Libros: Marina

Acabo de terminar de leer “Marina” por Carlos Ruiz Zafón un escritor español (Barcelona) quien sin duda alguna ha capturado mi atención por el tiempo que siga escribiendo increíbles novelas. Les puedo decir que esta novela no les permitirá dejarla de lado ni por un segundo; sus escenarios, su redacción poético misteriosa, la trama, todo es tan impresionante que cada vez que sus ojos les pidan que por favor se tomen un descanso, no podrán dejar de pensar en que pasará en el siguiente capítulo.

Éste es el tercer libro que leo de Carlos Ruiz Zafón, el primero fue “La Sombra del Viento”, que fue un regalo de mi esposa, y que para ser honesto no me complació mucho al principio, pero si les confieso que había algo en el título que me llamaba, que me atraía a leerlo, por lo que decidí darle una oportunidad y no me arrepentí, fui atrapado de una forma tan violenta por la trama que no pude cerrarlo hasta que lo terminé por completo, pero luego le dedicaré un post a este libro. Luego leí “El Prisionero del Cielo”, que también es una gran novela, pero no me impactó tanto como “Marina” o “La Sombra del Viento”, pero de todas formas también hablaré más de él en otro post.

La trama de “Marina” se desenvuelve en la segunda mitad del siglo XX en Barcelona, una ciudad misteriosa y llena de maravillas dónde un muchacho de nombre Óscar Drai, apenas un adolescente que vive en un internado y que no tiene mucho contacto con su familia conoce a una chica llamada Marina que vive con su padre y que casi ni sale de su casa; ambos descubren por accidente (curiosidad) una tumba sin nombre a la que una mujer totalmente vestida de negro está observando, esto desencadenará una serie de eventos que les harán vivir la mayor aventura de sus vidas y tal vez de la suya también.

Carlos Ruiz Zafón tiene una increíble forma de escribir, lo hace con un especial tipo de magia en la que le hará caer en un mundo en el que las palabras invocan realidades, todo lo que lea lo podrá vivir, justo como el autor quiere que lo experimente. Estoy seguro de que mientras leía “Marina” sentí que caminaba por las calles de Barcelona junto a Óscar y Marina; es fantástico que sin describir cada detalle, el autor le permite ver el interior de un edificio en el que nunca ha estado, sólo con una palabra o una frase usted puede oler a la criatura que se arrastró por el internado aquella noche lluviosa, escuchar la voz de Marina o saborear los croissants recién hechos.

Les recomiendo con total seguridad esta novela, pueden darle una oportunidad y les aseguro que la disfrutarán tanto como yo lo hice. Si ya han leído alguna de las obras de Carlos Ruiz Zafón saben a lo que me refiero y si no lo han hecho, esta es una excelente novela para empezar. Cuando ya le hayan dado la oportunidad o si ya la han leído, por favor deje su comentario y comparta su experiencia. Puede encontrar más acerca del autor y sus obras en: Página Oficial de Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Luis Colmenares

Freelancer

Suicide Squad Review

I just saw Suicide Squad and here I am going to leave my opinion about it; first of all it is a movie that just been released like 4 days ago in my country (Venezuela) by Warner Bros, directed by David Ayer, produced by Richard Suckle and Charles Roven and stared by Will Smith (Deadshot), Viola Davis (Amanda Waller), Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn), Joel Kinnaman (Rick Flag), Jai Courtney (Captain Boomerang), Jay Hernandez (Diablo), Cara Delevingne (Enchantress) and Jared Leto (Joker) among others.

Just to be clear on something this is my personal opinion and I don’t plan to offend anyone or go against any other opinion, this will be what I thought about Suicide Squad’s movie; leaving that clear, I’ll begin my review:

(Warning: It will contain a few spoilers, I’ll try to keep them at minimum)

I divided Suicide Squad in 3 parts, Intro, Development, Ending (obvious right?), so for me, the Intro was fun at first, but then it got a bit boring, it seemed like it was taking nowhere or taking too much time to get there, which got me worried because if the intro was taking so long and I it was bit boring, so there won’t be enough time for the rest of the movie, but apart from what I said of the Intro, is fun, for people who don’t know much about the DC Universe is good to see something that explains a bit what they are about to watch.

