Author: gringopotpourri

Gringo - aka Scott - was born outside of Chicago and has lived most of his life in or around big cities. He spent two years of his adult life in Mexico City (talk about big cities!) and fell in love with Mexican food and culture all while weathering the challenges of life in a city with over 20 million people. Life's unpredictable journey has since brought him to Tennessee, where he is close to family and to the natural beauty of the Great Smoky Mountains. Scott also enjoys movies, hiking, top ten lists, and travel in general.

Olympic Fever?

Alpenzoo 14 - view of Innsbruck

Every two years, in February or August, I get caught up in what’s called “Olympic fever.” This is an exciting two weeks during which 100+ countries from six continents compete in a two-week spread of friendly athletic competition. From audience favorites like figure skating and gymnastics to more obscure events such as skeleton and dressage, dozens of sporting events each get their moment in the international spotlight. Many of these events aren’t regularly televised, so for the athletes (and their sponsors), the Olympics are, literally, a high stakes, once-every-four-years event.

This year is different. The XXII Winter Olympiad is winding down as I write this, and yet I could hardly care one way or the other. When you consider that, as recently as 18 months ago, I was determined to travel to Sochi, Russia to witness – firsthand – the opening ceremonies, the ski jump finals, the bobsled run, and other events, it seems strange for me to suddenly be so disinterested. What happened?

Continue reading “Olympic Fever?”

A Saturday in Tequisquiapan

It’s been awhile – two months, more-or-less, since I last posted about my life in Mexico.  I returned to Mexico from the U.S. three weeks ago, determined to make 2014 a great year.  I was also determined to take better advantage than I did in 2013 of living in Mexico City to visit places of interest surrounding the metropolis.

I’ve held true to my word so far, and took a day trip two Saturdays ago to Tequisquiapan, a “Pueblo Mágico” (magical town) two hours north of el DF.  I enjoyed the company of Monroy, a good friend and enthusiastic Chilanga who, as it happens, has a car.  I met her at 8 a.m. near where she lived in the Polanco district of Mexico City, and we were on our way.

Continue reading “A Saturday in Tequisquiapan”

Top Ten Films of 2013

A week ago I posted my reactions to this year’s list of Academy Award nominees; the post included my initial predictions as well as my insights as to why some films or actors may have been snubbed over others. After all, there are always a few surprises.

You can read the post here. A couple of readers inquired about my “Top Ten Movies” list for the year. I recited a few favorite films off the top of my head, but never compiled an exact list. Top ten lists, however, are essentially a prerequisite for any film critic, even an amateur such as myself. So without further ado – and noting that I haven’t seen every 2013 film on my wish list – here’s my (pending) list.

Continue reading “Top Ten Films of 2013”

Oscar Nominations 2013-14 – predictions vs. reactions

This is my second consecutive year predicting the nominees via my blog, though I’ve been informally making these predictions for perhaps 15 years now, with a 75% degree of accuracy on average. If I was a Vegas odds-maker in this category I’d likely make a small fortune. Then again, there are categories like Best Director – 2012-13, where I only predicted two of the five eventual nominees correct.  Stranger things have happened….

Because I took a few weeks off from blogging, I never got around to writing a specific “predictions” post. As such, I’ll combine my predictions and my reactions in a single entry, below. The nominations were announced yesterday morning. My predictions were made in advance, and I suppose there’s no way of proving that I didn’t just make them up today to make myself look good. Honor system. Really. 🙂

Best Picture

My predictions (in alphabetical order):
American Hustle
Blue Jasmine
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity
Nebraska
The Wolf of Wall Street
12 Years a Slave

Continue reading “Oscar Nominations 2013-14 – predictions vs. reactions”

New Year, New Blog Post

Happy New Year, Loyal Reader! I can hardly believe it’s 2014 already – truly, where does the time go?! I stayed away from my blog for awhile, partly due to slow internet at my parents’ house, where I have spent the last three weeks; and partly due to a simple promise to give myself some R&R. Mission accomplished, I’m back in Mexico City and ready to make this a productive year.

So what have I been up to? In addition to spending quality time with the ‘rents, I visited Chicago for five wonderful days and nights. I hadn’t been there since the July 2011 wedding of my friend Miles, and it seemed a good place to lay over en route to Tennessee.

