Fresh Shadow and rock in the backyard !!!!

It was 1975, we 'd had Medici, AI 5, dictatorship and the things looked like getting better.

We had watched '' Love Story'' and Butch Cassidy and The Godfather 1 and we were seeing ''The way we were'' and ''Kung Fu'' and our sitcom '' A grande Familia ''. We listened to thr Beatles, Pink Floyd had just released ''The Dark Side of the Moon''; Stairway to Heaven and Led Zeppelin filled our minds, '' Sunshine of my shoulders by John Denver, It's too late by Carole King and Cat Stevens( he hadn't become Yusuf Islam yet) played on AM radio and we liked Jorge Ben with Taj Mahal. ''A cor do Som'','' O terco"" and ''14 ""bis and Raulzito playing ''Ouro de Tolo'' was amazing as Rita Lee with ''Ovelha Negra and we had protest songs like ''O amor e meu pais"" by Ivan Lins,'' Calice'' by Chico and Caetano, Gal, Maria Bethania and Gil made us extremely thrilled. We wore'' boca-de-sino'' pantaloons and ''plataformas"", a lot of croches,' cacharel 'and' japona 'and sandals of sole tire and' Havaianas' and shells and micangas. Our perfume was' Patchouli' and we had been watching 'Fantastico 'since August 5,1973.

There was a group of friends who had created a new band in a little town- Pelotas. They played a rural pop rock , with acoustic guitars,violins and voices,easy lyrics and the wished Kledir . Crowded theatres and when they started playing ''Quero sentir o sol.....", our world blew,we danced on the chairs,we shouted and we sang the whole songs which were a mixing of traditionalist songs such as Lupicinio,Teixeirinha with rock.

It was ''Os Almondegas ", a regional pop band (new to those times) and they were formed by Kleiton, Kledir, Kiko Castro Neves, Peri Sousa and Gilnei. They released 4 LPs ( the first LP in 1975),their greatest singles were Vento Negro, Sombra Fresca e Rock no quintal, Daisy my love and unfortunately thet split up in December 1978.

Lucia Diehl

IKEBANA

IKEBANA is the Japanese art of flower arrangement. It is more than simply putting flowers in a vase. With living branches, leaves, grasses and blossoms, the meaning of the arrangement is the total result of color combinations, natural shapes and lines, as a living thing where nature and humanity are brought together.

Both men and women study this art form. Indeed, in the past, Ikebana was considered an appropriate pastime for even the toughest samurai.

Past, present and future are symbolized in the Ikebana. The past is represented by dried leaves and flowers. Flowers perfectly developed represented the present. And the future is symbolized by blossoms in development.

There are two common theories about the origin of this art. One traces it to sixth-century ritual flower offerings made to Buda. Following this theory, Ikebana started in India, where the flowers were placed informally, often using only petals. When Buddhism was introduced to Japan, monks started to arrange flowers in containers to decorate the altars of temples. Another theory holds that customs from the past, like putting up evergreen trees and arranging flowers to call spirit gods, evolved into ikebana later. In both, this art achieved the status of an art form independent of its religious origins with time, though it continued to retain strong symbolic and philosophical overtones.

Here go some pictures of this art, hope you like it!

Carol Gualdi
Express Plus 2

Sex and the city 2

Many people criticize SATC 2, I enjoyed seeing New York, the fashion clothes ( sometimes Too Much ! ), the beautiful actresses, the handsome actors, the desert and listening to the dialogues between friends and the amazing soundtrack ( Dido, Cee-Lo, Erikah Badu, Leona Lewis in duet with Jennifer Hudson, Cindy Lauper, Alicia Keys ).

It's absolutely delightful to know women together talking about the same subject all over the world: men, relationships, sex and fashion and it's so pleasant. Sex and the city is the very best thing to be done with your bes friends.

I loved the series, the movie SATC1 and SATC2 and I"m looking forward to SATC3 !

Lucia Diehl

Prince of Persia Sands of Time

Hello there, it looks like that this is the first time I am writing here, but the truth is I used to write before with more “frequency”, but since I have to do a lot of extra things I...forgot to...

Well, today I am going to talk about a movie that I watched yesterday and the most important, FOR FREE. The name is Prince of Persia Sands of Time.

The story takes place at a very beautiful place, the old Persia, where a non-royal blood prince named Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal) goes with a princess, Tamina (Gemma Arterton), to a, let’s say journey to protect a magical dagger and the humanity against an armaggedon that the misuse of that knife would cause. Also in the plot you have the lack of family trust, mystical creatures, ostrich races (the best cretures of the movie, definitely) and as I said before the landscapes and bildings are really beautiful.

As a Disney movie you can’t expect the BEST PICTURE one, but I thought it was going to be worse, but wasn’t, was really nice indeed. However the film has a lot of cliches scenes like romances, predictable actions and stuffs like that, but I don’t know, it was good anyway.

If you haven’t seen this movie yet, you should try to see it, at least for the landscapes and the ostrich race, and if you have a free ticket as I had, another reason to run towards the cinemas.

AHhh! I forgot to mention that the effects are nice also, the sand special effects really called my attention...
Yeah, so that is it for...for now, here is the trailer of the movie...

PS: Thanks Cultura Inglesa for the tickets.

Carlos- Express Master 4

Becoming young

My motto is '' live in your time, not in your age". My recipe is :

 * Ingredients: the will to be young, politeness, laughs and fun, young people, open-minded soul, joyful heart, good

shape( 40 ->46).

* How to make it: Chop the fear of deserving to be laughed at, Peel your prejudice,  Boil your soul with news,

Taste flavours and experiences, Perceive new scents, Stir books, culture, movies into your life, Simmer your arrogance of being experienced, Sprinkle music, all kinds of music, into your soul, Pour  and fill your heart with joy, Drain your life of wasting time fighting for nonsense. Claim to important things, Roll up with new ideas and concepts, Spread modernity to your clothes, Beat  your mind with all of these ingredients and you will be a sweet and spicy, a tough and tender young middle-aged person living in your time, it doesn't matter how old you are.

I added a song - ''Ever fallen in love '', my jingle because of its youth, this cover is 32 years old and it goes on being fashion and modern with its eletrifying and dancing rhythm. It was released the first time by '' Buzzcoks "( - a British punk rock band formed in 1975, their music combined a strong grasp of pop song with rapid-fire punk energy.- from LastFm ).

This new cover is playing by The Noisettes  who are a rock trio from London formed in 2003 with beautiful Shingai

Shoniwa as a vocal. Their debut album was released in 2007 - '' What' the time the wolf'', their 2nd album ''Wild Young Hearts was released in April 2009-from LastFm.

Pay attention to "Don't give up " , Don't upset the rhythm" and my favourite " Never Forget you ".

      Lucia   Diehl

The Ghost Writer

Everybody knows that '' The Ghostwriter'' is about a writer( Ewan McGregor, magnificent as he is) employed to be a ghostwriter of the memories of a former British prime minister. The movie lasts 125 min, you don't feel the minutes passing, you don't feel your breath, you are so caught that you only see the movie and listen to the music, it seems that the time has stopped. It's thrilling,exciting,terrifying ,scary and a mysterious story and the end ....

Roman Polanski in his better days such as'' Chinatown'' !

Probably it is his masterpiece !!!!

Lucia

'' Beauty in the world''

             A song which makes us cheerful, specially to start the weekend!  Macy Gray 's new song - Beauty in the world -  has been playing on the radio and the album '' The Sellout" will be relesead on June 22.

             Enjoy it and be happy !!!

            Lucia

Diego e Gael

Good partnerships: here's one thing which has become virtually impossible to be found nowadays. No matter what kind of "business" we're talking about - companies, music, movies, literature, dance or even the so-called "real life" - innovative partnerships are very hard to get or see. Fortunately, there's always a light at the end of the tunnel. I could name endless extraordinary musical partnerships we've had throughout the years (Lennon and McCartney; Jagger and Richards; Toquinho and Vinicius, to name just a few) and I'm sure you could add many more to such list. In movies, we've had wonderful combinations as well, such as the funny Three Stooges; the sparkling Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan; Donkey and Shrek; Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro; George Lucas and Steven Spielberg; Woody Allen and Diane Keaton and so on. In the last 10 years, there has been a very good-looking and talented cinematographic fusion that has made me really enthusiastic about the future: the Mexican actors Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal. Whether you've liked Y tu mamá también or not, one thing is pretty clear: these "hunks" are here to stay. Fortunately. In Alfonso Cuarón's 2001 picture, they were still young boys - but rather talented - and the chemistry between them is something both admirable and touching. I'm not only talking about the obvious physical attributes, I mean they are really good actors. Gael has been in many honourable movies such as Amores Perros, The motorcycle Diaries and Almodovar's La Mala Educacion. Diego can be seen at The Terminal and Milk. The Mexican picture Rudo y Cursi, released in 2008, is another opportunity to see this fabulous pair in action. Friends in real life, Gael and Diego have certainly brought new hope for Latin American cinema. God bless them!

Jump

Jump was Van Halen's biggest hit. It was released in 1984 and this song is famous for Eddie Van Halen's guitar solo. It is impossible to hear and not be caught by its cheerfullness, especially the introduction and not enjoy the arena-style metal. Pay attention to the clothes and the way they were playing and moving, it was in 1984! Jump keeps on modern and thrilling !

But I fell in love with a slowed-down cover by Aztec Camera (Scottish new wave band, formed in 1981 and split in 1995, from Last.Fm).

See how cute is this animation playing Jump by Aztec Camera


http://www.last.fm/music/Aztec+Camera/+videos/+1-8J-4oAtsiAc

Lucia EP2
Teacher Hell

RAUL SANTOS SEIXAS

Raul Seixas, the Brazilian rock's father, was born in Salvador – Bahia in 1945 (the atomic bomb year). Son of an engineer and a housewife, his middle class family was very conservative.

In infancy, “Raulzito” spent a lot of time in his father's library, and created crazy comics to sell to his brother Plinio (four years younger than him). The school didn't teach what he wanted to know, and about that he said: “The school never taught me anything, or better, taught me to hate it”.

He lived near the U.S.A. Consulate, and American boys showed him a different kind of music... the rock'n'roll. After that, he killed classes to go to “Cantinho da Musica” shop to listen to music and go to the cinema watching Elvis Presley's movies. Raulzito and Waldir Serrão (the Big Ben) founded the first Elvis's fan club in Brasil in 1959. Because of these influences, he created a Rock band with some friends (the first rock band in Bahia's history) called “Os Relâmpagos do Rock”. After the name changed to “The Panteras”, and lastly “Raulzito e os Panteras”

Denis Utzig

Express Plus 2

Insight

I woke up with an insight  (the ability to have a clear, deep and sometimes sudden understanding of a situation -from Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary). Of course, I've been through many years of therapy. I write a lot in the blog but why? I'm not afraid of showing myself and I'm not afraid of making a lot of mistakes.

I love writing in our blog, I stroll into unknown words (for me, obviously), I learn odd and different meanings for the

words, I apply Present Perfect (with a lot of mistakes) and -Ing and I've lost my fear, I'm not afraid of using Verb Tenses

I find which prepositions I must use with these verbs and I keep on making mistakes, but I've learnt a lot! The way that words come in English to my mind show me how much I grew and how much I got better. I look forward to seeing what Carlos the moving name, The Motoboy vrum-vrum and Hell will write.

I am happy  as I was having a date, going out with friends or dancing. I rave each time I see my writings in the blog and I went straight to heaven when our dear Teacher Hell wote about my text that it was Fantastic! These happy  little moments are what Happiness is!

My mates, wake up and write! There's no better way to learn than by writing!!!!

I didn't arrange this writing to our teacher. I just want our blog to exist !

 Lucia EP2 

Teacher Hell

Literary Cup

I've never heard about it, but what an interesting idea. A cup of stories written by local authors. Reading  and knowning it, we can learn about our talents and encourage them  to write more.

Lucia

http://wp.clicrbs.com.br/mundolivro/?topo=77,1,1,,,77

Eclipse: Twilight Saga

YEAH! Twilight Saga is BACK and now more bloody.
After the surprising ending of New Moon which Edward asked Bella to marry him, we'll see now her answer. However, THAT isn't the most exciting thing in Eclipse. Victoria (the vampire who wants Bella veery dead) is causing trouble with a brand-new vampire army with the main aim is to destroy Edward's family. Meanwhile, Bella is very confused with her feelings between Edward and her best friend Jacob, who obviously is in love with her.
In short, you CANNOT miss this movie because it's going to be amazing and we all Twilight fans are hoping that Eclipse is going to be better than the other two.
So do not forget, you have to go to the movies on June 30th!!

Here is the official trailer:





Monique EP2