Via Chewie’s well-formed strings I discover “Even Stevphen”, the section that Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert have in “The Daily Show” (Comedy Central). It’s a delightful exercise of intelligent humour in an elegant format.
BTW, Colbert is that one famous journalist that spoke for 24 minutes during the last White House Correspondents Dinner, corageously making so much fun of Bush and his administration. Chewie and I recommend not to miss that video, neither. (If you did read last month’s “Wired”, you already know who he is).
A dios pongo por testigo que nunca conseguiré entender por qué la gente más estúpida disfruta tanto exhibiendo su imbecilidad en TV.
Desde que vivo en un piso con tele y me salpica la programación británica en [de]prime time, estoy descubriendo un infragénero de serie Z que, hasta donde yo sé, aún no ha llegado a España (ojo, que en pocos meses lo tendréis en la Europa continental): el «reality show temático pseudoformativo». Todos estos escaparates de la miseria humana tienen en común la figura de un «experto» que en cada programa llega a un hogar distinto para ayudar a la familia a solucionar un problema relacionado con su especialidad. En todos los casos, resulta que la solución más eficiente y justa es asesinar un poco o bastante a todos y cada uno de los miembros de la familia. Sin embargo, el experto indefectiblemente se entrega con pasión a hurgar en los detalles del problema hasta sacar pelotillas, en una celebración gloriosa de la bajeza, la indecencia y la estulticia del hombre (y de la mujer, que no se me enfaden las feministas).
Éste es el bestiario provisional que he elaborado, en orden creciente de toxicidad:
A few months ago I met a Spanish guy living in London who had an interesting explanation for why sooo many people from the rest of the UK, Europe and the whole world decide to come to live in London.
According to his theory, the vast majority of people who come to London give to others (and to themselves) one of the following two reasons. The first one is that they come to learn the language (this is invariably expressed by us Spaniards with the formula “tu imprúf mai ínglis”). The second reason to go living here is that people want to earn more money.
That’s rubbish.
Reality is: people come to London just to run away from things. To run away from a job, from a relationship, from a past. From their family, from their environment. From other people. From themselves.
This guy put the high number of gay people in London as an example. Many gays from around the world who feel oppressed in their conservative countries and small towns discover with delight Londoner’s open-minded, quasi-indifferent attitude towards them. Massive, anonymous, heterogeneous and vanguardist, no other city takes in people like London.
Politics in Spain is dead boring. At least this is so when comparing with other countries.
I first realized this fact the year I lived in Italy. Italian politicians and parties are more diverse, brave and spontaneous than their Spanish counterparts. The ideological range is much wider, from the communists and radicals (Pannella, Bonino) to the nostalgic xenophobic neofascists (Bossi, Berlusconi). Not to mention the permanent inner fights in the leftish and Catholic parties (L’ulivo, La margherita, Prodi) and the fascinating tentacles of the Catholic Church. Many topics that in Spain are sort of taboo or understood ─civil war, gay rights, laicism vs. Catholicism, manipulation in the media─ are passionately discussed in Italy.
From Galloway’s very first answer it’s crystal clear that the interview is going to be anything but boring. This is a completely different point of view on international politics than the one the mainstream media show in their news. And Galloway puts forward his ideas in such a simple and passionate way that you can’t but feel empathic with him. (And pity the newsreader who interviews him).
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