Ioanes Resl

That can’t be right. Newlyweds! Impossible. Mexican children ok, but british newlyweds. Unbelievable.

Relax, sit back, enjoy the show. What country has the most infected, who’s going to have the first deaths? Seek your favorite sportsbook and place a bet. Designers of face masks, that’s your chance! I know you waited so long for this opportunity. Jehova’s witnesses, isn’t that a good chance to predict the end of the world (one again?). I know you. The one’s sick of this world. Trying to fuck the system and eventually finding out that it fucked you all over the whole time. You lure in the dark, waiting for a sign of a Change (but not the Obama kind of way) and now you think you have found it. After all these years. Berlin Wall, 9/11, SARS, avian flu, economic crises and now finally a story big enough to make it to the global headlines. Fox & co can’t be wrong. Start digging the tunnels - or just close the door if you have done this a long time ago. Enjoy you’re canned beans while others are still running on infected streets or worry about the fact that the disease came from a filthy animal and give it a nicer name (with Mexican Flu I can’t help thinking about a group of virus dancing ‘la cucaracha’.. sorry for the cliche).

Not even sex sells as good as fear and disaster.

idea&vfx&editing: Ioanes Resl
music: Farid Farjad

There are various reasons why television is shit. Free TV of course. The addictive potential of HBO, cinemax & co is written on another page. It’s not only the content (there have been enough jokes about MTV not playing music, but it borders on cynicism when you watch what they actually dare to call program).
It’s the freakin’ ads that drive one crazy. Who the fuck would let a stranger into one’s house so that they can first put dirt on your carpet and then proudly clean it? My personal favorite is Mr. Musculo. A – You’d never guessed it – muscular, tall, hansom (?) looking bodybuilding scientist always equipped with glasses that incorporate a head set, wearing a skin tight cleaning uniform. Whenever a poor woman out there is crying because of dirty mark on their cloth – he is there.
In this spot the young protagonist is first asking in her work if a colleague can help her (which he does of course, and I’m sure he’s got a good reason). Then in the supermarket she again needs help to carry her stuff to her car. She is shown with a little boy so we can imagine she’s a working mother. When she finally comes home (without her son?) she is asking who’s going to help her with all the dirty dishes. Take a look at the size of the kitchen. No way she could afford this with the job she was shown doing in the first scene. And if she’s already well suited, why not having someone to do the dishes (this wouldn’t be so weird to have in Argentina). Of course the guy who is helping her with the dishes is Mr. Musculo. He then explains the poor and naïve house wife/mother how to clean up her huge and dirty kitchen. Once finished, the muscle man has to take of because another woman is in need.
Of course it’s not the only ad that uses this cliché. Poor (stupid) woman and a wise (intelligent) man who explains her how the world works. Other versions feature a singing man, knocking on your door and melting the woman’s heart by bringing her detergent or a group of women gathering to a marvelous demonstration of how to remove a dirty, dirty spot. The actual language doesn’t matter. Spanish, Portuguese, German, English … the shit doesn’t get any better.
These guys didn’t really get it that we’re already in the 21st century. Or did they? Isn’t it a shame that this kind of ads still work? That there is a clientele out there who is stupid enough to buy this product after airing such a waste of resources?

The four Apolo trains from Spain just arrived in Costa Rica. In the next weeks they are going to be adapted to fit the 1.06 gauge tracks.
The trains are part of a new infrastructure concept to solve the transport situation in the central valley where decades of corruption, misplanning and lack of vision have left the economical, political and cultural center of Costa Rica in a devastated shape. Streets flooded with SUVs and old buses together with replacement of the old architecture with concrete block (60/70 style) gave the city the rest. But it was not always like that. If you look at the old San José there was even a tramway, not to mention the clean streets and nice buildings. The city officials came up with a number plate system where certain numbers are not allowed to enter the city during a specific day. However this is merely more than just the beginning. The same thing applies to the construction of the new pedestrian zones in the capital. A great thing, but as long the problem of how people get into the city is not resolved, there is no real chance for improvement.

In the early days one could go from one Puntarenas on the Pacific side of the county to Puerto Limon on the Caribbean side by train. Then along comes a president who by coincidence owns a large transportation company and does everything to shut down the competition. After a earthquake the rest of the line is disabled. After years of no passenger service at all the line reopened as a kind of metro connecting Pavas and the Universidad Latina in San José. According to the plan of the department of transportation they want to introduce electric trains in 2013 to connect the city of Heredia and the capital. But as always, one has to be careful not to drown in too much excitement as this announcements tend to change, especially because next year is an election year. It’s not that the people wouldn’t like it. Anybody who remembers the old days of San José is deeply frustrated by the current situation.

A working transport system is exactly what this city needs and in my humble opinion it can really be quite a new beginning. Not to imagine what the city could look like if you get out just half of all the cars.

Maybe one day it will be possible to travel from Mexico directly to Panama City, but this sure is going to take some more decades.

More Info: Trenes de Costa Rica (spanish)