9/11 TERRORIST ATTACKS, 25th ANNIVERSARY

Twenty-five years ago today, over 2900 lives were lost in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. Looking back at that fateful day with this video timeline.

Video "Remembering 9/11: a timeline of tragic events":

Video "How America's worst terrorist attack unfolded":

DOLLY PARTON, AMERICAN COUNTRY SINGER, DIES

 + info: click on pic

American country singer and actress, Dolly Parton, died at the age of 80. She's an icon in USA culture. Here are some of her most famous songs:

Video "9 TO 5", Dolly Parton:

Video "I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU", Dolly Parton: (Song originally hers)

Video "JOLENE" (live), Dolly Parton:

Audio "ISLANDS IN THE STREAM", Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers:

"JURASSIC PARK" FAME ACTOR SAM NEILL DIES

 New Zealand actor Sam Neill has died, age 78. He featured in many films but mostly known for his role as paleontologist Alan Grant in the "Jurassic Park" saga.

Australian TV news video:

THANKSGIVING & BLACK FRIDAY 2025

 It's Thanksgiving once again and the day after Thanksgiving is always Black Friday, but not only in the USA, it's a worldwide marketing sale event nowadays.

Link to all previous posts related on this blog about both THANKSGIVING & BLACK FRIDAY HERE.

AMERICAN ACTRESS DIANE KEATON DIES

 

In memory of American actress Diane Keaton who died today at the age of 79. RIP

Diane Keaton (January 5, 1946 – October 11, 2025) was an American actress. She was known for her leading film roles and distinctive fashion style. She collaborated frequently with Woody Allen appearing in eight of his films. Over a career spanning more than five decades, she received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and two Golden Globe Awards, along with nominations for two Emmy Awards and a Tony Award. (Source: Wikipedia)

Video:

GOODBYE TO JANE GOODALL

 

+ info:

BBC: "AN EXTRAORDINARY LEGACY"

THE GUARDIAN: "JANE GOODALL, WORLD-RENOWNED PRIMATOLOGIST, DIES AGED 91"

Video:

AMERICAN ACTOR ROBERT REDFORD DIES

 Breaking news: the death of American actor Robert Redford has just been announced. He was 89 years old and is considered an icon of classic Hollywood cinema. Actor, director, producer and founder of Sundance film festival. RIP.

Video news announced on TV:

Video his top 10 movies:

AMERICAN SINGER ROBERTA FLACK DIED

Today the singer-composer Roberta  Flack passed away at the age of 88. Her greatest hit was the all-time classic "KILLING ME SOFTLY WITH HIS SONG" 

Video "KILLING ME SOFTLY WITH HIS SONG", Roberta Flack:

THANKSGIVING MENU VOCABULARY

 

GOODBYE MATTHEW, GOODBYE CHANDLER

 All the worldwide fans of TV series "FRIENDS" sadly woke up this morning to the news of the death of actor Matthew Perry, who played the role of sarcastic but lovable Chandler Bing in the famous TV-comedy. At the age of 54 and after having struggled with drugs and alcohol throughout the years he worked in the series as  he told in his own written memoirs.

Here's our tribute with some of his best moments in "Friends". RIP, Matthew. Bye bye Chandler!

Video "CHANDLER'S SARCASM":

Video "UNFORGETTABLE CHANDLER MOMENTS":

TINA TURNER, SIMPLY THE BEST. RIP

With great sadness the death of a great artist has been announced: Tina Turner has died today in Switzerland at the age of 83. RIP, to simply the best.

Video "THE BEST", Tina Turner:

Video "WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?", Tina Turner:

Video "PRIVATE DANCER", Tina Turner:

THANKSGIVING 2020: CELEBRATING DURING A PANDEMIC

 Today the USA celebrate their own great tradition of THANKSGIVING that is followed tomorrow by their great merchandising export BLACK FRIDAY. But this year both activities will be conditioned by the COVID pandemic.

We're including a link with guidance for a safe Thanksgiving celebration, which we could adapt to our Christmas celebrations in a month's time.

- HOW TO CELEBRATE THANKSGIVING 2020 SAFELY

To remind you about what Thanksgiving & Black Friday is all about, here's the link to previous year's posts on this blog:

- THANKSGIVING & BLACK FRIDAY.

THE HISTORY OF 'BLACK FRIDAY'

Black Friday, USA's marketing invention after Thanksgiving, is now a common feature in other parts of the world, this video tells you the history of this event.

Video:



Previous posts about 'Black Friday' on this blog HERE.

GROUNDHOG DAY

What will Phil, the groundhog, predict? The arrival of spring or is the winter still staying for a few more weeks? Today's the day, when this American tradition takes place in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, a groundhog emerges from his burrow and if it's cloudy, the spring season will arrive early but if it's sunny and the animal sees its shadow, winter will persist six more weeks. See what happens today... 

