Caray, Caray!

Dear bloggers, as I have mentioned before many times, I need you to compose your posts in plain text format. Notepad, or directly into the blogger text window. Do not format.

Do not compose in WORD or any other program which adds formatting codes. Cutting and pasting from Word ends up looking like the example below. When you format in blogger, or use any program - like Word - which inserts formatting automatically - it sometimes makes the sidebar disappear in some browsers.

So Just Use Text Files. Thank you! Blog Mom

Labels: announcements

Hello friends,

I'm behind the beat here because I've been very busy with another project and then the flu. But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! As the anvils are whistling past our ears on Por ella we are assembling a new crew for the Colunga comedy "Porque el amor manda" - Ezra and I are stepping down and Wednesday and Thursday slots are available - unless somebody has already told me they're stepping up and I have spaced it out. Please EMAIL me at caray@mappamundi.com if you're interested in joining the team which will be head up by our redoubtable Cheryl!!

Thanks to all for keeping the ball rolling.

Melinama your blog mom

ps if you are interested in my other ridiculously arcane project, related to telenovelas only by the florid melodrama contained within - see Polish Jewish Cabaret, a blog where I am posting my own (vocal) recordings of Yiddish Theater songs from cabaret and kleynkunst between the world wars in Warsaw Poland. Here are a couple silly little samples - first, a song about poor girls ending up in brothels, set to a soppy old American tune "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree"



and second, a free download (the rollicking more Jewish sounding 'Yosl Yosl') if you want to be on the mailing list for the project...

Labels: announcements, Manda, por-ella, recappers-needed

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Labels: announcements, telemundo

Please watch: You Don't Own Me

The song is Leslie Gore's hit from the 1960s. It seems very pertinent in view of the many recent comments about the male-dominated world of telenovelas.

I have been asked to keep this blog non-political, and by and large I do, but I've thought this over carefully, and - it's my blog. Agree or disagree as you choose - but just take a look, it's a lovely video.

I love all our bloggers and commenters, big and small, male and female, red and blue. I am disallowing comments on this post but you may write to me directly at jane@mappamundi.com.

Labels: announcements

Hello friends, I suppose I should mention this periodically. When delicious.com went away (or threatened to), our sidebar recap collection was switched over to a system which is internal to blogger (our blog host) so we figured it would never go away...

It works fine if you use the Internet Explorer browser or Firefox, but unfortunately CHROME BROWSER IS TOO STUPID TO USE IT. If you examine this problem of rss feeds online you will find many people wailing about "Why can't Chrome negotiate rss feeds properly like all the other browsers?" and there is no answer. Yet.

In the mean time, if you want to read old recaps, switch to IE or Firefox and then click on the recap feed in the sidebar. Sorry about this. Feel free to comment. In particular: does the recap feed work for you?

Labels: announcements

I don't know if anyone else has noticed this yet, I sure didn't know about it. I hope it's okay to post this here. This is an easy, accessible way to catch up on your telenovela viewing. Often the episodes have HD and CCs. (But not always CCs.)

I did some screenshots from two telenovelas that we've covered here. Notice the HD (click on image to see full size) and the closed captions!

Click on image to see the FULL SIZE HD version. This is from Hulu.com's "most popular episode ever" of La que no podía amar. Cap. 35, as it happens. (I guess Hulu users are Rogelianas!)

A random episode (one of the more popular ones for Hulu) of Soy tú Dueña. Fernando Colunga in HD! (Again, click on image to see full HD image.)

I signed up for Hulu Plus (because I'm a fool) and that's when you get the HD. I don't know if the CCs are dependent on having a Hulu Plus account or not. I do know that before I signed up, it looked like they only had the last week or so of episodes (I only checked LQNPA at that point). When I signed up for Hulu Plus, all of a sudden all 90 episodes (that's what they said) of LQNPA were available, all in HD, most (but not all) with CCs. I also quickly checked and all of Teresa is on Hulu, as is La Fuerza del destino, Eva Luna, Una Familia Con Suerte, Abismo de Pasion, and I forget what else. If a show is currently airing (like LQNPA) they only have the episodes that have currently aired on Univision. So you can't watch ahead. However, they did have yesterday's (Friday's) episode of LQNPA.

This is great for if you miss an episode, or if you want to check out an old series (like Soy tú dueña or whatever) and follow our recaps here. No worrying about the episodes being taken down, as I think all of these episodes are ad-supported.

I watched these on my computer, but apparently you can get them on your iPod and other devices. I think the episodes are heavily copy-protected, so you'll have a hard time getting a copy for an unsupported device.

