El Cordobes - Bullfighter (1950-1959)

Madrid, Spain. I have been a bullfight fan all my life. I recommend "Death in the Afternoon" by Ernest Hemingway.

https://www.thelocal.es/20190525/madrids-bullfighting-ritual-acclaimed-and-contested/

When the bull collapses and dies in front of the matador, silence descends on Madrid's bullfighting ring, a "ritual" that its French manager Simon Casas vigorously defends in an increasingly conflictive climate.

Around 500,000 enthusiasts are expected to descend on Madrid's Las Ventas arena during the month-long Feria de San Isidro, the Spanish capital's biggest bullfighting festival. But now more than ever, activists and politicians are getting involved as regional and municipal elections loom on Sunday.

Madrid's outgoing left-wing mayor has promised “corridas” (bullfights) “without blood or death”. But the conservatives and far-right defend a “tradition” associated with Spanish identity. To make their point, they enlisted three “toreros” (bullfighters) as candidates for April's general election.

“I don't know anyone who loves the fighting bull more than the torero,” says Casas, a 71-year-old former matador, as he strolls through Las Ventas, built in 1929. It “is never an enemy for the torero but a glorified partner.”

In a corral next to the ring, visitors measure up these “fighting bulls” that have been reared solely for combat and sometimes weigh more than 600 kilos.

“If I had to be an animal, I wouldn't want to be a kitten or a doggie but a fighting bull,” says Casas. “I'd die, yes, but… I would make my destiny glorious.”

Spectators follow a bullfight at the Las Ventas bullring during the 2019 San Isidro festival in Madrid. Photo: GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP

Operating room and abattoir

Every day, representatives of the toreros pick at random the bull that will face off with each matador that evening in a solemn ceremony that involves picking papers out of a hat.

“That's the way it's been done since the 19th century,” says Casas.

In his office, paintings and photos pay homage to toreros killed by bulls: Joselito in 1920, Manolete in 1947… Before a fight, rare are the matadors — those toreros tasked with killing the bull — who don't pass by the chapel in Las Ventas to pray. Nearby, two operating rooms are on hand for injured toreros.

As for the bull, it will die unless it receives an extremely rare pardon — “because you have to follow things through otherwise it becomes a performance and not a ritual,” says Casas.

Bullfights that involve killing the bull in the ring are legal in Spain, part of France, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela and some of Ecuador. In Portugal, it's illegal but the bull is slaughtered afterwards.

'He killed it badly'

On this spring day, the Las Ventas ring is teeming with close to 24,000 people. “Long live Spain” shouts the crowd as former king Juan Carlos I joins onlookers.

First off, the bull is weakened by toreros who drive pikes and “banderillas” — coloured darts — into it, drawing blood. Then a flourish of trumpets announces the entrance of the matador who has 10 minutes to finish the bull off.

“Ole!” “Good!” The matador is applauded when he manages to attract the bull into circles around him, standing close to its horns. Suddenly thousands of white handkerchiefs rise in the audience: “a bull was very valiant, it was killed at once, the public is asking for an ear” as a reward for the torero, explains Antonio Mercader, a 54-year-old economist and enthusiast.

Onlookers whistle with disapproval at another matador as “the bull suffers too much,” adds his wife, Paqui Fernandez, pulling a face. “He killed it badly.”

The 'art of killing'

Protesting for the “abolition of bullfighting,” activists estimate that some 200 bulls will be killed during the Feria of San Isidro, and thousands in the whole of Spain this year.

Calling corridas a “show of cruelty,” author Manuel Rivas published an opinion piece earlier this month asking Spain to renounce the “art of killing.”

However, bullfighting, part of Spain's cultural heritage list, appears untouchable. Its ban in Catalonia in 2010 was overturned by the Constitutional Court. In practice, however, corridas no longer take place in the northeastern region, nor in the Balearic and Canary Islands.

In 2008, 810 bullfights took place across Spain. Ten years later, there were only 369, according to the culture ministry.

“Don't leave bullfighting high and dry,” pleads this year's poster for San Isidro.

It is a poster that appealed to Eladio Galan, a 25-year-old pharmacist who wonders whether bullfighting will still exist in 30 years.

“I have friends who are indifferent, others who tell me: 'you're heartless'.”

