BSR

I thought that the rule that only men can become priests was an ex cathedra declaration, but Chat GPT says it technically isn’t yet is still considered an infallible teaching. Don’t ask me how that works. My Italian classmate tells me that Rome is insane because 2025 is a Jubilee year. Rome is crowded enough in a regular year, I can’t imagine how jam-packed it must be this year. Hopefully it’s not too bad when you go.

Even though there is still much of Madrid I want to see after being here almost 2 months, I did have some nominations for over/underrated sites … Overrated Mercado de San Miguel: total chaos, went on a Wednesday night and it was still jam-packed. Any food stand with reasonable prices had a huge line, and one look at the prices of stands with no line explained why no line. Plus there was almost no place to sit. I don’t mind standing while having a drink but draw the line at eating a meal. Reina Sofia Museum: part of my dislike of this museum is that modern art is mostly lost on me. It doesn’t help that the layout made no sense, felt like you were in a maze. While I appreciate the history and tragedy of the bombing of Guernica, the appeal of the painting baffles me, like most of Picasso’s work. Even though its dedicated room is massive, as expected given the painting’s dimensions, it’s still ridiculously crowded. Underrated Ethnic food: immigrants come to Madrid from all over, especially from other Spanish-speaking countries. I ate at a Colombian and a Mexican restaurant that were so damn good and very affordable. I’m one of those people who think cilantro tastes like soap, and it was nice that the Mexican place sprinkled it on lightly, as opposed to drowning the dish like every Mexican restaurant in Las Vegas. I can’t wait to try a Filipino restaurant here. Temple of Debod: an ancient Egyptian temple (~200 BC), gifted to Spain by the Egyptian government for Spain’s help with preserving ancient sites that would be flooded by the Aswan Dam. It’s an amazing site, surrounded by a beautifully landscaped park. National Archeological Museum: it might sound really nerdy but turned out to be quite eye-opening. It features works from all of Spain’s history, from prehistoric hunting tools to Roman sculptures, medieval Moorish architecture, and Renaissance Christianity. Did you know that both mammoths and African elephants once roamed (what is now) Madrid?

Oooh, this is almost as good as …

You don’t need to know the gory details about Walmart to know that it’s horrible; you just have to look at their workers’ faces. When I used to shop there, I’d get kinda depressed because all the employees just looked so miserable. I stopped going to Walmart mostly because their produce sucked, but the workers’ unhappiness probably weighed on me more than I realized. When I switched to Trader Joe’s and Costco, I started to enjoy shopping again. Their employees look happy to be there, which brightened up my day. Sure as hell beats the Evil W depression factory. There’s no Walmart in Madrid (thank gawd!) but there is Costco (it’s called Makro, and your US Costco card is good for entry). I’m dying to go there ever since I saw a video of all the cool stuff they have, like a $1200 ham (food of the gods) and huge jars of gourmet olives. Unfortunately, it’s way out in the ‘burbs and I’m carless. But if I ever get a ride out there, I swear I’m cleaning the place out!

Arthur Fils, 20yo Frenchman currently ranked #14

So Far Away was released in Spain April 11, no idea when it comes out in the US. While I liked some parts of it while watching it initially, I felt that it dragged on too much, with simply too little story to fill 1h40m of screen time. But after a couple of days of reflection, I’ve come to appreciate it more. The protagonist Sergio travels from Barcelona to Utrecht with his brother and buddies to watch a soccer match, but on the trip back he inexplicably throws his wallet away so that when he gets to the airport, he cannot board the flight. His brother & friends give him whatever cash they can spare, but he is basically stuck in the Netherlands with no ID, friends, family, money, or knowledge of Dutch. Why Sergio did something so bizarre and baffling becomes obvious when you see how he looks at his fellow dishwasher, a beautiful Moroccan named Yusuf. I struggled to understand why Sergio is so repressed since 2008 Barcelona was already as gay-friendly as any homo could ask for. Nor did the film make any mention of Sergio’s family being particularly homophobic. After a while I figured Sergio was simply one of those guys who struggle with accepting their sexuality for reasons known only to them. I shifted from initial dissatisfaction to eventual appreciation mostly because of Mario Casas’s performance, a subtle yet moving portrayal of a man who’s going through hell and suffers that hell completely alone. No spoilers, but there’s a scene where Sergio’s brother flies up to visit him that I could watch a dozen times. While I still wouldn’t say it’s a great movie, I am glad I saw it. When it inevitably shows up on streaming, give So Far Away some consideration. PS: the dialogue is in 5 languages — English, Catalan, Spanish, Dutch, and Arabic. Under no circumstances should you watch it dubbed (Netflix always offers a dubbed option) because the language shifts, while subtle, are critical to understanding the film.

Raise your hand if you think the dad is hotter than the son …

$30 in 1981 is $105.54 today, a bargain compared to today’s dizzying prices.

Another recession indicator: furniture sales I was at a poker table where one of the players owned a furniture store, a business started by his grandfather and where he had worked all his life (he was mid-50s). He claimed that furniture sales were the first sign of a recession because new furniture has the most elastic demand of just about all goods. Sure, you can put off buying a new pair of shoes for a while when times are tough, but at some point they are completely spent and you have to buy a new pair. The same is true of cars, clothes, etc., whereas even the well-to-do can put up with their old couch at least a little bit longer.

The number of deaths is now 218. With a small area still not cleared of rubble and some survivors in critical condition, the number might climb even higher. What a tragedy, it’s hard to wrap your head around it.

More than 300K reviewers on IMDb have given it an average rating of 1.6 … Wow. The 2025 Snow White’s box office is bombing. I wonder how big Disney’s loss will be.

I’d have a snowball’s chance in Hades of making it onto that jury. If the prosecution is smart, they’ll show prospective jurors a shirtless pic of Luigi then look for “that look,” you know, that starving wolf -> juicy ribeye look. They’d ding me so hard I’d sail clear over the Hudson River.