The rebirth of Sherlock Holmes

The greatest detective of all-time rises up once again from the ashes in the series Sherlock that was broadcast last summer on BBC One. Co-created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, this 3 episodes long series relates the story of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson’s adventures in 21^st century London. Even if the context is not the same, the iconic elements of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novels remain: The names, the address (221b Baker Street), Holmes’ twisted mind, the brilliant deductions and the dreadful crimes. Not only is the plot well put together, but the actors also give an incredible presence to their character: Benedict Cumberbatch (the Other Boleyn Girl) stars as the new Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman (Love Actually) as his loyal friend, Doctor John Watson. “Cumberbatch", says The Guardian, "has a reputation for playing odd, brilliant men very well, and his Holmes is cold, techie, slightly Aspergerish”. What the public thought to be a potential disaster turned out to get excellent reviews from many respected analysts.

The first episode, a Study in Pink, is inspired by Conan Doyle’s novel a Study in Scarlet and lasts 90 minutes. In this episode, Dr. John Watson returns in London after being invalidated out of the army and moves in a flat with the most eccentric private detective, Sherlock Holmes. Watson soon discovers that, whenever the police’s investigations seem to reach a dead end, Holmes is always the person they turn to. In a Study in Pink case, Holmes and the detective inspector Lestrade investigate the deaths of four people, who all seem to have committed suicide. However, further analyses show that there is more than meets the eye. Holmes supports this deduction, especially after examining the recent victim, a lady dressed in pink, who scratched the word “Rache” on the floor. As Conan Doyle says in The Return of Sherlock Holmes: "Come, Watson, come. The game is afoot. Not a word! Into your clothes and come!"

At this very moment, I think Conan Doyle must be spinning in his grave with delight. I am a Sherlock Holmes fan for years now and, in my opinion, this series is so far the best adaptation of Conan Doyle’s novels I have ever seen. People tend to see Holmes as a noble, elegant genius, but they also tend to forget the unusual parts of his personality, like his arrogance, his rudeness and his creepy thirst for excitement. In the series, those parts are pointed out in a funny and natural manner. For instance, when Holmes learns that there is a 4^th victim, he says quite happily: “Four serial suicides and now a note! Ah, it’s Christmas!”. British humour is not the only thing that made me thrilled about this series, there was also a terrific Victorian music that made me say “Wow, SO British!”. It is clear that Sherlock is very different from series like the Experts or some crime series; it is in fact even better. When the Experts deals with crime and focus on how to find the murderer, Sherlock plunges its audience into a thick mist of mystery in a Londonian atmosphere that makes you actually wants to see more.

Concerning the realization, Moffat and Gattis (who actually plays a character in the series) did their job properly. In the movie adaptation “Sherlock Holmes” that came out this year, Holmes’ train of thought is said aloud so that we can keep up with his analysis. In the series Sherlock, the camera looks at the clues as if we were Holmes himself and a text appears to indicate what this discovery means. Throughout the whole episode, the camera always gets the right angle at the right time; the shooting is incredibly well thought and catches the action with intensity.

Though the series remains one of the best I have ever watched, there are a few things that bothered me. Even if Watson is finally a full-bodied character (in opposition to the books), he remains quite dull and acts quite unrealistically in view of certain situations. I also find strange that Watson, whose leg was injured at war, was able to run like a rabbit during many sequences, even though he complains many times about it at the beginning of the episode.

Anyhow, this series is really mind-blowing and is worth watching. If you do not believe me, take a glimpse at the trailer: you will be convinced right away.

by Mélinda Mottint

Priest

Priest

Release: March 4, 2011
Director: Scott Stewart
Writer: Cory Goodman, Scott Stewart
Cast: Paul Bettany, Karl Urban, Cam Gigandet, Maggie Q, Lily Collins, Steven Moyer, Brad Dourif, Christopher Plummer

Vanishing on 7th Street

Vanishing on 7th Street

Release: February 18, 2011
Director: Brad Anderson
Writer: Anthony Jaswinski
Cast: Hayden Christensen, Thandie Newton, John Leguizamo, Jacob Latimore

The Roommate

The Roommate

Release: February 4, 2011
Director: Christian E. Christiansen
Writer: Sonny Mallhi
Cast: Leighton Meester, Minka Kelly, Cam Gigandet, Aly Michalka, Danneel Harris, Frances Fisher, Billy Zane

The Inner Room

The Inner Room

Release: April 10, 2011
Director: Jack Gastelbondo
Writer: Jack Gastelbondo, Mark Diestler, Alan Dague-Greene
Cast: Jessica Duffy, Marty Lindsey, David Dalton, Kristin Keating

Deep Seeded

Deep Seeded

Release: March 10, 2011
Director: Brian Troxell
Writer: Brian Troxell
Cast: Janine Anzalone, Kam Tyrant Lee

Bereavement

Bereavement

Release: February 18, 2011
Director: Stevan Mena
Writer: Stevan Mena
Cast: Michael Biehn, Alexandra Daddario, John Savage, Nolan Gerard Funk, Brett Rickaby, Peyton List, Spencer List

Kill Katie Malone

Kill Katie Malone

Release: 2010
Director: Carlos Ramos Jr.
Writer: Carlos Ramos Jr, Mark Onspaugh
Cast: Dean Cain, Masiela Lusha, Stephen Colletti, Jonathan 'Lil J' McDaniel

Life is wonderful

     Aren't there moments in your life when you feel like crying, screaming , stay closed in your room and listen to music and just let time pass? We all have moments like these. But life is more than this.

    It depends how we take it. Problems will always be around us, but we have to learn to resolve them. Not every problem has a solution, but life goes on. When you fell like crying, cry; when you feel like screaming, scream; when you feel like laughing, laugh!!! Do as you feel.

   Tears help too. They purify our bodies and souls.
   When life offers us bad moments,  i think we should remember about moments of joy .
    Here are some pictures that show us how wonderful life is:
 

    Yes, FRIENDS make our life wonderful. Friends are important. 

    FRIENDS WE CHOOSE, FAMILY IS GIVEN TO US.

Until next time ( I don't know when), keep thinking about wonderful things!

Eternal

Eternal

Release: July 8, 2005
Director: Wilhelm Liebenberg, Federico Sanchez
Writer: Wilhelm Liebenberg, Federico Sanchez
Cast: Conrad Pla, Caroline Néron, Victoria Sanchez, Sarah Manninen, Ilona Elkin

Devil

Devil

Release: September 17, 2010
Director: John Erick Dowdle, Drew Dowdle
Writer: Brian Nelson, M. Night Shyamalan
Cast: Chris Messina, Geoffrey Arend, Logan Marshall-Green, Bojana Novakovic, Jenny O'Hara, Bokeem Woodbine, Jacob Vargas

The Tomb

The Tomb

Release: 2010
Director: Michael Staininger
Writer: John Shirley, Edgar Allan Poe (Short Stories)
Cast: Wes Bentley, Kaitlin Doubleday, Sofya Skya, Michael Madsen, Eric Roberts, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Mackenzie Rosman, Joel Lewis, Christa Campbell

2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams

2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams

Release: July 20, 2010
Director: Tim Sullivan
Writer: Tim Sullivan, Chris Kobin
Cast: Bill Moseley, Lin Shaye, Nivek Ogre, Courtney Peldon, Ashley Peldon, Adam Robitel, Ahmed Best, Trevor Wright, Andrea Leon, Ryan Fleming, Dylan Edrington, Christa Campbell, Amy Baniecki, Tony Todd

Bikini Girls on Ice

Bikini Girls on Ice

Release: July 6, 2010
Director: Geoff Klein
Writer: Geoff Klein, Jeff Ross
Cast: Cindel Chartrand, Danielle Doetsch, Suzi Lorraine, Kerri Taylor, Ivan Peric, Terek Ghader, Christina Sciortino, Caroline Faille, Melissa Paulson, Sandy Greig, Michael Aaron, Pierre Lefebvre, Gigi Hebert

The Hole

The Hole

Release: September 24, 2010
Director: Joe Dante
Writer: Mark L. Smith
Cast: Teri Polo, Chris Massoglia, Haley Bennett, Nathan Gamble, Quinn Lord

Tron Legacy - The Women: Beau Garrett and Olivia Wilde

Olivia Wilde as Quorra, a program, adept warrior and confidante of Kevin Flynn in the Tron system. Flynn refers to her as his "apprentice," Flynn has imparted volumes of information to her regarding the world outside of The Grid, which she longs to experience for herself.

Beau Garrett as Gem, one of four programs known as Sirens. The Sirens operate the Grid Game armory, equipping combatants with the armor needed to compete in the games. Yaya DaCosta, Serinda Swan, and Elizabeth Mathis as the other three Sirens.

The bagpipe is the emblematic and national musical instrument of Scotland. The very first trace of bagpipe may bring us back to 1000 BC in Asia Minor. This instrument is one of the oldest in the mankind and was widely spread through Asia and Europe. The real history of the bagpipe is hard to trace back because there are a lot of different theories and legends about it. But the two more plausible hypotheses are that it was imported to Scotland either by the Roman Empire or by the Irish.

Belonging to the wind instruments, a bagpipe is made of a bag, a chanter and one or more drones. The bag, which is most of the time made of leather, receives the airflow. The chanter is the melody pipe as such and the drone is a cylindrical tube from which the airflow escapes. Playing the bagpipe needs some physical qualities, namely power of the lungs and development of the muscles around the mouth.

Two phenomena can explain the expansion of bagpipes in Scotland: the division in clans and the introduction of Scottish pipers in the army. On the one hand, each Scottish clan had its own official piper (bagpipes player) during the medieval period. And on the other hand, British Army recruited pipers in the Scottish troops under the reign of Queen Victoria. They were then the only professional bagpipes players in the world and reached a high level of skill. The number of pipers increased as well.

Established in 1843 by Queen Elizabeth, the Piper to the Sovereign’s duty is to play bagpipes at 9am under the Sovereign’s window for fifteen minutes. The current one is PM (Pipe Major) Derek Potter, from the Royal Scots Dragoons Guards.

The most famous bagpipes tunes are Amazing Grace, Flowers of Scotland and Scotland The Brave.

Through the world, the Great Highland Bagpipe is the best known Scottish bagpipe and the most played. This instrument is a very important symbol of Scotland as well as of Celtic international music.

By Julien Leclercq and Elisa Venturi

Louis Armstrong

Born in 1901 in New Orleans, the place of birth of jazz, Louis Armstrong was an inventive cornet player, trumpeter and a high-skilled scat singer as well. He came from an impoverished family in Louisiana, the place where he had his first band experiences. In 1922, like many other musicians, he moved to Chicago at the time when the town was the center of jazz universe. From that moment, he never stopped playing. Louis was a hard-worker. He gave an average of 300 performances a year and played in more than 30 films. Armstrong’s nickname was Satchmo (short from Satchelmouth) referring to the way he was blowing in his trumpet. At one moment his mouth was so injured by his own technique that he had to change his way of playing.

Armstrong’s major achievement is that he really helped jazz music to become popular. What was in the beginning a community music played by and for black men, soon became very popular in the whole United States. However, his influence extends well beyond jazz. He was the first to improvise and elaborate on a given melody. His technique has since been copied many times but no one ever reached his virtuosity. He introduced a notion of freedom to music that still has an impact on popular music nowadays.

Even though his involvement in music was very important, he had to face numerous controversies. He was for instance wrongly criticized by civil rights activists in a time of racial segregation because he played as well for whites as for blacks. However, what his critics didn’t know was that he was one of the main financial supports to Martin Luther King. It wasn’t his only way to fight against racism and segregation. However, he always thought music was not to be mixed with political opinions, which explains that he wouldn’t praise his own good actions.

He was indeed a very secret and humble man.

This devotion to the cause of black people and his openness to a white public as well made him a striking symbol of unity in a divided land. His very theatrical character (he was well known for his expressive face and gestures) also played a part in his huge success among the whole population of the United States.

After a long and prosperous career, Louis Armstrong died from a heart attack on July 1971, a month before his 70th birthday. He now lies in Flushing Cemetery in New York City, which still attracts many of his nostalgic fans.

Rosa Parks

At the end of the 19^th century, after the American Civil War, racial segregation was imposed in the United States. Black people were then illegally mistreated. Just by a simple act of sitting down in a bus Rosa Parks has changed the world!

Rosa Parks was born Rosa Louise McCauley on February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama. Her father, James McCauley, was a carpenter, and her mother, Leona Edwards, a teacher. She was of African-American origin. At the age of 11 she entered the Montgomery Industrial School for Girls which was founded and led by white liberal-minded women for black children. The school's philosophy of self-worth was encouraged by her mother who used to tell Rosa to “take advantage of the opportunities, no matter how few they were”.

On December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks who was then a volunteer secretary of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People), refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger and was arrested. This is considered by most historians as the beginning of the modern civil rights movement in the United States. At that time, in Montgomery, the first four rows of seats on a bus were reserved for white people. Buses had “coloured” sections for black people, generally in the rear of the bus. Rosa Parks was on one of those reserved seats but because there were not any seats left for white people, the bus driver, James F. Blake, asked four coloured passengers to give them their seats.

Her action was at the origin of the bus boycott in Montgomery. The black community decided to organise this boycott as a protest against segregated seating on public transport in the city. The black community then elected the well-known Martin Luther King as leader of this movement. This boycott was extraordinarily successful. Blacks hitch-hiked, formed car pools or simply walked instead of taking public transport. They achieved victory on 20 December 1956 when segregated transportation was recognized as unconstitutional.

Some years earlier, a certain Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old girl, had been arrested for the same reason. But because she was pregnant, she was considered unsuitable to be the symbol of the Civil Rights Movement.

Late in life, Rosa Parks was rewarded for her acts and amongst others received the Martin Luther King Jr. Award. Her highest one was the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP. In 1999, the US Senate described her as “ a living icon for freedom in America.” At her death, on October 24, 2005 (at the age of 92), her casket was transported to Washington D.C. on a similar bus to the one in which she made her protest. There she lay in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. She was thus the first woman ever to receive this honour.

Thanks to her, the current living conditions of the black people in America have greatly improved.

Mary Whitehouse : it’s all about sex !

Mary Whitehouse (1910-2001) was a British moral crusader fighting for Christian family values and against the depravity of society. She became famous—or perhaps ‘notorious’ would be more appropriate in this case—for her campaign against ‘blasphemy, bad language, violence and indecency’.

Ironically, Mary Whitehouse was born in Nuneaton, Warwickshire better-known as George Eliot’s place of birth. Eliot was indeed not really a standard-bearer of irreproachable conduct according to Victorian moral values.

As a young arts teacher, Whitehouse joined the Moral Re-Armament mouvement where she met her husband, Ernest Whitehouse. She then became a housewife and mother of 5 but after having raised her children she returned to teaching. Whitehouse taught sex education. That is where it all started. We are in the early 1960s. The liberal mood at that time was that sex was pleasurable ; the invention of the pill allowed sexual liberation and freedom, especially for women. In this permissive context, Mary Whitehouse became particularly concerned about the « declining moral standards » in the British media, especially on the BBC. Hugh Greene, the BBC’s Director General, became her whipping boy.

The lower-middle-class housewife from Nuneaton started her Clean Up TV campaign in 1964. The first meeting was a huge success and led to the creation of the National Viewers’ and Listeners’ Association. Mary Whitehouse led a 30-plus-year-long crusade against the ‘poison being poured into millions of homes through television’. She was not alone in this. The association prided itself in having more than 400,000 supporters from all levels of society. Coachloads of followers attended the meetings and over 500,000 signatures were collected in favour of the « Clean Up TV » campaign.

Mary Whitehouse’s range of criticism was very broad : from the Benny Hill dancers over Monty Python’s Flying Circus to the satirical comedy Till Death Us Do Part. She also felt offended by the use of the word bloody and was even more concerned about the violence in Tom and Jerry cartoons.

The Wolverhampton schoolteacher who harassed Downing Street, Buckingham Palace as well as the BBC became a target of criticism herself. One publisher of pornographic magazines even named a magazine Whitehouse. For years she had to endure abuse, stink bombs and pies in the face.

Mary Whitehouse was a zealot, a fanatic. She passed away 10 years ago but her association still exists and has been re-named Mediawatch-uk. It recently tried to prevent the release of the Wii game MadWorld. If only she knew how mad the world has become !

The Pogues

Everything begins in 1977 when Shane MacGowan and Spider Stacy meet in the toilets of a Ramones gig at the Roundhouse. They immediately become friends and when The Nips -the group leaded by MacGowan- split up, they decide to found a group called Millwall Chainsaws. Many changes and the arrival of new members give birth to The Pogues. The original name was Pogue Mahone, an Anglicization of the Irish póg mo thóin which means “kiss my arse”. Under BBC censorship due to complaints from Gaelic speakers they shortened their name in favour of The Pogues.

Their first album Red Roses For Me (1984) is a real success and allow them to open for The Clash, which will draw the attention of the media and make them famous.

The second one is recorded in New York. Rum Sodomy And The Lash (1985) including the single Dirty OldTown reveals the Celtic tones to Europe and to America.

In 1987 The Pogues reach their climax and they even perform in Straight to Hell the spaghetti Western film of Alex Cox in which they play the role of a band of drinkers with other famous singers as The Clash, Joe Strummer and Courtney Love.

The song Fairy Tale Of New York from their third album If I Should Fall From Grace With God (1988) is very controversial. On one hand the public appreciates this Christmas song and it is also part of the film Ps I love you (2007). On the other hand it was censored by the BBC because it was considered as an offence towards homosexuals.

They adopt a more commercial style to the detriment of their original melodies in the next two albums. The quality of these is deeply influenced by the alcohol and drugs dependence of Shane Mac Gowan who is thus replaced by Spider Stacy in 1991.

Despite two new albums recorded with Spider Stacy as singer their success is declining and their group seems to come to an end since the departure of Shane MacGowan, the true soul of The Pogues. They eventually break up in 1996.

The Pogues are together again since 2001 with MacGowan as leader and they will soon be on stage for the “Farewell Christmas Tour 2010”.

Current members:

-Shane MacGowan: vocals, guitar

-Spider Stacy: vocals, tin whistle

-Philip Chevron: guitar

-James Fearnley: accordion, mandolin, piano, guitar

-Terry Woods: mandolin, cittern, concertina, guitar

-Jem Finer: banjo, saxophone, hurdy-gurdy, guitar

-Andrew Ranken: drums, percussion, harmonica

-Daryl Hunt: bass guitar

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