Tuesday, August 12, 2008
A NEW SCANDINAVIAN SECTION: THE DECALINGUAL BLOG
Dear Readers, we can now read ourselves in Swesdish!!! (We knew that´s what you were waiting for, so that´s why we have just opened the new Scandinavian Section.
It´s true we are on holidays, but we have decided ourselves after having a glance at the happy results in the reading averages of the different blogsite editions. That´s why we have proceded to give way to some new innovations we were preparing for September: the new decalingual version and the new scandinavian section.
We have to admit that some versions of the blogsite (the german,the italian, the polish ones) have only get a few posts (barely five each) and that the load of entries belongs mainly to the Spanish version ( 167 articles) followed by the french, english and polish ones (33, 57 y 39 entries each) but the truth is that having a look at the visit maps of each of the sections is really encouraging. We are even read in Russia in Russian!! And even in Beijing though we are calling for a boycottt of the Games!!
Furthermore, we have chosen to grow bigger in concentrical circles (the Spanish version will always be the core of it, being surrounder by the ever-expanding English, French and Portuguese ones, and then the other "periferial" languages will come)
And finally, a very special noveauté I´m specially proud of: the new section in Catalonian. It´s difficult for me to express the pleasure and joy it amounts to me. I´m not a good Catalonian-speaker (in fact I´m an awful one) but Catalonian is a language deeply connected to my childhood and my holidays, Catalonia is sort of a second language for me, and in a time where things are so tight in Spain in the nationalistic-linguistic conflicts it´s a pleasure for me to use both Catalonian and Castillian (the so-called Spanish, but both are Spanish languages).
Lets leave the hatred, the intolerance and the incomprehension to those who want it. At this blogsite what we want is to see, learn and even mistake, but love. And languages is what we love here. Even when we don´t write well.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
THE LAST TIME THE BRITISH FOOLED THE FRENCH (OR SO THEY THOUGHT)
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The nearly almost last time the British fooled the French (or was it the other way round?) was the day the convinced each other to build one of the most amazing, anachronic and fascinating inventions of the XXth Century, the Concorde.
We recently created a new section within our blogsite to what we call "inventos bizarros" that is wild, recklees, bizarre inventions which no one else dares to construct. The latest one we wrote of, was the Concorde.
A result of the anachronistic technology of Great Britain in the aftermath of World War II, the Concorde was a business failure from the very beggining, a trap in which both the British and the French State were caught up, spending loads and loads of money in a product which never seemed to arrive to be profitable.
So it did in the end, almost a few years before the blast of one of them leaving for NYC, which seemed to put an end to the only 20 aircrafts that came to be constructed in the whole history of it, a putting and end to this disastrous experience.
Not so ruinful was it, as it seems. AIRBUS aircrafts seemed to heir a lot of its design, and the new european aerospatial icon seems to be a terrible terrible enemy to its former challenger the Boeing, in a fascinating dead hear race which is making both the american and the european company revolution airship market.
However, we could not avoid here paying a little hommage to that anachronic, magical invention, which enables us to say to kids, in the wake of such a high-speed XXIst Century world, something as strange, as beautiful and uthopian as: "In my times, there was a faster plane than today´s ones, you see? It was able to cross the Athlantic in three hours, half the time a commercial plane does today".
A pleasure to say so. No? At last for the time we can-.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
BIZARRE SEXUALITY: THE BEAR WAY
One of the nicest gay-lesbian groups to me is the BEAR MOVEMENT (their flag here on the left).
For those who may not have a clue (here in Europe, Spain and Madrid we seem to get used to everything and I don´t know what´s known or not out there), the bear people is a cultural gay subgroup, that appeared in San Francisco in the 80s or so I think and that has particular aesthetical preferences where a certain moderl of hypermasculinity seems to prevail. For you to have a guess, just imagine the "Village People" pop group: the policeman, the lumberjack, the cowboy, but always with good beards and moustaches (hair above all)
The truth is that both BEAR, and FEMME mouvement, what they try is to break up with stereostypes (in the case of BEAR people with the afeminate gay, in the case of FEMME with the Butch type of lesbian.
The point is we like these people because of their happy point of view and we think they are absolutely bizarre (in the sense of strange, weird and brave) and the issue came today because our favourite designer just a new web site to prevent AIDS and STD among bear people.
