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.