Ze blog, le blog d’anglais !

Since the beginning of the war in Irak, the French and the Americans have had problems to understand each other. Remember? Even the French fries (les frites !) were renamed Liberty fries at the restaurant of the American Congress. President Bush and President Chirac, the former French president hardly spoke to one another for months.

The days of Lafayette and of the Statue of Liberty, a present from France to the USA to celebrate the first hundred years of their independence, were clearly over.

When the new French President was elected last may, Sarko l’Américain as many journalists often call him, everybody thought things were going to change. But in the last few weeks problems seem to have accumulated, particularly with the American media.

Watch this surprising video that CBS news have just released to the public (Sunday, October 28th):

Last week (Sunday, October 21th), the New York Times published a very clearly undiplomatic editorial about French policies as regards immigration. Click here to read the editorial.

Some analysts argue that the American media have changed their point of view as regards President Bush and his international policies, and that the French President could be a kind of “collateral damage”, because of his closeness to the American president.

Nevertheless, after the visit of the French president to the United States, relationships seem to have warmed up.

Here are a few British and American articles about this visit :

The Guardian (Britain)

The Independent (Britain)

The New York Times, article and video (USA)

USA Today (USA)

If you want to read the complete text of the speech given by the  French President, just click here!

By Marianne, BTS Arts Appliqués, 1^e année EVEC (Expression Visuelle Espace de Communication) - Lycée des Arènes, Toulouse.

The word Art Deco appeared in the 60s, during this Pop Art period, to refer to the style which triumphed in the international exhibition of decorative arts and industrial modernism in Paris in 1925. In fact, this reaction against Art Nouveau appeared in 1960 in France, and even earlier in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and Austria

The forms of decorative arts were focused on simple light, right angles, and shapes inspired by Cubism in painting and architecture.

There were two are very different trends : a traditional one for a rich élite, and a modern and functional tendency with the beginning of design aimed at the industrial production for mass consumption. For example, Shangai had a distinct Art Deco style. The buildings underneath exemplify the common art-deco motifs, zigzags, porthole windows, stylized floral and animal designs compounded with Chinese elements such as clouds, mountains over waves, ancient coins, Taoist octagrams. Today, there are attempts to save this architecture.

Deborah Kerr died in England earlier this week. She had been suffering from the Parkinson disease for several years.

She starred in From Here To Eternity with Burt Lancaster,with whom she shared on of the most famous kisses in the history of the cinema, and she was also famous for her role in The King And I (1956), with Yul Brynner.

She was nominated for the best actress Oscar six times, and in 1994 she was finally awarded an honorary Oscar “in appreciation for a full career’s-worth of elegant and beautifully-crafted performances”.

Like Vivien Leigh (Gone with the wind), she was a British woman who became a Hollywood icon.

More articles on Deborah Kerr:

The Associated Press cable

The Hollywood Reporter

The International Herald Tribune

By Camille, BTS Arts Appliqués, 1^e année EVEC (Expression Visuelle Espace de Communication) - Lycée des Arènes, Toulouse.
The Context:

After the first world war, Germany was devastated. The country had to be rebuilt very quickly. This wish for innovation in order to reconstruct with as little material as possible, and saving resources, mainly came from the political commitment, but it was also the result of social fight.

The industrial revolution in 1850 had provided new materials, such as steel and reinforced concrete. The object which were created were standardized. The industry was mechanized and functionality would open the 20^th century.

Main artists:

Lots of artists influenced the Bauhaus movement, such as Rietveld, Mondrian, Kandinsky, Marianne Brant. Design and architecture leant on painting.

Bauhaus established a global design.

The main caracteristics of Bauhaus are:

1. Geometric shapes,
2. straight lines,
3. right angle,
4. contrast into full and empty,
5. dynamism,
6. minimalism cult,
7. purifying, symplification of work, accomplished shapes.

In architecture, functionality permits a simple and efficient reading of uplight spaces.

Before the creation of Bauhaus, Walter Gropius realised Fagus’s factory (1911-1914). Later, he would publish his architectural manifesto, which was revolutionary. It was the public advent of Cubisme in architecture. Peter Behrens was one of the masters.

Moreover, Walter Gropius was also the founder of the Bauhaus school. He wrote some suggestions to create an industrial school in order to unite the producers and those who manufactured.

The shool settled down first in Weimar in 1919, and later in Dessau in 1925, to finally establish itself in Berlin in 1932.

By Alexane, BTS Arts Appliqués, 1^e année EVEC (Expression Visuelle Espace de Communication) - Lycée des Arènes, Toulouse.

Art nouveau is an artistic current of the beginning of the 20th century, which mainly touched Europe. It takes different names according to the countries : it’s called Modernism in Spain, Sezessionstil in Autria, Art Nouveau in France and Belgium and was represented by the Glasgow school in Scotland for example.

This style touched painting, the design of objects, architecture and it is characterized by curving and flowing lines, floral motifs, nature and entomological inspirations. It makes reference to the living and points up the ornament.

In architecture, the materials used are notably glass and wrought iron. For the jewellery, we can find natural materials like enamel, horn, coral, gold and some semi-precious stones. In painting, the colors stay warm and natural, with a range of ochres : yellow-earth, brown, green gold and brown-red.

In France, René Lalique designed beautiful jewellery and Hector Guimard realised the famous entrances of the Paris Metro for example.
In Belgium, Victor Horta, and in Spain Antonio Gaudi built important monuments like the Maison Tassel or the Sagra Familia.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Mucha painted scenes and posters which are now famous all over the world.

Les oraux blancs d’anglais de BTS audio-visuel (2e année) approchent.

Pour la section “image”, ce sera le mercredi 17 et le vendredi 19 octobre dans la matinée.

La liste détaillée des étudiants convoqués est affichée dans vos locaux, avec la date et l’heure de passage et la salle le sera dès qu’elle sera connue.

Il est prévu 15 minutes de préparation et 15 minutes de passage.

Cet épreuve ne portera que sur la partie document inconnu.

Rappel : ce document peut être un texte, un document audio ou un document audio-visuel.

Conseils de préparation : outre la révision du vocabulaire spécialisé sur les fiches remises l’an dernier, il faut lire et écouter de l’anglais régulièrement, se remettre rapidement dans le bain après la longue coupure de plus de quatre mois! Si vous recevez des chaînes anglophones par internet ou par satellite, regardez les régulièrement un petit peu tous les jours. Regarder des films en version originale est aussi un excellent entraînement à la compréhension et contribue à se remettre les phonèmes, l’accentuation et les intonations particulières à l’anglais en tête. Relire les documents étudiés l’an dernier est aussi une bonne stratégie pour se remettre dans le bain.

Vous trouverez sur ce blog des liens (colonne de droite) vers des podcasts de la BBC et de CNN . Vous pouvez aussi écouter les infos de la BBC sur votre PC.