[Flash 10 is required to watch video]
Lookbook of this years hottest trend in Cadiz…
Beauty vs. Brains
Which one would you chose if you had to have ONLY one or the other? Is it true that who has one does not have the other? Are there people lucky enough that have both? Well these are all questions that generations have seeked to answer along the years. Moreover, we must keep in mind that the concept of beauty changes from one country to another, and also from time to time. The aim of this article might not be a clear one, not sure what I want to achieve by writing it, but a semi-drunk discussion yesterday at the bar got some UMBRELLA people discussing the argument, though not reaching any conclusions.
Studies do, in fact, show that people think that attractive people are more intelligent, and even more competent. This does not only work between the two sexes, but also within. Even children choose the most attractive teacher as being the more intelligent one. Studies also show that very attractive women have a slightly higher IQ than very attractive men (yes!). But why? Well, from a blog by Satoshi Kanazawa, he explains how there are basically two ways in which one can look at it. One theory suggests how those who have better-quality genes are simultaneously physically more attractive (because beauty is an indicator of health and genetic quality) and more intelligent, hence the positive association between the two traits.
The other theory is that this association may arise from the process of assortative mating. If more intelligent men are more desirable to women than less intelligent men, because they achieve higher status, at least in the modern environment, and if physically more attractive women are more desirable to men than physically less attractive women, then there should be assortative mating of intelligent men and beautiful women, and of less intelligent men and less beautiful women. Because both intelligence and physical attractiveness are heritable, such assortative mating should create an extrinsic correlation between intelligence and physical attractiveness in the next generation. Children of intelligent men and attractive women should simultaneously be intelligent and beautiful, and children of less intelligent men and less attractive women should simultaneously be less intelligent and less attractive.
Honestly I always thought that beautiful people are considered as less intelligent, maybe because of the fact that they don`t need that extra effort in life, so they could still achieve what they want, not because they earned it, but because they are liked better. However, I now have learnt never to judge a person by the way he or she looks. You can`t pass any judgment about someone unless you speak to them. One should also keep in mind the very famous saying of “beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder” and that in fact might be true. The universal beauty may exist, but I don`t think anyone has ever been able to define it yet.
EL PARASOL Issue 1-13
http://issuu.com/easanewspaper
EL PARASOL ISSUE UNO : http://issuu.com/easanewspaper/docs/easa011_el_parasol_issue_one
EL PARASOL ISSUE DOSS: http://issuu.com/easanewspaper/docs/easa011_el_parasol_issue_two
EL PARASOL ISSUE TRES: http://issuu.com/easanewspaper/docs/easa011_el_parasol_issue_three
EL PARASOL ISSUE CUATRO: http://issuu.com/easanewspaper/docs/easa011_el_parasol_issue_four
EL PARASOL ISSUE CINCO
http://issuu.com/easanewspaper/docs/easa011_el_parasol_issue_five
EL PARASOL ISSUE SEIS:
http://issuu.com/easanewspaper/docs/easa011_el_parasol_issue_six
EL PARASOL ISSUE SIETE:
http://issuu.com/easanewspaper/docs/easa011_el_parasol_issue_seven
EL PARASOL ISSUE OCHO
http://issuu.com/easanewspaper/docs/easa011_el_parasol_issue_eight
EL PARASOL ISSUE NUEVE
http://issuu.com/easanewspaper/docs/easa011_el_parasol_issue_nine
EL PARASOL ISSUE DIEZ
http://issuu.com/easanewspaper/docs/easa011_el_parasol_issue_ten
EL PARASOL ISSUE ONCE: (better late than never:)http://issuu.com/easanewspaper/docs/el_parasol_issue_eleven
EL PARASOL ISSUE DOZE:
http://issuu.com/easanewspaper/docs/el_parasol_issue_twelve
EL PARASOL ISSUE TRECE:
http://issuu.com/easanewspaper/docs/issue_thirteen
Thanks for reading the el parasol! see u next your in helsinki! thanks to everyone who helped us.
thanks to the organisers/helpers and participants of EASA011. u were super awesome.
INCM Azerbajan 2011
The presentation for Azerbaijan took place a few days ago, and while the crowd were very impressed with the tourist video presentation and the internet fotos of the accomodation, they were also thirsty for more and started shouting questions about the details, such as the dates at the end.
Well here at the umbrella desk we have managed to hunt down some of the (ever illusive)organisers for some serious fact questioning.
Here is what we have gathered
Dates: 22nd october – 30th October, the duration is 6 days or 8days if you include the optional 2 day trip at the end. The organisers have also said there will also be some basic accomodation availible if people arrive early.
Location: While the event has been billed as the capitol Baku the INCM itself will take place in a small seaside town called Shuvelan which is a 20minute drive from the capitol.
Accomodation: The INCM will all be taking place in a recently renovated childrens summer camp, the good news is that there are professional people for cleaning duties and food duties so while there might be some minimal duties they will be quite basic.
Days Trips: information on this was quite sketchy but from what we have been able to gather there are 2 day during the INCM, the first one will be to the Capitol where everyone will be visiting the centre of the city. For the second trip the group will be split in half one half will visit mud volcanos and the other half will go to the beach.
Theme: while a theme is not manditory for an INCM it is worth mentioning that there has been a theme at the INCM in recent years, with Copenhagen010 running with a “community” theme and Liechtenstein009 “the role of the Architect”. So far no theme has been mentioned in relation to INCM Azerbaijan.
Getting there: now this is the difficult question, seeing as Ajerbaijan is on the very periphary of europe, it is going to be a more expensive INCM to attend. The options of getting there are limited for the western europeans and flights are looking pretty expensive, ranging from a like €300 euro to €600 euro. Obviously there are many options and it will be up to every individual to research the most economical way.
Optional Excursion: little is know about this excursion. Apparently the trip is for two days after the end of the INCM to a sports camp in Gebela. No one from the group we spoke to knew anything about the details of the trip, and when we were put onto the phone to the only organiser who did, he proceeded to agree to some questions before hanging up.
Cost:The INCM should cost the same price as previous meetings and the optional excursion should cost “not more than 30 euro” extra.
Communication: to get in touch with the Azerbaijan team you can email them on incm011@gmail.com or check out their website www.incm011.az, however the website is still under construction, and when we tried to at least see the home page the webpage said “server not found”.
IRISH TEAM BEATS GAYS – EASA Football Tournament
EASA football cup kicked off yesterday evening in the sports hall next door to EASA HQ. With a total of twelve teams, the competition was fierce. First goal of the tournament was scored in the first minutes by Nikola (Serbia) as Serbia and “The extremely awesome lean grilling machine team” played the first match, with Serbia winning 2-0. Second match of the day, Ireland hammered into the Gay Fairy team for 4-0 victory, although the Gay Fairy team put a good fight and looked pretty fab doing it with Adam (UK) sporting particularly fetching rainbow socks. Other highlights included Myles (UK) amazing performance at penalty time. Scoring the Tutor team one goal and saving the attempt from the Dönor Kebab team (Germany/France/Turkey), and the appearance of Las Vikingas (All Female Scandinavian team), who were unfortunately crushed by the British Bulldog team. Maybe next EASA in Finland, there will be an all female football cup for next year.
eeeSpain tackled the future organizers in a fairly rough match, which resulted in one of the worst EASA injury so far as Ville (FI) breaking his leg. Memories of Italy, Ger (IRE) broke his leg a very competitive game of British Bullldog. Calm down boys, it´s only a game!!
Football Injury report:
Every year there are injurys some years there are many (Italy) some years there are few(UK). They are usually the result of the phsyical labour shy architecture students actually trying to use power tools instead of a computer mouse or excessive consuption of alcohol. However this year saw a twist in the trend of labour resulted injurys to sports related, with at least 2 major injurys occuring during yesterdays “friendly” tournament.
While the games kicked off in a friendly fashion, it wasn’t long before people were stretchered to the hospital including Concrete construction tutor Ville Mellin(FI) and an Austrian Girl who we can’t find.
