the apocalyptic buenos aires film festival

Interkosmos was playing in the Abastos shopping mall when the entire block had a blackout. We were eating across the street. They got the lights back on after 10 minutes or so and then another delay getting the subtitles and projections queued up. The people that stayed for the q and a were really excited about the film. An old couple said that they thought they were going to see Aaron Copeland's "The Planets" but were actually pleasantly surprised. I was asked why I thanked Hugo Chavez in the credits and I said I also thanks Judy Garland and Greta Garbo. But I thanked Chavez because he drives the Bush administration crazy. He is one of their failures. While they were obsessed with Iraq, that coup got away from them. And, of course, he is someone who can kick the ass of the US (at least verbally). Huele a sulfre...(it smells like sulfur, the devil was hear yesterday). The next night was a smoke-filled city. They were burning fields in the islands and areas around Buenos Aires and the wind apparently did not agree with them so all the smoke blew into the city. It was like there was a fire around the corner and you kept expecting the smoke to dissipate but it never did.