EUREKA!!!!

That's what Lila wanted to say when she screamed at the captain 'I'm wathever the fuck you want me to be'. She was saying that: whatever he sees of her, is whatever he will think of her, and after a while that's what she will become (how can you ever be something else then what someone else thinks of you, because you only exist when someone else thinks of you). The next step is the scary one; when the idea of what she 'is' becomes so inscribed inside the mind of the captain, he wont be able to see anything else then what he knows she is (because he thinks that he knows what she is, so in this case, thinking something and knowing something is the exact same), she will therefore stay 'whatever the fuck he wants him to be' for the rest of her life. And that's what kills the dynamic beauty.

Sailing, philosophy, sex and madness

That is how my second favorite book*, is described by the New York Times... And that's kind of how I want my life to be described to. Is it set in stone if I put on my blog what my life goal is? Well whatever, my life goal is to buy a sail boat, and go from japan to new zeland, with my wife... and a cat.

It's technically my first because if I put Lila and ZAMM together. I still don't know wich one I like the most though.

If this is the sartorialist's father, I want to be his grandson

Bill Cunningham New York trailer

Inside job

Here is an extra reason why I have to be an architect.

Since Plato's time, art has always been on a lower level then sciences, it was there to satisfy an "inferior" human need. An we still see that idea today, and believe it or not, the art students are probably the ones telling those idiots that they are right. I might sound weird at first, but if you think about it, if somebody is good in both, he'll be encouraged by most to go in the science direction, and most of the time, an art student is only someone that didn't understand science. We are the ones that "couldn't do it", "ooohhhh, you don't like math", says the theacher, "well maybe you should do biology", "oooh, you don't understand that either? Well I guess your only option left is art".

And this is where architecture arrives.
Science doesn't see it as an outsider, because it speaks its language. It speaks in laws and equations, so science blindfully falls in love with it, saying that what he does is (scientifically beautiful). Well I guess that explains why science loved the building at first, but why does it fall in love with it every day? That he can't explain with laws an equations. Inside job.

They speak the same language, but they don't talk about the same thing. One talks about a world it invented (science), and the other one talks about a world that doesn't exist (art). The architect is doing the translation for both of them.
Architecture is such a wonderful world because it is perfectly balanced between static paterns (science) and dynamic paterns (art). That's what I want to do for the rest of my life, getting paid to do relax on the line between insanity and reality. Colorful chaos and symetrical stability.

the opinion on... beauty

Easy subject, said hippias major; however Socrates answered "yes, i know, but...", and that's where it all started. The philosophy behind beauty. What IS beauty? What makes us all agree that something is good or not but at the same time makes us argue for hours about what's better, does it lay in the object, or in the observer? Is there a definition? If not, why do we even talk about it?

I would first like to start with two arguments from my favorite author, Robert M. Pirsig, first we'll talk about if beauty actually exists, and second we'll ask ourselves if it is in the object or the observer.

In ZAMM, Pirsig proves that beauty exists by substituting it from our reality and then showing how absurd that world would be (remember, for Pirsig, beauty is equal to quality and value). He first talks about the obvious field that would be affected, art. A world of art without beauty is indescribable, just non-existing, so that one is easy. But then he talks about other fields (unsuspected ones at first) that would be affected by the substitution of beauty. Mathematicians, for example, would not be able to make the difference between a well applied equations and one that is not because the value of something well made wouldn't exist. Why should they say that 2+2=4 if there is no right or wrong. We can also think about sports that wouldn't have any more way to decide what is worth a point or what is worth a penalty, because the value of something wouldn't exist anymore.
After a while, we start noticing that even though we haven't described beauty yet, it is impossible to imagine a world without it.

Now let's see Pirsig's answer on a question that is still being asked today (probably because Pirsig is still not accepted in the world of philosophy, but I think that his metaphysics is the better one). Pirsig's answer on the question ''is beauty subjective or objective??", is neither of them, beauty is the father of the subject and the object. Pretty weird eh?. It took me a while to understand that one but I think the best example is in Lila: an inquiry into morals.
If somebody sits on a hot stove (which doesn't have a lot of value/quality/beauty),  it wont take a long time for him to jump off. And that philosophically means that without the low quality of the hot stove, there wouldn't be a stove, neither somebody being burned, in the first place. He is saying that without a connection between an object and a subject, there is no object nor subject, and that connection could be described as quality/beauty.
So the whole problem with the question "is beauty subjective or objective", is actually the question itself, not the lack of answer.
You can also explain this by a famous rethorical question. If a tree falls in the wood and nobody is there to hear it, does it make noise. No, because noise needs someone to make it and some one to hear it, for it to be noise. And in this case, noise is the connection between the tree and the person hearing it.

Now let's try the worst part of this big bad wolf of philosophy, what is beauty? In this part I'll do like hippias and just throw a few ideas out there.

