For this 3rd discussion, I had a very interesting discussion with a friend of mine on Lingopass, Alex, about movies and cinema. This topic was the one I chose for my very first discussion, but which couldn't be dealt with.

To begin, we talked about the kind of movies we love. As far as I am concerned, the choice was very easy: thriller. I love these kind of movies since I'm 10, and I can't get enought of it :) I also put in this category horror movies, but as I explained to Alex, I mean films like Scream, Halloween, Silence of the Lambs,... What I do not like is the kind of films in which you see giant spiders taking control of the planet, or the basic serial killer murdering all people but with no story to follow. Basically, I like movies in which you have a gripping story, films that can keep you on the edge of you seat !! It can be gore, but not too much; or rather not with a story only based on that.

Alex said he loved action movies, like Terminator, Fast & Furious, Indiana Jones etc. He thinks it's exciting and loves special effects. His favourite movie is definitely Kill Bill. I agreed, since I also like some action movies like Die Hard or Batman the dark Knight ! However, the film we are both fond of is Avatar, by James Cameron ! Indeed, for me this was a true revolution: you can't catagorize this movie ! Is it an adventure/war movie? A science fiction movie? An animated film? Actually, you can't really tell. And that's what I love about it: it blurrs the genre. Of course, I also love it since Cameron is one of my favourite director.

After that, we talked about a movie which had an important impact on us, whether positive or negative. Alex said that he really recall "Dead Poet Society", since it was the most boring film he ever saw ! :) I've never seen this movie, so I could not judge but maybe I'll watch it, in order to have my own point of view !

Alex and I talked about our favourite actors and actresses. Alex's favourite actor is Sean Connery, and he does not have a favourite actress; he said he liked a lot and can't make a choise lol. As for me, my favourite actress is Angelina Jolie ! I love Tomb Raider and Mr and Mrs Smith, I think she's great. I also like Neve Campbell and Cameron Diaz. My favourite actors are Brad Pitt, Bruce Willis, Leonardo Dicaprio and Jack Nicholson. I love David Schwimmer as well, even if Ross Geller (Friends) was his only major role, I think he's a very talented actor, and above all incredibly funny !

We ended up our discussion giving our top 10 favourite movies. The following is Alex's, the second one is mine.

Alex:

1. Terminator

2. Indiana Jones

3. Fast and Furious

4. Inglorious Basterds

5. Avatar

6. Independance Day

7. Armaggedon

8. Moby Dick

9. American History X

10. La Haine (french movie)

Mandy:

1. Titanic

2. Avatar

3. The 5th Element

4. Scream

5. Dangerous Minds

6. Sexcrimes

7.American Pie

8. This is It

9. Inglorious Basterd

10. Cruel Intention

My second discussion was about the song "We Are the World", writtent by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson. I planned to talk about this song, it's effect on people, but also about MJ and his artistic side. I've had a very interesting discussion with Anda and Manuel, two people I did not know; it was great to talk with them since they have another accent lol. What is more, I like when we are more than 2 people, the discussion is more lively and friendly.

I posted a link from youtube so that people could see the video clip, listen to the song and also read the subtitles if they wanted to. According to my friends, it was very useful since some of them are in the way of becoming intermediary.

First, we talked about the song, namely who likes it and who does not. We all loved it,but Manuel did not knew it. I explained him it was a charity song, recorded in 1985 by the supergroup USA for Africa. This idea of an American benefit single for African famine relief was Michael Jackson's. He was an artist with a heart of gold and this song reflects his amazing kindness.The song was a worldwide commercial success and I chose it because of the natural disasters which happened recently, as in Haiti.

We all loved this song, especially because of the peaceful and hopeful message it brings. Then, my next question was about MJ: I wanted to know how famous he was in each of my friends' countries and if they liked him. They both loved him and told me he was very famous in Peru (Manuel's country) and Romania (Anda's country), especially in Romania since he did 2 huge concerts there. Anda told me she loved this artist and we talked for a few minutes about his concerts, as I have all DVD's.

We agreed on the fact MJ was an unparalleled performer, even the greatest the world ever had. Each of his shows were incredible and he had this wonderful energy on stage. I told my 2 partners that what I loved the most was Michael's mind: his message was clear, he always emphasized it saying "it's all for love".

I think it's very important to pass on a love and peace message, especially in our world today... MJ's aim was to unite all countries, to fight racism and to share his love message, which I think is the best thing an artist can do.

According to Anda, the problem with MJ was that he was "a victim of the people around him". And indeed, she's right: he lived in a world of sharks, where many people including some family members aimed at taking avantage of his fame and money... The delicate matter of pedophilia MJ was a victim of is a blatant example: imagine you are accused of something that terrible, and almost nobody believes you are innocent.... whereas you are !! I share a link with my friends about Jordan Chandler, the little boy who accused Michael of sexual harrasment. In this article, Jordan confesses he lied about MJ because his father forced him to. I was very shocked, and deeply sad for MJ... The end of this story is that the father of the little Jordan Chandler killed himself out of guilt !! It did not surprise me at all, we talked about it and we all agreed this man should have been totally sick to ask something like that to his own son....

Of course, we also talked about his wonderful music, all the hits he released, the way he revolutionized the video clip and his puzzling capacity to be a kind of "cameleon": he can do anything.  On the top of that, his dancing skills are breath taking. As a dancer myself, I can tell you that every famous dancer I met told me the same thing: MJ is the King of Pop and if you look at his routines, you'll see a part of each dances on it: hip hop, ballet, popping, locking, top rock, african, and so on. An accomplished dancer is one who can dance MJ's choregraphies. My friends totally agreed with this and admire Michael for everything he did, especially his dance. Manuel told us MJ was very famous in Peru, even if he never gave concert there.

To sum up, I'd say it was really interesting to talk with 2 foreign people, as we could laugh of our own accents ^^, share ouf points of view and discuss about a subject we all liked. The part I prefered was the one about MJ's message, because I felt good seeing some people still think sharing and support is a major issue today. As far as I'm concerned, I guess solidarity, equality and  are the only way the world can achieve peace. Of course a single artist did not change my opinion, it was already my point of view but artists like MJ reinforced my conviction and my hope.

First discussion :

I've had my first discussion on Lingopass on Thursday the 18th.

For this very first experience on the website, I planned to talk about a kind of "universal" topic, so that everybody could give his point of view. I aimed at creating a dynamic discussion and at attracting people; as one says, "the more the merrier!" 

So my first topic was: "movies and cinemas", with questions such as "what's your favourite movie" ; But as everybody in our class is still discovering this website, not a lot of us managed neither to create, nor to join discussions yet. What's more, I guess the timeslot I chose was not the best, because several people were in class at this time. So for the 1st one we were only two, Olga and I ! But being 2 proved not to be a problem at all :)

We talked together in order to know each other better, I learned that Romanian was her mother language and she was already working. I was impressed, I told Olga I found it really cool that she's a German teacher, but works hard to improve her English too. I explained to her I graduated in English, but I'd like now to become a FLE teacher (french teacher for foreigners).

Then we spoke about lingopas: we exchanged our feelings and our experiments of the website, so in fact, the topic I had chosen could not be dealt with ! But this was not a problem since our 40 minutes chat enabled us to share some information and so I save this movies subject for my next discussion !!

I think it's nice sometimes to let things not go how you planned it :p