Sincerely, Spain

First impressions of a country seen from the lens and eyes of an American.

Sincerely, Spain from Matthew Brown on Vimeo.

Things money can't buy

I find it hard to understand that, in the 21st century, a sick man may die in the heart of Africa, hundreds of miles away from any doctor.

But I find it even harder to understand that, in the 21st century, a sick man may die in the heart of California, with eight hospitals in his very neighborhood.

Link

Stationspleined again

I bet there's a little bunch of people somewhere around the world who would cast a grin if they were seeing this:


Ver mapa más grande

See ya at the #242, guys! Tot zo!

An unexpected visitor...

... suddenly appeared in my terrace.



Who was staring at whom?

Courage

'Cos some commercials are the best thing on TV:

Love it!

My guitar's gone PUNK!

It could not be called a guitar given it had not been a 6-string since the morning I found the first one, the thinnest of the strings, divided in two someday back in July. It had decided to give up. No more crying sad songs, no more screaming shivering bendings for it. It was the end for the long and thin piece of steel that hung loosely, making my guitar incomplete. So, coming around the guitars shop and getting a new string had become a must; a must for which I had found no time till today.



Once in the shop I realized that over the years I had just replaced the strings that got broken, so most of the strings were dark and tired, too old to bring the clear pitch I love hearing. I pulled out my walllet and bought a complete 6-string fresh set.

Later at home, I had some fun removing the old strings and replacing them for the new ones. As the tuning screws were loosened those old strings released their last cry, as a note that faded while the frequency went lower and lower. Until they became a dead thread, a piece of metal from which no sound could be heard ever again. Distant memories came briefly to my mind, memories of friends, of long gone years, of songs played and sung in distant places and distant times. Songs sung by those old and exhausted strings that had just silenced their voice one by one.



But the screws were spinning again and this time counter-clockwise, and a new voice was becoming more and more audible. A new note, clear as daylight, a new cry of rage and life, a new scream demanding the here and now. A new song that was just letting itself be heard for the very first time. Not only one, but two, three... up to six times, six new voices rising up. Now my guitar has six new, shiny, electric strings. My guitar is back. My guitar is young and sparklingly alive.

Yeah, my guitar has gone punk!

No tan largo... y cálido verano

Ahora que se han acabado las vacaciones y que septiembre nos tiene cogidos por do más duele, va este pedazo de vídeo y esta pedazo de canción para echar un último suspirito por los dulces días del largo y cálido verano.

Bienvenidos a la jungla, hermanos!

_____________

Now the holidays are over and September's painfully here, at least we have this awesome video & song to cast a last sigh for those sweet and gone summer days.

Welcome to the jungle, brothas & sistas!

What's in your bag?

The Internet is a real bottomless hole for overcurious people. Which I am, really am. So it happens way too often that I know when I sit with my laptop, but fail completely in predicting when I'll be shutting it down. But it's not my fault! What am I supposed to do when there are so many intriguing, amusing and totally useless sites to see your time wasted hour after hour? It's just too tempting!

And it's not only those countless hardcore freaky sites which devour my leisure (and not so leisure) time... Sometimes other perfectly serious, trusty sites hide dangerous traps awaiting for those poor visitors who just love wasting time and are unlucky enough to have their clicks reaching them. Wanna see an example? Keep reading, my skeptical friend!

Everybody knows Flickr, right? The famous site to have your pictures exposed, browsed and commented by other users. A must-be for digital photographers from amateurs to pros. Well, beware! Because those who devote long afternoons looking at the wonderful pics other luckier or more talented guys took, seriously risk falling in brain-sucking pools with the ability to automatically divert any focus on photography to pointless bullshit. Amazed? Ha!

My favourite one is called What's in my bag... being as simple as it name announces: just empty your bag, take a pic and explain what's behind every stupid little item that you carry around. Sounds foolish, huh? Actually it is... but now I cannot stop browsing more and more bags from Japan to Albacete, with their little mountains of scrambled shit tagged around. No matter soon or late, whenever I decide to go do something else I always see a colorful thumbnail from a (wtf?) extremely interesting cluster of stuff that cannot be just skipped! And instead of putting down the laptop lid it's clicking next what i do... I'm an addict!

Oh... er... yes, I'm also GUILTY.


Happy week, everyone!

I like turtles!

... Because sometimes the answer is so awesome that you just don't give a damn about the question.

Feliz fin de semana a tod@s! Fijne weekendje allemaal! Have a nice weekend!

Fijne koninginnedag allemaal!

