La muerte del cine

He visto hoy un poco la televisión y he acabado presa de un ataque de pánico. Telemadrid ha anunciado una película para esta noche, creo, sobre un canguro que habla y gesticula como una persona. Cualquier atisbo de talento en esta película es fruto de la casualidad. Me ha dado miedo. Los dos siguientes anuncios no han hecho sino confirmar mis peores temores: la película Garfield 2 y otra película de la factoría Disney (argh) sobre un niño que encoge de tamaño y se hace amigo de una hormiga. Debo reconocer que este último argumento me deja anodadado, simplemente es tan estúpido, con perdón, que bloquea mi cerebro y no puedo reaccionar.

Pero lamentablemente esto no es un caso aislado, sino una tendencia ya apuntada años atrás: el cine se ha hecho negocio y cada vez es más difícil encontrar una película que realmente emocione al espectador. No, asistir a una descarga de efectos especiales superfluos y sustos donde la sangre es protagonista no es lo que yo entiendo por "emocionar". Cada vez adquieren más importancia los efectos especiales, que deberían ser secundarios, un medio para contar una historia, en detrimento de lo que realmente se pretende comunicar.

Hace unos meses, vi por primera vez dos grandes películas: "Casablanca" y "El tercer hombre". Quien no se sienta un poco francés entonando la Marsellesa en el bar de Rick y no se inquiete ante la presencia de Orson Welles en Viena, es que anda muy perdido. Algo que ambas películas me dejaron claro es que, hoy en día, nadie parece capaz de hacer cine con tanto talento como este. De ahí el título de esta entrada, el cine ha muerto y ha nacido la "industria del cine", más interesada en hacer dinero que en cuidar la calidad de lo que produce.

Un po' di pallacanestro

Hey, hey, hey, siccome ero in vacanze non mi sono reso conto che la Coppa Mondiale di Pallacanestro è arrivata. Domani l'Spagna ha la partita decisiva contro Lituania. È giusto dire che ho paura, molta paura, ma anche sarebbe così bello vincere e luttare per le medaglie.

Non ho potuto guardare molto la nostra squadra nazionale. Solo ho visto la partita contro Serbia e non mi è piaciuta molto. Abbiamo vinto a Serbia senza problemi e non ero soddisfato!!! Non posso crederci!!! Cinque anni fa, Serbia ci ha vinto facilmente da 20 punti e adesso non sono felice con il gioco spagnolo, perchè Gasol è troppo decisivo... Arghh, mi spiace essere così perfezionista.

Ieri ho visto anche un po' le partite Francia-Angola e Grecia-Cina. Sulla prima dire che "mamma mia, cosa hanno giocato? Pallacanestro? Ne siete sicuri?". Orribile, i francesi giocavano senza testa, senza pensare un attimo (Tony Parker è ferito). E poi l'altissima (tutti con più di 2 metri) ma morbidissima Cina. Hanno cominciato molto bravi ma sono ragazzi senza spirito guerriero e Papalukas (grande Papalukas) e amici hanno avuto una partita molto comoda.

Ancora non ho visto niente degli Stati Uniti, ma ho letto che adesso giocano come una squadra e non come cinque "cracks". Ma sono gli Stati Uniti, non dimenticare, e poi non liberano la palla molto facilmente. Grecia mi sembra una squadra molto seria e pericolosa (arghh, vade retro) e Argentina non ha ricambii molto affidabili.

Verremmo com'è andata domani la giornata... Il mio pronostico: vincono Spagna, USA, Grecia e Argentina (ma attenzione a Turchia).

Mi primer día en el trabajo

Tenía 524 mails, casi todos ellos vendiéndome Viagra y similares; no me funcionaba el ordenador y he estado casi toda la mañana mano sobre mano viendo cómo los informáticos intentaban arreglar el asunto; el virus que me martiriza en los últimos días se ha hecho fuerte allá donde la espalda pierde su nombre; no he tenido tiempo para comer ni para hacer una mínima pausa; he salido del trabajo casi corriendo intentando coger un autobús que finalmente no ha pasado; he esperado media hora al siguiente autobús; me he sentado a comer a las cinco de la tarde;...

Conclusión: hay días en los que es mejor no levantarse.

Mes jours à Ablanque

Pendant une semaine, je suis resté à Ablanque, le village où ma mère est née. Ces derniers jours de vacances ont été pleins d’événements. Au début, je devais écrire sur le forêt qui a été brûlé il y a un an. En ce moment, on peut apercevoir la destruction totale qui a porté le feu. Il y a des tertres qui n’ont aucun arbre : c’est un paysage lunaire. J’ai pu voir comment les arbres que j’ai planté en mai se sont développes. Ils vont bien, peu parmi eux se sont séchés, mais on a besoin de beaucoup de temps

Puis, ces jours je me suis rendu compte d’être transparent : j’étais devant un ami mais il/elle ne pouvait me voir et ne me parlait pas. On se sent un peu marginal. Au moins, je peux me consoler parce que c’est normal ici : les relations parmi nous ne sont pas très fluides et plusieurs factions se sont crées. Je suis un membre de la faction « freaky ».

Samedi je suis allé à La Riba, le village à côté d’Ablanque, pour faire la dernière fête de la saison. Il était le 20 Août et il faisait froid, un froid incroyable, que je n’ai jamais connu. Je portais un T-shirt, un pull et une veste et j’ai gelé presque de froid.

J'ai trouvé aussi un virus à Ablanque et aujourd'hui je suis malade, comme ma mère, Natalia, Lola, ...

Munich under the rain

Well, it is Thursday and it is still raining. Then I understand now why the river Isar so much water has and with such a dirty colour. I could never imagine such an August fortnight in my life. I watched the weather forecast on the TV some days ago and there is a huge cloud over Bayern, that cannot leave the area and it is going in circles around us.

