Kamera: Nikon FE2

Linse: Nikkor-O Auto 35mm f2 (1970)

Film: Kodak 5222 @ ISO 250

Kjemi: Rodinal (1:50 / 9 min. @ 20°C)

 

Wikipedia: UN Security Council Resolution 2803 (17 Nov. 2025)

 

The Electronic Intifada: Arab states betray Palestine as UN hands Gaza to Trump with Craig Mokhiber (b. 1960) (Publ. 21 Nov. 2025)

 

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The association of former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair (b. 1953) with the Gaza Trusteeship builds on the tradition of Western humanitarians who sought to humanize colonialism by grafting onto it a duty of care.

 

Trusteeship assumes a world divided between childlike people deemed incapable of looking after themselves; a characterization now applied to the Palestinian people of Gaza - and the supposed adults; Donald Trump (b. 1946), Tony Blair, and others.

 

At the heart of this model is racism.

 

My name is Ralph Wilde.

 

I am professor of International Law at the Faculty of Laws of University College London; part of the University of London.

 

Yesterday; the 17th of November 2025 - United Nations Security Council passed Security Council resolution 2803 purporting to authorize a 2-year trusteeship over Gaza.

 

Today; I will explain how this shameful act follows a long tradition in international diplomacy.

 

I'm speaking in Ramallah, Palestine in a personal capacity only.

 

The Gaza trusteeship would replace the more than half-century long occupation by Israel which has involved serious violations of fundamental rules of international law in its conduct:

 

Racial discrimination, apartheid, torture, grave breaches of the laws of war, crimes against humanity and genocide.

 

At the heart of these rules of international law is the duty of trusteeship. Dominion by the trustee - Israel - should be exercised selflessly in the interests of the ostensible beneficiary; the Palestinians of Gaza - not selfishly. There should be protection; not abuse.

 

Befitting his role as an icon of Western liberal interventionism, the association of former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair with the Gaza Trusteeship builds on the tradition of Western humanitarians who sought to humanize colonialism by grafting onto it a duty of care.

 

This concept of trusteeship over people was adopted by Europeans for colonial rule over Africa at the Berlin conference (1884-1885) in the late 19th century; by the League of Nations after the First World War for the mandate territories - including the mandate here; in Palestine [i.e. Mandatory Palestine] - and by the United Nations after the Second World War for the trust territories and all other non-settler colonies.

 

Trusteeship assumes a world divided between childlike people deemed incapable of looking after themselves - a characterization now applied to the Palestinian people of Gaza - and the supposed adults; Donald Trump, Tony Blair, and others who are deemed able to rule over not only their own people, but also others.

 

Falling into the child category is the rationale for being subjected to trusteeship.

 

In the League of Nations covenant (1919), the people of the mandates were, and I quote;

 

"not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuous conditions of the modern world."

 

End of quote.

 

The child / adult relationship is the rationale for the duty of care.

 

The adult is in charge, but must act in the interest of the ward.

 

The adult's responsibility is to bring up the child so that it will eventually attain maturity to conduct tutelage enabling development.

 

The Gaza trusteeship will thus be temporary because it is transitional.

 

The adults will build up local capacities for self-administration.

 

The children will consequentially mature and attain adulthood - and the need for trusteeship will then end.

 

At the heart of this model is racism.

 

In the colonial era, a racist global standard of civilization adopted within a system; dominated by Europeans, determined who the adults and children were.

 

No prizes for guessing who conceived themselves as the adults.

 

Trusteeship was a self-serving sham invoked in bad faith serving as an alibi to rationalize colonial rule which could now be justified as a civilizing mission.

 

But the consequence of colonial liberation-struggles after the Second World War - the end of formal colonization for non-settler colonies - was the adoption in international law of the right of self-determination.

 

This was a repudiation of trusteeship. There were no more childlike and adult-like people in the world.

 

The racist child / adult distinction between peoples was supposedly abolished:

 

All peoples were equal and deserved freedom as adults.

 

As the United Nations General Assembly stated 65 years ago next month on the 14th of December 1960; and I quote:

 

"Inadequacy of political, economic, social, or educational preparedness should never serve as a pretext for delaying independence."

 

End of quote.

 

Despite this; trusteeships continued, mostly conducted by international organizations - as in Bosnia and Herzegovina ...

 

[i.e. the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina (1995 ->> )]

 

[See also: Dayton Agreement (1995)]

 

... and East Timor / Timor-Leste.

 

Global human rights rules were invoked as a seemingly non-racist standard of civilization that could determine, supposedly legitimately, where trusteeship was needed.

 

International organizations were seen as capable of acting selflessly and thus performing the duty of trustee in good faith.

 

In contrast, the states:

 

- The US-led occupation of Iraq (2003-2011): BAD

 

- The UN in East Timor (1999-2002): GOOD

 

and temporary arrangements when actually followed -

 

- YES, East Timor

 

- NO, Bosnia and Herzegovina

 

- were seen as genuine trusteeships in that they didn't endlessly defer independence as the sham colonial versions had.

 

I wrote a book on these arrangements and their antecedance in the colonial era.

 

I am told that this book is being used as the manual for the Gaza trusteeship.

 

This horrifies me.

 

At the ICJ advisory opinion case [on the legality of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories] last year, I had the privilege to argue for the League of Arab States based on my academic research that the Palestinian people had a legal entitlement to be free of the Israeli occupation without preconditions - and simply because of their right to self-rule, not because they were being treated abusively.

 

In its landmark ruling last year (2024), the court agreed.

 

This was a conclusion about the right to self-determination pure and simple in and of itself. It would therefore apply equally to any form of foreign administration, however ostensibly humanitarian and time limited.

 

Replacing an abusive trustee with another form of trusteeship is not self-determination and would be illegal.

 

We might be told that somehow this arrangement has been rendered lawful because the representatives of the Palestinian people have somehow agreed to it - just as, supposedly, [the Oslo Accords] (1993) legitimated the continuation of certain elements of the occupation here in the West Bank.

 

But agreements brought about through an unlawful use of force as this one has been and contrary to peremptory or jus cogens norms of international law norms covering fundamental subject matter which for this reason can't be limited by any other norms of international law as this one is. The right of self-determination is a permptory norm.

 

Such agreements are void.

 

As I argued for the Arab League before the International Court of Justice, and also the International Criminal Court also last year, the best approach in such situations is to say that such agreements may be in force in so far as they are compatible with the peremptory legal rights of the Palestinian people.

 

For example; if they are concerned with providing the resumption of urgently needed humanitarian aid, but those provisions which are not; such as permitting the trusteeship, are void.

 

We might also be told that these illegalities have been somehow cured by UN Security Council 2803, which was passed yesterday.

 

Indeed, a commonplace description of that resolution is that it has legalized the trusteeship.

 

The council did in the past purport to provide legal authority for those other trusteeships - in Bosnia and Herzegovina and East Timor.

 

Moreover, the Security Council does have the power in the United Nations Charter to provide legal authority for something that would otherwise be illegal and for this to be binding on all member states of the UN who have accepted this by being parties to the UN charter.

 

The State of Palestine is not of course a UN member state because the security council itself cannot agree due to the threat of a US veto to admit it.

 

Moreover, in any case, the council's power is limited. It can only act in a way that is compatible with the purposes and principles of the UN charter (1945).

 

Those purposes and principles stipulate that the adjustment or settlement of disputes must take place, and I quote:

 

"in conformity with the principles of justice and international law"

 

- end of quote.

 

As the trusteeship is not in conformity with the international legal rule of self-determination and this legal rule has peremptory status - In purporting to authorize the trusteeship, the council is acting beyond its lawful powers ultra vires.

 

As such, the authorization is legally void.

 

This is the same problem the Palestinian people faced over a century ago when the Council of the League of Nations, very roughly speaking, equivalent to the UN Security Council, purported to vary the provisions of article 22 of the League Covenant, which stipulated that Palestine was in a class of mandated territories that should be provisionally recognized as independent states, to instead instead permit the UK to retain control as trustee to implement the Balfour Declaration (1917) commitment to establishing a Jewish state here in Palestine.

 

As I argued in my academic publications and before the International Court of Justice last year for the League of Arab States, the council had no legal authority to bypass the covenant in this way, and, therefore acted ultra vires and so the authority it therefore attempted to give to the UK to implement the Balfour Declaration (1917) was void.

 

Just as then trusteeship is back here in Palestine and again with a British character to it in the form of Tony Blair.

 

So too again the executive organ of the global organization is attempting to legalize this by acting beyond the lawful limits of its constituent instrument.

 

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose..

 

I will end by quoting from parts of the statement issued by the representatives of Hamas today in response to Security Council resolution 2803 adopted yesterday - quotations of which accurately encapsulate what international law requires.

 

And I quote;

 

"This resolution does not meet the level of our Palestinian people's political and humanitarian demands and rights.

 

The resolution imposes an international guardianship mechanism on the Gaza Strip which our people and their factions reject.

 

We call on the international community and the security council to uphold the international law and humanitarian values and to adopt resolutions that achieve justice for Gaza and the Palestinian cause through the actual cessation of the brutal genocidal war on Gaza; reconstruction, ending the occupation, and enabling our people to self-determination and establish their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital."

 

End of quote.

 

Source: Professor Ralph Wilde: UN resolution imposes illegal trusteeship over Palestinians (Publ. 19. November 2025 - Middle East Eye]

In: KAPPELMAYR, Barbara (Red.) (1995). Geïllustreerd handboek van de kunst. VG Bild-Kunst/De Hoeve, Alphen aan de Rijn. ISBN 90 6113 763 2

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Pp. 874ff in: QUADRALECTIC ARCHITECTURE – A Panoramic Review by Marten Kuilman. Falcon Press (2011). ISBN 978-90-814420-0-8

 

quadralectics.wordpress.com/4-representation/4-2-function...

 

‘Real’ palaces were designed and constructed in Spain at about the same time as Palladio provided the Valmarana family with shelter in Italy. The Royal Palace of the Escorial is located some forty-five kilometers northwest of Madrid (Spain) at the rim of the Guadarrama Mountains. It appears as a great stone platform carved from the mountain and its harmonizing with the landscape makes it a stone scape. It has reminiscence, according to George KUBLER (1982, p. 98), to certain Quattrocento paintings of ideal cities drawn with a single-point perspective in Renaissance Italy. He gives the panel painting ‘A City Square’, attributed to Luciano de Laurana, in the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore, as an example.

 

The history of the Escorial has four distinct elements, which were planned by King Philip II (1527 – 1598) after he became King of Spain in 1556: 1. The initial purpose as a place to house the tombs of the dynasty, in particular his father Charles V, who was buried in Yuste; 2. The foundation of a monastery (with hospital buildings); 3. A basilica (with a dome); 4. A palace (with a library). These four intentions, which were brought forward more or less simultaneously, have aspects of higher division thinking, but the psychological setting of the King is hard to prove.

 

Spain was in the second half of the sixteenth century on the heights of its political power, covering the larger part of Europe when Philip II was King of Spain and Portugal, King of Naples, Duke of Milan, Ruler of the Spanish Netherlands, and King consort of England (as the husband of Mary I). It was furthermore, a global player in the colonial expansions across the Atlantic.

 

King Philip II began his search for a foundation of a new monastery in 1558 – 1559. He called it San Lorenzo de la Victoria – referring to the victory in the battle of San Quintin (in northern France) on 10 August 1557, on the day of San Lorenzo. The King employed the help of the Jeronymite Order, but their suggestions and plan, where about half the size than the cuadro (block), which was laid out in April 1562 in a location near El Escorial. The plan of the monastery, which was first to be started, had a classical tetradic design.

 

George KUBLER (1982) mentioned three Jeronymite friars, who played a major role in the history of the construction of the Scoria. Juan de San Jeronimo was present from 1562 to 1591 as the chief accountant and most authoritative as a chronicler. Antonio de Villacastin was the Obrero mayor (chief workman) and Jose de Sigüenza wrote a history of the building by recording the progress of design and construction.

 

The official work started in 1563 with the intention of Philip II to bring the body of his father Charles V, the Emperor, who died in 1558, from Yuste to the new location. Philip had an interest in building matters, which only increased after his European tour at his father’s command (1548 – 1551). The King visited England for the marriage to Queen Mary (1516 – 1558, also known as Bloody Mary, because she had three hundred religious dissenters burned at the stake) in July 1554. He was accompanied at that (political-inspired) trip by the architect and engineer Gaspar de Vega, who had to study foreign buildings and constructions, which could be useful in Spain. Vega returned overland and visited places like the Louvre, St.Germain-en-Laye and Fontainebleau.

 

The three main architects of the Escorial were Francisco de Villalpando, Juan Bautista de Toledo, and Juan de Herrera. The first named architect was originally a bronze worker, who translated Serlio. He was titled as a ‘geometer and architect’, which was the first official use of this term by a Spanish royal patron. His qualities as a humanist and theorist gained him (royal) recognition in the liberal art of architecture (KUBLER, 1982).

 

The second, Juan Bautista de Toledo, was appointed as an architect in 1559. He had been Michelangelo’s assistant at St. Peter from 1546 to 1548. His promotion turned into a personal tragedy when his wife and two daughters and all his books and papers were lost when the ship sank, which had to bring them from Naples to Spain. His appointment – after this event and as an outsider – was marred with conflicts and crises, but the King backed him until he died on 21 May 1567.

 

The third, Juan de Herrera, was an assistant of Toledo, appointed by the King in 1563 to check on the unpredictable authority of Toledo. He was appointed in 1576 as a royal architect – after years working in the background, with close ties to the King as Master of the Horse (1569 – 1577) and later (1579) as a court chamberlain.

 

The inactive year of Toledo’s death (1567) was followed two years later by an increase in activities. Flemish slaters expanded their trade after the work on the King's temporary dwelling La Fresneda was finished. The main staircase, which was the showpiece of the monastery, the roofing of the kitchen wing, and the paving made good progress. The cloister was finished in 1579 when the parapets were placed. The basilica started in 1574 and was finished in 1586.

 

The building of the fountain began in 1586, following the symbolism of the Garden of Eden, with four rivers watering Asia, Africa, Europe and America. The design had similarities with the Fons Vitae, also with four basins, at the Manga cloister of Santa Cruz in Coimbra (Portugal), built in 1533 – 1534.

 

The work on the actual royal dwelling (King’s House) in the northeast quadrant had begun in 1570 – 1572. It took nearly fifteen years until the court moved from their provisional quarters to the new accommodation in August 1585, but most of the palace and the college had still to be finished.

 

The library portico, which was part of Toledo’s ‘’universal plan’, only started when the construction of the palace, basilica, and college had ceased and was finished in 1583. The hospital buildings (infirmary) were situated outside the main cuadro (of 1562) at the southwestern corner. Farm buildings, later known as La Compana, were also outside the monastery. The northern service buildings (casas de oficios) were mentioned in 1581. Fig. 727 shows the Escorial in a reconstruction of the situation in 1568.

 

The history of the Escorial came into a new phase after Philip died in September 1598. The complex was complete except for its initial purpose: the underground burial chamber intended for the tombs of the dynasty. The circular plan of Panteón, initiated under Herrera’s direction, had four stairs and a light shaft. However, little work was done until 1617 – 1635 when G.B. Crescenzi altered the plan from circular to octagonal. After he died in 1635 the work was completed in 1654 by Fray Nicolas de Madrid (following Crescenzi’s plan). The crypt was described by Fray Francisco de los Santos as the Panteon. His book included all the rituals of transferring the royal bodies since 1586.

 

Several fires caused damage to the complex in later years. The first one happened in 1577 at the southwest tower. A most destructive fire took place on the 7th of June 1671, in which also the monastery roofs burst into flames. Many manuscripts were destroyed. Some sixty years later, in 1731, the fire started again at a chimney in the college. The Compana was destroyed in 1744, and the last great fires took place in 1763 and 1825.

 

A plague of termites threatened the building in 1953. This event sparked a restoration program instigated by the government. The crossing towers in the monastery and college were rebuilt in 1963. Their spires were re-designed by Bartolomé Zúmbigo in 1673 in a Baroque fashion but changed again to the original layout of Herrera as given in the last quarter of the sixteenth century. The result was an example of the use of two of the major elements of a quadralectic architecture: the octagonal roof fitted onto the square of the tower.

 

Characterization of the Escorial complex by art historians (like Nikolaus Pevsner) pointed to a classification as a ‘mannerist’ building. Mannerism is the term (from maniera) used for imitation and exaggeration of the work of the High Renaissance. Its severity and simplicity were associated in the first half of the twentieth century (mainly by German art historians) with puritanism and asceticism, like the character of Philip II himself. This perception was later challenged and even denied: ‘If psychic states and architectural forms were this closely related in the process of design, then architecture as a whole would long ago have been recognized as a dictionary of psychic attitudes’ (KUBLER, 1982; p. 126).

 

The plan of the Escorial near Madrid follows tetradic lines with a four-division in function (palace, college, monastery, and place of contemplation) organized around a church with a square ground plan.

 

Some observers pointed to Post-Reformation geomancy as initiating the design. Nigel PENNICK (1979) stated that ‘the Escorial at Madrid was built according to a Jesuit interpretation of the Vision of Ezekiel’. Others go further back and tried to find Renaissance ideas of magic underlying the design of the Escorial (TAYLOR, 1967). René Taylor wondered whether the courtier and ‘architect’ Herrera could not be ‘a Magus, a man deeply versed in Hermetism and occult lore, who by virtue of this was attached in a special way to the King?’

 

George Kubler (pp. 128 – 130) denied the view that the King and Herrera had occult views. He could prove that the King did not sympathize with astrology and horoscopes. The court’s association with the mystic Ramon Lull (1232 – 1316) – the ‘Doctor illuminatus’ with his combinatorial method for categorizing all possible knowledge (see p. 780), but also with his intention to convert Muslims to Christianity – was purely academically, according to Kubler. It is regrettable that none of these authors make any reference to a particular type of division thinking, which might elucidate such labels like Mannerism, Puritanism, astrology, magic, etc.

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Bibliography

 

KUBLER, George (1982). Building the Escorial. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey. ISBN 0-691-03975-5

 

PENNICK, Nigel (1979). The Ancient Science of Geomancy. Man in harmony with the earth. Thames and Hudson Ltd., London.

 

TAYLOR, René (1967). Architecture and Magic. Considerations on the Idea of the Escorial. Pp. 81 – 109 in: Essays in the History of Archtecture Presented to Rudolf Wittkower. New York.

Dedicated to Carmen.

"Death Thumbs A Ride" by Jean Lilly

 

From the blurb inside the front cover:

 

As Robertus Love, Literary Editor of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat said of Jean Lilly: "She has a tale to tell and she tells it with such skill in creating suspense and suspicion that you never slump in your seat."

 

Written with charm and luminosity, DEATH THUMBS A RIDE is a story for the aristocracy of mystery readers who prefer their murders with amazingly interwoven yet plausible plots, with original backgrounds, clever and charming characterizations, intriguing personalities, and subtly sustained suspense.

 

Miss Lilly's characters are always people of charm, culture and cultivation. In this case the cast is made up of Senators, Governors and District Attorneys and their wives -- all on holiday -- for this is no political book. The scene is laid in the Adirondacks and takes in such varied places as the Governor's mansion, the gardener's cottage, and a tourist camp. It was in the latter that the first strange death occurred -- a young woman -- of what at first seemed to be acute gastritis.

 

Then a young gardener was found dead in the road -- apparently a victim of a hit and run driver. And the same night that these semi-suspicious deaths occurred the famous "Leydecker Diamond" was stolen. This was enough to set District Attorney Perkins to wondering, and from the moment he begins to investigate these matters the story moves with an inexorable drive to the smashing climax.

  

I will start my reviews of recent dolls with Navia. This is my first Meteor doll (I have recent Zuri and Amirah on preorder) and my first Navia. Yes, the first version was really pretty, but I have managed not to get her at the time because her outfit was not my thing. This doll however is a total package! According to the story for the first doll, she has Japanese heritage and she a DJ. This doll reminds me on actress Joan Chen, especially when she was younger, she has very similar shape of the head. I like my collection to be diverse and most of time we get Caucasian or AA characters, so was very excited to add this doll to my collection. She is on FR2 body, so that played the part too, as it became expensive to rebody dolls (waving at you East 59th ladies).

 

Makeup and Hairstyle - I think this is the first time we see this hairstyle on IT doll. Yes, we already had dolls with short hair and waves on the side, but this doll has small curls on her left side. My plan was to comb them on the back, but in person they add characterization to the doll, so I decided to keep the style as is. Color palette Vaughn used for this doll (and other dolls from the collection) is really beautiful. She has cream skintone and so this lips color looks beautiful in hand. She has dark blue and violet on her eyes and since her eyes are brown, she looks amazing. To be honest here, I had doubts about her screening. When first IRL photos were posted I noticed her left eye is a bit higher than right, and she looked slightly wonky. Surprisingly, I do not see it in hand, and yet when I took this photo it is kind of there. Very unusual, but it is good to know that in hand she looks completely fine. She looks very faithful to prototype doll. What I would do differently: maybe lower her hairline just a bit. 10/10

 

Outfit and Accessories - Dress is a two-piece, there is a violet jumpsuit underneath and a see-through overlay. I am sure you will find some nice skirts or pants for this jumpsuit, so there is a mix and match possibility here. I love tiny pink crystals on metal details on the dress. She comes with lovely chandelier earrings, ring with huge violet crystal and several bracelets. Overall, jewelry is beautiful and goes so well with shoes that have matching metal details with crystal inserts. All dolls from this collection come with glasses of their favorite drink. Navia has a nice cocktail that seems to be coordinated with her outfit. I love these accessories and they do remind me on East 59th dolls. The weakest link here is a plastic hat with net overlay. It just cheapens the look and I still haven't decided what to do with it. Maybe I will add some paint on it or just loose it :) It is a shame because I LOVE hair accessories and hats, and we do not see them that often so I was excited for it here. What I would do differently: having in mind her retail price ($175) she needs fur (short jacket for example) 9.5/10

 

Production Quality and Issues - Good news, no mismatch between head and body color! Everything about this doll is really good, except her hat. Have to mention that I like the box, though maybe the color is not really good choice for this doll. 10/10

 

Overall: She is everything I wanted her to be. She is very unique and one of those dolls you can keep in her original outfit forever. You know I love to redress my dolls a lot and I have already tried several things on her and she redresses quite well having in mind her strong appearance. In my preview I was worried how production doll will look like as she reminded me on Wicked Narcissus Eugenia, but she turned out great. A keeper for sure! 10/10

Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake City Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which had a population of 1,257,936 at the 2020 census. Salt Lake City is further situated within a larger metropolis known as the Salt Lake City–Ogden–Provo Combined Statistical Area, a corridor of contiguous urban and suburban development stretched along a 120-mile (190 km) segment of the Wasatch Front, comprising a population of 2,746,164 (as of 2021 estimates), making it the 22nd largest in the nation. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, it is the 117th most populous city in the United States. It is also the central core of the larger of only two major urban areas located within the Great Basin (the other being Reno, Nevada).

 

Salt Lake City was founded on July 24, 1847, by early pioneer settlers led by Brigham Young who were seeking to escape persecution they had experienced while living farther east. The Mormon pioneers, as they would come to be known, entered a semi-arid valley and immediately began planning and building an extensive irrigation network which could feed the population and foster future growth. Salt Lake City's street grid system is based on a standard compass grid plan, with the southeast corner of Temple Square (the area containing the Salt Lake Temple in downtown Salt Lake City) serving as the origin of the Salt Lake meridian. Owing to its proximity to the Great Salt Lake, the city was originally named Great Salt Lake City. In 1868, the word "Great" was dropped from the city's name. Immigration of international members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), mining booms, and the construction of the first transcontinental railroad brought economic growth, and the city was nicknamed "The Crossroads of the West". It was traversed by the Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental highway, in 1913. Two major cross-country freeways, I-15 and I-80, now intersect in the city. The city also has a belt route, I-215.

 

Salt Lake City has developed a strong tourist industry based primarily on skiing, outdoor recreation, and religious tourism. It hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics and will host the 2034 Winter Olympics. It is known for its politically liberal culture, which stands in contrast with most of the rest of the state's highly conservative leanings. It is home to a significant LGBT community and hosts the annual Utah Pride Festival. It is the industrial banking center of the United States. Salt Lake City and the surrounding area are also the location of several institutions of higher education including the state's flagship research school, the University of Utah.

 

Sustained drought in Utah has recently strained Salt Lake City's water security, caused the Great Salt Lake level to drop to record low levels, and has impacted the local and state economy. The receding lake has exposed arsenic which may become airborne, exposing area residents to poisonous dust. The city is also under threat of major earthquake damage amplified by two offshoots of the nearby Wasatch Fault that join underneath the downtown area.

 

Originally, the Salt Lake Valley was inhabited by the Shoshone, Paiute, Goshute and Ute Native American tribes. At the time of the founding of Salt Lake City the valley was within the territory of the Northwestern Shoshone, who had their seasonal camps along streams within the valley and in adjacent valleys. One of the local Shoshone tribes, the Western Goshute tribe, referred to the Great Salt Lake as Pi'a-pa, meaning "big water", or Ti'tsa-pa, meaning "bad water". The land was treated by the United States as public domain; no aboriginal title by the Northwestern Shoshone was ever recognized by the United States or extinguished by treaty with the United States. Father Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, a Spanish Franciscan missionary is considered the first European explorer in the area in 1776, but only came as far north as Utah valley (Provo), some 60 miles south of the Salt Lake City area. The first US visitor to see the Salt Lake area was Jim Bridger in 1824. U.S. Army officer John C. Frémont surveyed the Great Salt Lake and the Salt Lake Valley in 1843 and 1845. The Donner Party, a group of ill-fated pioneers, traveled through the Great Salt Lake Valley a year before the Mormon pioneers. This group had spent weeks traversing difficult terrain and brush, cutting a road through the Wasatch Mountains, coming through Emigration canyon into the Salt Lake Valley on August 12, 1846. This same path would be used by the vanguard company of Mormon pioneers, and for many years after that by those following them to Salt Lake.

 

On July 24,[citation needed] 1847, 143 men, three women and two children founded Great Salt Lake City several miles to the east of the Great Salt Lake, nestled in the northernmost reaches of the Salt Lake Valley. The first two in this company to enter the Salt Lake valley were Orson Pratt and Erastus Snow. These members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ("LDS Church") sought to establish an autonomous religious community and were the first people of European descent to permanently settle in the area now known as Utah. Thousands of Mormon pioneers would arrive in Salt Lake in the coming months and years.

 

Brigham Young led the Saints west after the death of Joseph Smith. Upon arrival to the Salt Lake valley, Young had a vision by saying, "It is enough. This is the right place. Drive on." (This is commonly shortened to, "This is the place"). There is a state park in Salt Lake City known as This Is The Place Heritage Park commemorating the spot where Young made the famous statement.

 

Settlers buried thirty-six Native Americans in one grave after an outbreak of measles occurred during the winter of 1847.

 

Salt Lake City was originally settled by Latter-day Saint Pioneers to be the New Zion according to church President and leader Brigham Young. Young originally governed both the territory and church by a High council which enacted the original municipal orders in 1848. This system was later replaced with a city council and mayor style government.

 

After a very difficult winter and a miraculous crop retrieval, in which Pioneers reported to have been saved from cricket infestation by seagulls (see Miracle of the Gulls), the "Desert Blossomed as the Rose" in the Salt Lake Valley. Early Pioneers survived by maintaining a very tight-knit community. Under Young's leadership Pioneers worked out a system of communal crop sharing within the various ward houses established throughout the Salt Lake Valley.

 

The California Gold Rush brought many people through the city on their way to seek fortunes. Salt Lake, which was at the cross-roads of the westward trek, became a vital trading point for speculators and prospectors traveling through. They came with goods from the East, such as clothing and other manufactured items, trading with the local farmers for fresh livestock and crops.

 

The Congress organized the Utah Territory out of the "State of Deseret" in 1850, and a few months later on January 6, 1851, the city was formally organized as "The City of the Great Salt Lake". Originally, Fillmore, Utah was the territorial capital, but in 1856 it was moved to Salt Lake City, where it has stayed ever since.

 

In 1855 Congress directed the President of the United States to appoint a surveyor general for Utah Territory, and to cause that the lands of that territory should be surveyed preparatory to bringing them on the market. Certain sections were to be reserved for the benefit of schools and a university in the territory. The surveyor general arrived in Utah in July of the same year to begin surveying. He established the initial point for his survey (base line and meridian) at the southeast corner of the Temple Block, and from there extended that survey over 2 million acres. Because of numerous conflicts between the surveyor and the territorial government the first surveyor general abandoned his post in 1857. His successors recommended that no additional land be surveyed. Conflict between the federal and territorial governments kept the issue on hold until 1868, and in the meantime, large sections of the territory were transferred to neighboring territories and states. Again in 1868, Congress directed the President to appoint a surveyor general in the Utah Territory, to establish a land office in Salt Lake City, and to extend the federal land laws over the same. The land office opened 9 March 1869.

 

In 1857, when the Mormon practice of polygamy came to national awareness, President James Buchanan responded to public outcry by sending an army of 2500 soldiers, called the Utah Expedition, to investigate the LDS Church and install a non-LDS governor to replace Brigham Young. In response, Brigham Young imposed martial law, sending the Utah militia to harass the soldiers, a conflict called the Utah War. Young eventually surrendered to federal control when the new territorial governor, Alfred Cumming, arrived in Salt Lake City on April 12, 1858. Most troops pulled out at the beginning of the American Civil War.

 

In order to secure the road to California during the Civil War, more troops arrived under the command of Colonel Patrick Edward Connor in 1862. They settled in the Fort Douglas area east of the city. Thoroughly anti-LDS, Connor viewed the people with disdain, calling them, "a community of traitors, murderers, fanatics, and whores." To dilute their influence he worked with non-LDS business and bank owners, and also encouraged mining. In 1863 some of his troops discovered rich veins of gold and silver in the Wasatch Mountains.

 

In 1866, Thomas Coleman, a Black Mormon man, was murdered, and his body was left on Capitol Hill with an anti-miscegenation warning attached to his body. In 1883, Sam Joe Harvey, another Black man, was lynched for allegedly shooting a police officer, and his body was dragged down State Street.

 

In 1868 Brigham Young founded the Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution (ZCMI) as a way to ward off dependency on outside goods and arguably to hinder ex-LDS retailers. Although ZCMI is sometimes credited with being the nation's first department store, a decade earlier New York City's "Marble Palace" and Macy's vied for that title.

 

Change was inevitable. The world started to come to Salt Lake City in 1869 with the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad in the United States at Promontory Summit, north of the city. By 1870, Salt Lake had been linked to it via the Utah Central Rail Road. People began to pour into Salt Lake seeking opportunities in mining and other industries.

 

City government was dominated by the People's Party until 1890. The non-national People's Party was an LDS-controlled political organization, and each of the early mayors of Salt Lake City was LDS. Sparks often flew between LDS city government and non-LDS federal authorities stationed just outside Salt Lake. A dramatic example occurred in 1874 when city police were arrested by US Marshals, who took control of the national election being held in Salt Lake City. Mayor Daniel H. Wells, a member of the LDS Church First Presidency, declared martial law from the balcony of the Old Salt Lake City Hall. Federal troops arrested the mayor, but he was soon released.

 

In the 1880s, the anti-polygamy Edmunds-Tucker Act systematically denied many prominent LDS Church members the right to vote or hold office. Polygamists were detained in a Federal prison just outside Salt Lake in the Sugar House area. Consequentially, the non-LDS Liberal Party took control of City government in the 1890 election. Three years later the Liberal Party and People's Party dissolved into national parties anticipating Utah statehood, but both LDS and non-LDS leaders would govern Salt Lake City from that point onward.

 

The city became Utah's state capital on January 4, 1896, when Utah entered the union upon President Grover Cleveland's decree after the LDS Church agreed to ban polygamy in 1890.

 

In 1907, Salt Lake City was home to Industrial Workers of the World Industrial Union No. 202.

 

The city adopted a non-partisan city council in 1911. As LDS/non-LDS tensions eased people began to work together for the common good, improving roads, utilities and public healthcare.

 

The Great Depression hit Salt Lake City especially hard. At its peak, the unemployment rate reached 61,500 people, about 36%. The annual per capita income in 1932 was $276, half of what it was in 1929, $537 annually. Jobs were scarce. Although boosted by federal New Deal programs as well as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the economy did not fully recover until World War II.

 

After suffering through the depression Salt Lake's economy was boosted during World War II due to the influx of defense industries to the Wasatch Front. Demands for raw materials increased Utah's mining industry, and several military installations such as Fort Douglas and Hill Air Force Base were added.

 

After the Second World War, Salt Lake City grew rapidly. It began to suffer some of the same problems other cities face. Urban sprawl became a growing problem due to a combination of rapid growth and an abundance of available land. Military and aerospace also became dominant industries.

 

Salt Lake began its bid for the Winter Olympics as early as the 1930s, when the Utah Ski Club tried to bring the games to the valley. At the time, however, the Summer Olympic host city had the option of hosting the winter games, and all attempts failed. Salt Lake tried again throughout the decades until 1995, when the International Olympic Committee announced Salt Lake City as the site of the 2002 Winter Olympics.

 

After 132 years in business, ZCMI was sold to the May Department Stores Company in 1999. Remaining ZCMI stores, including one in downtown Salt Lake City, were converted into Meier & Frank stores, although the facade still reads "1868 ZCMI 1999".

 

In April 1999, the Salt Lake City council voted 5 to 2 along LDS membership lines to sell to the LDS Church the segment of Main Street that lay between Temple Square and the LDS Church office buildings for $8.1 million. The Church planned to build a large plaza on the land as well as a parking structure below. There was much public outcry about the sale of public lands to a private organization, but a Church representative assured residents that the plaza would be a "little bit of Paris", a characterization that would be used against the LDS Church later. Concerns also lay in plans to ban such activities as demonstrations, skateboarding, sunbathing, smoking, and other activities it considered "vulgar". The Utah ACLU believed that these restrictions were incompatible with the pedestrian easement that the city retained over the plaza. ACLU attorneys claimed this made the plaza into a public free speech forum. Nonetheless, the property was sold to become the Main Street Plaza. After the Utah District Court ruled against the ACLU, they were vindicated by the 10th Circuit Court in the Fall of 2002. Scrambling to satisfy residents, Rocky Anderson offered a plan for "time and place" restrictions on speech as suggested by the court. However, the LDS Church held firm to get the easement rescinded. Although The Salt Lake Tribune backed the mayor's initial plan, the city council disliked it. In its place, Anderson offered to waive the easement in exchange for west side property from the LDS Church to build a community and a commitment of donations for it. All parties agreed to the arrangement, and the Main Street Plaza is now wholly owned by the LDS Church. Some suppose Anderson's compromise was an effort to strengthen his 2003 re-election campaign among Latter-day Saints and west side residents. Both groups tended to have less favorable impressions of the former mayor.

The central motif of the upper frieze is Cassandra leaning in despair against her mother Hecuba who is taking care of her. The young woman is depicted with a laurel wreath and a knotted and tasseled fillet around her head, holding a laurel branch, attribute shared with her twin brother Helenos painted in the right corner of the scene. The laurel branch points towards Hector’s helmet, held by a charioteer, in the lower register. Next to the woman, a filleted tripod standing on the top of an Ionic column confirms her prophetic and Apollonian characterization. The eagle flying on the top right side with a snake in its claws is another sign of her ability to see into the future. But Apollo, after giving her this gift, punished her refusal of his love: nobody would have believed her prophecies. So it is not surprising that neither her mother nor her father Priam on their left share her concern for Hector. Only another Trojan, her twin brother Helenos, who also had the same gift, can recognize the sign of her prophecy concerning the fate of Hector. The soldier between Cassandra and his brother is a trumpeter, probably ,signifying the imminence of battle.

In the center of the lower frame there is a quadriga. The charioteer holds the helmet of the warrior portrayed on foot near the chariot. His Phrygian cap points out the Eastern origins of the characters involved. To left a farewell scene between a man and a child hold in the arms of a woman. Both the man and the woman look dejected as if they knew their fate. A second woman partly lost is represented standing in the far left corner. It is just as clear that the lower scene is the farewell of Hektor, who is taking his leave of Andromache and his baby son, Astyanax, the moving episode immortalized in Iliad book 6 (vv 390-502). Yet, as soon as the great epic scene is recognized, a viewer who knows the poem will see a contraindication signaling that this is not precisely the Homeric narrative. Hektor's charioteer is holding the famous helmet, which is positioned, shining brightly, right in the center of the composition. In Homer, Hektor is at first wearing it, but then, when he holds out his arms to his son and the child cries, he takes it off and lays it on the ground. At the end of the meeting, Hektor picks up his helmet himself and sets off on foot. Given that this picture is not following Homer exactly, it is more likely that the woman holding the baby is Andromache herself, rather than the nurse (who holds the baby in the Iliad). The figure of a woman standing behind her is unfortunately incomplete; it might have decisively signaled that she was either Andromache or, more probably, the nurse (with white hair).

 

Here the artist combines two narrative episodes concerning the departure of Hektor to battle and the dire prophecies by Cassandra into a single composition. Some scholars suggest that the vase painter was inspired by the plot of a lost tragedy called “Hektor” by the fourth-century playwright Astydamas.

 

Sources:

Oliver Platin, “Pots and Plays – Interactions between tragedies and Greek Vase-painting of the Fourth Century B.C.”

Fabio Lo Piparo, “Torn Fillets and a Broken Sceptre: Cassandra’s Costume, Props and Attributes in Ancient Greek Drama and Vase-Painting”

 

Apulian Volute Krater

Height 107 cm

Attributed to The Underworld Painter

Ca. 340 BC

Berlin, Altes Museum – Inv. 1984.45

 

Part 1 “ The Menagerie”

 

Star Trek- The Menagerie , “Return to Talos IV”

youtu.be/v5XBfgPy43A?t=2s The full feature.

 

The Menagerie Review: February 8, 2014 by neoethereal

As the only two-part episode in The Original Series, “The Menagerie” also cleverly serves as a re-telling of the very first Star Trek story ever filmed, “The Cage.” This week on The Uncommon Geek, I examine all of these episodes in full detail, highlighting their connections to other aspects of the Trek mythos. As well, I take a look at the ground broken by Gene Roddenberry concerning the nature of reality, decades before movies like “The Matrix” challenged the perception of our everyday world.

 

Equipped with little more than a shoestring budget and massive constraints on time with which to work, Gene Roddenberry and his Star Trek production team had to get extremely creative in order to make the show work. Nowhere, in my opinion, is that more evident than here in “The Menagerie,” an entry that served the purpose of buying the production team time to properly finish subsequent episodes, and as well, afforded Gene Roddenberry a unique opportunity to re-tell the story he had wanted to get on the air all along, “The Cage.”

 

This episode begins with the Enterprise having been called out of its way, to Starbase 11. Confusion arises when the starbase’s commanding officer, Commodore Mendez, reveals to Captain Kirk that the base never sent any message to the Enterprise. Spock claims to have received that message, which puts Kirk into the difficult position of whether to trust the starbase computers, or the word of his first officer and friend.

 

It turns out that Captain Christopher Pike, the former commander of the Enterprise, who was recently crippled and disfigured in a terrible accident, is on Starbase 11, and suspicion arises that perhaps he relayed a message to Spock. When Kirk finally gets to see Pike, however, he realizes that it would have been impossible for Spock’s former commanding officer to have done this, for Pike is now wheelchair bound, and his communication with others is limited to electronic beeps that fill in for “yes” and “no.

 

While Kirk and Mendez wrestle over the truth, Spock executes a daring and clever plan to hijack the Enterprise, taking Captain Pike with him. It goes to show just how dangerous an opponent someone as smart and calculating as Spock can be when he puts his mind to it. Spock sets the Enterprise on a locked course for Talos IV, a planet which the ship visited on a past mission under Christopher Pike, and a planet that invites the death penalty upon any Starfleet officer who goes there

 

The secret file on Talos IV, and the article of General Order 7

I personally find the idea of a death penalty being associated with Talos IV to be somewhat dubious; although there is a very good reason why Starfleet wants the existence of the Talosians kept secret, I find it hard to believe that if the Federation is capable of having a death penalty, that it only applies to one law. It may just be a grand bluff, and indeed, there is some evidence to that effect later in the episode. Regardless, breaking General Order 7 is a serious offense, and Spock is if nothing else, putting his career and livelihood on the line.

 

Kirk, of course, isn’t going to sit by while his ship is abducted. He and Mendez make a daring attempt to chase the Enterprise in the Shuttlecraft Picasso, knowing full well that while they would never catch up, they would appear on the Enterprise sensors. Kirk gambles his life on the fact that his friend Spock would not leave him to die in the void of space, as the shuttle runs out of fuel. Kirk’s illogical gambit causes Spock’s plan to unravel, and he surrenders himself to custody, pleading guilty to every charge leveled against him. However, Spock has locked the Enterprise into a course for Talos IV that cannot be broken, which will potentially extend the death sentence that is on himself, to Kirk as well.

 

The court martial that proceeds against Spock is highly unusual; as mentioned, Spock pleads guilty without defense, but through some legal technicality, manages to arrange for the court to hear out his evidence as to why he went through with his illegal actions. Given that Kirk is presiding over the hearing, and that the crew has little else to do but wait until they reach Talos IV, I get the lenience, but I am not sure what real court would remain in session to examine evidence for someone who just admitted their guilt. Or admittedly, maybe I just don’t know enough about legal proceedings.

 

Spock’s evidence, as it turns out, is a transmission from Talos IV, beamed directly to the Enterprise, which details the vessel’s first trip there under the command of Captain Pike. Of course, this transmission is the original Star Trek pilot, “The Cage,” and from this point on, “The Menagerie” consists almost entirely of footage from that episode.

 

Aside from some really goofy tech dialogue, and incomplete characterizations, “The Cage” holds up surprisingly well. We get to see that Jeffrey Hunter’s Captain Pike is a darker, colder man than James Kirk; he is someone whose decisions and responsibilities as a commander are weighing on him heavily, and he is nearing the point of considering resignation. Pike’s first officer is only referred to as Number One (played by Majel Barrett), who is an amazing example of a strong female role for 1960’s television, but unfortunately her character had to be discarded by Roddenberry when the studio forced him to choose between keeping his strong, logical female, or his alien Spock. Roddenberry ended up giving Spock Number One’s cold, emotionless, logical persona, and thus the Spock we know and love was born.

 

It really is a shame that NBC put so much pressure on Roddenberry to alter his concept of women in the 23rd Century; aside from Number One, the other female crew members of the Cage-era Enterprise also seem to be on equal footing with the men, and there isn’t a mini-skirt in sight. Of course, this reviewer by no means, from an aesthetic point view, objects to how the women of the Enterprise look in said mini-skirts, but cheekiness and my own red-blooded male impulses aside, the female officers in Starfleet should have been offered the same, more professional uniform as the males. Unfortunately we would have to wait until The Motion Picture to see more fairness in the way men and women are presented in Star Trek.

 

When Enterprise finds evidence of human survivors on Talos IV, from a doomed expedition many years ago, Pike, Spock, and an away team beam down to investigate. What at first seems like a wonderful discovery of lost, homesick men, turns out to be just an elaborate, life like illusion created by the Talosians. Pike is abducted when he is lured in by the only true human survivor from the crash, Vina, whom he is extremely attracted to.

 

Pike is subjected to a variety of illusions crafted by the Talosians, in order to foster cooperation, as well as to strengthen his attraction toward Vina. Vina is presented to Pike in a variety of forms; as a damsel in distress on Rigel VII, as a wife in the countryside on Earth, and as a primal, animalistic Orion slave woman, all in an attempt to make him submit to his situation.

 

However, Pike is every bit as stubborn as Captain Kirk, and certainly has a darker, more furious edge to him. When he discovers that primitive, base human emotions such as hatred, and anger, block out the Talosian’s illusions and their telepathic abilities, he mines that weakness long enough to take one of them captive. Once the illusion is broken, the Enterprise crew find out that their attempts to break Pike out from his underground cage with phaser fire were actually working, but all along they weren’t able to see it.

 

The Talosians had, thousands of centuries ago, devastated their planet and their civilization with war. They retreated underground, where their telepathic abilities flourished, but their physical bodies and their technology atrophied. They had apparently been testing various species for many years, looking for a suitable slave race to use for rebuilding their world, but none had shown as much promise as humanity.

 

However, when the away team threatens to kill themselves with an overloaded phaser, and as well when the Talosians finish screening the Enterprise‘s records, they realize that humans would rather die than be enslaved, and would be too violent to keep in captivity. With of course, the sad exception of Vina, who in reality is too badly disfigured to live a normal life outside of Talos IV.

 

(I once heard a suggestion that Vina could be repaired using the transporter. I don’t think 23rd century transporters were sophisticated enough for that, plus, there wouldn’t be an original, unaltered version of her pattern to reference.)

 

The ending of “The Cage” leads us to the final moments of “The Menagerie,” where it is revealed that not only have the Talosians been transmitting a signal to the Enterprise, but even Commodore Mendez himself has been one of their illusions all along!

 

It is also revealed that Spock’s only intention was to take Captain Pike to Talos IV, so that the crippled starship commander could live out the rest of his life as a healthy, happy man with Vina. Even Kirk seems to relent that it is better to live with an illusion of health and happiness, than a reality of living as a useless vegetable. That Commodore Mendez was an illusion, and that Starfleet sends a signal to the Enterprise, apparently excusing their violation of Talos space, seems to let Spock off the hook. Perhaps too easily in fact; despite acting out of nothing but loyalty to his former Captain, and despite that the way he enacted his plan was done in such a manner as to put the blame only on himself, Spock seems to get out of his predicament with apparently no trouble at all. We can make a guess that perhaps this incident is why he doesn’t receive a promotion or command of his own until years later, but there is nothing spoken on-screen to that effect.

 

We are also left to ponder about how much of the incident was real at all. Since the Talosians can apparently project their powers through subspace, one wonders just how long they conspired with Spock, and also, how much we see of Mendez was real or an illusion. My guess is that the Mendez we see at the base was real, and what goes onto the shuttle with Kirk was the illusion, but unfortunately, again, there is little to back that up. What we do know for sure is that the Talosian’s powers are not to be trifled with, and it is truly for wise for Starfleet to give them a wide berth.

