Pamplona holds opening bull run during San Fermín festival
It was the first of nine morning runs during the famous celebrations held in the northern Spanish city of Pamplona.
The bulls pounded along the twisting cobblestone streets after being led by six steers. Up to 4,000 runners take part in each bull run, which takes place over 846 meters (2,775 feet) and can last three to four minutes.
Most runners wear the traditional garb of white trousers and shirt with red sash and neckerchief. The expert Spanish runners try to sprint just in front of the bull's horns for a few death-defying seconds while egging the animal on with a rolled newspaper.
Thousands of spectators watch from balconies and wooden barricades along the course. Millions more follow the visceral spectacle on live television.
While gorings are not rare, many more people are bruised and injured in falls and pileups with each other. Medics rush in to treat the injured and take the seriously hurt to a hospital.
Unofficial records say at least 15 people have died in the bull runs over the past century. The deadliest day on record was July 13, 1980, when four runners were killed by two bulls. The last death was in 2009.
The rest of each day is for eating, drinking, dancing and cultural entertainment, including bull fights where the animals that run in the morning are slain in the bull ring by professional matadors each afternoon.
The festival was made internationally famous by Ernest Hemingway's classic 1926 novel 'The Sun Also Rises' about American bohemians wasting away in Europe.
___
Wilson reported from Barcelona, Spain.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
17 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
'Hostage,' Eli Sharabi's memoir about life in Hamas captivity, is coming to the US
NEW YORK (AP) — A memoir by an Israeli man held in captivity for more than a year by Hamas is coming out this fall in the U.S. Eli Sharabi's 'Hostage,' written in Hebrew and already a bestseller in Israel, is the first published memoir by anyone kidnapped by Hamas during the deadly surprise attack of Oct. 7, 2023. Harper Influence, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, announced Tuesday that the English-language edition of his book will come out this Oct. 7, the 2-year anniversary. Sharabi, 53, was released in early February and has said that he had shrunk to under 100 pounds — less than the weight of his youngest daughter, who was killed along with his wife and older daughter. More than 1,000 were killed in the attack and more than 200 taken hostage. 'It was important to me that the story come out as quickly as possible, so that the world will understand what life is like inside captivity," Sharabi said in a statement. 'Once they do, they will not be able to remain indifferent. But I also want readers to know that even in the darkest of times, you can always seek out the light and choose humanity.' According to Harper Influence, Sharabi writes about his experience with his captors in "stark, unflinching prose, detailing the relationships the hostages formed with one another, including Alon Ohel, still a hostage in Gaza, with whom Sharabi formed an unbreakable father-son bond.' 'Along the way, Sharabi reveals how his faith gave him the resilience to endure the horrific conditions and overcome mental anguish," the announcement reads in part.
New York Post
23 minutes ago
- New York Post
‘Superman' director faces backlash for calling the Man of Steel an ‘immigrant': ‘Superwoke'
'Superman' director and DC Studios co-head James Gunn is facing backlash for calling the Man of Steel 'an immigrant that came from other places' in a new interview. Ahead of the release of Warner Bros.' superhero reboot on July 11, Gunn, 58, told The Sunday Times of London that ''Superman' is the story of America… An immigrant that came from other places and populated the country.' The 'Guardians of the Galaxy,' the director added: 'But for me it is mostly a story that says basic human kindness is a value and is something we have lost.' Advertisement 'Superman' director James Gunn called the Clark Kent 'an immigrant.' AP Clark Kent is, of course, not human. Named Kal-El, he's an alien from planet Krypton who lands on Earth as a baby and is adopted by a couple in Smallville, Kansas. In the new movie, the iconic red cape is donned by 32-year-old actor David Corenswet. Advertisement Gunn said that some audience members who watch the action movie through a political lens could have a negative reaction to it. Driving home that point, the Sunday Times' headline is: 'Some people will take offense at my new 'Superman.'' 