football

Why oh why do I suffer so much watching football when Portugal is playing? Last night's game was horrible to watch and I felt on the verge of a heart attack.

Next opponent is England - either we win and I will be bullied for a week, or we lose and I will be humiliated for a week.

maneater

I have to admit that I have never been a big fan of Nelly Furtado. She is absolutely gorgeous (of course due to her Portuguese origins) and has a few cute pop songs - from the top of my head 'turn off the light', and 'powerless (say what you want)'. Also 'força' which was the Football Eurocup 2004 official song was a cutesy song. Overall her albums 'whoa! nelly' and 'folklore' were a bit dull, a bit undefined.

She is back in 2006 with a completely different sound: her new album ('Loose') is mostly produced by hip-hop genius Timbaland. I'm very excited about it and have high expectations for this album, especially because of the singles released so far.

First single in the UK is 'maneater' - a powerful electro-pop/hip-hop track that charted at #8 this week in the UK singles chart only on downloads and hopefully will be #1 next week.

The first single in the US is 'promiscuous' featuring Timbaland. And it's an absolutely perfect hip-hop track that has the ability to crossover to the pop domain because of Nelly herself. It's #3 at the moment on the Hot 100 Billboard chart and will probably be #1 next week.
Justin Timberlake comes to mind and he is in fact in the video for this song showing some dance moves at the end.

Volver

Last Friday I saw 'Volver' in Madrid. This is Almodóvar at his best - he is the master of turning the most amazing fictional scripts into real life stories.

This one feels a bit more real than 'La Mala Educación' for instance maybe because it's closer to the director's heart and feelings - the movie and characters are based in Castilla La Mancha, Spain's heart and Almodóvar's homeland.

Penélope Cruz is amazing in the movie looking as beautiful and sensual as Sophia Loren. (She should definitely return to Spain, she is at lost in Hollywood). Together with Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas, Blanca Portillo, Yohana Cobo, and Chus Lampreave they have scoped the Award for Best Actresses at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. Pedro Almodóvar won the Award for Best Screenplay.

The soundtrack composed by Alberto Iglesias is also stunning as usual and merges itself perfectly in the movie scenes.

Here is the synopsis of the movie written by Almodóvar himself:

Three generations of women survive easterly wind, fire, madness, superstition and even death through goodness, lies and an unlimited vitality.

They are: Raimunda (Penélope Cruz), married to an unemployed worker, and her teenager daughter (Yohana Cobo). Sole (Lola Dueñas), her sister, who earns her living as hairdresser. And their mother (Carmen Maura), dead in a fire, with her husband. This character comes as an apparition first to her sister (Chus Lampreave) and then to Sole, even though the ones she had unsettled affairs with are Raimunda and her village neighbour, Agustina (Blanca Portillo).

‘Volver’ is not a surreal comedy, though it might seem so at times. The living and the dead live together with no problem, provoking hilarious situations and others full of deep and genuine emotion. It is a movie about the culture of death in my native region, La Mancha. My folks there live it in astonishing simplicity. The way in which the dead are still present in their lifes, the richness and humanity of their rites makes it possible for the dead to never really die.

‘Volver’ shatters all clichés of a dark Spain and shows a Spain that is as real as it is opposed. A Spain white, spontaneous, fun, fearless, fair and with solidarity

Herbert - Scale - 29 May

Scale is a great album - and the live show at the ICA was no disappointment either. Although as usual Dani Siciliano never shows up.