Despite some problems with logic and consistency, “The Menagerie” is an entertaining, fascinating episode that shows original series Trek at some of its most interestingly cerebral. Gene Roddenberry’s first pilot examines the nature of reality decades before The Matrix did, and asks the questions: What is real? How does one define their purpose, their reality? Is our reality just relative, defined only by experience? Is there a such thing as an absolute reality, or only what our senses perceive, or for that matter what they think they perceive? This is smart, ahead of its time writing for the 1960s.

 

Through the tragedies that befell both Vina and Pike, we must also question the quality of human life, and the value we place on it. Is it worth staying alive if you can’t function? If your brain is sound but your body is broken, can you still truly live? Speaking for myself, I certainly would despise the existence that Captain Pike is forced to endure in his wheelchair. I’d rather be dead than live that way. I’m not sure how I would react exactly to being forced to live in an illusion, but it is certainly preferable to a reality of uselessness and immobility. Besides, is our everyday life not just an elaborate series of deceptions spun before our very eyes; maybe not as powerful as a trick of telepathy played by an alien race, but an illusion nonetheless?

 

For even provoking these thoughts, and much more, “The Cage,” and by extension, “The Menagerie,” are what I consider among the best of Star Trek’s purely cerebral stories about human nature. It is imaginative, thoughtful, and quite engaging.

Felices fiestas !!!!

Happy holidays!

 

Sad news this morning that one of my all time favourite British actors passed away today at the age of 93. And what a 93 years they were. Perhaps best known in recent years for his recurring role as Donna Noble's grandfather Wilfred Mott in BBC's Sci-fi serial Dr. Who. However, that was by no means Bernard's first appearance in the Dr. Who franchise. 42 years earlier he had appeared in a Movie spin off of the TV series Dr. Who which at that time had yet to achieve the status of 'cult' it has since become. He played a young policeman called Tom Campbell thus beginning a long tradition of miss-continuity (LOL) in Dr. Who. The two photos I've glued together show Cribbins as Tom Campbell in the 1966 film, Daleks Invasion of Earth 2150.AD alongside iconic British actor Peter Cushing as the Doctor and 42 years later in 2008 playing Wilfred alongside David Tennent in the 21st century re-boot of the series.

 

Despite his tremendously popular appearances in Dr. Who they only accounted for a tiny part of his gigantic acting portfolio. He came to prominence as a comedy actor during the heyday of the Ealing film studios comedies of the 1960s including a few appearances in the legendary 'Carry On' films. During the 1970s he became a huge favourite on BBC children's TV voicing the characters of the stop-motion serial 'The Wombles' and telling stories on Jackanory. I for one will always remember his magnificent vocal characterizations and particularly the cry of 'Never More' by Arabel's Raven, Mortimer. As well as children's TV he regularly appeared on panel games throughout the 70s to the 2000s both on TV and radio. Added to these he regularly appeared on stage and in movies, notably The Railway Children. Also well known for his voice work on adverts and audio books. Cribbins originated the role of Dangerous Davis the Last Detective on film before Peter Davidson took it on for TV, once again reconnecting Cribbins with Dr. Who. Continuing to act well into old age. This multi-talented and delightful man had been trained as a paratrooper during his national service in 1947. Returning to the theatre afterwards he sang comic songs, performed small parts in theatres and worked as an assistant stage manager before hitting the big time. Happily married to former actress Gillian McBarnet for 66 years. After so many years together Gillian's death in 2021 must have been a blow to Bernard. Indicative of his varied and lengthy career he entitled his autobiography: Bernard Who ? 75 Years of Doing Just About Everything'. In February 2022 he secured the right to record his book in his own voice. whether or not he completed it I know not but will certainly buy it if he did.

 

Rest Peacefully Bernard and thank you for entertaining me so happily for so many years

East-German postcard by Progress Film-Verleih, no. 19/77. Oliver Reed in The Four Musketeers (Richard Lester, 1974).

 

Brooding macho Oliver Reed (1938-1999) was one of England's darker leading men and villainous character actors. He juggled over 60 film roles in 40 years and a full-blooded social life of women, booze, and bar fights. After a start in Hammer films, Reed worked often with acclaimed British directors Ken Russell, Richard Lester, and Michael Winner. His final role was as the old, gruff gladiator trainer in Ridley Scott's Gladiator (2000).

 

Robert Oliver Reed was born in 1938, in Wimbledon, England. His parents were Peter Reed, a sports journalist, and Marcia Reed née Napier-Andrews. He had two brothers. David Reed became his business manager and his half-brother Simon Reed became his press agent. He was a nephew of film director Sir Carol Reed. And he was a grandson of actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who founded the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 1904. Party animal Reed did not complete high school. He ended up taking on a variety of blue-collar jobs. His first job at the age of 17 was as a bouncer at a Soho nightclub. In 1960, he suddenly burst into films, showing up in the background of the Hammer films The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (Terence Fisher, 1960), and Sword of Sherwood Forest (Terence Fisher, 1960), and as a gay ballet dancer in the criminal comedy The League of Gentlemen (Basil Dearden, 1960). His first starring role came with Hammer, as the title character in Curse of the Werewolf (Terence Fisher, 1961). Robert Armstrong at AllMovie: "Years later, he would serve as the narrator on a full Hammer retrospective, putting his sonorous speaking voice to good use and paying homage to his roots. Such early work paved the way for a steady flow of bad-guy roles in horrors, costume dramas, and suspense thrillers. Reed's intense, glowering features could also be manipulated for believable ethnic characterizations." Films such as Science-Fiction horror film The Damned (Joseph Losey, 1962) and Pirates of Blood River (John Gilling, 1962) followed. His first of six collaborations with Michael Winner came with The System/The Girl Getters (1964). The film was seen by Ken Russell who then cast Reed in the title role of The Debussy Film (1965), a TV biopic of Claude Debussy. It was the first time he broke away from villainous roles. According to Wikipedia, Reed later said "Hammer films had given me my start and Michael Winner my bread then Ken Russell came on the screen and gave me my art." Reed co-starred with Rita Tushingham in the Canadian-British co-production, The Trap (Sidney Hayers, 1966). His career stepped up another level when he starred in his second film with Winner, the popular comedy film The Jokers (Michael Winner, 1966), alongside Michael Crawford. His third Winner film was I'll Never Forget What's'isname (Michael Winner, 1967), with Orson Welles. Reed was reunited with Ken Russell for another TV film, Dante's Inferno (1967), playing Dante Gabriel Rossetti. In 1968, he won his first leading role in a universally well-received film, the Oscar-winner Oliver! (Carol Reed, 1968), in which he played murderous thief Bill Sikes. Despite complaints of nepotism, Reed insisted he had to persuade his uncle to cast him, even though his credentials closely matched the needs of the part. Another watershed moment came in 1969 when Ken Russell cast him as one of the leads in his adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's Women in Love (1969). Robert Armstrong at AllMovie: "While the film was a well-received treatise on sexuality and marriage, it achieved some notoriety for featuring the first-ever full-frontal male nudity in an English-language commercial film. Reed and Alan Bates engage in a memorable nude wrestling match that audaciously fleshes out the film's themes. Reportedly, Russell had planned to scrap the scene, worried about censor backlash, until Reed wrestled him into including it, literally pinning him down, in Russell's kitchen. Still, Reed told the Los Angeles Times he had to drink a bottle of vodka before he could relax enough to film the scene."

 

Oliver Reed and Ken Russell would work together five more times, including The Devils (1971) and Tommy (1975), in which Reed played Frank Hobbs. Reed was also known for portraying musketeer Athos in three of Richard Lester's film versions of Alexandre Dumas' famous tale. Reed appeared in The Three Musketeers (1973) and its sequel, The Four Musketeers (1974), which originally had been planned as one long movie. He revived the role for The Return of the Musketeers (1989). During the filming of the windmill duel scene in the first film, Reed was nearly killed when he was stabbed in the throat. Add in 36 stitches to repair cuts on his face after a bar fight in 1963, and the actor had more than his share of scrapes. Reed peaked in many ways in the mid-1970s and had to settle on genre work for much of his career. Films such as Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype (Charles B. Griffith, 1980), Venom (Piers Haggard, 1982), Gor (John Norman, 1987), and Dragonard (Gérard Kikoïne, 1987) became his regular source of paychecks for many years. More interesting films were David Cronenberg's The Brood (1979), Nicolas Roeg's Castaway (1987), or Terry Gilliam's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1989). Reed's most familiar role for modern audiences was also his last. The actor appeared in Oscar-winner Gladiator (Ridley Scott, 2000) as Proximo, the amoral merchant who trains the enslaved fighters to kill and be killed. When he died midway through production, Reed unwittingly became part of a groundbreaking three-million-dollar endeavor by director Ridley Scott to digitally re-create his likeness in order to film Proximo's death scene. A three-dimensional image of Reed's face was scanned into computers so it could smile and talk, then digitally grafted onto a body double. In 1999, Oliver Reed died in Valetta, Malta, where Gladiator was being filmed. Robert Armstrong at AllMovie: "the result of a heart attack brought on by one last night of hard-drinking, which included three bottles of downed rum and arm wrestling victories over five sailors." He was survived by his second wife, Josephine Burge. He was the father of Mark Thurloe Reed (1961) with his first wife Kate Byrne and of Sarah Reed (1970) from his 12-year relationship to dancer Jacqueline Daryl.

 

Sources: Robert Armstrong (AllMovie), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

 

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

Lucius Aelius or Aelius Verus (101 – 138 AD).

He was adoptive son and designated successor of the emperor Hadrian; he died before Hadrian, and thus never became emperor. He was father of the emperor Lucius Vero. This sculpture is one of the few surviving portraits of Lucius Aelius, and one of the few traditional identifications accepted today. Its quality is outstanding both for the intense expression and the strong characterization of the portrayed character. The portrait is a masterpiece of Roman portraiture of the early Antonine period. The bust supporting the head is modern.

 

Source: Guido A. Mansuelli, “Galleria degli Uffizi – Le Sculture”, Vol II, inset # 103.

 

Greek marble sculpture

H. 68.5 cm; height of the antique head 33.5 cm.

Third decade of the 2nd century AD.

Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, Inv. N. 154

 

Daisy will probably scoff at that characterization of her polish prowess. She doesn't think she does it all that well.....but I can assure you she's pretty darn good at it, whether she realizes it or not.

Cameo glass is primarily a product of the early Roman Empire and is specifically associated with the elite and royal of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Its manufacture is therefore mostly limited to the decades around 25 BC – AD 25 and it is rare; less than twenty pieces have survived in their entirety. The technique imitates cameos carved from shell or colored stone and the most popular color scheme is white over a blue background. In this case, the tiny flask was first blown in translucent blue glass; after a brief period of cooling it was dipped in opaque white glass, after which it was carved and polished by a lapidary artisan.

 

The annexation of Egypt in 30 BCE and the arrival in Rome in 10 BCE of two obelisks from Heliopolis helped to develop a milieu in which the use of Egyptian motifs thrived, inspiring Roman artists to evoke the imagery and iconography of ancient Egypt. While it has been suggested that the scenes on this flask might represent specific gods, such as Amon-Re, Horus and Thoth, the meaningless hieroglyphs on the obelisk as well as the general obscurity of the iconography prevents a specific reading of the narrative. Instead, the figures and motifs would seem to evoke through setting and characterization the exotic Egyptian atmosphere so popular in the art of Julio-Claudian Rome.

 

25 BCE-25 CE, Roman Empire (created).

 

Getty Villa Museum (85.AF.84)

“The name "Phainopepla" comes from the Greek for "shining robe," a fitting characterization of the shiny, jet-black plumage of the adult male.” Reference :- www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Phainopepla/overview

Image - Copyright 2021 Alan Vernon.

 

the long shot (often used as an establishing shot),

the full shot,

the medium shot,

the close-up.

Three less often used field sizes (see gallery below) are:

the extreme long shot (used for epic views and panoramas),

the American shot (also 3/4 shot), a slight variation of the medium shot to also include OWB handgun holsters in Western movies, a characterization from French film criticism for a type of shot in certain American films of the 1930s and 1940s also referred to as a "Cowboy shot" in reference to the gun holster being just above the bottom frame line,

the "Italian shot" or Extreme Close Up (ECU or XCU), where only a person's eyes are visible, named after the genre of Italo-Westerns, particularly the Dollars Trilogy by Sergio Leone, that established this particular field size.

I do not know where to start! It has been 10 years since Monos were introduced and it seems fitting that IT used these sculpts for IFDC offering this year. This line has been discontinued, and I personally loved Monos, so this offer is a pleasant surprise.

 

But, there is a catch, all of these ladies are on East 59th body. Now, I do not hate this body, but I think it lacks some curves, lower part of the legs is particularly slim. Somehow heads and bust seem to be out of proportion, they are too big. On the other hand, Monos had PERFECT bodies! I think those bodies were the best bodies produced. So, I am a bit disappointed they used East 59th body. At least, they could use FR2 body for this offer. Ohh, well...

 

Glamour Puss (the name is crazy, I know) is the companion doll. She comes in FR white skintone and black hair. Edition size is 500 and she retails for $160. She has 2.0 Monogram sculpt, my favorite. It was really hard for me to pass this doll, I think the outfits is beautiful and I like the doll. But, those eyebrows... why they had to be so round and boring. Other two have better eyebrows screening IMO. Also, I HATE white under the eyes, there are really million ways things could wrong with this eyes screening. Regarding the outfit, it looks very interesting. I have seen real life inspiration and I think IT did a great job on the skirt and inserts. Not sure about the slit though. But, the upper part of the dress is not my cup of tea. It just reveals too much and it seems there is too much material below the bust area. The bag and shoes remind me on Splendid Jordan. Jewelry is gorg, particularly like the hat, which looks like a flower on the top. Nice touch!

 

Centerpiece doll is Dish. She comes in cream skintone and copper haircolor. Her edition size is lower - 400 pieces, but her price is higher $165. She has 2.0 sculpt (just for reference sculpt 3.0 appeared only two times, as I recall, as Allure and Exaggeration). Mmmm I do not feel her.. Her face and hairstyle are too busy. Again, strange eyebrows and white under the eyes. The outfit is a miss as this mini collection is inspired by 40's fashion. I do not see this lingerie style in that era. Jewelry is less interesting for me, as it looks less expensive.

 

Finally, convention doll is Grandstanding. She retails for $175 and edition size is 500. Her coat and jewelry are to die for!!! The rest is OK, I guess. The color and shape of the dress are not something we haven't seen before. She has the best eyebrows of the bunch, but her lips color throws me off. It seems to me her right eye is wonky, I noticed that on IRL photos too. The hairstyle gives me Dracula vibe, which is a not a good reference, at least for me.

 

Overall, I am happy we got something from vintage line. However, I will not be entering lotteries for these ladies. IMO, East 59th collection we got last month is way more cohesive, and also more affordable in comparison to this one. Just compare that Evelyn giftset with any of these ladies... Still, I hope Chris will decide to include Monogram 2.0 sculpt in East 59th as a new character. I think that would be good for the line and also it would be good to give some characterization to Mono sculpts.

British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 43a.

 

American stage and film actor, director, and screenwriter Lon Chaney (1883-1930) is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of early cinema. Between 1912 and 1930 he played more the 150 widely diverse roles. He is renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and afflicted characters, and his groundbreaking artistry with makeup. ‘The Man of a Thousand Faces’ starred in such silent horror films as The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925).

 

Leonidas Frank ‘Lon’ Chaney was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 1883. He was the son of deaf-mute parents, Frank and Emma Chaney, and he learned from childhood to communicate through pantomime, sign language, and facial expression. The stagestruck Chaney worked in a variety of backstage positions at the opera house in his hometown of Colorado Springs. Only 17, he was eventually allowed to appear on stage. In 1901, he went on the road as an actor in a play that he co-wrote with his brother, The Little Tycoon. After limited success, the company was sold. He began travelling with popular Vaudeville and theatre acts. On tour in Oklahoma City, he met Francis Cleveland ‘Cleva’ Creighton, (Cleva) who was auditioning for a part in the show as a singer. In 1905, Chaney, then 22, married 16-year-old Cleva and in 1906, their only child, a son, Creighton Tull Chaney (later known as film actor Lon Chaney, Jr.) was born. The Chaneys continued touring, settling in California in 1910. Their marriage became strained due to working conditions, money and jealousy. In 1913, Cleva went to the Majestic Theater in downtown Los Angeles, where Lon was managing the Kolb and Dill show and attempted suicide by swallowing mercuric chloride. The suicide attempt failed but it ruined her voice. The ensuing scandal and divorce forced Chaney out of the theatre and into the booming industry of silent films. Between 1912 and 1917, Chaney worked under contract for Universal Studios doing 100 bit or character parts. His skill with makeup gained him many parts in the highly competitive casting atmosphere. During this time, Chaney befriended the husband-wife director team of Joe De Grasse and Ida May Park, who gave him substantial roles in their pictures, and further encouraged him to play macabre characters. Chaney married one of his former colleagues in the Kolb and Dill company tour, chorus girl Hazel Hastings. Little is known of Hazel, except that her marriage to Chaney was solid. The couple gained custody of Chaney's 10-year-old son Creighton, who had resided in various homes and boarding schools since Chaney's divorce from Cleva. In 1917 Universal presented Chaney, Dorothy Phillips, and William Stowell as a team in the drama The Piper's Price (Joe De Grasse, 1917). In succeeding films, the men alternated playing lover, villain, or another man to the beautiful Phillips. They would occasionally be joined by Claire Du Brey nearly making the trio a quartet of recurring actors from film to film. So successful were the films starring this group that Universal produced fourteen films from 1917 to 1919 with Chaney, Stowell, and Phillips.

 

By 1917 Lon Chaney was a prominent actor in the Universal studio, but his salary did not reflect this status. When Chaney asked for a raise, studio executive William Sistrom replied, "You'll never be worth more than one hundred dollars a week." After leaving the studio, Chaney struggled for the first year as a free-lance character actor. He got his first big break when playing a substantial role in William S. Hart's Western, Riddle Gawne (William S. Hart, Lambert Hillyer, 1918). He received high praise for his performance in the role. In 1919, Chaney had another breakthrough performance in The Miracle Man (George Loane Tucker, 1919), as The Frog, a con man who pretends to be a cripple and is miraculously healed. The film displayed not only Chaney's acting ability but also his talent as a master of makeup. Critical praise and a gross of over $2 million put Chaney on the map as America's foremost character actor. He exhibited great adaptability with makeup in more conventional crime and adventure films, such as The Penalty (Wallace Worsley, 1920), in which he played an amputee gangster. As Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Wallace Worsley, 1923) and Erik, the tortured opera ghost in The Phantom of the Opera (Rupert Julian, 1925), Chaney created two of the most grotesquely deformed characters in film history. William K. Everson William K. Everson in American Silent Film: "Only 'The Phantom of the Opera,' with its classic unmasking scene, a masterpiece of manipulative editing, really succeeded (and still does!) in actually scaring the audience - and that because the revelation had to be a purely visual one. Moreover, Lon Chaney's make-up was so grotesque as to equal, if not surpass, anything that the audience might have anticipated or imagined." However, the portrayals sought to elicit a degree of sympathy and pathos among viewers not overwhelmingly terrified or repulsed by the monstrous disfigurements of these victims of fate. Chaney also appeared in ten films directed by Tod Browning, often portraying disguised and/or mutilated characters.

 

In 1924, Lon Chaney starred in Metro-Goldwyn’s He Who Gets Slapped, a circus melodrama voted one of the best films of the year. The success of this film led to a series of contracts with MGM Studios for the next five years. In these final five years of his film career, Chaney gave some of his most memorable performances. His portrayal of a tough-as-nails marine drill instructor opposite William Haines in Tell It to the Marines (George W. Hill, 1926), one of his favourite films, earned him the affection of the Marine Corps, who made him their first honorary member of the motion picture industry. Memorable is also his carnival knife-thrower Alonzo the Armless in The Unknown (Tod Browning, 1927) opposite Joan Crawford. In 1927, Chaney also co-starred with Conrad Nagel, Marceline Day, Henry B. Walthall and Polly Moran in the horror film, London After Midnight (Tod Browning, 1927) considered one of the most legendary and sought-after lost films. His final film role was a sound remake of his silent classic The Unholy Three (Jack Conway, 1930). He played Echo, a crook ventriloquist and used five different voices (the ventriloquist, the old woman, a parrot, the dummy and the girl) in the film, thus proving he could make the transition from silent films to the talkies. Chaney signed a sworn statement declaring that the five voices in the film were his own. During the filming of Thunder in the winter of 1929, Chaney developed pneumonia. In late 1929 the heavy smoker was diagnosed with bronchial lung cancer. This was exacerbated when artificial snow, made out of cornflakes, lodged in his throat during filming and quickly created a serious infection. Despite aggressive treatment, his condition gradually worsened, and seven weeks after the release of the remake of The Unholy Three (1930), he died of a throat haemorrhage in Los Angeles, California. In his last days, his illness had rendered him unable to speak, forcing him to rely on the pantomimic gestures of his youth in order to communicate with his friends and loved ones. Chaney and his second wife Hazel had led a discreet private life distant from the Hollywood social scene. Chaney did minimal promotional work for his films and for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, purposefully fostering a mysterious image, and he reportedly intentionally avoided the social scene in Hollywood. At the end of the 1950s, Chaney was rediscovered. He was portrayed by James Cagney in the biopic titled Man of a Thousand Faces (Joseph Pevney, 1957). In 1958, Chaney fan Forrest J. Ackerman started and edited the magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland, which published many photographs and articles about Chaney. Ackerman is also present in Kevin Brownlow’s documentary Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces (2000).

 

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Lon Chaney.com, Silents are Golden, Wikipedia and IMDb.

 

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

Few years back, I have visited a 400 years old Mughal Era Bridge located on Degh Nala. My inspiration to visit that place was a detailed article written on this site by Sir Salman Rasheed. In his article, Sir Salman Rasheed also point out about another Mughal era old bridge located on branch of the Degh called the Chhoti or Lesser Degh not many miles to the west.

 

Unfortunately, I could not able to trace exact location of this place for quite some time. At last I found it and visited this place last Sunday; it has coordinates (31°38'47.21"N, 74°14'33.37"E)

The bridge was operational in past; it was supposed heavy rains and a flood of 1976 were source of collapsing it. You will found debris lies in the stream at site.

 

The bridge length was found to be 30 meter, which is exactly equivalent to Mughal Era Bridge situated on main Degh River. It was an arch bridge spanning over four arches at 7.5 meter center to center distance. The bridge supposed to be constructed in later decades of sixteenth century.

 

The chemical and mineralogical characterization of 17th century Mughal mortars, renders and plaster have shown the type of coarse (brick, kankar pieces, slag) and fine (river sand) aggregates usually embedded in calcite lime binder. The varying binder aggregate ratio was normally dependant on the functional aspect of the masonry unit. The chemical composition (major and trace) indicated locally available raw materials for the construction of these historic monuments. In current bridge, Nanak Shahi bricks construction has seen internally reinforced and filled with calcite lime mortar.

 

Arch bridges are one of the most popular types of bridges, which came into use over 3000 years ago. Because of their design, stone and wood arch bridges became very popular during the Roman Empire, when architects managed to build over 1000 stone arch bridges in Europe, Asia and North Africa. Many of those bridges remain standing even today. The attribution of collapse of this bridge from 1976 flood looks wrong to me as I have seen disintegration of arch members from top crown. The arch bridge carries loads primarily by compression. Such types of failure occur in structures when over loaded vehicles more randomly crossing over it; ironically this bridge was common route of loaded tractor trolley for decades. Understandably, Mughal Architects does not design it for such wheel loads.

