Durangoko Azoka

“Durangoko azoka” euskal literatura eta musika alorrean aurkitzen den azoka nagusia dela esan daiteke, bertan elkartzen baitira, euskal idazle, poeta, musikari….guztiak.

Azoka hau abenduko lehen hamostaldian egin ohi da, abenduaren 6 eta 8aren inguruan normalean, eta bertan euskal kulturako azken berriak saltzen dira, aurreko urteetako eleberri, liburu, nobela, CD eta abarrekin batera. “Durangoko Euskal Liburu eta Disko Azoka” euskal kulturaren eta euskararen erakusleiho nagusi bilakatzen ari da, bertan elkartuz euskal kulturako hainbat alor.

Azokaren Historia:

Azokaren lehen pausuak duela 37 urte eman ziren, 1965eko azaroaren 1ean hain zuzen ere. Andra Mari eleizako arkupean postuak jartzen hasi ziren, oraindik ere Frankoren diktadurapean. Edizio horretan 19 argitaletxek hartu zuten parte, eta Gerediaga Elkarteak antolatutako edizioa izan zen. Azoka honetarako, 100.000 pezetako aurrekontua bakarrik izan bazuten ere, guztia aurrera ateratzea lortu zuten. Aipatzekoa da, gaur egun ere oraindik elkarte honek jarraitzen duela azoka hau antolatzen, beste hainbat erakunderekin batera, hala nola, Gipuzkoako, Bizkaiko eta Arabako Foru Aldundiak, BBK kutxak, Eroski Fundazioak, Durangoko Udalak eta LESA landako erakustazokak.

Gerediaga Elkartearen esanetan, lehen edizioaren helburua “Euskal Herrian zegoen liburugintza eta diskogintzaren ekoizpena ezagutzera ematea” zen. Lehen edizio horrek arrakasta izan zuenez, azokarekin aurrera jarraitzea erabaki zuten.

Hurrengo edizioak ere Andra Mariko elizpean ospatu ziren, eta aurrerago, Merkatuko plazara pasa ziren, geroz eta jende gehiago hurbiltzen zelako azokara, eta horrek Gobernadore zibilekin arazoak zekartzan. 2003an landako gunea inauguratu eta bertan tokia hartu zuten arte.  1980. urterarte azaroaren 1ean egiten bazen ere, urte honetan abenduan egitera pasa zen.

1996 urtean merkatua utzita karpa erraldoi batera igaro ziren, aurrez aipatu bezala, landako gunea ireki zuten arte, 2003an. Gaur egun, gune honetan hartu du tokia azokak, eta urtetik urtera jende gehiago hurbiltzen da bertara, euskal kultura eta bertako kultura eta folklorea indartuz.

Abenduan egin ohi den azoka honetan ez dira soilik liburu edo diskak saltzen, bertan kontzertuak, liburu eta CD sinaketak, eta beste hainbat eta hainbat ekintza egiten dira, bai haur, gazte eta helduentzat.

Jende ezaguna Durangoko azokan!

Bideo honetan ikusi daitekeen bezala, jende asko mugitzen da Durangoko azokaren munduan, bai jende ezaguna (idazle abeslari) eta herriko jendea ere, horiek gabe ez balitzateke posible izango Durangoko Azoka erraldoi hau aurrera eramatea.

Eraztunen Jauna

Post honetan, “Eraztunen Jauna” trilogia azalduko dut. 10 urte inguru izan arren eta nahiz eta “The Hobbit” pelikula atarian daukagun, ezin ditugu film hauek ahaztu. Aipatutako Peter Jacksonen pelikula berriak aurreko sagaren pasioa berriro ere piztu du, eta horregatik post hau eskaini nahi nizueke.

Eraztunen Jauna trilogia zinemaratu egin den saga bat da. Hiru filmez dago osatuta: “Eraztunen Jauna: Eraztunaren Elkartea”, “Eraztunen Jauna: Bi dorreak” eta “Eraztunen Jauna: Erregearen Itzulera”. 2001. urtean agertu zen lehenengo pelikula, 2002an bigarrena eta hurrengo urtean azkenengoa.

J. R. R. Tolkien idazleak idatzitako eleberrian dago oinarrituta trilogia. Tolkienek 1954. urtean amaitu zuen idazten, eta 1978an gaztelerara itzuli zen. Pelikula hauek baino lehen, 1978an Ralph Bakshi zuzendariak Tolkienen liburuaren lehenengo zati erdia zinemara eraman zuen, baina animaziozko pelikula gisa.

Proiektu zinematografiko erraldoiena izan omen da, eta 2900 milioi dolar bildu ziren hiru pelikulak batuz. Proiektu osoa 8 urtez garatu zen, eta eszena guztiak Zeelanda Berrian grabatu ziren, Peter Jacksonen aberrian.

Itzelezko proiektu honek oso mereziak dituen sari ugari irabazi zituen. 17 Oscar Sari, 10 BAFTA sari eta 10 Urrezko Globo sari jaso zituen. Horrez gain, lehenengo pelikulak 870.000.000 USD inguru bildu zituen, gutxien bildu zituena izanik. Bigarrenak, ia 930.000.000, apur bat gehiago. Baina azkenengoa izan zen txapela irabazi zuena, bere diru-bilketa 1.119.000.000koa izatera heldu baitzen. Hirugarren pelikula, “Eraztunen jauna: Erregearen Itzulera”, bilketa handiena lortu duten filmen rankingean dago, 6. postuan, “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” aurrean izanik. Beste bi filmak atzerago daude zerrendan, lehenengoa 29. postuan eta bigarrena 20.ean.

Nobelaren jarraitzaileen artetik, kritikak ere jaso ditu. Nobela eta pelikulen arteko akatsak ugariak direla diote. Agertzen ez diren pertsonaiak, eszena oso garrantzitsu ukatuak, eszena batzuk nahasturik euren artean…  Adibidez, lehenengo pelikulan, Nazgûl talde batek Frodo eta bere lagunak erasotzen dituzte. Bat-batean, Arwen elfoa agertzen da protagonistak salbatzeko. Liburuan, bestalde, Glorfindel deitutako beste elfo bat azaltzen da, Nazgûl horiek hil eta lagun-taldea salbu ipintzen dituena.

Inkongruentzia horiek izanagatik ere, trilogiak itzelezko arrakasta izan zuen. Argi ikus daiteke jaso zituen sari kopuruan. Aktoreak oso famatuak dira, eta ederto jokatu zuten euren paperean. Protagonista nagusia, Frodo Bolson, Elijah Wood aktoreak egin zuen, eta bere lagun banaezina, Samsagaz Gamyi, Sean Astin da. Bestalde, hiru kide gerlariak, Aragorn, Legolas eta Gimli, Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom eta John Rhys-Davies aktoreek  hurrenez hurren egiten dute euren papera.

Esandako guztiagatik, trilogia ezin hobea gauzatu zuen Jacksonek. Kritika diezaiokegun gauza bakarra, nire ustez, liburuarekiko akatsak dira. Hala ere, jantziak, musika, akzioa, tramaren garapena eta aktoreek bikain daukate, eta horiek guztiek beste arazoak minimizatzen dituzte.

