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Need convincing? Here's a list of reasons that a night filled with pizza at home is better than heading out on the town. Order your pizza now! Call us at (630) 585-8888 we deliver the best pizza in the Aurora area. Order online here bit.ly/DomAurora2
“The poverty of modern architecture stems from the atrophy of sensuality. Everything is dominated by reason in order to create amazement without proper research. We must mistrust pictorial elements if they are not assimilated by instinct. It is not a matter of simply constructing beautiful ensembles of lines, but above all, dwellings for great people.”
- Eileen Gray
Eileen Gray was an influential Irish architect and designer whose iconic modernist work is among the most valuable and sought after in the world today.
Although Gray was not a trained architect, her contribution to design and architecture is incredibly significant. Her E1027 house, nestled within a rocky coastline in the south of France, was famously coveted by her contemporary Le Corbusier, while her ‘dragon’ armchair - made between 1917 and 1919 - sold at a Paris auction for almost 22 million euros in 2009, setting a record for 20th century decorative art.
Gray was born in 1878, near Enniscorthy, Wexford. Her father was a painter who encouraged her artistic interests and in 1898, she enrolled at the Slade School of Fine Art, London, to study painting.
In 1900 she made her first visit to Paris – the city in which she was to spend much of her life. Moving there shortly after the trip, Gray continued her studies at the Académie Julian and the Académie Colarossi for around five years before returning to London and the Slade school in 1905.
It was while back in the English capital that Gray chanced upon a Soho lacquer repair shop where she asked to be trained in the art of lacquer work. In 1906 she returned to Paris and began working with a contact of the Soho shop owner, a Japanese artist called Seizo Sugawara, whom she worked with for four years, despite developing lacquer disease on her hands.
It was this training however, that paved the way for her future career. In 1913, at the age of 35, Gray first exhibited her lacquer work and recently a black lacquered screen, made by the designer between 1923 and 1925, sold for 1.3 million euro at auction.
Her first major foray into furniture and interior design came at the end of the first World War, when Gray was tasked with decorating the apartment of a successful female milliner in the rue de Lota. It was during this period that she designed her famous ‘Bibendum’ chair, as well as carpets with modern geometric patterns and lamps, including the ‘tube’ style lamp for which she is also known.
Several art critics at the time hailed the work as innovative and in light of this positive response, Gray opened what was to prove a hugely successful shop in Paris - Jean Desert - to exhibit and sell her work and that of her artist friends.
In 1924, with her then partner, the Romanian architectural critic Jean Badovici, Gray’s interests turned to house design. That year she began work on ‘E-1027’ (the name of the building being a code for the couple’s initials - E for Eileen, 10 for J, the tenth letter of the alphabet, 2 for B and 7 for G).
The sharp clean lines, flat roof and ribbon windows that featured throughout the Cote d’Azur house helped make it an icon of modernist architecture. As well as collaborating with Badovici on the structural elements of the house, Gray also designed the interior and furniture – creating another design classic in the circular glass and steel E-1027 table.
Her friend and professional contemporary, Le Corbusier was said to be greatly impressed by the house and built his own summer home nearby. However, in what is believed by some critics to have been an act of jealous vandalism, he covered large areas of the white painted walls with somewhat gaudy and explicit murals, much to Gray’s distaste (they were apparently created at Badovici's behest in her absence.) It is perhaps ironic that Le Corbusier died in 1965, while swimming in the sea directly in front of E-1027, a building thought to have stirred such professional envy in him.
The house itself has been tarred by misfortune over the years – it was looted in the evacuation of the French coast during World War II, and in 1996 the then owner was murdered in the building. For years E-1027 fell into a bad state of disrepair, but it is currently being restored as part of plans by the French government, who designated it a French National Cultural Monument. The national agency, Conservatoire du Littoral, bought the villa in 1999 to secure it provisionally and it is hoped the house will be ready and open to the public again by 2015.
After the war, Gray returned to Paris and led a reclusive life, almost forgotten by the design industry. Then, in 1968, she agreed to the further production of her Bibendum chair, E-1027 table and other works with renowned London based retailer Zeev Aram – leading to the pieces becoming the modern classics they are today.
In 1973, she was recognised by her home country in the Bank of Ireland exhibition: Eileen Gray, Pioneer of Design. The event was organised by the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) which later presented her with a honourary fellowship.
Eileen Gray died in her Paris apartment in 1976. In the following four decades her legacy lives on - her style still heavily influences modern design and the value and collectability of her work continues to grow.
History E1027, designed BY ARCHITECT EILEEN GRAY
1924: Villa is designed by Eileen Gray (with Jean Badovici)
1927: Building is completed
1932: Eileen Gray leaves the house
1937-39: Le Corbusier marks the walls with murals; Gray is displeased at his intervention
1951: Le Corbusier builds Le Cabanon next door
1960: A patron of Le Corbusier, Madame Marie-Louise Schelbert, buys E1027 at his behest
1956: Jean Badovici dies
1965: Le Corbusier has a heart attack and dies whilst swimming in the sea below
1976: Eileen Gray dies
1982: Madame Schelbert dies and a Swiss doctor (Dr. Kaegi) buys E1027
1996: Dr Kaegi is murdered in the villa by his gardeners
1999: Municipality of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin and the French Government buy E1027
2008: Restoration begins on now dilapidated villa
2013: The restoration had cost €600,000
2015: It is hoped that the house will be open to the public
Created with fd's Flickr Toys
So, here it is, the reason I drove across Norfolk: Trunch in all it's glory And it is glorious.
It has so many fascinating details, each one alone would be reason enough to visit, but together, in a fine village, next to the village pub, and with that font canopy, one of only four such in all of England, and one of two in the county.
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The oldest building in Trunch is St. Botolph's Church. It is mainly 14th. and 15th. Century but there are some fragments of stone in the walls which are believed to have been reused from an earlier Saxon church, which was recorded in the Domesday Book. There is much of interest in the church including a Rood Screen, a hammer beam roof and a rare Font Canopy.
trunchhistory.weebly.com/buildings.html
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The large village of Trunch is located about 5 miles from the north Norfolk coast. In the centre of the village, surrounded by a lovely collection of cottages and the more modern Crossroads Inn, is St Botolph's church. Much of what you see of the church is early 15th century, built upon earlier foundations.
Upon entering the church the first feature you will see is the font, which dates to the mid 14th century. Though the font is attractive, it is the carved and painted font canopy that really makes a visit to Trunch worthwhile.
This is a quite remarkable piece of woodwork, one of only four such canopies surviving in the entire country (the others are at St Peter Mancroft in Norwich, Durham Cathedral, and Luton). The canopy is supported on six beautifully carved legs. The carving detail is exquisite; with fanciful animal figures and foliage and a bit of political commentary, in the shape of a pig wearing a bishop's mitre.
In addition to the font canopy, Trunch features a superb 15th century hammer beam roof, a feature of many churches in Norfolk and Suffolk. Here the carvings of angels are beautifully performed. It is worth bringing along a pair of binoculars or a telescope in order to see the carvings properly.
Much easier to see are the medieval misericords (mercy seats) in the chancel. Each carving is unique; some represent angels, and others are more grotesque in nature. In addition there are some beautifully carved pew ends and a painted medieval rood screen that rivals many more famous churches in detail and colour.
There are 12 niches in the screen, each painted with a depiction of a single figure - 11 disciples plus St Paul. Much of the costume detail is well preserved, but the faces of the figures were destroyed during the upheavals of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century.
www.britainexpress.com/counties/norfolk/churches/Trunch.htm
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William Earl Warren had the lordship of this town, (fn. 1) of which 3 freemen were deprived; one of them belonged to Herold, late King of England, another to Ralph Stalre, and the 3d to Ketel, who held 90 acres of land, and 14 borderers belonged to it, with 5 carucates among them; there was a church endowed with 10 acres, &c. 3 acres of meadow always valued at 30s. and there were also 5 freemen of Edric in King Edward's time, who had 34 acres of land, with 2 carucates, 2 acres and an half of meadow, always valued at 7s. 4d. (fn. 2)
This town also belonged to the Earl Warren's capital manor of Gimmingham, and paid suit and service to it. In the 34th of Henry III. Maud de Norwich granted by fine, to Richer, son of Nicholas, a messuage, 48 acres of land, a mill, and the sixth part of another in this town, Swathefeld and Bradfeld. In the 15th of Edward I. the Earl Warren claimed a weekly mercate, on Saturday, in this manor; and on the death of John Earl Warren, in the 21st of Edward III. the mercate was valued at 10s. per ann. the manor came after to the Earl of Lancaster, (as is before observed,) and so to John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster, and King Henry IV. and is still in the Crown, as part of the dutchy of Lancaster.
The tenths were 4l. 10s. deducted 15s.
The Church is dedicated to St. Botolph, and is a regular pile, with a nave, 2 isles, and a chancel covered with lead, and has a tower with 4 bells.
In the chancel, on a little monument,
Lancelotus Thexton cappellanus Regis Edw. VI. sacre theologie baccalaureus, et rector de Trunch obt. 25. Febr. 1588, and this shield of arms, quarterly, in the first and fourth a cross between four lions heads erased, gules, in the 2d and 3d, ermine, fretty, azure.
In a window here, argent, a fess between two chevrons, sable.
On a gravestone
Hic jacet Magr. Robt. Cantell, quo'd. rector isti. ecclie, qui. obt. 1 Sept. Ao. Dni. 1480.
Gravestones
In memory of Thomas Worts, gent. who died November 13, 1693, aged 45, with his arms, three lions rampant, - - - — William Worts. gent. who married Elizabeth, daughter of Riches Brown of Fulmodeston, Esq. died August 25, 1694, aged 60, with the arms of Worts impaling Brown; two bars, between three spears heads, - - -
¶The patronage of the church was granted to the priory of Castleacre, by William Earl Warren, the first on his founding that priory. In the reign of Edward I. the rector had a manse, and 13 acres of land valued at 16 marks, Peter-pence 13d. and the prior of Castleacre had a pension or portion of tithe valued at 40s. the present valor is 10l. 13s. 4d. and pays first fruits, &c. the Norwich registers say that William, the second Earl Warren, granted the patronage, and Eborard Bishop of Norwich, confirmed it; and that Simon the Bishop confirmed the pension in 1268.
www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-hist-norfolk/vol8...
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Trunch is the largest of the villages between North Walsham and the sea; but as all the industrialisation and tawdry caravan sites are hard against the coast, and Trunch is several miles inland, it has avoided these excesses and retains a great rural charm. It has a magnificent church with lots of fascinating treasures, as well as a shop, a green, a pub run by an ex-professional footballer, and generally all the typical features you expect to find in a large village in deepest rural Norfolk.
The church is perhaps the most interesting of all round about; and, while the large village lends it an urban quality that lacks the charm of, say, the churches of neighbouring Edingthorpe and Crostwight, it has by no means the Victorianised sterility of those at Bacton or Happisburgh.
St Botolph is a big church, and its tight graveyard makes it rather hard to photograph. The whole piece seems to have been rebuilt in the early 15th century, although the chancel may be a little later, and there is a hint of Decorated about the nave. The tower is quite simple, even slight. It builds boldly enough, but at the top of the second stage fades into a simple bell stage, understated, elegant and probably intended. This is not a building that shouts at you. A curiosity is the massive priest porch surrounding the door in the chancel. These are very unusual, although there is another, smaller one at neighbouring Knapton.
The great treasure, of course, is the marvellous font canopy. It is particularly fascinating because of its date, coming in the early 16th century right on the eve of the English protestant reformation. Like all church furnishings at this time - the tombs at Oxborough, for instance - it gives us a hint of what the English renaissance might have been like if it had been allowed to flower. Here, the massive structure tumbles with intricacy; fruit and flowers, leopards and lions peep around the silvery oak of the six octagonal columns which are fluted with interlocking chains of detail. The glory is the massive crown of canopied niches, with the haunting ghosts of crucifixion groups still apparent on three of the faces. The whole thing is at once in perfect harmony with the west end of the church, but exists because it was believed to be beautiful rather than known to be useful.There is only one other font canopy in Norfolk, at St Peter Mancroft in Norwich; Outside of the county there is another at Durham Cathedral, and a fourth at the parish church in Luton - but that is it.
Above the canopy is a rich 15th century hammerbeam roof, by no means as dramatic as that at nearby Knapton, but more beautiful, I think. In the space beneath the tower there is what appears to be a gallery like the plough guild gallery at Cawston. This is not as elaborate, but its oak has silvered and it is painted beautifully with trailing rose foliage.
The benching, unfortunately, is pretty much all 19th century, but along with the font canopy and roof the medieval screen survives. Like the canopy, this is richly ornamented in relief, including a bold dedicatory inscription in diagonal ribbons across the top part of the dado. The twelve figures (11 disciples and St Paul) are boldly placed and coloured, but their faces have been completely vandalised by the 16th century reformers. Low down on the north side of the doorway is a rare surviving carved consecration cross, suggesting that this screen was already installed in the newly built church of the 15th century. The screen had detached buttressing running vertically at intervals in front of it, as at Ludham. They have been almost entirely destroyed, but you can still see the fixings between the panels. It must have been magnificent.
The return stalls in the chancel are pretty much all Victorian, but they retain medieval misericords, and also you can see quatrefoil holes set into a sounding chamber to amplify the singing. There is a very curious memorial above the priest door, featuring the instruments of the passion. I have no idea how old it is.
All of these features would be enough, but part of the attraction of St Botolph is the sense of harmony, the way everything works together. You can add to these the sedilia, the magnificent organ, and the modern design of the glass in the east window. It is a peaceful, inspiring space.
Cottages and houses hem in the graveyard, and in the corner is the modern pub. Incidentally, I don't really know if the bloke who runs it is an ex-professional footballer. But, like many rural Norfolk landlords, he seems to be a cheerful 40-something cockney who serves a decent pint and cheap food - a recommended stop for churchcrawlers.
Simon Knott, April 2005
www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/trunch/trunch.htm
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And the pub is still good.
