Monday, November 28, 2011

KEN RUSSELL HAS LEFT US

GOTHIC : http://youtu.be/yYFGjVKAaSM

Ken Russell: A true British original

Ken Russell was a larger than life character who was one of the most controversial directors in British cinema.
He specialised in the interpretation of the great classical composers, extravaganzas which matched powerful images with a dramatic score.
They were not for the faint-hearted. Audiences would be regaled with the sight of women cavorting naked in railway carriages, nude actors wresting in front of roaring fires and nuns indulging in orgies.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-10701521

He is best known for his Oscar-winning film Women in Love (1969), The Devils (1971), The Who's Tommy (1975), and the science fiction film Altered States (1980). Classical musicians and conductors held him in high regard for his story-driven biopics of various composers, most famously Elgar, Delius, Liszt and Mahler.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

THE LOUDER, THE BETTER

DOWN AND OUT ON A SATURDAY NIGHT? NEVER

Need any words from me?
Don't think so.

Friday, November 25, 2011

INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Our challenge is to ensure that the message of "zero tolerance" is heard far and wide. To do that, we must engage all of society – and especially young people. In particular, young men and boys must be encouraged to become the advocates we need. We need to promote healthy models of masculinity. Too many young men still grow up surrounded by outmoded male stereotypes. By talking to friends and peers about violence against women and girls, and by taking action to end it, they can help break the ingrained behaviour of generations.
http://www.un.org/en/events/endviolenceday/
http://www.un.org/en/events/endviolenceday/videos.shtml
http://www.saynotoviolence.org/

BLACK FRIDAY IN USA

Many people have a day off work or choose to take a day from their quota of annual leave on Black Friday. Some people use this to make trips to see family members or friends who live in other areas or to go on vacation. Others use it to start shopping for the Christmas season.
Shopping for Christmas presents is also popular on Black Friday. Many stores have special offers and lower their prices on some goods, such as toys.
http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/black-friday

Thursday, November 24, 2011

USA THANKSGIVING DAY

Thanksgiving Day is traditionally a day for families and friends to get together for a special meal. The meal often includes a turkey, stuffing, potatoes, cranberry sauce, gravy, pumpkin pie, and vegetables. Thanksgiving Day is a time for many people to give thanks for what they have.
Thanksgiving Day parades are held in some cities and towns on or around Thanksgiving Day. Some parades or festivities also mark the opening of the Christmas shopping season. Some people have a four-day weekend so it is a popular time for trips and to visit family and friends.
http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/thanksgiving-day
http://gochicago.about.com/od/eventsfestivalsholidays/p/thanks_parade.htm
http://www.wishafriend.com/thanksgiving/

American Indian Heritage Day:American Indian Heritage Day, also known as Native American Heritage Day, annually recognizes the rich cultural heritage, history and vital contributions of American Indians on the Friday after Thanksgiving Day in the United States. http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/american-indian-heritage-day
http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/?year=2011&country=1

Sunday, November 20, 2011

LOU REED & METALLICA

The album is based on Lulu - two plays originally written by the German playwright Frank Wedekind. A majority of the album's composition is centred around spoken word delivered by Reed over instrumentals composed by Metallica, with occasional backing vocals provided by Metallica lead vocalist James Hetfield. Reed wrote a majority of the lyrics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lulu_(Lou_Reed_and_Metallica_album)

The 'LULU' plays, originally conceived as a single play, tell a continuous story of a sexually-enticing young dancer who rises in German society through her relationships with wealthy men, but who later falls into poverty and prostitution.The frank depiction of sexuality and violence in these plays, including lesbianism and an encounter with Jack the Ripper (a role which Wedekind played himself in the original production), pushed the boundaries of what was considered acceptable on the stage at the time. Karl Kraus helped Wedekind to also stage in Vienna.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lulu_plays

WALK ON THE WILD SIDE and NOTHING ELSE MATTERS are here for the nostalgic ones.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

'MAÑANA' IS TOO LATE


(...)
In the past decade, during el boom, money poured in, inflating a huge construction bubble. Grand infrastructure projects like Ciudad Real airport sprouted. Many of Spain’s 17 regional governments channelled cash into trophy schemes—universities, art galleries, high-speed rail—with no concern for whether they would pay their way. They were abetted by the cajas, small unlisted savings banks, often with opaque ownership structures, that lent recklessly on the assumption that property prices could move only in one direction. (...)

http://www.economist.com/node/21538741

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

November 15, WORLD NO ALCOHOL DAY

In many parts of the world, drinking alcoholic beverages is a common feature of social gatherings. Nevertheless, the consumption of alcohol carries a risk of adverse health and social consequences related to its intoxicating, toxic and dependence-producing properties.
In addition to the chronic diseases that may develop in those who drink large amounts of alcohol over a number of years, alcohol use is also associated with an increased risk of acute health conditions, such as injuries, including from traffic accidents.

Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health 2011: http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/publications/global_alcohol_report/en/index.html
http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/publications/global_alcohol_report/msbgsruprofiles.pdf
On SPAIN: http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/publications/global_alcohol_report/profiles/esp.pdf

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

BALAM ACAB, 'Wander / Wonder'

On the cover of Wander / Wonder, a faint blue light illuminates what appears to be a small crevice in a large cave. The source of that light lies hidden somewhere behind the blackness that envelops the rest of the frame. It's a simple, abstract gradient, minimal in its aesthetic and striking in its details, and it leaves viewers room to draw their own pictures in the darkened margins. It's a perfect fit for the music it encases. (...)

In a statement to the press, Koone was recently quoted saying that Wander / Wonder "is an open-ended album, and I think individuals should make their own meaning of it so that it is something actually real to them." That's likely why so much of this music is shrouded in darkness. The layering of audio effects keeps the album's sounds hidden behind a veil, as if they're being played in a dream by an ever-shifting, permanently anonymous source. Koone's vocals, for example, are processed in such a way that they seem to have been recorded from far away in huge underground spaces, always detached and elusive. They rarely ring out clearly enough to be fully comprehensible, so listeners can draw their own meanings from the voice around the bend.

http://www.npr.org/2011/08/28/139952027/first-listen-balam-acab-wander-wonder

It's hard to believe this clean-cut boy-child is responsible for music of such unearthly, eerie power and ghostly grace
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/dec/02/new-band-balam-acab?INTCMP=SRCH

http://blogs.elpais.com/muro-de-sonido/  (November 2, 2011)

Tuesday, November 01, 2011

BUSTER KEATON

In case Julian Barnes wore you out, here you have a little bit of good laugh. BUSTER KEATON, a master you must not miss out on.
http://www.busterkeaton.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buster_Keaton

Buster Keaton is considered one of the greatest comic actors of all time. His influence on physical comedy is rivaled only by Charlie Chaplin. Like many of the great actors of the silent era, Keaton’s work was cast into near obscurity for many years. Only toward the end of his life was there a renewed interest in his films. An acrobatically skillful and psychologically insightful actor, Keaton made dozens of short films and fourteen major silent features, attesting to one of the most talented and innovative artists of his time.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/buster-keaton/about-buster-keaton/644/

JULIAN BARNES - PULSE

THE SENSE OF AN ENDING, Winner of the 2011 Man Booker Prize .
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jul/26/sense-ending-julian-barnes-review1
(http://www.themanbookerprize.com/)
http://www.julianbarnes.com/
http://youtu.be/BY42Y-hyuek

PULSE - Julian Barnes is still the master explorer of the intricacies of human relations -

Raymond Carver titled a collection of stories What We Talk About When We Talk About Love; the point was that his characters talked about anything but. In some ways, Pulse is Julian Barnes's very English improvisation of that idea. You don't always think of Barnes as an autobiographical writer, but it is hard to avoid that impulse here. This perfectly weighted collection feels like a companion volume to his erudite and profound meditation on death, Nothing to be Frightened of. Only eight months after that book appeared in March 2008, Barnes's wife of nearly 30 years, Pat Kavanagh, died after a short illness. This book, like all his others since they first met in 1978, is dedicated "for Pat"; it is concerned with aloneness, and its antithesis, love.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jan/02/julian-barnes-pulse-review

(...) Barnes is certainly the master of his own style: what preoccupies him here are the novelistic qualities of endurance, unity, cohesiveness, qualities for which the short story is made to act as an anti-metaphor.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jan/08/julian-barnes-pulse-rachel-cusk-review
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/8230189/Pulse-by-Julian-Barnes-review.html

After the best-selling Arthur & George and Nothing to Be Frightened Of, Julian Barnes returns with fourteen stories about longing and loss, friendship and love, whose mysterious natures he examines with his trademark wit and observant eye. (...)
http://www.julianbarnes.com/bib/pulse.html