The History Of The Olympic Games

 
 The Olympic Games started in Ancient Greece. Their origin remains unclear (some people even
say Zeus and Hercules started them!) The forerunners of the present-day Olympic games were the "Olympiade de la Republique" in France and the Wenlock Olympian games in England. In the 19th century, the (Grecian) Panathenaic stadium underwent modernisation, being the home of the first Olympic games as we know them today.
    After a several century gap, the Olympic Games were hosted again in 1896, in Athens, Greece. It brought together 241 athletes from 14 countries, who competed in 43 events.

    The first Winter Olympic games were held in 1894, in Chamonix, France. Ice skating and ice hockey were amongst the events.

    Since then, 2 other types of Olympics have been created: the Paralympics (olympics for athletes with disabilities-premiered 1960), and the Youth Olympics (for teenage athletes-premiered 2010). The UK, apart from hosting the Olympics this year, has also done so in 1908 and 1948. Just something to think about the next time you watch the Olympics!

London 2012

    Yesterday, the Olympic Games began. After a lot of preparation, the Olympics are finally here. This is also going to be the theme of this week's posts. So keep coming back, visit, share and comment, and may the best people win!

Lady Di

    It's now been 15 years since her death. The woman who was so popular during her lifetime, changed people's perception about the royal family and died such a sad, violent and unexpected death...

    Lady Diana Spencer (later Princess of Wales) was born on the 1st July 1961, in Norfolk. Her childhood was quite a difficult one, because her parents divorced when she was 7 years old. Diana was a very good swimmer and dancer, but wasn't very good in school (failing her O-levels twice). When she was a teenager, she moved to London, and worked in a kindergarten and as a nanny. Diana first met Charles in 1977, at a polo game. In early 1981, she and Charles were engaged, and on the 29th July 1981, around 750 million people watched the royal wedding. Shortly after this, Diana became pregnant, and in June 1982, William Arthur Phillip Louis was born. 2 years after him came his younger brother Harry (officially called Henry Charles Albert David). Diana had a difficult marriage with Charles, and in 1996 they divorced. Diana supported a lot of charities throughout her life, and worked alongside Mother Theresa, to help the dying and suffering. Diana died on the 31st August 1997. Many people mourned her, and her death was an extremely untimely one. Diana was one of the greatest women in history, and will never be forgotten.

The European Union

   This post will be about the EU. Ever wanted to find out more about it? If so, please read on...

     The present-day European Union was first called "The European Coal and Steel Community". France, Italy, West Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands were the founding members. The present-day members of the EU joined at different times. Here is an illustration showing when each member entered the European Union:

    The EU's coin, the euro, first started being used in 2002 (replacing the French franc, the German mark, the Finnish krona etc.), but there have also been countries that have started using Euro after this date (Slovakia and Slovenia, for example).

    People's attitudes towards the European Union have been mixed; some countries (mostly the ones in Eastern Europe) are really proud of being a part of the EU, because they no longer require exit visas to visit other European countries, and some have also been able to adopt the euro; in the West, however, people aren't that optimistic; they're worried about Greece's situation, and some countries even want to give up on the euro (like Finland; the UK and Denmark have opt-outs on the euro, because these countries Governments are perfectly happy to continue using their old coins...) Adopting the Euro isn't that easy, however, there are 5 criteria that have to be fulfilled before adopting.

    What do you think about the European Union? Do you think joining was a good idea? Are you happy with the pound,or would you rather use the Euro? Do you think the European Union is making Europe a better place or not?

Harry Potter

    I have a feeling this is going to be one of my favourite posts... Sit back, relax and read this post on how the world of Harry Potter came to be...

    Joanne Rowling first got the idea for the Harry Potter series in the early 1990's, during a train ride. In 1997, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released. It was the beginning of a worldwide phenomenon. In 1998, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was released, and Warner Bros. bought the films rights. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire were released in 1999 and 2000, respectively.

    In the early 2000's, it was rumoured that J.K. Rowling was suffering from writer's block, because she released her fifth book (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) 3 years after her fourth.

    In 2005, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince became available to the public, and in July 2007, the last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was made available.

    But things didn't stop there! Fans still had the final 3 films to look forward to; the last Harry Potter film premiered in 2011. After that, it seemed the world of Harry Potter had come to an end. But not quite! In April this year a new site called Pottermore opened to the general public. I won't give any details here, but I strongly advise you to sign up!

    The Harry Potter series has come a long way since it was created; as a result, games, toys, clothes and even a theme park in Florida are now available to buy (and to visit!)

    Personally, I absolutely love Harry Potter, and I think it was one of the best book series ever. What do you think? Do you think so as well, or do you criticise the series?

    In any case, the boy wizard's adventures are popular nearly everywhere, and the book series is the most succesful series in the world.

PS: For more information, visit http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page.

   

Disney!

