Actors work free for Valencia at Teatre Micalet

La Abadia

Yesterday I attended a round table with the stage director, the main actor and the translator of Eduardo de Filippo's El arte de la comedia, which will be on this Friday and Saturday only, at 19.00 and 22.30. Don't miss it! It is an opportunity to enjoy a very relevant play in our dismal cultural panorama.
Tickets at servientrada.

Classic cinema at the Luis Vives University Residence

In May L'Aula de Cinema in the UV presents the cycle El major espectacle del món: Visions del circ al cinema, Wednesdays at 18.00h at C.M. Lluís Vives. Shows on 5, 12, 19 i 26 of The greatest show on Earth, Cecil B. De Mille, Gycklarnas Afton, Ingmar Bergman, 1953) and La strada (Federico Fellini, 1954). Also, with l'Institut d'Història de la Medicina i de la Ciència López Piñero, l'Aula de Cinema in the UV at Palau de Cerveró will show the cycle Medicine: science for health?, shows Thursdays 6, 13, 20 i 27. The Constant Gardener, Fernando Meirelles, 2005, Awakenings, Penny Marshall, 1990, The Third Man, Carol Reed, 1949 and Crimes of the Future (David Cronenberg, 1970).


More info
www.uv.es/cultura
auladecinema@uv.es

TECHNOLOGY IN OUR LIVES

Technology has changed our lives. We can solve our problems with the Public Administration from home,we can have a long-distance call with our relatives who live abroad, we can manage our bank accounts from home without time limits... On the other hand, as our life gets easier, we loose the opportunity of being in contact with people. First of all, technology has made our lives easier.
Nowadays we do things that few years ago couldn't be possible. Mobile communication, Internet connection, cameras, MP3s, video cameras, … There are a lot of gadgets that lead us straight to the world of technology. And if we are able to learn how to use them, we will find lots of things that we can do in an easier way. In fact, things like going to the bank or buying a flight ticket can be done from home, or doing thousands of pictures without the need of getting them impressed, talking to anyone anywhere thanks to the mobile telephone... are great advantages.

Present and future of Valencian language

Right now, Valencian society lives a paradoxical situation regarding its own language, a basic aspect that defines its cultural, political and sociological identity. From Transició period (and especially, from the moment the Use and Teaching of Valencian Act was passed in 1983) to nowadays, it has made many efforts in order to normalize the use of Valencian language. However, despite all these efforts, it hasn't succeeded: there are still some serious doubts about the vitality of Catalan in València and nobody is able to forecast for certain which future it will have. It's true: many efforts have been made, because Valencian language was on the verge of extinction, but they have been irregular and, in specific fields, clearly insufficient. Consequently, if Valencian society wants to keep its language, more decisive actions will have to be made in these fields. For instance in the mass media, increasing the presence of the language in them, especially in the public mass media, all of them integrated in the RTVV corporation and born specifically to promote Valencian language normalization. At the same time, Valencian society will have to keep on working hard in those fields where language is already visible, but not consolidated enough. Obviously, in order to take this new step beyond, Valencian society needs to strengthen what we could call the social consensus about the language. As society, it must answer again some essential questions, for example if it’s worth keeping this language (its own language) alive. If the answer is yes, it has to clarify which means will be needed to achieve this aim. The foundation of the Language’s Valencian Academy (AVL) could be a good means to achieve it and it’s a good sign of a renewed social consensus about the language. On the other hand, like other regional (non-state) medium languages, Valencian language faces difficult challenges. From this point of view, the most significant of them is not too obvious: one of the scenes where the future of the language must be analyzed is the global scene. For this reason, the role of a united Catalan language in Spain, in Europe and in Internet is so important. And also for this reason, it's so important that every Administration and every institution responsible for the academic and the political regulation of the language states its recognition of the language's unity and acts consequently. If we’d take a look outside we could find some interesting examples of languages which have succeeded in becoming global. For instance, we could focus on the Dutch Language Union, an agreement between the Netherlands and Belgium (in respect of the Flemish community) that proclaimed internationally Dutch language’s unity. Now, the Dutch Language Union is an institution that, among other important tasks, defines the standard language for every country where Dutch language is official. Thanks to this institution, the international weight of Dutch language (and, probably, its speakers’ self-esteem as users of this language) should have risen. Finally, obviously, we have to talk about the Valencian speakers and, also, about the non-speakers: we should consider every citizen, because the present and the future of the language must be, if we want it to be successful, a shared social and political project. Because of this principle, both users and non-users of the Valencian language should feel that this language is a useful tool for communication and social integration, available every time and everywhere. Usefulness will be the key for language's real use and, as significant as this aspect, for the social representation of the language that users and non users must share: that is, their shared views, believes, attitudes, etc. towards the language. In order to promote this usefulness, we need more efficient political measures: a clearer linguistic policy. All in all, we can say that if Valencian language becomes an effective instrument for communication and integration and it's really seen like this, its use will progressively grow; nevertheless, if this doesn't happen, if users and non-users can not experiment this usefulness and nor can they perceive it in their ordinary lives, language use will decrease gradually. This time, maybe, without possibilities of recovering. Miquel Ruiz PALE Course 2010 ARGUMENTATIVE COMPOSITION

