March 09

March 26th

Hi folks! Today I feel like reviewing an awesome film I've just seen.
You know, how can the Academy Awards in Hollywood (the Oscars, that is) possibly snub a great movie such as Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino. I really wonder. Good old Clint, the older he gets, the better he becomes, both in front and behind the camera. Boy, don't I love his grumpy expression, his harsh voice, his wrinkled face!
You were damn right, Kike. Gran Torino is an extraordinary story about a retired Polish-American Korean War veteran, Walt Kowalsky, who apparently keeps telling the whole world "Keep away from me" while actually meaning "Notice me, I need you". After his wife's death his life amounts to nothing much but a treasured vintage car, a Ford Gran Torino, and a lovely she-dog, Daisy. He despises his unconcerned sibblings, his spoiled grandkids, and wants to be left alone. To make matters worse, his neighbourhood is cluttered with "gooks", Hmongs, and there's this Vang Lor family who live next door to him and trigger back resented feelings from his days as a soldier. But after the initial scorn it will be this Korean family, and in particular the younger members, Sue and Tao, who will "rescue" Walt from his personal hell.
I love the story from the beginning to the end, which will probably draw the emotional tear. With convincing performances by all the cast, the film will give you some food for thought: tense race relations, mindless urban gang violence, Gran Torino depicts the senseless world we live in, full of hatred and prejudice, but still there's hope that a bit of affection can break through sometimes.
Listen, I don't want to give many details about the plot, as I do hope you will get you pen drives ready and take the file home. Sometimes the language is not easy, as there's lots of slang, but no big deal, you will follow the story and you can use the English subtitles anyway
Just one more thing: the "icing on the cake" is this great final song, performed initially by Clint Eastwood himself (his voice pierces your heart!) until the talented Jamie Cullum (ever heard of him?) takes over. The lyrics are glorious and sum up the film perfectly. These are the lines I enjoy the most (the core, actually) but you can listen to the whole song, courtesy of goear.com, down below:

So tenderly your story is
nothing more than what you see
or what you've done or will become
standing strong do you belong
in your skin; just wondering ...

Gentle now a tender breeze blows
whispers through my Gran Torino
whistling another tired song
Engines hum and bitter dreams grow
a heart locked in a Gran Torino
it beats a lonely rhythm all night long

May I be so bold and stay
I need someone to hold
that shudders my skin
their sparkling

Your world is nothing more than all the tiny things you've left behind ...

March 24th

Hi again! Javi Becerro wants to join this "Almodovar fever". This is what he has to say about the universal manchego's career. Thanks Javi!

As a student at university, in the late eighties or early nineties, I knew about this filmaker. During“la Movida”, everything sounded fresh, original and provocative – this is the important word - I started to love the first films of Almodovar for his provocation.

I feel that his first movies are not important for their quality but for their character: druggies, transsexuals, transvestites, mixed with religion, traditional Spanish stereotypes and so on.

His shocking movies clashed with a conservative country that had just got over almost 40 years of dictatorship.

Almodovar is a peculiar director: you love his feature films or your hate them, but they never leave you indifferent. And he is more appreciated abroad than Spain.

Now, I believe that his whole career is impressive but I miss those surprising beginnings.

Almodovar: Love him or hate him. Please join us for more opinions on the controversial filmmaker or any other thing you wish ...

Hello guys! Alleluia, comments keep flooding in, this time from Marta (Prieto), who apparently cannot post her opinion about Obama's interview onto the blog either (what seems to be the problem, I wonder), so she's also asked me to do the task. Well, this is it (thanks a lot, Marta!):

I’ve just watched the interview of President Obama in the Tonight Show by Jay Leno (thanks Jose Luis for providing us with the transcript, it really helps!) and I think that it’s clearly another example of Obama’s charisma. He told several jokes (the one about American Idol is hilarious and I also found other moments very funny such as the part when he’s asked about his future dog and if people throw the game when playing against him) If you’ve enjoyed this one I recommend you the interview on The Ellen Degeneres show when he was still a senator. He dances Beyonce’s song Crazy in love!

About the controversy, I think the same as you, he really didn’t mean to offend the handicapped, it was only a joke...

So c'mon, keep it up folks!

March 23rd

Antonio has just emailed me this "travelogue" together with a few pics of his recent visit to Guadalupe and he wants me to upload the stuff onto this blog for him. and I do it with great pleasure. Thanks a million, Antonio!