We invite you to visit the website because it´s really enjoyable and you can play with it (but it´s in Spanish) Special prize for that one who finds the train.... :-)
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
MICROTALES (IX)
English Español
With this microtale (1 of 2 this week) my aim is to pay tribute to such a great author as Javier Cercas, in what we could call the "realistic micro-tale"
“That damned hypotenuse captured Pi”. That´s what he said among other meaningless things. Being prime time, a celebrity such as he was. Unbelievable.
His former girlfriends smiled inside, pretending not to want anybody no bad. The sons were negotiating undercover their interventions on TV as the same time they publicly regretted their father´s decline. His legal counsellor declared in front of everybody to be doing the right thing by denouncing his client, while in private she bragged of her shrewdness in order to take advantage of the free publicity for her lawyer´s office.
Soon after, the old comedian arrived to hospital, not making laugh any longer, with his face, now strained.
We all have two of them. Don´t we?
El viejo cómico ingresó poco después en el hospital, su rostro crispado ya no hacía gracia.
Todos tenemos dos caras.
(NOTE: This article was originally published by Botijo de Oro in the spanish section of the blog)
Friday, May 9, 2008
PHILIPPINES BIZARROS OR DRAG QUEEN CATHOLICISM
Español English
I have just read the news in a homphobic newspaper that in a religious parade or ceremony in Philippines, a "group of homosexuals" (I guess a group of lovely "transvestites" more possibly but who knows) want to participate as queens serving Virgin Mary, and I was delighted by the illuminating beauty of their intention.
Under no cirumstantces, is Bizarría, no doubt, a rational project.
And bizarros, these philippine transvestites -or whatever they want- really are.
The Catholic Church has a mastership in blending folclore with religion (as all churches and sects try to, I don´t know if for good or bad, but no doubt they do so) and for that reason this project by these LGBTQ people in Philippines really makes me happy by their stubborness and love and their desire to participate in whatever they want and feel to. To march parading alongside with the Catholic Church, which is one, that, at least by the volume, greater Homosexuals-Despising has encouraged, may not be quite ortodox nor coherent or consistent, but brings along all my sympathy and love for this people, for their hability, strength and consistency in being able to blend and solve within them the contradictions of all the things they love.
The world, may be, has to be this way: polluted. With everyone participating in whatever he or she feels like and with everybody partying together and respecting what each other wants to do, and trying to understand and not to impose your own ideas.
In the end, it´s not if you are a religious believer or not what matters. What´s important is to be able to embrace the beautiful diversity of the world and not to impose the others your own beliefs.
Let us be bizarros and relax: lets embrace the whole world in its mistery. No room for intolerance (whatever the origin). Openness to the bizarre, surprising and wonderful world.
Let so be it.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
THE STRENGH OF BRAZILIAN CULTURE
Please note that the original article for this news was originally posted in the portuguese section of our blog site.
A month or so ago, I was lucky enough to come across an incredible Spanish woman that is a basketball, waterpolo and rugby player. If you are lucky and you speak or read Spanish you may like to have a look at her blog (and you may even post a comment -she speaks perfect English) She is a fascinating woman, I tell you!
But the reason why I am writing this post today is mainly to tell you of the musical "bloco" in which she plays and the symbolic value it has for us today.
The batucada-group is called Bloco do Baliza, and here you can see them playing in Madrid´s Puerta del Sol (the most important site within Madrid).
The discovery of this group was something that I especially liked, not just because I like blocos (and saw and visited many as I was in Brazil) but also because of the pleasure of this worldwide bizarro culture we all share. This woman, for instance, plays an american sport (basketball) a british one (rugby) and plays brazilian music, but she doesn´t just add up, she blends it instead into something new and special within herself.
The world wide bizarro culture is sort of like that (we are all like that to a certain extent in the globalization world) but what I particularly liked here today was the international reception of brazilian culture. At a time when there has been some nasty confrontations between Spaniards and Brazilians (the issue has been quite hot in the brazilian press) due to some shameful events at the border controls of both countries with the others´ citizens, it is great to see that the passion toward each others culture is a better indicator of what each other have to gain from mutual exchange and sharing.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
A BIZARRO TRIBUTE: ELIEZER BEN YEHUDA
An octolingual blogsite couldn´t do otherwise, but pay a tribute to the "bizarro" hebrew who achieved one of the paramount linguistic deeds of the XXth Century: to revive (we could even say "resurrect") one of the oldest languages in the world and it make it become the daily, economic, milatary and administration language of a new-born State and in fact one which would experience a harsh, difficult and risky-life (to make this experiment even more valid): Eliezer Ben Yehuda.
