Article assingment evaluated – Nathan Lauwens

First and foremost I have to say I’m very positive about this assignment. Writing articles is what I love to do and it’s why I chose journalism to study. The struggle to get enough divers information and to write the article is a joy I look forward to every week. It’s a great learning experience and I would want this assignment to continue. Don’t tell this to my fellow students, though, or I will be lynched.

As this is supposed to be a critical analysis, it sure can’t be all laudation. Some topics weren’t my cup of thee at all. Sports or gossip, for instance, were terribly difficult to get inspired by. You can be sure this was a challenge for me. In that sense it was probably beneficial too as we’ll have to write in our future careers about less interesting things. Nevertheless, I missed topics like politics or foreign affairs. Those subjects interest me far more. Perhaps an idea for the next six weeks?

My personal opinion

I believe writing articles about several topics in English is usefull for training not only linguistic skills, but also journalistic skills.  Although I can believe this assignment isn’t interesting for all students in journalism.  If you’re interested in doing something for TV or for the radio, then this is obviously not the most fun assignment to do.  But in my case that’s different.  Personally I liked the assignment because it kept me up-to-date with the latest news and so.  Only two topics really didn’t interest me, being sports and celebrities.  The latter because of the high patheticness level of certain celebreties and people who don’t have anything better to do with their time than to write about celebreties and their delirious debauchery.  And the first, well, that never really generated great interest.  I think it’s all too blown out of proportions, especially soccer.  But that’s another issue. 

For the rest I think this assignment comes in handy to train one’s writing skills and vocabulary.  I tried to use vocabulary a bit mor elevated than the usual, already-known words.  There is one disadvantage though.  That is, by putting this kind of article on an internet blog the chance that it will be read by more than 5 people is very slim.  Especially posts by freshmen like us.  It is that bad, that there is a major possibility that you won’t even read this post.  But I understand that.  There are too many students and there’s too little time to read them all thorougly.  Yet despite that, it’s still a usefull exercice even though there’s a strong possibility that it’ll never be read.

A critical approach about the assignment (Joris Luyckx)

Writing english articles on a blog is very usefull. You learn to work with the english language in a practical way and you enlarge your vocabulary. You realise also that it isn’t that easy. You have to see that your articles are easy reading. Therefore you have to be sure that your gramatical times are correct and that you write in active sentences.

Working with a blog is not very renewing. Only one person of the group has made the blog and the others has only posted articles on the blog. And that is not that difficult.

The advantage of a blog is that you can read the articles from your collegues. So you can compare your articles with them and you can learn about it.

By putting every week a new article you learn to handle with deadlines. That’s not always that easy, but very important for your future job. The varying topics were all intresting and thanks to the alternation the assignment stayed fun.

Maybe 6 weeks writing a article was too much. The last 3 weeks I became forgetful, but I know, in real live, you have to write everyday when you will work for a newspaper or something.

Anderlecht leaves honourably the Uefa-cup

Anderlecht has won the revenche game against Bayern München in the kwarter finals in the Uefa-cup. It Became 1 – 2.

In the home game Anderlecht has lost with 0 – 5. So the revenche game was actually superfluous. But Anderlecht has had a nice experience in Germany and has played a good match.

In the first 20 minutes Bayern got 6  chances, playing with their eyes wide shut. And then Lucio has made a goal. Zitka, the keeper from Anderlecht has made a mistake. (1-0). After that Podolski has hit the pile and he found Zitka on his way. Klose has shot closely to the goal and Juhasz was more quick at the ball as Van Bommel.

But after these 20 minutes the Allianz Arena was speakless: Jakovenko sent Serhat through the German off-side fall and the Turk put the ball under Rensing into the goal.

Bayern lost his energy and Anderlecht was growing. With a realy hard kick Jakovenko made a second goal from de corner of the great rectangle. (1-2).

Bayern went to the dressing rooms while the supporters started to whistle.

 

Hayley McGregory breaks world record 50m – Nathan Lauwens

07/03/08 – The swimmer Hayley McGregory cleared the women’s 50 meter back world record. The second night of swimming at the All-American Long Course Championships provided some incredible competition throughout the evening.

The race of the night was on the lead-off leg of the women’s 200 meter medley relay. Hayley McGregory of Longhorn aquatics knocked off the record in the 50 meter backstroke with an outstanding effort of 28.00, breaking the previous mark by Li Yang of China of 28.09. McGregory and her teammates Jessica Rodriquez, Caroline McElhany and Tanica Jamison won the 200 meter medley relay in 1:57.08.

The night in Austin, Texas already started promising when Kirsty Coventry took a run at Nathalie Coughlin’s newest world record of 59.21 in the women’s 100 meter back. She set a time of 59.42. When Hayley McGregory joined Coventry with a ridiculously fast time of 59.81 to become the fourth-fastest women in history, the sub-1:00 was starting to get crowded.

Hayley McGregory seemed determined to win the women’s 100 backstroke when she was out first at the wall at 28.97 to Kirsten Coventry’s 29.26 and led most of the way back. But Coventry wasn’t accepting such a turn out. Once again Coventry showed her finishing ability getting to the wall first.

“I even doubted the Olympics”

Kim Gevaert wouldn’t have participate the World Championships nore the European Championships the last couple of years, if she hadn’t been competing for the medals.  At first she had her doubts due to a certain ilness, but she esteemed herself fit enough to achieve gold during the latest World Championships Indoor.  Unfortunately, she didn’t made it.  She ended fourth in ranking.

After achieving silver in 2004 and bronz in 2006 Kim Gevaert, the Begian pride of sprinting, found herself well-shaped enough to win gold at the World Championships Indoor.  It was obvious she had to pay the toll of flu.  Kim followed at a reasonable distance in 7″22, which is not a time of her level.  It was however a sublime finale with Angela Williams ending first in 7″06, followed by Harrigan (7″08) and the British Kwakye (7″09).  “In the series I’ll feel how it goes”, stated Gevaert earlier on.  That feeling disappointed her in an ugly way.  She did won her serie, but with a 7″31 she didn’t left a big impression: eighth in ranking.  That beloved medal then seemed already too far to reach.  During the semi-finals she succeeded better.  Her reaction time was how it should’ve been and ended in 7″18.  A decent time and good enough for a place in the finales.          

The ‘katarakt-house’, everyone wants to see it (week 4: media)

People who are following the Katarakt-route can’t pass by the house where Elisabeth’s father Roger, Paul and Ann are living. The original occupants Carmen Billen and Stefan Odeurs can know. Tonight you see their house for the last time in the één-soap ‘Katarakt’. Carmen and Stefan had to look out the passed recent months for bikers and hikers who want to see a glimpse of their house. Their hove in Klein-Gelmen, a municipality of Heers, is the most visited house of fruit seller Roger Hendrickx from Katarakt. Carmen doesn’t find the success of the soap a curse. But if it is a bliss, she also doesn’t know. Carmen and her husband have made a special gate in front of their drive to stop too curious tourists. They don’t have fear that people want to pick empty their cherries, bulbs and apple trees. Because at this moment it’s too early for blossoms. Carmen and her husband are living only in the weekend at ‘the house of Roger’, because they first want to renovate it before they will live there for real. But it’s getting busier. Mostly in the weekend you see many tourists who stop by and take look at the house. 

Social pressure to binge drink – Nathan Lauwens

02/03/08 – Social pressure leads to excessive drinking amongst the youth in the UK. Politicians and the media are increasingly viewing this culture as a serious problem. A research, recently published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research shows that binge drinking may be causing long-term damage to teenagers.

In the UK there is a certain degree of social pressure to get drunk on a night out, particularly amongst young adults. Alcohol is generally consumed rapidly, leading quickly to drunkenness. This culture is increasingly becoming viewed by politicians and the media as a serious problem. Partly due to the health risks, but mostly due to its assumed association with violence and anti-social behaviour.

According to the British Medical Association: “There is no consensus on the definition of binge drinking. In common usage, binge drinking is now usually used to refer to heavy drinking (five drinks or more) over an evening.” It’s often considered to be drinking with the intention of becoming intoxicated and with drinking in large groups. It’s estimated that the amount of alcohol consumed by people under the age of 16 has more than doubled in the last ten years.

A recent research shows that teenagers may be causing long-term damage to their bodies and brains by binge drinking. The researchers, of the University of Memphis, say alcohol can be particularly damaging while the body is still developing. Although little is known about the long-term effects of alcohol consumption on teenagers, a substantial amount of studies have shown that the earlier individuals start drinking, the more likely they will have alcohol-related problems in adulthood.

Beerfest

SINT-NIKLAAS (29/02/08)  If you don’t know how to spend your free time this weekend, you could consider paying a visit to Sint-Niklaas to attend their yearly pride and joy, the Zythos Beer festival.  During the fifth edition of the largest beer event in Belgium there will be no less than sixty brewers and beer companies present to let you taste from a myriad of special Belgian beers, over 200 to be precise.  You will be given a usefull information guide that bundles all you have to know about the presented beers.  Defenitely something that will come in handy during this event.  Entrance is free of charge.  When entering you’ll need to hire a taste glass for 3 euro.  Per consumption you pay one coin, which is an equivalent of 1.20 euro, whether it’s a trappist or just a plain table beer.  At the end you will get the warrant for the taste glass in return, or you can choose to take the glass, which was specially designed for this festival, with you as a souvenir.  And if you’re asking yourself what to do with the children, they can go on a razzle in the kids’ corner. 

The Zyhtos beer festival takes place in the city’s festivity hall, Leopold II-laan 67 in Sint-Niklaas, at a 150 meter from the station.  Saturday March first from 12 ’till midnight and Sunday March second from 11 ’till 21 o’clock.  Don’t forget to take BOB with you! 

dEUS is touring in smaller clubs (week 3: Leisure)

The Antwerp rock band dEUS will play 6 concerts in April and May in our country in small clubs to promote their new album ‘Vantage Point’. The band will also performe in a few other European cities.

dEUS announces for the summer an extended festival tour. They will be performing for example at Rock Werchter. In the autumn they will come back for more concerts in bigger clubs.

‘Vantage Point’, the new album from dEUS, will be available in the stores at the 21th of April. Tom Barman described the album as ‘sexy, danceble, very eclectic and in your face’. ‘She is loud. There will also be a few softer numbers on it, but not that much. She’s different than ‘Pocket Revolution’. That cd was a very strong moment record, like all the other cd’s actually. The period that we were recording ‘Pocket Revolution’, was very difficult. That’s why the album is a little introverted. The new album is more extraverted. The word ‘lively’ is not correct,’ thus Tom Barman by the end of November.

The new dEUS was produced by Dave McCracken, who worked with Ian Brown, Depeche Mode and Faithless. Guests on the album are Lies Lorquet from Mintskov, Guy Garvey from Elbow and Karin Dreijer Andersson from The Knife.