Previous GROUNDHOG DAY posts HERE.

[13th CW] WHAT'S THE BEST WAY TO COMMUTE TO NEW YORK?

Many people have to commute every day. Commute is the trip you have to do to go to work. In smaller cities, like Coruña, people can commute walking, but in bigger cities, like New York, it's impossible to go walking due to the long distances, and people have to use different means of transport.

In New York, do you know what's the most effective way to commute?

Would you go by subway/underground, by taxi, by bike, by Uber or by ferry?

Which do you think is the best way? Make your guesses, then watch the video to see if you are right...

Video "NYC's BEST WAYS TO COMMUTE":

PITTSBURGH FACTS

Our lecturer this course, Laura, has been talking about her hometown in 1st BAC classes these last two weeks. 
She's been telling us about how the city grew in the past with the steel industry, bringing many immigants to the city, and why it's important now: good science and techonology universities and the film industry with many films having been shot there. 
She also talked about the important things from this city: 
- HEINZ, the food processing company started there, 
and the different sport teams: 
- the Pittsburgh Steelers (American football team which has won the Super Bowl more times than any other team in the USA), 
- the Pittsburgh Pirates (baseball), 
- the Pittsburgh Penguins (hockey)... 
Moreover, she showed us the famous Pittsburgh skyline which can be seen from the Duquesne incline. To end she commented the way people from Pittsburgh speak, their peculiar accent: Pittsburghese, which was chosen the worst American accent by an online poll some years ago.

Here's the video we saw to prove about the accent and to show how nice it is to see Pittsburgh from the incline. Have a look... See how much you can understand...

Video Pittsburgh skyline & incline:

TODAY'S...

American marketing invention which has extended throughout the world. Initially the day after Thanksgiving in the USA and the start of the Christmas shopping season with huge discounts. 

Black Friday History

For millions of people Black Friday is the time to do some serious Christmas shopping --even before the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers are gone! Black Black is the Friday after Thanksgiving, and it's one of the major shopping days of the year in the United States -falling anywhere between November 23 and 29. While it's not recognized as an official US holiday, many employees have the day off -except those working in retail.

The term “Black Friday” was coined in the 1960s to mark the kickoff to the Christmas shopping season. “Black” refers to stores moving from the “red” to the “black,” back when accounting records were kept by hand, and red ink indicated a loss, and black a profit. Ever since the start of the modern Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1924, the Friday after Thanksgiving has been known as the unofficial start to a bustling holiday shopping season.

In the 1960's, police in Philadelphia griped about the congested streets, clogged with motorists and pedestrians, calling it “Black Friday.” In a non-retail sense, it also describes a financial crisis of 1869: a stock market catastrophe set off by gold spectators who tried and failed to corner the gold market, causing the market to collapse and stocks to plummet.

[Taken from blackfriday.com]

Click here to previous posts on this blog about this issue:

- 2011 post.

- last year's post.

TRADITIONAL AMERICAN SQUARE DANCING @ "RAFAEL DIESTE" [7th CW]

Last Friday, 29th April, to end up our VII Cultural Week on Pioneers, another activity organized from our English Department took place.

One of our English teachers together with a group of her students performed a traditional American Square Dance. Originally from England, this dance was taken to America by the first settlers, and spread throughout North America thanks to the American pioneers.

We're including in this post links to more info about:

- American Pioneers.

- Traditional Square Dance.

Also including videos of the Square Dance performance at our school, an original American video of how to dance it and the karaoke video of the song "SHE'LL BE COMING ROUND THE MOUNTAINS"

Video of our school performance:

American video explaining how to dance:


Video "SHE'LL BE COMING ROUND THE MOUNTAINS":


Galician version of this post @ ArquivosDoTrasno.

PURPLE TEARS FOR PRINCE: NOTHING COMPARES TO HIM

Terrible 2016 takes away yet another important legendary music figure. Prince has died at 57. He died yesterday afternoon at his home in Minneapolis.

+ info @ BBC.
+ Prince's hits.

Many of Prince's songs were sung by other artists. One of his greatest hits was "NOTHING COMPARES TO YOU", by Sinead O'Connor. Here's her video of the song with English/Spanish subtitles:

GLEN FREY, A MISSING EAGLE

Unfortunately the bad news loop continues...

Another death to add to this bad start of the year. Yesterday it was Glen Frey, founding member of the mythical American band Eagles, who died at the age of 67. RIP

Above the photo a Glen in the years of the Eagles, below a more recent one.
Here's the video of the most legendary song from the band:







Video "HOTEL CALIFORNIA", Eagles: