Trip to Bonn

Today we (first-year students studying German and second-year students studying German as an additional language) went on a one-day trip to Bonn, in Germany.

I had to wake up at 5.50 am to have breakfast and then go to Namur on my moped, and meanwhile filling the fuel tank. We all had to be there at 7.20 pm, and we left round 7.35. We were using a coach, for taking the train would have been less useful. Our group sat at the back, just because it's kind of cooler.

We chatted a little, then we listened to music while working on Konnex, our beloved Dutch vocabulary book… (Do you see what it means: we cannot even fully enjoy such a school trip!! Always something to do! I hate it!)

On the way, we drove by our (Anne-Sophie, Marie and me) homeland, le pays de Herve and several kilometres further we entered Germany. We arrived in Bonn at about 10.15.

Then we walked to Der Haus der Geschichte (House of History), a huge museum that brings you back to 1945 and shows you the evolution of the German society from then onwards. There were many historical documents and pictures, but also very collectible items, such as Kennedy's speech in Berlin in which he said "Ich bin ein Berliner", originally written "Ish been ein Bear-lee-ner" on his notes…

After that, the coach took us closer to the city centre, and we had about an hour to get some food and discover the city on ourselves. Some of us went directly to our meeting point (the Münster, a cathedral) and we bought sausages on the Christmas market (Weihnachtsmarkt): that was delicious!

Round 2 pm we started a short sightseeing of the city centre, with a local French teacher as guide. She took this picture of our group in front of the statue of Beethoven.


And precisely we walked to that house where he was born.


We also went to the Town Hall, an impressive building. Unfortunately, we couldn't visit it because a ceremony was taking place.


Then we had another hour to spend on ourselves in Bonn. We went once more on the Christmas market, buying several things. We also went to a T-Mobile shop, for there were actual brand-new iPhones to be seen!!! A girl was appointed to answer all questions from customers, so I started mumbling some words to say that we were from Belgium and that it was the first time that we got to see the iPhone. But apparently my German was terrible and she said we could speak English. So that's what we did. She showed us all the abilities of that brilliant smart phone. It's a shame that it's not yet available in Belgium… (Of course, it doesn't mean I would buy it: I hardly ever use my mobile, and it's rather expensive.)

A bit later we walked back to the couch and we left Bonn round 4.30. We were planning to study the rest of Konnex on the way back, but M. Bertrand (our teacher) came and sat with us and talked with us about the real German saunas, nudity and about many other things…

We arrived in Namur at 7.15 pm. We were all exhausted, but this day had been great fun for all of us!

Martine's a naughty girl!

My mother sent me these twisted covers of Martine books. Actually, a website allowed you to do so by displaying the original covers, and you could change the title very simply. But the publishing house, Casterman, didn't really liked that and asked the webmasters to close their website. It was good advertisement, though!

"Martine is a Jehovah's witness"

"Martine discovers Playboy"

"Martine thinks of commiting suicide"

"Martine buys a freezer"

(I hope you got the visual joke)

"Martine and Condoleeza invade Iraq"

"Martine's gonna do it with Jean-Claude Dus"

"Fuck! I forgot to take the pill!"

"Martine doesn't master the YMCA yet"

Manny's great deeds

Remember I told you once about that wonderful series called Black Books, starring Bill Bailey? I found a really good fragment from season 1. In this one, Manny is stuck in the book shop…



And this one when he finds out he can play the piano…



I can play!!

The Netherlands finally discover vanity plates…

As I have a weird interest in number plates, I often visit a Dutch website (nummerplaat.com) in order to keep an eye on the codes that are being given out by the RDW (Rijksdienst Wegverkeer).

By the way, they started the 11-ZX-XX series on Wednesday or Thursday.This means that the code consists of two digits — except for "00" – followed by Z and another letter, followed by another set of two letters. And as I'm sure you don't give a damn about it, let me just waste a few words to add that the letters A, C, E, I, M, O, Q, U and W are not used.

My point was just to show you this piece of news that I found on that very website:

DEN HAAG - Automobilisten moeten kunnen kiezen voor een kentekenplaat met een eigen tekst. VVD-Tweede Kamerlid Paul de Krom gaat dat bij de behandeling van de begroting van Verkeer en Waterstaat voorstellen aan minister Camiel Eurlings.

De Krom heeft dat maandag gezegd in het NOS Journaal. Hij kwam op het idee tijdens een bezoek aan de Verenigde Staten, waar automoblisten al langer een eigen tekst mogen voeren op hun nummerbord, bijvoorbeeld hun naam. Dat komt omdat de kentekenplaat daar aan de persoon is gekoppeld en niet aan het voertuig, zoals in ons land.

