Target calls it a carafe...I call it a vase!

Lottie Cabinet & Decor is our newest release for EQUAL10! This versatile collection features open-air cabinets and eyecatching accessories, with loads of color options to help you add pops of color (or more sedated looks) wherever you choose. Have a look at the complete details below, then stop by the event to grab your faves♡

◢◤Elm. Lottie Cabinet◢◤

⇢ Available in Light or Dark Pack options.

⇢ Each pack includes 3 cabinet sizes.

➥Elm. Lottie Cabinet//Long - 1Li

➥Elm. Lottie Cabinet//Tall - 1Li

➥Elm. Lottie Cabinet//Short - 1Li

◢◤Elm. Lottie Candles//Ceramic Arch◢◤

⇢ Texture Menu: 10 Candle + 10 Candle Holder options.

➥Elm. Lottie Candles//Ceramic Arch #1 - 2Li

➥Elm. Lottie Candles//Ceramic Arch #2 - 2Li

➥Elm. Lottie Candles//Ceramic Arch #3 - 2Li

➥Elm. Lottie Candles//Ceramic Arch #4 - 2Li

➥Elm. Lottie Candles//Ceramic Arch #5 - 2Li

◢◤Elm. Lottie Candles//Glass Glow◢◤

⇢ Texture Menu: 12 Candle Holder options.

➥Elm. Lottie Candles//Glass Glow #1 - 2Li

➥Elm. Lottie Candles//Glass Glow #2 - 2Li

➥Elm. Lottie Candles//Glass Glow #3 - 2Li

◢◤Elm. Lottie Candles//Metal Muse◢◤

⇢ Texture Menu: 10 Candle Color options.

➥Elm. Lottie Candles//Metal Muse #1 - 2Li

➥Elm. Lottie Candles//Metal Muse #2 - 2Li

➥Elm. Lottie Candles//Metal Muse #3 - 2Li

➥Elm. Lottie Candles//Metal Muse #4 - 2Li

◢◤Elm. Lottie Decor//Book Display◢◤

⇢ Texture Menu: 10 Book End colors

➥Elm. Lottie Decor//Book Display #1 - 1Li

➥Elm. Lottie Decor//Book Display #2 - 1Li

◢◤Elm. Lottie Decor//Color Block Tile Frame◢◤

⇢ Texture Menu: 10 Frame Colors

⇢ add your own images!

➥Elm. Lottie Decor//Color Block Tile Frame #1 - 1Li

➥Elm. Lottie Decor//Color Block Tile Frame #2 - 1Li

◢◤Elm. Lottie Decor//Wooden Frame◢◤

⇢ Texture Menu: 7 Photo Border options

⇢ add your own images!

➥Elm. Lottie Decor//Wooden Frame #1 - 1Li

➥Elm. Lottie Decor//Wooden Frame #2 - 1Li

◢◤Elm. Lottie Decor//Matchsticks◢◤

➥Elm. Lottie Decor//Wave Line Matchsticks - 1Li

⇢ Texture Menu: 10 Matchstick + 10 Matchstick Holder

➥Elm. Lottie Decor//Stone Speckle Matchsticks - 1Li

⇢ Texture Menu: 10 Matchstick + 2 Matchstick Holder

► Join our Flickr Group

In Africa, where resources are much more scarce, recycling is a way of life and no scrap of material goes to waste. These are flattened strips of aluminum taken from the necks of discarded liquor bottles. Strung together they form this textile-like sculpture that recalls the woven and pieced designs of "kente", a traditional type of African Asante or Ewe royal cloth

Born in Ghana, El Anatsui currently lives in Nigeria. His work reflects his awareness of both the international contemporary art market and what he terms "classical" African art. Emerging as an artist during the vibrant West African post-independence art movements of the 1960s and 1970s, El Anatsui has gone on to receive international acclaim for his constantly evolving and highly experimental sculpture.

Photographed on display at the De Young Fine Arts Museum in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California

Versatile Eyeshadow Collection, is a set available for Lelutka EvoX, sold in the BOM version - FATPACK for 69L

ᴛʀʏ ᴀ ᴅᴇᴍᴏ ʙᴇғᴏʀᴇ ᴘᴜʀᴄʜᴀsᴇ

taxi: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/VELOUR/70/206/2010

Lancahsire's only population of wild Red Deer is found at Leighton Moss and in the Silverdale area. They are thought to have crossed over from Cumbria where they occur in forests, moors and on the mountains. At Leighton Moss they are found in reedbeds, showing their versatile nature.

The Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) is one of the largest deer species. The Red Deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Asia Minor and parts of western and central Asia. It also inhabits the Atlas Mountains region between Morocco and Tunisia in northwestern Africa, being the only species of deer to inhabit Africa. Red Deer have been introduced to other areas including Australia, New Zealand and Argentina. In many parts of the world the meat (venison) from Red Deer is used as a food source.

Red Deer are ruminants, characterized by an even number of toes, and a four-chambered stomach. Recent DNA evidence indicates that the Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) and the East Asian and North American Elk (Wapiti) (Cervus canadensis) represent two distinct species. They also hint at an additional primordial subgroup of Central Asian Red Deer.[2] The ancestor of all Red Deer probably originated in Central Asia and probably resembled Sika Deer.[3]

Although at one time Red Deer were rare in some areas, they were never close to extinction. Reintroduction and conservation efforts, especially in the United Kingdom, have resulted in an increase of Red Deer populations, while other areas, such as North Africa, have continued to show a population decline.

Description

The Red Deer is the fourth largest deer species behind moose, elk (wapiti) and sambar deer. It is a ruminant, eating its food in two stages and having an even number of toes on each hoof, like camels, goats and cattle. European Red Deer have a relatively long tail compared to their Asian and North American relatives. There are subtle differences in appearance between the various subspecies of Red Deer primarily in size and antlers, with the smallest being the Corsican Red Deer found on the islands of Corsica and Sardinia and the largest being the Caspian red deer[citation needed] (or maral) of Asia Minor and the Caucasus Region to the west of the Caspian Sea. The deer of Central and Western Europe vary greatly in size with some of the largest deer found in the Carpathian Mountains in Central Europe.[3] West European Red Deer historically, grew to large size given ample food supply (including peoples' crops), and descendants of introduced populations living in New Zealand and Argentina have grown quite large in size and antlers. Large Red Deer stags, like the Caspian Red Deer or those of the Carpathian Mountains may rival the Wapiti in size. Female Red Deer are much smaller than their male counterparts.

Generally, the male (stag or hart) Red Deer is typically 175 to 230 cm (69 to 91 in) long and weighs 160 to 240 kg (350 to 530 lb); the female is 160 to 210 cm (63 to 83 in) long and weighs 120 to 170 kg (260 to 370 lb).[citation needed] The tail adds another 12 to 19 cm (4.7 to 7.5 in) and shoulder height is about 105 to 120 cm (41 to 47 in). Size varies in different subspecies with the largest, the huge but small-antlered deer of the Carpathian Mountains (C. e. elaphus), weighing up to 500 kg (1,100 lb). At the other end of the scale, the Corsican Red Deer (C. e. corsicanus) weighs about 80 to 100 kg (180 to 220 lb), although Red Deer in poor habitats can weigh as little as 53 to 112 kg (120 to 250 lb).[4] European Red Deer tend to be reddish-brown in their summer coats. The males of many subspecies also grow a short neck mane ("mane" of hair around their necks) during the autumn. The male deer of the British Isles and Norway tend to have the thickest and most noticeable neck manes. Male Caspian Red Deer (Cervus elaphus maral) and Spanish Red Deer (Cervus elaphus hispanicus) do not carry neck manes. Male deer of all subspecies, however, tend to have stronger and thicker neck muscles than female deer, which may give them an appearance of having neck manes. Red Deer hinds (females) do not have neck manes. The European Red Deer is adapted to a woodland environment.[5]

Only the stags have antlers which start growing in the spring and are shed each year, usually at the end of winter. Antlers are made of bone which can grow at a rate of 2.5 cm (1.0 in) a day. A soft covering known as velvet helps to protect newly forming antlers in the spring. European red deer antlers are distinctive in being rather straight and rugose, with the fourth and fifth tines forming a "crown" or "cup" in larger males. Any tines in excess of the fourth and fifth tine will grow radially from the "cup". "Cups" are generally absent in the antlers of smaller red deer such as Corsican Red Deer. West European Red Deer antlers feature bez (second) tines that are either absent or smaller than the brow tine. However, bez tines occur frequently in Norwegian Red Deer. Antlers of Caspian Red Deer carry large bez (second) tines and form less-developed "cups" than West European red deer, their antlers are thus more like the "throw back" top tines of the wapiti (Cervus canadensis sp.)and these are known as maraloid characteristics. A stag can (exceptionally) have antlers with no tines, and is then known as a switch. Similarly, a stag that doesn't grow antlers is a hummel. The antlers are testosterone-driven and as the stag's testosterone levels drop in the autumn, the velvet is shed and the antlers stop growing.[6] Red Deer produce no testosterone in their bodies while they are growing antler.[clarification needed] With the approach of autumn, the antler begin to calcify and the stags testosterone production builds for the approaching rut (mating season).

During the autumn, all Red Deer subspecies grow a thicker coat of hair which helps to insulate them during the winter. Autumn is also when some of the stags grow their neck manes.[3] It is in the autumn/winter coat that most subspecies are most distinct. The Caspian Red Deer's winter coat is greyer and has a larger and more distinguished light rump-patch (like Elk and some Central Asian Red Deer) compared to the West European Red Deer which has more of a greyish-brown coat with a darker yellowish rump patch in the winter. By the time summer begins, the heavy winter coat has been shed; the animals are known to rub against trees and other objects to help remove hair from their bodies. Red Deer have different colouration based on the seasons and types of habitats, with grey or lighter colouration prevalent in the winter and a more reddish and darker coat in the summer.[7] Most European Red Deer wear a reddish-brown summer coat, and some individuals may have a few spots on the backs of their summer coats.

Distribution

Cervus genus ancestors of Red Deer first appear in fossil records 12 million years ago during the Miocene in Eurasia.[8] An extinct genus known as the Irish Elk (Megaloceros), not related to the red deer but to the fallow deer, is the largest member of the deer family known from the fossil record.[9]

The European Red Deer is one of the largest game animals found in Southwestern Asia (Asia Minor and Caucasus regions), North Africa and Europe. The Red Deer is the largest non-domesticated mammal still existing in some European countries such as the United Kingdom and Ireland.[8] The Barbary stag (which resembles the West European Red Deer) is the only member of the deer family that is represented in Africa, with population centred in the northwestern region of the continent in the Atlas Mountains.[10] As of the mid 1990s, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria were the only African countries known to have Red Deer.[11]

In the UK there are indigenous populations in Scotland, the Lake District and the South West of England (principally on Exmoor). Not all of these are of entirely pure bloodlines as some of these populations have been supplemented with deliberate releases of deer from parks like Warnham or Woburn Abbey in an attempt to increase antler sizes and body weights. Edinburgh University found that in Scotland there has been extensive hybridisation with the closely related Sika Deer.[12] There are several other populations that have originated either with carted deer kept for stag hunts being left out at the end of the hunt, escapes from deer farms or deliberate releases. Carted deer were kept by stag hunts with no wild red deer in the locality and were normally recaptured after the hunt and used again; although the hunts are called "stag hunts" the Norwich Staghounds only hunted hinds (female red deer) and in 1950 at least eight hinds (some of which may have been pregnant) were known to be at large near Kimberley and West Harling[13] and formed the basis of a new population based in Thetford Forest in Norfolk. There are now further substantial red deer herds that originated from escapes or deliberate releases in the New Forest, the Peak District, Suffolk, Brecon Beacons and West Yorkshire as well as many other smaller populations scattered throughout England, and they are all generally increasing in numbers and range. A recent census of deer populations in 2007 coordinated by the British Deer Society records red deer as having expanded range their range in England and Wales since 2000, with expansion most notable in the Midlands and East Anglia. ref [1]

In New Zealand, and to a lesser degree in Australia, the red deer were introduced by acclimatisation societies along with other deer and game species. The first red deer to reach New Zealand were a pair sent by Lord Petre in 1851 from his herd at Thorndon Park, Essex to the South Island but the hind was shot before they had a chance to breed. Lord Petre sent another stag and two hinds in 1861 and these were liberated near Nelson from where they quickly spread. The first deer to reach the North Island were a gift to Sir Frederick Weld from Windsor Great Park and were released near Wellington and these were followed by further releases up to 1914.[14] Between 1851 and 1926 there were 220 separate liberations of red deer involving over 800 deer.[15] In 1927 the State Forest Service introduced a bounty for red deer shot on their land and in 1931 Government control operations were commenced and between 1931 and March 1975 1,124,297 deer were killed on official operations.

In New Zealand introduced Red Deer have adapted much better and are widely hunted on both islands, many of the 220 introductions used deer originating from Scotland (Invermark) or one of the major deer parks in England, principally Warnham, Woburn Abbey or Windsor Great Park. There is some hybridisation with the closely related Wapiti or American Elk (Cervus canadensis nelsoni) introduced in Fiordland in 1921. New Zealand red deer produce very large antlers and are regarded as amongst the best in the world by hunters. Along with the other introduced deer species they are however officially regarded as a noxious pest and are still heavily culled using professional hunters working with helicopters, or even poisoned.

The first red deer to reach Australia were probably the six that Prince Albert sent in 1860 from Windsor Great Park to Thomas Chirnside who was starting a herd at Werribee Park, south west of Melbourne in Victora. Further introductions were made in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia. Today the red deer range in Australia ranges from Queensland down through New South Wales into Victoria and across to South Australia, with the numbers increasing. The Queensland, Victorian and most New South Wales strains can still be traced to the early releases, but South Australia's population along with all others is now largely recent farmed escapees. This is having adverse affects on the integrity of wild herds as now more and more larger herds are being grown due to the superior genetics that have been attained by select breeding.

Red Deer populations in Africa and southern Europe are generally declining. In Argentina, where the Red Deer has had a potential adverse impact on native animal species, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources has labelled the animal as one of the world's 100 worst invaders.

Migration

Red Deer in Europe generally spend their winters in lower altitudes and more wooded terrain. During the summer, they migrate to higher elevations where food supplies are greater for the calving season.

Taxonomy

Until recently biologists considered that Red Deer and Wapiti (or Elk) are the same species forming, a continuous distribution throughout temperate Eurasia and North America. This belief was based largely on the fully fertile hybrids that can be produced under captive conditions.

However, recent DNA studies conducted on hundreds of samples from Red Deer and Elk subspecies concluded that there are no more than 9 distinct subspecies of Red Deer and Wapiti and that they fall into two separate species: the Red Deer from Europe, western Asia and North Africa, and the Wapiti or Elk from Northern and Eastern Asia and North America. Surprisingly, from DNA evidence the Elk appear more closely related to Sika Deer and to Thorold's deer than to Red Deer.

