Bye Bye Porn!

After experiencing a world crisis in economical matters, many industries and companies have gone broken. That is the danger connected with businesses. However, there are other companies that have lost millions but that problem has nothing to do with the crisis but with modernity. Porn industry is one of those victims.

Playboy, for example, has estimated that their income is decreasing 10 million dollars a year and, why is that? The real problem is that people who used to “read” Playboy have changed their priorities, for example, they are already married. Years have gone by and the well known magazine is still the same as it used to be in the 80’s. It has not changed anything in its pages (that is what I was told, hahaha). It seems they have forgotten that the world changes every single day.

Another thing is that the new generations are more into technology. Everything they do, they do it virtually. If they want porn, they have computers with a broadband connection, they have instant messaging services, they have websites (most of them with a common last name: tube) to watch any kind of videos, they have webcams, blogs and many other things to watch what they want: Porn.

In fact, and considering this as my very personal opinion, I hope new generations are not too into porn as what we tend to think. There are many things to do in life. Many things better than watching porn. When I was young, the only thing I was able (but not allowed) to see were a pair of boobs in the adults section of the magazine store and I’m sure it didn’t have any influence in my likes but something I’m sure is that nowadays porn is a lot more rough and offensive and more accessible than ever.

To conclude, I really hope that younger generations may find another hobby instead of watching porn as older generations used to do. I’m sure it is not a good thing to do. Provided what Playboy said about their income, I really hope to see one day the death of porn as one of the things that should have died long time ago.

I'm sick of it

First of all, I’d like to start by saying that not everything pisses me off but there are quite few things that kill me every time I face them. People everywhere would call this a “mania” which is a state of abnormally elevated of irritable mood, according to Wikipedia.

For example, one of the things I hate the most is when people don’t know how to use elevators. They’re in the third floor and go up till the sixth floor but wanting to go to the first floor only because they made a mistake pushing the wrong button. Mistake? Come on, there are only two buttons! If you go down, you press down and wait till the button’s light goes off.

I bet you’ve heard about the next one: the toothpaste. I hate having my toothpaste pressed in the middle instead of the bottom. I have to confess that since I’m married I had to shut my mouth in order to preserve a peaceful “environment” but, even though I use it quietly, something inside of me says “don’t take this any longer”.

The next thing is waiting in line or receiving occupied signal tone when phoning to your telephone company. Instead of solving you problem quickly, you have to wait long time to be heard. The worst thing of it is that you’re being charged for using you phone while calling over and over again looking for your problem to be solved! What a crap!

Another thing is, when walking on the streets, I hate having people walking slower than me right in the middle of the sidewalk. I thing that in this case, the same rule used in motorways and roads should be applied: if you move slowly, use the right side (that’s how we do it in South America). Sometimes I have told off people and complained because of their slowness.

There are many manias I don’t really know why or where I have got them from. The only thing I know is I cannot stand myself anymore. I’m getting sick of it. To finish, Wikipedia says that manias are related to bipolar disorders and, in the most severe cases, manic patients may need to be hospitalized to protect themselves and others. I hope that’s not my case because I hate hospitals as much as I hate doctors. They make me sick!

Let's chillout!

Since being an educator doesn’t mean making lots of money, many things are, in consequence, postponed or completely banned for us. When it comes to talk about music, it may be a luxury when there are other needs that need to be covered first. But, what if you download that music instead of buying it at Musimundo? Downloading it not from Amazon.com but from internet user’s websites?

As far as I know, Chile doesn’t have a restrictive law related to this yet and, independently from what an educator’s reality is, we still have the right to nourish our ears with good music. Therefore here I am once again sharing what a cool website has to offer: chillout music with all its variants.

This music style was developed in the earlier 1990 and it involves genres such as Ambient, Trip-hop, Nu jazz, house, New Age and other sub-genres of Downtempo—a major branch of electronic music. Chillout has been also used in many restaurants and pubs which have included “chill rooms” where people can take a break from dancing or just to relax having a talk with their friends.

