Yolanda's blog

If you’ve never heard of the American singer-songwriter known as Rodriquez, perhaps it’s because he reached his height of unlikely popularity in South Africa during the 1970s. After two albums that flopped in the U.S., Rodriquez’s songs improbably made their way to South Africa and spread like wildfire via bootlegs, motivating a generation of youth to join protests against the Apartheid regime of the time. Searching for Sugar Man  is a 2012 Swedish–British–Finnish documentary, directed and written by Malik Bendjelloul, which details the efforts in the late 1990s of two Cape Town fans, Stephen "Sugar" Segerman and Craig Bartholomew Strydom, to find out whether the rumoured death of American musician Sixto Rodriguez was true and, if not, to discover what had become of him.  On 10 February 2013, the film won the BAFTA Award for Best Documentary at the 66th British Academy Film Awards in London, and two weeks later it won...

( May 2, 2012) Following a three minute introduction by Steven Ericsson-Zenith, Jack Copeland discusses Alan Turing's impact on information technology. Turing is often considered to be one of the greatest minds in the 20th century, and Copeland looks at how many of Turing's ideas lie behind some of information technology's most fundamental theories  

Two famous authors, CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien, had a deep friendship. CS Lewis helped JRR Tolkien get published, but Tolkien admitted he didn’t even like Lewis’ work, especially "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe," which he thought was terrible. Both were Christians and heavily influenced by Christian ideology. Tolkien says "Lord of the Rings" was a deeply Catholic book, while Lewis was more influenced by writers of the Renaissance who were fascinated by Pagan mythology. Listen as this radio story explores the two authors' friendship and motivations. Listening Comprehension Questions: What impact did Tolkien have on Lewis’ personal religious belief? How was Lewis responsible for Tolkien being a published author? Lewis was a fan of Tolkien’s work. How did Tolkien feel about "The Chronicles of Narnia" by Lewis? How did Lewis and Tolkien see fantasy differently? What other time periods and legacies influenced Tolkien? What influenced L...

I was reading The Guardian and this headline struck me as odd: Queen's birthday honours: Angelina Jolie made dame in thousand-strong list US actor receives honorary title for anti-rape campaign as gender-balanced awards span 19- to 99-year-olds   READ MORE... I didn't know that actor can be used to refer to a woman. In this podcast from the BBC, you'll learn about the history of these terms and why actor is preferred over actress. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN.    You can also read the SCRIPT

The annual Academy Awards, Hollywood’s biggest and most glamorous event, will air this Sunday night. Amid the excitement, there is some controversy. For the second year in a row, there are no nominees of color in the acting categories. The lack of diversity in nominees could reflect a larger pattern in the industry since many of Hollywood’s most influential people, both in front of and behind the camera, are white. Listen to this story and answer these questions: How is the racial makeup of the Academy’s voting body relevant to this story?  According to Bobby Rivers, why do many talented actors of color transition from movies to T.V.?  How might this situation be different if there were more people of color working within the industry?  In what ways could famous white actors intervene to affect change?  Do you think it’s important for Hollywood to recognize diverse actors ? DEBATE:  Should there be more diversity at Oscars? What steps could the movie...

Samuel L. Jackson took a Los Angeles entertainment reporter to task Monday after the reporter appeared to confuse the actor for Laurence Fishburne. Actors Samuel L. Jackson, left, and Laurence Fishburne "You're as crazy as the people on Twitter. I'm not Laurence Fishburne!" Jackson said during a live TV interview. "We don't all look alike. We may be all black and famous, but we all don't look alike. You're busted." The outburst momentarily stunned CNN affiliate KTLA's Sam Rubin , who had asked Jackson what the reaction was to his Super Bowl commercial. "What Super Bowl commercial?" Jackson replied. Rubin looked off camera, confused. He immediately owned up to the mistake, but Jackson dug in. "You're the entertainment reporter for this station and you don't know the difference between me and Laurence Fishburne? That must be a very short line for your job outside there," he said. Rubin apologized repeatedly, at one ...

Sara Montiel funeral takes place in Madrid por reuters