CityVida

May 18, 2012, 9:08am CST (“Battleship”: Who Said Hollywood Ain’t Patriotic?) Have you seen those slick U.S. Navy “A Global Force for Good” commercials with their sweeping shots of destroyers, aircraft carriers, and space satellites and its sensuous close-ups of weaponry and hardware? “Battlefield,” the latest big screen incarnation of a Hasbro toy franchise, is a two hour and thirteen minutes long version of those commercials.

May 16, 2012, 9:53am CST (“The Dictator,” the Perfect Comedy for the NATO Summit) I didn’t see Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Borat” and “Bruno” when they were first released. In fact, I have yet to see them, in part because their “ambush” style of pseudo-documentary filmmaking makes me uncomfortable. But after seeing his latest film, “The Dictator,” I was forced to face my own prejudices. Isn’t satire, after all, supposed to make us feel uncomfortable by confronting us with the sad and ugly truths we willingly ignore while laughing at them?

May 14, 2012, 10:51am CST (Bobbi and Cissy Reality Show - Really!, Travolta Troubles, JLO and PDA, Gossip Tidbits and Hottie of the Week) Happy Monday, Cityvida readers! Welcome back to what will hopefully be a fast, but productive work week. I hope all the mommies were shown appreciation yesterday on their special day. Here’s your dose of chisme for this week.

May 11, 2012, 9:32am CST (Dating Moms) Happy Mothers Day to all the Dating Moms. Also the single moms that are contemplating entering the dating world soon. Dating is complicated enough, now add being a single mom or dating a single mom to the mix and you have an instant misadventure.

May 10, 2012, 9:50pm (Out of the “Dark Shadows,” a mediocre movie emerges) The time has come for Johnny Depp and Tim Burton to go their separate ways, even if for awhile, just like Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro did in 1983 after the release of the bitingly dark satire “The King of Comedy.” The only difference is that Scorsese and De Niro took a break from each other at the height of their creative powers while the Burton-Depp partnership is beginning to run on empty.

May 7, 2012, 11:41am CST (Marriage Comes First, Bobby B Passing the Blame, Rebel Rihanna, Bye Bye Bye ... Hair and Hottie of the Week) Happy Monday, CityVida Readers! Hope everyone is back at work, recuperating from the rainy Cinco de Mayo weekend. We’re back, with some more chisme for you, to get the week started right. So grab that cup of coffee, sit back, and let’s begin.

May 6, 2012, 3:41pm CST (The perks of going to see a movie in the hood.) There are hood movie theaters. We can all call them out: Ford City, the Cicero AMC, and the Kerasotes City North, to name a few. If they hadn’t closed that one on south Western, it would have been the King Pin of them all.

May 4, 2012, 9:47am (Back in Business) It’s been awhile since I last stocked my Culture Bodega blog and the reason for that is quite simple: I was hired as the Media Relations Coordinator for the 28th Chicago Latino Film Festival, a (fun) freelance gig that kept me really busy these past two months. It was the second film festival I’ve worked for in less than a year, after my stint as Publications Manager for the 47th Chicago International Film Festival, where I was responsible for putting together their schedule and program books among a myriad other writing-related duties.

April 30, 2012, 1:11pm CST (Marc Anthony in Love, TLC Reunion, McDreamy Saves the Day, Gossip Tidbits and Hottie of the Week) Happy Monday, CityVida readers! Welcome back to another exciting edition of chisme. I’m sure we are all ready to get back to work and get the week started right, but let’s catch up on the chisme first so you have plenty of water cooler talk.

April 23, 2012, 11:39am CST (Lindsay Back to Her Old Tricks, Mayor Kardashian, Tupac on Tour, Gossip Tidbits and Hottie of the Week) Buen dia, Cityvida readers! Happy Monday! Welcome back to another work week and another edition of our weekly chisme roundup. Is it bad that I’m already looking forward to the weekend? I’m sure I’m not the only one. So let’s kick the week off with some chisme!