Het lijkt de De Krom gewoon een leuk idee om met een eigen tekst op de nummerplaat rond te rijden in een tijd waarin we "bijna niks meer mogen van het kabinet".

It basically means that Paul de Krom discovered vanity plates. Come on! You see them everywhere in American movies! Isn't one of the most famous examples the OUTATIME plate on the DeLorean time machine in Back to the Future? Or we can assume that he discovered how much money could be raised from such vanity plates…

At least, this gives me the opportunity to show you some my collection of Belgian vanity plates, started in July.

I saw this Ferrari in Middelkerke, just on the parking lot near the Casino. It is the only Belgian vanity plate I saw that has three times zero on it. (Normally, "000" is forbidden, except on plates that have the "111.X.1" type or the "1.X.111" type. But three times the letter "O" is accepted on vanity oldtimer plates: I once saw OOO-911.) Let me just add that this number plate cost its owner €874.

I saw this one in Brussels on 21 July. It was on a limo waiting for some VIP next to the Cathedral. It cost €624.

Talking of VIPs, there are two of a series owned by a limo-renting company. (See above and below.) Each of them cost €624.

I guess this one belongs to a French-speaking person named Dominique, for "dom" means "idiot" in Dutch… Or perhaps he/she works for Domo. (Cost: €624.)

A very low serial number, but too new to be an original from 1953 or even a duplicate. This one was seen close to the Flemish Parliament. (Cost: €874.)

This one also cost €874.

Idem.

I saw this one on a brand-new Audi R8 kind of prototype driven by a journalist who had borrowed from the Audi Company, hence the plate. This one was made in 1999. By the way, Audi owns a number of AUD plates, ranging from AUD-100 to AUD-125.

Celebrity Deathmatch

I discovered this show during the summer, while I was watching TV at the seaside. The match I feature today opposes Stephen King to J.K. Rowling. Enjoy!



Maybe I'll post some more fights in the future…

Death Notice (2)

This title surely can't precede something good…

Several months ago, I told you about my grandfather's parrot, Coco, an African grey parrot. Well today my mother sent me an e-mail whose title was simply "Coco". My first reaction was that famous catchphrase from the Star Wars saga: "I have a bad feeling about this…". I was right: Coco died in the night. He (in fact: she, but we always used to refer to this parrot by "he") was 44. My uncle says he was born on 26 March 1963. (Hey, isn't that Shakespeare's birth date?)

He told me that he received this parrot from an old lady in 1982. Back then, my uncle was running a book shop in Huy, and the parrot would always greet the customers and utter many usual sounds, such as the bell or the telephone, which he perfectly imitated, being a parrot.

When I was a kid, we would often go to my uncle's shop to say hello and play a little bit with Coco, giving him Tiercé-notes to eat (!). He was really fond of that, but also of sunflower seeds. When my uncle closed his shop in 1998, Coco went to my grandparents', where he stayed until now. Whenever I went there, I would whistle and talk to him, and most of the time he replied, especially when you presented him with a chips or a piece of meat (even chicken, which is thus close to cannibalism), as shown in the picture below:


The whole essence of that creature was caught in this snapshot…

Here are some of the many pictures I took of Coco:

Just eating roast beef, as usual.

Just eating crisps, as usual.

Hasn't he something human in his look?

This is the way he used to go down to his woodlike area.

Don't believe he was trying to eat my finger!

Farewell, Coco!

Tonight, I came back from Namur with my uncle, and we stepped by at my grandparents' to fetch Coco's body, for we wanted to bury it in Aubel, at the back of the garden. (With a single light coming from the house, and Coco being wrapped in a black plastic bag, it was as if we were members of the Mafia secretly getting rid of a body in a cold night…) So, that's what we did: my father dug a hole and we put our old friend in it, while remembering some good moments we spend with him. After my father filled the hole, the emotion seized me and some tears fell on my cheeks — I hadn't cried for ages! I've already suffered the death of several pets, among which Poupoune, my rabbit, but I wasn't that sad. I had always known Coco: he was nearly as old as my mother!

Coco is dead, but life goes on.

All that story reminds me of that sketch about a dead parrot by the Monty Python:

It's bleedin' demised! It's not pining it's passed on! This parrot is no more! It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone to meet its maker! This is a late parrot! It's a stiff! Bereft of life it rests in peace, if you hadn't nailed it to the perch it would be pushing up the daisies, its run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible! This... is an ex... parrot!

A last thing before I leave you till tomorrow: Coco died exactly 44 years after JFK. Unbelievable! At least, I won't forget the date.

