blood cinema

Apart from the sheer nuts and bolts of learning Spanish, you might be interested in "reading around" the subject... maybe reading accounts by people who have travelled\worked in Spanish-speaking countries.... or perhaps reading about spanish literature\films\music\art ... or simply reading novels\detective stories\historical novels featuring Spain\Spanish-speaking people.

One of the pleasant things about learning Latin is the sheer abundance of stuff like that... and sometimes it is a pleasant change from the hard graft of trying to translate Virgil or Horace. There are loads of novels about ancient Rome, detective stories featuring Roman detectives ( obviously)( I recommend Lindsey Davies and her detective, Falco) , loads of writing about Latin texts, plenty of books about Roman Gods, accounts of travel through modern Greece and Rome with a historical slant... etc... you get the idea.

When I got interested in Welsh I was fascinated and encouraged by a brilliant book called Travels in an Old Tongue ( Pamela Petro). This is an account of a woman's travels all over the world speaking Welsh to Welsh people in China, Japan, Patagonia, the USA.... great stuff... and much easier than reading Welsh I can assure you.

SO...... what is there like this , but about Spanish? Well, I haven't actually got much of this sort of thing, but there are certainly plenty of books available about spanish culture, literature and films. I've put a selection of them up as photo's... most of these books are very highly rated.

Many of them are pretty expensive too... so I suggest you get them from your library... order them if necessary. This means you get to read them ,PLUS you are showing that there is a demand for Spanish books. I get Spanish stuff out when I go to the library, even if it is just to stop them saying there is no demand. Do it!!

NOW... can any of you out there recommend other books like these ?

I have also found that there is an increasing tendency for Oxfam bookshops not to display foreign-language stuff like they used to. Some keep them in the storeroom ( ask) but some just don't keep them at all. Complain!

Talking of doing it, here's something you might want to watch\tape.... at 4 a.m. in the early hours of Tue 2nd , "Talk Spanish"is on the TV ( BBC2 ) + Eurografters (Spain) straight afterwards. Well worth having.
Early the next morning ( 4am on Wednesday 2nd) they are showing Mi Vida Loca which is also well worth recording.

Here's Zoe with a rather dramatic, intense song, Luna.
There's loads of versions of this on the net, with or without words, live versions etc......



And here is a video of the words....



and, unusually, a video with the words in both Spanish and English...



now, to wind today's post up, here's a quote for you...

las personas son como polillas, buscan la luz para terminar girando alrededor de una bombella...

Storyboarding

Hanging around charity shops as usual, I got a little Spanish dictionary the other day... but this one was ALL in Spanish.

It's called Norma.... and it's also called.....

Diccionario de la lengua Española Mini.

How it got over here to England I don't know. .. here's a few definitions from it as a sort of puzzle / quiz...

[a] Pelo que nace sobre el labio superior. [ nice easy one for starters]

[b] hacer algo por encontrar a alguna persona o cosa.

[c] Ser suficiente

[d] Mover los pies, el cuerpo y los brazos a compás

[e] Calidad de bueno .... Disposición natural a hacer el bien.

As an extra clue, they're all in the "b" section.

Storyboarding is a really nice way to interpret/engage with/bring to life a bit of Spanish.... this is the opening lines of " Bodas de Sangre, and straight away we hear that knives are on the agenda. You don't need to be any sort of a whizz drawer to do these....



When I wax thinking about this, it occurred to me that it would be a great way to help you learn the words of a song.... storyboarding it would be a lovely thing to do, plus you would be concentrating on the words and actions for a good while. you can also let your imagination run riot, as if you were making a little film.

I'm going to try it ... maybe with one of Nena Daconte's songs... watch this space.


Now this is quite an arresting song... Tiempo, by Bebe and Carlos Jean... this is not Bebe's normal style at all, but it really grows on you ( well, me anyway).



Here are what I hope are the correct words...

TIEMPO … Carlos Jean.

Hoy sopla viento del suroeste
De máxima tendremos 18
y de mínima 13... Mi número

Acabo de despertar y con el tiempo voy aprendiendo
Que la mañana te ayuda a ver las cosas con más claridad
Que lo que antes dolía mucho
Hoy tiene algodones en las esquinas
Y empieza a ser como una caricia
Y duele menos, mucho menos
Que el tiempo juega un papel muy importante
Y nos lo están quitando por todas partes

Tiempo

No se puede construir ná, ná de ná, ná
Tiempo, pa volver a casa tu quieres tiempo
Pa encontrar la calma necesitas tiempo
Pa tomar tus decisiones, tiempo
Pa tocarte los cojones, tiempo
Pa pasarlo con tus hijos, tiempo
Pa fumarte un cigarrito, tiempo
Pa perder el tiempo, tiempo
Pa disfrutar el momento, tiempo
Pa coger un autobús, tiempo
Pa decirle al jefe quiero tiempo
Pa mirar al cielo quiero tiempo
Pa escuchar las canciones tomate tu tiempo
Pa currar yo mido siempre el tiempo
Pa disfrutar quiero que sobre el tiempo
Yo pa coger olitas quiero tiempo

Tiempo

Pa dedicarselo a tu cuerpo, tiempo
Pa contarle a un niño un cuento, tiempo
Pa valorar que vas haciendo, tiempo
Para parar si vas corriendo, tiempo
Pa desahogar la mala ostia, tiempo
Y pa que nadie se la coma, tiempo
Pa sacar tus conclusiones, tiempo
Pa saber donde te pones, tiempo´
Pa respirar, tiempo pa llorar, tiempo
Pa volver a respirar, tiempo
Tiempo, pa dejar que ten den besos, pa reirte

Acabo de despertar y con el tiempo voy aprendiendo
Que la mañana te ayuda a ver las cosas con más claridad
Que lo que antes dolía mucho
Hoy tiene algodones en las esquinas
Y empieza a ser como una caricia
Y duele menos, mucho menos

Tiempo, pa volver a casa tu quieres tiempo
Pa encontrar la calma necesitas tiempo
Pa tomar tus decisiones, tiempo
Pa tocarte los cojones, tiempo
Pa pasarlo con tus hijos, tiempo
Pa fumarte un cigarrito, tiempo
Pa perder el tiempo, tiempo
Pa disfrutar el momento, tiempo
Pa coger un autobús, tiempo
Pa decirle al jefe quiero tiempo
Pa mirar al cielo quiero tiempo
Pa escuchar las canciones tomate tu tiempo
Pa currar yo mido siempre el tiempo
Pa disfrutar quiero que sobre el tiempo
Yo pa coger olitas quiero tiempo

Tiempo

Tiempo, pa volver a casa tu quieres tiempo
Pa encontrar la calma necesitas tiempo
Pa tomar tus decisiones, tiempo
Pa tocarte los cojones, tiempo
Pa pasarlo con tus hijos, tiempo
Pa fumarte un cigarrito, tiempo
Pa perder el tiempo, tiempo


(Gracias a Kira por esta letra)

.. consecuencias llegan...

Today I am tired ( I've had to do some work(!) and go to a very boring 2-hour meeting so I'm just sticking on a few pics and videos.



I've shown a couple of things by La Mala Rodriguez recently...here she is being interviewed, and then another of her songs, Por La Noche.
I think this sort of stuff is really useful for learning Spanish.... because there is no "tune" to carry the thing, she has to make the words themselves get your attention.... using rhyme, rhythm, clever juxtapositions, assonance... and this makes them memorable amd enjoyable.


Also, this is much more "real" Spanish than you will get from many songs.
Some time ago I asked you to come up with some hip-hop / rap in spanish ( preferably steering clear of the unfortunately prevalent macho posturing of so many performers in the field).... nothing has come up yet but I am still looking.



and this is her doing " Por la Noche" ... all her work is very socially aware and hard-hitting... quite understandably so I would say... but the medium she uses takes some getting used to.



Thanks to the musicstarx site for these lyrics.. they are different in places to what she actually sings on the video.... I shall look into it!
[well, I've tried looking at other versions of the song, and it seems that various "chunks" of words get put in or left out... for example, if you scroll along the " choices" at the bottom of the screen once the video has ended you will find another version of "Por La Noche" performed by a whole selection of people... and they sing different bits... the "Total Fitness" section gets done for example. It seems the lyrics are "fluid." ]

Lyric of Por La Noche of the song Mala Rodríguez

Artist: Mala Rodríguez
Album: Malamarismo (2007)
Títle: Por La Noche

Sin reputación no hay respeto,
Conozco esta zona,
Esta mona no se anda por las ramas,
Hablo claro,
Consecuencias llegan,
Si me necesitas, llama.

¿Por qué no?, apunto alto me lo guiso,
apuesto, por la noche,
Oyendo ruidos que hacen los animales y los coches,
Hago piezas de coleccionistas y broche,
Sin palabra no hay persona,
Sin reputación no hay respeto,
Conozco esta zona,
Esta mona no se anda por las ramas,
Hablo claro,
Consecuencias llegan,
Si me necesitas, llama.

Yo, mantengo el rap en Total Fitness,
Escupo fuego y descongelo a Walt Disney,
Intento hacer un clásico por cada actuación,
Como los All Stars de los 80´,
Con Magic y Moses Malone,
La Macarena el contexto en que escribo,
La Mala, esta en el bloque de al lao,
El mismo barrio, los mismos motivos,
Juaninacka, master de mc´s,
Os lo brindamos, (¡Así!)
En el 99´ ya nos juntamos,
Hablo claro,
Consecuencias llegan,
Así me expreso,
En bloques de palabras de 30 ó 40 segundos,
La música es libre, blindar canciones ´es chungo,
En dos días están en Internet,
Y ya han dao la vuelta al mundo,
Mi estilo es directo,
Recto como un disparo,
A veces lo mezclo y otras no,
Y lo hago tó con pareados,
Lanzo ideas que separan cuerpos a precio de costo,
Y que luego vuelven como parejas cuando se acaba agosto,

Apunto alto me lo guiso, apuesto, por la noche,
Oyendo ruidos que hacen los animales y los coches,
Hago piezas de coleccionistas y broche,
Sin palabra no hay persona,
Sin reputación no hay respeto,
Conozco esta zona,
Esta mona no se anda por las ramas,
Hablo claro,
Consecuencias llegan,
Si me necesitas, llama.

Es tu oportunidad,
Conozco muchas leyes que se cumplen siempre como la de la gravedad,
Es mi oportunidad se está muriendo el día,
Voy a vaciar tu oído de palabras vacías,
Porque mi historia está en las páginas que faltan del Génesis,
Soy la Némesis de un rockero blanco de Tennessee,
No existe el metro con el que me mido,
Yo era underground, pero esa palabra dejó de tener sentido,
Fuera del mundo y dentro de él,
Quiero escaparme de dentro de este saco de piel,
Llamado cuerpo,
Parece que estoy cuerdo hasta que muerdo,
Mi futuro es tu presente, el pasado me lo pierdo,
No es fácil hacer que parezca tan sencillo,
Ser blanco de mis rapeos, serás carne de estribillo,
Las personas son como polillas,
Buscan la luz para terminar girando alrededor de una bombilla.

Apunto alto me lo guiso, apuesto, por la noche,
Oyendo ruidos que hacen los animales y los coches,
Hago piezas de coleccionistas y broche,
Sin palabra no hay persona,
Sin reputación no hay respeto,
Conozco esta zona,
Esta mona no se anda por las ramas,
Hablo claro,
Consecuencias llegan,
Si me necesitas, llama.

Quieres salir ahí fuera sin reputación y sin nombre,
Piensas que es fácil, crees que lo hace cualquiera y cuestionas,
Poco respondes, porque no hay sugestiones,
Ni un simple ápice,
Que ponga en duda nuestros trámites,
Nuestras gestiones, nuestra fama,
Tenemos que bregar pa hacerlo así,
¡Ey!, ¿Qué más quieres?
Solemos renunciar a las vías fáciles,
Los clichés,
Hay huéspedes que infectan el juego con sus caprichos,
Por dinero y hacen cálculos, perros en celo,
Traigo espectáculo,
A la mínima observan con los prismáticos,
Cuando se oculta el Sol causando sensación,
Te informo al son,
Que sin palabras no hay persona,
Y que en el micro pongo el dedo en el clic, son mis parámetros, no es broma,
El brillo de un descuido se esfuma,
Cuando circulas por el lucro,
En esta empresa estamos tó en la bruma,
Otro día más, la misma mierda,
Capaz y Mala Rodríguez controlan,
No estamos de oferta ¡Mira!

bodas de sangre

Blood Wedding.... Bodas de Sangre.... Lorca's super-dramatic play about lost love. It's powerful stuff, maybe rather florid and over-emotional for current tastes, but an essential read ( and view) for anyone who wants to go beyond Lorca's poetry, and wants to know about Spanish theatre and its influences.

