Quote

When a finger points to the moon, the idiot looks at the finger"

(Chinese Proverb )

Does it matter? (S. Sassoon)

Does it Matter?

Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967)from "Counter-Attack and Other Poems, 1918

Does it matter? -- losing your legs?...

For people will always be kind,

And you need not show that you mind

When the others come in after hunting

To gobble their muffins and eggs.

Does it matter ? -- losing your sight?...

There's such splendid work for the blind;

And people will always be kind,

As you sit on the terrace remembering

And turning your face to the light.

Do they matter? -- those dreams from the pit?...

You can drink and forget and be glad,

And people won't say that you're mad;

For they'll know you've fought for your country

And no one will worry a bit.

© George Sassoon

The pianist

Quote

"Intelligence is what you use when you don't know what to do"

Jean Piaget (1896–1980) Swiss philosopher and psychologist

Leonard Cohen - Everybody Knows (Live)

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died

Everybody talking to their pockets
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
And a long stem rose
Everybody knows

Everybody knows that you love me baby
Everybody knows that you really do
Everybody knows that you've been faithful
Ah give or take a night or two
Everybody knows you've been discreet
But there were so many people you just had to meet
Without your clothes
And everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

And everybody knows that it's now or never
Everybody knows that it's me or you
And everybody knows that you live forever
Ah when you've done a line or two
Everybody knows the deal is rotten
Old Black Joe's still pickin' cotton
For your ribbons and bows
And everybody knows

And everybody knows that the Plague is coming
Everybody knows that it's moving fast
Everybody knows that the naked man and woman
Are just a shining artifact of the past
Everybody knows the scene is dead
But there's gonna be a meter on your bed
That will disclose
What everybody knows

And everybody knows that you're in trouble
Everybody knows what you've been through
From the bloody cross on top of Calvary
To the beach of Malibu
Everybody knows it's coming apart
Take one last look at this Sacred Heart
Before it blows
And everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

Leonard Cohen, Canadian poet/singer.

Happy Valentine's Day!

It's not goodbye, it's see you soon!

Congratulations on a very nice blog!

For those of you moving to other classes, you'll be always welcome to comment here. For those going back to their countries I hope you enjoyed the experience and be sure to «drop by» the blog from time to time to visit us!

The exam

The exam Thursday will be a reading comprehension, some grammar ( error detection, tense review) and a writing task-essay.

Hope this answers your question~David.

Marks

Hello everyone!
Your marks are now in the Dept. You can also find them on the Faculty site (secretaria virtual).Bear in mind, please, that your overall average mark reflects everything you did this semester and also work you failed to do/hand in.

For those of you wanting to improve your marks or sit for an exam (if you had 8 or 9), the exams/'melhorias' will take place on Tuesday 15th from 10-12 in room 104.

One question regarding the exam...

Some of us are considering improving our marks (or perhaps should I say, giving it a try). Could you please enlighten us about the structure of the exam - or of the task we'll have to do, please?

Thanks in advance.

Penguin wiki

This site has a short story that has been written by anyone who wishes to participate. You have until the end of February to contribute!

http://www.amillionpenguins.com/wiki/index.php/Welcome

Gato Fedorento - Assim Não

2nd video. (Thanks to Tiago for this one)
In case you're not familiar w/ this character, it's Professor Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, a Portuguese politician / political analyst. (son of Marcello Caetano)

Gato Fedorento - Tempo de antena Aborto

Since we talked about abortion, I decided to post these two small videos to the blog.

N.B.: In Portuguese.

Quote

Es ist nichts schrecklicher als eine tätige Unwissenheit.

Nothing is more terrible than ignorance in action.

J. W. Goethe

Vleeptron_Z

Check this post on my friend Bob's blog.

Vleeptron_Z

My stories on Ansalon MUD

Hello everyone. Just thought I'd post some links to a few short stories I wrote a while back. Hope you enjoy them:

http://www.ansalonmud.com/new/stories.php?c=Shao

http://www.ansalonmud.com/new/stories.php?c=Arauko

http://www.ansalonmud.com/new/stories.php?c=Argond

http://www.ansalonmud.com/new/stories.php?c=Duunlaen

http://www.ansalonmud.com/new/stories.php?c=Tharion


Well, those are all the characters I played, that I can remember.

Just in case you are curious, Ansalon MUD is a roeplaying game, completely text based, where each person plays a character and attempts to find his own place in the world of Dragonlance, Krynn.

I've played it for a few years, though I'm taking an hiatus for now. I had great fun playing it. And creating the stories behind each of my characters, finding what drove them and what they were about, has helped me define what sort of writting I am the most confortable with.

All in all I enjoy Ansalon MUD very much.


MUD (Multi-User Dungeon or Domain or Dimension): 1. A class of virtual realitty experiments accessible via the Internet. These are real-time chat forums with structure; they have multiple ‘locations’ like an adventure game, and may include combat, traps, puzzles, magic, a simple economic system, and the capability for characters to build more structure onto the database that represents the existing world.

Barbershop Music

Barbershop harmony, as codified during the barbershop revival era (1940s-present), is a style of a cappella, or unaccompanied vocal music characterized by consonant four-part chords for every melody note in a predominantly homophonic texture. Each of the four parts has its own role: generally, the lead sings the melody, the tenor harmonizes above the melody, the bass sings the lowest harmonizing notes, and the baritone completes the chord. The melody is not usually sung by the tenor or bass, except for an infrequent note or two to avoid awkward voice leading, in tags or codas, or when some appropriate embellishing effect can be created. Occasional brief passages may be sung by fewer than four voice parts
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)





Verse:
We all fall for some girl who dresses neat,
Some girl that's got big feet,
We meet her on the street;
Then we'll join the army of married boobs,
To the altar,
Just like leading lambs to slaughter.
When it's over, oh boy, we get it good.
Bach'lor days we then recall.
Rich man, poor man, beggarman, thief,
Doctor, lawyer, merchant, chief:
We are all bound for Matrimony.

Chorus:
Goodbye My Coney Island Baby,
Farewell my own true love.
I'm gonna go away and leave you.
Never to see you anymore.
I'm goin' to sail upon a ferry boat,
Never to return again.
So goodbye, farewell, so long for ever,
Goodbye my Coney Isle, Goodbye my Coney Isle,
Goodbye my Coney Island Babe.

IMPORTANT!

REGISTRATION 2ND SEMESTER

Please go to the following link

http://www.fcsh.unl.pt/ilnova/DOCS/FICHA_INSCRICAO2.pdf
and download the form, after you have filled it in ,give it to me.

Thanks!

Conflans-Ste-Honorine is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris in France. It is located 24.5 km from the center of Paris.

The commune takes its name from the rambling " Château of Conflans", where the archbishop of Paris commissioned André Le Nôtre to lay out extensive gardens descending in deep terraces towards the Seine. Nothing remains of the Château or the gardens save a monumental stair, descending in matched flights either side of a central niche, which remains isolated at the end of a cul-de-sac, backed by a large block of modern flats.

Last year, I worked in an association called Bâteau-je-sers. It is a boot near the Seine. Responsible of this association is the Priest Arthur. He received every year, some poor people. For me, it was the best experience for all my life to help poor people.

THE END

Adaptation of " tea with the birds" by Joanne Harris

Adaptation of " tea with the birds" by Joanne Harris

Joanna was an enjoyable girl. With only eighteen years old, she had defined a plan of hers life. She was student in the University of Architecture in Paris. She lived in one of the most beautiful zones of Paris- St Germain en Laye.

It was autumn, the leaf fallen with tonalities of yellow and red, similar to an impressionist picture. Joanna was to take a walk distracted of all. Suddenly, she saw a store with a curious name " tea with the birds". Coming herself to the store, she saw a cage with different birds of all the collors, greens, yellows, reds. They looked like a rainbow. A Sir made signal to her to enter to the store. He was an old man, whith white hair, an eastern style.

The Eastern man : - "Good Morning! Welcome to my store! "Said the old man.

- "Yours birds are an enchantment!" Said Joanna.

- "Thank you!"Answered the man.

Suddenly, the man caught a blue bird and showed her. It was pretty, its color was similar the color of the sky.

- "It is for you. I´m offering it to it to you."

- " How nice Sir...!"

- " Sir Tamaoki!"

- " Thank you, Sir Tamaoki!"

-" It will be a good company."

Joana left the store. She was very happy. When crossing the street, she saw that Miss Hedges was close to the window. She was her neighborof the first floor. She whiles away the time to see who passed in the street. She was a lady lean and high, seventy-nine year-old years. When she arrived in the house. Joanna placed the bird close to the window. Suddenly, it seemed that the room was resplendencent of light. The sound of his singing had as broken the silence of that room. For a time, Joanna was felt happy.

THE END

Quote

'In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.'


Oscar Wilde, Irish poet and playwright

Man in a hat (The Klezmatics)-klezmer music

My Research on The Harlem Renaissance

• The Harlem Renaissance was a flowering of African American art, literature, music and culture in the United States led primarily by the African American community based in Harlem, New York City after World War I;
• Historians believe it began ca. 1919 and ended during the 1930s;
• The zenith of this “flowering of Negro literature,” or the "Harlem Renaissance" as James Weldon Johnson put it, is placed between 1924 when Opportunity magazine hosted a party for black writers where many white publishers were in attendance and 1929, the year of the stock market crash and the resulting economic Great Depression;
• Most of the participants in this African American literary movement were descendants from a generation whose parents or grandparents had witnessed the injustices of slavery, whilst others sought relief from prejudices against them for a better standard of living in the North and Midwest regions of the United States;
• Most of them converged in Harlem, New York. They would make it the most famous center of African American life in the U.S., which would heavily influence the American culture;
• The New Negro’s idea was that intellect, the production of literature, art, and music could challenge the pervading racism and stereotypes from the larger white community of that era to promote progressive social integration; thus, the creation of art and literature would serve to “uplift” the race;
• It was supported by a number of white Americans who through genuine altruistic generosity, paternalism, and perhaps a degree of liberalism provided various
• forms of assistance to these black artists and opened doors for them which otherwise would have remained closed to the publicizing of their work to a larger audience outside of the black American community;
• This support often took the form of being a patron, a publisher, or another artist of some variety;
• Then, there were those whites interested in so-called “primitive” cultures, as many whites viewed black American culture at that time and wanted to see this “primitivism” in the work coming out of the Harlem Renaissance;
• This vogue of the African American would extend to Broadway, as in Porgy and Bess, and into music where in many instances white band leaders would defy racist attitude to include the best and the brightest African American stars of music and song;
• For blacks, their art was a way to prove their humanity and demand for equality. For a number of whites, preconceived prejudices were challenged and overcome.
• The Harlem Renaissance would help lay the foundation of the Civil Rights Movement.

Original article: wikipedia.org (abriged by me)

Sigur Rós

I couldn't resist.

svefn-g-englar

ég er kominn aftur

inn í þig

það er svo gott að vera hér

en stoppa stutt við

ég flýt um í neðarsjávar hýði

á hóteli

beintengdur við rafmagnstöfluna

og nærist

tjú tjú

en biðin gerir mig leiðan

brot hættan sparka frá mér

og kall á - verð að fara - hjálp

ég spring út og friðurinn í loft upp

baðaður nýju ljósi

ég græt og ég græt - aftengdur

ónýttur heili settur á brjóst

og mataður af svefn-g-englum

EDIT:

Here's the translation as it was requested.


Im Here Again
Inside You
Its So Good Staying Here
But I Stay A Short While
I Float Around In Underwater Hibernation
In A Hotel

Connected To The Electricity Board

And Nourishing
Tyoowoohoo
But The Wait Makes Me Uneasy

I Kick The Fragility Away
And Shout I Have To Go - Help
I Explode Out And The Peace Is Gone
Bathed In New Light
I Cry And I Cry - Disconnected
A Ruined Brain Put On Breasts
And Fed By Sleepwalkers

Source: http://www.lyricsdownload.com (adapted)

Quote

"The first duty of an education is to stir up life, but leave it free to develop."

Maria Montessori (1870–1952) Italian educator

The 1st formal written task will be on the 9th January. It will be discursive writing(opinion). For this task you may not use a dictionary.

The 2nd formal written task will take place on the 30th. It will be discursive writing (for/ against). For this 2nd essay you may use a dictionary.

You will need to bring Faculty exam paper.

Quote

"If I saw in stereo I'd go mad."

Jón Þór Birgisson, guitar player and singer of the Icelandic band Sigur Rós, who was born blind in one eye.

Quote

(Photo credit - Wikipedia.org)

"I don't think necessity is the mother of invention — invention, in my opinion, arises directly from idleness, possibly also from laziness. To save oneself trouble."

Agatha Christie (1890 - 1976) - English crime fiction writer