Monday, March 22, 2004
Television in Madrid…
To show I’ve got my priorities straight, I’ll first report on Telenovelas being shown in Madrid while I was there. There does seem to be one channel that imports telenovelas from Latin America – Pedro El Escamoso, and the kiddie novela Complices al Rescate – must be the later part, since “Not-Belinda” was playing the twins – were showing on weekday afternoons. If one gets up very early on weekend mornings (or more likely in the case of some Madrileños, one stays up very late), you can catch “Mi Gorda Bella” which I believe has yet to be shown in the States. By some strange fluke, I did wake up early enough on a Sunday to catch part of an episode – it was cute enough from what I saw, and seems to be recycling the “Betty La Fea” idea, only this time with a fat suit. As much as I like this type of comedic novela, sometimes I wish they’d do a novela where the ugly ducking doesn’t turn into the swan the actress always was underneath her glasses and bad teeth, but just turned into your average duck like the rest of us. Other than that, I didn’t notice much in the way of telenovelas on TV in Madrid (though I think I did see Luz Maria listed in the television program guides in the papers). What did surprise me was that I got caught up in a Colombian comedy called “Mi Pequeña Mamá” – the premise was goofy, but sometimes the show was hysterically funny! It starred two BLF alumnae – Natalia Ramírez (Marcela) and Lorna Paz (Patricia) as sisters. I gathered they were a family of witches, as at the end of each episode, the family would gather in the attic (sort of a la Mork&Mindy) in more “witchy” outfits with their mama to talk over things – what clued me in is that their mother appeared to be about 10 years old – thus the comedy in “situation comedy” often came out of the dilemma of having to work around being an old witch mother to these two grown women, while in all intents and purposes she appeared to be a (somewhat strange) little girl to the human world. The most bizarre thing about the show is that I recognized the child actress – she played the daughter of José Ángel Llamas’ character in last year’s “La Venganza...”
As for programming created in Spain, I didn’t see much of what looked like telenovelas (though I did tend to avoid one that looked a bit like a Spanish Falcon Crest). They do seem to have a few modern urban situation comedies (in the style of “Friends” or “Frasier”) that seemed to be popular. I watched a little bit because there seemed to be a bit of contemporary flavor in the fashion, decor, dialogue, interaction – it was interesting to me. Of course, for all I know such programs could be giving me a pretty warped view of Spanish society. Back in 1980, two main exports of American television to Spain were “Eight is Enough” and “V” – it would be disconcerting to think that Spaniards would think of all Americans as a cross between the Bradford clan and alien lizard people!
Spanish television seems to do (or at least did) the costumed dramas (your “Masterpiece Theatre”-type productions) quite well too – I ended up watching a couple of hours of a series made in 1983 or 1984 I think – it starred someone who sort of looked like Geraldine Chaplin, but I don’t think it was her...Anyway, she played an aristrocratic woman who used her position to get information, hiding the fact that she sympathized with and worked “for the people” in the post “French revolution” era. I was really getting into it when the program ended, only to be continued the following week when I’d be gone...
Spanish television became quite prominent as soon as the train station bombings happened. In spite of the government’s reporting they were “practically sure” it was ETA within a few hours of the attacks, the news coverage was good, reporting government and political party response, as well as events, rescue efforts, public information, analysis, and public response to the crisis... There were at least 5 different stations in Madrid broadcasting news (in addition to CNN International). In some ways the news coverage seemed both more sensitive and less sensitive at the same time, compared to typical U.S. news coverage of crisis events. On the one hand, U.S. viewers aren’t accustomed to some of the visual images of death that seem to be shown on news outlets elsewhere (including in Spain). On the other hand, newscasters and reporters seemed to use fairly subdued tones and refrained from pushiness in their interviews... What with the sudden news barrage, I don’t know if the piece I saw being filmed the previous day ever showed – I had been at the Retiro (park) on Wednesday, and up at the huge memorial and statue on the east side of the boating lake (was that a memorial to Alfonso XII? I don’t remember), a TV crew from TeleMadrid was filming an interview – I never did figure out what it was about...
