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Dani and Pity
The Red Sea is a salt water inlet of the Indian Ocean between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb sound and the Gulf of Aden. In the north are the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez (leading to the Suez Canal). The Red Sea is a Global 200 ecoregion.
Occupying a part of the Great Rift Valley, the Red Sea has a surface area of about 438,000 km² (169,100 square miles )[1][2]. It is roughly 2250 km (1398 mi) long and, at its widest point at 355 km (220.6 miles) wide. It has a maximum depth of 2211 m (7254 ft) in the central median trench and an average depth of 490 m (1,608 feet ), but there are also extensive shallow shelves, noted for their marine life and corals. The sea is the habitat of over 1,000 invertebrate species and 200 soft and hard corals and is the world's northernmost tropical sea.
After several weeks of cloudy nights I was finally able to give my Seestar S50 another go.
This image was made from 400 10 second exposures.
I stacked them in Siril, and processed the result in GraXpert & Affinity Photo 2.
It could definitely do with more integration time but it was -13C so didn't want to stress the S50. Its rated down to -10C. Plus the moon was almost full so even more light pollution than usual.
It really is an amazing little device
North American B-25J Mitchell
Flying Bulls N-6123C
" The Flying Bulls B-25 Mitchell was manufactured in 1945 in Kansas City (USA) and fortunately not used in World War 2.
It was initially used as a test platform – but it landed in an aircraft cemetery in Arizona while still young. There it was acquired by a company that wanted to convert this B-25 into a fire fighting plane – but nothing came of this.
In the eighties, this plane was acquired by an aviation club in Kansas City and was presented at air shows.
It was discovered by the Flying Bulls in the mid-nineties – and finally purchased after careful negotiations. The B-25 was immediately restored from the ground up in the USA and equipped with high-quality parts before it took off to fly over the north Atlantic to Europe in 1997.
It was time in 2001 – the silvery, gleaming Mitchell was moved to its new home, the Flying Bulls. Since then she gleams in Hangar-7 and at many air shows. "
i just loved the packed & very small shopping allays & lanes of Brighton, Sussex,England.
Listeni/ˈbraɪtən/ is a town on the south coast of Great Britain.[2] It makes up half of the city and unitary authority of Brighton and Hove (formed from the previous towns of Brighton, Hove, Portslade and several other villages). Formerly part of the non-metropolitan county of East Sussex, it remains part of the ceremonial county of East Sussex, within the historic county of Sussex.
The ancient settlement of "Brighthelmstone" dates from before Domesday Book (1086), but it emerged as a health resort featuring sea bathing during the 18th century, was used as a seaside getaway by the Prince Regent, and became a highly popular destination for day-trippers from London after the arrival of the railway in 1841. Brighton experienced rapid population it reaching a peak of over 160,000 by 1961.[3]
Modern Brighton forms part of the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation stretching along the coast, with a population of around 480,000 inhabitants.
History[edit]
Main article: History of Brighton
Brighton, The Front and the Chain Pier Seen in the Distance, Frederick William Woledge, 1840.
Brighton appears to have been inhabited since the neolithic period circa 3500 BC, with a settlement at Whitehawk Camp.[14]
Brythonic Celts arrived in Britain in the 7th century BC, an an important Brythonic settlement existed at Hollingbury Camp. This Celtic Iron Age encampment is circumscribed by substantial earthwork outer walls with a diameter of approximately 300 metres. Cissbury Ring, roughly 10 miles (16 km) from Hollingbury, is suggested to have been the tribal "capital".[15]
From the 1st century AD The Romans built a number of villas in Brighton and Romano-British Brythonic Celts formed farming settlements in the area.[16]
After the Romans left in the early 4th century AD the Brighton area came back under the control of the native Celts. However the Anglo-Saxons began to invade the region in the late 5th century AD, and Brighton became part of the Kingdom of Sussex, founded in 477 AD by king Aelle.[17]
Anthony Seldon identified five phases of development in pre-20th century Brighton.[18] Until 1730, it was a fishing and agricultural settlement. It was founded by Saxons and mentioned in the Domesday Book under the name Bristelmestune; a rent of 4,000 herring was established.[5] Its importance grew from the Norman era onwards, and by the 14th century there was a parish church, a market and rudimentary law enforcement (the first town constable was elected in 1285).[19] Sacked and burnt by French invaders in the early 16th century—the earliest depiction of Brighton, a painting of c. 1520, shows Admiral Pregent de Bidoux's attack of June 1514—the town nevertheless recovered strongly on the back of a thriving mackerel-fishing industry. By the mid-17th century, Brighton was Sussex's most populous and important town.[20] Over the next few decades, though, events severely affected its local and national standing, such that by 1730 "it was a forlorn town decidedly down on its luck": more foreign attacks, storms (especially the devastating Great Storm of 1703), a declining fishing industry and the emergence of nearby Shoreham as a significant port.[20]
From the 1730s, Brighton entered its second phase of development—one which brought a rapid improvement in its fortunes. The contemporary fad for drinking and bathing in seawater as a purported cure for illnesses was enthusiastically encouraged by Dr Richard Russell from nearby Lewes. He sent many patients to "take the cure" in the sea at Brighton, published a popular treatise[note 1] on the subject, and moved to the town soon afterwards (the Royal Albion, one of Brighton's early hotels, occupies the site of his house).[22] Others were already visiting the town for recreational purposes before Russell became famous, though, and his actions coincided with other developments which made Brighton more attractive to visitors. From the 1760s it was a boarding point for boats travelling to France; road transport to London was improved[23] when the main road via Crawley was turnpiked in 1770;[24] and spas and indoor baths were opened by other entrepreneurial physicians such as Sake Dean Mahomed and Anthony Relhan (who also wrote the town's first guidebook).[23]
Photochrom of Brighton aquarium, 1890–1900
From 1780, development of the Georgian terraces had started and the fishing village became the fashionable resort of Brighton. Growth of the town was further encouraged by the patronage of the Prince Regent (later King George IV) after his first visit in 1783.[25] He spent much of his leisure time in the town and constructed the Royal Pavilion during the early part of his Regency. In this period the modern form of the name Brighton came into common use.[26]
The arrival of the London and Brighton Railway in 1841 brought Brighton within the reach of day-trippers from London. The population grew from around 7,000 in 1801 to over 120,000 by 1901.[27] Many of the major attractions were built during the Victorian era such as the Grand Hotel (1864), the West Pier (1866) and the Palace Pier (1899). Prior to either of these structures the famous Chain Pier was built, to the designs of Captain Samuel Brown. It lasted from 1823 to 1896, and featured in paintings by both Turner and Constable.
Because of boundary changes, the land area of Brighton expanded from 1,640 acres (7 km2) in 1854 to 14,347 acres (58 km2) in 1952.[28] New housing estates were established in the acquired areas including Moulsecoomb, Bevendean, Coldean and Whitehawk. The major expansion of 1928 also incorporated the villages of Patcham, Ovingdean and Rottingdean, and much council housing was built in parts of Woodingdean after the Second World War.
Gentrification since then has made Brighton more fashionable again. Recent housing in North Laine, for instance, has been designed in keeping with the area.
In 1997, Brighton and Hove were joined to form the unitary authority of Brighton and Hove, which was granted city status by Queen Elizabeth II as part of the millennium celebrations in 2000.
wikipedia
Lindos (/ˈlɪndɒs/; Greek: Λίνδος) is an archaeological site, a town and a former municipality on the island of Rhodes, in the Dodecanese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Rhodes, of which it is a municipal unit.[2] It lies on the east coast of the island. It is about 50 km south of the town of Rhodes and its fine beaches make it a popular tourist and holiday destination. Lindos is situated in a large bay and faces the fishing village and small resort of Haraki.
History[edit]
Lindos was founded by the Dorians led by the king Tlepolemus of Rhodes, who arrived in about the 10th century BC. It was one of six Dorian cities in the area known as the Dorian Hexapolis. The eastern location of Rhodes made it a natural meeting place between the Greeks and the Phoenicians, and by the 8th century Lindos was a major trading centre. In the 6th century it was ruled by Cleobulus, one of the Seven Sages of Greece. The importance of Lindos declined after the foundation of the city of Rhodes in the late 5th century.
In classical times the acropolis of Lindos was dominated by the massive temple of Athena Lindia, which attained its final form in around 300 BC. In Hellenistic and Roman times the temple precinct grew as more buildings were added. In early medieval times these buildings fell into disuse, and in the 14th century they were partly overlaid by a massive fortress built on the acropolis by the Knights of St John to defend the island against the Ottomans.
Acropolis[edit]
Above the modern town rises the acropolis of Lindos, a natural citadel which was fortified successively by the Greeks, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Knights of St John and the Ottomans. This makes the site difficult to excavate and interpret archaeologically. The acropolis offers spectacular views of the surrounding harbours and coastline.
On the acropolis of Lindos today parts of the following buildings may still be seen:
Rhodian trireme
The Doric Temple of Athena Lindia, dating from about 300 BC, built on the site of an earlier temple. Inside the temple is the table of offerings and the base of the cult statue of Athena.
The Propylaea of the Sanctuary, also dating from the 4th century BC. A monumental staircase leads to a D-shaped stoa and a wall with five door openings.
The Hellenistic stoa with lateral projecting wings, dating from about 200 BC. The stoa was 87 metres long and consisted of 42 columns.
The well-known relief of a Rhodian trireme (warship) cut into the rock at the foot of the steps leading to the acropolis. On the bow stood a statue of General Hagesander, the work of the sculptor Pythokritos. The relief dates from about 180 BC.
The Hellenistic staircase (2nd century BC) leading to the main archaeological area of the acropolis.
Remains of a Roman temple, possibly dedicated to the Emperor Diocletian and dating from about 300 AD.
The Acropolis is surrounded by a Hellenistic wall contemporary with the Propylaea and the stairway leading to the entrance to the site. A Roman inscription says that the wall and square towers were repaired at the expense of P Aelius Hagetor, the priest of Athena in the 2nd century AD.
The Castle of the Knights of St John, built some time before 1317 on the foundations of older Byzantine fortifications. The walls and towers follow the natural conformation of the cliff. A pentagonal tower on the south side commanded the harbour, the settlement and the road from the south of the island. There was a large round tower on the east facing the sea and two more, one round and the other on a corner, on the northeast side of the enceinte. Today one of the towers at the southwest corner and one to the west survive.
The Greek Orthodox Church of St John, dating from the 13th or 14th century and built on the ruins of a previous church, which may have been built as early as the 6th century.
Some scenes of the well-known film, The Guns of Navarone, were filmed here.
Navajo Upper Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon in the American Southwest, on Navajo land east of Lechee, Arizona. It includes five separate, scenic slot canyon sections on the Navajo Reservation, referred to as Upper Antelope Canyon (or The Crack), Rattle Snake Canyon, Owl Canyon, Mountain Sheep Canyon and Lower Antelope Canyon (or The Corkscrew).[2] It is the primary attraction of Lake Powell Navajo Tribal Park, along with a hiking trail to Rainbow Bridge National Monument.
The Navajo name for Upper Antelope Canyon is Tsé bighánílíní, which means 'the place where water runs through the (Slot Canyon) rocks'. Lower Antelope Canyon is Hazdistazí (called "Hasdestwazi" by the Navajo Parks and Recreation Department), or 'spiral rock arches'. Both are in the LeChee Chapter of the Navajo Nation.[4] They are accessible by Navajo guided tour only.[5]
Located southeast of Lower Antelope canyon by the gateway town of Page, Ari. This part of the canyon is chiseled out by millions of years' worth of flood erosion and impactful winds on its sandstone, enough to sculpt out the iconic "X" shape that aptly named the canyon. Canyon X is a relatively new scenic tour and the lesser-known cousin of Upper/Lower Antelope Canyon. Canyon X is a mixture of the characteristics of both the Upper and Lower canyon, with the Upper's feature of pillars of light and the Lower's steepness. Canyon X is also deeper than the other two and brings ample photo opportunities.
Beng Mealea or Bung Mealea (Khmer: ប្រាសាទបឹងមាលា, its name means "lotus pond"[1]) is a temple in the Angkor Wat style located 40 km east of the main group of temples at Angkor, Cambodia, on the ancient royal highway to Preah Khan Kompong Svay.
The temple[edit]
Map of Beng Mealea, from a drawing by Leon de Beylie (1849-1910). In red the partially equipped path used to visit the temple.
It was built as a Hindu temple, but there are some carvings depicting buddhist motifs.[1] Its primary material is sandstone and it is largely unrestored, with trees and thick brush thriving amidst its towers and courtyards and many of its stones lying in great heaps. For years it was difficult to reach, but a road recently built to the temple complex of Koh Ker passes Beng Mealea and more visitors are coming to the site, as it is 77 km from Siem Reap by road.
The corridor in the temple.
The history of the temple is unknown and it can be dated only by its architectural style, identical to Angkor Wat, so scholars assumed it was built during the reign of king Suryavarman II in the early 12th century.[1] Smaller in size than Angkor Wat, the king's main monument, Beng Mealea nonetheless ranks among the Khmer empire's larger temples: the gallery which forms the outer enclosure of the temple is 181 m by 152 m.[2] It was the center of a town, surrounded by a moat 1025 m by 875 m large and 45 m wide.[1]
Beng Mealea is oriented toward the east, but has entranceways from the other three cardinal directions. The basic layout is three enclosing galleries around a central sanctuary, collapsed at present. The enclosures are tied with "cruciform cloisters", like Angkor Wat. Structures known as libraries lie to the right and left of the avenue that leads in from the east. There is extensive carving of scenes from Hindu mythology, including the Churning of the Sea of Milk and Vishnu being borne by the bird god Garuda. Causeways have long balustrades formed by bodies of the seven-headed Naga serpent.
It was built mostly of sandstone: Beng Mealea is only 7 km far from the angkorian sandstone quarries of Phnom Kulen, as the crow flies. Presumably sandstone blocks used for Angkor were transported along artificial water canals and passed from here.[1] Despite of lack of information, the quality of architecture and decorations has drawn the attention of French scholars just from its discovery.[3][4][5]
World Heritage Status[edit]
This site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on September 1, 1992 in the Cultural category [1].
These are the first Hyper Stereo 3D Screenshots from Crysis 2. It was extremely difficult to create these shots, there is no way I could play the game proper at this Hyper 3D depth created with the iZ3D Driver.
Click here to see a Slideshow of these 3D Screenshots.
www.flickr.com/photos/57605784@N06/sets/72157626366412812...
However Crysis 2 is one of the first 3D games that offers its own Stereoscopic 3D support for use with NVidea 3D Vision and 3D Monitors, which I dont have. It can also output in side by side, which can be recorded.
See my You-Tube channel for live 3D Capture from Crysis, it is at standard depth determined by the Game Creators, not Hyper Stereo.
www.youtube.com/user/XtraDefinition3D?feature=mhum
To see more games played in anaglyph 3D + Tutorial & links to free software, click on the group link below.
The banded demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens) is a species of damselfly belonging to the family Calopterygidae. It is often found along slow-flowing streams and rivers. It is a Eurasian species occurring from the Atlantic coast eastwards to Lake Baikal and northwestern China.[2]
This is a common species throughout much of its range.[3]
Description:
This is a large damselfly with a total length of up to 48 millimetres (1.9 in) and a hindwing length of up to 36 millimetres (1.4 in).
Male and female are variable in color and pattern. The male has translucent wings which each have a broad, dark iridescent blue-black spot (or band) across the outer part. On immature dragonflies the spot is dark brown. The body can be a metallic blue or bluish green or a combination of both colours, depending on the time of year and location.
The dark wing patch of the male starts at the nodus (the slight dip midway down the upper edge of the wing) but can reach up to the wing-tip in southern races.[2] In the very similar beautiful demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo), the dark patch starts before the nodus.
The female has translucent, pale green iridescent wings with a white patch near the tip (a pseudopterostigma), and a metallic green or bronze/green body.
Eggs and Larvae:
Females can lay up to 10 eggs per minute for 45 minutes. They lay in a wide variety of emergent or floating plants, sometimes even submerging to do so.
The eggs hatch after 14 days. The larvae have very long legs and are stick-shaped. They develop over two years, usually. They tolerate muddy water and overwinter buried in mud. When they are ready to moult into an adult, they climb up a suitable reed or plant and shed their skin.
Habitat:
This species lives in many types of freshwater habitat, particularly open running water bodies such as streams and smaller rivers.[3]
Behaviour:
Males are usually territorial, but large numbers can sometimes be found in lush bankside plants and on floating objects. They court females by opening their wings and performing an aerial dance. They are usually found in canals and quiet rivers with muddy bottoms located in open country.[4]
Range:
The banded demoiselle is a Eurasian species, and is present throughout Eurasia from the Atlantic coast to Lake Baikal and north-western China.[2] It occurs in Taganay and Zyuratkul National Parks of Russia.[5] It can be found at Fruška Gora in Serbia. It is found throughout the British Isles, except for the Scottish Highlands.[4]
References:
The dates 1782 and 1776 have been given in the entomological literature; Hämäläinen (2008) showed that the species was described in 1780
a b c Dijkstra, Klaas-Douwe B. (2006). Field Guide to the Dragonflies of Britain and Europe. pp. 66–67. ISBN 0-9531399-4-8.
a b Clausnitzer, V. 2009. Calopteryx splendens. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 22 January 2016.
a b Brooks & Lewington (2004). Field Guide to the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Great Britain and Ireland. British Wildlife Publishing. ISBN 0-9531399-0-5.
Calopteryx splendens (Harris, 1782) - Красная Книга Челябинской области: животные, растения, грибы / Министерство по радиационной и экологической безопасности Челябинской области, Ин-т экологии растений и животных УрО РАН. - Екатеринбург: Изд-во Урал. ун-та, 2005. - 450 с.: ил.
The Blue Hole of Santa Rosa is a circular, bell-shaped pool east of Santa Rosa, New Mexico that is one of the most popular dive destinations in the US[1] for SCUBA diving and training. The Blue Hole is an artesian well that was once used as a fish hatchery.[2] It is a clear blue body of water with a constant 64 °F (18 °C) temperature and constant inflow of 3000 gallons per minute. While the surface is only 80 feet (24 m) in diameter, it expands to a diameter of 130 feet (40 m) at the bottom.[3]
Beng Mealea or Bung Mealea (Khmer: ប្រាសាទបឹងមាលា, its name means "lotus pond"[1]) is a temple in the Angkor Wat style located 40 km east of the main group of temples at Angkor, Cambodia, on the ancient royal highway to Preah Khan Kompong Svay.
The temple[edit]
Map of Beng Mealea, from a drawing by Leon de Beylie (1849-1910). In red the partially equipped path used to visit the temple.
It was built as a Hindu temple, but there are some carvings depicting buddhist motifs.[1] Its primary material is sandstone and it is largely unrestored, with trees and thick brush thriving amidst its towers and courtyards and many of its stones lying in great heaps. For years it was difficult to reach, but a road recently built to the temple complex of Koh Ker passes Beng Mealea and more visitors are coming to the site, as it is 77 km from Siem Reap by road.
The corridor in the temple.
The history of the temple is unknown and it can be dated only by its architectural style, identical to Angkor Wat, so scholars assumed it was built during the reign of king Suryavarman II in the early 12th century.[1] Smaller in size than Angkor Wat, the king's main monument, Beng Mealea nonetheless ranks among the Khmer empire's larger temples: the gallery which forms the outer enclosure of the temple is 181 m by 152 m.[2] It was the center of a town, surrounded by a moat 1025 m by 875 m large and 45 m wide.[1]
Beng Mealea is oriented toward the east, but has entranceways from the other three cardinal directions. The basic layout is three enclosing galleries around a central sanctuary, collapsed at present. The enclosures are tied with "cruciform cloisters", like Angkor Wat. Structures known as libraries lie to the right and left of the avenue that leads in from the east. There is extensive carving of scenes from Hindu mythology, including the Churning of the Sea of Milk and Vishnu being borne by the bird god Garuda. Causeways have long balustrades formed by bodies of the seven-headed Naga serpent.
It was built mostly of sandstone: Beng Mealea is only 7 km far from the angkorian sandstone quarries of Phnom Kulen, as the crow flies. Presumably sandstone blocks used for Angkor were transported along artificial water canals and passed from here.[1] Despite of lack of information, the quality of architecture and decorations has drawn the attention of French scholars just from its discovery.[3][4][5]
World Heritage Status[edit]
This site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on September 1, 1992 in the Cultural category [1].
O Cristo Redentor é um monumento de Jesus Cristo localizado na cidade do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. Está localizado no topo do Morro do Corcovado, a 709 metros acima do nível do mar. De seus 38 metros, oito estão no pedestal. Foi inaugurado às 19h 15min do dia 12 de outubro de 1931, depois de cerca de cinco anos de obras. Um símbolo do catolicismo, o monumento tornou-se um dos ícones mais reconhecidos internacionalmente do Rio e do Brasil. No dia 7 de julho de 2007, em Lisboa, no Estádio da Luz, foi eleito uma das novas sete maravilhas do mundo. O Guiness World Records, versão atualizada de 2009, considera o Cristo Redentor a maior estátua de Cristo
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considered the largest Art Deco statue in the world.[1] The statue is 39.6 metres (130 ft) tall, including its 9.5 meter (31 feet) pedestal, and 30 metres (98 ft) wide. It weighs 635 tons (700 short tons), and is located at the peak of the 700 metres (2,300 ft) Corcovado mountain in the Tijuca Forest National Park overlooking the city. It is one of the tallest of its kind in the world (The statue of Cristo de la Concordia in Cochabamba, Bolivia, is slightly taller). A symbol of Christianity, the statue has become an icon of Rio and Brazil.[2] It is made of reinforced concrete and soapstone, and was constructed between 1922 and 1931
________________________
La estatua Cristo Redentor está situada a 709 metros sobre el nivel del mar, en la ciudad de Río de Janeiro, Brasil, específicamente en la cima del cerro del Corcovado. Tiene una altura total de 38 metros, incluidos sus 8 metros de pedestal. Fue inaugurado el 12 de octubre de 1931, después de aproximadamente cinco años de obras.
Zagori (Greek: Ζαγόρι), is a region and a municipality in the Pindus mountains in Epirus, in northwestern Greece. The seat of the municipality is the village Asprangeloi.[2] It has an area of some 1,000 square kilometers and contains 46 villages known as Zagori villages (or Zagorochoria or Zagorohoria), and is in the shape of an upturned equilateral triangle.
Title: It! The Terror From Beyond Space
Year Of Release: 1958
Running Time: 69 minutes
DVD Released By: MGM Home Entertainment
Directed By: Edward L. Cahn
Writing Credits: Jerome Bixby
Starring: Marshall Thompson, Shawn Smith, Kim Spalding, Ann Doran, Dabbs Greer, Paul Langton, Robert Bice
Taglines:
1. It breathes, it hunts…It Kills!
2. IT!...Reaches through space!...Scoops up men and women!...Gorges on blood!
3. The revelation shocker of things to come!
Alternate Titles:
It! The Vampire from Beyond Space (1958)
The Terror from Beyond Space (1958).
Review Date: 12.12.04 (updated 1.1.10)
The film opens with a thundering musical theme and a title that threatens to bust out of the screen and into our third spatial dimension. After the credits end, we get a view of the Martian surface. In the distance we see the wreckage of a crashed rocket ship. A voice belonging to Colonel Edward Carruthers begins to narrate, relating how the ship he commanded cracked up on landing six months previously and how he is now the only survivor from that doomed expedition, the crew encountering some strange force on the Red planet they came to know only as death. The camera slowly pans over the landscape and a second rocket ship is revealed, albeit intact and standing erect. Carruthers says that he will now be going back to face his superiors on Earth and possibly another kind of death.
Now we see the capitol building in Washington D.C., which quickly fades to a door marked, “Science advisory committee. Division of interplanetary exploration.” No doubt down the hall are the offices for the division on Radiation-Enlarged Insects and Lizards. Inside this room a government official is conducting a press conference and releasing information on the second rocket ship sent to Mars. He talks about how Colonel Carruthers has been found alive, but is the only survivor from the initial expedition. The Colonel will be returned to Earth to face trial for the murders of the rest of the first ship’s crew.
Back on Mars, we see the Challenge-142 preparing to lift off. Before they can depart, Van Heusen notices an open compartment. It seems Lt. Calder was dumping some crates (littering) and forgot to close it. The open hatch is closed remotely, but as it slides shut, an ominous shadow moving about nearby alerts us to the fact that something has managed to get aboard while it was open. We hear a few growls and even get a close up of IT’s feet as it moves about. I gotta say, this guy needs some serious corrective footwear. Talk about a slewfoot! What is even more hilarious is that the shadow we see on the wall seems to be made by the actor in the monster suit, but not the monster mask. His facial features seem pretty clear in silhouette.
After a name check, Van Heusen begins the launch countdown at ten, while strapped into what appears to be a lawn chair! Where was the budget blown for this ship? No trash recycling systems and cheap chairs! The contractor must have spent it somewhere, but it obviously wasn’t on this ship!
Once in space and safely on the way home, Van Heusen (who will henceforth be referred to simply as Van – some of the characters did it, why not me) begins acting like an asshole, ridiculing Carruther’s story of a monster. He tells Carruthers (seemingly with great delight) that they have enough evidence to put him in front of a firing squad. They head up one level and Van shows him a human skull they found on the surface of Mars. Dental records revealed it to be a Frank Kenner, one of Carruther’s crew. The skull has an obvious bullet hole in it and Van says, “There’s only one kind of a monster that uses bullets.” There is an ominous musical cue. Carruthers walks away and the film fades out.
Sometime later the crew is cleaning up after a meal. Correction: the women are cleaning up after a meal. Yes, in this futuristic year of 1973, women – despite being doctors and presumably vital members of the crew – are still assigned the laborious task of cleaning up after meals and making sure all the lazy, fat-ass males have fresh, hot coffee in their cups and are supplied with cigarettes. I wonder if these guys made them cook the meal as well.
So this group has finished a meal and are relaxing. The usual light banter is exchanged before the topic of Colonel Carruthers and his monster comes up. Royce (the other Royce will always be referred to as Doctor Royce for purposes of this review) says that he doesn’t disbelieve or believe the story. Along about that time Carruthers arrives and is greeted with a smart-ass comment from Van. He gets some coffee from Ann and retreats back up one level. Van then states that before they reach Earth, he will have Carruthers’ confession on tape. What is he going to do, beat it out of him?
Some more time passes and Ann brings Carruthers a plate of food. She admits that she has only heard the story of what happened to the crew of the Challenge-141 from Van and would like to hear it straight from Carruthers. He relates to her how they landed, went out exploring and then got caught in a sandstorm. Something in the storm began taking the crew and in the confusion shots were fired, one apparently killing Kenner by mistake. Carruthers was the only one who made it back to the ship. Subsequent searches turned up no signs of his crew or the thing that took them.
Van continues to act like a dick. Ann - with whom he seems to have some sort of relationship beyond work - tells him that he owes it to Carruthers to treat him like a fellow officer and not an animal, and that it is not his place to decide whether he is guilty.
More time passes. Royce and Carruthers are playing chess while Van looks on, smoking a cigarette. Calder is nearby scribbling in a notebook – probably “I won’t leave outer hatches open before lift-off” a hundred times, enforced by Van for his lamebrain mistake. Elsewhere, Keinholz is sitting alone at a desk, looking bored. He hears their stowaway bumbling around the cargo hold. He goes to investigate and is killed, the attack shown as shadows on a wall. The monster lifts Keinholz over his head and brings him smashing to the floor, where he proceeds to pelt the unfortunate crewmen with a barrage of blows…or in this case, cartwheeling its arms and bitch-slapping the guy to death.
Above, Carruthers has heard the commotion and wonders what is going on. No one else seems to have heard anything. He still insists on performing a head count and when Keinholz comes up missing, everyone begins searching the ship for him. While everyone is split up, Gino Finelli is captured by the beast when he stops to pilfer some cigarettes from a storage locker.
Everyone convenes again and Van is in disbelief as there just isn’t a place on the ship a man could hide. Carruthers asks where Gino is and Bob says that he was right behind him. He looks back down the ladder to the deck below and calls out to Gino, but all is silent below. He, Van and Carruthers all go back down where they find Gino’s unused cigarette on the floor, but no Gino. Now everyone is calling out for Gino in addition to Keinholz. Soon after, Keinholz’s body is located in an air duct.
Everyone comes running and arrives as Keinholz is removed from the duct. Bob wonders if Gino is inside the duct, but Carruthers looks and sees nothing. Major Purdue volunteers to go in to look for Gino as he claims to know the layout. He crawls on in, but doesn’t see anything at first. Then he re-orients himself and sees Gino at the end of the passage. Gino is looking pretty bad, like he was in a fight with an Avon lady who applied her make-up samples to him. Purdue yells out that he found Gino and begins to crawl toward him. He shakes Gino, trying to rouse him but Gino just shakes his head limply. Then there is a shadowy movement nearby and IT arrives on the scene, no doubt pissed to find someone playing with his food. IT growls and claws at Purdue, who screams before pulling out a revolver and squeezing off a few shots. This makes the monster roar and outside in the storage room, Carruther’s face is one of dread – he knows that roar all too well, it seems.
Purdue comes barreling out of the duct and Carruthers sneaks a glance inside before he and Van replace the cover over the entrance. Bob, naturally has a fit, upset that his brother is being left behind. He is removed by Royce and Carruthers yells to the cowering women to run and get a head start. A head start for where? You’re on a spaceship, not the open plains of Iowa. Carruthers then spots a crate of grenades and suggests that they wire them up to the hatches, thus blowing IT up if it decides to leave the duct. So Van, Carruthers and Calder wire up these grenades, then gather up Keinholz’s body (which seemed to magically aid them in picking itself off the floor) and retreat to one of the upper levels.
Next we see a table loaded with guns, rifles and ammunition. It looks like a NRA convention! It is at this point that I must point out the sheer stupidity of these people. They are on a spaceship, which is traveling through the vacuum of space. Rupturing the hull of the ship in any way would be extraordinarily bad. I’d imagine that great pains would be taken to minimize the chances that such an event ever took place. Yet these fools insist on firing projectile weapons within the confines of the ship. Not only that, but they have grenades ready to detonate below. Now, what kind of tests did these people have to pass in order to be selected for this mission? Cuz smarts don’t seem to be a requisite. Not once does any one of them stop to consider the chances that such an explosion might actually harm the bloody ship! No, they just fire away. Either these people are colossal idiots, or they are confident in the construction and engineering of the ship – but given the lawn chairs adorning the place, I would not exactly be willing to bet my life on the latter possibility.
So the men are taking stock of the weapons while the ladies apply the most idiotic looking bandage to Purdue’s head. Royce tries to console Bob by telling him there was nothing they could have done for Gino, but Bob is pissed that they didn’t even try to rescue his brother.
Meanwhile, Van is asking Carruthers if he knows what IT is. This must have just galled the guy to no end. Here he was all ready to break Carruthers and get a confession, and now he must admit that the other man was right all along. Time passes and the gang is pacing up and down, waiting for IT to leave the ducts and trip the grenade trap. They all gather around the intercom and listen as IT busts through the grate covering the duct and sets off the grenades. All those grenades detonate and we are treated to an explosion that looks like it was made by a box of firecrackers.
They still hear the monster growling, so they know that the plan has failed. Without a word, they hoist their firearms, open the central stair hatch and head down to investigate further…well, all the guys do. The women stay up above, no doubt prepping coffee. The guys gather around the door to C and open it up. A lot of smoke passes through the doorway, obscuring their vision. Calder, who is carrying the biggest gun, goes in first. Well, actually Van was in the lead, but when he couldn’t get the lights activated, he motions for Calder to go first. Chickenshit bastard. Calder barely gets through the door when IT lunges out of the smoke, grabs his rifle and bends it, Superman-style, over its head. Calder, Royce and Bob then run like hell up the stairs while Van and Carruthers fire their pistols at the beast. They retreat up the stairs, firing all the way, while IT tears the door to C compartment open wide enough to get through. Once safely up the stairs, the crew closes the central stair hatch.
Next gas grenades are used in an attempt to kill the beast. This fails to work as well and Van comes out of the engagement with an injured foot, scraped up something bad when the monster grabbed him.
Dr. Royce has completed the autopsy on Keinholz, discovering that “there is not a molecule of oxygen or a drop of water” left in his body. Blood, bone marrow, glandular secretions – everything, is gone. She theorizes that since there are no puncture marks on the body, that this was accomplished through some type of osmosis process. Keep in mind that the Human body is sixty to seventy percent water. Now, we got a pretty good view of the dead Keinholz earlier. Sure, his body was shriveled, but if all the moisture in his body had been removed, then would not he have looked more like a dried up prune, and been the size of a cabbage patch doll? Van Heusen hasn’t joined the cadaver club yet, though his wound is infected and nothing Dr. Royce can do helps it any.
They open the central hatch and peer down. IT is two levels down, but they can see it breaking through the center hatch onto the level directly below them, which will grant it access to the next level. They realize that if IT can get through the center hatches, they are royally SCREWED. Ann approaches Carruthers and tells him that he was right and they were all wrong. They hold hands and share a Kodak moment.
Royce pipes in about now with an idea he and Bob have worked out. He proposes that two men exit through the control room airlock and then space walk down the side of the ship and re-enter through the airlock on the motor level – below the current location of the creature. This would enable them to surprise the monster, but they aren’t sure what to surprise it with. Carruthers says he’s been thinking and has an idea, so he and Calder suit up and make their way down the hull to the bottom of the ship. They reach the airlock on the motor level and the others above begin talking loud at the proper time, distracting the monster from what is occurring below it. Carruthers and Calder sneak out onto the motor level and set an electrical trap on the stairs that lead to the upper level where IT is located.
The two then take cover behind some induction pumps and open the center hatch, which is noticed by the creature. It begins to descend the stairs and when it gets to the appropriate spot – ZAP. Nothing. The monster is not affected. Carruthers is able to make it safely to the airlock, but Calder takes a blow to the head that tears his vinyl “helmet” and stumbles back, his foot getting caught and the fall breaking his leg. He fires up an acetylene torch and uses it to fend off the monster every time it gets to close to his hiding spot.
Carruthers returns to the others where they try and think of a way to rescue Calder, who can be heard over the radio. Meanwhile the Doctor approaches Royce and tells him that the alien bacteria are attacking bone marrow, resulting in a leukemia-type condition. The drugs she has been using are working too slowly and she needs fresh blood to keep Van and Purdue alive – but there is no more on this level. They will need to descend to the cargo level and retrieve some more.
Royce is preparing to make a run for the blood and Bob decides that it his “turn” now to go. What is this, a ride? I suppose he feels the need to do something in helping kill the monster that murdered his brother. Carruthers decides to accompany them. Calder promises to keep them apprised of the creature’s movements via the intercom. A shadow on the wall tells us that IT is still dragging dead Gino around, and has wandered into the reactor room. After Calder reports this, it gives Carruthers an idea. He remotely closes the reactor room door and asks Calder what the monster does. When no odd behavior is reported, the three men make their descent in search of the blood supply.
Meanwhile Van has awoken again and is trying to get up from his cot. The women try to restrain him but he yells and pushes past them. He has an idea – by unsealing the reactor, the radiation will kill the monster. He flips some controls while the ladies still try and talk sense into him. In the reactor room, the creature is banging on the door to get out when the reactor is unsealed and it gets a face full of radiation. The women call down to warn the men what has happened, inciting Carruthers and Royce to speed things up. Below, Bob is helping Calder up the stairs when IT breaks out of the reactor room. Calder dives back into his hiding spot and Bob fires off his pistol at the beast. He then tries to run up the stairs, but IT is too fast. The monster reaches up and grabs him, pulling him down to the floor and bitch-slapping him to death. Royce and Carruthers haul ass back up the stairs with the blood, having to leave Bob behind. They get back to the laboratory level and then everyone heads on up to the topmost level – the control room.
Everyone is now huddled on the highest level. For some IDIOTIC reason, Carruthers is carrying a bazooka. A bazooka! They pile some heavy crates over the hatch in the floor, hoping to keep IT from busting up through the opening. Nearby Ann and Van are talking and the ever more disconcerted Colonel is remarking on Ann is now “with” Carruthers and how it happened out of the blue. She tries to dismiss it and wants to talk about it later, but he insists that there may be no later considering how their situation is degenerating rapidly. She walks off to help Carruthers and Van continues to mutter to Dr. Royce.
They contact Calder down below, who is still alive. He can see the monster still bumbling around on the motor level. About now IT has decided to find out where everyone else has gone. IT ascends the stairs to the first storage level and begins banging around. Calder warns Carruthers that IT is on its way up. The gang up top makes ready, turning the lights off and preparing for the last fight. Carruthers tells Calder to make his way to the airlock now that IT is no longer nearby and hide there. Then Carruthers picks up the bazooka again and aims it at the hatch.
While waiting, Carruthers happens to glance at a dial on a nearby instrument panel and notices that the oxygen consumption on the ship is far in excess of what it should be. He points this out to Royce and the two theorize that it is due to the monster. With the thin air on Mars it would need a gigantic lung capacity and has thus been hogging all the oxygen on the ship with its Darth Vader breathing style. Carruthers suggest letting all the air out of the ship to kill it. Royce agrees, saying they can build it back up for themselves later.
A mad rush is on now, everyone trying to get into his or her space suit. The monster tears his way up onto the laboratory level, doesn’t even hesitate and then heads up the latter to the top level. IT bangs on the hatch, causing all the boxes sitting atop it to topple over, and then IT peels back the metal of the hatch like wrapping paper and pokes up through the opening like a jack-in-the-box. Everyone has their spacesuits on now, but Carruthers cannot reach the controls to release the air because the monster is in the way. He calls to Royce, who is now holding the bazooka, to drive it back down so he can make his way to the proper control panel. Royce fires the bazooka, but the rocket just bounces off the monster before bouncing around the floor some. No detonation at all! It must have been a dud. Carruthers is trying to reach the controls, but the monster is preventing him from getting too close. Van then jumps up, runs to the controls and hits the correct button. The airlock doors open and the air begins rushing out. The monster has grabbed Van and no doubt given him the squish treatment, as when next we see Van, he is stretched out on the floor.
The ship begins diving. Well, not really…but given that the emergency klaxon blaring away to warn everyone of decompression and air loss sounds just like the diving bell in some old WWII movie, and one can see why it seems like the ship is diving. Everyone hangs on for dear life. Papers start flying around the room, but very few actually get blown out the airlock. The monster growls, writhes around and finally stops moving as the last of the air is removed. Carruthers checks on both IT and Van, but both are still and quiet. I have to wonder how Van didn’t get blown out. Everyone was hanging on, but Van was out cold (or dead). It seems the monster is finally dead. Everyone seems relieved, and the camera zooms in on Ann and Carruthers as they hold hands before fading out…
…Into ANOTHER freakin’ shot of the ship flying through space (number nine). This fades into the room in Washington D.C. that we saw at the very beginning of the film. The same government official is conducting another press release. He has more information to add to the story he gave to the reporters the previous evening. He reads a message from the Challenge-142 received less than an hour ago:
“This is Eric Royce talking. Of the nineteen men and women who have set foot upon the planet Mars, six will return.”
Six? Let’s see…Carruthers, Ann, Royce, Dr. Royce, Purdue and…Calder, I suppose. Calder was hiding in the airlock on the motor level while Van Heusen got beat up by the monster and was laying there pretty still at the end, so I guess he was the one who died. The message continues:
“There is no longer a question of murder, but of an alien and elemental lifeforce. A planet so cruel, so hostile, that man may have to find it necessary to bypass it in his endeavor to explore and understand the universe.”
Well, at least Carruthers has been cleared, but Royce makes out like the planet Mars is so damn dangerous. Excuse me, but were not you guys all safe until you got back on the ship? The planet seemed pretty harmless. It is the native life that proved to be so deadly. Big difference. The message (and the movie) concludes:
“Another name for Mars…is death.”
Fade out. The End.
Structurally, this movie is most similar to The Thing From Another World in that it deals with a small group of people trapped struggling to prevail against a deadly organism from another planet bound and determined to make a snack of them all. Aside from the opening and closing segments set on Earth (which most people conclude were added in order to stretch out the film’s running time) the movie never leaves the crew of the Challenge-142. Once things get rolling, the movie rarely lets up and moves along at a brisk pace, rapidly pushing its characters through one bad situation and into another. While not as intense as later films would be, the approach taken works very well and the viewer begins to detect the sense of danger and desperation that builds as the film progresses.
Sadly, the character development that was so well executed in the Howard Hawk’s The Thing From Another World, is sorely and quite obviously lacking here. We are quickly introduced to a number of people, who for the most part, will be expanded upon very little and examined only long enough to form the vaguest of impressions. With the exception of Carruthers and Van Heusen, who these people are and what motivates them was just not important to the producers. Those two are plainly set up to be at odds with each other, though the conflict is really all on the part of Van Heusen, who is resolute in his belief of Carruther’s guilt. Yet, the film sets up this adversarial dynamic and goes no where with it. Early on during the monster’s rampage, Van Heusen takes a hit and is restricted to bed for the rest of the film, offering up only smartass remarks and a failed attempt at killing the creature thereafter. I suppose one could say that Van Heusen was shown to be in error when it came to the veracity of Carruthers’ story, and that he was pushed aside to make room for latter to take the lead and redeem himself. There could not be two leaders, so one was removed.
While the characters might not be the most fleshed out in film history, they certainly make up for it with their actions. After viewing this movie, one has to wonder what kind of idiots these people truly were. How they ever graduated from some type of training program and granted a position on a ship to Mars is beyond me. In fact, the entire organization seems lacking. There is just so much that betrays them as morons. Like smoking. These people are nicotine fiends who are lighting up non-stop. Someone missing? Have a smoke. The monster kills someone? Have a smoke. Time running out and death looking certain? Have a freaking smoke! I must say that the Challenge-142 must have one HELL of an air recycling system. These folks have the oxygen scrubbers working overtime with all the smoke they exhale.
On top of that, these guys are gun toting, trigger-happy morons who make the Montana militia groups look like the boy scouts. They start squeezing off rounds at the drop of a hat, no worries about ricocheting bullets or friendly fire. I guess the ship, on top of having a first rate air recycling system, also has the sturdiest hull ever manufactured by mankind. It must have, as these guys don’t give a single thought to accidentally rupturing the hull. And they don’t stop with guns! They haul out grenades by the dozen and detonate them and then move on up to firing a bazooka in their ship’s control room!
As far as visual FX are concerned, this film doesn’t have too many. What we do see is adequately done by the standards of the day. The most ambitious shot is the view of Carruthers and Calder walking down the side of the ship as it traverses the stars. Back then it might have looked awesome, but now it is very easy to notice that the actors don’t seem to be covering any ground, despite taking numerous steps as well as the obvious signs of matting them into the footage of the rocket. I’d venture to say that the best looking thing we see, though it is just for a few seconds at the film’s beginning, is the painting that represents the surface of Mars. Sure, it looks nothing like what Mars really looks like, but it is still executed pretty darn well.
Now we come to the one aspect that is both one of the best as well as one of the worst things about the movie: The monster. The monster costume is a glaring source of both potential embarrassment and possible fun. The costume is a rather bulky, rubber affair that bends in all the wrong places, heightening the “cheese” factor and lending a certain air of ridiculousness to the film. The way it lumbers, stumbles and plods around the ship is laughable considering the dire circumstances and danger it supposedly represents. The face is static, except for the tongue that is often protruding from the sizable mouth. This effect was produced by the actor’s chin pushing the “tongue” through the creature’s maw.
Since the movie was filmed on a mere handful of sets, with a single set used to represent the various central chambers of the ship – just re-dressed for each one, director Cahn makes good use of the limited space he has. Thanks to the camera work and the set dressing, the ship comes across as being fairly good sized. Another thing he does rather well in conjunction with cinematographer Kenneth Peach is to hide the monster and utilize shadows to create an atmosphere of dread and creepiness. Whether this was done for artistic reasons or to help hide the often silly-looking monster suit is open for debate, but since the creature is shown quite well on several occasions, and the suit holds up pretty darn well to scrutiny, I personally believe it was the former. There are numerous occasions where all we see is the beast’s shadow on the wall, or a foot moving across the floor. More than one assault on a Human is shown as nothing more than shadows on a wall, which, while lessening the onscreen violence, only makes the attacks more horrifying. This method really helps in firing the imagination, as what the mind conjures up is almost always more frightening than what we ultimately see on screen.
Still, despite all the apparent flaws...indeed, perhaps because of those very flaws, this film has a sizable “fun” quotient. Taking it too seriously will only lessen the enjoyment derived from the proceedings. An enormous grain of salt, along with a large suspension of disbelief will come in handy here, and will help transform the film from an “old 50’s monster movie” into a “classic B-Movie experience.”
Even today, almost 2000 years after its construction, the breathtaking pantheon is a remarkable building to see. The spectacular design, proportions, elegance and harmony are a striking reminder of the architecture of the great Roman Empire. When Michelangelo saw this wonder for the first time he said that it looks more like the work of angels, not humans.
1 The word Pantheon is a Greek adjective meaning “honor all Gods”. In fact the pantheon was first built as a temple to all gods.
2 It is the best preserved Ancient Roman monument. It is a bit of a mystery how the Pantheon managed to survive barbarian raids when all the rest of Roman monuments had been shattered. Its turning into a church in 609 AD has a lot to do with it in later time, but also the structure itself is way ahead of its time. In fact, the exact composition of the material is still unknown and appears to be structurally similar to modern day concrete! Whatever the reasons are, the Pantheon is the only structure of its age and size that has successfully survived the damage of time and gravity, still intact with all its splendor and beauty.
3 The exact age of the pantheon remains unknown. The Roman legend tells that the original Pantheon was built on the very site and was dedicated to Romulus, their mythological founder, after he ascended to heaven from that site. Most historians claim that Emperor Augustus right hand, Agrippa, built the first Pantheon in 27 BC. It burned in the great fire of 80 AD, was rebuilt by Emperor Domitian, but was struck by lightning and burned again in 110 AD. The Pantheon as we know it today was built in 120 AD by Emperor Hadrian Who was passionate with architecture and designed it together with Apollodorus of Damascus, a famous Greek architect of the time who unfortunately was executed by order of the Emperor, because of an argument about the design of the temple…
sundial-rome-on-segwayA lighting effect can be viewed on April 21when the midday sun strikes a metal grille above the doorway, saturating the courtyard outside with light
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4 The most fascinating part of the Pantheon is its giant dome, with its famous hole in the top (The eye of the Pantheon, or oculus). The dome was the largest in the world for 1300 years and until today it remains the largest unsupported dome in the world! The diameter of the dome is 43.30 meters or 142ft (for comparison, the United States Capitol dome is 96 feet in diameter) and is in perfect proportion with the Pantheon by the fact that the distance from the floor to the top of the dome is exactly equal to its diameter.
The great architectural achievement was due to the massive weight of the large dome. Roman engineers lightened the dome as much as possible; not only its thickness progressively decreases, but the materials used in the upper part of the dome were lighter with internal spaces within the dome walls. The decrease in thickness has the effect that while the interior of the ceiling is spherical, its exterior is slightly “flattened”. It is larger than the dome of St. Peter’s basilica but since it seems flattened from the outside it is hard to get a full sense of its dimension. The hole (oculus), 7.8 meters in diameter, is the only source of light and is the connection between the temple and the gods above. Rain occasionally fall through it, but the floor is slanted and drains the water if it manages to hit the floor. In practice, rain seldom falls inside the dome.
5 The interior has the shape of a cylinder covered by a half of a sphere; the height of the cylinder is equal to the radius of the sphere, and is 43.3 meters (142ft) . There are no windows inside but the large oculus! The Pantheon now contains the tombs of the famous artist Raphael and of several Italian Kings and poets. The marble floor, which features a design consisting of a series of geometric patterns, is still the ancient Roman original. The history of Pantheon was forever changed during the reign of Pope Urban VIII, who melted down every scrap of bronze located upon the ceiling, outraging a great deal of Roman citizens.
6 The 16 massive Corinthian columns supporting the portico weigh 60 tons each. They are 39 feet (11.8 m) tall, five feet (1.5 m) in diameter and brought all the way from Egypt. These columns were dragged more than 100 km from the quarry to the Nile river on wooden sledges. They were floated by barge down the Nile River when the water level was high during the spring floods, and then transferred to vessels to cross the Mediterranean Sea to the Roman port of Ostia. There, they were transferred back onto barges and pulled up the Tiber River to Rome. The Columns support a triangle pediment with an inscription attributing the Pantheon to Marcus Agrippa (“M•AGRIPPA•L•F•COS•TERTIUM•FECIT” meaning “It was built by Marcos Agrippa in his third consulate”). It is the only remain from the original temple built by Agrippa and it is believed that Hadrian left it as a gesture to his predecessor when he rebuilt the pantheon.
7 A lighting effect can be viewed on April 21 when the midday sun strikes a metal grille above the doorway, saturating the courtyard outside with light. The Romans celebrated April 21 as the founding date of the city, and the impressive sight of their Emperor standing at the entrance of the Pantheon surrounded by light coming from inside the pantheon might have been seen as something that, in effect, raised their emperor to the level of the gods and invited him in to join them.
8 In the year 609 The Pantheon was the first pagan temple to be transformed into a church and therefore it was saved from being destroyed during the middle Ages. Today it is a church dedicated to St. Mary of the Martyrs. None the less it is called the Pantheon by virtually everybody and it seems to exist independent of religious rule but more of a tribute to the past.
9 In front of the Pantheon is the beautiful “Fountain of the Pantheon”. It was designed by famous architecture Giacomo Della Porta in 1575 and sculpted out of marble by Leonardo Sormani. In 1711, Pope Clement XI requested that the fountain be modified and had Filippo Barignoni design a new layout, which included a different basin, made of stone, and the obelisk of Ramses II set in the centre on a plinth with four dolphins decorating the base.
This image was scanned from a photograph in an album dating from World War 2. It was taken during the North African campaign.
The album was purchased from an op shop by one of our members and is held in the Sir Edgeworth David Memorial Museum. Unfortunately, we do not know who took the photos, or who owned the album, so if you have any information about this, please contact us.
The original photo was taken prior to 1955 and so is out of copyright. You are free to use it, but we would appreciate your acknowledging our efforts in the attribution.
If you have any information about this photograph, please contact us.
Title: It! The Terror From Beyond Space
Year Of Release: 1958
Running Time: 69 minutes
DVD Released By: MGM Home Entertainment
Directed By: Edward L. Cahn
Writing Credits: Jerome Bixby
Starring: Marshall Thompson, Shawn Smith, Kim Spalding, Ann Doran, Dabbs Greer, Paul Langton, Robert Bice
Taglines:
1. It breathes, it hunts…It Kills!
2. IT!...Reaches through space!...Scoops up men and women!...Gorges on blood!
3. The revelation shocker of things to come!
Alternate Titles:
It! The Vampire from Beyond Space (1958)
The Terror from Beyond Space (1958).
Review Date: 12.12.04 (updated 1.1.10)
The film opens with a thundering musical theme and a title that threatens to bust out of the screen and into our third spatial dimension. After the credits end, we get a view of the Martian surface. In the distance we see the wreckage of a crashed rocket ship. A voice belonging to Colonel Edward Carruthers begins to narrate, relating how the ship he commanded cracked up on landing six months previously and how he is now the only survivor from that doomed expedition, the crew encountering some strange force on the Red planet they came to know only as death. The camera slowly pans over the landscape and a second rocket ship is revealed, albeit intact and standing erect. Carruthers says that he will now be going back to face his superiors on Earth and possibly another kind of death.
Now we see the capitol building in Washington D.C., which quickly fades to a door marked, “Science advisory committee. Division of interplanetary exploration.” No doubt down the hall are the offices for the division on Radiation-Enlarged Insects and Lizards. Inside this room a government official is conducting a press conference and releasing information on the second rocket ship sent to Mars. He talks about how Colonel Carruthers has been found alive, but is the only survivor from the initial expedition. The Colonel will be returned to Earth to face trial for the murders of the rest of the first ship’s crew.
Back on Mars, we see the Challenge-142 preparing to lift off. Before they can depart, Van Heusen notices an open compartment. It seems Lt. Calder was dumping some crates (littering) and forgot to close it. The open hatch is closed remotely, but as it slides shut, an ominous shadow moving about nearby alerts us to the fact that something has managed to get aboard while it was open. We hear a few growls and even get a close up of IT’s feet as it moves about. I gotta say, this guy needs some serious corrective footwear. Talk about a slewfoot! What is even more hilarious is that the shadow we see on the wall seems to be made by the actor in the monster suit, but not the monster mask. His facial features seem pretty clear in silhouette.
After a name check, Van Heusen begins the launch countdown at ten, while strapped into what appears to be a lawn chair! Where was the budget blown for this ship? No trash recycling systems and cheap chairs! The contractor must have spent it somewhere, but it obviously wasn’t on this ship!
Once in space and safely on the way home, Van Heusen (who will henceforth be referred to simply as Van – some of the characters did it, why not me) begins acting like an asshole, ridiculing Carruther’s story of a monster. He tells Carruthers (seemingly with great delight) that they have enough evidence to put him in front of a firing squad. They head up one level and Van shows him a human skull they found on the surface of Mars. Dental records revealed it to be a Frank Kenner, one of Carruther’s crew. The skull has an obvious bullet hole in it and Van says, “There’s only one kind of a monster that uses bullets.” There is an ominous musical cue. Carruthers walks away and the film fades out.
Sometime later the crew is cleaning up after a meal. Correction: the women are cleaning up after a meal. Yes, in this futuristic year of 1973, women – despite being doctors and presumably vital members of the crew – are still assigned the laborious task of cleaning up after meals and making sure all the lazy, fat-ass males have fresh, hot coffee in their cups and are supplied with cigarettes. I wonder if these guys made them cook the meal as well.
So this group has finished a meal and are relaxing. The usual light banter is exchanged before the topic of Colonel Carruthers and his monster comes up. Royce (the other Royce will always be referred to as Doctor Royce for purposes of this review) says that he doesn’t disbelieve or believe the story. Along about that time Carruthers arrives and is greeted with a smart-ass comment from Van. He gets some coffee from Ann and retreats back up one level. Van then states that before they reach Earth, he will have Carruthers’ confession on tape. What is he going to do, beat it out of him?
Some more time passes and Ann brings Carruthers a plate of food. She admits that she has only heard the story of what happened to the crew of the Challenge-141 from Van and would like to hear it straight from Carruthers. He relates to her how they landed, went out exploring and then got caught in a sandstorm. Something in the storm began taking the crew and in the confusion shots were fired, one apparently killing Kenner by mistake. Carruthers was the only one who made it back to the ship. Subsequent searches turned up no signs of his crew or the thing that took them.
Van continues to act like a dick. Ann - with whom he seems to have some sort of relationship beyond work - tells him that he owes it to Carruthers to treat him like a fellow officer and not an animal, and that it is not his place to decide whether he is guilty.
More time passes. Royce and Carruthers are playing chess while Van looks on, smoking a cigarette. Calder is nearby scribbling in a notebook – probably “I won’t leave outer hatches open before lift-off” a hundred times, enforced by Van for his lamebrain mistake. Elsewhere, Keinholz is sitting alone at a desk, looking bored. He hears their stowaway bumbling around the cargo hold. He goes to investigate and is killed, the attack shown as shadows on a wall. The monster lifts Keinholz over his head and brings him smashing to the floor, where he proceeds to pelt the unfortunate crewmen with a barrage of blows…or in this case, cartwheeling its arms and bitch-slapping the guy to death.
Above, Carruthers has heard the commotion and wonders what is going on. No one else seems to have heard anything. He still insists on performing a head count and when Keinholz comes up missing, everyone begins searching the ship for him. While everyone is split up, Gino Finelli is captured by the beast when he stops to pilfer some cigarettes from a storage locker.
Everyone convenes again and Van is in disbelief as there just isn’t a place on the ship a man could hide. Carruthers asks where Gino is and Bob says that he was right behind him. He looks back down the ladder to the deck below and calls out to Gino, but all is silent below. He, Van and Carruthers all go back down where they find Gino’s unused cigarette on the floor, but no Gino. Now everyone is calling out for Gino in addition to Keinholz. Soon after, Keinholz’s body is located in an air duct.
Everyone comes running and arrives as Keinholz is removed from the duct. Bob wonders if Gino is inside the duct, but Carruthers looks and sees nothing. Major Purdue volunteers to go in to look for Gino as he claims to know the layout. He crawls on in, but doesn’t see anything at first. Then he re-orients himself and sees Gino at the end of the passage. Gino is looking pretty bad, like he was in a fight with an Avon lady who applied her make-up samples to him. Purdue yells out that he found Gino and begins to crawl toward him. He shakes Gino, trying to rouse him but Gino just shakes his head limply. Then there is a shadowy movement nearby and IT arrives on the scene, no doubt pissed to find someone playing with his food. IT growls and claws at Purdue, who screams before pulling out a revolver and squeezing off a few shots. This makes the monster roar and outside in the storage room, Carruther’s face is one of dread – he knows that roar all too well, it seems.
Purdue comes barreling out of the duct and Carruthers sneaks a glance inside before he and Van replace the cover over the entrance. Bob, naturally has a fit, upset that his brother is being left behind. He is removed by Royce and Carruthers yells to the cowering women to run and get a head start. A head start for where? You’re on a spaceship, not the open plains of Iowa. Carruthers then spots a crate of grenades and suggests that they wire them up to the hatches, thus blowing IT up if it decides to leave the duct. So Van, Carruthers and Calder wire up these grenades, then gather up Keinholz’s body (which seemed to magically aid them in picking itself off the floor) and retreat to one of the upper levels.
Next we see a table loaded with guns, rifles and ammunition. It looks like a NRA convention! It is at this point that I must point out the sheer stupidity of these people. They are on a spaceship, which is traveling through the vacuum of space. Rupturing the hull of the ship in any way would be extraordinarily bad. I’d imagine that great pains would be taken to minimize the chances that such an event ever took place. Yet these fools insist on firing projectile weapons within the confines of the ship. Not only that, but they have grenades ready to detonate below. Now, what kind of tests did these people have to pass in order to be selected for this mission? Cuz smarts don’t seem to be a requisite. Not once does any one of them stop to consider the chances that such an explosion might actually harm the bloody ship! No, they just fire away. Either these people are colossal idiots, or they are confident in the construction and engineering of the ship – but given the lawn chairs adorning the place, I would not exactly be willing to bet my life on the latter possibility.
So the men are taking stock of the weapons while the ladies apply the most idiotic looking bandage to Purdue’s head. Royce tries to console Bob by telling him there was nothing they could have done for Gino, but Bob is pissed that they didn’t even try to rescue his brother.
Meanwhile, Van is asking Carruthers if he knows what IT is. This must have just galled the guy to no end. Here he was all ready to break Carruthers and get a confession, and now he must admit that the other man was right all along. Time passes and the gang is pacing up and down, waiting for IT to leave the ducts and trip the grenade trap. They all gather around the intercom and listen as IT busts through the grate covering the duct and sets off the grenades. All those grenades detonate and we are treated to an explosion that looks like it was made by a box of firecrackers.
They still hear the monster growling, so they know that the plan has failed. Without a word, they hoist their firearms, open the central stair hatch and head down to investigate further…well, all the guys do. The women stay up above, no doubt prepping coffee. The guys gather around the door to C and open it up. A lot of smoke passes through the doorway, obscuring their vision. Calder, who is carrying the biggest gun, goes in first. Well, actually Van was in the lead, but when he couldn’t get the lights activated, he motions for Calder to go first. Chickenshit bastard. Calder barely gets through the door when IT lunges out of the smoke, grabs his rifle and bends it, Superman-style, over its head. Calder, Royce and Bob then run like hell up the stairs while Van and Carruthers fire their pistols at the beast. They retreat up the stairs, firing all the way, while IT tears the door to C compartment open wide enough to get through. Once safely up the stairs, the crew closes the central stair hatch.
Next gas grenades are used in an attempt to kill the beast. This fails to work as well and Van comes out of the engagement with an injured foot, scraped up something bad when the monster grabbed him.
Dr. Royce has completed the autopsy on Keinholz, discovering that “there is not a molecule of oxygen or a drop of water” left in his body. Blood, bone marrow, glandular secretions – everything, is gone. She theorizes that since there are no puncture marks on the body, that this was accomplished through some type of osmosis process. Keep in mind that the Human body is sixty to seventy percent water. Now, we got a pretty good view of the dead Keinholz earlier. Sure, his body was shriveled, but if all the moisture in his body had been removed, then would not he have looked more like a dried up prune, and been the size of a cabbage patch doll? Van Heusen hasn’t joined the cadaver club yet, though his wound is infected and nothing Dr. Royce can do helps it any.
They open the central hatch and peer down. IT is two levels down, but they can see it breaking through the center hatch onto the level directly below them, which will grant it access to the next level. They realize that if IT can get through the center hatches, they are royally SCREWED. Ann approaches Carruthers and tells him that he was right and they were all wrong. They hold hands and share a Kodak moment.
Royce pipes in about now with an idea he and Bob have worked out. He proposes that two men exit through the control room airlock and then space walk down the side of the ship and re-enter through the airlock on the motor level – below the current location of the creature. This would enable them to surprise the monster, but they aren’t sure what to surprise it with. Carruthers says he’s been thinking and has an idea, so he and Calder suit up and make their way down the hull to the bottom of the ship. They reach the airlock on the motor level and the others above begin talking loud at the proper time, distracting the monster from what is occurring below it. Carruthers and Calder sneak out onto the motor level and set an electrical trap on the stairs that lead to the upper level where IT is located.
The two then take cover behind some induction pumps and open the center hatch, which is noticed by the creature. It begins to descend the stairs and when it gets to the appropriate spot – ZAP. Nothing. The monster is not affected. Carruthers is able to make it safely to the airlock, but Calder takes a blow to the head that tears his vinyl “helmet” and stumbles back, his foot getting caught and the fall breaking his leg. He fires up an acetylene torch and uses it to fend off the monster every time it gets to close to his hiding spot.
Carruthers returns to the others where they try and think of a way to rescue Calder, who can be heard over the radio. Meanwhile the Doctor approaches Royce and tells him that the alien bacteria are attacking bone marrow, resulting in a leukemia-type condition. The drugs she has been using are working too slowly and she needs fresh blood to keep Van and Purdue alive – but there is no more on this level. They will need to descend to the cargo level and retrieve some more.
Royce is preparing to make a run for the blood and Bob decides that it his “turn” now to go. What is this, a ride? I suppose he feels the need to do something in helping kill the monster that murdered his brother. Carruthers decides to accompany them. Calder promises to keep them apprised of the creature’s movements via the intercom. A shadow on the wall tells us that IT is still dragging dead Gino around, and has wandered into the reactor room. After Calder reports this, it gives Carruthers an idea. He remotely closes the reactor room door and asks Calder what the monster does. When no odd behavior is reported, the three men make their descent in search of the blood supply.
Meanwhile Van has awoken again and is trying to get up from his cot. The women try to restrain him but he yells and pushes past them. He has an idea – by unsealing the reactor, the radiation will kill the monster. He flips some controls while the ladies still try and talk sense into him. In the reactor room, the creature is banging on the door to get out when the reactor is unsealed and it gets a face full of radiation. The women call down to warn the men what has happened, inciting Carruthers and Royce to speed things up. Below, Bob is helping Calder up the stairs when IT breaks out of the reactor room. Calder dives back into his hiding spot and Bob fires off his pistol at the beast. He then tries to run up the stairs, but IT is too fast. The monster reaches up and grabs him, pulling him down to the floor and bitch-slapping him to death. Royce and Carruthers haul ass back up the stairs with the blood, having to leave Bob behind. They get back to the laboratory level and then everyone heads on up to the topmost level – the control room.
Everyone is now huddled on the highest level. For some IDIOTIC reason, Carruthers is carrying a bazooka. A bazooka! They pile some heavy crates over the hatch in the floor, hoping to keep IT from busting up through the opening. Nearby Ann and Van are talking and the ever more disconcerted Colonel is remarking on Ann is now “with” Carruthers and how it happened out of the blue. She tries to dismiss it and wants to talk about it later, but he insists that there may be no later considering how their situation is degenerating rapidly. She walks off to help Carruthers and Van continues to mutter to Dr. Royce.
They contact Calder down below, who is still alive. He can see the monster still bumbling around on the motor level. About now IT has decided to find out where everyone else has gone. IT ascends the stairs to the first storage level and begins banging around. Calder warns Carruthers that IT is on its way up. The gang up top makes ready, turning the lights off and preparing for the last fight. Carruthers tells Calder to make his way to the airlock now that IT is no longer nearby and hide there. Then Carruthers picks up the bazooka again and aims it at the hatch.
While waiting, Carruthers happens to glance at a dial on a nearby instrument panel and notices that the oxygen consumption on the ship is far in excess of what it should be. He points this out to Royce and the two theorize that it is due to the monster. With the thin air on Mars it would need a gigantic lung capacity and has thus been hogging all the oxygen on the ship with its Darth Vader breathing style. Carruthers suggest letting all the air out of the ship to kill it. Royce agrees, saying they can build it back up for themselves later.
A mad rush is on now, everyone trying to get into his or her space suit. The monster tears his way up onto the laboratory level, doesn’t even hesitate and then heads up the latter to the top level. IT bangs on the hatch, causing all the boxes sitting atop it to topple over, and then IT peels back the metal of the hatch like wrapping paper and pokes up through the opening like a jack-in-the-box. Everyone has their spacesuits on now, but Carruthers cannot reach the controls to release the air because the monster is in the way. He calls to Royce, who is now holding the bazooka, to drive it back down so he can make his way to the proper control panel. Royce fires the bazooka, but the rocket just bounces off the monster before bouncing around the floor some. No detonation at all! It must have been a dud. Carruthers is trying to reach the controls, but the monster is preventing him from getting too close. Van then jumps up, runs to the controls and hits the correct button. The airlock doors open and the air begins rushing out. The monster has grabbed Van and no doubt given him the squish treatment, as when next we see Van, he is stretched out on the floor.
The ship begins diving. Well, not really…but given that the emergency klaxon blaring away to warn everyone of decompression and air loss sounds just like the diving bell in some old WWII movie, and one can see why it seems like the ship is diving. Everyone hangs on for dear life. Papers start flying around the room, but very few actually get blown out the airlock. The monster growls, writhes around and finally stops moving as the last of the air is removed. Carruthers checks on both IT and Van, but both are still and quiet. I have to wonder how Van didn’t get blown out. Everyone was hanging on, but Van was out cold (or dead). It seems the monster is finally dead. Everyone seems relieved, and the camera zooms in on Ann and Carruthers as they hold hands before fading out…
…Into ANOTHER freakin’ shot of the ship flying through space (number nine). This fades into the room in Washington D.C. that we saw at the very beginning of the film. The same government official is conducting another press release. He has more information to add to the story he gave to the reporters the previous evening. He reads a message from the Challenge-142 received less than an hour ago:
“This is Eric Royce talking. Of the nineteen men and women who have set foot upon the planet Mars, six will return.”
Six? Let’s see…Carruthers, Ann, Royce, Dr. Royce, Purdue and…Calder, I suppose. Calder was hiding in the airlock on the motor level while Van Heusen got beat up by the monster and was laying there pretty still at the end, so I guess he was the one who died. The message continues:
“There is no longer a question of murder, but of an alien and elemental lifeforce. A planet so cruel, so hostile, that man may have to find it necessary to bypass it in his endeavor to explore and understand the universe.”
Well, at least Carruthers has been cleared, but Royce makes out like the planet Mars is so damn dangerous. Excuse me, but were not you guys all safe until you got back on the ship? The planet seemed pretty harmless. It is the native life that proved to be so deadly. Big difference. The message (and the movie) concludes:
“Another name for Mars…is death.”
Fade out. The End.
Structurally, this movie is most similar to The Thing From Another World in that it deals with a small group of people trapped struggling to prevail against a deadly organism from another planet bound and determined to make a snack of them all. Aside from the opening and closing segments set on Earth (which most people conclude were added in order to stretch out the film’s running time) the movie never leaves the crew of the Challenge-142. Once things get rolling, the movie rarely lets up and moves along at a brisk pace, rapidly pushing its characters through one bad situation and into another. While not as intense as later films would be, the approach taken works very well and the viewer begins to detect the sense of danger and desperation that builds as the film progresses.
Sadly, the character development that was so well executed in the Howard Hawk’s The Thing From Another World, is sorely and quite obviously lacking here. We are quickly introduced to a number of people, who for the most part, will be expanded upon very little and examined only long enough to form the vaguest of impressions. With the exception of Carruthers and Van Heusen, who these people are and what motivates them was just not important to the producers. Those two are plainly set up to be at odds with each other, though the conflict is really all on the part of Van Heusen, who is resolute in his belief of Carruther’s guilt. Yet, the film sets up this adversarial dynamic and goes no where with it. Early on during the monster’s rampage, Van Heusen takes a hit and is restricted to bed for the rest of the film, offering up only smartass remarks and a failed attempt at killing the creature thereafter. I suppose one could say that Van Heusen was shown to be in error when it came to the veracity of Carruthers’ story, and that he was pushed aside to make room for latter to take the lead and redeem himself. There could not be two leaders, so one was removed.
While the characters might not be the most fleshed out in film history, they certainly make up for it with their actions. After viewing this movie, one has to wonder what kind of idiots these people truly were. How they ever graduated from some type of training program and granted a position on a ship to Mars is beyond me. In fact, the entire organization seems lacking. There is just so much that betrays them as morons. Like smoking. These people are nicotine fiends who are lighting up non-stop. Someone missing? Have a smoke. The monster kills someone? Have a smoke. Time running out and death looking certain? Have a freaking smoke! I must say that the Challenge-142 must have one HELL of an air recycling system. These folks have the oxygen scrubbers working overtime with all the smoke they exhale.
On top of that, these guys are gun toting, trigger-happy morons who make the Montana militia groups look like the boy scouts. They start squeezing off rounds at the drop of a hat, no worries about ricocheting bullets or friendly fire. I guess the ship, on top of having a first rate air recycling system, also has the sturdiest hull ever manufactured by mankind. It must have, as these guys don’t give a single thought to accidentally rupturing the hull. And they don’t stop with guns! They haul out grenades by the dozen and detonate them and then move on up to firing a bazooka in their ship’s control room!
As far as visual FX are concerned, this film doesn’t have too many. What we do see is adequately done by the standards of the day. The most ambitious shot is the view of Carruthers and Calder walking down the side of the ship as it traverses the stars. Back then it might have looked awesome, but now it is very easy to notice that the actors don’t seem to be covering any ground, despite taking numerous steps as well as the obvious signs of matting them into the footage of the rocket. I’d venture to say that the best looking thing we see, though it is just for a few seconds at the film’s beginning, is the painting that represents the surface of Mars. Sure, it looks nothing like what Mars really looks like, but it is still executed pretty darn well.
Now we come to the one aspect that is both one of the best as well as one of the worst things about the movie: The monster. The monster costume is a glaring source of both potential embarrassment and possible fun. The costume is a rather bulky, rubber affair that bends in all the wrong places, heightening the “cheese” factor and lending a certain air of ridiculousness to the film. The way it lumbers, stumbles and plods around the ship is laughable considering the dire circumstances and danger it supposedly represents. The face is static, except for the tongue that is often protruding from the sizable mouth. This effect was produced by the actor’s chin pushing the “tongue” through the creature’s maw.
Since the movie was filmed on a mere handful of sets, with a single set used to represent the various central chambers of the ship – just re-dressed for each one, director Cahn makes good use of the limited space he has. Thanks to the camera work and the set dressing, the ship comes across as being fairly good sized. Another thing he does rather well in conjunction with cinematographer Kenneth Peach is to hide the monster and utilize shadows to create an atmosphere of dread and creepiness. Whether this was done for artistic reasons or to help hide the often silly-looking monster suit is open for debate, but since the creature is shown quite well on several occasions, and the suit holds up pretty darn well to scrutiny, I personally believe it was the former. There are numerous occasions where all we see is the beast’s shadow on the wall, or a foot moving across the floor. More than one assault on a Human is shown as nothing more than shadows on a wall, which, while lessening the onscreen violence, only makes the attacks more horrifying. This method really helps in firing the imagination, as what the mind conjures up is almost always more frightening than what we ultimately see on screen.
Still, despite all the apparent flaws...indeed, perhaps because of those very flaws, this film has a sizable “fun” quotient. Taking it too seriously will only lessen the enjoyment derived from the proceedings. An enormous grain of salt, along with a large suspension of disbelief will come in handy here, and will help transform the film from an “old 50’s monster movie” into a “classic B-Movie experience.”
What's your new years resolutions? Or what do you think about them?
Honestly I've never been really a friend of new years resolutions. 1. Why to wait till the new years has started - it's better to start asap. 2. It was always hard for me to keep to them ;-). I guess that was the major reason *lol*.
But this year I found out that I actually have a new years resolution - surprise surprise! It wasn't planned to be that as it started already 2 month ago. I've planned to take more care about the birthdays of people. Something I never managed to do well. I simply can't remember dates. I tried a lot of systems - nothing worked so far. The most helping one was, when my mobile reminded me of birthdays - till I lost it. And with it all the dates. So even this system was a failure.
2 month ago I started to look for the perfect calendar. Something to hang on a wall beside my sofa. I couldn't find a calendar I liked. Actually I really would have loved a beautiful calendar with Scottish landscapes. But try to find something here. And i'm unfortunately picky. So ordering something which I haven't seen before was no option for me. It has to be a something nice to look at. As that's what I want to do - look at this calendar to not forget a birthday this year.
So after christmas I decided to create my own calendar. Eyecatching it had to be. As I don't have enough beautiful pics of Scotland, i decided to make a calender with the actor Richard Armitage on.
It took me 3 nights. 1st because I tried to find some templates where I could put in the pictures I had. I didn't find one which I could use or liked. So I decided to create one myself. Easier said than done when you have no idea how to work with photoshop. *lol*.
After 3 long nights my calendar was ready - actually I've now 2 different versions - and they are already in print now. Till I get the printed and bound version, i've printed the first sheet which is now up on my wall.
Yes it's eyecatching enough - but will it help me to remember the birthdays of my friends and family??? Only time will show...
This image was scanned from a photograph in an album dating from World War 2. It was taken during the North African campaign.
The album was purchased from an op shop by one of our members and is held in the Sir Edgeworth David Memorial Museum. Unfortunately, we do not know who took the photos, or who owned the album, so if you have any information about this, please contact us.
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Title: It! The Terror From Beyond Space
Year Of Release: 1958
Running Time: 69 minutes
DVD Released By: MGM Home Entertainment
Directed By: Edward L. Cahn
Writing Credits: Jerome Bixby
Starring: Marshall Thompson, Shawn Smith, Kim Spalding, Ann Doran, Dabbs Greer, Paul Langton, Robert Bice
Taglines:
1. It breathes, it hunts…It Kills!
2. IT!...Reaches through space!...Scoops up men and women!...Gorges on blood!
3. The revelation shocker of things to come!
Alternate Titles:
It! The Vampire from Beyond Space (1958)
The Terror from Beyond Space (1958).
Review Date: 12.12.04 (updated 1.1.10)
The film opens with a thundering musical theme and a title that threatens to bust out of the screen and into our third spatial dimension. After the credits end, we get a view of the Martian surface. In the distance we see the wreckage of a crashed rocket ship. A voice belonging to Colonel Edward Carruthers begins to narrate, relating how the ship he commanded cracked up on landing six months previously and how he is now the only survivor from that doomed expedition, the crew encountering some strange force on the Red planet they came to know only as death. The camera slowly pans over the landscape and a second rocket ship is revealed, albeit intact and standing erect. Carruthers says that he will now be going back to face his superiors on Earth and possibly another kind of death.
Now we see the capitol building in Washington D.C., which quickly fades to a door marked, “Science advisory committee. Division of interplanetary exploration.” No doubt down the hall are the offices for the division on Radiation-Enlarged Insects and Lizards. Inside this room a government official is conducting a press conference and releasing information on the second rocket ship sent to Mars. He talks about how Colonel Carruthers has been found alive, but is the only survivor from the initial expedition. The Colonel will be returned to Earth to face trial for the murders of the rest of the first ship’s crew.
Back on Mars, we see the Challenge-142 preparing to lift off. Before they can depart, Van Heusen notices an open compartment. It seems Lt. Calder was dumping some crates (littering) and forgot to close it. The open hatch is closed remotely, but as it slides shut, an ominous shadow moving about nearby alerts us to the fact that something has managed to get aboard while it was open. We hear a few growls and even get a close up of IT’s feet as it moves about. I gotta say, this guy needs some serious corrective footwear. Talk about a slewfoot! What is even more hilarious is that the shadow we see on the wall seems to be made by the actor in the monster suit, but not the monster mask. His facial features seem pretty clear in silhouette.
After a name check, Van Heusen begins the launch countdown at ten, while strapped into what appears to be a lawn chair! Where was the budget blown for this ship? No trash recycling systems and cheap chairs! The contractor must have spent it somewhere, but it obviously wasn’t on this ship!
Once in space and safely on the way home, Van Heusen (who will henceforth be referred to simply as Van – some of the characters did it, why not me) begins acting like an asshole, ridiculing Carruther’s story of a monster. He tells Carruthers (seemingly with great delight) that they have enough evidence to put him in front of a firing squad. They head up one level and Van shows him a human skull they found on the surface of Mars. Dental records revealed it to be a Frank Kenner, one of Carruther’s crew. The skull has an obvious bullet hole in it and Van says, “There’s only one kind of a monster that uses bullets.” There is an ominous musical cue. Carruthers walks away and the film fades out.
Sometime later the crew is cleaning up after a meal. Correction: the women are cleaning up after a meal. Yes, in this futuristic year of 1973, women – despite being doctors and presumably vital members of the crew – are still assigned the laborious task of cleaning up after meals and making sure all the lazy, fat-ass males have fresh, hot coffee in their cups and are supplied with cigarettes. I wonder if these guys made them cook the meal as well.
So this group has finished a meal and are relaxing. The usual light banter is exchanged before the topic of Colonel Carruthers and his monster comes up. Royce (the other Royce will always be referred to as Doctor Royce for purposes of this review) says that he doesn’t disbelieve or believe the story. Along about that time Carruthers arrives and is greeted with a smart-ass comment from Van. He gets some coffee from Ann and retreats back up one level. Van then states that before they reach Earth, he will have Carruthers’ confession on tape. What is he going to do, beat it out of him?
Some more time passes and Ann brings Carruthers a plate of food. She admits that she has only heard the story of what happened to the crew of the Challenge-141 from Van and would like to hear it straight from Carruthers. He relates to her how they landed, went out exploring and then got caught in a sandstorm. Something in the storm began taking the crew and in the confusion shots were fired, one apparently killing Kenner by mistake. Carruthers was the only one who made it back to the ship. Subsequent searches turned up no signs of his crew or the thing that took them.
Van continues to act like a dick. Ann - with whom he seems to have some sort of relationship beyond work - tells him that he owes it to Carruthers to treat him like a fellow officer and not an animal, and that it is not his place to decide whether he is guilty.
More time passes. Royce and Carruthers are playing chess while Van looks on, smoking a cigarette. Calder is nearby scribbling in a notebook – probably “I won’t leave outer hatches open before lift-off” a hundred times, enforced by Van for his lamebrain mistake. Elsewhere, Keinholz is sitting alone at a desk, looking bored. He hears their stowaway bumbling around the cargo hold. He goes to investigate and is killed, the attack shown as shadows on a wall. The monster lifts Keinholz over his head and brings him smashing to the floor, where he proceeds to pelt the unfortunate crewmen with a barrage of blows…or in this case, cartwheeling its arms and bitch-slapping the guy to death.
Above, Carruthers has heard the commotion and wonders what is going on. No one else seems to have heard anything. He still insists on performing a head count and when Keinholz comes up missing, everyone begins searching the ship for him. While everyone is split up, Gino Finelli is captured by the beast when he stops to pilfer some cigarettes from a storage locker.
Everyone convenes again and Van is in disbelief as there just isn’t a place on the ship a man could hide. Carruthers asks where Gino is and Bob says that he was right behind him. He looks back down the ladder to the deck below and calls out to Gino, but all is silent below. He, Van and Carruthers all go back down where they find Gino’s unused cigarette on the floor, but no Gino. Now everyone is calling out for Gino in addition to Keinholz. Soon after, Keinholz’s body is located in an air duct.
Everyone comes running and arrives as Keinholz is removed from the duct. Bob wonders if Gino is inside the duct, but Carruthers looks and sees nothing. Major Purdue volunteers to go in to look for Gino as he claims to know the layout. He crawls on in, but doesn’t see anything at first. Then he re-orients himself and sees Gino at the end of the passage. Gino is looking pretty bad, like he was in a fight with an Avon lady who applied her make-up samples to him. Purdue yells out that he found Gino and begins to crawl toward him. He shakes Gino, trying to rouse him but Gino just shakes his head limply. Then there is a shadowy movement nearby and IT arrives on the scene, no doubt pissed to find someone playing with his food. IT growls and claws at Purdue, who screams before pulling out a revolver and squeezing off a few shots. This makes the monster roar and outside in the storage room, Carruther’s face is one of dread – he knows that roar all too well, it seems.
Purdue comes barreling out of the duct and Carruthers sneaks a glance inside before he and Van replace the cover over the entrance. Bob, naturally has a fit, upset that his brother is being left behind. He is removed by Royce and Carruthers yells to the cowering women to run and get a head start. A head start for where? You’re on a spaceship, not the open plains of Iowa. Carruthers then spots a crate of grenades and suggests that they wire them up to the hatches, thus blowing IT up if it decides to leave the duct. So Van, Carruthers and Calder wire up these grenades, then gather up Keinholz’s body (which seemed to magically aid them in picking itself off the floor) and retreat to one of the upper levels.
Next we see a table loaded with guns, rifles and ammunition. It looks like a NRA convention! It is at this point that I must point out the sheer stupidity of these people. They are on a spaceship, which is traveling through the vacuum of space. Rupturing the hull of the ship in any way would be extraordinarily bad. I’d imagine that great pains would be taken to minimize the chances that such an event ever took place. Yet these fools insist on firing projectile weapons within the confines of the ship. Not only that, but they have grenades ready to detonate below. Now, what kind of tests did these people have to pass in order to be selected for this mission? Cuz smarts don’t seem to be a requisite. Not once does any one of them stop to consider the chances that such an explosion might actually harm the bloody ship! No, they just fire away. Either these people are colossal idiots, or they are confident in the construction and engineering of the ship – but given the lawn chairs adorning the place, I would not exactly be willing to bet my life on the latter possibility.
So the men are taking stock of the weapons while the ladies apply the most idiotic looking bandage to Purdue’s head. Royce tries to console Bob by telling him there was nothing they could have done for Gino, but Bob is pissed that they didn’t even try to rescue his brother.
Meanwhile, Van is asking Carruthers if he knows what IT is. This must have just galled the guy to no end. Here he was all ready to break Carruthers and get a confession, and now he must admit that the other man was right all along. Time passes and the gang is pacing up and down, waiting for IT to leave the ducts and trip the grenade trap. They all gather around the intercom and listen as IT busts through the grate covering the duct and sets off the grenades. All those grenades detonate and we are treated to an explosion that looks like it was made by a box of firecrackers.
They still hear the monster growling, so they know that the plan has failed. Without a word, they hoist their firearms, open the central stair hatch and head down to investigate further…well, all the guys do. The women stay up above, no doubt prepping coffee. The guys gather around the door to C and open it up. A lot of smoke passes through the doorway, obscuring their vision. Calder, who is carrying the biggest gun, goes in first. Well, actually Van was in the lead, but when he couldn’t get the lights activated, he motions for Calder to go first. Chickenshit bastard. Calder barely gets through the door when IT lunges out of the smoke, grabs his rifle and bends it, Superman-style, over its head. Calder, Royce and Bob then run like hell up the stairs while Van and Carruthers fire their pistols at the beast. They retreat up the stairs, firing all the way, while IT tears the door to C compartment open wide enough to get through. Once safely up the stairs, the crew closes the central stair hatch.
Next gas grenades are used in an attempt to kill the beast. This fails to work as well and Van comes out of the engagement with an injured foot, scraped up something bad when the monster grabbed him.
Dr. Royce has completed the autopsy on Keinholz, discovering that “there is not a molecule of oxygen or a drop of water” left in his body. Blood, bone marrow, glandular secretions – everything, is gone. She theorizes that since there are no puncture marks on the body, that this was accomplished through some type of osmosis process. Keep in mind that the Human body is sixty to seventy percent water. Now, we got a pretty good view of the dead Keinholz earlier. Sure, his body was shriveled, but if all the moisture in his body had been removed, then would not he have looked more like a dried up prune, and been the size of a cabbage patch doll? Van Heusen hasn’t joined the cadaver club yet, though his wound is infected and nothing Dr. Royce can do helps it any.
They open the central hatch and peer down. IT is two levels down, but they can see it breaking through the center hatch onto the level directly below them, which will grant it access to the next level. They realize that if IT can get through the center hatches, they are royally SCREWED. Ann approaches Carruthers and tells him that he was right and they were all wrong. They hold hands and share a Kodak moment.
Royce pipes in about now with an idea he and Bob have worked out. He proposes that two men exit through the control room airlock and then space walk down the side of the ship and re-enter through the airlock on the motor level – below the current location of the creature. This would enable them to surprise the monster, but they aren’t sure what to surprise it with. Carruthers says he’s been thinking and has an idea, so he and Calder suit up and make their way down the hull to the bottom of the ship. They reach the airlock on the motor level and the others above begin talking loud at the proper time, distracting the monster from what is occurring below it. Carruthers and Calder sneak out onto the motor level and set an electrical trap on the stairs that lead to the upper level where IT is located.
The two then take cover behind some induction pumps and open the center hatch, which is noticed by the creature. It begins to descend the stairs and when it gets to the appropriate spot – ZAP. Nothing. The monster is not affected. Carruthers is able to make it safely to the airlock, but Calder takes a blow to the head that tears his vinyl “helmet” and stumbles back, his foot getting caught and the fall breaking his leg. He fires up an acetylene torch and uses it to fend off the monster every time it gets to close to his hiding spot.
Carruthers returns to the others where they try and think of a way to rescue Calder, who can be heard over the radio. Meanwhile the Doctor approaches Royce and tells him that the alien bacteria are attacking bone marrow, resulting in a leukemia-type condition. The drugs she has been using are working too slowly and she needs fresh blood to keep Van and Purdue alive – but there is no more on this level. They will need to descend to the cargo level and retrieve some more.
Royce is preparing to make a run for the blood and Bob decides that it his “turn” now to go. What is this, a ride? I suppose he feels the need to do something in helping kill the monster that murdered his brother. Carruthers decides to accompany them. Calder promises to keep them apprised of the creature’s movements via the intercom. A shadow on the wall tells us that IT is still dragging dead Gino around, and has wandered into the reactor room. After Calder reports this, it gives Carruthers an idea. He remotely closes the reactor room door and asks Calder what the monster does. When no odd behavior is reported, the three men make their descent in search of the blood supply.
Meanwhile Van has awoken again and is trying to get up from his cot. The women try to restrain him but he yells and pushes past them. He has an idea – by unsealing the reactor, the radiation will kill the monster. He flips some controls while the ladies still try and talk sense into him. In the reactor room, the creature is banging on the door to get out when the reactor is unsealed and it gets a face full of radiation. The women call down to warn the men what has happened, inciting Carruthers and Royce to speed things up. Below, Bob is helping Calder up the stairs when IT breaks out of the reactor room. Calder dives back into his hiding spot and Bob fires off his pistol at the beast. He then tries to run up the stairs, but IT is too fast. The monster reaches up and grabs him, pulling him down to the floor and bitch-slapping him to death. Royce and Carruthers haul ass back up the stairs with the blood, having to leave Bob behind. They get back to the laboratory level and then everyone heads on up to the topmost level – the control room.
Everyone is now huddled on the highest level. For some IDIOTIC reason, Carruthers is carrying a bazooka. A bazooka! They pile some heavy crates over the hatch in the floor, hoping to keep IT from busting up through the opening. Nearby Ann and Van are talking and the ever more disconcerted Colonel is remarking on Ann is now “with” Carruthers and how it happened out of the blue. She tries to dismiss it and wants to talk about it later, but he insists that there may be no later considering how their situation is degenerating rapidly. She walks off to help Carruthers and Van continues to mutter to Dr. Royce.
They contact Calder down below, who is still alive. He can see the monster still bumbling around on the motor level. About now IT has decided to find out where everyone else has gone. IT ascends the stairs to the first storage level and begins banging around. Calder warns Carruthers that IT is on its way up. The gang up top makes ready, turning the lights off and preparing for the last fight. Carruthers tells Calder to make his way to the airlock now that IT is no longer nearby and hide there. Then Carruthers picks up the bazooka again and aims it at the hatch.
While waiting, Carruthers happens to glance at a dial on a nearby instrument panel and notices that the oxygen consumption on the ship is far in excess of what it should be. He points this out to Royce and the two theorize that it is due to the monster. With the thin air on Mars it would need a gigantic lung capacity and has thus been hogging all the oxygen on the ship with its Darth Vader breathing style. Carruthers suggest letting all the air out of the ship to kill it. Royce agrees, saying they can build it back up for themselves later.
A mad rush is on now, everyone trying to get into his or her space suit. The monster tears his way up onto the laboratory level, doesn’t even hesitate and then heads up the latter to the top level. IT bangs on the hatch, causing all the boxes sitting atop it to topple over, and then IT peels back the metal of the hatch like wrapping paper and pokes up through the opening like a jack-in-the-box. Everyone has their spacesuits on now, but Carruthers cannot reach the controls to release the air because the monster is in the way. He calls to Royce, who is now holding the bazooka, to drive it back down so he can make his way to the proper control panel. Royce fires the bazooka, but the rocket just bounces off the monster before bouncing around the floor some. No detonation at all! It must have been a dud. Carruthers is trying to reach the controls, but the monster is preventing him from getting too close. Van then jumps up, runs to the controls and hits the correct button. The airlock doors open and the air begins rushing out. The monster has grabbed Van and no doubt given him the squish treatment, as when next we see Van, he is stretched out on the floor.
The ship begins diving. Well, not really…but given that the emergency klaxon blaring away to warn everyone of decompression and air loss sounds just like the diving bell in some old WWII movie, and one can see why it seems like the ship is diving. Everyone hangs on for dear life. Papers start flying around the room, but very few actually get blown out the airlock. The monster growls, writhes around and finally stops moving as the last of the air is removed. Carruthers checks on both IT and Van, but both are still and quiet. I have to wonder how Van didn’t get blown out. Everyone was hanging on, but Van was out cold (or dead). It seems the monster is finally dead. Everyone seems relieved, and the camera zooms in on Ann and Carruthers as they hold hands before fading out…
…Into ANOTHER freakin’ shot of the ship flying through space (number nine). This fades into the room in Washington D.C. that we saw at the very beginning of the film. The same government official is conducting another press release. He has more information to add to the story he gave to the reporters the previous evening. He reads a message from the Challenge-142 received less than an hour ago:
“This is Eric Royce talking. Of the nineteen men and women who have set foot upon the planet Mars, six will return.”
Six? Let’s see…Carruthers, Ann, Royce, Dr. Royce, Purdue and…Calder, I suppose. Calder was hiding in the airlock on the motor level while Van Heusen got beat up by the monster and was laying there pretty still at the end, so I guess he was the one who died. The message continues:
“There is no longer a question of murder, but of an alien and elemental lifeforce. A planet so cruel, so hostile, that man may have to find it necessary to bypass it in his endeavor to explore and understand the universe.”
Well, at least Carruthers has been cleared, but Royce makes out like the planet Mars is so damn dangerous. Excuse me, but were not you guys all safe until you got back on the ship? The planet seemed pretty harmless. It is the native life that proved to be so deadly. Big difference. The message (and the movie) concludes:
“Another name for Mars…is death.”
Fade out. The End.
Structurally, this movie is most similar to The Thing From Another World in that it deals with a small group of people trapped struggling to prevail against a deadly organism from another planet bound and determined to make a snack of them all. Aside from the opening and closing segments set on Earth (which most people conclude were added in order to stretch out the film’s running time) the movie never leaves the crew of the Challenge-142. Once things get rolling, the movie rarely lets up and moves along at a brisk pace, rapidly pushing its characters through one bad situation and into another. While not as intense as later films would be, the approach taken works very well and the viewer begins to detect the sense of danger and desperation that builds as the film progresses.
Sadly, the character development that was so well executed in the Howard Hawk’s The Thing From Another World, is sorely and quite obviously lacking here. We are quickly introduced to a number of people, who for the most part, will be expanded upon very little and examined only long enough to form the vaguest of impressions. With the exception of Carruthers and Van Heusen, who these people are and what motivates them was just not important to the producers. Those two are plainly set up to be at odds with each other, though the conflict is really all on the part of Van Heusen, who is resolute in his belief of Carruther’s guilt. Yet, the film sets up this adversarial dynamic and goes no where with it. Early on during the monster’s rampage, Van Heusen takes a hit and is restricted to bed for the rest of the film, offering up only smartass remarks and a failed attempt at killing the creature thereafter. I suppose one could say that Van Heusen was shown to be in error when it came to the veracity of Carruthers’ story, and that he was pushed aside to make room for latter to take the lead and redeem himself. There could not be two leaders, so one was removed.
While the characters might not be the most fleshed out in film history, they certainly make up for it with their actions. After viewing this movie, one has to wonder what kind of idiots these people truly were. How they ever graduated from some type of training program and granted a position on a ship to Mars is beyond me. In fact, the entire organization seems lacking. There is just so much that betrays them as morons. Like smoking. These people are nicotine fiends who are lighting up non-stop. Someone missing? Have a smoke. The monster kills someone? Have a smoke. Time running out and death looking certain? Have a freaking smoke! I must say that the Challenge-142 must have one HELL of an air recycling system. These folks have the oxygen scrubbers working overtime with all the smoke they exhale.
On top of that, these guys are gun toting, trigger-happy morons who make the Montana militia groups look like the boy scouts. They start squeezing off rounds at the drop of a hat, no worries about ricocheting bullets or friendly fire. I guess the ship, on top of having a first rate air recycling system, also has the sturdiest hull ever manufactured by mankind. It must have, as these guys don’t give a single thought to accidentally rupturing the hull. And they don’t stop with guns! They haul out grenades by the dozen and detonate them and then move on up to firing a bazooka in their ship’s control room!
As far as visual FX are concerned, this film doesn’t have too many. What we do see is adequately done by the standards of the day. The most ambitious shot is the view of Carruthers and Calder walking down the side of the ship as it traverses the stars. Back then it might have looked awesome, but now it is very easy to notice that the actors don’t seem to be covering any ground, despite taking numerous steps as well as the obvious signs of matting them into the footage of the rocket. I’d venture to say that the best looking thing we see, though it is just for a few seconds at the film’s beginning, is the painting that represents the surface of Mars. Sure, it looks nothing like what Mars really looks like, but it is still executed pretty darn well.
Now we come to the one aspect that is both one of the best as well as one of the worst things about the movie: The monster. The monster costume is a glaring source of both potential embarrassment and possible fun. The costume is a rather bulky, rubber affair that bends in all the wrong places, heightening the “cheese” factor and lending a certain air of ridiculousness to the film. The way it lumbers, stumbles and plods around the ship is laughable considering the dire circumstances and danger it supposedly represents. The face is static, except for the tongue that is often protruding from the sizable mouth. This effect was produced by the actor’s chin pushing the “tongue” through the creature’s maw.
Since the movie was filmed on a mere handful of sets, with a single set used to represent the various central chambers of the ship – just re-dressed for each one, director Cahn makes good use of the limited space he has. Thanks to the camera work and the set dressing, the ship comes across as being fairly good sized. Another thing he does rather well in conjunction with cinematographer Kenneth Peach is to hide the monster and utilize shadows to create an atmosphere of dread and creepiness. Whether this was done for artistic reasons or to help hide the often silly-looking monster suit is open for debate, but since the creature is shown quite well on several occasions, and the suit holds up pretty darn well to scrutiny, I personally believe it was the former. There are numerous occasions where all we see is the beast’s shadow on the wall, or a foot moving across the floor. More than one assault on a Human is shown as nothing more than shadows on a wall, which, while lessening the onscreen violence, only makes the attacks more horrifying. This method really helps in firing the imagination, as what the mind conjures up is almost always more frightening than what we ultimately see on screen.
Still, despite all the apparent flaws...indeed, perhaps because of those very flaws, this film has a sizable “fun” quotient. Taking it too seriously will only lessen the enjoyment derived from the proceedings. An enormous grain of salt, along with a large suspension of disbelief will come in handy here, and will help transform the film from an “old 50’s monster movie” into a “classic B-Movie experience.”
This is the painting 'Muchen Part 2'. It's the equivalent to the 1980s 12 inch version of the original. I've just continued to work on it. The original still exists in its own right, but I like to keep pushing paintings as far as they will go; almost making a an alternative of the original....or what happened next. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but it's a process I'm addicted to. And anyway it's just lovely to be able to have time to paint.
I was not sure if to put these on Flickr but I had travelled there before leaving Cornwall. If by Hayle you must try out the local pub around the corner from here. They are a couple from Coventry. The welcome and the food was fantastic Angarrack Inn
Angarrack railway viaduct is situated at Angarrack in west Cornwall, United Kingdom.
The eleven-arch granite-built viaduct carries the Cornish Main Line railway across the steep-sided valley of the Angarrack River, a tributary of the River Hayle, between the present day stations of Camborne and Hayle. The village extends up the valley and under the viaduct.
The original viaduct at Angarrack was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel for the west Cornwall Railway and was "... built wholly of timber on stone footings".[2] It was nearly 800 feet (240 m) long and 100 feet (30 m) high. The present viaduct of roughly the same dimensions was an entirely new replacement structure and opened by the Great Western Railway in 1885. Its eleven stone arches each have a span of 56.5 feet (17.2 m).
The stone from the original Brunel footings was re-used to construct the sea wall on the approach to Penzance railway station. Today, no evidence remains of Brunel's original structure.
www.staustellbrewery.co.uk/pubs/a-z-of-pubs/70-angarrack-...
My annual Muertos table offerings. I'll leave up until after 11/2.
It of course has been celebrated in Mexico for ages where families have an altar and also go to the cemeteries to spend the night with their dead eating and drinking . The dead are invited to return for the night and sent back later with ceremony. I have a friend who has celebrated it for at least 15 years and has had elaborate parties. I have done an altar for the last 10. In the last 5 it has become much more widely popular here in the Seattle Tacoma area.It's a great way to pay respects to the dead and remind the living what is to come. The actual date is 11/2. It's tied to Halloween which is All Hallow's eve or the Celtic Samhain, November 1 is All Saints Day and Nov 2 is All Souls Day.
The Mexicans have a unique way of combining that with their pre Christian traditions. Astronomically the sun is midway between the Fall Equinox and Winter Solstice. The Japanese celebrate a similar holiday in August called Bon. It's quite popular here too,celebrated it's local 75th anniversary this year, and is referred to here as the Bon-Odori.
Dia de los Muertos
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dia_De_Los_Muertos
Samhain
Bon
The safety can has a number of functions:
1. It keeps any hot bits from escaping and causing problems;
2. It helps to keep fingers away fro the VERY hot iCan;
3. It acts as a mild windshield;
4. It helps to create a reference environment for testing variants to the iCan design etc.
Note: The safety can may be picked up and relocated IF you use good gloves or a pair of pliers.
My hope is that local students will learn about pyrolysis and biochar in their own languages from local teachers, take the information home, and invent appropriate solutions for local problems, and local cultures & conditions.
All iCans are basically the same:
1. Some primary air holes in the bottom;
2. Some secondary air holes 1/3 of the height down from the top of the can;
3. The fuel load is generally 1/6 to 1/3 of the volume of the can.
It turns out that there is a relationship between the size and type of the fuel load, the amount of primary air needed, the area of the pyrolytic surface, and the amount of draft & turbulence created by the system. You can learn this by doing. You might start with a few of the solutions I have posted as examples.
There are a few simple things to remember:
1. Keep as much heat in the system as you can, Insulation is good.
2. Learn to read the flame patterns and dances, They will tell you a lot.
3. There is no one right way to make an iCan. What ever works best for your situation and conditions is what is best.
4. The iCan concept/designs is open source and there are no fees or licenses. I hope all improvements will be given back to the commons as well.
5. iCans do NOT have to be made of metal.
6. iCans are modular and can use as many building blocks as necessary for the task at hand. I often use three or four elements. I have iCan modules for frying & grilling, for boiling water, and for converting a Weber grill from a charcoal burner to a charcoal maker. No one configuration will be right for all tasks.
7. iCans are a lot of fun and are quite beautiful to watch.
8. iCans will get dangerously hot, so PLEASE BE CAREFUL.
9. Learning by hands on doing is very powerful.
When people ask me what I do, I sometimes tell them that I play with fire and will put them in touch with their inner pyro.
The Hooded Dotterel or Hooded Plover[1] (Thinornis cucullatus) is a species of bird in the family Charadriidae. It is endemic to southern Australia and Tasmania where it inhabits ocean beaches and subcoastal lagoons. There are two recognised subspecies, both of which are classified as endangered.
T. c. cucullatus (Vieillot, 1818) southern Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Tasmania and nearby islands. The population stands at 3000 and is declining.
Day 1 of a trip from Adelaide to Kangaroo Island South Australia 10/04/2019
Kangaroo Island Sealink operates a daily ferry service from mainland South Australia to Penneshaw, a major town on Kangaroo Island. The ferry departs from the town of Cape Jervis, which is a 90-minute drive south of Adelaide (or take Sealink's shuttle bus service). Daily flights also transfer passengers from Adelaide to Kangaroo Island with the airline Regional Express. The island is surprisingly large, being 155 kilometres (96 miles) long and 55 kilometres (35 miles) at its widest; you'll need at least a weekend to explore it
Walk among rare sea lions
The Seal Bay Conservation Park on Kangaroo Island's south coast is the only place in the world where you can walk among endangered Australian sea lions. You can walk along a 900-metre (2950-foot) wooden boardwalk on a Boardwalk Tour and see the animals on the sand and in the surf, or you can take a guided 45-minute Seal Bay Experience tour onto the beach itself.
Where the wild things are...
Even though a third of Kangaroo Island is national park, you don’t have to be in one to see its famous wildlife. Across the island, kangaroos, Tammar wallabies, Rosenberg’s goannas, koalas, echidnas, Australian fur seals and long-nosed fur seals roam free. In addition, the island is home to over 250 species of birds, including Little Penguins and one of the world’s largest birds of prey, the magnificent Wedge Tailed Eagle.
Kangaroo Island is also the world’s only sanctuary for Ligurian bees. Introduced from Italy in the late 1800s, the bee has created a thriving honey industry.
Flinders Chase National Park dominates the western end of the island, and although 326 square kilometres in size, has just four permanent residents, all of whom are Park Rangers. It’s also home to some of the island’s most spectacular sights, like Remarkable Rocks, Admirals Arch and Cape du Couedic Lighthouse.
Koalas are arguably Australia’s cutest native marsupials. They spend most of the day resting and eating high up in eucalyptus trees. If you fancy giving a koala a cuddle just like Chris, then the best way to encounter them is with a visit to Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park near the centre of the island. Another great way to spot koalas is by taking a guided or self-guided stroll down the Hanson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary Koala walk located along the south-west coast.
The Australian sea lion (Neophoca cinerea), also known as the Australian sea-lion or Australian sealion, is a species of sea lion that is the only endemic pinniped in Australia.[2] It is currently monotypic in the genus Neophoca, with the extinct Pleistocene New Zealand sea lion Neophoca palatina the only known congener.[3] These sea lions are sparsely distributed through Houtman Arbrolhos Islands (28°S., 114°E.) in Western Australia and The Pages Islands (35°46’S., 138°18’E) in southern Australia. With a population estimated at around 14,730 animals, the Wildlife Conservation Act of Western Australia (1950) has listed them as “in need of special protection”. Their Conservation status is listed as endangered. These pinnipeds are specifically known for their abnormal breeding cycles, which are varied between a 5-month breeding cycle and a 17- to 18-month aseasonal breeding cycle, compared to other pinnipeds which fit into a 12-month reproductive cycle.[2] Females are either silver or fawn with a cream underbelly and males are dark chocolate brown with a yellow mane and are bigger than the females.
nrhp # 66000107- Fort Larned National Historic Site preserves Fort Larned which operated from 1859 to 1878. It is located approximately 5.5 miles (8.9 km) west of Larned, Kansas, United States.
The Camp on Pawnee Fork was established in 1859 to protect traffic along the Santa Fe Trail from hostile American Indians,.[2] It was renamed Camp Alert and in May 1860 it was moved upstream, 3 miles (4.8 km) to the west, and by the end of the month was renamed Fort Larned. It served the same purpose as Camp Alert and as an agency for the administration of the Central Plains Indians by the Bureau of Indian Affairs under the terms of the Fort Wise Treaty of 1861. The fort's service ended as a combination of the tribes' relocation to reservations and the completion of railroads across Kansas that ended the need for the Santa Fe Trail.
Fort Larned was the site of a meeting between General Winfield Scott Hancock and several Cheyenne chiefs on April 12, 1867, in which Hancock intended to impress the Dog Soldier chiefs with his military power. Following that meeting, Hancock, along with George Armstrong Custer and the 7th U.S. Cavalry traveled west of Fort Larned to a combined Cheyenne and Lakota camp, inciting the villagers to flee. Hancock ordered the village burned, beginning a summer of warfare known as Hancock's War. Fort Larned assisted in bringing Hancock's War to an end by supplying the Medicine Lodge Treaty.[3] The fort was decommissioned in 1878, and from 1885 to 1966, the buildings were used to house the headquarters of a ranch, with the owners living in the house of the commanding officer and the employees residing in what had been the officers' quarters.[4]
With nine historic buildings, the fort survives as one of the best-preserved examples of Indian Wars-period forts. Most of the buildings, including the barracks, commissary, and officers quarters, are furnished to their original appearance. Fort Larned National Historic Site is open daily, year-round, and admission is free. The park offers several special events throughout the year, living history demonstrations, and ranger-guided tours.
from Wikipedia
Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday. Jim went into work a little late because he has work to do getting ready for the rest of the week. We didn't have croquet for two reasons. 1. The Senior Citizen Center is closed today for the holiday. 2. It is raining.
I take a teaspoon of crystal Vitamin C twice every day in about 4 ounces of Crystal Lite. I feel that it helps me to stay well.
I will be working out with my trainer at the fitness center this afternoon. Hopefully, it will have stopped raining by then. Just as I was to leave the house, I saw a text message from my trainer. He had to cancel because he is out sick; so, I'm just staying home all day today.
I took this picture so I could play with the 50mm lens on my Nikon D80 and play with a photo in Lightroom. The 365 Days project gives me an excuse to play with cameras and software. Yay!
An online conversation with Paula Bailey about her self-portrait gave me the idea for this picture. www.flickr.com/photos/auntiep/5363541668/
Coffeeneuring 2014 trip #2, Vigilante coffee stand at Hyattsville CX races, marred Park, Hyattsville MD. Total mileage 8.2, it was very bike-friendly, and I had a regular small coffee w/cream & sweetener. The barista was Grace from BicycleSpace, who grew up right down the street.
The banded demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens) is a species of damselfly belonging to the family Calopterygidae. It is often found along slow-flowing streams and rivers. It is a Eurasian species occurring from the Atlantic coast eastwards to Lake Baikal and northwestern China.[2]
This is a common species throughout much of its range.[3]
Description:
This is a large damselfly with a total length of up to 48 millimetres (1.9 in) and a hindwing length of up to 36 millimetres (1.4 in).
Male and female are variable in color and pattern. The male has translucent wings which each have a broad, dark iridescent blue-black spot (or band) across the outer part. On immature dragonflies the spot is dark brown. The body can be a metallic blue or bluish green or a combination of both colours, depending on the time of year and location.
The dark wing patch of the male starts at the nodus (the slight dip midway down the upper edge of the wing) but can reach up to the wing-tip in southern races.[2] In the very similar beautiful demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo), the dark patch starts before the nodus.
The female has translucent, pale green iridescent wings with a white patch near the tip (a pseudopterostigma), and a metallic green or bronze/green body.
Eggs and Larvae:
Females can lay up to 10 eggs per minute for 45 minutes. They lay in a wide variety of emergent or floating plants, sometimes even submerging to do so.
The eggs hatch after 14 days. The larvae have very long legs and are stick-shaped. They develop over two years, usually. They tolerate muddy water and overwinter buried in mud. When they are ready to moult into an adult, they climb up a suitable reed or plant and shed their skin.
Habitat:
This species lives in many types of freshwater habitat, particularly open running water bodies such as streams and smaller rivers.[3]
Behaviour:
Males are usually territorial, but large numbers can sometimes be found in lush bankside plants and on floating objects. They court females by opening their wings and performing an aerial dance. They are usually found in canals and quiet rivers with muddy bottoms located in open country.[4]
Range:
The banded demoiselle is a Eurasian species, and is present throughout Eurasia from the Atlantic coast to Lake Baikal and north-western China.[2] It occurs in Taganay and Zyuratkul National Parks of Russia.[5] It can be found at Fruška Gora in Serbia. It is found throughout the British Isles, except for the Scottish Highlands.[4]
References:
The dates 1782 and 1776 have been given in the entomological literature; Hämäläinen (2008) showed that the species was described in 1780
a b c Dijkstra, Klaas-Douwe B. (2006). Field Guide to the Dragonflies of Britain and Europe. pp. 66–67. ISBN 0-9531399-4-8.
a b Clausnitzer, V. 2009. Calopteryx splendens. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 22 January 2016.
a b Brooks & Lewington (2004). Field Guide to the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Great Britain and Ireland. British Wildlife Publishing. ISBN 0-9531399-0-5.
Calopteryx splendens (Harris, 1782) - Красная Книга Челябинской области: животные, растения, грибы / Министерство по радиационной и экологической безопасности Челябинской области, Ин-т экологии растений и животных УрО РАН. - Екатеринбург: Изд-во Урал. ун-та, 2005. - 450 с.: ил.
Lightship WAL 539 (numbered LV 118 when built) was the last lightvessel constructed for the United States Lighthouse Service before it became part of the United States Coast Guard.[2] It is currently preserved in Lewes, Delaware as a museum ship.
This ship was built to replace LV-44, badly damaged in the New England Hurricane of 1938, for the Cornfield Point station.[2] Patterned after the LV-112,[2] it has a hull unlike that of any of its sisters; it is in effect a single ship class.[3] Propulsion was diesel, with a set of diesel generators and compressors providing power for the beacon and auxiliaries.[2][4] The light was a duplex 375mm lantern on a single mast, at 57 ft. above the water line.[4] Dual diaphones were provided for a fog signal, as well as a bell and radiobeacon.[2] A radar unit was installed in 1943.[4] The crew complement was fourteen, to serve on a two weeks on/one week off basis.[4] When the lighthouse service was merged into the coast guard in 1939, it was renumbered WAL 539.[2]
Stations served were as follows:[2]
1938-l957: Cornfield Point, Connecticut
1958-1962: Cross Rip, Massachusetts
1962-1972: Boston, Massachusetts
Unlike most US lightships it remained on station during World War II.[3] A severe storm in December 1970 damaged the ship, leading to its decommissioning on November 7, 1972.[5] Upon retirement it was donated to the Lewes Historical Society and placed on display in Lewes, painted for the "OVERFALLS" station, though it never served there.[3] The ship's condition deteriorated and a failed attempt in 1999 to sell it led to the formation of a separate group, the Overfalls Maritime Museum Foundation, to take over the maintenance and restore the vessel.[6] It remains in Lewes and is available for tours.[6]
The lightship was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989, and in 2011 was further designated a National Historic Landmark.
what’s the big deal? oversized props and foam product replicas
What’s the BIG deal? Learn about the natural allure of oversized props and how it can benefit your next brand activation event!
Whether it’s a towering soda can or a hair product that now stands shoulder-high, the oddity of a handheld object ballooned to comical proportions has curious appeal. Capitalize on the allure of the unusual with Foam3D™ product replicas by Britten. Able to craft nearly any product into an exacting replica, read below to see how these oversized props are perfect for attracting attention and encouraging fan engagement!
1. HARD TO MISS: HIGH BRAND VISIBILITY
Boost your brand visibility with an oversized product reproduction! Inflated to playful dimension, an oversized replica crafted from Foam3D™ is a beneficial way to showcase products and generate brand notice with whimsical flair.
More impactful than print or graphic promotion alone, a massive prop adds some physical dimension to any event activation space and is difficult to overlook. Coated with an innovated M91 polyurethane-urea hybrid, your Foam3D™ reproduction is abrasion resistant, making it an ideal and reusable asset for multiple activations and events!
Foam 3d letteres that spell Proud and a life-sized Truly can
2. IT’S A DRAW: PROPS WITH PUBLIC APPEAL
Combined with durability and creative brand visibility, a massive reproduction prop has natural draw. Taking a shape or object that is instantly recognizable and then playing with the proportion creates a piece that has immense public appeal.
Reframing a life-sized object into overblown dimension frames it in such a way that it is both easily identified and generates curious intrigue. Pair these oversized props with the actual product and your activation event space becomes a playful blend of reality and imagination.
3. TAKE A PIC: PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES
Much like the enlarged wooden deck chairs at popular tourist destinations, an expanded reproduction prop just begs for a photo-op! Ideal as a backdrop or to be flanked on either side by enthusiastic patrons, a large Foam3D™ sculpture is the perfect addition for a selfie or social post! Viewed as interactive set pieces, reproduction props seamlessly add brand context and presence within photos shared by event participants and attending media!
Add some creative flair to your next activation event, sports venue, or fan engagement space with a Foam3D™ reproduction prop! Partner with Britten for a custom quote or more information email info@britteninc.com or call 885-763-8203 to speak to a sales rep.
he Blue Mosque in Istanbul, also known by its official name, the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, is an Ottoman-era historical imperial mosque located in Istanbul, Turkey. A functioning mosque, it also attracts large numbers of tourist visitors. It was constructed between 1609 and 1616 during the rule of Ahmed I. Its Külliye contains Ahmed's tomb, a madrasah and a hospice. Hand-painted blue tiles adorn the mosque’s interior walls, and at night the mosque is bathed in blue as lights frame the mosque’s five main domes, six minarets and eight secondary domes.[2] It sits next to the Hagia Sophia, the principal mosque of Istanbul until the Blue Mosque's construction and another popular tourist site. The Blue Mosque was included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 1985 under the name of "Historic Areas of Istanbul".
Portsmouth (i/ˈpɔːtsməθ/) is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island.[2] It is situated 64 miles (103 km) south west from London and 19 miles (31 km) south east from Southampton.
As a significant naval port for centuries, Portsmouth is home to the world's oldest dry dock still in use and also home to some famous ships, including HMS Warrior, the Mary Rose and Lord Nelson's flagship, HMS Victory. Although smaller than in its heyday, the naval base remains a major dockyard and base for the Royal Navy and Royal Marine Commandos whose Headquarters resides there. There is also a thriving commercial ferryport serving destinations on the continent for freight and passenger traffic. The City of Portsmouth and Portsmouth Football Club are both nicknamed Pompey.
The Spinnaker Tower is a striking recent addition to the city's skyline. It can be found in the redeveloped former HMS Vernon, an area of retail outlets, restaurants, clubs and bars now known as Gunwharf Quays.
The City of Portsmouth has a population of 207,100 and is the only city in England with a greater population density (4,639 /km2 (12,010 /sq mi)) than London (4,562 /km2 (11,820 /sq mi)). The Portsmouth Urban Area includes Fareham, Portchester, Gosport, Havant and is the 14th largest urban area in the United Kingdom with an estimated 442,252 residents. Portsmouth combines with Southampton to form a single metropolitan area with a population over a million this is one of the United Kingdom's most populous metropolitan areas.[3]
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portsmouth
The frame of the second European Service module for Orion, showing the completed internal structure for Flight Model-2. It will support up to four astronauts and send them further than any human being has ever been from Earth in a few years.
The two circular tank bulkheads are in place, bolted to vertical panels. The top ring will attach to the Crew Module Adapter that connects the Orion capsule to the service module.
The picture was taken at the Thales Alenia Space facility in Turin, Italy, in November 2017.
This structure can be seen as the chassis of the Orion spacecraft, providing structural rigidity while absorbing vibrations and energy from launch.
The holes are to save weight and accommodate future payloads. It will also hold all the other elements together such as the spacecraft’s thrusters, water tanks, fuel tanks, gas tanks, electronics and wires.
The top bulkhead is thicker as it handles more loads. Orion's storage tanks are supported from the top bulkhead which distributes the forces from 9 tonnes of propellant between the European Service Module structure and NASA structures such as the Crew Module Adapter and the launcher fairing, while the lower platform "only" provides support to prevent the tanks from swinging.
Credits: Thales Alenia Space
June 5th, 2012, Venus transit the face of the sun
Transit of Venus, visible as the tiny spec of black at the massive core of the Sun. The plane passing by was a much welcome added luck.
I rode up the hill to photograph the Transit of Venus. It was also a great excuse to get out, move and get mesmerize by the beautiful sunset. I met with my buddy Scott. I shot this Sun with a 200mm lens plus a 2x converter and a 10 stop ND filter threaded in front of the lens glass.
It's not a wise thing to shoot the Sun directly. 1. It can harm your eyes while you peek through the Viewfinder. 2. It can ruin your Sensor or Film. Having a solar filter or a 10 stop ND filter in front of your lens element is the safest way to photograph the Sun directly.
Transits of Venus are very rare, coming in pairs separated by more than a hundred years. This June's transit, the bookend of a 2004-2012 pair, won't be repeated again until December 2117.
The new iPad is a beauty, after this one looking at the old it makes the 2017 iPad feel ugly.
The Face ID Works better than I expected in any position and in the iPad is an awesome commodity to have.
The iPad smart folio protect the front and back from scratching the iPad Pro, but it leaves the bezel exposed to scratches and aluminum scratches easily that’s something to have in consideration it makes a slim and beautiful combination.
The Apple Pencil 2, it’s simply what the first should have been, the magnetic attach to the iPad and wireless charging makes it more practical and easier to handle. I do not use it that much but the experience is similar to the old one in use.
I have had all iPad models since the first one that came out, and use them in a daily basis, they are in my opinion not a computer replacement for professionals, but they complement a lot of my work, and they are fantastic for web browsing, media consumption, email, messaging, ocasional gaming and somo other less complex work.
For a lot of people this could be the only computer they ever need, and things could change for the best if iOS grows a little more, at the moment this is the best tablet apple makes and is a good one.
Some videos on YouTube show how fragile the new iPad pros are, the need to be handle with care.
Hope you like the photos.
Thanks
It was warm today, and when I got home all the kids were outside//// the younger two were blowing big, multicolored bubbles. Between this and my part 2.... it was a really good day.
At the .... there is workshop with a window so you can watch the stone mason working on re-creating pieces for replacement of the original.
From wikipedia:
Saint-Sulpice is a famous Parisian church 113 meters long, 58 meters in width and 34 meters tall, making it only slightly smaller than Notre-Dame and thus the second largest church in Paris. It is dedicated to Sulpitius the Pious. During the 1700s, an elaborate gnomon was constructed in the church.
The present church is the second building on the site, erected over a Romanesque church originally constructed during the 13th century. Additions were made over the centuries, up to 1631. The new building was founded in 1646 by parish priest Jean-Jacques Olier (1608-1657) who had established the Society of Saint-Sulpice, a clerical congregation, and a seminary attached to the church.
Work continued for about 140 years: The church was mostly completed in 1732; the chancel is the work of Christophe Gamard, Louis Le Vau and Daniel Gittard, but the work was completed by Gilles-Marie Oppenord, a student of François Mansart, 1714-1745.
The façade is an unorthodox essay of 1732 by Giovanni Niccolo Servandoni in which a double Ionic colonnade, Ionic order over Roman Doric with loggias behind them unify the bases of the corner towers with the façade; this fully classicising statement was made at the height of the Rococo[1] Its revolutionary character was recognised two decades later by the architect and teacher Jacques-François Blondel, who illustrated the elevation of the façade in his Architecture française, remarking, "The entire merit of this building lies in the architecture itself... and its greatness of scale, which opens a practically new road for our French architects."[2] It has been modified by Jean Chalgrin and others. Large arched windows fill the vast interior with natural light. The result is a simple two-storey west front with three tiers of elegant columns. The overall harmony of the building is, some say, only marred by the mismatched two towers; one, to the neoclassical design of Jean François Chalgrin, was added shortly before the French Revolution but its matching tower was never begun, and the former tower remains.
At either side of the front door are two enormous shells given to François I by the Venetian Republic. The two shells rest on rock-like bases, sculpted by Jean-Baptiste Pigalle.
Nineteenth-century redecorations to the interior, after some Revolutionary damage when Saint-Sulpice became a Temple of Victory, include the murals of Eugène Delacroix, that adorn the walls of the side chapel. The most famous of these are Jacob Wrestling with the Angel and Heliodorus Driven from the Temple.[3] Jules Massenet set an act of Manon at fashionable Saint-Sulpice.
Another point of interest dating from the time of Saint-Sulpice serving as a Temple of Victory is a printed sign over the center door of the main entrance. One can still barely make out the printed words ‘’Le Peuple Francais Reconnoit L’Etre Suprême Et L’Immortalité de L’Âme’’, The people of France recognize the supreme being and the immortality of the soul. Further questions of interest are the fate of the frieze that this must have replaced, the persons responsible for placing this manifesto and the reasons that it is has been left in place.
nrhp # 78002542- The Wide Awake Grocery Building, located at 520 State St. in Belle Fourche, South Dakota, was completed in 1911. Also known as Sly's Grocery, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.[1][2]
It was built in 1908 and extended 127 feet in 1911; the resulting size is 197 by 32 feet (60.0 m × 9.8 m).[2]
It was deemed notable as "one of the dwindling number of cut stone commercial buildings left in the state. Its architectural importance is enhanced because it displays both rock faced and dressed sandstone ashlar; sandstone, the later type is not normally found." It was also deemed notable as "an important grocery for Belle Fourche since its construction." It was originally Wide Awake Grocery, then Pomeroy and Glassie, and as Sly's from 1922 on.[2]
Over the years its second floor has served as apartments, as a high school, and as a theatre and site of Belle Fourche social events.[2]
The Belle Fourche Commercial Historic District, NRHP-listed in 1982, included it as a contributing building.
from Wikipedia
1. Talc
The composition of talc contains the aqueous silicon acid magnesium. Molecular formula is Mg3SI4O10(OH)2,It belongs to single inclined crystal which colour is white, light green, light yellow or pink. Degree of hardness of talc is 1 and the specific weight is 2.7-2.8.
2. Characteristic
The talc has a character of lubricate、fire-proof、anti- acidity、insulate、higher melt degree、the non-alacrity chemistry、soft、good lustre、strong adsorptive.
3.Use
(1)Cosmetics Grade: Applied to all kinds of soothing powder, hairdressing up powder, drying body powder, etc.
(2)Medicine-Food grade: Applied to medical pills, sugarcoat, prickly-heat powder, traditional Chinese medicines, food additives, isolating coat, etc.
(3)Paints grade: Applied to white pigments and all kinds of water base, oil base, resin industrial paints, base coat, protecting coat etc.
(4)Papermaking grade: Applied to all kinds of filling agents of paper and paperboard, the control agent of wood pitch.
(5)Plastics grade: Applied to polypropylene, nylon, polyvinyl chloride,polyethylene,polystyrene, and other polyester plastic, etc.
(6)Rubber grade: Applied to rubber filling agents and rubber adhesion preventives
(7)Cable grade: Applied to cable rubber fortifier, cable isolating agent
(8)Ceramics grade: Applied to make electric porcelain, wireless electric porcelain, all kinds of industrial ceramics, building Ceramics, daily use ceramics, and porcelain enamel etc.
(9)Waterproof material grade:Applied to water resistant rolling materials,water-resistant coat,water-resistant factice,etc.
(10)Micron talc powder: Applied to advanced varnish coat, plastic, cable rubber, cosmetics, printing paper coat, textile lubricant etc.
More details will be posted on the website:(http://www.talc-powder.com) soon
White Castle is an American regional hamburger restaurant chain in the Midwestern and Mid-Atlantic United States, generally credited as the country's first fast-food chain.[2] It is known for its small, square hamburgers. Sometimes referred to as "sliders", the burgers were priced at five cents until the 1940s and remained at ten cents for years[clarification needed] thereafter. For several[clarification needed] years, when the original burgers sold for five cents, White Castle periodically ran promotional ads in local newspapers which contained coupons offering five burgers for ten cents, takeout only.
On January 14, 2014, Time labeled the White Castle slider the most influential burger of all time
The Bear Lake Stake Tabernacle, situated on main street in Paris, Idaho, is a Romanesque red sandstone meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints designed by Joseph Don Carlos Young. The tabernacle was built between 1884 and 1889 by Mormon pioneers of Bear Lake Valley who used horse and ox teams to haul rock quarried from Indian Creek Canyon nearly 18 miles away.[2] It cost $50,000 to build and seats around 2000 people. The tabernacle was dedicated September 15, 1889 by LDS Church president Wilford Woodruff. In 1972 the tabernacle was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The tabernacle was most recently refurbished in 2004-2005 and continues to operate as a meeting place for the Bear Lake Stake congregations and community.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_Lake_Stake_Tabernacle
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_...
A day out in London of a Saturday morning requires planning. Jools arranged for shopping to be dropped on Thursday afternoon, meaning we did not have to go on Saturday morning.
Then setting alarms so that we got to Priory station at half seven ready for the quarter to eight train.
Jools went to get tickets, and I went to the corner greasy spoon to get sausage and bacon sticks and brews. So that when the train rolled at twenty to, we climbed on board, sitting at a table and starting on our breakfast.
Leaving at that time meant it was already light, so we could see the countryside rolling by until we got to Ashford, then flash by once we got on the high speed line, zooming up to Ebbsfleet and then under the Thames into Essex and on to Stratford.
We got out at Stratford, caught the DLR to the regional station, then changing DLR lines for the trains heading for Lewisham.
At Pudding Mill Lane, where we used to watch steam tours on the Great Eastern Main Line, a new station has been built to allow for the entrances to the Elizabeth Line tunnels, and next door is the Abba theatre.
We have been talking about going, so Jools checks prices for the show, and amazed that some are nearly £200! Prices next June are £99, but still for seeing a video recreation rather than the band themselves.
The train rattled on, turning south where the old Bryant and May match factory used to be. The building is still there but seems to be business units or flats now.
Passing the old factory used to be the cue for my Granddad to get us standing up and gathering our coats and bags as we were five minutes from Liverpool Street.
Instead, we took the line south through Bow and towards the crystal towers of Docklands and Canary and other Wharves.
I texted Graham to say we were on our way, and he replied to say he was 5 minutes from Canary Wharf. I said we would be there in a few minutes, maybe we would meet there?
Through Poplar and into the 21st century hellscape that is Docklands, we get off on platform 1, and our next train is waiting on platform 2. Jools walks over, I lag behind, scouring the platform for Graham.
Then as I reach the doors, and the electronic bleeps announcing departure, Graham reaches us and comes on board.
Doors close and the train departs, taking tight turns around the skyscrapers before heading to the river, and after Mudschute, dives under the river for Greenwich.
We get off at Cutty Sark, so named after a tea clipper, and find the way out signed to a flight of 125 steps to street level.
I sigh and follow Jools and Graham up, regretting my life choices.
But I made it to the top, and a short walk we called in at a coffee shop for a refill and wait for the Cutty Sark itself to open.
Although the story of the Cutty Sark and the other tea clippers is very interesting, I wanted to come for purely photographic reasons, to snap the prow and the glazed roof that protects the old dry dock.
We pay to go on, and enter the ship, going up two flights of steps onto the deck, where the masts and rigging tower high above. Remember, sailors used to have to climb up these and gather in sails, and all weathers and on all seas, no matter their state.
Hardy buggers.
Cabins were small and on deck, as all space down below was for cases of tea only, to keep them dry and in perfect condition.
Then down through the visitor centre to the bottom of the dry dock, and the copper bottom of the ship, suspended so that shots looking along and up the prow could be taken.
Which I took plenty of.
Above the roofs of the shops and pubs,the tower of the parish church, St Alphage, Greenwich, which is an usual dedication, but turns out this was the site where the titular Saint was martyred in the 11th century.
Graham had never found it open, but I had checked online and it was due to open at eleven, ten minutes ago. So we walked towards the church, dodging through the traffic and arrived at the church gate.
The south doors were closed, as were the north, so I began to doubt myself. But a nearby sight indicated that the main entrance was on the south side, so we went back round.
And one of the doors was indeed ajar.
Bingo.
Bango.
Bongo.
We climbed the steps and went in, and were met my quiet the most friendly and informative volunteer I think I have ever met.
Interesting details were pointed out, and those hidden were shown, including the location of the font where King Henry XIII was christened, and the last surviving part of the second church's wall.
The church, which is after Hawksmoor, is a delight, though gutted during the blitz, so most glass is now lost, though the Victorian is of good quality.
We were here for the Mars display in the Painted Hall at the Greenwich Naval College.
We have been here before, but some 15 years back at least, so a return was overdue, though the sumptuous painting would be partly hidden by the 7m model of the planet Mars.
We have seen the artist's Moon work at the Maritime Museum nearby, but also in Denver back in 2017. But seemed to have missed his "Earth", I'm sure it'll come round again.
We walked through the college grounds, into the painted hall, exchanged vouchers for tickets and climbed the two sets of stairs into the hall itself.
The view opened out, and the first impression was amazing, Mars at the far end, suspended and slowly turning, with the painted hall as a background. And a helmeted Mar looking down at the planet named after him, a great juxtaposition.
We took and hour to take it all in, then talked about going to the Chapel, which we were not sure was open.
At the base of the stairs, we found the entrance to a passageway, with sign pointing to the Chapel, could this lead all the way under the formal gardens?
Yes. Yes it could. And did.
Up spiral staircases to the lobby, then up a formal stairway flanked by statues of Faith, Hope, Charity and Meekness, into the church, a delight, without much in the way of painting to match the hall opposite, but stunning all the same, and few folks had made it over, so we soaked up the building and details, and fittings.
Time was getting on, and thoughts turned to food. So, we left and headed out to the narrow path beside the river, where high tide meant water was lapping at our feet, but we powered back towards the High Road, and the cluster of pubs and other eateries.
Beside the Cutty Sark was the Gipsy Moth pub, but that was full, so we walked on and found a table beside the fire in the Spanish Galleon, a Shepherd Neame's pub, but they had tables and a great looking menu.
We got pints of Whitstable Bay, and ordered burgers each, all in a great end to the trip where we did all we set out to do, and now rounded it off with a pub lunch.
We ate the burgers with pints of Bishop's Finger, now a timid 5.2% rather than the 7% in days of yore, but still full of flavour.
Time to go home. Back to Cutty Sark DLR station, down in the lift this time, and straight on a train heading north. Change at Canary Wharf, where our train to Stratford was also waiting.
We said goodbye to Graham, hopped on, and the doors closed, so we moved off north.
Back at Stratford, down the steps to the concourse, and straight onto a train going to the International Station, we got on, and so were on the platforms for Kent a full ten minutes before the train was due.
When it came, there were a few seats, so I got to sit and rest by back after the 11,000 steps done, so while darkness fell outside, I kept up to date with the football, Norwich 2-2 with Luton at half time, but scoring twice in the second half to win 4-2, and make it 12 goals scored in three games over seven days.
By the time final whistle went, we were back home, and supping fresh brews as we rested, taking our shoes off.
A brilliant day out.
The West Ham fans we had seen on the DLR were going to their home game against Arsenal, which was on TV at half five. Not the game they were hoping for, as Arsenal were 5-2 by halftime, though no more goals scored in the second half, but worthy of that first half to have watched.
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St Alfege Church is an Anglican church in the centre of Greenwich, part of the Royal Borough of Greenwich in London. It is of medieval origin and was rebuilt in 1712–1714 to the designs of Nicholas Hawksmoor.
The church is dedicated to Alfege (also spelt "Alphege"), Archbishop of Canterbury, and reputedly marks the place where he was martyred on 19 April 1012, having been taken prisoner during the sack of Canterbury by Danish raiders the previous year. The Danes took him to their camp at Greenwich and killed him when the large ransom they demanded was not forthcoming.[1]
The church was rebuilt in around 1290, and Henry VIII was baptized there in 1491.
The patronage of the church was given to the abbey at Ghent during the 13th century. Following the suppression of alien priories under Henry V, it was granted to the priory at Sheen with which it remained until transferred to the Crown by exchange under Henry VIII in 1530.[1]
During a storm in 1710 the medieval church collapsed, its foundations having been weakened by burials both inside and outside.
Following the collapse of the medieval church, the present building was constructed, funded by a grant from the Commission for Building Fifty New Churches, to the designs of Nicholas Hawksmoor, one of the commission's two surveyors. The first church to be built by the commissioners, it was begun in 1712 and basic construction was completed in 1714;[2] it was not, however, consecrated until 1718.[3] The church was built by Edward Strong the Younger a friend of Christopher Wren the Younger.
The church is rectangular in plan with a flat ceiling and a small apse serving as a chancel. The east front, towards the street, has a portico in the Tuscan order, with a central arch cutting through the entablature and pediment—a motif used in Wren's "Great Model" for St Paul's Cathedral.[3] A giant order of pilasters runs around the rest of the church, a feature Kerry Downes suggests may have been added by Thomas Archer, who, according to the minutes of the commission, "improved" Hawksmoor's plans.[2] On the north and south sides of the churchwide projecting vestibules rise to the full height of the building, with steps leading up to the doors.[3]
Hawksmoor planned a west tower, in the position of the existing one, which had survived the collapse. However the commission was reluctant to fund it, and the medieval tower was retained. In 1730 John James refaced it, and added a spire. Hawksmoor's design, published in an engraving in 1714, had an octagonal lantern at the top, a motif he was later to use at St George in the East.
The crypt served as an air-raid shelter during World War II. During the Blitz on 19 March 1941, incendiary bombs landed on the roof causing it to collapse, burning into the nave. The walls and the tower remained standing but much of the interior was gutted. The church was restored by Sir Albert Richardson in 1953. As part of the post-war restorations, stencils of Mary the Mother of Jesus and St John the Evangelist were installed either side of the Cross (forming a traditional rood) in the side chapel of St Alfege with St Peter by the tempera artist Augustus Lunn.
The present organ was installed in 2001, having been relocated from the Lower Chapel at Eton College, with some minor changes.[6] It is an 1891 Lewis & Co instrument, with modifications in 1927 by A. Hunter & Son and 1970 by Harrison & Harrison.[7]
Additionally, there is a small, six-stop moveable organ located in the north aisle, by W & A Boggis of Diss from c 1960, with a later restoration by Mander Organs.
he previous organ had a long history. It dated from the 16th century (when St Alfege was recorded as having a pair of organs). The National Pipe Organ Register does not record its present whereabouts. However, a three manual drawstop console is on display at the West End of the South aisle. This may incorporate keys from the time of the composer Thomas Tallis,[9] who was buried in the chancel of the medieval church in the 16th century. The organ was restored in 1706 by Thomas Swarbrick, with further restorations and modifications by Dallam (1765), George England (1770) and J. W. Walker & Sons Ltd (1840, 1853 and 1863).[9][10] It was further restored and rebuilt in 1875 by Joseph Robson and Benjamin Flight,[11] modified by Lewis & Co in 1910[12] and rebuilt by R. Spurden Rutt & Co in 1934. By this point it had grown to 47 stops.[13] It survived the bomb damage of 1941 and was rebuilt, again by R Spurden Rutt, in 1953, with 55 stops.
Choreography, Piper Morgan Hayes
Music, S-M-I-L-E, by Piper Morgan Hayes; Cow and Calf Auction Near Righ--Interior, BBC 35
Livestock 2; It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World, by James Brown; Harpin’ On The Porch, by Adam
Crawley
Costumes, Kim Instenes
Light Design, William Newcomb
Performers
Hannah Clark, Sofia Dollinger, Piper Morgan Hayes, Sara O’Lear, Hannah Shepherd, Marie
Tredway, Kelly West, Sara Wuchte
The thumbnail for a video tutorial I am making for beginners on how to play The Golf Club 2. It illustrates a full round of golf with pointers along the way.
Goodwood revival, held at the Goodwood racing circuit near Lord March's Goodwood estate, this racing track was the original perimeter road for RAF Westhampnett during World War 2. It grew into a proper circuit post war, rivaling Silverstone for prestige, holding TT, F1 and the Goodwood 9 hour race. In the mid 60s however, the circuit fell out of use, until being brought back in the late 90s for the goodwood revival.
The Revival celebrates those years from the late 40s to mid 60s, and all non period cars are banned from the area when the event is on. Likewise, the overwhelming majority of the punters that go dress up in period costumes, making the whole event feel like it really is on back in the day.
I hate the watermarks as well. Blame the people that keep stealing images for commercial use.
© 2011 Lachlan Doig. All Rights Reserved. Not to be used for any purpose in any form of media without prior approval.
Some landmarks around the world suffer from the "Stonehenge" syndrome. On first viewing one is tempted, normally after a long journey full of expectation, to say, "Is that it? I thought it would be bigger than that!" And so it was after a fast walk down the riverbanks of the Vlatava to get to the world famous "Fred and Ginger" building. perhaps the direction of sunlight didn't show it off to its best effect.
The Dancing House or Dancing Building or Ginger & Fred (Czech: Tančící dům) is the nickname given to the Nationale-Nederlanden building in downtown Prague, Czech Republic at Rašínovo nábřeží 80, 120 00 Praha 2. It was designed by Croatian-Czech architect Vlado Milunić in co-operation with Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry on a vacant riverfront plot (where the previous building had been destroyed during the Bombing of Prague in 1945). The building was designed in 1992 and completed in 1996.
The very non-traditional design was controversial at the time. Czech president Václav Havel, who lived for decades next to the site, had supported it, hoping that the building would become a center of cultural activity.
Originally named Fred and Ginger (after Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers – the house resembles a pair of dancers) the house stands out among the Baroque, Gothic and Art Nouveau buildings for which Prague is famous. Others have nicknamed it "Drunk House".