Olde Tyme Flamenco

I found these great old flamenco videos and was captivated by them. Let me know if you have any others to recommend.

De marcha en Madrid

Friday night A. and I went out, leaving the house at 12 midnight. We met up with his friends/master's classmates at one of their flats near Las Ventas bullring (I still haven't seen a bull fight, though I'm fairly against them).

This was the first time I had met the bunch and I could tell right off they were a fun and smart bunch (something that can't be said for previous groups of A's colleagues). How do I know this? The first topic of discussion we launched into was film; we swapped recommendations for Estrellas de la línea, Amores Perros, Pi, María Full of Grace, Yesterday, and Lord of War, among others.

Around 3 a.m. we caught a night bus to a discoteca called La Botellita on the Paseo de la Castellana by the sculpture garden. We danced to funky '80s songs like Alaska y Dinarama's "Ni tú ni nadie" and Maná's "Clavado en un bar" (pictures forthcoming!). Most of the group we were with are Latin American, so there was no shortage of rhythm and energy. Toward the end, I started falling asleep on my feet in spite of myself, but we went strong until 6 a.m. (when the metro started up again). It was impressive to see the vast numbers of young folks stumbling into the station with us (and some promptly falling asleep once seated).

Late-night clubbing is not something I'd recommend doing nightly (pricey admission, way-too-smoky, requires time to catch up on zzzzz's, etc.), but at least trying it is an essential part of Madrid culture.

Animation at AniMadrid

This weekend we watched a some fun short animated films at the AniMadrid festival, which continues for the next week. The 8th annual festival is actually being held outside of Madrid proper in a suburb called Pozuelo de Alarcón. We caught the cercanía train at the nearest stop and 3 stops later (about 20 minutes) got off in the small town. The walk to the Casa de Cultura was around 20 minutes but pleasant; the path is along manicured parks and it was sunset time. We watched a free bunch of cartoons on the theme of toys, ranging from the 1930's to more modern ones. There were quite a lot of racial charicatures in the old ones, including a short called "The Old Plantation." Our favorite short was the 1972 BAFTA-wining Tchou-tchou. Very cute and very inventive Canadian story.

We're planning to return later this week to watch some of the competition entries. I figure we can afford the tickets (3€).

Make time for Manda Bala

Nothing says Brazil like frogs, corruption, and extortion. Why do I say this? Watch this movie and you will understand. I saw the film Manda Bala at Sundance and it is everything the poster claims it is.I just saw today that Manda Bala is being released in the US (albeit on a small scale for such a great movie). Watch the trailer, and then see if you can get to one of the screenings. Go see this movie! It is so worth it!