Dawn

Dawn

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Almodóvar; Rajoy phoney presentation; Rajoy cartoon; Anglo Saxon, Norse and Celtic; Tremors; and Shitty pigeons.

Returning briefly to yesterday's post, I didn't know it then but there's actually a link between the failed Ciudad Real airport and Pedro Almodovar; he filmed his latest movie Los Amantes Pasajeros there last year. And so probably helped to keep it off the market for a few months. This film, with it dysfunctional occupants of a troubled plane, is an allegory of modern Spain but some of the comments on the IDMB suggest the writers haven't understood this. Then again, some of those who have are nonetheless unimpressed with it. You win some and you lose some.

The normally reticent Spanish President, Mariano Rajoy, gave a long press conference this week. Or, rather, he answered a series of questions in front of the representatives of various newspapers and journals. I, for one, wouldn't be surprised to hear he'd had sight of all the questions, given his lack of oratorical skills. Making it something of a sham.

Which reminds me . . . There was a nice cartoon in El País yesterday. A chap looking not unlike Sr Rajoy is saying: "When we talk of security, we're referring to our own, of course." Which reminds me, if you want to see a comparison of public order measures in different EU countries, click here.

If you wonder whether the PISA results on international educational abilities might not be all they're cracked up to be, here's the podcast for you. Or if you'd rather read than listen, here's an article, courtesy of my friend Phil the Chessman. It's pretty damning.

There was a clever young lady on University Challenge on Monday night. She's reading Anglo Saxon, Norse and Celtic at Cambridge. So, I guess she's heading for a career as an academic and will have her own series on BBC4 with the next 10 to 15 years. Or maybe just a one-off entitled "The Celtic origins of Gallego".

We had an earthquake at 8 on Sunday night. At least, I thought the loud rumble and shaking of the house might be a tremor but, since nothing was broken, I promptly forgot about it. But then I saw a report in yesterday's Voz de Galicia, saying there'd been a few tremors around the area, going up to 3.0 on the Richter scale. But the paper didn't mention ours, which was a bit insulting.

Finally . . . I've owned one or two fast-ish cars over the years, though nothing like the supercars that feature on Top Gear. I mention them now because it struck me this morning that, in a car which does 0-60 in 2 seconds, I'd probably be able to hit the pigeons that always manage to escape as reach them. This has nothing to do with the fact that a pigeon shat on my newspaper in Veggie Square on Sunday. Twice. And also on my head the first time.

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