Subspecies

Additionally there are some central Asiatic subspecies (Tarim group, including Bactrian deer and Yarkand deer), which are geographically isolated from Wapiti and western Red Deer by the Takla Makan and the Pamir Mountains. They appear to represent a primordial subgroup, genetically more related to the Red Deer than to the Wapiti. It remains unclear which clade the Kashmir stag belongs in,[2] though it, in terms of zoogeography, is most likely to belong in the central Asian group.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources originally listed nine subspecies of Red Deer (Cervus elaphus): three as endangered, one as vulnerable, one as near threatened, and four without enough data to give a category ("Data Deficient"). The species as a whole, however, is listed as least concern.[1] However, this was based on the traditional classification of Red Deer as one species (Cervus elaphus), including the Elk.

Listed below are the subspecies of Red Deer (Cervus elaphus), including the primordial subgroup from central Asia.

Subspecies

Additionally there are some central Asiatic subspecies (Tarim group, including Bactrian deer and Yarkand deer), which are geographically isolated from Wapiti and western Red Deer by the Takla Makan and the Pamir Mountains. They appear to represent a primordial subgroup, genetically more related to the Red Deer than to the Wapiti. It remains unclear which clade the Kashmir stag belongs in,[2] though it, in terms of zoogeography, is most likely to belong in the central Asian group.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources originally listed nine subspecies of Red Deer (Cervus elaphus): three as endangered, one as vulnerable, one as near threatened, and four without enough data to give a category ("Data Deficient"). The species as a whole, however, is listed as least concern.[1] However, this was based on the traditional classification of Red Deer as one species (Cervus elaphus), including the Elk.

Listed below are the subspecies of Red Deer (Cervus elaphus), including the primordial subgroup from central Asia.

Breeding, gestation and lifespan

Red Deer mating patterns usually involve a dozen or more mating attempts before the first successful one. There may be several more matings before the stag will seek out another mate in his harem. Females in their second autumn can produce one and very rarely two offspring per year. The gestation period is 240 and 262 days and the offspring weigh about 15 kg (33 lb). After two weeks, fawns are able to join the herd and are fully weaned after two months.[20] Female offspring outnumber male offspring more than two to one and all Red Deer fawns are born spotted, as is common with many deer species, and lose their spots by the end of summer. However, as in many species of Old World Deer, some adults do retain a few spots on the backs of their summer coats.[3] The offspring will remain with their mothers for almost one full year, leaving around the time that the next season offspring are produced.[5] The gestation period is the same for all subspecies.

Red Deer live up to over 20 years in captivity and in the wild they average 10 to 13 years,, though some subspecies with less predation pressure average 15 years.

Protection from predators

Male Red Deer retain their antlers for more than half the year and are less gregarious and less likely to group with other males when they have antlers. The antlers provide self-defence as does a strong front-leg kicking action which is performed by both sexes when attacked. Once the antlers are shed, stags tend to form bachelor groups which allow them to cooperatively work together. Herds tend to have one or more members watching for potential danger while the remaining members eat and rest.[5]

After the rut, females form large herds of up to 50 individuals. The newborn calves are kept close to the hinds by a series of vocalizations between the two, and larger nurseries have an ongoing and constant chatter during the daytime hours. When approached by predators, the largest and most robust females may make a stand, using their front legs to kick at their attackers. Guttural grunts and posturing is used with all but the most determined of predators with great effectiveness. Aside from humans and domestic dogs, the Wolf is probably the most dangerous predator that most European Red Deer encounter. Occasionally, the Brown bear will predate on European Red Deer as well.[5] Eurasian Lynx and wild boars sometimes prey on the calves. The leopard in Asia Minor (now extinct) probably preyed on East European Red Deer. Both Barbary Lion and Barbary Leopard probably once preyed on Atlas stags in the Atlas Mountains, although Barbary Lion is now extinct in the wild, and Barbary Leopard either very rare or extinct.

Red Deer in folklore

Red Deer are widely depicted in cave art and are found throughout European caves, with some of the artwork dating from as early as 40,000 years ago, during the Upper Paleolithic. Siberian cave art from the Neolithic of 7,000 years ago has abundant depictions of Red Deer, including what can be described as spiritual artwork, indicating the importance of this mammal to the peoples of that region (Note: these animals were most likely Wapiti (Cervus canadensis) in Siberia, not Red Deer).[21] Red deer are also often depicted on Pictish stones (c.550-850 AD), from the early medieval period in Scotland, usually as prey animals for human or animal predators. In Medieval hunting the red deer was the most prestigious quarry, especially the mature stag, which in England was called a 'hart'.

Red Deer products

Red Deer are held in captivity for a variety of reasons. The meat of the deer, called venison, is not generally harvested for human consumption on a large scale, though speciality restaurants seasonally offer venison which is widely considered to be both flavourful and nutritious. Venison is higher in protein and lower in fat than either beef or chicken.[22] In some countries in central Asia, elk is still hunted as a primary source of meat.

The red deer can produce 10 to 15 kg (22 to 33 lb) of antler velvet annually.[citation needed] On ranches in New Zealand, China, Siberia, and elsewhere[23] this velvet is collected and sold to markets in East Asia, where it is used for holistic medicines, with South Korea being the primary consumer. In Russia, a medication produced from antler velvet is sold under the brand name Pantokrin (Russian: Пантокри́н; Latin: Pantocrinum).[citation needed] The antlers themselves are also believed by East Asians to have medicinal purposes and are often ground up and used in small quantities.

Historically, related deer species such as Central Asian Red Deer, Wapiti, Thorold's Deer, and Sika Deer have been reared on deer farms in Central and Eastern Asia by Han Chinese, Turkic peoples, Tungusic peoples, Mongolians, and Koreans.[citation needed] In modern times, Western countries such as New Zealand and United States have taken to farming European Red Deer for similar purposes.

Deer antlers are also highly sought after worldwide for decorative purposes and have been used for artwork, furniture and other novelty items.

Ophrydium versatile, Colonial Protozoa

A gelatinous green colony of Ophrydium versatile photographed at New Marsh in the North Tract of the Patuxent Wildlife Refuge, Maryland, USA. Special thanks to my friend Richard Orr for pointing this organism out to me and explaining what we were observing.

Ophrydium versatile is a colonial protozoan, meaning it is made up of many single-celled organisms that live and function together as a unified colony rather than as independent individuals. What appears to be a single organism is actually a highly organized structure composed of tens of thousands to several million microscopic single-celled zooids (individual protozoan cells) embedded within a shared gelatinous matrix that they collectively produce.

Each zooid contains symbiotic green algae (Chlorella), which photosynthesize and give the colony its vivid green coloration while supplying nutrients to the host cells. The colony grows as individual zooids reproduce by cell division and remain integrated within the structure, and new colonies can form when free-swimming stages settle and begin building their own matrix.

Functionally, the colony operates as a coordinated system, with each cell feeding by creating tiny water currents using cilia while also benefiting from the internal algae’s energy production. Shape can vary from spherical to irregular depending on environmental conditions, which explains differences in appearance between observations.

This image captures a rarely noticed freshwater micro-ecosystem made visible at a scale large enough to be appreciated with the naked eye.

Vintage photo.

