the African Queen

In the German colony of Central Africa, in 1914, are the missionary Samuel Sayer and his sister Rose, trying to persuade the local people to accept Christianity.

War is just beginning in Europe, and Germany is preparing to fight against England. One day, the German soldiers go to the German colony in Africa, and recruit all the villagers. That night, Samuel, that was ill, dies. His sister Rose blames the Germans for his death, and she wants to take revenge for Samuel’s death and help her country to victory against Germany.

She meets the liquor drinking Charlie, and persuades him for transform his boat in a torpedo and try to destroy a German boat for obtain her revenge. They have to overcome a lot of difficulties; they have to come in German territory, go through German controls, and fight with other boats with better war equipment. Heat, malaria, bullets... and a big love story.

First, they quarrel, but the emotion of overcome the obstacles together unites them.

First published in 1935, The African queen was written by C.S. Forester, a British historical novelist, biographer, and journalist, best-known as the creator of Horatio Hornblower. Cecil Scott Forester died in 1966, and together with Patrick O'Briand and Alexander Kent he formed the writer group most acknowledge of historic sailor literature. He also spent many years writing scripts for Hollywood films.

This is his most famous novel, and the story was made into a classic film sixteen years later of its publication. It was directed by John Huston, and starring Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn. It won an Oscar to better main actor, and it got other three nominations, to the best director, to the best main actress and to the best script.

Credits.

wikipedia.es
es.answers.yahoo.com

fantasticfiction.co.uk

the most famous love story

Romeo and Juliet is the story of two lovers of Verona...

Romeo is the young son of the Montague family, and Juliet the daughter of the Capulet family. But both families are enemies. Romeo and Juliet fall in love, and they have to marry in secret.

Juliet’s dad force Juliet to marry with Paris, a relative of the Prince. But she only loves Romeo and goes to ask for help to Verona’s friar.
The friar gives to Juliet a medicine that makes her seem dead, and when everybody thoughts that she's dead the friar could takes her with Romeo.
But when Romeo knows that Juliet is dead, he buys a poison and goes to the cemetery to kills himself. Juliet wakes up, sees that Romeo's dead and she kills herself with a knife.
In the end, the two lovers of Verona die together.

Romeo and Juliet has been adapt lots of times for theatre, cinematographic versions, musicals, operas and comedies.

At least, twenty-four operas have been based in Romeo and Juliet.
Besides, this story has inspired to various music groups (The Supremes, Bruce Springsteen…), it has had a deep literary influence and its script is considered as the most adapted for the screen of all time.
This demonstrates the great cultural impact that this Shakespeare work has had in the society and in the literature. Together with Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet is one of the most represented works of William Shakespeare. Its adaptations have converted this work in one of the most famous and everlasting love stories.

The book was written by William Shakespeare, an English poet, dramatist and actor.
He is often called England’s national poet and the “Bard of Avon”, and Shakespeare is considered the most important writer in English language and one of the most famous of the universal literature.
Many people considered him the greatest dramatist of all time. His works are performed more often and in more nations than the works of any other writer.

Credits:
wikipedia.es
librosenred.com

Can someone decide about life and death?

The Libyan ex-agent Abdel Basser al Megrahi, convicted because of the death of 270 persons after the plain explosion in the city of Lockerbie in 1988, will be free soon after the authorities have decided it because he has a prostate cancer in terminal phase.

But the Ministry of Justice is in deliberation phase, and their decision could come this month. The protests of the victim relatives haven’t took a long time to come.


What I wonder is that if this man, that decided that he could choose when, where and how die more than 200 persons, deserves to die in liberty, where and how he decide. And the decision is in the hands of a man, that although he has studied a lot and he has a high-ranking position, he is no more than a man. I wonder if a person can really decide something so big.

But every day the persons, not only judges, decide things like that; an assassin decides the death of a person, but this is not allowed. And however it’s allowed that a judge decides if someone must be shut away all his/her life, and in some countries, if someone must die.

Is difficult to know if is fair that someone have so power in his/her hands, or if someone can study for decide the life of other people. We have decided to create rules, governments, posts with more or less importance. But is the life and the death something that a person can decide?

Release all persons that commit crimes it is not good, but can someone decide about the life of persons that are neither better nor worse, although they have done something bad?

Each one has his/her opinion about that. I know is necessary that some persons have more power that others, at least in the society that we have created, but is strange that for study more or have more money some persons have power above other completely equal to them.


Credits.
myself & abc.es

A description of a person you like

I met Irache when she born. She is four years old and she will be five on 31th of January.
She has mousy hair, very straight, at shoulder level. She has a big brown eyes, very expressive, and a little turned-up noise.

