Cat Bookmark

Finally this semester is over! Thanks to that now I have much more free time and I've been able to dedicate to do more things I like. And there are two things I like in particular: Read and cats. Interestingly, some time ago I found this video on youtube by accident:

I have the purpose of making a cat like this to each and every one of the books that I read. The model is very simple, easy to do and is very very cute (not to mention that its folding becomes addictive). Here are some pics of what I have done so far. 

Me doin' some juggling :D

Hi duds! Today i'm gonna show you one of my secret useless powers: Le Juggling. Basically I only want to say that isn't too hard, in fact it looks A LOT more harder than it is, its only question of keep trying. It took me like 3 weeks to can do the 3 balls Juggling (and skip some college classes :P) but now I'm happy and I juggle with all kind of stuff, like t-shirts or candies or books... my next goal is to do some juggling with cats... keep on contact to see it!

Book Review: Ender's Game

Ender is a 10 years old boy who wakes up one day in a doctor's office half naked and feeling anxious. He knows that something is missing. Because it has not met the expectations, he has removed the mental scientists monitor the militia had placed on his neck to always know what was going through your mind and senses. That same day at the college, the boys in her class noticed that your monitor has been removed planned attack in groups, what ender responds with a brutal attack on the leader of the gang, breaking ribs and almost desbaratandole an eye kicking. Inside Ender feels terrible about what he did, but he knows that the only way to prevent further fighting is making it clear that he is no coward. That afternoon, the military go to his house to pick him up to take him to a military school, and tell you that everything has been tested. Thus, Ender becomes a member of a program to train the best soldiers in preventing an alien invasion. 

Thus begins the saga of Ender, the science fiction equivalent to Harry Potter, but that does not mean it is only a copy, because this saga is more obscure and complex, intended for an audience a little more mature. The author of the saga is Orson Scott Card, and is currently made ​​up of 11 short stories, 10 novels. Personally I recommend reading the first book because it is the best of them, but anyone can get is worth it.

Book Review: Herman Hesse's Demian.

Everyone at some point in our lives we had to cross the threshold between our conception forged in house as the world and reality itself, and depending on how it has been the home environment this transition can be more or less drastic, as the case. Apparently, the drama of this circumstance is proportional to how happy was your childhood. I mean, obviously if you were raised by irresponsible parents from an early age have tasted what is bitter reality. For fortune (or misfortune of our protagonist, I'm not sure) of Emil Sinclair, the environment in which he grew up and the real world are two completely opposite places contrasting with the force with which they do in the morning and evening. Emil is the son of a bourgeois marriage Germany in the early twentieth century who usually sing every night with his family religious songs, going to a school of rich kids and also takes quite well with their class. His awakening to the real world takes place abruptly thanks to one of the boys city bums, who takes advantage of a lie that Emil had told his friends to impress and does fall into blackmail. This situation is growing little by little, from the first to ask a few coins or a knife, then ask him to arrange an appointment with her sister already this "age of entitlement". At this point is when the character makes an appearance that gives title to this book, Demian, who is the son of a mysterious widow who shun all neighbors as a woman is not religious or social. Demian, who radiates charisma and an improbable maturity for his age, is responsible for putting in place the boy Emil blackmailed, and that's how their friendship started. This will evolve over time so that Emil always try to Demian as his role model. 

Demian is a great read for young and that addresses issues such as the discovery of the loneliness and suffering, as well as virtues like ensalsa camaraderie and loyalty. To all this is added the mysterious little touch that gives the author mixing the sect of the "sons of Cain" and "God Abraxas" in the lives of our protagonists -both concepts are introduced to Emil in his college years by Demian-, which is certainly something that arouses much curiosity and want to continue reading. Definitely a must-see title, because as usual, herman hesse amenity offered in this work and depth as only he can.

Mental Colonialism

Once a friend told me his brother divided into two kinds of people: People without philosophy and people with philosophy. I imagine that in his head he made a confusion of concepts, and actually he was dividing people based on their knowledge, that is, people without culture and people with culture, because in order to move fluidly within a philosophical conversation vocabulary is necessary to have a moderately nourished to turn our ideas into words as accurately as possible. This suspicion I was born to me the fact that I can not imagine a single human being who lacks abstract guidelines that guides their behavior is, I do not think a person can exist without philosophy. Some would have philosophies sencillitas volume corresponding to their cultural background and who also will have as sophisticated and complex philosophies like clockwork and ornamented with details of the Sistine Chapel. But someone who can perform simple tasks such as grocery shopping or getting up everyday to go to work, and that may not be able to create for himself (or taking someone else's, but of this more anon) a small system belief to allow more or less explained how and why the world there is a character that I find very unlikely. I think this description is more likely for the golem of Jewish tradition or to a remote operated robot than a person. Take someone serious philosophy zombificarlo, reducing it to the level of something.

