Homeless man with 'golden radio voice' gets a Dream Job

Ted Williams (born 1957) is a voiceover artist from Columbus, Ohio who became famous when a brief interview with him while he was homeless was posted to YouTube, quickly becoming a viral video sensation. He has been called the "Homeless Man with the Golden Voice".

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Anna Chapman's first television interview (one hour talk show video)

Anna Chapman, the almost stereotypical "Bond girl”, accused of spying for the Russian government appeared on Russian talk show “Пусть говорят” (Let Them Talk). The 60 minutes episode “Let them talk. New Year with a girl of the year” was dedicated to Anna Chapman and featured her mother, sister, grandmother, school teachers, friends and her first love.

Watch online "Let them talk. New Year with a girl of the year"
Anna Chapman full video (1 hour,  Russian language)

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Royal Film Performance and World Premiere of The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader held its world premiere on November 30, 2010 in London at the Royal Film Performance* in Leicester Square. It was the first time the Royal Film Performance was screened in Digital 3-D and the second time a Narnia film premiered at the event, the first being The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in 2005. The premiere was attended by various personalities, including Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.

*The Royal Film Performance is a charity performance of a British film which is attended by members of the British Royal Family. The proceeds from the evening's entertainment are donated to the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund, a charity which offers financial support to people from the film, cinema and television who encounter accident, illness, bereavement or unemployment.
The tradition was started with A Matter of Life and Death in 1946 and has continued every year since then.

via wiki  

The Royal World Premiere of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader held at The Odeon Leicester Square on November 30, 2010 in London, United Kingdom

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The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (novel)

Image via Wikipedia

Front book cover art for the book 
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a fantasy novel for children by C. S. Lewis. Written in 1950, it was published in 1952 as the third book of The Chronicles of Narnia. 


Plot
Begun in January, completed in February 1950 and published on 15 September 1952, The Voyage of the ‘Dawn Treader’ returns Edmund and Lucy Pevensie, along with their priggish cousin, Eustace Scrubb, to Narnia. Once there, they join Caspian's voyage on the ship Dawn Treader to find the seven lords who were banished when Miraz took over the throne. This perilous journey brings them face to face with many wonders and dangers as they sail toward Aslan's country at the end of the world.


Influences

Arguably, Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the novel which shows the most influence from Lewis' Irish background. It is reminiscent of the Immram genre of Irish literature. However, unlike such voyages, The Dawn Treader travels East, rather than West.

It was suggested that that the Odyssey was an inspiration for it as well. It might also symbolize Paul's journey in the Bible.

Source: wiki

Fan Art

the voyage of the dawn treaderby ~alboradadelgracioso

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The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (movie)

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. © Disney/Walden Narnia. Image: deviantart 

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is a 2008 epic fantasy film based on Prince Caspian, the second published, fourth chronological novel in C. S. Lewis's epic fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia. It is the second in The Chronicles of Narnia film series from Walden Media, following The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005). The four Pevensie children (William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes, and Georgie Henley) return to Narnia to aid Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes) in his struggle for the throne against his corrupt uncle, King Miraz (Sergio Castellitto). 
Source: wiki

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Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian,
illustrated by Pauline Baynes
Image via books online store  

Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia is a novel for children by C. S. Lewis, written in late 1949 and first published in 1951. It is the second book in the Chronicles of Narnia series, although in the overall chronological sequence it comes fourth.


Themes

The two major themes of the story are courage and chivalry and, as Lewis himself said in a letter to an American girl, "the restoration of the true religion after a corruption".

Adaptations

The BBC adapted Prince Caspian in two episodes of the 1989 series of The Chronicles of Narnia.
The second in the series of films from Walden Media, titled The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, was released in the US on 16 May 2008. The UK release date was 26 June 2008.

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The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (film)

Image via Wikipedia

 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a 2005 epic fantasy adventure film directed by Andrew Adamson and based on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first published and second chronological novel in C. S. Lewis's children's epic fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia. It was co-produced by Walden Media and Walt Disney Pictures and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Georgie Henley and Skandar Keynes play Peter, Susan, Lucy and Edmund, four British children evacuated during the Blitz to the countryside, who find a wardrobe that leads to the fantasy world of Narnia. There they ally with the Lion Aslan (voiced by Liam Neeson) against the forces of Jadis, the White Witch (Tilda Swinton).

The film was released on December 9, 2005 in both Europe and North America to positive reviews and was highly successful at the box office. It won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Make Up and various other awards and is the first film in the series of films based on the books. An Extended Edition was released on December 12, 2006 and was only made available on DVD until January 31, 2007 when it was discontinued. It was the best selling DVD in North America in 2006 taking in $332.7 million that year.
Source: wiki

Movie trailers (spoilers!)

