germ@namur

Canterbury tales (sort of)

2012-02-12T21:37:00.009+01:00

When I heard last year that I would be going to the University of Kent as an exchange student, I nearly jumped out of my skin. I was going to live in England, and more precisely in Canterbury – at only 40 miles from London. Phew! Unbelievable. A dream come true. Studying English in England’s garden was the opportunity of a lifetime.

University of Kent is situated on a hill at two miles from Canterbury’s city centre. From the campus grounds, there is a wonderful view of Canterbury Cathedral. The campus is surrounded by open green spaces, fields and woods. It is self-contained which means that on campus you can find just about everything you need such as a theatre, cinema, library, bookshop, sports centre, laundrettes, an off-license, cashpoints, two nightclubs, pubs, restaurants and co-operative shops. In the first few weeks, this seems wonderful but after a while you feel cut off from the rest of the world. You get fed up with eating the same food from the same shop and the same dishes from the same menu whatever the restaurant. You feel like a fish in a bucket. But luckily, the city of Canterbury is nearby like a breath of fresh air.

The University of Kent is organised to perfection. As an exchange student, you can count on finding accommodation on campus which isn’t that simple as campus accommodation is reserved for freshers and off-campus housing is difficult to find. First, the university invites you to an induction week. On the very day you arrive, you may register and get your keys in a matter of minutes. Students wait for you so as to show you where you can find your room on this huge campus. In your room, a notice already awaits, explaining how to connect to the internet and providing other useful information. In the same week, you get a library tour which should later turn out to be very useful. The European office invites you to an international students’ dinner and organises a trip to Leeds Castle. So when the term eventually starts a week later, you can find your way around and everything seems to be already familiar to you. Everything just seems to go on smoothly. I admire the way everything is organised.

However, everything wasn’t as wonderful as it might have looked; for instance, the choice of the courses. Before registering, I had a look at the online catalogue. 41 literature courses were offered for stage 2 and 3 students. But after having excluded the courses not organised on that year and those only available at the spring term or assessed by means of an exam, only nine courses could be attended. Why did I eliminate courses assessed through an exam? Well, simply because as a one-term exchange student, you are allowed to keep your accommodation until December 30. The exams are organised in January which implies that you‘ll need to come back for them. With a Eurostar ticket at around 150 euros – that is, if you make an early reservation – and on top of that a bed and breakfast to rent, this exam session would turn out to be very expensive.

Most modules at University of Kent are worth 15 ECTS, which implies that with one linguistic course and one literature course you are already above the 22 credits required by the FUNDP. But of course, you think that this is a one in a lifetime opportunity to study English with the English in England, so you go ahead. A module usually comprises one hour of lecture and two hours of seminar. And multiplied by two, that makes six hours a week of lectures and seminars. Wow! Only six hours. Blimey, this is going to be a holiday, isn’t it? With plenty of time to socialise, visit London, and meander through the UK. Well, don’t even dream about it. They keep you busy with a massive amount of reading. So, instead of having a drink in the pub and trying to connect with the locals, you find yourself in your tiny room calculating how many pages you have to read per hour in order to finish your weekly novel in four days. You’re doing ‘time management’ because you also have to find three other days to read the articles for the linguistic course. And you want to stay ahead because you know that the deadline for the essays is fast approaching and that they will require a lot of your time, too. Of course, university is not play school. We can all agree on that one. So, let’s just say that it has been a ‘challenging and arduous’ process.

It was a bit disappointing to have so few opportunities to meet a representative of the local population. The English are friendly and polite but reserved (or maybe they just don’t dare to go out because of their safety phobia; never in my life have I seen so many warnings related to safety). However, despite not being able to socialise much with the locals, I really was lucky. I got to know two American mature students whom I met once or twice a week. Thanks to them, I had ample opportunities to speak English, which were essential for improving my conversational skills. Moreover, I shared a house with four Canadians and a British student. I was also able to go to London a few times, see the Grayson Perry Exhibition, admire the Rosetta stone and attend an unconventional performance of Romeo and Juliet on campus.

All things considered, this Erasmus exchange remains a wonderful opportunity. It allowed me to get acquainted with another academic system, culture and way of life, not forgetting that this experience will only improve my CV. Most importantly, it helped boost my level of English. I had first thought that I haven’t yet made enough progress in English until one day I burst out laughing while watching a TV programme. There were some funny puns and all of a sudden it dawned on me that I was able to understand every word. I no longer needed the subtitles! Of course, there is still a long long way to go and perhaps I may never be able to master the English language as well as I’d like to. Nevertheless, I think that this experience has given me confidence about my English language skills as well as the conviction that I’ll be a better teacher for it.

Safety phobia

Belgo American society (3 members only)

'Hey, what’s up dude?'

2012-02-12T14:43:00.000+01:00

It’s time Itell you what happened to me in Maastricht from September to December. Ireassure you, I will not tell anything special or tragic, I will just commentmy stay as it actually was. I will begin with a little footnote, I’m REALLY BADat remembering exact dates so be indulgent please ;)

You firsthave to know that I took the advice of a former student of our beloved faculty(namely Nolan Henno): I decided tochoose the Guesthouse asaccommodation. I’m actually joking, I didn’t “decide” to go and live there butit was the only opportunity I had! I must admit that I don’t regret thisaccommodation at all (even though it was quite expensive… Sorry dad!) because Igot on VERY WELL with my flatmates and it made my stay extremely pleasing. Unfortunately,no one of my flatmates was fluent in Dutch: there were 2 Canadians (married for3 years!!!), 1 Swedish guy, I Polish girl and last but not least an Irish girl.I have to admit that it took me something like 2-3 weeks before I managed tounderstand everything the Swedish guy said. He spoke so fast and he mumbled somuch! But still I appreciated him a lot J

Let’s comeback to the language-thing. As I said earlier and quite worryingly as itsounds, I spoke more English than Dutch there. But it doesn’t mean that Ididn’t speak any Dutch at all! In order to do some sport, I decided to buy the UM sportcard. Unfortunately and itdisappointed me a lot, they don’t offer table tennis… I thus chose badmintonand basketball and I really enjoyed both of them. I especially enjoyed to playbadminton with Morgane Hazard (who is not a bad player at all ^^). There, Ispoke with the other students in Dutch and I tried to do it as much as I could(which was still not as much as I expected…). You are certainly asking yourself,why the hell didn’t he speak to the Dutch students? I will answer you then,THEY ARE FU***** DISTANT! Like a lot of other Erasmus students have said, it’sreally hard to get in touch with them and to try to see them outside thetutorials and lectures. They rather stay with their friends (mostly Dutch ones)and the Erasmus ones stay together. In this way, I spoke English MUUUUUCH more,which is not so bad after all.

I haven’ttalked about the university buildings and their easy access yet! I will firstmention the university librarybecause it’s the building that surprised the most. First of all, you can enterthe library WITH your bag and jacket (which is a VERY good point in comparisonto our dear BUMP…). Secondly, the open times are much more convenient there:from 9am to midnight (during the weekend as well!!!). Last but not least, even though I don’t wantto sound arrogant I think that many students will agree with me: the women workingat the entrance of the BUMP are really not what we can call friendly. InMaastricht, the opposite is true: they answer you with the smile on the faceand are always ready to help you if you don’t know how to find a book and borrow it (true experience!). As far as the faculties are concerned, I could say thatthey are all well pointed out in the city and they offer facilities such asbike-garage, student card that you can top up with credit to print files, roomsfull of high-tech computers and so on. To sum up, UM offers you everything you need!

I will nowbriefly describe the courses I followed there and how I enjoyed myself there(the second point is very important ^^). From September to October I followedthe course Globalization and Inequality, taught by professor Wiebe. I must admit that I didn’t havea lot of course hours a week (only 6) but there was still quite much todo. As it was explained by formerstudents, Maastricht uses the PBL systemas education method and I found it very rewarding. You had to prepare the tutorialsin advance (sooooo much reading…) and you discuss in class what you’ve read. At the end of October I had my first exam in an enormous lecture theatre, whichsurprised me a lot. From November to December I followed my second coursecalled Cultureel Pluralisme which was taught in Dutch by professorVerouden (yeaaaah I practiced my Dutch ^^). I must admit that I didn’t enjoy itso much. The themes tackled during the tutorials were interesting but everytutorial was a kind of chaos because there was no line to follow, no learninggoal (thus everyone spoke when they felt like they wanted to speak…). Theschedule was the same as the previous course: 6 hours a week with quite lesswork to do this time. At the end of December I had to hand in my final paper. Whatabout parties in Maastricht? I don’t want to keep it for myself, student lifein Maastricht sucks! I mean, there is no place in the city where all thestudents can gather (like our dear bunker^^) except a student pub called The Highlander. It doesn’t mean thoughthat I didn’t party a few times, of course! I rather went to jam sessions or squat parties with myflatmates and I had a really good time with them J Apart from partying, I also visited somebuildings like the former church which is now a beautiful bookshop called Selexyz, the parcs of the city and Ialso window-shopped (you can’t live in Maastricht and not do that).

What can Isay more? Mmmmh… I LOVED USING MY BIKE!!! I will miss Albert Heijn, peopleshouting in the street ‘Je rijdt verkeerd hoor’, my flatmates, the library, thesquat parties, my studentroom, RTL 8, the radio in Dutch every morning when Iwoke up and I felt like I got lost, the showers with the hot water going up80°C and many any other things…

Maastricht Ilove you and I will come back once, I promise <3

Utrecht in your pocket

2012-02-12T10:34:00.022+01:00

Let us write a few words about Utrecht and the five months I spent at Utrecht University. To all students who are excited about going on an Erasmus trip next year, I would advise you to think a lot about it and to not make up your mind too fast about the place you would like to go. This is a very important decision you have to take! Studying abroad offers you the possibility to choose among a range of courses you would not be offered at your home university. I chose Talen in Contact (7.5ECTS), American Literature and Culture (7.5ECTS) and Taalvariatie en Taalverandering (7.5ECTS). The names may not be very evocative but the content of these courses certainly helps increasing your knowledge in linguistics, language acquisition, American literature and culture and acquiring experience in sociolinguistic experiments. Moreover, you will find kind and very competent teachers as well as a “studentbegeleider” ready to help you getting in touch with the Utrechtian academic life.

The Domtoren (view from the V&D restaurant)

I would also advise you to sign up for the activities organized by Erasmus student organizations like ESN. You will have the opportunity to get mentors: usually two Dutch people who will organize activities to meet people coming from all over the world! However, you have to know that the Dutch academic system has been arranged in a way that the only days free you have to visit the Netherlands and to go out is the weekend. Indeed, you attend classes for the same course during a few weeks – usually eight or nine. It goes on very fast and you have a lot more work to do on your own. During our leisure time we visited cities in the Netherlands but there are also a few places in Utrecht and in the neighborhood that are really worth visiting: the Domtoren, the flower market and a few museums in town and Kasteel de Haar in Haarzuilens. Utrecht is a typical and amazing Dutch city located in the centre of the Netherlands. Tourists really appreciate Utrecht because it is a famous historical place and there are hundreds of shops!

Whether you choose Nijmegen, Maastricht or Utrecht, you will have to get used to a typical way of life that could be summarized in a few words: bicycles, flowers, AH, canals. Typical Dutch cities are not Dutch if there are no canals, bikes, flower markets or Albert Heijn. Under the category ‘way of life’ falls the food as well. Bring Belgian food as much as possible … This is all I have to say, except for two Dutch specialties: cheese and stroopwafels.

Flower market in Utrecht

Canals at night in Leiden

The Netherlands is a very close country and we may think people are the same as the Flemish people, or the Belgian people in general. After a few weeks, you will see that we are totally different and this a good reason to try as much as possible to meet Dutch people and to have a chat and a cup of coffee with them. Once you come back in Belgium, you feel proud to have improved you ability to understand the Dutch accent … and to imitate it as well! One thing you have to know – but you probably already do – is that Dutch people often switch to English. It happens after 3 seconds when they have detected that your pronunciation was not a Dutch one. And then comes what you wanted to hear from them: “jij spreekt Vlaams!” Do not hesitate to emphasize that you are not a Flemish but a French-speaking Belgian! They will be impressed by your language skills and just laugh a bit at your “lief” accent. Carry on with your conversation in Dutch, even if they still answer you in English.

Your daily contact with the English language will be enough especially if you sign up for courses taught in English or if you rent a SSH room and live with international students. Living with international students is a good opportunity to discover other cultures, but you are in the Netherlands to discover the Dutch culture and not the Spanish, Australian or Chinese one. You will often meet these people at the faculty or at parties for international students that are organized at Poema and during which you will share with them your experience as an international student. To find an accommodation shared with Dutch students has to be a priority when you are on Erasmus in Utrecht and that you want to be in contact with the Dutch language. If not, try to have enough courses in Dutch. You will notice that your Dutch and your English may have improved when you come back in Belgium, but the most important and striking improvement is, according to me and other Erasmus students, the self-confidence and the fluency you acquire when you speak in Dutch or English.
Such an experience offered me the opportunity to attend very interresting classes, to meet Dutch and international students and to discover their culture.
Mission accomplished :-)

Emmanuel
Erasmus student in Utrecht

Sedes sapientiae

2012-02-04T15:45:00.016+01:00

- Hi! Welcome in Leuven! Are you an Erasmus student?