Death Notice (1)

The famous French choregrapher Maurice Béjart, most know for his revolutionary ballets, died today at the age of 80. I knew him especially through the Snuls, that bunch of comedians from Brussels who were quite prominent in Wallonia at the beginning of the nineties, relying on surrealistic humour. They often made fun of his ballets and their pseudo-news bulletins always mentioned some kind of a "nouveau ballet Béjart". But unfortunately, I didn't find anything about that on YouTube, but I found an fragment of a show:



The idea was to go in a café and ask somebody to say something, and the more silly they were, the more chance they had to be on the show. That's what happened with this bloke (a real snul, a Brussels word meaning something like "idiot") who thought he could sing "Singin' in the Rain".

Let's come back to Béjart. Several Belgian newspapers are known for displaying headings that include a rather audacious pun. Here's what my mother sent me today:

"Maurice Béjart est parti faire danser les étoiles" (La Libre Belgique)
"Le dernier pas de danse de Béjart" (Le Soir)

The latest news bulletins say that his ashes will be spread in the sea in Ostend. Some also claim that he wanted to become a Belgian citizen short before he died, but this won't be possible, I guess.

As long as we're in a French-speaking mood, let me show you what my old friend Cyril tells me about the French language in a recent e-mail:

On dit souvent que jouer sur les mots est facile, mais est-il si facile de jouer avec les mots ? Un mot peut avoir plusieurs significations évidentes et souvent connues de tous. Une association de mots peut avoir beaucoup plus d'impact, car elle fait réfléchir. Ne dit-on pas que la réflexion est une des magies que la nature a confié à l'homme ? Si c'est le cas, les mots n'en sont-ils pas les incantations et la langue la baguette ?

I think he should have become a poet!

Walt Disney: an Empire of Dreams

Professor Vandelanotte asked us a couple of months ago to write a post on germ@namur as part of a writing assignment. Here are the original instructions (no need to paraphrase them):

For this assignment you are asked to work in groups of two people to produce a blog entry and a short presentation on an assigned topic. These topics were chosen to reflect aspects of different anglophone cultures (in the UK and Ireland, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand).

This time, I worked with my good friend Quentin, and in less than an hour and a half, we came up with this text. And oh yeah, before I forget, the topic that we chose is Walt Disney. I opted for this because I know some of the cartoons and besides, it's a biography, which means it is easier than summarizing up a concept. (At least, that's what I think.) So you find our first draft version. I just added several links afterwards. I will also post the definitive version on this blog once it's corrected. (Thanks, Ruth!)

Who has never heard the name of Walt Disney? This world-famous cartoon director and businessman was born on 5 December 1901 in Chicago, IL. He is an icon in American culture, as it will be shown below.

Walt Elias Disney started his career as an advertising illustrator, but as he did not meet the success he wanted, he left his hometown to go to Hollywood. He founded a cartoon production company (known today as the Walt Disney Company), and a couple of years later, his Steamboat Willie made him famous, as it introduced the character of Mickey Mouse. This film was the first in an endless series of worldwide-successful cartoons such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Pinocchio, Bambi, Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland – among many others.

But Disney’s interest was not confined to cartoons, but also to live-action movies: he most notably produced Mary Poppins, with Julie Andrews. Disney also invested his money and his time in the creation of an amusement park in California, Disleyland. This theme park was made so that all American families could walk in a fantasy world reminding everybody of his cartoons, for instance by getting lost in Alice in Wonderland’s labyrinth. As a philanthropist, he decided to create a new university, CalArts (short for California Institute of Arts), in order to promote the creativity of talented artists who would probably become prominent in the arts.

Walt Disney died of lung cancer on 15 December 1966 — he was a heavy smoker. An urban legend says that Walt Disney was cryonically frozen, but he was actually cremated. Despite his death, his work was carried on by others, through the Walt Disney Company, which is now owned by his offspring. For example, several other theme parks were built in Florida, Tokyo and Paris. Even a Disney Cruise Line was opened in the Caribbean.

As far as the movie legacy is concerned, the Walt Disney Company went on to make not only many other successful cartoons such as The Beauty and the Beast, but also live-action films among which Honey I Shrank the Kids, and hybrid forms mixing traditional animation with live action, e.g. Who Framed Roger Rabbit. This is the only film featuring characters from Disney and Warner Bros. characters in the same frame.



Since a dozen of years, the Walt Disney Company invested more and more money in computer-animated films, notably the two Toy Story films. These were made by the Pixar Animation Studios, which are now owned by Disney. Their most recent released film is Ratatouille.

