Juan of the Dead — Cuban-American Lifestyle & Food Blog — My Big Fat Cuban Family: A Cuban-American Blog

Thank you.

I'm so grateful that so many of you joined in my 6th Blogiversary Celebration Week. I am humbled by your wonderful response and good wishes. I so love when you play along with me, but that's not important right now.

Sometimes I think I've told all the stories I have to tell and that I don't have one creative bone left in my body. Sometimes I stare at the blank screen and find it impossible to string two words together to attempt to make a sentence. But then...you leave a comment telling me about your life, or how you found my blog and that it makes you happy, or you tell me about how you love Cuban stuff like I do. This gives me the energy and vision to keep moving forward.

So, once again...Thank you.

Without further ado (drum roll please) here are the winners of last week's giveaways.

Congratulations to all of the winners!

1) The My Big, Fat, Cuban Family Cookbook

The MBFCF Cookbook goes to:

Dyana B said...

Oh dear, I have no idea when I found you but I'm so happy that I did. It's been at least four years, for sure!

I love EVERYTHING about your blog! I also live far, far away from anything Cuban and just reading your recipes motivates me to cook at home as well!

If the question of "How long have you been here?" is about the U.S.? Then my whole life. I'm a 1st generation American and very proud of my Cuban heritage! <3

Reply October 01, 2012 at 03:35 AM

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2) Santayana Jewelers Habana Bead Collection Bracelet with 4 charms

If you would like to order your own Habana Collection Charm Bracelet, Santayana Jewelers is very graciously offering an online promotion for My big, fat, Cuban family readers. If you buy 4 beads, the fourth is free when you enter the promo code MARTA at checkout. Go to Santayana Jewelers online.

The beautiful bracelet from Santayana Jewelers goes to:

Jcass0912 said...

What a touching story!!!! How can you pick a favorite?! Each one is so meaningful! I have to say I do love el corazon de meon and la cafetera! Reminds me of my grandmother she used to call us her corazones de melon! This charm would be perfect for my Mom!!!!

Reply October 02, 2012 at 10:59 AM

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3) Juan of the Dead DVD

Juan of the Dead, is available to rent or download on iTunes at http://bit.ly/ZombieRevolution and on DVD at http://bit.ly/zombieRevolution.

The winners of the Juan of the Dead DVD are:

1)

Lilly Medina said...

I'm not really into the zombie fad but this movie was hilarious! One of my favorites for sure!

Reply October 03, 2012 at 07:59 AM

AND

2)

Rebeca Montalvan Del Sol Toth said...

I absolutely LOVE horror movies, especially Zombie ones! I must have a copy of Juan of the Dead it is so funny and absolutely Cuban! If there was a zombie outbreak in Havana I know our Cuban brothers and sisters could handle it! We are survivors!

Reply October 03, 2012 at 01:51 PM

AND

3)

Emilia Platas said...

I'm with you on the horror movie thing--even agree on the American Werewolf in London part. However, mi niña is another story! She LOVES Shaun of the Dead. It's like a cult classic with her and her friends! So how perfect would it be to give my USA-born girl some cubanismo in the form of her favorite genre? (Did I mention her b-day is coming up?)I always say one of the best ways to educate is with comedy. Plus, the girl has lots of friends so your friends at Focus World could be sure the film would be seen by other teens and young twenty-somethings. Heck, even I want to see it!

Reply October 03, 2012 at 11:45 AM

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4) The Red Umbrella and A Thunderous Whisper (autographed by the author)

The Red Umbrella and a Thunderous Whisper are both available at Amazon.com.

The books, The Red Umbrella and a Thunderous Whisper - both autographed by author, Christina Diaz Gonzalez go to:

Esther Avila-Young said...

I remember when I was in Cuba still in the early 60's some of our neighbors boys left as Pedro Pans, and I have also have met some Pedro Pans here in Southern California. What a sadness that must be to leave your parents behind to the unknown and uncertain, not knowing anyone, not knowing the language and hoping that you some day will see your parents again. My heart breaks just thinking about it. What a courage of those parents to send their children before them.
I do have a "Cuando sali de Cuba moment" and story that will share with you one of these days.

Reply October 04, 2012 at 11:14 AM

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5) A Gaviña Gourmet Coffee Basket, which includes their new Holiday Coffee Collection (!)

The fabulous Gaviña Gourmet Holiday Coffee Baskets go to:

1)

BBabushka said...

Which one of the coffees in this Holiday Collection (!) sounds the best to you?

Caramel Spiced Rum- Caramelo, especia- verbo, sazonar, Ron

Vamo mi gente, you can't get more Cuban than that!!

; ) Loving this series Marta- Congrats.

BB2U

Reply October 05, 2012 at 12:47 PM

AND

2)

Nancy Reed said...

