[ Venice ]
Have you ever thought that there is a city in our world where you can’t use car when going to your school or work or just going out? Have you ever imagine that you travel around the city only by boat? Here’s the answer: YES, such city exists! And the name of this beautiful and magnificent city is Venice!
Venice, the capital of Veneto region, according to a latest census in 2004 has a population of more than 270,000. It is located in the north-east part of Italy on numerous small islands that belong to the Venetian Lagoon.
The "City of Bridges", as it is usually called, stretches along the mouths of the Po and the Piave rivers.
Also known as a magnetic point for sweethearts, lovers, artists and poets,
Venice is very precious and magic city, which stretches across numerous small islands. It is often referred to as the city of "gondole", which are the means of transportation used to cross the numerous canals passing through the city.
Gondolas, in fact, are the most famous and romantic means of transportation for experiencing the city. A gondola is the symbol of Venice that has made it recognition all over the world.
The main mean of transportation in Venice is represented by boats, as the city is surrounded by canals (you can find about 150 in Venice), but the city is also easy to visit by foot. The causeway built in the 19th century allowed trains to reach the city of Venice from the Mainland.
Thanks to this causeway, you can park your motor vehicle at the entrance of the city, and from that point you can reach the historic center by foot or boat. But there is another type of boat that represents a symbol of Venice, the "vaporetti", also called waterbuses or taxis. Just like any motor land-bus, these water buses also have lines that pick/drop-you off at different points of the city.
So, come and see this amazing and enchanting place that attracts with it gorgeous views and unique architecture! You’ll be delighted to walk across the city on foot and excited to travel by boats! This is a perfect place to have a rest and get relaxed! You’ll be full of unforgettable emotions and, for sure, be back again! =)
[ The Social Network ]
There are some films I’ve seen recently such as “The Tourist”, “Killers”, a new film “Red Riding Hood”. But the one I liked the most was the film called “The Social Network”. It is a 2010 drama film about the founding of the social networking website Facebook and the resulting lawsuits. The slogan of the film is “You don't get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies” – very impressive I should say. The plot is based on the real events and I think that’s the real reason why this film has this great success. The film received eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director (David Fincher), and Best Actor (Jesse Eisenberg – the main character), and won three for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, and Best Film Editing. It also won the Best Motion Picture – Drama Golden Globe at the 68th Golden Globe Awards on January 16, 2011. The movie describes you the real situations and conditions under which Facebook has been created and some of details are shocking. “The Social Network” is a film where you can see what may happen if a person is deeply upset, or how you can be betrayed by your closest friend. I highly recommend you to watch it. You won’t be disappointed.
See the trailer here: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi4152690201/
[ Novelty ]
Spanish fashion designer Manel Torres and British professor Paul Lakhem have created a unique liquid fabric. It's sprayed from a usual bank with a metering device directly on the skin of a person.
The aerosol instantly stiffens and the ready thing can be removed at once.
It is ideally repeat the silhouette and according to the developers of the fabric its structure is absolutely harmless. 
The sprayed substance consists of cotton fibres, solvents and dyes. To the touch the material differs nothing from a usual fabric. Ready clothes subjects can be washed. They don't lose color though they're less durable. But still, you can surprise your friends with a new hand-made T-shirt every day. =) By the way, the price of one bank will be only 12$. [ Sarah Orne Jewett: A Famous Maine Author ]
"It is a splendid thing to have the use of any gift of God. It isn't for us to choose again, or wonder and dispute, but just work in our own places, and leave the rest to God."
Sarah Orne Jewett
Sarah Orne Jewett is considered to be one of the most important female authors of American classic literature. Born in South Berwick Maine, her literature is replete with characters and scenes influenced by childhood experiences and by her keen powers of observation. David Godine states in his introduction to The Country of the Pointed Firs that, "She did not so much invent her characters as flesh them out from overheard conversations and long-remembered impressions." Sarah Orne Jewett would spend much of her life in Boston among the literati of the day, but her works of literature reflect her deep attachment to her home in South Berwick and to her appreciation of country people and sensibilities.
Sarah Orne Jewett's Early Years
Theodora Sarah Orne Jewett was born on September 3, 1849 in South Berwick, Maine. Her father, Dr. Theodore Jewett, was from an old seafaring family and her mother, Caroline Perry Jewett, was from a New Hampshire family with rich ties to New Hampshire politics. Along with her sisters Mary Rice (born 1847) and Caroline Augusta (born 1855) Sarah enjoyed a comfortable childhood surrounded by a large extended family. Her grandfather, Captain Jewett, lived next door, and days were spent back and forth between the two houses.
Sarah was not a healthy child and suffered from rheumatoid arthritis. She was often absent from school and would take long, solitary rambles through the woods. She was fond of solitude, and the peace and quiet of nature soothed her and would later influence her writing. She became very close with her father whom Sarah called, "the best and wisest man I ever knew". He would often take her with him on his visits to patients and she acquired a knowledge of herbal remedies, folklore, and the plight of the poor and the elderly. The stories she heard and the people she met would one day find their way into the vignettes of country life for which she would become famous.
South Berwick and Beyond
Sarah Orne Jewett graduated from Berwick Academy in 1865. It was at this time that she began to expand her horizons and she travelled to places such as Boston, Newport, RI, and Cincinnati. She was a voracious reader and kept a book of extracts from the books she read. Elizabeth Barrett Browning, John Greenleaf Whittier, Julia Ward Howe, and Harriet Beacher Stowe were some of her early influences and some of them would later become her dear friends. It was at this time that she chose writing as her vocation and celibacy as her lifestyle choice. Unmarried women had always played an important part in Sarah's upbringing and "in general women who made useful lives for themselves were respected".
She began writing short stories and in 1869 she had her first story published in the Atlantic Monthly. Her longterm friendship with editor William Dean Howells began at this time and would last many years.
Sarah joined the Episcopalian church in 1871 and through Harvard professor Theophilus Parsons, she began to study the teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg. Swedenborg's ideas of loving interdependence and the belief in the transmigration of consciousness were to become themes in her work.
From Deephaven to the «Country of Pointed Firs» Her circle of acquaintances began to grow and she travelled even further afield to places such as Philadelphia, Wisconsin, and Chicago. In 1877, William Dean Howells suggested that she collect several of her individual sketches and publish them in one volume. The result was Deephaven and it was her first piece of work that highlighted the mature Jewett.
In 1880, Sarah began a life-long friendship with Annie Fields, the wife of James T. Fields. It was to become one of the most famous "Boston marriages" and Sarah spent part of each spring at Annie's home in Boston and part of each summer at Manchester-by-the-Sea. She also spent a considerable amount of time in South Berwick helping to care for her mother who died in 1891. In 1882, Sarah and Annie went to Europe and in 1884, A Country Doctor was published. Sarah continued to suffer from arthritis and went to Henry Flagler's new hotel in St. Augustine, Florida in 1888 for treatments.
After a second trip to Europe and a cruise of the Caribbean islands with Annie Fields, «The Country of Pointed Firs» was published in 1896. This was Sarah Orne Jewett at her best and Willa Cather said of the book, "It is so tightly, yet so lightly built, so little encumbered with the heavy materialism that deteriorates and grows old-fashioned. It will be a message to the future, a message in a universal language."
Sarah Orne Jewett's Final Years
In 1901, Sarah Orne Jewett became the first woman to receive an honorary Litt.D. Degree from Bowdoin College. In 1902, she was in a serious carriage accident and never fully recovered. She died on June 24, 1909 in South Berwick of complications from a stroke. Before she died she said, "I was born here and I hope to die here leaving the lilac bushes still green and all the chairs in their place."
