EURO 2012 - Denmark lost in the Group Stage

Pity...

Denmark was defeated by Germany, and couldn't advance to the knockout Phase.

Really pity...

EURO 2012 - Wow, wow wow! Denmark! Almost!!

In the first game, Denmark defeated Netherlands, as I wrote before.

The second game, vs. Portugal led by Cristiano Ronaldo, finished just now.

In the first half, Portugal scored two goals. Ah... I almost gave up, but soon, Denmark scored a goal!
In the second half, Denmark equalized with a goal!!!!! I was so------ excited!

However, only 10 minutes before finishing the game, Portugal scored a goal. AH------! I was shocked!

I think, as a team, Denmark was much greater than Portugal. Portugal didn't function as a team, in my opinion. They just relied on some talents. (There was nothing good about Cristiano Ronaldo though.)

I have been keeping an eye on Denmark defender, Simon Kjær since the last World Cup. I think he is a capable defender.

Whenever I see him, I say in my head, "Cut your hair, delete your tatoo." haha

In this game, I found one more talented Danish player, who is Tobias Mikkelsen.
He entered the game midway, and as soon as he entered, he was showing good performance.

The difference between "up until" and "until"

I saw a sentence with the "up until."

I wonder if it is completely same as "until."
There might be subtle difference. I wonder what it is.

EURO 2012 - Shevchenko is still great.

I know Andriy Shevchenko is a great player, but actually I thought he had retired.

But he is still playing!
In the game Ukraine vs. Sweden, he got 2 goals and won by 2 -1.

I didn't watch the game, but he is still a great player!!

According to an article, He announced that he will retire just after EURO 2012. EURO 2012 is taking place in his native country Ukraine with Poland. It must be the best final scene for his soccer career.
Surprisingly, the article also says that he will make a career switch to a golfer and aim the 2016 Summer Olympics. I wonder if it's true.

EURO 2012 - Lampard missed EURO 2012!?

My favorite team, England is about to start a game against France.

I didn't know!! Frank Lampard, who is my most favorite player, missed EURO 2012 due to a injury.
Oh my gosh!! I'm shocked!! It's a great blow to England team.

Frank Lampard

Anyway, go for it, England!!

Oh, the game is starting. I'll come back to this article after the game finishes.

-------------------------------------------------

The game finished just now. 1 - 1. It was not a exciting game so much. England seemed to be focused on defense. In fact, their defense was almost perfect and France couldn't break it.

I felt that France's playing style has changed a lot compared to the time Zidane was playing.

It's 3pmam now. Good night.

EURO 2012 - It has begun.

EURO 2012 has already begun.
It is co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine.

The opening game, Poland vs. Greece was very exciting and eventful!!
European soccer is really fun!

I cheer for England and Denmark as usual.
This time, Denmark belongs to Pot B, which is called ”Group of Death."
But Denmark defeated Netherlands! Great!!

Japan is now full of the 2014 World Cup Asian qualifying round fever, but I'm not interested in Japanese soccer. It's boring because of their low level. When seeing Japanese soccer after watching European soccer, Japanese soccer looks like kids' soccer.

I can't say "likely to"

In a vignette I'm using this week for learning English, the idiom "be more likely to" appears many time.
As I was doing shadowing and overlapping, I found that I can't say "likely to" well. Apparently, (<-- I used it on purpose.) it's difficult for me to pronounce LY + T. My tongue can't keep up with normal speed.

I don't mind. I'm not a native speaker. haha.

Meaning of the word "apparently"

I just found that I'd used the word "Apparently" wrongly.

I've thought that the meaning of "apparently" was almost the same as "obviously" but I found it wrong, completely different.

However, when you say "It is apparent that ---",  it means something like "it is obvious", right?

Hmm... difficult.

Movie: We Bought a Zoo

It was a pretty good movie.

The story goes on calmly. Almost all are good people. No villain appears. No all too dramatic thing happens. Of course no action scene, no car chase scene, not fighting scene. Some people might feel bored. But for me, it's a good movie.

It was sprinkled with humor. It often made audiences laugh. Also there were many scenes which I was moved to tears at.

I think this movie can make people feel happy and warm.

Book: "Lincoln the Unknown" by Dale Carnegie

I read the famous Dale Carnegie's book "How to Win Friends and Influence People" some times. In the book, Carnegie often mentions about Lincoln. That's why I thought I read this book.

Hmm...
Abraham Lincoln was surprisingly depressed person, surprisingly. And his wife was surprisingly a terrible horrible person, morbid hysteric. It is said that Lincoln's unhappiest thing was not the assassination but marriage.

The God gave him the gift, which was his great talent for speech in public. I couldn't find any other reason that he could be the president.

