New Material for April 2010

Here is the material due to be registered and appear on the bookshelves soon.

DVDs

Rumble Fish (1983) directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Mickey Rouke amd Matt Dillon. An avant-garde rendition of the old, old story of the troubled young boy who tries to live up to the reputation of his elder brother.

The Navigators (2002), directed by Ken Loach and starring Dean Andrews, Tom Craig and Joe Duttine. Set in the 1995 privatisation of British Rail, this gritty, hard-hitting black comedy exposes greed and venality that lies beneath the neoliberal discourse of "productivity" and "efficiency," and the disastrous consequences it has for working-class communal values.




Now for something a little less dramatic and more irreverend. Team America, World Police (2004), directed by Trey Parker, of South Park fame. A satirical take on big-budget action movies and the gung-ho spirit of the post-11/09 noughties featuring puppets.

If you think that, and we quote, "strong language, violence and sex all involving puppets" is a bit over the top, then have a look at Derek Jarman's Jubilee (1977). Starring Toyah Willcox and Adam Ant (who also provides some of the music on the soundtrack), "Britain's first official punk movie" tells the story of how Queen Elizabeth I is transported to 20th century England, to a Buckingham Palace transformed into a recording studio for punk musicians.

And finally a bit of comedy, namely The Catherine Tate Show (2007), containing sketches for BBC TV by "Britain's queen of comedy on three DVDs.

Series One

Series Two

Series Three

New Material for February 2010

Here are the items soon to appear on the English Department shelves of the school library.

Audio Books

Seven stories with a twist in Further Tales of the Unexpected by Roald Dahl.




A modern-day defence of poetry persuavively made by Stephen Fry in The Ode Less Travelled



An overview of the English language wittily given by Stephen Fry in Fry's English Delight



DVD

Man Friday (1975),directed by Jack Gold and starring Peter O'Toole and Richard Roundtree. A critical post-colonial look at the classic by Daniel Defoe.



Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins and Keanu Reeves. If you want to know why the Count never drinks wine, watch the movie and find out.

Material Soon to Arrive at the Library in January 2010

Look here if you want to know the new stuff you'll soon find on the shelves in the English section of the library.

Audiobooks:

Abridged version of Charles Dickens's "Great Expectations" read by Hugh Laurie (of "House" fame)


Unabridged version of Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol" read Anton Lesser (a bit late now, we're afraid)


A Selection of Oscar Wilde's Short Stories read by Stephen Fry (good for the kids)




DVD:

"For Queen and Country" starring Denzel Washington as an ex-soldier returning to a far from hero's welcome to the gritty London inner-city district he grew up in (English with Dutch subtitles (Sorry about that, folks))



"Life on Mars, Series Two" the sequel to the immensely popular sci-fi police procedural drama set in Manchester in the '70s (Head and shoulders above "La chica de ayer")