Weeklies

A cultural event

Lesson by Kaj Jordison

See “Lido lights” Real.Time, front page

Today I’m going to try to talk about two articles in one, both of them about the Thai movie industry and an up-coming film festival. On the front page of the Real.Time section today the feature article is about the filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul and his new film, Syndromes and a Century. This movie is going to participate in the world’s oldest film festival, namely the Venice International Film Festival.

However, I will not focus on this fairly long article, but instead on the shorter one, also on the front page, about the festival itself. This festival, even though it’s the oldest one, comes second to the festival in Cannes in terms of contemporary significance. This meaning that in the eyes of the majority of people, the festival in Cannes, with all the blockbusters and movie stars, is more important than this smaller and more cultural event.

As you can see from the former winners of the Golden Lion (the prize handed out to the winners of the different movie categories), the movies at the festival in Venice are geared more towards aestheticism and profoundness than anything else. Action, big movie stars, special effects and other Hollywood products just aren’t that important. The Venice International Film Festival definitely focuses more on real quality than entertainment, which might give the underdog film by Apichatpong a fighting chance.

Vocabulary from the introduction

Vocabulary from the article (see below)

Lido lights

KONG RITHDEE

The vaporetta No.1 takes you across the lagoon from San Marco to Lido, the little island that is the home of the "Mostra" - the Venice International Film Festival. At 63 years of age, this is the world's oldest movie festival, four years senior to Cannes, though in terms of contemporary significance, this Italian event slotted in August comes second to the French cinema showpiece in May.

This year the Mostra runs from August 30 to September 9, and the beachfront Palazzo del Cinema will be thronged by a few thousand industry insiders, critics and star-gazers (plus a regular horde of dramatically tanned sunbathers in shorts and bikinis).

Amid this usual frenzy and serving of bad pizzas, Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Syndromes and a Century will represent Thailand in the race for the coveted Golden Lion, whose past winners have included such grandmasters of cinema art as Akira Kurosawa (Rashomon, 1951), Alain Renais (Last Year at Marienbad, 1961), Jean-Luc Godard (Prenom Carmen, 1983), Robert Altman (Short Cuts, 1993) and Zhang Yimou (The Story of Qiu Ju, 1992, Not One Less, 1999). Last year, the Lion went to Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain, which went on to become a global sensation — an "arthouse" film that is also loved by multiplex regulars.

French actress Catherine Deneuve has been named the president of the jury for this year. And since Deneuve was invited to our Bangkok International Film Festival this past February, where she was pampered like royalty by the Tourism Authority of Thailand, perhaps she'll be warmed towards the unadorned, barren aesthetics of Apichatpong's new film (I'm sure our tourism board didn't please Deneuve for the benefit of any Thai filmmakers though, especially Apichatpong — how could they, when the TAT didn't even show his Cannes-winning film at the Bangkok cinefest last year?)

The red carpet in Venice is shorter than the one in Cannes, and thus the arrival of stars and directors feels a bit less like a circus parade. Unlike the image of Venice in tourism postcards, which invariably depict photogenic brick-paved alleys and the gondolas, the island of Lido has roads and cars. Usually, when stars arrive at the Venice airport they'll be transported by water taxis to the Lido pier. For their gala screenings, stars will ride in chauffeured limos to the Palazzo — so no, nobody rows them to the theatre in gondolas.

In 2003, a film by Thai director Pen-ek Ratanaruang, Last Life in the Universe, was screened in the second-tier category, and its Japanese star, Asano Tadanobu, was named best actor.

Apichatpong's movie, picked for the top-tier competition, will be up against more formidable entries this year. A small film from Thailand is naturally rated as an underdog. But since this is Venice, Apichatpong can feel contented that even if the Golden Lion (or Madame Deneuve) doesn't come his way, he can still have a swell time hopping on the vaporetta to go walk around San Marco, or to shop for Murano glasses, or to pay a visit to Igor Stravinski's grave. Or if he runs out of ideas, he can always join those merry sunbathers on the Lido beach as the steaming Venetian sun shines. To have a movie there is honour enough for our filmmaker, and definitely for us too.

Reading activity

After you’ve finished reading the article, go through it again and answer the following question – the first reading should be geared towards a general understanding and feel of the text, and the second reading should focus more on details and specifics, like the questions below.

1. When is the film festival going to be on?
2. Why might the president of this year’s jury be warmed towards Apichatpong’s movie?
3. What does the writer mean when he says that “the read carpet is shorter than the one in Cannes”?
4. What other Thai movie has had success over the years at the festival?

Extra activity

Everyone knows about the festival in Cannes, but today quite a few people probably heard about the festival in Venice for a first time. Now, if you could go to just one of these festivals, which one would you go to? Explain your choice and tell the class about what you would like to see and experience and the festival of your choice. If time allows, you could write a short imaginary festival schedule for yourself – things to do, people to meet, food to eat, etc.

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Jeju, Korean Island of Drama

If you are a fan of the Korean Soap opera "Dae Jang Keum" this week's story should be very interesting for you. The article tells us about the island of Jeju in Korea, which was used as the location for the dramatic ending of the widely popular TV series. Because of the popularity of the show the island of Jeju is now attracting more tourists who want to visit the places that they saw on their televisons while watching the show. But, it is also popular because it is a natural and undeveloped place where visitors can get away from their busy lives in the city.

