ROCK LEGEND LOU REED DIES AT 71

Lou Reed, who took rock 'n' roll into dark corners as a songwriter, vocalist and guitarist for the Velvet
Underground and as a solo artist, died last Sunday due to a liver disease. He was 71.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1942, he studied journalism, film directing, and creative writing. In 1964 he met Welsh musician Johnny Cale and they formed the band Velvet Underground together with other musicians.
The group soon caught the attention of artist Andy Warhol and his associates, who inspired many of Reed's songs. Reed rarely gave an interview without paying homage to Warhol as a mentor. He left the band in 1970.
He started a solo career that gave songs like Walk on the Wild Side, Perfect Day or Berlin. He is survived by his third wife, artist Laurie Anderson.

He said abut his craft: “You do this because you like it, you think what you’re making is beautiful. And if you think it’s beautiful, maybe they think it’s beautiful.” 

The prestigious music magazine Rolling Stone has issued a special report on this occasion; you will find it on the link below. Don't miss the photo gallery!!

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You can also listen to Berlin here below.

ANNIE LEIBOVITZ

US photographer Annie Leibovitz (Conneticut 1949) was in Oviedo last Friday to get the prestigious Príncipe de Asturias award for humanities.
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She is the descendant of Jewish immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe and she has had a longlife career working as a photographer for magazines such as Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair. She is the author of some of the most emblematic photographs of the 20th century: naked John Lennnon kissing a fully clothed Yoko or almost naked pregnant Demi Moore.

A major retrospective of Leibovitz's work was held at the Brooklyn Musueum (2006), based on her book, Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer's Life, 1990–2005, and included many of her professional pictures as well as numerous personal photographs of her family, children, and partner Susan Sontag.

She is also famous for her portraits of Queen Elizabeth II or the Disney series, in which Hollywood celebrities posed as Disney characters.
Here you can see some of her most famous photographs

CATALAN ISSUES

As you might already have noticed, Spain and Catalonia rarely appear in Anglo-Saxon newspapers. And, sometimes,when this happens, it provokes an uproar in our media. Last year, The New York Times published a very controversial article on the Spnish crisis. Many people complained about the apocalyptic coverage and the gloomy vision of our country depicted by the dramatic black and white photographs. Some journalists compared these with the image of misery offered in Luis Buñuel's Viridiana, a dark portrait of Spain in the fifties.
Read can read this New York Times article here

Now it is Catalonia's turn. It seems the business of Independence leaves nobody indifferent and many foreign journalists have shown their interest in this matter. For example, Stephen Burgen, The Guardian corresondent in Barcelona who visited our school last year, covered the 11 September rally for his newspaper. Here you will find an article and videos produced by BBC, covering the latest Diada.
Read the article and watch the videos

Last week, however, The New YorkTimes published an article in which some important Catalan businessmen expressed their concern about what is increasingly being perceived as a major conflict.
Read this article

Now, how do you feel about the way "the others" see "us"? How accurate do you think is the portrait of our country given by some foreign media? Does this happen in the national press?

ROMA GIRL DEPORTED

The deportation of 15-year old Leonarda Dibrani has been infuriating tha French (and many people in other EU countries) over the last three days. Here you can read about the circumstances of her arrest, her family's reaction, the French society's response and the position of the French Minister of Interior Manuel Valls. You will also find a link to the video we watched in class related to this event.
Read and watch the video
You can also watch the video below to learn more about the history and the culture of the Roma people,

NOBEL PRIZES 2013

Last week we got to know the names of the personalities awarded with the Nobel Prize. I would like to point out three of them: In the first place, as this is a group with an important number of people with a degree in sciences, I'm sure you will be delighed with the prize given to Higgs and Englert on account of the renowned Higgs Boson Particle Theory also known as God's Particle.

Read more on this prize

Secondly, this is the first time a Canadian writer in English (a woman!!!)gets this price. Alice Munro has been universally acknowledged as the master of the short-story; her work has often been compared with that of Chekhov's. Read how the local press reacted to the news

Finally I would like to finish with the Nobel Peace Prize. Although Malala Yousafzai's name (the Pakistani girl shot for fighting in favour of the education of girls in her country) had been put forward by many, this time the Nobel Peace PriZe went to a chemical weapons watchdog. Bearing in mind the recent events in Syria, we can understand the relevance of the candidate. Read and watch the video

FEMEN

In our last class we talked about FEMEN, a radical feminist group founded in Ucrania, famous around the world for their protests against the violation of the rights of women.
Visit FEMEN's website
This protests are carried out by topless women like Amina Sbui, who made the movement famous by defying the Tunisian government with Q'ran lines painted on her topless chest.

Last week three topless FEMEN members protested in the Spanish Parliament against the new abortion law proposed by the Minister of Justiz, Alberto Ruiz Gallardón.
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