Caray, Caray!

So heartaches and DisemPowerMllk Drinks make for a romping wedding night but not for the novios, or at least not both of them. Errika's big drunken idea is to have her poor smashed little face seem like it could attract a hunk like Franco. Lucio wants to desecrate Soledad's dear little cottage and begin to live his dream of being the kept man who lives high on the hill because he has such juicy secrets to guard for the Barbinator. Fernanda puts two and two together and comes up not with the two betraying her in the bed but the one betraying her with flowers. And, cuidado Aurora, that act of voyeurism is going to put you in danger and let's hope Liliana is getting mostly pills she can spit out and not shocks or needles or drips.

But tonight we hear:

* BOW barking on the phone, demands that Dr. Matamentos get from Liliana exactly what the devil she said to her sister. She sees the light under the office door and knows that the turtle doves aren't billing or cooing.. Eduardo has to consider doing what Erika asks and breaking his pledge from years ago. Fernanda cries, what is going to illuminate these sad days.

The damage is done. I tried to ruin your wedding and though I didn't achieve it, I did earn your hatred.

Nana was like the water flowing through her hands he only mother . . She cries that you will always live in my heart and I will never forget you. Soledad steps toward her in aura light left over from the wardrobe of La Rosa De Guadalupe. She will assure her eternal rest in a really really nice grave.

Where is your love? snarks Barbara, He returns, she is in the chapel praying a rosary for Soledad's eternal rest. I had to support your step daughter. And I have to work while missing the nice wedding night where I was planning to take possession of my bride. But what's this I see as the robe slips off, Barbinorgasma plans to help him enjoy a great wedding night after all. Where is your husband, sleeping sweet dreams after his disempower milk. [Boy she does smile beautifully at CERTAIN times.] Ohh, ohh, Aurora is up and wandering, decides to go for a little walk.

Liliana is walking too. she wakes up Ciro, sleeping over his chess board. Wake up, wake up (despierta) , what's happening . I dreamed that (Eduardo) is crying because Nanda married another. Ciro asks, When is the wedding? I don't know but, I remember her telling me that she was going to marry. She can't marry him, she is still in love with Eduardo. What can I do to help you? asks kindly Ciro.

Out wandering among the wilting wedding flowers, Aurora thinks, inside the writhing, panting nearly naked couple are not needing to think much. Aurora continues to walk near a row of the windows and sees the hot action, against blue stained glass, [duck, Aurora. BOW has eyes in the back of her head. . and makes love with her eyes wide open.]

In the horse barn with his wheelbarrow of fresh greens, Jacinto, says good day to Tomasa who says that Camlo woke up in a foul temper (se levante de un genio) and is looking for you.

Back on cottage row, Gardenia continues to nag at Margarita that she swallows his lies easily, insinuating that she is getting lovey instead of standing on principle and continuing to torment her husband. (Me thinks pretty Gardenia needs some of what BOW got last night to cool her jets.)

Camilho screams at Jacinto waving the little piece of leather with tacks which has magically reappeared inspite of his unconscious departure from the wedding. What is the meaning of this tack strip. This was your fault that the mare rearedup (botó) on my girlfriend. He rants several lines includng, your scars are going to be worse than ever. You are in charge of all the horses. But just as he moves forward to whip Jacinto, Nanda comes down the stairs in virgin black and stops her enraged brother. Jacinto's quivering is palpable.

* Erika emerges from her beauty sleep and manages to smile at Eduardo, good day, When you are ready, I will drive you to your house. Have you thought about what I asked last night, she wonders. He hands out ice water this morning.

Nanda reminds Camilho that problems are not resolved with blows. Camilho is disappointed with this news which he really did not know, and Nanda is further distressed that he showed up with a new girlie and destroyed Erika making yet another scene at her disaster of a wedding. Who cares, he sneers. You got your big fat power husband didn't you? Nanda springs back with, I don't need the big hubby to know you are a miserable lout (patán)

Dr.Matamente (Dr. Gay to some of his fans) approaches Liliana about her medications and says Barbara ordered that she be controled more but if she cooperates, perhaps they can be friends.

The sweet couple (meaning Dam and Nan) kiss goodbye demurely while Anibal huffs and puffs that they have to get to the airport like now.. She will miss him she says without much conviction. This is an outrage to send him off to New York instead of off to their honeymoon.

Dr. Mata promises Lili he can ignore the orders of BOW and she could make more trips to the garden and lifting of some of the restrictions if Lili will just agree to be his friend (I keep misspelling this fiend, is that a Freudian slip) She wants to know about the pills, he promises today she won't have to take any. if she will confide in him and tell him ALL like friends do. Do you promise Lily do you promise.I will leave you to think about this.

This depends on the future of Grupo Lactos says the always ruffled and ever shriller Anibal. Nanda thinks they can't be that close to bankruptcy (quiebra), One can almost hear Anibal's thoughts, If only you knew.

Erika and Eduardo discuss the crime that CamHo Elizalde committed and how many years has she accepted this engagement (noviazgo). Erika wants to know when he will answer her question. With this much spirit to push, it's a wonder she is such a punching bag for Cami. Let's go to your house. Seatbelt (cinturon) he says gently, just to show he can make anything sound sexy...

Anibal needs to rehearse the roll of convincing the gringos to invest in Lactos. Nanda thinks they could talk about other things at least on the way to the airport and infact she will drive her new husband if they can't even have a honeymoon they can spend as much time together as possible. Anibal wants to talk strategy. Damian insists with a swagger that PM must be impressed with his abilities if they insist he comes to NY. Further aggravating Anibal and especially Damian, Nanda insists that Jacinto come with her and the dweeb and the yellow SUV. Anibal has to get into his car alone.

Aurora puts a necklace back on the dresser and prepares to leave. Cheerful Santi, says I came to look for you do you want breakfast. She has to go, she says sadly looking back at the pretty things. He is looking for the magic words that will make her stay and have breakfast so she won't have an empty stomach. Finally she agrees that she won't go until after breakfast. She has left the lovely party dress and all. Santi is sad that she is all packed.

Aurora next sees BOW kissing again but this is only the old Gonzo kisser upon which she superimposes her memory of the hotter scene from last night.

* Aurora looks dimly and Barbara tells them to come in. How did you pass the night. Aurora says it's better if I go now. But Papa says please join us for breakfast. Santi kisses papa. the Maids carry in coffee and toast.

Ciro what are you doing, asks Lili. The instructions he says, I am looking for the instructions for the game. where are they? He places money on the table but leaves the rest in the back of the chess board and says last night you asked me to help you. Let us play chess for a while and I will look in your room, don't leave until I come back for you.

The breakfast is nerves on toast and BOW pretends that she is so pleased to see Santi whom they don't see often and therefore his friend. Santi doesn't look convinced, Papa has to go to work, but invites Aurora to feel like she is in her house. BOW moves in Where do you come from? Santi offers, She is from Michoacan but we met in Guadalajara? Then for some time we have lived in Jalisco. So senora where are you from? Aurora finds her own spunk. Santi reflects that they have never known where she came from. Aurora asks again, and again Barbara evades with I came from a small town in the north. Aurora continues, but what is the name of it? Barbara smiles her Cheshire cat smile, perhaps Santiago can take you there before you leave, he is a good tourist. .

Erika says okay now we are at my house. The time to think has ended. Sr. Santoro, I am grateful that you rescued me and sorry I asked something so crazy. I understand that you wouldn't want to do what I ask. No I want to but I am trying to understand. She spins her argument to look great, The only thing she did wrong was to be in love with a miserable.creep . You want to pretend (fingir) at the hacienda that we are dating and together. He agrees that she needs some way to not feel humiliated. I don't think the good Erika realizes just how ugly this beaten face looks, but after all it seems to move Eduardo to think he should risk his business stance and help her.

