View allAll Photos Tagged Overprotected
-[CHSkins]- Lilith Skin Evo X
-Have Unequal@XXX Event- Faiza Body
-Carol G@TRES CHIC- Snake Underbood Tattoo
-AURUS@ENERGY Event- Beloslava Ballerina Bento Nails
♠ More details in my Blog in information ♠
♬ Music ♬- www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4CEQEij7us
Blue lines.........they must be very special, as they are overprotected ....;-) Nobody can enter!
Happy Fence Friday and a good start of your weekend!
Eyes: Kamado eyes by 💀PolarBunny💀 at Otac-Con Event NEW*
Face mark and Halo: Asteria face mark + halo. LeL Evox by 💀PolarBunny💀 at Anthem Event *NEW*
Lip Tattoo: Barbarian - Face Paint set by Suicide Gurls at Pandora Fair *May 19th*
Body Tattoo: Barbarian - Body Paint Set by Suicide Gurls at Pandora Fair *May 19th*
Gloves: Grave by Avectoi
Outfit: Bound by Avectoi
Face Tattoo: Scar of Cirilla by sacrilege *Get this item at the WLRP event!* www.flickr.com/photos/bentm/
Collar: Servus Collar (black) by sacrilege *Get this item at the WLRP event!* www.flickr.com/photos/bentm/
Access: Kirin Horn (silver leaf) by Air) *Get this item at the WLRP event!* www.flickr.com/photos/30709483@N04/
LM to WLRP event: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Riverhunt/99/71/1502
Hair: Ya-Resh by .Shi www.flickr.com/photos/joylaperriere
Eyeshadow: Overprotected (BOM applied/ For Evo x) by Tutti Belli www.flickr.com/photos/190152778@N05/
Lashes: Lashes #2 (for evo & evo x) by TentatioN www.flickr.com/photos/145866717@N03/
pixelswaggersl.blogspot.com/2023/09/its-trap-tap-house.html
The Forty Thieves Presents
50th anniversary of Hip Hop
Sept 17 12pm-10pm SLT
The Trap House
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Templemore%20City/240/212/29
Picture Location: The Trap House
Body:
🔶🔹 Head: LeLutka
🔷🔸 Body: Reborn w/ Juicy Rolls and Juicy Boobs
🔶🔹 Skin: Avarosa
🔷🔸 Hair: Rama Salon Sabina
Outfit:
🔶🔹 Top: Adorsy Milly Top
🔷🔸 Skirt: Aprelle Britney's Overprotected Skirt
🔶🔹 Shoes: Reign Molly Chained Sandals
Accessories:
🔶🔹 Necklace: Kibitz Joelyn's Choker
🔷🔸 Earings: E.Marie Isabela Earings
🔶🔹 Braclette: Miss Chelsea Elle Shag Bands
🔷🔸 Vape: Stoic THC Vape Pen
🔶🔹 Belly Chain: Caboodle Y2K Belly Chains
🔷🔸 Piercings LittleFish and Cynful
Ya no se me ocurre nada para editar! me caga! creo que no voy a subir en algunos dias. Asi que aqui les dejo este blend continuando la colección de blend-videos de Britney, para Luis!
Video dirigido por Dave Meyers. Estreno: 1 de Julio de 2002.
Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpEjAgWE4n4
- I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman ●para 【★♪LuιSpεaяs♪★】
- Overprotected (darkchild remix) ●para DaniSpears
- i love rock 'n' roll●para βεεπσ ◕‿◕
- boys (co-ed remix) ●para 【★♪LuιSpεaяs♪★】
- me against the music ●para -Material boy-
- toxic 1.3 ●para gs.fanny.nd
- toxic 2.3 ●para ϟPop!Danϟ
- toxic 3.3 ●para Gahbryel Kayor
- everytime ●para R|X - Mr. Junki3XL
- outrageous ●para •: Eв luis albertho :•
- my prerogative ●para edy.heberto.220
- do somethin' ●para (evilClownMons†er (·♥·))
- someday (i will undarstand) ●para rafaelgimp
- gimme more ●para caliizthoo
- piece of me ●para mysticboii
- break the ice ●para ѕтяαиgєя ѕσℓ∂ιєя
- womanizer ●para ִ●ßяitney·s hOtline●ִ
- circus ●para J-Feria●
- if u seek amy ●para ©BRITNEY SPEARS(TITO)
- radar ●para Unusual♥Design
- 3 ●para Edo Peltier [0k4mi]
A fave #Britney look & song, which is fitting after her incredibly brave testimony. Give Britney her freedom!! She deserves to live her life how she wants to!! #BritneySpears #FreeBritney #Overprotected #OverprotectedRemix 💗
A weird kind of Cactus in Capel, North of Chile, IV Region.
I think is Trichocereus pachanoi f. crestado.
Please correct me if I'm wrong =)
Acte 6 Retribution
Sub titled : Just Desserts
Still back in time before the Police Constables disconcerting discovery, we rejoin the small party in the alleyway. Sir Edmund had just fallen faint on the pile of alleyway rubbish where he ended up after his rather unfortunate misadventure with the Gypsy youth called Josey, who hiself his sneaking back up in the shadows. . Lord Edmund’s wife, The Mistress , unawares of her Husband’s fate, is still being led by Josey’s older companion deeper into the shadows of the very same Alley.
The now impatient Mistress found herself being led about 25 feet further down the darkened alleyway from where they had left Josey and her husband, the Lord Edmund. Suddenly the tall bearded Gypsy youth stopped, turned, and led her down into deserted court yard, surrounded by backsides of tall, empty looking brick buildings. The place reeked of old garbage , stale beer, and worse smells best left undescribed. The scurrying feet of tiny rodents could be heard , but not seen, in the dim light.
Well, where’s the girl!, the Mistress demands, looking around at the barren courtyard, failing to see anyone else around.
Well mum you see, that’s the bit of a trick I was tellin you bouts, and from his waistband they Gypsy lad draws a long knife, its blade gleaming wickedly as it is caught by the Moon lite just now peeping through the parting dark clouds.
Put that thing down young man, and get me the girl, The Mistress shrilly commands him, unfazed by the blade, not truly understanding what is taking place( the curse of a privileged, overprotected childhood).
Silence, the young gypsy bellows, spitting the words in her face, then leaning in whispers evilly into her ear, his lips moving her shiny dangling earring…lets have that purse now mum. Finally The Mistress realizes the Gypsy lads intent.
Now, never in her life has anything like that ever been dared tried on her, and an even newer, at first unrecognizable feeling is felt, as dread washes over her, making her cower before the youth, no older than her husband’s stable boy, Tim, who had felt her strap earlier that morning. A surrendering moan escapes her lips, no she states, never!. Unheeding her commands, The purse she is holding is callously wrenched from her slippery gloved fingers grasp. She just stares at him, unable to find her tongue as he opens the small purse with its rhinestone clasp, and looks through it, lifting up a ring of keys with rising interest.
At this time the gypsy girl appears out of the shadows behind The Mistress, wearing the sparkling diamonded bracelet, and nonchalantly swinging the gold watch by its chain as she holds its gold fob, coming around she is smiling mischievously at the Mistress, who straightens up as she catches sight of the imp.
The Mistress, loses any vestige of her panic, and in anger and rounds upon the girl as she stands mockingly in front of her. Why you thieving harlot, The Mistress hisses, attempting to smack the girl, who jumps just out of reach. Suddenly The Mistress words are cut off with a meek squeak as the point of the lad’s very sharp knife is pressed under her chin, forcing The Mistress to raise her head, effectively shutting her up. Apologize The Gypsy male snarls wickedly in The Mistress ear, apologies now, tell her you are quite sorry Mum…!
The Mistress stands frozen, a stern look upon her puckish face, her lips pursed in defiance, even with the knife pressing threateningly under her chin. Teach you some manners I will he hisses again, as he raises his hand, slapping her on the cheek, the Mistress’s dangling earrings fire bright glittering salvo as her head is whipped to the side, the point of the knife opening a thin scratch along her chin, which quickly wells up with crimson blood.
She turns her face forward, facing the pair of young hooligans, glaring at their insolence to someone of her high stature. She is stubbornly holding her ground, all feelings of distress replaced by arrogance and superiority. Well now, the Gypsy Lad says to the Smirking Gypsy girl, as he points the knife in between The Mistress’s breasts, its prickling point effectively quelling any more feelings of retribution. Looks like what words she won’t give to you, will have to be given in some other manner. The Mistress listens, confused by his words, then what he says next, makes his attentions all too crystal clear.
For lack of an apology my girl, he says to the petit gypsy lass, let’s say we accept some other compensation, shall we? The young girl beams, as her eyes dart to the Mistress, looking her up and down , eyeing the gemmed jewelry the Mistress is wearing, sparkles of which are reflected in her coy doe wide dark green eyes.
The mistress still mute with rage, her hands clenched, her arms rigid at her side as she looks into the Gypsy male’s stern eyes, as he moves his knife up, once again pressing up into her chin. Suddenly, her arms are grabbed by a pair of strong hands and pulled behind her back. Ello, took your sweet time about it, the Gypsy youth holding the knife says to the unseen newcomer. No names are said, and whoever is now holding her remains mute, but the Mistress assumed it was the one called Josey. The Mistress tries turning her head, put is prevented by the knife. Where’s my Edmund, she manages to squeak out the words, but receives no satisfaction.
The Gypsy lad holding the knife reaches out his free hand, grinning! Leave me alone, the Mistress orders him, trying admonish him into obedience, bur the gypsy boy just smirks as he methodically , briskly gropes along her body, admiring and inventorying her plentiful jewels, opening her sable, and the satin Bolero, as he checks her over for anything hidden from view. He misses nothing, even her hair is carefully raked through, undoing the braided bun in the process as a diamonded clip is pulled off and handed to the gypsy lass. Her ladyship, shirking back from his touch, now begins to whimper, no, not my jewels! He reaches up, his eyes bugging, as his hand snakes up between her ample breasts and lifts her necklace, admiring it as she tries to shake her head no, but is unable to do so because of the knife. She tries to say more, but the words of discipline stay dry in her throat, choking her as she realizes, finally, the futility of her predicament. The Gypsy boy then nods to the girl, handing her the purse, the honor is yours he says….
The young girl taking the open silver clutch purse, smirking, her eyes ablaze with delight, reaches up her free hand and takes hold of the necklace, pretty thing this, she says sweetly, mimicking her earlier words. She pulls the necklace from around the Mistress throat so the clasp comes forward, then nimbly she flicks it open with the fingers of one hand, and pulls it , swishing freely along the satiny fabric, until it falls from the gowns’ neckline. Thank you mum, the Gypsy girl whispers as she places it inside the purse, and reaching up touches a dangling earring, I’ll have those next she says, almost like she is talking her herself, and yanks off both, one after the other. She than gets into her work, and soon the Gypsy girl’s invading fingers friskily finish stripping the Mistress quite clean of all her shimmering, expensively large collection of jewels; rings, bracelet, brooches, the entire glittery roster. It had all been carried out like some bizarre rendition of reverse trick and treating, with the Gypsy girl peeling away and placing the jewels into The Mistress purse. When she finishes, the Gypsy girl steps back, looking with interest inside the now bulging purse, now containing a small fortune, quite unseen for the likes of them who inhabit this rea of the great city.
Suddenly The Mistress’s hands are let go, and before she can properly react, male hands briskly grab and slips off the sable from her back. Then the satin bolero is also peeled off and she sees both passed to the waiting hand of the gypsy girl. Still held in her place by the point of the Gypsy’s knife,The Mistress’s eyes grow big with dread, as she feels the back of her long slick gown being unzipped, and allowed to fall freely down to her feet, piling up in a shimmering pool.
This exposes the long, luxurious purple slip she is wearing, complete with small rhinestones decorating its straps and bodice. As the Mistress is standing there, frozen in awe struck disbelief , the knife is taken from her chin, and used to slice each of the rhinestone slips straps, and the mistress grabs the top of the now free hanging slip, and holds if fast to her chest in an effort to preserve whatever remained of her quickly waning dignity.
The Mistress tries to find words of protest, but she is too unbelieving that she , a lady who considers herself to be far superior to common folk of their ilk, is absolutely dumbfounded that they are daring to treat her like this, fails to be able to give any words their proper voice.
The older gypsy lad holding the knife steps back. Now he says, shouldn’t leave a lady standing, and he points his knife to a stack of crates. She stands there glaring. Move it on now mum, he suggests , his voice carries with it a with mocking tone of fake obedience. The Mistress unwillingly does so, and moving to a crate, sits down, the smell of something rotten permeates her nostrils as she faces her aggressor. The other two have seemingly, cowardly, disappeared somewhere into the shadows she notices with thoughts of righteousness.
The Gypsy lad mocks her, there, cannt say we didint leave you nufing, eh mum.( indicating her slip, gloves and high heels)! And by the ways, apology accepted he added sarcastically, mimicking a curt bow.
Then almost immediately her eyes are blindfolded from behind ( they hadn’t run after all) with something made of cloth that reeks of decaying meat, and she hears the pratfalls of several pairs of feet running off. And then, all is silent, except for the beating of The Mistress heart from a mixture of rage and incredulity.
As all is once again quiet around her, and believing she is now alone, The Mistress continues holding up her slip with one hand, while with the other reaches in back, groping for the blindfold. Suddenly her whole being jolts as something furry with sharp claws runs over her feet, and a noise, not quite a scream, but close, gurgles from The Mistress’s dry throat.
Ere now, the mistress hears the voice of an old lady, , whose there? , no rat by the sound of things, she continues on, approaching. What have we here, the old lady says to herself, a damsel in distress by the look of things, whit no dress, and she cackles at her bit of humor. Her dearie, lets get you up and The Mistress feels a pair of cold hands helping her shakenly to her feet.
Then her ladyship feels those hands, not giving her aid, but quite the opposite, as cold fingers began going over her. Then, with a dry cackle, and the old hags words reach the Mistress ears, left you with nothing dearie but a shiny slip, too bad, but old Chizzy will check anyways. The Mistress balks as the pair of cold hands grope her figure, the second time that evening! The Mistress recoils, knowing the old hag is looking for anything of value, when quite unexpectedly the Hags hands shoot up into the Mistress underarms, and The Mistress raises her arms automatically as nerves are pressed, and the slip falls down her figure gathering into a slithering heap at her feet. The Mistress tries to protest, her hands going to her blindfold, but she is pushed, and falls over the crate into a pile of cold ashes. Each of Her hands are lifted and she feels her long satin opera gloves pulled off, and then her high heeled shoes are yanked from her feet before she can begin to offer any type of resistance..
Thenk you dearie! the Hags voice close enough now that the Mistress can smell the wispy oders of whiskey and old pipe, as it reaches her nostrils. Old Chizzy thenks ye, for your contributions this evening, Honey. The Mistress hears the old hags cackling laugh as ‘Chizzy” makes her get away with the last of the Mistress’s pretty possessions.
For a few minutes all is again silent, The Mistress lays upon the pile of asses, dazed by what has befallen her, but then, the cesspool like orders from the garbage surrounding the ash pile start to overwhelm her making the Mistress snap back into the cold reality of her situation.
It was then, that , for the second time, the sound of shuffling feet is again heard approaching, and the Mistress tenses up, now expecting more ill fortune, not that she really had anything left of value to lose.. But then a familiar voice, Edmund’s, calls out. Dear, where are you? The Mistress tries to answer, but, her voice dry and choked has trouble making words. Finally she does manage to call out to her husband, but her voice is noticeably missing its’ usual sharpness.
Edmund comes to her aid and helps her up. After he undoes the blindfold, she finds herself looking into his questioning eyes, and she actually hugs him. Edmund, startled at the long forgotten display of affection, finds that it takes him a few seconds to regain himself. Hear, cants having you catch your death of cold, he says, almost lovingly. He helps The Mistress find coverings from the piles of old trash in the form of a couple of rough sacks of old, mildewing burlap.
Hair disheveled, streaks of dirt and ash covering their figures that are covered with dirty, rancid rags they make their way down the alley, to where they believe their car and chauffer are still waiting. Edmund and the Mistress are both a smelly, reeking mess, moving slowly as their bare feet hobble tortuously along the cobblestone path. But as they make their way, The Mistress tells Edmund what had conspired. As she does, The Mistress feels more of her old self returning, and begins to chastise the three gypsy youths, and how she will make them pay for their rude indiscretions’. Edmund is in total agreement.
As they make it back to the alleys’ entrance, a figure appears out of the mist. The Mistress squeals in startled shock at the dark figure standing at the end of the alleyway, she grabs Edmund and pulls him in front of her as one would a shield.
----
As the dark figure peers into the alleyways entrance, he suddenly see’s two shadowy forms emerge from the misty pool of light given off from the relit street lamp. The pair is both tottering like being quite intoxicated, smelling like something a rat would have dragged out of the garbage, faces streaked with ashes and muck, barely half dressed. Suddenly, spying him, one of the figures makes a quick move, placing the other in front.
At that moment the figure raises his hand and suddenly the night’s silence is completely shattered by the shrill wails of his street constable’s police whistle.
End of Acte 6,
Watch for the final two actes of this woeful saga;
Acte 7 (Harbinger) and Acte 8 (Footfalls - including the obligatory Epilogue), coming soon….
*************************************************************************************
*************************************************************************************
Say hello to the girl that I am!
You're gonna have to see through my perspective
I tell 'em what I like
What I won't
What I don't
But every time I do I stand corrected
Things that I've known
I can't believe what I hear about the world, I realize
I'm Overprotected
Suerte que es gratis soñar Y que es algo que el dinero y la sociedad nunca me
podrán quitar ayer soñé volar entre las nubes una tenia forma de micrófono así que me detuve e intente cogerlo pero cual fue mi decepción aquella nube se esfumó en mis manos, hermanos entonces me di cuenta no distinguía lo real de lo que no mi cuerpo de repente en picada cayó y créanme, solo me falto un segundo pa acordarme desde el día en que vine a este mundo hasta hoy de todo lo que fui de lo que soy una esclava mas de todo esto que no se como lamar: vida? mejor me olvido y me concentro en la caída sorpresa, el sueño incluye paracaídas ...♪
antigusimo el tema pero me gusta -.-
BRITNEEEEY *-* ela ahaza, q
Ame essa blend, tipo, eu achava que não ia conseguir mais blendar, ai fui tentando e saiu isso que eu amei \õ/
Sempre quis editar as ftos da turnê do cd Circus, que é simplismente perfeita!
Apesar dessa música ser velha, eu amo muito KKKKK
epero que gostem e comentem :D
Mural title: OVERPROTECTED (Mother and Child)
Details about the artist ARYZ: muralharbor.at/de/about_aryz
Artist Video-Clip about this mural: streetartunitedstates.com/tag/linz/
Artist Homepage: aryz.es
Linz Mural Harbor Gallery: muralharbor.at/de/projects/
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 234A.
Mexican-American actor Ramon Novarro (1899-1968) was a popular Latin Lover of the 1920s and early 1930s. He was the star of silent Hollywood's biggest epic, Ben-Hur (Fred Niblo, 1925).
Ramon Novarro was born as Jose Ramón Gil Samaniego in 1899 in Durango, Mexico. His parents were Leonor (Gavilan) and Dr. Mariano N. Samaniego Siqueiros, a prosperous dentist. Ramon and his family moved to Los Angeles in 1913 as refugees from the Mexican Revolution. He was a second cousin of the Mexican film star Dolores del Rio. The family's wealth had been left behind, and young Novarro took on several odd jobs, ranging from ballet dancer to piano teacher and singing waiter. In 1917, he became a film extra. Ramon worked as an extra until director Rex Ingram cast him as the lovable scoundrel Rupert of Hentzau in The Prisoner of Zenda (1922) with Lewis Stone and Alice Terry. Ramon scored an immediate hit. He was billed as Ramon Samaniegos, and Terry suggested that he change his name to Novarro. And so he did. Ramon Novarro worked with Ingram in his next four films. Ingram again teamed him with Terry and Stone in the successful costume adventure Scaramouche (Rex Ingram, 1923). Novarro played a law student who becomes an outlaw French revolutionary when he decides to avenge the unjust killing of his friend. Ron Oliver at IMDb: "Novarro, taking the hero role this time, proved he was no flash in the pan. Equally adept as a sensitive lover or duelling revolutionary, with this performance, Novarro was catapulted to Hollywood's upper ranks." Novarro's rising popularity among female moviegoers resulted in his being billed as the 'New Valentino' and 'The Latin Lover'. In 1925, he appeared in his most famous role, as Judah Ben-Hur in Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (Fred Niblo, 1925). At IMDb, John Nicolaus reviews: "I found Roman Navarro far more likeable in the title role than Charlton Heston. Like with most silent films, Navarro is a bit over the top, but he's still portrayed as an honest and kind, yet proud figure. He also has a very kind face, which helps the audience 'fall' for this guy." With Valentino's death in 1926, Novarro became the screen's leading Latin actor. He co-starred with Norma Shearer in The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (Ernst Lubitsch, 1927). Lubitsch made an enjoyable Viennese fairy tale in which Novarro played a cloistered, overprotected Austrian prince who falls in love with a down-to-earth barmaid (Shearer). Ron Oliver at IMDb: "This wonderful, exuberant, heartbreaking film - one of the last major movies of the Silent Era - is a scintillating example of the artistry of director Ernst Lubitsch. Filled with wry humour & aching pathos, Lubitsch tells a tale which is a persuasive paean to the power of the talkless film. Ramon Novarro, always eager to please his audience, brings great charm to the title role. Although about 10 years too old to be playing a typical university freshman, he nonetheless brings tremendous enthusiasm to the role."
At the peak of his success in the late 1920s and early 1930s, Ramon Novarro was earning more than US$100,000 per film. His first talking picture was Call of the Flesh (Charles Brabin, 1930), where he sang and danced the tango. He continued to appear in musicals, but his popularity was slipping. MGM insisted on giving their Mexican star a wide range of ethnic parts, everything from a carefree South Seas native in The Pagan (W.S. Van Dyke, 1929) to a wealthy Indian jewel merchant in Son of India (Jacques Feyder, 1931). He was not given many top-notch assignments, but he did star with Greta Garbo in the Mata Hari (George Fitzmaurice, 1931), a semi-fictionalised account of the life of the exotic dancer who was accused of spying for Germany during World War I. She falls in love for the first and only time in her life when she meets dazzlingly handsome Lieutenant Ramon Novarro. Ron Oliver at IMDb: "Ramon Novarro, who receives co-equal billing with Garbo, had been an important movie celebrity far longer than she, but her rising sun tended to obscure most other stars in her orbit, and Novarro has to work hard to get much notice in their joint scenes. As always, MGM's chameleon actor (this time he plays a Russian) gives a very competent performance, but as a romantic pair, they make a rather unusual couple, which simply means that Garbo's intrinsic androgyny perfectly mirrors Novarro's sexual ambiguity." Mata Hari was a success, but soon Novarro's career began to fade fast. In 1935, he left MGM and appeared on Broadway in a show that quickly flopped. Though wealthy enough not to need work, Novarro was restless when not before the cameras. His later career consisted mostly of cameos. In Europe, he was still popular. In France, he starred in La comédie du bonheur/Comedy of Happiness (Marcel L'Herbier, 1940) opposite Michel Simon. He also appeared in the Italian version, Ecco la felicità (Marcel L'Herbier, 1940). In Mexico, he starred in La virgen que forjó una patria/The Saint That Forged a Country (Julio Bracho, 1942). After the war, Novarro returned to Hollywood as a supporting actor and appeared in such films as We Were Strangers (John Huston, 1949) and the Film Noir The Big Steal (Don Siegel, 1949), starring Robert Mitchum. His last film was Heller in Pink Tights (George Cukor, 1960) with Sophia Loren. Later, he guest-starred in TV series such as Rawhide (1964), Bonanza (1965) and The High Chaparral (1968). Ramon Novarro was troubled all his life by his conflicted feelings toward his Roman Catholic religion and his homosexuality. His lifelong struggle with alcoholism is often traced to these issues. He was romantically involved with journalist Herbert Howe, his publicist in the late 1920s. In 1968, Novarro was savagely beaten in his North Hollywood home by two young hustlers, the brothers Paul and Tom Ferguson, aged 22 and 17. They had heard - in error - that a large sum of money was locked away somewhere in his home. They never found any money, and Novarro was discovered dead the next day by his servant. Novarro died as a result of asphyxiation, having choked to death on his blood after being beaten. He was less than four months away from what would have been his 70th birthday.
Source: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Tony Fontana (IMDb), TCM, Wikipedia and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Mural title: OVERPROTECTED (Mother and Child)
Details about the artist ARYZ: muralharbor.at/de/about_aryz
Artist Video-Clip about this mural: streetartunitedstates.com/tag/linz/
Artist Homepage: aryz.es
Linz Mural Harbor Gallery: muralharbor.at/de/projects/
Rachel Reeves and her beloved Viking - Stanley Milligan.
Stanley by my dear friend ***Darkness♥***.
More photos on Rachel`s Instagram @rachelreeves.1989.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3E9iXCkI5U
When I watched this video, a million thoughts (slightly exaggerated) came rippling through my mind for this was my generation shown surrounding Sinatra. My mother had many photos of me looking very much like one of these kids. No one thought to provide a clever name like "millennials" for us back then. We were just kids with very strict rules, hard-working fathers and, for the most part, stay-at-home mothers. There were expectations placed upon us and long-established values and morals were taught. In many ways, we were the last representatives of a time-honored tradition of child-rearing going back hundreds, if not thousands of years. Respect for our elders was a given and clearly understood. Our parents dressed us well, fed us well, and taught us how to behave in varying situations. We learned and played. Independence with responsibility was taught. My own personal memories of the time involve school and being outside. I'm not sure I have a single memory of being in the house. The expectation was that aside from meals, we were to be outside. In fact, it was more than an expectation. I well recall literally being thrown out of the house and told to go play. Whining was not tolerated, misbehavior punished, but we were taught to stand up for ourselves when necessary. We were anything but overprotected. I walked by myself to kindergarten, some blocks away from the house. At 8, I roamed the neighborhood with a "gang" of friends on the block to be summoned home only by my Father's remarkable whistle. (As hard as I tried, I never could replicate that whistle...nor duplicate his awesome signature). At 8 I also played Little League baseball...there was no T-ball or minor leagues then...against 12 year olds. I made it because my father had me out in the street (yes, literally the street) throwing ground balls to me from the time I could walk and showing me how to hit against older pitchers. He did the same with basketball, resulting in a full athletic scholarship to the University of North Carolina. At the same time, I was required to get all "A's" academically. Otherwise, I could not play sports. I've never been sure if he would have carried through on this "agreement." But he never had to think about it. Achievement orientation was not a negative phrase back then, "participation awards" unknown. Life was a challenge to be conquered.
I implemented similar strategies with my own children to greater or lesser success...my son was a highly accomplished hockey player and my daughter a Junior Olympic swimmer...but cultural changes and a divorce finally intervened to some consternation on my part. But I've adapted as best I can...as have they, I reckon.
There is a clear evidence of innocence, naivety, and, yes, simple happiness amongst this group in the video. And that's how I remember my growing up. I never even heard of drugs until my first year of college...a year (1966) when dress codes still existed in education.
Boy, have things changed, no? Somehow I don't know if the hopes are quite so high any longer, lost to Facebook and iphones and video games while all the labeled generational parents tweet away with their own electronic addictions. I wonder what life will be like for my grandchildren. Will anyone even talk to each other?
And the lives of ants continues to be the same...rubber tree or dandelion.
[Larger more hopeful...]
*
VANISHING POINT
By Jean Baudrillard
Caution: Objects in this mirror may be closer than they appear!
Nostalgia born of the immensity of the Texan hills and the sierras of New Mexico: gliding down the freeway, smash hits on the Chrysler stereo, heat wave. Snapshots aren’t enough. We’d need the whole film of the trip in real time, including the unbearable heat and the music. We’d have to replay it all from end to end at home in a darkened room, rediscover the magic of the freeways and the distance and the ice-cold alcohol in the desert and the speed and live it all again on the video at home in real time, not simply for the pleasure of remembering but because the fascination of senseless repetition is already present in the abstraction of the journey. The unfolding of the desert is infinitely close to the timelessness of film...
SAN ANTONIO
The Mexicans, become Chicanos, act as guides on the visit to El Alamo to laud the heroes of the American nation so valiantly massacred by their own ancestors. But hard as those ancestors fought, the division of labour won out in the end. Today it is their grandchildren and great-grandchildren who are there, on the same battlefield, to hymn the Americans who stole their lands. History is full of ruse and cunning. But so are the Mexicans who have crossed the border clandestinely to come and work here.
SALT LAKE CITY
Pompous Mormon symmetry. Everywhere marble: flawless, funereal (the Capitol, the organ in the Visitor Center). Yet a Los-Angelic modernity, too -all the requisite gadgetry for a minimalist, extra-terrestrial comfort. The Christ-topped dome (all the Christs here are copied from Thorwaldsen’s and look like Bjorn Borg) straight out of Close Encounters: religion as special effects. In fact the whole city has the transparency and supernatural, otherworldly cleanness of a thing from outer space. A symmetrical, luminous, overpowering abstraction. At every intersection in the Tabernacle area - all marble and roses, and evangelical marketing – an electronic cuckoo-clock sings out: such Puritan obsessiveness is astonishing in this heat, in the heart of the desert, alongside this leaden lake, its waters also hyper real from sheer density of salt. And, beyond the lake, the Great Salt Lake Desert, where they had to invent the speed of prototype cars to cope with the absolute horizontality... But the city itself is like a jewel, with its purity of air and its plunging urban vistas more breath taking even than those of Los Angeles. What stunning brilliance, what modern veracity these Mormons show, these rich bankers, musicians, international genealogists, polygamists (the Empire State in New York has something of this same funereal Puritanism raised to the nth power). It is the capitalist, transsexual pride of a people of mutants that gives the city its magic, equal and opposite to that of Las Vegas, that great whore on the other side of the desert.
MONUMENT VALLEY DEADHORSE POINT GRAND CANYON
Geological - and hence metaphysical - monumentality, by contrast with the physical altitude of ordinary landscapes. Upturned relief patterns, sculpted out by wind, water, and ice, dragging you down into the whirlpool of time, into the remorseless eternity of a slow-motion catastrophe. The very idea of the millions and hundreds of millions of years that were needed peacefully to ravage the surface of the earth here is a perverse one, since it brings with it an awareness of signs originating, long before man appeared, in a sort of pact of wear and erosion struck between the elements. Among this gigantic heap of signs - purely geological in essence – man will have had no significance. The Indians alone perhaps interpreted them - a few of them. And yet they are signs. For the desert only appears uncultivated. This entire Navajo country, the long plateau which leads to the Grand Canyon, the cliffs overlooking Monument Valley, the abysses of Green River are all alive with a magical presence, which has nothing to do with nature (the secret of this whole stretch of country is perhaps that it was once an underwater relief and has retained the surrealist qualities of an ocean bed in the open air). You can understand why it took great magic on the Indians’ part, and a terribly cruel religion, to exorcize such a theoretical grandeur as the desert’s geological and celestial occurrence, to live up to such a backdrop. What is man if the signs that predate him have such power? A human race has to invent sacrifices equal to the natural cataclysmic order that surrounds it. It is perhaps these reliefs, because they are no longer natural, which give the best idea of what a culture is.
MONUMENT VALLEY: blocks of language suddenly rising high, then subjected to a pitiless erosion, ancient sedimentations that owe their depth to wear (meaning is born out of the erosion of words, significations are born out of the erosion of signs), and that are today destined to become, like all that is cultivated - like all culture-natural parks.
SALT LAKE CITY: the world genealogical archives, presided over in the depths of the desert caves by those rich-living, puritanical conquistadors, the Mormons, and, alongside, the Bonneville track on the immaculate surface of the Great Salt Lake Desert, where prototype cars achieve the highest speed sin the world. Patronymic genesis as the depth of time, and the speed of sound as pure superficiality.
ALAMOGORDO: the first atomic-bomb test against the backdrop of White Sands, the pale blue backcloth of the mountains and hundreds of miles of white sand - the blinding artificial light of the bomb against the blinding light of the ground.
TORREY CANYON: the Salk Institute, sanctuary of DNA and all the Nobel prize winners for biology. There all the future biological commandments are being devised, within that architecture copied from the palace of Minos, its white marble staring out over the immensity of the Pacific. . . Extraordinary sites, capitals of fiction become reality. Sublime, trans-political sites of extraterritoriality, combining as they do the earth’ sun damaged geological grandeur with a sophisticated, nuclear, orbital, computer technology.
I went in search of astral America*, not social and cultural America, but the America of the empty, absolute freedom of the freeways, not the deep America of mores and mentalities, but the America of desert speed, of motels and mineral surfaces. I looked for it in the speed of the screenplay, in the indifferent reflex of television, in the film of days and nights projected across an empty space, in the marvellously affectless succession of signs, images, faces, and ritual acts on the road; looked for what was nearest to the nuclear and enucleated universe, a universe which is virtually our own, right down to its European cottages. I sought the finished form of the future catastrophe of the social in geology, in that upturning of depth that can be seen in the striated spaces, the reliefs of salt and stone, the canyons where the fossil river flows down, the immemorial abyss of slowness that shows itself in erosion and geology. I even looked for it in the verticality of the great cities. I knew all about this nuclear form, this future catastrophe when I was still in Paris, of course. But to understand it, you have to take to the road, to that travelling which achieves what Virilio calls the aesthetics of disappearance. For the mental desert form expands before your very eyes, and this is the purified form of social desertification. Disaffection finds its pure form in the barrenness of speed. All that is cold and dead in desertification or social enucleation rediscovers its contemplative form here in the heat of the desert. Here in the transversality of the desert and the irony of geology, the transpolitical finds its generic, mental space.
The inhumanity of our ulterior, asocial, superficial world immediately finds its aesthetic form here, its ecstatic form. For the desert is simply that: an ecstatic critique of culture, an ecstatic form of disappearance. ‘L’Amerique siderale’: this term and its variant forms have been rendered throughout by ‘astral’ or the less familiar ‘sidereal’, according to context. The grandeur of deserts derives from their being, in their aridity, the negative of the earth’s surface and of our civilized humours. They are places where humidity and fluids become rarefied, where the air is so pure that the influence of the stars descends direct from the constellations. And, with the extermination of the desert Indians, an even earlier stage than that of anthropology became visible: a mineralogy, a geology, a side reality, an inhuman facticity, an aridity that drives out the artificial scruples of culture, a silence that exists nowhere else.
The silence of the desert is a visual thing, too. A product of the gaze that stares out and finds nothing to reflect it. There can be no silence up in the mountains, since their very contours roar. And for there to be silence, time itself has to attain a sort of horizontality; there has to be no echo of time in the future, but simply a sliding of geological strata one upon the other giving out nothing more than a fossil murmur. Desert: luminous, fossilized network of an inhuman intelligence, of a radical indifference - the indifference not merely of the sky, but of the geological undulations, where the metaphysical passions of space and time alone crystallize. Here the terms of desire are turned upside down each day, and night annihilates them. But wait for the dawn to rise, with the awakening of the fossil sounds, the animal silence.
Speed creates pure objects. It is itself a pure object, since it cancels out the ground and territorial reference-points, since it runs ahead of time to annul time itself, since it moves more quickly than its own cause and obliterates that cause by outstripping it. Speed is the triumph of effect over cause, the triumph of instantaneity over time as depth, the triumph of the surface arid pure objectality over the profundity of desire. Speed creates a space of initiation, which may be lethal; its only rule is to leave no trace behind. Triumph of forgetting over memory, an uncultivated, amnesic intoxication. The superficiality and reversibility of a pure object in the pure geometry of the desert.
Driving like this produces a kind of invisibility, transparency, or transversality in things, simply by emptying them out. It is a sort of slow-motion suicide, death by anextenuation of forms - the delectable form of their disappearance. Speed is not a vegetal thing. It is nearer to the mineral, to refraction through a crystal, andit is already the site of a catastrophe, of a squandering of time. Perhaps, though, its fascination is simply that of the void. There is no seduction here, for seduction requires a secret. Speed is simply the rite that initiates us into emptiness: a nostalgic desire for forms to revert to immobility, concealed beneath the very intensification of their mobility. Akin to the nostalgia for living forms that haunts geometry. Still, there is a violent contrast here, in this country, between the growing abstractness of a nuclear universe and a primary, visceral, unbounded*vitality, springing not from rootedness, but from the lack of roots, a metabolic vitality, in sex and bodies, as well as in work and in buying and selling.
Deep down, the US, with its space, its technological refinement, its bluff good conscience, even in those spaces which it opens up for simulation, is the only remaining primitive society. The fascinating thing is to travel through it as though it were the primitive society of the future, a society of complexity, hybridity, and the greatest intermingling, of a ritualism that is ferocious but whose superficial diversity lends it beauty, a society inhabited by a total Meta social fact with unforeseeable consequences, whose immanence is breath taking, yet lacking a past through which to reflect on this, and therefore fundamentally primitive. . . Its primitivism has passed into the hyperbolic, inhuman character of a universe that is beyond us, that far outstrips its own moral, social, or ecological rationale. Only Puritans could have invented and developed this ecological and biological morality based on preservation – and therefore on discrimination -which is profoundly racial in nature. Everything becomes an overprotected nature reserve, so protected indeed that there is talk today of denaturalizing Yosemite to give it back to Nature, as has happened with the Tasaday in the Philippines. A Puritan obsession with origins in the very place where the ground itself has already gone. An obsession with finding aniche, a contact, precisely at the point where everything unfolds in an astral indifference.
There is a sort of miracle in the insipidity of artificial paradises, so long as they achieve the greatness of an entire (un)culture. In America, space lends a sense of grandeur even to the insipidity of the suburbs and ‘funky towns’ .The desert is everywhere, preserving insignificance. A desert where the miracle of the car, of ice and whisky is daily re-enacted: a marvel of easy living mixed with the fatality of the desert. A miracle of obscenity that is genuinely American: a miracle of total availability, of the transparency of all functions in space, though this latter nonetheless remains unfathomable in its vastness and can only be exorcised by speed.
The Italian miracle: that of stage and scene. The American miracle: that of the obscene. The profusion of sense, as against the deserts of meaninglessness. It is metamorphic forms that are magical. Not the sylvan, vegetal forest, but the petrified, mineralized forest. The salt desert, whiter than snow, flatter than the geological formations, which ultimately testify to no human will, while keeping intact an image of upheaval. This form of travel admits of no exceptions: when it runs up against a known face, a familiar landscape, or some decipherable message, the spell is broken: the amnesic, ascetic, asymptotic charm of disappearance succumbs to affect and worldly semiology.
This sort of travel creates its own peculiar type of event and innervation, so it also has its own special form of fatigue. Like a fibrillation of muscles, striated by the excess of heat and speed, by the excess of things seen or read, of places passed through and forgotten. The defibrillation of the body overloaded with empty signs, functional gestures, the blinding brilliance of the sky, and somnabulistic distances, is a very slow process. Things suddenly become lighter, as culture, our culture, becomes more rarefied. And this spectral form of civilization which the Americans have invented, an ephemeral form so close to vanishing point, suddenly seems the best adapted to the probability - the probability only - of the life that lies in store for us. The form that dominates the American West, and doubtless all of American culture, is aseismic form: a fractal, interstitial culture, born of a rift with the Old World, a tactile, fragile, mobile, superficial culture - you have to follow its own rules to grasp how it works: seismic shifting, soft technologies.
The only question in this journey is: how far can we go in the extermination of meaning, how far can we go in the non-referential desert form without cracking up and, of course, still keep alive the esoteric charm of disappearance? A theoretical question here materialized in the objective conditions of a journey which is no longer a journey and therefore carries with it a fundamental rule: aim for the point of no return. This is the key. And the crucial moment is that brutal instant which reveals that the journey has no end, that there is no longer any reason for it to come to an end. Beyond a certain point, it is movement itself that changes. Movement which moves through space of its own volition changes into an absorption by space itself - end of resistance, end of the scene of the journey as such (exactly as the jet engine is no longer an energy of space-penetration, but propels itself by creating a vacuum in front of it that sucks it forward, instead of supporting itself, as in the traditional model, upon the air’s resistance). In this way, the centrifugal, eccentric point is reached where movement produces the vacuum that sucks you in. This moment of vertigo is also the moment of potential collapse. Not so much from the tiredness generated by the distance and the heat, as from the irreversible advance into the desert of time.
Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of your life.
This album is awesome. Old yet still amazing. And I really like how this turned out.
I'm making a new kind of covers. Now 1000x1000. Took me more than 5 hours to do this so I really hope you like it
Full Artwork: i875.photobucket.com/albums/ab317/mileyfan9900/BRITNEY.png
Soviets were crazy about bus stops. Unlike many other fields of architecture the latter enjoyed overexcess of attention and care. Artists had great orders for depiction of some stupid scenery into real hand made mosaics on concretes. Out of a sudden in the middle of nowhere one could come across a portrait of a worker-lady done in a manner to fit avant-guard gallery in Paris. Propaganda, but quite a bizarre thing. In stead of developing fast, frequent, integrated and comfortable public transportation they built fabulous stations and bus stops where junky buses came from time to time. In Galicia, western Ukraine, formerly province of Austrian monarchy, troublesome land for soviets with its powerful rebellion against occupation, people called these bus stops “pochekalnia”, which meant “waiting spot”, or, I would rather say “waitie”. And they were right. You could often see lots of people waiting there but rarely buses coming.
I have a very plain and bold explanation of the existence of these fabulous bus stops. In Soviet times business was forbidden. “How did everything work then, how did people get to eat and dress?” This would be quite a logical question of a normal human being knowing that people have to do something and exchange the fruits of their deeds in order to be supplied with all the means of living. In Soviet times all these actions were overtaken by the government. It was the only monopolistic employer, buyer and seller of all. Actually a big master for all slaves. But there were some niches where people had very relative freedom, for instance, self-employed artists. They got paid for what they did, like a bus stop. So why not use this option, hire a reliable artist, build oversized, overpriced and totally overdone bus stop, and get part of the money back in the pocket, cash, ha? Yes, that’s what they did, the fighters for the working class, the communists. Real ones, not the book characters.
And while the overprotected working class was spending hours at the “waities”, their defenders, the communists, were riding in terribly uncomfortable, but still prestigious black Volga sedans. And while the working class was chewing mashed potatoes with marinated cucumbers, both from their parents’ country tiny garden, the communists pleased themselves with caviar from a special supply.
1. My sweet heart, 2. Untitled, 3. Caminar juntos, 4. Chuche-love Momento... :), 5. l.o.v.e, 6. Corazones de caramelo, 7. 201/365, 8. <3 ring II, 9. Untitled, 10. Balloon heart, 11. ♥, 12. Ernie Pancakes ♥, 13. Desata Mi Corazón, 14. in love....., 15. Overprotected Pt 2, 16. Sweet heart
Link con el mosaico y el tema de marzo:
graellamaravella.blogspot.com.es/2013/03/primavera-spring...
pueeeeeeees gracias a y3nn me enteré de el concurso...y mande mi wallpaper hace una semana
recien hoy lo subo ja
weno, keria hacerlo a mi estilo XD irme a la segura x decirlo asi jeje
me gustó el resultado, espero a uds tb
pd: ver en grande, xq es wallpaper widescreen ;D
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4506/3, 1929-1930. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn Mayer. Ramon Novarro in The Pagan (W.S. Van Dyke, 1929).
Mexican-American actor Ramon Novarro (1899-1968) was a popular Latin Lover of the 1920s and early 1930s. He was the star of silent Hollywood's biggest epic, Ben-Hur (Fred Niblo, 1925).
Ramon Novarro was born as Jose Ramón Gil Samaniego in 1899 in Durango, Mexico. His parents were Leonor (Gavilan) and Dr. Mariano N. Samaniego Siqueiros, a prosperous dentist. Ramon and his family moved to Los Angeles in 1913 as refugees from the Mexican Revolution. He was a second cousin of the Mexican film star Dolores del Rio. The family's wealth having been left behind, young Novarro took on several odd jobs, ranging from ballet dancer, piano teacher and singing waiter. In 1917, he became a film extra. Ramon worked as an extra until director Rex Ingram cast him as the lovable scoundrel Rupert of Hentzau in The Prisoner of Zenda (1922) with Lewis Stone and Alice Terry. Ramon scored an immediate hit. He was billed as Ramon Samaniegos, and Terry suggested that he change his name to Novarro. And so he did. Ramon Novarro worked with Ingram in his next four films. Ingram again teamed him with Terry and Stone in the successful costume adventure Scaramouche (Rex Ingram, 1923). Novarro played a law student who becomes an outlaw French revolutionary when he decides to avenge the unjust killing of his friend. Ron Oliver at IMDb: "Novarro, taking the hero role this time, proved he was no flash in the pan. Equally adept as a sensitive lover or duelling revolutionary, with this performance,e Novarro was catapulted to Hollywood's upper ranks." Novarro's rising popularity among female moviegoers resulted in his being billed as the 'New Valentino' and 'The Latin Lover'. In 1925, he appeared in his most famous role, as Judah Ben-Hur in Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (Fred Niblo, 1925). At IMDb, John Nicolaus reviews: "I found Roman Navarro far more likeable in the title role than Charlton Heston. Like with most silent films, Navarro is a bit over the top, but he's still portrayed as an honest and kind, yet proud figure. He also has a very kind face, which helps the audience 'fall' for this guy." With Valentino's death in 1926, Novarro became the screen's leading Latin actor. He co-starred with Norma Shearer in The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (Ernst Lubitsch, 1927). Lubitsch made an enjoyable Viennese fairy tale in which Novarro played a cloistered, overprotected Austrian prince who falls in love with a down-to-earth barmaid (Shearer). Ron Oliver at IMDb: "This wonderful, exuberant, heartbreaking film - one of the last major movies of the Silent Era - is a scintillating example of the artistry of director Ernst Lubitsch. Filled with wry humour & aching pathos, Lubitsch tells a tale which is a persuasive paean to the power of the talkless film. Ramon Novarro, always eager to please his audience, brings great charm to the title role. Although about 10 years too old to be playing a typical university freshman, he nonetheless brings tremendous enthusiasm to the role."
At the peak of his success in the late 1920s and early 1930s, Ramon Novarro was earning more than US$100,000 per film. His first talking picture was Call of the Flesh (Charles Brabin, 1930), where he sang and danced the tango. He continued to appear in musicals, but his popularity was slipping. MGM insisted on giving their Mexican star a wide range of ethnic parts, everything from a carefree South Seas native in The Pagan (W.S. Van Dyke, 1929) to a wealthy Indian jewel merchant in Son of India (Jacques Feyder, 1931). He was not given many top-notch assignments, but he did star with Greta Garbo in the Mata Hari (George Fitzmaurice, 1931), a semi-fictionalised account of the life of the exotic dancer who was accused of spying for Germany during World War I. She falls in love for the first and only time in her life when she meets dazzlingly handsome Lieutenant Ramon Novarro. Ron Oliver at IMDb: "Ramon Novarro, who receives co-equal billing with Garbo, had been an important movie celebrity far longer than she, but her rising sun tended to obscure most other stars in her orbit, and Novarro has to work hard to get much notice in their joint scenes. As always, MGM's chameleon actor (this time he plays a Russian) gives a very competent performance, but as a romantic pair, they make a rather unusual couple, which simply means that Garbo's intrinsic androgyny perfectly mirrors Novarro's sexual ambiguity." Mata Hari was a success, but soon Novarro's career began to fade fast. In 1935, he left MGM and appeared on Broadway in a show that quickly flopped. Though wealthy enough not to need work, Novarro was restless when not before the cameras. His later career consisted mostly of cameos. In Europe, he was still popular. In France, he starred in La comédie du bonheur/Comedy of Happiness (Marcel L'Herbier, 1940) opposite Michel Simon. He also appeared in the Italian version, Ecco la felicità (Marcel L'Herbier, 1940). In Mexico, he starred in La virgen que forjó una patria/The Saint That Forged a Country (Julio Bracho, 1942). After the war, Novarro returned to Hollywood as a supporting actor and appeared in such films as We Were Strangers (John Huston, 1949) and the Film Noir The Big Steal (Don Siegel, 1949), starring Robert Mitchum. His last film was Heller in Pink Tights (George Cukor, 1960) with Sophia Loren. Later, he guest-starred in TV series such as Rawhide (1964), Bonanza (1965) and The High Chaparral (1968). Ramon Novarro was troubled all his life by his conflicted feelings toward his Roman Catholic religion and his homosexuality. His lifelong struggle with alcoholism is often traced to these issues. He was romantically involved with journalist Herbert Howe, who was also his publicist in the late 1920s. In 1968, Novarro was savagely beaten in his North Hollywood home by two young hustlers, the brothers Paul and Tom Ferguson, aged 22 and 17. They had heard - in error - that a large sum of money was locked away somewhere in his home. They never found any money, and Novarro was discovered dead the next day by his servant. Novarro died as a result of asphyxiation, having choked to death on his blood after being beaten. He was less than four months away from what would have been his 70th birthday.
Source: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Tony Fontana (IMDb), TCM, Wikipedia and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Madurai - Pechiamman Temple
A young sweet girl of a poor neighbourhood.
Every time I see this portrait, it reminds me how natural these simple people are ...
I asked her and she agreed, a bit shy uncertain at first, getting sudden such an attention but at the same time radiating an open innocent joy for us. From the age around 12, a girl is considered marriageable and from that day on she is overprotected by the family till the day she marries. Almost impossible, even seen indecent, to take a photo then by an outsider certainly a man.
Taken in the Pechiamman Temple near to the centre of the city, a favourite place of lots of women.
I simply love the richness of heart these simple people gives you.
A sober portrait of a young Tamil girl, one in a thousand.
2006-02-11
A great majority of us are dependent on our daily problems, more or less complicated, more or less vital situations, which keep us distracted from other more general problems. With regard to the rest of the world we are moving by inertia, obeying many procedure and rules that we do not stop to analyze. It is assumed that they are made four our sake. It is supposed that they keep us safe. But we never stop to think if they will not be excessive, or if we are overprotected.
Then some people leave the lethargy, and start to think and wonder if everything must be so correct as seems, and what would happen if they were jumping some order …
I am not saying that it is necessary to jump the regulations. Just think that it is necessary to know well all the rules, analyze them and respect them in its right proportion. And sometimes it’s good to know what rules we are fulfilling. A slight touch of rebelliousness …
[Photo of travelers waiting for a train in Atocha (MADRID). Photo taken in October, 2006. Adjustments of light and color, with Photoshop]
*****************
Una gran mayoría estamos pendientes de nuestros problemas cotidianos, situaciones más o menos complicadas, más o menos vitales, que nos mantienen distraídos de otros problemas más generales. Con respecto al resto del mundo nos movemos por inercia, obedeciendo muchas normas y reglas que no nos paramos a analizar. Se supone que están hechas por nuestro bien. Se supone que nos mantienen a salvo. Pero nunca nos paramos a pensar si no serán excesivas, o si estamos sobreprotegidos.
Entonces algunos salen del letargo, y comienzan a pensar, y se preguntan si todo debe ser tan correcto como parece, y qué pasaría si se saltaran alguna orden…
No digo que haya que saltarse los reglamentos. Solo pienso que hay que conocer bien todos los preceptos, analizarlos y respetarlos en su justa medida. Y a veces está bien saber qué reglas estamos cumpliendo. Un ligero punto de rebeldía…
[Foto de viajeros esperando un tren en Atocha (MADRID). Foto tomada en octubre de 2006. Retoques de luz y color, con Photoshop]
continuando com mais uma da saga
Dream With A Dream!
sem mais...
se vc curtiu clique em Favorita aqui em cima ou Comente aqui em baixo ^^
beijos e abraços pra quem quiser
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 2021/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Fanamet. Ramon Novarro in Lovers? (John M. Stahl, 1927).
Mexican-American actor Ramon Novarro (1899-1968) was a popular Latin Lover of the 1920s and early 1930s. He was the star of silent Hollywood's biggest epic, Ben-Hur (Fred Niblo, 1925).
Ramon Novarro was born as Jose Ramón Gil Samaniego in 1899 in Durango, Mexico. His parents were Leonor (Gavilan) and Dr. Mariano N. Samaniego Siqueiros, a prosperous dentist. Ramon and his family moved to Los Angeles in 1913 as refugees from the Mexican Revolution. He was a second cousin of the Mexican film star Dolores del Rio. The family's wealth had been left behind, and young Novarro took on several odd jobs, ranging from ballet dancer to piano teacher and singing waiter. In 1917, he became a film extra. Ramon worked as an extra until director Rex Ingram cast him as the lovable scoundrel Rupert of Hentzau in The Prisoner of Zenda (1922) with Lewis Stone and Alice Terry. Ramon scored an immediate hit. He was billed as Ramon Samaniegos, and Terry suggested that he change his name to Novarro. And so he did. Ramon Novarro worked with Ingram in his next four films. Ingram again teamed him with Terry and Stone in the successful costume adventure Scaramouche (Rex Ingram, 1923). Novarro played a law student who becomes an outlaw French revolutionary when he decides to avenge the unjust killing of his friend. Ron Oliver at IMDb: "Novarro, taking the hero role this time, proved he was no flash in the pan. Equally adept as a sensitive lover or duelling revolutionary, with this performance, Novarro was catapulted to Hollywood's upper ranks." Novarro's rising popularity among female moviegoers resulted in his being billed as the 'New Valentino' and 'The Latin Lover'. In 1925, he appeared in his most famous role, as Judah Ben-Hur in Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (Fred Niblo, 1925). At IMDb, John Nicolaus reviews: "I found Roman Navarro far more likeable in the title role than Charlton Heston. Like with most silent films, Navarro is a bit over the top, but he's still portrayed as an honest and kind, yet proud figure. He also has a very kind face, which helps the audience 'fall' for this guy." With Valentino's death in 1926, Novarro became the screen's leading Latin actor. He co-starred with Norma Shearer in The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (Ernst Lubitsch, 1927). Lubitsch made an enjoyable Viennese fairy tale in which Novarro played a cloistered, overprotected Austrian prince who falls in love with a down-to-earth barmaid (Shearer). Ron Oliver at IMDb: "This wonderful, exuberant, heartbreaking film - one of the last major movies of the Silent Era - is a scintillating example of the artistry of director Ernst Lubitsch. Filled with wry humour & aching pathos, Lubitsch tells a tale which is a persuasive paean to the power of the talkless film. Ramon Novarro, always eager to please his audience, brings great charm to the title role. Although about 10 years too old to be playing a typical university freshman, he nonetheless brings tremendous enthusiasm to the role."
At the peak of his success in the late 1920s and early 1930s, Ramon Novarro was earning more than US$100,000 per film. His first talking picture was Call of the Flesh (Charles Brabin, 1930), where he sang and danced the tango. He continued to appear in musicals, but his popularity was slipping. MGM insisted on giving their Mexican star a wide range of ethnic parts, everything from a carefree South Seas native in The Pagan (W.S. Van Dyke, 1929) to a wealthy Indian jewel merchant in Son of India (Jacques Feyder, 1931). He was not given many top-notch assignments, but he did star with Greta Garbo in the Mata Hari (George Fitzmaurice, 1931), a semi-fictionalised account of the life of the exotic dancer who was accused of spying for Germany during World War I. She falls in love for the first and only time in her life when she meets dazzlingly handsome Lieutenant Ramon Novarro. Ron Oliver at IMDb: "Ramon Novarro, who receives co-equal billing with Garbo, had been an important movie celebrity far longer than she, but her rising sun tended to obscure most other stars in her orbit, and Novarro has to work hard to get much notice in their joint scenes. As always, MGM's chameleon actor (this time he plays a Russian) gives a very competent performance, but as a romantic pair, they make a rather unusual couple, which simply means that Garbo's intrinsic androgyny perfectly mirrors Novarro's sexual ambiguity." Mata Hari was a success, but soon Novarro's career began to fade fast. In 1935, he left MGM and appeared on Broadway in a show that quickly flopped. Though wealthy enough not to need work, Novarro was restless when not before the cameras. His later career consisted mostly of cameos. In Europe, he was still popular. In France, he starred in La comédie du bonheur/Comedy of Happiness (Marcel L'Herbier, 1940) opposite Michel Simon. He also appeared in the Italian version, Ecco la felicità (Marcel L'Herbier, 1940). In Mexico, he starred in La virgen que forjó una patria/The Saint That Forged a Country (Julio Bracho, 1942). After the war, Novarro returned to Hollywood as a supporting actor and appeared in such films as We Were Strangers (John Huston, 1949) and the Film Noir The Big Steal (Don Siegel, 1949), starring Robert Mitchum. His last film was Heller in Pink Tights (George Cukor, 1960) with Sophia Loren. Later, he guest-starred in TV series such as Rawhide (1964), Bonanza (1965) and The High Chaparral (1968). Ramon Novarro was troubled all his life by his conflicted feelings toward his Roman Catholic religion and his homosexuality. His lifelong struggle with alcoholism is often traced to these issues. He was romantically involved with journalist Herbert Howe, his publicist in the late 1920s. In 1968, Novarro was savagely beaten in his North Hollywood home by two young hustlers, the brothers Paul and Tom Ferguson, aged 22 and 17. They had heard - in error - that a large sum of money was locked away somewhere in his home. They never found any money, and Novarro was discovered dead the next day by his servant. Novarro died as a result of asphyxiation, having choked to death on his blood after being beaten. He was less than four months away from what would have been his 70th birthday.
Source: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Tony Fontana (IMDb), TCM, Wikipedia and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
The Postcard
A postally unused postcard published by Girls' Cinema on Saturday the 8th. April 1922.
Douglas Fairbanks
Douglas Fairbanks (born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman; 23rd. May 1883 - 12th. December 1939) was an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films such as 'The Thief of Baghdad', 'Robin Hood', and 'The Mark of Zorro', but spent the early part of his career making comedies.
Fairbanks was a founding member of United Artists. He was also a founding member of The Motion Picture Academy, and hosted the 1st. Academy Awards in 1929. With his marriage to actress and film producer Mary Pickford in 1920, the couple became 'Hollywood royalty', and Fairbanks was referred to as "The King of Hollywood", a nickname that was later passed on to actor Clark Gable.
Though widely considered as one of the biggest stars in Hollywood during the 1910's and 1920's, Fairbanks' career rapidly declined with the advent of the talkies. His final film was 'The Private Life of Don Juan' (1934).
-- Douglas Fairbanks - The Early Years
Fairbanks was born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman in Denver, Colorado, the son of Hezekiah Charles Ullman and Ella Adelaide. He was the fourth child in a Jewish family consisting of six sons and four daughters. His father's parents, Lazarus Ullman and Lydia Abrahams, had immigrated to the U.S. in 1830 from Baden, Germany.
When he was 17, Douglas's father Charles started a small publishing business in Philadelphia. Two years later, Charles left for New York to study law.
Charles met Ella Adelaide Marsh after she married his friend and client John Fairbanks, a wealthy New Orleans sugar mill and plantation owner. The couple had a son, John, and shortly thereafter John Senior died of tuberculosis.
Ella, born into a wealthy southern Roman Catholic family, was overprotected, and knew little of her husband's business. Consequently, she was swindled out of her fortune by her husband's partners. Even the efforts of Charles Ullman, acting on her behalf, failed to regain any of the family fortune for her.
Distraught and lonely, she met and married a courtly Georgian, Edward Wilcox, who turned out to be an alcoholic. After they had another son, Norris, she divorced Wilcox, with Charles acting as her own lawyer in the suit.
She soon became romantically involved with Charles, and agreed to move to Denver with him to pursue mining investments. They arrived in Denver in 1881 with her son John. (Norris was left in Georgia with relatives, and was never sent for by his mother.) They were married; in 1882 they had a son, Robert, and then a second son, Douglas, a year later.
Charles purchased several mining interests in the Rocky Mountains, and re-established his law practice. After hearing of his wife's philandering, he abandoned the family when Douglas was five years old. Douglas and his older brother Robert were brought up by their mother, who gave them the family name Fairbanks, after her first husband.
-- Douglas Fairbanks' Early Career
Douglas attended Denver East High School, and was expelled for cutting the wires on the school piano.
He left school in the spring of 1899, at the age of 15. He variously claimed to have attended the Colorado School of Mines and Harvard University, but neither claim is true.
Douglas Fairbanks began acting at an early age, in amateur theatre on the Denver stage, performing in summer stock at the Elitch Gardens Theatre, and other productions sponsored by Margaret Fealy, who ran an acting school for young people in Denver.
He joined the acting troupe of Frederick Warde, beginning a cross-country tour in September 1899. He toured with Warde for two seasons, functioning in dual roles, both as actor and as the assistant stage manager.
After two years Douglas moved to New York, where he found his first Broadway role in 'Her Lord and Master', which premiered in February 1902. He worked in a hardware store and as a clerk in a Wall Street office between acting jobs.
His Broadway appearances included the popular 'A Gentleman from Mississippi' in 1908–09.
On the 11th. July 1907, Fairbanks married Anna Beth Sully, the daughter of wealthy industrialist Daniel J. Sully, in Watch Hill, Rhode Island. They had one son, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., also a noted actor. The family moved to Los Angeles in 1915.
-- Douglas Fairbanks in Hollywood
After moving to Los Angeles, Fairbanks signed a contract with Triangle Pictures in 1915, and began working under the supervision of D. W. Griffith. His first film was entitled 'The Lamb', in which he debuted the athletic abilities that would gain him wide attention among theatre audiences.
His athleticism was not appreciated by Griffith, however, and he was brought to the attention of Anita Loos and John Emerson, who wrote and directed many of his early romantic comedies.
In 1916, Fairbanks established his own company, the Douglas Fairbanks Film Corporation, and soon got a job at Paramount.
Fairbanks met actress Mary Pickford at a party in 1916, and the couple soon began an affair. In 1917, they joined Fairbanks' friend Charlie Chaplin in selling war bonds by train across the United States and delivering pro-war speeches as Four Minute Men.
Pickford and Chaplin were the two highest-paid film stars in Hollywood at that time. To curtail these stars' astronomical salaries, the large studios attempted to monopolize distributors and exhibitors. By 1918, Fairbanks was Hollywood's most popular actor, and within three years of his arrival, Fairbanks' popularity and business acumen raised him to the third-highest paid.
In 1917, Fairbanks capitalized on his rising popularity by publishing a self-help book, 'Laugh and Live' which extolled the power of positive thinking and self-confidence in raising one's health, business and social prospects.
To avoid being controlled by the studios and to protect their independence, Fairbanks, Pickford, Chaplin, and D. W. Griffith formed United Artists in 1919, which created their own distributorships and gave them complete artistic control over their films and the profits generated.
-- Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford
Sully was granted a divorce from Fairbanks in late 1918, the judgment being finalised early the following year. After the divorce, the actor was determined to have Pickford become his wife, but she was still married to actor Owen Moore.
Fairbanks finally gave her an ultimatum. She then obtained a rapid divorce in the small Nevada town of Minden on the 2nd. March 1920. Fairbanks leased the Beverly Hills mansion Grayhall and was rumoured to have used it during his courtship of Pickford.
The couple married on the 28th. March 1920. Pickford's divorce from Moore was contested by Nevada legislators, however, and the dispute was not settled until 1922. Even though the lawmakers objected to the marriage, the public widely supported the idea of "Everybody's Hero" marrying "America's Sweetheart".
That enthusiasm, in fact, extended far beyond the borders of the United States. Later, while honeymooning in Europe, Fairbanks and Pickford were warmly greeted by large crowds in London and Paris. Both internationally and at home, the celebrated couple were regarded as "Hollywood Royalty" and became famous for entertaining at "Pickfair", their Beverly Hills estate.
-- Douglas Fairbanks' Films
By 1920, Fairbanks had completed twenty-nine films which showcased his ebullient screen persona and athletic ability. By 1920, he had the inspiration of staging a new type of adventure-costume picture, a genre that was then out of favour with the public; Fairbanks had been a comic in his previous films.
In 'The Mark of Zorro', Fairbanks combined his appealing screen persona with the new adventurous costume element. It was a smash success, and parlayed the actor into the rank of superstar.
For the remainder of his career in silent films he continued to produce and star in ever more elaborate, impressive costume films, such as 'The Three Musketeers' (1921), 'Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood' (1922), 'The Thief of Baghdad' (1924), 'The Black Pirate' (1926), and 'The Gaucho' (1927).
Fairbanks spared no expense and effort in these films, which established the standard for all future swashbuckling films.
In 1921, he, Pickford, Chaplin, and others, helped to organize the Motion Picture Fund to assist those in the industry who could not work, or were unable to meet their bills.
During the first ceremony of its type, on the 30th. April 1927, Fairbanks and Pickford placed their hand and foot prints in wet cement at the newly opened Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. (In the classic comedy 'Blazing Saddles', Harvey Korman's villain character sees Fairbanks' prints at Grauman's and exclaims, "How did he do such fantastic stunts...with such little feet?")
Fairbanks was elected first President of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences that same year, and he presented the first Academy Awards at the Roosevelt Hotel. Today, Fairbanks also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7020 Hollywood Boulevard.
-- Career Decline and Retirement
While Fairbanks had flourished in the silent genre, the restrictions of early sound films dulled his enthusiasm for film-making. His athletic abilities and general health also began to decline at this time, in part due to his years of chain-smoking.
On the 29th. March 1928, at Pickford's bungalow, United Artists brought together Pickford, Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, Norma Talmadge, Gloria Swanson, John Barrymore, D.W. Griffith and Dolores del Río to speak on the radio show 'The Dodge Brothers Hour' to prove Fairbanks could meet the challenge of talking movies.
Fairbanks' last silent film was 'The Iron Mask' (1929), a sequel to the 1921 release 'The Three Musketeers'. 'The Iron Mask' included an introductory prologue spoken by Fairbanks.
He and Pickford chose to make their first talkie as a joint venture, playing Petruchio and Kate in Shakespeare's 'The Taming of the Shrew' (1929). This film, and his subsequent sound films, were poorly received by Depression-era audiences. The last film in which he acted was the British production 'The Private Life of Don Juan' (1934), after which he retired from acting.
Fairbanks and Pickford separated in 1933, after he began an affair with Sylvia, Lady Ashley. Pickford had also been seen in the company of a high-profile industrialist. They divorced in 1936, with Pickford keeping the Pickfair estate. Fairbanks and Ashley were married in Paris in March 1936.
Douglas continued to be marginally involved in the film industry and United Artists, but his later years lacked the intense focus of his film years. His health continued to decline. During his final years he lived at 705 Ocean Front (now Pacific Coast Highway) in Santa Monica, California, although much of his time was spent traveling abroad with his third wife, Lady Ashley.
-- The Death of Douglas Fairbanks
On the 12th. December 1939, Fairbanks suffered a heart attack. He died later that day at his home in Santa Monica at the young age of 56. His last words were reportedly:
"I've never felt better."
His funeral service was held at the Wee Kirk o' the Heather Church in Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery where he was placed in a crypt in the Great Mausoleum.
Two years following his death, he was removed from Forest Lawn by his widow, Sylvia, who commissioned an elaborate marble monument for him featuring a long rectangular reflecting pool, raised tomb, and classic Greek architecture in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles.
The monument was dedicated in a ceremony held in October 1941, with Fairbanks's close friend Charlie Chaplin reading a remembrance. The remains of his son, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., were also interred there upon his death in May 2000.
-- The Legacy of Douglas Fairbanks
In 1992 Douglas Fairbanks was portrayed by actor Kevin Kline in the film 'Chaplin'.
In 1998, a group of Fairbanks fans started the Douglas Fairbanks Museum in Austin, Texas. The museum building was temporarily closed for mould remediation and repairs in February 2010.
In 2002, AMPAS opened the "Fairbanks Center for Motion Picture Study" located at 333 S. La Cienega Boulevard in Beverly Hills. The building houses the Margaret Herrick Library.
On the 6th. November 2008, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences celebrated the publication of their "Academy Imprints" book Douglas Fairbanks, authored by film historian Jeffrey Vance, with the screening of a new restoration print of 'The Gaucho' with Vance introducing the film.
The following year, opening on January 24, 2009, AMPAS mounted a major Douglas Fairbanks exhibition at its Fourth Floor Gallery, entitled "Douglas Fairbanks: The First King of Hollywood". The exhibit featured costumes, props, pictures, and documents from his career and personal life.
In addition to the exhibit, AMPAS screened 'The Thief of Baghdad' and 'The Iron Mask' in March 2009. Concurrently with the Academy's efforts, the Museum of Modern of Art held their first Fairbanks film retrospective in over six decades, entitled "Laugh and Live: The Films of Douglas Fairbanks" which ran from the 17th. December 2008, to the 12th. January 2009. Jeffrey Vance opened the retrospective with a lecture and screening of the restoration print of 'The Gaucho'.
Recently, due to his involvement with the USC Fencing Club, a bronze statue of Fairbanks was erected in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Courtyard of the new School of Cinematic Arts building on the University of Southern California campus. Fairbanks was a key figure in the film school's founding in 1929, and in its curriculum development.
The 2011 film 'The Artist' was loosely based on Fairbanks, with the film's lead portraying Zorro in a silent movie featuring a scene from the Fairbanks version.
While thanking the audience in 2012 for a Golden Globe award as Best Actor for his performance in the film, actor Jean Dujardin added, "As Douglas Fairbanks would say," then moved his lips silently as a comedic homage. When Dujardin accepted the 2011 Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Fairbanks was cited at length as the main inspiration for Dujardin's performance in 'The Artist'.
An important accolade given to the Douglas Fairbanks legacy was a special screening of his masterpiece, 'The Thief of Baghdad', at the 2012 edition of the Turner Classic Movies Film Festival. On the 15th. April 2012, the festival concluded with a sold-out screening of the Fairbanks film held at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. The evening was introduced by TCM host Ben Mankiewicz and Fairbanks biographer Jeffrey Vance.
The nickname for the sports teams of the University of California-Santa Barbara is The Gauchos in honour of Fairbanks' acting in the eponymous film.
-- Final Thoughts From Douglas Fairbanks
The thoughts recorded below give us a further insight into Douglas' psyche:
"In taking stock of ourselves, we should not
forget that fear plays a large part in the drama
of failure. That is the first thing to be dropped.
Fear is a mental deficiency susceptible of
correction, if taken in hand before it gains an
ascendency over us. Fear comes with the
thought of failure".
"Self-deprecation is a disease. Once it gets
a hold on us - good-bye!"
"The man that's out to do something has to
keep in high gear all the time".
"The man who is gloomy, taciturn and lives in
a world of doubt seldom achieves more than
a bare living. There have been a few who have
groaned their way through to a competence,
but in proportion to that overwhelming number
of souls who carry cheer through life, they are
as nothing - mere drops in the bucket".
"There is one thing in this good old world that
is positively sure - happiness is for all who strive
to be happy - and those who laugh are happy.
Everybody is eligible - you - me - the other fellow.
Happiness is fundamentally a state of mind - not
a state of body".
"Indeed it is possible to stand with one foot on
the inevitable 'banana peel' of life with both eyes
peering into the Great Beyond, and still be happy,
comfortable, and serene - if we will even so much
as smile".
"Real laughter is spontaneous. Like water from
the spring it bubbles forth a creation of mingled
action and spontaneity - two magic potions in
themselves - the very essence of laughter - the
unrestrained emotion within us!"
"The man who puts life into an idea is acclaimed
a genius, because he does the right thing at the
right time. Therein lies the difference between the
genius and a commonplace man".
"We all have ambitions, but only the few achieve.
A man thinks of a good thing and says: 'Now if I
only had the money I'd put that through.' The word
'if' was a dent in his courage. With character fully
established, his plan well thought out, he had only
to go to those in command of capital and it would
have been forthcoming".
"People are divided into two classes - those who
profit by experience and those who do not. The
unfortunate part of it all is that the latter class is
by far the larger of the two".
From Left to Right-Alfred, Katana (Tatsu Yamashiro), Batman, Barbara Gordon, Batlight signal, Milo Match (Some people have been calling him Phosphorus Rex, but I don't know), and Cauldron Ghost.
Review: This weeks episode started off great. We got to see how Tatsu was being overprotected by her partner/sidekick Batman. It was funny to see how serious Batman was being about the whole thing. Eventually this became to be the birth of Katana. The episode progressed to show the return of Tobias Whale and how he wanted to steal Stagg goods, now that he was in jail. We got to see a progression greatly in this episode with the Gordon-Batman relationship. As Tobias whale sends Milo, his assistant, to capture Barbara and Gordon is left with no choice but to consult Batman, which brought upon the introduction of the Bat signal. This scene in particular really reminded me of TDK and how awesome the camera work on this show is, and just the movement in general. Anyway, we go onto see Batman going into the Gotham slums section called the Cauldron where there is a secret (but not so secret to Batman) cult called the Ghosts. It was very cool to see that the show is not afraid to introduce lesser known characters and settings. Batman defeats the Ghosts with the surprise help of Katana, in full uniform, and with Gordon and Tobias Whale, they go into the building that Milo has captured Barbara in. We see that Milo is indeed a secondary villain as Barbara said, and that he has pyro abilities. I wish that there was a little bit more expansion on the villains front, but he is a secondary villain, so it does make sense. As Barbara was freed we get some foreshadowing of how Batman wouldn't mind a female sidekick and how she would love to get a grappling hook. This line reminded me of Batgirl becoming paralyzed after dropping off a cut grappling hook. This was most likely not what the show was going for. In that scene I was also glad to see how Gordon had played fun with Barbara telling her that she's never receive one. Verdict: overall this episode was as amazing as the previous one. Although it does have it's flaws, such as bad villain development and the classic damsel I'm distress. Either way, the pros outweigh the cons. I give this episode a 7.5/10. The episode was great, but it wasn't my favorite, when compared to the amazing previous episodes. Again I apologize greatly for the lateness of this review, and I am hoping to review today's episode fairly quickly. Stay tuned!
... but you can't live it wrapped in cotton wool.
I'm not a subscriber to the current philosophy that children should be overprotected as they grow up - such as everyone being a winner at sport's day, so that the losers don't get upset. Everyone will, at some point, take some hard knocks in life. I believe it's better to understand early on that you'll win some and you'll lose some, and to learn to deal with it.
Highest position in Explore - 138.
I LOVE ROCK 'N' ROLL, dirigido por Chris Applebaum, grabado y lanzado en Febrero del 2002. DALE ZOOM! Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThZ9MgKjE1Q
SOLO QUEDA 1, ESCÓGELO!
- I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman ●para 【★♪LuιSpεaяs♪★】
- Overprotected (darkchild remix) ●para DaniSpears
- i love rock 'n' roll●para βεεπσ ◕‿◕
- boys (co-ed remix) ●para 【★♪LuιSpεaяs♪★】
- me against the music ●para -Material boy-
- toxic 1.3 ●para gs.fanny.nd
- toxic 2.3
- toxic 3.3 ●para Gahbryel Kayor
- everytime ●para R|X - Mr. Junki3XL
- outrageous ●para •: Eв luis albertho :•
- my prerogative ●para edy.heberto.220
- do somethin' ●para (evilClownMons†er (·♥·))
- someday (i will undarstand) ●para rafaelgimp
- gimme more ●para caliizthoo
- piece of me ●para mysticboii
- break the ice ●para ѕтяαиgєя ѕσℓ∂ιєя
- womanizer ●para ִ●ßяitney·s hOtline●ִ
- circus ●para J-Feria●
- if u seek amy ●para ©BRITNEY SPEARS(TITO)
- radar ●para Unusual♥Design
- 3 ●para Edo Peltier [0k4mi]
Blend da tour Oops, i did it again de 2000, blend em homenagem a Yo soy Oôps² que pediu, obrigado por pedir, a tour passou pelo Brasil no festival Rock in Rio de 2000, e ai gostaram do blend? eu amei o resultado :D
MAS BLENDS & DISEÑOS NUEVOS!, EN MI SITIO /// BLENDS & MORE NEW DESIGNS! IN MY SITE:
Este es uno de los mas agradados por la gente espero les guste tmb...
French postcard. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Ramon Novarro, Claire McDowell, May McAvoy and Kathleen Key in Ben-Hur (Fred Niblo, 1925). See also www.flickr.com/photos/truusbobjantoo/50079612977/in/photo...
Mexican-American actor Ramon Novarro (1899-1968) was a popular Latin Lover of the 1920s and early 1930s. He was the star of silent Hollywood's biggest epic, Ben-Hur (Fred Niblo, 1925).
Ramon Novarro was born as Jose Ramón Gil Samaniego in 1899 in Durango, Mexico. His parents were Leonor (Gavilan) and Dr. Mariano N. Samaniego Siqueiros, a prosperous dentist. Ramon and his family moved to Los Angeles in 1913 as refugees from the Mexican Revolution. He was a second cousin of the Mexican film star Dolores del Rio. The family's wealth having been left behind, young Novarro took on several odd jobs, ranging from ballet dancer, piano teacher and singing waiter. In 1917, he became a film extra. Ramon worked as an extra until director Rex Ingram cast him as the lovable scoundrel Rupert of Hentzau in The Prisoner of Zenda (1922) with Lewis Stone and Alice Terry. Ramon scored an immediate hit. He was billed as Ramon Samaniegos, and Terry suggested that he change his name to Novarro. And so he did. Ramon Novarro worked with Ingram in his next four films. Ingram again teamed him with Terry and Stone in the successful costume adventure Scaramouche (Rex Ingram, 1923). Novarro played a law student who becomes an outlaw French revolutionary when he decides to avenge the unjust killing of his friend. Ron Oliver at IMDb: "Novarro, taking the hero role this time, proved he was no flash in the pan. Equally adept as a sensitive lover or duelling revolutionary, with this performance,e Novarro was catapulted to Hollywood's upper ranks." Novarro's rising popularity among female moviegoers resulted in his being billed as the 'New Valentino' and 'The Latin Lover'. In 1925, he appeared in his most famous role, as Judah Ben-Hur in Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (Fred Niblo, 1925). At IMDb, John Nicolaus reviews: "I found Roman Navarro far more likeable in the title role than Charlton Heston. Like with most silent films, Navarro is a bit over the top, but he's still portrayed as an honest and kind, yet proud figure. He also has a very kind face, which helps the audience 'fall' for this guy." With Valentino's death in 1926, Novarro became the screen's leading Latin actor. He co-starred with Norma Shearer in The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (Ernst Lubitsch, 1927). Lubitsch made an enjoyable Viennese fairy tale in which Novarro played a cloistered, overprotected Austrian prince who falls in love with a down-to-earth barmaid (Shearer). Ron Oliver at IMDb: "This wonderful, exuberant, heartbreaking film - one of the last major movies of the Silent Era - is a scintillating example of the artistry of director Ernst Lubitsch. Filled with wry humour & aching pathos, Lubitsch tells a tale which is a persuasive paean to the power of the talkless film. Ramon Novarro, always eager to please his audience, brings great charm to the title role. Although about 10 years too old to be playing a typical university freshman, he nonetheless brings tremendous enthusiasm to the role."
At the peak of his success in the late 1920s and early 1930s, Ramon Novarro was earning more than US$100,000 per film. His first talking picture was Call of the Flesh (Charles Brabin, 1930), where he sang and danced the tango. He continued to appear in musicals, but his popularity was slipping. MGM insisted on giving their Mexican star a wide range of ethnic parts, everything from a carefree South Seas native in The Pagan (W.S. Van Dyke, 1929) to a wealthy Indian jewel merchant in Son of India (Jacques Feyder, 1931). He was not given many top-notch assignments, but he did star with Greta Garbo in the Mata Hari (George Fitzmaurice, 1931), a semi-fictionalised account of the life of the exotic dancer who was accused of spying for Germany during World War I. She falls in love for the first and only time in her life when she meets dazzlingly handsome Lieutenant Ramon Novarro. Ron Oliver at IMDb: "Ramon Novarro, who receives co-equal billing with Garbo, had been an important movie celebrity far longer than she, but her rising sun tended to obscure most other stars in her orbit, and Novarro has to work hard to get much notice in their joint scenes. As always, MGM's chameleon actor (this time he plays a Russian) gives a very competent performance, but as a romantic pair, they make a rather unusual couple, which simply means that Garbo's intrinsic androgyny perfectly mirrors Novarro's sexual ambiguity." Mata Hari was a success, but soon Novarro's career began to fade fast. In 1935, he left MGM and appeared on Broadway in a show that quickly flopped. Though wealthy enough not to need work, Novarro was restless when not before the cameras. His later career consisted mostly of cameos. In Europe, he was still popular. In France, he starred in La comédie du bonheur/Comedy of Happiness (Marcel L'Herbier, 1940) opposite Michel Simon. He also appeared in the Italian version, Ecco la felicità (Marcel L'Herbier, 1940). In Mexico, he starred in La virgen que forjó una patria/The Saint That Forged a Country (Julio Bracho, 1942). After the war, Novarro returned to Hollywood as a supporting actor and appeared in such films as We Were Strangers (John Huston, 1949) and the Film Noir The Big Steal (Don Siegel, 1949), starring Robert Mitchum. His last film was Heller in Pink Tights (George Cukor, 1960) with Sophia Loren. Later, he guest-starred in TV series such as Rawhide (1964), Bonanza (1965) and The High Chaparral (1968). Ramon Novarro was troubled all his life by his conflicted feelings toward his Roman Catholic religion and his homosexuality. His lifelong struggle with alcoholism is often traced to these issues. He was romantically involved with journalist Herbert Howe, who was also his publicist in the late 1920s. In 1968, Novarro was savagely beaten in his North Hollywood home by two young hustlers, the brothers Paul and Tom Ferguson, aged 22 and 17. They had heard - in error - that a large sum of money was locked away somewhere in his home. They never found any money, and Novarro was discovered dead the next day by his servant. Novarro died as a result of asphyxiation, having choked to death on his blood after being beaten. He was less than four months away from what would have been his 70th birthday.
Source: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Tony Fontana (IMDb), TCM, Wikipedia and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Over protected children on Portobello Road, London. The teachers then yelled at me for taking this photo.
ITALIA ARCHEOLOGICA & RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA. La Mibact: la più grande organizzazione criminale mafiosa italiana. s.v., Manlio Lilli, "Franceschini I, lo zar d'Italia." LEFT.IT (14/07/2017). Nota - Foto: Il Vesuvio fotografato dallo spazio (12/07/2017).
MANLIO LILLI, "Franceschini I, lo zar d'Italia," LEFT.IT (14/07/2017).
La cultura non può essere consegnata alle logiche di mercato. Un prodotto può essere di grande valore culturale ma non essere redditizio e quindi occorre mettere confini fra ciò che si fa al servizio dell'umanità e ciò che si fa per profitto.
La cultura è un servizio». Un sorprendente Dario Franceschini quello che a giugno 2014 in un dibattito con il presidente di Google, Eric Schmidt, parlava di cultura e turismo. Fu perfino spiazzante il ministro nell'affermare «che la cultura e il turismo non sono il petrolio del Paese, ma l'ossigeno che lo fa respirare». Che quindi le prime impressioni, non propriamente positive, di molti fossero sbagliate? Che l'allarme scattato, soprattutto tra gli addetti ai lavori, fosse soltanto l'infastidito tentativo di opporsi al cambiamento? Già perché per Franceschini, come per il suo ex presidente del Consiglio Renzi, chi è in disaccordo e mostra perplessità, è poco più che un oscurantista. In ogni caso qualsiasi speranza di una nouvelle vague del ministro, è stata annullata nel giro di pochi mesi.
«L'Italia è una superpotenza culturale e il ministero della Cultura è il più grande dicastero economico del Paese», la prima dichiarazione da ministro il 22 febbraio 2014. Quello il suo piano programmatico. Quello l'autentico Franceschini.
Il rivoluzionario ministro dei Beni culturali che punta forte sulla valorizzazione con il pretesto che così la tutela possa trarne effetti benefici. Nella sostanza ridefinendo il concetto stesso di valorizzazione. Non più esplicitazione dei caratteri di ogni singolo elemento del Patrimonio. Non più miglioramento della fruibilità del singolo sito, né tanto meno incremento dei servizi disponibili. Molto di più. La nuova valorizzazione non conosce limiti, non ha restrizioni.
L'obiettivo principale è fare cassa.
Musei e pinacoteche, aree archeologiche e palazzi storici trasformati da luoghi della cultura in location. Per matrimoni, presentazioni con aperitivi, cene aziendali, sfilate di moda ed anche gran balli, senza dimenticare corsi di yoga e lezioni di lirica. Qualcuno, fuori dal coro, ha provato a dire che queste operazioni, costringendo a drastiche riduzioni di orari di apertura, qualche volta perfino a chiusure, avrebbero leso i diritti dei “semplici” visitatori. Pochi hanno scritto che questo utilizzo del patrimonio storico-archeologico sarebbe stato un atto anti democratico. Tanto più grave perché realizzato proprio dallo Stato. Tutto inutile.
«Penso che in Italia ci sia un gran bisogno di campi da golf e che ci sono alcune regioni, in particolare del Mezzogiorno, che ampliando l'offerta di campi da golf riusciranno ad attrarre il turismo straniero, che oggi non si riesce ad attirare».
Dichiarazione dell'aprile 2014 che ha segnato un ulteriore passaggio del disegno di Franceschini. A volte il patrimonio….
FONTE | SOURCE:
-- MANLIO LILLI, "Franceschini I, lo zar d'Italia," LEFT.IT (14/07/2017).
left.it/2017/07/14/franceschini-i-lo-zar-ditalia/
FOTO | FONTE | SOURCE:
-- Vincenzo Marasco,"Il Vesuvio fotografato dallo spazio nella mattinata del 12 luglio dall'occhio del satellite Sentinel B-2." Tramite Annamaria Luongo. Fonte: earthstartsbeating.files.wordpress.com/ in: Vesuvio | FACEBOOK (13/07/2017). seguici su Vesuvio
www.facebook.com/MountVesuvius/photos/a.269196459834890.6...
s.v.,
-- ROMA ARCHEOLOGICA & RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA. Mafia Capitale: Annamaria Buzzi, MIBACT – Direzione della valorizzazione, sorella di Salvatore Buzzi, ora lady Buzzi rischia. LINKIESTA (12|12|2014).
— ROMA ARCHEOLOGICA & RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA: Dott.ssa Arch. Federica Galloni [ex-l’amante di Paolo Berlusconi], la nuova ”Direzione generale per il paesaggio, le belle arti, l’architettura e l’arte contemporanee,” IL MESSAGGERO (22|12|2014).
-- ROMA ARCHEOLOGICA & RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA. «MIBACT & DEGRADO & MAFIA CAPITALE», Anna Maria Buzzi & Giovanna Melandri - Chiuso-Per-Lavori: MIBAC Rassegna stampa; Maxxi - Melandri annulla il documentario anti-Berlusconi; & ; Anna Maria Buzzi - Italia Museo, La festa è finita. (02/02/2013).
-- ITALIA BENI CULTURALI e CORRUZIONE: Giancarlo Galan, Ex-Ministro per i Beni e le Attività Culturali (23|03 – 16|11|2011), Arresto Dell’ Ex Governatore Veneto, Accusanto di Corruzione, LA REPUBBLICA (23|07|2014), p. 1. | foto: ArcheoNews (Ottobre 2011).
-- ROMA ARCHEOLOGICA & RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA. Mafia Capitale: Dott.ssa Arch. Federica Galloni, DIREZIONE REGIONALE PER I BENI CULTURALI E PAESAGGISTICI DEL LAZIO (16 aprile 2010 – oggi), & “Galloni …[ex-] l’amante di Paolo Berlusconi” (11|2014).
-- ROMA ARCHEOLOGICA & RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA. Mafia Capitale: (2008-2011): 5,000,000 Euros Stolen – Latium Office of Director General; 100’s of Rare Volume’s Stolen – the Naple’s Library; & 40,000 Euro Stolen – Rome, Palatine Hill; etc. Anything Else?
-- s.v. | also see:
— “[The former Prime Minister Silvio] Berlusconi’s neglect of Italy’s architectural heritage may not have been his most notorious or colorful failing, but it was spectacular nonetheless. The embarrassments of the bunga-bunga years will pass, but the damage inflicted on his country’s ancient monuments is likely to be permanent.”
Ben Macintryre,
“Fallen leader leaves Italy’s heritage in Ruins”,
The Times of London (15 November 2011).
— “…Today the bureaucratic apparatus by which the historic city [of Rome] is administered by The Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage, this organization is labyrinthine, vast, and inefficient. A complex overlay of different legislative strictures, and uncoordinated agencies makes it almost impossible for many property owners and institutions to know with certainty their exact rights and responsibilities, as a result, Rome is simultaneously one of the most overprotected historic urban environments in the world as it is seen by the public, but it is extraordinarily prone to unregulated violations of its law in all those places that the public cannot see (…) The Byzantine complexity of conservation laws is exacerbated by the widespread laxity of service on the part of public bureaucracies. As part of the process of modernizing Italy and providing employment for a displaced agrarian society, a giant administrative machine was created, which has become an obstacle to the functioning of daily life. The complexity of this machine makes it easy to hide all sorts of illegal and quasi-illegal infractions. (In the 1990s, experts estimated that Italian politicians and government officials stole or received kickbacks -tungenti – totaling $6 billion USD to $12 billion a year USD.) A culture of illegality is bred by the over complication of government rules, which serve as an obstacle to accountability.”
Prof. Arch. Anthony M. Tung,
‘PRESERVING THE WORLD’S GREAT CITIES: The Destruction and Renewal of the Historic Metropolis,’
Review article by: Anthony M. Tung (2001), p. 11 of pp. 1-19. [= Former web-page now PDF document].
www.anthonymtung.com/index.htm
____________________
— Notes: the problems of political corruptions within the senior administation of Italy’s Ministry of Cultural Hertiage, i.e., Min. Giancarlo Galan (23 March 2011- 16 November 2011) & Min. Sandro Bondi (08 May 2008 – 23 March 2011) as noted in the following comments by Italian scholars and others, etc:
— “…I didn’t, however, cover the dimension you mention: B’s [Berlusconi’s] handling (or mishandling) of Italy’s cultural heritage. I’ve done a little inquiring about the situation at Pompeii where, of course, one of the houses collapsed. But I’d be curious to know more if you have more information.”
Prof. Alexander Stille, author of:
‘The sack of Rome: how a beautiful European country with a fabled history and a storied culture was taken over by a man named Silvio Berlusconi,’ Penguin Press: New York (2006).
Personal communication to M. G. Conde (26 October 2012).
— “…[Political] Corruption is Italy is still a big problem, and it will be until it is linked to Berlusconi, and I insist: [Arch. Federica] Galloni has been linked (and she still is) with Berlusconi’s party. The MiBAC doesn’t want widespread news of this to avoid compromising the news of the former business practices of Arch. Federica Galloni and Comm. Luciano Marchetti.” *
Prof. Anna M. Reggiani, an Italian archaeologist, also Former Director-General with Italy’s MiBAC, and Italy’s State of Lazio | Latium Archaeological Superintendent.
Personal communication to M. G. Conde (15 June, 2012).
— “Caro sig. Conde…L’archeologia in Italia è profondamente malata. Noi la vogliamo salvare e per questo diciamo che deve decisamente cambiare.”
Dr. Tsao Cevoli, Italian archaeologist &
Former President of the: “l’Associazione Nazionale Archeologi”,
Personal communication to M. G. Conde (26 December 2011).
— “Che qualcuno ci aiuti a cacciare via questi buffoni!”
Comment by close friend and an Italian Research Specialist from Rome,
Personal communication to M.G. Conde (13 November 2010).
— “Caro sig. Conde, purtroppo siamo già alla distruzione della nostro patrimonio culturale. Così come della nostra democrazia. E il rammarico più grande è l’assoluta disattenzione e la totale mancanza di indignazione che accompagnano questo scempio. Povero nostro amato Paese. Con i migliori saluti, Manuela Ghizzoni.”
Comment by Hon. Manuela Ghizzoni, Member of the Italian Parliament
& President of the 7th Commission of Culture, Science, and Instruction,
Personal communication to M. G. Conde (9 March 2010).
Nota:
1). ROME, ARCHAEOLOGY & CULTURAL HERITAGE: Political Corruption, Neglect & Abandonment of Rome's Cultural Heritage & Priorities of the Tourist Industry by the Political Administration of the Ministry of Culture & the City of Rome (2005 – 2017). FOTO & STAMPA 1 di 779.
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/sets/72157600...
2). POMPEI ARCHEOLOGIA e BENI CULTURALI: Riferimenti generali e le notizie italiane e il video di per la storia di “Amianto negli Scavi di Pompei” (2008-14), in: POMPEI ARCHEOLOGICA & RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA: INCHIESTA - Aree Archeologiche di Pompei, Ercolano e Torre Annuziata | GRANDE PROGETTO POMPEI (2007-17). Foto & Stampa 1 di 311.
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/albums/721576...
3). ITALIA BENI CULTURALI: Viaggio nell' antica citta' di Cales nel Casertano - Il supermercato archeologico della Camorra - rivederli in musei all’estero. CORRIERE DELLA SERA (24/07/2012), in: "Grande Progetto Pompei - UNESCO, EU, & MIBAC (02/2013): But, NAPLES' - THE Other Forgotten and Neglected Architectural Cultural Heritage: The Art Newspaper (29/01/2013), Corriere Della Sera (21/01/2013 [Video 04:29]), & LA REPUBBLICA / NAPOLI (23/11/2012). Foto & Stampa 1 di 127.
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/albums/721576...
British postcard by Foto-Roff in the Black and Whites Gallery, London, no. 1060. Photo: George Hurrell, 1929 / Kobal Collection.
Mexican-American actor Ramon Novarro (1899-1968) was a popular Latin Lover of the 1920s and early 1930s. He was the star of silent Hollywood's biggest epic, Ben-Hur (Fred Niblo, 1925).
Ramon Novarro was born as Jose Ramón Gil Samaniego in 1899 in Durango, Mexico. His parents were Leonor (Gavilan) and Dr. Mariano N. Samaniego Siqueiros, a prosperous dentist. Ramon and his family moved to Los Angeles in 1913 as refugees from the Mexican Revolution. He was a second cousin of the Mexican film star Dolores del Rio. The family's wealth had been left behind, and young Novarro took on several odd jobs, ranging from ballet dancer to piano teacher and singing waiter. In 1917, he became a film extra. Ramon worked as an extra until director Rex Ingram cast him as the lovable scoundrel Rupert of Hentzau in The Prisoner of Zenda (1922) with Lewis Stone and Alice Terry. Ramon scored an immediate hit. He was billed as Ramon Samaniegos, and Terry suggested that he change his name to Novarro. And so he did. Ramon Novarro worked with Ingram in his next four films. Ingram again teamed him with Terry and Stone in the successful costume adventure Scaramouche (Rex Ingram, 1923). Novarro played a law student who becomes an outlaw French revolutionary when he decides to avenge the unjust killing of his friend. Ron Oliver at IMDb: "Novarro, taking the hero role this time, proved he was no flash in the pan. Equally adept as a sensitive lover or duelling revolutionary, with this performance, Novarro was catapulted to Hollywood's upper ranks." Novarro's rising popularity among female moviegoers resulted in his being billed as the 'New Valentino' and 'The Latin Lover'. In 1925, he appeared in his most famous role, as Judah Ben-Hur in Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (Fred Niblo, 1925). At IMDb, John Nicolaus reviews: "I found Roman Navarro far more likeable in the title role than Charlton Heston. Like with most silent films, Navarro is a bit over the top, but he's still portrayed as an honest and kind, yet proud figure. He also has a very kind face, which helps the audience 'fall' for this guy." With Valentino's death in 1926, Novarro became the screen's leading Latin actor. He co-starred with Norma Shearer in The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (Ernst Lubitsch, 1927). Lubitsch made an enjoyable Viennese fairy tale in which Novarro played a cloistered, overprotected Austrian prince who falls in love with a down-to-earth barmaid (Shearer). Ron Oliver at IMDb: "This wonderful, exuberant, heartbreaking film - one of the last major movies of the Silent Era - is a scintillating example of the artistry of director Ernst Lubitsch. Filled with wry humour & aching pathos, Lubitsch tells a tale which is a persuasive paean to the power of the talkless film. Ramon Novarro, always eager to please his audience, brings great charm to the title role. Although about 10 years too old to be playing a typical university freshman, he nonetheless brings tremendous enthusiasm to the role."
At the peak of his success in the late 1920s and early 1930s, Ramon Novarro was earning more than US$100,000 per film. His first talking picture was Call of the Flesh (Charles Brabin, 1930), where he sang and danced the tango. He continued to appear in musicals, but his popularity was slipping. MGM insisted on giving their Mexican star a wide range of ethnic parts, everything from a carefree South Seas native in The Pagan (W.S. Van Dyke, 1929) to a wealthy Indian jewel merchant in Son of India (Jacques Feyder, 1931). He was not given many top-notch assignments, but he did star with Greta Garbo in the Mata Hari (George Fitzmaurice, 1931), a semi-fictionalised account of the life of the exotic dancer who was accused of spying for Germany during World War I. She falls in love for the first and only time in her life when she meets dazzlingly handsome Lieutenant Ramon Novarro. Ron Oliver at IMDb: "Ramon Novarro, who receives co-equal billing with Garbo, had been an important movie celebrity far longer than she, but her rising sun tended to obscure most other stars in her orbit, and Novarro has to work hard to get much notice in their joint scenes. As always, MGM's chameleon actor (this time he plays a Russian) gives a very competent performance, but as a romantic pair, they make a rather unusual couple, which simply means that Garbo's intrinsic androgyny perfectly mirrors Novarro's sexual ambiguity." Mata Hari was a success, but soon Novarro's career began to fade fast. In 1935, he left MGM and appeared on Broadway in a show that quickly flopped. Though wealthy enough not to need work, Novarro was restless when not before the cameras. His later career consisted mostly of cameos. In Europe, he was still popular. In France, he starred in La comédie du bonheur/Comedy of Happiness (Marcel L'Herbier, 1940) opposite Michel Simon. He also appeared in the Italian version, Ecco la felicità (Marcel L'Herbier, 1940). In Mexico, he starred in La virgen que forjó una patria/The Saint That Forged a Country (Julio Bracho, 1942). After the war, Novarro returned to Hollywood as a supporting actor and appeared in such films as We Were Strangers (John Huston, 1949) and the Film Noir The Big Steal (Don Siegel, 1949), starring Robert Mitchum. His last film was Heller in Pink Tights (George Cukor, 1960) with Sophia Loren. Later, he guest-starred in TV series such as Rawhide (1964), Bonanza (1965) and The High Chaparral (1968). Ramon Novarro was troubled all his life by his conflicted feelings toward his Roman Catholic religion and his homosexuality. His lifelong struggle with alcoholism is often traced to these issues. He was romantically involved with journalist Herbert Howe, his publicist in the late 1920s. In 1968, Novarro was savagely beaten in his North Hollywood home by two young hustlers, the brothers Paul and Tom Ferguson, aged 22 and 17. They had heard - in error - that a large sum of money was locked away somewhere in his home. They never found any money, and Novarro was discovered dead the next day by his servant. Novarro died as a result of asphyxiation, having choked to death on his blood after being beaten. He was less than four months away from what would have been his 70th birthday.
Source: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Tony Fontana (IMDb), TCM, Wikipedia and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.