Ville however dropped by the umbrella desk for a quick coffee “ya i think its only a minor fracture by theligament but they put it all in the cast anyway. Im just going to go straight to the hospital when I get back to Helsinki” the cast itself is what can only be described as a “scuptural foot beast”, with the toe part seeming to engulf the toes. The hospital also neglected to give poor Ville any crutches but thankfully a friendly organiser managed to come up with a spare set.
Of course Ville’s injury will be a huge loss to the concrete workshop but they can always propose his cast as one of their creations.
Reconstruction of the coast
Reconstruction of the coast is often needed when the city is expanding. Sometimes the buildings grow on the outskirts of the area, but when the city is actually located on a peninsula, growth is quite limited. So the question is should the objects get higher and would we solve the problem of the lacking space that way? Deconstruction of the existing structures could make more space. But it’s only an excuse to make new construction sites for the cause of the parole “the newer the better”. Evolving the industry is needed to some level, but it can often become destructive for the environment, the culture and the people. It’s very hard to find the balance between what we actually need and our ambitions to satisfy the sudden caprice for money and success. A fine coast is all the people need. It can provide all the basic necessities for a decent and sustainable civilization. Nothing has to be destroyed, demolished, removed, reconstructed, changed or moved. Everything is already here, hidden and neglected. So what does a fine coast has to do with architecture? Well only one thing. And that is the people that use it. Architecture was made for the human kind, to solve the struggle of surviving the harsh nature around us. You don’t always have to construct something new to get job done. Sometimes all you need is already here. Urbanism is about the people and not about the concrete. So if you actually want do make a change, any kind of difference, just redefine the idea of using the coast, cherishing the way it is at this very moment. Redefine the people that use the coast, redefine yourselves, and you will eventually get a fine coast.
Flamenco Night
Tonight, a great traditional show is awaiting us; an amazing experience for all those who are looking forward to explore the Spanish culture. Here is some insight on how it all began.
Flamenco is actually a musical genre, specifically belonging to the beautiful region of Andalusia. Though the etymology of the word flamenco is not very clear, it is said to be derived from the Hispanic-Arabic word fellahmengu, meaning - ‘expelled people’. At the end of the Moorish reign, the word was used to refer to the Muslim Andalusian people. Initially, the flamenco dance was performed in and for small groups, and that too very secretly. With time, it gained popularity and is now a very famous dance form.
FACTS
The late 18th century was the period when flamenco was on total ascension. Performed at the ‘cafés cantantes’, it was really the time when flamenco dance was completely professionalized and taken to a newer level. With the passage of time a lot of improvisations happened and now flamenco has more than 50 musical styles, known as ‘palos’. These styles are classified on the basis of their rhythmic patterns, modes, geographic origin, chord progression and the formation of stanzas.
Flamenco dance is combination of dance steps with the Andalusian folklore, folk songs and instruments of Mozarabic origin. Instruments like, tambourines, finger cymbals known as ‘Castanets’ and other tuneful musical instruments are also an integral part of the dance form.
One simply cannot tell apart the flamenco music from Spanish flamenco dancing. Flamenco music is the inherent part of the Spanish culture, deeply influenced by various cultures but still totally distinguished. Songs, guitar and the dance are its 3 components. The melodious synthesis of all these integral parts of flamenco makes it a great dance form. The male flamenco dancer is known as ‘bailaor’ and the female, ‘bailaora’. They wear atypical theatrical flamenco dancing costumes. A bailaor wears a tight black or red tuxedo and flat Cordoban hats, while bailaoras wear a long and beautiful frilled dresses called bata de cola, colored black, white, red, blue and sometimes pink, accompanied with a shawl, high heels and a fan. They also wear a rose behind their ears.
Flamenco fiestas are organized in all the regions of Spain, but Andalusia is still holding the platform. Seville, Granada, Cadiz and Jerez de la Frontera are the three places famous for flamenco dancers in Andalusia, where various flamenco dance shows are organized on the streets.
