COLOURS (week 14)

Colors and their meaning 

(from http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html)

Red is the color of fire and blood, so it is associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination as well as passion, desire, and love.

Orange combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow. It is associated with joy, sunshine, and the tropics. Orange represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement, and stimulation.

Yellow is the color of sunshine. It's associated with joy, happiness, intellect, and energy.

Green is the color of nature. It symbolizes growth, harmony, freshness, and fertility. Green has strong emotional correspondence with safety. Dark green is also commonly associated with money.

Blue is the color of the sky and sea. It is often associated with depth and stability. It symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, and heaven.

White is associated with light, goodness, innocence, purity, and virginity. It is considered to be the color of perfection.

Black is associated with power, elegance, formality, death, evil, and mystery

There are more specific description in the article. I like this blog because it gives a clear idea bout what do colors mean and symbolize. My favorite color is black but I also like purple and blue.

                                                      

In this picture the colour that is more predominant is purple. There are various shades of purple. 

In order to improve my English, I have read a couple of poems from two poetry books named "the sun and her flowers" and "milk and honey" which are written by Rupi Kaur. Furthermore, I have been doing exercises to prepare myself for the final exam. 

Sara Bahadi

MAKING DECISIONS (week 13)

• SPLIT, REVIEW.

Having seen "Split", which is a recent American psychological terror movie, I have to say that it was really amazing. I liked it from the beginning till the end, I couldn't keep my eyes away from the screen. It is not only a suspense movie but it also deals, in a slightly way, with abuse and psychological health. 

This film was created by the famous director M. Night Shyamalan, who has also directed well known films such as "After earth" and "Avatar". The fact is that after having seen this film I was left with a sense of wanting more. The film is about a man that has 23 personalities and it happens that there are two personalities that take the control over the other ones and they let out a kind of "beast" that only feeds on impure people. The impure people are those ones that have had a simple life with  no suffering. 

                                     

I do not have favorite films but my favorite books are:

                                                  

 In order to improve my English I have read and done some exercises form the teacher's website so that I prepare January's exam. I have also seen an episode of Riverdale, an American series.

                                          

Sara Bahadi

Colours (Week 14)

The article below explains the meaning of the wide variety of colours. Thus it is a good article that associates colours with feelings and its effects. Here is the meaning one of my favourite colours.
http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html

Black: 
"Black is associated with power, elegance, formality, death, evil and mystery.
It is a mysterious colour associated with fear and the ubknown. It usually has a negative connotation. Black denotes strenght and authority; it is associated to be a very formal, elegant, and prestigious colour. In heraldry, black is the symbol of grief.
Black gives the feeling of perspective and depth, but a black background diminishes readability. Combined with red or orange, black gives a very aggressive colour scheme."

Guernica is one of my favourite paintings, Picasso´s masterpiece. Picasso used a palette of gray, black and white to express the horror and the suufering of people in the bombing of Guernica. The painter wanted to transmit through the colours the violence  and the unrepairable damages that a war can cause. 

Last week I watched "The Intern", a comedy film that deals with a seventy year old retired widower who become a senior intern at an online fashion site. 

By Nassira Dahmani

THE FASHION SHOW (12)

The following interview was extracted form popsugar.news. The interview is about the American ban after Trump's election as a president for the United States. Lindsay Miller is interviewing Ibtihaj Mohammed who is a Fencer that represented America in 2016 Olympics and she succeeded. 

                           

Muslim-American Olympian Ibtihaj Muhammad Says She Was Recently Held at US Customs

POPSUGAR: Do you know anyone who was directly impacted by Trump's travel ban?

Ibtihaj Muhammad: Well, I personally was held at Customs for two hours just a few weeks ago. I don't know why. I can't tell you why it happened to me, but I know that I'm Muslim. I have an Arabic name. And even though I represent Team USA and I have that Olympic hardware, it doesn't change how you look and how people perceive you. Unfortunately, I know that people talk about this having a lot to do with these seven countries in particular, but I think the net is cast a little bit wider than we know. And I'm included in that as a Muslim woman who wears a hijab.