As well as that, of course, it has all the advantages to language learners of the "play" format... IT'S ALL SPEECH "..... which has got to be good. PLUS you can actually tape yourself reading some of the play...

There's LOADS of stuff on the web about the play... in fact it's all a bit overdone... study guides, the significance of colour in the play, loads of theories, notes for students, the entire text, what to read next.... too much!

I've got the Hispanic Texts version, edited by H. Ramsden, who I like to think is the fish and chip magnate but probably isn't. When you think about it, combining running zillions of salt and vinegar emporia with being Emeritas Professor of Spanish at Manchester University would be a big ask.

This has good background information about Lorca, without swamping you with too much theorising.

Also, there are loads of video clips, but by far my favourite is this .... it tells you all you need to know, and it is a production I would love to have seen...


Once you've watched that dramatic intro, you can scroll along the choices along the bottom to see various productions and scenes from the play, but the sound is usually a bit duff.


Vetusta Morla are the bees knees... here's a beautiful acoustic version of Boca en la Tierra...



and here are the words..

Nos dejaron las balas
y un enjambre de abejasése fue su tesoro y una noche oxidada.

Nos alzaron en brazos
descubrimos planetas
nos creímos tan fuertes como héroes de guerra.

Y en mitad del relámpago llegó el mal de altura
fuimos sed en el aire pero boca en la tierra.

Ahora alumbras las horas
con guiños que se escapan
cubriendo el recuerdo con bandejas de plata.

Y nos echamos tanto de menos
que nos da por despegar
en avenidas de pegamento, clavados por las rodillas.

Y en mitad del relámpago llegó el mal de altura
fuimos sed en el aire pero boca en la tierra.

La antena está abierta esperando una señal
la señal que no llega a esta sala de espera es una eternidad.
Y el tesoro perfecto lo cubrió la tormenta
con aviones cruzándose en la noche más negra.

Y en mitad del relámpago llegó el mal de altura
fuimos sed en el aire pero boca en la tierra.

Fuente: musica.com ( thanks)
Letra añadida por joserayab ( and thanks to you too)

............................ Telón.....................................

NOTE...I don't know how that flanders panel picture got there... I must have picked the wrong picture... sorry.

Nelly Furtado in Rabbit outfit??

Today I missed out on getting the Spanish-language film Cronos from Film4.
I check through the Radio Times every week looking for foreign films and missed this one... why? Because it was on around midday. In general I don't look there because 99% of the time film4 has duff old crap on at that time.... foreign stuff is usually late-night.

Bah.

Another ridiculous disaster occurred when I grabbed another Spanish film. La Antena, from the TV. This proved less than wonderful because when I watched it, I found that it was virtually silent. and, by the way, in black-and-white too. This is not good for the language learner.

A quick whizz through the new radio times shows that there are at least 2 Spanish-language films on next week...

[a] At 11pm, Film4 Sunday 24th we have Pan's Labyrinth.
[b] At 11 am (!!) Film4 Thursday 28th we get The Sea Inside.

I haven't checked all the other channels yet... but I will...watch this space.

Pan's Labyrinth is a very odd and very powerful, even scary film. It scared me. Here's the trailer and a review...





99 of 107 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Into the labyrinth, 25 Feb 2007
By E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Pan's Labyrinth (Exclusive to Amazon.co.uk - Limited Edition Art Cards and Slipcase) [DVD] [2006] (DVD)
If anyone wants to know where the dark, creepy fairy tales of old went, here's a hint: Guillermo del Toro is doing a pretty good job with the fairy tales for adults.

"Pan's Labyrinth" ("El Laberinto del Fauno") is a sequel of sorts to "The Devil's Backbone," a magical realism film about the Spanish Civil War. But this movie takes us deeper into a world that is half real, half ominous fairy tale, with a unique and imaginative story and some really excellent acting -- in short, a triumph.

Time and place: 1944, Spain. Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) and her very pregnant mother travel to meet her new stepfather, the brutal and murderous Captain Vidal (Sergi López). Ofelia loathes her new stepfather, but is transfixed by the eerie forests around them -- and one night she is visited by a fairy, and encounters a giant faun who tells her that she is Princess Moanna of the netherworld, and must return there.

To do so, he tells her that she must do three things, and gives her a strange book. Ofelia menages first task, but is frightened out of her wits by the second task, which involves a hideous monster with eyes in its hands. Even worse, her mother's pregnancy is getting more dangerous. As the guerillas and the fascists clash, Ofelia faces being trapped outside the netherworld forever...

Fairy tales have become cleaned-up and cutesy over time, so that children can read them without nightmares. But del Toro knows that the best fairy tales are the eerie, bizarre ones for adults, that are connected somehow to the real world. That is what makes "Pan's Labyrinth" so brilliantly dark and heartfelt.

Del Toro obviously crafted this with care, directing it in a dreamlike style and brilliant visuals. The eerie atmosphere of Ofelia's wanderings -- the delicate yet menacing faun, the chalk doors, the monuments, and the pasty nightmare with eyes in its palms -- is both a contrast and a parallel with the everyday world, which Ofelia hopes to escape.

At first, it seems like the post-Civil War and fairy tale stories don't mesh, until you see that the "real world" story is Ofelia's motivation to escape from all the fear, pain and sorrow. But Del Toro's biggest triumph is an ending that is beautifully bittersweet, and which turns out to hinge on Ofelia's newborn brother.

