Author: Lucy

True Blood set to meet the true death

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True Blood set to meet the true death

The countdown is on for the final series of HBO vampire frolic True Blood. Since first hitting our screens in 2008, True Blood has provided us older kids with a vampire series that's a bit more raunch and a bit less...Twilight? But this year, it's all coming to a bitter, bloody end. Well, we don't know about bitter, but we're guessing there'll be a fair amount of blood involved. By August 2014 Sookie Stackhouse will have served her final hamburger and shake; Bill will have brooded his last brood; and Eric will never need his roots doing again. Stop reading now if you want to steer clear of … [Read more...]

Porto: muito obrigada!

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Porto: muito obrigada!

A whirlwind tour of Portugal's second largest city shows that there's much more to see than fado and francesinhas Like many Spaniards, we took advantage of the long Easter weekend to escape the pointy hats and manic church bells. The destination? Porto. First things first: Porto is beautiful. A hilly metropolis filled with tile-clad, low-rise houses and apartment blocks with terracotta rooftops, overlooking the river Douro. And all those hills means that you'll leave the city with thighs of steel, especially if you climb the Clérigos Tower - one of the few main monuments to see. No, … [Read more...]

The Benidorm Syndrome

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The Benidorm Syndrome

A quick jaunt around Benidorm's main stretch confirms the worst: despite the 2 hour plane journey, you've somehow landed in a bizarre alternate dimension of the UK - and the only difference here is that you're burning to a crisp under the Spanish sunshine. Neon signs and Union Jack bunting guide you through the "English quarter", an area just a few minutes' walk from the main Levante beach. Bars pride themselves on having imported top-notch British drinks, such as Carling and Bulmers, while others classily boast that their €3 fry ups offer "REAL bacon - None of that Spanish shite". Welcome to … [Read more...]

Holy Week traditions in Spain: More sinister than the Easter bunny

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Holy Week traditions in Spain: More sinister than the Easter bunny

Easter in the UK means two things: 1) a long weekend and 2) the inevitable onset of nausea after eating one too many Lindt chocolate bunnies. In Spain, things are a little different... Don't be alarmed if you're confronted by an army of solemnly marching locals, shuffling along to the beat of a drum, dressed in what can only be described as a Ku Klux Klan uniform. There, I said it. And don't deny that you haven't thought it too. But what does it all mean? At university we had it drilled into us that Catholicism is still very predominant in Spain. Despite the illusion that the cura, … [Read more...]

Ready, set… ¡Anis Tenis!: Mostra de Vins

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Ready, set... ¡Anis Tenis!: Mostra de Vins

Wine! Jamón! Artisan Beers! Cheese! Cazalla! The Big Five - Ready and waiting for you in the Turia river bed from Thursday 31st March to Monday 4th April 2016 at the XXVIII Mostra de Vins, Caves i Licors in conjunction with the XXVI Mostra d'Aliments Tradicionals de la Comunitat Valenciana. Bit of a mouthful? In layman's terms that means a WINE FAIR and a FOOD FAIR. Together, side by side, living in alcohol-fuelled hungry harmony. The clientele of the Mostra de Vins is a bizarre mix of businessmen contemplating the latest bobal, groups of pensioners enjoying an all-out banquet having … [Read more...]

La Cueva de Benimaclet turn things up to 11

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La Cueva de Benimaclet turn things up to 11

This week sees the continuation of La Cueva's successful cinema ciclos with a delve into the world of "Music & Cinema". All movies are projected in the "self-managed" garage/planta baja in the charming Valencian barrio of Benimaclet. Entrance is free, beers are cheap and the place is set up with a pleasant mish-mash of comfortable sofas and chairs. This new ciclo comes after the Stanley Kubrik season which saw projections of Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut, as well as a focus on Balkan Cinema which featured great movies such as No Man's Land (Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2001). All … [Read more...]

2 hipster 4 U

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2 hipster 4 U

Before we begin - Just what is a hipster? Allow me to explain courtesy of an ever-precise Wikipedia extract and revered song "I love my life as a dickhead": Hipster (contemporary subculture): “Hipster is a term popularly used to denote a contemporary subculture in North America, Australia and Europe primarily consisting of Millennials living in urban areas. The subculture has been described as a "mutating, trans-Atlantic melting pot of styles, tastes and behavior[s]" and is broadly associated with indie and alternative music, a varied non-mainstream fashion sensibility … [Read more...]

