miércoles, 11 de abril de 2012

Hollywood

Hollywood is a district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema. Today, much of the movie industry has dispersed into surrounding areas. 
1920, Hollywood had become world-famous as the center of the United States film industry. In 1918, HJ Whitley commissioned architect A.S. Barnes to design Whitley Heights as a Mediterranean-style village on the steep hillsides above Hollywood Boulevard, and it became the first celebrity community. The neighborhood is roughly bordered on the north and east by Cahuenga Boulevard, on the west by Highland Avenue, and on the south by Franklin Avenue.

The Beatles


Group of British rock and pop music, stably integrated from 1961 by John Lennon (Liverpool,1940-New York, 1980), Paul McCartney (Liverpool, 1942), George Harrison (Liverpool, 1943) and Ringo Starr (Liverpool , 1940). It is difficult to give an exact date of when The Beatles were formed. In the second half of the 1950s, John Winston Lennon and his friend Peter Shotton (which would leave soon after) formed a band called The Quarrymen who, to which was added in 1957 Paul McCartney, followed shortly afterwards by George Harrison.

The Quarrymen started playing at various locations in Liverpool, at which time they were joined by bassist Stuart Sutcliffe. Even then it was evident the need to incorporate a battery. The group's name would suffer new variations, Johnny and the Moondogs from up-to following the fashion of naming animals and musical groups playing under the name of his style of music (Beat) - The Silver Beatles and The Beatles that would ultimately prove final.

Finally joined a drummer, Peter Best, and got to play a concert in Hamburg, in a place of dubious reputation called Kaiserkeller. His first German adventure ended prematurely with the expulsion of Harrison in the country because of their immaturity and the subsequent expulsion of McCartney and Best of hooliganism. In 1961 Germany again to return back to the UK almost unnoticed. Best left the band by deep disagreements with other members and was replaced by Ringo Starr (Richard Starkey). Soon after, Sutcliffe died of a German stroke victim. The formation of The Beatles was finally consolidated with John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

lunes, 9 de abril de 2012

United States Culture

The United States is a multicultural nation, home to a wide variety of ethnic groups, traditions, and values. Aside from the now small Native American and Native Hawaiian populations, nearly all Americans or their ancestors immigrated within the past five centuries. Mainstream American culture is a Western culture largely derived from the traditions of European immigrants with influences from many other sources, such as traditions brought by slaves from Africa. More recent immigration from Asia and especially Latin America has added to a cultural mix that has been described as both a homogenizing melting pot, and a heterogeneous salad bowl in which immigrants and their descendants retain distinctive cultural characteristics.
American culture is considered the most individualistic in the world. Though the American Dream, or the perception that Americans enjoy high social mobility, plays a key role in attracting immigrants, other developed nations offer greater social mobility. While the mainstream culture holds that the United States is a classless society, scholars identify significant differences between the country's social classes, affecting socialization, language, and values. The American middle and professional class has initiated many contemporary social trends such as modern feminism, environmentalism, and multiculturalism. Americans' self-images, social viewpoints, and cultural expectations are associated with their occupations to an unusually close degree. While Americans tend greatly to value socioeconomic achievement, being ordinary or average is generally seen as a positive attribute.

Christmas

In December, houses, streets, shop windows...lights to celebrate Christmas. Children write their letter to Santa Claus, because Santa Claus is England who distributes gifts and does so in the eveninf of December 24.
A few weeks before Christmas, famile prepare the traditional Christmas Pudding, the dessert be savored during Christmas dinner. Both young and adults love the Christmas Pudding.


And of course could not celebrate Christimas in England without the famous " Cracker" placed to next to each plate. When you pull on each side, a bom explodes and leaves surprise. 










lunes, 19 de marzo de 2012

Rihanna

Robyn Rihanna Fenty (born February 20, 1988), is a Barbadian recording artist. Born in Saint Michael, Barbados, Rihanna moved to the United States at the age of 16 to pursue a recording career under the guidance of record producer Evan Rogers. She subsequently signed a contract with Def Jam Recordings.
In 2005, Rihanna released her debut studio album, Music of the Sun, which peaked in the top ten of the Billboard 200 chart and features the Billboard Hot 100 top five hit single "Pon de Replay". In less than a year, she released her second studio album, A Girl Like Me (2006), which peaked within the top-five in the United States, and produced her first Hot 100 number one single, "SOS". Rihanna's third studio album, Good Girl Gone Bad released in May 2007, spawned the international hit singles "Umbrella", "Don't Stop the Music", "Take a Bow" and "Disturbia", with an additional four singles being released. Her fourth studio album Rated R (2009), produced the top-ten singles "Russian Roulette", "Hard" and "Rude Boy", with the latter achieving the number-one spot on the Billboard Hot 100. Loud (2010), Rihanna's fifth studio album, spawned the number-one hits "Only Girl (In the World)", "What's My Name?" and "S&M". "We Found Love" served as the lead single from Rihanna's sixth studio album, Talk That Talk (2011). The song was an international success, topping the charts in eighteen countries.
Rihanna's work has earned her numerous awards and accolades, including five American Music Awards, eighteen Billboard Music Awards, two BRIT Awards and six Grammy Awards. She has achieved a total of eleven number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming the youngest solo artist to achieve the feat. She is the highest-selling digital artist in US history, having sold 47,571,000 million singles and albums as of 2011. Furthermore, she has also shipped 7.3 million album units in the United States as of September 2011. Rihanna has sold more than 25 million albums and 60 million singles worldwide since the beginning of her career in 2005, which makes her one of the best selling artists of all time.

martes, 13 de marzo de 2012

New York

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education and entertainment.
Located on one of the world's largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, each of which comprises a state county. The five boroughs are The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. New York is the most densely populated major city in the United States. As many as 800 languages are spoken in New York, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world.

The Statue of Liberty is a globally recognized symbol of the United States and its democracy.
New York City is located in the Northeastern United States, in southeastern New York State, approximately halfway between Washington, D.C. and Boston. Much of New York is built on the three islands of Manhattan, Staten Island, and Long Island.