Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 13 - Life goes on... online!

So nothing for days 11 & 12 simply because I was angry and in a foul mood on Tuesday, and yesterday just so, so tired...

Much better today! I guess we're all going to have our ups and downs while being locked up, more than normal. To be expected.

I wanted something cheerful today... to celebrate that tomorrow's Friday so it's almost the weekend! Need to find ways to mark the different days of the week other than work yes/no. So I'm planning a "movie night" with the friends I usually go to the cinema with. If it works out I'll report back.

We've all be finding ways to do things with other people online. The simplest is work related. I'm spending the mornings all this week (and half of next) in lengthy Skype meetings with my colleagues in Vietnam to see what the situation is like in their universities, and to talk about how our project is going and how we can continue moving forward (within the Covid19 limitations).

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 10 - A shopping spree

Freeedoooom!!!

Well, not quite. Walked about 3' to the trash containers to deposit my paper/cardboard, glass and reclyclables. Then walked around the block to the pharmacy, 5' tops, to pick up FOUR pair of disposable gloves (I put in an order last week, but since stocks are almost non-existent and the big numbers reserved for health care professionals and people working with the public - as they should be - they're only handing out a few pair at a time to individuals, at €0.50/pair), then another 1' to the grocery store, spent maybe half an hour in there, and then 5' walk home. So less than an hour out of the apartment, but still felt good to stretch my legs! Wind and rain be damned! 😜 (we've had foul weather since Saturday afternoon)

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 9 - Let's extend this shall we?

So President Sánchez announced today that he's going to ask Congress to extend the State of Alarm an additional two weeks, until April 11th.

No surprise there. And I wouldn't be surprised if it was later extended one or two weeks past that! One of the reasons he mentioned for the two week time frame, is to make sure the country is still locked down for Holy Week, one of the key holiday weeks in Spain with millions of people on the road to holiday homes, hotels, grandparents' etc. The last thing they want is to have paralyzed the country for several weeks, let people out and then have a new spike in infections and have it all been for nothing. And by Easter there will still be contagious people. And sadly enough people have proven they can't even follow the rules when it's the law and they're at risk of paying a hefty fine, so there's no reason to believe they would follow simple "recommendations" to stay home, especially after having been locked up for so long. 😔 One of the reasons I think it might go on past the announced extra two weeks (at least one more) is that about a third of the country (including us in Alicante and the rest of the Valencian Community) has its Easter break the week after Easter Sunday... so the same reasoning applies. 

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 8 - seriously people?!

Yesterday I talked about the mostly empty streets... today I want to rant about that "mostly".

Seriously people! How hard is it to STAY HOME!!! 😡

The police officer I talked to yesterday mentioned stopping and fining people out in the streets on Thursday with bogus excuses (bogus because all the grocery stores, pharmacies etc were closed because of the holiday). I keep seeing people sharing on Facebook articles from our local paper, or national newspapers, about the police in Alicante and elsewhere having to hand out fines for people disobeying the quarantine and not following the instructions of the State of Alarm. In Alicante alone the local police in one week have handed out over 100 fines to people and vehicles. Police yesterday also broke up 3 different house parties and in Barcelona the police apparently had to interrupt an orgy! In Madrid the local government has decided to take a page out of France's playbook and ask people for an sworn written justification of where they live, where they're going and why. The idea is to check the information later when they have time, because the police have been stopping so many people they don't have time to check people's data in the moment and decide whether a fin is required or not.

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 7 - empty streets?

Hard to believe it's been a week already. We seem to have lost all sense of time. There's before. And there's after. How long? No idea... I was talking to a colleague this evening, asking about her 2 week vacation in Mexico. She landed back in Spain just as all this craziness was starting. She said she could barely remember her trip, seemed like another life.

Although most people are starting to take the "not going out" more seriously, many others are still looking for ways to game the system. The police were more flexible last weekend and earlier in the week (another day I'll write about the dinosaur incident), but as of a few days ago they're starting to crack down on rule breakers, by for example asking "shoppers" to show the receipt for their purchases, or asking dog walkers for their ID and legal residence to check they aren't more than 2km away from their homes.

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 6 - not celebrating

A year ago today we were having a great lunch at the beach, happy a successful surgery was behind us, and hopeful about the radiotherapy and chemotherapy sessions that were about to start. We were celebrating Father's Day (March 19th in Spain, coinciding with the Feast of Saint Joseph). I took my dad to the movies (Stan & Ollie) like I always did for Father's Day if I was home...

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 5 - still clapping

We're slowly developing new routines (well some of us... I haven't figured that part of the quarantine yet). Get up. Work (if you can). Plan /cook /eat meals. Some R&R. Some kind of physical activity. Maybe go out if you need something from the pharmacy, or the grocery store, or to take out the trash, or to take the dog for a short walk (just you alone, not other family members, no meeting up with other dog walkers). And at 8pm go out to the window or balcony and make some noise. 🔊

The evening applauses are still going on. No longer any need for chains of WhatsApp messages telling people, it's now part of the daily routine. It's just there are mixed sounds going out! There have been several message chains over the days, but none as clear or followed as the first (go out and clap for our health services and staff). There have been suggestions to go out and bang on pots and pans to thank the people who are working every day in the supermarkets. Or clap for the truckers who are keeping the supermarkets stocked. Suggestions to turn off the lights and use your cell phone's flash light as a way to commemorate the victims of the coronavirus (I noticed those for the first time last night)... So in the end it's a little bit of everything. And that's all right. It's just about coming together while staying separate.

#stayhome #quedateencasa #yomequedoencasa #restecheztoi

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 4 - Trashy St Paddy's

I wish I could say I woke up this morning, threw on some green, put some Irish music on and decided to party buuuut... well it's a work day! I know, lame excuse, right? 🙈 But at least I did make an effort with the green, and put out a goofy photo to try and cheer people up! And caught Bono's new song dedicated to the Italians on their balconies...

Funny thing is, today I was actually more excited about the TRASH!!! No, it's not weird! Not when it's one of the few "legitimate" reasons for one to be out walking in the street during this lockdown and state of alarm. 😉

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 3 - "back" to work

3rd day... let's see how long I can keep this up, shall we? 😉

First day working from home. Set up the home office (take over half the dining room table), start making a list of all the work pending from the various projects and priorities. Contact partners in other countries and see what the situation is over there. Compare notes (and exchange photos of working conditions) with colleagues and with other friends who are working from home. Commiserate or be jealous of the few friends who still "have to" or "get to" physically go in to work. Continue with coronavirus-related memes on WhatsApp, but at a much lower rate than over the weekend - you can tell we're all at least trying to work. 😜

Happy I brought the big screen and keyboard from the office and not stuck working on a 13'' laptop for 2+ weeks!

Not setting a foot outdoors. Haven't followed any of the "shut in" recommendations to set up some kind of daily routine (getting up, meals, work, physical activity of some kind, housework, R&R), must put that on my "to do list". Maybe. I'm not very good establishing routines...

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 2

2nd day, first full day "locked in". 

I've lost count of the number of times I had to plug my phone in to recharge!!! WhatsApp is on fire. Memes and messages being passed around back and forth. The really good ones you end up seeing half a dozen times in various groups. People commenting that they're already starting to have cabin fever. Parents wondering how they're going to survive 2 weeks (ha! good luck, will definitely be longer) locked in with their kids. Parents sharing tips on just how to do that... Websites with educational or cultural resources. Ideas for games indoors at home (most Spaniards live in apartments, and we're all extremely jealous right now of anyone who has a garden, Or a dog. My kingdom for a dog!!!).

For me? Well I decided to just pretend that it was a "lazy day Sunday" and do NOTHING. I mean really. Zero productivity. One of those Sundays that it feels really good to have once in a blue moon. Get up when I feel like it (11am). Spend the day in PJs. Have a big breakfast. Eat lunch/dinner when the stomach rumbles. Catch up on a show. On some reading. Watch a movie. Talk with my mom, my sisters. Gossip with friends.

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 1 - and so it begins

So... it's here. The bloody virus that's had the world on edge since January has finally beaten Spain down, and forced our government to declare a "State of Alert" for the next 2 weeks... for now.

We had the situation under control. Or at least we thought we did (like most countries). 😔 The first case was a German tourist in the Canary Islands (who brought it with him) on January 31st. No cases among the people who were repatriated from Wuhan itself. The third case was another import to the Canaries, an Italian tourist, resulting in the quarantine of 1000 people in a hospital in Tenerife for 12 days from February 24th. The next day the first cases on the Peninsula, one each in Madrid, Barcelona, Castellón (just north of Valencia).  February 26th was the first "local" case in Seville, as in someone who got infected here in Spain. Then we find out that we'd already had a coronavirus death but just didn't know it! Autopsy of someone who did from "unknown" pneumonia on February 13th in Valencia... March 7th we learn that 60 people in the Basque Country caught the virus at a funeral...

A year ago today

A month ago I was looking forward to the start of a new year because it meant I could - symbolically at least - start over fresh and hope for a better year than 2019. And it's a very low bar to be better than 2019. Only requirement is my family has to stay alive.

So 2020 should be better (I hope!), but as I'm discovering it's still going to be very painful. Because it's going to be pretty much a whole year of "A year ago today..."

A year ago today my dad had brain surgery. And came out of it unscathed, and with his sense of humor intact - he spent the following weeks talking about the hole in his head and showing off his Frankstein-look with a scary long line of staples along the side of his head!

