A post about posting

Before English classes i didn’t knew much about blogging (and i still don’t), but posting every week was one of the good points of this class. When Miss Daniela said we had to do this works i thought they were going to be pretty boring and lame, but getting to choose the subjects and interact with other classmates was a good experience and nothing lame by the way. After a few weeks i kind of get used to it so i think it was a helpful tool.

There were many advantages in these classes. When you were writing you could ask some vocabulary questions to the person right next to you and also you could use the dictionary. I think that some posts were directly related to the subjects seen on Mondays’ classes, and the students could actually use what they had learnt. Aside from that we had the assistance of the teacher the whole time, so it was a great way of learning.

It obviously had its flaws, but they were just a few. To me one of the big flaws was that i had to stay late because i don’t write fast. And i also hated that i couldn’t do these stuff at my home, basically, because my computer didn’t let me. So yeah, the flaws were mostly mine, but i had to write them down just to let them out.

I didn’t enjoyed it as if i was looking forward to this classes, but i did enjoyed it as a different way of learning English, although i already knew a bit. I think this was possibly the best way of practicing English we could have had, because this way students get involved in what they write or do. They don’t go home with the typical homework teachers give you in school.

Resuming this whole thing, i think blogging was great for learning and for experiencing purposes. I learnt some grammar (my biggest flaw) in a practical way and i got to know some funny stuff about my classmates. Finally, it helped me improve my English writing and that can be really important to my career.

Pro Evolution Soccer is the Raddest!!

Well, is really hard to choose just one videogame. I like games and i spend a lot of time playing them, so I got a few that I consider my favorites. I love the Final Fantasy series, the Mega Man series and (now that I have a Wii) the Mario series. But now that I think about it there’s one game that I play the most and that is PES.

PES stands for Pro Evolution Soccer, so as you can deduce it’s a football game. I was introduced to this game when I was 14 or so and I didn’t like football around that age, but this game changed that and now I’m like a hooligan xD. So, since then I have been “buying” the last version of PES that comes out (they release it every year). And now, with all those years practicing, I can say I’m pretty good at it.

I play PES every time I can, sometimes i play it everyday and other times I just play it every two weeks or so, but it’s still the videogame I play the most.

What I like about this game is that you can play in a mode called Master League, where you have a team and you can buy the players, check out their development and stuff like that. Now I’m getting really boring, so I’ll just say that is great because i can win the World Cup with Chile and win cups with my favorite teams. I even created Unión Española (the greatest football team in the world) and I play against Real Madrid or Chelsea, which is another reason why this game is the greatest. Besides, it just takes you 20 minutes to play a match, so it’s not like other games where it can take you hours to get through a stage.

Good Times...

Today i have to talk about a photo. It was really difficult for me to find a picture with me in it, and it kinda surprised me that I didn’t have any photos in my PC (it’s not like I don’t like photos that much :S). Sooo, I started talking to some friends to see if they had any photos with me in it, I found some photos in facebook, but I didn’t like any of those. Some time later I realized my mom had pictures of me, of course! duh!. It took me a lot of time, but finally i found one that i always liked, a photo of a baby me that was on the bedside table of my mom or in the living room, I don’t really remember.

I was five or so in that picture and it was probably taken by one of my parents. I don’t remember that much that time of my life; I just remember those were good times. Back then I was really happy, as you can see on the photo. Around that time I moved into the apartment I live now (were the pic was taken), my parents were still married and I didn’t have any concerns or responsibilities (I really miss that last thing…).

I was dancing a la John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever, I don’t know why, but it’s a funny pose. Other thing I like about the picture is that I used to love those earphones; I think they are still laying around there in my house, possibly with all of those cassettes you can see in the background. Well, that’s pretty much it, I don’t think there anything else to say or analyze about this. It’s just a funny picture of me when I was a little kid…

A once in a lifetime concert

Definitely the best show i have ever been was Battles. They are not my favorite band or anything, in fact i didn’t knew them when they visited Chile. But the story goes like this: A friend in school told me about a great band that was coming and he said i should listen to them. So i heard their album and i liked it. Two weeks later we were at their concert.

We were really excited, so we tried to go there early. We arrived there two or three hours before the show started and there wasn’t any line or people near there. So we had to wait. After a few minutes two guys appeared, they looked like americans. One of them asked us for a light and when he spoke in english we realized they were the drummer and the guitarist of the band. After a while we started talking and made them say chilean swearwords. That was funny as hell.

When the concert started we were in the first row and the sound was great because the theater had a capacity of 500 people or so. During the show, and when the band was really focused, my friend starts yelling at the guitarist: “Ian a beer, give us a beer”. He had a six pack of Corona and we were thirsty too. So i joined him and asked Ian for a beer. We got really annoying, so he finally gave us the famous beer.

After the show ended we stayed for a while and we were the only persons in the audience. A guy came to talk to us and when we thought he would say “leave!” or something like that, he asked us if we wanted to go backstage. That was really surprising. We got to meet the band and chat for a while. They were the nicest rockstars ever! They even gave us their albums and signed them for us. It could not have been better…

Teachers that influenced me Part I

I don’t think a teacher has influenced me that much to call him/her my favourite. In fact, it’s really difficult to me to pick one to talk about. I have spent like 30 minutes thinking about the person i would like to describe. But i understand i have to do this. So i’ll give it a try…

In school i had good teachers but i don’t really remember their classes, teaching methods and that kind of stuff, probably because i never paid any attention in school, but that’s another story. I guess in the university i learnt more, but there isn’t a teacher that i remember with yearning or anything. Perhaps in a couple of years i’ll realize how teachers influenced my writing style and my way of seeing journalism.

As of now i just can say that one of the good teachers i had was Raúl Muñoz and even though i didn’t get the greatest marks with him in any of his classes (i had three subjects with him) i learnt a lot.

First, he taught me journalistic writing, you know, syntax and grammar. It was really hard because he was really severe with marks (almost everyone took the exam at the end of the semester) but he was a really nice person, kind of an affectionate grandfather.

He retired this year after a long time teaching (more than 40 years) and i’m sure everyone in the ICEI misses him…

My Favourite Machine

Talking about my favourite piece of technology is really easy because i know immediately what it is: my PC.

I really like it because i can do lots of things with it, and i do. I download movies that i never watch; i download games for my consoles to play them once and much other stuff too. Now that i think about it, i waste tons of dvds, but it’s fine, sometime i’ll find a use for those things.

I don’t have the greatest computer in the world, but at least it works. I got my first computer for Christmas in 96 or 97 and i keep using that monitor. I bought the other parts in different years but i must have been 14 years old or so when i bought the processor, hard drive and that stuff that keeps it running.

I also use my computer to watch football matches and tv series, but mostly the second thing. I guess i’m a series junkie. So with all the downloading i have to do i always have my PC on. And since it’s in my bedroom i can use it whenever i want.

I can’t think of a life without it and i know how stupid (or contradictory) it may sound but it’s true. I could perfectly live in the country or the desert as long as i have a notebook with me. But i must say that i’m not addicted to my computer, i just use it a lot.

My newest favourite band

I don’t really have a favourite band, and it’s not because i don’t like music or something like that, i love music; the problem is that i like too many bands. I guess someone could say that The Shins is my favourite band because i have played them a lot in my last.fm account, but they are not. So, considering this dilemma, i will talk about the last band that entered into "the favourites": The Courteeners.

I got into this band because one of their songs appeared on a videogame soundtrack and i loved it. Besides the title of that song was “Not nineteen forever”, which really got me thinking and made me start living my life knowing i have to seize every moment, especially while i’m young, in other words it made me party more. Although i won’t change my lifestyle just because i heard i have to do it in a song. I just think about that idea while i’m listening to the song.

After listening to their album a lot, and just when i thought i couldn’t love them more, they released a second record. But i didn’t like it and i had started listening to some other bands, so i didn’t really listen to the album. It was a big mistake, a couple of weeks ago i started listening to it every day or so and it’s great.

