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Movies -- Wanda -- March
Written by James   
Sunday, 23 March 2008
Below are the movies showing or will be showed in Mar,we are not sure whether they are the English versions or not.
Telephone: 8366-9988

We list them here and hope to get some updates and info later.

Movie: VINCI


Directed By: Juliusz Machulski
Performed By: Robert Wieckiewicz, Borys Szyc, Kamila Baa, Jan Machulski

Synopsis; A great thief called "shuma" joined in an International stealing organization when he was in prison. The organization gave Shuma a mission to make a c counterfeit of one of Vinci's greatest works--.
The painting is in Poland’s National Museum, and now it is under protection of heavy security



Movie: National Treasure II: The Book of Secrets

Directed By: Jon Turteltaub
Performed By: Nicolas Cage, Diane Kruge, Jon Voight, Justin Bartha

Synopsis; When a missing page from the diary of John Wilkes Booth surfaces, Bens great-great grandfather is suddenly implicated as a key conspirator in Abraham Lincolns death. Determined to prove his ancestors innocence, Ben follows an international chain of clues that takes him on a chase from Paris to London and ultimately back to America. This journey leads Ben and his crew not only to surprising revelations but to the trail of the worlds most treasured secrets.



Movie: 10,000 B.C

Directed By: Roland Emmerich
Performed By: Steven Strait , Tim Barlow, Camilla Belle, Cliff Curtis, OmarSharif

Synopsis; A prehistoric epic that follows a young mammoth hunter's journey through uncharted territory to secure the future of his tribe.






Movie: The Golden Compass

Directed By: Chris Weitz
Performed By: Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Dakota Blue Richards

Synopsis; Lyra Belacqua (Dakota Blue Richards) is an orphan living at Jordan College in the Oxford of an alternate universe. In Lyra's world every person is accompanied by a daemon, a physical representation of their soul in animal form. Because she is young, Lyra's daemon, Pantalaimon, can change his shape to appear as any animal he chooses. Adults' daemons settle in to one shape and don't change.


(Movies are subject to change)
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 09 April 2008 )
 
April Fool's Day
Written by James   
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
Another in the series of "One Day" specials, just as a reminder of home and hopefully enlighten people about the cultures from around the world.
(Some dates or facts maybe untrue I’m sorry, I’m human)


History of April Fool's Day

Said to be originated with the adoption of the new Gregorian calendar in place of the old Julian calendar in 1582, April Fool's Day or All Fool's Day, was once used to be celebrated as the New Year's Day.
Many of the ancient cultures such as Romans and Hindus and the medieval Europeans used to celebrate New Year's Day on sometime near the vernal equinox that could range from March 20th to April 5th.
 
In the Julian calendar, April 1st was designated as the New Year's Day and was so celebrated till 1582, when Pope Gregory XIII ordered the adoption of the new Gregorian calendar, which specified January 1st as the New Year's Day.

However, due to slow communications and resistance of people to change their traditions, many people continued to celebrate New Year's Day as before on 1st of April. Scottish only adopted the new calendar in 1660, Germans, Danish and Norwegians in 1700 and English in 1752.
The victims were called 'Poisson d'Avril' or 'April Fish' as the naïve fish gets caught easily and children would often tag of a fish's picture on someone's back. Thus, April Fool's Day originated and was popularly celebrated in England and in the American colonies. It evolved and was caught on quickly throughout the world to trick each other and have fun. Even today, people play pranks on each other on this day in the memory of those tradition-obsessed 'fools'.
It evolved into its present form through several centuries and influenced by several cultures and has limited itself to be the fun and hilarity associated with Spring with practical jokes and pranks begin the order of the day.

APRIL FOOL JOKE ;
Q: Why are people so tired on April 1st?
A: Because they just finished a 31-day March

Traditions and Customs on April Fool's Day

On 'All Fools' Day' or 'April Fools' Day', people play practical jokes and pranks on each other, crack jokes on the expense of victims and gift each other gag gifts and then when the victims are taken in by surprise, all the witnesses shout 'April Fool' at once. The innocent pranks such as prompting somebody that their shoelaces are undone or that they have something on their faces are quite common. Children love to use the opportunity to prank their classmates and even their schoolteachers.

At some places, one is only allowed to play jokes until 12 noon for the jokes played after that time are supposed to bring bad luck to the perpetrator. Similarly, the victim is advised to endure the tricks with a smile on their face, exhibiting tolerance or amusement or they may suffer bad luck, It is said that those fooled by a pretty girl can expect marriage or at least friendship with her. Men are advised not to marry on this day or their wives will rule them forever. Children born on 1st of April are considered lucky generally, except in gambling where they will fare badly.



At some places, afternoon on 1st of April is called as 'Leggin'-down-day' and the people try to trip up any unsuspecting victim. Briish media, normally considered serious and sober, give in to the excitement and tomfoolery of the day and consider hoaxes on this day as a fair game. With Internet to assist them, playing pranks had become a lot easier, fun and far reaching. April Fool's Day is one of the funniest and most popular pastimes of the day. Sober and upright media organizations such as BBC (British Broadcasting Company) have also participated in fooling and tricking people.
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 29 April 2008 )
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Easter Parade
Written by James   
Tuesday, 18 March 2008
Another in the series of "One Day" specials, just as a reminder of home and hopefully enlighten people about the cultures from around the world.
(Some dates or facts maybe untrue I’m sorry, I’m human)

March 23, 2008,     Easter Parade


The Traditions of Easter

As with almost all "Christian" holidays, Easter has been modernised and commercialized.

The current nature of Easter and its symbols, however, are not necessarily a modern fabrication.
Easter has only become a holy celebration since the second century and started life as a pagan festival. The ancient Saxons celebrated the return of spring with a fun festival commemorating their goddess of babies and of springtime,
Eastre.


When the second-century Christian missionaries encountered the tribes of the north with their pagan celebrations, they attempted to convert them to Christianity.
 

They did so, however, in a clandestine manner and it would have been suicide for the very early Christian converts to celebrate their holy days with observances that did not coincide with celebrations that already existed. To save lives, the missionaries cleverly decided to spread their religious message slowly throughout the populations by allowing them to continue to celebrate pagan feasts, but to do so in a Christian manner.
 


As it happened, the pagan festival of Eastre occurred at the same time of year as the Christian observance of the Resurrection of Christ. It made sense, therefore, to alter the festival itself, to make it a Christian celebration as converts were slowly won over.
 
The early name, Eastre, was eventually changed to its modern spelling, Easter.



Last Updated ( Wednesday, 09 April 2008 )
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Erin Go Bragh - Saint Patrick's Day
Written by James   
Sunday, 16 March 2008
This is just for one day to show support for the Irish People that are away from home, and hopefully enlighten the ‘other people’ around the world.
 
(some dates or facts maybe untrue I’m sorry, I’m English)

Irish People

            The reputation of the "Friendly Irish" is not a myth and it is quite normal to see a friendly smile. You will nearly always find a hand outstretched with the greeting "how are you?" Your answer to this could very well be the same "how are you?"

Pub Culture

             Without any doubt pubs are the main places for socializing in Ireland especially in the small towns (which are numerous in Ireland). You can drink there (a few pints...), eat there, dance there, join in a sing-song or listen to a group of musicians. Food in pubs, known as "pub grub" is generally good.

The Language

      The National and Official language of Ireland is Gaelic as well as English. However, approximately 99% of the population speak English. Despite governmental efforts to rekindle interest in the Irish Language less than 5% of the population use it on a daily basis. Gaelic is obligatory in Irish schools and currently there is a renewed interest in the language.

 The country,
     Capital: Dublin, Time: +1 GMT, Area: 70,280 sq km, Population: 10,286,470 (estimated) 

Currency:
 Irish Pound 

Form of government:
     Republic; bicameral Parliament; members serve four-year terms along with the House of Representatives; President elected by popular vote to serve seven-year terms; Prime minister nominated by the House of Representatives and appointed by the president.

Religion: 
    Roman Catholic (93%), Anglican (3%), other (4%)
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 09 April 2008 )
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Publications: Newspapers Explained
Written by James   
Tuesday, 04 March 2008
Publications: Newspapers Explained

With a raft of major newspapers out there, it's difficult to determine just which one is the right one for you.  In this concise summary, we outline exactly the appropriate readership for each one.

The Wall Street Journal is read by people who really run the country.

The
Washington Post is read by people who think they run the country.

The
New York Times is read by people who think they should run the country.

USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the country, but don't really understand The New York Times.

The
Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn't mind running the country, if only they could find the time.

The
Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country -- and did a far superior job of it, thank you.

The
New York Daily News is read by people who aren't sure who runs the country; and really don't care, as long as they get a seat on the subway.

The
New York Post is read by people who don't care who's runs the country, as long as they do something really scandalous, preferably while intoxicated.

The
Miami Herald is read by people running some other countries, but who like to see the baseball scores.

The
San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren't sure if anyone runs the country; but they oppose all that they stand for, anyway -- unless the leaders are handicapped feminist dwarves who are also people of color and illegal aliens (provided they aren't Republicans).

The
National Enquirer is read by people trapped in line at the grocery store, who believe the country is run by little green men from Venus.

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 09 April 2008 )
 
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