Santiago de Chile, a big misunderstood mess

Well, if I’m going to talk about the city I lived for nearly 11 years, then I’m going to be as honest as possible. So be prepared for a long rant of criticism the same way that I’m going to be prepared for the negative feedback. Oh boy, here we go.

Yes, we're living in a big hole in the ground

Santiago besides of being the capital of my “beloved” country, it’s also one of the most centralized cities in Latin America. In other words our capital it’s the fifth most populated city in the continent.

That shouldn’t be a problem for us, but the fact that our city was founded in a Valley becomes a real problem in terms of environment. Why? Because between the public transport, the smoke from the cars and all the air pollution creates this big black cloud of CO2 that surrounds the entire city and suffocates the population. And if you’re wondering… No, the vehicular restriction will not fix the problem at all.

Now that’s the physical description, it’s time to talk about the places and stuff. And Santiago, being the capital of Chile, has a lot of history behind that it’s worth to check it out.

For Example, we have “Casa Central” that is the head office of the University of Chile, that keeps a neoclassical architecture that still remains the times when we were colony of Spain, and has a Statue of Andres Bello inside. The government palace called “La Moneda” that had a lot of repairs after being attacked by the military in 1973, but the memory is still there. The Costanera Center Mall in Providencia where people go to shop and eat, and looks like a giant corn.

The National Stadium where people become over zealot for the freakin’ football (like I care) , the San Cristobal hill where people can ride the cable railway and see the city from above, Fantasilandia, an amusement park, the interactive Museum (MIM) in “La granja” and so on. Okay, I’ll admit that Santiago has practically everything in terms of culture and history. But that doesn’t mean that represents Chile as a whole.

Being a big city, there are a lot of places to work like hospitals, schools, malls, drugstores and public transport. One good thing about living in a place like this is that there always work to do, something to repair, something to take care or something to clean. Except when you’re a politician, in that case can do absolutely nothing and still keep winning money.

And now I’m going to talk about the problems with Santiago. Mmmm let’s see…  The crime on the streets, the incompetence of the authorities, the contamination of the Mapocho River, the unevenness of the social classes, the laughable health program, the corruption in the legal system, etc. The only way to repair this bloody mess, it’s choosing a candidate who is neither liberal nor conservative because the bipartisanship it’s the worst way to make politics.

And that was Santiago, the capital of Chile. Polluted, corrupted, with a lot of problems, but also full of history and culture that makes it shine in their own way. It’s the worst city of the world? No. But it could be way better than now. Just give it some time.

In the Jungle, the quiet Jungle... the Lion King came out

As every average kid who grew up in the 90's... one of the first films I watched was *pause for dramatic effect* The Lion King... which shouldn't be a surprise consider that is the highest grossing animated film of all time and stuff. I mean It's kind of impossible to overlook this movie... even if you're an adult...

I know that being succesful in the box office doesn't make it the best Disney Film. And I realized  that It's not the funniest, the smartest or the most groundbreaking animated movie of all time as I thought when I was younger. But... for what it is, It's a really enjoyable flick. And even after being released almost 20 years ago, It holds up pretty well. Let me explain it.

The movie is about a young lion prince called Simba, who is very excited because he is going to be the King of the Jungle, and his father, Mufasa along with a Hornbill called Zazu teaches him about being a good governor and learn about his future responsabilities.
But Scar, the younger brother of Mufasa and Simba's uncle, feels very frustrated because he feels that Simba took his place in the royal heritage. So he join forces with a group of Hyenas to kill Mufasa and Simba and take over the Kingdom.
The hyenas make an ambush that eventually kills Mufasa and fool Simba to make him think that he was the responsible (in problably one of the most depressing Disney moments). So he runs away with remorse and shame and Scar become the new governor.
Later, when he grew up and realized that Scar is destroying the Kingdom of his father, letting everybody dying, he returns and confront his uncle.

