The book thief

The Book Thief is a novel written by Markus Zusak, an Australian writer also known for other novels as Cartas Cruzadas. He published this book in 2005 and with it, he won the literary prize Michale L. Printz in 2007 and he achieved a record of 105 weeks on the list of youth novels of the New York Times. 

An interesting fact related to the biography of this author is the interest that he have, since he was little, about the Nazi Germany, the bombing of Munich, the Jewish abuse,… interests that linked with the different experiences lived by their parents, from Australia and Germany, during the Second World War helped and inspired him to write The Book Thief. 

Unlike other works as El niño del pijama de rayas of John Boyne, La bibliotecaria de Auschwitz of Antonio Iturbe or Bajo el mismo cielo of Núria Pradas and in which the authors talk about what was lived during the Second World War from different points of view: the son of a nazi general, Jews and prisoners in a concentration camp,… the The Book Thief does it from a quite different and less common perspective: from the point of view of German citizens who, as far as is possible, try to go on with their lives as the war is progressing. That way, the history of the novel revolves around the host family of Liessel Meissl, a little Germany girl who because of the war, she would live various adventures and misadventures, she would meet different characters that will mark her life as Rudy, a guy obsessed with Jesse Owen and who will became her best friend; Max, a young Jewish that Liessel family will try to hide in his basement and many others as Hans or Rosa, characters that will teach her the love of reading and writing. In fact, as the novel progresses, we will realize the reason of the tittle: Liessel, after get to her new home and after the death of his little brother, she develops a great love for the reading and writing thanks to her new father and her new friend Max and for this, she will try to gather and collect all books she found and even, she will steal some books from the library of the woman of the mayor of the city who will baptize she as “the book thief”.

Another singularity of this book that makes it special and different is the narrator: the death. She (not the typical one wearing a layer and holding a sickle) tells us, at the beginning of the novel, that there are few stories in the world worthwhile tell but that the book thief is one of those.

Personally, books with this kind of thematic, I mean, based on the First or Second World War, about the Nazi concentration camps and other historical facts are of my favourites whereby I have read a lot of them and I have to say that this one in particular, The Book Thief, surprise you for the originality of the narrator and for other things as the topics discusses or rather, the way that the author explains them because he doesn't focus, as the main majority, in the conflict itself or in the refugees or prisoners lives,  but history reveals us the life of the German population during the war: how young people were recruited, families without fathers, how the population reacts in the middle of the night in front of the sirens that announced possibleairstrikes and also, the more depressive and dark episodes of the war are mix with friendship or comic episodes and all narrated by an a compassionate death.

For all of this I think that, independently whether you like this genre or not, you should give a chance to this novel because it has a complete history inside, and if you don't feel like reading, last year was relased the film!!

"I fell in love online"

Meet someone in a bar or in a nightclub, flirting with a classmate, keep an eye on the most attractive guy/girl of the office, meet interesting people through friends and friends of friends,…there’s still people who resort to these “old tactics” to hook up, but we have to say that the new technology has put the hook up into a new level. In fact, according to a study done by Stanford University, California in which they asked more than 3.000 couples how they had met, Internet was the third resource most used for find a relationship. It was positioned behind the chances of “hook up in a bar” and “hook up through friends in common”.

The steady growth of the online world has opened different doors to personal relationships through different and new ways of communication: Messenger, Skype, social networks and even, through the video games! But we can’t forget the most important sites: the web pages specifically intended to find a partner (Meeting, eDarling,…). 

Find a relationship through internet is, relatively, a new option, but each time, are becoming more and more the singles who opt for this choices when it comes to dating. In sooth, according to a recent survey, it’s more than probable that you have already date someone who you met on Facebook or in any of this sites and if is not that way, I’m sure you know someone who has made it. Actually, there’s any difference between the “online” meeting and the traditional methods for find a parted, people who use this sites are searching for new friendships, casual encounters or an stable partner, the only difference is in the way to do it. Internet is another tool, neither better neither worst, it can go right or wrong, like in any other situation. In the same study mentioned at the begging, more than the half of the survey respondent, 59%, said that they were agree with the quote “Internet dating is a good way to meet people” in front the 21% who said that “online dating is for desperate people”. But, what happened to romance? Your eyes meet from across the room. He grabs your hand by mistake. You laugh, you talk and you marry two years later.

