The term 'Jekyll and Hyde' cropped up during a recent conversation on human nature, between me and my kid-daughter. Subsequently I ended up doing a bit of web-search to find out how people in general interpret this term. This is when I chanced upon an interesting write-up (followed by many impassioned reader-comments) on this topic. This write-up argues that the 1886 book Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson is not at all about dual personalities (as possibly depicted in several theatrical/ television/ movie adaptations) but is about only one personality that is Jekyll. While Jekyll is the whole personality, Hyde is just a 'mask' for a specific part of that whole personality. And hence it is never 'Jekyll or Hyde' but always 'Jekyll and Hyde' irrespective of whether the Hyde part of Jekyll's personality is in a repressed state or in a dominant state.

Here is a thought-provoking (and possibly disturbing for some) excerpt from the write-up:

'... What would you do if you could be someone else for a night, do whatever you wanted to do, commit whatever sins you wanted to commit, without fear of consequences of any kind? Are we good because we want to be good, or are we good because we just don’t want to be punished?...'

The image above is a single click of a Gerbera Daisy flower in my garden, processed in two highly contrasting ways.

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Taken at The Conquest of Elysium:

It is the claimed untamed, where magic, mystery, and adventure await. Awakening for the repressed soul; do you dare to dream?

maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Elysium%20Cove/68/131/36

: : Haze Mission Log : :

: : A Harsh Realisation : :

The speeder broke down about a Click and a half ago but we are making steady progress towards the mountains where Rocc was held up. I pray we get there before these murderous "Spec Ops" get there. I want to talk to him, make him see sense!

Ah it is good to get back into the 457th :3

On another note, all the grey seen here is Old Bley. I felt it gave an Eerie/darker vibe.

[More pictures]

French postcard by Salut. Photo: Paramount / Fox, 1998. Publicity still for Titanic (James Cameron, 1997).

Kate Winslet (1975) is often seen as the best English-speaking film actress of her generation. The English actress and singer was the youngest person to acquire six Academy Award nominations, and won the Oscar for The Reader (2008).

Kate Elizabeth Winslet was born Reading, England, in 1975. She is the second of four children of stage actors Sally Anne (née Bridges) and Roger John Winslet. Winslet began studying drama at the age of 11. The following year, Winslet appeared in a television commercial for Sugar Puffs cereal, in which she danced opposite the Honey Monster. Winslet's acting career began on television, with a co-starring role in the BBC children's science fiction serial Dark Season (Colin Cant, 1991). On the set, Winslet met Stephen Tredre, who was working as an assistant director. They would have a four-and-a-half-year relationship, and remained close after their separation in 1995. He died of bone cancer during the opening week of Titanic, causing her to miss the film's Los Angeles premiere to attend his funeral in London. Her role in Dark Season was followed by appearances in the made-for-TV film Anglo-Saxon Attitudes (Diarmuid Lawrence, 1992), the sitcom Get Back (Graeme Harper, 1992), and an episode of the medical drama Casualty (Tom Cotter, 1993). She made her film debut in the New Zealand drama film Heavenly Creatures (Peter Jackson, 1994) . Winslet auditioned for the part of Juliet Hulme, an obsessive teenager in 1950s New Zealand who assists in the murder of the mother of her best friend, Pauline Parker (played by Melanie Lynskey). Winslet won the role over 175 other girls. The film included Winslet's singing debut, and her a cappella version of Sono Andati, an aria from La Bohème, was featured on the film's soundtrack. The film opened to strong critical acclaim at the 51st Venice International Film Festival in 1994 and became one of the best-received films of the year. Winslet was awarded an Empire Award and a London Film Critics' Circle Award for British Actress of the Year. Subsequently she played the second leading role of Marianne Dashwood in the Jane Austen adaptation Sense and Sensibility (Ang Lee, 1995) featuring Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman. The film became a financial and critical success, resulting in a worldwide box office total of $135 million and various awards for Winslet. She won both a BAFTA and a Screen Actors' Guild Award, and was nominated for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe. In 1996, Winslet starred in Michael Winterbottom's Jude, based on the Victorian novel Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy. She played Sue Bridehead, a young woman with suffragette leanings who falls in love with her cousin (Christopher Eccleston). She then played Ophelia, Hamlet's drowned lover, in Kenneth Branagh's all star-cast film version of William Shakespeare's Hamlet (1996). In mid-1996, Winslet began filming James Cameron's Titanic (1997), alongside Leonardo DiCaprio. She was cast as the passionate, rosy-cheeked aristocrat Rose DeWitt Bukater, who survives the 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic. Against expectations, Titanic (1997) became the highest-grossing film in the world at the time and transformed Winslet into a commercial movie star. Young girls the world over both idolized and identified with Winslet. Despite the enormous success of Titanic, Winslet next starred in were two low-budget art-house films, Hideous Kinky (Gillies MacKinnon, 1998), and Holy Smoke! (Jane Campion, 1999). In 1997, on the set of Hideous Kinky, Winslet met film director Jim Threapleton, whom she married in 1998. They have a daughter, Mia Honey Threapleton (2000). Winslet and Threapleton divorced in 2001.

Since 2000, Kate Winslet's performances have continued to draw positive comments from film critics. She appeared in the period piece Quills (Philip Kaufman, 2000) with Geoffrey Rush and Joaquin Phoenix, and inspired by the life and work of the Marquis de Sade. The actress was the first big name to back the film project, accepting the role of a chambermaid in the asylum and the courier of the Marquis' manuscripts to the underground publishers. Well received by critics, the film garnered numerous accolades for Winslet. In Enigma (Michael Apted, 2001), she played a young woman who finds herself falling for a brilliant young World War II code breaker (Dougray Scott). She was five months pregnant at the time of the shoot, forcing some tricky camera work. In the same year she appeared in Iris (Richard Eyre, 2001), portraying novelist Iris Murdoch. Winslet shared her role with Judi Dench, with both actresses portraying Murdoch at different phases of her life. Subsequently, each of them was nominated for an Academy Award the following year, earning Winslet her third nomination. Also in 2001, she voiced the character Belle in the animation film Christmas Carol: The Movie, based on the Charles Dickens classic novel. For the film, Winslet recorded the song What If, which was a Europe-wide top ten hit. Winslet began a relationship with director Sam Mendes in 2001, and she married him in 2003 on the island of Anguilla. Their son, Joe Alfie Winslet Mendes, was born in 2003 in New York City. In 2010, Winslet and Mendes announced their separation and divorced in 2011. In the drama The Life of David Gale (Alan Parker, 2003), she played an ambitious journalist who interviews a death-sentenced professor (Kevin Spacey) in his final weeks before execution. Next, Winslet appeared with Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004). In this neo-surrealistic indie-drama, she played Clementine Kruczynski, a chatty, spontaneous and somewhat neurotic woman, who decides to have all memories of her ex-boyfriend erased from her mind. The film was a critical and financial success and Winslet received rave reviews and her fourth Academy Award-nomination. Finding Neverland (Marc Forster, 2004), is the story of Scottish writer J.M. Barrie (Johnny Depp) and his platonic relationship with Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Winslet), whose sons inspired him to pen the classic play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up. The film received favourable reviews and became Winslet's highest-grossing film since Titanic.

In 2005, Kate Winslet played a satirical version of herself in an episode of the comedy series Extras by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. While dressed as a nun, she was portrayed giving phone sex tips to the romantically challenged character of Maggie. Her performance in the episode led to her first nomination for an Emmy Award. In the musical romantic comedy Romance & Cigarettes (John Turturro, 2005), she played the slut Tula, and again Winslet was praised for her performance. In Todd Field's Little Children (2006), she played a bored housewife who has a torrid affair with a married neighbor (Patrick Wilson). Both her performance and the film received rave reviews. Again she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress, and at 31, became the youngest actress to ever garner five Oscar nominations. Commercial successes were Nancy Meyers' romantic comedy The Holiday (2006), also starring Cameron Diaz, and the CG-animated Flushed Away (2006), in which she voiced Rita, a scavenging sewer rat who helps Roddy (Hugh Jackman) escape from the city of Ratropolis and return to his luxurious Kensington origins. In 2007, Winslet reunited with Leonardo DiCaprio to film Revolutionary Road (2008), directed by her husband at the time, Sam Mendes. Portraying a couple in a failing marriage in the 1950s, DiCaprio and Winslet watched period videos promoting life in the suburbs to prepare themselves for the film. Winslet was awarded a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her performance, her seventh nomination from the Golden Globes. Then she starred in the film adaptation of Bernhard Schlink's 1995 novel The Reader, (Stephen Daldry, 2008), featuring Ralph Fiennes and David Kross in supporting roles. Employing a German accent, Winslet portrayed a former Nazi concentration camp guard who has an affair with a teenager (Kross). As an adult, he witnesses in her war crimes trial. While the film garnered mixed reviews in general, she earned her sixth Academy Award nomination for her role and went on to win the Best Actress award, the BAFTA Award for Best Actress, a Screen Actors' Guild Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress, and a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress.

In 2011, Kate Winslet headlined in the HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce, based on James M. Cain's 1941 novel and directed by Todd Haynes. She portrayed a self-sacrificing mother during the Great Depression who finds herself separated from her husband and falling in love with a new man (Guy Pearce), all the while trying to earn her narcissistic daughter's (Evan Rachel Wood) love and respect. This time, Winslet won an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Roman Polanski's Carnage (2011) premiered at the 68th Venice Film Festival. The black comedy follows two sets of parents who meet up to talk after their children have been in a fight that day at school. Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly and Christoph Waltz co-starred in the film. In 2012, she was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). In Jason Reitman's big screen adaptation of Joyce Maynard's novel Labor Day (2013), she starred with Josh Brolin and Tobey Maguire. Winslet received favorable reviews for her portrayal of Adele, a mentally fragile, repressed single mom of a 13-year-old son who gives shelter to an escaped prisoner during a long summer week-end. For her performance, Winslet earned her tenth Golden Globe nomination. Next she appeared in the science fiction film Divergent (Neil Burger, 2014), as the bad antagonist Jeanine Matthews. It became one of the biggest commercial successes of her career. This year, Winslet also appeared alongside Matthias Schoenaerts in Alan Rickman's period drama A Little Chaos (2014) about rival landscape gardeners commissioned by Louis XIV to create a fountain at Versailles. Next she can be seen in the crime-thriller Triple Nine (John Hillcoat, 2015), the sequel in the Divergent series: Insurgent (Robert Schwentke, 2015) and in The Dressmaker (Jocelyn Moorhouse, 2015). Since 2012, Kate Winslet is married to Ned Rocknroll, a nephew of Richard Branson; The couple's son have a son, Bear Blaze Winslet. They live in West Sussex.

Sources: Tom Ryan (Encyclopedia of British Film), Sandra Brennan (AllMovie), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

view on black

In relation to some things that happened roughly a month ago. I'm still adamant, I'm still angry, I still feel insulted but what is there that I can do about it? I am in an "Asian society" after all.

Much Better On Black

Inspired by the comics "Simon Garth - The Zombie", finally a character who gives voice to the silent horde, who live in the graves. Said as Freud, the return of the repressed, the corpse that emerges and returns, in fact, much more human, than the living that surround her.

That's twice now, that I've got what I'm assuming are visions, during a fight with a supervillain. I really need to get down to the bottom of this.. But first, some sleep, as I might crash at any moment. After lifting myself off the ground, I start flying, making my way home. Still really bummed I didn't get to have more of that sour patch kids watermelon slushie. But when the glow calls, it calls. Okay, yeah, that doesn't sound right at all. Soaring above the city skylines, I can't help but feel free. Flying never has, and never will get old. Honestly, it's the best part of my powers. I get a view of the city very few others will ever get.

I arrive home about 20 minutes later, since I took my time. Changing out of my costume behind a dumpster, in the alleyway nearby. After putting on my vans, I walk out of the alley, up to the front steps of my house. Checking my phone, it's 11:30pm. Oh great. Even better, my phone has some newfound cracks on the screen. Hopefully there's some sort of warranty for supervillain damages. Cause otherwise, I'm screwed.

There aren't any lights on, so I feel my way through the entryway, making my way to the stairs. Guess my parents hear me stumbling around, as a light turns on moments later. It catches me off guard, making me shield my eyes with my hands until it readjusts. After a few seconds, my hands drop to my side, and I notice its dad standing there.

"Hey dad. Didn't think you'd still be up."

"I didn't either, if I'm being honest. Wanted to make sure you were alright. That, and I have to head into work early tomorrow."

"I'm fine dad, really."

"Those bruises say otherwise. Go sit down and I'll get some ice." He replies, noticing the bruising all over my face, leaving the room moments later. I'm a little surprised he isn't getting on my case about the whole hero thing. Thought he would yell at me there, but he didn't. Laying down on the couch, I see my dad come back, with a bag of ice in one hand, and the first aid kit in the other. It doesn't take long, before my eyes close, and I fall into a deep sleep.

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

Morning of the next day

"Get up! Otherwise you're gonna be late!" Is what I wake up to, rubbing my eyes. The first aid kit sitting on top of the living room table.

"I'm getting up!" I groan, sitting myself up on the couch. Even just sitting up hurts. Heroics is fun and all, until you have to recover from the injuries. Which, might I add, takes forever to heal up, since my powers didn't come with a healing factor attached to them. Putting my hand to my ribs, I can slightly feel the bandage that's wrapped around me, underneath my shirt. It takes me longer than usual to finish my morning routine. I even have to end up using some of my mom's makeup to hide my bruised up face. I didn't want to, but my mom insisted. Personally, I think she just wanted to see me squirm a little.

"Guess I'll be heading out now. C ya later mom!" I say, before giving my mom a hug.

"Have a good day at school my little superhero! But please, take it easy these next few weeks, okay? For me?" And she's squeezing me a little too hard.

"I'll try, but I can't guarantee that'll happen. By the way, if you squeeze me any harder, I may actually break." I wheeze.

"Right, right, sorry. Got a little carried away there. Just my way of showing you how much I love you." She replies, letting go of me.

"Oh don't worry, I know... Love ya too mom!" I say making a heart shape with my hands, before slipping on my shoes, and tying them up. A couple of minutes later, I'm out the door. It hurts for me to really stand up straight thanks to my recent injuries, so I'm slightly hunched over, as I'm walking down the street.

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

Half an hour later, Northdale High School

Upon arriving at the school, I notice Nathan waiting by the main steps. He notices me coming, as he starts waving his hand in the air.

"Andy!!"

"Feels like its been forever man! What've you been up to?" I ask as we start doing our secret handshake.

"Oh you know, dates with Destiny here and there!" Nate responds, finishing our handshake, before bursting out into laughter.

"Have you been holding out on me? You never told me about a secret girlfriend!!"

"Awh c'mon Andrew. You really think I wouldn't tell you if I had a hot date with a girl named Destiny? I was only kidding my dude. In all seriousness, I've just been really busy with family stuff. With my parents getting a divorce and all." His tone quickly shifts to being more solemn.

"What?? No way... I'm sorry Nate." I say, trying not to sound insensitive.

"Don't be.. It's not your fault that it happened. As much as I don't want to admit it, I had a feeling this would happen. My mom's barely even home anymore, so it was only a matter of time. Anyways, enough with my issues, are you doing alright man? Look like you've barely slept." He says with a sigh, still clearly distraught. He's doing his best to hide it, but I know what grief looks like. Been there one too many times. Anyway, it looks like the embarrassing makeup trick worked, as he doesn't seem to notice the bruising.

"I-Well, I've gotten these strange headaches that have kept me up at night. Actually, it's more than that. This is going to sound crazy I know. But I've been seeing things, things that feel so real. People, and places I've been. Like flashbacks, or visions of once was. It's tripping me out pretty hard, so much so that it's hard for me to really concentrate." I muse

"We live in a city with superheroes and supervillains. So no, I wouldn't go that far to call you crazy! I'm no expert by any means, but it sounds like those might be repressed memories, finding their way back to the forefront of your mind. Might be a good idea to visit the people and places you saw. Maybe you'll get the answers you're looking for." He says, shrugging his shoulders. Moments later, the first bell rings.

"Well, we should probably get going, otherwise we'll miss first period. We should hang out after school, to get your mind off everything, at least, for a little while."

"Yeah, sounds good Andy. C ya later." His voice trails off, waving back at me, as he walks through the bustling hallway, towards first period. Repressed memories eh? Well, I guess we'll find out soon enough.

This day shook my nation. Many people devoted to Poland have died within seconds. They were about to land in Smolensk to attend the 70th anniversary commemorating Katyn homicide on Polish officers...they never will. The plane crashed taking lives of our beloved President and his Wife, many Members of Parliament, representatives of the Polish Army, many well-known personages who were on board. Katyn is the cursed Calvary of the East. It took life of many 70 years ago and it did hours ago again...this bleeding ground made Poland the orphan land which lost the Mother and the Father as well as many splendid Members of this Family. We mourn and we pray for them. R.I.P. our beloved your names shall not be forgotten:

President of The Republic of Poland Lech Kaczynski

First Lady Maria Kaczynska

The last President of Poland in exile Ryszard Kaczorowski

Vice-Marshal of the Sejm Krzysztof Putra

Vice-Marshal of the Sejm Jerzy Szmajdzinski

Vice-Marshal of the Sejem Krystyna Bochenek

Head of the Office of the President Wladyslaw Stasiak

Head of the National Security Bureau Aleksander Szczyglo

From the Office of the President Pawel Wyprych

From the Office of the President Mariusz Handzlik

Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrzej Kremer

Vice-Minister of National Defence Stanislaw Komorowski

Vice-Minister of Culture Tomasz Merta

Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces Franciszek Gagor

Secretary of Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Andrzej Przewoznik

President of the Polish Community Organization Maciej Plazynski

Head of the Diplomatic Protocol Mariusz Kazana

Members of Parliament:

Leszek Deptula (PSL-Polish People’s Party)

Grzegorz Dolniak (PO- The Civic Platform)

Grazyna Gesicka (PiS-Law and Justice)

Przemyslaw Gosiewski (PiS-Law and Justice)

Sebastian Karpiniuk (PO-The Civic Platform)

Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka (Lewica- Left-wing)

Zbigniew Wassermann (PiS-Law and Justice)

Aleksandra Natalli-Swiat (PiS-Law and Justice)

Arkadiusz Rybicki (PO-The Civic Platform)

Jolanta Szymanek-Deresz (Lewica- Left-wing)

Wieslaw Woda (PSL-Polish People’s Party)

Edward Wojtas (PSL-Polish People’s Party)

Senators:

Janina Fetlinska (PiS-Law and Justice)

Stanislaw Zajac (PiS-Law and Justice)

Accompanying people:

Human Rights Defender Janusz Kochanowski

President of the National Bank of Poland Slawomir Skrzypek

President of the Institute of National Remembrance Janusz Kurtyka

Head of the Office for Veterans and the Repressed Janusz Krupski

President of the Supreme Bar Council Joanna Agatka-Indecka

Adviser to the President Jan Krzysztof Ardanowski

Chaplain of the President, Chaplain Roman Indrzejczyk

From the Office of the President Barbara Maminska

From the Office of the President Zofia Kruszynska-Gust

From the Office of the President Izabela Tomaszewska

From the Office of the President Katarzyna Doraczynska

From the Office of the President Dariusz Gwizdala

From the Office of the President Jakub Opara

Chancellor of the Order Virtuti Militari, Commandant Stanislaw Nalecz-Komornicki

Member of the Chapter of the Order Virtuti Militari, Lieutenant-Colonel Zbigniew Debski

President of the World Society of Home Army Soldiers Czeslaw Cywinski

President of the University of Cardinal Stefana Wyszyńskiego, Father Ryszard Rumianek

President of Polish Olympic Committee Piotr Nurowski

Anna Walentynowicz

Janina Natusiewicz-Miller

Janusz Zakrzenski

Adam Kwiatkowski

Marcin Wierzchowski

Maciej Jakubik

Tadeusz Stachelski

Dariusz Jankowski

The Office of the President:

Marzena Pawlak

Doctor of the President Wojciech Lubinski

Russian language Interpreter Aleksander Fedorowicz

Military Ordinary of Polish Army, Military Bishop Tadeusz Ploski

Orthodox Ordinary of Polish Army, Archbishop Miron Chodakowski

Evangelic Military Chaplainry– the Minister of the Church, Colonel Adam Pilch

Military Ordinariate of Polish Army – Father Lieutenant-Colonel Jan Osiński

Secretary-General of the Sibiracy Association Edward Duchnowski

Prelate Jozef Gostomski

President of the Parafiada Association, Father Jozef Joniec

Chaplain of the Warsaw Katyn Families Zdzisław Krol

Chaplain of the Federation of Katyn Families, Father Andrzej Kwasnik

Veterans:

Tadeusz Lutoborski

President of the Polish Katyn Foundation Bozena Mamontowicz-Lojek

President of the Katyn Committee Stefan Melak

Vice-President of the Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Stanislaw Mikke

Bronisława Orawiec-Rössler

Katarzyna Piskorska

President of the Federation of Katyn Families Andrzej Sariusz-Skapski

Wojciech Seweryn

Foundation Calvary of the East Leszek Solski

Teresa Walewska-Przyjalkowska

Gabriela Zych

Granddaughter of Brigadier Mieczysław Smorawinski Ewa Bakowska

Anna Borowska

Bartosz Borowski

Dariusz Malinowski

Representatives of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland:

Commander of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland, General Bronislaw Kwiatkowski

Commander of the Air Force of the Republic of Poland, Lieutenant-General Andrzej Blasik

Commander of the Army of the Republic of Poland, Major-General Tadeusz Buk

Commander of the Special Forces of the Republic of Poland, Major-General Wlodzimierz Potasinski

Commander of the Navy of the Republic of Poland, General Andrzej Karweta

Commander of the Warsaw Garrison, Brigadier Kazimierz Gilarski

Functionaries of Government Protection Bureau:

Jarosław Lorczak

Pawel Janeczek

Dariusz Michalowski

Piotr Nosek

Jacek Surowka

Pawel Krajewski

Artur Francuz

Marek Uleryk

Plane crew:

Captain Arkadiusz Protasiuk

Major Robert Grzywna

Lieutenant Artur Zietek

Warrant Officer Andrzej Michalak

Barbara Maciejczyk

Natalia Januszko

Justyna Moniuszko

Prezydent Lech Kaczyński

Żona Prezydenta Maria Kaczyńska

Ostatni prezydent RP na Uchodźstwie Ryszard Kaczorowski

Wicemarszałek Sejmu Krzysztof Putra

Wicemarszałek Sejmu Jerzy Szmajdziński

Wicemarszałek Senatu Krystyna Bochenek

Władysław Stasiak Szef Kancelarii Prezydenta

Aleksander Szczygło szef Biura Bezpieczeństwa Narodowego

Paweł Wypych z Kancelarii Prezydenta

Mariusz Handzlik z Kancelarii Prezydenta

Wiceminister Spraw Zagranicznych Andrzej Kremer

Wiceminister Obrony Narodowej Stanisław Komorowski

Wiceminister Kultury Tomasz Merta

Szef Sztabu Generalnego WP Franciszek Gągor

Sekretarz Generalny Rady Ochrony Pamięci Walk i Męczeństwa Andrzej Przewoźnik

Prezes Stowarzyszenia Wspólnota Polska Maciej Płażyński

Dyrektor Protokołu Dyplomatycznego Mariusz Kazana

Posłowie:

Leszek Deptuła (PSL)

Grzegorz Dolniak (PO)

Grażyna Gęsicka (PiS)

Przemysław Gosiewski (PiS)

Sebastian Karpiniuk (PO)

Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka (Lewica)

Zbigniew Wassermann (PiS)

Aleksandra Natalli-Świat (PiS)

Arkadiusz Rybicki (PO)

Jolanta Szymanek-Deresz (Lewica)

Wiesław Woda (PSL)

Edward Wojtas (PSL)

Senatorowie:

Janina Fetlińska (PiS)

Stanisław Zając (PiS)

Osoby towarzyszące:

Rzecznik Praw Obywatelskich Janusz Kochanowski

Prezes NBP Sławomir Skrzypek

Prezes IPN Janusz Kurtyka

Kierownik Urzędu do spraw Kombatantów i Osób Represjonowanych Janusz Krupski

Prezes Naczelnej Rady Adwokackiej Joanna Agatka-Indecka

Doradca prezydenta Jan Krzysztof Ardanowski

Kapelan prezydenta Roman Indrzejczyk

Barbara Mamińska z Kancelarii Prezydenta

Zofia Kruszyńska-Gust z Kancelarii Prezydenta

Izabela Tomaszewska z Kancelarii Prezydenta

Katarzyna Doraczyńska z Kancelarii Prezydenta

Dariusz Gwizdała z Kancelarii Prezydenta

Jakub Opara z Kancelarii Prezydenta

Kanclerz Orderu Wojennego Virtutti Militari, generał brygady Stanisław Nałęcz-Komornicki

Członek Kapituły Orderu Wojennego Virtutti Militari podpułkownik Zbigniew Dębski

Prezes Światowego Związku Żołnierzy AK Czesław Cywiński

Ksiądz Ryszard Rumianek, rektor Uniwersytetu Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego

Prezes Polskiego Komitetu Olimpijskiego Piotr Nurowski

Anna Walentynowicz

Janina Natusiewicz-Miller

Janusz Zakrzeński

Adam Kwiatkowski

Marcin Wierzchowski

Maciej Jakubik

Tadeusz Stachelski

Dariusz Jankowski

Kancelaria Prezydenta:

Marzena Pawlak

Lekarz prezydenta Wojciech Lubiński

Tłumacz języka rosyjskiego Aleksander Fedorowicz

Ordynariusz polowy Wojska Polskiego, ksiądz generał Tadeusz Płoski

Prawosławny ordynariusz Wojska Polskiego, arcybiskup Miron Chodakowski

Ewangelickie duszpasterstwo polowe - ksiądz pułkownik Adam Pilch

Ordynariat Polowy Wojska Polskiego - ksiądz podpułkownik Jan Osiński

Sekretarz generalny Związku Sybiraków Edward Duchnowski

Ksiądz prałat Józef Gostomski

Prezes stowarzyszenia Parafiada ksiądz Józef Joniec

Kapelan warszawskiej Rodziny Katyńskiej ksiądz Zdzisław Król

Kapelan Federacji Rodzin Katyńskich ksiądz Andrzej Kwaśnik

Kombatanci:

Tadeusz Lutoborski

Prezes Polskiej Fundacji Katyńskiej Bozena Łojek-Mamontowicz

Prezes Komitetu Katyńskiego Stefan Melak

Wiceprzewodniczący Rady Ochrony Pamięci Walk i Męczeństwa Stanisław Mikke

Bronisława Orawiec-Rössler

Katarzyna Piskorska

Prezes Federacji Rodzin Katyńskich Andrzej Sariusz-Skąpski

Wojciech Seweryn

Leszek Solski Fundacja Golgota Wschodu

Teresa Walewska-Przyjałkowska

Gabriela Zych

Ewa Bąkowska, wnuczka gen. bryg. Mieczysława Smorawińskiego

Anna Borowska

Bartosz Borowski

Dariusz Malinowski

Przedstawiciele sił zbrojnych RP:

Dowódca Operacyjny Sił Zbrojnych generał Bronisław Kwiatkowski

Dowódca Sił Powietrznych RP generał broni Andrzej Błasik

Dowódca Wojsk Lądowych RP generał dywizji Tadeusz Buk

Dowódca Wojsk Specjalnych generał dywizji Włodzimierz Potasiński

Dowódca Marynarki Wojennej generał Andrzej Karweta

Dowódca Garnizonu Warszawa generał brygady Kazimierz Gilarski

Funkcjonariusze BOR:

Jarosław Lorczak

Paweł Janeczek

Dariusz Michałowski

Piotr Nosek

Jacek Surówka

Paweł Krajewski

Artur Francuz

Marek Uleryk

Zaloga samolotu

Kapitan Arkadiusz Protasiuk

Major Robert Grzywna

Porucznik Artur Ziętek

Chorąży Andrzej Michalak

Barbara Maciejczyk

Natalia Januszko

Justyna Moniuszko

Spanish postcard by Oscar Color S.A., Hospitalet (Barcelona), no. 634d. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

American actress Natalie Wood (1938-1981) was one of Hollywood's most valuable and wanted actresses in the early 1960s. At 4, she started out as a child actress and at 16, she became a star, when she co-starred with James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause (1955). For this role, she was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. In 1961, she played Maria in the hit musical West Side Story. She was nominated twice for an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, for Splendor in the Grass (1961) and Love with the Proper Stranger (1963). Only 43, Wood drowned during a boating trip with husband Robert Wagner and Brainstorm (1983) co-star Christopher Walken.

Natalie Wood was born Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko in San Francisco, USA, in 1938. Her parents were Russian immigrants. Her father Nikolai Stepanovich Zakharenko was a day laborer and carpenter and her mother Maria Zudilova was a housewife. Wood's parents had to migrate due to the Russian Civil War (1917-1923). Maria had unfulfilled ambitions of becoming an actress or ballet dancer. She wanted her daughters to pursue an acting career, and live out her dream. Maria frequently took a young Wood with her to the cinema, where Maria could study the films of Hollywood child stars. The impoverished family could not afford any other acting training to Wood. The Zakharenko family eventually moved to Santa Rosa, where young Wood was noticed by members of a crew during a film shoot. The family moved to Los Angeles to help seek out roles for her. RKO Radio Pictures' executives William Goetz and David Lewis chose the stage name "Natalie Wood for her. The first name was based on her childhood nickname Natalia, and the last name was in reference to director Sam Wood. Natalia's younger sister Svetlana Gurdin (1946) would eventually follow an acting career as well, under the stage name Lana Wood. Natalie made her film debut in the drama Happy Land (Irving Pichel, 1943) starring Don Ameche, set in the home front of World War II. She was only 5-years-old, and her scene as the 'Little Girl Who Drops Ice Cream Cone' lasted 15 seconds. Wood somehow attracted the interest of film director Irving Pichel who remained in contact with her family over the next few years. Wood had few job offers over the following two years, but Pichel helped her get a screen test for a more substantial role opposite Orson Welles as Wood's guardian and Claudette Colbert in the romance film Tomorrow Is Forever (Irving Pichel, 1946). Wood passed through an audition and won the role of Margaret Ludwig, a post-World War II German orphan. At the time, Wood was "unable to cry on cue" for a key scene. So her mother tore a butterfly to pieces in front of her, giving her a reason to cry for the scene. Wood started appearing regularly in films following this role and soon received a contract with the film studio 20th Century Fox. Her first major role was that of Susan Walker in the Christmas film Miracle on 34th Street (George Seaton, 1947), starring Edmund Gwenn and Maureen O'Hara. The film was a commercial and critical hit and Wood was counted among the top child stars in Hollywood. She received many more to play in films. She typically appeared in family films, cast as the daughter or sister of such protagonists as Fred MacMurray, Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Joan Blondell, and Bette Davis. Wood appeared in over twenty films as a child actress. The California laws of the era required that until reaching adulthood, child actors had to spend at least three hours per day in the classroom, Wood received her primary education on the studio lots, receiving three hours of school lessons whenever she was working on a film. After school hours ended, Wood would hurry to the set to film her scenes.

Natalie Wood gained her first major television role in the short-lived sitcom The Pride of the Family (1953-1954). At the age of 16, she found more success with the role of Judy in Rebel Without a Cause (Nicholas Ray, 1955) opposite James Dean and Sal Mineo. She played the role of a teenage girl who dresses up in racy clothes to attract the attention of a father (William Hopper) who typically ignores her. The film's success helped Wood make the transition from child star to ingenue. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, but the award was instead won by Jo Van Fleet. Her next significant film was the Western The Searchers (John Ford, 1956), playing the role of abduction victim Debbie Edwards, niece of the protagonist Ethan Edwards (John Wayne). The film was a commercial and critical hit and has since been regarded as a masterpiece. Also in 1956, Wood graduated from Van Nuys High School, with her graduation serving as the end of her school years. She signed a contract with Warner Brothers, where she was kept busy with several new films. To her disappointment, she was typically cast as the girlfriend of the protagonist and received roles of little depth. For a while, the studio had her paired up with teenage heartthrob Tab Hunter as a duo. The studio was hoping that the pairing would serve as a box-office draw, but this did not work out. One of Wood's only serious roles from this period is the role of the eponymous protagonist in the melodrama Marjorie Morningstar (Irving Rapper, 1958) with Gene Kelly, playing a young Jewish girl whose efforts to create her own identity and career path clash with the expectations of her family. Wikipedia: "The central conflict in the film revolves around the traditional models of social behavior and religious behavior expected by New York Jewish families in the 1950s, and Marjorie's desire to follow an unconventional path." The film was a critical success, and fit well with other films exploring the restlessness of youth in the 1950s. Wood's first major box office flop was the biographical film All the Fine Young Cannibals (Michael Anderson, 1960), examining the rags to riches story of jazz musician Chet Baker (played by Robert Wagner) without actually using his name. The film's box office earnings barely covered the production costs, and film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer recorded a loss of 1,108,000 dollars. For the first time. Wood's appeal to the audience was in doubt.

With her career in decline following this failure, Natalie Wood was seen as "washed up" by many in the film community. But director Elia Kazan gave her the chance to audition for the role of the sexually repressed Wilma Dean Loomis in Splendor in the Grass (Elia Kazan, 1961) with Warren Beatty. The film was a critical success and Wood for first nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. The award was instead won by rival actress Sophia Loren. Wood's next important film was West Side Story (Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise, 1961), where she played Maria, a restless Puerto Rican girl. Wood was once again called to represent the restlessness of youth in a film, this time in a story involving youth gangs and juvenile delinquents. The film was a great commercial success with about 44 million dollars in gross, the highest-grossing film of 1961. It was also critically acclaimed and is still regarded among the best films of Wood's career. However, Wood was disappointed that her singing voice was not used in the film. She was dubbed by Marni Nixon, who also dubbed Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady (George Cukor, 1964), and Deborah Kerr in The King and I (Walter Lang, 1956). Wood's next leading role was as the burlesque entertainer and stripper Gypsy Rose Lee in the Biopic Gypsy (Mervyn LeRoy, 1962) alongside Rosalind Russell. Some film historians credit the part as an even better role for Wood than that of Maria, with witty dialogue, a greater emotional range, and complex characterisation. The film was the highest-grossing film of 1962 and well-received critically. Wood's next significant role was that of Macy's salesclerk Angie Rossini in the comedy-drama Love with the Proper Stranger (Robert Mulligan, 1963). In the film, Angie has a one-night stand with musician Rocky Papasano (Steve McQueen), finds herself pregnant, and desperately seeks an abortion. The film underperformed at the box office but was critically well-received. The 25-year-old Wood received her second nomination for the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role, but it was won by Patricia Neal. Wood continued her successful film career and made two comedies with Tony Curtis: Sex and the Single Girl (Richard Quine, 1964) and The Great Race (Blake Edwards, 1965), the latter with Jack Lemmon, and Peter Falk. For Inside Daisy Clover (Sydney Pollack, 1965) and This Property Is Condemned (Sydney Pollack, 1966), both of which co-starred Robert Redford, Wood received Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress. However, her health status was not as successful. She was suffering emotionally and had sought professional therapy. She paid Warner Bros. 175,000 dollars to cancel her contract and was able to retire for a while. She also fired her entire support team: agents, managers, publicist, accountant, and attorneys. She took a three-year hiatus from acting.

