scene showdown: FlashForward or NCIS: Los Angeles?
News
fri 9/25/2009
Prime-time television is back with a slew of new shows including two set in Los Angeles, the most Hispanic county in the U.S.
So how did Latinos do in the first episodes of FlashForward (ABC) and NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS)? You decide.
"¿Te ayudo?"
Character: Hector the gardener
Screen time: 8 seconds
Show: FlashForward
Network: ABC
Hector offers Mark Benford (Joseph Fiennes) a helping hand when Mark has to crawl under his garage door to get outside.
OR
"He's dead?"
Actor: Daniel Edward Mora
Character: Emilio the gardener
Screen time: 1 minute
Show: NCIS: Los Angeles
Network: CBS
After answering some questions for Special Agent G. Callen (Chris O'Donnell), Emilio can't believe the man whose lawn he has cut for years is gone. Forever.
Miss Universe 2009: guess the nationality, part four
News
wed 8/19/2009
This Sunday, 84 beautiful women from various parts of the globe will compete for the title of Miss Universe 2009 live on Telemundo.
Guess the nationality!
Mariana Valente
Age: 23
Height: 5'9"
Languages: English, Portuguese, French and Spanish
Canada
Watch Miss Universe 2009 this Sunday, August 23 on Telemundo at 8PM / 7C.
Miss Universe 2009: guess the nationality, part three
News
wed 8/19/2009
This Sunday, 84 beautiful women from various parts of the globe will compete for the title of Miss Universe 2009 live on Telemundo.
Guess the nationality!
Mareike Baumgarten Oroa
Age: 20
Height: 5'8"
Languages: Spanish and English
Paraguay
Watch Miss Universe 2009 this Sunday, August 23 on Telemundo at 8PM / 7C.
Miss Universe 2009: guess the nationality, part two
News
wed 8/19/2009
This Sunday, 84 beautiful women from various parts of the globe will compete for the title of Miss Universe 2009 live on Telemundo.
Guess the nationality!
Mayra Matos Pérez
Age: 20
Height: 5'10"
Languages: Spanish and English
Puerto Rico
Karla Carrillo
Age: 21
Height: 5'9"
Languages: Spanish, English and French
México
Michelle Rouillard
Age: 20
Height: 5'8"
Languages: Spanish, English and French
Colombia
Watch Miss Universe 2009 this Sunday, August 23 on Telemundo at 8PM / 7C.
Miss Universe 2009: guess the nationality, part one
News
wed 8/19/2009
This Sunday, 84 beautiful women from various parts of the globe will compete for the title of Miss Universe 2009 live on Telemundo.
Guess the nationality!
Ada De La Cruz
Age: 23
Height: 6'0"
Languages: Spanish and English
Dominican Republic
Watch Miss Universe 2009 this Sunday, August 23 on Telemundo at 8PM / 7C.
Michael Jackson dead
News
thu 6/25/2009
Michael Jackson has died. The "King of Pop" was rushed to the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles earlier this afternoon after suffering what is believed to be a heart attack. Doctors were unable to revive Jackson, who arrived in what was described as a "deep coma." Jackson was 50 years old.
Celebrities who were influenced and inspired by Michael Jackson are reacting to the tragedy:
Wisin y Yandel: "The loss of Michael Jackson fills us with an enormous sadness. The King of Pop has always been an inspiration for us."
Luis Alfonso Lizarraga of La Banda El Recodo: "As an artist he was an inspiration and an example of always working to be the best and that has always been very important in our career, without a doubt he is the greatest."
Daddy Yankee: "The news was a blow to the heart of the child in me. Michael Jackson was my biggest inspiration, a genius and a leader in the world of music."
Luis Fonsi: "Today we lost the most important artist of our times – the most important artist of my generation."
Thalia: "This loss makes you relive the moments of your life that were accompanied by the soundtrack of his music and the innovative images from his videos."
Romeo of Aventura: "I don't think there's an artist who wasn't influenced or inspired by Michael Jackson's charisma, his voice or his humanitarian efforts. I can't believe he's no longer with us."
Don Omar: "Today, the world lost a global icon. Rest in peace to the King of Pop."
Ricky Martin: "No one will replace him, but I know that the bright light that once shined onstage will remain with everyone who lived to see it."
Justin Timberlake: "We have lost a genius and a true ambassador of not only pop music but of all music… I will always cherish the moments I shared with him on stage and all of the things I learned about music from him and the time we spent together."
Beyonce: "He was magic. He was what we all strive to be. He will always be the king of pop! Life is not about how many breaths you take, but about how many moments in life that take your breath away."
Madonna: "The world has lost one of the greats, but his music will live on forever! My heart goes out to his three children and other members of his family."
Mariah Carey: "No artist will ever take his place. His star will shine forever."
Angel of Angel y Khriz: "I knew all of his dance routines and I admired him so much because he had a very unique sound."
Ne-Yo: "Growing up, Michael Jackson could no wrong. Everything the man did was magic."
Jamie Foxx: "Honor the beauty of what Michael Jackson was and not the craziness and all of the circus things that the media can grab a hold to sometimes and just go nuts."
Wyclef: "He made me believe that all things are possible and through positive music he will live forever."
Questlove of The Roots: "I know he was mired in controversy the last decade of his life but I think it's time we let him rest in peace and learn to separate the art and the artist."
my movie: The Garden by Scott Hamilton Kennedy
News
thu 5/7/2009
In 1994, dozens of mostly Mexican immigrants turned an empty lot in South Central Los Angeles into a farm that fed hundreds. Until the owner of the lot asked for his land back.
The movie The Garden documents what happened next: the legal fight, the political struggle and how the future of Los Angeles will be shaped by Latinos, Blacks, developers and residents finding a common cause.
We chatted with director Scott Hamilton Kennedy about the racial divide in L.A., how he discovered the farm and what he hopes to achieve with The Garden.
How did you first find out about the South Central Farm? What inspired you to document it in this film?
It was through my good friend and co-producer, Dominque Derrenger, who saw a PBS piece, on the show "Life and Times," about the garden. We had been looking to do a project together, and he said, ‘I think we’ve found something here’, and he was absolutely right. It had so many elements of a great story. He sent me a transcript, and even with that you could see so many elements. I was on a plane and got off in LA, and went right to the garden, and we started shooting the next day. So I guess you could say that there was no pre-production on this film.
Did you encounter resistance from the farmers or from local government? Did anyone try to stop you from making this film?
I had to establish trust with the farmers, and everyone involved in the story. In terms of resistance there were several people who turned me down for interviews like: Ralph Horowitz and Antonio Villaraigosa. And after my first interviews with them, Jan Perry and Juanita Tate stopped talking to me as well. But no one tried to stop me from filming, as far as I know…
Many people believe there is a racial divide (black vs. brown) in Los Angeles. Did you observe this while working on your film?
I wouldn’t refer to it as a ‘divide,’ but people in lots of communities all over the world get in to struggles when one ‘group’ (racial, ethnic, neighborhood, class, religion) is looking out for the interests of their group at the expense of another group. Often because they feel that group has either done the same or will do the same given the opportunity.
Your movie shows both blacks and Hispanics working together and against each other as they jockey for position in their communities – is there a happy ending?
For me, that question is so large and open ended, it is way beyond my ability to answer. That said, I hope there are glimpses of a happy ending. Are things perfect amongst all races in the world? Of course not, and the same thing is true in South Central, but I saw people from so many different racial, religious, political and financial backgrounds come to and support the garden, which made me believe it is not about race, it's about people supporting something they believe in. Fighting for a way of life they feel is important.
What did you discover about the people working on the farm?
I discovered many things, like they were extremely hard working, excited to learn as best they can how the system of politics and power worked, and try to get their voice in that game – but at the same time I don’t want to speak in generalizations: so of course there was more shades of grey than the above two lines can get across.
Who did you envision as your audience?
Would I sound crazy if I said all humans? Just kidding, of course, but in all honesty, I didn't try to make the movie for a particular audience. I hope most anyone could sit down and be caught up in this complicated, fascinating story.
What would you like a young Latino to get out of this movie?
Again, I don't mean to be coy, but I don't think I am in a position to distinguish between one audience members reaction and another. I hope it reaches people, moves people, speaks to people. And that it makes people see that they can have a voice in this thing we call democracy, and even if you don't win every battle, fighting for justice and what you believe is right for the world is always worth the fight.
The Garden is currently showing in Los Angeles and is scheduled for release in San Francisco, New York City, Washington D.C.
my movie: Sleep Dealer by Alex Rivera
News
thu 4/16/2009
The movie Sleep Dealer tells the story of Memo, a farmworker who leaves his small village to find work in "The City of the Future," Tijuana. Memo becomes one of many human "node workers" who control robot workers in the United States, which has closed off and militarized its borders. Memo then crosses paths with Luz, a journalist who sells her memories online and asks him to do the same.
Sleep Dealer was co-written and directed by Alex Rivera. His previous film, The Sixth Section, was a documentary about Mexican immigrants in New York. We caught up with Alex Rivera and asked him about Sleep Dealer, which recently won two awards at the Sundance Film Festival.
You began working on this movie nearly 10 years ago. What was it like to work on something for so long? What was the hardest moment?
It was fantastic. Working on a project for 10 years is the best. I wish it was 20 years. OK, I’m just kidding.
