What Is It?

If you live in a place other than Costa Rica, you might not know what this is. 

Hint:  Not all of them are in this condition and sometimes their purpose is just as efficiently served by a tree or telephone pole or a particularly located piece of ground. 

CLASSIC CHRISTMAS MOVIES 2009

1) "The Bishop's Wife" (1947)-Cary Grant, Loretta Young, David Niven plus so many more veteran actors fill the screen.

Cary Grant is an Angel sent down in response to a prayer from the Bishop (Niven) for help in raising funds for a new cathedral.

The Bishop gets more help than he bargained for however, as the Angel becomes entwined in his work on the cathedral and his family situation.

2) "Miracle on 34th Street" (1947)-What was it about this year that gave birth to such a pair of Christmas Gems?
This movie stars Maureen O'Hara, Natalie Wood, John Payne and Kris Kringle himself, Edmund Gwenn.  When a nice old man keeps insisting that he's Santa Claus, he gets thrown in an insane asylum.

A young lawyer (Payne) risks his career and love interest (O'Hara) to defend Kris in a court case that grabs the attention of the whole country.

3) "Elf"- Stars Will Ferrell, Zooey Deschanel, James Caan, Mary Steenburgen, Bob Newhart and Edward Asner.  This movie continues its staying power every year.

It can now be safely stated that Elf has joined the ranks of genuine Christmas Classics.  Buddy the Elf (Ferrell) is a very tall human raised by Papa Elf (Newhart) at the North Pole from an infant after he crawled into Santa's (Asner) Magical Sack of Toys on a Christmas Eve toy run.

Since he doesn't really fit in (literally), Buddy is sent to New York city on a mission to find his real father (Caan), and the adventure begins.

These are 3 of the 10 Holiday movies on the Jacosun Classic Christmas Movie list.

As a bonus, links are provided to seldom seen, sometimes bizarre, Christmas T.V. Specials which aired in some cases only one time;  like "The Star Wars Holiday Special" from 1978 or "Santa Clause Conquers the Martians" from 1964 which is so horrible that it has become a Cult Classic and made it as #10 on our Best list.

To read about and actually experience The Most Entertaining Christmas Movie Classics of all time, go to Jacosun.com.

Killing Lily's Apple

Good news---If you bring your laptop to Jaco Beach, the airport security guards won't shoot it full of holes!

An increasing number of Costa Rica visitors bring their computers along on their vacations, finding WiFi signals abundant in most population centers.

Airport security here is used to seeing them and properly inspects the electronic devices with nary a shot fired, so far.

An American student, Lily Sussman was not so fortunate when traveling across the Egyptian/Israeli border.

Her Apple Macbook became a perforated paperweight when some kind of "misunderstanding" occurred as she was told, "I'm sorry, but we had to blow up your laptop".
Read more in jacosun.com.

OBAMA'S SIGNAL

The strange spiral lights seen above the Oslo, Norway sky this week may eventually be displayed over the Vulcan Poas, here in Costa Rica, if Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez continues his military buildup countering the threat he perceives from the strengthening Columbian/U.S. BFF relationship.

The strange spiral lights in the Norwegian night sky were first thought to be a natural phenomenon, perhaps some speculated, a positive celestial sign of approval to accentuate the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony for Barack Obama. The actual reason for the lights, however do send the world a message---a message of darkness, evil and violence. As it turns out, the beautiful glowing spiral was caused by a failed missile launch by our old friends from Russia.

Ironically, this attempted show of military might comes just after President Obama canceled the George Bush era Central European missile shield last November. This no doubt sent the now independent former Soviet bloc countries into serious flashbacks of Russian tanks and brigades of AK-47 wielding soldiers crushing their world with an iron fist.

So, as a message to the world, to the Russian home audience and directly to the silver tongued Chicago Political Organizer in his moment of international recognition, the Bat Signal was sent into the sky, alerting the world that Russia is now engaged in reclaiming their Yard Bully Status.

The bitter fruits of a weak leader are already sprouting from the kumbaya seeds that were planted with good intent by a man who wants “us all to just get along” and whose enemies are of the domestic type like Insurance companies, the U.S. military, big business and Republicans.

No Doubt About the Sacrifice

There were never any public discussions about "timetables"---There was no "whining" about the cost---There Was No Doubt About The Sacrifice.

No Matter How Long It May Take Us To Overcome This Premeditated Invasion, The American People, In Their Righteous Might, Will Win Through To Absolute Victory

President Franklin Roosevelt talked to the nation from a joint session of Congress with an often quoted speech on the day after December 7th, 1941. We can not afford to ever forget this date and what the United States of America did to give so many a chance of pursuing happiness without tyranny. FDR's full speech is at jacosun.com.

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Cowboys and Horses

In celebration of Garabito, the county in which Jaco Beach is located, a Tope, or horse parade was performed Saturday, with some of the most beautiful horses and people from many local ranches (fincas) taking part. A great family event, the Tope is scheduled to celebrate just about anything in Costa Rica, as the love of horses runs deep in the Tico Soul. A tradition of providing free beer to the riding participants is somewhat surprising to Gringos, however no one fell off of their horse or even swayed in the least little bit. This may be attributable to the fact that locally made beer is much like water. Read more and look at the photo gallery in jacosun.com.

