On the Street

The best in ride-by journalism!

The second best blog in San Antonio!

As always, read at your own risk!

Letters (to the Penthouse Suite)

#1 Bolivia Calling

From On the Street Foreign Correspondent From Bolivia Roberto Guerra:

Thanks, Jones. So... we're sending that "postcard" out as a little email promo-type thing, but that's totally cool if you want to put it on the old blog. You know - we're also thinking of doing something like this with some semblance of regularity (mainly because it's a fun little exercise for us)... but we can send them your way from time to time if you're interested...

So - I assume you have to have a link to it, and can't just drag the QT file into the blog? That's actually how Rux's website works (since it's really a wordpress blog thing)... so I made this link for her this morning:

www.bearguerra.com/bolpstcard.mov

Give that a shot... and let me know if it works...

#2 Trinidad

From filmmaker and cinematographer PJ Raval from Austin:

hello friends,

just wanted to let you know my documentary TRINIDAD (formerly known as "Best Kept Secret") will be premiering at the Los Angeles Film Festival this June in the documentary feature competition:

http://www.lafilmfest.com/films.php#documentary

TRINIDAD uncovers Trinidad, Colorado's transformation from Wild West outpost to "sex change capital of the world," and follows three transgender women who may steer the rural ranching town toward becoming the "transsexual mecca."

i'm extremely excited about the premiere as it has been roughly four years in the making.

if you are around LA during that time, please come out to a screening and support the film as well as say hello (or tell a friend to!)
but since LA is so far away, there will be a "sneaky peeky preview" at the alamo south lamar on june 4th, 7pm (official details to follow)
so mark your calendars, the alamo screening will be a fundraiser to help raise money for the finishing costs of the doc's LA Film Festival premiere

please also stop by our new website:
trinidadthemovie.com
and sign up for email updates so i can keep you informed.

#3 Whatever

From Friend of OTS Sparks...

Old Joy

After months of wanting to see the film, and then a year of forgetting about the film, finally the stars aligned and saw a copy of Old Joy at the video store the other night. Old Joy got some press as being the indie Broke Back Mountain. I can't speak to BBM because I never saw it but there is no "ICQY" moment in this film. There's the amazing Will Oldham in a rare moment as an actor. A Yo La Tengo soundtrack (even if it's really only one song they keep playing over and over, though I suppose in soundtrack terminology that's called a "theme".

The film is about two aging hipsters who fallen out of touch. One is more an architect/community gardener type; the other is less grounded and might be transient. They go on a trip out to the woods outside of Portland to find some hot springs. Very little happens. Even less is spoken. And yet, the film has a lasting effect. I watched with my eye on my email for the first part. I initially thought I wasn't especially enjoying the film but yet somehow hours later its scenes are still resonating with me. There is no central mystery in the sense of a twist or anything close to Hitchcock. However, many of the moments contain a perfect ambiguity that is engaging. It's difficult to say if the film has an ending but that's only because the film as a whole is about an ending.

This film might be enjoyed best alone.

Also, it's only 71 minutes long. This aspect is perfect to me. A slow paced film that is hardly over an hour long. It's the best of both worlds. 70s Cinema Meanderings yet without Paul Thomas Anderson/cinema savant self-entitlement.

I had seen a previous film by the director at Cinematexas in Austin about ten years ago. It was a long short film called Ode that was shot all on Super8 Kodachrome and the soundtrack was by Will Oldham, however he didn't act in it.

Here's a trailer from that film for those that might be interested...actually scratch that. Evidently the tubes have nothing to offer. However, I did find this unofficial Kanye West video with Will Oldham acting, again. It's full of rural, farm-life bling, burning rubber in tractors, and other rural odes to city life. Bizarre. But basically hilarious.

Cascabel

I had heard rumors and rumblings that Cascabel was no longer what it used to be like. Funny, that same argument is being made against the Spurs. More on them in a moment. I stopped by Cascabel and had some tacos and other snacks. The al pastor taco was still solid, though no one in Texas seems to have the energy to throw in the traditional pineapple. I also tried the puerco a la cascabel taco, which also was solid but diminuitive. There was something reassuring about having so many pork options that were all distinct but similar. An abundance of beef and chicken options would have been second guessing on their part. The flor de calabaza quesadilla seemed more like a small empanada than what quesadilla means in Tex Mex parlance. Nonetheless, everything seemed to be doing well as of Thursday May 15th at 6:56 pm.

Hours later I heard that Cascabel at one point made the infamous torta ahogada - the Yeti of tortas, the answer to the riddle of the vast Jalisco Myth.

Now it seems I need to go back again to find out.

(sin permiso de Jalisco)

Sundowners

What I said before Game 6 of the Spurs/Hornets series:

"Well, if they don't win this game they better go out swinging. Of the 13 players on the team, 4 to 6 of them might be playing in the last game of their career. If that's the case, there's no reason not to be desperate, and if needed, dirty."

What I said at half-time of Game 6 of the Spurs/Hornets series in a conversation with Menudo Terremoto Williams (with whom a lengthy interview detailing Tim Duncan's purported Dungeons and Dragons myth will be addressed):

"The first half was good, but all our first halves have been good. They might fall apart. They might blow them out. Perhaps a Robert Horry hipcheck will be the difference."

What I said after Game 6 of the Spurs/Hornets series:

"The Robert Horry pick in the back of David West will either be seen as a horribly dirty play, which it wasn't. Or, as completely an accident, which it wasn't either. What's wrong with finally giving back some of the physical play we've been getting in the first 5 games?"

This Spurs team is so old...it sounds like the beginning of a bad mama joke. But the team's age is high, and if they can win the Finals this year, then they would be the oldest team ever to do so. To see the qualities of excellence and obsolesence alternating from game to game and moment to moment can be overwhelming. Their struggle this year to be champions has taken on the opponent of Time. In that sense, the team knows they are at the end of their moment. The season isn't over yet, and though I think I'll be happy to see many of these players leave after the season, at the same time, I wish they could go out on top. It's a microcosm of life itself.

Game 7 on Monday will be the end or a beginning. No one thinks they have much of a chance. It should be interesting.

And so goes another week on the streets of San Antonio. As always, to be continued...