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The Chronicles of Narnia (film series)

The Chronicles of Narnia (film series) Image by spunkynell

The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of epic fantasy films from Walden Media based on the series of novels, The Chronicles of Narnia written by C. S. Lewis in the 1950s. It currently consists of three films of a planned heptalogy - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), Prince Caspian (2008), and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010).

Although Lewis did not want his books to be turned into films, it has been done four times, three of them for television. The BBC made television serial adaptations of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Silver Chair. A film version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, entitled The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, produced by Walden Media and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures was released in December 2005. Permission for films to be made was given by C. S. Lewis' stepson, Douglas Gresham. It was directed by Andrew Adamson. The screenplay was written by Ann Peacock. Principal photography for the film took place in Poland, the Czech Republic and New Zealand.
Source: wiki

Search Amazon.com for The Chronicles of Narnia
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The Chronicles of Narnia

The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven fantasy novels for children written by C. S. Lewis. It is considered a classic of children's literature and is the author's best-known work, having sold over 100 million copies in 47 languages. Written by Lewis between 1949 and 1954, illustrated by Pauline Baynes and published in London between October 1950 and March 1956, The Chronicles of Narnia has been adapted several times, complete or in part, for radio, television, stage, and cinema. In addition to numerous traditional Christian themes, the series borrows characters and ideas from Greek and Roman mythology, as well as from traditional British and Irish fairy tales.

The Chronicles of Narnia presents the adventures of children who play central roles in the unfolding history of the fictional realm of Narnia, a place where animals talk, magic is common, and good battles evil.

The series

Lewis originally conceived what would become Narnia in 1939. However the vast majority of the text was written by between 1949 and 1954. The books were written in neither the order they were originally published nor in the chronological order in which they are currently presented. 

Lewis was awarded the 1956 Carnegie Medal for The Last Battle, the final book in the Narnia series.

The seven books that make up The Chronicles of Narnia are presented here in the order in which they were originally published:

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950)
Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia (1951)
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)
The Silver Chair (1953)
The Horse and His Boy (1954)
The Magician's Nephew (1955)
The Last Battle (1956)

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Rapunzel: name and story origins

Cover of the book Rapunzel

"Rapunzel" is a German fairy tale in the collection assembled by the Brothers Grimm, and first published in 1812 as part of Children's and Household Tales. The Grimm Brothers' story is an adaptation of the fairy tale Persinette by Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force originally published in 1698. Its plot has been used and parodied in various media and its best known line ("Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair") is an idiom of popular culture.

Name Origin

Campanula rapunculus, one candidate

It is difficult to be certain which plant species the Brothers Grimm meant by the word Rapunzel, but the following, listed in their own dictionary, are candidates.

1. Valerianella locusta, common names: Corn salad, mache, lamb's lettuce, field salad. Rapunzel is called Feldsalat in Germany, Nuesslisalat in Switzerland and Vogerlsalat in Austria. In cultivated form it has a low growing rosette of succulent green rounded leaves when young, when they are picked whole, washed of grit and eaten with oil and vinegar. When it bolts to seed it shows clusters of small white flowers. Etty's seed catalogue states Corn Salad (Verte de Cambrai) was in use by 1810.
2. Campanula rapunculus is known as Rapunzel-Glockenblume in German, and as Rampion in Etty's seed catalogue, and although classified under a different family, Campanulaceae, has a similar rosette when young, although with pointed leaves. Some English translations of Rapunzel used the word Rampion. Etty's catalogue states that it was noted in 1633, an esteemed root in salads, and to be sown in April or May. The herb catalogue Sand Mountain Herbs describes the root as extremely tasty, and the rosette leaves as edible, and that its blue bell-flowers appear in June or July.
3. Phyteuma spicata, known as Ährige Teufelskralle in German.

Story Origin

A Greek Orthodox icon of Saint Barbara.

The original story came from the story of Rudaba in an ancient Iranian book called Shahnameh, written by Ferdowsi around 1000 AD. 


Some elements of the fairy tale might also have originally been based upon the legends about Saint Barbara, who was said to have been locked in a tower by her father. According to the hagiographies Barbara, the daughter of a rich pagan named Dioscorus, was carefully guarded by her father who kept her shut up in a tower in order to preserve her from the outside world.


