Former Barcelona soccer coach Tito Vilanova has died of throat cancer at 45. Admitted to a Barcelona hospital last week he died on Friday, April 24. He first became ill in November 2011 but did not retire until July 2013.
Vilanova is survived by his wife, Montse Chaure, and two children, daughter Carlota, 19 and son Adria, 17, and
The Catalan club confirmed that Vilanova would not be able to
continue in the role as he continues to receive treatment for the
illness. They plan to unveil a replacement in the coming days.
Vilanova,
who replaced Pep Guardiola as coach of Barca last summer, had a tumour
removed from his throat in late 2011, but suffered a relapse a year
later. He underwent another operation on his parotid gland in December
before beginning a course of chemotherapy and radiotherapy in New York.
Reports
in Spain earlier suggested Joan Francesc Ferrer, known as Rubi, could
take over Vilanova in a caretaker capacity. The 43-year-old joined
Barca's coaching staff last month as an assistant to Vilanova and Jordi
Roura - who took charge of the first team when Vilanova was absent last
season.
Latina pop-rock singer Shakira Mebarak and Spanish soccer player Gerard Pique have revealed the name of their recently born son, and it's a rather uncommon one: Milan.
According to the new parents,
'Milan (pronounced MEE-lahn), means dear, loving and gracious in
Slavic; in Ancient Roman, eager and laborious; and in Sanskrit,
unification.'
OK, but in most of the world today it means a city in Italy. Oh, and it is also the name of boxer Mike Tyson's daughter.
Why do so many celebrities give their children such unique (and in some cases, awful) names? Baby-naming expert Pamela Redmond Satran believes, 'It's just another element of celebrities using kids as publicity.'
I'm
not so sure that's the case with the parents of little Milan Pique
Mebarack, but who knows. I suppose other reasons could range from
adventurousness to thoughtlessness to silliness; and in some truly
strange cases, outright abusiveness. Regardless, there certainly are
much odder names in the world – especially looking at the world of the
famous.
Take for example Pilot 'Standard' Inspektor,
the unfortunately named son of actor Jason Lee (My Name is Earl). Lee
apparently decided to curse his child with that that bizarre moniker
after hearing the words in a song. I suppose the kid should be grateful
dad didn't go for the song's title: He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's the Pilot.
Then there is the unlucky daughter of actress Shannyn Sossamon (A Knight's Tale), who was called Audio Science somewhat by chance.
Sossamon explains: "We wanted a word not a name, so my boyfriend read through the dictionary three or four times."
Let's hope her soon to be born second child at least receives a more human sounding designation.
Moving
on from the dictionary as place to look for baby names, literature,
religion and geography were sources of inspiration for Cate Blanchett
when it came to naming her three sons. Her oldest is Dashiell, in honor of Dashiell Hammet, the author of The Maltese Falcon,
while her youngest is Ignatius, in honor of St. Ignatius of Loyola. In
comparison, her middle son seems to have lucked out with the relatively
common sounding Roman.
Geography and literature also worked
for singer Ashlee Simpson, who may be from Texas, but obviously has a
thing for a certain part of New York City, not to mention The Jungle Book. Why else gift her boy with the name Bronx Mowgli?
Rudyard Kipling can also be blamed for inspiring Spanish author Fernando Sanchez Drago to name his youngest son Akela, after the wolf who welcomed the fictional Mowgli into his pack.
Meanwhile,
other naming examples seem to stem from sheer megalomania. Like
Jermaine Jackson, for instance. Not to be outdone by brother Michael
Jackson's selfish conceit in naming not one, but two, of his sons Prince, Jermaine christened one of his male heirs Jermajesty. What royal pains those 'titles' must be.
In
another glaring example of what looks like extreme thoughtlessness,
actor Rob Morrow (Numb3rs, Northern Exposure), got the bright idea of
condemning his daughter to having to deal with an awful pun as a name – Tu Morrow. Downright cruel, if you ask me.
One
of the twins of Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon received his name because
dad had an apartment decorated in the style of a certain North African
country and liked the adjective used to describe it – thus the boy's
name Moroccan was born.
Some celebreties choose to name their children after some of their favorite things: so Gwyneth Paltrow called her daughter Apple because she likes the fruit, whileBeyonce chose Blue Ivy for hers because she loves the color blue and 'Ivy' is like the Roman numeral IV, which supposedly brings good luck. Alicia Silverstone went with Bear Blu for her son.
Nicolas Cage, is a fan of comics, so his son is Kal-el, Superman's Kryptonian name, and his last name is Coppola, which is in reality Cage's original surname.