 

There is still remnant of 02 ft high and 40 meter length roadside wing wall running on both ends of bridge along the road. There are also columns at start of this wing wall. So the bridge could be visible from some distance. The bridge length is of almost double then the present Nala width, which shows the Nala width reduced as the water flow in river Ravi tremendously reduced with passage of time At present a new bridge is constructed over the debris.

 

In past the bridge was source of crossing the Degh for military troops of Mughal and Sikh Army’s. It has seen many centuries. Unfortunately no concerned department has ever taken any step to restore or protect it and made floods responsible for its destruction.

 

A history vanish forever.

 

French postcard by Europe, no. 470. Photo: Regal Film United Artists.

 

Lupe Velez (1908-1944), was one of the first Mexican actresses to succeed in Hollywood. Her nicknames were 'The Mexican Spitfire' and 'Hot Pepper'.

 

María Guadalupe Villalobos Vélez was born in San Luis Potosí, Mexico in 1908. She began her career in Mexico as a dancer in vaudeville in 1924. She starred in the shows Mexican Rataplan and ¡No lo tapes!. Besides singing and dancing with suggestive and provocative pelvis movements, she appeared wrapped in rhinestones and feathers while singing songs full of mischief. Very young, Lupe soon established herself as one of the main stars of de vaudeville in Mexico. In 1927 she moved to the US and MGM offered her a contract. She made her film debut in the short film Sailors, Beware! (1927) with Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel. It was soon followed by a leading role opposite Douglas Fairbanks in The Gaucho (F. Richard Jones, 1927). Wikipedia: "At first, Fairbanks thought Lupe too languid for the vivacious part. During the interview, a stagehand 'stole' her dog as a prank. When Velez, barely five feet tall, discovered this, she beat the man mercilessly. Impressed, Douglas hired Lupe and gave her a five-year contract at his studio, United Artists." By the end of the decade, she had progressed to leading roles and was one of the first Mexican actresses to succeed in Hollywood. She worked with such major film directors as Cecil B. DeMille at Stand and Deliver (1928), D.W. Griffith at Lady of the Pavements (1929), and Victor Fleming at The Wolf Song (1929).

 

With the arrival of talkies, Lupe Vélez's career took a turn towards comedy. Her characterization of the temperamental, explosive, rebellious and irreverent Latina woman gave her enormous popularity. She enjoyed popularity among Hispanic audiences and also made some films in Mexico. Some of her most memorable films are Hot Pepper (John G. Blystone, 1933) with Victor McLaglen, Palooka (Benjamin Stoloff, 1933), Laughing Boy (W. S. Van Dyke, 1934) with Ramon Novarro, Hollywood Party (George Stevens, 1934), in which she battles enthusiastically with Laurel and Hardy. In the early 1940s, she had success with The Mexican Spitfire film series, especially created for her. Vélez's personal life was often difficult. Her five-year marriage to Johnny Weissmuller and a series of romances with figures like Gary Cooper, were highly publicized. She suddenly died in 1944 in Glendale, California. Denny Jackson at IMDb: "By 1943 her career was waning. She went to Mexico in the hopes of giving herself a jump start. She gained the best reviews yet in the Mexican version of Naná (1944). Bolstered by that movie, Lupe returned to the US where she starred in her final film as Pepita Zorita in Ladies' Day (1943). There were to be no others. On December 13, 1944, tired of yet another failed romance, with a part-time actor named Harald Maresch, and pregnant with his child, Lupe committed suicide with an overdose of Seconal. She was only 36 years old."

 

Sources: Denny Jackson (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

The fresco decoration of the Hall of Justice of the fortress of Angera constitutes one of the main figurative testimonies of the development phase of the Gothic pictorial language in the Lombard territory; it also proposes a rare and early example of painting with profane themes, of historical-political and celebratory significance.

The room, on the second floor of the Visconti wing of the building, has a rectangular plan, divided into two parts by a pointed arch. The ceiling, formed by cross vaults, is covered by a lively decoration with geometric motifs, with squares and rounds interwoven to form a sort of sumptuous painted fabric. The six bays of the walls, illuminated by large windows with two lights, host the pictorial decoration, which is divided into three superimposed registers within large arches defined by ornamental borders with stylized stars and flowers: the narrative scenes, in the center, are surmounted by a high band with astrological-astronomical subjects, while the lowest register is formed by a lozenge decoration that supported an elegant painted veil, now almost completely disappeared.

The cycle narrates the deeds of Ottone Visconti, archbishop and lord of Milan from 1277 after the victory obtained in Desio over the opposing Torriani family. Since a long time, studies have linked the frescoes to a precise literary source, the Liber de gestis in civitate Mediolani, a work in praise of the Visconti family written by the monk Stefanardo da Vimercate probably in the last decade of the thirteenth century; the tituli that accompany the scenes are inspired by it, while other Latin inscriptions report, to complete the upper decorative band, some verses of the astrological treatise De Sphaera.

From a stylistic point of view, the author of the paintings shows a marked taste for the complex layout of the scenes, while neglecting the coherence of the figure-architecture relationship; the forms are simplified and the faces, lacking in individual characterization, derive strong consistency from the resentful linear definition and the thick dark outlines; these elements constitute an evident link with the thirteenth-century pictorial tradition of Byzantine matrix, probably filtered through the knowledge of works from the Veneto area. Moreover, the attention that will be typically Lombardy for the realistic definition of details or for the description of costumes is already present and alive.

The brilliant overall effect of the room is enhanced by the whirlwind of colors of the vault, a real explosion of chromatic happiness that finds immediate comparisons in the vault of S. Bassiano in Lodi Vecchio, also decorated with joyful secular subjects.

The representations of the planets and the signs of the zodiac are still linked to those astrological-astronomical themes that had an enormous development since the beginning of the Christian Middle Ages and in particular in the Romanesque period; connected to the scansion of time and of the different working activities - in particular agricultural and pastoral -, they had multiple ethical, civil and religious implications. Situated in the courtroom of the Rocca, the cycle must have had the value of an exemplum for those who were called to judge, through the underlining of motifs such as the clemency of the winner on the vanquished enemy or the subjection of earthly power to the stars and to Fortune, and with precise indications on the virtues that should accompany the exercise of power.

As for the dating of the paintings, critics have expressed themselves in various ways, with wide oscillations between 1277 of the battle of Desio and 1314, the year in which Matteo Visconti definitively acquired possession of the fortress after a period of domination by the Torriani and other families.

   

The fresco decoration of the Hall of Justice of the fortress of Angera constitutes one of the main figurative testimonies of the development phase of the Gothic pictorial language in the Lombard territory; it also proposes a rare and early example of painting with profane themes, of historical-political and celebratory significance.

The room, on the second floor of the Visconti wing of the building, has a rectangular plan, divided into two parts by a pointed arch. The ceiling, formed by cross vaults, is covered by a lively decoration with geometric motifs, with squares and rounds interwoven to form a sort of sumptuous painted fabric. The six bays of the walls, illuminated by large windows with two lights, host the pictorial decoration, which is divided into three superimposed registers within large arches defined by ornamental borders with stylized stars and flowers: the narrative scenes, in the center, are surmounted by a high band with astrological-astronomical subjects, while the lowest register is formed by a lozenge decoration that supported an elegant painted veil, now almost completely disappeared.

The cycle narrates the deeds of Ottone Visconti, archbishop and lord of Milan from 1277 after the victory obtained in Desio over the opposing Torriani family. Since a long time, studies have linked the frescoes to a precise literary source, the Liber de gestis in civitate Mediolani, a work in praise of the Visconti family written by the monk Stefanardo da Vimercate probably in the last decade of the thirteenth century; the tituli that accompany the scenes are inspired by it, while other Latin inscriptions report, to complete the upper decorative band, some verses of the astrological treatise De Sphaera.

From a stylistic point of view, the author of the paintings shows a marked taste for the complex layout of the scenes, while neglecting the coherence of the figure-architecture relationship; the forms are simplified and the faces, lacking in individual characterization, derive strong consistency from the resentful linear definition and the thick dark outlines; these elements constitute an evident link with the thirteenth-century pictorial tradition of Byzantine matrix, probably filtered through the knowledge of works from the Veneto area. Moreover, the attention that will be typically Lombardy for the realistic definition of details or for the description of costumes is already present and alive.

The brilliant overall effect of the room is enhanced by the whirlwind of colors of the vault, a real explosion of chromatic happiness that finds immediate comparisons in the vault of S. Bassiano in Lodi Vecchio, also decorated with joyful secular subjects.

The representations of the planets and the signs of the zodiac are still linked to those astrological-astronomical themes that had an enormous development since the beginning of the Christian Middle Ages and in particular in the Romanesque period; connected to the scansion of time and of the different working activities - in particular agricultural and pastoral -, they had multiple ethical, civil and religious implications. Situated in the courtroom of the Rocca, the cycle must have had the value of an exemplum for those who were called to judge, through the underlining of motifs such as the clemency of the winner on the vanquished enemy or the subjection of earthly power to the stars and to Fortune, and with precise indications on the virtues that should accompany the exercise of power.

As for the dating of the paintings, critics have expressed themselves in various ways, with wide oscillations between 1277 of the battle of Desio and 1314, the year in which Matteo Visconti definitively acquired possession of the fortress after a period of domination by the Torriani and other families.

   

The Berlin Green Head is an ancient Egyptian statue head (AeMP 12500) made from greenschist and housed in the Egyptian Museum of Berlin, not far from the Nefertiti Bust. It has been considered the work of a highly skilled (though unknown) ancient Egyptian sculptor, as well as one of the most famous and credited pieces of art from the Late and Ptolemaic periods of ancient Egypt.

 

DESCRIPTION: The face of the statue is calm and emotionless and, unusually for contemporary works of art, also perfectly symmetric, and it is that of an intelligent-looking, middle-aged man with many well-rendered wrinkles and lines.

 

The statue's shaved, oval-shaped skull is so realistic that it was once believed that the sculptor could not have made it without ancient Greek knowledge of anatomy, a claim subsequently disproved by the analysis of similar, earlier Egyptian artworks.

 

On the back of the head, the top portion of a conventional back pillar is still visible.

 

The whole artefact is uninscribed, thus the owner's name and titles are unknown. For the same reason, the statue could only be dated on stylistic grounds. Once regarded as art of the Saite Period, it was later attributed to the Ptolemaic Period by Friedrich Wilhelm von Bissing.

 

In 1960, Bernard von Bothmer further reduced the time range between 100 and 50 BCE, arguing that the head reveals a maturity not compatible with the earlier Ptolemaic art, as well as a similarity with some upcoming Roman Republic-era Egyptian works.

 

Its provenance is also unknown, as well as its trace before 1895, when it was acquired from the collections of prince Ibrahim Hilmy and Henry Wallis.

 

The Berlin Green Head has been compared to the similar, yet earlier Boston Green Head, with the former one having lost part of the "verism" (among that, the asymmetry) which is more prominent in the latter one, yet without compromising the characterization of the individual represented on it.

 

(Source: Wikipedia)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Green_Head

 

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LA CABEZA VERDE DE BERLÍN es una antigua cabeza de estatua egipcia (AeMP 12500) realizada en greenschist y que se encuentra en el Museo Egipcio de Berlín, no lejos del Busto de Nefertiti. Se ha considerado la obra de un escultor egipcio antiguo muy hábil (aunque desconocido), así como una de las piezas de arte más famosas y acreditadas de los periodos tardío y ptolemaico del antiguo Egipto.

 

DESCRIPCIÓN: El rostro de la estatua es tranquilo y carente de emoción y, excepcionalmente para las obras de arte contemporáneas, también perfectamente simétrico, y es el de un hombre de mediana edad de aspecto inteligente con muchas arrugas y líneas bien trazadas.

 

El cráneo afeitado y de forma ovalada de la estatua es tan realista que en su día se creyó que el escultor no podría haberla realizado sin los conocimientos de anatomía de la antigua Grecia, afirmación que fue desmentida posteriormente por el análisis de obras de arte egipcias anteriores similares.

 

En la parte posterior de la cabeza aún se puede ver la parte superior de un pilar trasero convencional.

 

Todo el artefacto carece de inscripción, por lo que se desconoce el nombre y los títulos del propietario. Por la misma razón, la estatua sólo puede datarse por motivos estilísticos. Considerada en su día como arte del periodo saíta, fue atribuida posteriormente al periodo ptolemaico por Friedrich Wilhelm von Bissing.

 

En 1960, Bernard von Bothmer redujo aún más el rango temporal entre el 100 y el 50 a.C., argumentando que la cabeza revela una madurez no compatible con el arte tolemaico anterior, así como una similitud con algunas obras egipcias de la época de la República Romana que se avecinan.

 

También se desconoce su procedencia, así como su rastro antes de 1895, cuando fue adquirida de las colecciones del príncipe Ibrahim Hilmy y de Henry Wallis.

 

La Cabeza Verde de Berlín ha sido comparada con la similar, aunque anterior, Cabeza Verde de Boston, habiendo perdido la primera parte del "verismo" (entre ello, la asimetría) que es más prominente en la segunda, aunque sin comprometer la caracterización del individuo representado en ella.

 

French postcard. Photo: Nicolas Tikhomiroff / Magnum Photos. Caption: Federico Fellini in great discussion during the filming of his segment of Boccaccio '70 (Vittorio De Sica, Luchino Visconti, Federico Fellini, Mario Monicelli, 1962), the Roman studios of Cinecitta in 1961.

 

Italian film director and screenwriter Federico Fellini (1920-1993) was one of the most influential filmmakers of all time. He was known for his distinct style that blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. In a career spanning almost fifty years, Fellini won the Palme d'Or for La Dolce Vita (1960), was nominated for twelve Academy Awards. He won an Oscar for La Strada (1954), Le notti di Cabiria (1957), 8½ (1963) and Amarcord (1973).

 

Federico Fellini was born in 1920 in Rimini in the Emilia-Romagna region. His native Rimini and characters there like Saraghina (the devil herself said the priests who ran his school) - and the Gambettola farmhouse of his paternal grandmother would later be remembered in several of his films. His traveling salesman father Urbano Fellini showed up in La dolce vita (1960) and 8½ (1963). His mother Ida Barbiani was from Rome and accompanied him there in 1939. Fellini's first passion was the theater, and at the age of 12 he briefly ran away from home to join the circus, later entering college solely to avoid being drafted. He enrolled in the University of Rome. Intrigued by the image of reporters in American films, he tried out the real life role of journalist. Additionally, Fellini worked as an artist on fumetti (Italy's illustrated magazines), and occasionally even made his living as a caricaturist at Roman restaurants. He caught the attention of several editors with his caricatures and cartoons and then started submitting articles. Several articles were recycled into a radio series about newlyweds 'Cico and Pallina'. Pallina was played by acting student Giulietta Masina, who became Fellini's real life wife in 1943. They remained together until his death. The young Fellini loved vaudeville and was befriended in 1939 by leading comedian Aldo Fabrizi. Fabrizi recruited Fellini to supply stories and ideas for his performances; between 1939 and 1944. The two men worked in tandem on a number of largely forgotten comedies, among them No Me Lo Dire, Quarta Pagina, and Campo de Fiori. When young director Roberto Rossellini wanted Fabrizi to play Don Pietro in Roma città aperta (Roberto Rosselini, 1945), he made the contact through Fellini. Fellini worked on that film's script and is on the credits for Rosselini's Paisà (Roberto Rosselini, 1946). Dale O'Connor at IMDb: "On that film he wandered into the editing room, started observing how Italian films were made (a lot like the old silent films with an emphasis on visual effects, dialogue dubbed in later). Fellini in his mid-20s had found his life's work."

 

Federico Fellini collaborated on films by Pietro Germi (including In Nomine Della Legge and Il Cammino Della Speranza) and Alberto Lattuda (Il Delitto di Giovanni Episcopo and Il Mulino del Po), among others. In 1948, Fellini completed the screenplay for Il Miracolo, the second and longer section of Rossellini's two-part effort Amore. Here Fellini's utterly original worldview first began to truly take shape in the form of archetypal characters (a simple-minded peasant girl and her male counterpart, a kind of holy simpleton), recurring motifs (show business, parties, the sea), and an ambiguous relationship with religion and spirituality. He further explored this in his script for Rossellini's Francesco, Giullare di Dio (Roberto Rosselini, 1949). In 1950, Fellini made his first attempt at directing one of his own screenplays (with help of Alberto Lattuda), Luci del Varieta (Federico Fellini, Alberto Lattudada, 1950), which further developed his fusion of neorealism with the atmosphere of surrealism. Fellini then directed the romantic satire Lo Sciecco Bianc. The film marked his first work with composer Nino Rota. Fellini's initial masterpiece, I Vitteloni, followed in 1953. The first of his features to receive international distribution, it later won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival, the first of many similar honours . The brilliant La Strada followed in 1954, also garnering the Silver Lion as well as the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Picture. After helming Il Bidone (1955), Fellini and a group of screenwriters (including a young Pier Paolo Pasolini) began work on Le Notti di Cabiria (1956), which also won an Oscar. Then he mounted La Dolce Vita (1960), the first of his pictures to star actor Marcello Mastroianni. He would become Fellini's cinematic alter ego over the course of several subsequent collaborations, its portrait of sex and death in Rome's high society created a tremendous scandal at its Milan premiere, where the audience booed, insulted, and spat on the director. Regardless, La Dolce Vita won the Palm d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and remains a landmark in cinematic history.

 

During the 1960s, many films by Federico Fellini were influenced by the work of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung and his ideas on the role of archetypes and the collective unconscious.The women who had both attracted and frightened him in his youth and an Italy dominated in his youth by Mussolini and Pope Pius XII inspired Fellini's dreams. In the 1960s, he started to record them in notebooks and life and dreams became raw material for such films as 8½ (1963) or Fellini - Satyricon (1969). With 1965's Giulietta Degli Spiriti, Fellini worked for the first time in color. After experimenting with LSD under the supervision of doctors, he began scripting Il Viaggio di G. Mastorna. Over a year of pre-production followed, hampered by difficulties with producers, actors, and even a jury trial. Finally on April 10th, 1967, Fellini suffered a nervous breakdown, resulting in a month-long nursing home stay. Ultimately, he gave up on ever bringing Il Viaggio di G. Mastorna to the screen, and his new producer, Alberto Grimaldi, was forced to buy out former producer Dino De Laurentis for close to half a billion liras.As the decade drew to a close, Fellini returned to work with a vengeance, first resurfacing with Toby Dammitt, a short feature for the collaborative film Tre Passi nel Delirio. Turning to television, he helmed Fellini: A Director's Notebook, a one-hour special for NBC, followed by the feature effort Fellini Satyricon. I Clown followed in 1970, with Roma bowing in 1972. Amarcord, a childhood reminiscence, won a fourth Academy Award in 1974. It proved to be his final international success. He later shot Il Casanova di Federico Fellini (1976), Prova d'Orchestra (1979) and La Citta delle Donne (1980), which were less successful. Fellini turned to publishing with Fare un Film, an anthology of notes about his life and work. E la Nave Va (1983) and Ginger e Fred (1985) followed, but by the time of L'Intervista (1987), he was facing considerable difficulty finding financing for his projects. His last completed film was La Voce Della Luna (1989). In the early 1990s, Fellini helmed a handful of television commercials, and in 1993 he won his fifth Academy Award for a lifetime of service to the film industry. In 1993, Federico Fellini died the day after his 50th wedding anniversary. He was 73 years old. Jason Ankeny at AllMovie: "One of the most visionary figures to emerge from the fertile motion picture community of postwar-era Italy, Federico Fellini brought a new level of autobiographical intensity to his craft; more than any other filmmaker of his era, he transformed the realities of his life into the surrealism of his art. Though originally a product of the neorealist school, the eccentricity of Fellini's characterizations and his absurdist sense of comedy set him squarely apart from contemporaries like Vittorio De Sica or Roberto Rossellini, and at the peak of his career his work adopted a distinctively poetic, flamboyant, and influential style so unique that only the term "Felliniesque" could accurately describe it. "

 

Source: Jason Ankeny (AllMovie), Dale O"Connor (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

 

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

Los equipos de investigación de Repsol colaboran con los líderes mundiales de Upstream para desarrollar soluciones innovadoras y disruptivas, que utilicen una tecnología nueva y avanzada. Estas iniciativas se centran principalmente en las áreas de caracterización avanzada, geomecánica, simulación y gestión de proyectos.

 

Repsol´s Upstream research teams work together with world leaders to develop innovative and disruptive solutions, using the latest and most advanced technology. These initiatives are mainly focused in the areas of advanced characterization , geomechanics , simulation and project management .

A shell-shaped aedicula carved in the upper part of the stele. The stele was originally crowned by a pediment framed by a Lesbian “kyma”, supported by two half-columns with capitals finely carved with laurel leaves and berries. The shell motif enclosing the portraits of the deceased frequently appears on stelae from northern regions. The rendering of the two portraits, although vigorous in their physiognomic characterization, is flat and simplified in execution.

Beneath the niche, an open scroll indicates the office of “sevir” held by the deceased, perhaps on three occasions, as suggested by the three voting tablets bearing the numerals I, I, and III placed beside it.

 

The carved cinscription reads:

V(ivus) f(ecit) / Q(intus) Titius Faustus (se)vir (ter ?) / sibi et Culciniae / Proculae uxori, / libertis lib(ertabus)q(ue).

“Quintus Titius Faustus, sevir (three times?), while still alive, made [this monument] for himself, for his wife Culcinia Procula, and for his freedmen and freedwomen.”

 

Together with the epigraphic evidence, the type of female coiffure in the form of a cap, the male hairstyle—almost Trajanic in style at the forehead—and the linear, metallic quality of the vegetal ornamentation date the monument to the end of the 1st century AD.

 

Source: Valnea Santa Maria Scrinari, “Museo Archeologico di Aquileia, Catalogo delle Sculture Romane”

 

Limestone stele

Dimesions [cm]: height 108 , width 75, depth 29

Late 1st century BC

Aquileia, Museo Archeologico Nazionale

  

You probably saw the photos I took for the zombie Walk , well this Beautiful lady is Bree Flores , Yes Sir she is the one responsiible for the awesome characterizations on such Photos

 

I was looking for a theme to do with her and what better way to show you guys than doing it this way , hope you like it , and remember it's not who wears the pants is who wears the skirt

 

36, 32, boot cut with a skull belt buckle and Harley boots , You say the man inside those Levi's don't take orders ,And she'll just have to realize you'll do as you damn well please

 

Well I tell you Buddy You wear the pants ? buddy good for you , I'm so impressed, yeah whoopty-doo , You need to know that ain't how it works , It's not who wears the pants, it's who wears the skirt

 

In the top drawer of her dresser there's some panties , Go try on that purple pair with the lacy frill , With your big old thighs I bet you can't get in 'em , And with that attitude of yours, hell I bet you never will , A big old boy like you can probably bench 350 A little thing like her can barely lift the bar , But just wait until that woman has a headache , And she sits there with her legs crossed we'll see how strong you are . . .

 

like I said You need to know that ain't how it works , It's not who wears the pants, it's who wears the skirt

 

Please guys don't you fuckin forget it , have a great weekend everybody , cheers from Tijuana Mexico

  

**

 

Strobist info :

 

SB800 1/8 - Apollo Softbox ft from subject (camera right) , 6ft high , subject 5 ó clock

SB800 1/8 , Westcott 45" reflective umbrella , 7ft from 2nd subject (me) (camera right) 6ft high

 

Sigma 18-50 f/2.8 @ 24mm f/2.8

Nikon D300 : ISO 560 - 1/20

On the St. John's waterfront. Services for the Grand Banks oil play.

 

Courtyard by Marriott"

Courtyard by Marriott is a brand of hotels owned by Marriott International. Courtyard by Marriott is designed for business travelers but also accommodates families. Its rooms have desks, couches, and free Internet access. The majority of locations have a bistro which sell fresh cooked and prepared breakfast,(not complimentary) appetizers, sandwiches, and more. All have 24-hour "mini-marts."

 

It competes with other mid-priced business-oriented hotels like Cambria Suites, Wingate Inn and Hilton Garden Inn.

 

Baker Hughes:

Baker Hughes is an American industrial service company, it is one of the world's largest oil field services companies. It operates in over 90 countries, providing the oil and gas industry with products and services for oil drilling, formation evaluation, completion, production and reservoir consulting. Baker Hughes has its headquarters in the America Tower in the American General Center in Neartown, Houston

 

Schlumberger:

Schlumberger is the world's leading provider of technology for reservoir characterization, drilling, production, and processing to the oil and gas industry. Working in more than 85 countries and employing approximately 100,000 people who represent over 140 nationalities, Schlumberger supplies the industry's most comprehensive range of products and services, from exploration through production and integrated pore-to-pipeline solutions for hydrocarbon recovery that optimize reservoir performance

...long live the King!:D

 

I got my Granado Enoch head yesterday, and after a first moment of "not sure if this was a good idea", I am now pretty happy with him as my new King :3

He replaces my LLT Roderich (who I now need to find a new home for).

 

The chess story has two main parts, one while Ramin and co. are still kids, and one where he and the rebels are young adults.

I had planned to repaint the older adults (like Roman, Schwarz and co.) to show the time jump, and change some other details about them too, but both Roman and Amir got completely new heads now.

I also worked at their characterization a little more, to fit their looks better.

 

Amir is a difficult person and, to be honest, horrible king.

He spent most of his youth living with Roman's family at the sea, and as soon as he was old enough he came back to the capital and got his father killed.

He's very unstable, paranoid and rarely sleeps, eat or spends time on his throne.

Back then I just made him a sad mess, but I want him to be more mad now.

I mean, how else could he have managed to get the former King killed?

His relationship to Roman is difficult, but that's something I'll explain another day >:

 

For now I need to find a new body for him, that Angelsdoll body has been a hot mess since day one, get him a new wig and also find time to paint him.

Oh well, something to do for 2017 xD

 

Amir Valois - Granado Enoch

The fresco decoration of the Hall of Justice of the fortress of Angera constitutes one of the main figurative testimonies of the development phase of the Gothic pictorial language in the Lombard territory; it also proposes a rare and early example of painting with profane themes, of historical-political and celebratory significance.

The room, on the second floor of the Visconti wing of the building, has a rectangular plan, divided into two parts by a pointed arch. The ceiling, formed by cross vaults, is covered by a lively decoration with geometric motifs, with squares and rounds interwoven to form a sort of sumptuous painted fabric. The six bays of the walls, illuminated by large windows with two lights, host the pictorial decoration, which is divided into three superimposed registers within large arches defined by ornamental borders with stylized stars and flowers: the narrative scenes, in the center, are surmounted by a high band with astrological-astronomical subjects, while the lowest register is formed by a lozenge decoration that supported an elegant painted veil, now almost completely disappeared.

The cycle narrates the deeds of Ottone Visconti, archbishop and lord of Milan from 1277 after the victory obtained in Desio over the opposing Torriani family. Since a long time, studies have linked the frescoes to a precise literary source, the Liber de gestis in civitate Mediolani, a work in praise of the Visconti family written by the monk Stefanardo da Vimercate probably in the last decade of the thirteenth century; the tituli that accompany the scenes are inspired by it, while other Latin inscriptions report, to complete the upper decorative band, some verses of the astrological treatise De Sphaera.

From a stylistic point of view, the author of the paintings shows a marked taste for the complex layout of the scenes, while neglecting the coherence of the figure-architecture relationship; the forms are simplified and the faces, lacking in individual characterization, derive strong consistency from the resentful linear definition and the thick dark outlines; these elements constitute an evident link with the thirteenth-century pictorial tradition of Byzantine matrix, probably filtered through the knowledge of works from the Veneto area. Moreover, the attention that will be typically Lombardy for the realistic definition of details or for the description of costumes is already present and alive.

The brilliant overall effect of the room is enhanced by the whirlwind of colors of the vault, a real explosion of chromatic happiness that finds immediate comparisons in the vault of S. Bassiano in Lodi Vecchio, also decorated with joyful secular subjects.

The representations of the planets and the signs of the zodiac are still linked to those astrological-astronomical themes that had an enormous development since the beginning of the Christian Middle Ages and in particular in the Romanesque period; connected to the scansion of time and of the different working activities - in particular agricultural and pastoral -, they had multiple ethical, civil and religious implications. Situated in the courtroom of the Rocca, the cycle must have had the value of an exemplum for those who were called to judge, through the underlining of motifs such as the clemency of the winner on the vanquished enemy or the subjection of earthly power to the stars and to Fortune, and with precise indications on the virtues that should accompany the exercise of power.

As for the dating of the paintings, critics have expressed themselves in various ways, with wide oscillations between 1277 of the battle of Desio and 1314, the year in which Matteo Visconti definitively acquired possession of the fortress after a period of domination by the Torriani and other families.

   

Monster High is an American fashion doll franchise created by Mattel in July, 2010. The characters are inspired by monster movies, sci-fi horror, thriller fiction, and various creatures therefore distinguishing them from most fashion dolls. They were created by Garrett Sander, with illustrations by Kellee Riley.[2]

The Monster High franchise also includes other consumer products such as stationery, bags, key chains, various toys and video games. There are also Monster High TV specials, a web series, a direct to DVD movie, and software. Lisi Harrison is the author of the Monster High books. The characters are depicted as being either related to or as offspring of famous monsters such as Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, the Mummy, Medusa, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Phantom of the Opera, and zombies and more. The characters are usually referred to as ghouls, rather than girls.

  

The dolls are approximately 27 cm tall. Or about 1 foot tall. Their bodies are made from ABS plastic. Their heads are made from soft PVC. They have various skin tones (blue, green, pink, brown, etc.) Each character has a unique head mold. No Monster High doll has the same shape head. The type of hair the dolls have is saran. The boys hair is either fuzzy or hard colored plastic. Aside from physical attributes, the dolls are quite different in the characterization of their clothes. And they all have their own unique freaky flaw, hair, etc. They might repeat bags and sunglasses. For example, 13 Wishes Howleen has the same bag as the original Clawdeen only that it is a different color. One is gold and another is purple and black. But they are both sisters. Plus, Howleen likes to borrow a lot of Clawdeen's stuff. And Gloom Beach Frankie Stein has the same sunglasses as the Scaris Frankie Stein. One s blue and one is yellow. All of them have various attributes of the monsters they are related to (i.e. fangs, stitches, wolf ears, fins, bandages,snakes, etc.)[3] Although Monster high and Barbie are from the same creator, Mattel, Monster High is starting to become more popular than Barbie.

  

________________________

  

Monster High est une franchise américaine de poupées mannequins lancée par Mattel en juillet 2010 aux États-Unis, tirée d'une série de livres du même nom (de Lisi Harrison). Les personnages sont inspirés de personnes assez monstrueuses issues de la littérature fantastique, de la mythologie, ou encore de films cultes. Les Monster High sont toutes des enfants de monstres (Frankie Stein est la fille de Frankenstein, Draculaura est celle de Dracula, Deuce Gorgon est le fils de Méduse...).

La franchise Monster High se décline sur de très nombreux produits comme des vêtements, des bijoux fantaisie et de la papeterie, mais ses principales ventes se font grâce aux poupées mannequins du même nom. Elle s'accompagne également d'épisodes spéciaux pour la télévision et le marché DVD, et d'une web-série.S

Le concept de Monster High met en scène des adolescents tous descendants de créatures plus ou moins célèbres. Certaines poupées sont relookėes.

  

Les poupées mannequins mesurent une vingtaine de centimètres ; les garçons sont plus grands que les filles, même s'il existe des différences de taille chez certaines poupées (Twyla et Howleen Wolf sont plus petites, Nefera de Nile et Mme. Santête sont plus grandes...). Les corps (qui comptent de nombreuses articulations) sont fabriqués en plastique ABS et les têtes sont en PVC souple. Chaque personnage bénéficie d'un moule différent pour sa tête. Les cheveux sont en saran ou en kanekalon, voire en PVC pour les garçons dont les cheveux sont, pour la plupart des personnages, moulés. Les poupées filles de Monster High peuvent enlever leurs mains et bras mais les garçons ne peuvent enlever que leurs bras. Lagoona Blue, Rochelle Goyle et C.A. Cupid ont des éléments amovibles que les autres poupées n'ont pas (des nageoires pour Lagoona Blue, des ailes pour Rochelle Goyle et C.A. Cupid). Comme les filles ont des chaussures à talons, elles ne peuvent pas bouger leurs pieds, tandis que les garçons ont les pieds articulés.

Chaque personnage est caractérisé par un style vestimentaire et une gamme de couleurs qui se retrouvent dans différentes collections et qui reflètent leur personnalité dans la web-série.

  

[My Portfotolio] [My Google + ]

  

thanks to all for visits and faves :)

  

[My GETTY Images @] [My MOST FAVE on Flickriver] [My RECENT on Fluidr] [My STREAM on Darckr]

 

Italian postcard. Series artists of La Voce del Padrone [His Master's Voice]. S.A. Nazionale del Grammofono, Milano. The bass Feodor Chaliapin as Ivan the Terrible in The Maid of Pskov by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

 

Russian opera singer Feodor Chaliapin (1873–1938) was an international sensation and is considered as the greatest Russian singer of the twentieth century, as well as the greatest male operatic actor ever. The possessor of a large, deep, and expressive basso profundo, he was celebrated at major opera houses all over the world and established the tradition of naturalistic acting in operas. The only sound film which shows his acting style is Don Quixote (Georg Wilhelm Pabst, 1933).

 

Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin (Russian: Фёдор Ива́нович Шаля́пин, or Fyodor Ivanovich Shalyapin) was born in 1873, into a poor peasant family in Omet Tawi, near Kazan, Russia. His childhood was full of suffering, hunger, and humiliation. From the age of 10, he worked as an apprentice to a shoemaker, a sales clerk, a carpenter, and a lowly clerk in a district court before joining, at age 17, a local operetta company. In 1890, Chaliapin was hired to sing in a choir at the Semenov-Samarsky private theatre in Ufa. There he began singing solo parts. In 1891, he toured Russia with the Dergach Opera. In 1892, he settled in Tiflis (now Tbilisi, Georgia), because he found a good teacher, Dmitri Usatov, who gave Chaliapin free professional opera training for one year. He also sang at the St. Aleksandr Nevsky Cathedral in Tbilisi. In 1893, he began his career at the Tbilisi Opera, and a year later, he moved to Moscow upon recommendation of Dmitri Usatov. In 1895, Chaliapin debuted at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre as Mephistopheles in Charles Gounod’s Faust, in which he was a considerable success. In 1896 he also joined Mamontov's Private Russian Opera in Moscow, where he mastered the Russian, French, and Italian roles that made him famous. Savva Mamontov was a Russian industrialist and philanthropist, who staged the operas, conducted the orchestra, trained the actors, taught them singing, and paid all the expenses. At Mamontov's, he met in 1897 Sergei Rachmaninoff, who started as an assistant conductor there. The two men remained friends for life. With Rachmaninoff, he learned the title role of Modest Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, which became his signature character. Rachmaninoff taught him much about musicianship, including how to analyse a music score, and insisted that Chaliapin learn not only his own roles but also all the other roles in the operas in which he was scheduled to appear. When Chaliapin became dissatisfied with his performances, Chaliapin began to attend straight dramatic plays to learn the art of acting. His approach revolutionized acting in opera. In 1896, Savva Mamontov introduced Chaliapin to a young Italian ballerina Iola Tornagi, who came to Moscow for a stage career. She quit dancing and devoted herself to family life with Chaliapin. He was very happy in this marriage. From 1899 until 1914, he also performed regularly at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. The couple settled in Moscow and had six children. Their first boy died at the age of 4, causing Chaliapin a nervous breakdown.

 

In 1901, Feodor Chaliapin made his sensational debut at La Scala in the role of the devil in Mefistofele by Arrigo Boito under the baton of conductor Arturo Toscanini. Other famous roles were Boris Godunov in Mussorgsky's opera, King Philip in Giuseppe Verdi's Don Carlos. Bertram in Giacomo Meyerbeer's Robert le Diable, and Ivan the Terrible in The Maid of Pskov by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. His great comic characterizations were Don Basilio in Gioachino Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia and Leporello in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Don Giovanni. In 1906, Chaliapin started a civil union with Maria Valentinovna Petzhold (also called: Maria Augusta Eluchen) in St. Petersburg, Russia. She had three daughters with Chaliapin in addition to 2 other children from her previous family. He could not legalize his second family, because his first wife would not give him a divorce. Chaliapin even applied to Emperor Tsar Nicholas II with a request of registering his three daughters under his last name. His request was not satisfied. In 1913, Chaliapin was introduced to London and Paris by the brilliant entrepreneur Sergei Diaghilev. He began giving well-received solo recitals in Paris in which he sang traditional Russian folk songs as well as more serious fare, and also performed at the Paris Opera. His acting and singing were sensational to western audiences. He made many sound recordings, of which the 1913 recordings of the Russian folk songs Vdol po Piterskoi and The Song of the Volga Boatmen are best known. In 1915, he made his film debut as Czar Ivan IV the Terrible in the silent Russian film Tsar Ivan Vasilevich Groznyy/Czar Ivan the Terrible (Aleksandr Ivanov-Gai, 1915) opposite the later director Richard Boleslawski. Fourteen years later, he appeared in another silent film, the German-Czech coproduction Aufruhr des Blutes/Riot of the blood (Victor Trivas, 1929) with Vera Voronina and Oscar Marion.

 

Feodor Chaliapin was torn between his two families for many years, living with one in Moscow, and with another in St. Petersburg. With Maria Petzhold and their three daughters, he left Russia in 1922 as part of an extended tour of western Europe. They would never return. The family settled in Paris. A man of lower-class origins, Chaliapin was not unsympathetic to the Bolshevik Revolution and his emigration from Russia was painful. Although he had left Russia for good, he remained a tax-paying citizen of Soviet Russia for several years. Finally, he could divorce in 1927 and marry Maria Petzhold. Chaliapin worked for impresario Sol Hurok and from 1921 on, he sang for eight seasons at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. His debut at the Met in the 1907 season had been disappointing due to the unprecedented frankness of his stage acting. In 1921, the public in New York had grown more broad-minded and the eight seasons were a huge success. According to Steve Shelokhonov at IMDb, Chaliapin was the undisputed best basso in the first half of the 20th century. He had revolutionized opera by bringing serious acting in combination with great singing. His first open break with the Soviet regime occurred in 1927 when the government, as part of its campaign to pressure him into returning to Russia, stripped him of his title of 'The First People’s Artist of the Soviet Republic' and threatened to deprive him of Soviet citizenship. Prodded by Joseph Stalin, Maxim Gorky, Chaliapin’s longtime friend, tried to persuade him to return to Russia. Gorky broke with him after Chaliapin published his memoirs, Man and Mask: Forty Years in the Life of a Singer (Maska i dusha, 1932), in which he denounced the lack of freedom under the Bolsheviks.

 

The only sound film which shows Chaliapin's acting style is Don Quixote/Adventures of Don Quixote (Georg Wilhelm Pabst, 1933). He had also starred onstage as the knight in Jules Massenet's 1910 opera, Don Quichotte, but the 1933 film does not use Massenet's music and is more faithful to Miguel de Cervantes' novel than the opera. In fact, there were three versions of this early sound film. Georg Wilhelm Pabst shot simultaneously with the German language version also English and French versions. Feodor Chaliapin Sr. starred in all three versions of Don Quixote, but with a different supporting cast. Sancho Pansa was played by Dorville in the German and French versions but by George Robey in the English version. Benoit A. Racine at IMDb: "These films (the French, English and German versions) were an attempt to capture his legendary stage performance of this character even though the songs are by Jacques Ibert. Ravel had also been asked to compose the songs for the film but he missed the deadline and his songs survive on their own with texts that are different from those found here. The interplay between the French and English versions is fascinating. Some scenes are done exactly the same for better or worse, some use the same footage, re-cut to edit out performance problems, while others have slight variants in staging and dialogue. (The English version was doctored by Australian-born scriptwriter and director John Farrow, Mia's father, by the way.) Even though the films are short and they transform, reduce and simplify considerably the original novel, they still manage to carry the themes and the feeling that would make Man of La Mancha a hit several decades later and to be evocative of Cervantes' Spain." In the late 1930s, Feodor Chaliapin Sr. suffered from leukemia and kidney ailment. In 1937, he died in Paris, France. He was laid to rest is the Novodevichy Monastery Cemetery in Moscow. Chaliapin was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6770 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California. In 1998, the TV film Chaliapin: The Enchanter (Elisabeth Kapnist, 1998) followed. His son Boris Chaliapin became a famous painter. who painted the portraits used on 414 covers of the Time magazine between 1942 and 1970. Another son Feodor Chaliapin Jr. became a film actor, who appeared in character roles in such films as the Western Buffalo Bill, l'eroe del far west/Buffalo Bill (Mario Costa, 1965) with Gordon Scott, and Der Name der Rose/The Name of the Rose (Jean-Jacques Annaud, 1986), starring Sean Connery. His first wife, Iola Tornagi, lived in the Soviet Union until 1959 when Nikita Khrushchev brought the 'Thaw'. Tornagi was allowed to leave the Soviet Union and reunited with her son Feodor Chaliapin Jr, in Rome, Italy.

 

Sources: Steve Shelokhonov (IMDb), Benoit A. Racine (IMDb), Encyclopaedia Britannica, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

The term "edgy" comes from the characterization of the bar on Google maps.

Star Trek- The Menagerie , “Return to Talos IV”

youtu.be/v5XBfgPy43A?t=2s The full feature.

 

The Menagerie Review: February 8, 2014 by neoethereal

As the only two-part episode in The Original Series, “The Menagerie” also cleverly serves as a re-telling of the very first Star Trek story ever filmed, “The Cage.” This week on The Uncommon Geek, I examine all of these episodes in full detail, highlighting their connections to other aspects of the Trek mythos. As well, I take a look at the ground broken by Gene Roddenberry concerning the nature of reality, decades before movies like “The Matrix” challenged the perception of our everyday world.

 

Equipped with little more than a shoestring budget and massive constraints on time with which to work, Gene Roddenberry and his Star Trek production team had to get extremely creative in order to make the show work. Nowhere, in my opinion, is that more evident than here in “The Menagerie,” an entry that served the purpose of buying the production team time to properly finish subsequent episodes, and as well, afforded Gene Roddenberry a unique opportunity to re-tell the story he had wanted to get on the air all along, “The Cage.”

 

This episode begins with the Enterprise having been called out of its way, to Starbase 11. Confusion arises when the starbase’s commanding officer, Commodore Mendez, reveals to Captain Kirk that the base never sent any message to the Enterprise. Spock claims to have received that message, which puts Kirk into the difficult position of whether to trust the starbase computers, or the word of his first officer and friend.

 

It turns out that Captain Christopher Pike, the former commander of the Enterprise, who was recently crippled and disfigured in a terrible accident, is on Starbase 11, and suspicion arises that perhaps he relayed a message to Spock. When Kirk finally gets to see Pike, however, he realizes that it would have been impossible for Spock’s former commanding officer to have done this, for Pike is now wheelchair bound, and his communication with others is limited to electronic beeps that fill in for “yes” and “no.

 

While Kirk and Mendez wrestle over the truth, Spock executes a daring and clever plan to hijack the Enterprise, taking Captain Pike with him. It goes to show just how dangerous an opponent someone as smart and calculating as Spock can be when he puts his mind to it. Spock sets the Enterprise on a locked course for Talos IV, a planet which the ship visited on a past mission under Christopher Pike, and a planet that invites the death penalty upon any Starfleet officer who goes there

 

The secret file on Talos IV, and the article of General Order 7

I personally find the idea of a death penalty being associated with Talos IV to be somewhat dubious; although there is a very good reason why Starfleet wants the existence of the Talosians kept secret, I find it hard to believe that if the Federation is capable of having a death penalty, that it only applies to one law. It may just be a grand bluff, and indeed, there is some evidence to that effect later in the episode. Regardless, breaking General Order 7 is a serious offense, and Spock is if nothing else, putting his career and livelihood on the line.

 

Kirk, of course, isn’t going to sit by while his ship is abducted. He and Mendez make a daring attempt to chase the Enterprise in the Shuttlecraft Picasso, knowing full well that while they would never catch up, they would appear on the Enterprise sensors. Kirk gambles his life on the fact that his friend Spock would not leave him to die in the void of space, as the shuttle runs out of fuel. Kirk’s illogical gambit causes Spock’s plan to unravel, and he surrenders himself to custody, pleading guilty to every charge leveled against him. However, Spock has locked the Enterprise into a course for Talos IV that cannot be broken, which will potentially extend the death sentence that is on himself, to Kirk as well.

 

The court martial that proceeds against Spock is highly unusual; as mentioned, Spock pleads guilty without defense, but through some legal technicality, manages to arrange for the court to hear out his evidence as to why he went through with his illegal actions. Given that Kirk is presiding over the hearing, and that the crew has little else to do but wait until they reach Talos IV, I get the lenience, but I am not sure what real court would remain in session to examine evidence for someone who just admitted their guilt. Or admittedly, maybe I just don’t know enough about legal proceedings.

 

Spock’s evidence, as it turns out, is a transmission from Talos IV, beamed directly to the Enterprise, which details the vessel’s first trip there under the command of Captain Pike. Of course, this transmission is the original Star Trek pilot, “The Cage,” and from this point on, “The Menagerie” consists almost entirely of footage from that episode.

 

Aside from some really goofy tech dialogue, and incomplete characterizations, “The Cage” holds up surprisingly well. We get to see that Jeffrey Hunter’s Captain Pike is a darker, colder man than James Kirk; he is someone whose decisions and responsibilities as a commander are weighing on him heavily, and he is nearing the point of considering resignation. Pike’s first officer is only referred to as Number One (played by Majel Barrett), who is an amazing example of a strong female role for 1960’s television, but unfortunately her character had to be discarded by Roddenberry when the studio forced him to choose between keeping his strong, logical female, or his alien Spock. Roddenberry ended up giving Spock Number One’s cold, emotionless, logical persona, and thus the Spock we know and love was born.

 

It really is a shame that NBC put so much pressure on Roddenberry to alter his concept of women in the 23rd Century; aside from Number One, the other female crew members of the Cage-era Enterprise also seem to be on equal footing with the men, and there isn’t a mini-skirt in sight. Of course, this reviewer by no means, from an aesthetic point view, objects to how the women of the Enterprise look in said mini-skirts, but cheekiness and my own red-blooded male impulses aside, the female officers in Starfleet should have been offered the same, more professional uniform as the males. Unfortunately we would have to wait until The Motion Picture to see more fairness in the way men and women are presented in Star Trek.

 

When Enterprise finds evidence of human survivors on Talos IV, from a doomed expedition many years ago, Pike, Spock, and an away team beam down to investigate. What at first seems like a wonderful discovery of lost, homesick men, turns out to be just an elaborate, life like illusion created by the Talosians. Pike is abducted when he is lured in by the only true human survivor from the crash, Vina, whom he is extremely attracted to.

 

Pike is subjected to a variety of illusions crafted by the Talosians, in order to foster cooperation, as well as to strengthen his attraction toward Vina. Vina is presented to Pike in a variety of forms; as a damsel in distress on Rigel VII, as a wife in the countryside on Earth, and as a primal, animalistic Orion slave woman, all in an attempt to make him submit to his situation.

 

However, Pike is every bit as stubborn as Captain Kirk, and certainly has a darker, more furious edge to him. When he discovers that primitive, base human emotions such as hatred, and anger, block out the Talosian’s illusions and their telepathic abilities, he mines that weakness long enough to take one of them captive. Once the illusion is broken, the Enterprise crew find out that their attempts to break Pike out from his underground cage with phaser fire were actually working, but all along they weren’t able to see it.

 

The Talosians had, thousands of centuries ago, devastated their planet and their civilization with war. They retreated underground, where their telepathic abilities flourished, but their physical bodies and their technology atrophied. They had apparently been testing various species for many years, looking for a suitable slave race to use for rebuilding their world, but none had shown as much promise as humanity.

 

However, when the away team threatens to kill themselves with an overloaded phaser, and as well when the Talosians finish screening the Enterprise‘s records, they realize that humans would rather die than be enslaved, and would be too violent to keep in captivity. With of course, the sad exception of Vina, who in reality is too badly disfigured to live a normal life outside of Talos IV.

 

(I once heard a suggestion that Vina could be repaired using the transporter. I don’t think 23rd century transporters were sophisticated enough for that, plus, there wouldn’t be an original, unaltered version of her pattern to reference.)

 

The ending of “The Cage” leads us to the final moments of “The Menagerie,” where it is revealed that not only have the Talosians been transmitting a signal to the Enterprise, but even Commodore Mendez himself has been one of their illusions all along!

 

It is also revealed that Spock’s only intention was to take Captain Pike to Talos IV, so that the crippled starship commander could live out the rest of his life as a healthy, happy man with Vina. Even Kirk seems to relent that it is better to live with an illusion of health and happiness, than a reality of living as a useless vegetable. That Commodore Mendez was an illusion, and that Starfleet sends a signal to the Enterprise, apparently excusing their violation of Talos space, seems to let Spock off the hook. Perhaps too easily in fact; despite acting out of nothing but loyalty to his former Captain, and despite that the way he enacted his plan was done in such a manner as to put the blame only on himself, Spock seems to get out of his predicament with apparently no trouble at all. We can make a guess that perhaps this incident is why he doesn’t receive a promotion or command of his own until years later, but there is nothing spoken on-screen to that effect.

 

We are also left to ponder about how much of the incident was real at all. Since the Talosians can apparently project their powers through subspace, one wonders just how long they conspired with Spock, and also, how much we see of Mendez was real or an illusion. My guess is that the Mendez we see at the base was real, and what goes onto the shuttle with Kirk was the illusion, but unfortunately, again, there is little to back that up. What we do know for sure is that the Talosian’s powers are not to be trifled with, and it is truly for wise for Starfleet to give them a wide berth.

Despite some problems with logic and consistency, “The Menagerie” is an entertaining, fascinating episode that shows original series Trek at some of its most interestingly cerebral. Gene Roddenberry’s first pilot examines the nature of reality decades before The Matrix did, and asks the questions: What is real? How does one define their purpose, their reality? Is our reality just relative, defined only by experience? Is there a such thing as an absolute reality, or only what our senses perceive, or for that matter what they think they perceive? This is smart, ahead of its time writing for the 1960s.

 

Through the tragedies that befell both Vina and Pike, we must also question the quality of human life, and the value we place on it. Is it worth staying alive if you can’t function? If your brain is sound but your body is broken, can you still truly live? Speaking for myself, I certainly would despise the existence that Captain Pike is forced to endure in his wheelchair. I’d rather be dead than live that way. I’m not sure how I would react exactly to being forced to live in an illusion, but it is certainly preferable to a reality of uselessness and immobility. Besides, is our everyday life not just an elaborate series of deceptions spun before our very eyes; maybe not as powerful as a trick of telepathy played by an alien race, but an illusion nonetheless?

 

For even provoking these thoughts, and much more, “The Cage,” and by extension, “The Menagerie,” are what I consider among the best of Star Trek’s purely cerebral stories about human nature. It is imaginative, thoughtful, and quite engaging.

youtu.be/syvF_cutj8w

 

It's 1865 and the telegraph is heading west. George Crane, wanting to keep law and order out of his territory, is out to stop the construction. The engineer on the job is Ken Mason and he is the grandson of Zorro. As Crane sends his men or Indians to stop the work, Mason repeatedly puts on the Zorro costume and rides to the rescue in this 12-chapter serial.

 

Clayton Moore

September 14th, 1914 — December 28th, 1999

 

Clayton Moore, though best remembered today as television’s Lone Ranger, had a lengthy and distinguished career in serials. Moore was a physically ideal serial lead, but his greatest strengths were his dramatic, quietly intense speaking voice and expressive face. These gifts helped Moore to convey a sincerity that could make the most unbelievable dialogue or situations seem real. The bulk of Moore’s cliffhanger work was done after World War 2, when serials’ shrinking budgets cut back on original action scenes and made the presence of skilled leading players more important than in the serial’s golden age. Moore, with his sincerity and acting skill, was just the type of actor the post-war serials needed.

Clayton Moore was born Jack Carlton Moore in Chicago. He began to train for a career as a circus acrobat at the age of eight, and joined a trapeze act called the Flying Behrs after finishing high school; as a member of the Behrs, Moore would perform for two circuses and at the 1934 World’s Fair. An injury to his left leg around 1935 forced him out of the aerialist business, and after working briefly as a male model in New York he moved to Hollywood in 1937, beginning his film career as a stuntman. He played numerous bit roles in addition to his stunt work for the next three years, among them a miniscule part in his first serial, Zorro’s Fighting Legion (Republic, 1939), as one of the members of the titular group. Edward Small, an independent producer allied with United Artists, cast Moore in his first credited parts in a pair of 1940 films, Kit Carson and The Son of Monte Cristo. The former featured Moore as a heroic young pioneer, the latter as an army officer aiding masked avenger Louis Hayward. Following these two films, Moore began to get credited speaking parts in other pictures. In 1941 he played the romantic lead in Tuxedo Junction, one of Republic Pictures’ “Weaver Brothers and Elviry” comedies, and the next year the studio signed him for his first starring serial, Perils of Nyoka (Republic, 1942).

Perils of Nyoka (Republic, 1942) was a vehicle for Republic’s new “Serial Queen,” Kay Aldridge, who played Nyoka Gordon, a girl seeking her missing scientist father in the deserts of North Africa. Moore was the heroic Dr. Larry Grayson, a member of an expedition searching for the “Tablets of Hippocrates,” an ancient list of medical cures sought by Nyoka’s father before he disappeared. Nyoka joined forces with Grayson and his expedition to locate Professor Gordon and the tablets–and to battle Arab ruler Vultura (Lorna Gray) and her band of desert cutthroats, who were after the Tablets and the treasure hidden with them. Perils of Nyoka was a highly exciting serial, with consistently imaginative and varied action sequences, and colorful characters and locales. Although Moore took second billing to Aldridge, his character received as much screen time as hers and his performance was a major part of the serial’s success. Moore, with his intense sincerity, made his nearly superhuman physician character believable; the audience never felt like questioning Dr. Grayson’s ability to perform emergency brain surgery on Nyoka’s amnesiac father in a desert cave, or his amazing powers of riding, wall-scaling, marksmanship, and sword-fighting, far beyond those of the average medical school graduate.

  

Moore went into the army in 1942, almost immediately after the release of Perils of Nyoka. He served throughout World War Two, and didn’t resume his film career until 1946, when he returned to Republic Pictures to appear in The Crimson Ghost. The impact of his starring turn in Perils of Nyoka was diminished by his long hiatus, and he found himself playing a supporting role in this new serial. He was cast as Ashe, the chief henchman of the mysterious Crimson Ghost, and aided that villain in his attempts to steal a counter-atomic weapon called a “Cyclotrode.” Ashe was ultimately brought to justice, along with his nefarious master, by stars Charles Quigley and Linda Stirling. The Crimson Ghost showed that Moore could play intensely mean villains as well as intensely courageous heroes. His sneering, bullying Ashe came off as thoroughly unpleasant, as he stalked through the serial doing his best to kill off hero and heroine.

  

Moore returned to heroic parts in his next cliffhanger, Jesse James Rides Again (Republic, 1947). The serial’s plot had Jesse, retired from outlawry, forced to go on the run because of new crimes committed in his name. Jesse and his pal Steve (John Compton) wound up in Tennessee, where, under the alias of “Mr. Howard,” Jesse came to the aid of a group of farmers victimized by an outlaw gang called the Black Raiders. The Raiders, secretly bossed by local businessman Jim Clark (Tristram Coffin), were after oil reserves beneath the local farmland, but Mr. Howard ultimately outgunned them. James’ own identity was exposed in the process, but he was allowed to escape arrest by a sympathetic marshal. Jesse James Rides Again was Republic’s best post-war Western serial, thanks in part to the unusual plot device of an ex-badman hero. Moore was able to give Jesse James a dangerous edge that most other serial leads couldn’t have pulled off; his cold, steely-eyed glare when gunning down villains seemed very much in keeping with dialogue references to Jesse’s outlaw past.

 

G-Men Never Forget (Republic, 1947), Moore’s next serial, cast him as Ted O’Hara, an FBI agent battling a racketeer boss named Vic Murkland (Roy Barcroft). O’Hara broke up various protection rackets organized by Murkland, but his efforts were hampered by Murkland’s impersonation of a kidnaped police commissioner (also played by Barcroft). G-Men Never Forget possessed a tough and realistic atmosphere not typical of gang-busting serials, and Moore delivered a grimly determined performance well-fitted to the serial’s mood. Moore’s acting, good supporting performances, skilled direction, and a well-written script made G-Men Never Forget a superior serial, one that could hold its own against earlier gang-busting chapterplays like the Dick Tracy outings.

 

Moore’s next serial was Adventures of Frank and Jesse James (Republic, 1948), in which he reprised his Jesse James role. Joined this time by Steve Darrell as Frank James, Moore tried to help a former gang member named John Powell (Stanley Andrews) develop a silver mine. Part of the mine’s proceeds were to be used to pay back victims of James Gang robberies, but the plan was derailed by a crooked mining engineer (John Crawford), who discovered the mine contained gold instead of silver and murdered Powell to keep this find secret. Crawford then used every trick in the book to keep Moore, Darrell, and Noel Neill (as Powell’s daughter) from developing the mine, but the James Boys unmasked his treachery by the end. Frank and Jesse James drew heavily on stock footage and plot elements from Republic’s earlier Adventures of Red Ryder, and was thus more predictable than its predecessor, but it was still an entertaining and well-made serial. Moore again made Jesse seem both sympathetic and (when fighting the bad guys) somewhat frightening.

 

By now, Moore was established as Republic’s premiere serial hero; however, his next cliffhanger would lead to his departure from the studio and change the course of his career. The last in a long line of Republic Zorro serials, Ghost of Zorro (1949) starred Moore as Ken Mason, the original Zorro’s grandson, who donned his ancestor’s mask to help a telegraph company establish a line in the wild West in the face of outlaw sabotage. Like Adventures of Frank and Jesse James, the serial was somewhat derivative of earlier outings (particularly Son of Zorro), but smoothly and professionally done. Moore delivered another strong performance, but for some odd reason Republic chose to have his voice dubbed by another actor in scenes where he was masked as Zorro. This strange production decision did not diminish Moore’s potential as a masked hero in the eyes of a group of television producers who were trying to find an actor to play the Lone Ranger on a soon-to-be-launched TV show; Moore’s turn in Ghost of Zorro landed him the part. Moore debuted as the Ranger in 1949, and played the part for two seasons on TV. During this period, he did make one apparent serial appearance in Flying Disc Man From Mars (Republic, 1950), but all his footage actually came from The Crimson Ghost.

 

In 1952, Moore was dropped from The Lone Ranger without any explanation from the producers, who apparently feared that Moore was becoming too identified as the Lone Ranger, and that he might become so sure of his position that he’d ask for a bigger salary. John Hart replaced Moore as the Ranger for the show’s third season, and Moore returned to freelance acting. He played numerous small roles in feature films, made multiple guest appearances (usually as a heavy) on TV shows like Range Rider and The Gene Autry Show, and also found time to make four more serials.

The first of these was Radar Men from the Moon (Republic, 1952), which featured Moore as a gangster named Graber, who was working with lunar invaders to bring the Earth under the dominion of Retik, Emperor of the Moon (Roy Barcroft). Scientist “Commando” Cody (George Wallace) opposed the planned conquest with the aid of his flying rocket suit and other handy gadgets. Moore met a fiery demise when his car plummeted off a cliff in the last chapter, and Retik came to a similarly sticky end shortly thereafter. Moore’s characterization in Radar Men from the Moon was reminiscent of his performance as “Ashe;” once again he performed deeds of villainy with swaggering relish.

 

Moore’s next serial, Columbia’s Son of Geronimo (1952), was his first non-Republic cliffhanger. He returned to playing a hero in this outing, an undercover cavalry officer named Jim Scott out to quell an Indian uprising led by Rodd Redwing as Porico, son of Geronimo. The uprising was being encouraged by outlaws John Crawford and Marshall Reed to serve their own ends, and Scott and Porico ultimately joined forces to defeat them. Son of Geronimo remains one of the few popular late Columbia serials, due to its strong and unusually violent action scenes and the forceful performances of Moore and his co-stars, particularly Reed and Redwing.

 

Moore’s last Republic serial was Jungle Drums of Africa (1952), in which he played Alan King, an American mining engineer developing a valuable uranium deposit in the African jungles. Moore was assisted by lady doctor Phyllis Coates and fellow engineer Johnny Sands and opposed by a group of Communist spies (Henry Rowland, John Cason) and their witch-doctor accomplice (Roy Glenn). While Drums drew extensively on stock shots of African animals to augment its jungle atmosphere, it relied to an unusually large extent on original footage for its action scenes and chapter endings, and the result was a modestly-budgeted but enjoyable serial that served as a good finish to Moore’s career at Republic.

 

Gunfighters of the Northwest (Columbia, 1953), Moore’s final serial, cast him as the second lead, a Mountie named Bram Nevin who backed up RCMP Sergeant Jock Mahoney. Moore, in his first and only “sidekick” role, played well off Mahoney; while the latter’s character was the focus of the serial’s action, Moore’s role was really more that of co-hero than of a traditional sidekick. The serial pitted the two leads against the “White Horse Rebels,” a gang of outlaws trying to overthrow the Canadian government. Though thinly-plotted, Gunfighters, with its nice location photography and good acting, was the last really interesting Columbia serial; it was also Moore’s last serial. In 1954, he returned to the Lone Ranger series, its producers having been forced to realize that Moore was firmly established as the Ranger and that audiences wouldn’t warm up to his substitute John Hart. The fourth and fifth seasons of the show featured Moore in his familiar place as the “daring and resourceful masked rider of the plains.”

 

After the Lone Ranger series ended in 1956, Moore reprised the role in two big-screen movies and then retired from acting. He remained in the public view, however, making personal appearances throughout the country in his Lone Ranger garb. Publicly and privately, he upheld the ideals that the Lone Ranger–and his serial heroes–had upheld on the screen: courage, charity, and a sense of justice. In 1979, he was barred by court order from making personal appearances as the Lone Ranger because the property’s owners worried that Moore’s close identification with the character would undercut a new Lone Ranger film. Moore nevertheless maintained his status as the “real” Lone Ranger in the eyes of fans, and, after the failure of the new Ranger feature, he was allowed to resume his mask in 1984. Moore died in Los Angeles in 1999, leaving behind several generations of fans that honored him not only for his TV persona, but for the kindess that characterized the off-screen man behind the mask.

Part of Clayton Moore’s success as the Lone Ranger was due to his respectful attitude towards the character. While some actors would have had a hard time taking a masked cowboy from a children’s radio show seriously, Moore’s performance was as heartfelt as if he had been playing a Shakespearian role; he gave the part all the benefit of his considerable acting talent. Moore played his cliffhanger roles, heroic and villainous, with the same respect and the same wholeheartedness. It’s no wonder that serial fans hold him in the same high regard that the Lone Ranger’s fans do.

  

Swiss postcard by News Productions, Baulmes, no. 55592. Photo: Michelangelo Durazzo / ANA, Paris. Caption: Federico Fellini during the shooting of the film Casanova.

 

Italian film director and screenwriter Federico Fellini (1920-1993) was one of the most influential filmmakers of all time. He was known for his distinct style that blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. In a career spanning almost fifty years, Fellini won the Palme d'Or for La Dolce Vita (1960), and was nominated for twelve Academy Awards. He won an Oscar for La Strada (1954), Le notti di Cabiria (1957), 8½ (1963) and Amarcord (1973).

 

Federico Fellini was born in 1920 in Rimini in the Emilia-Romagna region. His native Rimini and characters there like Saraghina (the devil herself said the priests who ran his school) - and the Gambettola farmhouse of his paternal grandmother would later be remembered in several of his films. His traveling salesman father Urbano Fellini showed up in La dolce vita (1960) and 8½ (1963). His mother Ida Barbiani was from Rome and accompanied him there in 1939. Fellini's first passion was the theater, and at the age of 12, he briefly ran away from home to join the circus, later entering college solely to avoid being drafted. He enrolled in the University of Rome. Intrigued by the image of reporters in American films, he tried out the real-life role of a journalist. Additionally, Fellini worked as an artist on fumetti (Italy's illustrated magazines), and occasionally even made his living as a caricaturist at Roman restaurants. He caught the attention of several editors with his caricatures and cartoons and then started submitting articles. Several articles were recycled into a radio series about newlyweds 'Cico and Pallina'. Pallina was played by acting student Giulietta Masina, who became Fellini's real-life wife in 1943. They remained together until his death. The young Fellini loved vaudeville and was befriended in 1939 by leading comedian Aldo Fabrizi. Fabrizi recruited Fellini to supply stories and ideas for his performances; between 1939 and 1944. The two men worked in tandem on a number of largely forgotten comedies, among them No Me Lo Dire, Quarta Pagina, and Campo de Fiori. When young director Roberto Rossellini wanted Fabrizi to play Don Pietro in Roma città aperta (Roberto Rosselini, 1945), he made the contact through Fellini. Fellini worked on that film's script and is on the credits for Rosselini's Paisà (Roberto Rosselini, 1946). Dale O'Connor at IMDb: "On that film, he wandered into the editing room, started observing how Italian films were made (a lot like the old silent films with an emphasis on visual effects, dialogue dubbed in later). Fellini in his mid-20s had found his life's work."

 

Federico Fellini collaborated on films by Pietro Germi (including In Nomine Della Legge and Il Cammino Della Speranza) and Alberto Lattuda (Il Delitto di Giovanni Episcopo and Il Mulino del Po), among others. In 1948, Fellini completed the screenplay for Il Miracolo, the second and longer section of Rossellini's two-part effort Amore. Here Fellini's utterly original worldview first began to truly take shape in the form of archetypal characters (a simple-minded peasant girl and her male counterpart, a kind of holy simpleton), recurring motifs (show business, parties, the sea), and an ambiguous relationship with religion and spirituality. He further explored this in his script for Rossellini's Francesco, Giullare di Dio (Roberto Rosselini, 1949). In 1950, Fellini made his first attempt at directing one of his own screenplays (with help of Alberto Lattuda), Luci del Varieta (Federico Fellini, Alberto Lattudada, 1950), which further developed his fusion of neorealism with the atmosphere of surrealism. Fellini then directed the romantic satire Lo Sciecco Bianc. The film marked his first work with composer Nino Rota. Fellini's initial masterpiece, I Vitteloni, followed in 1953. The first of his features to receive international distribution, it later won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival, the first of many similar honours. The brilliant La Strada followed in 1954, also garnering the Silver Lion as well as the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Picture. After helming Il Bidone (1955), Fellini and a group of screenwriters (including a young Pier Paolo Pasolini) began work on Le Notti di Cabiria (1956), which also won an Oscar. Then he mounted La Dolce Vita (1960), the first of his pictures to star actor Marcello Mastroianni. He would become Fellini's cinematic alter ego over the course of several subsequent collaborations, its portrait of sex and death in Rome's high society created a tremendous scandal at its Milan premiere, where the audience booed, insulted, and spat on the director. Regardless, La Dolce Vita won the Palm d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and remains a landmark in cinematic history.

 

During the 1960s, many films by Federico Fellini were influenced by the work of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung and his ideas on the role of archetypes and the collective unconscious. The women who had both attracted and frightened him in his youth and an Italy dominated in his youth by Mussolini and Pope Pius XII inspired Fellini's dreams. In the 1960s, he started to record them in notebooks, and life and dreams became the raw material for such films as 8½ (1963) or Fellini - Satyricon (1969). With 1965's Giulietta Degli Spiriti, Fellini worked for the first time in color. After experimenting with LSD under the supervision of doctors, he began scripting Il Viaggio di G. Mastorna. Over a year of pre-production followed, hampered by difficulties with producers, actors, and even a jury trial. Finally on April 10th, 1967, Fellini suffered a nervous breakdown, resulting in a month-long nursing homestay. Ultimately, he gave up on ever bringing Il Viaggio di G. Mastorna to the screen, and his new producer, Alberto Grimaldi, was forced to buy out former producer Dino De Laurentis for close to half a billion liras. As the decade drew to a close, Fellini returned to work with a vengeance, first resurfacing with Toby Dammitt, a short feature for the collaborative film Tre Passi nel Delirio. Turning to television, he helmed Fellini: A Director's Notebook, a one-hour special for NBC, followed by the feature effort Fellini Satyricon. I Clown followed in 1970, with Roma bowing in 1972. Amarcord, a childhood reminiscence, won a fourth Academy Award in 1974. It proved to be his final international success. He later shot Il Casanova di Federico Fellini (1976), Prova d'Orchestra (1979), and La Citta delle Donne (1980), which were less successful. Fellini turned to publishing with Fare un Film, an anthology of notes about his life and work. E la Nave Va (1983) and Ginger e Fred (1985) followed, but by the time of L'Intervista (1987), he was facing considerable difficulty finding financing for his projects. His last completed film was La Voce Della Luna (1989). In the early 1990s, Fellini helmed a handful of television commercials, and in 1993 he won his fifth Academy Award for a lifetime of service to the film industry. In 1993, Federico Fellini died the day after his 50th wedding anniversary. He was 73 years old. Jason Ankeny at AllMovie: "One of the most visionary figures to emerge from the fertile motion picture community of postwar-era Italy, Federico Fellini brought a new level of autobiographical intensity to his craft; more than any other filmmaker of his era, he transformed the realities of his life into the surrealism of his art. Though originally a product of the neorealist school, the eccentricity of Fellini's characterizations and his absurdist sense of comedy set him squarely apart from contemporaries like Vittorio De Sica or Roberto Rossellini, and at the peak of his career his work adopted a distinctively poetic, flamboyant, and influential style so unique that only the term "Felliniesque" could accurately describe it. "

 

Source: Jason Ankeny (AllMovie), Dale O' Connor (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

 

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

The saga continues with cars of director Raphael Granas 2025.