As you can see, the plot it's pretty much a remake of Hamlet... in Africa... with talking animals... But being an animated movie let the filmmakers take more chances with this set up.
For example, the villians kills Mufasa provoking a stampede, which is a very creative idea and looks huge in the bigscreen. Or this scene where Scar and the Hyenas sing "Be Prepared" is just amazing. I mean the colors, the visuals, the entire choreography creates an outstanding experience. In terms of animation this movie it's still impressive.

But, like every movie, It have some flaws. The characters for example, while they're very likable and colorful, they're kind of generic. We've already see them a million times. And some of the songs feels a little bit dated, like Hakuna Matata (please don't kill me). But these are just little details, because the good stuff is so good that you can easily avoid it.

So overall, I'm glad to grow up watching the Lion King. Maybe not one of the Disney's best, but certainly one of their most ambitious and epic. And of course, one of my childhood favorites.

Siddhartha: your soul is the whole world

Okay, this is a hard one. Because... I read a lot of books in my life and it's kinda difficult choosing just one. I mean, it's not like movies or TV, where I got a clear idea of what I like and what I don't. With books it's so hard to pick just one choice. But because I don't have much time to think... I'm going to pick a book that, I consider the deepest (in terms of content) that I ever read.

So, as you can guessed already, I'm going to talk about Hermann's Hesse Siddhartha.

This novel is setting in the time of Gautama Buddha and is about a young man called Siddhartha, who always had an easy and comfortable life. Being the son of a Brahmin he never starved, never suffered and he always had everything that he wanted.

But one day he realized that all his possessions doesn't made him a better person, and decided to become into an ascethic along with his best friend Govinda. So they leave their homes and join the Samanas, a religious movement that believes in the liberation of people from the vicious circle of hedonism through self-mortification and poverty.

However, Siddharta and Govinda discover that the style of life of Samanas it's just as bad as the materialistic life they used to have, and realized that the man needs to search a middle ground. So they went to talk with Buddha itself, who told them that they need to choose their own way to find the Nirvana, and invite them to join their order. Eventually Govinda joins Buddha, but Siddhartha decides to search for the illumination alone and go down the river to start his spiritual journey.

Hermann Hesse published this book in 1922 in a time where he was itself in a self discovery journey. He is known for his novels about self-discovery and spirituality, and certainly this is one of their best and most representative works. With a message of being patient and learn to realize your mistakes and fix them, but at the same time being aware about your achievements.

I personally recommend this book to you. And that's pretty much it.

CNN Chile: It's Happening right now and you're seeing it right now

Everybody knows CNN. It's one of the most famous cable network of news that there is. But I´m going to talk about the chilean version. Mostly because it's the only news network channel in Chile that I actually trust right now.

Now I'm just going to say you that I don't visit the website very often. But I follow it through Facebook and always watch the channel every morning. But I'm going to do my best, and try to to talk you about the website.

Like all the news websites, the news section is divided in different categories. There's an economy section, an international news section, a section related to the elections if we're in that period. There's Even a sport section. But it's nothing but football,  it could be some news related to a different sport, but mostly it's just football news so don't pay attention to that.

And in the top of the page there are some links related with the most relevant news of the moment, that changes every time because there's always something happening in the country.

And also there are links to twitter, facebook and RSS. A search bar in the top, along with the title and the slogan. A weather section in the right part below the links. A program section in the bottom of the page with links of all the programs of the channel and a questionnaire section in the end of the page.

Here's the link of the page if you want to visit it. I know you're not going to do that, but here it is just in the remote case that you're actually interested in this kind of things. Take care.
http://www.cnnchile.com/

My Favorite Movie

My favorite movie is a 1975 crime drama called: "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Ken Kesey, and direct by Milos Forman.

In 1963, a raunchy, opportunistic and anti-autoritharian criminal called Randall Patrick McMurphy (Jack Nicholson), pretends to be mentally ill, so he can go to a mental institution instead of a jail, because he wants to avoid hard labors and stay in a more relaxing place.

Netherless, the mental hospital turns out to be a more opressive place than jail. The chief nurse, called Mildred Ratched (Louise Fletcher) has control over all the activities in the hospital. She humilliates the patients making them talk about their issues, even when they don't want that, makes them take medicines and keeps the place in order with a mind-numbling routine that suffocates them even more.