For some reason, emptying a full dishwasher has always been one of my least-loved chores, and I'm not even sure why. It isn't hard; it doesn't take very long; and it's not at all yucky. Still, a full dishwasher looms large in my list of undone tasks. I feel a great sense of relief once I've emptied it.
On the back of the hardcover novel slipcover, you will find this map....guiding you through the book. amasing and ingenius. really. it guides the characters in the book through the town as well as the reader. awesome.
The Egyptian (1954) @ IMDb
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The Egyptian (1954) @ American Film Institute.
>> EXCEPTIONALLY EXTENSIVE NOTES
"... The HR review mistakenly lists the picture's running time as 134 minutes. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography (Color). The Egyptian did not re-coup its production costs at the box-office, and according to a modern source, its disappointing gross was the reason for the abandonment of a planned sequel, which was to have starred Victor Mature and Gene Tierney. According to a Jun 1954 HR news item, Zanuck had intended to go to Egypt “to inspect the new archeological discoveries at the tomb of Cheops” to help prepare the proposed sequel. "
>> COMPREHENSIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY
www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=...
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THE EGYPTIAN Film 1954 @ Wikipedia
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COMPARE >> Finnnish fi.wikipedia.org
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WATCH ONLINE >> The Egyptian (1954)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGoAYTrNWTA
AND
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHNxzq4tL3o
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THE EGYPTIAN Film 1954 on DVD
***NO U.S.A.*** DVD !!!
KOREAN IMPORT RELEASE. NTSC - ALL REGION PLAY.
-- Will Play on ALL North American DVD Players. . *** REMOVABLE Korean Subtitles***.
www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://www.amazon.com/THE-EGYPTI...
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The Egyptian Soundtrack (1954) - #1 Prelude - Composed by Bernard Herrmann & Alfred Newman
Performed by The Moscow Symphony Orchestra & Choir - Conducted by William Stromberg
Recorded at Mosfilm Studio, Moscow, Russia in March and April, 1998. William T. Stromberg, conductor.
Score restoration and reconstructions by John Morgan..
LINKS [>> RIGHT] TO REMAINDER OF ALBUM
Marco Polo 8.225078 Germany,1999
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQQql1gZ7BQ&feature=related
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The Egyptian (1954) @ SoundtrackCollector - Soundtrack Information
www.soundtrackcollector.com/catalog/soundtrackdetail.php?...
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"THE EGYPTIAN" By MIKA WALTARI
1945 first pub. Finland
" First published in the United States in 1949 and widely condemned as obscene, The Egyptian outsold every other novel published that year, and remains a classic; readers worldwide have testified to its life-changing power.
It is a full-bodied re-creation of a largely forgotten era in the world's history: the Egypt of the 14th century B.C.E., when pharaohs and gods contended with the near-collapse of history's greatest empire.
This epic tale encompasses the whole of the then-known world, from Babylon to Crete, from Thebes to Jerusalem, while centering around one unforgettable figure: Sinuhe, a man of mysterious origins who rises from the depths of degradation to become personal physician to Pharaoh Akhnaton." --- amazon.com
"THE EGYPTIAN" By MIKA WALTARI
"The Egyptian": A Novel [Paperback] --
*Links* to other editions
Mika Waltari (Author), Lynda S. Robinson (Foreword)
www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://www.amazon.com/Egyptian-N...
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"THE EGYPTIAN" By MIKA WALTARI @ Wikipedia
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COMPARE >> Finnnish fi.wikipedia.org
www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sin...
Mika Toimi Waltari (19. syyskuuta 1908 Helsinki – 26. elokuuta 1979 Helsinki) oli merkittävä suomalainen kirjailija. Tavattoman tuotteliaana tunnetun Waltarin julkaisuluettelo käsittää romaaneja, runoja, novelleja, satuja, näytelmiä, kuunnelmia, propagandamateriaalia, arvosteluja, elokuvakäsikirjoituksia, matkakertomuksia ja sarjakuvariimejä.
=
Mika Toimi Waltari (September 19, 1908 – August 26, 1979)
was a Finnish writer, best known for his best-selling novel The Egyptian
(Finnish: Sinuhe egyptiläinen).
www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mik...
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MIKA WALTARI @ Wikipedia
www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mik...
COMPARE >> Finnnish fi.wikipedia.org ***MANY Links***
www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mik...
BOOKS BY MIKA WALTARI
www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://www.amazon.com/Mika-Walta...
AND
www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://www.goodreads.com/author/...
IN FINNISH:
www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://www.bookfinder.com/author...
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MIKA WALTARI @ FACEBOOK
www.facebook.com/pages/Mika-Waltari/108239845863874
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Documentary filmmaker Doug Block had every reason to believe his parent’s 54-year marriage was a good one. So he isn’t prepared when, just a few months after his mothers’ unexpected death, his 83-year old father, Mike, phones to announce that he’s moving to Florida to live with “Kitty”, his secretary from 40 years before. Always close to his mother and equally distant from his father, he’s stunned and suspicious.
When Mike and Kitty marry and sell the longtime family home, Doug returns to suburban Long Island with camera in hand for one last visit. And there, among the lifetime of memories being packed away forever, he discovers 3 large boxes filled with his moms’ daily diaries going back 35 years.
Realizing he has only a few short weeks before the movers come and his dad will be gone for good, the veteran documentarian sticks around, determined to investigate the mystery of his parents’ marriage. Through increasingly candid conversations with family members and friends, and constantly surprising diary revelations, Doug finally comes to peace with two parents who are far more complex and troubled than he ever imagined.
Both unexpectedly funny and heartbreaking, 51 Birch Street is the first-person account of Block’s unpredictable journey through a whirlwind of dramatic life-changing events: the death of his mother, the uncovering of decades of family secrets, and the ensuing reconciliation with his father. What begins as his own intimate, autobiographical story, soon evolves into a broader meditation on the universal themes of love, marriage, fidelity and the mystery of family.
“One of the most moving and fascinating documentaries I’ve seen this year… Mr. Block has put his parents’ life, and his own, into this film with such warmth and candor that it may take more than one viewing to recognize it as a work of art.” – New York Times
“A warm and honest portrait of a marriage at its most mysterious, and ordinary.” – Entertainment Weekly
Doug Block • Director, Producer, Writer, Camera
Doug Block is New York-based documentary director, producer and cameraman. His films have all been released theatrically in the U.S, won awards at leading international film festivals and have been broadcast around the world.
His first feature, The Heck With Hollywood!, followed 3 first-time filmmakers over the course of 3 years as they struggled to finish and find distribution for their films. His next film, the Emmy-nominated Home Page, was a look at the earliest days of blogging and online culture. The subject inspired Block to found and co-host an online community for documentary filmmakers called The D-Word, which now has over 4,000 members from 80 countries.
51 Birch Street, his next and best known film, was a re-examination of his parent’s marriage in light of his mother’s unexpected death, his father’s sudden re-marriage to a former secretary and the discovery of 40 years of his mother’s diaries. It was named one of the 10 Best Films of 2006 by a number of leading critics, including the New York Times, and was selected as one of the outstanding documentaries of the year by the National Board of Review.
His latest film, The Kids Grow Up, is about his relationship with his daughter and only child, Lucy, shot over a period of 18 years and focusing on her last year at home before she left for college. The film is set for a early fall theatrical release and a later broadcast on HBO.
In addition to his own films, Doug works as a producer for other documentaries. His credits as producer include: Silverlake Life, Jupiter’s Wife, Love and Diane and A Walk Into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory, among many others. Between them they’ve won grand jury prizes at the Sundance, Berlin and Tribeca film festivals, multiple Emmys, a Peabody and an Independent Spirit Award.
For this entry, I'd like to talk about a VERY popular item, the Gamerverse Marvel Vs. Capcom Infinite Black Widow and Ryu set from Hasbro.. but popular for reasons you're probably not thinking about as you read this.
The Capcom Vs. series of games were the first commercially available crossover games of any sort that I had ever played, starting with Xmen Vs. Street Fighter. Being in Canada (more specifically Toronto), the games came in an age where coin operated arcades were still viable, and as such I was able to enjoy them in the wild, which apparently was not the case for everyone. In general, all the releases have enjoyed relative success except for ONE of them - the most recent incarnation Marvel Vs. Capcom Infinite. I've never played it (I basically have given up on fighting games due to lack of desire to play them), but from what I've read MvC:I is actually one of the best made of the series from an actual fighting mechanics perspective, but it suffers from one major flaw... a lack of X-Men characters. Due to this flaw, interest in the game waned so much that effectively the fighting world has disowned this entry and opted to go with older games instead.
When a game isn't popular, you can probably see that it would affect sales of periphery items, which brings us to the subject of this article.
Capitalizing upon the perceived hype around this games release, Hasbro decided to retool some of their Marvel Universe 3.75 inch. figures into characters from this most recent iteration of the game, and sell them at a RIDICULOUS MSRP of approximately $28 CAD. Each set came with two figures, and as far as I know they made it to exactly one wave - Widow/Ryu, and Iron Man/Mega Man X. With the game all but forgotten and these figures cluttering up shelves, most store ended up putting them on clearance just in the time for the Holidays, which is the reason why it's not uncommon for people to actually have them now. Of the two sets, the Iron Man set was clearly more popular (probably due to the Mega Man more than Iron Man) which just made getting the set I really cared for that much easier.
Prices will vary these days, but you're now looking at anywhere between $5 and $10 USD for a set, with me unfortunately being dumb enough to pay the $10 USD price point. Still, much better than MSRP I suppose.
The set comes with a ludicrously large box for what you get. Inside this box you have the two figures, each with various accessories - Widow comes with two pistols, and Ryu comes with fists as well as his Hadoken effect.
The figures look... meh. Like.. REALLY meh, though still better than the QC absent X figure I saw a few months back. The bodies themselves look alright, but those head sculpts.. yikes. Ryu looks like he walked into some wierdness he can't unsee, yet the sculpt is still not the worst Ryu I've seen. Widow.. well Widow looks like practice mannequin at a hair styling school, complete with poofy hair, but again, strangely not the worst Widow I've seen. Widow was packed in the way that cause the left knee to be warped right out the gate, though a bit of hot water and recooling does the job to set her straight again. As mentioned above, the bodies were very clearly repurposed, though I'm not familiar enough with the line to say WHO exactly was repurposed other than Black Widow, who has a moulded Black Widow belt underneat the Hula Hoop she's wearing here making here clearly a reuse of the Black Widow body that itself has been reused several times already for several iterations of the character.
Articulation isn't actually that bad, though disappointingly even at this size the female body has less articulation than the male one, though in the case of Ryu you aren't really able to access this full potential until you pull a Goku and strip his top off. Both feature rotating and tilting ankles and double jointed knees. Widow has a thigh swivel whereas Ryu has an ankle swivel. Ryu has a more traditional hip joint whereas to get leg movement out of Widow you need to turn the thigh sideways to align the joint with what you're trying to accomplish, then rotate the thigh to get the correct leg orientation, which might be alright if it wasn't for the fact that Widow has a blue line running down her leg, causing discontinuity of the line. Both Widow and Ryu feature standard shoulders, bicep swivel, standard elbows, rotating wrists, and a ball jointed head. Ryu has in addition to all this mid torso and waist articulation. Overall, you'll get some rudimentary movement out of the figures, but I wouldn't except to do any crazy posing. Technically, Ryu doesn't even have the articulation to pull of a proper Hadoken. so I guess you could say even the fundamentals can't be met.
Paint work is.. well, it's Hasbro. All things considered, the worst paint app would probably be the paint work on Widows silver belt, which is very crude and thickly laid on. Otherwise, detailing on both are not bad, with the blue lines being surprisingly crisp on Widow. There isn't much actual detailing on Ryu other than the decals on his belt and wrists, though it should be noted there are some brown paint apps here and there to simulate dust. There is quite a bit of moulded detailing on Widow that is not painted, whether that be due to adherence to source materials or cost cutting is unknown to me.
Build quality is the usual level of Hasbro. Soft knee joints that can be warped if improperly handled and soft plastics overall. Detailing on the figures isn't bad and the assembly joints and overall finish of the sections isn't bad, though the use of softer plastics does result in a sloppier looking figure overall. The Widow pistols and general detailing on the hair of the two figures did turnout half decently despite their small size, even if the holster itself is all sorts of pain due to the warped nature of the piece and general inability to sit flush to her hips. Joints do their job and holding limbs in their desired positions. Also, crude as the set may be, at least there is no issue with limbs being the wrong size.
So, if you're able to find them at discount, these aren't terrible figures and are great for some LOLs as opposed to doing anything intricate with them. At full price though, there is pretty much nothing that could justify that price point other than either a lack of understanding their market, or Hasbro just plain got greedy. As mediocre as this set is, it still look LIGHT YEARS better than the other set, especially the X figures that I've seen. In a way, it's too bad they didn't continue the line as it would have meant maybe Chun Li or Morrigan could have made their way into this size and I could have had another figure for my travels
Where Has Democracy Gone?
Are the impacts of immigration and/or globalization the reasons for the actual crises in the world?
What Anglo-Saxons use to call “globalisation” in order to express the increase of trades around the world, is in fact an economic revolution triggered by technology which started more than a quarter of a century ago. Technology driven societies have transformed the world deeply and calmly but being the norm today they determine the entire world system of the 21st century and our regards towards democracy. Nowadays, we are questioning ourselves whether globalization is useful for African and Asian countries, or whether we are going to continue complaining about this situation like most European countries are likely to do or the United States which has elected D. Trump with his slogan “America First” for president in order to protect themselves against globalization? However, we have to face the facts and the reality of the actual conditions teaching us that the impact of the globalization will be even more important than the industrial revolution which had started about 300 years ago.
