El Roto

We need fervent catholics, or, if there aren't any, anticlerical fanatics

El Roto publishes a cartoon daily in El Pais

See this article for background

Almodovar news

Out in spain, an updated edition of the disc "Las canciones de Almodovar" (now called B.S.O Almodovar): 2 CDs of songs that appeared in his movies. The original version came out in 1997, so songs from Carne Tremula (Tonanda de luna llena), Todo sobre mi madre (Tajabone...), Talk to her (Caetano Veloso's Cucurrucu Paloma...), La Mala Educacion (Sara Montiel's Quizas Quizas Quizas...) and Volver now appear. I want it!

Pedro's new movie will be called "Los abrazos rotos" (Broken Embraces) and will star La Pe (aka Penelope Cruz) and Bianca Portillo. La película, en palabras de Pedro, "transcurrirá en los años noventa y en la actualidad, con el mundo de los negocios y del cine como telón de fondo y contará una historia de amor fou con tintes de cine negro del Hollywood de los Cincuenta". Ca promet! Shooting starts this month apparently.

30 Rock - Muffin Top!

As I have already said, I loooooove 30 Rock, and here is one example of something that made me laugh and laugh and laugh.

Actress Jane Krakowski plays the character of Jenna Maroney, an actress who works on TV and is gagging for fame and attention. Here, she sings Muffin Top, a 'euro-dance' track she recorded with a producer she dated and that is 'No1 in Israel and No4 in Beligum'! hahaha

The dance moves are awesome (check out the robot at the beginning!), copying the sexy R'n'B moves we see everywhere these days. And the lyrics... lord!! For reference, a 'muffin top' is the extra flesh that spills over the top of the waistband of low rise jeans. see picture below.

Everyone knows the most delicious part of the muffin is the top...
My muffin top is all that
Whole grain, low fat
I know you want a piece of that
But I just wanna dance
You're checkin' out my sweet hips
My sugar coated berry lips
I know you wanna get with this
But I'm just here to dance
So back up off of me
You're we-eee-eee-eirding me out
I'm an independent lady
So do not try to play me
I run a tidy bakery
The boys all want my cake for free.

Enjoy! and long live 30 Rock!




Oh no! they've removed the video! :-(
Come on! that was a great promo for the show!

Barbara - Le mal de vivre

Defection

Three principals from the Ballet Nacional de Cuba have defected and crossed the border to the US while on tour in Canada. Hanya Gutiérrez, Taras Dimitro Suárez and Miguel Ángel Blanco are all quite young and promising, and they have decided to leave their country to "dance in freedom and reach new styles, new things" said Miguel Ángel Blanco, who added "We are young, this is our opportunity. In Cuba, time has stopped"

We will of course remember the defection of Nureyev and Barishnikov from the Soviet Union in the second half of last century.

Back in the limelight

The wonderful Luz Casal has managed to wack out the tumour that was diagnosed in her breast earlier this year, and has a new album out in Spain. It's already Disco de Oro (40 000 units sold)
Rock on girl! Short hair suits her well by the way!

Find out more about her new album Vida Toxica and her forthcoming tour on her website!

Carbon Myths

Awesome article in the Guardian about several carbon-saving myths, telling us why some of the best-known carbon-saving actions are not that efficient, and what we should do instead.

1. It's ok to buy some low-energy light bulbs, but those big fashionable plasma TVs or game consoles consume A LOT of electricity and would outweigh any energy savings. So keep your old tv and buy a more efficient fridge instead of a new TV.

2. Plastic bag and food packaging are almost irrelevant to climate change. What we need to do is waste less food, as food rotting in landfill produces methane, a far more serious cause of global warming.

3. Food miles are only a small part of a meal's carbon impact. Reducing the amount of meat you eat has far more effect than deciding to buy locally. Remember: it takes 3 kilograms of cereals to produce a kilo of pork, 8 for a kilo of beef!

4. Generating your own electricity is a good idea, but what's the point if your house is badly insulated. The most cost-effective way to reduce your house's carbon footprint is by insulating it. British houses are the worst insulated in northern Europe.

I have to say I like this article cause it makes me feel less bad about having a lot of plastic bags in my kitchen drawers, having an old TV and complaining about my flat being draughty (it shouldn't be!)

Spain (un)censored @ the BFI

La Caza (the hunt), Carlos Saura, 1965

Very exciting season this January at the British Film Institute on the South Bank: a selection of films made by brave film makers under Franco's dictatorship. From Carlos Saura to Juan Antonio Bardem and Victor Erice and Luis Bunuel, the names are huge. Expect to see some amazing movies! I am going to 6 screenings in a week, and particularly recommend The Spirit of the beehive (probably the best Spanish movie ever), The Hunt, Viridiana and Welcome Mr Marshall (a funny one!).

All those movies cleverly manage to criticize and denounce the regime they were made under and convey the state of Spanish society at the time. Some are inspired by the Nouvelle Vague techniques, others are more classical, but they are all strong pieces of film making that have influenced Spanish cinema up to now. We looked at quite a few of these when I studied Spanish cinema in Granada, I can't wait to see them again, considering few of them are available on DVD in the UK. Book now!

The Spirit of the Beehive, Victor Erice, 1973

Bye Bye

The French choreographer Maurice Bejart is dead, at the good age of 80. His choreography to the tune of Maurice Ravel's Bolero is of course his most famous.

