Madness: Part 2 (actual reasoning)

Now, the stuff is getting real ;) Now that I've done such a huge introduction, even accompanied by a song and a definitely cool ending (I should produce films!)... What was all that for?

First, let me explain you the importance of the song. Well, actually it has got the full importance because this song inspired me to this post in this blog for this day today. In a general way, it talks about the feelings linked to a relationship of someone. Apparently, this relationship has already come to an end or is about to end, but the protagonist can't stop thinking about it. It seemed to be some kind of puzzle for him what had actually happened and why things got to that point. He thinks about the period of their relationship and he notices that madness slowly began to control their acts. He even starts to doubt the trueness of their love, he speculates it was just madness that made them blind. But at a certain point, he believes to have found the solution, to finally understand and he begs his partner to come back to him. Even though, finally he concludes: their love is madness.

This is just my own interpretation of the story the song explains, maybe you think in a different way about it depending on your experiences. But as we all know, an intelligent song has something beneath the lyrics. Something that's under the simple incidents the song explains. Besides that this song is just amazing (the "I need to love" part is just... just... oh, man, I'm really going to say it: orgasmic), it's topic is something that I'm quite sure we all think about at one point or another.

"Am I going mad?" "Only some mad guy could do what I did..." "My life is madness, I can't believe what's happening..." 

Just some examples of thoughts probably everyone of us had at least once.

But what is this madness exactly? When I say we all have these thoughts sometimes, that doesn't mean we all have mental disorders. It just means we are all human. And we human have our problems because he have feelings and our feelings can bring happiness and sadness and... madness.

I think the madness comes out when something really worries us. This can be in a positive way or in a negative way, black and white, yin and yang. 

Let's say for instance you really love someone. Like the person of the song. At some point, maybe the things in your relationship just don't work the way you would like them to do. You start to worry. You begin to construct a web of thoughts and incidents. You start to mix them up, finally you can't distinguish anymore what is reality and what is just the crazy... no, mad fiction in your own head. You start to lose your mind. Your actions aren't determined by yourself anymore, but by your madness. Your partner realises that and worries about you. Maybe your partner starts to think it's really his fault. And the chain continues and madness slowly starts to take control of your partner in the same way it did with you. Neither one you are able to think with a sober mind anymore. You get aggressive, fragile, vulnerable... And then at some point you look back and ask yourself: "How on Earth did all that happen?"

Now let's try out another example. You get to a new place. Maybe a new class in your studying time or a new workplace when you're already an adult. You get to know a lot of new people but there's one person you're already familiar with. So you trust this person. Now there's someone of the new people who seems to be quite nice. Maybe you start to have some feelings for this person. But your friend notices that and warns you. "Don't go with that person! It's a false one! You will get into trouble with that person!" Now there are two possible scenarios. You listen to your friend or you don't. What if you do? Maybe this person was the one to change your life. Maybe your friend was a bad influence. To convince yourself that you made the right decision, something we human always do to satisfy our consciousness, you start to hate that person. Without any reason, you begin to make yourself think that this is the worst person you met in your life. And maybe this takes you until the point you start to hate anyone who shares something with that person... Now, the other possibility. You don't listen to your friend. Same story, you want to convince yourself. So naturally, this person is an angel on Earth. Even though sometimes you notice that your friend may have been right, you don't want to accept it. You bury those thoughts in the deepest part of your conciousness, hoping it will never get to release. The person starts to take advantage of you, but you let the things happen. It's the way you chose and you have to defend it.

Some really mindbusting stories, aren't they? Maybe they even seem too farfetched to you. But are they really so farfetched? Yes, they are. But our mind is able to do some wonderful and some horrible things. I remind you, black and white, ying and yang. Our mind can bring the furthest ideas close to our range. Even the most stupid things we thought we would never do can become reality for us.

If you take a close look to my examples, the things which seem to urge madness are love, egoism, a narrow mind, the loss of control and the abstinence of clear thinking. 

So what is important to not lose our mind and being swallowed by the madness (the song really hit the bull's eye with some sentences...)?

Always watch out to not shut yourself down. If you do that, you close the door which connects you to the world and to the possibilities of good ideas. It's extremly important to get out, see diferent things, opinions, people, thoughts...

