Publicación

Documental
10 de junio de 2013
Alexander III
of Macedon
Cine en casa
Lectura
The picture of
Dorian Gray
Charade
Stanley Donen
Oscar Wilde
Discursos
Historical
speeches
William
Shakespeare
Internet
Música
Total Eclipse
of the Heart
Bonnie Tuyler
Alexander III
Alexander III of Macedon (20/21 July 356 – 10/11
June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander
the Great, was a king of Macedon, a state in
northern ancient Greece. Born in Pella in 356
BC, Alexander was tutored by Aristotle until the
age of 16. By the age of thirty, he had created
one of the largest empires of the ancient world,
stretching from the Ionian Sea to the Himalayas.
He was undefeated in battle and is considered
one of history’s most successful commanders.
Alexander succeeded his father, Philip II of
Macedon, to the throne in 336 BC after Philip
was assassinated. Upon Philip’s death, Alexander
inherited a strong kingdom and an experienced
army. He was awarded the generalship of Greece and used this authority to launch his father’s
military expansion plans. In 334 BC, he invaded Achaemenid- ruled Asia Minor and began a
series of campaigns that lasted ten years. Alexander broke the power of Persia in a series of
decisive battles, most notably the battles of Issus and Gaugamela. He subsequently overthrew
the Persian King Darius III and conquered the entirety of the Persian Empire. At that point, his
empire stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the Indus River.
Seeking to reach the “ends of the world and the Great Outer Sea”, he invaded India in 326 BC, but
was eventually forced to turn back at the demand of his troops. Alexander died in Babylon in 323
BC, without executing a series of planned campaigns that would have begun with an invasion
of Arabia. In the years following his death, a series of civil wars tore his empire apart, resulting in
several states ruled by the Diadochi, Alexander’s surviving generals and heirs.
Alexander’s legacy includes the cultural diffusion his conquests engendered. He founded some
twenty cities that bore his name, most notably Alexandria in Egypt. Alexander’s settlement of
Greek colonists and the resulting spread of Greek culture in the east resulted in a new Hellenistic
civilization, aspects of which were still evident
in the traditions of the Byzantine Empire in
the mid-15th century. Alexander became
legendary as a classical hero in the mold of
Achilles, and he features prominently in the
history and myth of Greek and non-Greek
cultures. He became the measure against
which military leaders compared themselves,
and military academies throughout the world
still teach his tactics.
Alexander the Great-National Geographic
Duration: 2:12:31
More than 2,000 years after he conquered the
known world, Alexander the Great continues
to fascinate. But what personal demons fueled
Alexander’s unquenchable thirst for danger, fame
and conquest. Discover the astonishing truth in
Beyond the Movie Alexander the Great. Discover
how tactical battlefield savvy and reckless bravado
made Alexander the most formidable warriorleader of all time. Learn why his ferociously loyal
men venerated Alexander, then finally, some say, conspired in his still controversial death.
Brought stunningly to life with powerful re-creations and in-depth academic insights, it’s a
journey behind the mists and myths of history that reveals the real Alexander the Great as
never before!
Other documentaries and biographies on this figure:
• Alexander the Great-BBC History
• Bio. True story. Alexander the Great. Biography.
Book
The picture of
Dorian Gray
Oscar Wilde (1890)
Description
Wilde’s only novel, first published in
1890, is a brilliantly designed puzzle,
intended to tease conventional
minds with its exploration of the
myriad interrelationships between
art, life, and consequence. From its
provocative Preface, challenging the
reader to believe in ‘art for art’s sake’,
to its sensational conclusion, the
story self-consciously experiments
with the notion of sin as an element
of design. Yet Wilde himself
underestimated the consequences
of his experiment, and its capacity to
outrage the Victorian establishment.
Its words returned to haunt him in
his court appearances in 1895, and
he later recalled the ‘note of doom’
which runs like ‘a purple thread’
through its carefully crafted prose.
Publisher: Wordsworth Editions Ltd.
