The Adventures of Unamuno

by Timur Kulikov

Timur drew several illustrations for his school project on Miguel de Unamuno.

1. Miguel de Unamuno was a Spanish essayist, novelist, poet, playwright and philosopher...

   

   Unamuno multitasking

2. ...as well as professor and rector at the University of Salamanca.

   

   The University of Salamanca

3. Unamuno was born on 29 September 1864 in Bilbao.

   

   Unamuno was born in Calle Ronda, 16, Bilbao

4. When he was young, Unamuno was competing for a position of Basque language teacher in the Instituto de Bilbao against Sabino Arana and Resurrección María de Azkue; this latter has eventually won the contest.

   

   Unamuno competes for a position of teacher

5. In 1924 Unamuno was kicked out of the university and banished to Fuerteventura where he had nothing better to do than spend his days on the beach.

   

   Unamuno in exile

6. The day he returned to the University from his exile, Unamuno began his lecture by saying “Decíamos ayer...” (“As we were saying yesterday”) as if he had not been absent at all.

   

   Return to the University

7. In 1936 Unamuno had a public quarrel with the Nationalist general Millán Astray.

   

   Unamuno vs Millán Astray

Extraterrestre

a film by Nacho Vigalondo

Life is full of surprises. For example, you wake up don’t-remember-how-did-I-get-here after one-night stand only to discover that aliens are about to land. Or, you flick through the TV channels about midnight and pause on a film that begins with somebody waking up after one-night stand only to discover that aliens are about to land. It’s midweek and, for a change, I am almost ready to go to bed, but no, I get hooked. Good thing that Canaries are one hour behind the Peninsula, otherwise I would have missed it.

Never mind we never get to see the actual aliens — or do we? — this low-budget production puts Hollywood to shame. The movie is clever, funny and sometimes disturbing, in as much Spanish as Nordic way. Wikipedia says it was filmed in Cantabria, but it could have been anywhere really. The characters are a bit weird but very believable; the ending is delightfully ambiguous and wabi-sabey; and Michelle Jenner can do that thing with her eyes!

Now to catch on sleep...

The Day it Rained Forever

by Ray Bradbury

In his dream he was shutting the front door with its strawberry windows and lemon windows and windows like white clouds and windows like clear water in a country stream. Two dozen panes squared round the one big pane, colored of fruit wines and gelatins and cool water ices. He remembered his father holding him up as a child. ‘Look!’ And through the green glass the world was emerald, moss, and summer mint. ‘Look!’ The lilac pane made livid grapes of all the passersby. And at last the strawberry glass perpetually bathed the town in roseate warmth, carpeted the world in pink sunrise, and made the cut lawn seem imported from some Persian rug bazaar. The strawberry window, best of all, cured people of their paleness, warmed the cold rain, and set the blowing, shifting February snows afire.

One day, during recess, a small group of my students asked me if the English word damn, D-A-M-N, is a palabrota. I said that no, not in the 21^st century anyway, not even in the 20^th century. To illustrate this, I read them a passage from The Strawberry Window which just happened to be opened on Kindle in that very moment.

‘Why, we’ll be on some world with a number maybe; planet 6 of star system 97, planet 2 of system 99! So damn far off from here you need a nightmare to take it in! We’ll be gone, do you see, gone off away and safe! And I thought to myself, ah, ah. So that’s the reason we came to Mars, so that’s the reason men shoot off their rockets.’

The answer satisfied them; off they went.

As it happens, The Strawberry Window (Земляничное окошко) and Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed (Были они смуглые и золотоглазые) were among maybe the only three stories of this book that I read before. This before was long time ago, in 1970s, and all these years I misremembered them as belonging to The Martian Chronicles. Which, of course, makes them the part of The Martian Chronicles for me.

Gogs

an animation series by Deiniol Morris and Michael Mort

The first time I saw an episode of Gogs was some 20 years ago, in Leeds, during LIFF. It was an evening of British animated films featuring, among others, Achilles and A Close Shave. At the time, I didn’t know much about Wales, so for me it was like a revelation: Gogs were Welsh!

