The King's Speech

The King's Speech was the winner of the best movie yesterday, in the Oscar. So, here's a little bit more about the movie:

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The King's Speech is a 2010 British historical drama film directed by Tom Hooper and written by David Seidler. It won the 2010 Academy Award for Best Picture and the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival People's Choice Award. It was nominated for fourteen BAFTAs, of which it won seven; twelve Academy Awards nominations, of which it won four; and seven Golden Globes, with Colin Firth winning for Best Actor.

Firth plays King George VI, who, to overcome his stutter, is introduced to Lionel Logue, an unorthodox speech therapist played by Geoffrey Rush. The two men become friends as they work together, and after his brother abdicates, the new king relies on Logue to help him make a radio broadcast at the beginning of World War II.

David Seidler began reading about George VI after overcoming his own stutter during his youth and, using informed imagination, wrote about the men's relationship. Nine weeks before filming, Logue's notebooks were discovered and quotations from them were incorporated into the script. Principal photography took place in London and other locations in Britain, in December 2009 and early January 2010. The film was released in the United States on 24 December 2010 and in the United Kingdom on 7 January 2011. It was initially classified with a "12A" rating in Britain, due to strong language in a speech therapy context.

The King's Speech was the highest earning film for three weekends in a row at the British box office until Tangled took over. The film has been widely praised by film critics for its visual style, art direction and acting. Other commentators discussed the film's representation of the historical events it portrays, in particular the reversal of Winston Churchill's opposition to abdication.

Read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King%27s_Speech

Great Movie Scenes

Enjoy!

Happy Valentine's Day

Hoje é Valentine's Day, que é o equivalente ao dia dos namorados. Segue uma explicação sobre o dia:

Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs, Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD. It was deleted from the Roman calendar of saints in 1969 by Pope Paul VI, but its religious observance is still permitted. It is traditionally a day on which lovers express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines"). The day first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.

Modern Valentine's Day symbols include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have given way to mass-produced greeting cards.

Source: Wikikepdia

Picture Dictionary

Tem o http://www.pdictionary.com/, que é um dicionário ilustrado na web. Ele pode ser muito útil, especialmente para objetos, animais, frutas, enfim, coisas físicas que podem ser muito difíceis de descrever apenas com palavras.

Então, dá uma olhada lá: http://www.pdictionary.com/

Word of the Day: sunday driver

Sunday driver – noun - a person who drives a car inexpertly, especially slowly or overcautiously, in the manner of one who drives infrequently.

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É o equivalente ao que chamamos no trânsito de barbeiro.

American Spelling x British Spelling

Existem muitas diferenças entre o inglês americano (AmE) e o inglês britânico (BrE). Dá pra fazer um paralelo com as diferenças entre o português falado no Brasil e o português falado em Portugal. Existem diferenças no vocabulário, na pronúncia e também na forma em que muitas palavras são escritas. Aqui vamos falar um pouco da grafia: a principal diferença é que o americano, na maioria dos casos, deu uma simplificada nas palavras. Olha aí alguns casos:

• A combinação -our no BrE no fim ou no meio de uma palavra é mudada para -or no AmE: colour – color, favourite – favorite, honour – honor, neighbour – neighbor, etc.

• Verbos terminados em -se no BrE normalmente levam -ze no AmE: analyse – analyze, criticise – criticize, memorise – memorize, etc.

• Um L no BrE muitas vezes vira dois L no AmE: enrolment – enrollment, fulfil – fulfill, skilful – skillful, etc.

• A combinação de letras -re no fim de substantivos no BrE vira -er no AmE: centre – center, metre – meter, theatre – theater, etc.

• O final -ogue no BrE vira -og no AmE: dialogue – dialog, catalogue – catalog, analogue – analog, etc.

• Algumas palavras perdem o E quando no BrE terminam com -ge: ageing – aging, judgement – judgment, etc.

• Os substantivos terminados em -ence no BrE são normalmente escritos com -ense no AmE: defence – defense, licence – license.

• Também há algumas inconsitências entre palavras específicas como:
   BrE         -     AmE
- jewellery     – jewelry ;
- draught       – draft;
- pyjamas      – pajamas;
- plough        – plow;
- programme – program;
- tyre – tire 
...e muitas outras.

A boa notícia é que as duas grafias são consideradas certas. Claro que quando escrevendo um texto, por exemplo, buscamos consistência na linguagem, então não é ideal misturar grafias.

Irregular verbs crossword

Verbos irregulares podem ser um problema. Como não há regra, o negócio é decorar as formas.

Então, aí está uma cruzadinha com verbos irregulares. Vai lá: http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/irregular_verbs/crossword_simple_past2.htm

Family guy - Giving cellphone number to a housekeeper

Family guy is the best!

(Se o link não abrir direto no blog, é só clicar aqui: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHcNDY531ig)

Super Bowl 2011

O Super Bowl é a grande final nacional do futebol americano. É um evento que movimenta muito dinheiro, tendo o minuto de publicidade mais caro do mundo. Segue um trecho da wikipedia sobre o evento deste ano:

Super Bowl XLV will be the 45th annual edition of the Super Bowl in American football, and the 41st annual championship game of the modern-era National Football League (NFL). The game, to be played on February 6, 2011, will pit the AFC champion Pittsburgh Steelers against the NFC champion Green Bay Packers to decide the NFL champion for the 2010 season.

The game will be held at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, the first time that the Super Bowl will be held in the Dallas–Fort Worth area; and the third time it will be held in Texas (Houston was the host city to VIII and XXXVIII). Kickoff time is approximately 5:25pm CST (UTC-06). This will be the eighth appearance in the Super Bowl for the Steelers (who hold the record with six Super Bowl wins) and the fifth for the Packers (who hold the record with 12 overall NFL titles, including three Super Bowl wins and nine league titles prior to the Super Bowl-era). This will be the fourth time that two pre-expansion era (pre 1960) teams meet in the Super Bowl (XIV, XLI, and XLIII).

As of February 2, the Packers are two to three point favorites,[2] making this the first Super Bowl in which the Steelers were underdogs since Super Bowl XXX. In all four previous Super Bowls that Green Bay played in, they were favored to win.

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Read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl_XLV

Zombie Typocalipse

Então tem esse joguinho, o Zombie Typocalipse. É só digitar a palavra que aparece no zumbi que o personagem atira. Divertido e pode ser um jeito de aprender algumas palavras novas!

Então vai lá: http://jogos360.uol.com.br/zombie_typocalypse.html

Word of the Day: inhabit

Inhabit - /inrrébit/ - to live in a place. - These remote islands are inhabited only by birds.

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Ou seja, habitar. O curioso é que ela começa com in, que pode ser um prefixo de negação, mas neste caso não é. Para inabitar, é usado o prefixo un, então temos uninhabit.

Negative Prefixes

Os prefixos de negação (a-, dis-, in-, il-, im-, ir-, non-, un-, etc.) em inglês são um problema. Como não há regras, é necessário usar um dicionário e decorar suas ocorrências.

Já que é assim, que tal dar uma olhada em uns testezinhos? Olha aí:

Teste 1
Teste 2