Madrid Uno Diary

What's happening in the city that never (well, rarely...) sleeps.

Spanish Entry Comes 16th in Eurovision Song Contest
After the shocking news that the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest had been rigged by the Fascist regime of Francisco Franco to ensure a Spanish win, yesterday came the humiliation of 16th place in the 2008 competition. Except it wasn't a humiliation as this year's Spanish entry was a deliberate joke in response to last year's debacle, when the Spanish thought they had winner and were cruelly denied by colluding newly arrived Eastern European nations who all voted for each other. For 2008 their entry was called ‘El Chikichiki’ - a comedy, samba rap complete with crap-but-easy-to-learn dance that's destined to be a summer hit. So consider yourself warned if you’re holidaying on the playas this season.

This is a certain sign that the country has grown up after its fascist interlude and joined the top table of cynical, self-knowing western democracies. No more rigging pointless competitions, now they just take the piss. Or ‘toma el pelo’ as they say.

Barcelona-Madrid In Under Three Hours
Barcelona welcomed its first 220mph bullet train from Madrid yesterday. It arrived eight minutes early. Well, actually, it arrived six months late because of delays in the construction of the final couple of kilometres at the Barcelona end. Six months of works that have been recorded gleefully by Madrid based media outlets who took great delight in showing suffering Barcelona commuters whose local trains were severely disrupted during this period and also pointing out that the capital's end of the project was completed on time... more here.

Current Popular TV Shows
ABC newspaper has a regular weekly feature listing the top ten most popular TV shows using audience data from GECA / Sofres. Last week the no. 1 prog was 'Escenas de matrimonio', which can loosely be translated as Short Stories of Marriage. It's a sitcom on the Telecinco channel cut into short comedic 'sketches', showing the lives of 3 married couples of different generations who all live in the same building. It garners an average audience of over 4 million and was an instant 'hit' when first shown in 2007, but has also incurred the wrath of lefty-liberal progressives (i.e. shrill wimmin) such as La Federación de Mujeres Progresistas who claim it shows women in demeaning and stereotypical roles. In other words, it shows contented housewives who worry about making a nice supper for their hubbies. Disgraceful! Second most popular show was 'Los Hombres de Paco', a long-running comedy series (over 60 episodes now) about Inspector Paco and his policemen colleagues. Paco is a sensitive soul, but down on his luck and who spends most of his time dealing with the various women in his life (wife, daughter, mother) rather than solving cases, while the rest of his crew are equally hopeless. Some of the soundtrack is provided by pop / punk band "Pignoise" who are from Madrid. The Third most popular TV programme in Spain at the moment is 'House', the US medical drama featuring our own Hugh Laurie... more here.