Class practice: Descriptive lead/A place I'd love to travel to

I've always wanted to visit Rome. It is a city with great historic importance, being the cradle of the Roman Empire and the Renaissance among other relevant historical and cultural eras, thus, the city is filled to the brim with many amazing historical buildings, decorated with breath-taking art, be it architecture, paintings or sculputure. This cultural and artistical atmosphere that surrounds the city is what makes me want to visit it some time.

Hound of death

Do animals have a sixth sense? It is widely thought that animals can somewhat predict natural disasters such as earthquakes, however, according to this story that my latin teacher told me sometime ago, there was also a dog that might have been able to predict death itself.

Our story begins in a small rural spanish town (whose name I can't remember), in this town, there was an old dog that would wonder around the cold streets of the town every night, and after walking for a while, he would sit down in front of the door of one of the residents, the next morning, one of the people living in this house would be found death. This would continue to happen until the dog was beaten to death one night by some drunkards who thought he was the cause of the death of those people.

So, what do you think? Do you think that the behaviour of the dog was just pure concidence, he could predict death or maybe he was somehow the cause of the death of those people. However, one can't deny how bizarre this situation was.

Class practice: Movie intro (Django: Unchained)

In the opening scene, we see slave traders carrying black men in chains (one of them being Django, the main character) as the epic main theme of the film plays. Afer that, the music stops and the slave traders meet by chanve with a dentist named Schultz, who tries to convince them to give Django to him, the slave traders refuse and Schultz shoots them both, revealing that he is a bounty hunter amd the slave traders, wanted men. Thus, he frees Django and they both set off on a journey to find more bounties. This opening scene works amazingly well as an introduction, due to the fact that it introduces the two main characters and the violent yet goofy tone of the film, crowned by a great dialogue and performance

The rise and fall of M. Night Shyamalan

M. Night Shyamalan is a very well-known director for better and for worse, at the same time he has directed one of the most celebrated thrillers of all time and some of the biggest failures in the history of cinema and as far as I am concerned, he should maybe consider retiring or rethink a couple of issues.

M. Nigh Shymamaln directed the hit-film The 6th Sense back in 1999, this film was praised by both public and critics, thus, making him a great promise of the world of film-directing. However, he then directed Unbreakable, which had mixed receptions and afterwards, he directed films such as Signs, Devil and most recently After Earth, which were mostly hated by both public and critics, showing that the spark of genious thet he showed in 6th Sense was most likely gone.

All in all, since M. Night has not directed any truly ggod films for quite some time, he should probably either quit directing or start listening to the critics, maybe give directing a rest for sometime and learn from his previous mistakes. Maybe this way he could return to his former genious.

Class practice: Outline.

M. Night Shyamalan should give directing a rest.
I. M. Night Shyamalan as a director (Introduction).

II. Filmography and reception.
A) The 6th Sense, a classic thriller.
B) Unbreakable and beyond.
1. Decreasing quality of his films and negative reception.

III. Reasons why he should give directing a rest.
A) He only has one universally loved film.
1. His spark of genious seems to be gine.
B) He should stop directing for a while and learn from his mistakes.

The art of Hirohiko Araki

Hirohiko Araki it's a japanes comic book artist mostly known for creating the well-known cult series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. However, I'm not going to talk about his comic series but his characteristic and recognizable art style, which is probably why he's my favourite artist of all time.

                                                                       Hirohiko Araki.
His art style has two main influences: fashion and western art. He uses for reference to design characters mostly fashion magazines, hence why all of his characters wear rather bizarre ourfits and are usually depicted doing strange poses. Furthermore,  the influence of western art can be noticed in the gaudy colors he usually uses , which are probably reminiscent of artists such as Gauguin, and the poses he depicts his characters, which, aside from fashion, are usually reminiscent of the works of renaissance artists such as Michelangelo.

       

 Araki has had a great influence over the years, becoming the image of Gucci for some time and even having his own exposition at the Louvre Museum, one of the most important museums in the world. What makes me love Araki's art is how unique it is, even though it isn't completely perfect and it can be way too pompous for some people, I really enjoy it.

Essay class activity 1

Gun ownage has proven to cause more harm than good, as one can see in the reports of mass shootings in the USA. Some people defend guns by saying that it is a good way of self-protection but this is rarely the case. However, I'm not saying that completely banning guns is a solution but to acquire them should have more regulation.

Unsung guitar hero.

Today I feltt like talking about music, so I've decided to talk about my favourite guitar player of all time, Gary Moore,who I also think is one of the most underrated guitar players of all time.

He was born in Northern Ireland and is mostly known for being the guitar player of Irish hardrockers Thin Lizzy for some time, but he's so much more than that. He was originally influenced by guitar players such as Jimi Hendrix started his music career with the Blues Rock band Skid Row (not to be confused with the 80's Glam  Metal band of the same name) and managed to record two albums, none of them were succesful. After his short stance in Thin Lizzy, he started his solo career, playing mostly hard rock in his first era, during this era, he touched upon some heavy subjects that were afecting the world and his own country in songs such as Hiroshima or Murder In The Skies. His solo career changed a lot after he decided to record purely Blues music, recording his hit ballad Still Got The Blues, this is the sound that would give him more recognition in the world of music, he even was able to play with the blues legend B.B King. Gary Moore sadly passed away on February 2011 but he left quite a musical legacy.

In spite of not being as well-known as Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton, he was a man of great talent, managing to play from anger and desperation-filled hard rock, to epic celtic folk influenced rock to pure heartfelt blues, in my opinion, he was both great in technique and feeling, he moght not have been the most techical guitar player in the world but the feeling he poured into every single song he played has, in my hummble opinion, not been matched yet.

Video of one of his last performances: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRG8E0Uhqb4

Contrast paragraph.

These two pictures are different in many ways. The first picture has a more agressive and vibrant feel to it, whereas the second has a really boring vibe to it. Unlike the second picture, the first picture gives a sense of wilderness and youth, the second, however, gives a sense of being old and boring. Overall, I find the firdt picture more appealing to me, it provides vibes of fun and youth that the second picture doesn't provide.

Poem

Shall I compare you to the winter?
You're cold just like the snow,
And just thinking about you, makes me shiver.
With your merciless cold, you make life wither
You strike with the fury of a snowstorm, just like a killer,
And kike the long, sun-less days you bring sorrow.
However, when winter ends, awaits a brighter tomorrow.

The Black Paintings

Since the last time in class we had to describe Picasso's Guernica, I've decided to talk about one of my favourite painters of all time, Francisco de Goya. Francisco de Goya was a famous spanish painter during the 19th century, his early works were normally portraits of people playing popular games and portraits of different people, including the spanish royal family; however, the paintings that I really want to talk about are the ones from his 'black paintings', he painted these while suffering from a progressive loss of hearing and during a time of conflicts.

These paintings of his represent different themes from mythology (Saturn Devouring His Child) to traditional festival's (San Isidro's Romeria), what all of them have in common is the eerie aura that surrounds them, always using dark colors and deforming human features, these paintings seem like the society of the time seen through a madman's eyes. Alongside the previously mentioned eerieness of these works, they evoke other feelings such as sadness and fear, Goya portrays really dark and sometimes violent images, the sheer expression of the characters and the dark themes they take part in also help to make you feel uneasy.

All in all, the black paintings give us both a representation of the darkness of Spain at the time alongside surreal and creepy images, their influence is so big that it inspired spanish writer Valle-Inclán in his most celebrated work 'Luces de Bohemia'.

                                            San Isidro's Romeria by Francisco de Goya

Opinion paragraphs.

Mark Zuxkerberg has launched an initiative with the help of the UN to try and establish internet connection in refugee camps. On the one hand, this can be a positive initiative, allowing refugges to use the internet in order to share their own experiences and hardships crossing borders and living in refugee camps, thus raising more awareness towards their situation and most importantly, they'll be able to keep in contact with their close ones in this chaotic enviroment.