Italian actress Claudia Cardinale (1938) is one of Europe's iconic and most versatile film stars. The combination of her beauty, dark, flashing eyes, explosive sexuality and genuine acting talent virtually guaranteed her stardom. Her most notable films include 8½ (Federico Fellini, 1963), Il Gattopardo/The Leopard (Luchino Visconti, 1963) and Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone, 1968).

Claude Joséphine Rose Cardinale was born in La Goulette in Tunisia in 1938 (some sources claim 1939). Her mother, Yolande Greco, was born in Tunisia to Italian (Sicilian) emigrants from Trapani, Italy. Her father was an Italian (Sicilian) railway worker, born in Gela, Italy. Her native languages were Tunisian Arabic and French. She received a French education and she had to learn Italian once she pursued her acting career. She had her break in films after she was voted the most beautiful Italian girl in Tunisia in 1957. The contest of the Italian embassy had as a prize a trip to the Venice Film Festival. She made her film debut in the French-Tunisian coproduction Goha (Jacques Baratier, 1958) starring Omar Sharif. After attending the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome for two months, she signed a 7-year contract with the Vides studios. The contract forbade her to cut her hair, to marry or to gain weight. Later that year she had a role in the heist comedy I soliti ignoti/Big Deal On Madonna Street (Mario Monicelli, 1958) with Vittorio Gassman and Renato Salvatori. The film was an international success, and her film career was off and running. At this point, the press, noting her initials, announced that CC was the natural successor to BB (Brigitte Bardot), and began beating the drum on her behalf. Dozens of alluring photographs of Claudia Cardinale were displayed in newspapers and magazines throughout the world. According to IMDb, she has appeared on more than 900 magazine covers in over 25 countries. The contrast between these pictures and those of Marilyn Monroe or Jayne Mansfield is striking. Cardinale never appeared in a nude or fully topless scene. Her pictures promoted an image of a shy family girl who just happened to have a beautiful face and a sexy body. A photograph of Cardinale was featured in the original gate fold artwork to Bob Dylan's album Blonde on Blonde (1966), but because it was used without Cardinale's permission, the photo was removed from the cover art in later pressings.

Claudia Cardinale's early career was largely managed producer Franco Cristaldi. Because of her film contract, she told everyone that her son Patrizio was her baby brother. He was born out of wedlock when she was 17; the father was a mysterious Frenchman. She did not reveal to the child that he was her son until he was 19 years old. In 1966, she married Cristaldi, who adopted Patrizio. In only three years she made a stream of great films. First she made three successful comedies, Un Maledetto imbroglio/The Facts of Murder (Pietro Germi, 1959), Il Bell'Antonio/Bell'Antonio (Mauro Bolognini, 1960) featuring Marcello Mastroianni, and Audace colpo dei soliti ignoti/Fiasco in Milan (Nanni Loy, 1960). Cardinale had a supporting part in the epic drama Rocco e i suoi fratelli/Rocco and His Brothers (Luchino Visconti, 1960) in which she played the sister-in-law of Alain Delon and Renato Salvatori. And then followed leading parts in La Ragazza con la valigia/Girl with a Suitcase (Valerio Zurlini, 1961), La Viaccia/The Lovemakers (Mauro Bolognini, 1961) with Jean-Paul Belmondo, and Senilità/Careless (Mauro Bolognini, 1961). Claudia Cardinale had a deep, sultry voice and spoke Italian with a heavy French accent, so her voice was dubbed in her early films. In Federico Fellini's 8½ (1963), she was finally allowed to dub her own dialogue. In the film, she plays a dream woman - a character named Claudia, who is the object of the fantasies of the director in the film, played by Marcello Mastroianni. With Fellini's surrealistic masterpiece she received her widest exposure to date with this film. That same year, she also appeared in another masterpiece of the Italian cinema, the epic Il Gattopardo/The Leopard (Luchino Visconti, 1963) with Burt Lancaster and Alain Delon. The combined success of these two classic films made her rise to the front ranks of Italian cinema. And it also piqued Hollywood's interest.

In 1963 Claudia Cardinale played the princess who owned the Pink Panther diamond in The Pink Panther (Blake Edwards, 1963) which was filmed in Italy. It was the first in the series of detective comedies starring Peter Sellers as bumbling French Inspector Jacques Clouseau (the mishap-prone snoop was actually a supporting player in his debut). The film was an enormous success and brought CC to English-speaking audiences. In 1964 she co-starred with John Wayne and Rita Hayworth in her first American production, Circus World (Henry Hathaway, 1964). It was another box-office hit. The following year she appeared with Rock Hudson in Blindfold (Philip Dunne, 1966), an offbeat mixture of espionage and slapstick comedy. The Professionals (Richard Brooks, 1966) is her favourite among her Hollywood films. In this Western, she is a gutsy Mexican woman married against her will to a rich American. The film received Academy Award nominations for Best Direction (Richard Brooks), Best Screenplay (Brooks again), and Best Cinematography (Conrad L. Hall). Cardinale continued dividing her time between Hollywood and Europe for the remainder of the decade. Throughout the 1960s, Claudia Cardinale also appeared in some of the best European films. In France, she appeared in the Swashbuckler Cartouche (Philippe de Broca, 1962) featuring Jean-Paul Belmondo. Back in Italy, she played in I Giorno della civetta/The Day of the Owl (Damiano Damiani, 1968) with Franco Nero, and Nell'anno del Signore/The Conspirators (Luigi Magni, 1969) with Nino Manfredi. Mesmerizing is her performance in Sandra/Vaghe stelle dell'Orsa... (Luchino Visconti, 1965) as a Holocaust survivor with an incestuous relationship with her brother (Jean Sorel). Another highlight in her career is C'era una volta il West/Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone, 1968), the ultimate Spaghetti Western. Lucia Bozzola writes in her review at AllMovie: "In Sergio Leone's epic Western, shot partly in Monument Valley, a revenge story becomes an epic contemplation of the Western past. (...) As in his 'Dollars' trilogy, Leone transforms the standard Western plot through the visual impact of widescreen landscapes and the figures therein. At its full length, Once Upon a Time in the West is Leone's operatic masterwork, worthy of its legend-making title."

In the following decades, Claudia Cardinale remained mainly active in European cinema. She played a small part for Visconti in Gruppo di famiglia in un interno/Conversation Piece (Luchino Visconti, 1974) starring Burt Lancaster and Silvana Mangano. She worked with other major Italian directors at Goodbye e amen (Damiano Damiani, 1977), the TV mini-series Jesus of Nazareth (Franco Zeffirelli, 1977) as the adulteress, and La Pelle/The Skin (Liliana Cavani, 1981) starring Marcello Mastroianni and based on the bitter novel by Curzio Malaparte concerning the Allied liberation of Naples. An international arthouse hit was Fitzcarraldo (Werner Herzog, 1982), the story of an obsessed impresario (Klaus Kinski) whose foremost desire in life is to bring both Enrico Caruso and an opera house to the deepest jungles of South America. In his diary of the making of Fitzcarraldo, Werner Herzog writes: "Claudia Cardinale is great help because she is such a good sport, a real trouper, and has a special radiance before the camera. In her presence, [Klaus Kinski] usually acts like a gentleman." Other interesting films include the Luigi Pirandello adaptation Enrico IV/Henry IV (Marco Bellocchio, 1984) with Marcello Mastroianni, the epic La révolution française/The French Revolution (Robert Enrico, Richard T. Heffron, 1989), the nostalgic drama Mayrig/Mother (Henri Verneuil, 1991), and the romantic thriller And now... Ladies and Gentlemen (Claude Lelouch, 2002) starring Jeremy Irons. On Television she gave another well-received performance in the TV drama La storia/History (Luigi Comencini, 1986), in which she plays a widow raising a son during World War II.