That's already the second point: Don't try to satisfy yourself with your opinion when you already know deep in your mind that you're wrong. Prove that you have some guts (girls have some, too, sometimes even more than guys... at least the metaphorical ones) and face your problems. Stand up against the obstacles and examine yourself (my philosophy teacher would be proud, the examination part is one of Socrates' principles). Because if you don't, you will never take a single step forward. You will remain in the puddle of your own thoughts, of your self-pity, of your immaturity (some people call that puddle alcohol...).

If you're able to observe the occurences in your life from some distance and clear up your mind, madness won't win the fight against you. Because you're stronger than the madness. You just don't have to believe everything it tells you.

And now, after reading that, you probably need to clear up your mind, too. At least I need to. Time for some brain-melting activities, maybe I'm going to play some videogames :)

Madness: Part 1 (introduction + song)

As I'm in a rather... lazy mood (oh Christmas break, you're a double-edged sword of a friend... you got the joke? sword... sort? ha... ha.), I hope you respect my choice to do a post to let my mind float a bit... If you aren't sure what I mean, maybe at the end of this manuscript (Observe the ultimate power of words!) you will know more.

And now honestly, don't you think that these kinds of word jokes make me deserve me at least a First Certficate? Maybe I should write the Cambridge guys so they check my blog... Or call them maybe?

Oh Christian... please go to bed -.-"

Let me introduce this topic with a little explanation (I still hope it'll stay little... But knowing myself I start to doubt). You remember the key word "crazy"? Obviously you do! You're reading in a blog of a crazy German. Perhaps not so German anymore (idea for a poooooooooost), but at least equally crazy. And you remember I did a half-serious post about that? You only half-remember? Half-shame on you and half-check this link: Click me half-hard

There you can see some of my mental ejection of that time. Normally, I don't like to read things I wrote a long time ago (well, in this case only a year... but I'm an adoslescent, this is a lot for me), because of this usual "Oh my God, how I could think that"-effect (further explained in my alien presentation and if you don't remember that, full-shame on you! >:|). But there was a little part in that post, the "mad-crazy" part... I think that day I didn't realise really what I was talking about. But today I do. Sure, because I'm already fully adult. Hahaha, we adolescents, we say that every year, we're so adorable, aren't we? :) (no). 

So now, (You see? Not a little introduction...) where are the limits between craziness and madness? We all know, madness is a rather bad thing, but craziness can be adorable and sometimes even necessary. Let's go on with a song I currently listen a lot to. 

Madness by Muse 

where did I take the inspiration for this post... hmmmmmm...

Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-mad-mad-mad / Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wahn-Wahn-Wahn

Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-mad-mad-mad / Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wahn-Wahn-Wahn

  Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-mad-mad-mad / Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wahn-Wahn-Wahn

  Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-mad-mad-mad / Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wahn-Wahn-Wahn

(if I do a translation, I do a faithful one to the original lyrics)

  I... I can't get these memories out of my mind / Ich... Ich kann diese Erinnerungen nicht aus meinen Gedanken bekommen.

And some kind of madness has started to evolve / Und irgendeine Art von Wahnsinn hat angefangen sich zu entwickeln

Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-mad-mad-mad / Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wahn-Wahn-Wahn

Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-mad-mad-mad / Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wahn-Wahn-Wahn

 I... I tried so hard to let you go / Ich... Ich gab mir solche Mühe dich gehen zu lassen

But some kind of madness is swallowing me whole, yeah / Aber irgendeine Art von Wahnsinn verschluckt mich gerade voll und ganz

Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-mad-mad-mad / Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wahn-Wahn-Wahn

  Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-mad-mad-mad / Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wahn-Wahn-Wahn

  I... have finally seen the light / Ich... Ich habe endlich das Licht gesehen

And I... have finally realised... what you mean / Und ich... habe endlich erkannt... was du meinst

(*Some cool artistic groaning*)

 

And now... I need to know is this real love / Und nun... muss ich wissen ob dies echte Liebe ist

Or is it just madness keeping us afloat? / Oder ist es nur Wahnsinn, der uns über Wasser hält?

Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-mad-mad-mad / Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wahn-Wahn-Wahn

Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-mad-mad-mad / Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wahn-Wahn-Wahn

And when I look back... at all the crazy fights we had / Und wenn ich zurückschaue... auf all die verrückten Streite, die wir hatten

Like some kind of madness was taking control, yeah / Wie irgendeine Art von Wahnsinn dabei war, Kontrolle zu übernehmen, yeah

Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-mad-mad-mad / Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wahn-Wahn-Wahn

Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-mad-mad-mad / Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wahn-Wahn-Wahn

And now... I have finally seen the light / Und nun... habe ich endlich das Licht gesehen

And I... have finally realised... what you need / Und ich... habe endlich bemerkt... was du brauchst

(*Some cool artistic humming and an even cooler guitar*)

 

Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-mad-mad-mad / Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wahn-Wahn-Wahn

Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-mad-mad-mad / Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wahn-Wahn-Wahn

But now... I have finally seen the end (finally seen the end) / Aber nun... habe ich endlich das Ende gesehen (endlich das Ende gesehen)

And I'm... not expecting you to care, no (expecting you to care) / Und ich... erwarte nicht, dass es dich kümmert, nein (erwarten, dass es dich kümmert)

That I... have finally seen the light (finally seen the light) / Dass ich... endlich das Licht gesehen habe

And I... have finally realised (realised) / Und ich... habe endlich bemerkt

I need to love / Ich brauche es zu lieben

I need to love / Ich brauche es zu lieben

Come to me, trust in dream / Komm zu mir, vertraue in den Traum

Come on and rescue me / Komm schon und rette mich

Yes, I know... I can be wrong / Ja, ich weiß... Ich kann falsch liegen

Maybe you're too headstrong / Vielleicht bist du zu eigensinnig

Our love is... / Unsere Liebe ist...

Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-mad-mad-mad / Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wahn-Wahn-Wahn

Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-mad-mad-mad / Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wahn-Wahn-Wahn

Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-mad-mad-mad / Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wahn-Wahn-Wahn

Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-mad-mad-madness / Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wahn-Wahn-Wahnsinn

Now that I'm done with the lyrics and the song, I have to admit that this is going to be too long for only one post. So I and my production assistants decided to divide this post intwo 2 posts (hahahaha... I got my wordplay day today... muahahahaha... oh dear, I'm already crying).

So now I'm going to take a cool artistic break... And as for you my fellow followers (this is definitely too much) readers:

 

Fashion news: People! Zara commits to go toxic-free

Let's have a look at my utterly surprising fashion news. I'm sure you can't sit calmly on your chair (or sofa or armchair or bed or toil... well, let's assume you're sitting on a chair) to see which is the piece of news I chose:

Take that! (nooo, not the band... oh dear, always these misunderstandings)

I must definitely be the ONLY ONE to exploit every single link to make unnecessary jokes... And the same goes for typing in a small letter size. Oh. Oops.

Basically, we're being told here the following:

Zara, a big clothing retailer, has announced a commitment to reduce the discharge of toxic chemicals from its supply chain and products until it reaches zero by 2020. This is a breakthrough against environment pollution due to the requests of activits, denizens of social media and others. To prove that Zara (typical blog-specific comment #1: I almost wrote Zero instead of Zara... Too many abducting crisis in my head) accomplishes the commitment it'll follow a plan of transparency disclosing data about the release of hazardous chemicals.

And now, what you were waiting for, my opinion:

I think it should already be an absolutely obvious act for every company to do their best to reduce the release of toxic products. I mean, briefly they will announce the next day when we're all supposed to die. And don't you want to leave this planet in a good state for the aliens? Nah, but seriously (this word could never strike someone harder than in my posts, known beyond the seven seas for their seriousness), there are some things which should just be self-evident. If there are the possibilities to do it, why is there even a discussion about this? Oh, I forgot, money. Money. Money, money, money... must be funny.
Eventually you'll think I'm paranoid or something.
But well, let's be more positive since this is actually a positive piece of news. Or it's supposed to be, but if you really think of it, the base or the ground where this occurences sprout from isn't such a happy one. Maybe it's time for a revolution and the Mayas only tried to trick us so we would finally change something in the end, something like "Take it easy, there's little time left!"... Who knows, who knows...

News comment: "Oldest panda relative may have been Spanish"

Let's move on to the probably most serious news or even posts of this whole blog (Who said news can't be combined with humour?). After my last post, the BBC got angry on me because I stated to have an intimate business relationship with them. Since they don't want do cooperate anymore I decided to give the CNN a chance. Actually they were waiting for that moment since the very creation of this blog! Take a look at this news: We from CNN are against stupid hyperlink jokes!