1. The description of beauty a long time ago was how well can you imitate something, a tree, a person etc... however, when photography was discovered, every other art lost his job, but beauty still exists today no? So what happened?
Well I think the description is good, the problem is that when we say imitating we automatically think about an object, but there's also the imitation of a feeling.
Example: If you compare a picture of a tree with a Monet of a tree, the picture obviously looks more like a tree, however, it's not as alive as the Monet. In a painting, or whatever type of art, we don't only imitate the object, but also the feeling we get with that object.
And that explains a lot of things. Abstract art is appreciated because it can describe more then one feeling at the same type, there's more room for some to look at it and say "that's exactly how I feel", and like I've heard before, the deepest psychologically need of a human is to be understood, that's what we all want.
It also explains why scary movies and sad plays are as appreciated as a nostalgic painting, is that every feelings are as close to beauty as the other. If a play describes perfectly how we felt at a moment in our life, it's beautiful.
So attempt #1 is, beauty is imitation (of a feeling or an object)

2. I've also thought that maybe we're looking for a description that explains more then one thing at the same time. Like I said before, before photography was discovered, or that individuality wasn't accepted, the description of beauty was easier. Why? well because there was only one type of beauty. Now everything can be art, from a toilet turned upside down to a tiger shark in an aquarium. Maybe we should separate a few groups in there (not by types of art but by types of beauty). That doesn't mean that they wont be described approximately in the same way, it just means that a small exception in one type of beauty wont screw up the description for the rest of the beauties that are listening to the rules.



The point is, sometime we are so stuck on trying to find an answer to a question that is wrong in the beginning, and that's what I love so much about this problem. People don't really have that mental reflex but we should, "If there's been a question unanswered for centuries, well maybe the question is impossible, not the answer".
And that lack of mental awareness is most beautifully observable in people that are stuck in the small world that they have been studying all there lives. When those people disconnect with reality, they can't even look at something from an other point of view to see that the problem is not even between the question and the answer, it's way more fundamental then that.

I love philosophy because (even though it sounds weird) it empties my mind and fills my heart, it's just something that you have to do in such a romantic way, that you forget you're trying to figure out the world. Maybe being naive is not so wrong in the first place.

HOLY SHIT!!!!

Oh my god, my worst fear is becoming reality.

A while ago I asked if something is completely worthless for someone, does it have to be worthless for you? The answer I ended up finding is no, but it's pretty damn hard to keep the value that it has for you, personally. 

And that is exactly what happened to me with my Mexico experience. It has now become a memory, and this can be really bad or really good.

Bad because it means that it's over, done, kaput; but good become now I can look at it from a distance, remember it and smile. And it's in that step that I became lazy, I stopped thinking about my experience. Why? well because it hurts, because I got better things to do then remember and I just simply don't want to feel nostalgic.

It's at that moment that my best friend made me notice that it has to hurts, you have to remember and nostalgia is not such a bad thing. You see, you can't always be going to a higher level that where you are now, you can't always be working towards something better, because if you do, well you're always leaving something behind, and sometimes leaving that thing behind stops you from going forward; that's what was happening to me. I forgot about every body that was there for me for a year, every one that made that small effort to make me who I am today.

Sometime I'm just so scare to feel something that might no lead to happiness, that I stop myself from going through the steps that bring me to it. I guess what I do with love is the same thing that I do with nostalgia.

So let me say that I am sorry that I turned into a snobby person for a few months, I just didn't have the energy to miss Mexico.

But I've noticed that even though remembering Mexico hurts, forgetting it is suicidal.

The opinion on... generalization

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal then other"

Well that's a cheesy way to start a post. Quotes sucks, I hate them, but they're a pretty trendy way to start an article, and all you cliche artsy people out there love them, so why not.

Talking about cliche, I've been hearing people getting mad at me for using my favorite weapon in the whole world of rhetoric; generalization. They're only way of attacking me is telling me "you can't stereotype like that because everyone is unique". Well that sucks, how do you want me to say anything else after that? They just used the most basic fact of sociology, everyone is different.

But that argument, even though amazingly accurate, doesn't mean that stereotyping is wrong.

So first let me tell you why we need stereotyping.

Stereotyping is necessary in our world because, as a human race, we want to figure out some stuff. We want everything to be cause and effect, and that's why stereotypes are so hated on, because humans are dynamics, hens cause and effects don't work as well as other sciences. However that doesn't mean we can't try it.

Look, let's say that 80% of the people that study sociology are voting liberal, saying that 80% of sociologist are liberal is to long and complicated, and not saying anything (because you can't really say anything, cause not all sociologist are liberal) is pretty boring and completely pointless, like I already said, saying that everybody is unique his nothing unheard of. So what is the last thing you can say about sociologist is that they are liberal. Yeah, 20% of the time I'll be wrong, but at least I said something that can evolve to a higher thought, and that is what us, as humans want.

