View allAll Photos Tagged UNCONTROLLABLE
Charlotte Russe trench
Vintage plaid shirt
Urban Outfitters shorts and flats
Vintage beret
Do you ever have an uncontrollable desire to “be more”? I do. And I know it’s something I’ve talked about before (ok, so I’ve killed this subject) but I obsess over improving myself... read more.
Amelia's got an uncontrollable passion: shopping!
Uncontrollable passion that is a sort of illness, she buys clothes, underwear, accessories, cosmetics, but also kitchenware...
For her buying is "like to wake up in the morning and realize that it's Saturday! It's like best moments of sex".
In every shop or department store, in every catalogue she always finds the big chance, the irresistible thing she can't give up buying!
She goes out to buy some milk and.... she returns home carrying a bag of Harrods...
But she opens terrorized the bank statement....
Fashion credits:
fur jacket: Aria Electropop
top: Barbie On Location Montecarlo
jeans and shoes: Barbie Basic
purse: Barbie Top Model
jewels by me
Eric's good friends Jody and Zibby took us for a fun ride on the water with "uncontrollable urge", their bayliner 175.
I'm getting used to the fact that Vancouver is surrounded by so much nature, but I was really blown away to see the amazing view from the boat.
A big thanks to Jody, Zibby and cutie Tristan.
**View On Black**
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkxRgTPNVus
Où sont passés les années, le bon vieux temps
Les fou rires incontrôlés qu'on aimait tant ?
Je revois les personnages, qu'on n'oublie pas
Celle de la petite fille sage que j'étais pas
(Where have the years gone, the good old time
The uncontrollable laughs which we loved so
I see the characters again, which we don't forget
The one of the little smart girl which I was not)
Une ombre m'a frôlée de près, pour me voler
Prendre mon âme, mes intérêts
Laissez-moi, ça sa me dit pas
On est jamais trop sûr, je reste sur mes gardes
Tous les points de sutures, menacent et nous regardent
Je veux pas de blessures, pas de coups durs
Je préfère rien oser, me garder
(A shadow has brushed against me, to steal from me
Take my soul, my interests
Leave this to me, I don't care
One's never too sure, I'll stay careful
All the scarring wounds, menaces and looks at us
I want no wounds, no hard blows
I prefer to dare nothing, to keep)
On n'oublie pas l'origine, le développement
Qui restent et qui nous cheminent, fatalement
(One doesn't forget the origin, the development
Which stays and takes root, fatally)
© All rights reserved Anna Kwa. Please do not use this image on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit written permission.
should one encounter an unexpected classical partial-nude painting in an otherwise staid corner of a fine art museum, the 6yrold demonstrates the proper (puritanical) method of giggling uncontrollably.
Race developed machine. From the track to the street in a few moments.
The RD Name
There was a myth that RD stood for "Racing Death" and "Road Death" and that it was the Japanese revenge for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as it claimed the lives of many US riders, but this is pure fiction (according to Japanese representatives). It was thought by some RD stood for "race derived." But a long time Yamaha mechanic recently dispelled this myth on the UK Yamaha RD forum, this is his explanation and he has worked with and raced them since the seventies: "We always understood it to be a series of letters that explain the bikes make up and function two stroke twin." The RD was a gas guzzler that would deliver anywhere between 6 - 24 km per litre.
Popularity
The bike was a very snappy performer and was popular with beginner riders. However, the combination of a stiff suspension, relatively abrupt power delivery and very powerful brakes to the inexperienced riders led it to being regarded as being "too fast" for new riders (uncontrollable 1st gear wheelies in the hands of careless riders were not an uncommon problem). Its good performance, light weight, and easy maintenance made it a world favorite but it ultimately suffered at the hands of increasingly stringent noise and tighter emissions standards in the US market and changing consumer appeal.
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Spine chilling. Literally! We were shaking uncontrollably. But I would rank that place somewhere at the top in my list of breathtaking scenics.
"Uncontrollable heartbeat
You can hear only pulse
Thanks to those, who gave me life"
(Cookies to those who know where the title comes from :D)
I don't know what's with Nana and his "Give me cuddles TAT" face lately. *pats him*
Also, Flickr? I KNOW you're destroying my photo quality, you sneaky little b*tards. >:T
不懂为什么最近七文一直给我这种“我要抱抱”的脸。
The Dakshinkali Temple is located 22 kilometers from Kathmandu next to the village of Pharping. It's one of the main temples in Nepal. Twice every week thousands of people come here to worship the goddess Kali by sacrificing life animals, particularly cockerels and uncastrated male goats.
GODDESS KALI
Kālī (/ˈkɑːli/; Sanskrit: काली & Bengali: কালী; IPA: [kɑːliː]), also known as Kālikā (Sanskrit: कालिका), is the Hindu goddess associated with empowerment, or shakti. She is the fierce aspect of the goddess Durga. The name of Kali means black one and force of time; she is therefore called the Goddess of Time, Change, Power, Creation, Preservation, and Destruction. Her earliest appearance is that of a destroyer principally of evil forces. Various Shakta Hindu cosmologies, as well as Shākta Tantric beliefs, worship her as the ultimate reality or Brahman; and recent devotional movements re-imagine Kāli as a benevolent mother goddess. She is often portrayed standing or dancing on her husband, the god Shiva, who lies calm and prostrate beneath her. Worshipped throughout India but particularly South India, Bengal, and Assam, Kali is both geographically and culturally marginal.
ETYMOLOGY
Kālī is the feminine form of kālam ("black, dark coloured"). Kāla primarily means "time", but also means "black"; hence, Kālī means "the black one" or "beyond time". Kāli is strongly associated with Shiva, and Shaivas derive the masculine Kāla (an epithet of Shiva) from her feminine name. A nineteenth-century Sanskrit dictionary, the Shabdakalpadrum, states: कालः शिवः। तस्य पत्नीति - काली। kālaḥ śivaḥ। tasya patnīti kālī - "Shiva is Kāla, thus, his consort is Kāli".
Other names include Kālarātri ("black night"), as described above, and Kālikā ("relating to time"), and Kallie ("black alchemist"). Coburn notes that the name Kālī can be used as a proper name, or as a description of color.
Kāli's association with darkness stands in contrast to her consort, Shiva, whose body is covered by the white ashes of the cremation ground (Sanskrit: śmaśāna) where he meditates, and with which Kāli is also associated, as śmaśāna-kālī.
ORIGINS
Hugh Urban notes that although the word Kālī appears as early as the Atharva Veda, the first use of it as a proper name is in the Kathaka Grhya Sutra (19.7). Kali is the name of one of the seven tongues of Agni, the [Rigvedic] God of Fire, in the Mundaka Upanishad (2:4), but it is unlikely that this refers to the goddess. The first appearance of Kāli in her present form is in the Sauptika Parvan of the Mahabharata (10.8.64). She is called Kālarātri (literally, "black night") and appears to the Pandava soldiers in dreams, until finally she appears amidst the fighting during an attack by Drona's son Ashwatthama. She most famously appears in the sixth century Devi Mahatmyam as one of the shaktis of Mahadevi, and defeats the demon Raktabija ("Bloodseed"). The tenth-century Kalika Purana venerates Kāli as the ultimate reality.
According to David Kinsley, Kāli is first mentioned in Hinduism as a distinct goddess around 600 CE, and these texts "usually place her on the periphery of Hindu society or on the battlefield." She is often regarded as the Shakti of Shiva, and is closely associated with him in various Puranas. The Kalika Purana depicts her as the "Adi Shakti" (Fundamental Power) and "Para Prakriti" or beyond nature.
WORSHIP AND MANTRA
Kali could be considered a general concept, like Durga, and is mostly worshiped in the Kali Kula sect of worship. The closest way of direct worship is Maha Kali or Bhadra Kali (Bhadra in Sanskrit means 'gentle'). Kali is worshiped as one of the 10 Mahavidya forms of Adi Parashakti (Goddess Durga) or Bhagavathy according to the region. The mantra for worship is
Sanskrit: सर्वमङ्गलमाङ्गल्ये शिवे सर्वार्थसाधिके । शरण्ये त्र्यम्बके गौरि नारायणि नमोऽस्तु ते ॥
ॐ जयंती मंगल काली भद्रकाली कपालिनी । दुर्गा शिवा क्षमा धात्री स्वाहा स्वधा नमोऽस्तुते ॥
(Sarvamaṅgalamāṅgalyē śivē sarvārthasādhikē . śaraṇyē tryambakē gauri nārāyaṇi namō'stu tē.
Oṃ jayantī mangala kālī bhadrakālī kapālinī . durgā śivā ksamā dhātrī svāhā svadhā namō'stutē.)
YANTRA
Goddesses play an important role in the study and practice of Tantra Yoga, and are affirmed to be as central to discerning the nature of reality as are the male deities. Although Parvati is often said to be the recipient and student of Shiva's wisdom in the form of Tantras, it is Kali who seems to dominate much of the Tantric iconography, texts, and rituals. In many sources Kāli is praised as the highest reality or greatest of all deities. The Nirvana-tantra says the gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva all arise from her like bubbles in the sea, ceaselessly arising and passing away, leaving their original source unchanged. The Niruttara-tantra and the Picchila-tantra declare all of Kāli's mantras to be the greatest and the Yogini-tantra, Kamakhya-tantra and the Niruttara-tantra all proclaim Kāli vidyas (manifestations of Mahadevi, or "divinity itself"). They declare her to be an essence of her own form (svarupa) of the Mahadevi.In the Mahanirvana-tantra, Kāli is one of the epithets for the primordial sakti, and in one passage Shiva praises her:At the dissolution of things, it is Kāla [Time]. Who will devour all, and by reason of this He is called Mahākāla [an epithet of Lord Shiva], and since Thou devourest Mahākāla Himself, it is Thou who art the Supreme Primordial Kālika. Because Thou devourest Kāla, Thou art Kāli, the original form of all things, and because Thou art the Origin of and devourest all things Thou art called the Adya [the Primordial One]. Re-assuming after Dissolution Thine own form, dark and formless, Thou alone remainest as One ineffable and inconceivable. Though having a form, yet art Thou formless; though Thyself without beginning, multiform by the power of Maya, Thou art the Beginning of all, Creatrix, Protectress, and Destructress that Thou art. The figure of Kāli conveys death, destruction, and the consuming aspects of reality. As such, she is also a "forbidden thing", or even death itself. In the Pancatattva ritual, the sadhaka boldly seeks to confront Kali, and thereby assimilates and transforms her into a vehicle of salvation. This is clear in the work of the Karpuradi-stotra, a short praise of Kāli describing the Pancatattva ritual unto her, performed on cremation grounds. (Samahana-sadhana)He, O Mahākāli who in the cremation-ground, naked, and with dishevelled hair, intently meditates upon Thee and recites Thy mantra, and with each recitation makes offering to Thee of a thousand Akanda flowers with seed, becomes without any effort a Lord of the earth. Oh Kāli, whoever on Tuesday at midnight, having uttered Thy mantra, makes offering even but once with devotion to Thee of a hair of his Shakti [his energy/female companion] in the cremation-ground, becomes a great poet, a Lord of the earth, and ever goes mounted upon an elephant.The Karpuradi-stotra clearly indicates that Kāli is more than a terrible, vicious, slayer of demons who serves Durga or Shiva. Here, she is identified as the supreme mistress of the universe, associated with the five elements. In union with Lord Shiva, she creates and destroys worlds. Her appearance also takes a different turn, befitting her role as ruler of the world and object of meditation. In contrast to her terrible aspects, she takes on hints of a more benign dimension. She is described as young and beautiful, has a gentle smile, and makes gestures with her two right hands to dispel any fear and offer boons. The more positive features exposed offer the distillation of divine wrath into a goddess of salvation, who rids the sadhaka of fear. Here, Kali appears as a symbol of triumph over death.
BENGALI TRADITION
Kali is also a central figure in late medieval Bengali devotional literature, with such devotees as Ramprasad Sen (1718–75). With the exception of being associated with Parvati as Shiva's consort, Kāli is rarely pictured in Hindu legends and iconography as a motherly figure until Bengali devotions beginning in the early eighteenth century. Even in Bengāli tradition her appearance and habits change little, if at all.
The Tantric approach to Kāli is to display courage by confronting her on cremation grounds in the dead of night, despite her terrible appearance. In contrast, the Bengali devotee appropriates Kāli's teachings adopting the attitude of a child, coming to love her unreservedly. In both cases, the goal of the devotee is to become reconciled with death and to learn acceptance of the way that things are. These themes are well addressed in Rāmprasād's work. Rāmprasād comments in many of his other songs that Kāli is indifferent to his wellbeing, causes him to suffer, brings his worldly desires to nothing and his worldly goods to ruin. He also states that she does not behave like a mother should and that she ignores his pleas:
Can mercy be found in the heart of her who was born of the stone? [a reference to Kali as the daughter of Himalaya]
Were she not merciless, would she kick the breast of her lord?
Men call you merciful, but there is no trace of mercy in you, Mother.
You have cut off the heads of the children of others, and these you wear as a garland around your neck.
It matters not how much I call you "Mother, Mother." You hear me, but you will not listen.
To be a child of Kāli, Rāmprasād asserts, is to be denied of earthly delights and pleasures. Kāli is said to refrain from giving that which is expected. To the devotee, it is perhaps her very refusal to do so that enables her devotees to reflect on dimensions of themselves and of reality that go beyond the material world.
A significant portion of Bengali devotional music features Kāli as its central theme and is known as Shyama Sangeet ("Music of the Night"). Mostly sung by male vocalists, today even women have taken to this form of music. One of the finest singers of Shyāma Sāngeet is Pannalal Bhattacharya.
In Bengal, Kāli is venerated in the festival Kali Puja, the new moon day of Ashwin month which coincides with Diwali festival.
In a unique form of Kāli worship, Shantipur worships Kāli in the form of a hand painted image of the deity known as Poteshwari (meaning the deity drawn on a piece of cloth).
LEGENDS
SLAYER AND RAKTABIJA
In Kāli's most famous legend, Devi Durga (Adi Parashakti) and her assistants, the Matrikas, wound the demon Raktabija, in various ways and with a variety of weapons in an attempt to destroy him. They soon find that they have worsened the situation for with every drop of blood that is dripped from Raktabija he reproduces a clone of himself. The battlefield becomes increasingly filled with his duplicates. Durga, in need of help, summons Kāli to combat the demons. It is said, in some versions, that Goddess Durga actually assumes the form of Goddess Kāli at this time. The Devi Mahatmyam describes:
Out of the surface of her (Durga's) forehead, fierce with frown, issued suddenly Kali of terrible countenance, armed with a sword and noose. Bearing the strange khatvanga (skull-topped staff ), decorated with a garland of skulls, clad in a tiger's skin, very appalling owing to her emaciated flesh, with gaping mouth, fearful with her tongue lolling out, having deep reddish eyes, filling the regions of the sky with her roars, falling upon impetuously and slaughtering the great asuras in that army, she devoured those hordes of the foes of the devas.
Kali consumes Raktabija and his duplicates, and dances on the corpses of the slain. In the Devi Mahatmya version of this story, Kali is also described as a Matrika and as a Shakti or power of Devi. She is given the epithet Cāṃuṇḍā (Chamunda), i.e. the slayer of the demons Chanda and Munda. Chamunda is very often identified with Kali and is very much like her in appearance and habit.
DAKSHINA KALI
In her most famous pose as Daksinakali, popular legends say that Kali, drunk on the blood of her victims, is about to destroy the whole universe when, urged by all the gods, Shiva lies in her way to stop her, and she steps upon his chest. Recognizing Shiva beneath her feet, she calms herself. Though not included in any of the puranas, popular legends state that Kali was ashamed at the prospect of keeping her husband beneath her feet and thus stuck her tongue out in shame. The Devi-Bhagavata Purana, which goes into great depths about the goddess Kali, reveals the tongue's actual symbolism.
The characteristic icons that depict Kali are the following; unbridled matted hair, open blood shot eyes, open mouth and a drooping tongue; in her hands, she holds a Khadga (bent sword or scimitar) and a human head; she has a girdle of human hands across her waist, and Shiva lies beneath her feet. The drooping out-stuck tongue represents her blood-thirst. Lord Shiva beneath her feet represents matter, as Kali energy. The depiction of Kali on Shiva shows that without energy, matter lies "dead". This concept has been simplified to a folk-tale depicting a wife placing her foot
on her husband and sticking her tongue out in shame. In tantric contexts, the tongue is seen to denote the element (guna) of rajas (energy and action) controlled by sattva.
If Kali steps on Shiva with her right foot and holds the sword in her left hand, she is considered to be Dakshina Kali. The Dakshina Kali Temple has important religious associations with the Jagannath Temple and it is believed that Daksinakali is the guardian of the kitchen of the Lord Jagannath Temple. Puranic tradition says that in Puri, Lord Jagannath is regarded as Daksinakalika. Goddess Dakshinakali plays an important role in the 'Niti' of Saptapuri Amavasya.
One South Indian tradition tells of a dance contest between Shiva and Kali. After defeating the two demons Sumbha and Nisumbha, Kali takes up residence in the forest of Thiruvalankadu or Thiruvalangadu. She terrorizes the surrounding area with her fierce, disruptive nature. One of Shiva's devotees becomes distracted while performing austerities, and asks Shiva to rid the forest of the destructive goddess. When Shiva arrives, Kali threatens him, and Shiva challenges Kali to a dance contest, wherein Kali matches Shiva until Shiva takes the "Urdhvatandava" step, vertically raising his right leg. Kali refuses to perform this step, which would not befit her as a woman, and becomes pacified.
SMASHAN KALI
If the Kali steps out with the left foot and holds the sword in her right hand, she is the terrible form of Mother, the Smashan Kali of the cremation ground. She is worshiped by tantrics, the followers of Tantra, who believe that one's spiritual discipline practiced in a smashan (cremation ground) brings success quickly. Sarda Devi, the consort of Ramakrishna Paramhansa, worshipped Smashan Kali at Dakshineshwar.
MATERNAL KALI
At the time of samundra manthan when amrit came out, along with that came out poison which was going to destroy the world hence on the request of all the gods, Lord Shiva drank it to save the world but as he is beyond death he didn't die but was very much in pain due to the poison effect hence he became a child so that Kali can feed him with her milk which will sooth out the poison effect.
MAHAKALI
Mahakali (Sanskrit: Mahākālī, Devanagari: महाकाली), literally translated as Great Kali, is sometimes considered as a greater form of Kali, identified with the Ultimate reality of Brahman. It can also be used as an honorific of the Goddess Kali, signifying her greatness by the prefix "Mahā-". Mahakali, in Sanskrit, is etymologically the feminized variant of Mahakala or Great Time (which is interpreted also as Death), an epithet of the God Shiva in Hinduism. Mahakali is the presiding Goddess of the first episode of the Devi Mahatmya. Here she is depicted as Devi in her universal form as Shakti. Here Devi serves as the agent who allows the cosmic order to be restored.
Kali is depicted in the Mahakali form as having ten heads, ten arms, and ten legs. Each of her ten hands is carrying a various implement which vary in different accounts, but each of these represent the power of one of the Devas or Hindu Gods and are often the identifying weapon or ritual item of a given Deva. The implication is that Mahakali subsumes and is responsible for the powers that these deities possess and this is in line with the interpretation that Mahakali is identical with Brahman. While not displaying ten heads, an "ekamukhi" or one headed image may be displayed with ten arms, signifying the same concept: the powers of the various Gods come only through Her grace.
ICONOGRAPHY
Kali is portrayed mostly in two forms: the popular four-armed form and the ten-armed Mahakali form. In both of her forms, she is described as being black in color but is most often depicted as blue in popular Indian art. Her eyes are described as red with intoxication, and in absolute rage, her hair is shown disheveled, small fangs sometimes protrude out of her mouth, and her tongue is lolling. She is often shown naked or just wearing a skirt made of human arms and a garland of human heads. She is also accompanied by serpents and a jackal while standing on a seemingly dead Shiva, usually right foot forward to symbolize the more popular Dakshinamarga or right-handed path, as opposed to the more infamous and transgressive Vamamarga or left-handed path.
In the ten-armed form of Mahakali she is depicted as shining like a blue stone. She has ten faces, ten feet, and three eyes for each head. She has ornaments decked on all her limbs. There is no association with Shiva.
The Kalika Purana describes Kali as possessing a soothing dark complexion, as perfectly beautiful, riding a lion, four-armed, holding a sword and blue lotuses, her hair unrestrained, body firm and youthful.
In spite of her seemingly terrible form, Kali Ma is often considered the kindest and most loving of all the Hindu goddesses, as she is regarded by her devotees as the Mother of the whole Universe. And because of her terrible form, she is also often seen as a great protector. When the Bengali saint Ramakrishna once asked a devotee why one would prefer to worship Mother over him, this devotee rhetorically replied, "Maharaj", when they are in trouble your devotees come running to you. But, where do you run when you are in trouble?"
According to Ramakrishna, darkness is the Ultimate Mother, or Kali:
My Mother is the principle of consciousness. She is Akhanda Satchidananda;
indivisible Reality, Awareness, and Bliss. The night sky between the stars is perfectly black.
The waters of the ocean depths are the same; The infinite is always mysteriously dark.
This inebriating darkness is my beloved Kali.
—Sri Ramakrishna
This is clear in the works of such contemporary artists as Charles Wish, and Tyeb Mehta, who sometimes take great liberties with the traditional, accepted symbolism, but still demonstrate a true reverence for the Shakta sect.
POPULAR FORM
Classic depictions of Kali share several features, as follows:
Kali's most common four armed iconographic image shows each hand carrying variously a sword, a trishul (trident), a severed head, and a bowl or skull-cup (kapala) catching the blood of the severed head.
Two of these hands (usually the left) are holding a sword and a severed head. The Sword signifies Divine Knowledge and the Human Head signifies human Ego which must be slain by Divine Knowledge in order to attain Moksha. The other two hands (usually the right) are in the abhaya (fearlessness) and varada (blessing) mudras, which means her initiated devotees (or anyone worshipping her with a true heart) will be saved as she will guide them here and in the hereafter.
She has a garland consisting of human heads, variously enumerated at 108 (an auspicious number in Hinduism and the number of countable beads on a Japa Mala or rosary for repetition of Mantras) or 51, which represents Varnamala or the Garland of letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, Devanagari. Hindus believe Sanskrit is a language of dynamism, and each of these letters represents a form of energy, or a form of Kali. Therefore, she is generally seen as the mother of language, and all mantras.
She is often depicted naked which symbolizes her being beyond the covering of Maya since she is pure (nirguna) being-consciousness-bliss and far above prakriti. She is shown as very dark as she is brahman in its supreme unmanifest state. She has no permanent qualities - she will continue to exist even when the universe ends. It is therefore believed that the concepts of color, light, good, bad do not apply to her - she is the pure, un-manifested energy, the Adi-shakti.
Kali as the Symbol of Creation , Freedom , Preservation and Destruction
The head that hangs in Kali's hand is a symbol of Ego and the scimitar which she is holding represents power and energy.It is believed that Kali is protecting the human race by that scimitar and also destroying the negativity and ego within human being. The body lying under Kali symbolizes ruination, is actually a form of Shiva. Kali steps her leg on the chest of the body and suppress ruination . Since she is standing on the pure white chest of Lord Shiva who, as pure primal awareness, lays in a passive reclining position, peacefully lies with his eyes half open in a state of bliss. Her hair is long, black and flowing freely depicting Her freedom from convention and the confines of conceptualization. The white teeth which Kali has stands for conscience and her red tongue represents greed. By pressing her white teeth on her tongue Kali refers to control greed.The goddess may appear terrible from outside but every symbol in Kali signifies truth of life. Since the earth was created out of darkness, the dark black color of Kali symbolizes the color from which everything was born. Her right hand side arms she shows the Abhaya mudra(gesture of fearlessness) and Vara mudra (gesture of welcome and charity) respectively . But on the other arm in left side she holds a bloody scimitar and a severed head depicting destruction and end of ego.