Beautiful people David Beckham and wife Victoria named their offspring in this order: Brooklyn, Romeo, Cruz and Harper Seven.
Perhaps the last of the crew has the oddest name, so papa Beckham has
explained that Harper is not only an old English name but Harper Lee is
one of Victoria's favorite writers. Regarding Seven, the soccer player
pointed out that not only is this the number that Beckham wore on his
jersey when he played for Manchester United, it also "symbolizes
spiritual perfection."
Speaking of glamorous star clans, some of the Jolie-Pitt children's names were chosen with symbolism in mind: Maddox, the Cambodian boy who was the first to be adopted by Angelina, is a word in the Khmer language meaning 'son of the lord.' Zahara Marley,
their Ethiopian child, has a first name from the Arabic word for flower
and a middle name to honor Jamaican reggae star Bob Marley. After them
came Pax Thien (Pax means peace in Latin and Thien means sky in Vietnamese), Shiloh Nouvel (Shilow is Hebrew for peace and Nouvel is French for new), Knox Leon (in honor Brad's grandfather) and Vivienne Marcheline (in memory of Angelina's late mother).
Perhaps
Uma Thurman takes the cake when it comes to giving a child a name with
special personal meaning. Her youngest daughter, born last July, is
named Florence Rosalind Altalune Arkadina Arusha,
because each name reportedly has some special significance to either mom
or dad, the millionaire Arpad Busson. Despite the long list of official
names, the child can count her lucky stars that at home she is simply
called Luna.
Other infamous names of progeny of the famous include Exton, the son of Robert Downey Jr.; Bluebell Madonna, the daughter of Spice Girl Geri Halliwell; Zuma Nesta Rock and Kingston Rossdale, Gwen Stefani's sons – and the list goes on and on: Thais and Zeus (Sara Montiel), Suri (Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes), Nahla (Halle Berry), Rumer Glenn, Scout LaRue and Tallulah Belle (Bruce Willis and Demi Moore), Thiago (Leo Messi), Ever Gabo Anderson (Milla Jovovich), Memphis Eve (Bono), Diesel Denim (Toni Braxton), Destry Allyn (Steven Spielberg), Bingham 'Bing' (Matt Bellamy and Kate Hudson), Kahekili Kali (Evangeline Lilly), Chynna (Michelle Phillips), China (Grace Slick)...
FYI, Chynna is pronounced China.
China's actually not so bad when you consider that if Grace Slick hadn't changed her mind her daughter would have been blessed with god as a name – small g on purpose.
Of course, when they become adults children can always choose to reject an odd or outlandish given name.
The
singer Sting (born Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, by the way) has a 30
year-old daughter who has put aside her colorful first name Fuchsia in favor of her more sensible sounding middle name, Kate.
As for those who stick with their birth names, perhaps they should take heart from the lines of Shakespeare:
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet."
Today is Saint George's Day in several parts of Spain (Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia), as well as in England and Portugal. (Saint George also has commemorative days in other countries and cities, including the Republic of Georgia, the Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, and the city of Moscow, but those observations are at different times of the year.)
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Here in Barcelona el Día de San Jorge (Spanish) / la Diada de Sant Jordi (Catalan)is a sort of Valentines-like celebration involving roses and books. Apparently roses have been associated with this day since medieval times, and it is believed that it was in the 15th century that the local tradition began of giving a rose your loved one on this date. A slightly newer tradition is that of giving a book along with the rose. Apparently in 1923 a Barcelona book publisher got the idea to combine the commemoration of the death of Saint George with that of two writers who also died on April 23rd -- Miguel Cervantes and William Shakespeare.
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Nowadays the book and rose are accompanied by a little Catalan flag (la senyera) and a wheat stem. The rose represents passion; the wheat, fertility; the flag, the patron saint of Catalonia -- Saint George! And the book -- well, one could say it represents intellect, but perhaps commerce would be equally accurate. Since Barcelona is the publishing capital of both the Catalan and Spanish languages, it is promoted very heavily by all publishing houses, as well as bookstores, libraries, schools and such. Indeed, it is probably the biggest day for book sales in Catalonia.
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Stalls are set up all over the city to sell books and roses to passers by. Bookstores and libraries host special events, including book signings. This year's hottest seller will probably be "El Juego del Ángel" (The Angel's Game), local writer Carlos Ruíz Zafón's prequel to "La Sombra del Viento," (The Shadow of the Wind) which was published in time to coincide with the festivities. As a matter of fact, he is in town to personally autograph copies.
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Of course there's also a special food tradition -- the Saint George's Day cake, designed to represent the Catalonian Flag. (See photo above.)
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This year's observance has an interesting twist since many Brits are in town to attend the Manchester United vs Barça soccer Champions League semi final at Camp Nou stadium. Thousands of them have been walking around waving red and white flags on a day that honors Catalonia's and England's patron saint.
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As a matter of fact, the city government was a little worried about the possibility of inebriated fans running loose all over the city, so a "ManUn fan village" has been set up in the Olympic Port near my house. Thousands of visitors spent the afternoon drinking and singing beside the marina, while local police quietly patrolled the area. I didn't see too many bookstalls around there.
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Happy Saint George's Day, amig@s,
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Carloz
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P.S. If you haven't read "The Shadow of the Wind", I highly recommend it. It's a good story set in post-civil war Barcelona. The new book, "El Juego del Ángel" (The Angel's Game), is being translated by Lucia Graves, poet Robert Graves' daughter, for publication in spring 2009. This prequel takes place in 1920s and 30s Barcelona.
Click here to see a few photos I took on Saint George's Day.
EL GREC, Barcelona’s Summer Festival has begun! Last night saw the premiere of the 31st El Grec Festival, Barcelona’s summer performing arts festival, with Sacred Monsters, a dance performance by Sylvie Guillem (France) and Akram Khan (India). According to El Periodico de Catalunya, the duo surprised the public at the Montjuic amphitheater and heated up the festival’s cool first night.
. El Grec is geard toward everyone, including hip-hop fans this year. Popular musical performances (e.g., Barcelona Big Latin Ensemble, Laurie Anderson, Jorge Drexler, Antony and the Johnsons) and family entertainment (Circus Night, the Wizard of Oz), will be held along with classic works, like Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale and Goldoni’s La famiglia dell’antiquario. New works like La Fura dels Baus’ Imperium will alternate with innovative dance and theater, like that of Nau Ivanov, La Caldera de Gracia and the Sant Andreu Teatre.
Spain is number 2 and Catalonia number 1! Spain is the world’s 2nd most popular tourist destination, and within Spain, Catalonia is the most popular Autonomous Region. Between January and May of 2007 a total of 5.1 million tourists from other countries visited Catalonia – 25.3% of all foreign tourists who came to Spain according to data presented yesterday by the secretary of Innovation, Universities and Business, Josep Huguet. The most popular areas in Catalonia were Barcelona, followed by the Costa del Maresme, the Costa del Garraf, and the Costa Daurada.
. Number 14 fever: Vendors report that Henry’s number 14 T-Shirt is fast on the road to being the second most popular seller among Barça souvenirs. Watch out Ronaldinho!
Today was declared a national day of mourning, with flags flown at half-mast and a state funeral held for the six soldiers killed by a carbomb in Lebanon on Sunday. Crown Prince Felipe and his wife, Princess Letizia, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, government ministers, dignitaries and family members of the victims attended the service in Madrid.
. The soldiers will be buried in their places of birth. Three were Spanish and three were Spanish residents originally from Colombia. 5.5% of the Spanish army is made up of immigrants, the majority Colombian and Ecuadorian.
. The fact that the soldier’s armoured personnel carrier did not have a frequency inhibitor to prevent attacks by remote control bombs has been the subject of some debate here. While the government pledged to speed up the installation of such devices, officials pointed out that Spain is no different from other UN troops in Lebanon, who do not have these special devices either. .
Internet use is healthy! The most autonomous, enterprising, sociable, inventive and active people in Catalunya are those that use the internet most frequently, as opposed to the stereotype of internet users as marginal, isolated and too introspective. That is one of the conclusions of the Open University of Catalonia’s Internet Project, a sociological study aimed at learning about the public’s use of the internet as well as user profiles. The study also found that local internet users have more friends and have less of a tendency to suffer from depression.
. The report, which was presented yesterday, shows that 30% of the most creative and innovative people in Catalonia are found among internet users. The project’s 40 investigators carried out 15,390 in-person interviews and another 40,400 via the internet between 2001 and the 2007. The regional government financed the project.
. Here’s a link to the article in El Periodico de Catalunya:
. And the busiest ports on the Mediterranean are…in Spain! According to Javier Aznar of the Maritime Museum of Barcelona’s Maritime Documentation Center, when it comes to container ships, the port of Algeciras is the busiest. Algeciras is situated between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic and is also a natural connecting point between the continents of Europe and Africa. As for passenger ships, Barcelona is not only the leader in the Mediterranean, but in all of Europe.
And in soccer (or fútbol) it’s Touré’s turn. The day after media star Thierry Henry’s presentation to Barça fans, the spotlight touched Ivory coast midfielder, 24 year old Yaya Touré, who signed for 4 years and whom Barça will pay Monaco 9 million euros. Meanwhile, Barça is waiting to see if Rome accepts its offer for the Romanian defender Cristian Chivu.