The pandas. We all love them. They're just so incredibly cute and adorable. Don't you think? :)

We all associate them with Asia. Basically because they live there. Seems legit, right?

Will funny images like this one stop being about racism and start to talk rather about immigration?

But now, there are scientists suggesting that there may be a possibility that our beloved pandas are actually OUR beloved pandas.

However, the scientists are not claiming to know that pandas evolved in Spain and then migrated to China. There is not enough information to make this statement.
So, don't go around calling this the missing panda link, Abella said. It's certainly possible that there are other older panda relative fossils out there waiting to be found. Moreover, we don't know for sure what the panda family tree looked like.

(Yeah, but it's enough reasoning to strike us with this promising title? These journalists nowadays...)

So, it could be possible that the black, white, Asian and chubby guys aren't actually originally Asian. What would that mean? Which effect would that have for the evolution of the 21st century? And the Mayas, did they know that, too?

Well, I think the hypothesis to assign a Spanish origin to the black and white cat-foots, better known as Ailuropoda melanoleuca, also known as giant panda, but commonly known as panda (let's take a breath...) isn't too farfetched. As an habitual internet user you've probably already seen popular statements like:

 Oh dear, this is so insanely cute, I'm going to have diabetes!

As you can see, pandas reflect quite well the common Spanish mindset. Because I don't know how many times I've seen this sentence with several panda pictures. I think this makes increase the possibilities that pandas maybe are related to Rajoy, Belen Esteban or all these famous and respected people who seem to A: not to have received the appropriate education or B: give a **** to the education.

Oh, this has just reminded me: I should translate the text in the image since this is an English blog!

Well, essentially it is talking about the Spanish temper and bullfighting. Oh dear, that was the stereotype chip in my brain, I feel terribly sorry.

Actually we could translate it as "asteriskasteriskasteriskasterisk school, I'm going to be a panda."

Take that, BBC. This is was the people care about!

News comment: "Black Friday: US begins its key sales weekend"

My second news comment, thanks to my intimate partners from BBC for providing me these news ESPECIALLY for my blog :) I've already foreseen in the past that you will click on me!

The faces of the women in the center of the picture are just... priceless (somehow this is ironic talking about Black Friday, isn't it?).

Above you can see a picture of the animals we usually call "human" in their habitual living environment competing against each other to get the booty: The new iPhone 8 with an even larger display for just 799,97$ instead of 799,99$. Great deal, isn't it?

And this is only thanks to Black Friday :) It's interesting that we talked about it in our English class last Friday because I was reading many news on several videogame news sites about the special deals on "Black Friday" and I didn't make the effort to check what it actually was (everyday I seem to be a bit lazier :S).

In general, it's a nice idea to have a day when the prices fall and consumers can purchase products for less money than it would be usual. But not if these consumers which are actually people have to transform into wild beasts. And saying this, I'm insulting the poor authentic wild beasts.

It's simply shocking to hear reports like these:

As shoppers flocked to the stores, various incidents were reported:

• A man reportedly pulled a gun on a shopper who punched him in the face while the two were waiting in line in a Sears store in South Park Mall in San Antonio, Texas late on Thursday
• A couple heading into a Wal-mart on Thursday night was hit by an SUV driven by a driver police suspect was under the influence of alcohol
• Video footage emerged from a Wal-mart store in Moultrie, Georgia, showing a large crowd of people pushing, yelling and grabbing boxes of mobile phones off a shelf; Wal-mart said nobody was injured

If everyone would act in a civilized way, the Black Friday wouldn't be as bad. But what do I expect from the United States... Not that I've got something against the biggest part of the North American population (and not America as we always generalize precisely in favour of the US' point of view), it's just that we all know the way things work there and how the people let themselves be controlled easily by the media and the commerce. It's nothing we European could be proud of, but I think we still have a majority of thinking people and at least in school we're taught to become criticizing and wise individuals.

News comment: "Catalonia vote: The French who see Barcelona as their capital"

Let's do the news comments! I had so many ideas for more unrestricted your-say posts... But no! You wanted me to write news comments...

Just a joke, you know I like to comment current happenings :)

This is the news I chose (from the BBC news webpage): Hello? Is it me you're looking for?