Kali as the Symbol of Mother Nature
The name Kali means Kala or force of time. When there were neither the creation, nor the sun, the moon, the planets, and the earth, there was only darkness and everything was created from the darkness. The Dark appearance of kali represents the darkness from which everything was born. Her complexion is deep blue, like the sky and ocean water as blue. As she is also the goddess of Preservation Kali is worshiped as mother to preserve the nature.Kali is standing calm on Shiva, her appearance represents the preservation of mother nature. Her free, long and black hair represents nature's freedom from civilization. Under the third eye of kali, the signs of both sun, moon and fire are visible which represent the driving forces of nature.
SHIVA IN KALI ICONOGRAPHY
In both these images she is shown standing on the prone, inert or dead body of Shiva. There is a legend for the reason behind her standing on what appears to be Shiva's corpse, which translates as follows:
Once Kali had destroyed all the demons in battle, she began a terrific dance out of the sheer joy of victory. All the worlds or lokas began to tremble and sway under the impact of her dance. So, at the request of all the Gods, Shiva himself asked her to desist from this behavior. However, she was too intoxicated to listen. Hence, Shiva lay like a corpse among the slain demons in order to absorb the shock of the dance into himself. When Kali eventually stepped upon Shiva, she realized she was trampling and hurting her husband and bit her tongue in shame.
The story described here is a popular folk tale and not described or hinted in any of the puranas. The puranic interpretation is as follows:
Once, Parvati asks Shiva to chose the one form among her 10 forms which he likes most. To her surprise, Shiva reveals that he is most comfortable with her Kali form, in which she is bereft of her jewellery, her human-form, her clothes, her emotions and where she is only raw, chaotic energy, where she is as terrible as time itself and even greater than time. As Parvati takes the form of Kali, Shiva lies at her feet and requests her to place her foot on his chest, upon his heart. Once in this form, Shiva requests her to have this place, below her feet in her iconic image which would be worshiped throughout.
This idea has been explored in the Devi-Bhagavata Purana [28] and is most popular in the Shyama Sangeet, devotional songs to Kali from the 12th to 15th centuries.
The Tantric interpretation of Kali standing on top of her husband is as follows:
The Shiv tattava (Divine Consciousness as Shiva) is inactive, while the Shakti tattava (Divine Energy as Kali) is active. Shiva and Kali represent Brahman, the Absolute pure consciousness which is beyond all names, forms and activities. Kali, on the other hand, represents the potential (and manifested) energy responsible for all names, forms and activities. She is his Shakti, or creative power, and is seen as the substance behind the entire content of all consciousness. She can never exist apart from Shiva or act independently of him, just as Shiva remains a mere corpse without Kali i.e., Shakti, all the matter/energy of the universe, is not distinct from Shiva, or Brahman, but is rather the dynamic power of Brahman. Hence, Kali is Para Brahman in the feminine and dynamic aspect while Shiva is the male aspect and static. She stands as the absolute basis for all life, energy and beneath her feet lies, Shiva, a metaphor for mass, which cannot retain its form without energy.
While this is an advanced concept in monistic Shaktism, it also agrees with the Nondual Trika philosophy of Kashmir, popularly known as Kashmir Shaivism and associated most famously with Abhinavagupta. There is a colloquial saying that "Shiva without Shakti is Shava" which means that without the power of action (Shakti) that is Mahakali (represented as the short "i" in Devanagari) Shiva (or consciousness itself) is inactive; Shava means corpse in Sanskrit and the play on words is that all Sanskrit consonants are assumed to be followed by a short letter "a" unless otherwise noted. The short letter "i" represents the female power or Shakti that activates Creation. This is often the explanation for why She is standing on Shiva, who is either Her husband and complement in Shaktism or the Supreme Godhead in Shaivism.
To properly understand this complex Tantric symbolism it is important to remember that the meaning behind Shiva and Kali does not stray from the non-dualistic parlance of Shankara or the Upanisads. According to both the Mahanirvana and Kularnava Tantras, there are two distinct ways of perceiving the same absolute reality. The first is a transcendental plane which is often described as static, yet infinite. It is here that there is no matter, there is no universe and only consciousness exists. This form of reality is known as Shiva, the absolute Sat-Chit-Ananda - existence, knowledge and bliss. The second is an active plane, an immanent plane, the plane of matter, of Maya, i.e., where the illusion of space-time and the appearance of an actual universe does exist. This form of reality is known as Kali or Shakti, and (in its entirety) is still specified as the same Absolute Sat-Chit-Ananda. It is here in this second plane that the universe (as we commonly know it) is experienced and is described by the Tantric seer as the play of Shakti, or God as Mother Kali.
From a Tantric perspective, when one meditates on reality at rest, as absolute pure consciousness (without the activities of creation, preservation or dissolution) one refers to this as Shiva or Brahman. When one meditates on reality as dynamic and creative, as the Absolute content of pure consciousness (with all the activities of creation, preservation or dissolution) one refers to it as Kali or Shakti. However, in either case the yogini or yogi is interested in one and the same reality - the only difference being in name and fluctuating aspects of appearance. It is this which is generally accepted as the meaning of Kali standing on the chest of Shiva.
Although there is often controversy surrounding the images of divine copulation, the general consensus is benign and free from any carnal impurities in its substance. In Tantra the human body is a symbol for the microcosm of the universe; therefore sexual process is responsible for the creation of the world. Although theoretically Shiva and Kali (or Shakti) are inseparable, like fire and its power to burn, in the case of creation they are often seen as having separate roles. With Shiva as male and Kali as female it is only by their union that creation may transpire. This reminds us of the prakrti and purusa doctrine of Samkhya wherein prakāśa- vimarśa has no practical value, just as without prakrti, purusa is quite inactive. This (once again) stresses the interdependencies of Shiva and Shakti and the vitality of their union.
Gopi Krishna proposed that Kali standing on the dead Shiva or Shava (Sanskrit for dead body) symbolised the helplessness of a person undergoing the changing process (psychologically and physiologically) in the body conducted by the Kundalini Shakti.
DEVELOPMENT
In the later traditions, Kali has become inextricably linked with Shiva. The unleashed form of Kali often becomes wild and uncontrollable, and only Shiva is able to tame her just as only Kali can tame Shiva. This is both because she is often a transformed version of one of his consorts and because he is able to match her wildness.
The ancient text of Kali Kautuvam describes her competition with Shiva in dance, from which the sacred 108 Karanas appeared. Shiva won the competition by acting the urdva tandava, one of the Karanas, by raising his feet to his head. Other texts describe Shiva appearing as a crying infant and appealing to her maternal instincts. While Shiva is said to be able to tame her, the iconography often presents her dancing on his fallen body, and there are accounts of the two of them dancing together, and driving each other to such wildness that the world comes close to unravelling.
Shiva's involvement with Tantra and Kali's dark nature have led to her becoming an important Tantric figure. To the Tantric worshippers, it was essential to face her Curse, the terror of death, as willingly as they accepted Blessings from her beautiful, nurturing, maternal aspect. For them, wisdom meant learning that no coin has only one side: as death cannot exist without life, so life cannot exist without death. Kali's role sometimes grew beyond that of a chaos - which could be confronted - to that of one who could bring wisdom, and she is given great metaphysical significance by some Tantric texts. The Nirvāna-tantra clearly presents her uncontrolled nature as the Ultimate Reality, claiming that the trimurti of Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra arise and disappear from her like bubbles from the sea. Although this is an extreme case, the Yogini-tantra, Kamakhya-tantra and the Niruttara-tantra declare her the svarupa (own-being) of the Mahadevi (the great Goddess, who is in this case seen as the combination of all devis).The final stage of development is the worshipping of Kali as the Great Mother, devoid of her usual violence. This practice is a break from the more traditional depictions. The pioneers of this tradition are the 18th century Shakta poets such as Ramprasad Sen, who show an awareness of Kali's ambivalent nature. Ramakrishna, the 19th century Bengali saint, was also a great devotee of Kali; the western popularity of whom may have contributed to the more modern, equivocal interpretations of this Goddess. Rachel McDermott's work, however, suggests that for the common, modern worshipper, Kali is not seen as fearful, and only those educated in old traditions see her as having a wrathful component. Some credit to the development of Devi must also be given to Samkhya. Commonly referred to as the Devi of delusion, Mahamaya or Durga, acting in the confines of (but not being bound by) the nature of the three gunas, takes three forms: Maha-Kali, Maha-Lakshmi and Maha-Saraswati, being her tamas-ika, rajas-ika and sattva-ika forms. In this sense, Kali is simply part of a larger whole.
Like Sir John Woodroffe and Georg Feuerstein, many Tantric scholars (as well as sincere practitioners) agree that, no matter how propitious or appalling you describe them, Shiva and Devi are simply recognizable symbols for everyday, abstract (yet tangible) concepts such as perception, knowledge, space-time, causation and the process of liberating oneself from the confines of such things. Shiva, symbolizing pure, absolute consciousness, and Devi, symbolizing the entire content of that consciousness, are ultimately one and the same - totality incarnate, a micro-macro-cosmic amalgamation of all subjects, all objects and all phenomenal relations between the "two." Like man and woman who both share many common, human traits yet at the same time they are still different and, therefore, may also be seen as complementary.
Worshippers prescribe various benign and horrific qualities to Devi simply out of practicality. They do this so they may have a variety of symbols to choose from, symbols which they can identify and relate with from the perspective of their own, ever-changing time, place and personal level of unfolding. Just like modern chemists or physicists use a variety of molecular and atomic models to describe what is unperceivable through rudimentary, sensory input, the scientists of ontology and epistemology must do the same. One of the underlying distinctions of Tantra, in comparison to other religions, is that it allows the devotee the liberty to choose from a vast array of complementary symbols and rhetoric which suit one's evolving needs and tastes. From an aesthetic standpoint, nothing is interdict and nothing is orthodox. In this sense, the projection of some of Devi's more gentle qualities onto Kali is not sacrilege and the development of Kali really lies in the practitioner, not the murthi.
A TIME magazine article of October 27, 1947, used Kali as a symbol and metaphor for the human suffering in British India during its partition that year. In 1971, Ms. Magazine used an image of Kali, her multiple arms juggling modern tasks, as a symbol of modern womanhood on its inaugural issue.
Swami Vivekananda wrote his favorite poem Kali the Mother in 1898.
KALI IN NEOPAGAN AND NEW AGE PRACTICE
An academic study of Western Kali enthusiasts noted that, "as shown in the histories of all cross-cultural religious transplants, Kali devotionalism in the West must take on its own indigenous forms if it is to adapt to its new environment."[60] The adoption of Kali by the West has raised accusations of cultural appropriation:
A variety of writers and thinkers have found Kali an exciting figure for reflection and exploration, notably feminists and participants in New Age spirituality who are attracted to goddess worship. [For them], Kali is a symbol of wholeness and healing, associated especially with repressed female power and sexuality. [However, such interpretations often exhibit] confusion and misrepresentation, stemming from a lack of knowledge of Hindu history among these authors, [who only rarely] draw upon materials written by scholars of the Hindu religious tradition. The majority instead rely chiefly on other popular feminist sources, almost none of which base their interpretations on a close reading of Kali's Indian background. The most important issue arising from this discussion - even more important than the question of 'correct' interpretation - concerns the adoption of other people's religious symbols. It is hard to import the worship of a goddess from another culture: religious associations and connotations have to be learned, imagined or intuited when the deep symbolic meanings embedded in the native culture are not available.
