节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-05-09
难易度:High
关键字:disdain, rein, collaborative, valiant, film noir, fifty-fifty
Today we've been learning some more about Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
And in the first section we were talking about maybe it's vision.
He and his grandfather both had a vision for their lives.
They both wanted to take the reins, to take control and steer their lives in a
new direction,
and go through some changes in where their careers were at the time.
Well, we have a lot more to learn about in our next section: Maybe it's
creativity.
Let's read that now.
(Music).
Just a RegularJOE.
Maybe it's creativity.
During this time Gordon-Levitt also founded hitRECord, an online, open
collaborative production company where he goes by RegularJOE.
Users can upload their records - the company's term for "video, audio, image or
text" - and other members can remix them as they wish.
"The most valiant thing you can do as an artist is inspire someone else to be
creative." Gordon-Levitt once remarked.
Their work has been viewed at Sundance, sold as books and albums, and performed
live.
The company splits earnings with collaborators fifty-fifty.
With these results, he feels the Internet is giving us "a cultural golden age.".
Well, Joseph Gordon-Levitt really is a creative guy.
And we find out here why, today's lesson, why this lesson is called Just a
RegularJOE.
Well, this is the name that he uses in his company hitRECord.
So "Maybe it's creativity." The first sentence here is:
During this time Gordon-Levitt also founded hitRECord, an online, open
collaborative production company where he goes by RegularJOE.
Carolyn, I see a Word Bank word there.
What does "collaborative" mean?
Well, collaborative means that you are working with other people.
It's not something you do on your own.
You should collaborate or work with others.
So it's a collaborative, a group effort.
All right, open, collaborative production.
I like that Carolyn used the word "collaborate," the verb.
C-O-L-L-A-B-O-R-A-T-E.
You can collaborate with other people and have a collaborative production
company.
And in this company, he goes by RegularJOE, with the capitaled J-O-E.
But what does it mean to go by something, Carolyn?
Well, here "go by" is talking about a name that someone can go by, so.
His name is Joseph.
But at his production company hitRECord, he goes by a different name.
He is called RegularJOE.
J-O-E, all capital letters, and just one word.
So he has a very special name that he goes by here.
And I think there are a lot of people who are named one thing, but they like to
be called something else, so they go by a nickname.
Well, yeah, Carolyn, like myself!
My full name is Gabriel, G-A-B-R-I-E-L.
But few people call me by my full name.
I just go by "Gabe," G-A-B-E.
Most people call me Gabe.
I go by "Gabe." Joseph Gordon-Levitt, he goes by "RegularJOE" at his website...
or at that company.
Well, we're going to continue with this lesson.
The next sentence says:
Users can upload their records - the company's term for "video, audio, image or
text" - and other members can remix them as they wish.
So now you're getting a feel for the collaborative effort here.
It really is working with other people.
People can take what you put on the website and remix it as they like.
That's right.
So it sounds like there are a lot of people who use this service.
And they can take lots of different types of media or "records," as they call
the video, audio, images or text.
You can do anything and put them together many different ways.
Well, I think that Ken and Steve have some more information about this in the
Info Cloud.
Let's go there now.
If you're 30 years old or younger, it's very possible you've never held, much
less seen, one of these - a real record.
It's a round, flat piece of plastic with small grooves in it.
For close to 100 years, records have been the preferred way people bought their
prerecorded music.
And records outlived reel-to-reel tapes, which are spindles of magnetic tape.
They are like the audio version of a film reel.
Yes.
Then in the late 1960s, the 8-track tape came along, still not as popular as
records, but better than the reel-to-reel because of its portability.
People loved playing 8-track tapes in their cars.
The record's first real competition came in the 1970s with a smaller, more
durable tape mechanism - the cassette.
Now helped along by the popular Sony Walkman, cassettes reached their peak of
popularity in the late 1980s.
And then it happened - the compact disk, or CD, arrived, spelling the end of
market dominance for both the record and the cassette.
Today, records are making a slight comeback as many favor their warm, rich
analog sound to the more cold and sterile digital sound of CDs and MP3s.
(Chinese).
Well, we're learning all about how you can collaborate with others at hitRECord.
And Joseph Gordon-Levitt said something here.
"The most valiant thing you can do as an artist is inspire someone else to be
creative." Gordon-Levitt once remarked.
I like that.
Inspiring someone else to be creative, that is a valiant thing to do.
Let's take a look at that Word Bank word.
It is "valiant." When I think of valiant, I think of a person who is maybe brave
or courageous, maybe a hero.
How would you use that word "valiant," Carolyn?
Well, that is usually what I think of.
But you know, if someone is working very hard and they're trying their best to
succeed, I might say that they are making a valiant effort.
They are trying so hard.
And it's amazing.
Their courage or their bravery and the amount of work that they're willing to
put into it, it's a valiant effort.
A valiant effort.
And of course, if you're a celebrity, you're... you're famous, and you're doing
your own thing, you're trying to become successful.
That's great.
But I think Joseph Gordon-Levitt admires people who can be successful, be good
at what they do, but also inspire others in their art as well.
Well, we continue with our lesson.
Their work has been viewed at Sundance, sold as books and albums, and performed
live.
It sounds really cool, Carolyn.
It does.
It's not just something that you can see online, but it's also been performed
live.
So these different things that have been remixed are very, very popular.
And people want to see them.
They've been turned into books and albums even.
That's right.
And we find out a little bit more about hitRECord.
The company splits earnings with collaborators fifty-fifty.
OK. So we talked about the word "collaborative." Carolyn used it as a verb, to
"collaborate" something.
And now we see another form, a "collaborator." What is that, Carolyn?
Well, a collaborator is someone who is part of a collaborative or someone who
collaborates.
So here we see that this word ends in O-R.
And a lot of other words might end in E-R.
And this tells you that it's a person.
A person who collaborates is called a collaborator.
That's right.
And we see that this company splits the earnings with the collaborators
fifty-fifty.
If you split something fifty-fifty, that means you get half, and the other
person gets half.
So the way it works hitRECord... hitRECord gets half, and then that one
collaborator also gets half.
That's pretty good.
It is.
It seems very fair if you get half and the company that is able to produce these
and encourage these new ideas also gets half.
Well, continuing.
With those results, he feels the Internet is giving us "a cultural golden age."
So Joseph Gordon-Levitt feels like we're going into a cultural golden age with
the Internet.
I think so, too.
It's an interesting way to put it, an interesting idea.
A golden age, of course, implies something new, something that you haven't done
before.
So a cultural golden age, well, maybe the Internet really is giving us this.
It's time for us to continue enjoying a review skit.
And then we'll go see Michelle in the Language Lab.
Oh! I'm so happy to meet a big celebrity.
I told you, I'm just a RegularJOE.
Right. Well, RegularJOE, what are you doing here in New York?
Shouldn't you be in Hollywood?
Well, disdaining my fame, I moved from LA to Columbia University.
Wasn't that during 3rd Rock's final season?
It was. And it was the smartest thing I ever did.
Why is that?
I got to reinvent myself.
Yeah. You left comedy, and you never returned.
Right.
I took the reins in my life and moved to the dark and mysterious.
Do you only do dark and mysterious now?
No. I've been doing other things, too.
I founded the record company hitRECord.
What a crazy game.
What kind of company is that?
Well, users upload their records, and other members can remix them.
What for?
Well, so artists inspire each other.
The Internet is giving us a cultural golden age.
A cultural golden age.
Yes! You're brilliant.
You're amazing.
You're a VIP.
I'm telling you, I'm just a RegularJOE.
You're a Hollywood sensation.
You're a celebrity.
You're... a great, amazing, incredible Joe.
(Chinese).
And now back to our lesson.
Well, I'm having fun learning about Joseph Gordon-Levitt and the things that he
has done and accomplished in his life.
Of course, one of these things is founding hitRECord, a collaborative production
company,
where you can submit something, a record of some kind - video, audio, image or
text - and then other people can collaborate or remix it.
Carolyn, does this interest you?
Would you ever want to submit something to hitRECord?
Well, I don't really know that I have anything to submit, but it is a very
interesting idea.
And I kind of like to check it out and see if maybe someone else has submitted
something that I could use and remix, and see what I could do with it myself.
I know! There're so many possibilities.
I think I might be able to send my song and see if someone else wants to remix
that and make it sound different or interesting.
Well, thank you for joining us today.
We have more to learn about Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Just a RegularJOE, next time.
See you then.
See you.