May the 4th 2023

Star Wars Day is an informal commemorative day observed annually on May 4 to celebrate George Lucas' Star Wars media franchise. Observance of the day spread quickly through media since the franchise began in 1977.

The date originated from the pun "May the Fourth be with you", a variant of the popular Star Wars catchphrase "May the Force be with you". Even though the holiday was not created or declared by Lucasfilm, many Star Wars fans across the world have chosen to celebrate the holiday. It has since been embraced by Lucasfilm and parent company Disney as an annual celebration of Star Wars.

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.

May the 4th 2022

Star Wars Day is an informal commemorative day observed annually on May 4 to celebrate George Lucas' Star Wars media franchise. Observance of the day spread quickly through media and grassroots celebrations since the franchise began in 1977.

The date originated from the pun "May the Fourth be with you", a variant of the popular Star Wars catchphrase "May the Force be with you". Even though the holiday was not created or declared by Lucasfilm, many Star Wars fans across the world have chosen to celebrate the holiday. It has since been embraced by Lucasfilm and parent company Disney as an annual celebration of Star Wars.

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.

The 3 Wise Men Didn't Have a GPS 2021

There is no historical evidence, but we can be quite sure that the 3 Magi did not use a GPS to find the stable in Bethlehem...

Life of Brian

Scene 2: Three Wise Men with Bad Senses of Direction

The sketch:

holy music

BABY BRIAN COHEN: crying
WISE MAN #1: Ahem.
MANDY COHEN: Ohhh!
whump
Who are you?
WISE MAN #1: We are three wise men.

April Come She Will 2018

At LEZ we have posted 2 songs by Simon Garfunkel: I am a rock and 7 O'Clock News/Silent Night. We give you now another of their masterpieces, 'April Come She Will.' Whatever happened to poets and musicians like them?

April, come she will

When streams are ripe and swelled with rain.

May, she will stay

Resting in my arms again.

June, she'll change her tune,

in restless walks she'll prowl the night.

July, she will fly

and give no warning to her flight.

August, die she must,

the autumn winds blow chilly and cold.

September, I'll remember

a love once new has now grown old.

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.

The 3 Wise Men Didn't Have a GPS 2018

There is no historical evidence, but we can be quite sure that the 3 Magi did not use a GPS to find the stable in Bethlehem...

Life of Brian

Scene 2: Three Wise Men with Bad Senses of Direction

The sketch:

holy music

BABY BRIAN COHEN: crying
WISE MAN #1: Ahem.
MANDY COHEN: Ohhh!
whump
Who are you?
WISE MAN #1: We are three wise men.

Football Quiz

1 point is up for grabs at the next Test for Unit 4 for the ESO student who sends the first correct answer to our email:

What football team does the shirt in the photograph above belong to?

NB: This quiz is for our students, NOT FOR THEIR PARENTS. Answers must be in English, of course, in correct English.

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.

Unit 2 Quiz

1 point is up for grabs at the next Test for Unit 2 for the ESO student who sends the first correct answer to our email:

Who is the film character in the picture above and, most importantly, what is the origin and the inspiration of his name?

NB: This quiz is for our students, NOT FOR THEIR PARENTS. Answers must be in English, of course.

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.

Ordinary Love

Released in November 2013, this song was written for the movie Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. In the film, it scores the moment that Mandela emerges, victorious, to greet the people of South Africa.

According to Bono, the band decided to lace the triumphant moment with bit of melancholy after reading Mandela’s love letters to his wife, Winnie.

“He was leaving victorious, but his heart was truly broken…the only defeat he truly suffered was losing his marriage."

The song won a Golden Globe in 2013.

Filming on your smartphone

Tips for filmmakers on how to get the most out of your smartphone.

(Reblogged from BBC Academy)

Smartphones mean that everyone can be a filmmaker.

Arthur Haynes is part of the BBC Production Talent Pool and is a seasoned smartphone filmmaker. In this video, recorded on a smartphone (iPhone 5), Arthur shares his tips for filming on your smartphone.

"My advice is to go out there and have a play. You never know what you might create."