Here is the Latino section of Hulu: http://www.hulu.com/latino?src=topnav

Will update when I find out more, and if anyone else finds out something interesting, please let us know! :D

Labels: announcements

From our sitemeter. Interesting, yes? Right now, as I type, there are visitors from the United States (claro) and also from:
Kuwait
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Moscow, Moscow City
Nairobi
Paris
Richmond Hill, Ontario
Warsaw, Warszawa

Welcome, all!

Labels: announcements

I hope it's okay to pimp this here!

I know I'm not the only one to make screencaps on Caray Caray, but just in case some of you fellow recappers are looking for a tutorial, I decided to while away some time and wrote a tutorial for us on my own blog, which you can read here. It's for both Mac and PC and I try to recommend free software when possible. I don't think this is the definitive tutorial, and I'm sure there are better ways for some of the things I show, but this is at least one way to do it.

A few screenshots from the tutorial, because you know how I love my screenshots:

Using the free video software VLC Player (for Mac and PC) to make "snapshots" from any video.

Cropping a picture in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.

Lightening a picture in the free software that comes with your Mac.

Hope this is helpful to someone! Again, the tutorial is on my own blog (it's the only post I have there at the moment!) and it's for both Mac and PC.

Labels: announcements

It's me again, Melinama's son...

Labels: announcements

Hi all,

As you know, delicous.com, which hosts the bookmarks we used to use for our voluminous back-catalog of posts on current and completed telenovelas, was bought by some new party. There has been some sort of "transition" and when this was coming, I instituted the new blog feeds (which use blogger's own in-house labels which are less likely to be "broken" than a third party's labels).

I know some of you don't like the new feeds (hint: don't use the chrome browser, use firefox or IE if possible), but that is the way of the future.

In the mean time, some of the shows have still been tagged both ways until recently when after many warnings delicious was finally "broken." It took me a few days to get it working again, and all of you bloggers who want to use the delicious site must email me for the new password.

OK, back to your regular programming.

Labels: announcements

From the New York Times

YouTube Founders Buy Delicious From Yahoo
Fans of Delicious, an online bookmarking service, raised a ruckus after word leaked four months ago that its owner, Yahoo, might shutter it as part of a streamlining plan.

To deflect criticism, Yahoo quickly reassured users that it was trying to find Delicious a new home rather than kill it.

On Wednesday, Yahoo said that it had succeeded in finding a buyer — a team led by Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, the co-founders of YouTube. Their acquisition is a surprise move for the duo, who quietly left YouTube in the years after it was bought by Google five years ago for $1.65 billion.

“We’re excited to work with this fantastic community and take Delicious to the next level,” said Mr. Hurley, who is chief executive of AVOS, a new company that will own Delicious. “We see a tremendous opportunity to simplify the way users save and share content they discover anywhere on the Web.”

John Matheny, senior vice president of communications and communities for Yahoo, said in a statement that “we spoke with numerous parties interested in acquiring the site, and chose Chad and Steve based on their passion and unique vision for Delicious.”

Yahoo did not disclose the sales price. The change in ownership is expected to take place in July.
Users will need to sign up for new accounts when the service moves to its new home. Their public and private bookmarks will be maintained during the transition and transferred to the new accounts.

Yahoo acquired Delicious in 2005 as part of a start-up shopping spree that included the photo sharing service Flickr. However, Yahoo did little with Delicious and ultimately disclosed in a presentation to employees that it would “sunset” the service, along with others considered tangential, like Upcoming, a social calendar.

The return of Mr. Hurley and Mr. Chen to the Internet world was cast in the press release as “going back to their roots.”

“They’re aggressively hiring to build a world-class team to take on the challenge of building the best information discovery service on the Web,” according to the release.

Labels: announcements

Hello my fine teams, I am sorry I've been absent. You should each have gotten an email from me this evening asking you to write me and let me know how things are going. We have 1-1/2 volunteers for Teresa - we need more. And what's happening when the other shows end? Do we have absent people who need to be replaced? Help me get things back in order. Phone home. (That is, write to me.)

Labels: announcements, recappers-needed, Teresa

Happy New Year to all you denizens of Caray Caray. May the coming fifty-four weeks be filled with rippling abs, bulging biceps, heaving bosoms, long legs, unbuttoned shirts, tight pants, short skirts, deceitful husbands, cheating wives, switched infants, comas, amnesias, cute smart kids, even cuter and smarter animals, steamy kisses, long showers, tasteful gratuitous sex and violence, bad wigs... well, you know what you like... hurry home each evening to see... then on your coffee break the following morning, feverishly consult the computer to discuss, dissect, and deride.

