As you all know, the end is near. This is the last week to finish second of Batxillerat. When I started at the beginning of course, this moment seemed to me so distant, but now is right here. Five days, five tests, and the worst of all, they are the most important and decisive. What scares me most is not having material time to study for all these tests one after another, so that's why I decided not to go out this weekend to advance work. I think it's the time of my life in wich am subjected to more stress. The only thing I can think is that from here a little over a month, everything will be over.
Good luck everybody!

Yesterday, as every year, I decided to go to barraques and fires de Figueres. When we arrived, was evidently raining, like last year, so after half an hour of being walking, I was soaked and cold. In addition, I had been ill for a cold all the week, so I was going mad as hell. I really like the attractions, and although in Figueres they're not very exciting, I decided to ride on some of them.The rain was still jinxing everything. Luckily, the rain stopped suddenly and began the concert, that I could see close the stage. When the concert ended I ride more attractions, and the rest of the night consisted of going from fairs to barraques and the other way round. But the most important fact is that yesterday was the last day I could go out, because now is the time to study. I can not believe I'm saying that.

Is access to the internet a fundamental human right?

I just read an article that caught my attention: BBC has made a survey of more than 27 000 adults in 26 countries. The survey asked about the Internet, and what surprised me was the result: Almost four in five people around the world believe that access to the internet is a fundamental right.
What I think is that it's clear that people who have internet access are better informed, and it's an essential tool to access any type of knowledge. I think the internet is not a right, is a privilege. But consider it a right is ridiculous.
I would have thought things like food, water and shelter would be more important.
So what's next, is a TV a human right? A mobile phone, a Play Station 3?.

Yesterday I was looking for some second-hand cars. Specifically, I was watching New beetles. Simply, and I don't know why it has always been the car I want. It's a legendary car, a symbol, and has a very original design, which is unmistakable and I've always liked. It's a small car, but I don't think I need more, is safe and comfortable. The one I like is the cabrio black. I've been looking at some deals that seem reasonable to me, and maybe can get to payit with hard work. But first of all I have to get my driving license, in order to be independent and go anywhere at any time.

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

As a movie fan I am, today I want to talk about a movie I saw several days ago, but it caught my attention. It aroused my curiosity when I first saw the trailer. The film is about Max, a kid who argues with her mother and runs away from home. Then he creates an imaginary world where he meets strange mysterious creatures. As time passes the movie shows how Max matures, and realizes that he cannot be the king of all the situations.
But the argument is not the most important thing, is the sensation it produces. The film is not for children. It's for all adults who have abandoned their childhood, and they remember when they were like Max. For almost two hours, you get back to feeling like a child. Up until the end, when you get back to reality.
I think it's a film that awakens the child we have inside us and all we miss from that sweet years.

Do aliens really exist?

In a series for the Discovery Channel, Professor Hawking said it was perfectly rational to believe that intelligent life exists elsewhere. He said "The real challenge is to work out what aliens might actually be like."

Personally, I think this is a very difficult and somewhat chilling topic. The idea of extraterrestrial life scares me a lot.On the one hand, it's easy to think that the Earth is not the only planet that has intelligent life. The question is whether there are: tens, millions or billions of aliens, or if they are much more intelligent, and therefore, they could dominate us. Anyway, I think its a bad idea trying to contact other forms of life. We've been trying to kill our own species for thousands of years. What if they decide to do the same with us?

SHUTTER ISLAND

I have recently seen a very interesting film: Shutter Island. To summarize a bit the argument, is about two bailiffs who are sent to Shutter Island, an island in Boston Harbor where there's a psychiatric institution. They are sent to investigate the disappearance of a dangerous killer. The mental institution is run by a sinister character. In this institution there are the most dangerous mental patients, so there's a strong securely. However, they'll realize that everything is very mysterious, and that patients aren't the most dangerous of the island. I think the film delves into human psychology, into the mind, with all its complexities. Actually, the movie is a nightmare in which there are continuous discoveries, it seems increasingly difficult to escape.
Personally, I think the end has several interpretations (don't read this if you want to see it), I think the phrase "Is it better to live like a monster, or die as a good man?" is the key that confirms that he knows he will be lobotomized, and therefore he pretends he has not improved their disease on purpose.

