"I am a headliner!"

When I was a child, like any other kid, I would wake up early on Sunday morning. When I say early I mean like at 7am.

Today, you turn on your TV at this time, when the Sun hasn't come up yet, and you can see a whole variety of children programs. When I was a kiddo it wasn't like that. For start, we only had three channels (first and second channel of TVE, i.e. TVE1 and TVE2 and the first channel of TVC, i.e. TV3). And the children programming wasn't good yet –we hadn't started to trust in the nanny Mrs Telly. So, I would wake up and play videos of Asterix or whatever we got. When I got bored of them, I played all the videos we had. "Pretty Woman", "Sister Act" and the second part (the title of this post is a quote of this film). And my favourites were: "Grease" and "Clash of the Titans". I saw the Travolta movie a couple of years ago and I was surprised that the movie had turned into a whole different thing over the years: now I understand the hidden and not so hidden jokes, like when I think Stockard Channing and that guy with the holes in the face were making out in the car, since I had a very bad copy, that scene was very dark and with noise so I thought it was starting to rain when they were talking about 'plastic' but they were really talking about condoms. "Clash of the Titans" is a real classic (with also Maggie Smith, as in the "Sister Act"'s).
Well, then I grew up a bit more: we had more channels out of a sudden. Up to seven! Imagine, now we complain with our only 20 channels in the DTTV, and back then we weren't complaining. The thing is, back then, there was no other thing. Now we have Cable and Satellite TV as well (you can't envy what you don't know).
Also, we had a sudden grow of Video Rentals in my town. As well of a population grow. There was a family who moved to my town when I was a teenager that had the same surname as mine and one of the daughters was called like my younger sister (although, she is older than me). And they would mess up in the Video Rentals (no cards with magnetic bands or micro-chips back then!) and they would tell us that we had whatever movie at home and we hadn't rent it. So, one day, my sister rented "Reality Bites" and forgot to give it back. So, when I went to the Rental again, I just said that it wasn't us who had rented it. And it worked. The movie is still at my mom's, I guess.
So we watched it over and over. I could tell the lines as if it was my lessons. I would quote it all the time, I would cover my school folder with pictures of it (we already had Internet, though) and quotes. Imagine, such a freak. That's why I wasn't getting late, LOL!
I like to watch the movies I have seen and liked long time ago because I find totally different things then. And I really like to watch them now in English, if they are in that language original. But I was very over RB, actually. I really don't know how many times I watched it but, hey, way too many. Also, when I got growing up I realised that I was no part of that X Generation it is supposed to be about. Perhaps, being born in 1981 was too late to participate. Though, I don't even think I belong to any of the Generations that have come along after the X. So, that's a movie I didn't really thought of watching again. Not like "To Be or Not to Be" which I saw last month and I loved it more than when I watched it when I was in High School. There are many movies I have watched again lately, but I can't recall. Oh, yeah, "The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover", for instance. Or "Mary Poppins" or "Bedknobs and Broomsticks".
Ok, so earlier this month I was in my town for a sort of High School reunion (ah, I had seen again "Romy and Michelle" couple of weeks before, also with Jeanine Garofalo). It wasn't really a High School because it was of the people born in 1981. So, when they sent me the kind of invitation, they attached one of those SPAM letters that goes around the Internet. The letter was about watching back to our childhood and see how different is everything now. One of the things it says is something about "Reality Bites" like that we know we have changed when we watch it again and we do not like it anymore. Then I got a fly on my nose.
BTW, I have forgotten to say that I have the Soundtrack of the movie and I love it. Especially Stay by Lisa Loeb. Also, my sister and our friends liked the movie as well and we all had the songs and we would sing them all along.
A couple of weeks ago, I was on the computer and my brother was watching telly and suddenly I heard something familiar. It was the first notes of "I'm Nuthin'" played by Ethan Hawke in the movie and I recognised it. So I went to the living room and my brother had already changed channel and I asked him to go back to check which channel it was (because on the sort of satellite TV we had they repeat films and programs all the time): it was Cosmopolitan TV but I checked it out and they weren't showing it again.
So I had the bugger to watch it again so I did today. Also, now, I watched it in English and it came along with a whole new perspective, obviously.
The thing that surprised me the most was when Lelaina says "I was really going to be somebody by the time I was 23" which is funny: I had never expected to be a somebody at that age; perhaps 30 or 40, but absolutely not 23, in any case, I am running late.
I liked it. It brought me a lot of memories and gave me an optimistic push. Now my quotes can be in English:

"Would the two of you just do it and get it over with? I'm starving!"