Soy Tu Dueña has wrapped, no new episodes of anything on Friday, so it's a good time to catch up on the goingson in India and Brazil, and let's also take a side excursion to Dubai since the most interesting couple in this TN is currently residing there. Unfortunately, there are not enough board certified recappers available for this show to be featured daily on Caray Caray, but it is, after all, almost certainly the most colorful and lavishly produced TN currently available here in the USA, so an occasional update here is not unwarranted.First let's see what the principal characters have been up to. As you recall Raj (handsome son of a wealthy Indian family) fell in love and mated with the skinny Brazilian girl, Duda (there must be an interesting story behind her parents' choice of that name) and she had high hopes of spending the rest of her life as an Indian princess... but Nooooo... Raj's old-fashioned parents had other plans for their brooding brown boy. He was roped into an arranged marriage with the pampered, gorgeous daughter of a similarly wealthy family.


Poor bastard. More about his plight later.

Duda's EPT turned blue (no rabbits were harmed in the detection of this pregnancy) and she turned even bluer when Raj announced his change of plans before she even had an opportunity to announce the joyous news. She considered, signed up, and even skipped breakfast for... an abortion. As she was donning the fashionable hospital gown, she had second and third thoughts, "Do I really want anyone to see me in this getup?" and bolted like a frightened bunny leaving the clinic with the little bun securely baking in her warm oven. Her BFF, Kiara , never a big Raj fan, was dismayed but supportive so... on to plan B.... wait till we have a bump to show off, then off to India to shake down Raj's family.

Raj married Maya in a modest week-long ceremony which I described in the Who's Watching India? He vaguely remembers Duda and their fun times together but that was then and this is now so let's make the best we can out of being married to perhaps the most beautiful girl in all of India... sacrifice for tradition. And sacrifice he did. He gritted his teeth and consummated his union with Maya... "Hey dude, that wasn't half bad! Duda who?"

In India, Duda and Kiara make their way to the fabric shop to begin negotiations with Opash who is devastated by the news that some of his Eastern genes have found their way into a Western womb and are busily doing their part in weaving a little bit of Indian silk into the fabric of Brazil. Having heard somewhere that the best defense is to be offensive he wonders aloud if his precious Raj is indeed the babydaddy... could be any one of the boys from Ipanema. Duda quickly offered DNA testing to assuage his doubt. Not understanding such things, Opash offers money... lots of it. He just doesn't want his happy family bothered by a little detail such as a bastard child. When she balks, he even offers to assume the child's paternity himself. Kiara thinks that a satisfactory deal can be reached so they return to Brazil to await a visit there from him.

The family priest, Pandit, who is adept at astrology sees an illegitimate child in the stars for the family, so Opash fesses up that he is the father of said child. His wife Indira is humiliated and vows to starve herself. After she flees to the bosom of her own family, he chases her down and admits that Raj is actually the culprit and that he is sacrificing himself to maintain harmony. She is utterly charmed and more in love with him than ever. The rest of he family is stunned but pleased by the reconciliation.

After an eye-opening trip to Brazil by Opash, further negotiations are pursued but he returns home with no final deal being struck. Duda makes a number of calls to India and even talks to Raj but does not reveal the pregnancy... yet. She also talks to Maya who is very jealous and sternly orders Duda to leave her man alone.

Maya, however, as you may recall, has a much bigger problem to deal with. She came into the marriage with luggage of her own in the form of a little bun in the oven placed there about two months too soon to pass off as Raj's. Her mother, upon learning the truth is scandalized but, like any good mom would... she hatches a plan with some rural kin whom she has aided in the past and who owe her big time.

Ladies, the best place in the world to be pregnant may well be India. While Duda busies herself with the mundaneness of day to day, Maya lounges about getting massages, soaking in a perfumed bath, snacking on sweets, having oil rubbed on her stretch marks, and watching the little girls and other women dance. If this were Raj's child, she wouldn't have a care in the world.

Apparently, with the first child a bride returns to her family around the seventh month so her mom can help with this difficult time and with the birthing. Before she leaves there's a little party in which everyone in both families takes turns adoring her, sprinkling flower petals on her belly, giving her gifts, feeding her sweets, and regaling the fetus with family lore. All in all, pregnancy's really not a bad gig in India.

But Koshi has a plan. "Don't unpack your bags," she tells Maya when they arrive home. Maya's all "¿Qué the Hell?" Joined by Harima, they pile into a cab and head for the boondocks. Good thing, 'cause Maya goes into labor upon arrival


and quickly (and rather easily) gives birth to a bouncing baby Dalit
.
Koshi takes the baby and gives him some honey (this is not a good idea, by the way) which is usually Daddy's job (again, honey is not recommended for infants). Maya holds and adores her child even as Komal and Raj, after discovering that Maya and Koshi have gone country, hurry to catch up to them.

