The World's Got Talent

In 2007 the TV reality show Britain's Got Talent, created by Simon Cowell, was aired for the first time. Anyone across Britain had a chance to audition their talent, whatever it may be, to the three judges Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan. At any time during the audition, the judges may show disapproval to the act by pressing a buzzer which lights a large red X on the stage. If all the judges press their buzzers, the act must end immediately. To advance to the second round, auditionees must get at least two yes votes or they would be sent home. After the audition process, out of 200 successful acts, the judges had to choose 40 to go to the live semi-finals. Eventually the competition is whittled down to one winner and the prize was a chance to perform their talent at the Royal Variety performance that year.

There are now versions of the show all around the world so below are videos from as many of the different ones that we could find!

Britain's Got Talent

America's Got Talent



Australia's Got Talent



India's Got Talent



Indonesia's Got Talent



South Africa'a Got Talent



Lietuvos Talentai (Lithuania)



Supertalent (Croatia)



Ukraine's Got Talent



Ja imam talenat! (Serbia)



Bulgaria's Got Talent



Holland's Got Talent (The Netherlands)



Qual é o Seu Talento? (Brazil)



New Zealand's Got Talent



China's Got Talent



Norske Talenter (Norway)

Today's celebrations 25th August

Today is...

Constitution Day in Paraguay

Independence Day in Uruguay

Liberation Day in Hong Kong

Table Communion pour Dan Wezo, Roi de France in Haiti

Dia do Soldado in Brazil

Get to know Brazilian music!

Here are the top 5 Brazilian songs in the music charts at the moment. We are by no means saying that this is all there is to Brazilian music, this is just what the Brazilian public are loving at the moment!

Skank - Noites De Um Verão Qualquer



RESTART - Levo Comigo



Victor & Leo -- Ao Vivo e em Cores



Bruno e Marrone -- Pode ir embora



Pitty - Fracasso

Today's celebrations April 21st!

Today is...

Independence Hero Tiradentes in Brazil

John Muir Day in the United States of America

Kartini Day in Indonesia

Kindergarten Day in Germany

National Tree Planting Day in Kenya

Queen's Birthday in the Falkland Islands

Queen's Birthday (actual date) in the United Kingdom

San Jacinto Day (Texas) in the United States of America

International Creativity and Innovation Day

First day of Ridvan (Declaration of Bahaullah) in the Baha'i religion

Dia do Indio (Day of the Indian)

Every year, Rio de Janeiro celebrates the rich cultural heritage that stems from the indigenous peoples of Brazil on 19 April, the Dia do Indio (Day of the Indian). The festival is an invaluable opportunity to learn about Brazilian indigenous peoples, since traveling to tribal areas and reservations in Brazil is mostly restricted. Some of the festival's attractions are indigenous rituals, body art, music, dance, food, crafts and sports.Exhibitions, indigenous dance performances and screenings take place at the Museu do Indio.

According to Funai, 460,000 people from 225 distinct societies live in aldeias, or indigenous villages, in Brazil today. They speak more than 180 distinct languages. An estimated 100,000 to 190,000 Brazilian Indians live outside the aldeias and some small groups in remote areas are still isolated. So far, the inclusion of as many ethnic groups as possible in the National Indigenous Festival has been achieved by a rotation system. Each year, new groups are invited, creating an opportunity for interaction which Carlos Terena said he hoped would reduce prejudice and foster mutual respect between Indians and non-Indians.

Information and from:

http://www.whatsonwhen.com/sisp/index.htm?fx=event&event_id=190554

http://events.frommers.com/sisp/index.htm?fx=event&event_id=190554

http://gobrazil.about.com/od/festivalsevents/ig/National-Indian-Festival/

The Landing of the 33 Patriots

The landing of the 33 patriots is a national day in Uruguay that commemorates the arrival in 1825 of Juan Lavelleja, an anticolonial leader, and his 33 fighters, who are known as the Treinta y Tres Orientales (Thirty-Three Easterners). This landing marked the first stage in the fight for independence from Brazil in 1828.

On April 15th 1825, Lavalleja and his men took ship from San Isidro, a Buenos Aires neighborhood on the banks of the Río de la Plata at the northwest outskirts of the city. They advanced carefully among the isles of the Paraná Delta, evading the vigil of the Brazilian flotilla. After nightfall they crossed the Río Uruguay in two boats and disembarked at Agraciada Beach in the dawn of April 19. There they planted what would become known as the Bandera de los Treinta y Tres Orientales (Flag of the Thirty-Three Easterners), a flag of blue, white, and red horizontal bars. These colors had been traditional since the times of Artigas, not only in Oriental Province but also in others of the Río de la Plata region. Long afterwards, in 1877, the event would be portrayed by the painter Juan Manuel Blanes, in El Juramento de los Treinta y Tres Orientales (Oath of the Thirty-Three Easterners, pictured) one of the images most deeply inscribed in the historical memory of Uruguayans.

The military expedition of the Treinta y Tres proceeded to attract countryside inhabitants to the cause of freedom from the Brazilians, and made way to Montevideo, where they arrived on May 20, 1825. On June 14, in the town of La Florida they installed a provisional government which in turn held an election of representatives. This was known as Representatives' Hall, or more commonly as the Florida Assembly. The goal of the assembly was to rewrite the laws of Oriental Province.

