Spain cares about Lindsay Lohan? 21/07/10

Lindsay Lohan being sentenced to prison for 90 days

Find original article here

So, Lindsay Lohan is going to Jail for 90 days because she never completed the mandatory alcohol and drug classes that were assigned to her after she was caught driving drunk and with cocaine on her in 2007.

This, I do not care about.

What I do care about is that this is one of the top 10 most viewed stories today in El Periodico. But why? What relevance does Lindsay Lohan have to Spain? She's never done a movie in spanish, or filmed a movie in Spain, or even had a Spanish co-star! Not that that means they can't enjoy her fantastic work in Mean Girls or Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, but I guess more than anything I'm just surprised that A) there is as much of a celebrity-obsessed culture here as there is in America and B) those celebrities are American. Now I know I'm generalizing here a bit, but I do think that it says something that Lindsay Lohan going to jail is making worldwide news. Is that what America exports? Real life trashy dramas about over-worked, over-privileged celebrity 'it' girls who get hardly any jail time for something that normal people might go to jail for 20 years for? I'm reading stories in the paper about breakthroughs from German scientists and groundbreaking Swedish studies, and then when it comes America's turn all we have to offer is Lindsay in a jumpsuit? What are the priorities of America? What do we export around the world? Is it valuable at all, or just merely fluffy culture junk that has no real consequence to anyone?

I'm thinking fluffy culture junk...

News: Spain has highest rate of immigrants leaving in E.U. 19/07/2010

Original article here

According to a study by adecco, this year spain was the country with the most amount of immigrants who left this year - close to 90,000. Even after this exodus, which is claimed to be due, at least in part, to the economic crisis Spain is facing, Spain continues to have the highest population of immigrants, with the statistic being close to 15% or 1 in every 6 people. The article also states that the economic problems have also altered migration patterns into the country, which dropped from 10.2% in 2008 to 2% in 2009.

I find this interesting, seeing as how people are constantly complaining about immigration, when in reality it is a sign of wealth. Are those people who were constantly complaining about immigrants happy now that they're leaving because of the recession? Be careful what you wish for...

Flamenco! 04/07/10

Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take any pictures during the performance, but here's one that is pretty similar.

Credit: http://www.simonepope.com/Images/IMG_6479.JPG

Wow! So I went down with the school to 'el palacio de flamenco' fro a short flamenco performance and WOW was it awesome! I could literally go on for hours about how beautiful it was...not only was the dance much more creative than I thought it was going to be (lots of interesting uses of props) but it was also just so strong! I love to see women portrayed as strong characters and I find it very unusual to find both sensuality and strength in the dance because historically, women's attractiveness has been derived from their fragility and weakness. But WOW! Que fuerte! All the stomping, swishing, sweating and clapping really added up to a fantastic show! I can't wait to go again soon, because if I have another opportunity I definitely will!

News: Girlfriend of Spain's Goalie responsible for loss? 08/07/2010

The beautiful couple: Casillas and Carbonero

Original story here

Accusations are coming out that the hot-to-trot girlfriend Sara Carbonero may have been the reason behind Spanish goalie Iker Casillas' miss against Switzerland's goal, that caused Spain to lose it's first game in the world cup, even though it is the predicted winner of the entire cup. Apparently, Carbonero, Casillas' girlfriend, works as a sports news anchor and was 'too close' to him when switzerland made their goal, and apparently there is also footage of him being distracted before the goal was made. My opinion? Much a-doo about nothing. I think this whole controversy and story sounds like something you'd find on a 4th grade playground, but if I have to make a comment, i guess i'll chime in that people should stop blaming the girl for being 'too pretty' (Hey...you're the people who outlawed the burke, remember?) Blame the goalie!

Sometimes people just want a scapegoat though, and the prettier, the better.

IED fashion show 05/07/2010

One of my favorites

Love the shapes and textures

Funky designer

My favorite model :)

BEST outfit of the show in my very uninformed opinion

I recently had the pleasure of attending a fantastic fashion show put on by the thesis students from the European Institute of Design. I was actually incredibly impressed with the calibur of work that they produced and the cohesion of some of the lines. There were literally some pieces that took my breath away. I've never been one to watch a lot of movies or TV, so when it was suggested that I should spend my thursday night watching a fashion show I jumped at the chance. Yes, movies are art, but so much of them are commercialized and mass produced to appeal to the largest audience possible, therefore stripping them of any polarizing or valuable content. What I liked the most about the show (and yes, it was a SHOW - movie clips synchronized to music synchronized to the models/outfits) was seeing the different points of view that each designer had (Ok, so i've watched a couple too many episodes of project runway) - and especially because they were young and fresh I think that their artistic personality came through very well in the outfits. And to top it all off some of the models were VERY cute and I felt so cultured the entire time. !

