The scene takes place in South Korea. There seems to be a big inequality between rich and poor. Some families live in the basement in salubrious rooms, in dirt and precarious conditions. Whereas some other families live in spacious villas in the opulence.
As Maslow`s pyramid portrays, depending where one is in the pyramid, needs and worries are different. There is another topic in the film as the title says parasite. What do they mean by parasite? Everybody depends on someone else. The poor family depends on the head of a rich family. The rich man supports a number of people, his wife, his children and his domestics. The rich women is a trophy wife, a `BCBC` (bon chic bon genre ) attractive lady who gets people to do everything for her, ie. cooking, cleaning, educating children, etc...An interesting film , a bit gorey but challenging, the moral is that when there are to many parasites, the host dies.
Little women
Famous american story, the scene takes place in the USA (XIXeme siecle). A mother lives with her 4 daughters, youpidoo, one is an artist, the other is a musician the third one is a writer and the other one is just very pretty young lady. All the young ladies are pretty in their Laura Ashley outfit living in a `county living` house straight from a magazine The expectations of society is they find a husband so they hunt for a man. Sadly one of the girls dies of flue, at the time, antibiotics did not exist. However The end is a happy one, The father who was fighting in the civil war comes back. The young ladies found the man of their life, and they all live happily ever after.
Bookshop
Bookshop is a nostalgy to the life in the 50s in England. Pretty women dressing in Cath Kidston outfit, drinking from Cath Kidston cups and teapot. The scene takes place in an idyllic village by the sea where everything looks so nice and clean. Florence Green lost her husband and wants to do something with her life, it happens that her husband and her liked books. They met in a library so books mean something special to her. She decides to open a bookshop in a village where the people would rather have an art center than a bookshop. They plot against her in a machiavelic way, she is so naive that she does not realise their games. The end is dramatic, it is best not to reveal it as it would spoil everything if you want to see the film. See it and tell me what you think
La scène se passe au XVIIIe siècle , écrit dans une belle langue. Madame de Joncquières relate l`histoire d`une femme qui veut se venger de son amant. Il s`avère que le marquis est bel homme volatile, séduisant, charismatique. Cependant, il ne s`intéresse qu`a chasser les femmes. Ce qui l`intéresse c`est la chasse, une fois qu`il a conquit une femme cela ne l`intéresse plus. Il va de conquêtes, en conquêtes. Madame de Joncquieres veut lui donner une leçon et utilise deux prostitués afin de le charmer. Il est charmé et décide de se marier et voila que... je ne vous dit pas la fin car il faut que vous voyiez le film.
La question est de savoir , est-ce que Madame de Pomeray veut se venger car c`est une question de justice, de féminisme et de défendre la condition de la femme ou est-ce parce qu`elle est blessée dans son amour propre, elle est bafouée et demande que justice soit faite ?Contrairement aux histoires d`amour de l`époque qui sont d`un ton grave et sérieux avec des duels, Madame de Joncquières est une comédie amusante, il y a du suspense, c`est même un thriller.
Denis Diderot
Film Lowrie
La scène se passe a Manchester dans les années 30 alors que le monde entier traverse une crise économique. Comme beaucoup, la mère de Lawrie a une certaine conception de l`art , soit elle pense que les tableaux doivent avoir des thèmes joyeux, soit de rêves, des thèmes de fleurs, des bateaux, de vacances, de nature. Lawrie le voit autrement, il peint la dure réalité de la vie, les ouvriers allant tous les jours a l`usine comme des automates dans la grisaille et la fumée des usines. Il peint également les usines sombres en brique rouge, avec de la fumée noire qui noircit le ciel et peint tout le paysage de gris. Sa mère ne l`accepte pas, elle est égo-centriste, possessive, elle abuse du caractère docile de son fils Lawrie. En ce qui concerne Lawrie, il aurait mieux valu qu`il quitte Manchester pour aller a Londres pour rencontrer d`autres artistes et se faire connaitre. Parfois, il faut partir pour réussir et il faut quitter sa petite ville. Il s`avère qu`une fois que sa mère est décédée, il a fait une exposition a Londres et a été reconnu pour son talent. La Reine a voulu lui donner un OBE, mais il a refusé parce que sa mère était partie alors il ne voyait aucun intérêt a aller a la cérémonie. Il faisait tout pour sa mère.
Film . Van Gogh
Le film est artistique dans sa composition parce que le réalisateur joue avec la caméra, il joue les lumières, les gros plans, les plans rapprochés. Quelquefois il inclut l`audience la façon dont il filme, on a l`impression d`être dans la pièce avec Van Gogh. Il semble que le peintre nous parle et qu`il se confie a nous . La scène se passe a la fin du XIXème siècle. L`histoire retrace le moment ou Van Gogh quitte ses amis, soit Gauguin et autres artistes . Il se rend en train dans le sud de la France. Le train est crucial a cette époque pour voyager, c`est le début des grandes aventures. Le train s`arrête a Arles alors le peintre descend a cet endroit comme par hasard. Van Gogh est ébloui par la lumière du soleil, les champs de blé doré, les cyprès comme des statues, les gens a la peau dorée et aux yeux châtains. Lui qui vient du nord de la France, tout est différent. Les villageois sont hostiles et ne comprennent pas l`artiste. Le style de Van Gogh est saccadé, on ressent des émotions fortes dans ses peintures, la couleur dorée, mais aussi l`angoisse et la perturbation. Van Gogh est troublé, passionné, angoissé, il n`est pas accepté dans la société. Il est même envoyé dans un asile pour personnes avec des problèmes mentaux.
Les deux artistes sont rejetés du monde, ils sont atypiques de par leur art et sont incompris du monde extérieur.
Bonjour,
Nothing to do with french, however, it is a pertinent film. This film is about identity, and how someone struggles to keep her identity. The story is about a Yugoslav lady who through her life, experiences different political regime and different experiences of identity. Coming from a middle class family, her father was a minister in the Kingdom of `Yugoslavia`. He built a magnificent flat in the center of Belgrade. Then, came communism and they split her flat into 2, so she no longer was able to use the other rooms. The 4 of them would sleep in the same room, she also had to share the bathroom, and could not enter the other rooms anymore.... Although, she did not like this period, she accepted it. Then came Miroselovic who was a nationalist Serbian who threaten the anti-bureaucratic revolution. He was a Serbian nationalist, he wanted a large Serbian Country which includes Yougoslavie, and other small countries, (Bosnia+Croatie+Kosovo+
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She reflects on a number of points, she thinks the revolution is not the victory but the victory is what comes after. Overthrowing a regime is just a start, it is not an end in itself, it opens the door to another room and we need to open the door. People do not always plan , they know they want to get rid of the old , but they do not know what they want to replace it with. For her , the 5th of October revolution failed because although they had a democratic election, they elected a right wing nationalist government. From her perspective, it is not a success. Their borders are imposed by international agreements , ie by other countries which makes her feel small and insignificant.
She lived in her appartement all her life, and wants the best for her children so she wants to give them the wealth she has.
There is a contradiction in the fact, that the youth don`t like western countries but they want to go and live there because they think they will have a better way of life. Do you stick by your country? or do you seek opportunity elsewhere?
She wants to stay in Yugoslavia because it is her identity and does not accept other countries to intervene.
The film is beautifully realised with a number of real footage, it is scenic , atmospheric. We see the years go by when we look at the windows and observe the different seasons, the piano music brings nostalgie and poesie to the story. It sounds like Erik Satie.
Moma museum
This time it is a n exhibition of Akram Zaatari. The idea is that technology such as mobile phone allows human beings to be natural in front of the camera. We don`t need to pose anymore as we can do thousands of photos if it is wrong. The exhibition portrays old photographs where people pose with umbrellas to give them a posture. Nowadays, it looks old fashioned and we can have a better idea of ourselves. It is a fact that children do not worry about the camera and are natural at all times. As always, the Moma museum is a thought provoking place. Photos are cultural and being libanese, the artist portrays more male figures than ladies` figures.
Men swimming
It is a feel good film, the story is about a group of men from different ages, who decides to compete in a synchronised swimming competition. It would not be so easy if they would try to compete in a normal swimming competition, none of them are good swimmer. Men are not free to express themselves in groups, we want men to express themselves artistically, when they do, we assume they are homosexuals. We have to fight against these preconcieved ideas. The point is that life is not so serious, we must not be afraid to be happy. We must not worry about what people think, we have to take risks and not be afraid to fail. There is no failure as in everything we do , we learn from the process we go through. We must not be afraid to be who we are, I am not afraid to be who I am, I even cried at the end.
Molly`s game
Molly`s game is the story of a competitive girl who gets involved in poker. First, she organises poker games and there is nothing wrong with that, as she only gets paid tips. As we go along, the poker gets more and more serious and she starts to get percentage of the winning. She starts to get percentage because in a game, one person wins and one person walks away with the money and the person who loses owes money to Molly. The problem is that they do not always pay her so she gets debts. She is a little bit like a bank with creditors and debtors. People play poker for different reasons:
- for pleasure- some people are addicted to gambling- some people want to launder their money for other money, They have stole some money and they want some `clean` money.- They arrange to transfer some money from one place to another(ie. They organise themselves, one person has to loose and one person has to win, at the end of the evening, the money has been transferred from one account to another without the tax man seeing it.).- Some people play poker to earn money as a living, because they know how to play properly.- Some people play poker to be in contact with rich people, if we want to sell them shares and investments, if they can play poker they can afford to take risk with their money.- The problem is that people who owes money can not pay so to pay the people who won she organises other poker`s games to pay them, but it does not work, it is like ponzi scheme (I tried to explain what is a ponzi later on). It is an illusion to think you can gamble with money you have not got. So here comes the gangsters who offer to collect the money that is owned to her. They want to be paid, and it is illegal. She enters a world of criminals so she refuses to do it. Finally, she got a fine as she tried to take money as a percentage of a game which is illegal and she received dirty money without paying tax. The issue is did she know she received dirty money?
Molly enters this world without understanding the complexities and the motivation of people. She understood that the way to win is not to play the game but to organise it. She gets addicted to the luxurious way of life,
a ponzi is an investment based on nothing but just on people paying in this investment. So if a man says he has a gold mine in south Africa and he needs 10.000 to start to dig for the gold. so he collects money from investors and if he collects 10 x 10000 he has 100.000 . after a year, the investors say they want their 10% of the profit. so you can give back 10% to one but not to all of them. the idea is to try to get more investors to pay the existing investors. It can not go on for ever. This people are deluded, they think they can give more money than they can, then they think that if they play poker they can get money in a easy way.
There are many sides of the story, I would like the moral of the story to condemn gambling, it is definitely destructive but she still made a successful business from gambling at the beginning of her life. However, it turned out wrong (cela a tourné au vinaigre).One the moral is that she does not want to give her emails because it reveals people`s life, a secret is a secret. As Peter says `during the war a resistance fighter is praised for not giving away secrets under torture. So the idea of not giving away others secrets is held to be a good thing.But if you are protecting criminals its a bad thing (ie. terrorists, etc...), or it you are protecting friends its a good thing.Molly seems to protect her clients secrets, but they are not her friends. In the end she says she is protecting her name (her reputation). ,
Winston Churchill defined success as the ability to move from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm
I prefer Daddy`s saying... what does not kill me, makes me grumpy.....
A man called Ove.
Classique suédois, La scène du film se passe aujourd`hui en Suède dans une petite communauté ordinaire. C`est une histoire pertinente surtout lorsque l`on a la cinquantaine, on a tous perdu un parent, nous avons tous un parent seul qui se languit de partir et de revoir son âme sœur. Il y a de nombreux retours en arrière, c`est un amour idyllique avec sa femme, tout d`abord un coup de foudre, puis le drame pendant les vacances , un accident de bus qui lui fait perdre l`utilisation de ses jambes et surtout, elle perd son enfant. A ce moment, Hove s`occupe de sa femme comme d`un enfant, comme l`enfant qu`il n`a pas eu. Par exemple, il lui construit une rampe pour qu`elle puisse monter dans l`école. Elle est son nouveau projet, sa nouvelle raison d`être. Enfin, elle décède suite à un cancer. La contradiction est qu`il est contre l`administration, elle est à la limite de la normalité, jeune enfant, il est issu d`une famille monoparentale, il habite seul dans une maison avec son père, ce n`est pas une situation conventionnelle, les autorités n`aiment pas cela et il est contre eux. Les autorités veulent enlever sa maison, les autorités sont contre le fait que sa femme travaille car il n`y avait pas de rampe. Cependant, lui-même, renforce de nombreuses règles, il faut bien trier les déchets, il ne faut pas jeter les mégots par terre, il faut fermer la porte du garage, etc... Il se révolte contre les règles de la sociétémais il renforce les règles dans sa vie quotidienne. La vie est une lutte continuelle. Il s`avere que pour cetains hommes, la voiture fait partie de leur identié, avoir telle ou telle voiture implique que l`on appartient a un groupe particulier. Dans le film, le voisin d`Hove a une voiture différente, par conséquent, cela les sépare, ils ont une philosophie différente et appartiennent a deux clans différents, une personne a une volvo parce que c`est suédois, donc il promouvoie l`industrie suédoise et a un sentiment nationaliste, tandis que le voisin a une peugeot donc il soutient l`industrie francaise et peut-etre qu`il est plus ouvert d`esprit, c`est différent.
Ce film me touche par son thème .
En ce qui concerne les relations humaines d`Hove, ses relations avec son père sont distantes, leur sujet de discussion tourne autour quelque chose de fixe, comme les voitures. Il essaye de se lier d`amitié avec un petit voisin, mais celui-ci n`a pas la même voiture, donc ils ne se voient pas de points communs. Ses relations avec les autres passent par des règles et par le biais d`une mécanique, il peut réparer un vélo, un chauffage, etc... mais il ne va pas vers les gens, en disant, est-ce que vous aider?
Je ne vous dis pas comment finit le film.
Regardez le et dites-moi ce que vous en pensez.
Les misérables.
La scène se passe en France, à Digne puis Paris et dans la région parisienne au début du XIXème siècle, sous l`époque Napoléonienne. A l`origine cette histoire était une série écrite dans un journal, donc c`est une longue histoire. C`est une histoire avec une morale, les personnages sont stéréotypés et représentent la société de l`époque. Le commissaire est impitoyable, au début de l`histoire, on pourrait même dire méchant mais on se rend compte qu`il est en fait logique avec lui-même. Il suit la loi à la lettre. Il est impitoyable et pense que l`homme est né soit honnete, soit malhonnete, mais il pense que l`homme ne change pas. A la fin, il commet un suicide lorsqu`il s`apercoit que Valjean a changé. Quant à Valjean, c'est un "Robin des bois". Un super homme. L`éveque de Digne pardonne Valjean d`avoir volé son argenterie a condition qu`il devienne un honnete homme. Suite a cet incident, Jean Valjean se transforme. C`est une particularité du style romantique qu`un homme s`il le veut, peut changer pour le mieux. Les Thenardiers sont aubergistes opportunistes, ce sont des petits escrocs. Marius est riche jeune et beau. Il va se battre soir les barricades pour se rebeller contre son grand père. Il tombe amoureux de Cosette parce qu'elle est riche et bien habillée tandis qu'il ne remarque pas Eponine car elle est pauvre et mal habillée. L'histoire se répète dans le sens que Fantine est simple et séduite par un jeune homme riche et beau mais celui-ci l'abandonne alors qu'il lui donne un enfant. Son enfant Cosette tombe aussi amoureuse d'un jeune homme riche et beau. Mais cette fois ci, c'est le grand amour entre eux d'eux et ils restent ensemble. Cette histoire parle d'amour, de revanche, de moralité, c`est également un témoignage historique. Victor Hugo remet en cause le système judiciaire qui n'est pas toujours juste. L'idée est que lorsque l'on est catalogué comme criminel on reste criminel. On est jugé sur nos apparences. Lorsque Valjean se comporte comme Maire et entrepreneur, la société l'accepte ainsi. Lorsque Cosette est bien habillée, elle est considérée comme bourgeoise. Pour conclure, on est jugé par notre apparence et notre milieu. Par exemple, Thénardièrs ne reconnaît pas Marius dans les égouts. La morale est que nous sommes récompensés lorsque l'on est honnête. Valjean est pardonné et Thenardier qui est méchant finit dans les égouts.
My first visit in Portugal was in summer 1974. It was just after the revolution des oeillets (carnation revolution). It happens that Portugal had a coup d`état in 1926, they established the dictature nationale, ie . el Estado Novo and the army stayed in power. I let you find out about the estado novo. The fascists stayed in power until spring 1974, then came the carnation revolution, the revolution took 2 years and ended in the fall of the military government and resulted in the beginning of a new republic. A new Republic with a civil government, with the organisation of free elections) The revolution led to the fall of the Estado Novo and the withdrawal of Portugal from its African colonies. It was the beginning of the democratisation of the south of Europe , then followed the downfalls of the spanish and greek dictatures.
2019, Portugal changed, buildings have grown like mushrooms. the European brands such as Intermarché, conforama and aldi give a european feeling. Still agricole with its fields of orange and lemons trees. A few traditional houses contrast with the contemporain buildings.It is not a rich country but it is not poor either. As Pierre says it is one the European country which does not practice austerity, they increased salaries and reduced the working week time.
This afternoon was a pleasant afternoon, walking on the white hot sand, it is uncredible how nice it is. The sea is so beautiful with its waves crushing on the beach.
Domingo. Enjoyable cycle on the west coast. The idea is to experience, to get lost and get used to drivers attitude, roads, signals. Agreeably surprised by the limestone cliffs, walking in alley ways, caves. Blue sky and blue sue look surreal. Mr Palomar haunts me, my books and stories follow me everywhere on my journey. So far, Portugal looks surprisingly without social differences. For example, the hotel is not full of foreigners but there is a number of Portuguese people. Peter broke the bank, we are staying in a 5* hotel, it feels like I never stayed in such a luxurious hotel. our room at the hotel is the size of our house in Oxford, top design with glass doors, table, sofas and open places. The first thing Peter said when he saw the room was , `we could live here` `why don`t we live in a hotel`?....
Lunes. Visit to the coast and lakes, despite having had a forest fire, the nature is taking its revenge and growing back quickly. There are little shoots everywhere. Difficult ride, up and down, relieved when we arrive on the top. going back from St Bartholomew is a pleasure, it is straight. The sun, the road, my bicycle and I riding in the wind, sensation of freedom.
Martes. Cycle to Vilamoura. Past Albuferia, Seeing primary school children playing in the sun at school, what a different life they have from the children in Oxford. Expensive boats moored in Vilamora, pretty beeches. Tempted to swim.
Miercoles
The plan is to head inland and look at the mountains, far from the beaches and the yatchs ports.
To our surprise Peter was attacked by a number of dogs on the way, one of them was not not going to give up and was determined to bite Peter `s ankles so there was no way we could go further. Some Portuguese men were there but they did not move or did not do anything. It feels like it is their territory and they probably think, what are you doing here, you tourists on your bike, just go back to the beach to your ghetto. It is different from Majorca where you feel like a `walking wallet`. The Portuguese do not try to sell you `babioles` all the time. Although tourism is a source of revenue it is as essential as other countries. The Portugueese are not necessarily welcoming or curious about foreigners. The world is full of contradictions, as we had a pique nique on a stone on the way, there was a group of sheeps who was fighting for eating a bit of grass, when in front of this field there was a nice green golf course, why can`t sheeps eat on the golf course. The sheeps must think it is not fair, why can`t we go over there on the other side of the road? The farmer has the choice between having sheeps on his land or building a golf course. Economically, at short term, it makes more sense to have a gold course than farming cattle. However, long term, it is better for the country to have cattle, with milk, cheese, etc... In Portugal, most milk come from the isles of the Azores.
Jueves. The plan is to head to the beach this time, so no ferocious dogs..
Viernes. The last day was exploring all the beaches so we went on our bikes, and stoped at the pretty caves and limestone coves.
Sabados, going back to England in the hotel bus shuttle to the aiport was an experience. Meeting some daily mail reading english people who do not go to Portugal to explore the culture. This man was happy because he found 2 good pubs with guiness and good beer in Albufeira. As he says, what is nice about Portugal is that language is not a problem because everybody speaks english.
Back in Oxford. Oxford is a paradise compare to other parts of England.
The 3rd house in Oxford is in Jéricho. First, it was an old house 1850 in Kingston rd, in a district called Walton Manor. Not a success it was noisy, next to a pub and It was sold at a lloss, old houses can be panier percé. So much money was spent on this house and it was sold during the economic crisis. The second house was modern, everything worked, it was functionl, the children loved it it was spacious, clean, warm. Not a lot of character but ideal for families. And now back in a old house in Oxford city center. Jericho 20% of council houses 60% of houses which are rented and 20% of owned properties.There is a mixture of people.rich and poor, students and professors. Walking in Jéricho is like living in a victorian village of the XIXeme century. The streets are called Albert Street, Victoriia Street and Canal street. The church bells are accurate and they remind me the time which flies. In the evening as the dark comes down and as the est winter`s wind blows, everybody stay inside in their warm houses. There comes the light from their warm kitchen. It is still dark and who knows, maybe I will pop in into Mr Morse....
Doing some work in the house is a struggle. It gets complicated, as you phone a plumber, you think you speak to a plumber but you speak to a middle man, it sems like every workmen has a middle man and do not work independently. So we depend of the middle man, it happens that the middle man is disorganised, for example, Some of them are cow boys, the first one would suggest to do a lot of work without giving me any price, it was stressful to ask him to do work without knowing how much it would cost. I stopped working with him and in the end , it costs me a fortune (not a surprise), the second middle man gave us a price but understimated it so ended up by rushing the work doing an untidy job. I have a feeling that each middle man has a territory, and they do not like it when other workment work on their terrain. There is a competition of middle men. The only nice experience was the gardener, they gave us a price, sticked to it and did a wonderful job. In fact, I am going to write a good review for them. Otherwise, working on the house has been stressful. There is a feeling of being exploited for our money.
Swindon - new town
Swindon old town
Houses by the train station
Being in Swindon is like being in a third world country, some parts of England are so poor, so much inequalities. The country has to sort itself out.
After having spent 3 months in a posh district of Luxembourg in a glossy magasine apartment. Here we are in Swindon in an old flat where nothing works, the plumbery is decorative. The grocery shop doesn't sell fresh products, just pot Noddles and tins. The grocery shop doesn't accept banking cards they just want to be paid in cash. We are, surrounded by hoody people, young mothers emmitouflées in big black anorak with hoodies with push chairs. Young men also wear hoodies. According to statistics Swindon is a town where there is the lease unemployment. There are industries ie. Citroen,, Honda, Intel Powergen, Nationwide head quaters, etc, and government sciences research (where Peter works). Overall there is work for production line workers, workers in the secondary sector and a few low paid white collar administrative people. Most jobs in Swindon are paid minimum wage. Minimum wage means minimum, it means work like a slave, no time to clean your front door house getting dressed at sports direct and eating `malbouffe`.
In terms of architecture, there is a tendancy to neglect building. People don't have money to maintain their house. Victorian houses are abandonned, they cost to much to run. When having the choice. People prefer to buy an 1980s house than a big Victorian house.. in Glasgow, there was the same attitude, the university was surrounded by big abandoned Victorian houses. In Oxford, the attitude is different.people look after their building, they have money and they give value to their house. It is all a question of money.
`Unemployment in Swindon continues to fall, Job Centre reveals
By Stephen Davy-Osborne`
`North Swindon MP and DWP Minister, Justin Tomlinson, has welcomed news that the overall employment rate is at a new record high.` By Claire Dukes - 18 July 2018
Next week, Luxemboutgeois will vote ie. 14th of October. The situation is that there is about 50 pour cent immigrants who don`t vote for the national elections and 50% autochtone from which a small proportion vote. Basically, it is not democratic vote, the prime minister is elected by about 25& of the population. The people who vote are Luxembourgeois so have a certain view of society which is not everybody`s view. The expectation at the moment will be that there will be a coalition between greens, liberal and sociatlist. So far, I read a lot of the issue of the defense of the luxembourgeois language. In town, everything is in french, in shops, hospital everything is in french. The immigres do not learn luxembourgeois, they learn french. The luxemborgeois language is definitely in danger of disappearing. What about industry, for example, when I arrived in Oxford, I did not think education could be an industry, Living there, I realised that education is one major industry of Oxford. The education attracts tutorial college, there is a high proportion of teachers there, the students have to buy clothes, eat, buy books. There is a number of editing publishers . Education generates jobs and profit for the town.
In Luxembourg, before living here, I did not realise Europe could generate so much work. There are european courts, with judges, etc... there are about a minimum of 5 huge european schools. There are conferences with speeches translated in 27 languages (except luxembourgeois), so there is a need for editors, translators, restaurants, hotels , Europe generates so much work in Luxembourg. They are so happy about brexit, so far, brexit created a number of managagement jobs and high paid jobs in Europe. France, Germany and Luxembourg are fighting to get these jobs. So far, 30.000 jobs left the city and there will be some more. Germany gives advantages taxes for companies from England, Paris is going to build another international school for English families, Luxembourg is already a low tax rate country and had received a few expatriates already. Greece stayed in Europe and is doing very well now, luckily for them, they did not quit, it would have been a mistake for their country. If only, the brexit voters knew what damages they did for their country!!!
The results of the elections are the greens and the liberal democrats, overall, it is a coallition, the piratten have also won a few seats. Wherever you go, it is always the same song, whether you are in Paris, Oxford or Luxembourg, there is a problem of traffic in town, a problem of housing, houses are to expensive and nobody can afford them. There is always to many immigrants and they are the scape goat for the bad stuffs. In Luxembourg, the interest rate is about 1.5% with a very low inflation, 5.5 % unemployment.
Cycling with Andy`s team
It happens that andy schleck lives in Luxembourg in a little town called Itzig ( 2 Rue des Pres, 5972 Itzig ). Andy organises Saturdy mornng clycle ride , so we decided to go. First ,there wsa a speecch , we were told that it is not a competition, there is a slow group and a fast group, the fast ones have to wait for the slow one, etc...
so reassured, we all set up but they all went off like a rocketI thought I was a fast cyclist, but maybe I am not .., No nutella sandvich break, no pipi break, no chatting, they just went focussed as fast as they can. There is no way, I could keep going at that pace, I fell behind. The reward though was the cafe, there is one of this online game where you cycle against other cyclist, it is un, it is real time (see photo)The shop is full of expansive gadgets and fantaistaic bycicles theycost an arm and a leg. (the upper range starts at £10.00 and more..) I thought I had an expensive bike, I met Clare Fabet the lady who was celected for the cycling championshiop. She came 2nd at the irish competitionIt was a great day.... and an experience !
Pour information. quelques photos... random photos
2 big children playing dressing up... not just children can play silly... adults can be big children too.
The mist is coming out of the tunnel, so atmospheric, we feel we are going into the unknown. fantasti ride first cycling by the river and on a disuse railtrack in the forest. On the river, there was a huge heron waiting to catch a fish. In the forest, it looks like every tree hides a little fairy (lutin), we can hear the leaves or nuts falling from the trees and with the wind, the leaves dance and shine in the light. in the fields, flocks of birds break the silence. As we ride on the road,it is so quiet we can hear the noise of our bicycle wheels.
Oh I just spotted a fairy in the forest appearing of the middle of nowhere on her flying bicycle.
Overall, a unique experience, first, it is hard to come out of our bubble, to come out of our routine, habits. Living in another country meant change of food habits, change of routine, a different perspectives, meeting new people, doing different activities
Getting a better perspective
Being educated in France in a city in North of Europe. I have a different past to other people in other countries, different reference points, different perspectives. Like all french girls, classical dance is an activity girls practice after school (ballet). Talking to a Spanish lady, who explained she did classical dance, I realised we had a different definition of the same term `classical` because we have different history and different culture. For me, classical dance means plié, ronds de jambe, pirouettes, 1,2,3,4 position, etc.. and dancing on Fauré or Poulenc music. For her, classical dance, meant flamenco and tango and dancing on maybe `manitas de plata` or other musicians. Another example is national days, a national day means something to the person who lives in the country, ie. I will always remember when people said, oh it is formidable, it is the 5th of November. For me, 5th of November was like any other days, nothing special, it was like the 10th of December, it did not mean anything to me because I was not in this culture. We all have different general knowledge about our country and this is what makes us different. It is enrichissant to meet people from different background with different philosophies. We should have a certain state of mind and celebrate the diversity. Being in Oxford, although there are different nationalities, we are all in an academic world which is closed. I thought people were different in OXford, but in fact, international people adapt to english culture and in fact, they are not so different. When I am in OXford, I am the foreigner who tends to receive people and tell them about british facts. When I go to Luxembourg,i I am the stranger and I am the one who learn about `faits Luxembourgeois` Another example, there is ville basse and a ville haute in Luxembourg. When I arrived, used to go like a yoyo between ville basse and ville haute on my bicycle, completely exhausted. When people would say, but you do not have to do that , you must take the lift. I did not understand, the lift ???? in a shop, in a house, for me the lift is something we take in a building. I discover that the lift is an outside lift which takes people from top to bottom. For example, in Oxford, tourist must be so lost, when we give them directions and we say to them, go to `modlen ` bridge, which in fact, is spelt `magdalene ` bridge. When we say be careful at `the plane ` because it is dangerous. They must think, of course, `the plane ` is dangerous but not as dangerous as the bicycle (I am actually laughing at myself writing this...).
And more, II realised how I missed my `gym buddies`, miss doing classes together and miss talking about everything and nothing at the end of the class. Now ready to go back to Oxford and see Oxford with different eyes....
Such a nice cycle in the canyon...
La garde devantt le palais ducal Luxembourgeois
Such a nice restaurant, so romantic....
Just a few bds at the Auchan supermarket
Tiens une vache au centre de Luxembourg.... et des poules a la fenetre...
Maisons Luxembourgeoises a la fin de ma rue ( I feel like tourists who take photos of my house in Oxford., maybe it is not so bizarre after all..)
Vue de l`ascenseur la nuit . view from the lift at night
Vue de l`ascenseur la nournée (view from the lift during the day)
Just a few satellites... (actually, Luxembourg invests in telecommunications and in the finance of space travels)
Here is Marguerite, my neighbour, Luxembourg looks so rural in some ascpects, there is a mixture of tractors and proshes in town.
..
Twinned with just a few countries... 
Chritine et son meilleur ami `specialized`...
Why we should not privatise public transport?
In Luxembourg, public transport is nationalised which means the state has the control of it, it pays for it, organise it. The aim of the transport is to provide a service to both citizens and Entreprises and everybody. Transport helps them to promote cultural activities and helps society. For example, there was a `foire` in Luxembourg . The town organised free buses and extra buses for everybody to go to the `foire` so there was no excuses not to go. There are free buses on Saturday so that people can go out. Transport is not an excuse. In Luxembourg, wre do not see transport as a cost but as a way to generate profit. Not everything can make a profit. It is wrong in France, they want to privatise the SNCF because it makes a loss,. There was a time, (I do not know now,) the town of Senlis would organise `navette gratuites` (free shuttles) between villages and the town of Senlis, especially on Friday on market days so that people coudl go to the market. It pulls people into the town and brings life to the streets and brings customers to the shops, brings customers to the market. It helps the local economy, the market includes local products. It employs local people and brings profit into the local economy.
To conclude public transport should be seen as a whole and not in isolation.
Dimanche 9h, alors que les cloches sonnent et que les paroissiens se hatent d`etre a l`heure pour aller a La messe. Nous avons un autre rendez-vous nos vélos nous attendent patiemment dans le garage et l`aventure va bientot commencer. Le plan est de visiter une mine en Lorraine, la route sera longue, 50km aller et 50 km retour. alors que le vent nous pousse a l`aller, nous traversons, champs et forets.
Avec notre organisation légendaire, nous arrivons a l`écomusée et il s`avere que celui-ci n`ouvre qu`en milieu d`apres midi. Ce sera trop tard pour nous car il faudra rentrer. Alors, apres avoir pris un petit café, le plan est de rentrer tranquillement en admirant le paysage, les maisons s`allongent dans la vallee. Il fut un temps, il y eut de magnifiques demeures, richement décorées de stuc flamboyants. Maintenant, ce sont de vieillles rues sans ames, leur raison d`exiter est partie, leur source de revenu est parti. Auparavent, il y avait des mines de fer maintenant, tout est fermé ,ces mines sont devenues des musées. C`est impréssionnant de penser qu`a un moment précis dans l`histoire, une région ou une ville peut etre riche et affluente et une soixantaine d`années plus tard c`est le déclin. Avec les mines, la population de Villers Sire Nicole avait doublée, cela pendant la révolution industrielle, puis avec la fermeture des mines, la population a chuté de moitié et il n`y a plus ni travail, ni train comme auparavant. Afin de se réjouir, nous traversames un village ou il y avait une fete,La fete du cochon. Tout le monde dansait chantait, mangeait, il y a avait une enorme tartiflette. puis dans un autre autre village, il y a vait un vide grenier, tout le monde reconnait les jouets et vetements d`enfants. Tout le monde sait comment il est difficile de vendre ces objets, cela nous fend le coeur. Ces objets remémorent tant de souvenirs, de moments heureux passés avec les enfants a lire des histoires ou a construire des légos. J`etais sidérée d`apprendre que le profit de ce vide grenier allait en Afrique. Quelle idée !! pourquoi ne pas verser le profit au village, ? pour construire un nouveau terrain de football? ou le donner aux scouts? ou a la bibilotheque? a la ludoteque?Enfin, la journée se termine, il faut rentrer, on se rend compte que le vent souffle fort car lorsqu`il souffle en face. Il est si difficile de pédaler, quel bonheur, un bon petit repas nous attend.
Ce n`est pas les 3 petits cochons
chanson bout en train que je chantais a tue tete et qui revenait dans ma tete alors que je pédalais.
Allez allez les mains en l`air alllez allez allez... la la la ..
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Qui n`a pas éprouvé ce sentiment de nostalgie en goutant un met que nous aimions pendant notre enfance. La memoire est gustative, le gout remémore des émotions qui ravivent les souvenirs. Cela déclenche des états d`ame que l`on avait oublié car on associe un gout avec un moment précis. Par exemple, le gout des groseilles me fait penser a la maison de famille du nord. Le gout sucré et acidulé avec le petit noyau remémore des souvenirs. Il y a également une mémore liée aux odeurs, a l`ouie. a la vue et au toucher. On associe un parfum ou une odeur avec une expérience que l`on a vécut, cela peut etre une bonne expérience ou une mauvaise expérience. Chaque sens peut provoquer une sensation chez l`etre humain. Peut-etre avez-vous des exemples? Proust a un exemple et l`exprime a merveille.
"(Ma mère) envoya chercher un de ces gâteaux courts et dodus appelés Petites Madeleines qui semblent avoir été moulés dans la valve rainurée d'une coquille de Saint-Jacques. Et bientôt, machinalement, accablé par la morne journée et la perspective d'un triste lendemain, je portai à mes lèvres une cuillerée du thé où j'avais laissé s'amollir un morceau de madeleine. Mais à l'instant même où la gorgée mêlée des miettes du gâteau toucha mon palais, je tressaillis, attentif à ce qui se passait d'extraordinaire en moi. Un plaisir délicieux m'avait envahi (...)"
"Et tout d'un coup, le souvenir m'est apparu. Ce goût, c'était celui du petit morceau de madeleine que le dimanche matin à Combray (...) ma tante Léonie m'offrait après l'avoir trempé dans son infusion de thé ou de tilleul."
"(Q)uand d'un passé ancien rien ne subsiste, après la mort des êtres, après la destruction des choses, seules, plus frêles mais plus vivaces, plus immatérielles, plus persistantes, plus fidèles, l'odeur et la saveur restent encore longtemps, comme des âmes, à se rappeler, à attendre, à espérer, sur la ruine de tout le reste, à porter sans fléchir, sous leur gouttelette presque impalpable, l'édifice immense du souvenir."
Alors que nous quittons Luxembourg, de grandes grues s`élevent vers le ciel (a ce moment précis, 5 grues s`élevent dans le ciel) et il y a de nombreux bureaux et batiments. Plus de bureaux que d`habitants. Il y a des villes comme Salies de Béarn dans le sud ouest qui reverait d`avoir de telles industries. Pourquoi y-a-t-il tant de travail a Lxuembourg et pas dans d`autres régions? Les entreprises paient peu de taxes et c`est un paradis fiscal pour les entreprises (ce n`est pas un paradis fiscal pour les employés, juste pour les sociétés). Il y a donc beaucoup de travail a Luxembourg et cela attire les familles. C`est un engrenage, les familles génerent des emplois, ie. création d`écoles, hopitaux, supermarchés, centre de loisits, etc...Alors que nous continuons notre promenade a vélo, nous sommes tres vite dans la campagne. On passe de la ville a la campagne en quelques secondes.
Le plat pays qui est le mien... Avec des cathédrales pour uniques montagnes,J. Brel
Scene de campagne typique d`un Pays d`Europe
Pause café dans un charmant endroit qui fut une gare a une certaine époque
Despite being an international place, Luxembourg remains independant and authentic They protect themselves against the arrival of big american companies, anglo-saxon culture. For example, there is only one starbucks café in Luxembourg city and it is at the airport, I researched on the internet using nearby.cafe, there is no other starbuck café. In fact, in general, there are almost no american brands or other european brands such as costa, kfc, nandos, pizza express, etc... There are numerous little shops and little restaurant, hairdresser salon, grocery shops , restaurant, café, etc.. merge in the environment. It is a country that wants to keep its language, it should be so easy for them to just speak french or german or flemish. Although it is a capital, there is a provincial feeling. We rent a flat in the wealthy district of Belair in Luxembourg. It is a district that remains pittoresque as it had retained a few belle époque building.
Going to spinning at the gym was an experience, I was impressed by the fact, the instructor gave instruction in french, german, english, and of course luxembourgeois, he wanted everybody to feel welcome. In fact, the class was more like a `zen` spinning, quite an experience. The first comment he said was , in this class, we do not just go as fast as we can. The idea is to listen to our body, it was a mixture of receiving instructions and just pedalling, trying to feel the music with our heart. As he says, everybody feels the music differently therefore we all go at a different speed.
Fancy drinking a beer in pretty irish pub?
Believe me it is a pizzeria (even if it does not look like a pizzeria)
shops merge into the building of the street.
Church at the end of the street
Nous sommes au 2eme étage
Qui a dit que j`ai un grand nez??? (c`est mon charme francais..)
Le clou de l`appartement c`est la vue de la cuisine sur les toits
The highlight of the flat is the vue of the roofs from the kitchen (oh I love it...)
Ce soir, je suis prete pour mon bain de foule a la fete forraine....
A l`origine cette fete était célébrée lors de la Saint Barthélémy (23 aout) pour célébrer la fin des moissons, la fin de l`été et le début de l`hiver. Quand les manéges rentrent chez eux, les grandes roues de fer sont remplacées par les hirondelles sur les fils électriques. En me promenant dans le parc, des aromes de sucre et de barbapapa émanent dans les airs et me taquinent les narines comme Hansel et Gretel, Peter et moi sommes aspirés par l`enchantement des enfants et l`aubaine de se régaler.
ci-dessous informations sur la fete au Luxembourg
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C`est dimanche et le soleil commence a percer, il nous appelle , il va falloir sortir et le rencontrer. Aujourd`hui, le voyage sera d`aller du sud au nord ouest et faire du vélo sur une ancienne voie ferroviere. C`est une voie ferroviere atypique car elle avait été créée pendant la révolution industrielle fin XIXeme siecle pour transporter le fer d`une partie du Pays du Luxembourg a l`autre partie du Pays. Il s`avere qu`il y a des mines a Pégange mais l`industrie est de l`autre coté du Pays, donc le fer est traité et transformé dans un autre coin. La voie ferroviere a fermé peu de temps apres, due a une crise sidérurgique. Elle n`a donc fonctionné qu`une soixante d`années. quelques photos suivent...
Luxembourg is composed of 4 types of people.
- The `autochtones`, the Luxembourgeois
- The frontaliers, (french, german and belgium)
- the portugese,
- the international workers.
First, the locals, the luxembourgeois learn french at school. The french language is omnipresent, names of streets, shops, food, books,etc.., At school the children also learn luxembourgeois. They can learn german but they do not necessarily learn english (like other european countries). The Luxembourgeois have a friendly attitude towards me, they joke with me as we speak the same language.The ladies at the supermarket make me laugh, they often comment on my purchases. Believe me, i already examined every aisles in the shop and I spotted some yogurt ice cream in salty caramel and pecan nuts, it is a delight, I buy it almost everyday. the lady in the shop said to me `how can you buy so much ice cream? , where do you put it ? behind your hears ?`. Oh they make me laugh.... There are 2 levels of conversation, like in a supermarket, you can ask `where is the bread please?` or you can start to speak casually `like joking about my weight...`. They speak to me casually which makes me feel at home.
Let`s go back to the point, second, the frontaliers integrate quiet well because they often speak the language but they are in Luxembourg just to work and come back to their `cité dortoire` in the evening. They are not in the cité at the week-end or in the evening so they do not share the cultural events and evening life. They do not consider themselves as french or Luxembourgeois, they consider themselves as `frontaliers`. When I asked the man in the Cactus supermarché if he was french or luxembourgeois, he told me he was `frontalier` which is different to him. The frontaliers live their life half and half, they live between 2 countries.
Third, the portuguese , they have a strong community and identity, they gather together in group, speak their own language and have not integrated in the Luxembourgeoise society as they live in a guetto. However, in supermarket, they have their own shelves where food is labelled in their own language. they often do the minial jobs (emplois subalternes), low paid jobs. (we learn so much in supermarket). I was told the Luxembourgeois government facilitated portuguese to come and live in Luxembourg in the 80s as they needed workforce. Portuguese are hard working, they also share the same religion as Luxembourg (christian) which is a bonus for the country.
Fourth, the international people who are coming to Luxembourg just to work, they make no or little effort to learn the french language. As my husband went out to a meal with his colleagues one evening, he was surprised to see his colleague taking a photo of the french menu to translate it using an app (so the app translated `steack` with `steack`). They have not integrated into the french culture, they are purely here to work and the autochtone feel that, therefore they do not treat them well. Speaking the language makes a big difference. Another example why it is important to learn languages, at my husband work at shroeders, first, the guard would ignore him. For example, when Peter arrived, the guard did not say hello to him. However, now that the guard notices that Peter speaks french to him, the guard says bonjour to Peter and treats him differently and casually. It is interesting to see that the locals make no effort to learn the english language. I do not have the answer for that, I will have to think about it.
With 144 banks in Luxembourg, the paradoxe is that I could not find a cash machine in town yesterday, I tried in 3 banks without success as they refused my card. It is one of this bank card that Genious Peter found, and that nobody accepts.
Another day playing at playing tourist. It is difficult in Luxembourg as it is not a tourist destination, more of a black suit young men in posh car destination. Thanks to Pierre, there was a pelerinage to Trier, not to the church but to Marx `s birth place. There was a lot of Chinese people, not surprising, they are a communist country (or they were) and they follow Marx philosophy, they donate a statue to Marx which is in the town. Marx is another school failure who did not do that bad (like Sartres and others...). Although, I am not an alcoholic the visit to the wine factory was enjoyable, enjoying the charming accent of Luxembourgeois speaking french, tasting wine seating on the terrace at the sun. Shengen was interesting, what a surprise, England is not the Shengen treaty so what is the fuss about Shengen at Brexit!!!! A visit to the nature reserve was a laugh, it was close to a pleasure beach which was not advertised anywhere, but the parking was full because of it. The nature reserve like a lot of museums in Luxembourg has more staff than people visiting the museums or the reserve. Stunning building, I wish I could have a house like that...
Keep cycling, so far, discovered the Est with la Moselle,, nord est visite du chateau de Vianden, sud est with Mondorf en France et au Luxembourg, a l`ouest direction Belgique... Still some roads to explore..... Luxembourg has perfect road for cyclist....
Messing about at the villa Vauban dressing up like little children....
Waiting for the bus at the bus stop... Buses are free on Saturday, As Matthieu says, it is a bonus for the Luxembourgeois and the tourist (the frontaliers are in their dormitory town in Germany, France and Belgium.
We cycled 85 kms on cycle paths without cars, we followed a disused railway track on the way and we followed the river Alzette on the way back. On of my best ride traversing the forest, the fields, looking at the birds flying from a field breaking the silence, corn fields, laughing at the cows showing us their bottoms.... looking at the old farms on the way and the multicolor churches...
Le sacré
Le monde de la gastronomie ne manque pas de prix et de récompenses, mais il faut bien l`avouer, celui des 100 chefs sort du lot. Il s`agit en effet du seul classement mondial des chefs de cuisine établi par les chefs eux-memes. Ici la suggectivité est de mise certes. mais ne sont-ils pas les mieux placés pour juger finalement? Alors que certaines mauvaises langues avaient tendance a dire que la gastronomie francaise était en perte de vitesse, ce faisant détroner par des chefs espagnols ou scandinaves, voila que le meilleur chef du monde est un francais. Le classement des 100 a été dévoilé a l`occasion du chef world summet a Monaco.
Une cuisine mélant musicalité et inventivité
Alain Passard ébloui par sa cuisine inventive et gustative, une cuisine légumiere aux notes colorées agrémentées d`un zeste de folie qu`on lui connait bien. Les mets que composent Alain Passard ont le mystere des poemes et l`évidence des énigmes, toujours mis en musique fugues, arias, sonates, concertos, oratorios, tels des symphonies autour d`un produit. Le chef étoilé se revendique comme un `sculpteur a la flamme` qui sait marier chaque produit avec le feu qui lui convient : celui qui caresse, celui qui saisit , il aborde le légumes par le regard, la couleur, un mauve, un jaune, un blanc nacré, un vert, un orange perlé m`inspirent. Je procede au touches, le geste technique vient apres.
Les 5 sens
Le regard, le gout, le toucher l`odorat, l`ouie. Tous ces sens sont en éveil lors de la préparation des mets, l`un n`allant pas sans l`autre selon le Chef `le regard est mon partenaire en cuisine`. Quand l`oeil s`attarde, capté par un tissus, un pain. C`est l`ancrage, la naissance d`un plat, le reste, le voyage de la main, l`agilité des doigts savoir le gommer afin d`aller a l`essentiel donné a précision, j`aime écouter mes cuissons, percevoir la subtilité du crépitement, le gout est une conjugaison simple de 2 ou 3 saveurs, il est tres lié aux textures, il doit etre franc et délicat. Le parfum est la premiere note d`un plat, il donne le tempo, un joli parfum raconte une belle histoire, couturiers aux mains d`or, Alain Passard tisse sa carte au fil des saison, priviligiant uniquement les produits de ses jardins respectueux des saisons et s`exposant ainsi aux alias de la nature. Il offre une cuisine raffinée et s`emploie a ne servir que des produits de qualité aux gouts naturels et intenses. Artisan, pecheur, et éleveur, sont sélectionnés avec éxigence et attention. Surprendre ses hotes, créer une véritable expérience culinaire en se libérant du carcan du menu a la carte telle est la mission de ce gastronome créatif et ingénieux.
Body balance was an experiment today as in Luxembourg, it is more spiritual, with buddas and candles. More enjoyable because it is slower and it looks more like yoga than body balance. There was not much balancing, in fact, it was short and easy. There were more men, and Peter liked that, the instructor was a pretty very fit blond lady (as usual). There are some very pretty blond ladies in Luxembourg.
Body balance was an experiment today as in Luxembourg, it is more spiritual, with buddas and candles. More enjoyable because it is slower and it looks more like yoga than body balance. There was not much balancing, in fact, it was short and easy. There were more men, and Peter liked that, the instructor was a pretty very fit blond lady (as usual). There are some very pretty blond ladies in Luxembourg.
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Like every capital, finding a lodging is not as easy as drinking a glass of water. Finally, we thought we found the pearl flat. it ends up as we are living in a flat from a glossy magasine with a white table, white floor everywhere. The house is full of unuseful things (artefacts) but not real useful items such as `micro wave`. There is sand from the desert in a little jar but nothing to eat. We chose this flat because it is a yoga fanatic. It is the yoga I do not like, the spiritual yoga which I do not believe in, I am more down to earth. I believe in relaxing and feeling better when doing poses. The challenge motivates me, the idea to do things beyond and pushing the limits. (will post some photos later...). On Friday, it is the recycling day for the bins, as it happens there is only one blue bin outside... Is anybody recycling in Luxembourg, I was told by a passer by that there is a recycle factory but nobody recycles because they have to pay (he mentionned a sum of 50 euros). I am told by my landlord that she does not recycle anything. Another example to say that we can only protect the environement if it is done by the state. Individuals don`t want to pay for it on their own. Protecting the environement has to be imposed on people and paid by the community.
Today, the cycle was along the Valley de l`Alzette. Cycling gives a true picture of the country, the houses are a mixture of french, dutch, german or belgium`s houses with protestants churches next to them. The infrastructures such as children`s parks, roads, arts are outstanding. How can a country where people do not pay a lot of taxes can have such wonderful facilities? Peter says we are paying... I think it is a mixture of facts, there is only 5.5% of unemployment. Luxembourg only have 800 people in their army so they do not spend crazy money on defense, such as nuclear submarines (the trident). Why is England spending so much money on the Trident, it is MAD... In France, we also have an aircraft carrier which costs us a fortune (le porte avion Clémenceau) which is superficial and useless. The landscape is anonymous, we cross valleys with cows and anonymous european landscape. The land looks sandy which explains the big forests as nothing can grow on sand, except trees. Having a great time though cycling along the country, stopping in cafés and eating a lot of food...
Although people speak french in Luxembourg, there is a difference in pronunciation. People pronounce the end of a word wheareas in France we do not. It makes it confusing for me, especially when I ask for directions and people say `tout droite` . In France, we have patisserie , salon de thé, here the Luxembourgeois call this shop patisserie salon de consommation. It is more of a litteral translation of the services, people are in the salon to consume a hot drink, a cup of tea or coffee. Although, we can have a cup of coffee in a salon de thé, we still call it a salon de thé. In fact, a french salon de thé is a posh café where we can have a hot drink and a cake.
Another litteral fact is this sign which says dogs do not poo on the grass (actually, I wish I could put this sign in front of my house in Oxford, my front garden is the north Oxford dog`s toilet).
Luxembourg , a very small country situated between France, Germany and Belgique. Luxembourgeois are some of the wealthiest people on the planet. The population is just about half a million on 82 km by 57 km wide. There are around 100 castles and fortress here. The country is divided into 2 regions, Eisleck in the north which is covered of fields and forests and the south Gutland which is urbanised as 85% of the population live there. Most of the people are poliglote they speak 3 languages, french, german and luxembourgeois. It is still a hereditary constitutional monarchy (like in England). The name of the Grand Duc is Grand Duc Henry Albert Gabriel Félix Marie Guillaume (it is a bit of a mouth full...)
The first impression about Luxembourg is the wide forests and the wealth, no beggers, no poverty, men pretending to be James Bond in their open top toy car. I have not seen a lot of industry, there use to be steel industry. They built sky scrapers with it. However, In supermarket, there are mainly french products because Luxembourg must import all food and manufactured products. Why is Luxembourg so rich? There are about 150 banks in the country. A lot of companies have their headquarters there such as Skype , amazon, etc...They get their wealth from having their head quarters like Coke Cola here. The advantage for these companies is that they only pay 1% tax. They also invested in very fast networks to attract internet data center (ie. such as apple or microsoft). For example Amazon puts its data in Luxembourg so if you buy something in the UK, you get an invoice from Amazon in Luxembourg because Amazon stores its data in Luxembourg to make sure they only pay 1% tax instead of 20% in the UK (not sure about the taxe rate for corporation taxe in the UK, it must be about 20%).What to do in Luxembourg?As a cyclist, I recommend cycling to the Moselle with vignobles descending into the valley (it reminds me of the Vallée de la Loire), and do not forget to stop in one of this delicious café by the river. Do not expect to have high quality gym, sports does not seem to be a priority in Luxembourg, the atmosphere is work oriented. There are not many grocery shops as most people just go to restaurant they do not mind about prices because it is their company who pays. Luxembourg is a country that profits from being in Europe.
Parfois, il peut arriver que l`on demeure dans un endroit si longtemps que l`on ne voit plus les années passées.
Sauf un jour, ou on se promene dans la région et l`on voit que chaque carrefour, chaque coin de rue nous rappelle des souvenirs.
On réalise que l`on a habité longtemps dans un endroit lorsque l`on rencontre une vieille connaissance et que l`on pense `oh elle a pris un coup de vieux et elle a grossi` et en me voyant elle se dit certainement `Oh mon Dieu, Christine a grossi et elle a pris un coup de vieux`.
Il arrive aussi que l`on rencontre quelqu`un qui nous salue et on connait cette personne, mais on ne sait plus ni dans quelles circomstances et ni comment, on la connait.
Lorsque je suis arrivée a Oxford, j`avais juste 34 ans et maintenant, j`en ai 53...
Matthieu n`avait que 3 ans et il a 22 ans et Pierre avait 5 ans alors qu`il a 24 ans aujourd`hui...
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Spanish film, the scene takes place in pays basque in the XIX century. It is a kind of english `elephant man` film. There is a farmer who has 2 sons, the older son goes to war and the younger one stays at home to look after the farm. Martin who fights in the war gets hurt on his arm and can only use one arm. Joaquin who works at the farm has an hormonal problem and grows extremely tall. Nowadays it is a condition we are aware and that we treat. At the time, they were ignorant and thought Joaquin was a kind of a monster. Martin got shot in his arm and became invalid on one arm. The fact, he could not earn his bread because he only had one arm. He decided to exploite his brother and exhibit him in front of an audience so he could charge people. Joaquin was like an espèce rare at a circus. There are few pertinent points, it is an historic testimony in a sense that it shows how life was, when people did not have social care? What was their future when they were injured in war? The state did not care, it was just bad luck. It is easy to go down if we fell ill or gets invalid. There is an interesting relationship between the 2 brothers, they both depend on each other, Martin could not survive financially without Joaquin and Joaquin ows him that he was saved from going to fight. The sad part is how Joaquin feels about his inconformity, we see each other from other people`s eyes. Although, his infirmity is only physical, it affects his emotions and mental belonging. Like all men, he wants to have a normal life, a social life, he wants friends, he wants to build a family but he can not. I shall not tell you how the film finishes, so you can watch the film and see by yourself. A part from that, in the film, the photos and landscape of the Pays Basque are breath taking with its green mountains, its sunset and sunrise.
t is the story of an homeless old lady who lives in a street and then on some one's drive. There is a writer who decides that there is nothing to write about so he finally writes about her. The question is who depends on who? Does the writer depends on the old lady as she is the subject of his writing ? or does she depend on him? . She obviously depends on him. However, he is a lonely man, he lives on his own and talks to himself as he has nobody to talk to. All the way through the film we think the old lady has a psychological problem because she is bizarre, in the end, the writer also appears to have psychological problems because he talks to himself and he imagines characters who are not there, he is a writer, he makes up stories. (maybe, we all have psychological problems in some sort). Everybody has a story, everybody has a past and we all carry it on our shoulders. Homeless state can be a passage in life, but once you are in it, it is difficult to get out of it. Without an address, the state does not look at you as a citizen, no help is available. The lady culpabilise for a crime she did not commit. Everybody in the community give her charity but she does not want any piety, she does not feel that she warrants piety, she does not consider herself any lesser than themOverall it was all right as a film. It is always nice to watch films with Peter.
he plot focuses on the end of life of Giacometti. The scenes and photos are outstanding, who doesn't want to have an atelier like that with big windows in Paris. The story takes place at the time when Giacometti does not need money to live. He creates art for himself, he can afford to take time to do his last portray. His uses different models and these models have different motivation to pose for him. There is a prostitute who poses for him for money, she does it because she is being paid. His wife use to pose but she is fed up to seat all day and has given up, finally there is a young man from New York who poses for him because he wants to have his portrait done by Giacometti. His relationship with the prostitute is more of an exchange, he receives a service and he pays for it. He is not a very nice man, he is not easy to seat for, he is negative, he has bad temper and strange ideas. As a Giacometti admirer, I still enjoyed the film.
Alors que le jour de la compétition arrive, la tension monte. Ce serait si facile de rester au lit et de ne pas sortir par ce froid de canard. Il est 4 h du matin, bien que le réveil n'ait pas encore sonné, il m'est impossible de rester au lit, alors, debout. Le monde est à nous. Je cesse de me répéter l'important c'est le voyage, pas la destination. Alors que le gris colore le ciel et que les nuages noirs nous menacent on se prépare au défi. Comme d'habitude monsieur météo s'est trompé, il ne devrait pas pleuvoir mais il pleut. Dans la voiture, je visualise la course la natation le vélo, la course à pied. Tout commence par la natation, comme d`habitude, ce n`est pas comme nager dans la piscine a ferry ou j`ai la piscine pour moi toute seule, non, la il y a des gens partout, qui nagent qui t`éclaboussent, qui te barrent le chemin, qui te font des queues de poisson, et qui te font meme arreter, ils te ralentissent car ils s`arretent devant toi, et alors il y a un embouteillage. Quant au vélo le parcours commence par des petites routes et ça monte mais il faut y aller comme si c'était la fin de la course. Il ne faut pas ralentir il faut donner son maximum car après bien que la route descende on arrive sur une grande route et c'est difficile d'aller vite. Visualiser chaque étape permet d'optimiser ses performances. Il faut planifier, se concentrer. Pendant la course il faut y aller, ne pas ralentir car après la course c'est trop tard. On ne peut pas dire que l'on aurait dû aller plus vite.
Another successful play by cheek and jowle
It is a Shakespeare's play, the intrigue is complicated. Overall, it is the story of Périclès Prince of Tyre. He escapes from his country because the king is a tyrant and wants to chop his head. The Prince goes on a voyage meets a woman and falls in love. His wife died giving birth to his daughter. They had a daughter called Marina. As he travels on the sea to escape from the tyrannic king. Arriving on land, he gives his daughter to someone to look after but they abandon her. Et comme toutes les pièces de Shakespeare tout est bien qui finit bien (all ends well, everybody lives happy ever after). Tout le monde se retrouve à la fin. (I told you it was complicated).
Here comes the interesting part, the analysis or the second level of the story. I perceive the escape and the voyage on a 'radeau' as a metaphor of immigrants struggle. They evade tyrannic country with their family. As they cross the sea, they loose their close relatives. They don't always travel on the same ship so in lands, they don't have mobile phone, they can't communicate the way we do so they loose sight of each other. The play is beautifully interpreted. I like the parallel with today's life. In the past, people would travel on the wind of chance, people would have a goal to go somewhere but events and chance happen on the way. If we take a boat, the wind plays an important part because you land where the wind takes you. Even 50 years ago, chance, the role of the dice would play a good part in voyage. There was no internet, so the idea of having a definite destination did not exist. In the past, the story is about the Prince of Tyr and events happen. Modern day refugees are in the same situation, they may have a final destination in mind but they go where the wind blows, if the train is going to Paris, they go to Paris, if it goes to Stuttgart, they go to Stuttgart. If they get stopped on the way, they stop where they are arrested, if they go in a lorry, they go where the lorry takes them. The paralel is with the idea of chance and how the future depends on chance. Les émotions traversent les époques et Shakespeare's plays remain pertinent in today's life.
A nostaligic time about Paris in France.
It is nice to see 2 french films where the scene takes place in Paris. Coming from Paris, it is tempted to look at every corner of the streets and see if we can recognise any places. ANyway, the first film is called My first lady with Maggie Smith. The plot is complicated, however, the main theme is about happiness, do we find happiness with love ? or do we find happiness with money ? or through relationships with people ? or relastionship with places?
In the film the man comes from New york and could live anywhere, however, when he arrives in Paris, he falls in love with the place. He established a relationship with the place, for example, he goes and walks by the river and interacts with people and he sleeps on the side of the river and gets a sense of belonging. He lives in Paris and he falls in love with the place.
The second film which is called a week-end in Paris is the story of an english couple who are in their 60s, they decide to come back to Paris as they had their honeymoon there a long time ago.This film is about love, love is not physical , in the story this couple is normal and they do not pretend to each other, they are comfortable in the presence of each other. Despite the accidents of life, ie. infidelity, etc... they stay together.
As soon as someone arrives , they have to put on a face, they have to put on an act and try to say to the world that everything is fantastic and that they have no problems. In fact, he lost his job and he is broke, she also lost her work and she is broke. They still love each other because love is about complicity, it is about laughing even when the days are dark, it is not about sex. We always think people have a better life than us. We always think the grass is better on the other side. There is another protagonist in the film who tells about his life, he left his wife to go with a young lady and gave her a baby. He then realises that life is not better with a younger lady, there are still problems of every day life `who is going to empty the bin?`, etc.. We would think this man is happy, he is rich, he lives by the Eiffel Tower, in a big apartment, he has friends, he has a young wife who is pregnant and he is successful. So why isn`t he happy? Because happiness is not in possession or being with beautiful young people, it is more profound , it is about staying with the same person and appreciate each other for who we are.
It was our second visit to the musée Moma in Oxford and it was useful to see an exhibit twice as you see it with different eyes. The exhibition was designed by 6 artists who with the same material created 2 displays in 2 rooms. One display is chaotic and the other one is in order. Walking between the 2 rooms was a different experience, as ypu move from chaos to order and back abgain. The disorder of the first room made us feel uncomfortable (despite all the clutters that I have in my office I did not feel right). The first room is a metaphor of people and town. There is the idea that people occupy the space and they are rebellious, (in the first room the materials occupy the space)there is no order or logic to the arrangement. However, the other room in comparison is peaceful, everything is in order, everything is in control, the materials are imprisoned in their packging.The chalks are nicely laid out in their boxes in a strict way. One can say there is the feeling that someone is looking and caring about us. It is a metaphor for life , we can not have ordre without disorder. In nature, the order comes first, for example, a brick is in order and with age it becomes crumbly. As always, an interesting exhibition which makes people think.
The film the circle
It is a science fiction film but is it really? sometimes it looks scarily believable and nightmarish (cauchemaresque). The idea that we can spy on people is awful, there are companies like google, facebook,etc... who monitor everything do in order to collect information about us. At first, they may not intend to harm anybody but the unforeseen consequences mean that they do. They develop an application which collects data, a lot of data about each individual. It can help solve medical problems, it can hep find criminals but it can misinterpret people`s action (ie. in the film a boy Mercer is taken for an animal killer and he is not). This collection of data can ruin people`s life through bullying or social media.The company is a stereotype of modern big tech companies where the staff does everything at work, socialising, working, relaxing, it ends up by having exhausted staff who works all the time and have no family life. In the first instance, companies try to do well and provide services for its employees but it turns sour (cela tourne au vinaigre). There is an issue with the size of the companies, they become to big and more powerful than the government. (ie. In the film they make an allusion to recent stories in the news. For example, the companies do not start out to be harmful but what they do have implications. For example, when a big company operates free shuttle for its employees and it is enormous, it competes with the local buses. Local buses can not be free and therefore have to cease activities and not provide a service for the local people and unemployed people of the city. There is a segregation between the tech employees and the local population. The film exagerates all real facts, it speaks about current trends. We have an issue in France with the mutuelle, most french people who work have their companies paying for the mutuelle (mutuelle health insurance / the government pays about 80% of the cost and the mutuelle pays the 20% plus extra...). The problem is that it excludes the unemployed people, CDD people (short term contract) and the self employed. To conclude, despite the bad reviews, it is a thought provoking film.As Matthieu says, now we should all go and read the book...
The voyage is often part of the holidays, sometimes, the voyage is the holiday. This time, the voyage is only a part of the holiday. It started when booking the flight, as always when booking it at 8am in the morning at Gatwick, we do not think that we have in fact have to get up at 3am to make sure we are there on time. One must think about what can go well and one must think about one can go wrong. So at 3am, we jumped out of bed, and even if it is only 3am our brain works at 100 miles an hour, have we got the passport? have we got the currency? Have we got???? have we got??? Sure we packed to much, we look like the character of Mrs Armitage on wheels, and what happens if it rains? and what happens if it is sunny? and what happens if ....?
At last ready, of course, once we are in a car, driving away from the house... Who did not switch off the light in the bedroom??So who goes zooming in and out of the car like a rocket to switch off the light??
Then an ear worm sings us `we are going on a February holiday la la la ...`
The voyage consists of different parts..
Here comes the airport part where we shuffle like cattle between different queues, Moooo.
Arriving in Palma, it all looks so familiar, although we only came once, it looks like we lived here all our life. Direction plaza de Espana to change bus, down the escalator to the bus station. Zut, we missed the bus, we have to wait for the next bus. So now is the time to collapse, our brain does not work any more. Dommage if only we had the energy to go outside to this wonderful international book shop (Pierre would love this shop). This book shop is a must, we spent hours there before, a fascinating place! but not this time, the bags are too heavy and feel like a stone. So here we are, affalés au café, watching passers go by. We say, we should not judge a book by its cover, however, we watch people go by and we judge them by the way they look, in fact, people tend to tell their life by face. For example, this man is a chauffeur, this young man is a cyclist and this lady with children is a busy mother, etc....I am not impressed by this greasy spoon café who sells expensive café . Tant pis, it is part of the experience.
part 3. Arriving at the hotel and Mallorca... Mallorca is full of contradiction, the hotel is suppose to be in Palmanova which sounds rather posh, in fact it is at the limit of Palmanova and Malguff which is less trendy.As Peter would say, Malguff is tacky as `Blackpool`, I have never been to Blackpool. However, Malguff is one of the cheapest and tackiest place on earth. Everything is possible here, rows of lap dancing, table dancing, naked dancing, lap dancing, games arcades, etc... clubs, pubs, bars, etc...Being parisian, I do not feel intimidated, St Denis in Paris is not better.
Mallorca is full of contrast because on one side, it is cheap side and anit is idyllic. Peter and I went cycling and it was magical with bird songs breaking the silence in the azur sky, the warmth, the light shining through the pine trees, the hills, the views, the pretty villages with their mystic church. We cycle through farms and saw beautiful coquerels and animals. The orange and olive trees color the scenes in the distance.I can not wait for my next ride today which should be a mixture a sea side and mountain landscape..
What about our cycle rides, the first day went well, we only got lost once at the beginning. The second day was the day of the `cols`, it was probably sunny in the valley but it was cold and windy in the mountain. Thinking of the people of the tour de france who not only have to go up but have to go fast, I do not know how they do.
Having cycling for over 8 hours in a day, the all inclusive meal option was a relief. At spinning, we go up for one song and then that is it, people cycle fast as they are going down the hill. In reality, we go up the hills for hours and the wind is blowing pushing you from side to side, so you have to make sure you stay still.
But it is fun !!! Who wants an easy life !!! Vive le challenge !Yesterday , a cultural day going to Palma, walking around the maures streets where an art gallery pops up at every corner of the street. I saw some interesting techniques and avant-garde chef d`oeuvres. I thought of Matthieu and his new flat but looking at the price, it was not for my wallet and I will draw something better for Matthieu`s flat. It will be better because it will come from my heart (I am thinking about what to draw..)Today, en route for Valdemosa, a mixture of cols and flat routes, I better go...
I just wonder how Mallorcans feel as the society is divided between hotels, (me with `money` written on my face) nice houses restaured by english or german people and run down cabins where people live. The nice houses in the nice villages are not for the spanish people, they are for the foreigners.The journey ends as usual with both feeling. So many emotions happen in a week. It is early on Sunday morning. The local bus in Palma is full of young people looking exhausted. They worked all night, some of the girls plastered in make up may have worked as receptionist, some of the young men may have been security guards. They look like they were exploited because they looked so tired. The sun is shining so en route for another adventure.
An interesting exhibit by Hannah Ryggen. It is a retrospective looking back at her life`s work, she used to live in Scandinavia in the 20th century, she died a few years ago. Living in Scandinavia. means she was surrounded by sheep and made tapisseries from wool that she found and made colours from moss, herbs and any materials she could find, she used to fix the colours with urine. It is remarquable, the way she makes tapisseries from materials in her environement. If she would have canvas and oil painting, she would have paint but as she had wool, she made tapisseries. Her topics are controversial, she portrays both stories from her own life and from current affairs of the time. For example, I like the one when she expresses inegality, there is a king on a pedestal , some people trying desperatly to climb but they slide, they even swim in the mud. There is a Queen high way up too, it is the idea that society is divided in strata, it is divided into classes, and it is impossible to move upwards to higher class. There was one tapisserie with christmassy colours which was outstanding by its colours, they were beautiful, bright green and shiny red with the representation of a president holding his dog`s ear. The more I look at this tapisserie, the more I like it, the colours are striking, the colours are vivace, the tapisserie speaks with its colour, we understand it took place at Christmas because of the green and the red, we understand it is a story with the American president and its dog because they appear on one side of the tapisserie. The colours of the President is in bright pink, red and orange , it shows fury and anger.
The artist was furious at the time because it was the Vietnam war with all the implications of war. At the time, the front page news was about the President and his dog and no mention of the war. This idea is pertinent today, very soon we will be washed over with news from Harry`s wedding. At the moment, there will be an election in Cuba next year and there is an election in Corsica but we do not hear about them.
I could let you interpret the one below. On one side, we see the war, misery and the colours are dark with soldiers, it was made in 1942, in the middle is Winston Churchill. The artist lived in Scandinavia but heard in the media that Winston Churchill was a great man. On the other side of the tapisserie, there is her family in an ideal world, living on roses in a peaceful world.
To conclude, tapisseries are like paintings, there are stories, they express messages and can be political. They speak as much as paintings.
Jour 1.
Après avoir passé une journée dans les transports. Nous sommes enfin arrivés. Il semble que l'hôtel soit situé devant la mer. Notre voyage à commencé par la m40 fermée. Bien que nous soyons partis tot, on a failli raté l`avion. Enfin, ce fut un long voyage et une longue journée dans l`avion. On a sympathisé pour Pierre qui s`apprete a passer quelques jours dans l`avion. Au moins, Pierre ne voyagera dans un petit coucou ou on ne peut pas se lever, toute collation coute les yeux de la tete. Pas de télévision, pas de journaux intéressants.
Enfin, nous sommes arrivés et c`est super, le soleil brille, l`hotel est en face de l`hotel. Comme toujours, on a la vue sur un hotel en construction avec quelques grafitis (ils n`ont pas payé pour les chambres les plus cheres). Ca va, la mer est belle, le soleil brille et on a bien mangé (comme dit la chanson, on a bien mangé, on a bien bu, on a la peau du ventre bien tendue, merci petit jésus). Aujourd`hui, nous n`irons pas avec le groupe de papés. C`est bien la télévision dans l`hotel ne montre que des émissions turques (pas d`émissions anglaises ou autres, tout est turc et authentique). Daddy a appris un nouveau mot au petit déjeuner (soupifer . grande cuillere... ou quelque chose comme cela , enfin phonétiquement, soupifer). On peut visualiser, le mot soupe et phonétiquement cuillere.
Jour 2.
I should not complain about my flight from Europe to Cyprus, when we think that some Syrians travel from Syria to Europe in terrible conditions. It was nice to walk on the beach to Faramosa, it looked so peaceful with the waves crushing against the beach, it looked surreal. From deep recess, *Mr Palomar came back to my mind. It is strange to be walking in this idyllically landscape when only a few kilometres away, there are people throwing at bombs at each other, Cyprus is not far from Palestine, Syria and Lebanon. The landscape changed as we walked along the beach, we passed some ruined hotels. What happened? why do we have these hotels half built? in piteous state?A long time ago, as Cyprus was developing its tourism industry, there was a dispute. This conflict meant that they closed the hotels, now the country is divided into 2 parts, a grec part and a turkish part. These 2 parts are split up by a neutral zone. The north is different from the south, religiously as the north is mainly musulman and the south is grec orthodox, they are divided economically, for example the north depends of Istambul. This quarrel is negative to both part. Finally, we played tourists in Faramosa and Daddy was braver than me and tried a turkish café, (this time with no cockroach, maybe you remember from Turkey last time).
I am looking forward to tomorrow to visit a archeological site.Jour 3.Cyprus does not seem to have the infrastructure (ie. waste disposal, proper sewers, etc) that we have in Europe, Macron is about to pass a law for 80% of french people not to pay local tax, it is worrying. How is France going to finance all the infrastructures? Apparently, Mairies will get financed other ways. Maybe, Macron is trying to centralise taxes? Maybe he wants more control? It is unfair that town like Paris gets so much money and little villages do not. To conclude although nobody like to pay their local taxes it is essential to pay them.
Cyprus is turning itself to tourism, like a lot of countries, thinking it is an easy way but it has his drawback. Cities and shops die in low season, towns become ghosts towns.
Peter learnt another word today, knowing french and english opens him to other languages, more languages we know, easier it gets, anyway, he worked out that plagi means beach. It would not be easy for an english person who does not speak french to guess that, but if you know a bit of french, you can guess, plagi as it looks like plage.
Tomorrow , we will change hotel and go to a different town, I will have more to say, today was not so exciting, we realised we saw everything there is to see in this region. Brochures make a big fuss about sites, in fact they are quiet small, so as we saw everything. Today was about sun, sand and sea. Peter even swam in the sea, I just paddled and admire `mon homme` swimming in the sea.Jour 4. Today, walking in the mountains makes us realise that the impact of the war between north and south is omnipresent. In the mountain, the villages have houses that have been abandoned because they use to belong to grec people. When the war declares, the grec moved to the south and the Turkish moved to the north. The Grec abandoned their house thinking they would come back, they left all their belonging but they never came back. The dilemma is that these houses still belong to Grec family and can not be sold. There is still a tension between the north and the south, the country is actually divided by an electric fence with a border of few hundred meters, in some places, it is one kilometre. There are border crossing (there use to be 1, but there are 5 now). There are guards at the border and there are soldiers patrolling which makes the ambience intimidating.
Jour 5.The grec people and the Turkish people started to fight when England left in 1960. British occupation lasted from 1878 to 1960. it is often the case that when dictators or occupiers leave a country, there is chaos. Maybe it is because during the British occupation, both Grec and Turkish were fighting the mutual enemy, ie. England. As England left, they started to fight with each other.
Hiking in Chypre is difficult because there are not many roads, we realise that to go hiking it is necessary to have maps, sign posts, quiet roads, it requires organisation. In Europe, we have all that in place, (especially in France, we have the famous GR `grande randonnée`).
The country looks like it is in a process of development, but if we come back in 20 years, it probably will have not changed.
Today, we also thought about Pierre and Matthieu when we saw the imposing castle of Kareina. Having visiting so many castles, the castle in Girne is completely different, it dates from the crusades, it is imposing , powerful, with square towers, meurtrieres, it faces the sea and it is exceptional. The photo does not show the grandeur of the chateau, it is so beautiful. Daddy chose a nice coffee place, clean and posh, we enjoyed our turkish coffee and our biscuit and chocolate. We had a little treat.
We are planning to go for a walk tomorrow, it will be our last day in Chypre.
It was funny as we stopped in a café in the mountain, as we entered there was only one big room with one table, they did not expect a lot of people and the coffee cost us very little (une miette de pain). We were the only ones in the café.
It makes me laugh the way the hotel is a 5* in the Cyprus standard, they put modern amenities which do not work, for example, there is a kettle, and a iron with an adaptor which does not fit and does not work. They gave us a kettle but no coffee. There is air conditioned but it is so noisy that Peter could not sleep and we had to turn it off. There are cracked tiles, and laid in an amateur way. We still have a super time and looking forward to visiting a castle tomorrow.
Jour 6. Today, we climbed the highest mountain in Cyprus (about 872 m), interesting Mediterranean landscape with pines, the path does not look popular as it is overgrown and I discovered a few brambles bushes (but I am a tough lady so it is fine). We have not seen any animals, luckily we do not see any snakes. We got lost, there is no signs, no sign posts, nothing. Lemon, oranges and clementine trees were seen on the way. I picked up a few delicious clementines, it is impressive. As we are Friday, we could hear the call to prayers from the Mosque, it added some spices to the landscape. My charming guide called Peter took me to the beach at the end of day and it was nice to have a paddle as our feets were aching.
Get ready to have some food and looking forward to going back home.
Le petit prince et sa rose regardent le coucher de soleil sur la planete port meadow
Dans ce livre , Camus s`est inspiré de la mythologie grecque. Il trouve ses inspirations soit dans la mythologie romaine ou grecque ou dans la philosophie espagnole Le contexte de ce livre est important car il l`a commencé en 1936 alors qu`il avait été frappé par la tuberculeuse, il l`aurait bien pu en mourir. Il a mis 5 ans pour rédiger son roman car il l`a fini en 1942, en pleine deuxieme guerre mondiale. Camus est connu pour ses romans mais il était aussi un philosophe doué. Dans le mythe de Sisyphe, il pose la question fondamentale
Quel est le sens de la vie?Y-a-t-il une logique a la vie?
On se suicide lorsque l`on ne donne pas de sens a la vie.
Qui ne s`est pas senti désespéré devant la perte d`un proche?ou devant un quotidien répétitif? Alors que l`on ne donne plus de sens a la vie, la vie est silencieuse et ne donne pas de réponses a nos questions. Il y a un décalage entre nous et le monde qui nous entoure, nous devenons étrangers a la société (comme Meursault dans l`étranger).
L`absurde c`est Sisyphe qui continue de pousser son rocher sans pouvoir atteindre le sommet. Il continue de pousser son rocher alors qu`il sait qu`il n`arrivera jamais au sommet. C`est une métaphore, pousser le rocher c`est lutter chaque jour, enfin, la vie ce n`est pas un but, c`est un labeur quotidien, c`est une lutte. Comme je dis souvent, ce qui est important ce n`est pas la destination, c`est le voyage...
Ce serait-il inspiré du nihilisme qui a débuté pendant la 1ere guerre mondiale par des philosophes comme Nietshe. Camus défend non pas un nihilisme passif mais un nihilisme actif. Il ne croit pas au suicide car le suicide voudrait dire que l`homme ne se bat plus, alors que Camus croit que l`homme doit se révolté et lutté, il ne doit pas laisser tomber et se perdre dans le désespoir.
Faut-il résoudre le probleme de l`absurde?
Pour Camus, le monde n`a pas de sens, mais y a-t-il une solution ?
- Le suicide n`est pas une solution car la vie a une valeur et cette valeur est unique
- L`espoir que l`on retrouve dans la religion ou dans une idéologie mais entrainer la violence, l`ignorance, l`illusion. Il donne le nom d`esquive a l`illusion.
La solution est d`accepter l`absurde. Il faut rester dans l`absurde et ne pas en sortir.
Comme il dit `vivre c`est faire vivre l`absurde.,
Garder le conflit entre le désir de connaitre un sens à la vie et le monde silencieux.
Camus appelle cette phase la révolte.
En maintenant l`absurde on peut rester heureux et libre. La liberté est une illusion car nous savons que nous allons mourir. La liberté ce n`est pas faire des choix car de par ses choix, on peut devenir esclave.
Camus dit `ce qui est important, ce n`est pas de vivre le mieux, mais de vivre le plus`
C`est à dire qu`il faut vivre à fond, il faut vivre intensément.
Il faut vivre beaucoup, faire des expériences car notre vie est éphémère.
Camus ignore le génétique but de la vie, le but des etres humains (comme des animaux) est de reproduire. Comme dit Richard Dawkins dans le gene egoiste. Notre but tout petit est de ne pas mourir jusqu`a la reproduction, une fois que nous avons reproduit, notre but est accompli. Il pense qu`il y a un but dans la vie. Nous existons dans la chaine des genes et nous n`occupons qu`une toute petie partie du maillon (We are only a small part in the long life of our genes, we are there to carry them on and the next and the next...)
Camus says there is no purpose in life and ignore these aspects.
Et vous , que pensez-vous?
It is the story of a maori who is sold to play rugby in France. It is a sad story describing the poor life of immigrants being exploited, with no future. The protagonist is a Maori from Nouvelle Calédonie. I was touched by the fact that people get sold like cattle. When David Beckam is sold to play football to Spain, he is paid enormous amount of money, whereas the poor Maori who plays rugby in Agen lives in misery. There is a whole mafia involved in the human traffic, they are never free as they are threatened to be killed or for their family to be killed. Finally, he goes back to Nouvelle Caledonie.
Pour beaucoup de critiques, la haine est un chef d`oeuvre du cinéma. Dans quelles mesures etes-vous d`accord avec ce jugement?
Le film a provoqué de nombreuses réactions positives des médias. Il a même été dit que c`était un chef d`œuvre au niveau thématique et au niveau technique.
Au niveau thématique, le film traite d`un sujet difficile et tabou pour la société française. C`est une image atypique de Paris dans le sens ou ce n`est pas le Paris romantique, charmant et le Paris libre que l`on imagine. On nous montre un Paris divisé entre deux classes bien distinctes. Un Paris violent, raciste, pauvre, habité par des délinquants, des jeunes sans futur. Un Paris qui fait de sa banlieue un cancre. Cela est prononcé par le tournage en noir et blanc des scènes. La tension est omniprésente de par les violences quotidiennes, comme les voitures brulées, les affrontements entre les classes bourgeoises et les banlieusards. Il nous semble que les délits s`accumulent et que l`on attend un drame. Comme par exemple, alors que les jeunes vont dans une exposition de peinture, ils se font jeter car ils se comportent différemment. Les trois protagonistes ont de violents affrontements avec des skin heads. Tout au long du film, il y a ce refrain qui ajoute à la tension, soit…
jusqu`ici tout va bien jusqu`ici tout va bien , ce qui compte, ce n`est pas la chute , c`est l`atterrissage`.
Ce refrain dit tout au long du film démontre une société suicidaire, une société qui tombe. Chaque détail, chaque évènement contribue à ce déclin. On brule les bus, on brule les voitures, le résultat est que les banlieusards sont donc plus isolés que jamais. On saccage les bâtiments et détruit les lieux communaux comme la gym. Les conséquences sont que les jeunes ne peuvent plus faire de sport, ils ne peuvent plus s`extérioriser, ni socialiser entre eux. A cela s`ajoute la consommation de drogue. Ils font leur propre mal. Le film a reçu des critiques politiques car bien que fictionnel, il reste actuel et pertinent dans notre société.
C`est une histoire qui se passe en France mais qui pourrait se passer n`importe où, en Europe ou dans le monde entier. Toute société exclue les immigrés et les envoient dans des ghettos.
Au point de vue technique, c`est malin comment le metteur en scène contraste les scènes vraies en couleur et l`histoire tournée en noir et blanc.
Tout au long du film, non seulement, il y a une montre qui nous indique le temps qui passe, mais on entend aussi un tic-tac et cela contribue au sentiment de crainte car cela pourrait être une bombe. On a l`impression qu`il va se passer quelque chose, il y a du suspense.
La fin est inattendue et attendue, c`est le summum, la violence est à son apogée et se termine par le crime. On avait le pressentiment qu`il se passerait un évènement dramatique et enfin, il se passe. C`est un cercle vicieux, la violence entraine la violence et tout épisode fait boule de neige. C`est le coup de théâtre.
Pour conclure, a mon avis, le film est un chef d`œuvre au niveau thématique et technique.
Les trois protagonistes ne sont que des stéréotypes généraux et le scénario est peu probable, Qu`en pensez-vous?
Dans le film, il y a 3 personnages principaux, Vinz, Hubert et Said. Ils sont tous trois différents et stéréotypés. De plus, certains aspects pourraient nous faire croire que l`histoire est vraie. Tandis que d`autres aspects nous feraient croire que l`histoire est fictive
Vinz est blanc et il est musulman. Il se montre agressif tout au long du film. Premièrement il menace ses amis avec le pistolet. Il est rebelle et ne veut pas se plier aux lois sociales lors du vernissage de l'expo a Paris. Enfin il ne pardonne pas et souhaite venger son ami qui est a l'hôpital.
Quant à Hubert s'il en avait les moyens il partirait vivre à la campagne. C'est un homme de peau noire et il est chrétien. De caractère il est doux patient et montre une certaine maturité. A de nombreuses reprises il essaye de raisonner vinz . Par exemple, a l' exposition de peinture à Paris. Il essaye en vain de calmer vinz qui s'emballe trop facilement.
Contrairement à ses deux amis, said est juif, il suit ses camarades. Il survit dans la banlieue et de part sa jeunesse et son humour apporte une note d' amusement. Par exemple, lorsqu'il se fait couper les cheveux. Il plaisante sur sa coiffure.
Il y a des points qui pourraient nous suggèrer que le film est un documentaire basé sur des faits réels. Par exemple, le contexte historique est vrai. Il y a eu effectivement des émeutes à Paris. C'était une époque où il y avait des skin heads et de la violence dans les banlieues comme vols de voitures, bagarres, drogue, voitures brûlées, vols etc... Le réalisateur contraste les faits réels de l' imaginaire en montrant l' histoire raconter en noir et blanc et la réalité est filmée en couleur. C'est aussi malin d' utiliser une montre pour que l' on voit que le déroulement de l' histoire se fait en une journée. Le tic tac de la montre ajoute une certaine tension. Cela nous fait penser à une bombe qui va exploser. Le spectateur sent qu'il va y avoir un drame. Le drame à la fin est exagéré. Le dénouement est pessimiste. La violence entraîne la violence, les événements font boule de neige. Le pistolet est maléfique et comme l' anneau dans le film le seigneur des anneaux. Le pistolet manipule ses personnages.
Pour conclure, les trois protagonistes sont stéréotypés de par leur religion, origine et caractéristiques. Quant au scénario, certains aspects montrent qu'il pourrait être probables et d`autres montrent le contraire.
It is a film I would recommend, definitely a feel good film. If you are english, you will know the story as it is a true story and it happened in the 80s, being french , I did not know anything about it as I was not in this country at that time. Eddie is a young boy who gets selected in the ski jump championship. He gets there not by who he knows, not by his social background, not by his education, it is by his determination. As a young boy, he had a dream and he did everything he could do to realise it. Despite a few obstacles, he persevers. In terms of sports, I like the way the film portrays that sports is not about talent, but about practice and spirit. Eddie goes through a lot of losing before he wins, he learns that we can not win all the time, sometimes, we lose, sometimes we win.
As Pierre de Coubertin would say:
The important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win, but to take part; the important thing in Life is not triumph, but the struggle; the essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.
In the film, Eddie learns how to jump and jumping is not just a question of launching yourself into the air. The task is breaking down in different steps.
1. Preparation
2. Fly
3. landing.
Breaking a task into sections is something we do all the time in every subjects, in writing essays, we write introduction, plans and conclusion. He uses visualisation which are helpful in sports, sports instructor do it all the time, in yoga, we do not say, put your hand in the air, we say, let`s try to touch the sky. At spinning, we say, the sun is shinning and we are going to go down this mountain, we do not just say, go faster. Using the task in our head make the activity more enjoyable and more motivating.
The film Pablo Neruda only covers a time of Pablo Neruda`s life, as he was born in 1904 (I just checked that on the internet) and the film takes place in the late 40s, early 50s. (ie. after the war). It happens that there was a right wing governement. Pinochet at that time was a only a general in the concentration camp. He was not the leader of the country. Neruda was a poet then a senator in Chili. The film highlights a few questions. Neruda was a a charismatic writer with a bohemian life (il menait une vie de patachon).( He was not the kind of man to go to the gym at 6am in the morning).
With his poems he manipulated the mass.
Who had influence over the people in that time ? the president of Chili? United States ? or Pablo Neruda?
The film shows that Neruda had more influence on the chilean people than the government.
His strategy to be alive was to be always on the news, always in the media. As we say ` be seen be safe` (not on the bike), but in real life. One moment of his life was a constant escape and he got help from his friends. The problem was that it was more dangerous for his friends than for him. A lot of them, ended up in prison or being tortured , however Neruda was safe. He exiled in France and continues the lutte and resistance outside Chile.
Overall a good film , a thought provoking film...
Famous poems
Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
Write, for example,'The night is shattered
and the blue stars shiver in the distance.'
The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.
Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.
Through nights like this one I held her in my arms
I kissed her again and again under the endless sky.
She loved me sometimes, and I loved her too.
How could one not have loved her great still eyes.
Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
To think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her.
To hear the immense night, still more immense without her.
And the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture.
What does it matter that my love could not keep her.
The night is shattered and she is not with me.
This is all. In the distance someone is singing. In the distance.
My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.
My sight searches for her as though to go to her.
My heart looks for her, and she is not with me.
The same night whitening the same trees.
We, of that time, are no longer the same.
I no longer love her, that's certain, but how I loved her.
My voice tried to find the wind to touch her hearing.
Another's. She will be another's. Like my kisses before.
Her voide. Her bright body. Her inifinite eyes.
I no longer love her, that's certain, but maybe I love her.
Love is so short, forgetting is so long.
Because through nights like this one I held her in my arms
my sould is not satisfied that it has lost her.
Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer
and these the last verses that I write for her.
I was furious after reading that the cyclist had 2 years in prison for an accident. He bumped into a lady who was crossing a cycle path, she was not looking as she was to busy on the phone to concentrate. It happens that the courrier did not have front break, just back break. It was an accident. The lady fell on the floor, hurt her head and died.
Mr Brigg, her husband was angry and is trying to change the law, he is not happy with the sentence ! His wife is also guilty, she should be concentrating and looking when crossing a cycle path. She surely would not do that in front of a car. As a cyclist, I get angry having pedestrians not looking where they go and stepping up in front of me without looking, they would not act like that in front of a car. They expect me to stop, they walk on cycle paths without being told of. If I was going to cycle on a pedestrian`s road I would be told of by everybody. Pedestrians think it is all right to walk on the road without looking for cyclist. They think it is only a cyclist, she can stop !
I am asking more consideration and more understanding towards cyclist!
https://
Rainy day ! Opportunity to go to Moma museum in Oxford.
The best museum in Oxford.
This time an exhibition by (I do not remember who.. I will look it up, I just found out it is by Rose Finn Kelcey).
She is famous as she is part of the group of british artists from the 1990s, Tracy Ermin was one of them...
`The movement was that suddenly, there was some famous artist ` (something else to look up...)
The principal piece was a painting of a set up ie. a camera, an estrade (in english a plateform), and an arrangement of coins representing the sun flowers of Van Gogh. The topic is about the relationship between money and art. Art becomes money. Now, we can invest in a flat which would cost 1 millions, etc.. or you can buy a painting. The painting of Van Gogh was one of the most expensive part, people invest in art. For example, at an auction, there are bankers, rich people , all these people do not buy the painting for its beauty but for its money value. Paintings become money and the buyers are bankers, not artists. They just buy for investment.
The artist does not have a specific style and re-invent herself each time, she also compares her as a mappie, like a magpie she likes to collect. She is a sceptique about religion `s motivation and it is `malin` the way she asks people to explain or draw what is god for them.
The other piece is by a different artist and it is about space. The idea is that our environment grows all the time, the normality of space grows all the time.Going to space is an everyay occurence like catching the bus (as one of the piece of art portrays a bus in the space). In the middle age, we could only see until the end of our street. With time , human explored and can now see beyond the earth. The space is now part of our garden..
Aleksandra Mir trailer
Ah what it is to be human, having emotions. Sometimes the world looks like an organised machine where everything happens to a pre determined plan. And then we humans come along and make it all messy with feelings and opinions, and absolute blunders and mistakes.
Society thinks the world should be neat and tidy and follow all the rules. But in fact the world is a messy place, from the outside you see couples and organisations and everything looks like its perfect and followed a plan. In fact in every couple there is a messy turmoil of history, things that never happened, mistakes that were made, dreams that got dropped or half baked and changed at the last minute.
In fact everyone struggles to do the best they can, with whatever situation they find them selves in.
When we love someone, we are leaving ourselves open and raw to be hurt.
Génial , n`est-ce pas?
it is based on a true story, the dancer is a film about the life of a dancer. The main protagonist (sorry I forgot his name) was born in Ukraine. His family sacrificed themselves for him sadly the sacrifice ended up splitting the family . His mother gave everything to him and was lost when her son was gone.he made it to the top and within the dancing world was famous. Outside of the dancing world he is not well known. As dancing became a job with a routine and a pattern. It was a constraints he lost his motivation. He started to dance again for his pleasure. Being a good dancer does not make you rich. Like a lot of jobs it is ephemeric. It can only be practiced when you are young.
I met a dancer called Rodrick who used to be a dancer as a young man. We do not see old dancer, being 50 years old, he did not have any work with ballet anymore so he would work in a biscuits factory during the day and he would teach dance in the evening. He was an inspiration, by his humbleness, simplicity, his talent, and his passion for dance. Peter who used to do ballet as young boy felt steps coming back to him.
Pour information, ci-joint dissertation sur le module langues et culture
Christine Marshall
Two solutions are often proposed to overcome language barriers: use of new technology for translating and interpreting, and the development of an existing language as a world language. What are the advantages and drawbacks of these two proposals?
The aim of this analysis is to set out the need for communication across peoples and cultures in the world of today, and examine how new technology enables or restricts this, also if world languages are a solution.
Some of the problems faced by the modern world can only be tackled at a global level. Problems such as climate change, world poverty, and pollution spread across borders. In order to tackle these issue we need to communicate and negotiate between many countries.
The world needs or settle disputes between countries, but also to enable trade deals. Humanity learns and progresses by communicating across generations and peoples. Scientific progress is helped by using a common language to spread new discoveries and ideas.
SMS Messages and short form messages are increasingly used for communication on a personal level, and possibly on an international level now with the increased use of text and tweets by people like president trump (The Open University, 2015a, p68). Some people consider this a bad tendency. “The art of conversation is dying and that’s a pity” (Thomas (2012) cited in, The Open University, 2015a, p69).
In opposition to this view texting has been proven to not diminish children’s literacy skills.
“Texting may indeed contribute to overall literacy experience in several ways. It is clear also that it does not contribute to the demise of pre-teen children’s literacy skills.” (Plester and Wood, 2009 cited in, The Open University, 2015b, p71)
However texts have also proven to be useful in bypassing official channels in delicate international negotiations, where world leaders cannot be seen to be directly talking to each other. Social media flattens hierarchy within organisations and governments enabling communication from the bottom up and also from the top downwards such as the use of twitter by Trump and Obama (Pengelly 2017).
The use of social media has created a movement towards openness in government and organisations, and also on a personal level.
“Openness is not an accident. It is a conscious, daily decision.” (Sagola (2009), p136)
There are new technologies such as automated translators, for both verbal and written communication exist for interpreting. In the past these were not sufficiently sophisticated to be used in serious negotiations for example but with the increasing use of artificial intelligence they are getting better and better and faster and faster. I recently saw a demonstration of a presentation from Microsoft that was translated in real time. (Microsoft, 2017). These automatic translations are appropriate for technical or medical translation uses, but fall short for literary translation that rely on metaphors and expressions of feeling and culture. (The Open University, 2014a, p114).
World languages overcome the problem of language barriers by using a common language shared by two or more people. As far as using a single language to help spread scientific knowledge, this is already common place. English for example is used when presenting scientific research, or at scientific conferences. In the area of commerce and trade deals, again English is often already used.
One of the issues with world languages is the destruction of the existing languages that are associated with a country or a culture. This is seen as a negative because it takes away part of peoples identity.
“A country without a language is like a person without a soul” (P. Pearse (1916) cited in, The Open University, 2015c, p166)
A common language often is a subset of an existing language or languages, so this reduces the range of expressiveness available in the language. For a world language to be any use it must be spoken by a large number of people. English for example is estimated to be spoken by about 25% of the world’s population. (The Open University, 2015d). Is that enough people or at what point does it become a world language? The issue with English is the implication of imperialism that come with it, as it is not culturally neutral. Often native speakers feel it is an imposition on their culture, through films and music. Culturally neutral lingua franca exist that get over this problem such as Esperanto which is acceptable because it is not tied to a country or Latin because it is a dead language. However these are not spoken by a significantly large enough population to be useful. Esperanto is spoken by 0.1% of the world population.
The acquisition of English as world language seems to be an easy route to take given young people find it cool to speak English rather than their native language as this gives them an association with the English media products such as pop videos etc. There ae however problems with developing and using world languages, such as the following.
When a lingua franca is adopted in an academic area, research or work published in any language other than the lingua franca tends to be ignored or given less importance.
When a lingua franca is used it is often as a second language, and the authors may not have the same level of expertise in the language as they do in their native language.
In the acquisition of a world language, sectors of the population are often left behind, with a mother tongue whilst an elite, learns a ‘language of administration’ and in this instance, where language is used for administration, it bestows power within the administration upon those who have acquired it. An example of this is found in Tanzania where English is a gateway to higher education. (The Open University, 2015e).
“In a highly competitive job market, the lack of English competency even among Tanzania’s university graduates, is a barrier to employment.” (Rabin (2011) cited in, The Open University, 2015e, p181)
The big disadvantage of using a world language is the loss of identity that a mother tongue imparts. A world language can be seen as sterile, and generic, incapable of expressing truly what a person is feeling.
It seems almost inevitable that over time languages will disappear and a single world language will become dominant. According to UNESCO 200 languages died in the last 3 generations. (S. Kovacs, 2009).
“such as the limtu-nomlaki, the livonien, or the kaixna, about 2500 of 6000 languages used on the planet are threaten to disappear” (S. Kovacs, 2009).
The question to consider is to ask ourselves if that is a disaster or not? Most people jump to the conclusion that it is a catastrophe, as they have an attachment to a cultural history that is bound up in their language. The disappearance of the languages is often due to political pressure or rapid economic changes. According to UNESCO, speaking your own language is a right we need to defend. However, we could accept that over time cultural differences will also disappear. As people travel around the world, through immigration, working and living in different cultures, the differences between the cultures become smaller and smaller. For example people in Europe start to identify as European rather than as German or Spanish, have less of an attachment to the language associated with their birth country.
The more people take a world view, consider all of humanity on the planet, rather than a nationalistic view, the better chance we have of all working together to a common good. There are big global problems that humanity needs to tackle, such as poverty, water, and climate change. These issues cannot be tacked on a country by country basis, a single world language can only help in this. However the world loses part of its cultural diversity when it loses languages, and potentially loses different ways of thought and expression.
To conclude, use of new technology for translating and interpreting is getting better over time but may change the very language that is used, such as the use of emoji. The global use of technology and messaging systems, and the emergence of English as a world language are not independent of each other, technology is accelerating a natural monopolistic movement towards a single global language. The development of an existing language as a world language seems inevitable and will be at the loss of diverse cultural identities, but we may be able to form a bigger world cultural identity.
1365 words.
References
The Open University (2015a). L161 book 4, Language and communication in the digital age. 2nd ed. Milton Keynes: The Open University. p68.
The Open University (2015b). L161 book 4, Language and communication in the digital age. 2nd ed. Milton Keynes: The Open University. P71.
D. Sagola (2009). 140 Characters. New Jersey: Wiley. 136.
M. Pengelly. (2017). Obama treads on Trump's Twitter turf to reflect on presidential achievements. Available: https://
Microsoft (2017) Build 2017 Day 1 Keynote, Available at: https://
The Open University (2014a). L161 book 3, Intercultural competence at work. 1st ed. Milton Keynes: The Open University. P114.
The Open University (2015c). L161 book 2, Languages cultures and communities. 2nd ed. Milton Keynes: The Open University. P166.
The Open University (2015d). L161 book 2, Languages cultures and communities. 2nd ed. Milton Keynes: The Open University. P226.
The Open University (2015e). L161 book 2, Languages cultures and communities. 2nd ed. Milton Keynes: The Open University. P181.
S. Kovacs. 2009. Deux mille cinq cents langes menaceés de disparition. [ONLINE] Available at: http://
it is based on a true story, the dancer is a film about the life of a dancer. The main protagonist (sorry I forgot his name) was born in Ukraine. His family sacrificed themselves for him sadly the sacrifice ended up splitting the family . His mother gave everything to him and was lost when her son was gone.he made it to the top and within the dancing world was famous. Outside of the dancing world he is not well known. As dancing became a job with a routine and a pattern. It was a constraints he lost his motivation. He started to dance again for his pleasure. Being a good dancer does not make you rich. Like a lot of jobs it is ephemeric. It can only be practiced when you are young.
I met a dancer called Rodrick who used to be a dancer as a young man. We do not see old dancer, being 50 years old, he did not have any work with ballet anymore so he would work in a biscuits factory during the day and he would teach dance in the evening. He was an inspiration, by his humbleness, simplicity, his talent, and his passion for dance. Peter who used to do ballet as young boy felt steps coming back to him.
Guttenburgh allowed people to read, the internet allowed people to write.
There was a time when we would just have paper media or television to get our news. Nowdays, people get news from the internet from various places. There is no control anymore and people can say what they want.
New medias works for people because it allows freedom, for example, in Egypt or Tunisia, people all over the world knew there was a revolution because the locals would write on twitter blogs without being restricted. There is no barriers. In these countries, the medias are controlled by the state but people would go over the state.
On the other hand, politiciens can now use the very same media , twitter, facebook and have their own website to communicate directly with the population. There is no barriers or restrictions so they can say any lies.
The calomnies against Macron did not work in France because french people still read the paper and do not take notice of social network. These social network are american base, they are run by american and do not have such a grip on french people.
In my country, it is not as popular as here, people still watch television news and luckyly have not been influenced by the extreme party.
I am so relieved national front has not won !!!
Cycling is therapeutic and makes us all poetic..
Cycling along the road
The road is long
As the journey starts
The sun shines
The green fields
And the dark forests
Tell us that we could be anywhere in the world.
As we cycle. We go through sun spells.
Magical sun which lights up everything
Magical sun which warms our body
In his gold robe
Then come the black clouds
They look angry and furious
They are there to get us
These clouds cry everything they can,
determined to make us shiver.
Ranbert.
The title of the ballet is ghost, with dance, we all make up our own story depending on our experiences and other factors. It is an universal language, dance talks to everybody. Ghost is the story of death, (however, you may have a different story of the show). We are all born and we love , we work, we think, it is spooky but the story is that death is waiks amongst us, it is not far away, it is in us, it is not completely impossible. In a sense, it is part of us and one day, it will catch you and take you. It is a question of fatality. It is morbid but philosophical, a beautiful show. The percussion music makes it atmospheric.
these women are not afraid, they fight for their right, they are not cowed.
There was a tought provoking exhibition at the momo, so lucky to have the moma in OXford. the beauty is not in the art itself, fabric or paintings but in the idea behind it. She talks about slavery, the pottery was made by slave but the blacks did not appear on the pottery.Products are created by slaves working in factory and the slaves are completely absent from the pot. She wants to put the black people back on the porcelaine as they play a big role in the process. The pottery just display aristocrat and english country scenes. Our western countries are built on slave labour, they contributed but they are absent.
Having almost recovered, it is time to tell my story.
It was a dark cold wet and winter morning, Oxford was a sleep and I wish I had hibernate like everybody else. Riding a bike in Oxford is like `le parcours du combattant`, ie, it is an obstacle course, it feels like living in a third world country, the roads are covered of holes. On this morning, I fell of my bike, and woke up in the ambulance, having hit my head meant I was concussed. Fortunately, nothing was broken, just bruise everywhere. When there is such a chock, your body wants to sleep days and night , it is drained of energy. The last phase of the accident was suffering from vertigos. For your information, I enclosed a video how to overcome vertigo and it works, it worked for me.
After last year`s experience of the holidays I organised in Spain. Peter decided to organise the holidays this year, Last year, there was everything , rain, cold, storm, and we stayed with a stingy family who did not give us any food. This year, Peter organised a 5 star hotel in Mallorca and the food is delicious and abundant. For example there is champagne for breakfast and lobster in the evening..Mallorca is an experience, before,. I did not think I would ever come here because it did not appeal to me. Every places are interesting, Mallorca is the largest island of the `baleares island`, Its airport is the busiest airport in Spain, and it gets about 70% of his revenue from tourism. Basically, I feel like I am a revenue in Mallorca, the luxious hotel where I am staying is an industrie. Tourism consumes itself because it destroys itself because it loses its authenticity. There are prices for tourists and prices for the locals and it is not the same, I had a very nice coffee in a local coffee for much less than I would have had in a tourist cafe. Plus the menu of the tourist cafe was written in german and not in spanish so I did not like that. The tourists are mainly germans or english, I seem to see more german people than spanish people. The district where the hotel is situated is in a ghost district because it is not exactly the season yet so most shops are closed. We visit normal towns and touristic towns, normal towns have shops like bazar which sell everything and nothing (sort of english poundlands shop), and houses are normal. Touristic towns are very pretty, full of galeries d`art, property shops and sellers, who sell international news papers. I am starting to get used to the towns who are arranged in straight line, it is in square, a bit like in Mexico or United states. In terms of composition of population, there must be about 80% tourists (about 70% german) and 10% english and italien and about 20% spanish and hardly any french (0.01%). Maybe french people do not know where Mayorque is?? !!!
There is a fact that people worry when they see a culture imposing on their own culture. However in this case, in Mallorca, tourists bring money, revenue and jobs.. It is interesting to see how other societies or countries fonctionnent.
A part from that, I am having a great time, Mallorca is still a paradise for cyclist and it is just wonderful cycling in the island, smelling the pine trees in the sun, on quiet road. The government has invested in its road and it shows, it is a pleasure rolling on nice road. Sometimes, it is so quiet, you can hear the birds and the only thing you can hear is the sound of the wheels on the road... Nearly cycled 600 km in 6 days with 2 cols (2 passes). More we cycle, easier it gets, it is definetely easier to cycle with nothing to carry on the back. In the past, The plan was generally to go touring from places to places and we were loaded like donkeys. In Mallorque, as we stay in one place, we travel light. It looks like Mallorque is not very big , maybe the size of isle of white.
Thank you again Peter for having organised this holiday !
As my son says , 6 seasons with 6 episodes each, that makes 36 hours. Almost a working week ! How can we spend 36 hours passively in front of the computer screen (sorry I do not have any tv). As my son says, I could have used this 36 hours to learn how to play guitare. Anyway, it is another addictive serie, the story is complicated and it is not necessary to explain all details The scene takes place beginning of the century. Overall, the story is a typical case of a british aristocrate, who owns a big property but can not afford to maintain it so he marries a rich americal lady. The idea is that he gets the money and she gets the title. Like a lot of stately homes, Downtown Abbey was an hospital during the first world war, by hospital, we mean `maison de convalescence` more than an hospital where surgeons operate malads. The couple has 3 daughters and there is a multiple story lines to do with marriages. I like the way, we see life in the household, we can see the hierarchy in the domestics and the politics. We also see the hierarchy within the rich family. There is love, death, betrayal, behind stoicism, protagonists show emotions and are irationnal. Personnally, my favourite character is the old lady, because she is so stereotyped in a positive way, she is so british, pragmatic, down to earth, she does not have anything to do, she does not have an interesting life so the only thing she does is listening to gossips. Her reaction to disaster is often to say `we can not change what happened so let`s deal with what we got in the best way we can.`. As we continue through the series, the story repeats itself, the formula is that it is the rich people who help the poor people. It is an historic testimony, it is a time when the aristocrates would not question their priviledges and their position of power. For example, Marie is happy to be served and to give orders always without thinking of her maids. However, the domestic start to question their position in society. For example, Daisy educates herself and wants to escape from her slavery condition. The domestics have no life and live to serve the rich people. Society was hypocrits, in the sense that it imposes strict rules such as no sex before mariage, no children should be born outside of mariage. Having sexual relations before mariage are useful as they allow you to experience your partner and helps you understand him more. It is best to identify problems before the mariage than after. In the film, Edith is suffering because she can not expose her real daughter to the world, whereas Marie does not care and disobey the rules. Marie gets away with her behaviour because she is the oldest daughter and she is the most confident person in the family. (It is a rational society with strict rules that want to impose itself on irrational hujan beings). For example, the society imposes that the workplace requires a butler and a subutler to do a certain work, the hierarchy in the kitchen requires 20 poeple but there are only 10 people. C`est une societe rationelle qui impose sur des etres humains irrationnelles ). The english society is changing and the aristocratie declines, we do not need lords and baroness anymore, the domestics get educated and want to do other jobs. Who is dependant on who? and who has control ? sometimes, it is the servants?
Stereotyping can be useful because it helps people make sense of cultures that are unfamiliar to them.
This essay will analyse whether or not stereotyping can be useful to people in understanding other cultures. First I am going to put the positive case for stereotyping and secondly I will examine the negative case for stereotyping.
There are many definitions for a stereotype, (Open University, 2014, p.99) I have paraphrased it in the following way. A stereotype is a fixed and overgeneralised impression, idea or template that someone has about another or their own culture, usually very simplified.
First one of the benefits of stereotypes is that they help us to understand a culture by removing complexity, by categorising people into groups and not thinking about them as individuals.
“Stereotypes offer a security blanket to which one can retreat from complexity.”(Emig, 2000)
Human beings constantly categorise people and objects around them in order to better understand them.
Auto-stereotypes help to re-inforce an identity and feeling of group belonging, which is the third stage in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. (Maslow, 1970)
Media texts use highly symbolised characters to tell moral stories, the characters are over exaggerated, the evil person is big and wears black for example the queen in Snow White. The same applies for stereotypes, where over generalisation helps us to separate out the group we are learning about from the population in general. It helps to establish the boundary between different groups by exaggerating the differences in the group. For example there is the common stereotype of the well dressed Englishman that stands in an orderly queue. This is a positive generalisation that helps to define an Englishman as different from other Europeans.
Stereotypes can oversimplify reality, and are difficult to change. They do not represent reality. For example the stereotype of the thrifty Scotsman, is a very old idea (it can be seen in literature from the 18th century) and it is troublesome to remove.
Even positive stereotypes can be negative, for example the positive stereotype of the black sportsperson, imposes a stress on young back people to perform well in sports, rather than academic pursuits.
Preconceived ideas about accents can have financial effects for companies selling goods
“56% of Britons stating that they are more inclined to listen to a special offer or promotion it comes from a voice that they find appealing” (Open University, 2014c, p.113).
Queens English is the best thought of English accent because it portrays an educated person of good manners. For a non-English speaker this accent is a standard accent and having a standard accent helps us to understand the culture, and learn or understand the language. If someone learns English using a standard accent they will be understood easily everywhere in the UK. However if they learn English with a Glasgow accent, and they travel to London, they may not be understood.
Pre-judging people based on their race before actually knowing them, is a hetero-stereotype. In everyday encounters this may not be a problem however it causes injustice, for example as stated in the Guardian a higher proportion of black people end up in prison than would be expected from the percentage of black people in the general population because they are pre-judged as criminals.
“Black prisoners make up 15% of the prisoner population and this compares with 2.2% of the general population” (Guardian, 2011)
An auto-stereotype, where a person has an idea of a stereotype about themselves could be helpful in changing them or making them aware of a negative aspect of their culture. Being French I have the auto-stereotype of over reacting emotionally to a situation. Being aware of this I can perhaps, modify my behaviour to counter this.
In some cultures, gender stereotypes that exist are probably truer to reality than other cultural stereotypes we have discussed. For example, in France we have the ‘mere au foyer’ (housewife) stereotype and it is clear that this idea is reflected in actuality. Given these gender stereotypes they can help us to understand the roles of people we meet in a foreign culture.
To conclude, Stereotypes are useful for humanity as they help us to define our identity and to understand foreign and our own cultures. So stereotypes are not necessarily a bad thing, however they are harmful when we use the stereotype to make a negative judgment about a person or race.
Bibliography
The Open University, Book 2, 2014a, p.99
Emig 2000 p.4, cited in The Open University, Book 2, 2014b, p.100
Maslow, A. 1970. Motivation and personality (2nd ed.). New York: Harper & Row
The Open University, Book 2, 2014c p.113
The Guardian, 11th October 2011,
If you talk to a man in a language he understands,
that goes to his head 
If you talk to him in his own language,
that goes to his
heart 
Quote from Nelson Mandela
Stereotyping can be useful because it helps people make sense of cultures that are unfamiliar to them.
Vocabulary:
- Stereotype
- essentialism
- auto-stereotype
- hetero-stereotype
- simplification / over simplification
- generalisation / over generalisation
- (block 2, unit 9 / unit 7 and unit 9)
Advantages of stereotype
- Provide a template, a structure easy to understand.
- Make complex concepts easier to understand
- They make our world easier to cope with
- Help distinguishing us from other group
- Help developping identity
- solidarity within a group
Disadvantages of stereotype
- They can be wrong and misleading
- slow to change
- Hard to get rid of
- Lead to prejudice
- Discrimination
- Distort reality
View from the chalet....
View from the breakfast table...
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We went for a walk to see a castle...
Going on holidays is crucial because it is a way to unwind, we all have stressy lif and juggle with different worries. It is so nice to be somewhere different and to think about something else. Holidays allows time with the family, bond with the family. Work , university divide us and it is primordial to do activities together to re-discover each other. It is essential to get rid of bad habits. Changing the routine gives us a chance to get rid of bad habit, like snaking , we have a enforced routine which shape our day differently. Not only it is a way to recharge batteries but also to discover new countryside. Living in the suburb of Oxford, there is no view of mountain from my house, we can not hear the birds over the traffic noise and we can not see the stars because of the light pollution. We meet new people, speak another language and get into a different culture. Food is more delicious and more varied than at home because it is cooked by a chef who has time to mix all different ingredients.
A thought provoking documentary, People are being guinea pigs on the Marshall`s island for nuclear experiences. How awful ! As Camus says, `nous sommes toujours libre aux depens de quelqu`un`. My freedom is someone else prison, someone else restriction. When I enjoy my chocolate bread in the morning, somewhere in the world has being working like a slave to produce the cacao.Let`s go back to John Pilger, he explains that the US has a number of missiles pointing at China ready to be launched. There are few reasons for this matter.
Looking at history, Japon is only allowed to have a self defence army, this has been established after the second world war.
Also, the missiles are conveniently placed just in case, the USA has a war with China. (a finir...)
I live in Oxford and my first impressionis that it is a very english town.The town center contains english colleges, a covered market, english shops, museums. However, a closer look reveals that many other cultures are also present. If we go to a district called cowley rd, there are plenty of shops who offer food from all over the world. There is also a synagogue & a mosque. Should an immigrant learn the language of the host country? Should the immigrant obey the laws to the host country? Sometimes, a French person may feel it is more appropriate to refer to themselves as French, sometimes she might identify more strongly with their local area, is the north west or south west. Nation can refer to a wider community of people who share common beliefs customs language geographical location and history. As Terry Pratchett says 'one person is nothing. Two people are a nation '.
belonging to a nation means being part in a community having a home and having emotional identification with the history and the geographie of the country. It's comfortinng to share with fellow nationals the same language , the same culture customs and values.
however we also act as informal ambassador for the nation.
La famille belier is a film about a deaf and dumb mother and father and son who live with their daughter who is not dumb and deaf. They create a community together in their family, the daughter is the interlocutor between the world and her family as she translates everything for them. The problem arises when she realises she can sing and decides to leave home. There is a relationship between language and community because within the family they have a certain way of communicating which is unique to them. In the film, the man would have liked to be a politician and the lady a top model, they did not succeed because of their handicap. Luckily, they inherited of the farm and were able to work and live without speaking to anybody and far from the world. In contrast, their daughter achieves her dream. The parents want to bury their child, they need her, but they have not got the right to do so. Everybody has their own life and have to follow their path. The song in the film is touching , it is the song by Michel Sardou . Je vole.. The question is will she leave home or not?
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It is a book I like to read all over again, even as an adult. The film is a must, it is an animation and we can take it in two ways. The moral is that we are all little prince when we are a child and when we grow up . Our little prince dies, But our little prince has not died, we still throw temper trantrums but we also laugh like children, My little prince is on me when I am on my bike because I feel like a child, looking at the yellow leaves dancing and singing in the wind.,looking at the misty morning and the dark evening. It is nice to scream when we go down hill... My little prince is with me when I am in the snow... and you? when do you feel your little prince is with you??
Is it burried under numbers? profit? and serious matters?
I am going to explain the terms used in the statement “Learning a foreign language gives you a unique insight into the cultures of the people who speak this language.” I will then give my opinion on whether I agree or disagree.
First, what is language? Language is communication, spoken (verbal), written, gestures (kinesics), pictures etc. Language changes over time, and has a history, for example words fall from fashion, like wireless is replaced by radio (I thought of grand-pere there as he would say wireless , not radio...). Language is a symbolic system which enables us to exchange ideas and concepts. We cannot think without a language. Languages exist in relation to other languages also, from my own experience I am a native French speaker, but I have lived in the UK for many years and speak English, and Spanish. There are many French words in English, mostly because of William the Conqueror, such as cul-de-sac, and I find this mixing of language very interesting. I find Spanish easy to learn because they have the same historical roots and therefore the same morpho-syntax.
A Foreign language is not a language we normally use to communicate. Spoken in a country other than our own. For example English and Spanish are foreign languages for me.
There are different levels of learning. Beginners and advanced, nobody is equally competent in reading, listening writing and speaking apart from native speakers. These competences differ because the way we learn. Passing an exam in a foreign language does not mean one is fully competent in the foreign language. Learning is an open ended term. Learning starts with `bonjour` and finishes with `Voltaire`, there is no end-point to it. I know some English, but I have not finished, there is always more to learn.
