As I walked out of my office this evening, I encountered a huge surprise.The entire outside world had changed. It was unexpected but charming, almost magical. I felt I had walked onto a movie set. Everything was white. Seriously, it looked fake.

Anyways, this city really doesn't take snow that well. I mean people love going to sky to the mountains, but they all freak when the snow is outside on their yards. My entire street is an iceberg. It's pretty scary to drive when you know stopping can be an issue with ice on the road.

Anyways, I had never seen it snow until this winter, so that's cool. My own little winter wonderland. I'll post pictures later.

This is my much anticipated Dreamgirls post (anticipated by me at least). I was torn about calling it "Stepping to the bad side"  or "All you have to do is dream", the movie's official tagline. I chose the former, because seeing a film version of this fantastic musical is really a dream come true. Pun intended, hehe.

Well, as is usual on Christmas Day, my family (my parents are visiting Seattle) went to the movies to see a brand new movie (and probable Oscar hopeful). We went a little later than usual and there was a whole lotta people. Who knew so many folks skipped Christmas dinner? Anyways, the movie I dragged everyone to see was Dreamgirls. I've been waiting for this flick for over a year and I was more than a little excited (and fearful, after Phantom you just never know how these things will turn out).

Let me first clear up a few points I wan to say about the movies. Beyonce is just ravishing. I mean this girl is ridiculously beautiful. She's a knockout as Deena Jones, from the beginning as a poor and innocent teenager up to when she's a glamorous star. And she can sing and dance fabulously. Wow. Nuff said. Her acting probably could be better, but I think she did an OK job. She is a huge name and I think casting her in this role was not a mistake.

I also have to confess I worship Anika Noni Rose (Lorelle). She won a Tony award for playing the daughter in Caroline or Change, one of my favorite musicals of the last few years. She plays Lorelle, the most underdeveloped of the three principal Dreamgirls, bur she still manages to steal a few scenes here and there.

The real revelation here is Jennifer Hudson. She has a very powerful voice and she makes every moment of hers on screen exciting. She's a force of nature which makes "And I am telling you" a crowd pleaser, even if the scene isn't very spectacularly filmed. At the theater I saw it in, people actually applauded at the end of this's number, it was wild. There is already Oscar buzz going around and the smart money is on her. Eddie Murphy is also wonderful in his role as a "Little Richard" wannabe, and him and Ms. Hudson provide the comic heights and most heartbreaking moments of the film. I hope they both take home Oscars.

Now about the film. The truth, I thought it started out ok, got better, then it didn't finish very well. What used to be the second act of the musical makes for a somewhat sluggish and ultimately unsatisfying second half to the movie. It gains so much energy particularly after "And I am telling you", it's a shame it goes to waste by spinning off so many storylines and unnecessary scenes and dialogue that just don't wrap up the story in a tight and convincing way. The actual final scene is actually pretty crappy in my opinion. The final musical number is great, but the whole idea at the end is not well executed. A shame really, it's mostly and entertaining film.

I know my opinion is skewered here, I couldn't help but compare the adapted screenplay to the original musical libretto. Still, I think some of the choices made for it's translation to the screen could have been better conceived. All in all, it is a fun movie, and seeing Ms. Hudson and Eddie Murphy is well worth the price of admission. Enjoy!

NOTE: Due to my recent Internet outtage, here is backed up post #1.

I know, long time no blog. Work has been extremely hectic. Being an engineer means having to find solutions to problems no matter what. And sometimes it's downright painful. Of course they gave the new guy the project nobody wanted, but then again that's life, so fucking live with it. I'm totally asking for a promotion next year.

Anyways, I've also been up to a lot of non-work stuff. I went to a Guns and Roses concert. Ok, it wasn't exactly GNR, it was just Axl Rose with 7 other guys, but since I was never that much of a hard-core fan, it seemed interesting. The actual concert was so-so, I mean they held it on a Sunday night and since a lot of their core fans are now in their thirties, I bet a lot of them were thinking about how they had to get up and go to work the next day, haha, and therefore were not that enthusiastic for cheering. So the energy was somewhat low, for a heavy-metal concert anyways, and the arena was about 60% full, and it wasn't even that big. All in all, I was disappointed. Especially given the fact that the tickets were kind of pricey. Next time I shell out that much cash for a concert, it better be someone I'm crazy about seeing live.