– Arthur Haynes

Setting up

1. Set your phone to airplane mode so that you don’t have any interruptions when recording.
2. Adjust your brightness. Set it to high so you can see clearly what you’re filming.
3. Always film in landscape so that the format is set correctly when you playback.

Now for the actual filming…

Before you start filming, think about what your story is and then think about the shots that will best tell the story.

1. Set the scene.  Have an establishing shot and make sure you introduce your characters to your audience pretty early on.
2. Don’t just stick to one shot. Use different types of shots to make your story more interesting.  Change the angle of the camera to give different points of view.
3. Zooming in when filming on your smartphone is a big no-no! It’s always best for you to physically move with the camera instead.
4. Blurry footage is of no use to anyone so make sure you focus before you start filming. Hold down the square box on your screen to focus on your subject.
5. Exposure - smartphones have this built in. Tap on your subject and then adjust your settings according to what you want.
6. There’s nothing worse than having great footage but having the sound let you down. Make sure you know where the microphone is on your phone so as not to cover it up when filming. If you’re filming in a quiet area then the phone’s own microphone might be enough…
7. …. But you can always use the phone’s headphones as an additional mic.
8. You'll want to stabilise your shots and limit movement so that you don't have shaky shots. Depending on what you’re filming, holding the phone in your hand might work. If you’re going to be filming for a while, you might want to think about leaning the camera on something or even etting a tripod and a mount.

Click here to watch the video.

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.

April Come She Will 2016

At LEZ we have posted 2 songs by Simon Garfunkel: I am a rock and 7 O'Clock News/Silent Night. We give you now another of their masterpieces, 'April Come She Will.' Whatever happened to poets and musicians like them?

April, come she will

When streams are ripe and swelled with rain.

May, she will stay

Resting in my arms again.

June, she'll change her tune,

in restless walks she'll prowl the night.

July, she will fly

and give no warning to her flight.

August, die she must,

the autumn winds blow chilly and cold.

September, I'll remember

a love once new has now grown old.

This brilliant, beautiful video clip illustrating the song is by a young American genius, Justin Ho. Keep his name in mind: Sooner or later he will become a very famous film director.

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.

The 3 Wise Men Didn't Have a GPS 2016

There is no historical evidence, but we can be quite sure that the 3 Magi did not use a GPS to find the stable in Bethlehem...

Life of Brian

Scene 2: Three Wise Men with Bad Senses of Direction

The sketch:

holy music

BABY BRIAN COHEN: crying
WISE MAN #1: Ahem.
MANDY COHEN: Ohhh!
whump
Who are you?
WISE MAN #1: We are three wise men.

April Come She Will 2015

At LEZ we have posted 2 songs by Simon Garfunkel: I am a rock and 7 O'Clock News/Silent Night. We give you now another of their masterpieces, 'April Come She Will.' Whatever happened to poets and musicians like them?

April, come she will

When streams are ripe and swelled with rain.

May, she will stay

Resting in my arms again.

June, she'll change her tune,

in restless walks she'll prowl the night.

July, she will fly

and give no warning to her flight.

August, die she must,

the autumn winds blow chilly and cold.

September, I'll remember

a love once new has now grown old.

This brilliant, beautiful video clip illustrating the song is by a young American genius, Justin Ho. Keep his name in mind: Sooner or later he will become a very famous film director.

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.

The 3 Wise Men Didn't Have a GPS 2015

There is no historical evidence, but we can be quite sure that the 3 Magi did not use a GPS to find the stable in Bethlehem...

Life of Brian

Scene 2: Three Wise Men with Bad Senses of Direction

The sketch:

holy music

BABY BRIAN COHEN: crying
WISE MAN #1: Ahem.
MANDY COHEN: Ohhh!
whump
Who are you?
WISE MAN #1: We are three wise men.

THX1138

THX1138 Director's cut: The Future Trailer

Set in the 25th century, the story centers around a man and a woman who rebel against their rigidly controlled society...

In an overpopulated futuristic Earth, a New York police detective finds himself marked for murder by government agents when he gets too close to a bizarre state secret involving the origins of a revolutionary and needed new foodstuff.