Natalie Wood made her comeback in the comedy-drama Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (Paul Mazursky, 1969), with the themes of sexual liberation and wife swapping. It was a box office hit. Wood decided to gamble her 750,000 dollars fee on a percentage of the gross, earning a million dollars over the course of three years. Wood was pregnant with her first child, Natasha Gregson (1970). She chose to go into semi-retirement to raise the child, appearing in only four more theatrical films before her death. These films were the mystery-comedy Peeper (Peter Hyams, 1975) starring Michael Caine, the Science-Fiction film Meteor (Ronald Neame, 1979) with Sean Connery, the sex comedy The Last Married Couple in America (Gilbert Cates, 1980) with George Segal and Valerie Harper, and the posthumously-released Science-Fiction film Brainstorm (Douglas Trumbull, 1983). In the late 1970s, Wood found success in television roles. Laurence Olivier asked her to co-star with him in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Robert Moore, 1976). After that, she appeared in several television films and the mini-series From Here to Eternity (Buzz Kulik, 1979), with William Devane and Kim Basinger. For From Here to Eternity, she received a Golden Globe Award and high ratings. She had plans to make her theatrical debut in a 1982 production of 'Anastasia'. On 28 November 1981, during a holiday break from the production of Brainstorm (1983), Natalie Wood joined her husband Robert Wagner, their friend Christopher Walken, and captain Dennis Davern on a weekend boat trip to Catalina Island. The four of them were on board Wagner's yacht Splendour. On the morning of 29 November 1981, Wood's corpse was recovered 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) away from the boat. The autopsy revealed that she had drowned. Wikipedia: "The events surrounding her death have been the subject of conflicting witness statements, prompting the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, under the instruction of the coroner's office, to list her cause of death as 'drowning and other undetermined factors' in 2012. In 2018, Wagner was named as a person of interest in the ongoing investigation into Wood's death." Natalie Wood was buried in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. Her would-be comeback film Brainstorm (Douglas Trumbull, 1983) was incomplete at the time of her death. It was ultimately finished and released, but Wood's character had to be written out of three scenes while a stand-in and changing camera angles were used for crucial shots. Natalie Wood was married three times. Her second husband was the British film producer and screenwriter Richard Gregson (1969-1972). She was twice married to actor Robert Wagner, from 1957 till 1962 and from 1972 till her death in 1981. She had two daughters, Natasha Gregson Wagner (1970) with Richard Gregson, and Courtney Wagner (1974) with Robert Wagner. The 2004 TV film The Mystery of Natalie Wood chronicles Wood's life and career. It was partly based on the biographies 'Natasha: the Biography of Natalie Wood' by Suzanne Finstad and 'Natalie & R.J.' by Warren G. Harris. Justine Waddell portrays Wood.

Sources: Dimos I (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Some say the unconscious is a dark place. Childhood memories long forgotten. Wishes and fears we’d rather not know. Things we cannot see but maybe should see. But what is repressed does not stay so forever. The unconscious seeks to express itself, often in a disguised and surprising form.

3rd Historic Bike Ride Moscow 2015 (31 May)

Третий Московский Исторический Велопробег 2015 (31 мая)

Web site of Event / Веб сайт мероприятия

Andrey Myatiev's Velomuseum / Веломузей Андрея Мятиева

Livejournal Echo / Эхо в Живом журнале

..

<Note: Hit "L" to bring large format to Full Power!>

In his Farewell Address to the nation in 1796, President George Washington warned Americans to not think among party lines, to be bigger than that. Washington wanted to serve only four years, but the rancor between Alexander Hamilton (Federalist) and Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican) in his cabinet was so bad that he found himself having to serve another four years as U.S. President to calm the waters and give America a firmer foundation. As he left office, Washington warned Americans to beware of the tribalism and populism that political parties unleashed. Exacerbating sectional differences (e.g. North and South, farm and city), political parties serve not the nation but themselves. They divide the social fabric within the country for their own gain. America's first President warned that parties could encroach and erode democratic systems. Unlike the new Republic, they weren't built to check despotism, even when competing with each other. In other words, a party wants to win power. Institutionally, it would not mind finally having a despot rule the country in perpetuity as long as the ruler was its despot.

Below is what President George Washington said to the nation.

—

"I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the state, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party, generally.

This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty.

Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind, (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight,) the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.

It serves always to distract the Public Councils, and enfeeble the Public Administration. It agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.

There is an opinion, that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the Government, and serve to keep alive the spirit of Liberty. This within certain limits is probably true; and in Governments of a Monarchical cast, Patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular character, in Governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. And, there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be, by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume.

It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution, in those intrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositories, and constituting each the Guardian of the Public Weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern; some of them in our country and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way, which the constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for, though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit, which the use can at any time yield.”

For the second night running I dreamt of Toby. The first night Toby was with people I knew from work some 15 years ago, I wanted to take him away but then I realised I’d given away all his food and paraphernalia so I couldn’t take him back. Last night he was with Carla’s father who passed away 10 years ago, and was showing affection to him. On leaving the house my father-in-law stood at the open door with Toby by his side. I expected Toby to run to me but he was reluctant to leave. I woke before 6am and went for my earlier morning walk thinking no more about my dream as chapter 32 of Mansfield park started playing in my ear buds. The morning was misty as had been a few mornings of late, however unlike other recent mornings where I would push on with my walk to measure my recovery I had the inclination this morning to cross the fields and look for a photograph. This was encouraging as my passions for this activity understandably had been lagging of late. On a route I would always walk with the dogs my eyes were open for opportunities from compositions I’ve used in the past. So on passing an old farm trailer which barred entry to a field I approach to capture another misty scene. On setting up the image with my little Sony (rx100vi) a young rabbit appeared underneath to complete the picture. Happy with my luck I finished my walk home. Over breakfast while relating my dream to Carla I suddenly perceived a meaning and burst into tears. The weird thing is I have never in my life tried or even thought about interrupting dreams, it’s all mumbo jumbo, but the clarity of my thought at that moment was unreal and unexpected. The reason for this piece is not for sympathy but out of curiosity, is a dream just random electrical signals to our brain or a release to repressed thoughts, have you ever thought about it?

Harry: *Deep breaths...*

Trevor: *It’s still like a couple days away to get there! I mean, I already figured out how it takes for us....*

Harry: *I know it’s tough, we can make it. If the weather changes affect the trip.*

Trevor: *There! We can stay overnight.*

Harry: *I surely hope I have enough money for that....*

It’s about another couple of hours since we escaped from the city, and took a random vehicle into the desert. Maybe the camels weren’t available, even if there’s an advanced, mechanical one (the 24th century we live in, of course). I managed to find a overnight desert camp after trekking for another 4k, as I paid our one night rent in some tents for the two of us. The receptionist was somehow pleased—I had a backup mask for Trevor, as he commented how we looked good as father and son. Heh.

After offered a great meal, it’s already inching towards late night—getting more colder as the temperature is dropping. Sleeping bags and blankets are provided as I keep my weapons and gadgets in check if there is an attack. Eventually, it turns midnight as Trevor reads a book (more advanced than iPads) to himself.

Harry: *Getting late kid. Shouldn’t you get some sleep?*

Trevor: *But....I’m not tired.*

Harry: *You uh....want me to read you a story?*

Trevor: *Sure....how about you tell me yours, Harry? I find you very interesting, especially that mask, I like it a lot. Where did you get it from?*

Harry: *Me? Nah, I’m not—*

Trevor: *Please?*

Harry: *Ok, ok, alright. So apparently, I shouldn’t be telling you this, because I’m a secret agent. And....I work for a very, very secretive group, good one of course.*

Trevor: *Ooh.*

Harry: *And I’m one of the members of this team within the agency, we are dubbed the Avalon Squad. Just like age old tales of Arthurian times, the island. It means apples, haha, but not exactly because according to the legend that’s where heroes are taken to after death.”

Trevor: *Wow, that is so cool!*

Harry: *Yeah I guess. Wait, did they never teach you these in school?*

Trevor: *Yeah, no....I mean my parents sent me to this facility when I was young. They died right after I was there, I can confirm it, from a car accident. They didn’t like me for what I was because I was too smart—and I had to be repressed, being looked down and humiliated at by people before I was taken. So I eventually got together like the other kids, we learn, live, eat and sleep there. We don’t get too much entertainment, but they said they were gonna train us when we grow up. Life was harsh and people were cruel as well, especially some of the instructors and students.*

Harry: *Huh, that’s....quite sickening.*

Trevor: *But the good thing is—they took us around the world, that’s a privilege you get to travel. I thought there were no other facilities, but it turns out I’m not the only one around....I’m scared....and now they’re going after my brain because they choose random cadets for their powers to be harvested....*

Harry: “Ho-lee shit.” *I guess you managed to make it out when my not-so-good team rescued you.*

Trevor: *Yup.*

Harry: *Just as I thought. You’re important now...but you risk being an asset to lose because you’re a bait as well.*

Trevor: *Mhmm. So, can we get back to your story?*

Harry: *Sure. So where did we leave off...yup, my mask. I didn’t have the greatest childhood ever like you. I went through harsh times, raised in Greece and Canada, went through being brainwashed and torture and lots of terrible stuff. I mean, they triggered my abilities as well, like you from a certain age. To become invisible. That made me the ultimate assassin in various teams. On my unintended last one, I burnt horribly....bad. I left and went to a black market to be fixed, crawling there...it’s really painful, no joke. Then he referred me to this guy, Doctor Edens. I can show him and the rest later. So I guess how I ended up with the team.*

As we entered another hour of talking, I was beginning to be much more acquainted with Trevor. It was late at midnight as we still traded stories. Finally, he asked me to take off my mask. As I revealed my disfigured face, he didn’t scream. He simply showed smiles and hugged me, much to my surprise.

Trevor: *Harry, you’re not ugly at all. You’re beautiful. I think you're just cool like that. Even your mask is amazing and it often covers who you are, but you shouldn't be afraid to show it off.*

Harry: *Well uh....thanks kiddo. If I didn’t become an assassin, I would have been a social worker, a chef...maybe a good regular job, which is pretty ironic because of my status like that....but it'll never happen.*

Trevor: *But would you give up on your dreams like that?*

Harry: *Probably not. I bet you'd be a great genius when you grow older. Now, it’s really late and we should sleep.*

***

The next morning was probably good. I woke up with a daze, looking out to the horizon, the aura of the sunshine. I grinned at Trevor, who was still sleeping soundly. Around 10:30 or so, we had our breakfast and packed our backs and started to leave for checkout.

When we exited the tent, there was no one around. My instincts told me it was weird once again. I tried to phone my team to “co-operate”, but with no response. The receptionist gave me a creepy smile. Not again. It seems like I always have a habit of being followed, being spared the previous night must have been a gift, or better, not getting food poisoning at dinner.

And a woman stepped forward. I realised it was North’s niece. Carla Michaels.

“Hello, Ghostforge. I see you have enjoyed the company of our hospitality.”

“What do you want, Carla?”

“You know what I want.”

“So bring it.”

“And, Carla Michaels isn’t my real name. It’s an alias. I’ve slaughtered a few guests already since they were unwilling to work with us, and the rest is gone, free. Unless you want to hand over what belongs to us rightfully.”

“Not a chance. Your uncle won’t get what he ever wants. Never.”

“Well, just too bad. Boys, kill him, and bring me the child.”

Oh crap. Guess that’s when the desert dries quick. I grab my rifle and spray a couple of them down. Two minutes with a quickshot and I already have five killed. I take Trevor’s hand and run through the other tents. I witness a grenade being thrown onto our direction, scaring out some of the other incoming tourists (one must have believed this would be a live stunt show performance). Two more get thrown again. We take cover behind some trees, but I’m not too lucky as my right arm is somewhat burnt. Blood streams down me as I quickly grab a bandage from my bag and patch myself up.

Nearby I hear “Carla Michaels” to keep searching for us in this mess again. Really for the second fucking time. I’m pissed. I spot another nearby car, signaling Trevor to activate the car with my gestures, as his body quickly adapts to speed. I get in the driver’s seat quickly. Gee, this thing has much harness and with plasma in it. It’s a fast one and I like it. I quickly grab my pistol and shoot at the mini statue, which falls on some of the Spectres. “Carla Michaels” attempts to give chase but fails. We ride away as quickly as we can....

Trevor: *That was exciting!*

Harry: *Yeah yeah, another day of worthless fighting....honestly I would rather have some rest alone, maybe you’re an exception kid.*

Trevor: *Wait!*

Harry: *What?*

Trevor: *I somewhat know where my friends are....in that facility. And I have a bad feeling about them?*

Harry: *So your powers are kicking in then huh? Great, so where are they?*

Trevor: *There’s an invisible building near the airport....and they even have goddamn big base down there. But....only you can detect it, Harry.*

Triple shit again this time. Now I’ve gotta go fucking clean up this mess and rescue the kids. With a person having a dubious alias aka “Carla Michaels” hot on my trail.....

Why was I walking around at midnight in the middle of a snowfall in Ukraine with my tripod shooting? I just can't remember. I don't remember much about the Ukraine and those cold nights. I can't decide if I repressed them or have selectively forgotten or some delightful combination thereof.

And Ukraine taught me a new level of cold that I thought was reserved somewhere in the nether Dante regions...

from www.stuckincustoms.com

Every shadow is a repressed light...

I did not think off the ground, actually began to miss the repressed dream.

Sehnsucht (German pronunciation: [ˈzeːnˌzʊxt]) is a German noun translated as "longing", "pining", "yearning", or "craving", or in a wider sense a type of "intensely missing". However, Sehnsucht is difficult to translate adequately and describes a deep emotional state. Its meaning is similar to the Portuguese word Saudade, or the Romanian word dor. Sehnsucht is a compound word, originating from an ardent longing or yearning (das Sehnen) and a long or lingering illness (das Siechtum). However, these words do not adequately encapsulate the full meaning of their resulting compound, even when considered together.

Some psychologists use the word sehnsucht to represent thoughts and feelings about all facets of life that are unfinished or imperfect, paired with a yearning for ideal alternative experiences. It has been referred to as “life’s longings”; or an individual’s search for happiness while coping with the reality of unattainable wishes. Such feelings are usually profound, and tend to be accompanied by both positive and negative feelings. This produces what has often been described as an ambiguous emotional occurrence.

Psychologists have worked to capture the essence of Sehnsucht by identifying its six core characteristics: “(a) utopian conceptions of ideal development; (b) sense of incompleteness and imperfection of life; (c) conjoint time focus on the past, present, and future; (d) ambivalent (bittersweet) emotions; (e) reflection and evaluation of one's life; and (f) symbolic richness.”

In a cross-cultural study conducted to determine whether the German concept of Sehnsucht could be generalized to the United States, four samples of American and German participants “rated their 2 most important life longings and completed measures of subjective well-being and health.” German and American participants did not differ in their ability to identify life longings or the intensity of their Sehnsucht. However, German participants associated it more with unattainable, utopian states while Americans reported the concept as not as important to everyday life.

Some researchers posit that Sehnsucht has a developmental function that involves life management. By imagining overarching and possibly unachievable goals, individuals may be able to create direction in their life by developing more tangible goals, or “stepping stones” that will aid them on their path toward their ideal self. "[Sehnsucht has] important developmental functions, including giving directionality for life planning and helping to cope with loss and important, yet unattainable wishes by pursuing them in one's imagination." It can also operate as a self-regulatory mechanism.

However, in a study that attempted to discover whether Sehnsucht played an active role in one’s ability to influence their own development, psychologists asked 81 participants to report “their most important personal goals and life longings, and [evaluate] these with respect to their cognitive, emotional, and action-related characteristics.”Results showed that goals were perceived as more closely linked to everyday actions, and as such more controllable. Sehnsucht, on the other hand, was reported as more related to the past and future, and therefore more emotionally and developmentally ambiguous.

Also, in a study conducted in 2009, 168 middle-aged childless women were asked to rate their wish for children according to intensity and attainability. If the women rated their wish as intense and long-standing, their wish was considered a life-longing. If they rated their wish as intense and attainable, it was simply a goal. “The pursuit of the wish for children as a life longing was positively related to well-being only when participants had high control over the experience of this life longing and when other self-regulation strategies (goal adjustment) failed.”

