Monday 18 January 2016

Week 13 [18.01-24.01.2015] R.I.P. David Bowie

        Legendary singer and songwriter David Bowie quietly died of cancer. He fought for half a year with a terrible disease, but was unable to defeat the illness. On 8 January David Bowie turned 69 years old.
 

   David Bowie was one of the most influential musicians of his time. He changes all the time, and changed his tone. David Bowie was a constant revolution of style.
He did not recognize the label. Music, fashion, sex were all in his arsenal. In art, he was a true chameleon.

 

http://40.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m895piaSQS1rblpyto1_500.jpg

In his early years he enthusiastically studied Buddhism, was interested in pantomime, and in 1967 he released his first album called-"World of David Bowie's".

World fame came to Bowie in the 70s. A Song “Space Oddity” became a hit in 1969, conquering the British and American charts. Perhaps Bowie's most famous incarnation came with the release of his fifth album "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars" in 1972. He performed as Ziggy Stardust, a flame-haired, androgynous alien rock-star intent on bringing a message of hope to young people on Earth. In 1975, David Bowie, together with John Lennon recorded the song “Fame”.

A decade of silence at the beginning of the twenty century gave a reason to believe that he retired from music. That was a surprise when in 2013 he released the studio album “The Next Day”, which immediately topped the British charts.

His latest album “Blackstar” was released just a few days before the death of the legendary musician.


 Notable Bowie’s quotes grabbed together by Esquire magazine:
“Once I asked Lennon, what does he think about what I do? It will work, he said, but it's just a rock 'n' roll, with putted a little lipstick on it.”

“I so often invent a new way that today I think that initially I was plump Korean girl.”

“It amazes me that people take seriously everything that I say. Even I do not take it seriously.”

“I write about suffering - my own and others. The rest do not interesting me.”

“I am not a prophet and not a man of the Stone Age. I'm an ordinary mortal with the makings of a superman. And I'm still alive.”
 
According to the Rolling Stone magazine, Bowie hit the 100 greatest singers and composers of our time.

 

Week 13 [18.01-24.01.2015] Famous by accident



 
Carpentry

Harrison Ford was born on July 13, 1942 in Chicago, Illinois. His maternal grandmother and grandfather  were Jewish immigrant from Minsk, Belarus. They emigrated to New York in 1907 and later in 1917 was born Dorothy, Harrison’s mother. Dorothy got married to with Christopher Ford, an actor, who was an advertising executive, of Irish and German ancestry. Harrison has received a name of his grandfather.

Ford arrived in California in 1964. Firstly, he wanted to work for the radio, but then signed a contract with Columbia Pictures, and began playing small roles, getting $ 150 per week.

But money was not enough and Harrison had to feed the family. Ford began working as a carpenter. In addition, he worked part time as a stagehand at the concert of the famous band called ‘The Doors’. Again Harrison Ford became an actor by accident. One day, the director of "Star Wars" George Lucas wanted was need to install cabinets in the house - and he hired a carpenter, Harrison Ford.

 


https://www.facebook.com/sergiomendesmusic/photos/a.1439704356302193.1073741830.1437830136489615/1655588111380482/?type=3&theater

Harrison Ford with his crew, the day he finished building a recording studio of a Brazilian musician, Sergio Mendes in 1970. 

Fame

After meeting with Lucas, carpentry for Harrison was over. Lucas asked him to read some scripts from “Indiana Jones”. Four years later "Indiana Jones" came to screens and Harrison Ford became a superstar.

 


 

 

Everyone knows Harrison Ford for his iconic roles as Han Solo and Indiana Jones But he had a lot of roles in his career, about 73 credits as an actor. His trademarks are:

  • Frequently plays characters who use their intelligence rather than physical strength
  • Quiet but charming personality
  • Deep, soft, soothing voice
  • Sarcastic, world weary sense of humor
  • Has a scar on his chin and a pierced left ear

 

After VII episode of Star Wars called “The Force Awakens” Harrison became the highest grossing actor in history. Films in which he starred during his career, earned a total of $ 4.7 billion.

On 6 January a Hollywood Reporter said ‘after three weeks in the US and Canada a new episode of "Star Wars" grossed a 758.2 million dollars, this is 8 million more than the previous record holder - the blockbuster of 2009, "Avatar".

Personal life

Harrison Ford is a person who does not like to show his personal life to the public.

Harrison has been married 3 times:

       Calista Flockhart(15 June 2010 - present)

       Mellisa Mathison (14 March 1983 - 6 January 2004)

       Marry Marquardt(18 June 1964 - 3 October 1979)

Ford has 5 children, Benjamin, Willard, Malcolm, Georgia and adopted Liam and three grandchildren: Eliel, Ethan and Waylon.

Some interesting facts about Ford:

1.      Divorce with Mathison still considered like the one of the most expensive in Hollywood history. After all, according to the signed agreement Mellisa left marriage with a check for 85 million dollars.
2.      Ford is an excellent pilot, in his own fleet there are seven aircrafts which he used to travel between his homes in New York and Wyoming.
3.      Harrison loves Heavy Metal music!
 

And the rare interview in which Harrison talks about his personal life and career.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRwsWmBC2bc

 
1.      Do you like Harrison Ford acting?
2.      What roles and maybe what moments impressed you the most?
 

Resources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Ford#1990s.E2.80.932010s

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000148/bio

http://www.mhealth.ru/blog_redakcii/1370599.php

http://www.uznayvse.ru/znamenitosti/%D1%85%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%BD-%D1%84%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B4.html

Week 13 [18.01-24.01.2015] Star Wars



Recently in theaters was released the latest movie from the famous series of sci-fi movies:  “Star Wars the force awakens”. It's hard to find someone who hasn’t seen any Star Wars movie. Star Wars universe found a lot of fans around the world, but also there are many people who don’t like Star Wars. One thing is certain, movies from the universe of Star Wars had a great influence on sci-fi cinema and even our culture.


But let's start from the beginning. The father of the universe was George Lucas with his studio LucasArts. In 1977 they released their first movie from the Star Wars series. The first movie was called simplyStar Wars”, but with time it changed its name toStar Wars Episode IV: A New Hope”. The success was huge. The production cost 11 million dollars and grossed 775 million dollars. Then consecutively in 1980 and 1983  they created the next two movies:The Empire Strikes BackandReturn of the Jedi”. Thus they ended the original trilogy. For the next movie fans were forced to wait 16 years, and George Lucas made a movie starting the prequel trilogy:” The Phantom Menace”, which, together with  next two movies, tells a story about the events before the original trilogy. Next  movies were released every 3 years and were called:Attack of the Clones” andRevenge of the Sith”.

But Star Wars is not just films, it's a great universe containing books, comics, video games, TV series, animated series, card games and many other things. All of this has been called the Expanded Universe. And what are “Star Wars”? The world of Star Wars is based on the concept of power, energy that can be controlled by someone gifted with an innate ability and properly trained to be able to use it. The power can be used to move objects, read and control thoughts and even win a battle. The people using the Light Side of the Force are Jedi, while the user of the Dark Side is Sith or Dark Jedi


The action takes placeA long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....". This sentence appears at the beginning of each movie and has become a part of global pop culture. Star Wars was so popular that fans created a religious movement Jediism, which is inspired by elements of Star Wars and a lot of people recorded their religion as "Jedi" on national censuses. The world of Star Wars changed forever when the Walt Disney Company bought LucasArts along with the rights to the brand. In this way, on December 18, 2015 in theaters appeared the latest part of a new trilogy called “The force awakens”.

Sources:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars