BSR

I went to Cáceres last weekend and highly recommend it. It’s 3h by car, 3h20m by train, or 4h by bus from Madrid in Extremadura, a region in western Spain bordering Portugal. While Cáceres has become more popular lately because it’s one of the shooting locations for “Game of Thrones,” it’s still not that touristy. My fave teacher at the language school recommended it because of its historical center, one of Spain’s best-preserved medieval towns. Like Venice or Bruges, you feel like you’ve traveled back in time walking around the narrow cobblestone streets of Cáceres. There’s also remarkably good eats all over town, some pricey spots but also surprisingly good inexpensive fare. My secondary motivation for visiting was to find the grave of my tatarabuelo (great-great-grandfather). He went to the Philippines and lived most of his adult life there but returned to Spain near the end because he wanted to be buried here. I found out only after arriving in Cáceres that he wasn’t from the city but a small town in the province 25km away. Unfortunately, I couldn’t go because there’s no bus service on weekends and a taxi would have been 100€+. I liked Cáceres so much that I plan to return in the fall. I’ll reserve a rental car to get out to Torremocha, but whether or not I find tatarabuelo’s grave, Cáceres is worth a return trip.

While just 1/4 of the way through, I’m sure this will end up as “least surprising news of the 21st century,” or at least top 5. While I couldn’t care less about the details of their relationship, I am a bit curious as to just how much PYT ends up with. If it is as little as the TMZ article indicates is likely, oh my, he really isn’t the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree.

No, not a news show, but they do pretend to be a political analisis show, which is laughable given the abject ignorance of some members of the panel. For example, Whoopi Goldberg once proposed that Dr. Jill Biden should become US Surgeon General.

Crap! why don’t I ever get invited to parties like that??

For most of her career, Joan Rivers was obnoxious but funny as hell. Unfortunately, in her later years, she was sometimes just obnoxious and not really funny. That said, I look at her whole career and think of all the times I was doubled over with laughter, plus I’ll always be grateful for her publicly embracing the gays decades before it was fashionable to do so. As for her old apartment, I actually liked her over-the-top Marie Antoinette decor. Not for me, at all, but if you’re going for that style, go whole hog, no apologies or half-assing it. The new decor is like a wimpy, watered-down Marie Antoinette that leaves me totally “meh.”

I also add toppings to frozen pizza because: 1) there are no decent pizza places near me (Las Vegas has a depressing dearth of good pizza), and 2) because takeout pizza is really pricey. I get a cheapo frozen pizza (Jack’s) and throw on mozzarella (you have to shred it yourself because the pre-shredded stuff doesn’t melt as well), pepperoni, and chopped baby bellos, sometimes gruyere or bits of brie if I’m feeling gourmetish. Even if I go a bit posh with the added toppings, it’s super-economical, quick, easy, and quite yummy. But I try to limit how often I do it because it has a truckload of calories and because I’m trying to cut ultra-processed food from my diet. But dang, it’s so damn tempting!

When I typed “sauna gran vía” into Google Maps, it shows up as “Permanently closed.” Are we talking about the sauna at Calle del Barco, 6?

I’m hearing conflicting reports, some saying that Pope Leo will be almost as progressive as Francis, others that the traditionalists, although a minority, have far more sway with the new Pope than they ever had with the previous one. Just as we had to wait & see who would be elected, I think the same holds true for Pope Leo’s political leanings. Once again, we’ll know when we know.

Wow, that was quick! I heard that the selection process was expected to be brief, but this fast?? I was rooting for Filipino Cardinal Tagle for obvious reasons. Oh well, given that I haven’t attended mass regularly for ~20 years, I can’t say I had much invested in Francis’s successor. It’s just that it would have meant the world to the 90 million Catholics of my birth country.

Hmm, I’m always suspicious of politicians in every aspect but especially when they claim that the taxpayer money given to billionaire team owners will be “recouped by the economic activity the team generates.” Study after study proves that’s simply not true (oh shock!). But politicians fear that they’ll be committing career suicide if a beloved team leaves when their demands aren’t met. So they come up with some “report” showing that the government will get its money back by means of future tax revenue, never mind that the report would make any self-respecting accountant spray his coffee across the room.

The Chicago PD spent more than 3,000 hours investigating Smollett’s false police report, time they could and should have devoted to investigating real crimes, of which Chicago has plenty. Chicago taxpayers had every right to be angry. I can only imagine the hurt & frustration of families of victims whose cases gathered dust while CPD wasted valuable time & resources on Smollett. Hate crime hoaxes abound, and every bullsh*t claim, especially one as high-profile as Smollett’s, casts doubt on all future reports. Blacks & gays were right to be furious at Smollett. The comparison to Luigi Mangione is problematic for many reasons. For one, while no civilized person (I hope!) condones murder as the solution to a problem, Mangione tapped into a deep-seated and long-festering rage about the greed of health insurance corporations and the dysfunction of our health care system. Please remember that for every Luigi supporter/groupie (yes, his physical beauty factors in), there is at least one detractor if not many who unconditionally condemns what he did — they just tend to be a lot more quiet about it (imo).

I can only imagine the Krakatoa of outrage if Luigi were to get the death penalty. If you think his fans are over the top now, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet.

Hmm, I’ve read different, that even though Pope Francis chose the majority of voting cardinals, they are not necessarily as progressive as he was. But hey, I can’t vouch for my source, just some guy who follows the Vatican with great interest. In any case, we won’t know until we know. The voting cardinals are obliged to secrecy about the voting process, and any cardinal caught leaking is automatically excommunicated. As for the rule that only cardinals less than 80yo can vote, the rule is simply practical. Since a number of cardinals have to travel quite a distance to Rome, the rule was established and re-approved several times to spare very elderly cardinals the hardship.

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.