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| A.M.
Costa Rica: Lifestyle Festivals, arts, entertainment |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2012, Vol. 12, No. 38 |
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Teatro Nacional
will begin 2012 season Tuesday with dancers
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By
Shahrazad Encinias Vela
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff The Teatro Nacional is ready to launch the new year with more than 3,200 artists lined up for its 2012 schedule. The opening day is Tuesday. The inaugural event is the play “Pendulum,” an open performance by University of Costa Rica dancers at noon. This is the Teatro al Mediodía, inside the main hall. There are a total of 37 noon performances this year. On the second floor of the Teatro Nacional, the Foyer, there will be 12 performances this year. The Foyer is a smaller room with a ceiling painting found on the old five colon note. The late afternoon musical acts, Música al Atardecer, will feature 32 different performances there. Besides these performances the main theater will feature 122 |
events,
including 18 dance, 44 musical and two flamenco performances, an opera,
and the Festival de Poesía. The singer Pablo Milanes is the first big evening show of the year for the theater Feb. 23. This year the theater has opened up a call center for those who have questions. Adriana Collado, director of the Teatro Nacional, said this year the theater is more accessible to the public. In the past, the theater catered to international acts, but now they have included more national acts. “This is a theater that we can really say is ours,” said Manuel Obregón, minister of Cultura y Juventud. Ticket prices vary on the performance. Teatro al Mediodía tickets cost 1,000 colons, and one for the Música al Atardecer costs 2,000 colons. —
Feb. 3, 2012
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| Middle-aged hard drug dabblers likely to die early, study
says |
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| By the University of Alabama at Birmingham
news service Young adults often experiment with hard drugs, such as cocaine, amphetamines and opiates, and all but about 10 percent stop as they assume adult roles and responsibilities. Those still using hard drugs into their 50s are five times more likely to die earlier than those who do not, according to a new study by University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers. The report was published online Friday in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 9.4 percent of Americans ages 50-59 and 7 percent of adults ages 35-49 reported use of a drug other than marijuana sometime in the past year. The study’s lead author, Stefan Kertesz, associate professor in the Univserity of Alabana at Birmingham Division of Preventive Medicine, and colleagues attempted to discover if lifelong hard-drug use shortens lifespan to better enable primary-care doctors to advise patients who use drugs recreationally. “While government guidelines have not endorsed screening for drugs in primary care, many doctors are challenged when they discover patients continue to dabble with them,” Kertesz says. “In primary-care practice, we often hear from stable patients who report using some cocaine, irregularly, perhaps on weekends. It’s an under appreciated but very common situation. The typical question physicians have to ask is ‘If this patient doesn’t have addiction, what advice can I give other than noting that it’s unwise to break the law?’ After all, we are supposed to be doctors, not law enforcement.” Kertesz and a research team from other universities looked at data from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study for their analysis. The data base funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, is a long-term research project involving more than 5,000 black and white men and women from Birmingham, Chicago, Minneapolis and Oakland, designed to examine the development and determinants of cardiovascular disease and its risk factors. |
Participants ages
18-30 were recruited and followed from 1985 to 2006. The research team looked specifically at the reported use of hard drugs by 4,301 of the Coronary Artery Risk participants. They compared people who stopped drug use early to those who continued and calculated the likelihood of premature death among these groups. “Fourteen percent of the people in the study reported recent hard-drug use at least once, and of these, half continued using well into middle age,” Kertesz says. “But, most of the drug users in our study were not addicts. They were dabblers who used just a few days a month.” Kertesz and his colleagues found that older hard-drug users were more likely to report being raised in economically challenged circumstances in a family that was unsupportive, abusive or neglectful. The team also found that those who were heavy drug users into young adulthood and continued at lower levels into middle age were roughly five