On the other hand, internet connection is not as important as other basic rights refugees lack. Food, proper instalations and water are far more primordial than internet connection and more necessary than internet to survive. I conclusion, even though internet connection can be somewhat useful for refugess, basic materials should be Zuckerberg's and the UN's priority, given the situation that refugees face.

Describing emotions

El Guernica is a painting by spanish cubist artistc Pablo Picasso, this work represents the bombing of Guernica during the spanish civil war. This painting evokes negative feelings, like sadness as one can tell due to the lack of vivid colors, it also evokes feelings like fear or desperation as one can tell by looking at the expressions of the characters depicted, the painting also evokes fear and shock. I think that it conveys the feeling of innocent people trapped in a war rather accurately.

Description

George Harrison.

George Harrison was a guitar player who passed away in 2001, he’s mostly known for being the main guitar player in the popular rock/pop band, The Beatles. He was known for being a really timid and calmed person, that’s why he earned the nickname of the silent Beatle, aside from his quiet personality he was a really musically gifted person, his guitar playing was one of the core parts of the Beatles’ sound, he also was a really prolific songwriter but this side of his wouldn’t truly shine until he started his solo career. This humble personality of his and his great talent is what makes him one of my favorite guitar players of all time.

The legacy of Frankenstein.

Now that Halloween is just around the corner, I would like to talk obout one of the most influential horror stories ever, Frankesntein.
Frankenstein is a novel by british author Mary Shelley, this novel tells the story of an ambitious scientist who creates a living being, this story has had a great influence in different media, including adaptations and retellings of the story.

The original story of the book, tells us about a young an named Victor Farnkenstein who lives with a loving family and is in love with his step-sister, when he starts studying medicine he starts to be overtaken by the ambition of creating life, leading him to create a human being using corpse parts.

When he creates this being, he isntantky regrets creating him and becomes terrified of him, after this point, Frankenstein starts to decent into sorrow and paranoia when his creation, who has deprived of love by other humans, including the man who created him, becomes evil and eventually leads to Frankenstein's death while trying to hunt down his abominable monster. Even though it is esentially a horror story, the original novel goes beyond that and becomes a human drama of sorts, with Frankesntein debating with himself about the life he has created and how the monster turns violent due the reject of human beings.

 This story has had a lot of different adaptations, including the famous film from the 1930s, which

starred Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's monster himself.

                                              Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's monster.

From here on, there would be many cinematic sequels to the 1930 adaptation of Frankenstein that had nothing to do with Mary Shelley's novel, films such as Bride of Frankenstein or Frankenstein vs. The Wolfman, these alongside the 1930s film would turn Frankestein's monster in the pop culture icon he's today.

Aside from adaptations and spinoffs there would also be parodies of the Frankesntein story, the most well-known one being Young Frankenstein (1974) starring Gene Wilder.

Gene Wilder (Frankenstein) and Peter Boyle (The monster).

The Frankenstein story has also influenced other media, there's a manga daptation by the celebrated horror author Junji Ito, simply titled Frankenstein, rock and metal acts such as Alice Cooper and Helloween have also written songs based on the myth of Frankesntein and the very well-known comic book brands Marvel and DC have both made their own takes on Frankenstein.

In conclusion, Mary Shelley's horror tale has influenced many creations and popular culture but we should not forget what the original story was at its core, a human drama about how ambition can destroy ones life.

Class practice, free writing.

The country I live in has, in my opinion, some of the greatest writers (such as García-Lorca, Cervantes, Bécquer or Unamuno) and artists (Velázquez, Goya...) in the world, this is the aspect of my country I like the most alongside gastronomy.
The climatre of Spain is very varied, here in Murcia is mostly very warm and  dry whereas in other places such as Galicia for example, is colder.
Spain has some amazing landscapes in rural areas too.