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FUMETTOPOLI Milan, a comic fan’s paradise
Comic freaks are those who dream about possessing the latest gadget from their favourite character, who won’t be happy until they find that weird first edition, that short collection that only lasted five editions or getting their most idolized cartoonist’s autograph. Do you happen to be a comic freak? If so you’re in luck as the 31st International Festival of Comics in Milan, Fumettopoli is just around the corner – next February 20th and 21st to be exact. Brand new sections In this important event dedicated to the world of comics, organizers have planned new sections for this edition. For instance, ‘Fume..ttari’, is a launch pad for new talents, whose best works will be published at the end of the year. One of the most juicy and attractive parts of this edition is the exclusive presentation of an illustrated version of ‘Alice in Wonderland’, the famous tale by Lewis Carroll. To celebrate the occasion, the editor has decided to plan a costume contest for the best Alice costume. What a sight! It’s going to be very funny to see numerous cosplayers (comic fans dressed up as their favourite characters), squeezed into Alice’s costume! Besides this contest, there will be also a cosplay parade. Participants must wear a costume of their favourite star character from a particular comic. But the star of the show, the true landmark at Fumettopoli, is undoubtedly the eagerly awaited presentation of ‘Loaded Bible’, volume 2: in an imaginary Vatican City, the citizens, under the siege of vampires, are abandoned by Jesus and their trust in ecclesiastical institutions is waning. Mmmm, sounds interesting, isn’t it? All...
A new take on Federico Fellini
If you like Federico Fellini’s movies, takes advantage of this unique exhibition organized by the CaixaForum in Barcelona: “El circo de la ilusión”. Come and discover the complete works of this Italian genius who became famous after receiving the Palme d´Or at Cannes Festival in 1960 with La Dolce Vita. You can enjoy it from mid-February to mid-June. The exhibition offers a journey through the filmmaker´s work divided into four parts: “Fellini and the popular culture”, “Fellini and his work“, “the City of Women” and “Fellini, biographical invention”. The exhibition gives an overview of the topics he was most passionate about as psychoanalysis or the music hall, and reveals the secrets of his creation. So we will see new views on his films. Fellini was a native of Rimini, but he moved to Rome at the age of 19 where he worked in a humour magazine and wrote texts for the radio. There he met his wife, Giulietta Masina, the woman who shared his lifelong and who was his muse for many films. After helping several filmmakers, he became gradually a real artist with his own style. His first work was called Luci del varietà (1951) and his first international success, three years later, will be La Strada. But it was with La Dolce Vita that he fascinated us. Then he became a master and people began to talk about the Fellini’s baroque. He used to create eccentric characters that caricatured the Italian society. He used a narrative without much dramatic tension and a lack of boundaries between the real world and the imaginary. Besides a great filmmaker, Fellini...
The sixth edition of the “Ellas Crean Festival” reaches the five continents
They sing, they compose, they write, they paint, they dance, they act… In short, they create (Ellas Crean). Once again, and for the sixth consecutive year, the most important female festival of Spain celebrates the International Women´s Day. In this way important female figures of music, theatre, poetry, art and dance are going to lead us through different artistic and cultural proposals. The festival will be included in the cultural programming of the Spanish Presidency of the European Union and will reach 20 cities on the five continents through the Instituto Cervantes. It is organized by the Ministry of Culture and Equality, and it will be held in Madrid from February 17th to March 30th. This year the Ellas Crean festival emerges under the ´A commitment to the equality ´ motto, where the government demonstrates its commitment to advance towards a more egalitarian society. It is necessary to emphasize the programming that will be coordinated in collaboration with Paris and which will include debates, cinema, literature and a section entitled “Spanish women in Paris”. It also will arrive to other countries with which Spain shares community presidency such as Belgium and Hungary. It will count with seven relevant names from the popular contemporary music scene proceeding from three different continents: Savina Yannatou, Houria Aichi, Amal Murkus, Márta Sebestyén, Virgínia Rodrigues, Carmen Linares and Juliette Gréco. But the main protagonists of this edition will be Joan Baez, Luz Casal and Najwa Nimri. Furthermore, singers Rocio Marquez, Esperanza Fernández and Marina Heredia, and conductors Nathalie Stutzmann and Christina Pluhar will give the festival a very special touch. “Son de Ellas” is...
