so, i turn 39 years-old tomorrow saturday december 13th. born the year man set foot on the moon, i never imagined that i'd still be typing this shit in the year 2008. to hell with flying cars i say, i'm going to need to be transmitting thoughts directly into a compartmentalized bit of your mind soon for the last 40 years not to have been a complete waste of my time. actually, i'm awaiting my forties with reasonable excitement because i hear that the best poon is had after 40 for men of my caliber and after 12 years of faithful marriage with very little tangible reward, i believe that i am due for quality poon. anyway, due to the global financial meltdown, i decided to forgo the usual irv gotti-produced extravaganza and go see the exclusive roadshow presentation of steven soderberg's che. at the ziegfield for one week only in its full 5-hour form, the film will then be split in two films, the argentine and guerilla, for mass release.

now, this film presents a dilemma for me because gina's family is cuban and i have, ever since i got her pregnant at the prom, heard been schooled about the inside story of castro's rise to power. it was especially made clear to me, the way only first-person accounts can be, that che guevara was NOT, i repeat, was NOT IN ANY WAY the glamorized romantic revolutionary he is so often assumed to be thanks to one, well-placed beret. his merciless killing habits are in fact very well document but largely ignored by people who are not personally touched by the tragedy of communism's rage on the caribbean island. why bother indeed with such a downer when hipsters of the world can unite around a less controversial t-shirt than, say, these. the truth at the bottom of the romantic barrel is of course always crueler than the myth and this story is as barbaric as they come. gina's father, in particular, a fighter for the cause until the truth of castro's intentions revealed themselves, was imprisoned for his rebellion and later daringly escaped the island as too many local news big-haired anchors have rendered trivial. this was anything but. this was a fight for survival precipitated by a man, his thirst for power and enough people willing to blindly follow. the story of che guevara, that which i know, is tainted with blood all the way to the end with his own, when his master had him no longer under control in the forests of bolivia in 1967.

so you see how the above trailer, with its unmistakable romanced overtones and its havana premiere, could be taken the wrong way by a cuban audience, my dear wife and family being only some of them. but of course it is not everyday that a director at times serious, insane or brilliant tackles such a subject and so i have chosen it as my birth right's entertainment for cinematic value as my family-in-law watches my reaction from afar. i continue to be humbled by their tolerance of my person and will be tomorrow more than ever as i come back from the 5-hour marathon. just in time for, wait for it, FONDUE NIGHT!!!!

have a wonderful weekend!