Grant Wood American 1891 – 1942

Drawings for Sinclair Lewis’s Main Street , 1936-7

 

TOP ROW, FROM LEFT TO RIGHT:

 

The Perfectionist , 1936

Crayon, graphite, ink, and opaque watercolor on paper

Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco; gift of Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd 1979.7.106

 

Main Street Mansion , 1936

Pencil, chalk, and charcoal on paper

Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, Tennessee, Museum purchase 1995.14

 

The Radical , 1936

Graphite, colored pencil, chalk, and ink on paper

Private collection, courtesy Northeast Auctions

 

The Good Influence , 1936

Carbon pencil, India Ink, and gouache on paper

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; Collections Fund 1952.6.2

 

BOTTOM ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT

 

The Practical Idealist , 1936

Charcoal, pencil, and chalk on paper

Collection of Howard and Roberta Ahmanson

 

Booster , 1936

Charcoal, pencil, and chalk on paper

Figge Art Museum, Davenport, Iowa, City of Davenport Art Collection; museum purchase with funds provided by the Friends of Art Acquisition Fund and by Mr. and Mrs Morris Geifman 1993.3

 

General Practitioner , 1936

Pencil, colored pencil, and chalk on paper

Private collection

 

Village Slums , 1936-37

Charcoal, pencil, and chalk on paper

Private Collection

 

The Sentimental Yearner , 1936

Graphite, Conté crayon, and gouache on paper

Minneapolis Institute of Art; gift of Mr. Alan Goldstein 80.91

 

FROM THE SHOW AT The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City.

  

Grant Wood: American Gothic and Other Fables

Grant Wood's American Gothic—the double portrait of a pitchfork-wielding farmer and a woman commonly presumed to be his wife—is perhaps the most recognizable painting in 20th century American art, an indelible icon of Americana, and certainly Wood's most famous artwork. But Wood's career consists of far more than one single painting. Grant Wood: American Gothic and Other Fables brings together the full range of his art, from his early Arts and Crafts decorative objects and Impressionist oils through his mature paintings, murals, and book illustrations. The exhibition reveals a complex, sophisticated artist whose image as a farmer-painter was as mythical as the fables he depicted in his art. Wood sought pictorially to fashion a world of harmony and prosperity that would answer America's need for reassurance at a time of economic and social upheaval occasioned by the Depression. Yet underneath its bucolic exterior, his art reflects the anxiety of being an artist and a deeply repressed homosexual in the Midwest in the 1930s. By depicting his subconscious anxieties through populist images of rural America, Wood crafted images that speak both to American identity and to the estrangement and isolation of modern life.

 

This exhibition is organized by Barbara Haskell, Curator, with Sarah Humphreville, Senior Curatorial Assistant.

 

Grant Wood: American Gothic and Other Fables is sponsored by Bank of America.

 

From the web site:

www.whitney.org/Exhibitions/GrantWood

 

Interested in the Book?

www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&cm_sp=Se...

  

www.samkharadze.inf.ge

 

Strasbourg

France.

November 2010

  

Strasbourg (French pronunciation: [stʁazbuʁ]; Lower Alsatian: Strossburi, [ˈʃd̥rɔːsb̥uri]; German: Straßburg, [ˈʃtʁaːsbʊɐ̯k]) is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in north-eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin department. In 2006, the city proper had 272,975 inhabitants and its urban community 467,375 inhabitants. With 638,670 inhabitants in 2006, Strasbourg's metropolitan area ("aire urbaine") (only the part of the metropolitan area on French territory) is the ninth largest in France. The transnational Eurodistrict Strasbourg-Ortenau has a population of 884,988 inhabitants.

 

Strasbourg is the seat of several European institutions such as the Council of Europe (with its European Court of Human Rights, its European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and its European Audiovisual Observatory) and the Eurocorps as well as the European Parliament and the European Ombudsman of the European Union. The city is the seat of the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine.

 

Strasbourg's historic city centre, the Grande Île ("Grand Island"), was classified a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1988, the first time such an honor was placed on an entire city centre. Strasbourg is fused into the Franco-German culture and although violently disputed throughout history, has been a bridge of unity between France and Germany for centuries, especially through the University of Strasbourg, currently the largest in France, and the co-existence of Catholic and Protestant culture.

 

Economically, Strasbourg is an important centre of manufacturing and engineering, as well as of road, rail, and river communications. The port of Strasbourg is the second largest on the Rhine after Duisburg, Germany. In terms of city rankings, Strasbourg has been ranked 3rd in France and 18th globally for innovation. The city has been largely omitted from top rankings based on quality of living.

  

Geography and climate

Strasbourg is situated on the Ill River, where it flows into the Rhine on the border with Germany, across from the German town Kehl. The city is situated in the Upper Rhine Plain, approximately 20 km (12 mi) east of the Vosges Mountains and 25 km (16 mi) west of the Black Forest. Winds coming from either direction being often deflected by these natural barriers, the average annual precipitation is low[9] and the perceived summer temperatures can be inordinately high. The defective natural ventilation also makes Strasbourg one of the most atmospherically polluted cities of France,[10][11] although the progressive disappearance of heavy industry on both banks of the Rhine, as well as effective measures of traffic regulation in and around the city are showing encouraging results.[12] The Grand contournement ouest (GCO) project, nurtured since 1999, plans the construction of a 24 km (15 mi) long highway connection between the junctions of the A 4 and the A 35 autoroutes in the north and of the A4 and the A352 and A35 autoroutes in the south, meant to divest another significant portion of motorized traffic from the unité urbaine.[13]

  

After World War I and the abdication of the German Emperor, Alsace-Lorraine declared itself an independent Republic, but was occupied by French troops within a few days. On 11 November 1918 (Armistice Day), communist insurgents proclaimed a "soviet government" in Strasbourg, following the example of Kurt Eisner in Munich as well as other German towns. The insurgency was brutally repressed on 22 November by troops commanded by French general Henri Gouraud; a major street of the city now bears the name of that date (Rue du 22 Novembre).[26][27] In 1919, the Treaty of Versailles reattributed the city to France. In accordance with U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's "Fourteen Points", the return of the city to France was carried out without a referendum. The date of the assignment was retroactively established on Armistice Day. It is doubtful whether a referendum among the citizens of Strasbourg would have been in France's favor, because the political parties that strove for an autonomy of Alsace, or a connection to France, had achieved only small numbers of votes in the last Reichstag elections before the War.[28]

 

In 1920, Strasbourg became the seat of the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine, previously located in Mannheim, one of the oldest European institutions. It moved into the former Imperial Palace.

 

When the Maginot Line was built, the Sous-secteur fortifié de Strasbourg (fortified sub-sector of Strasbourg) was laid out on the city's territory as a part of the Secteur fortifié du Bas-Rhin, one of the sections of the Line. Blockhouses and casemates were built along the Grand Canal d'Alsace and the Rhine in the Robertsau forest and the port.[29]

 

Between the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 and the Anglo-French declaration of War against the German Reich on 3 September 1939, the entire city (a total of 120 000 people) was evacuated, like other border towns as well. Until the arrival of the Wehrmacht troops mid-June 1940, the city was, for ten months, completely empty, with the exception of the garrisoned soldiers. The Jews of Strasbourg had been evacuated to Périgueux and Limoges, the University had been evacuated to Clermont-Ferrand.

 

After the ceasefire following the Fall of France in June 1940, Alsace was annexed to Germany and a rigorous policy of Germanization was imposed upon it by the Gauleiter Robert Heinrich Wagner. When, in July 1940, the first evacuees were allowed to return, only residents of Alsatian origin were admitted. The last Jews were expelled on 15 July 1940 and the main synagogue, a huge Romanesque revival building that had been a major architectural landmark with its 54-metre-high dome since its completion in 1897, was set ablaze, then razed.[30] From 1943 the city was bombarded by Allied aircraft. While the First World War had not notably damaged the city, Anglo-American bombing caused extensive destruction in raids of which at least one was allegedly carried out by mistake.[31] In August 1944, several buildings in the Old Town were damaged by bombs, particularly the Palais Rohan, the Old Customs House (Ancienne Douane) and the Cathedral.[32] On 23 November 1944, the city was officially liberated by the 2nd French Armored Division under General Leclerc. In 1947, a fire broke out in the Musée des Beaux-Arts and devastated a significant part of the collections. This fire was an indirect consequence of the bombing raids of 1944: because of the destructions inflicted on the Palais Rohan, humidity had infiltrated the building, and moisture had to be fought. This was done with welding torches, and a bad handling of these caused the fire.[33]

 

In the 1950s and 1960s the city was enriched by new residential areas meant to solve both the problem of housing shortage due to war damage, as well as the strong growth of population due to baby boom and immigration from North Africa: Cité Rotterdam in the North-East, Quartier de l'Esplanade in the South-East, Hautepierre in the North-West. Since 1995 and until 2010, in the South of Hautepierre, a new district is being built in the same vein, the Quartier des Poteries.

 

In 1949, the city was chosen to be the seat of the Council of Europe with its European Court of Human Rights and European Pharmacopoeia. Since 1952, the European Parliament has met in Strasbourg, which was formally designated its official 'seat' at the Edinburgh meeting of the European Council of EU heads of state and government in December 1992. (This position was reconfirmed and given treaty status in the 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam). However, only the (four-day) plenary sessions of the Parliament are held in Strasbourg each month, with all other business being conducted in Brussels and Luxembourg. Those sessions take place in the Immeuble Louise Weiss, inaugurated in 1999, which houses the largest parliamentary assembly room in Europe and of any democratic institution in the world. Before that, the EP sessions had to take place in the main Council of Europe building, the Palace of Europe, whose unusual inner architecture had become a familiar sight to European TV audiences.[34] In 1992, Strasbourg became the seat of the Franco-German TV channel and movie-production society Arte.

 

In 2000, an Islamist plot to blow up the cathedral was prevented by German authorities.

 

On 6 July 2001, during an open-air concert in the Parc de Pourtalès, a single falling Platanus tree killed thirteen people and injured 97. On 27 March 2007, the city was found guilty of neglect over the accident and fined € 150,000.[35]

 

In 2006, after a long and careful restoration, the inner decoration of the Aubette, made in the 1920s by Hans Arp, Theo van Doesburg, and Sophie Taeuber-Arp and destroyed in the 1930s, was made accessible to the public again. The work of the three artists had been called "the Sistine Chapel of abstract art".

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!

 

These are the first surprises that greet you in this unique cloister: first, some columns do not sit on a low wall as is customary, but go all the way to the ground, allowing unrestrained passage between the gallery and the space inside the cloister; and second, the corners are not right angles but cut at 45-degree obliques, and they are not marked by massive sculpted pillars but by archways with horseshoe shapes that definitely come from the Orient...

When I was a art school people were obsessed with phallic symbols it would seem, even in the Swinging Sixties feelings of sexuality were repressed and we had to resort to Symbolism to get our kicks, indeed we were warned that looking at too many tall chimneys could make you go blind. My answer to that of course is to not do it looking into the sun. Nevertheless it must have rubbed off on me as Jojo quite likes having them around telling me how sexy I look. Interestingly this moss-stick for some reason always becomes erect when I enter the bedroom, I think it loves the way it gets stroked and then afterwards it gets splashed when the big waxy leaves are sponged down helping to keep the plant it supports healthy and vibrant. It told me it has close relatives in Brazil which shared a bedroom with some of the cutest most greedy trans porn stars and as you can imagine had plenty a story to tell as there they get plenty of the real thing. As for me I will carry on dusting but wearing my best Karen Millen dress as even the lazy spider plant crawls out of it's pot for that.

to love actively…in the famous words of a most esteemed psychologist, the cure—the answer—for a deficit in faith, for a skepticism of immortality, for a ceaselessly searching heart is to love. to love actively. love actively and you can reform the world modestly, humbly by inspiration. love actively and you will find immortality within yourself. love actively and you will never find a reason not to love. and when you love so actively you have forgotten what it is to hate, you will learn to love like you cannot breathe…when you love like you cannot breathe. when you love anything so much that the passion, the prolific beauty, the sublime ecstasy of a moment in its presence draws mountainous, wordless tears from your eyes and all of the living breath from your chest. when it physically aches inside your heart—so painfully you think you might implode with a moment more—whether it comes down to a lover, a friend, an art, an activity, but most of all it comes down to life itself. when you love something like you cannot breathe…the world changes itself within the space of a single glance, a single aroma, a single note, a word, a taste, a breeze, a light, a drop of rain…when you love like you cannot breathe. catharsis of the heart manifests in the moments of our greatest doubt, the moments of our most powerful skepticism, of our most desperate despair…it is not the most memorable moments of unquestionable gaiety but rather the graceful moments so rarely recollected—the moments that scream with life are all but wholly repressed by the roar of the everyday drawl of indifference and apathy—it is the moment just after twilight when the sky is dark but the streets are still lit, when it is raining just light enough that you can raise your eyes but so hard that you are soaked to the bone before you can make it even halfway home, when you have forgotten an umbrella for the third time this month, and the scarf you use to cover your books is anything but waterproof. it is the moment walking home when just as you start to curse your own incompetence, you happen to glance up within the streetlight vignette and you are struck by the curious magnificence of the street scene—the sheer and inexplicable beauty of a situation ironic and humorous in its benignity. and when you finally step over the threshold of your front door, when you make it up the stairs and immediately your attention is drawn to the tangled, unruly curls into which your hair always springs the second humidity enters the atmosphere, but somehow this night you realize how beautiful those frustrating little ringlets are in their own right. and you pause. just because. these are the moments that make us love…when you love like you cannot breathe.

Being blessed with a Scots mother and an English father, and having lived in England, Scotland and Wales, I consider myself British. And I'm proud to be British, with a heart often in Scotland, a body in England, memories of Wales and thoughts of travelling the world. My country is Great Britain, the United Kingdom. It says so on my passport. As it does for every other British person in the UK, whichever part they live in or were born in.

 

We are a cosmopolitan nation made up of every race in the world, all living in relative harmony. Except a few.

 

They are a small minority who have made a fuss and a noise about being miserable, put on, repressed and disadvantaged. They are the sort of people who want things given to them without making any effort to give in return. They are takers, not givers. People who look at their glass as half empty rather than half full. They are people who do not appreciate what we have, but always moan about what they don't have. Unfortunately they are easily led and persuaded, with the promise of extra giveaways and benefits.

 

The socialist movement in Scotland has, over the years, made empty promise after empty promise to these dependent classes and with a divisive strategy has led the country into a referendum to separate itself from the other members that make up the United Kingdom: England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is a Union of four countries that has existed for over 300 years.

 

As someone who is half Scottish and half English, because I currently live in England, I am denied a vote on the future of my country. Nor can the estimated 20 million 'Scots' who live elsewhere around the world.

 

The Yes Campaigners for Scottish Independence wish to cherry pick all the best parts of being part of the United Kingdom, and none of the negative parts of the 'marriage'. They demand the rest of the UK allows them into a currency union so they get the benefits of our strong currency, debt protection, low interest rates. They want to inherit the UK's EU membership and gain the same EU rebates. They want the protection of the nuclear alliance NATO yet will not permit nuclear submarines to use NATO's most strategic submarine base which is in Scotland and protects all of Europe. And they want to keep the Queen as head of state, but have nothing to do with the Royal Family.They wish to create a Nordic nirvana without realising the Nordic countries and peoples are nothing like the Scots.

They wish to build a better country based on pie in the sky economics and a wish list that would bankrupt the country. The rest of the UK, some 60 million people do not wish the population of 5 million in Scotland to become a separate and isolated country.

 

If the Yes Campaign manage to sleepwalk enough people to vote for their Fool's Paradise, I foresee a two tier Britain after separation. England, Wales and Northern Ireland will become a little more right thinking and Scotland will lurch to the left. The Scots have always sown their oats and fanned out across the world, but isolation as a separate country would only speed up the brain drain. And those Scots will seek their fortune in the rest of the UK as they always have, because the UK will out pace Scotland in enterprise and opportunity. Scotland will sit in the rest of the UK's shadow. Perhaps it will find itself in the same situation again as it did in 1707, when Scotland, a poor country, had fallen so far behind England that it chose to form a Union with its neighbour, creating the United Kingdom. Together they were better, Scotland playing a significant contribution in creating the British Empire. Ah well, they say things go in cycles.

 

The people living in Scotland vote on independence on 18th September. My opinion is they would be foolish to give away everything we have. I would hate to think that the nation so many of our forefathers fought to protect should be split by a minority of whingers. I would hate to think of my family separated from me in a foreign country. I would hate to lose my identity of "British". I would hate to lose part of my country (I think I know a little what it must feel like to be Ukrainian and to have lost part of my country to Putin).

 

To those outside the UK of other nationalities, are you baffled as to why some Scots wish to split up this country, the United Kingdom? I would be interested to hear your thoughts.

 

BTW the photo shows Balvicar, a little hamlet, with one shop and no pub, on the Isle of Seil near Oban, Argyll, Scotland.

American postcard by Kline Poster Co. Inc., Phila. Image: Metro.

 

American actress Ethel Barrymore (1879-1959) was a member of the Barrymore family of actors. Her career as a stage, screen and radio actress spanned six decades, and she was regarded as 'The First Lady of the American Theatre'. She made 15 silent pictures between 1914 and 1919, most of them for the Metro Pictures studio.

 

Ethel Barrymore was born Ethel Mae Blythe in Philadelphia, 1n 1879. She was the second child of the actors Maurice Barrymore (whose real name was Herbert Blythe) and Georgiana Drew. Her father was nearly killed four months before her birth in a famous Old West encounter in Texas while heading a traveling road company. She was named for her father's favourite character—Ethel in William Makepeace Thackeray’s 'The Newcomes'. She was the sister of actors John and Lionel Barrymore, the aunt of actor John Drew Barrymore and actress Diana Barrymore, and great-aunt of actress Drew Barrymore. She was also a granddaughter of actress and theater-manager Louisa Lane Drew (Mrs. John Drew), and niece of Broadway matinée idol John Drew Jr and early Vitagraph star Sidney Drew. She spent her childhood in Philadelphia and attended Roman Catholic schools there. In 1884, the family sailed to England and stayed two years. Maurice had inherited a substantial amount of money from an aunt and decided to exhibit a play and star in some plays at London's Haymarket Theatre. Ethel recalled being frightened on first meeting Oscar Wilde when handing him some cakes and later being reprimanded by her parents for showing fear of Wilde. Returning to the U.S. in 1886, her father took her to her first baseball game. She established a lifelong love of baseball and wanted to be a concert pianist. In the summer of 1893 Barrymore was in the company of her mother, Georgie, who had been ailing from tuberculosis and took a curative sabbatical to Santa Barbara, California. Georgie did not recover and died in 1893 a week before her 37th birthday. Essentially Ethel's and Lionel's childhood ended when Georgie died. They were forced to go to work in their teens with neither finishing high school. John, a few years younger, stayed with their grandmother. Barrymore's first appearance on Broadway was in 1895, in a play called 'The Imprudent Young Couple' which starred her uncle John Drew, Jr., and Maude Adams. She appeared with Drew and Adams again in 1896 in 'Rosemary'. William McPeak at IMDb: " Her youthful stage presence was at once a pleasure, a strikingly pretty and winsome face and large dark eyes that seemed to look out from her very soul. Her natural talent and distinctive voice only reinforced the physical presence of someone destined to command any role set before her." In 1897 Ethel went with William Gillette to London to play Miss Kittridge in Gillette's 'Secret Service'. She was about to return to the States with Gillette's troupe when Henry Irving and Ellen Terry offered her the role of Annette in 'The Bells'. A full London tour was on and, before it was over, Ethel created, on New Year's Day 1898, Euphrosine in 'Peter the Great' at the Lyceum, the play having been written by Irving's son, Laurence. Men everywhere were smitten with Ethel, most notably Winston Churchill, who asked her to marry him. Not wishing to be a politician's wife, she refused. Winston, years later, married Clementine Hozier, a ravishing beauty who looked very much like Ethel. Winston and Ethel remained friends until the end of her life. Their 'romance' was their own little secret until his son let the cat out of the bag 63 years after it happened.

 

After her season in London, Ethel Barrymore returned to the U.S. Charles Frohman cast her first in 'Catherine' and then as Stella de Grex in 'His Excellency the Governor'. After that, benefactor and friend Frohman finally gave Ethel the role that would make her a star: Madame Trentoni in 'Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines', which opened at the Garrick Theatre in London's West End in 1901. Unbeknownst to Ethel, her father Maurice had witnessed the performance as an audience member and walked up to his daughter, congratulated her and gave her a big hug. It was the first and only time he saw her on stage professionally. When the tour concluded in Boston in June, she had out-drawn two of the most prominent actresses of her day, Mrs. Patrick Campbell and Minnie Maddern Fiske. Following her triumph in 'Captain Jinks', Ethel gave sterling performances in many top-rate productions. In Thomas Raceward's 'Sunday', she uttered what would be her most famous line, "That's all there is, there isn't any more." She portrayed Nora in 'A Doll's House' by Henrik Ibsen (1905), and Juliet in 'Romeo and Juliet' by William Shakespeare (1922). Barrymore, along with friend Marie Dressler, was a strong supporter of the Actors' Equity Association and had a high-profile role in the 1919 strike. AEA came into being primarily to allow performers to have a bigger share in the profits of stage productions and to provide benefit to elderly or infirm actors. This angered many producers and cost Barrymore her friendship with George M. Cohan, an actor, songwriter and producer. Ethel Barrymore's involvement in AEA may have been motivated by the fate of both of her parents, both long standing actors, her mother who had needed proper medical care and her father who required years of institutionalized care. In 1926, she scored one of her greatest successes as the sophisticated spouse of a philandering husband in W. Somerset Maugham's comedy, 'The Constant Wife'. Maugham counted himself among her admirers, saying that during rehearsals for the play he had "fallen madly in love with her." She starred in 'Rasputin and the Empress' (1932), playing the czarina married to Czar Nicholas. In July 1934, she starred in the play 'Laura Garnett', by Leslie and Sewell Stokes, at Dobbs Ferry, New York.

 

In 1914, Ethel Barrymore appeared in her first feature film, The Nightingale (Augustus Thomas, 1914). Members of her family were already in pictures. Uncle Sidney Drew, his wife Gladys Rankin, and Lionel had entered films in 1911 and John made his first feature in 1913 after having debuted in Lubin short films in 1912. She made 15 silent pictures between 1914 and 1919, most of them for the Metro Pictures studio. Most of these pictures were made on the East Coast, as her Broadway career and children came first. A few of her silent films have survived: for example, one reel from The Awakening of Helena Richie (John W. Noble, 1916) and The Call of Her People (John W. Noble, 1917). The only two films that featured all three siblings - Ethel, John, and Lionel - were National Red Cross Pageant (Christy Cabanne, 1917) and Rasputin and the Empress (Richard Boleslawski, 1932). The former film is now considered a lost film. She returned to the stage, where she had her most endearing role in 'The Corn is Green', during a tour that lasted from 1940 to 1942. Barrymore came back to California and won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as the mother of Cary Grant in the film None but the Lonely Heart (Clifford Odets, 1944), but made plain that she was not overly impressed by it. She appeared in The Spiral Staircase (Robert Siodmak, 1946), and The Paradine Case (Alfred Hitchcock, 1947), in which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She played the repressed wife of Charles Laughton's character. William McPeak: "Her engaging wit and humanity stood out in even supporting roles, such as, the politically savvy mother of Joseph Cotten in The Farmer's Daughter (H.C. Potter, 1947) and, once again with Cotton, as sympathetic art dealer Miss Spinney, with those eyes, in the haunting screen adaptation of Robert Nathan's novel Portrait of Jennie (William Dieterle, 1948)." Barrymore also appeared as Miss Em opposite Jeanne Crain in the Academy Award nominated film Pinky (Elia Kazan, 1949), for which she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. Her last film appearance was in Johnny Trouble (John H. Auer, 1957) with Stuart Whitman. On the radio, Barrymore starred in the situation comedy Miss Hattie (1944-1945). Barrymore also made a number of television appearances in the 1950s, including one memorable encounter with comedian Jimmy Durante on NBC's All Star Revue in 1951. In 1956, she hosted 14 episodes of the TV series Ethel Barrymore Theatre. Ethel Barrymore married Russell Griswold Colt in 1909. In 1911, Barrymore took preliminary divorce measures against Colt, much to Colt's surprise, and later recanted by Barrymore as a misunderstanding by the press. At least one source alleged Colt abused her and that he fathered a child with another woman while married to Barrymore. They divorced in 1923. The couple had three children: Samuel 'Sammy' Colt (1909–1986), a Hollywood agent and occasional actor; actress-singer Ethel Barrymore Colt (1912–1977), who appeared on Broadway in Stephen Sondheim's Follies; and John Drew Colt (1913–1975), who became an actor. Ethel Barrymore never remarried. In 1955 she published her book 'Memories, An Autobiography'. Barrymore died of cardiovascular disease in 1959, at her home in Hollywood, after having lived for many years with a heart condition. She was less than two months shy of her 80th birthday. She was entombed at Calvary Cemetery. The Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York City is named for her. In 1960, Barrymore was posthumously inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame with a motion pictures star for her contributions to the film industry. Her star is located at 7001 Hollywood Boulevard.

 

Sources: William McPeak (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

 

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

Edvard Munch (Norwegian 1863-1944)

Munch Museum, Oslo, Norway.

 

Edvard Munch is best known as being a Norwegian born, expressionist painter, and printer. In the late 20th century, he played a great role in German expressionism, and the art form that later followed; namely because of the strong mental anguish that was displayed in many of the pieces that he created.

 

Edvard Munch was born in Norway in 1863, and was raised in Christiania (known as Oslo today). He was related to famous painters and artists in their own right, Jacob Munch (painter), and Peter Munch (historian).

 

Only a few years after he was born, Edvard Munch's mother died of tuberculosis in 1868, and he was raised by his father.

 

Edvard's father suffered of mental illness, and this played a role in the way he and his siblings were raised. Their father raised them with the fears of deep seated issues, which is part of the reason why the work of Edvard Munch took a deeper tone, and why the artist was known to have so many repressed emotions as he grew up.

 

In 1885, Edvard Munch traveled to Paris, and was extremely influenced by Impressionists such as Claude Monet, Edouard Manet, and followed by the post-impressionism artists Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cezanne, and Paul Gauguin. In fact, the main style of Munch's work is post-impressionism, and focused on this style.

 

From about 1892, to 1908, Munch split most of his time between Paris and Berlin; it was in 1909 that he decided to return to his hometown, and go back to Norway.

 

During this period, much of the work that was created by Edvard Munch depicted his interest in nature, and it was also noted that the tones and colors that he used in these pieces, did add more color, and seemed a bit more cheerful, than most of the previous works he had created in years past.

 

The pessimistic under toning which was quite prominent in much of his earlier works, had faded quite a bit, and it seems he took more of a colorful, playful, and fun tone with the pieces that he was creating, as opposed to the dark and somber style which he tended to work with earlier on during the course of his career.

 

From this period, up to his death, Edvard Munch remained in Norway, and much of his work that was created from this period on, seemed to take on the similar, colorful approach which he had adopted, since returning home in 1909.

 

A majority of the works which Edvard Munch created, were referred to as the style known as symbolism. This is mainly because of the fact that the the paintings he made focused on the internal view of the objects, as opposed to the exterior, and what the eye could see.

 

Symbolist painters believed that art should reflect an emotion or idea rather than represent the natural world in the objective, quasi-scientific manner embodied by Realism and Impressionism. In painting, Symbolism represents a synthesis of form and feeling, of reality and the artist's inner subjectivity.

 

Many of Munch's works depict life and death scenes, love and terror, and the feeling of loneliness was often a feeling which viewers would note that his work patterns focused on.

 

These emotions were depicted by the contrasting lines, the darker colors, blocks of color, somber tones, and a concise and exaggerated form, which depicted the darker side of the art which he was designing.

 

Munch is often and rightly compared with Van Gogh, who was one of the first artists to paint what the French artist called "the mysterious centers of the mind."

 

But perhaps a more overreaching influence was Sigmund Freud, a very close contemporary. Freud explained much human behavior by relating it to childhood experiences.

 

Munch saw his mother die of tuberculosis when he was 5, and his sister Sophie die of the same disease when he was 14. Munch gives the By the Death Bed and Death in the Sickroom a universal cast by not specifically depicting what he had witnessed. Several versions of The Sick Child are surely his sister.

 

Nature is not only all that is visible to the eye... it also includes the inner pictures of the soul.”- Edvard Munch

 

Edvard Munch passed away in 1944, in a small town which was just outside of his home town in Oslo.

 

Upon his death, the works which he had created, were not given to family, but they were instead donated to the Norwegian government, and were placed in museums, in shows, and in various local public buildings in Norway.

 

In fact, after his death, more than 1000 paintings which Edvard Munch had created were donated to the government. In addition to the paintings that he had created during the course of his career, all other art forms he created were also donated to the government.

 

A total of 15,400 prints were donated, 4500 drawings and water color art was donated, and six sculptures which Edvard Munch had created, were all turned over to the Oslo government, and were used as display pieces in many locations.

 

Due to the fact that all of this work which Edvard Munch had created, was donated to the Norwegian government, the country decided to build the Munch Museum of Art.

 

This was done to commemorate his work, his life, and the generosity which he showed, in passing his art work over to the government, so that it could be enjoyed by the general public, rather than be kept locked up by the family.

 

Although the art which he did donate, was spread throughout a number of museums and art exhibits, a majority of them were kept in Oslo.

 

And, most of the works which were donated by Munch, were placed in the Munch Museum of Art, to commemorate the work he did, as well as the unique style, and the distinct movements which he introduced to the world, through the creations which he had crafted.

 

www.edvardmunch.org

СССР (Союз Советских Социалистических Республик ) is a Russian (Cyrillic) abbreviation for the Soviet Union.

 

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Russian: Сою́з Сове́тских Социалисти́ческих Респу́блик, tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik) abbreviated to USSR (Russian: СССР, tr. SSSR) or the Soviet Union (Russian: Советский Союз, tr. Sovetsky Soyuz), was a constitutionally communist state that existed between 1922 and 1991, ruled as a single-party state by the Communist Party with Moscow as its capital. A union of multiple subnational Soviet republics, its government and economy were highly centralized.

 

The Soviet Union had its roots in the Russian Revolution of 1917, which deposed the imperial autocracy. The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, then overthrew the Provisional Government. The Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic was established and the Russian Civil War began. The Red Army entered several territories of the former Russian Empire and helped local communists seize power. In 1922, the Bolsheviks were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian and Byelorussian republics. Following Lenin's death in 1924, a troika collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism and initiated a centrally planned economy. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialisation and collectivisation which laid the basis for its later war effort and dominance after World War II. However, Stalin repressed both Communist Party members and elements of the population through his authoritarian rule.

 

During the first phase of World War II, Soviet Union used the opportunity to acquire territories in Eastern Europe adjacent to Nazi Germany, its satellites, and their occupied territories. Later in 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theatre of war in history and violating an earlier non-aggression pact between the two countries. The Soviet Union suffered the largest loss of life in the war, but halted the Axis advance at intense battles such as that at Stalingrad, eventually driving through Eastern Europe and capturing Berlin in 1945. Having played a decisive role in the Allied victory in Europe, the Soviet Union established the Eastern Bloc in much of Central and Eastern Europe and emerged as one of the world's two superpowers after the war. Together with these new satellite states, through which the Soviet Union established economic and military pacts, it became involved in the Cold War, a prolonged ideological and political struggle against the Western Bloc, led by the other superpower, the United States.

 

A de-Stalinization period followed Stalin's death, reducing the harshest aspects of society. The Soviet Union then went on to initiate significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including launching the first ever satellite and world's first human spaceflight, which led it into the Space Race. The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis marked a period of extreme tension between the two superpowers, considered the closest to a mutual nuclear confrontation. In the 1970s, a relaxation of relations followed, but tensions resumed with Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. The occupation drained economic resources and dragged on without achieving meaningful political results.

 

In the late 1980s the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, also sought reforms in the Union, introducing the policies of glasnost and perestroika in an attempt to end the period of economic stagnation and democratize the government. However, this led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements. Central authorities initiated a referendum, boycotted by the Baltic republics and Georgia, which resulted in the majority of participating citizens voting in favour of preserving the Union as a renewed federation. In August 1991, a coup d'état was attempted by hardliners against Gorbachev, with the intention of reversing his moderate policies. The coup failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a high-profile role in facing down the coup but resulted in the restoration of the Baltic states. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the remaining 12 constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states. The Russian Federation, successor of the Russian SFSR, assumed the Soviet Union's rights and obligations and is recognised as its continued legal personality [Wikipedia.org]

Synchronicity was in a great way for this picture between couple sun ☀️ and moonlight 🌙 , throned son, cristal light’s heals all the soul under nymphs...( thanks to Nymphaea by Claude Monet ) Cristal healing and echoes of consciousness.

Liberation of darkness is possible way with your pineal glands and you can compare them with a crystal light and follow the guidance through your dream.Other significant work for linking the throne to nymphaea could be a Jungian interpretation for Alchemist (following old Egyptian science)

It’s amazing how crystal light is a healing process for testing your body to sitting on a throne.However, it has only recently become clear that apomorphine can be utilized, with excellent results, to treat erectile dysfunction. It is a centrally acting, selective D1/D2 dopamine agonist, and activation of dopaminergic receptors in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus initiates a cascade of events, ultimately resulting in smooth muscle relaxation and vasodilatation within the corpora cavernosa, leading to penile erection. Crystal river and albedo was whiteness day for a throne of consciousness enlightenment

 

This discovery provides a likely explanation for the appearance of Nymphaea in the Luxor frescoes and in erotic cartoons ... The fact that temple drawings only depict use by the higher castes, such as priests and royalty, suggests that the masses did not benefit from this discovery. The Nymphaea story serves as a further illustration of how the effects of substances of plant origin were known even though the discoverers lacked the technology to explain them. The water lily was also used for other medicinal purposes, according to Lise Manniche in An Ancient Egyptian Herbal, including liver disease, poultices for the head, constipation and as an enema (1989, p. 134). She also notes that it was used in a magical spell to cause a "hated woman"'s hair to fall out. In Greco-Roman times, it was thought of as a cooling herb, and was thus used to bring down a fever.

 

Original article: www.thekeep.org/~kunoichi/kunoichi/themestream/egypt_wate...

© Caroline Seawright

 

The source is one: male and female are united. In alchemical images we see a throne from which streams of water flow into one flashback to primordial life’s hermaphrodite.

The Syrian love goddess who the Egyptians married off to Min, was depicted as a naked woman who stood on the back of a lion, carrying snakes and water lily buds. The buds are likely linked with her role as a goddess of sexuality and fertility. Votive offerings to Hathor included bowls with water lily motifs, again alluding to fertility, the renewal of life and rebirth. (A water bowl was also the hieroglyph for a woman, which A.H. Gardiner in Egyptian Grammar believes to represent the vagina, linking the fertility sign of the water lily in the bowl to female fertility in this case.) The Egyptian idea of sexuality was identified with creation. Being a flower of creation, the flower became linked to human fertility and sexuality. The images of women holding the flower may be hinting at her ability to bear children or that she was sexually desirable, and images of men holding the flower may hint at their potency. It could also be a way to ensure that the person painted would be fertile - and sexy - in the afterlife.

 

Contemporary reference to the role of water lilies and mandrakes (Nymphaea and Mandragora, respectively) in ancient Egyptian healing ... suggest the possible importance of these plants as adjuncts to shamanistic healing in dynastic Egypt. Although the usual interpretation of the water lily and the mandrake has been that of a part of ritual mourning ... it is argued that the dynastic Egyptians had developed a form of shamanistic trance induced by these two plants and used it in medicine as well as healing rituals. Analysis of the ritual and sacred iconography of dynastic Egypt, as seen on stelae, in magical papyri, and on vessels, indicates that these people possessed a profound knowledge of plant lore and altered states of consciousness. The abundant data indicate that the shamanistic priest, who was highly placed in the stratified society, guided the souls of the living and dead, provided for the transmutation of souls into other bodies and the personification of plants as possessed by human spirits, as well as performing other shamanistic activities. test was carried out to see if there were any narcotic effects of the blue water lily. There were no known psychotropic substance found in the flower itself. In The Mystery of the Cocaine Mummies Rosalie David ('Keeper of Egyptology, Manchester Museum') says that "we see many scenes of individuals holding a cup and dropping a water lily flower into the cup which contained wine". The assertion by Dr Andrew Sherratt, based on these depictions, is that he believes that when the flower was infused with wine, that the chemical content might change and become the ancient Egyptian party drug or a shamanistic aid. The lilies were flown from Cairo to England, and nineteen of them opened after the sun came out. The flowers were soaked in the wine, and after a few days, two volunteers - who claimed to know nothing about ancient Egypt - drank the lily-wine:Unfortunately the test was not up to scientific standards - there was no control group (where another set of volunteers would drink wine not infused with the lily, but told that it had been) - so it is rather difficult to know how much of the effects on the two were just from the alcohol and if any were from the lily infusion itself.The blue water lily was possibly also a symbol of sexuality - Dr Liz Williamson says that the flower "has a sort of Viagra effect". Women were wooed with the blue water lily. In certain erotic scenes from the Turin Papyrus, women are shown wearing very little apart from the white lily as a headdress.The blue water lily was possibly also a symbol of sexuality - Dr Liz Williamson says that the flower "has a sort of Viagra effect". Women were wooed with the blue water lily. In certain erotic scenes from the Turin Papyrus, women are shown wearing very little apart from the white lily as a headdress.

The blue water lily was possibly also a symbol of sexuality - Dr Liz Williamson says that the flower "has a sort of Viagra effect". Women were wooed with the blue water lily. In certain erotic scenes from the Turin Papyrus, women are shown wearing very little apart from the white lily as a headdress.

 

More recently, it has been discovered that this plant could have been used by the ancient Egyptians to help with erectile dysfunction. This would help explain why the plant was so intimately connected with sex and sexuality:

 

Nymphaea caerulea (blue lotus) and N. ampla, which has a white flower but a similar alkaloid content, grow along lakes and rivers, thrive in wet soil, and bloom in the spring. They belong to the water-lily family ... The isolation of the psychoactive apomorphine from Nymphaea species has offered chemical support to speculation that Nymphaea species may have been employed as hallucinogens in both the Old and the New World. The use of N. caerulea and of N. lotos in rites and rituals is depicted in the frescoes within the tombs, and in very early papyrus scrolls. The most important of these was the scroll of Ani (Book of the Dead). Nymphaea is mentioned and represented in several chapters of the book, always tied to magical-religious rites.

The water lily was also used for other medicinal purposes, according to Lise Manniche in An Ancient Egyptian Herbal, including liver disease, poultices for the head, constipation and as an enema (1989, p. 134). She also notes that it was used in a magical spell to cause a "hated woman"'s hair to fall out. In Greco-Roman times, it was thought of as a cooling herb, and was thus used to bring down a fever.The flower wasn't just used at parties, but it was used at funerals. As with many symbols of fertility, the blue water lily was also symbolic of rebirth after death. Tutankhamen's innermost gold coffin had blue water lily petals scattered over it along with a few other floral tributes. The Egyptians looked forward to their souls coming to life "like a water lily reopening", thinking that the deceased died as the water lily closed awaiting opening with the morning sun. The Book of the Dead has a spell to allow the deceased to transform into one of these flowers:

 

The goddess Qedeshet, standing on a lion, holding water lilies and a snake, the Syrian love goddess who the Egyptians married off to Min, was depicted as a naked woman who stood on the back of a lion, carrying snakes and water lily buds. The buds are likely linked with her role as a goddess of sexuality and fertility. Votive offerings to Hathor included bowls with water lily motifs, again alluding to fertility, the renewal of life and rebirth. (A water bowl was also the hieroglyph for a woman, which A.H. Gardiner in Egyptian Grammar believes to represent the vagina, linking the fertility sign of the water lily in the bowl to female fertility in this case.) The Egyptian idea of sexuality was identified with creation. Being a flower of creation, the flower became linked to human fertility and sexuality. The images of women holding the flower may be hinting at her ability to bear children or that she was sexually desirable, and images of men holding the flower may hint at their potency. It could also be a way to ensure that the person painted would be fertile - and sexy - in the afterlife.As we mentioned above, Aphrodite/Venus as the morning star is a central image for the albedo phase of the Great Work. Aphrodite was born from the foam that arose when the genitals of Uranus (cut of by Chronos, out of hate and jealousy) fell into the sea. The cutting of the genitals represents repressed and tormented love. The sea, symbol of the soul, however will bring forth the love goddess. Liberation will happen when we become conscious again of the contents of the soul. As Aphrodite is born from the sea, she is the guide through the fearful world of the unconscious (the sea, or the underworld). The alchemist descends into these depths to find the ‘prima materia’, also called the ‘green lion’. The color green refers to the primal life forces. Venus also has the green color. An important characteristic of Aphrodite is that she helps us in our human shortcomings. She gives ideals and dreams to fulfill. But she also gives frightening images in order to make man aware of his lower nature. "By her beauty Venus attracts the imperfect metals and gives rise to desire, and pushes them to perfection and ripeness." (Basilius Valentinus, 1679) Liberation can only happen by becoming conscious of the lower nature and how we transmute it.

In Jungian psychology Venus/Aphrodite is the archetype of the anima (in alchemy also the ‘soror’ or ‘wife’ of the alchemist). The anima is the collective image of the woman in a man. It is an image especially tainted by his first contact with his mother. The anima represents all the female tendencies in the psyche of a man, such as feelings, emotions, moods, intuition, receptivity for the irrational, personal love and a feeling for nature. She is the bearer for the spiritual. Depending on the development of the man she can also be the seductress who lures him away to love, hopelessness, demise, and even destruction.

Other alchemical images for albedo are baptism and the white dove, both derived from Christianity. Baptism symbolizes the purification of both body and soul by ‘living water’. ‘Living water’ was regarded as the creative force of the divine. It allowed the soul to be received into the community of the holy spirit. Thus baptism allows the purified soul to bring forth the resurrection of Christ in oneself. This is the ‘hieros gamos’, the ‘sacred marriage’ between the soul and Christ. Christ here represent our own inner divine essence.

There are many other symbols in alchemy for the second phase, or albedo: the white swan, the rose, the white queen, and so on. As lead is the metal of nigredo, silver is the metal of albedo, transmuted from lead. As silver is the metal of the moon, the moon was also a symbol for albedo. Alchemists also talk about the white stone or white tincture. They all means basically the same thing, although one has to understand them in the context in which they were written.

The union of Hermes and Aphrodite. The moon is above the retort, indicating this is the stage of Albedo. The sun above is the next stage of Rubedo. At the same time sun and moon are again the opposites to be united. Aphrodite has two torches. One pointing down, representing the lower passions to be transmuted. The upside down torch is the purified energies. Aphrodite is standing on a tetrahedron, the perfect three dimensional body, as all corners are equally distant from each other, resulting in a lack of tension.

Albedo, symbolized by Aurora, by the dawn, the morning star (Venus-Aphrodite), and by the sun rising up from the Philosopher's Sea.

 

Albedo is also represented by Aurora, the Roman goddess of the dawn. Her brother is Helios, the Sun. With a play of words aurora was connected with aurea hora, ‘the hour of gold’. It is a supreme state of conscious. Pernety (1758): "When the Artist (=Alchemist) sees the perfect whiteness, the Philosophers say that one has to destroy the books, because they have become superfluous."

Albedo is also symbolized by the morning star Venus/Aphrodite. Venus has a special place in the Great Work. In ancient times Lucifer was identified with the planet Venus. Originally Lucifer has a very positive meaning. In the Bible we find 2Petrus 1:19 "…till the day arrives and the morning star rises in your hearts". In Revelation 12:16 Christ says: "I am the shining morning star". Here Christ identifies himself with the Lucifer! We find the same in mystic literature. In ancient times Lucifer was a positive light being. It was just one man who changed all that: when a certain Hieronymous read a phrase from Jesaja 14:12 (Jesaja talking to a sinful king of Babylon): " How did you fall from heaven, you morning star, you son of the dawn; how did you fall to earth, conqueror of people". Hieronymous used this phrase to identify Lucifer with the dragon thrown out of heaven by Michael. By the interpretation of this one man, Lucifer was tuned from a shining light being into the darkest devilish being in the world.

We find Lucifer in alchemy associated with impure metals polluted by rough sulfur. It means that the light being Lucifer in ourselves is polluted by what the alchemists call ‘superfluities’, ‘dross’, caused by man himself.

Mercury and Lucifer are one and the same. One talks about Mercury when he is pure, it is the white sulphur, the fire in heaven. As ‘spiritus’ he gives life. As ‘spiritus sapiens’ he teaches the alchemist the Great Work. Lucifer is the impure Mercury. Lucifer is the morning star fallen from (the golden) heaven. He descended into the earth and is now present in all humans. Lucifer is Mercury mixed with impure elements. He dissolved ‘in sulfur and salt’, ‘is wrapped with strings’, ‘darkened with black mud’. Keep in mind we are always talking about our consciousness. Lucifer represents our everyday consciousness, all the (psychological and other) complexes have clouded our pure consciousness, Mercury.

The light of Mercury that appears to us as Lucifer, because of the distortion caused by the impurities, gives the impression of what the alchemists called ‘red sulfur’. The red sulfur of Lucifer, as traditional devil, is actually an illusion. It does not exist by itself because it is only an image, a distorted image of Mercury. We ourselves caused the impurities, the blackness that veils our true light being.

Red sulfur is the same as what is called Maya in eastern philosophies. Maya is the world of illusions, or the veil that prevents us from seeing and experiencing true reality, where the eternal light is. By the impurities of Maya, man has become ignorant. He has forgotten his origin and thinks he is in a world which in actuality is an illusion.Albedo - Whiteness

 

Je ne craignais pas de mourir

mais de mourir sans etre illumine.

(I was not afraid to die,

but to die without having been enlightened)

Comte de Saint-Germain, La Tres Sainte Trinisophie

The herald of the light

is the morning star.

This way man and woman approach

the dawn of knowledge,

because in it is the germ of life,

being a blessing of the eternal.

Haji Ibrahim of Kerbala

Lucifer, Lucifer stretch your tail,

and lead me away, full speed through the narrow passage,

the valley of the death,

to the brilliant light, the palace of the gods.

Isanatha Muni

Being deep in nigredo, a white light appears. We have arrived at the second stage of the Great Work: albedo, or whiteness. The alchemist has discovered within himself the source from which his life comes forth. The fountain of life from which the water of life flows forth giving eternal youth.

The source is one: male and female are united. In alchemical images we see a fountain from which two streams of water flow into one basin. Albedo is the discovery of the hermaphroditic nature of man. In the spiritual sense each man is a hermaphrodite. We can also see this in the first embryonic phase of the fetus. There is no sex until a certain number of weeks after conception. When man descended into the physical world his body entered a world of duality. On the bodily level this is expressed by the sexes. But his spirit is still androgen, it contains duality in unity. Its unity is not bound to space, time or matter. Duality is an expression of unity in our physical world. It is temporal and will eventually cease to exist. When male and female are united again, one will experience his true self. Conscious and unconscious are totally united.