A New Future

Today is The International Women's Day. That may not mean mcuh to some people who have been born after the seventies, but to the oldies this is a Big Day.

In 1971women marched through snowy London to demand liberation. Today women still march along the streets of most European cities. The equality we fought for in the past is still an illusion if we look at  participaton in most companies' governing boards, or at the high numbers of gender violence crimes, or at the sex industry in most European cities.

It is true that women are still raped, it is true that, although there are more women MPs, numbers drop when we look at secretaries of state, or well-paid jobs. Nevertheless, conquests have taken place. For example women, nowadays, have more choices. They can decide what they want to be in the future. They can design their careers, they can decide whether they want to become mothers or not. Most women study in co-educational schools, where there is no discrimination for reasons of sex, as it was the case in Spain in the fifities, sixties and even seventies. This was very serious, because women were not prepared to take part in the public sphere, as men were. On the contrary, they were trained to be good mothers and good wives, good sisters, good carers of the elderly, of the young.

The most difficult battle for all is the one about symmetry in the home. What does this mean? That men have not been trained to be at home and sometimes they lack the necessary skills to be useful in the kitchen or in the family when someone is ill or disabled or even when there are children around who need to be taken care of. Only when men are ready to share their lot in the private sphere will women be able to really choose whether they want a top professional career. This battle is still to be fought. At the pace we are following maybe in 100 years equality will be a fact.

Obituary

If you haven't read "The Catcher in the Rye", this is the right time to do it. The death of JD Salinger is a sad moment for literature. The novel, a tale of a rebellious and lonely teenager who has been expelled from school for his poor grades, published in 1951, has sold over 60 million copies and sells thousands every year.The novel is very controversial and has been banned in some schools because ot its bad language and antiauthoritarian stance.


The writer himself has been a mysterious individual who has lived in seclusion. What has he been doing in the last 55 years before he died? John Walsh, a journalist who works for The Independent, and many like him, wonder whether there's more writing in the drawer that might have been written while he was withdrawn from the world.

Meet Holden Caufield, the protagonist, and you will understand why 
Salinger's voice is so powerful. 

Give us your opinion!

School Trip to New York in March

We are about to close the group for the trip to New York in March, so if you are still interested, please contact us as soon as possible at eventeoivalencia at gmail.com We are just waiting for Iberia airlines to confirm fees for a smaller group. You'll have more information in a few days. Event

Camus forever

Last week I read a French book by Albert Camus which is called “L’étranger”. In this book, the main character, whose name is Meuersault, tells us the last days of his life.

Everything started when he was told by mail that his mother was dead. Then, he attended the funeral, where he met his mother’s friends. Everybody there noticed that he wasn’t sad. He didn’t cry, he slept all night long, and finally he even refused to see his mother’s corpse.

In fact, next morning he was on the beach having a good time with Marie, a former work-mate who loved him. That showed he wasn’t sad.

Marie wanted to know if he loved her, and he said he didn’t. He wasn’t able to feel anything. Words like love, fear, regret or hate didn’t make any sense for him. And, besides, he couldn’t lie, he was unable to make up an excuse.

