Frequent visitors may remember that I recently spent some time in Mexico City as Asesor de Producción (Production Advisor) to the writers and producers on the second season of El Pantera, Televisa’s big action-drama. (The credits here are a gas — my name has never looked quite this gringoey.)

Televisa is trying to create stuff beyond the telenovela format, and I was hired to dive in and facilitate as best I could. The gig basically involved trying to help create the show’s stories with half as many writers and about a fifth of the time usually allotted in the US, while training everybody in some conventions of American TV drama — without even realizing how many things I’d always been taught were “right” were just cultural narrative assumptions I’d never thought to question.

I’m not sure the seat of my pants ever worked harder in my life.

In addition to the creative challenge, this was a linguistic and cultural experience I’ll treasure forever. Man, I loved that job. And I loved the people. I consider everyone I worked with to be my friends, and I think of them often.

I was on a plane back to El Norte before the new shows began filming, so I haven’t seen any of the actual episodes yet — but I just got an email telling me that the premier was a huge hit.

Hurray!

So my hearty congrats to Rodolfo, Fredy, Enrique, Esther, Melissa, Juan Pablo, y todo el mundo de El Pantera. ¡Estoy muy contento con esta noticia! Voy siempre deseo continuos éxitos para ustedes, y espero que la tercera temporada estará un éxito aún mayor! Muchas gracias para la oportunidad a encontrarse y ayudarse un poco.

Incidentally, if you’re curious, the first season (which was before my arrival) currently airs in the US on Sunday nights on Univison. I’m eager to see the second season.

PS: I’ve also heard that the show’s lead actress is on the cover of this month’s issue of Maxim en Español.  So it’s a teeeeeeny bit possible that the show is succeeding for reasons that have nothing to do with my work whatsoever. Just maybe.

The sports section of this morning’s L.A. Times reports that the content filters at a "Christian" website had a wee problem in reporting how a sprinter named Tyson Gay performed at the U.S. Olympic trials:

Genius. Apparently they still don’t like the word "gay" as slang for "homosexual" (their preferred word), since this is unfair to… um… words.

Fair enough — which is why I’ve placed "Christian" in quotes here.

There’s not one word in the Gospels criticizing homosexuality. Not one. There are two bits in the Old Testament (Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13) predating Christ by a few gazillion years, right where eating shellfish is condemned just as harshly. If these "Christians" really cared about their own holy book, they’d also be protesting outside of Red Lobster.

Complicating things, the original Hebrew in Leviticus 18:22 is unclear. There’s nothing close to an agreed-upon translation, and for anyone to proclaim that they know exactly what the words mean (not even to mention postulating them as the unquestionable word of a deity) is simply dishonest.

On the other hand, Leviticus 25:44-46 heartily endorses slavery, in terms way less ambiguous than other stuff. And Exodus 21:20-21 explicitly says it’s OK to beat the crap out of your slaves so badly they can’t work for a couple of days, as long as you don’t kill them.

Oy.

The sports section of this morning’s L.A. Times reports that the content filters at a "Christian" website had a wee problem in reporting how a sprinter named Tyson Gay performed at the U.S. Olympic trials:

Genius. Apparently they still don’t like the word "gay" as slang for "homosexual" (their preferred word), since this is unfair to… um… words.

Fair enough — which is why I’ve placed "Christian" in quotes here.

There’s not one word in the Gospels criticizing homosexuality. Not one. There are two bits in the Old Testament (Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13) predating Christ by a few gazillion years, right where eating shellfish is condemned just as harshly. If these "Christians" really cared about their own holy book, they’d also be protesting outside of Red Lobster.

Complicating things, the original Hebrew in Leviticus 18:22 is unclear. There’s nothing close to an agreed-upon translation, and for anyone to proclaim that they know exactly what the words mean (not even to mention postulating them as the unquestionable word of a deity) is simply dishonest.

On the other hand, Leviticus 25:44-46 heartily endorses slavery, in terms way less ambiguous than other stuff. And Exodus 21:20-21 explicitly says it’s OK to beat the crap out of your slaves so badly they can’t work for a couple of days, as long as you don’t kill them.

Oy.

The sports section of this morning’s L.A. Times reports that the content filters at a "Christian" website had a wee problem in reporting how a sprinter named Tyson Gay performed at the U.S. Olympic trials:

Genius. Apparently they still don’t like the word "gay" as slang for "homosexual" (their preferred word), since this is unfair to… um… words.

Fair enough — which is why I’ve placed "Christian" in quotes here.

There’s not one word in the Gospels criticizing homosexuality. Not one. There are two bits in the Old Testament (Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13) predating Christ by a few gazillion years, right where eating shellfish is condemned just as harshly. If these "Christians" really cared about their own holy book, they’d also be protesting outside of Red Lobster.

Complicating things, the original Hebrew in Leviticus 18:22 is unclear. There’s nothing close to an agreed-upon translation, and for anyone to proclaim that they know exactly what the words mean (not even to mention postulating them as the unquestionable word of a deity) is simply dishonest.

On the other hand, Leviticus 25:44-46 heartily endorses slavery, in terms way less ambiguous than other stuff. And Exodus 21:20-21 explicitly says it’s OK to beat the crap out of your slaves so badly they can’t work for a couple of days, as long as you don’t kill them.

Oy.

Not a pudu, but related. One morning last May, a Texan named Mike came across a newborn fawn whose mother had just been killed by a car. He couldn’t leave the fawn to die, and with no better idea, he just scooped it up, took it home, and he and his wife have been caring for it ever since.

If you need to say "awwwww" and feel overwhelmed with the tiny, I urge you to click over and take in the whole story.

I have the same concerns you do about how this all turns out, but the couple seem to have been in frequent touch with wildlife professionals, and they’re gonna do their best to help prepare the little guy survive in the wild when the time comes.

Link found via CuteOverload.