My Science School

          Hollywood is situated in the north-west of Los Angeles, California. It has been the centre of the American film industry. It has an ideal sunny climate and a varied terrain – most suited for film industry.

          Supposedly one of the richest and most glamourous places on earth, Hollywood’s greatest days were in the 1930s and 1940s. In 1908 one of its first feature films ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ was completed. It was shot in Chicago. By the end of 1911, more than 15 film producing companies had sprung upon the area. Some of the famous film personalities in Hollywood, before World War I, have been Charlie Chaplin, Samuel Goldwyn, Douglas Fairbanks and Cecil B. Mille. The 20th Century-Fox, Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer, Paramount Pictures, Columbia, Warner Brothers etc. were among its greatest film producing companies.

          However with the advent of ‘talkies’, many famous stars of the silent era were virtually forced to retire. But the greatest threat to Hollywood came with the introduction of television in the late 1940s. Many film companies had to pull down their shutters. This brought a great change in Hollywood. By the early 60s, Hollywood had been supplying about 80% of the programmes to US Television network.

          Some of the other highlights of Hollywood are the Hollywood Bowl (a natural amphitheatre), the Pilgrimage Play Amphitheatre and Greek Theatre in Griffith Park, Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and the California Art Club.

          Hollywood has carved out its present place in the map of world cinema through all round cinematic activities. Its use of latest and advanced technology in film-making makes it the trade leader. 

          Music is an art that permeates every human society. We have all listened to the soothing music of a piano or the strumming of a guitar and experienced a sense of thrill. Music is mainly of two types: vocal and instrumental. Vocal music involves harmonious combination of words and depends upon the sweetness of the singer’s voice. Instrumental music is that part of music which is produced by musical instruments. In a larger context dance is also considered as a part of music.

          Musical instruments are classified as follows: (a) Woodwinds (b) Brass (c) Percussion (d) Strings (e) Keyboard and (f) Electrical and electronic types. These classes are useful in grouping instruments in a general way for the kind of sounds they produce, even though woodwind instruments are not necessarily made of wood, nor are brass instruments of metal. 

Woodwind instruments: The flute, clarinet, piccolo etc are examples of woodwind instruments. In these the vibrating length of the air column is shortened by opening lateral side holes in succession. Sound is generated by different means. In flute and piccolo, the player blows across a hole near one end in such a way as to cause periodic puffs of air to enter the tube. These puffs excite the air column longitudinally and sound is produced. Control of holes controls the tone of sound.

Brass instruments: The horn, cornet, saxhorn, euphonium etc fall in this category. A typical brass instrument consists of a cup shaped mouth piece, a slightly tapered mouth pipe, cylindrical tubing with valves and a bell. Puffs of air are introduced by the player, via vibrating lips stretched over the mouthpiece. Different tones are produced by tensioning the lips to incite different modes of vibration.

Percussion instruments: Instruments such as the timpani (kettle drums) and xylophone are called percussion instruments because the sound is produced by a blow or beating. Some percussion instruments such as drums, cymbals and triangles are useful for rhythmic effects.

Stringed instruments: Guitar, harp, violin, viola etc are all stringed instruments. For guitar and harp, strings are set into vibration by plucking. For violin and viola the vibration is usually initiated by bowing: 

Keyboard instruments: Instruments such as the celesta, pipe organ, accordion and piano are put in this category because the respective vibrating pipes, reeds and strings in these instruments are selected by use of keys in a keyboard.

Electrical and electronic instruments: Musical instruments described above become quasi-electrical instruments by the addition of a microphone, an amplifier and a loudspeaker. A vibration pick-up can be used to generate an electrical signal from the vibration of the string. This is the case with electric guitars and electric piano. Electronic circuits have been developed which produce musical sounds. During the last 30 years, tremendous progress has been made in developing electronic musical systems controlled by computers.

               Oscar awards are annual awards given by the United States Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for excellent and outstanding achievement in various branches of film-making. The major awards are for best leading and supporting actor and actress, best direction, best screen play and best firm. Another special Oscar award is given for the best life-time achievement. These awards are considered the most prestigious international awards in the field of world cinema.

               The award was instituted by the Academy on 16 May 1929 and named after Oscar Pierce of Texas who was a wheat and fruit grower. The Academy was founded by Louis B. Mayer in 1927 with an objective to prevent the creation of a union of actors and artisans. Another aim was to improve the image of film industry by issuing awards for merit and distinction. Originally the award was intended to be a modest one with citations within the Hollywood film industry. But the importance of the award kept on increasing as broad media coverage generated widespread popular interest. Oscar award winning movies assured box-office success as was noticed from the increasing revenue of winning movies. Labelling of an Oscar worked like a trademark for the commercial success of a film.

