Notes on Greece

Greek islands

retsina (wine flavored with pine resin)

• Lesvos: 
• castles of Kefalonia
• Heraklion (capital of Crete)

Literature

pine resin

• Iliad
• The Odyssey

Food and Drink

• fasolada: bean soup
• retsina: wine flavored with pine resin

The Great Gatsby, and other matters…

Today, we saw the 3rd Great Gatsby trailer on the iTunes movie trailers site. The design looks stunningly beautiful. Leonardo DiCaprio looks very good, as does Carey Mulligan. The movie is directed by Baz Luhrmann, who also directed Moulin Rouge and Romeo + Juliet. I heard in a review that Tobey Maguire reads some passages from The Great Gatsby aloud in the movie.

In football news, Bayern Munchen are now champions of Europe, after beating Borussia Dortmund in the final on Saturday night. I watched the first half, and Dortmund looked great, pressing very high up the field and shooting several times. Unfortunately for them, Bayern's goalkeeper, Neuer, was too good, and they weren't able to score in the first half, eventually tiring and leaving too many gaps at the back.

In America, Manchester City and Chelsea are touring. I think they played each other twice, Manchester City winning both matches.

Notes on Greece

The islands

1. Symi
2. Mykonos
3. Santorini
4. Tilos
5. Nas
6. Skyros
7. Corfu

olives and olive oil
goats and goat cheese
meat

1. lamb
2. poultry
3. rabbit
4. pork

drinks

1. fasolada: white wine flavored with pine resin
2. ouzo: anise liqueur

The Great Gatsby, and other matters…

We just saw a documentary on the costume design and production design in The Great Gatsby, the new Baz Luhrmann film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan. Check out the site! Note that this is not the first time that the book has been made into a film. Previously, Robert Redford and Mia Farrow starred in a big-screen adaptation. See a comparison of the two movies!

Quick Quiz

Write the English names of the elements represented by these symbols:

1. Cu = copper
2. Zn = zinc
3. Ag = silver
4. H = hydrogen
5. O = oxygen
6. Ca = calcium
7. Mg = magnesium
8. Au = gold
9. C = carbon
10. S = sulphur

The Jigsaw Puzzle

"Tell us where he is!" they shouted. The children were frightened, but they didn't say anything.
The soldiers looked everywhere, but they couldn't find Edmund's father. One of the soldiers found a sword.
"His sword is here," he said, "so he must be here somewhere."

The Jigsaw puzzle is a Stage 7 story in the Oxford Reading Tree series. This series is very popular in British primary schools. The Jigsaw Puzzle is probably set in the 17th century, and it features a king or other nobleman hiding and soldiers hunting him. Fortunately, the children come up with some good ideas to help the nobleman who is hiding.

Hunt, Roderick, and Brychta, Alex. (2003). The jigsaw puzzle. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

118 words

Don't look back in anger, and…

Today, we listened to Don't Look Back in Anger, one of Oasis's most famous songs. Oasis is a band that was formed in 1991 and lasted until 2009. The two most famous members were Noel Gallagher and Liam Gallagher. Another of their very famous songs is Wonderwall.

If you are interested in football, you probably know that Manchester United played their last match of the season yesterday. The result was a 5–5 draw with West Bromwich Albion. At the end of the season, the top 5 places are Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, and Tottenham, and the bottom five are Newcastle, Sunderland, Wigan, Reading, and QPR.

The Motorway (Oxford Reading Tree Stage 7)

Soon, big lorries and bulldozers came to the village. Nobody wanted the motorway. Everyone wanted to stop it, but the bulldozers began to dig.
Gran looked at the bulldozers.
"The motorway will spoil the countryside," she said. "Now we won't be able to walk in the woods and go on picnics."

The Motorway tells the story of Gran's fight against a motorway scheduled to be built through her village. Everyone is against the motorway but no-one has a good way of fighting against it. Everyone says that it has to be built somewhere. But Gran has an idea based on the kinds of flowers that can be found in the village.

Hunt, Roderick, and Brychta, Alex. (2003). The Motorway. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Common errors

• We went to shopping.  >> We went shopping.
• We went to trip.  >> We went on a trip.
• We listened a song.  >> We listened to a song.

Zombie, and …

We just listened to Zombie, a song by the Irish group The Cranberries. It was a very exciting song. Let me write the lyrics:

What's in your head, in your head,
Zombi, zombie, zombie - e - e - e

The last weekend of the Premier League is over. The top 3 and the 3 relegation spots had already been decided, so the most important match were the matches with Tottenham and Arsenal. Both teams won, so Arsenal, the team that were leading before the weekend, gets the 4th spot. That means they have a chance of playing in the Champions League next year, and Tottenham will miss out again.
Other important matches were Manchester United's last match with Sir Alex Ferguson in charge and Everton's last match with David Moyes in charge. Manchester United drew their match 5–5, the first time in Premier League history to have such a score. Everton lost.

Golden Week, Shadow Dancer, and …

An interesting movie that is playing now is Shadow Dancer. It is about the troubles in Ireland, set near the beginning of the 21st century. It is on for only 1 week at Denkikan in the city center. It stars Clive Owen, whom you may know from Children of Men, Inside Man, The Bourne Identity, King Arthur, or Closer.

As you may know, the Premier League has two major remaining dramas: who gets fourth place (and possible qualification for the Champions League), and who is the last team to get relegated. The top three are Manchester United, Manchester City, and Chelsea, and the bottom two are QPR and Reading. The last relegation place looks like it will go to Wigan, but there are still a couple of other possibilities. Fourth place will be either Arsenal or Tottenham Hotspur.

Golden Week and other matters…

 In Golden Week, I was working almost every day, but I did manage to get one day off to go out with my family. We didn't want to go too far because of the traffic, so we went to Jizou Touge in Aso. That area has many different walking courses, the longest of which goes straight down the mountain to a railway station and is just over 10 km. We didn't want to walk so far, so we took a shorter course of about 4 or 5 km in the Suntory woods.

If you are interested in football, you have probably heard that both Manchester United and Manchester City will have new managers next season. At Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson is retiring after 27 (?) years, and at Manchester City Roberto Mancini is being replaced by the manager of Malaga, Manuel Pellegrini. Since Chelsea's interim manager, Rafael Benitez, has been hired only until the end of the season, that means that all three of the top three teams will have new managers. Everyone wonders who will be at Chelsea.

Some common errors (France essays)

France is motherland of many fashion brand. For example, Louis Vuitton, CHANEL, Cloe, Hermes and so on.

I'd like to introduce about the south of France.  >>


Renault is French car company.    >>


There are many great sightseeing spot in France.  >>


The population of France is about 65million,about half that of Japan.  >>


If you go to France, you should visit to the Eiffel Tower.  >>


Napoleon built a lot of commemorative structure.   >>


France has many things of interest. Please search about them on the Internet.   >>


Many supermodels appear Paris Fashion Week.