In conclusion, Walt Disney is considered as an important character in the American, but also world culture, which makes him a legend. His future-oriented empire is one of the most powerful in the world, and it still has many wonderful stories to tell, making us wander in the utmost fantastic universe.

"Waaaaaaaaw!"

We are so insignificant next to the size of the universe, as shown in Robert Zemeckis' Contact:



It reminds me of that Simpsons opening, but I can't find it back on YouTube. Those bitches probably deleted it, too. The hell with them!

Apart from that, on a more personal note, I have to say that I spend today one of the best — if not the best – evening of my life. Thanks a lot, Elodie!!! (Sorry, but it's difficult for me to write about it on a public blog…)

Some other alternate endings

Here's a first one about V for Vendetta, a movie that I really enjoyed watching this summer, as it is about totalitarism and rebellion against it. (Doesn't it remind you of a certain Star Wars saga?)



(This was in fact mixed with shots from Scary Movie and Die Hard With a Vengeance.)

By the way, here's the story in a nutshell (and for once, it is not a Five Second Movie)



I don't remember if I've already shown you this one about Independence Day. If it is the case, watch it once more:



Hahahahaha!!

Long live Belgium!

Fuck YouTube! I had planned to show you the third part of Jeremy Clarkson's Top 100 Cars, as last Sunday and the Sunday before, but these videos and the others that I still had to show you were spotted and deleted. Bitches, as would thatguywiththeglasses say.

It basically means that I have to write about something else.

Today a huge demonstration to support Belgium's unity took place in Brussels. It gathered as much as 35,000 people, according to the police. A petition signed by more than 100,000 people (including myself) was handed in to Armand De Decker, president of the Belgian Senate. A lot of politicians came, too. But the fact is that most of the participants came from French-speaking Belgium, which perhaps show that the Flemish are less interested in Belgium as a united country.

A dozen of Flemish right-wing extremists were arrested because they shouted België barst in front of the Royal Palace — what a bunch of fools!

I'd have taken part to the demo if I lived closer to Brussels. That's all I have to say about it.

As Jeremy Clarkson's top 100 cars disappeared, let's watch something else:

Merrie Parodies

Our old pal thatguywiththeglasses posted a video mixing some bits of the cartoon Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th century with dialogues from Star Wars.

In itself, the original cartoon was a spoof on Buck Rogers in the 25th century, an old successful sci-fi series from the 1930s. Here Daffy Duck is Duck Dodgers and his assistant is Porky Pig. His opponent is Marvin the Martian. Actually, this cartoon is number 4 in the 50 greatest cartoons of all times.

Some bits of this cartoon are also to be seen in Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind on the telly at Roy Neary's (Richard Dreyfuss).

Here's the new brilliant parody:

Impressive… Most impressive.

As clumsy as he is stupid
--> One of my favourite quotes (French version: "il est aussi maladroit que stupide").

Jerry Seinfeld is a genius!

The other day, while wandering about on YouTube, I came across this commercial featuring one of my favourite comedians ever: Jerry Seinfeld.



Jerry Seinfeld cleverly made two references to a film he's playing in, namely Bee Movie. What was that? I had to check it out, and I found the trailers (see below). Seinfeld voices the bee character of Barry B(ee). Benson. The film also stars Renée Zellweger, Matthew Broderick and John Goodman (whom we hadn't seen in a while, had we?), among many others.

The first two trailers are about the "creation" of the movie:

Trailer 1



Trailer 2



Waw! Steven Spielberg himself promoting a movie in an ad? (Of course, he owns the production company, Dreamworks.)

E.T. was made of brown Play-Doh and chicken wire.

--> A myth is destroyed!

Trailer 3 (telling a bit more about the plot)



Trailer 4



Sounds promising.

The Saga Begins

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned "Weird Al" Yankovich and his great parody songs, like Michael Jackson's Beat it getting twisted into Eat it?

Today I would like to show you another song that I've just discovered: The Saga Begins (1999). It's about Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, and Weird Al (dressed up as Obi-Wan Kenobi) sings of Anakin's daring deeds, thus summarizing in a quite brilliant way the plot of that first episode. This song is a parody of American Pie by Don McLean.