To show I’ve got my priorities straight, I’ll first report on Telenovelas being shown in Madrid while I was there. There does seem to be one channel that imports telenovelas from Latin America – Pedro El Escamoso, and the kiddie novela Complices al Rescate – must be the later part, since “Not-Belinda” was playing the twins – were showing on weekday afternoons. If one gets up very early on weekend mornings (or more likely in the case of some Madrileños, one stays up very late), you can catch “Mi Gorda Bella” which I believe has yet to be shown in the States. By some strange fluke, I did wake up early enough on a Sunday to catch part of an episode – it was cute enough from what I saw, and seems to be recycling the “Betty La Fea” idea, only this time with a fat suit. As much as I like this type of comedic novela, sometimes I wish they’d do a novela where the ugly ducking doesn’t turn into the swan the actress always was underneath her glasses and bad teeth, but just turned into your average duck like the rest of us. Other than that, I didn’t notice much in the way of telenovelas on TV in Madrid (though I think I did see Luz Maria listed in the television program guides in the papers). What did surprise me was that I got caught up in a Colombian comedy called “Mi Pequeña Mamá” – the premise was goofy, but sometimes the show was hysterically funny! It starred two BLF alumnae – Natalia Ramírez (Marcela) and Lorna Paz (Patricia) as sisters. I gathered they were a family of witches, as at the end of each episode, the family would gather in the attic (sort of a la Mork&Mindy) in more “witchy” outfits with their mama to talk over things – what clued me in is that their mother appeared to be about 10 years old – thus the comedy in “situation comedy” often came out of the dilemma of having to work around being an old witch mother to these two grown women, while in all intents and purposes she appeared to be a (somewhat strange) little girl to the human world. The most bizarre thing about the show is that I recognized the child actress – she played the daughter of José Ángel Llamas’ character in last year’s “La Venganza...”
As for programming created in Spain, I didn’t see much of what looked like telenovelas (though I did tend to avoid one that looked a bit like a Spanish Falcon Crest). They do seem to have a few modern urban situation comedies (in the style of “Friends” or “Frasier”) that seemed to be popular. I watched a little bit because there seemed to be a bit of contemporary flavor in the fashion, decor, dialogue, interaction – it was interesting to me. Of course, for all I know such programs could be giving me a pretty warped view of Spanish society. Back in 1980, two main exports of American television to Spain were “Eight is Enough” and “V” – it would be disconcerting to think that Spaniards would think of all Americans as a cross between the Bradford clan and alien lizard people!
Spanish television seems to do (or at least did) the costumed dramas (your “Masterpiece Theatre”-type productions) quite well too – I ended up watching a couple of hours of a series made in 1983 or 1984 I think – it starred someone who sort of looked like Geraldine Chaplin, but I don’t think it was her...Anyway, she played an aristrocratic woman who used her position to get information, hiding the fact that she sympathized with and worked “for the people” in the post “French revolution” era. I was really getting into it when the program ended, only to be continued the following week when I’d be gone...
Spanish television became quite prominent as soon as the train station bombings happened. In spite of the government’s reporting they were “practically sure” it was ETA within a few hours of the attacks, the news coverage was good, reporting government and political party response, as well as events, rescue efforts, public information, analysis, and public response to the crisis... There were at least 5 different stations in Madrid broadcasting news (in addition to CNN International). In some ways the news coverage seemed both more sensitive and less sensitive at the same time, compared to typical U.S. news coverage of crisis events. On the one hand, U.S. viewers aren’t accustomed to some of the visual images of death that seem to be shown on news outlets elsewhere (including in Spain). On the other hand, newscasters and reporters seemed to use fairly subdued tones and refrained from pushiness in their interviews... What with the sudden news barrage, I don’t know if the piece I saw being filmed the previous day ever showed – I had been at the Retiro (park) on Wednesday, and up at the huge memorial and statue on the east side of the boating lake (was that a memorial to Alfonso XII? I don’t remember), a TV crew from TeleMadrid was filming an interview – I never did figure out what it was about...