But del Toro's biggest triumph is in the instant connection we feel to Ofelia, with her love of the fantastical and her desire to go somewhere "safe." Baquero is absolutely wonderful in this, as a girl who isn't entirely of this world -- in her heart, she belongs somewhere beyond. And López is the ideal villain -- you spend the whole movie wanting to see him gruesomely killed.

Half "Mirrormask" and half gritty war story, "Pan's Labyrinth" is one of the best fantasy stories in years -- dark, passionate and beautifully made. Definitely a great movie.

Well... that's clear enough. it's dead cheap on Amazon as well.

As for The Sea Inside, I've no idea, but here is a video clip and a review... what a surprise..



14 February 2005 | by hall10000 (London) –

THE SEA INSIDE a film by Alejandro Amenabar.

Almodovar has always single handed the flag for Spanish cinema for years now, out of nowhere came Amenabar reinventing genres and injecting some new blood to the otherwise malfunctioning Spanish industry, now in a big gamble he switches from psychological terror to social drama, well the big ones would be, are audiences ready to embrace the swing and more important can he hold the flag? This is the story of Ramon Sampedro, a sailor that in his twenties was paralyzed from the neck down in an accident at the sea and his fight with the Spanish government for the right to end his life. The story has the traces of an afternoon made for TV melodrama and the only way this is going to work is through words and honest performances and they both come in spades. Mateo Gil and Amenabar co-write in a way where the audience is not meant to be lead blind to a death end but they are encouraged to make up their own minds in the process and that is a brilliant stroke, this is not a movie pro death but a movie in favour of the ultimate illusions of our time LIBERTY. There is a few laughs spare a long the way, like when the church comes home in a wheel chair to deconstruct Sampedro beliefs but is mostly a valley of tears through out, punches coming from all fronts even when you think you are safe his father that to that point didn't make any sense comes up with the most moving line of the entire movie. It is a heartbreaking experience specially when Sampedro seems more full of life than most the people wandering the streets and everyone around him tries to convince him of the wonders of life even those who are helping him to die… but when you strip a man of his dreams… The film is almost exclusively built on close ups bringing a claustrophobic feeling that makes the audience more sympathetic with Sampedro. That's for the actors a huge challenge that must construct their whole performances with their eyes and the eyes don't lie. Bardem was not granted his second Oscar nomination, probably in favour of Eastwood, but in my opinion he was the only one who could have shadowed Jammie Fox. This role reminds me of the great Gregory Peck in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD where the acting looked effortless and I reckon Bardem has reached that status where the line of what is acting and what is real has become completely blur. I was never fond of his early work but since Almodovar's LIVE FLESH he is on a roll, LOS LUNES AL SOL, THE DANCER UPSTAIRS and the Oscar nominated BEFORE THE NIGHT FALLS made him an international star and although he and Banderas come from the same Almodovar background is fascinating to see how different paths they took and how Bardem has now become a real reference for Spanish cinema in the whole world. A golden globe, 14 Goyas, jury prize at Venice and probably an Oscar with permission from THE CHORUS BOYS, Amenabar directs, co-write, edits and puts music to a high caliber drama, he has pull it off… what about some Science Fiction now? Whose life is it anyway?****.

Well. .. I tend not to like what I call "worthy" films but this might be worth a go.

Well, you can't say that you haven't been told.
But now to lighter matters.
I've not mentioned Nelly Furtado at all I think... but here she is with the hip-hopper La Mala Rodriguez in a rather witty/silly video for the song " Bajo otra Luz."



"Serious" rap artists like La Mala can often get flak from their fans when they do this sort of thing... it has happened to Diam's in France.Aren't serious people allowed to be less serious occasionally then?

And hey... loads of Gerunds in this... count them if you can.....

Thanks to the wonderful lybio ( LYBIO.net) site for these very detailed lyrics...

Qué pasa?
Julieta
aha
Nelly
aha
La Mala
yeah

[Nelly Furtado]
Hay algo que va a suceder. Nose que es
Se desprende toda sensacion que no puedo ver
Será que el sol esta brillando distinto a lo acostumbrado
En la mañana, esta mañana

Lo que antes me afectaba ya no me dice tanto
Alguien quien alguna vez ame se ha ido borrando
Sera la vida que se yo?
Casualidad pense en mi voz Te fui llamando llamando

[Chorus]
Sere yo o serás tú
Todo esta tan diferente eres tú
Sere yo o seras tú
Todo parece puesto bajo otra luz

[Nelly Furtado]
No supe qe es qe llegue a este momento
Donde escucho el tono de tu voz y voy corriendo
Será que estoy enamorandome sin querer
Nose bien nose bien

[Chorus]
Sere yo o serás tú
Todo esta tan diferente eres tú
Sere yo o seras tú
Todo parece puesto bajo otra luz
On LYBIO.net you can find - The Largest community of social networking with text-script-video blogging service. http://www.lybio.net

El color de mi vida cambio desde que tu llegaste
El color de mi vida cambio desde que tu llegaste
El color de mi vida cambio desde que tu llegaste
El color de mi vida cambio desde que tu llegaste

[La Mala]
Nene puedo saltar al vacio
Y liberarme de lo qe se supone que es mio
Lo miro eternamente en un colchon mollidolo miro
Sin reparar en la lucha que hiciste mal
Bajo otra luz me encuentro
Y es dificil de olvidarme
De que vine pa quedarme
Sin temor a enamorarme
Y allegandome como semilla que busca calor

[Chorus]
Sere yo o serás tú
Todo esta tan diferente eres tú
Sere yo o seras tú
Todo parece puesto bajo otra luz

El color de mi vida cambio desde que tu llegaste
El color de mi vida cambio desde que tu llegaste
El color de mi vida cambio desde que tu llegaste
El color de mi vida cambio desde que tu llegaste

El color de mi vida cambio desde que tu llegaste
El color de mi vida cambio desde que tu llegaste
El color de mi vida cambio desde que tu llegaste
El color de mi vida cambio desde que tu llegaste
El color de mi vida cambio desde que tu llegaste
El color de mi vida cambio desde que tu llegaste
El color de mi vida cambio desde que tu llegaste
El color de mi vida cambio desde que tu llegaste

Nelly Furtado – Bajo Otra Luz – Featuring – La Mala Rodriguez. No supe qe es qe llegue a este momento. Donde escucho el tono de tu voz y voy corriendo. Será que estoy enamorandome sin querer. Nose bien nose bien. Sere yo o serás tú. Todo esta tan diferente eres tú. Sere yo o seras tú. Todo parece puesto bajo otra luz Complete Full Text, Written Words, Reader, Lyrics, Song, Words And Text By Nelly Furtado – Bajo Otra Luz – Featuring – La Mala Rodriguez.