But now, let me tell you something, I am not completely retarded, I know that there are good and bad stereotypes. So where is the line? Simple, the line between a charasterictic of someone that you can stereotype, or make a higher value judgement of, is between the charasteristic that that person choose, and the ones that are forced on him/her. Ex, you can't judge someone on the color of his skin, his economical situation that he was borned in (when he is older, that is a little different because the decision he made are the one influencing his paycheck, actually, economists think that if you average the salary of your 4 best friends, it's pretty close to yours). However, you can completely judge someone on the stuff he chooses (his job, does he have kids, size of his house/car) because in the end, generalization is the root of logic.

So here it is, the opinion on generalization. The fastest way to the truth.

Ich will ein bier

Henry VIII

Way to lazy right now to write on the blog... But Im starting again as soon as I start university... Promise

Dananananaykroyd - 'Black Wax'

painting part time for my George Condo piece

Only one hair cut available for both sexes

Bébé Jean (me), and Caca (my sister) in august of 94

Capitaine haddock

Old cam

''Maybe I'm not big cause I don't blog or twitter''

I want my life to be described as the new york time described LIla: An inquiry into morals

''Daring, highly original and provocative... a marvelous improvisation on a most improbable quartet: sailing, philosophy, sex and madness...''

His opinion on... Learning

Honoured... I am honoured that this post is not called ''the opinion on... but more, ''his opinion on...'' because this is what this blog is all about, make other people think. So this is what my friend had to say about ''the opinion on...learning

The Bird Theorem


The relation I was wondering about for the last day and night is the relation between truth and reality. 
Obviously, it’s not about definitions.. If you want to know about definitions go and check Wikipedia. The big question that caught my thougts was: It reality that influences the truth, or is it truth that influences the reality?

So before you keep on reading, you might want to have a look at the blog of my dear friend and fellow Mexico veteran Jean-Françoisois Allard. His very last entry actually got me thinking about all this, thanks Jeff.

Here is the important section of his blog:

„The first step to discovering something is observing it. So we observe something simple, example when Sr. Isaac Newton saw the apple falling from the tree, then we invent a name for it, then laws to go around it. Makes sense.
However think about it this way, if the gravity would actually make apples fly away from the earth, don't you think we would have invented a law to prove that? I don't think we would have studied it and the said, ''no, that doesn't make sense, according to our studies, two physical bodies attract each others with a force proportional to their mass.'' So now the question comes, if we can pretty much prove everything, by inventing laws and making sense out of it, why don't we only prove what we can observe? Is the truth only made out of reality? And if we would start proving '' non reality'', wouldn't it become part of our world, or wouldn't it atleast explain something we didn't expect?“
-Jean-François Allard

Have a look at the underlined sections. Smart thinking isn’t it? Now as said, this got me thinking. The reasoning is smart, but I felt like something is missing. I felt like this is a great theory, but it’s just a theory. The proof is missing. I think I found one.


Now what comes is a little thinking experiment:

If I go on the street and ask strangers if it is possible for humans to move objects without touching them, they’ll all tell me no, right? Obviously.

So let me take you somewhere else:How mankind learned to fly. I know, boring history class. The greeks (Ikaros) started trying a couple thousand years ago, da Vinci designed a flying machine in 1505 and after others, the brothers Wright built the first airplane in 1903.

Now let me ask you, how did we learn to fly? Why did we have the idea of flying?
Birds.

Since the first time some old greek saw a bird, the idea of flying was born.. They didn’t know how by then, but somewhen we built laws around it. We invented lift as a force, learned how to use air flow. We found out. We invented.

Now imagine birds never existed. No one would be flying. Because the idea of flying never existed. We just never had the idea of flying because we never saw anything fly. It would be completely impossible to us.
But(and this is the important point): That doesn’t mean flying would be less possible in the world we are living.

It would be perfectly possible. But how would you build laws around something you don’t have the capacity to imagine because you never saw an example?

Now think of telepathy for example...ravishing right?


I think (and this is where I get back to Jeff) the possibilities on earth are not given by what we see. We can define the possibilities ourselves.

The human doesn’t use 80% of his brain. Now you know why.


- Tim Rohner

Two things I love... sketches and Watch the trone

http://catmt.wordpress.com/2011/08/09/watch-the-throne-meets-my-sketchpad/

Lomography: Makes good pictures bad, and bad pictures ''interesting'' part.2

Lomography: Makes good pictures bad, and bad pictures ''interesting'' part.1

photography is only an excuse to look around

The opinion on... learning

We always hear that we should have an open mind, and that's even more important when we discover something, or figure something out. We try to not let culture, religion or any other thing get in the way of a real ''virgen thought'', a thought that is said to be closer to the truth, and what else do we want more than the truth?

But there's one thing we cannott stop being influenced by, our senses/experience (don't get mad Sr. John Locke, I'm not going against empiricism). (empiricism is the philosophy that believes that knowledge is the sum of everything we observe.)

But yeah, enough with te parantheses, let's get back to the point, we are too influenced by our senses. Let me try to explain it to you like that. The first step to discovering something is observing it. So we observe something simple, example when Sr. Isaac Newton saw the apple falling from the tree, then we invent a name for it, then laws to go around it. Makes sense. However think about it this way, if the gravity would actually make apples flight away from the earth, don't you think we would have invented a law to prove that? I don't think we would have studied it and the said, ''no, that doesn't make sense, according to our studies, two physical bodies attract each others with a force proportional to their mass.'' So now the question comes, if we can pretty much prove everything, by inventing laws and making sense out of it, why don't we only prove what we can observe? Is the truth only made out of reality? And if we would start proving '' non reality'', wouldn't it become part of our world, or wouldn't it atleast explain something we didn't expect?

Now imagine that we would start making laws about stuff that is not true. Making laws about the gravity which pulls us upward, and about 2+2=3, and about why can we see through walls. We would really use the other 80% of our brain that we don't touch. And if you really think about it, the chances that we discover a ''new'' truth are pretty high, so when you don't have anything else to do (like right now), invent a whole new law that makes sense about something that doesn't... Now that's thinking outside the box.

That's all I want on my party playlist

2 a.m.

Anti-snooze

Frozen music

How can I fail with all this confidence... How can I not prevail, with all this arrogance

living with one dollar is less scary then dying with a million

-«-|-»-

G.O.D. once told me
Don't think further then your eyes can see
So I looked up, saw darkness, scary

What if that's all life has to give to little boy
Timeless space, useless thoughts, thoughtless decisions
And all that just to destroy
me

Man, and then we ask ourselves why we can't sleep at night
Satan's sitting right next to us
Looking at us and the bright lights of our night fights

But what if I keep dreaming 'till he stops looking at me, what if I keep holding this line 'till there's no more place for it to be, what if I keep thinking, 'till life is scared of me?

What if that's all life has to give to me
If ignorance is bliss, let me ask the devil...
yup he agrees, time to forget about...me

dark nights, cool thoughts

If depression is a lack of courant
Longboard is my plug
If hate is a lack of satisfaction
Longboard is my drug

The devil in it's prettiest form

Image from thesartorialist.blogspot.com

Was I just dreaming?

    Exchange year was exactly like a dream... But the bad side of it, the waking up part. You know how you try to tell people ''man, my dream last night was so weird/cool/freaky/suprising/every thing'' and then you tell them everything that happened step by step and at the end of the story they're like ''hahaha, cool''...

 Wait, ''cool...'' that's all you have to say, ''cool...'', it was awesome!!!! 

     But then you notice that they weren't there..And then you get depressed, saying to yourself that nobody understands you and everything is just... grey.  It's like I'm asking myself if something is only real for me, is it real?... I know I went on an exchange year, I got pictures and stories and friends, still, if all these things are without values for the people that I'm showing them to, does it become without value for me? A piece of paper can be worth a million dollars for you, sentimental value, you will only be able to sell it for the buyer's value, so does it mean that what it's worth for you is nothing?...

Maybe I was just dreaming... So can you please let me go back to sleep for a while

Kingdom

So the news is out... It's going to change the history of... I don't know of what. This is the type of news that scares you, it could change the world of hip-hop, or even greater, the world of music. It scares you because you don't know how far its influence is going to go. Two kings with a history of love and hate, going at it. It's not going to be historical, it's going to be history.

Watch the throne.

new, old camera

So just stole my parents old canon, and bought two lomography films, so expect sick pictures soon.

Moon light

There is love in the light of the moon
It watches us in the crazinest of the night
There is warmth in the light of the moon
To help us through the coldness of the thoughts we fight
Still this is not why I think of her
But because I'm in love with her daughter

Directions

In this world without ups nor downs
We try to go forward by always being right
By never turning left at a red light
We wish we could go back in time
To forward our thoughts to our present mind
And maybe so we could find the truth
Inside this big lie we call rationality
But if we would stop looking around, pointing at strangers
And start looking outside the box, around the corners and through stereotypes
We would understand that each persons truth, is inside our irrational minds

Travis Barker & DJ AM - Fix your Face

Genius=QT

Nature

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep Sea, and music in its roar:
I love not Man the less, but Nature more

-Lord Byron-

"As kid we use to laugh, who knew that life move this fast"

Inspiration IV

Papou (my grand-dad)

When your heart cries, you know he's warm, when your heart likes to cry, you know he's pretty cold

He's kind of like the most interesting man on earth from dos equis. I'm not saying he's the most interesting man, but he's bad ass like him. Mustache, still has all his hair (wich was red, but is nw blond), builds his own sail boats, had a cat, smokes out of a pipe, just the best example of a man that doesn't bleed. He represents the poeticness behind being a man, strenght, wisdom, humility. Just a guy that you listen when he opens his mouth, wich he doesn't do often. He commands respect in everything he does.

