This midday I was watching TV in my house as I usually do, and I was shocked when I heard a piece of news on TV : “the 2009 poker series winner has earned six million euros in his last game”. This curious Championship takes place every year in Las Vega (Nevada) in USA. The lucky guy is a young man (he’s just 26) who has recently given up his studies because of poker (obviously after this prize he was completely right). Now we can consider him a real professional poker player… and a rich man as well.
His parents were watching this game, in spite of the fact that at first they were angry with their son, they couldn’t understand that their little boy Joe gave up his studies to play cards…. what  nonsense, they thought….I guess that at the moment they’ve changed their mind.
As everything in Las Vegas the last game was an amazing spectacle, you just have to take a look at this video and you’ll be able to see the last game….. and the impressive stack of money on the table…. it’s amazing, isn’t it?

Rumour has it that these two outstanding singers typically do playback versions of their songs. I just wanted to point out it’s a downright lie. These videos dismiss any possible speculation. Enjoy.

I’m completely sure that you’ve heard about it, because this documentary has had a huge advertising campaign and I have to recognize that I thought that it was just Michael Jackon’s family last business (well probably it is…) but anyway I decided to watch it, I like music and I like cinema so last night I had the chance.
First I’m going to tell you that I’m not a Michael Jackon’s fan, to be honest I don’t admire Michael as a person, but as a dancer, as a musician I think he had an enormous talent, and in spite of what it seemed, he was doing reasonably well, at least in this documentary he danced pretty wll, he sang well, and the show was amazing.
Please take a look at this trailer and if you have the chance go to the cimena and watch it… it’s worth it!

Kim Peek is the real life Rain Man whom the Dustin Hoffman character was based in the movie. Described as a confounding mixture of disability and brilliance, Kim is in love with knowledge. Kim Peek is probably the world’s most famous savant. Kim was diagnosed as being mentally retarded at birth, but with father Fran’s support he has developed a memory that is without equal.

Born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. Kim has lived here all of his life. The local library is Kim’s favourite place in the world. Kim devours books on anything and everything, as many as eight in a day. He reads at a phenomenal rate, a page that may take you or I three minutes will take Kim about 10 seconds. He reads the left page with his left eye and the right page with his right eye and will retain about 98% of it. He has 15 subject areas but about the only thing he can’t do is, he can’t reason out mathematical problems.

In 1951, doctors wanted to place Kim in a mental hospital named American Fork. His father was determined that Kim would not go to an institution, he would be raised at home as a normal child.

Fran and Kim’s mother parted in 1975, leaving Fran as Kim’s sole carer. Fran is now almost 80 years old. Kim says “I wasn’t supposed to make it past about 14, and yet here I am at 54, a celebrity!”.

As a child, Kim was very introverted. It wasn’t until he was 37 when he met Dustin Hoffman, that he could look into someone’s face. Fran relates that “Dustin Hoffman said to me, you have to promise me one thing about this guy, share him with the world. And pretty soon it got so that nobody was a stranger to him, they were people, and so was he”. Barry Morrow, the Rain Man screenwriter says of Kim: “I love the way he’s flowered, it belies the myth that people don’t change, especially people with developmental disabilities”.

Fran took Dustin Hoffman’s advice to share Kim with the world. The once introverted Kim has now appeared in front of more than 2 million people, all eager to test his genius with obscure questions.

Kim’s gifts come at a price. Like all savants, Kim is an acutely different man, sometimes understanding Kim can be a challenge. Kim can become very agitated when trying to understand a new concept, but Fran has phenomenal patience and will calm Kim by gently changing the subject to something Kim is happier with.

Looking after Kim is more than a full-time job, Fran jokes that he needs 30 hours a day and 10 days a week. Kim knows how essential his dad is to him: “My dad and I share the same shadow!”

Most savants have only one dominating interest, Kim seems to soak up everything. His interests range from boxing, to politics, to the British Monarchy.

This time a slightly different and rather tough listening challenge. I challenge you to submit a transcription of this video footage. If you can. I couldn’t.

