Friday, June 1, 2012

Paulin's book blurbs....

Here are two blurbs about books that Paulin read... one that he disses, one that he raves about!

Do you agree???  Have you read both of these book?

see you later

james

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Paulin’s Blurbs


Here are the blurbs that got lost somewhere between the mails. I was a bit upset about Dan Brown's book, it may be a bit unfair..

Blurb of "Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown

The book is a best-seller, as it is reminded many times looking at its cover, and it felt exactly this way through the reading. It is like any Hollywood blockbuster: the action never really stops (chapters are quite small to strengthen that impression), it is filled with shortcuts and the ending is a cliché. It is, even to my French-not-that-good-in-English opinion, badly written and overall flat. One thing though, it contains a lot of cultural and historical material that is of interest - if you avoid all the fuss about conspiracy theories. 

Blurb of “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy 

The Road was a magnificent book. It shows a paradox of humanity: mankind can be the author of many horrors, but it also is capable of the most beautiful things.
Set on a post-apocalyptic earth, a father and a son struggle to survive surrounded by gore and filth; even when everything seems hopeless they care for and love each other as they refuse to fall into darkness like their peers. The story is quite tough but touching and the affection they share enlightens the whole gloomy context of the book. I read the novel in less than a week and very much enjoyed the entire experience. I would recommend it to everyone.




A Taste of TED2012 - YouTube

A Taste of TED2012 - YouTube:

Here's a 4-minute video presenting the Ted conferences....

enjoy

james

Johnny Lee demos Wii Remote hacks | Video on TED.com

Johnny Lee demos Wii Remote hacks | Video on TED.com:

"Johnny Lee demos Wii Remote hacks"...

Some of you hadn't heard of Ted talks... here's are some for you.


On TedTalks you can choose the subtitles or look at the interactive text...  (the video plays from where you click.)

Here are some other classics... ones that I like (and that are short).



And of course, one of the most famous Ted talks, Sir Ken Robinson: (over 10 million views!)

Do you have any favorites?

See you tomorrow...  Group 3 will get to go first, then Group 1...  Group 2 wants a rain check I believe!

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

About D10 - AllThingsD

About D10 - AllThingsD:
Welcome to D, an executive conference unlike any other.

It starts this week!

The video archives of previous AllThingsD are interesting to watch!
This is the conference organized by the Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher.

"D is different from other conferences: no canned speeches, no marketing pitches, and no bull. Instead, creators and executive producers Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher put the industry’s top players to the test during unscripted conversations about the impact digital technology will have on our lives now and in the future. The results are unprecedented glimpses into the ideas and strategies of the industry’s most creative thinkers."

See you on Friday.

james

Monday, May 28, 2012

Creativity Top 5: April 17, 2012 - Top 5 - Creativity Online

Creativity Top 5: April 17, 2012 - Top 5 - Creativity Online

some good adverts and commercials!  what do you think?  which is your favorite? the button in the Belgian town?

some of you haven't finished the "surveymonkey" questionnaire...  Do it before our next class.

have a good long weekend!
james

Thursday, May 10, 2012

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs 1 - EnglishCentral.com

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs 1 - EnglishCentral.com

Here are some Steve Jobs presentation techniques presented on EnglishCentral.com...

This is a great website for you to practice speaking! It'll record, evaluate and let you compare your intonation and speech with the original.

Try it! It's great fun... and of course there are many videos for you to choose from.

More soon.  See you all tomorrow!  We'll have two guests so food and drink and things to nibble on are very welcome!

(We're in F609).
james

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

ZIG ZAG - Portes ouvertes des ateliers d’artistes de Gentilly - 2012

ZIG ZAG - Portes ouvertes des ateliers d’artistes de Gentilly - 2012

Of course my students are invited too... but don't come on Friday, that's when we'll be having class! Saturday or Sunday afternoon is fine!  By the way, the 57 bus stops in front of my door... (the "rue d'Arcueil" bus stop) otherwise it's 10 minutes from the back exit of the RER Gentilly (just after the Cité U).

james

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Make It Your Own - YouTube

Make It Your Own - YouTube: A Documentary by Alex Brodsky and Chloe Prasinos



Chloe and I thought you might enjoy watching this little documentary about life in a dorm room at Skidmore!   (And she made it in her freshman year!)

