Gorillaz

Hi! The first school term is going to finish and the next week I'll have a lot of exams... I hope it will finish fast.

This is a video of a song which I liked a lot, but I didn't know what did it mean until today, when I have tried to translate it and I've seen that... it's a bit strange. After the video you have the "translation", I hope you'll enjoy the video.





GORILLAZ: Clint Eastwood

Oh oh oh oh oh
I ain't happy, I'm feeling glad
I got sunshine, in a bag
I'm useless,but not for long
The future is coming on (x3)

Oh oh oh oh oh
No sóc feliç,
em sento alegre,
Tinc el sol en una bossa,
No serveixo per res però
no per gaire temps.
El meu futur s’està acostant. (x3)

Yeah... Ha Ha!
Finally someone let me out of my cage
Now, time for me is nothing cos I'm counting no age
Now I couldn't be there
Now you shouldn't be scared
I'm good at repairs
And I'm under each snare
Intangible
Bet you didn't think so I command you to
Panoramic view
Look I'll make it all manageable
Pick and choose
Sit and lose
All you different crews
Chicks and dudes
Who you think is really kickin' tunes?
Picture you gettin' down in a picture tube
Like you lit the fuse
You think it's fictional
Mystical? Maybe
Spiritual
Hearable
What appears in you is a clearer view cos you're too crazy
Lifeless
To know the definition for what life is
Priceless
For you because I put you on the hype shit
You like it?
Gunsmokin' righteous with one token
Psychic among those
Possess you with one go

Finalment algú em va deixar sortir de la meva gàbia.
Ara, el temps per mi no és res, perquè no tinc en compte els meus anys.
Ara no podria estar allà.
Ara no hauries d’estar espantat.
Sóc bo fent reparacions.
I estic sota cada trampa.
Intangible,
M’hi jugo el que vulguis que no pensaves que jo et controlo.
Vista panoràmica.
Observa, faré que tot sigui manejable,
Escull i tria
Seu i perd
Totes les teves bandes,
Ties i tios.
Qui creus que està colpejant melodies realment?
Imatge que et baixes d’un tub imaginari.
Com tu vas encendre la metxa.
Creus que és fictici, místic? Potser espiritual, audible.
El que apareix en tu és una visió clara, perquè tu estàs boig també.
Sense vida.
Per saber la definició de què és la vida.
Sense preu.
Per tu, perquè et vaig posar en una merda.
T’agrada?
La pistola fumejant justament amb una senyal.
Allò psíquic, entre els altres.
Posseir-te en un moment.

I ain't happy, I'm feeling glad
I got sunshine, in a bag
I'm useless,but not for long
The future is coming on
I ain't happy, I'm feeling glad
I got sunshine, in a bag
I'm useless, but not for long
The future is coming on
It's coming on
It's coming on
It's coming on

No sóc feliç,
em sento alegre,
Tinc el sol en una bossa,
No serveixo per res però
no per gaire temps.
El meu futur s’està acostant.
S’està acostant
S’està acostant
S’està acostant

The essence the basics
Without it you make it
Allow me to make this
Child, like in nature
Rhythm
You have it or you don't that's a fallacy
I'm in them
Every sprouting tree
Every child apiece
Every cloud you see
You see with your eyes
I see destruction and demise
Corruption in disguise
From this fuckin' enterprise
Now I'm sucking to your lies
Through Russ, though not his muscles but the percussion he provides
with me as a guide
But y'all can see me now cos you don't see with your eye
You perceive with your mind
That's the inner
So I'm gonna stick around with Russ and be a mentor
With a few rhymes so mother fuckers
Remember where the thought is
I brought all this
So you can survive when law is lawless
Feelings, sensations that you thought were dead
No squealing, remember
(that it's all in your head)

L’essència és la base.
Sense això ho fas.
Deixa’m fer-ho.
Com un nen a la natura.
Ritme.
O ho tens o no, això és una fal•làcia.
Estic en elles.
Cada arbre que brota.
Cada un dels nens.
Cada núvol que veus.
Veus amb els teus ulls.
Jo veig destrucció i desaparicions.
Corrupció disfressada.
Des d’aquest coi d’empresa.
Ara xuclo les teves mentides.
Des d’en Russ, encara que no els seus músculs sinó la percussió que dóna,
amb mi com a guia.
Però ara em pots veure perquè no mires amb l’ull.
Em perceps amb la ment.
Aquest és el secret.
Doncs em quedaré amb en Russ i per ser un mentor.
Trencar unes quantes rimes, doncs, _______
Recorda on és el pensament,
Jo vaig construir tot això
I tu pots sobreviure quan la llei és il•legal.
Sentiments, sensacions que vas pensar que eren mortes.
No cridis, recorda
(tot és dins el teu cap)

I ain't happy, I'm feeling glad
I got sunshine, in a bag
I'm useless, but not for long
The future is coming on
I ain't happy, I'm feeling glad
I got sunshine, in a bag
I'm useless, but not for long
My future is coming on
It's coming on
It's coming on
It's coming on
It's coming on
My future is coming on
It's coming on
It's coming on
It's coming on
It's coming on
My future is coming on
It's coming on
It's coming on
It's coming on
It's coming on
My future is coming on
It's coming on
It's coming on
My future is coming on
It's coming on
It's coming on
My future is coming on
It's coming on
It's coming on
My future

No sóc feliç,
em sento alegre,
Tinc el sol en una bossa,
No serveixo per res però
no per gaire temps.
El meu futur s’està acostant. (x2)

s’està acostant
s’està acostant
s’està acostant
s’està acostant
El meu futur s’està acostant
s’està acostant
s’està acostant
s’està acostant
s’està acostant (...)

El meu futur.

Read more...

Hide...

Have a good meal

Every culture is a world. There are big different cultures and each one has got its own history. Because of this, there exist loads of languages, traditions and ways of thinking. Nowadays, we can know cultures from around the world, we can travel to discover them or maybe they come to find us in different ways. One of them is food. Food is like a mirror, it shows a lot of things from his society. For example, there is the Mediterranean diet, very healthy and varied, or the American fast food, cheap and easy to prepare, but one of the main causes of obesity.

My favorite food is Chinese food. I haven’t been to China, but I’ve got a lot of Chinese restaurants near my village. Some of them are better than others, maybe because of the recipe, the quality of the food or the sauces. I think sauces are very important and they can decide if a dish is good or not.

In Spain, restaurants offer olives or something to peak at before asking the food. When you go to a Chinese restaurant they usually give you a dish with “shrimp bread”.

Then, you can choose from loads of dishes. For example, spring rolls, seaweeds and chicken, veal or duck prepared wit different sauces. You can try it with rice or noodles, for examples.

Some sauces are very strange, with Chinese words, and you only know the tastes until you try them. But some of them are very typical, common in most of the similar restaurants: The bittersweet sauce is my favorite one. It depends on the restaurant and only some of them have a good sweet and sour sauce, but sometimes it’s only a bad tomato sauce. Oyster sauce is also very common, and it’s good with veal. There’s spicy sauce too. Sometimes it has a very hot taste and you need to drink a lot after it.

There’s a rumor which says that, in Chinese restaurants, dogs are cooked in some dishes. Because of this, some people doesn’t want to try that food. I don’t know if that’s true, but I think it isn’t bad if there are dishes with dog (and they sell it like dog, of course), because we eat things that other cultures never eat and we can’t imagine eating worms or ants, which are some of the main dishes from some countries.

One of the things which I like from Chinese food is to eat it with wood sticks. We are used to eat with forks, knifes and spoons, but with two sticks it’s a curious way to eat. Eating a bowl of rice with wood sticks is a very hard challenge if you haven’t practiced.

That’s been a summary about what can you find in a Chinese restaurant, but I think the only way to know it is to go and try it, because it’s an opportunity that maybe our ancestors didn’t have. One of my advices is that, if you don’t like it at first, don’t say “I don’t like that food” until you had tried three or four restaurants and different dishes. One of the options is to ask for the most popular restaurants and 请享用！(have a good meal!).

Read more...

Hide...

Watch out with ghosts...

Today, Friday 31st of October, it’s Halloween!

It’s not a catalan holiday, but now some people celebrate it. It started in Scotland and Ireland, with the Celtic cultures, and then it arrived to North America, becoming one of the most important festivals of the year. Now it has arrived to the whole world, and it has moved away other traditional festivals.

Some of the typical things on Halloween Night:

Children go door to door trick-or-treating wearing costumes. When somebody opens the door, they say “trick or treat”. If there is a treat, children usually receive sweets or food, but if there’s no treat, they play a trick on the homeowners or on their house.

Another thing to do is to watch a horror film. There are loads of horror films, with ghosts, vampires, zombies, etc. Some of the most recent films are SAW, Final Destination, The Exorcist, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Sleepy Hollow. But there also were horror films in 1930s, like Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931) or The Mummy (1932).

There are some typical symbols and objects, like the pumpkin: People hollow out a pumpkin and then it’s carved and lit with a candle inside. It was used by the Celts to frighten off the superstitions. Nowadays, homes are decorated with pumpkins, skeletons or scarecrows.

Food has got a very important role on Halloween parties and meals. There are very original dishes, from the typical toffee apples to the delicious frightening recipes. If you want some ideas look at that: Fun Halloween foods

These are some of the most common Halloween things. Of course, each country celebrates it in its way, and there are loads of differences between Texas and Haiti, for example. But, in fact, the origin of the holiday is the same, and I think it’s very interesting and curious.

Read more...

Hide...

Lists...

In our life, we want to do a lot of things. Every year, a lot of persons make lists with resolutions for the New Year. We have agendas with space to write what we are going to do in one month, during one week and even one day, every hour. That’s nice, it’s good if you know what do you want to do and you are confident you’ll wake up tomorrow.

But, for example, look at Dave Freeman’s story: This writer became very famous because of his book, a best seller called '100 Things to Do Before You Die'. There, he made a list with things like to run bulls in Spain, to hang his boots in an ice hotel in Finland, or to make a voodoo pilgrimage to Haiti. He had completed about half of his list when he died... He was 47 and he fall over hitting his head, at his home...

Then, what can you do? Are you sure that you’ll be able to complete a list if there’s the possibility to die trying? Must we stop making stupid lists?

The answer is NO! I’ve found the perfect list, the list you’ll surely do because die won’t stop it: The list of things to do after you die.

So, I’ve found a lot of interesting things to do (well, some of them are interesting and some of them are... you know, when you are dead you have a lot of time...). For example:

- Prove that god exists.
- Scare people at midnight.
- Visit the hell, the heaven and other places from other religions.
- Talk with Einstein about the relativity of time.
- Reflect on how absurd the phrase “I think, therefore I am” is.
- Walk through the walls.
- Experience an exorcism in first person.
- Talk with persons who are playing with Ouija Board.
- See dead people.
- Reincarnate in an animal, like a dog or a fly...

The complete list is here: 50 Things To Do After You Die

And I would add some more, like remember where did you put that list about things to do after you die...

Read more...

Hide...

SPEECH TECHNOLOGY

Hi! Today I’m going to talk you about a computer program: loquendo. Surely most of you have watched some videos made with it, but you didn’t know the name of the program. With this program you write a text and then it pronounces it. You can choose different voices from different countries, each one with a typical accent, men and women.

I think it’s a very useful tool for mute people, because it can express laughs, sadness and other emotions. Now there is a renewed version, but it still needs to advance a lot to reproduce faithfully the human voice.

But it’s got another use: People make videos and they post them in the youtube, and these videos sometimes are jokes or parodies. They make fun of some stupid things like TV serials or social topics.

Here I put a video made with loquendo. In this case, they have used a Spanish voice, simulating it’s learning English.

In the web page of the program there is a demo. You can write a text and then download the audio file.



There’s a software in Windows that wants to do the same, but it’s disastrous. It’s called Sam, and it only speaks in English, but his voice is very strange and sometimes the pronunciation is very bad.

Read more...

Hide...

THE COUNTDOWN HAS ALREADY STARTED

I was thunderstruck when I saw it for first time. This is a novelty in the blog. As you can see, it’s an oil meter. While you are reading these words, thousand petroleum barrels are being consumed.

I think that the result in one hour is very high, but if I look at the year’s consumption I feel dizzy, because it means that this oil burns or becomes rubbish, destroying the environment.

This shows our dependence on petroleum. Our cars run on fossil fuels, most of the clothes are made of petroleum, food is wrapped with plastic from petroleum... If we look around, we can see that we are surrounded by petroleum. We need it, but it isn’t inexhaustible and, if we continue wasting it, it will run out.

Then, I hope this clock will make you aware of the problem we have.
If we want to conserve it, we can help turning off the engine of the car if we are going to stay stopped or using tough and reusable bags to go to the supermarket.

If you aren’t enough aware, watch again the clock, it’s in the right side of the blog.

Read more...

Hide...

AND I'M STILL HERE

Hello again!!
The school year has just started again and I resume the blog. This course will be harder than the last one, and I think that because of two things: we must submit the “Research Work” and we need to prepare for the university entrance exam.
The first week has just finished and I am fed up with these two issues. I think that if we used half of the time we spend saying “we must study”, “we must work”, “we must ...” to make what we really must do (the research work, for example), we would finish it before.

And now, I’m going to stop grumbling and I’ll continue my post.

Throughout this summer I’ve been looking for information for my research work and I’ve read a book which has made me change my point of view about our society. The book is called “The hydrogen economy” (by Jeremy Rifkin) and, well, I admit it is a bit apocalyptical and pessimistic, but I’ve learned that we can’t wait until the end of fossil fuels (if it’s true that it will happen): we need to act and change our habits. Because of this, some of my future posts will be related with this topic (climate change, fossil fuels, etc.). Apart from this, I’ll try to write about funny issues to make it more enjoyable.

Finally, I want to change a little bit the face of the blog with some gadgets (I’ve said “a little bit”, I don’t want to write in a circus =/).

Well, that’s all for today, bye!!

Read more...

Hide...

Man's best friend

Dogs are one of my passions. I haven’t got a dog because my family doesn’t let me have one but, when I’ll have my home, I’ll have a dog.

My favorite dogs are the huskies. I like the color of the fur and that they are big (I don’t like small dogs a lot because most of them are like big rats and I always have in mind the image of a person with the dog in the handbag. But I need to say that I’ve met some small dogs that are better than the others.) Maybe one of the bad points of the huskies is that they tend to be very haughty (this is what I’ve heard), and I don’t like arrogant animals.
But I’m sure that I won’t pay a lot of money to buy a dog because, after all, I don’t mind if a dog has got pedigree or not. Surely I’ll visit a dog pound and choose one. I prefer doing this because these dogs are more pleasant and they need more affection because they have had bad experiences like mistreatments or abandonment. I think that people who mistreat dogs are despicable.
And now, if my friend Ariadna lets me do it, I put the link to this video, because I saw it and it’s incredible. We should stop these actions and be more respectful with animals, because they won’t kill us because of stupid causes.

WATCH VIDEO

Read more...

Hide...

Sport, tournament, handball

Today there has been a handball tournament in Castelló d’Empúries. In June, all the championships have finished and it’s the last day we play handball because in summer there aren’t trainings.
Like every year, we have gone to the pavilion at early morning (well, sometimes it’s good to wake up early). We have made the teams (we used to make the teams one or two weeks before the tournament, but this year it has been more improvised). Then, after saying our name (the “Ex-Patayas”) and receiving our t-shirt, matches have started. At the morning, we have played five matches (we have won three of them) and then have had dinner (I was very hungry after playing all the morning). When we have finished we have played another match because we had been classified, but we have lost. I’ve stayed to watch the last match. It has been very exciting because the two teams were so equaled, they have played two parts and there was a draw. After the play-off, there was another draw but the players were very tired and they have finished it with a penalty. Now I’m very tired, but it has been worthy. I have a medal (the cup has been very close but...).In the photo you can see our goalkeeper, with one of his savings.

Read more...

Hide...

To be left-handed

Left-handedness happens when a person has a preference for the left hand over the right hand to do most of the activities in his life. It isn’t optional, it comes with the genes. Most of the people are right-handed and, because of this, we live in a world designed by and for right-handed. Then, left-handed (also called lefties) need to learn how to do the activities with the right hand, and then we have the ambidexterity.

Some religions, cultures or groups have thought that left-handedness is something evil, a bad sign, and some words like “sinister” have got a negative meaning, while words related with the right side have got good meanings. For example, the word “right” is used to talk about the side or to say “good” and “to put something to rights” is to “repair something”. In some states, teachers told lefties off if they use the left hand.



If we look around us, we can see that most of the objects and tools have been designed for being used with the right hand. Scissors and knives can’t be used if the edge isn’t asymmetrical. The mouse of the computer is usually placed in the right side. It can be configured to be used with the other hand, but some of the buttons aren’t accessible with this way. Another curious thing that goes unnoticed is that the letters in pencils, pens, crayons, etc. are written in a manner that, if you use the right hand, words can be read, but with the other hand, all the words are upside down. Moreover, the main button of a camera is pushed by the right hand, and the screen is in the left side. Furthermore, the set squares and most of the instruments (for example, guitars) have got the same problem



I am left-handed and one of the things that I think it’s very uncomfortable is to write. I need to write from left to right and, if I don’t care, I spread all the ink over the paper. Then, I need to write in a weird position which isn’t very good for my wrist and I can’t use some types of pens because the ink dries up slowly. I also hate the rings or the spirals of the notebooks. Necessarily, I’ve learned how to use my right hand: I cut, I use the mouse, I play the guitar, etc.

I think that lefties should be more beard in mind, because a 7-10% of the population is a very important part. Since 1976, the 13th of August is the International Lefthanders Day and there are some shops specialized in tools for lefties.

Read more...

Hide...

My dear madwomen

Hello! Today I’m going to talk about these two characters: Estela and Àngels. I haven’t got a photo with them (well maybe one but I don’t know where it is) and I’ve stolen this one from their blog.

I’ll start with Àngels: I know her since we were very little and we played basketball in the same team. She was (and is) one year older than me and the other players and she took advantage (that year we finished in the third position!). Now we have grown but she is as madder as then (well, now a little bit more). When she laughs she does it very loudly, then she weakens but, after a few seconds she laughs again. One of her phrases is something like “two stones!”. Don’t worry if you have a heart attack or you break a bone, because she is an excellent lifeguard and she will look after you.

And now, Estela. Maybe you can think she is more serious when you look at her, but that’s false, when she starts laughing she can't stop. I call her “mop”, because she doesn’t match with the oranges. Then, she doesn’t like it and she blows up her cheeks and shows the tongue. And now I am thinking and I don’t remember when I met her... (My memory is failing).

Well, if you want to see them you only should go to Las Vegas. Bye!

Read more...

Hide...

Do you believe in luck?

Some people only live for the game, the gambling, they believe in something with a supernatural power that can decide their future. There are a lot of persons leaving their money or their life on luck’s power. They wear charms or they pray. They also try to find a four-leaf clover or a leprechaun. Everything is good for having more luck: to get up with the right foot or to agree with the devil.
On the other hand, they believe in things that bring the bad luck nearer, for example, to walk under a ladder or to break a mirror.
I believe a bit in luck, but I especially believe in Murphy’s Law: “If anything can go wrong, it will”. For example, if a toast falls from the table, the side of the butter will touch the floor, or, if you need to take a decision with a 50 of chance to get right, you will always choose the wrong option.
Another thing that I think it’s very curious is the “feng shui”. It comes from Asia and it is based in the objects in the house: If they are in the correct place, the feng shui will flow and you’ll be lucky, but if they aren’t well put, you’ll be unlucky.

I’ve found a very happy experiment: Theoretically, the toasts usually fall with the worst side on the floor, and cats always fall on the floor on their legs. The experiment is this: What will happen if we tie a toast on the back of a cat?



Unfortunately, the person who made this experiment didn’t calculate well the distances and the cat died. Moreover, the toast fall from the cat and dirtied the floor.

Read more...

Hide...

Change finished. It's time to check it.

I think that this photo shows the reality. Money means power in our society, but I think that if we hang up a lot of people in the other side of the scales, we can tip the scale.

Well, at the end I have finished the first part. It’s been difficult because the Windows Vista didn’t accept the Ubuntu. Then, I erased the Vista and I’ve added the Windows XP (the last version). Now I have two Operating Systems. It’s a hard job to install the XP, because I needed all the drivers for my laptop and I didn’t find the drivers for the wireless system, but I’ve finally found them.
At first sight, it works faster than Vista. It works faster and it hasn’t frozen yet.
About the Ubuntu, I haven’t used it a lot yet because I am getting used to it.

I’ve got a lot of experience with this process, because I’ve learnt a lot of words and things that I didn’t know before this. Some things are very complicated, but there is one that is very simple and I want to share it with you: DON’T BUY VISTA.

Read more...

Hide...

Adding another OS

I’m going to tell you what I’m going to do with my laptop.

Last year I got a new laptop. Then, it was the starting of the “new” Windows Vista, and I’d got used to the last operating system (the Windows XP), which was installed in my old PC. I think that this new OS is good, but I think that it consumes a lot of the capacities of the laptop, and I’ve heard that it would work better with another OS, specifically Linux (and more specifically, Ubuntu). But there has been passed one year, and I have some programs and documents that I don’t want to loose, so I want to install the Ubuntu without eliminating the Windows.



On one hand, the Microsoft’s Windows is the “typical operating system”. It comes pre-installed by force in most of the computers and you can’t choose another one. It is also expensive, because I think that the simplest version costs about 200 dollars and the most expensive costs 600 dollars more or less. There are a lot of games or programs that only work with this OS, but this situation is changing every day. It is being outshined by its previous versions because Microsoft is now working on the following version called Windows 7.



On the other hand, there is the Ubuntu. It’s free and it is updated every six months. Every day there is more people using this OS. It’s safer than Windows, it consumes less resources and it has got a lot of variants because anybody can help improving it.

As you can see, the second option seems to be the best one, and I’m going to try it. If I don’t like it, I can go backward. If it surprises me, I’ll kick my Vista.
I’ve been watching the official webpage and there are some instructions to do this, but I think it is a bit difficult. I’ll tell you the results.

If somebody is using Ubuntu or has used it, I’ll receive gratefully your comments.

Read more...

Hide...

The most real human anatomy

Finally, I have visited “Bodies: The exhibition”! At first, I wanted to go there last Christmas, but I couldn’t and I thought the exhibition would finish. They have adjourned the removal until the 22nd of this month because of its success, and last Sunday I decided to go to the Museu Marítim and watch this amazing exhibition.

I went there early morning and I didn’t need to queue.
At first, we entered in a lit room, with the parts of the body that we are used to seeing, like the skeleton or the muscles.

Before continue explaining, I tell you something about this exhibition: it’s an exposition of bodies and organs with a peculiarity: these samples are real human bodies donated on a voluntary basis to the science and preserved with a sort of silicone. That’s very shocking and realistic, but it isn’t bloodthirsty. After that, I continue with the adventure.

The following rooms were more incredible. Beyond the bones and the muscles there were the feelings. There was an incredible thing: the whole nervous system separated from the rest of the body. It seemed like an octopus. One boy felt sick watching it and he needed to go out. In the photo on the top of the post you can see two figures from the same body. Incredible.
The next thing which impressed me a lot was the circulatory system. With a very strange method, the muscles, the bones and all the parts of the body except the blood vessels had been extracted. They were put in showcases and submerged in a special transparent substance, and a light illuminated them getting a deep red color. It was very curious because the lungs were full of veins and arteries, like a sponge.
Then, there was a section with a poster warning the pregnant women. Inside of the room, loads of embryos and fetuses were shown. Some of them were put in development order and you could watch the small bones or the organs.
There was also a big hall, where people could see the human body separated in a lot of cross-sections. In one of the corners of the room, there was a person with a lot of parts of the body and you could touch some of them. I handled a human brain, a biceps and a liver, amongst others.




Another shocking thing was the room of the respiratory system. There, in two different showcases: the first one contained the lungs of a healthy person, but in the second one there were the lungs of a smoker, and those were black and revolting. Between the two showcases there was another one, with a hole in the middle and full of packets with cigarettes.
To end the visiting, there were three books where people wrote their points of view about the exhibition and, obviously, a souvenir shop.
When I went out of the building there was a very long queue, with a lot of people waiting for watching a very good exhibition.

Read more...

Hide...

Thinking about the future

Today I have visited the Montjuic fairground (Barcelona) with my high school classmates. In one of the pavilions there was the fair about the teaching (that’s what we wanted to visit). There were a lot of universities and teaching centers showing their facilities and the different courses and degrees available, with demonstrations and students or teachers from each center willing to answer our questions.

Once there we have walked around the stands, picking up brochures (and other things like a bag, a plastic ball, some sweets, pencils, pens, etc.) and asking for some information.
I am interested in Technical degrees and Design degrees but I still don’t know what I’m going to study.

First of all I’ve visited stands related with Design. I’d want to study “Product Design” and to specialize in “Cars”, but it’s too expensive and I need to be studying six or seven years. The other way is to study Mechanical Engineering. I like it but probably I won’t go to Barcelona but I’ll go to Girona’s university, which is cheaper and more nearby.
I don’t mind about the “minimum marks” because they are always very low (a five) because they need a lot of workers.

But there is a thing that I don’t like: next year will appear a new program of studies and all the things that I’ve consulted won’t be useful. It’s called the “Bologna process” and I don’t know if it will be a good or a bad change because some people say that it’s necessary but others don’t agree with it.

The conclusion of the day: Everything seems to be very easy and fun at first sight, but, in fact, it’s a very complicated decision to make. I have got about one year to decide and I am more confused every day.

Read more...

Hide...

Tramuntana, a wind beyond the mountains

This week has wound a lot and now I still can hear the wind blowing hard. This kind of wind is called “tramuntana” and comes from the northeast. It’s typical in the Alt Empordà, and some famous artists like Dalí or Josep Pla have written about it.

There is also a sports car called Tramuntana and it’s very exclusive. Maybe someday I’ll write a post about it.

It can last days or weeks, with a speed that usually exceeds the 100 km/h. I think it’s strange when some people in other countries are afraid of occasional winds with a 70/ 80 km/h speed and here we have tramontana every year.
It’s also funny when a new company comes here and decorates its building with a lot of flags, sticks or weak objects and then, it comes and breaks it or takes it away.

But tramontana it’s also a serious issue, because it can be dangerous, especially for cars or motorbikes on the roads because it happens in fits and starts and catches the drivers unawares.
Some people like it and some people can’t stand it. I like it when I am at home, but I don’t like it when I am outside home.

An old saying says that if the sky is red, then it will rain or wind. I am going out to watch the color of the sky...

Read more...

Hide...

Bernie's circus is here again

The Formula One Championship starts again. The circus is launched and Melbourne (Australia) has been the first stage. There are some new technical changes for this season and one of the most important news is that the traction control has disappeared.

There has been a race conditioned by accidents, breakdowns, the safety car and a lot of desertions. The winner: a brilliant McLaren with Lewis Hamilton on the top of the podium. On the second step, Nick Heidfeld showing that people in BMW Sauber haven’t been sleeping this winter and they want to win the title. Finally, Nico Rosberg has got his first podium with a great result for Williams Toyota.

Fernando Alonso has done a very good race too, with a not very competitive Renault, getting five points.

It has been a bad day for Ferrari, with a lot of mistakes and wrong decisions. A crash has eliminated the options for Felipe Massa and a motor breakdown has finished with his race while Kimi Raikkonen, the current champion, was trying to forget the problems that they had in the qualification. Another wrong team decision, in addition to a driver mistake, has erased all his opportunities (until he has got a single point).

Toyota is still waiting for results and two desertions give little hopes for this season. The car doesn’t work, the drivers aren’t fast, luck doesn’t help them and teams with fewer budgets are getting points.

Well, the next stage is Sepang, next Friday. The championship has just started and lots of things are going to happen. What do you think? Which driver/team do you prefer? Which truck do you like most? I’ll tell you my opinion in a few weeks and I leave you with a nice video which introduces this 2008 Formula One Championship.

Read more...

Hide...

from England to the whole world

New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc. (NBAS) was founded in 1906 in Boston, Massachusetts. At first, the company consisted of six people making shoes and they made about thirty pairs of shoes every day, but now it’s one of the most important shoe makers of the world with more than 2800 employees.

I saw them in the bus station because a man wore them and my first thought was “they are a copy of Nike shoes”. But after, I heard about they weren’t a copy and I went to a forum to look for some information. I saw some curious things, like that they use to have very hard soles and they became fluffy by the time.

Well, these are my new New Balance, my current trainers. They are so comfortable but I still need to get used to them.

Read more...

Hide...

Early morning

Here you have, one of the... the best thing of getting up at half past six. It’s worth the trouble to go out of home, look at the sky and find this.

I’m so tired. Tomorrow I have the last exam... Mathematics... ugh!
My table is now covered by a lot of papers and numbers. Does anybody know how can I divide myself? Maybe I could go back in time... or stop the time! If I fall asleep maybe tomorrow I get up and some dwarfs have done the work...

Well, let’s continue with numbers. Bye!

Read more...

Hide...

Geneva will be the heaven for some days

These weeks, from the 4th to the 16th of March, there is the Geneva Motor Show in Switzerland. It’s the 78^th edition of this event and it’s considered the most important motor show of the world.

There, the manufacturers show their cars for sell, new prototypes, production car introductions, projects for the future and shows for the public. They can’t skip this appointment if they want to have prestige around the world.

It’s also a great opportunity for Chinese manufacturers, who are entering the European market and they are competing against consolidated companies, which have products with more quality, safety and style. But Chinese don’t want to play, they are very serious, they have very competitive prices, they are increasing the quality of their cars, doing safety tests and employing famous designers and workers. Maybe in a few years they will be the kings of the automobile industry.

On the other hand, hybrid engines, fuel cell and electric cars are very popular. Some prototypes like the Pininfarina Sintesi or the Volkswagen Passat EcoFuel use respectful and alternative systems.

There are also some prepared cars, sports cars more power and luxury than the originals. The best example is the Bugatti Veyron, prepared by Hermès: it costs about 1.500.000 euros.

The Spanish manufacturer, SEAT, has also shown the Bocanegra, which is the preview of the new Ibiza that is coming on summer.

Well, this show is a dream for anybody who loves cars, and rest sure that I’ll go there when I can. Does somebody sign in?

Read more...

Hide...

mmmm...loin...cheese...

Today I’ll talk you about my frequent food: the loin and cheese sandwich. I write “sandwich” because I don’t know another word to refer to it. It’s not the typical sandwich with two squared and thin slices of bread, but a baguette with something in-between (what we call “bocata” or “entrepà”).

Well, it’s not my favorite dish (I can’t resist Chinese food) but it’s like a habit. It always fancies: after training, after school, during an excursion, etc.

It’s very easy to prepare too, and you can take it away. And, why not, its cheaper than other dishes.

I use to go to “El punt” and ask for a “loin and cheese”. Sometimes I want some chips or croquettes and bacon (extra days).

Now, I think it’s impossible to detest it... then, what would I eat?

Read more...

Hide...

Sweeney Todd: A good film with bad subtitles

Last week I went to the cinema and I saw Sweeney Todd. “The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”. I didn’t know it was a musical, but I realized when I saw the characters singing. It wasn’t a disappointment for me, because I don’t mind, but there was a thing that I didn’t like: the subtitles. I’ll explain myself:

The film was reproduced in Spanish but the original movie was made in English. Moreover, songs are better in the original language, but most of the people in Spain don’t speak English and the songs were subtitled. This is the problem, because the translation wasn’t correct. I can understand that some words can be cut because it’s very difficult to read all the song and pay attention to the scene, but sometimes there is a single word alone with a subtitled very different. For example, in a song for Johanna, the character says “I feel you” and the subtitle says something like “I understand you”. I think it’s better to remove the subtitles before doing this.

But well, apart of this, the film was excellent. I liked the peculiar way to be in charge of two businesses when one can survive thanks to the other. I don’t say anything else because maybe you don’t know this story, with a lot of blood, lots of corpses and a lot of pies. I leave you with one of my favorite songs: “The worst pies in London”.

Mrs. Lovett


A customer!
Wait! What's your rush?
What's your hurry?
You gave me such a...
fright! I thought you was a ghost!
Half a minute, can't ya sit?
Sit ya down!
Sit!
All I meant is that I haven't seen a customer for weeks.
Did ya come here for a pie, sir?
Do forgive me if my head's a little vague.
Ugh!
What is that?
But you'd think we had the plague.
From the way that people
keep avoiding!
No you don't!
Heaven knows I try, sir!
But there's no one comes in even to inhale!
Right you are, sir, would you like a drop of ale?
Mind you I can hardly blame them!
These are probably the worst pies in London.
I know why nobody cares to take them!
I should know!
I make them!
But good? No...
The worst pies in London...
Even that's polite! The worst pies in London!
If you doubt it take a bite!

Sweeney Todd (spoken)

Ugh!

Mrs. Lovett (sung)

Is that just, disgusting?
You have to concede it!
It's nothing but crusting!
Here drink this, you'll need it.
The worst pies in London
And no wonder with the price of meat
what it is
when you get it.
Never thought I'd live to see the day.
Men'd think it was a treat
findin' poor
animals
what are dyin' in the street.
Mrs. Mooney has a pie shop.
Does a business, but I notice something weird.
Lately, all her neighbors cats have disappeared.
Have to hand it to her!
What I calls,
enterprise!
Poppin' pussies into pies!
Wouldn't do in my shop!
Just the thought of it's enough to make you sick!
And I'm telling you them pussycats is quick.
No denying times is hard, sir!
Even harder than the worst pies in London.
Only lard and nothing more-
Is that just revolting?
All greasy and gritty?
It looks like it's molting!
And tastes like...we'll pity.
A woman alone...with limited wind
And the worst pies in London!
Ah, sir
Times is hard.
Times is hard.

Sweeney Todd (spoken)

Isn't that a room up there? Over the shop?
If times are so hard, why don't you rent it out? Should bring in something...

Mrs. Lovett (spoken)

Up there? Huh, no one'll go near it.
People think it's haunted.
You see years ago something happened, something not very nice.

Read more...

Hide...

Speed, safety and comfort. The new highway designs.

This is a brilliant short made in the 1960, when the 21st century was very far and people imagined a fantastic world with the problems solved and perfect machines and infrastructures which would eliminate hitches and give time to work better or relax and go shopping.

As we can watch, in the utopian future, there would be intelligent highways with different colors to follow depending on the destination to go, giving always a perfect visibility. Cars would be also perfect, without a driver but with all the possible equipments like television, camera, speed control, traffic information, etc. All of this with a non-contaminant motor.

I think there are very fun projects, like ambulances and police, but I think it wouldn’t be necessary to solve those problems because there wouldn’t be accidents. Moreover, it says that highways and bridges would be built in a few hours with the best materials, but I think that it’s impossible because the world would seem a labyrinth.

It’s obvious that this video was made in the 60s, when in a typical family the typical father worked in a company meanwhile mother was taking care of children or shopping or doing housework.

Even so, this is a great video and I recommend you to watch it.

Read more...

Hide...

We only need to paint it and continue with the parts of the body

I have remembered the time when I was starting to learn English. I think I was nine years old more or less and, in class, we were learning the parts of the body. There was an exercise that we made some times and I enjoyed it very much: The teacher asked to draw a monster for us. The alien’s body had some conditions: the teacher chose the number of parts.

Here you have an example:

You are drawing a monster from Mars and it has got:

- Eight legs
- Three arms
- One head
- Two mouth
- Five eyes
- One ear
- Two noses

Well, I remember the way how I created my monsters:

First of all, I made a very big circle. Then I put the eyes in a row, the noses under that row and mouths below the noses. After that, I started drawing ears around the circle. When I finished the face I draw a thick line that was the origin of as many legs and arms as there were. The result was something like this:



But now I have wanted to know how the monster would be now, after some years. And this is the result:



Maybe mouths don’t look like mouths and eyes don’t look like eyes, but it’s very helpful to learn a new language.

Read more...

Hide...

I don't mind about who has brought this present...

I want to open a debate. Now it’s the time of traditions and customs, but it’s very different than hundreds of years ago, when the different cultures existed separately. Nowadays there are a lot of religions and cultures in the same region. Spain is a very clear example: people used to celebrate the night of the Three Wise Men but now Santa Claus has arrived and that’s confusing the children.

Some people celebrate that the Three Wise Men had come from the Middle East and had brought some presents to the baby Jesus. The night between the 5^th and the 6^th of January people bring presents to the children after they had sent them a letter saying what they want.

On the other hand, Santa Claus is an old man who lives in the North Pole with his woman and some elves called bendegums working in a workshop making presents for the children. The night between the 24^th and the 25^th, Santa Claus travels around the world with nine flying reindeers pulling his sleigh giving out toys and presents through the fireplaces.

These are two different traditions from different places but now something is changing because every year people in Spain prefers to believe in Santa Claus before the Three Wise Men. I think it’s good to accept new traditions, but I think that the other one is becoming forgotten. Maybe it happens because Christmas Holidays finish on the 8^th of January and children can play with the new toys more time if they believe in Santa. Maybe we should change the day of the first one, I don’t know. What do you think about this?

Read more...

Hide...

HNY08

Well, first of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I like this year because it ends with 8.
I’ve visited some web pages and I’ve seen the “Top New Year’s Resolutions” for 2008. I’ve never made New Year’s Resolutions but last year I worked about it in class and now I’ll try to do it this year:

1- In the Top Ten, the first is “Get out of debt or save money”. Well, I’m not in debt, so I’ll go for “Don’t worry about money”.
2- The second is “Lose weight”. I am 1, 72 meters tall and 65 kg weight and I think I am well, maybe I’ll say “Grow and don’t get weight”, until I think the first thing doesn’t depend on me.
3- In the third place, “Fit in fitness”. I agree with that. I’ve checked that if I stop moving one week I lose a lot of fitness, then I won’t stop doing exercise.
4- “Quit smoking” is a very important resolution, but there is a problem: I don’t smoke. Then I’ll say “Don’t start smoking”.
5- The fifth is “Get organized”. I like order and I think I am quite organized but a little more order wouldn't hurt.
6- “Enjoy life more”. Well, everybody has got his own viewpoint about life, but I think we should be happier with small things. Maybe I need to add something: “Don’t worry as much about things and enjoy life more”.
7- “Work less, play more”. I think everybody would like this, but I think that’s nearly impossible. Then, I would like to “Enjoy working”.
8- Number eight is “Develop a new skill or talent”. I like this resolution, but I don’t mind if it’s this or “Improve my skills”.
9- In the ninth place, “Change employment”. But I don’t want to change employment this year because I feel very good working in the beach. I’d rather “Keep my job”.
10- In the last place people usually say “others” and I’ll leave it blank because there are a lot of things to change or to intend. Maybe you can give your opinion and propose other New Year’s Resolutions.

Read more...

Hide...