months after he won the presidency. Dreaming is free, I guess.
Here is a video with the new yorkers reaction to the fake Post.

"SPECIAL EDITION" NEW YORK POST from The Yes Men on Vimeo.

ACTIVISM TAKES OVER NEW YORK

Be ready. When you wake up on Monday morning something really smart and fun will have taken over New York. I know, almost every president in the world is gathering in the city this week either to give long and empty speeches at the UN General Assembly - usually you have to read between lines to find 'some real meat' in their words, diplomatic language, I guess- or at the so called Climate Week, but I am not talking about them. I'm talking about The Yes Men. These glorious activists are bringing some real action to the scene in the morning. You will read about it here and all over, I am pretty sure. If you wake up early you will bump into their 'new product' all around the city.

The Yes Men in action
at a business conference

Then, at night, the meeting point is at the movies. The Age of Stupid, a documentary by Franny Armstrong, is being released with a worldwide premiere, one night only (en Spain también). There will be a green carpet downtown in New York -even the biggest activists need their fix of stars- but what it really matters is the content of the pic. I haven't seen it yet so I can't talk about it but the director has really good credentials as a documentary filmmaker and as an activist. She is the director of McLibel, a very good documentary about a ten years lawsuit between McDonald's and two activists who wrote a pamphlet about the company saying things like "McDonald's wastes vast quantities of grain and water, destroys rain forests with poisons and colonial invasions, sells unhealthy, addictive junk food, or is complicit in Third World starvation". Below is The Age of Stupid' trailer, it looks pretty apocalyptic but for once, instead of watching fiction Apocalypse movies paid by Jerry Bruckheimer you could watch your quite possible future. Those big guys meeting in New York for the Climate Change week should do something about it. I´m afraid they won´t. We should.

STINGRAY SAM EPISODE #1

(This time in English)

This summer I discovered a new underground hero, Stingray Sam. It's a movie that will become a cult pic sooner or later. It can't be otherwise. It's smart, it's fun, it's quirky, it's odd, it's a perfect mix of themes, emotions and even musical numbers. I don't usually like musical movies but you have to be a very boring person to not fall in love with Stingray Sam. I'm happy to do a follow up on my June post by posting here the first episode of Stingray Sam. The movie is structurally divided by episodes that could be seen individually. Enjoy the first one and start craving for more!!!!

REDFORD, WOODWARD AND BERNSTEIN. IRREPETIBLE.

Como no todo el mundo lee El Pais y como creo que escuchar hablar juntos a Robert Redford, Bob Woodward y Carl Bernstein (los reporteros del Watergate) sobre periodismo y cine no ocurre a menudo, dejo aquí el link a un artículo que publiqué ayer en el que escribo sobre ese encuentro tan especial que ocurrió el pasado sábado en Nueva York. Perdón por la autopromo pero fue uno de esos momentos irrepetibles 'only in New York' que me gustaría haber compartido con muchos amigos, en especial periodistas. Para quien no lo sepa, sólo decir que Robert Redford no sólo es un galán guapo que de joven provocaba desmayos entre féminas. Probablemente sea uno de los actores más inteligentes y cañeros a los que he podido entrevistar en mi vida. Escucharle hablar es un regalo. De Woodward y Bernstein, qué puedo decir que no se haya dicho ya? En dos palabras, brillantes periodistas.

MY CITY BY DAY, MY CITY BY NIGHT

(This time in English)

Times Square is still tourist's paradise. If visitors could vote in today's primaries for mayor, Michael Bloomberg ("please call me Mike") will probably be reelected - don't worry Mike, without their vote it will happen too, unfortunately nobody is ready for Reverend Billy yet-. To his credit, it was Bloomberg who chose to seal off the heart of Manhattan to traffic and bring a bit of peace to this area. It didn't take much, just a bunch of tables, chairs, a few umbrellas and some stolen space that once belonged to cars and now belongs to humans. During daytime not only tourists but also new yorkers enjoy it. Coffee and cigarette breaks have a new taste in midtown.

Herald Square

At night tough, the taste is very different. Along Broadway, from Times Square to 34th st, all those chairs are occupied by homeless.


Broadway and 37th.

One after the other. Bloomberg either don't think or don't care about having this stretch of city looking 'ugly' to those same tourists that fight for chairs during daytime. I still remember that years ago, in Madrid, outrageous mayor Alvarez del Manzano banned benches in Puerta del Sol to avoid homeless in the area. Fortunately for us, Bloomberg and Manzano don't seem to talk very often and so far, the vision of New York by night as a homeless city is silently taking shape in those new bed/chairs. I don't mind. The Times Square of the new century always looked too fake to last. So fake that now that reality is hitting back after a year of official crisis, homeless are visibly back to remind us that times are tough. Maybe Bloomberg didn't find a place yet to hide them before his reelection, like Giuliani did in the early nineties. Or maybe they are so many that it's already an impossible task. I hope the solution won't mean taken those chairs away from citizens. Homeless, after all, are citizens too and if a city is not able to provide them with a decent rooftop, let them at least profit from one of the few bright ideas of a politician.

