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cuba jaguar's realm other books

Following the railroad in Cuban Granma province


Following the railroad in Cuban Granma province
Originally uploaded by
mgharris

I was delighted to see today on Flickr that someone favourited this photo. My husband David snapped this from a Viazul tourist bus as we crossed Cuba. He kindly took lots of photos of what you see of Cuba as you cross from West to East; Havana to Santiago de Cuba. This was so that when I came to write the relevant sections of Project Jaguar, I would be able to recall the images and atmosphere of this country.

Maybe I was asleep or watching the movie because I didn’t actually witness this scene myself so I’m even more grateful that he caught it. This captures the essence of how tough it is for Cubans to travel around in Cuba. Most people in Havana that we spoke to had never been to the other side of the island. And people in Santiago would tell us, “I went to Havana once, about twenty years ago.” (It’s not like in the UK where people are too busy going to Mallorca to go to London – they can’t go anywhere – it costs too much!)

Few people own a car, those who do tend to own cars that are too clapped out to get far without breaking down and of course there’s nothing like the RAC if you do. On the major roads you find small crowds of hitchhikers gathered under bridges, despondently waving money bills at passing private cars but mainly goods lorries. There’s no such thing as a free ride.

These hitchhikers aren’t game young students; ther are people of all ages, often with small children in tow.

I wonder where this woman in the photo is going with her two little ones. Waiting for a freight train to give her a lift? I wonder how long it took to get there.

Categories
comics movies top 10

Top Ten Superhero Films Part 2

It turns out that I’m an idiot who can’t count. I forgot one key superhero movie which is awesome, easily in the top 5, and when I looked at the other 4, none could in all good conscience be thrown out in favour of Spiderman 3, which I loved even if everyone says it’s bad.

The one I forgot is now at number 4. I think it’s that good.

5. X2
You know the X-Men franchise takes itself pretty seriously – at least this far in its run – from the fact that it opens in Auschwitz. Ooer, dark; Frank Miller, Alan Moore territory here we come. After that it comes together very nicely as one of only 2 successful multi-protag superhero movies. A raft of terrific actors have a great time with a good screenplay.

4. The Incredibles
I remember watching this at the cinema with my daughters and being impressed at a film which could hugely entertain a pre-school child, a teen and an adult. The story structure is terrific, the pace never lets up, the humour sections are genuinely funny and not just saddo cheese-fests (I particularly loved the costume fitting). It’s not easy to write a great story that has pace, humour, always with an eye on the video game opportunity. I think The Incredibles really pulls it off. My only teentsy concern is the self-referential nature of the movie, with its commentary on the nature and perception a world in which superheroes exist. It seemed a very original twist on the superhero mythology when Alan Moore did it in ‘Watchmen’, but now seems a bit passe. Then again most people haven’t read ‘Watchmen’.

3. Spiderman
I love Tobey Maquire and have always loved Peter Parker. Green Goblin was a great villain to pick for the Spidey movie. Peter’s growing delight with his powers and the way that, despite being a superhero he only slowly dispels his nerdy-boy persona, are the stand-out bits for me. Yes, the swinging is all very good too, love the swinging and the wall-crawling.Everyone in this movie is just great, but Jonah Jameson is a special delight.

2. Superman II
I almost put this top. It’s not top of anyone else’s list, as far as I know, which makes me think; where were you people in 1980? Don’t you realise the significance to those of us who were lovelorn teens, of the moment when Clark tells Lois that he’s Superman? Their first kiss is up there with Han Solo’s kiss with Princess Leia as one of the defining movie smooches for people my age! We also get to learn more about Supe’s homeworld, see the camp wonderfulness of the exiled Kryptonians and actually worry that Superman may not win the day. The end somewhat spoils it, with Clark being allowed to get his powers again. I see that it’s called for, but basically, it’s a deus ex machina.

