atlaslanguageschool

Dublin, the capital of cinema for 10 days by Rodolfo César (Guest blogger)

sarcasticdavid — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:41:12 +0000

Do you fancy a movie? Are in in Dublin from 16^th to 26^th? If so, you are in the right place. The Jameson Dublin International Film Festival is taking place. The idea of the event is to flood Dublin’s cinemas with over 140 screenings. Furthermore, Hollywood Greats Al Pacino (needs no introduction), Glenn Close (Cruella in 101 Dalmatians, Fatal Attraction), Mark Wahlberg (The Fighter, Planet of the Apes), Martin Sheen (Apocalypse Now, The Amazing Spider-Man) and Michael Madsen (Free Willy, Kill Bill, Reservoir Dogs) will attend the festival.

Unfortunately, some screenings have already sold out. Like the one which Al Pacino is going to attend (20^th, 19h30, at the Savoy for Wilde Salomé, a story based on “The New Testament of Salomé”, written by Oscar Wilde).

On the plus side, loads of movies are just 8 euros.

During this, its 10^th year, the festival will screen 100,000 minutes of film. You will have Irish (with 16 new features and documentaries and 19 short films), German, French, Russian movies, and so on. It’s going to take place at Cineworld (Parnell Street, Dublin 1), the Lighthouse Cinema (Blackmall Walk, Smithfield Market, Dublin 7) and the Savoy (17 Upper O’Connell Street, Dublin 1). The best way to purchase your ticket is to visit the festival website (jdiff.com).

The Gala presentation is going to be at the Savoy, 19h30 on Thursday 16^th, with Cloudburst, starring the Irish actress Brenda Fricker (Veronica Guerin). Tickets for this screening have sold out.

But, choose your film and you and your friends will have a great time. Both discovering new movies and learning English!

Enjoy!

Check out this link: http://vimeo.com/36422156

Do you, like, speak, like, like a teenager, I mean, like, do you, like?

sarcasticdavid — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:47:15 +0000

“Actress Emma Thompson says young people make themselves sound stupid by speaking slang outside of school. But while the use of the word “like” might annoy her, it fulfils a useful role in everyday speech.”

“Actress Emma Thompson”?

Have you like, even heard of her? She is sooo, like, old!

Does Emma’s outrage put you off using fillers like “like”, “dju know wadI mean” (do you know what I mean)?

Or are you happy to buy time mming and ahhhing, and throwing in words with no meaning?

What’s your favourite filler? Maybe these guys will give you a few ideas.

Beer, Music and Art (Part 2)

sarcasticdavid — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:35:26 +0000

Here’s the promised part two of Rodolfo’s paean to his favourite Dublin watering-hole.

Outside and In

All those spaces are outside – now inside the pub, you have tables where you can watch games on a big screen. Going through, it has a lower bar, where the DJ plays and, sometimes, a band performs and roughly 50 people can dance. But if you are in the mood to have a private party, there is a space called the Craic Den that the owner rents out for 65 euros. The great idea is you can plug an iPod in or call your DJ friends to play there.

Daytime Drinking

Ok, sometimes you need to have a beer during the day. The Bernard Shaw is open at this time. You can also have lunch or drink a coffee. By the way, eating there could be a great pleasure. They have baked pizzas such as Molly Malone, Pablo’s Pepperoni, Get the Goat, Pick the Pear, Great Green, Totally Tropical and One With All. They are listed in the Dubliner 100 Best Restaurants 2012, from Evening Herald. Have a look at what’s up there on www.bodytonicmusic.com/thebernardshaw.

Guest Blogger: Rodolfo on Beer, Music and Art

sarcasticdavid — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:01:48 +0000

Here’s the first in a new occasional series of guest blogs. Rodolfo Cesar de Sousa lets us in on one of Dublin’s least well kept secrets: the pub that has everything. Part one is up today with part two on Thursday. Enjoy.

Beer, music and art in the same place

by Rodolfo César

With Beer in Mind

When the idea of drinking a beer comes to mind, what would be the perfect place to have it? Probably everybody has more than one suggestion; if you are in Dublin, go to The Bernard Shaw. What most people desire when they are having a relaxing beer is a comfortable spot, where they can chat with their friends, listening perfect music for that moment, maybe dance or eat something and, for sure, flirt. I am sure you will find all these things there.

Ancient and Modern

This pub is a sort of traditional place, (it was founded in 1895), with a modern feel. There are six spaces, each one different from the other. Also, the place is a small art gallery and it organizes exhibitions of new and reputed artists, photographers, illustrators, painters and writers from Ireland. With this kind of activity, the place honours its name since it remembers George Bernard Shaw, an Irish playwright who was awarded both a Nobel Prize for Literature (1925) and an Oscar (1939) for Pygmalion.

My Favourite

My favourite spot is the Big Blue Bus. Yes, that is what I said; it’s a bus-pub. The double-decker vehicle retired from the streets of London is in the back yard of the pub. The lower deck is a pizza kitchen (I would say that sounds yummy) and the top deck has tables for sitting out. Also in the back yard you have the smoking area and you can play pool there. Although the Big Blue Bus is located near to the smoking area, if you are on the bus you won’t smell like a cigar, don’t worry.

What to Do in Dublin

sarcasticdavid — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:39:48 +0000

Over the coming weeks we’ll be running a series of blogs about things to do in Dublin, taking a peek at the lesser-known delights, those places that don’t quite make it into the guide books or onto school itineraries.

There’ll be contributions from some of Atlas’s greatest student writers – Shakespeare better watch out – these guys are doing things to the language he could never have dreamed of!

On Thursday we’ll have Rodolfo’s top boozer and all round culture spot.

But first up is one of my most loved Dublin institutions (which may actually be in some guide books but so what, it’s great).

Begun during the boom years with overpriced organic veg and a few cooked food stalls the Temple Bar Market, on Saturdays til about 5pm, has become an essential part of my admittedly very tame (I’m old and don’t get out much) week. The prices have come down, the variety increased and they’ve got healthy eats of all kinds, and a few not so healthy ones too – but they taste good.

They’ve even got covers now in case it rains.

And anyone interested in a good second-hand read, can pop round the corner to the nearby book market. All you could want from a weekend?

Are you a screenager?

sarcasticdavid — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:38:48 +0000

There was an interview recently on RTE radio with a linguist from University College Dublin discussing words newly added to the Oxford English Dictionary.

The podcast is available here:

http://www.rte.ie/podcasts/2012/pc/pod-v-03011215m20stjmsoxforddictionary-pid0-920232.mp3

Most of them are what we call portmanteau words, which have been made by putting two or more words together.

Try to guess the meaning of the words below – for some I’ve given a few pictures to help out.

Post your answers as a comment.

screenager

(Think about what the teenager is doing)

frenemy

e-quaintance

staycation

And if you have any more share them round.

Til next week

P.S. On the radio show the linguist said his favourite “mistake” ever was from a Thai student who said: “Don’t sarcastic me!”

Unfortunately “sarcastic” is not a verb, but it is a way of life.

Happy New Year

sarcasticdavid — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:32:33 +0000

The Atlas Blogger is back, sluggish from too much sipping and sleeping, with a fuller figure and a slimmer wallet, teary-eyed in the wind.

Happy New Year!

As I’m getting a bit old for going out I “celebrated” the new year on my sofa.

But Atlas students know how to have a good time, in Ireland and abroad. Let us know where you spent your New Year’s Eve. And send some pics in if you have ‘em.

Resolutions

“You have got to change your life” Doctor Phil tells us on his TV show, echoing the great Prague-born poet Rilke.

Sarcastic David is of course perfect, so needs no improving, but most of you have ways you wish to mend.

So what new year’s resolutions have you made this year?

Lighten Up

sarcasticdavid — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:02:58 +0000

Not yet 5 o’clock and it’s already dark outside – I can just about see the leafless trees through the tightly closed windows. Pink noses peeking out of scarfs and collars, or glowing under hoods and hats. Yes, it’s that time of year. Cold, short, dark days.

But before you slip off into hibernation for the next three months …

The city’s lit up.

If you have any photos of Dublin, or any other city, and you’d like to share send ‘em in. We’d love to have a look.

All the best for now

Book it Up!

sarcasticdavid — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 16:16:50 +0000

I’m sitting here in the Atlas library adding titles to our ever-expanding online catalogue:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/atlaslanguageschool

As you can see we have titles for next year’s Cambridge exams so anyone interested can get stuck in early.

Students around me have their heads buried in other worlds – with occasional trips to trusty (monolingual) dictionaries for supplies. I can see Harry Potter in the corner, and Dracula a bit behind me, dangerously close in fact.

Everyone knows that reading can help improve our vocabulary and grammar, but most of all, it can interest and entertain us.

Our library caters to all levels and tastes from sports fans to horror freaks or those devoted to the divine Ms Jane Austen.

There are some good websites too, like Penguin’s, which offers sample extracts with audio recordings to read along to. This month features Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. As Ernest Hemingway said, all American fiction comes from Huckleberry Finn, so not a bad place to start:

http://www.penguinreaders.com/par/students/featured-reader.html

Have a look and let us know what you think.

Hit the Streets

sarcasticdavid — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:17:14 +0000

Even the quickest glance at a newspaper or news website today makes it clear that people all around the world are taking to the streets to protest against what they see as wrongdoing. From the students in Dublin last week to the terrible scenes in Cairo, some people are refusing to stay at home and keep quiet.

Read this article by a student leader and try to find out what they were protesting about. Don’t worry about all of the difficult vocabulary, just look for key information.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/education/2011/1122/1224307943567.htmlH

How good is your protest vocabulary?

What do we call the pieces of card or cloth they hold up?

Or the people involved?

Or the group walks they go on?

Or the often very long talks the leaders give? (You have these at weddings too.)

There’s another very very peaceful protest in Dublin at the moment, outside the central bank at the edge of Temple Bar. The bank security guard said the people involved are extremely friendly and always offer him a cup of tea when they’re making one!