"So I take pleasure in the details. (...) the sky about ten minutes before it starts to rain, the moment where your laughter become a cackle..."

Oh, and I loved to hear in English this:

"Conjunction Junction, what's your function?
Hooking up words and phrases and clauses."
[Source]

I'll will still keep the OST on my iPod and I will sing-along all those songs that bring me back to when I was a teenager.
God bless Digital broadcasting, DVDs, the Internet (especially the IMDb) and the Wikipedia), the iPod and all those small things that I really like (small because they are not the wheel of my life, but bits that make me happy).

Sorry if this post sounds repetitive and weird; it is after 3am. In four hours I have to wake up to watch cartoons.

Stay – Lisa Loeb
(Lyrics below)

You say I only hear what I want to.

You say I talk so all the time so.
And I thought what I felt was simple,
and I thought that I don't belong,
and now that I am leaving,
now I know that I did something wrong 'cause I missed you.
Yeah yeah, I missed you.
And you say I only hear what I want to:
I don't listen hard,
don't pay attention to the distance that you're running
to anyone, anywhere,
I don't understand if you really care,
I'm only hearing negative: no, no, no.
So I turned the radio on, I turned the radio up, and this woman was singing my song: lover's in love, and the other's run away, lover is crying 'cause the other won't stay.
Some of us hover when we weep for the other who was
dying since the day they were born.
Well, well, this is not that;
I think that I'm throwing, but I'm thrown.
And I thought I'd live forever, but now I'm not so sure.
You try to tell me that I'm clever,
but that won't take me anyhow, or anywhere with you.
You said that I was naive, and I thought that I was strong. I thought, "hey, I can leave, I can leave." Oh, but now I know that I was wrong, 'cause I missed you. Yeah, I miss you.
You said, "I caught you 'cause I want you and one day I'll let you go."
You try to give away a keeper, or keep me 'cause you know you're just
scared to lose.
And you say, "Stay."
And you say I only hear what I want to.

[Update]: Aparently the image that I added on the top was removed from server or forbidden the usage, because I can't see it with Firefox but I can with IE as I hadn't used it to watch that image. So, I got an unpleasant image instead in horrible German language. Also, I've seen that I've lost some images on previous posts. I was just adding them from its original location to: 1. avoid having to save it and upload it and so on; 2. maintain the ownership. But, since I have just got pissed off... I will just dow it on my own.
Well, so image on the top originally from here and the poster from here.
On top of it, you have to be a bloody Yahoo! user to use Flikr (although, it is fine that you have to be a GMail user tu get a Blogger account, but Google is best), and my ID is unavailable! What the hell! I'm upset and it is too early in the morning.