*Eduardo says what you are proposing to me seems crazy (descabellado) but it's a deal. In return I need to ask a favor that you help me find a really fine horse. That's all she asks hoping he needs other help. NO, I understand that your family raises horses so you should know where I can rent a good horse.

At the airport Nanda returns to the car and Jacinto helps her in. I want to talk to you alone so you will tell me the truth. Why haven't you told me that Eduardo is here. Jacinto swallows loudly.

Eduardo is talking to Steve on his car phone (correctly hands free) Damian will be in New York in some hours, the plane should have taken off (despagar) by now. Communicate with me after the meeting. I am sure he is coming with Fernanda .

Nanda keeps on about what friends Jacinto and Eduardo were and what have they heard of Ed and when he says nothing she continues, and you or Margarita have talked with him, NO? You are hiding something. They hid for whatever motives that Soledad had died. Jacinto holds his own denying the contact. She plans to have Soledad moved to the famly crypt when Eduardo shows up so they can have a proper service.

Ciro gives money to Alfonsina saying all things are possible, and this is just for her grandchildren and the presents they might need. He only wants to get permission for Lili to talk on the phone Nurse Alfonsina says, who does she want to call? He says calmly, her sister, She seems to enjoy foiling Dr. MataMente so says, in 5 minutes the guard changes wait for me in your room.

Jacinto is grasping for words, understand that the death of Soledad was.... well it was her wish to .... I'm having trouble (Me cuesta trabajo) believing that Eduardo is here and he hasn't communicated with you I want to know because that I want to move Soledad to the mausoleum of my family. Jacinto shrugs This is what my father promised her years ago.

Franco talks to Steve . that his when his Mother died, she told him she had left a secret he needs to find out. He flashes back to her death bed saying the secret is with Liliana at the asylum.

*Gotta love the PSA's tonight where men pledge not to beat their women, anymore. Camilho, we are talking about people like you.

At the elegant asylum with fountains. Lili keeps repeating dont' marry with Damian. about 10 times. The nurse says Ciro everything is ready (está listo, remember that ser listo = be smart) . There isn' t much time Adolfina. Let's look for Liliana but as she leaves the room Dr. Mata finds her and says where are you going? Adolfina says meekly, to check (reviso) Lili's room. He waves his flowers, and says, I will do that. Once in her room he cajoles, these are for you, friends bring presents and we are friends. she takes the flowers but he immediately ask her to remember the visit from her sister and just what did your sister tell you?? Lili looks worried and says the flowers want water. He will bring her all the water she wants if she answers his question. You are trying my patience. Adolfino bursts into the room. Dr. M snaps what are you doing? She pretends some patient's family is looking for him and he hands the flowers to her. Adolfina says come with me, Lili to my office don't you want to talk to your sister.

It was you, right? says BOW to Cigarman. [Does she mean the flowers, she really isn't sure yet.]

The car comes into gas station fill it (llena) she says . Then I will take you to your house so you can give me the number to call Eduardo

And who should appear but Ed right behind her pulling up his car miraculously right behind Fernanda. I will attend to you in a minute young man. Ed does the obvious walks up to her window and says buenos dias. What a smile.

Lili on phone who's is on the phone, Tomoasa the made answers, Lili timidly gets out that she wants to talk to Fernanda.

Fernanda calls from Jacinto's while Eduardo uses a hanky to disguise his voice. They make plans to see him but what is he really going to do.....

Next chapter is FRIDAY, you have tomorrow night off for the Premios awards.

Labels: manana

DB is ecstatic that Santos has come to her. She says that she has dreamed of this day and always knew that he would come back to her side. Santos says that the didn't come for her. He has come because of their baby, to see if she ok or needs anything. DB won't believe this. She tells Santos not to deceive himself - he came because he loves her, because he misses her, because he needs her. "Barbara," says Santos, "I don't need you anymore nor do I love you but that doesn't mean that I don't care about my child." He gives her the book from his mother as his first gift to his child. DB continues to talk about her love for Santos and her certainty that he loves her in return. Santos says that he didn't come to talk about love and if she continues, he'll leave. She begs him not to leave. At that moment, Melquíades appears and asks if DB needs anything. DB actually seem to be annoyed at his intrusion.

Gonzalo tells Marisela not to let this opportunity for happiness escape. He needs a woman by his side, a woman like Marisela. He tells Marisela that he fell in love with her the first day that he met her and has thought about her every day since and now he has found her again and she agreed to work with him again. Marisela says that if having her nearby affects him so much, maybe she should leave. Gonzalo says no. If she leaves, Santos will follow her and harass her. Gonzalo recommends that she say here and think about what he has said.

DB asks Melquíades wants he wants and he asks if she needs anything. DB sends him to sit with Eustaquia. DB tells Santos that Eustaquia is very ill and soon DB will be alone with her soul lost in the llanos and without anyone to help her give birth. Santos says that he will be there for her. His child will not lack for anything. DB asks if he promises to do this for love and Santos replies that he is doing it for their child. Santos tells DB that he came to tell her that she can count on him for everything to do with child and that is all. Now that he has said it, he will leave and he does. DB tells herself that he will return.

On the way out, Santos runs into Melquíades who wants to have a few words with him.

Genoveva and Marisela discuss her options. Being with Gonzalo keeps Santos away and if she leaves, he will follow and harass her again. Marisela says that she doesn't care about Gonzalo but she will stay and see what happens. Maybe she will realize that her destiny is to be with Gonzalo.

Melquíades tells Santos that there was no need for him to come and tell DB that he would take of her. Melquíades tells Santos that he should know that DB isn't alone. She has him. He has always been faithful to her. He says that he will take care of DB and be with her until he dies. Santos asks if Melquíades is in love with DB and Melquíades replies that is his business. Santos says that he doesn't care about Melquíades' personal life or DB's but no one is going to prevent him from coming to see how DB's pregnancy is coming along. Santos leaves. Melquíades says to himself, "You are alive thanks to her, doctor."

Carmelito tells Pajarote that Genoveva has left for San Fernando with Marisela. Carmelito says that no one knows why she left but she was very angry.

Marisela shows Genoveva how to use a computer. Gonzalo comes in and orders that Marisela go to lunch with him.

The doctor tells Lucía that if she wants to have her child, she can't leave her hospital bed. Antonio says that he will make sure she follow the doctor's orders.

Eustaquia asks DB why her cheeks are so rosy and DB tells her that Santos came into her room the previous night. She puts a little better spin on what Santos said than the truth. She shows Eustaquia the book Santos gave her and says that she is sure that Santos enthusiasm for their baby will bring him back to her.

Nestor compliments Andrés on his newspaper and suggests that they link their work ('trabajamos en mancuerna,' a mancuerna is a cufflink or a dumbell). Nestor will tell Andrés what is going on in San Fernando and vice versa. (I guess they'll have to send telegrams to each other or get together personally since no one in Progresso appears to have a phone, much less email.) Nestor points out Sapo to Andrés and says that he is a millionaire who just moved to town and no one knows where his money comes from. Then they see Gonzalo and Marisela arrive.

Sapo is annoyed that Gonzalo brought Marisela with them. He pulls out a wad of cash and tells her to go buy expensive trinkets (chucherías) that women like as if she were a prostitute.
Marisela is furious, throws the money back at him and tells Sapo off. Gonzalo does not defend her. She walks out. Andrés and Nestor are interested in why Gonzalo is meeting Sapo.

Sapo tells Gonzalo that he shouldn't have brought such a rude girl with him. Gonzalo replies that Marisela is his future wife and Sapo should treat her with more respect. Sapo mentions that Gonzalo is getting Marisela on the rebound from Santos Luzardo. Gonzalo tells Sapo that Santos is interested in Sapo and before their friendship ended, Santos asked Gonzalo to get information on Sapo. Sapo says that Santos is a little dangerous and maybe Sapo should get rid of him once and for all. Gonzalos asks why. What has Santos done to Sapo?