We all have our fantasies about that first magical meeting. I doubt any of us envisioned beginning our love story with “I logged on and liked his profile so I sent him a message’. Not romantic.  But if we really think about it, many events in our lives haven’t gone according to plan… and maybe for good reason.

There are stories with happy endings, but there also are cases in which at the other side of the computer, there was a person completely different from the one that the profile shows and not with the best intentions...What If he/she is a psychopath? Another concern is the chance of meeting someone crazy, socially inept or worst yet… married. It’s certainly valid.

The good online services have methods to minimize your contact with these types of people. Extensive questionnaires, private chats with usernames, and in-depth personality profiles are now common features of the services. Some of these test results are surprisingly insightful, the process of finding someone could actually help you find yourself. Go with sites recommended by friends who have used them. With the right service, meeting someone online is no more risky than meeting someone in a snack bar.

Anyway, a recent study have shown that it seems that Internet not only has changed the way people discover the love in life, but it also showed that couples that have met through chats, social networks and online platforms offers more guarantees of success in the relationship. This research was conducted through a survey of 20,000 Americans who married between 2005 and 2012 and of them, one out of three, had met her current partner online. Moreover, we also have to highlight that since 2005, the number of people who had had a meeting with someone that have met online grew from 43% this year to 77% in 2015.

At this point, we can say the phenomenon of dating 'on line' has become popular in a way that is not strange to meet someone who has met their partner on the internet. In fact, if we look at the most important sites as eDarling, for instance, we are surprised to see that there aren’t a “particular profile” but there is people of all shapes and colours: we can find young and not so young people, divorced and, why not, married people. In this particular site, eDarling, the 70% of the users are between 26 and 50 years-old, in FriednScout24, the 60% of the users is between 30 and 55 years-old, with 60% are men and the other 40 women.

So online dating has been around as long as the web made it possible for two people to communicate and now, millions of people search everyday profiles and photos of total strangers hoping to find that special someone. Ten years ago, told someone “we met online” was the equivalent of saying, “I’m desperate” but nowadays, it has completely change, either for better or worse. 

Men, women and sports

Elena Rossell is the first Spanish women in participate in the Motorcycling World Championship and the first women in the history in do it in Motorcycly2 followed by Ana Carrasco, who in his 16 years-old debuted in the category of Moto3. Laia Sanz is a Spanish pilot who ends 16º in the absolute ranking and won the Dakar Rally Trophy Women 2014. Does anybody hear something about this sportswoman? It’s more than probably that you have never listened to something about this women’s but I’m pretty sure you know who is Marc Coma, Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez,… they always appear in the newspaper, on TV, and in all mass media. Maybe this lack of knowledge could be because the motorcycling world is not as popular as others sports, but happen the same in all ambits: tennis, athletic, swimming and even, with the main sport: football. Does anybody heard about Carli Lloyd, Abby Wambach, Charli Lloyd,…? They are fantastic football players and all of them had won, at leats once, the Fifa Golden Ball like Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.

We believe that in a “modern society” as our society, people are equal and there aren’t any differences on grounds of sex and that the reference model is not the male one so, why women who play football or any other sport charge, without exaggerating, 1% of what men charge for play the same sport? Why is the basketball player Amaya Valdemoro best known as “la Gasol”?

The “golden season” of the Spanish sport is, overcoat, thanks women and there’s a lot of examples: handball, synchronized, water polo and if we have to mention a mainstream sport, we can’t forget basketball. This last summer, the Spanish women's basketball team had managed to win the European Championship in all categories, the sub-16 national team won the Eurobasket and the sub-20, proclaimed world champion just two weeks after the main team won in France but, despite all this, how many people realized this? Does anyone become this wins into a national event as it happens with men wins?