They arrive in a tizzy, but melt on seeing the baby, even as Maya's demeanor goes dark. "That's not my son," she grimly mutters as a premature infant is passed amongst the gathered in-laws who have arrived as well. Yikes!

Raj wants to arrange for an ambulance to take the baby back to the city where there are doctors and nurses. "Not gonna happen," Koshi warns, "The kid stays here for ten days... punto." Now everyone is scowling, but Maya's scowl is the most toxic. What the heck does Koshi have up her sleeve? A double infant swap?

Meintras tanto, Duda is having her child under more familiar (to me) circumstances. Delivery room, blue drapes, bright lights, stainless steel, Dr., nurses... reminds me of my days abirthin' babies.

No swaps, no honey, no Ganges water. What to name the little critter? Maya had planned on Nihash Her friend Aida thinks that is not a good idea, too Indian. Hey, his daddy's Indian... oh, I see, that's the problem?... nevermind. Maya thinks Nihash... Enrique. Kiara thinks Enrique Nihash... ... Next!

During the past few months, Bahuan has been chasing the dollar and nursing a grudge. He set up business in the USA. He returned to India to retrieve Maya... failed. Stayed to open a restaurant (out of spite, next door to Raj's family's fabric store)... failed. Now he is in Brazil setting up a business deal with the Cadore family who are already doing business with Raj. He is insisting that Raj be in on the negotiations. He is consumed with a desire to humiliate and ruin Raj. Raj, meanwhile, is too busy being a daddy to Bahuan's son, who, for the moment anyway, has been swapped out for a more creditably premature stunt baby... Next!

Sylvia, Raul's widow is feuding with Ramiro, Raul's brother, who is trying to evict her from her home. Meanwhile Yvonne has stashed Raul in Dubai and has returned to Rio to help out her BFF, Sylvia, with her problems. She begins the aid by doing a little cleaning. She cleans all the money and Sylvia's jewelry out of the safe in Raul's study, leaving it spotless... and empty, just in time for the locksmith that Sylvia has called to open the safe (Raul died without leaving the combination for Sylvia). Oops, time for Yvonne to head back to Spain, busy, busy, busy, you know. She does tell Sylvia that it was probably the family's faithful housekeeper/cook who emptied the safe. Ondina is offended and quits, prompting Señor Cadore to leave as well, taking Ondina with him. while Ramiro helps out by cutting the power lines and water to the house.

Murilo, who has a thing for Sylvia and has already been helping her with business concerns, offers to let her stay at his place... temporarily, of course. She, who has lately been seeing him in a new light, reluctantly agrees... temporarily, of course.

Ramiro's son Tarso, who is pretty but crazy, has reached critical mass. He is hearing voices and has gone fetal. At Señor Cadore's request Dr. Castaño has been helping but Tarso's mom Melissa, a card carrying ditz has discovered and ditched the meds. His novia, Tônia, is very supportive and very much in love


but is discovering that Tarso is a long term project and very high-maintenance. There's still time to run away from this nightmare, sweetheart.

Ramiro has his problems. His feud with Sylvia is escalating. His son Tarso is deteriorating. His wife, Melissa, copes by keeping earplugs stuck in both ears. She is a real hoot, but can't come to grips with the fact that Tarso is deeply afflicted, denying that he has a problem. His dad, Señor Cadore has decided to move in with Ramiro and his family and has brought Ondina with him. More and more Ramiro is turning to his personal assistant Gaby for comfort and now realizes that he has a lustful interest in her. She shares this interest, but feels like he needs a therapist more than a mistress right now.


I'm disappointed because I thought that he is a faithful husband and that she is a loyal friend to Melissa. Oh well...

Ravi, Raj's little brother is anxiously awaiting the arrival of Camila, his computer-novia, to arrive in India with her sister and friend. He's hoping to put them up at the family manse, but that looks about as likely Osama bin Laden playing a shepherd in next year's Christmas pageant. In fact Amithab has the family priest/matchmaker looking for a suitable wife for the lad. He wants to preserve Chanti's virtue (he found her studying in a locked computer room at school with a little boy... kids these days!) by marrying her off, but because Ravi's older, he must marry first. Sorry Ravi, fair's fair.

