A Book

Hi Blogheads:

Today is a free post so I thought I'd like to write about my favourite British authors.

I started reading at quite a young age. I was also a very fast reader and if I liked a book I had a tendency to search for and read books by the same author.

As a child, I read everything by Enid Blyton, C.S.Lewis (the Narnia books), Arthur Ransome. As I got older I read everything Tolkien and Orwell. I then got into Science Fiction and read hundreds of Sci-Fi books. Authors I read included Micheal Moorcock, Robert Heinlein and Frank Herbert. Later I got into more existentialist stuff like Sartre and Camus plus authors like Kafka & Dostoyevsky. I later discovered Mervyn Peake who wrote the Gormenghast trilogy and which is possibly my favourite read of all time. 

Since arriving in Chile I've read many books in Castellano. I read many things by Garcia Marquez plus Bolano, Sabato y others. More recently I have been reading British author David Mitchell - who is wonderful - and Haruki Murakami. The last novel that really blew me away was The Book of Strange New Things by Dutch writer Michel Faber. It's sort of something "spiritual" in a Science Fiction setting - but it isn't really Sci-fi. Here's a link to the wiki page: 

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

I read this year I have read a really good book about the stomach called The Gut and the first half of a book by Murakami but I haven't had too much time to read many novels. 

Write a 200-word post on a book or genre of fiction you like.
Say:
What the book or genre is,
Why you like it,
When you read it for the first time.
Mention anything else you think is important or interesting. Leave a comment on your teacher's blog & on the blogs of 3 classmates.

An Artist

Good Afternoon Bloggers!

Today I'd like you to write about an artist you like. It could be an artist from any discipline, music, theatre, fine arts like painting or sculpture, or visual arts like photography, the graphic novel. manga or anime. I'm going to write about Mervyn Peake, my favourite author, who was also a renowned illustrator in his day. I discovered Peake via one of my older sisters, Clare. I loved his books because of there insights of a "shadier" side of people's (or animals for that matter) character. I think the first illustrations I saw were from his children's book "Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor". It wasn't the sort of illustrations you would have expected for a kid's book, the characters were too real. and scary. A few years later I found a copy of one of Peake's nonsense poetry novels that he illustrated and I just loved his slightly dark sense of humour. Then I discover his illustrations of Alice through the looking glass (duh! Alice in Wonderland) which I found amazingly creative. I must add that I was already hooked on his boos by then. Anyway, I was lucky enough to see a wonderful exhibition in London in about 1986 that had a huge selection of his illustrations on show and it blew my mind. Peake never received the recognition he deserved during his lifetime but he has been repeatedly cited as an artist (illustrator, writer, painter) who was way ahead of his time.

Write about an artist you like.
Say:
Who the artist is,
How you discovered the artist,
What kind of work the artist does
What you like about the artist.

Mention anything you think is important or interesting. Try to write at least 200 words. Leave a comment on my blog and on the blogs of 3 classmates.

A Friend

Good Morning Bloggers!

Today I'm going to talk about a friend. The person I'm going to tell you about is Martin. I first met him in 1978 when he auditioned as a drummer for the band I played in. I was 18 or 19 and he was 16. We got on well from the start. I like Martin because he has a good sense of humour and is generally a very easy going person. I guess the main things we did together apart from playing music was to go for a drink or watch movies together. We also went to a lot of concerts together like The Clash and David Bowie. We played in the same band for about 5 or 6 years then Martin went to study art in Hull, a city in the North of England, and I moved to London. We kept in touch and Martin used to come and stay with me whenever he was down south. When he finished university he moved to London and we lived in the same place for about 6 months. A few years later we lost touch. I was living in Spain and Martin moved to the USA. We had no contact for about 10 years but I finally managed to track Martin down on the internet. Nowadays Martin lives in New York working as an illustrator and doing restoration of old artworks. About 10 ago, I went to stay with Martin for a week. It was my first time in New York and it was great to have someone who lived there show me all the sights. We spent lots of time walking and talking and it was really nice to catch up after all this time.

Here's a photo of when we were younger:)
 Write about a good friend.
Say:
Who they are,
How long you've known them
Why you like them,
What things you do together.
Mention anything else you think is important.
Write at least 200 words.
Leave a comment on my blog and on the blogs of 3 classmates.

A walk you would like to do again

Write about a walk you did that you would like to do again.

My family is a family of keen walkers. When I was a child, my parents would often take us out for walks at the weekend. One of my favourite walks was up a Welsh hill called Moel Famau. Normally we would start from home in Mynydd Isa and walk about 5 kilometers through Mold to Loggerheads. Depending on the weather or how much time we had, we would then decide whether to do a walk up to the summit of the hill or to do a full trail. The walk up the hill is about 6km and the full trail is about 17km.