In my opinion Catalonia is in the middle of a very important process. Step by step, Catalonia gets more international acknowledge. To be honest, I had never heard anything about this little nation until I came here and the life threw me just inside this little mess of independists, ridiculing Spaniards, South American immigrants and people who just want to live their life and don't care about all the political problems.

So it was a completely new culture for me and as you remember from my little presentation I was still quite immaTURE when I came here. The anything I was worrying about was why on earth I had to learn two different languages. In the first place, I simply thought that all those "Catalonia should be an independent nation" and the "We can't lose our own language and our own culture" things were ridiculous. But today, now that I've lived here for four years, I can only support Catalonia and wish it the best to his way on being a widely recognized state.

It's interesting to see how even French people in the southern part of their huge country have still maintained the Catalan culture and are feel even prouder of it than of their actual home state (given the current politico-geographical situation). The main statement of the news: "The French who see Barcelona as their capital" made me curious.

"The French government is too centralist," says Jordi Vera, leader of the French part of the CDC, and a Perpignan city councillor. "Paris is 500 miles (800km) away. Barcelona is our capital."

There is much to gain. This is one of the poorest parts of France - Catalonia is one of the richest parts of Spain.

Vera asks me how I think the Scottish will vote in their referendum in 2014, before continuing: "This is an historic time for the Catalan people. This region is a laboratory to test how a Europe of smaller states might work."

He too drifts between French and Catalan in his conversation. "Catalan could become an official language of the European Union," he says. "That would mean France would finally have to recognise it."

Catalonia, being one of the richest parts of Spain, in economical and cultural factors, deserves to be an independent nation if the other option means to be trampled by the rest of Spain. I mean, would you steal money from your own mother who is feeding you and making you possible to life? I would feel tremendously embarrassed. To talk about the elections tomorrow, I can't really say who I would vote if I could. The only thing I can say is that I wish the best for Catalonia's future and someone to be its representant and guide who really cares about his nation, its folks and its relationship with the rest of the world.

Film critic: The Impossible

That's iiimpossiiiibleeeeeeeee! Many students use this film for their critic... Apparently, the producers and above all the publicity have done a good job. I'm really sorry (I say this a lot lately...) to force you to read another critic another time... If you still haven't seen the movie, you probably don't want to anymore because you may already be sick of it. It's just that from the day I saw the movie I thought about writing about it in my film critic...

Well, let's hope that I can still entertain you. So let's begin!

Impossible to stay calm

This movie will take you, shake you around, put you underwater, get you out and soothe you just to begin another time from the beginning, until it eventually kisses you on your forehead when the final scene is on the screen. These things are supposed to happen only to the protagonists, but you will feel alike.

We experience the story (based on the reality) of a family in the middle of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. A Spanish couple, Maria (Naomi Watts) and Henry (Ewan McGregor), with their 3 children, Lucas, Thomas and Simon, stay on a hotel in Thailand during the Christmas vacations. Everything's right, until one day the disaster happens. The tsunami reaches the coast of Thailand and causes the death of thousands of people. And the family will be separated from each other. Will they all survive and get finally back together? 

I didn't know I could love and hate a film at the same time as much as I do it with this one. It stroke me when I heard that it was a movie of a Spanish production. Such superstars like Ewan McGregor (Star Wars Episode I-III, Moulin Rouge) and Naomi Watts (Ring, King Kong) in such a costly film and all that from our own country? Wow! It was a nice surprise to hear that. The effects of the film are just outstanding. At many points I just got the feeling to be inside the catastrophe by myself. Also, I felt like the protagonists and it just made me think of how I would react in a fatal situation like this one. The dramatic moments are very emotional. Very emotional. I had to try to hold back my tears and it seemed that I was the only in our row who could accomplish that hard challenge. And yes, there weren't just girls in my row.

But exactly these dramatic points, the moments when you see the injuries of the protagonists, when you feel along with them and start to suffer like you would be there between all the dead and half-dead people... it's exactly why this film is a masterpiece in two ways. First, you're totally inside the plot and it's a never previously felt experience. Although I think that, to reach that point, you need to watch the film in the cinema on the big screen in the dark room and with the high-quality sound effects. Second, it will be a torture for you because you just want to escape from all that dead and desperation the movie transmits you. Just like the victims of the tsunami you only want to get out off that depressing place and return to your normal life.

