My Gap Year

You can find here the information I've taken from.

Description of my grandpa

He is Manolo. My grandfather is the best grandfather that could exist in the world. When I am with him, time flies, literately. At this moment, he is seventy four years old but he seems a man who is in his sixties. Unfortunately, his physical conditions aren't very good but he tries to do most of the things my sister and I request for. For example, if I want to meet with my friends, he's the one who tries to bring me to wherever I want. Also, my grandpa and I have a special "family ship". We spend most of the time together and we talk about everything without problems.

He is not as tall as I am but he is old. In fact, he is one meter and seventy-nine centimetres, a good height for his age. At this moment he is not thin, he's plump. He doesn't do any kind of exercise (sports) but he does do what my grandma says because if not they argue. The tasks that she order to him aren't tasks like cleaning the washes...they require something else, such as climbing the wall (of a tower- as they live in a home that seems a tower- and painting it. Another task he often does is climbing to the roof (with a ladder) when has rained a lot because there is a space which the water can't fall down and this one produces leaks. So his job is putting out this water.
I don't know whether he is handsome or not because I can't see boys' beauty. However, as my mother says he is very handsome, let's give her the reason.

My grandpa is the kindest person in the world, the most ironic and the most jester. Even if he loves me, he likes teasing me, as I do with him. I treat him as he were one of my closest friends. Also, as most of the grandparents do or had done, he is always explaining amazing stories of him and his past and those moments are incredible. I hope he will live another fifty years to continue being with him.

Manolo loves talking about sex. There is no day that he doesn't mention any kind of words related with sex. Of course, he's always saying things about my girlfriend and I but I doesn't care as I can talk about anything without shame. However, there is a fact that I can't stand and he always do it. He controls me (when we leave school) to see what do I do and what I don't. If he sees something unusual, the first thing he's going to do is tattling my mum of what I had done.

So he is Manolo, an authentic person and the best one. As I said before, I hope he will be with me many years more, as most as possible.

TED Talks: Science connected to fashion?

Once I've seen some of the videos, I'm going to comment them. The first conference I saw is titled as Forget shopping. Soon you'll download your new clothes. As the title say, it talks about designing our clothes from our home. While Danit Peleg, the fashionable designer, was doing a fashion work in a school she thought about something new which consisted in elaborating our clothes and printing them. This person managed to design and create five different outfits (with a 3D builder printer) that were a mixture of flexible and strong at the same time. This made possible the everyday wear of this clothes.

The second video I saw is "called" Wearing nothing new. Jessi Arrington tells us that we don't have to buy new things to look better. She says we can just buy second-hand clothes and we can still being awesome and even more original and creative. As an example, she showed seven different second-hand outfits, one per day.

The third video I watched is Looks aren'teverything. Believe me, I'm a model. What Cameron Russell is telling us is that the picture of ourselves is power. Although, it's superficial, too. This model is considered honest by herself and she answered some questions that people usually ask her. The first question she answers is about how did she become a model. Then, she talks about if little girls could become models once they had grown up. Cameron also comments the "photoshopping" and the edited photos. Of course, most of them had been retouched to build the perfect girl or even a model for thousands of little girls that try to imitate her. At the end, after she had answer the questions, admits that she is insecure. She is considered like this because she has to think in his physical appearance every day. Even if she received many benefits in her favour, it didn't make her feel happy.

The last video I'd like to comment is Grow your own clothes. In this talk, Suzanne Lee explains us another way to create cloths which consists in growing a kombucha. To do it, you have to do a biotical process that includes these ingredients: green tea, sugar, microbes and time. Once this process is completed, you give the shape you want to change it in what you want. Suzanne is only showing her experiment but, of course, the other clothes's materials (wooden, leather...) are needed too.

As a conclusion, I'd like to say that what I've watched is interesting but I don't really see the point of the matter of some of these talks. For me, the idea of thinking new ways to earn money is good but, in my opinion, we are not going to substitute the kombucha for wooden. Nevertheless, I liked the video which Cameron Russell was talking because I think she had been very honest to us, the audience. I enjoyed that she finally confessed she was insecure because, probably, most of the models would never admit that they are just because they don't want to appear "less important".

Land Diving- Rite of passage

Lazarus

Lyrics

[Verse 1]

Look up here, I'm in heaven

I've got scars that can't be seen

I've got drama, can't be stolen

Everybody knows me now

[Verse 2]

Look up here, man, I'm in danger

I've got nothing left to lose

I'm so high, it makes my brain whirl

Dropped my cell phone down below

Ain't that just like me?

[Bridge]

By the time I got to New York

I was living like a king

Then I used up all my money

I was looking for your ass

[Verse 3]

This way or no way

You know I'll be free

Just like that bluebird

Now, ain't that just like me?

Oh, I'll be free

Just like that bluebird

Oh, I'll be free

Ain't that just like me?

Meaning

This song could be considerated a rite of passage because it is the last song before the author David Bowie died. He wrote this song having cancer so he knew that he was nearly death. In fact, 3 days after the publication of this song, David Bowie died. So we can consider it a rite of passage because is a way of leaving life and joining a new world which is dead. In some verses of the song, he is seen by himself in heaven (Look up here, I'm in heaven).


David Bowie wasn't important just in terms of music and fashion, but also in terms of how he carried some selves in the world. Here there is an example.

Elders react to David Bowie

As we can see, the reaction of the elders is surprising. All of them, once they began watching the video, become sad. For them, David Bowie has been an icon. A few of them are so sorry that become to cry and continued watching the images. However, others resisted and deduced that this video was done when David Bowie's life was ending because of his illness.

PROTEST SONGS

TALKING 'BOUT A REVOLUTION- Tracy Chapman (1988)

[Hook 1]

Don't you know

They're talkin' bout a revolution

It sounds like a whisper

Don't you know

They're talkin' about a revolution

It sounds like a whisper

[Verse ]

While they're standing in the welfare lines

Crying at the doorsteps of those armies of salvation

Wasting time in the unemployment lines

Sitting around waiting for a promotion

[Hook 1]

Don't you know

They're talkin' bout a revolution

It sounds like a whisper

Don't you know

They're talkin' bout a revolution

It sounds like a whisper

Poor people gonna rise up

And get their share

Poor people gonna rise up

And take what's theirs

[Bridge]

Don't you know

You better run, run, run, run,run,run,run,run,run,run,run

Oh I said you better run, run

Run,run,run,run,run,run,run,run,run,run

[Hook 2]

It's finally the tables are starting to turn

Talkin' bout a revolution

It's finally the tables are starting to turn

Talkin' bout a revolution oh no

Talkin' bout a revolution oh

[Verse]

While they're standing in the welfare lines

Crying at the doorsteps of those armies of salvation

Wasting time in the unemployment lines

Sitting around waiting for a promotion

[Hook 1]

Don't you know

Talkin' bout a revolution

It sounds like a whisper

And finally the tables are starting to turn

Talkin' bout a revolution

It's finally the tables are starting to turn

Talkin' bout a revolution, oh no

Talkin' bout a revolution, oh no

Talkin' bout a revolution, oh no

Meaning/Conclusion

TALKING 'BOUT A REVOLUTION is a Marxist song. Tracy sings about people wasting their lives for government assistance to have better jobs. The people in this song are whispering about change which is talking about a revolution. She says that these people are oppressed, kept from reaching the economic status of their friends. The only way they have to improve their lives is working for their bosses. The author is fighting against capitalsm and when it says “I said you better run, run, run,” she is making reference to the rich people that would be taken out.  Finally, poor people are goimg to rise up, get their share and take what's theirs. Then, the tables will turn, as she sings. That's why Tracy Chapman is saying You better run, run, run, run,run,run,run,run,run,run,run.

To conclude this short analysis of the song, I'd say that this song is a clear example of a rebel song. As I said before, this song is complaining about the economic system and that's why she wants to change it. Poor people and society need a big change, Marxism.