Last Saturday I went to Guadalupe. A friend of mine, who is from Mexico, read his thesis on Friday, and he was so interested in knowing the place that I had promised to take him the very next day.

We had a wonderful time. Firstly it was the journey. Every time I

go to Extremadura I have strong feelings of happiness. It is like finding my roots again.

When we arrived it was midday and we went to the monastery, but in front of it, facing the bright sun, looking at the lively atmosphere in the square, we were immediately caught by the place, as we were enjoying everything.

Things went better when we strolled around the place: I saw a large side door for cars in the`Parador´. I always enjoy seeing patios and I am very cheeky about entering a restricted place without permission. So, we went in and we found a wonder: a large garden in several levels and in a style clearly influenced by the Arab world. We wandered slowly looking at everything: the basement floor of the building ended in an arcade, the first floor in balconies, beyond any doubt the balconies for the rooms.

In the past centuries the building, now a `Parador´, was a hospital. I thought about hospitals today, cold places, full of pipes, devices and machines. People recover in hospitals… sometimes. I thought that in an old hospital like this, such a humane place like it seemed to me, people felt undoubtedly well and recovered too.

Francisco, my friend, advised me to pay attention to the sounds. It was a great moment.

Beside the fountain, in the shadow of the cypresses, dozens of birds were singing everywhere: blackbirds, goldfinches, greenfinches, starlings… I even think I heard the nightingale for the first time this year.

Well, having fed the soul, it was time to nourish the body with the typical black pudding and have a beer ...

March 22nd

C'mon you lazy bones! Some of you take AGES to get down to writing and then all you come up with is three-four lines! I mean, if you recommend a film you might as well produce a "full-bodied" review ... or might you? Please, there's more to English than "one of the best movies", "It's better" or "I prefer ..." But anyway I'd rather you wrote stuff like this than nothing at all!

Morning everyone and happy Sunday!
I read a couple of days ago that President Obama had appeared on Father's Day in the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, one of the most famous talk shows on American TV. It seems that the interview had sparked some controversy because, talking casually about his sport activities, namely bowling, Obama said his low score of 129 was "like Special Olympics or something", which has inevitably called into question the President's sensitivity as he seemed to be comparing his skills at bowling to those of a handicapped athlete.
The thing is that last night CNBC replayed the show and I was lucky enough to watch it. Honestly I don't think Obama meant any offence, but it was simply an off-hand remark (surely in bad taste) that tried to make fun of his bowling skills but in no way underrate the Paralympics. However, it is a clear indication of how a public figure of this stature, their every word or move, are under constant scrutiny by the media and the general public.
Anyway, I've been able to find both the full interview on NBC's website and the transcript (which the White House decided to release) for you all to see. Personally I feel it probably gets kind of boring at times as the President mainly focuses on the economic crisis, the AIG bonuses scandal and stuff, but now and then he becomes more relaxed and gets to talk about what "life in the bubble is like", which might be just fine. So give it a go, guys, won't you? It's funny to watch the President of the USA cheered by the audience in a prime-time talk show. Can you imagine our own Mr ZP in the same atmosphere? I just can't!

March 16th

Dia Duit! Cad é mar atá an saol?
No, I've not gone bananas! It's just that I've greeted you in Gaelic ("Hello! How are you?"), the native language of Ireland. Why, you must wonder? Well, tomorrow is St. Patrick's day, the national day of the so-called "Emerald Isle". You know, I've always been very fond of all Irish things since I first set foot in the country in 1992 (I remember seeing the Barcelona Olympics in Dublin!): the people, the music, the way of life, the beer! ... In fact, I believe there's quite a lot in common between us and the Irish, except, of course, for the weather and the food. And historically we've hit it off rather well.
But I don't want to bore you with history or personal feelings. I just want to share with you some Irish stuff to celebrate the day:
Firstly, a History Channel video (just the link, unfortunately I cannot embed it) explaining the origin of the festivity and its popularity on both sides of the Atlantic. It's only a shame the accent is not Irish but middle American! It will do anyway.
Then, there's this YouTube clip featuring a lovely photo montage for you to get a taste of Irish sceneries, folk music and typical St. Paddy's blessings. One curiosity: They all begin "May ..." For example, the first captions read "May the Irish hills caress you / May her lakes and rivers bless you". The use of the "may" inversion is the equivalent to our subjunctive: "Que las montañas irlandesas te acaricien, que sus lagos y ríos te bendigan". I hope you like it!
You know what, we should have some craic (Gaelic for "fun") in class today, shouldn't we? I might come up with a surprise or two. See you then!

