Perhaps fearful of another black-and-white silent film garnering a top prize for the second year running, Hollywood excluded Blancanieves from the Best Foreign Film category, but Pablo Berger’s overly long 1920s-set bullfighting take on the Snow White tale looks set to sweep the board at this year’s Goya Awards on February 17 in the Spanish capital. The film has been nominated in 18 categories, including picture, director, original screenplay, and editing. Six members of the cast are also in the running for prizes, including leads Maribel Verdú and Daniel Giménez Cacho, as well as newcomer Macarena García for her winsome portrayal of Snow White. Unit 7, from director Alberto Rodríguez, … [Read more...] about It’s Goya time
Archives for February 2013
La Liga: Mourinho eyes Manchester United clash and Madrid exit
In 2004, with a manic run down the Old Trafford touchline to celebrate knocking Manchester United out of the UEFA Champions League, José Mourinho announced himself to the world. It was to be the start of a new era for him and “The Special One” was born a few months later when Porto clinched the title and Chelsea came calling. Tomorrow, Mourinho faces Manchester United again, first at the Santiago Bernabéu and then at The Theatre of Dreams in the return leg of the last-16 tie and it could mark a new era in his career, the beginning of the end at Real Madrid. Ahead of the game, Los Merengues hosted Sevilla on Saturday night looking to put memories of their paltry performance at Granada … [Read more...] about La Liga: Mourinho eyes Manchester United clash and Madrid exit
Spain’s King Juan Carlos seeks to stem the opprobrium
Not so long ago, the boos that echoed around Vitoria’s Buesa Arena on the arrival of King Juan Carlos for the basketball Copa del Rey final at the weekend would have surprised many Spaniards and scandalised quite a few others. Such an open display of hostility towards the monarch would have been almost unthinkable. And yet on Sunday, when the booing was so loud that the playing of the national anthem ahead of the game between Barcelona and Valencia was cut short, it no longer seemed all that surprising or shocking, such is the sliding esteem of the Spanish royal family. The most defining moment of the reign of Juan Carlos now looks so far away it could be from another era. In 1981, the … [Read more...] about Spain’s King Juan Carlos seeks to stem the opprobrium
Euro wobbles as ECB hints at intervention to curb its strength
The common currency lost almost two cents against the pound last week, falling from 0.8691 on February 1st to 0.8541 today. Meanwhile, against the greenback it lost two and a half cents, tumbling from a multi-year high of 1.3662 to 1.3410 at the time of writing. Of course, these losses hardly undo the euro’s January gains. The common currency still sits close to historical highs against sterling and the buck. But what we’ve seen this week is that it’s rally isn’t endless. ECB to “monitor” the euro's strength To account for the euro’s losses this week, we can look to what’s typically been the chief mover of the euro exchange rate in the debt crisis, the European Central Bank. Speaking … [Read more...] about Euro wobbles as ECB hints at intervention to curb its strength
Tales for Tapas: Delicate but not hopeless
Speaking on Monday at a press conference in Berlin alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel (not the ideal place for a lively exchange about domestic politics), Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy dismissed allegations of irregular party financing but then undermined an otherwise robust performance by declaring that the charges are “untrue, except for some things.” Meanwhile, the Spanish tax authorities have ruled that a special tax return filed by the man at the centre of the People’s Party’s accounting difficulties, former party treasurer Luis Bárcenas, raises more questions than it answers. Mr Bárcenas now faces an expanding judicial investigation. His position was described this week as … [Read more...] about Tales for Tapas: Delicate but not hopeless
La Liga: Struggling Mallorca fire “great coach” Caparrós
With only one win in 17 league games leaving the team in the drop zone, it is none too surprising that a 3-0 defeat against Real Sociedad at the weekend was the final straw for Mallorca, who dismissed manager Joaquín Caparrós on Monday night. Unusually, however, the club were quick to praise the departing coach. "I respect Caparrós so much. I know that we have sacked a great coach. I would like to thank Joaquín and his coaching staff for their honour, dedication, desire and for helping the club grow in every sense” said acting president Llorenç Serra Ferrer. The islanders took to the pitch at the weekend with new names Fernando Tissone and Alan Hutton – brought in during the January … [Read more...] about La Liga: Struggling Mallorca fire “great coach” Caparrós
Rajoy is a liability for Spain if he can’t clear his name
“I didn’t get into politics because I wanted applause or money … I got into politics because I wanted to change things.” So said Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Saturday as he gave his first proper public response to allegations published by El País that he was among many politicians who took under-the-table payments from a longstanding Partido Popular (PP) slush fund. But it doesn’t take a cynic to observe that very little has changed during Rajoy’s first year of government, despite his fighting talk at the weekend. As if to remind us of the fact, today he travels to Germany to meet Angela Merkel and discuss yet again the woes of the Spanish economy, on the same day that new … [Read more...] about Rajoy is a liability for Spain if he can’t clear his name
How high will the euro climb?
Since the start of the year, the common currency has jumped from 1.3031 against the US dollar to 1.3670, a gain of +4.9%. And against the pound sterling, the gains are even more pronounced, rising from 0.8131 on January 1st to 0.8641, or +6.27% higher just a month later. Now, while such rapid rises aren’t unprecedented in my experience, they’re notable, especially given that so very recently the Eurozone was in intensive care. To explain these gains, without a doubt the biggest factor is the turnaround in euro sentiment. In 2012, the talk was of the currency collapsing. Correspondingly, no one wanted to touch it, leading to outflows to relative havens such as the pound and US … [Read more...] about How high will the euro climb?