Broadway

Broadway – the broad way – was originally called Breedeweg by Dutch settlers who founded New Amsterdam in 1625. The British captured the Dutch city in 1664 and renamed it New York City. ‘Breedeweg’ was subsequently anglicised in 1668 to its current form. Known as the longest road in the world, the entire street actually goes from Sleepy Hollow to the southern tip of Manhattan, i.e. roughly 23 miles (or 37 km).

However, the most famous section – less than twenty miles – only passes through Manhattan by its most famous borough, Times Square, and by its financial district, the ‘Canyon of Heroes’. Broadway is also the name given to the theatre district of New York City with 39 professional theatres of 500 seats or more. Shows on Broadway are very popular attractions; they are considered as the most successfull productions of the theatre world with more than 12 million people and about $1 billion worth of tickets every season. This popularity makes it possible to hire top American dramatists and actors for whom being part of a Broadway play remains one of their ultimate goals. The impact of Broadway plays is significant on American television, music, dance, literature and most notably cinema. Many Hollywood films were based on Broadway plays and actors such as Gene Kelly (and his famous "I'm singing in the rain"), Katharine Hepburn and the multi-talented Barbara Streisand began their career in the theatre district of New York City.

“I got started dancing because I knew it was one way to meet girls.”

Gene Kelly

Katharine Hepburn (on the left) was "ranked by the American Film Institute as the greatest female star in the history of American cinema". However, like all stars, she also had her own caprices.

There are two types of Broadway plays: the escapist musical, in which singing and dancing support the stories, and the “straight play” only including dialogues. The musicals, known for their productions and budgets of a “high calibre”, are the most lucrative and famous. "Cats" is one of the most famous musicals and the second longuest-running show in Broadway history. The first longuest-running Broadway show is "The Phanthom of the Opera" which started in 1988 !

In the Canyon of Heroes, Broadway has seen several people being honoured by receiving ticker-tape parades. It consists in throwing lots of shredded paper from buildings into the procession. The first parade was spontaneously organized for the dedication of the Statue of Liberty in 1886. However, people have also received ticker-tape parade such as Albert Einstein, the only scientist to have ever received one; the Apollo crew was paid tribute to in 1969; and the most recent parade was held in 2009 to celebrate the New York Yankees championship win in the Major League Baseball. To sump up, Broadway has become the city’s main business street and the cradle of theatres’ expansion; in other words, it is the heart of the city that never sleeps.

By Vivian Collard and Martin Gerard

General Post Office of Dublin

Located in the centre of O'Connell Street, Dublin's General Post Office (GPO) is one of the world's oldest postal headquarters. It is the administrative centre of the Irish postal service (An Post) and one of the most famous Irish builldings. It was officially opened on 6 January 1818.

It was built in 1814 by Lord Whitworth and designed by Francis Johnston in a classical style. The buillding is famous for its beautiful architecture and is open to visitors. It has typical Greek features such as six Ionic columns, three symbolic statues of Hibernia, Fidelity and Mercury above a pediment, a central portico and a balustrade.

Moreover it is a symbol of Irish nationalism. Indeed it was the headquarters of the revolutionary leaders during the Easter Rising (1916). The Easter Rising refers to the insurection of 1916 during which republicans claimed the end of the British rule and the establishment of the Irish Republic. The members of the Citizen Army chose the GPO, the centre of Dublin, as the building to claim the Irish independence. Because of the British attacks the buillding was damaged and it was later rebuilt in its original location, after the independence of Ireland was proclaimed. It was officially reopened in 1929, with the architecture we know today. Nowadays, the GPO building is still remembered as a symbol of Irish nationalism. Inside the building we can see the statue of the Irish warrior Cuchulainn, in remembrance of the Irish people who died during the insurection. There is also an original copy of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic on desplay inside.

In short, the General Post Office of Dublin is mainly known for two reasons: its architecture, and its historical significance which made it a symbol of Irland. It is definitely one of the highlights of Dublin.

