My blog experience

I have to admit, writing a blog wasn't something i liked at first. Mostly because it implies two things, one i don't think i'm really good at, and one i don't like: writing up a consistent text, and talking about myself. Anyway, i had to do it, and eventually it worked out pretty well.
I guess practice does help a lot, cause now i find it easier to do, i just write whatever comes to my head without complicating myself about it as i usually do about everything else.
And it was helpful as well. I was way out of practice with my english, mainly because i haven't got many chances to do so, and specially with the written part. I mean, speaking can be easier if you keep watching movies or listening music, because listening to others talk improves your vocabulary somehow, but writing? that's a totally different thing.
About the posts, the one i enjoyed the most was the one about Ken Robinson's video, it might seem weird, but i like the challenge of trying to understand what he says without subtitles, and trying to do it when that someone's got an accent it's kind of harder, and better.
On the opposite side, the one that took me some time, and that i wasn't really eager to do, was the photograph one, but that's for personal reasons that i don't feel like discussing right now.

A TV Show i watched as a child

"Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs", gotta admit i had no idea this was a Spielberg production along with "Tiny Toon Adventures", show that i also enjoyed by the way. I think it was in '98 or so when i used to watch it on T.V.
It is basically a half hour show per episode, and it includes a variety of characters with their own mini-shows inside. The main characters were the Warner brothers Yakko, Wakko and their sister Dot and in the beginning of every episode they explained where do they come from and why are they locked inside the studios water tank, and they manage to escape on the show's first episode.
I chose this cartoon among others i used to watch because i think many of the characters became world-wide known, and we still remember their names and typical phrases like "hola enfermera". Some of the shows inside it were Pinky and the Brain, two lab rats attempting to take over the world, that became so popular they even got their own show, Slappy Squirrel, Rita and Runt, Buttons and Mindy (actually hated Mindy because of all the things Buttons had to go through to protect her), Chicken Boo, Minerva Mink, The Goodfeathers and Katie Ka-Boom among others.
The show had references to popular American culture, songs, some violence and also some educational segments.
I'll leave you the first episode of the show, it is in Latin Spanish so enjoy!

Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?

I think i´ve seen this video before, a couple of years ago, and i still think he couldn´t be more right.
I mean, there´s a reason why most kids don't really like school, and why would they? Ok, you need to learn math and language, but the way they try to teach you does not motivate anyone to learn, i remember when i was in school, my friends and i used to make up songs to remember vocabulary lessons, and it was more useful and fun, i still remember some of them. And i think now, it's probably the reason why i enjoyed english more than other subjects, and the reason why i'm kind of good at it too, because they used songs, sherlock holmes books, illustrated stories, and of course, because of the music i listen to and the movies and tv shows i like. 
Now, even though i chose a career that it's kind of related to art, and you're suposed to be creative and everything, i feel like that part is left aside, because for some teachers it's more important selling an idea, making a client happy, instead of encouraging you to make something different and new, something that could be considered art even when it's also trying to convince you to do or buy an idea or things you don't need. 

I´ll leave you this video that my boss sent me, it's a beautiful way to show us that the way we comunicate things can make an important difference, that we can always take something and give it a spin and make it better.

Someone you would like to meet

It was kind of hard to just pick one person that I'd love to meet, I thought of Kurt Cobain, Freddie Mercury among others, but then i decided to pick someone that's still alive.
So i chose Jared Leto, he is an actor, singer, songwriter, front man of a band called "30 seconds to mars" where he also plays guitar, bass, piano, and he has directed and produced some of the band's videos under the name of "Bartholomew Cubbins". So as you can see, he would be a really interesting person to meet, leaving the handsome part aside.

He is a very dedicated (a little bit obsessive) professional, he has been in movies like Urban Legend, Fight Club, Requiem for a Dream, Lord of War, etc, and he has no problem with changing the way he looks for a role, for example, he gained more than 30 k. to play John Lennon's killer in "Chapter 27" and recently he lost weight to play the role of a HIV-positive transsexual woman in a movie called "the Dallas Buyers Club" as you can see in these pictures taken by photographer Terry Richardson.


He has won many awards, as an actor, a musician, director, and also for being the "Sexiest Men", but in between all of this, he and his band have helped many organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and J/P Haitian Relief Organization, being Haiti a real concern for them, specially after the earthquake, also he has supported causes to stop animal cruelty and they released a website called http://www.abeautifullie.org/ were you can find information and ways to participate in environmental activities or donate to the Natural Resources Defense Council.

I'll leave you a video directed by Jared, and as pretty much all of their videos, it is like a short film, this is the first one he directed, and the first one i saw, it´s based on "The Shining" movie.

A place to eat

Hi everyone! I'm going to talk about this place, it's not exactly a restaurant, but my friends and I became addicted to it nearly two weeks ago. It's called "Cinnabon" and they sell mainly cinnamon rolls. This one specifically it's inside Costanera Center, on the top floor and as i was looking for it's website i found out it hasn't been in our country for long (last year or so), but it's very famous all over the globe.
What you see in the picture are "Pecanbon" and the drinks are called "Chillattas", frozen beverages, juice with a lot of ice, and cream, etc. Really good i must add, and coming from me, that's saying a lot, cause i don't like eating many things (don't know if there is a word for that in English, in Spanish would be "mañosa").

Anyway, they are basically a warm dough filled with cinnamon topped with cream cheese frosting, and there are others with walnut, caramel and chocolate. As for the price, they are not expensive at all, about $2000 CLP the one in the picture, and it's the biggest one. 

So if you are looking for something different to eat, at a reasonable price, this is definitely a good option.

BBC learning english

Today, as you all know, we had to review the BBC's website for learning english. And what i loved the most about it was the quizzes section, i've always liked crosswords and that kind of stuff and i got caught up in that section for nearly half the class, i think challenging myself is a good way to improve my skills, i´ve done it since i was a child, and in fact, today answering some of them i learned that i really lack vocabulary, so i think i'll be visiting the site often in order to improve it. About the rest of the sections i was only able to see some kind of "comic" story? i don't know if that's the most accurate way to describe it, but the point is that i found it very useful, it describes common situations and it explains you popular expresions that you won't find in a regular dictionary.

The place i chose from the list is Madame Tussauds wax museum. It opens every day, except for Christmas Day. It is placed in Marylebone Road, London, and you can get there by subway, it is just a two minutes walk away from Baker Street station. I liked this museum over the others because of many reasons, first, i like movies and seeing some characters in real size and with so many details must be pretty awesome, and that gets me to the second reason. I was looking on the website a little bit of the process that takes making these sculptures, and considering how accurate they are to the real person, i think it´s worth paying the ticket that honestly i found a little expensive, specially if you change it to chilean money (it costs £30.00 an adult one, or something near to $24.000 CLP if i'm not mistaken) 

A Concert or Exhibition

If i have to choose a concert i want to write about, i think it would definitely be "Lollapalooza 2011" even though it's not actually just one.
Why?, well, because it was the first one ever made outside the USA, because i loved a lot of the artists that performed in it, and because if memory serves, it was the first two-days concert i ever went to. 
It was on April 02 and 03, inside Parque O'higgins, i went with two of my friends, and it was exhausting but a really awesome experience.
Some of the artists i remember the most were 30 seconds to mars, The Killers, Los Bunkers, Chico Trujillo, Deftones, and Jane's addiction with the band and some people hanging from the stage. 
I even got a not so little tree as a gift, it was kind of difficult to take it home, and i'm pretty sure i punched several people on the face with it, i can´t say for sure 'cause no one yelled at me but i noticed some guys laughing anyway.

I'll leave you a video i took from Lollapalooza's youtube channel, i hope you will enjoy it.

A Beach

There's a beach I used to go every summer with my family when i was a child, it's called Pelluhue and it is on the seventh region. My grandpa has a house there, so when i say my family, i mean a lot of people 'cause my mom has 10 siblings, and it was a bit chaotic specially at night, when we had to make beds all over the floor, which i think was the best part, it was like camping inside the house and we used to throw pillows at each other and make fun until one of our parents got pissed and we had to go to sleep. 
I remember going to the river, because in the beach the water was so cold, and the waves so strong it was safer for us, little kids, not to bathe in it. Now of course, this is different, big waves call for surfers and there's even an anual contest.

A lot has changed in Pelluhue the past few years, the last time I went was before the Tsunami, so i think i wouldn't recognize much of it now, luckily for us, our grandpa's house wasn't destroyed by it, which is a real miracle considering it is about two blocks away from the ocean.

A photograph

Hi everyone!

I'd like to talk to you about this photo, and what it means to me, it's kind of hard doing it, but as i'm being extremely sentimental these days (or depressed, whatever) i'm taking this as my therapy. I hope you won't mind.

So this picture was taken on my birthday on 2008, and even though my brother is making a funny face, and he'll probably be pissed if he founds out i'm posting this for you to see, it is a very important moment for me, you see this was the last birthday i spent with my father, he passed away in August of 2009 and this is one of the last photos i have with him, or actually it's the last one we have as a family.

I know i said i was being sentimental, but it's in a good way, i know he's better now, and we are too, i mean, he's not suffering from cancer anymore and he's somehow free.  

Well i don't know if i'm making any sense now, so all i have to say is that it was a really good birthday, a day i'll always remember, and that i hope we'll be toghether again one day.

On vacations, and out of God knows where, i came up with the idea that i wanted to learn another language, Italian to be more precise. As i knew a course would be expensive and it would require a lot of time, something that i honestly don't have right now, I kind of left the idea aside. But then, a few weeks ago, my uncle told my brother about an English course you can do on your own called Rosetta Stone, according to him it's the best you can find in USA and he told him that if he could find it here, he would buy it for him. As always, he asked me to look for it.

Searching on the internet, i found that it aims to teach you a lenguaje in a natural way, like a child that's learning to speak, by asociating images and sounds, and repeating it over and over, with simple exercises like identifying what the speaker says, etc.
Now the real surprise for me was that there's a lot of languages availables for this program. Pretty much every language you can think of,it has it.

Sadly, i can not tell you if it's on sale in Chile, cause i found it hacked first, and frankly i got bored looking for it, and i can not tell you either if it works as good as it promises (not now at least) for I'm only on the first lesson.

Anyway, i thought it was something worth sharing, and i hope it serves you if you decide to try it.

So I've always wanted to travel, to visit new and beautiful places. But there's one that i found very attractive, and some sort of magical too.
I don't remember exactly when it was that i've been wanted to go to Ireland, but it has some of the most amazing views i can recall, it just doesn't seem real.
The way nature takes over buildings, bridges and pretty much everything in one place, and then, in another you may find huge castles, quiet lakes, stone sidewalks in the middle of a field, like suddenly you're transported to a different time or place where there are all sort of creatures like leprechauns and fairys in every corner.

Well, i think i might have exaggerated but that's what i feel watching the pictures, like you're in the middle earth and an elf or a hobbit could show up any minute, or being more realistic i suppose, that the guy from braveheart (it was filmed there) or robin hood could do, and i know they are from another countries but you get the idea right?

To finish, i'll leave you some other photos i found on line, so you can see what i meant.

A book I recommend

A few years ago, I bought a book called "La séptima M" it was written in 2006 by a Chilean writer, a really young one i must add (she's about 28 now). Her name is Francisca Solar and as i understand she started her carreer writing fan-fictions based on Harry Potter books and The X Files tv show.
The book has something of that, it's about a forensic doctor investigating the suicide of 6 teenagers in Aysen, in a Town called "Puerto Fake". Everyone living there refuses to talk about the deaths of these kids, arguing that it's just depression or a pact with evil forces, cause they all have a scar shaped as a letter M on their necks. I remember i got caught up with this book and the ending was something i never expected. So if you like these genre i think this book's at least worth considering.
I found out now, looking for some information on the author, that she has released a sequel of this book in 2011 called "El Hada de las Cadenas" and she has signed up to write 3 more.