Saudade (European Portuguese: [sɐwˈðaðɨ], Brazilian Portuguese: [sawˈdadi] or [sawˈdadʒi], Galician: [sawˈðaðe]; plural saudades) is a deep emotional state of nostalgic or profound melancholic longing for an absent something or someone that one loves. Moreover, it often carries a repressed knowledge that the object of longing might never return. One English translation of the word is missingness, although it might not convey the feeling of deep emotion attached to the word "saudade". Stronger forms of saudade might be felt towards people and things whose whereabouts are unknown, such as a lost lover, or a family member who has gone missing, moved away, separated, or died.

Saudade was once described as "the love that remains" after someone is gone. Saudade is the recollection of feelings, experiences, places, or events that once brought excitement, pleasure, well-being, which now triggers the senses and makes one live again. It can be described as an emptiness, like someone (e.g., one's children, parents, sibling, grandparents, friends, pets) or something (e.g., places, things one used to do in childhood, or other activities performed in the past) that should be there in a particular moment is missing, and the individual feels this absence. It brings sad and happy feelings altogether, sadness for missing and happiness for having experienced the feeling.

Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt

Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt

Weiß, was ich leide!

Allein und abgetrennt

Von aller Freude,

Seh ich ans Firmament

Nach jener Seite.

Ach! der mich liebt und kennt,

Ist in der Weite.

Es schwindelt mir, es brennt

Mein Eingeweide.

Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt

Weiß, was ich leide!

Only those who know longing

Know what sorrows me!

Alone and separated

From all joy,

I behold the firmament

From yonder side.

Ah! the one who loves and knows me

Is in the vast unknown.

It dizzies me, it burns

my guts.

Only those who know longing

Know how I suffer!

None but the lonely heart

Can know my sadness

Alone and parted

Far from joy and gladness

Heaven's boundless arch I see

Spread out above me

O(h) what a distance drear to one

Who loves me

None but the lonely heart

Can know my sadness

Alone and parted far

From joy and gladness

Alone and parted far

From joy and gladness

My senses fail

A burning fire

Devours me

None but the lonely heart

Can know my sadness

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sehnsucht

Saudade is a word in Portuguese and Galician that claims no direct translation in English. In German it is equivalent to Sehnsucht. In Portuguese, "Tenho saudades tuas" (European Portuguese) or "Estou com saudades de você" (Brazilian Portuguese), translates as "I have (feel) saudade of you" meaning "I miss you", but carries a much stronger tone. In fact, one can have saudade of someone whom one is with, but have some feeling of loss towards the past or the future. For example, one can have "saudade" towards part of the relationship or emotions once experienced for/with someone, though the person in question is still part of one's life, as in "Tenho saudade do que fomos" (I feel "saudade" of the way we were). Another example can illustrate this use of the word saudade: "Que saudade!" indicating a general feeling of longing, whereby the object of longing can be a general and undefined entity/occasion/person/group/period etc. This feeling of longing can be accompanied or better described by an abstract will to be where the object of longing is.

Despite being hard to translate, saudade has equivalent words in other cultures, and is often related to music styles expressing this feeling such as the blues for African-Americans, dor in Romania, Tizita in Ethiopia, or Assouf for the Tuareg people, appocundria in Neapolitan. In Slovak, the word is clivota or cnenie, in Czech, the word is stesk and Sehnsucht in German.

The similar melancholic music style is known in Bosnia-Herzegovina as sevdah (ultimately from Arabic سَوْدَاء sawdā' : 'black [bile]', translation of the Greek µέλαινα χολή, mélaina cholē from which the term melancholy is derived).

Nascimento and Meandro (2005)cite Duarte Nunes Leão's definition of saudade: "Memory of something with a desire for it."

In Brazil, the day of Saudade is officially celebrated on 30 January.

The word saudade was used in the Cancioneiro da Ajuda (13th century), in the Cancioneiro da Vaticana and by poets of the time of King Denis of Portugal (reigned 1279–1325). Some specialists say the word may have originated during the Great Portuguese Discoveries, giving meaning to the sadness felt about those who departed on journeys to unknown seas and disappeared in shipwrecks, died in battle, or simply never returned. Those who stayed behind—mostly women and children—suffered deeply in their absence. However, the Portuguese discoveries only started in 1415 and since the word has been found in earlier texts, this does not constitute a very good explanation. The Reconquista also offers a plausible explanation.

The state of mind has subsequently become a "Portuguese way of life": a constant feeling of absence, the sadness of something that's missing, wishful longing for completeness or wholeness and the yearning for the return of that now gone, a desire for presence as opposed to absence—as it is said in Portuguese, a strong desire to matar as saudades (lit. to kill the saudades).

In the latter half of the 20th century, saudade became associated with the feeling of longing for one's homeland, as hundreds of thousands of Portuguese-speaking people left in search of better futures in South America, North America and Western Europe. Besides the implications derived from a wave of emigration trend from the motherland, historically speaking saudade is the term associated with the decline of Portugal's role in world politics and trade. During the so-called "Golden Age", synonymous with the era of discoveries, Portugal undeniably rose to the status of a world power, and its monarchy became one of the richest in Europe. But with the rise of competition from other European nations, the country went both colonially and economically into a prolonged period of decay. This period of decline and resignation from the world's cultural stage marked the rise of saudade, aptly described by a sentence in Portugal's national anthem: Levantai hoje de novo o esplendor de Portugal (Lift up once again today the splendour of Portugal).

Saudade is similar but not equal to nostalgia, a word that also exists in Portuguese.

In the book In Portugal of 1912, A. F. G. Bell writes:

The famous saudade of the Portuguese is a vague and constant desire for something that does not and probably cannot exist, for something other than the present, a turning towards the past or towards the future; not an active discontent or poignant sadness but an indolent dreaming wistfulness.

A stronger form of saudade may be felt towards people and things whose whereabouts are unknown, such as old ways and sayings; a lost lover who is sadly missed; a faraway place where one was raised; loved ones who have died; feelings and stimuli one used to have; and the faded, yet golden memories of youth. Although it relates to feelings of melancholy and fond memories of things/people/days gone by, it can be a rush of sadness coupled with a paradoxical joy derived from acceptance of fate and the hope of recovering or substituting what is lost by something that will either fill in the void or provide consolation.

To F. D. Santos, Saudade as a noun has become a longing for longing itself:

There was an evolution from saudades (plural) to Saudade (singular, preferably written with a capital S), which became a philosophical concept. ... Saudade has an object; however, its object has become itself, for it means 'nostalgia for nostalgia', a meta-nostalgia, a longing oriented toward the longing itself. It is no more the Loved One or the 'Return' that is desired, based on a sense of loss and absence. Now, Desire desires Desire itself, as in the poetry of love for love's sake in Arabic, or as in Lope de Vega's famous epigram about the Portuguese who was crying for his love for Love itself. Or, rather, as poetess Florbela Espanca put it, I long for the longings I don't have ('Anoitecer', Espanca 1923).

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudade

During the Middle Ages, the town of Soria in Castille was home to several orders having to do with the Holy Land. Among them were the Knights Hospitaller of Saint John of Jerusalem, who were given a little church by the side of River Duero, outside of the town itself so that they could build a hospital and even a leprosy —not too far from the main road, yet out of the way to avoid the plague spreading. The church was, and still is, pretty nondescript, and can still be seen as such today. The Hospitallers re-did the vaulting of the single apse but, more spectacularly, built two astounding ciboria, those Oriental canopies of stone that cover and protect the altars. Two new altars were built underneath them, so that the knights/monks could perform their traditional rites and follow their own early Syrian church-inspired liturgy.

Truly, stepping inside that church and seeing those is like being transported to the Mediæval Orient!

Now, trying to produce decent photography of monuments is never easy, but when busload upon busload of tourists come into play, it borders on impossible! Furthermore, and this is the only time it ever happened to me in Spain (contrary to Italy, alas!), I was ordered by some repressed prison warden (judging by her amiability and kindness) posing as the welcome (very much so!) person for the monument, not to use the tripod to take pictures! And why, pray? Because that’s the way it is! Unbelievable. As I am cleverer than she was, I managed to beat the system and snap the first two or three exposures on the tripod at ISO 64, but for the rest, I had to bump up the ISO to 500 to accommodate whatever little light there was. Sorry for the resulting loss of quality.

Besides that amazingly “orientalized” church, the cloister is the main reason people come visit this ancient place. Art historians reckon it was built around 1200 by mudéjar architects and masons, maybe from Toledo. It is an absolutely unique achievement, unlike anything else I had seen before, and I’m probably not about to see the like of it anytime soon!

The almost abstract (and certainly not cloister-like) shape of the mudéjar arches.

On starlight nights I used to pace up and down those long, cold streets, scowling at the little, sleeping houses on either side, with their storm-windows and covered back porches. They were flimsy shelters, most of them poorly built of light wood, with spindle porch-posts horribly mutilated by the turning-lathe. Yet for all their frailness, how much jealousy and envy and unhappiness some of them managed to contain! The life that went on in them seemed to me made up of evasions and negations; shifts to save cooking, to save washing and cleaning, devices to propitiate the tongue of gossip. This guarded mode of existence was like living under a tyranny. People's speech, their voices, their very glances, became furtive and repressed. Every individual taste, every natural appetite, was bridled by caution. The people asleep in those houses, I thought, tried to live like the mice in their own kitchens; to make no noise, to leave no trace, to slip over the surface of things in the dark.

--- Willa Cather

Spanish postcard, no. 2656. Marlon Brando as Napoleon Bonaparte in Désirée (Henry Koster, 1954).

American film star Marlon Brando (1924-2004) was one of the greatest and most influential actors of all time. A cultural icon, Brando is most famous for his Oscar-winning performances as Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront (Elia Kazan, 1954) and Vito Corleone in The Godfather (1972). He initially gained popularity for recreating the role of Stanley Kowalski in the film A Streetcar Named Desire (Elia Kazan,1951), adapted from the Tennessee Williams play in which he became recognized as a Broadway star during its 1947–49 stage run. Then followed his Academy Award-winning performance as Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront (Elia Kazan, 1954), as well as for his iconic portrayal of the rebel motorcycle gang leader Johnny Strabler in The Wild One (Laslo Benedek, 1953), which is considered to be one of the most famous images in pop culture.

Marlon Brando was born in 1924, in Omaha, Nebraska, to Marlon Brando, Sr., a pesticide and chemical feed manufacturer, and his artistically inclined wife, the former Dorothy Julia Pennebaker. Brando had two older sisters, Jocelyn Brando (1919–2005) and Frances (1922–1994). Jocelyn was the first to pursue an acting career, going to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Art in New York City. She appeared on Broadway, then in films and on television. Marlon had been held back a year in school and was later expelled from Libertyville High School for riding his motorcycle through the corridors. In 1943, he decided to follow his sister to New York. Brando enrolled in Erwin Piscator's Dramatic Workshop at New York's New School and was mentored by Stella Adler, a member of a famous Yiddish Theatre acting family. Adler helped introduce to the New York stage the 'emotional memory' technique of Russian theatrical actor, director, and impresario Konstantin Stanislavski, whose motto was "Think of your own experiences and use them truthfully." This technique encouraged the actor to explore his own feelings and past experiences to fully realise the character being portrayed. Brando's remarkable insight and sense of realism were evident early on. In 1944, he made it to Broadway in the bittersweet drama I Remember Mama, playing the son of Mady Christians. New York Drama Critics voted him 'Most Promising Young Actor' for his role as an anguished veteran in Truckline Café, although the play was a commercial failure. His breakthrough was the role of Stanley Kowalski in Tennessee Williams's 1947 play A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Elia Kazan. Brando based his portrayal of Kowalski on the boxer Rocky Graziano, whom he had studied at a local gymnasium. Brando's first screen role was the bitter paraplegic war veteran in The Men (Fred Zinnemann, 1950). In typical Method fashion, he spent a month in an actual veteran's hospital in preparation for the role. Brando rose to fame when he repeated the role of Stanley Kowalski in the film A Streetcar Named Desire (Elia Kazan, 1951). The role is regarded as one of Brando's greatest. The reception of Brando's performance was so positive that Brando quickly became a male sex symbol in Hollywood. The role earned him his first Academy Award nomination but lost despite Oscars for his co-stars, Vivien Leigh, Karl Malden, and Kim Hunter. Brando was also Oscar-nominated the next year for Viva Zapata! (Elia Kazan, 1952), a fictionalised account of the life of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata. His next film, Julius Caesar (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1953), received highly favourable reviews. Brando portrayed Mark Antony opposite John Gielgud. Another iconic portrayal is the rebel motorcycle gang leader Johnny Strabler in The Wild One (Laslo Benedek, 1953), riding his own Triumph Thunderbird 6T motorcycle. His rowdy portrayal is considered to be one of the most famous images in pop culture. After the movie's release, the sales of leather jackets and blue jeans skyrocketed. Then followed his Academy Award-winning performance as Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront (Elia Kazan, 1954), a crime drama about union violence and corruption among longshoremen. As the decade continued, Brando remained a top box office draw but critics felt his performances were half-hearted, lacking the intensity and commitment found in his earlier work. He co-starred with Jean Simmons in Désirée (Heny Koster, 1954) and the musical Guys and Dolls (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1955). In Sayonara (Joshua Logan, 1957) he appeared as the United States Air Force Major Lloyd Gruver. The film was controversial due to openly discussing interracial marriage but proved a great success, earning 10 Academy Award nominations, with Brando being nominated for Best Actor. The following year, Brando appeared opposite Montgomery Clift as the sympathetic Nazi officer Christian Diestl in The Young Lions (Edward Dmytryk, 1958), dyeing his hair blonde and assuming a German accent for the role, which he later admitted was not convincing. The film was the last hit Brando would have for more than a decade.

Marlo Brando directed and starred in the cult Western One-Eyed Jacks (1961), a critical and commercial flop. After both Stanley Kubrick and Sam Peckinpah had walked off the project, Brando had grabbed the directorial reins. He never again directed another film. During the 1960s, he delivered a series of box-office failures, beginning with the film adaptation of the novel Mutiny on the Bounty (Lewis Milestone, 1962). Brando's revulsion with the film industry reportedly boiled over on the set of this film. His diminishing box-office stature, combined with his increasingly temperamental behaviour, made him a target of scorn for the first time in his career. The downward spiral continued for some years. Interesting was Reflections in a Golden Eye (John Huston, 1967), an adaptation of a Carson McCullers novel in which he portrayed a closeted and repressed gay army officer. He also did influential performances in The Chase (Arthur Penn, 1966), the Italian-French anti-colonialist drama Queimada/Burn! (Gillo Pontecorvo, 1970) and the British horror film The Nightcomers (Michael Winner, 1971). However the films were financial flops and Hollywood began to perceive him as a bad and unnecessary risk. By the dawn of the 1970s, Brando was considered 'unbankable' and critics were becoming increasingly dismissive of his work. Brando's performance as Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather (1972), Francis Ford Coppola's adaptation of Mario Puzo's 1969 bestseller, was a career turning point. The Godfather was then one of the most commercially successful films of all time. The film put him back in the Top Ten and won him his second Best Actor Oscar. He followed The Godfather with Ultimo tango a Parigi/Last Tango in Paris (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1972) opposite Maria Schneider. The film features several intense, graphic scenes involving Brando, and the controversial film was another hit. Brando took a four-year hiatus before appearing in the Western The Missouri Breaks (Arthur Penn, 1976) with Jack Nicholson. Then he made a rare appearance on television in the miniseries Roots: The Next Generations (1979), for which he won an Emmy award. In this period, he was content with being a highly paid character actor in glorified cameo roles, such as in Superman (Richard Donner, 1978) and The Formula (John G. Avildsen, 1980), before taking a nine-year break from motion pictures. However, he also did his controversial performance as Colonel Kurtz in the Vietnam epic Apocalypse Now (Francis Coppola, 1979). The film earned critical acclaim, as did Brando's performance. Marlon's whispering of Kurtz's final words "The horror! The horror!", has become particularly famous. It was his last great performance. Years later though, he did receive an eighth and final Oscar nomination for his supporting role as an attorney in the anti-Apartheid drama A Dry White Season (Euzhan Palcy, 1989) after coming out of a near-decade-long retirement. Brando was an activist with deep political convictions, supporting many causes, notably the African-American Civil Rights Movement and various American Indian Movements. He made another comeback in the Johnny Depp romantic drama Don Juan DeMarco (Jeremy Leven, 1994), which co-starred Faye Dunaway as his wife. Brando owned a private island off the Pacific coast, the Polynesian atoll known as Tetiaroa, from 1966 until his death in 2004. He was married three times. First to actress Anna Kashfi in 1957. They divorced in 1959. In 1960, Brando married Movita Castaneda, a Mexican-American actress seven years his senior; the marriage was annulled in 1968. Tahitian actress Tarita Teriipaia, who played Brando's love interest in Mutiny on the Bounty, became his third wife. She was 18 years younger than Brando. They divorced in 1972. Brando had a long-term relationship with his housekeeper Maria Christina Ruiz, by whom he had three children. In 2004, Marlon Brando died of respiratory failure in Westwood, California, at age 80. He left behind 14 children (two of his children, Cheyenne and Dylan Brando, had predeceased him), as well as over 30 grandchildren. The last words are for Jason Ankeny at AllMovie: "Marlon Brando was quite simply one of the most celebrated and influential screen and stage actors of the postwar era; he rewrote the rules of performing, and nothing was ever the same again. Brooding, lusty, and intense, his greatest contribution was popularizing Method acting, a highly interpretive performance style which brought unforeseen dimensions of power and depth to the craft. (...) He is one of the screen's greatest enigmas, and there will never be another quite like him."

Sources: Jason Ankeny (AllMovie), Jon C. Hopwood (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

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Dutch postcard by Int. Filmpers, Amsterdam, no. 363 / 817.

American actress Natalie Wood (1938-1981) was one of Hollywood's most valuable and wanted actresses in the early 1960s. At 4, she started out as a child actress and at 16, she became a star, when she co-starred with James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause (1955). For this role, she was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. In 1961, she played Maria in the hit musical West Side Story. She was nominated twice for an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, for Splendor in the Grass (1961) and Love with the Proper Stranger (1963). Only 43, Wood drowned during a boating trip with husband Robert Wagner and Brainstorm (1983) co-star Christopher Walken.

Natalie Wood was born Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko in San Francisco, USA, in 1938. Her parents were Russian immigrants. Her father Nikolai Stepanovich Zakharenko was a day laborer and carpenter and her mother Maria Zudilova was a housewife. Wood's parents had to migrate due to the Russian Civil War (1917-1923). Maria had unfulfilled ambitions of becoming an actress or ballet dancer. She wanted her daughters to pursue an acting career, and live out her dream. Maria frequently took a young Wood with her to the cinema, where Maria could study the films of Hollywood child stars. The impoverished family could not afford any other acting training to Wood. The Zakharenko family eventually moved to Santa Rosa, where young Wood was noticed by members of a crew during a film shoot. The family moved to Los Angeles to help seek out roles for her. RKO Radio Pictures' executives William Goetz and David Lewis chose the stage name "Natalie Wood for her. The first name was based on her childhood nickname Natalia, and the last name was in reference to director Sam Wood. Natalia's younger sister Svetlana Gurdin (1946) would eventually follow an acting career as well, under the stage name Lana Wood. Natalie made her film debut in the drama Happy Land (Irving Pichel, 1943) starring Don Ameche, set in the home front of World War II. She was only 5-years-old, and her scene as the 'Little Girl Who Drops Ice Cream Cone' lasted 15 seconds. Wood somehow attracted the interest of film director Irving Pichel who remained in contact with her family over the next few years. Wood had few job offers over the following two years, but Pichel helped her get a screen test for a more substantial role opposite Orson Welles as Wood's guardian and Claudette Colbert in the romance film Tomorrow Is Forever (Irving Pichel, 1946). Wood passed through an audition and won the role of Margaret Ludwig, a post-World War II German orphan. At the time, Wood was "unable to cry on cue" for a key scene. So her mother tore a butterfly to pieces in front of her, giving her a reason to cry for the scene. Wood started appearing regularly in films following this role and soon received a contract with the film studio 20th Century Fox. Her first major role was that of Susan Walker in the Christmas film Miracle on 34th Street (George Seaton, 1947), starring Edmund Gwenn and Maureen O'Hara. The film was a commercial and critical hit and Wood was counted among the top child stars in Hollywood. She received many more to play in films. She typically appeared in family films, cast as the daughter or sister of such protagonists as Fred MacMurray, Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Joan Blondell, and Bette Davis. Wood appeared in over twenty films as a child actress. The California laws of the era required that until reaching adulthood, child actors had to spend at least three hours per day in the classroom, Wood received her primary education on the studio lots, receiving three hours of school lessons whenever she was working on a film. After school hours ended, Wood would hurry to the set to film her scenes.

Natalie Wood gained her first major television role in the short-lived sitcom The Pride of the Family (1953-1954). At the age of 16, she found more success with the role of Judy in Rebel Without a Cause (Nicholas Ray, 1955) opposite James Dean and Sal Mineo. She played the role of a teenage girl who dresses up in racy clothes to attract the attention of a father (William Hopper) who typically ignores her. The film's success helped Wood make the transition from child star to ingenue. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, but the award was instead won by Jo Van Fleet. Her next significant film was the Western The Searchers (John Ford, 1956), playing the role of abduction victim Debbie Edwards, niece of the protagonist Ethan Edwards (John Wayne). The film was a commercial and critical hit and has since been regarded as a masterpiece. Also in 1956, Wood graduated from Van Nuys High School, with her graduation serving as the end of her school years. She signed a contract with Warner Brothers, where she was kept busy with several new films. To her disappointment, she was typically cast as the girlfriend of the protagonist and received roles of little depth. For a while, the studio had her paired up with teenage heartthrob Tab Hunter as a duo. The studio was hoping that the pairing would serve as a box-office draw, but this did not work out. One of Wood's only serious roles from this period is the role of the eponymous protagonist in the melodrama Marjorie Morningstar (Irving Rapper, 1958) with Gene Kelly, playing a young Jewish girl whose efforts to create her own identity and career path clash with the expectations of her family. Wikipedia: "The central conflict in the film revolves around the traditional models of social behavior and religious behavior expected by New York Jewish families in the 1950s, and Marjorie's desire to follow an unconventional path." The film was a critical success, and fit well with other films exploring the restlessness of youth in the 1950s. Wood's first major box office flop was the biographical film All the Fine Young Cannibals (Michael Anderson, 1960), examining the rags to riches story of jazz musician Chet Baker (played by Robert Wagner) without actually using his name. The film's box office earnings barely covered the production costs, and film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer recorded a loss of 1,108,000 dollars. For the first time. Wood's appeal to the audience was in doubt.

With her career in decline following this failure, Natalie Wood was seen as "washed up" by many in the film community. But director Elia Kazan gave her the chance to audition for the role of the sexually-repressed Wilma Dean Loomis in Splendor in the Grass (Elia Kazan, 1961) with Warren Beatty. The film was a critical success and Wood for first nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. The award was instead won by rival actress Sophia Loren. Wood's next important film was West Side Story (Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise, 1961), where she played Maria, a restless Puerto Rican girl. Wood was once again called to represent the restlessness of youth in a film, this time in a story involving youth gangs and juvenile delinquents. The film was a great commercial success with about 44 million dollars in gross, the highest-grossing film of 1961. It was also critically acclaimed and is still regarded among the best films of Wood's career. However, Wood was disappointed that her singing voice was not used in the film. She was dubbed by Marni Nixon, who also dubbed Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady (George Cukor, 1964), and Deborah Kerr in The King and I (Walter Lang, 1956). Wood's next leading role was as burlesque entertainer and stripper Gypsy Rose Lee in the Biopic Gypsy (Mervyn LeRoy, 1962) alongside Rosalind Russell. Some film historians credit the part as an even better role for Wood than that of Maria, with witty dialogue, a greater emotional range, and complex characterisation. The film was the highest-grossing film of 1962 and well-received critically. Wood's next significant role was that of Macy's salesclerk Angie Rossini in the comedy-drama Love with the Proper Stranger (Robert Mulligan, 1963). In the film, Angie has a one-night-stand with musician Rocky Papasano (Steve McQueen), finds herself pregnant, and desperately seeks an abortion. The film underperformed at the box office but was critically well-received. The 25-year-old Wood received her second nomination for the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role, but it was won by Patricia Neal. Wood continued her successful film career and made two comedies with Tony Curtis: Sex and the Single Girl (Richard Quine, 1964) and The Great Race (Blake Edwards, 1965), the latter with Jack Lemmon, and Peter Falk. For Inside Daisy Clover (Sydney Pollack, 1965) and This Property Is Condemned (Sydney Pollack, 1966), both of which co-starred Robert Redford, Wood received Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress. However, her health status was not as successful. She was suffering emotionally and had sought professional therapy. She paid Warner Bros. 175,000 dollars to cancel her contract and was able to retire for a while. She also fired her entire support team: agents, managers, publicist, accountant, and attorneys. She took a three-year hiatus from acting.

Natalie Wood made her comeback in the comedy-drama Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (Paul Mazursky, 1969), with the themes of sexual liberation and wife swapping. It was a box office hit. Wood decided to gamble her 750,000 dollars fee on a percentage of the gross, earning a million dollars over the course of three years. Wood was pregnant with her first child, Natasha Gregson (1970). She chose to go into semi-retirement to raise the child, appearing in only four more theatrical films before her death. These films were the mystery-comedy Peeper (Peter Hyams, 1975) starring Michael Caine, the Science-Fiction film Meteor (Ronald Neame, 1979) with Sean Connery, the sex comedy The Last Married Couple in America (Gilbert Cates, 1980) with George Segal and Valerie Harper, and the posthumously-released Science-Fiction film Brainstorm (Douglas Trumbull, 1983). In the late 1970s, Wood found success in television roles. Laurence Olivier asked her to co-star with him in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Robert Moore, 1976). After that, she appeared in several television films and the mini-series From Here to Eternity (Buzz Kulik, 1979), with William Devane and Kim Basinger. For From Here to Eternity, she received a Golden Globe Award and high ratings. She had plans to make her theatrical debut in a 1982 production of 'Anastasia'. On 28 November 1981, during a holiday break from the production of Brainstorm (1983), Natalie Wood joined her husband Robert Wagner, their friend Christopher Walken, and captain Dennis Davern on a weekend boat trip to Catalina Island. The four of them were on board Wagner's yacht Splendour. On the morning of 29 November 1981, Wood's corpse was recovered 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) away from the boat. The autopsy revealed that she had drowned. Wikipedia: "The events surrounding her death have been the subject of conflicting witness statements, prompting the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, under the instruction of the coroner's office, to list her cause of death as 'drowning and other undetermined factors' in 2012. In 2018, Wagner was named as a person of interest in the ongoing investigation into Wood's death." Natalie Wood was buried in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. Her would-be comeback film Brainstorm (Douglas Trumbull, 1983) was incomplete at the time of her death. It was ultimately finished and released, but Wood's character had to be written out of three scenes while a stand-in and changing camera angles were used for crucial shots. Natalie Wood was married three times. Her second husband was the British film producer and screenwriter Richard Gregson (1969-1972). She was twice married to actor Robert Wagner, from 1957 till 1962 and from 1972 till her death in 1981. She had two daughters, Natasha Gregson Wagner (1970) with Richard Gregson, and Courtney Wagner (1974) with Robert Wagner. The 2004 TV film The Mystery of Natalie Wood chronicles Wood's life and career. It was partly based on the biographies 'Natasha: the Biography of Natalie Wood' by Suzanne Finstad and 'Natalie & R.J.' by Warren G. Harris. Justine Waddell portrays Wood.

Sources: Dimos I (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

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APPROXIMATE RELEASE DATE: 2001-2002

HEAD MOLD: "Classic"

PERSONAL FUN FACT: If you had asked me a thousand times before April 2016 if I would ever want a Lindsey Bergman doll, the answer always would have been "no." It's amazing how one moment in time can completely rewrite my opinion about a doll, even if it is one that I've had for years. I remember when Lindsey first debuted in catalogues. I was fascinated by the "Girl of the Year" concept, as it was entirely new, uncharted territory. But as much as I wanted to like her, I just couldn't find it in me to think of her as an attractive doll. It wasn't that I found her appalling by any means, I mean after all, American Girls all look fairly similar. It was more like I just couldn't find any appeal in her appearance. So my longing to own a Lindsey doll was only momentary. Nearly fifteen years after she first came out, I still never had any expectation of owning Lindsey.

Over the years, I have encountered several Lindsey Bergman dolls in person. I had gotten to hold and touch them, and while I thought they were mildly cute, my heart never felt warm and fuzzy. These few experiences only solidified my belief that I just wasn't into Lindsey, and that I would never own her. The first time I "met" a Lindsey doll was not long after she came out. One of my friends in middle school would invite me over to her house for sleepovers every so often. Although it was not my chosen weekend activity, there were perks to these slumber parties. My friend had quite the doll collection--she was actually the girl that owned the Xpress It! Yasmin doll I fell in love with, which led to my Bratz obsession. Besides her Barbies, this little girl also had an American Girl Lindsey. Meeting Lindsey was like keeping company with a celebrity to my eleven year old self. The second I spotted her sitting on my friend's bureau, I was most intrigued. I couldn't understand why my friend found her to be so "creepy" to the point where Lindsey was kicked out of the bedroom at night (at least that's what she told me she did). In person, Lindsey wasn't all that spectacular--her hair was matted and frizzy, and her skin was dirty and yellowing. My second experience with a Lindsey doll was not much better. Sometime in 2012 or early 2013, I fixed up a Lindsey doll for a friend. She too was a homely, battered mess. In fact, this second Lindsey doll was in even worse condition than the first. Of course, that makes sense being that this was nearly a decade later. Lindsey's limbs were entirely loose, her hair was an utter train wreck, and her skin was so grubby and oily, I had to scrub her clean multiple times. Even after a series of shampooing, boil washes, and curly perms, Lindsey still looked forlorn and just a little ugly. These two undesirable Lindsey dolls that I met in my past assured me that I was "immune" to her wiles, and that I would never fork over my money to have one.

Fate would have it differently though, because only a few years after fixing up my friend's Lindsey doll, I would find my very own Lindsey. American Girls had made a huge comeback into my life in 2014, after my sister and I rescued a beaten up Nellie doll from our local flea market. All the passion we had suppressed for years for American Girl dolls simply erupted after Nellie O'Malley joined the family. Our collection grew extremely quickly, and it seemed that every few months we were scrounging money together to buy new clothes from eBay or American Girl. In February of 2016, an adorable blue eyed, freckled face dolly named Grace Thomas, became a member of the family. Although initially uninterested in Miss Thomas, several months later, I found myself drooling over every picture or video I found on the internet of her (not to mention the copious amount of time I spent staring at her catalogue spreads). It might seem odd that I am mentioning Grace when I am supposed to be explaining my Lindsey doll's story. But Grace in fact has everything to do with why Lindsey is here. It's not that Grace instilled a desire in me to collect all the Girl of the Year dolls. It's not that she made me more open minded (the door to my heart was already entirely open). Although, Grace did make me realize that sometimes liking an American doll is enough of a reason to buy her, even if it is on a whim. It's actually that Grace and Lindsey have some aesthetic similarities. I didn't realize it until after purchasing my Lindsey doll, but what I suddenly found so attractive about Lindsey was her light blue eyes, quirky freckles, and brown hair...sound familiar?

It was opening day at our flea market in 2016, when we found Lindsey. The day before, I had sent my Kirsten doll off to the hospital to get new eyes. Colleen and I jokingly said that when Kirsten got back, she probably expected to find another doll in her spot...I guess that joke jinxed us! The winter weather that had trickled into the spring months had prevented Colleen and I from going to the flea market earlier that year. We didn't anticipate finding much at all, let alone coming home with a huge score. As we walked along the first aisle of the flea market, down the winding hill, I spotted a familiar table with some very suspicious looking figures standing on it. I could have sworn from this distant perspective that there were at least two American Girl dolls on this table, but I couldn't make out their identities. I repressed the urge to run to the table and inspect the potential American Girls. Instead, my sister and I continued following our regular path around the flea market. Within five minutes I had entirely forgotten about the American Girls I may have spotted. My attention had been grabbed by a massive green suitcase stuffed with hoards of mutilated Barbies (a bin we later named the "Ken Suitcase lot"). My sister and I spent about fifteen minutes sifting through the suitcase before purchasing it. As we headed up the hill towards the table with Lindsey, I was hauling the huge, ridiculously heavy luggage behind me (luckily it had wheels). Lindsey was easy to spot by then, so I quickened my pace until we reached the destination. Once again, I felt like I was in the presence of royalty. My sister and I swooped over Lindsey, studying her clothes, touching her hair, and feeling her limbs. I thought for sure that this seller (who was usually over priced) would want some absurd amount of money for her. But instead, she surprised me by saying that the doll was seventy five dollars. Lindsey was complete, except for her hair clip. Her hair was in beautiful condition--at least to me, a seasoned doll stylist, who could see the potential. It was still very shiny and soft, although it was slightly tangled. Lindsey's face paint was fresh looking, which countered her super loose limbs and grubby looking clothes. But I reasoned with myself that I never wanted a Lindsey doll before, and that I should save my money. So we thanked the seller and off we went to look around while I "mulled over" whether or not I should buy Lindsey. The woman warned us that several other people had also walked away to "think" about Lindsey and that at some point she would sell. I knew that this wasn't a sales gimmick, as I've seen elevated interest in any American Girl item at my local flea market (after all, Colleen and I narrowly managed to get my Bitty Baby named Jelly).

As we finished the last few rows of the flea market, I walked as fast as my legs could carry me, and haul the suitcase. I was breezing so quickly through the flea market, that I barely spent anytime hunting for treasure. I kept saying to myself, "I need to finish this quickly so I can get to the ATM and withdraw money for Lindsey." I chanted this line over and over again, until it occurred to me how ridiculous the situation was. Obviously, my heart had made up my mind, and had decided that I was getting Lindsey. When this dawned on me, I knew I had to get my butt over to the ATM as quickly as possible, and then book it back to the table before anyone else bought her. My sister went ahead of me to "reserve" Lindsey while I went to the ATM and withdrew the funds for her. I actually beat Colleen back to the table and had already paid for Lindsey by the time she found us (she had gotten confused). Later that afternoon, as Lindsey and I sat together in the Dunkin Donuts parking lot in my new Jeep, waiting for Colleen to buy drinks with a gift card we had, it suddenly hit me that I owned a Lindsey doll. Looking into her beautiful blue eyes, I knew I had made the right decision. That moment felt so right, and it truly felt like a new chapter in my life had just started.

Lindsey has come to mean so many things to me, many of which I never expected. She symbolizes my childhood, and a shift in the American Girl line. There really is quite the novelty in owning THE first Girl of the Year doll, the one who started it all (although she didn't sell well back then ironically). It is also refreshing to see a familiar face in my doll cabinets, one that I not only knew from catalogues, but also in person from the various friends I made over the years. Her similarities to my beloved Grace doll make me that much more fond of her. And of course there is the fact that I spent so much time reviving her. I slaved over removing the mold stains which covered parts of her arms, legs, and her neck, I scrubbed her body clean, I washed her already beautiful hair, and I restrung her cloth body, once again restoring her cuddliness. But most of all, Lindsey marks the beginning of a new journey--"The Great Unknown" as Rob Thomas would put it. Since losing my father in 2012, my sister and I have struggled to keep our heads above water and we have fought for our happiness. It always felt like a constant battle because with each step we took forward, some hurdle would send us back a few paces. But 2016 finally pushed us into the next chapter. For the first time in four years, it no longer felt like we were just fighting against the current, but that the river of life was actually taking us somewhere new. Lindsey was the first American Girl to ride in my new Jeep Angel, she was purchased on the first flea market day of 2016, she was the first secondhand AG that year, and for the first time looking into her blue glassy eyes the day we bought her, I knew that Colleen and I were really going to be okay, and that this newfound happiness was not temporary.

According to Jung ... www.schuelers.com/ChaosPsyche/part_2_12.htm

As shown in Figure 14, the dream state has a “normal” personal unconscious but not a “normal” consciousness (consciousness is negative). Consciousness here is focused within the personal unconscious, the region UP in our phase space.

Jung (1981) says the "dreams have a psychic structure which is unlike that of other contents of consciousness" (p. 237). He divided dreams into five major types or categories: (1) those with a "compensating function" which appear to compensate the waking ego to help maintain psychic balance by bringing up repressed images, (2) those with a "prospective function" which serves as "an anticipatory combination of probabilities" (p. 255), (3) those with a "reductive function" that tend to disintegrate, demolish, destroy, or devalue images, (4) reaction dreams that replay past traumatic experiences, and (5) telepathic dreams that seem almost prophetic in nature and which come under the heading of synchronicities. These five categories form an entire dream spectrum.

In dreams we tend to be self conscious even though our sense of identity may differ from that in our waking state. The angle of consciousness for the dream state is shown in Figure 35.

l'ultima notte di soli nel buio, questa sarà, l'ultima notte di quiete, questa sarà...l'ultima volta di film scadenti trasmessi dalla tv approfittando di noi depressi repressi reclusi...cacciati senza gloria...no..no...quella è un'altra storia..

ma a guardar bene lassù c'è 'na bionda.. (da sguardi dal 4°piano) IMG_2298

this will be the last night of alone in the dark, this will be, the last night of quiet, this will be ... the last time of poor films transmitted by TV taking advantage of us depressed repressed inmates ... hunted without glory .. .no..no ... that's another story ..

but looking closely up there is a blonde woman .. (from looks from the 4th floor)

it was the day the State decided people could not do any more protests (or hang around in groups) or would be repressed with tear gas.

I took this pics with a Minolta X700, and just yesterday bought the chemicals to develop the film.

Italian postcard by Bromophoto, Milano, no. 1283. Photo: Rank Film. Publicity still for Dangerous Exile (1958).

British film actress Anne Heywood (1931) started her career as Miss Great Britain in 1950. In the mid-1950s, she began to play supporting roles as the ‘nice girl’ for Rank. Gradually she evolved into a leading lady, best known for her dramatic roles in the pioneer lesbian drama The Fox (1967) and La monaca di Monza/The Nun of Monza (1969).

Anne Heywood was born as Violet Joan Pretty in Handsworth (now Birmingham), England in 1932. She was one of the seven children. Her father, Harold Pretty, was a former orchestral violinist, turned factory worker. Her mother died when Violet was just 13. She had to leave school at fourteen to look after the younger members of her family. This frustrated her wish to go to art school. Instead, she joined in 1947 the Highbury Little Theatre in Sutton Coldfield near Birmingham and stayed there for two years gaining stage experience. At only 17, the knockout brunette won the National Bathing Beauty Contest in 1950, later renamed as the Miss Great Britain contest. Her prizes were £1000 and a silver rose bowl. The following year she made her film debut as a beauty contestant in the comedy Lady Godiva Rides Again (1951, Frank Launder) with Dennis Price. That year she also became the personal assistant of Carroll Levis, a talent spotter on a radio show, which toured along the main theatres of Great Britain. She stayed at the show for four years and even appeared three times with the show on television. Heywood attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. While playing the principal boy in Aladdin at the Chelsea Palace, she was spotted by a talent scout for the Rank Organization. In 1956, she signed a seven-year contract and her name was changed to Anne Heywood. According to Glamour Girls at the Silver Screen, she later recalled: “I always hated my name. It sounded unreal.” For Rank, she appeared in supporting roles as the 'nice girl'. Her films included the comedy Doctor at Large (1957, Ralph Thomas) starring Dirk Bogarde, the crime drama Violent Playground (1958, Basil Dearden) opposite Stanley Baxter, and the adventure Dangerous Exile (1958, Brian Desmond Hurst) starring Louis Jourdan. Gradually Heywood evolved into a leading lady.

Anne Heywood met in 1959 producer Raymond Stross at the set of A Terrible Beauty/The Night Fighters (1960, Tay Garnett) starring Robert Mitchum. A year later they married in Zurich, Switzerland. He was 16 years her senior. Stross started to reshape her image with such sexy, offbeat dramas as The Very Edge (1963, Cyril Frankel) with Richard Todd, and 90 Degrees in the Shade (1965, Jiri Weiss). At the Berlin Film Festival, the latter won the International Critics' Prize. Her breakthrough role was Ellen March in The Fox (1967, Mark Rydell), co-starring Sandy Dennis. This film adaptation of a D. H. Lawrence novel caused controversy at the time due to its lesbian theme. Gary Brumburgh at IMDb on Heywood and Dennis: “the two were quite believable as an unhappy, isolated couple whose relationship is irreparably shattered by the appearance of a handsome stranger (Keir Dullea). At the height of the movie's publicity, Playboy magazine revealed a ‘pictorial essay’ just prior to its 1967 release with Anne in a nude and auto-erotic spread.” Heywood was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress. The Fox, a Canadian film, did win the ‘Best Foreign Film Golden Globe. Heywood did not. The Fox is now respected as a pioneer, ground-breaking lesbian film. Heywood’s next film was La monaca di Monza/The Nun of Monza (1969, Eriprando Visconti) with Hardy Krüger. This controversial drama tells the tale of how a 17th-century Italian nun's long-repressed sexual passion is awakened when a handsome nobleman rapes and impregnates her. Later she is captured and captured and given a horrible life sentence. This ‘true story’ of Sister Virginia, the nun of Monza, was shot in a fifteenth-century castle 27 miles north of Rome and in medieval churches in Lombardy, where the original story took place. The nasty exploitative drama grossed more than $1,000,000 in its initial run in Italy and paid back its negative cost in three weeks. The box office success lead to an Italian subgenre of ‘nunsploitation’ films in the 1970s.

Anne Heywood and Raymond Stross moved from Switzerland to the US. Despite the Golden Globe nomination and the Playboy spread, Heywood never endeared herself to American filmgoers. Such Hollywood productions as the caper Midas Run (1969, Alf Kjellin) with Fred Astaire, and the action drama The Chairman (1969, J. Lee Thompson) with Gregory Peck were no successes. She seemed drawn toward highly troubled, flawed characters, like in I Want What I Want (1972, John Dexter) and Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff (1979, Marvin J. Chomsky). In the 1970s, she also appeared in several Italian films, including the Giallo L'assassino... è al telefono/The Killer Is on the Phone (1972, Alberto De Martino) with Telly Savalas and Willeke van Ammelrooy, the nunsploitation Le monache di Sant'Arcangelo/The Nun & The Devil (1973, Domenico Paolella) with Ornella Muti, and the romantic drama La prima volta sull'erba/Love Under the Elms (1975, Gianluigi Calderone). Her career declined in the 1980s. Her final feature was What Waits Below (1985, Don Sharp. Hal Erickson at IMDb: “a goofy fantasy filmed on the cheap by the ever-canny Don Sharp. The story involves a team of anthropologists and military men who busy themselves exploring a serpentine system of subterranean caves. They discover of a lost race of Albinos, which wreaks havoc upon the surface-dwelling humans. The British actor Robert Powell and Timothy Bottoms star. According to some sources, Sharp and co. approached the production with extreme carelessness; thanks to an unfortunate accident, a large percentage of the cast and crew were almost fatally poisoned by carbon monoxide in the caves where the movie was filmed.” Her penultimate role was as Manon Brevard Marcel on the American TV series The Equalizer (1988), starring Edward Woodward. In 1988 her husband Raymond Stross died. The following year she appeared in a final television movie, Memories of Manon (1989, Tony Wharmby) based on the character from The Equalizer. After this role, she retired. She remarried to George Danzig Druke, a former New York Assistant Attorney General. Anne Heywood Druke resides with her husband in Beverly Hills, USA. She has one son, Mark (1963), with Raymond Stross.

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Gary Brumburgh (IMDb), Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

Leave

Amidst the ethereal glow of ancient moon, a soul stood at the crossroads of the worlds. The decision to let go echoed along with the whisper of the relative calm ocean. The whispers of spiritual guides echoed, gentle counsel for the heart heavy with repressed pain.

The border between sand and sea, a portal to chosen absence. Absence, a spectral muse, lingered among the remnants of a lifetime's art, a palette worn with hues of tragedy and fiction, sketches echoing untold stories. The artist's heart, burdened with repressed pain, pulsed like a brush about to stroke the canvas of a new beginning.

Her fingers traced figures in the wet sand, knowing that in a few moments the waves would devour that ephemeral creation.

When the waves swallowed his work and soaked his feet, the artist entered the unknown, riding in the ethereal place of spiritual guides. She sighed in silent reverence, absorbing the chosen absence of a lifetime of art left behind. In the realm of the artist's soul, an unspoken agreement emerged: a future painted in the hues of new freedom, a testament to the art of letting go and the limitless canvases that await creation...

by me

Water-mixable oil paint on canvas 60x60cm.

#beautifulbizarre #paint #art #lowbrow #lowbrowart #surrealart #artist #illustrationartists #oilpainting #surrealism #surrealist #surreal

Created with Apophysis

#longcomment #comment #invisible art #theory of invisibility #art

“Well, folks, what if there actually was something called The Theory of Invisible Art?”

— One among many questions asked as a result of reading essays about Paul Jaisini.

#comment #? #Invisibility #theory of invisibility #invisible

Ron, Neil Klaw & Yustas are the same person.

Another Conspirator Theory Booooooog Ron, Neil Klaw & Yustas are not the same person. Pay attention, Neil doesn’t even like me. He said we are members of a “cloyingly narcissistic mutual admiration schtick” or words to that effect, and that is stiff business, coming from such as he. Klaw

But the real problem is that the entire thing is an auto-fellating sack of shit as description or criticism… I don’t think I’ll be buying the print or the book… That being so,” the desire of man must have been in an endless existence and will continue to dwell in bodies and in works of art to which Wet Dream is an example.”

Okay Yustas, let’s get a few things straight. It is clear that you have issues, and you are attempting to drag this into a pointless gutter fight – as you have attempted to do with so many others. You are well known to operate for your own ends under several pseudonyms. Indeed, well over 12 months ago your writing and photographic practices were detailed at the club’s chronic journal . Indeed you do have questionable practices… I’m sure one or two celebs would be interested to see the manipulated images you have generated. But your calls for submission… That interested me! I have now discovered that you have spammed this request so often that Google identifies that you have pushed out the exact same post on more than 62000 occasions. Indeed in the club people have been extraordinarily tolerant of your practices…

#comment #gleitzeit

you have pushed out the same post on more than 62000 occasions.

From the previous post: “That interested me! I have now discovered that you have spammed this request so often that Google identifies that you have pushed out the exact same post on more than 62000 occasions.”

1997- ongoing statistics on Paul Jaisini, Marble Lady, Narcissus, Manifesto, etc. gleitzeit “hits” - number of page views, posts on the Internet, Internet searches, comments, emails, readership accounts to a substantial number. Documenting Gleitzeit is not done to acquire the exact number of Internet hits if it’s ten million hits or a hundred million. In the course of posting here the samples of how the Gleitzeit art mission formed the ideas I do see various numbers when google search fetches results on the keywords. Somewhere I saw “page view” counts in other places there’s sitemeters with over two million hits or 20,000. Most of the sites with essays could be found online or already removed since the websites now are non-functional and some content is archived some content is gone. As high as the numbers could go is not the concern.

Very interesting even mystifying for me to understand the human reaction and its mechanics of how and why people react certain way as they did and continue to react. The reaction manifests same way now as it did years ago so long as the formula remains the same: the receiver/reader is presented with the verbal description in a form of essay about oil painting by Paul Jaisini and no image of the artwork.

#outreach #invisible #Invisibility #theory of invisibility #invisible art

“I may not be able to tell you what good invisible art is, but I know it when I see it.”

#comment #invisible #invisible art

Schmoostis: get some help Do you really have nothing better to do than stir up problems on a board where no one wants you? Haven’t you figured it out yet? Don’t you see you are pushing your idiotic writing and pseudo-philosophy on people who couldn’t care less? Please—do yourself a favor and go somewhere else. We don’t care about your stupid art interest, your crappy writing or your need to puff up your own ego by sucking attention by stirring up decent people. You add nothing here, do you understand that? Your obnoxiousness has made you hated, don’t you see that? Please, before you are dragged out of your flee-bitten apartment by the scruff of your neck to the local mental institution, get some strong psychotropic medication! Leave these good people alone—find your attention someplace else. You don’t want to end up as just another bum muttering to himself in the New York gutter—you know—like Steve Martin in “The Jerk”— sitting in a bathtub mambling to yourself: “I used to be a well-known art critic and novelist and now I’m a basket case in the gutter.” Reach out and get some help before it’s too late.

#comment #invisible art #art #theory of invisibility

Catherine writes in regards to M/C Reviews Bio: Yustas has sent me some biographical info for M/C Reviews, which I’ve condensed to form the following: “Yustas Kotz-Gottlieb begun studying the piano at the age of 6, but when stage-fright prevented a career in music, she decided to concentrate on art. After a spell in Europe, where she was trained academically in painting, she found her true calling as a writer and art critic. Yustas is now working on a book about Paul Jaisini, the inventor of Gleitzeit art.”

#comment #photocopy #yustas kotz-gottlieb

I think the heart of what you are describing is the creative process, the act of carving, sculpting, bringing to life, something out of nothing. Gary/Harry was at his best when he made the comment about which side is up. But he became thin skinned when he thought I was laughing at (rather than with) him. Such a theory as you are involved with is easily misunderstood, and I think you are perhaps often misunderstood as well because you have no patience with fools. But if you take everything I said, in the context I said it, my musings in this area go some way to explain or at least to question just how man creates. I think you might do a screenplay about your experiences. It could be funny. Maybe you are right, maybe a book on art is the way to go. Or maybe, you could do an autobiographical book on your experiences. After all, in a sense, the poster is invisible. You are describing the experiences of an essentially invisible person in the electronic age. Have you noticed how differently people respond to you when you mail than when you talk? When people reply in writing, they tend to be boastful, arrogant, cruel, flaming… take Harry/Gary for instance. As a responder, he is often openly mean, snobbish and cruel. You saw him in real time, he is timid, uncertain and repressed.

#comment #invisible #invisible art

Ken writes regarding Manifesto Gleitzeit 3/21/00: You have the wrong number. There’s no one here with that neo pro anti (or whatever) anything. Copyright 2001 A Spacy Odyssey, (long version)

#comment #photocopy #gleitzeit

Ice writes on 3/3/00 the he enjoyed the Paul Jaisini Manifesto thing.

James writes re: Narcissus 3/3/00 Fortunately, the story is just that… a myth.

West-German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, no. 1075. Photo: NDF / Schorchtfilm / Lilo. Hardy Krüger in Der letzte Sommer/The Last Summer (Harald Braun, 1954).

German actor and writer Hardy Krüger (1928) passed away on 19 January 2022. The blond heartthrob acted in numerous European films of the 1950s and 1960s and also in several classic American films. He played friendly soldiers and adventurers in numerous German, British and French films and also in some Hollywood classics. Although he often was typecasted as the Aryan Nazi, he hated wearing the brown uniform. Krüger was 93.