Snowfall in Castelló d'Empúries

This Monday, something very unusual happened that probably I'll never see again, at least here in Castelló d'Empúries: A big snowfall came over Catalunya.I had heard the news there was chance of snow, and when it began to snow in the morning, I thought it wasn't important, and it would be very short. But I was surprised when it began to snow more violently, and we had to go home. It continued snowing all afternoon and all night, cars could not move, some people had to stay in their workplace, because there was no way to get home. I really like the snow, so I went to make a snowball fight, but the cold was unbearable, so I had to go back home. But the consequences weren't so pleasant: no light, no heat, no phone for two days, without internet until today. The only thing I could do to entertain myself was to build a giant snowman. Yet the experience was worth it and makes me think a phrase: no light, no life.

Why laughter is good for health?

We all know that laughter is always good medicine, and even beneficial to health. According to an article I read recently, laughing is beneficial to health for several reasons. On the one hand, humor reduces stress hormones. Not forgetting that the laugh increase the levels of endorphins, the body's natural anesthetic.
Moreover, even after laughing for a while (recommended 15 minutes a day) the body is feeling its effects. After laughing, there is a brief period during which low blood pressure and heart slows.I've never thought about the effects that laughter has in the organism, but I know that after break out in laughter, and after laughing for a while, I feel better. I think it's appropriate for everyone, even people who are very serious, to laugh a little every day, because the benefits are clear. As it has been said, 30 seconds of laughter, one more hour of life.

COKE URBAN LEGENDS

In recent days, that have been full of exams, Coke has been very present in my life (for its caffeine content), so I started thinking about all the urban legends that generates this drink, and I decided to post about it.Some of these legends are true, like the red Santa, who was invented by the company, and that originally the recipe for Coke contained cocaine. But there are many legends that are lies, for example, people say that if you mix Coke with (Peta-Zetas), it produces a reaction that makes your intestines explode. It has also been said that mixing Coke with aspirin, produces an aphrodisiac effect, or instant death. And who hasn't heard that Coke can dissolve a tooth or a piece of meat in one night? Absolutely false (I tasted it). Coke produces rectal tumors, it's a very good spermicide, police in the USA uses it to clean the blood of the murders ... and many more.Personally, all these stories make me laugh, because everyone has believed any of these legends once, or we're curios and we try to taste some of the experiments, or we have told it to someone to scare. In summary, we have all been fools ever.

Isabel Coixet

From Catalonia today, nº 326

Isabel Coixet is a young woman who works in filming industry. She has also worked as publicist. Her films explore human nature and relationships, and it touches the deepest and more hidden people feelings. She works with famous actors but also with actors that are just beginning. Personally I like Isabel Coixet's films, I think they're a different kind of films, deep and very personal. But as special they are, they could cause a very good effect in people, or however, they could seem to be very weird. That's why I like them because they are located at the extrem, and they're not consciously thought to be the most sold, but to cause a real impression.

When is the ideal time to get married?

From CNN living, February 8, 2010.

As we know, nowadays there's a lot of people that is married. We can say it's almost a tradition. People feel that desire to be tied to the other person for all eternity, or perhaps girls just want it because they want to wear a white dress and an alliance, or also may be a marriage of convenience, such as in the movie Pride and Prejudice, that we've seen in class. Maybe is just a question of religion. But the topic of the report isn't the reason why people get married, but whatever the reason, what is the ideal age for marriage?

Most people interviewed in the article think that there's no specific age for marriage, there's no rule. Love, maturity, respect, experience. According to respondents, these are the reasons that depend on the ideal age for marriage. Some of them believe that we mustn't waste life with only one person, so you have to wait, while others think that while unconditional love exists, marriage can be at any time.

And this is where I want to give my opinion. I can say there's no age to get married, because just to get married seems absurd to me. I think that if you really love a person you don't need any paper to confirm that fact, no need to tie to a person legally. I think the best is life together, because you live in the same way that a marriage, and if you get tired in the worst case, you can always go away, instead of feeling like you have a shackle that haunts you your whole life. I believe in love but not in marriage.