EBY, born in Belarus and dead in the Holy Land (in what then was the turkish Ottoman Empire) was a filologue, activistist, hebrew teacher, journalist, founder of the first hebrew newspaper and the first modern hebrew dictionary, but neither of this definitions fully defines what is so fascinating to us of him.
The real and epic "bizarry" of this modern genius was to be born in a slavic country (where people spoke lithuanian, polish or russian) moving to the Middle East (where people spoke turkish, arab, yiddish or german) and deciding that at home, ever since then, they were only going to speak Hebrew (which nobody spoke, back then).
Furthermore, the epic doesn´t finish here, it just starts. Ever since then (we may say even before) he concludes that the future state of Israel or Sion (that back then was nothing more of a dream, like a dream it was at the time the idea of independent arab countries)would only be possible if the israelis or zionists spoke hebrew.
To have an idea of what a crazy idea it was, back then hebrew was nothing more than a liturgic language (such as latin is today). The Jews in the Middle East, if there was something they spoke, that was arab, or turk, or german, or yiddish (a mixture of german, hebrew and slavic language) and those to come would only speak french, english, polish or russian, whatever. Whatever except Hebrew.
But this bizarro and crazy man just sticked to his idea that the only thing that could be spoken in a future, bizarro and imagined Zion state in order for it to be stable, was that: hebrew. We don´t want to speak here on the complications and the confrontations of the creation of this state: we just want to stick to the fascinating in the man we are talking about here.
Noy yet satisfied having told everyone his decision (for which he was taken as an outlandish and even crazy man) he started publishing his own newspaper in hebrew, his own dictionary, and what was to become a symbol: to raise his son as the first Native-Hebrew speaker. Itamar Ben Avi (Eliezer´s son) was indeed to become the first child to speak hebrew as mother tongue in nothing less than two thousand years.
Itamar, the son, later followed his father´s steps, he collaborated is the fist journal in hebrew, he was pro-independence, etc, but without doubt the moust astounding fact in his life was that: he was the first kid in two thousand years to have Hebrew as mother tongue.
Today Israel was hebrew as his official language. There, many other languages are also spoken: English, Arab (official as well), Spanish, Russian (even to the point electoral propaganda is printed also in Russian, since 10-20% are also Russian speakers) but the main language is Hebrew, a language the grand-grand-parents, the grandparents, the parents and even the inhabitands of a great part of Israel had never spoken before. But that´s the language the all speak, nowadays. They have revived it. Resurrected, I may say.
Tell if this is not a bizarro fact, in the sense we have given to this word (weird and corageous), if it´s not bizarro the man himself (extremely bizarro) and if from a linguistical pointical of view as the one we have here, we ought not to give this man a tribute.
This goes for you, Ben Yehuda. Chutzpah, our congratulations.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
MICROTALES (VIII)
Español English
She will throw herself off the trapeze as confirmed bachelor Pío opens the door.
It will be difficult, he always opens it just half-way. He seems to be scared of losing the only member of his family project.
He will come from work, and as soon as he gets the trainer off, he will schedule another boring dinner in front of the television screen. If he is happy he will gesticulate to her as he gobbles up his ready-to-cook lasagna. Still frozen in the middle. At some time during the adverts he will get up to bring her some bad food.
That will be the time.
She will throw herself against his flabby hand, pecking it until she manages he opens the door. She will fly away from the flat in second´s time. She will think "Find another one to sing at you, Pío".
MICROTALES (III)
Español English
“ There you go, Young Lad, head Linares- bound” ordered The Vasque, as they crossed Rio Grande River. Th only thing left from Spain was his roughness, coarseness and his Star gun after having been working in Baracaldo.
In Linares, Texas, he waited for his man. He had left behing a good trace of drug in order not to have any problems with Spanish or Mexican cops. That´s why he wasn´t scared, but he knew he was only doing that delivery for money and he knew how easily things could burst.
As soon as he entered the building he though of jail. The rattle of police sirens coming near had a nasty DEA stink. As soon as he fired the though: "What the hell of corridas they have down here!".
(NOTE: This article was originally published by Botijo de Oro in the spanish section of the blog)
MICROTALES (II)
He ran without restrain, just guided by its instinct of freedom, but suddenly stopped. He doubted if he would not have left the door of the house opened before finishing with all.
SLAVIC SECTION INAUGURATED: THE OCTOLINGUAL BLOG
THE OCTOLINGUAL BLOG SITE
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After verifying that yesterday we had readers in Moscow of our slavic version (unofficially and silently opened yesterday) even with the endless problems we are coming across with the slavic alphabet (I haven´t been able to set it up yet, what makes me type every single lettler by copy and paste, with a nightmare), we have decidaded to officially open the almost-last innovation within this blog site: the Octolingual Blog.
We recently told you that the "Sexylingual" (Hexalingual) blogsite wouldn´t stop there, being hexalingual, and althugh we are keeping officialy that name, Sexylingual, we have decided to set feet upon the slavic world. So far, we will "only" open two new versions: the russian and the polish ones, although for a while the strengh and heart of this blogsite will remain within the tetralingual version, and, within it, in the Spanish section (we are expanding on circles).
We hope the new expansion to bring surpises, in fact, we cannot think of anything more "bizarro" than a slav (not to mention one from Siberia). They gather all the ethimological requirements to be considered "bizarros" (which goes far beyond the English meanings for "bizarre", it comprises the meaning in four different languages): courage, weirdnesss, originality, generosity, lucidity and excentricity, much, much excentricity. What would a "bikarra" think of that"? Would he feel especially identified with the Slavs?. In the need of elucidating this concept, we urge the Lehendakari to organize a series of conferences througthout the Slavic world, invating us at full and luxurious expenses, all included.
In the meantime, and until the Spanish Vasque Executive takes any measure about that, we will keep investigating. Viva the Slavic Vicarra!!!
Saturday, April 26, 2008
OUR FAVOURITE BIRD: THE MOCKING BIRD
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Our favourite bird today is a rare species here in Spain and in Europe and barely known except for experts, since it only seems to exist within North America. In fact, in Spanish it receives a difficult name for Spanish to pronounce (Cenzontle) since that is a typical Mexican name.
So it difficult it is, that in fact, when time came to translate the film and Pulitzer awarded novel "To Kill a Mocking Bird" to Spanish, translators chose to translate it as "To Kill a Nightingale" since it was so difficult to explain to Spanish readers and viewers what a mocking bird is.
But the main fact, due to which we chose here, today and now this bird as our beloved one, was its main characteristic which also leads to its latin name. A mocking bird is a really talented bird which is able to pretend other birds songs and noises. It is able to imitate more than 20 species within 10 minutes. And the latin name? The "mimus polyglottos". Sort of "The multi-lingual clown" in English. How come we wouldn´t love that down here, how come.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
SPANISH: THE WEIRD BIZARRO LANGUAGE
I am sure you have all many times heard that common place that French is the loving tongue. Aparte from being really corny, that leaves you always with a question in your lips. OK, then, and was is Spanish supposed to be for, then? OK, German is said to be a language for orders and commands (someone said that it was a language just to speak to dogs and soldiers, and, if I´m not wrong, that one was a German) Italian, the language for the music. And Spanish? Yes, you are right: Spanish is the language of bizarros.
Bergamasco, Finnish, Hungarian, Sardinian, Provenzal (north and south) Nepali, all those could have claimed to be the language of ther weirds as well, yes, but, let ´s state two things. First we are talking here about Major West languages (the ones of more demographical and cultural use) and second, beacause obviously our knowedges in the matters are limited and we cannot properly speak of all. And, let me say, if had to choose one of the minority ones, I would have chosen Sardinian, my beloved.
But let us not stop and let´s analize all the aspects involving bizarry.
1) The name of tha language. Spanish or Castillian? The same to me. But, that this language, which is one ot the most spoken in the world, may even doubt of its own name, it´s already a great sign for me. Is it a language or perchance a dialect? Nationla or regional? National or International?
Ah, those doubts, that craziness and lack of security in itself is definitely a major feature or bizarre ones. The bizarre knows he is so, but he never exactly knows what he is. He doesn´t suit previous charts or classifyings. He doesn´t know how to define himself, he is not even capable as a minority, not even as an exception. He is so weird he is unable to define, himself. Spanish, that beloved language of ours, is bizarre even in its name.
2) The Geography: ¿How come it ain´t gonna be weird an language that is spoken by people of the Spanish peninsula, the caribbean ones of the people at the very end of America´s wild and vaste contintent? Necessarily the language is going to change, reshape and tear itself in that squizofrenic identity of language that doesn´t know if it sounds sweety, sensual, like in the caribbean, calculating and european or hard and tough, like in the Spanish peninsula. An arab flavoured and mediterranean language? Or an atlantic and continental one. Ah, I see, the language confuses itself, it gets ashamed, and in the end he doesn´t know who he is. Like the bizarre.
3) Phonetics: those "R" sounds of Spanish. How could we survive without them?
And those Zed "Z","C" sounds? You couldn´t even properly pronounce half or spanish surnames without it, leave alone the last primer ministers (González, Aznar, Zapatero). And the word, bizarro, what a distinct and tasty sound it has when you hear it like that, in pure castillian "BI- ZA-RRRO" . No comparisons, it has nothing to do that rocky and sleazy sound with the word in English.
And the fact is even more weird beacause the Spanish, not even the Spaniards, can´t be able all of pronouncing it correctly. In some places they do, but in others they pronounce all those "Z" sound like "S". And (at least in Spain) in the next village, just 2 km away, the may pronounce all the "S" like "Z" (which it´s just as wrong and the other way wrong.
4) Written spelling:
though, to some extent, Spanish has a much more clear written spelling than English (you can almost write every word no matter if you haven´t heard it before or you don´t know what it means) it has some strange letters which are not pronounced like the "h" and a letter as strange as "ñ" which is a requirement even to write its proper name: Español, España.
5) Semantics: a wonderful blend of arab, latin and german elements, Spanish has a beautfiful blend or words, using sometimes indoeuropean and sometime semitic words (like hebrew and arab) maintaning even to some extent in many cases the original arab articles: alcazar, almohada, alicante, alcoba, azequia, aceite, etc. Even some of the most famous geopraphic spots in Spain have arab or roman origin (like "Gibraltar" which comes from arab Gibr-Al- Tarik, the mountain of Tarik, or Zaragoza, from the roman Caesar Augusta)
6) Grammar: sunjunctive. For English-speaking Spanish learners, one of the biggest nightmares learning the complications, magic and chaos of the verb changes in Spanish. Subjunctive, the changes in verb form due to psychological aspects, indefinitions, misteries, the unknown..which usually leads English to an area of darkness where they´ll never be sure. True, Portuguese and French share that strange world, but even after that, then Spanish comes into that uncomprehensible world of passive voice, impersonal structures, etc. A wonderful world in itself.
Have you arrived here? I am glad you take your time to read it and discover the tastes and suggestions of Spanish, if you are still seduced you may well start learning Spanish know. To be honest, it ain´t that difficult, but we had to justify our election and it fact it pays off: its easy, its beautiful and it´s quite worldwide spoken (just have a look at the visitors map of the Spanish section of the web. So we encourage you, learn it. It´s worth it (as it´s English, of course)
Monday, April 21, 2008
Most Weird City 2008: PARIS (FRANCE)
This are the reasons given by Jaime to choose Paris (France) as the most weird city in the world.
1-All Paris stinks. On the underground several areas are connected to the septic tank of the buildings, and it's not a question of bad barriers, barriers simply don't exist. French people, to bear it best, do not wash, and so don't notice it as much. Everything is complete with the best cheeses in the whole world: they all stink.
2.On Second World War something odd happened, the whole Paris and part of France was occupied by the Germans, but every single French, all of them, heroically stood upon the Resistance. There's not a French who collaborated with the Germans, there isn't. What no one knows is how they managed to invade and occupy them for so long.
3.Paris's liberation was held by the Spanish republicans, but it was, biensur, a French man, Charles de Gaulle, who entered gloriously shaking a handkerchief to be acclaimed as liberator of the Reconquered France.
4.It is the capital or Southern Europe, for as Africa begins at the Pirineos.