Pic by Ben @ flickr

Today is Queensday in Holland, so I just hung my Dutch flag on my window and I'm going out to celebrate Queen Juliana's birthday. In my best oranje outfit, of course!

Tot zo!

______________________
UPDATE: A car has driven into the crowd that was waiting for the Dutch Royal Family parade in Apeldoorn, killing at last four people and leaving many injuries. The country is shocked and it's being heard that most of the Koninginnedag events are going to be cancelled. Indeed, a very sad way to spoil what was meant to be a happy day for everyone...

This is... Holland!

Some day in early November, 2008. I had just arrived in Groningen and was taking one of those first strolls you go for when you're a complete newcomer. One of those walks in which you're never completely sure if you wanted to get lost in the new city or it was just that you could'n find your way back. Whatever the case, my steps took me to the magnificent University of Groningen building. But the picture was not in the 'Academia Gebouw' but in front of it, instead. A guy, his car, countless balloons... and a problem!

I knew it had been a good idea to put my small Sony P8 in my coat's pocket!

_______________

Mi primer día en Gronin, a principios de noviembre del año pasado, y la imagen que me hizo ser consciente de dónde estaba: un tío, su coche y muchos globos por meter! Esto -no podía ser de otro modo- es Holanda.

Headline

So many headlines had to be written, printed, read...

...waiting to see this one.


Congratulations, everyone! One reason less to be ashamed.

We can

While I type this I’m sitting in a dark apartment in some cold small city in the north of The Netherlands. I’m typing this with the TV on and a politician on the screen. While I type this the man in the picture gives his inaugural speech. And it's while I type this I that look at him, and I cannot help wondering how long will it take him to fail us. He is probably no superhero, certainly he is neither a saint. And even if he were, the debts and the burdens that he has already compromised himself to pay back to those who helped -or maybe just didn't oppose- his way towards where he is today are already so upscaled and heavy that it can be sadly presumed that any river he might try to cross will have his chains sinking him down. His promises with him.

Promises are such a heavy load.

But if you look... not at him, but one meter, two meters, ten meters around him… If you look at the faces that follow him, at the eyes that stare, at the ears that listen, you’ll see something new. Not seen for long years. Yes, just another politician promising redemption… but damn it, if only for the hope and the illusion he sparks around him, he deserves the benefit of my doubt. And he has it.

Yes, we can. After all, we can.

Today it's tuesday, the third in this cold January. In Extremadura, an angler has caught a fish weighting over seven kilos. In Gronin I've finally recovered the internet connection. In Washington DC, Barack Hussein Obama has become the 44th president of the United States of America. Meanwhile, in Andrín the waves keep rolling from an ocean and up the sand, under the neverending lead-made clouds. It's still cold outside, Spring has yet to come...

Dedicated to you, Believers, for not giving up. Congrats, PS!

Een maand in Gronin

Aún recuerdo la sopa de tomate y cebolla y la quiche de parmesano y cebolla que comí en el V&D de Grote Markt en mi primer almuerzo aquí (yo solito, con millones de mariposas revoloteando en mi estómago). Mucha cebolla, sí, pero es que no tenía ni idea de qué ponía en la carta!!

Un mes ya en Gronin.

_________

Still remember the tomato and onion soup and the parmigiano and onion quiche I had for my first lunch (all alone, with millions of butterflies still flying inside my stomach) at the V&D at Grote Markt. Lots of onion, agreed, but the naked truth is that I had no clue of what the menu read!

Already a month in Gronin.

Interviewing a deity

My company is aware of the advantages of sharing knowledge, and so it has developed some tools to enable a better communication amongst its workers. One of those tools is the Company Weblog, consisting in a blog (actually a quite simple one, no frills) that runs on the internal servers and is accesible from every worker's computer within the company, including the offices in other countries. Most of the entries are about the world of search advertising, but sometimes it's used for other purposes. For example, every new colleague that's hired has to undergo a little, personal interview, which is posted in the weblog so everybody gets to know him/her. As every new worker, I had to submit my interview last week. I didn't want to be too serious, after all my life's too boring to have someone simply reading about it. Did I go too far with 'spicing' it?

Interview with Jesus [Friday, November 14. 2008]

He has been here for a couple of days. Here is the interview with Jesus.

Describe your life so far in a few lines (date of birth, study, where are you from, etc.)

I was born in Valencia –where the madarijnen in Albert Heijn come from- in 1978, so lately I just walk around asking people to be merciful enough to not remind me I’m (already) thirty (omg!) Soon after, my parents moved into a small, beautiful city in western Spain called Caceres, where I grew until I went to study psychology (!) to Salamanca. Since then I’ve been living and working in Madrid and Salamanca.

