Inside Job, Scary stuff..

Today in class, Mr. Henebury mentioned a clip from the film "Inside Job".

I thought it sounded really interesting, as the movie title sounded so familiar. Little did I know just how fascinating the film was! I am sat here speechless!! The actions of these men in power, sitting on several billions and billions of dollars, spending it on prostitutes, cocaine and private jets.. WHOA!

Even more shocking is the fact that the same men who cause global instability and millions of cases of personal bankruptcy, get reelected into really important key positions concerning governmental fundings and assets.

The clip Mr. Henebury referred to was from the latter part of the movie, where the Dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Business, Glenn Hubbard, is asked a challenging question. Hubbard, who has seemed like a reasonable and smart man so far in the film turns into a major douche in approximately 10 seconds.

"This isn't a deposition, Sir. I was polite enough to give you time for this interview, foolishly i now see, but you have three more minutes.... Give it your BEST. SHOT."

*Woop Woop Woop -Douchebag alert! Douchebag alert!- Woop Woop Woop*

I have embedded the clip in the end of this post, and i highly recommend that you all watch this movie. Apart from the spot on story, and interview objects, the music and clipping is just amazing.

10/10!

Thank you, Mr. Henebury.

Stay tuned for more (and hopefully more frequent) posts!

-S

Norwenglish!

In class we discussed how other languages have greatly influenced the English language over the centuries. I've been rather interested in this subject the latter years, especially the Norwegian (fine, lets also include the Danes and the Swedes) influence.

#Fun fact, when I was a little kid we all learned that the word "bag", used in the Norwegian language (pronounced the same way), was an ENGLISH word. I looked at it as the first English word I learned. Later, we learned that the word was actually of Norwegian origin, more specifically from the word "baggí", meaning a travel pouch, usually crafted from leather.



I discovered this list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Old_Norse_origin

It hit me by surprise that so many words, lots of them commonly used ones, derived from Old Norse. I highly recommend that you read through the list

Examples are:

Anger
bag
awkward
ball
birth
cake
crawl
dirt
egg
gap
(to) get
guest
give
hammer
happy
knife
outlaw
(to) take
ugly
window

GO VIKINGS!

-S

Word of the Day: Oct. 22, 2011!

Hey guys!

The word of the day is "sustain"

A word i have heard before, but not too familiar with.

The word means:
1. to support, hold, or bear up from below; bear the weight of, as a structure.
2. to bear (a burden, charge, etc.).
3. to undergo, experience, or suffer (injury, loss, etc.); endure without giving way or yielding.
4. to keep (a person, the mind, the spirits, etc.) from giving way, as under trial or affliction.
5. to keep up or keep going, as an action or process: to sustain a conversation.

Example sentences for the word:

Hope sustained us during that difficult time.
The roof, unable to sustain the weight of all the snow, collapsed.
The army sustained heavy losses.
He sustained serious injuries in the accident.

Stay tuned for more!

-S

Word of the Day: Oct. 19, 2011!

Hi there!

The word of the day is "Diminish"

It is a word i was half familiar with, but did not really know when or how to use properly.

It basically means to make something smaller or less important than it is.
Synonyms: lessen, reduce

A quick internet search also gave me these results:

The word can also be used in:
* Architecture: to give (a column) a form tapering inward from bottom to top.
* Music: to make (an interval) smaller by a chromatic half step than the corresponding perfect or minor interval.
* to detract from the authority, honor, stature, or reputation of; disparage.


Examples:
The strength of the army was greatly diminished by outbreaks of disease.
The drug's side effects should diminish over time.
Nothing could diminish the importance of his contributions.


Stay tuned for more!

-S

Dear stalkers of this blog,

The last week i have spent moving into my new apartment! (Busy busy!) Therefore, it has been hard to keep posting blog entries. But do not fear! From now on i will add new thoughts and updates on my learning progress.

In addition, i have come up with a rather brilliant idea. I am going to add a (hopefully) daily entry called "Word of the day", where I write about a new word i have learned.

Furthermore, i feel that you should learn some more about who I am. So, what are my interests? Well, i grew up about 100 meters away from the nearest ski slope, so skiing has always been a natural thing for me. Especially twintip skiing, or freestyle skiing, which basically means that the ski has a curved tip on both ends so that you can land and ride backwards.

I am also a big fan of metal music, and the more "extreme" genres around that end of the music scheme. I should also mention computer games and consol games as an interest, and I also like to work out when im not feeling too lazy.

Stay tuned for more!

-S

My first blog entry.

The bloody hell are you reading this for!? This is my private blog!

Oh well, since you're already here, I might as well give you a short introduction.
Hi, I'm Steffen, a 19 year old boy from Norway and I'm currently studying International Business & Management at the University of Groningen. As it is an international study, it is important for me to improve my English further! In addition to a language learning blog, I'm making it a blog of pure awesomeness. (yes, I am extremely modest.) Nevertheless, I'm planning on updating the blog not only with things I do at school, but also video clips I find amusing, or something that represents who I am.

Stay tuned for more!

-S


Ps: Here's an old Monty Python clip about different ways of using language. Enjoy!