INCARNATIONS OF KALI
Draupadi, Wife of Pandavas, was an avatar of Kali, who born to assist Lord Krishna to destroy arrogant kings of India. There is a temple dedicated to this incarnation at Banni Mata Temple at Himachal Pradesh. The vedic deity Nirriti or the Puranic deity Alakshmi is often considered as incarnations of Kali.
WIKIPEDIA
Buy it and make your friends eat one! Grow grass hair, or fart uncontrollably, maybe even fall in love! 125L
Pataphysical Studios was bursting with art, poetry, music and dance on this first sunny day of the season. The good doctors spent an enchanted afternoon playing together, diving fearlessly into wondrous new dimensions.
This week, we had two new visitors: Dr. Rafe and his son Dr. Leo, who picked up the vibe right away and seemed to enjoy this next-to-last demo of the ‘Pataphysical Slot Machine, before its move to the Figurines Ranch. We also held an initiation ceremony for Dr. Jardin, who received her own purple lab coat from Dr. Rindbrain, to the ritual chant of ‘Gooble gobble, we accept her, one of us’.
We then discovered another important new ritual: dance breaks! As ‘Johnny Be Good’ started playing, we all started shaking our buns uncontrollably -- and kept on rockin’ through many more tracks from the past. … Judging from the grins on everyone’s faces, this is likely to become a mandatory ritual from now on (albeit a hard one to shoot in low-light, pardon the blurs).
In other news, Drs. Igor and Rindbrain taught calligraphy to Drs. Canard and Figurine, so they may make many more words beautiful. Dr. Skidz concocted mysterious plans to paint an art virus on canvas. Dr. Canard whistled to the Golden-Crowned Sparrow, who just flew back in our neck of the woods. Dr. Figurine added a new infinity snake symbol from Dr. Rindbrain to her coat. Dr. Fabio got the sounds working for the Bali Cuckoo Clock and Time Flies wonderboxes. Dr. Igor got all other boxes to play sounds, except one: Mother of Yes — which we will tame next week, just in time for our move. :)
Spring is back in the inspiration island. Time for all art makers to come out and play … Follow your bliss!
View more 'Pataphysical photos: www.flickr.com/photos/fabola/albums/72157623637793277
Watch 'Pataphysical videos: vimeo.com/album/3051039
Learn more about Pataphysical Studios: pataphysics.us/
“A Little Tale”…
He was born to two very powerful wizards. Both his parents were highly respected for their strong abilities and gifts. Other wizards were in awe of what each could do alone and together. They were a force no one dared to reckon with.
Unfortunately, as life does, it extracts a price for every gift received. Maybe that is Universal Laws’ “Law of Balance”. In the case of the young wizard, he was the price his parents had to pay for their great wizardly and other abilities. You see, their son, their only child, had very little, okay, truth be told, almost no wizardly abilities. And, the ones he did possess were uncontrollable and weak.
Rather ironic, don’t you think? The two most powerful wizards produced an offspring who was barely a wizard; and, they were ashamed of him. He shamed them because they felt they failed to continue the long line of superior wizards, and thus, to them, that meant that they had flaws and were not as perfect as they considered themselves to be. They felt that the other wizards took delight in their son’s lack of powers and abilities and that they were ridiculed behind their backs. So, they regarded their son, their own child, as something less and an abomination. They also believed he was dumb and simple minded.
And, he, their son, knew how they felt and rather than being in their loving sunlight, as their son, he was cast into their shadows. No matter what he did, it never succeeded in pleasing his parents. He always fell short of their mark in some way.
The way his parents felt about and regarded him alienated them from him…He saw each time they glanced at him, they saw failure…his and theirs. But, in truth, it was no one’s failure or fault, but, rather, nature’s doing. But, they did not see him that way. He was an enormous embarrassment and burden to them.
Thus, they avoided him as much as possible and when in his presence, treated him as if were simple minded. And, that could not be farther from the truth. He was, in fact, quite brilliant, in spite of his lack of wizard super powers and abilities. He would have been considered a genius among humans. But, sadly, he was not human and so, his parents were blind to the gifts he was given…all of them.
He had the ability to invent and create gadgets, machines, gizmos, and the like at a time in history when there were no electronics, computer was not nonexistent and neither were many of today’s taken for granted conveniences. Some of his creations, which I am certain you have heard of, include…the Time Reversenum, the Magnifyometer, and the Energy Directiumus.
More than once, he tried to share his inventions with his parents, but they always waved him off like a mere fly. They had no need for gadgets or machinery. They had their powers. Plus, they had, in reality, disowned him, unofficially, as their son. They simply didn’t care about him or want him.
Hurt badly to his very core by his parents’ feelings toward him and their treatment of and disregard for him, he made a vow to himself that he would not let them make him feel as if he was a failure, a nothing or a loser. They, in fact, were the ones, in spite of their super powers, who fell short of the mark as sentient beings. They were conceited, small minded, self involved and self absorbed, vain, and looked down on others. He was grateful he was nothing like them. He was his own person.
So, he packed his things, left them a brief note of goodbye, which he knew would bring them great joy, and set out to follow his own life plan and destiny. He settled in the Enchanted Woods where he was immediately accepted. He found a very old, huge, and dead Oak tree, which had been abandoned. Inside it had so many floors going up to the top of the tree; each connected by spiral branch staircases. But best of all, it had, below the ground, where its dead roots were, a cellar. It was enormous. This was the ideal place to set up his lab and create his inventions.
His neighbors in the Enchanted Woods-elementals, fairies, witches, hobbits, gnomes, squirrels, wizards, and others, delighted in each of his “odd”, scary, and “magical” inventions. They loved to see them work and try them out. They were fascinated by them and by him. The wizards and witches especially loved his Energy Directiumus because it helped them direct the energy needed for difficult or complicated spells.
They would “pop” in unexpected from time to time just to see what he was working on. This was fine with him. He enjoyed hearing the fairies giggle, the gnomes snort in glee, and the wizards and witches saying, “OOOO! or “Hmmmm”. Their reactions gave him great pleasure and a sense of worth. He was accepted for himself and respected for his gifts. The hurt and the pain of his early years with his parents fell away and his life was one of accomplishment, friendship, and happiness.
~ Marsha J. West, Author~ edited for Flickr
(This is my original story or “A Little Tale”. It is my personal property and cannot be copied or used in any medium either online or written without prior approval.)
3 February at 13.00 - 16.00 Rasmussen Quinteto feat. Leo Minax
Sophisticated jazzy folklore based on the highlands of Brazil! Steen Rasmussen has once again invited Leo Minax, one of Brazil's great vocalists, to Denmark. Together they deliver contemporary Brazilian music as we know it from Gilberto Gil, among others. Sophisticated jazzy folklore based on Brazil's highlands,
Minas Gerais, where Leo Minax has his roots. In addition, they delve into the songs of the bossanova's first man, Antonio Carlos Jobim, which Leo Minax interprets uncontrollably beautifully. Line-up: Leo Minax (BR, voc, g), Steen Rasmussen (p), Lis Wessberg (tb), Bastian Sjelberg (b), Martin Andersen (dm) 10 February at 13.00 - 16.00
Pataphysical Studios was bursting with art, poetry, music and dance on this first sunny day of the season. The good doctors spent an enchanted afternoon playing together, diving fearlessly into wondrous new dimensions.
This week, we had two new visitors: Dr. Rafe and his son Dr. Leo, who picked up the vibe right away and seemed to enjoy this next-to-last demo of the ‘Pataphysical Slot Machine, before its move to the Figurines Ranch. We also held an initiation ceremony for Dr. Jardin, who received her own purple lab coat from Dr. Rindbrain, to the ritual chant of ‘Gooble gobble, we accept her, one of us’.
We then discovered another important new ritual: dance breaks! As ‘Johnny Be Good’ started playing, we all started shaking our buns uncontrollably -- and kept on rockin’ through many more tracks from the past. … Judging from the grins on everyone’s faces, this is likely to become a mandatory ritual from now on (albeit a hard one to shoot in low-light, pardon the blurs).
In other news, Drs. Igor and Rindbrain taught calligraphy to Drs. Canard and Figurine, so they may make many more words beautiful. Dr. Skidz concocted mysterious plans to paint an art virus on canvas. Dr. Canard whistled to the Golden-Crowned Sparrow, who just flew back in our neck of the woods. Dr. Figurine added a new infinity snake symbol from Dr. Rindbrain to her coat. Dr. Fabio got the sounds working for the Bali Cuckoo Clock and Time Flies wonderboxes. Dr. Igor got all other boxes to play sounds, except one: Mother of Yes — which we will tame next week, just in time for our move. :)
Spring is back in the inspiration island. Time for all art makers to come out and play … Follow your bliss!
View more 'Pataphysical photos: www.flickr.com/photos/fabola/albums/72157623637793277
Watch 'Pataphysical videos: vimeo.com/album/3051039
Learn more about Pataphysical Studios: pataphysics.us/
"The Crash at Crater Canyon (part 1)" is a thrilling two-part episode of the 1950s / 60s TV series Woody's Roundup.
In this episode, Jessie the yodeling cow-girl is knocked out by Prospector Stinky Pete, as she had discovered Pete's plans for Woody and the town he protects via the mine tunnels under the town filled with dynamite and nitroglycerin, set to blow up high noon the next day to destroy the town in a giant sinkhole.
Jessie is then placed unconscious on a steam loco which is uncoupled from it's train and sent hurtling uncontrollably through the wilderness to Crater Canyon, where it will meet the Cannonball passenger train on the bridge. (Thus destroying the only fast way to town and keeping Jessie out of the way for the town to explode with Woody saving Jessie and not in town to stop Pete's plan.)
Naturally, Woody rides out on his horse (Bullseye) to save Jessie,who has at this point woken up and discovered the throttle lever missing and steam loco's brakes disconnected. This episode ends with this scene above: Jessie reaching for Bullseye and Woody while both trains are barreling towards each other and certain destruction, while the timer on the clock in town square ticks ever closer to noon.
What happens in the next episode will never be known, as the show was pulled from the airways as the film office where the future episodes and unfinished scripts were kept burned to the ground, destroying all the un-aired episodes. It is assumed, though, that Woody rescues Jessie, stops the town from exploding, and jails Pete all before the credits roll.
On our drive back from Spain yesterday, we stopped at a Vineyard in France. It was the sunniest day and the warmest breeze was blowing in the sunshine. The girls couldn't help giggling that their hair was uncontrollable!
Life is short, break the rules,
forgive quickly, kiss slowly,
laugh uncontrollably, and
never regret anything
that made you smile...
"Syncope is a temporary absence of self or suspension of movement, a hesitation or dissonance. Examples include fainting, the backward dip in the Tango, a weak musical beat between two strong beats, the spin of dervishes, sneezing, coughing, hiccuping, uncontrollable laughter, screaming, facial spasms and tics, squinting, tremors, heart palpitations, choking, uncontrolled excretion, cold sweats, tears, tingling, prickling, tickling, wheezing, auditory hallucinations, orgasm, visions of gods speaking, religious ecstasy, falling in love, and enjambment in poetic metrics."
Another collaboration with GALE47.
Pataphysical Studios was bursting with art, poetry, music and dance on this first sunny day of the season. The good doctors spent an enchanted afternoon playing together, diving fearlessly into wondrous new dimensions.
This week, we had two new visitors: Dr. Rafe and his son Dr. Leo, who picked up the vibe right away and seemed to enjoy this next-to-last demo of the ‘Pataphysical Slot Machine, before its move to the Figurines Ranch. We also held an initiation ceremony for Dr. Jardin, who received her own purple lab coat from Dr. Rindbrain, to the ritual chant of ‘Gooble gobble, we accept her, one of us’.
We then discovered another important new ritual: dance breaks! As ‘Johnny Be Good’ started playing, we all started shaking our buns uncontrollably -- and kept on rockin’ through many more tracks from the past. … Judging from the grins on everyone’s faces, this is likely to become a mandatory ritual from now on (albeit a hard one to shoot in low-light, pardon the blurs).
