Native Beauty

This post is not about fashion, or about photography, but yet is a fashion photography. Is related with beauty, with what I like about Latvia, with an amazing woman I had the honor to meet. This pictures, which represent my first intent of art using a camera, wants to represent the power of this special woman, the strength human beings find in themselves to fight against the most terrible pains in the world.

Without further introduction, I present to you Latvian Native Beauty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here i give you her Twitter just  in case …

Fashion Preferences

Although this is not a fashion blog, i think is time to relax a little bit from the life philosophy and enjoy looking at some master pieces of art, created for us, women. Fashion for me it means so many different things and just like all kind of art, it is subject of each one interpretation. So i decided no to write this time, but do give you a little bit of world art. I have chosen my favorite designs from spring collections for this year. I have a wedding coming up so you might see me with something similar to this designs. 

I really hope you like it… and just like they say “Una imagen vale más que mil palabras”

For the last i have to say that i have discovered an amazing designer. This is my favorite piece, but the whole collection is absolutely amazing here i live the link to it.

Norma Kamali

Latvians Review

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The other day I saw a review a Canadian teacher wrote about Russians, and I thought to myself that it can be interesting to make my own review about Latvians. I have been living here for 6 months, maybe it does give me the right to make the review, maybe it doesn’t but the thing is I don’t really care.

I added here some nice pics I made today. Hope you like it.

-        Latvians find a lot of occasions to buy chocolate, flowers, bottle of champagne or some kind of bonbons as a gift for name day, birthday, and celebration in general, or as a “thank you” for some favor. (most East-Europeans)

-        The population density is very low (and especially after the emigration of 300.000 people in the last 15 years, let´s not forget Latvia only has 2 million inhabitants) and that makes it very easy to see people walking in the middle of the woods or in places far away from the cities. Very strange view for me especially after dark.

-        Latvia should be named the “Country of Darkness” for the lack of street lighting. You can break your neck even in the city.

-        Latvians don´t have the habit to meet for coffee.

-        Spring and especially summer are the most awaited moments in a year time.

-        Bathhouse is a must. (sauna is an alternative)

-        When they hear you are from Spain they automatically smile (and I think they picture the Caribbean beach in their heads), and start thinking about some Spanish word they know.

-         Anyone who speaks a language other than Latvian or Russian will automatically become interesting, interrogated, and envied.

-        The social problem between the “Russian” (not only Russians included there, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainians or other nationalities that were drawn away with the Soviet Union) and the native Latvians makes the entire country angry all the time, and split in two. (with this subject I will write an entire post)

-         Smile for no reason, saying “hi” to unknown person in the building, saying “thank you” in the supermarket with a smile, just being polite, nice and happy is a reason to be looked at in a very weird way. They ask themselves “why you’re so happy?”

-        The appearances is very important, you might see a lot of Porsches on the streets, and a lot of BMW and Mercedes…not the cheap ones, you know like the ones that cost like 2 houses in Latvia, or approximately 4 flats.

-         Sushi and Asian food in general is more popular in Latvia than in Asia. (I guess the healthy life makes this happen)

-        Russian from Latvian society, and I guess Russians in general are more concerned about the philosophical side of life than about the material, and they have a song, poem, legends and all king of grandmother stories to tell about war, and love, and treason, and love again. They are extremely romantic

-        Latvians have serious problems with parallel parking, it can take 10 minutes to go it, and in some cases they can they just go to find a bigger place, or a not parallel one. Driving in general is not so bright.

-        There is a special attribute  Latvian people have to seek for the discounts, obviously the economic situation is the reason, but I think even if they will start having western salaries, they will still double check the prices, and compare … just in case.

-        There is a big problem with the relationship between the client and the servant, the attendant, the waiter, or however you want to call it. Doesn’t matter if is a restaurant, if is a supermarket, a bus station or an electronic shop, it feels that you, the client, have to be extremely thankful to the person attending you, not the other way around like in the rest of the planet. Is like the attendant is making You a favor, attending you.

-        Latvian people don´t have the idea of the personal space, you know, the meter around you which is not supposed to be invaded. The space that when someone cross it makes you feel like someone violated your privacy. Is very possible to be looking at a product in a shop and suddenly have some arms in front of you, some elbows pushing you, or some employee putting some products on the shelves between your legs.

-        The majority live a healthy life, with a very good awareness of the nature, and its benefits.

-        They live a healthy life even if is difficult having the gastronomy full of fats and a lack of fishes in their diet.

-        Latvians gather in the kitchen late at night talking about “life”, what I like to call philosophize.(maybe more the Russian half then the natives of Latvia)

-        They are responsible drivers, especially with the “drink and drive”.

-        Russian and Latvians drink lots of vodka. This is not a stereotype.

-        Latvians simply do not understand when a foreigner from the West expresses his wish to permanently live in Latvia. They ask themselves “But Why???”

-        There is no such a thing as “routine” test (examination of the state of health), general doctor or dentist. You go to the doctor only if something needs to be fixed.

Whitney Houston reality

First of all I want to say that she was and she will always be an amazing voice and a great part of the history of music. But that is all I will say, yet this is not a post to talk about the “icon”, the “idol”, the “diva” that we all know. This is my opinion a very honest one.

I was inspired to write about this from different reasons. First because is a drug story, and personally I´m a big fan of criticizing this part of people´s lives. And then because I saw today the full interview Oprah Winfrey did to Whitney Huston in 2009, when she made a lot of “confessions” (I say confessions like that because you never know what part of that is true, and what part is made or remade so that the public will like it more) about her carrier, about her marriage and about her obvious drug problem. This was her first public appearance in 7 years and honestly, I was very disappointed.

I truly recommend seeing the full interview first, in YouTube there are a lot of versions and some of them with subtitles in different languages.

I have some complains about this Image, idol, icon, diva, star, and not only about her, is about all the celebrities, most of them from United States of America (the only country where Gods and Goddesses are born), the celebrities that they born human, with some particular voice, or some other talent, but somehow the media, the TV, the managers, the publishers, and all the people that get money from that, transform this human in to a Super Star, a Super Human, to whom people all around the world idolize, admire, adore, cry for, and think about as Gods.

Whitney Huston in the interview she talks about her husband and how she was living her life with him, she admits that it was a full time psychological abuse, sometimes even physical, that there were very serious moral attacks in front of their daughter, like spiting on her face and daily fights. But then Oprah asks her why she didn’t left when she first started to see all this things, and here my friends is a disappointing answer, a stupid answer, a mockery of all psychological and physically abused women.  She said that she really took seriously the vows she pronounced in front of God the day she got married; she didn’t want to disobey God. So my conclusion is that she suffered, and she drugged herself in front of her daughter all those years BECAUSE OF GOD.

She then talk about how she actually give up on all of this, how she left her home, how she tried to struggle drug addiction, and how she tried to raise her baby in a normal environment. She have started all this because her mother came to her house and took her out of there. But then when she is asked to say what was the thing that made her decide to make the step she answered she prayed to God to give her straight just for one day so that she could go away. One more time the reason is BECAUSE OF GOD.

How can someone blame God for his/her bad decisions and then blame God for the salvation of the soul.

O God Almighty I could not stop doing drugs and let myself to be abuse, and raise my daughter in a horrific home because that would have meant betraying you.

… After a lifetime of pain and a lifetime of making all people around you suffer…

O God Almighty because of you I have gone thought all this, without you would not have been possible.

SERIOUSLY?!?!?!?

ARE YOU F***** KIDING ME?!?!?!?!

          Where´s you gratitude for your mother, who raised you and feed you, and loved you even when you were a bad mother, a bad daughter, and awful person to yourself and others? Where´s the big HALILUYA ME, the big THANK YOU to your strength and to yourself?

Now that the God stuff is settled, I think there is no point of explaining what I meant, let’s do the drug part.  Let me remind you that these kinds of Super Persons have an amazing influence in society, in normal people’s lives, and if the Super Person is from U.S.A., well the influence becomes HUGE. As I told you before the media in general, and some political and economic “bugs” they make everything possible so you can “buy” the story. I have to say that:

“Whatever bad situation you might have in your life, whatever bad physical condition, IF it stands in your hands to change it, and is not something you have born with or some disease it can’t be cures and you don´t do anything… I don’t feel sorry for you, no, I don’t feel sorry for your miserable life.” by Adriana Diaconu.

I am very sorry if there will be people offended with this, and they will accuse me of being cold blooded talking like this about a dead person, but we have to start waking up, we have to understand that this person was weak, and everything that happen in her life she made it happen, it stands in your hands all the time to be better. She even blamed her husband of her awful life; I think this is just a weak person with a lot of pressure around her. Did you ever thought about how many people with marriage problems, with domestic violence, with drug issues of some family member exist in this world? And those people have to struggle in the same time with, economic problems, maybe some social acceptance or who the hell knows what, and still they manage to do it, not because of God, they do it because they are strong, and they want to live.

This woman had everything, and yet, because she abused drugs and she abused Gods trust she lost everything.  Don’t wait for God´s hand to help you get up, just take your life in your hand and deal with it. Sometimes is dangerous to play with this because there can be more people involved in this vicious circle, like a son, and believe me, you don’t want to mess his/her life too, believe me, you don’t.

