1€ for using the elevator

It sounds like a strange cocktail of provincialism, speculation and greed.

 Walking across Barcelona I recently found that the brand new Arenas Shopping Mall has taken the opportunity to charge its visitors for using the lift (1€ per ride). Locals, tourists and families gathered on a long line to use the elevator and the reach the upper terrace. Two guys from Arenas Staff charge and provide instructions of use to excited visitors willing to pay for this exciting adventure..

   

Then I wonder why could this be successfully happening in the first world( Europe) in the 21st century when elevators, lifts, and all other transportation devices are so common. I found out that it is because people is bored, ignorant and willing to pay for thing they already have. Buying the lift ride makes it exciting, because in our minds only those things we pay for are good and worthy. Free things like the air, water, nature and our own life and thoughts are just not so good enough  as to charge for them. 

Sadly, we live our lives convinced that only things we can buy are important and valuable. That is why speculation and scam are so successful these days. We feel we need to pay for things we already are entitled to.

Entender de donde viene y hacia donde va la crisis mundial

Inside Job es el documental dirigido por Charles Ferguson, que presenta de manera muy simple y con muy buena documentacion los orígenes de la crisis económica mundial, la corrupción de wall street y el gobierno norteamericano que ha devastado la economía global y las terribles consecuencias a futuro.

 La crisis no acaba. Al parecer está apenas comenzando.

Los culpables de la crisis mundial siguen sin juicio, sin castigo y cada vez mas millonarios, ocupando cargos como asesores de gobiernos y evaluadores de riesgo en inversión. Una cadena infinita de corrupción e impunidad alrededor del mundo.

Premiada en los más importantes festivales de cine, presenta entrevistas con empleados, ejecutivos y funcionarios responsables e implicados en el desplome de la economía mundial y muestra el drama de los miles de personas que perdieron sus trabajos, ahorros y hogares como consecuencia de la insaciable sed de dinero y poder de las multinacionales financieras.

Porn Instead of Sex?

Maybe because I grew up with the idea of sex as an act of love, some ways of expressing  sexualities shock me very much.

Moving away from the idealization of perfect love and perfect sex, what I find more often in current media and culture is a strange mix of sex and show business that seems to invade people´s private lives.

I know we learn all we know from media these days, but where did the instinct go? Where are the movies about love making? sexualities of the world or expressing love trough sex? It all seems to be set, made up and decorated to be broadcasted and uploaded.

Either it has become more marketable when became more public or either we do everything the way movies tell.

Running away from staged sex in tv and movies I started exploring sexual social networks, where people and also companies upload all kind of visuals around sex, from intimate, personal videos to fake amateur movies. I guess diversity in content is one big plus for the internet.


After the show I guess real sexuality is almost never seen in media and I guess it is because it won´t sell. May be perceived as boring, may seem too long and uninteresting to audience makers.

Real sexuality (or the sexuality people practice at home) may be a mix of our instinct and the mandate of media we have learned for years. Sometimes fitting Hollywood standards and sometimes just connecting people´s feelings and emotions.

I still personally find much more, moving, interesting, eye catching and arousing those pictures and videos people do in the privacy of their homes with their couples  (both legal or illegal) that express love, passion and connection, than all the porn industry paraphernalia that tries to fill stereotypical fantasies, that are supposed to be collective and desirable. (big cocks, big boops, hard fucker, multiple orgasms, etc.)

What do you feel when you go to bed?
Hollywood standard of personal connection?
Is porn really sex?
is our sexuality just conservative porn?

Anders Behring Breivik · A souvenir from the Jungle

Sneaking about the Oslo murderer Anders Behring Breivik, I am amazed on how his popularity grows as media tell his name. A new media strategy for the right winged christian extremists? A rare Phenomenon from "perfect societies"? A sign of the times? A truth revealed from the Norwegian society?

Hunting the Vulnerable

Recently , local newspapers have been publishing ¨news¨ about fighting street vendors, that sell ¨illegal¨ copies of designer bags, fake sunglasses, ¨illegal¨ cds and dvds and that kind of good, getting to the point to make them look like very dangerous and aggressive criminals society must be afraid of and in consequence exterminate.

But, if you look at them closely, you can discover most of them are just teenager that ran away from their our countries, many of them risking their life in a deadly trip to get the the promised land of the first world, where they are treated worse that we treat our street dogs or cats.  When I make them visible to my eyes I see young men trying to make a living from whatever they can to be able to earn some euros they have to send back to their homes or pay a big percent to someone else.

Usually under terrible human conditions, they are hunted, questioned, captured, beaten, humiliated by everyone around them. It is ok to donate for Africa from our savings accounts but none cares a bit about the when they are around the corner,They will have to run every time the police is around and be afraid of being around everyday, while we pretend they do not exist.

Why can they get some opportunities, education or jobs or social assistance when they are already here? because they are black? foreign?, speak other languages and believe in other gods?

In the meantime, European companies and governments exploit their natural resources back in their countries, to provide the first world market with nice jewelery, mobile phones, gadgets and fuel.

Hunting the vulnerable and making the population hate them seems to be the rule number one, to  be part of the first world and a welfare state.

Welcome to the real jungle.

A water and Pony Tale

this story happened every summer. When my mother reached certain age, every summer she would trnasform in a different animal if touched deep currrent water.

Our job was to help return home safely without her getting lost, hunt or stolen by anyone in the region.

it happened several times. In the first tiem she became a dog and wonderdered in the streets, not being able to tell us what happened and who was trying to make her dissapear. as soon as she turned vack, we not everyone wanted to help get back home safe.

In the second year, we were walking by the river when she received a call. my sister who was 7 months pregnant was about to have her baby. She run son fast to help her that fell deep in the river.

One of our employees and me had to dive into his river full of  fish to find her. she had become a pony this time, with same color she was wearing black an white, a strong beautiful pony would run so much to be safe.

But this year I suddenly knew some of our employees trying to make her disappear the year before. she never told us but I could know by the way this guy run into her. he wasn´t helping. He was hunting her.

As soon as I stepped out of the water saw the fear in this pony´s eyes. I called her several times, asking her to be visible to me while she ran into the woods protecting herself from us.
Suddenly she appeared to me and stared asking me to run with her, but this time instead of jumping into the river again we followed the river path.

When we arrived to our home, people from the town admired the pony, tried to buy it and steal it, tried to tie it and seduce it, but it keep walking beside me all day, non stop, til it fell exhausted when entering a shopping mall. there in the middle of the crown the transformation began from horse to woman again.

A big celebration took place in my family that day. we know knew we would all become animals for a day, every year in the summer. We had to take care of each other, because we were different and everyone knew.

Como reconocer y combatir a los Vampiros Profesionales?

Published  on Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 3:52am

Todos nos hemos encontrado alguna vez con estos personajes en nuestras vidas.

Cuando estábamos en la escuela, existía aquella niña, supersimpática que siempre buscaba estar contigo en los trabajos de grupo, pero que nunca hacia su parte. O el gran amigo que al que siempre teníamos que anotar en el informe final de curso a ultima hora porque no había aparecido en ninguna sesión de estudio. Ahí nace todo.

Los vampiros profesional son una raza ampliamente extendida por el planeta, que se dedican a chupar los esfuerzos profesionales, contactos, clientes, recursos y proveedores que puedas tener. O por lo menos, lo intentan.

Sacar un proyecto adelante, lograr hacer una propuesta o conseguir que un cliente se interese en tus ideas es una labor larga y compleja, sin embargo los vampiros profesionales son expertos en tomar el camino corto, muchas veces apareciendo espectacularmente en el momento y lugar apropiados.

Pero como reconocer a un vampiro profesional?

No traen colmillos afilados ni se visten con capa negra, su reflejo se ve en los espejos y resisten la luz solar. Sin embargo hay algunos detalles que revelan su linaje, como por ejemplo.

·Están encantados con tu proyecto y constantemente alaban tus actividades, pero nunca participan de ellas.
·Nunca te invitan a su casa o despacho (siempre te visitan en casa o en tu despacho o te proponen reuniones en cafés, restaurantes o eventos.)
·Tienen mucha ansiedad por ¨colaborar¨contigo en proyectos y siempre quieren saber mas acerca de lo que haces.
·Nunca te envían un cliente o un referido.
·Siempre te piden links, ppts, pdfs, están pendientes de tu blog y siguen todo lo que haces en facebook.
·Quieren conocer a tus amigos, empleados y colaboradores.
·Te los encuentras ¨de sorpresa¨ en sitios que frecuentas o eventos sectoriales.
·Silenciosamente intentan contactar con tus proveedores, clientes y colaboradores a tus espaldas.
·Constantemente te piden trabajo, pero nunca te lo ofrecen.
·Quieren conocer tu biblioteca, Videoteca, Musiteca, y que les prestes libros y películas, pero no ofrecen los suyos.
·Nunca hablan de sus clientes o Proyectos (posiblemente no los tienen)

Como Combatirlos?
·Ante todo no los confundas con amigos porque no lo son.
·Si has cometido el error de proporcionarles información, añade información falsa.
·No comentes nunca idea si no esta ya contratada o vendida.
·Nunca des referencias de ellos a menos que realmente hayas colaborado.
·No dejes que te exijan o te hagan sentir culpable por llegar tarde, dejar de llamar o cancelar una cita.
·No les recibas en casa o en despacho si después de un par de meses no has visitado el suyo.
·Nunca les prestes tu pendrive o les des acceso a tu ordenador
·Nunca uses sus ordenadores.
·Nunca compartas proveedores.
·No te comprometas por ellos ante terceros.
·Limited profile en todas las redes sociales o directamente bloquearlos.
·No te centres en ellos en los networkings o los cocteles, explora tus clientes potenciales o contactos reales.
·Pídeles referencias, bases de datos, información, contactos y referencias.
·Pídeles trabajo y participación en sus proyectos.

Una vez veas el equilibrio entre lo que te piden y lo que te ofrecen te darás cuenta si tu colaborador o contacto es un vampiro profesional o realmente una posible sinergia.

El equilibrio en las relaciones profesionales es muy importante y un buen colaborador consciente de la importancia del dar y el recibir y que tenga en su mentalidad el famoso win/win es muy importante y puede llegar a convertirse en un excelente socio. Encontrar contactos y colaboradores verdaderos por los cuales valga la pena hacer cosas y que realmente están interesados en compartir profesionalmente es maravilloso y supremamente enriquecedor y debe producir un vinculo interesante a nivel profesional y muchas veces personal.

Sinembargo, muchos ¨colabradores¨ y contactos solo vienen por tu sangre y hay que tener siempre a mano una estaca o un diente de ajo que nos permita auyentarles.

En los último años ha desfilado por mi escenario por lo menos 25 vampiros profesionales, que asi como han llegado se han ido, casi casi sin dejar rastro ni aportar nada. de algunos casi ni nos acordamos ya.