PS: That must have been a scary moment for you.

IM: It's really hard. My human response is to cry because I was so sad and upset and disheartened — and just disappointed. At the same time, I'm one of those people who feels like I have to be strong for those people who may not be able to find that strength. I feel like I have to speak up for those people whose voices go unheard. It was a really hard two hours, but at the same time, I made it home. I try to remember to be positive and to try to leave all these situations, even if they may be very difficult, with love. I think that we will come out on top as women, as people of color, as Muslims, as transgender people, as people who are part of the disabled community — I think that we'll come out on top.

PS: If you were able to tell Donald Trump one thing, what would it be?

IM: If I could say one thing to Donald Trump, what would it be? I feel like that's a loaded question. I'm not really sure how to answer that. It's like, where do I start?

PS: I think there are many people out there who want to know how they can be allies to the Muslim community. What advice would you give to them?

IM: I think that when we stand in solidarity, we'll be stronger. For those people who fail to see the injustices that are occurring, in particular with the Muslim community, I think it's because you've sat in a seat of privilege for a long time, and you kind of choose to be myopic and not think of those people around you. This is a moment where we choose the moral high ground and we think of each other as brothers and sisters and speak up for those who may not be able to. How can you immediately help? I would say by donating to organizations like the ACLU, who can fight the ban and in real ways can help Muslims in this moment.

PS: There are so many incredible women at the MAKERS Conference. Is there anyone you kind of geeked out over meeting?

IM: I heard Octavia Spencer yesterday. She's such a talented speaker. I actually went to go see her movie last night, Hidden Figures, just in case I ran into her today. I think Muslims in particular are facing similar obstacles African Americans did, historically. I think it was a good time to see Hidden Figures, just to remind myself how resilient we can be as human beings. Even if we're facing bigotry or racism, we can still be successful. (https://www.popsugar.com/news/Olympian-Ibtihaj-Muhammad-Interview-Trump-Travel-Ban-43133411)

-In this interview they are asking her about Donald Trump ban and how that affected her and people she knows. They first ask her if she was directly affected by Trump's decision and she said that she was held at Customs and that she did not know why this happened to her but it might be related to her being a Muslim woman. Furthermore, she claims that the way people perceive her does not change, even if she represented America in the Olympics. Then the interviewer says to Ibtihaj that it must have been a scary moment for her and she replied that her human response was to feel sad but she preferred staying strong and speaking up for all those people whose voiced were silenced. Then the interviewer asked her if she could shay anything to Donald Trump what would it be and she replied that she was not sure about it.

                       

• Upload pictures of your favourite trendy clothes.

As a Muslim girl, I have to state that my favourite trendy 'clothes' are hijabs. Every time I go out for shopping I return home with two or three hijabs (headscarfs), with different colours and designs. 

                              

One of my favourite trendy hijabs is the nike pro hijab for Muslim women. I'll buy it soon. It makes me want to do sport.

                      

Sara Bahadi

YOU LIVE AND LEARN (11)

Nowadays there are a lot of  programs offered to students that want to study abroad, not only for university students but also for High school students. One of the most well known programs is Erasmus, which consists of traveling to another county within the European Union to study part of your degree. There are a lot of advantages of taking this kind of opportunities: one of the most important advantages is that you get out of your 'habitat', which means that you are more independent and you have to take care of yourself and make big decisions on your own.

 Another important advantage is that you improve your English or the language spoken in the country you visit. Having said that, I can say that the only disadvantage is that it might be a little bit expensive, even if the government helps you with a scholarship, it might not be enough.

                                       

Apart from this program, there are other scholarships:
Chevening scholarships: this ones are offered by UK to stay there for a year while studying a master after finishing the degree.
Eiffel scholarship: it consists of scholarships given by France for students to complete a master or Phd in France.


In order to improve my English I have watched a comedy film named 'The Dictator' which is about a man that hates democracy and controls a whole county. Then he is called by the United Nations (OMU) to explain what is going on and then a series of thing happen to him in her stance in EE.UU. I watched this film in English and subtitled. It was really funny because it is like a mocking of all those governments that are in certain way opposed to democracy.