Saturday, March 13, 2004
I'm back from Madrid, once again at my sister's near Frankfort. What an odd sad time to be in Madrid, though I still absolutely love that city and hope to return again soon. I still need time to digest it all (also, my time is not quite my own at the moment since I'm surrounded once again by parents, sister, nephew, and nieces), but will write more over the next week or so.
In the meantime, this tidbit -
I left Madrid via Barajas on Friday, the day after the bombings, and ended up with about an hour-and-a-half to pass at the airport before my flight was scheduled to leave. After checking my bag, I enjoyed a hot chocolate in the airport lounge/bar/restaurant/cafeteria - which was unfortunately "Nestle's Quik" rather than the usual rich thick chocolate usually served in Spanish bars, for which the bartender apologized (it appears Nestle's now is the coffee concession supplier there), but on the other hand was served in nice bar china rather than the ubiquitous paper cups usually found at airports in the U.S. - while watching planes take off. Next, after locating my gate, I decided to check out the airport shops for gifts, since I had not really done gift shopping earlier. Fortunately I spotted a museum shop that had wonderful items. As I finished selecting items, the shop attendant asked me if I was in a hurry. I mentioned my flight was scheduled to start boarding in 15 to 20 minutes, so she apologized for rushing me. I suddenly remembered the day before hearing it mentioned on the news that unions and businesses were planning to close for 15 minutes of silence at noon to as a sort of memorial of Thursday's events, and it was now 10 'til noon. Of course I said "Entiendo" and rushed to present my boarding pass and credit card while she rang up my purchases. I ducked out underneath the shop's metal rolling shutters (which were already two-thirds down) in time for the woman working there to lock up with 5 minutes to spare. I had to get back to my departure gate, but I noticed most shopkeepers were already standing silently in front of their closed up shops. Once near my gate, the airport broadcast an announcement over their sound system, in both Spanish and English, explaining the aiport employees were observing fifteen minutes of silence in honor of those who had died in the bombings. There was then one or two announcements for "last boarding calls" for a few flights, and then there was silence, interrupted only by those who needed to rush somewhere, and, at least in my vicinity, a couple of likely Americans who kept up a lively conversation, perhaps unaware of what was going on. After the 15 minutes, the voice of the airport thanked us all for sharing in their 15 minutes of silence, and once again flights started being announced, and people once again went about the usual aiport activities. I've been in many airports, but this was a unique and memorable experience...
In the meantime, this tidbit -
I left Madrid via Barajas on Friday, the day after the bombings, and ended up with about an hour-and-a-half to pass at the airport before my flight was scheduled to leave. After checking my bag, I enjoyed a hot chocolate in the airport lounge/bar/restaurant/cafeteria - which was unfortunately "Nestle's Quik" rather than the usual rich thick chocolate usually served in Spanish bars, for which the bartender apologized (it appears Nestle's now is the coffee concession supplier there), but on the other hand was served in nice bar china rather than the ubiquitous paper cups usually found at airports in the U.S. - while watching planes take off. Next, after locating my gate, I decided to check out the airport shops for gifts, since I had not really done gift shopping earlier. Fortunately I spotted a museum shop that had wonderful items. As I finished selecting items, the shop attendant asked me if I was in a hurry. I mentioned my flight was scheduled to start boarding in 15 to 20 minutes, so she apologized for rushing me. I suddenly remembered the day before hearing it mentioned on the news that unions and businesses were planning to close for 15 minutes of silence at noon to as a sort of memorial of Thursday's events, and it was now 10 'til noon. Of course I said "Entiendo" and rushed to present my boarding pass and credit card while she rang up my purchases. I ducked out underneath the shop's metal rolling shutters (which were already two-thirds down) in time for the woman working there to lock up with 5 minutes to spare. I had to get back to my departure gate, but I noticed most shopkeepers were already standing silently in front of their closed up shops. Once near my gate, the airport broadcast an announcement over their sound system, in both Spanish and English, explaining the aiport employees were observing fifteen minutes of silence in honor of those who had died in the bombings. There was then one or two announcements for "last boarding calls" for a few flights, and then there was silence, interrupted only by those who needed to rush somewhere, and, at least in my vicinity, a couple of likely Americans who kept up a lively conversation, perhaps unaware of what was going on. After the 15 minutes, the voice of the airport thanked us all for sharing in their 15 minutes of silence, and once again flights started being announced, and people once again went about the usual aiport activities. I've been in many airports, but this was a unique and memorable experience...