The difficulties for keep women's teams in all ambits: basketball, handball, volleyball, water polo,… is leading that the majority of our athletes have to migrate to live in a professional way their sport like men does in our country. They win championship and they bring gold medals but they don’t have any possibility to become elite athletes because there aren’t economic and informative support that allows the players develop and, unfairly, this not only happen in our country, it happen around the world although in one places this problem is noticeable than in other: in many cases, for instance, most of the women who participate in the Olympics Games, in World Championship,… have to lead with all journey cost and they have to spend their holiday days for not lose their job because they have to combine her “sports life” with another “real job” and at the end, who recognized their efforts and achievements?

For all of this, we can say that there’s a clear difference between the social, economic and media reinforcement that is done with them in front of the lack of professional consideration of women's sports. Someone could say that this happens because “sportswomen’s doesn’t give money” and that’s the problem: sportswomen’s doesn’t give money because there aren’t any invest in it and if there aren’t any invest is because people don’t value what we do. Even so, is also true that, little by little, this is changing: twenty years ago nobody talks about women's football and nowadays, for example, some newspapers have a specific section for women’s sports and the international events has every time, more audience.

I like to think that this thoughtlessness is changing: before, if you google “women’s football”, the only you could find was sexist jokes but now, you will find pictures of icons and idols of this sport. Besides, every time are more the countries that try to rise the women athletes to the "popular" level of men and sports like football or basketball has more and more support. Even so, I think that there's still much to achieve.

"Now, can we stop talking about my body?"

The first Barbie  come up with the hand of Ruth Handle. This entrepreneur, on a trip to Europe, saw a german doll, blond and with curves, called Lilli. She was delighted wth this dolls and she decided to buy the rights of the company for stop the production and started to produce a new doll: Barbie, who inherit the long legs, the wasp waist, the bulky german chest and also, the heels and the makeup. In fact, the creator of barbie baptized the doll with the name of her daughter. We can also say, as a curious fact, that she have a son called Kenneth and we all know how is called Barbie's boyfriend. 

Now, Barbie is about to turn fifty-seven and she have to face serious problems: her sales have fallen, the competition has increased with new proposals as the Monster High, the new Disney princess Frozen,... and the criticism are harsh. She is accuse of beeing frivolous, her "impossible body" is attacked,  it's questioned the example and the image that she is giving to girls, is also criticized her role in our society,... In fact, a study of Helsinki University showed that  a women with Barbie proportions will not have menstruation, could not breathe or stay up for the proportions between the small feet and the body size. We can say that Barbie is considered "the black beast" of the feminist and although Barbie may be the most desired doll, she is also the most parody! For all of this, the multinational has reconsidered the philosophy of the doll and they had decided to reinvent Barbie. 

Over the years, the doll has suffered little changes related to clothing and fashion or with the shape of the face to infantilize it but this year is going to start one of the biggest and probably, the most important change of the doll since her appearance: the company has launched a big variety of Barbies with different bodies, with different shape combinations and also, with different hair and skin tones. 

The doll has been through the different generations a global symbol of the American beauty, she has been reflecting an ideal of beauty and a lot of people think that she was created for teaching women what it's expected of them in society, for better or worse: since her creation, her proportions has been criticized but she also has been a businesswoman, an astronaut, a surgeon,... she had university degrees in a moment when the women were just housewives.

I think that it's good that the image of Barbie, finally, change and much more nowadays that the beauty ideals are developing: it has appeared iconic figures as Kim Kardashian, Christina Hendriks or Beyoncé with bodies quite far from the "perfect body" of Victoria Secret for instance, and the new Barbie dolls are not only  bassed on this forms but they have different hair types, skin colors,... so they approach and reflect the new world of the young owners of the doll. 

On the other hand, I considered that we have to think if we can entail social responsibilities to a doll, if we can accused a doll of not offered a positive model (is appearing a lot of dolls in wheelchair for example) so I would like to end up with a questions: Is the task of the tolls turning children into responsible citizens with good moral values?

Research paper abstract

Key words: immigration, identity, adaptation

There are a lot of cinematographic and literary works that talks about the weird sensation of feel different for com from another place and for this, I consider the objective of know more about the imigration experience of the people closest to me. In fact there are many aspects that can be analyzed from any immigration process, but in which I wanted to focus with this paper was all realated with the difficulties that the immigrant found here, how it was they integration process, the experiences and feeling lived and experienced during all the proces and many more. 

Therefore, this paper was presented as an study of the immigration phenomenon in l'Alt Empordà and as an study of the integration of the immigrant in the catalan society charactized by integrating different cultures and ethnicities.

British Humor

This is our first oral presentation of the course. This year I have decided to do it with my sister again because is easy to work with she although we disagree in some things… anyway, at the end we do what I want (it’s not a joke).

Well, this time the presentation is about British Humor! We chose this topic because we (both, not only me) like the kind of humor that is ironic and we love sarcasm. British humor, in addition, is also a clever humor so we love theme.

As a self-evaluation, I think that one of the things that I have to improve is our pronunciation and also, I have to be more relaxed and try to not read of the paper.

This is the video of the presentation and although the quality is not very good, we hope you enjoy it!!

An injustice in capital letters

Palestinian poet and artist Ashraf Fayadh has been sentenced to death. This case started when the religious police of Palestine, arrested Fayadh in 2013 on account of a complaint from a Saudi citizen that accused him of obscene comments against God, against the Prophet Muhammad and against the Saudi Estate and for propagate atheism in public places. 

He was newly arrested in 2014, when prosecutors accused him of several charges of blasphemy for his book of love poems Within Instruction published ten years ago. Prosecutors also accuse him of mocking God and the prophets of Coran. He was sentenced to four years in prison and 800 lashes and, in this case, the fiscal refuse the death penalty by repentance of the accused poet. But this last November, another judge reviewed the case and now, he has been sentenced to death as he considered that the repentance was not enough. 

Important cultural figures from different countries have joined to protest against this death sentence, misfortune that unfortunately adds the death of the father of the writer after suffering a heart attack last week when he heard the news.

Amongst those who has supported Fayadh, now refugee in Saudi Arabia, we can find Chris Decon, the British poet Carol Ann Duffy, the British writer David Hare, the Egyptian novelist Ahdaf Soueif, the Sirius poet Adonis, the Irish writer Paul Muldoon, the historian of the United Kingdom Simon Schama and many more in addition to a dozen of organizations and associations from the United Kingdom, the United States and from Africa, who have signed a statement defending the freedom of the poet and the freedom of expression.

I choose this new because it show us that, nowadays, in the 21st century, not everybody in everywhere has the rights that should have. At least in our country or in the Europe Union, is unthinkable that someone could be arrested for give his opinion and even less, that this person could be sentenced to death! This shows us that we are not as advanced as we thought (although a country as the United Sates, one of the "most moderns" the death penalty still exists). For this, I agree with those intellectuals who has risen against this because is an injustice in capital letters. 

Notice: http://cultura.elpais.com/cultura/2015/11/27/actualidad/1448624994_477169.html

"We are digging our own graves"

One of the main conclusions of the European Environmental Agency is that the European Union have to impose most ambitious new policy measures if they want to achieve the objectives proposed for 2050. Although in recent years the current legislation has improved a lot of water and air quality, these measures are "insufficient" because there are still many challenges, among which highlight the following ones as the most important:

Among the major European challenge we find the health of the population, in danger for the atmospheric pollution. Currently, over than the 20% of the European urban population is living exposed to high levels of pollution, higher than those that the legislation required. And important fact to remember is that exposure to high levels of pollution was the responsible of 430.000 premature deaths in Europe last year.