times more likely to die than persons who didn’t use drugs. “We can’t assume that drugs caused death, as in an overdose,” he says. “Rather what we found is that middle-age adults who continue to dabble in hard drugs represent a group that is at risk of bad outcomes — which could include death from trauma, heart disease or other causes that are not a direct result of their drug use — at a higher rate than people who stopped using drugs.” Kertesz added that the team’s findings are a reminder that people who continue to use drugs are potentially quite vulnerable. They often have grown up under economic and psychosocial stress from childhood onward. They continue to smoke and drink and they remain at elevated risk of premature death. “Based on the data we hope to offer better advice to primary-care doctors struggling with the rising tide of drug-taking by adults who have not left behind many of the bad habits they learned in young adulthood,” he said. |
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| Two top artists have a double opening
Saturday in Guanacaste |
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Special
to A.M. Costa Rica
Two established Costa Rican artists will exhibit their works at a show that begins Saturday at the Hidden Garden Art Gallery west of Liberia. The artists are Fabio Herrera Martinez and Mario Maffioli Reyes. Each will exhibit 10 works. Herrera, born in San José, has studied at the school of fine arts at the Universidad de Costa Rica, and has had international exhibits in Spain, Mexico, Sweden, and the United States. With over 100 solo exhibits and hundreds of collective exhibits, Herrera is cited in over 80 books. His more than 20 awards include numerous Aquileo J. Echeverría prizes. Says the artist: “I paint and continue painting because I want to discover something, and in these days I discovered that painting wants to liberate herself. She wants her own space, and I am the medium to do it. She gives me pleasure, she makes me think. I must be her ally: she liberates me. And in this long trek we have created an inseparable alliance, where the only sure thing |
is, at the end, she will stay and I
will leave.” Award winning artist Maffioli also was born in San José and studied at the school of fine arts. He is a founding member of the Bocaracá Group. Maffioli has participated in over 100 exhibits, nationally and internationally, and is cited in more than 80 books. Says the artist: “Non-representative art, or concrete art, or the misnamed 'abstract art,' is the most important rebirth of art since the Renaissance. In concrete painting, lines, spots, texture, speak of the poetry proper to matter, the capacity to communicate in itself its physical and conceptual existence, with no reference to surroundings. Being born, day by day, by means of pictorial material, helped me to find the connection between an unknown internal world and an esthetic reality, a superb way of representing my vexation. To have the opportunity of motivating the imagination, without ties and with an absolute resolution of pleasure and freedom is a great satisfaction.” The opening Saturday is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The gallery is 5 kilometers west of the Daniel Oduber airport. —
Jan. 13, 2012
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 Here
are some examples of the works of Ulises Jiménez Obregon
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| Guanacaste artist will open his 20th local show Wednesday |
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Special
to A.M. Costa Rica
Painter and sculptor Ulises Jiménez Obregon opens his 20th exhibition in his home province of Guanacaste Wednesday. The show is at the Hidden Garden Art Gallery and is titled "People of Sun." The show runs through Jan. 13. In describing his show, the artist said “My work represents the historical sense of Guanacaste: where the sun has carved a human being, and cultural and physical characteristics very different from the rest of the country.” Jiménez has had over 50 collective and 35 individual exhibitions throughout Costa Rica. With more than five shows internationally, he continues absorbing and spreading his artistic knowledge by attending over 11 national and three international symposiums, he reported, adding that he recently returned from a four-month artistic journey to China and Spain. His sculptures are in private collections throughout the world, |
including
France, Italy, Spain, China, Israel, Germany and Mexico, and
throughout Central and South America, Canada and the United States. Jiménez was a part of a group at the school of fine arts at the Universidad Autónoma de Centroamérica in Heredia. Fellow sculptor Olger Villegas Cruz said "Ulises always showed a great disposition for art. He continues to grow in terms of design and quality of expression, mainly thanks to a tireless fighter who only listens and obeys the dictates of his unswerving vocation, even in what can sometimes be a hostile environment, like sculpture art. "This talented sculptor has a well-deserved place in our artistic environment. I could say many things about the works of Ulises, and I invite you to enjoy your show, which will be a very rich experience, I'm sure." The Hidden Garden Art Gallery is west of Liberia on the main highway to Playas de Coco. — Dec. 13 |
