The Blog Experience

I can't believe that we are finally ending this stage. I really enjoyed all the tuesday's class, we spend good times, a lot of laughs and knowledge.

But this post it’s about the blog (like a metapost hahaha). In first place, I enjoy the blog class too. I’ve never write for a blog before and I learned how to make one. I suck at technology and I think I passed the test. Also, we always wrote about something interesting to us, like music, movies, friends, etc. Those issues motivated me to write well and fun stuff (I hope you like that).

You’re asking me if I improved my English with the blog sessions? Of course yes. I knew a lot of words and vocabulary, but I knew nothing about grammar. Now, I guess I’m a little better writing (please tell me I’m right).

I can’t see the disadvantages about using a blog like a learning tool. I mean, we can talk about us and make it in a correct way, isn’t the perfect way to show our skills? Maybe this is better for me because I’m studying journalism, I will spend the rest of my life writing stuff. Well, that’s it. I really hope we return to this weekly work because I like it. See you next semester!

This is the end, my only friend...the end

The best moments together

Well, when I was a child I've always been traveling and changing the city where I live and study. So, my friends were friends just for the moment, because at the time to leave, I couldn't feel pity for me and them. 

Brazil (I was very thin u.u)

But when I reached preadolescence, I arrived to Liceo Sagrado Corazón, a girl’s school in Copiapó. There I met a girl, named Lissette, but I hated her because she used to act like a grown up when we were just kids. I move to Liceo Católico Atacama and she follows me the next year (well, she didn’t follow me; actually that school was better than the old one).

 Bahía Inglesa

So, we started to talk and I realized that she thought just like me about many issues, we became very close friends. We noticed that our classmates were very absurd and idiots and we always made fun of them… and with them, of course.

With her, I learn so many things; we shared the best time of our life, parties, trips, sorrows and decisions. I can’t do anything without ask her first. Now, I live in Santiago and she is in Temuco. I’m studying journalism and she is studying psychology. We take different ways but we still in contact. Since we are separates, we make the effort to spend some times together. This year we went together to Roger Waters’s concert in March and Bob Dylan’s concert in May. I can’t wait for winters vacations and see her again, or even better, shared our love for music and go to a new concert together.

New York, New York

One of my favorite things in the world is traveling. I've always dream about visiting many places on the map. Some of them are Europe (specially the eastern side), Africa, Middle East, China and of course, South America. During my life, I’ve been in Brazil and Argentina. Is amazing how there are a lot of different places and how you can meet many interesting people just across borders. 

I think He loves NY too

But, by now, I’d love to visit New York. I think that if you go there, you can know the whole world just in this city. Do you know how much history, how many cultures you can find there? It’s unbelievable. If I ever leave my home and arrive to this wonderful city, I’d totally visit all the typical places that media shows us.

I’d do a journey with stops like Brooklyn, The Bronx, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island. I can’t imagine how happy I’ll be if I could walk in Times Squire, the Statue of Liberty or being on the top of the Empire State. I think I’d feel like some character of Friends or Seinfeld, trying to survive in that concrete jungle. Even I see the fact of taking a cab in New York as a big adventure.

I think the best way to know a new place is visiting it by myself, so if I ever visit New York, I’d like to be completely alone. Anyway, I can’t deny that going there with a couple of friends will be amazing, you know, sharing experience and stuff. The good thing is that maybe I could reach this dream next year, nothing sure yet, but I hope to know the Big Apple soon. 

The funniest man ever

Ok, you got me. I've never read anything related to journalism and serious stuff. I'm very distracted and easy to entertain, so I'm always watching and reading funny things (tumblr, comedies... you know). 

Evangelizing

For that reason, today I'm going to write about somebody I really admire in that field. He is a journalist, but I've never seen him play that profession. However, you can find his work in all existent media formats. He have made podcasts, like Vendetta or my favorite: Tierra 2. He has acted in movies like “El limpiapiscinas”, “Que pena tu boda” and “Toro Loco”. Now, you can watch him in the daily tv show SQP and in his own youtube  account (which is full of weird and bizarre stuff). Yes, I’m talking about Felipe Avello.

Avello was born in Concepción, Chile, and he studied journalism at Universidad del Desarrollo. He has worked in many tv programs like Canal Copano, El diario de Eva, Fiebre de Baile, Influencia Humana and El Club de la Comedia. Also, he’s always accompanied by really disturbing characters (they are all his own creation) like Bryan Tulio, Niño Araña, Tía Marta Méndez and La Pequeña. Do you remember any of them?