Now, this does not mean that all people are equally valid philosophies or worthy of being taken into account, because a great evil of our time is the colonization of subjectivity. By this I imply that many people today no longer think for themselves, if not rather are intended, either by their religious leaders, either by the writers of the TV show fashion, etc.. A person who distances himself from these ideological systems McDonald's style generally be a person worth listening to. Normally called our attention, in addition to its originality, that knows how to put into words or ideas-ideas-jumbles that occasionally have crossed our mind, but we do not know how to externalize, we do not know how to say please add to this the views that this person has generated since its isolation and the sea of ​​new ideas that we never would have occurred to us. You also have to be honest, nothing new under the sun shines, and although these people in turn may have taken a little bit of moisture, another sliver of Sartre and so have been committing plagiarism innocent little when ideological form an opinion own, often are the ones that serve as a bridge between the great thinkers and us.

I personally do not think that there are people with philosophy and no philosophy, rather I think that there are people with their own philosophy to which you have devoted time and care, and people with the philosophy of someone else, a very quick and easy solution to a doc to the lifestyle of today's man.

Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys

OK, this is not exactly a book but because of its complex plot and carefully constructed characters it can be enjoyed by the most exigent reader. I read it in my 1st year of college and trust me, it changed my life. 20th Century Boys tells the story of a group of friends led by Kenji Endo who as children imagined a fantastic story full of robots and biological attacks, where they were fighting against an evil organization whose aim was to destroy the world. Nothing extraordinary (at least for a Japanese child... as a child I never even thought of using biological weapons...), until the same group of friends 20 years later begins to witness acts that are suspiciously similar to those described in the book where they recorded they childhood fantasies. After that, they realize that those incidents are orchestrated by the leader of a religious sect who calls himself simply "friend" (tomodachi in Japanese) and who always wears a mask with a symbol that Kenji and his friends had drawn as children... and don't worry, I haven't spoiled any important part of the story so far, things I described here only cover the first volume of the 24 that include the whole story, so as you can imagine, with this manga you will have at least about 10 or 12 hours of valuable entertainment. 

One of the main themes of the argument of this book is the Freemasonry because as you get deeper into this plot you begin to notice some parallels with the urban myths connected to this elite organization. To prove you that below I show you the symbol used by the "friend"'s organization:

20th Century Boys is a work of master Naoki Urosawa, probably known by many of you for his previous manga Monster which, by the way, you should read if you haven't yet. Urosawa's seal in all his works is his deep understanding of the human nature which enables him to create characters that you really feel identified with, whose faults, virtues and motivations are parpable and believable. The quality of the manga is so huge that in Japan the film trilogy based on this artwork is considered an Eastern equivalent of our Matrix and The Lord of the Rings trilogies. Definitely a modern classic. In Spanish it was published by Planeta deAgostini but if you consider buying this work I strongly recommend you the English edition which is a little more expensive but it's cover design will simply delight the fans.

Colonialismo Mental.

En una ocasión un amigo me dijo que su hermano dividía a las personas en dos clases:  La gente sin filosofía y la gente con filosofía. Me imagino yo que dentro su cabeza había mas bien una confusión de conceptos, y el en realidad estaba dividiendo a la gente  en función de su conocimiento, es decir, en gente sin cultura y gente con cultura, ya que para poder moverse con fluidez dentro de una conversación filosófica es necesario poseer un vocabulario medianamente nutrido para poder volcar nuestras ideas en palabras con la mayor exactitud posible. Esta sospecha me nació a mí del hecho de que me es imposible imaginar a un solo ser humano que carezca de ese sistema de directrices abstractas que le de forma  a su comportamiento, es decir, que no creo que pueda existir una persona sin filosofía. Habrá quienes tengan filosofías sencillitas que correspondan al volumen de su bagaje cultural, así como habrá también quienes tengan filosofías tan sofisticadas y complejas como un reloj suizo y ornamentadas con el detalle de la capilla Sixtina. Pero alguien que pueda realizar tareas tan sencillas como ir al supermercado o levantarse diario para ir al trabajo, y que la vez no sea capaz de crear para si mismo (o de tomar de alguien más, pero de esto hablaremos más adelante) un pequeño sistema de creencias que le permitan explicarse mas o menos como y para que existe el mundo es un personaje que me resulta muy inverosímil. Pienso que esta descripción es más probable para el golem de la tradición hebrea o a un Robot manejado por control remoto que para una persona. Quitarle su filosofía a alguien seria zombificarlo, rebajarlo al nivel de cosa.

