@ La Casa Encendida again

Great place. Their current exhibition of Metropoli covers is definitely worth a visit.

La Casa Encendida (aka Rooftops III)

I've been meaning to big up La Casa Encendida here for a while. Discovered it a couple of months back and it's fast becoming one of my favorite places in Madrid.

It's a cultural centre sponsored by the bank / credit union Caja Madrid and is full to the brim with interesting events, great short and feature length sceenings, exhibitons, free internet and... an AMAZING rooftop hangout area. Apparently from next month, they'll be showing movies there at night so I'll know where I'll be this summer.

Check out some snaps from the weekend, hung out in the garden and then headed to the screening of the somewhat bizarre Aardvark.

Caixa Forum

This morning I took my hung-over self off to the Caixa Forum for some culture to replace the brain cells lost last night. Caixa Forum is one of my most favourite places in Madrid. Located within the museum triangle, it’s got an amazing vertical garden at its entrance, a brilliant gift shop (seriously, all my Christmas presents are coming from here) and great exhibitions

The current exhibition is dedicated to Fellini. Did you know Fellini invented the term paparazzi? Definitely a useful pub quiz fact :)

In the 1950s Rome became the new Hollywood as American productions began filming in Italy to cut costs. Few photographers were allowed access to the sets so the rest wandered the streets in search of stars and scandals with the best shots making the front pages. Fellini provided the name for this new breed of photographers in La Dolce Vita with his character Paparazzo – a photographer. From then on, the new photographers were called paparazzi...

The next pub quiz is in the bag!! 

 

Mi casa... (albeit imaginary)

Carabanchel public housing... go to the end of the dark green (line 11) and get off at the last stop. It's like wandering through a children's toy set.

This one's my fave... 

Flamenco

This moment was captured at the Arco De Cuchilleros flamenco show just outside of Plaza Mayor by my sister during her visit. Whilst this is not my favourite place to see flamenco in Madrid, this is without a doubt my favourite flamenco picture...

 

The best shows I've seen so far in Madrid have been at Casa Patas - www.casapatas.com. I’ve been 3 times in the past year and the stand out show was the night there was no dancing but just musc played. Incredible. The artists seem much more engaged with one another, whilst at Arco de Cuchilleros you can tell that they’re only performing for the crowd, and half heartedly at that. 

 

That said, the picture is still amazing...