Randall becomes friends with the other patients and helps them to push out their boundaries and face the chief nurse, starting a power conflict between him and Ratched.

If I had to choose my favorite moment in the entire movie, I would choose the ending. I know that it sounds too cliché because a lot of people say that the ending is the most important moment in a movie, but it's so sad and so uplifting at the same time, that creates a touching moment that is really unforgettable. I don't want to ruin it for you with details, so lets just say that is a escape scene.

Setting in the early 60's, this movie represents the medical system of that decade very accurately. It shows how uncaring and uncompromising were the society with mentally ill people. Treating them like grown up kids instead of adults with real problems. And the fact that a man so selfish and opportunistic like Randall can understands them better that the most qualifed doctors and nurses of that time, have a meaningful social commentary, that still holds relevance in these days.

A Picture is worth a Thousand Words... Specially if you're covering an emigration controversy

The Photograph that I'm going to talk you about... it's very important and controversial due the context that is was taken. It's a picture that shows... how an international conflict cross the line between what it's ethical and what it's dangerous and wrong. I'm talking about: The Elián Gonzalez affair photograph.


It was taken by Alan Diaz, a cuban-american photographer who lived in Miami and took the photo in April of 2000. Around that time he was covering a case of deportation of a cuban kid called Elián Gonzalez. In the picture Elián and his mother appear hiding their house's closet while an american soldier was pointing them with a SMG.
All this happened because the mother of Elián took him and escape from Cuba to Miami. The problem was that the custody of the kid was from the father. The emigration is illegal in Cuba, but in United States there's a law called "wet feet, dry feet" who, according to Wikipedia says: "If a Cuban is picked up at sea or walking toward shore, he/she will be repatriated by force. If he/she can make it to shore ("dry feet"), he/she is permitted to make a case for political asylum.". So this was not only a custody battle between the parents, but also an international conflict between two countries who have a very hostile relationship.

The reason I like this picture is because it shows a thing that nobody in that time considered about this conflict. And that was Elián. The kids are innocent and pure. they don't know absolutely nothing about the cold war or controversies about emigration. The both sides of this conflict just acted according their political ideologies, and didn't think about how he felt or what was the best for him.



If the people in the world think about fix the problems instead of try to find the guilty... maybe things like the Elián Gonzalez Affair could it be avoided.

My Favorite TV show

My favorite TV series is a teen drama soap opera called Dawson's Creek

It's a show about four teenagers living in a small town called Capeside (It's a fictional place) and dealing with the issues of real life like romance, betrayal, mistrust and some ethical dilemmas that I don't going to describe you because it would spoil some important parts of the plot. Let's just say it has a lot reveals and everyone of those are shocker than the last one.

Characters:
Dawson Leery (James Van Der Beek), a young filmmaker who wants to become the next Steven Spielberg and is helped by his best friends.
Joey Potter (Katie Holmes), a girl who lives with his older sister because her mother dies and has some feelings for Dawson.
Pacey Witter (Joshua Jackson) a very talented and smart guy who is treated by everyone else except his friends like an idiot.
Jen Lindley (Michelle Williams) a girl from New York that lives with her grandmother who is christian and tries to take her on the right way.

Oddly enough, I discovered this show, well... while I was watching another show. I saw a South Park episode called "Trapper Keeper" where one of the mayor plot points involved a computerized Dawson's Creek Trapper Keeper who conquers the world in the future (Don't ask, It's South Park). And then I remember I saw a promo of reruns of the show on MTV and then I said to myself: "Well Dawson's Creek, hit me with your best shot, show me what's the best thing you can do" and literally I got attracted by the first episode because it was THAT good.

So... What I like about this show? the writing. This doesn't feel like any other teen show I saw in the past. The situations feel so real and the characters are very identifiable. And also is very unpredictable, you can love or hate a character for the things that he or she do but in the next episode you can completely change your thoughs. Overall it's a great show.