thanksgiving by Tex Avery

LikeTelevision Embed Movies and TV Shows

Shakespeare in love

">

It all started with Hobbes the tiger

As I was working on a Calvin and Hobbes strip for my pupils, I got strayed as usual -isn't the Internet a witch, or a wizard, whichever you choose? In an article about Hobbes, the eponymous philosopher not the beloved tiger, BINGO, there was a link to a song by the Monty Python. I already saw myself using it in class, blablabla. Well I won't actually, but usefully wasted a few minutes of my precious and forever shrinking time-all the Internet's fault- as you-Monty Pythons and Calvin and Hobbes' lovers, surely will, if you follow the trail as I did.
Read the lyrics and listen to the song.

Tax 'wasteful' plasma TVs?

Tax plasma TVs ?

Excerpt from BBC news: :
"Plasma televisions, which are 50% bigger than their cathode-ray tube equivalents, consume about four times more energy, according to the government-funded Energy Saving Trust.
A cathode-ray tube TV costs about £25 per year to run and accounts for 100kg of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, whereas a plasma TV costs about £100 per year and accounts for 400kg of CO2. "

I can't believe plasma-tv designers have not thought about the impact on our planet! Do they live on another planet?

Slim Gaillard

If you are tired, depressed or fed up watch this! The cure!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlQ-CxoxQnM

Here is an interesting comment -in French- on the scene:
"Scene de Helzapoppin 1941, le film culte. Scene stéréotypée de comédie américaine classique, mettant en jeu les stéréotypes condescendants, la même chez les Marx Brothers un jour aux courses (all god's chillun got rhythm): on épie chez les (domestiques,livreurs, laveurs...) noirs. Ils se croient seuls, alors on le voit bien que ces bons sauvages Afro Américains, innocents et heureux, ont le rythme dans la peau. Donc, d'innocents livreurs en uniforme découvrent au début du film qu'ils livrent des instruments musicaux. C'est la 1e fois qu'ils en voient...D'abord Slim (piano puis guitare et chanting) et Slam (basse) rejoints par Rex Stewart au cornet. On dirait bien: they really hit that jive, sauf que je crois que l'expression est un peu ultérieure. Les maîtres observent en riant, bonaces. Les maids arrivent court-vêtues pour un lindy-hop (surnommé parfois jitterbug, l'ancêtre du rock et du hip-hop) qui swingue à en rester scotché. S'apercevant qu'on les regarde, les noirs reprendront vite leur place de serviteurs invisibles."

Also a very moving 're-enctment' of a scene from Jack Kerouac's '"On the Road" with Slim Gaillard and Van Morrison. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1byHzUBrWi4

A glass bridge on the rim of the grand canyon

How incredible! I can't believe they did this to the grand canyon.
http://www.grandcanyonskywalk.com/home.html

Read also http://www.cnn.com/2007/TRAVEL/03/08/canyon.skywalk.ap/

'Desperate Housewives' Credits Unveiled

Want to confirm your theories about the art works used in the credits of your favourite series?
I had guessed some-Cranach, Van Eyck, Woods, Warhol, Liechstenstein- but not all the artists hinted at, the most recent in fact. Strange, isn't it? The site is in French by the way.
Another artistic quizz made to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the treaty of Rome : European artists of the 20th century.

Holidays indeed but work nonetheless

I don't look stressed, do I? I wish I could always mark my students' tests under a coconut tree... Please note however that this was supposed to be a break.
When you are a teacher you never disconnect completely or am I abnormal? Two hours a day for ten days and red graffiti on about 80 tests.

Holidays at last

Another fantastic clip for Monty Python's lovers
">

I do hope the subtitles make sense though!

Sport and Philosophy

I love the Monty Pythons and I am glad to try for the first time to embed this hilarious video. Please bear in mind that I work in Auxerre, which boasts one of the best football team in .. France. Unfortunately I am not a football buff to say the least and enjoy seeing it made fun of.
My sport is windsurfing and although some treacherous Germans have booked all the boards on Tobago, I do hope there will be an old one left for us to have fun.

Everything you ever wanted to know about Valentine day!

Super Bowl ads

In an article published on February 8, 2007 in the New York Times,STUART ELLIOTT summed up his appraisal of the situations depicted in the ads in the headline: "Super Bowl Ads of Cartoonish Violence, Perhaps Reflecting Toll of War"
Here is an excerpt from this thought-provoking article:


-No commercial that appeared last night during Super Bowl XLI directly addressed Iraq, unlike a patriotic spot for Budweiser beer that ran during the game two years ago. But the ongoing war seemed to linger just below the surface of many of this year’s commercials.

More than a dozen spots celebrated violence in an exaggerated, cartoonlike vein that was intended to be humorous, but often came across as cruel or callous.

For instance, in a commercial for Bud Light beer, sold by Anheuser-Busch, one man beat the other at a game of rock, paper, scissors by throwing a rock at his opponent’s head.

In another Bud Light spot, face-slapping replaced fist-bumping as the cool way for people to show affection for one another. In a FedEx commercial, set on the moon, an astronaut was wiped out by a meteor. In a spot for Snickers candy, sold by Mars, two co-workers sought to prove their masculinity by tearing off patches of chest hair.

There was also a bank robbery (E*Trade Financial), fierce battles among office workers trapped in a jungle (CareerBuilder), menacing hitchhikers (Bud Light again) and a clash between a monster and a superhero reminiscent of a horror movie (Garmin).

My favourites: Snickers, the ones about work and the Bud light "hitchhikers", that reminds me of a Capote short story.

International philosophy

Wonderful nonsense ! Watch this: International Philosophy on youtube by the Monty Pythons.
Greece vs Germany. Guess which game! Guess who wins!

BBC NEWS | UK | England | Dorset | Birds under threat from ship oil

BBC NEWS UK England Dorset Birds under threat from ship oil
Another environmental tragedy?

Shock treatment

The British anti-smoking campaign is really striking. Will it be effective?

EVOvideo07 and Blogging for beginners

Hurrah!EVOvideo07 has just started as well as Blogging for Beginners. I hope to learn loads from both of these EFL sessions. However I feel very shy when I read the credentials of all those that log in at the EVOvideo07 site.

Happy new year! Are you a Gary?
I'm afraid I am not...since I never take new resolutions. Crafty, ain't I?