This month, The Joker.

 

The Joker is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain published by DC Comics. He is the archenemy of Batman, having been directly responsible for numerous tragedies in Batman's life, including the paralysis of Barbara Gordon and the death of Jason Todd, the second Robin. Created by Jerry Robinson, Bill Finger and Bob Kane, the character first appeared in Batman Nº1 (Spring 1940).

Throughout his comic book appearances, the Joker is portrayed as a master criminal whose characterization has varied. The original and currently dominant image is of a highly intelligent psychopath with a warped, sadistic sense of humor, while other writers have portrayed him as an eccentric prankster. Similarly, throughout the character's long history, there have been several different origin tales; they most commonly depict him as falling into a tank of chemical waste, which bleaches his skin white and turns his hair green and his lips bright red, giving him the appearance of a clown. He has been repeatedly analyzed by critics as the perfect adversary for Batman. Their long, dynamic relationship often parallels the concept of 'Yin and Yang'.

As one of the most iconic and recognized villains in popular media, The Joker was ranked Nº1 on Wizard's list of the 100 Greatest Villains of All Time.He was also named Nº2 on IGN's list of the Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time List, was ranked Nº8 on the Greatest Comic Book Characters in History list by Empire (being the highest ranking villain on the list) and was listed as the fifth Greatest Comic Book Character Ever in Wizard Magazine's 200 Greatest Comic Book Characters of all Time list, also the highest villain on the list. On their list of the 100 Greatest Fictional Characters, Fandomania.com ranked the Joker at number 30.

 

Brigitte Bardot

Monster High is an American fashion doll franchise created by Mattel in July, 2010. The characters are inspired by monster movies, sci-fi horror, thriller fiction, and various creatures therefore distinguishing them from most fashion dolls. They were created by Garrett Sander, with illustrations by Kellee Riley.[2]

The Monster High franchise also includes other consumer products such as stationery, bags, key chains, various toys and video games. There are also Monster High TV specials, a web series, a direct to DVD movie, and software. Lisi Harrison is the author of the Monster High books. The characters are depicted as being either related to or as offspring of famous monsters such as Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, the Mummy, Medusa, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Phantom of the Opera, and zombies and more. The characters are usually referred to as ghouls, rather than girls.

  

The dolls are approximately 27 cm tall. Or about 1 foot tall. Their bodies are made from ABS plastic. Their heads are made from soft PVC. They have various skin tones (blue, green, pink, brown, etc.) Each character has a unique head mold. No Monster High doll has the same shape head. The type of hair the dolls have is saran. The boys hair is either fuzzy or hard colored plastic. Aside from physical attributes, the dolls are quite different in the characterization of their clothes. And they all have their own unique freaky flaw, hair, etc. They might repeat bags and sunglasses. For example, 13 Wishes Howleen has the same bag as the original Clawdeen only that it is a different color. One is gold and another is purple and black. But they are both sisters. Plus, Howleen likes to borrow a lot of Clawdeen's stuff. And Gloom Beach Frankie Stein has the same sunglasses as the Scaris Frankie Stein. One s blue and one is yellow. All of them have various attributes of the monsters they are related to (i.e. fangs, stitches, wolf ears, fins, bandages,snakes, etc.)[3] Although Monster high and Barbie are from the same creator, Mattel, Monster High is starting to become more popular than Barbie.

  

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Monster High est une franchise américaine de poupées mannequins lancée par Mattel en juillet 2010 aux États-Unis, tirée d'une série de livres du même nom (de Lisi Harrison). Les personnages sont inspirés de personnes assez monstrueuses issues de la littérature fantastique, de la mythologie, ou encore de films cultes. Les Monster High sont toutes des enfants de monstres (Frankie Stein est la fille de Frankenstein, Draculaura est celle de Dracula, Deuce Gorgon est le fils de Méduse...).

La franchise Monster High se décline sur de très nombreux produits comme des vêtements, des bijoux fantaisie et de la papeterie, mais ses principales ventes se font grâce aux poupées mannequins du même nom. Elle s'accompagne également d'épisodes spéciaux pour la télévision et le marché DVD, et d'une web-série.S

Le concept de Monster High met en scène des adolescents tous descendants de créatures plus ou moins célèbres. Certaines poupées sont relookėes.

  

Les poupées mannequins mesurent une vingtaine de centimètres ; les garçons sont plus grands que les filles, même s'il existe des différences de taille chez certaines poupées (Twyla et Howleen Wolf sont plus petites, Nefera de Nile et Mme. Santête sont plus grandes...). Les corps (qui comptent de nombreuses articulations) sont fabriqués en plastique ABS et les têtes sont en PVC souple. Chaque personnage bénéficie d'un moule différent pour sa tête. Les cheveux sont en saran ou en kanekalon, voire en PVC pour les garçons dont les cheveux sont, pour la plupart des personnages, moulés. Les poupées filles de Monster High peuvent enlever leurs mains et bras mais les garçons ne peuvent enlever que leurs bras. Lagoona Blue, Rochelle Goyle et C.A. Cupid ont des éléments amovibles que les autres poupées n'ont pas (des nageoires pour Lagoona Blue, des ailes pour Rochelle Goyle et C.A. Cupid). Comme les filles ont des chaussures à talons, elles ne peuvent pas bouger leurs pieds, tandis que les garçons ont les pieds articulés.

Chaque personnage est caractérisé par un style vestimentaire et une gamme de couleurs qui se retrouvent dans différentes collections et qui reflètent leur personnalité dans la web-série.

  

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I Hermes stand here at the crossroads by the wind beaten orchard, near the hoary grey coast; and I keep a resting place for weary men. And the cool stainless spring gushes out.

Hermes Trismegistus may be a representation of the syncretic combination of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth.Greeks in Hellenistic Egypt recognized the equivalence of Hermes and Thoth.Consequently, the two gods were worshiped as one, in what had been the Temple of Thoth in Khemnu, which the Greeks called Hermopolis.Both Hermes and Thoth were gods of writing and of magic in their respective cultures.[citation needed] Hermes, the Greek god of interpretive communication, was combined with Thoth, the Egyptian god of wisdom, to become the patron of astrology and alchemy. In addition, both gods were psychopomps, guiding souls to the afterlife. The Egyptian priest and polymath Imhotep had been deified long after his death and therefore assimilated to Thoth in the classical and Hellenistic period.The renowned scribe Amenhotep and a wise man named Teôs were co-equal deities of wisdom, science, and medicine; and, thus, they were placed alongside Imhotep in shrines dedicated to Thoth-Hermes during the Ptolemaic period.A Mycenaean Greek reference to a deity or semi-deity called ti-ri-se-ro-e (Linear B: ; Tris Hḗrōs, "thrice or triple hero")[6] was found on two Linear B clay tablets at Pylos and could be connected to the later epithet "thrice great", Trismegistos, applied to Hermes/Thoth. On the aforementioned PY Tn 316 tablet—as well as other Linear B tablets found in Pylos, Knossos, and Thebes—there appears the name of the deity "Hermes" as e-ma-ha (Linear B: ), but not in any apparent connection with the "Trisheros". This interpretation of poorly-understood Mycenaean material is disputed, since Hermes Trismegistus is not referenced in any of the copious sources before he emerges in Hellenistic Egypt.The majority of Greeks, and later Romans, did not accept Hermes Trismegistus in the place of Hermes.[citation needed] The two gods were regarded as distinct. Cicero enumerates several deities referred to as "Hermes": a "fourth Mercury (Hermes) was the son of the Nile, whose name may not be spoken by the Egyptians"; and "the fifth, who is worshiped by the people of Pheneus [in Arcadia], is said to have killed Argus, and for this reason to have fled to Egypt, and to have given the Egyptians their laws and alphabet: he it is whom the Egyptians call Theyt". The most likely interpretation of this passage is as two variants on the same syncretism of Greek Hermes and Egyptian Thoth (or sometimes other gods): the fourth (where Hermes turns out "actually" to have been a "son of the Nile," i.e. a native god) being viewed from the Egyptian perspective, the fifth (who went from Greece to Egypt) being viewed from the Greek-Arcadian perspective. Both of these early references in Cicero (most ancient Trismegistus material is from the early centuries AD) corroborate the view that Thrice-Great Hermes originated in Hellenistic Egypt through syncretism between Greek and Egyptian gods (the Hermetica refer most often to Thoth and Amun).The Hermetic literature among the Egyptians, which was concerned with conjuring spirits and animating statues, inform the oldest Hellenistic writings on Greco-Babylonian astrology and on the newly developed practice of alchemy. In a parallel tradition, Hermetic philosophy rationalized and systematized religious cult practices and offered the adept a means of personal ascension from the constraints of physical being. This latter tradition has led to the confusion of Hermeticism with Gnosticism, which was developing contemporaneously.As a divine source of wisdom, Hermes Trismegistus was credited with tens of thousands of highly esteemed writings, which were reputed to be of immense antiquity. Plato's Timaeus and Critias state that in the temple of Neith at Sais there were secret halls containing historical records which had been kept for 9,000 years. Clement of Alexandria was under the impression that the Egyptians had forty-two sacred writings by Hermes, writings that detailed the training of Egyptian priests. Siegfried Morenz has suggested, in Egyptian Religion: "The reference to Thoth's authorship... is based on ancient tradition; the figure forty-two probably stems from the number of Egyptian nomes, and thus conveys the notion of completeness." The Neo-Platonic writers took up Clement's "forty-two essential texts".The Hermetica is a category of papyri containing spells and initiatory induction procedures. The dialogue called the Asclepius (after the Greek god of healing) describes the art of imprisoning the souls of demons or of angels in statues with the help of herbs, gems, and odors, so that the statue could speak and engage in prophecy. In other papyri, there are recipes for constructing such images and animating them, such as when images are to be fashioned hollow so as to enclose a magic name inscribed on gold leaf.Sayyid Ahmed Amiruddin has pointed out that Hermes Trismegistus has a major place in Islamic tradition. He writes, "Hermes Trismegistus is mentioned in the Quran in verse 19:56-57:'Mention, in the Book, Idris, that he was truthful, a prophet. We took him up to a high place'". The Jabirian corpus contains the oldest documented source for the Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus, translated by Jābir ibn Hayyān (Geber) for the Hashemite Caliph of Baghdad Harun al-Rashid the Abbasid. Jābir ibn Hayyān, a Shiite, identified as Jābir al-Sufi, was a student of Ja'far al-Sadiq, Husayn ibn 'Ali's great grandson. Thus, for the Abbasid's and the Alid's, the writings of Hermes Trismegistus were considered sacred, as an inheritance from the Ahl al-Bayt. These writings were recorded by the Ikhwan al-Safa, and subsequently translated from Arabic into Persian, Turkish, Hebrew, Russian, and English. In these writings, Hermes Trismegistus is identified as Idris, the infallible Prophet who traveled to outer space from Egypt, and to heaven, whence he brought back Adam and the Black Stone when he landed on earth in India.According to ancient Arab genealogists, Muhammad the Prophet, who is also believed to have traveled to the heavens on the night of Isra and Mi'raj, is a direct descendant of Hermes Trismegistus. Ibn Kathir said, "As for Idris...He is in the genealogical chain of the Prophet Muhammad, except according to one genealogist...Ibn Ishaq says he was the first who wrote with the Pen. There was a span of 380 years between him and the life of Adam. Many of the scholars allege that he was the first to speak about this, and they call him Thrice-Great Hermes [Hermes Trismegistus]".Ahmad al-Buni considered himself a follower of the hermetic teachings; and his contemporary Ibn Arabi mentioned Hermes Trismegistus in his writings. The Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya of Ibn Arabi speaks of Hermes's travels to "vast cities (outside earth), possessing technologies far superior then ours"[28] and meeting with the Twelfth Imam, the Ninth (generation) from the Third (al-Husayn the third Imam) (referring here to the Masters of Wisdom from the Emerald Tablet), who also ascended to the heavens, and is still alive like his ancestor Hermes Trismegistus".A late Arabic writer wrote of the Sabaeans that their religion had a sect of star worshipers who held their doctrine to come from Hermes Trismegistus through the prophet Adimun.Antoine Faivre, in The Eternal Hermes (1995), has pointed out that Hermes Trismegistus has a place in the Islamic tradition, although the name Hermes does not appear in the Qur'an. Hagiographers and chroniclers of the first centuries of the Islamic Hegira quickly identified Hermes Trismegistus with Idris,[31] the nabi of surahs 19.57 and 21.85, whom the Arabs also identified with Enoch (cf. Genesis 5.18–24). Idris/Hermes was termed "Thrice-Wise" Hermes Trismegistus because he had a threefold origin. The first Hermes, comparable to Thoth, was a "civilizing hero", an initiator into the mysteries of the divine science and wisdom that animate the world; he carved the principles of this sacred science in hieroglyphs. The second Hermes, in Babylon, was the initiator of Pythagoras. The third Hermes was the first teacher of alchemy. "A faceless prophet," writes the Islamicist Pierre Lory, "Hermes possesses no concrete or salient characteristics, differing in this regard from most of the major figures of the Bible and the Quran." A common interpretation of the representation of "Trismegistus" as "thrice great" recalls the three characterizations of Idris: as a messenger of god, or a prophet; as a source of wisdom, or hikmet (wisdom from hokmah); and as a king of the world order, or a "sultanate". These are referred to as müselles bin ni'me.Imad Jafar, in his essay "Enoch in the Islamic Tradition", writes:The lore that developed around Idrīs’ legendary gnosis led to him being further identified with Hermes Trismegistus (Hirmīs) ... whereby Muslims began to acknowledge Idrīs as the founder of alchemy as well..In the Illuminationistic philosophy of the renowned Persian Islamic sage and saint Suhrawardī (c. 1154-1191), Idrīs was revered fundamentally as the teacher of the ancient sages amongst the Hindus, Persians, Babylonians, Egyptians, and Greeks up to the time of Aristotle.... When these Greco-Alexandrian wisdom sciences and the gnostic lore of the Sabaeans of Harrān – who regarded Hermes as their prophet and his writings as their scriptures – spread amongst the Islamic community, Idrīs was immediately identified ... with the founder of Hermeticism ... Mulla Sadra (1571-1636), one of the greatest Muslim sages of the later period, who said: "Know that Wisdom (hikmah) began originally with Adam and his progeny Seth, Hermes, who is Idrīs, and Noah, because the world is never deprived of a person upon whom the science of Unity and eschatology rests. And it is the greatest Hermes who propagated it (hikmah) throughout the regions of the world and different countries manifested it and made it emanate upon the ‘true worshipers’. He is indeed the ‘Father of philosophers’ and the master of those who are the masters of the sciences".

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermes_Trismegistus

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illustrator: Tony Auth

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In 2009 I worked on a portfolio of photographs for my friend Raj. He needed an actor portfolio and this is a photo from that set.

Italian postcard. Photo by G. De Virgiliis, Genova. Probably late 1910s or 1920s.

 

Enzo Biliotti, born Lorenzo Biliotti (Livorno, June 28, 1887 - Bologna, November 19, 1976), was an Italian actor.

 

Son of Francesco Biliotti and soprano Ines De Frate, Biliotti began his theatrical career as a brilliant actor in the Carini-Gentili Company (1918-1921) to later join that of Gemma Bolognesi. He was also part of that of Virgilio Talli (1922-1924), then of the Piccola Canobbiana of Milan in the 1924-1925 season and then of that of the Teatro d'Arte in Rome in 1925-1926, to be one of Alda Borelli's companions in the 1926. Dina Galli wanted him with her for the entire 1927-1928 season, then he moved to the Dora Migliari-Menichelli company in 1928-1929 and in a revue company directed by Paolo Reni (1929-1930). Guido Salvini hired him for a large-scale production, entrusting him with the character of Fouché in Campo di Maggio (1930) by Giovacchino Forzano, a character he resumed when Forzano himself made the film version of it in 1935. In 1931 he was part of the large cast of Za Bum n. 3 and in 1938 he was with Tumiati-Bagni-Scelzo, where he distinguished himself in a beautiful edition of Manzoni's Adelchi. Also in 1938 he played Federico in As you like it by William Shakespeare, directed by Jacques Copeau, with Massimo Pianforini, Sandro Ruffini, Guido Gatti, Fernando Farese, Nerio Bernardi, Umberto Melnati, Giuseppe Pierozzi, Franco Scandurra, Checco Rissone, Nella Bonora , Letizia Bonini and Zoe Incrocci, staged at the Boboli Gardens in Florence. Finally in 1946 Biliotti was with the company of Lilia Silvi.

 

In the cinema Biliotti was always employed in character or secondary roles. After his debut in 1916 in Cura da baci directed by Emilio Graziani-Walter and starring Armando Falconi, he acted in three more silent films, all directed by Mario Bonnard. He impersonated e.g. Fra Cristoforo in Bonnard's 1922 adaptation of I promessi sposi. Bonnard would later on also directed him in La gerla di papà Martin (1940), while Biliotti would act again in another adaptation of I promessi sposi (Mario Camerini, 1941), now as Antonio Ferrer. His first sound film was Villafranca (Giovacchino Forzano, 1933), where he superbly interpreted Napoleon III, which he wittily re-proposed in La contessa Castiglione (1942) by Flavio Calzavara. Biliotti specialized in masterfully designing kings, emperors, nobles and fathers of high lineage. Among his tastiest characterizations is that of the Viceroy in Un'avventura di Salvator Rosa/ An Adventure by Salvator Rosa (1939) by Alessandro Blasetti (1939) and King Philip IV in Don Cesare di Bazan (1942) by Riccardo Freda, in addition to the aforementioned French emperor. Married to Lia Di Lorenzo, at the end of the fifties he retired to the Casa di Riposo Lyda Borelli for retired actors in Bologna.

 

Source: IMDB, Italian Wikipedia

Italian postcard by Media Film, Milano. Photo: Media Film / Medusa. Robin Wright and Colin Farrell in A Home at the End of the World (Michael Mayer, 2004).

 

A Home at the End of the World (Michael Mayer, 2004) is a lyrical American drama from a screenplay by Michael Cunningham, based on Cunningham's 1990 novel of the same name. It stars Colin Farrell, Robin Wright Penn, Dallas Roberts, and Sissy Spacek.

 

A Home at the End of the World (Michael Mayer, 2004) is based on a novel; by Michael Cunningham, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of 'The Hours'. The film chronicles a dozen years in the lives of two best friends who couldn't be more different. We follow them from suburban Cleveland in the 1960s to New York City in the 1980s. Bobby Morrow's (Colin Farrell) life has been tinged with tragedy since he was a young boy, losing first his beloved older brother to a freak accident, then his mother to illness, and finally his father. As a rebellious teenager, he meets the conservative and gawky Jonathan Glover (Dallas Roberts) in high school, and he becomes a regular visitor to the Glover home, where he introduces his friend and his mother Alice (Sissy Spacek) to marijuana and the music of Laura Nyro. Jonathan, who is slowly coming out as a homosexual, initiates Bobby into adolescent mutual masturbation during their frequent sleepovers. When Alice catches them both masturbating in a car, Jonathan, embarrassed, tells Bobby he is going to leave as soon as he finishes high school. Alice teaches Bobby how to bake, unintentionally setting him on a career path that eventually takes him to New York City, where Jonathan is sharing a colorful East Village apartment with bohemian Clare (Robin Wright). Bobby moves in, and the three create their own household. A Home at the End of the World charts a journey of trials, triumphs, loves, and losses. The question is: can they navigate the unusual triangle they've created and hold their friendship together?

 

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "The movie exists outside our expectations for such stories. Nothing about it is conventional. The three-member household is puzzling not only to us, but to its members. We expect conflict, resolution, an ending happy or sad, but what we get is mostly life, muddling through . . . Colin Farrell is astonishing in the movie, not least because the character is such a departure from everything he has done before." At AllMovie, Derek Armstrong is much more negative: "The title A Home at the End of the World gives off both an optimistic and a pessimistic vibe, simultaneously, which is appropriate for a film that can't figure out what its tone should be. For example, the plot follows the protagonist (Colin Farrell's Bobby) through the deaths of a half-dozen important family members and friends, yet Duncan Sheik's dopey score is better suited to an annoyingly whimsical romantic comedy. That dopiness is, however, well suited to Farrell's performance. Despite the succession of traumas his character endures, his attitude rarely changes from that of a pseudo-hippie naïf. It's hard to tell whether that's a reflection on director Michael Mayer's vision for the character, or Farrell's limitations as an actor, but it rings terribly false. "Finally, Wes Connors at IMDb: " indeed, it is a portrait of an unconventional family unit, but that should have remained secondary. At heart, this is a love (the kind including a sexual attraction) story between the Bobby and Jonathan characters, possibly deemphasized to make it more palatable. The focus unravels, especially after Mr. Farrell's adult Bobby takes over the action. The film draws its fault line by losing touch with the central relationship, and Farrell's characterization goes off course. Freed-from-the-wig Colin Farrell and Dallas Roberts could have recorded a hit version of "Look Out, Cleveland" with The Band backing... The casting is excellent, with Erik Smith and Harris Allan especially winning as the teenage Bobby and Jonathan; they blend perfectly with the grown-up Farrell and Mr. Roberts. Note that criticisms of Farrell in the lead role are of characterization, not acting. Smith's Bobby was played as a self-assured and sexually adventurous young man, but Farrell's Bobby is suddenly an asexual puppy dog; something is missing."

 

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

 

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

Swiss postcard by Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne / News Productions, Baulmes, no. 55108. Photo: Michelangelo Durazzo / AMA, Paris. Federico Fellini directing a scene of the film 8½ (1963).

 

Italian film director and screenwriter Federico Fellini (1920-1993) was one of the most influential filmmakers of all time. He was known for his distinct style that blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. In a career spanning almost fifty years, Fellini won the Palme d'Or for La Dolce Vita (1960), was nominated for twelve Academy Awards. He won an Oscar for La Strada (1954), Le notti di Cabiria (1957), 8½ (1963) and Amarcord (1973).

 

Federico Fellini was born in 1920 in Rimini in the Emilia-Romagna region. His native Rimini and characters there like Saraghina (the devil herself said the priests who ran his school) - and the Gambettola farmhouse of his paternal grandmother would later be remembered in several of his films. His traveling salesman father Urbano Fellini showed up in La dolce vita (1960) and 8½ (1963). His mother Ida Barbiani was from Rome and accompanied him there in 1939. Fellini's first passion was the theater, and at the age of 12, he briefly ran away from home to join the circus, later entering college solely to avoid being drafted. He enrolled in the University of Rome. Intrigued by the image of reporters in American films, he tried out the real-life role of a journalist. Additionally, Fellini worked as an artist on fumetti (Italy's illustrated magazines), and occasionally even made his living as a caricaturist at Roman restaurants. He caught the attention of several editors with his caricatures and cartoons and then started submitting articles. Several articles were recycled into a radio series about newlyweds 'Cico and Pallina'. Pallina was played by acting student Giulietta Masina, who became Fellini's real-life wife in 1943. They remained together until his death. The young Fellini loved vaudeville and was befriended in 1939 by leading comedian Aldo Fabrizi. Fabrizi recruited Fellini to supply stories and ideas for his performances; between 1939 and 1944. The two men worked in tandem on a number of largely forgotten comedies, among them No Me Lo Dire, Quarta Pagina, and Campo de Fiori. When young director Roberto Rossellini wanted Fabrizi to play Don Pietro in Roma città aperta (Roberto Rosselini, 1945), he made the contact through Fellini. Fellini worked on that film's script and is on the credits for Rosselini's Paisà (Roberto Rosselini, 1946). Dale O'Connor at IMDb: "On that film, he wandered into the editing room, started observing how Italian films were made (a lot like the old silent films with an emphasis on visual effects, dialogue dubbed in later). Fellini in his mid-20s had found his life's work."