Well, I think is clear why I love him. I could watch his work the entire day, and I never get bored. I think Chile isn’t prepared for his humor and his talent is not being exploited in television. I hope they never demand him again, because he is just a comedian. Well, he is the best comedian I’ve ever seen.

                                                   El baile del abuelo

Girl Power

When I was teenager, my whole world was marked by literature. But definitely, the writter I mostly remember and of course, I admire, is María Luisa Bombal. She wasn't just a prolific writer, also she was an amazing woman (I totally consider her an example of life).

Beautiful

She was born in Viña del Mar, in 1910. She lived in Paris and Buenos Aires,  she studied Literature and knew the cultural and artistic avant-garde of the epoque. Her friends were people like Federico García Lorca, Jorge Luis Borges and Pablo Neruda, just to name a few.

One fact the people always remember about her, is that she was a very passionate woman. When she fell in love, she could do anything for her man. In 1941, she waited for Eulogio Sánchez Errázuriz (an old lover) at Crillón Hotel, and she shot him three times in his arm.

Well, I think I justified her act, because I'am very impulsive too. I think when someone feels something, it has to be showed, even if this ends hurting somebody else. And that's what María Luisa did in her life and her work. She never was afraid of anything.

About her books, well, I didn't read them all. But my favorite book is La última Niebla. The book tells the story of a woman who hates her life and start to feel and think a whole different world. She ends falling in love with a stranger and confusing her real life with fantasy. María Luisa can describe what the protagonist feel with great precision and you totally can feel identified with her. You should read her work, it will blow your mind!

My dear friend and I

Well, I don't know if you noticed that, but she is my mother. Her name is María Luisa and she is 52 years old (Can you believe that?). The truth is that I chose this picture because she is my best friend and it represents how happy we are together. Now, my family lives in Copiapó, and every time I go to visit them, we try to spend the most awesome moments.

The picture was taken by my sister. I remember this moment like it was yesterday (well, it was just in March). My parents, my sister and I had come to our house recently and my dad was parking the car. My mom and I were getting into the house and suddenly my sister yelled: Turn Around! So, we listened to her, I put my arm into my mother's shoulder and we both smiled spontaneously.

I really love this picture for many reasons. First of all, it shows how similar we are, we are both brunette and have the same nose. Another reason is that in this picture, we were in summer, my favorite season (love it because the vacations and the sun). And the last reason is that it shows the front of my house, wich is blue, just like Frida Kahlo's house. My mom and I admire her a lot, we know all her work and dream to visit her country one day.

This photo brings me back all the good memories that I have with my mom. We used to watch Caso Cerrado and eat ice cream together, smoke cigarrettes in the yard and take a beer at lunch. Now, the only thing I have of her is a Virgen de la Guadalupe image that she gave me the last time I left Copiapó. I really hope to see her again and do all the things we do together.

Mad about Mad Men

Can you imagine being an advertiser in the 60's? Living in New York, smoking cigarrettes and drinking whisky in your office? Well, in Mad Men, Don Draper and his coworkers do that everyday and also, make adversiting campains for Lucky Stryke, Maidenform, Kodak, and the best brands of that time.

Can this man be even more sexy?

Mad Men is an AMC TV serie created and produced by Matthew Weiner and starring by Jon Hamm (Don Draper), Vincent Kartheiser (Pete Campbell), John Slattery (Roger Sterling), Elizabeth Moss (Peggy Olson) and Christina Hendricks (Joan Holloway). It has won four Golden Globes and fifteen Emmys, includying the "Best Drama Serie" Award, one for each year on air. The name of the serie becomes from a word play between Madison Avenue (the place where the offices were) and Men.

I started watching Mad Men last year because a friend recommended it to me. At first, I wasn't really surprised, even I didn't understand the business and couldn't recognize wich character was wich. But at the end of the first chapter, it totally blew my mind, because something really unexpected happen. Since that day, I can't   lose the show, and I always suffer because I want to watch this serie all days of my life.

The full cast

I must admit that the first thing I love about Mad Men was the sentimental part, but now, I'm completely in love with the advertising and all the 60's stuff. The serie has a really good photo shoot and soundtrack, and sincerely, I have no relationship with that season or even the history of the United States, but  now I think it is totally awesome. Now, I have a certain idea of what really happened when John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe died, and how were the changes about the women status at society. I think you're going nuts when you watch this show. Trust me.

Livin' with a Balckberry

I've always been afraid of technology. In fact, I had my first cell phone with a camera in 2009. I think technology has advanced very quickly and sometimes I can't notice those changes.With my first cell phone, my luck wasn't good, because I dropped it into a toilet and never worked again.

After that dark episode in my life, I turned the page and I went with my dad to buy a new cell phone. I chose it just because I found it so cute, but I didn't realize that cell phone was an Android. I had to learn a lot about this new operative system and I fell in love with it. I had it since 2010 until a few months ago. 

Now, with the new numerical portability stuff, my family decided to change our telephone company from Entel to Claro. My parents have a small business and it was so convenient. The new plan came with three Blackberries, and my parents gave me one. At first, to use it was a very hard thing, and I'm still getting used to it.

Barack Obama and I have one of this

Blackberries are a kind of smartphones very useful for people who have to be connected to their offices every time. It has full internet connection and a QWERTY keyboard incorporated. You can check your e-mail and add contacts with their full information (like business, birthdays, fax, etc).The name "Blackberry" came from the prison slang. It was used for the iron ball tied to the prisoners's ankles and the Blackberry creator used the metaphor to design and intelligent device that humans couldn't be undone.

I think that's the true, becuase now I can't imagine life with the Blackberry off my pocket and without check the e-mails that random companies send me.

Illya Kuryaki in da house

I love music, I could be so annoying when i'm obsessed with a band or a kind of music. Now, I'm in love with the songs that I can dance in a party or even alone in home. Actually I can listen from classic rock to reggaeton and enjoy the songs in many different ways. I don't understand why people hate some styles, for me, all kinds of music are good in their own ways.
Anyway, in this moment, my favorite group is Illya Kuryaki & The Valderramas. Most people know them for their hits “Coolo” and “Abarajame”, but the truth is that they are so much more that this two songs. In fact, they experience with rock, pop, hip-hop, funk and soul. They make a long travel through the music, just like the way I love: every sound is worth.
IKV is an argentinian band formed by Dante Spinetta (Luis Alberto Spinetta’s son) and Emmanuel Horvilleur. They started to do music in the 90’s, but they separated in 2001. They come back the last year and now they are making a new album and a South American tour.
I remember when I was a child and I watched their videos on tv. At first, I was scared for their visual proposal, and I didn’t understand what was the meaning of their music. But a few years ago, I started to look for new sounds and I found them. I discovered a whole new world of rhythms and lyrics. Some of their songs are pure poetry and others songs are for dancing all night long. They love the latin and oriental cultures, so do I. Their music and esthetic are so eclectic and colorful. I enjoy listening the music and watch them playing it.
I couldn’t say what is my favorite song of IKV, but if you ask, I may say “Húmeda”. The song is really sad and beautiful, I listen this every time I feel alone. With “Prométeme Paraíso” I feel like a princess waiting for true love in a big palace, and with “Another one bites the dust” I can’t stop dancing.
One of my best kept memories is the day when I saw them in Lollapalooza. At first I thought that I couldn’t make it, but then I got the ticket and I went with a friend to the show. I was really happy and honestly I hope that IKV keep surprising their fans like they surprised me at the show. I think their new album will be as good as their old discography, and I hope they’ll never dysolve again. For now, the funk is back!

A Little bit of my life

My name is Fernanda Castex Barraza. I was born in Coquimbo, on March 26th, 1992. The city is a very sad and dirty port. It have a giant cross, the Cruz del Tercer Milenio, at the top of a hill, and a big Mosque too. I spend all my childhood there, with my whole family (grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins and my parents). I was in many differents schools, because my parents couldn't pay a completely enrollment, but I always went to catholic schools.

When my little sister was born, on November 30th, 1997, me and my family moved to Copiapó. The city was really different to my previous town, I didn't like it at the first moment, but now, it is the place of my dreams. We had to move because my father's job. He was unemployed in Coquimbo, and the only job he could found was in Copiapó. I worried a lot for my dad and I had to see a doctor for the strange apnea I was suffering because of that.

After the first summer in Copiapó, I joined the Liceo Sagrado Corazón. I spent my last years of my elementary school studies there. I don't have important memories of that time, but I make friends that I keep until today. Then, when I reach the high school, I went to a new school, the Liceo Católico Atacama. I keep the best memories of that school. There, I found great friends, met my first love, been part of the students union and started to know how to live.

Now, I live alone in an apartment in Santiago. I'm studying  journalism at Universidad de Chile and I'm very happy and proud of what me and my family have doing with our lifes. I enjoy watching movies and tv series (my favorite movie is The Fight Club and the best serie I've ever seen is Mad Men), I love listening to music, especially funk, hip-hop, rock and latin. I really like to spend time with my friends, drink something and of course, go out and dance. I can't complain.