After learning about the island of Jeju, you can role play with your firends with one person acting as a travel agent and the others acting as tourists who want to visit the island of Jeju and need some information. Use the following questions to help you get started. Use the 'moreINFO' section to help you with some of the information.

Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 11:54 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Will intelligent washing machines remove the drudgery of housework?

What kind of things do you do while you wash your clothes?

In some parts of the world, like villages in India and Burma, you have to hit the clothes hard with a stick to wash them, so you can't do anything else. In Thailand we can cook dinner, read a book, bathe the dog, or even go to the market.

How do you know when the washing is finished? When it's time to throw the wet clothes in the dryer? Do you listen closely for the buzzer? Do you sometimes fall asleep like me, only to find a pile of wrinkled wet clothes the next day?

New washing machine technology may soon free us from some of the drudgery of washing our own clothes, although we will probably still have to carry our clothes to the washing machine.

Maybe in 10 years we will even have clothes that wash themselves or put themselves in the washer, or maybe all we need is disposable clothes?

A Rube Goldberg Machine might pull our dirty clothes into the washing machine after we attach a string to them, thus saving us valuable time.

A helpful new washing machine developed in England scans fingerprints to helps wives make sure that husbands do the washing 50% of the time.

The possibilities are really limitless in the brave new world of washing machines and networked home appliances.

If you are a teacher, you might want to have your whole class design washing machines with innovative new features and present their ideas to the rest of the class in carousel poster presentations

Carousel Poster Presentations

The posters should go through a rigorous draft and peer feedback phase where students: 1. make sure they are communicating with the language on the posters, that the language is meaningful to other students, 2. make sure there are no grammatical mistakes because grammatical mistakes detract from the professional appearance of the poster.

In the presentation phase, a fraction of the class, let's say 20% to 30% put their posters around the outside wall of the classroom, and the other students circulate, read the posters, and ask further questions. They fill out a worksheet with questions that guide the student in learning about the ideas presented in posters. For example, new product ideas, in tourism for instance. The worksheet questions might come from the 4P's of marketing. The presentation phase gives the students practice in asking and answering questions about the topic.

Reading Questions

1. What change is Whirlpool Corporation planning to make to home appliances?

2. What is Whirlpool's ranking in the world home appliance market?

3. In the future how can washing machine alerts help in household chores?

4. What kind of work is washing clothes for most people? How might new home appliance technologies change this?

5. In general, who usually sees new technologies like this as normal, younger or older people?

Article
Whirlpool tests 'smart' appliances

Atlanta - Whirlpool is looking to speed up the day when most consumers will be able to monitor and control appliances from their computers and cell phones.

The world's largest appliance company has stared testing "smart'' washing machines and dryers at three homes in metropolitan Atlanta.

The pilot project, called "Laundry Time,'' is designed to making doing laundry easier by sending alerts to consumers via televisions, computers and cell phones.

In a recent demonstration of the project at a Whirlpool studio in Atlanta, messages from a specially equipped front-loading washer popped up in real time on a television screen in a different room.

Consumers can also get instant messages from computers or cell phones telling them, for instance, that a wash cycle is completed or that a dryer has not been turned on.

At the press of a button on a cell phone, families participating in the test can extend a drying cycle and perform other laundry tasks while running errands.

"Laundry is a drudgery,'' said Tim Woods, a vice president for the Internet Home Alliance, an umbrella group that is launching the study. "So why not take that pain away because you can apply technology and help consumers with a solution.''

Whirlpool, which partnered with Microsoft, HP, Procter & Gamble, Panasonic and Cingular Wireless in the project, wants to learn consumer attitudes and behaviour toward "smart'' appliances, and use this knowledge to develop products.

"Customers don't really know how they want to utilise high technology in appliances,'' said Lane Heilman, a manager for electronic applications at Whirlpool. "Attitudes are changing,'' said David Baumert, a program manager at Microsoft. "Younger folks view networked information services and devices as a matter of course rather than as something novel.'' REUTERS

Vocabulary (in article)

is looking to - planning to

monitor - check to see if some task or event is happening

metropolitan - the larger more spread out area around a city (Metropolitan Bangkok includes all the towns around Bangkok also)

sending alerts - sending you a message that an event has occurred

in real time - while the event is happening, without delay

a drying cycle - a period of time for drying clothes (set by a timer)

running errands - taking a short trip to a store or office to do small tasks

drudgery - difficult and boring work

umbrella group - a group of other groups or organizations (like an umbrella stretching over the the other groups)

as a matter of course - the normal expected thing, no surprise

novel - new, different, not like anything else

a Rube Goldberg machine - a crazy complex machine to perform a very simple task in a very indirect and convoluted way (See Wikipedia, check out the funny videos of Japanese Rube Goldberg machines at Google Videos)

Answer Key:

1. What change is Whirlpool Corporation planning to make to home appliances?

They will change home appliances so that people can control them from their computers and mobile phones.

2. What is Whirlpool's ranking in the world home appliance market?

Whirpool is ranked first. Whirlpool is the world's largest home appliance company.

3. In the future how can washing machine alerts help in household chores?

Alerts will send a message to you and tell you when the washing is finished or that you need to perform the next washing task.