A unique insight would be a vision of something that is given to a single person. In this context insight means an understanding. I have a unique insight into my husband’s beliefs as no one else knows him like I do.
Culture is a wide and subjective term. It covers aspects of tradition, customs, beliefs and language, but can include cooking, costume, art and history. Culture changes with time, due to influences from outside like immigration, and technology, such as television influencing national celebrations. For example, Halloween is an Americanism that has been imported into France (Halloween did not use to exist in my time in France but it appears that french people have adopted the idea, maybe because it involves selling). Culture is seen as loosely country based, so we can talk about ‘French’ culture, or Mediterranean or African culture.
The ‘people’ in the statement are the inhabitants of a country.
Having defined the items above I would like to say that I do not really agree with the statement. I agree with its sentiment which is that it is a positive action to learn a foreign language, and that will help understand the culture of the people who speak it. However, taking the statement literally. The phrase ‘People who speak this language’ could refer to many different communities, for example some of them speak the language as a second language, such as Indian people who speak English, but also some of them may speak the target language as a first language but be of a different culture to the target language, such as Tunisians, who speak French as result of history. These people may all have many different cultures.
I would like to take the example of an English person, who learns French in order to go on holiday in Tunisia. They are not going to get a unique insight into Tunisian culture. One of the reasons for this is that the language learning materials present a stereotypic image of a French speaker, coming from France with a French culture. Whereas French is spoken in many different countries with very diverse cultures, such as Vietnam.
Also the term ‘unique’ does not work in this instance, as there are hundreds of people learning Spanish from the OU textbooks, the insights they have are not unique but shared amongst the set of students.
Enough of Marine le Pen, enough of Trump , enough of Brexit..
It is time to think about something different, and I still think the Moma museum in Oxford is the best museum because it makes us think... Artists may not be good at art but they are good at wafling. I like their wafles, it is more philosophical than art.. the idea of the exhibit is not to close between exhibits so they expose arts from different artists, arts that they own in their collection and they exhibit it at the museum.
At the start of the visit, there is a circle in straw, we have to cross it as it is the threshold and the entrance to another world... there is a notepad from Yoko Uno and the idea is that people take a page with them so art is distributed amongst people. The idea is not to give value to the original art (like we do with Mona Lisa of Leonardo de Vinci), but to give value to the art which is in that moment. We say , the art is not in the past, is it present. Art is a combination of objects and observers, so we could say a piece of art which was created hundreds years ago. The person who observed it hundreds years ago , observed it in a certain way. The person who observed the painting, may be part of the family of Mona Lisa, he would give it emotion, history, he would bring feelings ,experiences. So art is a combination of an object and the observer of the object at the certain time. Historically, this person gave value to that art. Hundred years later, when a modern day observer with a mobile phone, and a laptop observes Mona Lisa. He sees it as an icone, he already saw it on books , website and they see it with a different emotion. It brings it different to it, in fact, they also bring a bit of history, he knows it is valuable, and it is worth a lot of money. Everybody says, it is special so one thinks it must be special. The art which is a combination of the object and the observer is different. When we look at Yoko Uno `s art, she says rip off the page and take the page with you. After 250 people have seen it , it will not exist any more, it will not be in its original form but it will exist because you have a piece of paper. The art which is the piece of paper and you, you form one piece of unique art with your piece of paper and we can not give any value to the paper that use to be on the wall because it does not exist anymore. It is an examination of what is art and where is the value ?
In contrast to it, ephemere piece of art, inside the museum, there was a vase in a glass cage which was the most expensive piece of art owned by Moma (a pan with musles by .. I do not remember by who..). The fact, it was expensive, it was inside a box , that you could not touch it, that it was put on a pedestal and that it was given monetary value, the presentation made it respected. We are told it is the most expensive item, so we observe it in a different way. Is it this piece of art the same ? ie. relationship object / observer? We can not touch it, we are remote from it. we look at it as something divine, we look at it with different eyes, as it is worth a lot, we look for something special.
In different arts, like a music concert, a musician plays his music at different venues, but each time, the audience is different so the art is the performer and the audience. Performers always say it is a unique performance tonight with different public. So the art it takes place or it exist with the performer (the object) the audience and in a certain time at a certain place.
Art is not just the object, or just the performer, it is the composition of time , place, object, observer.
Taking the meta context for this exhibition the art which is in the vault of the museum hidden away , that only becomes art when it is actually exposed in the museum. If we say the Moma museum owns 100 objects ( it is approximatif, I do not know how much they own...) and 99 of them are hidden, and one of them is exhibited , how many pieces of arts are there ? As art which is not exhibited is not art...
A singer who does not sing, is not a singer.. an actor who does not act is not an actor.
A picture that is not observed is not a picture.
This is what the exhibition is about...
Interessant , n`est-ce pas???
Enough wafle, time to write my dissertation...
The most expensive item of the Moma Museum
Yoko Uno`s art...
After reading in the paper `le monde ` about protectionisme and Trump. As we would say in french, it is the `monde a l`envers`. It is the fascistes who are for protectionism, we would believe that they promote capitalism and mondialisation but the do not . In fact, Trump speaks like Bernie Sanders. The idea of mondialisation was to produce items in a more efficient way , in the country which is more efficient to produce. However,. it ended it up by having products made in countries where workers are most exploited. So they would get the work because they are paid less. Not all countries play by the same rules, or on the same level playing field. Protectionisme can benefit the workers in a country but it creates a tarif war, it escalates, and countries make more and more tax on the goods they import, so it becomes difficult to trade between countries. Does it matter?
Can we trust Donald Trump?
He refused his 400 000 dollars salary from the maison blanche?
Probably, because he does not want the government to know about his income as he does not pay taxes...
What about his family? He says he is not going to give them a job in the maison blanche, it is a pity, his daughter would be a perfect `manucure `ministre!! I also would not question his marriage, of course, it is the `grand amour` with his wife, and she is with him for love, not for his big wallet.
What about his team? Steve Bannon is a xenophobic, racist who would scare Adolf Hitler...
Qu`est-ce que la democratie?
Pouvons-nous faire confiance au peuple?Pouvons-nous leur faire confiance de prendre les bonnes decisions?Le peuple ne lit pas, ne s`instruit pas et ne fait que croire les balivernes d`un demagogue,C`est de la demogagie et non de la politique, c`est l`arrogance qui gagne.Quand les gens perdent leur travail, quand les gens ont peur, qu`ils ne se sentent pas en securite, ils ne pensent plus logiquement et rationnellement...Ils se cherchent un bouc emissaire et croient en ces calomnies mensongeres contre les etrangers. Les ennemis du peuple , ce ne sont pas les pauvres et les demunis, ce sont ces grands capitalistes qui ne paient pas leurs impots, ces riches entrepreneurs qui s`echappent dans les paradis fiscaux. Cet ete, j`avais fait un cauchemar que Boris Johnson serait president, que l`Angleterre partirait de l`Europe et que Trump serait elu president des Etats Unis.
Il faut demeurer positif quelque soit la situation,
Il faut sortir de ce cauchemar et construire demain.
Alors construisons, et luttons tous les jours pour gagner notre pain.
Luttons ! Il faut se constituer un avenir !
(Il faut penser a soi, quand on pense a soi, on pense aux autres)
Comme dans l`histoire rhinoceros de Ionesco Il faut continuer a combattre et ne pas capituler !..
Benefits of learning another language:
It is not language skills alone that improve during visits abroad.
Through stays abroad, , like China, or visits to Pape`s house or going to Madeira, We gain an in-depth knowledge of chineese or french culture and society.We successfully adjust to foreign customs. That we can switch between languages and culture shows flexibility, because we are aware of cultural differences and therefore act appropriately. Furthermore, we are able to successfully learn new concepts and languages by transferring our previous knowledge to a new concept, for example, when using our french, it helps us with spanish. For example, Pierre, made connection with different languages all the time, mama in chinese, and maman in french ...These are basic , transferable skills that can be extremely useful even in working environments where languages do not play a central role.
Understanding others makes cultural exchanges and contacts easier, because we are aware that common feelings, such as respect, may be expressed differently in other cultures.
These are basic, transferable skills that can be extremely useful even in working environments where languages do not play a central role.
Language is a useful tool for communication and social interaction.
Personnally, I like my family`s `can-do` attitude to linguistic challenges (and other challenges, sportives, maths, political,etc...). I like the way, we are not to concerned about making mistakes or having a limited vocabulary.
Even very limited vocabulary skills can be useful for communicating and building relationship.
It is difficult to be equally proficient in every skills (speaking, reading, listening, writing), and the proficiency may change overtime, it depends about different practice.
The communication demands of an adult are far more complex and different than those of a child. No two-year old child is expected to make a doctor`s appointment, write an essay or read the daily newspaper.
Growing up with 2 or more languages:
Overall, both of my children were brought up in England, therefore english is the language outside the home. At home, we speak french at home. As I always spoke french to my children, at a young age, my children thought I did not understand or spoke english. So when we would interact with english people, and it would happen that people would speak english to me, straight away, my son would turn to me and translate me what was being said into french to make sure I understand and I am not left out (just a little true story which I find amusing...). They only did that for a while and they soon understood that I could speak and understand english. Personnally, I decided to raise my children with more than one language to share and pass on my cultural heritage and to enable them to communicate with family members who speak french.
In our family, we would allow code switching, ie. switching between 2 languages in a conversation, but I would not allow code-mixing, ie. mixing 2 langages in one sentence.
Over the years, my family has developed a number of our words that are only used and understood by our family members. For example, we would say `the kee` when refering to dried fruits.
Spolsky 1998
A useful way of classifying social situations is to analyse them into 3 defining characteristics, place, role-relationship and topic. These make a set of typical domains (home - work - socialisation).
Basically, Spolsky wants to say that depending where we are, we are exposed to different language, different topics, different vocabulary, we choose a different register of language.
I inspired myself from Pierre learning mandarin, it is fascinating learning a new language with such a different pattern and philosophy. Having learnt european language, we use different strategies for understanding what is said to us. We refer to our own culture, for example, when looking at a menu in a foreign language, we assume, the starters are on the top of the page and the desert at the bottom. As in our culture, we eat a starter and we finish our meal with a dessert. However, in China, it is different, Chineese do not traditionally finish their meal with something sweet so the message at the bottom of the menu is for stir fried side dishes. Segmentation is challenging in mandarin as each picture, means something different depending of the context. As they do not use the same alphabet or even, they do not use punctuation. It is difficult to break up sentences into individual words. This process is called segmentation and is difficult in a foreign language.
Vocabulary, words are a building blocks of a language, When children learn to talk, they start to learn individual words, later, they learn how to construct sentences with verbs. Even for adults, words are essential when learning a foreign language, you may be able to communicate with very poor grammaire and just necessary words.
Language is linked to culture, In Europe. Where does the following expression come from ? `gagner sa croute`, or `ganarse el pan` or `to earn your daily bread`. (earning his crust). Bread has been a staple food in Europe for a number of years so it is not a surprise that there is a link between earning a living and purchasing bread. In mandarin, a member of a family is represented by `une bouche`, a mouth because during the time of famine, a member of a family would be another mouth to feed. In mandarin, the picture of a woman is a woman pregnant, because in chineese culture, a woman is a person who has babies.
Hola, que tal? Me llamo Christine Marshall y vivo en Oxford.
Oxford es una ciudad muy antigua y muy importante, es tambien muy bonita. Es el hogar de los colegios de la universidad de Oxford. Esta situada en el sureste del pais, cerca de la capital de Inglaterra , Londres. Oxford tiene muchos museos de fama internacional como el museo Ashmolean que fue el primer museo publico de Gran Bretana. Comenzo acogiendo la colecciones de especimenes naturales y curiosidades procedentes de todos los rincones del mundo, donados a la universidad de Oxford por el anticuario Elias Ashmole. Es un lugar recomendado en tu visita a Oxford , que puede compaginar con la visita al museo de historia natural y al museo Pitt Rivers. Otras lugar de interes es el museo Moma que es un museo de arte moderno y es muy interesante. Oxford no es solo un ciudad academica, sino construye el coche , the `mini` y podrian visitarla. En general, los turistas van a visitar los colegios de universidad porque son una attracion especial, son los colegios mas bonitos del mundo. Les aconsejo caminar en el centro de la ciudad porque las calles son muy lindas. Hay que visitar el Colegio de Christ Church, ya que es mas viejo que los otros. De hecho, esta cerca del rio, es Tamesis es muy agradable caminar cerca del rio y mirar a la gente que en los barcos.
Hay que ir a Oxford durante la feria de st Giles. Esta semana, la ciudad se llena de color y musica para celebrar su feria anual. La feria comienza el primer de Septiembre a las ocho durante dos dias solamente.
Por favor , consulte nuestro sitio que le mostrara todos los datos sobre la ciudad y lugares que quieren visitar. Para ello, vaya a nuestro mapa de la ciudad.Tambien encontrara numerosas fotografia de colegios de la universidad y sitios de interes turistico.
En forma adicional, si tiene alguna pregunta, o consulta la informacion en nuestra pagina.
Normalmente, estamos disponible todo el dia, pero , preferiblemente, nos pueden telefonar en la tarde despues de la cinco y media de la noche, mi numero de telefono es .....
o si desea puede escribir un correo electronico
christine.marshall@gmail.com (@ : arroba)
Nos encateria ver los pronto.
Hasta entonces
Christine y todo la equipa.
Impossible de vous raconter l`histoire en détail de la série Poldark. En un mot, l`histoire se passe dans le sud-ouest de l`Angleterre, dans une jolie région qui s`appelle les Cornouailles. Leurs vêtements me font penser que c`est a la fin du XVIII ème siècle. C`est l`amour sous toutes ses formes, l`amour d`une mère pour son enfant, l`amour fou entre deux amants, l`amour calculé. L`amour d`un homme qui peut aimer plusieurs femmes et d`une femme qui peut aimer plusieurs hommes, comme disait Sartres, l`homme est irrationnel. Il existe l`amour jaloux, fou, passionné, ambitieux, aventureux. Par amour ambitieux, je pense à un personnage de l`histoire qui s`appelle George, c`est homme est ignoble. Il aime une femme qui s`appelle Elisabeth pour lui-même. Cela me fait penser à l`amour entre Julien Sorel et Mme de Rênal de Stendhal. Il vit l`amour comme une bataille, c`est un challenge, cela lui donne un sens de victoire. C`est un égocentrique qui ne pense qu` à lui, c`est avant tout l`orgueil qui le pousse à agir ainsi. Il veut aussi séduire cette femme Elisabeth car il n`aime pas Ross (le personnage principal du roman). Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connait pas.. (a finir)
This is a big word, intercultural encounters, it is the new concept I learnt. An intercultural encounter is a misunderstanding between 2 cultures. Being french, living in England it happens to me all the time. The example below is based on a true story, but my feelings have been exaggerated to fit the intercultural encounter, this is something I tell my students to do all the time and I do it myself.
I am French but I had lived in England for a long time with my husband who is English. I learn Spanish for my pleasure as I like languages. For this assignment, I am going to talk about my trip to Spain with my husband. The idea was to stay with a Spanish family to be embedded in the culture and the language. The plan was to have lessons in the morning, we would wake up early and make sure we are in the classroom on time. However, to our surprise, every day, the teacher would be about 15 min late and when he arrived, he would say just relax and talk Spanish with each other. He would then go and do some copies for the lessons. He did not give the same importance to being punctual. I tried to change the situation by saying to the man, I will see you tomorrow at 9 o` clock. Also, at the end of the lesson, I will give visual clues by looking at my watch and I would start to pack my bag. On the other hand, the lesson would continue beyond 1pm, ie. the time we are supposed to finish. His attitude to teaching was completely different. My expectations were that lessons would be lessons with a plan, and would be structured. However, it was more of a spontaneous conversation.
I was disappointed to find that the generalisation that the Spanish people are always late was in fact true. In this encounter it was confirmed. It was frustrating for me that the lessons did not take place on time, and also that I was unable to communicate my frustration. The problem is that I could not influence the teacher by my visual hints.
The teacher was in his own environment, in his own house, in his own country, in his own element and was obviously comfortable working in this way and could not see any problem or any reason to change. He did not seem to understand my visual clues. Maybe, he felt there was a parent – child or teacher – student relationship where he felt he could set the rule.
Surely, the ritual for the day is the same, as we have breakfast, lessons, break, lunch, free time in the afternoon. The ritual of teaching is the same, there is a teacher , there are tables, chairs, books, the environment is the same, we are both comfortable with our roles of student and teacher and this is shared in both cultures. In this sense, there is no culture shock, I am going to a class to be taught Spanish. What is different is this question of importance of punctuality. The role that time plays in the beginning and end of each activity. My expectations are that these things happen at a certain time.
Later on, I discussed this encounter with a Spanish person who told me that I should have been explicit in what I wanted and the man would not have been upset, rather than trying to be polite.
Upon reflection, I should have expected my lessons to be flexible in duration as it is a generalisation of stereotype of Latin attitude. If I would have had a more relaxed attitude to my plan I could have enjoyed my stay more. I should have adapted to the Spanish culture but there are things that have to be negotiated, maybe it would have been nice to negotiate this aspect with the family. Thinking forward, in the future, I will be more flexible and less rigid in my planning. The teacher could have shown more intercultural competence as he knew he was teaching a non Spanish speaker. As he teaches all the time, he should be aware that students from other cultures might not have the same attitude to time keeping.
Here we are again...
On the way to Stratford triathlon...
Is it courage ? Is it madness?
It is 6 o clock in the morning and the town is asleep. It feels cold and dump as the sun hasn't risen?
I keep asking myself have I trained to much? Have I been silly? I am not as self disciplined as Peter. I am the crazy one who works to much. I give all of myself. In a competition we all work together but we are also competitors.
What is important it's the journey not the destination. It was fun training and this is what I want to remember.
I see it as life. We don't live for the end of our journey. We live for the journey, we must not wait the clock is ticking let 's live now! Let 's have fun!lets go in the competition!
Here we are again...
On the way to Stratford triathlon...
Is it courage ? Is it madness?
It is 6 o clock in the morning and the town is asleep. It feels cold and dump as the sun hasn't risen?
I keep asking myself have I trained to much? Have I been silly? I am not as self disciplined as Peter. I am the crazy one who works to much. I give all of myself. In a competition we all work together but we are also competitors.
What is important it's the journey not the destination. It was fun training and this is what I want to remember.
I see it as life. We don't live for the end of our journey. We live for the journey, we must not wait the clock is ticking let 's live now! Let 's have fun!lets go in the competition!
24th - 25th of September 2016
A big bravo for our runners Peter, Matthieu and Beckie who completed this challenge. Overall, Peter came third in the over 50s vet, Matthieu came 4th in the over 20s and Beckie came 5th in the over 20s. Peter said that he thought he had broken his lungs. As a runner, I can understand the feeling, however, I did not do the competition as I did not do enough training, and doing it would mean being injured again, however, I did some stretching in the morning and went for a long cycle ride in the afternoon. Cycling through the A40 was easy as I had the wind behind, I thought I was going to fly. Here are some photos below.
There is a close link between language and culture. To my opinion, culture is about beliefs, traditions, customs and language. Culture embraces so many concepts, we could say that gastronomie, history, arts, religion, identity, ethnicity, are all parts of culture. However, culture is something that fils my heart, it is part of me, it is irrationnal. (you may not agree with me). Following different philosophers as below:
`Culture consists of patterns, expicit and implicit, of and for behaviour acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituing the distinctive achievements of human groups. ` Kroeber and Kluchohn cited in Spencer-~Oatey 2012, p2)
`culture is the programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another` Hofstede, cited in Spencer-Oatey 2012 p2
`Culture is a fuzzy set of basic assumptions and values, orientations to life, beliefs, policies, procedures and behavioural conventions that are shared by a group of people, and that influence (but do not determine) each member`s behaviour and her interpretations of the meaning of other people`s behaviour. Spencer-Oatey 2012, p2
All three definitons agree that human behaviour is an important aspect of culture. Does culture determine human behaviour or not? It is not clear, it is impossible to give a unique definition of culture, culture is different according to each individuals.
Culture and identity:
What are the factors that identify your identity, everybody will have a different list, some people may talk about their nationality, age, family, gender, religion, occupation, langage, place of birth, favourite food, clothes, history of your country, your history, your emotions, or your physical appearance.
How do I define my cultural identity?
I am french by origin, parisienne exactly and have lived in the UK for a number of years. Even if I spend all my life abroad, I will always feel french. I am married to an englishman and have 2 sons so I am also a mother. I always think of myself as french, I like to chat with my french friends, I keep up with the fench news and buy the paper `le monde`. I like to eat french food and I support my city. I am very proud of my city, my grandfather (father`s father) was a civil engineer for the `metro`. During the war with Algeria, my father was a meteorologist, however, his true qualification was chemistry and he became an engineer in chemistry . My mother was an `avocate`, I was proud of her, she had charisma and knew how to talk in court. Although, I come from a christian family, I am a humanist. I have always been interested in politics, with time, my views have become less radical. I have a number of interests, as a humanist, I follow the philosophie `un esprit sain dans un corps sain`. I believe it is as important to do sports as to learn and think and work your brain. Although, my grand parents (mother`s parents) lived in Paris, they were spanish, so I was also influenced by spanish culture. Now, I live in between different cultures and I am grateful that I have benefited from the best of these worlds.
There is a number of definitions for these terms, you may have a different definition from me and it is fine, we are all individuals , as the sophistes would say in the antiques time, we all have our verity. We all see life through different eyes. So what is language? For me, language is a code that we use to communicate, it could be effected through our senses, sounds, gestures, hearing, touching and vision, by vision, we would include writing and pictures , etc... You can communicate with another person, with a crowd, with an animal, or with yourself. You need a language to talk to yourself. You need a common language to exchange ideas or feelings or messages. When learning their first language, children learn by contrast, We do not know the meaning of one word until we can contrast it with another word. For example, we do not understand the meaning of slow, until we understand fast. Each culture have different concept. It is difficult to explain a concept that does not exist in another culture. For example, the inuits have about 10 words for different snows.... Teaching colours to blind people , to people who never saw colours is a challenge. From experience, teaching holidays to prisonners is also a challenge, because they may not have had this experience. Each language has their own sounds, for example, in french , we have the `u` and `ou` sounds. The english have their `r` sounds or `th` sounds, the spanish have the jota.. etc... Some research say that newborn babies learn sounds before birth just by listening to their mother`s voice.
We communicate with our accents, our accent is our identity. The accent in our mother tongue determines who we are, where we are from and where we have been, it is something we are not conscious of. We can adapt our accents and we do , for example, when we go to a job interview.
The clothes we wear are not just to keep us warm but also to communicate information about ourselves to others. For example, we dress differently depending on our activities, and our relationship with others. For example, when teaching, I wear professional clothes and when going to the gym I wear sports clothes. The way I dress has an impact on my relationship with others, for example. when teaching teenagers, I do not dress as a teenager because I do not wish to be equal with them, my aim is to show authority so I dress more formal.
We communicate with pictures, for example, mandarin is a good example as they use picture to communicate. At the origin, mandarin would represent a tree if they want to talk about a tree. They would have different symboles for different concepts, for example, a man would be represented as a person with a tool working in a field. A woman would be big because she would be pregnant. The language is cultural as it says, what is a woman ? it is someone who makes babies. The language is a reflection of society. Language changes and adapts as the society in which it is used changes and develops. We need to have the language to talk about new concepts and invention. Before, we would talk about `wireless`. now we talk about podcasts or radio en direct...
What is culture?
Language is closely linked to culture, culture could not exist without language. A good example of culture is greetings. When we meet another member of another culture, we need to understand their norms to address them at appropriate levels of formality. For example , french people kiss each other when they greet each other, this customs are alien to chinese people. Mediterranean people are tactile and this may be difficult for other cultures.
So what is culture?
Culture is about tradition,customs, language, gastronomie, ethnicity or race, history, religion, etc... It is a personal answer and your answer may be different from mine. (a continuer...)
It happens that we went camping this week-end, we chose the right time as Satuday night was torrential rain.. Luckyly our tent was dry but we were wet and cold. We soon warmed up and had fun playing scrable and uno. It is so nice to spend time as a family.
The noise of the rain taping on the tent reminded me of camping in the past.
As we say, in France, apres la pluie , le beau temps.. and indeed, the next day was beautiful and we walked all over the New Forest, walked on the shingles by the sea (and iti is hard work), Hurst castle looks small on the outside but it is huge inside, covering a number of eras, from Henry VIII to the 2nd world war.
Below some photos...
France's top court suspends burkini ban in French Riviera town..
I am not proud of France wanting to ban burkini as it is a type of racism, although we can understand people are still choqued by what happened on the 14th of July. Not allowing burkini is a rejection of muslims culture. It is nothing to do with woman`s right, it is about human`s right. I am for burkini as it allows woman to exercise despite their relitgion. This would not happen in England because there is more tolerance (or as Peter says, english people are use to wrap up on beaches)... It is a betrayal of securalism, if we want to be secular, we can ban all religions or accept all religions. by banning burkini, we corrupt securalism, we mistake religion for terrorism. When we want to ban the muslim state, we ban religion, it is wrong..We damage the idea of securalism, France is laique, so we should not have any religion`s laws. So religions should not have any values in law. The belief of citizens is private and neither the police or the law should interfere. For example our national day does not include religion, there is no intersection between the pope and the state and we are fighting to separate law and religion. Religion tries constantly to invade the state.
Being french, I look at William Morris in a different way than english people do. I understand that they see William Morris as part of their culture because he is part of their history, he is everywhere on tea towels, estate house like Leominster, or Wolverhampton ``s house (Wightwick Manor.. not sure about the spelling ..).
William Morris is famouse for mass production and manufacturing of art, he is famous for reproducing art ? Is it art? There is a contradiction in the fact that art should be unique.. What is art? The value of art goes with its singularity (Andy Warool is the same, William Morris is a precursor of Andy Warool).
I like the idea he wanted to bring nature and pleasant design into people`s home, it is a reaction to the industrial revolution. Above all, he was a religious man who wanted to bring heaven on earth. His socialism had a religious motif and is situated in relation with a religious surrounding, for example, he wanted to create a paradise on earth. Everybody is, in unique situation and exists within his tme, he had a place in history, he was part of a movement, Engels, Max... The fact he was an educated man, he was litterate , he could read and write and had an education means that from the start, he was able to express his ideas and he was listened to. It does not mean he was the only socialist of his time (Pierre told me however, that Marx comes from a poor background and as Marx would study at the british library, he was so poor , he was starving).
I was impressed by the volume of work he completed, he was a busy man, tapistry take a long time and he did it, all the printed plates and leaves must have taken a long time.. One of his innovation was copying, he would go to a church and copy a leaf of a stained glass window. His idea was not to copy the whole scene, just a detail that he can use in his design. He would just copy elements from a paintings or window and he would put this element into a reproduction process. For example, when we see a vigne, we think it is a vigne but it is the same plate that he copies many times. He inspired himself from the arabic art.
Was he a real socialist? In his way, probably? Did he care for his employees because he wanted to make profit ? Maybe not? A bit like ~~~~Bournville, Bournville was not an artist, Bournville created good conditions to his staff for profit, happy people work better...
William Morris was an artist, he created art to make people happy... the motivation of artist is to make people happy or to communicate an idea, they do not set up to make money. On the other hand , Bournville made chocolate because he could sell it...
He was avant garde in his manner in the sense that he would accept that his wife has a lover and lives with her lover (Rosetti), He went to Islande to learn icelandique to be be able to translate some of the sargas (stories)..
This is the box that I made, I carefully selected the paper as it was a scene I could identify. The scene takes place at the house in Kemlscott Manor in june as the strawberries come out, William Morris would be seating in his garden and he would be distracted by the swifts eating his strawberries. It is a tapestry which hangs in his dining room. I like the colours, the flowers, the swift and the strawberries. The fact, I know about the scene makes me appreciate the instance better as I can visualise the action, it is not just an image of swift with strawberries, it is a scene that has been lived in reality. It is natural, not human, not to serious, it is a drama we can all handle and laugh about as life is not so serious after all. Human beings give huge importance to life and this scene is a bit childlike.
Nous sommes tous des poetes,
what do you think about the following poeme that I wrote ???
Poeme sans titre
Que d`orages nous avons traversés !
30 ans d`amour, c`est l`amour fou..
Chaque champ de blé
Étincelants à la lumière des Costwalds
Se souviendront de notre passage
Se souviendront de nos sourires et de nos éclats de rire.
Alors que tu vieillis, sans devenir adulte..
Tu as le pouvoir de reconstituer les miroirs que j`ai cassés
Et tu verses sur ma vie des milliers de roses...
Les montagnes nous appellent
Nous les avons ignorées trop longtemps
Et j`entends leurs cris.
Allez partons vers de nouvelles aventures
So Many storms we traversed
30 years of crazy love
Each field of corn
shining in the Costwalds light
will remember our passage
will remember our smiles and laughs
As you grow old, you are never grow up
You have the power to recreate the mirrors that I broke
and you pour into my life thousands of roses
Mountains are calling us
We have ignored them for to long
and I can hear their call
so let`s go for new adventures....
Do not laugh, I am not a poet but I had a go...
I thought about this poem when I was on my bike yesterday, going to Benson.. and I thought of the Pays de la Loire and the Kings of France, Comte de Valois who married Catherine de Medici and reigned in both Italy and France. and of course the roi Rene, powerful man who reigned everywhere in Europe, France, Italie, etc... Louis XII re-married Henry VIII `s 18 years old sister, called Marie Tudor so there was a link with England... . and there was link with Austria,,,, Anne of Austria was queen of France and mother of Louis XIV.... and I could continue.....It is all so complicated, so mixed up, I will stop before you fall asleep....and I would like you to read my poem....
Europe
Inspiring exhibitds, I wish I had the time to do some sports, read some books , practice my music and do some arts...
The display are a bit to serious, maybe they could have invited the radio to make some atmosphere...
I thought the french were mad with their dogs and their `toilettage` shops and their `manieres`. However, yesterday I saw some organic cranbury cereal bars for dog and today, I saw a dog with a pink with white spot nappy... whouah .. quelle classe !
Some of the works were arts but some were more crafts or naive paintings. It made me think that something is a piece of art because of the environment it is in. It reminds you of Duchamp who said a toilettes seat in a bathroom is a toilettes, but a toilettes seat in an art museum is a piece of art !
If I were going to write 3 sentences in a book , people would read these lines as 3 sentences
If I were going to write 3 sentences and told people, it was a poeme, they would read the 3 sentences differently.
I I were going to write 3 sentences in a poeme book, they would give a different interpretation to these 3 lines, they would read them as a poeme...
Art , art , art. what is art ????
We are not constraint by what happened yesterday
Today is a new day, and we can ignore what ever come before, let`s look where we are and let`s use it...
We can move forward , we can ignore the history and arrive fresh today..
IF we do that it is not such a bad place to be...
Let`s be positive...
Bonne journee..
When I left England it was a country which was part of Europe. I am going back to a country which is not part of Europe anymore.
Somehow I don't feel welcome, although I never felt English, I feel like a foreigner even more. England will miss Europe but Europe will not miss England. They will not miss its enthusiasm. In fact the UK stirred things up,, they allowed Europe to expand rapidly and illogically, they mixed up emigrants and refugees crisis. The media can take some of the blame for the results. The brexit was unchallenged in their statistics. It is shocking to see people not looking further than the end of their noise.; they don't have a wider view of the situation. It is necessary to think long term and not short term. In fact, France will progress and improve better without the UK.
Personally,, Peter and I, we had the opportunity to work in France England and Germany. It will be more difficult for the next generation.
Of course, we have to stay positive, may be there will be a labour government in power who will protect the industry and its labour.
As the saying "qui vivra - verra"
En ce qui concerne le vélo.
Départ près d'Angers - Saumur - Tours - Blois - Mudes sur Loire.
Hébergements gite - appart hôtel - camping.
La route est facile, plate donc pas de montées bien indiquée convient à tout le monde
First, there is an article which interested me in the guardian about the way people consume nowdays. There is an explosion of websites which means that people do not go to shops anymore but buy everything, online from beauty products to food, clothes , toothpaste, absolutely everything from websites. It is something we do without realising it, even electricity, there are services and we subscribe. Conclusion, our house is full of cardboard boxes because people tend to stock . Nobody wants to run out of milk so people stock food in the fridge and freezer. If we order online to big food store, it can be boring as people always order the same thing.You can also buy presents online, you select the gender , the age, and all different criterias and the shops offer you pre-made presents which can be all wrapped up. I feel like I am moaning, but I am not, I am unhappy that little shops close and shopping center close. We do not realise it in Oxford as there are tourists , students who buy in the shop (and me...). We can not buy souvenirs online... so there are still some shops. However, if you go to Reading, you will see some empty shopping centers and it is worse in north of England. It is suttle, it goes down slowly, slowly. It is also a way everything is in direct debit, we pay everything by direct debit, commodities, paper subscription, etc... after, it is difficult to change your life and be in control of your life. People lose control of their life and buy items they do not necasserily need.
I subscribe to the guardian and I do not always need it, sometimes, I am away and I still buy it.
Maybe, we should all move on from subscription and buy directly to shops what we want ...
Story number 2 is about Europe
I am for Europe, however, England is behaving badly in Europe and altInhough it is not good for England. Somehow, I think it would be good for Europe not to have England, they try to weaken Europe. They voted and accepted all emergent country to Europe, they allowed Europe to become bigger but flater (a less integrated structures), not so many things holding together., By making Europe bigger, we make it weaker, more fragile. It is easier to agree with 3 countries than with 20 countries. When we take a decision, everybody has to agree and it is more complex. England voted for having ukip mps in Europe and they took silly decision. Having mps in the European parlement who do not want Europe or do not want to be there is counterproductive.
My last topic is linguistic, language is a passion for me and it is interesting to learn about culture and language. It happens that punctuation has an impact on culture. For example, why do we say full stop in english and point in french. Point comes from the middle age (a peu pres) because at the end of a sentence, the ecrivain would puncture the parchemin to finish the line. In German , they also use the term point in german. However, the english language is more abrupt..
What about new language, for example signs like @
The english language says at, because it is a bit like an `a`
The german language says apple struddel because they think it looks like an apple struddle
The swedish say an A elephant, we could say that it looks like an elephant with an A
In France, we say arobase because it is unique, not used for other meaning so there will be no ambiguity and it is easy to pronounce. it does not mean anything, the sound evoques flowers and aromas...
What is important is not the destination, it is the voyage. Doing a triathlon in Mai meant working and practicing all winter, it was a motivation for going out of the house and go cycling in the rain and the cold. It is all worth it, I came 2nd in my category and Peter came 3rd in his category. Competiting is therapeutic, when you are waiting to swim, you do not think about anything else, you just visualise the parcours and the series of actions you need to do or the chain events you are going to go through. It is a bit like a treasure hunt, you lay out your stuff, and to get a good time, everything has to fall into place. I am not competiting until I am in the water, and once I am in the water, I start and I feel the adrenaline and I feel my heart beating, some people want to pass me and I try to pass people. There is a lot of concentration involved. On the bike, when I pass people, there is a sense of succeeding and the more people I pass, the more people 'i want to pass..When we do a triathlon, we forget about work and everything, the only thing that matters is the race... I am looking forward to my next triathlon which will be in one month time in Henley upon Thames... I can not wait..
First, what is neoliberalism?
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As indicated on the site, it is a `laissez faire ` philosophie, Things are left to the market, privatisation of public sectors, reduction of government spending, even subsidising of private sector, (ex. school)
Before there was state schools paid for by the government through the council, the council was responsible for the budget, now we have academies run by private companies and they are paid by the government to run the schools. Effectively, the state is subisdising private companies to run the school.
When we used to think of liberals politics , we would be refering of the liberty of the individuals, with regards to the state, we are free to act as we wish. IT is individual liberty. The neo liberalism refers to the liberty or freedom of companies to do what they want , to act how they want. Neo liberalism believes that the market will resolve prices .
The problem is that the market is not perfect, an exemple is when a parent gives money to a child through inheritence, there is an imbalance. The reason why the house market is imperfect is because some people receive a house through inheritence and it disturbs the market, it disadvantages others. Overtime, it makes the market not worked. In a perfect market, people would spend every pennies they have and when they die, they would not leave anything to anybody. That would be the perfect consummer, the person would earn money and spend it and he would go, when he dies, they would spend everything that their earnt and there would be no money left. We can not have money given away. The reason why people can buy houses in north Oxford is because people inherited , the houses cost 10 times more than people`s salaries. The reasons why neo-liberalism does not work is because the market is not perfect. Neo liberalism exagerates inequalities
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a finir...
Jane Eyre is a classic, the plot is long and I let you see the film to discover. The idea is that it is the story of a lady who had an education and she was using it, she had a job, she was a governess. The scene takes place in the XIXth century (I think), and there are definitely beautiful views of derbyshire. The story is about people trapped by rules of society, She is in love with a man but she can not live with him because they are not married. He is already married to someone else so it can not happen. She can`t go to Afrifa with another man because she is not married to him. Although, she likes him . she does not want to marry him. The relationships between men and women are governed by rules.There are rules today but as much... The story is a little bit about the emergence of social care, she is an orphan, and as an orphan, her aunt is expected to take care of her. Her aunt does not want to keep her so she pays an orphanage. It is not a state orphanage, such failities do not exist. The man`s wife who is mad. The man has a choice between sending her to a mad house (at this time, it was an awful place) or to look after her or to treat her. There was no belief that you could treat somebody. What is surprising is that every men want to marry her and the other woman are all types of woman. The aunt is a nasty woman, Ingram is a baby girl (pretty but no brain), the house keeper is a jolly happy woman but still alone, no ambition, even when the house burns down, she is at the house, she is tied to it. The religious sisters create a loving family, she wants to join a family where everybody is equal and linked. there is the mad woman in the attic (of course, she is french... french ladies are mad.. ahahah ...). When Jane Eyre comes out from school, we can imagine what she will become, there are other characters painted on a canvas and she stands in the middle of the picture. The heroine is an anti-hero in a way, she is not a superwoman. Overall, a pleasant story and an entertainment...
Christine - passage choiseul
Paris . Montmartre - Sacre coeur...
This blog is just a thought about future, let`s start with the worst scenario...
We could imagine that England could vote to leave Europe, they would lose. .Boris Johnson would become prime minister and Cameron would have to leave.. It is not that Cameron is better, it is the case that Boris Johnson is worse. I would not like to be poor in England because then I would be more poor (luckily I am not poor. I am one of the lucky one....). Boris is a clown so I do not know what he would do, we just know he is a clown.. What about the americans, Trump is a clown... so in the worst scenario, Trump would be elected, If England leaves Europe and aligns herself economically or politically or diplomatically with the USA, it would be a disaster. At the moment, England is aligned with Europe and follows the idea and philosophy of Europe, whether it is for Syria or other issues.
England can not exist on its own, nobody can. The Brexit suggest that England becomes a state of the USA, the brexit think that England is bigger and better than it is , they think they are back in Queen Victoria`s time, when they had so much colonies.. This time is finished for all of us, we had some colonies too and lost everything. (I am not upset about that, it is better for Algeria and north Africa to have their independance).. Anyway, the idea is that if the UK leaves Europe and Trump gets elected, Trump thinks England is a golf course, somewhere near the mer du nord.. (I know that he owns a gold course in the UK)... Plus , let`s imagine Marine Lepen was to be elected in France.... OH LA LA ... NON.... (surtout pas Marine Lepen...)
