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.

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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.

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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!

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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?

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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?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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