Across The Universe

Friday, 15 June 2012

Hey there everyone!

Today is the last day of school, so I wish you all a great summer and good luck for your grades! I’m not here to talk about the song “across the universe” by The Beatles, but about this blog. I chose to make this post only in the end of the year because I don’t want anyone to take it in the wrong way. I’m here to say that I absolutely loved to write for this blog, it is a wonderful idea and I wish I have had time to write more. I hope next year we can continue to make this blog grow every day, full of ideas and amazing things that we thought we know well but after all, it remains so much to discover about.

I believe this blog was an opportunity to discover ourselves and our colleagues, we shared our tastes in music, in movies, even in games or paintings and above all, we became better in this language that we listen to everywhere we go. For that I want to thank  our teacher, Lígia Silva, who never stopped believing in us and in the best we have. Thank you, for giving us this opportunity to write and to improve and not only for that, because I believe that everyone agrees that this teacher really cares about us and gives her best to make us better human beings. I can only talk for me, but thank you teacher, I loved all your english classes and this blog.

See you all next year!

Love, Inês Ribas

One of my passions

Tuesday, 12 June 2012

   Hi. I'll tell you about the importance of a fantastic universe -  music.
   Present in everyone's lives, music has several roles. 

      Despite being considered as art only in the Middle Ages, the first songs appeared in prehistory, and since then they have changed the humanity in many ways. We can listen to them on television, radio, in movies, many ads, churches, etc.
       The melodies make us recall moments and express feelings. They can make us laugh, cry and dance incessantly, because they have the ability to change our mood, for example, religious melodies help making the masses happier and less monotonous.
       Each musical composition has its meaning and way to move people.
       Since the beginning of civilization that music has a major importance in people's lives. It is part of the culture of the countries, identifies, motivates and shapes people and their thoughts, and mark historical events. 
       Music participates in the life of all mankind and it refers to the art and science of combining sounds in a way pleasant to the ear.
       I love it.

Andreia Codeço

Metropolitan Opera Association

 The Metropolitan Opera Association (Metropolitan Opera) New York, was founded on April 28, 1880.
 The Metropolitan Opera is the largest classical organization in the United States annually and presents 220 performances of opera. Every company is the Metropolitan Opera House, which I think is the best stage for operas all over the world and is almost the largest in the world.
 The Met, as it is commonly called, is one of the twelve resident organizations at the Center for Artistic Performances Lincoln Center.The gigantic performances of the Metropolitan company consists of a large symphony orchestra, a choir, a children's choir,             a ballet company and many singers and singers main support. The list of singers from the Met is composed of the most famous artists of the world. Some of the careers of singers were developed by the Met in its programs for young artists. Some of the most famous artists who performed at the Met include: Luciano Pavarotti, Renee Fleming, Placido Domingo, Ramón Vargas, Jussi Björling, Maria Callas, Joan Sutherland, Franco Corelli, and others.

                       

Telma Soares 

10ºB

Martin Scorsese - Talent and Unpredicable Endings!

Sunday, 3 June 2012

Hey there everyone! I present to you my post about Scorsese, like I have promised! I hope you enjoy it and if you don’t and if you have never seen one of his movies, at least take some time to enjoy them, I swearit  is not lost time!

Well, Scorsese was born in 1942, New York and is known as an actor and director, what is new to me who only knew him as a director… Anyway,  I did some research and I found out some movies where he takes part, first he played as the bad guy at “Who’s that knocking at my door” and then he participated in Taxi Driver and Ranging Bull, among many others.

But, I came here to talk about Martin, the director… I got to know him when I saw the movie Shutter Island and I completely fell in love! Since then  I watch his work every time I can. In his list of amazing, great, and remarkable movies we have: The Color of Money, The Last Temptation of Christ, Goodfellas, Cape Fear, The Age of Innocence, Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed and the latest one: Hugo. My absolute favorite is Shutter Island without any doubt, I guess it is one of the best movies I’ve seen in my short life.