 

Erreferentziak:

• Anon, El Señor de los Anillos. Aurum. Available at: http://www.elsenordelosanillos.aurum.es/film/trilogy/ [Accessed December 14, 2012a].
• Anon, El Señor de los Anillos: La Comunidad del Anillo. IMDb. Available at: http://www.imdb.es/title/tt0120737/ [Accessed December 14, 2012b].
• Anon, El señor de los anillos Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Available at: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trilog%C3%ADa_cinematogr%C3%A1fica_de_El_Se%C3%B1or_de_los_Anillos [Accessed December 14, 2012c].
• Anon, Lord of the Rings. Available at: http://www.lordoftherings.net/ [Accessed December 14, 2012d].
• Anon, Los 10 errores garrafales de la adaptación al cine de El Señor de los Anillos. Efecto Tetris. Available at: http://www.efectotetris.com/2011/05/25/los-10-errores-garrafales-de-la-adaptacion-al-cine-de-el-senor-de-los-anillos/ [Accessed December 14, 2012e].

 

Los tuareg

Los Tuareg pertenecen al grupo étnico de los bereberes, este pueblo es trashumante y basa su economía a la ganadería. Tiene la organización social de un linaje segmentario, esto es, son un grupo de personas unidas por distintos linajes. Estos distintos linajes tienen dentro del mismo grupo unas posiciones a novel jerárquico distintas, dependiendo del tiempo que lleven dentro del grupo. A pesar que estos grupos exista la idea de clase social, no hay un gobierno centralizado. Para tomar las decisiones que atañen existe la posibilidad de formar un consejo tribal pero este tipo de grupos están liderados por una “Big men”, pero esta figura a la vez tiene unos poderes e influencia muy limitados. En estos clanes no hay manera de obligar a uno de sus miembros a acatar una decisión.

mujer tipica de este pueblo nomada

• La economía de estos grupos es plenamente trashumante, tienen distintos tipos de ganado que van desde ovejas y cabras hasta camellos, viven con los productos que obtienen de estos. Estos distintos productos (leche, carnes, pieles y cueros, queso…), son consumidos por los miembros del grupo a modo de subsistencia o son intercambiados por productos secundarios o por dinero en metálico con otros pueblos. Están especializados en la ganadería, por lo tanto no tienen otro modo de conseguir alimentos. Unidos a sus animales, esenciales para su supervivencia, estas familias están en constante movimiento para hallar nuevos pastos para sus cabezas de ganado. Nunca se quedan más de unos pocos meses en un mismo lugar, semanas en muchas ocasiones.

• Dentro del grupo, hay distintas clases sociales y su influencia está muy diferenciada. Podemos observar cinco clases sociales muy marcadas; una aristocracia que mantiene el poder; sacerdotes que se ocupan de las ceremonias religiosas; trabajadores que se ocupan de los animales; artesanos que crean todas las herramientas necesarias y en el escalón más bajo, los esclavos negros.

• El género y la edad son rasgos a tener en cuenta dentro del grupo para medir la influencia de casa uno, aunque practican la religión musulmana también son un pueblo matriarcal, por lo que las mujeres tienen gran influencia dentro del grupo. Dentro del hogar la mujer lleva las riendas de la familia y a la hora de repartir la herencia las mujeres son las que tienen prioridad sobre los hombres.

• Pero la figura que posee más influencia dentro del grupo es el “big men”, este líder es el hombre más rico de la tribu, ya que posee el mayor número de cabezas de ganado. El utiliza este ganado para mantener a su extensa familia y repartir algo con los de la tribu. Este si quiere que algo se haga, tiene que dar ejemplo y utilizar la persuasión. Para tener influencia dentro de las decisiones solo puede dar consejos, nunca órdenes. Este tirulo no se puede heredar y el portador lo puede perder si su número de cabezas de ganado disminuye o la tribu así lo decide.

• Las poblaciones de estas familias suelen ser muy reducidas, de unos 250-500 miembros. Suelen tener más animales que personas u estos grupos viven muy distanciados de los otros pueblos.

References:

• rakelsalim, 15AD. Tuareg: los hombres del velo azul. http://www.vientodelsur.wordpress.com. Available at: http://vientodelsur.wordpress.com/2008/03/15/tuareg-los-hombres-del-velo-azul/ [Accessed December 14, 2012].
• VÍCTOR-M.AMELA, 2012. Entrevista a un Touareg . http://www.ilusionporviajar.es. Available at: http://www.ilusionporviajar.es/index.php/entrevista-a-un-tuareg.html [Accessed December 14, 2012].

GORBEIA CENTRAL PARK

Ondorengo blog honek Gorbeiako Parke Natural magiko eta liluragarriari buruzko informazio zabala eskaintzen du. Paradisu eder honek hainbat ekintza egiteko aukera ematen du eta gure helburua aukera horiek ondo kudeatzea eta jendea erakartzea da parkeari buruzko informazioa emanez.

Blog honetan gure estrategia garatzeko erreferentzia nagusia “Gorbeia Central Park” webgune edo blog ezaguna  izan da. Horretaz gain, esan beharra daukagu blog hau aurrera ateratzeko “Arratia Suzien” taldearen eta “Arratiako Mankomunitatearen” laguntza izan dugula.

Gorbeiako Parke Naturala Bizkaia eta Araba artean kokatzen da. Parke eder hau, Euskadiko parke natural handiena da 26.050 hektarea dituelarik eta bertako gailurrik garaiena Gorbeia mendia dugu 1481m-rekin. Aldamin 1375m eta Lekanda 1303m-rekin, dira beste gailur garrantzitsu batzuk.

Bizkaiko txoko maitagarri hau 1994.  urtean izendatu zuten parke natural bezala ez soilik bere balio naturalarengatik baita bere balio kulturalarengatik bertako herri txikiak kulturaren ondare dira, tradizio eta pentsaera zaharrak ederki mantendu dituzten herritarrez beteak: Bizkaia aldean kokatzen diren herriak Areatza, Zeanuri, Zeberio eta Orozko dira Araban aldiz Zigoitia, Zuia eta Urkabustaiz.

Parke natural honek balore sentimental eta ideologiko handia izateaz aparte aukera bikainak eskaintzen ditu, kirol ezberdinak egiteko aukera adibidez: trekking, eskalada, mountain-bike, espedeologia… herrietako janleku bikainak dastatzeko aukera; Gorostondo, Arratiano, , Axpe Goikoa… uda giroan herrietako jai giroan murgiltzeko aukera, animaliez gozatzeko aukera ….. familiarekin eguna pasatzeko aukera …. .

Lo egiteko leku anitz dituzu edozein herritan baita ingurukoetan ere; Arantza (Igorren),  Hotel Balneario Hesperia… (Areatzan) Hotel Etxegana ( Zeanuri)  eta horretaz gain herri hauek bisitatzeko aukera ederra, herri txikiak izan arren erakargarriak baitira.

Blog honek bere berriak eta ekintza ezberdinak Twitter eta Facebook bezalako sare sozialetan partekatuko ditu jendeak gure berri izan dezan.

 

ERREFERENTZIAK:

Anon, GORBEIA SUZIEN. Available at: http://gorbeiasuzien.blogspot.com.es/.

Anon, ARRATIAKO MANKOMUNIATETA. Available at: http://www.arratia.net/eu-ES/Orrialdeak/default.aspx.

Anon, GORBEIA CENTRAL PARK. Available at: http://www.gorbeiacentralpark.com/es/.

Munich and Christmas

Abstract

With this post, I want you to explain a little bit a topic which is related with Christmas. Here, I tell my experience in Munich and its Christmas Markets, giving different details and encouraging people to visit the wonderful city of Munich.

Three years ago I visited by this period of time one city that personally I love it; this city was Munich. Munich is the capital of Bavaria in south Germany and it is famous because of the Beer Celebration “Oktoberfest” and because it is the capital of the well-know  car factory of BMW and the headquarter of “Bayern München” football team. But, the first time, when I visited the city, I only enjoyed visiting the incredible Christmas Market of the city that my German teacher had encouraged me to visit one year before.

The Munich Christmas Market is not the only one in Germany,also there are other Christmas Markets  Central Europe, but it is the oldest Christmas Market of Germany. The tradition of this event set out in XIV century, although the form of today´s market started in 1972. On the other hand, the main Christmas Market of Munich is in the city centre, in Marienplatz, even if all city is decorated and in all areas are different and more familiar Christmas Markets.

The name of the market is “Christkindlmarkt” because it refers to the Jesus Baby, and we have to remember that we are in a very Catholic part of Germany. Apart from that, this character is the character that brings the presents to children in South-Germany, Austria and Switzerland. By this time of the year, people who visit Munich will be able to enjoy listening fantastic choruses of children in markets, but also in anywhere, for instance in “Frauenkirche” Cathedral, or in the streets of the Bavarian capital city.

But, what can we say about different foods? Not only in Germany are sausages, sauerkraut or knuckle, there are other ingredients, other flavors in German gastronomy, and this period of time is a really good time to try out with other recipes of the Germanic country. For example, in Munich, in Christmas and in other cities of Germany, is very typical the “Glühwine”, also the typical Christmas biscuits, chocolates, and so on. On the night, the city become into a spectacular landscape of lights whose central element is a fir tree in the centre of Council Square (Marienplatz) and in front of the “Altrathaus”. What it´s more, if you want, you have the opportunity to visit different nativity scenes in streets of the city; there is as well a market where is specializing in Bethlehem figures.

I have to say that I was only once in winter, in Germany, but I know that there are other different Christmas Markets, for instance in “Köln” (Cologne), where there are other four different Christmas Markets. But, only two are deserved to be visited obligatorily: “Am Dom” near the famous cathedral and the other one: “Alter Market” where the activity is frenetic.
On the hand, and in the same region where Munich is, we have Nuremberg and its Christmas Market. Here, there is an ancient tradition which it consist on a solemn opening of the market. The “Christkind” offers a speech and the market start.

In any case, visit Germany in winter can be a wonderful option to have contact with the old tradition of Christmas Markets. Here we don´t have this kind of tradition, since the markets were an invention against the winter´s cold, so if we want to try out the Christmas spirit, Munich our city. But we have to remember that the majority of markets are usually closed to the Christmas Day.

References:

-El mercado de Navidad de Munich. (2009).Viajeros Barceló. Retrieved from http://blogs.viajerosbarcelo.com/2009/11/el-mercado-de-navidad-de-munich/#.UMdnxPm3Isx

-Gómez, J. (n.d.). El Mercadillo de Navidad en Munich. Sobreturismo. Retrieved from http://sobreturismo.es/2007/12/24/el-mercadillo-de-navidad-en-munich/

-Munguía, I. (2009). Los mejores mercados de Navidad en Europa. Diario del viajero. Retrieved from http://www.diariodelviajero.com/europa/los-mejores-mercados-de-navidad-de-europa

Germanic Mythology

Germanic mythology is a general term that include all the religions and myths of the people in the area of actual Germany, Anglo-saxon and nordic zones. Germanic mythology ultimately derives from Indo-European Mythology, also known as Indo-Germanic mythology, but I am not going to focus that far. Anyway, all the gods of scandinavia people are the same as the germanics, the only thing that change is the name and their roles (but just a bit), but this also happened in all mythologies through the years.

One particularity of the Germanic gods is that they can not scape from their destiny, and they are seized to the same penalties that the humans have, and they are either bad and good people enchained to their passions.

In the following post Iam going to name the main gods of germanic mythology, who are the same of viking mythology.

First of all we have Wodanaz, better know as Odín, the names as I said have evolved through the years. He is the ruler of Asgard, the land of the gods, he is also the god of euphoria and the god of the killed in battle warriors. He is represente as a one-eye old man, riding his eight-legged horse Sleipnir, the fastest in the world, and holding his lance Gungnir, that once has been thrown is unstoppable. The nords believe that if they died in combat bravely, afterdeath they will be waiting the Ragnarok (end of the world) in the Valhalla.

Þunraz (read Thunraz), also called Thor, is the son of Odín and the protector of midgard, the land that is occupied by the human race. He is the strongest warrior in whole Asgard and therefore of all the worlds. He is the god of thunder, lighting and storms. His mortal enemy is the colossal serpent called Jormundur, that surrounds the limits of midgard. In the Ragnarok, Thor will  fight with it and killed it, but he will die because of the wounds.

Teiwaz or Tyr is the god of war and sky. He was supposed to be the main god of the germanic culture, but he was replaced by Odin in some later time. He is portrayed as a one-handed man, lost when the gods cheated the giant wolf Fenrir when they enchain him. Tyr is destined to kill and be killed by Garm, the guard dog of Hel, actually the word “hell” comes from here. Here in the right, we have an art of the myth of Tyr and Fenrir.

Frigg is the mayor goddess in the nord paganism. She is the wife of Odin and therefore, the queen of Asgard. She is said to have the power of prophecy. This is an attribute that was expanded to all the women of germanic societies. Women´s advices were very valued. She is the goddess of the birth and was associated to married women. By the way, in the pieces of documents of the Ragnarok it is not say what happen with the goddess so it is supposed that they survived to the destruction.

Another very important goddess is Freyja, she was associated to love, beauty, fertility, seidr (sorcery), gold and death. It is said that Frigg and Freyja were the same goddess at the beginning, but this, like a lot of things changed through the years.

Loki, the trickster. He is not exactly a god, because he doesnt recieve cult, but he is a deity and he is very important in the nordic and germanic mythology. He embody the figure of the trickster, the one that always is complicating all the things. It is in her nature. We can find these figure in toher cultures, like in northamerica, represented by the coyote. After the dead of Baldr, the beloved son of Odin, he was punished to be enchained to a rock and to suffer the poison of a snake spilling in her face. It was said that the earthquakes were provoked by Loki when he twist of pain because of the poison. He is also the father of Fenrir and Jormundur, the ones that will destroy a big part of the world in the Ragnarok. The Ragnarok will begin when Loki were set free of their chains.

Besides the gods and the humans, there are also other “creatures” like the giants, that live in the world of Iotumheim, the elves, that live in Alfheim, tuergos, dwarves, trolls, etc. They live in other worlds, hanging in the Yggdrasil, the tree of life. The giants are very important in the nordic mythology, lots of the gods have giant blood running in their veins and in the Ragnarok the frozen giants will be the main part of Loki´s army.

The Ragnarok, or god´s destiny, it´s the apocalypsis in the norse mythology. Thanks to one völva (a female witch) Odín knows waht is going to happen in the Ragnarok, he knows that is going to happen, it is the destiny of the gods, but he doesnt know when. When Loki be set in free of his torturing punishment, he is going to begin the war against the gods. Heimdall the watcher god will saw the armies of Loki crossing the Midgard sea in order to destroy the world. A huge battle will be between Asgard´s armies, composed by the valhalla warriors, the gods and the creatures that support Asgard and the Loki´s army, builded with the enemies of the gods, the giants and the terrorific monsters, Fenrir the wolf, and Jormundur the Serpent. World will be destroyed, but two humans and some gods will survive the Ragnarok and they will create a new world.

References:

Enrique Bernardez “Los mitos germánicos”, año 2002, alianza editorial

Norse mythology, about.com http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/norsemyth/a/aa081799Norse.htm

8 mile

8 mile; produced by Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment, is an American dramatic film directed by Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential) and starring Eminem, Kim Basinger, Mekhi Phifer, Taryn Manning and  Brittany Murphy.

The film tells the story about Jimmy Smith Jr.; who is called B. Rabbit by his friends. He, who loves hip-hop music, lives in Detroit, in a poor and predominantly black population.

Bioclimatic Architecture

Today,  we are living a difficult tima for architecture and construction. The Crise is affecting this field harder than others and it is important to know, that in architecture, the quality is much more important than the quantity. Respecting the environment is one of the principal goals that architectura is trying to achieve all along the 21st century. We have made a lot of improvements but there is a lot to do yet.

What is bio­cli­matic architecture?

Build­ing that takes into account cli­mate and envi­ron­men­tal con­di­tions to help achieve ther­mal com­fort inside. It deals with design and archi­tec­tural ele­ments, avoid­ing com­plete depen­dence on mechan­i­cal sys­tems, which are regarded as sup­port.  (i.e. Using nat­ural ven­ti­la­tion or mixed mode ven­ti­la­tion)  Archi­tec­ture that has a con­nec­tion to Nature.

Here we have an example about how to use natural resources like orientation, vetnilation, etc to make a  construction energetically more efficient

But, does it really work?

Tra­di­tional tech­niques work, and in Spain we know it well: the cool­ness inside a thick-walled tra­di­tional vil­lage house at noon in August, the com­fort of a tra­di­tional patio in Andalu­cia on a hot day, or how the sun enters through South ori­ented win­dows in win­ter replac­ing  the need for heat­ing. If this works, don’t you think it could be pos­si­ble, through care­ful house design, to design houses like this today?  Answer–Yes! It is entirely pos­si­ble to design mod­ern bio­cli­matic hous­ing and archi­tec­ture, using nat­ural ven­ti­la­tion, pas­sive solar design, and sus­tain­able materials.

How much does it cost?

A bio­cli­matic house needn’t be either cheaper nor more expen­sive, uglier or nicer, than any other. The bio­cli­matic house doesn’t need the pur­chase and instal­la­tion of com­pli­cated and expen­sive sys­tems, but it just uses the reg­u­lar archi­tec­tural ele­ments to increase the ener­getic per­for­mance and get a nat­ural com­fort. To achieve this, the bio­cli­matic design imposes a set of guide­lines, but there still remains a lot of free­dom to design accord­ing to indi­vid­ual taste. Sit­ing of the build­ing, con­sid­er­a­tion of solar access, col­lec­tion of rain­wa­ter, using ther­mal mass to your advan­tage, cor­rect fen­es­tra­tion and solar shad­ing all can be taken into account when design­ing, and the end prod­uct you have is a much more energy effi­cient while being in tune with its sur­round­ings and Nature.

Then, why is bio­cli­matic archi­tec­ture is not well known?

Clothes mean much more to us that the need for ther­mal pro­tec­tion (started sim­ple and some­times lost to the con­cept of fash­ion), hous­ing means more than the need for a com­fort­able place to live, and may rep­re­sent, for exam­ple, a sta­tus sym­bol. As that sym­bol, it must adapt to the estab­lished stan­dards of sta­tus, some­times ignor­ing the envi­ron­ment (i.e. McMan­sions). Energy sav­ing and tak­ing advan­tage of the sun may not fit into these stan­dards, but hav­ing an expen­sive con­di­tion­ing sys­tem to over­heat in win­ter and over­cool in sum­mer every sin­gle space in the house (even if it is sel­dom used) may seem nec­es­sary. The cul­tural iner­tia of the over­done, is hard to stop, because right now its working.…and energy prices go up.

In despite of spo­radic aware­ness cam­paigns, pub­lic­ity takes pride every day to asso­ciate sav­ing with dis­com­fort and low sta­tus, and waste with easy liv­ing and pres­tige. And it gets the point across: a lot of peo­ple asso­ciate sav­ing energy to poverty. Sci­ence is dis­re­garded, global warm­ing has no real world con­se­quence, energy is wasted, peo­ple pay and pay with­out real­iz­ing it. Now our eco­nom­i­cal sys­tem needs us to con­sume as much as pos­si­ble so as to keep the wheel going.

The pow­ers that be are strong and they have built a legacy they want to con­tinue.  Big com­pa­nies (the legacy industries) refuse to inno­vate, lobby to keep the sta­tus quo–no energy sup­ply com­pa­nies is really inter­ested in new tech­nolo­gies for renew­able energy, just the new star­tups. How will they increase their ben­e­fits? How will they sell energy if you are mak­ing your own, or dont need as much because your new house works better. Air con­di­tion­ing man­u­fac­tur­ers aren’t inter­ested in alter­na­tive sys­tems that bust their tech­nol­ogy, nat­ural ven­ti­la­tion does not make money.

Archi­tects and builders don’t worry as far as their busi­ness goes well, and the con­sumer, with no infor­ma­tion on the topic, can­not demand alter­na­tive prod­ucts he does not know, ever won­der why there is no elec­tric car on your streets or solar pan­els on your roof?  Why would the pow­ers that be want you to get energy for free when they can charge for it?

Slowly, new pro­grams, smart com­pa­nies, eco cit­i­zens are becom­ing aware of the energy waste prob­lem, and things are babystep­ping forward–promoting research on the topic and gen­er­at­ing new leg­is­la­tion and stan­dards. For exam­ple, some­thing as sim­ple as good insu­la­tion in build­ings to keep heat inside is a topic for leg­is­la­tion of increas­ing impor­tance. And in a lot of coun­tries insti­tu­tions (USGBC.org) are appear­ing to per­form research and spread bio­cli­matic knowl­edge among archi­tects and builders (like CIEMAT in Spain). Hun­dreds of books have been writ­ten on the topic, and hun­dreds of projects related some how to bio­cli­matic archi­tec­ture have been imple­mented around the world, and slowly it takes hold.

One of the most important leaders of sustainable architecture is Norman Foster, who is one of the most respected architectural professionals in the world. With his ambitious goals in high tech architecture, he gave Great Britain and the entire world numerous architectural wonders.

                                 

 

media and references:

http://bioclimaticx.com/bioclimatic-architecture1/

http://www.concept-bio.eu/bioclimatic-architecture-buildings.php

http://www.cres.gr/kape/energeia_politis/energeia_politis_bioclimatic_eng.htm

http://www.arch.mcgill.ca/prof/sijpkes/arch304/winter2001/sharve6/passive_solar/

http://www.colorcoat-online.com/blog/index.php/2011/03/norman-fosters-city-of-the-future-sustainable-zero-waste-and-car-free/

Mixology

Mixology

Mixology is the art, skill, science perhaps, of mixing alcoholic drink and turning them into delicious cocktails.  The word is a modern and more sophisticated way of referring to bar tendering. It started thank to the curiosity of people, of experimentation and today remains the same, maybe with some other cool gadgets and Scientifics, but the essence stays unchanged. Many books have been written on this art, and here you will find some drink recipes and some tips for being a good Bar Chef.

Equestrianism

My favourite hobby is horse riding, undoubtedly. I have always had a special connection to these animals that I find not only beautiful but astonishing.

A horse is the projection of peoples’ dreams about themselves – strong, powerful, beautiful – and it has the capability of giving us escape from our mundane existence. Pam Brown

The horse has played an important role throughout human history all over the world, horses have been used in wars and in peaceful moments. It is not easy to affirm the exact date horses were domesticated and when they were first ridden; it seems that horses first were ridden approximately 4500 BC. Nevertheless it seems evident that horses were ridden long before they were driven.

