NEW ZEALAND: "THE LAND OF THE LONG WHITE CLOUD"

New Zealand, the furthest country on Earth

Were you one of those people who were captivated by the stunning landscapes that appeared in The Lord of The Rings trilogy? Have you ever dreamt of going away and getting lost at the furthest possible place on Earth? If your answer to these two questions is yes, you are quite likely to fancy this post on New Zealand, the island called by Maori natives Aotearoa ("The Land of The Long White Cloud").

New Zealand has some of the most breathtaking landscapes on Earth

Our antipodes is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean comprising two main islands (the North  and South islands) and numerous smaller islands.




Auckland is the biggest city

Only four million and a half people live in New Zealand, its population being formed by 78% European descendants and 14% the indigenous Maori. Due to its remoteness, it was one of the last lands on Earth to be settled by humans. In 1840 the British and the Maori signed a treaty making New Zealand a colony of the British Empire.

The indigenous Maori preserve many of their customs

Although the executive power is exercised by a Cabinet, led by a Prime Minister, Queen Elizabeth II is still the Head of State and is represented by a Governor-General. That´s why the New Zealand flag contains the British Union Jack.

New Zealand flag comprises the British Union Jack and four
red stars representing the Southern Cross

CURIOSITIES ABOUT NEW ZEALAND

-New Zealanders are also known worldwide as "kiwi". In Spain we think that kiwi is a kind of fruit, but it is really a native flightless bird. The fruit is called "kiwifruit".

Kiwi are fligthless birds endemic to New Zealand

-New Zealand was the first major nation to have universal suffrage. As far in time as 1893, it became legal for all male and female citizens of the country to vote.


-New Zealand has a strong position on the international trade in sheep meat. There are presently around 9 sheep to every 1 human in the whole country.

There are far more sheep than people in New Zealand

-Wellington, the capital city, is the southernmost capital city in the world. In spite of not being the capital city, Auckland is by far the most populated city in the country (1. 400.000 inhabitants).

Wellington is the southernmost capital city in the world.

-The two most famous New Zealanders of all time may have been Nobel Prize winner Edward Rutherford, known as the father of nuclear physics, and Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to reach the peak of Mount Everest. Other important "Kiwi" have been writer Katherine Mansfield and film director Peter Jackson.

Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to reach the peak of Mount Everest
is perhaps the most famous New Zealander

-Rugby is the national sport. The "All Blacks", as the national rugby team is called, have won two Rugby World Cups (1987 and 2011) and are perhaps the most popular rugby team in the world. You have probably seen videos of them performing the "Haka", a traditional Maori dance, before their matches.

The "All Blacks" are the Rugby World Champions.





This is a video showing the things you can find in this astonishing country

New Zealand was the setting for the Middle Earth

of The Lord of The Rings trilogy. Here you can see some

of the places where the film was shot.



THE BEST BRITISH FOOTBALL PLAYERS EVER

We have already published a post about some of the best English football players of all time. What about the players of the rest of the countries forming the United Kingdom? We think that we had to pay tribute to some of them, since they are part of the history of football. As it always happens, there may be different opinions to ours. Tell us what players you would have included. Here you are our selection:

SCOTLAND

Denis Law

He holds the honour of being the only Scottish player ever to win the European Footballer of the Year award in 1964. Nicknamed "The King" by supporters, he scored 237 goals for Manchester United (1962-1973) and is still Scotland´s international highest goalscorer with 30 goals.

Denis Law is one of the greatest legends of Manchester United

His flair, spirit and genuine love for the game made him a hero for a generation. A statue of Denis Law stands on the Stretford End at Old Trafford as a fitting tribute to one of United´s true living legends.His trademark celebration -arm in the air, finger pointing at the sky- will never be forgotten there.



Kenny Dalglish

"King Kenny" was named as the best footballer in Liverpool F. C. history (he played there from 1977 to 1991). He won with Liverpool six Leagues and three European Cups.  He is also the most capped player in the history of Scotland´s national team (102 appearances). He was also considered as "the greatest striker in post-war British football" in 2009 by the football magazine "FourFourTwo"

Kenny Dalglish, the King of Anfield

Nobody in Anfield can forget his sublime curlers, his mazy dribbles or his stretching volleys. A pure genius with the ball at his feet, he still is and will be for a long time yet the great idol of Liverpool supporters.

NORTHERN IRELAND

George Best

A Northern-Irish winger for Manchester United, where he played between 1963 and 1974. He won the European Cup in 1968 and The European Footballer of the Year in 1968. His playing style combined pace, acceleration, balance, two-footedness and goalscoaring and the ability to beat defenders.

