Blogging

So, this is the last time that we're writing on the blog. That's kinda sad, because this was a really good idea, and I enjoyed it a lot. Like most of my classmates (I guess), I really love writing, this is one of the reasons that leaded me to studing journalism, and writing on the blog was a very nice activity.

Probably the best thing was that we were able to write about things that we love, like our favorite movies, our favorite musicians or our favorite electronic devices. This was great, because when you write about things that you like (and obviously, about things and ideas that you domain), the activity is more easy and comfortable.

I guess that writing on the blog helped me to improve my English, because with the activities we did I remembered a lot of grammar rules, and also I learned other rules and tips that helped me to have a better english.

Blogging in the english class has a lot of advantages. Is a really practical  way to exercising about this languaje, you can comment in the page of  the other classmates, and  also Blogspot is a really friendly plataform to upload texts and publications. The disadvantages, mmmmm, I don't really see disadvantages on the idea of blogging.

And that's all, at least for this course. Blogging was a really good experiencies, and helped a lot to refresh my English.

Rockaxis

 

This is one of the sites related to my career that I most enjoy visiting. Rockaxis is a Chilean website (and also a physical magazine) dedicated to rock music and all of its subgeneres. It was founded in 2000, and is one of the most important sites dedicated to music in Chile. The page is divided in 9 sections: the most important are the news, reviews of concerts and albums, and interviews.  There are other subdivisions too, according to some subgeneres of rock music.  The website has lots of images and articles, and has periodical radio podcasts and tv broadcasts. By the way, the site has a forum where the people can talk and discuss about music and anything else.

I visit this page like 5 o 6 times at a week, and sometimes I look for this site everyday. . I like this website because I really love music, especially rock and experimental music. Rockaxis is one of the best resources in Spanish for being informed about rock music, and all things related to it. Also, the website provides  some free music or links to videos in Youtube, so is very nice to get lost in this page once in a while (if you like rock music, obviously).

One hundred years of solitude

I really love reading books, and there're a lot of titles that I like. But my favorite is One Hundred Years of Solitude, written by the colombian journalist and novelist Gabriel Garcia Márquez. It was published in 1967, in Buenos Aires. This is probably one of the most important and representative books of South America, and is a best seller around the world; it has sold more than 30 millions of copies since was published.

The book tells the story of the rise and fall of the Buendia family, and a town called Macondo, where they live. There are a lot of characters, and the novel tells the stories of all the members of the clan. I love this book because the way the events are narrated is almost unique. There novel is related to the magic realism, a kind of writing that mix some surrealistic events with everyday acts. 

there's a fantastic quote of the book, and is also the last part of the novel: 

Before reaching the final line, however, he had already understood that he would never leave that room, for it was foreseen that the city of mirrors (or mirages) would be wiped out by the wind and exiled from the memory of men at the precise moment 
when Aureliano Babilonia would finish deciphering the parchments, and that everything written on them was unrepeatable since time immemorial and forever more, because races condemned to one hundred years of solitude did not have a second opportunity on earth.” 

And now, a review of the novel taken from Amazon:

 A masterpiece. Classic May 25, 2000

By Christopher A. Smith

Format:Paperback

The beginning of the book contains a family tree of the Buendia family, and if you're like me you'll surely mangle and dog-ear this page as you work your way though the book, trying to keep track of the Aurelianos, Remedios, and Ursulas.

But the struggle is worth it. This was truly the great novel that Garcia Marquez was meant to write; to me everything of Marquez that followed seems like recycled material. I first read One Hundred Years of Solitude years ago before moving to Latin America. Now that I here and have read it again, many of the messages that before were inaccessible now reveal themselves. The Story of Macondo is the story of Colombia and, to a larger extent, of Latin America. The reviewers tell us this, but it is amazing to see it with my own eyes.

The literal and the fantastic are interwoven with a seamlessness that amazes. One compares his style with Kafka before and Kundera after, literary voice established in this novel has withstood the test of time. It remains unique.