1. Spiderman II
It’s unusual for a sequel to be better than the first, but not uncommon in Superhero films. Why? Because the first superhero film necessarily serves up the Origin Story. We all know more or less what such a story will give us. Ordinary guy becomes extraordinary and finds that he must use his extraordinariness to help people. Big Baddie threatens the world, superhero to the rescue, problem solved. Not very interesting, so far. The surprises, threats and complications really arise in stories further along the line. Jaded superhero; superhero tempted to evil; superhero in love, etc. Spiderman II goes for an early foray into Jaded Superhero. It’s probably not a bad time for that story. You can’t really roll that one out again until the superhero is supposedly ‘past it’, as in “The Dark Knight Returns”. Doc Ock is great, ripping chunks out of walls and hurling them at people. So many classic moments of the genre, so well executed.

Didn’t make the list:
Daredevil – one of my greater movie disappointments. How was this not wonderful? Why didn’t they get Frank Miller to write it? What was with the stupid, pumping rock soundtrack? Why was Matt Murdoch not blond??? I love MM but Daredevil was baaad, and not in the good way.

Elektra – not as dreadful as people say, actually. Better than Daredevil. But again…why didn’t Frank Miller write? Why didn’t they at least use one of his Elektra stories?

Constantine – (based on Hellblazer) really good. Would put it at twelve.

Spidey 3 – cos I can’t count, but I’d put it at 7 probably, in a rejig.

Superhero Movies I’d Like To See:
The Spirit, Watchmen, a good Daredevil movie, Groo the Wanderer, The Trouble With Girls. Technically neither The Spirit, Groo nor Lester Girls have superpowers. But then neither does Batman, so fair is fair.

Categories
top 10

Top Ten Sweeties

Here’s an addictive Website for sweetie-lovers. A Quarter of These. You can order all your old favourites, and sweets they didn’t have round your way but you wished they did. Ten flavours of chewy bonbons; TEN! This shop must be one of the best places in the world!

I lost quite a bit of weight (like 7 kilos) on the vegan diet, but if I’m not careful it’s all going to pile right back on with a new habit I’ve acquired, namely, treating myself to a sweetie or two (or five) as I write.

Sugar is wildly addictive; once your system is used to that early morning sugar rush (I write first thing), you get to looking forward to it. I’ve started to find myself musing about sweets of old, found myself toying with the idea of going to Thorntons in town or Hamiltons in Burford to get a fix of premium sweeties.

You start with something recreational and ‘harmless’ like a Bassetts strawberry bon-bon and before long you need a handmade violet cream, Soor Plooms or some Extremely Chocolately Thorntons Special Toffee. You have to go further for your fix, make special trips.

The thing is, I just can’t afford the calories. I snagged a fabulous size 12 Diane Von Fustenberg wrap dress on ebay this morning (very good price!) and I’ll be damned if I can’t look good in it this summer.

So the bag of M&S Devon Toffees on my desk will have to be the last for a long time.

In the meantime, I can bypass the craving by thinking about sweeties and which are my Top Ten.

10. Sherbert Lemons

Sharp, tangy taste but there’s a price to be paid in the wounds you get to the roof of the mouth. Good for those with vampiric tendences who quite enjoy the taste of blood.

9. Cream Soda Sherbert

Pink and creamy, vanilla and icing sugar combined with citric acid, it’s not half bad. Great for dippin’, ideally a strawberry lollipop.

8. Chupa Chups

It’s not all about the nostalgia, and not all the best sweeties are British. These Spanish lollipops are the best! So many yummy flavours. When the Spice Girls broke up, Sainsbury’s sold off buckets of Spice Girl Chupa Chups for a fiver. I bought them for my office and that whole summer long, everyone sucked Chupas. I love them all but the cherry flavour just wins.

7. Mazapan

Another foreign sweetie – Mexican this time. It’s like halva but made from peanuts; a little cake of compressed, powdered roast peanuts and sugar. de la Rosa brand are ubiquitous but I prefer the other kind…can’t remember the name.

