William Shakespeare: plays and theatres

William Shakespeare was fascinated by plays from an early childhood. When his father became High Bailiff of Stratford, he and his family used to see plays whenever actors came to visit the town. This was how William Shakespeare developed his taste for the theatre.

In the 1580s, William Shakespeare reached London where he started to learn his acting skills. He chosed to work in a theatre because there were lots of mini jobs to do, such as keeping rich people's horses, sweeping the floor after the plays and reminding actors when to go on stage. Later William became an actor himself, finding it so fun to be in a play that he decided to write his own play scripts.

William Shakespeare played in important part in developing history plays where he clearly enjoyed mixing tragedies and comedies, high life and low life.

For example, he could transform love to a tragic theme like in "Romeo and Juliet" or turn it to pure force as he did in "The Merry Wives of Windsor".

William's ideas came from old stories, poemes as he wrote in verses and real events like in Macbeth he used the power of witchcraft to please James I, an adept of sorcery.

He became the most favourite writer in London. Sadly a plague hit London and he had to stop writing for two years between 1592 and 1594 as all the theatre were closed. Instead he wrote 154 beautiful short poems called sonnets because they only had 14 lines; 126 sonnets were adressed to a young nobleman, the rest to a mysterious dark lady. "The Rape of Lacrece" was dedicated to the Earl of Southampton who paid apparently 1000 pounds.

William Shakespeare was selective about the actors he employed. The only female he had, played the lead role of Juliet in "Romeo and Juliet". In his other plays all the parts were taken by men, with boys or youth playing as women and children.

Theatre companies had between 8-12 "sharers" who run the business and played the leading charcters like Burbage and Shakespeare himself as Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth and King Liar. Shakespeare's company was called "The Lord Chamberlain's Men" then later changed its name to "The King's Men".

Comic parts went to Thomas Pope or Will Kemp (both clowns) until he left the company in 1599 and was replaced by Robert Armin who had a beautiful voice so Shakespeare would write songs for him to sing in his plays.

William Shakespeare's play writing career probably ended when the Globe theatre burnt down in 1613 and was completely destroyed from a cannon shot during Henry VIII. He had written 37 plays.

Goth subculture

• The goth subculture is a contemporary subcuture which began in the United Kingdom during the early 1980s. the gothic rock became its own subgenre within post-punk, and that followers of these bands started to come together as a distinctly recognizable movememtn gothic rock. as opposed to punk, gothic rock combines dark, often keyboard-heavy music with introspective and depressing lyrics.

However, by the 1990s, the term goth subculture had become more contentious.

the ideology of this subgenre is inspired by the romanticism and neoromanticism and it is based far more on aesthetics and simplified ethics than politics.

During the late 18th and 19th century, feelings of horror and supernatural dread were widespread motifs in popular literature; nowadays we can see that this process in the modern horror films.

• The mass media has made reports that the have influenced the public view that goths, or people associated with the subculture, are malicious; however this is disputed and the goth subculture is often described as non-violent and, contrary of what some people think, goths are usually not supportive of violence, but rather tolerant.


• Goth fashion is stereotyped as a dark, sometimes morbid, style of dress. Styles are often borrowed from the Elizabethan, Victorian or medieval period and often express Catholic or other religious imagery such as crucifixes or ankhs.

Today we do accept more this subculture as we see in dark films like the famous Interview with the Vampire and all the Anne Rice's saga.

And also we are somehow attracted by this genre, which is a kind mysterious for us, so it is more common to hear about new gothic bands in the music field.

After all, no matter which culture it is, we will always have new other cultures that will interest us and that we can like or not.

How will be the world?

Describing what the world will be like in the year 2050 is a very relative topic because not everybody has the same visions of this question.
I don't have a clear vision about this subject,for this reason,then,I will explain other visions.
On the one hand,there are people who think that in the future the world will be very different and more modern than in the present. They believe that in the world of year 2050 tecnology will develope a lot and everything will be computerized;there will be things as for example,robots,computers that recognize their owners,etc...
On the other hand,there are people that,against the first group,think that there will be a social and moral development,for instance,people will learn to respect each other and respect the environment. Moreover,there will be not injustice neither prejudice,and the world will be an equal world.
In conclusion,I disagree with these visions because the first is too technological and the second is a utopian vision.In my opinion,I believe that,with the current situation,it is impossible to know what the world will be like in the year 2050.

