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I think I actually prefer this one!
Leo is named for the Nemean lion in Greek mythology that was eventually killed by Heracles. It could not be killed with mortal weapons because its golden fur was impervious to attack. Its claws were sharper than mortal swords and could cut through any armor. It was added to the night sky by Hera, Zeus's wife.
Model: Ethereal Rose
Hair: Portia Malia KuualohaMeli Imle of P.M.K.M.I.
Outfit: Erin Weathers of Fair Weathers
MUA: Paula Yahn
Strobist Info: AB800 through 60" silver PLM umbrella w/ white diffusion panel at 8 o'clock. White wall at 3 o'clock giving bounce. 2 Vivitar 283s gelled orange at 11 & 1 o'clock lighting up her hair and causing a bit of flare.
Actually too close, the pilot breaks away as briefed if he becomes uncomfortable - good photo opportunity though.
actually the California State Flower, the background has been a dull grey..so I fiddled with the colourscale at Picasa.
and one other thing...thieves are amongst us, they grab and run, makes me very sad.. from now on I sign my pix
The distributed power unit on NS train 177 gives the illusion that the train is headed toward the camera when it actually is going away. The image was made at Blackford County Road East 400 North.
Nature's RGB :)
Actually this pic was taken from slow moving car and with flash on . . . so near by objects got steady captured, while distant object like this star got stretched :)
This image pretty much sums up the ending of the Bionicle line and the beginning of Glatorian.
SPOILERS!
From the autumn 2016 trip to Vietnam:
Touchdown brings me ‘round again to find…solid ground. Though I sometimes do feel like a rocket man. Including layovers, this trip to Vietnam consisted of 8 separate flights. The third one brought me to tiny Phu Quoc Island, a tropical island 40 kilometers west of the southern tip of Vietnam (and less than 5 kilometers from Cambodia on the mainland). The island, then, is actually west of the southern tip of Vietnam, and less than an hour flight from Saigon. The flight goes something like this: “Ladies and gentlemen, please be seated as it’s time for take…and now we’re landing.”
There are actually two tropical islands off the southern coast of Vietnam that I would have liked visiting, Phu Quoc being the more appealing of the two. (The other, for those curious, are the Con Dao Islands which actually are south of the mainland…but there doesn’t seem to be daily flights to/from there, which took it out of this trip’s consideration.)
Compared with Thailand, you would probably never think of coming to Vietnam for a tropical island experience – mainly because it’s not developed – and you’d be correct. I can easily name a handful of islands in Thailand (or Malaysia) that I would prefer to visit from an island standpoint.
However, that’s not to say that I was disappointed by Phu Quoc. On the contrary, I love the island. I found myself thinking, many times, “If I were an investor interested in developing a tourist resort, this would almost be at the top of my list.” (So, any investors reading this…feel free to take a slightly closer look at this island.)
It’s an easily accessible island with many daily flights to Saigon, and also flights to Hanoi. It claims to be an international airport, so I assume there are flights from Cambodia, as well, though I can’t say for certain. I can only say…it’s easy to get here.
Once you get here, you’ll find Vietnam’s largest island (though not large in comparison with many others). It’s 50 kilometers from north to south and 25 kilometers at its widest. It’s triangular in shape and, poetically speaking, can be said to look like a tear drop. Located in the Gulf of Thailand, the island also includes smaller neighboring islands as well.
Phu Quoc has slightly over 100,000 full-time residents, mostly living in Duong Dong, the island’s main town on the midpoint of the west coast of the island. Other than tourism, the economy here is driven, obviously, by the sea. Fishing, seafood, and so on are the staple here. Phu Quoc is the producer of the most famous fish sauce coming out of Vietnam. (Phu Quoc’s fish sauce can be found on grocery store shelves around the world.)
It’s also an island of hills. Our tour guide claimed that Phu Quoc has 99 mountains and, while I can’t (or won’t) dispute that, it struck me as a curious claim. There are hilly parts, though, and they include two waterfalls, one of which we visited on a day trip.
I mention that Phu Quoc struck me as being somewhat underdeveloped. I’ll elaborate by saying that they have a solid foundation – lots of restaurants (catered to foreigners; western food, pizza joints, etc., in addition to local/Vietnamese cuisine) – and hotels ranging from budget to top end. The basic utilities on the island (electricity, internet, etc.) are also completely stable and reliable. Where they could develop more is in the following: infrastructure and the actual amenities of tourism.
The roads weren’t shoddy, by many standards, though there’s still a lot of room for development. Once this is improved, it’ll make getting around more comfortable for anyone who wants to be completely insulated from “natural.”
The other thing that struck us as a little odd is that there doesn’t seem to be much going on at night (unless you’re a fisherman). It’s still a very quiet island and there weren’t many options for bars, clubs, live music, for example. (This is a huge difference between here and, say, Koh Chang in Thailand; the only other nearby island I have for comparison.) There aren’t convenience stores here that are open 24 hours a day and they don’t have much to offer after dark…besides the Night Market. Perhaps that’s the way they want to keep it, but there’s certainly potential here.
During the daytime, though, there’s plenty for tourists. As a photographer not equipped with waterproof gear, I was much more limited, but for the typical tourist you have options of fishing, diving, snorkeling, and swimming. The beaches were, in my opinion, a little dirty, but there are others on the island that are better, I think. (All in all, it would be nice to see things cleaned up a bit…)
In addition to water pursuits, there’s Phu Quoc National Park (that we didn’t visit; apparently better other times of the year) and – though the crux of the economy is tied to the sea – there are also other aspects of the economy that they represent well: pearl farms, pepper farms, cashew plantations, fish sauce factories, and local wine (wine aficionados, don’t get your hopes up).
For the land-loving folks, this is far from a crowded island. There are a number of beaches, the national park in the northern part of the island, and a few small waterfalls (one a classic, the other more of a rapids where you can swim). In short, there’s not a lack of things to do during the day.
With the long-winded generalities about the island out of the way, time to carry on with our experience. We took an early flight out of Saigon, around 9 or 10 o’clock. Flying into the airport, in the heart of the island (on the south side), my first impressions were “green” and “hilly.”
Naturally, it’s a small airport – everything here is small – which made it easy to get our things and be on our way to the hotel. I paid about $5 for the ride into Duong Dong. Our hotel, the Sea Breeze, had very friendly staff. (I can actually say that about every hotel we stayed at, with the New Moon in Danang being the least friendly…and they weren’t bad by any means at all.)
Anyway, the Sea Breeze was a fine place to sleep, though the Cat Huy was slightly nicer. But, for three nights, this hotel was perfect. Comfortable bed…and they did same day laundry service. I don’t remember the cost, but it was probably between $20-30 USD/night.
The hotel wasn’t one that had a restaurant or breakfast included (Saigon, Hoi An, Hue, and Hanoi all did), but there was a restaurant attached and a few feet away. I had breakfast there two of the three mornings and, while not the best western breakfast I’ve had, the staff were exceptionally friendly. I think that’s a Vietnamese quality…be really cordial to folks.
We had most of Friday on the island, plus the entire weekend, with a Monday morning flight to Danang (via Saigon) around 10:00 in the morning. Friday, then, was a completely unplanned day. So we spent Friday toddling around Duong Dong.
The first place we went (besides the hotel, obviously), was to find something to eat. We ended up going with was a decidedly non-Vietnamese restaurant named Buddy’s, walking there via the Night Market street. For me, I loved ‘em because they had milkshakes with real ice cream. Didn’t matter what else they had. That was enough to get me to go back 2-3 times.
After lunch and sitting around Buddy’s for a while, we walked across the street and followed the river out to its mouth in the Gulf of Thailand. (The river is why the main town was built at this spot.)
At the river’s head is a curiously named spot called Dinh Cau Castle. There is nothing about this place that shouts out “castle” if you were to just chance upon it. It’s actually a combination lighthouse-temple. The temple aspect is just a small room with a statue dedicated to the Goddess of the Sea. The lighthouse, obviously, has its practical purposes. It’s more a light station, though; there’s no house for a keeper.
However, this was a very enjoyable spot (much nicer than the Thien Hau “Pagoda” in Saigon) and would end up being the spot where we watched the sunset on Friday and Saturday. The lighthouse-station-temple was built in 1937. There are a few tables benches on an upper platform to sit and enjoy the view of the sea (or the river mouth with its fishing fleet behind you) and there’s also a jetty going out into the sea that gives some nice perspectives. I can only say that I was surprisingly pleased with both Friday and Saturday’s sunsets.
Staying at Dinh Cau well past sunset, we strolled back towards the Sea Breeze via the Night Market, which is rather clean as far as Asian markets go. (I mention this to contrast it with Phu Quoc’s Day Market, mentioned below.)
Before getting back to the hotel, we stopped at the recently (2015) established Crab House (Nha Ghe Phu Quoc) on the main road at the south end of the market. The owner was – as all seem to be – very friendly and talkative. I was curious to know why the interior had banners from a handful of SEC schools (US folks will know what this is) along with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Turns out, the guy used to live in Muskegon, Michigan, which isn’t terribly far from where I was born (and a town I’ll be passing near in about 3-4 weeks’ time).
Junebug & I split the Crab House battered garlic pepper fries (65,000 VND); miniature crab cakes with sweet mango coulis (175,000 VND); and com ghe: hot, steamy jasmine rice with fresh, sweet crab meat, julienne cucumber, and nuoc mam cay (Phu Quoc fish sauce) for 175,000 VND. Add in two cans of Sprite at 20,000 VND a pop and that’s a happy stomach. (The exchange rate, while we were there, was around 21,000-22,000 VND to the US dollar, so we’re looking at…$20-25 for a fresh seafood dinner for two.) With a thoroughly happy stomach, it was time to call it a night, even though it was barely 8:00.
Saturday brought with it another day trip with a small group. This was similar to the Saigon trip with Bao in terms of time and what we did, though I think Bao was a better guide than the girl here. She seemed disinterested half the time, though was never rude or mean, per se. Anyway, at $11/person, it wasn’t a bad way to spend the day.
Since the one part of this tour I was looking forward to most was a waterfall, I was grateful that it was overcast almost the entire day. For parts of it, rain was pretty heavy. (It even made me mildly – albeit very mildly concerned about the flight out on Monday as it was the first of two for the day.)
First up, though, was a pearl farm where I found it interesting to see them pulling pearls out of oysters. That thrill lasted for about a minute or two. However, we were scheduled to be here for close to an hour. (They were hoping that people would buy pearl jewelry.) Given that we were in a fairly heavy rain, I was surprised that there were so many people here. It made me think the entire day would be like this with overcrowded spots. (Forunately, that didn’t come to pass.)
With no interest in buying jewelry, I spent the hour on the back patio looking out at the very rough and stormy sea, and a few of these shots are from there. Finally ready to go, we were waiting on two Vietnamese women from the group (a recurring theme for the day) before we headed off to the next stop: a pepper farm.
To call it a pepper farm would be to stretch one’s imagination to its utmost. It was about 5 rows of pepper trees with each row being no more than 10 meters long. (I’d like to hope this is just the “sample” section they show us dopey tourists.) Much more attractive was the attached shop where they hoped you’d buy pepper. This time around, I pulled out my wallet. There’s one of us born every minute, you know. I bought four separate jars of pepper, one of which wasn’t a powder (and was subsequently confiscated in Guangzhou as I rarely check luggage and this trip was no exception). At about a dollar a jar, it wasn’t a bad deal.
From the pepper farm we were off to the wine shop. This tour was beginning to feel like just going from one spot to another to buy local goods. This wasn’t grape wine, but was a berry wine and was, for the most part very sweet. Don’t think port or sherry, though. It wasn’t quite that sweet, but it was close. Certainly not bad, but also something I could’ve done without. However, they seemed proud of their wine, and I don’t blame them. (It’s better than most of what I had in Korea.) Once again being held up by the Vietnamese ladies, we finally all settled back into the van and went off to Suoi Tranh.
The waterfall was actually much nicer than I expected. Apparently, half the year, it’s dry, so it worked out well that we came at the end of the rainy season. The fall is a classic cascade in a very nice, wooded setting. (Even if it were sunny, it probably would’ve photographed rather well because it had enough cover to give it shade.) We were given 45 minutes to walk the 600 meters up to the falls and back, which meant a bit of a rush for me, but…fortunately, the Vietnamese ladies were even slower than I was.
The creek leading up to the falls had some nice rapids, too, but it also had some unfortunate eyesores: a manmade fall at the entrance (why would you need that when you have the real thing a few minutes away?) and, worse, some fake animal statuary. Count my lucky stars, but these all disappeared after the first 100-200 meters, and you were left with a tasteful and well-made natural path leading up to the falls.
After this – it was around 12:00 or 12:30 by this point – we hopped in the van and headed to Sao Beach at the southern tip of the island. To get here required driving down a very bumpy road for a few minutes at the end. (As I said…they can still do a little infrastructure work here unless one of the unstated tourist goals is to make people feel like they’re bouncing around in a bag of popcorn.)
The beach was…pleasant, I guess I can say. It wasn’t a large beach. In length, it covered a small cove, so it had a nice setting. It also isn’t a wide beach; only about 30 meters from the restaurant to the water, and maybe even less than 20 meters. I saw a little too much trash around which disheartened me, though we aren’t talking dirty to levels that I’m accustomed to seeing in China. I didn’t go swimming, and the lunch at the restaurant here – though Vietnamese – was among the most unimpressive meals we had in the entire two weeks here. The best part of the time at the beach is that the weather cleared up from overcast and rainy to mostly cloudy. So it wasn’t crowded here, nor was it raining.
We left the beach at 2:00 and drove to a nearby fish sauce factory. This was a lot like the pearl farm, pepper farm, and wine shop. “We make this here. Please buy it.” Of the four of these places, the pearl farm is the only one who actually had some kind of “demonstration,” and that lasted about a minute.
If it seems I’m being critical of the roped in commercialism of these types of tours, perhaps I am a little jaded. The spots in and of themselves are actually quite interesting and I just accept this as an unnecessary evil. They need to survive somehow, and for that, I guess I’m grateful that they do this. Back to the actual tour, the fish sauce factory was quick and interesting. (Though I don’t like seafood that much, I do like fish sauce to add flavor.)
The last “scheduled” stop was Nha Tu Phu Quoc – Coconut Tree Prison – right across the street. This isn’t a place that I would otherwise go out of my way to visit, though in conjunction with the beach and the fish sauce factory, it was perfect. (Individually, none of the three spots amazed me, but as a whole, they were quite pleasing.)
The prison was built by the French in the 1940s and this was one of the ARVN’s POW camps during the Vietnam War. Apparently, prisoner treatment here was quite inhumane, as detailed by the signs around the barracks. The recreations of people, though, aren’t the most lifelike I’ve ever seen and seem kind of cheap. There aren’t any period photographs, so there’s a little “oomph” missing here, but it’s still a good effort all around.
Our last stop before being dropped off back in Duong Dong was at Ham Ninh, a small fishing village on the east coast of the island (almost directly across the island from Duong Dong. We didn’t do anything here except have 15-20 minutes to walk to the end of the pier and come back. As uneventful as that may sound, I enjoyed it a lot because the surrounding scenery and seeing the fishing fleet up close (along with a lot of small floating restaurants) made it unique and worthwhile to me.
When we got dropped off, we went right back to Buddy’s and repeated the same thing from Friday night (minus eating at the Crab House). I can’t recall what we ate for dinner on Saturday night and perhaps we didn’t. Lunch at Buddy’s was late enough that I doubt we were terribly hungry by evening except for some snacks.
The only difference between Friday & Saturday was my positioning to photograph the sunset. Friday night was from up near the lighthouse, and Saturday was a little ways out on the jetty. Skies were equally moody both nights.
I’m easy like Sunday morning. No rush to wake up since there was absolutely nothing whatsoever on the agenda. Brunch, around 9:00 or 10:00, after stopping by the post office to send off some postcards, was at Buddy’s. From there, we crossed the river to the day market and spent about an hour or so wandering up and down the street photographing a variety of things.
Going back to the west side of the river, we spent a little while at Dinh Cau, but decided not to watch the sunset there for the third night in a row. We had a late (and small) lunch of a wood-fired pizza, which was surprisingly delicious – so much so that I considered going back for dinner.
Instead, we went to one of the few access points for Long Beach (the beach nearest the hotel) to watch the least spectacular of the three sunsets in my opinion. Sunday night’s was cloudier than Friday and Saturday’s. However, there are still some interesting pictures. It’s just the most muted of the three, by far, and there’s simply less to work with.
After sundown, we walked the few hundred meters north up the main road, passing the Sea Breeze, and stopped at a local restaurant. (I suggested it not because it was local, but because they proudly talked of the ice cream that they have.) The food was not terribly great. I had fish and chips that didn’t have enough tartar and was a bit bland. I also ordered some smoked cheese that, when they brought it, they didn’t say what it was and, since it looked more like noodles than cheese, didn’t eat it. The ice cream, however, was sorbet, and it was wonderful.
All in all, Phu Quoc was about as good as I wished it would be, and I was lucky enough to have three reasonably good sunsets and decent weather for the weekend. Also, the waterfall was actually nicer than I had expected, we ate well (for the most part), and it was a relaxing weekend. Not a bad way to spend life.
After breakfast Monday morning, we grabbed our bags and headed to the airport at 9:00 for the first of two flights on the day.
As always, thanks for dropping by and viewing these pictures. Please feel free to leave any questions or comments and I’ll answer as I have time.
actually it just smoke from a big fire at the poli-poli area. they have been battling this fire for several days now. i came across this tidepool on cape kinau on my hike this weekend. the pool was filled with fish and the water almost seemed to glow.
Ellora (\e-ˈlȯr-ə\, Marathi: वेरूळ Vērūḷa), is an archaeological site, 29 km North-West of the city of Aurangabad in the Indian state of Maharashtra built by the Rashtrakuta dynasty. It is also known as Elapura (in the Rashtrakuta literature-Kannada). Well known for its monumental caves, Ellora is a World Heritage Site. Ellora represents the epitome of Indian rock-cut architecture. The 34 "caves" are actually structures excavated out of the vertical face of the Charanandri hills. Buddhist, Hindu and Jain rock-cut temples and viharas and mathas were built between the 5th century and 10th century. The 12 Buddhist (caves 1–12), 17 Hindu (caves 13–29) and 5 Jain (caves 30–34) caves, built in proximity, demonstrate the religious harmony prevalent during this period of Indian history. It is a protected monument under the Archaeological Survey of India.
ETYMOLOGY
Ellora, also called Verula or Elura, is the cave form of the Ancient name Elapura.
HISTORY
Ellora is known for Hindu, Buddhist and Jain cave temples built during (6th and 9th centuries) the rule of the Kalachuri, Chalukya and Rashtrakuta dynasties. The Jagannatha Sabha a group of five Jain cave temples of 9th century built by Rashtrakuta.
THE BUDDHIST CAVES
These caves were built during the 5th-7th century. It was initially thought that the Buddhist caves were one of the earliest structures, created between the fifth and eighth centuries, with caves 1-5 in the first phase (400-600) and 6-12 in the later phase (mid 7th-mid 8th), but now it is clear to the modern scholars that some of the Hindu caves (27,29,21,28,19,26,20,17 and 14) precede these caves.[citation needed] The earliest Buddhist cave is Cave 6, followed by 5,2,3,5 (right wing), 4,7,8,10 and 9. Caves 11 and 12 were the last. All the Buddhist caves were constructed between 630-700.
These structures consist mostly of viharas or monasteries: large, multi-storeyed buildings carved into the mountain face, including living quarters, sleeping quarters, kitchens, and other rooms. Some of these monastery caves have shrines including carvings of Gautama Buddha, bodhisattvas and saints. In many of these caves, sculptors have endeavoured to give the stone the look of wood.
Most famous of the Buddhist caves is cave 10, (refer map) a chaitya hall (chandrashala) or 'Vishvakarma cave', popularly known as the 'Carpenter's Cave'. Beyond its multi-storeyed entry is a cathedral-like stupa hall also known as chaitya, whose ceiling has been carved to give the impression of wooden beams. At the heart of this cave is a 15-foot statue of Buddha seated in a preaching pose. Amongst other Buddhist caves, all of the first nine (caves 1–9) are monasteries. The last two caves, Do Tal (cave 11) and Tin Tal (cave 12) have three stories.
CAVE 10
Cave 10 is a vihara with eight cells, four in the back wall and four in the right wall. It had a portico in the front with a cell. Possibly served as a granary for other viharas.
THE VISHWAKARMA
The Vishwakarma (Cave 10) is the only chaitya griha amongst the Buddhist group of caves. It is locally known as Vishwakarma or Sutar ka jhopda "carpenter's hut". It follows the pattern of construction of Caves 19 and 26 of Ajanta. On stylistic grounds, the date of construction of this cave is assigned to 700 A.D. The chaitya once had a high screen wall, which is ruined at present. At the front is a rock-cut court, which is entered through a flight of steps. On either side are pillared porticos with chambers in their back walls. These were probably intended to have subsidiary shrines but not completed. The pillared verandah of the chaitya has a small shrine at either end and a single cell in the far end of the back wall. The corridor columns have massive squarish shafts and ghata-pallava (vase and foliage) capitals. The main hall is apsidal on plan and is divided into a central nave and side aisles by 28 octagonal columns with plain bracket capitals. In the apsidal end of the chaitya hall is a stupa on the face of which a colossal 3.30 m high seated Buddha in vyakhyana mudra (teaching posture) is carved. A large Bodhi tree is carved at the back. The hall has a vaulted roof in which ribs have been carved in the rock imitating the wooden ones.
THE HINDU CAVES
The Hindu caves were constructed between the middle of sixth century to the end of the eighth century. The early caves (caves 17–29) were constructed during the Kalachuri period. The work first commenced in Caves 28, 27 and 19. These were followed by two most impressive caves constructed in the early phase - Caves 29 and 21. Along with these two, work was underway at Caves 20 and 26, and slightly later at Caves 17, 19 and 28. The caves 14, 15 and 16 were constructed during the Rashtrakuta period. The work began in Caves 14 and 15 and culminated in Cave 16. All these structures represent a different style of creative vision and execution skills. Some were of such complexity that they required several generations of planning and co-ordination to complete.
THE KAILASANATHA TEMPLE
Cave 16, also known as the Kailasa temple, is the unrivaled centerpiece of Ellora. This is designed to recall Mount Kailash, the abode of Lord Shiva – looks like a freestanding, multi-storeyed temple complex, but it was carved out of one single rock, and covers an area double the size of Parthenon in Athens. Initially the temple was covered with white plaster thus even more increasing the similarity to snow-covered Mount Kailash.
All the carvings are done in more than one level. A two-storeyed gateway resembling a South Indian Gopura opens to reveal a U-shaped courtyard. The courtyard is edged by columned galleries three storeys high. The galleries are punctuated by huge sculpted panels, and alcoves containing enormous sculptures of a variety of deities. Originally flying bridges of stone connected these galleries to central temple structures, but these have fallen.
Within the courtyard are three structures. As is traditional in Shiva temples, the first is a large image of the sacred bull Nandi in front of the central temple. The central temple - Nandi Mantapa or Mandapa - houses the Lingam. The Nandi Mandapa stands on 16 pillars and is 29.3 m high. The base of the Nandi Mandapa has been carved to suggest that life-sized elephants are holding the structure aloft. A living rock bridge connects the Nandi Mandapa to the Shiva temple behind it. The temple itself is a tall pyramidal structure reminiscent of a South Indian Dravidian temple. The shrine – complete with pillars, windows, inner and outer rooms, gathering halls, and an enormous lingam at its heart – carved from living stone, is carved with niches, pilasters, windows as well as images of deities, mithunas (erotic male and female figures) and other figures. Most of the deities at the left of the entrance are Shaivaite (followers of Shiva) while on the right hand side the deities are Vaishnavaites (followers of Vishnu). There are two Dhvajastambhas (pillars with the flagstaff) in the courtyard. The grand sculpture of Ravana attempting to lift Mount Kailasa, the abode of Lord Shiva, with his full might is a landmark in Indian art. The construction of this cave was a feat of human genius – it entailed the removal of 200,000 tonnes of rock, and took 100 years to complete.
The temple is a splendid achievement of Rashtrakuta Karnata architecture. This project was started by Krishna I (757–773) of the Rashtrakuta dynasty that ruled from Manyakheta in present day Karnataka state. His rule had also spread to southern India, hence this temple was excavated in the prevailing style. Its builders modelled it on the lines of the Virupaksha Temple in Pattadakal. Being a south Indian style temple, it does not have a shikhara common to north Indian temples. – The Guide to the Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent, 1996, Takeo Kamiya, Japan Architects Academy and archaeological Survey of India.
THE DASHAVATARA
The Dashavatara (Cave 15) was begun as a Buddhist monastery. It has an open court with a free-standing monolithic mandapa at the middle and a two-storeyed excavated temple at the rear. The layout of the temple is closely related to caves 11 and 12. Large sculptural panels between the wall columns on the upper floor illustrate a wide range of themes, which include the ten avatars of Vishnu. An inscription of grant of Dantidurga is found on the back wall of the front mandapa. According to Coomaraswamy, the finest relief of this cave is the one depicting the death of Hiranyakashipu, where Vishnu in man-lion (Narasimha) form, emerges from a pillar to lay a fatal hand upon the shoulder of Hiranyakashipu.
OTHER HINDU CAVES
CAVE 21
Other notable Hindu caves are the Rameshvara (Cave 21), which has figurines of river goddesses Ganga and Yamuna at the entrance and the Dhumar Lena (Cave 29) whose design is similar to the cave temple on Elephanta Island near Mumbai. Two other caves, the Ravan ki Khai (Cave 14) and the Nilkantha (Cave 22) also have several sculptures. The rest of the Hindu caves, which include the Kumbharvada (Cave 25) and the Gopilena (Cave 27) have no significant sculptures.
The five Jain caves at Ellora belong to the ninth and tenth centuries. They all belong to the Digambara sect. Jain caves reveal specific dimensions of Jain philosophy and tradition. They reflect a strict sense of asceticism – they are not relatively large as compared to others, but they present exceptionally detailed art works. The most remarkable Jain shrines are the Chhota Kailash (cave 30), the Indra Sabha (cave 32) and the Jagannath Sabha (cave 33). Cave 31 is an unfinished four-pillared hall and a shrine. Cave 34 is a small cave, which can be approached through an opening on the left side of Cave 33. Amongst other devotional carvings, a place called samvatsarana can be found in Elora caves. Samvatsarana is of special interest to Jains, as it is a hall where the tirthankara preaches after attaining omniscience.
THE INDRA SABHA
The Indra Sabha (Cave 32) is a two storeyed cave with one more monolithic shrine in its court. It has a very fine carving of the lotus flower on the ceiling. It got the appellation "Indra Sabha" probably it is significantly ornate and also because of the sculpture of the yaksha (dedicated attendant deity) Matanga on an elephant, which was wrongly identified as that of Indra. On the upper level of the double-storied shrine excavated at the rear of the court, an U image of Ambika, the yakshini of Neminath, is found seated on her lion under a mango tree, laden with fruits.
OTHER JAIN CAVES
All other Jain caves are also characterized by intricate detailing. Many of the structures had rich paintings in the ceilings - fragments of which are still visible.
GEOLOGY OF ELLORA
Ellora occupies a relatively flat region of the Western Ghats. Ancient volcanic activity in this area created many layered basalt formations, known as Deccan Traps. During the Cretaceous, one such volcanic hill formed on the southwest-facing side of Ellora. Its vertical face made access to many layers of rock formations easier, enabling architects to pick basalt with finer grains for more detailed sculpting.
INSCRIPTIONS AT ELLORA
Several inscriptions at Ellora range from 6th century to 15th century. The best known of them is an inscription of Rashtrakuta Dantidurga (c. 753-57 A.D.) on the back wall of the front mandapa of Cave 15, which gives an account of his conquests. Inscriptions on the Kailash temple itself range from 9th to 15th century. Jain cave Jagannatha Sabha has 3 inscriptions that give the names of monks and donors. A Parshvanth temple on the hill has a 11th-century inscription that gives the name of the donor from Vardhanapura.
The Great Kailasa (Cave 16) is attributed to Krishna I (c. 757-83 A.D.), the successor and uncle of Dantidurga. A copper plate grant by Karka II (c. 812-13 A.D.) narrates that a great edifice was built on a hill by Krishnaraja at Elapura (Ellora).
The Ellora caves, unlike Ajanta, were never lost. There have been several written records that indicate that these caves were visited regularly. The earliest is that of the Arab geographer Al-Mas‘udi of the 10th century A.D. In 1352 A.D. Sultan Hasan Gangu Bahmani, who camped at the site and visited the caves. The others are by Firishta, Thevenot (1633–67), Niccolao Manucci (1653-1708), Charles Warre Malet (1794), and Seely (1824)
WIKIPEDIA
so since I was tagged by like 7 people for this I figured I should probably actually do it xD
1:From all the dolls you own,who is your favorite and why.
without any doubt, Lena.
Lena is my oldest and most significant character.
I'd say that I definitely have days where I favor other dolls as far as who I want to play with, but Lena will always be my favorite.
2:Explain how you managed to get into BJD collecting.
one of my best friends went to an anime convention where junkyspot was vending, and she decided that she wanted one.
when she was waiting for her first doll and after she got him she was sending me tons of pictures and I thought they were really neat and that I'd like to have one but didn't really know what I wanted.
then I realized that I could sort of use them as a way to make my roleplay characters real, so I started to look for a doll that I thought could work for what I wanted and ended up ordering my dollzone aimi in december of '09.
3:Name the very first doll you ever bought.
Like I said above, that was my dollzone aimi.
at the time I had intended her to be Lena, but in the end she just really didn't quite ever fit for me; so I decided to reshell Lena as a minifee ryeon and developed a new character, Livi, for the aimi 'cause I love her to bits even if she didn't work out quite as I'd originally planned.
4:Which doll do you plan to buy next?
well it may sort of depend on a couple of things, but right now I'm planning to try and get my second minifee next.
I'm still not sure exactly what face sculpt I think will work best for the character though 'cause I was thinking karsh, but I'm super indecisive and probably won't actually settle on one until I can actually afford her xD
I'm also lusting hardcore for realpuki pupu, so if he were to become available when I have the money I'm not sure I'd be able to pass him up.
5:Are you currently waiting on any dolls?
nope.
I'm currently pretty broke after purchasing my new camera, so no new dollies for me right now xD
6:How many dolls do you currently have?
I currently have 2 minis, 1 pukifee, 1 pukipuki, 1 floating multihead, and sort of 2 floating yosd size heads that I don't actually have in my possession right now (but I wouldn't say that I'm waiting on them 'cause they weren't purchases)
7:Name the very last doll you bought.
Lena, my minifee ryeon.
and Nomi, my juri multihead came along with her as a free event gift.
8:What is the worst thing about this hobby?
drama.
but I think that's really an issue in any hobby.
9:What is the best thing about this hobby?
the friends that I've made for sure, some of my best friends are people who I've either met or grown closer to through the doll hobby.
also all of the offshoot hobbies that have come from bjd collecting.
