ACADEMY AWARDS 2010 RED CARPET

Would you like to check your English level? Here you have a 1:22:23 of beautiful faces who talk and talk. Very interesting.

ACADEMY AWARDS

This happened last year; soon we'll see this year's results.

By the way, did you see The Hurt Locker? Did the Academy's decision had something to do with it? I guess so. Anyway, there are many good films from all over the world that are worth seeing and don't get any awards. Plenty of towns have small theaters where you can enjoy gorgeous non-mainstream movies in their original language. Search for them.

Barbara Streisand presents the Directing Award for The Hurt Locker to Kathryn Bigelow:     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-DPBOTlSWk 

In case you wish to read as you listen to  Kathryn Bigelow's speech: http://aaspeechesdb.oscars.org/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll?AC=qbe_query&TN=AAtrans&RF=WebReportPermaLink&MF=oscarsmsg.ini&NP=255&BU=http://aaspeechesdb.oscars.org/index.htm&QY=find+acceptorlink+%3d082-17

EGYPT (2)

Egypt protesters defy curfew as tanks roll into Cairo : http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/28/egypt-protesters-tanks-cairo

Egypt's day of fury: Cairo in flames as cities become battlegrounds : http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/28/egypt-cairo-protesters-defy-curfew-elbaradei-mubarak

Egyptians's Fury Has Smoldered Beneath the Surface for Decades : http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/29/world/middleeast/29mubarak.html?_r=1&hp

What Can the Protests in Egypt Achieve? : http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/01/27/whats-behind-the-demonstrations-in-egypt/what-the-protesters-want

 

 

VAN MORRISON

I don't know how Van Morrison came to my mind after OM KALSOUM. Apart from their genius, the only reason I can think of is that both artists were among those whose records I bought back in the seventies.
To see Van Morrison playing live with this amazing bluesman called JOHN LEE HOOKER, click on the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xi2EgyZo2Pw .
For info about this Northern-Irish genius of music visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Morrison

EGYPT - Om Kalsoum,Umm Kulthum, Om Koultoum, Om Kalthoum, Oumme Kalsoum, Umm Kolthoum

Especially dedicated to the Egyptian people, a most beautiful song by this worlwide admired Lady, the so-called Star of the East (kawkab el-sharq).
Shaping tradition in Arabic song: The career and repertory of Umm
Kulthum: http://almashriq.hiof.no/egypt/700/780/umKoulthoum/biography.html

William Butler YEATS

Use the following link if you are interested in spoken poetry, which means that you will enjoy the pleasure of listening to great poets read by Tom O'Bedlam: http://www.youtube.com/user/SpokenVerse
Alternatively you can also browse for poems read by their authors. You will find a few.

IMPROVE YOUR ENGLISH WITH THE NEWS YOU KNOW ABOUT

On CONTADOR: http://www.elpais.com/articulo/english/Contador/gets/one-year/doping/ban/from/Spanish/Federation/elpepueng/20110126elpeng_9/Ten
On POLLUTION in Madrid and Barcelona: http://www.elpais.com/articulo/english/Environment/Ministry/calls/for/shock/measures/to/combat/pollution/elpepueng/20110124elpeng_3/Ten
On NUDITY IN PUBLIC in Barcelona: http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cataluna/Barcelona/chastened/elpepueng/20110121elpcat_1/Ten
On REAL and BARCELONA in the Spanish Cup: http://www.elpais.com/articulo/english/Love/s/labour/s/lost/for/Real/elpepueng/20110127elpeng_6/Ten
For more daily news in English (mainly about Spanish issues): http://www.elpais.com/english/

RUMER

Here we have a new voice coming from Britain. 'SLOW', her debut single is really good and makes me look forward to purchasing her album Seasons of My Soul.
To listen to 'ARETHA' and learn more click on this link http://www.rumer.co.uk/.
If you want to know what the papers say, you can start here(in Spanish) :http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/Rumer/nueva/revelacion/pop/serio/ingles/elpepucul/20110127elpepucul_4/Tes
and then here http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jul/08/first-sight-rumer.

