Thursday, September 25, 2008

#836 Comedy, Halls Of Residence, Project 10^100, Surreal


Show 836 Thursday 25 September
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.


Hi, I’m Sarah, welcome to The Daily English Show.

Today I recommend checking out a video called: What Is Comedy?

This could be a good video to learn some words for different kinds of comedy. I’m sure you know some kinds of comedy, like stand-up comedy, romantic comedy.

And do you know what these mean?

slapstick
satire
situation comedy
improv
sketch
farce

Situation comedy is usually called sitcom. And they are usually TV programs that have recurring characters in a setting like a house or a workplace. Friends is a famous sitcom. And I used to like the show Rosanne. That was a sitcom too.

Sketch comedy is just one short scene – maybe one to ten minutes long. And you can see that on variety shows or comedy shows … or the internet.

Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated physical violence or activities which exceed the boundaries of common sense, such as a character being hit in the face with a heavy frying pan or running into a brick wall.

Children’s cartoons often have slapstick comedy.

And there are many more that I haven’t mentioned. So what kind of comedy do you like?



The Acadia Report

When we visited Acadia University last year we checked out some of the halls of residence. The first one we looked at was called Whitman House – although everyone calls it Tully for some reason.

It looked like a really nice place to live. It was very clean and there were lots of nice lounges, big TVs, a piano, pool table.

Everyone eats in the meal hall – but there are also kitchenettes on every floor that you can use if you want to make a snack or whatever.

There are washing machines, dryers, ironing boards. The toilets looked really clean too.

One girl was kind enough to show us inside her room.

I asked her what she thought of Tully.

Oh, I love Tully. Like I’ve been living here for the past three years and it’s a very homey environment, like the girls are so friendly and like I feel safe and secure in here.
It’s like a home away from home cause I’m from the Bahamas. So it’s like a really good experience and I really do love Tully.
Um, I came to Canada for a different experience because back home is like warm and up here is like so cold and stuff like that. But I also came up here because I heard so much about Acadia and like I heard about the experiences that people got and I was enthused to come, so here I am.



STICK NEWS


Kia Ora in Stick News today Google is giving away ten million dollars.

This month, Google turned 10.
CNN has reported that Google is celebrating its birthday by launching an initiative to solicit, and bankroll, fresh ideas that it believes could have broad and beneficial impact on people's lives.
It’s called Project 10^100 (10 to the 100th).
People have until the 20th of October to submit their ideas.
100 semifinalists will then be chosen and the public will be able to vote online for their favourite ideas.
After the voting a panel will review the top 20 ideas and choose up to five winners.
The ten million dollars will be split between the winners to fund their projects.

And that was Stick News for Thursday the 25th of September.
Kia Ora.




Word of the Day


Today’s word is surreal.

adj. very strange; more like a dream than reality, with ideas and images mixed together in a strange way.

I looked for an example online for surreal and I found an article about some bombings.

A woman had been on a train where a bomb exploded and people had died. And she is quoted as saying: What was running round in my mind was: Am I dreaming? It was surreal.



conversations with sarah

#516 What kind of comedy do you like?

Step 1: Repeat Kim’s lines.
Step 2: Read Kim’s lines and talk to Sarah.

Kim What kind of comedy do you like?

Sarah Hmm … many kinds.

Kim Do you like sitcoms?

Sarah Yeah, there are some good ones. There are lots of crappy ones too, though.

Kim How about romantic comedies?

Sarah Mmm … there are lots of terrible romantic comedies too. Some of them are good though. Like, Love Actually. I enjoyed that.

Kim Did you like Notting Hill?

Sarah No, I couldn’t stand that movie. I don’t know why it was so popular.
Black comedy can be pretty funny.

Kim What’s black comedy?

Sarah It’s when serious things that people don’t usually joke about are treated in a comical way. Like Dr Strangelove.

Kim Oh, I haven’t seen that.

Sarah You haven’t seen Dr Strangelove?! You should see it. It’s really good. I thought Very Bad Things was also a pretty funny black comedy.



notes

Mistake: I said reaccuring instead of recurring. Reaccuring is not a word ... although I think it's a common mistake that native English speakers make. If you search "reaccuring" on google, you can see that many people use this word.

Univeristy accommodation:

NZ: halls of residence. Example: Victoria University. Halls for short.
Canada: residence halls. Example: Acadia University. Residence for short.
The US: residence halls Example: University of Chicago or dormitories, or dorms Example.

Dormitory at Wikipedia.



links

today's news
today's STICK NEWS pictures

music

show start
artist: Boom Tschak
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: More Chocolate, Please
from: Former Yugoslavia
MySpace

The Acadia Report start
artist: DJ iPep's
album: Home Mix 2007
track: Concerto
from: EVREUX, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

tar bgm
artist: Ensono
album: Night Culture
track: Waking Dream
from: Vigo, Spain
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo

WOD start
artist: DJ iPep's
album: Home Mix 2007
track: Game Toy
from: EVREUX, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

cws start
artist: Wolfgang S.
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: Dynamite
from: Belgrade, Serbia, Former Yugoslavia
artist site
MySpace

qa start
artist: ioeo
album: triptracks
track: triptrack2
from: Saint Raphael, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

qa bgm
artist: Ensono
album: Night Culture
track: Anyway
from: Vigo, Spain
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo

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