We on the screen

When we go to the cinema, we want to feel reflected in the movies somehow. Even when we watch terror movies, we want to feel that it is us who is running around escaping from the devil of the mask. We can easily find a counterpart in drama or comedy movies, because they reflect some bits of reality.
The other night I watched "When Sally Met Harry" a classic funny movie starred by Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal. I think most of people can find themselves reflected on one of the characters.
But for gay people, it is important to watch gay-themed movies, especially since most of us don't live in either Manchester or Pittsburgh, and have the lives of those in "Queer As Folk" (US version). Most of us have normal quiet lives and we do not sleep around and have exciting adventures as the scripts describe. Though, if they really represented the live in the screens, no-one would watch it.
Also, as Spanish, I find it so different "our" lives than the lives of those characters in "reality alike" series as the ones I have just mentioned or "Sex and the City". Starting for the fact that we normally work, so it is so difficult to find the time to see our friends (that's why, I guess, Carrie is a freelance writer). But as well, because (correct me if I am wrong), at least here in Spain, the blind date thing is not something very common. Yes, I guess the let's-arrange-to-have-sex thing is, especially between gay people, but I mean dates. Do we date? I don't thinks so. At least I have never dated anyone. My relationships have gone as: meeting someone in a party, or introduced by a friend (not planned), dance a bit (there's always music), and some time later (time meaning few weekends), after knowing each other a bit, kiss for first time while dancing Eiffel 65's "Blue (Da Ba Dee)". And from that moment on, we meet often, we have dinner, we go to parties together, and so on. But I never got the "I'll call you" good-night-sentence (perhaps because all of them are dying to call me, LOL).
Or perhaps this is only a language thing: when in Spanish we say "Estamos saliendo juntos" ("We are going out (together)"), in English, would we say "We are dating"? I am not really sure, because when you start dating someone, some time in the future the word 'exclusive' will be added, i.e. until then, you can also date other people, even double dating. In the Spanish version, when you start "going out" with someone, it is for granted that you are exclusive: some time in the future your best friend will come to you and tell you that has seen him/her with another guy/girl going out of a coffee shop and you would go mad at him/her and it will turn out to be his/her cousin (or this is what s/he says).
So, either Americans (I say Americans because most of the movies/series we see are from the US) are too frivolous or "we" are too serious.
Also there is the possibility that, at the end, this is are only movies and they reflect what we want to see. Or what we can, because, is there any woman in the entire world that has sex with their bra on? or who, just after having sex, covers herself up to the neck (it isn't cold, huh) while him is covered just up to the belt? Or who, when going to the toilet, takes the sheet with her (when it is so difficult and annoying to make the bed again, and if you have to make it again, you will obviously have to uncover yourself)?
This is something I have always distinguished between US and Spanish movies: in the second ones, you will always see some tits, most of the time a pussy, and some times a dick (even at "Lucía y el Sexo" you can see the erection in its process, when I have never seen an erection on a commercial American movie, not that it is what I look for but it is part of the life and of sex and, starting for the fact that there is always a sex scene in a movie, even if it is a movie about nuns and priests...).
So, back to movies and back to gays. I was saying that it is very important for people to watch movies that connect with them. Not that a librarian has to watch only movies with librarians or book keepers (say "Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself" or "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover", which actually are worth to watch, both of them).
So, last night I watched to themed movies. Gay themed, that is.
The first one is an Israeli movie I have been willing to watch for a long time: "Yossi & Jagger". Someone told me about it very long time ago and I didn't have the opportunity to watch it until yesterday. Although some people told they didn't like it at all, I thought I had to see it for myself (perhaps it is the uniform thing, LOL). I liked it. There are some things in the movie that were very interesting, although as a whole, there was something missing, I wasn't getting something.
Here you have a bit of it, what I have found.

I also watched "Eating Out", a movie I came across somehow the other day. One of the main characters, Mark, played by Ryan Carnes, who was in "General Hospital" (never seen that series), also plays Justin, Andrew Van De Kamp's boyfriend at "Desperate Housewives" (both series at ABC (http://abc.go.com/), actually).
So, this movie is a comedy and I actually found it very funny. There are somethings in it that, I think, are steps forward for American movies.
By the way, there is one of the songs in the soundtrack by Ivri Lider, and I really like his music.
Here you have a bit I have found.

Tonight I am watching I have a movie waiting: "Gadjo Dilo". This isn't a gay-themed movie, it is about the inter-cultural difficulties between Gypsies and a French guy. I wanted to see this movie for a long time. The french guy is Romain Duris, the same guy as "L'auberge espagnole" and it's second part "Les poupées russes ", who I find very handsome. Obviously, the Gypsy topic interests me a lot, but he is cute.

Oh, and I saw this silly Spanish movie the other day, called "Año Mariano" (Mariano, a part of related to Marijuana, means something of or related to Virgin Mary). It is real silly, but, hey, I had a good laugh.

What am I going to watch next? You tell me!

Symbols

A couple of months ago, I finished a book that took me a while to read. It is not that it was a long book, just that I always read a few books at the same time so I can read what I feel like each moment. Also, the fact that when I was living in London I used to read in the tube and got so used to that I stopped reading elsewhere so, here, it is hard to get used to lay down a bit and read (I never read before sleeping). Also, the obvious fact that I am not English so I read slower in the language. But this time it was even slower becauseit was a rather complicated book.

I have always liked books about children (moreover if they are speciall or difficult) like "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" by Mark Haddon, or "Soy Julia" (also available in French: "Moi, Julia") by Antonio Martínez. Or even "Never Ending Story" by Ende, which is also about a boy in problems.
The thing is that Christopher, the main character of "The Curious Incident..." is autistic; Julia, of "Soy/Moi Júlia", who "writes" writes the book at the age of two, has lissencephaly and this really makes me think if I am not a kind of sadist for reading this kind of books. Though, "Soy Julia" is hilarious and "The Curious...", also funny, but very touching, emotive and special.
So, this book I finished. It is titled "Glyph" and is written by Percival Everett. This time the child who also "writes" the book is Ralph, a baby (yeah, can't remember his age, but it was something like 18 months) truly gifted. He can read, write, compose poetry and even write philosophy essays. But he has chosen not to speak. This is all what I can say, I don't want to spoil it; this you can find it on the back cover or at Amazon when you order it.
What makes this book so special a part of being a very interesting adventure of a baby? The fact that he, a part of talking philosophy, he talks linguistics, language. He has no uttered a word in his life but he knows language perfectly.
It is amazing and sometimes you just can't believe how great it is.