By AFP's Laurence Boutreux

I'm adding this to my list of favorite quotes. A chess player who lives in Canada. We share a favorite Grandmaster, Capablanca.

I enjoy playing chess and the guitar. I have a lot of favorite chess players among them Capablanca.
Canada

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Wikipedia:

José Raúl Capablanca was a Cuban and Spanish chess player who was world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. A chess prodigy, he is widely renowned for his exceptional endgame skill and speed of play.

Full name	José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera
Country	Cuba & Spain
Born	19 November 1888 Havana, Cuba (Spain).
Died	8 March 1942 (aged 53) New York City, New York, U.S.
World Champion	1921–1927

BBC News - Storm Filomena: Spain sees 'exceptional' snowfall

This blog has 11 posts about Spain at Spain.

Coronavirus - France, United States, Spain, UK, Germany

Clara Fernández - Spanish Pole Vaulter

These two YouTube videos: Everything you always wanted to know about the Spanish Inquisition.

Nobody cares.

I just played 6 games of chess. I had 3 wins, 2 losses, 1 draw.

The 1st 2 games which I won, my opponents did not have their country in their profile.

The next 4 games were against Portugal, Spain, Russia, and Kolkata, India (formerly Calcutta).

My Lichess Profile

SEP 5, 2020

3 wins1 draw2 losses

Played 6 Rapid games20066

Google Translate is my friend.

This is from a Lichess.com profile. My opponent lives in Spain.

Con blancas e4. Con negras, depende.

With white e4. With black, it depends.

His profile

My profile

The chess game we played, I had the White pieces: https://lichess.org/UfaNuaPi/white

The endgame was interesting.

I studied Spanish in high school but I was too lazy to understand it. Fortunately, we have Google Translate these days.

This is unusual because Fucktard Trump is doing something right.

New York Times

The U.S. is barring travel from Brazil.

The Trump administration is banning travel into the United States from Brazil, where the Covid-19 pandemic has been spiking, using the same authority it used earlier to halt certain travel from China and Europe.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said that President Trump was adding Brazil to the list of countries where travel has already been banned, including Europe, the United Kingdom and China.

“As of May 23, 2020, Brazil had 310,087 confirmed cases of Covid-19, which is the third highest number of confirmed cases in the world,” Ms. McEnany said in a statement. “Today’s action will help ensure foreign nationals who have been in Brazil do not become a source of additional infections in our country.”

She added that the new travel restrictions did not apply to the flow of commerce between the two countries.

The decision was detailed in a proclamation Sunday evening, but had been foreshadowed earlier in the day by Robert O’Brien, the president’s national security adviser.

“Because of the situation in Brazil, we are going to take every step necessary to protect the American people,” Mr. O’Brien said on the CBS program “Face the Nation.”

Coronavirus cases have exploded in Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy. The country, which confirmed its first case in late February now has the largest known outbreak after the United States, with more than 347,000 infections and more than 22,000 deaths.

When other countries began taking drastic measures to curb the spread of the virus in February and March, Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, played down the risks and encouraged public gatherings. In early March, he visited Mr. Trump at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s Florida club, with three aides who later tested positive for coronavirus, setting off alarm throughout the White House.

Countries around the world are struggling with the question of reopening air travel and tourism, a crucial economic sector for many.

Officials in Greece have suggested an “air bridge” with other nations that have minor outbreaks. International flights to Athens are to resume June 15, and to the country’s other airports on July 1. But tourists will be admitted only if their home countries meet certain “epidemiological criteria,” officials said.

Britain, still reeling from one of the world’s worst outbreaks, will make international air travelers self-isolate for 14 days as of June 8, but is exempting truck drivers, seasonal farmworkers and medical workers. In a reciprocal move, France will require travelers from Britain to self-isolate for 14 days starting June 8, and air travelers from Spain starting Monday.

Spain is going in the other direction. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced that the country would allow international visitors in July, hoping to salvage the summer for a tourism industry that accounted for 12 percent of the country’s gross domestic output last year, when Spain received almost 84 million visitors.

John Williams | Asturias | Isaac Albéniz

"Albéniz's Asturias is another of the composer's impressionist pieces, also taken from the Suite Española and describing this region on the northern coast of Spain." (J.C. Williams 1993)

Everything you always wanted to know about Cuéllar, Spain.

