Men’s brains vs women’s brains

Yesterday a mate sent me a video which I had a good laugh watching. I thought it was really hilarious, so I told my eighteen-year-old son to see it. I was a bit puzzled by his reaction. I had assumed he would find it funny too. Obviously I was wrong: he couldn’t understand what made the audience laugh so heartily. I do not know whether our different point of view might be the consequence of the generation gap between us or just because the video is not really funny. What do you think?

By the way, I recommend you this link from a site on “How to do just about anything” If you feel you need to laugh yourself silly. You have some tips there to help you see the funny side of life.

Sam Cooke

Sam Cooke, (1931 – 1964) was an American gospel, R&B, soul, and pop singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. He is considered to be one of the pioneers and founders of soul music.
Cooke had 29 Top 40 hits in the U.S. between 1957 and 1965. Major hits like “You Send Me”, “A Change Is Gonna Come”, “Chain Gang”, “Wonderful World” and “Bring It on Home to Me” are some of his most popular songs. Cooke was also among the first modern black performers and composers to attend to the business side of his musical career. He founded both a record label and a publishing company as an extension of his careers as a singer and composer. He also took an active part in the American Civil Rights Movement.

This is a video of “What a wonderful world it would be”

Cooke died at the age of 33 on December 11, 1964 at the Hacienda Motel  in Los Angeles, California. Bertha Franklin, manager of the motel, told police that she shot and killed Cooke in self-defense because he had threatened her, although the details of the case involving Cooke’s death are still in dispute.

There are numerous and undoubted examples of Cooke’s legacy and cultural impact:
The song “A Change Is Gonna Come” was played upon the death of Malcolm X, and was memorably featured in Spike Lee’s film Malcolm X. Barack Obama’s presidential victory speech paraphrased the song: “It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.”
Many and great  have been the artists that have covered Cooke’s songs. In 2007 the Bristish soul singer Amy Winehouse covered his song “Cupid” for the Deluxe Edition of her award-sinning album Back to Black.

(adapted from the Wipipedia)

The more I listen to this song, the more I like it. This is my personal ” tribute” to Valentine.

Now a little work, why don’t you try filling in the gaps?  The full version is underneath.

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Angie

I’ve never been much interested in The Rolling Stones, but I’ve always loved this song. It brings me memories of my old friends and our times at high school. I still keep the single record that a good friend  gave me as a present, although my old record player has been dead for quite a long time now.

“Angie” was a rare ballad for the rock band, since most of their material at the time was hard and aggressive. It was part of their album Goats Head Soup (1973) and, despite being so quiet and lacking excitement, it hit the top of the charts in US and UK.

Since the song was first recorded by Their Satanic Majesties there have been several cover versions by very different artists.  However,  none of them have caused as much “noise” as when  the German party CDU used the song for its election campaign for Angela Merkel in 2005, although The Rolling Stones denied giving permission to use the song.

A more in-depth listening of the song can help you to see why it was said that some of the lines included in the song’s lyrics were rather unsuitable for a political campaign theme tune.

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Speed dating

This dating phenomenom, which has become popular in recent years, involves meeting, one to one, a rapid succession of possible partners, with a few minutes to make a connection before a bell signals it’s time to move on. When the bell is rung , you move to another person and start chatting again. By the end of the evening you will have spoken with up to twenty men or women!

If, by the end of a conversation, you fancy the person or would like to see them again, you write it down on a card. Then, if the other person also fancies you, the organisers will contact you with their details.

Speed dating is specially designed for people in search of love who are single and too busy for the “traditional” courtship. But this personal and individual search can become more public when a company or agency promote special events.

Match.com, the leading online dating service, and the airline SkyEurope  have already arranged speed dating events on board a plane -maybe convinced that “Love is in the air…”

Another sophisticated variety of speed dating called ski dating has been put into practice on the pistes of Guzet, a ski resort in the Pyrinees.

But the Japanese government have proved to be the most fervent believers in the dating method when trying to deal with the increasing problem of the falling population in their country. They paid for massive speed dating parties in the hope of encouraging people to date, marry and start a family.

We don’t know if the method has been effective in Japan, but speed dating events seem to have become extremely popular not only among Japanese people, but in many other countries.

Spain is not an exception to the rule, and there already quite a number of online sites which can help people to find their perfect match, site like Speed Dates Club or Date Club Spain

However, if you are more the “couch potato” type, you can still meet people from the comfort of your computer, instead of having to switch seats. WooMe, the world’s largest speed-dating website, and rival websites are applying the latest internet technology to speed dating. During the speed dating session you use a web cam and live voice to talk to a possible partner for  5 minutes.

But is three or five minutes long enough to find out if you want to see someone again?  And what about romance?

If you want to do a bit of listening practice on this topic, I recommend you to go to ELLLO website. You’ve got audio and video material with activities.