REMEMBERING THE FULL MONTY (1997)

Especially dedicated to the English Language students that don't mind looking back on great films
and have a good laugh.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/1997/aug/29/1?INTCMP=SRCH

THE SOCIAL NETWORK

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/jan/23/scott-rudin-sex-on-the-moon

THE KING'S SPEECH

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2011/jan/21/the-kings-speech-nostalgia-1981

NICOLAS JAAR

Does Nicolas Jaar's music defy description? : http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2010/sep/01/nicolas-jaar-the-student

PERFUME GENIUS

Pure genius, he is.

DAMIAN LAZARUS 'Moment' (2009)

This song is older (2009) but it had to be here. Damian Lazarus, known in Spain to Barcelona's Sonar Festival goers and other music fans searching for new sounds. Play it loud to fully enjoy.

MONA, from Nashville, Tennessee

Another new band with their debut single released last summer, 'Listen to Your Love'. Looking forward to seeing them play live. Follow the link to read what The Guardian had to say.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jul/29/new-band-mona

Now a Brand New Canadian Artist: DIAMOND RINGS

Dance music for people who feel creepy in crowds ...Diamond Rings http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jun/18/new-band-diamond-rings
     
Hometown: Toronto, Canada.
The lineup: John O'Regan (vocals, laptop, guitar)
The background: Don't know what it says about us, but we love a man in eye makeup and a new romantic haircut. As soon as we saw the picture of Diamond Rings looking like Ziggy Stardust's sci-fi-obsessed kid brother, we knew we had to feature him here, especially because, having done Ollie Wride on Monday, we thought it would make this week a sort of glam sandwich.
He doesn't sound especially glam, though, not in the sense of glamorous, but then, neither did David
Bowie, and he defined the genre with his songs about the apocalypse suffragettes, and time falling wanking to the floor. John O'Regan, who is Diamond Rings, doesn't sing about female freedom fighters or onanistic abstract concepts (or the apocalypse), he deals in stuff that could, broadly speaking, be termed "aggressively downbeat" and "emotionally raw". And he does so in a lugubrious baritone that is quite at odds with his appearance and frankly unmanly dancing in his videos – the boomy register he uses is somewhere in the region of Iggy circa The Idiot or Phil Oakey all the time. You can hear all the words, too, which is deliberate – not for him the somnolent murmurings of the
chillwave boys. His lyrics read like the terse missives of someone who's been hurt and is hell-bent on revenge, rhyming "raw" and "war" like there's no tomorrow (which there isn't, according to Bowie).
Some of his couplets are quite impressive: "You write my wrongs/I sing all your songs ..." He's like a low-rent Neil Tennant, or rather, Tennant when he wrote Rent. He has two modes, dictated by the two
"instruments" he employs: computer and guitar. So half his songs are laptop pop and the other half are grungy, but because his voice is so prominent in the mix, even the latter are more novelty ditties than
excoriating noise-outs. In fact, All Yr Songs, a catchy strumalong, all tragicomic whingeing and tinny machine beat, is like Jilted John after the jilt's kicked in. "I would not want your skin to burn," he sings, less mincing than menacing, blowtorch in hand. That eye-shadow really is deceptive: he boasts of hanging out with "the freaks and the ghouls".
And on new single Show Your Stuff, he rails: "Save your anaesthetic for the boy next door/Nothing in your needle knocks me out no more." Ouch. And all this over a piano riff like a crude version of Chicago house. The chorus is rousing, only you'd feel a bit daft putting your hands in
the air to, "I'm the kind of boy who likes to play war ... Step up to the plate, come on, show me the score". This is dance music for people who feel creepy in crowds and uncomfortable in their own skin, burnt or otherwise.
The buzz: "A voice that's low and tuneful, beats that are primitive and a stage outfit that includes black spandex tights and pink eye-shadow" – Now Magazine.
The truth: He's the lovechild of Neil Young and Neil Tennant.
Most likely to: Be the prettiest star.
Least likely to: Panic in Detroit.
What to buy: Show Me Your Stuff was released by One Big Silence on 31 June 2010.
File next to: Perfume Genius, Esser, Ollie Wride, Myles Cooper.
Links: myspace.com/diamondringsmusic

7 GREAT 2010 SONGS Mavis Staples, "You Are Not Alone"

SADE 'Soldier of Love': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4xb9TSIITY&ob=av2nm .  This video can't be embedded, so click on it. Sorry. And it's freezing cold out here by the Mediterranean. I'll come back and pay a visit to this post in July again.