Valencia underground

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Valencia underground

There's something rumbling in the Valencian underground, and we're not talking about the shoddy metro system... We left the ingeniously-dubbed Festunizer day-of-mayhem last October with feelings that maybe we were on the cusp of something big, something new. There has been a recent boom in hardcore/math rock/punk bands hailing from Valencia and we are quite literally witnessing a shift; a new scene is being born. This could change everything... 00:30am 27/10/13: Magazine club, in the Juan Llorens neighbourhood of Valencia, has just witnessed a 12 hour indie-punk-hardcore mash-up gig … [Read more...]

Spike Jonze’s Her

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Spike Jonze's Her

Spike Jonze continues to reel us in with his recent spate of emotional movies. This time it's sci-fi romantic drama Her - here's why it's great... Let's take a look at the film in a nutshell: Man reluctantly divorces wife. Man is sad. Man mopes around and broods intensely. Man installs new state-of-the-art Operating System onto his computer. Man falls in love with computer, resulting in a vague moral ending. A strangely satirical comment on modern day society, don't you think? The funny thing is that the events in the film actually have quite a high chance of happening in the … [Read more...]

Spotlight on: San José + Plaza Honduras

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Spotlight on: San José + Plaza Honduras

According to a recent study, Valencia currently boasts 6 bars per 1000 inhabitants – and it’s not hard to see evidence of this as soon as you step foot outside your flat. Stroll through Plaza Xúquer on any evening of the week and you’ll pay testament to the amount of bars that line the streets of Valencia, and busy bars at that. Head out on a Friday or Saturday night and you may even struggle to get a table if you haven’t booked. One of the night-out hotspots of Valencia City has to be the San José district of Valencia, more commonly referred to as Plaza Xúquer which tends to go hand in … [Read more...]

Goodbye Harold Ramis

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Goodbye Harold Ramis

Yesterday a celebrated actor, director and writer passed away. It was only the other week that I watched Groundhog Day, arguably one of Harold Ramis's most reverred works. Twenty years later and the film still holds it's own (well, aside from the awful Spanish film title translation, but let's save that issue for another day). Ramis directed a series of classic films such as Analyse This, Caddyshack, Multiplicity and National Lampoon's Vacation. Delving into the IMDB back office of Ramis's works also offered up a few surprises - he directed four episodes of the American version of The … [Read more...]

Fallas is coming!

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Fallas is coming!

The smell of smoke is in the air, there is a neverending cacophony of masclets and mobile discos and a gaggle of Valencian children, with no sense of danger whatsoever, are using you as firework target practice... Batten down the hatches - Fallas is upon us. Prepare yourselves for what will probably be the loudest, most fun-filled, drunken and sleep depriven week of your lives. That's right, between the 15th and 19th of March Valencia turns into party central in order to commemorate San José. So what are you likely to see/hear? - Fallas - Hundreds of wooden and papier-mâché sculptures … [Read more...]

Marty’s Nikes to become a reality

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Marty's Nikes to become a reality

Back to the Future Part II is one of my favourite films ever. Points to support this claim: I have a 1:24 diecast metal DeLorean on my bedroom shelf, I WILL win you in a BTTF trivia challenge and I took great pleasure in knowing the answer to a recent tie-break quiz question: To which 3 years did Marty McFly time travel during the Back to the Future trilogy? But let's delve a little further into the misadventures of the eighties' most loved teenager/mad-time-travelling-scientist combo. Part one's got it, sure. Who doesn't love the heartwarming Enchantment Under The Sea dance scene? … [Read more...]

Es bien, estoy caliente

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Es bien, estoy caliente

"Learning a language is fun", they say. Well, yeah, maybe, although it pains me to agree with an old university lecturer who we used to call Danger Mouse... I'm a firm believer that, despite having survived a university education in one or more languages,  you never truly learn a language, or feel confident in it for that matter, until you've been there; until you've lived with it, been immersed and surrounded by natives; until you've learned the slang - and that's true for whether you want to be "down with the kids" or not. Language is ever evolving, and so some of the Spanish that your … [Read more...]

Spotlight on: Cánovas

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Spotlight on: Cánovas

Taking its name from the square situated next to Gran Vía del Marqués de Turia, the Cánovas area stretches from the Turia riverbed to Avenida del Reino de Valencia in the Eixample district of Valencia. The popular nightlife area is within walking distance from the centre via Calle Jorge Juan, passing by the impressive Colón market. Much like the zone of Barcelona of the same name, the Eixample area (Ensanche in Spanish) consists of streets and streets of nearly identical 100m blocks of buildings, the lower stories of which are filled with hundreds of bars and eateries. Many restaurants up … [Read more...]