Price: 2,30 €
In: http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/
Official site:
http://www.cmgww.com/historic/wilde/
The Author
Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October
1854-30 November 1900) was an Irish writer and
poet. After writing in different forms throughout
the 1880s, he became one of London’s most
popular playwrights in the early 1890s. Today he
is remembered for his epigrams, his only novel:
The Picture of Dorian Gray, his plays and the
circumstances of his imprisonment which was
followed by his early death.
Wilde’s parents were successful Anglo-Irish
Dublin intellectuals. Their son became fluent in
French and German early in life. At university
Wilde read Greats; he proved himself to be an
outstanding classicist, first at Dublin, then at
Oxford. He became known for his involvement
in the rising philosophy of æstheticism, led by
two of his tutors, Walter Pater and John Ruskin.
After university, Wilde moved to London into
fashionable cultural and social circles. As a
spokesman for æstheticism, he tried his hand
at various literary activities: he published a
book of poems, lectured in the United States
and Canada on the new “English Renaissance in Art”, and then returned to London where he
worked prolifically as a journalist. Known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress, and glittering
conversation, Wilde became one of the best-known personalities of his day.
At the turn of the 1890s, he refined his ideas about the supremacy of art in a series of dialogues
and essays, and incorporated themes of decadence, duplicity, and beauty into his only novel,
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). The opportunity to construct æsthetic details precisely, and
combine them with larger social themes, drew Wilde to write drama. He wrote Salome (1891) in
French in Paris but it was refused a licence for England due to the absolute prohibition of Biblical
subjects on the English stage. Unperturbed, Wilde produced four society comedies in the early
1890s, which made him one of the most successful playwrights of late Victorian London.
At the height of his fame and success, while his masterpiece, The Importance of Being Earnest
(1895), was still on stage in London, Wilde had the Marquess of Queensberry prosecuted for
libel. The Marquess was the father of Wilde’s lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. The charge carried a
penalty of up to two years in prison. The trial unearthed evidence that caused Wilde to drop his
charges and led to his own arrest and trial for gross indecency with other men. After two more
trials he was convicted and imprisoned for two years’ hard labour. In 1897, in prison, he wrote
De Profundis which was published in 1905, a long letter which discusses his spiritual journey
through his trials, forming a dark counterpoint to his earlier philosophy of pleasure. Upon his
release he left immediately for France, never to return to Ireland or Britain. There he wrote his
last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898), a long poem commemorating the harsh rhythms of
prison life. He died destitute in Paris at the age of forty-six.
Cine en casa
Charade
Stanley Donen (1963)
Remitimos, como cada semana, a una
película en versión original inglesa, que sea
conocida por el espectador por si, en su
caso, ya dispone de ella. En caso contrario,
recomendamos un establecimiento para su
adquisición. Además, facilitamos el acceso al
guión completo original.
La película de nuestra Newsletter mezcla
estilos de thriller y comedia romántica.
Veremos hablar en inglés a actores de la
talla de Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter
Matthau o James Coburn, entre otros.
Director: Stanley Donen.
Writers: Peter Stone (screenplay) and
Marc Behm (story)
Stars: Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn,
Walter Matthau, James Coburn,
George Kennedy, Dominique Minot,
Ned Glass.
Script:
Price: 9,99 € (DVD); 20,99 € (Blu-Ray)
In: FNAC.
In this comedic thriller, a trio of crooks relentlessly pursue a young American, played by Audrey
Hepburn in gorgeous Givenchy, through Paris in an attempt to recover the fortune her dead
husband stole from them. The only person she can trust is Cary Grant’s suave, mysterious stranger.
Director Stanley Donen goes deliciously dark for Charade, a glittering emblem of sixties style and
macabre wit.
Romance and suspense in Paris, as a woman is pursued by several men who want a fortune her
murdered husband had stolen. Who can she trust?
Historical speeches
Esta semana proponemos leer extractos de tres discursos históricos, junto con una breve
introducción en ingles para practicar nuestra competencia en comprensión lectora:
A good speech moves an audience where a speaker wants it to go. Style is
not important nor the length nor the parts of the speech, but results are.
There are many kinds of speeches and many speakers, some articulate
and some barely able to deliver coherent sentences. Both can deliver a
good speech, as long as they focus on its purpose and strive to achieve
the purpose in the minds and hearts of an audience.
1. Demosthenes: The Third Philippic
342 B.C.; Athens, Greece
Demosthenes, master statesman and orator, loved his city-state of Athens. He cherished its way
of life and abundant freedoms. And he believed in standing strong against anyone who might
attempt to infringe on these privileges. This passion, unfortunately, was seldom shared by
his fellow Athenians. While Philip the II of Macedon made bolder and bolder incursions into
the Greek peninsula, the Athenian people seemed stuck in an apathetic stupor. For years,
Demosthenes employed his powerful oratorical skills in attempts to awaken his fellow
citizens from sleep to the realization of the imminent danger Philip posed. When Philip
advanced on Thrace, the Athenians called an assembly to debate whether or not to finally
heed the great orator’s advice. Demosthenes was sick of his brethren taking liberty and the
Athenian way of life for granted and he boldly called upon them to rise up and take action.
After his rousing speech, the assembly all cried out, “To arms! To arms!”
Worthy Excerpt:
It is this fate, I solemnly assure you, that I dread for you, when the time comes that you make
your reckoning, and realize that there is no longer anything that can be done. May you never find
yourselves, men of Athens, in such a position! Yet in any case, it were better to die ten thousand
deaths, than to do anything out of servility towards Philip [or to sacrifice any of those who speak for
your good]. A noble recompense did the people in Oreus receive, for entrusting themselves to Philip’s
friends, and thrusting Euphraeus aside! And a noble recompense the democracy of Eretria, for driving
away your envoys, and surrendering to Cleitarchus! They are slaves, scourged and butchered! A
noble clemency did he show to the Olynthians, who elected Lasthenes to command the cavalry, and
banished Apollonides! It is folly, and it is cowardice, to cherish hopes like these, to give way to evil
counsels, to refuse to do anything that you should do, to listen to the advocates of the enemy’s cause,
and to fancy that you dwell in so great a city that, whatever happens, you will not suffer any harm.
Complete speech in: http://www.emersonkent.com
2. Alexander the Great: Speech
326 B.C.; Hydaspes River, India
In 335 B.C., Alexander the Great began his campaign to recapture former Greek cities and
to expand his empire. After ten years of undefeated battles, Alexander controlled an empire
that included Greece, Egypt, and what had been the massive Persian Empire.
That wasn’t enough for Xander. He decided to continue his conquest into India. But after ten
years of fighting and being away from home, his men lacked the will to take part in another
battle, especially against an opponent like King Porus and his army. Alexander used the
talent for oration he had developed while studying under Aristotle to infuse his men with
the motivation they needed to continue on, to fight and to win.
Worthy Excerpt:
I could not have blamed you for being the first to lose heart if I, your commander, had not shared in
your exhausting marches and your perilous campaigns; it would have been natural enough if you had
done all the work merely for others to reap the reward. But it is not so. You and I, gentlemen, have shared
the labour and shared the danger, and the rewards are for us all. The conquered territory belongs to
you; from your ranks the governors of it are chosen; already the greater part of its treasure passes into
your hands, and when all Asia is overrun, then indeed I will go further than the mere satisfaction of our
ambitions: the utmost hopes of riches or power which each one of you cherishes will be far surpassed,
and whoever wishes to return home will be allowed to go, either with me or without me. I will make those
who stay the envy of those who return.
3. Theodore Roosevelt: “The man with the muck-rake”
April 14, 1906; Washington, D.C.
Theodore Roosevelt was president during the Progressive Era, a time of great enthusiasm for reform in
government, the economy, and society. TR himself held many progressive ideals, but he also
called for moderation, not extremism. The “Man with a Muck-rake” in Pilgrim’s Progress never
looked heavenward but instead constantly raked the filth at his feet. TR thus dubbed the
journalists and activists of the day who were intent on exposing the corruption in society as
“muckrakers.” He felt that they did a tremendous amount of good, but needed to mitigate
their constant pessimism and alarmist tone. He worried that the sensationalism with which
these exposes were often presented would make citizens overly cynical and too prone to
throw out the baby with the bathwater.