I just played an interesting chess game which was a draw with someone who lives in Cuéllar, a small town in Spain. My opponent, Juan Pascual Arranz, is probably the best chess player in that small town. Cuéllar is 96 miles (154 kilometers) north of Madrid.

Wikipedia - Cuéllar, Spain

Cuéllar is a small Town and Municipality in the Province of Segovia, in the autonomous community of Castile and León, in Spain. It had a population of 9,725 in 2011.

The town is settled on a hill, and it is 60 km north-east of the capital city of Segovia, and 50 km south of Valladolid. It has an extension of 272 km² and it is 857 m above sea level. Flowing though the town are the rivers Cerquilla and Cega. To the north, the town borders the municipality of Bahabón (province of Valladolid); to the south it borders Sanchonuño; to the east is Frumales; and to the west are the municipalities of San Cristóbal de Cuéllar and Vallelado.

Cuéllar has a long-standing agriculture tradition. Specific crops are cereals, vegetables, chicory, legumes, and beet. Specific livestock raised are pigs, sheep and cows. Many years ago, forestry and resin production were important economic resources too.

Children's day: It is celebrated on New Year's Day. This is an old tradition, consisting in a procession centered in the Child of The Ball. The child is accompanied by musicians and dancers, and all are dressed in the 15th century clothes. They march through the town and many people use to join them.

Running of the bulls: This festival is considered the oldest in Spain. It was dated since 1215, when a request was written to forbid priests to run with the bulls, but it is believed that the pagan tradition started before the Christianity. They are celebrated for 5 days, beginning on the last Saturday evening of August, and they honor Our Lady of the Rosary. Early in the morning, the bulls run from the corral near the river 5 km away to the bull-ring. They are guided by horsemen when they are in the pine-forest, and by the people when they arrive to town. Parties and celebrations join the running when people from everywhere enjoy the traditional dishes of roasted lamb and the regional wines.

Annual Pilgrimage to the sanctuary of Our Lady of the Hayfield (Nuestra Señora del Henar): Every 17 September the devout people from the area go together to pray and to celebrate. This sanctuary is 5 km away from Cuéllar and it is a popular leisure place too.

THE FESTIVAL OF NUESTRA SEÑORA DEL ROSARIO BULL-RUNNING IN CUÉLLAR

Leyenda

Wikipedia - Asturias (Leyenda)

Angel Romero - Asturias (Leyenda)

Isaac Albeniz - Asturias played by Wiktoria Szubelak

In Spain they don't call a bullfight a bullfight. It's not a fight. The bull has to die. It's against the law to let it live because it would be too dangerous after its experience in the ring. In Spain it's called "corrida" which translated to English means "running".

In Spain they don't call a bullfight a bullfight. It's not a fight. The bull has to die. It's against the law to let it live because it would be too dangerous after its experience in the ring. In Spain it's called a "corrida" which translated to English means "running".

I recommend "Death in the Afternoon" by Ernest Hemingway.

From Amazon:

"Still considered one of the best books ever written about bullfighting, Death in the Afternoon reflects Hemingway's belief that bullfighting was more than mere sport. Here he describes and explains the technical aspects of this dangerous ritual, and "the emotional and spiritual intensity and pure classic beauty that can be produced by a man, an animal, and a piece of scarlet serge draped on a stick." Seen through his eyes, bullfighting becomes an art, a richly choreographed ballet, with performers who range from awkward amateurs to masters of great grace and cunning.

A fascinating look at the history and grandeur of bullfighting, Death in the Afternoon is also a deeper contemplation on the nature of cowardice and bravery, sport and tragedy, and is enlivened throughout by Hemingway's pungent commentary on life and literature."

YouTube videos of a corrida: http://bit.ly/2mGX2S8

An interesting chess game I played against someone in Spain today:

https://en.lichess.org/0VN8QRyC/black#0

In this game each player is given 10 minutes to finish the game. I somebody loses on time like I almost did then that person loses the game even if he has an easy win.

With only 23 seconds left I found a queen sacrifice that won the game. Spain who has been here 2 months had 1:31 left. 39 moves. Score 1-0. Very intense game bookmarked. Spain probably thought his king was safe because of his P-QR3 move but it was not safe at all. I was determined to not lose on time but I was very concerned about it. Move 24 I didn't want to take the knight because I would have lost my queen but then I realized it was the best move.