I would say that it's a movie for people who want to get a new experience and see those dramatic events by the point of view of the victims. Probably, on a little screen at home it wouldn't have the same effect, so if the film's still in the cinema next to you, I highly recommend you to think about a visit to Thailand 8 years ago. This is nothing for auditors with bad nerves, so better bring a package of handkerchiefs. Your eyes and your nose and the ones of your neighbours in the hall will be grateful.

*** out of 4, it's definitely worth the money. Brilliant film with very good acting!

Humour

Oh, dear, now I may have raised false hopes... Because I actually think that an important factor of humour is if you are waiting for something funny or if it catches you by surprise. Just think of it. Usually, it's easier for you to laugh about something you didn't see coming. The most simple example would be a joke you already know. Maybe it's the best joke you heard in your entire life and you had an orgasm of laughter the first time they explained it to you. Perhaps the second time it's still funny, but no as much as it was previously. It's because you already know what awaits you. This is so self-evident for us that it almost sounds stupid, but if something is so funny, why can't you laugh at it the 3000th time if you could hardly breathe between the different "ha"s in first place?

Oh dear, what a lame one...

And this is just another point: Why is it so difficult to be funny when you absolutely want to? The typical situation, you're with the girl or the boy or the alien you like and you try to say something to make him/her/it laugh. That's the moment when you say the most stupid things in your whole life.

Or even worse. You know that awkward feeling when you're trying to tell a joke and at the perfect moment, when you're supposed to provoke a series of chemical reactions which makes the other roll laughing on the floor, you have a **** ****** ******* blooper (don't worry, I already know the vocabulary to place in here, it's not that I just didn't know which adjectives to put in here... noooooooo)?

So, humour is determined by a series of factors. Just like the weather which depends on a series of conditions or my mood on Monday morning when I go to sch... oh no, wait, there aren't any factors for my mood on Monday morning. The Monday morning IS the factor. I think I have something like morningphobia. Believe me, the morning is evil. EVIL!

But I'm getting off the point, there are several factors which determine the humorous situation. The factors that affect the active member, the one who tries to be funny and the passive member, the one who receives the visual or auditive signals from the passive member.

(Oh wow, I sound so scientific! ^___^)

No, let's be a bit more serious. Serious. Talking about humour. Oh my god.

Factors for the active member

- Mental maturity and culture: You know these kinds of jokes that appear in TV programmes for little children? Message to the people who use these jokes. They appear in programmes for children BECAUSE THEY ARE FOR CHILDREN. Seriously (oh no, not this subtly ironically loaded word again), it is not funny at all when a sixteen-years-old adoslescent says "dirty words" instead of a normal sentence. And there are many who do that...

*If you don't know what dirty words are, you aren't actually an Internet user or you've never seen a talk show in TV. Congratulations!

- Spontaneity: There are comedians on TV who offer you a stand up of 7 minutes and they literally shoot at you like they had a machine gun with bullets of payoffs. But these are professionals. They need hours and hours of work to prepare their gags! Don't try to be like them and force yourself to comment something funny on everything. The timing is tremendously important! Just like in every situation of our daily life. Better you are really funny two times a months than you try to make a joke 100 times and you aren't funny at all.

-etc. (this simple et cetera makes me sound like "I know even more factors, but I'm so cool that I can sum up this topic to the two most impotant ones", doesn't it? Doesn't it? :D )

Factors for the passive member

- Mood or state of mind: On Monday morning nothing makes me laugh. Only the melodic sound of a news reporter explaining that there's no school today could perform the miracle.

- The prehumorous knowledge or expectation (to invent new terms should be considered a talent): If you were concentrated while you were reading my post you will remember that I talked about this earlier. If not, then read it now! You should feel ashamed! >:(

- etc. pp. (this "pp." is not meant to give you any hints about my political attitude)... (no, really not)... (now I made you doubt, eeeeeh? :D)... (I really abuse parentheses)

Look what I've just found on Google looking for "humor"... That's suspicious.

All the concepts described in this text aren't scientifically proven because you can't find them on Wikipedia. Sorry dude, you can't do copy and paste.

Great Teacher Onizuka

This one may be interesting especially for teachers! Maaaaaaaaaaaybe, I mean, peeeeerhaaaaaaps there coooould be aaaany teacher that reads my blog... Just a theory of mine. Never mind.

