Overconsumption

Monday 25 February 2013

Watch the video and think about its message!

Natural Resources

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                      Just think about it

Consumerism

Nowadays consumerism has achieved a standing that cannot be ignored in the life of an individual. In the basic sense of the word, consumerism in today's world is what balances personal happiness with purchase of material possessions. Consumption being the fuel that keeps this cycle moving.
More often than not we value people around us on the value of their living styles rather than their moral and ethical worth. Companies and corporations have realized that rich consumers are the most attractive targets for marketing their products. 
No one is content with what he or she has. We emulate people above us and try to copy them. This is because we are going through the terrible phase of identity crisis. Our identities are now defined by the goods and products we use. That's the

main reason that our individualism has become dependent on consumerism.

AIDS

Sunday 24 February 2013

   Hi! I'm here to tell a story that I never forgot.
   I was on Hospital Santo António, in waiting room, and entered a man distributing flyers. People that was there stayed with flyer in their hands but when man began to say that he was a AIDS conveyor, people threw the pamphlets at the ground. I call this attitude ignorant or discriminatory. Ignorant because people can think that through of flyers could take AIDS. But also discriminatory, because disrespected this man.
   People who have AIDS is very discriminated by other people, but all have to think that everyone are equal and to respect the others. AIDS only happens through sexual intercourse, breast milk, or when you have contact with the infected person's blood, everyone should know that.


http://www.abraco.org.pt/

   Here I leave an organization supporting these people. I think it is important we help everyone, because tomorrow we can be in this situation. I hope that God don't want that.

Vanda Magina 11ºB

Beyoncé - A Worldwide Star

Saturday 23 February 2013

Beyoncé Giselle Knowles, known as Beyoncé, was born on 4th September 1981, in Houston, Texas. She is an american singer, songwriter, dancer and actress. Beyoncé was first exposed to singing and dancing competitions as a child.

Her career as singer started in the late 1990s as the lead singer of Destiny's Child, one of the world's best-selling girl groups. While leading this group, Beyoncé released her debut solo album, Dangerously in Love (2003), which became one of the most successful albums of that year, earning her five Grammy Awards. After the disbandment of Destiny's Child, in 2005, she released more three solo albums: B' Day, in 2006; I Am... Sasha Fierce, in 2008, that made her earn six Grammys in 2010, breaking the record for most Grammy Awards won by a female artist in one night; and her fourth solo album, 4, in 2011, that became her fourth consecutive number one album on the Billboard 200 as a solo artist.

Throughout her career she has already won 17 Grammy Awards, 12 MTV Video Music Awards, a Billboard Millennium Award, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. As a solo artist, Beyoncé has sold over 13 million albums in the United States and over 75 million records worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time.

On 4th April 2008, she married Jay-Z, an american rapper, and on 7th January 2012, as result of their love, Beyoncé gave birth to their first daughter, Blue Ivy Carter.

Beyoncé Knowles is not only one of the greatest singers of the world, but also someone who cares deeply about people. According to Beyoncé, "When you look around at all that's wrong in the world, the need to do something, no matter how big or how small, is clear.”

She founded the Survivor Foundation to help victims of Hurricane Katrina, and in 2006 she held a series of food drives before her concerts to collect the food that was so desperately needed by victims. Beyoncé was also an Ambassador for the 2005 World Children’s Day and released “Stand Up For Love”, the anthem for the event which takes place annually around the world on 20th November, to raise awareness and funds for children’s causes.

On 16th February 2013, was released on the HBO network, the filme Life Is But a Dream, a documentary about Beyoncé Knowles's life, that was directed, produced and narrated by her.

In my opinion Beyoncé Knowles is a very talented singer and an amazing womem. I love her voice and I´m a fan of her music.

Here is one of my favourite songs from Beyoncé:

 Hope you've enjoyed the reading

Andreia Codeço

Francesinha

Saturday 16 February 2013

      Francesinha is a traditional portuguese dish, created around the sixties in Porto.  It is an adaptation of a french sandwich, croque-monsieur, made by Daniel da Silva.  Daniel da Silva worked in France for a while and when he got back he created this tempting dish that gained a lot of popularity.

      Francesinha is a sandwich with steak, ham and different kinds of sausage covered with cheese and dipped in a beer based sauce.  This sandwich is often served with chips and beer.  The quality of the Francesinha depends on the quality of the meats used and on the sauce.  The sauce always has beer but the other ingredients are usually kept as a secret in order to preserve the specialty of the cook.  Generally the Francesinha sauce presents a red orange coloring and it may be more or less spicy.
 

      This dish began to be a snack for single man and girls were not seen eating it.  Later Francesinha became a dish served at dinner or at lunch and turned to be a dish available in almost every part of the country.

       In 2011 the website Aol Travel elected Francesinha one of the top ten sandwiches in the world.   In Canelas there are many places where we can eat great Francesinhas and since 2010 there is an annual festival where restaurants are able to presente their Francesinhas.

    

    For me the place that has the greatest Francesinhas is Capa Negra in Campo Alegre, Porto.

   Although I may try the Verso em Pedra challenge. If one is able to eat a Mega Francesinha (six francesinhas) in one hour without leaving the table, the restaurant will offer an electric guitar.   Until now there are no winners I may try my luck one of these days. 

 

Diana Barros

 

Pearl Jam and "No Boundaries: A Benefit for the Kosovar Refugees"

Friday 15 February 2013

Hey everyone, long time no see, but I’m back!

I was considering writing about my favorite band ever, Pearl Jam, but when I was looking for some facts about the band and stuff, I found this charity work which they were involved in and luckily it had a lot to do with the subject we just studied in our English classes.

Many artists came together to record this album called “No Boundaries: A Benefit for the Kosovar Refugees”, one of them was Pearl Jam, they did this awesome cover of “Last Kiss” (one of my favorite songs by the way, and I had no idea of the reason why it was recorded). The money raised from the sale of the album was used to help refugees of Kosovo.

 You may be asking what happened in Kosovo that forced people to flee. Well, Kosovo War was a conflict between Kosovar Albanians and Kosovar Serbs, all members of The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY). The last one corresponds to the last fragment of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), founded during World War II. SFRY included six socialist republics: Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia. Serbia included the two autonomous provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo and Metohija. Although it was a socialist nation, SFRY declined to sign the Warsaw Pact during Cold War, so it wasn’t part of the Eastern Block. (Just by curiosity, the Warsaw Pact was sign to respond to the creation of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and it was a consequence of the post war tension between USA and the Soviet Union, known as Cold War.)

However, and returning to the topic, FRY was only constituted by Serbia and Montenegro, since the other nations had already emancipated themselves. The war lasted from 1998 until 21st of June of 1999. This war is known for the multiple war crimes committed by both sides. During the war, 90,000 Serbs fled from Kosovo. The Yugoslav Red Cross registered 247,391 mostly Serbian refugees by November of 98. More than 164,000 Serbs left Kosovo within seven weeks since Yugoslav and Serb forces withdrew.

 This is a perfect example of how celebrities use their image and talent to help others, in the cover of the album you can see some other names that were also part of this project. This is not the only cause supported by Pearl Jam over the years, but I guess this one is really interesting since we are talking about this issue. I will leave you with the song “Last Kiss” which was recorded for this charity album. I’d also like to say that we need to face the fact that these kinds of wars are not history, this one happened in 1998, that’s like yesterday, and that makes it a lot more real and tragic. We have a tendency to see this as a terrible story which happened a long time ago, but this war happened when we were already born and our parents remember it clearly. Think about that!

Have a nice weekend, and thanks for reading!

Inês Ribas Dias

Thursday 7 February 2013

Truly Madly Deeply

Savage Garden

 

I'll be your dream,

I'll be your wish,

I'll be your fantasy
I'll be your hope,

I'll be your love,

Be everything that you need
I'll love you more with every breath
Truly, madly, deeply do
I will be strong, I will be faithful
'Cause I'm counting on

A new beginning
A reason for living
A deeper meaning

  Yeah

I wanna stand with you on a mountain
I wanna bathe with you in the sea
I wanna lay like this forever
Until the sky falls down on me

 

And when the stars are shinin brightly in the velvet sky
I'll make a wish, send it to heaven, then make you want to cry
The tears of joy for all the pleasure and the certainty
That we're surrounded by the comfort and protection of

The highest power
In lonely hour
The tears devour you

 

I wanna stand with you on a mountain
I wanna bathe with you in the sea
I wanna lay like this forever
Until the sky falls down on me

 

Oh can't you see it baby?
You don't have to close your eyes
'Cause it's standing right before you
All that you need will surely come

 

I'll be your dream, I'll be your wish, I'll be your fantasy
I'll be your hope, I'll be your love, be everything that you need
I'll love you more with every breath
Truly, madly, deeply do

 

I wanna stand with you on a mountain
I wanna bathe with you in the sea
I wanna lay like this forever
Until the sky falls down on me

 

I wanna stand with you on a mountain
I wanna bathe with you in the sea
I want to lay like this forever
Until the sky falls down on me

 

 

 

Susana Taio

10ºA

Demi Lovato becomes ambassador of the campaign against bullying - "Mean Stinks"

Tuesday 5 February 2013

    Demi Lovato became an ambassador of the campaign against bullying which is intended to encourage the end of this type of violence.

   The singer was the target of jokes and exclusion in school, so she was motivated to help and support others who suffer the same.

   The project uses the beauty of teenagers. The girls that support this cause have to paint the nail of the little finger of blue, because this finger symbolizes promises between friends in the United States.

  

   Demi Lovato has many songs about bullying, for example, "Skyscraper".

   She has many tatoos. She has one on each wrist, one saying "stay" and another saying "strong". The arm has the word "faith" and, lastly, on the side of the hand has a cross tattooed.

      

I advise you to watch this interview of Demi Lovato about bullying and how she felt.

"Love is louder, than pressure to be perfect"

Inês Gonçalves, 11º A

Asaf Avidan

I found this singer recently, I really like his songs and for me his voice is UNIQUE ! 

Asaf Avidan was born in Jerusalem in 1980. His parents were diplomats for the Israel Foreign Office and he spent 4 years of his childhood in Jamaica . 