My first cup in the morning...Well, honestly ANYthing as long as its strong. I even enjoy the FREE coffee at church on Sundays. My afternoon cup (yes usually I do have one)I enjoy my flavored k-cups and it feels like a treat. One of my favorite is the pumkin spice. As an October baby I love anything fall. Happy Anniversary MBFGF! time flies huh?

Reply October 05, 2012 at 07:38 AM

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6) Handpainted Varadero Sign

The hand-painted (by me!) Varadero sign goes to:

Jackie said...

Cute! I can't wait to see what you have in your Etsy shop!

Reply October 06, 2012 at 08:14 AM

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Again, thank you all for your very enthusiastic participation in my Blog-anniversary Giveaway Week and congratulations to all the winners. And a big thank you to all of my giveaway sponsors for their gracious generosity.

If you won, please send me an email with HEY, MARTA! I WON STUFF ON YOUR BLOG! in the subject line so that I won't accidentally delete it. Also, send me your street addresss. I will forward to my giveaway sponsors so you can get your goodies ASAP.

You make me very happy.

Besos,

Marta

And now for something completely different....

I don't usually enjoy horror movies. Wait. Let me rephrase. I don't like horror movies. At all. In fact, I hate them. They're usually so... well, horrific. (But I did enjoy An American Werewolf in London back in the day, mostly because of the comedic elements, but I'll deny it if you tell anybody.)

But, when I was contacted by Focus World to get the word out about their latest film: “a zombie comedy made in Cuba,” I was intrigued. When I read the synopsis, I laughed out loud. When I saw the trailer, I knew it was something I wanted to share.

Plus it's October and I'm kind of more tolerant of gore and silliness the closer it gets to Halloween. (Don't judge me.)

I totally understand that this is a departure from my usual fare, but I think you will enjoy it (or at least your teenage kids will). It's a zombie relajo set in the land of my birth.

From the studio that brought you Shaun of the Dead, meet Juan of the Dead. (He's Havana Killer Day. <--Best tagline ever. Am I right?) In Spanish, with English subtitles.

Synopsis:

Juan is 40 years old, most of which he spent in Cuba doing absolutely nothing. It’s his way of life, and he’s prepare to defend it at any cost, along with his pal Lázaro, as lazy as Juan but twice as dumb. Juan’s only emotional tie is his daughter, Camila, a beautiful young girl that doesn’t want anything to do with her father because the only thing he’s good at is getting into trouble.

Suddenly some strange things start to happen, people are turning violent attacking one to the other. Juan was first convinced it’s just another stage of the Revolution. Official media refer to the attacks as isolated incidents provoked by Cuban dissidents paid by the US government. Little by little Juan and his friends start to realize that the attackers are not normal human beings and that killing them is quite a difficult task. They’re not vampires, they’re not possesed, but they’re definitely not dissidents; a simple bite turns the victim into other violent killing machine and the only way to beat them is destroying their brains.
Juan decides that the best way of facing the situation is making some money out of it…..

“Juan of the Dead, we kill your beloved ones” becomes his slogan. Lázaro, along with his son Vladi, and Camila (who had no other choice but joining her father after he rescued her from grandma´s killing desires) are Juan´s army, and their mission is to help people get rid of the infected ones around… at a reasonable price.

But this plague of bloodthirsty attackers is out of control. The population is helpless. There comes a moment in which the only way out people found is throwing into the sea and try to run away from an island that became a real carnage, and Juan has no choice but to do what he avoided all his life: take some responsibility assuming a hero role, to guide his beloved ones with the hope of getting them safe out of the madness in which Havana, full of flesh eating zombies has turned.

I especially loved that so much of it was true to Cuban life today. In fact, all the actors are Cuban. And the premise that the state media blames the zombie attacks on dissidents who have been hired by the U.S. government? Classic.

It's not Shakespeare, but it's So. Very. Cuban. And I didn't love the gory parts (duh), but listening to the dialog with the hilarious deadpan (pun intended) Cuban delivery was just awesome.

The story was told creatively and in a very, very Cuban way. Juan of the Dead mocks everything that the Cuban government has sold for 50 years as “The Triumph of the Revolution,” and that's where its value lies.

For me, personally, I can barely stand the over-the-top slasher-oh-holy-hell-there's-blood-everywhere scenes even though they were way too campy to be genuinely scary. But there were a lot of moments of surprise, so I had to keep covering my eyes. Also, the zombies were really, really slow, which I totally appreciated because that gave me time to cover my eyes, but that's not important right now.

But my favorite part of the entire bloody-undead-Havana-zombie-slash-fest was that Cuba's salvation comes in the form of Capitalism. Isn't that just too delicious?

{Disclaimer: This is not what you will usually find here on MBFCF, and I get that Cubans are already living their own horror movie, but I think there's an audience for this sort of thing out there somewhere. Also, my 16 year old, Jonathan loved it in that way that 16 year old guys do.}

MBFCF Blogiversary Giveaway #3:

Juan of the Dead (DVD)

Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win a DVD copy of Juan of the Dead and please answer one or all of the following questions: