Egon Schiele: Women – review

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/may/16/egon-schiele-women-review

Egon Schiele is one of the most important figurative painter of the early 20th century. He pictured the human body eroticised without sentiment or excuses. His works are grotesque, erotic and focused on sex, death and discovery.
I would be in London to visit the exibition that collects nearly 50 masterpieces!


Vocabulary

• To gather on _ radunarsi, raccogliere
• Escapism _ evasione
• Misleading _ fuorviante, ingannevole
• To lap up _ credere ciecamente (?)
• Daring _ audace
• Eagerly _ avidamente

How I met your mother

Over the previous next months I've watched an American sitcom called "How I met your mother". The main character, Ted, tells his son and daughter the events that led to his meeting with their mother. Other main characters are Lilly and her husband Marshall, Robin and Barney. There are lots of quick transitions and flashbacks. One of the most important features is the characterizazion that makes the sitcom so amusing. I love it!

Vocabulary and expressions

• To set the mood _ creare l'atmosfera
• I've been craving this... all day! 
• It can't hurt! _ non sarebbe male!
• Implied _ sottinteso
• Weird _ strano
• Overdue _ in ritardo
• Just to make it sure
• speechless _ senza parole
• Who cares?
• Something must be wrong with...
• I'll give you some advice
• I'll take your advice
• Travel safe! _ buon viaggio
• Better late that never
• Go easy on
• Landmark _ punto di riferimento

Police buy software to map suspects' digital movements

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/may/11/police-software-maps-digital-movements

Vocabulary

• Lawfulness _ legittimità
• To retain _ conservare
• To throw up _ lasciare, tirare fuori, esporre

Japan nuclear power expansion plans abandoned

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/11/japan-nuclear-power-expansion-plans-abandoned

Vocabulary

• Start from scratch _ ripartire da zero
• To envisage _ immaginare
• Handling _ gestione
• Markedly _ nettamente
• Weak _ debole
• To bear _ addossarsi, sostenere
• Goggles _ occhiali di protezione
• To vow _ promettere
• Shutdown _ chiusura
• Undamaged _ intatto
• To plammet _ precipitare

Thoughts on my own performance

I think I had a good performance. I prepared my presentation well thanks to Sean's advices. I practiced out load  and so I was comfortable delivering my presentation. During the presentation I was quite confident but one of my  colleague told me that I spoke in a low voice and I moved my hands too much! I tried to speak slowly and clearly and to emphasize key words. In my opinion my presentation was well organized and it had a clear logical structure but my introduction was a bit lacking in details. I made some mistakes in pronunciation, for example "measures" /ˈmeʒə(r)/. 

Helen Mirren winning an Oscar® for "The Queen"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZunOOuJwY7E

Listening Practice


Watch the winner’s speech and answer the following questions:

(a)   What is she carrying?

      She has her purse in one hand and her hearring in the other.

(b)   What does she say the award is similar to?

      She says that the award is a gold star.

     

(c)   What does she say about her fellow nominees?

      She says that her fellow nominees are brilliant actresses.

(d)   What qualities does she say the woman she played possesses?

      She says that The Queen has maintained her dignity and her sense of duty (and her hair style!). She appreciates her courage and consistency.

(e)   Fill in the missing words – It is a conditional sentence containing 13 words in total (contractions, e.g. wasn’t, count as 2 words).

     If it wasn't for her I most would not be here.

The Royal Wedding

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

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, gives a lesson in English! It's a good listening exercise!

David Joseph: The music industry will survive the digital revolution

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/feb/14/david-joseph-universal-music-brit-awards

Vocabulary

• to overhaul: revisionare, rivedere (he's overhauled the Brit Awards)
• to steer: guidare, governare (Universal boss can steer his label)
• label: etichetta discografica
• charged with: accusato di 
• breakthroughs: scoperte 
• shutdown: chiusura
• billing: fatturazione
• long-mooted: a lungo dibattuto
• thought leading: pensiero guida
• retail: vendita al dettaglio
• fulfil: adempiere
• bold: coraggioso

Idiomatic expressions

• with sales down a further _%
• a decline in _ sales
• a fallow period for
• the collapse of (a company, a business...)
• to be in decline
• an expected/unexpected fall
• to break an act
• to brooze up

What if Star Wars had never existed?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/mar/18/what-if-star-wars-never-existed

Hypothetical and conditional forms

• "Would cinema be better off if George Lucas had ditched the films..."

           Mix 3/2: hypothetical past (if had ditched) affects a hypothetical present (would cinema be) 

• "How would cinema have been affected had Akira Kurosawa made it as a painter and never made Seven Samurai?"

          3 Unreal past

• "What if the 1998 best picture Oscar had gone not to Shakespeare in Love, but Gummo?"

          3 Unreal past

• "Where would we be now had there never been a Star Wars?"

          Mix 3/2: hypothetical past (had there never been) affects a hypothetical present (would we be)

Alice in Wonderland (1951)

http://videomaxim.com/2010/02/alice-in-wonderland-1951/

Listening practice


"If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary-wise; what it is it wouldn't be, and what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?" 


Mad Hatter: Would you like a little more tea? 
Alice: Well, I haven't had any yet, so I can't very well take more. 
March Hare: Ah, you mean you can't very well take less. 
Mad Hatter: Yes. You can always take more than nothing.

Frank Sinatra - My Way

And now, the end is here
And so I face the final curtain
My friend, I'll say it clear
I'll state my case, of which I'm certain
I've lived a life that's full
I traveled each and ev'ry highway
And more, much more than this, I did it my way

Regrets, I've had a few 
But then again, too few to mention
I did what I had to do and saw it through without exemption
I planned each charted course, each careful step along the byway
And more, much more than this, I did it my way

Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew
But through it all, when there was doubt
I ate it up and spit it out 
I faced it all and I stood tall and did it my way

I've loved, I've laughed and cried
I've had my fill, my share of losing
And now, as tears subside, I find it all so amusing
To think I did all that
And may I say, not in a shy way,
"Oh, no, oh, no, not me, I did it my way"

For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught
To say the things he truly feels and not the words of one who kneels
The record shows I took the blows and did it my way!

Morgan Freeman winning an Oscar® for "Million Dollar Baby"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHQdXGfOdQQ&playnext=1&list=PLE0DD8A6D00E3045E

This is a video with Morgan Freeman winning an Oscar® for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in "Million Dollar Baby", one of my favourite movies. His english is very easy!

My Checklist

http://seansenglishclassroom.pbworks.com/w/page/11442650/Sentence-Structure

1. Verb structure -to ask someone for something, to search for-
2. Vocabulary - phrasal verbs: to get off (not to descend), to take out (not to extract)-
3. Fixed phrases -one at a time, little by little, to wake with a start-

Is this the start of the second dotcom bubble?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/feb/20/is-this-the-start-of-the-second-dotcom-bubble

_Loss-making Twitter has been valued at $10bn. Facebook is said to be worth more than Ford. Now, for some investors, the alarm bells are starting to ring_

This article at the Guardian explains the reason why the high valuations of social tech companies could led to a second dotcom bubble. There's a big gap between the real value of internet companies and their sky-high valuations; there's the sense that this isn't real money but abstract money. Alan Patrick said that a bubble is defined by too much money to invest in assets, greater production of those assets, and  the need to find a greater fool who buy them. According to Patrick, there are 10 indicators that tell us when a bubble is being blown; and already 8 of these are present in the social tech boom.

Vocabulary

• Gold Rush
• To be worth
• To burst
• Hangout
• Claim
• Odds

Idiomatic expressions

• Dumb.money companies
• A flurry of new investements 
• Stupid money