Starbucks

When three friends in Seattle decided to open the first Starbucks in 1971, they probably did not realize it was the beginning of a new American success story. In 40 years time, the company with the twin-tailed mermaid logo has grown to become the biggest coffee retailer with 17,000 Starbucks stores worldwide, employing more than 142,000 people. The core business company sells a wide range of cups of coffee, but the multinational has also increased its sales opportunities : in each Starbucks coffeehouse, you can find tea, cookies, salads, sandwiches and pastries and also many unedible tie-in products, such as mugs or espresso machines. Now the company is competing with McDonald’s for selling coffee, but Starbucks, with its costumers' sixteen times a month visit, stays the most popular.

Starbucks’ success to secure customer loyalty has mainly relied on its personalized relationship with the former. For example, everyone can contribute to the development of new products by expressing his or her opinions and feelings on ‘mystarbucksidea.com’. In this way people do not just drink a cup of coffee at Starbucks, they also experience a new way of consuming by entertainment. In all its coffeehouses, the company provides its customers with free wifi-network and access to newspapers. Furthermore, an exclusive selection of music, films and books is available in the stores. Thus Starbucks has set up its Bookish Reading Club, where you can pre-read for free a selection of books, before possibly purchasing them in the coffeehouse. That is why the store is more than just a place selling beverages. In fact, the coffeehouse is designed to be a «third place», namely one between home and work. Starbucks’ philosophy can therefore be summarized in its motto: “We’re not in the coffee business serving people…We’re in the people business serving coffee.”

The company has nevertheless changed habits, leading to a «Starbuckization» of the American society. Its customers are ready to pay much more than before for a cup of coffee. Starbucks has also revised the coffee tastes by raising the quality standards and influenced the urban streetscapes, opening coffeehouses on many American corners. Through the special arrangement of the stores, Starbucks has an impact on how people meet and how they consume.

However, the multinational was the target in various ethical and environmental scandals, even if since a few years, the company has changed its practices. The firm really wants to show progress in this field in deciding to recycle all its cups by 2015 and so becomes the biggest retailer of fair-trade coffee in North America. As a result, the Ethisphere Magazine has appointed Starbucks as one of the ‘2010 Most Ethical Companies’.

Koalas: an Australian icon

Volunteer firefighter Dave Tree has been regarded as the man who put a little bit of hope and life back into Australia by helping a koala, nicknamed Sam, to survive violent bushfires in 2009. Although koalas are most of the time afraid of human beings, this injured female was so weak and thirsty that she couldn’t run away. “Things do survive the bushfire. There's a koala here. You alright buddy?” said Dave approaching Sam to give her some water in a forest near Melbourne. This video immediately attracted hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube. Unfortunately, she was euthanized last year because she was suffering from a disease typical to koalas. Sam was to become a new symbol of hope for Australians rebuilding their towns, houses and lives.

The koala is a marsupial and most of them are found in Australia. They live together in places where different tree species such as eucalypts are growing on suitable soils. Koalas are lazy animals and spend about three hours to eat 500 g eucalyptus each day.
Koalas are the icon of the Australian fauna but may also become that of climate change. Actually, the rise in concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that lowers the quality of eucalyptus is harmful for their health since they are dependent on this food. This is why it is important for them to be protected.
In 1988, the Premier of New South Wales declared at the Koala Summit “If the Panda is the international symbol for the conservation of endangered species, than the Koala is our diplomat for Australia’s unique fauna, as well as for the Australian bush”. Thousands of koalas have recently disappeared especially because of the deforestation, the violent bushfires and the dog attacks. Nowadays there is no federal specific legislation for the preservation of koalas. In fact, each state has its own legislation. Internationally, the koala is listed as ‘potentially vulnerable’.

Members of the Australian Koala Foundation (AKF) have urged the Environment Minister to create national laws for koalas.
Founded in 1986, this non-governmental organization’s aim is to protect koalas from many injuries and threats. The loss of their habitats is due to deforestation and is the cause championed by AKF’s campaign ‘No Tree, No Me’. AKF has also different ongoing projects designed to (re)create suitable habitats for them.
There also are places where koalas are kept as in the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary located in Brisbane. This is the largest and oldest koala sanctuary in the world. The sanctuary has not only been designed for koalas but also for other typical Australian animals. 30 koalas are kept in the ‘Koala Forest’ where people can even hold them for a few minutes.

Finally, the AKF also proposes several ideas to help protecting them: you can, for example, buy koala gifts or simply donate. However, the most incredible thing YOU can do for the conservation of wild koalas is to adopt a koala! You simply adopt one and pay a monthly adoption donation. You then receive a sort of ‘identity card’ of your koala and pictures of it. You also have the opportunity to go and see your koala in Australia!

Morris Dancing

Morris Dancing is an English folk dance based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures. The dancers wear different clothes depending on the part of the country they come from, but most of them are dressed in white with coloured belts across their chests. There are usually six or eight dancers arranged in two lines or in a circle facing each other. The dancers may carry white handkerchiefs that they shake, or short sticks that they bang against each other while dancing. Some dancers have bells tied at their knees, which make a loud and cheerful rhythm as they dance. Morris Dancing was originally accompanied by a pipe and tabor or a fiddle; nowadays accordions, concertinas and melodeons are also used. The musicians often introduce the dance with a song. The song varies from region to region, but is often bawdy and vulgar and focuses on rural life.

The origins of the dance are unclear but there are two main popular theories. On the one hand, it may have been a pre-Christian fertility rite to scare away the malicious spirits. On the other hand, the dance may have been introduced by the Moors, prisoners of war, in the court of Henry VII during the 15th century. Morris Dancing was popular in Tudor times; however it was actively discouraged under the Puritans but was restored under the reign of Charles II. Morris Dancing was popular up to the Industrial Revolution but new forms of entertainment, rapid social change and its association with an older unfashionable culture contributed to its decline.

The Morris revival started on Boxing Day 1899, when Cecil Sharp was charmed by the music and started collecting different tunes all over the country. Later on, he started to collect dances too. He was assisted by May Neal, who was searching for dances to be performed by girls. As a result women were the first to bring Morris Dancing back to life. In 1934 the Morris Ring was founded and after that many more followed, especially in the 1960s. The Morris Federation and the Open Morris were formed because women and mixed teams were not given full membership. Now, the have the same status as all male teams. Morris Dancing is now an art performed worldwide at large folk festivals and annual feast and enjoyed by both men and women.

Savile Row

Savile Row, also called ‘The Row’, is a famous tailor street located in London (Westminster), parallel to Regent Street and New Bond Street. It is well known thanks to the large number of bespoke tailor shops. The term ‘bespoke’ has its origins in the phrase ‘be spoken for’, which means ‘created with the exact size of its owner'.

The name ‘Savile’ comes from Lady Dorothy Savile, who built an empire between 1731 and 1735. At the beginning, the street was occupied by officers and their wives and from the nineteenth century onwards, a lot of famous tailors came and settled.there. Unfortunately, there aren’t any left nowadays. The number of tailor shops significantly diminished because of competition. It is worth noting that an association, named Savile Row Bespoke Association, was founded in 2005 in order to perpetuate traditions of that savoir-faire, which helped the shops to remain prosperous.
One of the oldest tailor shops is ‘Gieves & Hawkes’. It was founded by two businessmen of the same name. In comparison with today, they used to design ready-to-wear uniforms to supply the British Army and the Royal Navy, which is not the case anymore. “Henry Poole & co.”, another very famous firm established in 1806, has been located in Savile Row since 1982. It offers customers a large choice of luxury cashmere suiting together with all kinds of accessories. Henry Poole is also known for being the first tailor to enter the Japanese market. ‘Stowers Bespoke’, a third famous tailor, is where Lady Diana, Michael Jackson and General Pinochet are said to have bought bespoke suits. The well-known place ‘Beatles’ Apple Corps’ is located in 3, Savile Row. It was The Beatles’s, Mary Hopkin‘s and Badfinger’s basement. The band also gave a performance on the roof of that place.
The place ‘Saville Row’ (spelt with two 'l') in the Monopoly is a mis-spelling of ‘Savile Row’, which refers directly to ‘The Row’.
Generally, we can find a lot of references in popular culture, e.g. songs (‘American Boy’, Kanye West ft. Estelle).

Savile Row has thus become a real symbol of luxury and is the best place to go, when one can afford to buy a suit there. For years, it has been proved to be an important place for bespoke tailors and this is certainly not about to end.

Thistle: a symbol of ‘Scottishness’

If people think about thistles, they have purple flowers with sharp needles in mind; for the Scots, the thistle has actually a greater signification, being their national emblem. Why did the Scots choose this plant to represent their nation? Even though thistles are part of the Scottish landscape, the origin of this choice is to be found in a legend: In the thirteenth century, Danes tried to invade Scotland by night. While Scottish warriors were sleeping, Vikings invaders sneaked up on them bare-footed to soften the sound of their approach. Fortunately for the Scots, one of the Danes trod on a thistle and screamed in pain. The Scottish warriors thus alerted, defeated the invaders. This is obviously no historical evidence but it is deeply rooted in Scottish belief. From that time onwards, the plant was adopted as the symbol of Scotland and has become more and more important in the culture. Its first historically proven use dates back to 1470; it was then engraved on silver coins. Later it was incorporated into the Royal Arms of Scotland. Having gained an increasing popularity in the culture, the thistle was chosen to name an ancient order: The Order of the Thistle. The latter represents the highest honour in Scotland and seems to have been created in 1687 by James VII to reward Scottish peers supporting the King's political and religious ideas. The order still exists today and has Queen Elizabeth II as its head.

What about the present uses of the thistle as an icon? Nowadays, the thistle is mainly used to promote 'Scottishness': Scots are proud of their nationality and culture and they use the thistle to give credit to their products. That is why it appears in many Scottish logos, symbols and even on the UK currency. Hotels, inns, firms, books, sports clubs are but a few examples where the thistle appears. The most notable use remains in the song 'Flower of Scotland'. Written in 1967 by Roy Williamson, it was and still is sung before sport events and especially before every rugby match played by the Scottish team, the emblem of which being obviously the Thistle.

One motto we should keep in mind while thinking about Scotland is “No-one provokes me with impunity”. This motto is engraved on the Order of the Thistle’s badge, surrounding a thistle. The combination of both those symbol on the badge of such a noble order perfectly embodies the Scottish mentality.

Deep Purple

On 3rd November, I went to the WEX in Marche-en-Famenne to see Deep Purple on stage, one of my favourite hard rock bands. Although the tickets were quite expensive (57 euros), it was worth seeing this mythical band! They started their European tour in October and this was their only date in Belgium. All I can say is that it was an amazing and unforgettable concert!

The concert hall was not fully packed, there were 5,700 people (out of 6,000 places available). The show started at 8.30 p.m. with a band called Puggy, that I had never heard of before. It was thus a discovery for me and I quite liked their pop-rock music. They consider themselves as a Belgian band since they met for the first time in Brussels, but in fact the drummer is Swedish, the bassist French and the singer English. I had already heard their famous song “When You Know” on the radio, but without even knowing that it was from them! Their performance warmed up the audience before the real show.

Deep Purple started playing at 9.30 p.m. and played until 11.15 p.m., which was a nice gesture for 60-year-old people who had just come back from several concerts in Poland. What very much impressed me were the guitar and keyboard solos. Steve Morse, the only American member (the others are English), is in my opinion one of the best guitarists in the world. The keyboardist, Don Airey, is also a real virtuoso. He even played La P’tite Gayole, a well-known Walloon song, and the audience sang in chorus. The bassist, Roger Glover, also played a solo: it was the first bass solo I have ever seen! Ian Gillan, the lead singer, still has a perfect voice (and body!), despite his age. Being myself a former drummer, I was amazed by the talent of Ian Paice, whose Pearl drum is tremendous!

The highlight of the show was unquestionable, they played their well-known song Smoke On The Water, of which the guitar riff is certainly the most famous in the history of rock. In the end, they took a curtain call and played Hush and Black Night, the latter being my favourite.

The set list was the following:

1. Hard Lovin' Man
2. Things I Never Said
3. Maybe I'm a Leo
4. Strange Kind of Woman
5. Rapture of the Deep
6. Fireball
7. Silver Tongue
8. Contact Lost
9. Guitar Solo
10. When a Blind Man Cries
11. The Well Dressed Guitar
12. Almost Human
13. Lazy
14. No One Came
15. Keyboard Solo
16. Perfect Strangers
17. Space Truckin'
18. Smoke on the Water
19. Hush
20. Black Night

Troy: The Lord of the Silver Bow

Violence, honour, loyalty and redemption. These words can define all the works of the bestselling British author of heroic fantasy, David Gemmell.

David Andrew Gemmell was born in 1948 in London, where he was brought up by his mother. Living without a father was not easy; the young Gemmell had to face the mockery of his fellow students and was soon taught by his stepfather how to stand up “without hiding behind walls or running away”. At sixteen, he was expelled from school for organizing a gambling syndicate but went on with his life and began to work. He became a journalist by chance and eventually became editor in chief. He also worked for national newspapers such as the Daily Mail, the Daily Mirror and the Daily Express. Gemmell died in 2006, while he was writing the last book of the Troy trilogy.

Gemmell’s writing career really began when he was diagnosed with a cancer he believed to be terminal. In order to take his mind off his illness, he decided to write and quickly discovered that he wanted to be published before he died. His first novel The Siege of Dros Delnoch described by means of metaphors his fight against his cancer. Later, Gemmell learned that he was misdiagnosed and set aside his book until a friend of his advised him to work on it and to publish it. The book was published in 1984 under the name Legend and set Gemmell on the road of fame. Gemmell wrote over thirty novels in total, most of them were in the heroic fantasy genre, but Gemmell also wrote thrillers, graphic novels and historical fantasy novels. Unfortunately, Gemmell died before he could finish the last book of his trilogy based on the Trojan War, Troy: Fall of Kings. It was his second wife, Stella, who completed the second half of the book.

Troy: the Lord of the Silver Bow(2005) is the first volume of the Troy trilogy and can be considered as the prelude to the famous Trojan War. The hero, Helikaon, is a man of many names: For many, he is “the Golden one”, some say he is “the Lord of the Silver Bow” (Apollo) and Legends know him as Aeneas. The novel begins at the moment Helikaon sets sail for Troy and allows two Mykene ambassadors to accompany him to the legendary City of Gold, although Mykenes are Helikaon’s sworn enemies. One of them, Argurios, turns out to be the most loyal and the most honourable man Helikaon has ever met. While traveling to Troy, Helikaon picks up Gershom, the only survivor of a ship wrecked at sea, and the lady Andromache, who is to marry Hektor, the Trojan crown prince. Progressively, all characters find themselves caught in Fate’s web that leads them slowly to the greatest war they have ever seen.

I have only read so far the first book of the trilogy and I am now fairly sure I will devour the two other books. What first caught my eye was not the size of the book, which is enormous, but its cover. It remains very simple but gives this feeling of power and glory that is usually associated with the Trojan War. At first, I must admit it was quite difficult to understand, for the vocabulary was technical (the first chapter takes place on a ship), but at the second attempt I was quickly able to guess the words I did not grasp at the first reading. Then, before I knew it, I finished the book within a couple of days. Not only is the story fascinating, especially for those who are very fond of mythology, but Gemmell’s style makes it also really pleasant to read. The author has the krack of turning a slaughter into the most graceful and glorious fighting scene ever. In my opinion, though the story was amazing, it was the descriptions, the dialogue as well as the right choice of words that took my breath away.

Turning to the contents, I must confess I was astouned. First, I believed that the main character would be one of those great legendary heroes, like Achilles or Hektor, and it turned out that I was wrong. Aeneas, the little “forgotten one” (he is always a secondary character, even in the movie Troy; we see him only at the end), became the main character in all his glory. He is depicted as a godlike warrior, who can be gentle but also very cruel when he needs to be. He is surrounded by many other characters, each with his own personality, but only two of them have totally fascinated me. The first one is Lady Andromaque. She is a strong woman, blunt and fiery, who won’t bow to any man, not even a king. She is quite intriguing and unpredictable and plays a great part in the story. The second one is the famous king of Ithaka, Odysseus. He does not play a big role but his presence in the book lightens the mood, mainly because of his storytelling (he is known as the biggest liar and most outrageous storyteller in the world). Surprisingly enough, he is far from being handsome (his wife calls him “the Ugly One”) but otherwise he remains faithful to the myths: sneaky, wise, extremely smart and neutral.

Second, the world the characters live in is incredibly realistic. No gods or magic, just pure reality. There are no elegant speeches or sparkling warriors in their shining armor; there are whores, slaves, blood and corpses. I admire Gemmell for staying loyal to the ancient myths while making them close to our reality.

In sum, Troy: the Lord of the Silver is a marvelous book that combines action, humour, suspense, tenderness, love and the sunlit Aegean Sea. I heartily recommend it, this book is worth the read!

“No, lass, I don’t make mistakes about people. I have two gifts that have served me well. I can spin a yarn and I can read the hearts of men and women. You are like my Penelope. You are, as you say, intelligent. You are also warm and open and honest. And you have courage and a sense of duty. My father once said that if a man was lucky he’d find a woman to ride the storm with. You are such a woman.” Odysseus, p.47.

To read the first chapter, follow this link!

Mélinda Mottint

The Vampire Diaries

‘The Vampire Diaries’ is an American series inspired from the book series by L. J. Smith, and is broadcasted on The CW every Thursday. The first season, released in September 2009, was a great success and the second season is already underway since September 9, 2010. The episodes are all available on the website of The CW.

The story takes place in Mystic Falls, a fictional town in the USA, and stages a high school girl, Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev), who lost her parents in a car accident during the summer holidays. Her aunt Jenna,her mother’s sister, comes back to Mystic Fallsto take careof Elena and her younger brother, Jeremy.After the summer break, Elena and her friends, Bonnie and Caroline, findout that there is a new student at school. His name is Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley) and everything about him is mysterious. Stefan and Elena fall in love almost immediately and the latter will soon discover that Stefan is not human: he is a vampire.

The arrival of Stefan’s older brother Damon (Ian Somerhalder) complicateslife in the small town. Damon reveals himself to be arrogant, ironical, apparently heartless, even more mysterious than Stefan, extremely powerful and dangerous but… desperately sexy. He compels people to his will, kills remorselessly and drinks human blood. In short, he is the perfect opposite of his brother, who is kind, sweet, truly cares about people and drinks only blood from animals. Damon also disrupts the relationship between the two lovers. Indeed, Damon and Stefan are both attracted by Elena, partly because she is a “dead ringer for Katherine”, a female vampire who is at the origin of the 150 year-long quarrel between the two brothers. Over the episodes, we learn more about the past of Katherine and Salvatore, how they turned into vampires and the true reason of their quarrel.


I completely love The Vampire Diaries. This series is even better than the books, which is not often the case for other films or series inspired from books. The plot of the series and the plot of the books are very different, but the characters and their past are similar. The TV-series is very attractive: there is more suspense than in the books, so that you always want to see the next episode immediately. The subject matter is at times very serious, but there are also funny moments and amusing answers, especially with Damon, who has a dark sense of humour and has digs at everyone. To conclude, I would really advise this series to anyone who is fascinated by vampires or simply anyone who wants to laugh and cry, share the feelings and the fears of the characters and be trapped in this world of unconditional love, friendship and revenge.

Go Ask Alice

Go Ask Alice is a book about the life of a young girl in the 70s who becomes addicted to drugs. The book is written in a diary-style, but the name of the diarist is never mentioned. The whole story is a work of fiction. The diarist is quite shy, often lonely and has difficulty to make friends. One day, she is invited to a party, where she is served a drink laced with LSD. Her nightmare begins there, as her life spins out of control.

The book was published in 1971 under the byline “Anonymous”, but it is a universally acknowledged fact that Beatrice Sparks (the editor) wrote the entire diary. She wrote this with the aim of preventing young people from taking drugs. The title Go Ask Alice refers to the song White Rabbit, written by the band Jefferson Airplane, whose lead singer, Grace Slick, was known to be a drug user. The lyrics of this song are all about drug-taking and are based on the character Alice in Alice In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

I recently bought the book Go Ask Alice in its English version. I had already read L’Herbe Bleue (the French version) when I was twelve. I must admit this book fascinated me and I liked it very much for different reasons. First of all, stories where drugs are involved have always attracted me because this is something that a lot of people will be concerned with at least once in their life. Secondly, the accuracy with which the hell this teenager goes through is described, touched me. But the main aim of this book seems to me to prevent young people from taking drugs. On the cover page you can read “More than five million copies sold”. If only one person has been discouraged to try drugs after having read this book, I think the author will have achieved something great. In my opinion, drugs are a scourge of society. Interestingly, the book was removed from school libraries because of explicit references to runaways, drugs and sex, which were taboo in the 70s. I believe this reflects the mentality of the people at that time: they chose to ignore the problem of drugs rather than finding a solution to this problem.

Xavier Henrotte.

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

The film is centred on Alfie and Helena who splited up after 40 years of marriage and their daughter Sally. Sally is married to Roy but she realizes that she is unhappy and really needs a way out. So we follow Alfie, Helena, Sally and her husband Roy in their new lives, in which they try to catch their dreams. Alfie does not want to grow old; Helena wants to be happy again after her nervous breakdown; Sally wants to make a brilliant career and have her own art gallery; and Roy desperately wants to acquire fame with his writings, despite being a bad writer. They all have a new lover and try as hard as they can to make the best of it. Although Helena is apparently the only one to find the way to happiness, Sally says that it is thanks to Crystal, a charlatan who keeps on telling Helena her future and giving her hope.

If there is just one thing that we must remember, it is the sentence pronounced by Sally, referring to the disillusionment of all the characters except Helena: “Sometimes the illusion works better than the medicine”. Helena is the only one to know happiness while everybody’s life is troubled and this is because she lives in a world of illusions: she is not at all down-to-earth.

Even if it is a very unusual movie, it is worth being seen, at least for the message which is delivered: we all should find a balance in our life between our rationality and our illusions. The storylines are well arranged and perfectly linked together. Even if there is not much action, we are carried away by the movie. We heartily recommend you to go and see it!

The cast mainly consists of Anthony Hopkins, Gemma Jones, Naomi Watts, Josh Brolin, Lucy Punch, Roger Ashton-Griffiths, Antonio Banderas and Freida Pinto.

Maite Moriaux and Xavier Henrotte.

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

After having heard about Woody Allen for a while, but without having ever seen one of his movies, we are planning to go to the Caméo in Namur next Monday to see his latest movie called “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger”.

Woody Allen is a famous film-maker we talked about several times during the lessons. Indeed, we discussed him last year in our course of “Histoire des littératures et des civilisations anglophones” with Mrs. Bragard and saw a few extracts of one of his movies, which we quite enjoyed. Mr. Vandelanotte also spoke about Woody Allen once or twice during his lessons. We have thus the opportunity to go and see a movie directed by this artist we have talked so much about.

As a kind of introduction, we have done some research about Allan Stewart Konigsberg, better known as Woody Allen. He was born on the 1st of December in 1935 in Brooklyn and is not only screenwriter but also director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author and playwright! Woody Allen’s major themes are literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity and the history of cinema. His works are often appreciated for their satirical purpose, melancholic tone, pessimism and humour.

We have read the reviews about “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger” and surprisingly they are not so positive, in the way that it is apparently not Woody Allen’s best movie. But still we are not afraid to go and watch this movie… and we will tell you how we appreciated it!

Maite Moriaux and Xavier Henrotte.

The US Open

The US Open is the last Grand Slam tennis tournament of the season, held at the end of August and the beginning of September at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York. However, this has not always been its location.


The first edition was organised in 1881 as the US National Singles Championship at the Newport Casino in Newport, Rhode Island. Singles and doubles were held, but only men were allowed to participate.
In 1887, the first US Women’s National Singles Championship was held at the Philadelphia Cricket Club. Two years later, women’s doubles were organised for the first time, followed by the US Mixed Doubles Championship in 1892.

When the Open Era, the moment that professional tennis players could take part in the competitions, began in 1968, the five events of the US National Championships (men’s and women’s singles and doubles plus mixed doubles) merged into the US Open. From then onwards, the tournament was organised at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, New York. In 1978, the event moved to its current location, the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows.

Until 1975, the US Open was played on grass. Then, the surface changed to Har-Tru clay for three years. Since 1978, when the tournament moved to Flushing Meadows, the surface has been DecoTurf.
Jimmy Connors is the only player to have won singles titles on all three surfaces; Chris Evert has won singles titles on two different surfaces (Har-Tru clay and Deco-Turf).





Jimmy Connors



The tournament’s main court is the Arthur Ashe Stadium (see picture), opened in 1997. Arthur Ashe was an African American player who won the initial US Open in 1968. The second largest court is the Louis Armstrong Stadium, which was opened in 1978 and until 1996 the main court.



The US Open has been the first Grand Slam tennis tournament that introduced a tiebreak in the decisive set. In all three other Grand Slam tournaments (Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon), the players play until there is a difference of two games in the final set.

Regarding singles titles after 1968, Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras and Roger Federer are the male record-holders with five titles each; with six victories, Chris Evert is the female record-holder. The US Open was won four times by a Belgian: Justine Henin triumphed in 2003 and 2007, Kim Clijsters in 2005 and 2009.


In 2009, Kim Clijsters touched the world when she took her daughter Jada on the court after her victory.

TIME TRUMPET

Time Trumpet was a British comedy series (a social, political and cultural satire) of six episodes of about 30 minutes which was shown on BBC Two in August and September 2006. The programme was written by Armando Iannucci (a comedian, satirist, producer ... “responsible for some of the best broadcast comedy in Britain”), Will Smith (a British comedian, actor and writer) and Roger Drew (a British illustrator and television screenwriter).

Its main characteristic is that the plot is set in 2031. It shows older versions of current celebrities (played by actors and actresses) looking back at events which occurred during the 21^st century. Some well-known stars who were parodied are Tony Blair, David Cameron, Tom Cruise, David Beckam, Alastair Campbell, Jamie Oliver, Sisters Williams, Bob Geldof and so on. Today’s minor celebrities also appear and are then considered as VIP’s. There are a number of interviews with the characters.

At the end of every episode three videos presented what would happen the next week. Two of the three were true but in the third they always said that they would deal with “an increasingly odd Tom Cruise” and showed a man pretending to be “pound for pound the world's strongest man”.

A DVD of the series came out in 2009.

Valentine Etienne and Maite Moriaux