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.