Tuesday, March 09, 2004
¡Estamos en la semana fantástica!
El Corte Inglés has taken over Madrid (the phrase above is a slogan for a sale they're having)! Well, at least that's the way it seems to me - they're everywhere, and have expanded into Borders territory as well...no sign of Galerías Preciadas, which I assume got swallowed up by Corte Ingles... but at least it keeps McDonalds and Starbucks from further encroachment on Spanish territory. I think 20 years ago there was maybe one McDonald's here, and Starbucks was just a glimmer in some latte drinker's eye. Now they're all overthe city! I have noticed that Starbucks seems to use the same attack method here as in the States - every time I see a VIPs, it looks like a Starbucks has sprouted nearby...
And as far as I know, polls have been showing PP with a lead over PSOE, but PP doesn´t have a majority and I think the gap has been closing. I saw a poll on the news last night that showed the parties about 2.5 percentage points apart. We'll see what happens - I saw some of the political appearances, speeches, and ads, and I'd vote for Zapatero if he ran on a presidential ticket in the States...
I was beginning to think that Madrid has changed so much, or I've lost so much of my memory of what life was like when I was here as a student at 19, and then when riding the Metro, when the train went through a particular station, I caught a whiff of a certain Madrid metro scent that somehow was in my memory... and though so much of the Puerta del Sol has "bland-i-cized" a bit, the Mayorquina (is that the name?), the place where I tasted my first chocolate trufa, is still there - this morning I bought a palmera de chocolate (or "chocolate ear" as we used to call them, due to their shape). And today so many memories were triggered, as I spent most of the day looking at art in the Prado. While I student here, I spent at least a couple of hours every week in that museum. I love most every bit of it...
El Corte Inglés has taken over Madrid (the phrase above is a slogan for a sale they're having)! Well, at least that's the way it seems to me - they're everywhere, and have expanded into Borders territory as well...no sign of Galerías Preciadas, which I assume got swallowed up by Corte Ingles... but at least it keeps McDonalds and Starbucks from further encroachment on Spanish territory. I think 20 years ago there was maybe one McDonald's here, and Starbucks was just a glimmer in some latte drinker's eye. Now they're all overthe city! I have noticed that Starbucks seems to use the same attack method here as in the States - every time I see a VIPs, it looks like a Starbucks has sprouted nearby...
And as far as I know, polls have been showing PP with a lead over PSOE, but PP doesn´t have a majority and I think the gap has been closing. I saw a poll on the news last night that showed the parties about 2.5 percentage points apart. We'll see what happens - I saw some of the political appearances, speeches, and ads, and I'd vote for Zapatero if he ran on a presidential ticket in the States...
I was beginning to think that Madrid has changed so much, or I've lost so much of my memory of what life was like when I was here as a student at 19, and then when riding the Metro, when the train went through a particular station, I caught a whiff of a certain Madrid metro scent that somehow was in my memory... and though so much of the Puerta del Sol has "bland-i-cized" a bit, the Mayorquina (is that the name?), the place where I tasted my first chocolate trufa, is still there - this morning I bought a palmera de chocolate (or "chocolate ear" as we used to call them, due to their shape). And today so many memories were triggered, as I spent most of the day looking at art in the Prado. While I student here, I spent at least a couple of hours every week in that museum. I love most every bit of it...