Then it comes the Development, where it all starts to take place, the Squad is sent to fight, so is where you see them in action, where you really get to know them and realize that they are not just a crew of wackos; this part is fun, you can see their powers/abilities, emotions, strengths, weaknesses and of course their characters.

And at last the Ending, where they fight Enchantress, defeat her and leave a proof of a sequel. This part is where you really have fun, you can’t look away from the screen because you’ll lose track of what is happening, most of the action takes place here, shots, explosions, punches, kicks, slashes and action, action, action!

So in overall this movie will leave you satisfied, you will get out of the theater not overwhelmed, but satisfied; is a fun movie, I will like to see it again so I won’t lose any details.

Its creator, the legend in comics John Ostrander said that he liked it, that is was fun, but that it could have been better; that is a way of saying that is an average movie, that it could have been approached differently and reached a higher level, but is not a waste of money and I agree with Mr. Ostrander, is a movie which you can see once, twice and even a third time just to be sure that you didn’t missed any detail, but you won’t put it in your top 3, top 5 or even your top 10 hero movies.

Now, let’s talk a bit about the acting and character development; in general they all were fine delivered, for example:

Will Smith (Deadshot): Great job, he is the main character and appears in most of the scenes not only taking action, but also talking and interacting.

Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn): She makes you see Harley Quinn for the first time in flesh and bone, she really did it, she is funny, beautiful, crazy and above all dangerous. Her performance is great, you can’t take your eyes off her and not just due to her tiny shorts; also she works well with Will Smith, you can see them together in the film Focus.

Viola Davis (Amanda Waller): Will make you hate her, not just because she is a cold hearted b…, but because she can control all this villains not being a saint herself, also she has that all-American type that say that they do anything to keep the US safe, but doesn’t care at all for the citizens, is like a double moral.

Cara Delevingne (Enchantress): She is scary but sexy, you would think twice about getting close to her (nop, I wouldn’t get near her), she is like a character taken out from The Ring or The Conjuring.

Jared Leto (Joker): Well, I, like everyone else, was expecting a lot from this Joker, but it wasn’t as impressive as the one played by Heath Ledger, but since this wasn’t a Batman movie fighting against the Joker, I understand why he didn’t took a lot of screen, but I really hope that in the sequel, we could see more of him, or in the next Batman movie. They didn’t confirmed or denied that this is not the real Joker or if it's actually Jason Todd a.k.a Robin after the real Joker “played” with him, but you can enjoy all his appearances (I think is Jason Todd, because you can see him trying to be like the Joker, not the Joker being himself).

All the other character were fine, they all played their roles very well, you can really see Diablo, Captain Boomerang, Katana, Rick Flag, Slipknot not so much, he dies a few seconds after he appears, most of them did a really great job, but like I keep saying to everyone, don’t let yourself be intimidated by others, go and see it and create your own opinion about it, some people want to see the Joker come out of the screen or that the character be exactly as in the comic or the cartoons, but then they would criticizes it for being too childish or “animated”; what I do expect from the next DC movies is that they go beyond PG-13, not because I want sex scenes in superhero movies, but because this movies need more action, more gore, more madness. I dare to say that none of Marvel or DC recent movies have reached The Watchmen, that movie left the bar so high for any superhero movie.

To conclude my review I’ll just say that I liked it and I would love to see it again, but at home, so I can pause and rewind any time I want.

Here is the link from Suicide Squad official page http://www.suicidesquad.com/ it has a lot of good info and downloadable images and posters.

The Walking Dead (Comic Book)

The Walking Dead is a graphic novel (comic) by Robert Kirkman, it’s about an apocalyptical world were the dead doesn’t stay dead, so they come back as zombies to kill anything that comes between their pass. The story circles around Rick Grimes, a former policeman, his family and the people they encounter among the way.

It was released by Image Comic in October of 2003, since then it has been published on a monthly rate; until this day 154 issues have been printed in a form of 6 episodes per volume.