Claudia Cardinale is a liberal with strong political convictions. She is involved in many humanitarian causes, and pro-women and pro-gay issues, and she has frequently stated her pride in her Tunisian and Arab roots - as evidenced by her appearance as herself in the Tunisian film Un été à La Goulette/A Summer at La Goulette (Férid Boughedir, 1996). She has managed to combine her acting work with a role of goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, and advocate for the work of Luchino Visconti with whom she made four films. She wrote an autobiography, 'Moi Claudia, Toi Claudia' (Me Claudia, You Claudia). In 2005, she also published a French-language book, Mes Etoiles (My Stars), about her personal and professional relationships with many of her directors and co-stars through her nearly 50 years in show-business. In 2002, she won an honorary Golden Bear award of the Berlin Film Festival, and previously in 1993 she was awarded an honorary Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Cardinale works steadily on and in recent years she has also worked in the theatre. In the cinema, she appeared recently in the French-Tunisian gay drama Le fil/The String (Mehdi Ben Attia, 2009), the Algerian drama Un balcon sur la mer/A View of Love (Nicole Garcia, 2010) in which she played the mother of Jean Dujardin, and the costume drama Effie Gray (Richard Laxton, 2014) with Dakota Fanning. Claudia Cardinale currently lives in Paris. She has made over 135 films in the past 60 years and still does two or three a year.

Sources: Lucia Bozzola (AllMovie), Steve Rose (The Guardian), IMDb, and Wikipedia.

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

Sometimes, I'm a little different.

You've got to love the lovely blue chest, but Pukeko are interesting birds...! There is much that can be written about this bird, but I'll limit my narrative...: In New Zealand, Pūkeko are commonly seen foraging in paddocks and along roadsides (as well as living near waterways, lakes, ponds and marshes).

When disturbed, they prefer to run or hide rather than fly, but once airborne, they are capable fliers and can fly long distances.

And despite not having webbed feet, they are also strong swimmers...

Nature is versatile...!

Further reading can be found at www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/pukeko (and scroll down).

THANKS

Thanks so much for all the very kind and encouraging comments beneath this photo...! Your support is always greatly appreciated...

Black clouds, sunshine, rain, blue skies, and a couple of rainbows. Yesterday's weather was a bit strange.

Iron Dome (Hebrew: כִּפַּת בַּרְזֶל, romanized: Kippat Barzel) is a mobile all-weather air defense system[8] developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries.[7] The system is designed to intercept and destroy short-range rockets and artillery shells fired from distances of 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) to 70 kilometres (43 mi) away and whose trajectory would take them to an Israeli populated area.[9][10] From 2011 to 2021, the United States contributed a total of US$1.6 billion to the Iron Dome defense system,[11] with another US$1 billion approved by the US Congress in 2022.[12][needs update]

Iron Dome

IDF Iron Dome 2021.jpg

Iron Dome launches interceptor, 2021

Type

C-RAM and short range air defence system[1]

Place of origin

Israel

Service history

In service

2011–present

Used by

Israel Defense Forces

Wars

Gaza–Israel conflict (2011, 2012, 2021)

Operation Pillar of Defense

Operation Protective Edge

Sinai insurgency

2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

Operation Breaking Dawn

Production history

Designer

Rafael Advanced Defense Systems

Israel Aerospace Industries

Designed

2005

Manufacturer

Rafael Advanced Defense Systems

Israel Aerospace Industries

Unit cost

$50 million per battery[2]

$100,000–150,000 per interception[3]

Produced

2011–present

No. built

10 batteries deployed[4] (planned deployment is 15)[5][6]

Specifications

Mass

90 kg (200 lb)[7]

Length

3 m (9.8 ft)[7]

Diameter

160 mm (6.3 in)[7]

Detonation

mechanism

Proximity fuze[8]

Maximum speed

Mach 2.2

Launch

platform

Three/four launchers, each carrying 20 interceptors.

1:31

Short video about Iron Dome from the Israeli News Company

The EL/M-2084 active electronically scanned array scaled down derivative radar of the Iron Dome

US Ambassador Dan Shapiro visits the Battle Management & Control (BMC) unit of the Iron Dome

Iron Dome was declared operational and initially deployed on 27 March 2011 near Beersheba.[13] On 7 April 2011, the system successfully intercepted a rocket launched from Gaza for the first time.[14] On 10 March 2012, The Jerusalem Post reported that the system shot down 90% of rockets launched from Gaza that would have landed in populated areas.[10] In late 2012 Israel said that it hoped to increase the range of Iron Dome's interceptions, from a maximum of 70 kilometres (43 mi) to 250 kilometres (160 mi) and make it more versatile so that it could intercept rockets coming from two directions simultaneously.[15]

In November 2012, official statements indicated that it had intercepted over 400 rockets.[16][17] By late October 2014, the Iron Dome systems had intercepted over 1,200 rockets.[18]

In addition to their land-based deployment, it was reported in 2017 that Iron Dome batteries would in future be deployed at sea on Sa'ar 6-class corvettes, to protect off-shore gas platforms in conjunction with Israel's Barak 8 missile system.[19]

Background

Name

Specifications

Funding

Plans for co-production with the United States

Development

Deployment

Deployment at sea

Foreign sales

Effectiveness

Criticism

See also

References

External links

Last edited 3 days ago by AnomieBOT

RELATED ARTICLES

Israeli Air Defense Command

List of Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel in 2011

March 2012 Gaza–Israel clashes

Israel Defense Forces military operation in the Gaza Strip

Wikipedia

Content is available under CC BY-SA 3.0 unless otherwise noted.

Privacy policy Terms of Use Desktop

This was created for Septembers most versatile set.

Processed in DXO and NIK Analog Efex Pro

IMG_8953.jpgp

Second attempt at trying out Live Composite mode on the Olympus E-M10 II. I've only had the camera a couple of weeks but have found it to be a fantastic bit of kit and really versatile. I think it is save to say I am probably a Micro Four Thirds convert now!

Versatility is my final project after a one year photographic course. All the pictures are made from my old pictures of flowers.

Written by my sister:

We got into Cabbage Patch Kids in July 2021 and were sort of on a blind shopping mission. It was a franchise we'd had plenty of exposure to (we had two CPK dolls, possibly a third, as kids, plus our Memere had one), but knew very little about. Shelly randomly decided that it was the time to take something she'd always wanted to dabble in and start getting into it. Well, she said she was just going to buy a collector book or two...but we all know what that REALLY meant. In the first few days of having Baby Martin, pictured far right as a very cute fireman, I was looking for clothes for him and Shelly's dream "softie" doll. I happened to see three of these onesies on Mercari--Goody Gardner, Splashy Painter, and Handy Carpenter. It was late at night and Shelly was in bed and was just sort of, "Oh yeah, that's cute..." (she was mostly still asleep). I figured I'd bring up the topic of the career themed onesies in the morning. After looking at the onesies, Shelly agreed they were too cute to ignore. They were all from the same seller, but listed separately. (Why she mailed them in three separate envelopes is beyond me.) Now, even though we were sort of new to Cabbies, we've been doll people as far back as I can remember. These onesies made me think of Barbie fashion packs on cards that wound up being sold at the Dollar Store when department stores had too many--a budget clothing line, sold separately, not sold on dolls. They lacked the embroidery and appliques of the fancier pieces, but were still clearly genuine CPK. I noted that they all had a career theme and had seen the fireman onesie in listings as well. I thought they were some kind of budget fashion line. I was not surprised, therefore, when Shelly's books arrived in the mail and one had a picture of the back of the fashion card, showing all six fashions and their names. I knew right then, "I want the set and I want it soon." By then, I'd seen the cowboy outfit in listings (but hadn't associated it with the others) and knew of the fireman onesie. By the end of our first two weeks as CPK collectors, we'd developed a "taste" for certain things. We'd unintentionally found ourselves almost exclusively into 80s Coleco dolls and fashions as well as anything Babyland. (If we lived near it....we'd be in T-R-O-U-B-L-E.) We loved softies and it didn't seem what year they were made and these onesies, along with the animal sleepers, were in our sought after list. (In fact, the CPK lots we bought online were all to obtain either these onesies or animal sleepers, with the exception of the Preemie lot.) I loved all three of our first career onesies and Baby Martin modeled them all within days of their arrival. I stalked the others every day online, but it wasn't until September that we wrangled the others. Dad taught us all about emotional shopping. Having a bad day? Buy a Barbie. Bored? Go shopping. Restless? Shopping. Mad at someone from school/work/general life? Buy something. Well, my guinea pig Ayalla died very unexpectedly one Sunday morning. Beside myself with grief, I turned to...shopping. I spent even more time cruising the web than usual that day. Granted, as the Dr. Petvet outfit popped up on Mercari for the same price I'd paid for the first three, it's safe to say I'd have found it and bought it, even if Ayalla hadn't died. The next day, however, my friend/supervisor at my second job felt SO bad for me (I went to tell her about how we lost Ayalla and wound up hysterically sobbing...which is why I meant to text people the day before, so I wouldn't show up hysterically crying) that she let me leave an hour early. Even though I'd had half a mind to stay at work--because it would keep me busy/not thinking of Ayalla, I figured going home early to spend time with Shelly might cheer her up (and it actually really helped me too). So, I went home and realized that I was home in time to bid on this great ebay lot I'd been watching with some animal sleepers/other stuff. Well, cornering that lot somehow got us both thinking "We're only missing two of the career onesies and two animal sleepers now." Shelly searched to see how cheap we could get the Fire Fighter and Sassy Sheriff fashions. She found a lot with both, and a spare Goody Gardner. (It's the one in the photo--it's a little brighter in color than our old one, but pretty stretched out.) We decided it was cheaper than buying either separate and it would make us both quite happy. So, that is how we went from only half the career onesies to all the career onesies in just days. I really love this line for a multitude of reasons. For one thing, as far as I know, of the old Coleco fashions, I think it is the only wave of fashions that wasn't also packaged on dolls. (The animal sleepers were repackaged on dolls later.) I also love how versatile they are. Most are gender neutral or fairly so. (Okay, the gardening one is a bit girly, but it can work.) They fit well on Preemies AND Kids, which is fantastic. What gets me most is the cuteness!!! I love how some look like they have bottles in their pockets. They are bright, colorful, and super fun! I can't envision these cute babies actually "working," but they can pretend to. I had a blast picking out models/props for this photo. (I got to raid my stuffed animal holder.) Dennis Paul makes such a cute little sheriff, though there's nothing sassy about him. Anna Teresa's eyes look amazing with Splashy Painter. There's no cuter handyman than Daniel Joseph. Wendy's got green eyes AND a green thumb. Tucker gets to be a pet AND a vet. (We both wanted him to be this model!) Some of the animals on his outfit look like Koosas. And of course, Baby Martin got to be our first ever "model" for career onesies, so it was only right that he was included in the photo. Plus, I owe it to him big time for making him try on dresses to see how they'd fit his sisters while waiting for them to come in the mail. He deserves to be in this photoshoot, and in a masculine roll to boot!

Outfits in photo from left to right:

-Fire Fighter

-Handy Carpenter

-Goody Gardener

-Splashy Painter

-Sassy Sheriff

-Dr. Petvet

Madison in differenet wigs by Ilaria

She is available to order at mbluedoll.com

My current album: Chongqing 重庆 2017

A simple white blouse and a plaid skirt are so versatile!

My current album: Chongqing 重庆 2017

Cheffins vintage and classic auction, Sutton -

"FORD 276 VERSATILE 4 cylinder diesel TRACTOR Fitted with front loader and pallet tines."

Unsold.

Bottles :)

My theme today was "versatile". I drew a complete blank. I seriously had to Google the word to spur any ideas.

CC Versatile Unique Abstract

CC Rainbow White

Last of my series in attempted abstracts

Clay is very versatile and there are so many ways toddlers and preschoolers can play and experiment with it.

Clay gives them the opportunity to be creative and learn about texture, shape and form whilst having lots of fun.

In some areas, clay can be sourced from the natural environment. Alternatively, clay can be bought from an art shop or potters’ suppliers or you could make your own.

9 Benefits of playing with clay

1. Manipulating clay helps toddlers and preschoolers to develop their hand and eye co-ordination as they pound, pat and push the clay into shapes and objects.

2. Clay also helps toddlers and preschoolers develop the small muscles in their fingers and hands, known as fine motor skills, as they pinch, squeeze and prod the clay, adding detail to the shape or object.

3. Through this manipulation, toddlers and preschoolers can express their thoughts and ideas as they mould the clay to take on the form of their imagination.

4. Toddlers and preschoolers can experiment with literacy and numeracy concepts as they use clay to create letter, number and shape formations.

5. Facilitating toddlers and preschoolers to create their own name, their age, street address, or the names of people in their family makes learning meaningful.

6. Clay can also be used to visually represent your toddler's or preschooler's culture as it is moulded to represent meaningful symbols and patterns.

7. You can support your toddler or preschooler with clay play by providing an unhurried, spacious environment so that time can be spent developing and revisiting their work.

8. Regular access to clay provides toddlers and preschoolers with opportunities to build on their knowledge, verbalise their thoughts and ideas, and add detail to their work.

9. Skills toddles and preschoolers develop when playing with clay include imagination, perseverance, problem solving, teamwork, social interaction and self- regulation.

About a “Traveling Artist” – Jayson Yeoh

Self-taught artist Jayson Yeoh has a passion for art since young. His pursuit for art creation is relentless and never wavers. A skilled watercolourist, he is always obsessed with the magical quality and versatility of this water media.

Over the years, through his continuous exploration and practice, Jayson has developed a distinctive personal style. His works clearly demonstrate an artistic language unique to himself.

To him, life’s surroundings and the vast nature are his best teachers. They provide him with unlimited source of inspirations and creative sparks.

Jayson loves to travel and always bring with him his sketchbooks and art tools.

Sketching while traveling becomes an important part of his travel itinerary; and is one of the main catalysts for his constant travels.

He has recorded in his sketchbooks, many beautiful artworks and sketches, notes and information, as well as countless new creative ideas!

‘Sketching while traveling’ has enabled him to walk out of the studio and his own limitations, while opened up limitless possibilities.

It also taught him valuable lessons – to observe the world, to know the world, and to create the worlds he sees through his own eyes.

‘Sketching while traveling’ is a journey for enlightenment and knowledge. It is also an alternative method to treasure a memory by in-depth understanding, both visually and audibly.

To Jayson, the ultimate objectives of traveling and sketching are not the artworks created or the opportunity to see magnificent landscapes and rivers, but his interactions with the environment and the community, his means of observing the world, and those people and things, which had touched him one way or another along the journey. They not only broadened his horizons, but also enriched his personal feelings.

