I'm sorry, but I have to write about... books... I know, I'm sad too

As hard to believe as it is, my wonderful English teacher has not only forced us to write (at least) seven blog posts, but also we need to, unfortunately, write about a book we've read this semester. I know, torture.

This semester I've only read two of the four books we have to read, and I've chosen to write about Alive. Alive is the story of the plane crash of a Uruguayan rugby team, on their way to a tournament in Chile. To get to Chile the players had to fly by the cordillera of the Andes; an area full of some of the highest mountains in South America. As the plane was flying over the cordillera the plane's engines started to fail, and after that the rest of the flight went downhill, literately. The plane "landed" on Cerro Seler and slid down on it for several feet, until it reached a stopping point. Additionally, during the landing the back half of the plane split off and went further down hill. The plane carried forty-five people, of which twelve died during the crash. The survivors spent seventy-two days on Cerro Seler, seventy-two days which were full of death, hunger and most of all, never-ending hope for a successful search party. Sadly, that successful search party was just a false hope, and to survive, three of the survivors left the plane and climbed up Cerro Seler to find civilization. These three survivors were called "expeditionary" and for a couple of weeks were given extra benefits and priority over other survivors. After ten days of climbing, the three survivors did find help and two days later, two Chilean Army helicopters went up Cerro Seler and rescued the rest of the survivors.

As disgusting as Alive might have been (sometimes) in the end I have to say... I enjoyed it. Because the story, of this group of survivors deciding to take actions into their own hands and surviving against insurmountable odds is fascinating, and ultimately, it is the true search for happiness. 

What to write about... well... maybe... Scarface!

This week I've re-watched what are possible my favorite movies, Scarface (Al Pacino) and The Godfather's (Al Pacino). I love this two movies because they really put together the elements that make the best American movies, guns, blood and naked women. Seriously, every movie made that has those three elements is a success, no matter how dumb it is. For example, Miami Vice, Bad Boys 1 and 2, Tropic Thunder, etc. The list is endless, and why? Because people just don't get bored of those elements, especially not men. Plus all those movies have somehow left their mark in history, for example, who doesn't know the Bad Boy's theme song? Or who's never heard of the line "Say hello to my little friend" from Scarface? Or the part when Robert Downey Jr says "I'm a dude, playing a dude, disguised as another dude" in Tropic Thunder. Everybody knows those lines because of the huge success those movies had. And that success didn't come out of anywhere, and I wonder from where it did; because I don't know who the genius was that realized that the only things that drive people to see movies are guns, blood and naked women, and decided that instead of just making a movie about just guns, or blood or naked women, he decided to put them all together. The result of that superhuman idea were movies like Scarface and The Godfathers, which have turned themselves to icons of American movies. Those two movies are really good because although they both have the three magical elements, they're at the same time very different movies. Apart from those elements the only thing they have in common is Al Pacino, but everything else is different. Because the life of a Cuban drug dealer that recently immigrated into the United Sates is very different than the life of the recent turned leader of the Corleone Mob family. But nonetheless these movies have still made their way into my heart and proved to me what it really takes to make a classic. Without them the movie industry would be very different, and I guess nobody would talk about guns, blood and naked women.

To end the entry I just want to state that not only have these movies changed me, the movie industry and finally society, because they showed the public what people really want, in the big screen.

Techno Music is the Biggest Mistake of the 21st century

In my school Techno has become basically the most popular genre of music, about a good 60% of the school listens to it. Which kind of ironic, because let's be honest all those huge quantities of people that listen to Techno, as well have Rock, Hip-Hop/Rap, Hard Metal and who knows, maybe even Jazz. But for example a hardcore fan of Rap, only has Rap in their iTunes library, not a mix of Techno and Rap. So at times I get confused, because all my friends that love Techno also love Rap, so why not just switch? Rap is just better. The one thing that I think I find uninviting about Techno is the lyrics... THERE AREN'T ANY! What type of music doesn't have lyrics? Not a good one. Now I think that the refreshing part about listening to music is that people can relate to the lyrics, because I think everybody loves the moment when they sing along to a song, not because they like it, but because they have to, because there is some sort of bigger force pushing you, making you sing. But let's be honest, how can a human being relate to monotone  sounds, that in thirty seconds intervals a weird guy screams "We hit turbulence." That just doesn't make a lot of sense when you think about it. Plus, believe it or not, it takes skills to write a song, and a beat to it, or in band to coordinate everything so the song can be good. But how much does it take to go into Garageband, search for all the "techno" loops, and then put them in a straight line, it doesn't take much skills. Lastly I think that it's impressive the way that all artist, whether it's Rock, Hip-Hop/Rap or Heavy Metal, they can make rhymes. For example, the first time I heard a rap song I was amazed because I didn't know that so many words rhymed with each other. Yet the first time I heard Techno I was amazed that somebody had lived in the basement of their Grandma's house for such a long time, they thought it be a good idea to create a music genre called Techno. And the worst part is that it was called Techno because when they got out of their Grandma's basement they saw talking pictures (TV's), talking typewriters (Computers), talking bricks (Phones) and all those objects made the same monotone sounds, and everybody called them "Technological Advancements."

