"So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye"

This is my last post ever. After I’m done here I won’t come back. I don’t like having a blog so I won’t continue writing. However, I have to admit that having an English blog didn’t bother me that much. I will explain myself so don’t go away!

The final post is about discussing the advantages and disadvantages of using blogs in the English classroom. This is actually a good opportunity to explain the idea I just told you, so I will begin with the advantages.

As I already said, I don’t like blogs because it’s like showing everybody your personal diary. I don’t feel comfortable writing about myself so anyone can read it. Anyway, this blog actually gave me the chance to talk about many things with all the freedom in the world. I learned that having a blog is a good way of expressing yourself with no embarrassment. This is even more important in an English class because it’s not our language. Having the chance to talk about many topics in English it’s not only great practice but a good thing for expressing ourselves. It even became enjoyable to have the chance to write about a good piece of art or movie. I believe now that using a blog in the English class was a very good way of practicing my English (grammar, sentence structure, etc.) and communicating with my classmates. I actually learned many things by reading my classmates blogs: I learned from their strengths and weaknesses in terms of grammar, spelling, etc.

Despite all that there are some disadvantages, at least in my opinion. Even if writing every week was a very good practice, and I feel I improved considerably I think there should exist also a moment to practice the abilities in oral expression. In classes we’re always talking and expressing ourselves but in an informal kind of way. I think we need an instance to practice more formally our conversation skills. Besides, and as I said at the beginning, I don’t like having a blog because it’s public. It’s not like I published anything personal but I would like it to be private because I don’t feel comfortable with the whole “blog system” (anyone in the world can read and comment your posts). I understand the point of having a blog, but I don’t like them and never would have created one by myself.


That's pretty much it. I guess this is goodbye then. It was actually not that bad! :)

BYE!

P.S: This post's title and image are from "The sound of music" when the kids go to bed. It's silly, I know.

“I HAVE HAD A HAPPY LIFE AND THANK THE LORD. GOODBYE AND MAY GOD BLESS ALL!”

Into the Wild is a movie based on a real-life novel by John Krakauer. It was written and directed by Sean Penn. It stars Emile Hirsch, Marcia Gay Harden and William Hunt among others. It's the story of Christopher McCandless, a young man that after graduating leaves everything behind to go living in the wilderness in Alaska. Christopher feels the need to go on an adventure traumatized by his parents' bad marriage. Through the whole film we watch him trying to prove how much different he is from them, rebelling against what they had planned for his life. During his journey he meets different people that not only help him but teach him many valuable lessons about life and relationships.

Christopher McCandless decides to leave in order to defend his freedom, to decide for himself what he was going to do for the rest of his life. And he decides to go live into the wild. Sean Penn shows us his character’s story in a very objective and unbiased way. Some people may think that McCandless was an idealist who could have survived if he just measured the consequences of his trip to Alaska. Others may feel that he’s just a spoiled and selfish kid that ran away with no reason to find death in an avoidable way. Instead of that he lets us decide for ourselves and get lost in his character that’s truly hypnotic.

What’s interesting about this movie it’s not only that the main character actually existed and experienced what’s shown in this film, but also the relationship between Men and nature. I got the feeling that we’re so small and insignificant in front of Nature and wilderness. McCandless went to Alaska looking for answers, something to prove he didn’t need anything or anyone. However, at the very end he’s wrong. He realizes that happiness and life itself is better when you can share it, and even if it’s heartbreaking to see that he realizes when he’s about to die, we know he’s happy. We know (or at least I felt it that way) that he doesn’t regret anything but eating that poisonous fruit by mistake. Actually, the title of this post was found on a note written by the real McCandless.


The film is just beautiful, not only because of its’ message, but the images shown are gorgeous. The mountains, rivers, plains, skies are breath-taking. The acting are very good, especially the main character that surprisingly resembles a lot to the real-life person. I personally got very emotional watching this film because it makes you experience so many different emotions and realize of many things about life. People surrounding McCandless, the way he talked and saw life, everything he had to go through was really inspiring to me. Even though it is a very long film it’s totally worth watching.

If you want to learn more about the film go to www.intothewild.com



You can also watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LAuzT_x8Ek

Talking about someone's blog

Today's assignments is to criticize someone's blog. I don't why but I better just do it. Ok, so I chose Camila Viteri's blog. Shocked? I don't think so. When I chose it I had the impression that I wouldn't be the only one to choose it. Now I'll explain why.

Camila's blog is called "Laaaou" and is the only one that has a design. I think it is quite artistic and creative of her because she made her blog "cute" and herself. Now, it's not just an English assignment but her own blog, representative of her personality. I don't know why she named the blog the way she did but it's also a creative way to do it. I'm comparing it to my own blog that's called "this is for the english class"; ok, not a display of creativity, I know!

If I hadn't had to do this assignment maybe I wouldn't have read all Camila's posts. Now I did I actually liked them. You can tell when reading the posts that she knows her English very well. Moreover, she writes in a relaxed way. Even if I like her writing because it's friendly, I'm always hoping for, I don't know, a joke maybe. I don't know Camila's personality, but since her blog's so personal and creative I would hope to read posts more like everyday talk; not trying to sound good for the teacher but to show her real English because I can see it's good.

So I read the posts. I felt that we have similar taste because of the piece of art she chose or the website she always visits. Actually, that one is my favourite post, the one about our favourite website. I haven't seen the website she chose yet but I surely will. By the sound of it I think I will like it because I'm always browsing for new stuff to make my life easier or just losing time in front of the computer. Whatever, the thing is that it's a kind of website I would enjoy.

So, balance. I'm looking for balance in this critique. Is there anything I didn't like? Is there something that could be improved? Well, not really. I like a lot her favourite website because I felt related to her situation of browsing to find a solution to something. I liked the post about Stonehenge because I really like archaeology too. I liked the Rodin she chose because it reminds me to my favourite sculpture: psyché ranimée par le baiser de l'amour.
Iwould say that the colours are not my favourites. I don't like grey and I really don't like yellow, but that's just me!

In conclusion, I like very much Camila's blog. I feel we have many things in common, and I admire the fact she has a beautiful design. However I do think her posts should be more representative of the way she is and talks to people.

I'm loving it

What a nice change to talk about art! I'm no expert on the matter, but I really like it. In fact, I feel very interested to study for example art's history. But let's get straight to the point. I chose an artist I like very much: Wassily Kandinsky and the painting I chose is called "Yellow, red, blue" (1925). Kandinsky was born in Russia and he's one of the first creators of pure abstraction in modern painting. Music had a big influence on his work. I first heard about his work on an art's history class in 2006, here at the University, when I was in Bachillerato. Then, last August, when I visited Paris I was in a store inside de Pompidou Centre looking for a poster to take home, and I saw this painting and loved it. I got so obssesed with his art that later I bought a book that compiled all his work.

I like Kandinsky because, to begin with, I like abstract art. I don't really like realism or naturalism for example. I like to see a painting and to try to find a meaning, to look for a shape. I like that it's like a dream, that it's not obvious. I guess I feel like getting into the mind of the creator. I specially like this painting because of the colors and the meaning of the situation when I first saw it. When I first arrived to Paris I thought that the one thing I wanted to buy for myself was a poster of a Kandinsky painting to hang on my wall. When I went to the Pompidou Centre my last day in France (hopeless that I wouldn't find what I wanted) and saw this painting, everything changed! I left that store with a huge smile on my face.

That's it. I hope you like it too! =)

A random article I found

I found on the website of The Guardian an article (actually, it's more like a piece of news) called "University to investigate drinking initiation ceremonies" about initiation ceremonies in Gloucestershire University. This article was written by Anthea Lipsett, and she explains that a secretly-filmed video was sent to the BBC showing some students with plastic bags over their heads vomiting because of drinking alcohol. Moreover, the guy leading the action was dressed like a Nazi. According to the author, these ceremonies are held by students from sports clubs, and they make the new students drink, obey orders and go through different initiation tests. University authorities declared themselves against those kinds of activities saying they are dangerous and violent. They claimed that the university "takes bullying and intimidation very seriously". Student spokesmen also said they were against it, and that those practices didn't tarnish the image of the university; those who intimidate and do weird rites are a minority. The majority take their studies very seriously and that's the external image of Gloucestershire University.

I think this article is interesting because there are initiation rites, on the first year of university for example, in many countries. It's a way of getting yourself in and being accepted. To me this article is worth reading because I think those kind of activities are unnecessary, cruel, humiliating and should not be done. I think it's good that not only the University's authorities declare themselves against it but also the students themselves. You may have an initiation ceremony where you can have fun and meet new people, but not drinking until you faint or doing nasty things.
The whole initation matter is very interesting because you always want to be accepted and sometimes you go too far.

If you want to check it out go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/oct/02/students.highereducation

a website I enjoy a lot and I shouldn't...

I don't remember how I first found this website but since I did I visit it almost every week...

the website I'm talking about is....drums please! http://www.pointlesssites.com/

I know I should be ashamed of admitting such a thing but it's a fun website!

This is a website that reunites all kinds of websites, mostly useless. You can find games, odd websites, tools, all kinds of stuff! It's really fun! Actually the other day I was visiting it, and I found a link to a website where you can choose a pet (like a dog or a cat) and make it talk! I thought it was hilarious so I sent my friend Valentina (who is also in our class) one that looked like her dog Marrón.

I've also found links to websites where you can play very strange games, send e-mails to yourself or to your friends in the future, make different voices say whatever you write down, send bottles with messages through a virtual ocean, know how many people there are in the United States that are named like you, etc.

I know it's a huge loss of time, but it's different from what I am used to seeing on the internet. Plus, as the website itself says, it's for bored people...

Enjoy!

Finally! The last assignment!

Sue Cartledge wrote an article called "Mayans sought wine not chocolate" where she describes how archaeological research found out that the Mayans made wine out of the fruit of cacao plants before chocolate. In the article she explains that Cornell University Department of Anthropology discovered some pottery shards in northern Honduras that date 5oo years earlier than the first chocolate evidence, which was 3000 years ago. So, this is the earliest evidence of cacao consumption. Cartledge then explains the pottery shards archaeologists found and what substances they had that made especialists think it was an alcoholic beverage made of cacao. Finally, she explains that knowing about how to work the pulp and seeds perhaps made them discover accidentally chocolate, while they were trying to make their drink more powerful.