EASA Online
We [EASA] actually have a new Homepage: EASANetwork.com. The name was decided during INCM010 in Copenhagen and is replacing EASA000.net, that was shut down. We have had a problem for the last 4 years to create a decent Homepage, especially for finding sponsors, helping the current organizers to promote EASA. The thing is, we still need another solution for the blog and we are trying really hard to find the most perfect solution as a replacement for the EASA blog on easa.tk, cause this one is really old fashion and not quite up to date. You can find this discussion on EASA.tk.
For EASA, the blog is important and should not die out, since not everyone has facebook. Facebook is a good solution for Events, but cannot be the only solution for our communication during the year. At the moment easa.tk is rarely used and could end up as an archive. EASA goes on and with the time, that’s how we made it through the last 31 years.
It is still good to check all our homepages, until we find the ultimate solution, maybe during INCM011 in Azerbaijan.
So this is it:
easanetwork.com: public face
easa.tk: blog
easa.x42.at: Alternative / Test-Blog
national evening, a story
As I strolled through the fair city of Cádiz last Sunday evening, I stopped and waited in line to buy cigarettes. In the local grocery store, participants, waited anxiously trying to buy provisions for the festivities that were to ensue. In the streets, streams of people could be seen hauling supermarket bags of food and spirits, converging towards the easaHQ. As I ambled round the building; the air of anticipation was riff throughout the camp with various countries desperately trying to mark territory for their stalls.
As the preparations were almost complete and the smell of food, hookah smoke and absinthe filled the air. It was suddenly game on and the evening officially began with what can only be described as a feeding frenzy. The lecture area was a menagerie of people in lavish colours and dress. Flaming biscuits from Austria, ’goylo’ from Hungary, Norwegian waffles, gay marriages with the Liechtensteiners and Finnish liquor followed by a dip in their ice bath to name a few. There were kings and Queens, Princes and Princesses, Admirals and Generals, all singing songs and manning battleships. The Irish could be heard loud and clear as rebel songs bellowed all around the school.
After doing just two laps of the bull ring and drinking every kind of shot on display, this reporter, feeling a little sick was unfortunately obliged to spend the remainder of the night on info point where umbrella got to document some of the juiciest gossip!
Hook-ups - The rest of the night is pretty much a blur but we did record droves of easaian’s going to the beach, including some 18 couples leaving the front door hand-in-hand and towel over shoulder. Not to mention the ones caught doing the ‘no pants dance’ in the courtyard, the ledge over the courtyard and outside our neighbour’s front door upstairs.
Injuries - Thankfully this year’s casualty list is quite small with just one broken bone. Jellina Mittrovic from Serbia and tutor from cloud, unfortunately fell into the Dutch ‘peanut butter square’ and broke her leg.
All in all a great night was had and we at Umbrella are looking forward to epic Ibiza Party tonight! /gb
talking heads
Why did you come to EASA? What did you expect on the first time? Why are we here for two weeks? What should EASA have impact on, and who is responsible? Questions without simple answers, but surely enough to talk about for hours, days or weeks. On tuesday afternoon, some 15 easians gathered together to discuss the relevance of EASA invited by the workshop Three little pigs. The next few paragraphs are a feeble attempt to try summarize the intense one and a half-hour conversation.
EASA is not, by it’s original idea, a hierarchical organisation, but an assembly, where ideas would be exchanged between peers – from students to students, as the slogan goes. As it turns out, we do however have developed different kinds of roles within the group of easians, such as organisers, tutors, nc’s and helpers. For newcomers, this might seem like an organised group, who are primarily responsible in organising and making EASA happen. Because of this presumption new easians might get the feeling, that they’re not part of it all – least not as much as the group mentioned above. Not feeling like a part of the group is not just unfortunate, but it’s keeping participants from taking an active role in EASA; this applies to daily chores and developing the concept even further.