I don't want to talk long about the book as I think everybody should read it. I would like to type here a short story which is in the book and titled "No place for a pig" which is absolutely fabulous. Though, I can't as it would be plagiarism. Though, I want to add four quotes that I find very interesting.

"Whether atoms, monads, or words, things are made up of small things and small things are made of smaller things and, to some extend, my understanding of the whole world depends on my comprehension of its constituent parts".

"Humans invented language. So says the innocent. Language invented humans. So says the cynic. My parents made an offspring. Or was it the case that I made them parents? There I was again, making parents of people. Chicken? Egg? Omelette? The beginnings of sense is to realize that the term sense is a stand-in for whatever sense can be made within a particular context, just a thing serves for any noun substantive, just a quality serves for some adjective. Aliquid pro aliquo. To say that in some sense that things has certain quality means nothing, except here where it works to make my point. He was making sense tells you nothing of what he was saying. He had a certain quality. He came in waving this thing."

"
"I feel sick," she said. "Not physically sick, but lost. I don't know where I am or where I'm going. I've always know exactly where I was going. I knew where I was going to college and graduate school and where I was going to do my post doc and even where I was going to publish my first article and my first book an I knew it all when I was only twelve. And now, I don't know where I'm going to sleep tomorrow night. Direction has always been a kind of neurosis for me and to have it taken away, well, it's saddening. But also freeing. (...)"
"

"The water that is spirit, the water of all things, the water of tears, the water of blood, dream water, streams, and rivers where life begins, where things are washed, like Circe in that creek, the dreams like waters, mixing with water, like water, the water that is kiss, water, that drink, full of parasites, drink it only when it flows faster than you can walk."

"I wondered while hiding there in the hallowed walls in god's house whether tigers knew they were striped cats, whether mules found each other stubborn, whether language ever lacked meaning. I wondered whether meanings were the stripes on words and marvelled at how words always erased themselves but never disappeared. I wondered where the window of meaning opened and what was in its place before, nonmeaning? nonsense? nondisjunction? Nonfeasence? The baby was bored in the back room."

[If the publisher, the author, or whoever is bothered of this being here, it will be removed. Just let me know.]

So, here you go. I hope you have enjoyed this quotations and am sure you will enjoy the whole book.

Listening to Joanna Rubio : "We're off to See the Wizard"

BTW, it is so funny that this song is sounding now. Why?
Check this amd you'll understand.

Image taken from Amazon (above link).

Échale sal

¡Uau, esto sí que han sido vacaciones! Desde junio que no escribo ningún post. De hecho, en mi AlterEgo sí que he escrito algún post pero tampoco muchos, la verdad.

Estos últimos meses mis pensamientos se han reducido bastante. No sé por qué. Quizás por el calor o quizás porque, al ver a mi padre todos los días, los temas de discusión salen antes de mi cabeza.

Este verano he ido a unos cuantos conciertos de un grupo local Statuas de Sal (y también). El primero, como ya os conté, fue en el concierto SOS Eivissa. Pero tras ése vinieron otros tres y me quedé con ganas de ir el jueves pasado al de las Dàlies. La verdad es que no es el tipo de música que más me gusta, pero tienen un directo muy bueno y unas letras fenomenales.
Mis primas, que también son de la isla, son fans, qué digo fans, ¡groupies! Y, tanto mi hermano como yo, nos hemos vuelto un poco groupies. Y luego nos vamos con ellos a tomar copas y lo pasamos muy bien. La verdad, es que es un grupo que lo vale y es una pena que tantos triunfitos estén ganando tanta plata que, aunque eso no es lo que importa, ni siquiera el reconocimiento, pero estos chicos lo valen. Aún no he escuchado sus álbumes, pero no creo que me vayan a decepcionar. El directo es muy bueno y, por lo general, los álbumes suelen ser mejores. Estoy ya esperando que salga el próximo disco para comprarlo, que no es uno de esos grupos que ganan pasta larga y que les gusta estar en el Top Manta o en eMule. De hecho, a esos grupos no les importa la piratería porqué ganan suficiente.

