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El Amante Bilingüe
''The Bilingual Lover'' () is a 1993 Spanish film, written and directed by Vicente Aranda and adapted from a novel by Juan Marsé. The film stars Imanol Arias, Ornella Muti and Loles León. The film is a grotesque drama, with some elements of comedy. Set in Barcelona in the 1980s, ''El Amante Bilingüe'' takes an ironic approach to Catalan linguistic policies, nationalism and eroticism with a pattern of double identity that was based on elements from the author's life. Plot Juan Marés (an anagram of the author's name) is a Catalan man from a humble background, the son of a frustrated zarzuela seamstress and an illusionist known as Fu-Ching. He grew up in Barcelona during the 1950s, dreaming of leaving his poverty behind. In December 1970, he meets his future wife at a photographic exhibit, when he involves himself with a group organizing a four-day hunger strike to protest the verdict of the 1969 show trials in Burgos. There he meets Norma Valenti, the only daughter of a wealthy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vicente Aranda
Vicente Aranda Ezquerra (; 9 November 1926 – 26 May 2015) was a Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer. Due to his refined and personal style, he was one of the most renowned Spanish filmmakers. He started as a founding member of the Barcelona School of Film and became known for bringing contemporary Spanish novels to life on the big screen. Aranda was also noted for exploring difficult social issues and variations on the theme of desire while using the codes of melodrama. Love as uncontrollable passion, eroticism and cruelty are constant themes in his filmography. The frank examination of sexuality is one of the trademarks of his work, as seen in his most internationally successful film: '' Amantes'' (1990) ''(Lovers)''. Early life Vicente Aranda Ezquerra was born in Barcelona on 9 November 1926.Vera, ''Vicente Aranda'', p. 13 He was the youngest son in a large and impoverished family who had emigrated from Aragón to Barcelona twenty years before he was bo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zarzuela
() is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular songs, as well as dance. The etymology of the name is uncertain, but some propose it may derive from the name of a royal hunting lodge, the Palace of Zarzuela, near Madrid, where that type of entertainment was allegedly first presented to the court. The palace in turn was named after the brambles () that grew there. There are two main forms of ''zarzuela'': Baroque ''zarzuela'' (), the earliest style, and Romantic ''zarzuela'' (). Romantic zarzuelas can be further divided into two main subgenres, ''género grande'' and '' género chico'', although other sub-divisions exist. ''Zarzuela'' spread to the Spanish dominions, and many Spanish-speaking countries – notably Cuba – developed their own traditions. ''Zarzuela'' is also a strong tradition in the Philippines, where it is also referred to in certain languages as . Other regional an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Els Segadors
"Els Segadors" (, ; "The Reapers") is the official national anthem of Catalonia, nationality and autonomous community of Spain. History The original song dates in the oral tradition to 1640, based on the events of June 1640 known as ''Corpus de Sang'' ("Corpus of Blood") during the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Spain, England, France and Austria, the event that started the Reapers' War or , also known as the Catalan Revolt or Catalan Revolution, where Catalans fought against the Count-Duke of Olivares, the chief minister of King Philip IV of Spain, and eventually led to an open war and the establishment of a Catalan Republic under French protection. The song describes the events, an uprising of peasants due to the large and burdensome presence of the Spanish Royal army in the Principality of Catalonia, as they were required to lodge and provision the troops, thus leading to a large tension and discomfort and the outbreak of episodes such as religious sacrileges, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War and thereafter ruled over Spain from 1939 to 1975, assuming the title ''Caudillo''. This period in Spanish history, from the Nationalist victory to Franco's death, is commonly known as Francoist Spain or as the Francoist dictatorship. Born in Ferrol, Spain, Ferrol, Galicia, into an upper-class military family, Franco served in the Spanish Army as a cadet in the Toledo Infantry Academy from 1907 to 1910. While serving in Spanish protectorate in Morocco, Morocco, he rose through the ranks to become a brigadier general in 1926 at age 33. Two years later, Franco became the director of the General Military Academy in Zaragoza. As a Conservatism, conservative and Monarchism, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Rambla, Barcelona
La Rambla () is considered the most well known street in central Barcelona. A tree-lined pedestrian street, it stretches for connecting the in its center with the Columbus Monument, Barcelona, Christopher Columbus Monument at Port Vell. La Rambla forms the boundary between the neighbourhoods of the to the east and the to the west. La Rambla can be crowded, especially during the height of the tourist season. It hosts a combination of eateries, shops, markets, and cultural institutions. The Spanish poet Federico García Lorca once said that La Rambla was "the only street in the world which I wish would never end." Orientation La Rambla can be considered a series of shorter streets, each differently named, hence the plural form (the original Catalan form; in Spanish language, Spanish it is ). The street is successively called: * – the site of the fountain * – the site of the former Jesuit University, whose only remainder is the Church of Bethlehem * (or ) – the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walden 7
Walden 7 is an apartment building designed by Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura and located in Sant Just Desvern near Barcelona, in Catalonia, Spain. It was built in 1975. Name The name of the building is inspired by B. F. Skinner's novel, ''Walden Two'', which depicts a utopian community and itself is a reference to Henry David Thoreau's novel ''Walden''. It is noted for its use of modules to create apartments and many public community spaces. Structure and usage The original project includes 446 residences. With a budget lower than the norm for subsidized housing at the time, Walden 7 was built in the area to the west of Barcelona. It was originally designed as one of five similar blocks. The building is composed of 18 towers which are displaced from their base, forming a curve and coming into contact with the neighbouring towers, described as a "vertical labyrinth with seven interconnecting interior courtyards." The area originally devoted to communal uses was reduced ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sant Just Desvern - Walden 7 (06)
