Please Don't Ruin My Memoires
At least when Vicky Cristina Barcelona is released no one can accuse me of it inspiring me to go to Catalonia. However, I plan to wait until the DVD release before watching it, if at all. In the meantime, I think I may rent L'auberge Espagnole, which had the good sense of portraying the Brits as the ugly Americans I had a similar experience with the Brits there who were much louder and coarser than any people I saw from the U.S.
posted by Ladrón de Basura (a.k.a. Junk Thief) @ 5:15 PM
8 comments
8 Comments:
Just a random piece of trivia, but did you know that in the 1960 novel The Ugly American, which inspired not only that particular phrase but helped inspire the formation of the U.S. Peace Corps, the ugly title character was actually the only one who didn't fit the stereotype of an American overseas? In fact, during PC training the ugly American in the novel was held up as an example of how we were all supposed to aspire to comport ourselves as ambassadors of third world development and world peace. Just an interesting example of how expressions stray from their original meanings.
Also, there used to be a pretty awesome punk band called the Ugly Americans back in the 80s. I wonder whatever happened to them?
Dave - I am vaguely aware of that fact and its link to the PC since I've known and work with several dozen RPCVs through the years. I also think I've heard of the band too. Like so many facts in my brain, they get muddled up with all that history of malaria and dengue fever. Isn't it funny how so much of my work and travels come back to punk bands? Surely there is a group called Amoebic Dysentery out there.
Ladron, I think you mean "aerobic."
Dave - No, Aerobic Dysentery is a disco band with none of the edge of Amoebic Dysentery.
Not to hate on the Brits, but there were some very loud, obnoxious, and trashily-tarted-up ones that I remember from my trip there.
L'Auberge Espagnole was a really fun film and I loved it when I first saw it.
I generally am fine with Woody Allen, though his recent offerings haven't wowed me.
Kusala - I actually am generally fine with Woody's films. It's not as if Mel Gibson were making a film there about how we Jews and homos ruined the city. I'm sure he'd have our bloody bodies hanging from the fancy lamp posts of Passeig de Gracia. Woody's romantic choices are a bit inappropriate, but I just noticed on imdb that Soon-Yi is nearly 40. How time flies.
Wow! The Brits get a D-rating on their behavior in Catalonia! WHO FREAKIN' KNEW?!
A very embarrassing low score for English-speaking peoples!
WAT - Oh, they weren't that bad on the whole, but I was on the plane with a group of Brits in their 20s who acted like a bunch of Texas frat boys going for spring break on South Padre Island. They were so tacky as to be wearing these huge Mexican sombreros. I wanted to pull them aside and say, "Sorry boys, wrong hats for this Spanish speaking country." The only English speakers who have a worse reputation are the Australians on holiday in Bali. They have a sort of a what happens in Bali stays in Bali attitude, though I'm sure the Balinese wish they'd just keep it in Sydney and not export it.
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