A year ago on January 9th my dad went in for a brain scan (MRI) at a private clinic (looking into the cause of some symptoms that appeared the previous summer and got progressively worse over the fall), and the next day at doctor friend at that clinic called him and said "go straight to your the ER at your local hospital and have them admit you and get you to see a neurologist". The scan showed something in the brain that shouldn't be there, and the radiologist's expert opinion was tumor. But more studies would be needed to confirm what type exactly (although it was apparently quite clear).

A year ago on January 11th my dad was admitted to hospital and spent several weeks having tests done while neurologists, neurosurgeons and oncologists put together an attack plan. For starters relatively positive: it was in an easy place to access, minor risks for secondary effects, there was a chance it was benign...

A year ago tomorrow (or some day next week, the exact moment the initial suspicion was confirmed is lost in the fog of my mind) the neurosurgeon told us the tumor's name: glioblastoma multiforme, grade 4. Supposedly about as bad as it gets. Composed of various cell types that don't all respond to chemo in the same way. Super-fast growth. Spreads to other parts of the brain no problem... Average survival rate (or until a 2nd tumor appears, which is not always possible to remove through surgery): 2 years if it responds well to chemo/radiotherapy (with the occasional 5 year miracle case). If it doesn't? Less.

9 months later. It was over. The bastard was resistant to the chemo & radio, a scan in July showed new growth in the incision site and two new tumors in the other side of the brain. A strange crisis / tremor / spasm (to this date we still don't know how to describe it) had him back in hospital on July 29th. Home a few days later but unable to walk much without support because apparently one of the new tumors was affecting the right side of his body (hand, leg) and he needed a walker. Then a wheelchair, then no more leaving the house, then no more leaving the bed... And then

On October 23rd we'll be saying a year ago today he left us. On October 24th we said goodbye.

Will our hearts still be broken in October 2020? Oh god I hope not! But it's been 3 months and I feel worse instead of even marginally better.

Maybe one day I'll share about how wonderful everyone was last year. How much love was in our life, pouring in from around the world. But not today. Today I'm just pissed. Because a year ago today I had hope. And a year ago tomorrow I didn't.

CANCER SUCKS

Movie Magic - Celebrating the marvelous achievement that is the MCU (part 2)

Continuing the exploration of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (or MCU), we move into Phases 2 and 3 (so once again my "part 2" does not coincide with the MCU Phase 2). 

Whereas we could have considered the Phase 1 (+ Captain Marvel) movies the warp of the tapestry that is MCU, with its series of origin stories for the principle heroes - and their first coming together to form the Avengers - as the foundation of the MCU, the movies in Phases 2 & 3 should be considered the weft, filling in the story further, adding colour & texture (sometimes through further developing familiar character and places, others by introducing new ones), making the overall design more apparent, while of course each movie is still telling its own story. Each film is designed as its own thing, but woven into it are the threads that connect back to the larger cinematic universe.

With regards to the order of viewing, and wanting to keep it in chronological order within the MCU (as opposed to release date), it was a bit difficult to figure out which events took place before which others. Doing a bit of online research (a.k.a. Googling), I came upon a proposed order by AMC Theatres that makes a lot of sense to me, both in terms of organizing them chronologically and thematically. They propose going straight into the second Thor movie after the Avengers, as it directly takes up Thor and Loki's storylines. Then continuing with the two Guardians of the Galaxy films (the second is set mere months after the first), to continue with the cosmic side of the MCU, before coming back to Earth to look into the consequences of Avengers for the Earth-bound characters, leading into their next team-up.

So that means for part 2 I'm going with: Thor: The Dark World (2013), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), Iron Man 3 (2013), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014); Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). This order brings a Phase 3 movie into the grouping (GotGvol.2), and pushes a Phase 2 movie (Ant Man) into Part 3. Although, to be honest, Ant Man should have always been considered a Phase 3 movie since it was released (and takes place) after Age of Ultron. Just saying... 😉 (that or you could consider it a coda to Phase 2, setting up a new plane - the quantum realm - for Phase 3)

Of course, SPOILERS BELOW!

Movie Magic - Celebrating the marvelous achievement that is the MCU (part 1)

Whether you're a fan or not... I don't think one can help to be impressed by what Marvel Studios has achieved in the past decade with the MCU. They have interwoven 22 mostly distinct films (some more, some less - or so it appeared at first - connected to the rest) into a vast tapestry that really is a cinematic universe! Each movie has its story to tell, and while for some of them it would be highly recommended you see other related ones (in particular the sequels), they can all be enjoyed independently of the other. Of course the experience is much enriched by having seen all of them and keeping track of the threads that weave in and out and tie so many of them together.