Cultural Activity: Casa Asia! 16/07/2010

Casa Asia is a famous house that has now been converted into a cultural center that promotes understanding and exposure to asian culture to the Barcelona area. The decoration inside is rich and beautiful, and there are plenty of speakers, events, cultural activities, food tasting events and well as film festivals that Casa Asia either promotes, funds, or hosts. It's a neat experience to see both palau del baró de quadras and also see the exhibitions and cultural displays at the same time.

From the outside.

Plaque outside.

Look at the detail on the outside walls!

Beautiful fountain/mosaic inside on the ground floor.

Gorgeous staircase leading up to the exhibition

An interesting mix of more asian-inspired lighting with classical architecture.

Current exhibition on national Korean propaganda

Restaurant: Casa Asia! 16/07/2010

Whilst perusing around doing some sightseeing, i found this cute little asian-style restaurant inside of the cultural center 'Casa Asia', named Shanghai 1930. The service, as usual, was a little slow (I was the only customer and I had to wait about 10 minutes until the girl behind the bar got off her cell phone), but the food was not too pricey at all and actually good! I ordered the chicken curry and I was pleasantly surprised when it came out quickly and was delicious! The restaurant has a very bamboo/wooden theme that is somewhat reminiscent of a rickety old restaurant somewhere in thailand, but the accents to the decoration added a decent amount of class and modernity. Overall it the restaurant was lovely, empty, and delicious! A must try if you enjoy Asian Cuisine.

The Menu!

The Restaurant

My chicken curry!

Me!

News: Political Comics. 17/07/10

Looking through the news I cam across this comic that was written about the catalonian constitution asking for Catalonia's nationhood that was recently rejected by the government. Thia cartoon portrays the catalan struggle for independence inside of a pressure cooker, with the cook (who i'm guessing is portraying spain) seemingly mocking the catalans.

This is an attitude i've started to pick up on among non-catalans. You try to bring up their request for independence or start a conversation about their epic march the other day, and you receive eye-rolls or heavy sighs of exasperation. 'They need to give it up' Is something i've heard a lot here, and it seems as though most people simply seem to blow off these seemingly serious requests, or just seem exasperated by the amount of effort and energy that Catalans put into preserving their culture. This cartoon illustrated that perfectly for me, and also included some slight foreshadowing of explosive eruptions that might be caused by the very non-chalant attitude that seems to pervade the rest of Spain in relation to Catalan independence.

Quadrat d'or project! 16/07/2010

Attached you will find some of the pictures of stores, restaurants, and plenty of beautiful houses and monuments from the quadrat d'or, a small sliver of a triangle that rests between the streets of aragó, passege de gracia, and avenida diagonal. It's an area that's rich in architectural history as well as sprinkled with cute restaurants and city-run programs...here are the pictures from my days wandering!

La pedrera! (translation - The rock quarry)

Light display inside of the design store vincon

Monument build in 1888 to Joan Carles I...also known at el lapíz!

Casa Asia - holds tons of asian cultural art displays and events

Eating inside of the restaurant in Casa Asia

Inside a funky store called Dbarcelona

Inside the market - I noticed the beautiful displays, even including stained glass lamps!

A good place to get a clara or a fancy meal.

Cool egyptian museum that is owned by a private collector!

Some body turned the fountain into a bubble bath...!

Medieval Field-trip! 13/07/2010

Santa maria del mar - This church is remarkable because it was the fishermen of the town that helped establish and build the church in an era when the catholic church was more or less responsible and had the resources to build churches.

Placa de la llana is one of the many streets in the area that used to be occupied by the guilds of the medieval times and were therefore named after them. In this case, llana translates in english to 'Wool', which means that this street was mostly occupied by the workers/guilds using wool.

What's neat about Santa Caterina is that it is a market that not only has most of its original architecture still in place, but also has some roman ruins underneath it!

These are walls from roman times that have been painted...but the paint is bad for the wall because it doesn't let it breathe!

Palau de la musica

No more bullfights for Catalonia? 12/07/10

A bull gets his revenge.

