Show 1278 Thursday 19 August
Hi, I’m Sarah, welcome to The Daily English Show.
Today we’re studying a video called Project.
This video is a story about what happens when he tries to work on a project but it doesn’t go very well.
I’m sure most people can related to this – whether it’s an essay for school, or a project for work … sometimes you might spend a whole day working on something, but you get nowhere.
As he says: It’s the most depressing to not go out to enjoy yourself so you can work on your project, but you waste the whole day not doing your project and not enjoying yourself either.
He talks about the difficulty of writing the first sentence and also about getting distracted by the internet.
Lev says he’s envious of past generations because, "their typewriters didn’t have the ability to check email, go on eBay or watch endless clips of Whose Line Is It Anyway when they were trying to work on their projects."
This happens to me all the time. Well, I don’t go on eBay, but I get distracted on the internet in many other ways, like following links on twitter to funny photos or reading news.
How about you?
STICK NEWS
Kia ora in Stick News today a 13-year-old American boy visited North Korea to talk about his idea for a children’s peace forest.
Jonathon Lee was born in South Korea and now lives in Mississippi in the United States.
He has just visited North Korea to pitch his idea of building a peace forest in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea.
He said the forest would be “one in which fruit and chestnut trees would be planted and where children can play''.
Jonathon said he had been treated well during his week-long visit and his letter about the forest had been passed on to the North Korean leader, along with a book as a gift.
And that was Stick News for Thursday 19th August.
Kia ora.
Wanna shoot some hoops?
Later, dude … I’m drawing up plans for my DMZ peace forest.
I’m here to talk about a peace forest.
Should we kill him?
No, you fool, it’s probably a secret code.
Let’s play war games.
Yay! I love games!
Wow, cool! Those guns look so realistic.
These are from the American kid, Dear Leader.
He’s a spy! Destroy them!
Word of the Day
Today’s word is incapable.
Incapable is the opposite of capable.
And capable means: having the ability or qualities necessary for doing sth.
So capable means you can do something. And incapable means you can’t.
This is a part of today’s video that I could particularly relate to, especially when I was trying to write essays at university.
Sometimes I get so sick of worrying about my project I go out and get gloriously drunk and write an inspiring list of all the hard work I’m going to do tomorrow on my project. And then the next day I’m gloriously hungover and totally incapable of doing anything on that list.
Question Time
Today we went to Manurewa to film Question Time. Manurewa is a suburb in Auckland just north of where we are in Papakura.
We asked people: Is there a fruit or a vegetable that you don’t like?
Um, I don’t like rockmelon.
No, I like … I’m very … I eat a lot of vegetables and a lot of fruit. Um, no, I, I eat just about everything actually.
Spinach.
Ah, probably cabbage.
Um, yeah, there’s one vegetable I don’t like, ah, brussel sprouts.
Fruit … I don’t really like mango.
conversations with sarah
#818 You might like it.
Step 1: Repeat Steven’s lines.
Step 2: Read Steven’s lines and talk to Sarah.
Steven Is there a fruit or vegetable that you don’t like?
Sarah I don’t think I like durian.
Steven Have you tried the actual fruit though?
Sarah No, I haven’t.
Steven You might like it.
Sarah Yeah, that’s true. I want to try it.
Steven Do they sell it in New Zealand?
Sarah Not that I’ve seen. I’ll have to wait until I next go to Malaysia or Indonesia.
"PROJECT" Tales Of Mere Existence - TRANSCRIPT
I have a project I have to do.
I have a project I need to do.
I don’t know if it’s a project I really want to do, but I do know that I want my project to be done.
That said, I haven’t actually started working on my project yet.
So what usually happens when I’m trying to work on a project?
I usually sit down with a blank sheet of paper and I’ll go like this:
A man went to the …
No, maybe that should be: The man went to the …
No, maybe I should start with: Once upon a time the man went to the …
No, maybe I should make it first person and say: One day I went to the …
No, maybe I should try to make it more poetic and say: It was a grey morning in late September and as the worn soles of my shoes trudged upon the fallen leaves my nose smelt a coming rain in the crisp air … and so on.
Anyway, eventually I’ll get a first sentence finished and then I’ll look at it and then I’ll immediately stop working on my project.
You see, I’m kind of afraid that my project will turn out shitty and I know I’ll be depressed if it turns out shitty. And so if I don’t finish my project I’ll never find out whether or not it turned out shitty.
I’m also weirdly afraid that it will turn out great because if a lot of people see my project that turned out great, it will be a lot harder to work on the next project. Because I’m sure I’ll hear a million voices in my head saying, “This project isn’t as good as your last project.”
It’s depressing to not be able to get started on your project.
It’s also depressing to wish you were out enjoying yourself instead of working on your project.
It’s the most depressing to not go out to enjoy yourself so you can work on your project, but you waste the whole day not doing your project and not enjoying yourself either.
My computer is theoretically supposed to help me do my projects but I am somehow envious of past generations because their typewriters didn’t have the ability to check email, go on eBay or watch endless clips of Whose Line Is It Anyway when they were trying to work on their projects.
Intellectually I know that currently on earth there are about 6.8 billion people living on 57 million square miles of land. But this somehow becomes one person in a 216 foot square bedroom whenever I try to work on a project.
The old saying one percent inspiration and 99% perspiration is a good yarn, but the 99% generally gets broken down as 25% demoralization, 31% aggravation and 43% beating your own face in.
Sometimes I get so sick of worrying about my project I go out and get gloriously drunk and write an inspiring list of all the hard work I’m going to do tomorrow on my project. And then the next day I’m gloriously hungover and totally incapable of doing anything on that list.
There are a lot of pictures of Ernest Hemmingway like this and like this while he was working on his projects. And I just wish someone had taken some pictures of him like this and like this, because that’s what I generally look like when I’m trying to work on a project.
I once heard that John Lennon’s lyrics for Nowhere Man was all about his troubles working on his project, so I made this video hoping that it would be at least as partially good as nowhere man, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t.
links
today's news - before visit
today's news - after visit
music
show start
artist: Kevin MacLeod
track: Future Cha Cha
from: Brooklyn, NY, United States
artist site
WOD start
artist: DJ iPep's
album: Home Mix 2007
track: Game Toy
from: EVREUX, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
question time start
artist: Kevin MacLeod
track: Happy Alley
from: Brooklyn, NY, United States
artist site
cws start
artist: Kevin MacLeod
track: The Jazz Woman
from: Brooklyn, NY, United States
artist site
qa start
artist: ioeo
album: triptracks
track: triptrack2
from: Saint Raphael, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
qa bgm