In the end we have to be honest, Techno just isn't good compared to all the other genres of music there are, and it won't be until the day comes when pigs can fly, and kids think that it's a good idea to take the candy from a stranger in a park. 

"YES MAN"... More Like "NO MAN"

Last week my school had what we call "Fall Break," a time which to most means free time and happiness, but unfortunately, to me it meant very different things. To begin with, Fall Break is a very false vacation, because it's intended to be a time when students can relax and celebrate the end of the first quarter, yet (especially if you're an 11th and 12th grader) teachers bombard students with homework, which ironically 99% of all students don't do because let's face it, when you're on break you're not going to do homework. Also I recently I fell off a truck, and I can't do much physical activity, like sports, swimming and for the first week after the accident I couldn't write. Now you might wonder why I said that and how it's related to fall break; well it's related to fall break because to make matters worse my mom decided that for break we should go to the beach. Of course my parents chose to go to the one and only place where the best activity is to swim and play in the sand, when I can't do either of those activities. So to be honest the week before last all I could do when I got home was to complain about how much Fall Break was going to suck. In the end it did, plus not only did it suck, but my parents and my brother started telling me that I was too negative, boring and unhappy. Eventually they made it clear that to them I am "No Man" but really, in my opinion, "No Man" is just another wording for "Yes Man." Why? Well, because people always say, "You should say yes, and just go with it, and try new things and be happy." When people tell me that I think, "Please, SHUT UP!" because most people, because of either peer pressure or just because they're in a good mood, end up trying new things. All those new actions have just led people to get accustomed to doing something new, so now the boring and repetitive activity is doing something new. That's why I believe that if I would have stayed at home I would have done something new and fun; I would have done what I wanted, when I wanted and how I wanted.

To end this post I just want to state that to anybody who believes I'm contradicting my earlier guideline of saying, "Why Not?" I am not. I am saying, "Why Not?" but not to new things (which are actually boring) but I'm saying, "Why Not?" to the world of the unknown, to the new world, to the world of doing what I want to.

The Coolest and Newest "hip" style of blogging begins

Apparently I have to create a blog, for English 9 class. I myself don't believe in blogging, I (somehow) find it utterly annoying. Yet, for my first entry, I have to write about myself and what I like, inside a blog. Ironic right?

Well, I'll get across the simple and unimportant facts first. I'm Venezuelan-American, a combination that might seem odd to most people, but I actually like it a lot. I'm 14 years old, and I'll stay like that till May 30th, 2012, I'm a bit tall, but I'm not a giant, I consider myself a bit chubby. I'm smart, but I ain't a genius, I'm a freshman, and I'm your typical "average-Joe". I consider myself an idealist, a realistic person, although my friends and family say I'm a very negative guy. I love acting, and I hope to study acting at the New York University (NYU). I love hip-hop/rap, I practically live for it, and I would have to say that my favorite artist, although he is a rather controversial figure, is Eminem. But I would consider Fort Minor, The Notorious B.I.G. Game/The Game, T.I. Asher Roth and Dr. Dre to be my favorite artists. I'm a sports lover, apart from golf, I believe that all sports are good, but the best one is soccer (in my opinion). Why? Well because unlike most sports, such as football, baseball, basketball, soccer is straightforward, just get the ball inside the other teams net, without using your hands, or being offside. I love video games, and many of my family members consider me an addict to them. I disagree. My favorite console is the PlayStation 3, because although the online network for the Xbox 360 is better, I haven't had to replace my PS3 two times. And my favorite game would either be Fifa 11 or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. I enjoy School, although I believe that the grading system is foolish and flawed, as well I believe homework is useless and dull. My favorite subject would probably have to be either Ancient Civilizations or English, but I can't decide. I have an older brother that is a senior and aspires to go to The New School University. I have a lot of friends, although my "circle" of closest friends is rather small compared to other people's.

That's basically me, in three paragraphs. I'm going to be writing (or blogging, whatever) about video games, books, school, TV shows, movies, etc. Pretty much everything I find interesting about my everyday life. As I write, I don't want to write about "why" but instead I want to write about "Why Not?".