In other news, Drs. Igor and Rindbrain taught calligraphy to Drs. Canard and Figurine, so they may make many more words beautiful. Dr. Skidz concocted mysterious plans to paint an art virus on canvas. Dr. Canard whistled to the Golden-Crowned Sparrow, who just flew back in our neck of the woods. Dr. Figurine added a new infinity snake symbol from Dr. Rindbrain to her coat. Dr. Fabio got the sounds working for the Bali Cuckoo Clock and Time Flies wonderboxes. Dr. Igor got all other boxes to play sounds, except one: Mother of Yes — which we will tame next week, just in time for our move. :)
Spring is back in the inspiration island. Time for all art makers to come out and play … Follow your bliss!
View more 'Pataphysical photos: www.flickr.com/photos/fabola/albums/72157623637793277
Watch 'Pataphysical videos: vimeo.com/album/3051039
Learn more about Pataphysical Studios: pataphysics.us/
Disturbing appearances
Crippling depression
Triggering thoughts
Uncontrollable selfharm
They give me numbing shots to prepare me for the shocktherapy treatment
I've never felt such an overwelming fear. My mind is blurred, i cant even speak, my body is shivering, my sweat is cold and my blood is freezing. I know I wont make it this time. My heart is too weak. There is no heartbeat left anymore...
Basanta Utsav literally means the 'celebration of spring'. ...
Annually celebrated in March, the festival is an occassion to invite the colourful spring season with utmost warmth. What is appreciated is the grace and diginified manner in which Vasant Utsav is celebrated in Bengal as compared to uncontrollable Holi witnessed in most parts of India. The beautiful tradition of celebrating spring festival in Bengal was first started by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore at Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan.
By early 2020, Bonkers' legs were very unreliable and he wasn't able to stand up well or walk around very much most of the time (except when he visited the vet and explored the waiting room - he thought it was part of his territory) so we helped him move around the house, especially taking him upstairs or downstairs (although during the night when we were sleeping, he went downstairs by himself, usually not rolling down in an uncontrollable fashion).
Part 1 of The Great Spotted Woodpecker Chase.
The whole thing is about a rare bird that flew into central Alaska from Asia.
The year was 2002, the month was March. Mid-winter. I was sitting in my office in sunny Florida when I received a phone call from Ron up in Arkansas. Here’s the first part of the conversation;
Me, cordially; “Hey”
Ron simply; “Do you have any frequent fliers available?”
Me suspiciously; “Yes…er… why?”
Ron, flatly; “Well, do you want to go to Alaska tomorrow?”
Me, incredulously; “What in the world is up there right now?”
Ron then told me that he had been checking rare bird alerts and that there was a Great Spotted Woodpecker, (Dendrocopos major), in the Caswell Lakes area of Alaska, north of Anchorage about 93 miles or so.
I hung up and called Delta, and away we went. The whole tale of the trip is too long for one post but I’ll give you the beginning here.
Great Spotted Woodpeckers are residents throughout Europe and northern Asia, they don’t belong in North America. Very few of them have ever been recorded over here, and, at that time, never on the mainland. This particular bird was coming in to a feeder at the home of Myrtle Heinrich. Myrtle at first thought it was a wounded Hairy Woodpecker, (Picoides villosus), because she saw red on the underbelly, however, upon closer inspection the bird didn’t look right for a Hairy. She called down to the birders in Anchorage and described the situation. Shortly after two fellows showed up and confirmed that it was indeed a Great Spotted. The news lit up the internet and birders started flying in. I later read reports of how many visitors showed up at Myrtle’s and the various places they had come from. I don’t believe anyone traveled further than I did though because Sarasota to Anchorage is about 4,000 miles as the crow flies, and I had to detour through Atlanta and Salt Lake City.
I had around 10 hours of flights and wanting to be comfortable I dressed Florida casual; Shorts, tee shirt, and sandals. I packed all the winter gear in the duffle and checked it.
My first clue that no picnic awaited was when we arrived in Anchorage, they taxied the jet in….. and parked on the tarmac. I glanced out the window and saw loose snow going side ways, whipped by a howling wind, and realized that we were going to disembark right there in the elements.
I figured, however, that if I could manage to get to the building through the blowing cold, at least the terminal would be heated while I waited for my luggage…… Nope!!
When my duffel finally slid down the chute I was shivering uncontrollably, I ripped out my coveralls, threw them and a coat on, and walked out to the curb where Ron was waiting in the rental car. (He had arrived before me from Arkansas.) The first words that croaked out of his mouth were; “You’re gonna’ be pretty sick in a day or two ‘cause I’ve got Bronchial Pneumonia” Oh well, I thought, this is a great bird we’re going after, It’ll be worth it.
Jessica [Stranger #92/100]
This picture is #92 in the 100 Strangers project.
Meet Jessica and lil Erin.
This is one of the occasions where I had the background selected (a metallic rust/brown wall by a restaurant) and was hoping to find a striking stranger to photograph against it. After a little bit of looking I saw Jessica (and her family) having dinner. Jessica's brick red scarf and red hair would definitely work really well against the wall besides of course her happy eyes. But I was hesitant to approach them and intrude on their family dinner. However when I still noticed them a little while later just finishing up I stepped in and apologizing for interrupting their dinner made my request to Jessica (and of course to her husband Matt). They thought it was a interesting project and Jessica was happy to participate as Matt took over baby sitting for the few minutes with little Erin. We barely did a few a pictures away from the table but Erin began crying uncontrollably seeing her mom missing - so Jessica had to step back to soothe the little one. So we decided to do a few pictures with the little one as well and she was absolutely adorable - a star. One thing I missed is actually requesting Matt to step into the pics and make it a family picture - but in the rush to get in a few shots and let them get back to enjoy their family time I completely missed it. Also completely forgot to increase the aperture to ensure sharp focus on both mommy and baby in the combined pics. Either ways was happy with how the pictures worked out overall, Jessica's happy and cheerful disposition and lil Erin's late entry into the pictures certainly made this a fun encounter.
Jessica and Mat just moved recently from Florida and are trying out their new space. Jessica works with social media and online marketing. They love the outdoors and the beaches - possibly something they will likely miss compared to Florida.
For the project - I am uploading a solo picture of Jessica and adding a mother-child pic with lil Erin in the comments.
Thank you Jessica for being a part of this project and Matt for being such a sport. It was great to meet you folks and wish you all the very best especially as you settle down in MD.
Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page
For my other pictures on this project: www.flickr.com/photos/vijaybrittophotography/sets/7215764...
Basanta Utsav literally means the 'celebration of spring'. ...
Annually celebrated in March, the festival is an occassion to invite the colourful spring season with utmost warmth. What is appreciated is the grace and diginified manner in which Vasant Utsav is celebrated in Bengal as compared to uncontrollable Holi witnessed in most parts of India. The beautiful tradition of celebrating spring festival in Bengal was first started by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore at Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan.
Commander Feillen
We were going on our next mission when something hit us. The blast hit our ships engines so it was like we were in a grenade about to explode. My team and I were in our beds near the escape pods so a few others and us were able to get to the pods and survive the attack. Unfortunately we saw the horror of most of our brothers blown up by an unknown ship. We tried to take control of the pod, but the atmosphere of Kashyyyk sucked us into the planet. At uncontrollable speeds, we crash-landed into a swamp on Kashyyyk. We were fine but a little dizzy. Trace looked for any Wookie villages near by, Teck tried to fix the pod, Snipe tried to communicate with the republic, and Charger and I tried to find some food. I don’t know much about Kashyyyk, but I do know that it’s not a place to get stranded on…
To be continued…
What started out as a barely visibly entrance to some mole's living quarters has turned into this cavernous hole. Roma has an uncontrollable obsession with moles, and if I used enough force to try to pull her away from her excavation project, I would run the risk of doing her some serious damage; she absolutely will not quit, no matter how hard I haul on her leash, so I have no choice but to let her dig until she gives up on her own. She has never yet caught a mole....
much more light for today's experiments - went with 30 secs again because I love that soft, long exposure look, but only needed ISO200. Sorry about the sudden rush of me, not an uncontrollable attack of narcissm, just no available models ...
The Colony, Malibu Ca - The Fateful path of small ideas on Flickriver
sill reaching....
"When I was 19 or so living just outside of Boston, one fateful day in a strip mall Barnes and Noble located on bald hill road in Warwick Rhode Island, I stumbled upon a color landscape photography book from an artist called David Muench. His photographs spoke to me in a big way... apparently many others too... as I've learned over the years in my wanderings. Each image was delightfully frozen rather perfectly for me to admire a million miles from where they had happened. The colors literally jumped from those crisp new smelling pages and into my very soul. That exact moment something happened to me. A small idea was born. In my tiny New England world, perhaps hope crept in and i was awakened to the possibility that there was something more out there, other than Red Sox glory and Dunkin Donuts coffee of course. I was inspired... and my life changed in that instant. For 20 years now I've chased falling light from the eastern shores of Boston to the western pacific sands of Malibu, my happy home now. Some years more than others mind you, as life has a way of making things quite interesting along the way. It gets a bit blurry in the middle ya know, as I’ve also chased the sounds of music for many years as well. With much vigor and delight. Still do. The road to musical bliss is fraught with danger, as many a good friend could attest too. (Pause) Today... NOW... I'm aware, that in the life of a photographer, I've hardly an ever stronger hand on the rung of a very long and slippery ladder of hopeful future accomplishments, clumsy baby steps, failures and hills yet to climb and tumbled upon. But "the path" I walk upon is my own. I sense the shadow of the second rung is upon me. I emailed David Muench recently, and I quite simply shared my appreciation of his work, devotion and passion for his craft and went on to thank him for inspiring me on my own "fateful" journey in life to chase down and capture those dramatic moments of light and dark and their infinite dance on this stage I call "life". This Sunday, along the Pacific Coast Highway, I open my gallery of memories and moments to the world, manifested from a small seedling of an idea that was planted in my consciousness almost 20 years ago as I gazed across a bookshelf and unknowingly opened that first fateful page... I can only hope that what I’ve created there, in that special space, and what I hope to still create in my life, musically and visually, inspires someone else someday, to marvel gloriously at this wild place outside, to listen, to chase dreams, to dance uncontrollably, to blaze a path of unconscious cautionless pursuit thru the raging winds of impossibility, to admire the open spaces while they are still open, to protect them and perhaps, to my complete delight, to seek out that special dance of light and dark on their very own so they too might be amazed, inspired and find themselves smiling uncontrollably one day in the face of this relentlessly beautiful and naturally majestic world... as I often do. I truly hope."
Malibu was originally settled by the Chumash, Native Americans whose territory extended loosely from the San Joaquin Valley to San Luis Obispo to Malibu, as well as several islands off the southern coast of California. They named it "Humaliwo"[13] or "the surf sounds loudly." The city's name derives from this, as the "Hu" syllable is not stressed.
Malibu Colony was one of the first areas inhabited after Malibu was opened to the public in 1929 and it is one of Malibu's most famous districts.
Be sure to look closely so you can see the eggs, bottom right, that these Bufos have laid and fertilized, assuring their life cycle will go on for another year. Now they're exhausted and so am I! Hard to sleep with all this going on outside my bedroom windows.
I love the shiny, vibrant blue highlight around the toads and the Lily pads. This is caused by Surface Tension * which makes water around the edges and on the head pile up and reflect. Mother Nature is so astounding, isn't She?
The Full Moon means the Bufo toads mate. When they do, they make sounds that, when I first moved into my house, made me so mad that I was ready to scream at my neighbors at sunrise for running a grinding machine all night! Fortunately I found the paired post-mating toads and their long clear strings of eggs floating on top of my pond and realized my neighbors weren't the ones making that horrible, sleep-disturbing noise! It was a pair of large brown toads!