               The US Academy of Motion Pictures has an elected membership of some 3,000 film-workers who are considered to have reached the top in the industry or in their own field of specialization. Out of these members, specialists in 13 sections select the winning nominations, normally five in each category. A gold statuette known as Oscar is given to the winners in an annual ceremony in Los Angeles. The gold statuette is 13.5 inch long designed by. Cedric Gibbons. It is a gold-plated naked male figure that clutches a sword and stands on a reel of film with five holes – each representing a branch of the Academy.

 

Continue reading "What are Oscar Awards? "

As old as Roman times, Spanish wild bulls were hunted by men with axes and lances who played with the beasts before killing them. The concept of bull fighting thus originated from those ancient ages.

Bull fighting is a popular sport in Spain, Portugal, Southern France and Latin America. This sport was first introduced by the Moors in the 11th century and it was taken over by the aristocratic professionals, particularly in Spain and Latin American countries, in the 18th century.

It is a very exciting sport and is highly enjoyed by people. In this ‘sport’, a bull, specially bred for the purpose, fights a man in the arena. In modern bull fighting, the fighter is called a ‘Matador’. He makes use of a red cloth to make the bull angry. When he waves the cloth, the bull is excited and attacks the fighter. Since the bulls are colour blind they can’t distinguish between colours; the popular belief that only red colour can excite a bull is not correct. Simply waving of a cloth of any colour can excite the bull. In Spain the sport is called “Corrida de Torros”.

The greatest Matadors of the 20th century have been Rodolfa Gaona, Armillita Chico and Carlos Arruza from Mexico. Belmonte, Joselito, Dominga Orgata and Manlete from Spain are also recognized as daring and graceful bull fighters.

The modern bull-fighting descends from the earlier customs that originated during the 18th century. Today it has more to do with the skill of the Matador than with the killing of a bull. He must be graceful and daring in his movements and able to thrill the crowd by playing as near to the bulls horns as possible.

The best Matadors are often gored by bulls and perhaps as many as a third of the greatest of them have been killed in the ring.

 

          Pop songs have been a craze with the youngsters over the past few decades. Its ever increasing mass popularity has produced a breed of pop stars at different times who have entertained the music lovers in their own distinct styles. Elvis Presley was one of the first ‘pop’ stars – a rock ‘n’ roll singer whose appearance on stage could create a rage among the audience. Rock ‘n’ Roll was a form of dancing and the singers danced to the rhythmic beat of their music. Presley’s popularity was at the peak in the 1950s and 1960s with hits like ‘Blue Suede Shoes’, ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ and ‘His latest Flame’.

          Born in 1935, Elvis came from a poor white family of East Tupelo, Mississippi in the south of America. He spent much of his childhood in Memphis, Tennessee. As a teenager, he spent a great deal of his time with black musicians. In 1953, on his mother’s birthday, he himself paid money to record his songs at Sun records in Memphis. The owner of the recording studio liked his unusual mixture of country, blues and gospel styles and offered him professional recording work.

          In 1955, he was signed on by a big recording company. He achieved instant international fame though his popularity was limited to only the younger generations. His first local hit was, ‘That’s All Right’, in 1954 and he created a sensation by swivelling his hips while singing. Many people were shocked to see his wiggling hips. It outraged the adults but entertained the teenagers. He sang loudly with a strong rhythm.

          His mega hits like ‘Hound Dog’ and ‘Jailhouse Rock’ had made him a national hero by the year 1956. He was popularly recognized as the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.

          Elvis’s music had tremendously influenced the later day pop singers such as the Beatles. By the mid-1960s the Beatles had started reigning the world of rock music. But Presley continued his recording spree along with live performances. He had eventually recorded 94 gold singles and over 40 gold albums. He also starred in 27 films, earning over one million US dollars for every role.

          He was always abnormally anxious about his health and took large number of pills. These resulted in death due to heart failure in 1977.

 

            The art of painting is as old as the human civilization. It is considered as one of the most creative form of all arts. During different periods of history, different styles of painting were evolved and each type had its own breed of great painters. Impressionism is one such style of painting which was first used by some French artists in the 1870s’. All paintings of this type give an impression of something, not an exact picture of it.

            The name impressionism came from Claude Monet’s painting Impression: Sunrise, which was exhibited in 1874 at the first impressionist exhibition. The painters used dabs of pure colours to show objects as they appear in natural lights. They also made use of blobs (drops of liquid colour) and strokes (single movement of a brush). They didn’t paint details as exactly as most other artists did. Another important feature of the impressionists was that they didn’t like painting in a studio, rather they preferred to paint outdoors in natural light. Light was of primary importance to them. Sometimes they painted the same scene several times as the light on it changed throughout the day.

            The impressionists hold the view that the principal element in a picture is the light. They followed the principle of simultaneous vision. This means that the human eye will focus only on one small part of any scene at any time and the details within that part will be sharp. Over the rest of the scene details will be less clear. Among the prominent impressionists the foremost are Camille Pissarro and Alfred Sisley, apart from Monet.

            Another important form of painting that began in the 1920s, by the French writer Andre Breton was called Surrealism. This art represented the things in people’s psychological state – hidden deep in people’s mind, or just strange, disturbing ideas and objects, bizarre and sometimes abstract things. Surrealist paintings portrayed the curious distorted world of dreams which Freud thought so important in his psychological studies.

 

            The Duke of Beaufort started the game of badminton on his estate in Gloucestershire. On one wet day in 1873, when the Duke wanted to entertain his guests, he improvised the game by placing a string in between to hit shuttle cocks over it. The guests were very delighted with this game, and they began to circulate it. In the beginning it was known as the ‘game from Badminton’ and later on Badminton became its official name.

            As per the Royal Court records of U.K., badminton was first played in the 12th century. Some say that it was first played in England in the 17th century. But most sport historians are unanimous in the view that badminton originated in India centuries ago from where it was exported to England and then spread to other parts of the world. In India it was first played in Poona and was called Poone. Around 1870 some British army officers, who were stationed in India, introduced the game to some friends in England.

            In 1893 the first Badminton Association was formed in England. It formed laws based on Poona rules of 1876. National Badminton Championship was first organized in England in 1899. This championship included men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles. The first International Championship was played in 1902 between England and Ireland. The International Badminton Federation, the world-governing body of the sport, was formed in 1934. Sir George Thomas was elected as its first president. He continued as the chairman for 21 years.

            How is this game played? Badminton is a game played in court with lightweight rackets and a shuttlecock which is a small cork hemisphere with 14 to 16 feathers attached and weighing about 5 gms. Badminton competitions are usually played indoors because even light wind can affect the shuttle’s course. The court is 13.4 m (44 ft) long and 5.2 m (17 ft) wide for singles, 6.1 m (20 ft) wide for doubles. A 1.5 m (15 ft) high net stretches across the width of the court at its centre. Play involves hitting the shuttle back and forth across the net without letting it touch the ground, within the boundaries of the court. The doubles and men’s singles game consists of 15 or 21 points. The women’s singles game consists of 11 points.

            International supremacy is determined by the Thomas Cup instituted in 1948. The Uber Cup championship is for women only and decides the women’s International Championship.

 

          Pentathlon is a five part competition for athletes involving five different events. The name pentathlon has come from two Greek words: pente meaning five and athlon meaning contest. In pentathlon each participant must take part in all the five different events. The one who has the highest aggregate score is selected as the winner.

          In ancient Greece and Rome the chosen events were ones thought to test all the strength and skills of an athlete. The five events in those days were wrestling. Foot-racing, jumping, javelin throw and discus throw. Javelin was a light spear and discus was a flat plate made of stone or metal. The player had to compete in all the five events as above in one day.

          In 1912 when Olympic Games were modified to modern style, wrestling was replaced by a 1500 metre race. At the same time the military pentathlon was introduced in the Olympics. The five events for military pentathlon were riding, fencing, swimming, shooting and 4000 meters race. These events were made to test the abilities of a messenger which might have been needed for cavalry warfare.

          The Olympic Games dropped the Greek-style pentathlon for men in 1924 but retained the military style. In 1964 the games introduced the women’s pentathlon. The five events for women athletes were high jump, long jump, 200 metre race, 80 metre race over hurdles and shot-put (throwing a heavy metal ball).

          Later the racing distance for women made 800 metres instead of 200 m and over 100 metres for hurdles.

          This is one of several games played with a small hard ball known as pelota. This is the fastest ball game. The fastest pelota game is known in Spanish as Pelota vasca meaning Basque pelota. The Basque name is Jai Alai or ‘merry festival’. Jai Alai may have begun in 13th century Italy. In fact pelota is a Spanish game and pelota means ball.

          The players in this game wear a long basket-like Cesta strapped to one arm. They use the Cesta’s curved hollow end to catch and throw the small, hard rubber ball called pelota. There are two rival teams. Each team may have one, two or three players.

          The team plays the game on a cancha or court with high walls on three sides. A server hits the ball on the front wall. The opponent must catch it and throw it back before it hits the floor twice. The game is very fast and interesting.

          The ball moves with a tremendously high speed. One pelota reached a measured speed of over 300 kilometers an hour. 

 

             The game of billiards is so old that no one can say when it began. There are some authorities who claim that it was played in ancient Egypt. The Greeks knew the game as long ago as 400 B.C.