In Scorsese’s long life, he counts with one Oscar (for many years he was considered the black ship of Hollywood because he never had won an Oscar until The Departed in 2007). He also brought home three golden globes, one of them recently and he was recognized as an actor and as a director by the Festival of Cannes. Martin works many times with Leonardo DiCaprio, which in my opinion since I was 3 or 4 years old, only can improve a movie (he actually became a great actor!).

I guess I’m here talking about Scorsese because he is a wonderful director, a true artist! Once more I will remember you about Shutter Island (I’m sorry but I can’t stop myself), you will see that the twist in the end will blow your mind! So I hope you take some ideas for summer movies from this post! I leave you, of course, with the trailer of Shutter Island.

See you soon,

Inês Ribas Dias

London 2012 - Olympic Games

Thursday, 31 May 2012

Pastel de Belém

Monday, 28 May 2012

         Pastel de Nata or Pastel de Belém is probably the most important typical dessert of Portugal. You can have it in almost every Portuguese bakery, but the original recipe is from before the 18th century and nowadays is only known by some employees of Fábrica dos Pastéis de Belém that work in Oficina do Segredo. 
          It is believed that the Pastel de Nata was invented by Catholic monks during the medieval times in Mosteiro dos Jerónimos. This tells us a lot about the Pastel de Nata. In the monasteries the production of eggs was made in large quantities but only the egg-whites were used, therefore it is very common to verify a huge amount of egg yolks in the Portuguese pastry. The Pastel de Nata is not an exception.
        Later the production of Pastéis de Belém was transferred to Fábrica dos Pastéis de Belém. This bakery is located in Lisbon, near Mosteiro dos Jerónimos where the Pastel de Nata was created. Since 1837, locals and visitors have visited the bakery to buy Pastéis de Belém that are often supplemented with cinnamon and powdered sugar.
        Researchers from Italy prepared a report which concluded that the recipe of Pastéis de Belém probably included "potato flakes" similar to those used to make mashed potatoes. The publication of this report was stopped by Oficina do Segredo and the recipe of the Pastel de Belém remanined a secret, and that’s what makes this dessert so special.
        Pastel de Belém is very important for the Portuguese identity and in 2011 was elected by the Portuguese people as one of the 7 Maravilhas da Gastronomia. It is the flavour that represents our country in the whole world in the matter of pastry, being the Fábrica dos Pastéis de Belém a mandatory place for tourists to visit.

Diana Barros

Tim Burton - Originality and lots of imagination!

Wednesday, 23 May 2012

 Hey there everyone! Has been a while, right? Well today I’m going to speak about one of my favorite artists, the one and only, Tim Burton.  He is an American director and he also draws. Born in 1958 and well known by his originality he began with the movie “The Nightmare Before Christmas” in 1993, which is a great movie by the way! Before that he won a collegeship and he studied in the Institution of Arts in California. After that he worked at Disney where he wrote and filmed “Vincent”.

Today Tim Burton is known worldwide and his trademark is really easy to recognize: dolls with extremely long bodies, strange faces, fantastic characters and lots and lots of imagination. After Nightmare Before Christmas many movies came.  I believe my favorites are Charlie and The Chocolate Factory (which is based on a short story from the writer who wrote “our short story”), The Corpse Bride is also awesome, just like Edward Scissor Hands! Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is epic and we can’t forget Alice in the Wonderland! Now we can see on theaters Black Shadows, and I can't wait for the opportunity to watch it!

In many of his movies Tim Burton works with Johnny Depp (who is actually my favorite actor) and with Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange in the Harry Potter saga and also his wife). So much talent leads to awesome, amazing, unforgettable movies! If you have never seen any movie from Tim Burton you really should! Summer is close so we are going to have lots of time for that!

Maybe next time I will write about Scorsese or Star Wars, with Summer coming good movies are always needed! I leave you now with the trailer of Black Shadows and others. Oh and you can also check the official website (really interesting) : http://timburton.com/

Inês Ribas