Idioms for idiots (not you, the others)

You said it (favorite English expressions)

Yep
Definitely
Cool
When pigs fly
Break a leg
Every cloud has a silver lining
What the hell
Love conquers all
I'll keep my fingers crossed
Never give up
Are you kidding me?
Oh, my God!
Damn
Believe in yourself
Keep Calm and Carry On
What do you mean?
Fantastic
Okay
What a pity
Piece of cake
What else?
Don't worry, be happy
Follow your dreams (and they will come true)
Live while you're young
You're kidding
Sleep like a log
I don't mind
I don't care
May the odds be ever in your favor
What?
Are you serious?
Hey man, what's up?
You know
You only live once
It sounds good.

"300: Rise of an Empire," film review by Gianluca Cirino

I want to talk about "300: Rise of an Empire" a 2014 American epic and drammatic war film, directed by Noam Murro. It's the sequel of 300. It's based on Artemisium and Salamis battles. At the beginning of the movie, Gorgo of Sparta tells her men about the battle of Marathon, in which Darius, the king of Persia, was killed by Themistocles an Athenian general. Darius' son, Xerxes, swore, influenced by Artemisia, his naval commander, swore to destroy Greece and the Greeks. He went through the desert where he found a cave and plunged into an otherworld liquid emerging as a God-king. So, he declared war on the Greeks and sent his forces towards Thermopylae against Leonida, king of Sparta. Themistocles tried to put together the Greek forces to defeat the Persian army, but Gorgo didn't want to send her forces. So, the battle of Artemisium started; Themistocles' army defeated many Persian men and destroyed  their ships. Impressed with Themistocles' skills, Artemisia brought him onto her ship where she had sex with him, to convince the general to join her, but he refused. A fire war started in the sea and both Greek and Persian ships were destroyed. At the same time, in the Thermopylae, Leonidas and his 300 men were killed by Xerxes, who wanted to burn Athens. So Artemisia sent her entire navy to fight the battle of Salamis. Themistocles and Artemisia started fighting, during the battle Gorgo arrived with ships from many Greek cities against the Persians. Themistocles killed Artemisia and the whole Greek army destroyed the Persian one. This is a great educational movie. In my opinion watching this film you can learn in a modern way the ancient Greek story. There are many of this kind of movies, watching them could be a good way to spend your free time smartly and you have the impression to fight with the warriors. This is a really attractive and impressive film.

John McWhorter: 4 reasons to learn a new language

See ted.com for the transcript, if you need it.

Review of the film "Rush" by Aurora Bonfiglio

Rush is an amazingly impressive and accurate film about the story of the F1 racers Niki Lauda and James Hunt. The story starts long before the tragic accident occurred to Lauda. Indeed, the focus is not on that, but on the competitiveness and the rare esteem between the two racers.

Firstly, this film is not only for F1 aficionados; everyone can find it interesting and engaging. In fact, there is a masterly combination of sports and introspection of the characters. The spectators can understand the feeling, halfway between bravery and recklessness, which pushes them to race.

Then, the whole film is incredibly accurate. The races scenes, especially the ones in bad weather conditions, are perfectly realistic. Of course, the actors were cast with the same accuracy. Indeed, they look a lot like the real protagonists of the events. Plus, some dialogues are in the native language of the racers and also their accents and parlances were precisely reproduced. Obviously, the recreation of Niki Lauda's accident and injuries is flawless too. 

Probably, the only relevant flaw is that the director excessively stressed the rivalry between the pilots. Indeed, he only let emerge the real amity between the two, at the end of the film. They were rivals, but they also respected each other. They were more similar than it seems; they supported and pushed each other, while competing.  

The most important message of this film is that two people can be rivals, but still respect each other. And, unfortunately, that is quite uncommon in sports. Nevertheless, there is still another important teaching: rivalry can lead people to do reckless things, but it also gives them a purpose.

Pronunciation frustration

I like the music.