Portugal says "Olá!"

[LittlestThing]

We have 45 minutes since primary school. Plus our teachers are usually a bit late, because they have to walk around... It's something I can't complain about usually 7 classes per day.

Sarah! You reminded me of our reading competitions! THat was fun. We had English Reading Badge and then our own, where you had to read 8 books of your choice and one had to be with poems and then write your opinion or whatever it was the teachers came up with... However in the first few grades we had an actual competition going, and I was really competitive about it. I won I think it was like 60ish books? Though they weren't really books, more like short stories. I think at the end of grade 9 we had a trip too - the ones who did the badge through all 9 years went to... ITALY where else would they take us!?

It's so great that you studied it. I really wish I get a chance to "study" something, like a certain topic that really interests me...

Lauriane: Have you read Dahl's autobiography, I think it's called "Boy". I really loved it.
Oh, politics... We're currently considering changing our Family law, but a lot of people are against. Among other things, it allows same-sex couples to adopt. The things that come out of people's mouth on the topic.. One thing is to have an opinion and anther is to shove it into everyone's face.

I love reading about holocaust, but I've read more about the genocid during the Bosnian war, which happened even more recently and I know people, who left their country because of it... the topic is closer to me I guess. Angelina made a film, which kind of relates to the topic, but I think I won't watch it yet...

By the way I got my essay back It would be a 5, if it was for real!
And I watched a little bit of the Academy Awards last night, but it was a very bad idea, my head hurts today

[MaryDearMary]

I haven't watch it either, but supposedly it's really good. I'm just not comfortable with Angelina as a director...not yet anyway. But I will watch it. Maybe she's really good, a visionary or something

I knew your essay would be awesome Congratulations!
I watched the Academy Awards and was very pleased with the outcome for The Artist. I was rooting for Jean DuJardin so badly!
Still, as a general rule, this year's nominations weren't exactly poignant. I was thrown off by the lack of Ryan Gosling, Michael Fassebender and Tintin. But Meryl won, and so did Jean. Bret McKenzie got the oscar for the best song and I'm totally cool with that

Same-sex adoption has been my goal has a gay rights defender. I want it, I think we need it and I'm hoping we'll walk towards it. We legalized same-sex marriage, so it seems like a natural step for me. I can't stand discrimination. And it bothers me even more so when people say kids will be negatively affected by the fact that their parents are in a same-sex relationship.
Yeah, right, because no kid has ever been traumatized by a heterosexual marriage, and obviously all heterosexual couples are 100% capable of taking care of a kid just because they're a man and a woman, plus no gay kid ever came of a heterosexual marriage and orphanages are sooooo cool....

Sorry, I get passionate about these things

[jenn]

Oops, I've fallen out of the loop!

Oh, I love "To Kill a Mockingbird"! I'm going to have to read that again. I'll have to put it on my Kindle.

I don't have TV anymore but I'm so excited that Bret McKenzie won an Oscar! He truly deserves it. How cute was his acceptance speech?!

Hope all's well with you girls

[MaryDearMary]

So cute! And his red carpet pose + oscar pose for the photographers was the best I've seen in years! He doesn't take himself too seriously and that's incredibly alluring.

Yes, you've been gone for a while, how are you? Speaking for myself, I'm quite well Tired, because I have so much work to do, but happy

[LittlestThing]

Bret McKennzie, is it for the Muppets?

I was so happy for Meryl! She's been nominated countless times, but really the last oscar she got was for Sophie's choice, I think she's deserved one or two in the meantime. I found it so sweet, when Colin Firth presented her. It did seem a little awkward though, because she got the best presentation and it was all a bit too obvious
I haven't seent the Artist yet :-/
Was there ever a Portuguese film nominated?

We haven't legalised same-sex marriage and it doesn't look well. We have that thing, like in France, where you can register your relationship(gay or not) without actually getting married. I completely agree with your post. I don't see any crucial negative sides to it. It does sort of look like we're at a dead-end though. The people rarely change their opinion on the homosexuality. Especially older citizens - I watched Oprah with my Grandfather one day and I had to try really hard to not get into an argument with him. Long story

About In the land of Blood and Honey -
As far as I've read (not too far ), the story sounds really interesting. The actors are great too. I guess it's only the topic that's bothering me, I mean, I find it really interesting - it's just that it's a historical event, which happened recently. Shouldn't there be some kind of a historical distance? And also, I've read it was really poorly percepted by the Serbs, because they are, like, the "bad guys" in the film? (every film needs antagonists, but it's a very sensitive topic here and now) It's a war, in which both or neither of the sides can be blamed...? But with a genocid on one side, it's kind of difficult, right?...
I don't know if what I've just written is true and the last part is just my thinking. I guess I'll have to watch it afterall, because I am courious if what people write is true

Brrr, I have the actual essay tomorrow :S

[MaryDearMary]

Bret McKennzie, is it for the Muppets?

Yes! It is. I love that song. It's so filled with good-humor. I have sort of a crush for Bret

Meryl is without a doubt one of the best actresses ever. I think Colin really wanted her to win, they are clearly friends, which is really cute She is so amazing and her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher was beyond brilliant!

Was there ever a Portuguese film nominated?

No, I don't think so, not for the Oscars. Although this year a documentary about Nobel Prize winner José Saramago and his wife was racing to be nominated. Sadly, it didn't make the final cut. It's a very beautiful piece of work. I'm not really a fan of José Saramago, despite him being the only portuguese author to have ever won the Nobel Prize, but his life was extraordinary and his love for Pilar is so beautiful. The movie is called "José e Pilar". I think there was a song from that movie on the race for the nominees for the best song.

You're right, with genocide on the table there's no way they won't end up looking like the bad guys. I mean, they are the bad guys, right? I've read that they hated the movie. I don't know, I have yet to watch it and form a proper opinion.
It's still very recent. I'm not sure about her work, but Angelina clearly likes taking risks. That's admirable.

[Lauriane]

Raquel, no need to apologize about being passionate I totally agree with you and I think I'll never understand why some people are against gay marriage or adoption. Does it affect their life? No. So why bother? At the risk of sounding cheesy, all that matters it love, whether it's the Falling in love kind, or the You're my kid kind. Seriously, being gay is not a sickness or something...

I never follow the Oscars, so basically all I know is that Jean Dujardin and The Artist crew won some, as well as Meryl. I have yet to see The Artist and Meryl's movie (which looks great). I'm supposed to go see them with a friend next week though.
That documentary about Saramango sounds great, I'll check it out.

[LittlestThing]

I did not love the film, but that song is adorable!
Obviously Colin wanted her to win! Mamma Mia!
I have to say that I haven't seen any of the nominated films/performances. Actually I haven't seen many Oscar-nominated films in general... I usually watch the best actress winner a year later and that's it. It was still awesome to stay up until 2 in the morning and watch the red carpet, although it was very boring.

The documentary does sound interesting

It's funny (?) because the only film with Slovene actors that has been nominated was about the Bosnian war. No man's land won the Oscar and it was the same year in which Amelie was nominated, which isn't really fair, because Amelie is a really great film and everyone thought it was going to win (and it kind of should). That sentence is really long! I think some actors are in Angelina's film now actually, like Đuro. He's awesome.

I don't have an actual opinion formed about the war, so... I'm not really comfortable saying too much until I do that and gain enough knowledge. I'm not sure I know how wars work... Does that make sense? I've been thinking about it ever since this topic was brought up and haven't reached a conclusion...

There were definitely some »polititians«, who should take the blame. I think all sides had really strong-willed leaders. I guess I'm a little uncomfortable with the word »Serbs«? Because I know people from Serbia and they are so nice. I'm just not okay with saying »The Serbs« are to blame. It's like; we don't say the Germans; we usually say the *, when talking about holocaust. It's so sad how it always seems to come back to religion

We will have themed days at school soon (themed Africa) and one of the »workshops« I've chosen to attend is about Rwanda and the genocid there and we'll talk about other genocides too, so I might get some answers
I'm sooo confused! It's frustrating.

Have a nice weekend

[Sarahdg]

Which lead me to what Sarah was saying about ethnic cleaning political programs and WWII. Although I have always felt some sort of curiosity towards the apartheid, the Rwanda situation (I even wrote a paper on it for Law School) and the Congo problem, but the Holocaust has always felt too close to home for me. I can't read about it without sobbing, I can't see a movie about it without instantly feel miserable and I once cried like a baby when staring at the pictures of children who had been killed in the Warsow ghetto. I share a birthday with Anne Frank and I have always lived my life with the absolute certainty that I would have been killed by the * if I was alive back then and living under the The Final Solution strategy. I'm short, brunette, with dark eyes and a potato-y shaped nose. It's very likely that I have Jewish blood on my mother's part (mainly because my grand-father comes from a small village that was almost entirely inhabited by Jewish people (and their offspring) fleeting the * occupied territories) and gypsy ancestors on my paternal side. That, along with the ideals I stand for and the things I defend, would probably condemn me to death in the late years of the Final Solution (when they were pretty much killing everyone). You guys are right, it wasn't that long ago. It's still very fresh in our minds as a world-community.

Oh gosh! the first time I was in Amsterdam, I went to the Anne Frank museum. It's set up in the "loft" the family stayed in while in hiding. I left there crying. It's just so sad. I really don't understand people who dislike others because of their skin colour or sexuality or whatever. I mean that stuff is something you can't change about yourself. If you don't like someone because you have different political views or something - while it may be petty - I can understand. Views are things people can change. Race and sexuality are not things people can change, and to dislike/hate someone purely because of who they are I just find it strange. My Grandad disappoints me when he gets drunk and goes on about all the black people in sport these days. Yes Grandad, because sport is only meant for white people right? *rolls eyes*

Learning about WWII is sad, but I think it needs to be taught about it to try and understand how bad it was and hopefully prevent something like that happening again in the future. And it is scary how much this sort of stuff still occurs - obviously on a somewhat smaller scale than all out war.

Oh and we do not have legalised gay marriage here and it doesn't look like it's going to happen any time soon either, which makes me sad. We do have some sort of thing in place that recognises a gay partner as next of kin if anything happens to one or other people in the relationship, but even that was only recently brought in. It used to be really hard for gay couples if something happened to one of them (ie accident/death) then their partner was not recognised as next of kin and would not be contacted (in the case of an accident) or entitled to any of the normal "priveledges" that hetero couples have in the case of their partner dying.

[MaryDearMary]

Seriously, being gay is not a sickness or something...

Lauriane, you just reminded me of this sketch made by a portuguese comedian called "I'm gay but I want to be treated". He decided to do it after a therapist (named Margarida)said that being gay is a sickness but can be treated.
It's really good and he's amazing at telling her to shove it
He says: "No, Margarida...I'm not a therapist, I'm just stupid but...ahm...I'm pretty sure it's not a disease...let me tell you what I think a disease is, it's what I think but then again I don't have a degree...you see, to me a disease is when a 46 year-old therapist thinks that being gay is a disease...to me that's sort of a disease, you see?" and then he shows himself as a gay man trying to get cured from being gay...it's hilarious.

I don't have an actual opinion formed about the war, so... I'm not really comfortable saying too much until I do that and gain enough knowledge. I'm not sure I know how wars work... Does that make sense? I've been thinking about it ever since this topic was brought up and haven't reached a conclusion...

Makes perfect sense, don't worry I get it, I like to get things straight before getting into a subject like that. A wrong conclusion can be extremely nefarious.
Have you seen "Rwanda Hotel"? It's a movie with Don Cheadle and it's really great.

Yes, you're right. Saying that the Serbians did it is like saying that Portuguese are responsible for enslaving millions of Africans. I'm Portuguese and I never enslaved anyone...that's the problem with generalization though, isn't it?

Oh gosh! the first time I was in Amsterdam, I went to the Anne Frank museum. It's set up in the "loft" the family stayed in while in hiding. I left there crying. It's just so sad. I really don't understand people who dislike others because of their skin colour or sexuality or whatever. I mean that stuff is something you can't change about yourself. If you don't like someone because you have different political views or something - while it may be petty - I can understand. Views are things people can change. Race and sexuality are not things people can change, and to dislike/hate someone purely because of who they are I just find it strange. My Grandad disappoints me when he gets drunk and goes on about all the black people in sport these days. Yes Grandad, because sport is only meant for white people right? *rolls eyes*

My grandfather does the same (although my grandmother is way worse). He had to return to Portugal after we gave the independence to Angola and they say that "the black people took everything away from them", which is sort of true. The nationals did expel them from Angola but, to be fair, it was their land in the first place... So now they hate anyone who's black. I remember being little and having him say to me that if I ever dated a black man he would cut me off. One time I said "I don't care" and he stopped.

I agree, it's stupid to hate someone just because they have a different skin color, different hair, different religion, sexual-orientation or culture. I think that's exactly what makes it more interesting! What a boring life we would all lead if everyone was exactly the same...