Feel the magic of fantasy, the epic and the majestic, mystical and spiritual awe.
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Lorenzo Coullaut Valera was a Spanish sculptor and illustrator born in Marchena in 1876, the son of a French engineer. He spent his childhood in Nantes, France, and returned to Spain in 1893. His works are found throughout Spain and Latin-America and he has a museum in his hometown.
Because I have to solve some problems related to printing and it will take time, and because I still have to recover my energy (health problems) the launch of my online store is going to be postponed indefinitely for now.
Three cult videogame sagas
Mago de Oz Concert Marchena 2022
Do more of what makes you happy
Everyone worries about the covid pandemic but ignores another pandemic that is much more serious and dangerous
Lord deliver me from cringe people
The only secret to understanding people is to really care about them.
Day of Andalusia
Coullaut Valera exhibition in San Pedro street, Marchena
Private: We haven’t come this far just to stay here
Memories of fairs from other years
On December 6, 2025, the 96th edition of the Miss France pageant took place, a show that stands out above all other fashion competitions in the world for its brilliant staging, truly worthy of admiration and something many directors of other pageants should learn from. What makes it so exceptional is its themed dance performances, which I wrote about a few years ago when they staged an impressive flamenco show featuring a Spanish dancer. At Miss France, the contestants are constantly dancing.
In this latest edition, the inclusion of the National Guard band (le Garde républicaine) during the regional costume segment (in which each contestant represents a French region, including overseas territories) wearing designs that reflect the country’s cultural diversity, genuinely moved me, as the world of bands has a very personal significance for me. Anyone familiar with my reports will understand why this moment meant so much.
Three melodies were performed, the last of which was the official Miss France anthem, giving the whole sequence a truly epic atmosphere. It reminded me of what happened at the Miss Universe pageant just a few weeks earlier, where a live band also performed the official Miss Universe anthem during the evening gown segment.
Here is the full show at the link below. The band’s performance begins at 57:04:
Miss France 2026 (watch on Youtube)
Flamenco in Miss France 2024
This year Miss Universe Spain
Miss Universe 2021 in Jerusalem, Nazareth and Arab Mosques
Miss Universe 2022 in Saint Joan of Arc Parade
Miss Universe 2023 in magical El Salvador
MISS UNIVERSE 2024 IN BEAUTIFUL AND BELOVED MEXICO
Miss Universe 2025 in mystical Thailand
Can we talk about how awesome Clémence Botino is?
Now that the second video of the Marchena 2023 fair is almost ready to publish, I would like to clarify some things.
The first thing is that I am not going to publish the photos here on the website until I have published the third video on YouTube, so as not to “spoil” any surprises ahead of time.
The second thing is that I do all of this by myself. I don’t have any team of people by my side, no assistants or anything. And I do everything with a very small budget. My camera is a Canon DSLR, yes, but a very cheap, beginner’s model. If it looks so good and so professional it is because I know how to get the most out of it due to my many years of experience taking photos. However, I only started making videos a year ago, during Easter 2022. Many problems with my videos are due to my lack of experience and others are due to using a cheap camera. Problems with focus, with sometimes everything looking TOO close, and above all, problems with STABILIZATION, or rather, the lack of it. Because my camera does not have a stabilizer, and I have to use an option in the video editor on the computer to stabilize by software, but it is super slow and makes a lot of mistakes, it makes strange movements, as you can see in the videos. To avoid having this problem I need a 4,000 euro camera (Canon R5), which would also solve the problems of blurring and everything being seen too close.
Another thing is that the videos take me forever to make. Apart from the fact that it is a laborious job in itself, the computer takes a long time processing. And between the analysis of the stabilization, the export, the reconversion to 4K, and the upload to YouTube, hours and hours are spent. I have a 2011 Mac Mini that is already asking for retirement.
Since I have to add a photo to the publication, I’m posting a preview of one of the photos from the fair. The one on the right is my cousin Teresa.
Three cult videogame sagas
Mago de Oz Concert Marchena 2022
Do more of what makes you happy
Everyone worries about the covid pandemic but ignores another pandemic that is much more serious and dangerous
Lord deliver me from cringe people
The only secret to understanding people is to really care about them.
Day of Andalusia
Coullaut Valera exhibition in San Pedro street, Marchena
Private: We haven’t come this far just to stay here
© 2026 Francisco González SOLEMNITY