SONGS FOR DRELLA

'Songs for Drella, a small tribute gem album that John Cale and Lou Reed offered to the late Andy Warhol.

ANDY WARHOL'S 'FACTORY'

Andy Warhol, pop art painter, avant-garde filmmaker, writer, printmaker, record producer (The Velvet Underground,...), album cover designer (The Velvet Underground, The Rolling Stones, John Cale, Miguel Bosé), perhaps the most quoted artist over the last 40 years and a great influence on the New Wave and on musicians such as David Bowie or Devo.
This excellent video starts with Bowie's song 'Andy Warhol', included in a great album called 'Hunky Dory' and then Lou Reed's 'Take a Walk On the Wild Side' takes the lead. All wonderfully accompanied by some fine footage of Warhol's films featuring women who revolt against men. And of course, Joe D'Alessandro. I hope you enjoy it.

RICHARD LESTER

A film director some of whose films we ought to see again. Many people may know HELP!, A HARD DAY'S NIGHT or SUPERMAN I and III, but he has directed over 20 movies. And 'A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM' is one of the funniest I've ever seen. Do your best and watch it as soon as you can. You won't regret it.

SYLVIA PLATH

http://www.internal.org/Sylvia_Plath/Daddy  is the link where you can follow the poem Sylvia Plath reads.
And this is the site for Sylvia  Plath's homepage. Very good and loads of information:http://www.sylviaplath.de/ 
This is what The Wikipedia tells us in case you don't want to leave this blog:
Sylvia Plath (October 27, 1932–February 11, 1963) was an
American poet, novelist and short story writer. Born in Massachusetts,
she studied at Smith College and Newnham College, Cambridge before
receiving acclaim as a professional poet and writer. She married fellow
poet Ted Hughes in 1956 and they lived together first in the
United States and then England, having two children together: Frieda
and Nicholas. Following a long struggle with depression and a marital separation, Plath committed suicide in 1963.Controversy continues to surround the events of her life and death, as well as her writing and legacy.
Plath is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for her two collections The Colossus and Other Poems and Ariel. In 1982, she became the first poet to win a Pulitzer Prize posthumously for The Collected Poems. She also wrote The Bell Jar, a semi- autobiographical novel published shortly before her death.

THE CLASH - 'HITSVILLE UK'

And last but not least, a charming song: 'Hitsville UK'. I posted it in order for you not to miss it.

THE CLASH - 'SPANISH BOMBS'

The song speaks by itself. A must-have classic by The Clash, the great band I mentioned in my previous post. And there's plenty of them on YouTube. I leave it up to you to browse for more.

JOE STRUMMER

In case you don't know (the younger ones surely won't), let me tell you that Joe Strummer was one of the two frontmen and lead vocalist of the amazing British band THE CLASH (Haven't you ever listened to anthems such as 'London Calling' or 'Should I Stay or Should I Go?). After The Clash split, Joe went on playing in different bands (THE MESCALEROS and others) and even composed the entire score for a film directed by Alex Cox, WALKER. The 'Unknown Immortal' is one of the songs on the soundtrack and is among my favourites, perhaps because of his perfectly-captured Latino atmosphere (The first two lines are sung in Spanish). A different flavour in music after Monteverdi and Mahler. Cheers!

GUSTAV MAHLER (2)

Well, well, well, this is the unavoidable, the essential, the awesome Symphony No.5 Adagietto. If you are one of those who are tired of listening to it, please do leave this blog right away. If you are new to it, play it loud through good quality speakers and enjoy it. I must admit I am featuring it thinking of the newcomers.

CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI

Monteverdi, 1567-1643. I bought L'ORFEO CDBook last year and now I'm getting a nice surprise on discovering most interesting pieces of his work on YouTube. The only snag about the one I'm suggesting here is that it is too short. But you can play it twice or browse for more. It's up to you. Anyhow, this completes the amazingly beautiful and relaxing moments we all need from time to time. And don't forget to follow the English lyrics below the screen (on the YouTube Site).

GUSTAV MAHLER (music) - Friedrich Rückert (lyrics)

If you need a peaceful spot where you can lay your mind, go no farther. Listen to this song by the German composer Gustav Mahler and read the poem by Friedrich Rückert. If it makes you feel uneasy or uncomfortable, don't get upset. Watch and listen a second time and surely you will have sweet dreams.

'Oda a Walt Whitman' by Federico GARCÍA LORCA sung by PATXI ANDIÓN

Sung by Spanish singer-songwriter Patxi Andión 'Oda a Walt Whitman'  is one of the poems that García Lorca's collection 'Poeta en Nueva York' includes. The song appears on the album 'Poetas en Nueva York', featuring the likes of Leonard Cohen, Lluís Llach, Donovan, David Broza and other artists, each of them singing Lorca's poems in their own language. A real beauty you should own.

WALT WHITMAN

Listen to Walt Whitman's poem 'Song of Myself, III'  read by Lucille Clifton on The Academy of American Poets website. Once there I'm sure you'll spend quite a while browsing it. I hope you enjoy it.http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20277

FLEETWOOD MAC

And before I turn off my computer and go my own way and read for a while before going to bed, I can't help leaving you here a beautiful uplifting anthem by one of the best bands I've ever seen play live, GO YOUR OWN WAY. Fleetwood Mac shared three lead singers for a few successful years: Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie and Lyndsey Buckingham, although it seems Mrs McVie left the band in the USA to come and stay in England around 1998. The three of them starred in different songs alternatively or backed one another in unforgettable songs such as SARA, TUSK, SEVEN WONDERS or TANGO IN THE NIGHT. The album RUMOURS and the double album TUSK are a must-have. Besides,  they have also published several DVS of their world tours. I recommend them because each of them lasts over 90 minutes and therefore allow you to enjoy their creativity properly. Have a good listening and viewing. Cheers.

FLEET FOXES

A very nice surprise I had last year when I met this band. Funny they come from Seatle, a grunge-related US town for many. They are signed to a recording company who hardly ever fails to present us with new  stimulating sounds, SUB POP (have a look at their website and you'll see). YouTube have a few more videos, but the studio album version of this one is a bit too short. Pity. Anyway, seeing them play live proves their skills and their harmonies don't lose one iota. I hope you like them.

ALLEN GINSBERG - 'HOWL'

And thinking of William Burroughs I couln't help also thinking about one of his mates of the so-called BEAT GENERATION. This is ALLEN GINSBERG reading his famous poem 'HOWL'. It's always touchy to listen to a poet reading his own writing. But as you may have trouble in understanding it properly, follow the link below for a Spanish translation. If you don't understand Spanish, I'm sure you'll easily find a version in your native language on the Net. Good luck and enjoy it.

http://www.cyberhumanitatis.uchile.cl/CDA/creacion_simple2/0,1241,SCID%253D14605%2526ISID%253D287,00.html

WILLIAM BURROUGHS & KURT COBAIN - TWO GREAT AMERICAN MAVERICKS

The Priest They Called Him" by William S. Burroughs and Kurt Cobain



FOLLOW BELOW THE TEXT BURROUGHS READS:

"Fight tuberculosis, folks." Christmas Eve, an old

junkie selling Christmas seals on North Park Street.

The "Priest," they called him. "Fight tuberculosis, folks."

People hurried by, gray shadows on a distant wall.

It was getting late and no money to score.

He turned into a side street and the lake wind hit him like a knife.

Cab stop just ahead under a streetlight.

Boy got out with a suitcase. Thin kid in prep school clothes,

familiar face, the Priest told himself, watching from the doorway.

"Remindsme of something a long time ago." The boy, there, with his overcoat

unbuttoned, reaching into his pants pocket for the cab fare.

