John Hill: Local Artist

I bought this cartoon from local artist John Hill yesterday. He previously drew cartoons for two London papers and still has a comic strip in Dogs Monthly.
The joke (for anyone who has not visited) is that Sedbergh is full of such places!
I love the expressions on the people's faces and think the dog is very sweet....
John can be contacted at cartoonsulike@hotmail.co.uk....

Paulo Coelho: The pilgrimage: A contemporary quest for ancient wisdom (tr. Alan Clarke)

The film "The Way" reminded me of this book, Paulo Coelho's account of his journey along the Camino de Santiago. It has taken longer than I expected to re-read it....
The narrative of the journey is interwoven with a series of ten exercises (on, among other things, breathing, listening, speed and shadows) and a ritual which PC's guide shares with him along the route. 
This post is for a lady called Adriana from Brazil. She was one of the first students I taught in my first job as a language teacher in '98 (after nine years in the Civil Service) at this school:
http://www.eurocentres.com/en/language-school-cambridge
In response to my usual questions: "What is/are your favourite book(s), film(s), singer(s)/band(s)?" she told me her favourite book was Coelho's The Alchemist. And following that recommendation lead to this...
The two-way nature of the teaching-learning process is referred to by PC's guide towards the end of the book:
"You can learn only through teaching. We have been together here on the Road to Santiago, but while you were learning the practices, I learned the meaning of them. In teaching you, I truly learned. By taking on the role of guide, I was able to find my own true path." 
Another quote from the guide, a couple of pages further on reveals PC's motivation in writing the book:
"When I completed my pilgrimage, I painted a beautiful, immense picture that depicted everything that had happened to me here. This is the Road of the common people, and you can do the same thing, if you like. If you don't know how to paint, write something or create a ballet. Then, regardless of where they are, people will be able to walk the Jacobean route, the Milky Way, the Strange Road to Santiago".
I heard PC speak once at the Prague Book Fair in ?2003?. I searched on Google for some reference to this event but couldn't find any. Instead I found another Prague story on PC's blog:
http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2011/01/27/prague-1981/
His reflections on the 'the world of language without words' are maybe food for thought for both language learners and teachers....

Emilio Estevez (Director): The Way

A young American dies in a storm as he begins to walk the Camino de Santiago across Northern Spain. His father completes the pilgrimage in his memory....
For more details on the film see:
http://theway-themovie.com/index.php
The scenery is beautiful. The soundtrack is great. And the film shows how a common objective/task can create strong bonds between a group of disparate (and, if I'm honest,not initially very likeable) people. 
The film is dedicated to the Director EE's Spanish grandfather, the lead actor Martin Sheen's Spanish father, Francisco, who emigrated to Ohio in the 1930s.The family's Spanish heritage and its resonances in the film are further explored in this article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/mar/25/martin-sheen-emilio-estevez-charlie-sheen?INTCMP=SRCH (paragraphs 10-16)
As seen in this film, the Camino seems both a very demanding/challenging but also extremely enlightening/enriching experience. Maybe one day....

Radiohead: Harry Patch (In memory of)

The first of the links at the bottom of yesterday's post on 'War Horse' included a quote by Emily Watson, one of the film's (human) stars. She said that the film was particularly timely as the final veteran of the Somme, Harry Patch, died three years ago. "The First World War is leaving living memory".
This made me think of this beautiful song by Radiohead, in Harry Patch's memory:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY0E3PaNIi4
The 'lyrics' of the piece are Harry's own words, which you can find on this webpage:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8184000/8184802.stm
The thing Harry said which stuck in my mind most, however, I found again on another website:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2122051/bio
"Irrespective of the uniforms we wore, we were all victims."
For the wisdom and humanity of that thought, Harry, thank you. And RIP.
 

Michael Morpurgo: War Horse

I was intending to post something on this yesterday but got a bit side-tracked reflecting on the issues raised by film adaptations of books - a question I did not feel competent to write about. I felt sure I would find something helpful on the subject on the web - and I did. It was this:
http://rippleeffects.wordpress.com/2011/04/10/can-a-movie-adaptation-ever-be-as-good-as-the-book/
The author's name is Arti. She lives in Canada. This is her blog: http://rippleeffects.wordpress.com/
I recommend both the article and the blog.
Meanwhile, back to War Horse.....
Steven Spielberg's film version had its premiere on Sunday and opens in cinemas here on Friday. 
This post, however, is less about the film than the book it is based on and its author, Michael Morpurgo.
To retell the plot here would be to spoil the story for anyone planning to see the film.
So maybe just three things which make it a marvellous book:
- it's compelling...people usually use the adjective for detective stories where you can't wait to get to the end to find out "whodunnit". The urge to turn the pages is just as strong in this case. MM is a great storyteller.
- it's credible...if you could ever imagine the character of a speaking (in the sense of telling its story to the reader rather than actually talking aloud) horse  "ringing true" Joey is that horse :) From his first words, telling of the horror of being separated from his mother and sold at market aged six months, you feel for him. MM is a very empathetic writer.
- it's constructive...Joey's story "is written so that neither he nor those who knew him, nor the war they lived and died in, will be forgotten". MM is a wise teacher.
For more background on the film adaptation see:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/jan/09/war-horse-british-film-spielberg?INTCMP=SRCH
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/jan/08/war-horse-michael-morpurgo-spielberg?INTCMP=SRCH
For details of MM's other books see: http://www.michaelmorpurgo.com/books/
To learn more about MM as a person see:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/dec/16/michael-morpurgo-childrens-author?INTCMP=SRCH

Allen & Sandra Parton: Endal

An incredibly moving and inspiring (true) story. 
In 1991 Navy officer Allen Parton returned to the UK after a car accident in the Gulf. He had suffered traumatic internal injury to his brain which had left him with memory loss, speech problems,loss of feeling in the right side of his body, paranoia and depression deep enough to provoke two suicide attempts. When he first revisited his family home he had no memory of his wife or two children. 
Alternate chapters give Allen and Sandra's side of the story. At this time it was as if: "a stranger had taken over Allen's body" (S). "I'd woken up and found myself living in the middle of a life that didn't feel like mine." (A).
The turning point came when, seven years later, they encountered Endal, a Labrador in training with the charity Canine Partners:
http://www.caninepartners.co.uk/
Although Endal was not without his own problems (the product of an accidental father/daughter mating, the only survivor of his litter who suffered from joint problems (osteochondritis) all his life), as Allen observes: "From the moment he arrived in my life he gave me unqualified, unconditional love that shone out of his gentle face gazing up at me by the side of my chair". In Sandra's words: "Above all he was a sensitive,compassionate dog who genuinely liked helping people in need. That was his character. That's what he was all about........And he loved Allen to the core, utterly doted on him with every fibre of his being."
The rest of the book is devoted to the restoration of relationships within the family and Endal and Allen's growing media and fund-raising work. As the book closes Endal's successor, EJ (Endal Junior), is beginning to follow in his foot(paw?)steps and Endal's own health is in decline.
Endal died in 2009. His life in pictures can still be seen at  http://www.endal.co.uk/
Allen continues with his charity work. He is now also founder/vice-chairman/trustee of a newly-established charity: Hounds for Heroes: 
http://www.houndsforheroes.com/
focusing on the specific assistance needs of wounded ex-servicemen/women. 
EP RIP

Islands and Rivers: Murmuration

Islands and Rivers is a partnership of two independent film-makers: Liberty Smith and Sophie Windsor Clive.
Last year they captured on film the amazing phenomenon of starlings in flight - murmuration.
You may have already seen their video as it has had a massive number of hits on Vimeo. If not, here it is (top left):
http://www.islandsandrivers.co.uk/portfolio.html
For a poetic reflection in English on this, see in the 'press' section of their website, at the end of the Guardian article, an extract from the poem 'Starlings in winter' by Mary Oliver.