Invictus

Invictus is a sports drama film related to recent South African history. Having Nelson Mandela as one of the most influential characters in a country desmantled due to apartheid, this movie shows how rugby becomes a means to repair the biggest problem among South African citizens: racial segregation. 

After 27 years in jail, Nelson Mandela is elected president in 1994. His immediate challenge is to fight against racial tensions in his country. That's why he requires the help of the captain of the South African rugby union team, the Springboks. In 1995, the Rugby World Cup is played in South Africa.

The Springboks and the president work together for achieving two goals: to win the World Cup and to stop racial segregation in their country. It is really interesting how this story summarizes the excellent job the team and the president do. Based on the values that this sport transmits and that Mandela professes, discrimination and differences in society may be abolished.

"Invictus" is also a short Victorian poem by the English poet William Ernest Henley, that appears in the movie and I’d like to share with you:

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Jackie

THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL (2008)

      

The Other Boleyn Girl (2008) is a historical drama film Settled in the 16th century in England. The Tudor King Henry VIII was married to Catherine of Aragon, who could not give birth to a boy.

During a visit to the Boleyn state Mary, Anne's younger sister, felt attracted by the King. She falls in love and gets pregnant. Some months after, she gave birth to a bastard child, Little Henry and was sent off the castle.

As Henry was in desperate need of a male heir Thomas Boleyn and his brother the Duke of Norfolk saw a possibility to raise their family position at court. The plan was that Anne should seduce Henry. The arrangement would bring political and economical benefit for the family.

So Anne got her chance. She became speculative and ambitious in her role of Henry's second wife encouraging him to break from the Catholic Church. Though she got pregnant she was unable to give him a boy to legitimate the access to the throne.

In the film both sisters are depicted differently, Mary is genuinely in love with Henry whereas Anne is blinded seeking power.

Although the film is based on historical facts, it lacks precision, especially about some inaccuracies that lead Anne to be executed. And also, the love triangle between Mary, Anne and the King is showed from a simplistic point of view.

All in all, I would recommend the film because the cast and the performances are good and also because the historical period is really interesting as regards the consequences it brought about to England's history.

Spoon

Plan “D”

Plan “D”
It was a beautiful summer day and my boyfriend and I, decided to go
out and do something different. He picked me up at 10 o ’clock and we
headed off to a Chinese place called Misujo. My boyfriend had a GPS,
so we were sure we were going to get there fast and without problems.
But instead we got lost in the middle of the highway and the GPS
stopped working right, we couldn’t decide in which direction the
arrows were pointing so we stopped every five minutes to decide which
way to go. After driving in circles many times, we got tired and
decided to go back. As we were going back, we stopped at a store and
asked if the place was still in the same location, the man said it
was! So we went out and realized a big sign had been in front of us
the whole time!
Since we had found the place, we parked the car and went out to see if
somebody could open the entrance for us. We rang the bell but stood
there for almost 20 minutes, until we noticed it was closed.  We
didn’t know what to do, so we phoned to the place and asked for
information. We barely understood what the women was saying but she
made more than clear that on Saturdays, Misujo was closed. Not wanting
to go home, we chose to go to a nice restaurant to calm our nerves and
eat something.
After half an hour of driving, we got to the place. My boyfriend got
out of the car suspiciously and asked some people that had an
expression of confusion on their face, if the place was open. Then, he
came back to the car with a long face and told me the restaurant was
closed too. I didn’t even know what to say. Tired of everything and
frustrated we went to a supermarket and bought some bread, ham and
soda and went to a park to eat.
It was a long day where our moods were up and down, it seemed as if
everyone was playing with us. But now every time we remember that day,
we laugh and say, next time we‘ll have a plan “D”.

Bloo Star

A Dead Woman’s Secret

  A Dead Woman’s Secret by Guy De Maupassant is an amazing story. The style is neat and the plot interesting.
  Firstly, there is a detailed description about a dead woman and her two children: a daughter, who was a religious woman, and a son, who was a judge. The author says the both know very little about their father.
  Secondly, another character appears: a priest who came to comfort the dead woman’s children. However, they preferred to remain alone in order to remember the old times.
  Finally, a letter, which had the word “Father”, is found. Then, the nun began to read some more letters, which were, in deed, love letters, and found out that they were written by a man who was not there father.
  What struck me most was to take notice about the process of loving their mother devotedly on part of the son, especially, to definitely disliking her at the end of the story.
On the other hand, the daughter’s attitude towards the mother was neutral, maybe because the fact that she was a nun, and in the context of the Catholicism, some sorts of acts tend to be hidden.

Victoria

Brand Ethiopia

Do you know how your country is branded? Lucy Eyre, a British writer living in Ethiopia, deals with the topic of country branding in her essay ‘Brand Ethiopia.’ Living in a ‘mis-branded’ country, the author levels criticism on the way media helps create wrong images on some regions.  ‘Ethiopia has been branded with famine,’ Eyre says as the impression most people have on the country is the famous famine in the mid-1980s and the subsequent globally beamed  Live Aid event organised to raise money for the crisis relief. Stigmatized with famine, conflict and disease, Ethiopia as well as the whole African continent is still seen as a charity case. This image is widely rejected by Ethiopians both because they see their country as much more than famine and because they do not want to be lumped together with the rest of the members of the continent as if they where indistinguishable from one another.

Storm

“The Langoliers”

“The Langoliers” is a science fiction novel written by the American author Stephen King.

It tells the thrilling story of ten people who awake on a red-eye flight from Los Angeles to Boston to find out that all the other passengers have vanished, including the crew. When they manage to land the plane, they discover that there are no signs of life. There is no one there, the air is still, the clocks have stopped… and a dread evil presence is headed straight for them.

An off-duty airline pilot, a young blind girl with psychic powers, a teacher, a retired engineer, a businessman, a talented violinist, a teenager with drug problems, an irritable investment banker, a mystery author, and an assassin for the British Army make up the characters of this chilling and frightening novel that could only come from the mind of the master storyteller of our times, Stephen King.

This novel is so intriguing that really catches the reader’s attention from beginning to end. From my point of view, it’s simply brilliant.

Kite

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?

This book  was written by Bill Martin,Jr. and has pictures of Eric Carle. It was published by Penguin books in 1967.It is a rhythmic story with animals and it helps children to learn about colours. The narrator asks various animals what they see  and then, those animals say that they see another animal looking at them, and the process is repeated. The characters are Brown bear, Red bird, Yellow duck, Blue horse, Green frog, Purple cat, White dog, Black sheep, a goldfish, a monkey and the children. It is really useful  because  this kind of book is a good resource for  teaching things in a funny and interactive way. If you are working with little children, I strongly recommend you this book. They are really  going to have fun!!!

 Mimi

The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry

The Gift of the Magi was originally published in 1906, in O. Henry's second collection of short stories, The Four Million. O. Henry was just a pen name for the man whose real name was William Sydney Porter. He's considered one of the great American short story authors. The story is about a young married couple and how they deal with the challenge of buying secret Christmas gifts for each other with very little money. Della with her hair and Jim with his watch, their most precious belongings sold to make money enough for buying a present for each other. This story brings tears in my eyes every time I read it. It is one of the most memorable stories I have read.  A must read for all those who believe that love gives us a fairy tale.

Zoe