This morning I got up and in my email I had a funny surprise, one of my friends sent me a link where I could watch a video of a wedding abroad.
In this video you will not be able to practice your English a lot because it’s different from other videos where you can listen to a conversation o something like that in order to improve your English level. In the following video you will listen to a song and you will watch a funny choreography performed by the friends of the bride and bridegroom in their most special day, their wedding.
I could see that funny video several times because I like it a lot and I´m absolutely amazed almost like the guests, you can see their amazed and happy faces, it is only a video where you can see another way to say YES.
In my opinion, this video has been the best option that I have seen ever to say YES.
This video has been wacthed in youtube by more than 30 million people around the world.
The video transmits much happiness and I´m sure you will enjoy it.

If this kid selling fans in an Indian street can effectively learn and use many languages for diplomacy and business related transactions, how come that most of our political leaders here in Spain do not speak English at all? They won’t even make any effort to try to learn it. Aznar’s English is embarrassing and Rajoy’s and Zapatero’s simply non-existent. Shouldn’t it be a job requirement?

At first I thought it was some kind of practical joke for a TV comedy show or something. But the stuff is real. Painstakingly real. I wish they had been told: “Por qué no te callas?”.

Christopher Columbus writings prove he was Spanish, claims study

Italy, France, Portugal and even Scotland are among those who have claimed Christopher Columbus as their own over the years, citing a range of spurious links.

But American researchers say the mystery over the explorer’s true origins has finally been solved after a thorough investigation of his writings.

A study of the language used in the official records and letters of the Great Navigator apparently proves he hailed from the Kingdom of Aragon in northeastern Spain and his mother tongue was Catalan.

Since his death in 1506 debate has raged over the true nationality of the man credited with discovering the Americas.

It was widely believed that he was the son of a weaver born in the Italian port of Genoa, but over the centuries he has been claimed as a native son of Greece, Catalonia, Portugal, Corsica, France and even Poland.

According to one theory, he may have been Jewish and another more recent account traced his origins to Scotland.

But a linguistic professor at Georgetown University in Washington has published new findings following an exhaustive study of documents written in his hand.

Estelle Irizarry studied his language and grammar and concluded that Columbus was a Catalan speaking man from the Kingdom of Aragon, an inland region of north-eastern Spain at the foot of the Pyrenees.

The findings published this month in a new book “The DNA of the writings of Columbus” explain that although he wrote in Castilian it was clearly not his first language and his origins can be pinpointed to the Aragon region because of the grammar and the way he constructed sentences.

“He didn’t express him correctly in any written language,” said the professor. “His Spanish was notoriously incorrect yet at the same time efficient, poetic and eloquent.”

A scientific project launched three years ago to discover his true origins using DNA comparisons between his family and possible descendants has so far failed to provide conclusive results.

A team of scientists took samples from the tomb of Columbus in Seville and from bones belonging to his brother and son and compared them to the genetic make-up of hundreds of people living across Europe with surnames believed to be modern day variants of Columbus.

Swabs were taken from the cheeks of Colom’s in Catalonia, Colombo’s in Italy and even members of the deposed Portuguese royal family, who argue that Columbus was the product of an extramarital affair involving a Portuguese prince.

Scientists had hoped to establish a common ancestor using standard Y-chromosome tests but they have yet to find a link.

They study may be in vain, however, as there is evidence to suggest that Columbus, who first crossed the Atlantic in 1492, may have adopted his surname later in life to disguise his true origins.

One theory claims that he once worked for a pirate called Vincenzo Columbus, and adopted that name in order not to embarrass his relations with his new profession.

Columbus himself, when asked about his origins, used to shrug off the questions. “Vine de nada” – “I came from nothing”, he said.

Ok, folks, here’s the listening challenge for the advanced class. And if you’re not in the class but you happen to be a Whitesnake fan, you are still welcome to participate. So I’m challenging you to send as a comment a full transcript of seconds 35 through 57 of this videoclip. Are you up to the challenge?