Joaquim Maria Puyal

Today, I am going to talk about Joaquim Maria Puyal, the best sports commentator ever. (I am listening to him right now, FC Barcelona is playing against Xerez.) This is (hopefully) going to be my last post on this blog, so if someone is reading this, enjoy it now cause you will not be able to read me anymore!

Joaquim Maria Puyal i Ortiga is a Catalan journalist known for his work in television and radio. He was born in 1949 in Barcelona. He got a degree in Linguistics and another in Romance Philology (which has nothing to do with his actual job at the radio station, I know). After that, he started a degree in Communication Sciences. When he was 27, he decided that he would develop his career exclusively in Catalan, because he thought that the work of journalists could play a decisive role in its normalization (after its repression during Franco's dictatorship).

In 1967 he started working with Ràdio Barcelona, a tiny radio station. He remained there for many years doing various roles until the station's director asked him if he could broadcast a soccer match. He accepted it and that is when he started his job as a sports commentator.

Puyal narrated the first Catalan-language broadcast of a soccer match since the Second Republic. During Franco's dictatorship Catalan had been forbidden in every official institution, but games had been broadcast in Catalan before the Civil War. Puyal realised he had to work with linguists to create the specialized vocabulary needed to analyse soccer (most of the words came from English: corner, offside, penalty, goal... and had its equivalent in Spanish, but not in Catalan).

After Franco's death, he made the proposal to broadcast matches in Catalan to the director of Cadena Ser, a Spanish radio station, because he thought he could do it with the democratic air that was starting to appear in Spain. Cadena SER accepted the project and the new programme was called 'Futbol en català'. The programme became quickly very successful.

In 1985 Puyal left Ràdio Barcelona and started working with Catalunya Ràdio, the most important radio station in Catalunya. Since that moment he has narrated every official match played by FC Barcelona, which makes more than 2,000 games.(He is still working with Catalunya Ràdio.)

Joaquim Maria Puyal's popularity and prestige is due as much to his radio career as to his work in television. He has directed, produced and presented various programs, all in the Catalan language.

In television, he began working on the Catalan circuit of Televisión Española. He started in 1977 presenting the programme 'Vostè pregunta'. In 1985 he signed with TV3 to direct and present the programme 'Vostè jutja', then he started with another programme with 'La vida és un xip' and then with 'Un tomb per la vida'. He collaborated with some other programmes in which he was not the presenter 'Tres pics i repicó' and 'El joc del segle'. He gave the first professional opportunity to many notable Catalan journalists such as Antoni Bassas, Xavier Bosch, Manel Fuentes, Ricard Torquemada (he works with him currently) and Mònica Terribas.

He has many awards for his work in television and in radio. Joaquim Maria Puyal is by far the most popular sports commentator in Catalan (and the best one). He is not like the sports commentators we are used to listen to, he is kind, he can talk properly, he knows everything about soccer but about many other things too. He stands out amongst his mates because he is humble and he talks like a professional, not like a plain fan (it is sad, but sports press and sports journalists are not real journalists, they are just supporters).

Listening to him, you learn lots of things about soccer and really enjoy it. He talks clearly, he expains everything about the match and the players and the most important thing: he does not talk as if he knew everything and he does not commentate on matches under his point of view, he does it as objectively as he can. If you have the chance to listen to him, instead of listening to TV sports commentators, switch on the radio and listen to him! Our frequency here is 106,7.

Romeo and Juliet

Well, as I have nothing to tell, I decided to write a song that I like. I discovered it recently, I did not use to listen to this kind of music, but a friend of mine said The Killers were an awesome (and popular) band, so I decided to listen to them so he would shut up.
This song is not very popular (I wanted to be original) and it's quite different from the songs they usually write. It is a ballad that tells a story, here you have the lyrics.
(I can't manage to find that thing so you can play the video here, but here you have the link if you are interested http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87cLyBR1JTo)

Romeo and Juliet, by The Killers

A lovestruck Romeo sings the streets a serenade

Laying everybody low with a love song that he made

Finds a streetlight steps out of the shade

Says something like you and me babe how about it?

Juliet says hey it's Romeo
you nearly gave me a heart attack

He's underneath the window

she's singing hey la my boyfriend's back

You shouldn't come around here singing up at people like that

Anyway what you gonna do about it?

Juliet the dice were loaded from the start

And I bet and you exploded in my heart

And I forget I forget the movie song

When you gonna realise it was just that

The time was wrong Juliet?

Come up on different streets

they both were streets of shame

Both dirty both mean yes

and the dream was just the same

And I dream your dream for you

and now your dream is real

How can you look at me

as I was just another one of your deals?

Well you can fall for chains of silver

you can fall for chains of gold

You can fall for pretty strangers

and the promises they hold

You promised me everything

you promised me thick and thin

Now you just say oh Romeo

yeah you know I used to have a scene with him

Juliet when we made love you used to cry

You said I love you like the stars above

I'll love you till I die

There's a place for us

you know the movie song

When you gonna realise

it was just that the time was wrong?

Juliet...

I can't do the talk like the talk on the TV

And I can't do a love song like the way its meant to be

I can't do everything but I'd do anything for you

Can't do anything except be in love with you

And all I do is miss you and the way we used to be

All I do is keep the beat the bad company

All I do is kiss you through the bars of a rhyme

Julie I'd do the stars with you any time

Juliet when we made love you used to cry

You said I love you like the stars above

Ill love you till I die

There's a place for us

you know the movie song

When you gonna realise

it was just that the time was wrong?

Juliet...

A lovestruck Romeo sings the streets a serenade

Laying everybody low with a love song that he made

Finds a convenient streetlight steps out of the shade

Says something like you and me babe how about it?

Movie time!

I have never understood Easter, I do not know what it is for but holidays are always welcome. It is the time of the year when everyone has so many things to do and nobody does anything. At least, that is what happens to me. When Easter is over, I always think of what I have done, and I always know it is nothing. No sport, no work, no reading, no party, no movies, no travelling, no nothing. And every time Easter approaches, I make a list of 'what to do' stuff, just like at the beginning of the year, and I am never able to carry my plans out.
So far, I think I have done way more stuff than any time before: I went to the cinema (I never find the time to go), I played tennis (it was like more than 2 years since I played for the last time), I am writing on my blog (that is work) and hopefully, we'll have a party at my place (this will be happening if my parents are not here).
Well, as I have nothing to tell, I will talk about the movies I watched these days: The Ghost Writer, The Constant Gardener and Boys don't cry.
The Ghost Writer (El escritor) is a thriller which tells the story of man who starts working as the Prime Minister's ghost writer. His predecessor died in a very unusual way, he drowned and was found on the shore. The ghost writer finds it very weird and starts investigating about it. He discovers that the Prime Minister had been hiding some irregular stuff and the ghost writer knew it, and that is why he made the previous ghost writer disappear. When the current ghost writer finds everything out, the Prime Minister realises that he is danger, so he makes his henchmen follow the ghost writer and kill him.
The Constant Gardener (El jardinero fiel) is a drama movie. Justin and Tessa meet at a conference in Kenya and start a relationship. He works for the Brithish embassy and she is an important activist who fights against the pharmaceutical industry. The pharmaceutical companies violate human rights by testing their new products on sick people. Tessa reports these crimes and wants them to stop. As she is a pain in the ass, the companies decide to make her disappear and kill her in a car 'accident'. Justin suspects that it was not an accident and starts investigating. He discovers that Tessa had found out really creepy stuff about the companies and that is why they wanted to kill her. He goes to the place where she died and shoots himself. (I was reading this and it looks like the movie doesn't make a lot of sense, but it does, I just can't express myself.)
Boys don't cry (Los chicos no lloran) is a drama movie based on a true story (this creeps me out). Teena Brandon wants to be a man, but has female genitals. He (I am going to talk about him as a man) lives at his cousin's in Lincoln cause his parents want him to take an hormone treatment to 'cure' him. He always gets in trouble to look tougher and he is due to go to court. One day, he meets some people who treat him right and starts kind of living with them for some days. They have very dysfunctional families and drink a lot. However, Brandon finds it comfortable there and stays with them. There, he meets Lana and falls in love with her. They start making out and Lana starts suspecting he is not a man and tells him it is all right, that she loves him anyway. The other guys (one of them was in love with Lana) start suspecting the same and they humiliate him and take his clothes off to see what he actually is. They see he is got female genitals and they hit him and rape him. Brandon is afraid of them and he doesn't want to tell anyone what they did to him, so he comes back to Lana's place to go away with her. When the guys go to see Lana, they think that Brandon is there and they look for him. The guy that was in love with Lana shoots him.
Well, that's enough for today, here you have them, I specially recommend Boys don't Cry and the Constant Gardener, if u want to know my opinion.