Alerts can tell you this when you are in another room of the house or outside of the house doing errands.

4. What kind of work is washing clothes for most people? How might new home appliance technologies change this?

"Laundry is drudgery." It is difficult and boring work. These new technologies may "take the pain away" from doing this work.

5. In general, who usually sees new technologies like this as normal, younger or older people?

In general, younger people expect this kind of technology and see it as normal ("as a matter of course"). Older people see it as novel.

Posted by Jon Fernquest at 09:41 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Chang-Sip-Mu — the declining heritage

As Bangkok and its people strive to keep up with the rapid changes of the modern world and culture, one part of our living heritage

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A movie review

Lesson by Kaj Jordison

See “A yarn that fails to spin” Real.Time, page 5

The section Real.Time in the Bangkok Post focuses a lot on different cultural events among other things. So, I thought that today I would cover a review of a new movie by the director M. Night Shyamalan. Even though some people might not know his name, I’m quite sure that most people who are interested in movies have seen at least one or two of his movies. The most successful, and maybe even the best, would probably by the very quiet but still scary movie The Sixth Sense. My own personal favourite, however, is actually Unbreakable.

The writer (the Bangkok Post’s Kong Rithdee) reviewing the movie clearly respects and likes Shyamalan’s movies, and also Shyamalan as a person. On many occasions in the text, the reviewer mentions that Shyamanlan is a very intelligent man and storyteller. However, even though the writer shows his big appreciation of Shyamanlan’s earlier movies, he doesn’t seem to be too impressed by Lady in the Water; the movie he is reviewing. The writer almost seems to be upset. Can that be because he is disappointed? Maybe he expected more of Shyamanlan? Read and find out (paragraphs three and eight especially focus on the flaws of Lady in the Water).

The movie itself is adapted from a children’s book written in the 1990s. It’s a magical, mythical story about strange creatures entering the human realm to fight over the future of humankind. Good creatures are battling bad creatures in an attempt to decide over our future. 

Vocabulary from the introduction

Vocabulary from the review

A yarn that fails to spin

Reading activity

Below there are four questions that will help you gain a deeper understanding of the text. Read the review with the aid of the vocabulary list and then answer the questions (some of these questions have no exact answers; you’ll have to try to analyse the text a little).

1. The writer says that Shyamalan’s movies sometimes “pull the rug from under our feet”. What does that mean?
2. Why does the writer think that the movie isn’t very good?
3. Who plays the character Vic in the movie?
4. How has Hollywood destroyed some of the art of storytelling?  

Extra activity

Think about your own favourite movie. Once you’ve decided which movie it is, try to write a short review about it. In the review, include these two things: a general description of the storyline, and the reasons it is a good movie.

Remember that you want to make people interested in this movie. You want to write a review that makes people want to see it. Don’t forget, a review can be very personal, so don’t try to make it too neutral. Use a lot of adjectives describing the good qualities of the movie.

Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 12:08 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

A Return of Tourism

Hello everyone. In this week's look at the Horizons section we will read about the present travel tourism situation in Nepal. The article tells us about some of the ways that the Nepal Tourism Board is trying to attract tourists to come back to Nepal. Although the article mentions the cause of the decline in tourism, it does not go into any detail. It mainly talks about the reasons that tourism officials are hopeful that the Tourism industry in Nepal will improve and that the number of visitors will increase.

After learning about the attractions of Nepal and the current situation, you can discuss the following questions with your classmates or friends.

Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 12:50 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

TV anywhere you want, anytime you want

Nowadays, many of us work all the time, company work, personal projects, the line between the two is often blurred.

We continue working into the evening, if we're students studying for an exam or a doctor catching up on the latest developments in our field or a business person preparing an important presentation to a customer for tommorrow.

How can we make work feel like it's not really work?

Sometimes shifting our attention to another activity for a moment refreshes us, releaves fatigue and allows us to continue whatever, potentially very boring, thing we're doing with renewed energy.

Space shifting means changing for the format of a video or song so you can view it on another sort of device, like moving a TV show to MPEG-4 that you can view it on your iPod.

At first, the big companies that own the copyrights on the songs, movies, and TV shows being copied were against space shifting.

Nowadays marketing departments have become more positive about space shifting. They've studied it, know how it works, and even have ideas about how they can make money from it.

Today's article is an in-depth investigation into who the customers are for this new kind of "space shifting" product and the current thinking of marketing people on this controversial topic.

Reading Questions

1. What kind of devices do people space-shift television shows to?

2. What common problem does space-shifting help overcome? (Hint: Matt Bricker in the article has this problem)

3. What is ABC doing in a special two month marketing experiment?

4. Besides downloading a TV program what are some other ways to watch it?

5. What kind of shows are only found online?

6. Are people switching from watching shows on their TV sets to watching them on their computers or iPod? Why or why not?

7. Is the space-shifting market large?

8. What are customers like in the space-shifting market?

9. Why is the space-shifting market an attractive market for adverstisers?

10. What recent sporting events have proven very popular with the space-shifting market recently?

11. What viewing behaviour makes advertising for young people difficult?

12. What evidence is there that young people are less likely to skip online ads?

13. How have advertisers been able to reduce the clutter of traditional advertising with online ads?

14. Is the space-shifting audience a large audience?

15. What example of a niche market is cited in the article?

16. What started the recent interest in space-shifting markets?

Article
Ready to trade remote for a mouse? Diane Holloway

The big deal in TV is 'space shifting' shows to a device such as a home computer or even a PDA

Matt Bricker, a 25-year-old Austin musician, is hooked on Lost. And, he rather sheepishly admits, Desperate Housewives, too.