They have played since 2006, so i don’t think they will come soon to Chile, but i’d love to go to one of their shows. Anyway, here’s the video of the very first song i heard of them:

A family just like yours

It is difficult to choose just one movie as your favorite, especially if you are a film addict like me. There are many film directors i like, and while some of them let me down sometimes there is one that always releases superb films, Wes Anderson. The very first Anderson movie i watched is also my favorite one and is The Royal Tenenbaums.

I remember i was young, i must have been eleven or twelve years old, and i was in that stage where you have something new (cable television) and you want to use it all day long. So for a few months my obsession was to watch movies every Sunday in HBO. One night i caught this movie and i laughed a lot. At that time i thought it was a great comedy, but nothing else.

Years later and having watched the film many times i realized it was one of my favorites. I liked the story, the characters, the filming crew and even the soundtrack (its songs are regulars on my mp4).

The plot of this film is really simple and likeable. The story of a dysfunctional family that lives their worst (or best) moment when the patriarch says he is about to die and wants to redo all the bad things he did to his family. Since it’s a comedy and a drama you can find it sometimes funny and sometimes heartwarming which is really cool.

I guess that what i really like about this film is that it helped me discover a great director, good actors and awesome music.

Here is one of my favorite scenes:

The journalist i most admire as a filmmaker

When i have got to think about people i admire i always get so complicated, because i don’t really have an idol or something like that. Sure there are people who have done things i really respect, but i don’t think there’s someone so perfect who excels that much in journalism, at least in Chile.

If i had to choose a chilean journalist i would say Alberto Fuguet, because i really like his writing and his movie Se Arrienda, but i don’t know that much about his purely journalistic work. I also like the style of Alejandro Alaluf because he is all geeky and writes about videogames and topics i like. But if i had to say whose career i would like to emulate i would say Fuguet.

He is a writer, journalist, film critic and film director who graduated from the University of Chile’s School of Journalism. He has written five novels, two short stories and participated in a graphic novel that was based in one of his short stories. He has also worked in three movies and a short film; he’ll probably release another picture sometime soon.

I like his work because when i watched Se Arrienda i somehow felt connected to the story and the main character. Although some people said it was a bad movie with poor technical details and stuff like that i really enjoyed it and i watch it every now and then. A few months ago i borrowed Mala Onda from a friend and it was a great book. Now i like his work more and more.

The night the earth shook

Hi everyone, today i will talk about what i experienced this past February with the earthquake that stroke Chile.
That night i was at my home in Ñuñoa, Santiago. I was really bored, so i played some video games and watched some tv. Suddenly the lights went out and a few moments later the lamp was moving, then everything was moving and the intensity began to rise. So i acted by instinct and stood up, went to my mother’s room and i told her to come with me, we stopped under the door’s frame and when the noise became stronger we rushed and tried to escape the apartment, oh yeah i forgot to say we live in an apartment and in the first floor!, we thought that the building was going to fall all over us. Also we couldn’t find the keys to the door so we couldn’t exit right away. Once we were out our neighbours were all gathered up and some of them were in panic. My mom was scared too and she wanted to know about my grandparents, we headed up to their place that’s just a block away from ours. We stayed there and listened to the radio to hear the news, just then we realized the magnitude of the earthquake that at least i didn’t think it was as huge as an 8.8 (i thought it was just a big tremor). After a few days the light came back and then i watched the news and the images of the disaster. It was awful.

This is my new blog

Hi, my name is Manuel Saavedra and i study journalism in Universidad de Chile, i'm on the second year and if everything goes well i can graduate in three years. I live in Santiago, i've always had, and i live near the place i study, it seems like a very convenient thing, but i'm always late (maybe i take too much confidence).

So, i just created this blog to post during my english class and i don't think i'll keep writing after the course finishes, so don't follow me. I'm just joking, follow me if you want to but i've already warned you it's gonna be temporary.