Henry David Thoreau — Walden

Thoreau's wood cabin & his statue

Extracts from Walden as a sign in the forrest

the trouble with Henry is that he is not telling us about the real Walden of his times… it was like this

the ground around Walden Pond

Walden has been a degraded landscape since early in the European intrusion. The first industry in Concord was an extractive one, raking up the layer of bog iron ore that lay under the meadows and transporting it in carts to smelters. Thoreau was walking through a landscape which still bore deep scars from those long cart tracks. The smelting of course required huge quantities of charcoal, so the charcoal-makers were stripping the woods of anything they could pile into their mounds covered with earth that would be transformed into charcoal over a number of days and nights of tending. The circles of charred earth on which the charcoal-makers had staged their operation were still in evidence in Thoreau's day, as were the overgrown remains of the smelting facilities.

there were the natives — local indians

During what is known as King Phillip's War, in 1676, the watershed around Walden Pond was the scene of a race atrocity. There was a «free fire zone» law in effect, according to which any native American who was more than one mile distant from his or her habitation of record could be killed, and three women and three children who lived on Flint's Pond had ventured to the other side of Walden Pond, about one and one-half miles from their habitation, while picking huckleberries, onto the Hoar property, so the Concord Militia went out and slaughtered them. (Several white Concordians later were hanged, for this race crime, by the neck until dead, on Boston Common.) In other words, Walden was polluted not merely by human use but also by human misuse.

and poor Irishmen

and poor Blacks

When the railroad workers came through, they were of course predominantly Irish ecological refugees of the potato famine. They lived, of necessity, low. They considered that they were in direct economic competition with American persons of color, and thus there was a great deal of race friction. When they erected their shanties alongside the path they were preparing for the railroad, Concord's blacks needed to be elsewhere. Thus Concord's black citizens during Thoreau's era were living in the meadows along the river, and were living farther away from Walden Pond.

together they had turned Walden into a field of garbage, destoryed most of the trees in the area and made the place very dangerous to visit at night

overall, Walden was a typical demorcratic place of XIX century America

With all this use by people living in dire poverty, Walden Woods was not what you would call a clean area, and you may notice that Thoreau comments about the lingering scent of a dead horse that had been abandoned in a cellar hole there. In addition, the woods did not have the reputation of being a safe place, and thus a woman during Thoreau's era would have needed to be very careful to be escorted, and to be out of the woods before dusk.

May 10, 1849  — A riot erupted outside the Astor Place Opera House in New York as British actor William Charles Macready performed inside. Angry crowds revolted against dress requirements for admission and against Macready's public statements on the vulgarity of American life. The mob then shattered theater windows. Troops were called out and ordered to fire, killing 22 and wounding 26.

IM-25

Just select ONE of the 3 films, watch it & do the tasks listed below:

STORY: Talk about what you think the story of the movie is – the start, beginning, end, etc.

RETELL: Watch the trailer and retell what you saw to your partner(s).

MUST-SEE: Talk with your partner(s) about whether the poster and movie title are good and make you want to see the movie.

MY PREQUEL / SEQUEL: Make your own prequel or sequel for  «the film of your choice». Make sure there is a good mix of things to do. Find some good online activities. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Give each other feedback.

CHARACTER STORY: Choose one of the characters from the movie. Imagine you are that character. Write your story about what you did in the movie.

MAGAZINE ARTICLE: Write a magazine article about the film of your choice. What are (did) critics and moviegoers saying (say) about it? How good were the actors' performances? What was good and bad about the movie?

it seems there were tov.praporschiks in the US Army at that time too

proper amounts of food are very important indeed

do not just help the UK — help it to defend America

can what you can to survive the war

yep, more money on war bonds would be nice

no comments

Victory in Europe Day, generally known as V-E Day or VE Day, is the public holiday celebrated on 8 May 1945

 to mark the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces. It thus marked the end of World War II in Europe.

1945: Soviets and Americans link at Elbe and move to Berlin

The victory united both supercountries for a short while

just like it was at the begining of the XX century

and also in 1860s — during the Civil War

Casablancais a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz. It has a star-studded cast that includes Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. The film was based on Murray Burnett and Joan Alison's then-unproduced playEverybody Comes to Rick's. Warner Bros. bought the play for $20,000, which was the most anyone in Hollywood had ever paid for an unproduced play. It is set during World War II and focuses on a man torn between, in the words of one character, love and virtue. He must choose between his love for a woman, and helping her and her husband escape from the Vichy-controlled Moroccan city of Casablanca so that her husband can continue his fight against the Nazis.

Although it was an A-list film, with established stars and first-rate writers, no one involved with its production expectedCasablancato be anything out of the ordinary. It was just one of hundreds of pictures produced by Hollywood every year. The film was a solid success in its initial run and did well at the box office. The movie won three Academy Awards in 1944, including Best Picture. Its characters, dialogue, and music have become iconic, although one of the lines most closely associated with the film — «Play it again, Sam» — is a misquotation; Bergman's character actually says: «Play it, Sam. Play'As Time Goes By'.» The film consistently ranks near the top of lists of the greatest films of all time.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casablanca_%28film%29 

Back to the Futureis a 1985 American science fiction adventure comedy film. It is directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale and produced by Steven Spielberg. It stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd and Crispin Glover. The film tells the story of Marty McFly, a teenager who is accidentally sent back in time from 1985 to 1955 in a plutonium-powered «time machine» invented by slightly mad scientist Dr. Emmett «Doc» Brown. He meets his future parents in high school and accidentally attracts his future mother's romantic interest. Marty must repair the damage to history by causing his parents-to-be to fall in love. With the help of the scientist, he must find a way to return to 1985 and go back to the future.

Zemeckis and Gale wrote the script after Gale mused upon whether he would have befriended his father if they attended school together. Back to the Future was released on July 3, 1985 and became the most successful film of the year, grossing more than $383 million worldwide. It won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film. Ronald Reagan quoted the film in his 1986 State of the Union Address. In 2008, the American Film Institute acknowledged the film as the 10th-best film in the science fiction genre. The film marked the beginning of a franchise, with sequelsBack to the Future Parts IIandIIIreleased in 1989 and 1990.

Source:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_to_the_Future

The Great Gatsbyis a 2013 3D romantic drama film. It is an adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel of the same name. The film is co-written and directed by Baz Luhrmann, and stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire. The official Warner Bros. website says: «The filmmaker created his own distinctive visual interpretation of the classic story, bringing the period to life in a way that has never been seen before.» It follows the life and times of millionaire Jay Gatsby (played by DiCaprio) and his neighbour Nick, who tells of his encounter with Gatsby in 1920s America. Warner Bros. says, «Nick is drawn into the captivating world of the super-rich, their illusions, loves and deceits.»

Prior to this film there had already been a Broadway play and numerous film adaptations of F. Scott Fitzgerald's acclaimed novel. When Luhrmann was asked about the movie, he stated that he planned the remake to be more timely due to its theme of criticizing the often irresponsible lifestyles of wealthy people. It is perhaps a reflection of money in the early 21st century.The Great Gatsbywas planned to be filmed in New York, where the novel is set, starting in June 2011. The director instead opted to have the principal photography happen in Sydney. Filming began on September 5, 2011, at Fox Studios Australia. The shoot finished on December 22, 2011, with additional shots filmed in January 2012.

Sources:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Gatsby_%282013_film%29
thegreatgatsby.warnerbros.com/#

1937-2014

пішов з життя видатний український науковець, 

академік Роман Теодорович Гром'як

May 4, 1886  — The Haymarket Square Riot occurred in Chicago after 180 police officers advanced on 1,300 persons gathered in the square listening to speeches of labor activists and anarchists. A bomb was thrown. Seven policemen were killed and over 50 wounded. Four anarchists were then charged with conspiracy to kill, convicted and hanged while another committed suicide in jail. Three others were given lengthy jail terms.

May 4, 1970  — At Kent State University, four students — Allison Krause, 19; Sandra Lee Scheuer, 20; Jeffrey Glenn Miller, 20; and William K. Schroeder, 19 — were killed by National Guardsmen who opened fire on a crowd of 1,000 students protesting President Richard Nixon's decision to invade Cambodia. Eleven others were wounded. The shootings set off tumultuous campus demonstrations across America resulting in the temporary closing of over 450 colleges and universities.

IM-25 home video materials