But his schedule (he plays trumpet with the Dallas-based symphonic rock group Polyphonic Spree) is sporadic, and he has a hard time getting to a TV when a show comes on each week.

Bricker doesn't have a VCR or a TiVo. He does, however, have a computer, and ABC is in the middle of a two-month test, offering four series, including mega-hits Lost and Desperate Housewives, free on ABC.com. The shows were already available for download for $1.99.

"It seems like a smart move by them,'' Bricker says. "It takes the TiVo thing and morphs it into the Internet.''

The big deal in TV today is space shifting, whisking shows away from the big TV and onto a home computer or go-anywhere laptop, iPod or PDA.

If you're not already on this online bandwagon, you should take a look at what's out there, because technology is moving at breakneck speed.

Besides the downloads offered by broadcast and cable networks, NBC is filming 10 mini-episodes of its offbeat comedy The Office, which will stream on the network's web site this summer. There's also programming you'll find only online - from classic TV to shows created for the web. And cellphone companies are touting phones that can play video and even live TV.

The buzz, especially in cyberspace, is growing. But what does all this mean? Are people really going to exchange their high-definition sets for a computer screen?

So far, neither industry experts nor network executives see online viewing as a threat to home TV viewing.

"All of this is to supplement the normal TV viewing,'' says Karen Hobson, vice president of digital media communications for the Disney/ABC Television Group. "You may want to go back and look for clues on an episode of Lost, but we don't think people will give up their TVs.''

Though broadband technology has improved to the point where small-screen images are often crystal clear, experts think the vast majority of viewers will continue to prefer big-screen TVs, especially the mega-screen high-definition models in which they've invested thousands of dollars, at least for the next decade.

"If you can watch TV on a big-screen TV at home, you will,'' says Jon Winsell, director of online media strategy at ID Society, an interactive marketing agency in New York. "If you can't, then this new technology is an alternative. It extends web convenience to the audience that isn't home - and forgot to set the DVR.''

But even though online and cell-phone viewership is minuscule compared with regular TV, members of this new niche are hip, trendy and tend to be the 18- to 34-year-olds coveted by advertisers.

Revenue figures are hard to come by and small compared with the big bucks from mainstream ads on TV. But it's definitely a growth area for broadcast and cable networks at a time when regular viewership is declining and competition for ad dollars is rising.

At the fall presentation to advertisers, held recently in New York, CBS President Leslie Moonves said "millions of dollars'' had poured in from video streams of NCAA Final Four basketball championships in March. He declined to reveal specific figures, but 5 million visitors popped in for 15 million viewings.

Online advertisers pay a fraction of the cost of an on-air commercial, which can soar to $2 million for a spot in a top-rated show such as Grey's Anatomy. But ABC's online ads for its free streaming shows are getting a good response from the targeted young folks who have rattled the industry by skipping ads altogether.

"You're not bombarded with lots of different commercials, so there's less clutter,'' Bricker said.

Advertisers are happy to be out of the clutter, too.

"We've had one corporate sponsor per show, so the user only has to watch three 30-second spots within the hour-long show,'' Hobson said. "And 86 percent of the people responding to our feedback request have been able to recall the sponsor. That's double the recall of normal viewing.''

Nielsen Media Research, which rates TV and cable networks, does not yet track online video streaming. But ABC executives say three million viewers clicked into the free online presentations in the first three weeks the service was available.

It's safe to assume that most of ABC's online viewers were watching Lost, which is the No 1 download from iTunes.

The TV offerings most likely to be watched on computer are major sports events, such as NCAA basketball and the Olympics, and serialised prime-time dramas that appeal to younger viewers.

"This is by definition a niche audience, but it does expand the networks' brands,'' Winsell says. "Shows like Lost have a high subculture following, true fans who are semi-fanatic.''

The truly devoted portable TV folks can't live without it.

"I'm one of those people who almost exclusively watches TV on my computer,'' says Chuck Hohenstein, an English teacher at Hong-Ik University in Seoul, South Korea. "I watch live sports online here. It's the only way to see college football. Without online services, many of us expats would be without a touch of home.''

Networks have had web sites with clips and video for several years. Outtakes, cast interviews, online chats and promos are used to enhance viewers' connection to TV shows.

But the TV-to-computer ball really got rolling about a year ago when the Apple iTunes Music Store added full TV episodes to its service. ABC was the first to sign on and has had five million downloads since October 2005.

The iTunes list also includes more than 100 shows from NBC, Fox, MTV, ESPN, the Sci-Fi Channel, Comedy Central, the Disney Channel, Nickelodeon and Showtime.

The download episodes are big business for Apple. More than 15 million shows have been sold, at $1.99 a pop. Serious fans can also buy "season passes'' of Lost and other series for about $35, with new episodes available the day after telecast.

For people who have only a few shows they watch religiously, iTunes downloads are a convenient option. They can be watched anytime, they can be transported to a big-screen TV and there's no monthly cable bill. COX NEWS SERVICE

Vocabulary (in article)

space shifting - changing the format of music or a video so you can use it on another device like a computer or iPod (this is controversial because there is usually a copyright on music and videos)

hooked on - addicted to, attached to, can't stop doing it because you like it so much

sheepishly - looking a little embarassed because you did something silly or foolish

sporadic - when something stops and starts, stops and starts (not continuous or continual)

has a hard time - is difficult

TiVo - a new technology for recording TV programs so they can be watched at a later time (See Wikipedia on TiVo)

ABC - a major American television channel (See Wikipedia)

series - a TV series, weekly television shows

a smart move - a smart decision

morphs into - changes into

whisk away - quickly leave from a place, as if blown by the wind

on a bandwagon - following a trend or fad with many other people (who are on the bandwagon)

moving at breakneck speed - moving very quickly (so quickly you could break your neck)

offbeat - a little different and strange, not like the normal kind you usually see

classic TV - popular TV programs from the past like Star Trek, Cheers, Mash,
Bat Man, Gunsmoke, Gilligan's Island, Lost in Space, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, the talking horseMister Ed, The Twilight Zone, Hogan's Heroes, Dragnet, McHale's Navy, The Six Million Dollar Man, Flipper, Perry Mason, Bonanza, Policewoman, Leave it to Beaver, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Gomer Pyle...(If you are interested in this topic see Classic TV at About.com, oldtvseries.com, Archive of American Television for interviews with people who were an important part of television's history, the interviews are available for free at Google Video)

touting - trying to sell something (and persuade people that the product is worth buying)

buzz - word of mouth advertising of a product, person or idea, "passing of information by verbal means, especially recommendations, but also general information, in an informal, person-to-person manner, rather than by mass media, advertising, organized publication, or traditional marketing," uses spoken communication, blogs, message boards, and emails," (See Wikipedia on word of mouth)

supplement - in addition to, not replacing

look for clues - looking for clues to solve a mystery or puzzle (in the TV show)

broadband - broadband internet access, high speed internet with a fast reponse time, low delay (See Wikipedia)

set the DVR - change the settings on your Digital Video Recorder to record a program while you are at work, let's say, for future viewing (See Wikipedia on Digital Video Recorders)

miniscule - very small

niche market - a small specialized market (of customers with special requirements that have to be met in the product or service)

hip - cool, very modern and fashionable

coveted - many people want it

hard to come by - difficult to find

a spot - an advertising spot, time for an advertisement during a break in the television show

bombarded - thrown at you when you don't want it, unpleasant (during a war people are bombarded by bombs)

clutter - a mess, untidiness getting in the way and preventing you from doing your work efficiently (for example many things are spread all over your desk instead of putting them in their proper place)

corporate sponsor - the company paying for the advertisement

responding to our feedback request - answering the questions in their survey

[Check back shortly for more]

Answer Key:

1. What kind of devices do people space-shift television shows to?

To devices such as their home computers, PDAs, or iPods.

2. What common problem does space-shifting help overcome? (Hint: Matt Bricker in the article has this problem)

Space-shifting helps people who have schedules that conflict with their favorite TV shows to record the shows and watch them at other times.

3. What is ABC doing in a special two month marketing experiment?

ABC is allowing people to download episodes of popular TV shows to their computers. This will allow them to view the programs at their convenience when they have spare time.

4. Besides downloading a TV program what are some other ways to watch it?

You can stream the TV program from the TV network's web site or watch video or live TV on your mobile phone.

5. What kind of shows are only found online?

Classic TV shows are only found online as well as shows that are created especially for the web.

6. Are people switching from watching shows on their TV sets to watching them on their computers or iPod? Why or why not?

No, this is a supplement to normal TV viewing. Watching on a large screen high definition television is still more enjoyable.

Sometimes viewing shows on an iPod or computer is more convenient though, like when you are commuting by subway, train, or bus.

7. Is the space-shifting market large?

No, it is miniscule if compared to regular TV.

8. What are customers like in the space-shifting market?

They tend to be between 18 and 34 years old and are hip and trendy.

9. Why is the space-shifting market an attractive market for adverstisers?

Yes, the 18 to 24 year old market segment of customers that dominates this market is highly valued by advertisers.

The space-shifting market is a growing when most markets (e.g. regular viewership) are declining and competition for advertising money is increasing.

10. What recent sporting events have proven very popular with the space-shifting market recently?

The NCAA Final Four basketball championships in March.

11. What viewing behaviour makes advertising for young people difficult?

Young people typically skip ads.

12. What evidence is there that young people are less likely to skip online ads?

"ABC's online ads for its free streaming shows are getting a good response from the targeted young folks."

13. How have advertisers been able to reduce the clutter of traditional advertising with online ads?

Advertisers have used one corporate sponsor per show so viewers are more likely to recall who the sponsor was.

There is also less advertising with three 30-second spots per hour.

14. Is the space-shifting audience a large audience?

No, it is a niche audience but this doesn't mean it is important. If you add up all the niche audiences they may add up to a large audience according to the long tail school of thought in marketing.

15. What example of a niche market is cited in the article?

English teachers working in foreign countries like South Korea.

16. What started the recent interest in space-shifting markets?

The interest started about a year ago when TV shows became available for download for the iPod.

