silverdoe121's posterous

CORNELL IS AWESOME! ENOUGH SAID.

Before starting the actual blog, I would like to share a ... MONDAY IMAGE!

Oh yeah, because I hate them. Mondays, that is, not Garfield  (he is actually the only cat I like).  But I digress:

My next blog will be about another song. Yes, I know, I have been posting about that lately, but I haven´t felt creative enough to post about other things. So, without further ado, here is my next song: "Cantares" sung by Serrat.

The lyrics are taken from the poem of Antonio Machado, with the same name of the song. I really like it, not only because of it´s slow moving tempo that progressively becomes more and more fast and intense, but also because of its meaning. It talks about how we have to seek our own goals, even if the path to them is not made yet.Let dissect (and translate) some of the key lyrics here:

"Caminante no hay camino, se hace camino al andar" means that there is not set road for us in this life. We, with our choices and hard work, make our path every day. "Al andar, se hace camino y al volver la vista atras, se ve la senda que nunca se ha de volver a pisar", means that when we turn back in our life, we see all the things that we have done, all the moments in our life that we won´t ever live again, but that made us what we are.

"Nunca persegui la gloria, ni dejar en la memoria de los hombres mi canción.", means that the author of the song (or the poem, in this case Machado) never looked for the glory, or to leave in the memory of others his work. This means that we should so things because we like them, not because we are seeking the approval of someone else. A common example is in school. We should study because we like it, not because we are seeking for our parents approval or for a good grade. That is what makes a difference between someone succesful and someone who fails: the succesful people do things because they like them, and the rest just comes along.

So why did I choose this song anyways? Well, it is monday, so we do need some motivation here even though we are on vacations.Keep constructing the roads in your life! And I also chose it because Serrat is awesome, and I had been dying to post a good spanish song.

PS:  HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANCY!

http://o.icqcdn.com/hss/storage/icq_greetings/5559c101572191faf2dac6b6f865e59e

If there´s one decade I consider myself a fan of is the 80s. You may consider this weird since I wasn´t even born in it (two years too late, unfortunately), but, in a sense, I wish I had been part of it. Not only the music was better, with Michael Jackson´s hits, and dances such as twist and a little bit of rock, but the planet seemed to be a little more peaceful and clean than what it is today. Linking this with my past blog about creativity, I think the 80s was a time of innovation, thing that we don´t really see here anymore. Yes, computers and other electronic devices weren´t available at that time.. but where they really needed? With the safety of the streets, people had more free time to think about new ways of developing their ideas, more freedom of thought, in a way. Now, because the electronics do everything for us, what do we have left? We can also see it in the songs. If you go to a disco club today, with techno music playing constantly, you can see some people dancing (or grinding, a "dance" I don´t really agree with that much, but I won´t talk about it here) while some are sitting on the bar, bored looks on their faces. But, if suddenly an 80s song comes along, almost everybody moves to the dancefloor. Why? Because the way the songs were danced is more original, and more fun, than the way techno songs are danced. Also the 80s TV shows were amazing, with Bewitched and The Adams Family, just to mention a few. Now we don´t really have a lot of good TV shows airing, and most of them are just lame comedies with themes that keep repeating themselves every week. Of course, we 90s kids had good shows as well, (Like Pokemon!) but, we can consider the early 90s a small extension of the 80s, or at least that´s what I do. I´m not complaining about not being born on those years, but that´s just because I have the chance of watching the movies, and listening to the music, that was played back then, and enjoy it just as well as if I had been there when they were first aired...

