Podcast: Connected

Re-uploaded audio
Vocaroo Voice Message

3D videogames may be good for your memory

News

According to a small US study, playing 3D videogames just 30 minutes per day may help our memory.

Researchers made 69 novice gamers play Angry birds and Super Mario 3D world for a half-hour daily. Only the ones that played the 3D games had memory improvements. So, It’s possible playing these games stimulated the hippocampus region of the brain.

To see how the type of game might impact cognition, the researchers recruited people 18 to 22 years old who claimed not to have prior games experience and asked them to play throughout 10 days. Before and after the period, the participants took memory tests.

They were given a series of pictures of everyday objects to study. Then, they were shown images of the same objects, new ones and others that differed only slightly from the original items and asked to categorise them.

Stark said that the 12% improvement seen with the test scores for 3D gamers is roughly the same amount that memory tends to decline between the ages of 45 and 70, the researchers note.

It’s also possible that the tests done in young people might not yield the same results in older players, or that inexperienced players might not have the same results as seasoned gamers. According to the researchers 3D video games might benefit older adults suffering from memory loss, Alzheimer’s disease or dementia.

From my point of view, If videogames really improve our memories It wouldn't be a bad idea to play half-hour at school, because many of the things we study aren't based on understanding but memory in some subjects, such as history or philosophy history...

Donnie Darko recommendation

Donnie Darko is an American film shot in 2001. It's a psychological thriller set in the late 1988. It tells the story of Donnie, a teenager who has visions on a sinister giant rabbit named Frank who predicts the doomsday .

From my point of view this film is truly unique and stands out from all over blockbuster titles, with a very original premise to time-travel that feels so real and different compared to other sc-fi flicks. I absolutely enjoyed every moment of Donnie Darko every performance was spot on, absolutely stunning movie.

Finally, I recommend this movie although It isn't for everyone, but if you surely want to enjoy a great and different film, then, you're wasting your time reading my opinion.

Visit the London home of Jimi Hendrix — and Handel, too

News

Jimi Hendrix, the ultimate guitar hero, was born into poverty in Seattle in 1942 and he died in London aged just 27 after a hedonistic lifestyle. Now, fans have the chance to see what his bedroom in his London home looked like.

The property in Mayfair has been restored over a two-year period to look as close as possible as it did when he lived there in 1968 and 1969. 23 Brook Street in Mayfair has been fully kitted out with feathers, tapestry rugs and a ton of vinyl records in a 2.5-million-pound refit.

For many years, it's been seen as a place of interest. In 1997, an English Heritage blue plaque, the first ever given to a pop star, was posted on the wall outside the apartment.

The property is right next door to Handel House where composer Handel lived for 36 years during the mid-1700s.

The entire third floor will be open to the public as well as an exhibition that shows the musician’s movements between 1968 and 1969. The building forms part of Handel and Hendrix, a museum devoted to two musicians who were neighbours but two centuries apart.

In my opinion, it's kinda cool to see how was his bedroom was. However, I admire him for his music, so this "museum" it's more an anecdotic thing than something outstanding.

Persona 3 recommendation

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3, released in Japan as simply Persona 3 is the fourth game of the series Persona. It was developed and distributed by Atlus for the PlayStation 2 console.

In Persona 3, we assume the role of a high school student, who was orphaned as a young boy, and has recently transferred to Gekkoukan High School on Port Island. Only days after he arrives at the school dorm, he is attacked by a Shadow. The assault awakens his Persona, Orpheus, his only chance at defeating this creature of the night. He soon discovers that he shares this special ability with other students at his new school. From them he learns of the Dark Hour, a hidden time that exists between one day and the next, swarming with Shadows that have been slowing claiming victims known as The Lost - poor souls who have inexplicably been turned into walking zombies. Under the supervision of school chairman Shuji Ikutsuki, he joins his new friends in confronting this evil threat... With your school as the primary battlefield, you are forced to juggle between two lives: student by day, defender against evil by night. And your greatest challenges await you on the eve of each full moon.

With a successful approach, an exceptional finish and deep and really cared development, Persona 3's great plot offers a full RPG, very long and, and in some sense a visual novel. It represents the routine of a student like any other, but also the excitement to end a threat that haunts the hometown where he lives. Many issues are treated in this game, such as: death, suicide, finding a meaning in our lifes...etc, the dark tone is matched perfectly with is wide range OST (Jazz, electronical music, pop, rock...). An experience, with special emphasis on our relationship with others, that offers one of the best video games to be made redundant the PlayStation 2.

Donald Trump's lost month in Iowa

News

“We will go on to easily beat Hillary or Bernie or whoever the hell they throw up there!”

