THE WAR OF THE WORLDS

On October 30th we celebrate the anniversary of a night that panicked America, do you know what I mean?

The anniversary of a famous broadcast by Orson Welles and his colleages of the  Mercury Theatre on the Air. 

Listen to the whole broadcast here ( thanks to Awesome stories) 

They performed a lively and shocking broadcast of the novel "The War of the Worlds" by H G Wells, where Martians were invading the Earth and destroying everything they saw. 

It was supposed to be a six-day broadcast but people who didn't listen to the beginning of the show because they tuned in late, considered it a piece of the news broadcast,  thought it was real and panicked. Some tried to flee from the city, other hid in their basements and began collecting all the food and water they could.

People were easily influenced at that time because of the rising of dictators such as Hitler and the big depression they were suffering after the 1929 crisis. 

Orson Welles wanted to show how mass audiences could be manipulated in times of political crisis, as they could believe everything they listened to.  

Welles had to hold a  press conference the next day to explain everything. 

Interviews with Welles and witnesses

H G Wells (1866 -1946). This English novelist, teacher, historian, journalist was one of the first writers of science fiction, he wrote many novels such as "The Invisible Man", "The Time Machine" where he showed new scientific discoveies and inventions. In the next link you can listen to him on the radio    H G Well's speeches on radio  

The Novel " The War of the Worlds"  1895-97 was published as a series and was set  between London and Surrey. The Earth is invaded by cylinder-shaped Martian machines with destroying rays. Humans make an efford to fight them. 

In the novel we can see some scientific advances such as the rocket and others and some believe this criticises the British imperialism and the Victorian prejudices, fears and supertitions of that time. 

There are lots of series and films either about the novel or Welles' dramatization.  

"The Night that Panicked America"  Dramatised series ( Awesome Stories web)

The World of the Worlds  Trailer of the film 2005 

MY WORKSHEET ON THE TOPIC 

You used to.....

USED TO AND PAST TENSES

 

Listen to the song and fill in the blanks with proper past tenses

Now and then I think of when we __________(be) together
Like when you said you _______(feel) so happy you _________ (can) die

_________ (tell) myself that you were right for me
But felt so lonely in your company
But that was love and it's an ache I still remember

You can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness
Like resignation to the end, always the end
So when we _________ (find)that we could not make sense
Well you ________ (say) that we would still be friends
But I'll admit that I was glad it was over

But you didn't have to cut me off
Make out like it never ____________ (happen) and that we were nothing
And I don't even need your love
But you treat me like a stranger and that feels so rough
No you didn't have to stoop so low
Have your friends collect your records and then change your number
I guess that I don't need that though
Now you're just somebody that I used to know

Now you're just somebody that I used to know
Now you're just somebody that I used to know

[Kimbra]
Now and then I think of all the times you _____________(screw) me over
But ________ (have)  me believing it was always something that I _______ (do)
But I don't wanna live that way
Reading into every word you say
You said that you could let it go
And I wouldn't catch you hung up on somebody that you used to know

[Gotye]
But you didn't have to cut me off
Make out like it never happened and that we were nothing
And I don't even need your love
But you treat me like a stranger and that feels so rough
And you didn't have to stoop so low
Have your friends collect your records and then change your number
I guess that I don't need that though
Now you're just somebody that I used to know

Somebody
(I used to know)
Somebody
(Now you're just somebody that I used to know)

Now listen to a parody of the song, Does it make sense to you? 

 

“Why did I have to learn this stuff? It has never come in handy, never used it for nothing.” 

  1. On a scale from 1 (not at all) to 7 (completely agree), how much do you agree with the singer’s sentiment? Why or why not?

2. What things you consider irrelevant in the educations you are getting?

*  Some facts about the last song:  

Millard Fillmore ( 13th President of USA) 

Iambic ( type of metrical line in traditional English verse)

AP Bio ( Advanced Placement Biology)

The Scarlet Letter ( a novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne)  

Cotton Gin ( machine which separates cotton fibre from its seeds)

Farside cartoon appropo ( opportune drawings)

SohCahToa ( mnemonics for sine, cosine and tangent of an angle)