The book is at once funny, sad, tragic; it's history and fantasy. But overall it is a marvelous read. Clearly one of my all time favorites. There are very few books that I recommend as highly as this one. A true classic.

I complete agree with him, specally when he says that this book, in a way of another, is a mirror of the history of South América,.

The best concert ever

The past 2nd of March was a really really special day. That day was the first of the two shows that Roger Water, the mastermind behind the legendary band Pink Floyd, gave here in Chile. He and his support band played entirely the classic album The Wall, and it was one of the best experiences of my life. 

The photo under was taken after the concert, and I guess that reflects all the feelings experienced that day. It was taken by one of my brothers-in-law.  I'm in the middle, on the left is my sister Francisca, on the right my sister Patricia, and in the bottom is the stage with an big wall. The three of us are a massive fans of Pink Floyd, and we were really shocked after the show. It was our dream hearing live the music of Floyd, and specially the songs of the album The Wall. And finally that day the dream came true, and we were very, very happy.

 

 The photo is a bit out of focus, but who cares! That was a really magical night, and this picture express how happy we were.

Pulp Fiction

To be honest, cinema is not my specialty, but there are a lot of movies that I love so much. If I has to choose one, I'll pick Pulp Fiction.  This is probably the best movie I've ever seen, and  I've seen it a lot of times. Is a film directed by Quentin Tarantino, and it was released in the year 1994. The cast is composed by John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis and many others.

The film joins the storylines of gangsters, 2 criminals, a boxer, and a briefcase. One of the best thing is that the events aren't narrated in chronological order, so there are a lot of flashbacks and other time jumps. The monologues and dialogs of the movie are pretty amazing too.

Like all the Tarantino's movies (my favorite director), Pulp Fiction is a mixture of drama, black comedy and crime. I really love the ironic sense of humour of the film, and how the violence is presented in a really stylized and highly aesthetic way. Also, the soundtrack of the movie is awesome, full of classic songs.

Here's the trailer of the movie. Greetings!



My mp3 player

Really, I'm not a huge lover of modern technology. I think life was better without computers, expensive cellphones or enormous plasma TVs. But in the other hand, these devices makes our lives more easy and comfortable, so they aren't that bad at all.

If i have to choose one of this devices, i'll choose my MP3 player.  I got it since 2010, almost two years ago. Unfortunately, i'ts screen broke after a few months when i bought it, so it looks really bad; but it work's, and thats the important thing. I use it only when i'm not at home, like in my way to university, my way back home or  in other public places.


I like it because I'm a huge lover of music, so this device connects me always with my favorite bands and singers. Without it, the trips that I make every day would be really boring. But I don't  think  life would be different if I didn`t have my MP3 player, because I preffer to listen my music at home with my cd's or in my computer.

Porcupine Tree

Porcupine Tree is one of my favorite bands of all time. Actually, the name of my blog is inspired in a song of them. They're a band from Hemel Hempstead, London, and they're composed of their leader, singer and guitarist Steven Wilson, the drummer Gavin Harrison, the bass player Colin Edwin and the keyboard player Richard Barbieri. They play a mixture between progressive rock and psychedelic music, with a lot of influences, like trip hop, art pop, ambient and progressive metal. Actually I don't really know why I love this band so much, but one of the reasons is that their music sometimes is so simple and minimalistic, and  sometimes is really complex and exuberating, with songs up to 15 minutes long. So their sound is really dinamic,which is a really fantastic thing. They we're formed in the late 80's, and they have published 10 studio albums since 1991.

Is really hard to pick just one song, all of their songs are pretty amazing! but if I have to do it, i'll choose a song called Stars Die, taken from their third record, called The Sky Moves Sideways. The song is very surrealistic musically and lyrically, and that's one of the reasons why i love it.

Here's a video of Piano Lessons, another great track from them.