Some fresh data from the 2008 census to think about, especially because for most of that year everybody was still living the 'high life', so imagine how the data about 2009 will be:

• The official poverty rate in 2008 was 13.2 percent, up from 12.5 percent in 2007. This was the first statistically significant annual increase in the poverty rate since 2004, when poverty increased to 12.7 percent from 12.5 percent in 2003. New York's 14.2 percent poverty rate in 2008 was higher than the nation's 13.2 percent, according to the report.
• In 2008, 39.8 million people were in poverty, up from 37.3 million in 2007 -- the second consecutive annual increase in the number of people in poverty.
• In 2008, the poverty rate increased for non-Hispanic Whites (8.6 percent in 2008 -- up from 8.2 percent in 2007), Asians (11.8 percent in 2008 -- up from 10.2 percent in 2007) and Hispanics (23.2 percent in 2008 -- up from 21.5 percent in 2007). Poverty rates in 2008 were statistically unchanged for Blacks (24.7 percent).
• The poverty rate in 2008 (13.2 percent) was the highest poverty rate since 1997 but was 9.2 percentage points lower than in 1959, the first year for which poverty estimates are available.
• The real median household income in the United States fell 3.6 percent between 2007 and 2008, from $52,163 to $50,303. This breaks a string of three years of annual income increases.
• Meanwhile, the number of people without health insurance coverage rose from 45.7 million in 2007 to 46.3 million in 2008, while the percentage remained unchanged at 15.4 percent.

THE UNTOUCHABLE

(This time in Spanish)

La realidad siempre supera a la ficción. Si Robert de Niro y Silvio Berlusconi compitieran por un oscar al mejor intérprete de Al Capone, creo que, pese a mi admiración por De Niro, el ganador sería mister Berlusconi. O al menos eso votaría media Italia, parte del extranjero y sobre todo, los cuatro italianos que han empapelado el sur de Manhattan con este poster fantástico a imagen y semejanza del de la película Los Intocables de Brian de Palma.

Hasta hace apenas un año los neoyorquinos no tenían ni idea de quien era este señor. Les sonaba de haberle visto estrechando la mano del presidente Bush pero poco más. En los últimos meses, entre escándalos variados con putas, orgías y acoso y derribo a periodistas, hasta la prensa estadounidense, muy poco dada a hablar de lo que ocurre fuera de la burbuja americana, se ha ensañado con Berlusconi. Y para que la ciudad entienda un poquito mejor quién es este personaje que inexplicablemente sigue siendo primer ministro de mi país materno, 'la nuova Carbonería' viene al rescate con la 'nueva imagen' del Cavaliere, perfectamente visible en Little Italy, Lower East Side y Soho.

Spring and Wooster

Según me contó Alberto Baudo, el periodista italiano que tomó las fotos y conoce a los ‘autores del crimen’, la iniciativa de los carteles partió “de dos estudiantes italianos y de dos profesionales que viven en Nueva York y que se sienten frustrados con la imagen que el presidente de su país proyecta sobre Italia”. El grupo se autodefine como ‘la Nuova Carbonería’, en alusión a la Carbonería, una sociedad secreta que funcionó en la Italia del siglo XIX durante el llamado Risorgimento Italiano y que se oponía a todo tipo de opresores. Los carteles de El intocable Berlusconi son sólo el principio de su pequeña revolución.

'I nuovi carbonari', que de momento prefieren permanecer en el anonimato, han invertido 4000 euros de su bolsillo en imprimir varios centenares de posters, un proyecto con el que simplemente aspiran a que “los estadounidenses entiendan que no todos los italianos están de acuerdo con lo que hace Berlusconi” según Baudo.

Kenmare and Mulberry

Bajo la imagen de ‘Il Cavaliere’con aire pensativo un título: “The Untouchable. Unimpeacheable at law (El intocable, no impugnable por decreto)’”. Sobre un lateral, cuatro frases contundentes: “Dirige Italia con poder absoluto. Nadie puede tocarle. Nadie puede pararle”. Son las mismas que en el cartel original de la película de De Palma definían a Al Capone, el mafioso más célebre de los años treinta en Estados Unidos. En ese cartel la imagen de Robert de Niro flotaba sobre la de Elliot Ness y el grupo de policías (los intocables) que le dieron caza durante los años de la prohibición. En la nueva versión en cambio, Berlusconi ‘planea’ sobre una imagen de la ciudad de Roma, martirizada por su presencia en el Quirinale (la residencia presidencial).

Bowery

Cuando Aznar gobernaba España y me encontraba con desconocidos dispuestos a hablar de política, yo aprovechaba que soy medio italiana para esconderme bajo esa nacionalidad y evitar el escarnio. Ultimamente me ocurre lo contrario, tengo que evitar mencionar mi parte italiana para no verme envuelta en conversaciones que inevitablemente acaban en Berlusconi. Por suerte ahora me queda el recurso de unirme a 'i nuovi carbonari'...