Tony Stark, the epitome of "cool"

Marvel put together this universe with a collection of characters from its wide roster of superheroes and villains, some who were already well-known to the general public (Hulk!), others were more familiar only to comic book fans (Iron Man). They took these characters and the traits that made them who they are, but often tweaked their origin stories or current ones in order to better meld them into an over-arching coherent cinematic universe and bring the stories into the 21st century. They even started enriching this cinematic universe with TV outings (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, the Netflix shows Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist - culminating in the team-up Defenders, and the Punisher etc.), but between 2 separate branches of the studio responsible for movies vs TV, and the differences between the chronology to put together a TV show and a movie, there's almost no connection or references between the TV/movie outings. The movies definitely don't reference the TV shows (although we'd love to see some of our favorite TV characters get at least a cameo!), and the TV shows only reference the movies obliquely (e.g. calling the Avengers-set "Battle of New York" as "the incident"), except for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. which in its first season does bring in a few elements of Captain America Civil War and Thor 2, and in its fifth season has side references to what's happening in New York and Wakanda... In any case, for the present I'm centering on the movies.

Of course with a collection this vast, with a diversity of characters/actors (although to be fair not enough gender or racial diversity - it took them 10 years to have a film with women either as the main lead or directing) and different voices of scriptwriters and directors, playing with different genres, well quality varies somewhat from one to another, as well as people's tastes. For me the highlight of the MCU, what keeps me coming back, are the characters (ok, the awesome spectacle on the big screen as well). Even in the movies that aren't that great, there's always some saving grace thanks to the lead characters and many of the supporting ones! Iron Man 2 and Thor 1&2 are generally agreed to be duds, but Tony Stark, Thor and Loki still shine in them! The exception might be The Incredible Hulk, none of the characters seemed to be allowed to meaningfully grow or let the viewer connect with them...

So, let's dive in, shall we? I started out planning on doing one overall post, but as I've been writing it I realize with 21 movies it's much too long! So dividing it in 3 parts - and NO the "parts" do not 100% coincide with the MCU "Phases" because I've decided to re-watch these chronologically according to the in-universe timeline, not order of release, so Captain Marvel is shifted to the top of the list. Oh! And as I said, I won't review/re-watch the TV shows (not enough time!), but I will include a mention of when they would be set...

The Phase 1 movies were mostly everyone's origin story, and getting them where they need to be to team up in later - so Captain Marvel is a perfect fit!

So for Part 1 we revisit: Captain America (2011) - becoming a super-soldier but retaining that sense and ability to do what's right, Captain Marvel (2019) - discovering who she truly is, and claiming her power through that self-knowledge, Iron Man (2008) & Iron Man 2 (2010) an egotistical billionaire learns he can't go it alone and his actions have consequences, The Incredible Hulk (2008) - not sure really, since so much was ignored later, I guess acceptance of the beast inside, and a beginning of control, Thor (2011), and then of course The Avengers (2012).

Needless to say, SPOILERS BELOW!

Movie Madness: the intensity of BlacKkKlansman and Bohemian Rhapsody

Oh wow! I mean... WOW!!!

I just got back from seeing the Queen biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody and man... they weren't kidding when they said "we will rock you"! I'm not sure there are words to describe the intensity of that film... of the music of Queen and their creation process. And those final 15' at Live Aid? DAMN!!!

The film's reviews might be kind of "meh" or "it's pretty tame, they took the 'safe' route in telling Freddie Mercury's story". IGNORE IT! Doesn't matter! Could there have been a more in-depth look at the band's hard partying life? At the choices Freddie makes? Sure, of course. But ultimately the music is what matters. And they are pretty damn insane! Their creative process is unbelievable. And their musical style, abilities for interpreting it, vocal range... you name it, they've got it! 

So go watch it, and I dare you to walk out at the end and not want to walk right back in to another screening... (I might go back on Sunday!) Oh, and someone give Rami Malek the Oscar for best actor right now and be done with it. 

And the thing is... that's not the only awesome movie I've seen this week. Yesterday my dad and I (he also came tonight) went to see Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman and we were equally (but differently) blown away by it! 

I remember going in thinking "ok, how is a black cop going to infiltrate the Klan?!" and came out going "with the help of a Jewish cop?!?!?" The story is so surreal, it could only be believable when you remember it's TRUE!!! Pretty insane! The whole film keeps the tension so tight you could cut it with a butter knife before the end, and yet at the same time it has some absolutely hilarious moments! We couldn't help cracking up laughing time and again (starting with that absurd phone call to the KKK's recruitment number that's shown in the trailer). I'm not surprised this took the Grand Prix du Public at Cannes last Spring!

After a couple of months of movie-drought, I've been blown away several times this past month (these, A Star is Born...). If the awards season is starting out this strong, I can't wait to see what comes next! And am happy I don't have to vote to choose a "best" from among them. 😜