Sí, el dinero no es lo que importa, hipotéticamente. Pero, cuando te pasas la vida partiéndote el culo para sacar un proyecto adelante, la recompensa se recibe con los brazos abiertos.
No sé si hay manera de comprar sus discos por Internet, pero ya me enteraré.
Ah, por cierto, hicieron la versión rock del himno del Espanyol.

Hace días que pensaba en escribir un post para dejar constancia de este nuevo grupo que acabo de conocer. Pero es que hoy, que he estado jugando con Blogger ya que han hecho algunos cambios (que vendrán pronto cuando pueda hacer cambios en el HTML con el sistema en Layout, que aún no está disponible), he revisado las visitas y he visto que alguien había entrado en el blog a través de una búsqueda sobre éste grupo.

Más abajo varéis un vídeo para que lo disfrutéis, y nunca mejor dicho. Arriba tenéis los enlaces para su web y para su MySpace. Además de para el Club de Fans (aunque parece que el web no funciona muy bien). Pero, cualquier otra pregunta –e.g. cómo obtener discos, etc.–, dejáis un comentario y hago lo que pueda.
Yo no entiendo tanto como otros sobre música, pero creo que valen la pena. Simplemente sé si me gusta o no, y Statuas de Sal, definitivamente, me gustan.

Otra de las razones por las que se tropiezan con mis blogs es buscando el significado de Habibi. Lo he visto varias veces, hoy también estaba. Que quede claro, Habibi significa: "Mi amor", "Cariño", "Darling".

Y está el clásico "vida del caracol" en todas sus variantes, ya se si es larga, si es corta o como es en general. Es una pena, porqué no tengo ni idea de cómo es la vida del caracol. Lástima que nadie busca la vida del Caracol Aventurero lorquiano, que es el que dio nombre al blog. Pero, de hecho, a pesar de que el motivo fue ese precioso poema, que tanto me gustaba cuando era pequeño, me he dado cuenta, sobretodo últimamente, que realmente yo soy un caracol. Por lo de la casa a cuestas, más que nada. Pero bueno, esta es otra historia y debe ser contada en otra ocasión.

Aquí dejo el vídeo y hasta pronto.

Statuas de Sal – "Merengue"

PS Cuando trabajaba de monitor infantil y ya no podía más, siempre les decía "¿Quién quiere jugar a las estatuas de sal?" pero nunca recibí una respuesta positiva.

Tempus fugit

Wow, that was a long time since I wrote last post. I'm on a kind of a intellectual holiday. In fact, I am still studying as I have two exams in a few weeks, so my brain IS working; though, they are things I already studied so I am not putting that much effort onto it.

Apart from that, nothing much is happening in my life lately. There is something that is bugging me out but I want to take some time to think about it and expose it properly.
I am still in this island. It is full of people, full of foreigners –especially Italians–. Though, it is not that hot these days, so I am happy.
As you can see, I have changed the banner of the blog. It is not a big thing, but I get happy with small things. For me is an achievement: it is the first time I used Flash. It wasn't difficult, though. In the future I will do something nicer, but, for the time being, it is just what I wanted.
I like learning new things, learning to use new tools. Just, I don't have projects to use them.

My life is going through a moment of change. I already pealed, so the change of skin is done. I guess I will have to change my shell now.
I am a snail now. (That was a plagiarism of "I am a bird now" by Antony and the Johnsons.)

I love tales, I don't know if I have said that before. And the other day I got caught by the Spelling TV series "Charmed" –which I hadn't seen before– because that chapter was about fairy tales. So, the chapter finished and the next started and I realize that the theme was a cover of the famous song by The Smiths "How Soon Is Now?", recorded by Love Split Love, which also was coverd by t.A.T.u.
So, since I heard that song again (I have the The Smith's CD with that song back home), I can't take it out of my head. Will that mean something?

How Soon Is Now? – The Smiths Written by Johnny Marr and Morrisey

I am the son
And the heir
Of a shyness that is criminally vulgar
I am the son and heir
Of nothing in particular

You shut your mouth
How can you say
I go about things the wrong way
I am Human and I need to be loved
Just like everybody else does

I am the son
And the heir
Of a shyness that is criminally vulgar
I am the son and the heir
Of nothing in particular

You shut your mouth
How can you say
I go about things the wrong way
I am Human and I need to be loved
Just like everybody else does

There's a club, if you'd like to go
You could meet somebody who really loves you
So you go, and you stand on your own
And you leave on your own
And you go home
And you cry
And you want to die

When you say it's gonna happen now,
Well, when exactly do you mean?
See I've already waited too long
And all my hope is gone

You shut your mouth
How can you say
I go about things the wrong way
I am Human and I need to be loved
Just like everybody else does

Photo taken from here.

