LET ME BE YOUR PERSONAL TOUR GUIDE

There a few cities that I know like the palm of my hand, and one of them is the Crescent City: New Orleans... you give me 24 hours of your life and I'll show you the cajun time of your life:

9:30 AM - We visit The Aquarium of the Americas - one of the top 5 aquariums of the world.
11:30 AM - We catch the early show at the Energy IMAX Theater next door... a mind blowing experience.
12:30 PM - Lunch at Landry's... a cool place at the very entrance of the French Quarter
1:30 PM - We visit Jax Brewery for some good ole fashioned shopping
2:30 PM - We finally hit the French Quarter full force... we visit Jackson Square and mingle with the bohemians: street musicians, magicians, tarot readers, painters, mimos, jugglers, etc. Then, we vist a real haunted house, the historic Voodoo museum and all the several speciality sex shops along Bourbon Street.
4:00 PM - Hurricanes at Pat O'Briens
5:00 PM - We take a Streetcar ride along St. Charles avenue
6:00 PM - Cafe Au-Lait and Beignets at Cafe du Monde on the moon walk while awing at the sunset.
7:00 PM - Romantic Dinner Cruise aboard the Natchez steamboat... Jazz concert by the Dukes of Dixieland... the city looks lovely at night from the Mighty Mississippi.
9:00 PM - We go to the House of Blues for some music, drinking and dancing
11:00 PM - We attend a real live Voodoo ritual at one of the cities of the dead
Midnight - We catch the Midnight Mardi Grass Parade at Harrah's Casino... we stay for a little gambling fun
2:00 AM - More drinking and dancing at the OZ club
5:00 AM - Cafe-au-lait and beignets at Cafe Du Monde before heading back to our hotel.

Should I call my travel agent?

AT THE MOVIES

When was the last time you went to the movies? Mine was Tuesday December 3, 2002... I saw "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" with my dad. Fuck!!! A year without going to the movies... that's really painful for someone like me who used to go to the movies at least once every week... and whose goal is to be able to watch 365 movies in a year: one per day... I came very close in 1997 by the way... 325 movies...

I want the next time that I set foot on a movie theatre to be special, though... I think that after a year long drought, I deserve it. It's like the first time you have sex after many months of inactivity or when you return to the soccer field after recovering from a serious injury.

In 2003, I watched 184 movies (videos, DVDs, TV)... my worst year in 10 years. I had always at least crossed the 200 mark. Many reasons immediately prop to mind... the baby, of course, at the top of the list... a couple of video stores I was a member of disappeared leaving me with just 2 affiliations... love -- for some reason, a man in love watches less movies...

Here are my top 10 films for 2003:

01. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

“The Fellowship of the Ring” was the best movie I saw in 2002. In fact, it was one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. "The Two Towers" is just as good if not better: a skillful marriage of special effects and computer animation in scenes of sequences of breathtaking beauty. And then, of course… there’s Gollum! I’m dying to see “The Return of the King”, which is supposed to be the best of the trilogy.

02. Finding Nemo

Albert Brooks and Ellen Degeneres make dynamite chemistry… The writing is just comedic genius – who will ever forget the “mine” scene? And it adds an unexpected beauty: a use of color and form that makes it one of those rare movies where you just want to let the images wash out to the edges of your field of vision.

03. Chicago

Even if you hate musicals, I’ll guarantee you will love Chicago… and all that jazz! A magical, razzle dazzle tap dancing extravaganza that really deserved the Best Picture Oscar it won. After I finished watching this movie for the first time, the only thing I wanted to do was watch it again and again and again…

04. Bowling for Columbine

This one shocked me so much I could not sleep for days. One of the best and most painful documentaries I have ever seen… I would put it in the horror section, but that would be too sad.

05. Gangs of New York

Gangs of New York is something better than perfect: It's thrillingly alive. Martin Scorsese never lets me down.

06. The Pianist

Roman Polanski's most personal and powerful film in years. Its rigorous lack of sentimentality shocks you, but the fact that this portrait of hell is so shattering is what makes this movie great.

07. 28 Days Later…

A tough, smart, ingenious horror movie that demands a great understanding of human nature from the viewers.

08. Hable con Ella

Almodovar is one of the great directors and screenwriters of our time. The Oscar-winning script is just fascinating and the hallucination sequence is one of the most breathtaking and kinkiest scenes ever filmed.

09. Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl

This movie was a lot better than I expected… Johnny Depp has already been nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Leading Actor in a Comedy (and he will probably get it) and I wouldn’t be surprised if he snatched an Oscar nomination. Yo ho ho! A Pirate’s life’s for me!

10. The Ring

Another movie that scares the shit out of you. Granted, the original Japanese “Ringu” is scarier, but this one really holds its own. Any movie that is powerful enough to give me nightmares, should be on this list.

2003 Movies that I'm dying to see in 2004: Mystic River, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Lost in Translation, Master & Commander, Cold Mountain, Kill Bill Vol. 1, American Splendor, The Big Fish, Monster.

Durante una hora y media pude ser feliz comiendo chocolate y palomitas de maíz sintiendo que era yo el que besaba a aquella actriz.... que era feliz - Mecano (El Cine)

MY PRIZED POSSESSIONS

My most prized possesions are memories... Honestly, I have never been very attached to material possessions. However, as I contemplate moving from the house where I have been living for the past 6 years, I realized that there are a few things that are really important to me. Here they are:

10. My Dogbert doll.

Dogbert rules the world... "Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue." This doll was a gift I got from my boss and mentor in Illinois. He has been sitting on top of my monitor for almost ten years now... Without him, it just would not be the same.

09. The Shroud of Turin

I own about 25 books on the search for the historical Jesus. Among the best titles are: "Jesus Lived in India", "The Other Story of Jesus", "The secret life of Jesus", "The Lost Years of Jesus", "Jesus and the Mortal Secret of the Templars", "Jesus & The Essenes" and, of course, "The Urantia Book". However, there is one item that I really treasure... An exact replica of the Shroud of Turin, which is the center piece of one of the most controversial issues of the field.

08. Poscard Collection

I am passionate about photography... Once, I liked touristy photography... but I realized that I was never going to top the pictures used for postcards. So, I started a postcard collection. Now, everywhere I go - especially when abroad - I get a few selected postcards. I'm very proud of this collection and I love showing it to anyone who would see it.

07. Voodoo Doll

I got this at the Voodoo museum in New Orleans. It is supposed to bring me good luck, but it hasn't worked so far. Still, I think it is a very cool item.

06. Cross Pens

I got this from a Korean student in Illinois... the most expensive gift a student has ever given me... It's a beautiful set of pens... I have never used them and probably never will. The reason is simple... I don't want to lose them.

05. Master's Degree

Yeah, I know it's only a piece of paper but, hey, I worked my ass off for almost three years to get it... so it had to be here somewhere. Besides, it's a really elegant and sophisticated piece of paper. I do not usually show it around, though.

04. CD Collection

More than 500 CDs, what more can I say? The most prized?... All the Jim Steinman/Meat Loaf collection, the Progressive Rock section (featuring Jethro Tull, Rush, Emerson Lake & Palmer, and Pink Floyd), the comedy section (feautring my Weird Al Yankovick collection) and the International section (featuring many Italian CDs)

03. Pencil Collection

My favorite collection!!! I've got about 50 pencils from different places I have been on my life. Among my favorites are: A pencil with lunar rock samples I got from Johnson Space Center in Houston and my Mickey Mouse shaped pencil. What I love about this collection is that there is a story in every pencil.

02. Unicorn

This guy, I call the "Horny-corn", has been my sidekick, my trusted companion, my friend for 15 years. He lived for about 8 years on my desk at the CCCN, then he moved to my bedside table for about 6 years..,. For about 1 year now, he keeps me company as I write these blogs...

01. Gold Medal

The coolest possession I have by far... an exact replica of a gold medal from the 2002 Winter Olympic games. I got it at the Olympic Stadium in Salt Lake City just two weeks after the games officially ended!!!! Amazing!