The cab drove away and turned the corner. The boy went inside

a building. "Hmm, yes, maybe" - the suitcase was there in the doorway.

The boy nowhere in sight. Gone to get the keys, most likely,

have to move fast. He picked up the suitcase and started for the corner.

Made it. Glanced down at the case. It didn't look like the case the boy had,

or any boy would have. The Priest couldn't put his finger on what was so

old about the case. Old and dirty, poor quality leather, and heavy.

Better see what's inside. He turned into Lincoln Park, found an

empty place and opened the case. Two severed human legs that belonged to

a young man with dark skin. Shiny black leg hairs glittered in the

dim streetlight. The legs had been forced into the case and he had to use

his knee on the back of the case to shove them out. "Legs, yet,"

he said, and walked quickly away with the case.

Might bring a few dollars to score. The buyer sniffed suspiciously.

"Kind of a funny smell about it." "It's just Mexican leather."

"Well, some joker didn't cure it."

The buyer looked at the case with cold disfavor.

"Not even right sure he killed it, whatever it is.

Three is the best I can do and it hurts. But since this is Christmas

and you're the Priest..." he slipped three bills under the table into the

Priest's dirty hand. The Priest faded into the street shadows, seedy

and furtive. Three cents didn't buy a bag, nothing less than a nickel.

Say, remember that old Addie croaker told me not to come back unless

I paid him the three cents I owe him. Yeah, isn't that a fruit for ya,

blow your stack about three lousy cents.

The doctor was not pleased to see him.

"Now, what do you WANT? I TOLD you!"

The Priest laid three bills on the table. The doctor put the

money in his pocket and started to scream.

"I've had TROUBLES! PEOPLE have been around!

I may lose my LICENSE!" The Priest just sat there, eyes, old and heavy with

years of junk, on the doctor's face.

"I can't write you a prescription." The doctor jerked open a drawer

and slid an ampule across the table. "That's all I have in the OFFICE!"

The doctor stood up. "Take it and GET OUT!" he screamed, hysterical.

The Priest's expression did not change.

The doctor added in quieter tones, "After all, I'm a professional man,

and I shouldn't be bothered by people like you."

"Is that all you have for me? One lousy quarter G? Couldn't you lend

me a nickel...?" "Get out, get out, I'll call the police I tell you."

"All right, doctor, I'm going." Of course it was cold and far to walk,

rooming house, a shabby street, room on the top floor.

"These stairs," coughed the Priest there, pulling himself up along the

bannister. He went into the bathroom, yellow wall panels,

toilet dripping, and got his works from under the washbasin.

Wrapped in brown paper, back to his room, get every drop in the dropper.

He rolled up his sleeve. Then he heard a groan from next door,

room eighteen. The Mexican kid lived there, the Priest had passed him on

the stairs and saw the kid was hooked, but he never spoke, because he

didn't want any juvenile connections, bad news in any language.

The Priest had had enough bad news in his life.

He heard the groan again, a groan he could feel, no mistaking that groan

and what it meant. "Maybe he had an accident or something.

In any case, I can't enjoy my priestly medications with that sound coming

through the wall." Thin walls you understand. The Priest put down his

dropper, cold hall, and knocked on the door of room eighteen.

"Quien es?" "It's the Preist, kid, I live next door."

He could hear someone hobbling across the floor.

A bolt slid. The boy stood there in his underwear shorts, eyes black with

pain. He started to fall. The Priest helped him over to the bed.

"What's wrong, son?" "It's my legs, senor, cramps, and now I am without

medicine." The Priest could see the cramps, like knots of wood there

in the young legs, dark shiny black leg hairs.

"A few years ago I damaged myself in a bicycle race,

it was then that the cramps started." And now he has the leg cramps back

with compound junk interest. The old Priest stood there, feeling the boy

groan. He inclined his head as if in prayer, went back and got his dropper.

"It's just a quarter G, kid." "I do not require much, senor."

The boy was sleeping when the Priest left room eighteen.

He went back to his room and sat down on the bed.

Then it hit him like heavy silent snow. All the gray junk yesterdays.

He sat there received the immaculate fix. And since he was himself a priest,

there was no need to call one.

JAVIER BARDEM

Russian ‘GQ’ holds Javier Bardem up as “the last European macho”

Rodrigo Fernández, Moscow (El País English Edition)

The first issue this year of the Russian  edition of GQ magazine features Spanish actor Javier Bardem on the cover, with an interview by the journalist Stas Tyrkin inside. The headline leaves little to the imagination: “Europe’s last macho.”

In the interview, a lot of attention is paid to the fact that Bardem — described as “the model of the Latin Lover, who by the early 1990s was already seen as Spain’s top stud and sex symbol” — was prepared to accept the role of a homosexual in the film Antes que anochezca (Before Night Falls), directed in 2000 by Julian Schnabel.

 By way of explanation the actor tells how, while on the film’s promotional campaign in the US, he was often asked whether he had hesitated before accepting a gay role. “Though I’m big and strong, and therefore very different from the personality, who was skinny and weak, I often said I would have found it more disturbing if they had offered me a role where I kill a few hundred Vietnamese. You can only conclude that we are less afraid of violence than of sex in our culture.”

Schnabel’s film brought Bardem his first Oscar nomination. Though he didn’t win, he admits that in those years “things began to happen very fast,” and that his life “seemed to be running out of control.” Not winning the prize was, in a way, good luck for him. “Everything turned out for the best,” he says. “Thank God! Winning an Oscar would have been too much. If they had have given me one, I would have lost my head.”

Of course, says Tyrkin, later he did win one, becoming the first Spanish actor to do so. The second was Penélope Cruz, who is now his wife, and is about to give birth to the couple’s first child.

As for ongoing work, Bardem tells of a shoot he recently completed with Terrence Malick, whom he calls a “master” and a “humanist.” As for film criticism, the actor confesses that, unfortunately, he chooses to read each and every article written about him. Fortunately, the interviewer then quotes John Malkovich, who called Bardem “the best young actor in the world.”

While all these things are well known to the Spanish reader, the magazine does a first-rate job of presenting Bardem to the Russians. It’s surely no coincidence that 2011 is the Year of Spain in Russia, an event that will be celebrated with an extensive program of cultural activities.

WARREN ZEVON REMEMBERED

I was reading this morning Fernando Navarro's blog on EL PAÍS website and I couldn't agree more with him on what he wrote about Warren Zevon. An unusual singer-songwriter who left a few fine discs one has to listen now and then. He recorded 'The Wind' album with some of his best friends shortly before he died and they could not prevent him from recording 'Knocking On Heaven's Door', knowing what the lyrics really meant to him at that moment.

'Veracruz' is included on his 'Excitable Boy' album. You will easily find the lyrics on the web. 

THE ROLLING STONES - 'Faraway Eyes'

Whenever I listen to young bands such as the likes of Vampire Weekend I can't help looking back and thinking of their 'ancestors'. The Stones are one of my favourite as you may have noticed from older posts and this song is a gorgeous one. Find the lyrics on the net and you'll laugh or at least smile a lot, I'm sure. This sort of country sound in a Stones' song can be found in a few more songs; they've always have gotten inspiration from American music which, apart from rock'n'roll, blues or jazz, includes country.
This video is part of the Martin Scorsese's 2006 movie 'SHINE A LIGHT', filmed live at the Beacon Theatre in New York City after The Stones had just finished their A Bigger Bang World Tour.

VAMPIRE WEEKEND at last

It's been a long time since I wanted to post a video by these Ney York guys. I bought their debut CD last year, buy they released in January 2008. Cool sound with a cool Valencian sweety drink. Who the heck drinks 'horchata/orxata' in December? I would but they don't sell it in cafeterias or  in ice-cream parlours in the winter months.

JOSH RITTER

Some beauty for a winter afternoon or for any afternoon or for any time.

Is The Queen Indian?

A smile after the New Year's bubbly. Cheers!

THE ROOTS

The Roots, rated by many as the best hip-hop record of 2010. We'll have to listen to them attentively.
In just two words: Brilliant and uplifting. Welcome to TWENTY ELEVEN.