A Busy Weekend

After writing Friday's post I continued to read yet more blogs. Blogs on everything and anything. At the end of the day, I was exhausted, but I couldn't get my mind to shut up. I was like a light-bulb on crack. So many ideas. So hard to fall asleep.

This brings me back to the first months of my last job, when I would drift away with endless detailed invoices in mind. I guess the experts really do mean it when they forbid you do stimulative tasks before you go to bed.

Anyways, on Sunday I was so dazed that I couldn't get anything done, except organizing the thousands of links that have gathered in my bookmarks folder in Chrome. By the time I was finished I realized that, boy, do I read a lot of nonsense. I really need to limit the dose of information I expose myself to. If I continue like this, I'll barely get done anything important.

The rest of the weekend was spent pretty much between movies, which I intend to review this week, hopefully. 

The first movie I saw was "A Better Life". Afterwards, I took a look at a couple of reviews, to find out why it had such a low rating, when I found it really moving. It seems a lot of people are really pissed at immigrants, especially illegal ones and really take their time judging them without having proper knowledge about them. I don't really see people as immigrants or natives. I see decent and not so decent people. And I am pretty pissed of at humans who treat other humans as if they are second class beings.

Many of those who had criticized the film said that it portraits illegal aliens in a unrealistic manner, because in reality they are lazy, good-for-nothing people who go to the States to live on the government's expense. One individual claimed in his review that the illegals take advantage of government pensions and food stamps, which doesn't make any sense. These people are illegal, therefore they do not have any papers, no social security numbers, how could they possibly claim these benefits when they do not officially exist. How could they claim them when they live in fear day and night of being deported?

Is it true that not all of those people are hard working and trustworthy? Yes! Is it not the same when it comes to the citizens of a country?Are they all hard working and trustworthy. No! But it so much easier to turn the aliens into scapegoats. To blame them for the country's failure. To made them take the fall for everything that goes wrong. Why blame the immigrants and not the people who hire them to make profit and avoid taxes? When there's demand, there will be offer. So why condemn these souls for wanting a better life for them and their children? I was shocked to read so many offensive comments insulting and threatening these groups of people.

I don't get this hatred , especially when it comes from Americans, since the US was built by immigrants. Immigrants that actually chased away the Natives from their lands. Are they afraid the aliens would do to them what they did to the Native-American tribes 200 hundred years ago? Fear not, it's not likely to happen. So, please, give these poor people a break. This doesn't mean you should give them special treatment,  or sympathize with them, just stop treating them like garbage but like fellow human beings. That means giving them a fair chance to become citizens based on what really matters, paying their taxes. But when it comes around to getting a Visa first (I've heard and read some horror stories on this process), it is quite clear why so many people take the illegal way. They are starving in their own countries and since they probably don't have a degree they have a zero change to get that Visa. They don't make this choice out of pleasure of breaking the American law, but due to their predicament.

This being said, moving on to the next topic, or better said, the next film, "Snow White and the Huntsman". I was excited to see if because I'm pretty much a sucker for decent fairytales, but this one really failed to deliver, as far as I'm concerned. The only thing I found remotely ok was Charlize's character. I rather enjoyed her intense yelling. Snow White was portrayed by Kristen Stewart, an uninspired choice I would say. Sweet girl, pretty, but why does she have to be seem so panicky all the time? For most of the movie it seemed like she was having a panic attack, even when she was in a safe environment and supposed to be smiling. And then the romantic challenge. Kristen and Chris Hemsworth? Really? Leaving aside the lack of chemistry, their characters' interaction was so underdeveloped. Was I supposed to believe they were in love? Maybe if I was 10 I would have found it convincing. Anyways. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter was much more entertaining than this movie.

And at last, I watched Casino. I found it OK. Not good, not bad, just OK. Intriguing story, good acting but somehow I couldn't connect to the characters. I think I enjoyed American Gangster a lot more. But maybe this happened because of the overall tiresome weekend.

Anyways, I have along week ahead of me and I have to shake off this "post-holiday" confusion.

P.S. I've also been following Euro 2012 and I was really happy too see Spain win.