Víctor García de la Concha - RAE Satrap.

Mockingly I have been saying for years to all and sundry, to all poor devils within earshot, that I am naïve. But now, at this stage of the game, my game, I have come to realize the real extent of my naïveté: I vied for the Real Academia Española Prize for a philological research book TWICE, not once, but TWICE!
No small feat: I had to convince three members of the Academia to back me up, to ratify my work.
And here is where my naïveté comes in: Why on damnation did I ever think I would get the Prize? Knowing the director, Víctor García de la Concha -who had to award the prize- a true dictator who runs the Academy as Chaves runs his country, why on earth did I ever consider making a fool of myself?
The 2009 Prize has been awarded to a Nicaraguan. That is fine and dandy. But, and get a load of this, it has NOT been announced in Spain yet, almost 5 months later! No announcement, no press release, no posts on the Webpage. Mum's the word.
I guess that García de la Concha and his clique, his henchmen, feel embarrassed about their wheeling and dealing.
Sour grapes, you think? Who knows.

FRANCISCO PÉREZ GANDUL - CELDA 211

Spain is still a country ruled over by cliques which smother all chances of true expression and relevance. This may sound hard but that's the way things stand and to think otherwise would be nothing but wishful thinking.
Francisco Pérez Gandul wrote a novel, Celda 211, a few years ago and after many rejections he found a publisher. Reviews were tepid, lukewarm, but his faith in it lead him to try to have it made into a movie.
And the other day, against all odds, the film -Celda 211- won 8 Goyas, the equivalent of US Oscars, and was cheered and applauded by all as the best film of the year, in a hall packed with actors, directors, politicians... but my friend, the author, Francisco Pérez Gandul was not there. He was in Seville, at home, watching the show on TV. He had not been invited to attend.