The art of bloggin...the last post

First of all I must say i dont remember when was the last time i wrote in english before i took this class, this means i haven’t got any oportunity to practice or improve my english... So, obviously, i’ve forgot a lot!. At first i wasn’t even planning to get in this course...i just made the test because i had to do some time waiting for someone, there i found Ismael who told me about the test. At the end i’m really thankfull I got in this class.
I think it was a great idea (i don’t know if it was Simon’s idea) to make students to create their blog...it really helped me out, plus i’ve never visited or had any blog before, it’s some kind of different presentation card, were you can judge or make comments on everyone else’s blog too...this is also usefull to the improvment.
Although i dislike those blogs were people talk a lot about themselves, and their feelings, etc, i think there were many interesting post and opinions from my classmates, i guess this also made us know each other better, this plus the time to talk in the class, made funnier the course.
One of the negative things about the bloggin method was that sometimes the subjects weren’t that fun (jajaja, sory Simon i have to say it) or they didn’t move us enough to post lots of comments, have discussions, etc. Maby this is beacuse not everyone was into the bloggin or because the points of view weren’t that clearly in the posts (it happened to me many times). And an advantage was that we got enough time to make a decent post, from our homes =).
Personally i enjoied very much, it was a great chance to share things you like (song, books, websites) and to get informed too.The closeness to the professor made it easier for us to learn more (que mamona)...it was definitely a good experience.
Well...this is probably the end of my Blog and of the class...so bye bye to everyone! =)

Design like you give a damn!

The winner of the TED Prize in 2006, architect Cameron Sinclair talks in this video about his particullar way of making architecture based on humanitarian work, with proyects that show a socialy responsable design. This goes from the recontruccion of Alabama and Missisipi after huracan Katrina to the resolution of the housing crisis in Kosovo. This architecture have made an impact around the globe with many interesting proyects such as public bathrooms in India,Clinics for treatment to the vih infected people in africa and sustainable schools that incorporate it’s own source of energy (acording to weather in each place), so it’s not just some kind of charity-architural work, it also includes innovative sistems with different functions that adecuate to people’s needs. Another important point it was the way this proyects were really built: the same clients help to it = low costs!, plus this comunity network help to deal with public policy. Finally after all the process, the comunity keep the blueprints of the proyects, and have the option to replicate it for free.
As a personal appreciation, i find it very interesting, very inspiring...architects making something different, something for the wolrd,not ambicious at all! It sounds more usefull and less shallow than making beautifull houses for rich people or famous artists, doesn’t it? ...

(Simon plis don’t get mad at us, we are doing the best we can according to our little time =))

CD! ...and all it's players

The CD it´s my favourite technology piece since it appear becuase it was the first efficient information bearer...we all remember how tedious was to rewind or put forward on the cassettes or VHS players. Im a music/film lover so i remember clearly the difference that CD made in my life, the quality of the music changed, the music player wasn't the hateble walkman anymore... you could rewind or put forward, turn on/off just pushing a button...later it appear the dvd, and dvd player ...in both cases the quality of the image/sounds and the option to burn it made our lifes easier. (basic step to get to i-pod and pendrive things). Nowadays it's losing more and more it's importance in the musical industry (beacuse of the music downloading programs available on the net), it's not even necesary to burn the downloaded songs/information in a CD thanks to i-pod or pendrive, but it's still very popular in the film indutry (DVD format)...this is actually one of the great things about it...it comes in many formats, it adecuate to each need...plus there are many technology pieces made around it, it have a space in our culture, our generation grew up around it. Even though i-pod may be better is not the same...i keep using my cd player!

Isma's blog!

After seeing many classmates websites, i have found ismael’s one of the most interesting blogs. There aren’t all of the reviews or comments written but the ones that appear are fully-interesting ideas, smart opinions and some stories about his personal life...that always fun to read, plus...here’s something not everyone can do in the english class: he can express clearly and completely every thought, that makes it easier to read (mostly). I like many post he’ve done, basically because i agree with him...like in his opinion about Da Vinci code, i laugh about the Britney review and i liked very much the canadian band Metric, i’ve been downloading some of their songs and i’ve ask him for some others... I have to say one of the thing you could do to make your blog even better is talk less about your school...i’ve read Instituto nacional almost in every post! What’s up with that?...and in an academic way, i see some mistakes, but they are not big deal at all, so isma: keep writing that well and post more links =).

MySpace.com

There’s non particular website that i frecuently visit, i prefer to go from one website to another all the time finding new things...especially new music. Lately i’ve been visiting many myspaces from some friend’s bands and national music, most of the time.
This page is just a presentation of the band or singer, where you can listen some themes, watch videoclips (if there are), and read the history of the artist. There are also photos and comments to the band.
I discover myspace time ago when a friend from highschool send me his band space. I didn’t like the band so much, but i dicover some good music in the links of the page. Later i visted my bass teacher’s site, and i also didn’t like it, but i found many new interesting bands. From each band that i didn’t like there were 5 good groups. The best of all is that most of the links are national bands too and there are flyers and invitations for their shows...support for national music!
I dont know what link i can provide...just look up for some band you like and it will appear many more music related to that group.
www.myspace.com

victory cities...

My first impression about this website was: ..."what are these people thinking? (particullary Orville Simpson II, the inventor of this crazy initiative)...it made me remaind the utopian cities from the industrial revolution period...non of those ever really work, did they?...non of those ever were built...and i think there’s a reason why.
On a second thought, after seeing the city tour i started to get the way everything was planed and meant to work, the way activities were organized in each place and time. Every location, every shape seems to be founded in an interesting urban idea plus there are "serious studies" about the way to finance the city. I gess we all know every proyect work fine in our heads and in the paper sometimes, but being realistic on it...basically because of the city growing subject, i think is un-natural to predetermine the way a city can gorw...probably this stablish a limit in it’s own development, and thinking as a human an not as another ambiciuos architect, i don’t think this may be any good for the people...they wouldn’t be able to make any choice at all!, not even about the furnish in their houses, not even about what they want to eat or how many kids they want to have.
Seems to me just as an experimental standarized moular sistem, an industrial way of life...this doesn’t work for me.

Simon's life map

In his first years simon lived in a small town/ village far away from London called Gwernaffeld, where he grew up wanting to be a teacher...jaja. Later, in high school he started to play guitar in punk bands, some kind of The Clash style. One of the things he regret at this age was running away from home to go to a David Bowie concert!.
A frightening experience he remember was the travel to Coroico (a litle town in Bolivia), the only way to get there was by bus, but the way up was really dangerous (it was in the middle of the mountain).
In the present he likes staying at home with his wife, although he has many activities during the week one of the things he enjoy and he is most proud of are the songs he've written...he have been playing guitar since he was 16!...he is a music lover and still pretend to write many more songs. ( he's just waiting to quit his job and become a musicien...jajaja)
I just hope we could hear something sometime =)

Book review

Book review_ "Historias de cronopios y famas"_ J. Cortázar
This is the last book i remember i liked very much. I’ve been reading books from this great author since high school, so i already knew the type of literature i was in front of... Cortazar’s oniric-freak world, short stories, dense paragraphs, interesting characters that live in this limbo between the real-surreal world, narrated in metaphors that inmerse you in it.

Two years ago, a friend of mine that also like Cortazar, told me about this particular title...the first thing i ask her about it was: ..." what’ s a cronopio??!"...She couldn’t answer me that, so she read the book to make it easier for me. She didn’t end the page before i ask her to lend it to me.

The book is divided on 4 parts: instructions manual, Rare ocupations, Plastic material and historias de cronopios y famas. Each one contains many short one- page stories. In the last part (the one i remember), he, basically describes different costumes, lenguages and, most important, different ways o seing life of some undifined beings categorized in: cronopios, famas and esperanzas, who live in the same world, but in parallel dimensions.

This isn’t a fantastic story like Tolken’s Lord of the ring or anything like that, it’s just an abstraction of the real world, real life, where you actually can get the essence of human nature by different psychological profiles characterized by this strange beings in surreal- humoristic stories that undermine the trivial-mechanized rationalism of the everyday world.

Great-funny book...unavoidably makes you think about everyone else and even yourself as one of these beings. I laughed a lot ....read it !

Lyrics : "seven days in sunny june"

The pebbles you've arranged

In the sand, they're strange

They speak to me like constellations as we lie here

There's a magic I can hold

Your smile of honey gold

And that you never seem to be in short supply of

[Chorus:]

Oooh, so baby let's get it on

Drinking wine and killing timeSitting in the summer sun

You know I've wanted you so long

Why do you have toDrop that bomb on me?

Lazy days, crazy dolls

You said we've been friends too long

Seven days in sunny June

Were long enough to bloom

The flowers on the summer dress you wore in spring

The way we laughed as one

And then you dropped the bomb

That I've known you too long

For us to have a thing

[Chorus x2]

Could it be this?

The stories in your eyes

The silent wings

You'll fly away on

Seven days in sunny June

Were long enough to bloom

The flowers on the sunbeam dress you wore in spring

Yeah, yeah, the way we laughed as one

Why did you drop the bomb on me?

[Chorus]

Could it be this?

The honeysuckle blessings you seem to show me

Could it be this?

For seven days in June I wasn't lonely

Could it be this?

You never gave me time to say I love you

Could it be this?

I know you don't believe me but it's so true

Don't walk away from me, girl

I read the sories in your eyes

And you've been telling me We've been friends for too long

Why do you want to drop the bomb?

Telling meWe've been friends for too long

Why do you want to drop the bomb?

You tell me we've been friends for too long,

yeahI think I love youI think I love you

Why do you want to drop that bomb?

One song i like

This is a Jamiroquai song called "Seven Days In Sunny June", from the album Dynamite.
I first heard this song two years ago, in 05' summer...back then i was in the first months of the relationship with my ex boyfriend; i was just in the fun non-figth part of it, and this is a very summer-love song... it fit perfectly whit my situation at that moment.
This is one of the reasons i like it so much, but i also like the video of the song too. (just as ismael, im an audio-visual kind of person). The video is basically about people having fun in this green natural place where the band is playing, vocals dancing, barbecue, pool, bubbles,many colours under a shiny sun. It's simple, that probably why i like it.
And musically...I've heard jamiroquai since high school, and i enjoy a lot this funky-dance-jazz-pop kind of music, sepecially in this song. I love acoustic guitars, groovy bass, jay kay's voice, soft drums and melody.
It summery vacation-relaxing, makes me realize that vacations aren' t so far.

I forgot this:
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/visualart/story/0,,2141710,00.html

Andy Warhol: a celebration of life ...and death

Daily we still can see the legacy of warhol's work in the actual world. His images, paintings and graphic techniques have been reused in many type of works in many cultures/ countries, but these art pieces haven´t been understood in their original content. (we must remember they were created 50 years ago, so we probably won't even recognize most of the characters in them).
That's why in the national gallery complex, there will be an exposition of Andy's work related to the dramatic and strange side of the artist.
It includes themes like: portraitist commemorate, car crashes, suicide, skulls, death and painting like suicidal Marilyn, widowed Jakie, some drawings and photographs.
These radical portraitist, frightening images also incorporate the celebrity- mass media theme, but the idea is also to show a much deeper side of the artist , artist that passed the test of time.