Catalonia and the #IndyRef question 9/11/2014 - Suffragette City

Una entrada curta per actualitzar el tema del referendum pels no-catalans ... un referendum que es farà? Suposo que lo logic és que el govern espanyol dirà que no, i ho portaran als tribunals. Sortirem la gent al carrer en massa i Artur Mas haurà de tornar a convocar eleccions. Amb els resultats que esperem, el nou Parlament declararà l'independencia, demanarà l'intervenció inmediata de les entitats internacionals i convocarà un referendum per confirmar la declaració ... no trobeu?

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Just before Christmas, another Big Step was taken in Catalonia's march to freedom - well, march to a referendum. Four political parties (including the present governing one) which form 2/3 of the Parliament, came together to call the Independence Referendum for 9th November 2014. They also agreed on the question(s):

Do you think Catalonia should become a State? If so, do you think it should be an Independent State.

Presumably the first option is for those who believe some kind of federation with Spain is still possible. For those who want the full independence option, the campaign is known as the "yes yes" campaign as you'd need a double "yes" to win.

As predicted in my previous posts, Spain has already said that this referendum will NOT be allowed as it's anti-constitutional - so it's the old "ancient Laws" against "the will of the people" conflict again. As many people say, if we only followed laws without ever changing or adapting them, black people still wouldn't be allowed on buses in the USA and women wouldn't be voting.

Watch this space ...!

Space Oddity - Commander Chris Hadfield #BestThingAllYear

Words would just destroy this - sit back, and enjoy yourselves ...

China Girl

Fa uns dies vam preguntar sobre aquests bitxos. Ja tenim el guanyador, un tal Mr. B. Laden, acutalment residint amb una illa petita juntament amb Elvis Presley i Marilyn Monroe on es dediquen a falsificar videos sobre "viatges" de la NASA. En pocs dies, rebrà el seu premi. I que són - pos, si esteu llegint això, no cal explicar-ho, veritat?

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Well, a few days back we asked if anybody outside of Catalunya knew what these creatures were. Todays photos show them at a later phase, having spent a few weeks gouging on our mulberry tree leaves, they eventually weave themselves a nice cocoon - made with silk! Hence the name, silkworms. It is a very common hobby here in Catalonia where kids then keep the eggs till next year to start again and everyone has a mulberry tree in their garden.

Anyway the winner of the competition who was the first person to get their postcard to me is a certain Mr. B. Laden, with a rather vague residential address on a remote island in the Pacific. According to Wikipedia, who knows everything, he lives there with Elvis Presley making videos for the NASA.

Anyway, silk comes from China as every schoolkid should know - and so do China Girls ....

Heroes

Pels herois lluitant contra temps a Fukushima ... al món, i al Japó, aquesta setmana, hi ha molts d'herois que mai coneixerem, però aquests que estan enfrentant-se directament al poder de l'energia nuclear estan en els nostres pensaments.

Too many heroes we will never know, too many sacrifices, but the unknown heroes who are currently facing up to the might of the greatest power, and danger, mankind has ever put together are in our hearts and minds.



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We can be Heroes
Just for one day
We can be Heroes
We're nothing
And nothing will help us
Maybe we're lying
Then you better not stay
But we could be safer
Just for one day

Cat People (Putting Out Fire)

Quan estas dies i dies sense internet a casa, pos, has de tornar a les rutines del segle 20. O parles en la dona, o mires la tele.
Entre les pel·lícules que he tragat aquests dies (ei!! és broma, broma masclista facil, però broma), la de Tarantino, els Inglourious Basterds. Molt bona! A la banda sonora, usen la cançó de Bowie, Cat People (Putting Out Fire), originalment de la pel·lí Cat People, de l'any 1982.
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As days go by with no internet connection at home, you have to go back to old habits. Either speak to the wife, or watch the telly. (warning; sexist joke coming...). Well, of all the films I've seen this week, I could recommend Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds.
For the soundtrack he re-used Bowie's Cat People (Putting out fire).

Space Oddity - David Bowie

Si mirem un dia com avui però 45 anys enrere, el 18 de març 1965 Alexey Leonov va ser el primer home en sortir a passejar per l’espai. Sobre l'espai, fa uns mesos vaig penjar Ashes to Ashes del David Bowie, i avui escoltarem a Space Oddity (Bowie) de l’any 1969. Si la cançó sona una mica estrany, és perquè és la versió original i no la que desprès seria el seu primer èxit – segons la persona que l’ha penjat, i qui sóc jo per a discutir.

18th March, 1965, 45 years ago today. The cosmonaut Alexey Leonov became the first man to walk in space. A few months ago we heard a great song about life in space, David Bowie’s Ashes to Ashes, and today we’ve got Space Oddity (Bowie) from 1969. If it sounds a little unusual, it’s because it was the original version he recorded before finishing off the version which would later become his first hit – according to the person who’s uploaded the video, and who am I to argue?

Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie

L’empresa de correus del Regne Unit, el Royal Mail, ha dedicat una sèrie de segells per a celebrar deu de les portades de LPs més icòniques dels últims 40 anys.
Concretament han triat les portades de Let it Bleed (Rolling Stones, 1969), Led Zeppelin IV (Led Zeppelin, 1971), Tubular Bells (Mike Oldfield, 1973), Ziggy Stardust (David Bowie, 1972), London Calling (The Clash, 1979), Power, Corruption and Lies (New Order, 1983), Screamadelica (Primal Scream, 1991), Division Bell (Pink Floyd, 1994), Parklife (Blur, 1994), i A Rush of Blood to the Head (Coldplay, 2002).
Suposo que es pot discutir la selecció ja que tothom tenim les nostres preferides, però no està mal per a representar l’art dels LPs, un art en camí a l’oblivió amb el canvi que estem experimentant, deixant els albums i CDs a banda per dedicar-nos a les descarregues i MP3s ...

Més info aquí.

Avui escoltem a Ziggy Stardust del LP de Bowie, però 30 anys desprès.

The Royal Mail have produced a set of stamps celebrating ten of the best album covers of the last few decades. See above for the choice ... of course, any such list can be questioned as we all have our own favourites, but it’s not a bad one – in my opinion.
It’s a worthy idea to celebrate this kind of art as pretty soon it will be a thing of the past, alongside the cave paintings, as LPs and CDs disappear while we all download image-less tracks ... or not?

More information here.

Ziggy Stardust by David Bowie, 30 years later.

Changes - David Bowie

Changes. Canvis. Pel que sembla hi ha gent reticent als canvis ... dos noticies de propostes politiques que he notat recentment, el del cine en català, bé, el 50% només, però algo és algo comparat en el que tenim ara! I encara així, alguns cines van fer una vaga en contra! No conec els arguments tècnics o econòmics en contra, però l’argument que vaig sentir a la radio, de que la gent “no vol” veure pel·lícules en català em va semblar surreal.

L’altra canvi que espero en candeletes seria la prohibició de fumar en bars, ja que l’ultima llei, la de deixar triar als bars si volen ser de fumar o no-fumar, ha sigut un fracàs – al meu entendre. També he sentit opinions en contra, argumentant que la gent ja no aniria al bar, però les experiències d’altres països ens demostra el contrari.

Bé, ja veurem com evolucionen aquests possibles canvis. Mentrestant no parlarem tant de la crisi, i quan torna els Champions d’aquí uns dies, Zapatero podrà tornar a dormir tranquil.

Changes (Bowie) és del LP Hunky Dory que David Bowie va gravar a l’any 1971.

Changes. Seems like no one accepts changes so easily. Two ideas the Catalan and Spanish governments have come up with are currently struggling to convince people. The first one is to finally oblige, by law, cinemas to show at least 50% of films dubbed into Catalan, rather than Spanish. At present the proportion is more like 3:97 in favour of Spanish, a weird situation given that Catalan is the official language here, spoken by most and understood by all, with Catalan press, radio, TV ... maybe there are economic or technical reasons against dubbing films into two languages, but the argument put forward that “people don’t want to see films in Catalan” does not hold water.

The other change has been proposed by the Spanish central government – to finally ban smoking in bars and cafés. The previous law allowing such places to choose if they wished to be a smoking or non-smoking area has not worked, with most choosing the status quo of continuing as they were – smoke-filled. Again, arguments that people will stop going out to bars don’t really convince me when we see the results of similar measures in other countries.

Anyway, we can but wait and see – meanwhile these matters keep us arguing and keep our minds of the economic crisis. And when the Champions’ League starts again next week, the Spanish PM will once again be able to sleep soundly as people’s woes will take a back seat to Barça’s success!

David Bowie’s Changes is from his 1971 LP, Hunky Dory.

Thursday's Child - David Bowie

Dijous, o sigui, Thursday. Per avui tenim David Bowie cantant Thursday’s Child (Bowie, Gabrels) del LP “hours ...” de l’any 1999. Aparentment la van escriure com a una peça de la banda sonora d’un joc de ordenadors, Omikron.

Thursday’s here again and today’s song is Thursday’s Child (Bowie, Gabrels) by David Bowie, form his 1999 LP “hours ...”. This track was apparently written to appear in the Omikron computer game.

Ashes to Ashes - David Bowie

El 20 de juliol de l’any 1969, els americans Neil Armstrong i Buzz Aldrin van caminar damunt de la lluna durant un parell d’hores. Després hi haurien set missions més, però ara fa més de 30 anys que no hi han tornat. Ara el més emocionant que fem els humans és anar al International Space Station – però com que va ser fabricada pels propis humans, les possibilitats de trobar extraterrestres allí son mínimes :(

Va valer la pena l’esforç i diners per arribar a la lluna i després tornar a quedar-nos plantats aquí baix?

Hi ha moltes cançons amb referències de l’espai. Una de les meves preferides és Ashes to Ashes (Bowie) de David Bowie, 1980, que tracta de la caiguda (mental o moral) de l’astronauta Major Tom de Space Oddity.