Harry Poter

       At midnight teenage wizards and witches will fill every movie theater in the land to watch the latest silver screen portrayal of Harry Potter and friends.  I feel a certain sense of isolation not participating in the mania surrounding the release, even if it is a smug sense of superiority watching adults don robes, fake beards, and wands.  I've been told by members of Potter's posse (my term for the pervasive groupie following he possesses in the muggle world) that the draw of the series is the intricacy of the plot, the difficulty to distinguish between the good and evil characters, and the dramatic chaos associated with Harry's running battle with He Who Shall Not Be Named even on this blog.  

     We here at the Social Seismologist are in the business of always looking around the next corner, thus I'm happy to preemptively announce Warner Bros' next super blockbuster: The Cartelista Next Door.  It features up and coming sex symbol Felipe Calderón as a tough Mexican cop battling the brutal and wealthy drug cartels.  Cartelista possesses many of the same plot twists, betrayals, and evil that delight Potter's posse, the only difference is that this time the American viewer isn't just eating popcorn and enjoying the onscreen antics.  In sharp contrast, the fans are the root cause for the violence that shocks and disturbs and ensures an Oscar for Cartelista.  The drug cartels need customers, and most of their demand comes from old Uncle Sam up north, where plenty of pot heads will undoubtedly be at tonight's Harry premiere.  Whether we want to admit it to our kids or not, America has a very high rate of illicit drug use.  Perhaps to some degree Cartelista is a wake up call.

     The rampant crime and violent gangs associated with Prohibition here in the United States have been the subject of many films.  Yet for the most part, their reality is a distant memory.  This isn't true for Mexico, where the effect of our Prohibition of Marijuana and other drugs has produced criminal anarchy and disgusting violence seemingly ripped straight from the headlines of a 1920's Chicago newspaper.  If marijuana was legal, Americans could produce it here at home, generate billions in tax revenue, pay off California's raging debt so we could stop hearing about those bumbling idiots, produce an entirely new industry with little competition worldwide and thus many new jobs, and most importantly, make a meaningful contribution to dampening demand for drugs from Mexico and reducing violence.  After all, a U.S. corporation like Phillip Morris could industrially produce marijuana and distribute it at a fraction of the cost of the Gulf cartel.  What happens? The Gulf cartel goes out of business and Joe the Plumber gets a new job.  And none of this mentions common sense, which dictates that I should be able to engage in any activity within the confines of my home as long as it doesn't disturb others (i.e. I can get drunk as long as I don't drive).  It should\would get done if our politicians were brave enough.  MAYBE it WILL.

     But I digress.  My final piece of inside movie knowledge pertains to a revolutionary Warner Bros concept which allows the audience to choose one of two alternative endings to Cartelista,  just like the Goosebumps books.  In the first, a president named Cheech Obonga is elected in the U.S. and weed is legalized,  ending a need for drug cartels and allowing Felipe Calderón to triumphantly capture Mexico's Al Capone (although American youth remain angry that they now now need an ID to buy both weed AND alcohol.)  The second ending is a sequel-beggar featuring 'El Lobo' Guzmán as the wily drug lord who destroys Mexico in the flames of violence and presides over a Somalia with Taco Bell just a short drive south from here.  Remember, you pick the ending... but the powers that be will definitely make money from a sequel.