It was really, really difficult. The hardest moment was one day, when filming, we needed special effects make up. I thought the necessary tests had been done, but they hadn’t. It’s too complicated to explain, but within the first hour of shooting, many actors had patches of skin ripped off their arms. So, I had a bunch of angry actors, a set that wasn’t working, and a crew of a hundred “chilangos” staring at me, all of them, in a sense asking me “What are you trying to do here?” It was a bizarre and surreal moment and I wished that I was somebody else, somewhere else.
But in the end, none of this shows up in the film. That’s why we edit films.
Are you worried that audiences might write off your movie as too similar to The Matrix?
I’m only worried that people who haven’t seen it, may think it is like The Matrix. People who haven’t seen it, may also think it is like WALL•E, or like Amores Perros. I’m not too worried about what people who haven’t seen the movie think. I hope they want to see it and once they do, that they see that Sleep Dealer really has nothing to do with The Matrix. Even though I like it when people joke around and call it “The Mextrix.” That I like.
You've done a documentary about Mexican migrants in New York State and this movie also touches on migration. What do you find interesting about this topic?
Often when we talk about immigration, it’s part of an angry political debate. When we see movies about it, they’re often family dramas.
What I see in immigration is something else. In the life of an immigrant I see a form of time travel. Millions of immigrants start off in small pueblos, where in some ways life is like it was 500 years ago. They come from families that were farmers and then, in a week or two, they find themselves in the largest metropolis on the planet, in New York, or in Los Angeles.
In a single life of an immigrant you can see the south of the planet, and the north of the planet. You can see how divided this world is and how immigrant lives, cross all of those divisions. To me it is a fascinating subject.
Today’s immigrants also happen to be the future of this country, whether we like it or not.
How do you make a sci-fi movie on such a small budget?
Smoke and mirrors. Literally.
We had one set, a futuristic factory which was supposed to look huge and be filled with forty workers in a row. I requested forty workers and everyone in the production department laughed at me. There was no way to build such a large set and there was no way of to have so many extras. They told me that I could only have twenty workers. Then they changed their minds and told me “you can only have ten workers.” Eventually, they said, we can only give you 4 workers on either side of the row. So the first thing we did was put a giant mirror at the end of the set. The mirror doubled the set, in the reflection. And then we used the computer to double the set again in post production. The final effect was a giant factory. We put smoke in the air to make the light kind of hazy, so we literally solved our production problems with smoke and mirrors.
Do you think your movie can change audiences' feelings towards immigrants? Is that even something you want to happen?
I don’t think people go to the movies to have their political views changed. They go to the movies to maybe try to kiss their dates, to eat popcorn, or to avoid doing work. But while in the theatre, many things happen.
I hope people enjoy the film. And I do hope that, since this is a vision of the future never seen before – a future on both sides of the border, seen through the eyes of a migrant worker - I do hope that audiences leave the theatre thinking about a little bit differently about our world, and its future.
Who does the future belong to? What kind of future do we want to create? Maybe I’m naïve, but I do hope that audiences will leave the theatre maybe with these questions lurking around in their minds. And that they can discuss it with their date, or mull it over when avoiding work, or maybe, just maybe do something to create the future they want to see.
Sleep Dealer opens this Friday, April 17.
my movie: Sugar by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck
News
wed 4/1/2009
The movie Sugar tells the story of 19-year-old Miguel "Azucar" Santos, a pitcher from San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic who moves to a small town in Iowa to pursue his dream of making it to the majors.
Sugar was written and directed by the team of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, best known for previous movie Half Nelson. We chatted with the duo about their latest film.
What inspired you to make a movie about a Dominican baseball player? Are you baseball fans? Merengue fans?
Ryan is a baseball fan. Anna is a merengue fan.
What’s better, The Natural or The Bad News Bears?
Bad News Bears.
Were you surprised by anything when you shot in the Dominican Republic?
We were surprised by how quickly the sun rose and fell! The sun seems to stay very high in the sky for a large portion of the day – the most difficult lighting situation to shoot in. And once the sun starts to go down, it heads down fast. It posed a real challenge for our director of photography and lighting crew, but they learned to adjust quickly. They had to!
Are you Spanish speakers? Was it hard to write dialogue in Spanish?
We wrote the script in English first. Anna is fluent in Spanish and worked with a Dominican-born translator in New York to translate the script into Spanish. Then we worked with the lead actor, Algenis Perez Soto, to revise the language so that it felt natural to him – and specific to a 19-year-old character from that specific part of Dominican Republic (San Pedro).
You guys are a couple. Does that mean you take your work home with you? Do you ever want to get away from each other?
Declined to comment.
Sugar opens in Los Angeles and New York this Friday, April 3.
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