Albedo happens when the Sun rises at midnight. It is a symbolic expression for the rising of the light at the depth of darkness. It is the birth of Christ in the middle of the winter. In the depth of a psychological crises, a positive change happens.

 

www.soul-guidance.com/houseofthesun/alchemy 2.htm

 

I probably do not fit into the preconceived notion of a "rebel".

  

I have no visible tattoos and minimal piercing. I do not possess a leather jacket. In fact, when most people look at me, their first thought usually is something along the lines of "oppressed female."

 

The brave individuals who have mustered the courage to ask me about the way I dress usually have questions like: " Do your parents make you wear that?" or " Don't you find that really unfair?"

 

A while back, a couple of girls in Montreal were kicked out of school for dressing like I do. It seems strange that a little piece of cloth would make for such controversy. Perhaps the fear is that I am harbouring an Uzi underneath it. You never can tell with those Muslim fundamentalists.

 

Of course, the issue at hand is more than a mere piece of cloth. I am a Muslim woman who, like millions of other Muslim women across the globe, chooses to wear the hijab. There are many different ways to wear it, but in essence, what we do is cover our entire bodies .

 

If you're the kind of person who has watched a lot of popular movies, you'd probably think of harem girls and belly-dancers, women who are kept in seclusion except for the private pleasure of their male masters. In the true Islamic faith, nothing could be further from the truth. And the concept of the hijab, contrary to popular opinion, is actually one of the most fundamental aspects of female empowerment.

 

When I cover myself, I make it virtually impossible for people to judge me according to the way I look. I cannot be categorised because of my attractiveness or lack thereof. Compare this to life in today's

society: We are constantly sizing one another up on the basis of our clothing, jewellery, hair and makeup. What kind of depth can there be in a world like this?

 

Yes, I have a body, a physical manifestation upon this Earth. But it is the vessel of an intelligent mind and a strong spirit. It is not for the beholder to leer at or to use in advertisements to sell everything

from beer to cars. Because of the superficiality of the world in which we live, external appearances are so stressed that the value of the individual counts foralmost nothing.

 

It is a myth that women in today's society are liberated. What kind of freedom can there be when a woman cannot walk down the street without every aspect of her physical self being "checked out''?

 

When I wear the hijab I feel safe from all of this. I can rest assured that no one is looking at me and making assumptions about my character from the length of my skirt. There is a barrier between me and those who would exploit me. I am first and foremost a human being, equal to any man, and not vulnerable because of my sexuality.

 

One of the saddest truths of our time is the question of the beauty myth and female self-image. Reading popular teenage magazines, you can instantly find out what kind of body image is "in'' or "out.'' And if you have the "wrong" body type, well, then, you're just going to have to change it, aren't you? After all, there is no way that you can be overweight and still be beautiful.

 

Look at any advertisement. Is a woman being used to sell the product? How old is she? How attractive is she? What is she wearing? More often than not, that woman will be no older than her early 20s, taller, slimmer and more attractive than average, dressed in skimpy clothing.

 

Why do we allow ourselves to be manipulated like this? Whether the '90s woman wishes to believe it or not, she is being forced into a mould. She is being coerced into selling herself, into compromising herself. This is why we have 13-year-old girls sticking their fingers down their throats andoverweight adolescents hanging themselves.

 

When people ask me if I feel oppressed, I can honestly say no. I made this decision out of my own free will. I like the fact that I am taking control of the way other people perceive me. I enjoy the fact that I don't give anyone anything to look at and that I have released myself from the bondage of the swinging pendulum of the fashion industry and other institutions that exploit females.

 

My body is my own business. Nobody can tell me how I should look or whether or not I am beautiful. I know that there is more to me than that. I am also able to say no comfortably when people ask me if I feel as though my sexuality is being repressed. I have taken control of my sexuality.

 

I am thankful I will never have to suffer the fate of trying to lose/gain weight or trying to find the exact lipstick shade that will go with my skin colour. I have made choices about what my priorities are and these are not among them.

 

So next time you see me, don't look at me sympathetically. I am not under duress or a male-worshipping female captive from those barbarous Arabic deserts. I've been liberated.

British autograph card by the Rank Organisation. Publicity still for The Heart of a Man (Herbert Wilcox, 1959). Sent by mail in 1959.

 

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 seven children. Her father, Harold Pretty, was a former orchestral violinist, turned factory worker. Her mother died when Violet was just 13. Violet had to leave school at 14 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 (Frank Launder, 1951) 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 Organisation. 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 (Ralph Thomas, 1957) starring Dirk Bogarde, the crime drama Violent Playground (Basil Dearden, 1958) opposite Stanley Baker, and the adventure Dangerous Exile (Brian Desmond Hurst, 1958) starring Louis Jourdan. Gradually Heywood evolved into a leading lady.

 

Anne Heywood met producer Raymond Stross in 1959 at the set of A Terrible Beauty/The Night Fighters (Tay Garnett, 1960) 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 (Cyril Frankel, 1963) with Richard Todd, and 90 Degrees in the Shade (Jiri Weiss, 1965). At the Berlin Film Festival, the latter won the International Critics' Prize. Her breakthrough role was Ellen March in The Fox (Mark Rydell, 1967), co-starring Sandy Dennis. This film adaptation of a D. H. Lawrence novella 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 win. 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 (Eriprando Visconti, 1969) 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. This quite nasty and 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 led to an Italian sub-genre 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. Her Hollywood productions as the caper Midas Run (Alf Kjellin, 1969) with Fred Astaire, and the action drama The Chairman (J. Lee Thompson, 1969) with Gregory Peck were no successes. She seemed drawn toward highly troubled, flawed characters, like in I Want What I Want (John Dexter, 1972) and Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff (Marvin J. Chomsky, 1979). In the 1970s, she also appeared in several Italian films, including the Giallo L'assassino... è al telefono/The Killer Is on the Phone (Alberto De Martino, 1972) with Telly Savalas and Willeke van Ammelrooy, the nunsploitation Le monache di Sant'Arcangelo/The Nun & The Devil (Domenico Paolella, 1973) with Ornella Muti, and the romantic drama La prima volta sull'erba/Love Under the Elms (Gianluigi Calderone, 1975). Her career declined in the 1980s. Her final feature was What Waits Below (Don Sharp, 1985). Hal Erickson at AllMovie: “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 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.” Heywood's 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 was seen in a final television movie, Memories of Manon (Tony Wharmby, 1989) based on the character from The Equalizer. After this role, she retired. She remarried 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 Stross (1963), with Raymond Stross.

 

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

 

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

Belgian collectors card, no. A 66.

 

Red headed Moira Shearer (1926-2006) was a luminous star of the British ballet. She became an international film idol with her unforgettable debut as the young ballerina Vicky in The Red Shoes (1948), a classic of the British cinema and probably the most popular film about ballet ever.

 

Moira Shearer King was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, in 1926. She was the daughter of actor Harold V. King. In 1931 her family moved to Ndola, Northern Rhodesia. Her mother pushed her into ballet and Moira received her first dancing training under a former pupil of Enrico Cecchetti. She returned to Britain in 1936 and trained with Flora Fairbairn in London for a few months before she was accepted as a pupil by the Russian teacher Nicholas Legat. After three years with Legat, she joined the Sadler's Wells Ballet School. However, after the outbreak of the World War II, her parents took her to live in Scotland. The Scottish beauty with her flaming red hair made her debut with Mona Inglesby's International Ballet in 1941 before moving on to the famous Sadler's Wells in 1942. There she was second only to the world renowned prima ballerina, Margot Fonteyn. From 1942 to 1952 Shearer danced all the major classic roles and a full repertoire of revivals and new ballets. She came to international attention for her first film role as the doomed heroine in the ballet-themed film The Red Shoes (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1948). The film employs the story within a story device. Victoria Page (Shearer), a young, unknown dancer from an aristocratic background meets at a party Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook), the ruthless but charismatic impresario of the Ballet Lermontov. He invites her to join his famous ballet company. She becomes the lead dancer in a new ballet called The Red Shoes, itself based on the fairy tale The Red Shoes by Hans Christian Andersen. Vicky is torn between the powerful impresario and a struggling composer (Marius Goring) whom she loves. The film got rave reviews and became one of the highest earning British films of all time. Shearer’s role and the film were so powerful that although she went on to star in other films, she is primarily known for playing ‘Vicky.’ She toured the United States with the Sadler's Wells Ballet in 1949 and in 1950/51. Moira Shearer’s second film was the magnificent spectacle The Tales of Hoffmann (Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, 1951), an adaptation of Jacques Offenbach's final opera, Les contes d'Hoffmann. The film co-starred Robert Helpmann and Léonide Massine. It is not just a film of a staged opera, but a true cinematic opera that makes use of film techniques not available in an opera house. Powell and Pressburger were nominated for the Grand Prize of the 1951 Cannes Film Festival, and won the Exceptional Prize. They also won the Silver Bear award for Best Musical at the 1st Berlin International Film Festival.

 

In 1953, a combination of ill-health, injury and her wish to make a name for herself as an actress made Moira Shearer decide to retire from the ballet stage at age 27. She co-starred with James Mason in a segment of The Story of Three Loves (Vincente Minnelli, Gottfried Reinhardt, 1953), a romantic anthology film made by MGM. She appeared as Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream at the 1954 Edinburgh Festival. The following year she starred in the British film comedy The Man Who Loved Redheads (Harold French, 1955) based on the play Who is Sylvia? by Terence Rattigan. She toured as Sally Bowles in the play I am a Camera in 1955 and appeared at the Bristol Old Vic as G.B. Shaw’s Major Barbara in 1956. Shearer worked again for Powell on the controversial film Peeping Tom (Michael Powell, 1960) about a sexually repressed serial killer (Karlheinz Böhm) who murders women and films their expressions of terror and dying gasps on film. Its controversial subject and the extremely harsh reception by critics effectively destroyed Powell's career as a director. However, it attracted a cult following, and in later years, it has been re-evaluated and is now considered a masterpiece. A year later she appeared in the musical 1-2-3-4 ou Les Collants noirs/Black Tights (Terence Young, 1961) with Zizi Jeanmaire and Cyd Charisse. It would be Shearer’s last film. Shearer was on the BBC's General Advisory Council from 1970 to 1977 and the Scottish Arts Council from 1971 to 1973. In 1972, she was chosen by the BBC to present the Eurovision Song Contest when it was staged in Edinburgh. In 1977 she played Madame Ranevsky in Anton Chekhov's Cherry Orchard at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh and, in 1978, was Judith Bliss in Noel Coward's Hay Fever. She wrote two books, biographies of the choreographer George Balanchine and the actress Ellen Terry, and a column for The Daily Telegraph. She also gave talks on ballet worldwide. The choreographer Gillian Lynne persuaded her to return to ballet to play the mother of artist L. S. Lowry (Christopher Gable) in the ballet film A Simple Man (1987, Gillian Lynne) for the BBC. In 1950, Moira Shearer had married writer and broadcaster Ludovic Kennedy. The couple had a son, Alastair, and three daughters, Ailsa, Rachel and Fiona. In 2006, Moira Shearer died of natural causes in Oxford, England at the age of 80

 

Sources: Anna Kisselgoff (The New York Times), Steve Crook (IMDb), The Telegraph, Wikipedia and IMDb.

 

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

www.freemoviescinema.com/science-fiction/video/latest/con... Full Feature

See more photos in set.

 

Starring Walter Brooke, Eric Fleming, Mickey Shaughnessy, Phil Foster, William Redfield, William Hopper, Benson Fong, Ross Martin, Vito Scotti. Directed by Byron Haskin. Producer George Pal gave us the sci-fi landmark Destination Moon in 1950. He then gave us the timeless classic War of the Worlds in '53. This, his third epic, was a grand effort, but fell shy of his earlier triumphs. On paper, it should have been another mega-classic. The team members from the earlier hits were reassembled. Pal as producer, Haskin directing, Lydon on screenplay, O'Hanlon writing. Conquest was also based on a popular book. Yet, despite all this pedigree, something fell short. Conquest would not go on to be remembered as one of the 50s mega-classics. Some of this obscurity may be due to Conquest being in the "serious" science fiction sub-genre, like Destination Moon and Riders to the Stars which tried to depict a plausible space-traveling future. Audiences were becoming much more entranced with saucers and weird aliens.

 

In some ways,Conquest is a remake of the basic story line from Destination Moon -- a crew are the first to land on a celestial body. They struggle to survive and yet courageously return. This time, instead of the moon, it's Mars. As a remake goes, however, it's worthy. The Technicolor is rich and the sets well done. This is an A-level production which at its release was the 2001: A Space Odyssey of its day. All the melodrama, however, starts to get in the way of the techno-gee-whiz.

Synopsis

Based aboard a rotating wheel space station, workmen prepare a big flying wing of a rocket ship. A group of potential crewmen train for what they think will be a moon landing mission. As the work nears completion, they find out that the real mission will be a landing on Mars instead. While aboard "The Wheel", we're introduced to the phenomenon of "space sickness" -- a mental breakdown due to workload and confinement for long periods. One of the crew candidates is scrubbed because of one such breakdown. Nonetheless, the multinational crew are chosen and embark for the long journey to Mars. After departure, it's found that General Merritt's old friend, Sergeant Mahoney, stowed away. On the way to Mars, a communications antenna is damaged and must be fixed via spacewalking crewmen. Just as the repairs are completed, the customary meteor arrives, threatening to hit the ship. General Merritt manages to fly the ship out of the way, but one of the crewmen on EVA is hit with micrometeoroids (like bullets) and killed. The General is also starting to show odd behavior, doubting whether their mission is proper or is an affront to God. Their evasive action puts them behind schedule, but they arrive at Mars. While attempting to land on Mars, the General has another bout of delusion and tries to abort the landing. His son, Captain Merritt, manages to take control and brings in the flying-wing lander to a rough but successful landing. The others go out to explore, but the General, now fully delusional, is venting rocket fuel in an attempt to blow up the ship. His son discovers this and the two struggle. The General's pistol discharges, killing him. Mahoney comes on the scene just then and accuses Captain Merritt of murdering the General. The rest explore a bit more, but pronounce Mars a dead planet. Despite this, Imoto discovers that his earth flower seed sprouted in martian soil. Earthquakes cause the escape rocket to shift off of perpendicular. They get it righted and blast off. On the way home, Mahoney and Captain Merritt make up and declare that the dead General was a hero, the man who conquered space. The End.

The color, the sets, models and background paintings are very visually rich. The whole image is a great snapshot of the future as people in the mid-50s imagined it would be. More tidbits in the Notes section below.

There is actually a subtle anti-war tone to the movie. No overt talk of nuclear dangers or menacing enemies. It is notable, however, that among the conspicuously international crew candidates, there is no Russian. Americans would "conquer" space with a few other nationals along for the ride, but NO Russians. There is also a poorly explained urgency to the mission. What's the hurry? Back in the Cold War, it was pretty common that WE had to get something before THEY did.

In 1949, Willy Ley wrote the book "The Conquest of Space," which speculated about how mankind might travel to other planets. This book was illustrated by space artist Chesley Bonestell. This book would become the inspiration for the movie.

 

From 1952 to 1954, Collier's magazine ran a series of stories about mankind conquering space. These were repeats by Ley and Bonestell of their 1949 book, but this time Collier's added material from "rocket scientist" Werner von Braun. Bonestell's new illustrations were clearly the prototype for the look of Conquest. People felt that mankind was on the verge of taking to the stars. The Collier's series expressed that giddy optimism.

The screenplay for Conquest added weak human interest sub-plots which almost negate the gee-whiz optimism that the visuals convey. The screenwriters were all experienced in their craft, so it's puzzling why such amateurish characterizations are so prominent. The comic relief moments are almost cartoonish. The whole leader-gone-mad sub-plot seems out of place.

A possible "message" to Conquest is that man is a fragile creature who may not be ready for the rigors of space travel. Certainly, people wondered about this, and other movies touched on the theme too, such as Riders to the Stars ('54). Our not being mentally ready yet was cited by the aliens in It Came From Outer Space ('53). General Merritt's dementia was foreshadowed in the breakdown of Roy early in the movie.

One thing that strikes the viewer is how much life aboard the space station is presumed to duplicate life aboard a navy ship. It's not overtly stated that the military should (or will) be the agency which "conquers" space, but from the ranks and uniforms and the navy-life scenes, that message comes through. Space ships will be like earthly ships.

On the surface, it seems like Conquest is blasting Christians as dangerous religious fanatics. This notion, that anyone who believes in God simply MUST be wacko, would be much more popular in later decades, but it was uncommon in the 50s. For that reason, the General's dementia deserves a closer look.

Actually, General Merritt was not the stereotypic religious fanatic. His son comments that he had never seen him carrying around and reading the Bible before. Instead of headaches or paralysis, the General's "space sickness" took a paranoid turn. He had rational misgivings about the Mars mission from the start, pre-dementia. His repressed misgivings are expressed in Bible verses dealing with sinners being punished by God. He once quotes from Psalm 38, then later from Psalm 62.

Throughout all this, God is not mocked. Indeed, only the "religious" man had the courage to go outside and give the dead Fodor a proper burial. The other non-relgious crewmen were at a loss for what to do.

The notion of impudent mankind trying to meddle in God's domain, is treated as a credible issue. In this, the pattern of the Tower of Babel is drawn. Prideful mankind thinks they can build their way into God's realm. God foils that plan. General Merritt's dementia seems motivated by a fear that this divine retribution could be coming again.

The writers of Conquest imagine a multinationalism in space. Most notable are two former enemy nations: Imoto is from Japan and Fodor is a German-accented Austrian, (as a stand-in for Germany). Imoto gets to make a little speech about why Japan went to war (lack of resources). Fodor gets to be seen as the cherished son of a classic "mama". By 1955, it was starting to become okay to look beyond World War 2.

At one point, the crew of The Wheel are watching a movie with many scantily clad dancing girls (much like sailors aboard a ship). The movie is a lavish musical number with many gold bikini clad pseudo-harem girls dancing while Rosemary Clooney sings about love "...in the desert sand." This clip is total non-sequetor to the high-tech space environment. What's interesting, is that it's NOT stock footage recycled. Clooney had not done any such movie. This dance number must have been staged and shot just for this scene in Conquest. Random act of musical. Gotta love 'em.

 

Bottom line? Conquest is an almost-epic. It's definitely an A-grade sci-fi movie, so it's well worth watching. The human story part gets in the way sometimes, but the visuals more than make up for it.

 

Hijras are so often misunderstood its pathetic.

 

They essentially are men who cross dress or undergo the surgery.

 

In THAILAND they are either a transgender woman or an effeminate gay male

 

in the USA would be called transgender or gay or crossdressers or transvestite or queer.

 

Most hijras live at the margins of society with very low status; the very word "hijra" is sometimes used in a derogatory manner

 

IMHO:

they are basically HOMOSEXUALS who because of the repressed society they live in cannot come out of the closet as they would really like to & live and dress

plain and unadorned LIKE everyone else on the planet ..........

  

So they hide behind this semi/pseudo glamorized though mostly demoralized place in society..................

 

JAISALMER

 

Photography’s new conscience

linktr.ee/GlennLosack

linktr.ee/GlennLosack

  

glosack.wixsite.com/tbws

 

An investigative study into the ways in which certain minorities express themselves, in this case, it’s Drag Queens. Drag is an art and refined skill, but most importantly, drag is a way for one to express themselves through the beauty of a performative identity. Having spoken to over 100 queens over Instagram, I have discovered so much about the culture; such as the fact that there are categories of queens such as comedy queens, spooky queens, club kids, pageant and the most dominant being look queens. It’s fair to say that drag is not something you’d class as ‘normal’, but that certainly doesn’t devalue the significance it truly holds. Breaking gender stereotypes is such a vital way for society to progress. Offensive ideologies such as sexism, homophobia and even transphobia seem to be alleviated as soon as one gets into drag. A man dressed as a women, (usually) part of the LGBT community and clothed in a plethora of elegant attires is so strongly standing for those who are socially repressed in nowadays society for the way in which they identify. Talking to Dixey the queen, she opened my eyes to the idea that “drag is there for those who need that boost of inspiration, that kick of confidence or stance of pride. I live unapologetically and standing on that stage with my double Ds and 30 inch wig makes me feel powerful. but i don’t do it for my own ego, I do it for those who need need the encouragement to be who they want. Yeh, I look like a fool up there, but when my head is high and the crowds are cheering, someone in the world is feeling like they can conquer anything and that is why I get up every morning”. (Ran out of word count - will post my essay soon)

The classic American school bus.

 

Ah.. the sounds! The smells! The repressed memories of what could best be described as "the Lord of the Flies" on wheels.

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 ciborium on the left side of the apse. Because in a church, left and right can be inverted depending on where you stand, the French conoscenti refer to le côté de l’épître (“the side of the epistle”) to mean the right side of the altar as seen when you’re facing it (because that’s the side where the epistle to be read sits on a lectern during Mass), while the other side, the left side when you’re facing the altar, is referred to as le côté de l’évangile (“the side of the Gospel”), for the same reason.

 

Both ciboria features very beautiful historied capitals. We will look at those more in detail in future uploads.

The Limited Edition Elsa Doll, released in stores in North America on March 3, 2015. My doll is #2942 of 5000. She is in jeweled purple felt (made from faux wool). This is the outfit she wore as an 18 year old when saying good bye to her parents before their overseas journey. She is wearing ice blue jeweled satin gloves, which help repress her ice powers. Her hands are clasped together. Her pose and look are that of a sternly repressed nature. She is standing in front a purple window of the Castle, which is closed, as she is closed to the outside world.

 

She is wearing black flats with floral decoration. Her jacket is pinned to her dress, which I left alone, as it helps to keep the jacket from opening up. There was a large amount of tissue paper stuffing under her skirt. I had to remove her from the doll stand before I could remove the tissue.

 

She has shiny pearlescent skin, and her skin tone is between that of Coronation Elsa and Snow Queen Elsa. Her hair is slicked down in the front and is in a bun in the back. There is gold tinsel in her hair, even in her side burns.

 

Limited Edition Elsa Doll - Frozen - 17''

Released in stores 2015-03-03

Purchased in store 2015-03-03

Released online 2015-03-04

Sold out in 10 minutes

$119.95

Item No. 6070040901176P

 

Wintry wonder

The Disney Store proudly presents the worldwide Limited Edition Elsa Doll. A regal vision, draped in sumptuous dark purple velvet from head to toe, Elsa is costumed as seen at the beginning of Disney's feature film Frozen.

 

Magic in the details...

 

Please Note: Purchase of this item is limited to 1 per Guest.

 

• Limited Edition of 5000

• Certificate of Authenticity

• Rich velvet costume with bejeweled and embroidered accents

• Jacket features iridescent appliquéd details and fine metallic gold trim

• Skirt features beautiful golden trim, dazzling gemstones, and richly embroidered satin appliqués

• Faux leather belt with shining metallic embroidery

• Satin mittens with jeweled accents

• Glittering rooted hair and eyelashes

• Fully poseable

• Display stand included

• Comes in elegant window display packaging

• Meticulously designed by Disney Store artists to ensure every detail was captured

• Look for our Limited Edition Anna Doll - Frozen - 17'', sold separately

 

The bare necessities

 

• Ages 6+

• Plastic / polyester

• 17'' H

• Imported

 

Safety

 

WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD - Small Parts. Not for children under 3 years.

Day Twenty:

 

Once upon a time there was a tree that lived in the woods. As happy as he was living the au naturale life he was always wary of those coming into his forest. All those happy cheery voices that would rip off limbs and tear down branches. Throwing those pieces of him onto an inferno and singing as they watch it burn.