What is clear is that horse riding is a hobby which is enjoyed by all ages. Most people start horse riding when young,but there are many people who take up horse riding for the first time later in life.

Horse riding (British English) or Equestrianism (from Latin equester, equestr-, horseman, horse)  refers to the skill of riding or driving horses. This description includes the use of horses for working purposes or competitive sport, not forgetting that horses are also used to improve human health and emotional development.

New Zealand history

There are many historical aconteciments in New Zealand which are the most important happenings for the development of the Australian country.

The Wild Bunch

The Wild Bunch is considered one of the best Westerns of all time, with a cast of an unquestionable strength. This unforgettable adventure of big general shots and fast action definitely deserves to stay in any films compendium. It stars William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O’Brien, Warren Oates, Ben Johnson and Jaime Sánchez. According to Vincent Canby, he called the film “very beautiful and the first truly interesting American-made Western in years. It’s also so full of violence –of an intensity that can hardly be supported by the story – that it’s going to prompt a lot of people who do not know the real effect of movie violence (as I do not) to write automatic condemnations of it.”

William Holden as Pike Bishop

 

Ernest Borgnine as Dutch Engstrom

 

Robert Ryan as Deke Thornton

Edmond O’Brien as Freddie Sykes

Ben Johnson as Tector Gorch/Warren Oates as Lyle Gorch

Jaime Sánchez as Angel

 

Director Sam Peckinpah opens the film with a group of children who are throwing ants over scorpions and setting fire to the nest, while some robbers disguised as U.S. soldiers arrive at the city. They want to make one last hold-up at the bank before retiring with the booty. When they leave the bank, it occurs a shooting during an anti-alcohol demonstration, among the gang and an unscrupulous bounty hunters (led by Deke Thornton, Pike’s former partner), causing the death of many innocents. Once the gang manages to escape, they realize that the hold-up has gone wrong when they find that there is no money in the sacks. Despite this, they must continue their flight towards a Mexico in war between the army of Mapache and Pancho Villa’s men.

Sam Peckinpah, author of such iconic films like Straw Dogs or The Getaway, made ​​an impressive modern Western about a gang of aging outlaws that look for their site in a new West.

When almost all formulas of Western were used up, Sam uses the genre applying the formula by which characterizes his works: the violence. In this way, anyone could think that The Wild Bunch is a movie out of date.

Warner Bros accepted to produce The Wild Brunch in order to beat Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (George Roy Hill, 1969) to the theaters.

Thanks to this film, it is occurred a substantial change in the great western genre; the films before this were recreations of historical fact or mere adventures more or less likely, but in The Wild Bunch characters have a past, they have conflicts with law, they are able to show as much aggressiveness as solidarity or friendship: they are, in short, humans.

Wonderfully filmed, with an unforgettable soundtrack, The Wild Bunch is a heart-rending film about honor and camaraderie. There are many extraordinary scenes that remain in history like the final walk of Pike Bishop, Dutch Engstrom, Lyle and Tector Gorch Gorch towards the end of their destiny. It is advisable to see it in original version with subtitles because in this film characters speak both English and Spanish.

References:

Abuín, A., 2010. Sam Peckinpah: “Grupo salvaje”. 12/01/2010. Available at: http://www.blogdecine.com/cine-clasico/sam-peckinpah-grupo-salvaje [Accessed December 11, 2012].

Argüelles, M., 2010. Grupo salvaje (The wild bunch). Sam Peckinpah, EUA, 1969. 01/02/2010. Available at: http://www.elespectadorimaginario.com/pages/febrero-2010/criticas/grupo-salvaje.php [Accessed December 11, 2012].

Blanco Rodríguez, D., 2012. Far West: GRUPO SALVAJE (1969). 14/10/2012. Available at: http://theendfarwest.blogspot.com.es/2012/10/grupo-salvaje-1969-de-sam-peckinpah.html [Accessed December 11, 2012].

MrSambo, 2012. Crítica: GRUPO SALVAJE (1969). 06/08/2012. Available at: http://cinemelodic.blogspot.com.es/2012/08/critica-grupo-salvaje-1969-parte-14.html [Accessed December 11, 2012].

Márquez, J., 2012. “Grupo salvaje”, la desesperanzadora obra maestra de Peckinpah. 28/02/2012. Available at: http://www.ecartelera.com/noticias/10102/grupo-salvaje-desesperazandora-obra-maestra-peckinpah/ [Accessed December 11, 2012].

Schneider, S.J., 2003. 1001 películas que hay que ver antes de morir S. J. Schneider, ed., London: Cassell Illustrated.

Torres, A.M., 2006. Cine mundial, Madrid: Espasa.

Various, 2012a. Grupo Salvaje. Available at: http://www.fotogramas.es/Peliculas/Grupo-salvaje [Accessed December 11, 2012].

Various, 2012b. Grupo salvaje (1969). Available at: http://www.filmaffinity.com/es/film256070.html [Accessed December 11, 2012].

Various, 2012c. The Wild Bunch. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wild_Bunch [Accessed December 11, 2012].

God Save The Village Green

Only a few days ago it was 44 years since The Kinks published in 1968 The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society. The album, believe it or not, was not a succesful record as it did not even get to appear in the UK charts and only sold around 100,000 copies. However, there is a time and a place for everything and the audience consider now this album one of the best (if not the best) the band has ever made and have tried to “understand” its commercial failure stating that the record was out of its time.

Queen

Queen is a British rock band formed in 1971 in London, by the guitarist Brian May, the singer Freddie Mercury, the drummer Roger Taylor and the bassist John Deacon.

This band was very successful, first in United Kingdom, with albums such as “SheerHeart Attack” and “A Night at the Opera”, but later on, that last album attracted attention internationally and as a result, they reached the point of putting the band in first line of the music scene. In 1980 Queen made big impact in the United States, with many successful collections.

Queen is consider to be the first music band doing from their concerts a great and very eye-catching shows, using bomb of smoke, flash pots, mobile lights and the main component, Freddie Mercury’s charisma.

With more than 300 million of CD sold, Queen, is one of the most successful groups of all time. Their album called “Greatest Hits” may be still being the album that most sold in the United Kingdom.

*The Origin

Everything started in 1968 when Brian May and Tim Staffel, two students form the Imperial Collage, created a band called “Smile”.  Roger Taylor joined the group as the drummer.  In 1970, Tim Staffel left the group and Farrokh Bomi Bulsara, better known as Freddie Mercury, joined Brian’s and Roger’s group. They also changed the band’s name from “Smile” to “Queen”. During their first concerts they had several bassists, until John Deacon, joined Queen one year later. And with those four names it was completed the most important British rock band of the history.

*The members of the group:

Brian May:

He was born in 19^th July, in 1947 in London. He is a musician and astrophysicist. He is known worldwide for being guitarist, composer, vocalist and sometimes keyboarder of the British band Queen.

He composed many of the big successes of Queen. He uses an electric guitar made by him and called “Red Special”.  When he was 16, he took the decision of chancing his guitar because with the one he had, he couldn’t play well the songs he listened on the radio and he tried to emulate. But as in those times, he didn’t have enough money to buy one, he decided to make it one with his father’s help who was electrical engineer.

Despite that, Brian continued looking for a characteristic sound and after some experiments he found out that playing the guitar with a coin of six penny, he was able to get a pure and clean sound. Consequently, that was the technique he used in albums and concerts of Queen. As I already said he was member of the group “Smile” before being a member of Queen. And although Freddie Mercury died in 1991, the other members on the group, including Brian May, worked in the project post-Queen and later on, he worked as soloist. He is considered one of the greatest and most original guitarists in history.