In second place, we find the need of reduce the emission of gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect. And finally, the report also warn about the exposure to traffic noise, the noise coming from the industrial activities,... that also was the responsible of nearly 10.000 cases of premature deaths in the community. 

I think that is important to, among all, try to reduce our ecological footprint because we are destroying our planet. In fact, the report warns us that if we don't stop this, the natural phenomena will be more and more aggressive because of the climate change, and this will lead to the pollution of the water, of the air and also, of our health! For this, we must remedy the damage we are doing, it's like we were digging our own graves: we are the only ones responsible for climate change and also, were the only ones affected. 

I know it's difficult to change our way of life because we are costumed to this kind of life and probably, most of us think: "who care, when the planet stop holding us I’ll be more than death". But this is not idea, we are the responsible of what is happening and is in our hand stop this. It's not necessary that one day to another you stop using your car, but there are plenty of minimal things that you can do every day. For example, instead of poured down toxic chemical wastes as paint, motor oil,... you can depose them in the specific sites, you can by local goods that reduce the air pollution, I'm sure you can use less electricity, lees water and also, produce less waste! All of this are simple things that everybody can do in their daily routines so, if you think that break the harm we are doing to our planet was a difficult thing, you were wrong!

Notice: http://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2015/03/03/actualidad/1425418390_808914.html

Christmas lottery spot

If you think about Christmas Lottery spot, for sure, you will remember about the one of the last year in wich Manuel enters in his frequent bar, thta has win the lottery, for take a coffe. At the beggining of the spot, manuel is sad because he's the only one that hasn't buy the ticket of the lottery, but his friend, Antonio (thta is also the boss of the bar) give him one of the win numbers. The mesage of this spot, apart of the solidarity of Christmas, was that "the greatest reward is share". So, if you remember this famous spot, the one that they have prepared for us this year... 

Don't you ever think about what happened with Antonio and Manuel, the protagonist of the last year spot? Will Antonio still have opened the bar? Well, no longer answer for all: the life of excess of Manuel has taken him ahead. Or at least, this is what the new short of Tuti Fernandez represents (in a comic way).

"The idea came in a meal. We were talking about the announcement of this year, that didn't convince us because it was similar than the story of the last year" said the director, that after this meal he called to the characters of the last year and they started to record the spot. 

 In it, Antonio (played by the same actor, Julian Valcárcel), appears alone, sitting on the bench in a garden having a conversation with her friend or at least, what remains of him and talking about what had happen in a year: Manuel get divorced, after win the lottery they travel to Ibiza,... and as he say "800,000 euros we have spent, you and me in a year, 800,000 euros, which is not easy... It has merit!" And now, Antonio is in front of a psychiatric to take the ashes of Manuel friend to his wife

If in 2014, the moral was "The greatest reward is to share" and after 365 days and spending 800,000 euros, the new moral could not be other than: "Remember, if you got the lottery this year, not waste it".

Have a look of the new spot!!

Notice: http://www.elmundo.es/f5/2015/11/28/5659c48246163f395d8b45e7.html

Fighting against time

People get older, nobody can discuss this, your hair will turn gray, your skin will be fill with wrinkles and blemishes, you will have flabby skin hanging and much more but you don't have to worrie about that, live happen! Even so, if you are one of these people who want to stay forever young or only lengthen your youth, there is an endless list of thing you can do thta are improving year by year and becoming more and more popular starting for dying you hair and ending with sugery. The next image show us how and why the industry of the Botox and the plastic surger is increaing year by year. Despite the high prices and the fact that both men and women think that the ideal age is 31 years old, year by year, more and more people is trying all kind of treatmens for fight agais time, and how we should imagine, women are more sucsceptible to hide the marks of the age: 56% of women are worried about the physical apearance compared to only the 36% of men. For explain this we have to find the answer in the pressure that society makes over our appearance: everybody (although some more than other and the more are the women) are always thinking about what people say or thing about him, and for this, women especially, are always trying anti-aging products and also for this, more women than men (42% over 18%) considere to try the plastic surgery for hide the "imperfections" that the age cause to your body. 

