Note: Hogwarts Letter Never Reached Receiver

Friendly reminder that anyone born between 1985-1998 didn't get their hogwarts letter because Voldemort’s ministry wiped out the record of muggleborns

via inkblot-meringue.tumblr.com

Source: tracey-hummel

3 Short Animation Films Worth Watching

Short Animated Films on YouTube

The other day I came across a very interesting animated short film and as I kept looking in the related/recommended videos on YouTube I found out that there are many talented creators of animations promoting their work.

Have a look at these 3 and if you are interested dig deeper in their websites or YouTube.

Description quoted directly from the YouTube videos.

Get Out

Gary, is a madman, shut up in a padded cell which he refuses to leave. He has a phobia about doors and lives in an imaginary world where he feels secure. A psychiatrist uses different plots to try to get him to leave the cell, but with no success. Finally he has to employ force.

This Way Up

A.T Shank & Son have a bad day at the parlour when a falling boulder flattens their hearse. Emotional and literal pitfalls lie in wait for the odd couple as they make their way cross country with just a coffin for company. This short animated caper puts the fun back into funeral as their journey

The Backwater Gospel

As long as anyone can remember, the coming of The Undertaker has meant the coming of death. Until one day the grim promise fails and tension builds as the God fearing townsfolk of Backwater wait for someone to die.

The Backwater Gospel (2011) 09:39 | Animation - Horror Thriller
Produced at The Animation Workshop (www.animwork.dk)

Till later,

Lilian White

Frozen through the eyes of Tim Burton...

If Tim Burton drew Frozen...

A Japanese girl helps us discover the alternative magic of Disney's Frozen

Yoko is the name of the Japanese girl who likes drawing pictures, as she states in her tumblr. Surfing the Internet about Tim Burton, I came across this hidden treasure.

Yoko created some pictures based on Disney's animation Frozen in the style of Tim Burton's drawing and here's the results:

I believe that she has done a very good job and that she depicts very well the melancholic romanticism of Burton. The big eyes and skeleton figures of the characters remind us very clearly of the famous director/producer's style. The pictures make me dream of how the outcome would be if one of the most beloved directors of Hollywood met a magical story like Frozen.

And that's not all of it!...

It's worth to take a glimpse at Yoko's tumblr here and see the rest of the pictures!

Useful links:
Frozen on IMDB click here
Yoko's tumblr click here

Frost hails,

Lilian White

Le Club des Incorrigibles Optimistes

The Incorrigible Optimists Club: A Review

The book Le Club des Incorrigibles Optimistes was written by the French writer and TV script writer Jean-Michel Guenassia in 2009.

Guenassia attempts to capture the feeling and the pop culture of the '60s in the City of Lights, Paris. Being sociopolitical, cultural and very personal, the book deals with the war in Algeria, the golden times of rock 'n' roll and the critical decade of adolescence of Michel Marini, the protagonist.

Michel joins a chess club in the back room of a bistro that is named Le Club des Incorrigibles Optimistes (that is The Incorrigible Optimists Club), where he meets influential figures like Joseph Kessel and Jean-Paul Sartre along with other idealists from communist Eastern countries of Europe.

The book is very engaging. The characters stay with you until after you have finished the book and I personally found it very hard to let them go off my mind even months later. It's very simple in language and what it tries to say, but very sophisticated and well-written and the same time.

It leaves you with several unanswered questions in the end, but the aim of the book is not to offer you the whole story, rather the part of the story that has the most to say.

Splendid book!
A book that I would read again.

Find out more in Goodreads.

Till later,

Lilian White

Suggested TV Series: American Horror Story

American Horror Story Season 1

American Horror Story (AHS) centers on a family that moves into a haunted house in Los Angeles. It sounds very cliché, but the director, the casting, the soundtrack and the amazing atmosphere will convince you it is worth a try. 

It provides a good insight into American stereotypes and recurring themes of the American culture.

AHS deals with moral issues as well as with relationships on various levels starting with the relationship of a person with his/her own self, extending to family relationships, romantic and sexual relationships, but also to business and neighbourhood relationships and friendships.

It shows the very realistic and various reactions of people when faced with dead ends, moral dilemmas and psychological breakdowns. In the stressful psychological chaos they have inside, all the characters present diverse rationales and reasonings and each of them chooses to make a different set of decisions.

And all that wrapped up in a most atmospheric soundtrack and gloomy sensations. It offers plenty food for thought and a lot of motivation for our imagination.

If you feel like the modern horror movies have nothing new to offer anymore and if you are tired of always being able to predict the ending of a thriller, because modern productions follow the same plot-recipe for years, then you should give American Horror Story a try!

Lilian White

“Well, I never heard it before, but it sounds uncommon nonsense.”

I like the sound the wind makes when it shakes the tree leaves.

I like it when I see fog over a lake.

I like to go to the cinema, because you can literally feel every sound in a movie, like the cling of the teacups or a quiet breath or the opening-closing of the lips when an actor speaks.

I like to take a walk on a gravel path because I love the sound my feet make on gravel.

I like to observe people's hands.

I like to sit alone on my couch and watch a movie by myself.

I like the smell of pasta when it is being cooked.

I like to watch my favourite movies over and over again.

I like to go through old photos from time to time.

I like a hot cup of tea.

I like to imagine alternative responses during a discussion.

I like the smell of book pages.

I like libraries. They are magical places.

I like the sound my pen makes when I tap it on an open thick book.

I like to read. A lot.

I like the smell of drugstores.

I like cooking. It's like a simple, daily alchemy.

I like depressing poems.

I like to give different names to people. I think that there is a name for everyone that suits him/her better than the one s/he has.

"Curiouser and curiouser..."

Lilian White 

The Teacher Book of Secrets: Classroom Fun Projects

Classroom Fun Projects & Assignment Ideas

I currently teach classes of English in a private language school and there is nothing I love more than assigning to my students entertaining projects. These little projects can be anything, from writing an essay, to writing a story or drawing a picture. I  think that motivation and fun is a huge means in the process of learning a foreign language and I see that my students confirm this belief of mine everyday.

1.Draw/Describe your dream lesson/class

Every child has a dream lesson that isn't taught anywhere in the world. From dinosaurs to spaceships and princesses, the subject can be anything a child can imagine.
Just tell your students to draw the cover of their dream class book or write a short essay describing the lesson they always wanted to do at school, and you'll be amazed by the stundents' imagination and creativity!

2.Everything in lists

Print and hand out a piece of paper that asks your students to fill out a list. The list could be about anything. Depending on your class's level, you can find an easy or a more difficult subject. For example, 10 of my happiest moments or 10 future goals. Literally anything. It does not matter as long as you engage your pupils to use the language properly and creatively.

I find that this kind of "projects" are more fun and motivating and are as much effective in engaging a child to use the language as conventional essays are.

3.Creative writing

Everyone can write a story. Narrow down your topic to Christmas or Halloween let's say and ask from your class to write a short story or a fairytale on this topic.

4.Theme project

Decide on a theme you like (the students and you) and then divide the 'labour'. Let's assume we have the theme Ireland. A student will have to write down and bring a small background history of Ireland, another child will have to find information about traditional Irish cuisine, another one will have to write about Irish music or dances or famous people or writers or anything you can think of! When everybody has the information ready, do a class presentation. This way, children learn and practise many skills, such as research, vocabulary, expression, writing, etc.

There are many more classroom project ideas one can think of with a little imagination. Maybe we talk again about this on a later post.

Until then best wishes,

Lilian White