With 16 nominations, Pedro Almodóvar's The Skin I Live In (La piel que habito) will probably sweep the board on Sunday February 19, when Spain’s Film Academy announces the winners in the 26th annual Goya Awards. Bringing up second place will likely be Enrique Urbizu's thriller No Rest for the Wicked, which has 14 nominations, followed by Kike Maillo's directorial debut Eva with 12. Sunday night looks set to be a very public kiss and make up between Oscar-winning Almodóvar and the Academy, bringing to an end a frosty few years. The 16 nominations end a period of chilly relations between Almodóvar and the Spanish academy, which the director quit five years ago over changes to the … [Read more...] about It’s gonna be a love fest at the Goya awards
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La Liga: At Valencia, Soldado finally feels at home
Coming through the ranks of the cantera, his 86th minute winner in his debut season against Olympiakos at the Santiago Bernabéu not only spared the blushes of the home side but also gave fans a glimpse of a potentially great Real Madrid striker. Labelled the “new Raúl” like so many before him, he did for a time adopt the famous number nine shirt at Madrid, but success for Roberto Soldado has come most recently at the Mestalla and the city of his birth, Valencia. Following a successful loan spell at Osasuna in 2006 while still a Madrid player – where he finished as the Navarra club’s top scorer – he returned to the Spanish capital still hoping to leave his mark on Los Merengues. … [Read more...] about La Liga: At Valencia, Soldado finally feels at home
Fraga: a unique figure during an extraordinary time
The last time the conservative Partido Popular (PP) was governing Spain, the satirical television show Los Guiñoles was still being broadcast, with its latex puppets lampooning the country’s public figures. One of its most memorable targets was Manuel Fraga, even then a decidedly long-in-the-tooth politician, who on at least one occasion was portrayed as a dinosaur, complete with scaly tail and brontosaurus-style limbs. This image was fuelled by the fact that Fraga was still, in his eighties, the premier of Galicia, a position he held between 1990 and 2005. Also, perhaps most famously, he had been a minister under Franco. But it’s clear that there was more to Fraga, who died on Sunday … [Read more...] about Fraga: a unique figure during an extraordinary time
Spain’s tax hike threatens La Liga’s appeal
One of the first moves by Spain’s new Mariano Rajoy-lead Partido Popular government has been to increase the maximum personal income tax (IRPF) rate by seven percentage points to 52 percent for annual salaries over €300,000. Given the shocking state of the Spanish government finances this should not really have been a difficult decision to take, especially considering the small percentage of Spanish tax-payers affected. For most Spanish citizens the most visible losers (of this particular increase) will be the football teams they follow. Spain’s politicians have traditionally been keen to be seen to support football, and a past PP tax ‘incentive’ aimed at attracting higher earners from … [Read more...] about Spain’s tax hike threatens La Liga’s appeal
Spain’s literary giants are lost in English translation
An indisputable criterion of success for any novelist is when Penguin Modern Classics signs up your backlist, especially when it’s for a five-figure sum. Which is what has happened to Javier Marías. The 60-year-old Spanish writer, whose latest title, The Infatuations (Los enamoramientos), will be published in English in early 2013, joins an exclusive group of Spanish writers in Penguin’s catalogue: Cervantes, Quevedo, Jacinto Benavente, and Lorca. Yes, that’s it. Four writers: the first two of whom died in the 17th century, the next in 1954; although he stopped writing long before that. For Penguin, and most US and UK publishers, it seems that, until now, Spanish literature ended with the … [Read more...] about Spain’s literary giants are lost in English translation
La Liga: Barça slip spices up title race
The winners of the El Gordo lottery announced, turrón digested and the winter sales in full swing can only mean one thing: La Liga is back after the Christmas break. The weekend’s action failed to disappoint with a Barcelona slip-up that could prove pivotal in the title race. Following a 5-1 Real Madrid win on Saturday night against Liga new boys Granada, Barcelona travelled to Espanyol’s Cornellá-El Prat stadium for the Catalan derby on Sunday. The visitors started brightly, taking the lead in the 16th minute with a Cesc Fàbregas header, but their title hopes suffered a setback when Álvaro Vázquez scored for the home side four minutes from time with a low header. Pushing for a … [Read more...] about La Liga: Barça slip spices up title race
Catalan cuisine faces the future by returning to its roots
Nearly two years ago, the Epicurious food and dining website declared that Barcelona had, in its words, jumped the shark. Long known as a culinary leader for its regional chefs’ efforts at the forefront of the tapas movement and more widely acclaimed for advances in molecular gastronomy, the city and wider region had lost their creative juice, slowing under over-indulgence and over-exposure. However, as the New Year arrives and the region struggles to figure out a path forward without the aid of its flagship of culinary innovation, Ferran Adrià’s El Bulli, the local menu is showing new signs of life with a return to traditional staples – delicious simplicity. Though, this being Catalonia, … [Read more...] about Catalan cuisine faces the future by returning to its roots
A short honeymoon for Spain’s Rajoy
When Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría announced the new Spanish government’s battery of cuts worth €8.9 million plus tax increases, there were plenty of questions in the air. Why such heavy cuts? How will the new tax increases work? Will there be more cuts? The deputy prime minister’s answer to the first query was that the cuts are extreme because the 2011 deficit is 8 percent of GDP, rather than the 6 percent the outgoing Socialists had estimated. Public Administrations Minister Cristóbal Montoro offered detail about the tax rises. And the fact that the 2012 budget has yet to be presented means yes, there will be more austerity measures later in the year, although … [Read more...] about A short honeymoon for Spain’s Rajoy
Spain’s Socialists don’t know where to turn
A new Spanish government takes office and the year comes to a close, but the end is still not in sight for the existential crisis that the country's Socialist Party (PSOE) is suffering. It's a crisis that one way or another, the PSOE has been going through for about 12 months, ever since José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero let slip, around Christmas of last year, that he might not be the party's candidate in the next general elections. The frenzy of expectation was only partially dampened when Zapatero confirmed he wouldn't be running, and the debate over who would succeed him gathered steam. The “debate” turned into a swift rubber-stamping of the veteran Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba as the … [Read more...] about Spain’s Socialists don’t know where to turn
La Liga: Atlético’s away form comes home to roost
While admitting to disastrous away form, Atlético Madrid coach Gregorio Manzano defended himself this week by reasoning “at home we are playing well”, just days before a 2-0 defeat at the Vicente Calderón to a struggling Real Betis side. The result has surely sealed the fate of yet another Atlético coach. Given the board’s dreaded vote of confidence earlier in the week, the remainder of his tenure was dependent on three home games in a week before the winter break. The first was a resounding success as Los Rojiblancos beat Rennes 2-0 in the Europa League. The second saw Atléti fail to take their chances in front of goal with two dreadful misses by summer signing Falcao early on in the … [Read more...] about La Liga: Atlético’s away form comes home to roost