On LYBIO.net the Complete Collection Of Accurate Speeches, Text, Words, Quotes and Lyrics. http://www.lybio.net

Getting to grips with El Aleph...

Here's a neat bit of Spanish for you...
It's that nice Mai Meneses and Kim Fanlo ( Nena Daconte) in a publicity vid for their Retales De Carnaval CD which I have been featuring in these hallowed pages recently.


Remember when I put this song on the blog, the "words" version was really boring... just a still. Well, here's a slightly better "words" video... now apart from making it nice and easy to learn the words, the very act of following the song and listening actively really helps with the frequent elisions ( running-together of words ) which is one of the really tricky features of spoken Spanish... anything that will help you to untangle the elided words is really helpful, and you start to get a feel for the patterns you need to listen out for and expect.=





.. and here's more top Spanish as Mai and Kim ( Fanlo) are seen making the fantastic El aleph video (that for some reason "they" won't let me show you) and talking about the song etc.



"El Aleph" is a short story by Borges, and a pretty weird one too...

so...we're all agreed it's a monster song... so lets look at those words and see what we can find grammar - and -vocabulary- wise...

Me cuesta recordar mis pasos por el carnaval,
Con quien estuve, con quien me puse yo a bailar.
Tardamos mucho en no volver a ver la luz del sol nacer,
Tardamos tanto que salió un aleph en un rincón.

Desde entonces le pierdo la pista, no sé a lo que fue, no sé adonde vuela, no sé dónde está,

Donde está,
Mi corazón donde se ha ido a derrumbar,
Mi corazón que alguien lo busque para mí,
Donde está, que esta noche no duerme contigo.

Donde está,
Mi corazón que alguien le diga que volví,
Mi corazón que alguien le diga que pasó lo peor,
Que esta noche me muero de frío.

Donde está, que alguien lo busque para mí,
Que alguien lo ate para ti,
Que alguien lo encuentre, le diga que lo ando buscando por toda la ciudad.

Qué fue lo que vio desde el rincón del comedor,
Que le hizo marcharse de aquí sin ganas de volver.
La vida es una vez, le intentaba yo contar,
Exprime lo mejor y entonces se largó.

Y así fue como apenas recuerdo que perdí los besos, las ganas de hacerlo, las ganas de ti. El aleph Lyrics - Nena Daconte - The Lyrics Site.com

Donde está,
Mi corazón donde se ha ido a derrumbar,
Mi corazón que alguien lo busque para mí,
Donde está, que esta noche no duerme contigo.

Donde está,
Mi corazón que alguien le diga que volví,
Mi corazón que alguien le diga que pasó lo peor,
Que esta noche me muero de frío.

Donde está, que alguien lo busque para mí,
Que alguien lo ate para ti,
Que alguien lo encuentre, le diga que lo ando buscando por toda la ciudad.

Es como borrar un huracán,
Que me perdone pero dónde está,
Que alguien le diga que lo ando buscando a oscuras por toda la ciudad.

Es como David, yo soy Goliat,
Es tan pequeño que donde estará,
No quiero batallas pero estoy tan sola y perdida en esta ciudad,

Es no hacer lo que hacen los demás,
Lo que le habrá hecho regresar,
A su mundo perfecto, lo doy por perdido, de allí nadie ha vuelto jamás.

OK... let's flag up some issues..

Ha! Me cuesta.... it can take a while for the poor old student of spanish to work out that this is the verb "costar" in disguise... me cuesta means literally " it costs me" but more usually it comes out as " it's hard for me to.." so here she is says "it is tough for me when I remember...."

Well, thet's the first two words sorted out.

tardar... it's not really "to be late" it's "to take a long time"
estuve and puse are both 1ps preterites .. of estar and poner.
ponerse a = to start to...
derrumbar ( lovely word) = to throw ( down), to upset..
esta/está .... plenty of opportunities to spot the difference in this song.
no duerme... well disguised "dormir"
lo peor .... the worst thing ( like lo rara = the strange thing etc
borrar... to erase/wipe out
por... can mean so many things... watch out!

That's enough for the while... there's loads to think about in just that little song.


And we haven't even mentioned the (allegorical ?) meaning of the aleph in the corner ....


After all that serious stuff, here's a bit of fun with El Pacto doing Toy Songs... actually it's La reina de los mares...



I don't think we need to bother with the words...

.. more of those pesky gerunds.

Well..... more Gerund stuff.
Firstly, it seems to me that the main problem with the spanish gerund and its use is that you need to know when to use it.... because you only use it in certain situations and these are NOT all the same situations in which you would use it in English... and in other languages too.

In the main, TRANSLATING gerunds from Spanish into English is hardly a problem.... but the other way round leaves you having to make decisions, and do some grammar.... ouch!

For a start, you mainly use a Gerund in Spanish with or to do with VERBS.

Sometimes they describe more fully the action of a verb...
he came tumbling into the room
Annabel drove gazing at the scenery .... yep, you can use the gerund

Other times the gerund is used to indicate purpose of the action...
He rang expecting me to help him
He fired several shots, trying to kill me..... That's a gerund all right

Similarly, it can be used to show the method of carrying out the verb's action

You could really hurt me by lying about this
You are hoping to annoy me by just sitting there saying nothing.

Rather oddly, you use it to describe/qualify the OBJECT of the verb... in general, the spanish gerund isn't normally used to qualify a noun in the way we do in English

He went into the back room and saw Ethel jumping out of the window
He heard Genevieve crying in the distance

Note that both of these usages involve verbs of perception.... generally the gerund would be used when the action is ( or wasn't yet) finished... otherwise the infinitive is used.In both my examples, you can see that neither Ethel nor Genevieve has finished.
By this time you are beginning to realise what a heap of thinking has to go into all this.... those native speakers are lucky devils, eh .