There is a very manly thing that our society doesn't do a lot any more, but I feel like we should go back to it. Having a mentor, and then be one. A mentor is never a perfect man, but always a wise one. He does't lead by experience because he probably did a lot of mistakes in his early life, but that is what makes his words greater then him. I can't wait to be a mentor like him.

Images + Nostalgia = Inspiration

Few good blogs that brings inspiration with simple images.

http://helloinspiration.blogspot.com
http://leloveimage.blogspot.com
http://www.cracktwo.com/2010/01/rare-photos-of-famous-people-125-pics.html
http://twenty12.tumblr.com/page

The Dead Weather - 60 Feet Tall

The opinion on... Twitter

Don't care, don't understand, don't like

Luna

En este momento
Estoy viviendo en negro
Obscuridad llenando mi mundo
Pero dios me da chances
Algunas veces, algunas noches
De volar un poco
Para ver tu boca sonriendo
O tal vez otras cosas, estoy seguro
Tus ojos obscuros
Iluminando mi trizteza
O tu sonrisa de luz
Iluminando mi esperanza
De verte otro dia
Mi luz de la noche
Mi luna

Inspiration III

Scott Schuman/The sartorialist


"You never know what it is, what that hing is that draws you to that person, but you just let it happen. You know, and, it seems odd but you know it`s almost like going out there and letting yourslef fall in love a little bit every day; letting yourslef be seduced a little bit every day."

A small guy from Indiana that played football, Scott Shuman had nothing of a futur fashion super star. And that`s what makes him great. When you don`t have any influences, when you never trained to be something or plan to be that something, but you just simply fall in love with it, the quality of the result comes automatically. He thinks about beauty like it should be. An undescribable moment. He doesn`t think if the outfit is right or wrong, why or why not, he takes a picture of a moment, that`s the moment where he falls in love every day. He doesn`t report it, he really shoots it in the romantic way of thing.

Happy father`s day

Architecture

I you have the time to check why I love architecture. Frozen music they say.

http://www.wallpaper.com/video/architecture/il-girasole-a-house-near-verona/658575065001

Coming back

I am wounded but I am not slain. I shall lay me down and bleed a while, then I shall rise and fight again.


Coming back from a whole year abroad is not like dying, but it`s like restarting life. And it`s hard to come back in a world where you don`t have something new at every corner. I am wounded from the greyness of my surrounding, but not dead from the depression.
So this old scottish quote is how I feel about coming back. I just want to take some time to be a bit sad, and then I`ll stand up again and look around for some other adventures. 

Canada, USA, Mexico, Brazil, France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Egypt, India, Malaysia, China

Thank you guys for the 3000 views... Keep checking out the blog.

Tomorrow, Ill be once again in Canada. 50% of the time, Im thinking, wow I dont want to leave, how can the rest of my life compare to this year, and the other 50% of the time, Im saying " Awesome, finally Ill seey family and friends, Tim Hortons and my house, Ill be there for game 7 of the stanly cup finals etc... I guess it's something between those two feelings.

Any ways, Ill see my canadian fellows in a few days and my dear exchange students, hasta luego, hasta pronto. Si siguen viviendo sus vidas como vivieron este año, van a tener una vida de huevos, vamos a tener una vida de huevos.

Adios, les quiero

Inspiration II

Scott Mescudi (KiD cUdI)


"Ignorance the coke man, ignorance the bliss, ignorance the love and I need that shit"

Scott Mescudi, well he´s a singer, actor, rapper, but much more, a guy that put depression on the main street. But why is that a good thing? Well the man kind (man as in masculine, not human) is in danger because of the lack of acceptance in depression. It´s one of the hardest thing to accept, and he did it pretty well. That´s probably why being a man is pretty hard, being sad depressed in love happy, or simply with any kind of feeling, is not cool.

So why should every man have a bit of Scott Mescudi inside? Because it will make you survive a bit longer. All the stress that we hold up inside is a killer, so try to release a bit every once in a while. However, don´t be a little girl doing it, he always kept it cool, so keep it cool. Remember, your invinsible, but it still hurts sometimes.

Inspiration I

I will like to start a serie of post, called inspiration. These posts will be about why I think a man should be like. I've always been wondering about the position of a man in society. We should be strong but tender, joyful but not to much, because then you ''loose your masculinity''. Being a man is easy, being a good one is almost impossible. So here are the men that I think figured out the oh so poetic task of being a man.

James Dean

"Being a good actor isn't easy. Being a man is even harder. I want to be both before I'm done."

What do James Franco, Robert Pattison and every bad ass looking guy since the 50's have in common. James Dean. He is the original bad ass, live fast die young, rebel-without-a-cause, kind of guy. Except his bad-assness, he was a very poetic and artistic man. Obviously an actor, but also interested in photography (on both side of the camera), he had as many side to his personality, as girl chasing him in the streets. A depressive artist that always got criticized for people an ass hole, this anti social behaviour is what made him so mysterious for every young girl and boy since the 50's (he died in 1955 at the age of 24 in a mysterious car accident, wich boosted his fame).

