Premio Lo Nuestro

Yesterday Kevin took me, Lisa, and my sister to Premio Lo Nuestro, a Spanish-language music award show. I had some doubts about going, and illness almost prevented me from going, but somehow I was well enough to go. So we drove all the way down to Mee-AH-Mee, where we had just gone last month. Instead of relying solely on public transportation, Kevin drove us there, and it took less than an hour. Once we were downtown, we spent about fifteen minutes trying to drive a few blocks (thank you, traffic), finally settling in one of the parking lots between the lanes of Biscayne Boulevard (US 1).

It was kind of weird seeing places that we had conquered in a big day last month. We decided to get a quick, cheap dinner at the Burger King on Calle Ocho (Southwest Eighth Street), where we ate at our last trip. The guy there must have been new, because a manager was showing him the ropes of taking an order. Naturally, they screwed up the whole order, but I didn't want to make a big deal out of it. I did learn something: You can't give a fast-food worker your whole order at once. They enter the first thing you say and don't get a chance to hear the rest. Anyway, I guess that that Burger King is going to be our hangout for any future Miami trips.

Anyway, we went back to the American Airlines Arena in time, and made it into the show. The whole thing was pretty nice. There were lots of people I've heard my sister and Kevin talking about. And the whole thing was televised live by Univision, so we taped it at home. Surprisingly (to me), it didn't seem to be much of a problem that the whole thing was in Spanish. Having taken a lot of Spanish classes didn't seem to help me much, except that I got the gist of at least one bit of banter. Also, the big screens were showing the cameras' views of everything -- what the viewers on TV were watching. The sweeping, constantly changing camera angles made the whole thing look more exciting. I think the cameras made the arena look bigger too.

Kevin and my sister were curious about what they would do during the commercial breaks. While we were watching the red carpet thing outside on the monitors, they basically had the big screens turned to Univision, complete with commercials. Once the show started, the screens switched to a "Premio Lo Nuestro" graphic during commercial breaks. On the floor, people shuffled around, and on the stage, people were setting up the next act. Then the announcer would count down ("cinco, cuatro...") and the show would resume. Now you know.

Apparently there's some controversy over how to pronounce "GIF." The GIF Pronunciation Page clears it up. You're supposed to say it with a soft "g," but that doesn't stop me from saying it with a hard "g" like I always have.

The Fight Goliath Fund is working to protect one Patti Santangelo from a file-sharing lawsuit levied against her by Big Music. Why won't she just settle with them? Because she's being accused of a crime she didn't commit.

Two years ago: "I hated blogs back then, but I didn't realize that they're all not written by depressed teenagers pouring their souls out."