- Well yes, I answered.

- And where do you come from?

- Try to guess…

- USA? England? Germany? France? … I don’t know!

- Belgium.

- What??!! Is that possible??

I think I have answered this question 8576 times since I first came to Leuven on September the 10th. Students seemed not to understand why I had chosen to stay in Belgium. Even if Leuven is still in Belgium, it is completely different from Namur.

The first reason why I chose Leuven instead of Nijmegen – which was for a long time my first choice – is that I really wanted to be able to understand dialects in Dutch. However, I must confess it is still hard to understand West-Vlaams or any other dialect. The second reason is that I wanted to be sure to speak Dutch, and not English. As we all know, the Flemish people are proud of their language, which is why they do not switch to English (like in the Netherlands) if they see that Dutch is not your mother tongue. The third reason why Leuven was my first choice is simply because of the university’s status. The K.U. Leuven is the largest university in Belgium with roughly 40 000 students. Bart De Moor, the vice rector of the International Office, told us that there had never been so many students studying at the K.U.L. since its establishment in 1425. Moreover, in the 2011-2012 university ranking, Leuven is ranked 17^th in Europe and 67^th in the world!

> Grote Markt (Google)

In order to make sure I would speak Dutch, I lived for five months in a house with four other Flemish students. I spoke Dutch every single day! Nevertheless, I also spoke English with Erasmus students (and even Spanish and Turkish!). English was the Lingua Franca in parties. And there were a lot of parties everyday all over the city! The funny thing is that parties in Leuven are totally different from parties in Namur. Whereas in Namur you have to wear a “space suit” in order not to be too dirty in the bunker, you can go to parties in Leuven (TD) with your most beautiful suit! And once you leave the party, you do not have to run or to ask somebody to walk you back home because you feel unsafe. Leuven is one of the safest cities in Belgium. I have never seen such a safe city! That is why the only dangerous things in town after a party are the pigeons (even if it’s really scary for some people ;-) ) and drunk bike riders (erm…).

> Grote Markt (Google)

The city itself is picturesque with its Old City Hall on the Grote Markt next to the Sint-Pieterskerk and its MANY bars and pubs on the Oude Markt, and the Central Library on the Ladeuzeplein. I could compare Leuven with Brussels: indeed, Leuven is a much smaller version of Brussels with a very old centre (the Grote Markt) and a ring road (de Leuvense ring).

> Leuven (Do not mind the cursor :-P, Google map)

Let us now discuss my courses in Leuven. Of course, I was in the Faculty of Arts (Faculteit Letteren). We had a huge list of courses, but I took only 5 of them : Populaire genres (Dutch), Engelse literatuur II: Engelstalige literatuur van 1800 tot heden (English), Engelse taalkunde III: grondige vraagstukken: diachroon – theoretisch (English), Sociolinguïstiek (Dutch) en Nederlandse literatuur III: 20ste eeuw (Dutch). All of them were really interesting. However, I have the duty to tell you that the Sociolinguïstiek exam was very difficult but the course was one of the most interesting. Each professor was friendly (but not as friendly as our teachers in Namur) and answered our e-mails very quickly.

For those interested in studying at the K.U. Leuven next year, I would say three things:

1. Take your time to look for the courses available in the university. Some courses are not taught every year.

2. Try to find a student room where there are Flemish students and not only Erasmus students, otherwise you will not speak Dutch at all!

3. Do not be afraid of the Flemish people! They will not speak spontaneously to you as we do in Wallonia, but once you begin to talk with them, there are as crazy and friendly as we are. :-)

Now that I am back in Namur, I see that I have progressed a lot (namely in Dutch). Choosing Leuven was definitely the right decision. The "Erasmus experience" helped me to gain more self-confidence, and the K.U. Leuven more general knowledge and open-mindedness. Next year, I will have to choose a university for my master, and Leuven has definitely a place in the list.

> The Central Library at Christmas. (Google)

Martin

2012-01-28T15:16:00.001+01:00

Begin December I saw the movie « Burke and Hare ». It is an English film which tells us the story of two Irish men who live in Edinburgh in the early nineteenth century. William Hare and William Burke have financial problems and do not have any plan to get money. But then, one of Hare’s neighbors suddenly dies and they have to get rid of the body. In this period, Edinburgh is well-known for its medical universities and colleges. But the lecturers of anatomy have difficulties to get cadavers to make their dissections. Burke and Hare then have the idea to sell the body of their dead neighbor to get money. Since they can’t find any other solutions to earn money honestly, they start to kill people and sell their bodies to Doctor Knox, a local anatomist.

This film is the adaptation of real events that took place in the nineteenth century in Edinburgh. But the film has few things in common with these events. In reality, the two protagonists were serial killers and had no problems with killing people and selling their bodies. But in the movie, we feel that Burke and Hare do not like to kill people. They just do that to have money and they choose people such as beggars and travelers to kill, so persons not considered as important persons. In reality they are also helped by Mrs. Hare and Mrs. Mcdougal, the mistress of Burke. But in the movie, only Mrs. Hare helps them. Mrs. Mcdougal wears the name of Ginny Hawkins and is interested in Burke because he accepts to finance for her play. Indeed, she wants to direct Mac Beth with a company consisting of women only. Besides, the way the murders are discovered is not the same in the movie as in reality. Another fact that is not the same is the question of what happens to the characters at the end.

What I liked in this movie was the humor. Indeed, it is a comedy despite the theme of the film which is not that funny. But this black humor is also the weak point of the movie because we tend to see these serial killers as friendly though they are not kind at all. The movie wants us to be on their side and the director makes the subject of the film not that terrible. We have the impression that killing people to get money is not that bad. But the reason why I chose this movie as a portfolio activity is that it takes place in Edinburgh. However we do not see the city a lot except the Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

Charlotte Kinard.

King Lear

2012-01-28T15:07:00.002+01:00

In December, I saw the play King Lear in Leuven. The play was really interesting because it was the first time that I saw a play of Shakespeare in a theater. Of course I saw some film adaptations of Shakespeare’s works, but none of King Lear and none as a theater play, so I was very excited to see it. And at the end of the day I was not disappointed. The actors were great and the production was good. The atmosphere in the theater was excellent and intimate because the stage and the audience were small. However, I had some difficulties to understand everything. For example, I could hardly understand the actress who played the role of the fool. She spoke very fast. But I think she was the best of the eleven actors. Another weak point was that the play lasted a bit too long. Indeed, I was relieved when the play ended even if I enjoyed it. A Shakespeare play always gathers a lot of actors. This company consisted of eleven actors and that each actor played different roles. For example, the actress who played the fool also played the role of Cordelia. And the actor who played the King of France had also the role of Edgar. Moreover, each actor also played the roles of extras. To distinguish the different roles, they wore different clothes of course. But they wore masks too if they appeared as extras. The setting was simple but efficient. What I did like were the first minutes of the play. The actors began to dance on music as an introduction to the show. Furthermore, King Lear is well-known for its cruelty. In this play, this cruelty is well related. For example, the scene in which the Earl of Gloucester has his eyes taken out is horrible. But it is Shakespeare. So to conclude, I would recommend this play to others because this production is excellent.

Charlotte Kinard.

The Palace of Holyroodhouse

2012-01-28T15:04:00.002+01:00

On the 2nd of December 2011, I visited the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. This is the official residence of the Queen when she comes to Scotland. It is situated at the end of the Royal Mile. We first entered the front court where we could see the different towers of the Palace. Then, we moved forward in the Palace itself. We took the stairs to the first floor and arrived in the room where Her Majesty the Queen receives people to dine. Further on we saw the different rooms used for official ceremonies. And with the audio guide we also had an account of the use of the rooms in the time of former kings or queens, such as Charles II and Queen Mary. The visit also allowed us to see jewels and objects that belong to the Royal Family. As we went on in the Palace we discovered portraits of different important people of Scotland on the walls, the official Robe of the Queen as a member of the Order of the Thistle and the old rooms of Queen Mary. We saw her bed and the little room where she used to dine. The visit ends with the ruins of the abbey of the Palace.

I really liked to visit the Palace of Holyroodhouse because we saw things that belong to the British tradition and the Royal Family. In spite of the coldness of Edinburgh that day I did enjoy this visit. The audio guide was well-made so that we received all the information needed, comments of professionals of the Royal British tradition and even anecdotes. For example, the room where the Queen received the actor Sean Connery to give him a distinction. In one of the rooms we could see a video of pipers playing “God save the Queen” and other images of official ceremonies in the Palace. In conclusion, the palace of Holyroddhouse is definitely one of the most important things to see in Edinburgh.

Charlotte Kinard.

King Lear

2012-01-06T17:55:00.005+01:00

On the 5th December we went to see a Shakespeare play in Leuven: King Lear. The old King Lear wants to divide his kingdom among his three daughters and to give the biggest part to the one who loves him the most. Therefore, his daughters have to flatter him. Whereas Goneril and Regan tell him that they love him more than anything on earth, Cordelia refuses to take part into this game. That is how the play begins. Here I will focus on the performance on stage. The company is the Cambridge University Theatre Group who is on tour in Belgium, Germany, Switzerland the Netherlands and the United-Kingdom. All its members (the 11 actors and technical crew) are students. The English, which is used in the play, is old Shakespearian English. That makes the actors hard to understand. Another disturbing feature of the play is the fact that, sometimes, the actors are wearing a mask. It is only by the end of the play that I realised that the masked actors played second roles. Some actors performed very well. The actor who played King Lear did it very well. He really managed to express the madness undergone by his character, but without overacting. Besides, he was the only actor who did not play any second role. Another outstanding performance was the one of the actor playing Edmund. He really managed to turn his character into a bad one who is hated right from his first spoken words on.

To sum up, attending a Shakespeare play is worth doing. Even if you do not understand everything, you will enjoy it. However, keep in mind that it lasts at least three hours.

Royal Mile

2012-01-06T17:39:00.005+01:00

From the 30th November to the 2nd December we (BA3 students ) went to Edinburgh. We spent most of the time on the Royal Mile. It is a succession of streets which form the main street (roughly one mile long) of the Old Town of Edinburgh. Geographically speaking, it is located on the ridge of an extinct volcano. The steep street runs between Holyrood Palace and Edinburgh Castle. Down the street, opposite Holyrood Palace (where Elizabeth II stays when she comes to Edinburgh) the Scottish Parliament lies. A little bit further there is Saint Giles’ Cathedral. That is the High Kirk of Scotland. According to some legends Giles’ only friend was a deer. The animal was once pursued by the royal hunters and the arrow shot, hurt Giles and not the deer. Seeing this, the King was touched and decided to build a monastery to honour him. Saint Giles is now the patron saint of Edinburgh. Inside the cathedral stands the massive organ which is one of the main striking features of the building. It has not less than 4,000 pipes: absolutely stunning! Next to the cathedral there is the Heart of Midlothian on which many people spit. There are two reasons: a historical one and a sportive one. Until the 19th century the Old Tolbooth, the administrative centre of Edinburgh, stood there. This was also the place where executions took place. At that time crimes had to be solved very quickly and many innocent people were hung. Therefore people spit on the door of the Old Tolbooth in order to show their contempt for the local authorities. The second reason is the following one: the Heart is also the symbol of an Edinburgh football club. The supporters of the other Edinburgh football team are used to spit on the heart as a sign of rivalry. Next to the cathedral stands the Parliament House which, originally, housed the Parliament of Scotland until the early 18th century. It is now home to the Supreme Courts of Scotland. Its parking lot lies on the former graveyard of the Cathedral. What is very special about it, it is the parking space no 23 under which John Knox, one of the leading figures of the Protestant Reformation in Scotland, is believed to be buried. On the top of the Royal Mile stands Edinburgh Castle on its Castle Rock. From the outside, it is very amazing and impressive to look at the massive Castle on its rock and the view, from the Castle, on Edinburgh is simply breathtaking. Visiting the Edinburgh Castle is a must if you go to the capital of Scotland.

To sum up the Royal Mile is the historical heart of Edinburgh with Holyrood Palace, Saint Giles’ Cathedral, and Edinburgh Castle.

Go and see your friends on Erasmus

2012-01-06T17:06:00.010+01:00

If you stay in Namur during the 1st semester while your GERMA friends are on Erasmus, you will see that you have plenty of free time. During this term I hardly had15 hours a week and I didn’t have classes on Mondays nor on Tuesdays. So I decided to go and see some of my friends who stayed in Cork. Right after the 50th birthday of our dear/beloved Germanic department, I took the plane to Dublin on the 26th November. There I took a coach in order to go down to Cork. 4:30 hours! That was what it took to cross Ireland from North to South. But, as I was very excited to see my friends back, the time just seemed to fly. Once arrived at Cork I was picked up by Sophie who would quickly be followed by Elisa. The feelings then were... I don't know how to describe them. But they were very strong, passionate. There was a mix of joy, happiness, delight, gladness, cheerfulness and relief to see them again. That was roughly what I felt when I saw them. While chatting, we went to the tiny Christmas Market where there were heaps of food stands. That whetted our appetite. In the evening we went to a pub where a traditional Irish music band was supposed to perform, but it was not the case at all. Instead of that an electro pop group, Toy Soldier, played. Yet, that was good enough to have a good time. On Sunday we visited the Saint Fin Barre’s Cathedral and baked cup cakes, which were very tasty. Then I took the coach back to Dublin airport. 4:30 hours once again! And I slept in the airport because my flight was on Monday 09:00. I have to admit I enjoyed spending the night there. So I stayed in Cork for 28 hours: very intense and too short as well. I was over the moon.

Now I will briefly introduce the lovely city of Cork. The main shopping thoroughfare of the city is Saint Patrick’s street. It is very enjoyable to walk through this street with its large sidewalks and its beautiful buildings. While watching the buildings, there is something striking: on one side of the street the buildings are more modern than on the other side. This is a consequence of the Burning of Cork, which took place during the War of Independence in 1920. Cork was then a very important place for the Irish republican volunteers who were fighting the British authorities. In an escalating spiral of violence British forces were attacked by members of the IRA. As a response the Black and Tans (a vicious armed group employed by the British authorities) set fire to numerous buildings in the city centre. That is why one part of Saint Patrick’s street’s buildings date back from the 18th and 19th century and another part of the buildings were rebuilt after 1920. Furthermore, the place to go to is the English Market, the roofed food market of Cork. The building is simply outstanding and the atmosphere there is just unique. It is not just a market; it is the market to go to. Finally, the University College Cork is definitely worth visiting, i.e. the main quadrangle and the campus as a whole. The main quadrangle is a grass square surrounded by impressive buildings from the mid-19th century.

To sum up, I would highly advice you to go and see your friends who are on Erasmus. It is definitely worth doing.

Ba3 Portfolio Activity #1: John Constable

2012-01-03T21:01:00.006+01:00

I was looking for a possible activity for my portfolio when I heard somewhere, from someone, that there was an exhibition of John Constable in Ghent and I knew on the spot I had to see it. OK, I'll be honest with you: it was one of the suggestions from the course-description-sheet we got on our first lesson and having no ideas of my own I decided to mix business with pleasure and asked my girlfriend if she wanted to visit Ghent with me. Romantic as I am, I first took her to the Museum of Fine Arts and then to the theatre to watch a movie in English.

The Museum of Fine Arts is a beautiful neoclassical building located near the “Citadelpark” which is a half-an-hour walk away from the train station. At the moment, it holds the John constable exhibition that includes paintings from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London until the 29^th of January. The tickets for the museum are cheap, when you are younger than 26 they only cost 1€. So you don't have an excuse for not dropping by when you are in the area. It holds a wide range of paintings and sculptures from the late middle ages up to contemporary art, so everyone should find something that fits their taste.

John Constable is a famous British romantic painter, he is also often called the “father of modern landscape painting” as he broke away from the aesthetics of his time and tried to paint nature the way he saw it. He was born in 1776 in a small town called East Bergholt, Suffolk, in the south east of England. In his early years he started to draw sketches from the landscapes around his home town and began to pursue art studies in 1799. By 1803 some of his paintings where already exhibited in the Royal Academy. He spoke out against the widespread belief at that time, that a painter should rely on his own imagination to draw paintings. For him, nature itself should be the main source of the artist. Thus, he only painted landscapes he had seen with his own eyes.

His method was to draw a first impression of the landscape he was seeing, in oil or in watercolours. These first studies where not comparable to the finished paintings he drew for his patrons or for the exhibitions in the Royal Academy. In fact, they were very avant-gardist for his time and were closer to impressionism than to romanticism and they inspired especially the French impressionists later on. His paintings show often very mundane scenes of everyday life like farmers at work, cathedrals and parks, which also brakes with romanticism that would focus more on epic scenery or gloomy ruins. One outstanding feature of Constables painting is light and the representation of the sky. He was very skilled at catching light and shadows in his paintings, with a very accurate feeling for light sources and moods. Some of his paintings seem very vivid and sparkling, even photorealistic. He is called the “father of modern landscapes painting” for good reasons.

Even tough I wasn't keen on going there in the first place, I was positively surprised and visited the exhibition with great interest. The beauty of his paintings is sometimes breathtaking and the pictures you can see when you follow the links I provided are pale in comparison. My favourite painting was the leaping horse (of which there is no good picture on the net, so you'll have to go and see for yourself). The exhibition will be in Ghent until the 29^th of January so if you have nothing better to do: go and have a look at those beautiful paintings.

Ba3 Portfolio Activity #2: Drive

2012-01-03T20:55:00.002+01:00

Go watch this movie. Seriously. If you haven't seen it already then you missed out what I believe was the best movie of 2011. The plot, the aesthetics, the soundtrack, the actors,... everything this movie does, it does it the right way. But enough of the words of praise, let's get down to the details: It was the 11^th of November, the weather was splendid yet somewhat chilly. My girlfriend and I where roaming the narrow streets of the beautiful old town of Ghent, when we came by this cosy little cinema and I promptly came up with the idea to watch a movie in English for my portfolio activities. My girlfriend accepted, mainly because of the outlook to get some popcorn, though. After having asked my best friend (a film school graduate) for advice which film to choose, we got two tickets for Drive and a large bag of popcorn.

The intro already looks very promising, we see the protagonist, the Driver (whose name is not given in the movie, played by Ryan Gosling ), while he is moonlighting as a getaway-driver. His main reason to be a part-time getaway-driver is to get some extra money, and he follows strict rules: he never works twice for the same people, he shows up at the rendezvous-point in his car and will wait exactly for 5 minutes. If these 5 minutes run out he will make his getaway, with or without his contractors. During the intro of the movie, he helps two robbers to escape from the crime-scene, thereby demonstrating his excellent driving skills.

The driver normally works in a garage and as a stunt driver for movies. His boss Shannon (played by Bryan Cranston) has connections with a local member of the organised crime, Bernie Rose, whom he tries to convince to lend him 300 000$ in order to buy a stock-car. Bernie insist on seeing the driver's performance first, and after the successful trial agrees to sponsor him. However, in the meantime the driver meets Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her son, Benicio, who live in the apartment next to his. He feels strongly attracted to Irene and develops a strong attachment to Benicio. They start to spend a lot of time together, but then Benicio's father, who had to serve time in jail, appears on the scene. Shortly thereafter the driver finds him lying in front of the elevator, severely beaten and bleeding. It turns out that Standard (yes that's his name), owes protection money to a local gangster, who wants him to rob a pawn shop. Standard refused for his family's sake, but they threatened to hurt Irene and Benicio the next time, so the driver offers him his help.

From there on, things start to go pear-shaped: during the heist a mysterious car stops next to the driver's. Standard and his accomplice, a woman named Blanche, go into the pawn shop. Blanche comes out with the money, but when standard tries to escape, he is shot dead by the owner. The driver makes a dash for it but is followed by the mysterious car. After a harrowing car chase he manages to get away and they hide in a cheap motel, only to get attacked by even more gangsters. He somehow succeeds to escape, looking to find out whose money he has on the back seat of his car and how to protect the ones he holds dear.

In order to avoid too many spoilers, I'll stop my account here. Personally, I liked the film so much because of it's authenticity, the credibility of the actors, the angst-laden love story and the captivating action-scenes. What I liked the most, though, was the fact that the cars, after being crashed, did not explode. For those of you who are interested: Drive will be released on DVD (and Blu-ray) on January 30, 2012. I definitively think that the English unit should get a copy.

Ba3 Portfolio Activity #3: King Lear

2012-01-03T20:04:00.003+01:00

My third and final portfolio activity brought me (or rather us) to Leuven. Mr Delabastita had asked us if we were interested in watching a Shakespeare play. I was glad about this opportunity, because finding an activity in English in Belgium is not that easy. The play was to be performed in the Reynaerttheater Malpertuus in Leuven on the 5^th of December. We fixed the rendezvous-point in front of the train station, where Mr Delabastita was waiting for us. We then made our way to the theatre. Mr Delabastita turned out to be an excellent tour guide and showed us several interesting things, including the library where he found his passion for reading (a very historical place!)

As you may know, King Lear is the story about the latter and his three daughters Goneril, Regan and Cordelia. The king is growing old and decides to retire from power. He wants to divide his properties among his three daughters. The largest part should go to the daughter who loves him best. In this contest of flattery, Goneril and Regan describe their love for him in poetic language, trying to surpass each other. Cordelia on the other hand, is the only one to speak the truth when she says that she loves him the way a daughter should love her father, no more and no less. King Lear is infuriated by the bluntness of her words. Believing in the flattery of his two other daughters he banishes Cordelia and disinherits her. He divides his kingdom between Regan and Goneril and asks for a hundred knights and to live alternately with them. But when he goes to Goneril she says that he should let one half of the knights go, unwilling to pay for them. Infuriated he goes to see Regan, but she says that he doesn't need any knights and casts him away. Betrayed by his own daughters he runs out in the middle of a storm, ranting, only accompanied by a few loyal companions and the fool who mocks his foolishness.

Meanwhile, Edmund, the illegitimate son of the Earl of Gloucester plots against his legitimate brother Edgar, making their father believe that Edgar wants to kill him. Edgar is forced to run away and falls into madness. The Earl of Gloucester learns about the fate of the king and writes a letter to Cordelia's husband, the king of France. Edmund sees this and betrays him to Goneril and Regan, Gloucester is then caught and brutally blinded by Regan's husband, the Duke of Cornwall. In the meantime, Cordelia returns with the French army and is defeated by the English troops led by Edmund. Cordelia is captured and by the time the allies of the king realise that she is about to be executed, it is already too late. Goneril and Regan, both attracted to Edmund, are jealous of each other. Goneril first poisons Regan and then kills herself. Edmund is killed by his half-brother Edgar and King Lear, overwhelmed by the fate of the only daughter who really loved him, dies of sorrow.

The play was performed by the Cambridge University Theatre Group, which entirely consists of students. They perform Shakespeare plays in different cities of Europe for two and a half weeks in December, each year. Despite their young age, they played their roles in a very believable way. Especially the performance of Theo Hughes-Morgan, who played King Lear, really stood out. Although the play is very dark, violent (and the violence is shown very explicitly) and very long (3 hours) it was interesting to watch, which was also due to the great performance of the actors. Shakespearean English is quite hard to understand, so you don't always get what they are talking about, but seeing the performance helped me a lot in the understanding of the story. Watching a play, performed by such talented students is not something you can do every day, so it is definitively worth the watch.

"Edinburgh Castle"

2012-01-01T16:48:00.002+01:00

If you hear about kilts, luxury cashmere, the famous Loch Ness and its mysterious Nessie, Scotch whisky or the Royal Mile, the first image that comes to your mind is Scotland. Let’s focus on Scotland’s capital, Edinburgh. This brilliant, breathtaking and magnificent city has been declared a World Heritage Site. Moreover, the city is split into the old and the new at the level of the medieval Old Town and the Georgian New Town but also at the level of the contrast between the ancient and the modern architecture. No stopover in Scotland’s capital is complete without a trip to Edinburgh Castle, which dominates the whole city.

This fortress has been successively a royal castle and a military base involved in many conflicts such as the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 14th century as well as the Jacobite Rising in the 18th century. Since the 19th century, the Castle has been recognized as a historical monument. Furthermore, the Castle consists of different buildings such as the Great Hall and the National War Museum of Scotland. The so-called St Margaret’s Chapel is the oldest one located in the city. In addition the key attraction of the Castle is the display of the crown, the sceptre and the sword in the ancient crown room used in the coronation of Mary Queen of Scots (1543). These objects are precious symbols of the ancient kingdom and still play an important role in Scotland’s ceremonial life. To my mind, it was the most impressive part of the exhibition that I saw in the Castle. The sight of these treasures took me back five centuries. I tried to imagine how beautiful the official ceremonies must have been. Actually, I nearly felt Queen Mary’s presence in the room. It’s kind of magical, isn’t it? By the way, a lot of mystery surrounds the manufacturing process of the Honours. Some craftsmen who lived in the Castle spruced up the Honours. According to one legend, somebody melted down the gold contained in Robert I’s diadem in order to make the current crown. We have no proof, but nevertheless, this diadem represents the beginning of the remarkable history of the Honours of Scotland. James V inherited later this crown and commissioned a man from Edinburgh called John Mosman to refashion the old crown. What were these crown jewels used for? At that time, an Act became law when the King touched the document with his sceptre. When the sceptre touched the Treaty of Union in 1707, the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland became one single country. So, it led to the creation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain. At that time, the Castle swarmed with people, officials as well as prisoners. The vaults were used as prisons of war from 1757 to 1815. Most of the men had been captured at sea during the war. Actually, Great Britain was at war with countries supporting America such as France, Spain and Holland. What surprised me the most was the fact that prisoners were allowed to drink beer each day! Another great discovery was the display of three wooden doors which come from the vaults. The graffiti carved on them provide sufficient clues about the prisoners’ identities. By looking carefully at one of the doors, I saw one of the first versions of the American flag! Finally, our nice guide told us some anecdotes about the life in the Castle. The most striking one gave an account of a baby elephant which had been brought back from an exotic land to Edinburgh’s Castle. It lived there peacefully with the soldiers for a while. When it became too big, the soldiers had no other choice but to leave the elephant. The zoo of Edinburgh thus became its second home.

To sum up, Edinburgh combines the bustle of the city, a complete change of scenery for the tourists and the tranquillity of the countryside. Don’t hesitate, go and visit Scotland’s capital!

"King Lear"

2012-01-01T16:35:00.003+01:00

Based on the tragedy written by William Shakespeare in 1606 and firstly performed in 1608, the play “King Lear” recounts the life of the British King Lear who chooses to retire and divide up Britain between his three daughters. To become rich and powerful, the three daughters have to flatter their father. On the one hand, the two eldest, Goneril and Regan, achieve their ends and are rewarded generously with land and marriages to the Duke of Albany and the Duke of Cornwall, respectively. On the other hand, Lear’s most beloved daughter, Cordelia, refuses to buy into the “glib and oily art” of courtly flattery because she truly loves her father. Lear’s pride is hurt and he furiously banishes Cordelia from the land. One of Cordelia’s suitors, the Duke of Burgundy, explains thus that he doesn’t want to marry her because she has no wealth. However, the King of France takes her as his wife so she accompanies him to France without her father’s blessing. Elsewhere in the royal court, somebody is conspiring against the Duke of Gloucester. Actually, he has two sons called Edgar and Edmund. The latter is illegitimate, that’s the reason why he tricks Gloucester into believing that his other son, Edgar, is planning to kill Gloucester. Consequently, the latter disinherits Edgar and tries to protect Lear against his two malicious daughters. Accused of treason by Regan and her husband, Cornwall, the duke of Gloucester is condemned to wander the countryside. At the end of the story, Cordelia is hanged on Edmund’s order. Her death is too much for the insane King Lear who dies of unhappiness. Before I went to the Reynaerttheatre Malpertuus in Leuven, I wondered how men can bear another King Lear. The Cambridge University European Theatre Group did it perfectly. First of all, the actors analysed the characters’ personality in order to play them with psychological realism and emotional authenticity. The result of their work is incredibly good! Furthermore, they spoke a perfect British English which illustrates their total respect for the Shakesperian style. What struck me the most about the play on stage was the fact that the scenery could be changed. This ingenious invention enables the student-run theatrical company to put on their show anywhere. Moreover, costumes were designed in a modern style which enables the spectator to build bridges between the original play and the experimental set. Another interesting anecdote about the play is the fact that each actor plays different roles. To avoid any confusion, they used masks in order to make a distinction between the main characters and the supporting roles.

To sum up, I enjoyed every second of the play. However, I have to admit that I didn’t understand all the dialogues because the theatrical performers tended to speak naturally fast. Being a spectator of such a play was a great pleasure and I advise you to go and see this version of the famous Shakespearian play.

"We need to talk about Kevin"

2011-12-31T14:09:00.002+01:00

For most people, psychopathology is a quite mysterious medical term. What does it exactly mean? Is it the result of early life experiences or is it caused by something in our genetic system? The most widespread definition tells us that psychopathology is a mental illness or a mental distress. First of all, we have to identify people with mental disorders if we want to help them. Just having problems is not enough to classify someone as having a mental disorder. That’s the reason why mental health specialists are trained to make such judgements. Of course, madness has been a part of the human condition since the very beginning. Until recently, people with psychological problems were seen as sick. This theme is quite vague, isn’t it?

Based on an epistolary novel written by Lionel Shriver in 2003, the film “We need to talk about Kevin” sheds light on the mental illness of Kevin. From his early childhood onwards, he hasn’t been a common boy. Actually, he feels like an outsider. He hardly ever displays any affection towards his family and he distances himself from other people. On one terrible day, Kevin went to school and committed a Columbine-style massacre by means of his favourite sports instrument, a bow. He did content himself with killing pupils but he also massacred his father Franklin (performed by John C Reilly) and his little sweet sister Celia (Ashley Gerasimovich). Told from the perspective of the killer’s mother Eva (Tilda Swinton), the story turned out to be a horror film. She cannot walk on the streets without being shouted at insultingly; her unhealthy bungalow is often covered with red paint symbolizing the blood that her son shed. Furthermore, the idea of culpability recurs quite often in the film in different forms such as the red wine, the red paint, the colour of the alarm clock and the celebration of the so-called Tomatina (a giant tomato fight), all symbolizing blood and Kevin’s unspeakable crime. Eva was depressed and obsessed by the fact that she gave birth to horror: Why did Kevin save his mother? Was it a sign of affection or was it a way of hurting her? Has she ever loved her son?

If you want to get some answers to these questions, I advise you to watch this fascinating psychological thriller. You will probably see the world in a new light.

My Erasmus in Cologne

2011-12-22T16:11:00.007+01:00

Guten Tag und herzlich Willkommen in Köln!

This is the type of sentence you may hear if you are an Erasmus student in Cologne.
From April onwards, it took me months to realize I was going to spend 4 months in this beautiful but huge city. Even if you first embrace the joy of living abroad, you then feel scared and when you look at all the bureaucracy you have to take care of before your departure, you may want to cancel everything. This would be a huge mistake since there would be so many things you would never experience.

In April, I was then selected to go to Cologne. I took care of finding a good place to stay, to fill in the required documents and to find all the classes I could possibly attend. Unfortunately, I was only to get my student room by the end of August, so during the summer, I began to freak out at the idea of not getting a place to live. Then I got the last room available in Efferen. This student village is situated in the outskirts of Cologne. I thus had to take the tram every day to go to class. It took me 30 minutes to get to the university but it was worth it because Efferen is a really nice place. That is actually the place to stay if you are a student considering you would live with other German people and Erasmus students. This may help you feel more comfortable in a city you barely know. Furthermore, it is quite calm and thus ideal if you feel like studying.

Let us now discuss the university. The "philosophische Fakultät" or "Philosophikum" (see the picture) is the biggest faculty in Cologne. The system is quite different from Belgium as no one is considered as a BA III student. Everything is counted in semesters. It means that I actually was some kind of "fifth-semester student". If you do not know that, people might be confused when you talk about your studies. My “Wintersemester” started pretty late, namely October 10th to end February 3rd. You thus have to make a deal with your teachers if you do not want to get back to Namur too late. But they are usually comprehensive in this matter. I had four classes: German as a foreign language, German literature from the 19th century to modernism, German morphology and a conversation class. This last one was my only class in English: I wanted to keep on speaking the language as much as possible, that is why it was pretty useful. You are quite free when you pick up your courses: you just have to be careful because you absolutely need 21 credit points or more. In Cologne, you get these ECTS by writing a “Hausarbeit” (20 pages) or a “Klausur” (a written exam), you can also choose to make a presentation about anything or even an oral exam, depending on how many credit points you need. That is the freedom an Erasmus student can enjoy: one should never forget to mention it.

Philosophikum in Cologne.

It is impossible to get bored in this huge city. There is something to do every day. The museums represent an entire part of the culture, and when night has come, anyone can enjoy a great party. The Erasmus Student Network (ESN) helps you have fun and discover the city and other cities. This group of students organized for example trips to Düsseldorf, Aachen, Bonn, even Berlin for all the Erasmus students. It helps you know other people and discover other cities. Moreover, The ESN organizes the so-called “Erasmus parties” which help you get to know people from all over the world.

I thus had a great time in this city and I have learned a lot about relationships, the German language and the city itself; that is why Erasmus is one of the best experiences ever. I do feel I have improved myself in German, even though four months seemed to end up pretty fast. I now wish I could get back there next year, as I am going to study for my master.

Anzac Day

2011-12-14T19:49:00.000+01:00

the Ottoman Empire 1914 (in red)

The AnzacDay is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand. It commemoratesevery year on April 25th the members of the Australian and New Zealand ArmyCorps (A.N.Z.A.C.) who fought at Gallipoli against the Ottoman Empire (todayTurkey) during World War I. It now more broadly remembers all those whodied and served in military operations for their countries.

History

World War Ibroke out in 1914, when Germany declared war on the whole British Empire. Soonthe Turkey formed an alliance with Germany, becoming a threat for the wholeMediterranean area. France and Great Britain decided to lead their troops intoan expedition in order to capture the Gallipoli peninsula and in thisway, open the Dardanelles to the allied navies. This strait was locatedon the Turkish territory and marked the border between Europe and Asia, thegateway to the Bosphorus and the Black Sea. On the 25th April1915, the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landed at Gallipoli. This Corpswas made up of 13.000 Australians, and 8.000 New Zealanders, and supposed toattack the Turks on the North, while the French and British had to attack onthe South.

The campaignlasted 8 months, but neither the Allies, nor the Turks won the strait.After severe lost on both side, the total evacuation of the peninsula wasdemanded, without any winner. 8,700Australians and 2,700 New Zealanders died in the fighting.

Australians commemorating on April 25th

Australialost more soldiers in WWI in proportion to its population than any othercountry, and many of them during this battle. 25 April soon became the day onwhich Australians and New Zealanders remembered the sacrifice of those who haddied in that battle, in that war, but also in all other conflicts through wholeHistory. The Anzac Day is probably one of the most important Remembrance Daysand national occasions in both Australia and New Zealand, as well as in Samoa,Tonga, Cook Islands, Niue, and in Bourail (NewCaledonia). The Anzac Day not only commemorates dead soldiers, but also honoursreturned servicemen and servicewomen.

Anzac Day today

Anzac Daywas first marked in 1916. The day has gone through many changes since then. Modern Anzac Day's ceremonies have two majorparts: one at dawn and another, more public event, later in the morning.

red poppies as a symbol of remembrance

On Anzac Day, which is a public holiday in most parts of the countries, people bring red poppies and rosemary to memorials and graves of the dead soldiers.The tradition is to turn oneself to face the West, where the sun sets, and havea minute of silence.

InAustralia and New Zealand, marches by veterans of past wars, as well as bycurrent serving members of ‘Australia/ New Zealand Defence Force’ are organisedin the main streets of many cities. Those marches are supported by Scoutsand Guides and other uniformed service groups.

For manyAustralians and especially New Zealanders, the Anzac Day is not only a day ofcommemoration, but also an opportunity to speak about their national identity.

Josua Dahmen and Sophie de Streel

Māori

2011-12-14T09:59:00.004+01:00

The Māori are the native Polynesian people of New Zealand. The meaning of the word is “normal”, “natural” or “ordinary”. The total population approximates 800,000 people. Māori language is the second most widely-spoken language after English in New Zealand. Places where you can find Māori are New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. According to the traditions, “Māori” distinguished ordinary people from deities and spirits. Tangata whenua is the term used to describe themselves, as being in relationship with a particular area of the land. The inhabitants of New Zealand were earlier referred to as New Zealanders or Natives. But, thanks to the Māori Purposes Act of 1947, the term Native was replaced by the term Māori. Since the Declaration of Independence of New Zealand in 1835, Māori have been involved in the national politics, with seven designated seats in the Parliament.

The current Māori religion is different from the traditional one. Nowadays, most of them have converted to Christianism. Traditional Māori religion believed that everything, including natural elements and all living things were connected by common descent through whakapapa or genealogy. Accordingly, all things were thought of as possessing a life force. Tapu and mana were the main traditional concepts. Tapu was a supernatural condition that could be acquired by places, things and people, which gave them a sacred quality. Certain people and objects contained mana, a spiritual power or essence. In the early 19th century, many Māori embraced Christianity and its concepts. Large numbers of converts joined the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, several new mixed religions arose, combining various aspects of Christianity with traditional and non-traditional Māori philosophies. Furthermore, the number of Māori Muslims grew rapidly at the end of the 20^th century.

Concerning Māori culture, it can be described as a rich and varied one which includes traditional and contemporary arts. Traditional arts such as carving, weaving, whaikorero (speeches of welcome), moko (tattoo) and kappa haka are practised throughout the country. Haka is defined as that part of the Māori dance repertoire where the men are to the fore with the women lending vocal support in the rear. More than any aspect of Māori culture, this complex dance is an expression of the passion, vigour and identity of the race. Since the original "All Black" team of "New Zealand Natives" the haka has been closely associated with New Zealand rugby. Today Māori culture also includes art, film, television, poetry, theatre, hip-hop. Māori is an oral culture rich with stories and legends. Its language has a logical structure and very consistent rules of pronunciation. Eventually, the majority of place names in New Zealand are of Māori origin.

According to the most reliable evidence, initial settlement of New Zealand occurred around 1280. However the first contacts between Māori and Europeans did not happen before 1780. The tribes which were in close contact with Europeans began to use fire weapons. This lead to internal power struggles known as The Musket Wars, resulting in a reduction of the local population. In 1840, Queen Victoria annexed New Zealand by royal proclamation. The Treaty of Waitangi, negotiated by the English politician William Hobson, guaranteed Māori property rights, tribal autonomy and the rights of British subjects in exchange of accepting the British sovereignty. From this moment onwards, land properties became the object of many conflicts. Although many Māori blended in the European way of life, most of them kept their own cultural identity. On the late 19th century, successful Māori politicians emerged and tried to improve the status of their people. Later on, Māori underwent a cultural revival. Nowadays, Māori has become an official language taught in many New Zealand schools.

Warren Buffett: The legendary investor

2011-12-13T17:50:00.019+01:00

Warren Buffett, the “Legendary investor” is an American billionaire who has built his fortune thanks to the stock market trading investment technique.

He was born in 1930 in Omaha. Thanks to his father who worked in the financial world, Buffett junior displayed an amazing aptitude for both business and money from a very early age. At only 6, he already had an interest in making and saving money by reselling chewing gum, Coca-Cola bottles, etc. At 11, he purchased three shares of Cities Service Preferred. This first investment taught him one of the basic lessons of investing: patience is a virtue.

After he graduated from High School, his father sent him to the University of Pennsylvania. Warren Buffett found academic life boring, claiming he knew more than his professors. Later on, he went to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in only 3 years. Afterwards he applied for the well-known Harvard Business School but against all odds, he was rejected because he was “too young”. He eventually applied for Columbia where he met Ben Graham and David Dodd, two famous investors who became Warren’s mentors.

The businessman

At 25, Buffett began a limited stock market trading investment partnership. But fourteen years later, when his fortune had grown to be worth over US$25 million, he decided to stop this investment method because it had become too speculative.

His greatest achievement is undeniably Berkshire Hathaway, a textile manufacturing firm which diversified later on thanks to his investing talent. He is currently the primary shareholder, chairman and CEO of this empire. The investing career of Warren Buffett is one of the longest and most successful ever.

The billionaire

His brilliant career allowed him to be ranked by Forbes as the richest person in the world in 2008. He is at the moment the third wealthiest man in the world, just after Carlos Slim Helú and Bill Gates. This latter is also one of Warren’s best friends. Over time, they discovered they shared a passion for Bridge.

The philanthropist

There is another side to Warren Buffett: his philanthropy. He is indeed a very generous man, who donates billions to charities and encourages other wealthy personalities to do the same. Furthermore Warren Buffett recently claimed that the American tax system was unfair because a billionaire paid less in taxes than a middle-class family. That’s why the American President Barrack Obama proposed a “Buffett Tax” to make the system more balanced.

Moreover despite his wealth, Buffett appears to be very down-to-earth. Indeed the billionaire still lives in a small house, drives his own car and doesn’t have any security people around him.

While he is considered as one of the world's greatest businessmen, his moral qualities and his simplicity differentiate him from numbers of other billionaires.

Justine O. & Loïc T.

The Glastonbury Festival

2011-12-13T16:07:00.008+01:00

The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts is one of the best known music and contemporary performing arts festivals in the world. It takes place over a period of three or four days in June on the site of Worthy Farm. It is located in the county Somerset, in the south-west of England, between the villages of Pilton and Pylle. It is thus not situated in Glastonbury itself but 7 miles from this little picturesque town, characterized by her Tor, Abbey, market and shops. The site extends over 900 hectares in the Vale of Avalon, an area full of mythological and religious traditions from centuries ago. Each year, thousands of musicians, dancers, comedians and other artists entertain some 150 000 festival-goers.

Noticeable are the facts that the Glastonbury Festival tends to encourage young people in all sorts of arts, and that it has an environmental and humanitarian side. In fact, many volunteers work each year for the Festival, representing associations such as the campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, WaterAid, Greenpeace or Oxfam. That is why the profit made is distributed to these good causes. Furthermore, the Glastonbury Festival is a good example of green behaviour since recycling, solar energy and other green material are the key words during the three or four days of the Festival.

The first edition took place in September 1970, strongly influenced by the hippie culture and free festival movement. This Festival was called ‘Pilton Festival’. The founder, Michael Eavis, thought of this cultural event after having gone to an open air Blues festival the same year. The first edition was not as successful as it is now and gathered some 15,000 people.

A year later, in 1971, the Festival was held in June for the first time and called “Glastonbury Fair”. The entrance was totally free as the Festival was against the principle of over commercialization. The Festival also took a new turn, mixing medieval themes with different artists’ shows. The first pyramid stage was built, made of scaffoldings and plastic sheeting whereas famous musicians such as David Bowie or Traffic offered musical performances.

In 1981 the Festival got its official name “Glastonbury Festival” and in 1995, the 25th anniversary of the Festival was celebrated, providing unforgettable performances from famous artists (Jeff Buckley, Oasis, The Cure,…). Since then, it has developed, consisting of numerous stages and divided into distinct areas with their own specific atmosphere and attractions. The whole site is centred around the main stage: ‘The Pyramid’ where the headliners perform. Besides, the three main areas are ‘Dance Village’, ‘The Green Fields’, ‘The Circus and Theatre’ and ‘The Park’. Different camping sites are situated within those areas to enable people to stay in their favourite village for the night. Tipis are also made available, furnished with groundsheets and raincatchers. Also, the Festival has not been spared by the weather and has often had to cope with heavy rain, floods and thunderstorms, leading to serious damage, and affecting camping sites.

The Festival takes a “fallow year” every five years for the area and the organizers to rest. There will be no Festival in 2012, but you can already register for the 2013 edition!

Sean Connery

2011-12-13T13:17:00.009+01:00

Sir Thomas Sean Connery was born on the 25 th of August 1930 in Scotland, near Edinburgh. Unlike his mother, his father was a Roman Catholic. Sean Connery is the oldest of a family of 2 children.

Before becoming one of the most well-known actors of his generation he exercised different jobs from lorry driver to coffin polisher. Sean Connery first worked as a milkman in his own town of Edinburgh. Afterwards he joined the Royal Navy. Nevertheless he couldn't serve his country any longer due to medical reasons. Finally he became a model for the Edinburgh College of Art and even reached the third place in Mr. Universe beauty pageant.

Football played an important role in his life. He also had the opportunity to join the Manchester United squad. He was tempted to accept, but he recalled: "I realized that a top-class footballer could be over the hill by the age of 30, and I was already 23. I decided to become an actor and it turned out to be one of my more intelligent moves.

He then began his theatrical career by playing different secondary roles. His talent struck many people who believed he could assume an international cinematographic career. From then onwards he became the most famous Scottish actor and producer. It took him 8 long years before being cast in Lewis Allen’s film ‘Another time, Another place’.

4 years after his breakthrough in cinema, he took on the role of the famous Britsh secret agent, James Bond. Sean Connery is considered as the real Ian Fleming James Bond character. He starred in seven James Bond films cases in point include Goldfinger (1964) and Never Say Never Again (1983).

He continued to lead a successful career in front and behind the camera. We can point out The Name of the Rose (1986) and The Untouchable (1987) .Throughout his career the Scottish actor won a huge number of prices including: an Academy Award, two BAFTA awards and three Golden Globes.

Although he was elected ‘Sexiest Man Alive’ by People magazine at the age of 59. He only had 2 serious relationships, namely his famous love affair with actress Diane Cilento, who gave him his only son Jason and finally his marriage with a Moroccan-French painter named Micheline Roquebrune.

In July 2000 he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.

Even though he earned a lot of popular success he is also involved in politics. Indeed he is a strong believer of the philosophy of the Scottish National Party. He supported it financially and through personal appearances. According to him Scotland is to be independent before his death.

Tke Duke of Edinburgh's Award

2011-12-13T12:52:00.009+01:00

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, shortened DofE, is a charitative programme founded by Queen’s Elizabeth’s husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. It is initially the “County Badge Scheme” project introduced in 1956 and developed by Prince Philip to become the well-known youth training association of today.

This charitative programme is accessible for young aged between 14 and 24. It was at the beginning destined for boys with the aim of attracting those who didn’t want joining one of the British youth movements such as The Scout association. A year after its creation, girls could also join in.

The DofE programme has been created in order to develop the potential of young people, by broading their mind and body and by encouraging them in their self esteem. The DofE also exists to create positive changes in young people’s lives and according to former participants, it is a memorable adventure, an experience full of discoveries and propitious for their future life as social citizens.

The challenge that the association offers consists of three different levels. The first two levels, the Bronze and the Silver levels, are based on four different types of activities (Volunteering, Physical, Skills and Expedition). At the third level, the Gold level, it exists a further one: Residential. Physical is the improvement of a sportive activity, Skills consists of the internal development of the participant and Expedition is the realisation of a journey in the world. The last criteria, Residential, involves a stay around the world to participate in a shared activity. When a level is completed, the young receives an Award, the Bronze, Silver or Gold Award, depending on the fulfilled level.

The two other things to do to achieve an Award are to complete an enrolment form and to pay a DofE participation fee. This rises to £14.000 for the Bronze and the Silver Awards and to £20.000 for the Gold Award. Participants have to show regular activity, at least one hour per week. They must complete their DofE level before their twenty-fifth birthday. Moreover, each section must be done for a minimum period of time and the participants must be assessed by someone who has knowledge or experience of that activity. It will take at least six months to complete the Bronze or the Silver level if the Bronze is already completed. To reach the Gold Award, it requires at least twelve months or if the participant didn’t achieve the Silver level, eighteen months.

The DofE is supported by many celebrities who attend the ceremonies and who help to increase the organisation’s popularity.

This programme, developed in the United-Kingdom, has also existed in other countries such as Australia, Canada or Jamaica. They adopt different names but the Awards Programme remains the same. Since its creation there have been around 275,000 participants taking part in the United-Kingdom’s DofE programmes and globally 850,000 participants in the 132 other countries offering such a youth association.

Page Three girls

2011-12-13T11:44:00.014+01:00

Page Three girls are topless women who usually model on the Page Three in tabloids. The Sun is most of the time associated to this concept. However you can also find this kind of pictures in other papers, but the names attributed to the models diverge from one paper to another.

History

The first pictures of women on page three appeared in 1969 and coincided with the creation of The Sun, but the models still remained clothed. At that time, The Sun was run by Rupert Murdoch. In the course of time the photos became more and more suggestive. In 1970 on the occasion of the paper’s first birthday, the 20-year-old Stephanie Rahn became the first mannequin to take her top off. This issue obtained so much success that Larry Lamb, the new director, decided to maintain the tradition of topless women. The models gradually struck provocative poses, which caused a lot of controversies. Despite of this, the success of the page three of The Sun continued to increase and some other newspapers decided to imitate it, publishing their own erotic pictures. For several years, Page Three was often linked with

sports events. But in the 90’s, this connection was abandoned and a new rule was instituted, which prevented women with falsies from posing. It is also at the end of the nineties that a website devoted to Page Three was created. All the published pictures can be found on this site, as well as archives. Another novelty is the contest called “Page 3 Idol” which was initiated in 2002. It gives the opportunity to women over 18 to try their luck to have their photo published in The Sun, after a public vote.

Controversies

Since its creation Page Three has often been seen as controversial mainly by the conservatives and the feminist groups. On one hand critics define it to be sexist and exploitative; on the other hand others regard the pictures as inappropriate for publication in a national newspaper. Page Three was so disparaged that certain editors of The Sun hesitated for a long time to keep the section in the newspaper. It became so important that politics was even involved in the debate. In 1986 Clare Short, Member of Parliament for Birmingham Ladywood, led a campaign in the House of Commons to have topless mannequin banned from all newspapers. The proposed bill failed and the campaign was unsuccessful. At one point The Sun provoked controversy by featuring topless girls only aged of 16. All these discussions about the age limit ended when the Sexual Offences Act 2003 determined the minimum age for topless modeling at 18.

Nowadays

Nowadays Page Three still remains central to the debate especially with the celebration of his fortieth anniversary in 2010. Some feminist groups assert that Page three reinforces the negative vision of the woman as a denigrated and sexual object. But a lot has changed since 1970 and women outperform men in various domains. Moreover some feminists argue that images of attractive women give an impression of perfection which can lead to an obsession with appearance among young women. Anyway Page Three remains as much a part of British culture as a cup of tea and this for a long time.

Van Morrison

2011-12-13T11:41:00.007+01:00

Born on 31 August 1945 in Belfast, George Ivan Morrison (best known as Van Morrison or under the nicknames "Van the Man" and "The Belfast Cowboy") is a Northern-Irish singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist musician. Throughout his professional career, he has played a wide range of musical styles, including rock, blues, rhythm and blues, folk, jazz fusion, country and also Celtic music, hence the term "Celtic Soul" which has been given to define some of his music.

Van Morrison was raised in a working-class Protestant family, where he was exposed to early blues and jazz thanks to his father’s music collection. At the age of eleven, his father bought him his first acoustic guitar and then, at fourteen years old, he received a saxophone. Having taken up those two instruments and with the help of some lessons, he was soon able to start his career as a teenager by playing in several Irish showbands which covered the music hits of that time.

He first came up to the light in the mid-1960s with the rhythm and blues band Them and their single "Gloria", which became an instant classic. In 1967, he released as a solo artist a single called "Brown Eyed Girl", which was followed one year later by his first solo album, Astral Weeks. Although this album did not get good critics and was rather ignored at first, it gradually received critical acclaim and is now regarded as a classic masterpiece which has had a great influence on later music styles. His second album, Moondance, as well as his other works from the 1970’s were immediately well received and allowed him to establish himself as a major artist, who still continues to make records and go on tour nowadays.

Van Morrison distinguished himself from the other rock singers of his generation who were more regarded as simple entertainers whereas he was more of a dark and complex singer, inspired by the integrity of the old bluesmen and the willfulness of poets. An interesting anecdote might be that from 1972 onwards, he began to experience stage fright, making it more difficult for him to perform in front of bigger audiences: indeed, being usually under stress, he therefore tried as much as possible to avoid making eye contact with the audience. Regarding his writing style, Morrison was heavily influenced by English poets John Donne (metaphysical poetry), William Blake (romantic poetry) and Irish poet William Butler Yeats.

The many awards he received definitely confirm him as an icon of Irish and Anglo-Saxon culture. Indeed, he received six Grammy Awards, an induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Irish Hall of Fame. More importantly, he was also decorated OBE, namely Officer of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

Live version of "Brown Eyed Girl" in 2006:

British Tea Culture

2011-12-13T11:31:00.009+01:00

We cannot speak about British tea culture without starting with how tea became so popular in the UK. Tea was first introduced in Britain around the Stuart Restoration in 1660. At this moment Chinese tea appeared in London’s coffeehouses. At the beginning tea was only drunk by fashionable and rich people like Samuel Pepys. When it was first introduced into the court in 1662 thanks to Catherine of Braganza, tea started to spread rapidly into the rest of the court and into the bourgeoisie. In the 1660’s the first English factory to make tea was created. In the same period efforts have been made to imitate the Chinese porcelain bowls in which tea was drunk. More than two hundred years later, between 1872 and 1884, the prices of tea rose because the supply of tea spread in the empire. Fortunately thanks to new innovations in making tea, the prices became low again. London is nowadays the international center of tea. The increasing popularity of this drink is in parallel with the increasing demand in porcelain cups or bowls in which people drink tea.

What is typical about the UK is a tradition called “afternoon tea”. It was not until the 17^thcentury that this concept first appeared. It is in 1840 that Anna, the 7^th Duchess of Bedford, introduced it in England. There is a story in which it has been told that the Duchess became hungry around four o’clock in the afternoon. The evening meal was served at eight o’clock, which was quite late and left a long period of time between lunch and dinner. As she was tired of being hungry, the Duchess asked for a tea tray, bread, butter and cake to be brought to her room during those late afternoons. She became used to it and she began inviting friends to join her. As time passes, this became a fashionable and social event and especially among upper-class women. During the 1880’s, they dressed very classy to go to their afternoon tea which was usually served in the dining room between four and five o’clock. That is how afternoon tea became a tradition. It consists of a selection of dainty sandwiches and includes the mythical thinly sliced cucumber sandwiches, scones served with clotted cream and cake and pastries. However, the tradition is no longer the same and is now considered by some as a sacrilege in the sense that it usually consists of a mug of tea and a teabag, with a biscuit or a small cake. A well-known example of cream tea is the Devonshire Cream Tea.

Now that drinking tea has become popular for everybody, some anecdotes and traditions have been created. We can therefore point out that 98% people drink their tea with milk, but only 30% of them take sugar in their tea; 96% of cups of tea drunk daily in the United Kingdom are brewed with tea bags; in the middle of the 18^th century tea replaced ale and gin as the drink of the masses and it is recommended to drink four cups of tea a day.

Ascot Racecourse

2011-12-13T11:16:00.003+01:00

Ascot Racecourse is by far the most important racecourse in the United Kingdom. It is located in the small town of Ascot, Berkshire, not far from Windsor Castle. There are 26 days of flat racing in spring and jump racing during the winter organised at Ascot, the highlight being Royal Ascot. Apart from racing, it hosts special events such as a cocktail party in July, a concert in August, a beer festival in September and fireworks in October. It has always been associated with the aristocracy and the Royal Family.

It was founded in 1711 by Queen Anne, so it celebrated its 300th anniversary this year. For the inaugural event on 11 August 1711, seven horses raced on three separate heats, each four miles long. Today the Queen Anne Stakes continues to be run in her memory. Several acts were passed in the course of the 19th and 20th century, making it a public racecourse and creating the Ascot Authority (the company that manages the racecourse). Ascot racecourse was closed in 2004 for renovation, and re-opened 20 months later. The costs of the redevelopment reached £200 million. But it was criticised on the ground that it gave too much space for restaurants and other facilities and not enough for patrons to watch the racing. Therefore new renovations were carried out in 2006, improving the view from lower levels of the grandstand. The renovations cost £10 million.

When going to Ascot, races can be watched while standing on the different platforms or the grandstand. In addition, the facility has more than 300 meeting rooms which can be booked. The most conventional and practical one is the Ascot Pavilion which can be divided into three rooms and accommodate 100 to 1100 people. There are other rooms like the Ascot Exhibition Hall and the Queen Anne Building but the most popular is the Royal Ascot Racing Club. On non-race days it can be hired out as a private facility. There are, of course, several restaurants but the Parade Ring Restaurant is the most exquisite one.

The most prestigious event is definitely the Royal Ascot held for five days in June. It dates back to 1711 and is a centrepiece of the British social calendar. It is said to be the ultimate stage of the best racehorses in the world. Every year Royal Ascot is attended by the Queen herself and the members of the Royal Family. Every day they arrive in a horse-drawn carriage with the Royal procession taking place on the racecourse itself. There are three enclosures attended by guests on Royal Ascot week. First-time applicants can gain membership by applying to the Royal Enclosure office. They then receive a badge which can only be used by that person.

Ascot Racecourse is known for its dress code and extravagant hats. On the 300th anniversary eccentric artistic creations for hats and dresses were worn by visitors. On the other hand, especially in the Royal Enclosure, the dress code is very strict. The women need to wear a day dress of appropriate length adding a hat or a fascinator. Men wear a black or grey morning dress with top hat.

Ascot Racecourse is an important part of British culture with a long history. It is associated with quality, excellence and is considered a memorable day out; an event that no Briton can ignore.

Kangaroo: an Australian icon

2011-12-13T10:53:00.009+01:00

The kangaroos are marsupials which belong to same family as the koalas. They are mainly present in Australia. Kangaroos are particular animals, especially because of their way of walking: they hop and their tail permits them to balance their body. Thanks to this feature, they are able to reach the speed of 55km/h and the high of 3 meters. Kangaroos are used to be found in desert and grass lands. It provides them protection and security: the aridity of the Australian landscape protects them from predators.

Unfortunately, their main threat was, and still is, the human beings, by destroying their natural habitat and polluting their biotope. One of the main dangers is the road traffic that prevents them to cross the roads safely. Furthermore, lots of kangaroos, which are nocturnal, are often hit by cars during the night, and killed. When they feel threatened or when they are afraid, they might sometimes attack the car occupants, to protect themselves. Other factors also cause the kangaroos’ decreasing: in period of drought, they take refuge in farms to find food, where they get killed by the inhabitants. Considering that the kangaroos are herbivorous, humans destroy them to keep the grass free for cattle (as sheep or cows). Kangaroo’s meat is also very popular and enjoyed by millions of people around the world.

The Australian society for Kangaroos demands a greater protection for kangaroos because their number is decreasing and they are almost extinct. Their urgent request is a response to the huge industrialized commercialization of kangaroo meat.

It is not a chance that the Kangaroo is a part of the Australian culture and a symbol of the country. Actually, Australia is the main place where kangaroos grow and live. The first image people get when they think about Australia is the one with the cute kangaroo. Moreover, the kangaroo is represented in Australia in many ways: mascots for sporting teams, logos for airline companies, and most of the Australian brands use the kangaroo as a national symbol. In addition, there are lots of films, television programs, toys, and souvenirs that are in effigy of the kangaroo, which strengthen the symbolization of the animal.

From a historical viewpoint, kangaroos have been the source of the survival of Australia’s Indigenous peoples. The Aboriginals used to hunt the marsupials, ate their meat and used their skin to make clothes.
Another reason why the kangaroo is a typical icon of the Australian culture is that they attract millions of people in Australia. Indeed, tourists are coming in the country to meet this cute and loving animal, even if kangaroos are shy and try to keep away from humans.

To conclude, while this cute animal is often the victim of human activity that affects its environment, the kangaroo does not really influence the human way of living. They rather live separately from people and do not attack them, except if they feel threatened. The kangaroo is actually said to be lovely... this animal is indigenous to Australia and is known all around the world. It constitutes the greatest icon of Australia, and to some extent, of the Australian culture.

Kate Bush

2011-12-13T10:41:00.004+01:00

Early life

Catherine Bush was born in 1958 in Bexleyheath (Kent). Since her early age, she has been immersed in an artistic background; her mother was an Irish folk dancer and her father a highly talented pianist. Therefore, she began writing her own tunes and eventually added lyrics to them.

Career

At 15 years old, Kate got in touch with David Gilmour (Pink Floyd’s lead guitarist) thanks to Ricky Hopper, a family friend. It enabled her to record her first demo. She signed to EMI Records one year later, but only began her career in 1977. In January 1978, her first song, Wuthering Heights came out, based on the novel of the same name, written by Emily Brontë. Catherine Earnshaw, the main female character in the book, is quoted several times in the song and especially in the chorus. It climbed to number one on the British charts and was part of her first album The Kick Inside.

Her first song opened the way to her future career, a number of literary references can actually be found in her work (e.g.: references to James Joyce, (Lord) Alfred Tennyson…).

Shortly afterwards, Lionheart, Kate’s second album was released. However, she was not satisfied with it, because she needed more time to work on it. She decided thus, to set up her own publishing company, Kate Bush Music, and her own management company, Novercia. This way she became more autonomous. She still had obligations towards EMI Records and had to go on tour in 1979, the only one of her career, The Tour Of Life.

In 1980, her single Babooshka became the first Top Five single since Wuthering Heights, whereas her third album Never For Ever was number one in the British Charts.

Her fourth album, The Dreaming, was also successful, but the single There Goes a Tenner was a failure. Fortunately in 1985, Running Up That Hill (song of her fifth album Hounds of Love), got Bush back on her feet, being the second biggest-selling single.

In 1987, The Whole Story shows the changes in her sound and her development as a writer and performer. This album is a compilation of her greatest hits.

The same year, she was elected “Best British Female Artist” at the BRIT Awards in London.

In 1989, The Sensual World was a success both in the UK and the US.

The Red Shoes is her next album (1993). In the meantime, she became a mother and retreated in her countryside home, so that she produced albums more sporadically. Her last albums are: Aerial (2005), The Director’s Cut, a collection of 11 remakes taken from The Sensual World and The Red Shoes, and, finally, 50 Words for Snow (2011).

British Icon

Kate Bush is a British icon for two reasons. Firstly, she is known for her keening vocals and unusually literate body of songs. Another reason is her absence from concert stage and the extended periods between albums. These two reasons resulted in Bush becoming one of the more enigmatic pop artists in England.

For more information about Kate Bush, surf on her official website.

Marie-Jeanne Bleuzet & Olivia Nisolle

2011-12-13T00:21:00.010+01:00

Dolly Parton
From bubblegum pop singer to Queen of Country Music

Dolly Parton is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, actress, author and philanthropist. During her impressively successful career, she has accumulated two Oscar nominations, eight Grammy Awards (45 nominations), 42 Top Ten country music albums and more than 100 chart singles.

Born on 19 January 1946 in Sevierville (Tennessee) in a dirt-poor family, Dolly Rebecca Parton went on to become one of the most famous country music singers of all time. She grew up in a one-room run-down shack as one of 12 children. Her difficult childhood experiences are reflected in some of her earliest lyrics (e.g. “Coat of Many Colors”). Dolly began performing at the age of 12 on several local television and radio programs, among which the Grand Ole Opry.

After having graduated in 1964, Dolly moved to Nashville where she first became successful as a songwriter. In 1966 she married Carl Dean, who worked for an asphalt road-surface-paving business in Nashville. He is very reclusive and has only seen her perform live once in the 45 years they have been together.

In 1967, Parton recorded her first album “Hello, I’m Dolly”, containing two singles which reached the top 25 on the country music charts. Her singing was noticed by Porter Wagoner, who hired her as a regular on “The Porter Wagoner Show”. Their duets became famous, but Dolly’s success eventually overshadowed his. Her song “I Will Always Love You” talks about her professional break from Wagoner in 1974.

After getting mixed reviews for her first self-produced album “New Harvest…First Gathering” in 1977, Dolly turned to pop producer Gary Klein for “Here You Come Again” which earned her a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. The singer continued her string of number one hits with the Academy Award-winning “Nine to Five” which became the theme song of the film of the same name in which she starred alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin.

In 1987, along with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt, she released the critically acclaimed album Trio. That same year, Dolly was introduced into the Country Music Hall of Fame. She also recorded a series of bluegrass albums, starting with “The Grass Is Blue” (1999).

With “Travelin’Thru”, written for the film “Transamerica” in 2005, she earned her second Academy Award nomination. However, Dolly also received death threats because of her complete acceptance of a transgender woman in the song.

Her latest and 43rd country-music album, “Better day”, was released in June 2011. In addition to that, Dolly stars with Queen Latifah in the film “Joyful Noise”, which is set to come out in 2012.

Parton, dubbed The Queen of Country Music, has also branched out into business and entertainment with, for example, her theme park “Dollywood”. She also runs “Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library”, her own literacy programme, which gives out more than 2.5 million books to children per year.

Besides her success in music and film and her philanthropic efforts, she is best-known for her recourse to plastic surgery and her wigs. Dolly herself once said: “It takes a lot of money to look this cheap.”

Dolly Parton is one of the most honoured female country music artists of all
time.

Bondi Beach

2011-12-12T20:43:00.006+01:00

Bondi Beach, which is the name of the beach as well as the surrounding suburb, is one of the best known beaches in the world. Located in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, in Australia, it is about one kilometre long and situated at only seven kilometres from the city centre. The beach is as much a symbol of Australia as the kangaroo. It symbolizes the Australian lifestyle, where leisure time is as important as work and where they manage to combine both. It was added to the Australian National Heritage List in 2008. It has a total population of over 10,000 inhabitants, among which only forty percent are Australians.

The beach is a popular destination in the summer, but also in the colder months of winter, when it still attracts lots of surfers, as well as people who want to enjoy a nice walk in the sand. On a typical summer weekend, it is visited by more than 40,000 tourists.

Its name comes from the Aboriginal word "Boondi", which means “noise of water breaking over rocks”. For a long time, Bondi Beach was not considered by the authorities as a potential investment. It was seen as nothing more than a huge sand dune, too far away from the Sydney Central Business District. It is only in 1855 that Francis O’Brien, owner of the Bondi Estate, tried to obtain official permissions to make it available as a public picnic ground. However, bathing was not authorised until 1906.

Since it is accessible for the public, the beach has been synonymous with surf. Opened in 1906, the Bondi Surf Bathers' Life Saving Club is the world's oldest surf club. It was created, as its name suggests, to save lives. It quickly developed special techniques that are now used by the whole world. It is globally known since a terrible accident which happened on 6th February 1938. After a series of large waves, the club members saved 300 people in 24 hours. Only 5 people died. The day is known as ‘Black Sunday’.

The beach is in fact bordered by two headlands. The southern side is reserved for surfboard riding because of its famous strong rip current, which has been rated 7 on a 10-scale. On the northern side, which is calmer, yellow and red flags define the areas which are safe for swimming.

The suburb contains an important commercial area and is full of activities available whenever you wish, during the day but also at night. You can find an indefinite number of restaurants, cafés and snacks. Because of its iconic status and the many tourists it attracts, there are hotels to be found in every price range. The most important building in the suburb is the Bondi Pavilion, a community cultural centre which contains a theatre, an exhibition gallery, studios, rehearsal and meeting rooms, etc. This explains why it is the centre for major festival performances during the whole year.

One of the major events of the year is the City to Surf race, which is held each year in August and attracts more than 60,000 participants. They have to complete a 14 kilometre run from the centre of Sidney to Bondi Beach. In addition to many other activities, such as the Flickerfest, a short film festival, the beach’s market is open every Sunday.

Baseball

2011-12-11T19:52:00.001+01:00

Up to today, the origins of baseball remain vague and controversial. Some believe in the legend that it was founded by AbnerDoubleday, a civil war hero. Others claim it evolved from English folk gameslike cricket, or maybe from the North-American pastime rounders, or even from a Russianball-game called “Lapta”. But whether it came from Europe ornot, baseball’s real break-out happened during the 19^th century inthe US, where it grew to become a traditional sport like in no other country.The rules of baseball as we know them today come from Alexander Cartwright’s bookof baseball rules, which were codified in 1845. The American Civil War playedan important role in the spread of baseball. Before the war broke out it wasmainly played in the north east (New York, Boston, Philadelphia) an in thecenter of the country (Ohio, Illinois, Indiana). During the war the movements ofsoldiers and transfers of prisoners was a great boost for the diffusion of thegame, in the United States as well as in other parts of the world. In 1869, the Cincinnati Red Stockings formed thefirst professional team, and were purposely remunerated. A few yearslater in 1871, “The National Association of Professional Base-Ball Players” wasfounded as the first professional league.

Nowadays, known as ”Major League Baseball”, it is the top-level of professional baseballin the United States and Canada and is one of the major professional sportleagues. It is made up of 30 teams -29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. Afurther distinction needs to be made between those teams. 14 compete in theAmerican League (AL), and 16 in the National League (NL). The main difference between the two is thatthe AL in opposition to the NL accepts a designated hitter. This means thatthis player has the right to bat in place of the pitcher. This rule wasintroduced in 1973. When the AL and NL teams compete against each other (duringWorld Series play and inter-league play), the system of the home team isassigned.

Babe Ruth

And what would baseball be without the most famous player of all times: Babe Ruth? From his realname George Herman Ruth, “The Sultan of Swat”, is one of the greatest sportheroes in American culture. He played in the Major League from 1914-1935 and isconsidered as one of the most outstanding baseball players in history. He isbest known for his home run hitting prowess and being the first player to realize60 home runs in only one season. He was also very popular for hisgenerosity and wild lifestyle and became a mythical figure of the“Roaring Twenties”.
By the 1960s, the game was highly appreciated everywhere in America and soon hadits own place among the other national sports. Today, all around the world,countries compete in this sport. Over the years, the game has acquired so much popularity that it has been accepted in the list of Olympic sports.

Marilyn Monroe

2011-12-11T09:11:00.051+01:00

Marilyn Monroe, from her true name Norma Jeane Mortenson, was born June 1st 1926 in Los Angeles, from unknown father. Young Norma soon found herself transferred from one foster house to another, as her mother had been declared both mentally and financially unstable. In order to be freed from state care, she married in 1942, at the age of sixteen. During World War II, she worked in a factory where she was discovered by a photographer, who encouraged her to start a career as model. So as to fit the demand, she dyed her hair in blond. From model, she rose to be an actress and gained a certain notoriety.

It is around this period that she changed her name for Marilyn Monroe: the nice, flowing sound of the name, due to alliteration, made it easy to memorize and the double "m" should bring her luck. But luck didn't come in a first time and she soon found herself without employment. In 1949, she accepted to pose for nude photos. In 1952, while her career had taken a new start, she avoided scandal by making a famous interview, in which she explained she had done it to pay the rent. This raised sympathies and attracted attention, so that her celebrity increased. From now onwards, she became a public figure, playing in some major movies.

Nevertheless, towards the end of her life, she adopted an unstable behaviour and developed an addiction to drugs, alcohol and medication. She was found dead August 6th 1962. The result of the autopsy is "acute barbiturate poisoning" and the doctors concluded to suicide, though many rumours of murder circulated.

Marilyn Monroe: an icon

The reasons of Marilyn Monroe's success and posthumous status of icon in American culture may be due to some extent to this mysterious death. But much more significant is what she embodied: at a time where the model of the decent housewife was still dominant, she represented the sexual revolution on the march. It should be remembered that the magazine Playboy had been recently created and was one of the first to make use of Marilyn's nude photos. Marilyn's numerous husbands and lovers, as well as some daring scenes in the movies she played in, contributed to make her a sex-symbol.

Marilyn Monroe is also the symbol of the glorious age of Hollywood and conveys with her all the glamour and fascination it involves. Nostalgia for this sparkling epoch undoubtedly explains part of her current success. Furthermore, her rising from poor orphan to superstar is the embodiment of the American dream, so that she has been used as a kind of propaganda for American culture and way of life.

Her image is thus widespread, thanks to advertisement, consumer goods and even art (for example, her pop art portrait by Andy Warhol). The more we see it, the more firmly her status as icon is established. The more she is an icon, the more her image will be used. Consequently, it is possible to conclude by saying that Marilyn Monroe won't be forgotten for a while.

Donut

2011-12-09T11:15:00.001+01:00

A donut is a beignet of traditional deep-fried dough, sometimes filled, or powdered with sugar, glazed and fired in oil. According to the OALD, the noun is spelt doughnut or donut, the latter is especially used in North America. The noun was first written dough-nut, which clearly designates nuts, i.e. little balls of fried dough.

H.C. Gregory

Historians do not agree about the origin of the Donut. Different hypotheses explain its apparition. First, the Donut would have come from the Dutch Oliebol, which was introduced in the US by Dutch settlers. In 1847 the Captain Hanson Crockett Gregory and his sailors ate these Oliebollen. One day most of the men went overboard and because the pastry was too heavy and too fat, they could not swim and sank. As a result, Gregory was so angry that he took one of the spoke of the rudder and made a hole into one of the oliebol. The cakes were then lighter and became Donuts. This story is however uncertain and it is believed that Gregory decided to make a hole into the fattest part of the cake. Another possible origin suggests that, during the battle against the Dutch, Chief High Eagle’s arrows reached the oliebollen instead of his opponents and made holes into them. Even if we do not know the exact origins of the Donuts we have trustworthy information about later events. Indeed, there is a “National Doughnut Day” in the United States, which was created in 1938 to raise funds for the Salvation Army. It takes place on the first Friday of June. It honours the women who baked doughnuts during WWI for American soldiers in order to cheer them up. On this occasion, several doughnut companies give out free donuts.

Homer Simpson

This National Day shows the importance of the Donut as a cultural icon of the United States; but it is not the only representation of its popularity. For instance the famous American cartoon character “Homer Simpson” loves eating donuts. That has contributed to its popularity around the world. There are also eating contests, in which the participants have to eat as many donuts as possible in a specific time-limit. Furthermore it is quite common to see “cops” go and buy that pastry. Last but not least, the donut is very much present on the Australian continent as well. Indeed, Donut King, Australia’s largest donut company, built up the world’s biggest donut, which was made up of 90,000 smaller ones, when “The Simpsons Movie” was released. As a result of all this, donut companies are implanted worldwide (e.g. Dunkin’ Donuts) and the popularity of the famous “fried dough” is known throughout the whole world. Even in Africa, the donuts are enjoyed by many, but it is a salty variation of the traditional one.

Cricket and the Lord’s

2011-12-09T10:26:00.001+01:00

Cricket is the national sport of England. It is a bat and ball game opposing two teams of eleven players. It is played on an oval field with a flat strip in its centre, the pitch, at which ends stand wickets. The cricket match is split up in innings, after which there is a team switch.

All the members of the fielding team (defence) and two members of the batting team (offence), stand on the field. The two batsmen face each other on the pitch whereas the fielding team stays around it.
The fielding team occupies strategic positions on the field. It includes the bowler who throws the ball towards the batter and tries to dismiss him by hitting the wickets. The wicket-keeper stays behind the wickets to catch the ball if the batsman does not manage to strike it. The rest of the team has to catch the ball after the batter has struck it, and then to hit the wickets with it in order to restrict the batter’s run.
The aim of the batting team is to score as many runs as possible after the striker hit the ball. The two ways to score a run are the following: running between the wickets or hitting the ball so as to cut through the boundary line.
There are numerous variations in terms of rules and different types of cricket games may be distinguished: First-class cricket, Limited overs cricket, Test cricket, Indoor cricket …

The term “cricket” may come from the Old English “cricc” or “cryce”, or from Dutch. However the game itself has definitely English origins.

Cricket in the 17th century

The first known reference to the sport (“creckett”) goes back to the 16^th century. Nevertheless, traces point out that it existed as a children game during Saxon or Norman times.

From the 17^th century onwards the game kept on spreading in older classes but also in nobility and fee-paying schools.
The 18^th century saw the venue of the first “county teams”, as well as the world-wide expansion of the game. An important innovation also took place at this period, namely the pitching of the ball.
In the 19^th century the modern county clubs appeared. It witnessed the Golden Age of Cricket, starting with the formation of the County Championship and ending with the outbreak of the First World War.
Nowadays, cricket remains an important world sport with regards to participants, spectators and media coverage, but its core remains on the British soil. Cricket has had considerable repercussions on popular culture in Britain but also all around the world, and those are observable in the English lexicon and idioms (“That’s not cricket”, “Bradmanesque”), in the movie field and of course in the considerable number of by-products.

Lord’s Cricket Ground, the most important cricket venue, is located in London. It inherited the name of its founder Thomas Lord and is owned by the MCC. It is no longer on its original site and has already moved thrice. The present ground is located north-west of London. This site is noticeable by multiple features such as the Pavillon, the Media Centre, the Tavern Stand as well as a significant field slope. Nowadays, Lord’s hosts two Tests every summer among other matches. It will also be a venue for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

The Lord's Cricket Ground

Mandy Aigret & Diane Devillez

Gilbert and George

2011-04-26T13:24:00.004+02:00

Gilbert and George form a famous pair of British contemporary artists, working and living together. They are famous for their Singing Sculpture and their Jack Freak Pictures.

Their duo is composed of Gilbert Proesch and George Passmore. Gilbert Proesch was born in 1943 in San Martin in Italy. He studied art in Austria before moving to the United Kingdom. George Passmore was born in 1943 in Plymouth. He studied art at Oxford. The two met in 1967 at St Martins School of Art where they studied sculpture. They began a relationship and are now married. They have a formal appearance which is very distinctive: they always wear suits when appearing publicly.

Even though they started with sculpture, they now produce more pictures art works. Their work is mainly inspired by life in London, more particularly in the East End, where they live. They are considered as Modernists, and their art is concerned with social subjects. Their motto is ‘Art for All’.

While they were still students, they created The Singing Sculpture, with which they revolutionized the concept of visual art by making themselves the art work: they coloured their heads and their hands with different powders and stood on a table to sing the Flanagan and Allen song “Underneath the arches”.

Another important work is called the Jack Freak Pictures, which is a collection of pictures combining the Union Jack theme with themselves in various disguises. The pictures include a lot of elements of the modern world, such as medals, flags, street-signs, or graffiti. It raises questions about current matters such as religion, identity, politics, economics, sexuality and death.

One of their most famous work of art is The Pictures. It consists in large scale photographs black and white at first and then hand-coloured in red and yellow. They often appeared on these pictures. Other features are flowers, young people, friends, Christian symbolism. However, their work has been criticized in the eighties because of its obscenity. Indeed, some pictures showed nudity, explicit sex or bodily fluids. In 2007, a book was published under the name of “The Complete Pictures”, collecting more than a thousand examples of their work.

After forty years of collaboration Gilbert and George have proved that they are an important element of contemporary art. Their work is recognized worldwide and they have won a lot of awards. In their mid sixties they still have much to show and their career is not over yet.

David Hockney

2011-04-26T11:34:00.003+02:00

David Hockney was born in Bradford on the 9^th July 1937. This English painter lives in Bridlington, Yorkshire. As a multi-talented artist, he is a draughtsman, printmaker, stage designer and photographer. He is also well-known for his important contribution to the Pop art movement which took place in the 60’s, characterized by its critical view on mass industrial consumption. Still being a young student, he took part in an exhibition called Young Contemporaries, alongside other artists contributing to the pre-Pop art movement. At this time he was considered as an expressionist, which means he wanted to highlight people’s feelings in his works. Later, in 1963, he met Andy Warhol in New York, who influenced him to become an icon of British Pop Art. As a footnote, he was born with synesthesia, which basically means he had difficulties to distinguish colours.

One of his biggest paintings is called bigger trees near water (40 feet wide by 15 feet). It represents a symbolic English landscape by using the technique of open air painting first used by the Impressionist Painters of the nineteenth century. To do so he painted during six consecutive weeks and had to finish it the arrival of spring which would have changed the landscape he wanted to draw. The result is a typical grey-looking landscape from his region: Yorkshire. He was inspired by a photographical technique he had used in his earlier works: the so-called “photo-joiner”. This term stands for various pictures taken from different angles in order to achieve a 360-degree representation of a single image. To represent things at their real-life dimension he painted to different parts apart before joining them together. The painting has been donated recently by Hockney to the York Art Gallery.

Hockney’s use of rich colours such as greens and blues is strongly shown in another famous painting: pearblossom Highway #2. This photo-collage uses juxtaposed pictures taken from different perspectives in order to achieve an unreal effect. This shows very well the effect of cubism which is strongly characterized by broken up objects re-assembled in an abstracted form. It is also a perfect example of Pop-Art work because it features elements of nature on one hand and elements of industrial culture (or mass consumption) on the other. The trees stand for nature while the filthy road symbolizes the drawbacks of culture. Objects such as the coke can shows this very well. In pearblossom Highway the artist made an interesting use of perspective: the stop signs mark the limit in distance of the perspective. Even though there is a second stop sign, the road continues.

Rowan Gillespie

2011-04-25T23:39:00.009+02:00

Rowan Gillespie is an Irish sculptor famous for his contemporary works, using the lost wax (or bronze casting) process. He works totally unassisted and his exhibitions, particularly his site specific works, are now well-known in the world.

Born in Dublin in 1953, he lived in Cyprus about ten years during his childhood. He entered the York School of Arts at the age of 16 and then studied arts in Oslo during three years. Rowan Gillespie’s works are exhibited in big cities all around the world since 1977: we find them in York, Dublin but also London, Los Angeles and Stockholm. He started exhibitions in groups and festivals in 1982. After 1997, Gillespie decided to concentrate on his personal works, site specific art and public sculptures. In 2011, the famous sculptor was elected on the board of the Irish Museum of Modern Arts after having been awarded honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts some years before.

His most famous works are Yeats, James Joyce, Famine and Proclamation.

Famine (1997) is the name of a bronze sculpture found in Dublin along the Liffey River. It recalls people the Irish Potato Famine which devastated Ireland in the 19th century, killing about a million people. A quart of the population died or emigrated from the country and this event profoundly marked the Irish community. This is an important theme found in many works of the artist. Famine is a commemoration of the suffering and starvation of this people. Rowan Gillespie tries to portray the human emotions in most of his works and Famine is one of the most famous sculptures because of the intensity of the statues’ expressions. Six horrified faces, six people, men and women trying to escape from this dreadful death perhaps on their way to a ship.

Less realistic and more recent, Proclamation (2007) is another well-known work of Gillespie found in Dublin. Inspired by John Lennon’s Imagine and by J. Creed Meredith’s Rainbow in the Valley, the sculpture recalls the Irish emancipation and independence. Fourteen martyrs are put in circle and a copy of the Declaration of Independence is placed at the centre. Bullet holes in the statues represent the execution of people trying to fight for their vision of a better future. “Imagination is the beginning of creation”, the creation of what you desire to happen. There are no different faces, sign of unity, and the multi-faceted surfaces reflect the light in different ways, giving the colors of the rainbow. Proclamation is a fabulous metaphor of imagination and a monument to martyrs who gave their lives for what they thought to be right.

Tracey Emin

2011-04-25T23:24:00.008+02:00

Tracey Emin is an English artist and, together with Damien Hirst, one of the leading representatives of a group known as the Britartists or the YBAs (Young British Artists). These visual artists are (in)famous for their ‘shock tactics’, their use of throwaway materials. They earned fame during the 1990s.

During her early life in Margate, the economic situation of her family deteriorated. Her work often reflects this critical period of her childhood. She also wrote a book about all those childhood memories (Exploration of the Soul).

In 1994, her life as a contemporary artist really began and she directly imposed her trademark, namely works that are typically autobiographical. Her relationship with the then already famous Carl Freedman pushed her to create one of her best known works: Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1995, a real piece about intimacy.

The artist has been active in various fields: monoprinting, painting, photography, etc. But she remains famous especially for the two artworks, which she called “My seminal pieces”: Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995 and My Bed.

Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1995, also known as The Tent, was created in 1995 and consisted of a blue tent in which the names of all the people she has slept with between 1963 and 1995, were appliquéd. No sexual connotation has to be understood, and that is why it got very bad press. She simply meant everyone such as her parents, childhood friends, adult mates, as well as her unborn foetus. This artwork is very intimate because the viewer is invited to go into the tent, to kneel inside of it in order to see the names. On the floor one can read "With myself, always myself, never forgetting", by which she shows that this is not an ordinary tent; it is her tent. The work was destroyed in the 2004 Momart London warehouse fire, but she refused to recreate it.

My Bed was presented at the Tate Gallery in 1999 and was shortlisted for the Turner Prize the same year. It consists of her unmade bed from which she did not get up for several days after a period of depression. It is made up of her bed with stained bed sheets and every day objects for example a blue rug, a pillow, and empty bottles of alcohol. But the most shocking part was the other things like used condoms, a stained pair of knickers and garbage. Through this artwork, Tracey Emin reveals, once again (cf.: Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1995) her own personal space, her own privacy and her own emotions. "She shows that she is as insecure and imperfect as the rest of the world".

Morgane Hazard & Julien Leclercq.

Grayson Perry : portrait of a potter in frocks

2011-04-25T21:54:00.014+02:00

Grayson Perry is an English artist known mainly for his ceramic vases and various works in arts en crafts. Next to his earthenwares, Perry also acquired popularity using other media (printmaking, drawing, photography, ...) but especially because of his tendencies to dress in women's clothes. His works often depict dark subjects (e.g. child abuse, sado-masochism, transvestism, ...) in which images of Perry's female alter-ego, Claire, often appear. All of his oeuvre can be understood more easily at the light of some biographical facts.

Grayson Perry was born in Chelmsford on 24th March 1960. At the age of 7 his father left the house because of his wife's cheating on him (event that Perry describes as the one that has had the largest impact on him in his whole life). Soon after that, the young Grayson will have to cope with a new family and violent stepfather from who he escapes by inventing himself an imaginary world. At the age of 15, Grayson moves to his father's house where he begins going out dressed as a woman but he is soon spotted by his stepmother and thrown out of the house. A few years later, he gives up his dream of joining the army and gets into art on the advice of his art teacher. After his graduation in 1982 at Portsmouth Polytechnic, the young artist begins a hand-to-mouth life; his stepfather had told him never to return home again. After a few pottery lessons in 1983, Perry took his own path and began to expose his work individually. Thanks to the success of an exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Perry was awarded the Turner Prize in 2003, the first time it was given to a ceramic artist. Perry attended the award-ceremony dressed up in his alter-ego, Claire. An autobiographical account of his formative years, entitled 'Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl' (co-written with Wendy Jones), was published in 2006. The book makes a clear reference to James Joyce's famous novel 'Portrait of the Artist as a Young man' and to Perry's gender-bender experiences.

'We've found the body of your child' is no doubt one of Perry's most controversial work. This vase depicts scenes of death and grief on a glazed silver and golden background, all along with statements such as "All men are bastards", "You fucking little slut", "Cry baby", ... Altogether this vase hints a fierce critique against paedophilia en child abuse.

In 'A map of an Englishman', Perry charts his own mind as an imaginary island, roughly brain-shapped and surrounded by various seas (e.g. Schizophrenia, Delirium, Anorexia Nervosa, ...). The countryside, on the other hand, is divided in many regions, each of which is dotted with a church (e.g. Pride, Bad Day, ...). Other geographical entities are also named in the same fashion. All these names altogether give a fascinating insight into Perry's inner thoughts and neuroses.

Keith Haring

2011-04-25T19:00:00.008+02:00

«He was born face up, (...) I should have known right then something was gonna be...upper! », said Keith's mother laughing.

Keith Haring was born on May 4, 1958 in Reading, Pennsylvania (U.S.). At a very early age, he got interested in drawing, learning the basic skills from his father. When he was 19, he moved to New York where he studied at the School of Visual Arts but he got his artistic training in the streets and the shabby parts of the city as well.

The 1980s were a time of prosperity and new hopes for the American dream. There was an obvious need for social changes which was expressed by young people leaving their marks on the walls of the city. The new message required a new vocabulary: graffiti. This visual language allowed Haring to gain his first public attention. Those simple images, with bold lines, vivid colours and active figures can function as words. Their symbolic values of birth, death, love, war... appeal to a wide range of people and are generic enough to be understood by everyone. Those signs are universal: they are for every culture and make sense at every moment in history. This is the reason why they are so powerful and have gained national and then international recognition by the media.

The idea of drawing in subway stations came to him in a flash when he noticed an empty black panel. Drawing there on unused advertising panels was a way to give art a new life and to make it easily accessible to everyone. So he was able to bring artwork to all sorts of people, even those who never went to museums. He made hundreds of these public drawings between 1980 and 1985, sometimes producing as many as forty “subway drawings” in one day. Other famous places on which he painted include the western side of the Berlin Wall in 1986 (3 years before its fall), exteriors of hospitals in the United States and in Europe. He also created a mural for the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty on which he worked with 900 children. As his fame grew, he welcomed the chance to take his work to even more places. So he participated in international exhibitions, a good opportunity for him to travel and experience other cultures. Aboriginal and African art, among other things, have influenced his work. He was also inspired by Walt Disney and by Andy Warhol, a leading figure in the pop art.

In 1986, he opened the Pop Shop, a retail store in Soho where T-shirts, toys, magnets, posters, buttons are for sale. By selling low cost products, he made his art available for the greatest possible number of people.

Shortly before he died of AIDS, at the age of 31, he established “The Keith Haring Foundation”. Its aims are to protect and expand the audience for his artwork providing information about his life and work but also to give financial assistance to non-profit-making organizations he used to help when he was still alive.