Hispanic Icon Series 2

Desi Arnaz (1917-1986)
Desi Arnaz was instrumental in the creation and the production of one of the most beloved TV sitcoms ever made. Soon after Arnaz arrived in America at the age of 16, he joined the Siboney Septet and later put together his own rumba band. In 1940, Desi appeared in both the stage and movie versions of Too Many Girls. It was on the set of this movie where he met his future wife, Lucille Ball. Later that year, Desi and Lucille got married. When the couple came up with the idea for a TV Series, they fought to do it together in spite of the reluctance of the network’s executives: They didn’t think the TV series would work because Desi was Cuban. In the summer of 1950, they went on tour, performing for live audiences to prove that the show savings of $5,000. In no time, he and Lucy became the most famous couple in TV history. He convinced the show’s sponsor that Lucy having a baby on the show would give them great publicity. He was right. The Birth of Little Ricky drew 44 million viewers. As a successful executive at DesiLu productions, he also produced many other shows for television.





Luis Buñuel (1900-1983)
Buñuel was one of the greatest European directors of the 20th century. He was the founder of surrealist cinema, a man who enjoyed a career as diverse and contradictory as his films. He was a master of both silent and sound cinema, of documentaries as well as features. His greatest work was produced in the two decades after his 60th year, a time when most directors have either retired or gone into decline. Although frequently characterized as surrealist, many of his films were dramas and farces in the realist or neorealist mode. Yet despite all the innovations and permutations of his work, Buñuel remained surprisingly consistent and limited in the targets of his social satire: the Catholic Church, bourgeois culture, and fascism. His friends included several of Spain’s great artists and writers, including Salvador Dalí and Federico García Lorca. Some of his famous films are Un Chien Andalou 91928), The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972), That Obscure Object of Desire (1977), and Belle De Jour (19670, starring Catherine Deneuve.

Hispanic Icon Series 1

Antonio Gaudí (1852-1926)
Gaudí was one of the world’s greatest architects. No trip to Barcelona is complete without visiting his majestic buildings, parks, and monuments. He studied at the School of Architecture in Barcelona, and became the most famous exponent of Catalán “modernism”, one of the branches of the Art Nouveau movement. He is best known for the extravagant and ornate Church of the Holy Family in Barcelona, which occupied him from 1884 until his death. The Sagrada Familia Church is a work in progress; it will take many years before Gaudí’s masterful and detailed designs come to fruition.




Federico García Lorca (1898-1936)
Federico García Lorca is Spain’s most deeply appreciated and highly revered poet and dramatist. His murder by the Nationalists at the start of the Spanish Civil War brought sudden international fame. He must now be bracketed with Machado as one of the two greatest poets Spain produced in the 20th century, and he is certainly Spain’s greatest dramatist since the 16th century. His reputation as a playwright rests mainly on the three “folk tragedies”: Blood Wedding, Yerma, and The House of Bernarda Alba. The setting of this trilogy recalls some of his poetry, deeply associated with earth, blood, sex, water, fertility, death, and the moon. These plays are richly poetic, with an almost ritualized primitivism. They have captivated audiences around the world for decades.

Genso Suikoden II: Play or Not to Play?

Back at times when the PS is still a little weenie at its first year of appearance, Suikoden was one of the first generation RPGs released for it (besides other title like Beyond the Beyond) released in late 1996 by Konami. The game quickly became the console’s most heralded RPG, acclaimed for enhancing the traditional RPG experience with innovative additions such as unheard of 108 playable characters, a castle headquarters (no cheap inns or clunky airships for this cast of characters), and two unique battle types: the one-on-one duel and epic battles pitting entire armies against each other. And now Konami looks to treat its audience with same formula for success that made Suikoden a hit with their impending sequel, Akatsuki Teikokugawa, roughly meaning “Scarlet Moon: Imperial Side.”

In Scarlet Moon, Konami has decided to stick for the unique elements that made its predecessor a success. Staying true to the Chinese fable around which the Suikoden series is loosely based, the game will revolve around a central figure and his 107 allies. Army battles and a headquarters for allies to hang their hats in also included and improved upon. Even the battle engine will remain basically the same as the original, but will be souped up with a higher number of individual combination attacks.

The story of Scarlet Moon will be tightly intertwined with its predecessor, taking place just three years afterwards. When in this sequel, you play the part of the same empire that you battle against in the original the Imperil Side which your character coming from.

There’s the traditionally nameless hero, Joey and Nanami. The hero and Nanami (described a a cheerful tomboy) share the same father via adoption whose name is Genkaku, a master of a local dojo. Joey is the hero’s childhood friend and a member of the distinguished, well-to-do Atreido family. The hero and Joey join UNICORN, a military youth corps of Highland Kingdom after the death of Genkaku. While in this unit, they participate in a series of border dispute fueled battles against the Jouston Cities Alliance that only result in a stalemate.

When a truce is finally achieved, the animosity between the two sides still lingers as the story unfolds. The bulk of the allies the hero gains along the way are defectors from the Jouston Cities Alliance, implying that Highland Kingdom is a member of the Scarlet Moon Empire. Expect appearances from about one third of Suikoden’s characters in Scarlet Moon, including Flik and Victor.