María Nieves comes to Santos for help with the housing problem that is preventing him from marrying Altagracia. They count up all the people living at Melesio's house and Santos says that at the rate the terneras are reproducing, there is an overpopulation (superpoblada) there and something had better be done quickly.

Sapo says that Santos has not done anything to him but he doesn't like anyone invading his private life. He tells Gonzalo that, "he who isn't my friend, is my enemy." But Sapo tells Gonzalo that they have gotten together to discuss business, not enemies. Gonzalo asks what Sapo is proposing in detail. Gonzalo tells Sapo that he knows that he is being fattened up (cebando) to be tempted. He tells Sapo that he is all ears. Sapo says that he wants to finance Gonzalo's political campaign in return for a big favor. As Gonzalo and Sapo lean closer together to talk, Nestor takes photo of them.

Nestor tells Andrés that an image is worth a 1000 words and if his intiution is right, he has a bombshell (notición). Nestor tells Andrés that his intuition tells him that the relationship between Gonzalo and Sapo stinks. He smells something fishy going on ('me huele a gato encerrado,' literally, 'a locked-up cat'). Andrés asks what Nestor is going to do the photographs. "Stir up a hornet's nest ('alborotar el avispero')" replies Nestor, "This town is too quiet. If the news doesn't come out by itself, it's our job as journalists to produce it."

Gonzalo tells Marisela that she was very rude to Sapo. When she replies that the offered her money like she was a prostitute, he says that she misinterpreted the gesture. Marisela says that Sapo looked like a mafia guy with all his rings and jewelry. Gonzalo replies that bad taste doesn't indicate character. "Are you blind or what?" Marisela asks him, "That guy is bad, Gonzalo. I don't like the way he looks at me, how he smells or how he looks. He has the smile of an old sadist. I don't like this gentlemen, as you call him, at all." Gonzalo tells her not to judge by appearences. Returning to work, Gonzalo gives Marisela some payment orders for Antonio to sign and Marisela offers to take them to him at the hospital. Antonio signs the orders and when Marisela and Genoveva have left, Lucía tells Antonio that she is surprised that Antonio would sign them without even looking at the amounts or who they were for. Foolish Antonio tells her that if Gonzalo authorized the expenditure, it must be all right.

Santos arranges an intervention with Melesio, MN and some of the ternera husbands.

MN says that he wants to do right by Altagracia but he doesn't have anywhere to take her to live. Santos says that he will give MN some land, help him buy the materials and provide the labor to build a little house and this applies to all the married guys. MN tells Santos that he doesn't know what to say and Melesio doesn't lose sight of the matter at hand tells him that all he has to say is the date of the wedding. Santos tells Pajaorte that he has to stay in the bunkhouse until he settles on one woman.

Leonicia tells Celeste that her brothers are going to beat her up for going to town on her own. Celeste says that she isn't a little girl. She says that her brothers want her to be left on the shelf ('me quede para vestir santos,' literally, 'stay to dess saints') and she doesn't want that. Leon and Tigre come in and grab Celeste saying that they won't let her become a slut. DB comes in and tells them to let Celeste go. They say that Celeste is behaving like a mare in heat but DB tells them not to treat her that way. Pernalete and Mujica arrive. They try to demonstrate their loyalty to DB by bringing her a case of the whisky that Sapo gave them. They show her the note from Sapo.

Marisela and Genoveva are having a gloomy ice cream when the alcaraván starts calling.

Geno confesses to Marisela that Pajarote has burst all her balloons. Geno says that she gave Pajarote her virginity, her love and lots of balloons and he started chasing after other skirts as if nothing had happened. She tells Marisela that the worst thing is that she is in love with Pajarote.

DB pretends to be very pleased with Pernalete and Mujica and asks them to let keep her informed on what is going on with Sapo. They leave. Melquíades says that this is good news. DB says that a storm is coming.

Not even the accomplished Federica can get Pajarote's bird to fly. He gets another scolding from the vision of Genoveva and when he tells Geno to leave him alone, Federica thinks he is talking to her, takes offense and leaves.

Santos has a long series of flashbacks to his various encounters with Marisela.

Sapo is furious about the article and picture of him with Gonzalo. Facundo says that it may interfere with their plans. Sapo orders that Nestor be brought to him so that he can be made to swallow every paper that was sold in San Fernando.

Andrés shows Santos the picture of Sapo and Gonzalo. Santos says that he finally can put a face to the name of Fidel Castell. Santos tells Andrés that he doesn't know this Fidel Castell but he has heard a lot about him. Santos excuses himself and says that he has to do something. Andrés says to himself the Néstor was right. There is something fishy going on here.

Néstor is brought by force to Sapo. Sapo asks if it isn't an abuse that Néstor took a photograph of him without his permission. Néstor says that it is his obligation as a journalist to take whatever photographs he believes would be of interest to the community. Sapo asks what interest there is in photos of him with the Commissioner. "I don't know," replies Néstor, "You tell me." Néstor asks who Sapo really is. Sapo says that if the problem is that Néstor doesn't know him, he tells Facundo to give Néstor his business card. Facundo punches him. "Now you know me," Sapo tells Néstor. Sapo tells Facundo that before Néstor leaves, he has to eat the newspaper, page by page so that he doesn't get the desire to take photos of Sapo again.

Altagracia finds out that she isn't pregnant. Gervasio says that the alcaraván must have been wrong because since Genoveva left, it hasn't called any more. "¡Genoveva!" say all the terneras in unison.

Back in San Fernando, Genoveva tells Marisela that she still hasn't gotten her period and she is very afraid. The alcaraván starts calling again and Geno says that she must be really, really pregnant because the bird hasn't stopped calling. Marisela wonders if the bird might be calling for her.

Santos comes into where DB is having breakfast at El Miedo. He says that he wants to know something and he doesn't want her to lie to him. He puts the newspaper with Néstor's photo on the table and says, "The man in the picture is Sapo, right?"

Labels: barbara

Folks, this is Schoolmarm Jeanne and you know I have to weigh in on this since captions r us in my field. There are several things going on with the captions on Univision and other networks at the moment. For those who do not yet know me, I have been here most of the last two years until just recently when my schedule got nutty, and in my real life I am a school administrator at a school that exclusively serves students who are deaf or hard of hearing. I have had captioned television since 1980 when it first arrived on the scene, and never, ever turn off the captions; I’ve kept up with the issues nationally regarding captions—this is an especially hot topic at the moment since it appears that the current digital converter box is not especially compatible with the caption decoder chip in the older televisions that are not digital. So deaf folks trying to access the digital signal through the air are finding they cannot get their captions anymore.

At the end of this post, I have included the additional information on Spanish Language Programming directly from FCC fact sheet website—which are slightly different than the NIDCD information states (one of my favorite websites, by the way, and I’m glad to see you using it, Carlos). The NIDCD info is primarily about English language programming and they seem to have an error in the Spanish programming statement…..my apologies that I haven’t gotten adept at making the URL links work, you’ll have to cut and paste to get to the FCC fact sheet.

How closed captions are prepared: a human being (it’s not yet ready for the linguistic nuances of voice to digital transcribing yet, folks) must transcribe the audio track. Sometimes the captioner has a script, sometimes not. The person captioning can mix up sounds. Thus, in Spanish, the caption might read that the character is trying to “break the heaven (cielo)” when he or she was trying to “break the ice (hielo).” I actually saw this caption blooper on Yo Amo a Juan Q early in the program once and caught it only because a) I was recapping and b) I was very familiar with caption bloopers. There’s a Deaf online magazine called DeafDigest that has a caption blooper of the week every week!