Info and photo:  wiki/Rapunzel, wiki/Saint Barbara
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Rapunzel - original fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm

Grimm's Household Tales by Brothers Grimm, translated by Margaret Hunt
 RAPUNZEL

There were once a man and a woman who had long in vain wished for a child. At length the woman hoped that God was about to grant her desire. These people had a little window at the back of their house from which a splendid garden could be seen, which was full of the most beautiful flowers and herbs. It was, however, surrounded by a high wall, and no one dared to go into it because it belonged to an enchantress, who had great power and was dreaded by all the world. One day the woman was standing by this window and looking down into the garden, when she saw a bed which was planted with the most beautiful rampion (rapunzel*), and it looked so fresh and green that she longed for it, and had the greatest desire to eat some. This desire increased every day, and as she knew that she could not get any of it, she quite pined away, and looked pale and miserable. Then her husband was alarmed, and asked, "What aileth thee, dear wife?" "Ah," she replied, "if I can't get some of the rampion, which is in the garden behind our house, to eat, I shall die." The man, who loved her, thought, "Sooner than let thy wife die, bring her some of the rampion thyself, let it cost thee what it will." In the twilight of evening, he clambered down over the wall into the garden of the enchantress, hastily clutched a handful of rampion, and took it to his wife. She at once made herself a salad of it, and ate it with much relish. She, however, liked it so much—so very much, that the next day she longed for it three times as much as before. If he was to have any rest, her husband must once more descend into the garden. In the gloom of evening, therefore, he let himself down again; but when he had clambered down the wall he was terribly afraid, for he saw the enchantress standing before him. "How canst thou dare," said she with angry look, "to descend into my garden and steal my rampion like a thief? Thou shalt suffer for it!" "Ah," answered he, "let mercy take the place of justice, I only made up my mind to do it out of necessity. My wife saw your rampion from the window, and felt such a longing for it that she would have died if she had not got some to eat." Then the enchantress allowed her anger to be softened, and said to him, "If the case be as thou sayest, I will allow thee to take away with thee as much rampion as thou wilt, only I make one condition, thou must give me the child which thy wife will bring into the world; it shall be well treated, and I will care for it like a mother." The man in his terror consented to everything, and when the woman was brought to bed, the enchantress appeared at once, gave the child the name of Rapunzel, and took it away with her.

Rapunzel grew into the most beautiful child beneath the sun. When she was twelve years old, the enchantress shut her into a tower, which lay in a forest, and had neither stairs nor door, but quite at the top was a little window. When the enchantress wanted to go in, she placed herself beneath this, and cried,

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, Let down thy hair to me."

Rapunzel had magnificent long hair, fine as spun gold, and when she heard the voice of the enchantress she unfastened her braided tresses, wound them round one of the hooks of the window above, and then the hair fell twenty ells down, and the enchantress climbed up by it.

"Rapunzel, Let Down Your Hair - Illustration by Anne Anderson

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Susan Boyle on Britain's Got Talent (Video)

Susan Magdalane Boyle (born 1 April 1961) is a Scottish singer who came to international public attention when she appeared as a contestant on reality TV programme Britain's Got Talent on 11 April 2009, singing "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Misérables. Her first album was released in November 2009 and debuted as the number one best-selling CD on charts around the globe.
Global interest in Boyle was triggered by the contrast between her powerful voice and her plain appearance on stage. The juxtaposition of the audience's first impression of her, with the standing ovation she received during and after her performance, led to an international media and internet response. Within nine days of the audition, videos of Boyle—from the show, various interviews and her 1999 rendition of "Cry Me a River" — had been watched over 100 million times. Her audition video has been viewed on the internet several hundred million times. Despite the sustained media interest she later finished in second place in the final of the show behind dance troupe Diversity.


Susan Boyle on Britain's Got Talent

I Dreamed a Dream lyrics

There was a time when men were kind,
And their voices were soft,
And their words inviting.
There was a time when love was blind,
And the world was a song,
And the song was exciting.
There was a time when it all went wrong...

I dreamed a dream in time gone by,
When hope was high and life, worth living.
I dreamed that love would never die,
I dreamed that God would be forgiving.
Then I was young and unafraid,
And dreams were made and used and wasted.
There was no ransom to be paid,
No song unsung, no wine, untasted.

But the tigers come at night,
With their voices soft as thunder,
As they tear your hope apart,
And they turn your dream to shame.

He slept a summer by my side,
He filled my days with endless wonder...
He took my childhood in his stride,
But he was gone when autumn came!

And still I dream he'll come to me,
That we will live the years together,
But there are dreams that cannot be,
And there are storms we cannot weather!

I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living,
So different now from what it seemed...
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed...


Via: wiki, talent.itv.com

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Aziza Ibragimova (Ukrainian X Factor Audition)
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Greyson Chance - 13-year-old YouTube sensation

Greyson Chance. Photo: greyson-official.com

Greyson Michael Chance is an American singer, songwriter and pianist whose April 2010 performance of Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" at a sixth-grade music festival became a hit onYouTube. As of June 15, 2010, his cover for the song "Paparazzi" has a total viewership of over 30 million. He has two original compositions, "Stars", and "Broken Hearts", both posted on his YouTube channel which have 4 and 5 million views respectively. His debut single, "Waiting Outside the Lines," was released in October 2010.

Greyson Chance performing "Paparazzi" by Lady Gaga at Edmond's Sixth Grade Festival.

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