FILM REVIEW

"Good bye, Lenin!", to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

A great and beautiful story about white lies, in order to keep alive a mother.

October, 1989. Alexander's mother falls into a coma, a woman proud of her socialist ideas. She doesn't wake up until eight months later, and the doctors say that she must be at rest, and she can't afford big trouble, so Alex doesn't want her to know that the Berlin Wall has fallen, and he will have to invent his own newscast and his own country's history to hide it.

In general, I like the film because of the idea of a son lying and getting caught in his own lies, in order to keep his mother alive. It's wonderful all the things the character can do to keep his lies, to not to give a trouble to his mother. I also like the main character, because he's very passionate. I've seen almost all his films and I with this film, as I thought, he didn't disappoint me. I think Daniel Brühl is an excellent actor.
It's a film that transmits humor and deep emotion at the same time, with very good performances.

I think I can't say anything I don't like, I've seen this movie more than three times, and it always seemed to me just as perfect.

This movie has been a European success,it has succeeded mostly in France, Italy and Germany. More than six million people have seen it, I think it can be recommended to everybody.
My final rate is ***.

THE PIANIST

Wladyslaw Szpilman is a Polish Jewish pianist. The Nazis attack while he's playing Chopin on the Polish radio. He's deported in the Jewish ghetto, where he struggles to stay alive, alone, separated from his family, hungry and cold. With the help of some people, he escapes from the ghetto and he hides in the capital, which is in ruins. He finds an abandoned house, and in that house there's a piano. A Nazi officer discovers him, but he loves his music, and he helps him and spares his life. Wladyslaw's musical talent saved his life.

In fact we couldn't finish watching the movie in class, because the movie is very long and with only an hour we had no time. But I had seen it before, and I could sum up it more or less. Personally I like the Nazi-themed movies, but they are very hard movies, they really show you all the injustices that that people suffered. The pianist, specifically, I think it's a very good film, but also very hard, the way the protagonist has to survive, makes you think how he could suffer so much, and how people can be so unfair. I think this movie deserved to win the 3 Oscars it won.

Man, 34, assaulted outside home

A man and his companion were violently attacked when they werw leaving home by three men.
The man suffered a fractured jaw and had his ear severely cut, and he will need plastic surgery to retrieve his face. His partner also received a cut to her head during the incident.
Fortunately, Police said three men had been arrested in connection with the attack.
I think these people are those who really need plastic surgery, people who really had a problem and needs a solution. Further, I think that this service should be free, or there should be a financial support to allow them to have this surgery, because they're not capricious dissatisfied people with his body, they're are people who really need the operation, and probably will not have enough money to pay it.

Resident, Costa Brava (December 2008)

The new process of switching is now present in Spain. Compared to analogue, TDT can correct errors faster and has a higher quality of image and sound. It's very important basically for a very simple reason: from January 2010 the analogue television system will be switched off, there will be only TDT for all the people. In my point of view I think that's OK, personally, with TDT I have a wider choice of channels, and the quality of the picture has improved. I'm sure it'll be a good advance for all the people.

Resident, Costa Brava, (October 2008)

The article I've read is about alcohol. There is plenty of facts confirming that alcohol is becoming a serious problem in our society. The European comission published that some 55 milion adults are estimated to drink to harmful level in the EU, and 23 milion of whom are addicted. I think that's a shocking quantity. Is an evidence that demonstrates the lack of knowledge and responsibility we have on alcohol nowadays, we're abusing on it, without considering the consequences.
Alcohol can produce several diseases, such as liver cirrosis, and people isn't conscient about it. We must drink alcohol at safe levels, not abusing. That's what I think.

Resident, Costa Brava (October 2008)

TIGER MOSQUITO

The news is alarming: the tiger mosquito has been found in several locations in Catalonia. Originally, the tiger mosquito comes from Southeast Asia, but now has invaded many European countries, so it’s a bad news for the local authorities, because they had worked hard to keep the mosquito out. Tiger mosquito is an aggressive insect that can be a vector for tropical viruses, so it affects all the people, including me. I think everyone should take measures to prevent tiger mosquito's bite.