Captioners are trained in programs like those for court reporters (sometimes the same programs). Each captioner must create his or her own personal “dictionary” of sound transcriptions that are merged to form the words heard—there is not a standard dictionary and I could not tell you why for the life of me.

This is why you sometimes see some funny things in live captioning, like when the President speaks, and then suddenly the mess becomes a full word. They work in words and syllable-like units. The initial dictionary must be about 10K words/syllable units before a trainee is ready to go out professionally and speed is an issue. Still, they hit the wrong keys in live captioning. This happens less in pre-recorded captions, but it happens (and may be the similar sounds, noted above). Melinama has noted in a previous thread that Univision is using live captioners. There is no way on earth they can be listening to even ten minutes of the rapid-fire dialogue we hear and be able to caption it all, especially if they have no script in front of them. I can’t type as fast as people talk, can you? I couldn’t take shorthand that fast and that accurately back in the days I did shorthand, either. Even with their shortcuts in their personal caption bank dictionaries, they can only catch part of what is being said live.

Watch a live captioned news special in either English or Spanish—the captions have all kinds of interesting differences from pre-recorded and pre-captioned programs. This is not a local provider problem, because it is occurring nationwide on Univision primarily, by the way. It’s definitely a network problem.

Back to the general captioning process, and pardon me for sidebars: the pre-recorded audio/video track and the caption track then get merged by the network so they match--theoretically, and when the local cable station plays back the video/audio for airing, the caption transmission equipment must be activated also. However, the equipment they are using for playback and airing locally must match the equipment on which the tracks were prepared and must have the same type of technology. It must merge and display all the tracks with appropriate timing, or your television screen comes up with a caption garble that you can’t resolve by turning it on and off, or pausing-restarting with something you have recorded, etc. (remember the old videotapes? They would get stretched and you’d have to manually “track” so they wouldn’t break up the picture and sound? This is similar but there is no correcting it at the user’s end). The video/audio track will be fine in the transmission from your local provider or national network, but the local provider’s captions will be terrible. (But as we have noted, this IS a problem at Univision at the moment. Others may be having it as well….see below). My local provider had problems with total garble on Univision when I came here five years ago. I complained, and they discovered they had outdated caption playback technology—they had to update it and totally replaced their caption playback technology/equipment.

Here’s what’s happening now:

First, some stations are now transitioning to digital transmission. Caption playback equipment is in your local cable service provider’s offices and may or may not be capable of handling digital---so far, the transmission has all been analog for the most part and the playback equipment handles analog captions. Since it’s happening nationwide, there may be other factors, however. In analog captioning, I noted that at least with my provider, there were always two characters for an accented vowel. They would caption “maás” for más. This was because the captioning equipment was displaying the “place marker” that gets put into some text programs for an accented character. There were other flaws like that, too. NOW, I am noticing they have cleaned that up. They are also slowing the captions (some of you have noted that, too) and stripped out some of the words—which is likely so they can begin building the transmission merge between captions and video/audio tracks.

These are just a couple of the factors I am fairly certain are influencing our captions. They remind me of the early days of captioning (1980-1985) when the captions said only half of what the characters did (and my deaf friends would look at me with the “what did he/she REALLY say?” look. But it was too late to interpret as the action moved on too fast. As captioners got more proficient and as the tracks got merged better without junk captions (garble that shows up when the tracks are mismatched), more of what the characters said was in the captions. Live captioners never get all the words, in my experience, that the speakers are saying unless there are large gaps in what the speakers say—as in some sports programming with occasional commenting. If Univision is hiring live captioners—they may be using trainees, which would account for some of the issues.

Finally, the FCC rules for Spanish language programming are different until 2010. (Also some of the rules for HDTV transmission are different, even if it is a form of digital). Have patience; the captions are actually clearer now than they have been since the Univision folks who’ve hired the captioners are changing their transmission format (analog to digital to match signals) although they are having growing pains and the captions are way slow. They have awhile to get it right, unfortunately for us, as the section below shows.

See below and thanks for your interest! (The entire following section is quoted from the FCC fact sheet website).

http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/closedcaption.html

“Different closed captioning schedules apply to new, pre-rule, and Spanish language programming.

"New" Programming

As of January 1, 2006, all “new” English language programming, defined as analog programming first published or exhibited on or after January 1, 1998, and digital programming first aired on or after July 1, 2002, must be captioned, with some exceptions.

"Pre-Rule" English Programming

Analog programming first shown before January 1, 1998, and digital programming first shown before July 1, 2002, are called “Pre-Rule Programming.” Pre-Rule Programming that is not exempt from the closed captioning rules must be captioned as follows:

* January 1, 2003, to December 31, 2007: 30 percent of programming per channel per quarter.
* January 1, 2008, and thereafter: 75 percent of programming per channel per quarter.

Spanish Language Programming

Because captioning is fairly new to Spanish language program providers, the FCC allows them a longer time to provide captioned programming. All Spanish language programming that was first shown after January 1, 1998, must be captioned by 2010 with some exemptions. The following schedule applies to Spanish language “new” and non-exempt programming, or programming shown after January 1, 1998:

* January 1, 2004, to December 31, 2006: 900 hours of programming per channel per quarter or all of the new, non-exempt Spanish language programming on that channel, whichever is less.
* January 1, 2007, to December 31, 2009: 1350 hours of programming per channel per quarter or all of the new, non-exempt Spanish language programming on that channel, whichever is less.
* January 1, 2010, and thereafter: 100 percent of all programming, with some exceptions.

For Spanish language “Pre-Rule Programming” (first shown before January 1, 1998) that is not exempt from the closed captioning rules, the following schedule applies:

* January 1, 2005, to December 31, 2011: 30 percent of programming per channel per quarter.
* January 1, 2012, and thereafter: 75 percent of programming per channel per quarter.

For more information on the FCC’s closed captioning rules and requirements, go to www.fcc.gov/cgb/dro/caption.html.”

Jeanne

Labels: announcements

From last night: We’re still going around in circles about where Soledad’s final resting place will be and Priscila get’s the tie-breaking vote. AnyBalls reminds her that only their familial ancestors are buried there. She dryly says thanks for the info.

New stuff: Priscilla votes in favor of Soledad being buried in the family crypt. Fernanda and Santiago are ecstatic, while Barb curses Priscila in her mind. Anyballs doesn’t look too thrilled that Prisci voted against him either. Barb tries to make nice with Nanda by telling her that she and Gonzo will do everything possible to make sure Soledad gets a funeral deserving of a queen - “digno de una reina”

Aurora, in Nanda’s room, is admiring all of Nanda’s beautiful clothes and thinking house nice the family has been to her, especially Santiago – he’s been an angel.

Lucio’s still drunk as a skunk in Jacinto and Margarita’s house with Fr/Ed lurking in another room out of sight, but listening. Lucio tells Jacinto and Marg that Barb said that Gardenia and Florecita were the ones who sent the flowers to Nanda at the wedding. Lucio says not to worry he’ll help them, but Marg’s is sure it won’t be free. Lucio promises to tell Barb that Gardenia and Florecita had nothing to do with the flowers as long as Jacinto and Margarita give Lucio the keys to Soledad’s house. They’re appalled at the thought and tell Lucio they have no right to give away something that isn’t theirs, and besides, Soledad paid for that house with her blood, sweat and tears. Lucio tells them he doesn’t get what the big deal is, Soledad doesn’t need the house anymore, right? Fr/Ed listens and is starting to look irritated with drunk Lucio.

