Amidst the crash, boom and bang of big studio blockbusters such as the terrible “Trasformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen” and the truly tedious “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra,” it’s nice to see an indie flick break through all the noise with a humorous take on highs and lows of love.

Now before you brand “(500) Days of Summer” as a chic flick, just hold on. What makes this film by first time director Marc Webb so special is how he presents this boy- meets-girl tale. Webb stays away from the tired clichés of the genre, opting for a fast paced, non-chronological approach that manages to keep the audience engaged throughout the entire film.

Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon Levitt) is a former architecture student who works for a greeting card company in New Jersey and falls hard for his boss’ new assistant, Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel). He is romantic and in search of “the one.” She is jaded and not necessarily looking for anything.

We first meet Tom and Summer on day 488 of their relationship in which we see them sitting on a park bench while silently holding hands; Summer wears engagement ring. The story goes back and forth in non-chronological order between the good days (their first kiss, at the copy machine room) and the bad ones (Summer tells Tom she wants to end the relationship and just be friends).

What is perhaps the most striking quality of “(500) Days of Summer” is its honesty portraying young love. Who hasn’t gone through an unrequited crush? Who hasn’t had a suitor they might not want to invite into their lives? Scenes like Tom and Summer’s stroll through an Ikea store and their trips to the park bring smiles and thoughts of, “yes, I know what that’s like,” just as much as that awkward scene when Summer breaks up with Tom over pancakes. Yes, I know what that’s like. Who doesn’t? There is no fantasy as in “The Time Traveler’s Wife” or excessively raunchy elements as in “The Hangover.” Webb approaches his story with a refreshing candor and humor that is noticeably lacking in most of today’s romantic comedies.

Mind you, the script, penned by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, is not that original. There are some scenes that have been done before, such as Tom’s triumphant march to work the morning after his first time sleeping with Summer. It’s a little too reminiscent of an Austin Powers movie, but it’s still good for a laugh.

As Tom, Gordon-Levitt shines. He is likable and believable. And so is Deschanel as Summer. The only problem with her character is that we don’t get to know her as well as Tom. Perhaps, we are meant to see her the same way Tom does, as a bit of a mystery that brings more questions than answers. Geoffrey Arend and Matthew Gray Gubler are enjoyable as Tom’s pals McKenzie and Paul. Tom’s younger sister, Rachel (Chloë Grace Moretz) was a bit problematic though, It was hard to believe that a 12 year-old could be wise enough to dispense the advice she gives him in the depths of his despair. Sure, there have been lots of smart urchins on screen but this one was a bit of a stretch. Perhaps the writers should have made her a teenager instead of a ‘tween.

Webb is mostly known as a music video director, having worked with the likes of Fergie, AFI, Green Day and Good Charlotte but “(500) Days of Summer” is a good feature film debut. Needless to say, I’m looking forward to his next film.

“(500) Days of Summer” is a Fox Searchlight Pictures release. It runs 95 minutes and is rated PG-13 for strong sexual content and language. Now playing at Caribbean Cinemas Fine Arts Café in Hato Rey and Caribbean Cinemas Fine Arts Theater in Miramar.

–Valerie López

For the delight of the electric ones, the biggest electronic music festival outside of Europe took place in Puerto Rico this past Friday and blew the minds of audiophiles away. The Arena Fairgrounds was transformed into a carnivalesque electronic maze where visual and aural stimulation reached maximum levels.

Fans were handed over a pair of prism glasses as they walked in the Electric Daisy Carnival grounds. These magnifying glasses were the key to the fun house of visuals and light shows that brought patrons to near convulsion.
Music lovers expected no less from the infamous festival, which began in 1996 in Southern California only to break assistance records in the history of electronic music in the United States. “This is amazing,” expressed Angel Santiago, a local DJ. “I’m still in shock that this event was brought to Puerto Rico. I’m sure it will be an intense night.”

The first stage was located in the area designated The Neon Arena, which equipped with a total of 9 screens, projected an intense visual play of digital art and photography. The polychromatic visualizations merged with the intense music of the DJs. The DJs that took this stage for the night were Alkalina and Dwek from Puerto Rico; Adultsnapper, Treasure Fingers, and Rabbit In The Moon from the United States; and JFK, one half of MSTRKRFT, from Canada.

Across the room was the Bass Pod area, a dance hall for fans of heavy bass lines and aggressive dance riffs. Although the smallest of the three, the Bass Pod stage dominated in intensity as it recreated the feel and vibe of crowded nightclub with a line-up of raucous DJs. From Puerto Rico, DJs Xstasy, Hugh, Cut Radio, Trixx and Lady Liquid spun their infectious beats, while foreign talents Dieselboy (USA), and Craze & Klever (USA) exerted their rabid tunes.

The maze of stages and halls lead to a wall labeled “No Exit”. Of course, daring patrons were received by carnival rides and the main stage dubbed the Kinetic Field. Many of the DJs that formed the line-up for this stage fused tropical rhythms and percussion beats. Plumpy Bitches, native to Puerto Rico, incorporated some bomba and plena to their beats, while Damian Lazarus showed some salsa love.

Visual displays and surprises never stopped at the carnival. A clown in a unicycle rode into the Kinetic Field, falling on the floor and interacting with the crowd, and a fire-breathing gypsy dazed the crowd with her blazing and fearless display.

Back in the Neon Arena, Rabbit In the Moon made quite an entrance by dressing up as the Grim Reaper, accompanied by a group of scantily clad female dancers in Venetian masks. He later appeared in a suit that lit up with multiple colors. He held up a rod with a screen that picked up images from the public to project them on the stage screens as he sang “look at the eye!”

When JFK from MSTRKFT played, the energy intensified. The audience went wild and reacted to every sound and every transition. At the same time, Diesel Boy invaded the Bass Pod and Underworld took over the Kinetic Fields with an incredible display of lights accompanied by images projected on giant inflatable balloons.

The Electric Daisy Carnival marked a milestone in the history of electronic music in Puerto Rico, and fans await its repetition.

by Sheyla Rivera; photos by Ricardo Ferrer

The Electric Daisy Carnival will be held in Puerto Rico for the first time on Friday, Aug. 14 at Arena Pier 10 in Old San Juan. Over 20 local and international performers – including the British band Underworld – will perform in a 12-hour music extravaganza with theatrical shows and carnival rides.

“[We want] people to take part in the event,” said Stephen Eachon of Rabbit in the Moon, one of the event’s main acts at the press conference yesterday. “We’re a performance-based electronic music band; we want people to feel something outside their daily lives.”

The event sponsored by Coors Light and produced locally by Buena Vibra Group imported for the first time to our shores this acclaimed show. The Electric Daisy Festival will take place at the Arena Pier 10 club, currently under transformation to resemble a carnival playground with rides, two indoor stages and one outdoor main stage.

The music line up includes drum and base master, DJ Diesel Boy and DJ Treasure House, a funk house DJ, among other acts that will spin free style, techno and electro hip hop. The main acts include Rabbit in the Moon, known for its outlandish costumes and psychedelic light show. From Canada, JFK from the group MSTRKRFT will also perform as well as the British band Underworld, know for their hit “Born Slippy.”

Light shows and theatrics abound at the Electric Daisy Carnival, traditionally held in Los Angeles California and Denver, Colorado and this year jugglers, flamethrowers and even Vejigantes from local performance company SAK Entertainment will add to the event’s extravagant milieu.

A 12 year-old project, the Electric Daisy Carnival travels across the Atlantic for the first time to perform in San Juan. “This is an opportunity to make a worldwide festival in Puerto Rico,” said Arnaud Cohen, Coors’ Brand Manager in Puerto Rico. “This adds to the other great festivals Coors Light does like Soundfields.

Cohen expects a turnout of 10,000 music fans. Around 4,000 tickets have already been sold.

Producer Max Pérez of Buena Vibra Group added that the event would pull international music fans as well. “About 1,500,” Pérez answered when asked how many overseas people he expected. Tickets are sold internationally by groovetickets.com, and local hotels have been contacted in preparation for these arrivals.

Security is also a big concern for producers; 100 police officers will be on site. “It’s the first time state and municipal police officers will work together,” Pérez added.

Another concern clarified was the parking availability. Festival organizers announced that several parking lots including one in the front of the club and the Treasury Department parking lot in Paseo Covadonga will open that night. Kids younger than 18 must be accompanied by a parent, and revelers must sign a release form when using the carnival rides.

Yesterday, event organizers worked around the clock to transform the Arena Pier 10 grounds into a carnival, prepping stages and sprucing the club up for the big event.

The festival begins at 5 pm Friday and continues uninterrupted until 5 am the next day. Tickets are available at ticketpop.com for $30.

by Huáscar Robles

The Overseas Press Club of Puerto Rico recently honored Metro San Juan with three OPC Award nominations. The journalism organization presented the finalists during a press conference and cocktail held at the Museo del Deporte de Puerto Rico in Guaynabo on Aug 7.

