Barcelona Remembers Laia in Style

Not many people know, but Barcelona really has two patron saints. Our Lady of Mercy is the obvious one, made famous by September's La Merce celebrations, and you'd be forgiven for guessing at Saint George (Sant Jordi) as the other, but he's actually for the whole of Catalonia.
No, I'm talking about Santa Eulalia, or how she's affectionately known, Laia.



Laia is kind of remembered as the children's saint, and probably because she died so young. A little girl who protested in defence of the Christian persecution, she was only 13 when she died - and a particularly horrible death at that. She is warmly remembered and even has her own "mini" gegant on display at the city's ministry of culture building on las ramblas. Fitting, then that it's the start of carnaval week, and even if the weather looks like it doesn't want to play along (it's raining, and apparently is going to be like this all week!) then there's plenty to keep things happy for the kids!

Starting on Friday, there are many activities going on around the old town, and for a full programme of events, see the city's website. Just a selection of activities to whet your appetite however, are the parades through the gothic quarter, hip-hop workshops for the kids, classical music concerts in the maritime museum, various dances and theatre pieces and a correfoc fire-run, too! The city's museums are all joining in the fun starting from today, and many have free entrance on Saturday, for example. Full details here (pdf).

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All Eyes on Montjüic This Month.

This month sees the World Mobile Congress return to the Fira de Barcelona at Montjüic. From the 15th to 18th February, some of the biggest names in Mobile technology take over the city for the 4th year running.

Anyone and everyone who is someone in the world of Mobile Phones and technology is attending this year. Of course, many are eager to see how Google will probably steal the show with the launch of it's Nexus One handset, as it did in Las Vegas recently. In fact, Google are obviously taking things really seriously by sending CEO and "Do No Evil" Eric Schmidt as a keynote speaker, alongside the CEO's of the likes of Ericsson, Huawei, Vodafone and many other big players.

It's said that the New Phone - technically not a Google phone at all as it's manufactured by HTC - will be the iPhone killer, which to be honest I'm a bit sick of hearing. This is about the 4th or 5th iPhone killer we've had launch on the market, isn't it? I don't care either, as I've got a BlackBerry!! The Nexus One is not even available yet in Spain, and if reports across the net are anything to go by, the customer service and after-care attention leaves a lot to be desired!! Do you like the look of the new phone? And are you queuing up to get one? Apparently Vodafone will have the phone, but they may not be the only one. We'll wait and see.

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Cool Music This Month in BCN

Perhaps a little bit of an indlugent post here, but this month sees some great music come to Barcelona. Tomorrow night UK rockers Arctic Monkeys return to the Catalan Capital to play a sell-out Sant Jordi Club with Mystery Jets supporting. Italian crooner Eros Ramazzotti plays on the 15th, and Kevin Costner plays an incredible two nights in Barcelona on the 18th and 19th. I'm never quite sure about actors who form bands, like Keanu Reeves, Woody Allen, etc. but I suppose he must have his own following. These are not the reason for my title of today's post.

It's the night of the 11th that has me excited, and I'm not talking about Joss Stone at Palau de la Musica. One of my favourite bands, Dinosaur Jr, are playing the Sala Apolo. Responsible for perhaps one of the best guitar riffs of all time (What Else is New from 1993's Where you been) voted by magazines such as NME, Q, etc. you won't be surprised to hear that they feature heavily on my spotify playlists. I've never embedded video into any of my blog posts before, but if anyone deserves it, it's J and the guys. Enjoy.


Dinosaur Jr - I Don't Think So


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New Fertility Method Discovered in Barcelona - Watch Football

A funny story in the press this week made me smile. Apparently this week has seen a particularly large amount of births in Barcelona - larger than normal. According to Mercedes Rodriguez, supervising nurse in the Hospital Quiron of Barcelona, they are used to welcoming around 8 or 9 little people into the world on a daily basis, but this week has seen up to 14 or 15 daily births. And the reason for this baby boom? Football, of course.


Exactly 9 months ago, Andres Iniesta fired FC Barcelona into the finals of the Champions League final with a last-minute goal against Chelsea in Stamford Bridge. Who can forget Didier Drogba's insulting launch at the cameras? Barcelona went on to win the final of course, and then pretty much everything else that was thrown at them, leaving last season as the most successful for any team with an amazing five cups in one season - an unbelievable feat. Local radio ComRadio, even went as far to suggest that that the birth rate had increased a massive 50%!!

Not surprisingly, names such as "Andres" (Iniesta) and the rest of the Barcelona squad will be heavily registered this week. Not sure about the girls, although I suppose "YaYa" (Toure) could be a bit unisex ? No offence there to YaYa Toure, just thinking of possibilities here. Any suggestions? Leave me a comment below please!

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Catalan Cinemas to Close in Protest - of Catalan?

Various news sources have reported today that the majority of Cinemas in Catalonia will be closing on the 1st February in protest for a recently approved law regarding Catalan in cinemas. The date significantly coincides with the presnetation of the Gaudi Awards - the Acadamy Awards for Catalan Cinema.



