since i came to barcelona i was anxiously awaiting sonar-festival. 7 months later, finally june arrived and sonar came closer. yes, i wanted to go there only i couldn't decide what day and which event. no problem. i live in bcn, i could get a ticked the same day i decided to go and wait as well what my friends will want to see and than we would go together and have a lot of fun.
that's what i thought.
one week before the sonar tickets sold out for one event after the other. i assumed there would still be some tickets for instant-selling so i stayed calm.
finally i didn't get any tickets because when they were sold out, there was no chance getting any on the same day and that was it.
in a last act of hope i tried to get a ticked for a day (friday) on the very same morning but my hopes were to be deceived. fine - no sonar for me.
what for did i come to bcn to see now millions of english and american and wherever they were from-visitors of the sonar swarming around the city and me staying outside?
well, finally i saw a bit of it. one part was still open to late-byers like me. in the santa monica art centre there was the sonarama, a small part of the festival that only costed a small amount and where you could still get in without problems. the sonarama offered conferences, presentations, installations and concerts which kept my occupied for a whole day. one installation was specially funny. it was made by the artists lieberman and blonk and was an interactive play with voice and shadows. standing in front of a screen and am microphone you could provoke bubbles or figures by speaking, shouting, screaming into a mic and by moving yourself and - your shadow on the screen- manipulate those projections. people went crazy about it, i had a lot of fun with it myself.
if you like to have a closer look on the things that were there, here are some links:
messa di Voce
sonarama

At 10 i finally left sonarama and went home satisfied for the day and a little bit exhausted but impressed.
For the night i went with some friends to anti sonar. This was a very peculiar event organized by punks and people apparently living in squats. On a big car park they had arranged a bunch of trucks and caravans, screens and beamers, musical equipment and bars. There we spent the night dancing and drinking outside at a festival -like event, listening to sonar-like music.
Coming home later was turning out to be a bit hard the thing being a bit outside of barcelona, next to a big exhibition area where the actual sonar-by-night concerts were taking place. It was in an not-by-metro-covered area. Came home at 9 in the morning and slept satisfied having finally gotten my share of sonar.

ein paar gedanken zur metro im allgemeinen und speziellen:

metro ist recht schnell (besser als bus) wird ständig ausgebaut. sehr preisgünstig (vergleich london oder berlin), im sommer zu heiss, da sie sehr tief liegt und daher schwer zu belüften ist. innen, wenn nicht viele menschen sind, im sommer zu kalt, wegen der klimaanlage in den zügen. kommt fast immer von links (in madrid von rechts, sehr verwirrend, wenn man das so gewohnt ist), fährt alle 3-5 minuten, am wochenende etwas seltener, wochentags von 5-24 uhr, wochenends bis 02 h! nicht so schlecht. musiker sind IN der metro, nicht etwa wie in london in den gängen. dort wiederum gibt es plaketten an manchen stellen, dort dürfen sich auch musiker hinstellen, das muss aber organisiert werden, dh. man meldet sich irgendwie an. von diesen stellen aus wird die musik über die anderen gänge mit laustprecheren verteilt. sehr gut organisiert das ganze. leute drängeln ungemein, lassen nicht erst aussteigen, haben angst nicht mitzukommen, wenns voll ist, muss man halt ein wenig dränglen und dann gehn da noch 10 leut rein.
unter tage gibts noch anderen bahnen, eigentlich 2 sorten eisenbahnen, die in der stadt halt auch unterirdisch werden. einmal die spanische bahn und dann noch eine extra catalanische. ja, da gibts ein ziemliches durcheinander.
zur zeit wird grad die rambla (sowas wie unsere schillerstrasse ;)) aufgerissen, eine der beiden metrostationen dort kriegt einen behinderteneingang. umsteigen ist etwas nervig, wenn ich das durch laufen vermeiden kann, tu ich dass und vermeide ersteres. barcelona ist nicht wirklich gross, daher das netz sehr dicht und wenn man sich ein wenig auskennt klappt das gut.

es gibt präzise zeitanzeigen, noch ... min.sec bis die bahn kommt. ansonsten einen eigenen fernesehsender mit kleinen info-tainment-spots. so gut wie keine grafitties in der metro und wenig vandalismus. um den ganz zu unterdrücken gibt es bald auch videoüberwachte wagen. die stationen sind zu ihrer eigenen sicherheit videoüberwacht. schwarzfahren ist möglich aber nicht nötig. eher eine sportart- man muss dafür die barieren der drehkreuze am eingang überspringen, fast nie guckt einer. kontrolen gibt es, aber selten. dann taucht kontrollpersonal auf und welches, das ersteres beschützt. bisher fand ich es auch zu später stunde nie gefährlich oder unheimlich. ich persönlich halte es für eines der übersichtlichsten systeme die ich bisher sah (london, auch gut; paris, na, ja; berlin, oh gott und sonst weiss ich nicht mehr)

leider aber auch zum glück ist es alles sehr sauber, steril, organisiert und geordnet, in london hat die tube mehr charme und in paris auch. die stationen unterschieden sich unwesentlich innen und sind recht schmucklos. es gibt bücherautomaten an vielen haltestellen und auch eine zeitung (kostenlos) die den namen metro heist. dann noch die 20minutos, auch für den weg in der bahn konzipiert. infoblättchen mit wenig tiefgang aber den wichtigsten meldungen des tages. ansonsten lesen alle (fast) immer bücher oder irgendwas.

unsortiert aber divers. viel spass

i thought i was trought with sightseeing but no. there are always some gems to be descovored. for example the labyrinth. its not exacty in the center but worth a visit. take the green line until mundet and there you are. there is a big garden and a castelike building and, most important, a labyrinth. the hedges are higher than man's hight so you can't cheat. even though it is not realy big you can get confused and kind of get lost. it is big fun.
around it you have romantic gardens and 'grotas' of echo, narcis and ariadne. there is a hades-like canal and well, you should better see it yourself.
what else? it is hard to describe that place properly, see the pics and get some impression of it.

...since i've written something. anyway, summer started recently and i spent few times more at the beach and fiestando(gerundium de fiestar). so i either have a resaca after drinking or am somewhere.
today i first came to experience that there are beaches not sooo far, that have natural sand and impress with their lack of civilication rubish floating in the foam of several waves. additionaly they provide more than the space of a single towel between you and your neighbours. it's not that i wouldn't apreceate the beaches of the city but sometimes it't worth a ride outside, if not at least for a change of the scenery.

the calm of today was contrasted by the after'roiot' of barca's championship in españa. barca is of course one of the football-clubs of this easily excitible metropole, and they defeated yesterday and most importantly fc-madrid and this had to be celebrated. 2 days long. fountains in pl. catalunya where supplied with blue colour. the hymn of barca itsself and whatever afectionados de footbol are singing, could be heared in various streets.
at least it ended.
sometime.
the inhabitants of bcn are enjoying the puente (free days, long weekend, segunda pasqua, 'pfingsten') having fiesta and increasing the general noise-level. keeps them bussy. don't know... and lively.

bueno.
os vemos.
hasta luego

as far as nothing much worth to comment is happening these days i'll write about the future. (well, there are things happening al the time but you can't write about anything, even if i always need something to write about)
for all of you folks planing to go to barcalona i recoment the weekend of 16., 17., 18. of june. then here will take place the sonar-festival. fine, that's all for so far. there will be more about that after that weekend.

sonar.es

i have to recomend a new movie i just saw. this one is definately a especial one. later on i heared it was from the makers of south-park which explained a lot.
team america is highly satirical, sometimes you are in doubt it this can still be seen as satire. on first view it looks like a probaganda for american peacemaking- habits but than it is just so plaquative and ridiculous. special flavour is added by the fact that the protagonists are puppets. we know since 'meet the feebles' that there are things you can show a lot better with puppets than with real actors.
bit fun to watch and amazing animations.
more about the movie:
teamamerica