I think all these "lose x pounds" articles should only say:

"Exercise.

Stop eating crap (you know what that is, way before it’s in your mouth).

And eat half of what you normally eat."

That’s as long as any article about losing weight should be.

"I’m currently out of the office until Monday January 5, 2009."

That’s what it said. And yes, I said I saw this message about two months ago. In early October. So there’s someone out there that hasn’t turned off the auto reply in nine months. I think it’s kind of funny.  

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*"everyone" on this blog, in this context, means one or two people that actually read this blog. The blog is an egotrip, remember?

So, happy Thanksgiving to the two or three readers of the blog. 

I think it’s fixed. It turns out there was a lot of garbage in the HTML at the top of my lasts posts. I have no idea where it came from. It may have come from using copy/paste from MS Word. So I went to the HTML of all the latest posts and deleted the garbage from the posts that had it. It seems to be working now…but let me know if it’s not solved.   

I can’t believe how much I like it here. My hours in this same building were rather stressful. But the memories have nothing to do with stress and all to do with two amazing years in which a bunch of good things happen. Not the least one of which is that here (Boston/Cambridge) is where I met Maga.

Back to work.

Well, there is hope. He needs to become a fan of Ben Harper. Many people in my generation and younger (actually, in Gabo’s generation) adore Ben Harper. And when I complain about how basic his lyrics are they say things like “he sings from the heart.”

What “he sings from the heart” means to me is that he has the sophistication of a 3^rd grader. It’s equivalent to saying that George W. Bush is “a regular guy.” Same thing. No sophistication in speech. You think Thom Yorke doesn’t sign from the heart? Or Bono, or Sting? Of course they do. They just happen to be able to read books and have an interest in reading them. And that has given them the ability to express ideas poetically. Not with the language of an 8-year old.  

Consider the lyrics below:

    “it’s funny when you think it’s going to work out

    Until you chose weed over me. You are so lame”

Well, that’s stupid but it’s not Ben Harper. That’s Avril Lavigne and the song was written when she was 17. The same people that love Ben Harper criticize Avril Lavigne’s lyrics. Now let’s go to Exhibit B, from 40-year old Ben Harper:

    “Well - The good Lord is such a good Lord

    With such a good mother too

    They have blessed me

    They have blessed me

    In the good graces of you

    Now I have heard a hundred violins crying

    And I have seen a hundred white doves flying”

Dude! What? Seriously!

I rest my case.

(Gabo: I think you will be able to follow his lyrics)

Max y Carol van caminando entre dunas y el diálogo va más o menos así:

Carol: this part of your kingdom is not so good

Max: why?

Carol: Look this used to be all rock and now it’s sand and then it’s gonna be dust and then the whole island will be dust and then I don’t even know what comes after dust.

Max: Carol, did you know the sun was going to die?

Carol: what?  I never heard that.

Pause

Carol: C’mon that can’t happen. You’re the king and…look at me! I’m big! How could guys like us worry about a tiny little thing like the sun.

Así está el diálogo. Y me hizo recordar una frase del tío Pasitos. El tío Pasitos es el tío chihuahuense de un buen amigo. Creo que vive en la sierra de Chihuahua.   

Si la conversación de Max hubiera sido con el tío Pasitos, hubiera acabado así:

Max: Tío Pasitos, did you know the sun was going to die?

Tío Pasitos: Qué?

Pausa

Tío Pasitos:…No pinchi sol!…Cabrona la luna que aluza de noshe!

Aquí está la escena en youtube.

For those of you that may not know, if you use "Ctrl + +" on your keyboard (as in the Control key and the plus sign at the same time), the font size increases. That works for any website of course. And it works much better in Firefox, Chrome and Safari than in Internet Explorer. I guess what I’m saying is that it works better on pretty much all browsers that are not developed by Microsoft. But then again I may be stating the obvious. What doesn’t work better on browsers that are not developed by Microsoft?

The point is, use "Ctrl + +" to read this better. To go back to the original display you can use "Ctrl+-" (as in the Control key and the minus sign at the same time).    

El director Spike Jonze ya me ha dejado inspirado y feliz con otras de sus películas. “Being John Malkovich” me parece una película increíblemente creativa. Y en “Where the Wild Things Are” queda claro que no le tiene miedo a su creatividad y que primero que nada le interesa hacer buen cine.

La música, por si fuera poco, es también maravillosa. Y Max, el niño que hace el papel de Max, que por cierto también se llama Max en la vida real, es un pequeño Robert Downey Jr. Un pequeño Sean Penn. Extraordinario actor que no necesita decir nada para transmitirnos lo que siente y lo más importante de la escena. Le basta una mirada. Un gesto.

Véanla. Van a salir inspirados y felices.

Maybe because I see myself in Max; or because I see my 8-year old self in him; or because “the wild things” live inside me and, just like in the movie, they desperately long for a leader to guide them to live in peace, happily and understanding each other; but I loved the movie “Where the Wild Things Are”. It’s an extraordinary movie.

Director Spike Jonze had already inspired me and moved me with another one of his movies. I think “Being John Malkovich” is an incredibly creative film. And with “Where the Wild Things Are” he makes clear that he’s not afraid of being creative and that, before anything else, he is interested in making a great film.  

An added bonus is the soundtrack, which is wonderful. And Max, the kid playing Max, which name in real life is also Max, is a little Robert Downey Jr. A little Sean Penn. Great actor that can convey feelings and deliver a scene by just having the right expression on his face. Without having to even speak.

Go see it. You will leave the theatre uplifted and with a smile on your face.    

A friend that claims to be a chocolate lover was disappointed about me, another chocolate lover, preferring milk chocolate over the bitter, 80 percent cocoa, she was eating. Well I’m sorry.

Around the world, who would you say associates Mexico with great chocolate? Nobody? Exactly. No one sees Mexico as a country producing great chocolate, even though the consumption of cocoa in this planet started in Mexico when the Olmecs not only realized that they could eat it and derive great pleasure from its consumption but learned also how to cultivate it. That was at least 2,400 years ago.

The Aztecs (around 400 AD), even used cocoa beans as currency. That’s how prevalent and abundant (and important) cocoa was for the Mesoamerican cultures.

So we have centuries of chocolate production and consumption in Mexico. Cocoa and chocolate are used in many recipes. More than a few moles include chocolate. And when you prepare mole from scratch in Mexico, you start by making chocolate from scratch. Yes, you have to make chocolate from scratch and you can. The tradition and know-how is there. Not like a friend here in San Diego that told me she knew how to make mole poblano from scratch using peanut butter and Nestlé’s Quick. God bless her soul….

So, why is it that no one associates Mexico with good chocolate? Because we - I’m Mexican- don’t make any.

Which country do we associate with the best chocolate? (and army knifes and watches)….Switzerland. What did the Swiss have in the 1800s when cocoa finally became available and popular there that Mexico didn’t have? Cows. MILK.  And the Swiss started producing milk chocolate, and we all loved it and have loved it for two centuries. Good chocolate is milk chocolate and vice versa.

- "…But dark chocolate brings more health benefits…"

Yes. So does broccoli.