Getting to know Jennifer Lawrence

Funnily enough, Jennifer Lawrence will probably be remembered not only for winning an Academy Award but also for tripping on the way up to the stage when she went to collect her Oscar for Best Actress.

This video gives you the opportunity of having a glimpse of this “funny” moment.

This is not the first time that Jennifer Lawrence has had problems with her outfit on a special occasion. Last month at the Screen Actor´s Guild Awards, the fabric of her dress was caught under a chair leg as she got up to collect her award and her upper thighs and gusset were briefly shown.

Anyway, I think that Jennifer Lawrence should be remembered not only for choosing problematic dresses but also for being funny, witty, outspoken and talented. Her reaction when she was being interviewed after winning the Oscar or her attitude when she attended the Late Show with David Letterman are a good illustration of her outstanding personality. I advise you to watch the following videos. Don´t panic if you aren´t able to understand every single word, watch them and let´s see whether your opinion about this successful actress is the same as mine or not.

Press conference on the night of the Oscars.

Jennifer Lawrence on the Late Show with David Leterman in January.

The Oscars 2013

The 85^th Oscar Awards ceremony has been quite different this year in some respects and we´ll be paying attention to them in the future. One of the most remarkable features of the night was the fact that Jennifer Lawrence was chosen as the “Best Actress”. What´s remarkable about it? The age of this actress: she´s only 22, which makes her the youngest actor who has been given an Oscar Award.

Were you familiar with this actress before the night of the Oscars? Maybe you haven´t watched the film which has helped her to achieve the sought-after statuette: Silver Linings Playbook, but you may have watched the film to which she owes her overnight success: The Hunger Games, based on the first novel of The Hunger Games trilogy, a series written by Suzanne Collins, an American author.

Have you thought about the title of this film: Silver Linings Playbook? The English title has been accompanied by a subtitle in Spanish: “El lado bueno de las cosas”. As we all know, there´s a tendency to translate the titles of the films that we watch in Spain in the same way as they are dubbed; however, over the last years this tendency has been reversed. On some occasions, it is assumed that most viewers will be able to understand the meaning – as younger generations are acquainted with the English language – but this is not always the case and  Silver linings Playbook is a good example.

In order to understand it, we need to be aware of the English saying on which the expression of the title is based: “Every cloud has a silver lining” which means that every difficult or sad situation has a comforting or more helpful aspect, even though this may not be immediately apparent. The English language is abundant in idioms or expressions in which weather-related terms play an important role: those terms that have to do with rain or rainy weather have negative overtones, therefore “every cloud” refers to a negative situation whereas “silver lining” provides the positive meaning of the idiom, as the combination of a precious metal and the meaning of lining: a layer of different material attached to the inside of a garment to make it warmer or thicker.

Now that you have learnt about this idiom, you´ll be able to fully grasp the English title of the film.

The "birth" of this blog

The creation of this blog has coincided more or less with the 85^th Oscar Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, that´s why I have thought that it would be a good idea to comment on this ceremony as well as our Spanish equivalent (Goya Awards ceremony).

It doesn´t matter whether you are a film buff or not, the Oscar Awards Ceremony is a frequent topic for most of us when we´re having a chat with our friends, partners, colleagues or school-mates.

         What´s your opinion about this year´s ceremony? What was it like?

Even if you didn’t manage to watch it on TV, I guess you learnt about it on the radio or you read something about it in the newspapers, on the Internet (online newspapers, Twitter, Facebook …) or wherever.

I´ve gathered information about it via different sources and I´d love to share some bits with you.

First of all, this is the host of the ceremony: Seth MacFarlane.

Does the name ring a bell? Does his face sound familiar to you? I must say that I didn´t recognise him when I saw the photos, however, his name does sound familiar to me: Seth MacFarlane is the creator of Family Guy, a very popular American animated sitcom. Apparently, MacFarlane was chosen to host the ceremony because of his ability to make the ceremony appeal to a younger audience. As time goes by, it´s becoming more and more difficult to choose the “right” person, that is, the person who is capable of boosting the audience figures, because, after all, this a business – the show business – an industry and as such it must be profitable. As viewers, we often care about films as long as they are able to move us, to change our lives even over a brief period of time: the time we spend in the cinema or in front of our TV set or – let´s face it – our computer but the people who earn a living by making films have other aspirations and the financial ones are among them.

All in all, Seth MacFarlane could be depicted as a comedian whose jokes were full of “borderline- offensive irreverence”. “Inappropriate” or “non-politically correct” are also some of the adjectives that have been used to describe Seth´s approach during the Academy Awards ceremony, which has clearly divided critical opinion.

  

There are other hosts who are well-known because they have been in charge of the ceremony on more than one occasion: Billy Crystal, Steve Martin, Whoopi Goldberg – in this case we have to use the term hostess – and Bob Hope. My question is:

Which one holds the record of hosting the ceremony the highest number of times? Think about it and I´ll tell you the answer shortly, we´ll see if you were right.

WELCOME TO MY BLOG!

This blog – as its title hints – has been designed for film- lovers, people who love watching films and are interested in films as a cultural expression but also as a way to have fun. I f you feel intrigued about the so-called “seventh art” or you wish to keep up-to-date with the latest news related to this business, this is your blog. However, this is not just another blog related to cinema: this blog is written in English because it intends to be a useful tool for English learners. So, if you are learning English and you are into films, reading and participating in this blog can be a perk for you, at least, that´s my purpose: sharing comments and experiences with other people as well as reading or watching videos related to one of your interests or hobbies should help you to make progress in the life-long process of learning a language. If I manage to contribute with just a “grain” to the “mountain” of your learning activity, I will feel contented because this blog doesn´t aspire to win any competition as being the most up-to-date or the most knowledgeable in cinematic terms; actually, the main goal of this blog is being helpful in the learning experience of an English student – especially one whose mother tongue is Spanish – who happens to be interested in films, too. That´s all folks!!