Worthy Excerpt:
To assail the great and admitted evils of our political and industrial life with such crude and sweeping
generalizations as to include decent men in the general condemnation means the searing of the public
conscience. There results a general attitude either of cynical belief in and indifference to public corruption or else
of a distrustful inability to discriminate between the good and the bad. Either attitude is fraught with untold
damage to the country as a whole. The fool who has not sense to discriminate between what is good and what
is bad is well-nigh as dangerous as the man who does discriminate and yet chooses the bad. There is nothing
more distressing to every good patriot, to every good American, than the hard, scoffing spirit which treats the
allegation of dishonesty in a public man as a cause for laughter.
Such laughter is worse than the crackling of thorns under a pot, for it denotes not merely the vacant mind, but
the heart in which high emotions have been choked before they could grow to fruition.
Complete speech in: http:///www.artofmanliness.com
Total Eclipse
of the Heart
Total Eclipse of the theart (English lyrics)
Bonnie Tyler (1983)
Turn around,
Every now and then I get a little bit lonely
And you’re never coming round.
Turn around,
Every now and then I get a little bit tired
Of listening to the sound of my tears.
Turn around,
Every now and then I get a little bit nervous
That the best of all the years have gone by.
Turn around,
Every now and then I get a little bit terrified
And then I see the look in your eyes.
Turn around bright eyes,
Every now and then I fall apart.
Turn around bright eyes,
Every now and then I fall apart.
Turn around,
Every now and then I get a little bit restless
And I dream of something wild.
Turn around,
Every now and then I get a little bit helpless
And I’m lying like a child in your arms.
Turn around,
Every now and then I get a little bit angry
And I know I’ve got to get out and cry.
Turn around,
Every now and then I get a little bit terrified
But then I see the look in your eyes.
Turn around bright eyes,
Every now and then I fall apart.
Turn around bright eyes,
Every now and then I fall apart.
[Chorus:]
And I need you now, tonight.
And I need you more than ever.
And if you only hold me tight,
We’ll be holding on forever.
And we’ll only be making it right
‘Cause we’ll never be wrong together.
We can take it to the end of the line.
Your love is like a shadow on me
All of the time.
I don’t know what to do
And I’m always in the dark.
We’re living in a powder keg and giving off sparks.
I really need you tonight.
Forever’s gonna start tonight.
Forever’s gonna start tonight.
Once upon a time I was falling in love
But now I’m only falling apart.
There’s nothing I can do.
A total eclipse of the heart.
Once upon a time there was light in my life
But now there’s only love in the dark.
Nothing I can say.
A total eclipse of the heart.
Turn around bright eyes.
Turn around bright eyes.
Turn around,
Every now and then I know
You’ll never be the boy
You always wanted to be.
Turn around,
Every now then I know
You’ll always be the only boy
Who wanted me the way that I am.
Turn around,
Every now and then I know
There’s no one in the universe
As magical and wondrous as you.
Turn around,
Every now and then I know
There’s nothing any better
And there’s nothing that I just wouldn’t do.
Turn around bright eyes,
Every now and then I fall apart.
Turn around bright eyes,
Every now and then I fall apart.
Eclipse total del corazón (castellano)
The 80’s saw even greater success. A burgeoning
collaboration with epic rock pioneer Jim Steinman garnered
phenomenal international recognition with the album
“Faster Than The Speed Of Night”, and multi-platinum
selling power ballad “Total Eclipse Of The Heart”. Continuing
their working relationship – “Holding Out For A Hero”, from
the soundtrack to the film “Footloose”, proved similarly
popular. Tyler was impacting the European market so
much that in 2003 recorded a dual-language cover of “Total
Eclipse”, with French artist Kareen Antonn titled “Si demain
(Turn Around)” which topped the charts in Belgium, Poland
and France, the latter for ten weeks.
Da la vuelta,
De vez en cuando me siento un poquito solo
Y tú nunca vienes.
Da la vuelta,
De vez en cuando me siento un poquito cansado
De escuchar el sonido de mis lágrimas.
Da la vuelta,
De vez en cuando me siento un poquito nervioso
Porque lo mejor de todos los años ha pasado.
Da la vuelta,
De vez en cuando me siento un poquito aterrorizado
Y luego veo la mirada de tu ojos.