Why do every great man needs a bit of James Dean? Well, first of all, major sexiness. Second of all, it brings you the edge to not only be attractive for women, but also in business. When a man is adventurous, out of the box, with a look in his eyes so killer it makes Satan jealous, it makes you way more attractive for a compagny, and for a raise. We don't notice it often, but what a woman is looking for in a man, is not so different for what a boss is looking for in his male-employees.

Bom dia ao mundo todo

9 days

9 days left, and Canada.

It´s the perfect time to tell you why an exchange is not a year inside of a life, but a life inside of a year (don´t give me credit for the cheasy line, every rotarian exchange student knows it).

Let´s play a little game, I tell you something I would do in Canada, and then add all the little things that make it cooler, just because of the exchange year situation.

Dancing: with an american, swedish and danish at 4000m on top of a mountain named after the biggest trader in the history of Mexico (La Malinche).

Driving: in a golf cart, with mexicans and germans, way to fast because we have to go from one side of the island to the other in 20 min, oh and the island is in the middle of the carribean sea.

Play soccer: with people from every continent, in front of the National Palace, in the 4th biggest city in the world, with cops running after us telling us that it is not acceptable.

Drinking: next to the biggest structure in the world (Piramide de Cholula, this stat is based on the size of the base of the structure not the volume) with one of the prettiest church in Mexico, flotting on top of it, once again with people from all over the world.

Learning: a new language, but this is not the language you would be suppose to learn in your exchange year (spanish), but one that you learned just because you were with native speakers 24\7 (portugues).

Going out: in Cancun, and they put a big spotlight on the 60 exchange student in the middle of the floor, because we just started a flashmob :P.

Those are all the small things that when you take time to notice it, it makes you cry, because you know that the exchange year is the only year in your life that can bring you all those things, in such a small period of time, a life time in a year.

There is now know question why we say that this year is surreal, why it´s a dream that we don´t want to wake up from, because it´s a year full of moments so unique, we can´t even dream of having an other dream like this.

Philosophy

The Egg

By: Andy Weir

You were on your way home when you died.

It was a car accident. Nothing particularly remarkable, but fatal nonetheless. You left behind a wife and two children. It was a painless death. The EMTs tried their best to save you, but to no avail. Your body was so utterly shattered you were better off, trust me.
And that’s when you met me.
“What… what happened?” You asked. “Where am I?”
“You died,” I said, matter-of-factly. No point in mincing words.
“There was a… a truck and it was skidding…”
“Yup,” I said
“I… I died?”
“Yup. But don’t feel bad about it. Everyone dies,” I said.
You looked around. There was nothingness. Just you and me. “What is this place?” You asked. “Is this the afterlife?”
“More or less,” I said.
“Are you god?” You asked.
“Yup,” I replied. “I’m God.”
“My kids… my wife,” you said.
“What about them?”
“Will they be all right?”
“That’s what I like to see,” I said. “You just died and your main concern is for your family. That’s good stuff right there.”
You looked at me with fascination. To you, I didn’t look like God. I just looked like some man. Or possibly a woman. Some vague authority figure, maybe. More of a grammar school teacher than the almighty.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “They’ll be fine. Your kids will remember you as perfect in every way. They didn’t have time to grow contempt for you. Your wife will cry on the outside, but will be secretly relieved. To be fair, your marriage was falling apart. If it’s any consolation, she’ll feel very guilty for feeling relieved.”
“Oh,” you said. “So what happens now? Do I go to heaven or hell or something?”
“Neither,” I said. “You’ll be reincarnated.”
“Ah,” you said. “So the Hindus were right,”
“All religions are right in their own way,” I said. “Walk with me.”
You followed along as we strode through the void. “Where are we going?”
“Nowhere in particular,” I said. “It’s just nice to walk while we talk.”
“So what’s the point, then?” You asked. “When I get reborn, I’ll just be a blank slate, right? A baby. So all my experiences and everything I did in this life won’t matter.”
“Not so!” I said. “You have within you all the knowledge and experiences of all your past lives. You just don’t remember them right now.”
I stopped walking and took you by the shoulders. “Your soul is more magnificent, beautiful, and gigantic than you can possibly imagine. A human mind can only contain a tiny fraction of what you are. It’s like sticking your finger in a glass of water to see if it’s hot or cold. You put a tiny part of yourself into the vessel, and when you bring it back out, you’ve gained all the experiences it had.
“You’ve been in a human for the last 48 years, so you haven’t stretched out yet and felt the rest of your immense consciousness. If we hung out here for long enough, you’d start remembering everything. But there’s no point to doing that between each life.”
“How many times have I been reincarnated, then?”
“Oh lots. Lots and lots. An in to lots of different lives.” I said. “This time around, you’ll be a Chinese peasant girl in 540 AD.”
“Wait, what?” You stammered. “You’re sending me back in time?”
“Well, I guess technically. Time, as you know it, only exists in your universe. Things are different where I come from.”
“Where you come from?” You said.
“Oh sure,” I explained “I come from somewhere. Somewhere else. And there are others like me. I know you’ll want to know what it’s like there, but honestly you wouldn’t understand.”
“Oh,” you said, a little let down. “But wait. If I get reincarnated to other places in time, I could have interacted with myself at some point.”
“Sure. Happens all the time. And with both lives only aware of their own lifespan you don’t even know it’s happening.”
“So what’s the point of it all?”
“Seriously?” I asked. “Seriously? You’re asking me for the meaning of life? Isn’t that a little stereotypical?”
“Well it’s a reasonable question,” you persisted.
I looked you in the eye. “The meaning of life, the reason I made this whole universe, is for you to mature.”
“You mean mankind? You want us to mature?”
“No, just you. I made this whole universe for you. With each new life you grow and mature and become a larger and greater intellect.”
“Just me? What about everyone else?”
“There is no one else,” I said. “In this universe, there’s just you and me.”
You stared blankly at me. “But all the people on earth…”
“All you. Different incarnations of you.”
“Wait. I’m everyone!?”
“Now you’re getting it,” I said, with a congratulatory slap on the back.
“I’m every human being who ever lived?”
“Or who will ever live, yes.”
“I’m Abraham Lincoln?”
“And you’re John Wilkes Booth, too,” I added.
“I’m Hitler?” You said, appalled.
“And you’re the millions he killed.”
“I’m Jesus?”
“And you’re everyone who followed him.”
You fell silent.
“Every time you victimized someone,” I said, “you were victimizing yourself. Every act of kindness you’ve done, you’ve done to yourself. Every happy and sad moment ever experienced by any human was, or will be, experienced by you.”
You thought for a long time.
“Why?” You asked me. “Why do all this?”
“Because someday, you will become like me. Because that’s what you are. You’re one of my kind. You’re my child.”
“Whoa,” you said, incredulous. “You mean I’m a god?”
“No. Not yet. You’re a fetus. You’re still growing. Once you’ve lived every human life throughout all time, you will have grown enough to be born.”
“So the whole universe,” you said, “it’s just…”
“An egg.” I answered. “Now it’s time for you to move on to your next life.”
And I sent you on your way.

