2012/03/28

Gallardon 'the Hater'

I thought that, as a spanish citizen, my rights on abortion were safe... but the woman haters (PP) are back in power with absolute majority and their moves have started.
It had been hinted that, if they won, the homosexual marriage law would be at risk, but they have decided to start with abortion.
Alberto Ruiz Gallardon, who is known for bieng the most left sided person in the political party he belongs to (PP) stated the following in an open session in the congress:

"La maternidad es lo que hace a las mujeres verdaderamente mujeres [...][y los poderes públicos tienen que actuar] para garantizar el derecho a la maternidad".

Literal translation:
"Motherhood is what makes women real women [...] and the public powers have to act to grant the right of motherhood".

In context, what he said is that motherhood is what makes women real women and because of that abortion should be ilegal, because it keeps women from complete realization, and that the government intends to take measures in that direction.

There are a bunch of things I'd like to point out.

  1. This person, as male, has no right or knowledge to decide what's what makes us women.
  2. I may even believe, that in my own case, it is possible that I think motherhood is the only way of bringing me complete happyness, but I still made a choice not to have children. This person doesn't have the right to force me to personal realization.
  3. Let's say we were living in a creepy society where personal realization was, in fact, compulsory. Where does Gallardón's reasoning leave all that women who, for one reason or another, are incapable of giving birth? Why does he condemn them to not being able of being real women?
  4. In what universe is a relation between granting the right of motherhood and ilegalizing abortion? Why are motherhood and abortion treated as contraries when they are not? Can't you have an abortion at 18 because you don't feel ready to have kids yet and have then later in your live? Can't you be a mother of a dozen of kids who decides that thirteen is too many?
  5. Why does he say "grant the right of motherhood" when the only thing understandable from his logic is the "destruction of the right to choose motherhood"? Is he really spaeking of making motherhood compulsory? Because that's what it sounds like.

Really, I prefer the "abortion is murder" line by too much.


2012/03/27

When your rivals dissapoint you...

It has happened to me several times that, after hearing/reading something that really annoys me, like, enought to give a reply, it is missunderstood, often as a possitive comment.
In that cases the severe idiocy of the person I'm trying to comunicate with dissapoints that much it leaves me with nothing else to say.

And it happened yesterday.
April is coming so the web is full of what I call "Autism Awareness Bullshit" and I ran into a gorgeous example on twitter.
I'm going to reproduce that and the subsequent conversation here for you to enjoy:

  • @Kittysolpink said: "Remember next month is Autism awareness. Hoping for a cure for all those dealing with this condition."
  • I (@SaiShi_Shi) couldn't stop myself and replied: "@Kittysolpink I've got #Aspergers and I'm hoping for a cure for all those dealing with your condition."
  • The brilliant answer I got was:"@SaiShi_Shi I do not have the condition my nephew those."
I just managed to assume she meant "does" when wrote "those" in that last tweet. Everything else is buried that deep in idiocy it keeps being a mystery for me.

Maybe twitter need italics, or bolds, or something...

2012/03/22

Reto: 30 días de libros. Día 1: tu libro favorito.



Así que no sé. No tengo ni idea!

Me pasé toda la adolescencia diciendo que "El Elfo Oscuro", de R.A. Salvatore, era mi libro favorito. Todavía me encanta, pero el cariño que le tengo (y también el que le tenía entonces) se lo tengo más por ser un símbolo en mi vida que como obra literaria. Lo que sea.
Y eso es lo que pasa con la mayoría de los libros que me encantan. No me encantan por el argumento, los personajes o el lenguaje sino por razones externas, porque los relaciono con experiencias personales, y no me parece que ése sea el método para elegir un libro favorito.

Y para colmo, tengo una cosa especial con los libros que me hace disfrutar de todo lo que leo, o si no, no lo leo, y tengo una estantería llena de libros justo detrás de mi escritorio y miro entre los títulos y ninguno sobresale por haberme gustado más que el resto.

Pero.

El libro que he recomendado a más gente los últimos años es "El Cuento Número Trece" de Diane Setterfield (ojo, que recomiendo la versión original, no creo que a un libro como ése le haya sentado bien el español), así que lo voy a elegir como mi favorito.
Lo que más me gustó fue el lenguaje, la forma en la que está escrito, y el ambiente.
Leo acompañada de una libreta y un boli desde que leí "El Mundo de Sofía" a los 16, y anoto las cosas que me llaman la atención, o las ideas que me vienen a la mente al leer una cierta frase. Anoté toneladas de cosas al leer "El Cuento Número Trece". Me cautivaron las palabras: las imágenes, las metáforas. Me cautivó la tragedia. Me cautivó el hecho de que la historia estuviera aislada de todo y que no echara en falta nada mientras leía.

Cuando lo leí por segunda vez encontré alguna cosilla que no me gustó (sobre todo el tratamiento que se le da al personaje de Adeline) pero la primera vez no hubo nada, nada que rompiera el hechizo. Me empapé del universo Angelfield como no me he empapado de ningún otro.

day 1: your favorite book



So, I don’t know. I ain’t got an idea!