I started following this comic on the year 2010 by coincidence; I’ve always liked the whole zombie subject, but until that year it was through movies or manga, in fact, on 2009 it was released in Japan I am a Hero and it was overwhelming, amazing, it left me speechless, so I began to look for other zombie like stories on the web and I found The Walking Dead, since then I’ve follow the comic everywhere.

So now my opinion and thoughts about The Walking Dead: Like I have said before, I love it, it is very well thought, written, and the art design is really good, after reading every chapter you end up imagining how you would have perform in the same situation.

Robert Kirkman and his team have really put time and effort on this story; it’s not easy to put yourself in that kind of situation, it must be very exhausting because we live in a society already established, with rules, laws, politics, technology and others; so just the idea of losing it, can make some people lose their minds as well.

 

On the other hand, it can be kind of reliving to put an end to everything and start from scratch, having to survive, see your true self, what are you really made of; but you cannot put aside that all your loved ones might or will die no matter what you do, so it’s not easy to want or prepare to anything like it.

This is just an introduction to The Walking Dead, later I will do a more complex post and also make one about the TV series. If you liked my post leave a comment.

By the way I wrote everything listening to Stratovarius, Dream Theater, Sonata Arctica and others.

Luis Colmenares.

References:

http://walkingdead.wikia.com/wiki/Issue_70

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walking_Dead_(comic_book)

Chicken Wings: 3 Different Recipes

A couple of days before I saw a video if this person making different chicken wings recipes, so I decided to try them out to see if it was that easy. The result was not as expected, but I think the next time it will be better. 

So let’s see the ingredients and the recipe.

Ingredients:

-Chicken wings (about 1 pound)

-Salt (at taste)

-Pepper (at taste)

-2 Cups of Bread

-1tbsp of Brown sugar

-2tbsp of Honey

-1tbsp of Butter

-Oil

-1/2Cup of Soy sauce

-1/2 Cup of Hot sauce

-1/2 Cup of Bittersweet sauce.

-Sesame seeds

Preparation:

Mix well the bread with the salt and the pepper in a bowl. Put the chicken wings in the bowl and make sure they get full covered in the mixture, then fry them until they are golden crispy. Once you are done with the chicken wings is time for the next step.

 

Tip: usually when I am frying chicken tend to do it at 3 different temperatures, first with really hot oil, so it instantly seals the cover, then I slowly drop the temperature to medium to get the chicken fully cooked and to finish it, I just get the temperature back to high so the it gets crispier and the oil becomes ready for the next round.

Let’s do the teriyaki chicken wings first, put the soy sauce in a mixing bowl, and then add the brown sugar, 1tbsp of honey and some sesame seeds mix well and put in a pan at medium heat. When this mixture starts to boil (be careful, stir with a wooden pallet so it doesn’t burn) throw in some chicken wings and move them so the mixture fully covers them. You’ll be able to see that the chicken wings are ready when the sauce covers them and it has a caramelize touch.

For the second recipe we will do the bittersweet chicken wings; it is as simple as the teriyaki ones, the only difference is that this one’s don’t have brown sugar. So it goes like this, mix the bittersweet sauce with 1tbs of honey, then put in a pan until it starts to boil and add the chicken wings.

Last but not least, my favorite ones, the spicy chicken wings (or buffalo wings) is almost the same procedure, just mix in a pan at medium heat the hot sauce with the butter until it all blends well, and then add the chicken wings until they get completely covered with the mixture.

Tip: Use as much hot sauce as you can handle (I used a mild one, with a milk base). For extra spicy taste add hot peppers cut in strings.

When you are done with all the procedure comes the decisive part of each recipe; the tasting part, in my case I liked the result, but I could have done a better job, so the next time I decide to make them it’s going to be a whole different story.

This is my first time posting a recipe, so let me know if I need to explain myself in a different way.

Luis Colmenares.

Internet Connection

For the past 2 days the internet connection in my area has been down, the company report is that they are working to get it back on line in 72 hours (not counting the 48 hours from the past 2 days…). So that’s how things are done in my country, bad system, problems everywhere and no customer support (I must say that when you call the internet provider no one answers, they have a recording message), but the worst thing is that you can’t even complain because the largest company that provides internet in my country is an state company, so no complains allowed.

This post is me trying to blow some steam and also apologizing to my readers and clients. I am sending this post from a cyber, I’ll try to come to this cyber until the problem is solved and I really hope this problem doesn’t take too long.

My deepest apologies for everyone,

Luis Colmenares

Let’s talk about music

I want to share with you my personal likes and dislikes about music. I know is a tender spot, but I will do my best not to be too harsh when talking about dislikes.

My first musical revelation came 16 years ago with Hybrid Theory by Linkin Park, it shocked me so hard I practically forgot everything that I had heard before (note: my musical repertoire was very limited at that time). With this amazing musical proposal Linkin Park open my eyes to a whole new world, songs like In the End, Crawling, Paper Cut or One Step Closer marked me. I have to admit that until this day Hybrid Theory is at the very top of my favorite albums of all time.

Then 3 years later they came up with Meteora, another hit, this album had songs like Somewhere I Belong, Numb, Breaking the Habit among others that had the power to lift you up and transport you to another place. But then it happen something I could not have imagined, they released Minutes to Midnight; to be honest it felt like betrayal, they changed so much that I couldn’t recognized them, I stopped following them like before. Although, I will be forever grateful for Hybrid Theory and Meteora.

Right after my eyes opened to the wonders of music I started listening to everything I could, from country to extreme power metal, passing through hip hop, R&B, heavy metal and many other styles. This journey took me to great bands and artists that gave shape to my personal musical preferences. Bands like Nirvana, Green Day (before American Idiot), Stone Temple Pilots, Velvet Revolver, Metallica, Pearl Jam and many others walked me through my teenage stage and basically gave me the musical taste that I am so proud of.

Then out of nowhere a friend sent me a link of a song he just heard and liked it; he did not knew that he was introducing me to my second musical revelation, Tu Ausencia from the album ¿Dónde está la luz? by WarCry, an Spaniard heavy metal band, it sound was like a new beginning, like I could have a new personal favorite band. So as soon as the song ended I started looking for everything I could find about them and discovered that they already had 4 recorded albums and ¿Dónde está la luz? was their 3^rd. Gladly listen to every song they had and been listening to every released material up until now.

WarCry guided me through university; their music really helped me with big problems at that time. They also introduced me to a lot of bands from all over the world, like, Saratoga, Dream Theater, Apocalyptica, Sonata Arctica, Rata Blanca and so many more.

Until now my musical repertoire has increased a lot and I hope that it keeps getting bigger and better, music is one of my passions, it transports me to places that I’ve never been, it relaxes me and gives me peace of mind when I need it.

I am making a list of some of my personal favorite bands and artist, share if you find some of your favorites among them:

Linkin Park, Nirvana, WarCry, Sonata Arctica, Papa Roach, Metallica, Dream Theater, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rata Blanca, Velvet Revolver, Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, Eric Clapton, Ozzy Osbourne, Blink 182, Jake Shimabukuro, Mr. Big, The Verve, Mumford & Sons, Oasis, No Doubt, Tracy Chapman, Foo Fighters, Mägo de Oz, Matchbox 20, Janis Joplin, Soda Stereo, 311, Audioslave, Black Label Society, Cream, Elton John, Limp Bizkit, Korn, 3 Doors Down, Dio, Disturbed, Sound Garden and The Offspring.

This is all I could think off right now, I hope we have some affinities. Don’t forget to leave a comment.

Luis Colmenares.

Calisthenics or Street Workout

I started to do this kind of training almost a year ago and it has made me very happy, because of the fast results and the improvement of your body. You will find yourself doing medium and advance exercises in no time if you put enough effort into it.

The definition we find in Wikipedia is, “The word calisthenics comes from the ancient Greek words kálos (κάλλος), which means "beauty", and sthénos (σθένος), meaning "strength". It is the art of using one's body weight and qualities of inertia as a means to develop one's physique.”