Roger Meddows-Taylor:

He was born in 26^th July, in 1949 in Kings Lynn Norfolk (United Kingdom). He was the drummer of Queen and is well-known and outstanding musician of the rock history. Some songs as soloist, he had acted as guitarist and vocalist.

In the band sang and record choirs, as well as, wrote famous songs of Queen, such as, “Sheer Heart Attack“, “I’m In Love With My Car“, “Innuendo“, “Radio Ga Ga“, “A Kind of Magic” and “Breakthru“.

But Roger Taylor, joined his first band in 1965, called “Johnny Quale and The Reaction”. When the singer of the group who was Johnny Quale left the group, Roger became the new singer and the band changed the name to “The Reaction”, which lasted until July of the year 1968. That year he moved to London Hospital Medical School of London, where he started to study odontology. But later, he left his studies in order to study biology in the North London Polytechnic.

As Brian May, he also was member of the group “Smile” until 1970 and he was the one who introduced Freddie Mercury to Brian May. After being member of Queen in which, he was a very influent person when taking artistic and businesses decisions, he started his soloist career.

 

Freddie Mercury:  http://www.freddiemercury.com/

Farrokh Bulsara, that was his real name, was born in 5^th September in 1946 in Zanzibar isle. But after he was born, his parents moved to Bombay. His father, Bomi, was official of the British Supreme Court. In 1954, he went to study to St. Peter School in Panchagani, (about 80 kilometers from Bombay). That was where his friends started to call Freddie, name that his family also adopted.

Freddie Mercury although stand out as athlete and he liked playing cricket, table tennis, hockey and to box, his real passion was art. He loved music and he used to spend hours listening old Cd-s and singing.

The headmaster of the school son found out his quality and convinced his parents to sign up in music classes. Freddie Mercury took part in the choir of the school and learnt to play the piano. In 1958, with other four friends, he formed a band of Rock’n’ Roll, “The Hectics”, where Freddie Mercury played the piano.

In 1962 Freddie Mercury when finished the school, he went back to Zanzibar, but in 1964, he had to immigrate to England because of the prewar situation that there was in the country. There he wanted to study art and he started a course at university.

Freddie Mercury was very friend of Tim Stafell, who with Brian May and Roger Taylor formed a music group called “Smile”. And when Tim Stafell left the group the other members of the group called to Freddie in order to replace Tim. Freddie accepted and after, they change the name of the band to Queen.

As I already have written in 1971, John Deacon joined the band and like that was completed. Freddie Mercury designed the log of the group based on the zodiacs signs of the members of the group: two virgins because of his sign Virgo, two lions because of Roger and John that they are Leo and one crab because of Brian, he was Cancer.

He was the author of the first Queen’s song which reached the British Top “Seven Seas of Rhye”, the first big success of Queen “Killer Queen” and the author of the most famous song of the band “Bohemian Rhapsody”.

In 1983, as Freddie Mercury was able to sing every type of music, he worked with the Royal Opera House in one of Verdi’s work. There he met for the first time Montserrat Caballé, and was fascinated with her voice. And as a result, they worked together, they did a concert in Wembley and in 1987 Freddie Mercury traveled to Barcelona to work with her and like that, they made the song “Barcelona” which was the used for the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992.

In 1991, the 23 of November, he declared that he had AIDS, and the next day, he died in London.

John Deacon:

 He was born in the 19^th August in 1951 in Leicester (United Kingdom) he is a famous musician because of being bassist of Queen. He studied electronic and mathematics in Chelsea College of London University and that is why he had to leave his band formed when he was 14 called “The New Opposition” and later on called “Art”.

While he was studying in London, he found the advertisement of the extraordinary music band Queen, saying that they were looking for one bassist. John Deacon’s passion was the guitars but he was good playing the bass guitar. So, he took the decision of doing the audition, and the rest members of the Queen group Freddie Mercury, Brian May and Roger Taylor, were impressed by him. Consequently, in 1971, as I already have written, John Deacon joined the group.

He composed mythical song for the group, as “I want to break free”, “You’re My Best Friend,” ”Another One Bites The Dust”, etc. Furthermore, he also was the financial administrator of the band.

When Freddie Mercury died in 1991, he decided not to continue with his contribution for the group, although he took part in the concert which was done to pay tribute to Freddie Mercury in 1992 and he also collaborated in the creation of the CD “Made in Heaven” in 1995, composed the song “No One But You” of the Queen Rocks CD and he collaborated in more public events until 1995.

But in 1997, John decided to leave completely the group, and consequently, he was missed in the production of the musical “We Will Rock You” and in the new group’s formation “Queen + PR”.

*Queen’s music career

In 1973 they recorded they first album “Queen”. The songs mixed the religiosity of Freddie Mercury and the typical rock in pure form.

While they were in tour as openers of the group “Moot the Hoople”, they recorded their second LP “Queen II”. They begin a tour form United Kingdom and they did their first tour to United States but also as openers of the same group, “Moot the Hoople”.

After that tour, they recorded “Sheer Heart Attack” in 1974 that resulted to be a huge success worldwide.

In 1975 Queen started his first tour in United States in solitary, and they had to do two shows per day because of the success they received. And in April they began a tour in Japan where they were received by thousands of fans.

In the same year, the launched the single “Bohemiam Rhapsody” which became a big success, because it was number one during nine weeks. “When A Night At The Opera” was on market it became rapidly in a success, giving them their first platinum CD.

In 1976 and until Freddie Mercury died, they recorded a lot of albums that most of them resulted to be a big success worldwide. To pay a tribute to Freddie Mercury, the rest of the band, launched two themes “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “These are the Day of our Lives”. The money they gained with them was for an organization for the fight against AIDS.

In 1992, the 20^th April, also to pay a tribute to Mercury, they made a concert in Wembley, London, and the 72.000 tickets were sold in 6 hours, and it wasn’t known who was going to performed.

In 1995, after 4 years working, they launched the last work with Freddie Mercury, “Made in Heaven”. At the end of this year, the made the last album of the band “Ultimate Queen”, a luxury box with the 20 CD s of Queen. Few months later, they edited they last CD, “Queen Rocks” with a song dedicated to Freddie Mercury “No One but you (Only the Good Die young)”.

*Queen’s bests songs (according to “Rolling Stones” readers)

. Bohemian rhapsody (form the album “A night at the opera”, 1975).

. Don’t stop me now (from the album Jazz, 1978).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgzGwKwLmgM

. The show must go on (from the album “Innuendo”, 1991).

. Innuendo (from the album “Innuendo”, 1991).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sM2sGC9Xuc

. Under pressure (form the album “Hot space”, 1982).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a01QQZyl-_I

.  I want to break free (form the album “The works”, 1984).

. Killer queen (from the album “Sheer heart attack”, 1974).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAf2S6ij2gk

. Who wants to live forever (form the album “A kind of magic”, de 1986)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Jtpf8N5IDE

. Great King Rat (from the album “Queen”, 1973).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2ZxV7wul8A

. Another one bites the dust (form the album “The game”, 1980).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY0WxgSXdEE

But there are more successful songs such as:

.We will rock you

. We are the champions

You have all the albums here  

*If you are interested in more information you can find it here:

http://www.queenonline.com/

http://www.lastfm.es/music/

http://www.rockmusic.org/queen/historia.htm

*Bibliography:

http://www.todomusica.org/queen/

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Meddows-Taylor

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_May

http://www.todomusica.org/freddie_mercury/

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddie_Mercury

http://www.lastfm.es/music/John+Deacon

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Deacon

http://rollingstone.es/noticias/view/las-mejores-canciones-de-queen-segun-los-lectores-de-rolling-stone

James Bond: 50th anniversary

It has been 50 years since the first James Bond film was released. The franchise is one the most successful ones in history and its movies have been enjoyed by several generations. But few people know how it all started and how unexpected its success was.

Ian Fleming published his first book, Casino Royale, in 1953, the name for its main character was taken from the author of an ornithology book Fleming had when he was writing his novel in his villa in Jamaica. Ian Fleming was a naval intelligence officer during the Second World War. He never saw action, but he was involved in the planning for operation Mincemeat and operation Golden Eye.  He later borrowed this name and used it to name his villa in Jamaica.

Ian Fleming wrote 12 novels, his novels were a success, and in 1961 he sold the filming rights to Harry Saltzman. Harry along with producer Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli established EON productions and started producing their first film: Dr. No.

The producers chose Sean Connery for the part of James Bond, however nor the studios nor Ian Fleming liked Connery. Fleming said about Sean “I’m looking for Commander Bond and not an overgrown stunt-man,” adding that Connery was an unrefined brute. However Terrence Young, director of Dr. No mentored Sean and when the movie was released Ian Fleming and the sudios were very impressed. The movie was an immediate success, so Sean Connery starred in another four James Bond movies. However, by the fourth movie conflicts between Sean and producer Harry Saltzman arouse. Sean left in 1967 and the producers started the search for a new James Bond.

The next Bond was George Lazenby, who got the part by sneaking in the producer’s office and asking them if they were looking for a new James Bond. When asked about his previous experience he lied them and said he had worked in Russia, Hong Kong, Germany… Lazenby went to the audition and passed with flying colours even though he was not a professional actor.

After the release of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service he got drunk on success and started binge drinking, smoking and partying heavily until some friends convinced him to join the hippie movement, which he did. After Lazenby left because James Bond was about war and he was a pacifist, the producers begged Sean to come back. Sean accepted to star in one more James Bond film.

In 1973 Roger Moore became the new James Bond. He is regarded as the best James Bond and he is also the one that has starred in more films. He appeared in 7 films from 1973 to 1985. He did very well at first, he even beat the James Bond movie Sean Connery did with other producers in 1983. However in his last movies Bond was starting to look like a caricature of himself.

In 1987 Timothy Dalton starred in The Living Daylights in which the Bond character goes back to its roots and appears more violent. The public did not like this new Bond; they preferred Roger Moore’s charming and witty James Bond. Dalton appeared in another movie in 1989 but as it happened with the first one, it wasn’t a big success.

With the end of the Cold War people thought that James Bond will disappear, and it nearly did. From 1989 to 1995 there were no James Bond movies. However in 1995 Pierce Brosnan starred in GoldenEye which was a success. He made 3 more movies after that and all of them were praised by movie critics.

Pierce Brosnan retired in 2002 and in 2006 a new James Bond was announced: Daniel Craig. The main issue the public had with Daniel Craig was that he was blonde. There was even a boycott campaign against the movie. In spite of this his first movie Casino Royale was a success as well as his last two movies Quantum of Solace and Skyfall.

James Bond has become a global phenomenon and it influences industries like the automotive and clothing industry. At the beginning its success was not clear and the franchise has had some crisis moments, nevertheless after 50 years James Bond movies are more popular than ever.

References:

• JAMES BOND. (2012). Retrieved December 12, 2012, from http://www.ianfleming.com/james-bond-2/
  
• Ian Fleming. (2012). Retrieved December 12, 2012, from http://www.ianfleming.com/ian-fleming/
• Turner-Dave, K. (2012). A brief history: 50 years of James Bond films. 26 October 2012. Retrieved December 12, 2012, from http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/10/26/a-brief-history-of-50-years-of-james-bond-films/

Free topic post: “Trikitixa, a closer look”

I sincerely believe that music grants a deep sense of fullfillment, one that improves life to limitless extents. This, though, is no wonder, since I am a musician myself -it would be rather counter-productive to go against the guild, dont you think?-. My most cherished instrument -of the few I own- is called “trikitixa”, a diathonic accordion typicial of the basque country, whose characteristic sound you must have surely heard. My intention with this post is to enlighten the reader with some deeper understanding of the instrument itself, the way it works, and some personal impressions.

Let us start with some history: The trikitixa is actually a variation of the diathonic button accordion, which has its roots in italy (incidentally, the main manufacturers are italian). Its “Diathonic” nature makes each an incredibly complicated product of luthiery, and thus they are quite costly, but, on the ther hand, if properly taken care of, they can outlast their owners. Because of this, it is not infrequent for the most veteran (and succesful) players to sport real vintages, antique models handed down from generation to generation in their families.

Here are some of the best trikitilaris of the past century, with models of the time.
Image taken from: http://www.absolutbilbao.com/festival-internacional-de-trikitixa-de-getxo/ (accessed: 19.20 13/12/2012)

The diathonic accordion was introduced in the late 19th century by french and italian sailors and/or railway workers, in a time its use was extending all over europe. The trikitixa was developed as the originals suffered some small modifications in tone and bass-notes (and later on the 20th century, also by adding 4 altered notes). It consists of two keyboards and a bellow; the one for the right hand bears individual sounds and the one in the left, chords in different octaves. The sounds are made when the air (either stored in the bellow or from the outside) is made to go through dual windpipes each containing a thin metal sheet, which are sealed in one side so as to isolate notes. These windpipes are covered by a plug connected to its corresponding button through a small lever, thus allowing to play one note at a time, or any combination wanted (so long as the harmonics allow it).

Description of each section with complementary images here.

Traditionally, it has been assotiated with folk music from the basque country, being present in most of the traditional song types (specially “fandango”, “arin-arin”, and “kopla”), and frequently played accompanied by a “pandero” (a hand-percutted frame-drum), though from the late seventies onwards it has been increasingly paired with unorthodox instruments so as to include it in many other genres (pop, rock, jazz, and so on). Here are some examples of the “old” and the “modern” songs:

“Odolaren boza” – Traditional march.

“Kalanbreak” – Pop-rock song by Gozategi.

Personally, I think that it is a complicate instrument to play. It is an acquired taste, one that requires constant practice lest the player get rusty and the fingers sloppy, and there have been cases of people quitting out of sheer frustration. Nevetheless, once it gets to you, it is enormously satisfactory to play it, because of the challenge it suposses. I’ve been playing it for 12 years already, and I still have vast amounts to learn, so that should give you a pretty accurate idea of how tough it is.

And that’s it. I hope you enjoyed it.

Media and references:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5mvcCZCTx8
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQZGVndHwUU
• http://www.trikitixa.net/
• http://www.absolutbilbao.com/festival-internacional-de-trikitixa-de-getxo/ (accessed: 19.20 13/12/2012)

The Oscars

Worldwide known the Academy Awards, commonly called The Oscars, are the “paradise” of cinema industry. Hosted annually they decided what film has been chosen because of its quality and impact as the Best Film of the year. On this post, we will try to make a brief summary of what Oscars entailed according to their history, ceremony, curiosities and last edition when The Artist scooped five awards. Next year, the 85th Academy Awards are expected to be amazing, but first will want to know that…

According to the history of the Academy Awards, it must be said that the first ceremony was holdin Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel on May 16 of 1929, which great expectations amongst cinema lovers. Next year it was broadcasted into radio and from then on it has been gaining more and more relevance around the artistic world. The 16^th edition was hold in the Grauman’s Chines Theatre in Hollywood and, currently, it is presented from the worldwide known Dolby Theatre, where every year the stars wear their magnificent clothes in order to flashing out audience. First televised ceremony was celebrated in 1953 and it became an international televised event in 1969.

The Oscar actually is a knight standing on a reel of film gripping a crusader’s sword. That iconic statuette has had different heights and weighs and currently is made by 24 carat gold. Numerous are the artist that has won this Award that praise anyone into cinema’s iconic place: Hollywood.

The ceremony which is televised in February and March (just six weeks after the announcement of nominees) reach global attention and is one of the most commented events during the year. As I have already said, the Oscars Ceremony is the best occasion for all the dressmakers to make the world see their designs. In fact, Oscars’ red carpet is sometimes more commented than the awards. Furthermore, millions of viewers from every corner of the world have the chance to watch live performances of the “best original song” nominees and spectacle is always ensured in this show!

BILBOKO BITXIKERIAK

Artikulu honetan, nire helburu esanguratsuena izango da Bilborengan dudan maitasun fidela adieraztea.   Horregatik, Bilboko hiriak  berezko dituen gauzarik berezienak, miresgarrienak eta interesgarrienak azalduko dira, narrazioan zehar.

Bilbon betidanik bizi izan naizenez eta oso gogoko dudanez, ohituretan eta bere esentzia osatzen duten elementuetan oinarritu nahi dut, sentimendu zoragarriak sortararazteko irakurleengan.

Hori dela eta, lehen esan dudan bezala Bilboko izaera osaturiko osagaiak aipatuko ditut xehetasun handiz aurkeztuz, nire sentsazio bera lortu dezaten, eta era berean, hiriaren bitxikeriak ezagutu eta haiengandik ikasi dezaten.

Berezko terminologia gaztelaniaz dagoenez gero, ondo deritzot hizkuntza horretan uztea, betiere azalpena euskaraz egonda.

Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon was born on August the 15^th 1769 at Ajaccio former Corsica, Italy. He had four brothers called Jose, Lucien, Luis and Geronimo and three sisters called Elisa, Paulina and Carolina. His father Carlos Maria Bonaparte a lawyer and his mother was Maria Leticia Ramolino and they came from a wealthy and noble family. Napoleon got into a good school at the military academy at Brienne in 1779. Later, in 1784 he enrolled in the École Royale Militaire where he graduated in 1 year as second lieutenant in the artillery instead of 3.

He spent the next 8 years in Corsica, where he played an important role politically and military wise. Initially, he supported his father´s former patron the Corsican rebel Pasquale Paoli. However, when the civil war started in 1793, Napoleon opposed him. By December of 1793, Napoleon Bonaparte became hero of Toulon. A port on the south coast of France which had the most advanced defenses in Europe. Napoleon was chosen by General Carteaux who´s artillery was wounded and had to leave in September. Their aim was to take over the port to secure the nation. He showed great skill in positioning and increasing resources by taking key areas to weaken the British´s grasp on Toulon. The port fell on December 19^th 1793 and Napoleon Bonaparte took credit for it because he played a major role. He was therefore promoted to Brigaider General and given the command of Italy´s artillery army. Shortly after the revolution Napoleon was arrested for treason.

In 1795 he became a hero again when he fought against the revolutionary forces to defend the government. Napoleon was promoted to high military office and became respected. He married Josephine de Beauharnais. When France was attacked by Austria in 1796, Napoleon was given command of the Italian army who won various victories against the Austrians. In 1979 Napoleon returned as a hero and he had a profile of a politically independent man.

Napoleon Bonaparte left to carry out the Egyptian campaign to look for new victories in May of 1798.  In this year, the French Revolutionary War was at a pause with their enemies but Britain was still at war.  The French wanted to secure their position and beat the British but their royal navy was too powerful. This is the reason why he wanted to carry out the Egyptian campaign, because France would get a hold of the Eastern Mediterranean and be a key factor to attack Britain in India. Napoleon took over Malta first with a fleet and an army of over 250 transports and 13 ships.

Napoleon arrived to Egypt with 40,000 French, claiming he was there to defend the Islam but they didn’t believe him. He had also brought with him an army of civilian scientists who were meant to create the institute of Egypt in Cairo. Some historians believe that Egyptology really began at that moment.

The rulers of Egypt, the military Mameluke weren’t happy either and revolts began.  On July 21^st the French won yet another victory at the Battle of the Pyramids and took over Cairo. Napoleon placed a new government which ended feudalism and imported French structures.

His dreams of taking the east crumbled when he lost the Battle of the Nile on August the 1^st. British naval commander Nelson attacked by surprise in the evening while Napoleon´s French ships were resupplying at Aboukir Bay. Only two ships escaped, and consequently his position was weakened and he couldn´t take his army back to France. He later marched a small army into Syria and took over Jaffa where 3,000 prisoners were executed and surrounded Acre. Except plague ravaged the French and Napoleon was forced back to Egypt. He defeated Ottoman troops who used 20,000 British and Russian ships. He attacked before the cavalry, artillery and elites landed at Aboukir and beat them.

Bonaparte abandoned his army on August of 1799. Due to his great political skill he became consul in the year 1800. France was still at war and within a year won at the Battle of Marengo by the French General Desaix on June of 1800. He was elected consulate for life by the French in 1802.

The wars continued because they didn’t like revolutionary France and didn’t trust Napoleon. He forged new states in Europe such as the German Confederation and he placed his family and favorite’s in powerful positions.  On March 11^th 1810 he married his second wife Marie-Louise and over a year later his only legitimate child Napoleon II was born.

In 1812 Napoleon went to war with Russia, but he couldn’t feed all 400,000 soldiers the weather was terrible and the Russians refused to surrender.  Over 80,000 soldiers died, and he retreated humiliated. By 1813 the British had fought out of Spain and into France and now were reaching Paris. On March 30^th 1814, Paris surrendered without a fight to allied forces.  Napoleon stepped down as Emperor of France and was exiled to the Island of Elba.

In 1815 he returned to power, by attracting huge amounts of people when he secretly returned to France and reclaimed his Imperial Throne. After trying to take control once again, he was eventually defeated at the battle of Waterloo. The British forced him to exile again and died the 5^th of May 1821 at the age of 51. He was one of the greatest military leaders of history and established many government and legal reforms.

By: Akena Andonegui

Bibliography:

Napoleon Bonaparte Biography. (n.d.). Retrieved December 13, 2012, from http://www.essortment.com/napoleon-bonaparte-biography-20665.html

Napoleon Bonaparte Biography – life, family, children, name, history, school, information, born, college, marriage, time. (n.d.). Retrieved December 13, 2012, from http://www.notablebiographies.com/Mo-Ni/Napoleon-Bonaparte.html

Resultados de la Búsqueda de imágenes de Google de http://www.firstinpeace.com/wp-content/uploads/NapoleonBonaparte.jpg. (n.d.). Retrieved December 13, 2012

Resultados de la Búsqueda de imágenes de Google de https://twimg0-a.akamaihd.net/profile_images/500299796/napoleon_bonaparte_normal.jpg. (n.d.). Retrieved December 13, 2012

Wilde Robert. (n.d.). Napoleon Bonaparte – Biography of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte 3. Retrieved December 13, 2012, from http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/bonapartenapoleon/a/bionapoleon_3.htm

A really special lighthouse

The emblematic Tower of Hercules is not only the symbol of A Coruna (Galicia), the city where it is placed, but the oldest lighthouse of the world that is still working. Its beautiful facade, its story and the unique views that can be obtained from the top of the Tower, make it receive thousands of visitors every year. In addition, this lighthouse is also famous for having been declared World Heritage site.