WATCH A TV DISCUSSION SHOW

- www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00g15rt/Click_29_11_2008



While i was looking for something to watch on the bbc website, a link catched my attention "Dan Simmons witnesses the VIRTUAL REBIRTH of Berlin and London". In this programme they spoke about a kind of virtual life that take place on the web: a copy of yourself goes around into a virtual word doing what you don't have the courage or the opportunite to do in reality. Let's go into detail... You have a perfect reconstrucion of the city, in this case Berlin, and your virtual-self can wander around: walk on the street, go shopping or have a drink in pubs and discos that exist in the authentic Berlin. Even the social environment is developed: there are a lot of people that,like you, have created our own character and you have the possibility to talk with them. In other worlds, a person who lives for example in London can rebirth in Berlin, buy a house and found relations without moving from a chair! Jochen Hummel, one of the co-funder of this progect, shows how take advantages of an online world: it's a way to explor new places, it's good for shopping, work collaboration, dates and education. He also add that, entering in this world, you are not escaping from your real life. After the end of this video I spent 10 minutes thinking how would be my virtual-self, my copy... and, to be honest with you, I'm really bewildered about this surreal word. In my opinion this is a prove that we are not able to build direct relationship, computer and thecnology take the place of the self and the language- the art of speaking. The internet is an irreplaceable facility to do a lot of things but it can't replace the concrete life. We are human, made of blood and flesh, we prove emotions and we have our eyes to look at the reality or in someone else's eyes.. How a computer screen and a keyboard could replace this? There is no way. Having said that, I would like to encourage people to find their place into the true world before start a "parallel existence" in the web one.

This morning we had a seminar on the subject of the media/television.
In my group there were people from different parts of the world: China, Lithuania, Vietnam and Arabic countries. We spent almost one hour talking about television viewing habits in our countries and was quite interesting to descover that, even if each country has an own policy to manage television broadcasting, all of us had the same ideas on which are the main problems linked to TV.
At the end it came out that television has changed a lot in the last 20 year and, unfortunately going to the bad. Nowadays people watch too much TV trying to escape from reality so TV producer ground on an "Ideal Life" their programmes. Stereotypes are integral part in the TV background used to make clear to viewers the differences between each character, for example "the rich man" with a professional job or "the single woman" looking for a relationship.
An other important point in our discussion has been "Media Literacy" and the joint agreement was that people should better understand the power of television to don't let it to corrupt their mind.
I enjoed this seminar; in my group everyone had the possibility to speak and i didn't have any problem to understand every single point of view, maybe because, as I said before, they were quite similar.
Besides, I found really useful to get myself informed about the seminar subject, firstly because it made me feel more secure when i was speaking and secondly for my personal knowledge, seeing that media and television are two topical issues.

About me...

I'm a 21 year old girl who comes from a small town in the hart of Italy.

I've been living in london since one year and from my eighteen since now, is the longest time i remained in the same place...said the you can deduce that i really like London!
Last year when i arrived i found a job almost immediatly in one of the clothes store of the "Massimo Dutti" chain. Was a great experience: I met a lot of interesting people and I could improve my English that becames good enough to express myself in a clear way.
You have to know that I'm a person who likes take personal challenges to enrich her knowledge so, when the working environment becames boring, I decide was the right time to change.
Universitary background always actracted me so...here I am!Ok, to be honest was not so easy, you know, you have to apply on time and do all the bureaucracy part and then you have to wait for the response and...if it's positive you have to pay!Anyway, at the moment I'm attending the
pre-sessional Academic English programme and I'll be ready to start my degree course in February.
I'm a girl who wants to know as much as possible about the world, about people who lives in there; I love music, i think is the best way to enjoy my life, I like sports, I love travels, books and nature...I love everythink makes me feel alive, everything which gives me an emotion.
That's who I am, what I like, and why I choosed to study "Events Management" linked to "International Tourism Management".
I hope, one day, to work in the tourism sector to increase people to travel coscientiously,having a great time getting in touch with new cultures. I wish ,one day, to aquire the ability and skills to create anything wich involves people who are enthusiastic and passionate about what they are seeing.
I think that for the moment you know enough about me....

Ultimate spaghetti carbonara

Ingredients:

• 100 gr pancetta
• 50 gr pecorino cheese
• 50 gr parmesan
• 3 eggs
• 350 gr of spaghetti (de cecco are the best)
• 2 plump garlic cloves peeled
• 50 gr of butter
• salt and greated black pepper

Method:

1. Put a large saucepan of wather on boil.Chop the pancetta.Grate both cheese and mix them together.Beat the eggs in a bowl and add a tach of black pepper.Set everything a side.
2. Add salt to boiling water,add the spaghetti and cook at a constant simmer for 10 minutes or untill "al dente"
3. While the spaghetti is cooking,fry the pancetta whit garlic.Drop the butter into a frying pan and as soon as has melted,add to the pancetta and garlic.Leve those to cook for about 5 min,untill the pancetta is golden and crispy and then take off the garlic.
4. When the pasta is ready lift it from the water with a pasta fork and put it in the frying pan with the pancetta.
5. Mix most of the cheese with the eggs,kiping a small handfull back.Take tha pan of spaghetti and pancetta off the heat .Now quikly pour in the eggs and cheese,using a long fork lift up the spaghetti so it mixes easily with the eggs mixture,and everything is coated.
6. Serve immediatly with a little sprinkling of the remain cheese and a gratting of black pepper.