The New York Times MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 2006

By CHRISTOPHER MAAG

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Chuck Lamb might be the world’s chattiest dead guy.

He loves to talk, and his favorite topic is how he’s fast becoming the most famous dead body alive. “Isn’t it incredible?” said Mr. Lamb, 47, who speaks at a volume that most people reserve for rock concerts. “I had no idea it would blow up like this!”

Mr. Lamb became Dead Body Guy on December 5. That’s when he put up his Web site, deadbodyguy.com. The site features photos of Mr. Lamb playing dead in various scenes around his house. Crushed by his garage door. Electrocuted in the bathtub. One series shows Mr. Lamb lying face-down in a bowl of chicken soup, above a caption that reads “Dying from bird flu.” His wife, Tonya, took the photos. She also prepared jars of fake blood, which she keeps in the pantry for future use.

By staging his own death, Mr. Lamb hopes to attain a modest form of immortality. He says he always wanted to become a famous actor. Instead, at age 47 he finds himself with six children, working as a computer programmer for Nationwide Insurance. Mr. Lamb has deep creases under his eyes, skin as pale as copy paper, precious little hair and no acting experience. Any notions he once held of becoming the next Sean Connery died long ago.

But Mr. Lamb’s dream of fame lingered. “Just once, I want to have my name in the credits of a movie or a TV show,” he says. His dream was stalled until last month, when Mr. Lamb realized that anybody can play dead. By posing as a corpse on the Internet, he thought, perhaps he could win a role as a lifeless extra on “CSI: Miami.” Mr. Lamb took two days to build the Web site, then waited for someone to notice. It was a short wait. Deadbodyguy.com received 300,000 hits in its first three weeks.

CNN labeled deadbodyguy.com one of the week’s best Web sites. USA Today ran a small story. That was all the prodding needed by representatives of the infotainment industry, who spend their days trawling for weird news. They deluged Mr. Lamb with interview requests. He soon appeared on more than 100 local TV stations and was mentioned on over 300 radio shows.

Even with the sensation his Web site has generated, Mr. Lamb hasn’t received any movie offers. But he has been invited to the Los Angeles Film Festival this June, where he’ll win the Special Achievement Award for Self-Promotion. He also will play dead on the red carpet as film actors step over his body.

Officially, Mr. Lamb is sticking to Dead Body Guy’s original goal. “Just one movie credit and I’m done,” he said. Meanwhile, he’s waiting to hear back from a producer at a late-night talk show. He’s booking a flight to New York to meet with an agent. “I want to leave a little legacy,” said Mr. Lamb. “I’d like to have a bridge named after me.”

Exercises and Tasks

1.For questions 1-8, choose the most appropriate answer (a, b or c).

1) At age 47 Mr. Lamb looks:

a. as Sean Connery;

b. pretty miserable;

c. rather repulsive.

2) His wife:

a. is a big help to him;

b. hampers his efforts;

c. is sceptical about his prospects.

3) Mr. Lamb’s dream of becoming famous:

a. has faded away;

b. has come true;

c. is still alive.

4) Mr. Lamb wants to play:

a. the main role;

b. the supporting role;

c. the minor role.

5) The media got interested in his story because:

a. nowadays they are obsessed with everything weird and wonderful;

b. Mr. Lamb’s site contains some offensive material;

c. Mr. Lamb built a weird Web site popular with Internet users.

6) He is invited to LA:

a. to take part in the Academy Award ceremony;

b. to accept a personal prize;

c. to give a convincing and unforgettable performance on the red carpet.

7) When Mr. Lamb says “Just one movie credit and I’m done”, he means that:

a. he wants to get some money to make his own film and thus fulfill his dream;

b. he wants acclaim for his prospective film;

c. he wants his name to be mentioned among others who take part and help to make a film.

8) When Mr. Lamb says “I want to leave a little legacy”, he means that:

a. he wants to provide an endowment for film industry;

b. he wants to inherit some money to finance his film;

c. he wants to be remembered for something significant.

2.Find in the text synonyms to the following words:

to arise, to represent, false, simulate, wrinkles, to remain, to delay, dead body, bizarre, to search, to tag.

3.Explain what is meant under following phrases taken from the text:

a) Mr. Lamb, 47, who speaks at a volume that most people reserve for rock concerts…

b) His dream was stalled until last month.

c) By staging his own death, Mr. Lamb hopes to attain a modest form of immortality.

d) Any notions he once held of becoming the next Sean Connery died long ago.

e) “Just once, I want to have my name in the credits of a movie or a TV show.”

f) Perhaps he could win a role as a lifeless extra on “CSI: Miami.” Deadbodyguy.com received 300,000 hits in its first three weeks.

g) USA Today ran a small story.

h) That was all the prodding needed by representatives of the infotainment industry, who spend their days trawling for weird news.

Role-play.

You are the TV talk show host. You have invited Mr. Lamb to take part in your show, interview him and encourage your audience to ask him questions as well.

Text 7. Film Genres

Film genres are various forms or identifiable types, categories, classifications or groups of films that are recurring and have similar, familiar or instantly-recognizable patterns, filmic techniques or conventions - that include one or more of the following: settings (and props), content and subject matter, themes, period, plot, narrative events, motifs, styles, structures, situations, icons (e.g., six-guns and ten-gallon hats in Westerns), characters (or characterizations), and stars.

For example horror filmsare unsettling films designed to frighten and panic, cause dread and alarm, and to invoke our hidden worst fears, often in a terrifying, shocking finale, while captivating and entertaining us at the same time in a cathartic experience. Horror films effectively center on the dark side of life, the forbidden, and strange and alarming events. They deal with our most primal nature and its fears: our nightmares, our vulnerability, our alienation, our revulsions, our terror of the unknown, our fear of death and dismemberment, loss of identity, or fear of sexuality.

Whatever dark, primitive, and revolting traits that simultaneously attract and repel us are featured in the horror genre. Horror films are often combined with science fiction when the menace or monster is related to a corruption of technology, or when Earth is threatened by aliens. The fantasy and supernatural film genres are not synonymous with the horror genre, although thriller films may have some relation when they focus on the revolting and horrible acts of the killer/madman.

Horror films, when done well and with less reliance on horrifying special effects, can be extremely potent film forms, tapping into our dream states and the horror of the irrational and unknown, and the horror within man himself. The best horror films only imply or suggest the horror in subtle ways, rather than blatantly displaying it. In horror films, the irrational forces of chaos or horror invariably need to be defeated, and often these films end with a return to normalcy and victory over the monstrous.

Of necessity, the earliest horror films were Gothic in style - meaning that they were usually set in spooky old mansions, castles, or fog-shrouded, dark and shadowy locales. Their main characters have included “unknown”, human, supernatural or grotesque creatures, ranging from vampires, demented madmen, devils, unfriendly ghosts, monsters, mad scientists, “Frankensteins”, “Jekyll / Hyde” dualities, demons, zombies, evil spirits, arch fiends, Satanic villains, the “possessed”, werewolves and freaks to even the unseen, diabolical presence of evil.

Horror films developed out of a number of sources: folktales with devil characters, witchcraft, fables, myths, ghost stories, and Gothic or Victorian novels from Europe by way of Mary Shelley or Irish writer Bram Stoker. In many ways, the expressionistic German silent cinema led the world in films of horror and the supernatural, and established its cinematic vocabulary and style.

Exercises and Tasks

1. Below you can find some major film genres. Match them with their descriptions.

Choose a few film genres and for each of the genres draw a spider diagram. Then write down the different “elements” you expect to find in films of this genre.

E.g.

darkness

blood

sleepy village

2. Story lines.

There are typical story lines for each genre. Although every film is different, film makers tend to include elements that the audience expects so the audience is not let down by the film. Write down what you expect to happen in different film genres. Let your film knowledge come out, don’t worry about getting the answer right , just have fun thinking about what might happen in these films. Try to get several story lines for each film types.

e.g. Horror: Teenagers go to isolated house.

Science Fiction: Another world is destroyed by evil aliens.

Romance: Ugly girl transformed into a beauty by taking off her glasses!!!

Children’s: Orphan child is sad and longs to find somewhere to belong.

Comedy: Bags get swapped and vicar finds something embarrassing in his bag.

3. Here are some generic titles used to characterize film genres:

melodramas, horror films, adventure films, comedies, crime films, epics

The words in the lists below are all synonyms of, or closely related to, which of these genres?

war films, weepies, chillers, period pictures, macabre, swashbucklers, tearjerkers, slapstick, romcom, scary movies, lampoon, costume dramas, take-off, thriller, disaster films, suspense, spookfests, film-noir, slasher, spoof, detective-mystery films, historical dramas, caper, chick flicks, medieval romps, screwball, heist flick, sitcom