The Easter week is underway and there are traditions and religious contemplation to consume our thoughts. We review the Reserruction detective thriller Risen, examine the narrative in the musical Jesus Christ Superstar and explore the challenges in plying Jesus in The Passion of the Christ.
There is also the Easter conversation podcast and the Easter special for Interesting Etymologies.
Not to be forgotten are the 150th anniversary of the Royal Albert Hall and the pranks and jokes of April Fools Day.
If that is not enough to satisfy you then you can explore the bookswap library or taste test our reccomened beer of the week!
Dead Air Podcast : And the beat goes on
The Bulldogz team sit down to discuss the Easter traditions in England and Scotland and speak with some locals about Easter week in Zaragoza. The podcast includes a transcrpt, vocabulary list and activity sheet.
Find the show here
You can find the Bulldogz Dead Air podcast on Apple, Spotify and Anchor platforms among others. Subscribe on your favourite platform to never miss a show!
Interesting Etymologies : Easter Special
Charly Taylor explores the etymology of Easter and other related words from this season, and as ever, he takes us on a surprising journey. The etymology of Bumpkin and Cockney is covered in this whirwind journey into language.
Find the programme here
You can find Interesting Etymologies as part of the Bulldogz Dead air podcast on Apple, Spotify and Anchor platforms among others. Subscribe on your favourite platform to never miss a show!
That same old story : Jesus Christ Superstar
The 1970s musical is often scorned as a telling of the Easter story but it takes a different appraoch to the events, putting the actions and motivations of the villans of the piece under the microscope and the humanity of Jesus himself. Merrick explores the much maligned film in this article here
The Price of Playing the Passion
The story of the Passion of the Christ is not just the telling of the Easter story, the behind the scenes testimony of the film is itself a powerful and disturbing experience. To listen to Jim Caviezel, the actor who played Jesus, speak of being struck by lightening on set, being accidentally scourged during shooting, suffering pneumonia and hypothermia, having his shoulder separated, actually suffering asphyxiation on the cross and then undergoing heart surgery after filming; is to be spellbound by the commitment he had to the role. He confesses to not wanting to deliver «the passion of the mediocre»; but as you sit in your comfortable chair wincing at the visceral and vindictive violence on the screen, Jim might be forgiven for asking you to stare it down.
Read more of his powerful testimony here
Columbo in Sandals : Risen
A Biblical detective story : Risen tells the story of the Messiah manhunt, a Roman Tribune is tasked with finding the body of Jesus as claims of his resurrection threaten the power base of the Roman occupation and the Jewish priesthood.
Originally pitched as an unofficial sequel to Mel Gibson’s «The Passion of the Christ» this is a thoughtful and well constructed telling of the tale of the events in Jerusalem and beyond. A new angle on the relentlessly fascinating tale of the humble carpenter that changed the world.
Read the review here
Royal Albert Hall
This week the Royal Albert Hall celebrates 150 years since opening. Often considered an elitist high art venue, nothing could be further from the truth. From inception, the hall was to provide a space for the triumph of arts and science. We look at the colourful history of the events hosted in “The Nation’s Village Hall”
Read the article here
April Fools Day
The first of April is the original fake news day. Anglo Saxon culture has long considered the first of the fourth month the day of pranks and jokes, much like the 28th of December in Spain.
Read about some of the biggest hoaxes in history here
Bookswap Reccomendation:
David Safier’s : Apocalypse Next Tuesday
Cataclysmic events are nigh in Malente, Germany. Satan (a dead ringer for George Clooney) is on the prowl, recruiting horsemen for next week’s armageddon – and in a boring, provincial place like this, he’s apparently spoiled for choice. Meanwhile a gentle, sandal-wearing carpenter Joshua encounters, by chance, a washed up thirty something singleton Marie.
Beer of the week: Weihenstephaner Korbinian
Korbinian is named after Saint Corbinian, a Frankish Bishop. He is said to have suffered a bear attack on the road to Rome and the wild animal ate his pack mule. The Bishop then tamed the bear and got it to carry his pack to Rome and back before releasing him back to the wild.
The bavarians know what they are doing when they make beer, and this is no different, check out the full review here.
