DOWNLOADING FILMS

Nowadays the cinema prices are quite high and his makes people stop going to the cinema, but it doesn't they stop watching films. They find a way to watch them and the most popular way of doing it is watching the films through the Internet (downloading them or watching them online).

But is this a bad thing? It depends on the point of view you're watching it from. If you watch

it from the film costumers' point of view it is a fantastic thing: you are able to watch the films you want without the need to leave your house and the best, free. But if you watch it from the film producers' point of view this is such a bad thing: they spend millions of dollars in producing the movie and then their work isn't paid enough.

I may be a little incoherent, because I think that, at the end, downloading films or watching them online is not something good, but I have to recognize that I do it.

I think we should pay for the films we watch, but I don't do it because then you feel stupid. If you spend your money on them but then everyone in your surrounding is still able to watch those movies without paying you feel you're being stupid because you are paying for something others are enjoying for free.

I think the solution would be to control the Internet a lot more and to remove the posibility of watching movies for free and make the people pay for them, but with lower prices. If watching a film in the cinema costs you about 7€, watching it at home should cost you a maximum un 2€. This would be fair for the film producers because even though 2€ is not a great gaining of money for them, they would definitely earn a lot more than they are doing now and they would be paid for their work.

This would cause annoyance to a lot of people for sure, including myself, because anyone would like going from being able to watch movies for free to having to pay for it, but I think that it is the best option. We should all walk in the film producers' shoes and think about them not being paid for everyone who enjoys their work, and probably we would all be a little bit more in favour of paying for the films.

UNDERWATER MUSEUM

On the 1st of February, work on the Museo Atlántico (Atlantic Museum) started. The Museo Atlántico is going to be the first completely underwater museum in Europe and its location will be Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands. The museum will be placed 12 meters underwater and people will be able to visit it doing scuba diving or going underwater with glass bottom boats.

It is going to be made of sculptures by Jason deCaires Taylor, a British artist who says that with these sculptures he wanted to reflect the actual situation of the world, with statues of people taking selfies to represent the importance of the technology nowadays, or with statues that represent the syrian refugees, to picture the actual situation and to tribute all those refugees who couldn't survive and whose bodies lay underwater. In general, Taylor says that the sculptures will attract animal and plant life and this is a way to represent the connexion between humans and nature.

Although there were some polemic about the location of the museum, the authorities of Lanzarote are happy with the project and claim it to be something historic, that will allow the island the ability to show the bottom of the sea to the world from a different view, and that will also make the island be a unique tourist destination. 

PERSONAL OPINION:

I find this project very original and cool, and I think it will be attractive for the tourists to visit an underwater museum. Also, I like the fact that Jason deCaires Taylor has decided to include thinks that are important and that are marking the society nowadays, because I think that in some years time, when the people visit the museum, the sculptures are going to look a little bit neglected because being underwater will have damaged them, and visiting old sculptures that represent the past will be kind of travelling to that time.

NEW WORDS:

· Funds: fons d'inversió

· Council: consell

· Strengthens: enforteix

LINK: http://www.thelocal.es/20160201/canary-islands-embark-on-europes-first-underwater-museum

THE VOID: A VIRTUAL REALITY

A TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) conference has been recently held in Vancouver, and a project called The Void has been presented in the conference. This project is about virtual reality, and it offers the opportunity to transport yourself into a totally different reality. The creators The Void said that it wasn't only about seeing that different reality, but about being able to feel it. They guarantee that using The Void you can touch and feel the walls and even the heat from a fire.

To present this project, they brought a version of it to the TED conference, which allowed the players to try to solve different puzzles feeling as if they were in an ancient tomb.

A player who had the chance to try this, explains his experience and recognizes that The Void is different from other virtual realities he has tried. It feels different, it really feels like you are actually in another reality, mainly because you can touch and feel the things. Even though, he said that he was all the time aware that it wasn't real.

The creators of The Void said that the project still needs some more work, since during the conference time the sample booth had to be closed several times because of technical problems. And apart from the technical problems, they also say that it needs improving on the creation of new physical experiences, which is a new challenge for them. 

PERSONAL OPINION:

This article surprised me, because I didn't think this was possible. I had seen this in movies or on the TV, but I didn't really think it was possible to enter inside a virtual reality, and even less to be able to feel the walls or the heat from a fire. After reading this, it is still hard for me to believe it, and I think that it's probably not as I am picturing it, not that futuristic.

It is something that I would love to try, because I think it has to be a peculiar experience, different from anything that I have experienced, and it seems promising.

NEW WORDS:

· Mist: boirina

· Haptic: tecnologia del tacte

· Bespoke: fet a mida

LINK: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35583355

SPEAKING YOUR LANGUAGE ON THE INTERNET

Some days ago I was surfing on the Internet and, I can't remember if it was on Facebook or on Youtube, but I saw a comment that made me kind of upset. Well, it wasn't just a comment, actually some people were having an argument through the comments.

The first intervention was from a girl, comenting something about the video or the post. You could see that the girl was catalan because of her name and surnames, but she commented in Spanish because it was Spanish content. Then, there was a reply to that comment from a boy, asking the girl if she was catalan. The girl replied and said yes, and they started a conversation through the comments in Catalan.

Then, another guy replied to those comments calling them rude for speaking Catalan in a comment section in which everyone speaks Spanish. After this, some people joined the “conversation”, some of them in favour of that guy and some of them against him. The guy defended himself saying that it was a lack of respect to start speaking Catalan in the middle of a conversation in Spanish,- when actually a conversation in Spanish hadn't even started, because the catalan boy relplied to the first comment in Catalan, and the conversation started in Catalan- but anyways, what upset me the most weren't those things, it was a comment from a girl who joined the conversation which said something like this: “They think they are cool by speaking Catalan on the comments. But one thing is true: you are never going to see any comment in Basque or Galician. I also think this is a lack of respect, but hey, they are Catalan people. Don't ask for more.”

That comment made me angry because, firstly, I have sometimes seen comments in Basque or Galician in Spanish-speaking sites, and it doesn't bother me at all. But apart from that, the worst thing, is the way the girl talked about us, the Catalan people, as people who are rude or impolite by definition. And well, I don't think I need to give reasons against that, because I think it is too obvious that it isn't true. There is people impolite all around the world, even if they speak Catalan, Spanish or Russian. And the same happens with polite people.

All this comments thing made me remember about one time that me and a friend, were called impolite by a random guy, just because we talked with each other in Catalan on a Facebook's comment section.

About this, I think some people are just so grumpy about this kind of things. I mean, you're on the Internet where people from all around the world and who speak a ton of different languages is connected; there something called freedom of expression, which we all have; and the people who are talking in another language are not even talking to you. So just let it go. Let them talk with who they want to talk using the language they want to use.

I could accept if that people felt upset if someone talked to them in a language they don't understand, but if it doesn't concern you, why should you be that grumpy and take some of your time writing a comment to call them rude? As the saying says, “Some men just want to see the world burn”. And actually, in my opinion, the roles are backwards, the rude ones are them by insulting for no reason someone who is just having a conversation using his or her language. 

MUSIC'S IMPACT IN OUR WORLD'S VIEW

Joydeep Bhattacharya and Job Lindsen, two professors from the department of phsychology in the University of London, carried out a series of experiments that relate the music with the way people sees the world.

Specifically, they performed three different experiments:

In the first on, they showed a grey square to a group of twenty adults for one second, and right after they made them listen to a nine to seventeen seconds track. After this, they asked them to evaluate the music on a scale from "very unpleasant" to "very stimulating". Straightawat, thet showed them another grey square (which was actually the same as the first one), and the people who had rated the music as "very stimulating" described the square as if it was brighter than the people who rated it as "very unpleasant". 

The second experiment, performed with a new group of twenty people, was the same but with the difference that they didn't ask the participants to evaluate the music before the second square showing. The results were the same: the participants that had listened to the track the researchers had judged as happy described the square as brighter than the ones who listened to sad music.

The last experiment consisted of twenty adults again, who had to learn a grey scale of colours. After they had learned it, they were played music of different styles and afterwards the researchers showed them a grey square and they judged it to be brighter as it actually was on the original scale.

With these three experiments, the researches got to the conclusion that music changes our way of seeing the world and it makes us see the things in a more positive way, that's why music could be used, and it is actually used in some occasions, as a therapy for those who suffer from different kinds of depression.

PERSONAL OPINION:

I have found these experiments very curious and they are a good way to demonstrate the power of music and the impact it has on our brain. As it has been shown with the experiments, I think music in general helps people being more positive, but if it is happy music this effect increases greatly. And I think that this is awesome, because it's a simple way to cheer yourself up and to get motivated, that's why I think listening to music in the morning is a good way to start the day better, with more energy and positivity.

NEW WORDS:

· Excerpt: fragment

· Bias: preferència

· Attire: vestimenta

LINK: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/12150973/Happy-music-really-can-make-the-world-seem-a-brighter-place-research-suggests.html

DESCRIPTION OF A PERSON

Her name is Paula, she's sixteen years old and she is studying 1st batxillerat. She is one of my closest friends.

Talking about her appearance, she isn't too short or too tall and she has a slim body, with a feminine figure. About her head and face, she's got quite long, straight and brown hair. Her eyes are big and light brown, mixed with green. She's got long eyelashes. Her nose and mouth are average size and her skin is quite tanned.

Focusing on her personality, she is very outgoing and she's not a calm person at all. She loves meeting new people and being active doing different activities and practising sports. She is very friendly and she cares about orther people. Paula is hard working and very good at her studies.

She is one of my best friends because I know I can always rely on her, and even though we have been together since we were three years old and we spend pretty much the whole day together, we don't get tired of each other.