What is more, some restaurants have also produced this kind of music such as the Buddha bar in Paris which now has a vast collection of CDs that made this place known worldwide. There are also some companies and groups that devoted all kind of resources in order to promote music like this (not all of them making chillout music) and create their own collection. Some of the most famous are Putumayo Worldmusic and Café Ibiza to name but a few.

Well, after all that has being said, here you have the link for you to seek out for good music and also a track sample to see what I am talking about. Enjoy it and don’t feel guilty for downloading music from internet without paying it. I went to Musimundo and they didn’t even have the CDs you will find in this website so, if someone tells you off for downloading music illegally tell them you would buy it if they had it!.

Give it up to me

Actually I'm uploading this because it deserves to be mentioned. Shakira's new album SheWolf was the most expected release this year, but sadly, the expectatives seemed to be too high for such a horrible production. Even though I said I wouldn't listen to Shakira anymore, yesterday I found a beat that called my attention and, once I focused all my attention on it I couldn't believe my ears... It was Shakira again! redeeming herself for being such a silly wanna-be-gringa trying to become some sort of Madonna's imitator. Anyway, here it is: the song with no content but with an amazing beat "Give it up to me".

To blog, or not to blog

At the beginning of this month I had the chance to go to a seminary about education and blogging. It called my attention for a couple of reasons I’ll mention in a sec. As I said in my first post, blogging never called my attention but, since I found how interesting and fun this can be, my thoughts and opinions are being modified a bit.

Well, as I said before, the seminary called my attention because it announced blogging to be “the new way of learning”, interacting between teachers and students and also because it remarked the fact that technology is, nowadays, the only tool that many students have in order to study and increase their knowledge. Just think about Wikipedia which is an online encyclopedia. It has it all!

The lecturer said that teachers should include this methodology (blogging) in their teaching process in order to relieve all the work they have to do. Imagine how much a teacher has to do to mark tests and essays during the whole weekend because, obviously, cannot do it in classes, where he/she devotes all the time on teaching and planning new classes. I thought it would be nice to have all your pupils doing their homework, researches or essays online and then, at home (or practically wherever you are) check what they have done. That is amazing.

Some can complain that students will be even lazier because they won’t do an effort on reading and writing and analyzing most of the things they do and will only copy and paste everything they find. Actually, and contradicting this thought, if you Google something, you’ll have to read a lot before finding what you really need. Subsequently, to express what you want to say you’ll need to clarify your ideas and then post it… after checking that your other classmates haven’t posted the same in their blogs.

In addition, computing is what the students know the most nowadays. Therefore, why shouldn’t a teacher take advantage of this by giving them and bringing the students what they really like? The only drawback we can find when talking about blogging is the fact that only 50% of all the population in Chile has internet connection at home or at least, have access to it, which can be a major problem to face if blogging wants to be incorporated as a teaching and learning tool. Another problem is having students that don’t really want to do anything with it but that is up to every teacher and his/her teaching abilities.

Personally, blogging was and IS a good thing to be done. Firstly, it makes you think and be careful on what you post (you don’t want everybody to realize all the mistakes you make in a sentence). Secondly, you can write as much as you want of whatever you have in mind to write about. Isn’t that perfect? One of my assignments was writing about my favorite website but, as I didn’t have one, I wrote about my favorite music style and it was still accepted.

With no doubts, blogging should be used to teach in classrooms (or should I say everywhere?). I will do it for sure. I hate wasting paper in things that can be done in a pc. You see? There is another advantage: is environmentally friendly. To conclude, I have to admit that education has gone to old with its methods and techniques. Christopher Columbus was taught centuries ago just as we are being taught these years. We have to start a new way of learning, and blogging, who knows, may be part of it.

What a nightmare!

Cool!

That’s all I had to say after today’s class in which I had the chance to do whatever I wanted to do on Internet. Yeah, right! Whatever I wanted according to what the teacher told us to do (it doesn’t mean I’m complaining about it). If I have this kind of attitude is just because I had to face, once again, the reality of not comprehending crosswords puzzles at all. I mean, who do they think we are? How am I suppose to guess the word that fits in every blank space if there are many (not to say thousands) options?

How does this problem is still chasing me, when I thought test or quizzes at university were not based on this kind of methodology? I’m afraid that, instead of studying from English Grammar in Use, I’ll have to start buying crosswords magazines in order to train my mind and put my knowledge “up to it”.

I love taking pop quizzes on internet. I’m amazed of how many sources you can find to complement your classes as a teacher but, one thing I’m sure of: I’m not using crosswords puzzles ever. There might be more people around, like me, trying to hide themselves to the embarrassing truth of not knowing what to do with something like it. That’s something I desperately hope for.

Theater

Last week I had the chance to go to Teatro La Memoria to see the play “Rata de dos patas” (rat of two legs) and I had the impression that this good play would not become famous at all just because there are not enough chances of publishing such good activities anywhere.

It is interesting to see how the media tries to devote some time talking about culture and things connected with arts. The New York Times makes an effort on publishing about theater but, according to what I felt, they didn’t reach a good level of what commenting theater is about. They just talked about the event itself and how many people attended. The Brisbane Times website doesn’t even have a place to seek for such events, which tells us that, maybe, in Australia (or more exactly, the place where the newspaper comes from) people don’t even know what theater is.

What I’d highlight the most today is that The Guardian had in fact a good place related to the topic, and not only a place where they talk and describe about it but a place to blog your own opinion about the issue. What is more, apart from informing you about the play itself, they teach you some social concerns by including information about social concerns like Jean Charles de Menezes, who was a man confused with a terrorist and murdered by the police in England and that has became the theme of many plays within the city.

It would be very interesting to see at least one fourth of a page in Las Ultimas Noticias talking about good things like theater instead of gossiping about what this soccer player did last night with that brainless model. That is not culture at all but, if they sell that is because we’re asking for it, aren’t we?

Thank God

One of my most hidden dreams is having a kid. Actually, I’m not the one who’s going to have it inside, but my wife will. What I wanted to say is that I want to be a father and I think it will be the greatest experience ever. Even though I want to have kids I don’t want them right now, (despite the fact that I’m doing a big effort as if I wanted them now –joke-).

Nevertheless, I’m not here to talk about my wishes but to comment on something I saw today about pregnancy, population and birth control. It is a true fact that population worldwide has gone further than 6 trillion people (don’t know if that amount is ok, I have serious problems identifying numbers with lots of zeros) and, that that amount will duplicate itself within the century, bringing together lots of problems to our planet.

I can’t deny that the statement deeply called my attention. I totally agree with contraceptives, but since I’m a believer I know I have a fight against my ethical thoughts and contraceptive methods. Nevertheless, and not denying reality, I knew that about 60% of the active-sexual-life people are using one of these methods to prevent pregnancy. The interesting thing that called my attention is what would it be if we no pills or condoms where available nowadays? Would we have 12 trillion people worldwide already? Would our world be already destroyed or, in other words, eaten by ourselves?

Thank God somebody had the great idea of giving us the chance to decide whether to have a baby every time we make love or when we really want to have it. I think that, ironically, we have to add to the global warming definition that “it is also when people make babies without protection”. Taking everything into account I must say that my opinion is, ‘to save the world, make love... not babies’.

Nourishment for your ears

One of the topics of our last philosophy classes was “worldmusic” and, according to what Professor Ramirez said about it, these CDs came to my mind instantly. I don't really know if these CDs can be categorized as worldmusic but what I can tell is that I cannot live without them. That is why today, instead of writing about my favorite website, I want to write about my favorite CDs.

Lagrimas Negras is the first part of this duo formed by the Cuban piano man Bebo Valdés and the flamenco singer Diego "el cigala". It gave me goosebumps while listening cuban and latin american ballads sung softly by that deep gipsy accent which mixes two different musical styles.
I personally believe that all the songs are worth to mention but if I had to choose a couple of them I would say La Bien Pagá and Lagrimas Negras (which is also the name of the disc).

Lagrimas Negras was released in 2003 and by 2007 they had sold more than 1,000,000 copies by now. In 2008, Diego Cigala released Dos Lagrimas which was made by himself (without Bebo Valdés) but following the same style. Some good songs I'd mention are María de la O, Dos Gardenias and Caruso.

I know that these productions may not be the most interesting thing to listen for young people nowadays but, I'm convinced that music is culture. Reggaeton, hip-hop, salsa or even cha-cha are good! but so is flamenco, bosanova, tango, folk and many others. Let's give our ears a break and give them a variety of sounds, impressions, feelings and traditions that only music can offer.

Movie comment

I’m trying to make an effort categorizing and selecting the movies I liked the most but it is a hard decision. I’m not good at watching movies. I rather take a nap than spending 3 hours to get nothing (valuable)... or maybe do something more interesting like reading a book or learning some new stuff on my pc.
Nevertheless, Couple months ago two movies called my attention because of the plot and the content which was not completely fantasy nor completely reality (and I love that! History mixed with fiction). The first one is Da Vinci’s code. I know it is old (…) but by the time I was living in a country where there the access to new movies was not good at all.
Anyhow, the movie I want to mention is named just as the book: Angels and Demons. It is Da Vinci’s Code’s second part (as a movie) but in fact, and according to what I’ve heard, the book was actually written before Da Vinci’s code. It takes place in the Vatican City and shows the conflict between science and religion rolled by the Catholic Church and the Illuminati, an ancient “enemy” that stole an antimatter weapon which will be used to destroy the city. The movie includes, wisely, all the myths that people (or history) has made up of the Vatican City and its people.
The main character of the movie is Tom Hanks (the same guy of the volley ball called Wilson) who works to solve a murder (well… there are many) and prevent the terrorist act against the Vatican. Obviously, Tom Hanks risks his life dangerously but, in the end, saves the city (just like every American hero does). Original... don't you think so?

WTF?

Couple days ago I was going to take a picture of a martial art school called Taekwondo WTF. As you see, there are not to many places called “WTF” nowadays and, when I was about to take the picture, some random guy came to me asking what I was doing. Surprised (and a little scared must confess), I answered that I wanted to keep a record of the sign without any other intention. Before I could finish, this man started talking about how much he enjoyed Taekwondo and how good he was at it.

At that certain point of the conversation I was absolutely terrified. His eyes never looked at me… they were moving all around like if he was trying to hide himself from the "enemy" or something. He kept walking back and forward like not knowing if he had to stay or leave. Fortunately my mobile phone rang and, completely frightened but looking absolutely calmed I finished the conversation making up that I was in a hurry.

After this experience, I wondered why people never realize how scary they can be. I'm sure the way this guy approached me that day wasn't the best one but I couldn't help wondering also if I was the weirdo that doesn't comprehends others. Anyway, what I'd like to say is that I understand girls now, more than ever, when they say they walk scared on the streets. I'm pretty sure there must be more than one I-love-taekwondo-guy walking around. Fortunately, I'm a man who owns a mobile phone that rings in the right moment... fortunately.

Youniverse...I'll give it a thought

The results on youniverse.com showed that I'm a "Sofisticat" (yeah, sure). Anyway, I felt kind of satisfied when I read the result cuz I thought it was going to be something different such as... "mad homeless" or "psycho" or just "English teacher" but not.

At least, the test showed something good. And it seemed to me that the purpose is making you feel better by showing only good stuff. There were no bad characteristics to describe! The test never showed how bad I am managing my time or the selfish I am with my money. It didn’t say how much I love gossiping and making fun of people.