The Barcelona of Cerdà
When you look at the map of Barcelona, you see a beehive of blocks formed by long and wide streets that intersect. This is the Eixample District, which extends and branches throughout the city. It has a very appropriate Catalan name, since this area was built to unify the historic center to the nearby towns, which now form a set of ten districts. The engineer Ildefons Cerdà was the man who proposed this development plan in 1859, with a really modern design for the time: Cerdà was already thinking about the cars and the environment. This year, the Plan Cerdà is 150 years old! If you want to discover the Eixample district, you can start by getting lost in its grid, you’ll see many things that look very similar. Tall buildings of modernist style, offices, hotels, restaurants, shops, trees, very wide sidewalks – with the flower symbol, cars… Today this is an upper middle class and mostly residential neighbourhood, but it is also home of the gay district, known as Gayxample which is located on the left side of it. On the right side we fund emblematic places such as the famous Sagrada Familia, La Pedrera and La Casa Batllo, on Paseo de Gracia. But original idea was that each block would be a series of residences with a green space in the middle, like a little island (in Barcelona they are known as patio blocks). Today there are not many, since the space was gradually used up to build more new buildings. Cerdà wanted to make a city of human proportions. He had foreseen the downtown in Gloríes...
El Bulli to close its doors for two years
Yes, surprising, but true. The best restaurant in the world will remain closed for two years, during 2012 and 2013. Its owner, Ferran Adrià, the chef who is widely recognised as a master of his art, has announced that kitchen’s burners will be put out regarding the serving of meals but not to keep researching into the infinite possibilities that the world of gastronomy offers. The restaurant will remain open as a research laboratory. El Bulli, placed in a charming corner of the Catalan Costa Brava has, up to date, three Michelin stars and only opens its doors six month per year. Diners wait years in order to get a booking and experience the food that El Bulli has to offer. In fact, the website has announced that the restaurant has already closed its reservations for the whole of next season (from 15th June until 20th December). The positive side of the whole matter is that Ferran Adrià is not closing the business because he has run out of ideas. He’s taking a break to keep creating and innovating to make sure that Spanish gastronomy stays on top. The renowned chef has admitted to the press that when El Bulli reopens “it won’t be a restaurant anymore, but it will serve food”. He doesn’t know if it only will feed just one person or a thousand people, but he is sure that the restaurant will change its format. El Bulli is considered the world’s best restaurant, according to the prestigious The Restaurant Magazine, who has awarded this category to Adrià’s for several consecutive years now. The few lucky diners...
Outumuro photography
The Disseny Hub Barcelona (DHUB), a space that is both a museum and photo laboratory is holding a pictures exhibition of the famous Galician photographer Manuel Outumuro. A total of 200 illustrations from fashion magazines, Sunday supplements or daily press will be shown under the title “Outumuro LOOKS. Veinte años fotografiando moda”. You have until April 25th to visit it. Do not miss this original retrospective! You maybe don’t know his name, but you have probably seen his pictures in many magazines. Outumuro (1949, Ourense) is a professional photographer who has photographed the great names of the Spanish and international fashion: models, actresses and celebrities. He currently lives in Barcelona (his studio is located in a former eighteenth century palace), a city that has always enjoyed a rich artistic culture and often inspired many creative people. Outumuro is also famous for designing the promotional material for the film “The Others”, with Nicole Kidman. You can admire two decades of his great work (1990-2010) and discover the lighting techniques he uses, as well as the evolution of the advertising, the different visual strategies used depending on whether female or male pictures are taken and so on. Outumuro is a specialised fashion photographer but Barcelona was also one of his muses, and one of his many portfolios is entitled “Barcelona, another vision.” And do not forget his advertising spots, for chocolate bars, yogurt, clothes and magazines… He´s literally done everything! The exhibition is located in one of two branches of DHUB, located in the historic centre of Barcelona in Calle Montcada in the Born district, not far from the Picasso Museum...
Mmmmmmmm, now what was my damn password?
The world wide web pampers us with numerous posibilities for jazzing up our lives. The so called social networks, like Facebook, Twitter, Bebo, Myspace and god knows how many others, are flooding cyberspace more and more. Whether to “just check my emails” or to “update my facebook profile”, so that all the world knows what I’m doing 24/7 or to download the newest CD from your favorite Newcommer Band, one of the most important inventions of humanity doesn’t only bring us entertainment and fun, but also provokes a lot of bad headaches. Why? Well, you certainly have asked yourself millions of times “Mmmmmm, what was my damn password?” Nowadays, our daily life is getting more and more stressful. Whether at the town hall, in the supermarket or wherever, you are almost always asked to give them your telephone number, passport number or your bank account. It can be especially difficult for those who even have dificulties in remembering their own birth date. But that doesn´t mean that because of the lack of intellecutal capacity we can neglect our creativity while searching for a good password for use on the internet. Each day we hear about new viruses buzzing around the web, and we get informed about new hackers wanting to play an expensive trick on us. That´s exactly why we should make a greater effort in creating a secure password for our different web accounts. Human nature is, to be quiet honest, very simple. Hence it isn’t surprising that ‘123456’ or ‘abc123’ belong to the most popular worldwide internet passwords. Why are you turning so red now? Well, you...
Discover the best nightlife in Helsinki
Though it is true that Helsinki is not the most famous European capital for its nightlife, also it is that nothing has to envy to many neighbouring cities: it premises are very heterogeneous and often have a very relaxed attitude regarding to the dress code. It schedules are not too extensive – at 4 everything is closed – but it is very welcoming, so tourists will feel right like at home. But there are locals for all tastes and trends, with different types of music, atmosphere and even for different age (with a limit age of 21 to go to the pubs and of 24 to go to the clubs). If you want to discover the true essence of Helsinki, visit one of its many restaurants, and then have a drink in one its bars. The Finns are great lovers of tango, and many of its restaurants have ballrooms for dancing after the dessert. Outdoor dances are also popular and can be found in the area of Pavin tanssilava. One of the biggest advantages of the Helsinki nightlife is that most presises are very close together. Almost all are located in the downtown. It is very common that the clubs are part of the best hotels. One of the most famous is The Seurahuone Socis Hotel and its pub set in the final years of the nineteenth century. If you´re lokking for a class night, try to go to Lux. It has five bars and large terraces, along with a proper dress code, and it is more expensive than other places in Helsinki. But the most fashionable premises are...
Those Old Vinyl Records
Would you like change the look of your home? Do you think your living room seems a bit impersonal? The furniture is nice, but it’s the same as in many other homes (Ikea?)… You want to give it a bit of originality and, above all, a personal touch. If the modern design objects are too expensive, you can browse through the flea market or antique shops, which feature furniture and everyday objects from the 70s and 80s. If you´re a fan of music, you will probably have a modern mp3, but…. don’t you agree that one of those old record players always stands out. Perhaps you disagree, but don’t you think that the image of a vinyl record spinning around the deck doesn’t look great? Playing a vinyl record is almost a ritual: you take it out from its sleeve, you clean the dust off, you check that it is not scratched, you put it on the deck and… the music begins to sound! Are wondering why you should buy a record-player if you don’t have any vinyl records? Surely you have some stored away and if you are very young you can look on your grandparents’ shelves or cupboards. Fortunately, there are still many vinyl record collectors and therefore there is a wide and varied vinyl’s market. You will find the 33 RPM (the LP) and those of 45 R.PM. with only one or two songs on each side. Anyway vinyl records are still used by professional dj – the famous 12 inch singles. You’ll also find other objects from the past such as telephones, tape recorders, lighting...
