LEVEL 3: Post 10 (Week 14) Evaluation of my Blogging Experience

Like the old days

Before Instagram or even Facebook there was a great site for blogging called "Windows Live Spaces". This virtual place competed with "blogspot.com" several years till its collapse in 2010 when WLS was closed by Microsoft. Of course, all my blogs were erased alongside the web. Since then I never wrote again in a blog site. Until now. 

I never thought that an unexpected english class, during my last semester studying Film and TV, it would give me the chance to return to imagine blogs for somebody. I have some great memories from my time as a teenager writer, and now, as an adult, this writing experience here has reborn my pleasure to share stories, just like in the old days. 

Talking about my writing skills, I feel I've improved my narrative cohesion, I learned many new words, and about the future, I would like to include more artistic themes for the blogs like writing about have gone to a musical event. 

A lot of things has changed since my early blogger days, but there are some similarities: As a teenager, I was thinking about the universe and its possibilities in the Arts. Today, I'm thinking about the Arts and its possibilities for universal tales on cinema. So, I'm still here! and that's really great! I've seen a lot people change his original dreams, and that's so sad.

A greeting to my classmates and happy new year! 

And now, a song about being free! Enjoy!

LEVEL 3: Post 9 (Week 14) The "Secret Friend" trauma

What a gift! 

Spoiler: This story could contains a very vulgar joke (for real): 

I have tried to remember a real "secret friend" situation but I don't have any story to tell about it. Instead of that, I'm going to share a little memory about an appalling gift that I received a couple years ago.

Well, in 2014 one of my best friends had the chance to travel to Europe, so days before his boarding there he asked me this: "hey David, What do you want me to bring you as gift from Europe? and I answered: "buddy, if you're thinking to give me something I prefer you don't ask me, don't brake the surprise!", then he said: "Ok, it's fair, but say me a country you really like from Europe at least!" so I finished the conversation with: "I like Germany very much!" 

Finally after a month or so, my friend came back from Europe. I had already forgotten everything about the gift so when he visited me with the present I was really surprised, but here is the joke: He gave me a penis magnet for the fridge with the Italian city "Firenze" inscription behind. ha ha... 

After all the laughs, he gave me my real present: a very cute Mini Cooper key chain with a UK flag painted in the roof. Cool, not a german gift but cool anyway! 

P.S: About my friend: yes, I know his sense of humor, don't worry. 

and no, I won't post the "joke gift"! (jajaja)

LEVEL 3: Post 8 (Week 12) A subject you've enjoyed this semester

Some punches around

Well, my "semester" has been a little bit exotic because I just have to sign up in this class "English 3". In spite of that, I really enjoyed the classes principally because I like to learn new skills for the spoken and writing English. In addition, this class has made me to remember my old English lessons I took some years ago during High School.

By on the other hand, my last semester has lived plenty of accidents on my principal subject. I'm talking about my final project until get my university degree. This challenge has suffered some productions punches. I'm working on with my teammates in order to conceive a low cost musical, which it needs a lot of artistic management and money, of course!

Inside that project I'll be the DOP or Director of photography. For me, this project has been a beautiful reborn after our last failure trying to make a documentary. The last project is history now  and our current musical project has to be done, no matter what. As a DOP I have really enjoyed to watch a lot of great musicals of all time. I'll share with you a clip of tap dancing by Eleanor Powell casting in Born to Dance (1936). I hope you enjoy as much as I did.    

Born to Dance (1936)

P.S: I don't want to lose the chance to share with all of you one of the most breathtaking scenes ever made in musicals. Interpreted by Björk as Selma and Peter Stormare as Jeff in the Lars von Trier's classic. Unforgettable.

Dancer in the dark (2000)

LEVEL 3: Post 7 (Week 11) An Expert on your Field

 Hideo Kojima

Kojima at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA)

Well, basically he is the reason why I'm studying Film and Television today. During my High School time I used to play a lot of videogames, not any of them but especially, the tactical espionage action games directed by Hideo Kojima.

He is a japanese creative director and very famous in the videogames world bacause of his most important game series: Metal Gear Solid. He started being a computer programmer working for Konami, a grand entertaining enterprise in Japan, and consequently he became into a success mind in that business when in the 80's he imagined the possibility to conceive a game just like a film, including cinematography storytelling but keeping the interactive soul from videogames.