Posted by Jon Fernquest at 09:38 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

New approach to the taboo topic--'sexuality'

Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 11:55 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

More than just football

Lesson by Kaj Jordison

See “The perfect ending?” Real.Time, page 5

There has been a lot about football during this last month, and maybe especially during the last week. We have all seen the pictures of Zinedine Zidane walking of the football field after he attacked the Italian footballer Marco Materazzi. However, the story that I’ve picked today is not really about football at all. It’s about something much more important, namely the human heart.

The writer, Mr. Kong Rithdee, is using the very emotional event of the final game to introduce a discussion about race, identity and politics, and he is doing it by comparing the fateful ending of Zidane to those of movies. He mentions fairy-tale endings and the ones of existentialist movies, saying that the ending of Zidane is most existentialist.

What does that mean? What it means is that the ending of Zidane’s football career says something about our human nature and life in general. Somehow, it is true of who we are. The ending is neither the ending of a bad sports movie from Hollywood nor the ending of a “superhuman” football player, but that of a normal, ordinary man with a lot of talent.

The writer also extends this theme of man to introduce a brief discussion about politics and race, referring to France’s colonial and post-colonial past. How can a footballer like Zidane illustrate modern racial problems? Read and find out.

Vocabulary

Reading activity   

Answer the following questions to get a better understanding of the text.

1. Why does the writer think that what happened in the final game was a perfect ending?
2. A good movie or a good football match should, according to the writer, do what?
3. What is the movie Cache about?
4. How did some politicians in France use football to speak badly about coloured people?
5. What does the writer mean when he says that Marco Materazzi is not “the only one who knows how to play it” (last paragraph of the story)?

Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 10:48 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Mangrove adventure

After learning about the basic information about Bhutan, you can discuss the following questions with your friends:

Have you ever been to Krabi?
Where did you go?
What did you do?

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Thailand's world-class robot football engineers

By Jon Fernquest
[Article and Questions|Vocabulary||Answers]

In the robot world Thailand has one of the most successful football teams in the world.

Thailand's team recently placed third in the World Robocup, a sort of World Cup for robots.

Thailand's robot soccer team was built by 11 fourth-year engineering students at Chulalongkorn University (See article below).

Robots in books and movies

People began thinking about what robots could do in the future many years ago. Science Fiction writers like Issac Asimov wrote about robots in novels like I Robot in the 1950s.

Robots appeared in many movies and television programs. Lost in Space had a family robot. The Jetsons had a robot maid.

Star Wars had two adventurous robot friends R2D2 and C3PO.

Data in Star Trek is a very friendly humanoid robot who looks like a human not the metal robot we normally expect.

Despite being rather unfriendly and shooting his gun more than talking The Terminator was eventually elected governor of California in the United States.

Cyborgs, humans who are part robot, have also appeared on Television and the movies since the popular 1970s TV program The Six Million Dollar Man.

Personal Robots

Personal computers for entertainment and work were only a dream in the early 1980s.

Personal robots are only a dream now, but many people know exactly what they want their robot to do for them in the future. Some people want their children to play with robot toys; others want a robot to teach their child English.

Household chores that no one wants to do like cleaning the bathroom or washing the dishes may become work for robots. What sort of boring or difficult work would you give your personal robot to do?

If your robot has emotions it might become angry if you give it all your work. Your robot might ask not to be treated like a slave. What would you do if your robot became angry? Turn it off?

Some people already have a small family but want to make their family even bigger with robots: "I've only one child and one wife, but I could easily imagine five or six robots in the home as well.''

Other people have no family and want a robot to take care of them when they are old and sick:

"I hope to be able to afford to lease or purchase a domestic robot that not only does the household cleaning and prepare and serve my meals, but could carry me to the bathtub if I can't walk, monitor my vital signs, and if I need a medical specialist from afar, could remotely become his or her eyes, hands, and ears.''

Clearly, many people are eagerly waiting for their own personal robot.

Robots at work

Some believe that robots will liberate human beings from boring work and boring lives.

Some people say that if robots do all the boring and repetitive work, then humans can focus on caring for other people, communicating better, and controlling negative emotions such as anger. Some say that after the current "Information Economy" there will be a "Caring Economy" which robots will help create.

Robots can sometimes help humans do very difficult work. Surgeons need steady hands, but human hands shake when they are tired and need to rest. Robot hands never shake and can work in very small incisions.

Robots do what they are told so they are less likely to commit war crimes, take bribes, or commit human rights violations.

Some say we won't have to pay taxes anymore. Let the robots work and pay taxes.

Clearly, many feel that robots will be a panacea in the future workplace.

Dangers of robot attachment

Nowadays, parents are sometimes upset when their daughter marries the wrong person (for example a lazy man, a gambler, a drinker, a womanizer...).

What if your daughter married a robot? How would you feel? Maybe you could program the robot not to do all those bad things? Then everyone might want their daughter to marry a robot. What would happen to the human race if women all married robots?

How close a friend should you become with your robot?

We probably won't have to answer this question for many years. Thank goodness.

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Article
ROBOCUP 2006

Thais taste cup success Plasma Z, the Thai robot soccer team from Chulalongkorn University, ended the recent World Robocup 2006 competition in Germany in third place and also picked up the Best Technical Challenge award.

More than 20 teams from around the world participated in the event, where each team of five robots played football against each other using FIFA rules.

In total, Plasma Z won five matches, had one draw and one loss. They beat Field Ranger (the second seed of the event) from Singapore 2:1. Plasma-Z was created by 11 fourth-year students from the Engineering Faculty of Chulalongkorn University.

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Vocabulary (in article)

household chores - work around the house to keep it clean like sweeping the yard, cleaning the bathroom, washing the dishes (parents often make their children do these things)
monitor vital signs - checking temperature, pulse, blood pressure, and breathing to see if it is abnormal
medical specialist - a specially trained doctor who gives special treatment (heart - cardiologist, bone surgery - orthopedic surgeon, eye, ear, nose, and throat...)

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Answer Key:

[Check back shortly for answers]

Posted by Jon Fernquest at 08:57 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Is it a simpler or more confusing? 

How'z ur wkend? What r u doing? Did u hv a gr8t day? Theez sentenzes are ritten by uezing the sms lingo 

(paragraph 1) wouldn't it make more sense to spell words the way they sound?

(paragraph 6) They say the bee celebrates the ability of a few students to master a difficult system that stumps many users who could do just as well if spelling were simpler.

(paragraph 12) Learning English requires rote memory rather than logic, he said.

(paragraph 19) Carnegie tried to move things along in 1906 when he helped establish and fund the spelling board. He also used simplified in his correspondence, and asked everyone who reported to him to do the same.

(paragraph 24) But for all the high profile and scholarly efforts, the idea of funny-looking but simpler spelling didn't captivate the message then--or now.

Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 11:23 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

A little bit of France

Lesson by Kaj Jordison

See “Gallic charms”, Real.Time, page 12

This is my first lesson on a Friday, and I thought that I would start out with a piece about a new restaurant in Lang Suan. Just reading the review, written by Brian Kent, awakes the taste buds.

   The story is fairly long, but not necessarily too complicated. A reading tip is to avoid spending too much time trying to figure out the many dishes that are served, but to focus on the gist of the story. Of course, the food served is the essence of a restaurant and is central to a story about it. However, as an English lesson based on a review, you should pay the most attention to the vocabulary and phrases surrounding and describing the dishes and the eatery.

   What makes the story really interesting, at least to me, is the person behind the new restaurant, Mr. Jai Lafon, and the way he has set up the place. He arrived in Thailand all the way from Europe, where he studied in a culinary college, and still managed to create a nice little romantic piece of France in the middle of busy Bangkok.

   It’s always nice to read and hear about people that have followed their dreams and made them come true. Read the story by the aid of the vocabulary list, and then try to answer the True/False questions in the reading activity written below.

Vocabulary

Reading activity

Below are ten True/False questions about the text. Try to answer them first without consulting the newspaper. If memory isn’t enough, go through the story one more time and scan the text for the answers.

1. Jai Lafon studied at a special college about foods.
2. Jai opened a restaurant before his friend did.
3. It was easy for Jai to find a good location for his restaurant.
4. The French dishes served are very expensive.
5. There is a lot of country-style cooking on the menu.
6. The writer’s main choice was fish.
7. The writer’s companion ordered the goose liver.
8. Mainly Thai music was played in the restaurant.
9. The dessert they ordered is an ancient French dish.
10. It’s much easier to get to the restaurant from Soi Tonson than Lang Suan.

Extra activity

All of the dishes served in the story are more western than Thai, and might be brand new to many readers. So, as an extra activity, read the text one more time and try to recreate the menu the two customers went through. Once you have all the dishes on paper, search on the internet to find out what they really are. Do they look tasty to you? Would you pay what the writers paid for the same kind of food?

   If your don’t have access to the internet, then, as an extra activity in class, imagine that you are the owner of your own restaurant, and write a personalised menu – compare in class and note differences and similarities.

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Enchanted Kingdom

After learning about the basic information about Bhutan, role play as a travel agent and a tourist with your friend or classmate. Use these questions to help get you started:

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Movies in the palm of your hand

Apple Computers and Steve Jobs are trying to get full length feature films added to the array of videos you can download and watch on your iPod.

Like any new innovation, there are people who stand to lose from this new idea. Stores that sell lots of DVDs like Wal-Mart will definitely lose. IPod movies will cannibalize the market for DVDs, drawing customers away from DVDs to the ease of the iPod.

Reading Questions

1. How much are people paying for music videos from iTunes? (Note: inference required)

2. How much are people paying for TV programs from iTunes?

3. How much does Jobs think people will pay to download movies from iTunes?

4. When does Jobs hope to have a deal with movie companies by?

5. What company was the first to offer TV shows for the iPod?

6. What special relationship does Jobs have with Disney that might help him make a business deal with Disney?

7. What started this special relationship?

8. Are Apple's negotiations with movie companies public or private?

9. This isn't the first time the idea of selling movies for the iPod has come up. What is different about this time?

10. What major problem do they have to overcome in negotiations?

11. Will there be a single price for movie downloads like there is for music downloads?

12. Is the current resolution of iPod videos high enough to watch on a computer or TV?

13. What other products is Apple planning for the near future?

Article
Jobs wants movie role

New York - Consumers have been willing to spend 99 cents to buy Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie'' or $1.99 for an episode of Desperate Housewives from iTunes.

Now Steve Jobs is betting they will also pay $9.99 to download The Godfather to play on their iPods.