Monet and the Japanese world

Claude Monet almost never left Europe and even never traveled to Japan. But in his Giverny home in France,he surrounded himself with Japanese woodblock prints(56 in his dining room). He first collected Japanese prints in the 1860s,andthis passion would last for over three decades. At the end of his life, he owned 231 Japanese engravings.

Monet never recopied the Japanese engravings. But Monet carefully analyzed the prints. The structure and the colours of Mont Fuji by Hokusai inspired Monet for a canvas of the Grainstack. The Japanese artists liked to feature the anecdotic or dramatic moments whereas Monet concentrated on light,which was the very subject of the canvas.

Like many other artists,Monet considered Japanese culture as very artistic,shaped by the refind aesthetic tastes of its people. As far as Monet is concerned,the way Japanese art shaped his style and the way he saw the world around him can be noticed in many of his canvases as early as the 1870s. He began collecting woodblocks by the greatest masters,Hokusai,Hiroshige,Utamaro....

Through Monet paintings,we could clearly establish a link with a Japanese printmaking world especially with his well-known Japanese bridge in Giverny or in his famous series of Haystack as above as well as the Glycines,and notably his Nymphéas.

The world of Claude Monet was ever since influenced by this oriental tradition of the philosophical contemplation of the nature.

When Monet travelled to Norway to Sandviken village in 1985 he imagined he was in Japan.

Heath Ledger:R I P

Heathcliff Andrew Ledger was born on 4th April,1979 in Perth(Western Australia). His family was Scottish and Irish. His father, Kim Ledger,was a mining engineer and his mother, Sally Ledger Bell, was a French teacher.

Heath Ledger started his career while he was in high school. His first film was `Two Hands´.In 1999 Ledger started his career in Holywood with `Ten things I hate about you´. After that´, he participated in `The patriot´and was protagonist in `A knight's tale´.

In 2001 he won showest award for his role in `The patriot´but his most important film was `Brokeback Mountain´. With this film he won an Oscar nd was nominated for Golden Globe in 2005 . He was also a protagonist in a new version of `Casanova´,`The dark knight´and ´The imaginarium of Dr. Pamassus´,that he couldn't finish, but the film will be completed with Colin Farrel,Jude Law and Johnny Depp.

Heath Ledger was not only a talented actor. He was a producer and director of music videos. He was also a good spotsman and he had a future as hockhey player.

Besides, he was married and he had a daughter.

Heath Ledger died on 22 of January 2008 in Manhattan at the age f 28.

A film you really have to see: BRAVEHAEART

Braveheart is about Scottish Independence wars whose leader is William Wallace. If you like historical films with a lot of action, you will love this type of film very much.

It is an epic historical film situated in Scotland in the 12th century, William Wallace, played by Mel Gibson, is a warrior who fights against Edward I, the English King, for Scottish freedom. When his wife dies murdered by an Englishman, Wallace searches revenge.

He organizes a warrior army with scottish patriots who want Scotland to be free for ever.

Mel Gibson is the director,producer and protagonist of this film. The acting is brilliant and the film is absolutely exciting.

Moreover,the special effects are rather good and the soundtrack, of Celtic music,is totally great,and the extras act brilliantly.

In my opinion,I think that this film is really interesting,and it is one of the best films that I have seen. If you want to know more about scottish independence you can see this film. I am sure you will really enjoy it.

How is your ideal school?

I think that,describing an ideal school is not too difficult because everyone has thought about their ideal school some time. Then,I will describe what my ideal school would be like.
On the one hand,the school would have the basic things as air-conditioned,a good blackboard and heating,if it is possible,in good conditions. Furthermore, classes would have comfortable tables and chairs and highest tecnology like computers,televisions,DVDs and good stereos.
On the other hand,it would have other important things as a relaxed atmosphere,freedom of choice and democratic principles in ordern to create a better atmosphere to study and a bit of independence for students so that they would not feel under pressure. Although,not everyone will agree with these ideas because some people think that students need strict discipline and rules.
In conclusion,I believe that in order to achieve my ideal school it is necessary to be responsible students and have a lot of money.