DFCN - August 05

DFCN's Summer Movie Rating Table:

Movie	DFCN's Rating (0-10)	DFCN's Comments
Madagascar	7.5	I compare these cartoons to 'Finding Nemo', so that being said, Madagascar was indeed funny, just not comparable to Nemo.
Cinderella Man	8.5	Good 'true story' feel-good movie. The 2 pablos cried and applauded during the movie. Seemed more like a bullfight than a movie.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith	6 (9 for Angelina)	Fully action-packed movie, perhaps TOO action packed. Nine points for Angelina though! Good explosions, so-so story.
Robots	7	Again, another poor intent comparing to Nemo. Robin Williams is good nonetheless. Light and funny as are most of these movies.
Bewitched	0.01	It's a NO-GO!
The Longest Yard	7	Never saw the first one. This one however is simply hilarious.
Crash	8.5	Ah, good movie. Depicts the racism situation that invades this country (US). Good eye-opener for anyone.
Layercake	7.5	The movie looks pretty good, I just didn't understand most of it. If english is not first language, trust me, this will come to you as quite a challenge. It looked good though. From the same producer of 'Snatch' and 'Lock Stock and Two Smokin' Barrels'.
Batman Begins	0.02	Slightly superior to 'Betwitched' but not quite there yet. Apparently there's no good recipe on how to make a decent Batman movie.
War of the Worlds	4	If you like sci-fi movies you might like this. However the movie makes no sense. Special FX are okay though. Read the review below for more info.
Charlie & The Chocolate Factory	9	Absolutely loved this movie. Once again Tim Burton makes proof of his endless imagination. For those who thought it couldn't compare to the first one, think twice.
Wedding Crashers	8	Pure U.S. entertainment. Hilarious.
The Island	5	From start to end, one long advertisement. Other than that, entertaining, good plot idea.

8-30-05

A fun weekend. After much deserved rest, we decided to take a ride on the new motorcycles. They are a chinese brand, Zongshen, which means that if they ever break down, parts are easily accessible from anywhere around the country. It's a 200cc mono-cylinder engine, with a front disc brake and rear drum. Very simple technology with makes it easy to repair. This is the one I'm taking to Tibet at some point.

Anyways, nine of us took off on this 2-day trip; destination: unknown. Pedro and Rafael drove the two Kuazi's while Jeronimo, Ana M and myself rode the enduro bikes. We found a beautiful valley near a section of the Great Wall not far from Simatai, 300km north of Beijing. There, part of the group camped, the other part stayed with some peasants in the village that offered us housing and food for one night.

The bikes gave us no trouble at all, what a relief, after my trip down south with Mauricio, having to stop every 25km to fix something. Check out some of the pictures:

CLICK HERE TO VIEW GALLERY

8-17-05

Update from the future. Already 13 hours ahead of my biological clock for the past 4 months, I make this short update from Tokyo, Japan as I wait for my flight to Beijing. First let me tell you about the flight I just had: Washington, DC - Tokyo. A 12.5 hour long flight was almost compressed into a few minutes. The flight was so full, that they had to move people from the Economy Class up to First Class. And well, guess who was one of those lucky ones: yea. Not only did I travel first class but I had nobody by my side. It was heaven. If you can afford traveling first class, please do so, especially during long flights. It makes the experience that much more pleasant. All the food you want, the cool complementary slippers and sweaters, GOOD pillows (not the ones that feel like styrofoam), and the service, well...when you sit in economy and they shut those curtains that prevent you from watching what's going on only a few feet away (annoying isn't it?), well there's a good reason. I would get pissed off too if I saw the way people get treated for just an few extra hundred bucks. Anyways, that was probably the last time I travel in First Class in my life, sure enjoyed it though.

A 2.5 hour flight awaits me now, in a regular seat, with the old stale bread, half-filled plastic cups of water instead of the bubbling champagne in the chilled glass, etc. Hehe, I'll manage. Alright, that's all for now, back to my life as I had left it.

8-10-05

Three more days and going. With my migraines 95% gone, I've started to enjoy life once again. I had forgotten what it was like to be outside, being able to fully open your eyes and see the light of day without thinking you're dying like a blood-sucking light-exposure melting vampire. My father is very much obsessed with kitesurfing at the moment so we go kitesurfing whenever the conditions allow us to. Ideal situation, 20knot wind. The past couple of days haven't been ideal but he's been able to get some decent surfing done. I had never actually seen this sport and it seems quite fun. However, paragliding is still at the top of my list for the next 40 years...maybe 60. I am absolutely in love with that sport.

My dad helps a girl inflate her Kite.

So Monday and Tuesday, we spent the day in Alameda Beach doing the Kitesurfing thing. Today, things got interesting with a little change of activities. We went down to Salinas, about 113 miles south of San Francisco, to a place called 'Moss Landing Park'. Salinas is where writer John Steinbeck was born. I personally haven't read the book but I'm sure many of you have: 'Grapes of Wrath'. My dad was telling me as we drove down a local road in between fields of lettuce, strawberries and literally grapes, the story of this book in which Steinbeck talks about the problem with Mexican (an other hispanic illegal immigrants) that work long hours, under harsh conditions, to humbly make 4-5 dollars an hour. While some people in this country complain and fight against immigrants (los mojados, or 'the wet ones', a term designated to the illegal ones since they must cross the river in order to cross the border), many don't realize that these illegal immigrants number up to around 10 million. What do they do besides moving the economy, being one of the biggest consumers out there, the majority of people buying houses, and actually working on the world's most fertile land (California's) for the entire country to be fed? well, there's your answer.

There, as we drove through the countryside, I saw Steinbeck's characters come alive. Under those wrapped, sun-burnt faces, hid hundreds of young, old, male and female workers, doing their job 'illegally' just to be able to barely survive. Amazing. Just imagine the conditions they were living in before in order to give it up for what I saw.

Well, that being said, and back to my very lucky and fortunate reality, we took my fathers two-person kayak and paddled through a very nice estuary filled up with wildlife animals in their natural habitat. It felt somewhat like a National Geographic/Zoo experience, except there was no screen or bars separating us from the creatures themselves. We paddled down for about a good hour and then another one straight back against the wind and tide, which almost got the best out of us.

Last but not least, we headed further down south for only 20 minutes, and found a paragliding dune site. We parked, got the gliders out, and the rest, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW GALLERY

CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO (6MB)

8-07-05

Fun weekend. Migraines are getting better as an apparently lifestyle change is doing the job. Finishing school, graduating, working and getting really started with one's life, apparently is enough to get one's brain worked up. Anyways, I made the wise decision of coming to San Francisco and spend time with my dad and play around.

After a long flight squeezed between a Chinese couple, to who I did not talk, I arrived to San Francisco's airport where my father picked me up. We headed over to Alameda beach to check out some of the kitesurfers. I have never done any kitesurfing but my father is absolutely fanatic about it. The day didn't last much longer, we came back home and went to bed fairly early. The next day, we flew down to Minden, NV, the soaring capital of the world (they say). South East of Tahoe, it is home to the world's biggest Sailplane aficionados (including my father). At around noon, we got towed up to 7,000ft and soared for a considerably short while since the conditions weren't ideal. After the flight, we met up with some of the world's best pilots (seriously) for a Club BBQ which was far from uninteresting.

We spent the night in my father's RV, very nice by the way, and headed back to San Francisco this morning landing before the clock had hit 8am. The conditions seemed to be okay for paragliding, and that's what we did. Over at Pacifica (facing the Pacific ocean obviously), a great soaring site for paragliders, although the fog today stepped in the way to make it even better. The cliffs elongate up to 10miles and on a clear day one can see the Golden Gate while hanging on a paraglider. I'll get pictures of that when I get a chance to do it. Today we just flew around for several hours. I needed a flight badly.

Well that's the weekend so far. We'll see what awaits for next week. Here are some pictures of the flight to Minden, flying the sailplane, paragliding, and my two little twin brothers.

CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES

8-04-05

Done with school, for good. Today was my last day of classes. Last Friday I had my Advertising class marketing final presentation which went exceptionally well. Today, I presented my last art project in my Graphic Design class. So now it's over.

After severe migraines I have decided to go to San Francisco and spend some time with my father in order to clear my head up and change my 'lifestyle' which they say is good to help these kinds of crisis. Wait for new updates.