For weeks, Apple Computer has been talking with executives at all the major studios - including Walt Disney, 20th Century Fox,Warner Brothers and Universal Studios - about adding movies to its popular iTunes music store, several people involved in the negotiations said.

Jobs, who is Apple's chief executive, has been participating in the negotiations and telling studio executives in Los Angeles that he wants to have a deal in place by the fall, people involved in the negotiations said.

Disney, which was the first studio to put some TV shows (like Lost and Desperate Housewives) on iTunes, is also expected to be the first to put some movies on Apple's online service, the people involved in the talks said.

Moreover, Jobs will attend his first Disney board meeting later this month. He became a director when the company acquired Pixar Animation Studios, where he had been a founder and chief executive.

An Apple spokeswoman said that the company would not comment on what she called rumours. The individuals asked not to be identified because the negotiations were confidential.

It is not the first time the studios and Jobs have discussed selling movies online. But the recent talks are more serious.

While Jobs is getting resistance from some studios, they are more open to the idea since most now offer their television shows on iTunes.

"Steve wants to get this done, and the studios want to reach an agreement, too,'' said one inside person.

But people involved in the negotiations said there were several potential snags, including fears about piracy and Jobs' proposal to charge a flat price of $9.99 for movies already sold on DVD.

Studios are concerned about preserving relationships with traditional partners, including theaters and retailers. In particular, one person involved said a price of $9.99 for a movie would undercut the price Wal-Mart charges for DVDs.

Under Jobs' proposed plan, there will be several prices for movies, depending on when they have their debut on iTunes. The prices have not yet been determined, but some studios are worried about releasing movies too close to their theatrical release dates. The current window for a DVD release is four months after a movie hits theaters.

"Everyone is pushing back on this,'' said another person apprised of the talks.

The reports of Apple's discussions with movie studios have renewed speculation that Apple is preparing to offer a living room-oriented entertainment device later this year, in time for the Christmas season.

The TV programs and music videos sold on iTunes are low-resolution videos appropriate for viewing on the iPod. But they offer inadequate display quality when viewed on a Macintosh computer.

Apple has over the last year introduced its hand-held remote control and a television-oriented on-screen control system called Front Row. The current Apple video system, which competes with Microsoft's Media Center PC software, is now oriented toward Apple's computers.

There has been speculation during the last year that Jobs is planning to use the Internet to deliver high-definition video directly to consumers. NYT

Vocabulary

cannibalize - when the introduction of a new product reduces the sales of an older product

episode - one story in a series of TV programs

have a deal in place - finish making a deal

confidential - private and secret

open to the idea - willing to at least think and talk about the idea

snags - problems

charge a flat price - fix the price

preserving relationships with traditional partners - trying not to do anything that would make the people you are already working with angry and stop working with you

undercut the price - charge a lower price (to be more competitive)

debut - first appearance (like when a product is first introduced into a market or a movie starts playing in the theatres)

theatrical release dates - the dates when a movie is first shown in movie theatres

Everyone is pushing back on this - the people who Jobs is negotiating with want later release dates

apprised of something - information or a notice has been given to someone

renewed speculation - people have started to talk about what might happen next again

living room-oriented - used in the living room (like a television set)

low-resolution videos - video without a lot of detail in the picture (viewed in a small size it is okay, but in a large size it will be blurred)

high-definition video - video with lots of detail, high resolution video

Answer Key:

1. How much are people paying for music videos from iTunes? (Note: inference required)

About 99 cents (about 40 baht).

2. How much are people paying for TV programs from iTunes?

About $1.99 (about 80 baht).

3. How much does Jobs think people will pay to download movies from iTunes?

About $9.99 [about 400 baht].

4. When does Jobs hope to have a deal with movie companies by?

He hopes to have a deal by fall season this year. Fall lasts from about September 23 to December 21 in the United States.

5. What company was the first to offer TV shows for the iPod?

Disney was the first. Disney is also likely to be the first to offer movies.

6. What special relationship does Jobs have with Disney that might help him make a business deal with Disney?

Jobs is on the Disney board of directors.

7. What started this special relationship?

Jobs joined the board of directors when Disney bought Pixar Animation, a company that Jobs founded.

8. Are Apple's negotiations with movie companies public or private?

They are private (confidential). We only have rumours.

9. This isn't the first time the idea of selling movies for the iPod has come up. What is different about this time?

This time the negotiations are more serious. Movie companies are more open to the idea because they are already selling TV programs for the iPod. Both Jobs and the movie companies want to make a deal.

10. What major problem do they have to overcome in negotiations?

Movie companies want to preserve good relationships with the customers they already have. If they undercut the price, traditional movie buyers will shift from big retailers like Wal-Mart to iTunes.

11. Will there be a single price for movie downloads like there is for music downloads?

No, there will be many prices that depend on factors like release date (debut).

12. Is the current resolution of iPod videos high enough to watch on a computer or TV?

No, iPod videos are currently low resolution and the display quality is not enough to view on a computer or television.

13. What other products is Apple planning for the near future?

There are rumours that Apple will offer a larger entertainment device for the living room in time for Christmas. They also might use the internet to deliver very high quality video.

Posted by Jon Fernquest at 09:48 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

LD: Not so discouraging as it may seem

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