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Bondi Beach.
"Bondi" è una parola aborigena che indica l'acqua che si frange sulle rocce o il rumore dell'acqua che si frange sulle rocce.
Nel 1809, il costruttore di strade William Roberts ottenne una concessione nell'area.
Nel 1851, Edward Smith Hall e il genero Francis O'Brien acquistarono 0,81 km quadrati della zona di Bondi, un'area che comprendeva la maggior parte del fronte della spiaggia e che prese il nome di "The Bondi Estate".
Tra il 1855 e il 1877, O'Brien acquistò la parte di terreno del suocero, rinominò la tenuta "O'Brien Estate" e aprì la spiaggia al pubblico.
Con il crescere della popolarità della spiaggia, O'Brien minacciò di chiuderne l'accesso al pubblico, ma il consiglio municipale intervenne dichiarando la spiaggia pubblica con un atto datato 9 giugno 1882.
Il 6 febbraio 1938 passò alla storia nella cronaca di Bondi Beach come il Black Sunday (domenica nera): 5 persone affogarono e altre 250 furono tratte in salvo dopo che una serie di violente ondate si era abbattuta sulla spiaggia trascinando al largo le persone presenti.
Quartiere operaio per la maggior parte del XX secolo, dopo la Seconda Guerra Mondiale Bondi Beach e gli altri quartieri orientali di Sydney divennero casa per molti immigrati ebrei provenienti da Polonia, Russia, Ungheria e Germania; l'immigrazione ebraica è proseguita fino ad oggi accogliendo persone da Sudafrica, Russia e Israele.
Un'ordinanza sulla decenza dei costumi da bagno, rimasta in vigore dal 1935 e il 1961, si risolse in una controversia pubblica mano a mano che il bikini diventava sempre più popolare.
Il locale consiglio municipale affidò a una pattuglia di ispettori il compito di vigilare sulla decenza e sulle dimensioni dei costumi da bagno e di multare gli eventuali trasgressori per offesa alla pubblica decenza.
Nel corso degli anni cinquanta l'ordinanza divenne sempre più anacronistica, e fu sostituita nel 1961 da un'altra in cui si chiedeva ai bagnanti di "indossare un costume da bagno appropriato e adeguato". Dagli anni ottanta il topless è divenuto pratica comune a Bondi Beach, soprattutto all'estremità meridionale della spiaggia.
Bondi Beach.
“Bondi” is an Aboriginal word for water crashing over rocks or the sound of water crashing over rocks.
In 1809, road builder William Roberts obtained a grant in the area.
In 1851, Edward Smith Hall and his son-in-law Francis O'Brien purchased 0.81 square km of the Bondi area, an area which included most of the beach front and which became known as "The Bondi Estate".
Between 1855 and 1877, O'Brien purchased his father-in-law's share of the land, renamed the estate the "O'Brien Estate", and opened the beach to the public.
As the beach grew in popularity, O'Brien threatened to close access to the public, but the city council intervened, declaring the beach public in an act dated June 9, 1882.
February 6, 1938 went down in history in the news of Bondi Beach as Black Sunday: 5 people drowned and another 250 were rescued after a series of violent waves hit the beach, dragging the people present away.
A working-class neighborhood for most of the 20th century, after the Second World War Bondi Beach and other eastern Sydney neighborhoods became home to many Jewish immigrants from Poland, Russia, Hungary and Germany; Jewish immigration has continued to this day, welcoming people from South Africa, Russia and Israel.
A swimsuit decency ordinance, in effect from 1935 to 1961, resulted in public controversy as the bikini became increasingly popular.
The local municipal council entrusted a patrol of inspectors with the task of monitoring the decency and size of swimsuits and fining any violators for offending public decency.
During the 1950s the ordinance became increasingly anachronistic, and was replaced in 1961 by another requiring beachgoers to "wear an appropriate and appropriate bathing suit." Since the 1980s, toplessness has become common practice on Bondi Beach, especially at the southern end of the beach.
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Belgian postcard by Victoria Biscuits Chocolats, no. 5. Photo: M.G.M. June Allyson and Gene Kelly in The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948), based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas.
The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948) is a classic Swashbuckler, starring Gene Kelly as D’Artagnan and Lana Turner as Milady De Winter. Other stars in the cast include Van Heflin, June Allyson, Gig Young, Angela Lansbury, and Vincent Price. It is one of the many, adaptations of the famous French book ‘Les trois mousquetaires’ by Alexandre Dumas père, and possibly the liveliest one, full of acrobatics, galloping horses, flapping cloaks, and sword fights with almost operatic intensity. Dumas’s story is followed quite faithfully, but the creative fantasy is in the theatrical way of depicting it.
As in the book: the story of The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948) is set in 1625 in France. The young and inexperienced D'Artagnan (Gene Kelly) leaves his home village in Gascony to become a musketeer in Paris in the service of His Majesty King Louis XIII (Frank Morgan). In his pocket, he has the letter of recommendation from his father (silent film star Robert Warwick), a former musketeer and friend of the current captain of the musketeers, Treville (Reginald Owen). His father has taught him the art of fencing masterfully and gives him the good advice never to let himself be compromised with impunity. He is only too happy to follow this advice. Very soon, before he has even reached Paris, D'Artagnan gets into a confrontation with Rochefort (Ian Keith), Cardinal Richelieu's (Vincent Price) confidant, and his companion, the mysterious Lady de Winter (Lana Turner). At this first opportunity to preserve his honour in battle, he is unceremoniously struck down and robbed by Rochefort's henchmen, and his credentials are also taken from him. Once in Paris, he not only meets his new friends and comrades-in-arms Athos (Van Heflin), Porthos (Gig Young), and Aramis (Robert Coote), but also his landlord's niece, Constance Bonacieux (June Allyson), and falls in love. Many adventures and entanglements lie ahead and in the path of the brave hero D'Artagnan. Driven by his desire to become the king's musketeer and to prove himself in battle, he falls into the clutches of both the queen (Angela and the cardinal, experiences numerous dangerous situations and sometimes needs his new friends to get away at all. Nevertheless, he sets out to travel to England for the Queen's honour, to retrieve a jewellery box given away by the Queen's secret lover, Lord Buckingham (John Sutton), and to prevent Richelieu from plotting. To assist him, he is accompanied by Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, as well as his dull but loyal servant Planchet (Keenan Wynn). Shortly after D'Artagnan's return from England, Constance is kidnapped at the behest of Cardinal Richelieu. D'Artagnan makes a pass at Milady de Winter, discovers a delicate secret, and only just manages to save himself. Constance is freed and taken to safety in England, shortly after which war breaks out, and our four friends are drawn into it. They overhear a conspiratorial meeting between the Cardinal and Lady de Winter in an inn. The latter is to travel to England and kill Buckingham. Planchet also travels to England at D'Artagnan's behest to warn Buckingham. Lady de Winter is convicted and is to be executed. Constance is appointed her guardian. Milady de Winter, after a lengthy psychological duel, manages to take out Constance as well as a guard and Buckingham and then escapes. Athos and D'Artagnan, who wanted to help Constance, arrive too late; after Constance dies in D'Artagnan's arms, they themselves also have only escaped. Back in Paris, the four friends track down Lady de Winter, pronounce the death sentence on her, and have the prisoner executed. During their subsequent escape towards Spain, they are overpowered and arrested. Their fate seems to be sealed, but young D'Artagnan still has one trump card: the Countess's passport, personally sealed and signed by Cardinal Richelieu, with the note that everything the bearer of this letter undertakes will serve the good of the state. The king is not allowed to know the background of this letter - so Richelieu has to give in. Aramis receives permission to take up a clerical office. Porthos is allowed to marry richly, Athos gets his property back and D'Artagnan is to negotiate a peace offer with the enemy England on behalf of France.
Among the many American film versions of Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers are the 1914 Film Attractions Co. production, directed by Charles V. Henkel, the 1921 Douglas Fairbanks production, directed by Fred Niblo, the 1935 RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. production, directed by Rowland V. Lee and starring Walter Abel, Paul Lucas and Margot Grahame, Richard Lester's 1974 Twentieth Century-Fox production starring Michael York, Oliver Reed, Richard Chamberlain, and Raquel Welch; and the 1993 Buena Vista release, directed by Stephen Herek and starring Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland, Chris O'Donnell, and Rebecca de Mornay. This splashy 1948 MGM adaptation of The Three Musketeers was the third sound version and was also the first version in Technicolor. In 1947, a representative of the National Catholic Legion of Decency, an organisation that monitored the interests of the Church in motion pictures, objected to the characterisation of Cardinal Richelieu in the planned MGM adaptation of Dumas' story. In a letter to MGM producer Pandro S. Berman, the organisation stated its objection to the cardinal being portrayed as a "worldly and unscrupulous man" and urged the studio to remove the character from the film. Berman refused to remove the character from the film but promised he would use great caution in all sensitive matters pertaining to the story and in the film, Richelieu is never referred to as Cardinal Richelieu. Berman also indicated that Constance, the married mistress of D'Artagnan in the novel, would be unmarried in the film version. While early sound versions of Three Musketeers eliminated the deaths of Constance and Milady, this adaptation telescopes the novel's events to allow for these tragedies. According to AFI, screenwriter Robert Ardry was displeased with Sidney's irreverent approach to the Dumas story and objected to the spoof elements that were added to the film. A biography of Kelly noted that Belgian fencing champion Jean Heremans, who appears in the film as the cardinal's guard, taught Kelly how to fence. Kelly's biography also noted that during the filming of a bedroom scene, Kelly flung Turner onto a bed with such force that she fell to the ground and suffered a broken elbow. Hal Erickson at AllMovie: “True to form, MGM saw to it that Lana Turner, as Milady, was dressed to the nines and heavily bejeweled for her beheading sequence. Portions of the 1948 Three Musketeers, in black and white, showed up in the silent film-within-a-film in 1952's Singin' in the Rain, which of course also starred Gene Kelly.” The Three Musketeers opened to mostly favourable reviews, with several reviewers commenting on the film's unusual tongue-in-cheek approach. New York Times reviewer Bosley Crowther noted that "more glittering swordplay, more dazzling costumes, more colors or more of Miss Turner's chest have never been seen in a picture than are shown in this one." And added: “Completely fantastic, however, is Miss Turner as the villainess, the ambitious Lady de Winter who does the boudoir business for the boss. Loaded with blond hair and jewels, with twelve-gallon hats and ostrich plumes, and poured into her satin dresses with a good bit of Turner to spare, she walks through the palaces and salons with the air of a company-mannered Mae West.” In 1948, there was an Oscar nomination for Robert Planck in the category Best Cinematography/Colour. Hans J. Wollstein at AllMovie: “The Three Musketeers remains an outrageously entertaining yarn, the Southern California locales perfectly standing in for 17th Century France and England.” And finally, Yvette Banek at her blog In so many words: “Lana Turner is really quite superb in her evilness. So evil that she is even photographed without make-up. Well, as 'without make-up' as MGM got, at any rate. Even then, she is exquisitely beautiful - especially when praying.”
Sources: Bosley Crowther (New York Times), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Yvette Banek (In so many words), AFI, Wikipedia (Dutch, German), and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Belgian postcard by Victoria Biscuits Chocolats, no. 8. Photo: M.G.M. June Allyson and Gene Kelly in The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948), based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas.
The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948) is a classic Swashbuckler, starring Gene Kelly as D’Artagnan and Lana Turner as Milady De Winter. Other stars in the cast include Van Heflin, June Allyson, Gig Young, Angela Lansbury, and Vincent Price. It is one of the many, adaptations of the famous French book ‘Les trois mousquetaires’ by Alexandre Dumas père, and possibly the liveliest one, full of acrobatics, galloping horses, flapping cloaks, and sword fights with almost operatic intensity. Dumas’s story is followed quite faithfully, but the creative fantasy is in the theatrical way of depicting it.
As in the book: the story of The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948) is set in 1625 in France. The young and inexperienced D'Artagnan (Gene Kelly) leaves his home village in Gascony to become a musketeer in Paris in the service of His Majesty King Louis XIII (Frank Morgan). In his pocket, he has the letter of recommendation from his father (silent film star Robert Warwick), a former musketeer and friend of the current captain of the musketeers, Treville (Reginald Owen). His father has taught him the art of fencing masterfully and gives him the good advice never to let himself be compromised with impunity. He is only too happy to follow this advice. Very soon, before he has even reached Paris, D'Artagnan gets into a confrontation with Rochefort (Ian Keith), Cardinal Richelieu's (Vincent Price) confidant, and his companion, the mysterious Lady de Winter (Lana Turner). At this first opportunity to preserve his honour in battle, he is unceremoniously struck down and robbed by Rochefort's henchmen, and his credentials are also taken from him. Once in Paris, he not only meets his new friends and comrades-in-arms Athos (Van Heflin), Porthos (Gig Young), and Aramis (Robert Coote), but also his landlord's niece, Constance Bonacieux (June Allyson), and falls in love. Many adventures and entanglements lie ahead and in the path of the brave hero D'Artagnan. Driven by his desire to become the king's musketeer and to prove himself in battle, he falls into the clutches of both the queen (Angela and the cardinal, experiences numerous dangerous situations and sometimes needs his new friends to get away at all. Nevertheless, he sets out to travel to England for the Queen's honour, to retrieve a jewellery box given away by the Queen's secret lover, Lord Buckingham (John Sutton), and to prevent Richelieu from plotting. To assist him, he is accompanied by Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, as well as his dull but loyal servant Planchet (Keenan Wynn). Shortly after D'Artagnan's return from England, Constance is kidnapped at the behest of Cardinal Richelieu. D'Artagnan makes a pass at Milady de Winter, discovers a delicate secret, and only just manages to save himself. Constance is freed and taken to safety in England, shortly after which war breaks out, and our four friends are drawn into it. They overhear a conspiratorial meeting between the Cardinal and Lady de Winter in an inn. The latter is to travel to England and kill Buckingham. Planchet also travels to England at D'Artagnan's behest to warn Buckingham. Lady de Winter is convicted and is to be executed. Constance is appointed her guardian. Milady de Winter, after a lengthy psychological duel, manages to take out Constance as well as a guard and Buckingham and then escapes. Athos and D'Artagnan, who wanted to help Constance, arrive too late; after Constance dies in D'Artagnan's arms, they themselves also have only escaped. Back in Paris, the four friends track down Lady de Winter, pronounce the death sentence on her, and have the prisoner executed. During their subsequent escape towards Spain, they are overpowered and arrested. Their fate seems to be sealed, but young D'Artagnan still has one trump card: the Countess's passport, personally sealed and signed by Cardinal Richelieu, with the note that everything the bearer of this letter undertakes will serve the good of the state. The king is not allowed to know the background of this letter - so Richelieu has to give in. Aramis receives permission to take up a clerical office. Porthos is allowed to marry richly, Athos gets his property back and D'Artagnan is to negotiate a peace offer with the enemy England on behalf of France.