A night of big surprises in the race for the White House – the vote did not go quite as expected. Republican Donald Trump was swept aside by Texas Senator Ted Cruz, but the real estate billionaire remained optimistic.

"We will go on to get the Republican nomination and we will go on to easily beat Hillary or Bernie or whoever the hell they throw up there!"

Leading up to the vote, Cruz visited nearly every state while Trump shunned the debates, choosing to hold his own rallies which could have hurt his campaign in the long run. His supporters, however, were still positive.

"I'm disappointed. I really am. But in a way, I'm not because we did make a very good showing, and we worked hard, and we know we worked hard, and he was pleased, even with the showing that we did have. And it's on to New Hampshire,"

Indeed on to New Hampshire where Trump has a stronger showing, according to opinion polls.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton is neck and neck with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in a race that's too close to call. One thing is clear after the Iowa caucuses: there's a long, volatile election season ahead.

In my opinion, regarding the current political state of the U.S., I hope that he loses. Because I think It's regrettable that someone with his ideology has the intention of governing a supposedly free country. Furthermore It's also unfortunate that there are so many people that support him...

Paranoid recommedation

Paranoid is the second studio album by the British heavy metal band Black Sabbath. Originally his name was going to be War Pigs, but due to the pressure from the record company the name was changed into Paranoid. It was recorded and published in 1970, constituting the first success of the band, and It's considered a cult album. The album became number one in the UK, and today remains the best-selling LP by Black Sabbath.

Paranoid would mark the high point of Black Sabbath's trajectory, an LP contained in the list of essential albums drafted by Rolling Stone Magazine. It is indeed, a disc of enormous quality, both overall and in their songs individually. From the point of view of the lyrics, it's one of the albums that focuses more negatively the human condition. Monolithic and primally powerful, Paranoid defined the sound and style of heavy metal more than any other record in rock history.

For me, the best of the album is "War Pigs", which It's along with "Paranoid" and "Iron Man" one of the greatest exponents of the LP and of the whole discography of Black Sabbath. The issue launches harsh criticism of the Vietnam War, the military and politicians, describing them as it says in the title of the song "War Pigs."

TED talks: Can technology solve our problems?

The editor in chief of publisher of MIT Technology Reviews, Jason Pontin starts his TED talk saying that we used to solve big problem, for exemple the problem of travelling to the moon. 

They didn't bring much back from the moon but they did because it was hard.  However, the first half of the 20th produced many technological triumphs such as: penicillin and vaccune for tuberculosis, polio was erradicated and smallpox eliminated... Nevertheless, this trust in technolgy vanished because no one could travel faster than the Apollo 11 crew in 1970. They promised to travel to Mars whereas they solved trivial issues. So what happened? Silicon valley says that it has been funding less ambitious companies, the markets are to blame...In addition Jason says that people prefer small investings rather than a long term. 

Technology advances had made great discoveries and achievements but they haven't solved humanity's big problems. There are four elements that don't allow us to solve problems: sometimes we choose not to solve our problems, sometimes our political system fails, sometimes the problem isn't really technological and sometimes we don't understand the problem. We have to understand that things aren't as their were before, so the solutions of the future will be harder won.

Podcast: Connected

http://vocaroo.com/i/s1y7XDRhgBbN

Explanation of a landmark

One of the places I enjoyed the most was the Madame Tussauds wax museum, it was expensive but worth it. The building was divided into diferent sections: film and TV, world leaders, pop culture, Marvel 4D Experience...etc. The first part was set in the Oscars ceremony, so there were wax figures of Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt...etc, I really liked it because most of them were very realistic and I love cinema. Nevertheless, everything was quite similar, except for the Marvel 4D experience which I have to say that I've never seen something like that before. The 4D Experience was a short animated movie which had the same effects of a 3D movie and the seat moved according to what was happening on the screen....truly amazing. Finally, I regret not having gone to the Star Wars zone but we didn't have more time left. 

Rust in peace recommendation

Rust in Peace the fourth studio album by the American thrash metal band Megadeth, published by the record company Capitol Records on September 24, 1990. Produced by Mike Clink and Dave Mustaine, Rust in Peace marked the debut of the guitarist Marty Friedman and drummer Nick Menza, which respectively replaced Jeff Young and Chuck Behler in 1989.

In this album Dave Mustaine accentuates the progressive tendencies of his compositions, producing rhythmically complex, technically challenging thrash suites that he and Friedman burn through with impeccable execution and astonishing skill. Thanks to Mustaine's focus on the music rather than the lyrics, Rust in Peace arguably holds up better than any other Megadeth release. Megadeth's fourth studio album sometimes is compared with "...And Justice For All" by Metallica, due to his technical complexity . While the whole album is consistently impressive, the obvious highlight are the epic, "Hangar 18" with 12 solos, "Holy Wars...The Punishment Due" a song with really great lyrics and the second part is as good as the first, finally "Tornado Of Souls" which has one of the best guitar solos ever in the metal genre from my point of view. 

In retrospective reviews, Rust in Peace has been cited for its great impact on heavy metal. The Decibel magazine called it "the work that defined the genre," while Kerrang! wrote that the album "set a new standard for heavy metal of the 1990s." Meanwhile, IGN ranked it as the fourth most influential heavy metal album, while a 2010 survey by MusicRadar positioned Megadeth's album as the sixth best metal album. In a list compiled by Chad Bowar, the writer named it the best album of the decade of the genre and called it "a masterpiece of thrash."

Informal/nip-tuck dialogue

Characters: 1.Big Moris/ 2.Lil Mich/ 3. Dj Faron

3 old friends meet at the park...

3. Sup fellas. How ya'll doin'?

1. Doin' great. I'll have a lipo next week, because of my obesity and breathing probs.

2. WOW! Now you'll be able to pass through my house door.

1. Ha-Ha fucker. At least my gf is pleased with me

3. Hey guys! Be cool!

2. Dont worry bout that. It won't last too long.

1. What do you mean?

2. I'm gonna have a penis size enlargement.

3. You kiddin' ain't ya?

2. Nope man, I mean it.

1. My prob is serious business, I can't stand guys who do stuff...

3. That's stupid!

2. Do you guys realize how insecure I feel in the bed game?

1. I can imagine, don'cha Faron?

3. Don't be a dick with'im! Don't make fun of it.

2. Well I'll think about it.

1. Dont try so hard, will ya?

Can technology make a better world?

Nowadays technology -fortunately or unfortunately- is accessible to almost everyone in the world. Due to the impact of technolgy we can consider it extremely important so here's a tricky question: Can we use technology to make the world a better place?

First of all, I think it's vital to highlight some disadvantatges because many people only care about the benefits of the technology progress. Materialism, in my opinion, we care more than necessary about our belongings. You may agree about materialism or not, but we all know that many of us when a new phone model of our favourite company comes out, we buy it instantly whereas waiting until the price is lower. 

Another thing highly related to the first negative point is the dependency, from my point of view, we're obsessed with screens and so we don't pay attention to the real world. Owing to the dependency of technology, we are losing espiritualism and consequently our love towards nature.

As technology grows, human workers decrease. An uncountable number of workplaces have been reduced because machines automate processes and do the world of many people only with one computer, therefore companies think don't need employees as they get the job done, furthermore usually it's cheaper.

On the other hand there are some positive points about the increase of accessibility to technology such as the communication, cost efficiency, convenience in education, change in the health industry...etc.

In conclusion, as I said there are some negative and very important issues regarding the evolution of technology in our society. Nevertheless, there are advances that we can take to improve our lifes. So it would be incredible to use technology and minimize the harmful effects.

Mr. Robot recommendation

Mr. Robot is an American television series created by Sam Esmail. It premiered on June 24th, 2015 by USA Network. The same day the series was renewed for a second season. For critics It's considered a modern classic TV show in which issues as anti-consumerism, anarchism and loss of identity are treated.

The series follows a young computer programmer who suffers from social anxiety disorder and works as a security engineer and he uses his skills to protect the people he cares. Elliot is recruited by a mysterious leader of a group of hackers named Fsociety which wants to destroy powerful multinational  who are  running the world.

What I loved from this astonishing series were the influence by many of my favourites films such as Taxi Driver (the main character's narration) , A Clockwork Orange, The Matrix and above all Fight Club (dissociative identity disorder). A pretty cool thing is when they break the fourth wall, so Elliot (protagonist) adresses to the audience, this decision adheres us to the characters. But what I liked most was the dark tone mixed with hackers and anarchism, all that matching with a great and suitable OST.

Below there's Mr. Robot's first scene. 

Undertale recommendation

Undertale is a role-playing video game developed and published by indie developer toby fox. Creator Toby Fox provided the game's script, design and soundtrack, with additional artwork by Temmie Chang. The game was released for PC on September 15 of 2015.

In this RPG adventure where nobody has to get hurt (if you want to). A moving plot and emphasis on humour are set in a world full of monsters, where the main character is apparently the only human.

Undertale can be considered a rarity, but one of those that occur when the way of making games is so uniform and so constrained that only by taking the opposite approach is the way of achieving a surprise. It is perfectly raised and hides something that connects directly or indirectly to anyone who has spent too much time with a joystick in his hands.

I recommend Toby Fox's videogame, because of its originality, the way Undertale escapes from repetition, breaking the fourth wall, the soundtrack...etc. Although this excellent role-playing game isn't for anyone.

Below there's an extended version of the theme "Battle against a true hero".