Today we watched an EnglishCentral video. It was about two men in a lift in Scotland. When they got in the lift, they couldn't find any buttons. It turned out that it was a voice-activated lift. Unfortunately, it was made in the U.S. by Americans and made to recognize American accents. They kept saying, "Eleven", but the left couldn't understand them. They got frustrated and angry but the lift kept telling them to be calm. They tried to get out but the lift didn't understand their instruction to open the doors.
Accents of English are quite interesting. If you get the chance, please try listening to Scottish or Irish accents.
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Monday, May 26, 2014
Madagascar
Marty and Alex
Live in a zoo,
With Gloria the hippo,
And Malman, too.
Marty's a zebra.
He's black and white.
He isn't very happy.
He runs away one night.
I read the Popcorn ELT Reader for Madagascar, the Dreamworks movie from 2005. The movie was fairly interesting, and the book was very easy to read. Interestingly, there were sequels in 2008 and 2012, and each movie was ranked higher than the previous one.
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Mary Glasgow
発売日 : 2011-04
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Voice-activated elevator in Scotland (FREEDOM!!!!)
Please check out this video and practice speaking with a Scottish accent.
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The Angriest Man in Brooklyn, and other matters…
We just saw the trailer for The Angriest Man in Brooklyn, a movie starring Robin Williams and Mila Kunis. Robin Williams is a man with anger issues and when he goes to the hospital for some tests and the results are not good he goes away with a misunderstanding that he will die in the next 90 minutes. He decides that there are lots of things he wants to put right in his life, so he visits lots of people and puts in lots of calls to others to take care of unfinished business.
I'm interested in seeing this movie to find out what happens when he doesn't die! The release date in Japan is not yet decided.
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I'm interested in seeing this movie to find out what happens when he doesn't die! The release date in Japan is not yet decided.
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Monday, May 19, 2014
Weekend in Osaka
I spent the weekend in Osaka. I went there to attend a 12-hour lecture offered by Patricia Duff, a researcher from UBC in Canada. The lecture started at 2 pm on Saturday and continued through to 9 pm on Saturday, then started again on Sunday at 10, continuing through to 5 pm. The lecture was very interesting and gave me many ideas. There wasn't much free time, but I went to a nice cafe for lunch.
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Food in Kyushu (essay)
Kyushu,
Japan's south-western island, consists of eight prefectures, including Kumamoto
and Fukuoka. Each prefecture has its own special foods and drinks. In addition,
Kyushu food as a whole has special characteristics: the food tends to have a
comparatively rich taste, and to emphasize sweetness over saltiness.
The next food I'd like
to mention is yaki-ramen. Probably every prefecture in Japan has its own twist
on ramen, noodles in a big bowl of soup. The ramen in Kyushu tends to have a
rich, oily taste, being based on boiled pork bones. Yaki-ramen has almost no
soup, and has an especially rich, buttery taste.
Finally, let's consider
beer in Kyushu. While beer is generally best in the north of Japan, Miyazaki
and Kagoshima both have very good micro-breweries. Those in Kagoshima tend to
feature a kind of purple sweet potato, while those in Miyazaki are sometimes
lambics featuring hyuuga-natsu or other local citrus fruits.
The above are just a few
of the foods and drinks that you can find in Kyushu. As mentioned earlier, each
prefecture has its own specialities, and a tour of Kyushu will yield many
unexpected delights.
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The Double and Blue Jasmine (rewrite)
Today we watched two movie trailers, Blue Jasmine and The Double. Blue Jasmine is the most recent Woody Allen film to reach Japan, and it's playing now at Denkikan. It's about a woman called Jeanette, who changes her name to Jasmine and marries a rich man. Unfortunately for her, he becomes poor after being arrested, and she has to move away and live a more modest life. The movie examines the breakdown of her personality and life.
The Double is not in Japan yet, but it stars Jesse Eisenberg playing a man whose face is copied. Mistaken identity appears to lead to him being arrested. It looks like a very interesting movie, but I don't know when it's coming to Japan.
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The Double, Blue Jasmine, and other matters…
Today we watched two movie trailers, Blue Jasmine and The Double. Blue Jasmine is the most recent Woody Allen film to reach Japan, and it's playing now at Denkikan. It's about a woman called Jeanette, who changes her name to Jasmine and marries a rich man. Unfortunately for her, he becomes poor after being arrested, and she has to move away and live a more modest life. The movie examines the breakdown of her personality and life.
The Double is not in Japan yet, but it stars Jesse Eisenberg playing a man whose face is copied. Mistaken identity appears to lead to him being arrested.
The Double is not in Japan yet, but it stars Jesse Eisenberg playing a man whose face is copied. Mistaken identity appears to lead to him being arrested.
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Monday, May 12, 2014
Golden Week
This year's Golden Week contained a surprise for me. Right until the beginning of Golden Week, it looked like we weren't going to do anything special, because my daughters tend to be rather busy with their studies. But when Golden Week began, they said that they had time to go camping and would very much like to go. They particularly wanted to go to a beach, so that they could play with our dog. We set off on Sunday and stayed one night at a camp site in Ushibuka. It rained during the night and the next morning, so we came back rather early, but we had a great time. Ushubuka's a good plce, but it's quite far!
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Before Golden Week, I thought perhaps that we wouldn't do anything special, because my daughter usually studies very hard and doesn't have much free time. But to my surprise just after Golden Week had begun she said she wanted to go camping. It is rather difficult to find a camping spot at short notice in Golden Week, but luckily we were able to find a camping site in Ushibuka that was free, so we went there. We had a good time but it rained on the second day so we came home early.
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My Golden Week
Before Golden Week, I thought perhaps that we wouldn't do anything special, because my daughter usually studies very hard and doesn't have much free time. But to my surprise just after Golden Week had begun she said she wanted to go camping. It is rather difficult to find a camping spot at short notice in Golden Week, but luckily we were able to find a camping site in Ushibuka that was free, so we went there. We had a good time but it rained on the second day so we came home early.
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93 words
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