 

For the tree was not just one, it was the whole forest and it could feel the monstrous nature of those who visited. There was nothing a tree could do until one day a little acorn of an idea dropped to the forest floor. Taking root it grew. This too had limbs but not like all the others. It had the shape and dexterity of those who would see this family of foliage feloniously felled.

 

And with this new body the tree took the revenge of a thousand years of repressed rage. Hacking at the branches of all those would come near this world of wonder. Carving his never ending name onto their soft and smooth fleshy bark. Stomping on their acorns and letting their remains nourish the new forest in their place.

 

And the forest lived happily ever after.

Created with jWildfire

... a ghost story. Let much of the story revolve around a cemetery. Put two children, very strange children, in the story and house them in a dark, damp mansion somewhere out on a lonely moor. Have an innocent housekeeper and a nanny on hand, but give them absolutely no one they can turn to in an emergency .. unless, of course, someone dies..

 

If you'd like to hear that story, rent the movie The Innocents, a movie based on Henry James book The Turn of the Screw.

 

This from Wikipedia ...

 

Plot summary

 

An unnamed narrator listens to a male friend reading a manuscript written by a former governess whom the friend claims to have known and who is now dead. The manuscript tells the story of how the young governess is hired by a man who has found himself responsible for his niece and nephew after the death of their parents. He lives in London and has no interest in raising the children. The boy, Miles, is attending a boarding school whilst his sister, Flora, is living at the country house in Essex. She is currently being cared for by the housekeeper, Mrs. Grose. The governess's new employer gives her full charge of the children and explicitly states that she is not to bother him with communications of any sort. The governess travels to her new employer's country house and begins her duties.

 

Miles soon returns from school for the summer just after a letter from the headmaster stating that he has been expelled. Miles never speaks of the matter, and the governess is hesitant to raise the issue. She fears that there is some horrid secret behind the expulsion, but is too charmed by the adorable young boy to want to press the issue. Shortly thereafter, the governess begins to see around the grounds of the estate the figures of a man and woman whom she does not recognize. These figures come and go at will without ever being seen or challenged by other members of the household, and they seem to the governess to be supernatural. She learns from Mrs. Grose that her predecessor, Miss Jessel, and Miss Jessel's illicit lover Peter Quint both died under curious circumstances. Prior to their death, they spent most of their time with Flora and Miles, and this fact takes on grim significance for the governess when she becomes convinced that the two children are secretly aware of the presence of the ghosts.

 

Later, Flora runs away from the house while Miles plays music for the Governess. They notice and go to find her. The governess and Mrs. Grose find her in a clearing in the wood, and the governess is convinced that she has been talking to Miss Jessel. When Flora is forced to admit this, she demands to never see the governess again. Mrs. Grose takes Flora away to her uncle, leaving the governess with Miles. That night, they are finally talking of Miles' expulsion when the ghost of Quint appears at the window. The governess shields Miles, who screams at her as he attempts to see the ghost. The governess tells him that he is no longer under the control of the ghost, and finds that Miles has died in her arms.

[edit] Major themes

 

Throughout his career James was attracted to the ghost story genre. However, he was not fond of literature's stereotypical ghosts, the old-fashioned 'screamers' and 'slashers'. Rather, he preferred to create ghosts that were eerie extensions of everyday reality—"the strange and sinister embroidered on the very type of the normal and easy," as he put it in the New York Edition preface to his final ghost story, The Jolly Corner.

 

The Turn of the Screw is no exception to this formula. In fact, some critics have wondered if he didn't intend the "strange and sinister" to be embroidered only on the governess's mind and not on objective reality. The result has been a long-standing critical dispute over the reality of the ghosts and the sanity of the governess.

 

Beyond the dispute, critics have closely examined James's narrative technique in the story. The framing introduction and subsequent first-person narrative by the governess have been studied by theorists of fiction interested in the power of fictional narratives to convince or even manipulate readers.

 

The imagery of The Turn of the Screw is reminiscent of the gothic genre. The emphasis on old and mysterious buildings throughout the novella reinforces this motif. James also relates the amount of light present in various scenes to the strength of the supernatural or ghostly forces apparently at work. The governess refers directly to The Mysteries of Udolpho and indirectly to Jane Eyre, evoking a comparison of the governess not only to Jane Eyre's protagonist, but to Bertha, the madwoman confined in Thornfield.[1]

[edit] Literary significance and criticism

 

The dispute over the reality of the ghosts has had a real effect on some critics, most notably Edmund Wilson, who was one of the first proponents of the insane governess theory. However, he was eventually forced to recant this view under fire from opposing critics who pointed to the governess's point-by-point description of Quint. Then John Silver ("A Note on the Freudian Reading of 'The Turn of the Screw'" American Literature, 1957) pointed out hints in the story that the governess might have gained previous knowledge of Quint's appearance in non-supernatural ways. This induced Wilson to recant his recantation and return to his original view that the governess was unbalanced and that the ghosts existed only in her imagination.

 

William Veeder sees Miles's eventual death as induced by the governess, but he traces the governess's motive back through two larger strands: English imperialism (based on the oblique reference in the introduction to India, where the parents of Miles and Flora died) and the way patriarchy raises its daughters. Through a complex psychoanalytic reading, Veeder concludes that the governess takes out her repressed rage toward her father and toward the master of Bly on Miles.

 

Other critics, however, have defended the governess strongly. They point out that James' letters, his New York Edition preface, and his Notebooks contain no definite evidence that The Turn of the Screw was intended as anything other than a straightforward ghost story. James's Notebooks entry indicates that he was originally inspired by a tale he heard from Edward White Benson, the Archbishop of Canterbury. This unconventional source, like almost everything else about the story, has generated critical commentary.

 

James revised the novella heavily over the years. in The Collier's Weekly Version of The Turn of the Screw, Peter G. Beidler presents the tale in its original serial form and presents a detailed analysis of the changes James made over the years. Among many other things, James changed the ages of the children.

10/365, 10 January 2013

Project 365: Looking For The Lost Self

 

Being human and going through emotional upheaval can be so draining and tiring.

 

It’s well and good that we can use many things to distract us. Many of us don’t have the luxury of time to actually mend wounds. So we rush around putting on band aids because Time, as they say, waits for no man. What eventuates, whether consciously or unconsciously, is some form of cynicism, bitterness or repressed emotions of sorts. We either start drinking more than normal, or we do things that if we were thinking clearly, we wouldn’t do.

 

I don’t have the opportunity to escape in such a fashion. Time is, whether a curse or not, on my side. I, only have to deal with myself. It means that I am wholly unaccountable to no one but me for my healing.

 

Let me tell you, it sucks.

 

But I know that I have less of a chance of a crash and burn at some point down the road.

 

Edit Notes:

This piece took two days to complete.

All three images were taken in Procamera with iPhone 4S.

The base image (of an old mill door) was processed in Snapseed and Glaze (shared on Instagram last night); (1)

The image of the flowers was masked and merged onto a white background of 2500×2500 to maintain a large resolution canvas to work on.

The image of me was warped first in Photofx Ultra and then twisted in PS Express. This was masked and merged onto the floral image. (2)

In Image Blender, (2) was blended with (1) with masking and using Luminosity blend mode to give the grey-tones. This process was repeated again with (1) to maintain the integrity of the textures background. (3)

(3) was put in Glaze using a pre-mix that I had done which only gives a minimum painterly effect.

The final image was tweaked in Snapseed for structure details and ambience.

 

michmutters.com/2013/01/10/wilt/

Saskia turned 18 recently (hard to believe!), so I made a little collage of Her Museness. They're all old pictures, so it made me nostalgic to go back to some of the photos from when we were 13 or 14, and see how she's grown up. It's amazing to see how chameleon she is from shot to shot. She's been so many different characters of mine.

 

For my creative writing class, we had to write a paragraph using only one vowel, taking our pick of A, E, I, or U. I chose E. If you're at all interested in writing, try this. It's a fun and challenging exercise. Here's what I came up with:

 

Even Hell herself sleeps, her temper enfeebled, her flesh defenseless when the embers freeze grey. The perfected veneer flees (she’s the expert pretender). Vexed, she spews her secrets; the deeds fester when expressed, the sentences breed spleen, bleed needless, nerveless self-centeredness. She retches; the repressed fever renews. Her speech rebels, the tempest emerges; the repellent resentment renders her helpless. The nerds were her preferred prey—these rejects remember her deterrent leers, her heckles, her sneers, her relentless “presents.” The fees, the debts. She wheezes, her wretched spells depleted.

Detested, she sees her deeds everywhere. She weeps.

   

...lead us from darkness to light.

 

Not many things remind me of skool, repressed memories I guess :P, but this did.

My 2015 Elsa Limited Edition 17'' Doll, fully deboxed. She is posed standing, supported by the included doll stand.

 

The Limited Edition Elsa Doll, released in stores in North America on March 3, 2015. My doll is #2942 of 5000. She is in jeweled purple felt (made from faux wool). This is the outfit she wore as an 18 year old when saying good bye to her parents before their overseas journey. She is wearing ice blue jeweled satin gloves, which help repress her ice powers. Her hands are clasped together. Her pose and look are that of a sternly repressed nature. She is standing in front a purple window of the Castle, which is closed, as she is closed to the outside world.

 

She is wearing black flats with floral decoration. Her jacket is pinned to her dress, which I left alone, as it helps to keep the jacket from opening up. There was a large amount of tissue paper stuffing under her skirt. I had to remove her from the doll stand before I could remove the tissue.

 

She has shiny pearlescent skin, and her skin tone is between that of Coronation Elsa and Snow Queen Elsa. In bright lighting, her skin is iridescent with a a purple sheen. Her hair is slicked down in the front and is in a bun in the back. There is gold tinsel in her hair, even in her side burns.

 

Limited Edition Elsa Doll - Frozen - 17''

Released in stores 2015-03-03

Purchased in store 2015-03-03

Released online 2015-03-04

Sold out in 10 minutes

$119.95

Item No. 6070040901176P

 

Wintry wonder

The Disney Store proudly presents the worldwide Limited Edition Elsa Doll. A regal vision, draped in sumptuous dark purple velvet from head to toe, Elsa is costumed as seen at the beginning of Disney's feature film Frozen.

 

Magic in the details...

 

Please Note: Purchase of this item is limited to 1 per Guest.

 

• Limited Edition of 5000

• Certificate of Authenticity

• Rich velvet costume with bejeweled and embroidered accents

• Jacket features iridescent appliquéd details and fine metallic gold trim

• Skirt features beautiful golden trim, dazzling gemstones, and richly embroidered satin appliqués

• Faux leather belt with shining metallic embroidery

• Satin mittens with jeweled accents

• Glittering rooted hair and eyelashes

• Fully poseable

• Display stand included

• Comes in elegant window display packaging

• Meticulously designed by Disney Store artists to ensure every detail was captured

• Look for our Limited Edition Anna Doll - Frozen - 17'', sold separately

 

The bare necessities

 

• Ages 6+

• Plastic / polyester

• 17'' H

• Imported

 

Safety

 

WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD - Small Parts. Not for children under 3 years.

   

Passed this on the way to see the "hole in the rock ". Stopped , took a look , a few photos and on I went . Was on a mission to see that hole in the rock !

It was just a day or so ago that I looked into the history of the event and it hit me like a brick . That could have happened to my grade school class . In the mid 1960,s my friend Guber had a birthday party and all the boys in his class were invited with his dad picking us up from all over the county . You guessed it ......... he picked us up in an open topped cattle truck ! With twenty or more kids in the back of the cattle truck and without any adult supervision we were lucky to survive without anything more significant than bruises . Different times and different attitudes now ....... I sincerely hope that those that organized this outing are still not beating themselves up about it .

............................................................................................................

Monument to Lost Friends

  

By Dennis Romboy

Deseret News Staff Writer

Sunday, June 6, 1993

 

Tom Heal and Lee Colvin avoided a remote area in southern Utah hauntingly named Carcass Wash for 27 years, wanting to leave painful memories of a horrible accident unturned in the desert sand.

Still, on a warm Easter weekend three years ago, the childhood friends found themselves bounding on a dirt road paralleling the red and yellow brilliance of the Kaiparowits Plateau, Garfield County. They knew the wash was somewhere along the path but weren't sure whether they'd recognize it.

When Heal and Colvin last traveled the bumpy road June 10, 1963, in the back of a cattle truck teeming with rollicking Boy Scouts and leaders, their destination was Hole-in-the-Rock, 62 miles southeast of Escalante, Kane County. The historic Mormon pioneer crossing was to be the starting point for an expedition on a stretch of the Colorado River that would soon be immersed in Lake Powell.

"We were really excited to be among the last people to ever see it," Colvin said.

But the truck never made it that far. It failed to climb a steep hill and overturned at Carcass Wash, killing seven Boy Scouts from Provo Explorer Post 36 and six adults. Twenty-six others were injured. Ten more escaped the wreckage unscathed.

On their return trip, Heal and Colvin instantly recognized the accident site. "There wasn't a rock out of place," Colvin said. They recalled standing on the road overlooking the wash.

"It was as though there was a time lapse. As we stood there, I could hear the brakes squealing. I could hear the gears grinding. I could feel the dust blowing in my face," Heal said. "It wasn't just a negative experience. It was positive, too. One would think that it would bring back all the horror of the experience. It did that. But it brought back a lot of fond memories also."

Heal and Colvin spent a couple of hours at Carcass Wash that spring day piecing together repressed details. During their reminiscing, they committed to someday erect a monument to their friends who died. For three years they solicited donations. Nearly every survivor and family of an accident victim contributed.

Their idea became a reality on two weekends this spring. Colvin laid the foundation in April. Stone mason Ken Jorgensen, whom Heal and Colvin hired, built the marker in May.

"People who camp down there have no idea something significant happened years ago," Colvin said. "Maybe they can just stop for a moment and think about their own lives. A lot of good people left the planet right there."

Riding in an open truck, they reached this point at approximately 3:15 on the afternoon of June 10, 1963. The truck stalled as it ascended the grade on your left, and its brakes failed. Rolling backward, it overturned and rolled down the steep embankment on the other side of the sharp curve from this monument. Seven scouts and six adults lost their lives in this tragic highway accident, the third worst in Utah's history.

Erected and dedicated June 10, 1993 by the families and friends of those who perished, in cooperation with Kane County and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management

The monument will be dedicated on the accident's 30th anniversary June 10, 1993, at 3 p.m., the approximate time of the accident.

Heal knows the hour because one of the 46 people sitting on tons of camping and rafting gear in the back of the 2 1/2-ton cattle truck asked him the time as the truck sputtered to a momentary halt on a hill it would never climb.

Most of the boys on board were members of the Provo Explorer post sponsored by the Pleasant View Ward, East Sharon Stake, of the LDS Church. The adults were Scout leaders, fathers, guides for Socotwa School Expeditions, a Deseret News reporter and others who'd hitched a ride.

The boys and their leaders traveled from Provo to Escalante by bus. Expedition leaders decided the bus couldn't handle the unpaved road to Hole-in-the-Rock, so they loaded all the provisions into the cattle truck.

The party, which had swelled to 49 people, piled in the truck, three in the cab and 46 in the back. (Boy Scouts of America rules prohibited Scouts from riding in an open truck long before the accident. Scout leaders throughout Utah have since used it as an example.)

About 13 miles from the group's destination, truck driver Ernest S. Ahlborn, a 21-year-old Brigham Young University student, rounded a horseshoe bend and began ascending an 8 percent grade.

"I vividly remember the truck not being able to make it up the hill. I remember him grinding the gears trying to get into a low gear," Heal said.

The clutch never engaged, the truck stalled and went into a reverse roll. The brakes, later found to lack fluid in the master cylinder, didn't catch. The truck rolled backward 124 feet before tumbling over a 35-foot embankment, spilling people and gear into a gulch. Many were trapped beneath the heavy truck and its cargo.

Some victims remember boys crying for someone to kill them because of excruciating pain.

Ron Clark lay under the mangled gas tank, which leaked fluid over his clothes. Clark suffered dislocated vertebrae, a twisted leg and broken jaw. He knocked the jaw back into place with a right cross and waited for medical help, never losing consciousness. Help wouldn't come for hours.

"I kept asking myself `why, why, why,' "Clark said. "The first prayer I offered in a long time was under that truck."

Heal heard Kilmer Roundy, a father accompanying his son on the trip, yell "We're going down," and tried to leap off the hurtling truck but caught his foot in some camping gear. "So, I went down with it."

"All I know is the truck was on top of me. I could see light out," Heal said. He wriggled out from under tons of gear and passed out.

"When I woke up, he (Kilmer Roundy) gave me a canteen and told me and Brian (Roundy) to go for help," Heal said. The two boys began walking the dirt road back to Escalante. Heal, who had broken ribs, said he expected to walk the 47 miles to the town. But two miles down the road, he and Roundy ran into a rancher who drove them to Escalante.

Colvin was riding on top of the cab with two other boys, one of whom jumped and was crushed to death under a wheel of the rolling truck.

The truck landed upside down on Colvin, crushing his right foot between a rock and a steel case full of gear. Amputation appeared imminent, but doctors at the scene didn't have the tools. Colvin's foot hasn't grown since.

Nobody knows how many hours it took to get medical help to the injured boys and adults. Heal estimated it was at least four hours before people and police from Escalante and surrounding areas made it to the accident site.

Rescuers began removing those pinned under the truck one by one. They jacked up one side of the truck, stacked flat rocks under it and moved the jack to the other side to do the same thing. They came to a point where the precariously perched truck would topple if cranked up any higher. Only Colvin and Clark remained underneath, lying cater-cornered from each other.

Elevating Colvin's side would surely crush Clark. Elevating Clark's side would surely crush Colvin. Rescuers informed the conscious teenagers of the dilemma. Each told them to save the other. Both said they grabbed a handful of red desert sand and waited for the truck to shift on top of them. It never did.

It was hours after the accident before all the injured were transported to Panguitch Hospital by people from nearby towns. The hospital had no ambulances.

No one involved in the accident has forgotten it.

"I recall the day as if it was just last Monday," said Clark, now hosting coordinator at BYU. "Something physically or emotionally reminds me of it daily."

Clark, 45, said watching his oldest son go through the Scout program emotionally drained him.

"When I saw his bedroll and backpack in the living room ready to go, I had this sinking, sinking feeling," he said. "I had a nervous anticipation until he got home."

Roger Sheffield recalls the accident with sadness. "Maybe there was a loss of innocence with that, to realize how life is so fragile." He remembers waiting for help at the scene and lying on a hospital bed next to a boy who died.

"I'm sure it was years before I stopped thinking about it every day. But it's faded into the past now," he said. Still, Sheffield, 44, said he wonders about the guy in the next bed.

Now a general surgeon, Sheffield has numerous opportunities to save lives. "My parents always told me that's when I decided to be a physician," he said.

Sheffield doesn't remember if that's true but said it makes a good story.

Several of the survivors live with pent-up feelings of anguish and guilt. Today, psychologists would be called in to talk with the survivors. Support groups might be arranged. Thirty years ago, emotional wounds were turned over to Father Time.

"We had the funeral and it was over. We put it behind us and nobody talked about it anymore," Heal said. "We were 15 years old at the time, and we were just left to figure out how to deal with it."

Although his disabled right foot is a constant reminder of the accident, Colvin doesn't let it gnaw at him.

"I don't reflect back and think, `Gee, if I didn't go on that trip, this wouldn't have happened.' It was just an accident."

A Salt Lake County property manager, Colvin enjoys the outdoors, especially motorcycle riding. "I refuse to be limited."

Kilmer Roundy, 67, now retired and living in Washington, Utah, said the accident didn't change his outlook or the course of his life.

"It kind of haunts you, but you can't let it dominate your life," he said. But he still questions one thing. "I wonder why did a group of adults let a load like that in the back of an open truck?"

That question still rests heavy on the minds of a couple of the adults who went on or helped plan the trip. Both declined to be interviewed, but in brief comments expressed extreme sorrow.

"Why didn't I keep those wonderful young men home?" said one.

The other doesn't want to relive the past or see a monument erected.

Colvin understands.

"I hope this commemoration doesn't become a second funeral. I don't want any eulogies. We don't want people to be saddened by this experience," he said.

     

www.byhigh.org/History/HoleintheRock/Hole-in-the-Rock.html

Character Creation

 

The Human Torch (Jonathan Lowell "Johnny" Storm) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is a founding member of the Fantastic Four.

 

He is writer Stan Lee's and artist Jack Kirby's reinvention of a similar, previous character, the android Human Torch of the same name and powers who was created in 1939 by writer-artist Carl Burgos for Marvel Comics' predecessor company, Timely Comics.

 

Like the rest of the Fantastic Four, Johnny gained his powers on a spacecraft bombarded by cosmic rays. He can engulf his entire body in flames, fly, absorb fire harmlessly into his own body, and control any nearby fire by sheer force of will. "Flame on!", which the Torch customarily shouts when activating his full-body flame effect, has become his catchphrase.

 

The youngest of the group, he is brash and impetuous in comparison to his reticent, overprotective and compassionate older sister, Susan Storm, his sensible brother-in-law, Reed Richards, and the grumbling Ben Grimm. In the early 1960s, he starred in a series of solo adventures, published in Strange Tales. The Human Torch is also a friend and frequent ally of the superhero Spider-Man, who is approximately the same age.

 

In film, the Human Torch has been portrayed by Jay Underwood in the unreleased 1994 film The Fantastic Four; Chris Evans in the 2005 film Fantastic Four, its 2007 sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film Deadpool & Wolverine (2024); Michael B. Jordan in the 2015 film Fantastic Four; and Joseph Quinn in the MCU films The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025), Avengers: Doomsday (2026), and Avengers: Secret Wars (2027).

 

Publication history

 

Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, Johnny Storm is a renovation of Carl Burgos's original character, the android Human Torch, created for Timely Comics in 1939. Storm first appeared in The Fantastic Four #1 (cover-dated Nov. 1961), establishing him as a member of the titular superhero team.

 

In his plot summary for this first issue, Lee passed on to Kirby that the recently formed Comics Code Authority had told him that the Human Torch was only permitted to burn objects, never people.

 

Over the course of the series, Johnny being the little brother of teammate Susan Storm a.k.a. the Invisible Girl was one of several sources of tension within the group.

 

Additionally, he starred in a solo feature in Strange Tales #101-134 (Oct. 1962 – July 1965). An eight-issue series, The Human Torch (Sept. 1974 – Nov. 1975), reprinted stories from that solo feature, along with stories featuring the original android Human Torch.

 

Later years also saw a 12-issue series, Human Torch (June 2003 - June 2004) by writer Karl Kesel and penciler Skottie Young, and the five-issue team-up miniseries Spider-Man / Human Torch (March–July 2005) by writer Dan Slott and penciler Ty Templeton.

 

The Human Torch was the permanent co-star of Marvel Team-Up, but was dropped after three issues because the creators found this format too restrictive.

 

He co-starred in two one-shot comics, Spider-Man & the Human Torch in... Bahia De Los Muertos! #1 (May 2009), by writer Tom Beland and artist Juan Doe, and Incredible Hulk & the Human Torch: From the Marvel Vault #1, a previously unpublished story from 1984, intended for Marvel Team-Up by plotter Jack C. Harris, scriptwriter and artist Kesel, and breakdown artist Steve Ditko.

 

Character Evolution

 

Although he was in the Fantastic Four, Johnny still had time to have his own adventures, fighting villains such as the Wizard and Paste-Pot Pete, who would later go on to have grudges against both Johnny and the Fantastic Four. (These adventures were chronicled in Strange Tales). The Human Torch also started dating a fellow student named Dorrie Evans. During the time that the Torch was dating Dorrie, Peter Parker ironically met her one night, and impressed her with his quiet, studying manner as opposed to Johnny's hotheadedness and eagerness.