I spent my teen years saying that “The Dark Elf” by R.A. Salvatore was my favorite book. I still love it a lot, but I love (and  loved) it more as a symbol in my life than as a piece of literature. Whatever.
And that’s what happens with most of the books I love. I don’t love them because of the plot and the language but because of external reasons, because I link them with personal experiences and I don’t think that’s the way of choosing a favorite book.

And then, I’ve got a thing for books, so I like and enjoy everything I read or else I don’t read it, and I’ve got a shelf full of books right behind my desk and I’m searching along the titles and none really stands out as one that I liked over the rest.

But.

The book I recomended to more people in the last couple of years is Diane Setterfield’s “The Thirteenth Tale”, so I’ll choose it as my favorite.
I mostly liked the way it was writen, and the atmosphere.
I always have a pen and a notebook when I’m reading (since I read “Sophia’s World” then I was 16) and I note whatever thing that gets my atention or whatever thought I have while reading a certain phrase. I noted tones of things while reading “The Thirteenth Tale”. I loved the language above all, the images, the metaphors. I loved the tragedy. I loved how it was isolated from everything else and how you didn’t miss anything while reading.
When I read it for the 2nd time I found some things I didn’t like (mostly the treatment given  Adeline’s character) but the fisrt time, there was nothing, nothing, nothing that broke the enchantment. I was into the universe of Angelfiend as I have never been in any other.

2012/03/21

Trying to get serious about blogging: 30 day book challenge

I picked this challenge from Nominatissima and she did from amandatheatheist.
I want to get serious about blogging but I can not, because I get lazy and it takes a lot of work to write a good post and all that stuff so I thought a series on a given subject like this one will help me. Also because I'm enjoying a lot Nominatissima's posts on it, I thought it would be fun doing it myself.
And I also want to get into criticism, and don't expect anything serious on that line at least on the first posts of the challenge butjust  maybe by the last ones?
Whatever.

So this is the thing:
Day 1: Favorite book
Day 2: Least favorite book
Day 3: Book that makes you laugh out loud
Day 4: Book that makes you cry
Day 5: Book you wish you could live in
Day 6: Favorite young adult book
Day 7: Book that you can quote/recite
Day 8: Book that scares you
Day 9: Book that makes you
Day 10: Book that changed your
Day 11: Book from your favorite
Day 12: Book that is most like your life
Day 13: Book whose main character is most like you
Day 14: Book whose main character you want to marry
Day 15: First “chapter book” you can remember reading as a child
Day 16: Longest book you’ve read
Day 17: Shortest book you’ve read
Day 18: Book you’re most embarrassed to say you like
Day 19: Book that turned you on
Day 20: Book you’ve read the most number of times
Day 21: Favorite picture book from childhood
Day 22: Book you plan to read next
Day 23: Book you tell people you’ve read, but haven’t (or haven’t actually finished)
Day 24: Book that contains your favorite scene
Day 25: Favorite book you read in school
Day 26: Favorite nonfiction book
Day 27: Favorite fiction book
Day 28: Last book you read
Day 29: Book you’re currently reading
Day 30: Favorite coffee table book

I'll have the first post by tomorrow, and I'll try to have one each weekday (it's not that I don't work on weekends but that I do XD).
I'm also thinking of writing the posts of this series both in English and in Spanish, because my Spanish followers never read my blog? and I'm hoping it is a languague issue. And because I'm losing the ability to think in Spanish myself- creepy.

So!: see you tomorrow :)

2012/03/12

Brilliance

It's been a while since Clarissa expressed her opinion about brilliance in students and it made me think "Oh, she's wrong, she's so wrong" but I decided not to tell my opinion in that moment.
However, I've just received evidence to support my view and that's why I'm writing this (which is bassically boasting).

I'm cursing my second year in "Estudios Ingleses: Lengua, Literatura y Cultura" at unibersity. I made an enormous mistake (or maybe, not that enourmous, or not a mistake at all xD) and took all the subjects of the course. I soon learnt that there wasn't time for all that in my life. The most time consuming subject was "Gender and Literature in English Speaking Countries". I loved it, so totally loved it, but properly working on it was going to make me fail the rest of the subjects, so I dropped it. I would work hard on it my whole Summer and take my exam on September.

So I dind't prepare the subject at all.
I decided to do the exam anyway, just to give it a try.

And well, it's a shame I will not be able to get a distinction on September... but I'm pretty happy with my 80 points!!


And now, the conclussion of it all: Brilliance does work, but you've got to be brilliant enought.

2012/03/07

Shoujo-ed

This post will be inmenselly stupid but I relly need to blurt it out...

I've been reading tons and tons of shoujo manga lately, concretelly school-life ones: "Usotsuki Lily", "Love Berrish", <<Say "I love you">>, "Strobe Edge", "Five" (this one is fun :)), "Stardus Wink", "Rockin' Heaven", "Love and Noise" and "Hiyokoi".

It's an emergency situation!
At this rate, I will dump Dir en Grey for Ayumi Hamasaki any day now-

The thing is that I can not find any decent manga lately. So just in case anyone has a recomendation: Please!! I can not have any other troubled heroine in love!!
I need to find something engaging and interesting in the lines of Dead Note, Deadman Wonderland, Para-Paru or even Fairy Tail-
There are a bunch of interesting looking stories out there but the drawings are horrible in all of them, and that's what's good in those shoujo mangas: the drawings need to be as cute as the characters, so they're good.