Geography 5- Penélope Cruz

Penélope Cruz is a Spanish actress, born in Madrid, 1974. Growing up, Penélope had no intentions of being an actress. She was more focused on dance. She had studied classical ballet for nine years at Spain's National Conservatory. Ballet instilled in her discipline that would be important in her future acting career. At the age of 15, she got signed by an agent. In 1989, at 15, she debuted and starred in the music video "La Fuerza del Destino" of the pop trio Mecano. Penélope had a lot of experience on television acting. She hosted the Spanish talk show, "La Quinta Marcha" , a program aimed at a teenage audience. In 1992, she made her first film debut, as the lead female role in the comedy drama, "Jamón, Jamón". She achieved recognition for her lead roles in "Vanilla Sky" and "Blow", which were very successful worldwide.
Penélope has appeared in a wide genre of movies, from Thrillers such as "Gothika" in 2003, to "G-Force", a family animation, and in the musical "Nine". Penélope is known for her role in "Volver", a Spanish movie about two sister's, who's parents have died. Sole, one of the two sisters, can see her mothers ghost, and agrees to let her stay with her. Meanwhile, Penélopes character deals with other issues. Her husband tries to rape her daughter, claiming he isnt her biologoical father, and Penélopes character stabs him in self-defense. The movie deals with a strong theme of death. Penélope's role in "Volver" earned Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations. She received an Academy Award for her role in Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
Penélope was the first Spanish actress in history to receive an Academy Award, and she was the first Spanish actress to receive a star at the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Geography: The mainlands of Spain are very mountainous. The Pyrenees Mountains borderline Spain and France. It separates the Iberian Peninsula from the rest of continental Europe. Andorra, a Spanish country, lies between them. The Pyrenees Mountains are older then the Alps. They were formed about 100 to 150 million years ago. The eastern part of the mountains consist of mainly granite and gneissose rocks, where as the western side of the mountains mainly consist of limestone. The mountains are huge and unworn, because they are made of granite, which is resistant to erosion. The western side of the mountains recieves much more precipitation, then the eastern side, because of the moist air that blows in from the Atlantic Ocean over the Bay of Biscay. After dropping its moisture over the western and central Pyrenees, the air is usually dry over the eastern Pyrenees. The average climate is -2 degrees.

Geography 4- Heath Ledger

Heath Ledger, born in Perth, Australia in 1979, was an tv and film actor. He built up his acting career in Australia, by mostly doing small television roles.
When he was 16, Heath left school to persue his acting career. In 1992, he landed himself a small role in "Clowning Around", the first part of a two-part television series, and to work on the TV series Sweat. From 1993 to 1997, he also had parts in the Perth television series "Ship to Shore", "Roar" and in 1997, Heath appeared in the popular Australian show, "Home and Away". He also got himself a role in the Australian film "Blackrock" which was his feature film debut.
In 1998, Heath moved to the USA, to develop his film career further. While in the US, he starred in 19 films, including "10 Things I Hate About You", "The Patriot", "Monster's Ball", "A Knight's Tale", "Brokeback Mountain", and "The Dark Knight". While in the US, he also directed music videos and tried to persue a career in film direction.
Heath won the 2005 New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor and the 2006 "Best Actor" award from the Australian Film Institute and was nominated for the 2005 Academy Award for Best Actor as well as the 2006 BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, for his powerful portrayal as Ennis Del Mar in "Brokeback Mountain", in 2005. Heath was nominated and won awards for his portrayal of the Joker in "The Dark Knight", which was filmed just before his death in 2008. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, a Best Actor International Award at the 2008 Australian Film Institute Awards, for which he became the first actor to win an award posthumously. He also won the 2008 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor, the 2009 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and the 2009 BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor.
On 22nd January 2008, Heath was found unconscious in his apartment in Manhattan, by his housekeeper. Emergancy medical technicians arrived within minutes, but were unable to revive him. Heath was pronounced dead and his body was removed from his apartment. A number of autopsys were done and it was confirmed that Heath died from an accidental toxic combination of prescription drugs, at the age of 28.