 'Cangrejo Azúl de Puntarenas' and 'La Mar Estaba Tranquila' (Punta Leona) |
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| Her pride being a Costa Rican is reflected in her watercolors |
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By
Shahrazad Encinias Vela
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff The Costa Rican coasts have inspired some to surf, swim, and travel. To others the beaches have inspired something more personal. In the case of Cristina Fournier, it has inspired her to paint. The Costa Rican native will have the inauguration of her exhibit “De la Costa y otros más…” at the Alliance Française tonight at 7 o'clock. Her exhibit is the last one of the year that will be shown at the center in Barrio Amón, San José. The exhibit closes Saturday. Ms. Fournier spent two years traveling around the coasts of Costa Rica in places such as Puntarenas, Jacó, Punta Leona, and Dominical. She said that during her journey when she painted she liked to talk to the locals. “When I paint, I love to talk to the people because they are very helpful and nice. They become proud because you are painting their boat, or restaurant or beach. . . I would sit down and paint, and someone would bring me a chair or a stool,” she said. |
Ms. Fournier said
Dominical was a very beautiful area with many unexplored beaches. That
is where she found Piñuela, a beach that
was distinct from the others because of its strange rock formations. “I have chosen in my life, since I was very small to paint what God has given us, the beauty of this earth,” she said. “This has been my contribution to society and the world.” She used watercolor and oil to portray several scenes from the different beaches and sea life she visited. She said the ocean was the hardest to paint in watercolor because of its movement. Her style of painting is different than others she said, because she doesn't draw what she is painting beforehand. Everything is in her head, and then she draws and paints with her brush. “I love painting what I see,” said Ms. Fournier. At 74 years old, her passion for Costa Rica is very strong regardless the situation she said. “I am very proud to be a Costa Rican,” said Ms. Fournier. “There are many things wrong right now, but as Costa Ricans we will get through it together.” — Dec.12, 2011 |
| Fractals make their way to the Calderón Guardia museum |
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By
Zack McDonald
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff Fractals appear in nature everywhere -- from DNA sequences to snowflakes. They are geometric objects whose basic structure is repeated at different scales. In the Museo Calderón Guardia, an exhibit by Herberth Bolaños, ¨acuarela/fractales¨ explores this theme. Only he created the designs with the use of watercolors and tiny slips of entwined paper. The language used in some works of art, like a Rorschach test, can have thousands of meanings according to who looks at them. Such it is with Bolaños´exhibit. The artist gives some guidelines, but it is the viewer's brain that constructs a meaning or interpretation of the work. “I use watercolor, its materials and effects experimenting and exploring the layout,¨ said Bolaño of his work. ¨Through forms they conduce me to portray ways of visually expressing my world’s vision.” Another theme in this series is transparencies, showing the inside and outside simultaneously. There are references to pure minimalism of the 60s mixed with the simple and timeless basics of Zen Buddhism. |
 A.M. Costa Rica photo
Examples of some of the works on
display.His creative research has to do with fractals, with the proportions of things, as this constituted the universe or the planning of a city, but his poetic way of executing the image makes the work become mainly a visual delight and a joy for the spirit, according to Luis Chacon G., curator of visual arts. The work of Bolaños has been exhibited and awarded in museums and galleries throughout Latin America from Mexico, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Panamá, and Costa Rica. He has also held several exhibits in Japan. He is co-head of the art and visual communication school in the Universidad Nacional in Heredia. He specializes in watercolor, engraving, textiles and hand-made paper. Bolaños was born in Heredia. |
 A.M. Costa Rica/Zach McDonald
A variety of taxes raise the
price of these products by as much as 116 percent |
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| Duty-free
purchases turn out to be a
pretty good idea |
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By Shahrazad Encinias
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff Initially
published Nov. 8
Tourists come to Costa Rica to escape the daily life of bills, work,
and
responsibility. They come in droves to relax, explore and have fun. But
there is something that is not in the advertisements to come to this
country, and that's taxes. Costa Rica, jokingly referred by some as
“Taxa Rica,” has become the land of tariffs. The presumed inexpensive
vacation has evolved into such; a presumption.Liquor is a holiday staple, and buying bottles at the duty-free stores inside Juan Santamaría airport is cheaper by far than purchasing them inside the country. And that includes Costa Rica national liquor. International liquor importers (and eventually the consumer) have to pay at least five different taxes before selling a product in Costa Rica. The only exception are goods that enter and remain in the duty-free area of Golfito. All foreign beer, spirits, and wines are assessed a 15 percent tariff. All alcohol beverage products then face a 13 percent sales tax plus a 10 percent consumption tax. On top of that, for liquors alone, there is a 10 percent tax from the Instituto de Fomento y Asesoria Municipal Descentralización Democrática y Fortalecimiento Local and a final 8 percent tax from the Instituto de Desarrollo Agrario. A one liter bottle of the famous Stolichnaya, Russian vodka costs $10 at the duty-free and sells for 11,020 colons at a local grocery in San José. That's approximately $21.59. The store price is 116 per cent more than at the duty-free shop. |
A reporter survey validates the idea that prices at the duty-free store are considerably less than the price in groceries, something that is not always the case. |
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With local stations going on the Internet, a news junkie can watch all the stations at once without flipping channels, something that also is possible with some television sets but a lot easier with a Web browser like Firefox. These stations are Channel 6, Repretel, Channel 42 from El Diario Extra and the upper half of Channel 7 Teletica. |
 A.M.
Costa Rica graphic
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| Television news shows now are as close as the Internet
browser |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica Lifestyle staff
With most Central Valley television stations now online in a limited fashion, Internet users do not have to leave their desk to catch the latest news in Spanish. Repretel with its channels 6 and 11, Teletica with its Channel 7, Sociedad Periodística Extra Limitada with its Channel 42 and the new entry, Channel 9 each have some air time through various technical means. Channel 6 and 11 are streamed through Central de Radio, a firm that operates Radio Reloj, Radio Monumental and 28 others and also provides online music via the Internet. Channel 9 and Channel 7 are available through Ustream.tv, which also contains YouTube personal videos. Channel 42, appears to produce its own Internet signal, but a special browser plugin is required to see the live shows. Most of the programming now is either news or soccer games, Channel 6 has the most ambitious schedule starting at 6 a.m. But the online version goes dark several times a day. Channel 9 does not list a schedule, although a movie was playing Sunday night. Channel 7 went dark on the Internet Sunday night in the middle of its news show. However, it was back on in time for “Pequeños Gigantes,” the children's variety show. Such variety would have been unthinkable just a few years ago, but Internet bandwidth continues to expand. The station programming is viewed easily with a normal household cable Internet hookup. Those who really are hooked on electronics can find Channel 42 on their iPad, and Central de Radio will stream music to cell telephones. Sociedad Periodística Extra also has its Radio América at 780 am streaming live via its El Diaro Extra Web page. |
Even when the
stations are not producing a live Internet signal, the various Web
pages contain snippets from earlier broadcasts, mostly of local news. Internet broadcasting for both television and radio is far more economical than using vast amounts of electricity to send a signal through the open air. Ustream, like YouTube, invites individuals to submit clips and even provides a downloadable program to create video. Although the Internet shows have limited popularity, clearly the time is coming when all programming will be shifted to the Internet, and thousands of new arrivals will be producing shows in the same way that the Internet has transformed the print media. Here are the links: Channel 7, Teletica: http://www.ustream.tv/discovery/live/all?q=teletica or via the station's Web page: http://www.teletica.com/ Channel 6 and 11, Repretel http://www.cdr.cr/player/230/BCanal%206 http://www.cdr.cr/player/233/CCanal%2011 Channel 9 http://www.ustream.tv/channel/canal9cr Channel 42 http://www.extratv42.com/c42/ Central de Radio http://www.cdr.cr/ Radio América http://www.780america.com/ra/index.php |
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