BULLFIGHTING

In this post, as the title says, I wanted to give my opinion about the bullfighting, a tradition here in Spain. The practice of the bullfighting has been criticised in many occasions and it has caused a lot of controversy, not only nowadays but since this tradition was born. The people are divided in two: the ones who are in favour of this and the ones who are in against it (well, actually in three, because there are also the ones who don’t care about it). There are several reasons for both groups to stand up for their opinions, but for the ones who are in favour of it, the main reason would be that is a cultural show and a tradition that needs to be continued; and for the ones who are against it, the main reason is that this tradition means to torture innocent animals. 

Well, in my case, I belong to the second group; I am totally against it, because I don’t think it is morally correct. Some defenders of the bullfighting say that it is a tradition that has been practised for many years, meaning that it’s something that people have been doing for such a long time, that we have to accept it now. But I don’t think this is a reasonable reason, because if you analyze the history, you can say that lots of things have changed during the years, so that shows that things can change and we don’t have to live with something we don’t like because “it has been always like this”. So I guess this is only an excuse for the defenders of it, to keep practising their loved bullfighting.  

I don’t like the fact that they “play” with the bulls, rouse them with the red flags, and if bullfighting were only about this, I wouldn’t be the most interested person in it. But it’s not about this at all; bulls suffer from physical damages. They get stabbed with the called “puyas”, “banderillas” and “estoques”, and this makes them lose a big amount of blood that ends up by killing them, and if it doesn’t, they make sure the “torero” kills it, because it’s “the tradition”.

Actually, thanks to several surveys, we know that there is lots of people who are against the bullfighting, but unfortunately it’s still a popular practise in some parts of Spain.  About a month ago the government even created studies to get a professional title in tauromachy, which inspires people to study it, without thinking about the condition of the bulls, the opinion of the majority or the risks the “toreros” face by practising this.

And maybe some people will think that as I am catalan, I am against this because it’s a Spanish tradition, but I want to clarify that I am against the bullfighting, but I am also against the “correbous” celebrated in Catalonia. 

SANTA'S SLEIGH

This year, Christmas Eve for the kids in the UK is going to be special, because if they look at the sky they may be able to see Santa Claus’s sleigh. “Santa’s sleigh” is ISS, the International Space Station, that this year celebrates its 15^th anniversary. This is the largest object made by men that it’s in the space and from the Eath you can see the bright light it sends out, caused by the sunlight it reflects. That’s why it can look and be interpreted as Santa’s sleigh.

Virtual Astronomy has informed through their website and twitter that the ISS will pass over the UK approximately between 4.40pm and 4.50pm, and it will rise from the west and it will set in the south east. They have said that is probably going to be the brightest object in the sky, only beaten by the Moon.

Experts say that at the beginning it can be a little bit difficult to see, so they recommend you to be informed of where it will rise from, and they suggest you to use the NASA’S Spot Station tool to find it. 

PERSONAL OPINION:

I think it’s a great coincidence that the ISS passes over on the Christmas Eve, because it’s going to make the Christmas night “more special” than it is by itself. Also, I found funny that they compare the Spatial Station with Santa’s sleigh, to make kids believe it is actually Santa Claus flying over the country. I would like to be able to see it, because I think it has to be curious and cool to spot the ISS and to admire it (and even more imagining that it’s Santa Claus), but unfortunately, it seems that we won’t be able to see it here in Spain. 

NEW WORDS:

· Sends out: emetre

· Set: pondre's

· Spot: localitzar

LINK: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/christmas/12019173/UK-children-will-be-able-to-see-Santas-sleigh-in-the-sky-on-Christmas-Eve.html

LATER THAT SAME LIFE

The writer, among other things, Peter ‘’Stoney’’ Emshwiller is the responsible of a recent video that has become viral. It is an interview, but not with two people taking part in it, as normally happens, in this one he plays the role of the two components: the interviewer and the interviewee. But not at the same time, with a difference of 38 years between them.

In 1977, when he was 18 years old, Peter decided to sit on a chair, placed a camera recording at him and he started asking questions to a blank wall, planning to answer all those questions years later. The questions were about his life, for example asking if is he married or not, how is his wife, etc., and the young Peter tried to react and give answers to what he thought the old Peter would say.  And now that he has answered all those questions, he has managed to make it look like seamless interview.

After releasing the video, Emshwiller talked about this experience. He talked about the looks of both Peters, about how he felt doing this and about why he decided to answer the questions and not leave the video considering it as a young man’s game.  Peter said that he felt that we had to give the young Peter the answers he asked for 38 years ago, and that his health problems that made him be at hospital for a while were the little final push he needed to do it.  He said that it was very emotional to record it and, even though it was artificial, he actually felt that his 18-year-old version was there, with him.

After this video, called “Later That Same Life”  he has started a campaign with the objective to reach $30,000 to be able to create a whole movie based on this.

PERSONAL OPINION:

I think this is a very good idea, because I think it’s an interesting “experiment” to do to compare your old self with the actual one, and to kind of connect with the “past you”. As Peter said, I guess it has to be quite emotional, to see and remember the way you thought and the expectations you had of the future when you were young, and to see how you have changed over the years.

However, I think that the idea of making a movie of it it’s too much. I don’t know how they he wants to do it, and maybe he will only base the idea of the movie on that and it will be a very good movie, but for now, I can’t think of a way of turning this into a whole movie.

And finally I would like to add that Peter wasn’t actually the first one to do that and upload it, a man called Jeremiah McDonald uploaded the same kind of video on 2012, but with different ages: he recorded the video asking the questions when he was 12 years old, and his 20-years-old version was the one answering them. So I’m posting his video too, because I think it’s quite funny and interesting. 

PETER EMSHWILLER'S VIDEO:

JEREMIAH MCDONALD'S VIDEO:

NEW WORDS:

· Interviewee: entrevistat

· Seamless: continu

· Hideous: lleig, horrorós

The link: http://www.npr.org/2015/11/19/456663811/a-writer-gets-grilled-by-his-18-year-old-self-in-later-that-same-life

THE MAKEUP CONTROVERSY

About a month ago, Twitter was full of tweets talking about a controversial topic which was started by a Spanish youtuber. This youtuber was Jpelirrojo, who has about 800.000 subscribers on his main channel and he’s on the list of the most famous youtubers in Spain. It all started with one of his tweets that literally said: “For me, women who stand up for makeup or heels, it’s like the slave who stands up for his chains thinking that they give him freedom.” Fast, everyone started giving their opinion, most of the people going against and attacking him for what he said. After this reaction, he tried to explain himself better through twitter and the next day through a video he posted on his channel, but anyways, a lot of people were still against him.

JPelirrojo recording for his
second channel

In this post I wanted to talk a little bit about this and give my opinion. First of all, JPelirrojo is a youtuber I’m used to watch, maybe not the videos on his main channel but the videos on his second channel (in which he records all his life, day by day). I like watching some of those videos because sometimes he discusses interesting topics with his girlfriend, with his friends or his family. And with this I want to say that he is a person who isn’t afraid at all of showing his opinion and his way of thinking to the world (he shows all his life, so it’s normal that he hasn’t any problems on expressing what he thinks). Not in everything, but quite a lot of times I agree with what he says, because I guess we have a similar way of thinking, but this time I can’t say that.

I think that he was just out of the line with that tweet, especially with the simile he made. With this simile, it seems that what he wants to say is that women are forced to wear makeup (I’m going to focus on makeup because it’s what has been more criticized about the tweet), but I don’t think it’s this way at all. Society may pressure a little bit women to wear makeup, but just as it does with lots of things. But it’s not the same as a slave with the chains: no one forces the women to wear makeup.

And I don’t think women depend on makeup or heels at all. Of course, there are all types of cases, and for some women makeup is essential and they couldn’t be happy without it, and in this case yes, maybe it is an addiction, just as JP says. But those are just a few cases. Some people tend to think that women wear makeup to impress the others, but a lot of times they just wear it to be pleased with themselves, and it doesn`t mean that they have low self-esteem or that they have an addiction with it. Also, for lots of girls makeup is not only a way to look prettier, it is a hobby and something that they like.

In my case, I don’t like to wear a lot of makeup on my daily life and I prefer not an excess of makeup, only for special occasions. But as I have said, “in my case”, so this should be a personal matter and we shouldn’t talk about all the girls as one. There are girls who hate makeup, so it’s completely fine them not wearing any of it, if they don’t want. There are girls who really like makeup and maybe feel better wearing it, and that’s completely fine too. And like these, there are hundreds of other cases, which should be respected, because it’s the girl’s body and she should be able to do whatever she wants.

But on the other hand, I think people also were a little bit out of the line with the comments they sent to JP. He started the tweet with “For me...”, so that shows that he’s just expressing his opinion, something that we all should be able to do, and his objective is not making everyone think this way, he just wants to show that in this point of view, girls look better without makeup. 

So, summarizing, I don’t agree with JPelirrojo’s opinion, and I think that, although he wasn’t fully disrespectful, some people were offended, so he could have just expressed his opinion, something that we all have the right to do, in another way. 

ORAL PRESENTATION

Now that I have seen the video of the presentation I can more or less self-evaluate how we did it. I think that in general the presentation went quite well, of course there are always mistakes, but in general I’m happy with the final result of the whole group. In my point of view, we chose and interesting topic and we spoke quite fluently. We didn’t stop much to look at our papers with the notes and I think this makes a presentation be more pleasant.

Evaluating only myself, the thing that annoyed me the most about myself were the several “eeh” that I said during the presentation. This was either because I tried to remember what I had to say next or because the word I had to say didn’t come to my mind. But anyways, I think I should try not to say this too many times, because I don’t think it makes the presentation sound good.

Another thing I’d like to improve for the next presentation is the nervousness. This is something that I actually though during the presentation, because at the beginning I was quite nervous and I didn’t think I was making the best I could because of the nerves. But while the presentation was going on, my nerves went down, so I guess this was because we were just starting. 

BOOK REVIEW: Heima es hogar en islandés (Heima is home in Icelandic), by Laia Soler

This is one of the latest books I have read (actually the last one if we don’t count the ones for the high school) and I found it a very beautiful book, that’s why I wanted to make a review of it.

I’m going to start by explaining the plot of the novel, and then I going to give my opinion.

The main character of the story is Laura, a Spanish girl who suffers from achromatopsia, an illness that makes her only see in black and white. She is kind of overwhelmed by all the fights between her parents after they have divorced, plus she has just broken up with her boyfriend, so she decides to get away from everything and take the first plane on the airport. She ends up in Reykjavik, in Iceland. There she meets Orri, a boy who invites her to join him and his friend on a road trip around the island. It may not be a sensible idea, but she accepts it and joins the adventure with these two unknown boys. What she could have never imagined is that those boys have a big secret, that is going to change her forever.

 

"Just a few things are impossible by themselves, it's us, the people, who decide what is possibe and what is not"

I have to declare myself guilty of judging a book by its cover, but it was impossible to resist with this one. When I saw the cover I just fell in love with it and adding the fact that I’m an Iceland lover, I knew I had to buy it. Actually, when we were in 3^rd of ESO, we had to do a project about a country and one of the parts of the project consisted on designing a one week trip around the country. I worked on Iceland and I felt in love with the landscapes of the country, so when I read the plot of this book, that mentions a road trip around Iceland, I was sure I was going to like it, because it surely involved all the beautiful landscapes. And it didn’t disappoint me.

"Between the two of us, we created a whole smile."

Laia Soler, the author

The best thing of this book is the description of the landscapes and the photos that it includes. The author describes everything very carefully, explaining the details and it makes you transport to where the action is happening. Another thing that makes this book special is the magic. I don’t want to give big spoilers, but it has fantastic elements that combined with the setting of the book, makes you be surrounded by a magic atmosphere.

Maybe the weak spot of the book is the action. I don’t want you to think that is all about describing landscapes and there isn’t any action at all, because at one point there is a big cliffhanger, something that I didn’t expect at all. But in some parts the story is a little slow, so you wish something else happened.

"The world would be a better place if we stopped clinging that much to the logic and we allowed ourselves to believe a little bit more in what we don't see."

Now, talking about the main characters I liked them all. Laura, the main character, was a quite normal girl. About her, we could highlight her pidheadedness in some situations, and the fact that she suffers achromatopsia, which has a storyline about it. And also the little evolution that she suffers during the trip, that makes her think about herself and her life.

The other main characters are the two friends: Orri and Gudjon (or John, like Laura calls him). Orri became my favourite character from almost the beginning, because he always added a little bit of humour and happiness in the situations. Gudjon was a serious guy and at the beginning I didn’t like him very much, but then I started liking him more and at the end, when I knew the reason of his seriousness, I liked him a lot more.

 

"Your aura looks like the northern lights."

Summarizing, this is a very magical and emotional book, maybe with a slow rythym, but with very special characters. We could say that it has a bittersweet ending but at the same time it is very beautiful, just like its story.

And finally, this is the book's official song:

P.S. The original versión of the book is in Spanish, and it actually it hasn’t been translated to any other languages, that’s why I have put the several quotes in Spanish and then I have translated them.

CINEMA'S PRICES

Two weeks ago, the ‘’Fiesta del Cine’’ or ‘’Cinema’s party’’ was held, concretely on the 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th of November. This was the 9^th edition of this celebration, which consists of reducing the price of a cinema’s ticket from an average of 6.50€ to only 2.90€. The only thing you need to enjoy this reduction is to get your accreditation online.

Because of this celebration, I wanted to talk about the price of the cinema nowadays in Spain. First of all, not only talking about the cinema, in Spain, for the cultural things there is a 21% of IVA, which is a lot compared to other countries in the European Union. At the beginning of 2015, the government said they were going to low it and there would be a 10% of IVA, but I truly don’t know if this was actually into effect. The high taxes on the cultural things makes reduce the people performing all these cultural activities, and in consequence, it reduces the level of culture in the country. But this is another topic to talk about, in this post I wanted to specially talk about the cinema.

A part from the IVA issue, the price of the cinema tickets has increased a lot during the past years, and I think this is a disadvantage for everyone.

The people don’t go to the cinema because it’s too expensive; the cinemas don’t have people so they can’t earn enough money and at the same time, the producers, film studio and the ones who are involved on the film, receive a lower amount of money. Because of this lack of money, the cinemas increase the prices, but this makes less people go to the cinema. And that’s a vicious circle.

I’m not an expert on this topic, and maybe I’m completely wrong, but I think it would be something good to lower the prices. It would be hard at the beginning because especially the cinemas would probably lose quite a lot of money, but doing this, more people would go to the cinema and more often, so cinemas would earn more money with the tickets. And apart from this, people normally buy snacks in the cinema, something that produces a benefit for the cinema. So, putting random numbers, saying that everyday 10 people go to the cinema and the ticket costs 8€, they are going to earn 80€. And if we count that everyone spends 5€ on snacks, they are getting 130€ per day. If they lower the prices and each ticket costs 5€, we say that everyday 20 people go to the cinema and they spend the same 5€ on snacks, they finally get a total of 150€ per day. Of course, those numbers are invented and maybe they wouldn’t be proportionally like that. Plus, it is the theory and maybe the practice would be totally different, but if we think about it, it could work.

Nowadays, every time more, you go to the cinema and (depending on the film) most of times not even the half of the room is full, that’s why lots of cinemas have to shut down. That’s why I think that it would be worth, because cinemas shutting down is in some way, culture getting lost. But well, maybe that’s what the government wants, people having less and less culture every time.