             The earliest recorded mention of billiards goes back to 1429 A.D in France. Louis XI, the King of France from 1461 to 1483 A.D, is reported to have had a billiards table. The first recorded public billiards room in England was the Piazza Covent Garden, London, in the early part of the 19th century. The first description of billiards in English is to be found in a book called Compleat Gamester by Charles Cotton, published in 1674.

             About the year 1800, the game had largely assumed the modern form. In 1807, the first English book written on this subject was published in England. The billiards it describes is very much like the billiards we know today. The world professional championship for this game was instituted in 1870, and organized on challenge basis. This was restored as an annual tournament since 1980.

             How is this game played? The game of billiards is played with three balls (two white and one red) on a table. The player’s object is to score caroms by driving one of the white balls through the other two balls. One carom gets him one point.

             The standard table used for this game is 10 ft (305 cm) long, 5 ft (152 cm) wide and 2 ft 7 in (78.8 cm) high. The table is marked with three spots — one near its head, other at its centre and one near its foot.

             To begin the play, each player chooses one of the white balls to use as a cue ball throughout the game. The red ball is spotted on the foot spot, the white on the head spot and the first player’s cue ball within six inches directly to either side of the white object ball. The cue ball must contact the red ball first on the break (first) shot. On subsequent shots either red or white may be the first ball hit. When a player fails to score, he yields to his opponent, who plays the balls as they have been left.

            If the cue ball is knocked off the table, the striker loses a point. The ball is respotted and his opponent takes over the play. If an object ball leaves the table, it is respotted with no penalty other than loss of turn if no score was made. If a score was made before the ball left the table, the ball is respotted and the striker continues to play.

             If all balls are knocked off the table, it is a foul and this result in loss of one point and turn at play. The balls are respotted as at the beginning of the game and the opponent makes the break shot.

              A game is usually continued until one player scores an agreed number of points, which are often 50. 

            Surfing is an exciting water sport in which the sportsmen ride ocean waves on a long, narrow surfboard. When Captain James Cook discovered Hawaii in 1788, he found that it was already a very popular sport among the Hawaiians.

            The Hawaiians held surfing contests and the winners were given prizes. These people used 4-5m long boards which were about 67.5 kg in weight. In 1957 lightweight boards were developed which brought a radical change in this sport. These boards, which are about 3m long and 30cm wide weighing around 10kg, have made it possible for women and even children to take up surfing. The new boards are generally made of foam plastic and coated with fibre glass and resin. A surfboard is the only special equipment required for this sport.

            When riding a wave, the rider first swims out beyond the breaking crests of waves to the point where the larger rollers peak up. As a wave approaches him, he paddles his board towards shore to attain sufficient speed to coast down the face of the wave. Once the rider has caught up with the wave, he may rise to a standing position and ride it until it dies out near the beach. To increase the speed and distance, experts usually ride diagonally towards the shore. Riders usually surf 500m or more. Surfboards skim the surface at speeds much faster than the speed of water.

            Development of cheap plastic foam, fibre glass coated boards, the increased media publicity all have contributed to the rapid growth in the popularity of surfing.

            National and International competitions are being held on both coasts of North America and in Peru, Hawaii, South Africa and Eastern Australia. Groups of 5 to 12 surfers take part in this sport. They are judged on a point system for their credit in take off, turns, length of ride and difficulty extent of waves selected.

          Most of the race competitions involve running but now walking races are also found as Olympic events. Another name for the walking race is heel and toe racing.

          The rules for walking races are more strict than usual races. No contestant is allowed to break into a run to beat his rivals. The runner should never break the contact with the ground. One foot must always be in touch. The legs must also be held straight as if walking and not be bent as when running. A competitor is entitled to one warning signalled by a white flag. A red flag is a signal of final disqualification for an erring competitor. Action is taken against a competitor after the independent recommendation of three judges, or two judges if one is the chief judge.

          Walking races are different than marathon races. In marathon races running is allowed but not in walking races.

          The method for race walking is nothing like normal walking. The hips are rolled rhythmically, the legs are pulled or jerked up and down very rapidly and the shoulders and arms are swung in very exaggerated pumping movements. The overall effect is very comical to watch. It is something like a penguin’s waddley yet it enables racers to move upto 16 kilometres per hour.

          The walkers are entitled to take refreshments at official refreshment stations if the race exceeds 20 km. Stations are sited at 10 km apart and after 20 km, every 5 km apart. No other unofficial refreshments are allowed for the walkers. Additional sponging points, supplying water only are provided at points after 20 kms.

          Events of walking races are very long. In the Olympics the events cover 20 kilometres and 50 kilometre distances. Walk-races present an interesting and entertaining scene to the spectators.