Being aware of the fact that communication and mutual understanding is the oxygen of a sustainable peace and assuming that the actual democracy of The People (German: “Das Volk”) is not in the position to manage these four different groups because they lack common interests, they don’t share common goals and above all, they have a low understanding of global facts, it is possibly maybe necessary to develop and extend and if necessary to substitute the actual deliberative Democracy by a pluralistic Expertocracy. Pluralistic Expertocracy refers to models whereby the votes of those, who have a proven better knowledge about important questions of a country, about critical political and societal issues, who have less prejudices, etc., are weighted higher than of those who do not fulfill such kind of criteria. And these criteria have to be fulfilled by the political candidates respectively actors as well.
Can we summarize, that the so-called dictatorship in Africa is a form of Expertocracy, as it is a common practice in several African countries that the language of public administration, services and education is that of their former colonial “masters”, meaning that the population do not understand what the political leaders are saying, planing or doing respectively? How and when will the population be taken into consideration as conversational partner?
Can the causality of south-south and south-north immigration be explained by the failures of the world system in terms of the international order and the redistribution of world resources? How to establish the new world order without a war?
The reality of globalization evolved four categories of people:
1. “The non-political Bohémien”, who is not interested in politics at all
2. “The Hooligan”, a type of political believer, who forms him/herself in groups of political activists
3. “The Vulcanian”, the rational intellectual, who is politically interested, who wants to break with the traditional belonging of the left or right wings
4. “The Terrorist”, the violent believer, who doesn’t respect anything else than his/her own believe and uses violence as language of communication.
In terms of these four character groups above, there is a further question: Is the impact of immigration (mass migration), discrimination and related societal conflicts an extended problem of the societal dysfunction in the Western hemisphere?
Am Podium diskutierten Dr. Yves Ekoué Amaïzo, Cindy Nägeli-Dupont, Dr. Camillus E. Konkwo, Dr. Jean-Alain Ngapout, Mag. Simone Prenner, Hubert Mvogo, Mag. Sintayehu Tsehay
Moderation: Dr. Di-Tutu Bukasa
Top 10 reasons to visit the Eden Project
Here's some of what you'll find when you visit:
1.the world's largest rainforest in captivity with steamy jungles and waterfalls
2.cutting-edge architecture and buildings
3.stunning garden displays all year round
4.world-class sculpture and art
5.evening gigs, concerts and an ice rink in the winter
6.educational centre and demonstrations to inspire all ages
7.brilliant local, fairly traded food in the restaurants and cafes
8.a rainforest lookout that takes you above the treetops
9.living example of regeneration and sustainable living
10.free land train pulled by a tractor.
Even if you've visited before, our plants, exhibits and events programme change every season and every year.
Rainforest Biome - Our 50-metre-tall Biome houses the world’s largest rainforest in captivity.
Mediterranean Biome - A colourful, sensory journey through citrus, olives, vines and perfumed herbs.
In our beautifully transformed clay pit in Cornwall, you'll find over 80 exhibits, including unusual plant combinations, unique sculpture and quirky information displays.
The Core is Eden's innovative education centre: it's a fantastic building full of interactive displays where both children and adults can press buttons, wind handles and peer inside things.
The reason the Abbey and St Margaret's are immediately adjacent is apparently that the abbey was a Benedictine monastery, and the monks grew so tired of having to accommodate local people at their services that they decided to build a new church in the 11th century.
Thanks for stopping by and view this photo. The reason for posting this photo on Flickr is to learn so if you have constructive feedback regarding what I could do better and / or what should I try, drop me a note I would love to hear your input.
View on Black the way it should be seen!
-- Let the sound of the shutter always guide you to new ventures.
© 2022 Winkler
Remember to follow me on Social Media Facebook: Bjarne Winkler, We Capture Your Business, or Twitter @Bjarne Winkler, @CaptureWe, @NewTeamSoftware
IAPP Member: US#12002
Saturn, from raw to final.
The top left frame, is a raw video frame taken from a video I shot, using my Meade telescope, and my Canon t2i camera. The video is very dark for 2 reasons. First I used eyepiece projection, which gives a larger image, at the expense of illumination. And also, I used Canon's 640x480 crop. This also produces a larger, but dimmer image.
The top right frame, is the same video viewed with the VLC (VideoLAN) player. I used the player's Brightness/Contrast filter to brighten up the video to an acceptable amount.
Although this image is much brighter than the unfiltered frame, the image is essentially a bunch of camera noise, roughly in the shape of Saturn. However, buried within all that noise, is a small percentage of actual signal.
I saved 3,356 frames from a few videos, that were all shot within a 1/2 hr period. All the frames generally look this bad. All are saturated with random camera noise. And all have random atmospheric distortions of the shape of the planet.
The lower left frame is the image created by stacking those 3,356 frames, using my almost finished program: AstroStax. AstroStax finds and aligns the object, without the need of any user input. Simply drag and drop the frames onto the program, and wait. In this case, using 3,356 frames, that are 640x480 pixels, the wait was about 2 minutes. The more images that are stacked, the greater the improvement in the signal to noise ratio. The signal builds, while the random noise gets cancelled out.
Finally, the lower right frame was created by adjusting a few of the sliders, in AstroStax's "Enhance" filter. The Enhance filter detects and enhances minute, undetectable differences in the image's detail. This final image really gives the maximum amount of detail possible, based on limitations of my telescope's optics combined with the poor atmospheric seeing at the time.
In addition to the not so great atmospheric seeing, I shot these videos across an asphalt parking lot, and over a few brick buildings, which further degraded the quality of the videos (asphalt and brick radiate all the heat they've accumulated during the day, back up into the atmosphere at night. Heat messes up the image/video).
10 reasons why falling in love with Thailand is easy
scary kids: Thai kids are great and so much fun to play with - especially the scary ones with green ice cream slime in their mouth... :-)
Terra Extra / Heft-Reihe
Jonathan Burke / Parasiten
(Twilight of Reason)
Übersetzung: Walter Spiegl
cover: Johnny Bruck
Moewig-Verlag
(München / Deutschland; 1967)
ex libris MTP
Top 10 reasons to visit the Eden Project
Here's some of what you'll find when you visit:
1.the world's largest rainforest in captivity with steamy jungles and waterfalls
2.cutting-edge architecture and buildings
3.stunning garden displays all year round
4.world-class sculpture and art
5.evening gigs, concerts and an ice rink in the winter
6.educational centre and demonstrations to inspire all ages
7.brilliant local, fairly traded food in the restaurants and cafes
8.a rainforest lookout that takes you above the treetops
9.living example of regeneration and sustainable living
10.free land train pulled by a tractor.
Even if you've visited before, our plants, exhibits and events programme change every season and every year.
Rainforest Biome - Our 50-metre-tall Biome houses the world’s largest rainforest in captivity.
Mediterranean Biome - A colourful, sensory journey through citrus, olives, vines and perfumed herbs.
In our beautifully transformed clay pit in Cornwall, you'll find over 80 exhibits, including unusual plant combinations, unique sculpture and quirky information displays.
The Core is Eden's innovative education centre: it's a fantastic building full of interactive displays where both children and adults can press buttons, wind handles and peer inside things.
11 reasons why I fell in love with Brussels - no 1:
Diversity is Brussels´ true nature; an example:
It´s only a few steps from the European quarter (the parliament, the commission end so on) to "Matongé", an African district named after a famous market place in Kinshasa.