You don’t have to be a nobelist to understand, that everyone would enjoy EASA more and make more out of it, if everyone would have the chance to be part of making it happen. It is therefore the responsibility of organisers and more experienced easians to explain the ground rules and the idea of EASA for the newcomers, so that they’ll be able to take on the responsibility for an EASA they want to have. It is also worth considering, if EASAs have become too organised or are the organisers doing too much for the participants: could easians prepare their own food (like in Italy) or build their own bar etc.? As EASA’s original concept was based on equality, it would make sense for easians to actually make their own EASA and leave only the most necessary for the organisers.
The relevance of EASA is thought to be twofold. One: students exchanging ideas and interacting, having impact on each other and maybe adapting new ideas themselves. Two: EASA’s impact to the site, and the city or town it is situated in. Should EASA solve local problems or fix the surrounding environment? For example small interventions is an example of fixing small local problems. During the past years EASA’s impact on the surrounding society and environment has however been quite minimal, even though there has been attempts to make the event more visible for locals (for example EASA exhibition in Manchester). Balancing between the EASA bubble and the public is tricky, but might be worth further investigating in the future. Even if EASA wouldn’t occupy the town’s main square, it still has an impact, should it then be just for nearby coffee shops and bars. Another question is, should EASA open up to participants from other parts of the world. Nowadays (cultural) barriers within Europe do exist, but more importantly Europe has shut its borders from the outside world. In order to widen our perspectives participants from, for example North Africa or the Middle East could bring something current and important to the table.
Rest of the summary can be read here online during the day
Be sure to be at the discussion box today at 2 p.m. as Three little pigs is hosting a talk on styles/beyond modernism.
Beach, Buses and Booze
Waking up started at 10 a.m. and lasted till half past 7… At least for the most of the people did. Some stayed in their rooms to get precious sleep and some went to a long bus journey thru Spanish mountains and fields. Each of the driving sessions lasted for at least an hour and half. That was good, because we could rest our tired bodies between the “boring” destinations along the way. First we went to a beautiful flower garden that was apparently one of the most important firms within the world of alcoholic beverages. The owner is González family. Tío Pepe (named after one of the founders’ uncle) is a brand of Sherry which is made by fino style of dry sherry made from the palomino grape. Palomino is sort of grapes that doesn’t need any watering. It is self sustainable. People wandered around in six groups, while the guides were quite uninspiring. But it didn’t matter because the place told the story itself. The smells were showing us the way thru hundred years old wine cellars filled with ancient barrels. The barrels had the history for themselves. They had their date of construction, their own names and special rooms reserved only for them. Many famous people had signed these barrels like Pablo Picasso and Jean Cocteau. There were quite few significant architectural spots in the whole complex. Tío Pepe wind vane which holds the Guinness world record of the largest wind vane that actually works and Real Bodega de la Concha (a warehouse designed by Gustave Eiffel). After a while we finally reached the circus tents within some enormous hall. In there we got our precious Sherry. Some might have enjoyed it, but the hot air and high humidity were too much for me. A lot of people waited the end of the tour under the vine treetops that made a great green hall between the buildings. We had a déjà vu with our bus, and started the long drive to the playa de Bolonia. The stay was very short, but more than enough to enter the icy water twice and get dry afterwards in the burning sun and strong wind. The Atlantic ocean was the same temperature as the showers it the atrium. The only difference was that you can’t actually switch off the water around you. All in all this somewhat short excursion was a perfect hangover cure from the National Evening that happened the day before. AP
National evening history
Its National evening tonight- you might have heard. So whats is it? Something to do with Rakia and police helecopters? At EASA the only way to separate myth from shit that happened is to talk to someone that was there. So continuing this oral tradition i sat down with EASA vetran, DJ and all round nice guy Martin Dashorst (NL) at the “discuss” table in the bar to reminiss and piece together fragents from the last 8 EASAs.
It turns out this cornerstone of EASA tradition is only 6 years old!
Before 2005 pop up, unschedualed events would happen through out the two weeks with much less enphasis on the boozing, its said the Spainish even did a flamenco workshop- sounds nice.
For 2005 the super Swiss decided organisation is the key to fun and placed a space on the timetable on the evening before excursion for all countries to have a space and table in the sports hall, and so National Evening (NE) as we know it was born.
The hungarian organisers liked it soo much they copied the format this time with all 40+ countries squeezed into the long narrow space of the pleasure boat. Memorable tables anonst the sensory overload that resulted included Russia’s “porno sushi”(fish in vodka consumed as a shot) and Romania’s warm polinka with chilli-photo booth. True to the spirit of “the boat” EASA, the party moved from the sweaty corridor to the showers.
A greek innovation for 2007 was a short parade from the accomodation to the venue. Memorable highlights include – a Danish gay marrage table. The night was a bit rough on some and when it came to the clean up in the morning Kotryna Sokolovaite (LI) and Fergus Naughton (IE) were seen literally sweeping up participants. Martin assures me there is footabe which appears to indicate Christoph Holtz (UK) was among the humam detrius.
For many in attendance Irelands approach in 2008 was the highpoint so far. Situated in the West coast of Ireland in a tiny village the organisers were limited in options for nights out and spread NE out over 4 nights. It rsulted in more space for each country to occupy and gave much clearer memories of each table and event. Innovation at an all time high there seemed to be too many memorable events to cover here, but Martin picks out the Danish long boat invasion, Dutch stage hi-jacking and enforced games, the functional Finnish sauna with a total nude door policy and the UK village with tea, maypole and queue to be the creme de la creme. However let us not forget Yugoslavia reunited, this saw the gathering of all the former Yugoslav states in matching hats undertaking some epic chanting on the stage!
Italy saw the reversion to a single night version, this time open air. The finns feature again with the “eat the penis”(sausage) challenge, while Portugal get a mention for setting fore to Neal Patterson (IE) and Joe Frames (UK) shoes. Once again the brevity didn’t end when the booze ran with the UK organising an “insane” game of British Bulldog which Martin describes as “200 drunk people running at each other”. Even later still the ever enthusiastic team were seen passing the Danish teams into the face of sleeping drunkards.
EASA 010’s NE is the freshest in memory. Predictably (I’m begining to see a pattern) Martin picks out the Dutch, this time coupled with the Spainish as a personal high. The identity switch allowed a revival of their recent world cup rivalry.
So there it is 6 years old today and still going. NE has firmly placed its self inthe heart of every EASA. It is true that the focus of attention all in one night has somewhat killed innovation spread accross the event (apart from the spanish sangria night which is still held on a separate night), it seems now we all rely on the organsisers for our evening entertainment (I’m reminded of some words of wisdom from Kasja Börjesson (SW) at Italy “you are the party; if the party is boring, you are boring)
Overall national evening is amazing though, giving every nation the platform to represent itself. I can’t wait to see whos table excells tonight and the creativity that abouds.
Chris Maloney (UK).
EASA 013???
Who will host EASA 2013? Since we have provided some interesting information about the origin of this years Spanish EASA we have decided to investigate who else may be interested in the 2013 bid.
Well the rumor mill is in full operation with a few countrys having come to the attention of umbrella.
Serbia: After last years intense bidding session, Serbia lost out to finland by the smallest of margins. However the Serbs hate to lose (see tall compitition) and are fronting a very strong team this year again. We asked Marko Vukovic, tutor of Pimp my Space what the story was with Serbia planning on bidding this year, his response “No Comment”
Malta: This is Official after having a brief chat with Maltiese NC Elaine Bonavia she confirmed that they were currently in the process of discussing with local officials and seeking the support of various institutions.
While no official town or city has been confirmed they were eager to stress that it would be in a harbour region, maybe a peninsula with lots of forts, historic buildings and local activities.
So far bid preparations are being under take by a group of roughly 7 lead people. The theme is still as yet undecided and will depend alot on the final location.
Scotland: While this country does not technically exist yet as it is still part of the UK, the UK group will be dissolving into its separate countries after this year. While there are no NCs and this is the groups first time in EASA they have still been heard discussing the possibility of having a EASA in Inverness.
Umbrella says: hold the enthusiasim boys try organising a INCM or SEASAM first.
