In the previous entry, I have mentioned that Rowan Atkinson is one of my all-time favourite comedians. He is my favourite actor not only is he incredibly talented, but he is also so awfully devoted in his acting preparations, somehow at a level similar to Michael Jackson's in the documentary "THIS IS IT".
I have always loved watching Mr Bean's TV series and movies, but I have never thought about how educational it can be. Until this year's September, I accidentally came across Mr Bean's Official Channel on Youtube and watched a couple of clips, and the next thing I knew, I was incorporating the movie clips into my lessons for Form 1 students!
And all of a sudden, my love for the TV drama Mr Bean was rekindled and I just couldn't resist and got myself a DVD set of Mr Bean from HMV while it is on Christmas sale (HMV is selling it at $229)
Not everyone appreciates the unusual talents of Mr Bean, and some even hated him, for his actions are dumb and silly, but I don't quite fully agree with that -- I consider Mr Bean as rather smart and creative! Even Rowan Atkinson himself has described Bean as “a 9-year-old boy, with an apparent lack of worldly experience, but an ingenuity that is quite clever in dealing with problems presented to him.”[1]
To a certain extent, I do think some audience do need a certain appreciation of the actor before liking the character he plays. As for me, I have never loved Mr Bean more after I saw the making of Mr Bean -- all that detailed preparation and thinking in every little movement of Mr Bean just stun me like a bolt. I tried finding it in Google Video and Youtube with no luck, so I guess if you want to learn more about the making of Mr Bean, you will need to get a set of DVDs like I did. But I do have some clips for you to see the talents of Rowan Atkinson from his Rowan Atkinson Live, released in 1992. [2]
looter -- sb who (usually of large numbers of people during a violent event) steals from shops and houses
pillager -- sb who rob goods by force, especially in time of war; plunder.
fornicator -- sb who has sex with someone who you are not married to
adulterers -- a married man who has sex with a woman who is not his wife, or a man who has sex with another man's wife
Guillotine -- a device, invented in France, consisting of a sharp blade in a tall frame which was used in the past for killing criminals by cutting off their heads. Here it refers to people who died until this device
Atheists -- someone who believes that God or gods do not exist
nitwit -- a silly or stupid person, having the brain of a nit (See Nit-picker).
damnation -- the act of sending someone to hell or the state of being in hell
relief -- a feeling of happiness that something unpleasant has not happened or has ended. Here it refers to going to the toilet.
Adolf Hilter -- (Click the name and read up)
Note: Christians and Jews conflict from Wikipedia, quoting "Later in medieval Western Europe, further persecutions of Jews in the name of Christianity occurred, notably during the Crusades—when Jews all over Germany were massacred—and a series of expulsions from England, Germany, France, and, in the largest expulsion of all, Spain and Portugal after the Reconquista (the Catholic Reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula), where both unbaptized Sephardic Jews and the ruling Muslim Moors were expelled."
Like Mr Bean, Rowan has the amazing ability to create fun and joy for the audience without saying a single word.
Watch his amazing performance on this invisible piano here:
The ingenious Rowan Atkinson has an extraordinary career which began at the age of 17 . He graduated from the very prestigious Queen's College of the Oxford University, in which he met his dear friend writer plus crucial work-partner Richard Curtis, and was spotted at the 1976 Festival by television producer John Lloyd, who went on to produce him in his first starring role[3]. After that, Rowan and his team has produced numerous amount of TV series, dramas, sitcoms, movies and most importantly, unlimited amount of joy and fun for over 30 years! (Which I believe, for many many more decades to come)
If you see some of Rowan's interview, you will discover that he does not easily satisfy with his work. In Dailymail.co.uk dated 2nd November 2008, Rowan said he has only been in one film that he is totally proud of, and that was Four Weddings and a Funeral, which was written by his close friend, John Curtis. I have not watched the entire movie, but I did find this part rather funny (difficult to understand if you do not know the actual wordings a priest should say).
On the 20th November 2009, the Digitalspy.co.uk reported that Rowan is in talk of making the sequel of Johnny English (discussed in the previous article)!!! I sure will be one of the first to watch this movie once it is out!
Resources:
[1] http://www.clown-ministry.com/index_1.php/articles/mr_bean_the_whole_bean/#ixzz0YVLA3xXr
[2] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0163186/
[3] http://web.archive.org/web/20041204231354/www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/talent/a/atkinson_rowan.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowan_Atkinson
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrBean
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UbqZ_oN5do
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=47253&dict=CALD
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/pillagers
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=30657&dict=CALD
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=1161&dict=CALD
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=34897&dict=CALD
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=53812&dict=CALD
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=19498&dict=CALD
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=66721&dict=CALD
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=1087203&dict=CALD
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hilter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Jews
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/news/a187859/atkinson-in-talks-for-johnny-english-2.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1082470/Ive-film-I-totally-proud-confesses-comedian-Rowan-Atkinson.html