I don't think that get older is a bad thing or something you should worrie about or be ambarrased of, it's true thta evrybody love being young: you still have a life to live, you still have a lot of experinces, vives,... But I think that I couldn't bear to be forever young, I mean, as I say, there is a lot of thing thta you can do, but there's also handful more that you couldn't. Each stage of your life would be different of the others and live is to go through all of them and live what you get in each. 

Photoshop in the name of beauty

We all know that, nowadays, beauty is in the eye of society: so many people are influenced by what society represents as beautiful. Every year, millions of people spend more and more money to change their outward appearance. One of the guilty of this is the media that presents the society with unrealistic body types that promote how people want to look like especially, women. We spend so much time (and money) trying to look like what society wants that we begin to see others and ourselves as what is presented physically rather than who a person is, but what a woman is supposed to look like based on society’s perception? Many of us will try to find this answer looking in fashion magazines, beauty magazines,... but if you look carefully, you will find out how fake and unrealistic they are, I have never seen a person like that in the street but, however, I see how many women try to copy this images. And how the fashion industry manages for control, what they say, the canons ob beauty? One of their main allies is the Photoshop. Kilometric legs, flat tummy, illuminated faces, perfects waist and smiles without wrinkles are some of the miracles that appears in this magazines and that can be achieved Photoshop, a digital program that revolutionized the way we conceive an image.

I don’t think that the use of Photoshop is a “bad thing” I mean, you can improve your images, but the problem comes when you stop to get perfect images to have unrealistic images. And this is a big problem because it determines what people think of herself: everybody wants to look like models or celebrities on magazines, a thing that it’s nearly impossible because neither they are that way, but it makes you to live always conditioned by this images, you will never be plased with yourself if you are always trying to look like "how you should look" (according to the fashion industry). 

It's pretty clear that the use of the Photoshop especially in the fashion world is not a novelty but, however, never fails to impress us when images with an abuse of this tool come to light. A perfect example of this is the case of a picture of the actress Imma Cuesta that appeared a few weeks ago in the newspaper "El Pais". The actress has called "an invention" what the newspaper had done. In the message that she give she said that she didn't feel self-conscious, but outraged as a woman. I think that this complain is giving an important message that call us to think over what are the canons of beauty that we should follow and also say to usa that we should be more independent of fashions and stereotypes. After releasing her retouch on social networks, other actress has supporter Imma for his bravery.

                           

The five second rule

Who has never been dropped food on the floor, has taken and has eaten consoling themselves with the law of the five seconds, wishing that if the food hits the floor and you snatch it up in less than five seconds, it's safe to eat? I think that it has happened to everyone once in live (as minimum)... But it's the food really safe or should we throw it away or wash it off? Are we believing in this unwritten rule as an excuse to salvage the last piece thta left of a cookie? For years, we have use this rule as a "sanitary excuse" to eat what has fallen, but I have a good new for all of us: we can keep your conscience clear because an study ha prove that this myth is true!

Anthony Hilton, a teacher of microbiology in the University of Aston, has lead an interesting study for analyze if the "law of the five seconds" it's true and according to which, you can only eat the food that had been dropped on the floor if it has been there less than five seconds, time for which the food is not contaminated. This investigation was carried out with all kind of food as toast, pastries, cookies or candies fallen on three types of floors: tiles, laminate and carpet and between an intervals of 3 and 30 seconds.

This study has demonstrated that the time is a key factor for the transmition of the bacterium to the food, but the kind of floor is another factor to consider. To the astonishment of many and for the fate of many others, the researches found that in five seconds, it's not possible that the food "catch" batteries and also, that the floor with less possibilities of pollutes the foods is the carpet, the tiles, by contrast, are the best allies of the bacteries. The texture of the food also influence, is not the same dropping a toast with butter and jam than dropping a piece of bread.