My favourite was doing the full trail because part of it was though a country park called Cat walk because it was a very narrow path that was quite high (especially for a young child!). Also, this part of the walk was through woods and along a river, the other part was pine forest and bare grassland at the top of the hill. I must have walked up that hill at least 50 times in my life. One of my aunties lived in a farmhouse at the foot of the hill and I often stayed with her in my summer holidays from school. She had a son who was a year older than me. However, when I was about 10 years old he had a car accident and lost one of his legs and so, unfortunately for him, his walking days were over. I think the last time I climbed Moel Famau was in the 1980’s but I’d love to do this walk again as it would bring back all my childhood memories. There’s a website with information about the country park here:

http://www.walkmag.co.uk/walks/wales-loggerheads-country-park-flintshiredenbighhire/

It even has a Facebook page!

Obviously, these didn’t exist when I was younger but at least you can get an idea of what it’s like.

Write about a walk you would like to do again
Say:

Where it is,

When you did this walk before

Why you enjoyed it,

Why you would like to do it again.

Mention anything else you think is important. Write at least 200 words. Leave a comment on my blog and on the blogs of at least 3 classmates.

A Photograph

Hi FAU Bloggers;

Today I'd like you to write about a photograph that you like. The photo I've chosen must have been taken in about 1971 or 1972, or possibly a bit later. I think it's one of the few family photos that includes all eleven of us (my parents plus 8 siblings). It was taken in our living room. The photographer was in front of the window, most probably because of the light. However, I don't know exactly what he was doing that stopped half of us from looking at the camera. My mum, sister Clare (top row, left-hand side),  brother's Adrian (with a crazy grin) and baby brother Gerald (sitting on the floor) are looking at the camera. The rest of us are looking to the right of the cameraman except little sister Lizzie (Elizabeth) who is obviously in a world of her own (and still is!!!). She is staring off into the distance.
I love this photo because it's exactly how I like to remember my brothers and sisters. I love the (now retro) fashion. My two eldest sisters (Terry & Clare) have a definite hippy look while Moria (sitting in the middle) has a "Skinhead" influenced look. I also like how brothers Adrian & Colin are wearing the same shirt, and the twins (Francis & Elizabeth) are wearing smocks made by my mother. I don't think it's a very good photo of me but I love having such a great family and that's what I remember when I see this photo.
At the moment, I don't have a copy of the original, this is a photo of the photo:)

Write about a family photo you like.
Say:
When it was taken.
Where it was taken,
Who appears in the photo,
Why you like the photo,
What you remember about your life in the time the photo was taken.

Mention anything else you think is important. Write at least 200 words. Leave a comment on your teacher's blog and the blogs of at least 3 classmates.

A Job

Good afternoon Blogheads!
Today I'd like you to write about a job you'd like to do. Actually, I'd done a lot of jobs in my time. When I was a young boy I did several part time jobs. I did a paper round, then I worked in a Butcher's shop cleaning dirty refrigerators and finally I worked in a Clothes' Shop selling jeans. My first full-time job was as a Laboratory Assistant and 3-months later I was promoted to Laboratory Technician (Wow!!). Since then I've worked running a rehearsal studio, as a photographer, a photographer's assistant, a DJ, a lorry driver's assistant, a waiter, a musician, a warehouse technician, a barman, a Language Learning Centre assistant, a Course Director, a summer school teacher, a High School teacher, an examiner and no doubt some other things that I can't remember at the moment. However, I think the job I would like to do most is to be a free-lance music producer. I love to work with music and creating new things in the studio would be a great way to spend my time, especially if I was getting paid for it. I think the main quality you need for this job is to have a good ear for music. However, you also need to hear what isn't there, as well as being able to imagine how a song or piece of music would sound with different arrangements.
There are many producers that I admire, Norman Whitfield, Curtis Mayfield, Brian Eno and David Bowie are just a few I could mention. Unfortunately, I never had the chance to work in a professional studio with me being in charge although I have recorded independently in smaller studios (or using non-professional equipment). Currently I'm learning to use a music software called Ableton Live so maybe I'll get the chance to produce something after all!!!

Write about a job you would like to do.
Say:
What job it is,
Why you like this job,
What qualities you need to do this job well,
Why you think you would be good at this job,
Which person who does this job is your inspiration.

Write at least 150 words. Leave a comment on my blog and on the blogs of 3 classmates.

A TV programme you watched as a child

Hi there Bloggers!

Today I'd like to tell you about a TV programme I watched as a child. The show I'm going to write about is called Dr Who. I started watching it as a child from about age 8 years old. It is about a person who travels through time and who has different adventures in different parts of the universe or at different points in Earth's history. The Dr (or The Doctor) travels in a spaceship that has the appearance of an old Police phone box. It's called the Tardis and although it looks small it's actually bigger on the inside. When I was a child the show used to be broadcast on Saturday at 6pm. The Dr fought against many enemies, the most notorious being the Darleks (pictured below). I remember that I used to spend half of the show hiding behind the sofa because I found it so scary. The series ran from 1963 until 1989. It was revived again in 2005 and there have been 11 new series since that date. The show had lots of followers and it had a very recognisable theme tune. Many artists have recorded versions of the theme tune. A song called "Doctorin the Tardis" by The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu which featured a sample of the tune reached Nº1 in the British singles chart in 1988. As well as being a great series, the show is a big part of British culture.

