Tokusatsu is a Japanese word that means "special effects". It is used to talk about television shows and movies that have superheros, giant monsters, and other science fiction and fantastic themes. Some famous tokusatsu features include Godzilla, "Kamen Rider", and "Super Sentai".
Snakes on a Plane
Snakes on a Plane (released in Japan as "Snake Flight" (スネーク・フライト)) is a 2006 American action horror crime thriller movie. It was directed by David R. Ellis and it stars Samuel L. Jackson and released to movie theaters by Warner Bros. It is about many snakes on a plane that is traveling from Hawaii to Los Angeles, California.
The snakes attack people on the plane, and Samuel L. Jackson's character, FBI agent Neville Flynn becomes angry at the snakes, so he fights them.
The movie became very popular before it was released because of the title and because of many people talked about it on the Internet.
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
The War in Afghanistan refers to a war waged by the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, The Netherlands, Australia and other countries against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda following the terrorists attacks against USA on September 11, 2001. In 2016, the last NATO troops were withdrawn. 1908 NATO soldiers were killed in Afghanistan: 1,162 American, 313 British and 433 Other Coalition countries' soldiers were killed in this war. More than 15,000 Coalition soldiers were wounded: 6,773 US, 3,954 UK, 1,500 Canadian and over 2,500 other Coalition soldiers. 5,500 Afghan army soldiers and 200 Northern Alliance militants were killed in this war. 378 US civilian contractors were killed and 7,224. British troops left Afghanistan in 2015, after 5 years of training the Afghanistan police to deal with threats from the Taliban.
Formal cessation took place on 28 December 2014 via a ceremony in the city of Kabul thus ending the 13 year long war. Thousands of American and other troops continued helping the Afghan government until December 31, 2016 when they were withdrawn. After security deteriorated, American soldiers returned and over 10,000 were in the country at the end of 2017.
Castrato
A castrato (plural "castrati") was a type of male singer with a very high voice. The effect was produced either through castration, or because of some hormonal problems. The word "castrato" literally means castrated. Such singers were very sought after in the early days of the opera. Most of the main soprano roles in operas by Handel and other composers of that time were written for castrati. Nowadays they are almost always sung by female sopranos, since there are no castrati left.
The practice of castrating young boys who had good singing voices was quite common in Italy in the 17th century. When castration is done before puberty, the usual effects of puberty will not happen. These include the vocal cords enlarging and growing bigger, and the voice getting deeper as a consequence.
Even though castration was illegal in many parts of Italy, it was often performed. Many families who were poor had their children castrated because it might give them a better future.
Once a boy was castrated he would go to a special music school where children learned singing and musical instruments. The castrati pupils were given special treatment. They were fussed over and kept warm to stop them from getting colds. When they grew up they hoped to become famous opera singers. A few of them had very successful careers in opera. They were the great stars of their day, and audiences came to the opera to cheer on their favourite singers. Those who were not good enough to make a career in opera joined church choirs instead.
It is impossible now for us to know what these great castrato voices sounded like, but they must have had very powerful voices and many of the singers were very skilled in singing and adding musical ornamentation to the songs. In the 18th century Italian opera became very popular in England. This was largely due to the German-born composer Georg Friderich Händel who moved to England in 1709 and wrote lots of Italian operas. Many singers who sang in London came from Italy, and many were castrati. The most famous one was called Farinelli.
The popularity of castrato singers died out in the 19th century when operas became less artificial and more like real life. By the mid-19th century they were no opera castrati left, although a few castrati still sang in church choirs. The last one, a man called Alessandro Moreschi, died in 1922 aged 64. There is a recording of his voice made in 1902 which can be heard online, but he may not have been a good singer and he was old when he made the recording, so we cannot judge whether the castrato voice was beautiful by that recording.
Falsetto
A falsetto voice is a special way of speaking or singing. If a man tries to imitate a woman’s voice he does it by speaking in a falsetto voice. When a man sings with a falsetto voice it sounds high like a soprano. Actors do this sometimes, e.g. Robin Williams in the film "Mrs Doubtfire" or Kevin Clash when voicing the character Elmo in "Sesame Street" and Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees, with his R&B falsetto. Also, Kellin Quinn from the band sleeping With Sirens uses falsetto sometimes.
Women can also use falsetto, but when they do there is not as big of a change in sound from their normal voices as there is in men. When women use falsetto the voice sounds lighter or weaker than it does when they speak or sing normally.
It is like stretching the mouth out into a wide smile and saying 'ee', except it is sung.
When people speak or sing, their vocal cords vibrate. When a man sings falsetto only the edges of his vocal cords vibrate. These produce harmonics. It is similar to playing harmonics on a string instrument by lightly touching the string at a certain point so that only part of the string vibrates. When a man sings falsetto his is usually one octave higher than his normal singing voice. When people sing in falsetto, their voice can be breathy sometimes.
Falsetto singing was used in the days when women were not allowed to sing in churches. Instead, men sang countertenor. Later the popularity of the countertenor disappeared, but in the mid 20th century it became popular again for performing Renaissance and Baroque music. Today the tradition of men singing alto (with countertenor voices) still exists in Britain in cathedral choirs and some church choirs which are all-male choirs. It is not a big, operatic voice, and it blends in well with boys’ treble voices in the acoustic of churches and cathedrals.
Occasionally falsetto can be used for comic effect, as in the roasted swan in the "Carmina Burana" by Carl Orff.
Countertenor
A countertenor is a male singer who uses a falsetto voice to sing high notes like a female contralto or mezzo-soprano.
Countertenors were used a lot in the Renaissance and Baroque periods when females were not allowed to sing in church choirs. They did not have big, dramatic voices like castrati, so they were not normally used in opera. People forgot about this way of singing in the 18th and 19th centuries, although male altos continued to sing in English cathedral and church choirs. In the 20th century an English countertenor called Alfred Deller became very famous. He sang many songs from the Baroque period that had been written for the countertenor voice, for example songs by Henry Purcell who sang countertenor himself. Today there is a lot of interest again in using this type of voice for performing early music like Renaissance and Baroque music.
Breeches role
A breeches role is a part in an opera in which a woman plays the role of a man. It is also called a trouser role (British) or pants role (U.S.) or travesti role (the Italian word). It is called a breeches role because breeches are tight-fitting, knee-length trousers. These used to be worn by men at the time that breeches roles became popular. Sometimes breeches roles are in plays, but they are usually in opera.