Me and my friend Mitch at a bullfighting right during the running of the bulls

Find original article here

On the 28th of July, the parliament of Catalonia will vote to decide if it wants to outlaw or forbid the ancient tradition of bullfighting. Each party has more or less taken a side on the issue, with certain parties on both sides, some divided, and some choosing not to vote at all. The story isn't very detailed and doesn't bring up the actual controversy or people's opinions on it, but the two sides seem clear enough - on the one hand, you have people worried about animal cruelty and brutality, and on the other, you have those who are working hard to keep an age-old tradition from dying. It's an interesting question and I think both sides have a valid point, however, I don't think that tradition or history should have the ability to override morality. In that case, black would still all be in the fields, women would still all be in the kitchen, and gays would still all be in the closet. I think a re-appropriation of the tradition is in order - some way to still include the rituals of a bullfight in a manner that doesn't border on abuse or animal cruelty.

Feildtrip: Jewish Quarter 12/07/2010

Inscription on a building in original hebrew

See the dents in the wall towards the bottom? People used to be executed at gunpoint against this wall.

If there is one thing that I am realizing about history in Barcelona it is that it has so many LAYERS!! Again, American history is pretty linear and straightforward, so seeing multiple influences in one area is really fascinating to me - Roman buildings replaced or next to Franco's buildings, seeing the remnants of multiple cultures in one area, and then to top it all off to see how it's all been so modernized and how we exist and are changing/adding/taking away from the layers of culture all around us. I think also part of why this is sinking in so much is because history is EVERYWHERE in this city - In America, anything important or old is sectioned off, turned into a tourist attraction and quarantined from ever being touched. Here, people interact with the history - they live and work in the old Roman buildings, they attend mass in the huge cathedrals, they drive their motorcycles through the tiny streets that were once built only to fit horses. That's what I noticed the most on this field trip - that the people here seem to have a much more casual relationship with their history, it's more integrated into their daily lives and their past strongly influences their present.

I sometimes wonder if this why people here in europe seem so much more grounded - they have centuries of influences, cultures, and lessons learned that have shaped the way they live and exist. This isn't to say that Americans don't, I just think that being so isolated from our European history has made us forget the most basic, almost primally human parts of ourselves in the name of progress and puritanism. Americans are afraid of everything - Sex, Food, Money, and so when those desires do express themselves, they usually do it in a way that's inappropriate. It's crazy to me that A young teen can watch some video girls shaking it on MTV wearing the absolute bare minimum while a man throws money on them and degrades them with his lyrics, but for that same young teen to see a movie in which two people in love express that physically with sex- which is normal and healthy, would be deemed inappropriate. Or, for example, that in a country as rich as America there are still millions of children living in hunger, while others are suffering the effects of complications from being so young and overweight. Everything is so moderate and integrated here. People seem to have a healthier relationship with themselves, their bodies, their desires. I'm learning from that.

And I'm also realizing that in America's puritan attempt to squelch our most basic human desires, we're merely give rise to the very perversions that we are afraid of.

Paella! 07/14/2010

That is a BIG paella!

Touristy a bit, but I guess it had it's charm

Well, this isn't going to be a long post, simply put - I finally tried Paella and...well..I liked it more than I thought I would. I am really not a big seafood fan at all, so I was expecting to hate it, but it was actually edible. A group of my friends and I all went down to the port to a restaurant called, "tinglado" for dinner, and we got a great deal - a huge plate of paella, plus 4 starters, dessert, two bottles of wine and water, salad, PLUS a free chupito for less than 15 euro! How's that for a deal? Other than the fact that the restaurant was a little cheesy and VERY touristy, I liked it. It was right by the port and you could hear in the faint distance the pounding music of the clubs which wasn't so fantastic, but the conversation was great and there was plenty of food for everyone, so we all had a good time.

Burka Illegalized in Barcelona 07/08/2010

Find original article here

Now this is something I find interesting.

Recently, it has been decreed that the traditional Muslim garb worn by women in some sects, known as the burka, has been illegalized in public places. A burka is the garment shown above that covers every part of the woman except her eyes, and even then sometimes there is a screen used to cover the eyes. Now, the politicians are saying that their reasoning is because it is a danger, a threat - that someone wearing a burka could commit a crime and we would never know who they are because, of course, they're covered from head to toe. In class we talked about how many people this law would affect, and the answer was about ten. Ten people. That's it! Now, here are my problems with this law -

First: Why are we even worrying about such a small, insignificant problem? Considering some of the other crisis that spain has going on right now, why are we devoting so much time and energy to a law that will affect only ten people?