Amorzão

Even if I don't speak portugues, being with brazilians all the time, I got the chance to learn this song by heart

heaven

Orkut es una mierda

The opinion on...music/quality

Impossible, an other "the opinion on..." influenced by the book ZAMM. I don't know how much it influences my ideas anymore, but my whole creating a blog, buying a camera, having an opinion thing was started by me reading that book.
The opinion on this subject is a strong one, so watch out, and if you want to get mad, send me an e-mail on facebook, my adress is high_on_power@hotmail.com.

I say; musicians, or let me say, people with knowledge of music are snobby. I'll add more, snobby souls that are moving their fat lips talking about something that they shouldn't even think of. And that thing is Quality of art. Of a rythm or of a tone or of a song, doesn't matter, but Quality. By the way, by Quality I pretty much mean beauty, but I don't like beauty in this case, I feel like it's reserved for visual arts, so Quality. And Quality is a weird thing, because it does exist, that's undeniable, but it is; however, undescribable.

Don't get me wrong, the conclusion of this "the opinion on..." is not going to be about "everybody have their own opinion", I'll leave those cheesy lines to the next 100 animation movies, this is about the other side of liking or not liking something, the Quality of the object it's self.

I should however describe briefly the weird line between your tastes and the Quality of the thing. Example, garbage has NO quality of taste, chocolate has a lot. But saying that nobody likes garbage and every body likes chocolate is not true, that's where your taste have a little part in the debate, but that's all. Same thing for shapes, textures and sounds. Nobody likes a little kid beating the drums, or nails on a blackboard, because it has no quality.
So let's get back to the horrible relationship music and Quality have. When people hate something about a song or a rythm they either talk about Quality, which is a mistake, or something even more superficial, which is a bigger mistake.

Let's take Bieber, my favorite example, people hate him for an amazing amount of superficial reason. They prove themselves wrong with their one reasons. Let's try this game, I'll say something that I've heard about Justin Bieber, and then tell you why it makes no sense. He sings with the voice of a girl, however you listen to music with girls singing, therefore the sex of his voice is not a good reason not to like him. His lyrics are not deap enough, but you listen to music without a vocalist, actually, voice is most of the time, just an other instrument, so what he says is not as much important as how he says it, better said, how he sings it. He's too popular, too fake. Ya but you listen to the Beatles, Eminem or the Rolling Stones; so his popularity has nothing to do with it, and who are you to talk about realness.