Ahora, esto no quiere decir que todas las personas tengan filosofías igual de validas o de ser dignas de tomadas en cuenta, ya que un gran mal de nuestros días es la colonización de la subjetividad. Con esto quiero dar a entender que muchas personas en la actualidad ya no piensan por si mismas, si no que mas bien son pensadas, ya sea por sus líderes religiosos, ya sea por los escritores del show de televisión de moda, etc. Una persona que se deslinda de estos sistemas ideológicos estilo McDonald’s generalmente será una persona digna de ser escuchada. Normalmente llamara nuestra atención, además de por su originalidad, por que sabe poner en palabras ideas –o revoltijos de ideas- que en alguna ocasión han cruzado nuestra mente, pero que nosotros no sabemos como externar, que no sabemos como decirlas A esto súmese los puntos de vista que esta persona ha generado desde su aislamiento y la mar de ideas nuevas que a nosotros nunca se nos hubieran ocurrido. También hay que ser sinceros, nada nuevo brilla bajo el sol, y aunque estas personas a su vez puede que hayan tomado un cachito de hume, otro cachito de Sartre y así hayan ido cometiendo pequeños e inocentes plagios ideológicos a la hora de formarse un criterio propio, muchas veces son ellas las que nos sirven de puente entre los grandes pensadores y nosotros.

En lo personal no pienso que haya personas con filosofía y sin filosofía, mas bien pienso que hay personas con filosofía propia a la que le han dedicado tiempo y cuidado,  y personas con la filosofía de alguien mas, una solución facilita y rápida muy adoc con el estilo de vida del hombre de hoy. 

Book Review: 20th Century Boys

Ok, esto no es exactamente un libro, pero debido a su complejo argumento y a sus personajes minuciosamente construidos puede ser disfrutado por el lector mas exigente. 20th Century Boys nos narra la historia de un grupo de amigos liderados por Kenji Endo que en su infancia imaginaron una historia fantástica llena de robots y de ataques biológicos, donde ellos combatían a una organización maligna cuya intención era la de destruir el mundo. Nada fuera de lo común (mínimo para un niño japonés… de niño yo nunca hubiera siquiera pensado en usar armas biológicas…), hasta que el mismo grupo de amigos, 20 años después  empieza a presenciar actos que son sospechosamente parecidos a los que se describen en el libro donde plasmaron sus fantasías infantiles. Posterior a esto, se dan cuenta de que estos sucesos están siendo orquestados por el líder de una secta religiosa que se hace llamar simplemente “amigo” (tomodachi en japonés) quien siempre usa una mascara con un símbolo que kenji y sus amigos habían dibujado de niños... y no te preocupes, hasta ahora no he spoileado nada importante de la historia, lo aquí descrito abarca solo el primer volumen de los 24 que abarca en total la historia, asi que como te podrás imaginar, con este manga tendrás mínimo unas 10 o 12 horas de entretenimiento de calidad.

Uno de los ejes del argumento de esta obra es la masonería, ya que conforme uno se va adentrando en la trama se empiezan a notar ciertos paralelismos con los mitos urbanos que giran en torno a esta organización elitista. Para muestra el símbolo usado por la organización de”amigo” que aquí les muestro a continuación:  

Símbolo masón, símbolo de tomodachi y escuadra y compás masónicas.

20th Century boys es obra del maestro Naoki Urasawa, a quien muchos de ustedes conocerán por su manga previo Monster, que, dicho sea de paso, deberías de leer si hasta ahora no lo has hecho. El sello de Urasawa en todas sus obras es su profundo conocimiento de la naturaleza humana, el cual le permite construir personajes con los que uno se siente realmente identificado, cuyos defectos, virtudes y motivaciones son palpables y verosímiles. La calidad del manga es tal que en Japón se realizo una trilogía de películas basadas en esta obra, y que son consideradas como el equivalente oriental a nuestras trilogías Matrix y The Lord of the Rings. Definitivamente un clásico moderno. En español ha sido editado por editorial Planeta deAgostini aunque si piensas adquir esta obra te recomiendo mil veces mas la edición en ingles que aunque es un poquito mas cara, tiene un diseño de cubierta que simplemente hara la delicia de los fans. 

Tema 20th Century Boys por T-Rex. Se uso en el OST de la pelicula y en se hace mencion a el muchas veces en el manga.  

Aristotelian catharsis

Aristotle once said that people liked the theater cus’ at the end of a function one out of the theater in better spirits than one entered. And this is nothing illogical, because if we come to think, to see the protagonist suffering some drama we feel identified with him and his suffering, and this somehow helps us to take out those negative emotions that sometimes make our lifes so uncomfortable. This process Aristotle called catharsis (which in Greek means purification). Have not you noticed that there are seasons in which you feel a kind of discomfort in the head, as a kind of chronic anxiety (I like to call a "metaphysical itch", if you'll excuse the pedantry) and often not you know you should? Well, the Greek philosopher explained that the feeling is that we humans have repressed emotions are always looking out, but can not find the way to do it. It is like a funnel and siguieras gourds pouring water into it, between pour more water, the greater the pressure on the cap. Well, the theater as this gentleman is a kind of acid or destroying this plug hole and let it flow what we have stored within us.