However, and knowing that these are the same word for all who make it match correctly, makes me happy to know that I am a “worker bee” saying that I like new things and a never-ending appetite for learning and discovering new things. It also says that I’m a “high time roller” which is someone who lives in style, worried about fashion and health.

What worries me the most is that it says I’m sociable. I consider myself very reserved and taciturn. I don’t talk if I don’t need to do it and don’t share with anybody I don’t know but…who knows, maybe the conception I have about myself is wrong and I probably should pay more attention to what these smart guys of Youniverse have to say about me.

Checkmate

Three days ago we had this interesting conversation in class about death penalty. I remember some good points of view on who or when should be penalized with such penalty and, even though some look surprised, I said I totally agreed with it. Consequently, I gave my arguments of why did I think that way. The debate that started that morning was one of the best ones I’ve ever been to but sadly time wasn’t in our side and we had to finish it right away.

Later, when dinning, I kept the same conversation with Kath, my wife. She is absolutely against death penalty and we both had our own mini-debate in which the arguments were becoming very realistic (as we both were politicians trying to find solutions). Suddenly, Kath said something I never expected to hear… “Do you believe in God?”

Knowing what she wanted to do I said: “what does that suppose to mean?” and she said again: “Do YOU believe in God?” I answered “yes, why?” and she said “well, if you believe in God, one of his commandments says “thou shall not kill. Therefore capital death is not an option for a believer”. Not showing any emotions but recognizing that somehow I had to change my thoughts, we remained in silence and finished our dinner.

Education

I must confess that it was a pleasure to listen to this talk. Mr. Robinson was very funny in sharing experiences and examples of how education has cut down natural (and most of them artistic) capacities in human beings. In fact, his whole talk was related to, what I conclude, the effects on education that are indeed a direct consequence of our economy system. I would like to make a comment on 2 things I thought were interesting:
1. The learned intolerance of facing mistakes. It is well known that making mistakes is not a good feeling but it is a necessary part of the learning process. We, Chileans, avoid as much as possible speaking in public because we don’t want to make mistakes. Why, if is the only way to learn!?
2. The fact that studying arts is an illness. According to our new conception of human value, the more you produce the more valuable you become. Being a dancer, or a painter, or even a teacher, doesn’t produce as much as some expect. And those are the ones that have classified arts as a useless for our society, keeping us away from developing our artistic abilities.
These two things considered, plus a thousand more we can discuss are he ideas mentioned in the talk that I wanted to highlight today. They are also the stone in our shoe when it comes to our educational system.
The final question I would ask is how can we, language teachers, motivate our student in order to develop their talents and not only their language skills?

Mom doesn't want me to

This goes for Facebook and the amazingly chance it gives me to stay in touch with people I’ve met throughout my whole life. In fact, one of those I’ve met was a schoolmate who used to be very mean, selfish and… what I call “a brown noser”.

The moment I saw this guy some memories came to my mind. For example, during the break time, he had his snack out (which was more attractive than mine) and every time I said “can you give me a little of it” he would say “nope. Mom doesn’t’ want me to share my snack”. It was always the same with everything!… Mom doesn’t want me to share my eraser… Mom doesn’t want me... bla bla bla!

Now that I see this guy, almost reaching his 30 years of age, and see that he hasn’t done much progress I had the impression of asking him “does you mom want you to be a wacko?... does your mom want you to have no girlfriend?... does you mom want you to be a loser?... does your mom want you to hide behind your laptop pretending to have a life? does your mom want you to pretend to be cool by having the smartest mobile phone?... does your mom want you to be a moron? moron! but, I didn't.

Anyway. That was his life years ago and it looks like it’s the same nowadays. And I’ve found it out because of Facebook and its gossipy style. I Hope this guy is still enjoying his snack... meanwhile I'll enjoy my life with MY own girl, MY own money, MY own job, MY own success and! MY own snack!, sucker!.

