Tuesday, September 14, 2010

#1304 Leaves Of Grass, Unsolved Vs Unresolved, Water Pistol Robbery Fail, Inexplicably Popular


Show 1304 Tuesday 14 September
Watch today's show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Hi, I’m Sarah, welcome to The Daily English Show. Today’s movie is called Leaves of Grass.
Wikipedia says this movie was featured in the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival and it’s about to be released in the United States.

It’s an American black comedy starring Edward Norton. He plays identical twins who have very different characters so it reminds me a bit of Jethro and Van in the NZ TV show Outrageous Fortune.

One of the twins, Bill, is a philosophy professor and he gets tricked into going back to his hometown to help his brother.

In the scene we’re studying today, Bill is talking to one of his brother’s friends, Janet.

Bill tells Janet that he hasn’t talked to his mother for a while and Janet says: It’s not good to have unresolved problems with your mother.

Unresolved means not solved or answered.

There’s also the world unsolved, which also means not solved.

So what’s the difference between unresolved and unsolved?

I’m not sure there is much of a difference. Feel free to tell me if I’m wrong. But I think it could be just a question of collocation.

We usually say: an unsolved murder or an unsolved crime.

But if it’s a family or personal problem, then it’s usually an unresolved issue or an unresolved problem.


* This scene is also in IMDB here.



STICK NEWS


A young man walked into a supermarket in Tauranga and demanded money from the store owner.
The owner said the man pulled something out of his pocket but she could see it wasn’t a real gun, it was a water pistol.
Instead of giving the man money, the store owner called for her husband, who was in a back room. The man then ran away.
The owner is quoted as saying: I wasn't frightened ... he was very unprofessional.

And that was Stick News for Tuesday the 14th of September.
Kia ora.


Everybody be cool, this is a robbery!


LOL! You want to have a water fight?


Hey, honey, want to join in a water fight?


Kids these days …
sigh



Word of the Day

Today’s word is inexplicably.

In today’s movie, Bill is telling someone that he works with that his brother has been murdered.
And the person he’s talking to asks: How?
And Bill says: He got shot with a crossbow. They’re inexplicably popular where I come from.

A crossbow is a kind of weapon.
And inexplicable means: that cannot be understood or explained.
And the example here is: for some inexplicable reason he gave up a fantastic job.

So obviously Bill doesn’t like crossbows.

I did a search for inexplicably, and I found an article called: The 5 most inexplicably popular reality shows.

The writer thinks that these five shows are very stupid, he calls them lame and vapid … so he thinks it’s impossible to understand why they’re so popular.



conversations with sarah
#835 You teach English?

Step 1: Repeat Bill’s lines.
Step 2: Read Bill’s lines and talk to Janet.

Bill You teach English?

Janet I do.

Bill My mother used to do that for a while.

Janet She must be very proud of you.

Bill I haven’t talked to her in quite a while.

Janet Why not?

Bill That is a very complicated subject.

Janet You’re some world famous thinker …

Bill Hardly.

Janet Some minorly famous singer. And you don’t let your mother enjoy that?

Bill That’s correct.

Janet It’s not good to have unresolved problems with your mother.



links



music

show start
artist: Kevin MacLeod
track: Future Cha Cha
from: Brooklyn, NY, United States

WOD start
artist: DJ iPep's
album: Home Mix 2007
track: Game Toy
from: EVREUX, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

cws start
artist: Kevin MacLeod
track: The Jazz Woman
from: Brooklyn, NY, United States

qa start
artist: ioeo
album: triptracks
track: triptrack2
from: Saint Raphael, France

qa bgm
artist: TSF
album: Mystic Opus
track: Sunny Day
from:

Toulouse, France

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