On August 25 the assembly declared the independence of Oriental Province from Brazil, and its alleigiance to the United Provinces of Río de la Plata. The United Provinces recognized the incorporation of Oriental Province on October 24, 1825. This instigated a declaration of war by the Empire of Brazil in December of the same year. The Argentina-Brazil War had begun.This conflict extended until August 1828. After mediation by Viscount Ponsonby, a British diplomat, Oriental Province was established as a state independent of both the United Provinces and the Brazilian Empire. This accord was the foundation of modern Uruguay. Known as the Preliminary Peace Convention, it was affirmed on August 27, 1828.

The true number of the group has been the object of controversy, based on the existence of various lists of members, published between 1825 and 1832. Albeit thirty-three is the officially accepted number, the names differ from list to list; it is unclear whether these differing names may be nicknames of the true members. According to Jacinto Carranza, Santiago Gadea is a name appearing in every list. Although called Orientales, not everyone was from Oriental Province. Among them were various Argentines from the isles of Paraná, as well as Paraguayans.

Information from:

http://www.answers.com/topic/uruguay-landing-of-the-33-patriots-day

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landing_of_the_33_Patriots_Day

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty-Three_Orientals

Today's Celebrations April 19th

Today is...

Birthday of the Sultan of Perak in Malaysia

Landing of the 33 Patriots in Uruguay

Mov. Precursor de la Independencia in Venezuela

Republic Day in Sierra Leone

Victory at Gir-n in Cuba

Dia do Indio (Day of The Indian) in Brazil

Today's Celebrations April 1st!

Today is...

April Fools day in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and in the United States of America

Captain Regents Day in San Marino

Cyprus National Day in Cyprus

Republic Day in Iran

Youth Day in Benin

Today's Celebrations March 19th!

Today is...

Battle of March in the Dominican Republic

San Jos in Peru

St., Joseph Expression de la juridiction Legba in Haiti

St. Joseph's Day in Brazil, Costa Rica, Liechtenstein, Malta, San Marino, Spain, Switzerland, Vatican City State, Venezuela

The Forgotten Holiday: Pancake Day February 16!

Looking at today's celebrations, I realised one was missing that we are celebrating in the UK: PANCAKE DAY! I have contacted earthcalender.net, who we use to get the information on Holidays, and have told them to add it to their list!

In the UK Shrove Tuesday is also known as Pancake Day because it is the one day of the year that nearly everyone eats a pancake!

It was originally a religious day, as the last day before the Christian lent. It was a tradition to eat pancakes on this day as it was seen as your last chance to indulge yourself and use up the foods that aren't allowed during lent such as fat, butter and eggs. Today, however, most people celebrate Pancake Day just for the pancakes and do not recognise it as a religious event. I know a huge and dedicated fan of Pancake Day and she is an Atheist!

Shrove Tuesday is always 47 days before Easter Sunday so the date varies from year to year and falls between 3rd February and 9th March.

A pancake is a thin, flat cake made of batter and fried in a pan. Usually once it is cooked people put caster sugar or lemon juice over the pancake . You can also add things like berries, golden syrup, jam and melted chocolate.

Quite a few different countries celebrate Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day, but perhaps have different names for it. They are all listed below:

UK, Ireland, Australia: Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day

Brazil: Terça-feira Gorda (Fat Tuesday) - the final day of Brazilian carnival

Greece: Apocreas (from the meat) they also don't eat meat during lent

Sweden: Fettisdagen - Fat Tuesday

USA: In Catholic and French-speaking parts of the US it is called Mardi Gras

Germany: Fastnacht (Also spelt "Fasnacht", "Fasenacht", "Fasteloven" (in the Rhine area) or "Fasching" in Bavaria.)

France: Mardi Gras (Grease or Fat Tuesday)

Iceland: Sprengidagur (Bursting Day)

Today's Celebrations February 16!

Today is...

Carnival/ Mardi Gras in Andorra, Angola, Argentina, Aruba, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Cape Verde Islands, Curacao, Dominica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Grenada, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Portugal, St. Martin, St. Lucia, St. Pierre & Miquelon, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Switzerland, Trinidad & Tobago, USA, Uruguay, US Virgin Islands

Independence day in Lithuania

Kim Jong-Ils in birthday in North Korea

Comedy Comparisons: The Office

In 2001 British comedy The Office, created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, aired on BBC 2 for the first time. The show ran until 2003 and in that time became one of the most successful British comedy exports of all time. The programme takes the form of a mockumentary (a fictional documentary) about a regular office.

Due to it's success, many countries created their own versions of the series and below are clips from the original, followed by clips from versions by other countries. What is most interesting here is the style of comedy that has been adapted in each country and the similarities in format, plot and characters. Unfortunately it hasn't been possible to find ones with English subtitles, however, you can interpet a lot from the body language and actions of the actors so even if you can't understand what they are saying, you will still be able to notice similarities.

The Office - UK

Le Bureau - France (no subtitles)



Stromberg Themen - Germany (no subtitles)



Os Aspones - Brazil (no subtitles)



La Job - French Canadian (No subtitles)



The Office - the United States



Have you watched any of the different Office episodes before? What did you think? Leave a comment and let us know!