I could know more details about the America Civil War as well as about Lincoln.
Horrible. Incredibly amount of people were killed. Yes, war is always horrible.
Ｗａｒ is always conducted on a surface cause. In the case of the American Civil War, it was conducted on the pretext of the emancipation of slaves. However, it was apparent that even Lincoln didn't fight this war in order to emancipate slaves. In fact, he himself said it. The real purpose of this war was completely different from the the emancipation of slaves.

In despite of the fact that it was not Lincoln's intention,  eventually, the emancipation of slaves was his biggest achievement.
However, while I was reading the book, I was wondering where this war was going and felt scared.

Kill-THREE-birds-with-one-stone website

A TV station started this April broadcasting presentations in TED, and I decided to watch it because I thought it's useful to see presentations in English.


I didn't know of TED. It's good to know!!
You can see many GREAT presentations!!

The TV station shows the presentation with just Japanese subtitles. But I found the website of TED and you can chose subtitles from various languages.
http://www.ted.com

It's very useful for improving my English listening skill. But above all, you can know various knowledge, and learn effective presentation ways.

It's exactly killing THREE birds with one stone.

Movie: Clash of the Titans

 
"Wrath of the Titans" has been just released, so before that, "Clash of the Titans" was broadcasted on TV.


I like Greek mythology. But some situations were changed in the movie. It can't be helped, because it's a "Hollywood movie."

In Hollywood, not only mythology but also highbrow literature works are always converted into just "entertainment."

I like Hollywood movies and often watch them, but I sometimes feel that some of them are somehow shallow.

I wonder if some of Americans who grew up amid such shallow entertainment can understand something deeper works, like French movies, or even Japanese movies.

By the way, the movie used many great actors, such as Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes.

Ralph Fiennes as Hades and Liam Neeson as Zeus

Bombing low pressure

Incredibly strong wind and rain are hitting Japan today.
News are full with this topic all day today. There are many damages across Japan. It's as if huge typhoon hit Japan. But it's not a typhoon, but storm wind.

Many people had trouble to get home. It reminds us of 3.11 last year.

Don't watch TV in Japanese!

Prior to planning the strategy of the Operation Listening-improvement (OLI), I've started watching all TV programs in English. If a program is provided only in Japanese, I wouldn't watch it.

Actually I've always thought I should have been doing that, but I wasn't able to resist watching Japanese TV programs...

It has been a few days since I started doing that, and I somehow feel my listening skills are improving a bit. (No way! haha)

However, I'm allowing myself to watch morning news in Japanese, because if I watched both morning and evening news in English, I couldn't understand details of important affairs in Japan and in the world.

By the way, I wonder why English in news is much easier to understand than in dramas and movies. Although I watch one drama several times, I understand just its outline. I'm sad that I always miss something subtleties. It can't be helped.

Anyway, my motivation is high at the moment. I'm sure that it will be up and down. haha.

Finally spring?

This winter was really cold. During the winter, greetings among people were "this winter is very cold." And recent greetings are "spring is slow to come this year."

But it seems spring is finally coming. I felt something spring smell today. Finally!

Operation Listening-improvement

Tim was kind enough to provide me with great information about sites on the comment column of the previous article, which can help improve English listening skills. Awesome!

Seeing those sites, I realized that listening English with seeing English subtitles is very useful to improve listening skills.

I think I should strategize how to improve my listening skills using those sites. It is called "Operation Listening-improvement." (Sorry for the exaggerated expression.)

Listening, listening, listening

My worst part about English has been listening skill. I can't improve it at all.

How can I improve my listening?

What should I do?

Movie: Sarah's Key

Before I watched the movie "Sarah's Key", I thought it was a war movie. But I was wrong.

Although it covers Vel' d'Hiv Roundup and Auschwitz, the theme is... hmm... about life, or more like decision or choice in the course of each life. Anyway, the theme is really really deep.

However, I tend to be focused on war-related parts. Whenever I see something about war, I wonder why human beings can be so cruel. I didn't know about Vel' d'Hiv Roundup. I planning to watch the movie "The Round Up." Both "Sarah's Key" and "The Round Up" are French movies.

3.11

It's been a year since the horrible earthquake and tsunami hit Japan.

About 340,000 people are in refuge life. And I realize many people still have a deep hurt.

Every TV station is broadcasting TV programs about the disaster almost all day. I got fed up with some of them, because they show the programs as if it's something like entertainment. The leading character is exactly famous reporters or newscasters and the stories were created too dramatically putting the casters at the center. Shame on you! (Especially Fuji TV!)

A couple days ago, I watched a documentary, which showed just videos that showed the real scenes. No too much narration, no any casters. It showed just facts. Because just after seeing it, the entertainment-like programs look a farce.

I'm now watching a TV program which features help by the US armies. As I wrote here about a year ago, their help was tremendously worthful and helpful. Thank you very much.

Prerogative vs. Presumptuous

Although meanings of "prerogative" and "presumptuous" are different at all, I often mix up them... Probably because I learned them almost the same time...