Marionette

There where always the strong ones and the weak ones, the world always had this two divisions. The ones that make the rules and the ones that obey those rules. Usually the one who make the rules they tend to manipulate the weak one to obey those rules they have build. At the end of this process you discover that the weak one they have lost part of their personality, sometime the entire personality, or they live a frustrated life obeying others rules with the impossibility of take action for themselves.  I have decided to write about this because I found one more person who lives to make rules for others. Let’s say that I was lucky in my entire life, and I had the “honor” to meet a few of those people.
Sadly for them I have the medicine for their illness.
Let me tell you first how you will identify this people, is a very easy process if you are not their friends, but is a very difficult one if you have some kind of close relationship with them, if there are so feeling that unites you.  Sadly I discovered that in our generation there are a lot of people like this, and is very strange because in the same time there are so many individualistic people among our generation. Here you have one more EXTREME example.
First thing I have to say about them is that, we should feel sorry about them, they are like this because they had to struggle with personal psychological problems. We all have some deep psychological issues, believe me, all of us, even if you thing that you had solved all you childhood or adult problems, you didn’t, we all have them, some more then others, and some bigger then others. That is why I would like to express my understanding to this people, because I really understand they have a daily fight with themselves.
Another aspect of their behavior is that they use victimism, they make others feel sorry for them, so sorry that they blindly take care of that person and they are incapable to see the truth.
Or you can find the opposite, the one that say loud and clear the rules you have to obey in order to be their friend( or it can be boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, classmates, boss, colleague, and believe me, even mother or father).  Manipulation existed among us, … Well, forever, but their is something different now, and the difference exist in the other category, the difference is that we don’t obey anymore. Starting with God, or whatever religion you may want to consider, we don’t obey leaders, political, religious, inspirational, or whatever other type of leader.  We have become a very strong human being, we have a super smart brain, and we have a tool we invented to help us have even better brain, technology.
So why we should do something someone else wants us to do, if we have everything we need to know, and we know everything we need.  Don’t think that manipulating people exist only in very high economic, or social levels, or that they manipulate only for big interest, no, they exist everywhere, and they can manipulate only because they need something really small, but they do that just because they are incapable of just being themselves and achieve what they want with truth, honesty, and fairness.  I discovered their Kryptonite.  After some experience, after dealing with some, let’s say more then a few, I understood what ends them.
It’s You.
It’s You being very strong.
A very strong person to tell them the truth in their face, to scream the truth in their face, as many times you can.
Strong being yourself.
Strong not to fall in influence.
Strong period.

People’s acceptance

Good day, here I am again with another of “our characteristics” one which it becomes a disease sometimes, destroyed families, young people, careers, and more important than all destroys lives.
People’s acceptance.
Well, like this it sounds a little bit too … superfluous. I decided to talk about this issue first of all because it´s something that really troubles “us”, and it had become a very important problem in the lives of so many young people over the last years. And my second reason for talking about this is because I overcome this obstacle, luckily without falling in any of the examples I am going to give. One way or another, I really believe all of “us” had to struggle with not being accepted by people, every one of us in different ways, but we have here a very big “trend” among “us” we should be talking about.
Wanting to be accepted, by its own definition is something not right, you don’t make yourself accepted…
Is exactly the other way around… people accept you. If they do, well good for you, you might be lucky and they can actually be trustful, and they really accept you just the way you are, or the negative part can happen, is very possible they just accept you by convenience, because they need you, or something you have to offer them. In that case, run, run fast and far away from these people, they will make you become something so different than what you really are. Run. Now.

In the other case, if they don’t accept you…
Well, actually here is when the problem comes, there are so many of “us” that get drawn in to very nasty issues. First is depression, and then big frustration, worries, and sleepless nights. Then the changes in habits come like for example in cloths, fashion, gangs, environment, and lying, cheating, eating disorder just to feel part of something. Then to the next stage to anorexia, bulimia, obsession with diets, training, sports, gym. Forth step will be a very dramatic one, it will be the beginning of addictions like alcohol and all kind of drugs, prescription pills or whatever you can imagine extremely harmful for your body, brain, and life in general. The last step will be the craziest and damaging one, when the self harm begins, really nasty psychological condition, suicidal thoughts, suicidal behavior and finally committing the suicide.
You will be surprised to know how many people actually reach the final level, because they are not accepted, or because they are being bullied, mocked on, or discriminated because of …
their physical appearance…
their religion…
their skin color…
their IQ level…
their knowledge…
their hair color…
their families…
their economic situation…
their language…
their heritage…
their sexuality…
their nationality…
their believes…

