Tetro by Francis Ford Coppola

Tetro is the latest film by acclaimed writer/director Francis Ford Coppola. Starring Vincent Gallo as Tetro, Maribel Verdú as Marina, Carmen Maura as Alone, Leticia Brédice as Josefina and Alden Ehrenreich as Bennie.

Bennie goes from New York to Buenos Aires to visit his long-lost brother Tetro, who is living a very pathetic life as a failed playwright. Tetro's girlfriend, Marina, helps Bennie as she gives him Tetro's unfinished play. Bennie decides to finish it and discovers the real reason why Tetro left. Bennie prepares the play and it gets into the hands of literary critic, Alone. She invites them to participate in the important Patagonia Festival. While there receiving the prize, their famous orchestra conductor father dies.

The film has the typical themes of Hollywood films like family relationships, opposed siblings, love or tragedy. But Coppola's film is very minimal aesthetically, shot in black and white but with color flashbacks. Inside this simple history, Coppola combines weird theater plays, cinema references, argentinean tango, female nudity and absurd dialogues. Gallo's and Ehrenreich's performances help the film throughout the end, because it clocks past the two hours.

Is not a masterpiece but seems like a personal and low-budget film that the director would do thirty years ago, prior to his hit saga (The Godfather). Although it is predictable at times and too lengthy, it is fun to see mid-level and unknown actors do an unconventional film penned by an established Hollywood director.

Limp Wrist at Madrid

Limp Wrist, the legendary queer hardcore punk band, played at the madrilean venue, Sala Boite (looks like a strip club without the poles). The opening act was the local punk band, Muletrain. I have seen them a couple of times (opening for The Adolescents, twice) and it was their best performance so far. They get me bored easily because their songs are too long, they sang in a very bad english and every song sounds the same.

Almost an hour later, Martín (former Los Crudos frontman), Paul, Andrew and Scott came on stage. Hot pants, vests and biker hats were part of their wardrobe. They played a lot of songs from their discography with a tremendous energy. Martín crowd-surfed and sang in the pit with the young spaniard "moshers". He dedicated the song "Ode" to Darby Crash (Germs), Gary Floyd (The Dicks) and other pioneer gay punks. The last song was their classic "I love Hardcore Boys, I love Boys Hardcore". Overall was a good show but kind of short. Anyhow was worth it, only for the main act.

Pure Hell

Prior to the Bad Brains, there were a few all-black punk bands in the late 70s. Pure Hell, began in Philly in 1974 then move to NYC and the UK. They released a single called "These Boots and Made for Walking" b/w "No Rules". Here's a short documentary on them.

Hip hop in spanish

Hip Hop music was created by African-American New Yorkers in the late 70s and early 80s. But in that early scene a couple of puertoricans like DJ Disco Wiz, Prince Whipper Whip, Prince Markie Dee and Wise from Stetsasonic made their contribution to the growth. By 1985, the first rap in Spanish arrived with Vico-C, born in New York and raised in Puerto Rico. His influence in the spanish-speaking world is undeniable in the late 80s and early 90s. All latin american countries as well as Spain by the 90s developed a hip hop scene in their own kind of way.

In Spain, hip hop evolved into a popular genre between their youth with major acts like Violadores del Verso, Nach, SFDK or Tote King along with minor acts like Los Chikos del Maíz, Jesuly, Shogun XL or Dogma Crew. These acts are not millionaire celebrities like the major north american rappers or the reggaeton artists but have the respect of the entire spanish-speaking community with their good lyrics, great beats and non-gangster attitudes. Any of these spaniard acts goes to Latin America and sold-out their shows to loyal fans.


In Latin-America has remained very underground. Events like Red Bull Batalla de los Gallos or the Hip Hop Summits/Festivals in Venezuela, Colombia or Dominican Republic have created a sense of unity between the countries in the Caribbean, Central America, South America and the latinos in the US.

Puerto Rico is a unique case because of three reasons:
1-Reggaeton's huge impact in the population helped Hip Hop became a reactionary underground movement rebelling against the status-quo in the late 90s with rappers like Ovrdoze (Tek-1 and J-Mo), Conciencia Poética (Luís Díaz, 79 and producer Yall'zee), EA Flow, Ciencia Fixión (Dr.Who, Centro, Dreuxifer and DJ Nature from the Texas), Mad Steelo, Velcro, Welmo, Nebula, No Mel Syndicate, Gunzsmoke, etc.
2-The majority of these rappers grew up on Cable TV (Yo! MTV Raps for example) as the same time of stateside americans.
3-The constant flux of puertoricans between New York and Puerto Rico because of the US citizenship of puerto ricans helped create an understanding of hip hop culture very early on unlike the rest of spanish-speaking countries.