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.

Frozen in 25 Languages

Disney has decided to release one of the songs of  Frozen’s soundtrack sung in 25 languages.

It has drawn our attention that Latin American Spanish and Castillian Spanish are treated as different languages as well as French and Canadian French, while there is only one version of English, for instance.

We are also happy to discover that Catalan, one of Spain’s regional languages is included. However, we’re a bit dissapointed that others such as Galician or Euskera have not been chosen...

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non commercial purposes.

The Truth

An unsuspecting couple meets Morpheus at a valet stand. He presents them with two choices: a red key or a blue key. Should they choose wisely, they'll never look at luxury—or Kia—the same again.

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.

The 3 Wise Men Didn't Have a GPS 2014

There is no historical evidence, but we can be quite sure that the 3 Magi did not use a GPS to find the stable in Bethlehem...

Life of Brian

Scene 2: Three Wise Men with Bad Senses of Direction

The sketch:

holy music

BABY BRIAN COHEN: crying
WISE MAN #1: Ahem.
MANDY COHEN: Ohhh!
whump
Who are you?
WISE MAN #1: We are three wise men.

Romans, Go Home!

CENTURION: What's this, then? 'Romanes Eunt Domus'? 'People called Romanes they go the house'?
BRIAN: It-- it says, 'Romans, go home'.
CENTURION: No, it doesn't. What's Latin for 'Roman'? Come on!
BRIAN: Aah!
CENTURION: Come on!
BRIAN: 'R-- Romanus'?
CENTURION: Goes like...?
BRIAN: 'Annus'?
CENTURION: Vocative plural of 'annus' is...?
BRIAN: Eh. 'Anni'?
CENTURION: 'Romani'. 'Eunt'? What is 'eunt'?
BRIAN: 'Go'. Let--
CENTURION: Conjugate the verb 'to go'.
BRIAN: Uh. 'Ire'. Uh, 'eo'. 'Is'. 'It'. 'Imus'. 'Itis'. 'Eunt'.
CENTURION: So 'eunt' is...?
BRIAN: Ah, huh, third person plural, uh, present indicative. Uh, 'they go'.
CENTURION: But 'Romans, go home' is an order, so you must use the...?
BRIAN: The... imperative!
CENTURION: Which is...?
BRIAN: Umm! Oh. Oh. Um, 'i'. 'I'!
CENTURION: How many Romans?
BRIAN: Ah! 'I'-- Plural. Plural. 'Ite'. 'Ite'.
CENTURION: 'Ite'.
BRIAN: Ah. Eh.
CENTURION: 'Domus'?
BRIAN: Eh.
CENTURION: Nominative?
BRIAN: Oh.
CENTURION: 'Go home'? This is motion towards. Isn't it, boy?
BRIAN: Ah. Ah, dative, sir! Ahh! No, not dative! Not the dative, sir! No! Ah! Oh, the... accusative! Accusative! Ah! 'Domum', sir! 'Ad domum'! Ah! Oooh! Ah!
CENTURION: Except that 'domus' takes the...?
BRIAN: The locative, sir!
CENTURION: Which is...?!
BRIAN: 'Domum'.
CENTURION: 'Domum'.
BRIAN: Aaah! Ah.
CENTURION: 'Um'. Understand?
BRIAN: Yes, sir.
CENTURION: Now, write it out a hundred times.
BRIAN: Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. Hail Caesar, sir.
CENTURION: Hail Caesar. If it's not done by sunrise, I'll cut your balls off.
BRIAN: Oh, thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Hail Caesar and everything, sir! Oh. Mmm!
Finished!
ROMAN SOLDIER STIG: Right. Now don't do it again. 
[CENTURIONS chase BRIAN]
MAN: Hey! Bloody Romans.

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.

Atlas, by Coldplay (from the film 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire)

'Atlas' is set to be the first song released from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire soundtrack, and also marks the first time that Coldplay have ever recorded an original song for a film. The follow-up to 2012's The Hunger Games, meanwhile, will be released in cinemas worldwide on November 22.

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.

Better in Original Version

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non commercial purposes.