Let`s look at the good scenario..
England vote to stay in Europe, the conservative party crumbles because they all argue with each other, they force an election and Corbyn wins, the conservative are still in a slip and labour can be united (maybe not Corbyn, but a labour person...any labour candidate with greens ministers). So , there would a labour green governement, still in Europe, United States stands for president but the amercian people are not so stupid and vote for Bennie Saunders or Hilary Clinton.. So there will be a socialist president in the USA and in England and what about in France, Martine Aubry would win !! so hopefully , we would all have a better world where we care for the poor , for the environement and for everybody..!!!
So lucky to have the moma museum in Oxford. Kaleidoscope is about how to express time. There is a series of photos by an artist who created papers sculptures which would just stand up for the photos. It means that each moment is unique and impossible to reproduce. In the exhibition, they try to stop the time ...An example of showing time changes is that if we were to look at a street at one specific moment, turn around and look at the street again, it will have changed.The explanation is important, the explanation is part of the exhibit, just looking at pieces of paper on a photograph, would not say anything to us, however, if we know that the artist wanted to say that there is a visual elemnent and a psychological element. IF we look at the photo of an old man, if we say this is an old man , but if we say, this is a photo of an old man who died a few seconds after taking the photo. We look at the photo in a different way. We have extra information, and this influences the interaction with the photo. In the moma museums, when I know that the pieces of paper falls down after the photo, influences me the way I look at the photo.They try to do something which does not happen in nature. When we look at a scene , it flows, branches waving in the wind keep going, they do not wave 1 per second, or at speciic time, they just wave. Time does not exist, we impose time on things. The piece of paper stands up and the piece of paper falls over, we make an instant by taking for photograph but it does not happen in nature. This instant does not exist, sometimes our brain is confused because we have time inside our head but time does not exist in nature. it is a man made imposition on top of nature.
How many poor people are there in the world?
We know there are 7.5 billions, how many people are poor?
Poverty is relative, ....what do we mean by rich?
How many people are rich in the world?
There is phrase which refers to rich people, we say the 1% ... ie. the 1% of the populatio who owns 99% of the wealth . It is a recent phenomenen , if we go back in times, we have got a feeling that there is not so much a big difference between poor and rich...We can see a very simplistic idea , a graph between rich and poor.
on one side , world population and on the other side the wealth.
Does it go into a straight line as a diagonal?
I am afraid it does not, it is an exponential curve, it goes flat at the bottom and up at the end as it represents the 1% elite.
Is it my responsibility to help the poor?
If I ask myself , am I rich? 99% of the population will say, they are not rich and the poor people are not their responsibility.
This question is phased from a western perpective...
By default, everybody in the west is rich compare to the rest of the world and should help the poor..
Why should you help the poor? If it makes us happy , we should do it..
The implication is in the question, that it is a good thing to do? and why is it a good thing to do?
For your mental well being you would help the poor but in fact you would help yourself by making yourself less guilty or the act of giving makes us happy.
IF you are rich and give £10 to everybody in the country, who do you help?
The basic principle is that nothing is given for free...
Someone who gives some money to the poor , they get something out of it, it is not a one way flow, in the case of religion, they get to go to heaven, there is an exchange, they are being good because it makes their god happy.
This is not my opinion, this is Rand... or people like that
A rich person should not give to the poor because we would take away the incentives
The anti-communist view is that we maintain an imbalance between rich and poor so we have a motivation to work and become rich, if we can not be rich , why should we work?
If we live in a communist country, where everybody is paid the same? Why should you work harder? why would you be more productive?
The capitalist idea is that we have to have an imbalance to give people motivation and incentives to work...
The bankers in London have to pay the manager a lot of money so that it motivates the sub managers to work harder to be a big banker... and so on down the line.
The assistant works harder to become a sub manager because they get paid more.. it pulls up the salary.
We pay the top man huge amount of money and that pulls people up...(this is not my view)
The first debate is , can the protection of the environment should be done by individuals or globally.
It should be done glonbally because individuals can save as much plastic bags as they wish, when BP has an oil disaster , it shucks millions of oil into the sea, the little plastic bag does not make any difference.
Most of environmental measures have an impact on the cost of goods, the simple example is petrol. If we put up the price on petrol, we simply make petrol more expensive, therefore the goods that we make are more expensive so we are less competitive on the market. We say everybody should stop using coal but some countries still do it because it is cheap. If there would be a global agreement, the price would be the same, we would produce under the same conditions. That is why it has to be a global problem. Global warming does not affect just one country, even if France does everything she can to produce no CO2, France will still suffer from global warming. Global warming has an impact on the whole planet. Also, pollution does not stop at the frontier, like tchernobyl. We need international standard, we could have french standard for shipping oil containers, it would not help if India has different standards and breaks up on french coast lines. These problems are global internationals...
IT also has to be individual because if the planets has I do not know how many people in the world (lets google search...). There are 7.5 billions of people on the planet. If each one of this 7.5 billions chooses not to use a plastic bag. It is a lot of plastic bags who will not be chucked into a landfill. It is a question of having billions of people doing the same thing everyday. What would it be like if we do not do anything? All of the world population was to act badly, then it would be problematic.
By changing an individual attitude, we could change the world.
If a billion of people would start to walk to work , we would use less petrol..
If that 7 billions of people decided they wanted to drink bottles of water, that could not be possible, because we would not have enough water.. Bottle of water is a priviledge of the rich who live in the west. As individuals, people living in rich economy are able to make choices and it affects the environment. 90% of the population can not make these choices. A rich person in the west can choose between tap water of bottle water. In other parts of the world , China, India, etc... the man who gets up in the morning can not make this choice wheter he will drink water from the tap or water from a bottle.
It is the same , a man in the west can choose to walk to work and the vast majority of people can not choose. they do not have environmental choices of how things are done. They are either pushed to walk to work or they have to travel far and take a bus.
In fact, it is not an individual problem because the world`s individuals are not equal, they are not playing on the same level playing field. My hypothesis is ... is it an individual problem or a global problem? It would be an individual problem for a small part of the population of the Earth. In Western country, we are at a different place on Marslow`s pyramid.. the people who are at the bottom of the pyramid, ie. the minors in Africa does not have the choice to protect the enviroment, he is not thinking, shall I have an organic carott sandwich today or shall I have a non organic carrot sandwich today? he just wants some food...The asumption is that everybody can make a choice but tthis is not the case...
This film is not a conventional love story, it is not love between a man and a woman it is love between a lady and her son. We can definitly empathise with the mother. I like the way it is based on a true story. The story concentrates on the fact that she lost her son but the film ignores the fact that her own mother is probably looking for her. The lady went to the convent because she got pregnant at 14 years old, her family abandonned her, maybe her own family is looking for her. When it is a true story, it is constrain by a true story and can not include other elements. When it is an imaginative story , you can expand and make it more interesting, more evil or more happy. You can not make the nones more evil than they were, you can not make the lady more happy than she is. In the story the reporter resigned, we do not know why exactly? In the film , the journalist is neutral , he is just a narrator, we do not see how the lady`s story affected his life. It is all about Philomena`s family. We do not know how that touched his family. We do not see how this affects her second family, she has a daughter so she may has had a husband and how does she feel about keeping a secret from her husband? IF he is not there, her husband must have died...She goes and look for her son because she probably did not tell her husband what happened. The film is also about relitgion, last time I spoke about principals, how rigid and inhuman to act on principal. The nones act on principals, she believes that the girl sins and has to be punished , she has no humanity, no forgiveness. Reglion talks about forgiveness but there is no forgiveness.
At the end, the lady says to the none, I forgive you..
But the none does not say I forgive you..
So who is more religious? who forgives? who is a better person?
Having Alan Partridge in the film was a bit disconcerting, we do not know if he is Alan Partrigde or not...
Overall, a very good film...
Despite a few problems, it was interesting to learn spanish from the student`s perspectives. The teacher was confident and we would not question what he says. I missed playing games, the lessons were focussing on grammaire, the teacher talked a lot but did not let the student talks or would not give the student any possibility to talk, however, he was positive in his approach and we did not mind to much. Overall, he teached in a old fashioned way.
What about living in a family, it is not easy as every body live at a different rythme, depending of his culture and their life style, so it was not easy. Everybody eat differently at different times and eat different things which is not easy either.
Visiting castles and places in Spain meant that we learnt a lot of spanish , especially when we would visite a place and got an spanish guide who would explain everything in spanish.
However, to conclude, staying with a family is not ideal, as we have to bend to their rules, and nobody likes to bend, especially when you are on holidays. Every house has its rules and its way of working . Stepping in the `foyer` is not easy...
Peter would have liked to learn about Spanish history or Spanish geography, it would have help to get a background of the place.
Today was a visit of Santilla del mar yTorre la vega. Santilla del mar is a typical disneyland town, full of souvenirs shops,who sell pacotilles objects. There is no real shops for normal peopel, just a lot of restaurantes and cafes and expensive museums. I did not take any photos because it was raining to much. It looked like a ghost town, there was only 2 crazy people walking under the rain. We had a lot of fun being silly and playing silly.... However, it is very pretty with its stone building, and narrow paved streets . Torre la vega is a more normal town with real shops and real people, it is not so pretty. I miss bookshops or newagent as I love to look at papers and magasines and there des not seem to be any. Back to England tomorrow , already..... Tomorrow, visit of Bilbao....
On Wednesday, the walk in Cornillas and the view of the Atlantic were agreable. Le caprice de Gaudi is a delight, I like the way he uses the natural external light in his building with big windows inside and outside to maximise the lighting inside the building. Also, it is interesting how he positions his rooms in fonction of the position of the sun. For example, for him , it is vital to get up at the sun ,so the main bedroom is in the East so the sun rises into the roomand shines through the big windows. What about his office,and his desk, they are situated in the west as he spends time in this room during the day... Nature is omnipresent, he had a close relation with nature, and musique. The building is decorated with sunflowers. He uses all sorts of materials, and decorates each room for their functions, for example , the fumoir, (where people smoke) would have a chocolate wood ceiling, whereas the bedrooms have white flowers decoration on dark blackground on the ceiling. Flowers , plants, and animals and musique are everywhere in the building. I took enormous pleasure in visiting this building, architecture is definitely one of my passion, my grandfather was at the origin an architect, and finally became a civil engineer working for the french metro.. Maybe , it is not because of that, but architecture is omnipresent in our life. Gaudi built this `caprice` for the sollicitor of the `marquis de Conillas`. The marquis de Conillas made his fortune with trading with Cuba, Philippines and other islands. It is interesting the way he invested in the town and built universities, hospitols and free schools.
Today was a hiking day in the parque nacional de saje. In Spain, farmers work for an entreprise and are not self employed like in France. Companies use vertical integration , which means that food companies take control of the source of the raw materials, ie. Nesthle owning dairy farms that produces milk.
What are the implications? The farmer gets stability because he gets a guaranteed income at a certain price, however, he loses his freedom. The company gains control of her origin of her products and the price. The price disappears because they own the farm, they buy the milk in the sense that they pay for the production. The price of the milk becomes the salary of the farmer plus the maintenance of the building and the keep of the animals.
The other advantage is that if they own the farm, the farmer can not sell to a competitor.
For example, if Nesthle was to buy a lot of farms in north of Spain, then the farmers could not sell their milk to Cadbury, obviously if the farmer is independant , he can sell to whoever, pays the highest price.
In France, there was a stable system , the farmer would sell his milk to the highest bidder. He was getting the right price , however, there is an over supply of milk. Before, for example, Germany would sell milk to Russia and as there is an umbargo, they do not, it means, there is more competition as there is an oversupply and as it is a capitalist system, the price depends of the offer and demand.
The government could lift their embargo with Russia, they will have to do that anyway so they may as well do it now. It is hypocrit as they do commerce with countries which do not have democracy . Why stopping trade with Russia? because of Ukraine? if we stop trading with Russia then we should stop trading with all invading countries such as Israel , etc...
Anyway, I was thinking of that as I went walking in the mountain today, the only persons I saw were just a few farmers, a few horses and nothing else..
On Wednesday, the walk in Cornillas and the view of the Atlantic were agreable. Le caprice de Gaudi is a delight, I like the way he uses the natural external light in his building with big windows inside and outside to maximise the lighting inside the building. Also, it is interesting how he positions his rooms in fonction of the position of the sun. For example, for him , it is vital to get up at the sun ,so the main bedroom is in the East so the sun rises into the roomand shines through the big windows. What about his office,and his desk, they are situated in the west as he spends time in this room during the day... Nature is omnipresent, he had a close relation with nature, and musique. The building is decorated with sunflowers. He uses all sorts of materials, and decorates each room for their functions, for example , the fumoir, (where people smoke) would have a chocolate wood ceiling, whereas the bedrooms have white flowers decoration on dark blackground on the ceiling. Flowers , plants, and animals and musique are everywhere in the building. I took enormous pleasure in visiting this building, architecture is definitely one of my passion, my grandfather was at the origin an architect, and finally became a civil engineer working for the french metro.. Maybe , it is not because of that, but architecture is omnipresent in our life. Gaudi built this `caprice` for the sollicitor of the `marquis de Conillas`. The marquis de Conillas made his fortune with trading with Cuba, Philippines and other islands. It is interesting the way he invested in the town and built universities, hospitols and free schools.
This holidays puts us into question, it disturbs our status quo, it breaks the routine and it is positive to break the routine sometimes.
Miercoles en Punte Viesgo (manana), a mi me gusta esta imajen porque estoy feliz
Biere Kas (faite avec du pain) Pienso a Pierre cuando he tomado este photo
2 crazy people.....
7 jours de prison....
Daddy adore cette photo....
The story relates a relationship between a married lady of 60 years old who has children and grand children and a young man (who could be her son). They are lovers. It is an entertaining film, sometimes, the scenes are long, some people may find it romantic as she looks at the sea. Some of the scenes are long and we think something is going to happen. But nothing happens, for example, they are in the car, the scene is long, the spectator is waiting for a drama to happen but in fact, nothing happens, they were just in the car. In this sense.
Why does she go with him? Wether it is old men or an old women, they find it attractive to go out with younger people as they think they are still young and still attractive. They think it is a compliment. In the film, she is flattered to be courted by a young handsome man.
It is a fact that young ladies go with older men because of their money, their work situation, their power in society, older men offer them security, in return they are flattered because they think they charm young ladies.
People start to have an affairs usually not because they fancy some one else but because they don't feel they have a voice in their relationship. So they find somewhere else where they can feel important. May be they are looking for a role.
I liked the film because it is french and the scene takes place in France, Fanny Ardent is gorgious as usual. Overall, the film is still unrealistic as it treats it lightly. In reality , the husband of Caroline (Fanny Ardent) must have had his confidence shaken and it must have been traumatic.
I am not telling you the end ... as it would spoil the film..
en moins de deux heures trente div a canoë compétition 31 janvier 2016
Having read the book, the right of the reader by Georges Pennac, He challenges what is imposed by our education, like the right to read anything (not just serious book), the right not to finish a book, the right to skip chapters, etc...
I would like to apply the same philosophy to life,
A runner`s right , a runner has the right to stop and the right to walk and the right not to go at all..
The right to stop and stretch whenever you want and where ever you want...
The right to read the paper on the bike at the gym...
The right to go to yoga classes or body balance classes and not being able to do the class....
We have the right not to be perfect...
And we have the right to be grumpy and tired sometimes (not all the time)
Basically, we have the right not to be perfect, the right to be ordinary (but we can be perfect to some people)
First, we are not sure if if is a film , a documentary, a propaganda but we soon realise it is a film with a story...
The scene takes place i8n Aghagnistan, the situation is complicated, there is a multiple war. The bad Taliban are in war with the good Taliban and the Western. The Western are in war with the bad Taliban and uses the good Taliban to fight the bad one. (I did not know there was a good Taliban, I thought there were all bad...). There is a lot of history, the russians use to fight the Taliban and the Western help the Taliban, some did not forget and are grateful, therefore they collaborate. On the other hand , there is another group which is cruel and extreme. There are different wars also because there are some people on the ground who fight a very physical , minute to minute battle and war. There are other people higher up who fight in a long term. They fight on a bigger scale. Everybody follow their own rules, with their own emotion. Ryan , one of the protaganist follows his feeling and does not consider the bigger picture, there is another man who is more diplomotic and acts in a more controlled way. There is also the good Taliban ( in the film , they are called the ghost because he survived being shot), they follow another set of rules , ie . the rules of honnor, and religion, they do not mind to die for these causes...
Overall, an interesting film, thought provoking, we forget how people follow different rules and older we get, more rules we have. For example, at the gym, there are some people who arrive late and it is fine for them, it is fine for me too, however, there are some people who are disturbed by that because they follow a different set of rules. Sometimes, I wish people were more open minded to others and did not take the gym so seriously.
what can you see on this cartoon?
First, a drawing of the photo of a drawned body of a toddler and refugee Alan Kurdi. This photo was in the media last summer . What would little Alan have grown to be? the message says... below the drawing are 2 men , their face half monkey half pig arms outstretched, panting, chasing 2 women. Alan would have become `an ass groper in Germany`.
What does the cartoonist want to say?
one minute, the media feels sorry for the refugees, and one minute, they accuse them of being sexual predators...
or does the cartoonist want to say that ...
refugees from Syria are likely to become sexual predators??
Is the magasine moking refugees or is the magasine moking us for generalising thinking for one minute that refugees are saints and thinking after that they are all sinners...
The message is not clear.... what do you think?
First, I was reticent to see this film as there is Jonnhy Hallyday in this film and I do not like the man... he is so superficial, however, he is getting old so he does not look so stupid. It is just an impression, somehow, old people do not look so stupid.. He is not a good actor..
However, it is the story of two men who are different in one way and similar in another way...
They have different outlooks attitude and perspectives in life, noone life is complete. We tend to say that the grass is greener on the other side. If you are careful and plan everything, there is no fun, there is no risk, one man`s life is stable and planned,
Jean Rochefort is a teacher, retired, he worked all his life in the same town, he planned his retirement, he has a big house and nothing unusual happens, everything has always been like that and nothing will change. Life will go on. He has roots, he has a family life, he has a big house and he is anchored to his town. He knows the baker in his town.
There is another man (Johnny Hallyday), he is a bank robber, a criminal and he does not have a house, he lives in hotel, he does not know where he is going next, he does not know where he will be next month, he has no roots. This man use to work in a circus, he does not have any root.. He does not know the baker in the town...
They both envy each other for different reasons, one is looking for adventures and wants to add spice to his life and the other man wants security and feels he can not carry on like that, he is getting old and wants to retire.
The moral is that they both have a destination with a fix path and they can not change it. Once you decided to be a bank robber, You can not become somebody else. Once you established a stable path it is not easy to change. In the film, they exchanged experiences, Johnny Hallyday gets the opportunioty to wear slippers and Jean Rochefort, tries to shoot a gun. In both cases, they fail because they do not have the right attitude, Johnny Hallyday who wears slippers does not have the right attitude, you have to be relax to wear slippers. The reason why he can not do it , It is more about attitude and bearing. Jean Rochefort can not shoot the gun because he has got to have a do not care attitude, an attitude without piety. he has to be ruthless. He is to soft.
Another example about attitude,...
in the baker, Jean Rochefort, asks for a loaf of bread and the lady asks `et avec ceci???`
when Johnny Hallyday asks for a loaf of bread, the lady does not ask `et avec ceci?` because he has a different attitude, more assertive, who is in charge of the conversation? In the boulangerie, who is in control of the situation? The bank robber is assertive, he walks in the bank, controls the situtation and commands people to do things and they do it because it is his job, because of his attitude. When he goes to the boulangerie, he uses the same voice and has the same attitude. There is no question, he is in control...It is all done with the voice, regard, posture..
The other man is used to be controlled by society...
The similarity is that they are both alone, without any lady.
IT is a good film that I would advise to improve your french, however, as a story it is to unlikely that people would invite strangers in their house.
2nd episod, everybody has seen it , even if they do not want to admit it, I hear a lot of feedback such as `oh it is not like the book`, Pierre and Natasha are not like we imagine them ,.. There is a bit of snobism in not accepting the film and saying that the film does not respect the story in the book. Fair enough, it is probably true (I must admit, I have not read the book, I can not comment on that....). However, every body knows sabout it and everybody is hooked on the serie and everybody is waiting for Sunday for the next episode....
Another television serie another addiction. This one takes place in Russia during the Napoleon war in about 1805, beginning of the XiXth century. The story follows the book of Leo Tolstoy, the book is huge and the serie has more than 40 episodes. The story made me think of the idiot of Fyodor Doystevyski, The tale of rich society, typical where women think about love, marriage and chldren. They are skimming, they plot to marry the richest man they can. Their ideas is not on the surface, they are not true and not sincere. The men think of going to the war, they want adventure and do not care about ladies.In the middle of this, there is a man called `Pierre` who is questionninhg everythng, he is naive and wants to understand the world. However, I have not seen everything yet so I shall write more with the next episode , is Pierre really naive? In the story , he becomes very rich and suddenly he gets chased by women, he is sollicited, is he going to submit to their charm ?
A lot has happened since this episode, and the plot is complicated, however, there is the idea of love or no love. Woman get married for money and not for love. There is hypocrisie in Society as nobody wants to accept that people marry for money. I find shoking when Pierre `s wife is rejected at the party because she is pregnant.
The end is happy , `as long as there is life, there is happiness...there is a great deal, a great deal still to come...`
Overall, it is all fine for the aristocratie, it is still a bit one sided as we do not see the other part of the population, the mothers who lost their sons, husbands, etc... and who live in poverty and struggle...
I did not read this book but I read `la cerisaie (the cherry orchard)` de Anton Chekhov, this story speaks about the decline of the Russian aristocratie and the beginiing of the revolution.. a thought provoking story...
La journee a bien commence avec un ciel etoile, clair, et limpide....
On se sent tout petit devant un ciel si grand et si puissant..
La lune est delicatement dessinee dans le ciel et il semble que ce soit
un peintre qui l`ait dessinee delicatement avec son pinceau, c`est un croissant de lune clair...
Tout est calme sauf le bruit de quelques voitures dans la `woodstock road`.
Le bruit de quelques chauffeurs enerves pour arriver a leur destination..
Mais il faut rester calme, zen et rien ne peut nous facher....
Cela va etre une belle journee eclairee...
Bonne journee a vous tous et vous toutes qui voyez ce message...
We do not learn when we are 50 years, one would think that as we get older , we get wiser but we are not...
Having a camper van would be so good to go and visit the boys.... and a lot of other things, go to the fete de l`huma, go back home in Paris and stay in Senlis or in the Bois de Vincennes.. or bois de Boulogne!!!
Anyway, it would be super `chouette`.
There was this wonderful camper van for only £5000 and £500 for delivery on ebay, to good to be true, sooooooo nice.
Apparently, it was in Reading but then the lady (maybe a lady, or maybe a man), we never know who we talk to on the internet.... so the seller said that they were in fact in Aberdeen, so it is impossible to see it... The plan would be that once they receive the money , they send the camper van, they can orgaise delivery...
They do not accept credit cards , just bank transfer... this is another idee bizarrre
Following ebay rules, when there is a scam , you should be able to claim £600 maximum for a car. Basically, if the sale would have gone ahead , we would have lost about £5000...
As it was time to pay, another advert appeared on ebay with the same camper van, the same photo , but a different seller and a different price (£25,000) which is more likely what it should be.. as it is a such a smart camper van... £5000 was to good to be true... So naive.. so naive, so naive...
Lyickily (zut, not sure how to spell lyckily), so lyckily, no money was sent and now nothing is going to happen, there is no point to buy this camper van, more we think about it, more we think it is a scam... On a eu chaud or as we would say on l`a echappe belle (we just escape)...
Quel dommage !!!! Adieu camping car.... enfin , ce n`est qu`une treve et la recherche recommencera une fois que les plaies seront gueries
We can listen to a nice music
We can appreciate a nice meal
We can touch a velvet cloth
Why can`t we enjoy a nice view? the same?
The view we have in automn is comparable to a symphony ..
This week-end was a feast for the eyes, a feast of vision..
Sometimes we can smell an automn morning with the mist and a blue sky.
Cycling through the costwolds villages was a delight yesterday....
Pourquoi ai-je choisi ce film?
L`histoire se passe dans les Alpes francaises, et les personnages principaux font beaucoup de ski. J`adore le ski et j`aime les Alpes donc a priori, cela devait me plaire. Il parait que c`est un film humoristique avec un humour noir. Personnellement, je n`ai pas compris les blagues, j`ai pense qu`il y avait surtout de la tension tout au long du film. En fait, les scenes et panoramas sont absolument magnifiques et l`on a vraiment envie de faire du ski, la neige est belle, il fait beau et le ciel est bleu. Contrairement a d`autres films, le drame se passe au debut de l`histoire et non pas a la fin, ce qui fait que l`histoire est la consequence du drame. L`intrigue est qu`au debut du film, il y a une avalanche, cependant, bien que personne ne soit blesse, il y a un froid entre les protagonistes principaux car il s`avere l`homme fuit sans s`occuper de sa famille, tandis que la femme pense a proteger les enfants. Le film est a propos des relations humaines, il y a plusieurs couples, un couple libre ou la femme ne croit pas en la fidelite dans le mariage, elle a tendance a prendre des risques dans la vie par exemple, elle reste dans le bus lorsque le bus descend dangeurement la montagne. L`autre couple est plus tradtionnel, la femme croit en une famille unie et fidele, elle se montre exigente et impardonable.
A mon avis, ce n`etait pas un tres bon film, trop lent, trop de dialogues, trop de personnes qui parlent et pas assez d`actions...
The scene takes place in Russia and America in 1983 during the cold war between Russia and the USA.The atmosphere was tense between the 2 countries, Ronald Reagan insulted the Russian, they were fighting in different countries, the USA invaded Granada, a bit later, Russia went to Afganistan and the USA went to el Salvador.
Anyway, let`s go back to the film , as we were in the computer room , and the colonel Petrov was in charge of the launch of the retaliation. Suddenly the computer indicated that some missiles were coming into Russia, there is a man called colonel Stanislave Petrov who had to take a vital decision. Apparently, the computer indicated that Russia was attacked by the US,
We can empathise with the colonel.. A lot of questions come into our heads.
Is he going to attack back and press the button for releasing nuclear bombs??
The implications are huge, we have seen Hiroshima, Nagasaki and this time, half of the US population would die, half of the population of Russia would die, eventually, everybody would die and the earth would be a desert place.
A concrete example...
IF I go to a house, and I switch on the light, If I was going to ask you, what do you expect if I switch on the light ? what would you answer? You would answer to me that the lights will come on,
And will they come on 100% of the time?
100% Are you sure?
what will you answer? do the lights come on 100% of the time? or is it 99.999999..% of the time?
you could say maybe... is it one in a million ? or one in 100 million? or one in a billion?
THERE IS A DOUBT, even if it is a chance of a billion ,
The colonel does not want to take the chance to make a mistake..
He is also afraid of the chain of events, if he presses the button, it is yes, nobody will question his decision...
He has 10 minutes to decide.. He must not panic. There is a mixture of strategic decision and human decision, the film shows us that the man is just a human being with a wife, a mother and problems relationship in his life like everybody else. The colonel wonders if he should trust the computers.
There is a lot of suspense and it provokes a lot of questions?
He is an hero because he was there at the right time , at the right moment, he does not express a lot of confidence in the future. He believes that one day, someone will use the nuclear weapon. Is he right? If something is there, someone will use it? What happens if the nuclear arms go in the wrong hands?
Lately, in Europe and in the world, we decreased our nuclear arms? (START , Strategic arms reduction treaty . 2011 but it is ongoing.. so the date may be just an approximation, ) they are still working on it.
Although, war is not my favourite topic for films , I got hooked on this film , it made me think about the future and although I was against the war before, I am even more against the war now...
I feel anxious about the missiles in Syria and the war in the middle east...
I agree with Jeremy Corbyn , on his stance of not pressing the button on any circumstances.
In the film he uses a metaphor with a relationship with his mother to represent the relationship between Russia and America. To get on, we need to forget about what happened in the past, we need to move on, we need to forget the history, forget all arguments. WE MUST NOT LIVE IN THE PAST, WE MUST MOVE ON...
La terre s`est vetue de son manteau d`sutomne aux couleurs pourpres, jaunes et rousses.
C`est la rentree, de nouveux eleves, de nouveaux projets.
Quel plaisir de voir que les gens veulent s`eduquer et apprendre et s`ameliorer.
Je suis le professeur alors je vais voyager avec eux.
I am happy to facilitate them on their journey
I am going to give the students a map
and help them to read the map
But I am not going to do the walking,
The students are going to do the walking.....
After giving my first tutorial i(of this academic year, I have been teaching at the university since Mathusalem... )
I teach at the open university in Oxford
I went to my favourite museum `le musee moma`.
As usual, a challenging exhibition, first, a political exhibition.
An american man who speaks about
a pacific demonstration which was violentely opposed by the police and by the government.
The technology is seen as negative, as a way to manipulate and spy on people, however, technology in my opinion it is a wonderful tool for communication, and knowledge. The artist complains that people listen to him on his mobile phone but he does not complain about having a mobile phone. he is happy to have a mobile phone. He was also happy to organise his demonstration with skype , emails, etc... so the technology allowed him to be able to do his demonstration.
Another exhibition is about an austrian artist which you can interpret as you wish, there are different costumes on coat hangers, we could say that we can choose a different skin everyday, or choose a different mood everyday, we can be a different person everyday, we can be nice or we can be nasty.
Which skin shall I have today ? My tired teacher skin?
or my athletic skin? or my dance skin???? But definitely not my nasty skin because I am not nasty....
Ariane Mnouchkine was at the oxford playhouse yesterday and it was a delight to see her.
She used to facsincate me as a teenager, I use to take the metro to chateau de Vincennes and take the bus to
the cartoucherie to see her plays. She is such a charismatic lady, I like the manner she interpreted
Shakespeare in an avant garde way. Shakespeare covers all emotions and topics such as power, jealousy,
ambition, love, etc... The way she proceeds is that she desconstruct Shakespeare and rebuild it in a different
way. In art, the fundamental stories are the same. She takes an old existing story and presents it differently.
For example, Roger Moore, takes the classic picture or statue of the mother and child. He deconstructed and
re-create it in a different way, he makes a `wobly figure of the mother and child`. She is a well-known metteur
en scene, she wrote and made the film `Moliere`. However, the film is not representative of her `repertoire`. She
may have made this film to make money, not necessarily to experiment. Each artist has to balance experimentation
with a commercial success. She is part of the groupe of cineast (Ken Loach) and group of metteur en scene such
There is a lot of fairy tales, people tell you it is all rosy and happy but it is actually a cold day out there, with sensitive people with emotions and people who don`t care and it is going to stay that way...
There are some cold nasty people we wish we would never have met.
Nobody can change people to be good and we can not change the world, it is going to be that way.
However, I have found my angel in this cold world.
It is just a nice song...https://
(This song is probably for a child and it is atypic in the sensev that it says that life is not all pink, there are some horrible people out there.
These people say they have a heart but it is in stone
They say they are emotional with affectation
They wear glasses because they want to look intellectual
but they are just arrogant...
they are snob, shirt from burberry, shoes from barbour...
They go to cafes to drink gin and tonic to the bucket
They only frequent rich people and posh people like them.
They are snob, they have accidents in their porsh or their audis..
Because they drive so fast, they think they are irrisistable in their fast cars but they are in fact just arrogant little souls.
It is fine if you found a true person with a true heart
and I found mine... so the sun is now shinning and we can walk hand in hand on the path of life.
the story is about a young American lady who wants to cross south to north by foot. Basically, she starts in Mexico and finishes in Canada. Is it a true story? I don't know why does she want to do this challenge?
because she is grieving for her dead mother.
during the challenge she reflects on her life and discovers herself.
it's a very American film the way they talk and swear. Also it's the great walk which goes across America it also portrays America in a favorable way. It wants to show nice ordinary American people the postman is helpful. The farmer offers hospitality. It's treated lightly not everybody can take time of to do that
there are a lot of flash backl because she reflects on her past the flash backs are to precise to be realistic. Nobody can remember her youth so accurately. Personally I can't remember facts or quotes of what people said to me. I am sceptical when the girl remembers quotes of a book that her mother used to read to her..
the story is easy to do because it is a journey we go from place to place meet different people in different places. Do different things in different places. For example she meets a snake in a desert and a fox in the snow a lot of films are made this way.. For example the lords of the rings is a journey Scott and the Antarctica etc...the wizard of oz all of these are journey stories.
Life is a journey, like in the film, we meet people on the way to our parcours. Some people come and go, we know them and then they disapear of our life but it does not matter, it is just nice to meet them and then they go and walk on a different path that you are. We meet other people who are more important because they stay with you forever, they mean so much to you. They stay with you wether the weather is shining or whether it is raining.
Now I can say that I went to a music festival (and politics) festival and camped, in the mud as it was rainning, it was cold and it was windy.
And I enjoyed myself.... because in this circumstances, you have to laugh...
Lots of music concerts, everywhere, and debates... interesting debates..
In terms of age range, it varies between under 25 years old and over 50 years old. Where are the under 50 years? Maybe they still work ... We are the lucky ones who live in the world of utopie, in an irealistic world where there is equality and where people are unite.
Overall, the atmostphere of the festival is `bon enfant`, ie. in english we would say `well behaved`.
So lots of debates...
Students should receive a salary and not be treated as parasites in our society. If they need extra money, they should be able to borrow from the state and not from their parents.
We want to use technology in order to have more leisure time and not to profit to capitalist and be more exploited.
Although working in factories is not a world I know, I was the lucky one who lived in a `better world`. I can empathise with workers and I understand that they want to live in the world like it was in the 1930s when all the social benefits were built , the social security established (conges payes, paid holidays, etc...).
The problem in communism is that it does not work on a bigger scale, it does not work in France because it is in competition with other countries, globally , it has to compete. Communism has not grasp this globalisation issue . Either we make the whole world communist, this is completely extreme and ireallistic. It would be nice but it is not going to happen. What is frustrated is that we talked and talked about it for years but it is not going to happen, there is a big gap in the middle. Communism can work in autarcie, in little islands when there is no imports and no exports, so it can work in Cuba if Cuba does not depend on other countries.
Oh we are so lucky, compare to people who live in countries where there is no democratie. It is easy to have opinions when we do not live in precarity. I spoke to a man from north Africa who explained the situation in his country, the king Mohamed multiplied his fortune 3 or 4 times since he is in power. How? He bought utilities on his own name, electricity etc... If anybody objects they go to prison. Another example in Kazakstan, the big oil company have been bought by the brother of the president, so it is `privatised` at an `arm length`.
I regret I missed the talk by Yanis Varoufakis. Pierre and Matthieu saw him and said he is such a charismatic man ! He spoke freely about his experience being a greec finance minister, and the difficulties he had dealing with the troika (the european central bank, international monetary fund, european commission). The troika includes the 3 organisations who lent some money to Greece. They had to much control over him so he felt powerless.
Oh a wonderful week-end where people speak to everybody and where everybody is happy...
A few weeks ago, someone stole my bike in my street, when I was in France, I received a text saying someone found it. Tonight, I was the happiest lady in the world as I was riding my bike back from Wolvercote to my house. It was a nice feeling, it was like meeting an old friend and be friend again.. I just feel that my bike and I are going to go far (I don`t have a cat, but I have a bike...).
The story is that there is a gang who steals bikes in north Oxford and lock them on the back of the street in Wolvercote behind some garages. An old man found all these bikes locked next to his garage so he called the police. They have not found the gang but they found some bikes, not all of them.
It is a cowardly act to steal bikes, it is easier to steal bikes than to steal cars...
They think it is all right to steal bikes but it is not acceptable.
Anyway, I can now start to plan some cycle rides... YOUPI !!!
MIRACLE !!!
Les gitans comited an act of action direct against the french police. They burnt some wheels on the motorway and disturb the traffic. Les gitans had a fight with each other, a brawl, the police intefered, they took 2 men and sent them to prison. Les gitans protested because they want to do their own justice. It is an interesting example when we have a community within a nation. It is like having gangs who want to do their own rules,they live ooutside french society. It is interesting in the fact that they are not afraid to express their beliefs, their strength is their solidarity. Migrants would be stronger if they were unite, but it is unrealistic because they talk different languages, they come from different countries, different cultures, they have different motivation and come to Europe for different reasons. I was shocked by the title of one paper who spoke about `sworn of migrants`, it is not true and it is negative towards migrants. What is shocking is the difference between different papers, some papers refer to migrants as people and some refer to them as migrants.
Les gitans comited an act of action direct against the french police. They burnt some wheels on the motorway and disturb the traffic. Les gitans had a fight with each other, a brawl, the police intefered, they took 2 men and sent them to prison. Les gitans protested because they want to do their own justice. It is an interesting example when we have a community within a nation. It is like having gangs who want to do their own rules,they live ooutside french society. It is interesting in the fact that they are not afraid to express their beliefs, their strength is their solidarity. Migrants would be stronger if they were unite, but it is unrealistic because they talk different languages, they come from different countries, different cultures, they have different motivation and come to Europe for different reasons. I was shocked by the title of one paper who spoke about `sworn of migrants`, it is not true and it is negative towards migrants. What is shocking is the difference between different papers, some papers refer to migrants as people and some refer to them as migrants.
It used to be one of the oldest hydro electric power station, it works with water and it is cleverly made
I like this view, I use to run up there, I would start on the canal and finish my run by the river. this view shows 3 methods of transport, canal, road and train..
Christine in front of hydro power station next to Malvern..
As it is not possible to go on a cycling tour this summer, I have decided to go on cycling week-ends. Last week, the cycle tour was to go to a little village called Letcombe Regis, which means `the little river of the valley of the king` (approximately). Not far away , in Wantage, the king Alfred was born, in fact, there is a statue of him in the market place.
https://
Stayed at the Independant Hostel near Wantage, I can recommend the hostel, I was so impressed that I am about to book another week-end in another hostel from the same association. Warm welcome by Keith who made me my special decaffeinated tea in the morning.
Although, it was raining on Sunday, I enjoyed the challenge of racing home through the rain, the wind and the cold. It is so therapeutic to push the limits , I was so exhausted that I fell asleep in the afternoon. Below, is the view from the hostel...
Next trip in August will be at Puttenham (eco camping barn)
www.independanthostels.co.uk
An outstanding performance of the story adapted by Mark Haddon on stage in Oxford. Not having read the book means I could not compare the character of the main protaganist with the protagonist in the book so I was not disappointed about that. It is a minimalist style, there is not much funiture just a futurist background.
I thought it was about autism and asperge syndrom but it was not , it is a kind of detective story. The plot is complicated, so I shall not try to explain. the story speaks to everybody, it speaks to parents and children. It speaks to parents because it is about love, love for their child, both parents love their child in different ways. No matter how much they love each other, having an handicapped child puts stress on their mariage and on their life and sadly detroys their relationship. I am a parent and I can sympathise with them, Relationships between people suffer from a lot of stress, like work, computers, people talking to computers instead of talking to their partners. In the book, I am told that his thought are in his head but in the play , they are spoken out, which makes it aggressive. For example, in the book, it would say . the boy does not understand the man and in the play , he says to the man . `I do not understand what you say`. it sounds arrogant.