Franz Eberhard August Krüger was born in 1928 in Berlin. He was the son of engineer Max Krüger. From 1941 on Hardy attended the Adolf-Hitler-Schule at Burg Sonthofen, an elite Nazi boarding school. Here the blonde and handsome 15-year-old was cast for the film Junge Adler/Young Eagles (Alfred Weidenmann, 1944) starring Willy Fritsch. This propaganda film for the Wehrmacht was filmed in the huge Ufa studio in Babelsberg. After his successful performance as the apprentice Bäumchen, director Wolfgang Liebeneiner tried to persuade him to continue his film career. In March 1945 the young Krüger was drafted into the SS Division 'Nibelungen', where he was drawn into heavy fighting before being captured by US forces in Tirol. After his release, he began to write but did not publish. Instead, he started to perform in German theatres. In 1949 he made his first post-war film, the comedy Diese Nacht vergess Ich nie/I'll Never Forget That Night (Johannes Meyer, 1949), with Gustav Fröhlich and Winnie Markus. In the following years, his film career took off.

Hardy Krüger became known as a handsome young man with an effortlessly natural attitude in such films as Illusion in Moll/Illusion in a Minor Key (Rudolf Jugert, 1952) starring Hildegard Knef, the drama Solange Du da bist/As Long as You're Near Me (Harald Braun, 1953) with O.W. Fischer, and the comedy Die Jungfrau auf dem Dach/The Girl on the Roof (Otto Preminger, 1953) with Johannes Heesters. The latter was the German version of the Hollywood production The Moon is Blue (Otto Preminger, 1953) starring William Holden and Maggie McNamara. Hardy Krüger and co-star Johanna Matz also appeared uncredited as tourists at the Empire State Building sequence in the American version. The quality of some of his next films did not match his talents. And although the jungle fantasy Liane, das Mädchen aus dem Urwald/Liane, Jungle Goddess (Eduard von Borsody, 1956) with a briefly topless Marion Michael was one of the biggest German box office hits of the 1950s, he declined to star in further Liane films for 'artistic reasons'.

Hardy Krüger is fluent in English, French, and German, and found himself in demand by British, French, American, and German producers. J. Arthur Rank cast him in three British pictures practically filmed back-to-back. The first one was The One That Got Away (Roy Ward Baker, 1957), the story of the positive and unpolitical lieutenant Franz von Werra, the only German prisoner of war to successfully escape from numerous British POW camps during the Second World War and return to Germany. The second was the comedy Bachelor of Hearts (Wolf Rilla, 1958), and the third, the thriller Blind Date (Joseph Losey, 1959) with Stanley Baker and Micheline Presle. In reviews, Hardy was described as 'ruggedly handsome' and a 'blond heartthrob'. Despite anti-German sentiment still prevailing in postwar Europe, he became an international favorite. He appeared in the German Shakespeare update Der Rest ist Schweigen/The Rest Is Silence (Helmut Käutner, 1959), and in the French WW II adventure Un taxi pour Tobrouk/Taxi for Tobruk (Denys de La Patellière, 1960). A highlight was the French drama Les dimanches de Ville d'Avray/Sundays and Cybele (Serge Bourguignon, 1962). This hauntingly beautiful film about a platonic relationship between a former bomber pilot with war trauma and amnesia, and a 12-year-old orphan girl (Patricia Gozzi), was awarded the 1962 Best Foreign Film Academy Award. It paved Krüger's way to Hollywood.

In the USA, Hardy Krüger started in the African adventure Hatari! (Howard Hawks, 1962), at the side of John Wayne and Elsa Martinelli. His later films included Hollywood productions like the original version of The Flight of the Phoenix (Robert Aldrich, 1965) about the survivors of a plane crash in the middle of the Sahara desert, and the war comedy-drama The Secret of Santa Vittoria (Stanley Kramer, 1969) with Anthony Quinn and Anna Magnani. In the star-studded war epic A Bridge Too Far (Richard Attenborough, 1977), he portrayed a Nazi General. Hardy Krüger related during the shooting how he hated to wear a Nazi uniform. Between takes, he wore a topcoat over his SS uniform so as "not to remind myself of my childhood in Germany during WW II." Although he often played German soldiers, his characters were mostly positive, he personified the 'good German'. Krüger also appeared in many European productions like Le Chant du monde/Song of the World (Marcel Camus, 1965) with Catherine Deneuve, the controversial box office hit La Monaca di Monza/The Nun of Monza (Eriprando Visconti, 1969) about a 17th-century Italian nun's long-repressed sexual passion, the Italian-Russian coproduction Krasnaya palatka/The Red Tent (Mikhail Kalatozov, 1969) starring Sean Connery, and the murder mystery À chacun son enfer/To Each His Hell (André Cayatte, 1977) with Annie Girardot. During that period, he made his sole appearance in a film of the New German Cinema in Peter Schamoni's comedy-western Potato Fritz/Montana Trap (Peter Schamoni, 1976). Most memorable is his role as the Prussian Captain Potzdorf in the Oscar winner Barry Lyndon (Stanley Kubrick, 1975) featuring Ryan O'Neal. His last film appearance was in the Swedish-British thriller Slagskämpen/The Inside Man (Tom Clegg, 1984) starring Dennis Hopper.

In the 1970s Hardy Krüger had taken up writing fiction and non-fiction, and he started a new career as a globe trotter for TV. In 1983, after several novels, story collections, and a children's book he published the novel Junge Unrast, an only slightly disguised autobiographic account of his life. On television, he played the role of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in the popular American TV series War and Remembrance (Dan Curtis, 1989) starring Robert Mitchum. In 2011 appeared as the pater familias in the TV film Die Familie/The Family (Carlo Rola, 2011) with Gila von Weitershausen as his wife. Hardy Krüger married three times. His marriages with actress Renate Densow and Italian painter Francesca Marazzi ended in a divorce. He married his current wife the American Anita Park in 1978. He has three children. His daughter by Renate Densow, Christiane Krüger (born in 1945, when he was only 17), and his son by Francesca Marazzi, Hardy Jr. Krüger are both actors too. Hardy Krüger was awarded many times for his work. In 2001 he was made Officier de la Légion d’Honneur in France, and in 2009, Germany honoured him with the Großes Verdienstkreuz (Great Cross of Merit). Since then, Hardy and Anita Krüger lived in California, and in Hamburg. Krüger died at his home in Palm Springs, California, on 19 January 2022, at the age of 93.

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Stephanie D'heil (Steffi-line - German), Tom Hernandez (IMDb), Filmportal.de, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Montreal 2015 May Day was heavily repressed by the police force from the provincial and municipal corp working together. A huge amount of tear gas and pepper spray was used to subdue the protesters, along with batons and riot control gun. A considerable amount of individual arrests were made in downtown, some of them in very brutal ways, along with at least three kettles.

PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT: The Holy Grail sets are up on CUUSOO

This scene takes place in the Repressed Peasant Inn in the dark forest of Ewing right after Sir Robin's encounter with the three-headed knight.

Due to unknown reasons this scene has been removed (like the appearance of Sir-Not-Appearing-In-This-Film).

I got one of those Cineworld Unlimited cards: see as many films in a month as you like for £13.50.

This week I saw How to Train Your Dragon: visually stunning, a few good laughs and a touching story of friendship with a healthy anti-war message for kids thrown in. If you have kids, take them to see it: they'll love it, and you probably will too.

Later in the week I went to see I Am Love. It's not a film for everyone, and when the credits began to roll at the end, one man in the cinema, which can't have had more than 15 people in it, got up and strode out in what looked to me like disgust, but maybe he was in a hurry to be somewhere else. That aside, there was a palpable sense of "wtf was that?!" among most of the rest of the audience.

I loved loved loved it. Not much actually happens in terms of plot and action: it's a film about the dynamics of a wealthy dysfunctional family and the repressed passion of the matriarch, but where in a Hollywood film we'd be told and smacked over the head with what's happening in the minds of the characters, here we are given the surface and asked to read for ourselves what is really going on.

The story is important, but for me it was just the framework for an incredible sensory journey: I Am Love is so well shot - the most visually beautiful film I've seen since My Blueberry Nights, but where the latter's beauty lay for the most part in single images that are imprinted on my mind to this day - more photographic than anything else - I Am Love's beauty is one that really only film can convey - long, sweeping single shots and fast moving cuts - and the throbbing music of John Adams is the perfect accompaniment. During one extraordinary scene, my mouth was open in awe, which I didn't notice until my companion pushed my jaw closed.

This is not a film that most people will enjoy, but I think the trailer is enough to give you a sense of it: watch it (in HD) here.

Glasgow, 2010.

During the Middle Ages, the town of Soria in Castille was home to several orders having to do with the Holy Land. Among them were the Knights Hospitaller of Saint John of Jerusalem, who were given a little church by the side of River Duero, outside of the town itself so that they could build a hospital and even a leprosy —not too far from the main road, yet out of the way to avoid the plague spreading. The church was, and still is, pretty nondescript, and can still be seen as such today. The Hospitallers re-did the vaulting of the single apse but, more spectacularly, built two astounding ciboria, those Oriental canopies of stone that cover and protect the altars. Two new altars were built underneath them, so that the knights/monks could perform their traditional rites and follow their own early Syrian church-inspired liturgy.

Truly, stepping inside that church and seeing those is like being transported to the Mediæval Orient!

Now, trying to produce decent photography of monuments is never easy, but when busload upon busload of tourists come into play, it borders on impossible! Furthermore, and this is the only time it ever happened to me in Spain (contrary to Italy, alas!), I was ordered by some repressed prison warden (judging by her amiability and kindness) posing as the welcome (very much so!) person for the monument, not to use the tripod to take pictures! And why, pray? Because that’s the way it is! Unbelievable. As I am cleverer than she was, I managed to beat the system and snap the first two or three exposures on the tripod at ISO 64, but for the rest, I had to bump up the ISO to 500 to accommodate whatever little light there was. Sorry for the resulting loss of quality.

Besides that amazingly “orientalized” church, the cloister is the main reason people come visit this ancient place. Art historians reckon it was built around 1200 by mudéjar architects and masons, maybe from Toledo. It is an absolutely unique achievement, unlike anything else I had seen before, and I’m probably not about to see the like of it anytime soon!

Another cavalcade of those astounding intertwined arches, this time standing on square pillars.

“I would say to any artist: ‘Don’t be repressed in your work, dare to experiment, consider any urge, if in a new direction all the better.”

– Edward Weston

it was the day the State decided people could not do any more protests (or hang around in groups) or would be repressed with tear gas.

I took this pics with a Minolta X700, and just yesterday bought the chemicals to develop the film.

Psychedelics can bypass our inner gatekeepers, the parts that suppress feelings which are avoided for good reason. With this opening comes an opportunity to process unconscious or repressed experiences, leading to more integration and freedom. But the process isn’t easy and can be painful, overwhelming, and disorienting.

O'Yearning.

(Linoleum Cut).

Before thy evening cords bust far below,thy yearning wakes,

how one O'yearns ,frustrations become disclosed,

O' yearning spontaneously hitting, thy entrails crying out,

inexhaustible are thee dreams like immense repressed thoughts, amid thy aches,

thee rational replaces dreams of sensory scenes exposed,

hopes transcended on desires past, sprinkled musings herein,causes many doubts,

condensed consciousness tis an amusement that entertains,while it breaks,

O'yearning now, here and future to be, misconstruing thoughts closed,

primary monotonous impulses,synchronizing images starting to sprout,

kaleidoscopic transformation,remarkable subjectivism lights all around shakes,

thee intelligent aqueduct pathways open to critical understanding predisposed,

O'yearning beginning to understand and accept, without even a shout,

obsessions enormously bewildering convictions tossed with quakes,

O'yearning thou hasn't thy same convulsive pulling,must try and stay composed,

cathartic art, apocalyptic thoughts waning hoping for a brief route,

O'yearning nihilistic assaults try to hide in thy symbiotic world hates,

O'yearning time to say goodnight,your juxtaposed proclivities are slowly decomposed,

O'yearning what a phenomenon, thou must try to thwart thee about,

ambivalence shall be thy sleeping pill in thy obsessive night unfinished,while closing thee O' yearning gates.

Steve.D.Hammond.

"House on the Embankment" (official name - "Government House". June 24, 1927, it was decided to begin construction of a home for senior officials, which lasted until 1931. Residents of the home have become mainly representatives of the nascent Soviet elite scientists, party leaders, heroes of the Civil War, the Socialist Labour and the Soviet Union, the old Bolsheviks, prominent writers, employees of the Comintern, the heroes of the war in Spain. house on the Embankment was designed by B. M. Iofana in the style of late constructivism in place. according to the original project was supposed to be home red as the Kremlin, however, due to lack of money, the external walls of the house turned gray. 12-storey building on the waterfront with 505 apartments (24 entrance) has become one of the largest buildings in Europe. Many of the residents of the house were repressed entire families in the Great Terror of the second half of the 1930s. The house is a monument of history and protected by the state. The house is located residential buildings, Estrada Theatre and cinema "Udarnik".

"Дом на набережной" (официальное наименование — "Дом правительства". 24 июня 1927 года было принято решение о начале строительства дома для ответственных работников, которое продлилось до 1931 года. Жильцами дома стали главным образом представители формировавшейся советской элиты: учёные, партийные деятели, Герои Гражданской войны, Социалистического Труда и Советского Союза, старые большевики, выдающиеся писатели, служащие Коминтерна, герои войны в Испании. Дом на набережной был построен по проекту Б. М. Иофана в стиле позднего конструктивизма на месте. По первоначальному проекту дом должен был быть красным, как и Кремль, однако, в связи с нехваткой денег, внешние стены дома стали серыми. 12-этажный дом на набережной с 505 квартирами (24 подъезда) стал одним из самых крупных домов в Европе. Многие жители дома были репрессированы целыми семьями во время Большого террора второй половины 1930-х годов. Дом объявлен памятником истории и охраняется государством. В доме расположены жилые корпуса, Театр Эстрады, кинотеатр «Ударник».

Camera: Leica M (typ 240)

Lens: Leica Summicron-M 35/2.0

Tripod: Slik PRO 500 DX II

Processing: Adobe Lightroom

One shot. None of the photos I do not use HDR or combining images.

"Help,help! I'm being repressed!" One of my favorite lines from Monty Python & Holy Grail....seemed appropriate here.

German postcard by Sunburst Merchandising GmbH, Osnabrück / Ana Anakos AG, München. Photo: Paramount / Fox, 1998. Publicity still for Titanic (James Cameron, 1997).

Kate Winslet (1975) is often seen as the best English-speaking film actress of her generation. The English actress and singer was the youngest person to acquire six Academy Award nominations and won the Oscar for The Reader (2008).

Kate Elizabeth Winslet was born in Reading, England, in 1975. She is the second of four children of stage actors Sally Anne (née Bridges) and Roger John Winslet. Winslet began studying drama at the age of 11. The following year, Winslet appeared in a television commercial for Sugar Puffs cereal, in which she danced opposite the Honey Monster. Winslet's acting career began on television, with a co-starring role in the BBC children's science fiction serial Dark Season (Colin Cant, 1991). On the set, Winslet met Stephen Tredre, who was working as an assistant director. They would have a four-and-a-half-year relationship and remained close after their separation in 1995. He died of bone cancer during the opening week of Titanic, causing her to miss the film's Los Angeles premiere to attend his funeral in London. Her role in Dark Season was followed by appearances in the made-for-TV film Anglo-Saxon Attitudes (Diarmuid Lawrence, 1992), the sitcom Get Back (Graeme Harper, 1992), and an episode of the medical drama Casualty (Tom Cotter, 1993). She made her film debut in the New Zealand drama film Heavenly Creatures (Peter Jackson, 1994) . Winslet auditioned for the part of Juliet Hulme, an obsessive teenager in 1950s New Zealand who assists in the murder of the mother of her best friend, Pauline Parker (played by Melanie Lynskey). Winslet won the role over 175 other girls. The film included Winslet's singing debut, and her a cappella version of Sono Andati, an aria from La Bohème, was featured on the film's soundtrack. The film opened to strong critical acclaim at the 51st Venice International Film Festival in 1994 and became one of the best-received films of the year. Winslet was awarded an Empire Award and a London Film Critics' Circle Award for British Actress of the Year. Subsequently, she played the second leading role of Marianne Dashwood in the Jane Austen adaptation Sense and Sensibility (Ang Lee, 1995) featuring Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, and Alan Rickman. The film became a financial and critical success, resulting in a worldwide box office total of $135 million and various awards for Winslet. She won both a BAFTA and a Screen Actors' Guild Award and was nominated for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe. In 1996, Winslet starred in Michael Winterbottom's Jude, based on the Victorian novel Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy. She played Sue Bridehead, a young woman with suffragette leanings who falls in love with her cousin (Christopher Eccleston). She then played Ophelia, Hamlet's drowned lover, in Kenneth Branagh's all star-cast film version of William Shakespeare's Hamlet (1996). In mid-1996, Winslet began filming James Cameron's Titanic (1997), alongside Leonardo DiCaprio. She was cast as the passionate, rosy-cheeked aristocrat Rose DeWitt Bukater, who survives the 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic. Against expectations, Titanic (1997) became the highest-grossing film in the world at the time and transformed Winslet into a commercial movie star. Young girls, the world over both idolized and identified with Winslet. Despite the enormous success of Titanic, Winslet next starred in were two low-budget art-house films, Hideous Kinky (Gillies MacKinnon, 1998), and Holy Smoke! (Jane Campion, 1999). In 1997, on the set of Hideous Kinky, Winslet met film director Jim Threapleton, whom she married in 1998. They have a daughter, Mia Honey Threapleton (2000). Winslet and Threapleton divorced in 2001.

Since 2000, Kate Winslet's performances have continued to draw positive comments from film critics. She appeared in the period piece Quills (Philip Kaufman, 2000) with Geoffrey Rush and Joaquin Phoenix, and inspired by the life and work of the Marquis de Sade. The actress was the first big name to back the film project, accepting the role of a chambermaid in the asylum and the courier of the Marquis' manuscripts to the underground publishers. Well received by critics, the film garnered numerous accolades for Winslet. In Enigma (Michael Apted, 2001), she played a young woman who finds herself falling for a brilliant young World War II code breaker (Dougray Scott). She was five months pregnant at the time of the shoot, forcing some tricky camera work. In the same year, she appeared in Iris (Richard Eyre, 2001), portraying novelist Iris Murdoch. Winslet shared her role with Judi Dench, with both actresses portraying Murdoch at different phases of her life. Subsequently, each of them was nominated for an Academy Award the following year, earning Winslet her third nomination. Also in 2001, she voiced the character Belle in the animation film Christmas Carol: The Movie, based on the Charles Dickens classic novel. For the film, Winslet recorded the song What If, which was a Europe-wide top ten hit. Winslet began a relationship with director Sam Mendes in 2001, and she married him in 2003 on the island of Anguilla. Their son, Joe Alfie Winslet Mendes, was born in 2003 in New York City. In 2010, Winslet and Mendes announced their separation and divorced in 2011. In the drama The Life of David Gale (Alan Parker, 2003), she played an ambitious journalist who interviews a death-sentenced professor (Kevin Spacey) in his final weeks before execution. Next, Winslet appeared with Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004). In this neo-surrealistic indie-drama, she played Clementine Kruczynski, a chatty, spontaneous, and somewhat neurotic woman, who decides to have all memories of her ex-boyfriend erased from her mind. The film was a critical and financial success and Winslet received rave reviews and her fourth Academy Award-nomination. Finding Neverland (Marc Forster, 2004), is the story of Scottish writer J.M. Barrie (Johnny Depp) and his platonic relationship with Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Winslet), whose sons inspired him to pen the classic play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up. The film received favourable reviews and became Winslet's highest-grossing film since Titanic.

In 2005, Kate Winslet played a satirical version of herself in an episode of the comedy series Extras by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. While dressed as a nun, she was portrayed giving phone sex tips to the romantically challenged character of Maggie. Her performance in the episode led to her first nomination for an Emmy Award. In the musical romantic comedy Romance & Cigarettes (John Turturro, 2005), she played the slut Tula, and again Winslet was praised for her performance. In Todd Field's Little Children (2006), she played a bored housewife who has a torrid affair with a married neighbor (Patrick Wilson). Both her performance and the film received rave reviews. Again she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress, and at 31, became the youngest actress to ever garner five Oscar nominations. Commercial successes were Nancy Meyers' romantic comedy The Holiday (2006), also starring Cameron Diaz, and the CG-animated Flushed Away (2006), in which she voiced Rita, a scavenging sewer rat who helps Roddy (Hugh Jackman) escape from the city of Ratropolis and return to his luxurious Kensington origins. In 2007, Winslet reunited with Leonardo DiCaprio to film Revolutionary Road (2008), directed by her husband at the time, Sam Mendes. Portraying a couple in a failing marriage in the 1950s, DiCaprio and Winslet watched period videos promoting life in the suburbs to prepare themselves for the film. Winslet was awarded a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her performance, her seventh nomination from the Golden Globes. Then she starred in the film adaptation of Bernhard Schlink's 1995 novel The Reader, (Stephen Daldry, 2008), featuring Ralph Fiennes and David Kross in supporting roles. Employing a German accent, Winslet portrayed a former Nazi concentration camp guard who has an affair with a teenager (Kross). As an adult, he witnesses in her war crimes trial. While the film garnered mixed reviews in general, she earned her sixth Academy Award nomination for her role and went on to win the Best Actress award, the BAFTA Award for Best Actress, a Screen Actors' Guild Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress, and a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress.

In 2011, Kate Winslet headlined in the HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce, based on James M. Cain's 1941 novel and directed by Todd Haynes. She portrayed a self-sacrificing mother during the Great Depression who finds herself separated from her husband and falling in love with a new man (Guy Pearce), all the while trying to earn her narcissistic daughter's (Evan Rachel Wood) love and respect. This time, Winslet won an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Roman Polanski's Carnage (2011) premiered at the 68th Venice Film Festival. The black comedy follows two sets of parents who meet up to talk after their children have been in a fight that day at school. Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly, and Christoph Waltz co-starred in the film. In 2012, she was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). In Jason Reitman's big-screen adaptation of Joyce Maynard's novel Labor Day (2013), she starred with Josh Brolin and Tobey Maguire. Winslet received favorable reviews for her portrayal of Adele, a mentally fragile, repressed single mom of a 13-year-old son who gives shelter to an escaped prisoner during a long summer weekend. For her performance, Winslet earned her tenth Golden Globe nomination. Next, she appeared in the science fiction film Divergent (Neil Burger, 2014), as the bad antagonist Jeanine Matthews. It became one of the biggest commercial successes of her career. This year, Winslet also appeared alongside Matthias Schoenaerts in Alan Rickman's period drama A Little Chaos (2014) about rival landscape gardeners commissioned by Louis XIV to create a fountain at Versailles. Next, she can be seen in the crime-thriller Triple Nine (John Hillcoat, 2015), the sequel in the Divergent series: Insurgent (Robert Schwentke, 2015) and in The Dressmaker (Jocelyn Moorhouse, 2015). Since 2012, Kate Winslet is married to Ned Rocknroll, a nephew of Richard Branson. The couple's son has a son, Bear Blaze Winslet. They live in West Sussex.

Sources: Tom Ryan (Encyclopedia of British Film), Sandra Brennan (AllMovie), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

Sure enough, just as I reach the end of the mine shaft leading outside, my powers fail me, sending me crashing into the gravel in front of me. Owwh! I try flying, but no dice. No constructs either.. Strange.. Haven't had this happen before . I check on the pod kids, to make sure they're alright. Other then some being completely freaked out, they're fine. Can't say I blame them. Being stuck in a pod and getting experimented on. Nothing good comes from that. Hard to believe that was me once. Along with Detonator, and a few others. Honestly, it's still a lot for me to fully process. I take this time to call the public Archon number. Within a matter of minutes, there they are, dropping out of their jet. Archon ! It's a weird feeling, seeing them all face to face, especially after losing a key member of their team in Big Time. Titanic, Paragon, Brightstar, Shockwave, and a newer face that I don't quite recognize. Guess they've got a new member.

"He-y, thanks for coming! Record time too!" I say, stuttering throughout, clearly nervous. I mean, these are the cities biggest heroes, after all. I give them a brief rundown on everything I know of what went down here, with plenty of uhms, and likes throughout, trying to regain my thoughts. Of course I didn't say anything about my flashbacks. Wouldn't want them locking me away or something..

"You should probably head home. Thanks for the help and everything, but we've got this now." The newest member replies after my rundown is over.

"Yeah, about that.. Would I be able to get a ride? My uhm powers are kind of malfunctioning on me.." I say with a shrug. This causes Shockwave and newbie to chuckle.

"Right.. Hey Brightstar, this bloke here needs a ride home. Fly him home, alright? I'll send you the coordinates." By the way Shockwave phrased it, it was more of an order than a request. Rather than rolling her eyes like I thought she would, she just nodded, and smiled.

"Sounds good."

"Wait, how do you even know-?" I give a look of confusion, as Shockwave gives me a sly smirk.

"Facial rec software in the visor. Not hard to pinpoint where ya live after that. Should defo consider getting yourself a helmet, or some goggles if you don't want people recognizing ya, mate. Assuming you keep getting yourself into trouble like this. Can't say we're too keen on that idea, but we can't be everywhere." Shockwave interrupts me mid sentence, the smirk still there, as he continues to talk with his thick Australian accent.

"That's not scary at all..." I say with a slight pause, before continuing. "But thanks, I appreciate the advice, and safe passage home!" It's then that Brightstar lifts me up into her arms, and flies off. Can't say this is how I was expecting the night to end, but there's no way I'm complaining.

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

It didn't take long for her to fly me home. I give a quick thank you, before she flies off. That's just great. Now all of Archon, not just the Judgement branch, knows who I am. In addition to Watchman, Detonator, Architect.. The list goes on. Wow, I'm really bad at this secret identity thing. Like Shockwave said, I really need to invest in some headgear. As I step through the front door, I notice my parents watching the news. No surprises here, there's already a report on Cooper's Landing's experiments. Dad turns around, and sees me walk in

"Where have you been?" He questions, noticing I'm in costume.

"Well, you're looking at it." I say, pointing to the TV.

"You were there? Why?" My mom pipes in.

"Recently, I've got these headaches, along with these occasional flashes. Still images, of things that at the time, I had no recollection of. One of which was of Cooper's Landing itself. I figured if I went down there, I'd get some answers. I didn't really want to bring it up, cause I knew it'd only cause you more grief."

"Of course we would be worried! You should have told us! That way we could've helped."

"Olivia, please.. Yelling at our boy won't do anything now... All that should matter right now is that our Andy is back." Is all my dad says, trying to console my mom. After a few seconds, he speaks up again. "So? Did you get any answers?"

"Thank you, dad. Yeah, I did. It all started with the time I went missing as a child." It's then I told them everything that I remembered from my repressed memories. How I was kidnapped, and experimented on by the Watchman, and his scientists. The greyish liquid, and how it was the source of my abilities. Project Beacon. How it all happened on Cooper's Landing, and that I was eventually saved by the man in the black and white costume. The story caught them off guard, and got them emotional. Which of course, got me emotional. They stood up, silent, and just pulled me into the group hug. We just stood there in silence, occasionally tearing up. As satisfying as it was to find the answers I've been looking for, it's even better getting to share in this moment with my parents. We finally know the full story of what happened. We can almost close that chapter of my life, and move forward. There's two questions that I still haven't gotten full answers to. Who is Detonator? And who is the Watchman? That's not even including the recent power malfunction either. It's a lot to think about, but I'll leave that for tomorrow. Right now, I need some sleep.

Austrian postcard by Verlag Hubmann, Wien, no. 2948. Photo: Hardy Krüger in Solange du da bist/As Long as You're Near Me (Harald Braun, 1953).

German actor and writer Hardy Krüger (1928) passed away on 19 January 2022. The blond heartthrob acted in numerous European films of the 1950s and 1960s and also in several classic American films. He played friendly soldiers and adventurers in numerous German, British and French films and also in some Hollywood classics. Although he often was typecasted as the Aryan Nazi, he hated wearing the brown uniform. Krüger was 93.

Franz Eberhard August Krüger was born in 1928 in Berlin. He was the son of engineer Max Krüger. From 1941 on Hardy attended the Adolf-Hitler-Schule at Burg Sonthofen, an elite Nazi boarding school. Here the blonde and handsome 15-year-old was cast for the film Junge Adler/Young Eagles (Alfred Weidenmann, 1944) starring Willy Fritsch. This propaganda film for the Wehrmacht was filmed in the huge Ufa studio in Babelsberg. After his successful performance as the apprentice Bäumchen, director Wolfgang Liebeneiner tried to persuade him to continue his film career. In March 1945 the young Krüger was drafted into the SS Division 'Nibelungen', where he was drawn into heavy fighting before being captured by US forces in Tirol. After his release, he began to write but did not publish. Instead, he started to perform in German theatres. In 1949 he made his first post-war film, the comedy Diese Nacht vergess Ich nie/I'll Never Forget That Night (Johannes Meyer, 1949), with Gustav Fröhlich and Winnie Markus. In the following years, his film career took off.

Hardy Krüger became known as a handsome young man with an effortlessly natural attitude in such films as Illusion in Moll/Illusion in a Minor Key (Rudolf Jugert, 1952) starring Hildegard Knef, the drama Solange Du da bist/As Long as You're Near Me (Harald Braun, 1953) with O.W. Fischer, and the comedy Die Jungfrau auf dem Dach/The Girl on the Roof (Otto Preminger, 1953) with Johannes Heesters. The latter was the German version of the Hollywood production The Moon is Blue (Otto Preminger, 1953) starring William Holden and Maggie McNamara. Hardy Krüger and co-star Johanna Matz also appeared uncredited as tourists at the Empire State Building sequence in the American version. The quality of some of his next films did not match his talents. And although the jungle fantasy Liane, das Mädchen aus dem Urwald/Liane, Jungle Goddess (Eduard von Borsody, 1956) with a briefly topless Marion Michael was one of the biggest German box office hits of the 1950s, he declined to star in further Liane films for 'artistic reasons'.

Hardy Krüger was fluent in English, French, and German, and found himself in demand by British, French, American, and German producers. J. Arthur Rank cast him in three British pictures practically filmed back-to-back. The first one was The One That Got Away (Roy Ward Baker, 1957), the story of the positive and unpolitical lieutenant Franz von Werra, the only German prisoner of war to successfully escape from numerous British POW camps during the Second World War and return to Germany. The second was the comedy Bachelor of Hearts (Wolf Rilla, 1958), and the third was the thriller Blind Date (Joseph Losey, 1959) with Stanley Baker and Micheline Presle. In reviews, Hardy was described as 'ruggedly handsome' and a 'blond heartthrob'. Despite anti-German sentiment still prevailing in postwar Europe, he became an international favorite. He appeared in the German Shakespeare update Der Rest ist Schweigen/The Rest Is Silence (Helmut Käutner, 1959), and in the French WW II adventure Un taxi pour Tobrouk/Taxi for Tobruk (Denys de La Patellière, 1960). A highlight was the French drama Les dimanches de Ville d'Avray/Sundays and Cybele (Serge Bourguignon, 1962). This hauntingly beautiful film about a platonic relationship between a former bomber pilot with war trauma and amnesia, and a 12-year-old orphan girl (Patricia Gozzi), was awarded the 1962 Best Foreign Film Academy Award. It paved Krüger's way to Hollywood.

In the USA, Hardy Krüger started in the African adventure Hatari! (Howard Hawks, 1962), at the side of John Wayne and Elsa Martinelli. His later films included Hollywood productions like the original version of The Flight of the Phoenix (Robert Aldrich, 1965) about the survivors of a plane crash in the middle of the Sahara desert, and the war comedy-drama The Secret of Santa Vittoria (Stanley Kramer, 1969) with Anthony Quinn and Anna Magnani. In the star-studded war epic A Bridge Too Far (Richard Attenborough, 1977), he portrayed a Nazi General. Hardy Krüger related during the shooting how he hated to wear a Nazi uniform. Between takes, he wore a topcoat over his SS uniform so as "not to remind myself of my childhood in Germany during WW II." Although he often played German soldiers, his characters were mostly positive, he personified the 'good German'. Krüger also appeared in many European productions like Le Chant du monde/Song of the World (Marcel Camus, 1965) with Catherine Deneuve, the controversial box office hit La Monaca di Monza/The Nun of Monza (Eriprando Visconti, 1969) about a 17th-century Italian nun's long-repressed sexual passion, the Italian-Russian coproduction Krasnaya palatka/The Red Tent (Mikhail Kalatozov, 1969) starring Sean Connery, and the murder mystery À chacun son enfer/To Each His Hell (André Cayatte, 1977) with Annie Girardot. During that period, he made his sole appearance in a film of the New German Cinema in Peter Schamoni's comedy-western Potato Fritz/Montana Trap (Peter Schamoni, 1976). Most memorable is his role as the Prussian Captain Potzdorf in the Oscar winner Barry Lyndon (Stanley Kubrick, 1975) featuring Ryan O'Neal. His last film appearance was in the Swedish-British thriller Slagskämpen/The Inside Man (Tom Clegg, 1984) starring Dennis Hopper.

In the 1970s Hardy Krüger had taken up writing fiction and non-fiction, and he started a new career as a globe trotter for TV. In 1983, after several novels, story collections, and a children's book he published the novel Junge Unrast, an only slightly disguised autobiographic account of his life. On television, he played the role of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in the popular American TV series War and Remembrance (Dan Curtis, 1989) starring Robert Mitchum. In 2011 appeared as the pater familias in the TV film Die Familie/The Family (Carlo Rola, 2011) with Gila von Weitershausen as his wife. Hardy Krüger married three times. His marriages with actress Renate Densow and Italian painter Francesca Marazzi ended in a divorce. He married his current wife the American Anita Park in 1978. He has three children. His daughter by Renate Densow, Christiane Krüger (born in 1945, when he was only 17), and his son by Francesca Marazzi, Hardy Jr. Krüger are both actors too. Hardy Krüger was awarded many times for his work. In 2001 he was made Officier de la Légion d’Honneur in France, and in 2009, Germany honoured him with the Großes Verdienstkreuz (Great Cross of Merit). Since then, Hardy and Anita Krüger lived in California, and in Hamburg. Krüger died at his home in Palm Springs, California, on 19 January 2022, at the age of 93.

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Stephanie D'heil (Steffi-line - German), Tom Hernandez (IMDb), Filmportal.de, Wikipedia and IMDb.

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