Metro’s Editor and Publisher Philipe Schoene received a nod in the Best Sports Reporting category for his story “How Posada Got His Groove” (APR 08). In an exclusive interview with Schoene, the New York Yankees catcher discussed his career with the team and his crusade to raise awareness on craniosynostosis, a rare condition that afflicted his son Jorge, Jr. Well-known for his coverage of local and stateside politics, Schoene has earned seven OPC Awards in several categories, including Best In-Depth Reporting and Best News Interview.

Associate Editor Valerie López landed her fourth OPC nomination in the Best Arts, Culture and Entertainment Reporting category with her story “A Show of Force”(NOV 08). The piece showcases Academy Award-winning actor Benicio del Toro as he made press rounds for his latest film project “Che.” López won an OPC Award in the Arts and Culture category in 2004 for her story “The Big Picture,” in which she spotlighted the state of Puerto Rico’s film industry.

Award-winning graphic artist and illustrator Jean Michel Fiedler was nominated in the Best Cartoon category for his illustration “Heaven and Hell at the San Juan Star” (DEC/JAN 09). The cartoon illustrates former San Juan Star Editor John Marino’s chronicle of the English-language daily’s demise last year. This is Fiedler’s first OPC nomination.

The Overseas Press Club will reveal the winners during its Annual Awards Gala on Aug. 29 at the El San Juan Hotel in Isla Verde.

–Valerie López

Since the release of Apple’s first generation iPhone in 2007, every telecommunications company has been out to destroy Apple’s groundbreaking phone with new devices that claim to upstage the iPhone’s innovations. Sadly, these new devices have failed at their attempts. But this year, a brand-new one began to create buzz as the ultimate iPhone Killer, the Palm Pre.

Palm’s announcement at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Showcase in Las Vegas of a multifaceted touch-screen phone was met with excitement from the technology industry. And it was rightly earned; the Palm Pre offers a new phone experience for the user with its 3.1-inch capacitive touch screen over a 24-bit color 320×480 resolution. The Pre has a full QWERTY keyboard which slides out to a curvature contouring to the user’s face, an accelerometer that creates the ability to automatically switch the orientation of the display between portrait and landscape, a 3 megapixel camera with an LED flash ensuring crisp and clear photos and an 8GB internal storage.

But these are just the superficial details; the Pre’s real claim to fame is its new operating system, the webOS. The webOS’ interface was modeled on a system of “cards” used to manage multitasking. Once an application is launched, the user is able to switch among applications by clicking the front-face button to bring up the “cards” and just flicking the “card” up - and “off” - the screen to close. The webOS also includes a feature called Synergy that integrates contact information and calendars from many sources such as Facebook, Gmail, Outlook and LotusNotes.

The Palm Pre is offered by Sprint at $199.99 with a two-year service plan. For more information please visit www.palm.com
—Stefanie Marie Rivera

If you’re waiting for a mortgage modification to make your home affordable in order to stave off default and possible foreclosure because of economic hardship, don’t hold your breathe, especially in Puerto Rico.

RG Mortgage Corporation is the only mortgage servicer on the island that is signed up to participate in the U.S. Treasury’s Making Home Affordable Program, which was launched by the Obama Administration in March 2009 to give relief to struggling homeowners.

The program’s 38 participating institutions nationwide recently got their first report card from Treasury and their performance was judged to be slow at best. Only 9 percent of eligible borrowers have received trial modifications under the plan, according to data released by Treasury.

“I think it’s safe to say we’re disappointed in the performance of some of the servicers,” Treasury’s Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions Michael Barr told reporters in a conference call. “We expect them to do more.”

A major component of the plan devotes $75 billion of financial-rescue funds to pay incentives to mortgage servicers, borrowers and investors that agree to modify loans according to certain standards.
The Treasury defines eligible borrowers as those who are 60 or more days behind on their mortgage payments. Out of a current pool of 2.7 million such borrowers, only 15 percent have been offered a trial modification. Under the program, borrowers must complete a three-month trial period with the modified loan before any incentives are paid out.

In the case of RG Mortgage, the incentive is valued at $57 million. RG estimates that it has 3,309 eligible borrowers who are 60 plus days delinquent and it has extended 72 offers of modification, according to Treasury’s report card as of the end of July 2009. Thus far, it has started no trial modifications.

To pressure servicers to improve their performance, the administration recently announced that Freddie Mac (FRE) will audit the applications of borrowers turned down from the program to see whether they slipped through the cracks. Meanwhile, the Treasury will continue to report the performance of servicers on a monthly basis.

Boomerang this: With mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures running high, all local banks have initiated loss mitigation programs geared to assist borrowers. We’d like to report on your experiences in this area, pro and con. Email us at www.metrosanjuan.com.

— Robert P. Schoene