LESS HOLLYWOOD, MORE BASQUELAND

Taking a break in my home country. Coming from Los Angeles to Zumarraga is like jumping from Start Trek's Enterprise to a Berlanga's bus, to use a transportation metaphor. And not negatively at all. The Enterprise might be all cosmopolitan and high tech versus the homespun consistency and deep ethnicity of my home town but it's all good. Or even better. I love the green fields and meandering sheep across the roads, the crisp, quiet Spring afternoons and the small coffees in Santa Barbara, one of our two resident restaurant-adjunct, top-of-the-hill hermits.

It's a bit odd to the mind to be driving down I-405 one day in California and a tree-lined backroad in the Basque Country the next. Or having carne asada tacos one Tuesday and cod pil-pil style for dinner on Wednesday. I guess I am well trained and the culture shock has been subdued this time. I am always looking for a home but it feels pretty good right now to think that I have not one, but two homes.

Now I only need a house. Ha.

EARTHQUAKE IN LOS ANGELES

OK. Was that a dream or did I just feel an earthquake? My bed moved and the house rocked for a few seconds. Not huge, not long, but clear and felt.

Just checked the seismic activity in the area and the reports indicate a 4.7 scale movement (Richter) 3 minutes ago-6:25 a.m. So it was real. To be honest, I turned my computer and began to ready up from bed to come outside of the house. Then it stopped. The neighbor's dogs started barking but nothing else moved. Thank God. A spooky experience.

HYPERION PUBLIC-BARCA vs MANCHESTER CITY

No, it's not Jodie Foster's latest movie title. It's the joint we gather to watch Champions League fútbol (we have to start a crowd-funding campaign or something to get rid of the term "soccer", seriously) and do family therapy, err socialize, after practice and games. It's kinda fun. It would make for a decent sitcom–the 21st century, hipster version of Cheers with a bunch of middle-aged men talking football and drinking beer in a cave as if it really mattered, while postponing their lives for a couple of hours. Heck, if this isn't life, I don't know what is. Well, actually I can think of a couple other things but they don't really fit in this script, so I'll avoid them: this is Hollywood, after all.

So today we watched Barcelona and Manchester City. One of the interesting things of watching soccer in the US is that people actually talk business, work on their computers and debate on tactics while watching the game (or the replays). In Spain you go to a bar to watch and you watch the game. Yes, people talk, but they do it out of the corner of the mouth and looking sort of sideways, lest they miss something. Here we eat, drink, chat and, if we are lucky, will catch the missed chance or the blown call. It must be a carry over from baseball; but hey, it's cool, nobody's perfect. That's why there is always somebody on guard duty, watching intently while the rest of the bunch pore over U-6 tactical sets, Sevens divisional rivalries, hot moms and world affairs (yeah right). As soon as Iniesta makes a crazy move or Neymar catches the ball the sentry will scream: "Hey, check it out!" and heads will turn as in a tennis match... (I know what you fútbol unlovers are thinking, but you are wrong).

I have wondered many times about fútbol's allure. What is it that makes this sport so compelling, so passionate, so ingrained in people's blood? It's a cliché, but you can go anywhere in the world (still outside the US, unfortunately) and speak football. Wars will be paused–and started–because of a football match. Bitter enemies can rally around a commonly loved player or cherished team. The game is so transformational that people who can't play worth a crap will actually blossom into respected coaches and gurus. Only football and acting offer that cathartic potential. 

It was fun today and the tradition will continue. Whenever a good fútbol game happens, men gather around the world–usually with some sort of alcoholic drink at hand (sorry, Saudi Arabia). We talk, we  argue, we laugh, we scream, sometimes we even cry. And we always have fun. Take that, Vladimir Putin!

[Fade out]

FIN

12 YEARS A SLAVE

Won the Oscars. OK, I didn't watch the "ceremony", but I got to see the end and, besides, I don't live in a cave in the Pyrenees, so I know it won. And good for the movie and everybody who worked in it. The LA Times ran a story today basically saying that 12 YAS won as a result of a sort of historical recognition by Hollywood of the slavery era and its evil; yes, the movie is good, but many Academy voters didn't watch it and still voted for it to "go with the social flow" is the Times basic argument. It may be. What's intriguing for me is the reason people in the Academy don't want to watch it. They argue it's an "upsetting" theme, as if Hollywood had never touched on "upsetting" issues: Hitler, Nazism, Holocaust, Native Americans' genocide, Injustice, Natural Disastry, End of Worldism and many more. To me it is strange there is so much reluctance to see "12 Years". Is it collective guilt? Is it individual/family guilt? Is it some kind of moral prudishness? Is it some type of "oppression-claim protectionism" (as some people in the Hollywood Jewish community, for example, unconsciously wanting to "protect" the memory and unique legacy of the Holocaust as the premiere example of racially based evil?) Maybe it's something else, I don't know.

Personally, I couldn't wait to see it when it came out, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Yes, it's tough to watch at times, but not necessarily more than Schindler's List or other movies portraying deep personal or social injustice, violence or drama (take Zero Dark Thirty, for example). There are singular aspects to 12YAS that make it stand out (i.e.the painful torture scenes, the everydayness of submission and soul deprivation, powerfully brought out by the cast and director). That said, I am glad Hollywood recognized this film. I am not a big fan of political correctness, but the movie leaves a mark and it is very well made and acted. In addition to that, the fact that it attacks slavery in the US at its core visually, philosophically and ethically is commendable and makes it worthy of the award. Not that others didn't deserve it as well but the Oscars are heavily political–whether you want it or not–and this time politics fell in favor of the oft-forgotten. Right on here.

OSCARS

So I didn't watch the Oscars tonight. I had a baby shower to attend, my first ever, and I missed on the glam and glitter of Hollywood. Well, actually I got home before it ended so I caught the tail end of the show and was able to see Sydney Poitier and the last few awards. It was hard for me to feel emotional or excited about any of it. I tried to empathize/sympathize/be inspired by Cuarón, Mccounaghey, Blanchet or McQueen. Something in the whole thing seemed to me either rehearsed, trite or, as in the case of McQueen, borderline hysteric.

Don't know if I am less vulnerable, more cynical or simply they just didn't do it for me. The ceremony and the build up to it appeared to me this year more than ever just a "me bigger" game dependent on marketing and money-for-attention. Usually the winners are good, although not necessarily the best; politics and/or money play a big role in this, so its attraction has peeled off me quite a bit. It may also be just seasonal and next year I'll be in a different personal space to care more about this type of thing.

The baby shower was nice: excellent home cooked Mexican food and a very nice host, my friend Miguel. Good conversation, some interesting and nice people and good fun and laughter: that was more valuable to me tonight than the Oscars. That said, congratulations to all the winners and best of year for all artists.

ON HOUSE OF CARDS

I like House of Cards. It's like the 21st century version of I Claudius. Yes, I know that many people won't remember that show, one because it was British and two, because it happened almost 40 years ago. I used to watch it in Spain, in our black and white "Inter" television. Every Sunday evening I would seat with anticipation on our tiny living room's coach with my good grandma while my parents were out getting their weekly fix of working class social life.

That's almost the same anticipation I feel now when I sit with my buddies every night to watch it. The ingenuity and ability for conspiracy, double-crossing, Machiavellian malevolence, fake and allegedly real (sporadic) compassion the Underwoods show, is sometimes exhilarating, often mesmerizing and always captivating. And Stamper (Frankie's lackey) ranks up there in the creep scale. Same as the FBI guy (Stamper's henchman). I hope the writers don't do any mescal and go Prison Breakish on us. Keep it wacky, but keep it real. 

OLYMPICS in NBC PRIME TIME

The Games of the whatever Winter Olympiad are over. Nice.

Full disclosure: I have only watched the Prime Time coverage on NBC with Bob Costas, so I don't know how the rest of the coverage has been. 

But what I have indeed seen has been closer to a long supercute glossymercial than an international tournament sports coverage. I can't say that I didn't enjoy the brief moments of sports interspersed into the commercial airtime, but I was a little disappointed to see that 180 countries had been disqualified from Sochi after the first couple of days, leaving a field of only the US, Russia, The Netherlands, South Korea and, I think, Germany. Wait... No, I think an Italian ice skater stuck around too. Things are niftier and cleaner when it's only the US and somebody else, especially if the US wins or gets a medal. Or, if they fully self-destroy and then THAT becomes news fodder (e. g. Team USA's  speed skating debacle or Shaun White's descent into, ohmigod, 4th place hell!). For the record, before the games I had no idea of who White is or that the speed skaters were supposed to dominate. Costas and Co. made sure I got it right. Which is good. But using the broadcast as a glorified home team highlight show or a gossipy intrusion into our heroes' demise is subpar journalism. Also, I believe, it contributes to the distorted view many Americans have of the country's place in the world, neglecting the sacrifices made by many non-medal US athletes and other nations' accomplishments. And this not only applies to sports

For example when BobCos interviewed the IOC President, Thomas Bach, a German, Costas confronted Bach on the poor human rights record of Russia and the widely-assumed idea that these were "Putin's games". Diplomatically, Bach reminded him that it was better not do delve too much on the different countries' HR records or their allegiances to this or that regime (in reference, I suppose, to criticism of Russia's support to Syria, but also sending a subtle message that the US has its share of troubled relationships with human rights and dubious regimes). While I agree on the relevance of Costas' question, it's necessary to also look at ourselves as a country without adopting too high a righteous perch, since others can arguably lob similar criticisms to us. 

This is what happens when we only get to see the goodies but not the full, rich and not always sunny picture. It was poignant to see Noelle Pikus-Pace, who won silver in skeleton being interviewed and profusely recognized–and deservedly so–while a heart-broken Katie Uhlander, who came in 4th in the same event, received just a brief moment on TV after the race and faded into NBC oblivion after that. We can do better. *

*And no, getting to see the Jamaican two-man bobsleigh does not qualify for ample and balanced coverage.