Day: April 1, 2013

Joyeux Noel

Daphne Psaledakis1 Comment

Years ago, I remember watching a French movie about war. In all honesty, that’s about all I remember, except for this one scene in the middle of a snowy field with an officer in blue standing in the middle. The actors spoke in French, and being fluent in French myself, I followed along as best I could. What I didn’t quite catch, I would refer to the english subtitles in order to interpret.

Because I was so focused on understanding what the characters were saying, I missed a lot of what was actually happening in the film. I do remember that it was amazing though.

This week in A.P. World History, we were assigned group projects. My partners and I were assigned a prompt asking us to compare what our textbook told us about WWI to the song “Christmas in the Trenches” by John McCutcheon. As I listened to the song, I suddenly realized that the scene being set by the singer was one somewhat familiar to the movie I had seen years before, Joyeux Noel.

This week, my research has helped me to understand why that movie was so amazing. I had no idea that it was reenacting the Christmas Truce of 1914, where soldiers on a battlefield during WWI called an unofficial truce for the holidays.

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The Rolling Stone is Wrong. Part Four.

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I’m almost done with these lists, I swear. However, there are still a couple of lists that need to be corrected. Featured this time in part four of this series is why their list of the greatest albums is wrong.

The Actual Greatest Albums of All Time

1.   The Rolling Stone says: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band- The Beatles

      Jack Beverly says: Pet Sounds-The Beach Boys

Slightly before Brian Wilson went insane, he and the rest of the Beach Boys made what can be described in no other way than a pure masterpiece. Wilson produced this album in such a way where all of the instruments come together to make one pure and unique sound that flows all the way through the album. I cannot emphasize how unique and incredible the production is on this album.

2.   The Rolling Stone says: Pet Sounds-The Beach Boys

      Jack Beverly says: Exile on Main Street-The Rolling Stones

This is quite possibly the greatest rock n roll album ever made. Even though the album was made by several British people, it sounds so authentically Southern and true. Songs like “Shake your hips” and “Ventilator Blues” are jsut a few of the songs that get stuck in your head after hearing them. Plus, this album has some of the greatest, and most rushed artwork in music history.

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3.   The Rolling Stone says: Revolver – The Beatles

      Jack Beverly says: The White Album-The Beatles

It’s pretty hard to find fault with this album, or with the Beatles in general. The only reason I had a hard time choosing this album over anything else they’ve done is simply because it’s longer. Rubber Soul and Abby Road were easy contenders, but, once again, The White album is just longer. It is a pure masterpiece of the Beatles, and truly showcases all the were.

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