Every full moon their screeching mating ritual occurs and there's no one to complain too. If you have a pond here in South Florida, you have Bufos! The male gets on one side of the pond and the female on the other and they scream, croak, rattle... I don't know what to call it. Just imagine the most annoying sound you could possibly hear and hear all night long and a couple of hours the next morning! Then I find pairs like this one still locked together, the small male on top, the larger female on the bottom. And they rest this way for hours before disconnecting. This pair is still in the mating position and you can see their gelatinous eggs on the stem of the Water Lily by its foot.
Bufos are big toads, 5-6 inches across and much longer back to front. And they are poisonous. If your dog gets one in his mouth, the toxins can kill him if you don't do something quickly. How do you know whether your dog has bitten a Bufo? Because the dog has uncontrollable slobbering and starts shaking his head to try to get relief. My dog used to always run inside to get me so I could get a soapy washrag and thoroughly scrub out his mouth. Some people take their pets immediately to vet but dog always gave me a heads up before the poison could do too much damage.
* Surface tension is a property of the surface of a liquid that allows it to resist an external force. It is revealed in the floating of some objects on the surface of water, even though they are denser than water, and in the ability of some insects (water striders) and even reptiles (basilisk or Jesus Lizard) to run on the water surface. This property is caused by cohesion of like molecules, and is responsible for many of the behaviors of liquids.
Biscayne Park, FL
B-26C-45-MA Marauder
s/n 42-107566
441st BS, 320th BG, 12th AF
Battle # 06
Shot down by flak on the July 10,1944 mission to bomb the railroad bridge at Marzabotto, Italy. A direct hit blew the left wing and horizontal stabilizer off, sending the plane into an uncontrollable spin and trapping the crew inside. It was the crews second mission to the target area that day. MACR 6454
1st Lt. Murry B. Wiginton, Jr. - Pilot (KIA)
2nd Lt. William E. Wigginton - Co=Pilot (KIA)
PFC Norford G. Meador - Togglier (KIA)
Sgt. Ernest D. Casey - Engineer/Gunner (KIA)
S/Sgt. Wesley B. Hoffman - Radio Operator/Gunner (KIA)
S/Sgt. Philip A. Iannotta - Tail Gunner (KIA)
If you are interested in my works, they are available on Getty Images.
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I think all art is about control - the encounter between control and the uncontrollable.
- Richard Avedon
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● Non-HDR-processed / Non-GND/ND-filtered
● Black Card Technique 黑卡作品
”You can come in Talia.”
”You knew I’d be coming?”
”Of course. I figured that after todays events, Bruce would have questioned you as to some of the claims made by his opponent.”
”Is it true?”
”What do you think, my child.”
”I think that you would never hold something like that from me…”
”But…”
”I know better than that. Especially considering you hid my own existence from Nyssa for almost a year.”
”That is because I know Nyssa. Just as I know you.”
”You think I’d consider attempting what Nyssa did back then?”
”It’s possible. Especially given your feelings for Bruce.”
”Do you honestly think I’d kill one of my own to help Bruce?”
”Anything’s possible. We both know how far people can be willing to go if it benefits their own agenda.”
”Is that a yes?”
”It’s what you want it to be Talia.”
”…..Why didn’t you tell me?”
”Because I couldn’t be sure.”
”In what way?”
”The natural talent was there. But not the wisdom on how to use it.”
”So you had him fight Bruce to see if his claims were true.”
”What Bruce lacks in natural talent, he far exceeds with wisdom and strategy. No son of mine would allow someone to outsmart them.”
”So you beheaded him. Didn’t you want to be sure who he was?”
”I know exactly who he was. That was the problem.”
”It’s true. Isn’t it?”
”It would seem so.”
”…..How?….How could you do that? After all you put Nyssa and I through, all because we weren’t male…..how can you just….throw aside what you’ve always wanted!?”
”Because it was when Bruce bested him that I realised the truth. Though he may not be of my blood, Bruce is the son I’ve always been looking for. The way he bested his opponents and made a mockery of the imposter….only an Al-Ghul could accomplish such a feet.”
”So it’s because of Bruce that you’ve robbed me of a sibling!?”
”I haven’t robbed you of anything. I’ve liberated you from a burden.”
”JUST WHAT SORT OF BURDEN IS THAT!?”
”Not having to obey the doctrine.”
”Purge the weak. You’d honestly go ahead with it, even if it was my life? Was Nyssa’s?”
”It’s possible. This world is dying thanks to natural selection failing us. The undeserving are flourishing, and we’re forced to endure their existence.”
”But your own flesh and blood!”
”Should know better than to doubt me.”
”Would you have killed mother had she survived the birth? Or would she have been purged since she clearly wasn't strong enough to survive childbirth.”
”Don’t you dare invoke her.”
”Or what? Will you kill me as well for being weak enough to use her?”
Without saying a word, the Demon swiftly raises his hand and slaps Talia across the face with as much force as he can muster. The slap knocks her to her knees and dazes her for a brief moment.
”Insolent child. You are better than this.”
”I don’t know. If my own brother was weak, maybe I am as well.”
”Don’t you dare speak ill of your mother.”
”Oh I would never speak ill of her. But if my brother and I are both weak, there’s only one thing that connects us.”
”Do not test my patience Talia.”
”Test it? I doubt you even have patience. You’re always so willing to cast your own allies aside at a moments notice, you can’t tell me you have patience.”
”If that were true, Bruce Wayne would have died years ago.”
”You leave him out of this.”
”Why? Had I not chosen to deal with the bastard child myself, the task would have fallen to him. Hell, the only reason he’s still alive is because you begged me to leave him unharmed.”
”I never asked for such a thing.”
”No, you didn’t. But the message could easily be read from your face. Admit it Talia, you’re not upset that I withheld the existence of a possible sibling from you, you’re just worried of what I intend to put him through for his final trials.”
”….That’s....untrue....and irrelevant.”
”Of course it is. I understand your worry my dear. No-one has ever attempted the trials necessary to be named Heir to the Demon before, and for good reason. But if Bruce has demonstrated anything these last few years. It’s that he won’t let anything overcome him. Be it Caine, Kirigi or even myself. He intends to emerge triumphant, and I look forward to seeing him succeed me when the time comes.”
”Father? What's wrong? You’re talking as though that time is sooner than you want it to be.”
”The pit and I have been one in the same for over seven hundred years. I suppose it ws only a matter of time before it couldn’t protect me any longer.”
”Father?”
”Look at my hand Talia. Notice how it shakes uncontrollably.”
”It’s just withdrawal.”
”Perhaps, but after only a couple of days? That's highly unlikely. I've experienced withdrawal from the pit but only after weeks without bathing in it.”
”What does it mean then father?”
”It's losing it’s effect on my body.”
”You mean?”
”Indeed. The pit is slowly losing it’s ability to restore me.”
”Perhaps the problem is with the pit itself. We should attempt to find more lazarus!”
”I already have.”
”I suspect I know the result…..How long do you reckon you’ve got?”
”Given how my body is only just starting to reject the pit, it’s possible that it’ll take years before the pit no longer affects me.”
”Can it be stopped?”
”Possibly. Though I’m not sure I want it to be.”
”You want to die?”
”Want is a strong word. More, I’m willing to accept my fate. But before my time comes, I must ensure my legacy lives on. Ensure the League of Assassins lives on, with you and Bruce at the helm.”
In a moment of solidarity, Talia walks up to her father and hugs him. Public displays of affection were prohibited in front of the League. But here, hidden from view, Ra’s accepts his daughter’s hug.
”Bruce has changed you.”
”And I’ve changed him. Hopefully we’ve both been changed for the better.”
”That remains to be seen.”
This was meant to take on the world this was, but sadly it didn’t get very far! The Rover 800 had so many possibilities, so many variants could have been derived from it, but unfortunately the management was once again very quick to nip this beautiful car in the bud, and the Rover 800 would join that long line of ‘what-could-have-been’ motors that seem to pave British motoring history.
The origin of the Rover 800 goes back to the late 1970’s, when nationalised British car manufacturer and all around general failure British Leyland was absolutely desperate to fix its seemingly endless list of problems. The company had now garnered a reputation for creating some of the worst, most outdated cars of all time, the likes of the Morris Marina, the Austin Allegro and the Triumph TR7 being derided in both critical and customer reviews. A mixture of strike action by uncontrollable Trade Unions led by the infamous Red Robbo had meant that cars were only put together for a few hours per day on a three day week. As such, reliability was atrocious on a biblical scale, be it mechanical, cosmetic or electrical.
As such, in 1979, British Leyland began talks with Japanese car manufacturer Honda to try and help improve the reliability of their machines. The pioneer of this brave new deal was the Triumph Acclaim of 1980, BL’s first reliable car and not a bad little runabout. Basically a rebadged Honda Ballade, the Acclaim wasn’t meant to set the world ablaze, but it certainly helped get the company back onto people’s driveways, selling reasonably well thanks to its reliable mechanics (even if rust was something of an issue). As such, BL decided that from now on it would give its fleet a complete overhaul, basing their new models on Japanese equivalents. From 1984, the Rover 200 arrived on the scene, again, a rebadged Honda Ballade, while the Maestro and the Montego ranges also took on several tips from their Japanese counterparts, though they were primarily based on British underpinnings.
The Rover 800 however spawned quite early on, in 1981 to be exact. Following the catastrophic failure of the Rover SD1 in the American market, which only sold 774 cars before Rover removed itself from the USA altogether, the company was desperate to get another foothold across the pond. As such, the new project, dubbed project XX, would be the icing on the cake in terms of British Leyland’s fleet overhaul, a smooth and sophisticated executive saloon to conquer the world. However, plans were pushed back after the launch of the Montego and the Maestro, and thus project XX wouldn’t see the light of day again until about 1984.
Still in production and suffering from being long-in-the-tooth, the Rover SD1 was now coming up on 10 years old, and though a sublime car in terms of style and performance, it was now struggling in sales. Rover really needed to replace this golden oldie, and thus project XX was back on. In the usual fashion, Honda was consulted, and it was decided that the car would be based on that company’s own executive saloon, the Honda Legend. Jointly developed at Rover’s Cowley plant and Honda’s Tochigi development centre, both cars shared the same core structure and floorplan, but they each had their own unique exterior bodywork and interior. Under the agreement, Honda would supply the V6 petrol engine, both automatic and manual transmissions and the chassis design, whilst BL would provide the 4-cylinder petrol engine and much of the electrical systems. The agreement also included that UK-market Honda Legends would be built at the Cowley Plant, and the presence of the Legend in the UK would be smaller than that of the Rover 800, with profits from the 800 shared between the two companies.
Launched on July 10th, 1986, the Rover 800 was welcomed with warm reviews regarding its style, its performance and its reliability. Though driving performance was pretty much the same as the Honda Legend, what put the Rover above its Japanese counterpart was its sheer internal elegance and beauty, combined with a differing external design that borrowed cues from the outgoing SD1. The 800 also provided the company with some much-needed optimism, especially following the gradual breakup of British Leyland by the Thatcher Government between 1980 and 1986.
Following her election in 1979, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher took a no nonsense attitude to the striking unions, and the best form of defence was attack. To shave millions from the deficit, she reduced government spending on nationalised companies such as British Airways, British Coal Board, British Steel and British Leyland by selling them to private ownership. For British Leyland, the slow breakup of the company started with the sale of Leyland Trucks and Buses to DAF of Holland and Volvo, respectively. 1984 saw Jaguar made independent and later bought by Ford, but when rumours circulated that the remains of British Leyland would be sold to foreign ownership, share prices crashed, and the company was privatised and put into the hands of British Aerospace on the strict understanding that the company could not be sold again for four years. With this move, British Leyland was renamed Rover Group, the Austin badge being dropped, and the only remaining brands left being the eponymous Rover and sporty MG.
In the light of this tumultuous period, many of Rover and MG’s projects had to be scrapped in light of turbulent share prices and income, these projects including the Austin AR16 family car range (based largely off the Rover 800) and the MG EX-E supercar. The Rover 800 however was the first model to be released by the company following privatisation, and doing well initially in terms of sales, hopes were high that the Rover 800 would herald the end of the company’s troubled spell under British Leyland. The Rover 800 was planned to spearhead multiple Rover ventures, including a return to the US-market in the form of the Sterling, and a coupe concept to beat the world, the sublime Rover CCV.
However, British Leyland may have been gone, but their management and its incompetence remained. Rather than taking the formation of Rover Group as a golden opportunity to clean up the company’s act, to the management it was business as usual, and the Rover 800 began to suffer as a consequence. A lack of proper quality control and a cost-cutting attitude meant that despite all the Japanese reliability that had been layered on these machines in the design stage, the cars were still highly unreliable when they left the factory.
Perhaps the biggest sentiment to the 800’s failure was the Sterling in America. The Sterling had been named as such due to Rover’s reputation being tarnished by the failure of the unreliable SD1. Initial sales were very promising with the Sterling, a simple design with oodles of luxury that was price competitive with family sedan’s such as the Ford LTD and the Chevy Caprice. However, once the problems with reliability and quality began to rear their heads, sales plummeted and the Sterling very quickly fell short of its sales quota, only selling 14,000 of the forecast 30,000 cars per annum. Sales dropped year by year until eventually the Sterling brand was axed in 1991.
With the death of the Sterling came the death of the CCV, a luxury motor that had already won over investors in both Europe and the USA. The fantastic design that had wooed the American market and was ready to go on sale across the States was axed unceremoniously in 1987, and with it any attempt to try and capture the American market ever again.
In 1991, Rover Group, seeing their sales were still tumbling, and with unreliable callbacks to British Leyland like the Maestro and Montego still on sale, the company decided to have yet another shakeup to try and refresh its image. The project, dubbed R17, went back to the company’s roots of grand old England, and the Rover 800 was the first to feel its touch. The R17 facelift saw the 800’s angular lines smoothed with revised light-clusters, a low-smooth body, and the addition of a grille, attempting to harp back to the likes of the luxurious Rover P5 of the 1960’s. Engines were also updated, with the previous M16 Honda engine being replaced by a crisp 2.0L T16, which gave the car some good performance. The car was also made available in a set of additional ranges, including a coupe and the sport Vitesse, complete with a higher performance engine.
Early reviews of the R17 800 were favourable, many critics lauding its design changes and luxurious interior, especially given its price competitiveness against comparable machines such as the Vauxhall Omega and the Ford Mondeo. Even Jeremy Clarkson, a man who fervently hated Rover and everything it stood for, couldn’t help but give it a good review on Top Gear. However, motoring critics were quick to point out the fact that by this time Honda was really starting to sell heavily in the UK and Europe, and people now asked themselves why they’d want to buy the Rover 800, a near carbon-copy of the Honda Legend, for twice the price but equal performance. Wood and leather furnishings are very nice, but not all motorists are interested in that, some are just interested in a reliable and practical machine to run around in.
As such, the Rover 800’s sales domestically were very good, it becoming the best-selling car in the UK for 1992, but in Europe not so much. Though Rover 800’s did make it across the Channel, the BMW 5-Series and other contemporary European models had the market sown up clean, and the Rover 800 never truly made an impact internationally. On average, the car sold well in the early 1990’s, but as time went on the car’s place in the market fell to just over 10,000 per year by 1995. Rover needed another shake-up, and the Rover 75 did just that.
In 1994, Rover Group was sold to BMW, and their brave new star to get the company back in the good books of the motoring public was the Rover 75, an executive saloon to beat the world. With this new face in the company’s showrooms, the Rover 800 and its 10 year old design was put out to grass following its launch in 1998. Selling only around 6,500 cars in its final full year of production, the Rover 800 finished sales in 1999 and disappeared, the last relic of the British Leyland/Honda tie up from the 1980’s.
Today the Rover 800 finds itself under a mixed reception. While some argue that it was the last true Rover before the BMW buyout, others will fervently deride it as a Honda with a Rover badge, a humiliation of a Rover, and truly the point where the company lost its identity. I personally believe it to be a magnificent car, a car with purpose, a car with promise, but none of those promises fulfilled. It could have truly been the face of a new Rover in the late 1980’s, and could have returned the company to the front line of the motoring world, at least in Britain. But sadly, management incompetence won again for the British motor industry, and the Rover 800 ended its days a lukewarm reminder that we really didn’t know a good thing until it was gone.
German postcard by Hias Schasko Postkarten, München. Photo: Filmverlag der Autoren. Publicity still for Liebe ist kälter als der Tod/Love Is Colder Than Death (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1969).
Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1945-1982) was a German film director, screenwriter, film producer and actor. Fassbinder was part of the New German Cinema movement. Starting at age 21, Fassbinder made over forty films and TV dramas in fifteen years, along with directing numerous plays for the theatre. He also acted in nineteen of his own films as well as for other directors. Fassbinder died in 1982 at the age of 37 from a lethal cocktail of cocaine and barbiturates.
Rainer Werner Fassbinder was born in Bavaria in the small town of Bad Wörishofen in 1945. The aftermath of World War II deeply marked his childhood and the lives of his bourgeois family. He was the only child of Liselotte Pempeit, a translator and Helmut Fassbinder, a doctor who worked out of the couple's apartment in Sendlinger Strasse, near Munich's red light district. In 1951, his parents divorced. Helmut moved to Cologne while Liselotte raised her son as a single parent in Munich. In order to support herself and her child, Pempeit took in boarders and found employment as a German to English translator. When she was working, she often sent her son to the cinema in order to concentrate. Later in life, Fassbinder claimed that he saw a film nearly every day and sometimes as many as three or four. As he was often left alone, he became independent and uncontrollable. He clashed with his mother's younger lover Siggi, who lived with them when Fassbinder was around eight or nine years old. He had a similar difficult relationship with the much older journalist Wolff Eder, who became his stepfather in 1959. Early in his adolescence, Fassbinder identified as homosexual. As a teen, Fassbinder was sent to boarding school. His time there was marred by his repeated escape attempts and he eventually left school before any final examinations. At the age of 15, he moved to Cologne and stayed with his father for a couple of years while attending night school. To earn money, he worked small jobs and helped his father who rented shabby apartments to immigrant workers. Around this time, Fassbinder began writing short plays and stories and poems. In 1963, aged eighteen, Fassbinder returned to Munich with plans to attend night school with the idea to eventually study theatrical science. Following his mother's advice, he took acting lessons and from 1964 to 1966 attended the Fridl-Leonhard Studio for actors in Munich. There, he met Hanna Schygulla, who would become one of his most important actors. During this time, he made his first 8mm films and took on small acting roles, assistant director, and sound man. During this period, he also wrote the tragic-comic play: Drops on Hot Stones. To gain entry to the Berlin Film School, Fassbinder submitted a film version of his play Parallels. He also entered several 8 mm films including This Night (now considered lost) but he was turned down for admission, as were the later film directors Werner Schroeter and Rosa von Praunheim. He returned to Munich where he continued with his writing. He also made two short films, Der Stadtstreicher,/The City Tramp (1965) and Das Kleine Chaos/The Little Chaos (1966). Shot in black and white, they were financed by Fassbinder's lover, Christoph Roser, an aspiring actor, in exchange for leading roles. Fassbinder acted in both of these films which also featured Irm Hermann. In the latter, his mother – under the name of Lilo Pempeit – played the first of many parts in her son's films.
In 1967 Rainer Werner Fassbinder joined the Munich Action-Theater, where he was active as an actor, director and script writer. After two months he became the company's leader. In April 1968 Fassbinder directed the premiere production of his play Katzelmacher, the story of a foreign worker from Greece who becomes the object of intense racial, sexual, and political hatred among a group of Bavarian slackers. A few weeks later, in May 1968, the Action-Theater was disbanded after its theatre was wrecked by one of its founders, jealous of Fassbinder's growing power within the group. It promptly reformed as the Anti-Theater under Fassbinder's direction. The troupe lived and performed together. This close-knit group of young actors included among them Fassbinder, Peer Raben, Harry Baer and Kurt Raab, who along with Hanna Schygulla and Irm Hermann became the most important members of his cinematic stock company. Working with the Anti-Theater, Fassbinder continued writing, directing and acting. In the space of eighteen months he directed twelve plays. Of these twelve plays, four were written by Fassbinder; he rewrote five others. The style of his stage directing closely resembled that of his early films, a mixture of choreographed movement and static poses, taking its cues not from the traditions of stage theatre, but from musicals, cabaret, films and the student protest movement. Fassbinder used his theatrical work as a springboard for making films. Shot in black and white with a shoestring budget in April 1969, Fassbinder's first feature-length film, Liebe ist kälter als der Tod/Love is Colder than Death (1969), was a deconstruction of the American gangster films of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Fassbinder plays the lead role of Franz, a small-time pimp who is torn between his mistress Joanna, a prostitute (Hanna Schygulla), and his friend Bruno, a gangster sent after Franz by the syndicate that he has refused to join. His second film, Katzelmacher (1969), was received more positively, garnering five prizes after its debut at Mannheim. From then on, Fassbinder centered his efforts in his career as film director, but he maintained an intermittent foothold in the theatre until his death. Fassbinder’s first ten films (1969–1971) were an extension of his work in the theatre, shot usually with a static camera and with deliberately unnaturalistic dialogue. Wikipedia: “He was strongly influenced by Brecht's Verfremdungseffekt (alienation effect) and the French New Wave cinema, particularly the works of Jean-Luc Godard.” Fassbinder developed his rapid working methods early. Because he knew his actors and technicians so well, Fassbinder was able to complete as many as four or five films per year on extremely low budgets. This allowed him to compete successfully for the government grants needed to continue making films. Unlike the other major auteurs of the New German Cinema, Volker Schlöndorff, Werner Herzog and Wim Wenders, who started out making films, Fassbinder's stage background was evident throughout his work.
In 1971, Rainer Werner Fassbinder took an eight-month break from filmmaking. During this time, Fassbinder turned for a model to Hollywood melodrama, particularly the films German émigré Douglas Sirk made in Hollywood for Universal-International in the 1950s: All That Heaven Allows, Magnificent Obsession and Imitation of Life. Fassbinder was attracted to these films not only because of their entertainment value, but also for their depiction of various kinds of repression and exploitation. Fassbinder scored his first domestic commercial success with Händler der vier Jahreszeiten/The Merchant of Four Seasons (1971). Loneliness is a common theme in Fassbinder's work, together with the idea that power becomes a determining factor in all human relationships. His characters yearn for love, but seem condemned to exert an often violent control over those around them. A good example is Die bitteren Tränen der Petra von Kant/The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972) which was adapted by Fassbinder from his plays. Wildwechsel/Jailbait (1973 is a bleak story of teenage angst, set in industrial northern Germany during the 1950s. Like in many other of his films, Fassbinder analyses lower middle class life with characters who, unable to articulate their feelings, bury them in inane phrases and violent acts. Fassbinder first gained international success with Angst essen Seele auf/Fear Eats the Soul (1974). which won the International Critics Prize at Cannes and was acclaimed by critics everywhere as one of 1974's best films. Fear Eats the Soul was loosely inspired by Sirk's All That Heaven Allows (1955). It details the vicious response of family and community to a lonely aging white cleaning lady (Brigitte Mira) who marries a muscular, much younger black Moroccan immigrant worker. In these films, Fassbinder explored how deep-rooted prejudices about race, sex, sexual orientation, politics and class are inherent in society, while also tackling his trademark subject of the everyday fascism of family life and friendship. He learned how to handle all phases of production, from writing and acting to direction and theatre management. This versatility surfaced in his films where he served as composer, production designer, cinematographer, producer and editor.
Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s final films, from around 1977 until his death, were more varied, with international actors sometimes used and the stock company disbanded, although the casts of some films were still filled with Fassbinder regulars. Despair (1978) is based upon the 1936 novel of the same name by Vladimir Nabokov, adapted by Tom Stoppard and featuring Dirk Bogarde. It was made on a budget of 6,000,000 DEM, exceeding the total cost of Fassbinder's first fifteen films. In einem Jahr mit 13 Monden/In a Year of Thirteen Moons (1978) is Fassbinder most personal and bleakest work. The film follows the tragic life of Elvira, a transsexual formerly known as Erwin. In the last few days before her suicide, she decides to visit some of the important people and places in her life. Fassbinder became increasingly more idiosyncratic in terms of plot, form and subject matter in films like his greatest success Die Ehe der Maria Braun/The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979), Die Dritte Generation/The Third Generation (1979) and Querelle (1982). Returning to his explorations of German history, Fassbinder finally realized his dream of adapting Alfred Döblin's 1929 novel Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980). A television series running more than 13 hours, it was the culmination of the director's inter-related themes of love, life, and power. Fassbinder took on the Nazi period with Lili Marleen (1981), an international co production, shot in English and with a large budget. The script was vaguely based on the autobiography of World War II singer Lale Andersen, The Sky Has Many Colors. He articulated his themes in the bourgeois milieu with his trilogy about women in post-fascist Germany: Die Ehe der Maria Braun/The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979), Lola (1981) and Die Sehnsucht der Veronika Voss/Veronika Voss (1982), for which he won the Golden Bear at the 32nd Berlin International Film Festival. Fassbinder did not live to see the premiere of his last film, Querelle (1982), based on Jean Genet's novel Querelle de Brest. The plot follows the title character, a handsome sailor (Brad Davis) who is a thief and hustler. Frustrated in a homoerotic relationship with his own brother, Querelle betrays those who love him and pays them even with murder.
Rainer Werner Fassbinder had sexual relationships with both men and women. He rarely kept his professional and personal life separate and was known to cast family, friends and lovers in his films. Early in his career, he had a lasting, but fractured relationship with Irm Hermann, a former secretary whom he forced to become an actress. Fassbinder usually cast her in unglamorous roles, most notably as the unfaithful wife in The Merchant of Four Seasons and the silent abused assistant in The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant. In 1969, while portraying the lead role in the T.V film Baal under the direction of Volker Schlöndorff, Fassbinder met Günther Kaufmann, a black Bavarian actor who had a minor role in the film. Despite the fact that Kaufmann was married and had two children, Fassbinder fell madly in love with him. The two began a turbulent affair which ultimately affected the production of Baal. Fassbinder tried to buy Kaufmann's love by casting him in major roles in his films and buying him expensive gifts. The relationship came to an end when Kaufmann became romantically involved with composer Peer Raben. After the end of their relationship, Fassbinder continued to cast Kaufmann in his films, albeit in minor roles. Kaufmann appeared in fourteen of Fassbinder's films, with the lead role in Whity (1971). Although he claimed to be opposed to matrimony as an institution, in 1970 Fassbinder married Ingrid Caven, an actress who regularly appeared in his films. Their wedding reception was recycled in the film he was making at that time, The American Soldier. Their relationship of mutual admiration survived the complete failure of their two-year marriage. In 1971, Fassbinder began a relationship with El Hedi ben Salem, a Moroccan Berber who had left his wife and five children the previous year, after meeting him at a gay bathhouse in Paris. Over the next three years, Salem appeared in several Fassbinder productions. His best known role was Ali in Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974). Their three-year relationship was punctuated with jealousy, violence and heavy drug and alcohol use. Fassbinder finally ended the relationship in 1974 due to Salem's chronic alcoholism and tendency to become violent when he drank. Shortly after the breakup, Salem went to France where he was arrested and imprisoned. He hanged himself while in custody in 1977. News of Salem's suicide was kept from Fassbinder for years. He eventually found out about his former lover's death shortly before his own death in 1982 and dedicated his last film, Querelle, to Salem. Fassbinder's next lover was Armin Meier. Meier was a near illiterate former butcher who had spent his early years in an orphanage. He also appeared in several Fassbinder films in this period. After Fassbinder ended the relationship in 1978, Meier deliberately consumed four bottles of sleeping pills and alcohol in the kitchen of the apartment he and Fassbinder had previously shared. His body was found a week later. In the last four years of his life, his companion was Juliane Lorenz), the editor of his films during the last years of his life. On the night of 10 June 1982, Fassbinder took an overdose of cocaine and sleeping pills. When he was found, an unfinished script for a film on Rosa Luxemburg was lying next to him. His death marked the end of New German Cinema.
Steve Cohn at IMDb: “Above all, Rainer Werner Fassbinder was a rebel whose life and art was marked by gross contradiction. Known for his trademark leather jacket and grungy appearance, Fassbinder cruised the bar scene by night, looking for sex and drugs, yet he maintained a flawless work ethic by day. Actors and actresses recount disturbing stories of his brutality toward them, yet his pictures demonstrate his deep sensitivity to social misfits and his hatred of institutionalized violence.”
Sources: Steve Cohn (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.
I've come down with a raging case of bacon finger. There is no known cure. Symptoms include: the uncontrollable desire to chew of your own finger to get a delicious taste of pork, hallucinations of lettuce and tomato and the smell of momma frying bacon on a Sunday mornin'.
The celebrations and gaiety of an Indian wedding ends with a solemn note, when the bride has to say goodbye to her parents. I have noticed that its the father who always cries uncontrollably and the bride ends up consoling her father instead of crying herself. Amazing father daughter bond.
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Disturbing appearances
Crippling depression
Triggering thoughts
Uncontrollable selfharm
They give me numbing shots to prepare me for the shocktherapy treatment
I've never felt such an overwelming fear. My mind is blurred, i cant even speak, my body is shivering, my sweat is cold and my blood is freezing. I know I wont make it this time. My heart is too weak. There is no heartbeat left anymore...
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Death Valley, the Panamint Range and Zabriskie Badlands. Death Valley National Park, California. February 20, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell - all rights reserved.
Morning light on the badlands of Zabriskie Point, Death Valley, and the Panamint Range - Death Valley National Park, California.
I just returned from a four-day shoot in Death Valley in rather "interesting" conditions for the most part. While it isn't supposed to be as hot in Death Valley at this time of year as it will be later on, it was a bit more wintry than one might usually expect - nothing out of the realm of the ordinary, but in many ways closer to one of the sharp points at the end of the bell curve. On the first two nights it snowed in the peaks around the valley, perhaps down to 4000' of elevation or even a bit lower. And it was cold even during the day when I drove up into the surrounding ranges - I experienced quite a bit of weather in the low thirties and drove through some light snow on several occasions.
The weather is part of the story behind this photograph, and it is also one of several I made on this trip that reminded me how important serendipity is in landscape photography. I don't mean to imply that planning doesn't matter, or that if you just make enough photographs that eventually you'll get lucky. What I mean is that there are so many variables at work in the living landscape that a photographer would have to be semi-deluded to think that we can actually be successful purely on the basis of careful planning. (OK, I'll accept the notion of "preparing for serendipity.") As prepared as we can be, once "out there" in the landscape there are so many unpredictable and uncontrollable elements that an important part of what we do, I think, is to take advantage of fleeting opportunities before they pass - a combination of being aware of them when they occur, being technically and otherwise ready to work with them, and then acting quickly and relatively intuitively.
The story on this morning is roughly as follows. I woke up well before dawn with a general plan of taking a look at what I could see of the weather in complete darkness and then picking from one of several morning possibilities that I had thought about then night before. I got up and drove a ways to where I had a broad view of the Valley in both the north and south direction and tried to figure out what might happen. It was quite cloudy - it had rained and snowed a bit overnight and the precipitation wasn't over with yet. It look a little lighter to the south, so I thought that I'd see what was happening up at Dantes View, where a grand vista of Death Valley is available in clear weather. I had this image of a dusting of snow on the peak as the sun broke through the clouds at dawn to reveal panoramic views.
Reality didn't quite cooperate. I drove out on the road to Dantes View and it wasn't getting any clearer. In fact, the peaks were still quite socked in. As I got closer it began to snow, and before long it was cold enough that the snow on the road was sticking. I soon arrived at the last section of the climb, which claims to feature 15% grades, and thought better of driving up this slick road... in falling snow... and into thick clouds. The odds of sunrise light were essentially zero. So I turned around with a vague idea of heading down the way I had come until I found some light. A couple miles down things cleared enough that I could get some shots of distant snow covered ridges in morning light, and a bit further on I was able to make a stitched panorama of the Valley.
I kept going. I had vowed that I would not go near Zabriskie Point on this trip unless something really interesting or unusual happened, but I stopped in the parking lot when I reached it just to take a look around. It was past the standard and popular dawn light period (not that there had been any!) and most photographers were leaving as I arrived. But I've shot here before enough to know that sometimes interesting stuff happens later, and I thought that the cloud shadows on the Panamints across the Valley looked like they were starting to thin. I wanted to photograph one particular wash on the Panamints, but it was obscured by intervening hills so I wandered a bit to the north looking for a better view of the spot. I finally found it and had a long lens focused on a tight shot of this area when all of a sudden shafts of light came through the clouds and lit up the folds in the gully right below me just as the first light was hitting the flats on the far side of the Valley. I quickly moved to a shorter focal length and recomposed to include this gully, and made this photograph in the minute or so of this light.
If I claimed that this is the shot I planned to produce when I started out early on this morning... I would be lying.
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So I just have to work out how to do this in a uncontrollable environment and I might be able to reflect something a little more interesting.
They say the sun always shines on the righteous. One way or another, of late, I'm beginning to feel increasingly like the Chilean miner they accidentally left behind! And now, I've fumbled around in my pockets, lit a match, and blinking into its shadowy light, there's my dad slumped in the corner.
Today was a bit of a shock; even after yesterday. When I got to the hospital, my step-mother had made it in a few minutes before me. I'd last seen her after leaving him yesterday and was relatively upbeat, in terms of reassuring her that he was still in there. But now, we both sat in front of this man neither of us barely recognised; he still had moments of apparent lucidity, but it was a curious mix of references that seemed to be combining leaking memories, displacement and gallows humour. And on the outside, this shell of a man, now inescapably etched with the remnants of that uncontrollable fire. A man, quite literally, cut in two: the right side trying desperately to hold onto our memory of him; the left side taking on the appearance of a once much loved, but long since abandoned, home.
The stroke team have been excellent. And, Jo, exceptional. She gently took our slightly shell-shocked selves into a quiet room and sat patiently with us, explaining and fielding our scatter-gun questions as they randomly crowded out the tiny room. At the end, though, we were no longer under any illusions. He has suffered a 'really big stroke'. And, protracted recovery notwithstanding, for a while, even with the medication on board, he remains at significant risk for another event and also the threat of pneumonia and other infections.
The recovery - if, when and how much of it comes - will be measured in weeks and months.
Today was their wedding anniversary. Are you still going out tonight? "Of course. We're going out to the Upton Inn." Are you going to drive? "Why not?"
Twitter: Anatomy Of A Stroke
captainkimo.com/waves-in-motion-during-sunrise-at-carlin-...
I captured this HDR photo during yesterday's unspectacular sunrise. The only elements making this photo come alive is the water receding and the one wave forming. When I'm doing HDR Beach Photography I look for four elements; light, subject, water and atmosphere. When all these uncontrollable elements come together it creates the holy grail of beach photographs, which I have yet to capture :-(
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Basanta Utsav literally means the 'celebration of spring'. ...
Annually celebrated in March, the festival is an occassion to invite the colourful spring season with utmost warmth. What is appreciated is the grace and diginified manner in which Vasant Utsav is celebrated in Bengal as compared to uncontrollable Holi witnessed in most parts of India.
The beautiful tradition of celebrating spring festival in Bengal was first started by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore at Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan.