Here is the “trailer” for the new film ‘Leap Year’ which is due to be released this January.
Instead of giving the audience a sneak preview of the movie, the trailer is more like a summary.

Another thing judging by some the scenes and the filming location of the Aran Islands, how could they end up in the west of Ireland coming from Cardiff and not make it to Dublin??
There are only 3 ways to get to Dublin from Cardiff, two of which would leave you in actually in Dublin City not in some tiny romanticized village in the middle of nowhere!!

Another item of embarrassment for me as an Irish person was the idea of the Bed and Breakfast owners asking the two main characters were they married. Is it the film actually in this century or is that what people think Ireland is really like?

I noticed a Bus Éireann bus in the background, ok so maybe if they have taking some bat shit D-tour via Galway or something why couldn’t they take the bus to Dublin??

Also the idea that a simple Blackberry charger can black out an entire Irish village is just idiotic. We do have a proper electricity service in Ireland, we’ve had one for years.

But that’s all preamble, the true travesty, like any American movie set in Ireland is the accents.
Seriously can they not find any Irish people who can act?? Or at least a non-Irish actor that has a heard a genuine Irish accent.

I think I’ll be giving this film a miss

Why all those rugby fans got planes and ferries over to Cardiff last year is beyond me.

The girl in this film simply landed in Cardiff and got a lift to Dublin in a car! From a bloke with a Norwegian accent.

Awesome.

I await the 2010 IFTAs with glee.

Let me preface this post by assuring you that I am a big Amy Adams fan and I do not have my doubts about this film just because I didn’t get a callback to be an extra in the film. It has nothing to do with that whatsoever.

Leap Year is a romantic comedy starring, as you may have guessed, Amy Adams, as a woman who “has an elaborate scheme to propose to her boyfriend on Leap Day, an Irish tradition which occurs every time the date February 29 rolls around, faces a major setback when bad weather threatens to derail her planned trip to Dublin. With the help of an innkeeper, however, her cross-country odyssey just might result in her getting engaged.”

That’s fine, it all sounds like a very pedestrian rom com that just might be watchable and half-decent due to the presence of Oscar-nominated Amy Adams. But then you watch the trailer and em…she’s actually hitching a lift from Cardiff, Wales to Dublin, Ireland. Considering that this is actually an American-Irish co-production I really hope that there’s a ferry journey included in there somewhere.

The rest of the film looks fairly unfunny, with the usual slew of Irish stereotypical characters and awful accents (although Matthew Goode manages to do marginally better than Gerard Butler did in P.S. I Love You). Any Ireland-set scene in the trailer looks like a carbon copy of something from P.S. I Love You (which wasn’t great in the first place), or the Irish scenes from Marley & Me.

I’m disappointed that Adams signed on to something that really doesn’t seem to have much going for it. Hardly a great follow up to Doubt, or even Sunshine Cleaning. Although, I’ve never not liked an Amy Adams film, so who knows.

Maybe if my expectations are this low I might actually enjoy it. After all, I liked Bride Wars…

Leap Year is released, at least in the US, on January 8th. Maybe for the Irish release they’ll do it around the end of February. Because that would make sense.

Oh, dammit!  Amy Adams’s undeniably perky charm and Matthew Goode’s dreamboatalicious combination of scruff and blue eyes, WHY MUST YOU EXPLOIT ME SO?!?

Even in poster format, me and my inner teenage girl don’t stand a chance to your magnetic appeal. Even in poster form, I can see Leap Year for exactly the sort of rote, cliched romantic comedy filled with the same easy jokes and formulaic twists years and years and years of movies just like you have supplied eager audiences like me.  You may be entirely lacking the holy screwball trinity of Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant, and a leopard named Baby; but I’m pretty certain that you and me and a pint of Häagen-Dazs vanilla swiss almond would make a perfectly suitable trifecta on a Saturday night.

And your trailer, Leap Year?  I’ve got freakin’ second sight with this:

Wait.  Maybe I don’t!  This trailer has already telegraphed the entire plot, all the way up to the climactic moment in which Amy Adams must make a choice between the man she thought she loved and the man she actually loves because they shared a car trip through the Irish countryside and an opportunity to ogle each other’s naked bits through a shower curtain–you know, real love stuff.  I mean, sure, I’ve seen dozens of facsimiles of this story, but how will this one end?  Will there be a false climax where Amy makes the wrong decision (Wes Bentley’s Doppelganger), or will we go straight to the actual climax with her making the right decision (He Who Smells Like Irish Spring)?  If she makes the bad decision, only to then realize she’s made the wrong decision when she sees the look of romantic defeat on Matthew Goode’s face, will her inevitable run to find him before it’s to late involve a train, rain, or both?  LET’S PLAY A LOVE GAME AND FIND OUT.

Also, let’s just acknowledge the big, fat Carolina-Liar-esque elephant in the trailer room: Snow Patrol’s “Just Say Yes” is the swelling, anthemic ballad that’s dragged its Gossip-Girl-soundtrack-approved hooks right into my fake ovaries, so basically this post is just a Coldplay ballad away from making me pregnant with fake triplets:  

Whoops!  Tin roof rusted!

La verdad no soy muy fanatico de esta clase de peliculas de la cual hablare a continuación, pero esta me parece un poco interesante y me gustaria por lo menos alquilarla.

De acuerdo a una antigua tradición irlandesa, si una pareja se compromete un 29 de febrero, tiene garantizado el éxito en el matrimonio. Sobre esa vieja superstición, una mujer trata de forzar la situación de modos que su novio le proponga matrimonio exactamente en ese día, en Dublín. Sin embargo, se enfrentará a una serie de problemas que van creciendo cada vez más rápido.

Verdad que suena interesante?, aqui esta el trailer para que vean como sera dicha pelicula.

De acuerdo a una antigua tradición irlandesa, si una pareja se compromete un 29 de febrero, tiene garantizado el éxito en el matrimonio. Sobre esa vieja superstición, una mujer trata de forzar la situación de modos que su novio le proponga matrimonio exactamente en ese día, en Dublín. Sin embargo, se enfrentará a una serie de problemas que van creciendo cada vez más rápido. Esta nueva cinta de Anand Tucker es una comedia con una premisa bastante original, aunque de entrada es difícil decir que podemos esperar. El protagónico está en manos de Amy Adams, quien acaba de lanzar la cinta Julie & Julia.

LEAP YEAR

Director: Anand Tucker

Reparto: Amy Adams, Kaitlin Olson, Matthew Goode, Peter O’Meara, Adam Scott

Sinopsis: Anna lo tiene todo planeado para proponerle matrimonio a su novio el 29 de febrero, en el que según la tradición irlandesa él responderá que sí. Sin embargo, el mal tiempo pondrá en peligro su viaje a Dublin y tendrá que recurrir la ayuda de un posadero para cruzar el país.

LEAP YEAR

Director: Anand Tucker

Reparto: Amy Adams, Kaitlin Olson, Matthew Goode, Peter O’Meara, Adam Scott

Sinopsis: Anna lo tiene todo planeado para proponerle matrimonio a su novio el 29 de febrero, en el que según la tradición irlandesa él responderá que sí. Sin embargo, el mal tiempo pondrá en peligro su viaje a Dublin y tendrá que recurrir la ayuda de un posadero para cruzar el país.

Just come across the poster for Amy Adams up and coming rom-com “Leap Year” which involves a tradition of a woman proposing to a man . . .

Amy Adams นักแสดงสาวสวยน่ารัก ขวัญใจหน่มหลาย ๆ คน ที่กำลังมาแรงในขณะนี้ จาก Enchanted,Julie & Julia เธอกลับมาอีกครั้งในภาพยนตร์รักโรแมนติกคอเมดี้สดใสกุ๊กกิ๊กเรื่องใหม่ Leap Year ค่าย Universal Pictures โดยผู้กำกับ Anand Tucker โดยเฉพาะภาพยนตร์เรื่องนี้ได้มือเขียนบทรางวัลออสก้า Simon Beaufoy จาก Slumdog Millionaire ร่วมกับมือเขียนบทอีกคน Harry Elfont จาก Made of Honor มาถ่ายทอดเรื่องราวสุดโรแมนติกกุ๊กกิ๊กเรื่องนี้อีกด้วย !!

ดาราสาวสวย Amy Adams แสดงเป็น Anna หญิงสาวสวยใสที่ต้องเดินทางบินข้ามน้ำข้ามทะเลเพื่อไปขอแฟนหนุ่มสุดหล่อ Jeremy (Adam Scott) ของเธอแต่งงานในวัน Leap Day ซึ่งตรงกับวันที่ 29 กุมภาพันธ์ ตามประเพณีของชาวไอริช แต่แล้วกามเทพก็แผงศรเล็งไปที่เครื่องบินที่เธอนั่งเดินทาง จนทำให้เครื่องต้องขัดคล่องไม่สามารถไปต่อได้ จนทำให้เธอได้พบกับชายหนุ่มลูกเจ้าของโรงแรมปากร้ายมาดเซอร์ Declan (Matthew Goode ซึ่งเป็นพระเอกของเรื่อง) เขาจึงอาสาพาเธอเดินทางไปหาแฟนหนุ่มที่กำลังรอเธอไปขอแต่งงาน และเป็นจุดเริ่มต้นของการเดินทางอันทุลักทุเลของหนุ่มสาวต่างนิสัย ที่วุ่นวายตลอดการเดินทางจนกลายเป็นความรักในที่สุด และเมื่อ Anna เดินทางถึงจุดหมายได้พบกับ Jeremy ว่าที่เจ้าบ่าย เธอชักไม่แน่ใจแล้วว่าชายคนที่เธอจะต้องเลือกสวมแหวนแต่งงานในวัน Leap Day นั้นจะเป็นใครกันแน่?!! ติดตามกันต่อไปในโรงภาพยนตร์ 8 มกราคม 2010 ปีหน้าครับ!!

ขอนำเสนอภาพชุดแรก ใบปิดภาพยนตร์ และตัวอย่างเปิดตัว ที่ยกมาให้ท่านชมอย่างจุใจครับผม!!

Amy Adams นักแสดงสาวสวยน่ารัก ขวัญใจหน่มหลาย ๆ คน ที่กำลังมาแรงในขณะนี้ จาก Enchanted,Julie & Julia เธอกลับมาอีกครั้งในภาพยนตร์รักโรแมนติกคอเมดี้สดใสกุ๊กกิ๊กเรื่องใหม่ Leap Year ค่าย Universal Pictures โดยผู้กำกับ Anand Tucker โดยเฉพาะภาพยนตร์เรื่องนี้ได้มือเขียนบทรางวัลออสก้า Simon Beaufoy จาก Slumdog Millionaire ร่วมกับมือเขียนบทอีกคน Harry Elfont จาก Made of Honor มาถ่ายทอดเรื่องราวสุดโรแมนติกกุ๊กกิ๊กเรื่องนี้อีกด้วย !!

ดาราสาวสวย Amy Adams แสดงเป็น Anna หญิงสาวสวยใสที่ต้องเดินทางบินข้ามน้ำข้ามทะเลเพื่อไปขอแฟนหนุ่มสุดหล่อ Jeremy (Adam Scott) ของเธอแต่งงานในวัน Leap Day ซึ่งตรงกับวันที่ 29 กุมภาพันธ์ ตามประเพณีของชาวไอริช แต่แล้วกามเทพก็แผงศรเล็งไปที่เครื่องบินที่เธอนั่งเดินทาง จนทำให้เครื่องต้องขัดคล่องไม่สามารถไปต่อได้ จนทำให้เธอได้พบกับชายหนุ่มลูกเจ้าของโรงแรมปากร้ายมาดเซอร์ Declan (Matthew Goode ซึ่งเป็นพระเอกของเรื่อง) เขาจึงอาสาพาเธอเดินทางไปหาแฟนหนุ่มที่กำลังรอเธอไปขอแต่งงาน และเป็นจุดเริ่มต้นของการเดินทางอันทุลักทุเลของหนุ่มสาวต่างนิสัย ที่วุ่นวายตลอดการเดินทางจนกลายเป็นความรักในที่สุด และเมื่อ Anna เดินทางถึงจุดหมายได้พบกับ Jeremy ว่าที่เจ้าบ่าย เธอชักไม่แน่ใจแล้วว่าชายคนที่เธอจะต้องเลือกสวมแหวนแต่งงานในวัน Leap Day นั้นจะเป็นใครกันแน่?!! ติดตามกันต่อไปในโรงภาพยนตร์ 8 มกราคม 2010 ปีหน้าครับ!!

ขอนำเสนอภาพชุดแรก ใบปิดภาพยนตร์ และตัวอย่างเปิดตัว ที่ยกมาให้ท่านชมอย่างจุใจครับผม!!

Everyone loves Amy Adams don’t they. She was great in Drop Dead Gorgeous and funny in Enchanted. Matthew Goode has been in loads of British TV dramas and was Ozymandias in Watchmen.

Now they are in a new movie, which promises to break out from all the romantic movie cliches you usually get in a film like this.

When their four-year anniversary passes without a marriage proposal, Anna (Adams) decides to take matters into her own hands. Investing in an Irish tradition that allows women to propose to men on February 29th, Anna decides to follow her boyfriend Jeremy (Adam Scott) to Dublin and get down on one knee herself.

But airplanes, weather and fate leave Anna stranded on the other side of Ireland, and she must enlist the help of handsome and surly Declan (Matthew Goode) to get her across the country. As Anna and Declan bicker across the Emerald Isle, they discover that the road to love can take you to very unexpected places.

My mistake. It does have all those romantic movie cliches you have come to expect from these kind of movies. Anna meets surly Declan. They argue, get on each others nerves, a bit of slapstick, they’ll probably get all their clothes wet or something and have to spend the night together in an uncomfortable position (like the back of a volkswagon!) They’ll argue some more, he won’t tell her something important, they get closer and fall for each other, then that important thing he didn’t say crops up and she runs away or tells him to get stuffed. She meets her intended but at the last minute Declan will turn up on the back of a tractor or something and reference something from earlier in the movie. The end.

Oh and there will be some crazy stereotypical Irish folk, Guinness, and a scene involving a cow or another animal with hilarious consequences.

I wrote that last two paragraphs without watching the trailer. Then I watched the trailer…sigh!

Off the top of my head I’m getting 27 Dresses, The Proposal, PS I Love You, The Ugly Truth, Pretty Woman, Notting Hill, How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days, Along Came Polly, The Holiday, Wedding Planner, Made of Honour, My Best Friend’s Wedding, The Wedding Date and so on and so forth….note to self: Stop watching so many romantic comedies. Did I miss any?

Source: MSN

Source: MSN

Here’s another romantic comedy which is coming out this January 2010. The other romantic comedy that I first previewed [coming out in the same month] was “When in Rome” starring Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel. For more info. on “When in Rome” click here.

“Leap Year” stars Amy Adams (“Night at the Musuem: Battle of the Smithsonian”) and Matthew Goode (“Imagine Me & You”). Here is a synopsis via IMDB.com:

A woman (Adams) who has an elaborate scheme to propose to her boyfriend on Leap Day, an Irish tradition which occurs every time the date February 29 rolls around, faces a major setback when bad weather threatens to derail her planned trip to Dublin. With the help of an innkeeper, however, her cross-country odyssey just might result in her getting engaged.

“Leap Year” comes out in theaters on January 8, 2010. Full cast list can be found here. This film sort of reminds me of “The Matchmaker” starring Janeane Garofalo. The plot lines differ but when I first watched the trailer [of "Leap Year"] I immediately thought of “The Matchmaker” with the mention of Irish traditions/festivals. If you haven’t seen it, I would suggest seeing “The Matchermaker” it’s quite funny.

Universal Pictures has released the first trailer for their forthcoming romantic comedy Leap Year.

The story follows the (somewhat scary) Irish tradition that allows women to propose to men on February 29th, Anna decides to follow her boyfriend Jeremy to Dublin and get him to commit. When she gets stranded on the wrong side of our fair land she enlists the help of local boy Declan to help her cross our vast countryside. These two spar to begin with, but soon things get more interesting.

Shopgirl’s Anand Tucker is assigned directing duties on a script by Slumdog Millionaire writer Simon Beaufoy, while Amy Adams stars in the central role. She’s aided and abetted by Matthew Goode, a Declan, and Adam Scott, as Jeremy. Adams is a really good actress and Beaufoy can bang out a very good script on his day. Matthew Goode isn’t bad either so the movie has some chance.

It promises to be clichéd out the wazzoo, but hopefully it’ll cast Ireland in a somewhat better light than the atrocious P.S. I Love You. The movie is out in January Stateside but no word so far on an Irish release. You can see the trailer over on MSN.

So Nikki replied to my previous post asking about the tradition of women asking men to marry them. 

Interestingly enough, when I went to one of the jewlery stores to search for his ring, the sales woman loved the idea of me asking him.  She asked: “Is it a leap year?” I replied: “Uh, don’t think so… why?”   She explained that traditionally women would ask men to marry them on a leap year.  According to my reserach: Women are “officially allowed” to propose the last day of February on a leap year.  I missed the 2008 leap year and our next leap year is 2012… and I wasn’t waiting that log to ask him lol. 

One website says:

In the past, a woman was only allowed one day, the last day of February on a leap year, to ask a man to marry them. According to Yahoo answers, “It is believed this tradition was started in 5th century Ireland when St. Bridget complained to St. Patrick about women having to wait for so long for a man to propose. According to legend, St. Patrick said women could propose on this one day in February during the Leap Year.”

I’m sure we’ve all heard of “Sadie Hawkins Day”, which is Nov. 13, so this is basically the same concept: Girls asking the boys. Although where this tradition came from sounds a little desperate, lol, it’s interesting to see what it’s evloved into.   Read More on Wikipedia.

Save my money
For that plane ride
Horn of plenty
Heavy sunlight
Autumn’s bounty
Bread and red wine
In a hurry
But there’s so much time

I will wait for you
Growing love but like water
Time will always slip through
I will wait for you
But please come soon

The wind sounds angry
But my coat’s kind
Wrapped in blankets
In the daylight
Winter’s longing
Somewhere to close behind
In a hurry
But there’s so much time

I will wait for you
Growing love but like water
Time will always slip through
I will wait for you

Is it in a plan
Written in your hand
Believe or understand
Something other than

I will wait for you
Growing love but like water
Time will always slip through
I will wait for you
But please come soon

Se escrever algo novo já é difícil, imagina então ter que recriar uma estória para ser utilizada como roteiro de cinema? Eu considero esta parte como sendo a mais difícil, porque as pessoas costumam fazer comparações e geralmente preferem mais o texto original do que o adaptado.

Não foi o que aconteceu com Simon Beaufoy, oscar de melhor roteiro adaptado na última cerimônia por Quem Quer Ser Um Milionário?. A adaptação para o filme foi baseado no livro homônimo de Vikas Swarup. Se a idéia original já tinha sido brilhante, baseando-se nas perguntas do programa televisivo para contar a história do personagem principal, Simon Beaufoy foi mais além, ao quebrar a noção de tempo, trazendo passado e presente num ritmo alucinante, ajudado é claro, pelo bom trabalho de direção de Danny Boyle.

Oscar merecido, mas hora de voltar ao batente. Mal comemorou a façanha, Simon Beaufoy já estava em novo projeto. Desta vez em parceria com mais dois roteiristas: Deborah Kaplan e Harry Elfont. Leap Year já está em pós-produção e tem previsão de estreia para a temporada de 2010. De acordo com o site Cinema em Casa, Leap Year é uma comédia romântica em que mostra uma mulher ansiosa que quer viajar para Dublin para pedir o namorado em casamento, no dia 29 de fevereiro de um ano bissexto. Segundo a tradição irlandesa, nesta data, o homem é obrigado a aceitar o pedido de casamento. Mas quando o tempo arruína sua viagem, ela precisa da ajuda de um grosseiro dono de hospedaria para iniciar uma inesperada travessia no país e fazer o pedido perfeito.

O papel principal é de Amy Adams.

This Set Contains : 1. Arrays
2. Tax Income using if
3. Switch Case Basic
4. Hexa to Decimal Using switch-case
5. Bin, Hex, Oct Of any two digit number

IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO UNDERSTAND / WANT A TUTORIAL OF ANY OF THE PROGRAM. PLEASE COMMENT. THE TUTORIAL WILL BE ADDED POST-COMMENTS.

#include<conio.h> // Min And Max Of Arrays
#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
int i,a[20],n,ma,mi;
clrscr();
printf(“Enter Value of n”);
scanf(“%d”,&n);
for(i=0;i<n;i++)
{
scanf(“%d”,&a[i]);
}
ma=a[0];
mi=a[0];
for(i=0;i<n;i++)
{
if(ma<a[i])
ma=a[i];
if(mi>a[i])
mi=a[i];
}
printf(“Max %d \nMin %d”,ma,mi);
}

#include<stdio.h> // Leap Year
#include<conio.h>
void main()
{
int y;
clrscr();
printf(“Enter Year”);
scanf(“%d”,&y);
if(y%100==0)
{
if(y%4==0)
printf(“Leap Year”);
else
printf(“Not A Leap Year”);
}
else
{
if(y%4==0)
printf(“Leap Year”);
else
printf(“Not a Leap Year”);
}
}

#include<conio.h> // tax with respect to income
#include<stdio.h> // Less than Rs 1,50,000 then tax is 10%
void main() //                from Rs. 1,50,000 to Rs. 250000 then tax is 20%
{ //                                      from Rs 2,50,000 to Rs 5,00,000 then tax is 30%
clrscr();                          // greater than Rs. 500000 then tax is 40%
long inc;
long t,tax;
printf(“Enter Income “);
scanf(“%ld”,&inc);
printf(“Income is %ld\n”,inc);
if(inc<100000)
t=0;
else if(inc<150000)
t=10;
else if(inc<250000)
t=20;
else if(inc<500000)
t=30;
else
t=40;
tax=t*inc/100;
printf(“\n Tax is Rs %d”,tax);
getch();
}

#include<conio.h> // Getting Handy With switch case, to print days using month number
#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
int m;
clrscr();
printf(“Enter Month”);
scanf(“%d”,&m);
switch(m)
{
case 1:
printf(“31″);
break;
case 2:
printf(“28″);
break;
case 3:
printf(“31″);
break;
case 4:
printf(“30″);
break;
case 5:
printf(“31″);
break;
case 6:
printf(“30″);
break;
case 7:
printf(“31″);
break;
case 8:
printf(“31″);
break;
case 9:
printf(“30″);
break;
case 10:
printf(“31″);
break;
case 11:
printf(“30″);
break;
case 12:
printf(“31″);
break;
default:
printf(“error”);
}
getch();
}

#include<conio.h> // Hexa To Decimal using switch-case
#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
int i=0,n,b[10],d,j;
char h;
clrscr();
printf(“Input Hexa Decimal Number”);
scanf(“%c”,&h);
switch(h)
{
case 65:
d=10;
break;
case 66:
d=11;
break;
case 67:
d=12;
break;
case 68:
d=13;
break;
case 69:
d=14;
break;
case 70:
d=15;
break;
default:
d=h-48;
}
printf(“Decimal %d”,d);
while(d!=0)
{
j=d%2;
d=d/2;
b[i]=j;
i++;
}
printf(“\n Binary “);
for(j=i-1;j>=0;j–)
printf(“%d”,b[j]);
getch();
}

#include<math.h> // Bin Hex Oct of any two digit number
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main()
{
int lc,k,j,s,d,b[20],o[20],i=0;
int ub,bd,uo;
char x[20];
char hex[20];
clrscr();
printf(“\n Enter Any Two digit decimal number\n”);
scanf(“%d”,&d);
s=d;
while(s!=0)
{
j=s%2;
s=s/2;
b[i]=j;
i++;
}
printf(“Binary : “);
for(j=i-1;j>=0;j–)
printf(“%d”,b[j]);
s=d;
i=0;
while(s!=0)
{
j=s%8;
s=s/8;
o[i]=j;
i++;
}
printf(“\nOctal : “);
for(j=i-1;j>=0;j–)
printf(“%d”,o[j]);
s=d;
i=0;
while(s!=0)
{
j=s%16;
s=s/16;
x[i]=j+48;
i++;
}
printf(“\nHexa : “);
for(j=i-1;j>=0;j–)
{
if(x[j]>57)
x[j]=x[j]+7;
printf(“%c”,x[j]);
}
getch();
}

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Leap Year

LEAP YEAR IS THE YEAR IN EVERY FOUR THAT HAS 366 DAYS INSTEAD OF 365.  THE EXTRA DAY IS ADDED TO FEBRUAY TO MAKE THE CALENDAR YEAR NEARLY THE SAME AS THE SOLAR YEAR. 

Leap year has 365 days, one more day than an ordinary year.  The calendar we use is based on the amount of time it takes the earth to make one revolution around the sun.  this takes about 365 ¼ days. 

For convenience, we ignore the extra one-fourth-day for three years in every four.  After four years, the leftover time adds up to one full day. 

We add this extra day to the calendar, and say that it  has 365 days.  This fourth year is called “leap year”, and the extra day is February 29. 

But the year is not exactly equal to 365 ¼, days either.  It is actually about 11 minutes shorter.  Adding an extra day in leap year makes the average calendar a few minutes too long. 

So, the day is not added in the century years, except those that can be divided by 400.  Thus A.D. 2000 will be a leap year, but 2100 will not, nor was 1900. 

A person born on February 29 can choose his own birthday – either February 28 or March 1. – Johnny Wonder

The Gregorian calendar, used by most western countries, recognizes an extra day at the end of February every four years except centenary years not divisible by 400. However, some cultures use calendars that do not apply the same leap year rules as the Gregorian calendar.

Some calendars, such as the Iranian calendar, do not observe February 29 as a leap day. Other calendars, such as the Chinese calendar, recognize a leap month. A few calendars that do not follow the conventional leap year model are listed below.  

Chinese Leap Year

The Chinese leap year has 13 months. A leap month is added to the Chinese calendar about every three years. The name of a leap month is the same as previous lunar month. The leap month’s place in the Chinese calendar varies from year to year. Unlike the Gregorian calendar, 2006 was a leap year in the Chinese calendar.

To determine a leap year, calculate the number of new moons between the 11th month in one year and the 11th month in the following year. A leap month is inserted if there are 13 moons from the start of the 11th month in the first year to the start of the 11th month in the next year. The leap month does not contain a principal term (Zhongqi). The Chinese calendar has been used for centuries and observes the movement of the sun, moon and stars. 

Jewish Leap Year

Like the Chinese calendar, the Jewish calendar has 13 months in a leap year. There are 29 or 30 days in each month in a Jewish leap year, which has 383, 384, or 385 days. An extra month, Adar I, is added after the month of Shevat and before the month of Adar in a leap year. According to Jewish tradition, Adar is a lucky and happy month.

A leap year is referred to in Hebrew as Shanah Me’uberet, or a pregnant year. A Jewish leap year occurs seven times in a 19-year cycle. The 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 19th years are leap years in this cycle.  

Iranian Leap Year

There are about eight leap years in every 33-year cycle in the Iranian (or Persian) calendar. An extra day is added to the last month in a leap year. Leaps years occur when there are 366 days between two New Year’s days. However, it is not universally accepted that the calendar is solely based on observing the vernal equinox.

Leap years usually occur every four years. After every six or seven leap years, the Iranian calendar provides for a leap year that occurs on the fifth year instead of the fourth year. A period of 2820 years was the base for calculations to establish the frequency of a leap year occurring on the fifth year. At the start and the end of the 2820-year cycle, the vernal equinox takes place exactly at the same time of the tropical year.  

The Iranian calendar dates back to the 11th century, when a panel of scientists created a calendar that was more accurate than other calendars at the time. Although some changes have been made to the calendar, it is slightly more accurate than the Gregorian calendar. Compared with the Gregorian calendar, which errors by one day in about every 3226 years, the Iranian calendar needs a one-day correction in about every 141,000 years.  

Hindu Leap Year

The Hindu calendar inserts an extra month, often referred to as Adhika Maas, in a leap year. Adhika Maas typically occurs once every three years or four times in 11 years. Therefore the yearly lag of a lunar year is adjusted every three years. This adjustment allows for Hindu festivals tend to occur within a given span rather than on a set day.

The Indian National Calendar and the Revised Bangla Calendar of Bangladesh organize their leap years so their leap day is close to February 29 in the Gregorian calendar.  

Islamic Leap Year

In the Islamic Hijri calendar one extra day is added to the last month (making it 30 days instead of 29 days) in a leap year. This month, Dhu ‘l-Hidjdja, is also referred to as the month of the Hajj – the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. The Hijri calendar has a 30-year cycle with 11 leap years of 355 days and 19 years of 354 days. In the long term, it is accurate to about one day in 2500 years.

The leap year occurs in the 2nd, 5th, 7th, 10th, 13th, 16th, 18th, 21st, 24th, 26th and 29th years of the 30-year cycle. Leap months are forbidden by the Qur’an. The calendar is based on the Qur’an and its proper observance is a sacred duty for Muslims. It is a purely lunar calendar and contains 12 months that are based on the moon’s motion.  

Bahá’í Leap Year

The Bahá’í year begins on March 21 and is divided into 19 months of 19 days each, totaling 361 days. Four or five intercalary days are added to raise the number of days to 365, or 366 in leap years. The leap day is inserted in the days of Ayyam-i-ha , a period of intercalary days devoted to fasting preparations, hospitality, charity and gift-giving from February 26 to March 1.

Ethiopian Leap Year

The Ethiopian calendar is very similar to the Egyptian Coptic calendar, which has 13 months. Like the Coptic calendar, the Ethiopian calendar adds an extra day to the end of the year once every four years. The Ethiopian and Coptic calendars consist of 13 months, where the first 12 months each have 30 days and the 13th month has six days in a leap year instead of five days in a standard year.

Other Leap Years

Greece converted to the Gregorian calendar in 1924, although there is debate that the change may have occurred in 1920 or as early as 1916. There is discussion that some Orthodox Christians prefer to use a revised Julian calendar, where there is a discrepancy with the Gregorian calendar with regard to a leap year that will occur in 2800.

More information

• Why and When Leap Years are Used
• About Leap Day – February 29
• Leap Day – Famous Birthdays and Events
• February 30 Was a Real Date

Further reading

• World Events during Leap Year 2008
• Anthony – Leap Year Capital of the World

Source: TimeAndDate.com