Seinfeld was an American TV sitcom which lasted 9 seasons (from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998) and was considered by several magazines the greatest Television series of all times. Its protagonist, Jerry Seinfeld, was at the same time one of its writers. In real life, Jerry is a comedian who can barely act but makes this lack of acting talent just what the character needs to make everything even funnier.
The show is pretty much about the life of neurotic stand-up comedian Jerry and his equally neurotic friends. It is considered to be postmodern and has been many times described as being “about nothing at all”. The characters are all selfish, egocentric people who go through life making others miserable and never learning from their mistakes. However, there’s no single episode in which you despise them or get, at least, a little “angry” at them. The series doesn’t make you feel sorry for anyone.
Apart from all the DVD collections with special scenes, explanations, anecdotes and so on and so forth, there is even a book called “Seinlanguage” which compiles all the catchphrases and terms which were almost invented by the sitcom, and became so popular that they are now used as everyday language, such as “close/low/high-talker” (referring to the distance and volume a talker uses), “slider” (referring to a person who can walk around without being heard), “double dip” (referring to the act of dipping twice) and many more.
The series was not only excellent, but also had the perfect ending it could have existed for it, which almost never happens which such good TV shows. The last episode enjoyed an audience estimated at 76 million viewers making it the third most watched finale in television history.
As many other successful TV shows, it is said to be a curse on its characters since none of the TV programmes they have starred in after “Seinfeld” was successful. The term “curse” is, of course, an exaggeration. Larry Davis, one of the show’s creator and writer, said the idea was even idiotic. But, the thing is that after seeing Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Michael Richards play the most spectacular characters in the amazing context created by “Seinfeld”, it is very hard to watch them doing something else.
Sources:
Wikipedia
IMDb
Friday, 5 November 2010
Thursday, 4 November 2010
Are we getting closer again?
Even though I consider myself “off the market” right now, I would like to explore human relations as if I were an active member of the group involved.
There are those times in which a night out with friends can end up being the first step into a relationship. You are dancing as if nobody was watching and suddenly a boy approaches you and takes your hand as an invitation to dance together. Everything goes well, conversation is great, he is quite good-looking, and you see him as, at least, someone who you can have a good time with.
Now, what happens when the disco is closing? No, not that! I’m pretty naive and old fashioned so don’t go that way! Come follow my trend of thought: When the night at the disco comes to an end, you both wish to find a way to keep in touch with this new ex-stranger. How do you do that?
The generation before mine, would exchange phone numbers. My generation replaced them with e-mail addresses; cold, non-committal and impersonal e-mail addresses. The conversations held face to face at the disco would carry on through MSN, having no chance to express true emotions properly and giving too much space to misinterpretation.
Later on, e-mail addresses were replaced by cell phone numbers, which seem to be even colder than e-mails but are in fact, in my opinion, a step back to the old telephone numbers that allowed real interaction. Giving someone your cell phone number means so much more than giving out your e-mail address.
But that doesn’t stop there! The last trend is to tell people your facebook alias so that they can find you and add you as their “friend”. Now, of course you have the option of ignoring the request, but you will probably not do it cause you like the boy, remember? Have you noticed that by adding him as your friend you’re opening the door for him to see everything about you? Your family – whom he shouldn’t meet until at least 5 months – your friends – whom he shouldn’t meet until he is really in love with you so that he wouldn’t see some are hotter than you – and your idiotic likes, dislikes, games, posts and everything else that unravel your inner self – which he shouldn’t see until you are married and he has no way to escape.
So, I wonder: aren’t these new technologies drawing us too close as to sabotage love?
There are those times in which a night out with friends can end up being the first step into a relationship. You are dancing as if nobody was watching and suddenly a boy approaches you and takes your hand as an invitation to dance together. Everything goes well, conversation is great, he is quite good-looking, and you see him as, at least, someone who you can have a good time with.
Now, what happens when the disco is closing? No, not that! I’m pretty naive and old fashioned so don’t go that way! Come follow my trend of thought: When the night at the disco comes to an end, you both wish to find a way to keep in touch with this new ex-stranger. How do you do that?
The generation before mine, would exchange phone numbers. My generation replaced them with e-mail addresses; cold, non-committal and impersonal e-mail addresses. The conversations held face to face at the disco would carry on through MSN, having no chance to express true emotions properly and giving too much space to misinterpretation.
Later on, e-mail addresses were replaced by cell phone numbers, which seem to be even colder than e-mails but are in fact, in my opinion, a step back to the old telephone numbers that allowed real interaction. Giving someone your cell phone number means so much more than giving out your e-mail address.
But that doesn’t stop there! The last trend is to tell people your facebook alias so that they can find you and add you as their “friend”. Now, of course you have the option of ignoring the request, but you will probably not do it cause you like the boy, remember? Have you noticed that by adding him as your friend you’re opening the door for him to see everything about you? Your family – whom he shouldn’t meet until at least 5 months – your friends – whom he shouldn’t meet until he is really in love with you so that he wouldn’t see some are hotter than you – and your idiotic likes, dislikes, games, posts and everything else that unravel your inner self – which he shouldn’t see until you are married and he has no way to escape.
So, I wonder: aren’t these new technologies drawing us too close as to sabotage love?
Halloween – Possible in Argentina?
Halloween is celebrated in many countries, such us the USA, Ireland, Canada and Scotland. There, children wearing all sorts of fancy dresses go house by house trick-or-treating, normally accompanied by their parents if they are too young to wander the streets alone.
As a child, I would watch films or TV shows in which this tradition was portrayed and would dream about joining this ritual. As an adult I ask myself: would it be possible to imitate such a celebration in our country? How would that work in Argentina? Or, in fact, would it work at all?
Let’s start with the essential prop: the costume. Would Argentine mothers spend hours and hours cutting fabrics, sewing and embroidering? Or would they just say: “Listen honey, I have to clean the house, take care of you, go to work and still try to look at least presentable. I have no time for handicrafts”? Okay, so let’s rent a costume! “Oh, baby! We have to pay our huge bills, spend our savings to do the shopping that will last only for a month and pay the rent of our house! We barely have some money left to buy some new items of clothing every two or three months”.
Now what about the ritual itself? Would parents accompany their children? They probably don’t have time or are too tired because they have to work 24/7. So, would they let their children go alone? I don’t really think so, as it is worrying enough to let your child walk a block alone to buy some candies because of the unstoppable wave of insecurity. But supposing parents do accompany their children or do let them go alone, would people open the door of their houses to some stranger wearing masks? Yes, sure…
As a child, I would watch films or TV shows in which this tradition was portrayed and would dream about joining this ritual. As an adult I ask myself: would it be possible to imitate such a celebration in our country? How would that work in Argentina? Or, in fact, would it work at all?
Let’s start with the essential prop: the costume. Would Argentine mothers spend hours and hours cutting fabrics, sewing and embroidering? Or would they just say: “Listen honey, I have to clean the house, take care of you, go to work and still try to look at least presentable. I have no time for handicrafts”? Okay, so let’s rent a costume! “Oh, baby! We have to pay our huge bills, spend our savings to do the shopping that will last only for a month and pay the rent of our house! We barely have some money left to buy some new items of clothing every two or three months”.
Now what about the ritual itself? Would parents accompany their children? They probably don’t have time or are too tired because they have to work 24/7. So, would they let their children go alone? I don’t really think so, as it is worrying enough to let your child walk a block alone to buy some candies because of the unstoppable wave of insecurity. But supposing parents do accompany their children or do let them go alone, would people open the door of their houses to some stranger wearing masks? Yes, sure…
ESL Printables - you've got to try it!
Have you ever found the perfect book? That one in which the topics and grammar points are presented in the exact way you would teach them; that one which gives you loads of supplementary material so that you never have to prepare anything on your own and squeeze your brain trying to write sentences and texts in which they can practise everything you have just taught. Well, I haven’t.
I love giving my students exercises that are different from the ones they have in their books because I think they have to be ready for everything. It is undeniable that there are some grammar points that need far more practice than others, and unfortunately, no book author seems to bare that in mind. At least, that I know of.
Searching the internet for extra material, I’ve found what is, for me, the best site for teachers. ESL Printables is a site massively used by teachers from all over the world. What is the key for its success and excellence? Its perfect system. The site offers you an incredibly wide variety of flashcards, worksheets, lesson plans, powerpoints, online exercises and many more things. But not everyone has access to them. To download the files you want, you need points. How do you get them? You share with your colleagues some material you have created. Once you’ve uploaded something you’ve authored, people will start downloading it, and every time someone does so, you get one point. And that’s pretty much how it works.
And as if finding exactly what you need ready for printing was not enough, the site also gives you the fantastic sense of belonging. There are many people who leave comments thanking you for your contribution and saying great things about your work. The system which, in a way, obliges you to do your bit, is also teaching you how rewarding it is to share.
I love giving my students exercises that are different from the ones they have in their books because I think they have to be ready for everything. It is undeniable that there are some grammar points that need far more practice than others, and unfortunately, no book author seems to bare that in mind. At least, that I know of.
Searching the internet for extra material, I’ve found what is, for me, the best site for teachers. ESL Printables is a site massively used by teachers from all over the world. What is the key for its success and excellence? Its perfect system. The site offers you an incredibly wide variety of flashcards, worksheets, lesson plans, powerpoints, online exercises and many more things. But not everyone has access to them. To download the files you want, you need points. How do you get them? You share with your colleagues some material you have created. Once you’ve uploaded something you’ve authored, people will start downloading it, and every time someone does so, you get one point. And that’s pretty much how it works.
And as if finding exactly what you need ready for printing was not enough, the site also gives you the fantastic sense of belonging. There are many people who leave comments thanking you for your contribution and saying great things about your work. The system which, in a way, obliges you to do your bit, is also teaching you how rewarding it is to share.
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
One of the most painful female rituals: Waxing
One of the many painful aspects of being a woman is the fact that we always have to be looking good. To achieve this we go through lots of processes among which we can find one that men cannot understand: waxing. They say “why do you give yourself so much pain just to remove some hairs?” The answer probably is “because it works”. It‘s probably one of the best ways to achieve hair removal. Proof of this is that it has been used for a very very long time.
Around 60 B.C Egyptian women like Cleopatra used a method called “sugaring” (which is still used today), similar to waxing but having oil and honey as its main ingredients. For the Egyptians, a hairless and smooth body was a symbol of beauty, youth and innocence.
Later, The Greeks took this idea of a smooth body and thought body hair was ugly. So, mostly the women in the upper class removed every single hair, except for the eyebrows (just like the Egyptians). This can be seen in the sculptures dating from that time.
The Romans shared these views and every woman used different means of depilation (tweezers called the "volsella" and a kind of depilatory cream, the "philotrum" or "dropax", the forerunner of the current depilatory creams!) Waxing was done with resin or pitch.
Then, the Turks considered it sinful for a woman to have hair in her private parts. So, as soon as she felt hair growing there, she had to hurry into public baths and remove it. There were, and still are, special rooms in public baths for women to do so.
However, in the 1550s, Catherine de Medici, Queen of France, forbade her ladies in waiting to remove their pubic hair. This strange prohibition made waxing fall out of fashion and also broke this link between classy women and hair removal.
Waxing was brought back into the game with the invention of the bikini. In the 1960s, smoothness was rediscovered, and in the late 1980s, two Brazilian sisters took their Brazilian waxes to New York City.
Sources:
Get Waxing
LiveStrong.Com
History Undressed
Hair Removal Forum
Around 60 B.C Egyptian women like Cleopatra used a method called “sugaring” (which is still used today), similar to waxing but having oil and honey as its main ingredients. For the Egyptians, a hairless and smooth body was a symbol of beauty, youth and innocence.
Later, The Greeks took this idea of a smooth body and thought body hair was ugly. So, mostly the women in the upper class removed every single hair, except for the eyebrows (just like the Egyptians). This can be seen in the sculptures dating from that time.
The Romans shared these views and every woman used different means of depilation (tweezers called the "volsella" and a kind of depilatory cream, the "philotrum" or "dropax", the forerunner of the current depilatory creams!) Waxing was done with resin or pitch.
Then, the Turks considered it sinful for a woman to have hair in her private parts. So, as soon as she felt hair growing there, she had to hurry into public baths and remove it. There were, and still are, special rooms in public baths for women to do so.
However, in the 1550s, Catherine de Medici, Queen of France, forbade her ladies in waiting to remove their pubic hair. This strange prohibition made waxing fall out of fashion and also broke this link between classy women and hair removal.
Waxing was brought back into the game with the invention of the bikini. In the 1960s, smoothness was rediscovered, and in the late 1980s, two Brazilian sisters took their Brazilian waxes to New York City.
Sources:
Get Waxing
LiveStrong.Com
History Undressed
Hair Removal Forum
Sunday, 31 October 2010
Kill the talkers
Warning: this post may contain high levels of irony, sarcasm and anger against the world. If you are a happy laid-back person, you will not feel identified with it and may even find it offensive.
If you ARE one of these talkers, feel free to be offended. That’s the aim =)
I probably shouldn’t be writing this right now because, although I’m already an easily irritable person, I might be at my peak now. But anyway, my rage serves as my inspiration, my disgusting muse. Equally awful is the subject of my topic: the talker.
As teachers, we may easily focus on the talkers within our classroom – we probably have as much material as to write a book about it. They are annoying, yes; they disturb the peace we so eagerly try to find in our teaching atmosphere, yes; they spoil each and every wonderful activity we’ve so thoroughly planned, yes. And yet, to me, they are not the source of my anger. They are not even close to it.
There are two types of talkers that really get on my nerves. One of those is the cinema talker. The person who disturbs the peace and quiet of the whole theatre and can even make you miss some lines of the film. I’ve always wondered what the purpose of this hateful ritual is, but I don’t think there’s a proper answer to that. The reason is probably plain stupidity.
But the worst talker in the entire world is the concert talker, who is actually talker-singer. Where did these people come from? What kind of mind is able to believe that I pay money to listen to him/her singing while the real singer is doing so? This is frankly beyond my understanding. Even if they sing well, I want to listen to the artist on stage! Is that hard to understand?
If you ARE one of these talkers, feel free to be offended. That’s the aim =)
I probably shouldn’t be writing this right now because, although I’m already an easily irritable person, I might be at my peak now. But anyway, my rage serves as my inspiration, my disgusting muse. Equally awful is the subject of my topic: the talker.
As teachers, we may easily focus on the talkers within our classroom – we probably have as much material as to write a book about it. They are annoying, yes; they disturb the peace we so eagerly try to find in our teaching atmosphere, yes; they spoil each and every wonderful activity we’ve so thoroughly planned, yes. And yet, to me, they are not the source of my anger. They are not even close to it.
There are two types of talkers that really get on my nerves. One of those is the cinema talker. The person who disturbs the peace and quiet of the whole theatre and can even make you miss some lines of the film. I’ve always wondered what the purpose of this hateful ritual is, but I don’t think there’s a proper answer to that. The reason is probably plain stupidity.
But the worst talker in the entire world is the concert talker, who is actually talker-singer. Where did these people come from? What kind of mind is able to believe that I pay money to listen to him/her singing while the real singer is doing so? This is frankly beyond my understanding. Even if they sing well, I want to listen to the artist on stage! Is that hard to understand?
Tuesday, 31 August 2010
The best performance ever
I know that we all have had that gorgeous experience of listening to a song that explains exactly what we feel. It’s amazing, I know. But what’s even more amazing is that a person can have the admirable capacity of putting such feelings into words and, moreover, into a song! We tend to think that one cannot go beyond that. And yet, some do. There are singers that can not only write incredibly touching songs, but also interpret them as if they were dying on stage!
Once upon a time Elvis Costello wrote a perfect song. A true work of art. A piece with so much feeling that, sung by him, was thought to be glorious and unbeatable. But one day, he invited Fiona Apple to sing it and she proved everyone wrong.
The song is called “I want you”. It tells the story of a boy who is deeply in love with a girl but she betrays him, and the boy’s love becomes an obsession. He uses the words “I want you” in order to hide his “I love you”, which causes him so much pain.
Luckily, I have never been in that situation, but Fiona surely has. Or maybe she’s the best actress in the whole world and knows like no one on earth how to play a character. I have never seen someone get so much into the song. Her angelical flawless face starts to transform and she ends up looking as a total psycho. When the song is over, she can’t even smile at the applause of the audience.
I would really like you to take a look at this amazing video and tell me what you think of it. I’m also sharing with you the lyrics in a google doc.
Enjoy!
Once upon a time Elvis Costello wrote a perfect song. A true work of art. A piece with so much feeling that, sung by him, was thought to be glorious and unbeatable. But one day, he invited Fiona Apple to sing it and she proved everyone wrong.
The song is called “I want you”. It tells the story of a boy who is deeply in love with a girl but she betrays him, and the boy’s love becomes an obsession. He uses the words “I want you” in order to hide his “I love you”, which causes him so much pain.
Luckily, I have never been in that situation, but Fiona surely has. Or maybe she’s the best actress in the whole world and knows like no one on earth how to play a character. I have never seen someone get so much into the song. Her angelical flawless face starts to transform and she ends up looking as a total psycho. When the song is over, she can’t even smile at the applause of the audience.
I would really like you to take a look at this amazing video and tell me what you think of it. I’m also sharing with you the lyrics in a google doc.
Enjoy!
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