Here are the lyrics (it took me a lot of time to make all the links, so don't hesitate to click on them to learn more about the Star Wars universe):

A long, long time ago
In a galaxy far away
Naboo was under an attack
And I thought me and Qui-Gon Jinn
Could talk the Federation in
To maybe cutting them a little slack
But their response, it didn't thrill us
They locked the doors and tried to kill us
We escaped from that gas
Then met Jar Jar and Boss Nass
We took a bongo from the scene
And we went to Theed to see the Queen
We all wound up on Tatooine
That's where we found this boy

Oh
My my this here Anakin guy
May be Darth Vader someday later
Now he's just a small fry
He left his home
And kissed his mommy goodbye
Sayin'
"Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"
"Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"

Did you know this junkyard slave
Isn't even old enough to shave
But he can use the Force, they say

Ahh, do you see him hitting on the queen
Though he's just nine and she's fourteen
Yeah, he's probably gonna marry her someday

Well, I know he built C-3PO
And I've heard how fast his pod can go
And we were broke, it's true
So we made a wager or two
He was a prepubescent flyin' ace
And the minute Jabba started off that race
Well, I knew who would win first place
Oh yes, it was our boy

We started singin'
My my this here Anakin guy
May be Vader someday later
Now he's just a small fry
And he left his home
And kissed his mommy goodbye
Sayin'
"Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"
"Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"

Now we finally got to Coruscant
The Jedi Council we knew would want
To see how good the boy could be
So we took him there and we told the tale
How his midi-chlorians were off the scale
And he might fulfill that prophecy
Oh the Council was impressed of course
Could he bring balance to the Force?
They interviewed the kid
All training they forbid
Because Yoda sensed in him much fear
And Qui-Gon said "Now listen here"
"Just stick it in your pointy ear"
"I still will teach this boy"

He was singin'
My my this here Anakin guy
May be Vader someday later
Now he's just a small fry
And he left his home
And kissed his mommy goodbye
Sayin'
"Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"
"Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"

We caught a ride back to Naboo
'Cause Queen Amidala wanted to
I frankly would've liked to stay
We all fought in that epic war
And it wasn't long at all before
Little hotshot flew his plane and saved the day
And in the end some Gungans died
Some ships blew up and some pilots fried
A lot of folks were croakin'
The battle droids were broken
And the Jedi I admire most
Met up with Darth Maul and now he's toast
Well, I'm still here and he's a ghost
I guess I'll train this boy

And I was singin'
My my this here Anakin guy
May be Vader someday later
Now he's just a small fry
And he left his home
And kissed his mommy goodbye
Sayin'
"Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"
"Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"

We were singin'
My my this here Anakin guy
Maybe Vader someday later
Now he's just a small fry
And he left his home
And kissed his mommy goodbye
Sayin' "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"

PS. It is stated on Wikipedia that Weird Al wrote this song just by reading internet spoilers…, thus without seeing the movie at all!

As would Darth Vader say (in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back):

Impressive… Most impressive.

Black Books

Professor Vandelanotte posted today (at 11:38, but it's not a reference to George Lucas' 1138, I'm afraid) on germ@namur a blog entry about the return of Never Mind the Buzzcocks on BBC. The name of Bill Bailey was of course mentioned, for he is one of the guest presentors. In fact, I knew Bill Bailey already because he played the part of Manny in this tremendously brilliant series called Black Books (three seasons of six episodes were made between 2000-2004).

Basically, the action is set around three characters: Bernard Black (Dylan Moran), Manny Bianco (Bill Bailey) and Fran Katzenjammer (Tamsin Greig, whom we have also seen as Dr. Caroline Todd in Green Wing, another Britcom). All of them are completely crazy, but in their own way.

There's a YouTuber who actually put some episodes online. To give you a kind of Hors d'œuvre, here's the first episode of the first series (in three parts), called "Cooking the book".

Part 1

Part 2



Part 3



Note that Manny was given many nicknames throughout the whole series, e.g. Gandalf, Thor or Bigfoot, but my favourite was Gengis Khan.

I wish I had the DVDs so that I could watch all the episodes. But what am I saying? I don't have the time!!! I'm already looking forward to being on holiday in July…

"Down Right Terrible"

Our friend TheNostalgiaCritic (aka thatguywiththeglasses) came up with a tremendous analysis of a movie called Super Mario Bros., based on the famous video game. Let's hear his message. Below, I listed a series of quotes which I absolutely LOVE! They're brilliant! So watch it to figure it out:



Here are my favourite quotes:

• The two Italian plumbers are played by a Britishman and a Latino. (…) THIS IS GOING TO SUCK ASS!

• (About Dennis Hooper)
  

(he)'s more a mix between Donald Trump and Doctor Evil. Disney's Reluctant Dragon would have been scarier than this.

• This only way to get it back for Mario is to use his balding Italian charm to seduce her. What people would do for a role!