When she grows up she wants to be teacher of children because she likes a lot take care of babies, although she is not much older. Sometimes she says that she wants to be veterinarian because she loves the animals, overcoat cats, and she has a dog and a rabbit, and she loves them a lot.
She has a very good friend, Daniela, and a boyfriend. His name is Christian, and he is a cute blond child. They will get married in the future, although they quarrel. But Irache don't see that like a problem, she said me: “It’s nothing, all the couples quarrel, even the parents”.

Her dad is my mother’s brother, my uncle. So, Irache is my only and little cousin.

She is a cheerful girl and she loves play to be a teacher or a mum. She is very intelligent and so smart that sometimes, when she talks, she looks like an adult! She has a good memory, she is very pigheaded and she has a strong character, she is smiling and friendly. She is a love.

I love when she calls me and says to me: “Ainho, cousin, can you come to play with me?”

80's photos

Recently, as present of end of course, my grandmother took me to “El Corte Inglés” and she bought me a reflex camera. The photography has always called my attention, but I had been thinking that I could learn more about it and that’s why I wanted a good camera. I had been looking photography webs, camera shops and camera models, and when I knew that I was going to have it, I was very happy.

When I had my new camera, I talked with a friend of my parents that knows a lot of photography and that he has a reflex camera. He lent me a books collection, a photography encyclopedia, and when I began to read the first book, I came to realize that the books were of 1984!

First, I thought that the information of the books was very antiquated and that it wasn’t going to be useful to me, but I gave an opportunity to the books and I began to read.
And although it is a long time since they were written, they are very useful; there is information about the developing, lens, extension tubes and negatives, that although it is not useful, it is interesting.

But they also talk about “how to make better photographs”, the light sources, the photographs depending on the topics (weddings, concerts, trips…), “how to use the camera”; flash, zoom, focusing, camp depth… And all that is very useful.

.

What I like most is the section called: “The masters work like this”, that talk about different artists of that years, about their photographs and their work techniques, like Derek Darwin, George Rodger, John Thornton, Robert Holmes, Alberto Schommer….
.

But the most interesting and curious is that the books are written as if were the 80’, and the photographs, the techniques to make it and the camera models are of that years.
.

Other section that has called my attention too, “The trade tricks”, tells as is a photograph with “special effects” made. When I saw for the first time these photographs, I thought: “That photograph is made by computer”. But all of these are made with manual tricks, like use airbrush or special filters; stars filters (produce the effect of light flashes when you put it in front of any luminous source), diffraction filters (produce a rainbow of colors), softening filters (blur the light and create a ethereal image), fog filters (make the scene misty), sand filters, central focus filters… But this “manual tricks” also can be simply move the camera, change the shutter speed, make photographs in certain environmental conditions, put an image on other…
The truth is that lack of editor photography programs and other advances, give space to imagination and creativity.

Credits: myself & "Enciclopedia Planeta de la fotografia"

Urban Tribes

The urban tribes are mainly gangs or groups of young people (teenagers) who share fashions, interests, philosophies and common places. Generally, each one of these are called “tribes”, and they have their music and clothing that characterize them. Each one of them defends their ideals and objectives, and often they discriminate the other urban tribes because of their different thoughts.

The common thing between the different urban tribes is the rebelliousness and the social marginalization. They don’t like laws, the traditional things and people who force them to do “the right things”. And the other common thing is that all of them want to feel that they are not alone, and there are people like them; people with the same thoughts or likes.

The majority of the tribes share the same thought, and others share the same hobby (like skating or parkouring). And just a few share only music taste or fashion taste.

But now, the urban tribes are also a fashion. Now a lot of teenagers are only in an urban tribe to “follow fashion”. These are the most important urban tribes:


Emo. the original emo culture was born in the 80s like a music style and the word “emo” comes of “Emotional hardcore music”. Now the emo music is more commercial. Actuality, the majority of the emos are between 14 and 20, and they take care of themselves a lot. They are known becouse they have a pessimist and nonconformist mind, but there are a lot of people that are emo only because be emo is fashionable.

Gothic. the original gothic culture emerges in the United Kingdom in the 80s from the punk groups. The gothics are known because of their like for in everything related to death. They like vampires, angels, religious elements… It ss difficult to define the gothic culture, but is less commercial than the other cultures. They like the diversity, tolerance, creativity, art, intelligence…



Heavy. The heavy people share (more than the other tribes) the music and their political ideas. The heavy culture began in the beginning of the 70s and is totally against the hippy culture. The complete name is Heavy metal, from the sound of their music groups. This is the most international tribe. It is one of the urban tribes that have a lot of tradition in the Spain stage. And the majority of the lyrics songs have a meaning.