In the play, the autism aspects is more obvious, for example, when some one says `it rains cats and dogs`. the boy does not understand. No child understands metaphors, they do not understand the adult world, the adult world is confusing. Not understanding the adult world or metaphors does not mean we are autistics, in the play, it is obvious that he has mental problems. Maybe, we all have a bit of mental problems, nothing is black and nothing is white, everything is grey. In the play, they make it more black and white than it is in the book.
We are allowed to be a bit strange sometimes, the world is not perfect. I do not like it when people want everything to be perfect.
Human beings are far from being perfect,
What would a perfect human being be?
Whoever it is, I would not like to meet him or her because they would not be a very nice person, they would not be human.
In the story, the problem is that people want to label the boy and put him in the box with a label on him. It is wrong to say to a boy of 15 years old that he has mental problems. It is wrong to tell him that he can not take a train on his own.
We want people to be different and do things differently.
In the play, they read the book that the protagonist wrote and they made a play of it so it is a bit of a play in a play.
Good year, good students.. enjoying teaching at University in Oxford...
https://
Overall, an entertaining film, it is atypique in the sense that heroes and heroine are not barbies of super man but old ladies and old men. Not ordinary old ladies or ordinary old men, but middle class ones.
Why do they retire in India?
They retire in India because life is cheap and they speak english. there is a difference in living standard and revenues over there. These people did not reitre in an hotel in London where everything is provided for., food, etc.. because they would not be able to afford it. They can retire in India because they appear rich compare to the people in India. The film is not at all realistic about India as we do not see much poverty, beggers, corruption. Having travelling in India, the poverty is a shock. I definitely could not retire over there because I could not face seeing such poverty, it makes me ill. Old people need to go to hospital and doctors more often than younger people. In the film this is not the case. Maybe they are super fit old people who are never ill?
The plot is complicated as there are to many characters and each character has its own story. The indian film tries to present a formula with a plot , and dancing at the end. Wether it is the slumdog millionnaire or this film, they have the same pattern, the same music and the same dance, they even have the same actor.`well known indian actor who is always playing the docile man, he is subservient. It is culturally insensitive because western people are in control and they tell indians what to do.
It is a western plot, all their life, indians have been exploited for their cheap labour and as a capitalist, we are now sending retiring people there. When we retire, we become a drain to the capitalist system so the idea is that now we dump old people in other countries in this instance, India. People who retire are generally poor so in actual fact, we export poverty. Retirement is a problem in Europe, the problem is that the state can not promise people to give them a certain amount of money and then do not respect the promise. It is not on, capitalist countries want to give as little as they can to old people. Anythingh which is not part of the working population is a cost to the state, ie. students, retirement, invalids, etc... The idea of globalisation is that everything has to be done in the most efficient way. ie. some countries may be better at building cars but some will be better at engineering, it is market driven. If India is the cheapest place to look after old people, then we ship old people in India as it is the most efficient place to look after them. It is specialisation, People in Europe do not tend to retire in England, the weather is not great, the nhs neither and life is expensive. There is a specialisation in Europe for people to retire in Spain because the weather is nice and life is reasonably cheap, the hospitals are reasonably good and houses are not expensive. In northern Europe, we specialise in industry and engenereeing, and London specialises in finance, France specialises in food and trains and planes. Europe can be a mini example of globalisation, the principles are there. England specialises in finance but can not feed his population so they import food from France, their washing machine from Germany and send their retire people to Spain (or in the film in India).
Maybe , soon we will export unemployed people in India so that they can live cheaply, instead of paying them £100 a week in Oxford, we could pay them £10 a week in India?
Coming back to the film, it looks like they did not know how to finish the film or maybe there is no end because they want to create a marigold hotel 3 episode..
People who believe in objectivism believe in hierarchy and believe some individuals are better than others. There is a brutal side to it.
The idea of altruism is that if we pass someone in the street who is angry , we give him some help. We help people who are in need of assistance.
The idea of objectivism is that we do not help this people, we would continue to think that we are superior and effectively, we would let them die.
At the moment, there are rules in place which say that scientist can not test on people or on animals, there are ethical rules. If we believe in sciences, are ethics important?
Another example if we want to build a train line accross America, we can not do it because we can not destroy everything on the way. However, Ayn Rand says we can build it because we are superior.
For information, this trailer is a film based on the book of Ayn Rand (Atlas Shrugged)
https://
Ayn Rand is popular as she explains her philosophy through stories, it is easier to read a book about a nice story which has a moral or no moral, which has an idea in it than it is to read a proper manifesto.
In the film, the hero is a business personn who values money more than anything, it is a capitalist propaganda.
For example, in Battleship Potemkine, the hero is a sailor, a modest sailor. We could say that it is socialist propaganda because the sailors on the ship mutinee against the the tsar, against the government, against exploitation of human being.
In the film of Ayn Rand, John Galt is a scientist, a capitalist and the idea of the film is that he is a good person because he does not let anybody tell him what to do. He is suppose to be superior and better than anybody else.
The fascism is capitalism without democracy in deccay.
IS there any difference between objectivism and fascism?
Is John Galt fascist? (I don`t know the answer)
In objectivism , the values are not humanist, it is based on exploitation, egoicism .
The computer game Bioshock
is based on objectivism
https://
The player explores the city of rapture which is a distopia , the people kill each other for food, the idea is that the town of Rapture does not work for a few reasons. For example, the scientist do experiments on children, and it is horrible. There is no god or king, just men, it is a nice slogan however, the feeling behind it is not so nice because the implication is that there is no morals. To be atheist does not mean , not having any morals, however, the way they interpret it in the game is to say that they are not religious because they do not have any morality.
There are pros and cons in objectivism. It gives the idea that scientist can change the world and can be heroes. Nevertheless, it does not always work out well as we need limits and morality, we need democracy. Although Ayn Rand was a woman, it is sexist as her heroe is a man, who made his fortune on his own, without woman. To my knowledge, most heroes in Ayn Rand`s stories are men, there is a certain `machisme`, men obtain success without woman.
Is there love, emotions, feelings in Ayn Rand philosophy?
There should be a place for emotions and love in Ayn Rand`s philosophy... it is not real in this sense.
Human `s beings are emotional people, as Sartres says, human beings are not rationals, they are emotionals and they follow their emotions.
Nietshe is cynical and believes in nothing, he believes in a deep realism. He says the world is crual, God is dead, he does not say people are selfish, but he says all this people are worshiping something which is not real and life has no purpose. He is definitely cynical .
I need to do more work on this.....
Frenchay road looks magical under the snow...
Very nice photo, a good day, skying all day, the sun was shinning, the snow was good... everything was perfect.
We missed the ferry in Saint Malo and had to do an escale in Guernsey, The wait in Guernsey was long. All exhausted after having cycling for a number of days in France. This is a great photo ... All tired but happy ......
Beautiful sunset in Bretagne (touring by bike)...
Photo taken by Pierre, taken from the top of the big department store `printemps`. It is lovely having a coffee on the last floor, splendid view. It is a pleasure to go on top of the grands magasins (galaries lafayettes or printemps) and have a cup of coffee, you have Paris in front of you...
To write this text, I inspired myself from Slavoj Zizek...
As Zizeck says, the problem is not to find if our desire are satisfied or not.
the problem is to know what do we desire??
There is nothing spontaneous about human`s desire, our desire are artificial, we have to be taught how to desire.
Cinema does not give you what you desire, it tells you how to desire.
Birds (film Alfred Hichcock)
We could imagine the story without the horror element, The scene of the film takes place where Alfred Hichkok was born. It is the story of a young lady from San Francisco who falls in love with a man from the `Mungabe` bay. She discovers he lives with his possessive mother.
The question is why do the birds attack?
Psychose film (although I did not see this film because it is to scary for me, I like the analysis by Zizek)
What is interesting is that the story takes place on 3 levels, ground floor, first floor and the basement . there are the 3 levels of human subjectivity.
The ground floor is about ego, the ego level is the man is normal.
the first floor is about the maternity ego, the mother represents a super ego
and the basement is the id , it is the way we refer to ourselves
The Id is inconscious, we do not realise it but we feel it..
Super ego is our morals, the ego balances super ego and id, it focuses on social feelings and morals.
this disposition means we can interprets what happens in the film. We want to say that Freud thinks there is a direct link between super ego and id.
Que c`est agreable de voir le coucher du soleil sur la mer...
Slavoj Zizeck analyses cinema:
Contexte religieux et politique
Tartuffe est une histoire qui se deroule sous le regne de Louis XIV. Le catholicisme est omnipresent en Europe et en France, il exerce un pouvoir politique et a une grande influence sur tous. Il s`avere que Dieu decide de tout, on est contre le libertinage et des jansenites.
Tartuffe est censure, car a cette epoque , c`est une histoire qui n`est pas politiquement correcte.
Contexte theatral.
Farce, comedie, tragedie
Pour Moliere , le theatre doit etre vu, il porte de l`importance aux costumes, et a l`apparence des personnages.
Famille divisee.... stereotypee..caracterisee.. Moliere est un psychanalyse de l`epoque.
Les personnages sont presentes par Madame Pernelle
Dorine est impatiente
Damis est sot
Marianne est hypocrite
Elmire est depensiere et seductrice
Cleante est donneuse de lecon
et Tartuffe est un homme bien sous apparence
En definitive, c`est un hypocrite, qui se cache derriere une apparence de bons sentiments...
La famille se divise et il y a des clans (clan de Mme Pernelle, Tartuffe et Orgon et les autres).
Cette piece est une reaction contre le saint sacrement a l`epoque de Louis XIV
Camus parle de l`absurdite de la condition humaine
Selon Camus, l`homme cherche un sens au monde, a ses actions et a son existence, or le monde n`a pas de sens. Il parle de la monotonie de notre existence et de la mort ineluctable.
L`absurde est un conflit entre la recherche de sens et le non sens de la vie.
Camus propose plusieurs solutions. on peut se refugier dans la religion ou on peut se suicider.
Mersault rejete ses deux solutions et choisit la revolte, la liberte et la passion. La revolte soit il faut accepter notre condition avec lucidite,
In the novel, there are 4 different types of love,
love for his mother
love for Marie
Love of God
Love between young lovers
Love is a meaningless abstraction.
For Meursault does he show love in the story?
Everybody accuses Mersault of not showing any emotion, no emotion for his mother`s death, no emotion when he kills the arab and no emotion when he flirts with his girfriend.
However, Mersault shows emotions for Marie, he finds her beautiful, he loves her smile and feels the need for her presence, Marie has feelings for him too.
Notion of friendship and love.
Love for his mother.
He shows love for his mother when he goes and see her for the last time, he stays next to her body and walks under the sun to get there-
Love of God
The priest speaks about the love of God
Do we get educated in order to work?
Do we get educated to learn?
Is it worth to learn latin? just to learn latin?
Is it worth to learn XVIII century art?
It depends if we think education is there to prepare us for a job or not?
Education could be a mixture of both.
Or is education a way to filter and select people?
A sceptical view would be that education is a way to select right from primary school.
In primary school, Key Stage 2 selects who will get paid a lot in the country. All of this repetition of exams sort out good and bad students, it's a process of selection. The bad marks in this selection get filtered out and cut off.
We are told that the results don't matter but they do, the school has to organise its classes. When we know who does well and who does not do well, we can not ignore the results.
So lets go back to the question, is education useful ?
In this sense, what we are taught does not matter because pupils are just tested to see if they can go on to the next stage of education or not.
The question is who is going to do GCSE? who is going to do A levels? who is going to go to University?
We can argue that the world is moving quickly and what we are taught can become irrelevant.
For example, I learnt about exponentials and logarithms but I have never used them.
A lot of knowledge seems irrelevant, but all this accumlation of knowledge makes us educated people. As Vigovsky explains , there is a framework of knowledge and we constantly build up on what we already know. The general education framework should be constructed in a way that it produces educated citizens who are adaptable and flexible.
However, a physicist knows about vibrations and material sciences and why things vibrate at certain frequencies and a violinist knows how to make a violin vibrate, and resonate by playing tunes. They both specialise and have a lot in common. If they meet each other in the pub, they could say , they know about the same thing but they speak two different jargons.
Education is training for a role and ideally, we are trained precisely for that role and we should find work which matches that role. The problem is that it does not work like that.
If we take a high level economic view, for example , the economy needs 1000 dustbin men, we need more maths teacher, the education system should be organised to supply this demand.
We can predict what the economy needs, in this sense. We should train people to fulfill these roles. There is no point to train 1 million art historians if the economy needs engineers.
In my opinion, Countries are responsive to the industrial demands. There are ways that society can subtly tell you what to do and what to learn without forcing us. For example, nobody forced me to do programming but in order to make it easy for students to learn programming, they created courses, organised advertising, financial support and broadened the entry requirements.
If we look at it at a lower level? does education teach us what we need to know?
In maths, they don`t teach us about compound interest, they do not teach us how to choose a credit card. For example, "this credit card charges 2 % and this one charges 5% apr" What does it all mean?.
When we leave school, we think we will get a credit card and they don`t teach us how credit cards work.
They do not teach us the amount of tax we pay, ie. if we are paid £24000 , 12% out of the gross salary goes to national insurance and they deduct other income tax from the £24000.
We are not taught at school about life. There is emotional education and academic education. School tends to focus on academic education.
Sometimes, education is not directly academic and it has other benefits, for example, going to a ballet class. Everybody dances at the same time and we get a sense of being part of a group, we don`t just learn how to dance. We also learn how to be subjugated, it is rule driven, we learn how to move in a certain way.
A good modern education should teach pupils how to be flexible , how to get on with the job and to adapt quickly. An Employer wants his staff to learn the job quickly. Every job is interchangeable. Most jobs are in the tertiary sector, in offices and there are clerical administrative jobs. There is a lot of overlap, skills that are required to do these jobs are easily acquired or mastered.
Does education prepare people for these roles?
In my era , in the 60s, we revolutionised education and wanted to stop the oppressionof students. I was experimented on and during primary and secondary school, I was taught all sorts of arts, musique, I learnt how to do frises on the wall and draw on the wall and it was fun.
It is exciting to go back to Worcester, although I was there for a short time, I keep warm memories. People are so friendly there.
My time in Worcester was a very lonely one with Peter being abroad all the time.
However, there was always someone I could talk to. I always had friends to talk to.
How is Roderick ? Does he still dance ? How are Michael and Paula? How is Gaby? How is Eduard ? Does he still dance?
Are Andy and Sue retired? are they giving their light shop through generation?
(I did not pass on or impose any business or farm to my children.) they have the freedom to do the job they want. Not everybody has the freedom, what happens if you are the oldest son of a farmer..? You have to take on the farm, don`t you.
It is exciting, I will tell you more when I come back..
Life in a provincial town, difference between north and south...
I am planning a trip to Barcelone, the choice is travelling cheap with a ryannair flight or spend more on a BA flight and it is not very ethical to fly anyway. I chocked all my carbon allowance for this year.
Can we fly ethically?
Ryannair exploite their staff, they put their pilote and air hostess under a lot of stress. They pay their stewart and hostess the minimum wage.
Plus it is not pleasant to fly to ryannair, you can start your holiday with high stress, where shall I seat in the plane? Am I ready for the big queue at the airport and the not welcoming smile of the hostess?
My experience of ryannair (nightmare...)
it was a blackmail, I was in the queue at the airport to take my flight. They closed the flight (having worked in the airport, I know for a fact that we could have boarded). There was a lot of time left, the staff did not want to be bothered, or maybe they just followed stupid rules.
The answer was to buy another ticket at full price or going home and refusing to have a holiday?
IT is all right because I have enough money to buy another ticket but if I was poor and could not afford it, they would have let me go home and no holiday.... When I think about it, I can not use ryannair again.. non non non .
Ryannair is not nice to their staff either , there is nothing in the employment contract which says, the staff have to smile at customers why would they smile if they are paid the minimum wage. why should they be 2m tall.
Would I prefer the smile and the warm welcome of the BA hostess? and the non stress of the BA flight?
If Ryannair flight was free, should I still use a ryannair flight?
The question is valid for everything...
Should I buy mangoes from Israel ? Non
If someone gives me the mangoes from Israel should I accept them?
If I was starving, would I accept a mangoe from Israel?
If yes, then it is not a question of ethics,
another good example...
If a `pay day loan` company was going to offer me a job? and it would be well paid in Oxford?
Should I accept it? Should I accept to work for a pay day loan company??
Although I personnally went to both private and state school...
If I was going to move to an area where local schools are not up to the national standard? or recognise to be failed. Should I send my children to a private school or to the local school???
Some religious poeople would dy for their beliefs (temoins de jehovah ou autre)...
AS a consummer do I really make a difference on the environment?
Somethings I do make a difference, (have to find an example, very hard...)
but sometimes as a consummer, my choice does not make any difference, there use to be a bakery next to my house on Kingston road, and I would religiously buy my bread , almonds croissants and bakewell tarts for the boys everyday, few times a day but sadly the shop closed and there is no bakery anymore on Kingston road,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Maybe , it does not make any differnce as such but it makes a psychological difference.
For example, boycotting oranges from South Africa in the 80s may have had an impact on the end of aparteid. The people who were racist might have thought it was all right to exploite the africans until We boycottd the products, it may have caused them to think. (it is not me who overthrow the african governement but I participated in the issue, maybe, maybe not ,,,).
We are in a world where we can not change things in the world, we can not change immigration policy. It is a nice feeling to have when we have the illusion that we contributed to changes.
If I go to the supermarket and have the feeling that I can change the world by not buying mangoes from Israel gives me a feeling of power, it gives me the illusion that I have power.
Small things in great numbers can cause changes ...
Asking a million people to do a little change works better than asking one person to do a big change.
We all try to be ethically and morally correct but nothing is setting stone, there are some limits and these ethics will or can break under different circumstances.
I question my ethical choice because I have no feedback on my action, nothing tells me if the situation on mangoes have changed.
Images and reputation take time but they change overtime...
For example, I do not drink coca cola and my sons do not drink coca cola and their children may not drink coca cola.
For Ryanair, I do not use ryanair and my children will not use ryanair too so overtime, That damages the reputation and changes people `s mind overtime...
To conclude, I am not going to use ryannair for my trips (or have they learnt their lesson)?
It is such an interesting question....
Francis Cabrel.. (les meilleures chansons, Petite Marie, les cathares, Madame X).
Petite Marie
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l`encre de tes yeux
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je l`aime a mourir...
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Francis Lalanne (Fais moi l`amour pas la guerre)
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Serge Gainsbourg...
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Edith Piaf
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Barbara
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Stromae
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Jacques Brel
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Ramstein
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El canto del loco
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Manu Chao
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Mohamed Assaf
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Maxime Leforestier
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George Moustaki
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Leo Ferre
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Aznavour . la boheme
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Yves Montand ...
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Being a french lecturer, means I only see one side of the learning process. Having studying a spanish module taught me how to study from a student perspective.
What did I learn from this process?
First, I had to submit my work online and I went through the frustration of recording an audio file and submitting my work.
I have come to better understand the time pressure that students have when complying with the tma timetable and the tutorial time table.
I also gained understanding of the volume work students are required to undertake.
I enjoyed working in a group and meet other students online, it would be nice to have photos of each other on live so that we can see each other.
Additionnally, it broadens my language knowledge...
X machina is a film about sciences fiction, I will tell you more about it once I saw it...
Although I am not fond of science fiction film, I am curious to watch this film.... It wil be a story, wether it is set in the past or wether it is set in the future, it is a story... so why not?
Matthieu is also watching it in Southampton, it is the film everybody has to see (apparently...)
It is a topic which has been explored so many times, robot and human being..it is stimulating seeing the film from a contemporain view.
What is a turing test?
A turing test is a test to find out if we have been able to replace a human being by a computer.
Is my computer clever enough to replace a human being ?
IT is intelligence artificial, for example, if I talk on google chat, I may say..
Hello John , how are you and John answers `fine, and you?` But am I talking to a computer or am I talking to a human being? To find out who I am speaking to, I need to run a turing test and the test will tell me if I talk to a computer or to a human being.
Good science fiction has to be half beliveable..
In the film robot observe human as much as human observe robot..
When we create an articifical intelligence cleverer than we are, ( and we already have,
it depends how we measure cleverness ?
We can create computer program who are clevever than we are already are and we rely on them, ie. train, laptop, how fast can I add up complicated maths operation?
We do not measure cleverness in that way?
What is cleverness?
I see university graduate who are suppose to be clever but they are not... They are often trying to do something they can not sustain themselves. They push the bar to high... they get stressed.
Who is cleverer? the `berger` who stares at the grass and makes goat cheese, he likes to watch the sunset and sunrise, he likes to stare at the grass, he is happy..
or is the president of France more clever?
As Gardner`s intelligence would explain , we have different types of intelligence, kinaesthetic, visual, musical, logical, interpersonal, intrapersonal and linguistic...
Our computer specialises in one domain, each particular program do specific thing, some computers analyse, some computers add up, they are not polyvalent. Artificial intelligence can express human morals and have feelings. In general, we want robot to do exactly what we want them to do, we want computer to be our servent, we do not want them to start to argue with us.
If I program a robot to add up , he should add up.
I do not want a robot to say, sorry , I can not add up today because I feel sad ...
Matthieu says that we are surrounded by robots and clever computer without realisting it.
We are surrounded by computers more and more without noticing it and sure we depend on them, and we get attached to them. We get attached to our phone, we are emotionnally attached to our phone. IT is a device who has so much information about us, photos, emails, etc.. When we will have robots, we will get attached to them even more...
I think I need to go to bed now as I have a busy day tomorrow...
Intreguing film though..... it is thought provoking...
Bonsoir,
Please read below about the SPUD, I must admit, it is not from me, it is from a colleague of mine but I find it really inspiring… I understand it is not easy to keep going, but believe me, it is all worth it at the end… you are more than half way there, in fact, you are almost there, most of you have completed all tmas and now, you just have the last one to do, ie. the EMA.
SO KEEP GOING....
Behind? You need a SPUD
PPORT SUPPO
IF you started your OU course in September
you’re now nearly halfway through. And
like 62.7 per cent of OU students at this
stage you’re a bit behind with your course
(actually I made that figure up – but I bet it’s
not too far wrong). So what you need is a
course on time management. Well, actually
no, because the last thing you’ve got time for
is another course. So this is the world’s
shortest guide to how to catch up with your
studies. Just remember the word SPUD:
Sstands for :
Skim bits of the course – you don’t have to
read everything thoroughly. You can
sometimes get a good idea of what’s
important by skimming through a unit.
Skip – you can actually skip some bits if
you need to. Ask your tutor’s advice.
Scrape – you don’t have to do well at
everything. Sometimes it’s OK to aim to
scrape through a bit of the course if you need
just to catch up.
Pstands for the slogan:
‘Perfectionism is the enemy of progress’,
which is another way of saying it’s OK to
scrape. You really don’t have to get 90 per
cent on that assignment…
Dstands for various ways of finding the
time:
Defer – there may be things you think you
have to do which you can put off for a while.
Delegate – there may be things you can get
someone else to do.
Downgrade – there may be things you
don’t have you do to such a state of
perfection – see P.
Decommit – a fancy way of saying there
may be things you don’t have to do at all.
U– ah, you noticed the absence of U. I
couldn't find a U – suggestions welcome.
But I did find a number of quite fascinating
words – did you know that the rounded
elevation in the tympanic membrane of your
ear is called the umbo? And that a uropod is
an abdominal appendage of a crustacean?
And – oh sorry – I’ve just increased the
number of students behind to 71.6 per
cent…
It is a long time since we have seen some articles from Slavoj Zizeck in the Guardian.. He is a great philosopher of our time. In this blog, I am going to talk about love...
Love is more and more rare today, it is not encounter. In most language , we have the expression fall in love (even in french , we say tomber amoureux de...).
So the term is `we fall in love...`, let`s imagine, we have a happy life, friends, job, colleagues, and suddenly, you meet the one who is going to shake up your life... This is more and more rare today..
Many intelligent cultural critics notice how we are returning to pre-romantic , pre-modern time when mariage, love was arranged by a third part...(parents or other... dating agency, etc...). Instead of having parents, uncle or aunt arranging meeting, it is a dating agency... mariage agency. What they offer us is love without the `fall`, without falling in love, without the impredictable event.. It is a different story all together...
There is an avoidance of falling in love.
Today, we want the good thing without the bad thing,
From Slavoj Zizek
On today’s market, we find a whole series of products deprived of their malignant property: coffee without caffeine, cream without fat, beer without alcohol… and the list goes on: what about virtual sex as sex without sex, the Colin Powell doctrine of warfare with no casualties (on our side, of course) as warfare without warfare.
- a cup of decaf reality by Slavoj Zizek.
As Pierre says, we want socialism without socialism....
Let`s go back to the idea of love... today, we want sex without the fatal attachment.. sex without the fall, as Slavoj says, the predominent ideology today is this type of western buddhism..
Life is just a play, don`t take it to seriously, maintain a proper distance, don `t get attach to anything, people, object, etc... in fact, it fits perfectly this superficial consumerism..
I inspired myself completely from Zizeck, we may agree like we may not agree...
From Pierre...
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Enjoy...
Christine
Oxford - Abingdon
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Oxford - Brill
New project...
Worcester - Bridgenorth by bike
Stop in Worcester.
Eduard at the `danse` shop La danse (Roderick)
La Danse
#fff;">
I am absolutely exhausted on the photo, having just finished a triathlon. Triathlon is great because we use different muscle group, we use our arms, torso and legs. The aim is not to be the best cyclist or the best swimmer but to be the best overall. It was a tough race because the cycling was hilly, windy and cold... the run was a bit hilly and very windy indeed... I felt I push myself to the limit and had a good strategy, ie. I was taking opportunity of going fast going down hill and I made sure I changed gear and stood up on my bike when I was going up the hill...
The atmosphere was phenomenal with people clapping, and encouraging... A great day...
Nothing matters, the action of ordinary people is meaningless and stupid...
Exemple. The hermit comes back from the mountain and the locals have a celebration.
The hermit says God is dead,,, What are you doing ? celebrating? the sun will go down tomorrow as normal and your action will not change...
The hermit says that God is either dead and he does not care?
What would you prefer to believe? That he does not listen when you pray? or That he does not exist?
It is easier to believe that he does not exist so I am responsible for myself rather than believingh that he is there but he is indifferent...
In Nietshe, the hermit is acting as a wise man who knows it all, he has a reliegious aspect in one sort that is not in l`etranger of Camus...
..
In Camus, there is a sense of passivity.
In l`etranger of Camus, Camus says why do we live ? why do we die?
Whether we die today or tomorrow, we will die one day..
and when we die, people think about us for one minute and then life carries on as normal, and it is like we had not lived.
Machiavel was a politician in Italy, his philosophy was realist.
What was important in his philosophy was to maintain power? to have power ? or to achieve power?
This is the centrality of the objective?
If we are humanist we believe in human `s being? in transformation?
Machievel is a cold hard scientific rational , there is no emotion in his philosophie.
He was writing as a critic, he is exagerating his own position but we take his story litterally?
How would we like a prince to act? how should he compose himself?
He says the prince would kill his enemies, he would keep people in fear, he would manipulate people, he would bribe people, use allias and friends under his control, keep everyboby under his fist. The prince was not nice.
We do not try to make things nice, why should we have houses for poor people?
Why should we have distractions for people? what does it benefit to us?
Why should we have theatre?
What we need ? it is large armies.. lots of gold.. lots of power..
Machiavel is all about power, having it and using it..
Everything else is not important...
He was reflecting the idea of the time... he was saying how people act at that time...
IT is a criticism of the monarchie, Louis XIV, Kings in Italy.. etc...
Why would we be friendly with our neigbours when we can conquer them?
What stops for people coming into my house? steal everything ? and kill yme?
What is there exactly for stopping it happening?
If we are nice, people are naturally good , people have a natural sense of justice.
Machiavel quotes.. there is a system of violence, the state has police , army to keep people discipline. Machiavel assumes people are not nice and we require violence and coersion to keep people in place.
Machiavel wrote a carricature of the monarchy and behind this carricature, there is realism.
In United Nation, we make speeches about trying to bring people together , working in harmony and the way british foreign policy works, we believe it is possible. we don`t assume France will attack us.
What is our purpose of speaking to foreign countries?
We want to spread democratie, human rights, make friendly relation with countries, promote trades... it is all idealistic...
How does Kasask foreign policy work? they assume everybody is trying to kill you..
When Kasakstan speak to Usbekistan, they say `we both have 100 tanks each , so there is no point to fight, we are equals...`
If necessary, if we need petrol, we would use bribary, violence, assasination, we would do everything necessary to get that petrol... without thinking wether it is correct or wether it is in international law or wether it is moral.
If it was possible China would invade Kasakstan (or other countries)...
This is when it ties in with Nietshe, and definitely Machiavel...
Mao says `Power comes from the barrel of a gun`
In society there is always a threat of violence.. not violence itself but just the threat is enough..
We can not be in power without the threat...
The difference between states is that one state has more weapons than another state.
For example, in Monaco, the Grimaldi overthrew the state at the time with violence and said they would be the new rulers and they are the new rulers today?
The story is that Grimaldi entered the fortress disguised in monk, the Seigneur opened the gate, and the Grimaldi killed everybody and stayed on the territory and they are still there today. The great great great grandson ,the prince of Monaco is the descendand of a great Murderer...
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Why are they in power? why am I not in power? because I have not got any army...
This is the idea of Machieval, he thinks that the state is an army of people with arms and weapons capable of using violence if necessary...
power, power, power... This is not Machiavel or Nietshe, however, women have power over men. Men would do anything for them.. they cast a spell on them...
They are wicked enchanteress..
SO so interesting.....
What is important, it is the journey , not the destination. It was a pleasure to have a goal and work towards it.
What is it like to live in a rich district of a rich town of a rich state in United States....
Once , Peter was working for Scripts, a research hospital. I think San Diego is famous for medecine. Anyway, of course, I went to San Diego with the boys to see Peter and stayed there...
I was spoiled, living in a bubble with upper class supermarket, expensive shopping malls, smoothies, cold coffees, etc...
Everything was paid by his company...
I was lucky to have a chauffeur in a big black american car (sorry cars are not my thing, it looked posh but I can not say what it was, maybe a mercedes, it was a kind of car who had a little thing on the front, an hood ornement ) . I got used to him opening the door for me...
I was so spoiled that when I came to England at Heathrow, I stand in front of the door, expecting someone to open the door for me...
Living in La jolla is like living in West Kinsington in London.. it is not the true United States.. It is not all like that.
I was surrounded by false people with false teeth, botox, fake tan, everybody I would meet would have perfect teeth, all white , all lined up, (not crooked like mine, in fact, I think it makes me like a normal person)..
We are conditionned in a system whether we want or not...
I do not have any chauffeur in England and I am happy about that, in fact , I am more than happy on my little pushbike....
Il y a une grande inegalite entre le nord et le sud.
Au nord, il n`y a pas de travail, mais les maisons ne sont pas cheres.
Au sud, il y a du travail, mais les maisons sont trop cheres.
Le fait que les maisons soient trop cheres est un symptome, mais ce n`est pas le probleme de base. Le probleme a la base est la distribution du travail, le probleme est que tout est situe au sud.
Un autre probleme est le fait que des personnes heritent d`une maison.
Dans les annees 50, 60, 70, les gens achetaient leur maison (50% achetaient et 50% louaient).
40 ans plus tard, ces personnes sont mortes et ont legue leurs maisons a leurs enfants.
En general, ces enfants vendent les maisons et utilisent cet argent pour s`acheter une maison.
Si on prend juste le salaire, on ne peut pas acheter de maison...
Comment les gens peuvent-ils acheter des maisons? d`ou vient cet argent?
Comment une famille peut-elle acheter une maison d`un million? Certainement pas avec leur salaire... mais avec l`argent de la famille...
Dans le nord d`Oxford, presque toutes les maisons valent au moins un million...
Il y a une division avec les familles riches et les familles pauvres...
Peut-etre que ce n`est pas forcement une division avec les personnes, c`est une division avec les familles.
Il y a effectivement une division dans le pays, avant il y avait une `class based society`. les gens s`identifiaient comme travailleurs, docteurs ou autre....
Les parents etaient mineurs, les enfants etaient mineurs et on ne bougeait pas de classe..
Il y a eu des reformes dans les annees 30 et apres la guerre qui ont fait que la societe etait plus egale, comme le nhs, les ecoles d`etat , etc...
Dans les annees 70, on a bascule cette idee, et on se basait sur la meritocratie, si on travaille , on y arrive.
Depuis les annees 80 et 90 , tout a bascule dans l`autre sens et la difference s`aggrandit, Cameron ne fait qu`aggrandir le fosse. Cameron aime qu`il y ait une crise dans le logement. Les gens riches n`ont pas de problemes , mais c`est un soucis pour les pauvres. Les conservateurs ne font qu`empirer la situation et creuser un eccart entre les riches et les pauvres...
Ce n`est pas une question simple...
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Film qui parle du genocide des Armeniens en Turquie en 1915....
Sujet tabou en Turquie...
1 million et demie de morts. Les hommes ont ete enleves pour les tuer et on a laisser les femmes et leur filles, elles ont ete violees , exploitees et mises en esclavage..
Histoire vraie?
commemoration du centenaire du genocide armenien francois hollande 24 avril 2015
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There is a difference between morality and justice and law...
For example, a multiple baby rapers who is condemend for killing babies who will die next week by hanging and it happens that he killed my baby.
Let`s imagine that he escapes from prison and passes my front door, I recognise him and kill him. Morally, it is all right, but it is against the law. I will be condemned for murder myself because I am not a judge.
In the play, Measure for measure the judge is immoral , the judge says this is what the law says and I follow the law, the judge does not follow his own moral code. The none`s brother is accused of adultery, he slept with his friend`s wife and is condemned to death penalty.
To be effective, a law has to punish a crime in proportion to the severity of the crime.
We always assume the law is right... There are few cases when the law is wrong.
In the play, the judge applies the law even if he thinks it is wrong...
We should make law flexible so that the judge can choose what is moral and what is not.
For example, if the law says, we must kill anybody who steal...
Does it mean we would kill a man who steals an apple??
Do we want our judge to follow the law without using his morality?
or do we want the judge to follow the law with his morality?
The law is there to protect us...
Oh it is dfifficult... and complicated..
What about if I damage a 4 x 4 ... and the judge is partial, and owns a 4 x 4. He has a connection and reason to give me a high sentence.
We want the law to be solid but we also want it to be flexible, there is a balance.
The morals change with time and fashion, for example, homosexuality, in the 1950s, homosexuality was a crime but it is now accepted.
In 1970, the morals attitude change and we do not consider homosexuality to be a crime, but the crime maybe still does.. ( I am not sure when the law changes).
Overtime, morals change and the law takes a long time to change.
Taking an example, of the Tate suggar factory, it was acceptable to exploite and inslave people at the time for a large time of Mr Tate`s business life, it is now not legal and not morally accepted. (We still have people working on sugar plants and not being paid the right salary)
To the world The Tate is seen as a benefactor, a phillantrophist, it is fine to go to the Tate and admire the paintings that he bought with the profit from his slaves and the Tate is now getting fresh money from BP. If the Tate did not exist, would London has now 2 of his best galleries (Tate gallery and Tate Modern galleries) in London ( I would even say in Europe). The Tate is an outstanding gallery with work which is innovative, creative (and I like them , they are great)... Would this type of institution exist without the finance from private sources, ? Companies?
The moral question, do we accept the money from a Company who is morally wrong?
ex. in the paper, the coal company wants to finance a garden bridge for the people... because it is not used for car and because people want to cross the bridge without cars, it is green and anti-cars.. it has morals and environmental aspects.
Morality exists within its context...
The frightening thing is that a german person in the 1930s can condemn his neighbours for being judged..
In its context, in a 100 years time , I may be seen as immoral. My great grand children will wonder how I morally justify to drive a car and eat animals... or I let people drown in the Mediteranee, (emmigrants)
1000 people died in the boat, I turn the page of the paper and life carries on...(My great grandchildren will think I am not a moral person...). I have not got any physical contact with this people, however, if someone votes ukip, ie . against immigration . They will vote for this people to die in a boat (in a dissaciosated way). Every 5 years, people have the chance to change the morality of the governement.
There is a difference between countries and different laws.
We would like to agree that humanity has the same moral and it is a mistake.
For example, in France, we accept politicians to have mistresses and this is not acceptable in England.
Organisation morality...
A company does not morals, for example, companies make economic decision based on profit. For example, when I think of pharceutical companies who discovered vaccins for Malaria ?
And think... how much can we charge for the vaccins ?
To conclude, morals question arise all the time
and I wonder if I could be imoral now and drive to Bicester village this afternoon...
Tonight is a treat for me, because I am invited to go to the theatre....
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Measure for measure is generally the idea of `oeil pour oeil, dent pour dent`....
Is punishing a crime with another crime a good thing to do?
Which valor do we give to the death of a man? Does the death of a drunk man is worth the same as the death of another man?
We see life from different perspectives?
The none sees that her brother is going to die?
From her perspective, her brother is fine because if he dies he will go to heaven.
From his perspective, he is not happy , he wants to live and he wants her to loose her virginity for him.
3 people have the power to decide wether we live or die, the judge, the executioner or the Prince (dictator).
IT is not the first time, I see a play by cheek and jowls, the music was good and gave a rythm to the play, an idea that time passes.
The only confusion is that the play was in russian and it had english subtitles (Shakespeare text).
The play took place in Vienna but it could have been anywhere and anytime, corruption always exists, not matter the decade we live in or the country we live in.
Every person from Society is represented in a stereotypical manner, ie. policeman, mother, drunk person, politiciens, prostitutes, nones, worker.
It was not as avant garde as the last play I saw by them, it was more classical.
Overall, An interesting experience...
For. ..
We often think from the point of view of the country we live in, but we should think from the point of view of the country of origin of the immigrants. IT happens that immigration implies emigration. IT can be a source of revenue to poor countries like Somalia, they gain valuable foreign exchange from people who are working abroad. IT is positive for the poor people in Siomalia because they get some money. It is better than charity, because they worked for it.
Most immigrants do not stay all their life abroad when they go back home , they take skills with them that they learnt. For example, Somalians who learnt about medicine in France will use their skills in Somalia.
There is also the spreading of countries that go both ways, they bring culture in Europe and political ideas. When they go back to Somalia, they take a bit of french culture with them so they will have a better understanding of how our democracy works and our election system works.
Against
Fuite de cerveaux, from the country of origin, we can drain educated workers. It is also a waste of resources, because sometimes, there are some people who were educated as doctors, or engineer, when they arrive in France, they work as fruit picker, their skills can be wasted.
immigration causes a planning problem for houses and education, we make asumption about population and population growth, we assume the population of Oxford is not going to grow more than approximately 3%, if we allow free for all immigration then the population could vary by more than we planned for so we do not have enough school places or enough houses.
The immigrants may end up not working and then may become a drain on our social securty system. A large immigrants population dilutes the culture of the native population.
Some may argue that immigrants bring down or put pressure on wages because they accept to work for less and under poor conditions. For example the agricultural wage have been staying level. Immigrants do not stand up for their right.
It is so hard to think of points against immigration as I am an immigrant...
Ionesco est un des fondateur du theatre de l`absurde, il a commence a ecrire ses pieces en 1950. D`origine roumaine, il quitte son pays pour se sauver du fascisme. Ses pieces parlent de themes qui nous touchent personnellement. I il parle de la famille, de l`hypocrisie qu`il existe dans les couples, et du manque de communication entre les conjoints entre eux. Il analyse les relations entre les hommes et femmes et concluent que nous vivons dans un monde ou les gens se marient et apres ils ne connaissent plus, ils vivent machinalement dans une indifference totale et une incomprehension de l`un et l`autre, les conversations qu`ils echangent sont banales et n`ont aucun sens, leur relation est superficielle et ridicule . Il a ete choque par le fascisme, choque par le fait que le fascisme a contamine tout le monde en Roumanie, meme les membres et professeurs de l`universite sont fascistes, il s`oppose a cela et a ecrit une piece qui se nomme Rhinoceras, celle-ci relate ces difficultes.
A debate is all sides of a subject, a simple example would be the one of a knife. A knife is useful because it is a tool but it can be a weapon. The idea is to examine all sides of a subject.
Tonight, we will see a few debates..
Immigration and integration.
The question is should we learn the language of a country we move in to communicate?
We have to speak the language of the locals to communicate with them so it is essential for the integration. For example , you can mix in and participate in local events such as going to church or going to the gym. You can speak to your neighbours
We do not have to speak the language of a country we move in to communicate. For example, I worked just outside Geneva and although we were in a french speaking country , the official language was english at work. For example, I am french and I would send email to my boss who is french in english. There was even theatre in english. Also, with internet, we can communicate and get news or order items from amazon all that in our own language.
Imagine you are english and you need to learn the african dialect ie. benba in Zambia
When we ask this question , we always think of one direction, ie. we think of people moving to our country. But what about if we move to a little country. Do we need to learn the dialect? or do we think we can get away with not knowing the dialect?
Wind turbines
it is a free, non polluting and eternal energy... Therefore it does not destroy the planete. They do not create CO2.
However, it is not constant, the wind is not constant, there are days when there is no wind. it is unreliable, we need to maintain them, they make noise and can destroy the countryside (not more than electric pylone). Because the energy is not constant we have to store the energy somewhere, usually in batteries. Batteries are not very ecological, they do not last forever and they are expensive. The batteries use lythiam and there is a limited resource in the world, it has to be dug out of the ground and it is rare.
Would you be happy to have a wind farm at the end of the street?
To provide 100% of energy from wind, you would need to cover a huge amount of land.
The land that we use for wind farm can not be used for something else. (maybe we would get away with sheeps in the fields)
Future for the medecine?
Should medecine be free for everybody?
No some illnesses might be self induced ie. obesity, drugs, smokers, alcooliques.. If I invent a pill for curing cancer but it costs 10 000 pounds a pill, we have to take a 100 pills and it costs one million pounds to treat each cancer patient. Do I treat all the cancer patient for free and use up all my budget and I will have no money to treat little children with measle. If it is free, it is never free, nothing is free, it means it is free to us but the government pays, when the governement pays , we pay. there is no such thing as there is a free health service, money does not appear on trees. When it is free, drug companies can charge inrealistic prices
Is free health care a right?
We pay the nhs through our taxes, and when there are tourists, we treat them for free, because we do not discriminate at that point.
IF I have a disease like measle, should I have to pay for my measle injection, if it is not free, some people could not pay and the disease would spread...
Should we say stop to packaging.
Yes because it creates rubbish, pollution, we need to get rid of it, landfill, it is often plastic which means that it takes a long time to eliminate, also, it is often difficult for old people to open.
Protection of the planet.
No because it provides information about the product, it provides security, we know where the product comes from. For example a bottle of mineral water is sealed and we know it is mineral water, it has not been filled by tap water. conservation of products, we can do biodegradable products. it sells we can put marketing and publicity on .
Is it ok to rap a banana in a plastic package?
if there is no packaging, we would go to the supermarket and would there be everything on the floor? Would there be lots of baked beans in a bucket and everybody would serve themselves? isn`t it better to put it in the tin?
Packaging is easy for distribution...
Non au racisme dans le foot.
Racism is embeded in sports , because they define themselves as being Marseille from PSG. They define themselves as being one team against another team,
Racism is not necessary, african footballers suffer from racism because there is a crowd of 10 000 people , if 1% is racist, ie. 100 people, there is a group of 100 people who are racist. We could say it is normal but no it is not normal. The kenyan run in the London marathon and they are the best. They run in front of a crowd of 1 milllion people and nobody says a word therefore it is the people who go to football who are more racist than other people. Football attracts middle age white racist men.
We can say that football is over representated in the media, each newspaper has got 4 or 5 pages of football almost everybody. Why? Maybe they have to say something, they are employed to write about football. For example, in France, when there is a football match it is on every chanel and the man has to speak for 90 minutes to entertain the crowd. Is he going to talk what the goaler had for breakfast? or is he going to talk about the fact that the goaley is black?
Would we prefer a silent commentary? or
dEBATE . L`HOMME EST LE PRINCIPAL CAUSE DU DEREGLEMENT DE CLIMAT.
We don `t have any accurate records of temperature, the thermometer we have dated from the XIXe century and thermometer were not accurate. The temperature that were measured was not measure in stable condition. We now all agree to take the temperature in a standardise way, ie. in the shade, out of the wind, in the box, we have done that for 100 years. 100 years worth of temperature measure is nothing compare the age of the earth.
It is probably true that the temperature is rising, but the volcanoes produce sulfate , sulfure and pollution.
For Europe, compare to 200 years ago, we produce less CO2, when all houses where heating by coal..
The record of temperature goes up and down and it is a natural process.. it is not a nice study curve, it is the main problem.
There is corruption in both direction, scientist say there is a problem and they get more research fund, it a scientist say it does not exist , he is out of the job. Scientist create problems so they stay employed.
There are big oil company who say there is no problem because they need to sell petrols and oil so there is commercial interest.
Poverty.
Can we help poors all over the planet or just poor in our country?
We have not got the budget to help everybody. There is a limit and we need to choose.
Do we choose, based on politics? (for example, when south Africa has aparteid, should we help them and give them more money? Should we help North Korea, and is run , governed by a dictator, so do we give them aid or not? people are poor...
ethics? Should we help Saudi Arabia? it is extremely rich but there are some extremely poor people , do we help these poor people? or India, there is a lot of rich and poor people.
Should we help poor people?There are richer people in their country who should help them but they do not.
There are poor people in Europe who would appreciate the help.
tibet is under the rule of China. Before the nationist government came into power in 1916. All China was ruled by monarchy. It was feudal system. After the 2nd world war. The Chinese communist party came to power in 1949. Between 1930 and 1949, the country was in civil war the idea of china as a cohesive country came about as a result of the Chinese nationalist party. The idea was that there would be a republic and not a monarchy. From bejing to xigiang it would be a whole big country in 1949, they created the people republic of China and they started to absorb the areas which were under feudal rules such. As Tibet Mongolia or xingean. tjbet was ruled by an aristocracy who legitimise their tyranny through religion. It was a theocracy. They were spiritual but feudal in their approach. People were treated very badly for example some people didn't even have names and were slaves to the monks. The society was divided into groups the monks were superior and the normal people were treated like inferior. The idea is that the monks pray and the people work in the field. The Dalai Lama is supposed to be the reincarnation of the previous dala lama. He was elected and found by the Buddhist people. There is a process; for example the new daila lama has to be born the same day or close to the old daila lama. It is definitely not democratic. Someone is born knowing he will be the wise leader person.
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by the press in general in the UK and in France they promoted an image of Dalai lama which is not necessarily true
Ionesco a ecrit de nombreuses pieces, entre autre la cantatrice chauve , rhinoceros, etc...
En apparence, ces pieces semblent tres simples, mais en realite, ces oeuvres sont plutot complexes. Ceci est le cas pour de nombreux textes de l`absurde. On peut aussi parler d`anti-theatre au lieu de parler de l`absurde. Ionesco aime poser des questions , il se les pose et les pose au public. Le theatre est une facon de poser des questions. Chaque piece met en question une idee ou une ideologie. Il faut considerer les pieces dans leur contexte historique. Par exemple, Rhinoceros est une allegorie a la deuxieme guerre mondiale.
a finir...
Le XIXeme siecle est une periode passionnante, c`est un renouveau dans de nombreux domaines, que ce soit avec la sciences (Darwin). Dans le domaine des arts comme la peinture avec les impressionistes et la litterature avec Maupassant, Emile Zola, Balzac, Victor Hugo. C`est une epoque ou l`on se concentre, non pas sur les Rois et Reines mais sur les gens, les petites gens (comme on dit en francais). Le second Empire fut une periode de grande activite economique avec les banques (Rotschild, credit lyonnais, etc...), les moyens de communication comme le train, l`electricite, le telegraphe, les travaux d`Haussman etc...
Tout cela entraine des transformations sociales.Charles Fourier et Pierre-Joseph Proudhom, etc...
Qu`est-ce que le style naturaliste?
Le style naturaliste en litterature a pour objectif la description exacte et scientifique des milieux sociaux.
Le romancier naturaliste doit enqueter sur le terrain, faire des brouillons, montrer la realite exacte et triste, montrer que le determinisme est partout. Le romancier naturaliste ne doit pas avoir des heros surhumains, des personnages reduits a un seul trait de caractere dominant. Ce ne sont pas des aventures hors du commun ou trop exceptionnelles. ils ne doivent pas juger ou prendre parti ou se livrer a une imagination trop debordante.
A la fin de chaque roman, on pourait ecrire, toute ressemblance avec des personnages ayant reellement existes.
Maupassant a ecrit de nombreux romans, mes romans preferes sont boule de suif, une vie, Bel ami, Pierre et Jean, etc...
Il s`avere que l`on ait fait un film sur bel ami. ci-dessous bande annonce du film.
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Cependant, le film trahit le roman, a mon avis ce n`est pas une interpretation litteraire reussie.
First, Paddington bear to my agreable surprise, it was challenging. Paddington bear story like a lot of fairy tales have a subtext. Paddington Bear is also about immigration, about his struggle how to integrate. It is about the attitude of the local people to strangers and how they view them. For example, Paddington Bear contributes to society by catching a robber so immigrants contribute to society but in general, they are considered as a drain on socitey, they use the nhs, they use the schools, they take take take and do not give, (this is the view of the right wing ). In reality they participate. There is also the ideas that institution like the geographers institution and the british empire is somehow better as they kill the bears and bring them back stuffed. However, this is wrong as it is far better to leave animals in their own habitat than to move them into zoos or stuffed them and put them on a shelf.
For this blog I inspired myself from an interesting article I read today.
As I have an accent, people tend to ask me where I come from . When I say I come from Paris, I can see in their eyes what they think , they have a stereotype of parisian ladies being not friendly, arrogant and snobby. Although I come from a wealthy family, I am definitely not snobby, I am not arrogant and I consider myself friendly. As I lived in England for a long time, people ask me why don`t I become english?
The implication is that I am not part of their tribes, and their tribe is better than the other tribes. i am from another tribe.
It is true that the only time I wish I was british is during the elections, I can vote in local election but I can not vote in national elections and it is a problem as I care dearly. We don`t need to abandon customs and traditions, history is a crucial part of who we are. We are all people linked by our interest, skills and personalities.
Perhaps I could become a british citizen but that would mean giving up a part of who I am .
The internet allows people to communicate through countries, without frontiers.
Why would it matter where I was born?
Am I a better person wether I was born in Paris or in Bagdad?
Nationalities are artificial. Which nationalities we are , are based on chance, we do not choose where we are born, We choose our tribe but we can not choose to be polish if we live in France. We can choose our tribes, we can choose to be part of a cyclist tribes or a yoga tribe or a labour party tribes but we can not choose to be american.
Nationalities no longer make sense as a tribe, but what matters are our personal interests. Instead of saying I am french, I could say I am a cyclist. I belong to the tribe of cyclist. Some people belong to certain political parties and could say they are socialist.
To conclude, we are all different and the world is better that way...
We all belong to the human tribe and this is the biggest tribe....
A finir...
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Thank you to Matthieu for showing us the film. It is a feel good film, it is the story of a parisian who has a mission to close down a hospital in Bretagne. She has to close it down because it does not make any profit. It happens that she becomes friends with the staff through bowling and she is in a conflicted situation.
Personnally, her experience of being a parisian in the countryside makes me think of my experience. I was lost when I first arrived in Normandie. Although it is the same country, Paris and Normandie. It sometimes looks like 2 different worlds. When I arrived , I was looking for the village I was staying at. I was lost and could not find my way because the name of the towns are pronunced differently, for example, the village of Montuchon is pronounced `Monchon`.
Another example of different prononciation was that one of the villages was called `la petite cosnuerie`, which sounds like `la petite connerie` (connerie , slang word for gaffe in french). When I saw the name of the place on the map I could not help myself from laughing. Although I am french I could not pronounce the different names of local villages. In addtion to this, the dress code it was going back 20-30 years ago..
Returning to the subject of the film, ...
Part II.
I saw the second half of the film tonight, definitely a feel good film, not very deep but it is a true story. When closing a factory or an hospital, it closes related business such as petrol station, shops, schools, etc...
There is a network of industries and shops , all dependant on each other , when one link is removed, the other ones suffer ..
When closing an institution , we also close a whole town, there are repercussion on the whole life of people. The film shows that Catherine (the parisien) changes her perspective when she starts living with the locals, as she understands them more she becomes compassionate and struggle with them.
I am not going to tell you how the film ends because I would spoil the suspense.
I wonder how was my life before computers existed?
Could I do without a computer now?
Not having a television, means that for distraction, I use the computer for watching films and other documentaries in the front room. The fact I work for the open university means that I spend a lot of time on the computer in the office, either talking to my students, doing administration work or giving tutorial online. In the kitchen, it is nice to watch funny clips on youtube or I watch the weather on the computer whillst I cook and I eat. Finally, I fall asleep in front of the news watching my computer in my bedroom or I send final emails (apparently, it is bad to have a computer in the bedroom but I do not care).
I use computers from the minute I get up to the final moment before I go to sleep.
I move around the house from one computer to another..
This was just my thought today...
I inspired myself by the Milton Keynes market..
If you like to travel to exotic places, take the car to the market in Milton Keynes. In a few hours, you will cross Poland, China, the Caribean, India, etc...
You will see indiens, sicks and caribeans men ,then I will take you to Poland
Not far from New-Deli and Karashi, it is possible to eat in China
or we can eat something traditionnally english like cockles in vinegar, mushy peas and lardy cakes.
We then cross the caribean, with their big fishes and their exotic vegetables.
It is a busy place, everybody is activated, there is a smell of spices, noises, old people, young peoploe, children, all sorts of people... all colours....
Everything can be bought, watches, burquas, sweets, fridges, tights, clothes, asiatic pears, and caroubes..
Milton Keynes , town of 1000 faces...
There is something for every body, every cultures...
However, not everybody has discovered it as many locals do not know about it...
Revision of programming (array) before the interview....
I feel like a Becassine tonight....
a finir... time / place / environement (family / work / business) / people
social hierarchy settings : poor or rich people?
establishing set, within the opening of the film we want to know,
where the scene takes place? which country? town or countryside?
When does the scene take place ? we get clues from transport, fashion of building, people, when it is about kings or queen, we see a man with a pair of tight and we know it is an historical drama.
~At the beginning ,the setting is in a city, Paris.
There are 3 steps,
the first step is in Paris, the second step is in a sort of institution in the countryside, the third step is on the beach .
The opening of the film is driving through the city , the closing scene of the film is running on the beach. The film goes from these 2 extremes.... It goes from a crowded place to an empty place.
The main setting is in the city...
Even if it is not deliberate, the fact it is a black and white film indicates it is an old film... The audience take that cue and it is interpreted that way.
It is in a crowded flat, in a confine space where he has to make his bed everybody in the corridor and folded it away everyday.. the setting is this confine flat
On the other hand , his friend lives in a 14 rooms house, confortably with antiques, money and space..
The fact, Antoine has a friend from a rich family, does not happen today as youth do not mix so easily, they go to different school, practice different hobbies, they are seggragated. The setting when we have a poor boy who goes to school with a rich boy is a unique setting.
Is it a noisy place? is it a quiet place?
it is realist film?
the scene takes place during the gaulliste time, the education is a certain education of gaulliste time, it is about severity, discipline, and pride of our country France.. It is a time when France is proud and has not lost all of her colonies yet...
Le film 400 coups de Francois Truffaut est un film qui nous invite à considérer une variété de thèmes importants et je vais en évaluer plusieurs.
Avant tout le film les 400 coups est un film autobiographique, c`est a dire que tout est puise dans la realite. Il constitue une période de Francois Truffaut alors qu`il était adolescent. Qui dit adolescent dit rebellion, a maintes reprises, le protagoniste principal Antoine se rebelle et a chaque fois, il est puni plus severement que la fois precedente. Il y a une evolution de petits crimes. Par exemple, il vole de nombreuses choses, mais comme dit le dicton , qui vole un oeuf vole un boeuf. Premierement, il vole un stylo, de l`argent, du lait et finalement il vole une machine a ecrire. A mon avis Antoine ne vole pas pour derober quelque chose mais il vole pour avoir l`attention.
Un aspect de cette expérience était tourné dans les années 60, c`est a dire dans la période Gaulliste, c`est l`apres-guerre. L`épducation est présentée comme etant traditionnelle. Le programme scolaire est strict et monotone, c`est ennuyeux. Il faut apprendre par coeur et il n`y a pas de place pour la creativite. Les eleves sont dissipes car ils s`ennuient. Par exemple, on voit les eleves en classe apprendre des fables de Lafontaine par coeur, ils ecrivent sur leur cahiers des phrases qu`ils doivent connaitre par coeur. Les relations entre le maitre et les eleves sont distantes Le film m’a fait comprendre combien la France etait prete pour les revolutions de mai 68.
Mais Truffaut ne veut pas uniquement presenter la rebellion . Un des grands thèmes du film est le theme de l`ecriture et de la communication. A plusieurs reprises, Antoine communique a travers l`ecriture, toujours d`une maniere créative. Par exemple, au début il écrit un poeme derriere le tableau de l`ecole, cependant il est mal compris car il est puni pour cet acte alors que le poeme était magnifique. il essaie egalement d`écrire une lettre d`adieu a ses parents et encore il est lu a contre-sens, ses parents n`y voient que les quelques fautes d`orthographe et non pas le message qu`il veut transmettre. Je ne peux éprouver qu`une réaction de pitié envers Antoine qui, après tout, voulait communiquer avec le monde des adultes, On peut parler de la malédiction de la plume, des qu`il la prend il est mal interprété.
La famille est egalement un theme du film. Le film se deroule dans une famille d`ouvrier pendant les annees 60. C`est une periode ou la contraception etait mal acceptee et Antoine est ne par accident, donc il n`etait pas desire par sa famille. Sa mere est maratre, mechante et ne pense qu`a se debarasser de lui, tandis que son beau-pere est indifferent a son beau fils, il ne se soucie guere de lui et ne pense qu`a ses courses de velo. Je suis d’accord avec le réalisateur que son enfance était difficile, cependant l`histoire n`est pas outranciere. S`il avait fait le film plus tot il serait plus violent mais s`il avait le film plus tard dans sa vie, il serait plus serein.
Pour conclure, j’ai pu aborder très brièvement quelques-uns des grands sujets du film les 400 coups de Francois Truffaut. A mon avis cette notion d`ecriture et de desir de communiquer est le thème le plus important.
Avant tout le protagniste principal du film incarne l’idee de l`adolescent mal dans sa peau. Antoine est un garcon qui habite a Paris dans les annees 60, il est issu d`un milieu familial ouvrier. Enfant non desire par sa famille et ne par accident. Il ne reve que de liberte et d`independence. Par exemple, il fait plusieurs fugues, premierement il se sauve de chez lui et enfin il se sauve de la maison de detention. Bien qu`il soit mal traite a la maison par ses parents, son attitude est docile envers sa famille, il ecoute et essaie de les seduire par exemple, il met la table va faire les courses, va vider les poubelles ,etc… Il essaie a tout prix de les seduire mais c`est sans success car a la fin il decide de faire une fugue car il se sent mal compris.
Antoine est un rebelle a l`ecole. Il n`hesite pas a repondre au maître, il ne fait pas ses devoirs , il fait l`ecole buissonniere, on voit qu`il est mal dans sa peau. Bien qu`il ait un comportement indiscipine et qu`il ne travaille pas beaucoup. C’est un garcon intelligent, qui peut creer. Il cree un poeme qu`il ecrit derriere le tableau de classe. Il est sensible au romantisme de Balzac et eprouve une passion pour cet auteur du XIXeme siècle. Je comprends sa colère face à la societe et à mon avis il a raison de se rebeller.
Mais c’est un romantiste aussi. Certes, comme tout adolescent , il est angoisee, il envie son ami Rene qui est plus riche que lui et qui manipule ses parents. Son ami n`a pas de compte a render a ses parents. Tandis que lui, a peur de ses parents, il est humble a la maison. C`est un romantique qui aime les femmes. Bien qu`il craigne les femmes, il les aime, premierement, il circule la photo d`une pin-up a qui il dessine des moustaches. Puis il rencontre Jeanne Moreau , il essaye de l`aider a retrouver son chien. Enfin, lorsqu`il est avec la psychologue, il avoue avoir voulu rencontre rune femme pour avoir une relation avec elle, mais cela n`a pas marche car il etait certainement trop jeune. Bien que ce ne soit pas une bonne idee, je comprends son desir de s`enfuir de chez lui et de se sauver de la maison de detention car c`est un incompris.
Est-il héroïque? Truffaut dirait que non, car cela supposerait que la plupart des êtres humains ne sont pas héroïques. Chaque jour est une lute et cette histoire autobiographique est un chef d`oeuvre du cinema francais de part son realisme et son innocence. Donc je sympathise avec le protagonist principal.
La nouvelle vague est un mouvement cinématographique qui a été crée dans les années 60 par un groupe de metteurs en scène tels que `Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Eric Rhomer, etc...
Ce style a inspiré de nombreux cinéastes, tel que Ken Loach (Cathy comes home), Shane Meadows (this is England), Andrea Arnold (Fish tank), etc...
Pour cet essai, je vais me pencher sur le film `400 coups` de Francois Truffaut.
De nombreux facteurs ont influencé la nouvelle vague, premièrement, on a vu l`apparition de nouvelles techniques tels que caméras à mains, caméras sur grue abordables pour tous budgets. Ces cinéastes n`avaient pas de grands moyens financiers.
Ils n`avaient pas de studios donc ils ont filmé dans la rue et dans des endroits authentiques en utilisant la lumière naturelle. Pas de pellicule couleur , mais les films sont en noirs et blancs, de plus cela accentue les contrastes. En ce qui concerne les scénarios et textes, ils sont semi-spontanés car cela est plus facile à gérer et plus naturels.
On veut à cette époque romptre avec les interprétations littéraires qui sont souvent médiocres car elles trahissent le roman, le producteur doit acheter des droits d`auteur et cela est exorbitant, il transforme l`adaption cinématographique en pièce de théatre . On veut également trancher avec le cinéma hollywoodien qui crée des films ridicules se concentrant sur une vedette par exemple , Marylin Monroe.
le film 400 coups est un film auto-biographique, tout est puisé dans la réalité. Cela ressemble aux premiers romans, Les metteurs en scène s`expriment plus directement.
Est-ce un film outrancier ? comme dit Francois Truffaut, si le film avait été écrit plus tôt, il aurait été plus violent, et s`il avait été écrit plus tard, il serait plus serein..
Au point de vue de la musique, Francois Truffaut a utilisé la meme musique qu`il interprète différemment selon son humeur.
Techniques de la nouvelle vague:
Les caméras à main ont des pellicules sensibles à la lumière du jour, elles sont maléables et facilement transportables, elles permettent de capturer les actions et expressions spontanément:
Il y a de nombreuses scènes et ci-joint quelques scènes préférées.
Le théatre de marionnettes
Le spectateur est parfois dans la salle, il regarde le théatre avec les enfants ou le spectateur tient les marionnettes et regarde les enfants. L`expression des enfants est d`un réalisme parfait.
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la scène du psycholoque.
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Dans cette scène, le spectateur a l`impression d`etre dans la salle avec le psycholoque, c`est comme si on était dans la salle et que l`on assistait à l`entretien.
Antoine, le protagoniste principal est d`un naturel exceptionnel, à mon avis, il est touchant de par sa sincérité.
Il a utilisé une caméra sur grue et a filmé une scène discontinue.
Cette scène décrit Antoine alors qu`il sévade de la maison de détention. C`est un moment fort , ou on ressent la liberté, Antoine a été opprimé dans la maison de détention et maintenant, il ne pense plus à rien, il court , il court et rien n`existe autours de lui. la caméra fait que l`on a l`impression de courrir à côté de lui. La scène n`est pas longue car le spectateur est présent dans l`action.
A mon avis, c`est une scène ou je peux sympathiser avec le protagoniste car je cours et je ressens ce sentiment de liberté et cette sensation de bonheur à courir et à ne penser à rien, faire le vide dans sa tete et sentir son coeur qui bat, on a l`impression d`etre vivant et de vivre la vie ...
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Le clip ci-dessus montre la fin du film et cette course à pied se termine sur la plage. C`est un moment dramatique, il s`avère qu`Antoine n`avait jamais vu la mer, son expression est exemplaire alors qu`il voit la mer pour la première fois. La musique change de rythme et devient mélancolique.
Francois Truffaut joue avec la musique, bien que ce soit toujours le meme air, il change le rythme selon ces humeurs, par exemple, au début de l`histoire, alors que nous traversons Paris et que nous nous rapprochons de la Tour Eiffel, la musique est heureuse. il s`avère que Francois Truffaut était fasciné par la Tour Eiffel. la musique danse, elle est joyeuse, on pourrait meme dire enfantine, avec les violons et les xylophones.
Ci-dessus exemple.
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En guise de conclusion, les 400 coups est un chef d`oeuvre du cinéma francais, il provoque de nombreux sentiments, digne d`intérets par ses méthodes avant garde de l`époque ,c`est aussi un témoignage historique de Paris à cette époque de la France Gaulliste.
Si vous voulez voir le film en direct, ci-joint site :
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N`était-elle pas jolie???
Best time of my life, Working outside Geneva, working for DEC during the day and running, cycling, dancing and skiing at the week-end and in the evening... Oh I love skiing...
chapelle savoyarde..
Que de souvenirs ! je l`ai monté de fois cette petite montagne du Mont Jovet avec mes cousins et cousines...
On faisait la course jusqu`en haut de la chapelle.
Tous très fiers de l`école du grand oncle, Pierre Béroud.
L`école du village a été inaugurée et nommée en l`honneur de notre grand oncle.
Montagny en Savoie est le berceau familial de la famille de mon père...
Electricity is outside the flat and works when it wants to...
We do not realise what wonderful services we have in Europe ..
Everything works, electricity, water is coming out of the tape all cleaned, etc...
16, rue Léon Frot 75011 Paris..... vendu . Date de construction . 1890
Réunion de famille ..
Tough race ... I WON.... Youpi... It was a long time ago though....
Such a tough race !
C`est un film nouvelle vague actuel et artistique. J`ai écrit sur ce film le texte suivant. C`est un film très interessant, réaliste, artistique de par ses prises de vue. Comme dans le film `Diva` , il y a l`idée qu`un macon peut aimer la musique classique et dans la diva, un facteur peut aimer l`opéra. L`opéra et la musique classique ne sont pas seulement réservée aux classes aisées. Il n`y a pas beaucoup d`explications pourquoi la femme va avec l`homme et pourquoi il va avec elle, alors on peut imaginer ce que l`on veut. Il y a un peu une idée que toute femme éduquée aime etre avec un homme manuel, car un homme qui a un travail manuel aux yeux de la société (pas à mes yeux) représente la masculinité, la virilité. On associe le travail manuel avec la masculinité, on pense que c`est masculin d`etre camioneur ou autre. Il l`aime car il aime sa musique, il l`aime à travers sa musique. Il a une vie tranquille et il aime etre avec cette femme car cela le sort de son quotidien. C`est une situation qui n`est pas réaliste, la vie, c`est autre chose, comme je dis l`amour , ce n`est pas vécu juste dans le lit. Est-ce qu`il recherche une vie parfaite?
when we believe about somethiing which is untrue, we are confirming our belief. In the film, they reinforce their religion with something which is untrue...
Christine Paulette Chantal Marshall / Béroud / Garcia
email. christine.marshall@gmail.com
Nationality French
Languages: French / english / spanish
Following the birth of my two sons I studied for a degree in education, followed to an MA. I switched my career to teaching french. I remain interested in technology and I often use it in my classes. My thesis included both aspects of education and technology.
January 2002 – Now Open University Region 06 (Cambridge ) and region 02 (Oxford)
ASL. / Part time lecturer
I teach the L192 and L120 module . I provide correspondence tuition and act as a facilitator for the students. I provide academic support via the telephone, email and normal mail as well as monthly onsite tutorials. I am the first point of contact for students for course and study-related advice and support. Feedback is also provided to the
Students via Assignments, these are written and spoken (cassettes are used). I mark the assignments and monitor the students’ progress through the course.
I currently have 30 students assigned to me.
I very much enjoy working for the OU, I am able to contribute to the students understanding of French and the French culture. I specifically like the broad range of students that I get to work with, they have such a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences, I find this is something unique to the OU.
April 1993 – June 1999 Worcester College UK
French Lecturer
n Skills: LCCI exams, GCSE, A`levels, BTEC HND, OCCN exams (Special needs)
n I first taught French at Worcester College as part of the teaching placement whilst completing the Cert Ed. at University. Worcester College then offered me a position as French Lecturer after Completion of the Cert Ed.
July 1992 – December 1992 MODO Group UK
Computer Programmer
n Skills: VAX COBOL, POWERHOUSE 6.10, DCL, RDB, CDD+ , TDMS, SQL, Dec VAX CLUSTER under VMS.
n The initial project included analysis of the existing sales order processing system. The design, build, and implementation of an amendment to the system so that orders could be entered by meterage.
n The client was in process of converting its internal codes to International Standards Organisation codes. After analysing and planning of the changes, the coding and testing of these changes were completed.
March 1992 – May 1992 Brann Direct Marketing UK
computer Programmer (contract )
n Skills: VAX COBOL, POWERHOUSE, VAX DCL, 2 VAX CLUSTER + 1 micro VAX (VMS 5.4)
n Writing conversion programs to change the clients files to work with ORACLE, in VAX COBOL. POWERHOUSE was used to develop test screens for enquiry upon the converted files, and the original files. POWERHOUSE was also used to develop new update programs.
January 1991 – December 1991 A.T.T ISTEL UK
Software Engineer
n VAX COBOL, POWERHOUSE, DATATRIEVE, VAX DCL, Vax Cluster, (4000 and 2 micro VAX 3600), VMS 5.4.
n I was working in the development department making changes to existing programs. All the works was done to specifications, my duties included writing the process sheet (pseudo code), amending the code written in COBOL, and writing the Test plan to test the changes. The project was conducted to BS5750 standards. POWERHOUSE and DATATRIEVE were used for program testing.
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August 1990 – January 1991 contract CASAM (France) Computer Programmer (Contract) n Skills: VAX COBOL, FMS, DECFORMS, VAX DCL, STCOM (4GL), 2 VAX 3600, micro VAX II, VMS 5.2 n CASAM is a large agricultural co-operative. My responsibilities included analysis, specification and programming. |
December 1989 – July 1990 DIGITAL (France)
Computer Programmer (Contract)
n Skills: VAX PASCAL, VAX BASIC, DCL, ACMS, RDB, VAX SET (LSE, CMS, SCA, MMS, PCA) Vax cluster, VMS 5.3.
n I was working with the system managers, installing some tools (DCM Data Center Monitor) and writing programs in Vax basic. I also wrote the design and the functional documentation of an application called PACS (Price and Cost Software), all the modules were written in Pascal
La religion est bénéfique pour une société parce qu`elle apporte une morale à notre vie quotidienne, il existe dans la bible les 10 commandements de Moise, il nous donne des règles à suivre. La justice impose des règles, mais la religion impose d`autres règles comme ne pas mentir, etc....
La religion nous aide à surmonter les problèmes de la vie, comme la solitude, avec Dieu, on est jamais seule car on pense qu`il est présent parmi nous. De plus, croire nous donne une aspiration et un but dans la vie. Croire rend la mort moins douloureuse car on peut penser que l`on ira au paradis.
Cependant la religion est aussi maléfique car elle ne fait qu`infantiliser les hommes sur la terre, comme dit Freud. L`homme aime se sentir enfant devant le père, c`est psychologiquement néfaste. Peut-etre que les règles sont fausses, on pense que l`on ira au paradis, mais c`est faux. La religion provoque la guerre et donne une raison au crime, on peut etre pardonner pour avoir tuer pour Dieu. elle nous donne des excuses pour agir d`une facon médiocre. La religion nous impose des buts irrealisables, comme ne jamais mentir. Elle nous aveugle en ce qui concerne la science et n`évolue pas. Par exemple, parfois la sciences evolue mais la religion n`evolue pas , par exemple, elle n`accepte pas l`euthanasie, l`avortement, etc...
On ne devrait pas lancer des pierres aux personnes qui ont péché.
La religion entraine la haine et guettoise les hommes, elle provoque des ségrévations entre les hommes
When we organise a day or a march for woman, we just legitimise a day for woman but it does not change anything, people are allowed to walk between one street and another street, and can not walk in this street, they must not make to much noise. It is such a contrieved protest.
The women`s international protest are controlled and consumed within the system, it is not quiet capitalised like mother`s day (mothers day has been taken over by capitalist interest, card shop, flower shops, etc...), maybe Women`s day will be about consumerism in the few years time.
When women organise charity run and that they all wear pink, it does help themselves. It excludes men and reinforce the stereotype of brainless women wearing pink.
Evaluez le contexte social d’un auteur dans un livre que vous avez lu
L`étranger est un roman d’Albert Camus, publié en 1942, qui comporte de nombreuses références autobiographiques. Je vais parler du contexte social et expliquer comment celui-ci a influencé le premier roman d`Albert Camus. On peut voir des éléments de la vie de Camus dans ceux des personnages principaux, et de plus, ces personnages forment un mélange de divers aspects de la personnalité de l’écrivain lui-même. Camus est né en Algérie en 1913, et a grandi dans la pauvreté. Dans L`étranger, il s’agit d’un homme qui tue un arabe , cela est entre causé par le soleil. Mersault, passe beaucoup de temps, surtout dans la première partie, à vivre dans les quartiers pauvres, en particulier dans le quartier de Marengo. Il s`avère que la mère de Camus habitait dans ce quartier. Ici nous voyons que Camus est un socialiste, qui réfléchissait sur les conditions et la qualité de vie, surtout pour l’homme moyen – Camus tente d’écrire un roman qui exprime sa philosophie personnelle. Cela me dit que l’écriture est la méthode préférée de Camus pour explorer et comprendre le monde où il habite. Son père est mort très jeune, et Camus ne le connaissait que d’une photographie et d’une anecdote qui a de l’importance pour ce roman – il détestait l’exécution capitale. Camus était d’accord avec son père, et dans L`étranger nous rencontrons le personnage de Mersault, qui ne croit pas que la peine de mort soit juste, mais en fait que c’est le meurtre légal.
Camus a écrit ce roman pendant que l`Algérie était colonisée par les francais. Il existe un conflit pré colonil. L`atitude de Mersault est celle d`un pied-noir, cela peut paraitre un peu raciste, par exemple p54, lorsqu`il parle de la femme de Raymond, il emploie le term `sa femme était marasque`. Un autre exemple est lorsque Mersault prend le bus avec Raymond et Marie, il dit que `les arabes le regaraient en silence` p79, `mais à leur manière nous étions des pierres ou des arbres morts`. Cela évoque une expansion distante entre les deux races. Le fait que Camus ‘pratiquait ce qu’il prêchait’ me dit que les expériences de ses personnages sont une réflexion de sa propre vie.
Camus est philosophe, mais aussi il est également homme de sport et de théâtre. Il aimait les plaisirs sensuels, et il est évident quand Mersault va se baigner avec Marie, Camus partageait leur plaisir. Il était fondateur et directeur d’une troupe de théâtre, et son adoration pour l’art dramatique est manifeste pendant certaines scènes émouvantes et descriptives, par exemple au tribunal. Il adorait le foot, et jouait comme gardien de but pour l’université d’Alger.Il est clair que Camus adorait les spectacles.
Il me semble tristement ironique que Camus, qui a écrit que la souffrance et le mal peuvent arriver en tout temps, est mort très jeune en 1960 dans un accident de voiture. Il est dommage qu`, il ne puisse pas ‘recommencer’. Pourtant, il a créé un roman fascinant, qui reflète de nombreux aspects du contexte social.
On peut distinguer deux parties bien distinctes dans le roman l`étranger d`Albert Camus...
La première partie du roman est caractérisée pas sa simplicité, le style est dénudé. Par exemple, on commence l`histoire en disant `Aujourd`hui , maman est morte`, les phrases sont généralement courtes, le vocabulaire est simple et la syntaxe n`est pas complexe. Les effets de cette écriture sont dus au fait que Mersault est un protagoniste simple, c`est un héros absurde. Il n`existe que dans le présent. Il apprécie la simplicité de cette vie car `A quoi bon?` De toute facon?`
Cette première partie contraste avec les personnages manipulateurs et hypocrites de la deuxième partie (soit le pretre et le juge, etc..) Ces derniers utilisent un langage complexe.
Ceci fournit une toile de fond simple et blanche et efficace pour mettre en relief les idées du texte comme dans la tragédie Grecque Antique.
Cependant, dans la première partie, il y a quand meme des moments lyriques ou l`écriture est beaucoup plus riches et cela pour plusieurs raisons. D`une part , ces moments coincident avec les moments très dramatiques, il y a une tension. D`autre part, cette tension coincide avec les moments ou les éléments ont une influence sur le comportement de Meursault et contribuent à sa chute. A titre d`exemple, le style change à l`enterrement de sa mère et aussi sur la plage il commet le meurtre.
A mon avis, cela renforce l`aspect tragique et la montée dramatique de l`histoire.
Par contre, la deuxième partie se révèle différente par le fait qu`elle est plus sophistiquée et plus complexe. Par exemple le vocabulaire est plus sophistiqué (chercher exemples...). La syntaxe des phrases est plus complexe, les phrases sont plus longues et la construction des phrases est plus complexe. On explique ce changement car il y a des messages compliqués que Camus voudraient communiquer . Par le biais du language on nous introduit dans un monde caractérisé par sa complexité et son hypocrisie. Le language reflète le jeu qu`il faut jouer. il y a des règles complexes si l`on veut jouer ce jeu.
Pour conclure, le roman est divisé en deux partie, la première partie du roman est plus émotionnelle, dramatique et sensuelle tandis que la deuxième partie est plutôt intellectuelle et cognitive. A mon avis, cela trouve son évidence dans le style et l`écriture.
L`étranger de Camus est un roman qui nous invite à considérer une variété de thèmes importants et je vais en évaluer plusieurs.
Avant tout l`étranger constitue l`irrationalité et l`absurdité. A maintes reprises, Camus évoque cette conception dans notre société. Pour Camus, la vie n`a pas de sens, on est là, comme on pourrait ne pas etre là. La société n`aime pas cette idée. On aime pas penser que lorsque l`on meurt la vie continue, comme si on avait pas vécu, on est oublié en une minute. Dans l`histoire, la société veut une explication pour les actions de Mersault. On accepte pas qu`il n`y ait pas de raison pour laquelle il a tué l`arabe, une raison pour laquelle , il n`a pas pleuré à l`enterrement de sa mère. On demande une logique. Pourquoi, il se marierait avec Marie, pourquoi il ne se marierait pas avec Marie?
La société veut une raison pour cette action.
Par exemple, Lorsque Mersault est jugé, au tribunal, tout le monde essaie de donner pour ses explications, sauf lui. Ils ont peur d`avoir quelqu`un qui ne peut pas expliquer ses actions.
Camus pense que l`on va tous mourrir un jour, que l`on meurt aujourd`hui ou demain, on mourrira un jour. Tout au long du roman, Mersault essaie de trouver une raison pour sa vie, sa vie est monotone, et il ne contribue pas à l`univers, il se lève, il mange, il dort, etc... Donc, on s`apercoit qu`à la fin, Mersault est content de partir , car que va-t-il faire entre maintenant et sa mort?
A mon avis Camus réussit parfaitement à évoquer l’expérience de l`irrationnalité et de l`absurde.
Un aspect de ce roman est la mort.
La mort est incarnée à plusieurs reprises, par exemple au début du roman, l`histoire commence lorsque Camus dit `aujourd`hui, ma mère est morte`.Cette phrase provoque une sensation forte et de tristesse immense. Nous avons tous une mère et le lien est toujours intense entre une mère et son enfant. Cependant, cela n`a pas l`air de provoquer d`émotions chez Mersault.
Camus évoque la mort à plusieurs reprises, au début de l`histoire, au milieu car Mersault tue l`arabe et à la fin de l`histoire , car Mersault est condamné à mort.
Au début, on peut parler de mort naturelle, la mort de sa mère est d`une cause naturelle. La mort de l`Arabe est une mort non plannifiée, Mersault marche sur la plage et tue l`homme sans prédictions, complètement au hasard.
Tandis qu` à la fin du roman, la mort est plannifiée, c`est une condamnation à mort qui se déroulera un certain jour et à une certaine heure.
Le livre me fait comprendre que la mort est omiprésente parmi nous et est répresentée sous différentes formes.
Mais le roman l`étranger évoque aussi l`Algérie avec sa chaleur et la mer.
Mersault est sensible au monde physique et la nature est omniprésente. L`environnement `autour de lui a plus d`impact sur lui que les gens, Le monde physiologique provoque des sensations,
par exemple, il dit `ma mère est morte ,mais il fait chaud dans la pièce `. L`histoire se déroule pour une période de deux étés et l`on pourrait meme changer le titre et dire `l`été à Alger`.
Contrairement, à notre idée préconcue que l`on a du soleil. Le soleil en Algérie est maléfique. Le soleil est porteur de tragédie et de mort.
A titre d`exemple, il dit que `le soleil tape, ... il rend le paysage inhumain et déprimant... il inonde la nature arride de marengo,. Lorsqu`il évoque le soleil, il emploit le terme `ca tape...`p 27
`Il fait éclater le goudron`p 29
` il frappe Mersault comme une giffle., p77
`son éclat se révèle insoutenable p85. ou écrasant p 89
p27. Aussi le soir apparait comme une trève, mais celle-ci est un mélancolique.
Pour finir le soleil est surtout directement responsable du meurtre de l`arabe. `Quand Raymond m`a donné son relvover, le soleil a glissé dessus p90.`
Cette harmonine entre l`arme et l`astre contient en germe le moment fatal. L`harmonie du héros avec le monde bascule, un peu à la la manière d`Icare, qui dans la mythologie grecque se brule les ailes et meurt pour avoir approcher le soleil de trop près. Mersault a joué avec le feu. Se retrouvant à l`ombre, il va curieusement retrouver l`apaisement.
Cependant, l`ombre en elle-meme le soulage.
La mer provoque une sensation de raffraichissement, de bonheur, lié à l`été. La mer est liée à Marie p34,p57 et 77, ils se retrouvent à la mer. Enfin, il dit adieu à la mer, à sa mère, à Marie.
Je ne peux approuver la signification du soleil, car venant d`un pays occidental, le soleil est rare et symbolise le bonheur et la lumière, mais je peux comprendre ce concept.
Mais la solution, celle que Camus préfère, est la vérité, autrement dit, la révolte. Mersault est révolté, il ne songe pas au suicide, le narrateur est un partisan de la vérité. Face aux juges, la franchise le pousse à avouer son crime, sans chercher à se défendre. Cela causera sa perte , soit la peine de mort.
Je suis d`accord avec Camus, sur le fait qu`il faut se plier aux règles de la société car elles rendent la vie plus facile et quelquefois les petits mensonges n`ont pas de conséquences et rendent la vie plus harmonieuse.
Pour conclure, j’ai pu aborder très brièvement quelques-uns des grands sujets de l`étranger. A mon avis cette notion d`absurdité et d`irrationalité sont admirablement explorés.
Choisissez un personnage d’ un livre de l’auteur que vous avez étudié et évaluez son charactere.
Avant tout, Mersault et Camus ont de nombreuses ressemblances, Ils sont tous deux pied-noirs, ils ont tous les deux la trentaine, par exemple p 173, il dit `mourir a trente ans. Meursault habitait le quartier ou Camus habitait avec sa mere. Il est probablement orphelin comme lui. Tous deux ont du interromptre leurs etudes, Meursault pour des raisonms imprecises mais que l`on peut supposer materielles, Camus pour des raisons de sante.. Ainsi, il prete a Mersault une existence qui aurait pu etre la sienne. Cependant le hasard veut qu`apres ils suivent deux chemins differents car Mersault devient meurtier. Meursault n`a pas de prenom et son nom incarne l`Afrique du nord, Il s`appelle Mersault, qui est une abbréviation pour mer et soleil. Selon moi, c`est très ingénieux.
Mersault est-il martyr de la verite? Il refuse de mentir, mentir ce n`est pas selement dire ce qui n`est pas , mais c`est aussi ne pas dire plus qu`on ne ne sent. C`est ce que nous faisons tous les jours pour simplifier la vie. Il dit ce qu`il est , il refuse de masquer ses sentimentsa et aussitot la societye se sent menacee, il n`essaie pas de cacher ses sentiments, et de porter un masque comme on le fait tous. Il ne fait ce que la société attend de lui, par exemple il challenge l`idée que l`on doit se recueillir sur la tombe de sa mère. Les implications de son honnèteté sont sérieuses car cela le conduit au tribunal, on le juge sur son comportement, on le condamne à mort pour son attitude et non pas pour son crime. A mon avis son désir d`etre lui-meme et de ne repondre à aucune lois sociales est d`une sincérité remarquable
Mersault est un etre amoral . ’Il ne juge pas l`action des autres. Par exemple, il sait qu`il doit soutenir son ami, et il le fait sans le juger, il obeit à tout actes que ce soit moral ou non, par exemple, il accepte d`écrire une lettre pour son ami Raymond contre la copine de son ami. Bien que cette lettre tourmentera la compagne de son ami et cela est injuste car elle est innocente, cependant, il le fait comme meme. Egalement, Il ne juge pas Celeste (p44) lorsqu`il bat son chien.
Je ne suis pas d`accord avec sa réaction amorale vis à vis de ses amis
Mais il est aussi indifférent au monde et le monde est indifférent à lui. .........a finir trouver exemple
. J`ai du mal à comprendre son détachement de la vie extérieure, c`est un personnage enigmatique..
Est-il héroïque? Camus dirait que non, il est physiologiquement détaché du monde extérieur, par exemple, il se moque que sa mère soit morte et il se moque que Marie l`aime. Il a des difficultés à communiquer, par exemple, p23, il dit `maman me regardait en silence, il ne lui parlait pas`. Cependant, il prend plaisir aux choses physiques. Par exemple p23, il explique qu`il boit du café parce qu`il aime le café. p34, Mersault explique qu`il va nager et il prend plaisir à flotter dans l`eau.
donc je suis stupéfaite par ses manières de réagir physiologiquement
Pour conclure, Meursault est etranger a notre societe de par son comportement vis a vis des autres.
I did not like this film, the only positive is that it is in french and the scene takes place in Belgium. It is about a young women who is threaten with the loss of her job, there is a blackmail from the company, it is either her who loses her job , either it is the employees who will lose their bonus. There will be a vote. The film is about her going from door to door to try to convince her colleagues to vote for her , not to lose her job. I shall not tell you the end, in case you see the film, so there is still a suspense for you. Personnally, I would lose my bonus for a colleague to keep her job.
My question is .. is there any alternatives to her problems?
Why did not she contact the trade unions? or an organisation that could help her? She should not do that on her own...
This film got all the oscars and prizes but to my opinion the film repeats itself, there is a little suspense in the sense that we do not know what the results of the vote will be and it shows us that there are some nasty employers in the world who do not care about their employees, but this is not new, it had always existed...
The internet both divides and unites people.
It divises people in a way each language has its own search engine `moteur de recherche`. For example, I tend to use google.com, google.fr or google.es or google.co.uk, I do not try to use other search engine such as baidu because it is in chineese and I do not speak chineese, however, I heard that baidu is the most popular search engine in the world ! We could do a search and find out how much of the internet is written in english and how much of the internet is written in chineese. The english speaking countries who use internet have reached saturation point, however, the spanish speaking countries still have not reached saturation point and there is still people who have not got internet and would like to have it.
The website whose conttent is primilarly english counts for about 50%, It is divisive in the sense that I never see the other 50% . I always look at english, french or spanish websites, I never read chineese or arabic websites... When we speak about the internet, we think we know it all but there is another 50%. We have the culture to think that everybody look at wikipedia to check on things, we also think that the whole world use bbc iplayer, but we do not. As I tend to watch the sames websites repetitively, it re-inforce my opinion and reinforce what I already know. For example, as an atheist, I do not read religious websites, I do not read pray of the day...
The other divise aspect is that some people do not have the internet and this people are excluded. When I publish someething on the internet I exclude the people who do not have internet..
The internet divides people because everybody is in front of their computer, and they do not meet physically. In this nature, it is asynchronous, we do not need to be in the same place at the same time in order to interact... this is kind of divises in space and time. However, on the other hand I can interact with people in different places and at different times.
It unites people because it makes communication easier , for example, I can speak to my younger son who is at university , it is easier to send emails to friends and family. The internet increases my knowlegde of the world, therefore, it can help in the sense that when we are better educated, we have a better understanding of the world, therefore a better tolerance. We could have collaborated projects or artwork on the internet. For example, when there is a twitter outrage, it unites people around the same cause... there is solidarity, sometimes around certain issues. For example , during charlie hebdo crisis, the internet helped french people to unite together for a single cause around the hash tag. The internet is also liberating only in the sense that it liberates me for going to a specific place, for example, I can be teaching my students online in my pyjama (and I shall not include a photo of my onesie...)
To conclude the internet divides and unites people, but in my opinion , it is a wonderful tool as being an immigrant in England, it makes me closer to my country.
Here is some feedback on the film Karachi... First , Thank you for the recommendations, I enjoyed watching it..
The fact the scene takes place in Pakistan, makes the film interesting, a different culture, a different philosophy with castes, different customs, etc... if the scene would take place in Europe, it would not be so fascinating..
The realisator has conveniently removed the father from the families, so only mothers have a role to play for their children, it makes the story easier to understand, we do not need to deal with a man`s point of view. It would be having two extra characters we do not need.
However, men have a role to play in the fashion industry, in the world of work, they rule the work and they are dominant, they organise the show, they take photos and the girls just stand and be pretty.
There is a hierarchy of classes or maybe , let`s say a hierarchy of educated and non educated people, in the story the men and the rich ladies are the educated class, However, the poor ladies are just domestics.
The interesting part is to see that compare to our western countries where we see fashion modal as objects , fashion modals are not in this industry for their cleverness and we see fashion as part of the oppression of woman.
In the film, the main protagonist sees being a fashion modal as a way of emancipation, she sees it as a way to get money, freedom, a way to be able to buy a flat, holidays, telephone. It is a way to escape from the position she was born into.
Overall, an interesting film...
Although I live in Oxford and work in the academic world of a university, I never thought `Oxford` or `Cambridge` students were better students than other ones. The film depicts the wrong attitude of the rich students in Oxford. The students do not have to worry about work or studies because they are already born into a pre-defined place. They are in the riots club, they can get a job as a manager at a big bank without effort, just because of the people they know and where they come from. It is like the `mason` club. The film highlights that our prime minister and the mayor in London were in this club. We see that these clubs have about 10 people per year in positions of power and priviledge in the country. So if someone goes for a job in the government, he will get his job, not by merit but by who he knows and by having belonged to this club.
The morals of the film is that the attitude of the boy thinks that money can buy everything. He assumes that everybody is like them and he assumes nobody has morals like him, for example, the greek boy offers the other boy`s girlfriend 29.000 pounds to sleep with them because he thinks money can buy everything for a start, everything has a price and he also thinks that principals do not matter..
They think they can pay off the landlord for the money, they can trash his pub, but they will pay. The landlord has to worry about his reputation and tries to explain that it is not about money it is about reputation because the boys do not have to worry about reputation because they will get a job anyway.
The bullingdon club is there just for rich boys to drink and to look after themselves, my worries is that they have been succeeded for a number of years, the proof that they succeed is that the prime minister in England comes from this club , as well as Boris Johnson. We can see that Boris Johnson is not an academic, he is a clown. How can a clown get into becoming a `London ` Mayer? it is by who is knows, by pulling the right strings.
There are two types of students who go to Oxford, the ones who needs to do a CV and who needs to indicate on their CV that they went to Oxford and the ones who went to Oxford, but do not need to tell anybody or do not need to do a CV because the people they see, will know they have gone to OXford because of their background and their family.
what about the film, it was probably characterised and over exagerated, like every films are nowadays. The film over represents a very small minority. Overall, an interesting film.
This is my thought of today, now, I am going to take the opportunity and go for a cycle ride.....
Je vais me pencher sur les avantages et désavantages de l`avortement.
Premièrement l`avortement peut entrainer des inflammations sérieuses du pelvis et des complications médicales, par exemple on peut faire un accouchement ectopique, c`est un problème grave qui pourrait etre mortel pour la maman. De plus, selon la religion, seul Dieu donne et enlève la vie humaine, nous n`avons pas le droit de tuer un autre etre humain, un foetus est considéré comme un petit etre vivant. Si l`enfant est non désiré, par la famille, on peut faire adopter l`enfant soit par le biais de boite à bébé ou autre. En cas de viol ou incester, il est possible médicalement d`éviter qu`une femme tombe enceinte. L`avortement n`est certainement pas un mode de contraception. Il y a en fait peu d`avortements et les femmes demandant ce genre de pratique sont généralement naive et ont peu d`expériences, donc elles ne connaissent pas les conséquences de l`avortement et elles regrettent souvent de l`avoir fait. finalement l`avortement provoquent de grandes douleurs psychologiques et physiques.
Par contre, l`avortement est une solution. L`avortement se fait dans les 10 premières semaines et l`on ne peut donc pas parler d`etre humain car le foetus est complètement dépendant de la mère. C`est seulement à la naissance que le foetus devient une personne à part entière et non pas avant cet évènement.L`adoption n`est pas une alternative à l`avortement, il y a très peu de femmes qui laissent leur enfant pour l`adoption, soit 3% de femmes blanches célibataires et 2 % de femmes noires célibataires.L`avortement n`est pas dangereux car selon les statistiques 88% des femmes avortent avec succès, et il n`y a des complications que dans 0.5% des cas. Les viols ou incestes provoquent des troubles psychologiques et l`avortement libérent ses jeunes femmes de leur traumatismes. Elles sont souvent si stressées que meme la pillule du lendemain ne fonctionne pas. L`avortement n`est pas un mode de contraception car il intervient que dans 8% des cas. Une femme devrait avoir control de son corps, et non pas le gouvernement, si la loi interdit l`avortement alors cela veut dire que c`est le gouvernement qui a le control du corps des femmes et non pas elles-memes. Si les contribuables (tax payers) s`opposent à payer pour l`avortement, c`est ridicule car cette somme est minime comparée à l`argent dépensé dans l`armée ou les guerres qui se passent dans le monde entier. Les jeunes filles qui donnent naissance à un enfant contre leur gré sont davantage suceptibles à développer des depressions, à divorcer et à dépendre des allocations gouvernementales. Bien que l`on dit que l`avortement donne du stress, les statistiques montrent que le stress est minimale avant et après l`intervention chirurgicale, on pourrait meme dire que cela apaise les femmes en difficulté.
Pour conclure, à mon avis, bien que l`avortement présente de nombreux problèmes mais apportent aussi des bénéfices, je suis pour l`avortement car à mon avis, il n`y a pas de situation plus désespérante que de mettre au monde un enfant si l`on ne veut pas cet enfant. Cela est problématique pour la mère et l`enfant. L`enfant sentira toute sa vie, que l`on ne le voulait pas et la mère souffira car élever un enfant engendre de grandes responsabilités. Il y a une différence entre faire un enfant et devenir un parent.
Je voudrais me pencher sur le thème des progrès scientifiques, je vais examiner leur avantages et leur inconvénients. Les progrès scientifiques ont définitivement améliorer notre vie quotidienne que ce soit au point de vue médecine, communication ou transports. Cependant, les progrès scientifiques tels que les AGMs, le clonage ou progrès technologiques sont problématiques.
D`une part, l`avancée des chercheurs a facilité notre vie quotidienne au niveau de la médecine. Par exemple, il est possible d`opérer un genou avec une technique de laparoscopie, c`est une technique chirurgicale mini-invasive de diagnostic et d`intervention. Il est aussi possible d`opérer des parties du corps vulnérables comme les yeux ou le coeur. On vit de mieux en mieux et de plus en plus longtemps.
Les progrès des techniciens ont également améliorer nos moyens de communication. Il est maintenant possible de communiquer dans le monde entier avec des personnes de culture différente, de catégorie sociale différente. Les réseaux sociaux brisent les frontières hiérarchiques, il est maintenant possible d`envoyer un email à son premier ministre alors qu`auparavant, cela aurait été inconcevable.
On pourrait parler de démocratisation des informations, on peut savoir tout ce qui se passe dans le monde. On a maintenant accès aux nouvelles instantanément. On peut entendre tous les malheurs du monde, et toutes les joies du monde.
Le revers de la médaille est que ces progrès peuvent etre néfastes à notre planète comme les OGM. Bien qu`on ne connaisse pas toues les conséquences et implications sur l`environnement à long terme. On continue de jouer avec l`ADN des aliments. Les graines ne se reproduisent pas, il faut donc créer des graines à chaque récolte, pour les pays pauvres, ils deviennent tributaires et dépendants des pays occidentaux qui produisent ces graines. Cela crée une relation de dominant / dominé. D`autres part, qui sait si cela n`a pas un effet sur les abeilles et sur le cycle de la chaine alimentaire.
Il est maintenant possible d`effectuer des clonages d`humains. Le problème est que l`on associe clonages avec imperfection, mort prématurée, imperfections, personnes handicappées. Les expériences sont couteuses en vie humaine et qui va controler le cloning?? Cela tombera dans les mains de charlatans ou d`entreprises mal intentionnées.
Les progrès technologiques sont néfastes car ils prennent le travail des ouvriers. Ces progrès suppriment des postes de travail et provoquent le chomage.
En guise de conclusion, les progrès scientifiques apportent nous seulement des intérets mais aussi des désagréments. En ce qui me concerne, je suis optimiste et je crois aux progrès scientifiques, à mon avis ils continueront à nous faciliter la vie, mais qui verra, verra....
New project for 2015....
I am going to the Flandres, the country of Jacques Brel....
Day 1. Dunkerque - Ypres (accomodation, no yha)
Day 2. Ypres - Mons (Mons . yha)
Day 3 . Mons - Namur (Namur. yha)
Day 3 . Namur - Bastogne (bastogne . accomodation)
Day 4. Bastogne - Luxembourg (Luxembourg, yha)
Day 5-6. Luxembourg - 2 days
Day 7. Luxembourg - Bruxelles (train... . Bruxelles, yha...)
Day 8. Bruxelles - Ghent (Ghent . yha)
Day 9 Ghent - Bruges (Bruges, accomodation, no yha)
Day 10. Bruges - Dunkerque (retour...)
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First, I condemn terrorist act against the journalist, it is not right to kill for any matter, it is intimidation and I am pleased that french are not going to be victims, and we refuse to be bullied.
However, I agree that there can be a type of bullying in humour, for example, it is different to laugh at a person, to laugh at a state or to laugh at an idea or a religion. If we laugh at a person , we could see it as a type of bullying. Laughing at a state or a politic or a religion is not bullying as it is impersonal. For example, making jokes about the height of Nicolas Sarkozy is a type of bullying, it is not his fault that he is short. laughing at Francois Hollande is also wrong, the press makes jokes about the way he talks, in this case it is a type of intimidation, it is not his fault, it is just the way he is. Laughing at a state or a religion does not affect the person so this is wrong to condemn it .
This terrorist act may also be linked to the involvement of France 2 years ago in Syria. France was the country who wanted to bomb the government which was secular. Therefore, they helped the rebels by giving them aids. It happens that the rebels were an alliance of Al Nusra (Al Quaida franchise). The rebels are fundamentalist Islamique . France thinks it is all right to support Islamist in Syria as the lesser evil , Is it correct?
Is it a good idea to leave french djihadist fight in Syria?
Some people want to fight for a cause and do not mind to die for it,
Is it better if they do that in Syria than in France?
However, sometimes, they come back to France and they bomb themselves in France.
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We are definitely a secular country, our government is secular, our schools are seculars and for a long time religion and catholicism was the ennemy of the government and the republic. In 1793 (about 1793), there was a revolt of the vendéens who were catholics, they were for the monarchy and against the republic. Religious people in history have proven that they were for the monarchy.
Itineraire of my son Matthieu who cycled from St Malo to Spain...
| Ferry to St Malo | Ferry | ||
| Cycle to Rennes | YHA | 100 | |
| Cycle to Redon | YHA | 95 | |
| Cycle to Pornic | House | 90 | |
| Cycle to corpe | Hotel | 120 | |
| Cycle to Rochefort | YHA | 75 | |
| Cycle to Saintes | YHA | 60 | |
| Cycle to Bordeaux | YHA | 130 | |
| Cycle to Mimizan | Hotel | 100 | |
| Cycle to Salies | House | 105 | |
| Stay in Salies | House | ||
| Cycle to Elizondo | YHA | 100 | |
| Stay in Elizondo | YHA | ||
| Cycle to Pamplona | Hotel | 60 | |
| Cycle to Altsasu | YHA | 55 | |
| Cycle to Bilbao | YHA | 120 | |
| Cycle to Santander | Hotel | 105 | |
| Ferry to Portsmouth | Ferry | ||
| Arrive in Portsmouth | Home |
contexte historique.
Voltaire a écrit Candide alors que c`était une période pénible pour lui. Il y avait une guerre meurtrière entre la Prusse et la France qui a duré 7 ans. En 1755, il y a eu un tremblement terrible à Lisbonne au Portugal, et cela l`a choqué profondément. Cette histoire est une histoire complètement imaginaire, Candide est le personnage principal de l`histoire et il lui arrive toutes sortes d`aventures, il rencontre de nombreuses personnes, il est de nature crédule et se laisse séduire par la pensée de Pangloss. C`est un conte philosophique ou Voltaire explique sa philosophie.
Analyse:
Il s`avère que Voltaire croit en Dieu car il pense que cela est necessaire pour comprendre toutes les anomalies et mystères de la vie, existence du monde, existence du malheur, du bonheur. Croire en Dieu le rassure car cela répond aux nombreuses questions métaphysiques et autres qu`il se pose. Cependant, Voltaire, ne croit pas en la religion et accuse toutes les injustices, et la corruption qui existent avec la religion.
Quant aux femmes se sont des etres inférieurs, elles sont passives, animalisées et objetisées.
Candide tombe amoureux de Cunégonde et est chassé du paradis terrestre, le voila lancé dans de nombreuses aventures. Il va d`abord expérimenter le mal, le mal physique, c`est à dire, le froid, la faim, la maladie et les catastrophes naturelles. Puis il va connaitre le mal moral, par exemple, la monstruosité de la guerre, et la stupidité des soldats, la pauvreté qui le conduit à la mendicité. L`hypocrisie et le fanatisme religieux, la malhonnèteté commerciale et l`esclavage. C`est un livre ou le mal est omniprésent, Voltaire est réaliste, il pense que le monde est vicieux et qu`il n`existe pas de paradis, c`est avant tout un homme de droit, qui croit en la justice et qui se bat avec le mal.
Citation du philosophe Pangloss . Tout est pour le mieux dans le meilleur des mondes
Bien que le l`histoire soit pessimiste, j`aime la fin, j`aime lorsque Candide dit , il faut cultiver notre jardin....
Having cycling numerous times in France, enclosed plans for different routes:
First parcours - Dieppe - Paris.
Take the ferry to Dieppe,
Day one. Cycle to Forges les Eaux
First cycle to Arques la bataille
At Arques la batailles, take the `route verte` to Forges les eaux
Day two. Cycle to Beauvais, via the forest (stay in Beauvais / visit Cathedral `clock in the Cathedral/ tapisseries).
Day three . Cycle to Chantilly then Senlis (Chantilly visit chateau and in Senlis visit medieval town) - stay in Senlis
Day four. cycle to Claye Souilly , take the canal route at Claye Souilly and cycle to Paris
As always, excellent exhibition and I learnt something. The idea is to make a parallel with William Morris work and Andy Wahrol. Both had a socialist approach in the sense that they both wanted to democratise art. They both came from different background, Andy was from a working class family from Pennsylvania and William Morris was from East London from a wealthy middle class family. They both tried to manufacture art, they experimented the process of having a bigger audience, they question the idea of value, and how much is art worth? Does mass production reduce the value ? Should mass production reduce the price? Certainly as price of art goes with the cost of production. They both loved beautiful women, William Morris was fascinated with the middle age, poems and goddess, Andy was fascinated with stars from Hollywood, they question the concept of eternal love. However, William Morris was looking for perfection, he created new patterns and wanted to get it exactly right, Wahrol exploited the idea of printing art but in a more post modern approach. The patterns are re-produced in not exactly a perfect way. Imperfections make art unique . Morris created a manufacturing process which create repeated images correctly, then came wall paper... Wahrol took the idea of wall paper (which is normal and not art, it has been democratised). Warhal is taking the printing process and make it into art by making not exactly perfect. Warhol could not have done it 100 years ago as people would have said it is not perfect.
Warhol is seen as a money artist because his subjects are capitalist and by painting them, we have the impression that he endorsed them, but that`s not the only story.
To conclude I came out of the exhibition with a better understanding of both artists....
Being an immigrant myself in England has been difficult to debate on this matter as my views are categorique. I am for immigration, but for the exercise, I thought of points for and against immigration. These are just a few notes and not a written essay.
immigration
Having cycling numerous times in France, enclosed plans for different routes:
First parcours - Dieppe - Paris.
Take the ferry to Dieppe,
Day one. Cycle to Forges les Eaux
To go to Forges les Eaux from Dieppe take directions to Arques la bataille, at Arques la Bataille, take on the green route to Forges les Eaux.
Day two. Cycle to Beauvais, via the forest (stay in Beauvais / visit Cathedral `clock in the Cathedral/ tapisseries).
Day three . Cycle to Chantilly then Senlis (Chantilly visit chateau and in Senlis visit medieval town) - stay in Senlis
Day four. cycle to Claye Souilly , take the canal route at Claye Souilly and cycle to Paris
Etre parent présente de nombreuses joies, mais aussi peut entrainer plusieurs anxiétés dues aux lourdes responsabilités.
Tout dépend de quelles perspectives on se place, si on est dans un monde occidental, dans un monde ou on peut controler d`avoir des enfants ou non, dans un monde affluent et prospère, avoir un enfant est sensationnel. Etre parent est un bonheur car premièrement, c`est formidable de donner la vie à un etre humain, C`est magique lorsqu`ils viennent au monde et qu`ils ouvrent leurs yeux pour la premiière fois. Il n`y a rien de plus beau que de voir ses enfants grandirent et progresser, alors qu`ils commencent à parler, à marcher, à lire, leurs progrès sont rapides, ils sont notre raison d`etre. On prend plaisir à leur montrer la vie et à partager des activités ensemble. Il y a un sentiment de fierté lorsqu`ils accomplissent des exploits. On partage des moments ensemble, des vacances, des émotions aussi. Les enfrants ne sont pas des jouets qui nous divertissent, ce sont des etres humains indépendants avec leur propre morale.
Le revers de la médaille est qu`avoir un enfant représente de nombreuses responsabilités, Si on habite en Somalie ou en Syrie, notre perspective est différente, car parfois, on a pas le choix. Les femmes tombent enceinte et souvent , elles ne peuvent pas se permettre de nourrir leurs enfants. Parfois, elles ne peuvent pas controler leur sort. Elles ont la lourde responsabilité d`élever leurs enfants. il faut savoir leur enseigner à prendre des responsabilités, soit il ne faut pas trop les couver, il faut qu`ils apprennent les dangers par eux-memes. Ce qui fait peur et qu`il faut qu`ils fassent leurs expérience. A l`adolescence, ils passent une période difficile ou leur vie change, ils veulent etre indépendant, ils demandent la liberté , mais ils ne peuvent pas l`obtenir car ils sont étudiants et ils ne sont donc pas etre autonome.
Certaines personnes n`ont pas d`enfants car le monde n`a pas besoin de tant d`enfants, certaines personnes ne sont pas responsables et donc, ne peuvent pas prendre de responsabilités. Certains sont pessimistes et ne veulent pas mettre au monde des enfants dans ce monde de malheur. Cependant, on a le choix car si on ne veut pas élever nos enfants, on peut les faire adopter. Etre parent est une responsabilité pour la vie, on ne cesse jamais d`etre parent. Quant on est enfant, on ne choisit pas ses parents, et lorsque l`on est parent, on ne choisit pas ses enfants, il faut assumer. Il ya plusieurs responsabilités, des responsabilités légales, morales et parentales, on est responsable légalement jusqu`à 18 ans, puis on est responsable moralement tout au long de la vie. Tandis que l`on est responsable parentalement d`une autre manière. Par exemple , si un enfant commet un crime à l`age de 40 ans, les parents se sentent responsables d`une facon parentale. Bien que l`on ne soit pas légalement ou moralement responsables de leur acte, on se sent responsable parentalement. On a le droit de se sentir fiers de leur succès et d`avoir honte de leurs échecs. Comme parent, on se sent responsables parce que l`on n`acceptera jamais leurs pechés.
Pour conclure, les enfants apportent de la joie et des responsabilités. Cependant, à mon avis, ils apportent le bonheur.
Je vais me pencher sur le thème de la guerre et débattre si celle-ci est un bon moyen pour résoudre les conflits entre nation.
Premièrement, nous allons examiner pourquoi la guerre n`est pas un bon moyen pour solutionner les problèmes entre les pays. La guerre coute à la fois en vie humaine soit, environ 250 000 personnes sont décédés lors du conflit en Irak, les victimes n`étaient pas seulement des soldats mais surtout des civils, de plus les soldats qui rentrent dans leur pays ont été traumatisés et ne sont pas toujours suivis psychologiquement. Le cout de la guerre est également onéreux car il faut acheter des bombes, des avions, il faut payer les soldats, les déplacer, le déplacement d`équipement. pour chaque avion de guerre, il y a une pyramide de personnes en dessous qui travaillent, par exemple, il faut maintenir l`avion, l`alimenter en klerozene, on a besoin de technicien, pilote, soldats, cuisiniers pour les soldats, personnes qui organisent le voyage, soit provisions alimentaires. Il faut donc qu`ils soient logés, habillés, nourris, etc...
La guerre n`est pas toujours un bon moyen pour resoudre les conflits parce que c`est le pays le plus fort et le plus riche qui gagne, pas celui qui a raison. Par exemple, lors du conflit entre la Palestine et Israel. Palestine n`a pas gagné parce qu`ils n`ont pas les memes moyens financiers et organisationnels, ils n`ont pas d`armie, il n`ont pas d`armee de l`air ni d`avion, ils n`ont pas de blindés. Tandis qu`Israel est riche, ils ont des missiles, des avions, des blindés, des armes. Ils ne peuvent que gagner.
La guerre utilise de nombreuses ressources et prend du temps pour solutionner les disputes. Par exemple, la guerre en Irak a pris plus d`une dizaine d`années.
C`est une perte pour le Pays car les soldats ne travaillent pas pour l`économie du Pays, la guerre détruit l`environnement et l`histoire d`un Pays, il faut parfois des centaines d`années pour construire des monuments, musées et ceux-là sont abattus, les musées sont pillés et toutes les richesses du pays partent ailleurs.
Par contre la guerre promouvoit la technologie et l`innovation dans la sciences, par exemple, pendant la deuxième guerre, on a créer des ordinateurs pour décripter les messages, on a inventer des avions plus performants soit les spitfires. les radars ont été concus pour détecter les avions des opposants. Il y a eu entre autre , un boom économique dans les années 50 car on a commercialisé les inventions crées pendant la guerre, soit les `jet planes`, on a amélioré la radio pour communiquer avec les alliés, etc... Après
La guerre est un moyen de controler la population, selon Malthus, la population n`augmente pas car il y a des guerres et des épidémies.
Cela peut-etre un bon moyen parce qu`un Pays gagne, l`alternative d`avoir une guerre serait de commiuniquer entre nous et de parler , de négocier une solution. Essayer de négocier entraine que les pays ne sont pas toujours contents avec la decision et cela ne fait que reporter les disputes a plus tard.
Pourquoi y-a-t-il une guerre en Afrique?
Parce que c`etait un conflit suite au partage des pays coloniaux, les frontières étaient imposés par les occidentaux (it was a negociated settlement). Suite au traité, il y a souvent une dictature imposée, et dès que la dictature part, le conflit réapparait et il y a une guerre civile. Le problème d`avoir un traité est que ce n`est pas défini, on a besoin d`une guerre pour absolument tout résoudre.
Pour conclure, la guerre présente des avantages et des inconvénients, mais à mon avis, la guerre n`est pas une solution car elle coute si chére sur de nombreux points de vue.
Il est vrai que la disparition des petits magasins est une chose regrettable mais c`est aussi bénéfique.
Le fait que les petits magasins disparaissent est bénéfique parce que les supermarchés sont plus efficaces parce que les clients peuvent acheter tout ce qu`ils ont besoin dans un meme magasin. Ils n`ont pas besoin d`aller dans 60 magasins différents. Les grandes surfaces offrent un grand choix de produits et très souvent , il y a des offres spéciales comme 3 produits pour le prix de deux. Les grandes surfaces achètent leurs provisions en grosse quantité et peuvent négocier plus facilement des prix avantageux, donc les produits sont moins chers. Ils ont la possibilité d`etre ouvert plus longtemps car ils sont quelquefois ouverts toute la nuit. Cela s`explique par le fait qu`ils ont plus de personnel, plus de demande. La demande est plus constante car il servent une plus grande clientèle. Ils ont assez de clients pour etre ouverts plus longtemps. C`est plus facile de faire les livraisons, les camions n`ont pas besoin d`aller dans les petites rues et faire des emboutaillages dans la ville. Les grandes surfaces sont idéales pour les familles car les mères de famille n`ont pas le temps de faire les courses tous les jours et ils ont besoin d`acheter beaucoup. Les parkings sont pratiques , ils peuvent se garer et acheter une grande quantité de produits pour la famille.
Cependant, les petits magasins sont idéals pour les étudiants et les personnes agées car très souvent, ils n`ont pas de voiture, ils n`ont pas besoin d`acheter beaucoup car ils habitent seuls. Ils sont convivials et apportent de la vie dans la ville, ils offrent un service personnel aux clients et ils peuvent leur conseiller sur leurs achats. C`est plus écologique de faire ses courses dans des petites boutiques car on y va pas en voiture, mais seulement en vélo. Les épiciers deviennent de vrais amis pour la population et offrent des produits de bonne qualité. Par exemple, en France, les boulangers offrent du pain et des viennoiseries de meilleures qualité. Ils promouvoient les produits locaux et font marcher l`économie régionale. Les profits restent dans la municipalité et ne part pas vers les paradis fiscaux.
Pour conclure, Les petits magasins offrent des avantages et des inconvénients, cependant, à mon avis, ils sont essentiels à la société et s`ils disparaissent, ce sera regrettable.
In the guardian today there is an interesting article about Mr Mujica or shall I say Mr Majica? He is too good to be true, he is from the left pary. Although he was a guerilla fighter, after having spending some time in prison, it made him reflects and it made him change perspective about life. He has suffered and had a hard life. HE is now president of Uruguay and had made good changes. He should be an inspiration to other président, He relaxed the law on possession of drugs in order to tackle the problem of drugs, and he is against prohibition in order to control it. Nobody is in favour of abortion, because it is not an ideal way to deal with the problem but the reality is that woman need it so he legalised it. He has a simple life, he drives a beetle and explains that when he was in prison, he realised he does not want to have any possession because he has to look after them and he is happier to have freedom. Freedom is what he wants, he can then concentrate his time on politics and this is what he wants to do. He gives a part of his salary to charity. He made a number of positive move like introducing wind farms in the country.
Here is an account of my trip to Berlin.....Berlin is very different from the other towns I've visited in Germany. Its structure is relatively flat, there is no hill so it is easy to cycle. It is not a latin town, where cars are parked anywhere and in places they should not be. It is functional with big boulevards made up of 3 or 4 lanes; one for cars, one lane for the bus, one lane for the bikes, a place to park the cars and a big pavement. Everybody is disciplined and nobody goes where they should not go.Like parts of Paris or London, the failure of the bohemian districts is inherent in their nature. As they become more fashionable, they destroy their reason for their existence. Berlin used to have cheap land and encourage start up companies but the process destroys itself as the price of property has now increased, it is no longer the case.I stayed in the centre ville, but on the east side which means that there are some building which as Pierre says are a Minsk style, ie. sovietic restored flats. The west is a mixture of buildings from various recent decades. For example, there was a building which looked exactly like the "metropolis film". There are some art déco facades and some buildings from the 60s. Berlin has suffered from the wars and most of its buildings had been destroyed so the town looks relatively new.The way it has been rebuilt has been possible because most of the land belonged to the state, it would be different in France or in England because there would be disputes over what they can do. People would have to agree where to put a road and it would not be so easy.My General Impression is that Berlin is not as rich as the other German cities I saw in the past. However, it was fascinating going to Berlin, traveling is so rewarding.
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