Has anyone seen the Rock School ad on C4?

DavebytheSea · Post by **DavebytheSea** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 3:12 pm

I understand that they have started filming the next Rock School this week at a school near Lowestoft.

Here is an extract about Rock School from an American forum dealing with the question of how the kids were chosen - something that had puzzled me a little:

Question to Guppster (a current CH pupil)
Thanks for posting guppster. Was the entire school given the opportunity to audition to be in Gene Simmons' class, or were the kids chosen by the producers/teachers?

Gupster
Hi iMissEthan, no it was a really suprising event....Gene just appeared one day and people who had no idea who he was just looked on and thought...he looks weird. No i think the people who did it wanted people who were capable and looked young so they picked the class studying music from the year 9 at the time (in america i think thats first year of junior high)

Tim · Post by **Tim** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 5:03 pm

I'm sure I read on some other post that someone had made a version of the programmes available for download... could anyone care to enlighten me? Personal email is fine if you don't want to post in the open. I've missed the last episode and really want to see it!

Cheers
Tim

DavebytheSea · Post by **DavebytheSea** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 9:27 pm

I downloaded ALL the US showings of Rock School using Bit Torrent software as soon as they were shown. So far the English programmes have been identical to those broadcast in the US but I gather that we shall see something of the childrens' visit to Gene Simmons home in LA which was filmed AFTER the programmes started showing in America.

Try:

http://www.bittorrent.com/

DavebytheSea · Post by **DavebytheSea** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 9:30 pm

Alternatively, I can make them available if someone will tell me where to upload them so that they can be available for access. It will take an hour or so to do this, so I don't want to do it more than once!!

DavebytheSea · Post by **DavebytheSea** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 8:03 am

Two interesting reviews. The Scottish newspaper does a really fascinating one about Mary Ireland's role. She also explains why the School did it and what they got out of it.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/tm_ob ... _page.html

In an article about the two educational "reality" shows (the Unteachables and Rock School), the Observer agrees that the latter is one of the warmest most charming shows seen on the box for a long time.

"In Rock School, God is in the details. The choice of school itself is perfect - Christ's Hospital ....

................... But of course Mr Simmons turns out to be not only a pussycat but a brilliant teacher with a Beadle-esque eye for spotting what life-lessons the kids (polite, well-spoken, talented model students the lot of them) really need to be taught, even if they have no idea themselves............

................It's smart, it's sweet, it's funny and if there's a more touching scene on TV this year than the one in which a chapel full of kids sang along to Mr Simmons's acoustic version of 'God Gave Rock'n'Roll To You', then I'll eat my Smell The Glove baseball cap."

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/s ... 99,00.html

East Gun Copse · Post by **East Gun Copse** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 8:58 am

I find the Rock School broadcasts are an interesting source of peripheral information about the present school.
I was struck by the idealism shown in the debate by several speakers from the floor in publically expressing views which run counter to the popular cynicism so often expressed in the media.

I was also struck by the background for one shot where one could see a bank of steel lockers with locks. This reminded me of the wooden dayroom lockers with no locks that were accepted as normal and as far as I can remember people respected the privacy of ones locker.

Great Plum · Post by **Great Plum** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 9:31 am

When I was at CH, they started putting locks on lockers as there were a spate of thefts throughout the school on my juniors...

englishangel · Post by **englishangel** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 11:20 am

East Gun Copse wrote:I find the Rock School broadcasts are an interesting source of peripheral information about the present school.
I was struck by the idealism shown in the debate by several speakers from the floor in publically expressing views which run counter to the popular cynicism so often expressed in the media.

I was also struck by the background for one shot where one could see a bank of steel lockers with locks. This reminded me of the wooden dayroom lockers with no locks that were accepted as normal and as far as I can remember people respected the privacy of ones locker.

I would like to have seen the whole debate as I think the speakers shown were very selective judging by the result, when I would think the voting was 75/25 against the motion.

Normal teenagers then

Bingo the Poop-Eating Dog · Mon Oct 17, 2005 10:36 am

Tell you what's got me perplexed. That music-scholarship pupil, Richard (?), seems to be wearing a regular houseycoat but with a button-coat-style collar. Or is it just my imagination?

I'm too old to contemplate change, even in a school I was at twenty-odd years ago.

Great Plum · Post by **Great Plum** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 2:20 pm

Yup, all new coats are made with this style collar to stop the kids from having their bands undone!

UserRemovedAccount · Post by **UserRemovedAccount** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 10:05 pm

I wasn't over the moon about Mrs Ireland until I read the interview with her in a Scottish newspaper, where she says of Gene Simmonds:

"But he's a middle-aged American and doesn't have the energy to get up to any trouble these days."

Not so much the "killer touch" as a stiletto straight to the heart. That must not only have dented his ego but actually crushed it! (I think I mixed metaphors there somewhere, but you probably get the message)
David

AndrewH · Post by **AndrewH** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 10:04 am

Great Plum wrote:Yup, all new coats are made with this style collar to stop the kids from having their bands undone!

The ones that I have seen all look as if they don't fit very well around the neck....

Bingo the Poop-Eating Dog · Tue Oct 18, 2005 11:40 am

Great Plum wrote:Yup, all new coats are made with this style collar to stop the kids from having their bands undone!

Time I was dead and buried. I always thought the houseycoat was sacrosanct (well, at least after they got rid of the petticoat and put a yellow lining in the coat instead). But no. I'm guessing they'll make it stripey soon (unless they get rid of it altogether, or make pupils only wear it on Speech Day).

Personally I think the Ireland woman comes across as thoroughly naff and not the sort of advert you'd want for a school you're simultaneously hoping to present to the public as non-stuffy. And I thought that that 'debate' was excruciating - what a bunch of limited-vocabulary dullards with no poise at all. Wasn't like that in my day: the kind of kids who were involved in the Debating Society were super-confident, intellectually sparkling and obviously heading for Oxbridge. Frankly I felt really embarrassed watching that particular sequence on 'Rockschool'.

stpandp · Post by **stpandp** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 4:05 pm

DavebytheSea wrote:I downloaded ALL the US showings of Rock School using Bit Torrent software as soon as they were shown. So far the English programmes have been identical to those broadcast in the US but I gather that we shall see something of the childrens' visit to Gene Simmons home in LA which was filmed AFTER the programmes started showing in America.

Try:

http://www.bittorrent.com/

I think you'll find they were actually the Australian version (did they say "network 10" in the top corner?), so they are the same as the RDF UK version - I gather there was a different voiceover on the US version, plus subtitles(!) at some points to make the CH pupils easier to understand. If anyone really does know where to download the US version, please let us know

Nyort · Post by **Nyort** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 4:31 pm

Tim wrote:Does he really speak Elvish? As in the language invented by Tolkein, or another, imposter "Elvish"?

Fair enough, I suppose it's marginally less inviting of a good kicking than learning Klingon (not a kicking from me of course, I'm a bit of a geek but not that bad, but there are those who feel threatened to their core by anyone speaking something as ... well ... geeky as Klingon.) There was a lad on my year who spoke Klingon, who shall remain nameless in this post. Unfortunately he was on the receiving end of a few fists in his time but he was (probably still is, haven't seen him for a few years) one of the brightest people I've met.

Uh....

actually, Josh does speak Klingon as well as Elvish and Quenya and other strange languages.

And for the record, nobody is sitting with Josh because he is the 'Emperor'. He went through an arrogant stage where he refused to answer any other name than the 'Emperor'. Most people still make fun of him.

Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

Has anyone seen the Rock School ad on C4?

Rock School part 2

Re: Rock School part 2