5.They are true genius. They hold the privilege of having recently won the World Soccer Championship, with a whole team made out of players born outside France, and who played outside of France; some of them even born in French Guiana, miles and miles away from Paris and only one step to Brazil. But they went along the Arc de Triomphe just the same, and Paris prepaired itself to receive their own heroes with exquisite champagne. (Special mention to of weirdness to Christian Karembeu, whose face reminds Bob Marley just the same his body resembles to King Kong's, married to Adriana Sklenarikova (absolute goddess of Wonderbra), and whose college type football helped both France to win their Championship and Real Madrid to win his so longed Seventh Champions League.
6.Burn out cars. San Juan does not go that far here in Spain, over there they burn out the mercedes on Friday night. And it's not a matter of craze, it's a local tradition held up for ages. I was there at my Erasmus before all that fuss and I had the privilege of enjoying the spectacle of burning booga just at my door at the Residence
7.Every perfume in the world has been made up in Paris. Laboratories can be at Albacete, the botelling can be done in Almendralejo, and the aromatic plants may come from any marsh in Andalucía, but still on the side of the bottle of the perfume you will only see in golden letters “PARIS”.
8-They cook everything with greasy disgusting butter but nevertheless they're known as the best cookers in the world. As a matter of fact the word that designs the highest cooker is chef, that is boss, in french. They rule
9-Children, how not, come all, as well, from Paris. They have the more sophisticated Exportation Service commanded by storks in the whole Solar System.
10-Parisians are stiff people. French people are well known for being the more arrogant among the Europeans, but Parisians are even the most haughty among the French. If over there you speak in english they will look down on you, but if you try with with french, even if you only know how to say croissant, they will be helpful and attentive.
11-This no objection to Paris being the international symbol of love. Any affected movie that considers itself of value ends with a shot of the Eiffel Tower at night or, at least, at sunset.
12-Tour Eiffel. The most simple and ugly amount of iron (go ahead Harry) that was built by the workers on the Universal Exposition of 1889 has become a universal symbol of Romanticism. To make matters worse their lights flash every time the clock strikes a particular hour, and everybody goes ohhhh and all the couples start to kiss.
VOTE NOW FOR THE MOST WEIRD CITY IN THE WORLD!!!
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Time has come!!! You can now vote for the Most Weird Ciy in the World 2008. Let us get you introduced to the...
WAYS OF VOTING:
1. Electronic Poll / Survey - it is currently available at the Spanish version of the web, where you just click the city you would choose as the weirdest.
2. Comments - another complementary voting possibility it to leave here your 5 most weird cities from among the ones offered (see at the right) in order from most bizarre (5 points) to the fifth (1 point).The ones with the most votes will receive the Gold Bizarro, Silver Bizarro and Brozen Bizarro prizes.
CANDIDATE CITIES:
Varsovia, Brasilia, Praga, El Cairo, Toledo, Soria, París (Texas), Béjar (Salamanca), Madrid, México D.F, Amberes, París (Francia), Almaty, Buenos Aires.
PLAZO DE VOTACIÓN: LUNES 21 A SÁBADO 26, ambos inclusives.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
THE TIME IS COMING
The day after tomorrow, almost tomorrow, at 0,01 h. of Monday (Madrid local time) you will see in the blog the start to the voting to elect what we are all concerned about.....
WHICH WILL COME UP TO BE THE WEIRDEST CITY IN THE WORLD?
The voting time will start on Monday 21st (GMT + 1 time) and will end up Saturday 26 at 12:00 (GMT +1 time) horas.
The Awards will be the following:
By Machine Poll: Audience´s Special Prize.
It will be given to city with the most votes in the polling application we will insert on the blog site.
By coments: Golden Bizarro, Silver Bizarro, Bronze Bizarro.
It will be for the city with the most votes in the comments (only a comment by person and comments should be posted at this enter, in order to have everything centralized and organized, though as Jury we keep the possibility of correcting any possible mistakes). To vote an Internet Profile or Web or Blog Site will be needed (no anonimous votes), ranking the 5 cities of your preference from the most to the fifh (5 points to the best, 1 to the fifth) and then we will sum up the votes to obtain the puntuations which will lead to the Golden, Silver and Bronze Bizarros.