 

Deciding that it would be funny to see how she reacted around Spider-Man, Peter changed to Spider-Man, only to end up fighting the Beetle, another of the Human Torch's foes, who was planning to capture Dorrie for revenge on the Torch. Eventually the Torch arrived, and together he and Spider-Man defeated the Beetle and saved Dorrie, one of their earliest team-ups.

 

After an adventure with the Mole Man, the Sue Storm found a newspaper article which had a small section about her and Johnny's father. The two went to visit him in prison, but unknown to them, the Super-Skrull had kidnapped Franklin Storm and shape shifted to replace him. The Super-Skrull then went on a rampage as the Invincible Man, correctly guessing that the Torch and Invisible Woman wouldn't attack someone who they thought was their father, until Mr. Fantastic discovered the deception.

 

The Super-Skrull agreed to return Johnny and Sue's father, but moments after they saw him, he yelled at them to escape, before a bomb which had been implanted in him exploded. Thankfully, no one was hurt except for Franklin, but he was gone from Johnny and Sue's life once more.

 

Major Story Arcs

 

The Frightful Four

 

By now, Reed and Sue had agreed to marry, but shortly before they could, the Fantastic Four's counterpart, the Frightful Four (consisting mostly of old enemies of the Human Torch) attacked the group. One of Johnny Storm's best moments was during the first battle with the Frightful Four, FF #36. The evil FF had captured the Invisible Girl, the Thing, Mr. Fantastic and Alicia Masters while Torch was absent from the Baxter Building. Wizard brilliantly attached anti-gravity discs to all four and sent them up into the atmosphere to meet certain death. However, Alicia Masters was able to signal Torch with the FF flare signal before being captured. Hence, Johnny was able to come and capture the Wizard and force him to fly a plane and rescue the missing three FF members and Alicia.

 

If not for the Human Torch saving the day, his three partners and Alicia Masters most certainly would have suffocated high in the atmosphere! The next battle with the evil FF came in issue #38, "Defeated by the Frightful Four". As part of the Frightful Four's plans, they managed to trap the Fantastic Four on a deserted island with an atomic bomb. This took place following Medusa's capture of the Invisible Girl. Although Sue was able to protect the group with a force field, the radiation still somehow affected them and took away the Fantastic Four's powers.

 

The team was then attacked by Doctor Doom, who wanted revenge for having been tricked into thinking that he had defeated the team the last time they clashed. The team managed to regain their powers with a special gun of Reed's, but the Thing left the quartet after being forced to have his powers back. Following him the Thing, both he and the Human Torch were brainwashed by the Frightful Four into joining the group. After a lengthy fight between the Frightful Four and Fantastic Four, Johnny and the Thing were cured, but a member of the Frightful Four, Medusa, managed to escape.

 

Inhumans

 

Johnny would encounter Medusa shortly after Reed and Sue's wedding, when she was being chased by a mysterious man named Gorgon. Medusa revealed to the Torch that she and Gorgon were both from a mysterious race, who had superpowers. Before she could reveal any more, Gorgon managed to capture her. Johnny shortly ran into another member of the race, (which Reed dubbed the Inhumans), Crystal, whom he fell in love with at first sight. Johnny managed to convince Crystal and the rest of the Inhumans that humans were not their enemies, but shortly afterwards, Black Bolt (the King of the Inhumans) brother Maximus trapped all of the Inhumans inside a "negative energy" dome, which the Fantastic Four only just managed to escape.

 

Following this, the Fantastic Four had their first encounter with Galactus and the Silver Surfer. (It should be noted before moving on to Galactus that some FF fans were disappointed that Stan Lee did not allow Johnny Storm and Crystal to marry and to bring Crystal on to the FF team as a permanent member. Crystal did go on to do a superb job as a temporary replacement for Sue during Sue's maternity leave.

 

Unfortunately, due to health reasons, Crystal was forced to leave Johnny and go back to live with the Inhumans. She and Johnny never did get back together and she ended up marrying Quicksilver. It would seem likely that the reason that Stan Lee did not make Crystal a permanent member of the team is because he did not wish to change the name of the group from Fantastic Four to Fantastic Five.)

 

To battle Galactus, Johnny was selected specifically by the Watcher to retrieve a great weapon he had in a safe place. Johnny was able to retrieve the weapon, known as the Ultimate Nullifier, and they threatened Galactus with it, who left the planet alone.

 

Galactus

 

While in a in a singles bar Johnny met Frankie Ray and later met up to go on a date. On their first date, Frankie learned that Johnny was the Human Torch when he had to save a man's life. Frankie was repressed of her memory about the accident that gave her super-powers, until one day it came to light. Reed helped her learn the truth of her past. Frankie and Johnny soon became a couple and Frankie even became a member in-training.

 

When Galactus needed to consume the Earth to survive, Frankie volunteered to become his next herald to explore space and have adventures as long as he spared the Earth. Galactus accepted, endowing Frankie with the Power Cosmic and called herself Nova. Johnny lost his second love that day.

 

Secret Wars

 

During the Secret Wars, when the Beyonder transported a group of heroes and villains to Battleworld, the Thing decided to leave the Fantastic Four and live among monsters at Monster Island. Johnny and Alicia Masters would soon start a relationship during the Thing’s absence.

 

Johnny Storm and Alicia Masters are about to get married, but the Mad Thinker and Wizard plan to take advantage of the event. The Thing and the Puppet Master have different plans and manage to stop the two evil geniuses. Reed and Sue decide to take some time away from the Fantastic Four and leave the Thing in charge. And his first duty is to find replacements for the two. Thing finds Crystal and Ms. Marvel as the replacements. Johnny is torn between his first love Crystal and his now wife Alicia.

 

Skrull Homeworld

 

Just when Reed and Sue return to the team, it is revealed that Alicia is really a Skrull named Lyja. The Fantastic Four take off to the Skrull Homeworld to save the real Alicia Masters from their clutches. Upon finding this out Johnny would have nothing to do with Lyja, despite the fact that she was branded traitor for helping the Fantastic Four save the real Alicia. Lyja then disappears.

 

Lyja eventually returns and teams-up with Devos, the Devastator, and Paibok, the Power Skrull and are out for Johnny’s blood. During the battle Johnny accidentally goes Super-Nova and starts the Empire University on fire.

 

Johnny then becomes a wanted man by people who he once called friends and ally. After being hunted by Silver Sable’s Wild Pack, Daredevil, Spider-Man, and the Secret Defenders. Johnny eventually has his day in court, but the Huntara, Paibok, Klaw and Devos chose this opportunity to strike. Unfortunately Johnny has some super-powered allies to lend a hand. Lyja returns, but now both Johnny and his Ben are fighting for her affections. Not wanting to cause problems between the two she again disappears.

 

Infinity War

 

Johnny's double of himself and some of Earth’s other heroes at the beginning of the Infinity War attacked Johnny, creating mixed emotions from having to battle his friends. Creating doppelgangers of Earth’s heroes, the evil Magus planned to remake the universe in his image. Johnny joined all of Earth’s heroes in battle with their evil counterparts before the final defeat of the Magus.

 

Infinity Crusade

 

The Magus’ opposite, the Goddess, started the next major event that would be known as the Infinity Crusade. Preying on the religious beliefs of others to manipulate them into joining her cause, Sue was coerced into allying with the Goddess. This cause Johnny to question his faith since he believed he and his sister were equally strong in their beliefs.

 

Onslaught

 

The next major threat was a being known as Onslaught, a psionic creature created out of the minds of Professor X and Magneto. It took all of Earth’s heroes to combat this threat. In the end the all non-mutant heroes sacrificed themselves to defeat him and it seemed that the Avengers, the Fantastic Four and many other heroes were gone forever.

 

Counter Earth

 

Franklin used his abilities to create a pocket universe for all the heroes to remain living on. On this Counter Earth, Johnny and the other Four lived out their lives anew, not knowing the events of the past. With the help of Roma, this Earth was brought back to Johnny’s original dimension and all the heroes returned to life, although confused over the previous events.

 

After the death of Galactus, the evil embodiment of destruction known as Abraxas was unleashed on the universe. Abraxas planned to destroy all life in the multiverse. A plan was developed to find the Ultimate Nullifier since Johnny was the only one aware of it’s location, although subconsciously. The other members of the team traveled to other universes to gain pieces of the Nullifiers location from alternate Johnny’s. In the meantime, Johnny and an alternate reality Frankie Raye began the search for it. Once they found the Nullifier, Nova revealed she was really the Herald of Abraxas and took the Nullifier to give to her master. Franklin and Valeria were able to revive Galactus, who was able to easily defeat Abraxas.

 

Civil War

 

During the Superhuman Civil War, Johnny is severely beaten in a night club by people outraged by the events in Stamford and super heroes in general. When he awoke, the team had split in many separate ways. Johnny joined Sue on Captain America’s anti-registration Secret Avengers team. At the end of the war, the team reunited. Reed and Sue took a short leave for a honeymoon to rekindle, leaving the Black Panther and Storm in their place.

 

Team Turmoil

 

Over time, the stability of the Fantastic Four began to diminish. Johnny began to start searching for a career as an actor. Johnny actually won a major role in a summer blockbuster but soon realized he wasn’t up to the task. Johnny began working in television instead before finally becoming a New York City firefighter. He returned to be the Chief Financial Officer of the Fantastic Four and even averted disaster with his leadership abilities.

 

After another battle with the teams greatest foe Doctor Doom, Reed attempted to take over Latveria. This caused a major misunderstanding, turning the United States government and the team against him. With the resulting death of the Thing, the team split up once again. Johnny took to his old love, automobile repair. He was plagued by hallucinations that Ben was not dead, which in fact he was not and was returned to his normal state.

 

The team next had to deal with an alien scientist named Zius. He had developed a cloak to hide planets from the world devourer Galactus, but the Invisible Woman’s powers threatened his plans. He demanded she sacrifice herself to save billions of lives. To protect Sue, Reed used a specially designed machine to switch her powers with Johnny. This fooled Zius and he left the planet. This did not fool Galactus who destroyed Zius and claimed Johnny (with Sue’s invisibility powers) as his new herald. Galactus bestowed a portion of his Power Cosmic to Johnny and forced him to see through the cloaks and find him planets to feed on. Johnny was not mentally altered by Galactus and hid many planets from him for as long as he could. As Galactus’ patience dwindled the remainder of the team and Quasar came and rescued him.

 

Death

 

A second Annihilation Wave under the command of Annihilus' Anti-Priest, the head of the Cult of Annihilus, fought The Universal Inhumans and later, under "Kid Annihilus'" personal command, they initially breached The Negative Zone portal in The Baxter Building in an attempt to ignite the Second Great Annihilation War. The Human Torch managed to hold them off until the gateway could be completely sealed and was cut down shortly afterward by the vast wave of Arthrian cultists and their child lord, much to the dismay and horror of a powerless Ben Grimm and his godchildren, Franklin and Valeria Richards. It is noteworthy that two different polls of fans could be found across the internet prior to the "death issue". The polls for who fans wanted to die consistently showed Mr. Fantastic to be #1 by a wide margin. However, comic fans got it right regarding who they predicted would be killed. The Human Torch won those polls by a significant margin.

 

Return

 

During an attempt by Annihilus to open the portal in the Baxter Building, Johnny manages to escape from his prison cell in the Negative Zone. With help from new friends, the Light Brigade, he defeats Annihilus, taking the Cosmic Rod and control of the Annihilation Wave with it. As the portal opens, Johnny is reunited with Spider-Man, who was attempting to stop the Anti-Priest from opening the portal on the Earth side.

 

Johnny flies into the sky, creating a flaming number four and unites the other members of the FF atop the remains of the Baxter Building. With the Kree attempting to destroy New York, Johnny immediately joins the fight by unleashing his Annihilation Wave through the portal. Leading from the flagship, Pestilence, Johnny takes the wave into space to battle the Kree armada. Galactus suddenly appears between the two fleets and Johnny mobilizes the wave to attack, however is quickly stood down by Reed who tells the team that he summoned the World Eater.

 

The Kree retreat and the Mad Celestials appear, combining there bodies to attack Galactus and send him hurtling toward Earth. Johnny and the Future Foundation head back to the surface in an attempt to activate a machine the Council of Reed's built to take down the Celestials. The machine doesn't fully work however, only separating the Celestials. Johnny takes flight and attempts to attack one of them, using his Nova ability, but the Celestial regenerates and knocks Johnny back to the ground.

 

As Johnny looks on with his family, a future version of his niece and nephew appear and future-Franklin destroys the Celestials, saving Reed from their judgement.

 

Team Player

 

With Reed, Sue and their kids thought dead after the events of Secret Wars, and Ben off in space with the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Fantastic Four disbands, and the Baxter Building is sold to Parker Industries. Wanting to the honor tJohnny becomes a member of the Avengers Unity Squad, and dons a new uniform to signify this. Around this same time, he also enters into a romantic relationship with Medusa, Crystal's older sister. When Crystal finds out about this, things become strained between the three, and the relationship eventually ends.

 

Johnny eventually discovers that as Sue's sole living heir, he is entitled to the profits gained from Reed's patents, which turns out to be well over five billion dollars. With his newfound wealth, he purchases Avengers Mansion for the team. During the contest between the Grandmaster and the Challenger, the Avengers seek to protect the planet from these two destructive forces. Learning that both sides are after several small pyramids of incredible power, Johnny manages to grab one of the artifacts, but seemingly perishes in the process. However, he is later revealed to be alive, but held in stasis.

 

Johnny later discovers that he is beginning to lose his powers, with his flames gradually becoming weaker. This, coupled with the loss of his family, puts him into a depressive state. However, his spirits are raised when Ben returns and tells him that the others may still be alive, and the two set off to locate them. The two later learn that they are both losing their powers due to being cut off from Reed and Sue, as their abilities all share a common source. Although, they never find their family, their family finds their own way home and moves in with Ben and Alicia, now engaged.

 

Soul-Mate

 

Reed was obsessed with trying to accomplish the journey that the Fantastic Four were originally meant to take when they got their powers. They packed up the family spaceship and finally successfully made it to Spyre. With the same cosmic storm energy that mutated the F4, the Spyricans used it on volunteers so that they would have the Unparalleled, a superhero team to defend them.

 

They also had a tradition of “soul-mates.” Similar to marriage, couples are outfitted with special arm bands that connect them. Reed and Sue got their own, having shown up to the planet as a dedicated couple, but Johnny got linked to Unparalleled member, Sky. Eventually, the diplomacy between the F4 and the Unparalleled broke down and the F4 were allowed to leave peacefully. A reluctant Sky, who had faith in the soul-mate tradition, stood by Johnny and returned with them to Earth.

 

Johnny underestimated how much the arm bands connected Sky to him. For instance, during Knull's invasion, when Johnny was bonded to a symbiote, the symbiote was able to reach through the arm band and bond with Sky as well.

 

Too Hot

 

After Johnny’s one night stand with Victorious, he hid under the bed while she took a video call from Dr. Doom. He proposed a marriage of political convenience that she accepted. With few friends, Doom requested Reed be his best man, earning the entire team an invitation to the wedding. During the proceedings, Victorious felt compelled to share that she had been intimate with Johnny, publicly embarrassing Doom, who lashed out at Johnny.

 

After calling in multiple drones to fight the F4, Doom bombarded Johnny with cosmic rays. This caused his powers to turn extreme, leaving him unable to turn off his fiery form. He was too hot for his family to even get close to him. Reed referred to him more as a Human Star than a Human Torch, powered completely by cosmic rays and no longer required oxygen to create flames. He was forced to move into the deep sub basement of the Baxter Building. He even burns too hot for Reed’s best containment suit, limiting his time outside of the basement.

 

Thanks to his arm band, Sky also had her animal powers enhanced, turning her feral. She lashed out at Johnny until finally giving up on her people’s soul-mate tradition. Johnny removed the band from her arm, and Sky used Reed’s Forever Gate to return to her home planet.

 

Reckoning War

 

The Fantastic Four jump into action when the Badoon destroy The Moon and invade Earth with brand new weaponry. The weaponry reminds Reed of Watcher tech, so he leads his team to find Uatu for answers. They find Nick Fury instead, who had been investigating for the Watcher a group calling themselves The Reckoning. They were supplying upgraded tech to war-like alien races. Uatu knew about them and downloaded his knowledge to a data sphere before the Moon was destroyed. Reed helped himself to the sphere, downloading all The Watcher knowledge to his vulnerable human mind. He saw that The Reckoning was the first race The Watcher’s tried to help, which went so bad they took a vow only to watch from then on. Now, The Reckoning were back.

 

Reed used his new hyper intelligence to orchestrate a new battle plan. He determines that they are most needed in Shi’ar space defending the M’kraan crystal, but Johnny, angry Reed refused to cure him with his new intelligence, flew off into space to assemble his own army to take on The Reckoning. His recruits included The Starjammers, The Guardians of the Galaxy, The new Kree/Skrull Alliance, and The Unparalleled.

 

He leads his new cavalry to the home planet of the Watchers. He instructs his team to take on the body of Galactus that had been transformed into an Asgardian Destroyer by Galactus' former heralds to buy his family time to defeat Wrath of the Reckoning without killing anyone. Johnny proves to be almost hot enough to defeat him, but Reed still prepares to use the Ultimate Nullifier, which would also kill him.

 

Thankfully, Reed was not killed by the Ultimate Nullifier, as it was designed to be used by a Watcher, which he had been turning into. Instead, it burned out the Watcher transformation. Uatu, who had absorbed all of the Watcher knowledge and power for himself, used the power to set everything right. He restored Galactus but with a hunger for knowledge, pulled the barrier down on the edge of space, increasing the universe by 90%, and returned the heroes to their homes.

 

Johnny was briefly upset that Reed had forgotten how to fix his mutation without the Watcher knowledge. Instead of returning to Earth, he accepted an invitation to Spyre, where The Overseer combined his research with Reed's and found a cure to cosmic mutations. Johnny was happy to be the first test subject, making sure it was safe for the rest of the Monster Mob.

 

Powers & Abilities

 

The cosmic radiation that changed Johnny into the Human Torch gave him a vast array of fire and plasma based powers. Members of the Fantastic Four's bodies are constantly absorbing Cosmic Radiation from the atmosphere, growing stronger.

 

Pyrogenesis: The Human Torch possessed the mental ability to control ambient heat energy and the physical ability to transform his entire body, or portions of his body into a fiery, plasma-like state of will.

 

Heat Absorption: Johnny’s body is covered by flaming plasma that protects him from flames and heat. He can easily absorb fire and explosions.

 

Heat Detection: Johnny can detect heat and energy out of living being and machines. Also scale his perceptions up to the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum.

 

Energy Output: The plasma field around Johnny’s body produces intense flame which can be raised and lowered in temperature. The heat can easily dissipate most projectiles.

 

Blast Power: The Human Torch can create streams or balls of flame and use them as projectiles. Special attacks include the Nova Flame, a multi-directional attack capable of over 1,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit and the Nova Heat, an offensive beam of heat rivaling the heat of a normal star. Even without using his Nova Blast, Human Torch has been able to reach temperatures hot enough to hurt the likes of Hulk, Namor, the Thing and Silver Surfer, among others.

 

Fire Control: With his flames, Johnny can create shapes and objects out of flame. He can also control any fire within his range of vision no matter how it formed. Johnny can also control which parts of his body he has in flame in order to touch someone or something that he doesn’t want to burn.

 

Wind Manipulation: Can alter air currents by changing temperatures.

 

Flight: As the density of his body changes, Johnny’s body becomes lighter than air, giving him the capabilities of flight. He is also extremely maneuverable. The faster he goes, the shorter his limit becomes. At normal speed (about fifty air miles per hour) he should be able to fly for a half-hour, a distance of twenty-five miles.

 

Super Speed: The Human Torch can easily break the sound barrier while in flight.

 

Durability: The Human Torch is surprisingly, and extremely durable. He was able to shake off punches from Gladiator, Namor, and Annihilus.

 

Immunity to Fire & Heat: The Human Torch is unaffected by heat and flames, including his own, even when part of him is aflame and the rest of him is not. His flesh cannot be scalded or burned by any heat source whose level is below that of his maximum output.

 

Cold Resistance: Human Torch have a degree of resistance to cold temperatures.

 

Weaknesses

 

The Human Torch requires oxygen to use his flame powers. Without it, he would not be able to flame on or would be soon extinguished.

 

The Human Torch burns through energy rather quickly depending on his energy expenditure. Special attacks such as the Nova Flame could easily deplete his energy reserves.

 

It takes incredible focus to control his heat powers and must be a constant thought. Johnny has learned well over the years to control this power.

 

⚡ Happy 🎯 Heroclix 💫 Friday! 👽

_____________________________

 

A year of the shows and performers of the Bijou Planks Theater.

 

Secret Identity: Johnny Storm

 

Publisher: Marvel

 

First Appearance: The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961)

 

Created by: Stan Lee (writer)

Jack Kirby (artist)

 

The Human Torch has been seen:

 

Chowing down with the FF at the Greasy Freeze in BP 2020 Day 216!

www.flickr.com/photos/paprihaven/50185600671/

 

Fighting Doctor Doom in BP 2021 Day 46!

www.flickr.com/photos/paprihaven/50947974421/

 

The rest of the Fantastic Four can be seen here:

 

Mr. Fantastic, BP 2022 Day 280!

www.flickr.com/photos/paprihaven/52411514451/

 

Invisible Woman, BP 2022 Day 287!

www.flickr.com/photos/paprihaven/52426425322/

 

The Thing, BP 2022 Day 308!

www.flickr.com/photos/paprihaven/52477381831/

Although sexual attitudes tracing back to Ancient Greece (8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity (ca. 600 AD)) have been termed homophobia by scholars, the term itself is relatively new,and an intolerance towards homosexuality and homosexuals grew during the Middle Ages, especially by adherents of Islam and Christianity.Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT). It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy, may be based on irrational fear, and is often related to religious beliefs.Homophobia is observable in critical and hostile behavior such as discrimination and violence on the basis of sexual orientations that are non-heterosexual. Recognized types of homophobia include institutionalized homophobia, e.g. religious homophobia and state-sponsored homophobia, and internalized homophobia, experienced by people who have same-sex attractions, regardless of how they identify.Negative attitudes toward identifiable LGBT groups have similar yet specific names: lesbophobia is the intersection of homophobia and sexism directed against lesbians, biphobia targets bisexuality and bisexual people, and transphobia targets transgender and transsexual people and gender variance or gender role nonconformity.In the USA, according to the 2010 Hate Crimes Statistics released by the FBI National Press Office, 19.3 percent of hate crimes across the United States "were motivated by a sexual orientation bias."Moreover, in a Southern Poverty Law Center 2010 Intelligence Report extrapolating data from fourteen years (1995–2008), which had complete data available at the time, of the FBI's national hate crime statistics found that LGBT people were "far more likely than any other minority group in the United States to be victimized by violent hate crime."Coined by George Weinberg, a psychologist, in the 1960s,the term homophobia is a blend of the word homosexual, itself a mix of neo-classical morphemes, and phobia from the Greek φόβος, Phóbos, meaning "fear" or "morbid fear". Weinberg is credited as the first person to have used the term in speech.The word homophobia first appeared in print in an article written for the May 23, 1969, edition of the American pornographic magazine Screw, in which the word was used to refer to heterosexual men's fear that others might think they are gay.Conceptualizing anti-LGBT prejudice as a social problem worthy of scholarly attention was not new. A 1969 article in Time described examples of negative attitudes toward homosexuality as "homophobia", including "a mixture of revulsion and apprehension" which some called homosexual panic. In 1971, Kenneth Smith used homophobia as a personality profile to describe the psychological aversion to homosexuality.[16] Weinberg also used it this way in his 1972 book Society and the Healthy Homosexual,published one year before the American Psychiatric Association voted to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders.Weinberg's term became an important tool for gay and lesbian activists, advocates, and their allies. He describes the concept as a medical phobia:[A] phobia about homosexuals.... It was a fear of homosexuals which seemed to be associated with a fear of contagion, a fear of reducing the things one fought for — home and family. It was a religious fear and it had led to great brutality as fear always does.Internalized homophobia refers to negative stereotypes, beliefs, stigma, and prejudice about homosexuality and LGBT people that a person with same-sex attraction turns inward on themselves, whether or not they identify as LGBT. The degree to which someone is affected by these ideas depends on how much and which ideas they have consciously and subconsciously internalized.These negative beliefs can be mitigated with education, life experience and therapy,especially with gay-friendly psychotherapy/analysis.Internalized homophobia also applies to conscious or unconscious behaviors which a person feels the need to promote or conform to cultural expectations of heteronormativity or heterosexism.This can include extreme repression and denial coupled with forced outward displays of heteronormative behavior for the purpose of appearing or attempting to feel "normal" or "accepted." Expressions of internalized homophobia can also be subtle. Some less overt behaviors may include making assumptions about the gender of a person's romantic partner, or about gender roles.[52] Some researchers also apply this label to LGBT people who support "compromise" policies, such as those that find civil unions acceptable in place of same-sex marriage.Some studies have shown that people who are homophobic are more likely to have repressed homosexual desires.[59] In 1996, a controlled study of 64 heterosexual men (half said they were homophobic by experience, with self-reported orientation) at the University of Georgia found that men who were found to be homophobic (as measured by the Index of Homophobia)[60] were considerably more likely to experience more erectile responses when exposed to homoerotic images than non-homophobic men.Another study in 2012 arrived at similar results when researchers found that students who came from "the most rigid anti-gay homes" were most likely to reveal repressed homosexual attraction.The researchers said that this explained why some religious leaders who denounce homosexuality are later revealed to have secret homosexual relations.They noted that "these people are at war with themselves and are turning this internal conflict outward."Researcher Iain R. Williamson, in his 1998 work "Internalized Homophobia and Health Issues Affecting Lesbians and Gay Men" finds the term homophobia to be "highly problematic" but for reasons of continuity and consistency with the majority of other publications on the issue retains its use rather than using more accurate but obscure terminology..The phrase internalized sexual stigma is sometimes used in place to represent internalized homophobia.An internalized stigma arises when a person believes negative stereotypes about themselves, regardless of where the stereotypes come from. It can also refer to many stereotypes beyond sexuality and gender roles. Internalized homophobia can cause discomfort with and disapproval of one's own sexual orientation. Ego-dystonic sexual orientation or egodystonic homophobia, for instance, is a condition characterized by having a sexual orientation or an attraction that is at odds with one's idealized self-image, causing anxiety and a desire to change one's orientation or become more comfortable with one's sexual orientation. Such a situation may cause extreme repression of homosexual desires.[60] In other cases, a conscious internal struggle may occur for some time, often pitting deeply held religious or social beliefs against strong sexual and emotional desires. This discordance can cause clinical depression, and a higher rate of suicide among LGBT youth (up to 30 percent of non-heterosexual youth attempt suicide) has been attributed to this phenomenon.Psychotherapy, such as gay affirmative psychotherapy, and participation in a sexual-minority affirming group can help resolve the internal conflicts, such as between religious beliefs and sexual identity.Even informal therapies that address understanding and accepting of non-heterosexual orientations can prove effective.Many diagnostic "Internalized Homophobia Scales" can be used to measure a person's discomfort with their sexuality and some can be used by people regardless of gender or sexual orientation. Critics of the scales note that they presume a discomfort with non-heterosexuality which in itself enforces heternormativity.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homophobia

Dutch postcard by Uitgeverij Takken, Utrecht, no. 3791. Photo: NV Standaardfilms. Marion Michael and Hardy Krüger in Liane, das Mädchen aus dem Urwald/Liane, Jungle Goddess (Eduard von Borsody, 1956).

 

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.

Better known as the author of 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'Through The Looking Glass', Lewis Carroll (whose real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-1898) was also a fine photographer. Among his favorite photographic models was this young girl, Alexandra "Xie" Kitchin (1864-1925). She was the daughter of Rev. George William Kitchin (1827-1912), a friend of Carroll's and a professor at the University of Oxford in England where Carroll, himself a professor, also taught.

 

Carroll was often uncomfortable in the presence of adults, preferring the company of children, who he referred to as 'child-friends.' He possessed a rare ability to put children at ease, perhaps due to his vivid imagination and penchant for storytelling. Throughout his twenty-five years taking photographs, he photographed children often. They are posed simply, in their everyday dress, without the costumes and literary references favored by his Victorian contemporaries

 

Carroll's photograph of Xie embodies the quintessential Victorian view of childhood. Where previous generations had seen children as small adults, Victorians thought them pure and in need of protection. Carroll wrote: "Their innocent unconsciousness is very beautiful, and gives one a feeling of reverence, as at the presence of something sacred."

 

This rare 'Lewis Carroll' photograph was seen on display at the expanded and recently-reopened Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) in San Francisco, California.

___________________________________________

Was L. Carroll a "repressed pedophile"???

 

A reader writes.....

The jury is out on whether Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, aka Lewis Carroll was a repressed paedophile. His obsessive attraction to taking photographs of young girls (unclothed or partially unclothed) would seem to suggest so. Certainly his infatuation with the young Alice Liddell would've raised a few eyebrows.

 

My response......

It was 35 years after Dodgson had passed (1933) when writer, A.M.E. Goldschmidt suggested in an essay titled “Alice in Wonderland Psycho-Analyzed” that Dodgson may have had impure thoughts toward Alice Liddell. Goldschmidt was not a psychoanalyst and many scholars believe he was jumping on the Freudian bandwagon of the 1930s.

 

Taken in Vienna about 10 year ago, must have been one of the times I shaved my eyebrows off (since they have only started to regenerate and grow out again)

 

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Café Frequenters Episode 77

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(Reply to Måttis Letter 1998 unknown month )

 

Hello Dearest Måttis!

When I found you postcard in my mail pile I did a small dance by my self, no Hitler, No nude pornstar, no weird sexual innuendo!

 

Just a plain normal Picture of Whoopi Goldberg, Thank you so much, yes and you do remember it rightly I find her quite a babe...

 

Nice picture you drew of me and that drunk substance abuser hobo making out, you are quite an artist, you are a master with your quill, ever thought about making comics?

 

If you are lacking in the part of ideas, I have one really good that has been brewing in my head and slowly fermenting in my HQ-compartment (that is what I call my brain)

 

are you interested, oh wait I haven´t told you yet!

 

This is just a draft and idea on a basic outline to a draft...

Imagine this, a world ruled by two different factions, the so called II QW, that is the second queer war!

 

My idea is like this, there was a war on earth between Heterosexuals and queer people, the queers won (naturally) but the world got mostly nuked in the process, so it is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi saga...

 

when the queers won all things heterosexual got forbidden and repressed soon after this the woman Faction (called) "the Dykes" and the man faction (called) "the Fags" couldn´t agree on how to share the planet and rule it, so it sparked the second queer war (IIQW) some sensible rebels who are men and women of a a rainbow of sexualities starts "The New rainbow rebel coalition" to fight these two single-minded dictatorships ruled by the Supreme Queen-bee and the Leather-king!

 

so kind of a three-sided war is going on, it would also be a great chance to in a humorous way make fun of our stereotypical gender roles since, "the Fag" faction is extremely Macho-man stereotypical and "the dykes" are woman-worshippers and man haters...

 

are you interested? please tell me if you are in your next postcard/letter!

 

Take care my dear sparring partner!

 

/ Johnny

My 2015 Elsa Limited Edition 17'' Doll, fully deboxed. She is posed standing, supported by the included doll stand.

 

The Limited Edition Elsa Doll, released in stores in North America on March 3, 2015. My doll is #2942 of 5000. She is in jeweled purple felt (made from faux wool). This is the outfit she wore as an 18 year old when saying good bye to her parents before their overseas journey. She is wearing ice blue jeweled satin gloves, which help repress her ice powers. Her hands are clasped together. Her pose and look are that of a sternly repressed nature. She is standing in front a purple window of the Castle, which is closed, as she is closed to the outside world.

 

She is wearing black flats with floral decoration. Her jacket is pinned to her dress, which I left alone, as it helps to keep the jacket from opening up. There was a large amount of tissue paper stuffing under her skirt. I had to remove her from the doll stand before I could remove the tissue.

 

She has shiny pearlescent skin, and her skin tone is between that of Coronation Elsa and Snow Queen Elsa. In bright lighting, her skin is iridescent with a a purple sheen. Her hair is slicked down in the front and is in a bun in the back. There is gold tinsel in her hair, even in her side burns.

 

Limited Edition Elsa Doll - Frozen - 17''

Released in stores 2015-03-03

Purchased in store 2015-03-03

Released online 2015-03-04

Sold out in 10 minutes

$119.95

Item No. 6070040901176P

 

Wintry wonder

The Disney Store proudly presents the worldwide Limited Edition Elsa Doll. A regal vision, draped in sumptuous dark purple velvet from head to toe, Elsa is costumed as seen at the beginning of Disney's feature film Frozen.

 

Magic in the details...

 

Please Note: Purchase of this item is limited to 1 per Guest.

 

• Limited Edition of 5000

• Certificate of Authenticity

• Rich velvet costume with bejeweled and embroidered accents

• Jacket features iridescent appliquéd details and fine metallic gold trim

• Skirt features beautiful golden trim, dazzling gemstones, and richly embroidered satin appliqués

• Faux leather belt with shining metallic embroidery

• Satin mittens with jeweled accents

• Glittering rooted hair and eyelashes

• Fully poseable

• Display stand included

• Comes in elegant window display packaging

• Meticulously designed by Disney Store artists to ensure every detail was captured

• Look for our Limited Edition Anna Doll - Frozen - 17'', sold separately

 

The bare necessities

 

• Ages 6+

• Plastic / polyester

• 17'' H

• Imported

 

Safety

 

WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD - Small Parts. Not for children under 3 years.

My 2015 Elsa Limited Edition 17'' Doll, fully deboxed. She is posed standing, supported by the included doll stand.

 

The Limited Edition Elsa Doll, released in stores in North America on March 3, 2015. My doll is #2942 of 5000. She is in jeweled purple felt (made from faux wool). This is the outfit she wore as an 18 year old when saying good bye to her parents before their overseas journey. She is wearing ice blue jeweled satin gloves, which help repress her ice powers. Her hands are clasped together. Her pose and look are that of a sternly repressed nature. She is standing in front a purple window of the Castle, which is closed, as she is closed to the outside world.

 

She is wearing black flats with floral decoration. Her jacket is pinned to her dress, which I left alone, as it helps to keep the jacket from opening up. There was a large amount of tissue paper stuffing under her skirt. I had to remove her from the doll stand before I could remove the tissue.

 

She has shiny pearlescent skin, and her skin tone is between that of Coronation Elsa and Snow Queen Elsa. In bright lighting, her skin is iridescent with a a purple sheen. Her hair is slicked down in the front and is in a bun in the back. There is gold tinsel in her hair, even in her side burns.

 

Limited Edition Elsa Doll - Frozen - 17''

Released in stores 2015-03-03

Purchased in store 2015-03-03

Released online 2015-03-04

Sold out in 10 minutes

$119.95

Item No. 6070040901176P

 

Wintry wonder

The Disney Store proudly presents the worldwide Limited Edition Elsa Doll. A regal vision, draped in sumptuous dark purple velvet from head to toe, Elsa is costumed as seen at the beginning of Disney's feature film Frozen.

 

Magic in the details...

 

Please Note: Purchase of this item is limited to 1 per Guest.

 

• Limited Edition of 5000

• Certificate of Authenticity

• Rich velvet costume with bejeweled and embroidered accents

• Jacket features iridescent appliquéd details and fine metallic gold trim

• Skirt features beautiful golden trim, dazzling gemstones, and richly embroidered satin appliqués

• Faux leather belt with shining metallic embroidery

• Satin mittens with jeweled accents

• Glittering rooted hair and eyelashes

• Fully poseable

• Display stand included

• Comes in elegant window display packaging

• Meticulously designed by Disney Store artists to ensure every detail was captured

• Look for our Limited Edition Anna Doll - Frozen - 17'', sold separately

 

The bare necessities

 

• Ages 6+

• Plastic / polyester

• 17'' H

• Imported

 

Safety

 

WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD - Small Parts. Not for children under 3 years.

Belgian chromo by Merbotex, Brussels, presented by Cine Metro, Antwerpen (Antwerp), no. 13. Photo: A. Rank Org. Anne Heywood in The Brain (Freddie Francis, 1962). Caption: Vengeance. Vengeance was the working title of the film.

 

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 seven children. Her father, Harold Pretty, was a former orchestral violinist, turned factory worker. Her mother died when Violet was just 13. Violet had to leave school at 14 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 "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 (Frank Launder, 1951) 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 Organisation. 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 (Ralph Thomas, 1957) starring Dirk Bogarde, the crime drama Violent Playground (Basil Dearden, 1958) opposite Stanley Baker, and the adventure Dangerous Exile (Brian Desmond Hurst, 1958) starring Louis Jourdan. Gradually Heywood evolved into a leading lady.

 

Anne Heywood met producer Raymond Stross in 1959 at the set of A Terrible Beauty/The Night Fighters (Tay Garnett, 1960) 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 (Cyril Frankel, 1963) with Richard Todd, and 90 Degrees in the Shade (Jiri Weiss, 1965). At the Berlin Film Festival, the latter won the International Critics' Prize. Her breakthrough role was Ellen March in The Fox (Mark Rydell, 1967), co-starring Sandy Dennis. This film adaptation of a D. H. Lawrence novella 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 win. 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 (Eriprando Visconti, 1969) 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. This quite nasty and 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 led to an Italian sub-genre 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. Her Hollywood productions as the caper Midas Run (Alf Kjellin, 1969) with Fred Astaire, and the action drama The Chairman (J. Lee Thompson, 1969) with Gregory Peck were no successes. She seemed drawn toward highly troubled, flawed characters, like in I Want What I Want (John Dexter, 1972) and Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff (Marvin J. Chomsky, 1979). In the 1970s, she also appeared in several Italian films, including the Giallo L'assassino... è al telefono/The Killer Is on the Phone (Alberto De Martino, 1972) with Telly Savalas and Willeke van Ammelrooy, the nunsploitation Le monache di Sant'Arcangelo/The Nun & The Devil (Domenico Paolella, 1973) with Ornella Muti, and the romantic drama La prima volta sull'erba/Love Under the Elms (Gianluigi Calderone, 1975). Her career declined in the 1980s. Her final feature was What Waits Below (Don Sharp, 1985). Hal Erickson at AllMovie: “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 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.” Heywood's 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 was seen in a final television movie, Memories of Manon (Tony Wharmby, 1989) based on the character from The Equalizer. After this role, she retired. She remarried 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 Stross (1963), with Raymond Stross.

 

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

 

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

A flashback, or involuntary recurrent memory, is a psychological phenomenon in which an individual has a sudden, usually powerful, re-experiencing of a past experience or elements of a past experience. These experiences can be happy, sad, exciting, or any other emotion one can consider. The term is used particularly when the memory is recalled involuntarily, and/or when it is so intense that the person "relives" the experience, unable to fully recognize it as memory and not something that is happening in "real time" Flashbacks are the "personal experiences that pop into your awareness, without any conscious, premeditated attempt to search and retrieve this memory". These experiences occasionally have little to no relation to the situation at hand. Flashbacks to those suffering posttraumatic stress disorder can seriously disrupt everyday life.What is a flashback? A Viet Nam veteran with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was driving on the New Jersey Turnpike near Newark Airport when a helicopter flew directly overhead. Suddenly, he slammed on the brakes, pulled his car to the side of the road, jumped out, and threw himself into a ditch. The unexpected sound of the helicopter had taken him back to Viet Nam and a time of being psychologically overwhelmed by incoming enemy fire. The flashback was intense. His experience was not of remembering an event, but of living the event. In an explicit flashback. the person is involuntarily transported back in time. To the person, it does not seem so. What they experience is being experienced as if it were happening in the present. An explicit flashback involves feelings and facts. Flashbacks from early childhood are different. They do not include factual information. Until about five years of age, factual - or explicit - memory is immature. But implicit memory, the memory of an emotional state, may go back to birth. When the memory of a strong emotional state is activated, the person is exposed to an involuntarily replay of what was felt at perhaps age one or two. Since facts are not replayed, the emotions seem to belong to what is going on in the present. Implicit flashbacks from early childhood can be powerful. They can overtake a person, and dominate his or her emotional state. Even so, the person may have no idea that what they are feeling is memory. How could they? If they cannot remember a past event that caused these feelings, the feelings naturally seem to belong to the present. When we have an implicit flashback, we mistakenly believe someone, or something, in the present is causing these feelings. Though something in the present triggered the feelings, the feelings do not fit the present situation. They are far more intense and far more persistent. Those two characteristics - intensity and persistence - are the clues we need to look for, clues that can tell us we are experiencing a flashback. Research at the University at Albany and the University of California Los Angeles has confirmed what therapists have long suspected, that PTSD can be caused by early childhood trauma in which emotions flashback but memory does not. In this research, very young rodents were exposed to one session of traumatic stress. Later, the animals were tested for both memory of the event and for fear response. Because the trauma took place early in their life, the rodents did not remember the environment in which the trauma took place. Yet, the rodents showed clear signs of PTSD: a persistent increase in anxiety when exposed to new situations, and drastic changes in levels of stress hormones. This research indicates that a trauma can cause a stress response even when no memory of the experience is present. It also suggests that therapists need to recognize that stress can be caused by unconscious processes - not just by thoughts. Commenting on the research, Dr. John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry, said "There may be a mismatch between what people think and how they feel." Where does early trauma come from? Violence and abuse are obvious causes. But seemingly benign practices may also cause trauma. Neurological researcher Allan Schore says the practice of putting a young child in bed, closing the door, and letting them "cry it out" is severely traumatizing. Parents, and so-called experts, have claimed that since the child will not remember this being done, it will have no impact. Schore says research shows that though a child may appear to be peacefully asleep after "crying it out," the child may not be asleep at all, but rather is in a frozen state of "dissociated terror." An article on "crying it out" can be found at this Psychology Today link. Schore writes "the infant's psychobiological response to trauma is comprised of two separate response patterns, hyperarousal and dissociation." Initially, the infant responds with increased heart rate, blood pressure and respiration. The infant's distress is expressed in crying, and then screaming. "A second later-forming, longer-lasting traumatic reaction is seen in dissociation. . . . If early trauma is experienced as 'psychic catastrophe' dissociation represents . . . 'escape where there is no escape'. Certainly no mother wants to intentionally traumatize a child. Helpful information on how to calm a crying baby and get some sleep is ovvered by Sarah Ockwell-Smith

 

Clients I have worked with to alleviate fear of flying expressed concern about having overwhelming, unbearable feelings on a flight and being unable to escape. They are unable to specify a time when they had such feelings. Yet, such feelings are too much of a threat for them to fly. Taking a flight is an emotional risk. They fear they may have an overwhelming experience, and unable to leave the plane, have no way to escape the experience. Whether they understand it or not, they fear they will have an implicit flashback. Since escape is seen as the answer to emotional overwhelm, escape from the original traumatic experience must have not been impossible.

What can a person do about implicit flashbacks? Three things: 1. Recognize that when an emotion is too intense and too persistent to fit the current situation, you may be experiencing the flashback of an experience from early childhood. 2. Face-to-face with an attuned and empathic therapist, put the emotions into words. Doing so links the therapist's presence to the emotions in the flashback, and neutralizes them; 3. Tell the therapist in detail what triggered the flashback; by linking the therapist's presence to the triggers, the triggers are neutralized. Memory is divided into voluntary (conscious) and involuntary (unconscious) processes that function independently of each other. Theories and research on memory dates back to Hermann Ebbinghaus, who began studying nonsense syllables.[1] Ebbinghaus classified three distinct classes of memory: sensory, short term, and long-term memory. Sensory memory is made up of a brief storage of information within a specific medium (the line you see after waving a sparkler in your field of vision is created by sensory memory). Short term memory is made up of the information currently in use to complete the task at hand. Long term memory is composed of the systems used to store memory over long periods. It enables one to remember what happened two days ago at noon, or who called last night.

 

Miller (1962–1974) declared that studying such fragile things as involuntary memories should not be done. This appears to have been followed since very little research has been done on flashbacks in the cognitive psychology discipline. Flashbacks have been studied within a clinical discipline however, and they have been identified as symptoms for many disorders, including post traumatic stress disorder.Flashbacks are psychological phenomena during which a person relives a past event or fragments of a past experience. They generally occur involuntarily, abruptly entering an individual’s awareness without the aid of premeditation or conscious attempts to recall the memory, and they may be intense. As flashbacks involve past events, they may have no relevance to what is happening at present.

While people often associate flashbacks solely with visual information, other senses such as smell, taste, touch, and hearing may also be actively involved in the episode. Flashbacks can elicit a wide array of emotions. Some flashbacks are so intense, it may become difficult to distinguish memory from current life events. Conversely, some flashbacks may be devoid of visual and auditory memory and may lead a person to experience feelings of panic, helplessness, numbness, or entrapment. Many individuals report the onset of flashbacks after surviving a near-death experience or another traumatic situation. Those with posttraumatic stress may experience flashbacks as a recurring symptom of the condition. Posttraumatic stress may develop after exposure to military combat, sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, or potentially fatal events such as a car crash.

 

In addition to PTSD, other mental health conditions such as depression, acute stress, and obsessions and compulsions are associated with the development of flashbacks. The use of some drugs—such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)—may also increase the likelihood of a flashback occurring.

Flashbacks may have a profound impact on a person’s mental health. Due to the emotionally charged and uncontrollable nature of flashbacks, affected individuals may find their ability to carry out everyday activities is diminished. Loss of function may lead to a decrease in quality of life, which in turn may be a contributing factor for mood issues such as anxiety and depression. The psychological distress caused by flashbacks may be more immediate. Feelings of helplessness, powerlessness, confusion, and disorientation may often follow a flashback. An individual may become caught up in the flashback and scream, cry, show fear, or exhibit other behaviors that might lead to shame and embarrassment after the episode. These behaviors may damage self-esteem and create tension in interpersonal relationships. While the exact causes of flashbacks have not yet been identified, neuroscience and neuroimaging investigations have revealed information about how they occur. Neural scans of individuals experiencing flashbacks show that specific brain areas, such as the mid-occipital lobe, primary motor cortex, supplementary motor area, and regions of the dorsal stream, are highly activated during the episode. Current research also suggests that factors such as stress, food deprivation, and temporal lobe seizures may play an important role in the onset of flashbacks. Some people may isolate themselves emotionally in order to survive the aftermath of a highly traumatic events. However these survivors may find that the previously isolated thoughts, emotions, and body sensations are still expressed in the present—sometimes many years after the conclusion of the crisis. At times, it may even seem as if intrusive memories and sensations come from nowhere.

By working with a qualified therapist, many people develop an increased ability to cope effectively with flashbacks. In addition to providing further education on flashbacks, a therapist can help a person in treatment gradually unearth and address the source of the trauma—ensuring that previously repressed thoughts, emotions, sensations, and actions are expressed in a safe, healthy environment.

 

Due to the elusive nature of involuntary recurrent memories, very little is known about the subjective experience of flashbacks. However, theorists agree that this phenomenon is in part due to the manner in which memories of specific events are initially encoded (or entered) into memory, the way in which the memory is organized, and also the way in which the individual later recalls the event. Overall, theories that attempt to explain the flashback phenomenon can be categorized into one of two viewpoints. The special mechanism view is clinically oriented in that it holds that involuntary memories are due to traumatic events, and the memories for these events can be attributed to a special memory mechanism. On the other hand, the basic mechanism view is more experimentally oriented in that it is based on memory research. This view holds that traumatic memories are bound by the same parameters as all other every-day memories. Both viewpoints agree that involuntary recurrent memories result from rare events that would not normally occur. These rare events elicit strong emotional reactions from the individual since it violates normal expectations. According to the special mechanisms view, the event would lead to fragmented voluntary encoding into memory (meaning that only certain isolated parts of the event would be encoded), thus making the conscious subsequent retrieval of the memory much more difficult. On the other hand, involuntary recurrent memories are likely to become more available, and these are more likely to be triggered by external cues. In contrast to this, the basic mechanism view holds that the traumatic event would lead to enhanced and cohesive encoding of the event in memory, and this would make both voluntary and involuntary memories more available for subsequent recall. What is currently an issue of controversy is the nature of the defining criteria that makes up an involuntary memory. Up until recently, researchers believed that involuntary memories were a result of traumatic incidents that the individual experienced at a specific time and place, but the temporal and spatial features of the event are lost during an involuntary recollection episode. In other words, people who suffer from flashbacks lose all sense of time and place, and they feel as if they are re-experiencing the event instead of just recalling a memory. This is consistent with the special mechanism viewpoint in that the involuntary (unintended) memory is based on a different memory mechanism than its voluntary (intended) counterpart. Furthermore, the initial emotions experienced at the time of encoding are also re-experienced during a flashback episode, and this can be especially distressing when the memory is of a traumatic event. It has also been demonstrated that the nature of the flashbacks experienced by an individual are static in that they retain an identical form upon each intrusion.[9] This occurs even when the individual has learned new information that directly contradicts the information retained in the intrusive memory.

 

Upon further investigation, it was found that involuntary memories are usually derived from either stimuli (i.e. anything that causes a change in behaviour) that indicated the onset of a traumatic event, or from stimuli that hold intense emotional significance to the individual simply because these stimuli were closely associated with the trauma in terms of timing. These stimuli then become warning signals that if encountered again, serve to trigger a flashback. This has been termed the warning signal hypothesis. For example, a man experiences a flashback upon seeing sun spots on his lawn. This happens because he associates the sun spots with the headlights of the vehicle that he collided with, causing a horrific car accident. According to Ehlers and Clark, traumatic memories are more apt to induce flashbacks simply because of faulty encoding in that the individual fails to take contextual information into account, as well as time and place information that would usually be associated with every-day memories. These individuals become more sensitized to stimuli that they associate with the traumatic event which then serve as triggers for a flashback (even though the context surrounding the stimulus may be unrelated; such as sun spots being unrelated to headlights). These triggers may have elicited an adaptive response during the time of the traumatic experience, but they soon become maladaptive if the person continues to respond in the same way in situations in which no danger may be present.

 

The special mechanism viewpoint would add to this further by suggesting that these triggers activate the fragmented memory of the trauma, but protective cognitive mechanisms function to inhibit the recall of the original memory of the traumatic event. Dual representation theory enhances this idea by suggesting two separate mechanisms that account for voluntary and involuntary memories; the first of which is called the verbally accessible memory system and the latter is referred to the situationally accessible memory system.

In contrast to this, theories belonging to the basic mechanism viewpoint hold that there are no separate mechanisms that account for voluntary and involuntary memories. The recall of memories for stressful events do not differ under involuntary and voluntary recall. Instead, it is the retrieval mechanism that is different for each type of recall. In involuntary recall, the external trigger creates an uncontrolled spreading of activation in memory, whereas in voluntary recall, this activation is strictly controlled and is goal-oriented.

 

The hippocampus is highlighted in red.

Several brain regions have been implicated in the neurological basis of flashbacks. The medial temporal lobes, the precuneus, the posterior cingulate gyrus and the prefrontal cortex are the most typically referenced with regards to involuntary memories. The medial temporal lobes are commonly associated with memory. More specifically, the lobes have been linked to episodic/declarative memory and thus damage to these areas of the brain result in disruptions to declarative memory system. The hippocampus, located within the medial temporal regions, has also been highly related to memory processes. There are numerous functions in the hippocampus; these functions also include aspects of memory consolidation.Brain imaging studies have shown flashbacks activate areas associated with memory retrieval. The precuneus, located in the superior parietal lobe and the posterior cingulate gyrus have also been implicated in memory retrieval. In addition, studies have shown activity in areas of the prefrontal cortex to be involved in memory retrieval. Thus, the medial temporal lobe, precuneus, superior parietal lobe and posterior cingulate gyrus have all been implicated in flashbacks in accordance to their roles on memory retrieval. Memory has typically been divided into sensory, short term, and long term processes.According to Rasmuseen & Berntsen, 2009, "long-term memory processes may form the core of spontaneous thought".Thus the memory process most related to flashbacks is long term memory. As well, studies by Rasmuseen & Berntsen, 2009, have shown that long term memory is also susceptible to extraneous factors such as recency effect, arousal and rehearsal as it pertains to accessibility. Compared to voluntary memories, involuntary memories show shorter retrieval times and little cognitive effort. Finally, involuntary memories arise due to automatic processing, which does not rely on higher-order cognitive monitoring, or executive control processing. Voluntary memory is normally associated with contextual information, which is what allows for correspondence between time and place, this is not true of flashbacks. According to Brewin, Lanius et, al, 2009, flashbacks, are disconnected from contextual information, and as a result are disconnected from time and place. To date, the specific causes of flashbacks have not yet been confirmed. Several studies have proposed various potential factors. Gunasekaran et al., 2009, indicate there may be a link between food deprivation and stress on the occurrence of flashbacks. Neurologists suggest temporal lobe seizures may also have some relation. On the reverse side, several ideas have been discounted in terms of their causing flashbacks. Tym et al., 2009, suggest this list includes medication or other substances, Charles Bonnet syndrome, delayed palinopsia, hallucinations, dissociative phenomena, and depersonalization syndrome. A study of the persistence of traumatic memories in World War II prisoners of war investigates through the administration of surveys the extent and severity of flashbacks that occur in prisoners of war. This study concluded that the persistence of severely traumatic autobiographical memories can last upwards of 65 years. Until recently, the study of flashbacks has been limited to participants who already experience flashbacks, such as those suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder, restricting researchers to observational/exploratory rather than experimental studies. Neuroimaging techniques have been applied to the investigation of flashbacks. Using these techniques, researchers attempt to discover the structural and functional differences in the anatomy of the brain in individuals who suffer from flashbacks compared to those who do not. Neuroimaging involves a cluster of techniques, including computerized tomography, positron emission tomography, magnetic resonance imaging (including functional), as well as magnetoencephalography. Neuroimaging studies investigating flashbacks are based on current psychological theories that are used as the foundation for the research, and one such theory that is consistently investigated is the difference between explicit and implicit memory. This distinction dictates the manner in which memories are later recalled, namely either consciously (voluntarily) or unconsciously (involuntarily). These methods have largely relied on subtractive reasoning in which the participant voluntarily recalls a memory and then the memory is again recalled, but this time through involuntary means. Involuntary memories (or flashbacks) are elicited in the participant by reading an emotionally charged script to them that is designed to trigger a flashback in individuals who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. The investigators record the regions of the brain that are active during each of these conditions, and then subtract the activity. Whatever is left is assumed to underpin the neurological differences between the conditions. Imaging studies looking at patients with post-traumatic stress disorder as they undergo flashback experiences have identified elevated activation in regions of the dorsal stream including the mid-occipital lobe, primary motor cortex and supplementary motor area. The dorsal stream is involved in sensory processing and therefore these activations might underlie the vivid visual experiences associated with flashbacks. The study also found reduced activation in regions such as the inferior temporal cortex and parahippocampus which are involved in processing allocentric relations. These deactivations might contribute to feelings of dissociation from reality during flashback experiences. Flashbacks are often associated with mental illness as they are a symptom and a feature in diagnostic criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), acute stress disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Flashbacks have also been observed in people suffering from manic depression, depression, homesickness, near-death experiences, epileptic seizures, and drug abuse.[19] Some researchers have suggested that the use of some drugs can cause a person to experience flashbacks;users of lysergic acid diethylamide sometimes report "acid flashbacks". While other studies show that the use of drugs, specifically cannabis, can help reduce the occurrence of flashbacks in people with PTSD.

 

The psychological phenomenon has frequently been portrayed in film and television. Some of the most accurate media portrayals of flashbacks have been those related to wartime, and the association of flashbacks to post-traumatic stress disorder caused by the traumas and stresses of war. One of the earliest screen portrayals of this is in the 1945 film Mildred Pierce. A flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point in the story. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story's primary sequence of events to fill in crucial backstory. In the opposite direction, a flashforward (or prolepsis) reveals events that will occur in the future. Both flashback and flashforward are used to cohere a story, develop a character, or add structure to the narrative. In literature, internal analepsis is a flashback to an earlier point in the narrative; external analepsis is a flashback to a time before the narrative started. In movies and television, several camera techniques and special effects have evolved to alert the viewer that the action shown is a flashback or flashforward; for example, the edges of the picture may be deliberately blurred, photography may be jarring or choppy, or unusual coloration or sepia tone, or monochrome when most of the story is in full color, may be used.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashback_(narrative)

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashback_(psychology)

.At sunset, Algiers takes on a different look: the bartenders serve their first glasses, the waiters start to set up cutlery for dinner, the youngsters make their last calls to their friends to decide which nightclub to spend the evening in. Algiers has always had a sulphurous reputation of intense nightlife..Insecurity? all the clubs are safe and cool, if you want to get away from the hustle and bustle and keep quiet, the Algerians who are cool and warm especially towards foreigners, as he said Fellag with us it is every day the carnival if you grasp the meaning of it. For people who know how to live and above all, take life on the right side? Tourists can know the real life of Algiers, to live with the locals. A tourist who travels without frequenting local life only travels to stay in his hotel room.LUXURY ROOM: Sea view, king size bed (200x200) or 2 beds (160x200)54 m2. Very spacious room with a splendid view on the bay d?Alger, entirely renovated in 2011 with air conditioning. Dressing room, safe, bathroom with bathtub, bidet and hairdryer, separate WC, sitting area with desk and flat-screen TV (satellite channels), broadband cable Internet, large balcony. The hotel EL Aurassi includes 414 rooms entirely renovated and refurbished in 2011...Algiers (Arabic: الجزائر‎‎, al-Jazā’er; Algerian Arabic pronunciation: دزاير Dzayer, Berber: Dzayer tamaneɣt, French: Alger) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. In 2011, the city's population was estimated to be around 3,500,000. An estimate puts the population of the larger metropolitan city to be around 5,000,000. Algiers is located on the Mediterranean Sea and in the north-central portion of Algeria.

Sometimes nicknamed El-Behdja (البهجة) or alternatively Alger la Blanche ("Algiers the White") for the glistening white of its buildings as seen rising up from the sea, Algiers is situated on the west side of a bay of the Mediterranean Sea. The modern part of the city is built on the level ground by the seashore; the old part, the ancient city of the deys, climbs the steep hill behind the modern town and is crowned by the casbah or citadel, 122 metres (400 ft) above the sea. The casbah and the two quays form a triangle. The city name is derived (via French Alger and Catalan Alger from the Arabic name الجزائر al-Jazā’ir, which translates as "The Islands", referring to the four islands which used to lie off the city's coast until becoming part of the mainland in 1525. Al-Jazā’ir is itself a truncated form of the city's older name جزائر بني مزغانة Jaza'ir Bani Mazghana, "The Islands of the Sons of Mazghana", used by early medieval geographers such as al-Idrisi and Yaqut al-Hamawi. A Phoenician commercial outpost called Ikosim which later developed into a small Roman town called Icosium existed on what is now the marine quarter of the city. The rue de la Marine follows the lines of what used to be a Roman street. Roman cemeteries existed near Bab-el-Oued and Bab Azoun. The city was given Latin rights by Emperor Vespasian. The bishops of Icosium are mentioned as late as the 5th century. The present-day city was founded in 944 by Bologhine ibn Ziri, the founder of the Berber Zirid–Sanhaja dynasty. He had earlier (935) built his own house and a Sanhaja center at Ashir, just south of Algiers. Although his Zirid dynasty was overthrown by Roger II of Sicily in 1148, the Zirids had already lost control of Algiers to their cousins the Hammadids in 1014.[6] The city was wrested from the Hammadids by the Almohads in 1159, and in the 13th century came under the dominion of the Ziyanid sultans of Tlemcen. Nominally part of the sultanate of Tlemcen, Algiers had a large measure of independence under amirs of its own due to Oran being the chief seaport of the Ziyanids.

As early as 1302 the islet of Peñón in front of Algiers harbour had been occupied by Spaniards. Thereafter, a considerable amount of trade began to flow between Algiers and Spain. However, Algiers continued to be of comparatively little importance until after the expulsion of the Moors from Spain, many of whom sought asylum in the city. In 1510, following their occupation of Oran and other towns on the coast of Africa, the Spaniards fortified the islet of Peñon and imposed a levy intended to suppress corsair activity.,

Abraham Duquesne delivering Christian captives in Algiers after the bombing in 1683.

In 1516, the amir of Algiers, Selim b. Teumi, invited the corsair brothers Aruj and Hayreddin Barbarossa to expel the Spaniards. Aruj came to Algiers, ordered the assassination of Selim, and seized the town and ousted the Spanish in the Capture of Algiers (1516). Hayreddin, succeeding Aruj after the latter was killed in battle against the Spaniards in the Fall of Tlemcen (1517), was the founder of the pashaluk, which subsequently became the beylik, of Algeria. Barbarossa lost Algiers in 1524 but regained it with the Capture of Algiers (1529), and then formally invited the Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent to accept sovereignty over the territory and to annex Algiers to the Ottoman Empire..Hayreddin Barbarossa (Arabic: Khayr ad-Din Barbarus خير الدين بربروس), (Latin: Ariadenus Barbarussa), or Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha (Turkish: Barbaros Hayreddin (Hayrettin) Paşa or Hızır Hayreddin (Hayrettin) Paşa; also Hızır Reis before being promoted to the rank of Pasha and becoming the Kapudan Pasha), born Khizr or Khidr (Turkish: Hızır; c. 1478 – 4 July 1546), was an Ottoman admiral of the fleet who was born on the island of Lesbos and died in Constantinople, the Ottoman capital. Barbarossa's naval victories secured Ottoman dominance over the Mediterranean during the mid 16th century, from the Battle of Preveza in 1538 until the Battle of Lepanto in 1571..Hayreddin (Arabic: Khayr ad-Din خيرالدين, which literally means "goodness" or "best of the religion" of Islam) was an honorary name given to him by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. He became known as "Barbarossa" ("Redbeard" in Italian) in Europe, a name he inherited from his elder brother Oruç Reis after he was killed in a battle with the Spanish in Algeria. Oruç was also known as "Baba Oruç", which sounded like "Barbarossa" (Italian for "Redbeard") to the Europeans, and since Oruç did have a red beard, the nickname stuck. In a process of linguistic reborrowing, the nickname then stuck back to Hayreddin's native Turkish name, in the form Barbaros.Khizr was born in 1466[1] or around 1478[citation needed] in the village Palaiokipos on the Ottoman island of Midilli (Lesbos) (now Greece), the son of Yakup Ağa, a converted Turk sipahi[2] of Albanian origin. from Giannitsa (Greece), and an Orthodox Christian, Greek woman from Mytilene (Lesbos).His mother was a widow of a Greek Orthodox priest. His parents were married and had two daughters and four sons: Ishak, Oruç, Khizr and Ilyas. Yakup took part in the Ottoman conquest of Lesbos in 1462 from the Genoese Gattilusio dynasty (who held the hereditary title of Lord of Lesbos between 1355 and 1462) and as a reward, was granted the fief of the Bonova village in the island. He became an established potter and purchased a boat to trade his products. The four sons helped their father with his business, but not much is known about the daughters. At first Oruç helped with the boat, while Khizr helped with pottery.All four brothers became seamen, engaged in marine affairs and international sea trade. The first brother to become involved in seamanship was Oruç, who was joined by his brother Ilyas. Later, obtaining his own ship, Khizr also began his career at sea. The brothers initially worked as sailors, but then turned privateers in the Mediterranean to counteract the privateering of the Knights Hospitaller (Knights of St. John) who were based in the island of Rhodes (until 1522). Oruç and Ilyas operated in the Levant, between Anatolia, Syria, and Egypt. Khizr operated in the Aegean Sea and based his operations mostly in Thessaloniki. Ishak, the eldest, remained on Mytilene and was involved with the financial affairs of the family business.Oruç was a very successful seaman. He also learned to speak Italian, Spanish, French, Greek and Arabic in the early years of his career. While returning from a trading expedition in Tripoli, Lebanon, with his younger brother Ilyas, they were attacked by the Knights of St. John. Ilyas was killed in the fight, and Oruç was wounded. Their father's boat was captured, and Oruç was taken as a prisoner and detained in the Knights' castle at Bodrum for nearly three years. Upon learning the location of his brother, Khizr went to Bodrum and managed to help Oruç escape.Oruç later went to Antalya, where he was given 18 galleys by the Şehzade Korkut, an Ottoman prince and governor of the city, and charged with fighting against the Knights of St. John, who were inflicting serious damage on Ottoman shipping and trade. In the following years, when Korkut became governor of Manisa, he gave Oruç a larger fleet of 24 galleys at the port of İzmir and ordered him to participate in the Ottoman naval expedition to Apulia in Italy, where Oruç bombarded several coastal castles and captured two ships. On his way back to Lesbos, he stopped at Euboea and captured three galleons and another ship. Reaching Mytilene with these captured vessels, Oruç learned that Korkut, who was the brother of the new Ottoman sultan Selim I, had fled to Egypt in order to avoid being killed because of succession disputes – a common practice at that time. Fearing trouble due to his well-known association with the exiled Ottoman prince, Oruç sailed to Egypt, where he met Korkut in Cairo and managed to get an audience with the Mamluk Sultan Qansuh al-Ghawri, who gave him another ship and appointed him with the task of raiding the coasts of Italy and the islands of the Mediterranean that were controlled by Christians. After passing the winter in Cairo, he set sail from Alexandria and frequently operated along the coasts of Liguria and Sicily.In 1503, Oruç managed to seize three more ships and made the island of Djerba his new base, thus moving his operations to the Western Mediterranean. Khizr joined Oruç at Djerba. In 1504, the brothers contacted Abu Abdullah Mohammed Hamis, Sultan of Tunisia from the Beni Hafs dynasty, and asked permission to use the strategically located port of La Goulette for their operations. They were granted this right with the condition of leaving one-third of their gains to the sultan. Oruç, in command of small galliots, captured two much larger Papal galleys near the island of Elba. Later, near Lipari, the two brothers captured a Sicilian warship, the Cavalleria, with 380 Spanish soldiers and 60 Spanish knights from Aragon on board, who were on their way from Spain to Naples. In 1505, they raided the coasts of Calabria. These accomplishments increased their fame, and they were joined by several other well-known Muslim corsairs, including Kurtoğlu (known in the West as Curtogoli). In 1508, they raided the coasts of Liguria, particularly Diano Marina.

 

Western depiction of Hayreddin Barbarossa

In 1509, Ishak also left Mytilene and joined his brothers at La Goulette. The fame of Oruç increased when, between 1504 and 1510, he transported Muslim Mudéjars from Christian Spain to North Africa. His efforts of helping the Muslims of Spain in need and transporting them to safer lands earned him the honorific name Baba Oruç (Father Oruç), which eventually – due the similarity in sound – evolved in Spain, France and Italy into Barbarossa (meaning "Redbeard" in Italian).

In 1510, the three brothers raided Cape Passero in Sicily and repulsed a Spanish attack on Bougie, Oran and Algiers. In August 1511, they raided the areas around Reggio Calabria in southern Italy. In August 1512, the exiled ruler of Bougie invited the brothers to drive out the Spaniards, and during the battle, Oruç lost his left arm. This incident earned him the nickname Gümüş Kol ("Silver Arm" in Turkish), in reference to the silver prosthetic device that he used in place of his missing limb. Later that year, the three brothers raided the coasts of Andalusia in Spain, capturing a galliot of the Lomellini family of Genoa, who owned the Tabarca island in that area. They subsequently landed on Minorca and captured a coastal castle and then headed towards Liguria, where they captured four Genoese galleys near Genoa. The Genoese sent a fleet to liberate their ships, but the brothers captured their flagship as well. After capturing a total of 23 ships in less than a month, the brothers sailed back to La Goulette.

There, they built three more galliots and a gunpowder production facility. In 1513, they captured four English ships on their way to France, raided Valencia, where they captured four more ships, and then headed for Alicante and captured a Spanish galley near Málaga. In 1513 and 1514, the three brothers engaged the Spanish fleet on several other occasions and moved to their new base in Cherchell, east of Algiers. In 1514, with 12 galliots and 1,000 Turks, they destroyed two Spanish fortresses at Bougie, and when the Spanish fleet under the command of Miguel de Gurrea, viceroy of Majorca, arrived for assistance, they headed towards Ceuta and raided that city before capturing Jijel in Algeria, which was under Genoese control. They later captured Mahdiya in Tunisia. Afterwards, they raided the coasts of Sicily, Sardinia, the Balearic Islands and the Spanish mainland, capturing three large ships there. In 1515, they captured several galleons, a galley and three barques at Majorca. Still in 1515, Oruç sent precious gifts to the Ottoman Sultan Selim I, who, in return, sent him two galleys and two swords embellished with diamonds. In 1516, joined by Kurtoğlu (Curtogoli), the brothers besieged the Castle of Elba, before heading once more towards Liguria, where they captured 12 ships and damaged 28 others.In 1516, the three brothers succeeded in capturing Jijel and Algiers from the Spaniards but eventually assumed control over the city and surrounding region, forcing the previous ruler, Abu Hamo Musa III of the Beni Ziyad dynasty, to flee.[citation needed] The Spaniards in Algiers sought refuge on the island of Peñón off the Moroccan coast and asked Charles V, King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, to intervene, but the Spanish fleet failed to force the brothers out of Algiers.After consolidating his power and declaring himself Sultan of Algiers, Oruç sought to enhance his territory inland and took Miliana, Medea and Ténès. He became known for attaching sails to cannons for transport through the deserts of North Africa. In 1517, the brothers raided Capo Limiti and later, the Island of Capo Rizzuto in Calabria. For Oruç, the best protection against Spain was to join the Ottoman Empire, his homeland and Spain's main rival. For this, he had to relinquish his title of Sultan of Algiers to the Ottomans. He did this in 1517 and offered Algiers to the Ottoman Sultan Selim I. The Sultan accepted Algiers as an Ottoman sanjak ("province"), appointed Oruç as the Governor of Algiers and Chief Sea Governor of the West Mediterranean, and promised to support him with janissaries, galleys and cannons.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayreddin_Barbarossa

Algiers from this time became the chief seat of the Barbary pirates. In October 1541 in the Algiers expedition, the King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V sought to capture the city, but a storm destroyed a great number of his ships, and his army of some 30,000, chiefly made up of Spaniards, was defeated by the Algerians under their Pasha, Hassan.

 

Ornate Ottoman cannon found in Algiers on 8 October 1581 by Ca'fer el-Mu'allim. Length: 385 cm, cal:178 mm, weight: 2910 kg, stone projectile. Seized by France during the invasion of Algiers in 1830. Musée de l'Armée, Paris.

Formally part of the Ottoman Empire but essentially free from Ottoman control, starting in the 16th century Algiers turned to piracy and ransoming. Due to its location on the periphery of both the Ottoman and European economic spheres, and depending for its existence on a Mediterranean that was increasingly controlled by European shipping, backed by European navies, piracy became the primary economic activity. Repeated attempts were made by various nations to subdue the pirates that disturbed shipping in the western Mediterranean and engaged in slave raids as far north as Iceland.[8] The United States fought two wars (the First and Second Barbary Wars) over Algiers' attacks on shipping.

Among the notable people held for ransom was the future Spanish novelist Miguel de Cervantes, who was captive in Algiers almost five years, and who wrote two plays set in Algiers of the period. The primary source for knowledge of Algiers of this period, since there are no contemporary local sources, is the Topografía e historia general de Argel (1612, but written earlier), published by Diego de Haedo, but whose authorship is disputed. This work describes in detail the city, the behavior of its inhabitants, and its military defenses, with the unsuccessful hope of facilitating an attack by Spain so as to end the piracy.

A significant number of renegades lived in Algiers at the time, Christians converted voluntarily to Islam, many fleeing the law or other problems at home. Once converted to Islam, they were safe in Algiers. Many occupied positions of authority, such as Samson Rowlie, an Englishman who became Treasurer of Algiers.

The city under Ottoman control was enclosed by a wall on all sides, including along the seafront. In this wall, five gates allowed access to the city, with five roads from each gate dividing the city and meeting in front of the Ketchaoua Mosque. In 1556, a citadel was constructed at the highest point in the wall. A major road running north to south divided the city in two: The upper city (al-Gabal, or 'the mountain') which consisted of about fifty small quarters of Andalusian, Jewish, Moorish and Kabyle communities, and the lower city (al-Wata, or 'the plains') which was the administrative, military and commercial centre of the city, mostly inhabited by Turkish dignitaries and other upper-class families.

In August 1816, the city was bombarded by a British squadron under Lord Exmouth (a descendant of Thomas Pellew, taken in an Algerian slave raid in 1715, assisted by Dutch men-of-war, destroying the corsair fleet harboured in Algiers.

 

Algiers depot and station grounds of Algerian Railway, 1894

The history of Algiers from 1830 to 1962 is bound to the larger history of Algeria and its relationship to France. On July 4, 1830, under the pretext of an affront to the French consul—whom the dey had hit with a fly-whisk when the consul said the French government was not prepared to pay its large outstanding debts to two Algerian merchants—a French army under General de Bourmont attacked the city in the 1830 invasion of Algiers. The city capitulated the following day. Algiers became the capital of French Algeria.

Many Europeans settled in Algiers, and by the early 20th century they formed a majority of the city's population.

 

During the 1930s, the architect Le Corbusier drew up plans for a complete redesign of the colonial city. Le Corbusier was highly critical of the urban style of Algiers, describing the European district as "nothing but crumbling walls and devastated nature, the whole a sullied blot". He also criticised the difference in living standards he perceived between the European and African residents of the city, describing a situation in which "the 'civilised' live like rats in holes" whereas "the 'barbarians' live in solitude, in well-being". However, these plans were ultimately ignored by the French administration.Le Corbusier was ignorant of the way cities work, he only made dormitory cities to humiliate nightlife with buildings on pillars that ignore the beauty of a street. in his plan any meeting is only possible by appointment.

 

During World War II, Algiers was the last city to be seized from the Germans by the Allies during Operation Torch.

 

In 1962, after a bloody independence struggle in which hundreds of thousands (estimates range between 350,000 and 1,500,000) died (mostly Algerians but also French and Pieds-Noirs) during fighting between the French Army and the Algerian Front de Libération Nationale, Algeria gained its independence, with Algiers as its capital. Since then, despite losing its entire pied-noir population, the city has expanded massively. It now has about five million inhabitants, or 10 percent of Algeria's population—and its suburbs now cover most of the surrounding Mitidja plain.

 

Algiers also played a pivotal role in the Algerian War (1954–1962), particularly during the Battle of Algiers when the 10th Parachute Division of the French Army, starting on January 7, 1957, and on the orders of then French Minister of Justice François Mitterrand (who authorized any means "to eliminate the insurrectionists"[citation needed]), led attacks against the Algerian fighters for independence. Algiers remains marked by this battle, which was characterized by merciless fighting between FLN forces which carried out a guerrilla campaign against the French military and police and pro-French Algerian soldiers, and the French Army which responded with a bloody repression, torture and blanket terrorism against the native population. The demonstrations of May 13 during the crisis of 1958 provoked the fall of the Fourth Republic in France, as well as the return of General de Gaulle to power.

 

Algeria achieved independence on July 5, 1962. Run by the FLN that had secured independence, Algiers became a member of Non-Aligned Movement during the Cold War. In October 1988, one year before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Algiers was the site of demonstrations demanding the end of the single party system and the creation of a real democracy baptized the "Spring of Algier". The demonstrators were repressed by the authorities (more than 300 dead), but the movement constituted a turning point in the political history of modern Algeria. In 1989, a new constitution was adopted that put an end to the one-party rule and saw the creation of more than fifty political parties, as well as official freedom of the press.

 

The city became the theatre of many political demonstrations of all descriptions until 1992. In 1991, a political entity dominated by religious conservatives called the Islamic Salvation Front engaged in a political test of wills with the authorities. In the 1992 elections for the Algerian National Assembly, the Islamists garnered a large amount of support in the first round, helped by a massive abstention from disillusioned Algerian voters by the turn of events. Fearing an eventual win by the Islamists, the army cancelled the election process, setting off a civil war between the State and armed religious conservatives which would last for a decade.

 

Rai, the folk music that put Algeria on the international map, originated in 1930 in a small Bedouin Shepherds village in the city of Oran. Rai is a musical genre mixed with Spanish, French, African and Arab music that is listened to by the Algerian population. At the beginning its rise, men were the only singers, but later women joined in on the act. Rai songs usually highlight social and economic issues, along with the French colonial policies that had an impact on the rest of the Algerian population. When it comes to male Rai singers, they are referred to as “Cheb,” which translates to youth or “Cheikh for an older singer. Female Rai singers are called either “Chebba” or “Cheikha.”During the 16th century, Oran was divided by Spanish troops, who inhabited the city, into four factions: Jewish, French, Spanish and Arab. Each community was known by their own musical style. The Arabs were known for their unique ‘Al-Andaluz’ style, one that was brought by many Arab migrants from southern Spain in 1492. Another type of music played during this era by the Arabs was ‘Gharbi’, which is traditionally Bedouin. The most famous singers of that era were Cheikha Tetma, Fadila D’zirya and Myriam Fekkai. Melhun poetry, chanted by male Sheikhs accompanied by flute and drums was also popular in the 16th century. Melhun singers such as Cheikh Mohammed Senoussi, Cheikh Madani, and Cheikh Hachemi Bensmir were well known. With the different cultures and various types of musical styles there is no doubt that Oran during was a little paradise for artists.However, the social and cultural structure changed during French colonialism. In Oran by 1920, most Bedouin singers were collaborating with the French, meaning singers were only allowed to sing at traditional Arab events such as weddings. As women were put under a strict social code, there were only a few female singers. Different female outcast groups were the only artists allowed to perform during French colonialism. One of these artists was the famous Cheikha Remitti. By 1930, most musicians began to join Socialist and Marxist revolutionary organizations as a form of rebellion against colonialism. This rebellion was the root of Rai.In the Algier's cabaret, it's the fiesta. Imagine the cramped space, full of people, all coming to celebrate birthdays, and set the mood. The raï is on the rise, tequila shoots are crackling. Some customers have even brought bottles of champagne that they cut for the occasion.

  

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algiers

Creepy despite everything beautiful

Szondi Test with Pictures That Will Reveal Your Deepest Hidden Self BY ANNA LEMIND MAY 22, 2014 PSYCHOLOGY & HEALTH, SELF-KNOWLEDGE & PERSONALITY TESTS The test was designed in the 20th century by the Hungarian psychiatrist Leopold Szondi. The aim was to explore the deepest repressed impulses of a person on the basis of sympathy or aversion caused by the specific photos of psychopaths. The test is based on the general notion that the characteristics that bother us in others are those that caused aversion to ourselves at an early stage of our life and that’s why we repress them. Here are some psychology terms you need to know before starting the test: Repression: According to the psychoanalytic concept, this is the most important psychological defense mechanism we have. Its most important function is to transfer thoughts and desires we are uncomfortable with to our unconscious. Denial: It is a mental process by which we absolutely refuse our deepest impulses (ie things we want), adopting the exact opposite pattern of the desired behavior. Sublimation: the process of transfer of our repressed choices, states or behaviors to the ones that are socially acceptable or useful, such as artistic activities, hobbies, professional choices, harmless little habits etc. Instructions Look at the portraits of these eight people and choose the one you would never want to meet at night in the dark, because his or her appearance causes disgust and fear in you. Then read the interpretation that corresponds to the number of the portrait you chose. IMPORTANT: please don’t misunderstand the results of the test, which don’t imply that you have a kind of mental disorder, since the test was designed to make an assumption about the possible repressed impulses of each type of personality in accordance with the psychoanalysis theory. The original test included 6 sets of 8 portraits of people, each of whom had been classified as homosexual, a sadist, an epileptic, an hysteric, a katatonic, a schizophrenic, a depressive and a maniac. Here is a minor version of the test, which includes only one set of portraits, since it is very difficult to provide the full version of it with all the possible interpretations in one blog post. Interpretations 1) Sadist Repression You are likely to have repressed some experiences from the first years of life associated with authoritarianism in your behavior, a need to dominate and a propensity for bad intentions. If you chose the portrait of this teacher may have repressed some offensive or demeaning to other behaviors in your unconscious. Denial You are likely to be a completely harmless and peaceful creature, always ready to help others. If you are an office worker, your superiors may find it difficult to handle you. When you do not want to do something, you create barriers (for example, getting late to work or showing that you are in a bad mood). Often, when you have to defend yourself, you choose passive resistance and defiance, which in the long term exhaust those who created problems for you. 2) Epileptic Repression When we talk about personality disorders associated with brain disease, damage and dysfunction (as occurs in some cases of epilepsy), some of the diagnostic features can be impulsiveness, irritability, the outbursts of anger and aggression. If this stout gentleman with a round head caused revulsion and fear in you, it is likely that early in your childhood you repressed some of such feelings and behaviors to your subconscious. Denial It is most likely that you are a kind and peaceful person. Being meek and friendly, you give the impression of a responsible and self-controlled person. You are stable in your feelings and easily bond with people, ideas and objects. 3) Katatonic Repression Some features of this mental disorder is the excessive stimulation of imagination and cognition in general and negativism. If this unshaven but smiling gentleman caused negative feelings in you, you may have repressed some hyperactivity of your mind, which could make you lose touch with reality if it had not been transferred to your unconscious. Denial You tend to adopt stereotypical behaviors and do not like innovations and changes. Maybe you’re the type of timid and diffident person, who finds it particularly difficulte to adapt to new situations. Your biggest fear is to lose self-control. You are a bit stiff, often defensive and perhaps inhibited person who never deviates from the ‘behavior codex’. 4) Schizophrenic Repression The schizophrenic personality is characterized by intense apathy, distortions of thought and incompatible emotions. If this impassive gaze and poker face gave you goose bumps, you probably repressed a feeling of indifference towards others and withdrawal from things and events at an early stage of your childhood. Denial You are probably quite a sociable person. You believe in socializing and communication with others, enjoying your companies and going out often. The sociability is rather misleading and perhaps hides an isolated person who lives with the feeling of being always alone. Your relationships may seem impersonal and superficial, as if they lack the true feeling. Deep down, you may feel that you do not need others and coexistence with them. 5) Hysteric Repression Some personality traits of hysterical people are superficial and unstable emotions, narcissism and exhibitionism. If chose this strange lady with heavy eyelids as the person that scares you most of all, maybe it’s because you have repressed an insatiable desire to captivate attention and a thirst for approval. Denial You give the impression of a modest person with intense inwardness. However, in reality, seeming a quiet and shy person, you may be possessed of an overpowering and excessive desire to charm others. You meticulously take care of your appearance and behavior. For example, you always try to be elegant and well-dressed, complementing your clothes with accessories that attract the attention of others. Sublimation Such people are likely to choose a rare/extravagant profession or hobby. 6) Depressive Repression Lack of self-esteem, feelings of inferiority and guilt are the main symptoms of depression. The fact that this harmless being is an incarnation of aversion for you may mean that you are a deeply depressed person who manages to have these symptoms under control. Denial Perhaps you are an outgoing and carefree person. You always show dynamism, confidence and optimism. Sometimes, of course, you get upset and can manifest dysthymia and melancholy (“sad clown syndrome”). You can also be suspicious and morose. Sublimation It is very likely that shift your depressive tendencies to assuming the role of everybody’s psychologist, searching for solutions to other people’s problems. 7) Maniac Repression Some diagnostic features of mania are extroversion, overstimulation, overestimation of self and a waste of money and emotions. If this kind face seems disgusting to you, it probably means that inside you there is a kind of excitement which, if not controlled, would transform you into a fanatic mystic. Denial You are very likely to be a person who does not want to provoke with his/her behavior and who detests noise, extremes and excesses. You are an example of discretion, restraint and measure. Being logical and thrifty, you always have a fully controlled behavior. 8) Dissociative identity disorder Repression This kind of personality is expressed in a person’s desire to live and be accepted as a member of the opposite sex. If this young man seems dangerous and depraved to you, perhaps early in your childhood you repressed an identity problem or more specifically a problem about your gender identity. Denial If the defense mechanism of denial worked, you may have a tendency to emphatically confirm your biological sex. In this case, your behaviors, maners and appearance emphasize that you are a real man or a real woman. If you’re a man, you are very “macho”, and if you are a woman, you always try to look sexy and seek to flirt and attract men.

 

Read more at: www.learning-mind.com/szondi-test-with-pictures-that-will...

 

www.learning-mind.com/szondi-test-with-pictures-that-will...

 

This is another 2D artwork derived from my recent experimentation & expanded learning of 3D modeling / texturing for SecondLife.

 

This work is called "DEVILTRIES DEMISE" and as dark and evil as this work looks it is actually my personal expression of hope to all those people living in countries currently being lead by cruel, evil, heartless dictators & regimes.

 

This works visually expresses the pillar of ugliness each leader of deviltry portrays in the eyes of the repressed people in his sphere of control as well as the world. He shouts out his evil with a brazen tone of power in hopes for all to hear and fear. Yet he secretly is in fear because like the dry baked muds that has entombed this statue, he knows that position of control is only from what spews from his mouth of defiance.

 

This Dealer of Deviltry knows full well that the people he openly attempts to control and crush are those like the mud around him. If his people stand brave together and strong, they can smother him and crush him to bring him to his demise. If these brave citizens' stand together they can send this dictator to become nothing more than ghosts of the past.

 

Within the past couple years we have seen two amazing examples of this demise of deviltry when we all witnessed the brave peoples of Egypt and Libya bring the demise of Mubarak and Gaddafi like a baked desert mud entombing both to become the symbolic ghosts in this artwork. Although I had in mind the Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad as the current dealer of deviltries waiting for his demise in this artwork, I am sure you all can place many other names of both current and past deviltry dealers into the faces shown in this work.

 

My heart and hopes often goes to all those currently suffering under these evil men. But you know their time will come soon enough.

 

CREDITS:

All inputs used in this work are mine with the exception of the following textures from Pareeerica:

 

Pareeerica - FIREWALKER: www.flickr.com/photos/8078381@N03/3908535223/

Pareeerica - GALAXY OF GOLD: www.flickr.com/photos/8078381@N03/4829603947/

Pareeerica - STAR CRACKLE: www.flickr.com/photos/8078381@N03/3411419204/

  

Toysoldier Thor: ToyTalks.weebly.com

When I was a kid all I wanted to be was a cowboy. Never mind that I lived in the heart of San Francisco and the only horse I ever saw was the pony owned by the photographer that showed up once a year on the block offering to take your picture sitting astride the little steed all dressed up in cowboy gear. I was greatly inspired by Saturday Westerns on TV along with my Grandfather's stories about growing up in Angel's Camp during the early 19th century when they used horses more than they used things with gears and motors. I spent a fair amount of my time astride two old saw horses in my Grandfather's backyard herding cattle and chasing rustlers.

 

So fast forward approximately 55 years and I am hiking in the Spenceville Wildlife Area with Margaret when rounding a bend we came face-to-face with a small herd of cattle. My inner repressed "little cowboy" immediately jumped to the forefront and I found myself responding like a Border Collie in a field full of distracted sheep. I waved my hat and yelled "Git Along" and sure as sunshine the herd started booking it for the creek. Yeehaw...I grabbed my camera and shot them as they ran because I knew that none of you would believe it if I just told you about it. And a little advice: never ever get excited and kick a fresh cow pie on a hot day. :-)

 

Yuba County, CA

Charley (mildly): “Remind me again why I hang out with you two miscreants?”

 

Fox: “Because we know the trauma of being trapped in the classroom with a dozen bored, restless kids and no escape in sight.”

 

Bronte: “Otherwise known as Dante’s tenth circle of hell.

 

Charley: *nods* “Oh, yeah. That’s why.”

 

Fox: *sets the bottles on the coffee table, collapses next to Charley* “Seriously, though, you have the hottest boyfriend.”

 

Charley: “Yours isn’t exactly the Elephant Man.”

 

Fox: “True, but mine’s in Mongolia right now. And Skype sex sucks…or, in this case, doesn’t suck. ‘Cuz if it sucked it’d be way more satisfying.”

 

Charley: *makes a face*

 

Fox: “Hey, hey, now. Keep that ‘pee-yoo’ face to yourself. If you’re able to engage in the sex act, you should be able to talk about the sex act.”

 

Charley: “Strongly disagree. Doing it means you never have to talk about it.”

 

Fox: *rolling laugh* “You adorable little repressed prude, you.”

 

Charley: “I’m reserved, not repressed. You got the prefix right, but not the root.”

 

Irony: *leaps over Charley, settles between Fox and Charley (for double the petting)*

 

Bronte: *pops the tops off the bottles, begins filling glasses* “At least you two have boyfriends.”

  

Fashion Credits

***Any doll enhancements (i.e. freckles, piercings, eye color changes, haircuts) were done by me unless otherwise stated.***

 

Charley

Shorts: IT – Poppy Parker – Ooh La La

Top: IT – Dynamite Girls – Love Revolution – Sweet Freedom Susie

Sweater IT – FR2 – Only Natural Fashion – I removed the pockets and added the buttons.

Sneakers: Sekiguchi – Momoko – Go For Victory

Glasses: Sekiguchi – Momoko Separates

Necklace: Me

 

Doll is a Morning Dew Giselle transplanted to a Poppy body, re-rooted by the super-duper valmaxi(!!!)

 

Bronte

Blouse: Not sure. It’s not IT, Mattel, or handmade, though.

Dress: lulumaygang (Etsy.com) – I turned it inside out and backwards.

Shoes: IT – NuFace – Sister Moguls Giselle

Brooch: Mattel - BFMC

 

Doll is a 2014 Fashion Royalty Convention Welcome Doll with a haircut and enhancements.

 

Fox

Pants: IT – 2016 FR Convention – You Better Werk! Tullabelle giftset

Shirt: ababietoy (Etsy.com)

Corset Belt Thingy: IT – NuFace – AKA Gigi Giselle

Boots: eBay

Twiggy Tote: La Boutique

Earrings & Bracelets: Me

 

Doll is a Nightscape Giselle transplanted to a Poppy bod.

Writer Henri Nouwen: "Your body needs to be held and to hold, to be

touched and to touch. None of these needs is to be despised, denied,

or repressed. But you have to keep searching for your body's deeper

need, the need for genuine love. Every time you are able to go beyond

the body's superficial desires for love, you are bringing your body

home and moving toward integration and unity."

 

Gua'li in my ancestors native language means "little one" or "most important one".

My 2015 Elsa Limited Edition 17'' Doll, fully deboxed. She is posed standing, supported by the included doll stand.

 

The Limited Edition Elsa Doll, released in stores in North America on March 3, 2015. My doll is #2942 of 5000. She is in jeweled purple felt (made from faux wool). This is the outfit she wore as an 18 year old when saying good bye to her parents before their overseas journey. She is wearing ice blue jeweled satin gloves, which help repress her ice powers. Her hands are clasped together. Her pose and look are that of a sternly repressed nature. She is standing in front a purple window of the Castle, which is closed, as she is closed to the outside world.

 

She is wearing black flats with floral decoration. Her jacket is pinned to her dress, which I left alone, as it helps to keep the jacket from opening up. There was a large amount of tissue paper stuffing under her skirt. I had to remove her from the doll stand before I could remove the tissue.

 

She has shiny pearlescent skin, and her skin tone is between that of Coronation Elsa and Snow Queen Elsa. In bright lighting, her skin is iridescent with a a purple sheen. Her hair is slicked down in the front and is in a bun in the back. There is gold tinsel in her hair, even in her side burns.

 

Limited Edition Elsa Doll - Frozen - 17''

Released in stores 2015-03-03

Purchased in store 2015-03-03

Released online 2015-03-04

Sold out in 10 minutes

$119.95

Item No. 6070040901176P

 

Wintry wonder

The Disney Store proudly presents the worldwide Limited Edition Elsa Doll. A regal vision, draped in sumptuous dark purple velvet from head to toe, Elsa is costumed as seen at the beginning of Disney's feature film Frozen.

 

Magic in the details...

 

Please Note: Purchase of this item is limited to 1 per Guest.

 

• Limited Edition of 5000

• Certificate of Authenticity

• Rich velvet costume with bejeweled and embroidered accents

• Jacket features iridescent appliquéd details and fine metallic gold trim

• Skirt features beautiful golden trim, dazzling gemstones, and richly embroidered satin appliqués

• Faux leather belt with shining metallic embroidery

• Satin mittens with jeweled accents

• Glittering rooted hair and eyelashes

• Fully poseable

• Display stand included

• Comes in elegant window display packaging

• Meticulously designed by Disney Store artists to ensure every detail was captured

• Look for our Limited Edition Anna Doll - Frozen - 17'', sold separately

 

The bare necessities

 

• Ages 6+

• Plastic / polyester

• 17'' H

• Imported

 

Safety

 

WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD - Small Parts. Not for children under 3 years.

View On Black

 

Satie accompanies: www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIVp05sEPhE

 

Dra Poem on the Flickr Road:

  

It finds itself speechless

this thing of mine.

This feeling, this glow inside.

It watches in wonder

at the human spirit

and burns constant to fortify.

 

When it encounters the grace,

an urgency awakes.

It responds and opens

in gentle sway

 

It's not repressed this thing of yours

it shouts out, clean and true

elements of rage

and whimsy too.

 

Enabling us to share a thing or two

about our nature, our changes, our moods

Attention is given, meaning is clear,

so each of our rituals, set in motion

arrives in peace to our community

 

Passages of souls

influencing each other.

the flow of action, the clarity of thought

shed light on each other

to enforce the love.

 

repressed memories series; obscured figures hidden behind many layers

Grabbed this shot in Buenos Aires in the area where Tango got started, later repressed, afterward flowered, today evolving and incredibly fascinating.