Starting to get my drift? So after all that, there's one other reason why you wouldn't like Bieber, and that's where the mix between Quality and simply just not liking it gets in. So lets check out both options, is the Quality just not there, or does it simply just doesn't make your foot bounce to the beat? Well, the Quality of his music is obviously there, the kid has sold more than a billion album, so he can't be that bad. So the only other reason is that you don't like it, but why? (Before you read the next paragraph, think about why you like or don't like JB)

If you found a reason, you didn't hear one thing I said. The only thing that would make you not like it, is the little opinion that your personal tastes have to say in the debate of you liking it or not liking it. But any other thing has nothing to do with it, and that's what makes you a snobbish person with an opinion on music.

Have you ever notice that music is the only art that we even talk about things like that, knowing what the artist looks like is already wrong, the artist it self doesn't have anything to do with the Quality of his music. He can be a girl, boy, computer, gay, straight, black, white, those things have nothing to do with the Quality of his music.

So here it is, the opinion on music, quality, but more specifically, the connexion that, us human, should never talk about, our mind is not great enough to talk about Quality.

Just wanted to informed you why I got so passionate on this subject. First, because I got enough of snobbish opinion on music, and second, the subject of Quality is beautifully undesribable. Sometimes, I get so caught up on the reason of every thing, I get depress not finding out, and that's where I find refugee in Quality of art, because I don't even start looking for a reason, I know it doesn't exist.

Now put your headphones on and listen to your favorite song, have a good day.

Myself

Wow I hate taking pictures of myself. But; this blog is not for me, is for my family and friends, and honestly, The haven't really seen me in a damn long time, so I felt bad and decided to go over my 14 year old self conscious problem and post some pictures of me myself and I.

The photographer's favorites

Those are the pictures that still take my breath away. Not very the place or the moment or the people, but actually just the beauty of the picture.

papaloy!!!!!

You don't share good moments alone. Actually, the people you are with is the only think necessary for good moments. And here are my good moments sharer, the people with whom I've been sleeping, eating, drinking and doing other stuff that I wont talk about.

One last detail before you check out the pictures, what the hell means papaloy? It's a term I'll be using a lot. This word was first said by Guilherme from Brazil, it pretty much means brother, boss, bad ass mother fucker. The point is, papaloy is a sacred word that you shouldn't give to anyone.



Philipp (Germany), the only other guy in my city, so it's obvious that we're good friends

Tomas (Slovakia), a guy I had a chance to really meet this trip, the original ''jefe'' (means boss in spanish)

Cullen (USA), the under-cover American (I say undercover because he spends his time trying to figure out ways so people wont find out he's American), he is however very proud to be american and a good friend of mine since the begining.

Cullen and Guilherme (Brazil)

Mariana (brazil), Cullen and Tim (Switzerland)

Tim doing a stupid face. This guy is in a tie with Cullen for my best cholula partner. Cholula is a street full a clubs and bars in Puebla.

Sunny (Thailand). What else can we say then LOL

Cullen, Mariana, Sara and Olivia (or the other way around, both from Brazil) and Livia (Brazil). These girls are four good reasons why I love Brazil so much. And you know how when a girl is pretty in north america or europe she almost automatically becomes a bitch. Well that tradition is not in Brazil, these girls are some of the funniest ones I know. The problem is they almost don't speak english, so I don't know if they will understand all the compliments I'm giving them.

João (Brazil). A good friend that I only hsd the chance to meet this trip. The type of guy that will take every opportunity he has to fuck shit up. But you just can't get mad at him.

My home girl Abbey (Canada). I had to put this picture, I had never seen someone so proud before seeing her finding a vancouver canucks poncho on the streets of Playa del Carmen.

The two twins with in the center, my best friend from all of mexico, Luana (Brazil). Without her in my city, I would probably be back in Canada by now.

Guilherme (Brazil), the original papaloy. A guy that will party his ass off, but then take care off every one thats drunk crying because he's just that much of a good person. Once again, breaking the stereotype that every party animal is not a douche bag. He is also a reason why I love brazil so much. PAPALOY!!!!!!!!!!!

Leon (Germany), my expedition buddy. He was the only one that actually had the energy to visit all the pyramids and ask the guides questions with me. Without him and Cullen, I would not know so much about Mexico.

Lourenço (Brazil). An other Brazilian I just had an amazing time with. Dancing, drinking and signing. Also part of the papaloyes.

Sorry to every one that was part of my ruta maya and I didn't post on this blog, I just didn't want to put your ugly picture on my site. Just kidding!!!!!!!!, I probably didn't have a good picture. However, special hello to Marcelo, another papaloy that made my trip amazing.

Big thanks to everyone, it's my first day back and I'm really really depressed already. Those were some of the best moments of my life. (This last sentence made me cry)

Ruta maya en 6

Finding 6 pictures to describe the trip of a lifetime was actually not that hard. Yeah I'm only showing places, but the people pictures are in the next post. Those six places were the places that took my breath away, simple as that.



El canon del sumidero

Cascadas de agua azul

Palenque

Chichen Itza

Cancun

Tulum