Marianne debunks the view of Sarkozy as an inflexible president who will not give in to strikers etc. Examples? It only took medicine interns a few days of strike to make the government change its mind on a reform that would put an end to a grant they get if they go practice in rural areas. The fishermen managed to gain 6 months free of employment tax and charges after only 12 hours. we're gonna be so disappointed.

Oh la la and another dead, that of the terrific Spanish actor and director Fernando Fernan Gomez. I can hear his low voice in my head right now, in the movie El espiritu de la colmena. He was 86. Reading the El Pais article, I found out he also wrote plays, including Las bicicletas son para el verano, a classic that a lot of French students in Spanish have to read! What a man.

Ole

The Toro de Osborne started its life 50 years ago as advertising for the 'Veterano' brandy of the food company Grupo Osborne. Today it has totally transcended its status and role, and is one of the most recognised Spanish symbols today. When you see it, you know you are in Spain.
An exhibition is being held in Madrid to celebrate.

Feliz cumpleanos!

More Dolly

She is really quite funny that woman! 2You'd be amazed just how much money it takes to make a person look so cheap!" hahaha Enjoy

Random

The Economist goes to Dollywood (Dolly Parton's theme park in the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee) and says you can learn a lot about real America there: "People do not fly to Dollywood; they drive there in big cars full of squabbling children. East-coast accents, let alone foreign ones, are rare. The park is thus an excellent window on what people in this part of the American heartland like". And they are patriotic, feel strongly about God, celebrate their own folk culture and music. But they are tolerant too.

Love the Bad Science section in the Guardian, where Ben Goldacre fights against spin and madness and champions good science and research. "In the media, you get one expert saying one thing, and another saying something else. Who do you believe? The devil is in the detail" and he looks at the details and looks for the truth. An good example is his thoughts about the figures used by anti-abortionists. Go reason!

Cloudspotting

Argentina, October 07

Thanks to my brother, who took this on his holidays in Argentina!

Son De La Frontera - Fiesta

Tar Sands

A very very good article about the environmental and social impact of tar sands exploitation in Canada. The black gold is proving a mixed blessing for the frontier town of Fort McMurray.

Cloudspotting

Montreal, September 07

Dead squirrel

As my friend Sara publishes her recipe for Squirrel Stew on her blog, I thought it would be fitting to publish one of the pics I am most proud of, taken in NY.



Yes, it's a dead squirrel - it looks beautiful no? Maybe I should enter the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition next year. hehe

Music

The new Britney Spears album is out, and apparently it's good. The scary thing is that the Guardian goes as far as publishing a "In praise of..." section to her. "The new album is often brilliant. And what is most brilliant is its musical risk-taking (...) Pop is almost unique in having commercial successes who go on to use edgier sounds. In a small way, Britney Spears continues that long, chequered tradition." Who would have thought?

A big article on the Quebec band Arcade Fire in the Guardian too. Their second album is one of the biggest selling of the year. Here is one of the paper's explanation for their aversion to celebrity: "There is the shadow of the French Quebec pop scene, packed with artists unknown outside of its confines, but who apparently "sell as many records as Arcade Fire do worldwide, just in Quebec" [says the Arcade Fire singer]. "In Montreal, we're not celebrities at all, those people are celebrities," says Butler. Parry nods. "Occasionally, we've noticed that people are kind of surprised, like, wow, you've done really well, you're nearly as big as Jean LeClerc." HAHAHAHA

Some great fado singers will be at the South Bank Centre on Thursday. Let's hope there will be some tickets left on Wednesday when I get paid, otherwise, I won't be able to go.

Poum

Being away from France, I didnt follow very much the Cecilia-Nicolas Sarkozy break-up, so I am quite happy the Guardian has written a long piece about it!

Also on the Guardian's website, a podcast from the current Tate Modern exhibition of Louise Bourgeois' work. Everyone loved it, except me and my friend Nicolas. We totally failed to be moved by what we saw. We didn't even find it ugly or awful, we just found it unimpressive. Either we are not educated enough or are pointing the lack of clothes on the Emperor, though that would be too good. I have to say she still looks chirpy for her age (95). I have just read that she is the last Surrealist to be alive, so I might go back and look at the show from that angle, and maybe I will understand what she is trying to do.

Christopher Wheeldon's dance company Morphoses debuted in New York, and the great Aesha Ash was spotted by the New York Times: "Ms. Ash stood out for the resonance and power of her dancing in William Forsythe's “Slingerland Pas de Deux". You go girl! Here is a pic of her dancing with Trevor Nunn and William Trevitt (aka The Ballet Boyz) in a new ballet, "Mesmerics".

War

Some hoop-la in the US about a new War and Peace translation. I read a long version, and I loved it.

A portrait of Anderson Cooper, a CNN journalist who is very cute for his age (40) and likes reporting from war-torn countries and might be gay though he won't say.

In France, teachers are meant to read the famous lettre from Guy Moquet, an emblematic heroes of the French resistance and of the Communist Party, who was shot by the Germans at the age of the 17, on the 21st of October 1941. The lettre is his final, written to his parents and brother, just before his execution. Nicolas Sarkozy's first decision as president was to make the reading of this letter compulsory in every high school in the country. Some teachers are refusing to read it.