I had a revelation today; I understood something that has been bothering me since I was very young. You know, you grow up, become an adult, and you really believe that those stupid jokes made at school when you were a kid are meaningless. Well, you are wrong, they mean, and a lot. We just have to be extremely brave to accept that it was a big deal then, that you suffered and that it´s still is a big deal and still affects your life even if you want it or not. Be brave, discover what it is, think about how it still affects your daily life, accepted and fix it.
To finish with an example I will say that in this very moment I’m dealing with some extra weight myself. But I am not trying to deal with that because I want to be accepted by anyone, I have learned that lesson a long time ago. In my defense I will say that this extra kilos on me happen because a year ago a quit smoking…yeyyyy for me. And my entire body and metabolism changed completely. So, you can say that the extra weight is actually a good thing. Here I will like to mention that there are a lot of cases where people quit some addiction they had and they are being congratulated for that, even if it mean congratulating the super extra weight they´ve earned too.
I am not that person, I don’t congratulate myself for my extra kilos, what I do, and what everybody else who sees they are not in there healthy weight, is change that, not going to an extreme, super diets, miracle pills or whatever other activities that can become another addiction. I am sick of hearing “you are fatty??? It´s ok, just accept yourself the way you are”. No, I’m sorry but being a fatty is no something that you have born with, is not something unchangeable, it´s in your hands to drop the burger for some time and make some daily exercise, it´s in your hands not in other people mouths. Remember you have to “accept yourself the way you are” but before you do the acceptance part just look in the mirror with a very realistic eye. Maybe you see you have to lose some weight, but you’re actually very skinny, or maybe you think you should stay the way you are, but actually you are a little bit overweight.
What I am trying to say, don’t listen to TV or internet commercials, magic pills with who knows what inside, “friends” you know, that kind of friends that makes you believe pigs can fly, don’t believe your husband(wife), boy(girl)friend, or (the way I like to call my own) partner. Because they just don’t want to hurt your feelings (and they don’t want to risk their lives). Be honest with yourself, be real and realistic. Don’t abuse with anything, not with the food, but not with the “treatment”, either is diet, pills, drugs, sport or changing religion.

NOTICE: This is The First Campaign against EXTREMES, stay tuned for more.

Reddit Case

Hi, and good day to you all. For my first post I was not very sure what to write about, it had to be about something that really has to do a lot with us (let me remind you “us” meaning 18-29 years old young people in the world, a 70 million group of people which have some specific things in common, click to Read More). So I had to write about a huge trend between this millions of people, and I came up with one of the best, as the title says…Reddit Case.
I am completely sure I don’t have to describe what Reddit is, but just in case someone doesn’t know yet is a social website dedicated to spread news, but the one spreading the news are the subscribers, the news can be in the shape of a picture, a comment, a video, or most of it a link to the World Wide Web. I have found some curious statistics about 2011 in the Reddit official blog:
•    2,065,237,338 page views
•    34,879,881 unique visitors
•    12.97 pages / visit
•    16 minutes average time on site
•    Over 100 million monthly pageviews per employee
And, more importantly, our community stats:
•    100,000+ subreddits
•    8,400+ subreddits with over 100 subscribers
http://blog.reddit.com/search?updated-min=2012-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2013-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=6

The amazing part is that other subscribers can vote for each reddit you post, for me is amazing because is some kind of new judgment way, let me explain. Good or bad, it has always been a problem for us humans to track an exact line between this two categories, and because it have been so difficult we invented the law, and the judges, and with all of this the punishment. Well as we can see in the latest world news, the judges don’t judge the judgeable in very judgeless way anymore; there are too many “distractions” for the people we put our trust in to discern from good to bad.
So that is why this new method of like or unlike it´s amazing, just because is a common opinion, is what thousands of people with education or not, with experience or not, believe is “good” or “bad”. I would like to call it … the Free Social Judge. And in the same time I would like to dream at something, dream that maybe in a future, let´s hope not very far from now, we will be able to “punish” people or to “reward” them through this system, a system that includes all of us, our different opinions and different judgments.
Ok, let´s stop the melancholic moment about hope I just had here and tell you that other important trend included in this social sharing everything network is the meme. The Wikipedia description of the term is:

“A meme is an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate and respond to selective pressures.”

And what it means for “us” (read “us” description above) is quit the same but… better. Here are some examples.

Now that I’m sure you are super interested on discovering super cool stuff on the web, I will give you time and space to do so, but I will also tell you about…

• www.9gag.com

 

• www.fark.com 

 

• www.knowyourmeme.com here you can find the list of the memes going around the web since 2007.

• www.pikabu.ru  and the Russian version.

WARNING: take care not to spend too much time on this webs, I know now it can sound crazy but you will understand later it can be very addictive, there are cases in which people don’t sleep entire nights, so if you actually have a life and things to do tomorrow don’t abuse.

REMAINDER: this is a nonprofit blog, I do not intend to make publicity to any of this webs, I just consider them a super trend and an amazing and different way young people have fun in this days.

ADVICE: enjoy have fun… and come back for more.