    Who doesn't kmow something about Disney? The industry that influenced our lives forever (think of all the Disney characters that appear in the media, on clothes, in books... everywhere!) But has anybody ever wanted to know a few more things about Disney and it's creator? If you are amongst them, then please read on...

    Walt Disney was born on the 5th December, 1901, in Chicago, Illinois; did you know that his family is of French origin? Just think-d'Isigny became Disney (which might explain why there's a Disneyland in Paris...)

    Walt Disney must have had a knack for animation, because he was the school newspaper's cartoonist; he also ditched high school in the hopes of being able to sign up for the army, but he was rejected, because he was underage.

    In 1921, Walt founded his own animation company, the Laugh-O-Gram Studios (which, it is said, is the place where he got the inspiration for Mickey Mouse...) Disney's signature character, Mickey Mouse, first featured in an animated short in 1928 (and he's gone a long way since then...)

    Amongst other cartoons Disney created, there were the Alice Comedies (stopped in 1927) and Silly Symphonies (produced during the early 1930's, but weren't that popular because of other cartoons like Betty Boop...)

    In the mid 1930's, Walt decided to produce an animated feature film. After 3 years of production, Snow White was released (it was known as "Disney's Folly" because it was really expensive- it cost more than a million dollars to produce, nearly bankrupting Walt Disney Pictures, who had hoped to get the film done with a quarter of a million dollars...)

    In the 1940's, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo and Bambi were produced. During the war, Disney stopped doing so many animated films and made more shorts (like Education for Death, which was about WW2...)

    The 1950's represented Disney's best (and busiest) decade; in the '50s, the first Disneyland opened in California, and the films Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp (which was really succesful at the box office) and Sleeping Beauty were released.

    In the "swinging 60's", Walt Disney died. He was 65 years old. Nevertheless, 101 Dalmatians, Mary Poppins and the Jungle Book were all produced during this period.                                        

    After Walt's death, in the 1970's, Walt Disney Pictures (who now had Roy Disney, Walt's brother, in charge) released the Aristocats (which was the last film Walt Disney oversaw production to), The Fox and the Hound and The Rescuers (people have also said that the way these movies were animated was too rough and not good enough-what do you think?)

    During the 1980's and '90s, a phenomenon called "The Disney Renaissance" took place; it was called so because Disney started producing more films based on fairy tales (like Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid, to name a few...)

    The early 2000's was a time when Disney produced a lot of sequels (Lady and the Tramp 2, Cinderella 2, the Little Mermaid 2...), which many peple thought weren't as good as the original films...

    Right now, Disney uses more computer animation in movies (think of Tangled and Brave), and they aren't producing as many succesful films as they used to...

    Walt Disney won four honorary Academy Awards and 22 other Oscars (including a record 5 in one year!). He was an animation genius, and his works of art are still being seen and appreciated today....

PS: What's your favourite Disney film?

PPS: For more information, visit http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/The_DisneyWiki.

Titanic

For Libby Welsh, Jake Smith and Guillaume Gougeon :)

 

    Who doesn't know this poster? The poster of the 15 year-old film that made history, won Oscars and broke our hearts. It was based, of course, on a true story (with a touch of fiction)...

    The RMS Titanic was one of the finest ocean liners of the White Star Line, having every luxury and comfort and being called unsinkable" by her engineers. Many rich and famous Europeans went aboard the ship, hoping for a better life in the United States.  The Titanic sank during it's mayden voyage from Southampton to New York. After less than a week at sea, the Titanic hit an iceberg; the ship then began to fill up with water, and because of the limited number of lifeboats, many people either drowned or died from hypothermia. Out of 2,224 passengers, only around 705 survived. The Titanic sank on 15th April 1912.

   Another interesting fact is that, 14 years before the Titanic sank, a man named Morgan Robertson wrote a book called "Futility", which was about a ship named "the Titan", which also had a lot of rich and famous passengers on board, was considered "unsinkable" and also sank hitting an iceberg. Coincidence?

   And, of course, 85 years later, the famous film "Titanic" was produced. It was directed by James Cameron and starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, amongst others. "Titanic" got 14 Academy Award nominations, and won 11 (including Best Picture and Best Original Song), and also won a number of other awards...

    The Titanic was one of the deadliest accidents that ever happened at sea, and even now, a century after it sank, people still remember it...

Splits!

OK, not those kind of splits... What I mean is, I've decided to "split" my blog in two-one English and one Romanian blog. After some careful consideration, I've decided to do this because it may get confusing to see posts in 2 different languages... In any case, this is now my English language blog, so feel free to explore it, comment and share (and keep checking it, because I'll do my best to post daily.) :)

For Country!

Out of all the countries in the world, each and every one of us was born in one of them. It's a general fact that we don't choose where we want to be born, but what do you think about your native country? Do you take pride in your nationality, or do you long to have been born in another country? What do you like about your country, and what don't you? What do you think is the best country in the world? Are you A PATRIOT?

Think about it...