A teacher

Every time I see parents asking their teenager sons and daughters what are they going to study I remember my parents asking me what I wanted to for the rest of my life. The "rest of my life" sounded like if I was going to die right then but, the funniest thing I can tell is that I had the same random answers I hear from teenagers today: "don't know, engineer maybe… or a doctor… and during my spare time a firefighter".

Well... finally I decided what to do. I understood that somebody has to make these teenagers decide what to do not by asking them but by guiding them to catch a taste for something personally satisfying. Being a teacher was the option and, because of the chances I've had with English during my life I thought it would be personally fulfilling.

So, here I am, at Alberto Hurtado (which is one of the safest universities in Chile) trying to reach my goal. I think that, somehow, I'll be able to show my students what options they have in life. I'll be the bridge for "culturizing" and interacting with different countries, believes and lifestyle in order to open minds and perspectives.

I personally believe that changing the world starts by oneself but I don't go after changing the world (like I've heard many times from classmates). I think that's too utopist. I just want to see a more solid society, growing up in knowledge, respect and appreciation for the ones around them. That's what being a teacher is to me…that's what I want to be.

6O years on

Today I want to share one of my favorite singer's song. It is an Elton Jones' cover but includes the " Brandi's magic touch". Just a couple of days ago I got the meaning of the song. Well... here it is... the big question they make (and it is also the same question I question myself):
Who'll walk me down to church when I'm 60 years of age... when the ragged dog they gave me has been 10 years in the grave?

<<<<<<<

You, dirty weather forecaster

I, religiously, turn the TV on every single morning to watch this guy telling us how to dress. As always, I got up at 6.00, turned on the TV and got dressed after listening that we were supposed to have a nice cloudy day. NICE CLOUDY DAY MY EYEBALL!

Rain is what I had all over me!... tons of people telling me that Mr. Weather said it was going to be rainy but, I swear, that is not what I heard. This is just the media's fault! how come they have journalists doing what a meteorologist should do!?

Anyway, hope Mr. Weather receives this message: Hey dirty weather forecaster, you suck!

BBC - Learning English

I've always used different kind of websites to get information and find some sources to learn English in a cheaper and easier way. Sites like esl-lab.com or eslpod.com have been very very usefull.

Today I want to share a comment on BBC's website. This is one of my favorites so far. I haven't found anything related to my life or my country but, I'm sure everybody who has tried at least once this site, has found hours and hours of interesting material and resources to practice English.

If you're one of those busy guys that need an extra day in the week, I'd suggest you to try "Words in the News". It will keep you updated and it will reinforce your vocabulary and listening strategies.

Well... It's not "that" easy

Today I drunk a lot of water and couple minutes later I felt the urgent necessity of relieving myself a bit and, the moment I got inside the bathroom I noticed something I’ve heard many time from girls. Women are forever complaining that us, men, pee everywhere but never inside the potty, and the bathroom I was about to use was the perfect example.

I have to confess that many times I have been victim of “not having the perfect shot” but I’m not the worst one either so... after thinking a little bit ‘bout my experience, I got to understand that women don’t really know how difficult it is for men to control something that’s part of our nature. IT CAN TAKE YOU YEARS to develop the right technique.

I’ll tell you that I have been trying it almost 26 years and I still have much to learn…. But anyway… what I really wanted to express today is that you girls, before making a comment, please think a little bit: Is it easy for men to pee? Sometimes I wonder what would you do if you had a wee-wee. you’ll probably see that taking a pee is not that easy. Not "that" easy.

My first time

I'm not actually writting about what everybody calls "the first time". In fact, what I meant to say is that we've got the chance today to start blogging and I really hope to do a good job.

This incredibly modern world of bloggin' never called my attention before but I promise: I'll try to do my best. Hope you like it.