Storytelling

 

The storytelling activity was an incredible experience, it's been a long time since I didn't do one of these dramatizations, probably since my second year at the university. So, I was very excited about this, I've always loved doing these performances, since high school. We decided to change the story. Initially, we had selected Ligeia, an Edgar Allan Poe short story, but there were only three characters, and our group had 7 members, so that would be difficult. We tried to find a story with multiple characters that we could perform as. 

Finally, and with the approbation of our teacher, we chose the Greek story of Deucalion and Phyrra. I had never heard of this story, but I read it and it was amusing. It reminded me a lot of the biblical tale of Noah. So we read the story and we selected who was going to represent each character. I was going to be Zeus,  the great god of thunder. I was happy because he's an important part of the Greek mythology.

My mom helped me to create the costume, we tried to find a white beard everywhere, we thought because it was almost Christmas time we would find a Santa Claus beard, we went to stores, to the market, and downtown, and there was no luck, so I decided to make my own beard. then I crafted out of cardboard and a shiny gold paper Zeus' thunder, and the rest of the clothing was fabric that I already had.

The day of the recording was really fun, we hadn't seen each other for a while, so it was incredible to be reunited again. Everyone had their outfits ready, we prepared the scenography, and we recorded all the scenes. The filming was kind of difficult, especially because the background was falling off, but we did it, and we were proud of the hard work we did. After that, this subject was almost finished, I had a great time with literature, I didn't have great expectations after the French literature, but It was really interesting, everything, it reminded me of the times I wanted to become a writer, or the times I would analyze the story and character from movies and series, and I would like to thank teacher Lia for bringing back those memories with me, and also my friends who were with me the whole time.

Thank you for reading my blog, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night.

- Carlos Meléndez

Original short story

 Hello once again,

It's been a while, today I want to tell you about my experience during the activity of the original story. When the teacher explained that we would have to create a short story I was excited because I used to write stories about my classmates in high school, it wasn't anything big, just silly stories that I created during my free time. but going back to the assignment, I was a little worried because there were 7 members in my team, and we had to create a plan because writing at the same time could be a challenging task. We planned on dividing the parts, but it would have taken too much time and the story may have been confusing if it was written from different points of view. We consider that one person could write the story and the other ones could give ideas, but it would have been too unfair. Finally, we wrote all of our ideas in a document during an online meeting, and like that, we started creating the world, the characters, the setting, and the plot.

We worked like that for 3 nights, and with all the things we had written we had a decent story, we divided all the paragraphs we had and each member would add more details to the story, we added more information, changed some characters, fixed some plot holes and corrected some contradictions. Then, together we read again the story, to make sure it all made sense. For the characters, we took inspiration from our friends, so it was fun imagining them in these crazy situations.

When we finished we were proud of our creation, I still believe if it were published it would have success. At the moment of recording the narration, I was very nervous, I had to represent the emotions and make the listener feel the sense of the events, but I did try my best. It was a difficult thing to do, but with the help of my team, it was very fun to do, I hope to continue writing in the future.

That was all for today, I hope you've enjoyed reading.

And in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight,

-Carlos Meléndez

Nintendo and me. Part III

 

Hello again, today's blog continues my journey with Nintendo.

In the previous blogs, I told you how I got my handheld consoles, and today, I'm gonna explain how I had my first home consoles. 

I remember the day Nintendo announced the Switch, I was very shocked because it was a hybrid console, you could use it on the go, like a handheld and you could also plug it into the TV like a home console. Since that day I started saving money as a crazy person; every income I received, I saved it for the Switch; my mom and my dad also helped for the cause. My aunt who lives in the United States would come to visit, so my mom sent her the money so she could buy the Switch there because it was cheaper than here. She also gifted me two games: Super Smash Bros Ultimate and Pokémon Let's Go Eevee. so I was very happy when it arrived, then I would save to buy my own games, mostly Pokémon. This year I sold some of the games I didn't use anymore (except the Pokémon games, never again) so I could modify my Nintendo Switch to play pirated games, it was hard for me but at the end it worth it.

Years later, the same aunt sent me money for my birthday, so I added my savings and decided to buy a Nintendo Wii U, this console was realized before the Nintendo Switch, it was the base idea of the Switch, to play games in handheld. The Wii U wasn't very popular, even though it was a successor to the famous Wii. I wanted to buy a Wii U because if I modified it I could play basically every Nintendo game from every previous console, like Wii, Gamecube, Nintendo 64, SNES, and NES; something I always wanted as a kid. So I did, I remember going to Metrocentro to bring my Wii U, then I had to wait because it was going to be modified, but finally I had it, and I've played so many games that I wasn't able to before. 