I decided to choose Kojima because since my teenage times, when I knew and played his games, I didn't have any formal knowledge about cinema, but always I wondered why those games were so differents from others like Mario bros. Well, the main reason for that is because he has an awesome knowledge about cinema history. He even had said during interviews: "Just like the human body is 70% water, I'm 70% film". Hideo Kojima creativity can coming us along through the James Bond series, Hitchcock suspense, and even a cult film like Jodorowsky's El topo has been an influence in his artistic vision.

Now I'll share some of his works: 

1) Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the patriots
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAwjl3Jgq1s

2) Death Stranding (his most recent project)

Reveal trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcaMw4aCz4c


Teaser trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2Hy96sOnq8

LEVEL 3: Post 6 (Week 10) My life soundtrack

  My life soundtrack

Well, all begins during my childhood. My parents are very fans of the anglo rock classics. I'm talking about Queen, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and many others. So I had the chance and lucky, to know a lot of the rock movement from 70's and 80's. In that sense, I built my music spirit alongside albums like "A night at the Opera" and of course, the legendary "Dark side of the moon".

Since my early days, I have kept my song rhythms and now I follow a band which is considered by critic, in many ways, a heir band of that legendary rockers. I'm talking about Muse! yes, I like them so much. They are a kind of mix between the hardest metal rock but at the same time, the vocalist sings with the power of Freddy Mercury. Besides, Muse has an incredible "mise-en-scene" that remember us the best rock performances of all time, just like Pink floyd's The Wall in the past.

This bands and its songs have made my life something special. I won't never let them go because this soundtracks help me to remember my family and my personal music path to the future! 

Now I will share with all of you three songs:
 

1) Radio Ga ga by Queen.

  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azdwsXLmrHE

2) Wish you were here by Pink Floyd.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPL_SV3n7IU

3) New born by Muse. This performance is my favorite version SO FAR!    

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jKa_0xnTfU

LEVEL 3: Post 5 (Week 9) A photograph you like

Unthought happiness

At the middle of june during 2015, just like the mayority of the country I was supporting to the chilean soccer team which was facing the Copa América here in Chile. I had some meetings with friends to watch the previous matches until semifinals. Everything was great because I had never seen the national team reaching a final match. Sometimes I like to read about the history of soccer and since my childhood I always dreamt about Chile winning something important. I am a fan of the local team Cobreloa, but this province's team is almost dead (by several institutional reasons, anyways), so the only hope I had was "La roja de todos".

A few days before the final match, I received a funny and mysterious call from my cousin, I remember this:

-"Hi, David just let me ask you something, but you just have to answer the question, don't ask me back "how did you do..." or something like that".
so I say
-"ok what's up?".
- "I have tickets for the Copa America final, do you want to go with us?"
and my answer was obvious...
- "yes!"

After that, I just waited with all my illusion that historic match of Chile againts Argentina. I was so happy because I never imagined to be there that day actually. When Chile won the trophy we took a lot of bad photos because of the poor light in that spot, but anyways, I rescued this one because it shows to the world that I was really there in that unforgettable moment for chilean soccer!

PS: The famous "33 miners" from copiapo were next to us watching the match, hilarious! 

 

And of course I demanded the Farkas' Chilean flag!

LEVEL 3: Post 4 (Week 9) The best movie scene ever

Koyaanisqatsi 

I like all about visual effects and more if they are applied to arts. Perhaps the scene that I feel like the best movie scene ever is unusual because is a whole movie performance. Let me explain it: "Koyaanisqatsi"(1988) is a protest and critical movie about the bad effects of postmodernist life on nature and primal life.

This film was thought as a sort of audiovisual mosaic. It was used an edit where are mixed images from pollution in the cities with images from virgin and natural environments. The particularity that I like the most is the music composed by Phillip Glass because it helps to appends the sequences and creating a great atmosphere of chaos and criticism about how modern life is destroying our homeland, the Earth.

I understand this film as a profound vision about our times. Indeed, "Koyaanisqatsi" is a word from the Hopi language which means "world outs of balance".

A good moment in the movie is when a man drives a car in the middle of the city and the images are accelerated so they look as if he was amazingly fast. Great scene for sure. 

This is the movie trailer