• Most of the performances in this movie are down right terrible. I mean, I love Bob Hoskins, but after time it seems he's caughing up a hair ball. (Bob Hoskins uttering something hardly intelligible). And every time I hear that New York accent, I keep expecting Roger Rabbit to pop up. But by far the biggest award for killing your performance goes to the poopa-scoopa-gooba himself: Dennis Hopper. It's literally like he woke up every morning and just said to himself: "I'm not going to act today! I don't know what I'm going to do, but it's not going to be acting.". In fact, we haven't seen Dennis Hopper in a while, have we? But what do you expect when you're in movies where you're saying lines like:

  BA-BOMB!

• Let's hear that again:

  BA-BOMB!

• And this is why you don't see Dennis Hopper anymore. In fact, if you watch it in slow motion, you can actually pinpoint the moment where his career implodes in on himself. Watch:

  Baaaaaaa-booooooooomb! (Atomic bomb exploding)

• There's no other line in this movie that could destroy an actor's career, so quickly.

A monkey!

• Ok, maybe one other line. In fact, let's see these two lines one back to back:

BA-BOMB! // Monkey!
BA-BOMB! // Monkey!
BA-BOMB! // Monkey!
BA-BOMB! // Monkey! (ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATED ACTOR)
BA-BOMB! // Monkey!
BA-BOMB! // Monkey!
BA-BOMB! // Monkey!

There it is. I hope you enjoyed this video and that, like me, you'd like to watch this movie just to see how it actually sucks taken on its whole. Two directors? Maybe because the first one gave up when he realized this would be worse than shit. Curious then that he didn't appear as Alan Smithee, then.

E.T. meets a friend

Some idiot (read: genius) managed to make a horror trailer out of the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial:



Funny, wasn't it?

Let me seize this opportunity to show you one of the most brilliant crossovers in the history of cinema: E.T. meets someone he thinks to be an old friend of his:



Home! Home!

--> So now we know where Yoda's actually from: he's from the same planet as E.T. But the point is that we don't know its name either… Too bad. By the way, there are lot of hidden gems (the so-called "Easter eggs") about Star Wars in this movie, for example a TIE-Fighter on Elliott's bookshelf.

Please note that we can actually spot Steven Spielberg dressed up as an old lady when E.T.'s looking through the ghost shroud, just on the left after "Yoda" appears. (This is, as far as I know, his only cameo in one of his films.)

Please also note that the talented John Williams, who brilliantly composed the score of both E.T. (1982) and Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980; film where Yoda appears for the first time in the movie history), subtlely uses Yoda's theme when we see him. I don't think there are many composers who can be proud to have achieved such a thing in their career. Not even Mozart. (Even though movies didn't exist back then.)

Clarkson's Top 100 Cars (Part 2 of 8)

As we're already on Sunday, as I promised last week, here's the second part of Jeremy Clarkson's Top 100 cars:



#69 - Mercedes Benz Pullman

#68 - Ford Capri 2.8 Mk III

#67 - VW Corrado VR6

#66 - Ferrari 275 GTS

#65 - Dodge Charger R/T

#64 - BMW Z1

#63 - Ford Mustang

#62 - Dodge Viper GTS

#61 - Peugeot 106 GTI

#60 - Toyota 2000GT

#59 - Peugeot 504 Estate

#58 - Lotus Elan

#57 - Lancia Fulvia

Stay tuned to watch the third part next Sunday!



Apart from that, this Saterday I received a moped! Yes, that's it. It's a Flash 50, which can reach 45 to 50 kmh (anyway I don't need it to go too fast). It's made by Keenex, a Chinese motorcycle company. We (I mean my parents and I) chose this one because it was the cheapest among brand-new mopeds that were displayed in the dealer's shop.

But maybe you're wondering why suddenly I have that. Well, I needed it. Ok, it wasn't something that I really needed, but just because I found it upsetting to waste a lot of time waiting for a bus (which sometimes doesn't even show up…—and this happens more often than you think) to get back to my digs (4 km away from the university).

So yesterday I got it and rode a couple of kilometres just to fil the petrol tank, and then go to my student room. But given that I had worked a lot yesterday, it allowed me for more time this afternoon to make a full test-ride.

I rode through Jambes and then I headed for Namur. I chose the route randomly, with the aim of testing the engine and its driving capacities. (By the way, I forgot to mention that I'm allowed to drive such a "classe A" moped thanks to my driving licence.) Yesterday, I was a little bit uncomfortable due to the fact that the wheels are really smaller than that of a bike, and that the centre of mass is lower. But this afternoon I was able get used to it. I went to Salzinnes, but also to Belgrade and up the Citadelle.

