Editor’s Weekly Top 10 List 18/4/12 – 25/4/12

1. Top Movie

 

"Intouchables (2011)"

After he becomes a quadriplegic from a paragliding accident, an aristocrat hires a young man from the projects to be his caretaker.
Directors: Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano
Writers: Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano
Stars: François Cluzet, Omar Sy and Anne Le Ny

2. Top TV Series

 

"The Vampire Diaries - Season 3"

The vampire brothers Damon and Stefan Salvatore, eternal adolescents, having been leading 'normal' lives, hiding their bloodthirsty condition, for centuries, moving on before their non-aging is noticed. They are back in the Virginia town where they became vampires, as high school students. Stefan is noble, denying himself blood to avoid killing, and tries to control his evil brother Damon. Stefan falls in love with schoolgirl Elena, whose best friend is a witch, like her grandma. 

3. Top Song

 

"Adele – Someone Like You"

An accompanying music video for the song was directed by Jake Nava and it was filmed in Paris. The video showed Adele walking alone through the streets with a sad look on her face. Critics praised the video for being simple and perfect for the sound of the song. Adele performed the song on several award and television shows including the 2011 BRIT Awards.

4. Top Video

 

"Lionel Messi - From an Ordinary Boy to a Legend"

805,887 views 

5. Top Book

"Stephen Hawking – A Brief History of Time"

Was there a beginning of time?, Could time run backwards? and Is the universe infinite are just some of the questions considered in this book for the non-scientific layman. The author begins by reviewing the great theories of the cosmos from Newton to Einstein and then delves into the secrets which lie at the heart of space and time.

Publisher: Bantam Books

6.Top Website

 "Booking.com"

Priceline is the parent company of the European organization Booking.com. Established in 1996, Booking.com is the world's leading online hotel reservations agency by room nights sold, attracting over 30 million unique visitors each month via the Internet from both leisure and business markets worldwide. Booking.com offers many types of property, ranging from small independent hotels to a five star luxury through Booking.com. The Booking.com website is available in 41 languages and offers over 180,000 hotels in 155 countries.

7. Top Pc Game

"Microsoft Flight"

The game was officially released on February 29 2012. Previously limited details were released on Flight, but Microsoft suggested that its realism and accuracy will appeal to flying enthusiasts, while new types of gameplay will appeal to newcomers. The game is integrated with the Games for Windows – Live platform, which allows players with Live accounts to join and host multiplayer sessions using a Gamertag. The introduction of Live means that the GameSpy client will no longer be in use.

8. Top Travel Destination

"Cuba"

Cuba is considered a tropical paradise which it is the most famous and largest of the West Indies islands, located immediately south of the Tropic of Cancer in the Caribbean Sea and separated by the Strait of Florida USA which has a length of 145 km. It is a slightly arched island, 1255 kilometers long, with an inclination to the southeast. The nearest neighbor of this country is Haiti, which is 77 km, area 110 922 km2 of Cuba offers visitors a variety of landscapes worth admired. 

9. Top Food

"Shrimp Linguine Alfredo"

Ingredients:
40 small shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 (12 ounce) package linguine pasta
1/4 cup butter, melted
4 tablespoons diced onion
4 teaspoons minced garlic
1 cup half-and-half
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
6 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
4 sprigs fresh parsley
4 slices lemon, for garnish
Directions: 
Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling water until al dente. Drain.
Meanwhile, melt butter in a large saucepan. Saute onion and garlic over medium heat until tender. Add shrimp and saute over high heat for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
Stir in half-and-half. Cook, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens.
Place pasta in a serving dish, and cover with shrimp sauce. Sprinkle with black pepper and Parmesan cheese. Garnish with parsley and lemon slices.

10. Top Drink

 "Margarita"

Ingredients:

 Oz Tequila

 1 Oz Orange liqueur (always prefer cointreau, but a simple triple sec is good enough)

Juice of 1 lime or lemon (we always prefer limes!)

 0.5 Oz of simple syrup or Lime Cordial

   8 Ice cubes or crushed ice

Directions:
     Step 1: Pour all ingredients into the shaker.
     Step 2: Add 8 ice cubes
     Step 3: Add the fresh lime juice or just squeeze a whole lime inside
     Step 4: Shake it hard! 12 times at least
     Step 5: Strain the cocktail into your chilled glass or strain over ice (margarita on the rocks)
     Step 6: Place a lime peel on the rim of the glass or put salt on the rim of the glass. If you want to "salt your rim" check out our cocktail guru tip at the bottom of this page.
     Step 7: Drink or serve it, your Perfect Margarita is ready to drink!
     You can also use:
Premium tequila's like Patron or Don Julio, they cost more but you will be sure to taste their quality.

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Extra! The 10 most environmental movies ever!

Dedicated to our fellow students
http://forecolife.blogspot.com

1. Instinct(1999)

When a noted anthropologist who left society to live in the jungle is imprisoned for murder, it's up to young psychiatrist to get through to him.
Director:Jon Turteltaub
Writers:Gerald Di Pego (screenplay), Gerald Di Pego
Stars:Anthony Hopkins, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Donald Sutherland 

2. Avatar (2009)  

  A paraplegic Marine dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission becomes torn between following his orders and protecting the world he feels is his home. 

Director: James Cameron

Writer: James Cameron

Stars:Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana and Sigourney Weaver

3. An Inconvenient Truth (2006)

A documentary on Al Gore's campaign to make the issue of global warming a recognized problem worldwide.
Director:Davis Guggenheim
Stars:Al Gore and Billy West 

 4. Into the Wild (2007) 

After graduating from Emory University, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandons his possessions, gives his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way, Christopher encounters a series of characters that shape his life.
Director:Sean Penn
Writers:Sean Penn (screenplay), Jon Krakauer (book)
Stars:Emile Hirsch, Vince Vaughn and Catherine Keener 

5.The Cove(2009)

Using state-of-the-art equipment, a group of activists, led by renowned dolphin trainer Ric O'Barry, infiltrate a cove near Taijii, Japan to expose both a shocking instance of animal abuse and a serious threat to human health.
Director:Louie Psihoyos
Writer:Mark Monroe
Stars:Richard O'Barry, Louie Psihoyos and Hardy Jones

 6. WALL·E (2008) 

In the distant future, a small waste collecting robot inadvertently embarks on a space journey that will ultimately decide the fate of mankind.
Director:Andrew Stanton
Writers:Andrew Stanton (original story), Pete Docter
Stars:Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight and Jeff Garlin

 

 7. The 11th Hour (2007)

A look at the state of the global environment including visionary and practical solutions for restoring the planet's ecosystems.
Directors:Leila Conners, Nadia Conners
Writers:Leonardo DiCaprio, Nadia Conners, and 1 more credit »
Stars:Leonardo DiCaprio, Kenny Ausubel and Thom Hartmann

8. King Corn (2007)

King Corn is a feature documentary about two friends, one acre of corn, and the subsidized crop that drives our fast-food nation. In King Corn, Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, best friends from college on the east coast, move to the heartland to learn where their food comes from. With the help of friendly neighbors, genetically modified seeds, and powerful herbicides, they plant and grow a bumper crop of America's most-productive, most-subsidized grain on one acre of Iowa soil.

Director:Aaron Woolf
Writers:Aaron Woolf, Jeffrey K. Miller, 

Stars:Bob Bledsoe, Earl L. Butz and Dawn Cheney

               

9. Addicted to Plastic (2008)

For better and for worse, no ecosystem or segment of human activity has escaped the shrink-wrapped grasp of plastic. Addicted to Plastic is a global journey to investigate what we really know about the material of a thousand uses and why there's so darn much of it. On the way we discover a toxic legacy, and the men and women dedicated to cleaning it up.
Director:Ian Connacher

10. Dances with Wolves (1990)

 

Lt. John Dunbar, exiled to a remote western Civil War outpost, befriends wolves and Indians, making him an intolerable aberration in the military.
Director:Kevin Costner
Writers:Michael Blake (screenplay), Michael Blake (novel)
Stars:Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell and Graham Greene

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Official Weekly Top 10 List 5/4/12 – 12/4/12

Top Movie

“Wrath of the Titans”
Perseus braves the treacherous underworld to rescue his father, Zeus, captured by his son, Ares, and brother Hades who unleash the ancient Titans upon the world.

Director:Jonathan Liebesman
Writers:Dan Mazeau (screenplay), David Johnson (screenplay)
Stars:Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson and Rosamund Pike

Top TV Series

  “NCIS Los Angeles”

The Naval Criminal Investigation Service's Office of Special Projects takes on the undercover work and the hard to crack cases in LA. Key agents are G. Callen and Sam Hanna, streets kids risen through the ranks.

Creator:Shane Brennan
Stars:Chris O'Donnell, Daniela Ruah and Barrett Foa 

Top Song

“kelly Clarkson - What doesn't kill you”

Top Video

“M&M'S "Just My Shell" Super Bowl Commercial”

 3,144,570 views
Top Book

 "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest"

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest (original title in Swedish: Luftslottet som sprängdes, in English: The castle made from air that (was) exploded) is the third and final novel in the best-selling "Millennium series"by Swedish writer Stieg Larsson. The novel is the sequel to The Girl Who Played with Fire. It was published posthumously in Swedish in 2007 and in English in the UK in October 2009.
The US and Canadian editions, published on May 25, 2010, are titled The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, with "hornet" in the singular form.
   

Top Website

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine (Yahoo! Search), Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping, video sharing, fantasy sports and social media website and services. It is one of the largest websites in the United States.

Top Pc Game

“Yesterday”
Yesterday is an adventure game by origin with cliché story and characters. This game starts with showing you weird images of pentagrams lying around directly referencing to alchemy and indirectly telling you that something is seriously amiss. It doesn’t take too long to realize that this is just another cliché story with something bad is going on. This is further proven when you start getting introduced to the characters of the game, which sound a lot like old movie characters, again reminding you of something that already has been used. I tried and played this game through and here is my review for it.

Top Travel Destination

“Sydney,Australia”
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people.Inhabitants of Sydney are called Sydneysiders, comprising a cosmopolitan and international population.

Top Food

“Burger”

A burger is a sandwich consisting of a cooked patty of ground meat (usually beef, but occasionally pork or a combination of meats) usually placed inside a sliced bread roll. Hamburgers are often served with lettuce, bacon, tomato, onion, pickles, cheese and condiments such as mustard, mayonnaise, ketchup and relish. 

Method

Place the beef in a large bowl and add the remaining ingredients.   Mix it all together until just combined. This is best done by hand but don't over-work the mixture or you'll get a tough burger.

Wet you hands then shape the mixture into burgers by flattening the mixture in your hand about 2cm or 1 inch thick and smoothing he edges.

The burgers can now be cooked either on a griddle pan, non-stick frying pan with a bit of oil, or even a barbeque. Make sure you pre-heat the fying pan, griddle pan or barbeque to a medium heat.

Cook the burgers for about 5 minutes on each side, turning them once only.

And that is the Classic Burger Recipe. You can serve the burgers in buns with salad. Enjoy...

Ingredients 

• 1kg minced beef (it is best not to use the lean mince as fat will help to keep the burgers moist)
• 1small onion, finely chopped
• 4tbsp fine bread crumbs
• 1egg, lightly beaten
• 1red chilli,finely chopped
• 1tsp salt
• 1tsp mustard power or mustard
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed

Top Drink

“Pina Colada”

The piña colada was created in Puerto Rico and in Spanish it means, strained pineapple: piña, pineapple + colada, strained) is a sweet, rum-based cocktail made with rum, coconut cream, and pineapple juice, usually served either blended or shaken with ice.

Method

Pour rum, cream of coconut and pineapple juice into a blender with one cup of crushed ice. Blend until smooth, and pour into a collins glass. Garnish with a slice of pineapple and a maraschino cherry, and serve.

Ingredients

1 1/2 oz light rum
2 oz Coco Lopez® cream of coconut
2 oz pineapple juice
1 cup crushed ice

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Editor’s Weekly Top 10 List 5/4/12 – 12/4/12

1. Top Movie
 

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

Tells the story of Benjamin Button, a man who starts aging backwards with bizarre consequences.
Director:David Fincher
Writers:Eric Roth (screenplay), Eric Roth (story), and 2 more credits »
Stars:Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett and Tilda Swinton

2. Top TV Series

 

"Friends (1994–2004)" 
The lives, loves, and laughs of six young friends living in Manhattan.

Creators:David Crane, Marta Kauffman
Stars:Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox and Lisa Kudrow

3. Top Song

 

"Eminem - Love the way you lie"

"Love the Way You Lie" is a song recorded by American rapper Eminem for his 2010 studio album Recovery. The second single from the album, it was released by Interscope-Geffen-A&M on August 9, 2010. It was inspired by American songwriter Skylar Grey's idea of being in an abusive romantic relationship with the music industry. After Eminem heard the demo track, recorded by Grey and British producer Alex da Kid, he wrote the rapped verses and asked Barbadian singer Rihanna to sing the chorus. The recording sessions were held at Effigy Studios in Ferndale, Michigan, and Sun Studios in Dublin.

4. Top Video

 "Michael Jordan mix"

 

3,557,067 views 

5. Top Book

"Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis, Greece, (1883-1957)"

Zorba the Greek(Life and Adventures of Alexis Zorbas) is a novel written by the Greek author Nikos Kazantzakis, first published in 1946. It is the tale of a young Greek intellectual who ventures to escape his bookish life with the aid of the boisterous and mysterious Alexis Zorba. The novel was adapted into a successful 1964 film of the same name as well as a 1968 musical, Zorba

The book opens in a café in Piraeus, just before dawn on a gusty autumn morning in the 1930s. The narrator, a young Greek intellectual, resolves to set aside his books for a few months after being stung by the parting words of a friend, Stavridakis, who has left for the Caucasus in order to help some ethnic Greeks who are undergoing persecution. He sets off for Crete in order to re-open a disused lignite mine and immerse himself in the world of peasants and working-class people.

6.Top Website

 "Adobe"

Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ: ADBE)  is an American multinational computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States. The company has historically focused upon the creation of multimedia and creativity software products, with a more-recent foray towards rich Internet application software development.

7. Top Pc Game

"Star Wars: The Old Republic"

The story takes place in the Star Wars fictional universe shortly after the establishment of a tenuous peace between the re-emergent Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic,300 years after the events of the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic games, and more than 3,500 years before the events in the Star Wars films.The Jedi are held responsible for the success of the Sith during the devastating 28-year-long Great Galactic War (which led to the Treaty of Coruscant prior to the "cold war"), and thus choose to relocate from Coruscant to Tython, where the Jedi Order had initially been founded, to seek guidance from the Force. The Sith control Korriban, where they have re-established a Sith Academy. The game begins 10 years later as new conflicts arise.

8. Top Travel Destination

 "Icaria, Greece"

Icaria, also spelled Ikaria (Greek: Ικαρία), is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea, 10 nautical miles (19 km) southwest of Samos. It derived its name from Icarus, the son of Daedalus in Greek mythology, who fell into the sea nearby. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Icaria regional unit, which is part of the North Aegean region. The principal town of the island and seat of the municipality is Agios Kirykos.

9. Top Food

"Meatballs and Pasta"

Meatballs are fantastic! They’re perfect like this, with a one-minute homemade tomato sauce and spaghetti, but you could also try polenta or simple chunks of fresh crust bread. I like to make meatballs with a mixture of beef and pork, as I think it gives a really wonderful flavour and texture.

To make your meatballs
• Pick the rosemary leaves off the woody stalks and finely chop them
• Wrap the crackers in a tea towel and smash up until fine, breaking up any big bits with your hands
• Add to a mixing bowl with the mustard, minced meat, chopped rosemary and oregano
• Crack in the egg and add a good pinch of salt and pepper
• With clean hands scrunch and mix up well
• Divide into 4 large balls
• With wet hands, divide each ball into 6 and roll into little meatballs – you should end up with 24
• Drizzle them with olive oil and jiggle them about so they all get coated
• Put them on a plate, cover and place in the fridge until needed

To cook your pasta, meatballs and sauce
• Pick the basil leaves, keeping any smaller ones to one side for later
• Peel and finely chop the onion and the garlic
• Finely slice the chilli
• Put a large pan of salted water on to boil
• Next, heat a large frying pan on a medium heat and add 2 lugs of olive oil
• Add your onion to the frying pan and stir for around 7 minutes or until softened and lightly golden
• Then add your garlic and chilli, and as soon as they start to get some colour add the large basil leaves
• Add the tomatoes and the balsamic vinegar
• Bring to the boil and season to taste
• Meanwhile, heat another large frying pan and add a lug of olive oil and your meatballs
• Stir them around and cook for 8–10 minutes until golden (check they’re cooked by opening one up – there should be no sign of pink)
• Add the meatballs to the sauce and simmer until the pasta is ready, then remove from the heat
• Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook according to the packet instructions

To serve your meatballs
• Saving some of the cooking water, drain the pasta in a colander
• Return the pasta to the pan
• Spoon half the tomato sauce into the pasta, adding a little splash of your reserved water to loosen
• Serve on a large platter, or in separate bowls, with the rest of the sauce and meatballs on top
• Sprinkle over the small basil leaves and some grated Parmesan
• from Jamie's Ministry of Food
 

ingredients
• 4 sprigs of fresh rosemary
• 12 Jacob’s cream crackers
• 2 heaped teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 500g good-quality minced beef, pork, or a mixture of the two
• 1 heaped tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 large egg, preferably free-range or organic
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• olive oil
• a bunch of fresh basil
• 1 medium onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• ½ a fresh or dried red chilli
• 2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 400g dried spaghetti or penne
• Parmesan cheese, for grating

10. Top Drink

 "Greek Wine"
Greece is one of the oldest wine-producing regions in the world. The earliest evidence of Greek wine has been dated to 6,500 years ago where wine was produced on a household or communal basis. In ancient times, as trade in wine became extensive, it was transported from end to end of the Mediterranean; Greek wine had especially high prestige in Italy under the Roman Empire. In the medieval period, wines exported from Crete, Monemvasia and other Greek ports fetched high prices in northern Europe.

The main wine growing regions of contemporary Greece are:

Red Wine
    Agiorghitiko ("St. George's [grape]") is a variety native to Nemea that grows mainly in the Peloponnese area, producing a soft, fruity red in many styles. Its sensory attributes are similar to Beaujolais Nouveau but, unlike its French counterpart, the St. George ages well for about 5 years.
    Xinomavro ("sour black") is the predominant grape variety in Macedonia, centered around the town of Naousa. This variety has great aging potential with a palate reminiscent of tomatoes and olives, and a rich tannic character. It is often compared to Nebbiolo.
    Mandilaria, also known as amorgiano, is mainly cultivated on the islands of Rhodes and Crete. Wine from this grape is often very tannic and frequently blended with other grapes to soften the mouthfeel.
    Mavrodaphne, or "black laurel", is a variety that grows in the Peloponnese and the Ionian Islands. It is blended with the Black Corinth currant grape to produce a prized fortified dessert wine made in the Solera style.
    Kotsifali is a variety mainly grown on Crete. It is blended with Mandilaria or Syrah to enhance its color.
White Wine
    Assyrtiko is a multi-purpose variety which maintains its acidity as it ripens. It is similar in character to Riesling, and is mostly island-based, being a native variety of the island of Santorini, whose old vines have been resistant to Phylloxera.
    Athiri is a lower acid variety and one of the most ancient. Originally from Santorini, it is now planted in Macedonia, Attica, and Rhodes.
    Debina is a white Greek wine grape grape primarily in the Zitsa region of Epirus. The grape's high acidity lends itself to sparkling wine production.
    Lagorthi is a variety mainly cultivated on high slopes (850 meters) in the Peloponnese. The grape produces a very malic and fruity wine.
    Malagousia is a grape growing mainly in Macedonia, with a special aroma leading to elegant full bodied wines, with medium-plus acidity and exciting perfumed aromas.
    Moschofilero is a Blanc de gris variety from the AOC region of Mantineia, in Arcadia in the Peloponnese. Its wines offer a crisp and floral character in both still and sparkling styles.
    Robola is most grown in the mountainous vineyards of the Ionian Island of Cephalonia. It has a smokey mineral and lemony character, excellently complementing seafood.
    Roditis (the "pink" or "rose" grape) is a grape that is very popular in Attica, Macedonia, Thessaly, and the Peloponnese. This variety produces elegant, light white wines with citrus flavors.
    Savatiano (the "Saturday" grape) is the predominant white grape in the region of Attica, where it displays excellent heat resistance and shows a distinct floral and fruity aroma when cold fermentation is practised.[14] When fermented without cooling, it makes retsina or rustic unresinated wines that complement Mediterranean dishes well.

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