-Ari

Wheew... Friday already? (*hears the song of Rebecca Black but decides to ignore it*)

First of all, let me apologize because, once again, I failed to post Thursday´s blog on Thursday. But I´ll still won´t fail you, because I will post two blogs for the price of one day! Without anything to add, here it goes:

Something that made me lack behind in my promise to blogaday wasn´t time, or lack of opportunities of being on the computer. It was just plain lack of creativity, which is something that really saddens me, because it is not only happening with me, nor with this specific challenge. The whole world seems to be suffering, in the actuallity, a case of creativity lacking. We can see this everywhere, in the recent movies, TV shows, books, even status updates in facebook. I don´t want to go to the movie theater that often anymore because there´s nothing original airing, just remakes of old TV shows, or sequels of movies that didn´t need another sequel (like Pirates of the Caribbean, and don´t get me started about that). And even the books, specially the teenage ones. There is even a section called "Teenage Paranormal Romance" in a Barnes and Nobles library. Do we really have to reach that low?

Ok, I know what you may be thinking... Another blog talking about a song ? 

Well, the thing is, this blog isn´t just about any song.

The song is called L´important c´est la rose, and it´s sung by Gerard Becaude. This old, old ,old video appears,  at first glance,  to be about a French guy surrounded by exaggerated OLD video effects. But, listening to the lyrics, you will discover that it is much more than that. Although I don´t know enough French to understand the whole song without looking at the lyrics and at a translator, I enjoy listening to it, because I understand the message it is transmitting.. L´important c´est la rose. What exactly does that mean?

The song has a similar meaning to a more famous one, called Vienna by Billy Joel. It talks about how we forget about the important things in life because we are always in a hurried pace. When we are going to school, or to work, how many times do we stop and look up to the sky, admire a good sunset, have a good laugh? Sometimes we are so pressured because of our daily occupations that we don´t realize we are letting life slip by, without us really living it. This french song talks about the same thing, of how the important things in life are not really our daily worries, but the smallest things, such as a rose. We have to stop once in a while and enjoy the moment we are living, because it won´t repeat itself in the same way ever again. We have to live everyday with joy, smiling at every single thing life offers for us. Just as my favorite verse of the song says:

Toi qui cherches quelque argent
Pour te boucler la semaine,
Dans la ville, tu promènes
Ton ballant,
Cascadeur, soleil couchant,
Tu passes devant les banques,
Si tu n’es qu’un saltimbanque,
L’important.. c´est la rose.

(Translation: You who look towards the money, when the week closes. You are walking through the city, you fall. Stuntman, sunset, you who spend life in front of bancs, remember, you are not a clown. The important thing in life is the rose. )

L´important c´est la rose. The rose is what´s important for you. The moments we enjoy with friends and family, the sunset that falls in the evening, the sound of birds singing and the waves of the sea crashing by the beach. That is what we should enjoy in our  lifes. The other worries aren´t worth your time, so don´t consume your energies by ignoring the good things and just looking at the bad things. Remember it, and adieu!

Ps: Yes.. I know I posted the blog I was supposed to post yesterday today but... L´important c´est la rose!

WATCH THE VIDEO!

- Ari

This past sunday was fathers day, and a really good one I must say- rewatching LOST episodes, eating chips and swimming in the pool is what we like to call a "good day of non-productivity". My father enjoyed the gifts and the suprise video we made for him, while enjoying of a good, sunny day... and that was good, because he deserves it!  But that´s not the theme of this blog (although I´ll probably make one about him in the future). What I want to talk about today is about family in general, even of those members whose names we don´t really remember, or who died long, long years before we were born.

During our small lunch on sunday, my dad started talking about his close-family, naming cousins, aunts and uncles whose names still get tangled up in my head. This is not a surprise, since my father has 9 siblings, which, in turn, had many sons and daughter. My extended family is so big that, when we get together for christmas, I don´t know anymore which of the little kids running around are actually my cousins, and which ones my nieces. Just to avoid confusion, I tell them all to call me Ari. That always makes things easier.

Anyways, we were talking about my extended family when I had an idea: Why not making an actual family tree?  Using information from what my mom and dad knew, I wanted to start to write the names of all my family members, close and extended. I got into a free page for making family trees named myherigage.com (not trying to make it publicity or anything... but it´s free!) and, with the help of my parents, started making the tree, first starting with my parents and grandparents, and then moving on to uncles, aunts, cousins, etc. At first it semeed pretty easy, because we started with the persons I see every christmas. But as we moved on further and further back, even my parent´s memory started to become foggy, with questions like  "Wait.. did she had two sons or only one?" or "What was the name of your grandaunt? I can´t believe I forgot it!" being more present. My mom suddenly remembered that she had some cousins from my grandfather´s side who were doing a family tree She asked them for it and they gladly sent it, giving me an occupation for this summer filled with procrastination. As I started looking on their family tree I realized that my aunts had not only bothered researching about long distance cousins, but also on great-great grandfathers. I saw with surprise how the tree extended all the way to people who had been born on the 1700s.. even before Mexico was its own country! I was surprised not only on the elaborate names that we wouldn´t even dream of having in this era, like Eufrasia or Juana Josefina de la Inmaculada Concepción Alvarez del Castillo Tena (i´m not kidding about this one!), but also on thinking that ancestors that long back would never even imagined me being born... not even my grandfather for that matter. Just like I have no idea of knowing what the name of my great-great-grandaughter will be, nor in which conditions the world will be at that time. It´s amazing to have all this timeline of families who lived in their own world, with different conditions to the ones we live today. It also made me think of the amazing luck I have of being here. If one of my ancestors had died earlier, or decided not to marry, or marry with someone else, then I woulnd´t be here. At least not with this name and lastname, and possibly not even writting this blog.  Time is something amazing, but it doesn´t stop for anyone. That is why we need to enjoy our lifetime, and consider us lucky, everyday, for being in this planet.

http://blogaday.collected.info/First of all, you people reading my blog should know a little bit about myself, and of why am I doing this. My name is Ariadne, but you all know you can call me Ari - it is easier and shorter to pronounce!. I am writting this blog as part of Zach´ss "Blogaday challenge", which I think it is a wonderful idea, because it actually gives me the pretext to write the blog I have secretely wanted to write, but just havent had the time or energy to do so.

Now, to the real article! :

 Admit it, everyone - with maybe the exception of my friend Julio-; has cried at least once when watching a Disney film. Whether it was on the classical scenes where Simba´s father is thrown of a cliff, or on the last Toy Story 3 film, everybody has felt their eyes tear up a bit in one of these famous movies. With me, being a Disney fan, this rule isnt the exception. Although I for some reason dont feel sad when watching the "must-cry" scenes of Disney, there is some specific song from "The Fox and the Hound" which, no matter how many times I see it, always makes me more than nostalgic.

The song is called "Goodbye may seem forever". If you haven´t  seen the movie for some reason (*cough* Julio) or have blurry memories of it, the scene that accompanies that song is that of an old lady taking his fox pet Todd towards the forest, to set him free. All along the road she recalls memories of them together, while a sad music plays in the background. What makes me sad about that scene is, curiosly, not the plot itself, but the meaning of the song. It´s about saying goodbyes, something that has always been very hard for me to do. And now that I´m done with high school and most of my friends are already in college, it has become more and more a reality to me. In a few months everyone will be scattered all through the US (and Canada!), and our moments together will be reduced to holliday breaks, and even then not all of us may come for the whole break, or not come at all. I know that it won´t be a goodbye, and just a "see-you-soon", because the friendship we have made through the years wil never end. To my friends who are reading this blog: you are awesome, and you know we are always going to keep contact, and to be together even though it is not in person. Let us enjoy all the moments we are together! We should make this summer epic, as well as the Christmas and easter breaks, so that we always have good memories of each other that will last for the rest of the year.

And this is how I start my first blog, with a comment about goodbyes. Just because I like to be a little paradoxical ;)I leave you with the video of the song, if you want to watch it (warning: it is sad!!)

(spanish)

(english)

This is the first of what I hope will be many blogs. I don´t know yet what I will include here, but it will probably be a mixture of feelings about goodbyes and comments about epic books. 

For the blogaday challenge, from June 20 to July 10. (Although I plan to keep writting things once in a while when this is over =D ))