25/52 ~ 52 Weeks in Bardo
“There are a thousand thousand reasons to live this life, every one of them sufficient.”
― Marilynne Robinson, Gilead
Likir Gompa (Monastery in Ladakh).
The name Likir means "The Naga - Encircled". The reason behind this naming of Likir Gompa of Ladakh is that it stands surrounded by the bodies of the two great serpent spirits, the Naga-rajas, Nanda and Taksako. The monastery is situated at a distance of approximately 62 km to the west of Leh town. Lhachen Gyalpo, the fifth king of Ladakh, offered the site where the monastery now stands, to Lama Duwang Chosje. The Lama, a great champion of meditation, blessed the site offered to him, after which the construction on the monastery was undertaken.
The Likir Monastery belongs to the Yellow Hat Sect, founded by Tsongkhapa. It consists of a number of shrines inside its complex. Presently, it serves as the residence of approximately 120 Buddhist monks. The monastery also has a school, in which almost thirty students study. In the 15th century, Likir Gompa came under the influence of Lodos Sangphu. A disciple of Khasdubje, he made efforts to see that the monastery flourished and prospered.
From that time onwards and till today, the monastery continues to be under the Tsongkhapa order. The ritual of the three basic Pratimoksa disciplines, the basic Buddhist teachings, are observed at the Likir Monastery, even in the present times. The Gompa also serves as the venue of an annual event Dosmochey, the assembly of votive offerings. This event takes place from 27th day to 29th day of the 12th month of the Tibetan calendar. During Dosmochey, sacred dances are also performed at the monastery.
The Likir Gompa Ladakh has been served by the succeeding reincarnations of Naris Rinpoche, since quite a long time and continues to do so. The monastery also houses a protective deity, which stands inside, wearing a golden armor. There are two Dukhangs (assembly halls) inside the monastery, one of them relatively new. The older one is on the right of the central courtyard of the monastery and comprises of six rows of seats for the lamas.
Inside this Dukhang are the statues of Bodhisattva (Lord of All He Surveys), Amitabha (Buddha of the West), Sakyamuni (the Historical Buddha), Maitreya (the Future Buddha or Buddha of Compassion) and Tsong-kha-pa (Founder of the yellow-hat sect). After you exit from this Dukhang, you will see the new Dukhang, diagonally across from the courtyard's entrance. The main image in the new Dukhang is that of Avalokitesvara, with 1000 arms and 11 heads.
Day 126 of 365
"A Portrait of That Tree I Always Disliked As a Kid for No Reason"
I've never liked this tree for some reason. I just discovered that it is called a "Bottlebrush Tree." I still don't like it. However, my daughter asked me to pluck one of these things for her, so I grabbed one for myself to photograph. I was trying to figure out a somewhat interesting way to document this flossing stick of the Devil, so I placed a strip box very close to the flora at camera-left. Needless to say, the image was completely void of any interest. I then turned off the strip box and aimed a bare strobe at the white background. This is the result. I must confess that my eyes grew a little wider when I looked at the LCD screen. While I know there is a black and white option on the camera, I've never used in my life, so I was slightly stunned. I actually took a second exposure to make sure the event was repeatable. Upon closing my agape mouth, it actually made sense. Because the light source (it became the white background after it left the strobe and was reflected), was far enough from the absurd foliage, the silhouette was the only result, and the light was unable to reach the plant in order to bring the color to life...or light. Was that a run-on sentence? So, while this IS simply a silhouette of a stupid plant, it is also a COLOR image of a stupid plant....and that is what brought me slight amount of pleasure. For the record, when I turned up the power on the strobe a bit, I did start to see hints of the lovely red color. Thanks for brushing by!!
#stupidplant #bottlebrush #foliage #silhouette #color #blackandwhite #canon5dmarkIII #canon100macro #stilllife #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #stripbox #stripbank #canon580exII
For obvious reasons, this was a phenomenal find, as it gave me an indication as to what some of the other bunkers on the grounds were used for in this era. Interesting that they put an alarm on the solvents storage shed ("Paint Locker,") but it would have been easy to do as it was only a few yards away from the radio bunker's front door. RACES would have been the Radio Amateur Emergency Service -- ham radio operators which, if IQ-screened & given some training, can provide excellent short-range & long-radio radio communications support. Not sure which bunker was labeled 13 or A or what their purposes were, but "FRC Bunker" confirmed to me that the other munitions igloo with the fence around it was indeed the main operations facility of the Federal Regional Center.
The Alarm Status panel being there in the radio bunker implied that at least in the final operation of the FRC, the radio bunker was the one facility that may have been staffed 24/7.
So here's the story: on the same day that we bought Shaid, we also got some Sloe Gin. Needing a drink and not finding (and we looked) any recipes involving Shaid, we looked for ones with Sloe Gin.
Carolyn, being a genius, found a drink called Purple Shell, involving Parfait Amour, which we didn't have. We improvised with other stuff, and the result, while delicious, was decidedly pink. Photo-op! ;)
Tonight, Western's Performing Arts Center packed a full house to hear Amy Goodman discuss her new book and the state of independent media. Amy looked exhausted when my friends, Chris and Mark, and I said hello afterwards, and for good reason - tonight's talk was her fourth today. She's nearing the end of a two week tour introducing her latest work, 'Breaking the Sound Barrier.' Afterwards, we spoke with Amy and her producer, Denis Moynihan, and mentioned that we too would be in Copenhagen covering next week's UN climate talks. With actions and protests set to take place at all hours of the day, I suspect we'll come to know Amy's exhaustion, and the fatigue of serious independent journalists everywhere.
Amy's message was familiar to those doing independent reporting. The root causes of endless wars, broken healthcare and economic systems and the suffering of the natural world are outright ignored by the mainstream media, a corporate system run by those who are legally obligated to fill the pockets of shareholders before considering the morality of their actions. It is not in the interest of those in power to shed light on the corrupt conditions that maintain their power. If we want to get serious about democracy, we need to wrest ownership of the mainstream media from corporations and hand it over to journalists and artists - those divested of corporate interest.
UPDATE: Goodman was stopped at the US - Canada border crossing on Wednesday for questions regarding public comments she may have planned to make on Canada's 2010 Olympics.
==> www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/11/26/bc-am...
Click here to see Amy interview Naomi Klein just a few days earlier. Goodman and Klein discussed the protest actions expected in Copenhagen next month, as well as the significance of the COP15 protests in the context of the Seattle WTO movement against global-corporatism:
=>> www.democracynow.org/2009/11/23/naomi_klein_on_climate_de...
And check out The Real News Network, a fantastic video news site dedicated to independent reporting:
==> therealnews.com/t/index.php
And don't forget the Pacific Northwest's premiere independent journalism firm, InvestigateWest:
==> www.invw.org.
Top 10 reasons to visit the Eden Project
Here's some of what you'll find when you visit:
1.the world's largest rainforest in captivity with steamy jungles and waterfalls
2.cutting-edge architecture and buildings
3.stunning garden displays all year round
4.world-class sculpture and art
5.evening gigs, concerts and an ice rink in the winter
6.educational centre and demonstrations to inspire all ages
7.brilliant local, fairly traded food in the restaurants and cafes
8.a rainforest lookout that takes you above the treetops
9.living example of regeneration and sustainable living
10.free land train pulled by a tractor.
Even if you've visited before, our plants, exhibits and events programme change every season and every year.
Rainforest Biome - Our 50-metre-tall Biome houses the world’s largest rainforest in captivity.
Mediterranean Biome - A colourful, sensory journey through citrus, olives, vines and perfumed herbs.
In our beautifully transformed clay pit in Cornwall, you'll find over 80 exhibits, including unusual plant combinations, unique sculpture and quirky information displays.
The Core is Eden's innovative education centre: it's a fantastic building full of interactive displays where both children and adults can press buttons, wind handles and peer inside things.
Forgotten Friends
Theme: Goshen's Remains - Pure Reason Revolution
youtu.be/lyE82wgOkVY?si=oCLFfT7mqq2-PC2W
They laze in dawn-light fire.
The morning dew rolls over the planet.
Clear words child!
Far away plans.
It's day time. The city is bustling with activity. That is, the autonamotons are running and doing the daily activities after a night of cooling their boiler cores and giving their gears, pistons, pressure pumps, and other internal mechanisms time to rest from their long days of work. Ioh is awakened by this activity from a roof he had been sleeping on. The Void did not take him, but the veil of his eyes brought him to slumber.
Ioh yawns and stretches as he looks over the day and light of the city now. His eyes wince and he murrs, looking like one who has had a few too many and finds the sun's glare invasive on sensitive eyes that are yet willing to adjust.
"Oh Jesus," Ioh says after a grunt, "Dawn has tread her way into this day, hasn't that damn rosey red wench!" He grumbles and does one last bit of stretching. He then shakes his head, and his body pursues likewise in trembling to throw off the night. "Oh very well. Down with the lot of it. No point wasting away in a catnap that just can't be gotten now. Let's see if there be any bit of 'nip, or maybe some fish for food port side."
And thus, Ioh makes his way down to the docks, traveling through the maze of streets and elevators. As he does, he senses the scent of a feline. Turning around to meet her, he gives a tailwave to her. The female feline tailwaves back.
Ioh smiles, though looks wary. "How are you?"
The female feline shrugs. "Confused about covers it."
"Oh?" He cants his head as he looks at her. "What about?"
She just points to the autonamotons, then outward to the market. "Where the heck, and what the heck are two things on my mind at the moment."
Ioh looks back behind him to what Amara points to. "Oh those? They're mechanical people. Called autonamotons. They do a lot of the work around here."
The female feline narrows her eyes. "Why are you so calm about this anyway?" She then pauses and looks behind Ioh, "Ah, who's that?"
The male behind Ioh waves and smiles.
Ioh shrugs at the question. "They're always here. And they work about as good as any other human bloke on the block, miss, ah....," He is about to ask her name as the male shows up. Scratching his head, Ioh replies, "I'm not sure, and who are you?"
The male blinks, feeling a little bit strange now. Even so, he looks at them and and frowns. "Stop it Ioh! You know me!" The male sticks his tongue out at Ioh.
The female feline growls at Ioh. "Who am I?! Whaddaya mean who am I? Did ya hit yer head on somethin' Ioh?" Granted Amara has forgotten a bit while here as well. Yet, she knows most faces still. "I'm Amara. I was following you and, um - wait," she looks to the male behind Ioh, "You know Ioh too?" Her face shows clear confusion.
Ioh blinks back at the tall male's tongue sticking out. He then turns back around when hearing Amara's growl. Scratching his head he looks between the two and mrrs. "Following me?" He asks, canting his head at Amara, then looks Wendel, "M'lady, and dear gentleman, what on earth are you two speaking of? And what makes me so interesting a person to be stalked, do tell?"
There are a lot of reasons why my old form just wasn't working for sewing. While it's a lovely form, it has no back, almost no tilt in the pelvis, more sloped shoulders and is all around thinner. It's great for modeling finished items but it was useless for things like hemming, and lacked enough support to show off sleeves and tops well.
As I mentioned in a previous step, the waist turned out to measure a couple inches more than my actual wasit measurement, so I am having a little trouble with very slim fitting items worked in woven fabrics, but it's still far closer than my store bought form.
St Peter, Thurston, Suffolk
Thurston is a large and busy village just off of the A14 not far from the edge of Bury St Edmunds, with the blessing of its own railway station on the Ipswich to Cambridge line. The church sits on the edge of the village, a large, crisp building that stands upright above the road to Pakenham. None of the rough-and-readiness of many of Suffolk's rural churches here, for what you see from the road is entirely of the 19th Century.
On this site, we have often come across the work of the unfashionable Victorian Suffolk architect Edward Hakewill, son of the more famous Henry Hakewill. He had worked extensively in Suffolk the 1860s, and is sometimes good, at Kenton, for instance. But he can also be very undistinguished, as at Rushmere, Brantham and Shottisham. The reason I was intrigued by Thurston is that it was the work of his lesser-known younger brother, John Henry Hakewill, and I was interested to see what he had got up to.
His brother Edward's usual approach was to go in, build a north aisle, reduce the internal furnishings to a polite middle-brow sacramentalism, and then leave. John Hakewill had rather more than that to do here, because of something that happened on the night of Sunday March 18th 1860. In common with most Suffolk churches, St Peter had been greatly neglected through the 18th and early 19th Centuries, and its need for a facelift had become obvious. In fact, John Hakewill had already been engaged as the architect for a thorough going-over of the old structure. But shortly before midnight, supposedly on the night before work was due to commence, the tower fell.
It is hard to imagine the effect of an incident like that on a tiny, remote, rural community. The one permanent, ageless structure in its midst suddenly disappeared overnight. The tower collapsed straight down, but falling rubble took out the nave and aisle roofs, as well as destroying piers of both arcades. The parishioners decided to do the obvious, and retreat into the chancel for services. However, just ten days later, the rest of the nave collapsed, bringing down what remained of the arcades and roofs, and destroying all the furnishings, including the pulpit and lectern.
And so, a decision was made to rebuild from scratch, accommodating the new church to the surviving chancel and porch. As Roy Tricker points out, Hakewill was very much of the prevailing opinion of the time that Decorated was the only suitable style for a medieval church (despite the fact that Suffolk's finest moments are mostly Perpendicular), and, as a Bury Post article of the time noted, Hakewill was determined that the new church should be entirely in Decorated and correct architecture, replacing the inferior architecture in the old structure.
And so, there it is today. The exterior is certainly impressive, and the church reopened barely 18 months later, at the cost of about £3,500, about three quarters of a million in today's money, an extraordinary bargain I would have thought. This must have been a huge church, even before Hakewill's rebuild - I wondered if it had been a match for Rougham, across the A14. Much of the chancel appears relatively original, despite considerable patching up. The imposing tower itself is beginning to mellow with age, although perhaps it still bears a disconcerting similarity to what might be the tower of a Typically English Village Church in a model village, thanks to Hakewill's insistence on 'correct' Dec. But when you consider what Richard Phipson did across the road at Finborough and Woolpit during the same decade, St Peter may have got off lightly.
You step into a large, tidy space full of light - no gloomy north aise here. Inevitably, there is an urban feel to the wholly 19th Century interior, although there are some earlier survivals. One of these is the font, a fine perpendicular piece whose foliage panels conceal a green man or two. Can it have come from here originally? It is hard to see how the font could have survived the collapse of the tower. Collected fragments of 15th Century glass include a number of striking heads, as well as parts of the figures of a cherubim, a pope and a bishop. Up in the chancel there is what appears to be a pair of delicious medieval angels holding scrolls, although they are, I think, 19th Century fakes. Certainly 15th Century are the stalls below, however, which survived the fall of the tower and have delightful little figures in the spandrels. There are a couple more medieval benches now placed at the west end of the south aisle, also with green men on them.
Bringing us right up to date is one of Suffolk's several sets of royal arms to Queen Elizabeth II (there are others not far off at Rattlesden and Lavenham, among others). This set is dated 1977, the year of the Silver Jubilee. The woodwork in the nave is of a decent quality, presumably installed as part of the same commission as the rebuilding, but the reredos in the chancel is rather finer, the work of Father Ernest Geldart, the Anglo-catholic carpenter-priest whose parish and studio were at Little Braxted in Essex. Its commission may give us some idea of the churchmanship here at Thurston in the early years of the 20th Century.
A name that many will associate with Bury St Edmunds is that of the Greene King brewery, and the Greene family are commemorated here at Thurston. Sir Walter Greene paid for the restoration of the chancel. The memorial windows to the Greene family are by the stained glass firm Ward & Hughes, and were installed over thirty years from 1890 to 1920. Ward & Hughes were a company that went through three distinct phases. In their early years they were often quite interesting, as across the border at Pentney in Norfolk, for example. Later in the 19th Century they became one of the largest mass-producing workshops in the country, churning out thousands of windows for hundreds of churches all over the world that are largely of a similar middle-brow quality. In the 20th Century, however, the wheels came off a bit, and the windows vary greatly. There is a feeling that patrons were given too much say in the design, which is always a mistake, and sometimes they can be pretty awful. But here at Thurston the glass is spectacular. The 1890 glass is certainly not run-of-the-mill, being a version in glass of Axel Ender's painting Easter Morning. Whether it is good or not is perhaps a matter of taste, but the other two windows are rather thrilling, and delightfully mawkish - witness the figure of Peace stooping to kiss the lips of Righteousness. There is a Ward & Hughes window in a similar style to these last two up the road at Pakenham.
Elsewhere in the church, the lovely 1950 window of the Adoration of the Magi at the east end of the south aisle is by E L Armitage for Powell & Sons, and it replaced damaged glass which commemorated a 14 months old child, Mary Adelaide Blake, who died in 1842. The date of the new window suggests that the old one suffered blast damge in the Second World War, a common fate for these Suffolk churches surrounded by American air bases. The best window in the church, however, is at the east end of the north aisle, and depicts the Raising of Jairus's Daughter in a quiet, painterly style. It remembers Isabella Blake, who died in 1856, and nobody seems to know who it is by. Intriguingly, given that this is also to a daughter of the Blake family, it seems possible that the lost window in the south aisle was by the same workshop.
For many years, Thurston church was difficult of access, so it is pleasing to discover that it is now open to strangers and pilgrims every day. Even more, the sign in the porch asks you to be careful not to accidentally lock the door on your way out.
The main reason for having the table is to make it easy to use a netbook computer.
In April 2012 I made improvements::
1. The front table support was replaced by a leg assembly clamped to the floor where the two floor panels are sitting. That eliminated the need to install the support assembly when setting up the table)..
2. The table support at the other end was eliminated, replaced by an alteration to one of my plywood travel boxes.When the altered box is sitting atop another, it supports the table. That eliminated having to handle and store the support.
3. The stool was replaced by a smaller and lighter one, making it easier to handle..
4. The table was made five inches longer to create more working room.
These changes made the user happier.
All table photos (and background information) appear in a set of photos of the table.
18 REASONS WHY WE ALL LOVE COX
Seniors
Club legend Greg Barras sat nervously in his house at Albury as word quickly spread that his club record of 18 goals was in jeopardy. Lee Cox under the beautiful Autumn sun treated the fans to a marking and goal scoring frenzy. Cox had a near perfect game, equalling the club record, and even found time to give off four more goals to team mates in better positions.
For the first time this season Hepburn was able to score the first goal of the match, usually slow starters, the Burras showed no signs of being lethargic and had eight goals on the board by quarter time. At the main break 20 goals had been amassed with Cox kicking half of them. Cox’s sidekick, Andy McKay unusually flew under the radar, (as was Cox’s dominance) but “ Hollywood” was still close to best on ground honours with his 7 goals , superb high marking and pin point passing to Cox on the lead.
Creswick had a day they would rather forget, but to their credit, they never gave up and had some young players who had very good games. As usually is with an uneven scoreline, most of the play was forward of the centre square, in saying that Hepburn’s backline had to concentrate harder, but when the opportunity arose, Trevor Johnson, Allan Ware and coompany mopped up and created opportunities for their team mates. Daniel Smith’s big frame also posed problems for the opposition. Smith played a very versatile game, using his body to great affect so his fleet footed allies in Baker, Rees, and the James boys could get their hands on the ball.
Brian O’ Halloran, the former star rover of the 1970’s is a proud man. His oldest son Tim is doing well in his first coaching gig at Reserves level. Next in line Dan becoming a seasoned performer, but the youngest of the clan, Liam, has settled in nicely into Shane Robertson’s structure, bobbing up linking play, and showing maturity well above his years.
Next week Hepburn takes on the big improver Gordon at the Laurie Sullivan Reserve which should be a match worth watching.
Final Scores: HEPBURN 36-12-228 defeated CRESWICK 3-4-22
Goals: L. Cox 18, A. McKay 7, D. O’Halloran 3, J. James 3, J. King 2, R. Gundry, T. Johnson, D. James
Best: L. Cox, A. McKay, D. Smith, D. Rees, A. Baker, D. O’ Halloran
UNDER 18’s
For two and a half quarters Hepburn matched Creswick, but were blown away in the end by one of the premiership favorites. The highlight reel was pretty small, but Joe Malone would have featured prominently having a blinder of a game in the middle. His strong work in tight and then classy skills to finish something his younger team mates can learn from.
Tom Conroy battled hard in the ruck, certainly holding his own and Lucas Bossinger put in his best game to date. The small brigade of under 15 players who fill in each week again performed well, with Jackson Carrick and Billy Johns being rewarded kicking goals. Next week is a big game as the boys should aim to have their second win for the season.
Final Scores: HEPBURN 5-3-33 lost to CRESWICK 20-14-134
Goals: J. Malone 2, K. Frost, J. Carrick, B. Johns
Best: J. Malone, J. Liversidge, K. Frost, M. Allison, L. Bossinger, T. Conroy