6. Cajeta

A Mexican milk caramel in the style of ‘dulce de leche’ or ‘manjar’ but made from goat’s milk. It is sweeter, stickier, pours and has a distinctive flavour. Amazing over hot cakes (fluffy American pancakes). From a town in Queretaro state called Celaya, which I once visited and found a shop which sold ONLY cajeta! Walls stacked high with shelves just crammed with shiny bottles of the lovely caramel syrup. My favourite flavour is quemado (burnt), favourite brand is Coronado. Best served fresh on a spoon.

5. Blackcurrant and Liquorice Eclairs

Whoever dreamed up combining the flavours of blackcurrant and liquorice? Sheer genius. The boiled sweet is heaven and then the chewy contrast of the aniseedy liquorice.

4. Anglo Bubble Gum

You need two at a time to get a really good bubble-blowing session going. There’s a salty tang to these that I love. (Bazooka Joe is okay too, and Bubble Yum. I disapprove of all these new fruit-flavoured bubble-gums. Bubble Gum should taste of Bubble Gum!)

3. Pear Drops

Not the massive ones which slice your tonque when you suck them down to razor-sharp candy slivers, but the small, sugar-encrusted ones. What an amazing flavour; nothing likes pears, but exactly like something we used to make in organic chemistry practicals.

2. Rose and Violet Creams

Juicy, floral fondants in dark chocolate. The more expensive the better. The local French patisserie does these; delicious. My favourite flavour is rose, except on days when it’s violet.

1. Thorntons Special Toffee

Gosh this is good. I have tasted many, many a toffee and not found it’s equal. Buttery and caramely; I’ve spent a lot of time trying to cook sugar and do not underestimate how hard it must have been to get this recipe right. The flavoured variants are well-intended but they just detract from the subtle buttery notes which float over the caramelised, milky sugar. Stick to Original.

P.S. Can’t believe I forgot Spanish turron, a sweet made from almonds! Jijona-style, please. Mmmmm.

Categories
nostalgia

Gobbolino the Witch’s Cat

I first read this, one of my favourite children’s books, when I was about seven after seeing it on the TV show ‘Jackanory’. After just a chapter or two, I remember thinking that I MUST HAVE IT! I hassled my mother until she went to buy it from a bookshop. That must have been a marathon mithering session because we were too poor (or my stepfather too mean? who knows) to actually buy books. I owned fewer than twenty books by the time I was 12. But the library just wouldn’t do for this book. With a fierce desire, I wanted to own this one.

Tonight, I’ll be reading the final chapter to our little five-year old daughter. It’s the first long book we’ve read with her – until now we were mainly reading the wonderful picture books by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. But my beloved baby brother Michael remembered how much I loved this book and sent it to our daughter last Christmas. So I thought we’d try it out, to see if she was ready for a long narrative – and she is.

She’s very excited about bedtime tonight, to see how things work out for Gobbolino. Me, I’m watering at the mouth at the possibilities this opens up. “The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe” is next – she adores the film. Then perhaps “The Robber Hotzenplotz”.

It’s all lovely. Our older daughter didn’t share my tastes in books – adventure stories. She was bored by most of the long books I tried to read to her, until we discovered Jackie Wilson. But our younger one is dying to be read Harry Potter. I think we’ll give that just a couple more years, for maximum impact.

Categories
Joshua Files writing

Ancient Knowledge at the Ice Cream Cafe


Ancient Knowledge at the Ice Cream Cafe
Originally uploaded by
mgharris

I have become a Flickr addict, I admit it. Especially since this morning when another member added me as a contact. I favourited some photos yesterday and a few were this guy’s amazing photos of Mexico. This morning I spent ages admiring the rest of his work…check out Aleksu on www.Flickr.com

I started looking around at other stuff you can do on Flickr. Pretteh, pretteh, pretty cool! You can upload to you blog via email. Which means that if you are like me, also a CrackBerry addict, you don’t need to pay to moblog!

Here’s a poster I saw in G&D’s ice-cream cafe yesterday. This ancient knowledge stuff is all the rage, it seems, or la bomba as we Latinos say. Let’s hope it still is in 2008…to say any more might be a spoiler…

Emailed from my BlackBerry®