It is no secret that Chicago is a cold place to be most Decembers. In this context, “cold” is a word to be used loosely. Some years, December is a brisk – but bearable – 35 degrees. Every so many years, you can get away with a light jacket and scarf. Then there are years like 2013, when December temperatures hover in the single digits, sometimes with a negative sign before the number. As it happens, my visit to Chicago took place during one such year.

Continue reading “New Year, New Blog Post”

Holiday Travels – Part Four

This will be my last blog post for awhile. I left Mexico nine days ago to spend Christmas and New Year’s Eve with family living in the U.S. I am posting this from Memphis, where Christmas will be celebrated, same as last year, with NYE being toasted from Eastern Tennessee. My first stop, however, was Chicago, where I stayed with old friends and attended the wedding of my cousin Jessie. Prior to Jessie’s nuptials, the last time I saw her – or any of my cousins, for that matter – was over 11 years ago! I also visited The Herr, a Facebook friend from the travel world whom I had actually never met face-to-face. Our afternoon of suburban adventures included Gene & Jude’s Hot Dogs, countless brewskis (that’s “beers” to you non-Chicagoans), and sofa time with the world’s friendliest cat, Rusty. I must say, even with the zero-degree temps and subzero wind chill that overtook Chicago during the week of my visit, I rather enjoyed myself. In fact, I had a blast.

Last year I posted a series of “Holiday Travel” entries in which I posted favorite memories from holiday travels over the past dozen or so years – Thanksgiving in Stockholm and Copenhagen (2010); New Year’s Eve in Rome (2008-09); a Smoky Mountain Christmas (2011). Give them a read; they’re fairly short and the writing holds up well.

I thought I’d add one more entry to the series. I was still a corporate drone in 2008; come November I had used up my vacation time for the year. Spending Turkey Day in Europe or Asia was out of the question as a result, but I consulted airline timetables carefully and came up with an itinerary that let me make optimal use of the four-day weekend that was already a guarantee: red-eye flights from LAX to/from Québec City and Montréal!

Continue reading “Holiday Travels – Part Four”

Remembering Nelson Mandela

It’s been an interesting couple of months.  My October and November were particularly fraught with hassles, some of which were side effects of living in a big city while others were simply bad luck.  December, so far, has been looking brighter.  The weather has been fabulous, I’m going stateside next week for an entire month, and my end-of-year class schedule has been simultaneously relaxed and productive.  This afternoon, however, threw me for a loop.  I returned from running some errands, turned on my computer, and learned that one of my personal heroes, Nelson Mandela, had died.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t see it coming.  Mr. Mandela was plagued with recurring health problems for much of the year.  Still, he looked great, and life in post-Apartheid South Africa was good to him.  He was 95.

I had the privilege of touring his former home with a friend of mine when we visited South Africa in 2009.  Two of his former homes, actually – although only one was resided in by Mandela out of choice.  For the former, I’m talking about his house-turned-museum in Soweto, near Johannesburg.  For the latter, I’m talking about his tiny prison cell on Robben Island, near Cape Town.

Continue reading “Remembering Nelson Mandela”

Top Ten Holiday Movies

I bemoaned on Facebook perhaps two weeks ago that I wasn’t ready for Christmas. More specifically, that it still seemed too early for department stores to be decked out in Christmas-y color. A 30-foot artificial Christmas tree in a shopping mall atrium next to a real, year-round palm tree…and Halloween (at the time my comment was posted) was barely two weeks old?! Shudder.

But temperatures have been getting cold – a few days last week were Chicago-esque, almost. I called my parents a week ago and heard my dad listening to Christmas music in the background. The weather – and dad’s “muzak” choices – cold-cocked me into reality: Christmas is less than a month away. And for that matter, Thanksgiving is tomorrow! The next four weeks will seemingly pass in the blink of an eye, but it is a given that even down here, at least one of those weekends will be spent re-watching one of the same old holiday movies that I’ve no doubt seen two dozen times already.

Here, Loyal Reader, for curiosity and for what I hope will prompt a fun discussion, are my top ten favorite holiday movies.

Continue reading “Top Ten Holiday Movies”