Is the truth out there?

Since last week or the other we have Digital Television at home. It is actually from the telephone company but, anyway, it is mostly the same as the satellite –actually better.

I have always liked documentaries. I am not an animal documentary guy; I prefer history, invents and all sort of unusual things. I've seen the documentaries of the Serengeti way too many times, so I've had enough of animals. Though, sometimes, a good penguin's film is fine.
So, the thing is that I have seen quite a few lately and they have made me thing a lot about the earth, the human being, Mother Nature, the space and what is out there. Besides, they are broadcasting the new version of "The Outer Limits" again.
I have said many things about recycling and though, whatever we do is still not enough. We are dismantling the Nuclear plants and we are running out of energy. Spain is, at least. The lights from Las Vegas can be seen from the space: apparently there are billions of bulbs that pretend to be a screen where things are displayed.
The thing is, where are we going?
Apparently some kind of planet called Theia (aka Orpheus) collided with Earth and the Moon was formed from it. And apparently the Moon seems to be the reason why we can live in this planet: a part of all the things that change upon the Moon's phases in the animal kingdom, the fact that it's gravity slows the rotation of our planet three times ( i.e. if we didn't have Moon days would last 6 hours, counting the night as well, therefore, no life would exist as the Earth wouldn't heat enough –actually, who knows!). And, apparently, the Moon is getting further from us (no worries, no-one of us will see it happening –unless they invent something to live for the next three thousand years –which I won't have) but they are already thinking of stealing Europa from Jupiter when it happens (although, didn't Zeus kidnapped Europa first?) as it can do the same work for us. Well, this might happen in many many centuries, though, what if Jupiter needs Europa as the Earth needs the Moon and if we take it Jupiter falls and kicks Mars and then Mars kicks the Earth? Wouldn't it be worse?
I know nothing about this kind of things and, I guess, if the intellectuals say it can be done (although not with our current technology), it must be alright. Hmph!
But the worse is that in that documentary where I heard that about Europa and the Moon, they were saying things like "oh, well, the colonization of the space is starting". Didn't you learn already that colonizations aren't good? Actually, why you say colonizations when you mean "get somewhere and kill whatever is there"? Didn't you learn that Bush? huh? Didn't you? Grrr...
Anyway... Apparently in 2030 there will be some kind of mission to Mars that will take something like nine years because they'll have to wait until Mars and the Earth are closer again. And they are talking about transforming the Moon into a giant petrol station. Well, not petrol, but using Nitrogen, or something that is there, as fuel. Is that mad or it is me?
OK, here is the thing: stop worrying about our loss of the Moon and stop treating it like it was ours. It is hers (I mean, the moon belongs to herself). Why the human being always thinks is the greatest thing there is? Not to talk about UFOs. Another documentary I saw was absolutely hilarious. It was kind of taking the piss out of those who "believe".
I hate clichés, but those people are real clichés and they all say the same things. Which makes me think that either they are all being influenced by the same source... or... it really happened and those little ET's exist and that's why they all experience and see the same. I reckon is the first one. The thing is, why do we keep thinking that if there is another intelligent race out there, they have a technology that we don't even know yet? I just don't get it because it is total nonsense and a contradiction: in one hand we think we ARE the center of the universe and the universes behind this one and think we can rule over any other society that there is; but in the other hand we think that if there is another society, they are much better, much clever and with better technology than us, and, what is worse, they want to kill us all. Why is that? Is that a self centred protective way of excusing ourselves to kill them if we ever get to meet them? Please, Roger, if you are out there, or in here, reading this, comment this post, have a say!
Another of the series of documentaries that National Geographic Channel broadcasts, are those called MegaStructures. The episode I really enjoyed was Boston's Big Dig about the works to clean up the city. It was really an achievement, though, difficult. Also there is the one about the Viaduc de Millau (I've been there) and the scary one of the Petronas Towers.
I really wonder, what the hell are we doing? OK, I could understand high buildings in Vatican City or Monaco, as are the smallest countries in the world. But, why countries that have much more space keep on building up or into the sea? What happened in New Orleans was unfortunate and could be avoided, though, it wouldn't have ever happened that much if they had stop building when they had arrived to the water. What happened to the Twin Towers in NY was too bad, but it wouldn't have happened if the building hadn't been that high. What happened in Biescas was unfortunate, but it wouldn't have happened if they had respected the space of the river.
I mean, yes, I understand that we have to keep land to grow food, though, do you really think there aren't pieces of land that have not grown a carrot in years in Malaysia? In the States? In Lithuania? In Spain? In the Gulf clubs? I mean, yes, in the ground space that the Petronas use, could only be a few houses or regular buildings, but, do we really need more?
In my own town there is this problem with the natural reserve (now it is national reserve in some part) which are wetlands in the shore, but they keep on building on it. If it was clever to live just in front of the sea, they would not have placed the roads and the railway just few meters from it. What I mean is, for centuries, the ones who have lived in front of the sea have been the fishermen and their families (is like living across the street from your workplace). Now is so on fashion to open your windows and have a sea landscape. What when, in a few years, not that many, much before the Moon runs away, the sea grows (I don't know how to say that) and the whole coast of Catalunya disappears? Huh, what then? You'll like to live in Lleida, right? To buy a flat in my town is difficult. I guess buying one in a similar size town in the province of Lleida must be much cheaper.
Where the hell are we going?
Can't we just live in peace?