Such experiences make him grow as an artist to create better works, and at the same time encourage him to keep moving towards his artistic journey.

Italian postcard by Ufa (Universion Film Aktiengesellschaft), Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK 425. Photo: Herbert Fried / Ufa.

Italian actress Claudia Cardinale (1938) is one of Europe's iconic and most versatile film stars. The combination of her beauty, dark, flashing eyes, explosive sexuality and genuine acting talent virtually guaranteed her stardom. Her most notable films include 8½ (Federico Fellini, 1963), Il Gattopardo/The Leopard (Luchino Visconti, 1963) and Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone, 1968).

Claude Joséphine Rose Cardinale was born in La Goulette in Tunisia in 1938 (some sources claim 1939). Her mother, Yolande Greco, was born in Tunisia to Italian (Sicilian) emigrants from Trapani, Italy. Her father was an Italian (Sicilian) railway worker, born in Gela, Italy. Her native languages were Tunisian Arabic and French. She received a French education and she had to learn Italian once she pursued her acting career. She had her break in films after she was voted the most beautiful Italian girl in Tunisia in 1957. The contest of the Italian embassy had as a prize a trip to the Venice Film Festival. She made her film debut in the French-Tunisian coproduction Goha (Jacques Baratier, 1958) starring Omar Sharif. After attending the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome for two months, she signed a 7-year contract with the Vides studios. The contract forbade her to cut her hair, to marry or to gain weight. Later that year she had a role in the heist comedy I soliti ignoti/Big Deal On Madonna Street (Mario Monicelli, 1958) with Vittorio Gassman and Renato Salvatori. The film was an international success, and her film career was off and running. At this point, the press, noting her initials, announced that CC was the natural successor to BB (Brigitte Bardot), and began beating the drum on her behalf. Dozens of alluring photographs of Claudia Cardinale were displayed in newspapers and magazines throughout the world. According to IMDb, she has appeared on more than 900 magazine covers in over 25 countries. The contrast between these pictures and those of Marilyn Monroe or Jayne Mansfield is striking. Cardinale never appeared in a nude or fully topless scene. Her pictures promoted an image of a shy family girl who just happened to have a beautiful face and a sexy body. A photograph of Cardinale was featured in the original gate fold artwork to Bob Dylan's album Blonde on Blonde (1966), but because it was used without Cardinale's permission, the photo was removed from the cover art in later pressings.

Claudia Cardinale's early career was largely managed producer Franco Cristaldi. Because of her film contract, she told everyone that her son Patrizio was her baby brother. He was born out of wedlock when she was 17; the father was a mysterious Frenchman. She did not reveal to the child that he was her son until he was 19 years old. In 1966, she married Cristaldi, who adopted Patrizio. In only three years she made a stream of great films. First she made three successful comedies, Un Maledetto imbroglio/The Facts of Murder (Pietro Germi, 1959), Il Bell'Antonio/Bell'Antonio (Mauro Bolognini, 1960) featuring Marcello Mastroianni, and Audace colpo dei soliti ignoti/Fiasco in Milan (Nanni Loy, 1960). Cardinale had a supporting part in the epic drama Rocco e i suoi fratelli/Rocco and His Brothers (Luchino Visconti, 1960) in which she played the sister-in-law of Alain Delon and Renato Salvatori. And then followed leading parts in La Ragazza con la valigia/Girl with a Suitcase (Valerio Zurlini, 1961), La Viaccia/The Lovemakers (Mauro Bolognini, 1961) with Jean-Paul Belmondo, and Senilità/Careless (Mauro Bolognini, 1961). Claudia Cardinale had a deep, sultry voice and spoke Italian with a heavy French accent, so her voice was dubbed in her early films. In Federico Fellini's 8½ (1963), she was finally allowed to dub her own dialogue. In the film, she plays a dream woman - a character named Claudia, who is the object of the fantasies of the director in the film, played by Marcello Mastroianni. With Fellini's surrealistic masterpiece she received her widest exposure to date with this film. That same year, she also appeared in another masterpiece of the Italian cinema, the epic Il Gattopardo/The Leopard (Luchino Visconti, 1963) with Burt Lancaster and Alain Delon. The combined success of these two classic films made her rise to the front ranks of Italian cinema. And it also piqued Hollywood's interest.

In 1963 Claudia Cardinale played the princess who owned the Pink Panther diamond in The Pink Panther (Blake Edwards, 1963) which was filmed in Italy. It was the first in the series of detective comedies starring Peter Sellers as bumbling French Inspector Jacques Clouseau (the mishap-prone snoop was actually a supporting player in his debut). The film was an enormous success and brought CC to English-speaking audiences. In 1964 she co-starred with John Wayne and Rita Hayworth in her first American production, Circus World (Henry Hathaway, 1964). It was another box-office hit. The following year she appeared with Rock Hudson in Blindfold (Philip Dunne, 1966), an offbeat mixture of espionage and slapstick comedy. The Professionals (Richard Brooks, 1966) is her favourite among her Hollywood films. In this Western, she is a gutsy Mexican woman married against her will to a rich American. The film received Academy Award nominations for Best Direction (Richard Brooks), Best Screenplay (Brooks again), and Best Cinematography (Conrad L. Hall). Cardinale continued dividing her time between Hollywood and Europe for the remainder of the decade. Throughout the 1960s, Claudia Cardinale also appeared in some of the best European films. In France, she appeared in the Swashbuckler Cartouche (Philippe de Broca, 1962) featuring Jean-Paul Belmondo. Back in Italy, she played in I Giorno della civetta/The Day of the Owl (Damiano Damiani, 1968) with Franco Nero, and Nell'anno del Signore/The Conspirators (Luigi Magni, 1969) with Nino Manfredi. Mesmerizing is her performance in Sandra/Vaghe stelle dell'Orsa... (Luchino Visconti, 1965) as a Holocaust survivor with an incestuous relationship with her brother (Jean Sorel). Another highlight in her career is C'era una volta il West/Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone, 1968), the ultimate Spaghetti Western. Lucia Bozzola writes in her review at AllMovie: "In Sergio Leone's epic Western, shot partly in Monument Valley, a revenge story becomes an epic contemplation of the Western past. (...) As in his 'Dollars' trilogy, Leone transforms the standard Western plot through the visual impact of widescreen landscapes and the figures therein. At its full length, Once Upon a Time in the West is Leone's operatic masterwork, worthy of its legend-making title."

In the following decades, Claudia Cardinale remained mainly active in European cinema. She played a small part for Visconti in Gruppo di famiglia in un interno/Conversation Piece (Luchino Visconti, 1974) starring Burt Lancaster and Silvana Mangano. She worked with other major Italian directors at Goodbye e amen (Damiano Damiani, 1977), the TV mini-series Jesus of Nazareth (Franco Zeffirelli, 1977) as the adulteress, and La Pelle/The Skin (Liliana Cavani, 1981) starring Marcello Mastroianni and based on the bitter novel by Curzio Malaparte concerning the Allied liberation of Naples. An international arthouse hit was Fitzcarraldo (Werner Herzog, 1982), the story of an obsessed impresario (Klaus Kinski) whose foremost desire in life is to bring both Enrico Caruso and an opera house to the deepest jungles of South America. In his diary of the making of Fitzcarraldo, Werner Herzog writes: "Claudia Cardinale is great help because she is such a good sport, a real trouper, and has a special radiance before the camera. In her presence, [Klaus Kinski] usually acts like a gentleman." Other interesting films include the Luigi Pirandello adaptation Enrico IV/Henry IV (Marco Bellocchio, 1984) with Marcello Mastroianni, the epic La révolution française/The French Revolution (Robert Enrico, Richard T. Heffron, 1989), the nostalgic drama Mayrig/Mother (Henri Verneuil, 1991), and the romantic thriller And now... Ladies and Gentlemen (Claude Lelouch, 2002) starring Jeremy Irons. On Television she gave another well-received performance in the TV drama La storia/History (Luigi Comencini, 1986), in which she plays a widow raising a son during World War II.

Claudia Cardinale is a liberal with strong political convictions. She is involved in many humanitarian causes, and pro-women and pro-gay issues, and she has frequently stated her pride in her Tunisian and Arab roots - as evidenced by her appearance as herself in the Tunisian film Un été à La Goulette/A Summer at La Goulette (Férid Boughedir, 1996). She has managed to combine her acting work with a role of goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, and advocate for the work of Luchino Visconti with whom she made four films. She wrote an autobiography, 'Moi Claudia, Toi Claudia' (Me Claudia, You Claudia). In 2005, she also published a French-language book, Mes Etoiles (My Stars), about her personal and professional relationships with many of her directors and co-stars through her nearly 50 years in show-business. In 2002, she won an honorary Golden Bear award of the Berlin Film Festival, and previously in 1993 she was awarded an honorary Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Cardinale works steadily on and in recent years she has also worked in the theatre. In the cinema, she appeared recently in the French-Tunisian gay drama Le fil/The String (Mehdi Ben Attia, 2009), the Algerian drama Un balcon sur la mer/A View of Love (Nicole Garcia, 2010) in which she played the mother of Jean Dujardin, and the costume drama Effie Gray (Richard Laxton, 2014) with Dakota Fanning. Claudia Cardinale currently lives in Paris. She has made over 135 films in the past 60 years and still does two or three a year.

Sources: Lucia Bozzola (AllMovie), Steve Rose (The Guardian), IMDb, and Wikipedia.

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

Torchlight on a "Waterford" crystal bird ornament.

My dad use to have a collection of PG teapots and now I have a couple of them.

Taken for CC Most Versatile for Feb 2019 but added a texture too for the CC Week 6 Texture challenge

10 members entered 68 photos, 4 of whom played a full house of images; Maria, Dave, Paul and Cheryl.

This montage is a representative selection of the ten themes and contains one image per theme and this month there is one image per member.

Thanks Sharon for setting another fab challenge for the Compositionally Challenged Group.

I was in Lévis, Qc. today to see the Queen Mary 2 at wharf in Quebec city. I will post some pictures tomorrow... but I saw this Coast Guard boat and I thought of your pictures... so... this one's for you, my friend....

CCGS Martha L. Black of the Canadian Coast Guard fleet was built in 1986 in Vancouver by Versatile Pacific Shipyards Limited. This ship was part of the CG Program Vessels and was mainly designed as a high-endurance and multi-tasked boat. Her crew is composed of 25 members of the Canadian Coast Guard.[1]

As a light icebreaker, most of her duties are along the St. Lawrence River and able to the handle ice thickness in the Seaway.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CCGS_Martha_L._Black

NGCC Martha L. Black de la flotte de la Garde côtière canadienne a été construit en 1986 à Vancouver par Versatile Pacific Shipyards Limited. Ce navire faisait partie des navires du Programme CG et a été principalement conçu comme une haute endurance et bateaux multitâches. Son équipage est composé de 25 membres de la Garde côtière canadienne. [1]

En tant que brise-glace léger, la plupart de ses fonctions sont le long du fleuve Saint-Laurent et permet de contrôler l'épaisseur de la glace dans la Voie maritime.

Versatile Jazz band always pleases

Mignon.....She is my girl that can literally wear ANYTHING and look so fabulous. Look at these wonderful pink goggles on her!!

more on my blog

Canon AE-1 | Canon FD 50mm f/1.8 | Kodak Max Versatility 400 (expired 2006-09)

( scan from print - SOOC - unedited )

© All rights reserved - Please don't use this image without my permission

DADA kamikaze freeform

multi versatile

top wrap tunic shawl tunic

for self-aware individuals

who love to express

who they truly are

intuitive

knitting & crochet fusion

with integrated 3-ply Navajo knitting

using colorful recycled cone material

from flea-markets

This is another skirt that an be worn with different colored tops.. This top is actually a very light tan.

The most successful transport aircraft of all time – the Douglas DC-3 is without doubt the most famous transport aircraft, as well as the most versatile. Between 1935 and 1945 some 13,000 DC-3s were built – several hundred are still flying today.

Skinny Molly - Day 4 - Studio B - 3:30 PM

Formerly of Blackfoot - guitar/vocals/slide

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skinny_Molly

www.skinnymollyrocks.com/

Jay Johnson grew up in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and as the son of Swamper Jimmy Johnson, was always around some of the greatest musicians in rock and soul music. As a young man, Johnson quickly became known as a great showman, singer and guitar slinger.

With stints in the Rossington Band, the Southern Rock All-Stars

and Blackfoot, he has shown his versatility and high caliber of musicianship to be second to none. - Fun to see. Nice guy.

*["Skinny Molly" is a combo of 'Skynyrd' & 'Molly Hatchet']

(Skinny Molly videos)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CUM5asqRy4 - FREEBIRD

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAyBgBUWEWA

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoDPaV0zaSI

Rock Legends Cruise X - February 13th-17th, 2023

Liberty of the Seas - Royal Caribbean Cruise Line

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_of_the_Seas

Fort Lauderdale - Coco Cay - Fort Lauderdale (5 days)

21 Bands! - Five Day Party - three stages! - 64 Shows!

Concerts all day-and-night from 10:00 AM to 2:00 AM

2023 Bands: Roger Daltrey - Deep Purple - George Thorogood

& The Destroyers - Randy Bachman - The Marshall Tucker Band

Lou Gramm - Night Ranger - The Outlaws - The Ozark Mountain Daredevils - The Devon Allman Project - Ten Years After

Walter Trout - Gary Hoey - Zebra - Carolyn Wonderland

Vanessa Collier - Skinny Molly - The Georgia Thunderbolts

The Steepwater Band - Sly Fox & The Hustlers - Two Wolf

Rock Legends Cruise X - (Feb 2023) - Rock Cruise Video Montage

www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Youtube+Rock+Legends+Cruise+...

*ALL proceeds from ALL the Rock Legends Cruises go to NAHA :

Native American Heritage Association, a non-profit organization

dedicated to fighting hunger and providing basic life necessities

to families living on Reservations in South Dakota, U.S.A.

The 'Most Versatile' challenge is set by the Compositionally Challenged Group. Thank you very much Sharon for choosing these fab themes, and thanks Linda for posting them.

In this month's challenge, 11 members entered 98 photos, and 7 members completed all 10 themes. These members, in play order were: Robin, Maria, Ms J, Pat, Sharon, Andy and Carissa.

This montage features at least one photo per person, and at least one photo per theme. To view the complete challenge and entries, click Here.

I rescued this antique tripod from an interior design shop a couple of years back, just before they turned it (can you believe) into a lamp stand!!! It's amazingly versatile, breaks down into manageable pieces and is extremely sturdy. And as a kind of novelty, I'm planning to cannibalise a modern ball-head to adapt it for use with a modern camera.

Sigma 105mm F/2.8 Macro EX