Video Starring Children Sets Off Debate During Mexican Election Campaign

Video Starring Children Sets Off Debate During Mexican Election Campaign
The short film has been diffused on social networks by the movement Nuestro México del Futuro
El País: Un vídeo protagonizado por niños desata la polémica en plena campaña mexicana
Paula Chouza reporting from Mexico City April 13, 2012

(Knowledge of the Spanish language is not necessary for understanding this video.)

It is a world of children, but children with the vices of adults that live in a society rife with corruption, violence, drug trafficking, and environmental problems. This is the concept of a video spread across the Internet that has incited the fury of a good part of the Mexican political class just ten days after the official beginning of campaigning for the presidential election on July 1.

The advocacy group Nuestro México del Futuro (Our Future Mexico), which defines itself on its website as a “social movement that calls on all Mexicans to express their visions of the country in which they would like to life,” produced the film, four minutes in length and exceptionally harsh, which has already been seen on the web by over 10 million people. The assault of a citizen with a razor blade in broad daylight by a seven-year old boy, the image of a corrupt politician who is not yet twelve, gives these incidents a macabre realism that has frightened politicians, who asked this week for the video to be taken down.

Miguel Ángel García Granados, a representative of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), called the film “detestable” on Thursday because it used minors. “This is not the way to solve the problems of this country,” he said to the media. In the same sentiment, Mario Di Constanzo of the Workers’ Party said that “the use of children to portray prisoners, drug traffickers, and police constitutes a violation of childrens’ rights. PAN politician Rosi Orozco said it was “lamentable that children were manipulated and used, and that they will be stigmatized as future delinquents, prisoners, and drug addicts.” With these words, the legislators called for the Secretariat of Governance to prohibit the diffusion of the film, which would seem to be difficult because it has already been published on social networks, where the institution does not have the power to intervene because Mexico has not regulated them.

Our Future Mexico released a statement in response to the polemics saying that it was trying “to represent the opinion, not of any institutions or individuals in particular, but rather of millions of Mexicans.” The movement is sponsored by many companies, among them the insurer Grupo Nacional Provincial (National Provincial Group). Its objective is to gather the visions of citizens and compile them in a book titled El Decreto de Nuestro México del Futuro (The Decree of Our Future Mexico). The group has announced that said publication will be given to the presential candidates when it is ready.

At the end of the film, a girl looks at the camera and says, not in vain, “If this is the future that’s ahead of me, I don’t want it. Ms. Josefina, Mr. Andrés Manuel, Mr. Enrique, Mr. Gabriel (the candidates): time is up. Mexico has already touched bottom. Are you only going for the position, or are you going to change the future of our country?”

Meisa Kuroki and Others Named Japan’s Best Jeanists of 2011

Ms. Meisa Kuroki, Best Jeanist of 2011. Photo taken in Minato-ku, Tokyo by Naho Kudou.

Meisa Kuroki and Others Named Best Jeanists of 2011
Yomiuri Shimbun: 黒木メイサさんら、ベストジーニスト初受賞
October 5, 2011

The Best Jeanists of 2011 Awards, hosted by the Japan Jean Conference, was held in Minato-ku, Tokyo on October 5th to honor the celebrities who look the best in jeans. The winners in general voting by the selection committee were Arashi singer Masaki Aiba (28) and actress Meisa Kuroki (23), who won awards for the first time.

Ms. Kuroki said joyfully, “I’m very happy to receive this award. I wear jeans every day, at work or at play.”

The Global Fighting Spirit Award, designated for Japanese working abroad, was bestowed on Inter Milan football player Yūto Nagatomo (25). The selection committee also honored actress Miki Maya (47), entertainer Chinatsu Wakatsuki (27), and former world boxing champion Katsuya Onizuka (41).

Original/原稿:

Japan Broadcasting Corporation Karaoke Competition in Taiwan Has 250 Contestants

Japan Broadcasting Corporation Karaoke Competition in Taiwan Has 250 Contestants
Yomiuri Shimbun: 台湾でＮＨＫのど自慢、２５０組ノド競う
Kazuhide Minamoto reporting from Taipei October 1, 2011

Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK)’s “Proud of My Voice” (のど自慢 – Nodo Jiman) karaoke competition began in Taipei’s Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall on the 1st.