This lack of feelings drived him to shoot a muslim who had attacked his friend Raymond, who was also his neighbour. Raymond had had problems with a girl who was the sister of the muslim who attacked him.

Soon after the murder, he was caught by the police. Some months later, the trial started. His lawyer tried to save him, but he had said he shot the muslim “because the heat” and he didn’t show any regret, and it was impossible for the lawyer to save him.

Finally, he is found guilty because he hadn’t cried when his mother had died, and that showed he was a soulness person. Even when his life was falling apart before his execution, he was unable to feel anything.

Roque

Theatre El Musical in Cabañal

Wonderful performance of this classic play with Juli Cantó and Cristina Garcia in one of her best roles. Exhilariating and funny, this absurdist farce by the French writer Eugene Ionesco  will be on until Sunday February 7th. with 50% discount for bookings- 607.316.418 / lauder@tornaveu.com,  tickets at 7,5  euros.

The Chairs is a play about the end of the world which wonderfully expresses that the world is what we make of it, but that at the end everything is useless: we are faced with the only reality of emptiness. Empty chairs on an empty stage littered with useless confetti, give an impression of sadness. Disenchantment such as one finds in a ballroom after a dance is what is left at the end of our dreams; and it would be after this that the chairs, the scenery, the void, become the only reality.

Don't miss it. Give us your opinion!

Visit to MUViM next Thursday (January 28th)

The Adveture of Thinking is he title of the permanent exhibition at the Muvim Museum. The exhibition includes sound, image and written documents on the way ideas have developed in the Western Wold since the Middle Ages until now (Freud, Marx).

The first meeting will be at the Museum's min door half an hour before. That is we shall start at 09:30 for the first group, and ten every half an hour there will be other groups. Just contact the English Department for reservations. Entrance is free. The visit is one hour long.There will be an audio guide in English explaining the exhibits.

1st group 09:30 (visit alt 10:00)
2nd group 10:00 (visit at 10:30)
3rd group 10:30 (visit at 11:00)

20 people per group.
Entrance free.
Contact eventeoivalencia at gmail.com to check for empty places.

Let's go to the cinema!

Ken Loach's las film "Looking for Eric" is one of the best of his long career.

First, it is entertaining. The plot evolves around a Manchester United football fanatic, Eric Bishop, who is living with two youngsters from his former marriage, his stepsons. Eric is fragile and unhappy with his life so he wants to commit suicide, but he finds support in his friends (football supporters like him) and workmates (in the post office) to overcome the difficulties he finds, specially when dealing with his eldest son's criminal environment. Fighting to overcome problems makes him a better man and more couragous, too.

Memorable is the scene with his grandson as he meets his first ex-wife whom he still loves. Interesting is the way the director Ken Loach emulates Woody Allen's technique in merging reality and imagination in a sort of magical realism series of scenes between the protagonist's  hero (the footballer Eric Cantona) and himself in a mock psychonalityic relationship between shrink and patient, which brings about most of his confidence to face a new and better life.

Secondly, the narrative is full of surprises as Eric moves from depression to heroism once he is able to face love and responsibility towards his sons. Therefore, there is at the same time a story about personal growth, a love story, a story about parenthood and adolescents, a story about friendship and the power of the group against the weakness of the individual, and, last but not least, a story of gangsters and crime which evidences that the British police do not play with dolls when fighting crime.

Finally, Paul Laverty, the scriptwriter, and the actors Steve Evets, Eric Cantona, Stephanie Bishop, etc. do a wonderful job. The film is appropriate for the many clues to British cultuture that is brings to us in OV (UGC and Albatros): the accent, the types, the popular culture around football matches, the police, the low-class youth, etc. A highly recommended funny film and a great comedy whose values are progressive to the root!

"He who is afraid to throw the dice will never throw a six" says Cantona when he is teaching Eric. That is the moral behind the film: he who does not take risks is already dead.

Let's laugh!

"Participatory Theatre" is the formula used by "Moving on Theatre Company", whose new play "Food for Thought" will be with us on Wednesday 16th of December, at 11 and 19.00. The Company has its own acting style which is extremely funny as it activates the audience to take part in the hilarious scenes.

You can get tickes from your teacher next week.