Jury Special Award (to be given by the bloggers of this site which had som much work due to the enthusiasm of the wonderful, hardworking, and terribly funny participants) It will be announced only the day of the awards): Honorific Citizenship Award.
The city that wins it will become the BIZARRE CITY PAR EXCELLENCE, receiving all of its inhabitants the bizarre citizenship, and all bizarros will receive honorific that chosen citizenship.
The BIZARRE CITIZENSHIP PAR EXCELLENCE will make the city a pilgrimage city ever since to every bizarro who is proud to be so, and visit to the city should be made, at least once in the lifetime.
Any bizarro who meets a citizen of the BIZARRE CITY PAR EXCELLENCE wil invite that citizen for a drink, to celebrate that wonderful meeting.
P.D: As Jury, we retain all legal rights to concede any other award we may want to, aside from the above mentioned.
Good Luck for all!!!
Most Weird City 2008: Why Not Antwerp?
MOST WEIRD CITY IN THE WORLD 2008 CONTEST
Candidates (Still Open): Varsovia, Brasilia, Praga, El Cairo, Toledo, Soria, París (Texas), Béjar (Salamanca), Madrid, México D.F, Amberes, París (Francia).
MANOLITO LUNAR (Moonlight Manolito if you want) thinks there is nothing so bizarre as Antwerp, and believe, he knows what he is talking about. And since he ain´t superstitious (despite being a galician) he gives us 13 reasons 13. Magical Number:
1. For having the third biggest port in Europe, which in fact, is far bigger than the city itself. In fact (2) it would be bigger where it not for the Ducth, who have control of the mouth of the river, over which Amberes´port is built. They forbid the belgian government to widen this mouth, to prevent oil boats arriving to Amberes, and therefore being able to compete with Rotterdam´s port.
2. For having the port atmosphere as few places in the world are lucky to have. Some bars, late at night, hide people who look as taken out of movie by Fellini
(women in their sixties with loads of make up and impossible neckkines, tough sailors with a vicious air).
3. For having a REAL Red District, (not a turistical one, like in Amsterdam) where it is REALLY SCARY to go in.
4. For having a Chinese Disctrict, where even Chinese fear to enter.
5. For having a cathedral with a really high endless tower, and another smaller one, because on the way to build it, they could not understand how on hell the first one stood up withour falling (the second tower fell a series of times before they gave up).
6. For having a streer with ONLY jewelry shops, all of them clossed for Sabbath, sorry, Saturday, while the rest of the shops close on Sundays.
7. For having, in one its museums, the oldest printing machine in the world (¿?).
8. For demolishing a lot of villages (to make the port bigger) but leaving behind standing, some streets and squares "so that people can see how they were like".
9. For giving many of its streets and squares a new name after World War II, to pay tribute to the American saviours. Therefore, we are invited to beaties sucha as Franklin Rooselvetplaats, Michiganstraat o Henry Fordlaan.
10. For having, next to the station, a cybercafé opened 24 hours, closed down by the police, tired of knife-riots in its inside late at night AM.
11. For having locals who speak lots of languages, just to understand the people who live in or just spend some time in the city, well aware that "nobody is gonna learn this shit language of ours". As a result, no foreigner ever learns it.
12. For being, by far, the biggest city in Flemish Region (Dutch-speaking Belgium), and not being the capital, due to the express veto of Wallonia (French-speaking Belgium) due to the symbolic value to Flemish. They, in turn, gave back the favour, giving their veto to Liège as the Wallonian capital
13. And for the beer. And, My God, what a BEER...
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Thursday, April 17, 2008
Most Weird City 2008 CONTEST: Mexico City
Candidates (Still Open): Varsovia, Brasilia, Praga, El Cairo, Toledo, Soria, París (Texas), Béjar (Salamanca), Madrid, México D.F.
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Most Weird City 2008 CONTEST: Madrid
14. A census of more than 800 beggars.
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Most Weird City 2008 CONTEST: Bejar (Salamanca, SPAIN)
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Most Weird City 2008 CONTEST: Paris (TEXAS)
Candidates (Still Open): Varsovia, Brasilia, Praga, El Cairo, Toledo, Soria, París (Texas), Béjar (Salamanca), Madrid, México D.F.
5. Because it inspired the film and was never shown on it.