In the 2000s, I bought the DVD. Our kids practically grew on them, so I forgot what effect they could have on fresh audience. Last year, on my penultimate day in Liencres, I did show my 5-year-olds a couple of episodes — only to be totally ignored. I couldn’t understand what’s wrong with those kids. Wasn’t it gross or violent enough for them? Then again, it took a while to introduce them to Simon’s Cat, which they eventually demanded daily.

Last week, it was a turn of my sixth-graders. On the last day before the Easter break they were clearly not in a mood for science. To my delight, their reaction was exactly what I was hoping for.

— ¡Qué asco!

Yes, my dears. If I don’t teach you a bit of British culture, who will?

Raíz

by Lila Downs, Niña Pastori and Soledad Pastorutti

I can’t tell how come that Lila Downs was never featured in this blog. Now that, at long last, I got hold of this album, I have no excuses. Because it’s so damn brilliant.

You’d be hard pressed to look for highlights here. Is it La Maza by Silvio Rodríguez, El día que me quieras by Carlos Gardel, or a Spanish-language version of Sodade? (By the way, I never bothered to look up the Portuguese lyrics of Sodade. Until now, that is, just to see what’s lost in translation. Looks like nothing is lost.)

Si tú me escribes, te escribiré, Si tú me escribes, te escribiré Si tú me olvidas, te olvidaré Si tú me escribes, te escribiré, Si tú me olvidas, te olvidaré Hasta el día en que tú regreses.

Niña and Sole’s contribution notwithstanding, Raíz is unmistakeably Lila Downs’ project. I think that only she could get away with performing Que Nadie Sepa Me Sufrir in the rhythm of cumbia. And then, just for the hell of it, her very own Cumbia del mole in 3/4. Or is it 6/8? Even better, Zapata se queda switches back and forth between waltz and cumbia. Two more of earlier Lila’s songs, Agua de rosas and Tierra de luz, are also radically re-worked. Yet, if I had to choose the one song, that would be the opener, La raíz de mi tierra. No matter how many times I listen to it, it never fails to goosebump.

Historia de un Oso

a film by Gabriel Osorio Vargas

This year’s surprise Oscar winner for Best Animated Short Film, is a beautiful heartwarmingbreakingwarming story. Bear Story, to be precise.

Mapping Applied Linguistics: A Guide for Students and Practitioners

by Christopher J. Hall, Patrick H. Smith and Rachel Wicaksono

Finally, I finished this book. Not the easiest reading, especially if you have it on Kindle and try to go through it on the beach, as I did. But gratifying. I did not expect to go much past the introduction — yes I do read introductions. And this is what caught my attention (together with a 3-D representation of human forkhead-box protein 2 shown above):

All communities and cultures have deeply held beliefs about the nature of language and languages, which applied linguists ignore at their peril. But research in linguistics and allied fields allows us to bring new perspectives on the practical problems facing language users, which we must also be aware of if we are not to be led astray by tempting, but misleading, courses of belief and practice. Sometimes the most level path or the straightest-looking route doesn’t lead to new territory, but ultimately sends us round in circles or soon dries up altogether. <...> We’ll also continually bear in mind that most language users (the clients of applied linguistics), hold them to be self-evident; and, furthermore, that the beliefs of users can have profound effects on language uses. Finally, we’ll remember that all those who work professionally with language, including linguists, will succumb to the lure of these attractive avenues of belief . . . even if they do lead nowhere except to fewer spirited discussions at family holidays, the dinner table, the pub or the coffee house.

And here is the author’s top ten ‘dead ends’:

1. People think in language
2. Children are taught their first language(s)
3. Written language is superior to spoken language
4. Some groups of people don’t use their language properly
5. Some people speak their language without an accent
6. The way groups use their language reflects their intelligence
7. People with two languages are confused
8. Languages get contaminated by influence from other languages
9. A nation has, or should have, one language
10. Languages exist independently of users and uses

The fact that many of my colleagues (teachers!) indeed hold many of these beliefs is enough to convince me that I should go on, if only for the sake of being able to destroy their arguments in the pub or the coffee house. Moreover, this book made me realise that I am an applied linguist too. Beginner level, but still.