The Trojan Woman

The power of a woman, with a single act she can start a war.

Helen is trying to defend her actions to her Husband, blaming the gods of her mistakes of falling in love with the Trojan prince and escaping with him. And Hecuba the prince's mother can accept her words and the whole group want her death.
I think this minutes of video where really impressive, that a war can started because of a selfish woman.
Then the king who can't take Helen's life away and Hecuba who will defend her son and her people from injustice.
Both speeches where really cool, fixes the story and blamed everybody but herself and then Hecuba, showed everybody every lie and every mistake Helen told.
And now Helen is gone, she will pay for all of those who lost their life because of her. Hard to say, but true, she just wanted luxury no matter what.

Beetle Dream (Part II)

So I started walking in the direction my dreams showed me, once again the sand and my dreams.
I followed the map which took me to a lonely place with nothing but sand. I was so tired of the same; after all I’ve been walking down the sun for weeks watching sand and nothing else! This is it, I told to my self and I threw the map away, and I started walking, but the map stop moving and came back to me, when I tried to pick it up it started moving again, like it was showing me a path, something weird was happening, so I followed it. The map took me to a secret cave and stopped next to a big rock with a message on it, I didn't understand it al all, it was in an ancient language I didn't recognize and now what? Now without wind there was no way the map could escape again, when I bend down to pick it up I saw something shining in a hole next to the rock, I got closer and I saw a little beetle, made up with gold and shiny jewels, it looked similar to the beetle of my dreams so I tried to pick it up too, when I touched it I heard a really loud noise, like some rocks when breaking, when I tried to escape the rocks closed the way out of the cave, there was no other way out and I couldn’t see a thing, until I heard something moving, the rock with the scripts opened and I heard a wing’s noise like the one in my dreams, so I decided to get in. Inside the tunnel there was a low orange light coming out from torches on the walls, so I started walking, I followed the wing’s noise for a long stretch until I got to a small room, the light was similar to the purple one of my dreams, the walls had scripts just like the ones on the rock, right in the center of the room I saw a box, the weirdest thing was that the box had actually my grandpa’s last name carved on it. Was that actually possible? And I opened it.
-And what happened grandpa? Asked the boy.
Well I woke up, and found a box next to my bed, just like the one of my dreams, and when I opened it, there was a wonderful necklace, you know, the one grandma’s wearing right now.

Beetle Dream

From the few dreams a still remember, there’s one in special, which I am not sure if it was actually real or just a fantasy running through my thoughts. It was a windy night, in the middle of the dessert, I saw myself walking beside the waters of the Nile. It was a warm summer night, the moonlight next to me.
When I decided to turn around and go back home, I heard a noise, it sounded like a cricket, or was it a wild animal? It seemed to be wing’s noise, or maybe something hiding from his predator… pretty normal I guess. I started walking. The noise came back, harder and harder, so I run, as fast as I could but the wings were closer and closer when I heard a voice telling me “I’ve been watching you, I know the type of man you are and I have a mission for you” I actually didn't believe it, not at all, and that night everything begun…
First everything was black, when I saw I light, not any light, it was a really shiny purple light, something wrong was happening to me, but when I tried to wake up, something took me back to the light. I started hearing some more noises, just as the one I heard earlier the same day, when I realized it came from a beetle, A huge black beetle, like in the stories my dad used to tell me about their pharaohs.
I started to run but the insect was smarter, and I have to say, it was even faster than me, like he could read my thoughts and be warned of my options to escape, then he talked to me, just like before, he told me something will happen, he needs to go back to the Nile and find a magic box with a necklace in it, it was green color, shiny green and full of gold, that supposedly it belonged to an old ancestor of his.
I couldn’t believe it! It was a dream or something is wrong with my head for sure! But this beetle message never disappeared, I started to hear about it every day, every chance I could, and for a week, night after night; there’s when I started thinking about it, what if I look after this family treasure?
The 10th night when the beetle appeared I asked him for help, I needed to get a map from him, or directions but I needed to prove if my beliefs were wrong. So I tried, and it actually worked, I got both, a map a really old map which appeared next to my bed the next morning.
Here is how I accept the mission, how difficult could it be to find something an old man hide from others not to find it and keep it for the eternity. I woke up the next day, I picked up some clothes and packed some food, I will go exploring even if I have to get to the pyramids!
As difficult as it got, the less I wanted to continue it was a silly idea I don't even know what will it happen if I find the necklace.
I walked the whole day and I was tired of keep going under the sun, I just needed some sleep, food and water, suddenly I found a place to stay the night, near an oasis where a met I really nice man who was exploring the zone, at the beginning I wasn't really sure of talking about the necklace, he may think I am just dreaming awake or lying.
But after a couple of hour talking he told me about one of his trips to North Africa where he heard a story about an ancient family, their bodies remain in a pyramid and of course all their jewels and valuable stuff but the legend says that this man gave his wife a magnificent necklace as a present which only she was able to use. After she died the man kept the necklace on a secret place and protect it with a magic spell in which only the descendent of the family will be able to find the treasure and prove their right to the throne. I was really amazed about the story but could it be truth?
When I told him I had a dream similar to his story he said it could not be a simple coincidence, that the spirits of the desert where trying to communicate me a message and that the Beetle was used as a symbol for this family during their years on the throne.
That day I had a dream, the beetle came back with a landscape behind him where this old family used to live, also some of the scenes the explorer describe for me, like when the wife died and the man took care of a great funeral and when he took her most valuable jewels specially the necklace and hid them, also when he found a magician to put a spell on the necklace before hiding it from the rest of the world.
So I had nothing to loose if I find it maybe it really means something; is it possible for me to be part of a royal family? Or is it just a story, after all, that could mean the dreams may stop and I can keep living a normal life as always.
To be continue...

