My mum used to say — Part 6

A follow-up to the first, second, third, fourth and fifth parts.

• ая: response to a call; “here!” ♦ «Мам!» — «Ая!»
• в ногах правды нет: literally, “there’s no truth in the legs”; said as an invitation to sit down
• втык: взбучка, нагоняй // telling-off, scolding; see also пропесочить, расчехвостить
• военная тайна: big secret
• деловой, деловая (an adjective used as a noun): pretend businesslike or uppity; cf. основной
• заводила, запевала: (derogatory) a person who starts or organises something, typically mischief; cf. подпевала
• задрипанный, задрипанная: shabby, scruffy
• застопориться: to come to a halt
• заховать: спрятать, зарыть // to hide, to bury
• кукурузный початок: literally, “corn on the cob”; said of somebody who stands with their arms crossed
• не трожь говна — вонять не будет: literally, “don’t touch shit, (then) it won’t stink”; don’t pay attention to an annoying or quarrelsome person
• основной, основная (an adjective used as a noun): the boss; cf. деловой
• прикусить язык: to bite one’s tongue, to shut up; see also закрой поддувало
• пропесочить: to reprimand, to dress down; see also втык, расчехвостить
• профессор кислых щей: literally, “professor of sour cabbage soup”; charlatan, quack
• подпевала: (derogatory) yes-man, sycophant à la jackal Tabaqui; cf. запевала
• прохиндей: crook, fraudster
• расчехвостить: to reprimand, to dress down; see also втык, пропесочить
• сбагрить: to get rid of
• «снимай штаны, власть переменилась»: literally, “take off pants, the government has changed”; a friendly invitation to undress
• треники: sweatpants ♦ «задрипанные треники»
• чадо: child, offspring ♦ «Где это чадо?»
• этого нам только не хватало: (sarcastic) that’s all we needed

Rojo y negro

a film by Carlos Arévalo

In Rojo y negro (1942), one of the protagonists, Luisa (Conchita Montenegro), is a goodie Falangist. The problem is — or, I suppose, was, from the regime’s point of view at least — that her boyfriend Miguel (Ismael Merlo), a left-wing activist, is not exactly a baddie. The director’s affiliation with the Falange did not save the film. The generalissimo was not amused and the movie was promptly withdrawn from the theatres. It was thought to be lost until, 50 years later, a dusty copy was discovered in some basement in Madrid.

This film was screened as part of the new cycle «Los otros de Falange» organised by Asociación de Cine Vértigo.

Presence

by Led Zeppelin

50 years on, Presence remains the most underrated Zeppelin record. After the grandiosity of Physical Graffiti, it’s refreshing to hear the stripped-back band, perhaps at its heaviest. It’s a shame that in its day most of the album never made it to the stage. A performance of For Your Life from the Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert, with Jason Bonham on drums, gives a glimpse of how Presence could have sounded live. But the legacy lives on. Among not that many covers, Tea For One by Joe Bonamassa and Nobody’s Fault But Mine by Baldassarre’s Soul of Zeppelin stand out.

Speaking of covers: I find the cover art (just like that of Wish You Were Here, also by Hipgnosis) uninspiring and having nothing to do with the the album’s music.