Back to Aurora, thinking how nice of a family she’s found herself with, especially that good guy Don Gonzo and his beautiful wife Barbara. But, she thinks, there’s something about Barb that troubles, but intrigues her, she’s not sure what it is, but maybe it has something to do with the things that Santiago has told her – that Barb is very ambitious and all the affection she shows the family is fake. Boy, has Aurora got a thing or two to learn! She thinks how different her life is than when she was with cruel Dominga. Speaking of the drunken Dominga, who is at this very moment screaming and yelling for Aurora, saying that once she finds Aurora she’ll make her pay dearly. Aurora vows never to return to Dominga’s house. Somehow I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Dominga!

Back at Jacinto’s place, Lucio is still trying to convince them to let him move into Soledad’s house. They’re still against it, but then Fr/Ed catches Jacinto’s eye and shakes his head yes, to let Lucio live in the house. Jacinto tells Lucio they’ll think about it, and instead of just goin’ with the flow, good ol’ Marg starts yelling no at Jacinto, whose yells back at her that his word is final. Lucio’s happy and compliments Jacinto on how he treats his wife – yuck. Marg is stunned and of course tries to start an argument, when Fr/Ed comes out and tells her to simmer down, that Jacinto was only doing what he signaled him to do. Fr/Ed, like he’s talking to a 5 year old, has to explain to Marg that he wants to figure out if Lucio spilling his guts because he’s drunk, or if he’s really on Barb’s side.

Barb is in her bedroom and Gonzo enters – he’s happy that she’s made Nanda happy about burying Soledad at the family’s crypt. She says when she married The Gonz that she vowed to care for his family too. She just hopes that Fernanda knows that she’s putting herself in danger. Gonzo, like the Big Mouth Bass that he is, opens up his pie-hole and just waits for Barb to insert the fish hook. She explains that whoever sent the flowers is very close to them, obviously. She fakes being scared that this whole thing will turn against her. Of course he buys it – hook, line, and sinker, and vows to protect her with his life.

Uh oh. Errorika is waking up and her head hurts big time. Who knows what’s worse, the hangover or the beating from Cadmilho. She turns on the light and has no idea where she is. That must be an awful feeling.

Fr/Ed’s walking back to his house in the dark, thinking about Fernanda, and how the memories hurt him so.

Nanda goes to her bedroom with Damian and they talk about how difficult the situation is, with him having to go to New York in the midst of all this business with Soledad. He promises to do everything he can in order to get back quickly. He asks her to come with him, and she says no, they’ve already discussed that. He says that after the funeral he’ll wait for her in New York, he doesn’t want to leave her alone for long. She tells Damian none of this has happened by accident, there’s someone behind it – but she doesn’t tell him she thinks its Eduardo.

Errorika comes down the steps calling out to see if anyone is in the strange house where she has just woken up.

AnyBalls is letting Prisci have it for voting against him. She gives it right back to him. She says they’re together until death separates them, and that Gonzo’s first grandson will be her child.

Vladimir is calling Prisci from his car, but changes his mind and hangs up. He thinks to himself she is a dream come true.

Errorika is still calling out to see if there’s anyone is there. The fireplace sure looks good – the only thing missing is Fr/Ed and his towel. Just then Fr/Ed walks in and asks Errorika if she slept well – she doesn’t remember him at all. He reintroduces himself as Franco Santoro. He reminds her that the name probably doesn’t ring a bell because at the wedding she kept telling him he didn’t have the “face” of a Franco. She’s looking a little nervous. He tells her he brought her to his house because she was in bad shape, and he didn’t know her address. He didn’t think it was a good idea to be asking her boyfriend, either. “Boyfriend?” she says. He says yes, Cadmilho Elizalde. She says, “That pig is not my boyfriend!” He offers her some OJ that actually looks more like watered-down Sunny D – maybe it’s a new product he’s testing out for Pow-Where Meeeeelk – or something Esteve invented at Harvard as a hangover cure after a frat party. She still doesn’t understand why she’s there and why he wanted to help her. She says until he proves otherwise she’s going to think he brought her to his house with other intentions. He says, yes, I have brought you here with other intentions – she jumps up, immediately afraid and stares him down.

Damian struts in the bedroom, showing off his six pack in his open pyjama shirt and gets lovey-dovey with Nanda. By the look on her face, she’s not really diggin’ it. He gets serious when takes off his glasses. She explains to him that she wants their first night together to be unforgettable. He tries to go for it again, and she backs away saying she feels very sad. She promises that one day soon that they’ll do it. He can’t believe she’s saying they’re not going to consummate their marriage until after he gets back from Nueva York. Dude! She’s just not that into you!!!! He said he never imagined that his wedding night would turn out like this, and it’s all Franco Santoro’s fault. She doesn’t understand what he has to do with any of this – Damian explains about the business. But, more importantly, she denies ever having seen Franco Santoro in her life. Lying to the hubster already Nanda?

Our favorite galan, f/k/a Ricky McPirateson, tells Errorika that his intentions are only good. He tries to get her to call someone to let them know she’s okay. She calls her maid, Rootie (!) who is very happy to hear from her, and tells her that a gift will be arriving for her tomorrow. Errorika doesn’t seem very interested and hangs up. Finally, Errorika sees her reflection in the mirror and cannot believe her eyes. Shocked at the bruises on her face, she asks, “What’s this?”

Nanda is having another conversation with her alter ego – who always seems to be smarter than the real life Nanda. Smart Nanda questions Not-So-Smart Nanda as to why she lied to her husband about knowing who Franco Santoro was, and why she’s always so nervous when Franco is around.

Aurora is shacking up in Liliana’s old room. Santiago says he’ll tell her all about Liliana later. Aurora says she’s happy to have a warm bed to sleep in tonight. She asks why he doesn’t like Barb. He tries to avoid answering with jokes. She says she’s thinks Barbara is “rara” – or strange. He says that’s the best way to describe her.

Barb is putting droplets of something into El Viejo Gonzo’s nighttime glass of milk. I’m sure it’s probably the opposite of Pow-where Meeeelk.

Aurora tells Santiago how nice Barb and everyone else has been to her. But she says Barb is a bit strong. He confesses that his sister’s marriage was more complicated than he thought, but he’s happy that Aurora was there with him. She says this is the end though – tomorrow she’s leaving to go look for her mother. He begs her to stay. She says she doesn’t want to take advantage of his family’s hospitality. He asks if she’s running off because of all that she witnessed with his family. He said he hasn’t felt this good in years and promises to help her tomorrow look for her mother. He says if she can’t sleep all she has to do is knock on his door and they can go out to the garden and tell stories to the stars and the singing crickets. After he leaves she thinks how nice he is, and how she could really get used to living there, but this kind of happiness can only last for a moment.

At Jacinto’s it looks like all is forgiven with Marg. But Marg’s having doubts about Fr/Ed’s plans. Jacinto says Eduardo is their friend and they have to help him put an end to all the vileness that is La Hiena. Somebody’s knockin’ on the door, somebody’s ringin’ the bell . . . just let ‘em in . . . . It’s Gardenia who still thinks that Jacinto has another woman in the house. Surprise, surprise, she finds Margarita. Gardenia thinks that Jacinto fed Marg a bunch of lies and she believed him. Gardenia can’t get it through her thick head that Jacinto isn’t lying to Margarita. They try to explain that Jacinto’s doing business with the “engineer” Franco Santoro. Gardenia’s not buyin’ it. Margarita says she confirmed it with Franco Santoro.

Back to Errorika and Fr/Ed. Errorika says there’s no reason left for her to go back to Camilo. [she’s only remembering how he humiliated her with Natasha, though.] Errorika wants a favor from Fr/Ed, but before she asks, she wants to know something personal. She asks him if he’s in a relationship with anyone. He says no, but asks why. She says if he were in a relationship he wouldn’t be able to do her the favor she needs.