Copied from original http://myspainblog.wordpress.com/ posting by Carloz on June, 2007 . España sufre las primeras seis bajas en Líbano: The top story in all of today’s newspapers was the deaths of Spanish soldiers serving in the UN Peacekeeping force in Lebanon. Six soldiers were killed and two injured in a when a roadside bomb hit the armored vehicle they were travelling in. . Sadly, this was the first attack on UN forces since they were sent to Lebanon after the war between Israel and Hezbollah last year. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. . Spain currently has military personnel serving in Lebanon, Kosovo and Bosnia under UN mandates and in Afghanistan under NATO. . Global Peace Index: The photo above is of a map of the Global Peace Index, which is maintained by The Economist. Click on the photo to enlarge it. Click here to go to an article in The Economist about it. . Henry’s here - and Barça’s got ‘em! The other big story was the arrival in Barcelona of French forward Thierry Henry. El Periodico described the 29 year old soccer player’s entry into the city by private jet as having all the glamour of the greatest stars. He was received with honors at the airport yesterday. Today, according to the nightly news reports, he was presented to 30,000 fans at Camp Nou stadium after passing his medical and signing on the dotted line. . “I was very surprised to see so many people out there waiting,” Henry reportedly commented. “You don’t even dream about things like that. It’s true what they say, Barcelona is more than a club.” . According to the local media, in addition to the 24 million Barça paid for Henry, it has agreed to pay Arsenal an additional one million euros if they win the league. . Henry joins one of the fiercist forward line-ups in soccer, with Cameroonian striker Samuel Eto’o, Brazilian playmaker Ronaldinho and Argentine winger Lionel Messi. . Will this be the year that Spain’s real estate bubble bursts? According to El Periodico, the Bank for International Settlements (or BIS — known in Spanish as El Banco de Pagos Interacionles or BPI), warned yesterday in it’s 77th Annual Report that there is a significant risk of a collapse in Spain’s real estate market. The complete report on the global economy is available in English on the BIS web site.
Of course, the bad news in my city is that although Barcelona beat Tarragona’s Gimnastic 5 to 1, Madrid’s 3 to 1 win over Mallorca allowed it to edge Barça out for the Spanish League title. Today all of the local papers focused on Barcelona’s loss of the League title to Madrid, in spite of their excellent game against Gimnastic. Several papers led with a cover photo of a dejected looking Ronaldinho.
Early on in the evening it looked like Barcelona would win the league, as Madrid appeared to be having trouble against Mallorca. However, the tide turned dramatically for Madrid with two final goals coming during the last 10 minutes of the game!
Local fans followed their team’s match with the usual enthusiasm this world class team receives. Whenever there is an important football game or other sports event being broadcast, the sounds of cheers, boos and horns soar out of bars, pubs and living rooms. You can literally feel the excitement in the streets — or even in your home if you happen to have your windows open. Last night was no exception. Of course, had Barça won the league and not just last night’s game, the fans would have poured out into the streets themselves to make even more noise.
Oh, yes, what about mid-fielder David Beckham? Well, in case you’ve been on Pluto, he’s leaving la vida loca to be just one more star in L.A.’s “galaxy.” Last night Beckham, who has been living in the Spanish capital for four years, was given an exciting send off along with another departing team member, Brazilian left-back Roberto Carlos, who is joining Istanbul’s Fenerbahce Sports Club after 11 years in Madrid.
Beckham may be gone, but Spain will always have two of the brightest stars in the world of football — Real Madrid and Futbol Club Barcelona!
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Also in the news today:
Bicing, Barcelona’s public transport by bicycle program, now has over 50,000 subscribers! (See June 17th’s Biking with Bicing in Barcelona post.)
Barcelona is the ERASMUS capital of Spain! Sixteen percent of the more than 26, 000 European universtiy students who come to Spain through the ERASMUS program choose Barcelona because of its cosmopolitan, festive ambiance. One quote from a student: “En esta ciudad hay mucha fiesta.” (In this city there is a lot of partying.) I’m sure he went on to add that he also liked the high quality of the opera at the Liceu and the wide variety of museums available — and Barça, of course! ;-)
Former Barcelona soccer coach Tito Vilanova has died of throat cancer at 45. Admitted to a Barcelona hospital last week he died on Friday, April 24. He first became ill in November 2011 but did not retire until July 2013.
Originally posted by Carloz on June, 2007 at http://myspainblog.wordpress.com/
Copied from original http://myspainblog.wordpress.com/ posting by Carloz on June, 2007 
