Fleas and dogs in Barcelona » Entertainment

Mosos D’esquadra in CSI New York

Prithika — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 20:26:15 +0000

Detective guy: El cuerpo…

Me: Hey who turned the language back to Spanish,I’m trying to watch CSI here!

Detective Jo Danville: …Mosos D’esquadra, Barcelona police…

Me: Oh my god! T come quick! Barcelona is in CSI! The guy is mosos!

T: You realise he isn’t really mosos right?

After watching for a few minutes

Me: He isn’t really Catalan or Spanish either is he?

T: No

After watching for a few more minutes

Me: She isn’t Spanish either is she?

T: No. Y’know the footballs on…

Me: Fine, change it.

(If you want to experience the exhilarating but brief and half arsed reference to Barcelona in CSI NY, look for the episode ‘Holding Cell’ in Season 7)

It’s The Drinker’s Day today! Hooray!

Prithika — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 08:00:21 +0000

Friend’s and lovers flying home to Christmas have left a little emptiness, a little quietness in the travellers camp of Barcelona. I can’t shake the ghost, real and imagined, of the kid left alone at the end of term. The one who wanders across empty playgrounds and kicks about deserted hallways.

But then again, this isn’t the Chalet School, or Tom Brown’s School, or even the Bridge of Allan student village in Scotland. Nah, this is Barcelona.

So instead of sentimental Christmasy moping, I’m gonna head out for some punky, Balkan gypsy, ska, reggae dancing madness, also known as the Always Drinking Marching Band. Lets dance till our legs scream for mercy!

The Drinker’s Day
Venue: Sala Apolo, Nou de la Rambla 113, 08004 Barcelona
Time: 9pm till late (5 ish)
Tickets: 10 Euros in advance and 13 on the door
Date: 21st December 2011

Black Mirror: Brilliantly disturbing UK mini series

Prithika — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 08:00:52 +0000

The Black Mirror series is a set of three mini movies which explore some of the ideas of modern life and the media which make many of us nervous. In a nutshell, hated the first one, loved the next one.

Episode 1 The National Anthem

Weird, weird, weird. This one shows how an individual can use the internet (and a little old-fashioned kidnapping) to blackmail the British prime minister into screwing a pig.

Yes. He does the dirty. With a pig.

Shocking concept, great build up and very realistic, but it fell short. First, it makes an undecided half hearted attempt to show the story from the point of view of random members of the public. They shouldn’t have bothered.

Secondly, they never explain the perpetrator’s motives, apart from the PM’s aide muttering some crap about him making a ‘point’ on the phone. Now turning down a knighthood or leaving excess packaging at the check-out desk is making a ‘point’ hen. Forcing another human being to have sex with an animal is something else entirely.

It seemed like the Channel 4 execs just wanted to leave the Brit public with the image of the PM doing a pig. Seriously? Just imply he’s having a career damaging affair, in accordance with acceptable media tradition.

15 Million Merits

Brilliant! So brilliant! So scary.

Set in the not so imaginary future where people spend their days pedalling strange exercise bikes (probably to generate electricity). By pedalling, they earn merit points which they then exchange for food and entertainment. The only possessions they can buy are virtual ones which their avatars can enjoy.

The only way to escape this drone drudgery is to become rich and famous, notably through an X Factor/ Pop Idol type talent show. But to become rich and famous, you gotta prostitute your humanity.

How do you fight it?

Watch the Black Mirror series on the Channel 4 website 4OD and look out for the final episode in the series, The Entire History of You, on the 18th on Channel 4 at 10pm Spanish time (9pm UK time). We use Expat Shield to watch brit tv online, but there are lots of options out there.