Second: Is there any real evidence that this is a problem? I have yet to read any factual evidence that the burka has been used to commit crimes. So they're spending time arguing over a hypothetical crime situation that applies to ten women? doesn't really make sense, and also, wouldn't it be EASIER to catch someone in a burka? Sure, you don't know what they look like but you know what they're wearing! Also I understand that perhaps someone else could don a burka and go on a crime spree, but until that happens (which it may not ever) why are we taking away a staple of these people's belief?

Third: This law is obviously targeted at immigrants and promotes taking away the rights of a select group of people who belong to a certain race and religion. I might understand better if this wasn't a well established and respected religion or if there was a huge population of people wearing burkes and we had encountered many problems, but should we take away cross necklaces because they're sharp and pointy and could be used to gouge someone's eyes out?

I guess overall I just feel a little dissapointed. I felt like barcelona was such an amazing melting pot of cultures and religions and people, and now that we are illegalizing certain parts of people's culture and religion I feel a little off about it. I also can't help but think also that this is simply an attack muslims in general - after 9/11 and the war on terrorism, there was a huge anti-muslim sentiment in the U.S. and plenty of attacks, harassment, and blatant racism directed towards people of middle eastern decent. 'They are dangerous' 'They are all terrorists' or 'he could be working for Al-queida' are things I have heard people say. I think inherently, deep down somewhere we feel that Muslims are dangerous, and subconsciously taking away their rights to their religion and culture makes us feel more comfortable. Would it be awkward to be in a classroom with a muslim girl and never know what she looks like? Yes. But they do it in plenty of countries with ease. I think we just need to have more open minds.

And for the record having an open mind doesn't mean only listening to open-minded ideas. It also means being open and accepting the extremely conservative as well.

History Museum of Barcelona 29/05/2010

Roman ruins that lie underneath the city

Photocredit: www.museuhistoria.bcn.es

The fieldtrip we took today was one of the first ones that i've ever gone to a history museum and actually felt like 'history came alive'. I know that sounds cheesy, but it's true. As we were walking through the old roman ruins, I was literally imagining the people who used to live in the exact spot I was, talking about everyday things, going about their lives. Perhaps it was the way that our professor contextualized what we were seeing and described it in vivid detail: the 12 year-olds slaving away in the dying pools, the women scrubbing away at their clothes with ash and urine...It just all felt so real! I guess i've always had an overactive imagination, and to have someone help it along was awesome. For me, it was so interesting in the museum discovering how culture is changed, re-appropriated, and evolves into something else. In America, we don't really have enough history to have gone through buy maybe one or two large, country wide shifts of culture, and for the most part those changes in culture have been made through media outlets - movies, radio, television, etc. I never thought about the fact that one empire doesn't just disappear and another takes it's place - it's a gradual change and one in which the transition has to be made easily - for example, the tradition of wine being sacred, developed by the romans and used in orgies and other rituals, and then changed when Rome became christian and was included in the communion ritual. It is a way of helping people keep their customs while changing their culture. It's also so interesting to me to think about the old vehicles of culture - namely religion, compared with those of today, media. Globalization has had a giant impact on homogenizing culture across the world - I can travel to an entirely different continent where they don't even speak the same language and they're watching the same shows and movies that I am in the U.S. Yes, It's nice to have something in common with people everywhere, but as methods of communication get faster and globalization continues, are we going to be sacrificing uniqueness and culture for efficiency? Is the world getting too small?

Spain: World Cup CHAMPIONS!!

Celebrating after Spain's win in Plaza España

Things quickly got out of control!

When it comes to the subject of being interested in soccer, I have two strikes against me: First, I'm american, where football rules all, and second, I'm gay, which means unless the sport is played shirtless or involves heavy contact (or some wonderful combination of the two), I'd rather be getting a manicure; However, seeing as how the people living around me have the wonderful habit of lighting explosives whenever anything interesting happens in the game, I figured I should probably just give in and watch it, if nothing else than at least to know when the sudden loud noises would be coming.

Let me start this paragraph off by stating this: Soccer players are cute. Especially the Spanish ones. And, as it turns out, watching sports with other gay men is fun, because they don't know any of the rules either, and it's almost eerie, like they have the ability to read the dirty thoughts you're thinking about the players.

Example:

In my head: "....kick...WOW!...butt..."

My friend Andy: "Did you see him kicking that goal foul-shot thingie? WOW! What a butt!!

Creepy.

Other than gratuitously oogling the players, it was fun and exciting to hear the entire city scream in unison when spain was close to a goal, and it's probably the one time the neighbors aren't going to complain about the noise, so people definitely take advantage of the opportunity to hoot and holler.

So, fast forward through the night: Spain wins, Spain's goalie Casillas cries, the room full of gay men cries, then we move on to Plaza España to celebrate...and celebrate people did! It sort of reminded me of one of those apocalyptic movies where there's only dismay and disorder and people give themselves over to hedonism, except this probably had more fireworks involved. After celebrating for a couple of hours, and by celebrating I mean breaking and/or climbing everything in sight, (lamp-posts, roofs of busstops, national monuments) law and order was suddenly restored to the plaza thanks to a swat team, who, upon their arrival caused a stampede that nearly trampled me. They were shooting bags of sand at people and when my friend slowed down to grab his shoe that had fallen off of him, he was swiftly introduced to the baton of one of the police officers. Luckily we all made it out of the plaza fine and then found one another, retired home and tried to sleep through the chanting, horn honking, and fireworks that lasted the rest of the night.

Mar Bella - The Gay Beach! 07/07/2010

The guys on the boat!

Me and my oh-so-classy Drag Queen

The boys and I at the chiringuito

As far as cities go, I have to say that Barcelona is one of the gayest that I have ever been to. Considering that as far as people go, I am one of the gayest I have ever met, it looks like it's a match made in heaven! Needless to say I was excited when some new friends I made here invited me to go to a gay beach near the Poblenou Metro stop. Speedo? Check. Rainbow towel? check. Muscles? Er...Well I *thought* I would be fine, until I got to the beach and felt like I was backstage at a bodybuilding competition! Let me tell you, if you ever need some motivation to go to the gym, or a dose of humility, Mar Bella is the place to go - on some of these guys I saw muscles I never even knew existed! Luckily, my friends informed me that the majority of these guys are on steroids and have balls the size of peas, which made me feel better, but I still couldn't get over how muscular EVERYONE (okay, myself excluded) was - and perhaps also that's just me being american, where overweight is the norm.

Anyways, once I got past the muscles things, I really enjoyed myself. You can go nude on the beach if you please, but for some reason the only people who seem to take up this offer are the exact same that you would never want to see naked. There is also a lovely little chiringuito right by the entrance that blasts house music and gay anthems - Cher, Madonna, Kylie...well, you get the idea. What's lovely is that the sun doesn't set here until around 9:30, so you can spend the evening at the beach after school or work and have a couple of drinks and relax - on which note, I should mention that there are roves of merchants wondering the beach selling cold beer and massages, so you really can do both of those things!

All in all, I loved the beach and it's such a nice place to go to hang out with friends. I even met a lovely Drag queen there (I LOVE drag queens) who, although a bit of a mess, at least gave me a chuckle and a free picture. I was also lucky enough to go on one of my friends' friends boats, which was fantastic, until one my friend's friend's friends got swiped in the face by a medusa (Read: Poisonous Jellyfish) . You should have seen how quickly the boys on that boat offered to pee on the wound. Oh dear.

Mullet Meals 12/07/2010

The outside...Very trendy!

The inside...Very Swanky!

The clara...Very tasty!

Unassumingly sitting in the Quadrat d'or, on calle valencia, there lies an obviously trendy restaurant named 'mulet' which is french for 'Mullet'. This might be cute if it somehow tied in to the theme of the restuarant - a duochromatic black/white color scheme that mixed together the feel of a small french restaurant - small wooden chairs, plenty of tables for two, with a slight dash of retro to appease the crowd that it inevitably attracts with a name like 'mulet', but it doesn't, so I couldn't help but be disappointed when not a single person on the wait-staff had a mullet.

I went in the afternoon for a drink, and was surprised that at such a swanky little outfit you could get drinks starting at 2 euros. My clara (4/5's beer mixed with 1/5 lemonade - nothing more refreshing on a hot summer day!) was only 2.50, and it was a very generous size. The service was surprisingly good, it wasn't too crowded, but, when I asked about coming back for dinner things suddenly got complicated - today, they had an event, tomorrow they were closed for untold reasons, and the bartender working there seemed unsure of the hours, but what he 'thinks' is that the restaurant is open until 12 but the kitchen closes at 11:30. I would love to go back - you can get a three course meal there for under 15 Euros, and if the pictures out front and on the website aren't misleading, the food looks like it will be served gormet style - which is to say there will probably be a lot more style than substance!