PS I don't know if I achieved what I wanted to say, or if you understood me. I'll keep on thinking about this.

The building in the photo is Warszawa's Intercontinental Hotel,
one of the buildings of recent construction that I like the most
and the highest's building I've slept in.
And the one on the top is from the opening credits of "X Files"

Listening to: Skye - album "Mind How You Go"

"Where is your helmet, man?"

Happy summer to everyone!

Well, many things have been going on lately. And, even though I may look alright in the outside, I was in the need of a little break: a little break to think.
Do you know when you are doing some kind of work, or assessment or anything that is taking long and you are putting your whole self into it and suddenly you finish? Then, you feel empty. All that work has been done and now you have nothing to do. This is something that occurs just from time to time. Normally we start doing something else right away we end up the big thing. Like at work or anything. Even in our relationships we try to meet someone right the week after we got heartbroken. But yes, from time to time, the thing seems so big that you don't... you can't do anything: you just sit in front of the telly or on the beach or anywhere you can see people walk by and expect time to go by.
So, OK: I moved to this island, I had my exams, I was very busy, then a friend came to visit (Life is fucking Good sometimes, huh?)... and then... nil... nothing... niente... nada. The emptiness. I felt so empty suddenly. Just waiting for the results of the exams. Well, I got them all in the end and they weren't what I expected: I failed the one I was absolutely sure I was going to pass and I passed the ones I was certain I was going to fail. Overall: that's good as I will take again only two halves of two different subjects in September. So, I'm re-starting to study next Monday.