The grammar books are stacked with other odd little usages, like
.. using the gerund with andar means the action of the main verb is aimless.
... as in " He goes around the house whining like a lost dog"

There's loads of dinky rules/usages like that.

What I do is, I just collect lots of sentences with gerunds in them and try to work out why they used it... which category it slips into etc.

BUT BUT BUT here's some situations where you should NOT use the gerund....

... NO... when the -ing verb is used passively ( You're not worth saving)
... NO.. .when the -ing verb sits in front of a noun.. ( writing paper)
NO... when the -ing verb is actually an adjective..( an amazing fish)
NO.. when there's a preposition in front ( this is not for shooting goats, I won't put up with frowning at the weekend) but "by" is OK for some reason.

OK... plenty for you and me to think/worry/panic about there then.
Just to add to our woes here's a thoughtful little list of sentences containing -ing words which I have borrowed from an excellent article on the scotthornbury site... try it!

So folks, what, grammatically is going on in these sentences, and in which ones would you use a gerund... and if not, what would you do ?

She remembers running up the aisle

a £17,000 flood after the royal taps were left running.

A HUSBAND and wife were convicted yesterday of running a brothel

I knew that my horse was capable of running well

We love running, so why not save on wedding cars?

Running a large application on a PC is fine

Mary waited and watched her running down the road.

Tomorrow Mr Foggerty is taking them running

there was a running battle between police and conservationists

accusations that its trains have suddenly started running late

“The only way you’re going to hurt me is by running away from me,”

The sort of things they do in the wild, running , jumping, pirouetting

What fun!! But now, to sooth the boiling brain, some smashing music which with salve those jangling brain cells and leave you gasping for more..

Having recently got the Nena Daconte CD Retales de Carnaval I'm very keen on this lovely song... cuando mueren las malditas golandrinas...



Brilliant! Love those beautiful pedal notes.They're totally blissed out singing that.The thing is, though... which way do we translate "malditas?"

Lyrics to (Cuando Mueren) Las Malditas Golondrinas :
Cada día un poco más despacio
pero sin embargo siempre vuelvo a comenzar
Después de cualquier frase bonita al oido
como cualquier aspirante desconocido,
me pongo a llorar..
Inesperada sensación la de estar sola
con tanta gente alrededor
Lo de antes, Lo de siempre, Lo de ahora
todo junto me hace delirar
A borrachera diaria se me olvida.

ESTRIBILLO
Cuando mueren las malditas golondrinas
ya no vuelven nunca a la ciudad
Los montones de momentos que pase
contigo a solas ya no volverán. (x2)

si no entiendes que en la vida necesitas
también aprender a ganar
Me dijo un caballero inglés perdido en
Buenos Aires que ahora vive en Madrid
Yo le dije al invierno que en otoño
a algunas de ellas ya las vi pasar
Desnuda por la calle en primavera
ya no hay flores que plantar.

ESTRIBILLO
Cuando mueren las malditas golondrinas
ya no vuelven nunca a la ciudad
Los montones de momentos que pase
contigo a solas ya no volverán.

Como un potro desbocado e indigente
que no ha estado y sin aire ya
alargando hasta el máximo cada suspiro
en las subidas de felicidad.
[ (Cuando Mueren) Las Malditas Golondrinas Lyrics on http://www.lyricsmania.com/ ] THANKS AGAIN FOR THESE LYRICS....

.. the quivering Gerund..

Having planned to write about the GERUND today, I searched around a bit for funny pictures ( I knew that Gerald Scarfe had drawn some cartoon "gerunds" somewhere) etc... but found a few other interesting things.

One of my "jobs" with this blog is to show other learners of Spanish (like me) interesting resources, good things to read and listen to, learning aids, handy mnemonics etc.

Well then , in my search for GERUND things, I found a really nice Spanish-language blog by someone calling herself "Gerund".. I've put a link to it in the sidebar. Just reading a little bit of her blog I found myself looking up quite a few new words,some of which I haven't deciphered yet That's a good thing in itself.

Her blog title ends with " y otros comics bajo presupuesto ".. well bajo presupuesto means " budget-priced, low-cost" which is new to me and very useful for a skinflint like me. Her blog address itself is, in part, violentamentefeliz, or "vf" which seems to be the name of a comic ... obviously I need to read more! It's always good and motivational to be looking forward to reading some new Spanish stuff.

Anyway, I found a few of Scarfe's Gerund drawings, including " A fierce gerund attacks two harmless pronouns" and " A Gerund cuts a Gerundive."

You can get T-Shirts with "Ask Me About Gerunds" on them as well.

In English, gerunds are -ing words like running, walking, eating, talking and so on... we use them a lot in many different contexts and as several different parts of speech.
In " A Baking tray" it's an adjective
When we say " Henry was dribbling" we use it as a part of a verb formation.
In " Fishing is the top recreation in the UK for males" it's a noun.

Luckily in Spanish its use it limited to a few special cases.
And the gerund is INVARIABLE!! What relief that word brings to the language learner... I'll say it again.. theGerund is INVARIABLE. ¡ Fatal !

all you have to do is...

Stick -ando to the stem of -ar verbs
Stick -iendo to the stem of -ir and -er verbs

If the stem ends in a pesky vowel, you just stick a "y" in... so the gerund of caer = cayendo.

AMAZINGLY only 3 verbs have a [slightly] odd gerund...

Venir.... viniendo
Decir ...diciendo
Poder ... pudiendo they aren't too awkward.

One awkward thing though is that it is easy to think that some Spanish adjectives which end in -ente / iente / or - ante are gerunds.
But these always qualify NOUNS not VERBS.

In Spanish it is often used with a verb to desribe what is happening a bit more... "He came stumbing across the lawn" where "stumbling" is an adverb making it clear exactly how he "came" across the lawn.

Well, next time, lots of gerunds in use, and some more info about them .

But I've gone on for long enough.. here is the music... it's Mai Meneses singing " Ne Me Quiero Morir " with her great guitar player Kim Fanlo [ together they are called Nena Daconte] and a noisy chattery audience..



and here's those letras de cancion..