By the way, if you go to My music blog you will find an Irish song that I really like. I mean, I couldn't possibly finish this modest Paddy's day celebration without treating you to some Irish music act, could I?

March 12th

As you know, module 6 deals with the case of Stella Liebeck, which triggered off the so-called "compensation culture" in the US. Well, you know, there's this American singer-songwriter and satirist, Weird Al Yankovic, nicknamed the Prince of Parody, who has this hit song titled I'll Sue Ya, which is the height of frivolous lawsuits and spares nobody, from Panasonic and Toys'R'Us to Starbucks and Coca-Cola. Well, since I don't really like this sort of metal-like hip-hop for its musical quality, I've decided to only embed the animated DailyMotion clip, where you can see the cartoon of Weird Al "struggling" against all the world-famous brands. Hilarious!

March 8th

Hi again! Well, the Copa de la Reina is over and done with. It's been a great three days of basketball even if Avenida - disappointingly for some, not for me -underachieved against Ibiza on Friday and couldn't make it all the way to the dreamed final. But that's sport at its best, equally competitive and unpredictable. Mind you, Ibiza are a good team and they deserved to win, as they proved today versus the almighty Ros Casares, when they gave the much hated Valencianas a hard time and stood their ground until well into the last quarter and eventually lost the game. Ros Casares had to cope with the constant booing and whistling of our local fans, who clearly took sides and supported the Balearic team, even if at times they went a bit over the top by chanting an unpleasant and unsporting "Cago en Ros!", which I totally disapprove of. I mean, I don't take to Ros Casares's overbearing general manager, the unmentionable Carme Lluveras, and I sometimes get mad at the bragging attitude on the court of some of the players, who incidentally played for Avenida in the past, but that doesn't mean that the rivalry should get that far. But on the other hand I understand that sport arouses passion. So congrats to Ros Casares, who unlike Avenida won't be able to play the Euroleague's Final Four (it's us who laugh loudest, ha ha!)
The photo? Well, I didn't miss the opportunity that we were seated on the second row, a few metres away from the court, right behind one of the benches, to take - literally - hundreds of pix of the players, the court, the stands, the atmosphere ... and, of course, of my two kids, great fans of basket themselves. My daughter has also collected dozens of autographs and I've even talked to some players myself. And the photo above is the last one I took today, right after the final, on our way out when we bumped into local heroine Isa Sánchez, a charming girl I must say, nothing like the primadonna-ish stars that very often dominate professional sport.
OK guys, enough sport blogging for today. So, has anyone else been to the Multiusos over the weekend? Perhaps you've seen the final on TV? Whatever the reason, send in your comments, will you?
See you on Tuesday. Cheerio!

March 1st

Welcome to a new entry of our blog, which is getting bigger and bigger week by week, almost like a pregnancy, ha ha!
Well, the February exams are over and done with (thank God!), and it's time to get back to normal lessons. Some of you did fine at the exams, others not so well, but I want to encourage all of you, regardless of the "marks", to keep working, harder if possible. If only time didn't go by so quickly, I mean, it's barely three months till the end of the year and still so many things to do, in class and, hopefully, outside. So we are on a pretty tight schedule and have to make the most (and the best) of the time we have left, don't we?
Honestly, I've never felt that my students should come to a language school for the sole purpose of getting the diploma, but mainly for the pleasure of learning the language, if pressed I'd say for the LOVE of the language. Of course, as the saying goes, a gift is always welcome ("a nadie le amarga un dulce"), but it happens, more often than not, that those who only wish to be given the Certificado walk away and quit English (or any other foreign language) completely, so their level of competence fades little by little and eventually goes 100% rusty, as it were. I sometimes bump into former students of mine and quite too often, when I ask them if they keep practising the language, they shrug their shoulders resignedly and confess that they have barely any contact with English, except for the occasional DVD and some odd book they come across. Such a shame, I say to myself!
You must be wondering why I'm telling you all these things, and I really don't know why either, but it's like I want to make you realise that, like mine (and I mean it), your learning process has just begun, so to speak. There are solid foundations but they may collapse if abandoned, like those buildings which one day stood out bright and beautiful but now are derelict so no one looks at them. Wow, I feel poetic today!
Anyway, enough reflections for now. I hope you keep clicking and visiting this modest blog and, above all, you are daring enough to contribute to it, whichever the way. So why not right now? Cheerio!