Errorika is ashamed of what’s happened, but Fr/Ed tells her she doesn’t have to say anything more about it. She says it’s hard to look at herself in the mirror. She asks him to think about her proposition. He tells her to go and rest and he’ll think about what she’s proposed. She tells him she wishes they would have met under different circumstances. He flashes her his Gazillion Dollar Smile and tells her to go back to sleep, everything will look different in the morning.

Nanda brings Damian coffee in the office. She says she couldn’t sleep. She says she wants to go the chapel. After she leaves, he thinks to himself he can’t believe that the death of a servant could actually ruin a wedding night. How sensitive Snake Boy!
Nanda’s in the capilla, crying, and asking La Virgencita for help with the pain of losing Soledad (shades of Slofia!).

Barbara is on the phone with the Evil Gay Doctor from the Crazy House. She tells him she doesn’t care how he does it, but he better find out what Liliana told Fernanda the day she came and visited. He tells her he tried, but Barb is not satisfied with that answer at all. She wonders where the pair of “tortolitos” (two little birds) could be? I assume she’s thinking of Damian and Nanda?

Fr/Ed’s torn between his juramento with Nanda and the deal that Errorika has proposed. He doesn’t understand why the promise he made to Fernanda so long ago should even matter anymore.
Nanda-fia is still crying in the chapel. She misses Soledad’s warm hugs. She says Soledad went away like water spilling through her hands.

Fr/Ed says soon Fernanda will find out that it was him who ruined her wedding.

More crying, when Soledad’s ghost appears behind Nanda to touch her shoulder. I can’t stand when they put ghosts in the novelas – except when it was Rosario haunting Feo in FELS!

Previews: A nurse is trying to coax Liliana into seeing her sister, but I’m pretty sure it’s a trick cooked up by Dr. Gay. Fr/Ed looks like he’s going to go along with Errorika’s plan. Nanda tries to trick Jacinto into telling her that Eddie’s back in town. Barb gives Damian his wedding night after all!

Labels: manana

Labels: barbara

Well, we've got a new intro, folks, but otherwise it's the same old same old. In fact the plot movement these days reminds me of a slow drain. Everything keeps swirling around but never goes anywhere. We're knee-deep in icky-poo and no hope in sight.

But anyway, here's what went down...Hah! Charlie's tormenting himself by looking at the video he took of Lucia in happier days. Gregoria tries to comfort him and to reassure him that it wasn't his fault. But he says it was because he didn't protect himself (or his partner) by using contraception. Chava's listening in on all this, while hugging his wee dog, and promises himself that he'll find a way to protect Charlie from "whoever is trying to kill him". Later he reassure him that he's asked "Diosito" for help and Charlie has nothing to worry about. After all, Chava asked Diosito for a dad, and not only did he get one, he got grandparents and a cousin (Charlie) as well!

Humor break. Zamora's performing for the restaurant folks with a joke. Meño tells him to make it a "short one". But Z doesn't know any dwarf jokes. Ay yi yi. I'm laughing so hard my sides hurt. Aren't yours? Meño reminds him he needs a waiter...a worker...not a performer, even though Zamora protests that he's a raging success.

Now back to Candy and Patricio in the Love Tent, having their millionth discussion of the wedding fiasco. Patricio wants her to know that Alicia forced the kiss on him. Candy reminds him that they threw their forgiveness stones in the water and there's no need to go over the past again. (Oh please! Let it be so!) Okay. Patricio's on board. He just wants her to know that he loves her. And how great is his love? Well, if you went to the moon and back 8 thousand times, that would about cover it.

They're not the only ones discussing love. Santiago and Rocio are having that talk as well. He's explaining that "amor no se busca, se encuentra" (You don't look for love, you find it...or it finds you). In other words, you can't force it, it just happens. Rocio's trying to work all this out with Papa's romantic history. Paulina was his fiancee and wife, but she's not anymore. And Marissa was his fiancee but not anymore. Thank G..! Santiago starts to say and then stops. So fiances just suddenly appear...like Chava for me, adds Rocio. NO! retorts Papa. He's not underwriting any mini-romances right now, thank you very much.

Back to the tent. Patricio's talking with the Good Lord now, thanking him for giving him life , giving him time to correct his mistakes, giving him a chance to believe in love again, giving him this love that he feels for Candy. She listens. She smiles. And she turns away. And suggests they go to sleep. BUT....she says, "Goodnight Amor". That's enough for Patricio, evidently, who cozily spoons up next to her and we presume they drift off to sleep. Have to give Pat points here for amazing self-control and patience. We break for an ad while we wonder at all this.

When we come back, we see Charlie at Santiago's office, waiting to talk to him. Have to give Charlie even more points for incredible courage. A grim-faced Santiago sweeps past him and tells Hortensia "no calls".

It's the next day. Our two lovebirds are awake. Patricio's saying he doesn't want to pressure her. He's at peace knowing she knows that he loves her. Definitely a candidate for sainthood, our Patricio. Candy, of course, is still dithering. So much on her mind. Charlie. Lucia. Marissa. The baby. The Institute. No matter, says Patricio. If we're together, it's all going to work out. Okay, maybe not a candidate for sainthood. More of a cock-eyed optimist award. But hey, cut him some slack. Love will do that to ya'.

Lucia is at home, grimly checking information on AIDS and Acquired Immune Deficiency on the Internet. Granny intervenes, reminds her not to get ahead of things. She doesn't know yet if she's actually infected. But there's no cure, cries Lucia. No more of that. Isabella pulls her outside for a walk in the sun-filled garden. Life calls. One must listen.

Santiago though can barely manage to be in the same room with Charlie, must less listen. The young man is telling him he doesn't care if he dies....as long as Lucia is alright. Santiago suggests they talk at another time. There won't be another time for me, answers Charlie. Some eye-rolling by Santiago. You CAN have a good quality of life, you DO have many more years of life ahead of you, he manages to say.

The walk with Isabella hasn't gotten Lucia's mind off the subject (understandably). If I'm infected, I can't have children, I can't go to Los Angeles, I can't be a pediatrician. Am I wrong to reject Charlie now? she asks her grandmother. Tough love from Granny. Charlie didn't do this to you. With a couple, both people are responsible. Both need to be accountable for protection.

Hortensia is being a much more sympathetic listener with Santiago. He's berating himself for not being more strict...if he had been, maybe this wouldn't have happened. Hortensia thinks that Lucia is pregnant. No, that's LIFE. This is not, he mourns. Another ad.

Meño's consulting with Barbara since she's well-versed on the subject of parent-child relationships and he needs help. But, turns out she doesn't know much about AIDS. So she'll research that and then get back to him. In the meantime, Patricio and Candy breeze into the office and Soledad says she wants to talk to them....BOTH of them. Dum de dum dum.

More talk about "amor no se busca, se encuentra" at Santiago's place. Jaime is joking that he didn't look for Isabella but she looked for him! They all agree that Marissa is a lost cause because she's a lot more "especial" than they thought. "especial" in this case is a "false friend". It doesn't mean "special" but rather "difficult". Candy, on the other hand, is deemed "buena onda" (nice, cool) by Rocio so she and Lucia decide they will try and get Candy and Santiago together. After all, Dad's been doing some serious moping lately.

Indeed. Now he's moping with Lalo, though one can hardly blame him. Eduardo gives the same advice as the rest of the characters...don't get ahead of yourself. You don't know yet if Lucia is infected. Well, there are also Marissa's threats. At this point the bell rings, the girls arrive, Lucia and Rocio come in, Lucia calls Santiago "Papa" and Lalo is dumbstruck. But in a good way. And as Santiago points out, it's a two-syllable endearment....not Pa...but Papa. Way better.

