Week 5: writing about sports

Stef Heivers

The subject for this week is sports. As a matter of fact this is my favourite subject. I’m really interested in sports. Myself, I did a lot of different sports in my life. As a little kid I took 3 years of swimming class. After the swimming class I took karate, I really liked this karate thing, as a matter a fact I eventually got a brown belt, that’s nearly a black belt, the highest grade in karate. But my karateclub had some financial problems so I had to move to another karate club but I didn’t like it there, because it’s wasn’t the same anymore.

Basketball would be my next sport. At that time I was like 15 years old and I was really into basketball, my favourite team was/is The Orlando Magics, I even went to see baskeball matches (for example Charleroi). After my basketball ‘experience’ I decided to go and play football. Since I was a little kid I was interested in football but it only in a passive way. My favourite team is RSC Anderlecht, every season I go watch a lot of matches in Brussel. Right now they are in the UEFA cup and I’m proud to be a supporter.

As you can see I did a lot of sports, it changes constantly, so who knows what I’ll doing in a few years…

Corneel Keimes

This week the Champions league 1/8 finals were played on Tuesday and Wednesday, and there were some pretty interesting matches on the program. Current cup holder AC Milan faced Arsenal and all-star team Real Madrid had to best AS Roma. Other interesting matches included Manchester United against Lyon, Fenerbahçe versus FC Sevilla and, next week however, Inter Milan against Liverpool.

But we’ll start with the most interesting confrontation on the board. AC Milan versus Arsenal. Although the earlier confrontation in Wembley ended in a boring draw, the match in San Siro promised to be quite an exciting game. AC Milan left Kaka, Dida and Pato on the bench during last Saturdays league match so they would be in top form for this vital match. Both teams missed two strong holders, Milan missed Seedorf and Arsenal started without Eduardo. Milan began furious with several chances and with lots of pressure, Arsenal was held on their on side of the pitch. Only halfway through the match the gunners started to gather some chances, Fabregas’ shot was saved by Kalac and Fabregas was held back for being in an off-side position. After half-time, Milan piles up the pressure but seems unable to disrupt the Arsenal defence, led by a secure playing Senderos and rock in the surf Almunia, they repelled every challenge Milan threw at them. Arsenal started to grow in confidence and deservedly took the lead in the 80-th minute when captain Fabregas made a fabulous shot over 30 meters and scored. Milan knew they had do something quick and Milan coach Ancelloti brought in Gilardino for the disappointing Inzaghi. But all in vain as Arsenal took the game home in the 90-th minutie with a goal from Adebayor.

Lennart Deelstra

Anderlecht loses with 0-5 against Bayern Munich

Anderlecht has to forget the qualification for the quarter-finals of the UEFA-cup. The champion of Belgium couldn’t cope the class team of Bayern Munich.

Bayern didn’t start with Ribery and Klose, they started as substitutes . Anderlecht hoped that Bayern would underestimate them, just like Bordeaux did. But after 10 minutes their hope disappeared. Alintop scored from a distance of 30 meters. Anderlecht reacted by a shot hitting the post by Chatelle. Just before the break Anderlecht got knock-out. Wasilewksi received a stupid second yellow card and was sent off the pitch. Munich took the advantage and scored by Luca Toni.

After the break Anderlecht had to control the damage, but that wasn’t easy at all. Especially because Ribery and Klose got on the pitch. The third goal of Bayern came rather quick. After Ribery intercepted the ball from Biglia, he passed the ball to Podolski and he scored an easy goal. Ten minutes later the punishment was almost complete: Klose scored after a marvelous combination of the German team. Bayern wasn’t ready yet: Ribery scored the fifth goal with a beautiful free kick.

The return game is absolutely not necessary after the worst European defeat of Anderlecht at home.

Week 4: writing about media

Stef Heivers

This week we received the assignment to publish a blogpost about the whole media thing.

I found It quite difficult to pick a topic about this subject.

Anyway I found a very interesting thing to talk about.

It’s a thing I would like the call ‘the media circus’. Probably it will ring a bell as soon as you hear those words. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about: it’s a phenomenon when something is said by for example a famous person, sometimes the media people/ the journalists put his or her words in a different context and a whole mistake has been created.

In Hollywood this media circus has a quite huge impact on the celebrities. A good example is Britney Spears, she’s depressed just because of the whole media circus.

While writing this blogpost I realise that there are two meaning for this ‘media circus’. It can also be a news event where the media coverage is perceived to be out of proportion to the event being covered, such as the number of reporters at the scene, the amount of news media published or broadcast, and the level of media hype. The term is meant to critique the media and as such is an idiom and not an objective observation.

So this is my blogpost about the subject media, I hope you liked it a little bit, and ‘till next week.

Lennart Deelstra

“Lust, caution”-actress banned in China

Actress Tang Wei has been banned of the media by the Chinese authorities, because of her play in the erotic spy thriller “Lust, caution”, directed by Ang Lee.

The authorities have forced the media to withdraw the advertisements and commercials where Tang had a role in. The actress is the figurehead of the campaign of beauty brand Pond. The authorities want also that there’s no editorial attention for the actress.

In the movie “Lust, caution” are some sex-scenes where she has a big role. The film gets also a lot of critics about its political content. China had released a censured version of it last year.

Week 3: writing about pleasure

Lennart Deelstra

Horrible tackle breaks leg of Eduardo Da Silva

The Croatian striker of Arsenal broke his leg during the game against Birmingham. Because of that injury he will probably not be at the European Championships this summer in Austria and Switzerland.

After three minutes was Da Silva tackled by Taylor, who was directly sent off the pitch. The 24-year-old Croatian got medical assistance on the pitch for eight minutes. After that he has been brought to the hospital. Some of Da Silva’s teammates were devastated after the incident.

There is no information about the diagnosis of the injury at the moment. Skysports, who broadcasted the game live, didn’t show any replays of the horrible tackle because the images would be too schocking.

The game itself wasn’t great for the Gunners either, the leader of the Premier League didn’t win against Birmingham. Birmingham scored first by James McFadden, but Arsenal got in pole position after scoring two goals. But at the very final moment in the extra time, Birmingham received a penalty and took advantage of it.

Arsenal still leads the championship, but Manchester United is just three points behind. Man U mastered Newcastle with a 1 -5 score. Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Louis Saha scored the goals for Manchester.

Stef Heivers

Okay, so this is the third week of our blog task. The subject ‘Leisure’ has been given to us. For this week, I’m going to talk about my youth movement. About a quarter million children and youngsters participate weekly in one of the various youth movements active in our part of the country. Chiro is one of the biggest: in about one thousand local groups, Chiro Flanders unites around 100,000 members. In almost every municipality. Probably Chiro is one of the most famous youth movements. But of course there are a lot of other youth movements. For example: KLJ, KSA...

I’m also participating in a youth movement: KLJ. It’s nearly the same as an other youth movement. It has been 9 years since I joined the KLJ. We meet every Saturday from 2 ‘till 5 and then we do a lot of fun stuff. For example this Saturday we are going to swim in a local swimming pool. All of my best friends are in the KLJ and most of the time we go to a bar afterwards with a whole bunch of friends, so it’s always very amusing.Every month we meet also on Friday for a 16+ activity. That stands for a lot of fun. Mostly during those Fridays we play poker and drink some alcohol. Since this year I’m also a ‘leader’, so I have to make up fun tasks for the little children in our KLJ movement. First I didn’t use to like it, but it’s really amusing.

Corneel Keimes

My favourite leisure activities include playing poker, playing football and going out for a drink with my friends. But my favourite is being a leader for the scouts. I’v’ been a member of the scouts for over 10 years and this is my second year as a leader and I still enjoy it very much.

My scouts group was 30 years old last year and in the same year, we reached the void of 200 members, whitch is pretty much for a small community like hoevenen. Our group is dividend into groups based on the age of the members. You have the “kapoenen”, age between 6-8, the “kabouters” for girls and the “welpen” for boys between 8 and 11 years old. Then there are the “jongidsen” and “jongverkenners” for 11 to 14-year olds. The next group are the “Givers” which is for boys and girls from 14 to 17 years old, and last but not least you have the “Jins” who are 18 years old. That last year is to prepare them for becoming a leader the next year.

I’m a leader for the second lounges group, the “welpen” which can be very tiring and frustrating because they often don’t listen or are up to misschief, but when you prepare a fun and exciting game and you can see that they are really enjoying theeservies, you get a very satisfied feeling.

You also become closer with the other leaders and they often become good friends after a year together. You also learn to communicate with parents or other leaders, and you get the chance to really learn what responsability is. In other words, the boyscouts are trully a fun leisure activity which everyone should have at least tried once.

Week 2: writing about art

Lennart Deelstra

No Venus in the underground of London

The London underground has refused an art where you can see a Venus of the 16^th century. The artifact is a part of a publicity campaign for an exposition in the British capital.

“Every message of advertising where men, women or children are shown in a sexual way, is prohibited.” That is the motivation of the London underground based on their own official regulation.

The Royal Academy is displeased: “It is ridiculous that we can’t show a piece of art that’s 500 years old.” The president of the commission of culture of the British government, John Whittingdale, gives also his opinion about this issue. He thinks the decision is idiot: “It is unthinkable that this old masterpiece could give offence to someone.”

Stef Heivers

Our next subject for our blog is Art. I picked a subgenre of art: pop-art. I’m not really a person who likes art, but pop-art fascinates me in a certain special way, so I’ve chosen to pick something about pop-art.A very famous name into British pop-art is Peter Blake. Probably a lot of people don’t know him. Maybe when I tell you his most famous work, you’ll might know him. His most famous artwork is the design of the sleeve for the Beatley’s album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. As a matter of fact, he’s a good friend of the beatles and they admire his artworks, so that’s why they asked him for this job. Watch out! Not only the Beatles admired his work, he also did a lot of work for other various artists.

So let me tell you a little bit more of his career. In the late 50’s he was seen as one of the most popular pop-art artist of Britain. He was even kinda overloaded by work: he did a lot of exhibitions and he was frequently asked to make some sleeves for several artists (Oasis etc.)

For the people who don’t know what I’m talking about, let me explain you what pop-art is all about. As a matter a fact pop-art is the name of a visual art movement. It founds its origin in the 1950’s in Britain, so as a matter of fact Peter Blake was not only one of the most popular pop artists, he was also one of the first. Pop-art is a very expressive art. The most important characteristic of pop-art is that there are a lot of banal or kitschy elements of a popular culture used in the artwork. It’s a little bit hard to define pop-art in a few sentences, but I’ll add a picture to my blogpost, you’ll might understand what I mean.

http://www.chess-theory.com/images1/12705a_peter_blake.jpg

The following artwork is from who else but Peter Blake. Now I hope you kinda know what I mean by pop-art.

Corneel Keimes

Arty farty

Art is a very extensive item which has many different categories. Almost everyone has a different view and opinion on art. Some say literature is an art, others say paintings or statues are art. Even others say that even graffiti is an art. I think this is all a bit too vague to really point out what really is art and what is not.

If I look at my own preferences, or definition, of art. I have to say that to me, art is something that was created in a time when it was renewing and never seen before. Like the paintings from Rubens or those of the caveman from the prehistory. Or buildings like the Hagia Sofia or the temples from the Aztec civilization. Even music from Mozart or The Clash. Things that change the course of a culture towards something new and exciting. But sadly, al has changed today.

Today, I believe that too many things get the title art. Like for instance the pictures from Spencer Tunick or the latest exhibit of Paul McCartney. To me, that is not art. It’s rubbish. It may contain a message, although I wonder what it is in the case of Spencer Tunick, but this just doesn’t work for me. Everything that has no obvious message is called art, even when it really means nothing. It is almost as if no one can really define art and that is what makes it so incomprehensible for people. So it sounds obvious to me that we all define art as what we think is art and not what they tell us that art is.

Blogweek1: writing about celebs

Corneel Keimes

Did Heath Ledger die a natural death?

As we all know, young Hollywood superstar Heath Ledger died two weeks ago in his apartment in New York. According to federal investigators, Ledger died of a fatal combination of no less then six different drugs. This news was received in disbelief and shock in Hollywood, but claims that Ledger’s death was unintentional leaves some matter to think about.

The local authorities state that, after extensive investigation, Ledger was found to have died of a fatal combination of pain killers, sleeping pills and anti-anxiety drugs. No less then six different drugs were found in his body, all of them were bought by Ledger with a doctor’s prescription.

It is quite astonishing that Ledger took all of these drugs willingly and at the same time. Ledger knew the risks that these sorts of medicine contain and the hazardous effect that these drugs could present for his health. But was he just ignorant or did he really took them intentionally. That’s the question that keeps America in its spell.

But now, as his funeral draws near, his family and close friends come up with another theory, they claim that Ledger’s level of drugs in his body was not high enough to have killed him. Instead they say that he died of a drug induced heart attack. His family also states that Legder showed signs of fatigue, but rather of being tired physically rather then being tired mentally or tired of life.

Since the last word hasn’t been said about this case, the only thing we can really conclude for now is that Ledger’s death is a serious blow for Hollywood and the entire film industry as another promising youngster is gone.

Lennart Deelstra

No U.S.-visa for Amy Winehouse

The british singer Amy Winehouse doesn’t get a visa to go to the United States. The American embassy in London refused to give her the document because of her possession of drugs in Norway last year. The rejection means that she will not be at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles this Sunday.

The spokesman of the 24-year old singer told Amy was disappointed, but she has accepted the decision and now she fully concentrates on her recovery.

She was nominated for six Grammy Awards like best album (“Back to black”) and best song (“Rehab”). Because she would normally had a gig at the awards, the organization will try to let her give a gig via a satellite connection.

The pop star is notorious for her drug and alcohol abuse. Last year she got arrested for having marihuana in Norway. She stays at a rehab in London at the moment.

Stef Heivers

Britney spears is a wreck/the doctors extended her hospital stay recently

January 31th, the 26-year old Britney Spears was surrounded by some paramedics, guarded by helicopters and a huge police escort. They immediately guided the popstar to a local psychiatric hospital. The first intention was to keep her in the clinic for about 72 hours . Surprisingly they extended her stay by 14 days. This shows the world how serious the situation is. La Spears was to be released from UCLA Medical Center’s psychiatric hospital Sunday, but doctors and a medical officer at the ward determined that she should stay a couple more days in the hospital. Her family is deeply shocked with this situation.

Her recent behaviour woke up the attention of a lot people. A few weeks ago she even lost her children to her husband Kevin Federline. Kevin Fed, as they call him in Hollywood is especially known as a party animal. This incident also might had an influence on Britney’s behaviour the last couple of days.While her new video is conquering the world, the pop diva is slowing going under. It seems that she can’t handle the stress anymore and the pressure of being a celebrity…