The result is a tight scene of great mc's/producers/dj's with an US/Early spanish rap pioneers like Vico-C influence who can flow well in both spanish and english. Their lyrics are intelligent as most of them are middle-class and college-educated (Velcro is a Harvard grad and Luís Díaz has an MA degree, for example) or self-educated in socio-political themes. Also, most of them have communication with stateside puerto ricans who are involved with hip hop in their own states (Babalú Machete, Joell Ortiz and Thirstin Howl III from New York, Yeyo of "The Dey" from Miami, Temperamento from Rhode Island, Chino XL from New Jersey or Termanology from MA, for example). These stateside puertoricans collaborate with the islanders (Tropical Storm compilation of the late 90s made by Babalu Machete, for example) very often helping to create a sense of unity between puerto rican rappers in both places.

Cuba is another unique case because of their socio-political status. They have created the most fierce, well-read and real hip hop since the glory days of hip hop in the late 80s and early 90s. Acts like Randy Acosta, Papá Humbertico, Los Aldeanos, Los Paisanos and Anónimo Consejo are praised by fellow spanish-speaking rappers around the world. Their most famous export is Orishas, who moved to Europe and gained success in countries like Spain and France although their style is more commercial. Hardcore-Rap icon Randy Acosta, now living in Finland, with two great albums under his wing like "Jodido Protagonista" and "Zangre, Zudor y Lagri+" made huge impact in latin america. Other notable export is Mahoma from Explosión Suprema, married to andalusian rapper La Mala Rodríguez, and one of her hypemans. In all, Cuban hip hop is mostly underground, political and very real.

Other countries like Chile (Makiza, Tiro de Gracia, Némesis and ZicutaEjecuta)
and México (Boca Floja, Cartel de Santa and Control Machete) have big rap artists. Also there's hip hop culture in Dominican Republic (led by Lápiz Consciente, Espadasofia, Circuito Negro, etc.), Argentina (Frescolate; winner of the Red Bull battle in 2005), Colombia ( the most famous being Tres Coronas and La Etnnia) and the rest of latin america.

To conclude, hip hop in spanish began in Puerto Rico in 1985 but did not evolved into a full fledged culture because of the reggaeton virus. It remain underground with high-level artists with no media exposure. Stateside puerto ricans have helped the scene but not that much to compete with the radio-friendly reggaeton. In Spain, it became a great youth culture with major acts that can live from the music and are icons in Spain and Latin America. Cuba remains as the purest form of the genre and mainly reflects the reality of cuban life. Mexico and Chile have greater hip hop scenes but don't transcend to the whole lot of spanish-speaking countries. And the rest of the countries have small scenes but serves as the outlet for the youth to fight against their social inequalities.

Post Scriptum: Highlighted are the most important artists but feel free to lookout for any of these spanish-speaking rap artists through their official webpages or myspaces. Very recommended.

Zatu from SFDK acting

Zatu, mc from sevillian hip hop legends SFDK, has a couple of lines in the hit independent web-series Malviviendo. Check it out. Hilarious!

The International by Tom Tykwer

The International is the latest feature film by German director, Tom Tykwer (director of Run Lola Run and The Perfume: The story of a Murderer). Starring are Clive Owen and Naomi Watts with a little cameo by Ben Wishaw (The Perfume and I'm not There).

An action-thriller that follows Interpol agent Salinger (Owen) with the help of NY D.A.'s officer (Watts) attempting to uncover an arms deal scheme by a International bank based on Luxembourg. They travel through Berlin, Milan, New York and Istanbul following the bank's greedy manners to control arms deals in Third World African and Asian countries.

Tykwer's take on international action-thrillers (think Bourne's series) is actually very good. It has an intelligent social commentary on how these international banks control governments, corporations and individuals by generating an infinite debt. The photography throughout the European, Asian and American cities is stunning. The camera shots and the editing construct a suspense storytelling that keeps you wondering how it's going to end.

Owen's performance is very credible but Watts' role seems like an excuse to add a female character to an entire testosterone driven cast. The NY Guggenheim scene exceeds the shots-fired barrier for my taste but one thing I sure like was that it did not end in an Owen-Watts romance like a predictable film of this type will end. Kudos to Tykwer for an enjoyable social-awareness feature that stands alone in that sort of modern Hollywood genre.

III Urban Fest at Torrejón

The third annual Urban Fest was celebrated in the Madrid municipality of Torrejón de Ardoz. The venue, "Recinto Ferial", held various activities related to the hip hop culture like breakdancing, freestyle battles and a couple of rap acts. As the event was totally free it was full of youngsters and rappers from the entire Madrid community. The weather was a bit cold for our taste making a weird atmosphere of the Sunday afternoon.

It began with the b-boys making their stage antics to a crowd of clueless youngsters who only cheered the "windmills" or the "flares". The crews did not have any organization or coordinated pieces like all b-boy crews have. Any of the b-boys stand out that much and the majority were very sloppy. But the winners were a crew called "Madrid King Vandals". After that, the mc freestyle battle who was a little wackness. The only one with inventive, flow and punchlines that did not seem previously written was the winner, a chubby mc which name I can remember.

Then came the rap acts starting by Primizia, who played a lot of time and I did not like at all. After that, Torrejón local mc, Artes, enter the stage to sang some tunes from his last album "La Banda Sonora de Nuestra Vidas". He was accompanied by Frank T and Rob Vendetta in a couple of songs. After that, we left because the event was getting monotonous and the weather didn't help. We missed Rapsusklei, Xhelazz and Falsalarma, the latter two we have seen them live before so its no big deal.

Rudo y Cursi by Carlos Cuarón

Rudo y Cursi is the first feature film directed by mexican screenwriter Carlos Cuarón. The movie is produced by Cha Cha Cha, a company integrated by fellow mexican directors Alfonso Cuarón, Alejandro González Iñárritu and Guillermo Del Toro. Starring are Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna with supporting roles by puertorrican actress Jessica Mas and argentinean actor Guillermo Francella.

The story of brothers Tato "Cursi" Verdusco (Gael) and Beto "Rudo" Verdusco (Diego) who work in a plantation in their poor Mexican town. They also play in the local soccer team. One day a scout, Batuta (Francella), arrives and watches them playing. Tato is the first who is drafted to play at a soccer club in DF called "Deportivo Amaranto" but he also wants to be a singer. Rudo eventually is scouted to another team in DF to play as the goalie. They both become famous players but Cursi falls for a beautiful model (Mas) who is a social climber and Rudo becomes an avid gambler. Both brothers are against each other at the final soccer game of their lives.

Cuarón's debut as a director is very-well accomplished. The photography is great because of the contrast between the poor coastal mexican towns and the urban life at the DF. The story flows very smoothly without flashbacks or any goofy camera tricks that enhances a non-linear storytelling. His brother's camera work, like long takes are seen a couple of times throughout the film as well as the use of a voice-over narrator who explains the context. Gael and Diego's acting complement very well the kind of funny but very real story that Cuarón tries to tell. The script resembles his shorts like "Me la Debes" (You Owe Me One) and his famous movie "Y tu mamá también" in the sense of being a simple, funny, sexy and thought-provoking drama that can be enjoyed anytime.

Carlos Cuarón along with brother Alfonso, Guillermo del Toro, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Guillermo Arriaga and Carlos Reygadas are the new generation of mexican filmmakers who are making spanish-speaking cinema stand for itself nowadays.

Bad Brains documentary.

Trailer for the documentary on the hardcore-punk pioneers from DC/NYC, The almighty Bad Brains.

Puerto Rico is not important

During the recent Summit of the Americas, The Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega expressed in his speech that the event cannot be called of "The Americas" because two countries like Cuba and Puerto Rico, did not participated in it. President Obama in his speech forgot completely about Ortega's mention of Puerto Rico. I ask myself: It was deliberate or just forgot? Who knows.

Also, some of the leading news agencies in the world (AP, EFE, etc) and as a matter of fact the major newspapers (NY Times, Le Monde, SF Chronicle,etc) only quoted Ortega as saying Cuba, they omitted the other Caribbean island. Only a local Trinidad paper reported on this. It's a shame, the misinformation.

I'm aware of the "great news" it is Cuba because of the 40 year plus US embargo on them and the non-existent relationship between the US presidents and the Castro brothers. But Puerto Rico is still the oldest colony in the world. Where human rights are being violated to 4 million US citizens who are treated as second class citizens who neither can vote for the president of the US nor received decent incomes compared to the 50 states of the union (our per capita is lower than the poorest state which is Mississippi).

Puerto Rico's status has to be resolved as soon as possible. But Obama and the media have to put our problem in the international forums and not omitted it like they did. Our commonwealth is a transitional status and it should be changed. Our society is composed of politicians who only want to perpetuate the colonial status to continue robbing the federal aid and a dormant population who only likes to "party" and not to think. The chances of independence were undermined as the nationalist movement was erased with Pedro Albizu Campos and such who where the ones who really fought for a free nation.

So, in the 21st century it's either a Hispanic statehood to the US or a territorial disposition by the US Congress as stated by political analyst Juan Manuel Garcia Passalaqua. A Hispanic statehood is more viable now as the Hispanic population stateside is rapidly growing each year. The US was created as a melting pot, a nation of immigrants. With Obama, part of a minority, as President is possible. Now or never.