End of the Earth As We Knew It (according to scientists)

Why would a group of highly educated, highly respected English scientists lie to the whole world about Global Warming temperatures?

They succumbed to basic human motives that have been with us since the First Day; Greed and Power.

As this international scandal unravels we find a huge money making scheme with what appears so far to involve the United Nations and a secretive group of British scientists.

They are using a generation of our fear and guilt about how we thought we were "killing our Planet" as "Global Warming" data showed we were headed to our doom.

Now it looks like the IPCC, which was set up by the U.N. itself has been forging numbers in order to get nations to sign off on the "Cap and Trade" agreements that fire up the Carbon Credit cash machine. Read the story in jacosun.com

Biggest Straw Cowboy Hat Award goes to Owen from Playa Bandera!

THANKSGIVING IN COSTA RICA 2009

Yesterday we attended the “Pura Vida No Pro Surf Contest” in Esterillos Este, just a little south of Jacó Beach. The name of this event disguises what it really is. It should be named, “A Special Day For Special Children”, or “One Of The Best Days A Special Child Could Ever Have In His/Her Life”, or “Count Your Blessings Day”. Boys and girls from the oldest orphanage in Costa Rica (1886) were brought in from the nation’s capitol, San Jose, to one of the most beautiful places on the Costa Rican Pacific coast, the Pelican Hotel, for a day of fun at the beach.

Now in its 8th year, the “No Pro” event continues to give abandoned and abused children Golden Memories of happiness and interactions with people who care. The children arrived at 8am and were immediately fed breakfast. Then, as the kids finished eating, they were issued special bracelets and divided into 6 groups of 6 kids each with 10 volunteers per group. The schedule of activities on the big chalkboard makes it immediately clear that the “No Pro” group knows what kids like and has developed the organizational skills to make it happen.

The official “Timekeeper” was the DJ, Cesar Vargas. Like a digital stopwatch, when it was time for the kids to move on to the next activity or take a food break, Cesar would lower the volume of the music, a siren would sound and his booming announcement was heard all the way out to the farthest wave. Laughter, smiles and sounds of excitement from children having fun were all around us, making the atmosphere unforgettable. The groups of kids rotated from Surfing to Volleyball to Yoga to Hip Hop dancing to Games (soccer, water balloon and egg throwing contests) to Horseback Riding on the beach.

At the same time, more fun activities were happening like Soccer, Sand Castle Building, Slip n Slide, Swimming in the Pool and Haircuts! As a bonus, the “No Pro” organizers brought in at least 6 dogs (ok, they may have already been there) that everyone could play with and a few more showed up with attendees! Here’s a short video from 2007 that captures a glimpse of what goes on; Link text With the world in its economic crisis and so many charities in the world that deserve support it’s challenging to find donations, but if someone of means (great or small) who reads this, is deciding where to direct their monetary gifts, they should know that they would be helping to support a well run, proven and worthwhile organization where a dollar is stretched a long way.

Although there are many volunteers and helpers that have enabled this amazing event to become as successful as it has, the founder, Steve Sanchez initially began the program as a part of a group of surfers helping out a few local kids. The “Hearts of Stone” organization (named that because of an Arizona masonry business) was formed and along with co-founder and Costa Rica Director, John O’Toole, now supports not only the “Hospico de Huerfanos” (hospice of the orphans) but “Casa de Suenos” (House of Dreams) as well.

The “House of Dreams” is the bridge support for orphans who by law can not stay in the children’s orphanage when they reach the age of 18. Before Casa de Suenos, some of the older children were being quickly lost to the world of drug abuse, prostitution and violent crime---some just disappeared.

In a lesson of entrepreneurialism, some of the artwork of the kids has been transformed into ceramic tile murals and unique t-shirt designs for sale at every event. After the noon meal, the “Expression” surfing began where points are awarded for “style”, rather than technical prowess on the waves. At 4pm, there was a Hip Hop performance, group photos, gift awards ceremony and starting at 5pm BBQ and party for 2 hours. End of a great day!

It is so difficult for many of us to fully comprehend that there are children in our world that are abandoned and alone---it is so beyond our reality box. But here it was today; innocent young faces belonging to children that were actually left to fend for themselves---WTF? (sorry) There are so many people that came to this event and quietly gave what they could to the children that many good hearted people will be missed being mentioned here (most don’t actually care for recognition)---sincere apologies to them.

Here’s a partial list---Steve Rodriguez-founder of “Pura Vida No Pro” and “Hearts of Stone”; Link text John O’Toole-co founder and Costa Rican Director;Link text The man known as “Oso”-owner of the “Pelican Hotel”;Link text Cesar Vargas of “Cesar Vargas Productions, Jaco” 8342-8532 Chris and Andrea Wady of “Discovery Horse Tours”; Link text Jim and Leonore (Leo) Hogan of “Jim Hogan’s Costa Rica Surf Camp”; Link text

“Easy Riders Surf School”;Link text “Picos” surfboards”;Link text “Surfline”; Link text “Hansen’s Surf Shop, California”; Link text “Las Olas Cabinas”;Link text “Hotel Arenal Pacifico”; Link text
“Master Marble, Ltd., Arizona”; Link text

“Wavehunters”; Link text “Surfer Magazine”;Link text Tim McManus;Link text Teri Dominey; Link text “Hired Guns Drywall”; (602) 996-4998 “Baca Graphics”; Link text “Quicksilver”; Link text