This is the 12th time the contest has been held abroad; the last time was in Mexico 6 years ago. According to NHK’s public relations department, there were 1480 applications, the most ever for a competition abroad. The previous record was 674 for the contest in San Paulo, Brazil.

The first round was October 1, and 250 Taiwanese people and Japanese expatriates participated. Songs from a wide range of genres, from enka to pop, were performed. The final round will be tomorrow, on the 2nd. The competition will be presented on NHK’s main station the night of October 29.

Many people in Taiwan are interested in Japanese music, from the elderly who learned Japanese in school to the young Japanese subculture enthusiasts called the “Hari Tribe” (in honor of Taiwanese manga artist and blogger Hari Xingzi/Hanichi Kyōko/哈日杏子).

Original/原稿:

“Wrinkles”: An Exceptional Comic, An Outstanding Movie

A photogram from Ignacio Ferreras’s animated film Wrinkles.

A vignette from Wrinkles by Paco Roca, winner of the National Comic Award.

“Wrinkles”: An Exceptional Comic, An Outstanding Movie
The cinematic version of Paco Roca’s comic is screened in Zabaltegui
El País: ‘Arrugas’, un cómic excepcional, una película sobresaliente
Gregorio Belinchón reporting from San Sebastián September 19, 2011

Arrugas (Wrinkles) is not just any comic. It is the comic that has demonstrated that Paco Roca is a master. It is the comic that has vignettized Alzheimer’s. Replete with perfect visuals, with artistic twists and turns that take the reader into the horrifying world of the loss of memory, Wrinkles depicts the degradation of Emilio, the retired branch director of a bank, day by day in his home. Wrinkles is now a film. And what a film it is. Produced by Manuel Cristóbal, who rejected offers to make it with real-life actors “because the magic would have been lost”, and directed by Ignacio Ferreras, responsible for the drawings which perfectly duplicate Roca’s lines, the film was screened at the first hour of this morning. It was a pivotal moment, as it was the first time Paco Roca saw it.

The author, who won the 2008 National Comic Award for this work, did not seem very nervous before the screening. He made small talk with Ferreras, who was sitting on one side, and this journalist, who was seated at the other. During the screening, the artist asked the director a pair of questions about certain changes and artistic decisions. The rest of the time, there was respectful silence in the theater accompanied by a murmur of tears in the background. The session ended after 87 minutes. There was applause. The first spectators, who ran out of the theater, missed out on a gift: Rosa Lema, age 101 and suffering from senile dementia, sang a song during the credits, a treasure the soundman found in one of the homes he visited.

After turning on the lights, Roca sighed with relief: “Obviously some things changed, including the characters [one of the protagonists even had a different nationality], but the spirit is there. It says what I wanted to say.” Cristóbal explained: “The trick of going to white when Alzheimer’s begins to devour neurons during the vignettes couldn’t be translated to the screen. It didn’t work.” “It’s not important,” answered Roca, “because I see my comic there. I was worried about the ending, how the threads would be tied up and whether it would hold up. It certainly does.” He turned to his right and embraced Ferreras, who had been watching him from the corner of his eye with a certain precaution. “Congratulations.”

It will be another thing to see it in theaters. Now, with the picture already finished, Cristóbal is negotiating the commercial distribution. “We wanted to do it with Wrinkles already in hand, so they could see it and know its potential.” Judging from this morning’s screening, it has that in abundance.

My Facebook Wall: March 2011

My friends’ words are written in italics.

2: You should exercise, because you never know when your life will become an action movie, and you’ll need to run away from something. But you should pray, too, ’cause if you end up in a horror movie, there’ll be nowhere to run.

4: I made up a word in my sleep. Tattoos of abstract designs rather than specific people or things [most henna tattoos, for instance] = “tattation without representation.”

4: i like how they’re talking about vandy winning with high academic standards. ummmm….duke? Vanderbilt’s innovation was getting rid of the athletic department and putting the NCAA sports teams under the Student Life umbrella.

4: Candle stores are not exactly oriented towards guys. If you were to create a line of scented candles for men, what scent(s) would you make them? What does a flaming torch surrounded by pitchforks smell like?

5: WTF: 女児遺体遺棄容疑、２０歳の大学生逮捕…熊本 :３日夜、熊本市高平のスーパーに買い物に来ていた同市清水東町、介護士清水誠一郎さん（３９）の長女、心（３）ちゃんの行方がわからなくなり、母親が「娘がいなくなった」と１１０番した…

5: From the second half of the Magic game through the first quarter of the Spurs game, the Heat were outscored by 51.

5: A former NFL player asked his family to donate his brain to neuropathologists studying the effects of concussions, then shot himself in the heart.

5: “The weather’s nice today.”
“But tomorrow it’ll be cold again.”
“It’ll be warm soon.”
“And then it’ll get hot.”

8: after tonight’s impromptu wedding toast semi-fail, i just really wish i was a better/more eloquent speaker It’s tricky…I try to say something I really like about the person or group without complicating it with something awkward. The best way to prepare is to see the best in people all the time so you’ll have something in the back of your mind!

8: A modern take on the ryokan.

8: Last month’s U.S. budget deficit was bigger than the deficit for the entire year of 2007.

8: “Black Swan” was brilliant, the perfect movie about a specific situation, but it certainly didn’t make my Mardi Gras more relaxing. I felt like my brain was a water balloon, and the movie was squeezing it.

9: Another Ash Wednesday. This Lent I’ll try to be less anxious and more prayerful. My mind is too much like a pencil sharpener, revolving around the same problems over and over. I’ll be more in the moment, especially in Mass, and pray for friends whenever I break bread alone.

9: Subway has passed McDonald’s as the world’s largest restaurant chain in terms of units, my weekly contributions are helping to put them over the top! They have a lot of stores here, and the most interesting placement was inside the WTC’s convention center…it’s sleepy on preparation days but packed during events.

9: It’s that time of year again, and I’ve never heard this version before.

9: Oh, NPR… Oh, this American life!

10: I use a kind of reverse psychology to enjoy bad weather: “Every day that it’s cold is a day that it’s not hot.”

11: Magnitude 8.9 earthquake in Japan. I’m grateful the country is so well-prepared and all my friends there are safe.

13: did you see this article? the o’s are back baby! Thanks for this sunshine! We have at least three more weeks to be happy. I’m glad Buck’s the manager, and I’d love to see 80 wins.

13: “The King’s Speech” was inspiring, and it was good to remember what Great Britain is all about. The musical selection for the climax was sublime. Most similar Oscar winner: “A Man for All Seasons,” 1966.

14: According to the New York Times, “Mr. Obama has told people that it would be so much easier to be the president of China. As one official put it, ‘No one is scrutinizing Hu Jintao’s words in Tahrir Square.’” China economically sanctions international critics and violates the human rights of domestic ones. I’m trying to interpret him charitably.

15: On commodity hoarding in western Japan, far from the earthquake: On 9/11, there were long lines at all the gas stations in Indiana.

18: Interesting! “Aid to the Church in Need has launched a new report which reveals that…75 percent of religious persecution is being carried out against Christians.” The number would be more credible if they had a full disclosure on their methodology (especially the sample design) or at least tell us how they calculated and arrived at the 75 percent conclusion. That’s a legitimate concern!

18: In response to “Fair Oaks teen – inventor of ‘Note to God’ iPhone app – in coma,” a friend said, “Looks like his app has some bugs.” That’s a mean-spirited comment. Prayer is about supporting each other, not making sure nothing bad ever happens to us.

18: severely disappointed with Atlanta’s Irish Pride today… It just hasn’t been the same since Scarlett O’Hara passed away.

18: this is me when i read the fear-mongering bullshit from western news sources. i dont know what to believe anymore. Newspapers are as selfish as anyone else. The bigger the story, the more people buy copies.

18: “Blue Valentine” lived up to its name, and I feel wiser for having seen it.

18: Is there ever a movie in which the villain acknowledges being the villain? I like this question. We think we’re right even when we’re doing wrong.

18: Oh the dreaded teacher-transfer notification day. It’s really rough on the teachers who get moved. Sometimes they have to uproot their families within the span of two weeks. This also affects the moods of the teachers who are left behind, as their friends and colleagues basically disappear from their lives.

19: I like teacher evaluations because they give me a chance to think about someone’s good qualities and then explain them. It’s a good break from writing about the earthquake. I have an extra form left over for a teacher with the surname Chen…since I’ve had two each term, I’m pretty sure I’ll get to use this.

20: I’ve had trouble taking a day off ever since I went to India and saw how hard people were fighting to make a living there.

20: 朝から熊本に行きます。地震のせいでタイミングがちょっと悪くなっても愉快な一週間を送りたいと思います。金曜日の誕生日と小学校卒業式を楽しみにしています。この八カ月生徒がどれほど成長したかな。

23: 「帰宅した」というような気がする。 It’s good to be back. Everyone’s been so kind to me. The earthquake and nuclear accident, by the way, have not affected this area in the least.

25: 杰輝! Feliz cumpleanos !!!! 希望你有一個很快樂的生日, 而且一天比一天開心! :D 謝謝！當天我先很開心。。然後開心得很。。再相當開心。。再開行得不得了。。最後開心得要命！

25: I’m celebrating my 25th birthday by going to an elementary school graduation, having tea at my Pure Land Buddhist priest/elementary school teacher friend’s family temple, and having dinner with some of my junior high school grads, among other things. Many thanks to you (感謝你) for your love and support!

27: Bulls-Pacers first round? Please put us out of our misery as soon as you can!

28: Lessons learned from rolling out a hodgepodge set of video tools for a Christian retreat: Trust in technology, and all your stuff will break. Trust in the Lord, and you will be saved! But your stuff will still break. I have never heard of a blessed computer, server, or connection. If one exists there should be a certification! Six Alpha-Omega. You did the Lord’s work this weekend, my friend! I’m picturing you striking your laptop with a staff the way Moses struck the stone for water in today’s reading.

28: I’ve decided I need to get to know Father Mike, because he seems kinda awesome. I’m neglecting my “bad Catholic” status. ;) Bad Catholic? I think of you as a Future Catholic. ;)

28: 人之智高於鳥之智。 “The wisdom of man is greater than the wisdom of birds.” There are days I wonder about the accuracy of this statement. This little proverb brought to you by tonight’s homework. “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat (or drink), or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?” -Matthew 6:25-27

29: 范老師曰。今記者杰輝也。杰輝聼之時。晚上也。以故今晚寫多睡少。

30: ESPN Outside the Lines: Why You Should Care About Cricket

Amparo Muñoz, A Beautiful Broken Toy

In 1974, 20-year old Amparo Muñoz (center) became the first Spaniard to win Miss Universe. (EFE)

Amparo Muñoz in November 2005, the year in which she published her memoirs. (EFE)

Amparo Muñoz, A Beautiful Broken Toy
The only Spanish Miss Universe has died in her home in Málaga at age 56 after suffering from a protracted illness
El País: Amparo Muñoz, un bello juguete roto
Diego Galán, Madrid, February 28, 2011

The most beautiful woman, Amparo Muñoz, has passed away in Málaga at the very young age of 56. She received this crown in 1973, when she was Miss Spain, and in 1974 when she won Miss Universe. But she was a woman with strong will, and six months into her reign of the universe, she abdicated because she felt manipulated by the contest organization, which obligated her to constant trips and presentations. Her love for liberty was one of her defining characteristics, and perhaps for that reason the press ran roughshod over her.

She was born in Vélez Málaga to a family of five children which did not have the means to provide her more than a junior high school education. After taking stenography and typography classes, she found work as a secretary, which seemed to be her destiny. But immediately after her victory in the world of beauty, the world of cinema took interest in her. In Vida conyugal sana [Wholesome Married Life], directed by Roberto Bodegas and written by José Luis Garci, she played the temptress of José Sacristán, a married man obsessed with publicity. In Tocata y fuga de Lolita, by Antonio Drove, she was the rebellious girl who displayed her beautiful bust, a big contributor to the movie’s popularity. In the 70′s, Spanish cinema was at the height of destape [double meaning: "liberalization" and "nudity"], and the splendid figure of Amparo Muñoz found 9 titles in which to reveal itself, including Sensualidad (Germán Lorente, 1975), Clara es el precio [Clara is the Price] (Vicente Aranda, 1975), and La otra alcoba [The Other Bedchamber] (Eloy de la Iglesia, 1976), in which Amparo starred alongside the man who would be her first husband, the actor and singer Patxi Andión.

After appearances in Volvoreta (José Antonio Nieves Conde, 1976), Mauricio, mon amour (Juan Bosch, 1976), Acto de posesión (Javier Aguirre, 1977), and Del amor y de la muerte (Antonio Giménez Rico, 1977), among other films, her cinematic career took a notable turn when she began a relationship with the producer Elías Querejeta, facilitating her appearances in films as important as Mamá cumple cien años [Mama's 100th Birthday] (Carlos Saura, 1979) and Dedicatoria (Jaime Chávarri, 1980), which called her to the attention of other directors in both Spain and Mexico, such as Felipe Cazals (Las siete cucas [The Seven Cuckoos]), Antonio Artero (Trágala perro [Take That, Bitch]), Pilar Miró (Hablamos esta noche [We Will Speak Tonight]), Fernando Méndez-Leite (Sonata de estío [Summertime Sonata]), Jaime Camino (El balcón abierto [The Open Balcony]), Emilio Martínez Lázaro (Lulú de noche [Lulú of the Night]), Imanol Uribe (La luna negra [The Black Moon]), and Fernando León de Aranoa (Familia).

Amparo Muñoz’s movies had their highs and lows with regard to quality, but she grew as an actress throughout her career. Her personal life frequently made the gossip pages, however. She disappeared from film for seven years (1989-1996), living provisionally in the Philippines. There were reports of legal trouble there, where she was sued by a brand name-sized company, and in Spain, where upon her return she was arrested for suspected possession of heroin.

Scandal-loving journalists preyed upon her, publishing true and false stories alike. In 1990, the magazine Ya published an article by Rosa Villacastín which assured that “AIDS has left Amparo Muñoz on the brink of death”; two days later, the same journalist said that the actress had reached the “terminal phase,” claims Amparo Muñoz debunked through medical analysis on Julián Lago’s television program La máquina de la verdad [The Truth Machine]. In that same interview, she was asked if she had ever taken heroin, and journalist Jesús Mariñas even jabbered that she had practiced prostitution, an accusation which left her in tears.

In 2005, she published her memoir, La vida es el precio [Life is the Price], in which she recounted her relationships and her passage through the world of drugs. “I’ve lived my life the best I could, never intending to harm anyone. If I have hurt anyone, it has been myself and my parents, who have suffered a great deal on my account. I’ve always respected everyone, most of all God, though I haven’t been treated with respect myself. I hope that people will start to do that now,” she said, perhaps not expecting that her wish would only be granted upon her death, as a beautiful broken toy.

High Quality Plunder for the Pirates from Alex de la Iglesia’s Vault

High Quality Plunder for the Pirates from Alex de la Iglesia’s Vault
El País: Un botín de alta calidad para los ‘piratas’: Alex de la Iglesia
Ramón Muñoz, reporting from Madrid, February 25, 2011

A screen capture of the exclusive marked copy of Balada triste de trompeta downloaded from the website Seriesyonkis

The debate over La Ley Sinde and la piratería has a new chapter which will will surely intensify the controversy. Alex de la Iglesia’s movie Balada triste de trompeta has been posted on download sites. That’s nothing special; it happens to all movies after they’ve run a few days. The unusual thing is that not just any copy is online; rather, it’s the exclusive marked copy the members of the Film Academy received for viewing before voting for the Goya awards.

De la Iglesia, president of the Academy, has spearheaded a confrontation with the Ministry of Culture and a large part of the film industry for requesting understanding of the downloading phenomenon. The director radically changed his position towards downloading after meeting with lawyers for web sites and Internet professionals who are against the legislation the government prepared to combat websites which post copyrighted content. De la Iglesia declined this paper’s request for comment on the pirated copy of his film.

During various parts of the version circulating the web, you can read in capital letters, “Academy members’ copy.” The image and sound are truly excellent, something absolutely rare for such a “premiere.”

Normally, the movies on websites were filmed without permission by video camera inside the theater, and the image and sound are both very deficient. These are known as “screener” versions.

Without a doubt, the version of Alex de la Iglesia’s latest movie which can be downloaded on pages as popular as Seriesyonkis has excellent resolution and impeccable sound. Its quality is classified as DVRip, similar to that of DVDs put on sale. Its size, for one thing, is 1.16GB, compared to the 600MB average for a screener.

It seems, judging from websites, that this version was posted for the first time on February 19 – the Goya awards were Sunday the 13th – as a link on The Pirate Bay connected to a P2P torrent archive. Afterward, the film was also posted on hosting sites like Fileserve and Megaupload, which permit direct downloading, which is much faster. From Seriesyonkis, with a 30Mbps connection, one can download the film in 10 minutes.

There is much speculation over who has posted the pirated version. The producer, Tornasol, sent hundreds of promotional copies to academics, journalists, and people related to the industry. Any of them could have posted the movie or given it to someone else to put online.

Online commenters speculate that an academy member or industry professional wanted to take “vengeance” on De la Iglesia for changing his position on piracy.

It is the Copernican turn of De la Iglesia over downloads – legal in Spain until now – that has raised hackles in the community. At first a fanatical defender of the anti-piracy law who spoke for the Minister of Culture, he went on to admit large parts of his Internet antagonists’ arguments, then went on to say the problem is not piracy but cinema’s business model, which is at odds with the digital world and seeks to sell its products the same way it has for decades, expensively and stingily.

The director’s change of position provoked a torrent of criticism from the film sector and an equal amount of support from social networks. Iciar Bollain, vice president of the Academy, stated that De la Iglesia had opened “an unnecessary and very damaging crisis” for Spanish cinema by “representing himself and not the collective who voted for him.”

Gerardo Herraro, producer of this film, went so far as to say “Alex has lost his mind because of Twitter. He has contracted Stockholm Syndrome for the Internauts. It would be like if the Ministry of Public Health negotiated with cocaine traffickers.” Under this hostility, De la Iglesia announced his resignation.

A Much-Discussed Premiere
Balada triste de trompeta debuted last December 17. First of all, it was the latest film from one of the most respected Spanish directors, who was besides that the president of the Film Academy. Four days later, the lower house of parliament defeated the [anti-piracy] Sinde Law. The director, Alex de la Iglesia, defended the law on Twitter against online detractors ranging from lawyers to bloggers.

After that, De la Iglesia accepted an invitation to sit down and debate. He did so on December 30, and from that day began to communicate his “conversion” on Twitter. The director appealed to the Ministry of Culture and his cinematic coreligionists to open a dialogue. Criticism rained down on him. De la Iglesia presented his resignation. The law, amended by the Popular Party, was passed in the upper house. It is a sad ballad for thousands of Internauts.

A Red Nose for Alex de la Iglesia

The director’s profile picture was taken at the last Venice Film Festival by El País photographer Xavier Torres-Bacchetta.

Arturo Pérez-Reverte has made this his Twitter profile picture in imitation of Alex de la Iglesia.

A Red Nose for Alex de la Iglesia
El País: Una nariz roja por Alex de la Iglesia
Arturo Pérez-Reverte encourages the filmmaker’s protest against La Ley Sinde on Twitter. Gerardo Herrero believes the director of “Sad Trumpet Ballad” has “lost his mind” because of the social network.
Álvaro P. Ruiz de Elvira reporting from Madrid, January 28, 2011

Two bombs have fallen on Twitter in recent months that have animated the panorama of Spanish Internet culture: Alex de la Iglesia (38,700 followers) and Arturo Pérez-Reverte (65,200). Through their profiles and commentaries of 140 characters, the filmmaker and writer have come into contact with their followers and detractors, for better or for worse. Other artists, like Nacho Vigalondo, Santiago Seguro, Alejandro Sanz, and Miguel Bosé have also given their opinions on different topics through the network. The latest action: in support of De La Iglesia’s announcement that he will resign from the presidency of the Spanish Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences after the Goya Awards gala in protest of an anti-piracy law, Pérez-Reverte has imitated the filmmaker in posting a photo of himself on Twitter with a clown’s red nose.

“I would blindly support @AlexdelaIglesia” and “I support @AlexdelaIglesia. I don’t like La Ley Sinde, either” are the writer and journalist’s latest messages in support of the director. The agreement which the PSOE and PP parties reached at the beginning of the week to reactivate La Ley Sinde has generated a great debate on social networks which provoked De La Iglesia to announce, through a letter sent to El País, that he would leave the presidency of the Film Academy after two years as its head. Pérez-Reverte posted a red-nose photo last night and encouraged his followers to do the same. #todosconalexdelaiglesia is today one of the most followed themes on Twitter, and many users have posted pictures of themselves with red clown noses.

De la Iglesia began to use his Twitter account more assiduously since the opening of his latest movie, Balada triste de trompeta (its two protagonists are clowns, hence the red nose on his profile picture). Publicity for the movie – which has 15 nominations for the Goya Awards granted by the academy over which he presides – coincided with the political and media debate and the latest congressional vote on the anti-piracy law (which would allow the government to close websites that have download links to copyrighted content).

But the director’s decision has also met some opposition. Producer and director Gerardo Herraro has said that De la Iglesia “has lost his mind because of Twitter,” according to today’s edition of ABC. For Herraro, who has also been president of the Academy, there is “no big difference between the law that was proposed and the text which has been produced.” The producer calls attention to the change of opinion by De la Iglesia, who as a result of interaction on Twitter over Congress’s vote on the law, began a debate which has caused him to change his mind. “He’s caught Internaut (Internet + Astronaut) syndrome. It would be like the Minister of Public Health negotiating with cocaine traffickers about how to make a law and whether the coca needs to be of better quality. He’s talking about the law with the people for whom it causes problems.”

Another series of protests to the anti-piracy law have propagated on the Web. One of them is connected to the Goya gala this February 13, when De la Iglesia will still be the president of the Academy. The objective is to assemble at the Royal Theater, where the awards will take place. There is an official announcement on the Internet to enroll people to travel to Madrid that day and participate in the protest.

Tweets of December

12/1: The End of Advent by Joseph Bottum: If you’re ever weary of Christmas by the 25th, the solution might be a change of approach.
12/2: I’m writing an important essay for a scholarship application this weekend. Prayers, please!
12/3: FIFA’s choices of Russia and Qatar show its desire to leave a legacy by Gabriele Marcotti: “Qatar, with its projected budget of at least $50 billion…outdoor air conditioning, new stadiums built ex novo (some of which will supposedly be dismantled brick-by-brick and shipped to some needy developing nation), tiny population, and nonexistent public transportation…says: FIFA is so powerful that it can make an entire country grind to a halt and turn itself into a gigantic soccer amusement park.”
12/8: I stumbled upon an annual Keanu Reeves Film Festival in my dreams last night.
12/8: Criticism of one’s resume draft is oddly gratifying: “This needs work…because I think you are MORE amazing than this. Here, let me re-frame your life story.”
12/11: My appetite has had the same career arc as Allen Iverson. It got going in 1996, stayed strong for more than a decade, then fell off so much that now whenever it tells me “Thanks! I’m full!” I think “But we just started! What happened to you?!” Maybe Turkey will revive my game when I come home for Christmas. (Allen Iverson is playing basketball in Turkey now, and I’d like some turkey because it’s as hard to find here as it was in Japan. The First Thanksgiving may be like Santa Claus, but one thing that is NOT a myth is that turkey and cranberry sauce are as American as you and me.)
12/16: The number one image of “toast” on Google is hot bread all right, but it has President Obama’s face on it. All I wanted was some butter!
12/18: I’ll be in Indiana from the 19th to the 29th!
12/23: I saw in Entertainment Weekly that “The Hunger Games” book series is catching on, and I’m wondering if Beat Takeshi (“Battle Royale”) will get any royalties.
12/24: If your name were scored Scrabble style, how many points would you get? My first name is 14, middle is 14, last is 13. Just barely imperfect.
12/25: Glória in excélsis Deo et in terra pax homínibus bonae voluntátis. Laudámus te, benedícimus te, adorámus te, glorificámus te, grátias ágimus tibi propter magnam glóriam tuam, Dómine Deus, Rex cæléstis, Deus Pater omnípotens.
12/31: I returned to Taipei in time to see my class schedule, “Norwegian Wood,” and fireworks. Winter never felt so warm!