                                  





Sara Bahadi

COLOURS (week 14):

THE MEANING OF COLOURS IN PSYCHOLOGY: 

(Extracted from: http://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/meaning-of-colors.html). 

RED: is the color of energy, passion, ambition and determination. It is also considered the color of anger and sexual passion. 

ORANGE: is the color of social communication and optimism. From a negative color meaning, it is also a sign of pessimism and superficiality.

YELLOW: is the color of the mind and the intellect. It is optimistic and cheerful. However, it can also suggest impatience, criticism and cowardice. 

GREEN: is the color of balance and growth. It can mean both self-reliance as a positive and possessiveness as a negative, among many other meanings.  

BLUE: is the color of trust and peace. It can suggest loyalty and integrity as well as conservatism and frigidity. 

PURPLE: is the color of the imagination. It can be creative and individual or immature and impractical. 

TURQUOISE: means communication and clarity of mind. It can also be impractical and idealistic.

Pink: is unconditional love and nurturing. Pink can also be immature, silly and girlish.

Magenta: is a color of universal harmony and emotional balance. It is spiritual yet practical, encouraging common sense and a balanced outlook on life.

Brown: is a friendly yet serious, down-to-earth color that relates to security, protection, comfort and material wealth.

Grey: is the color of compromise - being neither black nor white, it is the transition between two non-colors. It is unemotional and detached and can be indecisive. 

Gold: is the color of success, achievement and triumph. Associated with abundance and prosperity, luxury and quality, prestige and sophistication, value and elegance, the color psychology of gold implies affluence, material wealth and extravagance.

Black: is the color of the hidden, the secretive and the unknown, creating an air of mystery. It keeps things bottled up inside, hidden from the world.

• Finally, here I am going to upload two images which show prominent colours: 
  
  
  
  

Lorena Conesa Martínez.

MAKING DECISIONS (week 13):

The last movie I saw in the cinema was Annabelle II: Creation. 

As the title suggests, the movie takes place before the events of the first Annabelle movie and covers how the doll became bewitched. In this film appears new characters, such as Sister Charlotte, a nun looking out for a group of orphan girls. They were looking for a place to stay and one day, a dollmaker and his wife offer to take care of them (they lost their own daughter in a car accident years prior). And that is why, into the house, strange things start to happen and Janice (an orphan girl) is the only one who suffers it. The importance of Annabelle: Creation is the relationship between the girls. They are always together through thick and thin. The narrative is easily understandable, with unexpected events all along the movie that keeps you on your toes and make the story increasingly more powerful. In conclusion, I reckon that this second part is more effective than the first Annabelle movie, this is a smart prequel made by a very competent director who knows how to avoid the clichés and build tension mostly through the use of silence, relying on a creepy mystery that slowly grows to become something terrifying.

My favourite films, books, and shows are: 

Any Tim Burton movie, especially Edward Scissorhands. 

Lorena Conesa Martínez

THE FASHION SHOW (week 12):

I have found on youtube an interview to Emma Watson, in which she talks about the final Harry Potter movie.

→ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMqyszhXcdg

• When the interviewer asks what she will miss most about Hermione Granger when Harry Potter is all over, Emma Emma says that she misses playing a character that she knows like the back of her hand.

• When the interviewer says that everyone had a little cry at the last day of shooting the film, Emma says that they had a huge cry. 

• About the future, she says that she is ready to try and move on and that she is excited to see what life holds outside of Harry Potter.

•  when the interviewer asks her which naughty things she wants to do, Emma answers that she just wants to go traveling and do extreme sports.

• In a recent interview, she said that men didn’t really ask her out and that she didn’t get marriage proposals anymore either.

• The interviewer says that J. K. Rowling might write another Harry Potter book. He asks Emma what she thinks about that and she answers that as a fan she would love to read more of the story, but as an actress, it’s enough. 

On the other hand, I am keen on fashion so I will upload pictures of my favorite trendy clothes at the moment: 

Velvet is a type of fashion fabric this season.

This type of necklaces became fashionable in 2016 and I still like them.

The leather is another type of fabric that is fashionable, especially in skirts, jackets or even dresses.

And referring to shoes, platform shoes are very fashionable.

Lorena Conesa Martínez 

YOU LIVE AND LEARN (week 11):

I have found a website that deals with studying abroad opportunities and I am going to comment what studying abroad means to me and the conveniences of getting involved in this.

This is an essay of a student that tells her experience of studying abroad.     

• As she mentions, studying abroad is a difficult decision, due to the fact that you can feel lonely and sad at first, but then you will start to know new people and the best facts is that you will improve in the language of the country you visited and you are going to became an independent person. 

• I reckon that when you start traveling and discover other places, you are more interested in the world, which has more than one country, not only yours and you become a citizen of the world. 

• Finally, the experience and anecdotes of this girl can encourage other people to be able to travel abroad. As she says, the university where she studies encourages its students to study abroad. The university in which I study also provides talks to go on Erasmus and be brave. With the encouragement and help provided by the university, I would like to go on Erasmus next year, even if it is a semester, as this girl did because it is an opportunity in life that you will never be able to live again.

A few years ago I met a girl from England at a campsite and we continued to communicate on Facebook. This week what I have done to improve my English has been talking to Mia (the girl I met) about the career she is studying and about her family, since on holidays they go to a different country and this summer maybe they will return to Spain.

Lorena Conesa Martínez.

Making decisions (Week 13)

The last movie I watched was "Bend it like Beckham", a romantic-comedy drama film directed by Gurinder Chadha. The character of the film is Jesminder Bhamra a 18-year old teenager and daughter of Indian Punjabi Sikhs. The film´s title refers to David Beckham and his skill at scoring from free kicks by curling the ball past a wall of defenders. We can see in the film that Jess´ bedroom is full of Beckham´s posters and she wears the Manchester United´s number seven t-shirt which was
Beckham´s number. Jess likes playing football, a sport highly disapproved by her strict parents. She meets Jules and joins a local women´s football team, where she meets the coach Joe with whom she falls in love. Dating a white guy and playing football are two issues against her traditional parents. Will Jess achieve her dreams even if they are against her culture? Will she bend the ball like Beckham?
If you want to have a good time watching and learning a bit about the Indian culture, I recommend you "Bend it like Beckham". Moreover, it is a realistic film that shows us the Punjabi and English identity and how to avoid stereotyping cultures and people. The film has also an easily n arrative and is full of comic scenes and conflicts between parents and daughters.

Here are some of my favourite books, films and Tv shows:

 Books

Tv shows

Movies

In terms of the activities that I have done to improve my English, I wrote an essay for my Cultural Identity class.

By Nassira Dahmani

The fashion show (Week 12)

Urbanette Magazine did an interview to Angelina Jolie. In this interview Hilary Rowland, the interviever, asks her many questions among them are how did she get through times, her fears and how did she find hapiness?

When Urbanette asks her how does she feel about being in the public eye all the time, Angelina Jolie answers that she wants to be outspoken, not keeping secrets, she would like to be open with the public and being free to say her opinions. Regarding the question of it is hard to balance her activism with her film career, A. Jolie says that her role as a goodwill ambassador has made her work as a film star relativelly dull and that she is not excited about going to a film set anymore. Angelina Jolie says that she stuggles with low self-esteem and sometimes she thinks she looks as a funny muppet when Urbanette Magazine if she is insecure. When the interviewer asks her if she shed her "bad girl", her answer was that she may be the least morbid person one can meet. However, she adds that if she thinks more about death than other people is because she loves life more than they do. Finally, Angelina Jolie says that she adjust her perspective and that there are many people who are suffering more than her, but they get and move on, when Hilary Rowland asked her about how does she go through the hard times in her life.

 http://urbanette.com/angelina-jolie/

In terms of fashion I like wearing dark clothes, specially the colour black. Thus, here are some pictures of my favourite trendy clothes of this year.

In order to improve my English skills last week I watched an English Tv show.

By Nassira Dahmani