Sadly, the WiFi connection at the hotel didn't work out, so I'm at a nearby internet café...
As for Prague, it was the first time my parents had been there. I'm glad they finally had the chance to see it, since it has been on my mother's itinerary for awhile given her grandmother immigrated from the area. We took a day to locate the town (well, technically, village) where my great-grandmother came from. I won't try to spell it here, but it was less than a two-hours' drive east of Prague. We found the town square, a cemetary, a church, and even the town museum, which though already closing for the day, let us in to peruse items in the gift shop, where my mother bought a book on the town's history (in Czech, of course). We also had lunch at a restaurant on the town square, where the owner (who acted as translator) demonstrated his familiarity with American presidential politics, and mentioned that Kerry's mother or grandmother (I forget exactly which relative) came from the Czech Republic.
Speaking of politics, one thing I did learn when my mother's passport was stolen about 4 hours before our plane was scheduled to depart is that U.S. Embassies are no longer the carefree beacons I remember them to be when I had occasion to visit once or twice in years past (I think I accompanied my sister when she had her passport stolen in Hong Kong - does this somehow run in the family?). There was a checkpoint that the hotel's driver had to go through just to get into the International Embassy area of Prague, and then there was all sorts of security around the U.S. embassy...I wasn´t even allowed into the building, as they want to keep to a minimum the number of people entering. I must say though, that my mother had her temporary replacement passport handed to her within approximately an hour...a rather odd ending for a trip that was still worth the effort...Prague is a beautiful, dynamic city...
Next post should have some Madrid impressions...
As for Prague, it was the first time my parents had been there. I'm glad they finally had the chance to see it, since it has been on my mother's itinerary for awhile given her grandmother immigrated from the area. We took a day to locate the town (well, technically, village) where my great-grandmother came from. I won't try to spell it here, but it was less than a two-hours' drive east of Prague. We found the town square, a cemetary, a church, and even the town museum, which though already closing for the day, let us in to peruse items in the gift shop, where my mother bought a book on the town's history (in Czech, of course). We also had lunch at a restaurant on the town square, where the owner (who acted as translator) demonstrated his familiarity with American presidential politics, and mentioned that Kerry's mother or grandmother (I forget exactly which relative) came from the Czech Republic.
Speaking of politics, one thing I did learn when my mother's passport was stolen about 4 hours before our plane was scheduled to depart is that U.S. Embassies are no longer the carefree beacons I remember them to be when I had occasion to visit once or twice in years past (I think I accompanied my sister when she had her passport stolen in Hong Kong - does this somehow run in the family?). There was a checkpoint that the hotel's driver had to go through just to get into the International Embassy area of Prague, and then there was all sorts of security around the U.S. embassy...I wasn´t even allowed into the building, as they want to keep to a minimum the number of people entering. I must say though, that my mother had her temporary replacement passport handed to her within approximately an hour...a rather odd ending for a trip that was still worth the effort...Prague is a beautiful, dynamic city...
Next post should have some Madrid impressions...
Friday, March 05, 2004
here is a test post
Thursday, March 04, 2004
In spite of the many unsampled city sights remaining for me to explore, I had been dying to check out television programming while in Prague as I had heard telenovelas were quite popular in many Central European countries. Due to travel commitments and companions, I didn't have the chance until the day we were leaving, as I was finishing my packing in the morning while the others were were regrouping in the lobby. My efforts were amply rewarded when I discovered one of the better-known Mexican novelas of recent years on a Czech station, and watched a full five minutes of Guy Ecker and Kate del Castillo dubbed into Czech in a capitulo of "La Mentira" before I had roll my suitcase out and join my companions at check-out...