Hippie. The hippie culture is based in the liberty, the happiness and the peace. This culture was born in the 60s, to fight for the peace in Vietnam. They avoid violence and proclaim peace in the world and love, they think that everybody are equal. They don’t like politics and they have anarchic ideas. They want to live the life intensely. Actually this urban tribe is nearly finished, but their ideas are in the nowadays society.



Posh. The posh culture provably has existed since the beginning of the time. But its name has been changing: chief of the clan, feudal gentlemen and aristocrats. Now is different, but before the posh were the richest and most powerful people. Now, to be posh is fashion. The young “snobs” take care of themselves a lot, they dress very well, only with good trades of clothes. Usually, they don’t share music or likes; they share a life style and fashion. They like the internet applications too, like messenger, fotolog, facebook, myspace...



Credits

-My own words
-http://soloporgracia.galeon.com/aficiones1474818.html
-http://www.telefonica.net/web2/elcodigo/tribus/

Urban Tribes - Ainhoa

The conflict of Israel and Palestine

The origin and the development of the conflict

The beginnings of the conflict are of the colonial period and the beginning of the nationalist movements in Europe and Middle East.
Since endings of the s. XIX, in Europe, created a singular movement, the sionismo, which wants the creation of a State for the Jews dispersed of the world.
In spite of being a secular movement, the Zionism saw in Palestinian, earth where founded the Judaism, the ideal place to realize his national project. From beginnings of century, this movement caused the installation of Jewish Europeans in this territory still ottoman. This immigration increased in the British term of office between 1920 and 1948.

While other ottoman provinces made independent, the hard-fought Palestinian didn’t make it. The two national plans, the Palestinian Arab and the Zionism, clashed when the Jew immigrate community, grew and extended their properties. The Arabs saw that the Jews wanted a new State. Gradually was growing a hate between Arabs and Zionism Jews and it made that thought of a partition of the territory. Next the Second World War proposed the partition of the territory and the creation of two States, one Arab and other Jew. This plan was defeated for the Arabs because authenticated, according to them, the plans and the colonies of the Zionism people.

On 1984, the Jew community created the State of Israel, and took part in military form the neighboring Arab States supporting the Palestinians. Next this first war Arab-Israeli, the Jew State resisted the Arab intervention and caused the exit of big part of the Palestinians that were in his territory and broadened the surface of his territory further of the due in the plan of partition. Israel used the division of the Palestinian society caused of the war too. There wasn’t creation of an Arab State in Palestinian, and the city of Jerusalem was divided.

The new Jew State won power because became allies with the Europe potencies and said that Israel had to exist because there was the only safe refuge for all Jews. However, for the war, the Palestinians haven’t an own State.
They were dispersed between several countries and on 1964 were created the Organization for the Liberty of Palestine, OLP.

While Israel won power, the Palestinians organized themselves in the outward. During the years 70s and 80s, the OLP organized a State in the exile that had the international support. The OLP accepted that the Israelis had Palestine, but they demanded the national rights of the Palestinian populate: have a State and the return of the refugees.

But the OLP didn’t get anything and in the ends of 1987 the Palestinians of the interior revealed in Cisjordania and Gaza. This exposed the reality of the occupation and made that the Palestinians had international support.
On 1988 the Palestinian parliament returned to create the Palestinian State, but Israel didn’t want to change its politic.

The opinion of the Israelis

Never there has been a “Palestinian” State on Israel land. Israel hasn’t stolen impunity the land from any Arab country, State o Nation called Palestinian.

The Palestinian Arabs are largely innocent victims of their corrupt leaders, of the hate of their religion against Jews and Christians.

The Arab refugees (we now call them “Palestinians”) are used by the Arab nations like bait against Israel and other countries of Jew-Christian culture.

Israel in this moment if accepted the partition in peace of the land between Arab and Jewish, but suffered assaults that have done that it believes his actual politic of hard hand, that we don’t justify of any way, although we understand it, because all nations have right and the obligation to defend to their citizens.

And more from a so serious threat like is the religion that lets his children become explode with bombs charge killing to the possible maxim number of innocent victims.

The Jews could have closed the access to the Arabs to their Mosques of the Mount of temple, in Israeli land, but they don’t do it, while the Palestinian has exploit and defile several Jew monuments in their territories like for example the Tomb of José the patriarch.

Credits:

-http://www.nodo50.org/palestina/intropal.htm

-http://piladeboton.blogspot.com/2008/11/resumen-del-conflicto-entre-israel-y.html

-http://israel.cristianismo-primitivo.org/

Spanish Series..