Where do you live now and what is your home situation? Do you have any pets?

I tell everyone I’m staying at the apartment in the old Stoopigstraat office, but my teammates know I’m actually sleeping under a bridge. It’s cosy, but slightly wet at nights…

Pets? Um, nope. So far. As far as I know. Do bedbugs count?

How did you find out about us? And what made you decide to come work for this company?

When I was in Salamanca I did an interview for another position; the guys there were too smart and hired R. instead (damn, I couldn’t fool them) but the director offered me to join the company as a consultant trainee. I thought it was a wonderful opportunity to learn from the best, plus I can borrow a company's bicycle as much as I want! Needless to say, this point made it an offer I couldn’t refuse! Then I was put in a plane and… here I am!

What is your job description?

I’m a SA trainee, which means that I’m starting to learn everything about it; J. and I. are in charge of my traineeship and B. has been teaching me some basics. Apart from that, my teammates were so kind to remind me it’s among my duties to assist them –I had no idea of this- so now I enjoy the honour of bringing them coffee, preparing their sandwiches, cleaning their screens and keyboards, fixing their bikes, carrying their bags at the supermarket, polishing their shoes, massaging their feet…

What do you think of the company and your new colleagues so far?

It’s just great to be among people who know everything about internet marketing! They’re nice and help me a lot every time I have to face perils like fighting the printer. I could meet lots of other colleagues during lunch as well, and everyone has been very kind to me, which is really nice when you’re coming alone from another country. If only they spoke an ‘understandable’ language! But I’m glad to know that, due to that successful course, by not later than January everybody will be speaking Spanish. Or maybe I should learn some Dutch myself, apart from Goedemorgen and Alsjeblieft – since that’s all my Dutch, my conversations in Nederlaands might be found slightly boring. J., I. and my teammates, along with C., B. and the SA course guys, C., C., I. and the people at HR have been very patient with me as well… Oh and I don’t want to miss the gente in Salamanca! It’s very nice to have the chance to work with you all… Dank je wel!

What are your hobbies?

I love photography, reading, travelling, going to the cinema, cooking, making noise with a guitar –cannot call that ‘play’. Also, computers, basketball, a good dinner with friends… Oh, enough?

What kind of music do you like?

I like all kinds of music, but what I truly love are those old rock songs nobody can help humming when they’re played in the radio.

What is your favorite movie?

Uh… millions! I love Tarantino: Pulp Fiction is a masterpiece. And I’ll just shoot anybody who says the opposite.

What was the last book you read?

Oh, that’s an easy one: the company's employee handbook! Besides that one, ‘The Curious Incident with the Dog in the Night-time’. I worked with autistic children and it’s amazing how this writer gets in their shoes…

What is your favorite meal? Do you cook this yourself?

In Salamanca I love the tapas from Van Dyck street (a must-go, buddies!), but when I get into the kitchen I’m a decent meat pie maker (granny’s special recipe). Sadly, paella and Spanish tortilla are not amongst my specialties, which makes me a real shame of a spaniard. Oh, when in Rome do what the Romans do… and in the Netherlands I love your pannekoeken. Anyone needs companion to go to have some? Don’t say it twice: I’m your man.

If your name were to be given to an IKEA product, what should it be?

The meatballs, beyond any doubt. The free refills at the soda fountains deserve it, too. I can already picture it: “Jesus’ Soda Fountain”. Doesn’t it sound… miraculous?

After having met a few Dutch people, what do you think is typical of us?

I had my Erasmus some years ago in Leiden, which already gave me a vision of the Dutch phenomenon. Let’s just say that I cannot do but admire your ability to drive your bike through a swarm of furious cyclists without crashing. Absolutely remarkable!

Actually, the truth is I love Holland. Those who have already had lunch with me have heard me saying it a million times at least.

Is there anything else we as your colleagues should know about you? Are you grumpy in the morning, for example?

And in the afternoon, and the evening. I’m the grumpiest man on Earth. Apart from that, I’m a very serious guy, though I cannot answer interviews like this in a way I don’t look stupid. Sorry…

What is your life motto?

Well, actually I don’t have a life motto, but if I had it’d be ‘To infinity… and beyond!’ Yeah, I know I should have chosen something from Shakespeare or Aristotle, but Buzz Lightyear said it clear as day: wherever you are, don’t stop yourself from going a step further. My last step brought me to Groningen… Leuk je te ontmoeten!