Not so good is Soledad's take on things. She understands that Patricio prefers Candy to her, but does that mean he should make a difference between how he treats Chava and how he treats Beto? They're both his sons. Patricio protests that he's not treating them differently...he would never do that. Candy says nothing but looks kind of sour. Pat reassures Soledad...or tries to...that the boys are the same to him, both are his sons. Another ad.

When we come back, Chayo is telling Candy she has some surprise guests in her office....and it's a good surprise. Yep, it's Lucia and Rocio, with Santiago in tow, asking Candy to be their papa's girlfriend. Marissa is watching all this on her spycam and spewing toxic waste hither and yon.

Cut to Meño, looking unusually dapper in a cream silk suit, complemented by a dusty rose handkerchief and shirt. Clearly he's the darling of the wardrobe department. Alas, he finds an ominous farewell note from Charlie bidding him good-bye and saying he's leaving so as not to be a burden to anyone.

Candy's kicking Santiago out, explaining that this is girl-talk time while Marissa spews more venom and gets ready to light up a cigarette. We're shocked of course but to show you how times have changed, not only did my mom smoke through all her pregnancies but my first obstetrician smoked in his office while talking to me. And I worked in a place where my editor chain-smoked cigars while everyone else (but me) puffed away as well. I expected my poor baby to arrive looking like a little cinder but she was fine.

Anyway, Barb, when entering the office and finding Marissa with the shocking cigarette in her mouth, tries to talk sense into her and gets nowhere. And points out that Marissa is in HER office. Marissa replies that the whole place is HERS so get out already.

The discussion twixt Candy and the girls is a mite more civilized. Candy explains that she has to resolve something in her past before she can think about getting involved with anyone. But Papa's sad, he misses you, protest the girls. And Papa is about to discover Marissa's secret. He hears Rocio's voice, enters the office, find Marissa and wonders what's up. But the whole subject gets forgotten when he spots the cigarette in her mouth and the whole baby-safety discussion starts over again.

Alright. Back to the Charlie situation. Meño's frantic and they're asking Lucia if she knows where he might go. Turns out she does because he asked her to meet him one last time and she refused. They persuade her, in the name of the love she once felt for him, to meet him.

Humor break again. Chayo's dusting her side of the apartment and complaining about the dirty socks and nasty smell on Lalo's side of things. He plays it nice for a moment, admitting that he did value her work...the cleaning, the laundry, the ironing, the cooking, the er, other little things but now....Is love going to rebloom? Nah...now he has....ta dah...enter Estrella, a babe maid in a sexy outfit, ready to wait on him hand and foot and call him "venadito" (literally "fawn". but a term of endearment like "honey" or "darling").

Meanwhile, Meño's health seems to be deteriorating even faster than Charlie's. He's clutching his head, sick with worry about his son. If he robbed, or was a drug addict, I could protect him, he sighs. But what can I do with this damned illness?! Another ad.

Now we're in the kitchen with Lulu and Toño is trying out a little joke on her. Why are men like Chinese food? Well I hope you know, 'cause I didn't catch the answer. Lulu is encouraging, and reassures him that he can be as funny as Zamora. Toño's not convinced. He was picked on in school for being a little dumb guy. You have an enormous heart, Lulu reassures him, and Candy always says, Love has no size (talla). Hmmm.....could Toño be the galan for Lulu? Any guesses?

Meanwhile, things are cozy with Lalo and his "mucama" (servant). She's bringing him his slippers, tucking him into his couch/bed and asking if there's anything else she can do for her "venadito". Chayo's still got something up her sleeve though. She sashays in, wearing a black baby-doll lace nightie....whew!...and dangling her duster in Lalo's direction. Eduardo is practically howling at the moon and invites her over to the couch to get comfortable. Whoops. Chayo knees him in the nuts instead and suggests that he get comfortable with his "mucama" if she's so great. Clearly she's been hanging around Candy too much, our Chayo. Bad form.

Lucio finds a forlorn Charlie. And convinces him to go back and face the music so to speak. Marissa and Barbara have another chat. Marissa's boggled that Candy is going out with Patricio and trying to work things out there. She finally asks the 64 dollar question. Am I crazy? No, hedges Barbara. Candy's confused. And so are you. But you're a bit MORE confused. Then Barb scoots out the door.

Charlie and Meño reunite at the house, under the happy gaze of the rest of the family. Next time you leave, you leave with a big hug, not a note, insists Meño. Don't worry, it'll never happen again, Charlie reassures him.

But life is not the same. Meño is barking at everyone at the restaurant like a slave driver. They can't work fast enough or hard enough for him. And Hortensia's feeling the pressure as well. Santiago is meditating on his loneliness and confusion while absently patting her knee. I'm not made of wood, you know, she manages to gasp. Santiago looks startled and abruptly ends the discussion.

And speaking of abrupt endings....we cut back to the restaurant where Meño suddenly passes out and falls to the floor. Give Lulu kudos for promptly calling an ambulance. In most telenovelas, people seem to rush around and wail for a good 20 minutes before calling for help. Yay Lulu! And there we end for tonight.

Previews: Santiago proposes tossing a coin to decide whom Candy should be with, him or Patricio. She catches the coin. Who will it be? Let's flush this drain and get an answer already.

Vocabulary:
mucama = servant
me salió el tiro por la culata = it backfired on me (Santiago discussing his plight with Hortensia)
me importa un bledo = I don't give a darn
venadito = honey, darling, dear (literally 'fawn')

thought I'd just throw in some other expressions that you often hear in telenovelas..though not in this particular episode

no hay pero que valga = no "but's"
de buenas a primeras = out of the blue, suddenly
de mala gana = reluctantly
de mi puño y letra = in my own handwriting

And "Proverb of the Day"

A Dios rogando y con el mazo dando. God helps him who helps himself.

Labels: Tontas

THANK YOU CARLOS for providing this information. Now, what to do about it?

From his link at the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders:

The law

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 requires that businesses and public accommodations ensure that disabled individuals are not excluded from or denied services because of the absence of auxiliary aids. Captions are considered one type of auxiliary aid.

Since the passage of the ADA, the use of captioning has expanded. Entertainment, educational, informational, and training materials are captioned for deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences at the time they are produced and distributed.

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 directs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to adopt rules requiring closed captioning of most television programming.

Captions and the FCC

The FCC rules on closed captioning became effective January 1, 1998. They require people or companies that distribute television programs directly to home viewers to make sure those programs are captioned.

Labels: announcements

Hi all,
Since Ferro's post last Friday - during which we tentatively decided the disastrous meltdown of the Univision subtitles started on March 16 - I've been in touch with a few people at Univision and one of our other recappers who "knows somebody" there has done the same.

There is a possibility this problem results from a cost-cutting measure at Univision: that they stopped paying for pre-recorded captions and have been trying to get by with live captioners. We are hoping they'll realize what they're offering now is utterly unusable and will go back to the previous system. In the mean time, I'll try to keep you posted.

Labels: announcements

I'm back on a bi-weekly basis. I'm going to see if I can fit this back into my schedule. On with the show -

Eduardo and Steve, over the phone, plan Steve’s fake meeting with Damian in New York. Eduardo is worried that Fernanda might go with Damian on the trip.

Damian tells Anibal that he and Fernanda are leaving tomorrow, she enters and says she’s not going anywhere, she has to transfer Soledad’s body from the graveyard into the family vault in the hacienda’s chapel. Damian rolls his eyes without actually rolling them, you can tell. Anibal is just whining and acting like a jerk. Like always.

Steve gives Eduardo some comforting words on the loss of his mother.

Barbara is beside herself at the thought of Soledad being in the family chapel, what, someday she might have to be put in there next to her! She tries to get Gonzalo to agree that if it turns out that Jacinto and crew sent the flowers that he won’t let Soledad be put there. I paused right here to discuss this with my wife, after a few minutes we still couldn’t figure out how the Jacinto/flowers thing had anything at all to do with Soledad being put in the family vault. Gonzalo tells Barbara that he promised that honor to Soledad long ago, so that’s that.

