You’ll either like this. Or you won’t. Probably the latter… Use the comments to enter into the debate

Bullfighting photos with a Flash interface. Won’t work for everyone…
List of links to the photos.
Cute Overload . com to redress the balance…

My first bullfight for the record. Still analysing my feelings on whether to go again… It’s a tricky one. I really enjoyed it on the one hand and feel there’s tons to learn about the long history and culture of the bullfight, on the other hand it does have many barbaric moments. But as a carnivore it would be hypocritical to condemn it. Before yesterday I’d never seen an animal die. Let alone 6 huge beasts in a row at extremely close quarters…

On a lighter note, “Olé” is pronounced differently in Mexico. In Spain it’s oh-LAY whereas here it’s OH-lay.

Pahrump, Nevada is where one of Sita’s aunts set up shop a couple of years ago. It’s basically a weird martian landscape with scattered casinos, incongruous golf courses and enormous industrially air-conditioned houses with gardens full of gravel and cacti (see photo). Anyroad, this article on a new law they just passed banning foreign flags does not bode well for its political future. Reminds me of when the kids in my Spanish class in California told me off for having flags from Spain, Chile, Mexico and the UK but not the stars and stripes. They’re only flags for christ’s sake…

Meanwhile, in Wales… Dragon Sausages must contain dragon meat. Normal sausages don’t have to be called Mechanically Recovered Offal and Rusk Bangers. Yet.

Just to another part of the city (near Plaza Bonita) but after a hastily put together excel spreadsheet of cost-benefit analysis decided against it… taking into account cancelling/recontracting services, removal vans, deposits, and the all important 4 extra flights of stairs it would have resulted in a grand saving of 30 bucks a month. Also there was no area for a BBQ, it would have been nice to have a bath though. Especially with waterjets. Oh the luxury. I would have needed to figure out how to waterproof the laptop though.

Anyway, deciding not to move, this month at least, is a HUGE weight off my mind. I’ve only got one more week in the big city before the US, UK jaunt kicks in which pretty much puts me out of action for a few weeks and after all the fun with plumbers, cleaners and fridge repairers in the last week I’ve learnt not to go making plans that involve short periods of time and heavy reliance on the Mexican service industry.

Today I’m working on some translation and shall also be hitting the travel agents trying to find hotels for Mum and Dad’s visit in Feb. We’ll all be flying into Cancun and from there on in it’s unbounded adventure.

Also working on Amour Fou’s website. I’ll not link to it cos I don’t want it indexed by search engines yet. But if you fancy a look (there’s only 20 dvds in the catalog for now, (Allen - Almodovar) it’s presently at www.agaveweb.com/amourfou with the blog at agaveweb.com/amourfoublog . I think the design stage is almost over, but the uploading of 500 odd dvd descriptions has barely begun…

Tonight, fiesta round Meghan’s. Tomorrow was going to be josé’s house warming but the Mexican Electricity Board had other ideas, so that’s off, Sunday… Bulls? Hope so because it’s been a while since I went out with me camara. Apologies in advance to vegan/vegetarian readers. And Morrissey…

Spanish Word/Phrase of the week:
“Me sale mas caro el caldo que las albondigas” roughly: The sauce is costing me more than the meatballs.
To use when you’re being shafted by service charges and such like. Eg when you’re sending a 5 peso keyring to California and the postage costs you 70 bucks.

(c) Mariola Zepeda 2006

(c) Mariola Zepeda 2006

For a fine set of pix from last night, check out Mariola Zepeda’s Flickr photos

He referred to the Smiths obliquely as a ghost who is always nearby but still gave it some welly with songs like Panic and Girlfriend in a coma. The crowd, myself included, couldn’t help but join in more with those songs rather than his relatively sedate solo stuff. He made the odd stab at Spanish with some, frankly, baffling dialogues seemingly influenced by his recent move to Italy. “Is there a Julia in the audience?” which is something to do with the police in Italian. (pull)Fair play to him for shouting “Tapatios” to the crowd though, we liked that.(/pull) And there was the requisite booing when he mentioned that tomorrow he’d be playing in Mexico City. Sita especially appreciated the changes of shirt with an average of 4 songs to each ripping off of silk shirtery…

Interesting backing band too, shaven-headed 25/40 yr old men forced to wear some bizarre dungaree outfit. They had the songs down pat.

Overall a fantastic concert and it was definitely worth arriving early to get to the rows where you could see every passionate expression. Even if it meant watching Eurovision clips from the 60s, New York Dolls footage and a Bjork/Kate Bush percussionist/keyboardist act named Kristeen Young.

The setlist via a source I will soon track down:

William
In the future when all’s well
Don’t make fun of daddy’s voice
Panic
Dear god please help
I’ve changed my plea to guilty
First of the gang to die
Disappointed
You have killed me
Ganglord
Let me kiss you
Everyday is like sunday
Girlfriend in a coma
I just want to see the boy happy
Life is a pigsty
Please please please
How soon is now?
Far off places
Irish blood English heart

Sorry about the sparse posting, been spending quality time with young Sita… Service as normal Thurs/Friday