City lights
Documentary video promoting Mexico City with some very nice shots. Makes me even more anxious to go back!!
Una producción del Fondo Mixto de promoción turística de la Ciudad de México producido por AZOTEA POST
Co DIRECCIÓN: LUIS MANDOKI, MARIANA RODRÍGUEZ
Co FOTOGRAFÍA: ALBERTO ANAYA, ESTEBAN ARRANGOIZ
FOTOGRAFÍA ADICIONAL: ADOLFO DAVILA
Co EDICIÓN: MARIANA RODRÍGUEZ, YOAME ESCAMILLA
MÚSICA: ALEJANDRO CASTAÑOS
Ode to joy
To follow with the musical videos composed of mixing different sequences, I leave you today with a less serious take to classical music.
The perfect way to start the week. And obviously you can’t miss the classical Bohemian Rhapsody by the muppets 
Enjoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JruqUIjl5Sw
Mr. Sandman
Nowadays all you need is talent… and they say Internet is killing music & culture!
10 datos curiosos de México
Les comparto un mail que me ha enviado mi hermana. Aunque algunos son más o menos conocidos, hay otros bastante interesantes.
Saludos!
1.- ¿Sabías que el meteorito que provocó la extinción de los dinosaurios se estrelló, hace 65 millones de años, en lo que actualmente es el pueblo de Chicxulub en la costa de la península de Yucatán?
El impacto formó un cráter de 180 kilómetros de diámetro, que actualmente está sepultado sepultado a 600 metros de profundidad.
Fue descubierto en 1981 cuando trabajadores de Pemex hacían perforaciones en busca de yacimientos petroleros, detectando un cambio brusco de la densidad a esa profundidad.
2.- México significa ‘en el ombligo de la Luna’.
Del Náhuatl ‘Metztli’ (luna) y ‘xictli’ (ombligo). Los Aztecas lo pronunciaban ‘Meshico’. Los españoles lo escribían ‘Méjico’ ya que no existía la pronunciación de la ‘x’. La Real Academia de la Lengua permite las dos versiones: México y Méjico.
3.- ¿Sabes porqué se le llama Zócalo a la plaza central de la Ciudad de México?
En 1842 el presidente Antonio López de Santa Ana mandó construir en la entonces Plaza de la Constitución una gran columna conmemorando la Independencia. Sin embargo debido a múltiples problemas sólo se terminó la base o zócalo, la cual permaneció durante varios años hasta que fue retirada, pero el nombre llegó para quedarse.
4.- La residencia oficial de los presidentes mexicanos se llama ‘Los Pinos’ no porque en ella abunden estos árboles, sino en recuerdo de una huerta en Michoacán donde el presidente Lázaro Cárdenas (quién fue el primero en habitar dicha residencia)conoció a su esposa.
5.- México (el estado de Zacatecas) es el mayor productor de plata en el mundo.
6.- México es el mayor consumidor per cápita de coca cola a nivel mundial (527 botellas de ocho onzas por persona al año, superior al promedio de 411 en Estados Unidos).
7.- México es el país que tiene más taxis: 60,000 registrados (súmale los piratas).
8.- El nombre de la zona de México conocida como Península de ‘Yucatán’ se debe a que un conquistador preguntó a un maya cómo se llamaban esas tierras. El nativo probablemente le respondió: yuk ak katán.
Lo que el español no sabía es que en maya significa ‘no te entiendo’.
9.- El castillo de Chapultepec es el único castillo construido en el continente Americano donde han habitado monarcas.
10.- México, D.F. es la ciudad con el mayor número de museos en el mundo: 110 museos.
Tales of the unexpected
As always, a while without writing… but now the lack of projects at work and hence more free time is allowing me to write some thoughts So yeah, lets look at the positive side of the bad news
Well, recently it has been a weird mix of good and bad things… first of all, I received the visit from Gautam Chandarana, an old friendo from Erasmus I met in Jönköping, Sweden. It had been a veery long time since we last saw each other, to be more precise about 5 years. But what impressed me is how after such a long time during which we hardly communicated, he is still the same fun guy and we still get along great. He arrived last thursday and came with his brother… in a small detour from his family visits to London (although from indian origin, he was actually born in Kenya and lives in Florida ).
With Gautam and Rishnan’s visit, the bad news started… first, while cleaning I accidentaly connected my old Xbox directly to the powerline, which caused an inmediate puff followed by a thik and stinky cloud of white smoke declaring the death of my old Xbox. I think my poor old xbox almost deserves a post of its own 
It has a very peculiar story but in brief, I bought it in Canada in 2002 while studying a summer course. It was the first generation, just released… I carried it in my back to Mexico where it enjoyed years of service Then I took it with me to Querétaro, then back to México, and last February I brought it with me to Spain. While performing a software update I half-crippled it, loosing the ability to play movies, and now this weekend I gave the final blow… which I guess is a good excuse to buy a new xbox or PS3
But my bad luck didn’t end there… later on during the same day, while watching the TV with Gautam and his brother, it suddenly went pitch dark. At first, we thought it had accidentaly powered off, but no… it suddenly started making screetching noises and showing lines and odd things at the top of the screen. And so, both my xbox and tv died the same day 
The TV is almost new (3 months) so it is still covered by the warranty, however it is a royal pain in the ass.
But we end with some more good news I had a great time with Gautam during the weekend… we started off with Diwali dinner on friday, went to Segovia on saturday and visited Madrid on sunday. They are leaving tomorrow tuesday, and my parents are coming over, arriving on thursday and staying for a week! And yes, I will post pictures soon!
So in summary, unexpected bad news but still good news and good times to come
100 days
Today marks exactly 100 days since I arrived back to Spain from Mexico. This reminds me of two things… first, that I need to go pick up my new NIE card and second that time flies by extremely fast.
A lot has happenned in these 100 days… I started my new job at everis at which I also make today 3 months, meaning I am now officialy a permanent employee and no longer in “probation” period. Overall I have enjoyed a lot my new job and am still quite excited about it. It has had its ups and downs but it has been a very positive experience and helped me met lots new people…
I have also had the opportunity to have some unforgettable trips and obviously lets not forget about the parties I now have a new home to which I will hopefully be moving to in a week, which excites me a lot since I will now be living on my own for the first time, with all the advantages and freedom that means, but also with all the responsabilities and hard work it requires. But I think its a good step forward… so we’ll see, i will keep you updated when I finally move.
cheers!
Where do you go to?
You talk like Marlene Dietrich and you dance like Zizi Jean-Maire.
Your clothes are all made by Balmain and there’s diamonds and pearls in your hair.
You live in a fancy apartment off the Boulevard St. Michel
Where you keep your Rolling Stones records and a friend of Sasha Distel.
You go to the embassy parties where you talk in Russian and Greek
And the young men who move in your circles, they hang on every word you speak.
But where do you go to my lovely… when you’re alone in your bed.
Tell me the thoughts that surround you. I want to look inside your head.
I’ve seen all your qualifications that you got from the Sorbonne
And the painting you stole from Picasso. Your loveliness goes on and on.
When you go on your summer vacation, you go to Juan-les-Pins
With your carefully designed topless swimsuit
You get an even suntan on your back and on your legs.
And when the snow falls you’re found in St. Moritz with the others of the jet set.
And you sip your Napoleon brandy, but you never get your lips wet.
But where do you go to my lovely… when you’re alone in your bed.
Tell me the thoughts that surround you. I want to look inside your head.
You’re in between twenty and thirty, a very desirable age.
You’re body is firm and inviting, but you live on a glittering stage.
Your name it is heard in high places. You know the Agha Khan.
He sent you a race horse for Christmas and you keep it just for fun, for a laugh, aha aha.
They say that when you get married, it will be to a millionaire.
But they don’t realize where you came from and I wonder if they really care, or give a damn.
But where do you go to my lovely… when you’re alone in your bed.
Tell me the thoughts that surround you. I want to look inside your head.
Ah, remember the back streets of Naples, two children begging in rags
Both touched with a burning ambition to shake off their lowly-born tags, so they try.
So look into my face Marie-Claire and remember just who you are.
Then go and forget me forever
But I know you still bear the scar deep inside, yes, you do.
Ah, I know where you go to my lovely… when you’re alone in your bed.
I know the thoughts that surround you, cause I can look inside your head. na na na na na…..
Peter Sarstedt
X-Ray Photography
Internet is very useful for finding useless stuff… and this is the case of a gallery of images made with an X-Ray ‘camera’… Quite interesting, specially for people who like to break things up and figure out what things are made of You can view the full gallery here.
In an absolut world…
Absolut Vodka, world famous for its ads, had to remove this ad destined to the Mexican market due to the complaints received from americans. The ad features a real map of Mexico from 1830 when it included the states of Texas, California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Nuevo Mexico and parts of Colorado and Wyoming.
I think its interesting to notice how fast they reacted to an ad of a real map, but invading another country is ok. Turns out its a relative world after all…
Expanding the limits of creativity!
Björk’s new video for the song Wanderlust of the album Volta has just been released… it is (in my humble opinion) a groundbraking video, and following Björk’s tradition it will make you either love it or hate it, but its hard not to notice it.
Not wanting to spoil it for whomever hasn’t seen it, I won’t say much about it, but I really recommend it. I personally liked it a lot, and yes, when you see it the first thing that comes to your mind is “What the hell did they smoke to make that??”. Well, as it turns out, they didn’t smoke anything… they just had some mushrooms Yes, you read that right hehe. The video was made by the duo Encyclopedia Pictura and as they stated in this interview by the NY Times, they did have some shrooms to write the video. What makes me wonder… is it ethical to create such innovative ‘art’ by using illegal aids? Its like going to the olympic games but on steroids don’t you think?
In any case, I think the video is great. You can watch it below from YouTube but I really recommend watching it HERE at a much higher resolution.
Enjoy (or not!)
Back to routine
Bueno, pues con el regreso a Madrid llego también el regreso al trabajo y a la rutina.
Esta semana finalmente comencé a trabajar asignado a un proyecto de verdad, y no a hacer propuestas. Por lo mismo, también fue la primera vez que trabajé directamente en cliente, lo cual debo decir que fue mejor a lo que esperaba. Desafortunadamente, al ya estar en un proyecto, pues ha habido bastante trabajo, y esta próxima semana que tenemos la primer entrega estará aún más pesada. Pero bueno, aún así estoy bastante contento… me la he pasado bien y creo que estoy aprendiendo bastante.
En otros temas, ayer fuí a la super fiesta de M80 Radio… una estación de radio de Madrid que yo por supuesto que ni siquiera sabía que existía, pero que Alex consiguio entradas y me invito, a lo cual no pude decir que no Bueno, pues para los no-madrileños les cuento que M80 Radio es algo así como Mix FM de México pero con música un poco más vieja Tocan los “éxitos” de los 70′s, 80′s y 90′s… así que como se imaginarán la fiesta estuvo bastante alternativa a lo que estoy acostumbrado. Había gente de todo tipo: desde abueletes hasta super chavos… aunque en general la mayoría eran hombres cuarentones. No obstante, me la pase bien y con muy buena compañía: Alex, Virginia, Juan y Sandra.
Y bueno, no hay mucho más que contar… ha sido una semana tranquila, con mucho trabajo y poca fiesta. Hoy espero haya un poco más
Brainwash
Well, I think it was time for a change, so here it comes… hopefully for the better.
It has been a long time without really writing, and it comes to my mind the reason for this is (besides laziness) a fundamental change in my life… I am no longer ‘temporarily’ in Madrid, but it now has become a relatively permanent stay. Hence, I have decided to change the focus of my blog from a ‘postcard’ type of blog narrating events to a more personal one, where I will try to share what I think, my opinions, what I find interesting and yes, also what happens in my life.
For this, I believe it is important to try and write with a much higher frequency, but at the same time in a much more relaxed form. I don’t pretend to convert this into a twitter, but I may write very short posts from time to time. Also, I will try to alternate between english and spanish, depending on what is more appropriate for the corresponding post.
To emphasize the change in focus, I have also decided to change the look of my blog… of which some of you may have already noticed, but for the people using feeds please visit my blog and let me know what you think!
Cheers!
Electrical Mario Bros
It is amazing what can be done for science experiments…
The sound is actually generated by varying the voltage on the two solid-state Tesla coils.
Google Earth Flight Sim
Well, as it has recently been published on several sites around the Internet, there is an easter egg which has been discovered in Google Earth that enables a flight simulator. Well, I have been trying it and although it is very basic, it is absolutely amazing. To start it, you need to press Ctrl-Alt-A (or Cmd-Ald-A in a mac) and it will show you a dialog box to pick the plane and starting location. And that is basically all that its needed.
Although not a very advanced flight simulator, it is extremely fun to fly over cities with all the real satellite imagery, and what’s best, with all the 3D buildings directly from Google Earth! I think it is very easy to switch from a “mapping” application and just add some movement and physics functions to turn it into a flight sim, but the result is absolutely amazing. Check out the pics!
And why not fly over your house? or on top of the Aztec stadium? and land on Av. Reforma!
And what amazes me the most, is how the flexibility of Google and the power of communities is enabling it to release all of this cool stuff, but at the same time it is starting to compete with a new set of players… If they only add a bit more code and make it a little more complete, why buy a flight sim game if you can play this for free and with real, updated data!? Only God knows what will happen with Google as it keeps on groing.
Young Frankenstein
Really a walk down memory lane…
and yeah, trailers really sucked. Some still do but usually they put more effort into them… marketing obviously.
Summer ads
This are the best ads of the summer… at least in Spain jeje.
Renault Megane
Atún Claro Calvo
Blog’s Worth
I have found this “widget” by Technorati, the most important analyzer and search tool for blogs. It uses the popularity of your blog to estimate its worth:
My blog is worth $2,258.16.
How much is your blog worth?
So where do I cash my money?
Pocoyo 2
Get ready for the second season of Pocoyo!
San Francisco in ruins
This picture was floating around the web a few weeks ago, and I thought it was absolutely amazing but forgot to post it… so finally here it is hehe Taken from a blimp, it shows a panoramic view of San Francisco’s Bay area in 1906 after the earthquake. It is amazing how all the city was planned. Obviously, the golden gate bridge is not there yet
cheers!
Learning of the day…
As they say, everyday you should learn something new, and I believe I do. But today I learned something that I think is very interesting so I decided to share it, I hope you enjoy:
What is the difference between eggs & bacon?
That the hen is involved but the pig is committed! 