El mundo ya no gira, ¡y que me digan! , en la misma dirección.
La gente ya no dice lo que piensa y en medio estamos tu y yo.
Que vamos caminando por la vida sin querer mirar atrás, soñando y con lo puesto, así se vive, hace falta poco más.

No me quiero morir pensando que otra vez se me escapo la libertad, pensando que también me he vuelto a equivocar bajo un cielo tan inmenso.
No me quiero morir pensando que tal vez se nos quedó la soledad bailando, bailando.

Después de cada día llegan las noches contigo pero un día no vendrán.
El dinero que he ganado con mi tiempo, eso no lo va a cambiar.

Por mucho que lo busco yo no veo que después haya algo más.
Sólo ser agradecida por bagar a la deriva. Me da ganas de gritar.

No me quiero morir pensando que otra vez se me escapo la libertad, pensando que también me he vuelto a equivocar bajo un cielo tan inmenso.
No me quiero morir pensando que tal vez se nos quedó la soledad bailando, bailando.

Well, I wonder why I chose that song... it's from ther CD Retales de Carnaval.

If you want a neater, clearer studio version, here it is... but you've only got a still picture to look at...

Language Myths

The other day The Librarian ( my long-suffering wife) had to open up one of her places of work by herself due to staff shortages, so the dog and I went along as security. While I was noodling through the books I came upon a book called something like " Language Myths."

An excellent and thought-provoking read... covering lots of bases like ...are some languages intrinsically "harder" than others ?...... are some languages "primitive" in the pejorative sense ? ... do bilingual people benefit or lose by this ? etc.Are "loan-words" destroying languages ?

One section really struck me as especially interesting.

He is talking about language acquisition.
He points out that for more or less all languages, the young people have learned all the grammar of the spoken language by ,say, 5 or 6-ish.
Yes, that's ALL the grammar, whether we are talking about grammar-heavy languages like Polish, or so-called Grammar-lite languages like, say English or Swahili.

However.... they are very very far , at that age, from learning all the vocabulary. In fact, they go on learning new vocabulary throughout their lives.No native speaker of any language has ever learned the entire vocabulary..well, probably.

AND YET..... most language courses are heavily grammar-based.... this is his point.

It seems to me he means this as a criticism, but surely this is mimicking the child's development... grammar first with a smattering of vocabulary, then you can expand your vocabulary.

When you look at ,say, Spanish and French A-level text-books, there is very little new grammar in them... it's mostly about vocabulary acquisition ... by wide reading in lots of areas and in different registers.

There's loads of other interesting stuff in the book... well worth getting from your local library. I only had time to zap through a small slice of what is obviously a fascinating book.

You remember I was asking if there is any Spanish-language hip-hop or rap music which I might like, or more importantly which you might like. well, I've found " La Mala" [Mala Rodruigez] and this offering, Volvere... which seems "less bad" than most and might even be OK..



Lyric of Volveré of the song Mala Rodríguez ( from the lyrics site MusicstarX.net .. .thanks)

Artist: Mala Rodríguez
Album: Malamarismo (2007)
Títle: Volveré

Y en mis sueños juré…
Y en mis sueños juré…
Volveré a nacer…
Volveré a nacer…

No quiero soldados,
Quiero guerreros los he visto luchar.
Que me muera con un deo`
Hago lo que quiero.
Puedo: Desnúdate y vístete de cuero;
Hago que suene el sonajero.
Sin zapatos ni sombrero:
Os tengo muy vistos,
Yo voy y cojo lo quiero,
Derramando el tintero;
¡Volved a vuestros agujeros¡

El silencio os incomoda,
Ser gay está de moda,
Dime una postura nueva
Que ya me las conozco todas
La emperatriz te dá hora
Nunca es tarde pa` aprender:
Sí, cambiar es crecer
-Definitivamente-
El subconsciente sabe bien como cumplir
Déjamelo a mí
Que puedo con tó

No Soy Superman, soy la María,
Hago grandes días, sí
Ni por encima, ni por debajo
Trabajar cuesta mucho trabajo
En perfecta armonía
Dile a este bajo que le harías
Choca lo que crees que chocaría
No te preocupes, déjaselo a la sintonía
Hepatitis B en la casa
Definiendo el siglo pasa,
Estás en tu casa:
Se te va a pasar la vida limpiando el salón
Voy a pecar de saberlo tó`
Por mi sangre te juro que lo regalo
Alma de fado, yo no me enfado
Eleva tu espíritu creyendo en mí
Esto no se acaba aquí, yo:
Mójate en el aguacero, esto es pasajero
Como Como Empujamos
Como Como Selo
Agua espacándose metía entre los dedos
Tu no podrías hablar sin decir ni pero..

Consigue soñar sin ese gotero de suero
Yo soy el mundo entero
Las medicinas, el frutero
Mira que aquí ya no hay na mas que rascar
Mujeres y hombres sinceros
Empezó la batalla de los perros sin collar
Que no van detrás de ningún cebo. Volar por volar…

Yo soy el mundo entero (x4)

.. historias minimas..

This afternoon was a very wet afternoon..very wet... so me and the dog sat on the setee and watched a Spanish-language film I got a couple of weeks ago, Historias Minimas.

It's an Argentinian film, and really just tells the intertwining stories of a couple of days in the lives of three people, each one on a sort on mini-quest.

Very little actually happens.... but it's a really lovely film in a way that is hard to describe. The landscapes are both beautiful and rather scary in their immensity. The lives of the characters seem so different to our lives here in the affluent west.

It's all about selection, and what the writer and director decide to show us, and how they show it to us. Perhaps it would be too slow for some, but as I say, me and the dog just lapped it up, no pun inteneded and there is plenty of Spanish in it.

Here's a review or two.....

REVIEW 1.....
Perhaps one of the less celebrated entries on Daniel Day-Lewis' cinematic CV is his role as an itinerant Irish dentist in Carlos Sorin's 1989 drama "Eversmile, New Jersey".

It's the same Sorin who has directed this road movie, which unfolds in the southern Argentinean region of Patagonia. "Historias Minimas" unpretentiously chronicles a trio of separate yet interweaving stories about ordinary people attempting to follow their dreams.

SPOILERS COMING UP IF YOU WANT TO AVOID THEM
The octogenarian Don Justo (Antonio Benedictti) has handed over the running of his grocery store to his son and daughter-in-law. Fading eyesight prevents him from driving, but he resolves to hitchhike to the distant town of San Julian, where somebody has spotted his beloved missing dog, Badface.

Elsewhere, an obsessive travelling salesman, Roberto (Javier Lombardo), is planning to surprise a young widow with the gift of a birthday cake for her kid. Unsure of the child's gender, the suitor decides to change the design of the present from the shape of a football to that of a turtle.

And in the third, less developed segment, the impoverished Maria (Javiera Bravo) is heading to the recording of television game show Multicoloured Casino with her baby, intent on gaining a prize.

END OF SPOILERS .....

Contrasting the epic Patagonian landscapes with the modesty of his characters' aspirations, Sorin has crafted an appealing portrait of this remote region, where television provides the inhabitants with their main link to the wider world.

Convincingly acted by the mainly non-professional cast, "Historias Minimas" is further proof of the diversity and strength of contemporary Argentinean cinema.

REVIEW 2


Historias Minimas
Minimalist road trip that reaps great reward. One for the character fans.
fullstarfullstarfullstarfullstaremptystar
Released in 2002, certified UK-15. Reviewed on 01 Sep 2003 by Craig Eastman
Historias Minimas image

It must be a right old pain in the arse when your economy takes the kind of tumble that results in a regression to the stone age. Ask the Argentinians. Imagine trying to do something that needs money, like making a film. Surprising then that Historias Minimas should emerge onto the international scene at all, even more so that it should be quite such a gem. Director Carlos Sorin has cooked up something of a blinder in this unassuming little tale that sets out to do nothing other than highlight a trio of amiable characters in their relatively mundane exploits. Utilising the increasingly tired mechanism of having three parallel stories intertwining at various points throughout the narrative, Historias... sidesteps all other conventions in favour of simply allowing the characters to drive the action.

SPOILER ALERT NUMBER 2 .........

The three main Patagonian protagonists each have their own reason for reaching the town of San Julian. Roberto (Javier Lombardo) is a middle-age salesman besotted with a young client. Eager to find love he is determined to deliver a custom made cake for her son's birthday. Don Justo Benedictis (Antonio Benedictti) is the elderly father of a general store owner who is tipped that his missing dog Badface has been spotted in San Julian. Abandoning his family in the night he sets off on foot along the highway to reclaim his old friend. Finally, Maria Flores (Javiera Bravo) is a poor young mother who earns the opportunity to win an expensive food processor on a tragically cheesy game show. With their wildly varying motives the three embark on their 200 mile journey, each story overlapping with the others at various intervals.

IT MIGHT NOT LOOK LIKE IT BUT MORE SPOILERS ARE UPCOMING....

Some light-hearted comic intermissions aside, that's really all there is to this. Were it not for the compelling performances from the uniformly excellent cast, Historias Minimas might have been something of an insomnia remedy. Flying in the face of all odds, however, it somehow succeeds in being one of the most quietly uplifting cinematic events since Amelie. Refreshingly, pretty much nothing bad happens to anyone, the odd misunderstanding aside. Roberto gets his date, Don Justo recovers his mutt and Maria gets the food processor. And that's it. Do any of them learn anything? Not that I noticed. Do any of them change as people because of their journey? Other than being a little happier, no. Should they have to? Of course not.
Historias Minimas image

SPOILERS FINISHED... you can read on fearlessly now....


In a world of exploding cars and heavy-handed emotional and spiritual metaphors, Historias... defiantly blows a raspberry at your literary whore of an English teacher and asks you to do nothing more than feel empathy for it's heroes of the mundane. In keeping with the minimalist ethos, the understated performances are underscored by Sorin's equally laconic direction. The Patagonian vistas do all the talking when the actors are off screen, the camera man for once being allowed to leave his equipment static and survey the beauty with his own eyes just like the rest of us. No sweeping pans or complex tracking shots; just consummately structured nature appreciation and a knack for sympathetic framing of our protagonists.


That there is little else I can say should not be interpreted as a condemnation. Rather that something so intriguing and involving can grow from something so essentially simple should be construed as an ode to the vision of the filmmakers and the natural beauty of the human condition. I like my excitement as much as the next man, but if everything so still and tranquil was as involving as this I'd be happy to forego bullet time any old day of the week.

Inexplicably satisfying, involving and rewarding, Historias Minimas is a testimony to the genius of quiet. No doubt the very notion will repel a great many cinema-goers, but if like this reviewer you find the greatest special effect to be the convincing and touching portrayal of an ordinary individual, you're going to take away a great deal more than the sum of this movie's parts. It will be criminally overlooked. Do yourself a favour and don't be so blind.

From my island of killer frogs I award this movie 4 out of 5 Disko Miniaturisation Units.

Director:
Carlos Sorin
Cast list:
Roberto (Javier Lombardo)
Don Justo Benedictis (Antonio Benedictti)
Maria Flores (Javiera Bravo)

So there you are... one worth getting... very affordable on amazon etc as well.

It's drying up so the dog and me will be out for a walk soon, but here is some music for you in the shape of Amaral with Perdóname.... this is a great live version, and there is a lovely official video ( the bridge one) which "they" won't let me use.... maybe sometime in the future I will be able to...



and here's those words...

Perdóname
por todos mis errores
por mis mil contradicciones
por las puertas que crucé
disculpame
por quererte igual que antes
por no poder callarme
ni siquiera hoy lo haré

Hay demasiados
corazones sin consuelo
es demasiado frío este momento
cuando siento que te pierdo

Entiéndeme
por todas mis locuras
fueron la mitad mas una
de las que te he visto hacer
discúlpame Letra de Perdoname - Amaral - Sitio de letras.com
si te duele lo que veo
demasiados buitres negros
tu eres demasiado bueno para ellos
tu eres demasiado bueno para ellos

Hay demasiados
corazones sin consuelo
es demasiado frío este momento
cuando siento que te pierdo

hay demasiados
corazones sin consuelo
es demasiado frío este momento

hay demasiados
corazones sin consuelo
es demasiado frío este momento
cuando siento que te pierdo.