I've always sewn, but not as seriously as I do now that I sew for dolls 'cause I guess I've kind of finally found the type of sewing I'm best at, and I've gotten much more into photography of both dolls and other things since I started collecting.
10:Which is your best dolly photo (of yours)
I really don't know.
it kind of changes all the time.
like, currently I'm quite fond of "forever yours.", the photo that I took of Lena and Erin together on saturday.
actually though, I'd be curious to see what you all think my best photo is?
11:Which is your favourite BJD company?
fairyland, as if that wasn't abundantly obvious xD
but I'm also quite fond of pipos and alchemic labo
12:Who are on your wish list?
like I said before, minifee girl of undetermined sculpt to be izzy. realpuki pupu. possibly souldoll lester to be michael, but I'm still holding out hope for more options in that size range. bodies for my floating heads. and I'd really love to have a lusis/minifee hybrid, but I don't know who she'd be so she's not on the priority list xD
13: Are there any dolls you wished you had never purchased?
nope.
I buy dolls because I want them, and even if that want doesn't last and I end up selling them I did still want them at one point so what is there to regret.
14: Who's your favourite face up artists?
well currently I have dolls painted by mendokusai and tsuminaki, so obviously I'm very fond of their work.
I also really love xhanthi's work and would love to have a doll painted by her at some point.
15:What is a must when considering a purchase/pose ability/faceup/age/etc?
pose ability is pretty important to me 'cause I have pretty high standards since both dollzone minis and all fairyland dolls are fantastic posers; but in the end, whether or not the sculpt is what will work best for the character is most important since most of the dolls I have plans for are pre-existing characters of mine that I already have clear pictures of in my head.
and I'm not actually tagging anyone, I'm just tagging the people who tagged me so they actually see my answers.
if you haven't already been tagged by someone to do this and you want to do it then have at it!
The colour went a bit mad on this one.(the mixture is actually the same as in X-Gum-5 & X-Gum-6 ) colour comes from the purple gel sheet on the front flash unit
Hope you enjoy
Comments and feedback always welcome
Technical Bit
Taken using a Camera Axe 4, Nikon D7000 fitted with a Sigma 150 macro lens,
The splash was made using water mixed with a little xanthan gum and a bit of pink acrylic paint dropped into a tray of water with a bit of light green acrylic paint and a little rinse aid.
The shot was lit by Two Yongnuo YN560 Speedlights , one placed at the rear behind frosted glass with some red and blue gel sheet to give a little colour, the second placed to the side with some purple gel sheet to give a little modeling light to the splash
The Whitcraft came through! It's a beauty... Usually, when it comes to the Reds I open, My Wife usually makes this look like she ate a real tannic/rancid grape. She'll say over and over "Kap Kap! Kapkap!!"... Bern, is she crazy??
Anyways, SHE even loved this one; It's not a fruit-bomb, but it had complex, aged characteristics. Wonderful stewed Plum, warm spice aromas...Reminded me of the time my Sister took me to Paris when I was 18, still going to CIA, and took me to Taillevent. She told me to just drink water because the menu(s) she got had no prices on them.. I, in the other hand got them prices, so we sounded like a couple of accountants at that 3michelin table; "How much is Foie Gras du Canard aux Sauternes?".. 'uhhhh, like, a gazzillllion Francs'.
I digress. The wine. Well, they had the Wine list printed on their poster-like menu. It was crazy! They really don't serve great wines by the glass at the time, so my options were; A) Drink water. B) Get half bottle under a 100francs. I convinced my sister that the water tastes funny, and that we should 'live a little', so I excitedly began the process of finding our Demi bottle... Yikes! Almost every selection are way up there; 200+ Francs. I was giving up hope, when out of nowwhere, like a superhero....... The Sommelier was at our side. He gave a glance at us for a split second, and knew these baby-faced Japanese tourists have neveer EVVVVVEER been to a fine dining establishment, let alone a 3 Michelin Parisienne Restaurant. This IS TAILLEVANT, dude!( He didn't say 'Dude', obviously)
Anyways, he points with his shiny Mont Blanc pen to his winelist and gently explains to the young Asian hillbilly-kids, 'Moisseur, eh we have some Nuit St. Georges for Demi boutilles, eh Perhaps a Chinon, ah Arbois..what are you planning to have for lunch?' The first one, the St.Georgia thingy sounded familiar and atleast I could pronounce the damn thing(?!), so we ended up ordering that.
The bottle said 1985 .. I honestly can't remember the rest.. The Sommelier opens the wine gracefully, examines the mold covered cork, smells it-squeeze it... Then he passed it to us. Then he takes the wine away...??? We were staring at the molding cork dumbfounded, like a couple of monkeys looking at a unplugged playstation, wondering when it will 'start'. In the corner of the room, I see our superhero pouring a few ounces into some silver ornament( Tastevin) that he's wearing like Flavaflav. WTF? He be drinkin' our Vino!? Moments later, the Supah Sommelier with the silver bling comes back to us, besides our table with a trolly, and a big Chemistry-set-flask thing, propped up on a 45degree angle, a slanted shiny funnel, candle underneath, tweezers and cloth. My sister looked at me like to say, "WHAT DID YOU ORDER, ASSHOLE?", I give the look back, " NO IDEA-DUDE, JUST GO WITH IT!"
The Sommelier begins to slowly pour our wine through the silver funnel, all the while having a candle underneath. The time it took for him to finish this bizarre ritual seemed like an eternity! My sister and I wondered if we should start singing or clapping or what, but before we knew it, the Wineguy says 'Haaa~ Voila!".. 'Pssst. I think he's done. he said', houlaah'.
He places in front of us the BIGGEST, Tall-as-the-Eiffel wine glasses in front of us, and poured me a shot first. I waited for him to pour my sister too, afterall, SHE'S PAYING!!~(Sucker). No. He is waiting for something. ?!..???..!?!?! Without sounding like a pompous prick, but like a father, gently telling his kids not to pull daddy's moustache- it hurts,..... "Moisseur, would uuur, care to taste dux wine?" Oh. Oh, then why don't ya say so? I nervously try swirling the wine in the fish aquarium-like wine glass, but not working. Screw it. Let me 'snifff',... Oh my god! "What's in HERE??", I almost shouted out of excitement. I never smelled anything so, great- Like Cherries, jam, plum, and bunch of other aromas that I could not register in my little brain. "Iz everyzsing, okeh? It's.. Badde???", the Sommelier had a look of disbelief. "It's just smells sooo good!" Drink up ya hillbilly!, When I did. The flavors that hit my tongue just made me smile.. Unbelivable! It was soooo good! That must have been the best thing I ever tasted in my life, and it's only the Wine! The Bread, let alone the Amuse Bouche hasn't even arrived yet. "You like??".. 'I~ LOVE!! OUI'.. My sister looks at me and shakes her head, 'You're retarded'. Thanx
Loooooooooong story short, this Pinot has the same characterists as that 85 Nuit St.Georges that my sister and I shared for lunch at Taillevent in 1995. Isn't it amazing how one bottle, one taste, could transcend you back into another time/dimention?
Memories~
Actually I wasn't stalking. I was there and this guy was there at the same time. He left his cell phone on top his truck and was calling freinds tryng to track it down. I don't know why he felt the need to be undressed.
Actually it turned into a heavy rain before I got home. I was almost finished, but decided it would have to do. The trees on this side of the street are all gone, the new brick sidewalk is done and the awnings on the front of the stores are back. A new brightly colored front adorns each building and new light poles are up. The owners of the block across the street have cajoled the city fathers and their trees will not be cut, but I wonder what all of the digging is going to do to the root systems. Will they live? I'll let you know.
This story actually happened. Claire is not, or ever was, the girl in this story’s name. Other than that, the events are accurately depicted as they occurred.
Claire, an only child, received this antique ring from her Grandmother on her sixteenth birthday. Just two months later her Grandmother passed away unexpectedly. From the Grandmother’s estate, her parents gave Claire a small end cabinet that her Great Uncle, a Free Mason carpenter, had made. It was here, on an old fringed Doily of her Grandmother’s, that Clair kept the antique ring when not being worn for Church or some other fancy dress occasion.
On the morning after her senior prom Clair awoke to find that the ring had vanished from the fringed doily. She definitely remembered taking it off and placing it with the expensive necklace, earrings, and bracelet set her mother had lent her to wear. Her mothers’ jewelry was still there, but not her Grandmother’s ring. The end cabinet was searched; Clair’s room was searched multiple times. The whole house was then searched, and a lost ad was even placed in the local paper. No word or trace of the ring could be found, nor its disappearance explained.
Six years later, after completing her masters at the university, Claire move out of her parents’ house and into an apartment on the other side of town. With her went the old end cabinet and the fringed doily where Clair took off and kept the jewelry she wore on a daily basis when she retired for the evening.
Four years had gone by in the new apartment when Clair received an invitation in the mail to her private girls high school ten year class reunion. It was to be held in conjunction with the same private boy’s school that her class had shared graduation with. The night before the Saturday reunion there was to be a fancy dress dance in reminiscence of her prom. On a lark Claire decided to wear the same satin gown she had worn ten years earlier. When the day before the evening dance came, she stopped at her parents to pull the gown out of mothballs. She even borrowed her Mothers jewels again to wear.
That evening Claire partied deep into the night, finally collapsing into a deep sleep on her bed without even undressing. Late the next morning she woke up, groggy and hung-over. She suddenly startled herself awake when she started to take off her jewelry and discovered it was missing. She looked over at the end cabinet and breathed a sigh of relief, their it was, all laid out, even though she had no memory of removing it. Suddenly a creeping chill ran up along her spine, freezing her on the spot. There, on the fringed doily, surrounded by her mothers’ jewels, was the antique ring belonging to her grandmother that had disappeared mysteriously ten years prior. Claire picked up the sparkling ring and examined it, her hands shaking so bad she nearly dropped it. It was her Grandmothers ring, no doubt of that. Even her mother recognized it as such, but could also offer no credible explanation for the rings reappearance!
Over twenty years have since passed. The ring, when not worn by Claire on special occasions, still spends its time on the aged fringed Doily. It has never shown any sign of going back to wherever it had disappeared to for ten years.
Day 94/365
This was actually a message sent to me by a friend earlier this week. And in addition to the fact that it just flat out made me grin from ear to ear, it gave me a moment of pause because my very first reaction was, "Yes, I am!" Which is a far cry from how I would have reacted 3 months ago. I am strong, I am incredible, and I am, in at least some sense... everything. And once I was done being excited that my own sense of self-worth has grown so far, I wondered what exactly had spurred her to send me such a random outpouring of love.
It took me a little bit to work out what spawned the message, outside of just her having a big heart, which she does, but I finally figured it out.
i post this project in several locations on the web, one of them being tumblr. If you're not familiar with it, it's essentially a sharing/blogging site that seems (in my experience) to be at least primarily populated by the youth of the world... young women (and men) who seem to range in age from 14 to 20 or so.
One of the hazards of being active in a community like that is that you come across a lot of sadness, a lot of despair-- and yes, a lot of young people (and not so young) are gripped by the belief that suicide is the only answer to their depression, that suicide is the only way out of their fear and pain and anxiety.
This last week alone, I saw several posts being re-published by friends of young people who were at the very edge of suicide. One of them really spoke to me, close to the heart. And although I usually stop at a silent prayer for the young person in question, to this particular post, I responded-- sending a message to the young woman in question, and in turn, posting my letter in my own blog.
There have been times in my life when I thought suicide was the answer. Times when I've been at the edge of that particular abyss and have been, by the grace of God, saved. Most notably, almost 11 years ago, when a dorm-mate walked into my locked dorm room and stopped me from taking a handful of pills that were laid out and ready on my desk.
If you are a close friend, or family member... the letter I wrote to this young woman may be hard to read. But I think it's important to post it here as well. Please know that it's been many years since I've felt the way I felt that day... and suicide is not something I would ever consider the "answer" to hardship. Although I was once there, I am not now, nor will I ever be again. Because I am stronger, happier, and safer than I have ever been in my life. And I know that I will never be in that space again.
That being said... what follows is the message that (i think) spawned the message of tonight's photo:
-------------------------------- -- -- -- -- -- ------------------------------------
If you are in the grips of depression, if you are on the edge of suicide and thinking things will never get better, that no one understands what it is to stare at that end-space that no one else seems to see… I DO. I do because I was there. I have been there. And I have come back. And even though I never believed it when anyone told me I could… I did. Because my life is worth more than the pills I would have once used to take it.
I don’t know you, and you don’t know me. But I know where you are. I have been where you are.
I have stared at a small pile of pills, white with red letters, against a fake wood background, next to a keyboard, and a computer, and a mouse and a notebook, and a cup of water.
I’ve watched them swim in a haze of tears that never quite fall.
I’ve felt them in my hand, played them through my fingers. I’ve watched and waited for the “courage” to pick them up, to put them to my lips. And as the moment came, my “locked” dorm room door sprang open to reveal a friend, arrived just in time to stop me.
And 10 years later, I am so glad to have been interrupted by a dorm-mate, to have been stopped, to have been helped. Because 10 years later, my life is nowhere near where it was in that moment. That moment where it seemed like the end was all that was left.
I want to walk in your door. I want to drop them down the sink, the drown them there with that glass of water. I want to take your hand so it is full of love and support and healing… instead of pills. I want to sit with you until those tears that won’t quite fall— do.
There is so much more than this moment and those pills. There is so much more than an ending.
And I know it doesn’t feel like it now. It took years for me to forgive her for interrupting me. But I thank her now daily in my prayers… thank the universe for the yielding door that I swear to this day that I locked behind me.
My life is not perfect, nor will yours be dear girl.
But it is worth more than a pile of pills and cup of water. I promise you. I swear to you. I know, because once upon a time, I didn’t think mine was either.
Please don’t.
-
Please don’t.
-
Please talk to me.
-
Talk to someone.
-
But know that you are worth more than a pile of pills and cup of water. Please… don’t let that be what you trade your marvelous, magical, wonderful being for.
There is so much more than this one moment. It’s not an even exchange. Even if it seems as though it’s been years since you’ve been happy— it’s not an even exchange.
You are loved.
-
I don’t even know you and I love you.
-
You are worth more than this one moment. And someday I hope you know that. Someday I hope you are still around to know that. To believe it.
Please. don’t.
------
But now, 11 years after my own battle with suicide, I’m heading to bed… feeling Incredible. Strong… and yes… happy too.
A fantasy mecha project, inspired by Patlabor & Gundam. The plan was to build a ‘realistic’ hexapod tank, even though with an SF touch.
The vehicle is not 100% supposed to match anime style – but the concept is pretty popular in Japanese animation, SF or special interest genres like Ma.K., so I think calling the “Ackwisch” (Hebrew for “Spider”) mecha is fine.
While the mobility of walking vehicles is arguably higher than that of wheeled or tracked vehicles, their inherent complexity has limited their use mainly to experimental vehicles. Examples of real manned walking vehicles include General Electric's Walking truck, the University of Duisburg-Essen's ALDURO and Timberjack, a subsidiary of John Deere, built a practical hexapod Walking Forest Machine (a harvester for rough/delicate terrain).
One can argue about the sense of a legged tank, though. It's slow, it has a high CG an silhouette, it's mechanically complex, it needs a lot of space in order to manoeuver, and you cannot deny the laws of physics: ground pressure is a SERIOUS issue, for any armored vehicle. A simple wet lawn can stop a tracked medium battle tank with a relatively large footprint – how’s a walking tank with only a fraction of area to distribute weight supposed to fare? A modern battle tank like the Merkava easily weights 60 tons and more. You might add for a legged specimen at least 10 more for the legs and their mechanics… so, is a walking tank “realistic”? Certainly not, but it’s cool…. And, since this is SF, it should at least look cool and somewhat menacing... ;)
This project had been waiting on the bench for a while and even saw a major creative interruption, and even then the whole building process took several weeks. Main ingredients are an 1:72 ESCI Merkava II tank kit, PVC doll joints from Kotobukiya for the legs (so they remain moveable, within limits),six resin legs from two ‘Junk Rock Tank’ recast kits in 1:35 scale (from a total of eight – you never know!), and two aftermarket gun barrels made from metal, since the tank received a double gun as a special feature. The commander’s cupola was donated from a 1:87 scale Roco Minitanks M60, otherwise a lot of details had been scratched or improvised – please check the WiP album for reference and single steps.
Construction was pretty straightforward, though, as well as painting, since I kept the tank in a uniform drab color (very similar if not identical to real life IDF tanks, RAL 7008 “Khakigrau”). Weathering was done with a thorough black ink wash and dry painting with various shades of brown, beige and grey, plus some of the artist pigments that were used on the base, too (see below).
The base was created with Styrofoam and plaster on an MDF board, the rock is actually aquarium decoration from a pet store, made from resin. The crater was sculpted into the basic surface.
The surface was decorated with fine sand, water-based paint and artist pigments, the vegetation consists of fine model railroad turf and grass fiber, brush fibers for large weed bushels, some dried real vegetation and a bit of dry moss.
As some space was left on the left side of the base, I eventually added a small vehicle there – my choice fell on a die-cast HMMWV from Dragon. Very fine car model, even though its place and position could have looked a bit more natural if I had integrated earlier into the planning process. But with both vehicles in place, the whole arrangement gains a bit of a meaning, as an observation scene. I still would not call it a diorama, though – it’s just a presentation base that might also be used in future model photographs.
Shooting the tank on its base was tricky, because of the relatively small dimensions of the base – on some of the pics I had to add virtual foreground in order to fill blank space, but otherwise only little “photoshopping” had to be done.
In 1943/44 my dad, who was enlisted in the Royal Canadian Navy, travelled with the Navy Show which was entitled, "Meet the Navy". Not sure he was actually in the cast, so I'll have to pull his file at Archives Canada in Ottawa. Since he was a Certified Public Accountant, he might have watched the books. The show went across Canada by train. I know that Dad was not with the production that went overseas in 1945.
Dad is second from the right in the above photo. Here's the story of the Navy Show:
From my Herbert Charles Barber Collection
www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/collections/7215760076...
"Meet the Navy" was a Royal Canadian Navy musical revue produced during World War II under the supervision of Capt Joseph P. Connolly, director of Special Services for the RCN. Rehearsals began in June 1943 at Hart House in Toronto. The production staff and company were recognized officially, though somewhat after the fact, by a Government of Canada Treasury Board order-in-council, 13 Aug 1943, as 'an Establishment to be known as "The Navy Show" for the... Entertainment of Naval, Army and Air Force personnel on Active Service; Promotion of recruiting; [and] Maintenance of public morale and goodwill'.
The show itself, called "Meet the Navy" and directed by Louis Silver (a Hollywood producer) and Larry Ceballos (a Broadway choreographer), was premiered for servicemen 2 September at Toronto's Victoria Theatre and opened to the public 4 September. It opened in Ottawa 15 September at the Capitol Theatre (Ottawa). During a year-long national tour, which covered some 10,000 miles by train, Meet the Navy entertained about a half-million Canadians. It travelled in 1944 to Britain, opening 23 October in Glasgow and touring England (11 cities in the provinces), Ireland, and Wales and playing at the Hippodrome in London (1 Feb-7 Apr 1945, including a command performance 28 February). Performances followed in Paris' Théâtre Marigny, the Brussels Music Hall, and Amsterdam's Carré Theatre. Meet the Navy closed 12 September in Oldenburg in occupied Germany. In 1945 the National Film Board produced the film Meet the Navy on Tour. Though plans for a Broadway run fell through, the show itself was filmed in November in Britain.
Meet the Navy included skits, dance routines, and several songs: 'In Your Little Chapeau,' 'Rockettes and the Wrens,' 'Brothers-in-Arms,' 'Meet the Navy,' and 'Beauty on Duty,' all by R.W. Harwood (words) and P.E. Quinn (music); 'The Boys in the Bellbottom Trousers' by Quinn; 'Shore Leave' by Noel Langley and Henry Sherman (words) and Quinn; and the showstopper (sung by John Pratt) 'You'll Get Used to It', with words by Pratt to music by Freddy Grant. Eric Wild (who conducted the pit orchestra) and Robert Russell Bennett arranged the music.
Leading roles were taken by Pratt, Robert Goodier, Cameron Grant, and Lionel Merton. Other featured performers included Dixie Dean, Ivan Romanoff (who conducted a balalaika orchestra and a chorus in 'Scena Russki'), Carl Tapscott (who did choral arrangements), the bass Oscar Natzke, and the dance team Alan and Blanche Lund. Members of the 25-piece orchestra included the violinists Victor Feldbrill, Bill Richards, and Joseph Sera, the trombonist Ted Elfstrom, and the saxophonist-clarinetist Howard 'Cokie' Campbell.
After the London debut of Meet the Navy, Beverley Baxter wrote in the London Evening Standard: 'Why is this piece so exhilarating, so completely satisfying and, since the first class always touches the emotions, why was it so stirring? Perhaps the answer is that quite outside the professional slickness and the terrific pace of the whole thing, we were seeing the story of Canada unconsciously unfolding itself to our eyes'.
In 1980, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Canadian navy, the Nova Scotia government revived Meet the Navy with several members of the original cast.
Phillips, Ruth. 'The history of the Royal Canadian Navy's World War II show Meet the Navy,' unpublished manuscript (1973)
Southworth, Jean. 'Actor revives his wartime role,' Ottawa Journal, 19 Aug 1980
From: The Encyclopaedia of Music in Canada
Posted By Norman Reedus (Daryl Dixon) - I actually said "If not THE BEST EPISODE we've ever shot ". Not it's not the best. That's a BIG misprint. JUST WAIT! t.co/pEprubnTNF #DarylDixon #TWD #NormanReedus #TheWalkingDead March 27, 2016 at 10:56PM
Source: walkingdead.affiliatebrowser.com/i-actually-said-if-not-t...
Actually these rides have always made me sick.
This was taken with my Olympus mju ii, (aka Olympus stylus epic) a fabulous little point and shoot 35mm camera, on film that expired in 2003 and wilfully decided to behave as if it was brand new.
Map it: Google Earth | Street | Satellite | Hybrid | Nautical
I do not actually know the name of this palace, as it was closed by the time we got there, but this is just the gate to get in so you can imagine what the palace must look like! I will go back and get in just didnt happen this time..
We spent the entire day in Seoul (Capitol of Korea) pretty much just finding things to do with no plan!
It was awesome and we found so many sweet places.. I wish you could have been there Ashley! :(
See the rest of the shots from our day here
"Designing Mobile Games That Actually Get Kids Mobile
Nis Bojin, Ph.D. | Senior Product Designer, Zeros 2 Heroes Media
Location: Room 2001, West Hall
Date: Monday, March 2
Time: 11:15am - 11:40am"
Shankra festival
Lostallo Switserland
Video youtu.be/sGJAhJp605k
Downloads on Flickr are free for fiends & followers but do tell the people where you got the picture.
Please do support your local photographer by ordering a print of your festival photo: www.oypo.nl/3C35A66911E5A887
We made our annual trip to London in November. We travel down by coach from Slaithwaite and stay at The Cumberland Hotel at Marble Arch. It’s actually a weekend ladies shopping trip that is run as a fundraiser for Slaithwaite Brass Band – I’m the only bloke that goes every year! We decided ( the two of us) to stay down in London until Thursday this time as we wanted to see weekday London and be able to explore a bit further afield on foot. We covered up to 16 miles a day, which is tough going on crowded pavements with hundreds of busy roads to cross. I photographed anything that looked interesting but I bent a contact in the CF card slot, fortunately I had quite a few SD cards with me and the 5D has dual slots so I was able to carry on using it. It’s currently at Lehmann’s getting fixed.
With it being close to Christmas the decorations are up everywhere so there was plenty of colour at night. In Hyde Park the Winter Wonderland was in full swing, we’ve never bothered going to it before but I went twice at night this time. It is massive this year, I couldn’t get over how big it is and the quality of some of the attractions. The cost and effort involved must be phenomenal – it was quite expensive though. It was very difficult to photograph, with extremes of light (LED’s) and darkness and fast moving rides into the bargain. I think I have some decent usable stuff but at the time of writing I am only part way through the editing process so I don’t know for sure.
We set off at around 8.15 am every day and stayed out for at least 12 hours. The weather was poor for a day and a half with drizzle and very dull grey conditions, fortunately we had some pleasant weather (and light) along the way as well. Being based at the end of Oxford Street – Europe’s busiest shopping street – meant that I did quite a bit of night shooting on there. Although I carried a tripod everywhere I only used it once and that was during the day! Because there is always a moving element in almost every shot it seemed pointless using a tripod. I would have got some shots free of movement – or I could have gone for ultra-long exposures to eliminate people and traffic but it would have been problematic I felt. In the end I wound the ISO up and hand held – fingers crossed.
We walked out to Camden Market and Locks but it had been raining and we were a bit early as many were only just setting up for the day. We tried to follow routes that we hadn’t used before and visit new places. We paid a fortune to get in St Pauls but you can’t use cameras. This something that I fail to see the point of, ban flash if you want but if you are going to encourage tourism why ban cameras when there is nothing in particular happening in there. It’s a rule that seems to be applied arbitrarily in cities around the world. Fortunately we could take photos from the outside of the dome, which was real reason for visiting, and we had some great light. Expensive compared with a couple of euros in some famous cathedrals. I’ve wanted to walk to Canary Wharf for a number of years and this year we did. We crisscrossed the Thames a few times and tried to follow the Thames path at other times. We covered around ten miles but it was an interesting day. It was also very quiet for the last four or five miles. We got there about 12.00 and managed to get a sandwich in a café in the shopping centre at the foot of the high rise office blocks before tens of thousands of office workers descended from above. It was mayhem, packed, with snaking queues for anywhere that sold food. We crossed to the other side of The Isle of Dogs and looked across to the O2 Arena and the cable car, unfortunately there isn’t a way across for pedestrians and it was around 3.00 pm. With darkness falling at around 4.30 we decide it was too late to bother. We made our way back to the Thames Clipper pier to check the sailing times. They sail every twenty minutes so we had a couple of glasses of wine and a rest before catching the Clipper. Sailing on the Thames was a first in 15 trips to London. The Clipper is fast and smooth, the lights had come on in the city and there was a fantastic moon rise. It was nigh on impossible to get good shots at the speed we were traveling though and there were times that I wished I could be suspended motionless above the boat. Again, hopefully I will have some usable shots.
We felt that the shopping streets were a little quieter, following the Paris massacre it was to be expected, I might be wrong as we were out and about at later times than previous trips. I think I have heard that footfall is down though. It was good to get into some of the quieter backstreets and conversely to be stuck in the city business district – The Square Mile- at home time. A mass exodus of people running and speed walking to bus stops and the rail and tube stations. It was difficult to move against or across the flow of bodies rushing home.
Whilst the Northern(manufacturing) economy is collapsing, London is a giant development site, it must be the tower crane capital of Europe at the moment. It was difficult to take a shot of any landmark free of cranes, it was easier to make the cranes a feature of the photo. It’s easy to see where the wealth is concentrated – not that there was ever any doubt about it. The morons with too much money are still driving their Lambo’s and Ferraris etc. like clowns in streets that are packed with cars , cyclists and pedestrians, accelerating viciously and noisily for 50 yards. They are just sad attention seekers. From Battersea to Canary Wharf we walked the Thames Embankment, the difference between high and low tide on the river is massive, but the water was the colour of mud – brown! Not very attractive in colour. We caught a Virgin Train from Kings Cross for £14.00 each – a bargain!. We had quite a bit of time to kill around midday at Kings Cross so I checked with security that I was OK to wander around taking photos, without fear of getting jumped by armed security, and set off to photograph the station and St Pancras International Station across the road. I haven’t even looked at the results as I type this but I’ll find out if they are any good shortly. Talking of security, following Paris, there was certainly plenty of private security at most attractions, I don’t know if it was terrorism related though, I can’t say I noticed an increased police presence on the streets. It took us three hours and five minutes from Kings Cross to being back home, not bad for a journey of 200 miles. I can’t imagine that spending countless billions on HS2 or HS3 is going to make a meaningful (cost effective) difference to our journey. Improving what we have, a little faster, would be good. There are some bumpy bits along the route for a mainline and Wakefield to Huddersfield is the equivalent of a cart track – and takes over 30 minutes – it’s only a stone’s throw. Time to get back to editing.
actually, the Big Smiley Face is at Storyland, an amusement park in New Hampshire. surprisingly, given the rather high mortality rate of amusement parks, it is still a going concern apparently. in color, glitzed-up for the modern world, it doesn't look half as inviting as it does in these old photos. i suppose the kids still have fun. the rides are faster, with added CGI wizardry. sad, to this old fogey.
Well yes, actually. In a gap between paddle boarders (there’s rather a lot of them), 1369 heads to Totnes past Dartington.
a big ugly dumpster is not the first thing you want to see when you open your front door, but since they're rehabbing the building across the street I guess we'll have to live with it.
Saturday at WonderCon is chaotic and fun. The event is crowded, many Cosplayers and visitors roaming the Convention Center grounds. Great selection of Cosplayers to shoot with - actually too many since there were a bunch of people I didn't see or have time to work with. This is still my favorite ComicCon to attend - wow!
Better Versions of what I already had up. Several people asked for them. :)
Shown here are two versions of the Jewelry box with the open pink (coral) one having a chibi Sailor Moon on the top as the featured character (which can be seen through the open lid.
Inside are the enamel rings and pins which is something I finally figured out what to do after having put them all on my fingers. Up till then I'd been finding it impossible to get a picture of the rings since being round they didn't want to stay where I put them. This worked well as it shows just how roomy a small box can be.
There is a Jupiter ring that seems to want to be on her own... Mercury went looking for her elsewhere in my stream.
Also shown here in the bottom of the open box is a lapel pin of Rini, (Chibi Usa) and in the top left is a Sailor Mercury candy premium from Morinaga Caramels.
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All these (and more) need new homes as I'm going to a different country for an extended stay soon so send me a Flickr Mail message (access through the arrow that appears near my profile photo when mousing over it) if interested.
Actually there were a group of five running around chattering to themselves - never stopping !! Seen near Malibu Lagoon, Malibu CA.
Actually, many, many more times blessed. But I do, in particular, feel incredibly blessed to live in a home graced by these two beauties.
I've written accolades about sweet Vidalia's amazing personality already. She is simply amazing at welcoming and socializing the rescues that come and go from our home, but today as I watched Vidalia, Curio, and Pandora enjoy a group bath in the sun, I knew I hadn't said enough positives about the remarkable Curio. Curio also welcomes others, and he will happily bathe anyone presenting a body part in front of his face. Sure, he is a bit of Stinker the way he likes to entertain himself at the expense of the older ladies, but Curio really isn't interested in heirarchy. He's more of a 60's cat, fun-loving and carefree. And Curio will happily cuddle with anyone.
Our multiple-critter home runs beautifully, in part, due to these two beauties.
We are so very blessed.
[SOOC, f/2.8, ISO 100, shutter speed 1/250, -2/3 EV]