Simpsonmania

The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The sitcom is a parody of the middle class American lifestyle performed by its titular family, which consists of (in the upper image, from the left to the right) Maggie, Marge, Homer, Bart and Lisa. The show happens in the fictional town of Springfield and criticizes many aspects of the American culture, society and television.

Matt Groening created a dysfunctional family and named the characters after members of his own family, substituting Bart for his own name. The Simpsons became the first of Fox series to land in the Top 30 ratings in a season (1992-1993). Since its first TV run on December 17th 1989, the show has broadcasted 426 episodes and the 20th season started airing on September 28th 2008. The Simpsons Movie, a feature-length film, was released in theaters worldwide on July 26th and July 27th 2007 and has grossed approximately US$526.2 million worldwide to date.

The Simpsons has won dozens of awards since it debuted as a sitcom: 24 Emmy Awards, 26 Annie Awards and a Peabody Award. Time magazine, on the December 31st 1999 issue, named it the 20th century's best sitcom and on January 14th 2000 it was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The Simpsons is the longest-running American sitcom. Homer's annoyed grunt "D'oh!" has been adopted into the English lexicon, while The Simpsons has influenced many other animated sitcoms such as Family Guy and American Dad.


My favorite character from The Simpsons is Morris “Moe” Szyslak, the proprietor and bartender of MOE’S (tavern). He is voiced after by Hank Azaria, an actor that I also admire very much. I also like this character most because of his agressivity. He has a famous sentence “Hey, for kicking my friend’s ass in my bar, there´s a four drinks consume minimum.”

In the early years of The Simpsons, Moe was the frequent target of Bart's prank phone calls. Bart would call Moe's Tavern and ask for an individual by his or her name. Unbeknownst to Moe, the name was a double entendre. When Moe would call aloud the individual's name (always in the context that makes the double entendre funny -- for example: "Hey, fellas, I need Amanda Hugginkiss!", " Does any of you is Al Koholic?, “Who of you is Homer Sexual? C’mon everybody, I need Homer Sexual!”), the bar's drunk patrons would laugh and Moe, realizing he had been had, would utter a series of threats into the phone to which Bart and Lisa would laugh.

His most loyal customer is Barney Gumble. Other regulars include Homer Simpson, Lenny Leonard, Carl Carlson, Sam and Larry.

Written by: Jorge Borbinha
posted by: Bruno Catita

Merry Christmas!

Christmas tree, presents and Santa Claus make part of the parties in the USA.
In the United States, people decorate his houses with Christmas trees, guirlandas and other decorations. The streets of the cities are decorated by colourful lights and sounds of bells and Christmas songs echo for all the places. Many persons go to the church in the morning of Christmas or in the night of 24th of December.
The children usually write letters for Saint Claus asking presents. They celebrate much with greetings and votes of felicity to his friends and relatives through the exchange of cards of Christmas. In this season, many enterprises give presents to his employees.
In most of the houses, the Christmas tree is the principal attraction of the party, principally because of the presents, which are deposited in his inferior part. The traditional dinner includes a variety of plates, like stuffed turkey, mashed potatoes and cake of fruits.
In some regions of the United States and Canada, ethnic groups follow the customs of Christmas of his ancestors. Some North American black men combine the Christmas with the Kwanzaa, an afro-American vacation with duration of seven days, from 26th of December to 1st of January: to each day, the families light a candle symbolizing one of seven beginnings, including creativity, faith and union.


Written by: Paula Guerra
Posted by: Bruno Catita

Apocalyptica

There aren't many rock bands on this planet that wouldn't like to be regarded as unique. Of course, in these tims of nostalgia and endlessly recycled ideas, very few actually deserve that description. Finland's “Apocalyptica” deserve it more than most. Utterly original in every respect, these classically trained merchants of genre-shattering metal sound quite unlike anything or anyone else in musical history.
Formed in the early '90s “Apocalyptica” chose an entirely individual path from day one. A few years earlier, while students at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, these young virtuosos joined a cello band that specialized in playing music by everyone from Bach to Hendrix. However, Eicca Toppinen and his three comrades had something louder in mind. All fans of heavy metal, they decided to form their own band. Toppinen wrote some unique arrangements of songs by Metallica, Slayer and other metallic legends and the group embarked on a series of shows at student balls. As their services became more and more in demand, “Apocalyptica” took the bold step of playing a gig at a bona fide heavy metal club...

Origin: Helsinki, Finland
Genre(s): Cello metal, Symphonic metal, Instrumental rock
Years active: 1993 – present

Apocalyptica’s:
Eicca Toppinen – Cello
Paavo Lötjönen – Cello (1996–present)
Perttu Kivilaakso – Cello (1999–present)
Mikko Sirén – drums (2003–present a permanent band-member since 2006)


Wrote by: Angela Martins
Posted by: Bruno Catita and Isabel Brito da Luz

The Comenius Project

The Comenius is very important to cooperation within schools.
The Comenius is also important to future the teenagers.
Is very important in:
• Direct contact with other cultures and languages;
• Exchange of ideas and good practice;
• Team building;
• Interesting cross- curricular;
• Development of new strategies and materials;
• Long -term friendships with people from other countries;
• And so on…

My adopted the Comenius project and participate in exchanges.

Written by: Rita Pereira
Posted by: Bruno Catita

The United States of America

The United states of America are a federal republic presidential.
The country is formed with fifty states and a federal district. The name of the country is frequently called USA or US.
The biggest part of the US is in the middle of North America.
The US celebrates the Independence Day in 4 July of 1776, when the thirteen British colonies in the North of America made the Independence Statement and they reject the British authority, and wont the auto determination. This independence was officially recognized by the United Kingdom in the treaty of Paris. The US adopted his actual Constitution in 1789, who developed the basic structure of the American govern. Since that the nation gradually developed him self. Become super-strength after the end of the Second World War and pass to exert a big economic, politic, scientific, technologic, military and cultural influence.

Capitol: Washington DC
City with more persons: New York
Govern: Presidential republic – Barak Obama
Area: 303 007 997 Hab.
Density: 31 hab. /Km²

Commentary about the movie "Lost in translation"

Summary

Bob Harris (a middle-aged actor) is in Tokyo for meetings advertising. Is married, but their marriage came at an upset (Harris is disconsolate, with a routine, meaningless, which became his life.
Charlotte is a girl, who is in Tokyo alone, because her husband (a photographer obsessed by his profession) is working for a few days in other cities in Japan.
Bob and Charlotte meet at the hotel.
Charlotte also feels sad, can’t find something that can support, give you something to live.
The two begin to establish a relationship of mutual understanding, which is saying as the days pass.
Until Bob, you have to shake, but did not wish!
The movie ends with the dismissal of Bob and Charlotte, where Bob, very sweetly, will tar with the young, kiss it and return again to the car!


Personal comment

My favorite character was without a doubt, Charlotte! Because she can always keep a great calm, this surprised me! But, of course, like the two characters, it formed a grand double.
This movie takes place in the modern world, the technology! This also provides a good interest!
This movie portrays very well, life is monotonous, which often leads!
In general, believe the pretty good movie, because through much reality...

Wrote by: Carolina Maio
posted by: Isabel Brito da Luz

The Trip to France

The most expected trip done by the students of ninth year was the trip to France.
On the first day when our parents and brothers were to saying good bye to us before the long trip to France, was the most painful for us because we would be many days away from those who loved.
When we arrived in France we went directly to the amusement park of Futuroscope, where we saw a spectacle of magic, visited many simulators: one simulated the ocean floor in 3D other was the planets etc, and experienced Dancing with the end robots. Almost at the end of the day, we went back to the hotel to have dinner and a bath.
Over the next few days we visited several museums: the Louvre Museum, the cathedral of Notre Dame, the Eiffel tower, including the Moulin Rouge, we saw the Arc de Triumph passed by the place de la Concorde, travelled a boat, the Bateaux Mouches, we were at the Chambord Château and many more.
On Tuesday we went to Disneyland Paris as expected, but the day seemed a bit dark. In Disney we soon tried the worst mountain Roller Space Mountain Mission 2, the following was the Buzz Light Laser Blast, then went to "it's a small world", went to Pirates of the Caribbean, we went to the mountain of Indiana Jones, we also went to the Star Tours simulator below we saw the cessation of Disney which was very nice and in the end we went to the Big Thunder Mountain. We went to the hotel for dinner and we packed.
On the last day we went directly to the “Avenue des Champs-Elysées” where we bought some stuff then we saw the Versailles Palace and then went back to Borba.

Wrote by: Joana Pereira
posted by: Isabel Brito da Luz

Do they know it's christmas (lyrics)

It's Christmas time,
there's no need to be afraid.
At christmas time
we let in light and banish shade
And in our world of plenty
we can spread a smile of Joy
Throw your arms around the world
at Christmas time.

But say a prayer,
Pray for the other ones.
At Christmas time it's hard
but when you're having fun...
There's a world outside your window
and it's a world of dread and fear
Where the only water flowing is
the bitter sting of tears
Where the Christmas bells that are ringing
are the clanging chimes of Doom
Well, tonight thank God it's them istead of you.

And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmas time
The greatest gift they'll get this year is life.
Ohh....
Where nothing ever grows
No rain or rivers flow
Do they know it's Christmas time at all?

Here's to you...
Raise a glass for everyone
Here's to them
Underneath that burning sun
Do they know it's Christmas time at all?

Feed the world...
Feed the world...

Feed the world,
Let them know it's Christmas time again.
Feed the world,
Let them know it's Christmas time again.
(Repeat several times and fade)

WHAT IS KARTING?
by Filipe Lacerda, no. 8

I have been racing karts since 2007. Karting is a very well known sport and you can do it as a professional or just for fun!

Kart racing, or karting, is a variant of open-wheel motor sport with simple, small four-wheeled vehicles called karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits. Karts vary widely in speed and some can reach speeds exceeding 250 km/h. A regular kart with a 125 cc 2-stroke engine has an overall weight, including the driver, of 150 kilograms.
Karting was developed in the USA and has rapidly spread to other countries.The first kart manufacturer was an American company, Go Kart Manufacturing Co. in 1958. In a kart, wheels and tires are much smaller than those used on a normal car. Similar to other motorsports, kart tires have different types for different conditions.
Kart racing is generally accepted as the most economic form of motorsport available. As a free-time activity, it can be performed by almost anybody, and as a motorsport the licence to race is available for anyone from the age of 8.
I started to race karts just for fun! I used to go to Évora kart circuit to race sometimes with my family. It was very fun! After some races I started to participate as a competitor in some professional races. Then, as liked it so much, my parents said I could start training professionally! I have been in about twenty races since I started and I won 3 races. I am usually one of the first ten to finish.

At present, I run in the ROTAX MAX Challenge, a very famous kart competition! I’m on the JUNIOR MAX category.

WHAT’S THE ROTAX MAX CHALLENGE?

The Rotax MAX Challenge (RMC) is a professional kart racing series established, owned and organised by Rotax and its distributors.
ROTAX is one of the world leaders in racing kart engine production. In 2000 ROTAX were responsible for introducing a karting series around the world called the ‘ROTAX MAX Challenge’ (RMC).
Today, the ROTAX MAX Challenge is run all over the world covering all five continents and popularity for the series continues to grow. ROTAX distributors in the various countries organise their national series. In 2004, the ROTAX MAX Challenge had more than 3,700 competitors. In the races, only Rotax kart engines are allowed.


ROTAX has encouraged various levels of karters to participate in the ROTAX MAX Challenge.

There are three different race classes:
• JUNIOR MAX
• SENIOR MAX
• DD2 (2 speed shifter class)

In every kart race, the first three karters get a trophy as a reward! It’s great! I love karting!

Posted by: Vasco Marino

"saudade"

The word “saudade” is typically a Portuguese one and we cannot find a precise term in English to define it. But the feeling is always the same. Wherever, we go “saudade” is connected to “fado” and in all the Portuguese culture, including everything we like.
People always remember their closest friends or family and even their homes, when they are very far away.
We need to be in touch with the person (or persons) we love, when we are very far from them, for a long time.
We miss even the places we know and where we grew up, or something we remember from our youth, but we may also miss what is so near as that we can’t see it.
It’s a very difficult word to define, because we don’t know sometimes, how to explain our own feelings...
- To be lonely is missing someone you are apart, but somehow feeling warm inside because you are close in heart.
Some opinions...
- “What is the opposite of two? A lonely me, a lonely you” – Richard Wilbur
- “If I had a single flower for every time I think about you, I could walk forever in my garden” – Claudia Ghandi
- “The reasons it hurts so much to separate is because our souls are connected” – Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook
- “I dropped tear in the ocean. The day find it is the day I will stop missing you” – Author Unknown
- “We only part to meet again” – John Gay
- “Can miles truly separate you from friends? If you want to be with someone you love, aren’t you already there?” – Richard Bach
- “Why can’t we get all the people together in the world that we really like and then just stay together? I guess that wouldn’t work. Someone would leave. Someone always leaves. Then we would have to say good-bye. I hate good-byes. I know what I need. I need more hellos.” – Charles M. Schulz
- “Missing someone gets easier every day because even though it’s one day further from the last time you saw each other, it’s one day closer to the next time you will” – Author Unknown
And you? What’s your opinion?


Wrote by: Ana Cachucho
Posted by: Isabel Brito da Luz