In Dubai, Humberto is alternatively exuberant over his exciting new life and wistful over the old one with a loving wife and family. The grass is always greener... Well, it may not matter much because I don't think Humberto/Raul is destined to walk this earth for much longer. As I've said, I think that Yvonne has long-term plans for his money and sort term plans for him. While she was away helping his widow, Sylvia, he busied himself by purchasing a condo. "Good boy! Now sit! "
Meanwhile, the Motta girls, Camila, her sister Leiña, and Raul's daughter, Julia have a layover in Dubai and have decided to check out the city. Will they run into Raul... er... uh... Humberto and Yvonne as they explore? Well, the show is still young, sooo... maybe not, but you can bet they'll come close.

César, Camila's dad was arrested for non-payment of child support after his first wife filed a complaint. His current frisky wife, Ilana, enjoyed showing Opash Rio de Janeiro's points of interest while he visited, maybe just a bit too much, he was scandalized when he found out she is married, "Are baba!" César's churlish son Zeca is still a bully prompting a PSA concerning... bullying.


Must be a problem in Brazil as well. César did agree to foot the bill for the girls' Indian excursion.

I realize this is complex and confusing. There are characters I have not mentioned. If there is anything that I've omitted that you would like to add or correct or to ask about, please feel free.

Friday's episode had a live performance at the dance club of the romantic theme of Maya and Bahuan, Não Se Esqueça De Mim, by Nana Caymmi and Erasmo Carlos.


Earlier in the week Ademir (our more compliant schizophrenic) helped Dr. Castaño in his quest to win over Suelen by suggesting that he dance with another lady. He did and Suelen became jealous and broke in. They make a cute if vertically mismatched couple.

At the end of Friday's show it was announced that we are entering a nueva etapa (a new phase). If you've not been watching, this is a good time to jump in.

Carlos

Labels: announcements

Go to Congress.org representatives by zip code. Enter your zip code and instantly get the phone numbers for your senators. PLEASE call them to support the DREAM Act, which will help young Latinos who have lived their lives in this country become a more secure part of its fabric.

I am a mentor and know many young Latinos, some here since they were one year old, who want nothing more than to go to college and become teachers, nurses, firefighters... I know a smart, strong 21 year old Latino who wants to join the military and get a leg up in our society that way (if he's not killed first serving our country). Why wouldn't we want them?

You, my Caray Caray readers, are an important part of the struggle to help young Latinos avoid being marginalized. PLEASE call your Senator today.

Here's one online source of information about the DREAM Act.

Call now! Thanks.

Labels: announcements

See where the red arrow is pointing?

Labels: announcements

Hello friends, 5foot alerted me this morning to the imminent dissolution of delicious.com, which we have been using to tag our posts. (The links in the left sidebar take you to the delicious.com site.) Yahoo, who bought delicious, has now decided to shut it down.

I'm trying to find a replacement and have got "experimental" tags now under your show's usual recap link. PLEASE try them out and leave me a comment here. Does the new system work for you?

Recappers, what this means for you is: YOU MUST REMEMBER TO LABEL YOUR POST. In the gray area just under the text box where you type or paste your recaps, there is a white box that says labels. You must use our regulation label for each show or your post won't show up in the feed.

Thanks, Kat, for letting me know about this. Everybody, please try it out and give me feedback.

Labels: announcements

Hi y'all, some of you have been badgering me for info about this and it's finally out, and only $14.99 for a year of sexy pictures of William Levy to put on your wall and drool over. Head on over to my William Levy page where I've translated the calendar website and put links to purchase it. Be the first on your block to have the super-sexy William Levy on your wall!

Labels: announcements, stars

Hi, it's been a while since I asked - I'm making a collection of good songs in Spanish for weddings. Do you have a suggestion? Here's the most recent one I got (it's me singing and playing rotten piano): Cuando tu me miras así.

Please leave me canciones para bodas ideas in the comments?

Thanks!

Labels: announcements

Hello friends, blog mom here,

I'm singing today at a rally in support of Pedro Guzman, who's been detained in Lumpkin Georgia for a year now while a swirl of bureaucracy has kept him from his wife and young son. Here's more on the rally for Pedro Guzman in Raleigh NC.

Do you think our U.S. immigration policies are terrible? If so, please take just a moment to at least sign a petition to find humane alternatives to detention.

Comments on this post most welcome! Including any suggestions!

Labels: announcements

Que viva MEXICO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! VIVA!!!!!!!!
Viva Mexico!!!! VIVA!!!!
Viva Mexico!!!! VIVA!!!!

Felicidades por su Bicentennial!!!!!! VIVA!!!

Tambien felicidades a todos que cumplan su anniversario hoy!!

Viva!!!

Labels: announcements