After the mandatory army service in Israel , Asaf Avidan studied animation , after his studies he worked as animator until a breakup with his girlfriend that made him move back to Jerusalem , he quit his job and dedicated himselt to music .

He started in 2006 in Jerusalem and he released three albums :

•  The Reckoning in 2008 ;
•  Poor Boy / Lucky Man in 2009 
•  Through the Gale in 2010 .

Asaf Avidan also had an international hit with One Day / Reckoning Song (Wankelmut Rmx).

In 2012, the Mojos band project was shelved so that Avidan would concentrate on a solo career. In the same year, he released  Avidan in a Box, an acoustic album which covers older songs by him .

This song is the most known of them all .

It tries to pass an important message , if we listen carefully we can hear " one day baby , we'll be old .. and think of all the stories that we could have told " .
I think with that he tries to tell us to enjoy to the maximum all our moments , for later  to be able to recall all the things we have done .

He also says :" No more tears, my heart is dry

                         I don't laugh and I don't cry
                         I don't think about you all the time
                         But when I do – I wonder why "

The official song is about a break up and with this remix , they try to transform this sad song in a happy song , so that is the explanation for this part of the song .

To finish I only have to say to the people who don't know this musician , to listen to other songs because you won't regret it . I guarantee you .

Marta Sousa

Homosexuality

Sunday 3 February 2013

I'm here to talk about a very actual issue, homosexuality .
Nowadays homosexuality has been growing but some people are still stuck in the past and don't accept it, some parents don't accept it either and prevent their own children to be happy , that is scandalous .
Some countries have legalized gay marriage and that is the only way to change people's minds .

Countries where gay marriage is legal : Netherlands ,Belgium, Canada, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Portugal, Argentina, Mexico and in seven of the fifty states of the USA. But in many cases they can't marry in churches .
Some people make fun of people because of it, and some can not handle it. In my opinion it's tragic, just think about how many people have already died just because they love someone of the same sex ..

I found one song that talks about one person who feels something about another person and they are of the same sex. It is about  stereotypes, and some things that people say ..

The videoclip shows how much a person can suffer, just for loving someone of the same sex , and in the end they can be together and they are happy together !

With this I'm trying to say that every being has the right to live with dignity and has the right to be happy .
Some people see differences but for me love is love ! 

I SUPPORT AND YOU ?

Marta Sousa

Women domestic violence

Saturday 2 February 2013

Hello everyone!

 One of the topics we have discussed in class was about human rights. Everyone has the right to be respected and treated equally, but that doesn't happen all the time. There are many cases of disrespect and disregard, but I'm going to focus more on  domestic violence and women. Of course, there are occasions where the woman becomes the agressor, but usually that's not what happens. The woman, as any other human being, has the right to be respected. The woman of the Middle Ages was usually seen as the "man's slave" and this still continues to happen  nowadays, although not so frequently. Lots of men look at women as their own property and don't accept some attitudes they may have, and that leads them to use violence. They hit them, make them suffer and sometimes they might kill them. This is the so called violation of human rights, because it's a lack of respect and consideration for the woman. Statistics show that in to 2011 in Portugal, there were about 6737 victims of domestic violence in which most of them were women.

Women don't deserve this kind of treatment and a lot of them don't press charges against the agressor with fear of the consequences. 

 For all those women that are afraid of living, there is the Portuguese Association for Victim Support (APAV) where they are welcome and with their help they can change their life.

Soraia Silva 11ºB

Hope for some people

Friday 1 February 2013

     Hi everyone,

  I’m here to talk to you about a non-governmental organisation, Amnesty International.
   Amnesty International, founded in London in 1961, is a global movement of more than 3 million supporters, members and activists in over 150 countries and territories who campaign to end grave abuses of human rights. 

  In the field of international human rights organisations, Amnesty has the longest history.

    There are six key areas which Amnesty deals with: women's, children's, minorities' and indigenous rights; ending torture; abolition of the death penalty; rights of refugees; rights of prisoners of conscience and protection of human dignity. To further these aims, Amnesty International has developed several techniques to publicise information and mobilise public opinion.

   Its vision is of a world in which every person enjoys all the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments.

   Li Yan is one of many people who are being helped by Amnesty International. This woman, with 41 years old, suffered months of abuse at the hands of her violent husband. He cut off one of her fingers and stubbed cigarettes out on her face. On another occasion, he locked Li outside on the balcony of their apartment for several hours with little clothing in the freezing Sichuan winter. She reported the abuse to police, but was told it was a family matter. In November 2010,  to stop him from beating her, she repeatedly hit him over the head with a gun. Li Yan was sentenced to death in August 2011 for murder.
   Roseann Rife, head of East Asia for Amnesty International, said: "Justice is not served by executing Li Yan." Amnesty International called upon the Chinese authorities to commute her death sentence to a term of imprisonment.

    Li Yan still is on death row, in China, for murdering her husband. 

   Here is a powerfull video from Amnesty International - a stunning way to deliver a whole range of important messages.

 

                                                                                               

                                                                                                 Andreia Codeço