These days I have been visiting the some of the museums in Munich: Deutsches Museum, Lenbachhaus, Alte Pinakothek and Neue Pinakothek. They are really interesting, but they cannot be compared under no circumstance with Prado Museum. That belongs to another dimension. In Alte Pinakothek the painting by El Greco is, in my opinion, the top one whereas Van Gogh and his sunflowers rule in the Neue Pinakothek.

Yesterday I was in a bookshop buying some books: a book by Kaminer (very clear and funny for a learner of German), another book about English football and an Asterix´s book for my collection. Bookshops here are different as in Spain: people can take a book, sit down and read it. I wish we had such bookshops in Guadalajara...

Some days ago I watched a German film about the Stasi in the former DDR: "Das Leben der Anderen". The film was very sad and hopeless, since it showed us the disappointment some DDR citizens, who really believed in sozialismus, felt when they got in touch with their leaders. Then they could know the dirt that was flooding in the system. Everybody left the cinema extremely sad and with not much happiness in their bodies. But, in any case, a film I strongly recommend (for funnier films, please go to: Am kürzeren Ende der Sonnenallee").

Now I walk in the underground without the doubted walk of a tourist, I could feel a little more like a Münchener. One last point I would like to highlight is that at 9pm, there is nobody in the streets in the neighbourhood where I live: Giesing. That is not so normal, isn´t it?

Well, I assume this is my last posting from Munich. My stay here was really nice, it could have been nicer if the weather had collaborated, but I must admit that Munich is my favourite German town, over Düsseldorf and Berlin. With Wien the comparison is not so clear.

More from Munich

Well, I am back in Internet. Today it is raining cats and dogs (as usual) and I have come back from Englischer Garten just before the big rainfall started. This park is really beautiful, probably the most beautiful one I have ever seen.

Last weekend was really busy indeed. On Saturday we went to Salzburg. The city is really beautiful and cute, quite small but very interesting; but Mozarts Geburtshaus was disappointing. There is nothing inside, just a small and useless collection of Mozart personal objects. Besides, our tourist guide had a strong national feeling and he referred to Austria as a foreign country.
The Neuschwannstein Castle is really wonderful. The countryside worths the visit and the view from Marianbrücke is amazing. Only negative point of our visit on Sunday was, again, the weather: it was raining from the morning until the night. What kind of summer is this? This is unbelievable for a Spaniard.

Some small funny informations. Near my aparthotel a limousine driver lives and everyday I can see his "work tool" parked. I must take a picture of it before I leave on Saturday. Automatic stairs (right word?) are also interesting here in Germany: if there is only one, then it goes downwards, instead of upwards (what is supposed to be harder). Can anybody explain that to me?

Finally, yesterday evening, I went to the supermarket since I did not have biscuits. When I entered the supermarket the sun shined. When I got out, it was raining! Let´s hope the weather gets better these last days in Munich, so far, my preferred city in Germany.

Life in Munich

Now things are going better, my German is coming back (slowly) and I am getting used to the German way of life. Wonderful, only that yesterday it was raining dogs and cats all day long and that was quite an strange sensation: I felt as if I were in winter time, not in August. Today, luckily, the sun has shined, not much, and I could go for a nice walk through Marienplatz, Maximilienstraße, Hofgarten, Odeonplatz,...

Today I took a picture of Hofbräuhaus because I was there some days ago and I did not realize where I was. My best friend had recommended me to go there and I could not even recognize the place!!! Thanks Lord, now this small missunderstanding has been solved.

I have also bought a coat because I am going to Salzburg and Neuschwachstein (right spelling?) and weather forecasts seem not very optimistic. But here in München, the winter season has begun and I had real difficulties in finding a sommer coat but, finally, in Kaufhof in Marienplatz, I have found what I was looking for (as once U2 sang).

What else? At lunchtime today a Japanese woman has made a little bird with paper in a wonderful way (I would need a lifetime to make one) and she has given it to me... She said my wishes come true with it (well, really she said in Japan when somebody has a wish he makes hundreds of small birds of paper, but that is more or less the same). My problem is that I do not already have a wish; I mean I have thousands of them but I have not chosen just one.

My first days in Munich

Well, by now, I should have got used to living in Munich but I am still having problems with the keyboard ("y" and "z") and some other minor adjustments (but the underground net is under control). I still miss a lot my pillow in Spain, since it seems people save money when making pillows in Germany (they are really small). But the breaking business in Germany would be jalousien (also known as Venetian blinds says an Online Dictionary): there is none in the whole country.

The cathedral, Frauenkirche, is not as the cathedrals in Strasbourg or in Vienna. It is immediately observed that the cathedral was not built a long time ago... That is something I expect not to weight very much, but I must admit that my previous experiences in a foreign country were in cities with awesome cathedrals.

Air-conditioning seems not to be widely known in Germany. Therefore, in hot summer days, rooms get hot like hell. That is what I experienced in my first night here: windows opened and I trying to breathe like a fish out of water. Now, thanks Lord, it has been raining for a while, and temperatures are more bearable.

I have even met some Spaniards. Yesterday I was having a shower at 8am when somebody knocked violently on my door. I opened the door quite worried and dressed only with a towel, only to discover a Spanish aged couple who had missed their room. I could just babbled some words in German but that was enough...

Today we have made an touristical walk throughout the city center. That was interesting, since we could meet each other better. After that, I have tried to copy a postcard I bought two days ago (Siegestor with Theatinerkirche in the background) but all I have got is the reason why I work with Economics and I am not a photographer.

Tomorrow we are going to a brewery. Let´s see how I can explain that I do not like beer...