'Yes, it plays differently,' Gunn said. 'But it's about human kindness and obviously there will be jerks out there who are just not kind and will take it as offensive just because it is about kindness. But screw them.' Several media personalities bristled at Gunn's remarks. 'He's creating a moat of woke, enlightened opinion around him. He's got a woke shield,' said Fox News' Greg Gutfeld, with a graphic on the screen that read 'Superwoke.' Advertisement James Gunn said 'there will be jerks out there' who criticize his film's immigrant themes. WireImage Kellyanne Conway said, 'We don't go to the movie theater to be lectured to and to have somebody throw their ideology onto us.' The cast stood by Gunn's interview on Monday's red carpet in Los Angeles. 'My reaction to [the backlash] is that it is exactly what the movie is about,' Sean Gunn, James Gunn's brother who plays Maxwell Lord, told Variety. Advertisement 'We support our people, you know? We love our immigrants. Yes, Superman is an immigrant, and yes, the people that we support in this country are immigrants and if you don't like that, you're not American. People who say no to immigrants are against the American way.' Nathan Fillion, who plays the Green Lantern, put it more succinctly. 'Aw, somebody needs a hug,' the actor said. 'Just a movie, guys.' 'Superman' hits theaters on July 11.
Los Angeles Times
38 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Up, up and … eh? A rebooted ‘Superman' gives the Man of Steel a mind of marshmallow
Fine, I'll say it. I need Superman. I'm craving a hero who stands for truth and justice whether he's rescuing cats or reporting the news. Cheering for such idealism used to feel corny; all the cool, caped crusaders had ethical kinks. Even his recent movies have seemed a little embarrassed by the guy, scuffing him up with cynicism. I'm with the latest incarnation of Superman (David Corenswet) when he tells Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) that having a big heart is 'the real punk rock.' Director James Gunn's antsy reboot skips past the origin story of infant Kal-El slamming into Kansas in an escape pod from Krypton. Instead, this 'Superman' opens with Corenswet's savior slamming into Earth again, this time after losing his first fight. Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) and his bionic minions have batted Superman around Metropolis like a toy, forcing him to flee to his Fortress of Solitude in Antarctica with 14 broken bones and a busted bladder. The starkness of the white snow against his bright costume looks like a blank page asking: Who should Superman be today? The Superman myth has always been a fable of collision: a near-perfect alien challenged to protect fragile, scared humans who struggle to accept that we're not the bestest beings in the universe. Here, Kal-El's parents (Bradley Cooper and Angela Sarafyan) are heard insulting Earthlings outright — 'The people there are simple and profoundly confused' — which, for the franchise, is actually going a little easy on humankind. Historically, we tend to let him down, going back to his surprisingly spiky movie debut in 1951's 'Superman and the Mole Men' (note the lack of a 'versus'), in which George Reeves protected the outsiders of the title from a rural American mob. 'Obviously, none of you can be trusted with guns, so I'm going to take them away from you,' he lectures the townsfolk, pretzeling their shotguns. 'Stop acting like Nazi storm troopers!' Gunn isn't that punk rock. He's pop punk; he wants to be liked by a mass audience. Having taken control of the DC Universe, he's pivoted away from gloom to concoct a Superman who isn't too sweet or too serious — frankly, he's a little stupid. After a hasty resuscitation from his adorable dog Krypton and his robot butlers (voiced by Alan Tudyk, Pom Klementieff and Michael Rooker, among others), Superman races back into battle before he's healed. He gets beaten senseless again. Stupid is a smart idea for a 21st century reboot. Superman's stymied do-gooder impulse feels right for an era where you can't say 'Save the whales' without some genius asking why you don't care about plankton. The goal might have been to make him super naive. But Gunn doesn't do sincerity, so this Superman comes off as obtuse and overwhelmed — which, even for a Julliard-trained actor like Corenswet, is pretty impossible to pull off with any personality. His dimples and blue eyes are empathetic. But he mostly just looks dazed. This Superman is all impulsive energy, much like his unhousebroken puppy, who also wears a cape and tramples on things when he tries to help. They're essentially the same species. Superman gets distracted midfight by his urgent need to protect a squirrel; Krypto spends one brouhaha looting a pet store. Superman's reporter girlfriend of three months, Lois (a savvy and sensible Brosnahan, kitted in fabulous '70s-style threads), is well-aware of his dual identity and the flaws in his hasty reactions to injustice. She points out that physically threatening the thuggish president of fictional Boravia (Zlatko Buric) to stop invading weaker countries is technically torture. 'People were going to die!' Superman sputters. Lois' reticence about him mirrors our own vacillation with the DC Universe's new direction: We need to see something more from this guy before we commit. In this script, the lines of good and evil aren't drawn in black and white or even gray — they're a tangle of squiggles. There are no neat solutions, no shortcuts and there's no way for Superman to defend himself when Hoult's Luthor drums up a dubious sex scandal to accuse the Kryptonian of 'grooming' humanity and hires an actual room of typing monkeys to ruin his online reputation. (You may remember that before Gunn was hired to oversee DC Studios, Walt Disney fired him from Marvel when a blogger behind Pizzagate unearthed the director's old shock-jock jokes about pedophilia and 9/11. Clearly, that grievance is still on his mind.) The plot is impatient but entertaining enough. The villainous billionaire Luthor, who Hoult plays like a beady techno-zealot, has several schemes up his fancy sleeve. One involves a tent city in the desert that hides a portal to an extrajudicial jail for his enemies, both interstellar and domestic. (He's got green-skinned babies and a sobbing ex-girlfriend in there.) Gunn has sarcastically tried to make the place look cheery — Luthor's henchmen are dressed in mismatched Hawaiian shirts — but the sequence might give you the shivers. Gunn is known for wrangling groups of weirdos ('Guardians of the Galaxy,' 'The Suicide Squad') into blockbuster action-comedies. His instincts are to spray everything with silly string and slap on a wacky soundtrack. Here, there's actually a very good doom metal electronic score by John Murphy and David Fleming, but the movie stiffens up whenever it needs to get real. When we visit Clark Kent's family farm, it's touching to see his childhood bedroom. But his plainspoken Ma and Pa (Neva Howell and Pruitt Taylor Vince) have been made to talk so slowly they sound like they have brain injuries. It's as though 'Superman' isn't sure how to be earnest without whacking us over the head with it. The script is way more confident when Gunn gets to scribble in the margins, whisking in Milly Alcock's party-hardy Supergirl for a fast and fun cameo. (She'll have her own movie next summer.) Luthor's main henchwoman, known only as the Engineer (María Gabriela de Faría), is constructed from skittering robotic cells that let her change form like a Swiss Army Knife, while his latest ditzy blonde girlfriend, Eve (a very funny Sara Sampaio), wriggles her way into becoming a memorable highlight. One of the film's umpteenth kaiju fights introduces the corporate-sponsored Justice Gang, a trio of apathetic superheroes spearheaded by Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion) with Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced) and Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi). They dispatch a monster so gracelessly that Superman finally gets some sense knocked into him. 'There's got to be a better way to do this,' he groans. The movie's tone shape-shifts just as recklessly as an outer space inmate named Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan) who can transform into explosive acid. Gunn is compelled to show us his entire vision for the DC Universe. But as he cuts from a slow-burning gag about a garage door opener to a legitimately brutal execution to a whizbang combat scene set to a song that whoops, 'Fun fun fun!,' I just wished I was having more of it. This isn't quite the heart-soaring 'Superman' I wanted. But these adventures wise him up enough that I'm curious to explore where the saga takes him next. Still, I left chewing over how comic book movies can be so popular and prescient, and yet people who've grown up rooting against characters like Lex Luthor cheer them on in the real world. Maybe Gunn can answer that in a sequel. Or maybe our stubborn myopia is what this Superman means when he says, 'I screw up all the time but that is being human.'