 

Federico Fellini collaborated on films by Pietro Germi (including In Nomine Della Legge and Il Cammino Della Speranza) and Alberto Lattuda (Il Delitto di Giovanni Episcopo and Il Mulino del Po), among others. In 1948, Fellini completed the screenplay for Il Miracolo, the second and longer section of Rossellini's two-part effort Amore. Here Fellini's utterly original worldview first began to truly take shape in the form of archetypal characters (a simple-minded peasant girl and her male counterpart, a kind of holy simpleton), recurring motifs (show business, parties, the sea), and an ambiguous relationship with religion and spirituality. He further explored this in his script for Rossellini's Francesco, Giullare di Dio (Roberto Rosselini, 1949). In 1950, Fellini made his first attempt at directing one of his own screenplays (with help of Alberto Lattuda), Luci del Varieta (Federico Fellini, Alberto Lattudada, 1950), which further developed his fusion of neorealism with the atmosphere of surrealism. Fellini then directed the romantic satire Lo Sciecco Bianc. The film marked his first work with composer Nino Rota. Fellini's initial masterpiece, I Vitteloni, followed in 1953. The first of his features to receive international distribution, it later won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival, the first of many similar honours. The brilliant La Strada followed in 1954, also garnering the Silver Lion as well as the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Picture. After helming Il Bidone (1955), Fellini and a group of screenwriters (including a young Pier Paolo Pasolini) began work on Le Notti di Cabiria (1956), which also won an Oscar. Then he mounted La Dolce Vita (1960), the first of his pictures to star actor Marcello Mastroianni. He would become Fellini's cinematic alter ego over the course of several subsequent collaborations, its portrait of sex and death in Rome's high society created a tremendous scandal at its Milan premiere, where the audience booed, insulted, and spat on the director. Regardless, La Dolce Vita won the Palm d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and remains a landmark in cinematic history.

 

During the 1960s, many films by Federico Fellini were influenced by the work of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung and his ideas on the role of archetypes and the collective unconscious. The women who had both attracted and frightened him in his youth and an Italy dominated in his youth by Mussolini and Pope Pius XII inspired Fellini's dreams. In the 1960s, he started to record them in notebooks, and life and dreams became the raw material for such films as 8½ (1963) or Fellini - Satyricon (1969). With 1965's Giulietta Degli Spiriti, Fellini worked for the first time in color. After experimenting with LSD under the supervision of doctors, he began scripting Il Viaggio di G. Mastorna. Over a year of pre-production followed, hampered by difficulties with producers, actors, and even a jury trial. Finally on April 10th, 1967, Fellini suffered a nervous breakdown, resulting in a month-long nursing homestay. Ultimately, he gave up on ever bringing Il Viaggio di G. Mastorna to the screen, and his new producer, Alberto Grimaldi, was forced to buy out former producer Dino De Laurentis for close to half a billion liras. As the decade drew to a close, Fellini returned to work with a vengeance, first resurfacing with Toby Dammitt, a short feature for the collaborative film Tre Passi nel Delirio. Turning to television, he helmed Fellini: A Director's Notebook, a one-hour special for NBC, followed by the feature effort Fellini Satyricon. I Clown followed in 1970, with Roma bowing in 1972. Amarcord, a childhood reminiscence, won a fourth Academy Award in 1974. It proved to be his final international success. He later shot Il Casanova di Federico Fellini (1976), Prova d'Orchestra (1979), and La Citta delle Donne (1980), which were less successful. Fellini turned to publishing with Fare un Film, an anthology of notes about his life and work. E la Nave Va (1983) and Ginger e Fred (1985) followed, but by the time of L'Intervista (1987), he was facing considerable difficulty finding financing for his projects. His last completed film was La Voce Della Luna (1989). In the early 1990s, Fellini helmed a handful of television commercials, and in 1993 he won his fifth Academy Award for a lifetime of service to the film industry. In 1993, Federico Fellini died the day after his 50th wedding anniversary. He was 73 years old. Jason Ankeny at AllMovie: "One of the most visionary figures to emerge from the fertile motion picture community of postwar-era Italy, Federico Fellini brought a new level of autobiographical intensity to his craft; more than any other filmmaker of his era, he transformed the realities of his life into the surrealism of his art. Though originally a product of the neorealist school, the eccentricity of Fellini's characterizations and his absurdist sense of comedy set him squarely apart from contemporaries like Vittorio De Sica or Roberto Rossellini, and at the peak of his career his work adopted a distinctively poetic, flamboyant, and influential style so unique that only the term "Felliniesque" could accurately describe it. "

 

Source: Jason Ankeny (AllMovie), Dale O' Connor (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

 

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

She is experiencing some separation anxiety, seeing that her 30 minutes to exist is about over.

Her psychiatrist tells her, "What you're feeling is eggs-actly right."

 

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"My thin white border is not so much a frame as a defense against Flickr's all dark background"

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ABOUT RAINTINGS

 

Rainting is a word I coined describing a painterly effect, achieved by photographing the subject through glass that is being rained on, like a windshield or other. It achieves an oftentimes pretty or soft flowing effect, and sometimes other-worldly. It is usually creative, fun, and fluid, seldom harsh in my opinion. I have an album of them on Flickr. Rainting is already in "The Urban Dictionary" but I would like it to also be in a more sophisticated/educational type of dictionary. I started a public Flickr group of Raintings on New Year's Day 2020.

 

The more collegiate type of dictionaries say that the word has to actually be used by people before they're likely to publish it. So if you like the word and my idea, say it loud and say it clear and take a few Raintings and post them to my new group. Using my word and trying my new group are not inclusive of one another.

 

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ABOUT LIGHTLINGS

 

Lightling is an even newer word I coined to name the odd little sort of anthropomorphic characters that sometimes appear in my images when doing a Rainting. They come in many sizes, shapes and colors and often times have what appear to be various facial expressions. In school we may have learned that a square is a rectangle, but a rectangle is not a square. Well Raintings can exist without Lightlings in the scene, but Lightlings cannot exist without a Rainting.

 

Oh, and Lightlings are only with us on this Earth for about 30 minutes, so enjoy them and all their funny little characterizations while you can.

 

"DSCN0867ChickenAnxietyDisorderFallingApartFlickr111620"

Star Trek- The Menagerie , “Return to Talos IV”

youtu.be/v5XBfgPy43A?t=2s The full feature.

 

The Menagerie Review: February 8, 2014 by neoethereal

As the only two-part episode in The Original Series, “The Menagerie” also cleverly serves as a re-telling of the very first Star Trek story ever filmed, “The Cage.” This week on The Uncommon Geek, I examine all of these episodes in full detail, highlighting their connections to other aspects of the Trek mythos. As well, I take a look at the ground broken by Gene Roddenberry concerning the nature of reality, decades before movies like “The Matrix” challenged the perception of our everyday world.

 

Equipped with little more than a shoestring budget and massive constraints on time with which to work, Gene Roddenberry and his Star Trek production team had to get extremely creative in order to make the show work. Nowhere, in my opinion, is that more evident than here in “The Menagerie,” an entry that served the purpose of buying the production team time to properly finish subsequent episodes, and as well, afforded Gene Roddenberry a unique opportunity to re-tell the story he had wanted to get on the air all along, “The Cage.”

 

This episode begins with the Enterprise having been called out of its way, to Starbase 11. Confusion arises when the starbase’s commanding officer, Commodore Mendez, reveals to Captain Kirk that the base never sent any message to the Enterprise. Spock claims to have received that message, which puts Kirk into the difficult position of whether to trust the starbase computers, or the word of his first officer and friend.

 

It turns out that Captain Christopher Pike, the former commander of the Enterprise, who was recently crippled and disfigured in a terrible accident, is on Starbase 11, and suspicion arises that perhaps he relayed a message to Spock. When Kirk finally gets to see Pike, however, he realizes that it would have been impossible for Spock’s former commanding officer to have done this, for Pike is now wheelchair bound, and his communication with others is limited to electronic beeps that fill in for “yes” and “no.

 

While Kirk and Mendez wrestle over the truth, Spock executes a daring and clever plan to hijack the Enterprise, taking Captain Pike with him. It goes to show just how dangerous an opponent someone as smart and calculating as Spock can be when he puts his mind to it. Spock sets the Enterprise on a locked course for Talos IV, a planet which the ship visited on a past mission under Christopher Pike, and a planet that invites the death penalty upon any Starfleet officer who goes there

 

The secret file on Talos IV, and the article of General Order 7

I personally find the idea of a death penalty being associated with Talos IV to be somewhat dubious; although there is a very good reason why Starfleet wants the existence of the Talosians kept secret, I find it hard to believe that if the Federation is capable of having a death penalty, that it only applies to one law. It may just be a grand bluff, and indeed, there is some evidence to that effect later in the episode. Regardless, breaking General Order 7 is a serious offense, and Spock is if nothing else, putting his career and livelihood on the line.

 

Kirk, of course, isn’t going to sit by while his ship is abducted. He and Mendez make a daring attempt to chase the Enterprise in the Shuttlecraft Picasso, knowing full well that while they would never catch up, they would appear on the Enterprise sensors. Kirk gambles his life on the fact that his friend Spock would not leave him to die in the void of space, as the shuttle runs out of fuel. Kirk’s illogical gambit causes Spock’s plan to unravel, and he surrenders himself to custody, pleading guilty to every charge leveled against him. However, Spock has locked the Enterprise into a course for Talos IV that cannot be broken, which will potentially extend the death sentence that is on himself, to Kirk as well.

 

The court martial that proceeds against Spock is highly unusual; as mentioned, Spock pleads guilty without defense, but through some legal technicality, manages to arrange for the court to hear out his evidence as to why he went through with his illegal actions. Given that Kirk is presiding over the hearing, and that the crew has little else to do but wait until they reach Talos IV, I get the lenience, but I am not sure what real court would remain in session to examine evidence for someone who just admitted their guilt. Or admittedly, maybe I just don’t know enough about legal proceedings.

 

Spock’s evidence, as it turns out, is a transmission from Talos IV, beamed directly to the Enterprise, which details the vessel’s first trip there under the command of Captain Pike. Of course, this transmission is the original Star Trek pilot, “The Cage,” and from this point on, “The Menagerie” consists almost entirely of footage from that episode.

 

Aside from some really goofy tech dialogue, and incomplete characterizations, “The Cage” holds up surprisingly well. We get to see that Jeffrey Hunter’s Captain Pike is a darker, colder man than James Kirk; he is someone whose decisions and responsibilities as a commander are weighing on him heavily, and he is nearing the point of considering resignation. Pike’s first officer is only referred to as Number One (played by Majel Barrett), who is an amazing example of a strong female role for 1960’s television, but unfortunately her character had to be discarded by Roddenberry when the studio forced him to choose between keeping his strong, logical female, or his alien Spock. Roddenberry ended up giving Spock Number One’s cold, emotionless, logical persona, and thus the Spock we know and love was born.

 

It really is a shame that NBC put so much pressure on Roddenberry to alter his concept of women in the 23rd Century; aside from Number One, the other female crew members of the Cage-era Enterprise also seem to be on equal footing with the men, and there isn’t a mini-skirt in sight. Of course, this reviewer by no means, from an aesthetic point view, objects to how the women of the Enterprise look in said mini-skirts, but cheekiness and my own red-blooded male impulses aside, the female officers in Starfleet should have been offered the same, more professional uniform as the males. Unfortunately we would have to wait until The Motion Picture to see more fairness in the way men and women are presented in Star Trek.

 

When Enterprise finds evidence of human survivors on Talos IV, from a doomed expedition many years ago, Pike, Spock, and an away team beam down to investigate. What at first seems like a wonderful discovery of lost, homesick men, turns out to be just an elaborate, life like illusion created by the Talosians. Pike is abducted when he is lured in by the only true human survivor from the crash, Vina, whom he is extremely attracted to.

 

Pike is subjected to a variety of illusions crafted by the Talosians, in order to foster cooperation, as well as to strengthen his attraction toward Vina. Vina is presented to Pike in a variety of forms; as a damsel in distress on Rigel VII, as a wife in the countryside on Earth, and as a primal, animalistic Orion slave woman, all in an attempt to make him submit to his situation.

 

However, Pike is every bit as stubborn as Captain Kirk, and certainly has a darker, more furious edge to him. When he discovers that primitive, base human emotions such as hatred, and anger, block out the Talosian’s illusions and their telepathic abilities, he mines that weakness long enough to take one of them captive. Once the illusion is broken, the Enterprise crew find out that their attempts to break Pike out from his underground cage with phaser fire were actually working, but all along they weren’t able to see it.

 

The Talosians had, thousands of centuries ago, devastated their planet and their civilization with war. They retreated underground, where their telepathic abilities flourished, but their physical bodies and their technology atrophied. They had apparently been testing various species for many years, looking for a suitable slave race to use for rebuilding their world, but none had shown as much promise as humanity.

 

However, when the away team threatens to kill themselves with an overloaded phaser, and as well when the Talosians finish screening the Enterprise‘s records, they realize that humans would rather die than be enslaved, and would be too violent to keep in captivity. With of course, the sad exception of Vina, who in reality is too badly disfigured to live a normal life outside of Talos IV.

 

(I once heard a suggestion that Vina could be repaired using the transporter. I don’t think 23rd century transporters were sophisticated enough for that, plus, there wouldn’t be an original, unaltered version of her pattern to reference.)

 

The ending of “The Cage” leads us to the final moments of “The Menagerie,” where it is revealed that not only have the Talosians been transmitting a signal to the Enterprise, but even Commodore Mendez himself has been one of their illusions all along!

 

It is also revealed that Spock’s only intention was to take Captain Pike to Talos IV, so that the crippled starship commander could live out the rest of his life as a healthy, happy man with Vina. Even Kirk seems to relent that it is better to live with an illusion of health and happiness, than a reality of living as a useless vegetable. That Commodore Mendez was an illusion, and that Starfleet sends a signal to the Enterprise, apparently excusing their violation of Talos space, seems to let Spock off the hook. Perhaps too easily in fact; despite acting out of nothing but loyalty to his former Captain, and despite that the way he enacted his plan was done in such a manner as to put the blame only on himself, Spock seems to get out of his predicament with apparently no trouble at all. We can make a guess that perhaps this incident is why he doesn’t receive a promotion or command of his own until years later, but there is nothing spoken on-screen to that effect.

 

We are also left to ponder about how much of the incident was real at all. Since the Talosians can apparently project their powers through subspace, one wonders just how long they conspired with Spock, and also, how much we see of Mendez was real or an illusion. My guess is that the Mendez we see at the base was real, and what goes onto the shuttle with Kirk was the illusion, but unfortunately, again, there is little to back that up. What we do know for sure is that the Talosian’s powers are not to be trifled with, and it is truly for wise for Starfleet to give them a wide berth.

Despite some problems with logic and consistency, “The Menagerie” is an entertaining, fascinating episode that shows original series Trek at some of its most interestingly cerebral. Gene Roddenberry’s first pilot examines the nature of reality decades before The Matrix did, and asks the questions: What is real? How does one define their purpose, their reality? Is our reality just relative, defined only by experience? Is there a such thing as an absolute reality, or only what our senses perceive, or for that matter what they think they perceive? This is smart, ahead of its time writing for the 1960s.

 

Through the tragedies that befell both Vina and Pike, we must also question the quality of human life, and the value we place on it. Is it worth staying alive if you can’t function? If your brain is sound but your body is broken, can you still truly live? Speaking for myself, I certainly would despise the existence that Captain Pike is forced to endure in his wheelchair. I’d rather be dead than live that way. I’m not sure how I would react exactly to being forced to live in an illusion, but it is certainly preferable to a reality of uselessness and immobility. Besides, is our everyday life not just an elaborate series of deceptions spun before our very eyes; maybe not as powerful as a trick of telepathy played by an alien race, but an illusion nonetheless?

 

For even provoking these thoughts, and much more, “The Cage,” and by extension, “The Menagerie,” are what I consider among the best of Star Trek’s purely cerebral stories about human nature. It is imaginative, thoughtful, and quite engaging.

Monster High is an American fashion doll franchise created by Mattel in July, 2010. The characters are inspired by monster movies, sci-fi horror, thriller fiction, and various creatures therefore distinguishing them from most fashion dolls. They were created by Garrett Sander, with illustrations by Kellee Riley.[2]

The Monster High franchise also includes other consumer products such as stationery, bags, key chains, various toys and video games. There are also Monster High TV specials, a web series, a direct to DVD movie, and software. Lisi Harrison is the author of the Monster High books. The characters are depicted as being either related to or as offspring of famous monsters such as Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, the Mummy, Medusa, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Phantom of the Opera, and zombies and more. The characters are usually referred to as ghouls, rather than girls.

  

The dolls are approximately 27 cm tall. Or about 1 foot tall. Their bodies are made from ABS plastic. Their heads are made from soft PVC. They have various skin tones (blue, green, pink, brown, etc.) Each character has a unique head mold. No Monster High doll has the same shape head. The type of hair the dolls have is saran. The boys hair is either fuzzy or hard colored plastic. Aside from physical attributes, the dolls are quite different in the characterization of their clothes. And they all have their own unique freaky flaw, hair, etc. They might repeat bags and sunglasses. For example, 13 Wishes Howleen has the same bag as the original Clawdeen only that it is a different color. One is gold and another is purple and black. But they are both sisters. Plus, Howleen likes to borrow a lot of Clawdeen's stuff. And Gloom Beach Frankie Stein has the same sunglasses as the Scaris Frankie Stein. One s blue and one is yellow. All of them have various attributes of the monsters they are related to (i.e. fangs, stitches, wolf ears, fins, bandages,snakes, etc.)[3] Although Monster high and Barbie are from the same creator, Mattel, Monster High is starting to become more popular than Barbie.

  

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Monster High est une franchise américaine de poupées mannequins lancée par Mattel en juillet 2010 aux États-Unis, tirée d'une série de livres du même nom (de Lisi Harrison). Les personnages sont inspirés de personnes assez monstrueuses issues de la littérature fantastique, de la mythologie, ou encore de films cultes. Les Monster High sont toutes des enfants de monstres (Frankie Stein est la fille de Frankenstein, Draculaura est celle de Dracula, Deuce Gorgon est le fils de Méduse...).

La franchise Monster High se décline sur de très nombreux produits comme des vêtements, des bijoux fantaisie et de la papeterie, mais ses principales ventes se font grâce aux poupées mannequins du même nom. Elle s'accompagne également d'épisodes spéciaux pour la télévision et le marché DVD, et d'une web-série.S

Le concept de Monster High met en scène des adolescents tous descendants de créatures plus ou moins célèbres. Certaines poupées sont relookėes.

  

Les poupées mannequins mesurent une vingtaine de centimètres ; les garçons sont plus grands que les filles, même s'il existe des différences de taille chez certaines poupées (Twyla et Howleen Wolf sont plus petites, Nefera de Nile et Mme. Santête sont plus grandes...). Les corps (qui comptent de nombreuses articulations) sont fabriqués en plastique ABS et les têtes sont en PVC souple. Chaque personnage bénéficie d'un moule différent pour sa tête. Les cheveux sont en saran ou en kanekalon, voire en PVC pour les garçons dont les cheveux sont, pour la plupart des personnages, moulés. Les poupées filles de Monster High peuvent enlever leurs mains et bras mais les garçons ne peuvent enlever que leurs bras. Lagoona Blue, Rochelle Goyle et C.A. Cupid ont des éléments amovibles que les autres poupées n'ont pas (des nageoires pour Lagoona Blue, des ailes pour Rochelle Goyle et C.A. Cupid). Comme les filles ont des chaussures à talons, elles ne peuvent pas bouger leurs pieds, tandis que les garçons ont les pieds articulés.

Chaque personnage est caractérisé par un style vestimentaire et une gamme de couleurs qui se retrouvent dans différentes collections et qui reflètent leur personnalité dans la web-série.

  

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The fresco decoration of the Hall of Justice of the fortress of Angera constitutes one of the main figurative testimonies of the development phase of the Gothic pictorial language in the Lombard territory; it also proposes a rare and early example of painting with profane themes, of historical-political and celebratory significance.

The room, on the second floor of the Visconti wing of the building, has a rectangular plan, divided into two parts by a pointed arch. The ceiling, formed by cross vaults, is covered by a lively decoration with geometric motifs, with squares and rounds interwoven to form a sort of sumptuous painted fabric. The six bays of the walls, illuminated by large windows with two lights, host the pictorial decoration, which is divided into three superimposed registers within large arches defined by ornamental borders with stylized stars and flowers: the narrative scenes, in the center, are surmounted by a high band with astrological-astronomical subjects, while the lowest register is formed by a lozenge decoration that supported an elegant painted veil, now almost completely disappeared.

The cycle narrates the deeds of Ottone Visconti, archbishop and lord of Milan from 1277 after the victory obtained in Desio over the opposing Torriani family. Since a long time, studies have linked the frescoes to a precise literary source, the Liber de gestis in civitate Mediolani, a work in praise of the Visconti family written by the monk Stefanardo da Vimercate probably in the last decade of the thirteenth century; the tituli that accompany the scenes are inspired by it, while other Latin inscriptions report, to complete the upper decorative band, some verses of the astrological treatise De Sphaera.

From a stylistic point of view, the author of the paintings shows a marked taste for the complex layout of the scenes, while neglecting the coherence of the figure-architecture relationship; the forms are simplified and the faces, lacking in individual characterization, derive strong consistency from the resentful linear definition and the thick dark outlines; these elements constitute an evident link with the thirteenth-century pictorial tradition of Byzantine matrix, probably filtered through the knowledge of works from the Veneto area. Moreover, the attention that will be typically Lombardy for the realistic definition of details or for the description of costumes is already present and alive.

The brilliant overall effect of the room is enhanced by the whirlwind of colors of the vault, a real explosion of chromatic happiness that finds immediate comparisons in the vault of S. Bassiano in Lodi Vecchio, also decorated with joyful secular subjects.

The representations of the planets and the signs of the zodiac are still linked to those astrological-astronomical themes that had an enormous development since the beginning of the Christian Middle Ages and in particular in the Romanesque period; connected to the scansion of time and of the different working activities - in particular agricultural and pastoral -, they had multiple ethical, civil and religious implications. Situated in the courtroom of the Rocca, the cycle must have had the value of an exemplum for those who were called to judge, through the underlining of motifs such as the clemency of the winner on the vanquished enemy or the subjection of earthly power to the stars and to Fortune, and with precise indications on the virtues that should accompany the exercise of power.

As for the dating of the paintings, critics have expressed themselves in various ways, with wide oscillations between 1277 of the battle of Desio and 1314, the year in which Matteo Visconti definitively acquired possession of the fortress after a period of domination by the Torriani and other families.