As the title suggests, there is a man called Onizuka (actually Eikichi Onizuka; Onizuka is his last name, but we know him better as Onizuka) who is just a great teacher. Hence the name. 

Take that, defenders of surprising writing techniques!

You remember I said that I see the two animes a bit like the opposites of each other? Well, I have to say that I'm still watching Great Teacher Onizuka while I've seen Death Note already two times. Naturally, there are more differences between them. Death Note is an anime that sucks you into itself and leaves you with a smoking head. But Great Teacher Onizuka has exactly the reversed effect. When I come home after a long day of work and I just feel down and stressed and depressed by everything and everyone, I watch one or two episode of this great anime and I feel much better and more relaxed. But let's explain a bit what it's about.

This one is more comedy and social. Great Teacher Onizuka (often abbreviated as GTO) is based on the eponymous manga series which is actually a continuation of Shonan Junai Gumi written and illustrated both by Tohru Fujisawa.

Eikichi Onizuka is 22 years old and has been a member of a motorbike gang in his recent past. But now he takes the decision to do something good in his life and get a good job. He wants to be a teacher. The young well-conditioned man is just everything but not the typical example for a good teacher. He has a wild past, he doesn't have any studies, he doesn't know what to do with his life. How could somebody like him be a good teacher? Oh, he can. And many teachers could take an example of him, believe me.

But I don't want to anticipate. And I should mention some more things about Onizuka. To be honest, another of his (most important) reasons to be a teacher... well, the school uniforms. And basically the girls in it. Don't think of him as a pedophile! He's just... well, he's still virgin and he's easily excited when it comes to girl in good-looking clothes... Or directly, good-looking girls! And who could judge him for that? I mean, he's a man! 

But I assure you, Onizuka has honourable objectives and opinions. At the beginning of the story he gets an internship as a homeroom teacher in a high school. He just can't wait to see all the cute girls and when he enters his class, his facial expression (which is hilarious, besides) talks for him: There is only ONE girl in his class. But he doesn't give up so easily and does his best. Just that one girl seems to have many problems at home because her parents are always discussing and one night she meets up in a park with Onizuka. He begs him to let her sleep at his house that night because she couldn't stand her parents' yelling anymore. Just imagine how lucky Onizuka must have felt on his inside at that moment... 

Later, at Onizuka's place, when it just seems that the girls tries to seduce him... *Flash* A photo. The girl tricked to Onizuka to make the pictures of him how HE was trying to seduce a student. And some guys of her class were her accomplices. The girl results to be a devil dressed like an angel that just tries to destroy the life of every teacher she has. But Onizuka doesn't give up just like that and teaches the girl and her friends a lesson, in his own way.

 Eikichi Onizuka, master of hilarous grimaces and disguises

Some episodes later Onizuka will get a fixed job in another high school and there he will be the homeroom teacher of the class to be known as the most difficult of all Tokyo. Since then, every teacher to be enlisted to that class, lost his job after some very bad experiencies with the students. But Onizuka takes the challenge. The students of that class turn out to have many personal problems and Onizuka will help them out and make friends with some of them. But he will have to resist many problems because there are more than one person who don't want him to be a teacher. And the way Onizuka solves his conflicts is always unique: he will destroy several times a certain car, jump several times of buildings, do a motorbike race, a swimming competition...

As you can see, it's a unique anime with a unique character with a unique behaviour. But all these things make this anime a refreshing experience in our conservative culture. And to be honest, I think Onizuka taught me some lessons, too.

And as always, I do the whole work for you and present you the first episode (it's a double episode of about 45 minutes, but only the first one):

Dear, now that I've seen that picture I'm hungry T_T

Death Note

Now, let's move on to the 3rd game of the 999 series...!

Psych! :P No, don't worry, I'm finally changing the topic. It's still very "chrisish" and maybe it won't interest you too much, but well, that's why I try to write the posts in a funny way so you won't sleep drooling on your computer (or iPad...). 

My last post came to an end with a little cliffhanger. "Talking about animes..." was the last sentence.

And that's what I'm going to talk to you about in my next two posts. Two animes I enjoyed so much that I can't resist to tell you about them. And I think they're actually kind of opposites one to the other. The two are short ones (approximately 40 episodes each), so you're invited to convince yourself of their quality. But now, let's begin with the first one.

Death Note is, just like most anime series, based on a manga, by the writer Tsugumi Ohba and the manga artist Takeshi Obata. The main character's name is Light Yagami (just his name is amazing) and he's a high school student at the beginning of the story. But Light is extremely intelligent, actually he seems to be quite bored in school and of the everyday life. He's sick of the daily news of murders, kidnappings and all the other crimes and he would like to live in a world without any bad people doing bad things.

Then, one day during class, while he was looking out of the window, he saw a black note book falling down to the ground. He didn't know where it came from so he was curious about it. Later, he went to the place where the book had fallen and examined the note book. What he found wasn't just a normal note book. On the cover he read "Death Note". Then he opened the first sites ob the book and began to study them. There was apparently a kind manual with rules of how to use the death note. These were the following ones:

• The human whose name is written in this notebook shall die.
• This notebook will not take effect unless the writer has the subject's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.
• If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the person's name, it will happen.
• If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack.
• After writing the cause of death, the details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.

Just as everyone would do, Light thought that it was a kind of a very sick joke. But for some reason, he didn't decide to throw it away and so he took it home. His thoughts couldn't resist to return one time after another to the strange book that he had found. He was saying to himself that it had to be a stupid invention of an ill mind and that it was just nonsense. But finally Light wanted to try it out, his human curiosity won against his rational intellect. That evening he went to a shop and there he saw how a little group of men were molesting a woman outside. Light was just disgusted by the actions of the men and when one of them said the full man of one of his companions (Puuuuuure coincidence!), he decided to use him to do the experiment with the book. So he wrote down the name he just heard and added "Car accident" as the cause of death below. So he waited 40 seconds...

When the 40 seconds had past and Light was just about to turn around having confirmed his theory, a truck swang off the street and hit the man head-on. Naturally, the man had died. Light couldn't believe what had just happened.

Later, at home, while he was still thinking about the power he had with this new book and he could use it for the sake of the good people, a strange creature suddenly showed on his bed. The masculine human-like being (or well... actually not being... I'm going to explain in a minute!) introduced himself as "Ryuk" and he said to be the actual owner of the death note. Light was shocked in the first place, but quickly he regained his cool mind and listened carefully to the explanations of Ryuk.

Ryuk stated to be a "shinigami", a god of death (typical for the japanese folklore). He explained that there exists something besides of heaven and hell where the shinigamis live. And every shinigami has its own death note. With them, they cause the death of the humans, adding the initially remaining lifetime of the human to their own. Sometimes a shinigami lets his death note fall accidentally into the human world. Then, he or she has to come down fast to get his o her death note back before a human finds it. Because at the moment any human touches the death note, it begins to be his own possession. And then the shinigami has to stay on Earth together with the human until he dies to take his death note home again. The shinigami on Earth can only be seen by people who have touched his respective death note.

 The main characters (from left to right): L, Light Yagami and Ryuk.

Light began to think that it was a kind of a divine destiny that he had found the death note. From that point, Light set as his objective to create a new world by exterminating step by step all the bad people leaving only the good ones. But early, he started to get crazy and to think of himself as a kind of god of a new world. Still, he was very intelligent. And quickly, he got an enemy. When Light continued killing more people with his new almost invincible weapon, the police got aware of the mysterious murders and asked L (yep, his code name, just an L; this has style, don't you think?) for help, a very stange guy in the same age as Light who was working in the shadows for the extremely hard cases for the police. A fight between the two geniuses had begun, when L was trying to find out who was the hiding murderer and Light was trying to plan all his murders in perfection to not get caught by L.

The best about this anime is to follow the mind battles between Light and L and the tragic incidents which accompany their almost divine fight. This anime gets you stuck onto the screen, you just want to know always what's going to happen next and you're deeply fascinated by the incredible deductions and gambits Light and L do during the story.

With a protagonist who is actually the "bad guy", the anime also makes us think about some very big questions: Is it justified to take someone's life if that person did something very bad? Where are the limits between the ones who deserve to die and the ones who don't? Who should set these limits? Is it correct to decide about the destiny of a person's life?

Ah, I forgot to mention. Ryuk is just a hilarious character. Really.

This one makes you think and as you surely know, I love that. So, if you're interested to have a little look, here you have the first episode: