OSCAR CORONATION FOR 'THE KING'S SPEECH'

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/28/movies/awardsseason/28oscars.html?_r=1&hp

http://theenvelope.latimes.com/awards/oscars/la-et-oscar-main-20110228,0,1718868.story

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/the_big_picture/2011/02/the-kings-speech-the-triumph-of-hollywood-conservative-values.html

http://theenvelope.latimes.com/news/la-et-oscar-mojo-20110228,0,5480590.story

http://oscar.go.com/

A NEW LIBYA

Thanks to ESKUP (El País) and Aurora Muñoz we can have updated information on the events taking place in Libya: http://eskup.elpais.com/auroraml

The 24' embedded AL YAZIRA video discusses what the new Libya may look like.

LIBYA (2)

Souq Al Jummah yesterday.

LIBYA

Ahmed Fakroun, Nasser el-Mizdawi, Ayman El Aatar, Hamid El Shaeri.
  
Young sounds and rhythms from Libya. The sounds we can hear now are dictator bloody sounds. May our gods help stop this nonsense and let the young generations have their say. All our love from the northern bank of the Mediterranean.

ATTEMPTED COUP IN SPAIN (1981)

El'>http://www.cadenaser.com/espana/audios/golpe-23-f-noche-ser-informo-directo/seresc/20090213csrcsrnac_4/Aes/">El

For further information follow this link: http://www.elpais.com/english/
EL PAÍS With The Constitution
Founding editor Juan Luis Cebrián remembers the events of February 23, 1981

EL PAÍS 22-02-2011

At 6.20pm on February 23, 1981 I turned down the radio just as the secretary of Congress was asking deputies to vote in Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo as new prime minister. While the investiture session was underway I called in Antonio Ramos,
whom I wanted to interview before hiring him as a staff writer for EL PAÍS in Andalusia. But as soon as he had taken a seat in front of me, deputy editor Augusto Delkáder called me on the intercom. He sounded alarmed.
"Are you following the congressional session?"
"I turned it down, I'm not interested in the voting."
"Turn up the radio, turn it up right now!"
I turned the dial and heard some blows, indistinct voices, confusion and a radio presenter who was murmuring in dazed tones: "Armed individuals are entering the chamber; it's the Civil Guard. We don't know what's going on."
"I'm sorry, Antonio," I said. "Would you mind waiting outside a little longer, until this gets cleared up? I'll see you soon."
The radio presenter wondered whether the guards had come in pursuit of an ETA member, but then we soon heard a rattle, a cry of "Nobody move!" and we knew that the man addressing the deputies from the rostrum, gun in hand, was
Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Tejero. There was no doubt about it: a coup was underway.
Did it catch us off guard? Not in the least. We certainly did not expect such histrionics, but rumors about the army making a move against the democratic regime had been in the air for months, and the possibility was regularly discussed in political coteries. The fact that Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez had recently resigned fanned the rumors amid a thick atmosphere marked by internal division within the ruling UCD party; the more reactionary sectors of public opinion spoke out loudly to demand "a strong government." Opposition leaders did so too.
My office began to fill up with emergency visits and soon resembled the stateroom in the Marx Brothers' movie A Night At the Opera. All the newsroom and board chiefs were there, arguing over the confusion of unfolding events. Radio Nacional and SER soon stopped airing news out of Congress, as did the state-owned television station TVE, although an oversight meant that one of the cameras was still rolling, recording historical images of what was going on inside. At the time, I was under police protection because of terrorist threats, and my bodyguard was called in to the Interior Ministry. "I'll stay here with you, in case guns are needed," he said, recommending that we sealed all the access points of the building.
Meanwhile, some were suggesting that this was just another macabre joke by Tejero, the living caricature of the Civil Guard's worst image. Since the entire government was being held against its will in Congress, it occurred to me to phone the secretary of the Royal House, General Fernández Campo, who informed me that they were following events but still lacked a precise analysis of the situation. Shortly before 7pm I got a call from Ana Cristina Navarro, a journalist at Televisión Española, saying that troops had entered the station's
facilities.
Almost at the same time, Delkáder brought me the news wires reporting that a state of exception had been declared by General Milans del Bosch in Valencia, and there was no more room for hesitation: the coup was an organized affair, and it was affecting other military regions besides Madrid. Jesús
Polanco (a founding member of EL PAÍS and later main shareholder of the PRISA Group) got in touch with the Burgos field marshal, a distant relative of his, who told him that most of his colleagues, if not all, backed the coup. That was when I said that I thought we should publish a special edition of the newspaper immediately. What for? I was asked. In order to do what a newspaper such as ours needs to do, I replied: to report on events and to state an opinion about it.
Debate soon became argument, which then descended into chaos. Jesús Polanco and another of the founders of EL PAÍS, José Ortega, were not sure it was a good decision. Javier Baviano, one of the paper's managers, pointed out
that there would be no vans to distribute the paper, and that newsstands would be closed given that people had locked themselves up at home in fear. Besides, even though many writers were at the newsroom, most printing press operators had ended their shifts. Carlos Montejo, a member of the newspaper union, said he would call in as many operators as necessary and that unionists would even sell the papers on the streets if necessary. Somebody said that would be very
dangerous, as they could be attacked by fascist activists. Delkáder and Martín Prieto, my two deputy editors, urged me to make what they considered the only possible decision: to put out the paper as soon as possible. But it seemed
impossible to reach a consensus amid that hullabaloo, so in the end I slammed my fist against the desk and said that we would publish this edition if it was the last thing I did as an editor.
From that point on, everyone piped down and got to work. I went to the newsroom and asked the journalists to sit down at their desks because we were going to publish EL PAÍS. It was the only thing we could do to help stop the coup. I added that I had been informed that troops from the Saboya No. 6
Regiment were advancing toward the capital with the sole mission of occupying our facilities, and that if anyone was afraid and wanted to go home rather than take part in this initiative, they were free to do so. My only concern was that
the soldiers would get here before we were able to complete the edition, making our efforts useless, and increasing the danger we would be in once the military realized what we were doing. It was imperative that not a single minute be lost.
The little groups of journalists immediately formed and everyone started to split up the work. For a moment, I myself felt the fear I'd been referring to a minute earlier. Then I figured that if instead of just EL PAÍS publishing a special edition, other papers did the same, we'd all be more protected.
I locked myself inside an office and phoned Pedro J. Ramírez, then in charge of now-defunct Diario 16, and the current editor of El Mundo. I called on him to publish his own special edition. We can't, he replied, using that tone of hesitating self-assurance that he still uses when talking on the radio. We have no press operators, no journalists and no technical capacity, he said. I privately thought that they just didn't have the balls and told him so, though not with those exact words.
It dawned on me then that we were alone, that this was a decision that only us journalists shared, with support from the press workers. Another image from the past came to mind: that of a Czech television presenter, in August 1968, when Soviet tanks invaded the country and put an end to the Prague Spring. The presenter's distorted face, reflected on a screen full of interference, and his plea for help had haunted me ever since: "We're being invaded, help us." I thought that it was necessary to tell the outside world what was happening, that
we required the solidarity of the international press and public opinion to stop the coup from being successful.
I asked aides to get in touch with The New York Times, Le
Monde, The Times of London and foreign wire services to keep them abreast of the situation. In a very short space of time the edition was ready. We only changed two pages of that day's paper. The point was to get it out on sale as soon as possible. There were still no photographs available so we
decided to illustrate the front page with an archive image of Congress. Jesús Hermida and I argued briefly over the headline, and in the end we wrote: "GOLPE
DE ESTADO: El país con la Constitución." (Coup d'état: the country supports the Constitution). It then occurred to me that if we wrote "El País" in capitals, readers would understand that not just citizens in general, but our paper in
particular, was speaking out against the rebels. By 8.30pm the presses were starting to spew out the paper. Later, Tejero himself showed up inside the chamber carrying a copy, which he brazenly displayed. Then-deputy Javier Solana told me subsequently that he had thought if EL PAÍS is out on the streets, the coup has failed on the outside. He and other hostages felt their hopes renewed thanks to this.
Four years later, at the presentation of the Andalusian edition of EL PAÍS, a man came up to me. "Do you remember me?" he asked with a smile. No, I confessed with a mix of shyness and confusion. "I'm Antonio Ramos. I was in your office on February 23 and you asked me to wait for 10 minutes while we waited to clear up what was going on in Congress." We hadn't seen each other since.
Juan Luis Cebrián is the CEO of PRISA, the owner of EL PAÍS.

JAMES BLAKE, 22

I can't tell much about him yet (the links below do), only that it's been a nice surprise to listen to this couple of songs and that his first album has just been released. A stunning debut, the press writes. I've been relistening to them for a while and I'm looking forward to getting the CD.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/soundof/2011/artists/jamesblake/
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/portada/octavo/pasajero/elpepisupep3/20110218elptenpor_3/Tes
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/james-blake-20110208
http://thequietus.com/articles/05632-james-blake-review
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubstep

DREAMEND - Magnesium Light

A brand new band from Chicago they are. And this is their very first video ever. Great sounds ahead. We'll wait patiently but eagerly. Good luck.
http://dreamend.tumblr.com/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2011/feb/16/new-music-dreamend-magnesium-light
http://absolutepunk.net/artists/showlink.php?l=33692

MASET DEL LLEÓ (2)

http://www.maset.com/productos/vinos-tintos?___store=en&___from_store=ca       (link for English speakers, but there's also a Catalan and a Spanish one).

On December 31 I wrote a post where I recommended my favourite Cabernet Sauvignon (Gran Reserva 2004). Luckily they've surprised me with an amazing January offer: pay 12 bottles and get 18.  Incidentalley, this wine has been awarded the Gold Medal at Vienna's International Wine Challenge.

