Last assingment

Since last year, the Faculty of Social Sciences started to implement an english program for the students, so they could have the acces to learn that imporant language that usually appears in many texts of the diferent disciplines. In the english clases, the students always have to create their own blogs, and post the activities required by the teachers, in which is a new way of learn.

We all know that blogs are a very advanced tool for communications, and some people say that blogs are some kind of forefront, a revolutionary discovery that could change forever the traditional concept of personal expression. My personal position is that blogs are a very useful tool, but nothing more than that, those other interpretations are exaggerated.

Using these blogs in english class is good because it alows us (the students) to learn how to handle, which could be very useful if in the future we want to make blogs related to other items, for example, our carrer, hobbies, etc. It is also a good way to learn english, because it keep us practicing the language by writing to post new articles, or by reading the blogs of our classmates, where sometimes you can find very interesting views and comments. The bad thing about blogs, is that they can only be used by internet, and that condition is a problem for the students that doesn't have any kind of connection to internet at home.

In conclussion, I think that blogs are a very good way to learn and practice english, and it's also positive to learn english while you are also learning to use the new creations of the advanced technology. It could be uncomfortable to those students that doesn't have internet at home, but the university has computer labs where everyone can work in the blogs.

Assignment 5

Last week, i saw “Brazil”, a movie directed by Terry Gilliam (Twelve Monkeys) that was released in 1985, and stars Jonathan Pryce. The film also features Robert De Niro and Kim Greist.

Brazil, is a movie influenced by “1984” by George Orwell, and “The process”, by Franz Kafka, and shows the story of Sam Lowry, a goverment employee that lives in a strange city with high technology and a very developed bureaucracy. His life is very lonely and monotonus, and he usually escapes into a fantasy world of romantic and pleasure dreams. He lives in a society of control, in where every person is under the surveillance of the government. When he starts to find out the injustices and abuses committed by the power of the central administration, his life changes and he starts to act like a “subversive”.

This movie has very good rounds and special effects, and it has a spectacular art design that creates a strange city that creates a perfect setting for the development of the story. The music is very good, and it’s an adaptation of the Ary Barroso’s album “Aquarela do Brasil” (1939).

But I didn’t like the end: Sam Lowery is murdered by the goverment, because he had refused to live the life that was imposed to all the inhabitants of that strange world.

Assignment 4

Blog visited: http://howareyoudoingenglishclass.blogspot.com/ (by Daniela Soto)

I think that Daniela Soto’s blog is very good. I like her post about the website called “la cuerda”, because I think that it’s a great place to get chords and lyrics of my favourite songs. In fact, I also knew this site since a few years, and I really enjoy it. The work of art selected by her was OK, not bad but not spectacular either. But what called my attention in that post was her studies trip to France, that must have been a spectacular experience shared with her classmates. The post about the archaeological site of Monte Verde is very interesting, because the finding of that site refutes the theory of the occupation of America. What I didn’t like about her blog is the design of the background, which is very ugly.
The strengths of her blog are the interesting content of the posts, and also the good redaction. She has a very good way of express her ideas; I think that is a very important hability no matter what language could be used. The main weakness is that is the aesthetic of her blog: I don’t like the way that it looks, neither the colours nor the design.

Assignment 3

Klimt, the kiss

This is probably the most popular piece of art by Gustav Klimt, but then again this is probably because of something. It has this resemblance to paintings of Virgin Mary and baby Jesus in the shape and position of the subjects on the painting and in the choice of colors, but it depicts a profane act like kissing. However it is one of the most innocent, pure and at the same time sensual kisses depicted in art between couples, it is probably Klimt’s master piece, it has all the elements that can characterizes his paintings.
The first time I saw it was on a poster my oldest cousin brought to my place. She wanted to sow my mother what she was going to do for her new art project and how this particular painting had influenced her. I looked at it for a while and realized this was probably one of my favorite painters ever, the details on their clothing and how they seemed to transform into flowers was probably what stroked me the most.

Assignment 2

Neanderthals Took Hunt for Food to the Sea

New findings suggest Neanderthals where seafood eaters.
While doing excavations in Gibraltar, paleontologists found what appeared to be evidence supporting that Neanderthals ate mollusks, fish and marine mammals more than 30,000 years ago. The caves suggest there were at least three periods of use from the Neanderthals, and most bones were from immature mammals
A group of Spanish and English scientists of National Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid and the Natural History Museum in London respectively identified the remains and reported them in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Some bones had stone carvings stating that tools where used and a precarious oven was found, evidence shows it was not used for cooking, but for preparing the skins of the sea mammals.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/23/science/23obfish.html

First assignment

A website that I like to visit is Wikipedia, because it’s probably one of the most usseful websites on the net. Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia, were you can find information about almost everything. I knew this site by searching about different items on internet, and most of the searches lead me to Wikipedia. There, I always found good information about the works that I have to do for the university, and also about interesting things that are not necessarily related to my studies. I visit this site once a week when I’m having clases, but when I’m on vacation I don’t like to visit it, because it is associated with the responsabilities that you can forget during the summer.
This virtual encyclopedia is in many languages, but I always use the spanish version. Here is the link: http://www.wikipeidia.es