NEW SUMMER'S SONG?

After three successful tracks for promoting Estrella Damm’s beer, which have been for many the song of the summer, the company just uploaded their new campaign with the song You can’t say no forever – Lacrosse filmed at Serra de Tramuntana, balearic islands.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azpxHbUyuOw

It all began with Summercat, followed by Applejack, then I wish that I could see you soon and this year’s song is You can't say no forever, they all present a similar significance of summer related to freedom, happiness and love or friendships.

However, many argue that none of Estrella Damm’s songs are actually that successful and therefore they do not represent the song of the summer.

What do you think about this? Do you think they have actually become official summer songs? Or not? Which song do you like the most? And dislike?

Give your opinion below!

The Fourth World

What is poverty?

This question is more complex than it seems.

Poverty is hunger. Poverty is homelessness. Poverty is not been capable of attending school and learn. Poverty isthe lack of work. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is losing the respect of society. Poverty is a slow dying process.

During the last years there has been a creation of a new type of poverty, the Fourth World.

The term Fourth World  was created in the 70's, used to designate those people living in really limited situations. Its founder was Father Joseph Wresinski.

The Fourth World is a concept, that commonly can be defined as: "The poorest of the poor." From my point of view a better definition could be: those who live in the First World (developed countries) and are excluded or at risk of exclusion by society. 

They are men, women and children near the total exclusion. What`s more, they do not enjoy the fundamental rights that the rest of society receive. This situation is created when wealth is distributed unevenly, causing an abysmal gap between rich and poor.

• Have you ever heard this concept?
• Which situation do you think they are living during this strong crisis?
• Which are your feelings towards this people?
• Is there any solution?

Hamit Altintop joins Galatasary

 He started just two games this season with Madrid and arrived at the club carrying an injury.

 The Turkish international Hamit Altintop today told the Turkish press that he is leaving Real Madrid to join Galatasaray. The 29-year old midfielder arrived to Real Madrid at the start of 2011/12 season from Bayern Munich.

 It is not a big surprise that Altintop is leaving Madrid, as he has failed to be in José Mourinho's team this season, with only two starts and seven substitute appearances from many matches Madrid has know decided to sell him. It is official his departure but we don't know how much has Galatasaray paid yet.

 How much do you think this player costs? Would you have sell this player if you were Mourinho?

Italian star, Mario Balotelli, is back in the news.

Balotelli says he'll "kill" anyone who racially abuses him.

Mario Balotelli, the Italy forward, has said today he will notpermit any offensive or racist attacks during the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine and declared that if he is subject to any ofense by a racist fan he will "walk off the pitch and go home". He also said he would "kill someone and go to jail" if anyone threw a banana at him, when he was training they throught him one. "Racism is unacceptable to me. We are in 2012. This should not happen anymore" SuperMario finished with this words.


What do you think about balotelli's words? And about racism?

The year of the records of Leo Messi

Leo Messi have improved his own records again this year scoring more than 70 goal in all season. He has been the maximum scorer of the League BBVA and of the UEFA Champions League. Leo scores must of the Barcelona goal but he also assists his mates. Messi is only 24 years old and has won many leagues cup and individual prizes.

Do you think Leo is the best player of the history?

Mexico prepares for volcano eruption

Popocatépetl, the nearly 18,000 foot volcano living at the border of Puebla and Morelos states in central Mexico, has started a series of small eruptions, which could presage something more violent. (last month)

The authorities in Mexico are setting up preparations for an evacuation around the Popocatepetl volcano, in case of a major eruption.

Actually the volcano, near Mexico City, has been spewing glowing rock fragments and ash from more than 60 openings in its crust.

86 years old gimnast

Preparing for the 2012 Summer Olympics, Germany hosted the Gymnastics Challenge Cup in the city of Cottbus last month. 

While gymnastics is often a sport that features 15-year-olds , one tumbler stood out — because she’s 86 years old.

Johanna Quaas set a world record, while the competitors were resting. Her floor exercise routine included cartwheels, handstands and somersaults. At the front of a cheering crowd, she executed a full “planche” on the parallel bars, raising her outstretched body parallel with the ground, supported by just her arms.

Quaas has won nearly a dozen medals in senior gymnastics competitions

London’s Telegraph newspaper reported that Quaas picked up the sport at age 30. In an interview with Gymmedia, she recalled being a member of (then) East Germany’s championship handball team in 1954.

Much of this entry is copy-paste. Acknowledge sources please!

Pedro called for defense the Spain t-shirt

Pedro Rodriguez, a historical Barcelona player who has scored more than 100 goals, is going to take part in the Eurocup this summer to defend the Spanish colours. People say that Pedro is going because David Villa finally isn't, but there are other players like Adrián or Soldado who may have deserved to go.

• Do you think Pedro is a fair replacement for David Villa?
• Do you think that Adrián or Soldado should be down to go to the Eurocup?

Edited

Bye to the penalty shoot out?

Joseph Blatter, FIFA president, has opened a debate to change one of the most unfair laws of soccer: penalty shoot-outs."When it comes to penalty shoot-outs the game lose its essence. Football should be a team sport all the way," he said. 


The FIFA President claiming that football loses its "essence" when deciding a match through a penalty shoot-out, of the kind that ended Chelsea's hopes in the Champions League.


This year the final of the Champions League Chelsea  was won through the penalty shootout by Bayern Munich. And this season, shoot outs decided the African Nations Cup, where Zambia  beat  Ivory Coast.


Also crowned the 2006 World Cup champion Italy  with France, while the 1994 gave Brazil its fourth title after beating Italy's RobertoBaggio with the same fate.

·Do you think that they should take off the penalty shoot outs when there is a draw?


·If you think so, what can it be replaced with?




Alvaro Fuertes 
(Edited)

Bermuda Triangle

This is the first part of a National Geographic documentary about the Bermuda Triangle. Have a look and answer the following questions! :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYcn-S3R4MU

Do you believe in the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle?

Or do you think it’s just causality?

If you had to fly to the United States, would you rather avoid the area?

 Ana Adán

And the winner is… Sweden !

As you might already know, the winner of this year’s Eurovision Festival is Sweden, whose entry was sung by Loreen.

It was a masterful performance as the Swedish singer, used her breath-taking voice and great choreography to take advantage of the effect of the wind machine.

Russia stood in second place on the podium represented by a group of old grandmothers who were actually very funny despite they didn’t sing well or have any kind of choreography.

The following videos are the performances of Sweden and Spain:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1kbQbfKImo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPkPKzccoWU

This leads us to thinking whether the contest is corrupted by political agreements.

Although Sweden has turn out to be the winner, it is also argued that the competition is quite unfair. Many people say that each country votes to their neighbour’s or to the country in which they have political interest.

Do you agree with this argument? Did Spain, which settled in the tenth place, deserve by far more votes than Sweden or Russia?  What to you think is the key to winning? Is it singing in English, having a singer with a great voice or simply putting on strange performances such as the Chiquilicuatre in 2008? 

Nicole Pattje

Top 10 Super Bowl

Top 10 Super Bowl Commercial Adverts

The super bowl commercial adverts have become the most expensive and widely-seen adverts in the United States.

Watch the top 10 adverts in 2012 and choose the most effective one and tell us why did you choose it?

You can also tell us if the advert follows the five principles of adevertising

Is Disney stereotypical?

Disney has always been part of our childhood at some point or another yet the movies can portray certain stereotypes and some sexism and racism.