Best was a genius of football

Best´s talent was so big that he became one of the first celebrity footballers but his subsequent extravagant lifestyle led him to various problems, most notably alcoholism and even to quit Manchester United at the early age of 27. He reached unimaginable heights with his outrageous skills before self-destructing into alcoholism, bankruptcy and even jail. There´s a saying in Britain: "Maradona Good, Pelé Better, George Best"

WALES

Ian Rush

He was among the top strikers in the English game during his two spells for Liverpool (1980-1987 and 1988-1996), interrupted by a frustrating year playing in Italy for Juventus.



Ian rush, one of the gratest British scorers

He remains the record goalscorer for both Wales (28 goals) and for Liverpool F.C. (346 goals in all competitions). He won two European Cups (81, 84) and five English Leagues. His electric pace and eagle-eyed anticipation made him a nightmare to mark and his attacking partnership with Dalglish is regarded as one of the best ever.

Ryan Giggs

A living legend for Manchester United, where he is still playing. He made his first appearance for the Red Devils in the 1990-1991 season. He soon established as a left winger and is known for his tireless running, ball possession and ability to create goalscoring opportunities for those around him.

Giggs is getting a bigger nd bigger legend every day

Giggs is the most decorated player in English football history  (12 Premier Leagues,  4 FA Cups, 2 Champions Leagues). He also holds the club record for competitive appearances (933-653 in League). He is also the only player to have played and scored in every Premier League Season.

Gareth Bale

To show that the numbers of fantastic British football players never ceases to increase, we are talking about one of the present stars at the Premier league. Gareth Bale is a Welsh footballer who plays for Tottenham Hotspur as a winger. Nowadays, he is one of the main objects of desire of clubs like Real Madrid or Barcelona.

Gareth Bale is one of the best British players now

He started his professional career at Southamptom, playing as a left-back, earning acclaim as a free kick specialist. Since being signed by Tottenham Hotspur in 2007, he has transformed into a more offensively-oriented player. He has been described as a footballer with "tremendous speed, great crossing ability, a great left foot and exceptional physical qualities". All these virtues have made him one of the most dangerous left-wingers in the world.



THE POLICE

Don´t think we are talking here about how police works or is organised in Britain, not even about the popular Scotland Yard ( they appear on many books and films). The Police we are describing here is one of the most important British rock bands in the 70s and the 80s.

Formed in London in 1977, its members were Sting (lead vocals and bass), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums) and they became very popular in the late seventies playing a style of rock influenced by punk, jazz and reggae.

The Police were initially a punk rock band

In 1977, they released their first album, Outlandos d´Amour. This album included their first successful song, "Roxanne", which made them gain widespread recognition through the United Kingdom and start to be known abroad.

Regatta de Blanc (1979)

In 1979, they produced their second album, Regatta de Blanc, which topped British and European charts for weeks. By then, they had already become a very popular band. Their next album, Zenyatta Mondatta (1980) sent them straight to stardom. It included songs like "Don´t Stand So Close To Me" or "De Do Do Do De Da Da Da".

Synchronicity (1983)

Their last studio album was Sinchronicity (1983), containing the hit single "Every Breath You Take", which is one of their most easily recognisable songs. The album reached number one both in Britain and in The United States and made the group win three Grammy Awards.




In 2007-2008, the trio reunited for a successful world tour

The band disbanded in 1986 and each one of its members continued with their solo careers. Sting, who had previously worked as an English secondary teacher, was specially successful, trying to keep  the spirit and the style of The Police, one of the most important rock bands of the 20th century.

Sting has continued with his career as solo artist

As we always do, we show you some of their most popular songs. We hope you like them. And let us know your opinion about the band or the songs.

Roxanne

Every Breath You Take

Message in a Bottle

Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic

THE BEST OPENING LINES FROM BOOKS

When you start reading a good book, it´s difficult to stop.

As you know, next 23rd April, we are celebrating the Book Day all over the world. Although book lovers don´t need any special day to read, we think that it is a fantastic occasion to make everybody aware of how lucky we readers are. Those people who like reading know that a reader can live a thousand lives before he/she dies. However, a person who never reads only lives one.




Here you have some famous quotes about books

 

 

 As a tribute to so many books that have made us fly with their magic, we are presenting you the opening lines of ten famous novels written in English. We hope that they will also be the beginning of a long friendship between you and, at least, some of them.




-The Catcher in The Rye, JD Salinger

 

 

"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you´ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don´t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth."



-Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen

 

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man, in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."



-A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

 

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair."




-The Great Gatsby, Francis Scott Fitzgerald

  

"In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I´ve been turning over in my mind ever since."





-Moby Dick, Herman Melville

"Call me Ishmael."

-1984, George Orwell

"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."






-Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury

"It was a pleasure to burn".

-2001 A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke

"Behind every man now alive stand thirty ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living."

 

 

 

 

 

-Harry Potter and The Philosopher´s Stone, J.K. Rowling

"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four of Privet Drive were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much".





-Alice´s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll

 

"Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the riverbank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, "and what is the use of a book", thought Alice, "without pictures or conversation"?"

CATCH THE CHEESE... IF YOU CAN!

People run after a cheese down a steeped hill

We have already said that British people love traditions, no matter how absurd they may seem to be. We are presenting you now one of the most astonishing races you can see anywhere in the world.


The Cooper´s Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake takes place every year on the last Monday of May, at Cooper´s Hill, near Gloucester in the Cotswolds region of England.

Competitors from all over the world have to race down the stepped hill after a piece of Double Gloucester Cheese. The first person over the finish line at the bottom of the hill wins the cheese. Quite obviously enough, nobody can ever catch the cheese, since it can reach speeds up to 112 km/h.

The number of injuries is elevated

INJURIES

Due to the steepness and uneven surface of the hill from sprained ankles to broken bones and concussion (traumatic brain injury). In spite of all these accidents, the number of participants keeps on growing every year.

The winner gets a Gloucester cheese

Do you feel like running after a piece of cheese down an English hill? If so, have a look at the videos we show here. Maybe you will want to visit Cooper´s Hill when the next rolling race arrives.

BLADE RUNNER: "TEARS IN RAIN"

Blade Runner, one of the best sci-fi movies ever

It´s time for science-fiction in our blog. We are talking about one of the most famous films within this genre: Blade Runner. This American film was released in 1982 by Ridley Scott starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer and Sean Young. The screenplay was loosely based on Philip K. Dick´s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?


The film depicts a dystopian Los Angeles in 2019. A dystopia is a society, usually fictional, that is in some important way undesirable or frightening. It is the opposite of a utopia. In Blade Runner, the action centres on a series of genetically engineered organic robots called Replicants (they are visually indistinguishable from humans). These replicants are banned on Earth and used only for dangerous work on off-world colonies.

Harrison Ford is a "blade runner"

Replicants who defy the ban and return to Earth are hunted down and killed by special police operatives called "blade runners". In the film, one of these blade runners, Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), agrees to hunt down a brutal group of recently escaped replicants hiding in Los Angeles.





While not initially a success with American audiences, the film was popular internationally and soon became a cult film. It has been recognised as the best science-fiction film of all time by several specialised magazines and its influence can be seen in many subsequent science-fiction films, anime, video games and television programmes.

Well, if you haven´t seen the film and you like science-fiction, don´t wait any longer! This is a film that you will never forget.

The Replicants return to Earth

 

Among the sequences you can see here stands out the final monologue of the replicant Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer), during a rain downpour moments before his own death. It has been described as "perhaps the most moving death soliloquy in cinematic history:

"I´ve seen things that you people wouldn´t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die."

 

 

 

AC/DC. AUSTRALIAN HARD ROCK.

AC/DC, hard rock legends.

It all began in 1973 when brothers Malcolm and Angus Young saw the initials AC/DC on her sister Margaret´s sewing machine, the abbreviation meaning "alternating current/ direct current". The brothers felt that this name symbolised the band´s raw energy, power-driven performances of their music.

The members of the band

Malcolm and Angus Young were two Scottish brothers who had moved to Australia with their family ten years before. It would be there where they formed the band AC/DC, one of the most important hard rock bands of all time.

Brian Johnson and Angus Young,

Although the band´s line-up has changed several times over the years, together with the Young brothers (Angus is the guitarist and songwriter and Malcolm rhythm guitarist and back vocalist)  we can mention as its most important members Phil Rudd (drums), Cliff Williams (bass and backing vocals) and Brian Johnson (vocals since 1980). Johnson joined the band after the death of the previous lead singer Bon Scott after a night of "acute alcohol poisoning".

Highway To Hell (1979)

  

Although the band had already released five albums, it would not be until 1979 that they got international success with their album "Highway to Hell". Following Scott´s death and his replacement by ex-Geordie´s vocalist Brian Johnson, they recorded the album "Back in Black", including hits like "Hell´s Bells" or "You Shook Me All Night Long". It was an enormous commercial success all over the world.

Back in Black (1980)

Next successful albums were "Blow Up Your Video" or "The Razor´s Edge". This album included hits such as "Thunderstruck" or "Are You Ready". Since then, the band´s popularity has never decreased and they can be considered as one of the most important hard rock or heavy metal bands in history. They have sold more than 200 million albums worldwide and their album Back in Black is the second-highest-selling album by any artist- behind only Michael Jackson´s Thriller.

The Razor´s Edge (1990)

 Now, it´s time to listen to some of their most popular songs. There´s no doubt most of you will know them. They are an outstanding part of rock history.