Flood Stories

WHAT ARE IMPORTANT SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE STORIES?
FLOOD STORIES
▪From the 4 stories we read the similarities are that in every story there's a flood to end up with life in earth because every culture's gods were angry and disappointed of human's behavior, another element is the arch or a boat in which special people got in and saved their life from the flood, they also took their families with and in the most cases animals to keep life on earth, and of course that they used birds to figure out if the water is gone and they can get out of their boats, mostly of them landed on the top of a big mountain and of course all of them were rewarded.

WHAT ARE IMPORTANT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE STORIES?
▪Although the stories talk about floods, saving life by staying on a boat, there are also some difference between each story, for example the time they stayed on their boats or the time it actually rained are in some stories longer than in others, that not all of them built their own boat, also that in one story were no animals inside the boat; another thing may be that in the greek's myth not everybody is death as in the rest of the stories.

WHAT ARE THE GODS LIKE IN THE DIFFERENT STORIES?
▪As every myth comes from a different culture the gods are different, in the first story one of them wasn't happy that somebody survived the flood, but in the second one God helped Noah and blessed him after everything had happened, on the greek's story there were also many gods, and on the third one one of the gods reincarnate on a fish who warned the man about the flood.

WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCES OF ANIMALS IN THE STORIES?
▪The animals are important in each of the stories because without them life in earth wouldn't be possible at all, they are also living organisms who share the environment with us, they give us food to survive, their skin to protect us from cold weather and the circle of life to keep going. They represent life, and without each other we can't survive.

WHAT WAS DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND ABOUT THE STORIES?
▪I guess that some words where really difficult to understood and as we grew up in another culture we don't have the whole background to understand what's really going on, for example a did understand the whole Noah and the Ark story because i knew it since i was a little girl.

WHY DO UTNAPISHTIM, NOAH, DEUCALION AND MANU DESERVED TO SURVIVE WHEN OTHER PEOPLE WILL DIE IN THE FLOODS?
▪I thing Utnapishtim, Noah, Deucalion, and Manu survived because the gods found good in them, they showed it with their good actions like helping the others, being honest and obedient while the rest of the people were doing what they wanted whenever they wanted and they didn't even care at all if what they were doing was right or not.

The mystery behind the rocks

Stonehenge a proof of human's power and vision.
Built around the year 3100 B.C. Is one of the most famous prehistoric monument in Britain. The Aubrey Holes, a bank and a ditch; the circe of sarsens, towers of giant rocks and bluestones clustered around them. But how did all of these came here? Who built it? What does it mean?
There are a lot of questions about its magnificence but where do we find the answers?

Some studies show us that these rocks can only be found 240 km away from the construction, but how did they manage to carry 1.5 ton stones?
Some archeologist have tested their theories and although they seem be good ideas and they actually work, we don't know for sure which technique the actually used. And look at the structure, I want to see you trying to lift up a rock of that size and weight without trucks and nowadays technology. And the shape, these stones are carved perfectly to fit one next to another and then how was it that they got up there, on the top of the towers? Imagine a group of hundred people working hour after hour, day after day as a team to create one of the most amazing structures in our history.

But there are still some questions left. Why do they built it? What was it for? At the beginning the theory was, that they use it as an astronomic base, based on the position of sunrise and sunset during the summer and winter solstice. But then an African archeologist came and based on his culture he said stones represent the ancestors and wood the living, which actually made sense! Hundreds of small bone peaces where found around Stonehenge, which explain part of the theory, the fact that the bones belonged to a selected group of men shows that the circle belonged to a family, or the leaders of the group; however, this was just half of the story until they found the wooden ring a couple of miles away and both circles are connected to each other through a river.

Even though we have many possible answers we'll never be sure about the truth, and there's the mystery behind the rocks.

Music Styles- Wave

Gal Costa

Wave has a soft melody and a fast rhythm, with instruments like piano and violin the song takes a different turn; the lyrics in Portuguese give it a great touch. Even if it doesn’t look difficult to play. This song will be usually heard in small concerts or in some special events.

This jazz song was written by Antonio Carlos Jobim; used for his own album in 1967. Known as one of his most successful albums, also sang by other artists like Gal costa and an English version from Frank Sinatra. The album is one of the 100 best Brazilian albums ever. The song talks mainly about love.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6ADChhquXM&feature=related

Music Styles- La Ballata di Billy M’Caw

Cats

La Balatta di Billy M’Caw it’s a really nice song, slow and soft. The lyrics and the different voices create a great combination of rhythm and emotion, however, the melody doesn’t sound difficult at all. Piano and violin contribute to the melody. The song forms part of Cats play on the second act.

This song was originally an unpublished poem written by T.S. Elliot in 1939, which Lloyd Webber introduced to the musical program in 2003 replacing the Italian Aria for UK productions. Growltiger and Griddlebone two Siamese cats on the play perform the song. The lyrics talk about the life on a bar, how they spent time with friends and “Billy” used to play and sing for them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhObvc70HN0