Besides, they have introduced a new and awesome wine called Syrah (Reserva 2005)  that has been awarded 3 gold medals and a Big gold medal: First medal at the Thessalonique (Greece) contest, another one at the Wine Master Challenge 2009 in Portugal, a Big gold medal at the world-wide competition in Brussels and a gold medal at the contest The Best Spanish Wines for Asia 2009, in China. As soon as I heard about this Syrah wine I couldn't help treating myself to a few bottles (the offer will end in a few days). My cellar is looking forward to welcoming the new guests. Cheers! 

EGYPT (4) ON THE PAPERS

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/11/hosni-mubarak-resigns-egypt-cairo
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/11/hosni-mubarak-resigns-egypt?intcmp=239
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/12/world/middleeast/12revolution.html?_r=1&hp
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/12/world/middleeast/12egypt.html?src=me&ref=general
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/a-tyrants-exit-a-nations-joy-2212487.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/11/AR2011021102386.html?hpid=topnews
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/11/egypt-military-resistant-change_n_822022.html

EGYPT (3) 'THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM'

To the brave and suffering people of Egypt, this impressive song by RUBÉN BLADES (featuring Lou Reed on guitar and background vocals): 'The Calm Before the Storm' (1988). May our respective gods be with you  and watch your path.
Rubén Blades – The Calm Before The Storm
        There was a time when ignorance made
        our innocence strong
        There was a time when we all thought
        we could do no wrong
        There was a time, so long ago
        there was a time
        But here we are in the calm before the storm

        While the orchestra plays, they build barricades
        to help close the doors
        While the musician sings, the holocaust rings
        cymbals of war
        In the cities we stare at the things that were there
        and no longer are and in our hearts
        Here we are again in the calm before the storm, oh

        There was a time when we had an idea
        whose time hadn't come
        They kept changing its name, so we could still pretend
        it was not really gone
        We heard our screams turn into song
        and back into screams again and here we are again
        Here we are in the calm before the storm, oh

        Here we are, here we are
        in the calm before the storm
        Here we are, here we are
        in the calm before the storm
        Here we are, here we are
        in the calm before the storm
        Here we are, here we are
        in the calm before the storm, hey
        Here we are, here, here we are, here
        in the calm before the storm
        Here we are, here, here we are
        in the calm before the storm
        Here we are, here we are
        in the calm before the storm

CINEMA AND MUSIC (3)

No comments today either. These soundtracks have their say.
 1. ERICH WOLFGANG KORNGOLDE: 'The Adventures of Robin Hood' (1938), 'The Sea Hawk' (1940).   2. ANU MALIK: 'Har Dil Jo Pyaar Karega' (2000).   3. HENRY MANCINI: 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' (1961), 'The Pink Panther' (1963).   4. ALAN MENKEN: 'The Little Mermaid' (1989), 'Beauty and The Beast' (1991).    5. ENNIO MORRICONE: 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly' (1967), 'The Untouchables' (1987).

CINEMA AND MUSIC (2)

JERRY GOLDSMITH: 'Alien' (1979), 'Planet of the Apes' (1969).
BERNARD HERMANN: 'Taxi Driver' (1975), Psycho' (1960).
JAMES HORNER: 'Braveheart' (1995), 'Titanic' (1997).
JAMES NEWTON HOWARD: 'The Sixth Sense' (1999).
MICHAEL KAMEN: 'Lethal Weapon' (1987), 'Die Hard' (1988).

LAST TANGO IN PARIS - Maria Schneider and Marlon Brando -

Maria Schneider, 58, who became world famous in 1972 thanks to her part in Bernardo Bertolucci's film 'Last Tango in Paris', has passed away :       http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/feb/03/maria-schneider-dies-58            -       http://next.liberation.fr/cinema/01012317757-maria-schneider-est-decedee   -             http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110203/en_afp/entertainmentfrancefilmuspeople
Maria Schneider and Marlon Brando on the dancefloor:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX_4A6d_Q-U

CINEMA AND MUSIC (1)

MOVIES and MUSIC, an ever-increasing good relationship. This is the first leg of a humble series to be continued soon. I hope you enjoy it and that it stimulates you to discover and appreciate so many amazing film soundtracks we've been having for years and still are.  LOUIS and BEBE BARRON - 'Forbidden Planet' (1956)  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIuc1_Qg4A8).  JOHN BARRY -  'Out of Africa' (1985).    ELMER BERNSTEIN -  'The Magnificent Seven' (1960) or 'The Grifters' (1990).     CARTER BURWELL - 'Fargo' (1996) or Being John Malcovich.     JOHN CORIGLIANO - 'Altered States'.    DON DAVIS - 'The Matrix' (1999).    TAN DUN - 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' (2000).    PHILIP GLASS - 'Kundun (Flight To India)' (1997).    DANNY ELFMAN - Piano Duet Suite arranged from movie themes (from Tim Burton films).
1. Victor's Piano Solo || Corpse Bride
2. Sally's Song || Nightmare Before Christmas
3. Breakfast Machine || Pee Wee's Big Adventure
4. This is Halloween || Nightmare Before Christmas
5. Ice Dance || Edward Scissorhands
6. Beetlejuice Theme || Beetlejuice