So next time, when you drop a cookie down, pick it up, blow a little and you stick it in your mouth in hopes of having eliminated the bacteria that could have caught, you can be sure that your health will not be in danger.

#SocialMediaIsNotRealLife

Unless you are a "female Instagram junkie" you probably won't know who is Essena O'Neill. She's an australian 19 year old teenager model with more than 612.000 Instagram followers, around 250.000 subscribers on YouTube and close to 60.000 Snapchat contacts .She earned an income from social media, but she has chose to give up with her "social media celebrity" career when she quit from this different platforms describing it as "contrived perfection made to get attention", and called for others to quit social media of their lives. 

She has deleted over 2000 photos with no real purpose other than self promotion. Without releasing, she have spent majority of her teenage life being addicted to social media, social approval, social status and her physical appearance. Social media (especially how she used it) isn’t "something real": it's contrived images and edited clips ranked against each other. It's a system based on social approval, likes, validations in views, success in followers,... O'Neill accepted that she was consumed by it, she spent the majority of her day aimlessly scrolling, she used to spent hours on YouTube, on Tumblr,... I think that the message that Essena is giving is very important, how can we see ourselves and our true purpose or talents if we are constantly viewing others? Many of us are in so deep we don't realise it, we don't realise the power and the impact that it has on our lives. 

Now O'Neill is focusing on a new project called "Let's be Game Changers" with witch she wants to start a movement where someone's worth isn't determinate by their physical attributes or by the social media influence, as Essena sais, she wanted to "give people the opportunity to be free, grow, learn and explore while challenging their own beliefs". With this new project she also want to explain the reality behind their pictures. The results has no waste, I mean, although we probably knew the purpose of her images, it surprised to hear so sincerely from the mouth of the protagonist. She has uploaded some pictures with interesting comments. For example, one of the latest photos that she had show to us, appears a "selfie" of herself heavily made-up, and she comment that she spent over two hours making up herself for take more than fifty different pictures for just publish one in Instagram and promote a make-up brand and, the worts of all is thta aftert all that work an all that time, she went to sleep because she was ill!

She has turn around all social media and a lot of celebrities as models, singers,... have begun to upload pictures of themselves without makeup or without combing and also, a lot of "internet celebrities" has started to explain through their pictures why did they take it, why did they upload on iInstagram or in any social platform,... with the hastag #SocialMediaIsNotRealLife in support with Essena.

I think that the reflection that Essena O'Neill has done is very important, I mean, it show to us the role that social media play in our daily live and, in some people, it's excessively important and this is a problem, it's not health be so engaged and a good example is Essena, that had acknowledged that she has waste his youthfulness worried about things as simple as the number of likes that you get in a picture or the number of followers you have. I also use this kind of social platforms and I'm glad that I can say that  I can live without them,  I'm not constantly cheeking them or uploading pictures. You waste a lot of time scrolling and seeing pictures, comments,... of everyone you want and how you should imagine, in second of batxillerat, we don't have so much time. Anyway, I think that we don't need to go so far and put off of our lives this kind of platforms because they also have good things, but I believe that if you think that they are doing more harm than good, you should think about what Essena O'Neill has said.

The Martian

My sister loves cinema and she is always watching all kinds of films of all ages. She knows a lot about the actors and actresses, about the directors and even, about the scriptwriters!!! Who else know who the scriptwiter of a film is? It's incredible...we can say that she is a "cinema geek" (but with all the love). For this reason, she is always telling me which films I should see or I should know about, I mean, the typical best ones of all the story of the cinema and also, which films I shouldn't see because they are “bad”.  

As you can imagine, we always have quarrellings and problems for decided what movie watch on Saturday's night and even, for decided which TV series watch: we have very different likes and it's very difficult to reach an agreement. Most of the time we end each one with a different laptop in different rooms seeing different things... Anyway, I also have to say that sometimes (only sometimes) I listen to my sister and I don't regret. For example, I have accompanied her to the cinema several times and I have to say that she knows to choose the film: I love "Relatos Salvajes", "The Sniper" and especially, the last one that we have seen: "The Martian". 

The Martian is an American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and based upon the book with the same name of the writer Andy Weir. The main character is starring by Matt Damon and there also appear great actors and actresses such as Jessica Chastain, Kate Maran or Michael Peña. 

The plot is the next: in the year 2035 the crew of Ares III, a manned mission to Mars, has established a temporary base on the planet where they have to stay for some time while they study the planet’s surface. However, the crew is forced to abandon the base to escape a massive Martian storm and while they are evacuating, one of the astronauts is lost and the crew left him because it seems that he's dead, but he has survived. Now he is alone in Mars and nobody know that he is alive. Although at first he thought that he would die in the planet then, he realize that he can't give up and with his botanical and technological knowledges and also, with a lot of humor, he manage to solve his mains problems: the food and the water and also, contact with the NASA for his rescue plan. 

One of the things that I most like is the way that he solve his problems I mean, he is able to “create” an orchid on Mars for plant potatoes "in a planet where nothing grows" as he said, he is able to “make” water, he invents a set of words to communicate with the NASA and, even so the problems and concerns, he have time for joking!

I really enjoy this film and it's weird because I'm not very kind of science fiction films but I think that this movie is different, I mean, it's not hard-boiled science fiction film because there also are dramatic scenes and others that differentiate this film from the genre. Another think that I like of this film, as I have already said, is the humor, the irony and sarcasm of the astronaut that makes the story very entertaining and wonderful, a thing that seemed to be impossible in a film where a character is alone in a planet!

I would like to end up with a funny fact and is that thre are a number of films like the onethta I've just commend, "Salvar al Soldado Ryan" or "Interstellar" where Matt Damond has to be rescued. 

Is humor necessary?

Humor is a way to look at things from the mirthful side, it's the quality that makes something laughable or amusing, is the ability to perceive, enjoy, and express what is comical and, in my opinion, is one of the most important qualities for umans. Humor is everywhere: laughter is one of the first things you do as a newborn and, if all goes well, it will be one of the last things you do before die. We only have to look at the business industry to see the importance of humor: they are constantly creatung funny advertisments, funny products,... in order to get our attention.

Is natural thta people approach pleasure and avoid pain, hence, the sence of humor influences many of our daily decisions and it helps us face the thoughest situations in life. As you know, we comfort with a lot of daily problems that cannot be solved easily and on time, but if you lead on in humor, those harsh times will be bearable, you will be able to llok at the problems from a different angle. And these are not the only benefits of humor: it also helps people psychological and physical wellbeing: it helps you cope with stress, adversity and deal with pain and physical adversities and laughter, benefit your circulation, lungs and muscles. And let's not forget the social benefits og humor! As Marilyn Monroe said: "If you can make a girl laugh, you can make her do anything". How true is it? Bithing is more attractuve than a sense of humor, for both mean and women. Nothing relieves tension like laughing and laughing with others increasing bonding. So, not surprisingly, funny people recieve positive attention and admiration, your ability to create and appreciate humor also influences who wants to date or befriend you. Everybody has the joking family member thta they always look forward to seeing, everybody remembers the kid in school thta always made the class break into a laughter and everybody remebers and loves having a fun conversation with someone once in a while! So, we can say that having sense of humor is one of the highly desirable attributes; everyone wants somene with a good sense of humor by their side. 

Summing up, humor is an important tool in social relations: only think about how much easier can be an unconfortable situation when you joke about it. Humor is absolutly necessary, having a good sense of humor can make life easier: try going through a day without so much as a chinkle and you will find that it's downright impossible so, for an easier life: smile, laugh and make others laugh!