The 25th Hour Review

"Novels like the 25th hour don't fall out of tree every day. The tone is dark and intense; its elegant style is cut on the raw side; and the caracters come from places we've all been. " (The New York Times)

Discuss this statement in the light of your reading. You can also include some comparisons with the movie we have watched so far.

All Monty Brogan ever really wanted when he grew up was to be a fireman. Now he's about to start a seven-year stretch in the federal penitentiary for drug dealing. With just twenty-four hours of freedom to go, he prowls the city with his girlfriend and his two best friends from high school — a high-flying bond trader and an idealistic teacher. As the minutes count down, Monty seizes one last chance to stack the odds in his favor.

Hurtling from the money pits of Wall Street to Manhattan's downtown lounge and club scene, from the enclaves of the Russian mob to the old immigrant neighborhoods, The 25th Hour evokes the pulsing rhythms and diamond-hard edges of a city in the raw, illusory hours between midnight and dawn. A taut and mesmerizing tale of an urban purgatory suspended between the crime and the punishment, The 25th Hour heralds the arrival of a major player in contemporary noir fiction.

The book starts with a strong narration of Monty's bravery, trying to save a dog from the street. This wa

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea (PNG), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands (the western portion of the island is a part of the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua). It is located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, in a region defined since the early 19th century as Melanesia. The capital is Port Moresby.

Papua New Guinea is one of the most culturally diverse countries on Earth, with over 850 indigenous languages and at least as many traditional societies, out of a population of just under seven million. It is also one of the most rural, as only 18% of its people live in urban centres. The country is one of the world's least explored, culturally and geographically, and many undiscovered species of plants and animals are thought to exist in the interior of Papua New Guinea.

The majority of the population live in traditional societies and practise subsistence-based agriculture. These societies and clans have some explicit acknowledgement within the nation's constitutional framework.

After being ruled by three external powers since 1884, Papua New Guinea gained its independence from Australia in 1975. It remains a Commonwealth realm of Her Majesty Elizabeth II, Queen of Papua New Guinea. Many people live in extreme poverty, with about one third of the population living on less than US $1.25 per day.

Papua New Guinea is part of the Australasia ecozone, which also includes Australia, New Zealand, eastern Indonesia, and several Pacific island groups, including the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

Australia and New Guinea are portions of the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana, which started to break into smaller continents in the Cretaceous era, 65-130 million years ago. Australia finally broke free from Antarctica about 45 million years ago. All the Australasian lands are home to the Antarctic flora, descended from the flora of southern Gondwana, including the coniferous podocarps and Araucaria pines, and the broadleafed southern beech (Nothofagus). These plant families are still present in Papua New Guinea.

As the Indo-Australian Plate (which includes landmasses of India, Australia, and the Indian Ocean floor in between) drifts north, it collides with the Eurasian Plate. The collision of the two plates pushed up the Himalayas, the Indonesian islands, and New Guinea's Central Range. The Central Range is much younger and higher than the mountains of Australia, so high that it is home to rare equatorial glaciers. New Guinea is part of the humid tropics, and many Indomalayan rainforest plants spread across the narrow straits from Asia, mixing together with the old Australian and Antarctic floras.

Papua New Guinea is richly endowed with natural resources, but access has been hampered by rugged terrain, the high cost of developing infrastructure, serious law and order problems, and the system of land title which makes identifying the owners of land for the purpose of negotiating appropriate agreements problematic. Agriculture provides a livelihood for 85% of the population. Mineral deposits, including oil, copper, and gold, account for 72% of export earnings. The country also has a notable coffee industry and other crops include cocoa, oil palm and tea.

Former Prime Minister Sir Mekere Morauta tried to restore integrity to state institutions, stabilize the kina, restore stability to the national budget, privatize public enterprises where appropriate, and ensure ongoing peace on Bougainville following the 1997 agreement which ended Bougainville's secessionist unrest. The Morauta government had considerable success in attracting international support, specifically gaining the backing of the IMF and the World Bank in securing development assistance loans. Significant challenges face the current Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare, including gaining further investor confidence, continuing efforts to privatize government assets, and maintaining the support of members of Parliament.

In March 2006 the United Nations Development Programme Policy called for Papua New Guinea's designation of developing country to be downgraded to least-developed country because of protracted economic and social stagnation.However, an evaluation by the International Monetary Fund in late 2008 found that "a combination of prudent fiscal and monetary policies, and high global prices for mineral commodity exports, have underpinned Papua New Guinea's recent buoyant economic growth and macroeconomic stability. Real GDP growth, at over 6% in 2007, was broad-based and is expected to continue to be strong in 2008."

Tecnological Development - PlayStation Vita (SONY)

The new tecnologycal development that I am going to talk about it's the PlayStation Vita, created by Sony.

This is much more than just a portable game console, PS Vita is a world in your hands!
The Vita is something considering anacronic in this age of smartphones and throwaway gaming experiences. The small console has a powerful processor dedicated to pushing around the latest high-definition visuals; it has two analogue sticks to provide accurate control, and it demands to be looked it, plus a huge 5 inche screen.

So, it's not hugely portable by modern standards and you can't phone people on it. That's so not on-message. Because it has Wi-Fi support and 3G, plus GPS function that allow you to locate nearby friends who also own one, for imprompt gaming sessions. PS Vita has twice as much memory as the PlayStation 3 and more computing power than the iPad 2!
The price vary from $249.99 (just with Wi-fi) to $349.99 (With the 3G Plan). Go get one for you!

  

My Trip - The Fantastic World of the Amusement Parks in the USA

This time, the challenge you be travel around all US, chasing the largest possible number of amusement parks that are spread out through all the american territory, seeking for fun and adrenaline moments.

In this travel I'm going to travel alone, by car, sometimes by train or airplaine, bycicle, motocicle, my mission is to reach the largest number of parks during the six months that I separated to make this travel.

Extreme Sports - Bungee Jumping

Bungee jumping is an activity that involves jumping from a tall structure while connected to a large elastic cord.

The tall structure is usually a fixed object, such as a building, bridge or crane; but it is also possible to jump from a movable object, such as a hot-air-balloon or helicopter, that has the ability to hover above the ground.

The thrill comes as much from the free-falling as from the rebounds.

When the person jumps, the cord stretches and the jumper flies upwards again as the cord recoils, and continues to oscillate up and down until all the energy is dissipated.

What is Vitiligo???????

Vitiligo is a chronic, unpredictable disease causing a loss of skin colour in patches. People of all ages and from all ethnic backgrounds can develop the disease.

What are the Symptoms?

Vitiligo does not cause physical symptoms but because of its unsightly appearance, particularly on dark or tanned skin it can have considerable impact both psychologically and socially.

About the Treatment:

Many ways of restoring normal colour to the skin have been tried but improvement is usually short‐lived.

The causes of vitiligo are not yet clearly understood, so many treatments have been developed on the basis of limited scientific evidence.

Skin may be moved (grafted) from normally pigmented areas and placed onto areas where there is pigment loss.

Several cover-up makeups or skin dyes can mask vitiligo.

Who is affected by vitiligo?

About 0.5 to 1 percent of the world's population, or as many as 65 million people, have vitiligo.
In the United States, 1 to 2 million people have the disorder. Half the people who have vitiligo develop it before age 20; most develop it before their 40th birthday.
The disorder affects both sexes and all races equally; however, it is more noticeable in people with dark skin.
Vitiligo seems to be somewhat more common in people with certain autoimmune diseases, including hyperthyroidism (an overactive thyroid gland), adrenocortical insufficiency (the adrenal gland does not produce enough of the hormone called corticosteroid),  alopecia areata (patches of baldness), and pernicious anemia (a low level of red blood cells caused by the failure of the body to absorb vitamin B12).
Scientists do not know the reason for the association between vitiligo and these autoimmune diseases. However, most people with vitiligo have no other autoimmune disease.

Vitiligo may also be hereditary; that is, it can run in families. Children whose parents have the disorder are more likely to develop vitiligo. In fact, 30 percent of people with vitiligo have a family member with the disease. However, only 5 to 7 percent of children will get vitiligo even if a parent has it, and most people with vitiligo do not have a family history of the disorder.

Prevention - Cure:

There is no cure, and no way of limiting the spread of the disease has so far been found.

A personal experience

The Hardest Part

           I am not sure about the exact day that we met each other, but I think it was around the middle of April, of course, at EF School NYC. Oh my God, what a could day! Because of that, everybody went to Rita Hall to get warm and try to talk with somebody, mainly because most people were newcomers, who had just arrived a few days before.

         Tired of facebook, I decided that I should do something more dynamic, like play ping pong. That's when I finally met Sarah, one of the nicest people I've met. From that day, we simply could not be more close; our friendship really happened in a very spontaneous way.

           Those two weeks were really funny, we really had a lot of empathy, we could talk about anything and we always had fun.

           Well, Sarah unfortunately had to return to France. She only had those two weeks off. Since that day, I discovered that one of the toughest parts of life is saying goodbye.