Write about a TV programme you enjoyed watching when you were a child:

Say:

What it was called,

What it was about,

When it was on,

Why you enjoyed it.

Mention anything else you think is important. Write at least 150 words. Leave a comment on my blog and on the blogs of 3 classmates.

A Holiday

I think I've been very lucky went it comes to holidays and travelling. One amazing holiday I had was in Turkey in 2014. I went with my wife (of course) and we met up with a British friend (Miles) and his boyfriend Berkay who is Turkish. Miles lives in Istanbul but we met in Istanbul airport (my wife and I travelled from London) and flew to Cappadocia which is an amazing region in the centre of Turkey. We spent 4 days there and it was really wonderful. Our hotel was great. We had a great room with underfloor heating and a wonderful view. Capaddocia is well known for its beautiful landscapes and it has cave type houses built into the rocks that are hundreds of years old. We spent most of our time walking and talking photographs. We also ate really well and it was quite cheap to eat and get around to see the interesting places. It was winter but we had sunny days with cold nights (below zero). I think we were lucky because we had a Turkish speaker with us. The Turkish love to barter (regatear) and Berkay got us all the best prices. If you have lots of money you can go up in a balloon to view the area from above. However, it cost about 100USD per person so we didn't do it.I would love to visit this region again. The landscape was a bit like parts of San Pedro de Atacama but the way humans have interacted with the landscape over the centuries is very different. I think all FAU students would enjoy visiting this place.
Write about a holiday you remember.

Say:
Where you went,
Who you went with,
How long you went for,
What you did,
What you enjoyed most about the holiday.

Mention anything else you think is interesting. Write at least 150 words. Leave a comment on my blog and on the blogs of 3 classmates.

A Hobby

Hi Blogheads,

Today I'd like you to write about something you enjoy doing in your free time. I guess my favourite hobby is making music and home-made videos. I've been making music since I was about 12 or 13 years old when I started to play guitar.  I added the video making in the last 10 years or so. Everything I do is self-taught and I don't have a strong background in music but I have lots of fun creating songs or pieces of music. Most of the music I do nowadays is electronic. I use a program called Ableton Live which is an amazing piece of software as it allows me to make music using nothing more than my PC keyboard. I can also record other instruments and vocals so it's basically turning my PC into a recording studio. I've been trying to record music for a long time so I've picked up some recording tips along the way. I think I generally manage to get a good mix. I don't think I have a particular sound as I tend to record different styles, often mixing acoustic and electronic instruments. I like House music and that may come across in some of the more chilled-vibes. Occasionally I sing.
The video making I do is very experimental and I often mix time-lapse video and stuff I've recorded on my phone or camera. Sometimes I use found footage. I like treating images and saturating them to create something new. I use iMovie as it's very easy to use (and it came free with my computer). I usually spend 5 or 6 hours a week doing this hobby. I'll like to do it more often but there are always so many other things to do (like writing my blog!!).

Write about something you do in your free time.
Say:
What it is,
How long you have done it,
What it involves,
Where you do it,
What equipment you need,
How often you do it.

Try to write at least 150 words. Leave a comment on your teacher's blog and the blogs of at least 3 classmates.

A City

Hi Blogheads:

A city I'd like to visit is Berlin. I guess I've been lucky because I've already had the chance to visit amazing cities like Tokyo, Paris, Barcelona, Venice, New York, Istanbul and Edinburgh (to name a few!!). However, although I've visited cities in the South of Germany like Munich, I've never been to Berlin. I don't really know that much about the city. David Bowie lived there with Iggy Pop and Brian Eno during the 70s. The architecture is said to be magnificent and, of course, the city is home to the Love Parade - Europe's wildest gay festival.
I think it will be interesting to see the remains of the wall, an event I experienced live on Television. Like all big cities, there are no doubt tourist sights to see and museums that you should visit. I think I'd just like to wander around and see what I find. I think Berlin must be a big living museum, a historical place. I would definitely do the David Bowie tour. You can check it out here: https://musictours-berlin.com/bowie-berlin-walk
Obviously, I'd like to go with my wife, She speaks some German so she'd have to do all the talking. All I can do is order a coffee or a beer and count to ten:)
You can see some clips of Berlin in this Bowie video from 2014:

Write about a city you would like to visit.
Say:
Why you'd like to visit it,
What you know about the city,
What you would do there,
Who you would go with and why.

Write at least 150 words. Leave a comment on your teacher's blog and on the blogs of 3 classmates.

Introduction

Hi FAU Bloggers,

Welcome to your English Blog class. Today you have to create your blog, link your classmates and write a short post about yourself (no personal details!!!).

So, my name is Simon and I'm your English Teacher this semester. I'm British. I was born in Wales, but from the age of 6 I lived in England. My family on my mother's side is Irish so I'm a bit of a mix. I have 5 sisters and 3 brothers who all live in the UK except for my brother Adrian who lives in New Zealand. I've lived in Chile since 1998. I'm married to a Chilean and we have two cats - Goku & Aiko. My hobbies are playing football and making music.