The wedding guests are still partying, it’s dark out now. Vladimir is still working on Priscilla, who doesn’t seem to mind. She says the required bit about being married, but she is enjoying this.

Jacinto finally tells Eduardo that all the secrets are ruining his life, his wife left him, frankly he’s pissed off. I have been saying since the first time Ed said “ok here’s what you’ll do for me” that Ed has been treating Jacinto like his bitch and Jacinto is getting nothing out of the deal. I’m glad he is finally saying something, even if it is far too late to do any good. Jacinto tells Ed that Barbara thinks Margarita and Gardenia sent the flowers and the note.

Damian tells Fernanda that she hasn’t spent a single minute at her own party! Also that he has to go on a trip and the honeymoon is not happening tomorrow.

Fernanda gets on the microphone and thanks everyone for coming, but she found out that someone that was like a mother to her has died, so party’s over, go home. She asks the band leader why he played the wrong song for the first dance, he said the note came from her. He found it on his music stand. He shows it to her, it is typed note saying to change the song, with her name typed on the bottom.

Vladimir wants Priscilla’s phone number, she takes his phone and puts it in there for him, then runs off to comfort Fernanda.

At Jacinto’s house, Eduardo is telling Jacinto to go look for Margarita, not understanding at all the trouble he has gotten Jacinto into. Jacinto tells Ed that Barbara will kill Gardenia and Margarita if Jacinto doesn’t do what Barbara tells him to do.

Barbara calls Flor and tells her that Margarita and Gardenia will pay for what they did with tears of blood. She gets off the phone and tells Gonzalo that they are the ones who sent the note and flowers.

Eduardo and Jacinto talk about the ‘secret’ – just in time for Margarita to enter and say ‘what secret?’ In time honored novela tradition, nobody noticed another person barging into the room.

Fernanda enters Gonzalo’s office where he and Barb were, Gonzalo tells Fernanda what Barbara suspects about the flowers. Fernanda says it wasn’t them. Barb says then who? Fern has a flashback of Liliana telling her that Eduardo had returned.

Margarita isn’t getting the answers she wants, so she gets upset and leaves. I can’t say I blame her. From all appearances, Jacinto isn’t cheating with another woman, he is in a gay secret relationship with Franco Santoro. What else could she think?

Barbara simpers to Fernanda that she is only guilty of not wanting to ruin Fernanda’s wedding day and was keeping a promise to Soledad by not saying anything. Barb leaves. Fernanda then tells Gonzalo that it was Eduardo who left the flowers and changed the song!

Jacinto and Margarita fight outside the house, Eduardo hears it all inside and paces, not knowing what to do. Here’s an idea – don’t leave your best friend totally hung out to dry. Even if his wife looks old enough to be his mother, just not cool.

Fernanda tells Gonzalo that the song that was played was the one that she and Eduardo danced to like a million times when they were kids. Gonz asks if Ed came back, why hasn’t he been to see us? Fern says because he doesn’t WANT to see us!

Jacinto and Margarita fight some more, she turns to leave and tells him to not look for her again, to forget about her. Eduardo still does nothing.

Fern tells Gonzalo that he can’t say anything to Barbara. He doesn’t understand why, but finally agrees. Fernanda wants to be the first one to find Eduardo and tell him to his face what she thinks of him. I’m not thinking it’s “he’s so awesome” at this point.

We see some legs and feet following Margarita, no real suspense here – they are black dress pants and black dress shoes. Ed was dressed that way, Jacinto was wearing the latest in peasant fashion. Margarita turns around and asks our mystery follower, “what do you want?”

Anibal tells Damian to not come back from New York without a check in his hand.

Barbara tries to get all weepy with Gonzalo to find out what Fernanda told him, he doesn’t bite.

Ed tries to talk to Margarita, and in his best Lorena de la Cruz mode, takes a full minute to say what he should have just said a looooong time ago – “it’s me, Eduardo.”

Back at the reception, Lucio picks up some leftover Champagne bottles and gets to drinking. He vows that he’ll find a way to get into Barbara’s pants.

Fernanda argues with Anibal, saying HE should go to New York. She wants Damian to help her with the Soledad thing. Anibal says the director of finance is who has to go, and that’s Damian.

Eduardo brings Margarita back to Jacinto’s house, he says she knows the secret now. Margarita says yes she knows, but she wants some more explanations.

Anibal is appalled at the idea of Soledad being in the family vault, Fern says Gonzalo promised!

Barbara whines some more to Gonzalo, now that his kids don’t like or trust her. He still won’t tell her what Fernanda told him before. His loyalty to his daughter is deeper than his loyalty to Barb I guess. I suspect that he’ll not remember this at some crucial juncture.

Ed tells Margarita he is there incognito, the Elizaldes can’t find out who he is.

More arguing about Soledad’s resting place. Santiago and Aurora enter. Santiago says that Anibal is scared that he’ll die soon and Soledad will have taken his place! Anibal tells him to stop being a clown. Anibal whines that he wants the whole family to make the decision. I guess Gonzalo having promised it already means nothing.

Jacinto and Ed continue to tell Margarita everything that has been going on.

Santiago says Camilo should vote too, but he found him lying in a heap earlier. Gonzalo says to go get him.

Ed fills in Margarita on his plan for justice and begs for their help. He says they have to keep his secret. They agree when Ed says they can tell him when he crosses the line between justice and vengeance. I’ll believe that when I see it.

Santiago dumps unconscious Camilo on the sofa next to Gonzalo. Barb goes to leave, but Gonzalo says as his wife she gets a vote. Aurora leaves, a maid directs her to Fernanda’s room. Gonzalo repeats his promise to Soledad, he thinks she should be in the vault, but for some reason says his vote won’t count, the rest of them have to vote. Barbara thinks to herself that they are wasting time, her body will be rotted away anyway.

Eduardo gets ready to leave, but there is a knock on the door and he hides in the kitchen. It’s Lucio, drunk. He says he has instructions from Barbara. Once he’s in, he says that’s not true, he just wants to toast. He has a bottle of expensive champagne with him. He takes forever to pop the cork. He fills them in on Fernanda missing the whole party, and the flowers and note.

The voting starts – Anibal says no, somehow Camilo wakes up to say no and even though he can’t possibly know what they are talking about nobody protests his vote, Fernanda and Damian vote yes, Santiago says yes, then Barbara says no to tie it up. She says something lame about her own people being able to visit her better at the cemetery, so it’s not fair to bring her to the chapel.

Lucio says he wants to make a deal with Jacinto, one that will change his life!

Damian jokes that they settle their tie like in soccer, with penalty kicks! Fernanda scolds him like a child and he shuts up. Santiago says they should flip a coin and it looks like everyone will go along with this when Priscilla shows up and asks if she gets a vote, as a spouse. The answer of course is yes. Anibal tries to tell her something and she says “yeah thanks for letting me know” in a way that means “shut the hell up you loser.” She says her vote is………….

I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.

Also tomorrow – Barbara poisons Gonzalo’s nighttime glass of milk. He apparently doesn’t normally have milk at bedtime, but he gulps it right down anyway. If my wife ever wants to give me some drink at bedtime, which has never happened, there is no way in hell I’m drinking it. I’ve seen enough of these shows to know what that means.
Also – Damian and Fernanda get busy wedding night style, at least that’s what it looks like is going to happen. Erika asks Ed to do one more favor for her and he can ask for anything at all in return. She’s not very subtle it seems.

And just because I'm so excited about the new baby and my little family, and you have all been so nice sending me well wishes and all that, here are a couple photos -

Labels: manana