Celia Movie in Works

Joe Cardona, owner of KIE (Kids in Exile) Films started a documentary on Celia Cruz 8 years ago, when she was still alive. He is wrapping it up with co-director Mario De Varona, and is excited about its release prospects. Cardona, maker of the documentaries Cafe Con Leche I & II, Jose Marti, and others, and the feature films Bro and Water, Mud and Factories, is becoming Miami's Woody Allen, capturing the city's quirks with a deep sense of understanding and irony.

Comments

[John Longfellow aka Lou Dobbs]

Could care less about this article.

Rather, i find it interesting that it is the "liberal" Democrats fighting the so-called racist Lou Dobbs. Damn those pesky liberals trying to get that conservative Lou Dobbs thrown off of their cnn network.

It wont be long before some conservative like Val Prieto starts attacking the liberals, for attacking the conservative Lou Dobbs.

After all Lou Dobbs is a conservative, and conservatives like Lou Dobbs are the commie fighters. And liberals like Bill Clinton, are the commies. Just ask Milosevic, and the thousands of communist that Bill Clinton killed in his efforts to knock out the last of European communist.

How many communist has Bush killed? I guess the better question is, how many anti-communist Cubans Bush has arrested. The numbers show more than Clinton did.

In fact the number of interdictions of Cubans, and the numerous arrest of Cuban-American freedom fighters, would lead one to suspect that Bush may not be interested with Cuban-Americans.

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=33815

[John Longfellow aka Lou Dobbs]

If Lou Dobbs does has ties to conservative hate groups, it would not surprise me. What surprises me is how any Spanish speaking American could vote for conservatives such as him. What is yet more surprising is how anyone who is opposed to conservatives such as lou dobbs, are labels as liberal commies.

Where you at Val Prieto, Henry Gomez, George l, and Max? You last names give betray what you attempt to hide.

Where you at?

[John Longfellow aka Lou Dobbs]

You Cubans are the only people in the world without your own nation!!

[a thought....]

Just back from vacation and am tired from reading all these new blogging topics...I hope the Celia movie comes out, but I don't like Woody Allen...

Hi all....how's it been? Has John been behaving???

[John Longfellow aka Lou Dobbs]

Oh, sugah, i missed you too much. Hi, where have you been. You "mustant" flee like that in future.

I thought maybe the coast guard caught up with you are something. I was about to go down there to the crome detention center, and find you.

You gotta be careful in Miami. The coast guard is really starting to crack down lately. Oscar posted an article about the interdiction and how it has been up since Bush has taken office.

Even though you are a "real" American, there are some real rednecks out there.

Its good to see you again though sugah. The Cuban Connection isnt the same without you.

[Pee WeeHerman]

Hi johnlongfellow ...NUFF Said

Oscar , I am dissapointed again. You promised a Blog Blitz. Where is it? This week your posts have been just awful...

Lets talk about the closed door meeting held by the Communist Party , last saturday, Castro in attendance. Sources in holywood tell me old Castro cant hold the mic anymore.

[gansibele]

hey AT welcome back. john was trying to pick up everybody in sight in your absence, poor thing. btw, the latest woody allen movie 'matchpoint' wasn't half bad. it didn't seem like a woody allen movie.

[John Longfellow aka Lou Dobbs]

Gansibele,

You lie, i just asked you if you were a woman. Instead of answering an easy and direct question. You answered me with some childish ass mutterings.

What you may be referring to is A.D.T., putting the cuban moves on me last night. Which of course, i quickly and successfully fended off.

[a different thought]

A.T. welcome back!!!

LouJohn --- Sorry to offend your fragile male ego, but my invitation to you was just a test to prove that you cannot really interact with flesh and blood humans. I was just trying to show the blog that you are not real.

A test, sadly, which you failed. Let's face it if you would have accepted, I would've have had to bring along my large American husband along for protection.

Regardless, welsome back A.T., I , for one, enjoy your contribution.

[cubanpatriot]

And this Celia Cruz docupic is supposed to be news? Everyone knows about that already.

[Oscar Ramirez]

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CUBA, I REMEMBER YOU/CUBA, TE RECUERDO
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A collection of 14 short stories, all in Spanish and English, based on the author’s experiences of childhood before and after the Communist revolution. Includes Appendix for educators wishing to use the book in Spanish or English foreign language classes. Lots of nostalgia for those who knew Cuba in the 50’s and 60’s and plenty of humor for readers in general. Includes also many period family photographs that illustrate the stories and bring them vividly to life!