Now, I have to admit it's great! Of course, if you haven't experienced it yet, well, you can't actually figure out what it feels. Let's say that if gives you a feeling of greater autonomy, and the impression that you won a battle against busses! (It reminds me of that evil laughter that Jim Carrey utters after the "toilet scene" from Dumb and Dumber; watch the very end of it) Of course I'll sometimes have to take the bus (e.g. if the weather is terrible), but it will (hopefully) occur once in a blue moon.

And before I finish, I had to mention that it was really cold today (about 5°C), and as I forgot to wear my gloves, my hands were about to become blue at the end of my ride. Then I remembered this video from Dumb and Dumber (again) where Lloyd (Carrey) and Harry (Jeff Daniels) go to Aspen using a rather shitty moped, and they are nearly frozen when they arrive…

Transcript of a News Bulletin: "Commons Debate Queen's Plans"

We were asked by Mr Jacquinet to write the transcript of a news bulletin on the BBC World Service website, but as I couldn't download any files, I had to fetch a report on YouTube, on the BBCWorldnews page.
As embedding was disabled, I can't display the video, but here is the transcript:

COMMONS DEBATE QUEEN'S PLANS

Context

The State Opening of Parliament took place on Tuesday 6 November. Queen Elizabeth II read the Speech from the Throne, announcing the Government’s programme.

Transcript (duration: 2 min 57)

JOURNALIST
Sights, sounds and the sovereign: this was quite a spectacle, but today was never meant to involve surprises. MPs knew the government's legislative plans long before they were summoned to see the Queen. Gordon Brown and David Cameron have already clashed over some of the measures; this ritual brought a brief strange suspension in the usual hostilities.

QUEEN ELIZABETH II
My government's programme will meet people's aspirations, a better education, housing, health care and children services, and for a cleaner environment.

JOURNALIST
Hard to argue with that: extra homes, more apprenticeship, personalized health care, pensions and flexible working. But today's measures will also create new obligations on employers: Labour counsels to charge more for driving and dumping rubbish, and give the police controversial new powers.

QUEEN ELIZABETH II
My government will seek a consensus on changes to the law on terrorism, so that the police and other agencies have the powers they need to protect the public, whilst preserving essential rights and liberties.

JOURNALIST
But the government hasn't said how long the police should be able to detain terrorist suspects without charge. The opposition oppose any extension. All the Queen has done today, is remind us what Gordon Brown told us in July, but her presence in Parliament signals the start of the session, with the individual measures will be put to the test, and the overall package will define for better or worse the Prime Minister's vision for Britain.
David Cameron is not impressed.

DAVID CAMERON, MP (Conservative Leader)
People are beginning to wonder what is the point of this government.
(Massive approval on Tory benches.)

JOURNALIST
The Conservative leader dismissed the programme as a rehash of short-term gimmicks by a Prime Minister who bends with the wind.

DAVID CAMERON, MP
Say what you like about Tony Blair, at least he was decisive! (Laughter on Tory benches.) Isn't the only change we've had, is to swap a strong Prime Minister for a weak one. (Approvals.)

JOURNALIST
Gordon Brown ignored the dig, flashed out some of his proposals and insisted he's doing his job.

GORDON BROWN, Prime Minister (Labour Leader)
… and then, Mr Speaker, on energy, housing, pensions, education, work-life balance, citizenship and antiterrorism measures, the central purpose of this legislative programme is to make the right long-term changes to prepare and equip our country for the future, and to meet the rising aspirations of the British people.

JOURNALIST
The Liberal Democrats criticized Labour and the Conservatives.

VINCE CABLE, MP (Acting Liberal Democrat Leader)
… they're advocating the same tax policies, with the same indifference to widening inequalities, the same love affair with the discrediting council tax; they're both now bidding for the anti-immigrant…

ELFYN LLWYD (Plaid Cymru)
There was some useful stuff in there, er but by and large not a… sort of feeling, kind of Queen’s speech, nothing to set the world alight, really.

JOURNALIST
The pageantry for now is over. The politics is in full swing.

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Pope

Remember that I've already told you about the awkward resemblance between Pope Benedict XVI (aka Ratzinger, aka Panzerkardinal) and the evil Emperor Palpatine from the Star Wars saga, one of the most demonic vilains in the movie history?

Well, the other time I showed you convincing pictures, and now it's time for you to show actual evidence that Darth Ratzi is as evil as Palpatine, not only because of his grim face…



… but also because of his stands on a great many things (just to quote a couple of words from Return of the Jedi:



This one is called "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Pope", a pun on "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope".



Striking, isn't it? This video was called "Dark Pope of the Sith", a pun on "Dark Lord of the Sith".

And to finish with, some genius had the idea of buying a little sculpture of the pope (which would be, otherwise, really dumb) and dress it with a dark cloak so that… he ended up with something like this:



Even more stricking, wasn't it?

If you don't know what to buy me for my birthday, I'd be delighted to get such a sculpture. It'd make a perfect addition to my collection (just to quote a few words from General Grievous).

1-18-08

Our famous NostalgiaCritic posted a video about a film code-named "Cloverfield". Please watch the official trailer before watching his opinion on that trailer. He is, as usual, very convincing…

Good guy, I just pissed myself!

Maybe it's Jesus: maybe he just wanted the Bible to get a twisted ending and decided to rampage through the city! Maybe it's all four of them, maybe it's a giant robotic Donkey Kong Jesus riding a puff of smoke. Holy shit that'd be really cool… BUT HIGHLY IMPROBABLE!

So I guess it must be a Blair Witch-like movie with a huge teasing campaign… and a giant monster. Maybe the return of the angry Stay Puft marshmallow man from Ghostbusters?

Doc Hollywood

I didn't see Doc Hollywood (starring Michael J. Fox) a lot, but I liked this scene where he's driving to L.A., and suddenly two cows appear on the road…



What's funny about is that the fence that Ben Stone (Michael J. Fox) destroyed was that of… yeah, of that scary looking guy (aka the "shovel slayer", Roberts Blossom) in Home Alone, but here of a judge who'll sentence him to stay in the village because they don't have a doctor… So he's gonna have to take care of normal people, he who was accustomed to seeing only beautiful women "in need" of breast surgery — because he's a famous surgeon, precisely.

Alternate Endings: the Return!

I've already shown you several alternate endings for the Back to the Future movies, but I've just found another that's worth the detour:



What if it had really happened…?

And I found a new one for Star Wars – Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back:



And another:



All too easy…

And yet another:



Soooo silly indeed!

Star Wars Kid Strikes Back

Remember that I've told you about this famous "Star Wars Kid" video? Well, I found other parodies of it:

— Star Wars Kid vs. Saruman (played by Sir Christopher Lee):



— What if he had played the role of Neo in the Matrix trilogy? (By the way, I didn't like that trilogy because I didn't understand anything about the story.)



So, we can conclude from this piece of evidence that our Star Wars kid was in fact imitating Neo… How incredible!

Clarkson's Top 100 Cars (Part 1 of 8)

Our fellow Jeremy Clarkson decided to establish his list featuring the 100 best cars in the world, as part of the show Top Gear. Here's the first part; I'm gonna post the others one at a time every Sunday. I hope you'll enjoy.



#100 - VW Beetle (old)

#99 - Benz Patent Motorwagen

#98 - Air-cooled Porsche 911

#97 - Chevrolet Corvette C2

#96 - Lamborghini Countach

#95 - Ferrari 360

#94 - Alfa Romeo GT V6

#93 - Nissan 300ZX

#92 - Ford Cortina 1600E

#91 - VW Scirocco GLI

#90 - Gilburn Invader

#89 - Lancia Monte carlo

#88 - Renault A610

#87 - Colt Starion

#86 - Aston Martin DB5

#85 - AC Cobra

#84 - Renault Espace

#83 - Triumph Dolomite Sprint

#82 - Sunbeam Tiger

#81 - Reliant Scimitar

#80 - Ford Escort RS2000

#79 - Jaguar Mk II

#78 - Fiat Multipla

#77 - Maserati Sebring

#76 - Mazda RX7

#75 - Peugeot 504 Convertible

#74 - Triumph TR5

#73 - Honda Prelude

#72 - Citroen DS

#71 - Volvo 1800 ES

#70 - Lotus Esprit

See you next Sunday for the follow-up!

Another Commercial

As long as we're in the mood for commercials, let's watch this one:



That's all for today. Sorry, but I've got work to do.

Commercials and Celebrities

Remember that Citroën commercial featuring a dancing C4?



Some idiot made a parody with a 2CV:



"Vous n'imaginez pas tout ce que Citroën peut faire pour vous", they say.

Even Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) lies the C4:



But I admit I prefer this one:



Yeah, it's the French version (Sir Sean Connery being dubbed by Bernard Dhéran), but I couldn't find the English (or Scottish) one.

Freddy vs. Jason: the Ultimate Matchup

A couple of years ago, I watched that slasher film named Freddy vs. Jason, consisting of 85 boring minutes before you can finally watch the two evil characters (Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street and Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th series) fight with each other in a kind of final epic struggle to death. Here it is:



This is so funny, don't you think?