Director: José Ramón Ayerra y David Molina
Creators: Daniel Écija y Álex Pina (Los Serrano, Periodistas, Médico de Familia..)
Scriptwriters:
Daniel Écija y Alex Pina (creators)
Pablo Alén
Mariano Baselga
Matías Basso (trabajos en Gran Bretaña, Premio BBC Talent 2000, C4...)
Laura Belloso (Los Serrano, Fuera de Control, Médico de Familia...)
Marc Cistaré
Iván Escobar
Ruth García
David Oliva
Curro Velázquez (Los Serrano, Periodistas...)
Music and sound: Manel Santisteban e Iván M
Photography: David Arribas (Casi Perfectos, UPA dance), Pedro Arribas y Fernando Teresa (Periodistas, UPA Dance) Edition: Laura Montesinos (UPA Dance)
Genre: Tragicomedy

Cast:
Paco Tous (Paco)
Pepón Nieto (Mariano)
Hugo Silva (Lucas)
Adriana Ozores (Lola)
Michelle Jenner (Sara)
Marián Aguilera (Silvia)
Aitor Luna (Montoya)
Federico Celada (Curtis)
Carlos Santos (Povedilla)
Enrique Martínez (Quique)
Neus Sanz (Rita)
Mario Casas (Aitor)
Álvaro de Benito (Jimmy)
Juan Diego (Don Lorenzo)
Laura Sánchez (Pepa)
Origin country: Spain
Duration: 70 min
Idiom: Spanish
Seasons: 5, unfinished
Episodes: 79

Los hombres de Paco is a television series produced by Globomedia and by the spanish television cannel Antena 3.
The story is about the experiences of tree national polices (Paco Miranda, Lucas Fernández and Mariano Moreno) some awkward, but honest, and their personal, professional and familiar relations.

The action takes place in the Police station of San Antonio neighborhood and this series is very similar to “Charlie's Angels” or “Harreslon Mens”.

The series, aside from be the first comedy series based on the national police force, is one of the first Spanish productions that has, in some way, the known as back humor. On October 1 of 2008 issued the last chapter of the four seasons.

The creators are Daniel Écija and Álex Pina (“Los Serrano”, “Periodistas”…). This series goes one step further in the Spanish fiction, tackling the police theme in a human and comic manner.

The protagonist of the personal experiences of Los hombres de Paco is Paco Miranda (the head of the group) and his family. Paco, after loses the work in his police station so he has to live in a poorer neighborhood.
His family is make up of his wife (Lola), his mother (Concha) and his daughter (Sara). There he meets his neighbor (Bernarda) and her and his wife buy a bar just below the house of their family.

Apart from Paco, there are two other main characters.
Mariano Moreno is a divorcee, still in love in unhealthy form with his ex-wife,
and Lucas Fernández who as well as from is the ex-boyfriend of the sister in law of Paco, he and Paco’s daughter (Sara), during the series, fall in love. And in the end of the five seasons, they even get married.

• This is the oficial page of Los hombres de Paco.
• Here there are the oficial products.
• Here there are interviews.
• And this is the website of Pignoise, the musical group of the series.

Credits:

http://www.formulatv.com/series/63/los-hombres-de-paco/
http://www.antena3.com/PortalA3com/Los-hombres-de-Paco/portada/P_2335875
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Hombres_de_Paco
http://www.sangrefria.com/blog/2005/11/05/los-hombres-de-paco/

Moulin Rouge!

No laws. No limits. One rule. Never fall in love.

Year of manufacture: 2001
Direction: Baz Luhrmann
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, John Leguizamo, Jim Broadbent, Richard Roxburgh, Garry McDonald, David Wenham, Kylie Minogue, Caroline O'Connor
Script:Baz Luhrmann, Craig Pearce
Music: Craig Armstrong
Photography: Donald McAlpine
Distributor in DVD: Fox
Duration: 127 min.
Genre: Musical
Oscars: Artistic Direction and decorated, Vestry
Nominations: Best film, Best actress(Nicole Kidman), Picture, Mounting, Makeup, Sound

Moulin Rouge is a romantic story in the bohemian’s environments of Paris, with an artistic dazzling direction and a spectacular music. This and much more is Moulin Rouge, which happens in a famous Parisian night local. It has been already shown in films so classics as Moulin Rouge (1952) by John Huston or French Cancan of Jean Renoir.

The plot is simple, but it works very well.

Christian is a young artist with talent. He wants to write a wonderful musical to be represented in the Moulin Rouge. What he didn’t take into think is to t fall in love. And he falls in love with Satine, the most beautiful dancer of the local.

Satine is used as an object of pleasure, and specifically is offered to the duke of Monroth, which should be pleased to invest the money needed to save the Moulin Rouge of the economic ruin. ¿Will the love of Christian and Satine be possible?

Although the movie is a simple story of love in which two lovers have to surpass the difficulties of the life, the director makes a spectacular film with splendid actors, wonderful choreographies and songs that accompany us throughout the film.

Finally it is an original musical drama where the director Baz Luhrman used a very careful soundtrack that honors the pop music of the twentieth century and where there are songs of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Sting, Elton John or David Bowie. Besides, the songs are a mix of those years with the modern music. The spectator feels the same pain as the characters.

The main couple, Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor, especially she, is excellent, and sings and moves as the players in the musical before.

A vertiginous, romantic and surprising spectacle. A spectacular cast. An authentic feast for the senses.


The actors talk about their characters

Nicole Kidman: “Satine is a courtesan that works in the Moulin Rouge. She has a sordid and poor past. But she doesn’t want to be a dancer of cancan all her live, and her dream is to become an actress. She is hardened and knows to make various images of herself, and to create fantasies in her work. But when Christian radiate his magic in her with the music, makes her believe that she can have something more. He makes her believe is possible that she realize her dreams.”

Ewan McGregor: “I have not interpreted a character that has more relation with the love in my live. Christian is absolutely inspired by the love. After meet Satine, about she is the only one he speaks. There is nothing more than the love.”

Quotes


Christian: Wait. No, please wait. Before, when we were... when you thought I was the Duke, you said that you loved me, a- and I wondered if...
Satine: It was just an act?
Christian: Yes.
Satine: Of course.
Christian: Oh. It just felt real.
Satine: Christian, I'm a courtesan. I'm paid to make men believe what they want to believe.

_____________________

Satine: Besides, I can't fall in love with anyone.
Christian: Can't... fall... in love? But, a life without love, that's... terrible...
Satine: No, being on the street, that's terrible.
Christian: No! Love is like oxygen!
Satine: What?
Christian: Love is a many splendored thing. Love lifts us up where we belong. All you need is love!

_____________________

Zidler: You're dying, Satine.
Satine: [long pause] Another trick, Harold?
Zidler: The doctor told us.
Satine: Marie?
Marie: [silence]
Satine: [singing to self] I was a fool to believe, a fool to believe. It all ends today, yes it all ends today.

Credits:

• http://www.decine21.com/Peliculas/Moulin-Rouge-2227.asp?id=2227
• http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moulin_Rouge_(pel%C3%ADcula_de_2001http://www.portalmix.com/cine/oscar/2001/nominados/moulin.shtml
• http://spanish.imdb.de/character/ch0004200/quotes
• Page in IMDb

William Ockham

William Ockham, also called Occam, was a Franciscan friar and he was born between 1280 and 1300.

Some people say that he was born in Ockham (a little town of Surrey, near East Horsley) and other people say that Ockham was his surname.

He joined the Franciscan order very young into, and he studied in Oxford.
He began to teach logic and theology in the Franciscan schools. During his years in Oxford and later on he wrote the great majority of his philosophical works.

However, his ideas and teachings were innovative and he came into conflict with the Church.

The Pope Juan XXII summoned him to Avignon in 1324 because of heresy and William was detainee four years in Avignon while his works were investigated.

William escaped from Avignon on the 26th of May of 1328 to Pisa with Miguel of Cesena and other friars.

He was the rest of his live writing about policy.

He died on 9th April 1347 in the Franciscan convent of Munich from the Black Death.

Ockham’s Razor

William Ockham created a theory, that later was designate as: Ockham’s razor. The theory is in latin: «pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate».

When there are several explications for some phenomenon,
you have to choose the simplest and easiest explication (although it isn’t always correct, you don’t have to create more explanations).

The Ockham’s razor is used primarily as a complement to the laws of the logic, avoiding the magical thinking. This theory has had a great importance in the development of science.

For example:

• If a tree is fallen into land, it may be because lighting has fallen a or because of a secret program of weapons of the government. The simplest explanation is the most likely, but not necessarily the true, according to the principle of Occam's razor. In the case of the tree, it would be the fall of lightning.
  
• And if you are in the city and heard gallop, is possible that it are horses or zebras, but you have to think that are horses because is the most probable choice (although it isn’t necessarily the true).

Credits:

• http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillermo_de_Ockham
• http://www.webdianoia.com/medieval/ockham.htm
• http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/o/occam.htm