Geography: Uluru, aka Ayers Rock is a large sandstone formation, found in the Northern Territory of central Australia. Uluru is sacred to the Aṉangu, the Aboriginal people of the area. It has many springs, waterholes, rock caves and ancient paintings. Uluru is listed as a World Heritage Site. Uluru is one of Australia's most recognisable natural icons. It is known for changing colours as the different light strikes it at different times of the day and year, with sunset when it glows red.
Even though rainfall isnt common in Australia, when it does rain, Ayers Rock turns a silvery-grey colour, with streaks of black algae forming on the areas where the water flows. Uluru has provided Australia with tourism over the years. Tourists climb the famous rock. There have been 35 deaths recorded from people climbing the rock. Climbing Ayers Rock is popular with tourists but the local Aṉangu people dont climb it as it is of great spiritual significance to these people. They request that visitors do not climb the rock, partly due to the path crossing a sacred traditional Dreamtime track, and also for the safety of visitors. The Aṉangu also request that visitors do not photograph certain sections of Uluru, for reasons related to traditional Tjukurpa beliefs.

Geography 3 - Marilyn Monroe

Norma Jeane Baker aka Marilyn Monroe, was an American actress, singer and model, born in 1929, in California. Marilyn spent most of her childhood in foster homes. Soon she bagan a career as a model, which led to a film contract in 1946.
Her appearances in films were minor roles, but her performances certainly got her noticed. Her performances in "The Asphalt Jungle" and "All About Eve" were the turning point in her acting career, landing her lead roles. Her dramatic performance in "Bus Stop", was one of her finest performances as an actress, and she received a Golden Globe nomination.
Marilyn set up her own production company, "Marilyn Monroe Productions". They released their own production in 1957 "The Prince and the Showgirl", which she received a BAFTA Award nomination and won a David di Donatello award. She also received a Golden Globe Award for her performance in "Some Like It Hot" in 1959.
Marilyn's modelling career started, when she was working in Radioplane Munitions Factory. She sprayed plane parts and inspected parachutes. While she was working here, an Army photographer David Conover took a photo of her for a "Yank magazine" article. He encouraged her to apply to The Blue Book Modeling Agency. Marilyn became one of Blue Book's most successful models.
In 1942, Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her home. An autopsy was held and they found a number of drugs in her system. Even though they found the drugs in her system, no one is sure if she died due to suicide or murder.

Geography: California, nicknamed "The Golden State", is known for its plant life. It has the largest, tallest and oldest trees. California is home to the Sequoiadendron giganteum trees, also known as "Giant Redwood". They are the worlds largest trees. They grow to an average height of 50–85 metres (160–279 ft. The tallest Giant Redwood tree recoreded was 94.8 metres in height (311 ft). The oldest Giant Redwood recorded, by counting its rings, was 3,500 years old. They are an evergreen tree and produce the biggest pinecones. Wood from the mature Sequoia trees are highly resistant to decay but due to being fibrous and brittle, it is generally unsuitable for construction. Whereas the wood on the immature Sequoia trees are less brittle and this resulting in some interest in cultivating Giant Sequoia as a very high-yielding timber crop tree. These world famous trees have brought tourism and horticulture to California.

Geography 2 - Colin Farrell

Colin Farrell is a well known Irish actor. He was born 31st of May , 1976 in Dublin.
Colin's father, Eamon Farrell, was a football player who played for Shamrock Rovers FC, which is the most successful football club in Irish history. They have a stadium in Tallaght, in Dublin. His father was also owned a company that imported and exported canned goods in Dublin City.

Colin had small parts in television shows and films, including the BBC drama "Ballykissangel" in 1998, and his film debut in Tim Roth's "The War Zone". Although Colin has a strong Irish accent, he uses an American accent in some of his films including "American Outlaws" and his breakthrough role, "Tigerland".
In 2003, Colin starred as a criminal who plots a bank heist with other Irish actor, Cillian Murphy in "Intermission", which held the record as highest-grossing Irish independent film in Irish box office history until 2006.

Colin has a son, James Padraig Farrell, born on 12 September 2003, in Los Angeles. In October 2007, Farrell revealed that his son James has Angelman Syndrome, which is a rare genetic disorder characterized by intellectual and developmental delay, speech impediment, sleep disturbance, seizures, hand flapping movements, and frequent laughter/smiling.

Colin had reportedly grown very close to Elizabeth Taylor, recently before her death and was one of the few non-family members to attend her private funeral.

In 2007, Colin was joined by other celebrities such as, Bruce Willis, Eva Mendes, Muhammad Ali, Vanessa Williams and Arnold Schwarzenegger, to be an official spokesperson for the Special Olympics, in Shanghai, China.

S.W.A.T (2003) - Nominated for Irish Film & Television Award for Best Actor
Miami Vice (2006) - Nominated for Irish Film & Television Award for Best Actor
In Bruges (2008) - Won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor
Nominated — British Independent Film Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Irish Film and Television Award for Best Actor


Geography: Ireland is the home to the famous Cliffs Of Moher, which are one of the most visited sights in Ireland. They are located in the parish of Liscannor, near the Burren area. The cliffs are over 214 meters high and attract over one million tourists each year. On a clear day, the Aran Islands are visible in Galway Bay, and so are the valleys and hills of Connemara. The cliffs are mainly formed out of sandstone, the oldest rocks laying at the bottom of the cliffs. It is possible to see 300 million year old river channels cutting through, forming unconformities at the base of the cliffs. The Cliffs of Moher have featured in many films including "Leap Year", "Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince" and many episodes of Father Ted.

Geography 1 - Sidney Poitier

Sidney Poitier was an actor, director, author and a diplomat. He was one of the first black actors in Hollywood. He is a Bahamian actor, and made his success by starting out in Broadway and this lead him to big Hollywood films. . His best known Broadway peformances are in "The Bedford Incident" and "A Patch Of Blue".
Sidney Poitier was the first male black person to get nominated for an Acadamy Award, for this performance in "The Defiant Ones" in 1958. He was also the first black person to win an Acadamy Award for Best Actor in "Lilies of The Field" in 1963.
In 1967, he was the most successful year at the box office, the commercial peak of his career, with three successful films, "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner; To Sir," "With Love" and "In the Heat of the Night".
Poitier directed several films. His most successful direction was in "Stir Crazy" which for years was the highest grossing film directed by a person of African descent. In 1998, to 2003, Sidney Poitier served as a Member of the Board of Directors in The Walt Disney Company. In April 1997, he was appointed as ambassador of the Bahamas to Japan and he is also the ambassador of the Bahamas to UNESCO.

Geography:
The Bahamas has a subtropical/ tropical climate and is moderated by the waters of The Gulf Stream, especially in winter time. This can be very dangerous around summer and autumn months, as this is when hurricanes pass through Bahamas and the surrounding islands, which include: San Salvador Island, Crooked Island, Cat Island and Long Island. There has never been a freeze recorded in the Bahamas, but the temperature can fall between 2-3 degrees during Artic outbreaks, which also affected Florida. The last record of sleet in the Bahamas, was in 1977. July and August are the hottest months of the year in the Bahamas, usually reaching a high of about 32/33 degrees. Winter months, unlike Ireland, are usually 25/26 degrees, sometimes hotter. It usually only rains 140 days out of the year in the Bahamas.

My Sisters Keeper: Book Review

I have read the novel My Sisters Keeper by Jodi Picoult. I found this book extremely moving, as it covers a sensitive topic, and i throughly enjoyed it.

My Sisters Keeper is a book about a normal family, until their daughter Kate gets diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia at the age of two, when her mother notices shes developed something that looks like "a line of small blue jewels" down her spine, and her mother knows immediately that she is not seeing normal bruises. Their life is soon turned upside down. Neither parents are a right match to be a donor for their daughter they turned to their son Jesse. He wasnt a correct match either. To ensure that their daughter would have a higher chance of survival, they decided they would have another child that would be genetically designed to be a perfect match for Kate. At 13, when her sister now needs a kidney, Anna has had enough. She hires an attorney and sues her parents for the rights to her own body.

There are a huge amount of themes throughout the novel, but the theme of love and friendship play a special role in the book.

The strongest themes in the novel are friendship and love. These two themes slightly overlap throughout the novel, but is definitely most visible and told through the characters, Anna and Kate. They share such a strong bond towards each other, as both sisters and as best friends. Because Kate has been hospitalized her whole life, she never really got the chance to make a long term friend, so Anna acts as both a sister and as the best friend that Kate never got to have. Anna has been the only person who could save Kate, and their friendship is told through flashbacks from Anna's memory.

We see the theme of love represented in the Fitzgerald family and this is recognizable but we also see a new love form in the novel. Taylor, is also a cancer patient at the hospital, and meets Kate when he's there for chemo. He stays by Kates side as she undergoes chemo herself, and other treatments. In their relationship, we see hope for them both, as cancer patients, and as a couple.
We see this theme, strongly represented by Sara Fitzgerald, as the mother of Kate and Anna. We see the love for her two daughters, but people may only see her focused love and attention on Kate, because of her medical situation. In parts of the novel we do see a certain amount of favoritism towards Kate. The love that Sara has for all her children is often overshadowed when Kate is falling very ill. The moment we see Sara's true love for Anna, is during the court case, when we see that she loves both her daughters equal amounts, but when one is on deaths door step, wouldnt you do anything to keep her alive?

The novel is set in the present time, so its very easy to relate to, as it is an issue alot of people have had to deal with. The novel is written from the point of view from six different characters, Anna, Sara, Brian, Campbell, Julia and Jesse. Each chapter is told by a different person, in the present day, bar Sara. Until the very end, Sara's chapters are told from memories in past, whether about Kate, Anna or Jesse. I liked the way each chapter was told from a different person's point of view, as it gives readers a deeper insight into each of the characters life, and it also gives readers the chance to developed their own opinions of each of the characters.

My favourite character throughout the novel was Jesse. I found him so interesting and quirky, and i always looked forward to reading his chapters. Jesse gives you the impression that hes this big macho teenager who sets buildings on fire and one who drinks and smokes, but as you read his point of view, you really see that hes so heartbroken over Kates cancer and we see that he actually feels very isolated from the rest of the family. He lives above the garage in the Fitzgerald house hold, alone.

There were a number of subplots in the novel, but my favourite was between the attorney Anna hired, Alexander Campbell, and Anna's Guardian Ad Litem, Julia Romano. We learn that they once went to school together, and fell very much in love, but Campbell left Julia heart broken. As we read on, we find that each of them still have feelings towards each other. It was really interesting to read, and i liked Alexander Campbell as a character, i felt he brought some humor into the novel, where it was needed.

I throughly enjoyed reading this novel, and would definitely recommend it. I found it a very touching and powerful topic and Jodi Picoult's writing is very poignant. Im definitely going to read some of her other novels.

Ballet :)

Yesterday, class Amina held an Easter Feaster for class Emnet. It was so yummy :o we all brought in sweets or baked and there was a huuuuge table full of food P:
Afterwards, we headed into town to see the ballet. Hayley from TY was taking part in the shows, so we went to support her.
We all waited for Hayley's appearance on stage, and when she came on, she was mind-blowingly amazing :O She was in the background for the first dance, and then she came on for her solo; WOW :o she was amaaaaaaaaazing, and was so graceful :)
The first show was "The Ugly Duckling" and omg all the little girls were sooo cute x)
The shows were all so good and there was no speaking, the story was told through the ballet, and it was amazing how you could understand exactly what was going on.
It was suuuch a good day out and we got to go to Mickey D's which is always a good end to the day P;