The law was passed on the 12th of this month, but today the announcement was made to the press of the protest and planned closure of the 74 cinemas offering over 528 screens, which is the majority of screens (total being 795 sreens in all Catalonia).

So what's all the fuss about, I hear you cry? It's not long ago that the Catalan Government ruffled a few feathers over its proposed plans to insist on an equal amount of Translated copies in Catalan and Spanish for films distributed throughout Catalonia. Well, a study released today by Josep Maria Gay, and using information of profits and benefits in Catalan Cinemas from 2001 to 2008 predicts that this new law will not only lessen the income of the cinema industry but even force the closure of many cinemas - hence the closure on the 1st February to symbolise the effect this new law may have.



Last year, 97,1% of movies broadcast in Catalan Cinemas were doubled or subtitled in Spanish with only 2,9% in Catalan. It appears, however, that there may be good reason for this - that even the Catalans don't like going to see films dubbed or subtitled in Catalan. The study by Gay released today made a prediction that if the law may see the beginning of the end for many cinemas, as there is no demand. The new law obliges distributers to produce an equal amount of doubled/subtitled copies as original version copies, UNLESS there are to be less than 16 copies of European-produced movies over the whole of Catalonia. So that means if you have an American movie with less that 16 copies, half must be in Catalan.

It appears to be a solution to a problem which never existed. I know personally I have Catalan friends who have told me that they never watch DVDs or attend cinema screenings in Catalan - rather Spanish - and at the same time I remember fierce publicity a couple of years ago, demanding Harry Potter be dubbed in Catalan so that people (or maybe youngsters) could enjoy it in their native language and not have to read subtitles, or listen to Spanish.

There seems to be more confusing details in the mix, when we talk about recent movies such as Map of the sounds of Tokyo, Agora and Planet 51 which were all funded and made through Spain and Catalonia, but are shot entirely in English. What if there were to be less than 15 copies? Odd, right?

What do you think? I'd love to hear your opinion on this one! As a foreigner, I can only comment on how I would feel watching a Catalan movie, dubbed in English, and I think I'd probably prefer to watch it subtitled. I've seen many films since I've been living here in various languages (German, Swedish, Polish, Russian) and have always watched in Version Original with subtitles in Spanish.

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Barcelona Scams - The Foot Step

Every time I think about writing one of the Scams blog posts, I always want to say "well, it's been a while since I've posted about scams..." and to be fair, I think maybe some of the levels of petty crime at least close to me and my knowledge have dropped a bit - but that could also be due to the drop in tourism and visitors to the city, too, right? Either way, I'm not trying to spread doom and gloom within the first month of 2010, but wanted to fill you all in on another technique being used to scam people out of their belongings.

Before I start, I'd also like to give a shout to the mossos (local police) who in late December dismantled a well organised group of 17 Romanian Theives who used the fake Police trick to steal belongings from tourists. I've never blogged about this before as a scam, although I had heard about it. Some of the details the Police divulged were unbelievable, and it confirms my belief that approaching those tourists who are culturally more polite or have a greater respect for authority are easy pickings in the theives' eyes. I could write another post on the incredible things these false Police were able to get out of some of the tourists, but at least something has been done to stop one organised group.



So, the scam I'm going to write about today (I was going to type "new scam" but it's hardly likely to be new) took place at Sagrada Familia, but could take place at any crowded area in the city, and indeed probably does. The only seemingly necessity is for pedestrian traffic to funnel into a fairly tight space - think of any roadworks that force tourists into a smaller section of the pavement/sidewalk, for example.

I was told this story first hand (like the majority of my posts) by some Italians, and while they made a huge error (in my opinion, but I'm sure you'll agree), it could still happen just as easily without the careless nature of these guys.

So, around Sagrada Familia (not inside) pedestrians were passing through a fairly narrow stretch of the surroundings, when the guy was stepped on - a woman walking in the opposite direction to him stepped on his shoe. Naturally in these situations, depsite the fault laying elsewhere, he apologised, and as he turned to face the woman, a guy lifted his wallet from the side pocket of his combat pants (there's the error). They didn't realise this had happened until they reached the tunstyles to pay the entrance fee, as again is completely normal. So the scam works with two people and must be very hit and miss - simply because the thieves cannot guarantee that each time they open someone's pocket or bag, they will find something worth stealing. Although, saying that, it's likely a good days work for them at the hot spots around the city.

How to avoid this happening to you? Well, first off, don't leave your wallet/camera/purse in a pocket which you cannot feel close to your skin - like a side pocket. It's much more difficult to lift a wallet from a front jeans pocket then a back pocket for example. Also, try and be aware of your surroundings at all times, especially when you are forced into a situation where personal space is scarce. Metro stations are a perfect example of this. Having said that, it is extremely difficult to be aware and alert at all times, and the thrives exploit this kind of situation exactly because they know the difficulties involved in staying alert, so don't feel stupid if it does happen to you.

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