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[John Longfellow aka Lou Dobbs]

A.D.T.

Now that A.T. is back you can cease blabbering to me. The problem with you is that you do not possess any type of class. None. You should not be allowed out of the house, or access to the internet, until you have some more home training.

[manny o.]

It's like one big happy family in here!
BTW, it is now official....I have move to boynton beach from the redneck cesspool of south carolina. This means that I will now have more time to blog and keep up with the happenings in town. I should make my return visit to "la saguesera" sometime next week. Look out Versailles....here I come!

John,

I am also going to make a stop at that store that sells everything cuban on 8th and 31st. Can I pick up anything for you?

[a thought...]

John, there was no need to fear that I was at Krome. They have a way of leaving citizens alone.

So Manny is slowly but surely making his way back to the saguesera...you need to go to those Friday night get-togethers down on 8th. I forget what it's called, but I believe it's the first Friday (or is it the last?) of every month. Oh, and hit Lila's before they move in December! They still don't know where they are moving to, last I heard. The Westchester Mall will be no more after Lila's is gone...

[nonee moose]

LOLL...

loujohn:

We sent you for some medianoches a week ago. Where's our lunch? And don't forget the papitas this time...

not nuff to eat,

The Krome Detention Lunch Bunch

[John Longfellow aka Lou Dobbs]

A.T.

I know they leave citizens alone such as yourself. All i was saying is that sometimes conservative rednecks will assume any Spanish speaking American is an illegal alien.

The climate against Spanish speaking Americans is getting increasingly hostile. Kind of like Germany, pre WW2.

And of course, the tone of the climate is being set by the conservative base. Which the Miami Cubans keep in power via their suck up vote.

Manny, you said you left the redneck conservative South Carolina. This may explain your lack of vicious attacks on Democrats.

Conservative republicans in the red states have a way of moderating even the most zealot right wing Cuban.

I think every right wing Democrat hating Miami Cuban should spend at least two weeks with their brethen, in any of the red states.

[John Longfellow aka Lou Dobbs]

I wonder if the right wing Cubans will be upset about this. Will they now call the republican party communist.

http://www.rawstory.com/showarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.csmonitor.com%2F2006%2F0706%2Fp03s03-usec.htm

[John Longfellow aka Lou Dobbs]

A.T.

Where are you sugah? I have to ask you a very serious question. Two things have been bothering me a lot lately. And you are the only one i can turn. The rest of the Cuban-American bloggers here are assholes, save usambcua.

[a thought...]

John, I'm right here. I'm on my lunch hour. Ask away...

[manny o.]

John,
John,

Thanks for the "zealot right wing cuban" remark. It means alot coming from you.

John wrote:
The rest of the Cuban-American bloggers here are assholes, save usambcua.

By the way, just because I dont agree with your viewpoints doesn't make me an asshole.

[John Longfellow aka Lou Dobbs]

I didnt mean you. Those whom i called right wing assholes know exactly who they are. You are a relatively new face here. So i dont know where your politics stand. From the few posts that you have written. You seem to be moderate, and level headed. If you are open-minded, then accepted my sincere apology.

On the other hand, if you are a right wing, book banning, militant Cuban, then sincerely accept my fuck you. Its a free nation, you are free to pick either of the above.

Sincerely,
john

[a different thought]

LouJohn

This barrage of aimless insults in your posts just confirms what I said.

[a thought...]

John, I'm still waiting for your question. By the way, what's with all this hostility against our happy blogging family???

[nonee moose]

loujohn:

please, get back to work... ask manny o. for his bona fides, before i am forced to replace you with a newer gerbil...

[a thought...]

Gansi: I have a hard time watching any movie by Woody simply because he grosses me out. That whole Soon Yi thing is creepy. Plus, I've never understood the attraction to him. He's just disturbing to me.

[John Longfellow aka Lou Dobbs]

A.T.

Well, the last several weeks i have been rather pissed. It is about school. i wish i could tell you. But then the whole blog would erupt with all kinds of stupid sayings. One day i will tell you. And then you will understand why i am feeling like i am.

Second Ana Menedez article beneath has been on my mind a lot since Sunday. What do you think about it? And how do Cuban-Americans vote for people who direct so much venom towards their nationality.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/columnists/ana_menendez/14950086.htm

[nonee moose]

Hey AT... welcome back.

So what you're saying is you don't find nebbish, neurotic, new york intellectuals who eye little girls with bad intent attractive?

Because, except for the new york part (and i'm just guessing), that sounds alot like loujohn... wonder if woody bought sun yi happy meals, too?

[nonee moose]

loujohn:

were you one of the ones who had their grades changed over at drew middle? i hear the district is reverting back to the original grades... its gonna be tough getting into that spanish magnet program with the F in personal hygeine...

[gansibele]

Eye little girls WHO HAPPEN TO BE THEIR ADOPTIVE DAUGHTERS with bad intent, you mean.

Yes the guy is creepy. He's not in the movie though. It's great movie, it feels like "Fatal Atraction" but better acted. Scarlett Johanson is in it - and her I look at with all kinds of bad intent.

[a different thought]

Scarlett Johansen is beautiful.
As for Woody...well I'm with A.T.. Earlier on in my life, I tried to watch many of his movies. It was the thing to do. But now, upon reflection, I can't say I enjoyed any of them very much. As for the sex with your adopted daughter thing....If I enjoyed his movies I would make exception for the art.

[a thought....]

Nonee: So what you're saying is you don't find nebbish, neurotic, new york intellectuals who eye little girls with bad intent attractive?

Well, since you put it that way...lead me to them! We now know that Gansi has a thing for Scarlett Johansan and that ADT and I have similar thoughts when it comes to not liking Woody's movies.

John, sounds like you are having Woody issues as well. I read the article you linked about Ana Menendez and, while I didn't agree with her about her Cuba Nostalgia column, I will say that she is in a position of "damned if you do, damned if you don't." She wrote a piece critical of that simpering fool Alarcon and got crucified by the leftist "kook". Her description John, not mine, before you start raving about my "right wing" tendencies. Well, at least she's taking it all in stride. You can never please everyone.

What's wrong with school? And what's with changing grades and getting an F in hygiene? Ewwww.....

[Manuel A. Tellechea]

A.T.:

For Pete's sake, the man lives in a three-wall shack down by the river: How can you possibly expect him to maintain even a rudimentary toilette?

Given his circumstances, an "F" in Hygiene for Jon Juan is equivalent to a B+ for anyone who lives above dirt level.

[a thought...]

Manuel, you must have John confused with someone else. Hasn't he repeatedly informed all us "Chicanos" that he lives in a posh, affluent section of Miami Beach? How can you say he lives in a three-wall shack down by the river? Are you saying his floor is probably dirt? His commode, possibly the river itself? Plus, where would he park that happenin' TransAm?

[Manuel A. Tellechea]

A.T., the Trans-Am is in the river. Jon never said it was mobile.

[nonee moose]

Woody issues... heh heh...

Well, I agree he is creepy.

I can't say I've seen all of his films, and I actually like his earliest stuff. then i think he became a little ponderous. but there are a couple of memorable scenes from his films that make me laugh just thinking about them:

- Sneezing into a pile of cocaine in Annie Hall...

- being chased by a giant breast in Sleeper...

I know... stupid. But I'm working on it.

I also did read something he wrote, a short story called "The Whore of Mensa"... it's written Raymond Chandler-style. Pretty funny.

[a thought...]

I saw Sleepers. By the way, his ex, Mia, was quite good in the new "Omen" version. I think Hollywood (or New York) acting people have a twisted take on reality. Anything, and everything, goes.

If a TransAm is at the bottom of the river, and no one is around, can you still hear Journey blaring out of the speakers?

How deep a question is THAT???

[John Longfellow aka Lou Dobbs]

A.T. you wrote; Ana Menedez, damned if you don't." She wrote a piece critical of that simpering fool Alarcon and got crucified by the leftist "kook".

Who is alarcon? Also, i dont read post from none or manuel the liar. I scroll right past them. Waste of time!! I have gotten too busy lately.

[a thought...]

Alarcon is the mouthpiece in Cuba for Castro. He is responsible for telling people how wonderful everything is there. One of the times I saw him on TV, he came across as a simpering, arrogant little toad.

I try to read everyone's posts. Nonee makes me laugh and Manuel insists you live in a shack by the river, so I need to read his posts in order to assert you truly live in Miami Beach.

[nonee moose]

AT:

to your question: what color is the trans-am? no seriously, i think you can hear the music, as long as the stereo had a "sub" woofer...

I almost died at a Journey concert once... or maybe it was Rush...

[Manuel A. Tellechea]

A.T.:

During the height of the famine of 1994, Alarcon praised the nutritional value of grass and recommended it to his countrymen as an untapped caloric resource. This is Not a joke.

[nonee moose]

Alarcon is a hoot! He and Lawrence Eagleburger... Astaire and Rogers. Alarcon wears the heels and dances backwards...

[another view]

Go to Venezuela, You Idiot!
By Jeff Cohen
t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Thursday 06 July 2006

I don't usually take the advice of right-wingers. But I did this time. After receiving inflamed email messages from dozens of angry rightists that I should get the hell out of the USA and go to Venezuela, I accepted their challenge and flew to Caracas.

"Would you like me to start a fund to ship your ass down there, Comrade Cohen?"
What had provoked the often-abusive emailers was my 2005 Internet column urging US residents to buy their gasoline at Citgo, a subsidiary of Venezuela's state oil company. I called for a Citgo BUY-cott, to protest Bush's interventionist foreign policy, while supporting innovative anti-poverty programs
in Venezuela. (Last winter, Citgo started a program that provided discounted home-heating oil to low-income families in the US.)
"Hey moron, if you hate America so much and love Venezuela, why don't you go there?"
I'm glad I listened to the conservative chorus. In late June, I headed to Venezuela with a fact-finding delegation sponsored by the respected US human rights group, Witness for Peace. The grueling trip covered much ground and all sides of Venezuela's social/political landscape. It is a complex country, headed by sometimes volatile President Hugo Chavez, a leftist and harsh Bush critic who was first elected in 1998.
As soon as I returned home, I headed to the nearest Citgo to fill up my tank - more committed than ever to send a few dollars toward Venezuela's poor.
"You, sir, are as un-American as they come."

For decades, Venezuela's vast oil wealth had been squandered and hoarded by its light-skinned elite, while most Venezuelans - largely of indigenous, African and mixed descent - lived in dire poverty. Today, oil revenue from Citgo and elsewhere is funneled into social programs (called "missions") to benefit the country's poor majority. They're reminiscent of FDR's New Deal programs ... born of our economic bust. But Venezuela's missions are fueled by a boom - a boom in oil prices that is likely to persist for years.

"Because of Chavez, communism is thriving in South America."
From what I could see, capitalism is thriving. Foreign oil interests continue to profit handsomely from Venezuelan petrol, but they now pay a fairer share of taxes and royalties. So do the 80 McDonald's restaurants in Venezuela, which were briefly shut down last year over alleged tax cheating.
Multinational companies and the old elite are doing fine in today's Venezuela. So well that some Venezuelan leftists denounce Chavez - despite his talk of building "21st century socialism" - as a tool of corporate imperialism.
Like other oil-exporting countries, Venezuela in the past allowed its domestic productive economy to atrophy. Besides oil, it produced little - with food largely imported. Today, people in poor areas are organizing themselves into productive and agricultural co-ops, supported by low-interest government loans. We visited a federal bank that underwrites women-run businesses nationwide.
My guess is that if Chavez succeeds in Venezuela - a big "if" in a country of endemic corruption, poverty and crime, in the backyard of the US superpower - its economic system will end up looking more like Sweden than Cuba.
What's not debatable is that the poor have found hope in the Chavez administration - which is why he's perhaps the most popular president in our hemisphere. So popular that Chavez critics in the US government and Venezuelan opposition concede that they won't be able to defeat him in December when he seeks re-election.
"The trouble with all you liberals is that you're anti-American and hate democracy."
Participation in democracy is booming in Venezuela under Chavez. That's partly due to polarization, but also because so many poor people feel empowered enough for the first time to get active in politics. A massive 2005 Latinobarometro poll conducted in 18 Latin American countries showed that Venezuelans are among the top in preference for democracy over all other forms of government, in satisfaction with how their democracy is functioning, and in belief that their country is "totally democratic."
"The oil money never gets to the poor.... You must have been paid by Chavez to write what you wrote."

Across Venezuela, it's hard to miss the new investment in public education. Schools are being upgraded in urban and rural areas and are required to offer free breakfasts and lunches, arts, music and after-school activities. Unlike in the US, these are well-funded mandates. Illiteracy has been virtually wiped out, according to UNESCO, thanks to adult education that has penetrated the poorest neighborhoods.

In poor communities, federally-subsidized stores called "mercals" sell food at half the market price. In the capital of Caracas, thousands of government-funded soup kitchens offer free lunches every weekday to the indigent; our delegation was headquartered in a church that served 150 free lunches per day. Across the country, new housing is being built to replace shantytown "ranchos" that so many Venezuelans live in.

Thousands of free ("Barrio Adentro") medical clinics have been built inside neighborhoods that never had doctors before - so many clinics that you can spot them from the highway. These are staffed largely by doctors from Cuba; in return, Cuba receives Venezuelan oil. When we asked a community leader how local residents reacted to the Cuban doctors, he explained that most Venezuelan doctors won't serve in poor barrios: "People in our community don't care whether the doctors are French, German, Canadian, Mexican or Cuban - as long as they're here to help."
"Go to Venezuela and kiss up to the anti-American dictator."

If Venezuela is a dictatorship, it must be the first in world history in which the opposition controls most of the media. And the first in which demonstrations occur regularly outside the presidential palace (organized by various groups, especially low-income activists complaining about broken promises and government inefficiency).

Dissent is alive and well in Venezuela. Any casual viewer can see anti-Chavez criticism all over TV, the country's dominant medium and largely in the hands of conservative business interests. The opposition used its power on TV to support a short-lived military coup in 2002 (strike 1), an employers' oil lockout in 2002-2003 (strike 2) and a failed recall election in 2004 (strike 3). Chavez won nearly 60% in the recall vote - which was monitored closely by international observers.

Jeff Cohen is a media critic and former TV pundit. His new book, Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media, can be pre-ordered at http://jeffcohen.org/.

[a thought...]

Manuel wrote: During the height of the famine of 1994, Alarcon praised the nutritional value of grass and recommended it to his countrymen as an untapped caloric resource. This is Not a joke.

...and if you put some dirt in a cup of water, you can pretend it's coffee and wash down all that delicious grass.

[John Longfellow aka Lou Dobbs]

antother view,

Listen those are right wing Cubans, and not "real" Americans. Most Americans have no clue where Venzuela is on the map. All of Latin America has been moving left. All of Europe is left, and even America popultion is 50% left.

So dont let the right wing Cuban-Americans fool you into thinking they represent Americans.

[a different thought]

Nonee..it was the RUSH concert in 1981 or 1982, I believe, they tear gassed everyone there....

Man this blog is a trip!!!!!

BTW, I also live on South Beach, and I think the TransAm is in Biscayne Bay...I can hear the Journey from the stereo if I stand on my balcony.

[Manuel A. Tellechea]

A.T.:

What is the color of Jon's Trans-Am?

It's rust color.

[a thought...]

According to John, his Trans-Am is fully functional and he cruises in it up and down his "affluent" South Beach neighborhood, Night Ranger blasting away. I can only assume that it is at the bottom of the Bay because it was a windy day, his mullet got in his eyes and he took a wrong turn. I will never sit in on those custom, authentic, imitation, Corinthian leather seats...another hope dashed.

Why did they tear gas at a Rush concert? I've never seen them live. I have heard, however, that Neil Peart's drum solos are a thing of beauty.

[Manuel A. Tellechea]

A.T.:

Wasn't the Trans-Am a car that was popular with teenagers in the 1970s? I suppose daddy couldn't buy him one when they were actually "groovy" so John saved all the change he panhandles from wealthy Cubans and bought his Trans-Am in a scrap yard. He probably drove it himself into the river in the hope of getting that funky 1970s smell out (he little realized that the funky smell was his own). The river didn't help things much and now he is faced with the problem of dragging the Trans-Am out.

[a thought...]

The Trans-Am was THE car in the 70s!! I remember thinking they were just about the coolest thing I had ever seen. The Firebirds were also extremely hot with that bird on the hood. Oh, my neighbors had older sons when I was growing up and they had the Starsky and Hutch car. And, of course, I saw a few Herbies and General Lees cruising around...

[Manuel A. Tellechea]

Or did the Trans-Am end-up in the river because of some Teddy Kennedyesque Chappaquidick-like incident? Beware, A.T.