Thursday, February 28, 2013

But does speed yoga exist for real?! We need a Slow Revolution



Now that we're done with the mid-year exams, we might as well just stop for a while, have some time off to think and reflect on what we have achieved this year, which is quite a lot! (more than we would think, for sure), and shake off the stress we carry around as we are in motion, fast motion, from work to school, from school to our daily chores, etc... People from the Slow Movement know about this feeling, and some years ago started sending out this message for us to regain a more humanlike pace, and stop living like powered up robots. 

What follows is a description of this movement posted in wikipedia, and a really nice talk by worldwide-known advocates of Slowness. 

The Slow Movement promotes a cultural shift toward slowing down life's pace. It began with Carlo Petrini's protest against the opening of a McDonald's restaurant in Piazza di Spagna, Rome, in 1986 that sparked the creation of the Slow Food organization. Over time, this developed into a subculture in other areas, such as Cittaslow (Slow Cities), Slow Living, Slow Travel, and Slow Design.

And now watch the video. I suggest that you sit back on your chair, breathe, make yourself comfortable, and, importantly, leave the cell aside, no whatsapps to be checked and that kind of stuff... just relax and listen to these people talking about how to start shifting our minds.



Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Human Planet


Human Planet is a British television documentary series produced by the BBC with co-production from Discovery and BBC Worldwide. It describes the human species and its relationship with the natural world by showing the remarkable ways human have adapted to life in every environment on Earth.


After watching the episode Arctic: Life in the Deep Freeze, now it's time to check your answers to the questions discussed in class, so click on the link below to find out!



Thursday, February 7, 2013

Britart: Banksy is back!



Banksy is a pseudonymus England-based graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter. His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humor with graffiti done in a distinctive stencilling technique. Such artistic works of political and social commentary have been featured on streets, walls, and bridges of cities throughout the world. To see a slideshow of his best creations, click on the link below, and then watch the video to hear more about his last exhibit in the Bristol City Museum, and complete the quiz questions to test your understanding.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

What's the key to being a great dad?



After watching the episode of Modern Family which deals with parenting issues, now it's time to review the words and expressions we worked on together in class. Below you can find the vocabulary sheet and the video, in case you wanna watch it again: A second viewing is surely gonna be of great help to understand all the things that are going on during this episode, and to catch all the jokes!