#before you stand two cats.. one is a venerated hero of the city and the other one is Murder McMurderson..

[poptartmochi]

hmm.. perhaps it'd be fun to kit satine out in more heroic looks :]

[thetopmodels-blog1]

How ESPN Deportes Saved My Life

I never understood the connection I would create with ESPN deportes would expand so solid. Who understood that a Spanish sports channel might do so much for a youngster who grew up in Boise ... Any person that has ever before been to Boise, Idaho, understands that the city's nickname, "City of Trees," just relates to a 100 foot-wide area that complies with the Boise River through the center of the city. The rest of the city looks even more like the set of a John Wayne movie-- dry, sage-brush covered, and also dry. So I felt right in your home in the high mountain desert of Puebla, Mexico, where I lived for two years. Although I like being back in America, there are a few points I miss regarding Mexico. Right here are 4 things I miss and also a few of the things that make me really feel better. ESPN Deportes Growing up playing football, I assumed I was very hot stuff. In Mexico, I was average at ideal. It was a very humbling experience the very first time I had fun with a group of 12-year-olds and they actually ran circle me. I'll never forget the rush of standing in the middle of 45,000 overjoyed soccer fans singing in unison to support their team, which took place to be ranked last place in the whole country. You just can't get soccer like that in America. Actually, you can barely get any kind of soccer in any way. To enjoy the World Mug I had to awaken at 2:00 am every early morning, yet I counted myself lucky since they were really revealing football on TELEVISION. For any soccer fans out there who are disappointed with regular TELEVISION's offering of football video games, you have actually reached have a look at ESPN deportes. Also if you do not speak Spanish, the soccer protection deserves it. Mariachi Bands I'm not much of a musician myself, so there is no other way anyone would certainly ever pay for me to dress up in a black, sequin-covered fit and sing at the top of my lungs to their liked ones. I miss out on the skilled musicians in mariachi bands that wooed young fans and also venerated great-grandparents. Strolling down the road on Valentine's Day usually ensured a minimum of one cost-free performance, and also a lot of better restaurants featured their own in-house bands. The only time I really did not desire the mariachi band to play in the dining establishment was when my Camoteros were using ESPN deportes. Fiestas, Pachangas, as well as Bodas I resided in a community of only a pair thousand individuals, so everyone knew everyone. When a person obtained married, transformed 15 years old, or had a brand-new infant, the entire town was invited to the celebration. The colors, the songs, and also the sense of community are still brilliant memories I won't quickly fail to remember. My birthday party at Olive Yard with a couple of good friends appears totally ineffective in contrast to also the tiniest event I went to in Mexico. The town additionally had their annual party to respect their preferred Saint, innovative hero, or Pope-- as well as the food was constantly incredible. Real Mexican Food Because I moved back to The U.S.A. I have only had one dish that was close enough to genuine Mexican food that I can close my eyes as well as imagine I was still there. (In instance you are questioning, it was not at Taco Bell.) Every scenic tour book and also travel representative will certainly inform you to avoid eating food from street suppliers when you're in Mexico because you will more than likely get sick. I would trade a week of Montezuma's revenge for one great Taco al Pastor whenever; as well as exactly what I wouldn't provide to have a quesadilla not made from cheddar cheese. Unfortunately, state health and wellness divisions control dining establishments as well carefully cat food blue buffalo to permit any kind of great Mexican food here in America, so I'll need to bide my time till I could afford a plane ticket back. Good football, great food, excellent songs, and good times. I grew up American through and through, however investing a couple of years in Mexico made me believe that had I been birthed southern of the border, I would certainly have fit in just great.

[cfpercy]

CINEMA | EARLY MAN

We begin with an affectionately cheeky tribute to the much-loved Hollywood stop-motion master, Ray Harryhausen, à la  prehistoric creature feature, 1 Million Years BC (stop looking for Raquel Welsh in a fur bikini – this isn’t that kind of film). Earth; the Neo-Pleistocene-era (get it?); somewhere near Manchester; around about Lunchtime: a meteor strikes the primeval landscape, annihilates a pair of fighting dinosaurs (so long Ray & Harry, we hardly knew ye) and gouges out an enormous crater. Inside, a nearby tribe of cavemen discover a round fragment that looks suspiciously familiar. They make the further discovery that it’s rather a lot of fun to kick about. Thus “the beautiful game” is born! Centuries later however, the empty crater is now a verdant valley, the tribe inhabiting it spending their days happily hunting rabbits, their glorious footballing past relegated to cave paintings whose significance has long been forgotten. And so, the scene is set for Early Man, the latest feature film from Bristol-based animation studio and much-loved British stop-motion powerhouse, Aardman Animations, and the first to be directed by Nick Park (the soften spoken genius behind Wallace & Gromit) since 2005’s Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

Instead of one man and his preternaturally intelligent dog, our heroes for this story are one caveman, Dug (voiced by Eddie Redmayne), and his preternaturally intelligent pig, Hobnob (who, despite being porcine, is more puppy-like than a puppy, and voiced – or rather, grunted – by Park himself). Dug is the eternal optimist, convinced his tribe (given life by some of the cream of British comedy and character acting) can accomplish anything if they just give it ago, starting by hunting something a bit bigger than rabbits, though Chief Bobnar (Timothy Spall) isn’t so sure. But their idyll is shattered by the arrival of an invading bronze age tribe, led by the avaricious Lord Nooth (an unrecognisable Tom Hiddleston, with a hilariously awful comedy French accent so broad even Officer Crabtree would declare it a bit much), who wants to mine their valley for bronze ore, and exiling them to the surrounding “Badlands”. But then Dug discovers that these Bronze-agers venerate football almost as much as they do the precious metal and sees a way for the tribe to try and win back their home. But it’ll take the help of new friend Goona (street vendor and precociously talented footballer, voiced by Maisie Williams) if they’re to really stand a chance.

So, before we go any further, let’s address the woolly mammoth in the room. Is Early Man, with its ‘natives fighting to take back their home from foreign invaders’ (whose colours happen to be blue and yellow), as some have posited, a Brexit film? Short answer: no.

Slightly longer answer: there are some elements that are coincidental for no reason other than timing, over which Aardman had nothing to do with and no control over (the film has been in development for over two years, and an “untitled Nick Park project” was mentioned as far back as 2007). Yes, the tribe are a plucky band of natives trying to take back control of their home, but needless isolation has made them backwards, and later discover that glorious origin stories are often just that – stories. Yes, the Bronze Agers are ruthless and capitalistic (often to the point of arrogance) but they are also cultured and sophisticated. And it’s only by learning to work together that the two sides can come to any sort of accord. This isn’t a Brexit film. This is an ‘underdogs rise to the top through teamwork’ film (or a ‘wish-fulfilment for England fans’ film).

But the most important question to ask, and what we really expect from an Aardman production, is: is it fun? My god, yes it is! (The minute you see a cockroach put on a pair of shades to protect itself from the light from the meteor crash, you know you’re in for a good time.) There are Aardman’s usual gorgeous stop-motion visuals (only delving into digital when wide-angle shots with massive crowds were involved, understandably), combined with their meticulous attention to detail and very distinctive British sense of humour, involving everything from wordplay to slapstick and visual puns to sight gags (too numerous to mention here – though two of my favourites include an advert for toilet roll: “Bumsoft, the world’s no.2 choice”, and Dug scaling the gate of the Bronze city, only for Hognob to get in easily through the cat flap – suffice it to say, you could easily watch it a second and third time just to look for the background gags you missed). The animal characters in particular frequently steal the scene; as well as Hognob, there is a mischievous rabbit that makes repeated appearances and a giant man-eating mallard (don’t question, just go with it).

You might find yourself of the opinion that Early Man doesn’t quite reach the highs of Chicken Run or Were-Rabbit, but even if you do, it’s still a solid film that doesn’t sacrifice good characters or storytelling for style and will ensure you leave the cinema with a smile on your face. It’s even one you don’t have to like or know anything about football (and trust me, I don’t), or bribe a child to see it with you to enjoy. Definitely no own goal!

Originally published: http://www.walesartsreview.org/cinema-early-man/