Sant may refer to: People * Alfred Sant (born 1948), Maltese politician * Andrew Sant (born 1950), English-born Australian poet * David Sant (born 1968), Catalan director, actor and writer * Indira Sant (1914–2000), Indian poet * James Sant (1820–1916), British painter * Lorry Sant (1937–1995), Maltese politician Places * Sant State, a former princely salute state in Rewa Kantha, Gujarat, India * Sant, Övörkhangai, a district in Mongolia * Sant, Selenge, a district in Mongolia * Șanț, a commune in Bistriţa-Năsăud County, Romania * Șanț River, a tributary of the Trotuş River in Romania Religion * Sant (religion), in Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism, an enlightened human being, commonly translated as "Saint" * Sant Joan (other) Other * Sant (card game), an early name for the game of Piquet * Sant tree (''Acacia nilotica''), a tree species found in Africa * Teniente General Benjamín Matienzo International Airport, Argentina (ICAO code: SANT) S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shoe Fetishism
Shoe fetishism is the attribution of attractive sexual qualities to shoes or other footwear as a matter of sexual preference, or an alternative or complement to a relationship with a partner. It has also been known as retifism, after the French novelist Nicolas-Edme Rétif (1734–1806), also known as Rétif de la Bretonne, who wrote a novel about it (presumably based on his own penchants) called ''Fanchette's Foot'', which preference or penchant seems to have been if not "all the rage" at the time at least known to have been practiced or suffered by more than handsful of somewhat important individuals of that period (pre-Revolutionary France). Individuals with shoe fetishism can be erotically interested in women's and/or men's shoes. Almost any type of shoe can be fetishized, depending on the sexual connotation associated with the wearer, for example an entire area of gay subculture is devoted towards the fetishization of sneakers and other forms of athletic footwear. Anot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xarnego
Xarnego () in Catalan or charnego in Spanish is a pejorative or descriptive term used primarily in the 1950s–70s in Catalonia (Spain) to refer to economic migrants from other regions of Spain. In its modern usage, it refers to Catalans with recent heritage from Spanish-speaking parts of Spain. The word is used solely in the context of internal migration. As of 1999 it was estimated that over 60% of Catalans descended from 20th century migrations from other parts of Spain, and over 1.1 million Catalans are of Andalusian origin alone. Historical context Between 1950 and 1975 a second wave of a million and half immigrants arrived from other less developed parts of Spain, particularly Andalusia and Extremadura, where hunger and economic hardship was prevalent. These new immigrants represented 44% of the total growth of the Catalan population during this period.Ajeno i Cosp, 1993 This immigration resulted from the high demand for cheap labour resulting from the new economic policy of " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Accordion
Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mouthpiece), reed in a frame). The essential characteristic of the accordion is to combine in one instrument a melody section, also called the descant, diskant, usually on the right-hand keyboard, with an accompaniment or Basso continuo functionality on the left-hand. The musician normally plays the melody on buttons or keys on the right-hand side (referred to as the Musical keyboard, keyboard or sometimes the manual (music), ''manual''), and the accompaniment on Bass (sound), bass or pre-set Chord (music), chord buttons on the left-hand side. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist. The accordion belongs to the free-reed aerophone family. Other instruments in this family include the concertina, harmonica, and bandoneon. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ventriloquist
Ventriloquism or ventriloquy is an act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) speaks in such a way that it seems like their voice is coming from a different location, usually through a puppet known as a "dummy". The act of ventriloquism is ventriloquizing, and in English it is commonly called the ability to "throw" one's voice. History Origins Originally, ventriloquism was a religious practice. The name comes from the Latin for 'to speak from the belly': (belly) and (speak). The ancient Greeks called engastrimythos () or engastrimantis () a person (mostly women) who delivered oracles by this means. The noises produced by the stomach were thought to be the voices of the unliving, who took up residence in the stomach of the ventriloquist. The ventriloquist would then interpret the sounds, as they were thought to be able to speak to the dead, as well as foretell the future. One of the earliest recorded group of prophets to use this technique was the Pythia, the pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Generalitat
Generalitat (, literally in English 'Generality') is the name of two major medieval and early modern political institutions and their modern-day analogues in Kingdom of Spain. The ancient Principality of Catalonia and the Kingdom of Valencia were ruled by Generalitats. Today, Catalonia and The Valencian Community have systems of self-government called Generalitats, and are two of 17 autonomous communities of Spain The autonomous communities () are the first-level political divisions of Spain, administrative divisions of Spain, created in accordance with the Constitution of Spain, Spanish Constitution of 1978, with the aim of guaranteeing limited autonom .... The institution of the ''Generalitat'' dates back to the 13th century when the medieval courts of the ancient Principality of Catalonia and the Kingdom of Valencia respectively were created. The term originally referred to a delegation of members of the '' Corts'', who oversaw the implementation of the decisions of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