Movies from other years that I watched this year

500 Days of Summer – Like When Harry Met Sally, this was a very entertaining movie about a kind of relationship that’s very real, and I remember it often.

A Serious Man - A triumph of setting. Whether you like black comedy or not, 1960s Jewish America is fascinating.

Avatar - It was about as 3-star as a movie can get but a common cultural experience for the global bourgeois.

Crank: High Voltage - Bumped into this on a hotel TV. It was creative, hyperactive, and entertaining. Deliberately offensive, too, but a byproduct of its energy.

Don – I watched this 1978 Amitabh Bachchan action blockbuster on a Kingfisher flight. Here’s one of the song and dance numbers! It was cool, and I recommend everyone watch some of Bachchan’s acting.

The Goonies - Just classic. I’m amazed I never saw this on a school bus, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it as an adult on a plane.

The Hangover - Great writing! Those were the first words out of your mouth after this one, too, right? Plus we don’t have to make any more Vegas films…besides the sequel, I guess.

I Love You, Man - A festival of bad slang and another entertaining Judd Apatow film. It’s great to see Karen from The Office find a guy who really appreciates her.

In Bruges - Totally film-school. You can tell the people who made it loved The Third Man.

The Lost Boys - We watched this in memorial of Corey Haim. Vampire Jack Bauer and Vampire Hunter Corey Feldman made this movie fun. It also had the verve to save its best joke for the last line.

Nanny McPhee – It was interesting to watch this from a teacher’s perspective. Children need discipline, but they also need attention and encouragement.

Paper Heart – The top piece of Trivia on Michael Cera’s IMDB profile is that he broke up with girlfriend Charlyne Yi after three years of dating. Did you know the relationship of these two intentionally awkward people was memorialized in a movie?

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea – To be honest with you, I thought the love story between 5-year olds was a little weird, but the marine aesthetic was very original.

The Puppetmaster (戲夢人生) – There wasn’t as much traditional Chinese puppetry as I expected because the focus is on life under Japanese occupation for the ordinary people of Taiwan. The purpose of the movie is understanding more than entertainment, but if you’re interested, you’ll be satisfied.

Red Cliff (赤壁) – The biggest-budget movie in Chinese history, an international blockbuster, and an excellent introduction to Romance of the Three Kingdoms and classical Chinese culture. I watched this movie with my parents and used it to explain everything from the zither to tea ceremonies.

Slumdog Millionaire – I watched this on my flight to India. “Paper Planes” was stuck in my head the rest of the trip. My friend once said “giving Slumdog Millionare Best Picture is like giving P.F. Chang’s Best Chinese Restaurant,” but Holly/Bollywoodness aside, the greatest quality of this movie was capturing the pace and the color of India. We’re living in the drab half of the world.

Summer Palace (頤和園)- This film about young Chinese was banned in the PRC for showing two things: the Tiananmen Square protests and a lot of sex. It’s a long film about an unhappy woman that still has its own flawed beauty.

Twilight - I liked it much better than the book because there was so much less catty internal monologue, and the blue filter was all that was needed to set the mood. Too bad they couldn’t print the text for the books in navy blue, too.

Up - There are a million things to like about this wonderful movie, and you’ve heard them all before, so I’ll just praise the dogs’ dialogue once more. That is verisimilitude, my friends.