Also that year I bought another 3DS, the New 3DS XL, my mom helped me to buy it because she felt kind of guilty that my old 3DS didn't work anymore, it was already modified and I got a great deal for it. But with these 3 consoles, My inner Nintendo fan child and I are very happy, because I am able to play almost every Nintendo game I  always wanted to, so my journey with Nintendo is not over yet.

Thank you for reading my blog, I hope you enjoyed it. 

And in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night.

- Carlos Meléndez

31 Minutos

 

A show that was important for me in my childhood was 31 Minutos, a Chilean puppet show that premiered in the 2000's. I remember watching it on Nickelodeon, I used to stop everything I was doing to watch it, I downloaded the songs and listened to them in my dad's car.

The theme of the show is that they are in a news program, where all the puppets work at. We have the main character: Tulio Triviño, who is the main host, he is very stupid and gullible, is the one who has more money, and is always screwing everything up, then we have Juan Carlos Bodoque, he is my favorite character, he is very sarcastic, loves gambling and he introduces the section "La Nota Verde" when he teaches about the planet and how we should take care of it; Juanin, he is the producer of the show and coordinates everything about it, he was unique in his species and was found by Tulio ans d Bodoque when they were kids; Patana who is Tulio's nephew and want to become a great reporter; Mario Hugo, a reporter who has tons of dogs and is hopelessly in love with Patana, and many others like Guachimingo, Calcetín con Rombos Man, Policarpo and Guaripolo.

The music of its show is great, especially on the Ranking Top of Policarpo, it is inspired by different genres of music. They have collaborated with a lot of musicians like Chancho en Piedra, Los Bunkers, Belanova, and many more. I'm glad to see that the show is still popular on the internet, I always see clips of the show on TikTok or YouTube, and also a lot of memes. One thing I really like about this show is that it doesn't treat the kids of his audience like stupid children who get entertained with stupid jokes, no, they treat the children for what they really are, adults in progress, they know that kids are smart, and they can understand complex subjects, and that's something that a lot of kids shows should have in consideration, shows like 31 Minutos and Bluey are great examples of this.

Thanks for reading my blog, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening and goos night.

-Carlos Meléndez

Nintendo and me. Part II

 In a previous post I talked about how I got my first Gameboy Advance and Nintendo DS, today I would like to continue with the stories of Nintendo and me.

After I sold my DS, I didn't have a console for a while. At that time I had emulators for Gameboy, Gameboy Advance, and Nintendo DS on my phone, but a new console was realized, the Nintendo 3DS, just like the DS it had two screens, but now it was more powerful and had 3D technology, yes!  You could see in 3D without needing glasses, for me it was futuristic! I asked my dad for a 3DS but he said it was too expensive so I spent months sad and only desiring a 3DS. 

I was very young, and I even remember I made a 3DS out of paper. One day my dad accepted (after a lot of begging) to buy me the 3DS, and so he did, we went to Las Pulgas again and we bought one used, I wanted a cyan one, but they only had a red one, I also got to pick one game, so I chose Pokémon X, the game was brand new, it just had released in the markets, and I'm sure about this because I even got a Torchic from the launching event. I even remember downloading it at the doctor's because my mom had an appointment. 

I only had Pokemon X so I took advantage of it, a year later my grandma traveled to the United States and brought me two games, Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7, I really enjoyed those games, I played them a lot and also the free demos I downloaded from the Eshop. However one day, I would lose those two games in a restaurant, I asked a few days later if they had found them but it was pointless. After I while, I went with my mom to Las Pulgas to modify my 3DS, so I could install pirated games, and it worked, a new world opened to me, new franchises, different adventures, hundreds of hours playing, the Nintendo 3DS became my favorite console, and it still is one of my favorite's. Sadly, one day my mom left the 3DS on the cable box and it overheated, the games wouldn't save anymore and the console would turn off constantly, I still have it and I would like to fix it one day, for all the memories I had playing on it.

That was everything for this part, I hope you've enjoyed the lecture, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night.

- Carlos Meléndez

Ride the Cyclone!

 Hello everybody!

Today, I would like to share with you one of my favorite musicals, Ride the Cyclone. This is a musical created in 2008, by Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell, and this is the second part of a trilogy called "Uranium Teen Scream Trilogy", a three parts collection of theatrical works, the first part being "Legoland", which at this moment is considered to be lost media, only a scene of the play being available on Youtube, and the third installment hasn't been written yet.

In this story, we meet  The Amazing Karnak, a mechanical fortune teller who has the ability to predict the deaths of people at a carnival in Urinaium City. In this carnival, an incident happened where 5 young choir members passed away in a malfunctioning accident on a roller coaster called The Cyclone, even Karnak recommended the 5 teenagers ride the cyclone. Karnak could even predict his own death, a rat was chewing one of Karnak's powering cables, killing him In about one hour.

Full of guilt, Karnak summoned the soul of the 5 teenagers, Ocean an ambitious girl who has succeeded in everything, Noel the only gay boy in town who is filled with passion, Mischa an angry Ukrainian boy with a gangsta persona who tries to talk with his online fioncée Talia, Ricky a boy with disabilities but with a huge imagination, and Constance, a nice girl with some insecurities about her and her town. There was also a mysterious character, Jane Doe, another victim of the accident, whose corpse was found with the other ones from the choir, but without a head, there was no way to know her identity. All these children would compete to win the big prize: come back to life. During the musical, we will see each kid show their dreams, wishes, sad stories, and learnings to see who deserves to live once more. 

I learned about this musical from a song I found on Tiktok, I listened to it, then watched the scene, and then I watched the whole musical. Then I realized that many of the songs were on trend at some point on TikTok, so yeah! The songs are really good, and the show is very funny and emotional. I really loved the characters and the story, I've watched many times this musical and every time there's a new detail that I find. So I would really recommend you check this musical, expect everything from the songs, the characters, and the plot. You can find the musical on YouTube as Ride the Cyclone slime tutorial, just make sure not to like the video or it will be erased.

Thank you for reading! And in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening and good night!

-Carlos Meléndez

Nintendo and me. Part I

 I've played video games since I was a kid, mostly Nintendo games, and they have become an important part of my life. 

The first console I owned was the Gameboy Advance; Many of my classmates had one, and I asked my father for months for one Gameboy. I remember one day to "Las Pulgas", and he went to buy something and we were waiting in the car, I had no idea what he was doing there, then, he returned and told me "Close your eyes" and I did, and when I opened them I had a purple Gameboy Advance in front of me. I was very happy, even though I had no idea how to start the game, I put the cartridge backward. I even remember my mom had a dentist appointment that same day, and I was there, with my Gameboy turned on but without playing. I had so many great times with that console; thanks to the anime and my best friend at that time, I decided to buy a Pokémon game, Pokémon Ruby. And after that, all my love for Pokémon started. I have a lot of memories with my Gameboy Advance, taking it with me when I went with my father to his job, or taking it to school to play Pokémon with my friends, even though my mom had forbidden it. or playing Pac-man World with my cousins. It was a great console that sadly I lost one day.

Years later my father bought me a Nintendo DS, I remember I bought the game "Pokémon Mystery Dungeon", I was very excited that day, so excited that I left the charger at the store. I played all afternoon, and I was sad when the battery died because I had to wait a few days until we went to the store again. Gladly, they recognized us and returned me the charger. I really took advantage of the Nintendo DS, my father bought me an R4, which is a pirate cartridge to play all the DS games you'd like. So I played a lot of Pokémon, Mario Kart, MarioParty, Zelda, Kirby, and WarioWare. I have a strong memory of me, at my grandparents' house, playing The Simpsons Game on my DS while my grandma was baking pastries. Something I regret a lot is selling this console with all my Pokemon games, I hope one day to get them again.

Wow, look at the time! I hope I'll share with you my other anecdotes about my consoles another day, but for now, I hope you've enjoyed reading my blog.

And in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night.

- Carlos Meléndez

The woman on the window of The Rescuers

 Hello everyone,

Do you remember the 1977 Disney movie "The Rescuers"? Or as it was called in Latin America: "Bernando y Bianca", a film about two brave mice trying to rescue a little girl who was kidnapped. Okay, great! Maybe you had forgotten about this part of our childhood, or maybe you didn't, I don't know. But did you know there was a photo of a naked woman in this film? Crazy, right?

This photo was found on a blink-and-you'll-miss-it part, only two frames of the movie; when the two mice are flying down. If you paid attention to the building in the background, you would notice a naked woman on the window, not a cartoon woman, but an actual naked woman. This was not noticeable until the VHS release in 1999, and these VHSs had to be taken back because someone had found the hidden woman. This version was a rerelease of the 1992 VHS version of the movie, which didn't feature the woman on the window, so the 1999 one was a different print. Disney said that the film they projected in the cinema didn't include the mysterious woman, but people on the internet have found Behind-the-scenes fragments that did include the woman, ON TV!!!!!

The reason that it passed unnoticed is that (unlike in the cinema) you could pause and rewind the movie at any moment, making it easier to notice this "easter egg". Of course, every version you now see has that background edited removing the woman on the window, including the Disney+ version, but, she was there. 

It's interesting to think how something like this sneaked out the Disney's strict revisions. This and other similar controversies with Disney have made a lot of people theorize that Disney is putting subliminal messages into the kids. I remember reading all these theories when I was younger, and I was shocked. Now I just think that these could be jokes that the animators would do to release tension and stress, that accidentally slipped through the official releases. 

And in case you were wondering "Who put the woman on the window in the background?", I have the answer for you. Her name was Ann Guenther, a very important background artist who participated in many important movies and who had won many awards due to her beautiful work. The last movie she had worked on Disney was The Rescuers, after being replaced by the person she had trained before. Could the woman in the window be the last revenge? Tom Sito, a co-worker of Anne's and the person who confirmed she did the woman on the window, said that it was a nice theory, but that everything was just an inside joke.

Well, that was everything, the only mystery that remains is "Who is the woman in the window?", we may never know. I hope you've found this entry interesting, that you've learned a little more about animation, and that you know a bit of Annie, an amazing background designer, an incredible artist, and the responsible behind the woman in the window.

Thank you for reading.

And in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night.

- Carlos Meléndez

Stephen King, my favorite writer...

 Hello there

I want to discuss today's topic (You already saw it in the title): Stephen King.

Many of us have seen or know about at least one of Stephen King's stories, like the most famous right now, It, or other classics like The Shinning, Misery, Cujo, Pet Sematary, or The Green Mile. Amazing stories that even have had adaptations to movies and TV shows, I remember watching Cujo with my mom when I was a kid, and I was scared of the demonized Saint Bernard; I stopped seeing the movies of the dog Beethoven the same way since then. I also remember watching the popular movie The Shinning on the channel TCM I didn't feel scared, but I realized that the Simpsons used this story in one of the Treehouses of Horror. The point is that Stephen King has been a big icon of pop culture, especially in horror culture. 

He's my favorite writer, but sometimes I wish he would retire because he is still writing novels, he is going to release a new novel in September; My dream is to have his whole collection of novels on my shelves, but if he continues writing is going to be more expensive and expensive. I have some of his books already, like It, The Shinning, Pet Sematary, and Cujo, so yeah, the classics. 

The first book I read was Carrie, the first novella he published, and then I read others like Salem's Lot, The Dead Zone, and Rage (This one was banned because is a story about a young man who makes a shooting in his school). I remember borrowing a book from him at the University library, it was The Dreamcatcher, I was surprised they had his novellas, the book was charming but weird, I remember I was crying a little on the bus while I was reading it, 

The thing I love the most about his books is that there are so many connections between the books, they all share the same universe with recurring characters, places, and entities. I would say that Stephen King is a master of writing, not only horror but all genres, basically, he has written about horror, romance, crime novels, suspense, mysteries, fantasy, science fiction, and more; but one thing that he should improve is the endings. Well, thank you for reading a whole post about me simping Stephen King and his literary universe, I hope you've learned something new today, and I would recommend you to read one of his books.

Thank you dear reader,

And in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night.

-Carlos Meléndez

I don't know what to write about...

 
Hello everyone, welcome to my infinite galaxy...

My name is Carlos Meléndez, or Charlie if you like, I'm a student at the University of El Salvador, and I created this blog as an activity of the university, but I would like to take advantage of this to create a space to express my thoughts, wishes, experiences, and dreams. This sounds awesome as a plan in my head, but at the moment of writing this, I'm still not sure of what things I could write about; I'm scared that it could be boring, that I couldn't write about a lot about something or that I would be repeating a lot without saying something meaningful, oh well, I suppose that writing is about practice, the more you write the better you'll get; Let's hope for the best😸. Continuing with the blog (because I don't want to bore you with my insecurities and anxiety when I'm writing), let me share with you, my reader friend, some of the topics that we might (or not) see in this journey called "Carlos struggling attempt to create an infinite galaxy": 

• My hobbies
• My interests
• My family
• My friends
• 
  My partner
• My pet
• My tragic academic life
• My even more tragic economy
• My dreams(like aspirations)
• My dreams(like when I'm sleeping)
• My favorite food
• My favorite music
• My favorite movie
• My mental issues
• My favorite color
• My favorite book 

So there we go, those are some ideas that I'm planning to write about here; will I succeed? who knows, but I hope you won't get bored by reading this promising blog. Thank you for reading!!

And in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night.

- Carlos Meléndez