When in Rome, Do Like the Romans!

Today I'm joining several friends to go watch a crazy parade, featuring nude bicylists! Photos to be posted in the near future!

Dennis Miller on the O'Reilly Factor

Honolulu Grand Parade - Videos

A Little Slice of Modern Day Canada

Last night I hosted a little party of some friends, acquaintances, and neighbours. The genesis of the event was to welcome a new family from Colombia to Vancouver. They had just moved here in November. Anyone who knows me, knows that ever since my time in Mexico City in 1996/97 I've had a special place in my heart for anyone from Latin America.

I invited a potpourri of folks, many of them with children the same age as the couple from Colombia. What was most fantastic was that there were people originally from so many different places in the world: Colombia, Chile, Guatemala, Japan, India, Africa, and even Saskatchewan! Now we're all just Canadians. The only requirement was that each person bring either a dish from their original country or some beer. Surprisingly there was very little beer!

Everyone got along incredibly well. One could hear Spanish & English & Japanese all night. A perfect Modern Day Canada event!!

Spanglish

I had long wanted to see this movie and finally did so last night. It was absolutely delightful. I wasn't actually aware of the precise story beforehand and was perhaps even more surprised and charmed by it as a result. My great interest in Latin culture undoubtedly has a lot to do with the year I spent in Mexico City in 1996-97 and my subsequent relationship with a beautiful Mexican woman and her young son in the years following. The story of Spanglish is completely different than mine but hit many personal chords nonetheless.

In a nutshell, the movie is about a beautiful Mexican woman (played by Spanish actress Paz Vega) who moves to Los Angeles from Mexico when her daughter is quite young. Eventually she accepts a job as the housekeeper for a wealthy white family. On the surface the movie is about the clash of cultures but it's really more the clash between a down-to-earth, balanced, hard-working poor woman and a nutty, self-absorbed, and shallow wealthy woman. On a broader level it illustrates why so many in the West are desperately unhappy and lost in their lives.

It reminded me of why I felt so comfortable living in the Latin culture and why I can never go back to getting involved with the neurotic junior sisters of the antagonist; women that, sadly, I meet too often here in Vancouver.