Urban Life and Santiago City

The topic that interests me in architecture is related to history and urban city, I am a little confused about how to call it, but it is connected with neighborhoods and social networks.

I have to say that my neighborhood (this perception is subjective and unique for each person) is almost all Santiago district. That means that I know this place (knowledge of the place), I used to walk around and it is necessary to me (used the place), and that I feel  it is mine (appropriation of the place).

So I have to speak about two websites, a stylish one and a nerd one:

“Archivo Visual de Santiago”      http://www.archivovisual.cl/

This website is about history information about Santiago, it is mostly images in great quality from several years and authors. It’s really nerd but very interesting, I use to visit it when I have something to investigate or I have free and geek time. There are maps, black and withe photos, portraits, and paintings. I really like it because first it’s very useful and second it’s good to know the past of the places you use to go to and like.

 
“Soy Infiel. Una esquina hoy, otra mañana”   http://soyinfiel.cl/

This website is new for me, to tell the truth it could be this or another one, depending on the time and mood. This page I discovered this morning, it has a really surprising name and I like it very much, because it invites you to go to different places alone or with friends. It’s a gallery of advice for new places of Santiago to go to, many of them with so much history, others that are so TOP now. But the principal thing is that it is for the people to go out of their houses and know their city, and that’s great!

I believe for having a good city and a healthy urban lifestyle, we have to be interested in using it, taking care of it and knowing it. That way we can appreciate the place we live in.

LIPSTICK JUNGLE

            For a time I was really excited about Fox TV Series, I think it was because I didn't have Cable  TV for a long time and Open TV was boring. I liked series of FOX and Universal above all because of the graphics, the fashion, the cameras, the characters with supernatural powers and great things that made me wish I had a life like the screen. Then I realized that was not my life and I stopped watching them.

          It was then when I came across Lipstick Jungle. It was a short series about three normal friends in the big city (well, they were not so normal, they were almost the richest and most powerful three women in New York). All the aesthetics absorbed me, New York City, Fashion, Money, yellow taxis and love, all from the perspective of women. But the greatest thing, and the difference with other series was the camera movements; just because the subject that involves this three women was Fashion Industry, they had to film shoes. And of course I love shoes.

To give you an idea of the series, it is the screen version for a novel by Candance Bushnell, the writer of Sex and the City. And I just read that!

           My favorite character was Victoria Ford, a fashion designer that tries to make her own brand, and suddenly she had no new ideas. I liked her because she was the most romantic.

           I didn't really see all the series, I always had difficulty seeing series because I couldn't never remember the time and day. So, I can't say how developed the story, but the first chapters were great. Also I have always been interested in fashion, but never use it, so, I think it's a strange subjects to me.

http://youtu.be/mSCyWxrFY14
(series trailer)

BANCH

Not many people from my circle know them, but I just love them. They are BANCH (Ballet Nacional Chileno), a group of dancers with the leadership of Gigi Calcineau, the choreographer, they are really fantastic. They are a ballet, but not a classical ballet with tutus and ballet shoes; they do modern ballet, an inspiring ballet.

                I haven’t seen all of their performances, but about four of them I’ve been glad of seeing. The one I’m going to talk about is called VALSPARAISO. It is set in the Valparaiso port, and Chilean music. There are short presentations, with two, three, or all members, and representing several and very different things.  While one makes you feel in love, the next makes you laugh a lot, and the next one makes you a nostalgic person.

                I wish any of you could meet them; as Universidad de Chile students, we can pay $1000 to see them in Universidad de Chile Theatre.

http://youtu.be/TqbWsgp-h1U?t=30s

Valeria :)

Well, my name is Valeria Bueno, I was born in Lima as all my family. We came to live to Chile when I was 3 years old, so I can’t remember almost anything about Peru. We were 2 sisters and 1 brother, and I was the youngest one.

Once I was telling this to a friend, she said “oh! So you were another piece of furniture in the move!”  Well… yes, the hardest part of the house changing was mostly to my brothers.

We lived a lot of time in Maipu, in a place called Ciudad Satélite, far away from the downtown, where I used to come to high school. I remember I had to wake up at 5.30 AM from Monday to Saturday… although I hated being a morning person, I think it was fun going to high school.  

When my parents separated, my father moved to Concepción and my mother stayed in Maipú. I decided to move alone to Santiago, with my father approval and his economical support. So technically my family address is in Concepción now. To be less expensive to my family I decided to take a loan for paying the university on my own.



My lovely sister Nora



My father had a daughter in Concepción, and I adore her, her name is Nora. So my main “hobby” is escaping to Concepción to see her. Also, I can be so lazy there!

My others hobbies are walking a lot; buying books that I don’t read later, but I’m glad to have;  cooking; and seeing movies.