It is amazing, so one can say from its definition that is the beauty of the strength, basically is bodyweight training but you can add additional weight if you feel strong enough or if you want to get to a particular point in your training.

The basic exercises are really simple and well known by everyone that has gone at least once to a gym, but, in calisthenics it is not just about doing an exercise, it is about taking it to the next level by doing it with the right formula for your body, so you can train specific muscle groups to do even more types of exercises and take advantage of every movement you make.

The basic movements are pull ups, chin ups, pushups, squats, sit ups, crunches and dips, by doing this sets of exercises with the right formula for your body, you will be able to gain strength, agility, definition and the ability to do more types of exercises.

From my experience I’ve came from being 65kg (143.3 pounds) and 169cm tall (66, 5 inches) to being a 65kg and 169cm tall guy, yes, no changes in my weight or height, but it’s amazing how you can reorganize your body weight by doing the right workout. At first I couldn’t do a single pull up, now I can do 4 sets of 10 reps, without losing so much breath and not just that, I am doing some exercise progressions so in a few moths I will be able to do a full planche, front lever and back lever, which are exercises out of this world.

I almost forgot the most astonishing part, is free! You can do it any time, anywhere, no excuses; you only need your body and the will to workout, just like that, very simple.

I’ll leave you a few links so you can see for yourself what I am talking about:

https://www.youtube.com/user/ProBarras

https://www.youtube.com/user/RedDeltaproject

https://www.youtube.com/user/Calisthenicmovement

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVhg3dfXkEZSBbMLch3hasw

www.ngstreetworkout.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calisthenics

Luis Colmenares

Freelancing

Ten days ago I started this journey; working as a Freelancer, is a new term that describes people who work from their houses or from anywhere but a regular office inside a company through the internet. It’s been fun and encouraging, but also very frustrating. It’s not easy to wait for a reply or to custom a cover letter for each potential client, although it prepares you to face every possible outcome.

In this ten days I have subscribe into at least 10 different freelancing websites, I’ve sent approximately 100 job proposals, create like 15 different gigs and just been able to get 1 job as a translator from German to Spanish for a finance company in Austria. It is not as easy as it seems, trust me, if anyone tells you that in a week you will be making thousands of dollars, just walk the other way, it takes time and effort, but since I am not an easy quitter, I will keep sending job proposals, creating gigs and improving my skills and profile to get more jobs.

I hope that in a few weeks I’ll be able to write about my success as a Freelancer and give some tips of how to get a job, but until then this is the end for this entry.

I will leave a few websites in case you want to give it a try:

• www.guru.com
• www.freelancer.com
• www.fiverr.com
• www.upwork.com
• www.mediabistro.com
• www.peopleperhour.com
• www.project4hour.com
• www.microworkers.com
• www.nubelo.com
• www.workana.com

Luis Colmenares

Starting Up

This is my first blog entry, honestly is just to see how it’s going to look and test the options of the site (I know that blogging is not so new, but it is for me), but also I’m going to take advantage of the moment to introduce myself; so my name is Luis Colmenares, father of two beautiful children (Sabrina and Rafael), husband of a gorgeous and amazing woman (don’t let her know I said it) and currently working as a freelancer (starting, but you get the idea).

I’m from Venezuela, an amazing country, full of wonders, opportunities and most of all, future. You’ll ask “future, how?” and I’ll tell you, yes, future, cause besides the difficulties we are facing right now and all the problems that hunt us every day, we are determined to pass beyond all of this hell that has fell upon us so we can build a better future.

There is a theory that talks about certain conditions which some civilizations, cultures, countries have to go through to evolve. This theory mentions a so called “Spirit”, force or how the ancient Greeks call it πνεύμα (neuma), falls upon these places to make them change into something better. We can see some examples in countries like Japan, Germany, France, Italy or even Greece; they were once places very poor or close minded, then by some internal or external circumstances, sometimes even both, people began to change, some started thinking deeply, some became inventors, designers, artists, writers, in some cases a single person did everything I mentioned and even more.

Wow, it seems I extended too long this start up test, in future entries I will talk more about the theory and much more.

See you soon,

Luis Colmenares