Take a look a this:


Princesses all have beautiful faces, with perfect hair and makeup and large, innocent eyes. They have abnormally perfect bodies as they are slim with tiny waists.
Moreover, the princesses are usually the damsels in distress, who have to be saved by the handsome prince. The movies also convey that dreams come true thanks to a man.
Cinderella is rescued from her terrible conditions by the prince, as is Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. Jasmine leaves the palace walls when Aladdin arrives upon a magic carpet to show her the world,  Ariel must marry Eric  to live the life she's always wanted (out of sea) and Mulan only becomes happy when Shang courts her (even though she saves China from the Huns).  And these are just a few examples of women that are completely dependent on men.
Furthermore, women are  also expected to stick to behaviour established by society such as being obedient, silent, hard-working (especially with house-hold chores) and non-rebelious.
The Disney men on the other hand, have two options. They can either be the handsome and strong idealized man, or be portrayed as dumb which goes along with their physical appearance (for example, Mr. Smee in Peter Pan, Yao in Mulan and Lafou in Beauty and the Beast). Men are sentenced to show agressiveness and masculinity and most of the movies end with a fight between two men (or masculine characters) for the love of a woman or for their personal status.

What other problems can you see in the Disney films?

What effect can this have on the youngest and more vulnerable generations?

What conception about the world and about ourselves do we grow up with?

"Hunger Games"

“Hunger Games” is a movie released a month ago. It portrays a world divided into twelve different districts, number twelve being the poorest and number one the richest and more successful. A couple of each district has to fight against the others until only one is left. It seems as if all had equal opportunities, but the truth is that the richest ones always win.

This is a dystopian world in which the place you’re born determines your future, as if your life was already written and you couldn’t change it.

In our society this is not as evident, but do you think our environment defines our future?  Are people who are born in a rich family more successful?  

Thank's Pep

Tomorrow is the last match of the best trainer of all the history. Not just for his tactics in the pitch, or all the lessons of football he has done, but for his spirit of fighting and winning.

Pep Guardiola has won all the cups a trainer can win with a spectacular football and style.

He justifies his decisions of leaving the club because his tired and doesn't have motivation, but I'm sure his leaving for finding the motivation to come again.

Do you think Pep is the best trainer of the history?

Will Pep Guardiola train another club?

Those teams that do not want to play the Cup: don't.

The great final of the Copa Del Rey is approaching and there's certain statements causes debate for the two team that are playing this final, Barcelona and Athletic de Bilbao.

Esperanza Aguirre the PP policy mentioned yesterday that if there are going to be whistles to the anthem of Spain the match should cancel.

What do you think about cancelling the match?

Do you think that hooligans of Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao have rights to have freedom of expression?

Will Smith slaps a reporter!

Three days ago, during the third Men in Black movie premiere in Moscow, a reporter exceeded the boundaries of Will’s personal space in a failed attempt to kiss him on the lips. Will shoved the assaulter back and faintly smacked him in the face. This reaction raised immediate controversy all around the world, whilst some argue that his reaction was way out of context, others believe Will was too light handed on him, some even accuse Will of being a homophobe! Check out the video for yourself and share your opinions.


Lucas Drobnitzky

Travel

Hello! I came across this video in youtube and I thought it would be interesting to share it here. 

A company called STA Travel sent three friends on a journey of 44 days, in which they visited 10 countries, travelled 38000 miles and got 18 flights. All the essence of the journey was transferred into this 1 minute video. I hope you enjoy it! (because I really did!)

Now answer the following questions:

Do you enjoy travelling?

What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of doing so?

And finally, what place in the world would you really like to visit?

Drogba, a legend

Decesive penalty scored by Drogba to Neuer

When Didier Drogba completed Chelsea's quest for a Champions League title on Saturday, he did it in his unique way as a true proffessional of world football.

Drogba scored the decisive penalty to defeat Bayern Munich in the shootout, after scoring Chelsea a goal in the 88th-minute, leveling the match at 1-1. Eventhough Bayern played really good, attacking constantly and whatsmore, playing home, they could not stop the fearfull Drogba.

The 34-year-old talisman's played with a tremendous intensity since losing 3-1 to Napoli in a last 16, first-leg match in February.

Roman Abramovich, the club's russian owner , deposited his faith on the new Chelsea`s coach, Roberto di Matteo, after firing the coach Andre Villas-Boas. Di Matteo responded by masterminding a stirring comeback against Napoli, defeat of Benfica and the epic defensive action to eliminate Barcelona in the semifinals.

"Football, like life, is unpredictable and crazy," Di Matteo said. "Nobody could have predicted the last three months. To finish like this is incredible. Whatever the future holds for me, I'd be happy."

Abramovich now has the fascinating decision of whether to reward Di Matteo by entrusting his billion-dollar investment to the 41-year-old Italian on a permanent contract.

"The way we turned things around against Napoli, Barcelona, I think we deserve this trophy," Drogba said. "The last kick of the season and what a way to do it now."

Bye bye zero cost phones

Evidence seems to suggest that the main operator of mobile phones in our country will offer its clients a long-term payment for those desired phones. Since the first of March, Movistar has put and end for those zero cost phones they were giving to those new customers. Therefore all clients who would like to have the latest phones on the market will have to pay for its costs.

What’s more, Vodafone, its major competitor, has continued Movistar’s steps by announcing that they have changed their policy. They will no longer give free phones unless the client complies with the new policy. Customers will only provide a mobile by financing themselves 12, 18 and 24 months from at least 10 euros per month and by giving back their old one. As a consequence all tariffs will be standard: the price of calls will be the same no matter the time of the day or to which operator you’re calling. 

Do you think they’ll make a profit or a loss? Do you think we’ll all come back to use the old-fashioned and thick phones or people will rather pay for the latest smartphones? Will Apple and Samsung be replaced?

Nicole Pattje

LADYLIKE

Have you ever thought of what a painting might be made of? The first idea you come up with is paint.  Well, Pete Doherty and the great singer Amy Winehouse have proved to us that there are more ingredients in paintings than we might have thought.

Last weekend, a painting was put on display and auctioned in London which was made out of Amy’s and Pete’s blood. The money gained was mostly destined to the singer’s father, for it to be invested in a foundation named after his daughter. The total amount for the painting was approximately 120,000$.

Pete Doherty declared that he took part in the design of the painting Ladylike, and that part of the benefits corresponds to him. However, he has not said anything else related to the painting.

• What do you think about this?
• Do you consider the idea original or, instead, rather disgusting?

Comment below!

Ana Las Hayas

Cheap & Chic

Yes, they’ve done it again!!! H&M have recently announced their new collaboration for this Autumn 2012. Yet another very expected contribution from one of the most influential fashion muses in history, Vogue Japan’s chief executive, Anna Dello Russo.

Known for her extravagant and over the top outfits and accessories, this fashion victim has agreed to collaborate with the multinational Swedish brand. This capsule collection will consist on shoes, jewellery, bags and other accessories. The collection will be launched on October in over 140 stores worldwide. Dello Russo wants to show her personality in this collection by creating unique pieces, hard to find normally and that would cheer you up every morning.

H&M can be proud of the list of top designers who have taken part in some of their collections such as Karl Lagerfeld, Marni, Lanvin and Versace like I mentioned in the past here.

This is a great opportunity for both the consumer and the company. I am pretty sure that their sales will increase and we also have the opportunity to buy a piece made by a recognised and well-known designer for a reasonable price. But, how do you think the other cheap brands like Zara or Mango will react? Will they start a competition to see who can get better collaborations? Moreover, what do you think the luxurious brands will do and how will this new way of fashion affect them?  

Brave recovery of mutilated Bangladesh woman

Do you remember the story of the girl whose husband decided to cut off her fingers just because she decided to go to college? 

If you do, you should be glad to hear that she has recently started to write again.

Hawa Akther writing again

"The fact that I can write again has given me lots of hope and confidence. I have slowly started practicing. I will continue my studies and achieve my aim of becoming a lawyer," she said while sitting in her parents' one-bedroom house.

• What do you think is the cause of domestic violence? Is it related to education?
  
  
• Can you think of any kind of solution?
   
• Do you think Hawa Akther's personal achievements will encourage other women to reconsider their life?
  

if you want to read the article explaining her story and recovery, visit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16796198