The other arts also have this healing effect, all have a song that makes us mourn, a verse that makes us feel the head burst, a painting that gives us vertigo, a movie that we love, etc.. In turn, creating art also has these same properties, and it is no coincidence that one can distinguish between a guitarist who is running with a musical passion and one that simply is playing mechanically. After knowing this does not seem so illogical that many artists have a reputation for being mentally unbalanced, since for an inner life as turbulent as carrying them, surely art is a big source of comfort and pleasure to others could be drugs. To their way to your mother when you embroidering a sweater equals Jim Morrison when he wrote his songs, so you could be more considerate next time and get that ugly brown sweater that she'll last Christmas gift.

I once read in a book by Carlos Cuauhtemoc Sanchez That if one wanted to Achieve Their Goals in Life Should start to get down to work and Entrusted to God instead of watching movies on the couch. For me personally I find it much more useful to stay home on Sunday to a movie to go to church and then waste an hour of my time bored beatitude and abetting a group worthy of an Oscar. In my view, a person who cries watching a movie is a person who even helped.

Like a Sir

Hysterical Literature is a project of the artist Clayton Cubit, in which beautiful women will read erotic stories while they are fapped with electrical devices out of frame (unfortunately). The most curious thing is that the videos are uploaded on youtube, and in a month and have reached almost two million hits. Sex sells, nothing new.

Here is the Session One:

...and the session two:

This definitely is a perfect choise for those cold and long nights in college dormitories.

Nananananana Salinger!!

Hello my nerdy folks! Today I gonna show you another curiosity of the literature. This time Salinger and Batman go crazy and and both universes join together trying to attract the attention of the youth ones into this epic clasic and , why not, to make the oldest fans laugh a Histeric Joker. I dont know who the autor is, but if you know please leave a comment and a good luck koala will pay you a visit when you sleep and will make you more handosome and smarter too. See You in the next round!

La Catarsis Aristotélica

Aristóteles dijo alguna vez que a la gente le gustaba el teatro por que al terminar una función uno salía con mejor ánimo del teatro que con el que había entrado. Y esto no es nada ilógico, ya que si nos ponemos a pensarlo, al ver sufrir al protagonista de algún drama nosotros nos sentimos identificados con él y con su sufrimiento, y esto de alguna manera nos ayuda a echar para afuera esas emociones negativas que a veces nos hacen tan incomoda la vida. A este proceso Aristóteles lo llamó Catarsis (que en griego quiere decir purificación). ¿Tú no has notado que hay temporadas en las que se siente una especie de malestar en la cabeza, como una especie de angustia crónica (a mi me gusta llamarla una “comezón metafísica”, si me disculpan la pedantería) y que muchas veces no sabes a que se debe? Bueno, pues el filósofo griego explicaba que esa sensación se debe a que nosotros los seres humanos tenemos emociones reprimidas que siempre están buscando salir, pero que no encuentran el modo de hacerlo. Es como si taparas un embudo y siguieras echando agua dentro de él, entre más agua viertas, mayor será la presión sobre el tapón. Bueno, pues el teatro según este señor es como una especie de acido o de taladro que destruye este tapón y deja fluir lo que tenemos guardado dentro de nosotros.

El resto de las artes también tienen este efecto sanador; todos tenemos una canción que nos hace llorar, un verso que hace que sintamos la cabeza estallar, una pintura que nos da vértigo, una película que nos enamora, etc. A su vez, también la creación de arte tiene estas mismas propiedades, ya que no es casualidad que uno pueda distinguir entre un guitarrista que esta ejecutando con pasión una pieza musical y otro que simplemente esta tocando de manera mecánica. Después de saber esto no nos parecerá tan ilógico que muchos artistas tengan fama de ser desequilibrados mentales, ya que para una vida interior tan turbulenta como la que llevan ellos, el arte seguramente es una fuente de alivio tan grande y placentera como para otros podrían serlo las drogas. Muy a su manera tu mama cuando te esta bordando un sweater es igual a Jim Morrison cuando escribía sus canciones, así que podrías ser mas considerado la próxima vez y ponerte ese feo sweater café que ella te regalo la navidad pasada.

Una vez leí en un libro de Carlos Cuauhtémoc Sánchez que si uno quería alcanzar sus metas en la vida debería empezar a poner manos a la obra y encomendarse a Dios en vez de estar viendo películas sentado en el sofá. A mí en lo personal me resulta muchísimo mas útil quedarme en mi casa los domingos a ver una película que ir hasta la iglesia y luego perder una hora de mi tiempo aburriéndome y siendo cómplice de una beatitud grupal digna de un Oscar. A mi parecer, una persona que llora viendo una película es una persona que aun tiene remedio. Pero ay tú dijo el joto.