Posted by I. at 2008-11-14 14:55

It needs to be underlined that, when my colleagues read the title of the entry -that is, 'Interview with Jesus'- they all thought it was the other Jesus who had been interviewed. Sorry to dissapoint them, I'm no mesiah... yet.

Ik ben... GRONINGED!

Aún no acabo de creérmelo, aún parpadeo.

Aún me froto los ojos y cuando los abro... veo canales, bicicletas, suelos de ladrillo, panekoekken, frites met pindasaus, Hema, Albert Heijn, NS Spoorweg, halfwolle melk, duwen, trekken, alstublieft, lekker.

He vuelto a Holanda.

Adiós, Salamanca... o mejor, hasta luego, porque volveré a verte en primavera. Pero durante el frío no me busquéis entre piedras doradas; buscadme aquí, junto a la Martinitoren.

Tot ziens!

__________________________________

Cannot believe it yet, my eyes still blinking.

Yet I rub my eyes and when I open them... I see bikes, brick pavement, panekoekken, frites met pindasaus, Hema, Albert Heijn, NS Spoorweg, halfwolle melk, duwen, trekken, alstublieft, lekker.

I'm back in The Netherlands.

Goodbye, Salamanca... or a 'catch ya later' might do much better as I'll be back into you by springtime. But as cold remains don't try to find me amongst the golden sandstone; find me here, by the Martinitoren.

Tot ziens!

At my signal, unleash THE FRISKY PARTY 2008

Something's happening in Brussels on November the 1st...




And the voice's spreading!

ONCE upon a time in the movies

Tonite I went to the cinema: there's a two-weeks programme of movies in original version sponsored by the Escuela Oficial de Idiomas -Official Languages School- and the Van Dyck theaters, which are the place to go to watch indie films in Salamanca. I bought a 5-movie ticket at the beginning of the programme and I had to choose which ones to watch and not. I don't really know why I chose the one playing tonight, maybe 'cos it's in English and I was beginning to get tired of feeling stupid while trying to catch isolated words in German or French. Anyways, I know I made the perfect choice.

'Once' is a delicious, simple story that contains all the beauty that can only be found in small, everyday stories. Featuring non professional actors, it's tale about loneliness, love, understanding, hope and how life can be so bright and crispy during a simple, intense moment is deeply touching. Everything beautifully surrounded by the songs the characters write and play at all times. Actually, the songs are an essential part of the movie: normally, music accompanies the dialogues in other movies; in 'Once' the action is stopped every now and then to let us listen to the characters singing the songs in their full lenght; songs that really tell the story.

As it usually happens with good movies, there's something in it that makes it special, something that's easy to feel but at the same time extremely difficult to explain. So, I won't try anymore; I'll just tell you that I've been completely unable to help spending the rest of the evening with my guitar. Wanna know why? Enjoy:

BTW, I'm not the only one who loves this song. Does it sound familiar to you? Well, it might be possible...

Gefeliciteerd, Mom!

XxXxX

Welcome home, Mrs. Hooker

Today I didn't have lunch at home... I went picnic by the river instead. And so did almost everyone here in Salamanca. The reason for such a sunday-ish activity like this happening on monday is clear and unique: to celebrate the return of the prostitutes. Ain't it a reason for joy?

It was in the XVIth century when the King Philip II -the one who ruled the Spanish empire at its height as a catholic enterprise- ordered the prostitutes should leave Salamanca during the holy lent so it'd be easier for the masculine population to avoid the sin of lust. It might not be widely known but Salamanca, due to the presence of its seven centuries old university, has always had a significant and lively 'red light district' fueled by an important population of students, soldiers and -of course- priests. These 'providers of affection' were kept on the other shore of the river Tormes until the period of lent was over. Then, on the first monday after easter, the prostitutes were allowed to cross back the river and the students, their best clients, accompained them on their trip on decorated boats, cheering at them and celebrating the day at the river banks with drinks and hornazo -a typical pie filled with boiled egg, ham and sausage.

Nowadays, the historic district where the prostitutes were settled has changed into a state-of-the-art, centrally situated area with recently restored apartments available for high rents and its former inhabitants and workers are not a part of the student life anymore... The times have changed so nobody's exiled to the other side of the river. But every year, on the first monday after easter, everyone in Salamanca buys a hornazo and walks down to the river banks to celebrate the Lunes de Aguas (monday of waters, literally translated) festivity. So, wanna join me for the picnic? Fancy a piece of hornazo? Our good friends the working girls are about to return! Hurrah!