A few months ago, I began "reading," Hola! Magazine, which is available at Los Angeles Public Library branches with high Spanish-speaking populations.
Truth is I can't read it but I can look at the pictures and glean the content through some word identification.
What is fascinating me about the LATIN MENTALITY OF HOLA, is that aristocrats and royals are featured celebrities just as they were in Europe for hundreds of years. So, if you are interested in what the Spanish Royal family is up to or the titans of industry, this is the magazine for you.
I'm mostly interested in the Royal Situation in Monaco. The Royal Family of Monaco is one of the worlds most publicized dysfunctional families in the world and the whole question about the line of succession because Prince Albert has no legal marriage or legitimate offspring (rumors abound about a California love child...) has been intriguing to me. Maybe it's that Princess Grace-American angle. Maybe the Princess Caroline-Feminist - a Woman Should Be In Charge- angle.
Albert has taken over where his father left off and Caroline's first son, a beautiful young man in his prime, is the heir next. Caroline's husband Ernst seems to have been missing in action from some recent ceremonies and Caroline has a dreadful stoic look on her face.
A recent article about the Royal Situation in Monaco revealed something else about Hola! Magazine. Apparently, they do not airbrush like similar publications in the Northern Hemisphere do, revealing every wrinkle (Caroline very very wrinkly, even shockingly so, after seeing images of her that have been fixed...), varicose vein, and so on. And, couples that feature both the man and the woman in swim-gear with excess fat are not cropped to be more attractive. Maybe it's the Reality TV influence.