So, yes, things have been going on: the Gay Pride, the 4th of July, the horrible train accident in Velència, and today the visit of the Pope to the same city for the International Encounter of the Family.
Well, I don't have much to say about those things. Obviously I am happy for the Gay Pride: an acquaintance said that it should all stop already: we've got what we wanted already... Well, darling, we haven't got ALL what we need just yet (social stuff must be done asap) nor for Tansgender's; besides, from the right moment we get ABSOLUTELY everything wee need we must still go on parades and demonstrations for another hundred years to remember those who didn't have it as good as us (when I say absolutely I mean worldwide).
The 4th of July... how unfortunate. Not for the US, but for North Korea.
València: I am so sorry for the families but, again, I can see the difference with the other country I know: the UK. When the bombs in Madrid on March 11 2004 I wasn't in Spain, so I lived everything from the distance, reading British newspapers. When the attack in London I wasn't there, and I lived everything in the distance, much closer, perhaps, as I know many more people in that city than in the Spanish one. And I saw the difference on how media and street people treats this kind of news. I was very surprised, really. But now, I lived it from here and I can see that, really, we are two different species. OK, it was tragic, I know, but it was an accident. Accidents happen all the time, even last year one happened in the tube in Barcelona, apparently, and I didn't even know. What I am trying to complain about is the much bigger attention we gave to it. From the 5 public analogical television channels in Spain, 4 of them were talking about the accident non stop. I am fine if they interrupt the programmes when it happens, I am happy they spend some time in the news talking about it, but I don't think they should spend 24h talking about it. I don't want so seem selfish or cold, but it gets to a point that there's nothing to talk about. And, what's worse, they speak with street people who think they know everything and they know nothing. For example, there was that woman who said, in front of a camera, that she had few girlfriends who missed that train for seconds. OK, fine, I can believe that there were many people who missed that train for seconds (which, if it is a tube, how do you know it was that exact train, anyway), I can even believe you have A friend who missed that train; but, what I can't understand, is that you happen to have few friends who missed that exact same train: what? they were all together running through the tube tunnels going to the platform all at once? If I ever get a telly interview (I mean, one of those news interviews of street people), I will say "Sorry, I know nothing about that, and if I knew, I would let those who know everything and have a job of responsibility to talk about that, talk instead of me".
I just think is stupid. Who cares what that woman thought. I don't even want to know how the people who lost a relative feel. It is their lives and they must be sad enough to be asked for a local television how they feel. I don't understand that kind of Spanish feeling that whatever happens to the neighbour is like it happened to myself. No, it is not. Sorry... it is so unfortunate, people died, but we can't do anything now. Let's let them Rest In Peace.
Well, at least it was actually something important as, when the singer Rocío Jurado died last month it was the same: non stop news from her house's garage door saying "nothing has changed since last connection five minutes ago".
Well, and today Benedict (?) XVI arrived in València. He pried for the victims and their families. Fine, this isn't gonna help, you know? Why don't you give up some millions for those whose wage wont be enough to deal with mortgages and feed their children as one of the parents has died in the accident. And, really, I am just talking about the victims, because I could extend that to all those who don't have money after the 5th of each month or those who don't have at all. Why don't you do that, man? There is this group of people that has this movement called "Jo no t'espere" which translates into "I am not waiting for you" in Valencian. They are not only against the visit of the Pope, but as well against the use of public funds to pay all what it comes along (like police, security, but as well concerts and other kind of activities that have been suspended because of the accident –though, I guess the musicians will be paid) when there are things to be done in the city that are much more important than that. They are also against all kind of fundamentalism's: that kind of reunions where some people from all around the world gather to demand that the rest of the world changes their way of thinking, i.e. homosexuality and its matrimony, condoms, new families, etc.), are fundamentalist. [What I don't understand of that is if, after all, the Church has very little newcomers, why don't realise that what they need is evolve a bit? I mean, McDonald's has delicious healthy Salads: if the Church wants my money (Pink Money! LOL) they MUST come to 21st Century.]
Another funny thing of that Pope thing is that the media, and the Vatican, are talking bullshit about the fact that Zapatero isn't going to the mass tomorrow. Navarro Valls, the Vatican's Public Relations or something, who is Spanish by the way, was asked about that and he started saying that when they went to Nicaragua, Cuba, Poland (when still communist), etc., the prime minister went to the mass... The reporter, though, said something like "Well, yes, but (whatever) president of the US and Chirac never went... so what?", which I thought was very intelligent (we only keep in mind what we want –hope you learnt something of that Mr Navarro Valls! Do you know what a Newspaper Library is dahling? That reporter knew, indeed).

Oh, something else happened: we now have a different kind of driving licence. [I don't know why I say we.] We call it Points Driving Licence or something. It appears that other European countries have it. What happens is that everybody (except L's) have 12 points that are discounted if they do any traffic offence like speeding, drinking, speaking on the mobile, etc., so you can lose them. The thing is that the first day Spain lost 30000 points (if I am not wrong). [After Eurovision this is the worse that could have happened to us!] And I heard today that Spain loses 7000 points everyday since we have this new thing. Again, television full of street people talking about that. And they say, oh, well, now we have to be more careful. What? What the hell are you talking about? you moron! Speeding was a bad thing before the 1st of July, drinking and driving was a bad bad thing also back then! How the hell do you see yourself you idiot? I wold just go straight into the next police station or Mad House after saying that in the telly. You are stupid and you disgust me so much!
Sorry...
I am saying you but I don't mean you, guys, readers (unless you are that kind of stupid people who speed, drink and drive, don't buckle up, and do all those bad bad things that kill people in the roads). Oh, those kind of things just make me mad. Grrr... I don't understand how can someone just, you know, think it is fine not to buckle up. I would just put the driver into jail when caught with someone in the car that has no belt. This is just off!
But what I think is worse are the motorbike riders... Especially if they are not wearing the helmet. Grr...

Please, British people, you may help me: I heard on one of those talk shows that in Britain there are not "Please, buckle up!" adverts as is common sense to do so and you don't need to ask people. Is that true? I can't remember.

Spain is a mess... What the hell I am doing here?

Well, I am going to Space now.

BTW, do you know who Bez is? I didn't, so I have to research a bit.

Listening to: Petra Magoni and Ferruccio Spinetti - "Musica Nuda II"

SAME DAY UPDATE: my brother fell asleep so we are not going clubbing... next Saturday.