Textspeak

Click here for the Guardian article on text message poetry, or simply enjoy the beauty of David Crystal on It's Only A Theory:

Argumentation

I don't seem to be able to embed this video, so you'll have to click on the image of Marlon Brando to be redirected to his delivery of Marc Anthony's speech from the 1953 adaptation of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Following on from the class debate on whether or not the University of Essex is justified in charging students fees of £9000 per year from 2012 onwards, you may be interested in reading this article from the Guardian, this from the Telegraph, or Jules Pretty's justification of Essex University's decision. 


Finally, I just wanted to record on this blog the criteria for a good argument that our neutrals devised in class today.  They decided that to deliver an effective argument, the following ingredients are essential:1.Clarity of expression; 2.Focus / clarity of argumentation; 3. Explanation and support; 4. Good behaviour.

Jane Eyre on the silver (and murky grey) screen

I love the fact that the first comment under this film on Youtube described it as "the strangest adaptation of Jane Eyre I've ever seen":



Fast forward to 2011:



...and back again to 1949:

Bluebeard

You may be interested in the parallels between Bluebeard and Angela Carter's "The Bloody Chamber", but if you'd rather watch some moving images, there's a short selection here.

A cutesy (or not) animated version of the story:



A slightly darker (and shorter) animation:



And an excuse to embed this song by Band of Horses:

A Bit of Jane and Eyre

From the BBC comedy sketch show A Bit of Fry and Laurie, which ran from 1987 to 1995. For more "bits", visit the BBC Comedy website or the The “A Bit of Fry & Laurie” sketch archive, where you'll find scripts to accompany the video clips.

Nosferatu

Presumably there's a good reason why Nosferatu didn't make it into this fansite's top 27 Dracula movie list. Ah, 27, the magic number...