A woman of international stature passed from the scene this week. Admired at home and abroad, she touched the lives of millions, a champion of personal freedom who nonetheless came to terms with dictatorship, her instincts were conservative but her choices were often daring – Sara Montiel, the venerable icon of stage and screen, died at her home in Madrid on Monday at the age of 85. Montiel personified – particularly in her later chat-show-celebrity-magazine incarnation – the superficiality of pop culture, yet that very superficiality may have been the key not only to her commercial success but to her importance to Spanish society, particularly in the 1960s. Montiel articulated a kitsch … [Read more...] about Tales for Tapas: Life is a pleasure
corrida
Forget the Catalan ban, bullfighting was already in trouble
In Catalonia, the last bull has been killed by a matador’s sword. In January, a ban on bullfighting takes effect in the region and Sunday’s corrida in La Monumental bullring was the last of the season, and, probably, the last ever. There is still the possibility that an appeal against the ban will flourish, although a ruling is still a long way off, but fans and opponents of bullfighting behaved as if Sunday marked the end of an era. The Catalan ruling is indeed a landmark, although a ban has been in place in the Canary Islands for two decades. However, given the tangle of regional politics that lay behind Catalonia’s decision, it seems unlikely there will be a rash of similar bans … [Read more...] about Forget the Catalan ban, bullfighting was already in trouble