Da la vuelta ojos brillantes,
De vez en cuando me vengo abajo.
Da la vuelta ojos brillantes,
De vez en cuando me vengo abajo.
Da la vuelta,
De vez en cuando me pongo un poquito inquieto
Y sueño con algo desenfrenado.
Da la vuelta,
De vez en cuando me siento un poquito indefenso
Y me echo como un niño en tus brazos.
Da la vuelta,
De vez en cuando me pongo un poquito enojado
Y sé que tengo que salir y llorar.
Da la vuelta,
De vez en cuando me siento un poquito aterrorizado
Pero luego veo la mirada de tus ojos.
Da la vuelta ojos brillantes,
De vez en cuando me vengo abajo.
Da la vuelta ojos brillantes,
De vez en cuando me vengo abajo.
[Estribillo:]
Y te necesito ahora, esta noche.
Y te necesito más que nunca.
Y si tan sólo me abrazas fuerte,
Lo mantendremos para siempre.
Y sólo lo estaríamos haciendo lo correcto
Porque juntos nunca estaremos equivocados.
Podemos llevarlo hasta el final.
Tu amor es como una sombra sobre mí
Todo el tiempo.
No sé qué hacer
Y siempre estoy en la oscuridad.
Vivimos en un barril de pólvora y echamos chispas.
Realmente te necesito esta noche.
Lo eterno va a comenzar esta noche.
Lo eterno va a comenzar esta noche.
Una vez estaba enamorado
Pero ahora sólo me vengo abajo.
No hay nada que pueda hacer.
Un eclipse total del corazón.
Un vez hubo luz en vida
Pero ahora sólo hay amor en la oscuridad.
Nada que pueda decir.
Un eclipse total del corazón.
Da la vuelta ojos brillantes.
Da la vuelta ojos brillantes.
Da la vuelta,
De vez en cuando sé que
Nunca serás el chico
Que siempre quisiste ser.
Da la vuelta,
De vez en cuando sé que
Siempre serás el único chico
Que me quiso de la forma que soy.
Da la vuelta,
De vez en cuando sé que
No hay nadie en el universo
Tan mágico y maravilloso como tú.
Da la vuelta,
De vez en cuando sé que
No hay nada mejor
Y no hay nada que yo no haría.
Da la vuelta ojos brillantes.
De vez en cuando me vengo abajo.
Da la vuelta ojos brillantes.
De vez en cuando me vengo abajo.
Official website: bonnietyler.com
The Complete Works of
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (26 April 1564 (baptised) – 23 April 1616) was an English poet and
playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s
pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England’s national poet and the “Bard of Avon”. His
extant works, including some collaborations, consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long
narrative poems, and a few other verses, the authorship of some of which is uncertain. His
plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often
than those of any other playwright.
Shakespeare was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of 18, he married
Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith.
Between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part
owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, later known as the King’s
Men. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613 at age 49, where he died three
years later. Few records of Shakespeare’s private life survive, and
there has been considerable speculation about such matters as
his physical appearance, sexuality, religious beliefs, and whether
the works attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589
and 1613. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories,
genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by
the end of the 16th century. He then wrote mainly tragedies
until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, and
Macbeth, considered some of the finest works in the English
language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known
as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights.
Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality
and accuracy during his lifetime. In 1623, John Heminges and
Henry Condell, two friends and fellow actors of Shakespeare,
published the First Folio, a collected edition of his dramatic works that included all but two
of the plays now recognised as Shakespeare’s. It was prefaced with a poem by Ben Jonson, in
which Shakespeare is hailed, presciently, as “not of an age, but for all time.”
Shakespeare was a respected poet and playwright in his own day, but his reputation did
not rise to its present heights until the 19th century. The Romantics, in particular, acclaimed
Shakespeare’s genius, and the Victorians worshipped Shakespeare with a reverence that
George Bernard Shaw called “bardolatry”. In the 20th century, his work was repeatedly
adopted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship and performance. His plays
remain highly popular today and are constantly studied, performed, and reinterpreted in
diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world.
En: http://shakespeare.mit.edu/