We had a house warming / Posada (Mexican Christmas party) on Saturday. It was way cool because we put on this traditional Mexican Pastorela play. We came up with the whole party and play idea a few days before, so it was all a bit improvised and rushed, but we got some really big laughs making fun of a lot of the members of our Mexican social circle. A select few stayed into the wee hours of the morning boozing and having laughs.Good times, good times.

Speaking of Christmas, I heard this way cool song on the (internet) radio. It's called "Great big sled" by The Killers. The best new original X-Mas I've heard in years, seriously.

Did I mention I moved into a new place? I rented a house with two other Mexicans, a girl (straight) and a guy (gay). It's a big old 5 bedroom house in Bellevue and the yard is just HUGE. Seriously, it even has a playground. Crazy. I love it. We have a guest bedroom and everything... you know, in case anybody wants to drop in... hint, hint...

NOTE: Backed up Post #2. The reason for my Internet outtage.

Ok, last weekend the strongest storm in over a decade hit the Puget Sound area (where I live) and caused chaos. There were tons of fallen trees and power outages. Since it's the dead of winter, being without power usually means freezing, so over 700,000 people faced this dilemma. The streets were filled with folks looking for food, supplied, batteries, flashlights, generators, gasoline, etc. Unfortunately lots of stores were closed and those that were open due to some small miracle (their own generators, for example), were ransacked and virtually empty. I went to buy some chips and saw that the whole aisle was empty, and only the organic chips were left. Geez.

The good thing was that there was no work on Friday, hoo-ray. But I actually started to get worried when people mentioned that during the last big storm, some places didn't get power until 5 days after the storm. Yikes. On Friday night I took refuge with a friend and his visiting family. His mom was in town (I know, what "luck") and his brother and a friend of his brother. They didn't have power either, but at least it would be better than being all alone in my new huge rented house (both my roomies were out of town). We fired up the chimney and drank and talked. It was actually pretty fun, not to mention freezing.

I got power back in my huge house the next day and since I was one of the lucky few, I hosted 8 refugee Mexicans. It was my brother, his wife, the wife's visiting sister (another "lucky" visitor), the 4 people I had spent the previous night with and myself. This turned out to be a lot more fun and we all stayed up really late laughing and talking. Good times, good times. The next few nights were spent pretty much the same but we hosted only about 4 people each night since power has been slow to come back to some areas. Hanging out with fellow Mexicans before they leave for X-Mas vacation has been very cool, plus we got to play with the new Nintendo Wii. The whole experience was an interesting detour from normal civilization, and from my work-intensive existence.

The English language version of IE is available as a free download! Finally! Enjoy!

If you haven’t seen it already:

1) Go to http://www.google.com
2) Type ‘search’ and then click ‘I’m feeling lucky’

…see what happens.

Enjoy!

Photos from my camera:

http://gmunoz05.spaces.live.com 

Photos from the official wedding photographer:

http://photos.yahoo.com/fotosbodamary

How cool is that?!?! It's the new Zune. Thanks Joe!

• I bought a new car!!! Well, it's new to me at least. I bought a 2004 Honda Civic. My first car, cool. And I got my first US driver'd license! I actually took a damn driving course (I promised my mom I would), but it was actually really useful, specially given the fact that when I arrived, the trip I made from the airport to my apartment was the longest I had ever driven ever! And I passed the driving test with a cool 91.
• I went to a Damien Rice/Fionna Apple concert. And then to a Kelly Clarkson concert. I know, my music tastes are eclectic. I've only gone to see one play, but hopefully that will change soon... plus, I have a ticket to go see Wicked next month here in Seattle!!! My mom came to visit for 2 weeks. We had a lot of fun and it was noice having my mommy around. Plus she made me food! Yummy!
• My brother is getting married in ten days!!! AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!

Ok, good old fashioned dirty politics. That's what's been going on in Mexico for the last couple of days. First the election was too close to call, we all had to wait for the official recount. Just like in the USA in 2000. Then both candidates declared themselves the winner, NOT like USA in 2000. Hey, we're not a mature democracy yet, cut us some slack.

AMLO was winning most of yesterday, and Calderon passed early this morning. Does it look suspicious? Will AMLO take vengeance? WIll the economy tumble? Will people be interested enough they'll stop watching telenovelas and tune into the news? Stay tuned...

I got my flight ready, my apartment, my car... sweet, huh? I leave Sunday bound for Seattle, and on Monday I start a whole new chapter in my life.

Wish me luck. I'm really excited, and a little scared too. New beginnings are always like that, I guess. Cheers!