Adapted from Herman Melville’s 1851 novel, the film was directed by John Huston with a screenplay by Huston and Ray Bradbury. It tells the tale of Captain Ahab’s self-destructive obsession to hunt the white whale, Moby Dick. Ishmael is the sole survivor of Ahab’s lost whaling ship, the Pequod.

 

Movie trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2HfcdkOYO4

 

Full movie: www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1Yc8KPH-X0

 

[Note: "Before the Shark there was the Whale" is a veiled reference to Steven Spielberg's "Jaws" which came out in 1975, and whose success prompted the re-release of "Moby Dick,"]

The Broad-billed Hummingbird is a beauty in a beautiful family. The male’s vivid red bill, emerald body, and glittering sapphire throat sets it apart from other U.S. hummingbirds. Most of this species’ range lies in Mexico, but it reaches the mountainous canyons of the southwestern U.S. during the breeding season. There it brightens shady, flower-filled ravines and residential gardens, and is a frequent visitor to hummingbird feeders. In courting the female, the male makes a precision flight display likened to a hypnotist’s swinging pocket watch. The oldest recorded Broad-billed Hummingbird was a male at least 9 years, 1 month old when it was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in Arizona.

“If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would go to more dances. I would ride more merry-go-rounds. I would pick more daisies.” - Nadine Stair

In Bluebirds, the blue colour is produced by the structure of the feather - there is no blue pigment. "Tiny air pockets in the barbs of feathers can scatter incoming light, resulting in a specific, non-iridescent color. Blue colors in feathers are almost always produced in this manner. Examples include the blue feathers of Bluebirds, Indigo Buntings, Blue Jay's and Steller's Jays."

 

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mountain_Bluebird/id

 

www.jstor.org/discover/pgs/index?id=10.2307/4077277&i...

 

"A female Mountain Bluebird pays more attention to good nest sites than to attractive males. She chooses her mate solely on the basis of the location and quality of the nesting cavity he offers her—disregarding his attributes as a singer, a flier, or a looker.

 

A male Mountain Bluebird frequently feeds his mate while she is incubating and brooding. As the male approaches with food, the female may beg fledgling-style—with open beak, quivering wings, and begging calls. More often, she waits until her mate perches nearby, then silently flicks the wing farthest from him—a signal that usually sends him off to find her a snack.

 

The oldest recorded Mountain Bluebird was a female, and at least 9 years old when she was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in Alberta in 2005. She had been banded in the same province in 1997." From AllAboutBirds.

 

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mountain_Bluebird/

 

The 10 photos posted this morning are photos taken on 23 June 2019 in my "usual" area, on my way home from the annual Ghost Watershed Alliance botany walk and BBQ. After a birdless morning, I knew I would be able to find a few birds closer to home. I hadn't really expected to find a Bobolink, so this was an extra treat.

 

That day, 23 June, was a fun day, despite the fact that it was raining a good part of the time. It was the annual Ghost Watershed Alliance walk, which ends with a delicious fundraiser BBQ at noon. This botany walk, through the forest and along the top of the cliff by the Ghost River, is led by our main Naturalist, Gus Yaki, and hosted by Erik Butters. I can't remember how many of these events I have been to over the years, but certainly a few.

 

It was a very early start to that day, as I wanted to allow about two hours' travel time. There has been some flooding in certain areas and I wasn't sure if there might be a road or two blocked off. As it turned out, I reached the meeting place in plenty of time, so drove a bit further to see what I could find. Just an attractive, old wagon that I have seen before, and some adorable, new calves in one of the fields.

 

I like to drive myself out there, as I then have the choice to drive somewhere else when all is finished, if I have any energy left. Exactly what I did, enjoying myself photographing Mountain Bluebirds, a Wilson's Snipe, and the Bobolink which was unfortunately perched on a high wire. Better than nothing, though.

Got the rerelease finally :]

Melanerpes aurifrons

A stripe-backed woodpecker of Mexico and Central America, the Golden-fronted Woodpecker reaches the United States only in the brushlands and open woodlands of Texas and Oklahoma.

The Golden-fronted Woodpecker is composed of four subspecies that differ in size, amount of barring on the tail, and the color of the nape, nasal tufts, and belly. Whereas the nape of the form found in Texas and most of Mexico is yellow to orange, it is red on the Yucatan Peninsula and orange farther south. The four forms were formerly considered different species.

The Golden-fronted Woodpecker consumes about as much fruit and nuts as it does insects. In summer in Texas, the faces of some woodpeckers become stained purple from eating fruit of the prickly pear cactus.

The oldest recorded Golden-fronted Woodpecker was a male, and at least 5 years, 11 months old when he was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in Texas.

Excerpt from www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Boreal_Owl/overview:

 

In the dark of the night, the small Boreal Owl comes alive in the spruce and fir forests of northern North America and Europe. This bright-eyed, square faced owl sits and waits on a perch for small mammals and birds before gliding down talons first to grab it. From late winter through spring, its quick, hollow hooting sounds across the dark forest as the male calls for a mate. They spend the year in boreal forests, occasionally making their way farther south in years of prey scarcity.

 

As with most other raptors, the female Boreal Owl is much larger than the male. In fact, they show the most extreme sexual dimorphism of any American owl, with the female sometimes 2 times heavier than the male.

 

The ear openings on a Boreal Owl's skull are asymmetrical, with one opening high up on the skull and the other much lower. The different positions of the ear openings help the owl find exactly where a sound comes from, helping gauge height as well as distance.

 

The oldest recorded Boreal Owl was a male, and at least 8 years old when it was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in Idaho, the same state where it had been banded.

This sadly isn't a real doll. Just an Edit of what Vanessa could look like if she EVER got rereleased in the classic line. I know so many people want her ME INCLUDED

Phew, this was an amazing year for customs. We had a lot of variety for characters and techniques from different customizers. Many characters that were long neglected have been finally made properly, but we also got a lot of very uncommon characters. This top 10 was extremely hard to put together, but I think I can safely say that these are my favourite customs of 2017.

 

I will start off with a bonus eleventh minifigure, as it fits neither the digital or pad printed category, but looks just amazing. C-3PO by super-minifigures is a fantastic replica of the 24k gold statuette that was given out as a gift many years ago. It is not the same as it comes without back printing and has a different color scheme, but my oh my this minifigure looks precious. The minifigure is fully chromed on all parts and insides, the chrome colouring is of highest quality and the details have been 3D-printed in the torso. If I may borrow the words from our dear Christo “your Star Wars collection will never be complete without it”

 

Another honorable mention is the Zebra Batman by UG Customs, as I didn’t want to include this character again on my list, because I already did it with Christo’s figure last year. The quality is amazing and I really like the 360 degree printing on this minifigure.

 

Now for the Top ten:

 

10. Silk Spectre by ParisCustomBricks

Boy, how long have I waited to complete my Watchmen lineup after buying the Christo trio years ago. Finally, ParisCustomBricks provided us with the rest of the Watchmen this year and has done an amazing job on them. Silk Spectre doesn’t come with a custom helmet like Nite-Owl, but is my favourite of the Trio nonetheless. Gabe captured the expressions on her face perfectly and fitted her with the right hairpiece. I especially like the torso printing of her outfit that continues onto the legs. The little zipper with the knits in her costume looks great. The minifigure has also printing on the back and the quality is great.

 

9. Ant-Man by KO Customs

Well, I wasn’t disappointed at all with the official Ant-Man minifigure until KO Customs showed us the possibilities for this costume. I instantly fell in love with the custom chromed helmet piece that just looks so accurate to the movie suit. Overall this minifigure looks fantastic and the design works very well, the only flaw is the silver printing on the body imo, as it is very fragile. This makes it a collectible and not suitable for playing purposes.

 

8. Classic Captain America by Brothersfigure

There is no doubt that Brothersfigure took the cake this year with their massive variety for different custom minifigures and genres. I am guessing PhoenixCustomBricks will make their comeback next year, but this year the throne goes to the guys with the shiny printing. This is one part I really like about their customs, the glossy finish, that keeps the minifigures from any harm and makes it possible to play with them. This goes for the classy captain also, but he is also an extremely detailed minifigure with 360 degree printing. What makes it really special is the custom PVC cap that has an indestructible feel to it. All in all the colouring fits the original well and I am glad we finally got an accurate version of him. Now all we need is a classy Iron Man. 😉

 

7. 1939 Batman v.2 by Christo

This had to be on the list as I have always wanted the Christo minifigure of this classic character but couldn’t get my hands on it. As I do not collect for investment purposes (which is a bad thing imo, don’t do this to fellow collectors) I am more than fine with rereleases of limited or sold out characters. This goes for Batman as well and while the overall printing of legs and torso look clean as ever the mask is the topping on the ice. Or the frosting on the top? I am not familiar with English sayings. :D Let’s just say, it looks outstanding, especially with the perfect alignment of the head. The quality of the injection molded piece is also top notch.

 

6. Speeding Blue Bullet by CyclopsBricks

Has anyone noticed that I really like the colour blue? :P Even if this minifigure looks simple at first, I really love it for the amazing coloring and strong printing. It just looks like a piece of art in my opinion. Though it has the same problem as KO’s Ant-Man with very fragile silver printing on the body, Earth-2 Superman looks just awesome and is extremely detailed where it was necessary. I especially like the double sided head print as it looks just so expressive.

 

5. Homemade Arachnid Hero by PhoenixCustomBricks

Well, there has to be at least one minifigure of my favourite superhero in this list. This time the wall-crawler comes in his selfmade outfit from the new movie and it just looks gorgeous. I’m very glad that Adam changed colours because now it looks very bright and the color contrast works perfectly. Every detail of the suit was captured accurately and I just have to say, this minifigure makes me so excited for the upcoming Phoenix releases!

  

4. Heimdall by Brothersfigure

What else to say about this figure that the picture couldn’t tell you? It is truly a piece of art, the execution of the printing is great, but the golden accessories take the cake. All of them, the helmet, the armor and the sword are really amazing and when fitted on the minifigure the character is unmistakably the guard of the Rainbow Bridge that we know from the movies.

 

3. Luke Skywalker by Christo

I feel like we are moving away from ordinary Lego minifigures more and more. With the headprint of Luke Skywalker Christo has entered a new dimension of realistic figures. The custom robe piece is fantastic and has got printing on the front and back. He also comes with a movie-accurate hairpiece. All about this minifigure is just perfect and I love it.

 

2. Xenomorph by Zerobaek

Alright, one more non-legolike. :D The only digital printed minifigure on my list takes silver for its terrific details. The Xenomorph from the Alien movies has an extremely detailed print all around which has kind of a scale-feeling to it. I know that the minifigure-form is not the most accurate base for this character, but it was made so insanely detailed and good that this doesn’t bother me at all. The highlight of this figure is of course the custom head/tail-piece which has a very frightening feel to it. This was my first minifigure by Zerobaek, but I can only recommend this fantastic customizer.

 

1. Composite Superman by Brothersfigure

I love the approach Brothersfigure is taking by tackling lesser known characters as well. I haven’t heard at all about this character before I have seen it in minifigure-form. I really like the obscurity of this one though and the execution is simply perfect. You have the custom molded cowl, the fantastic body design as well as the custom plastic cape that capture both heroes very well and make this a villain to be feared. The uniqueness of this character makes it my personal favourite custom of this year.

 

These are the dolls and dvd's I got yesterday. I am loving my Meeshell Mermaid🐚 and Descendants Lonnie🐉. They also had a rerelease of Bunny, Darling and Rosabella. I almost had a Melody Piper doll but a little girl was ahead of me😔 But tommorow I am going shopping again so wish me luck😜☺️🙏⭐️

❤ EVER AFTER HIGH ❤

American Golden Plover

  

A large shorebird of pastures, open ground, and mudflats, the American Golden-Plover makes one of the longest

 

migratory journeys of any shorebird. It breeds on the high Arctic tundra of Alaska and Canada and winters in the

 

grasslands of central and southern South America.

 

Appearance

 

A large shorebird of pastures, open ground, and mudflats, the American Golden-Plover makes one of the longest

 

migratory journeys of any shorebird. It breeds on the high Arctic tundra of Alaska and Canada and winters in the

 

grasslands of central and southern South America.

  

Cool Facts

The American Golden-Plover has a long, circular migration route. In the fall it flies offshore from the East

 

Coast of North America nonstop to South America. On the return in the spring it passes primarily through the

 

middle of North America to reach its Arctic breeding grounds.

Adult American Golden-Plovers leave their Arctic breeding grounds in early summer, but juveniles usually linger

 

until late summer or fall. Some adults arrive on the wintering grounds in southern South America before the last

 

juveniles have left the Arctic.

The oldest American Golden-Plover was at least 13 years old, when it was recaptured and rereleased during a

 

banding operation in Alaska.

Habitat

 

Grassland

 

Breeds on Arctic tundra, especially in low vegetation on rocky slopes. Winters in grazed grasslands. On

 

migration found in prairie, pastures, tilled farmland, golf courses, airports, mudflats, shorelines, and

 

beaches.

 

Food

 

Insects

Invertebrates, berries, leaves, and seeds.

  

Nesting

 

Nesting Facts

 

Clutch Size

 

4 eggs

 

Egg Description

 

White to buff, heavily spotted and splotched with dark brown and black.

Condition at Hatching

Covered with down and able to walk soon after hatching. Feed themselves within one day.

 

Nest Description

 

Nest Placement

  

Scrape in ground, lined with lichens, dry grass, or leaves.

  

Feeding

 

Probing

Feeds in short vegetation or open areas. Moves by stop-run-stop, scanning and capturing prey at stops. Captures

 

prey by single peck or series of pecks.

  

Conservation

 

Status via IUCN

 

Least Concern

 

This species is on the 2014 State of the Birds Watch List, which lists species most in danger of extinction

 

without significant conservation action. Market hunting in 19th and early 20th centuries caused major decline in

 

American Golden-Plover numbers. One estimate of a single day's kill near New Orleans was 48,000. Population

 

rebounded after hunting ended.

  

In Bluebirds, the blue colour is produced by the structure of the feather - there is no blue pigment. "Tiny air pockets in the barbs of feathers can scatter incoming light, resulting in a specific, non-iridescent color. Blue colors in feathers are almost always produced in this manner. Examples include the blue feathers of Bluebirds, Indigo Buntings, Blue Jay's and Steller's Jays."

 

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mountain_Bluebird/id

 

www.jstor.org/discover/pgs/index?id=10.2307/4077277&i...

 

"A female Mountain Bluebird pays more attention to good nest sites than to attractive males. She chooses her mate solely on the basis of the location and quality of the nesting cavity he offers her—disregarding his attributes as a singer, a flier, or a looker.

 

A male Mountain Bluebird frequently feeds his mate while she is incubating and brooding. As the male approaches with food, the female may beg fledgling-style—with open beak, quivering wings, and begging calls. More often, she waits until her mate perches nearby, then silently flicks the wing farthest from him—a signal that usually sends him off to find her a snack.

 

The oldest recorded Mountain Bluebird was a female, and at least 9 years old when she was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in Alberta in 2005. She had been banded in the same province in 1997." From AllAboutBirds.

 

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mountain_Bluebird/

 

Yesterday, 11 July 2018, my place was just too hot for comfort. so I took a short drive SW of the city to see what I could find. I had been wondering if the Mountain Bluebirds were still around and I wanted to check on them. A few were found and two pairs gave me a few chances to take photos. The first pair I checked on was nowhere to be seen - and then I knew why. Way down the road, perched on a high power post, was a Red-tailed Hawk. Once the hawk had flown off over the fields, the Bluebirds appeared. Certain other bird species were not seen during the time I spent out there, so I guess I will have to try again another day.

 

The highlight of my drive was suddenly spotting a beautiful female (or young?) Moose who was busily feeding on the trees and bushes a short way into the forest. It was so dark within the trees that I almost missed seeing her. In fact, I thought I had spotted a deer, but a quick U-turn and I discovered it was a Moose, not a deer. She was in no hurry to move away and was still there when I left her. Almost every one of my photos came out blurry - most likely because I was shooting from the driver's seat across the passenger seat, with the car still running : ( I had pulled over in a place that was not the best for stopping, so wanted to be able to move if I needed to. Happy that a handful of photos came out OK, though.

 

This morning, I have posted 10 photos from yesterday's drive - mainly just odds and ends. Still more that I want to upload, so that I can get back to dealing with photos from a number of other recent trips. Sorry to flood Flickr.

Tight crop of a concrete picnic table in a city park in monochrome with noontime shadows.

 

Rereleased for free download without watermarks.

Had a group of cedar waxwings descend on the pond yesterday. he way they were splashing I thought they would empty the pond.

 

Bombycilla cedrorum

The oldest recorded Cedar Waxwing was a male and at least 7 years, 1 month old when he was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in Maryland in 2014. He had been banded in the same state in 2008.

source - www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Cedar_Waxwing/

❤Lizzie Hearts ❤

❤ EVER AFTER HIGH ❤

I'm honored that Kodak has selected me to test drive their newly re-released TMAX P3200! Photos coming soon!

I don’t usually post photos of my new camera gear but decided to make an exception for this 100 year old Kodak. I'm trying to get it working again and found some creative suggestions online for converting it from the autographic 116 film it was designed to use to something that's still available today. The camera still has the stylus so I’m ready if they ever rerelease the autographic film. This must have been one of the first cameras to use it since the film appears to have been patented in 1913.

What a SAD, SAD day! If you are familiar with Anthony Bourdain, chef, traveller, explorer, a man who got on well with anyone, anywhere, no matter who they were, or where they come from, this is a very sad day, hearing of his death, from suicide. I have watched his TV shows for a long time, enjoying seeing him interact with local people in all sorts of exotic or unusual places, that most people would never dream of visiting. A real people person. I have always loved the way he reminds us, with such ease, that people are the same everywhere on this planet. I remember last year, two of his shows covered Trinidad & Tobago (which I had just visited) and Oman (where I had lived for 6 years). He had overcome so many struggles through his life and had become very successful in what he loved to do. Unfortunately, deep demons had obviously not left him completely, as, at the age of 61, he committed suicide while filming in France. So sad for the world to lose such a unique, kind man, and unbearably sad for his young daughter and his family and friends.

 

www.cnn.com/2018/06/08/us/anthony-bourdain-obit/index.html

 

www.eater.com/2017/6/11/15771544/anthony-bourdain-oman-pa...

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Last night, 7 June 2018, I added seven extra photos from our Pt Pelee trip, to get them into my albums. All the photos are from the afternoon of our very first day at Pt Pelee. I am trying to post more or less in the order that the photos were taken, and unfortunately, there are so many odds and ends that I want to keep just for the record. I promise that, later on, I will have photos of some very different things - thank goodness. I did not have much success with seeing and photographing all the tiny, very fast-moving Warblers at Pt Pelee, so I wanted to post the poor photos that I did get, at night, when most people are off Flickr. If anyone does happen to see them, please do let me know if I have given a wrong ID for any bird or plant.

 

A friend had invited me to go with her yesterday, 7 June 2018, to have lunch at the Delta Hotel in Kananaskis Village, and it felt good to breathe the mountain air. Of course, when I do go on a rare trip to the mountains, I go in search of birds, wildflowers, scenery - anything beautiful - so this outing was different and something I would never do myself. We both had to admit afterwards that the food was not good at all and the price was way beyond what was deserved. While typing these words, I suddenly remembered that I had read several reviews online before we went and they had said exactly the same thing. The staff were very pleasant and helpful, I should add.

 

On the way home, I decided to drive back via my 'usual' area, to see if any of the Mountain Bluebirds and other species were out and about. Most did not disappoint. I have been following this handsome male, wearing the unusually high number of bands, for a few years now. Each colour was used for a different reason during someone's study of the bird's behaviour.

 

In Bluebirds, the blue colour is produced by the structure of the feather - there is no blue pigment. "Tiny air pockets in the barbs of feathers can scatter incoming light, resulting in a specific, non-iridescent color. Blue colors in feathers are almost always produced in this manner. Examples include the blue feathers of Bluebirds, Indigo Buntings, Blue Jay's and Steller's Jays."

 

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mountain_Bluebird/id

 

www.jstor.org/discover/pgs/index?id=10.2307/4077277&i...

 

"A female Mountain Bluebird pays more attention to good nest sites than to attractive males. She chooses her mate solely on the basis of the location and quality of the nesting cavity he offers her—disregarding his attributes as a singer, a flier, or a looker.

 

A male Mountain Bluebird frequently feeds his mate while she is incubating and brooding. As the male approaches with food, the female may beg fledgling-style—with open beak, quivering wings, and begging calls. More often, she waits until her mate perches nearby, then silently flicks the wing farthest from him—a signal that usually sends him off to find her a snack.

 

The oldest recorded Mountain Bluebird was a female, and at least 9 years old when she was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in Alberta in 2005. She had been banded in the same province in 1997." From AllAboutBirds.

 

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mountain_Bluebird/

Starting in September they will be rereleasing the Sailor Moon manga in the US, since I just found out yesterday I decided to celebrate with a picture of one of many Sailor Moon plush with some of my Sailor Moon/Sailor V manga.

www.animenewsnetwork.com/press-release/2011-03-18/kodansh...

Another fall visitor to the water feature in our yard.

Similar to the spring plumage which means it isn't one of the confusing fall warblers.

 

Setophaga americana

 

The oldest recorded Northern Parula was a female, and at least 5 years, 11 months old, when she was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in Maryland.

This is my display stand for my Astromech droids in front and center, and protocol droids inside the legs, viewable from the left and right side.

 

Still have some empty spots to fill in droids from this year. As the collections grows, so will the stand in height and width.

 

I have organized the droids by type R2, R3, R4, R5, R7, etc... Some have no names given to them by Lego. R3-M3 is what the Brickset reviewer of the rerelease of the Death Star is naming it, so I am going with that.

 

There are some other droids that I could add, but it's already looking full.

"Sometimes when I get a moment

In the middle of the day

And nothing else needs my attention

I take my chance and slip away

I close my eyes, I close my eyes and think of you

I close my heavy eyes and that's all I need to do..."

I bought Fran Lebowitz's debut bestselling collection of comedic essays, "Metropolitan Life" when it was rereleased in 1994 in paperback, and laughed a lot. One of the aphorisms that stuck was, "If people don't want to listen to you, what makes you think they want to hear from your sweater?" Sadly, you can now buy a T-shirt bearing this quotation...

 

Now the trend has moved onto jackets with messages on them, the latest I spotted on said apparel by a young girl intensely chatting on her mobile phone as she merrily ambled down Victoria Road, oblivious of how loud she was talking and how much of her life we couldn't help but overhear, but she was definitely living up to the message on her coat.

 

Leica M2 & 2/35mm Summicron pre-asph v3

B+W Yellow Filter

Kentmere 100

Ilford ID-11 (1+1 - 11:30min)

Vuescan & Plustek 7600i

A lifer added in my quest to photograph mainland U.S. sparrows. Wish it'd been closer and the light better for a higher-quality shot, but I'm very pleased the bird popped up from the dense, tall salt-marsh grass it calls home.

 

The sparrow's range is along the coast of the southeastern U.S. Although territorial, the Seaside Sparrow often feeds long distances from the space it defends around its nest. In the tidal zone where it lives, nesting and feeding areas often are widely separated.

 

The oldest recorded Seaside Sparrow was a male, and at least 10 years old when he was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in South Carolina.

 

I've only eight species left to photograph out of 37:

 

Bell's Sparrow

Black-chinned Sparrow

Brewer's Sparrow

Cassin's Sparrow

Eurasian Tree Sparrow

Five-striped Sparrow

Olive Sparrow

Sagebrush Sparrow

 

Get permission for any use.

This epic science fiction film, produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, follows a voyage to Jupiter with the sentient computer HAL after the discovery of an alien monolith affecting human evolution. The film deals with themes of existentialism, human evolution, technology, artificial intelligence, and the possibility of extraterrestrial life. The screenplay was written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, and was inspired by Clarke’s 1951 short story “The Sentinel” and other short stories by Clarke.

 

The film is noted for its scientifically accurate depiction of space flight, pioneering special effects, and ambiguous imagery. Kubrick avoided conventional cinematic and narrative techniques, dialogue is used sparingly, and there are long sequences accompanied only by music. The soundtrack incorporates numerous works of classical music, among them “Also sprach Zarathustra” by Richard Strauss, “The Blue Danube” by Johann Strauss II, and works by Aram Khachaturian and György Ligeti.

 

The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, with Kubrick winning for his direction of the visual effects. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made. In 1991, it was deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the U.S. Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. [Source: Wikipedia]

 

Movie Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR_e9y-bka0

I love and hate this image.

 

I think the image itself is quite splendid. Those falls are just amazing. They have such a medieval or maybe it is primordial, quality to them. I have said before that if there are places of power, temples so to speak, to Nature, Falls Creek Falls in some forgotten day might very well have been such a place. And I can see that in this photo.

 

But the technical limitations of the camera I was shooting with really come back to haunt me. It was an old Nikon D1X, and it was not really meant for high quality landscape photography. Well it was not really meant for high quality anything. It's purpose in life was mostly a bang-around digital slr for photojournalists. An overpriced and underpowered camera that lost a lot of quality that the older professional film bodies achieved but at the same time facilitated the immediate response required by photojournalism. We can say all this in hindsight of course. When the D1 came out, it was top of the line, at least in terms of digital SLRs. And it did have its strengths, but especially compared to digital SLRs these days, it is a pretty worthless camera. What fascinates me though is remembering how fascinated people were by this generation of digital camera. Photographers jumped to buy these and other similar cameras when they hit the market, and this almost blind fervor did not end until the next generation of digital SLR hit and then it was completely replaced again by the third generation. Now digital cameras have gotten very very good indeed. The quality of today's digital cameras is not the issue I am driving at though, rather it was that these early cameras were honestly quite poor in terms of quality, yet they were such a must-have item. The consumer public really was so blind in its desire to jump on the digital photography bandwagon, that it overlooked the very obvious shortcomings of these cameras. I have to be very careful here, because I am not being a traditionalist, I am not bashing digital photography at all. What I am attempting to draw attention to rather is our sometimes raccoon-like trait of being mindlessly drawn to the shiny thing in the corner, seeing only that is shiny and not that it is actually on fire and covered in barbed wire. Not that I think digital photography is a physical hazard to one's health unless you walk over a cliff because you are staring at your LCD screen, but it does have some pitfalls and dangers which are a bit hidden, though they really ought not to be. Some of these shortcomings have been pretty well overcome, such as the quality issue. Gone are the days of the high-end 2 million pixel camera (remember those $400 gimmicks?) and the crummy digital printing. With cameras out now boasting up to 16 megapixels and beyond, it really is amazing the quality of images you can capture with some of these cameras. And while crummy digital printing still does exist, so does very nice, very beautiful digital printing.

 

But I carry on, and if I do not wrap this up shortly, by the time I am finished typing this is going to be overly long. I really posted this image because I just saw an insightful little article in The Oregonian I wanted to share. So I will commence with that. Again, please note, I am not trying to nay say digital photography, that is why I posted a digital image to go with it. I too shoot digitally on occasion. My point here rather is to try to educate, to possibly point out to some who may not realize it, on the dangers inherent in shooting digitally and to hopefully avoid some of the future problems those dangers can cause. I truly worry about the impermanence of the photographic work so many of us are doing. Where are these photos going to be in 20 years? 40? 60? 120? Will we be able to anything with that box of CDs in the attic in 30 years, or even 15 for that matter? Hard drives crash. Pictures just never get printed and eventually just deleted, lost forever. That mundane snapshot of your son when he is five, will he ever be able to appreciate it? There are some real concerns to address, and they do not necessarily lie with changing our technology, but rather in how we use our technology, and that begins with realizing what it can and does not do for us.

  

Studios try to avoid sad ending for stored digital films.

The Sunday Oregonian, December 23rd 2007

by Michael Cieply -- New York Times News Service

 

Time was, a movie studio could pack up a picture and all of its assorted bloopers, alternate takes and other odds and ends as soon as the production staff was done with them, and ship them off to the salt mine. Literally.

 

Having figured out that really big money comes from reselling old films - on broadcast television, then cable, videocassettes, DVDs, and so on _ companies like Warner Brothers and Paromount Pictures for decades have been tucking their 35mm film masters and associated source material into archives, some of which are housed in a Kansas salt mine, or in limestone mines in Kansas and Pennsylvania.

 

A picture could sit for many, many years, cool and comfortable, until some entierprising executive decided that the time was ripe for, say, a Wallace Beery special collection timed to a 25th anniversary 3-D rerelease of "Barton Fink," with a hitherto unseen, behind-the-scenes peek at the Coen brothers trying to explain a Hollywood in-joke to John Turturro.

 

It was a file-and-forget system that didn't cost much, and made up for the self-destructive sins of an industry that discarded its earliest works or allowed films on old flammable stock to degrade. (Only half of the feature films shot before 1950 survive.)

 

But then came digital. And suddenly the film industry is wrestling again with the possibility that its most precious assets, the pictures, aren't as durable as they used to be.

 

The problem became public, but just barely, last month, when the science and technology council of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released the results of a yearlong study of digital archiving in the movie business. Titled "The Digital Dilemma," the council's report surfaced just as Hollywood's writers began their walkout. Busy walking, or dodging, the picket lines, industry types largely missed teh report's startling bottom line: To store a digital master record of a movie costs about $12,514 a year, versus the $1,059 it costs to keep a convential film master.

 

Much worse, to keep the enormous swarm of data produced when a picture is "born digital" _ that is, produced using all-electronic processes, rather than relying wholly or partially on film - pushes the cost of preservation to $208,569 a year, vastly higher than the $86 it costs to toss the equivalent camera negatives, audio recordings, on-set photographs and annotated scripts of an all-film production into the cold-storage vault.

 

Back to the future.

 

All of this may seem counterintuitive. After all, digital magic is supposed to make information of all kinds more available. Ubiquity, it turns out, is not the same as permanence.

 

In a telephone interview earlier this month, Milton Shefter, a longtime film preservationist who helped prepare the academy's report, said the problems associated with digital movie storage, if not addressed, could point the industry "back to the early days, when they showed a picture for a week or two, and it was thrown away."

 

Shefter and his associates do not contend that films are actually on the verge of becoming quite that ephemeral. But they do see difficulties and trends that could point many movies or their source material toward "digital extinction" over a relatively short span of years, unless something changes.

 

At present, copies of virtually all studio movies - even those like "Click" or "Miami Vice" that are shot using digital processes - are being stored in film format, protecting the finished products for 100 years or more. For film aficionados, the current practice is already less than perfect. Regardless of how they are shot, most pictures are edited digitally, and then a digital master is transferred to film, which can result in an image of lower quality than a pure film process - and this is what becomes stored for the ages.

 

But over the next couple of decades, archivists reason, the conversion of theaters to digital projection will sharply reduce the overall demand for film, eventually making it a sunset market for the main manufacturers, Kodak, Fujifilm and Agfa. At that point, pure digital storage will become the norm, bringing with it a whole set of problems that never troubled film.

 

Less durable media.

 

To begin with, the hardware and storage media - magnetic tapes, discs, whatever - on which a film is encoded are much less enduring than good old film. If not operated occasionally, a hard drive will freeze up in as little as two years. Similarly, DVDs tend to degrade: according to the report, only half of a collection of discs can be expected to last for 15 years, not a reassuring prospect to those who think about centuries. Digital audiotape, it was discovered, tends to hit a "brick wall" when it degrades. While conventional tape becomes scratchy, the digital variety becomes unreadable.

 

Difficulties of that sort are compounded by constant change in technology. As one generation of digital magic replaces the next, archived materials must be repeatedly "migrated" to the new format, or risk becoming unreadable.

 

All of that makes digital archiving a dynamic rather than static process, and one that costs far more than studios have been accustomed to paying in the past - no small matter, given that movie companies rely on their libraries for about one-third of their $36 billion in annual revenue, according to a recent assessment by the research service Global Media Intelligence.

 

One of the most perplexing aspects of a digital production like "Superman Returns" is that it sometimes generates more storable material than convential film, creating new questions about what to save.

 

For no, studios are saving as much of this digital ephemera as possible, storing it on tapes or drives in vaults not unlike those that house traditional film. But how much of that material will be migrated when technology shifts in seven to 10 years is anyone's guess.

"Bang bang, he shot me down

Bang bang, I hit the ground

Bang bang, that awful sound

Bang bang, my baby shot me down..."

Another rerelease of an older doll, also part of the Ex-Cute Best Selection series.

ABS&PVC Pre-painted Posable Figure

Size: Approx. H100mm (non-scale)

 

[Set Contents]

-Main figure

-Base

 

Sculptor: Shichibee

Cooperation: Nendoron

 

The adventurous princess of the sea is joining the Nendoroids!

 

From the popular movie "The Little Mermaid" comes a rerelease of Nendoroid Ariel! She comes with three face plates including a standard smile, a determined expression and a cheerful smile with closed eyes! The unique flow of her hair from being under the sea has been captured on the Nendoroid design, and using the included stand you can place her in a variety of different swimming poses!

 

Her mermaid tail and fin are also articulated allowing you to display her in a range of poses to swimming fast to a more gentle movement. Alternate parts to display her sitting are also included, which are perfect to pose her sitting and chatting with friends! Sebastian and Flounder are also both included to display swimming by her side!

 

Disney

These dolls are for the 2012 Fall rerelease of the Diamond Edition Cinderella Blu-ray!

 

I love her new hair do! I really really just want the Fashion pack! lol

The Raincoats for Amelia's Magazine.

Cool Facts:

The House Finch was originally a bird of the western United States and Mexico. In 1940 a small number of finches were turned loose on Long Island, New York, after failed attempts to sell them as cage birds (“Hollywood finches”). They quickly started breeding and spread across almost all of the eastern United States and southern Canada within the next 50 years.

The total House Finch population across North America is staggering. Scientists estimate between 267 million and 1.4 billion individuals.

House Finches were introduced to Oahu from San Francisco sometime before 1870. They had become abundant on all the major Hawaiian Islands by 1901.

The red of a male House Finch comes from pigments contained in its food during molt (birds can’t make bright red or yellow colors directly). So the more pigment in the food, the redder the male. This is why people sometimes see orange or yellowish male House Finches. Females prefer to mate with the reddest male they can find, perhaps raising the chances they get a capable mate who can do his part in feeding the nestlings.

House Finches feed their nestlings exclusively plant foods, a fairly rare occurrence in the bird world. Many birds that are vegetarians as adults still find animal foods to keep their fast-growing young supplied with protein.

The oldest known House Finch was a female, and at least 11 years, 7 months old when she was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in New York in 1985, the same state where she had been banded in 1973.

Courtesy:Cornell Lab / All About Birds

They come by their name honestly, they often forage by turning over stones and other objects.

On the south beach at Rondeau Provincial Park, May 19/16

 

Arenaria interpres

 

The oldest recorded Ruddy Turnstone was a female, and at least 14 years, 11 months old, when she was recaptured and rereleased during a scientific study in New Jersey.

source - Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

"'Cause nothin' lasts forever

Even cold November rain"

The ad coincides with the movie’s 1946 re-release. An American Western, “The Outlaw” stars Jack Buetel as Billy the Kid, Jane Russell as Rio McDonald, Thomas Mitchell as Pat Garrett, and Walter Huston as Doc Holliday. Howard Hughes, the business magnate, produced and directed the film, while Howard Hawks served as an uncredited co-director. The film is notable as Russell’s breakthrough role, and she soon became a sex symbol and Hollywood icon. Later advertising (as in this 1946 issue of Sensation) billed Russell as the sole star. [Source: Wikipedia]

 

Scenes from The Outlaw: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZKF9s3Ss3Y&t=18s

 

Tucked away under some leaves in a bush.

 

Setophaga petechia

 

The oldest-known Yellow Warbler was a female, and was at least 11 years old when she was recaught and rereleased during banding operations in New York.

source- Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

She's very beautiful and elegant!

So I haven't been on here recently, and that's just due to the fact that I'm back in college studying again..hoping this time to make it to Uni.

I'm doing fashion and photography.

Will still be uploading pics of Bratz and MH when I can..just been mega busy lately.

“Betrothal” is a classic Rfyre design revitalized. The original was created in 2008 and it’s been restyled and rereleased in mesh for 2020, in all its regency glamour. Designs for both bride and groom, will be featured exclusively at The Trick or Treat Lane Event on October 9th. October weddings are the most dark and exciting.

 

Some tags! #roleplay #SLroleplay #cosplay #SLcosplay #costume #SLcostume

 

Follow or like our page us for more updates and find more fantasy and role-play fashion at the House of Rfyre. Here’s your carriage.

VISIT THE HOUSE OF RFYRE

"The oldest-known Yellow Warbler was a female, and was at least 11 years old when she was recaught and rereleased during banding operations in New York." Cornell

Had a marvelous time yesterday. Smayocat came back into town and it was fantastic getting to visit with him again. It was awesome getting to see him again and hang out.

 

Smayocat was also extra awesome because I asked him when he was in Hong Kong/Japan earlier this year if he could help me find the Asterisk Marine uniforms for the Lehanes. They had just been rereleased by Volks and it felt like they were impossible to get our hands on. Evie got her uniform through Ebay (because hers was apparently more in demand) but he did manage to find the other uniform. HOMG, so worth the wait. It is so freaking adorable and perfect for Ronan when he is not wearing his boy uniform. I can't get over it.

 

Buying him clothes gives me a ridiculous high. XD;; It's so silly!

Another Package from Ebay for this month, I bought the re-released Version of Atomic Kitten's Debut album Right Now

It had been weeks since Colleen and I were able to go to the flea market. Due to the flakey weather, it seemed that every Sunday it would be raining, bleak and cold...not ideal for secondhand shopping. But sometimes only going once in a while works out. This Memorial Day weekend, we scored HUGE!!! First let's address the American Girl clothes. Those were not part of the flea market haul, but they arrived in the mail a few days before. AG ran a sale on some of the Beforever nightgowns, and I just could not resist. It has been nearly two years since we were able to order from American Girl, so we got a few things that I had been wanting for a while. Addy and Samantha's nightgowns as well as the Truly Me Star Spangled Fan Gear were on sale. I had no idea that this Fourth of July themed ensemble even existed, but when I saw it in the sale section, I knew it would look amazing on my GOTY Isabelle! It seems that the historical stuff is all being sold out (maybe they are getting rid of everything for new stuff, or they are mass retiring things?). I decided since I wasn't sure what was going to be permanently retired, and since I missed out on certain items that I really wanted, I nabbed Julie's New Year's Eve Outfit and Kit's Play dress. I'm so excited to finally have some new clothes for some of my American Girls!

 

On Sunday, Colleen and I embarked to the flea market, where we found several treasures. First, Colleen spotted this Share A Smile Becky for $5, still sealed in her box. We got this same Becky doll as kids, also boxed at a flea market. However, our childhood gal was played with for years and years. So of course Colleen was tantalized by the idea of getting a brand new version. We also found a boxed Pretty 'N' Punk Yasmin, but sadly her spare outfit was removed at one point. I was more than happy to buy her anyways, especially since my old doll is way scrappier! Last, but not least, there was a mini hoard of separately sold dolls we scored. I spotted Casta Fierce on a table with a pile of other dolls. I knew there were other Monster High dollies lurking in the same vicinity, so I immediately rushed over to see who was there. Sadly, it seemed as though many of the dolls were missing limbs. But regardless, we decided to hand pick a few, like Monster Exchange Lagoona, Scaremester Catrine, Art Class Draculaura, and Frights Camera Action Draculaura. They were all 50 cents each, which was a bargain (thus why missing appendages was not a big deal to us). As I was counting out the money for the dolls, the seller overheard Colleen pointing out to me that Catrine was missing several limbs. The seller felt terrible , and said we could have the rest of the dolls for free! This is where the 2010s Barbies, Ballerina Princesses, the rest of the Monster High, the two Yasmin dolls, and My Scene Barbie came from. We ended up with 14 dolls for $2 in total! The poor dears were wet for some reason, but at least that was an easier fix than the missing parts.

 

On Memorial Day Monday, the flea market was open again, so we popped in. I was hoping to find treasure, but usually on holiday Mondays, there aren't many vendors set up. But we found more goodies! The Classics Gift Set Belle and Beast set was just $5 too (weird how all the boxed dolls we got this weekend were only $5). Their box literally fell apart in the Jeep, but luckily none of their little fixings went missing. I also spotted some Disney Descendants dolls at another booth. This was a bargain since the dolls were barely played with (apparently the man who was selling them said they were his daughters, and that they were the duplicates she didn't need). We also found My Little Pony Megan in a bin on the ground at the same booth. Growing up, I found the 1986 version of Megan in a bin at the flea market, and was enchanted by her. Back then, I didn't know she was marketed for the My Little Pony franchise. The other loose dolls (Cowardly Lion Ken, Cali Girl Ken, Kidz Jade, Madison, Darling Charming, and Skipper) we spotted on our way out. A man had a huge tub of dolls on the ground, several scattered on a table, and a few stragglers strewn on the ground by some tools. Many were generic Disney Mattel/new Barbies or clones, but after some digging we found six dollies. The man offered to sell us the whole bin, but what we left behind was for the most part not worth buying. If there had been more clothes or less generic dolls, we may have bought it.

 

Due to the parade in an adjoining town, we had to go home a different route. Surprisingly the Salvation Army was open, so we figured, why not stop in? At first, it looked like a bust, because the toy section was bare. I'm not sure why, by the past few weeks, this store has not stocked any toys. Colleen, however, noticed a basket of minty looking dolls by the register--the 80s/90s dolls in the photo! They were marked at $2 each, so I originally was only going to by Midge and Happy Family Dad. But at the register, the cashier rang up both dolls for $2.11. Colleen asked on our way back to the Jeep if I wanted the My First Barbie I'd left behind. I admitted that if I doubled back, I would want to rescue all the remaining dolls. What can I say, I'm a sucker for this generation of Barbies! So Colleen went back inside and bought the rest of the crew...they were just $2.11 too, even though there were three dolls! I love how the cashiers at this store almost always mark things down when you go to pay. I'm thinking that these beauties all came from the same former home. Maybe they belonged to a collector, or perhaps they were someone's gently played with childhood dolls. Either way, I'm so grateful to have kept them all together.

 

Video:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2SZ9tZK0kg&feature=youtu.be

 

Dolls in photo from left to right (on top of boxes):

-2014 Monster Exchange Lagoona

-2013 Frights Camera Action! Draculaura

-2013 Art Class Draculaura

-2013 Scaremester Catrine

-2011 Skultimate Roller Maze Ghoulia

-2015 "1st Edition Re-release" Darling Charming

-2004 Funk Out! Yasmin

-2003 Formal Funk Yasmin

-2006 Super Secret Make-up Vanity Jade

-2015 Sisters Vanity Skipper

-1985 My Little Pony Megan & Sundance

 

Standing/boxed dolls:

-2014 "1st Edition" Casta Fierce

-1992 Disney Classics Gift Set Belle & The Beast

-1988 The Heart Family Schootime Fun Coach Dad

-2005 Pretty 'N' Punk Yasmin

-2003 Cali Girl Ken

-1996 Share A Smile Becky

-1996 Hollywood Legends Collection Wizard of Oz Cowardly Lion Ken

 

Sitting dolls:

-1988 My First Barbie

-1989 Dance Club Barbie

-1988 Style Magic Barbie

-1990 Barbie and the Beat Midge

-2015 Genie Chic Evie

-2014 "Signature" Mal

-2003 My Scene Hanging Out Barbie

-2002 My Scene "Spring Break" Madison

-2011 The Princess & the Popstar 2 in 1 Princess to Popstar! Barbie as Tori

-2008 Then and Now Bathing Suit Barbie

-2010 Kohl's Walking Tawny Barbie

-2009 Ballerina Princess Tiana

-2009 Ballerina Princess Snow White

 

♦ Lizzie Hearts ♦

♦ EVER AFTER HIGH ♦

Northern Waterthrush

  

A bird of northern forests, the Northern Waterthrush sings its loud, ringing song from wooded swamps and bogs.

 

It can be seen on migration bobbing its tail near wet spots in parks or back yards.

 

Adult Description

 

Small songbird.

 

Brown back.

Whitish or creamy underside with dark stripes.

Whitish or yellowish eyestripe.

Constantly bobs its tail.

Immature Description

 

Immature similar to adult.

  

The Northern Waterthrush is territorial in both winter and summer. On the breeding grounds the male proclaims

 

its territory with its loud, ringing song. On the wintering grounds it uses its "chink" calls, together with

 

chasing and fighting, to keep out intruders.

The Louisiana and Northern waterthrushes are very similar species whose breeding ranges overlap slightly. Their

 

songs and their habitats, while similar, differ significantly. The pitch of the beginning notes of the

 

Louisiana's song usually descend, just as does the hilly stream that is its preferred habitat. The Northern

 

Waterthrush prefers bogs and waters that are flat, just as its beginning notes stay on the same pitch.

The oldest recorded Northern Waterthrush was at least 8 years, 11 months old when it was recaptured and

 

rereleased during banding operations in Michigan in 1987. It had been banded in Ontario in 1978.

  

Habitat

 

Forest

 

Breeds in thickets near slow-moving streams, ponds, swamps, and bogs; in migration and winter, uses a variety of

 

wooded habitats, generally near water, often in mangroves.

  

Food

 

Insects

  

Nesting

 

Nesting Facts

 

Clutch Size

1–6 eggs

Egg Description

White with dark spots and scrawls concentrated around large end.

Nest Description

 

Open cup of moss and leaves, lined with fine plant stems, rootlets, hair, and moss. May construct entranceway of

 

whole dead leaves. Nest placed in small hollow or cavity under fallen log, or within roots of an upturned tree.

Insects. Also other arthropods, snails, and occasionally small fish.

  

Behavior

 

Ground Forager

Feeds mainly on ground, wades in shallow water.

  

Conservation

 

Status via IUCN

 

Least Concern

 

Northern Waterthrush are common and widespread. However, U.S. populations experienced a small decline between

 

1966 and 2014, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey. Partners in Flight estimates a global

 

breeding population of 19 million with 28% spending part of the year in the U.S., 72% in Canada, and 25% in

 

Mexico. They rate a 10 out of 20 on the Continental Concern Score and are not listed in the 2014 State of the

 

Birds Report.

  

Disney’s fifth animated feature film “Bambi” was based on the 1923 book “Bambi, a Life in the Woods” by Austrian author and hunter Felix Salten. The main characters are Bambi, a white-tailed deer; his parents (the Great Prince of the forest and his unnamed mother); his friends Thumper (a pink-nosed rabbit) and Flower (a skunk); and his childhood friend and future mate, Faline. In December 2011, the film was added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically and aesthetically significant. [Source: Wikipedia]

 

Movie trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLvX-erABqY