Wedding Favours and Pitagora..

This article deals with the superstition. In the past superstitions were very popular, but now they are dissapearing. I'll write one of this,. In my country, in Italy, there are a lot of superstitions, one of this is joined to wedding favours. This custom goes back to the origins of Pitagora, he associated even numbers to women's world, and odd number to men's world. The sum of the first female number, two, and the first male number, three, is five, that symbolizes marriage between a man and woman. So in wedding favours there are five sugared almonds, that we call " confetti ". In fact you can find only five sugared almond, if you found more than five, it would be unluckly for the couple.

The new Marilyn

Michelle William was on the role of Marilyn Monroe in ' My week-end with Marilyn '. Her career started in 2005, when she had a part in Brokeback Mountain, she played Alma. The story of the film is a true story, when Marilyn went to England . The actress said that she grew up with Marilyn's pictures in her bedroom. Then she said there was a kind of relantionship as if that image was a sort of holding something over her. When Michelle played Marilyn, she didn't understand the difference between Marilyn's persona and her real life. So she decided to know about her life, she read about her, she saw Marilyn's video and recording. With her there was Kenneth Branangh, that played Sir Laurance Olivier. Michelle said that Kenneth took the weather with him wherever he goes. The she said, also, that he gave the greatest piece of film set advice: " Why stand when you can sit, and why sit when you can lay down? So, please, make yourself comfortable! "
I chose this article because I love actor and actress of  50s.

Easter traditions of my town.

In my town, during the period of Easter, there are a lot of traditions. One of these is a preparation of a special cake, that is named "Pastiera". There are more types of this. This cake is prepared during the Holy Week. Then there is a pizza with sausages, and bread with eggs. All this mustn't be eaten before Easter. Good Friday night there is a procession of Jesus' Passion ( Via Crucis ). It is very moving. Instead on Holy Saturday there is a procession of little angels, made of kids , it is very cute, because there are a lot of kids. After Easter, there is our Patron Saint, that is to say Madonna Incaldana. The feast-days lasts three days. On teh Feast day the picture of Madonna Incaldanais brought around the city, then it is put into the Basilica dedicated to her. All days there are many concerts, to celebrate her saint name and to give her honours.

Saint George.

He is the patron saint of England. Nothing of George’s life or deeds can be established, but legends about him as a warrior-saint, dating from the 6th century, became popular and increasingly extravagant. His rescuing a Libyan king’s daughter from a dragon and then slaying the monster in return for a promise by the king’s subjects to be baptized. George’s slaying of the dragon may be a Christian version of thelegend of Perseus, who was said to have rescued Andromeda from a sea monster near Lydda. George was known in England by at least the 8th century. Returning crusaders likely popularized his cult, but he was probably not recognized as England’s patron saint until after King Edward III made him the patron of the newly founded Order of the Garter. He was also adopted as protector of several other medieval powers, including Portugal, Genoa, and Venice. His feast is given a lesser status in the calendar of the Church of England; a holy day of obligation for English Roman Catholics until the late 18th century, it is now an optional memorial for local observance. His feast day is the 23rd April, the same day William Shakespeare's birthday. 

Floyd Spotting!

Last Thursday I read an extract about Pink Floyd, that explains the youth of the members. They attended the County High School for Boys. All the members met there. Waters and Roger played in the same team, Barett was already an artist. David Gilmour played with Gordon in the Cambridge group. That school was an inspiration for "The Wall", because teachers beat them, and they wrote in the song, those lines as "We don't need no education" and " No dark sarcasm in the classroom". In effect the bassist sang about sadistic teachers hurt the children anyway they could. I read this extract because I love Pink Floyd, and their psychedelic music. I listen them when I was 8, with my father, from that moment I continue to listen them.

Lenny Kravitz: Peace and Love.

Last Thursday I read an article about Lenny Kravitz's album "It is time for a Love Revolution". With this album he wants to campaigne for peace. In an interview Lenny Kravitz talks about world's problems, and he explains that he stands for love and for peace. He also talks about the negativity that there is today in the world. Everybody gives importance at stuff such as money,girls,cars, diamonds and luxuries in general, but they don't give importance to real problems, like war, famine. In 1990, on the eve of the Gulf War, he sang a new version og "Give a Peace a Chance", but it was banned. The same thing happened with " We want Peace". He said "Where's ther's a war we have song against it, they didn't play it". I think he is very wise and corageous. I love his musi, and his voice, he is a good singer!

Presidents' Day!

Presidents’ Day,or Washington’s Birthday, in the United States, this holiday is to honor George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.The origin of Presidents’ Day date back in the 1880s, when the birthday of Washington was first celebrated as a federal holiday. In 1968 Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Bill, which moved a number of federal holidays to Mondays. Following much discussion, Congress rejected the name change. After the bill went into effect in 1971, however, Presidents’ Day became the commonly accepted name, due in part to retailers’ use of that name to promote sales and the holiday’s proximity to Lincoln’s birthday. Presidents’ Day is usually marked by public ceremonies in Washington, D.C., and throughout the country. Following much discussion, Congress rejected the name change. After the bill went into effect in 1971, however, Presidents’ Day became the commonly accepted name, due in part to retailers’ use of that name to promote sales and the holiday’s proximity to Lincoln’s birthday. Presidents’ Day is usually marked by public ceremonies in Washington, D.C., and throughout the country.

Bad Habits!

My bad habits are much more than I think. I eat my nails, I'm always nervous, I answer reudely and I talk loudly. I bite my pens, I always say "like". When someone ask something I answer "wait" and I don't remember that thing. I never eat vegetables, I always hope! I have more bad habits!!

Frankestein!

Last wensday I read an article on Speak Up! This was an extract a famous book Frankenstein and deals with the its humor revisited like 'Young Frankestein' and 'Frankeweenie' by Tim Burton. Also deals with ' The Addams Family' and 'The Horror Rocky Picture show'. People often think that Frankenstein is tghe name of the monster, actually is the name of the scientist who gave him life. The extract is the chapter five that deals with the feelings of the scientist when he was giving life to the monster. At the beginning he was excited, but when the monster was finished he was scared of him because the monster was ugly. I've chosen this extract because I like Frankenstein movie and its humor revisited, and horror series like The Addams Family. I watched some series from "The Horror Rocky Picture show".

Mel's Drive-In!

Last week I read on Speak Up an article.This article deals with especially about Mel's Drive-In. It was a restaurant where the teenagers spent their time there. They could order milshakes and fries, and they could listen to music. This restaurant was very popular because it appeared in American Graffiti. Unfornately, it was torn down, but the owner's son, Steven Weiss, and his business partner re-opened the restaurant in 1985. If you there, you can enjoy the 1950's and the early 1960's. I always loved the 1950's,especially the restaurant, because everythings was happy and coreful!

The Beatles

The Beatles are a British musical quartet of the 1960s. The members were: Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Star. It formed around the nucleus of Lennon and McCartney,who first performed together, the group grew out of a shared enthusiasm for American rock and roll. Lennon was the guitarist and the singer, and McCartney, was the bassist and the singer, they were largely self-taught as musicians.  In the late 1950s they assuming different names (the Quarrymen, the Silver Beetles, and, finally, the Beatles). In autumn 1961 Brian Epstein, a local Liverpool record store manager, saw the band and fell in love. Seriously convinced of their commercial potential, Epstein became their manager and proceeded to bombard the major British music companies with letters and tape recordings of the band, finally winning a contract with Parlophone, a subsidiary of the giant EMI group of music labels. In 1963, the Beatles continued their rise to fame in England, creating the so-called : Beatlemania. In early 1964 the same phenomenon erupted in the United States and provoked a so-called British Invasion of Beatles imitators from the United Kingdom.

The Royal Family

Queen Elizabeth II is the symbol of Britain, her surname is Windsor, but the real surname is Saxe- Coburg & Gotha, because in 1917, World War I, the King had's origin, and they didn't like theGermany so he changed his surname (beacause it was German's surname). The son, Edward VIII , abdicated beacause hwe fell in love with an American woman, who was an actress and she was divorced. So his brother, George VI , became the new King. George had two daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret, when he died Elizabeth II became queen. Elizabeth married Prince Philip, he became Duke of Edinburgh, and he was Greek. They were distant cousin, and they had four children: the first Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, the second Princess Anne, the third Prince Andrew, Duke of York, the fourth Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex. Charles heir to the throne, he married first whit Lady Diana , but he was in love whit an old girlfriend,Camilla .Charles and Diana had two sons: William and Harry. After they divorced,and Lady Diana, unluckily, was killed in crash car. William is the Duke of Cambridge, and he married Kate Middleton. They had a baby in July, his name is George. 

The origin of my name.

My name is Ilenia and its origins are unkown,but exist various hypotheses. The first sustain that the name Ylenia is the Slavic version of Elena , of greek origin. The second says that the name Ilenia is a variant of Ilana a Jewish name and it means "plant"  or " tree ". The third hypotheses is that it derives from Heleneia and Helenia, or it derives from Enula Bell (Helenion). Elena of Troy hold this flower when she was abducted by Paride, another legend says that the name Ilenia means " similiar to the sun " because the flower rembers it. I don't know exactly when it is celebrated, but I celebrate it on December 14th.