Have a good vacation... (after our last webcam session with the Smithies tomorrow!)

james

Monday, April 2, 2012

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.: Simple. Economical. Convenient.
A whole new way to enjoy the videos you love.


Did you see this yesterday?
Did you have a happy April Fools Day?
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Remember Friday we're having the VideoConference in F703...
And remember to bring your "cultural artefact" for the package...
with a note so we can put the note with it.

We'll open the packages in our last videoconference on April 27th...
So we have to send them next week!
The Smithies will read the notes you write with the things you send when we open the packages.


30/03/2012 6th Webcam session (in classrooms and not the labs)
6/4/2012         Second VC  (F703)
13/04/2012 Last Webcam session
27/04/2012 Last VC (F703) -- we open the packages

The Smithies finish their course in early May!
Maybe some of them will be in Paris before we finish in June... (?).


See you on Friday
james

Thursday, March 15, 2012

International Competency Set

International Competency Set:

"Based on current research and the practical experience of people operating internationally, WorldWork has identified 10 key competencies covering 22 different factors, which enable people to become rapidly effective in unfamiliar cultural settings. Learn how to develop these factors and competencies using the International Profiler."


Do you think that our project will help you to develop these skills??

Monday, March 12, 2012

Top 100 Movie Moments - IGN

Top 100 Movie Moments - IGN:
What do you think?  Which movies make the top of the list?  Do you agree?
See you on Friday.
james

Compiling a list of the 100 Greatest Movie Moments may be the most difficult and divisive feature we've ever tackled here at IGN. Everyone has their personal favourites, with no two the same it would seem. We therefore laboured long and hard over the hot one-hundred, casting our net far and wide to craft a list that encompasses the very best that cinema has to offer.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

TEDxESCP 2012 - LiveStreaming

TEDxESCP 2012 - LiveStreaming

If you're free this afternoon and not at the ESCP you can still attend thanks to live streaming!

TEDx ESCP "Make the Difference"

hope you get to see it! Have a good vacation.

james


(Remember to finish the questionnaires... and save the last one to a text file to send me if it doesn't work!)

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Tim Tebow - "All He Does Is Win"

This short video is funny little autotuning of a tv show about American Football on ESPN. The whole video deals with Tim Tebow, a very religious white Quaterback who plays for the Denver Broncos. What's interesting in this topic is this player is at the heart of a controversy about his skills as a quaterback, cause many believes is mediocre in the nfl, although he was the most anticipated draft pick of the year, and many don't understand why Tebow is given a chance to lead the broncos during the play-offs and playing in the nfl, whereas many black college quaterback with the same playing-style aren't. Against all this resentment, the anchorman just replied with a "All He Does Is Win" which echoes the title of a DJ Khaled (American Rapper) "All I Do Is Win" with a lot of autotuned voices.

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Let it snow

Hi everyone,

did you see it was also snowing on youtube? Here's the proof with a little cover from glee of Sinatra's song: Let it Snow

Enjoy!

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow: Dublin pt.1



I'm sure you have some time to kill !
So take your time and see this one first part and all the other parts coming afterwards

Friday, December 23, 2011

Terrible Christmas Present

That's maybe one the most hilarious Christmas video ever about sadistic parents offering terrible preview gifts to their children. The reactions of the children are fantastic.


Sunday, December 11, 2011

Epic Rap Battle Of History

Here's funny videos about famous celebrities or historical persons involved in rap battles. The clips are very well designed and thought. The authors are very creative and many expressions and words may be interesting to comment.





Friday, December 9, 2011

CORPORA: 45-425 million words each: free online access

CORPORA: 45-425 million words each: free online access:

There's also access to the Google Books Corpus of 155 billion words! As mentioned in class.... for example we could compare "native American" with "American Indian" to see which is used more today....

Have a nice weekend
james

"These corpora were created by Mark Davies, Professor of Linguistics at Brigham Young University. They have many different uses, including: finding out how native speakers actually speak and write; looking at language variation and change; finding the frequency of words, phrases, and collocates; and designing authentic language teaching materials and resources."


Touch, spoken word poem with music - YouTube

This is from Elsa's American Indians site... a poem about "Touch"

Touch, spoken word poem with music - YouTube