Among the many American film versions of Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers are the 1914 Film Attractions Co. production, directed by Charles V. Henkel, the 1921 Douglas Fairbanks production, directed by Fred Niblo, the 1935 RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. production, directed by Rowland V. Lee and starring Walter Abel, Paul Lucas and Margot Grahame, Richard Lester's 1974 Twentieth Century-Fox production starring Michael York, Oliver Reed, Richard Chamberlain, and Raquel Welch; and the 1993 Buena Vista release, directed by Stephen Herek and starring Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland, Chris O'Donnell, and Rebecca de Mornay. This splashy 1948 MGM adaptation of The Three Musketeers was the third sound version and was also the first version in Technicolor. In 1947, a representative of the National Catholic Legion of Decency, an organisation that monitored the interests of the Church in motion pictures, objected to the characterisation of Cardinal Richelieu in the planned MGM adaptation of Dumas' story. In a letter to MGM producer Pandro S. Berman, the organisation stated its objection to the cardinal being portrayed as a "worldly and unscrupulous man" and urged the studio to remove the character from the film. Berman refused to remove the character from the film but promised he would use great caution in all sensitive matters pertaining to the story and in the film, Richelieu is never referred to as Cardinal Richelieu. Berman also indicated that Constance, the married mistress of D'Artagnan in the novel, would be unmarried in the film version. While early sound versions of Three Musketeers eliminated the deaths of Constance and Milady, this adaptation telescopes the novel's events to allow for these tragedies. According to AFI, screenwriter Robert Ardry was displeased with Sidney's irreverent approach to the Dumas story and objected to the spoof elements that were added to the film. A biography of Kelly noted that Belgian fencing champion Jean Heremans, who appears in the film as the cardinal's guard, taught Kelly how to fence. Kelly's biography also noted that during the filming of a bedroom scene, Kelly flung Turner onto a bed with such force that she fell to the ground and suffered a broken elbow. Hal Erickson at AllMovie: “True to form, MGM saw to it that Lana Turner, as Milady, was dressed to the nines and heavily bejeweled for her beheading sequence. Portions of the 1948 Three Musketeers, in black and white, showed up in the silent film-within-a-film in 1952's Singin' in the Rain, which of course also starred Gene Kelly.” The Three Musketeers opened to mostly favourable reviews, with several reviewers commenting on the film's unusual tongue-in-cheek approach. New York Times reviewer Bosley Crowther noted that "more glittering swordplay, more dazzling costumes, more colors or more of Miss Turner's chest have never been seen in a picture than are shown in this one." And added: “Completely fantastic, however, is Miss Turner as the villainess, the ambitious Lady de Winter who does the boudoir business for the boss. Loaded with blond hair and jewels, with twelve-gallon hats and ostrich plumes, and poured into her satin dresses with a good bit of Turner to spare, she walks through the palaces and salons with the air of a company-mannered Mae West.” In 1948, there was an Oscar nomination for Robert Planck in the category Best Cinematography/Colour. Hans J. Wollstein at AllMovie: “The Three Musketeers remains an outrageously entertaining yarn, the Southern California locales perfectly standing in for 17th Century France and England.” And finally, Yvette Banek at her blog In so many words: “Lana Turner is really quite superb in her evilness. So evil that she is even photographed without make-up. Well, as 'without make-up' as MGM got, at any rate. Even then, she is exquisitely beautiful - especially when praying.”
Sources: Bosley Crowther (New York Times), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Yvette Banek (In so many words), AFI, Wikipedia (Dutch, German), and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Talk about a crazy day. When I decided to document the rally on this day I had no clue what anyone was in for. As it became clear that it was no longer a place I wanted to be, I started to make my exit. This was my last photo. No matter what you may think about the situation or the people there that day, I can assure you 95% of the people outside the capitol were just as confused as the rest of the world. The expressions on the faces of the onlookers, and the general confusion in the air told me everything I needed to know; namely that there are people that believe in law & order, and people that do not. Just as the protestors this Summer should not be lumped in with the marauders that looted & burned cities across the country, so these protestors looking on at the madness on the 6th should not be lumped in with those that took matters into their own hands at the detriment of freedom & decency.
I must say a word about fear. It is life's only true opponent. Only fear can defeat life. It is a clever, treacherous adversary, how well I know. It has no decency, respects no law or convention, shows no mercy. It goes for your weakest spot, which it finds with unnerving ease. It begins in your mind, always ... so you must fight hard to express it. You must fight hard to shine the light of words upon it. Because if you don't, if your fear becomes a wordless darkness that you avoid, perhaps even manage to forget, you open yourself to further attacks of fear because you never truly fought the opponent who defeated you.
- Yann Martel, Life of Pi
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGmfUBH1sXQ&feature=share&...
This Little Child
Scott Wesley Brown
He's there, we'll go see him
Who would have thought that long ago
So very far away
A little child would be born
And in a manger laid
And who would have thought this little child
Was born the King of Kings
The Son of just a carpenter
But for whom the angels sing
And who would have thought that as He grew
And with other children played
This child with whom they laughed and sang
Would die for them some day
And who would have thought this little child
Could make a blind man see
Feed the hungry, make rich the poor
And set the prisoner free
Oh who would have thought this little child
Was who the prophets said
Would take away the sins of man
And rise up from the dead
And I believe and I will always sing
This little child is the King
And I believe and I will always sing
This little child
He is the King of Kings
Many years have come and gone
Yet this world remains the same
Empires have been built and fallen
Only time has made a change
Nation against nation
Brother against brother
Men so filled with hatred
Still killing one another
And over half the world is starving
While our banner of decency is torn
Debating over disarmament
While killing children before they're born
And fools who march to win the right
To justify their sin
Oh every nation that has fallen
Has fallen from within
Yet in the midst of this darkness
There is a hope, a light that burns
This little child the King of Kings
Some day will return
And I believe and I will always sing
This little child is the King
And I believe and I will always sing
This little child
He is the King of Kings
Who would have thought this little child
Is who the prophets said
Will return to judge this world
The living and the dead
Oh can't you see, that long ago
So very far away
That Jesus Christ, our only hope
Was born the King that day
Um texto, em português, do site da Wikipédia, a Enciclopédia livre:
Michelangelo ("Miguel Ângelo") di Ludovico Buonarroti Simoni (Caprese, 6 de Março de 1475 — Roma, 18 de Fevereiro de 1564) foi um pintor, escultor, poeta e arquiteto renascentista italiano.
Apesar de ter feito poucas atividades além das artes, sua versatilidade em vários campos fez com que rivalizasse com Leonardo da Vinci no título de ícone da Renascença. Michelangelo foi genial em vários campos e, além disso, também recebeu tarefas diplomáticas. Duas biografias foram escritas sobre ele ainda em vida (uma de Giorgio Vasari).
Duas de suas mais famosas obras (a Pietà e o David) foram realizadas antes de seus trinta anos. Apesar de sua pouca afeição à pintura, criou duas obras históricas: as cenas do Gênesis, no teto da Capela Sistina, e o O Juízo Final, também no mesmo local. Projetou também a cúpula da Basílica de São Pedro, em Roma. Entre suas outras esculturas, contam-se a também a Virgem, o Baco, o Moisés, a Raquel, a Léa e membros da família Médici.
Michelangelo nasceu em Caprese, perto de Arezzo, na Toscana, o segundo de cinco filhos. Seu pai, Ludovico, quando residente em Caprese, era um magistrado. Michelangelo cresceu em Florença e mais tarde viveu com um escultor e sua esposa na localidade florentina de Settignano, onde seu pai tinha uma mina de mármore e uma pequena fazenda.
Contra a vontade de seu pai, o canhoto Michelangelo escolheu ser aprendiz de Domenico Ghirlandaio por três anos começando em 1488. Também foi aprendiz, na escultura, de Bertoldo di Giovanni. Impressionado com a técnica de Michelangelo, Ghirlandaio recomendou-o para Florença para estudar com Lourenço de Médici. De 1490 a 1492, Michelangelo freqüentou a escola de Lourenço e durante sua estada, seria influenciado por muitas pessoas proeminentes, e pela filosofia platônica da época, que modificariam e expandiriam suas idéias na arte e ainda seus sentimentos sobre sexualidade.
Foi durante este período que Michelangelo criou dois relevos: a Batalha de Centauros e a Madonna da Escada. A primeira obra foi baseada em um tema sugerido por Poliziano e encomendada por Lourenço de Médici. Após sua morte, Michelangelo deixou a corte dos Medici. Nos meses seguintes, produziu um crucifixo de madeira para o pároco da Igreja de Santa Maria del Santo Spirito, que tinha o deixado estudar anatomia a partir de alguns cadáveres do hospital da Igreja.
Pedro de Médici, filho mais velho de Lourenço de Médici, recusou-se a financiar o trabalho artístico de Michelangelo. Também nessa época, as idéias de Savonarola tornaram-se populares em Florença. Sob tais pressões, Michelangelo decide sair definitivamente de Florença e vai para Bolonha por três anos. Logo depois, o Cardeal San Giorgio compra a obra de Michelangelo em mármore Cupido e decide chamá-lo a Roma em 1496. Influenciado pela antiguidade de Roma, ele produz Baco e a Pietà. A Pietà foi uma encomenda do embaixador francês na Santa Sé. Apesar de praticamente se dedicar à escultura, Michelangelo nunca deixou de desenhar, ele desenhava por prazer de desenhar.
Quatro anos mais tarde, Michelangelo retornou a Florença, onde produziu seu mais famoso trabalho: David.
A cidade, na época, estava mudando, após a queda de Savonarola e a ascensão de Pier Soderini. O David foi uma encomenda da Guilda de Lã da cidade. Era, originalmente, um trabalho incompleto, iniciado quarenta anos antes por Agostino di Duccio. O David deveria ser o símbolo da liberdade de Florença e seria colocado na Piazza della Signoria, na frente do Palazzo Vecchio. A obra foi concluída em 1504. Essa obra-prima, feita em mármore de Carrara, colocou-o definitivamente como um escultor de extraordinária técnica e habilidade. Na época, também pintou a Sagrada Família da Tribuna, agora na Galeria Uffizi. Michelangelo era considerado um artista renascentista porque em todas suas obras, ele representava somente figuras do homem.
Michelangelo foi convocado novamente a Roma em 1503 pelo recém-designado Papa Júlio II e foi comissionado para construir a tumba papal. Entretanto, durante a patronagem de Júlio II, Michelangelo tinha constantemente que interromper seu trabalho para fazer outras numerosas tarefas. Por essa e outras interrupções, Michelangelo trabalharia na tumba por quarenta anos sem nunca a terminar.
A mais famosa das tarefas foi a pintura monumental do teto da Capela Sistina no Vaticano, que levou quatro anos para ser feita (1508 – 1512). Michelangelo originalmente deveria pintar os 12 Apóstolos, mas protestou e pediu uma tarefa mais audaciosa: um esquema que representasse a Criação, a Queda do Homem e a Promessa da Salvação. O trabalho faz parte de uma decoração muito mais complexa que, em conjunto, representa toda a doutrina da Igreja Católica.
A composição contém 300 figuras e se centra nos episódios do livro do Genesis, divididos em três grupos: a Criação da Terra por Deus, a Criação da Humanidade e sua queda e, por fim, a Humanidade representada por Noé. Entre os afrescos mais famosos estão: A Criação de Adão e Adão e Eva no Paraíso.
Em 1513, o Papa Júlio II morreu, e seu sucessor, o Papa Leão X, um Médici, pediu que Michelangelo reconstruísse o interior da Igreja de São Lourenço, em Florença, e a adornasse com esculturas. Michelangelo relutantemente aceitou, mas foi incapaz de terminar a tarefa (o exterior da igreja ainda não está adornado até hoje).
Em 1526, os cidadãos de Florença, encorajados pelo saque de Roma, expulsaram os Médici e restauraram a república. Michelangelo voltou para sua amada Florença para ajudar a construir as fortificações da cidade de 1528 a 1529. A cidade caiu em 1530 e os Médici voltaram ao poder.
A pintura de O Juízo Final, na janela do Altar da capela Sistina foi comissionada pelo Papa Paulo III, e Michelangelo trabalhou nela de 1534 a 1541. O trabalho é grandioso e toma uma parede inteira atrás do altar da Capela Sistina. O Juízo Final é uma representação da segunda vinda de Cristo e do apocalipse, quando as almas da humanidade seriam levadas a seu destino final e julgadas por Cristo, rodeado de santos.
Uma vez concluída, as representações de nudez na própria Capela foram consideradas obscenas e um sacrilégio. Após a morte de Michelangelo, decidiu-se obscurecer os órgãos, o que foi feito por um aprendiz de Michelangelo, Daniele da Volterra. Quando o trabalho foi restaurado em 1993, decidiu-se deixar algumas das figuras ainda cobertas, como documentos históricos. A censura sempre perseguiu Michelangelo, que às vezes era chamado de "inventor delle porcherie" ("inventor das obscenidades").
Em 1547, Michelangelo foi apontado como arquiteto da Basílica de São Pedro no Vaticano. Anos mais tarde, em 18 de Fevereiro de 1564, Michelangelo morre, em casa, em Roma aos 88 anos de idade, solicitando em testamento que seu corpo fosse enterrado em Florença.
Michelangelo, muitas vezes arrogante com os outros e constantemente insatisfeito com ele mesmo, via a arte como originada da inspiração interna e da cultura. Via a natureza como uma inimiga que tinha de ser superada. Suas figuras são dinâmicas. Para ele, a missão do escultor era libertar as formas que estavam dentro da pedra. Conta-se que após Michelangelo ter executado sua estátua Moisés, bateu violentamente com o martelo no joelho da obra e gritou: Porque não falas? (Perché non parli).
Na vida pessoal, Michelangelo era abstêmio. Era indiferente à bebida e à comida. Era uma pessoa solitária e melancólica.
Para além da pintura e da escultura, Michelangelo deixou também cerca de trezentos poemas em italiano vernáculo, que escreveu entre 1501 e 1560. Os seus poemas são marcados por uma forte carga homoerótica. Porém, esta foi alterada na primeira edição da sua poesia, em 1623, publicada pelo seu sobrinho Michelangelo, o Jovem. Em 1893, John Addington Symonds traduziu os poemas originais para inglês.
Fundamental para a arte de Michelangelo era sua paixão pela beleza masculina, que o atraía de modo emocional e estético. Era, em parte, uma expressão da idealização renascentista do corpo humano. Mas, para Michelangelo, há uma resposta única a essa estética. Tais sentimentos o faziam sentir uma profunda angústia, uma contradição entre a filosofia platônica e o sentimento carnal.
This sculpture was fotographed at the street in front of the Ufizzi Museum in florence, Italy.
A text, in english, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni
Birth name Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni
Born March 6, 1475(1475-03-06)
near Arezzo, in Caprese, Tuscany
Died February 18, 1564 (aged 88)
Rome
Nationality Italian
Field sculpture, painting, architecture and poetry
Training Apprentice to Domenico Ghirlandaio[1]
Movement High Renaissance
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni[1] (March 6, 1475 – February 18, 1564), commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet and engineer. Despite making few forays beyond the arts, his versatility in the disciplines he took up was of such a high order that he is often considered a contender for the title of the archetypal Renaissance man, along with his rival and fellow Italian Leonardo da Vinci.
Michelangelo's output in every field during his long life was prodigious; when the sheer volume of correspondence, sketches and reminiscences that survive is also taken into account, he is the best-documented artist of the 16th century. Two of his best-known works, the Pietà and the David, were sculpted before he turned thirty. Despite his low opinion of painting, Michelangelo also created two of the most influential works in fresco in the history of Western art: the scenes from Genesis on the ceiling and The Last Judgment on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Later in life he designed the dome of St. Peter's Basilica in the same city and revolutionised classical architecture with his use of the giant order of pilasters.
In a demonstration of Michelangelo's unique standing, he was the first Western artist whose biography was published while he was alive.[2] Two biographies were published of him during his lifetime; One of them, by Giorgio Vasari, proposed that he was the pinnacle of all artistic achievement since the beginning of the Renaissance, a viewpoint that continued to have currency in art history for centuries. In his lifetime he was also often called Il Divino ("the divine one").[3] One of the qualities most admired by his contemporaries was his terribilità, a sense of awe-inspiring grandeur, and it was the attempts of subsequent artists to imitate Michelangelo's impassioned and highly personal style that resulted in the next major movement in Western art after the High Renaissance, Mannerism.
Michelangelo was born on March 6, 1475[a] in Caprese near Arezzo, Tuscany.[4] His family had for several generations been small-scale bankers in Florence but his father, Lodovico di Leonardo di Buonarroti di Simoni, failed to maintain the bank's financial status, and held occasional government positions.[2] At the time of Michelangelo's birth, his father was the Judicial administrator of the small town of Caprese and local administrator of Chiusi. Michelangelo's mother was Francesca di Neri del Miniato di Siena.[5] The Buonarrotis claimed to descend from the Countess Mathilde of Canossa; this claim remains unproven, but Michelangelo himself believed it.[6] Several months after Michelangelo's birth the family returned to Florence where Michelangelo was raised. At later times, during the prolonged illness and after the death of his mother when he was seven years old, Michelangelo lived with a stonecutter and his wife and family in the town of Settignano where his father owned a marble quarry and a small farm.[5] Giorgio Vasari quotes Michelangelo as saying, "If there is some good in me, it is because I was born in the subtle atmosphere of your country of Arezzo. Along with the milk of my nurse I received the knack of handling chisel and hammer, with which I make my figures."[4]
Michelangelo's father sent him to study grammar with the Humanist Francesco da Urbino in Florence as a young boy.[7][4][b] The young artist, however, showed no interest in his schooling, preferring to copy paintings from churches and seek the company of painters.[7] At thirteen, Michelangelo was apprenticed to the painter Domenico Ghirlandaio.[1][8] When Michelangelo was only fourteen, his father persuaded Ghirlandaio to pay his apprentice as an artist, which was highly unusual at the time.[9] When in 1489 Lorenzo de' Medici, de facto ruler of Florence, asked Ghirlandaio for his two best pupils, Ghirlandaio sent Michelangelo and Francesco Granacci.[10] From 1490 to 1492, Michelangelo attended the Humanist academy which the Medici had founded along Neo Platonic lines. Michelangelo studied sculpture under Bertoldo di Giovanni. At the academy, both Michelangelo's outlook and his art were subject to the influence of many of the most prominent philosophers and writers of the day including Marsilio Ficino, Pico della Mirandola and Angelo Poliziano.[11] At this time Michelangelo sculpted the reliefs Madonna of the Steps (1490–1492) and Battle of the Centaurs (1491–1492). The latter was based on a theme suggested by Poliziano and was commissioned by Lorenzo de Medici.[12]
Lorenzo de' Medici's death on April 8, 1492, brought a reversal of Michelangelo's circumstances.[13] Michelangelo left the security of the Medici court and returned to his father's house. In the following months he carved a wooden crucifix (1493), as a gift to the prior of the Florentine church of Santo Spirito, who had permitted him some studies of anatomy on the corpses of the church's hospital.[14] Between 1493 and 1494 he bought a block of marble for a larger than life statue of Hercules, which was sent to France and subsequently disappeared sometime circa 1700s.[12][c] On January 20, 1494, after heavy snowfalls, Lorenzo's heir, Piero de Medici commissioned a snow statue, and Michelangelo again entered the court of the Medici.
In the same year, the Medici were expelled from Florence as the result of the rise of Savonarola. Michelangelo left the city before the end of the political upheaval, moving to Venice and then to Bologna.[13] In Bologna he was commissioned to finish the carving of the last small figures of the Shrine of St. Dominic, in the church dedicated to that saint. Towards the end 1494, the political situation in Florence was calmer. The city, previously under threat from the French, was no longer in danger as Charles VIII had suffered defeats. Michelangelo returned to Florence but received no commissions from the new city government under Savonarola. He returned to the employment of the Medici.[15] During the half year he spent in Florence he worked on two small statues, a child St. John the Baptist and a sleeping Cupid. According to Condivi, Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, for whom Michelangelo had sculpted St. John the Baptist, asked that Michelangelo "fix it so that it looked as if it had been buried" so he could "send it to Rome…pass [it off as] an ancient work and…sell it much better." Both Lorenzo and Michelangelo were unwittingly cheated out of the real value of the piece by a middleman. Cardinal Raffaele Riario, to whom Lorenzo had sold it, discovered that it was a fraud, but was so impressed by the quality of the sculpture that he invited the artist to Rome. [16][d] This apparent success in selling his sculpture abroad as well as the conservative Florentine situation may have encouraged Michelangelo to accept the prelate's invitation.[15]
Michelangelo arrived in Rome June 25, 1496[17] at the age of 21. On July 4 of the same year, he began work on a commission for Cardinal Raffaele Riario, an over-life-size statue of the Roman wine god, Bacchus. However, upon completion, the work was rejected by the cardinal, and subsequently entered the collection of the banker Jacopo Galli, for his garden.
In November of 1497, the French ambassador in the Holy See commissioned one of his most famous works, the Pietà and the contract was agreed upon in August of the following year. The contemporary opinion about this work — "a revelation of all the potentialities and force of the art of sculpture" — was summarized by Vasari: "It is certainly a miracle that a formless block of stone could ever have been reduced to a perfection that nature is scarcely able to create in the flesh."
In Rome, Michelangelo lived near the church of Santa Maria di Loreto. Here, according to the legend, he fell in love with Vittoria Colonna, marquise of Pescara and a poet.[citation needed] His house was demolished in 1874, and the remaining architectural elements saved by the new proprietors were destroyed in 1930. Today a modern reconstruction of Michelangelo's house can be seen on the Gianicolo hill.
Michelangelo returned to Florence in 1499–1501. Things were changing in the republic after the fall of anti-Renaissance Priest and leader of Florence, Girolamo Savonarola (executed in 1498) and the rise of the gonfaloniere Pier Soderini. He was asked by the consuls of the Guild of Wool to complete an unfinished project begun 40 years earlier by Agostino di Duccio: a colossal statue portraying David as a symbol of Florentine freedom, to be placed in the Piazza della Signoria, in front of the Palazzo Vecchio. Michelangelo responded by completing his most famous work, the Statue of David in 1504. This masterwork, created out of a marble block from the quarries at Carrara that had already been worked on by an earlier hand, definitively established his prominence as a sculptor of extraordinary technical skill and strength of symbolic imagination.
Also during this period, Michelangelo painted the Holy Family and St John, also known as the Doni Tondo or the Holy Family of the Tribune: it was commissioned for the marriage of Angelo Doni and Maddalena Strozzi and in the 17th century hung in the room known as the Tribune in the Uffizi. He also may have painted the Madonna and Child with John the Baptist, known as the Manchester Madonna and now in the National Gallery, London.
In 1505 Michelangelo was invited back to Rome by the newly elected Pope Julius II. He was commissioned to build the Pope's tomb. Under the patronage of the Pope, Michelangelo had to constantly stop work on the tomb in order to accomplish numerous other tasks. Because of these interruptions, Michelangelo worked on the tomb for 40 years. The tomb, of which the central feature is Michelangelo's statue of Moses, was never finished to Michelangelo's satisfaction. It is located in the Church of S. Pietro in Vincoli in Rome.
During the same period, Michelangelo took the commission to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, which took approximately four years to complete (1508–1512). According to Michelangelo's account, Bramante and Raphael convinced the Pope to commission Michelangelo in a medium not familiar to the artist. This was done in order that he, Michelangelo, would suffer unfavorable comparisons with his rival Raphael, who at the time was at the peak of his own artistry as the primo fresco painter. However, this story is discounted by modern historians on the grounds of contemporary evidence, and may merely have been a reflection of the artist's own perspective.
Michelangelo was originally commissioned to paint the 12 Apostles against a starry sky, but lobbied for a different and more complex scheme, representing creation, the Downfall of Man and the Promise of Salvation through the prophets and Genealogy of Christ. The work is part of a larger scheme of decoration within the chapel which represents much of the doctrine of the Catholic Church
The composition eventually contained over 300 figures and had at its center nine episodes from the Book of Genesis, divided into three groups: God's Creation of the Earth; God's Creation of Humankind and their fall from God's grace; and lastly, the state of Humanity as represented by Noah and his family. On the pendentives supporting the ceiling are painted twelve men and women who prophesied the coming of the Jesus. They are seven prophets of Israel and five Sibyls, prophetic women of the Classical world.
Among the most famous paintings on the ceiling are the Creation of Adam, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the Great Flood, the Prophet Isaiah and the Cumaean Sibyl. Around the windows are painted the ancestors of Christ.
In 1513 Pope Julius II died and his successor Pope Leo X, a Medici, commissioned Michelangelo to reconstruct the façade of the basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence and to adorn it with sculptures. Michelangelo agreed reluctantly. The three years he spent in creating drawings and models for the facade, as well as attempting to open a new marble quarry at Pietrasanta specifically for the project, were among the most frustrating in his career, as work was abruptly cancelled by his financially-strapped patrons before any real progress had been made. The basilica lacks a facade to this day.
Apparently not the least embarrassed by this turnabout, the Medici later came back to Michelangelo with another grand proposal, this time for a family funerary chapel in the basilica of San Lorenzo. Fortunately for posterity, this project, occupying the artist for much of the 1520s and 1530s, was more fully realized. Though still incomplete, it is the best example we have of the integration of the artist's sculptural and architectural vision, since Michelangelo created both the major sculptures as well as the interior plan. Ironically the most prominent tombs are those of two rather obscure Medici who died young, a son and grandson of Lorenzo. Il Magnifico himself is buried in an unfinished and comparatively unimpressive tomb on one of the side walls of the chapel, not given a free-standing monument, as originally intended.
Michelangelo's The Last Judgment. Saint Bartholomew is shown holding the knife of his martyrdom and his flayed skin. The face of the skin is recognizable as Michelangelo.
In 1527, the Florentine citizens, encouraged by the sack of Rome, threw out the Medici and restored the republic. A siege of the city ensued, and Michelangelo went to the aid of his beloved Florence by working on the city's fortifications from 1528 to 1529. The city fell in 1530 and the Medici were restored to power. Completely out of sympathy with the repressive reign of the ducal Medici, Michelangelo left Florence for good in the mid-1530s, leaving assistants to complete the Medici chapel. Years later his body was brought back from Rome for interment at the Basilica di Santa Croce, fulfilling the maestro's last request to be buried in his beloved Tuscany.
The fresco of The Last Judgment on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel was commissioned by Pope Clement VII, who died shortly after assigning the commission. Paul III was instrumental in seeing that Michelangelo began and completed the project. Michelangelo labored on the project from 1534 to October 1541. The work is massive and spans the entire wall behind the altar of the Sistine Chapel. The Last Judgment is a depiction of the second coming of Christ and the apocalypse; where the souls of humanity rise and are assigned to their various fates, as judged by Christ, surrounded by the Saints.
Once completed, the depictions of nakedness in the papal chapel was considered obscene and sacrilegious, and Cardinal Carafa and Monsignor Sernini (Mantua's ambassador) campaigned to have the fresco removed or censored, but the Pope resisted. After Michelangelo's death, it was decided to obscure the genitals ("Pictura in Cappella Ap.ca coopriantur"). So Daniele da Volterra, an apprentice of Michelangelo, was commissioned to cover with perizomas (briefs) the genitals, leaving unaltered the complex of bodies. When the work was restored in 1993, the conservators chose not to remove all the perizomas of Daniele, leaving some of them as a historical document, and because some of Michelangelo’s work was previously scraped away by the touch-up artist's application of “decency” to the masterpiece. A faithful uncensored copy of the original, by Marcello Venusti, can be seen at the Capodimonte Museum of Naples.
Censorship always followed Michelangelo, once described as "inventor delle porcherie" ("inventor of obscenities", in the original Italian language referring to "pork things"). The infamous "fig-leaf campaign" of the Counter-Reformation, aiming to cover all representations of human genitals in paintings and sculptures, started with Michelangelo's works. To give two examples, the marble statue of Cristo della Minerva (church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome) was covered by added drapery, as it remains today, and the statue of the naked child Jesus in Madonna of Bruges (The Church of Our Lady in Bruges, Belgium) remained covered for several decades. Also, the plaster copy of the David in the Cast Courts (Victoria and Albert Museum) in London, has a fig leaf in a box at the back of the statue. It was there to be placed over the statue's genitals so that they would not upset visiting female royalty.
In 1546, Michelangelo was appointed architect of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, and designed its dome. As St. Peter's was progressing there was concern that Michelangelo would pass away before the dome was finished. However, once building commenced on the lower part of the dome, the supporting ring, the completion of the design was inevitable.
On December 7, 2007, Michelangelo's red chalk sketch for the dome of St Peter's Basilica, his last before his 1564 death, was discovered in the Vatican archives. It is extremely rare, since he destroyed his designs later in life. The sketch is a partial plan for one of the radial columns of the cupola drum of Saint Peter's.
Michelangelo worked on many projects that had been started by other men, most notably in his work at St Peter's Basilica, Rome. The Campidoglio, designed by Michelangelo during the same period, rationalized the structures and spaces of Rome's Capitoline Hill. Its shape, more a rhomboid than a square, was intended to counteract the effects of perspective. The major Florentine architectural projects by Michelangelo are the unexecuted façade for the Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence and the Medici Chapel (Capella Medicea) and Laurentian Library there, and the fortifications of Florence. The major Roman projects are St. Peter's, Palazzo Farnese, San Giovanni de' Fiorentini and the Sforza Chapel (Capella Sforzesca), Porta Pia and Santa Maria degli Angeli.
Michelangelo, who was often arrogant with others and constantly dissatisfied with himself, saw art as originating from inner inspiration and from culture. In contradiction to the ideas of his rival, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo saw nature as an enemy that had to be overcome. The figures that he created are forceful and dynamic, each in its own space apart from the outside world. For Michelangelo, the job of the sculptor was to free the forms that were already inside the stone. He believed that every stone had a sculpture within it, and that the work of sculpting was simply a matter of chipping away all that was not a part of the statue.
Several anecdotes reveal that Michelangelo's skill, especially in sculpture, was greatly admired in his own time. Another Lorenzo de Medici wanted to use Michelangelo to make some money. He had Michelangelo sculpt a cupid that looked worn and old. Lorenzo paid Michelangelo 30 ducats, but sold the cupid for 200 ducats. Cardinal Raffaele Riario became suspicious and sent someone to investigate. The man had Michelangelo do a sketch for him of a cupid, and then told Michelangelo that while he received 30 ducats for his cupid, Lorenzo had passed the cupid off for an antique and sold it for 200 ducats. Michelangelo then confessed that he had done the cupid, but had no idea that he had been cheated. After the truth was revealed, the Cardinal later took this as proof of his skill and commissioned his Bacchus. Another better-known anecdote claims that when finishing the Moses (San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome), Michelangelo violently hit the knee of the statue with a hammer, shouting, "Why don't you speak to me?"
In his personal life, Michelangelo was abstemious. He told his apprentice, Ascanio Condivi: "However rich I may have been, I have always lived like a poor man." [19] Condivi said he was indifferent to food and drink, eating "more out of necessity than of pleasure"[19] and that he "often slept in his clothes and ... boots."[19] These habits may have made him unpopular; his biographer Paolo Giovio says "His nature was so rough and uncouth that his domestic habits were incredibly squalid, and deprived posterity of any pupils who might have followed him."[20] He may not have minded, since he was by nature a solitary and melancholy person; he had a reputation for being bizzarro e fantastico because he "withdrew himself from the company of men."
Fundamental to Michelangelo's art is his love of male beauty, which attracted him both aesthetically and emotionally. In part, this was an expression of the Renaissance idealization of masculinity. But in Michelangelo's art there is clearly a sensual response to this aesthetic.[22]
The sculptor's expressions of love have been characterized as both Neoplatonic and openly homoerotic; recent scholarship seeks an interpretation which respects both readings, yet is wary of drawing absolute conclusions. One example of the conundrum is Cecchino dei Bracci, whose death, only a year after their meeting in 1543, inspired the writing of forty eight funeral epigrams, which by some accounts allude to a relationship that was not only romantic but physical as well:
La carne terra, e qui l'ossa mia, prive
de' lor begli occhi, e del leggiadro aspetto
fan fede a quel ch'i' fu grazia nel letto,
che abbracciava, e' n che l'anima vive.[23]
or
The flesh now earth, and here my bones,
Bereft of handsome eyes, and jaunty air,
Still loyal are to him I joyed in bed,
Whom I embraced, in whom my soul now lives.
According to others, they represent an emotionless and elegant re-imagining of Platonic dialogue, whereby erotic poetry was seen as an expression of refined sensibilities (Indeed, it must be remembered that professions of love in 16th century Italy were given a far wider application than now).[24] Some young men were street wise and took advantage of the sculptor. Febbo di Poggio, in 1532, peddled his charms—in answer to Michelangelo's love poem he asks for money. Earlier, Gherardo Perini, in 1522, had stolen from him shamelessly. Michelangelo defended his privacy above all. When an employee of his friend Niccolò Quaratesi offered his son as apprentice suggesting that he would be good even in bed, Michelangelo refused indignantly, suggesting Quaratesi fire the man.
The greatest written expression of his love was given to Tommaso dei Cavalieri (c. 1509–1587), who was 23 years old when Michelangelo met him in 1532, at the age of 57. Cavalieri was open to the older man's affection: I swear to return your love. Never have I loved a man more than I love you, never have I wished for a friendship more than I wish for yours. Cavalieri remained devoted to Michelangelo till his death.
Michelangelo dedicated to him over three hundred sonnets and madrigals, constituting the largest sequence of poems composed by him. Some modern commentators assert that the relationship was merely a Platonic affection, even suggesting that Michelangelo was seeking a surrogate son.[25] However, their homoerotic nature was recognized in his own time, so that a decorous veil was drawn across them by his grand nephew, Michelangelo the Younger, who published an edition of the poetry in 1623 with the gender of pronouns changed. John Addington Symonds, the early British homosexual activist, undid this change by translating the original sonnets into English and writing a two-volume biography, published in 1893.
Ignudo, Sistine Chapel.
The sonnets are the first large sequence of poems in any modern tongue addressed by one man to another, predating Shakespeare's sonnets to his young friend by a good fifty years.
I feel as lit by fire a cold countenance
That burns me from afar and keeps itself ice-chill;
A strength I feel two shapely arms to fill
Which without motion moves every balance.
— (Michael Sullivan, translation)
Late in life he nurtured a great love for the poet and noble widow Vittoria Colonna, whom he met in Rome in 1536 or 1538 and who was in her late forties at the time. They wrote sonnets for each other and were in regular contact until she died, though many scholars note the intellectualized or spiritual quality of this passion.
It is impossible to know for certain whether Michelangelo had physical relationships (Condivi ascribed to him a "monk-like chastity"),[26] but through his poetry and visual art we may at least glimpse the arc of his imagination.
At a catshow in Seattle with the Qua on saturday.....an image that could clearly not be posted on Fotolog with its policy of "no nudity" which apparently offends 'heif's" sense of decency...he has cousins or something that are easily aroused.....
Sorry to all that I have been so un-enthused by both flickr and my photography this past month or two. I am just back from an awesome trip to a small island called Tobishima off the west coast of Japan. Good fun!
Basically, during migration time all sorts of rare birds just drop onto the island and, because it is so small, it is relatively easy to find rare birds when they come (well, sometimes). So, I was there from the 9th to the 14th and saw a total of 71 species, of which about 20 percent were new birds! A Common Redpoll on the last day brought my total of species in Japan this year to 250, not a bad achievement for 10 months of part-time birding, I thought.
I have included a complete list of the birds on the island for those who are interested. The birds probably mean very little to most of you, but some people will understand it :) The names in brackets are the Japanese names.
TOBISHIMA ISLAND LIST
Streaked Shearwater (O-mizunagidori)
Japanese Cormorant (Umi-u)
Grey Heron (Ao-sagi)
Great Egret (Dai-sagi)
Mandarin Duck (Oshidori) I was a bit surprised when we saw a pair flying in past the headland we were watching from.
Mallard (Ma-gamo)
Common Teal (Ko-gamo)
Osprey (Misago) Occasionally seen around the coasts.
Black Kite (Tobi)
Japanese Sparrowhawk (Tsumi) About 8 birds in total, presumably migrating. One group of birders said they saw Eurasian Sparrowhawk, but possibly this species (?)
NORTHERN HOBBY (Chigo-hayabusa) One seen flying low over the ocean close not far out from Sakata on the ferry to Tobishima on the 9th.
Peregrine Falcon (Hayabusa) At least 4 birds present on the island, two adults and two immatures, possibly more. It was great fun watching the antics of the Peregrines, particularly where it concerned the young birds. At least one of the young Peregrines was regularly seen mock dive-bombing the surrounding crows, but I think this was mostly play-acting or practising. On the last day, I observed one of the adults repeatedly dive-bombing one of the youngsters, maybe telling it to move on out of their territory!
Black-tailed Gull (Umi-neko)
Slaty-backed Gull (O-seguro-kamome)
Vega Gull (Seguro-kamome)
Japanese Wood Pigeon (Karasu-bato) Occasionally seen flying at canopy height.
Rufous Turtle-Dove (Kiji-bato)
Pacific Swift (Ama-tsubame)
Eurasian Wryneck (Arisui) One bird present on the 10th.
Eurasian Skylark (Hibari)
White Wagtail (Haku-sekirei)
Grey Wagtail (Ki-sekirei)
Olive-backed Pipit (Binzui) One on the 9th and 3 on the 14th.
RED-THROATED PIPT (Muneaka-tahibari) 2 on the 11th and 1 on the 12th.
Buff-bellied Pipit (Ta-hibari)
Brown-eared Bulbul (Hiyodori)
Goldcrest (Kiku-itadaki) Present in small numbers.
Blue Rock Thrush (Iso-hiyodori)
Japanese Thrush (Kuro-tsugumi) Present around the persimmon trees in small numbers during the second half of the stay.
Eyebrowed Thrush (Mamichajinai) As Peter said, present (probably in fairly decent numbers) but very rarely with any decency.
Pale Thrush (Shirohara)
Dusky Thrush (Tsugumi)
Japanese Bush Warbler (Uguisu) Present in huge numbers! Never easy to see well though.
PALLAS'S GRASSHOPPER WARBLER (Shiberia-sennyu) One bird seen very briefly on the 14th. I had about a 1 second view of the upperparts of the bird as it banked away into the scrub and although I waited for it, it did not come out again. Despite the short views, I am confident of ID: very definitely a grasshopper warbler species based on the size and jizz of the bird with shortish blunt wings and long broad fanned tail. The bird was overall a rusty kind of colour (keeping in mind that I could only see the upperparts) with a rusty-chestnut back and rump/tail. There was prominent streaking on the back extending onto the rump with a diffuse black sub-terminal on the tail and whitish tips to some of the tail feathers.
Black-browed Reed Warbler (Ko-yoshikiri) One seen on the 13th.
Arctic Warbler (Meboso-mushikui) Present in large numbers!
YELLOW-BROWED WARBLER (Kimayu-mushikui) One bird seen on the 10th whilst waiting for the Chestnut-flanked White-eye.
Sakhalin Leaf Warbler (Ezo-mushikui) One bird amongst the many Arctic Warblers that seemed fairly different, a rather contrasting greyish head and green back.
Asian Brown Flycatcher (Ko-samebitaki)
DARK-SIDED FLYCATCHER (Same-bitaki) Two birds present at different places on the 10th and one on the 12th.
Narcissus Flycatcher (Ki-bitaki)
MUGIMAKI FLYCATCHER (Mugimaki) One female seen on the 12th. One of the birders on the island said she saw a male-female pair on the same day.
Blue-and-White Flycatcher (O-ruri)
Japanese Robin (Komadori) One female seen in dense forest on the 14th.
Siberian Rubythroat (Nogoma) One female came close to inspect me whilst I was waiting for White-eye photos on the 12th.
Daurian Redstart (Jo-bitaki) Plentiful from the 12th.
Siberian Stonechat (No-bitaki) Plentiful before the 12th. It was interesting to see how the different migrants came in and went, with Stonechats being by far more common than Redstarts in the first half whilst the opposite was true for the second half of the trip.
Coal Tit (Hi-gara)
Great Tit (Shiju-kara)
Japanese White-eye (Mejiro) Plentiful, probably thousands of birds on the island.
CHESTNUT-FLANKED WHITE-EYE (Chousen-mejiro) As Peter said, one or two regularly came in to feed in one particular persimmon tree on the 9th, 10th and 11th. It was not seen at that place after the 11th, but apparently some other birds were seen at another place on the 13th. At least 3 different birds were present, quite possibly more. One of the star attractions of the week.
Bull-headed Shrike (Mozu) I saw Bull-headed Shrike only once, but one shrike species on the last day was quite possibly different, maybe a Brown Shrike or something (apparently a Brown Shrike in a different plumage was seen that day).
Carrion Crow (Hashiboso-garasu)
Large-billed Crow (Hashibuto-garasu)
ROOK (Miyama-garasu) Well over 1000 birds in one single flock on the 13th was an amazing spectacle! About 1/4 of the sky was completely black with these birds. Interestingly enough, they were being harassed by a Peregrine that really did look serious on taking one of them for dinner. They were common on the 14th but were not seen prior to the 13th.
DAURIAN JACKDAW (Kokumaru-garasu) 1 on the 14th. I was very pleased when I spotted this bird amongst a flock of Rooks. As one of the Japanese birders I was with at the time said, a very kawaii bird!!!
Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Suzume)
Brambling (Atori) Very common on the island, probably second only to Siskin.
Eurasian Siskin (Ma-hiwa) Abundant. They were everywhere on the island, and often very tame. I would say definitely in the 1000s and probably way more.
COMMON ROSEFINCH (Aka-mashiko) 1 on the 10th. As it turned out, probably one of the rarest birds I saw. I was birding with a Japanese birding friend when this female Rosefinch flushed up out of a bush and perched on a nice clear branch (albeit a bit backlit) for about 5 seconds before flying away. Obviously a Rosefinch given overall patterning and jizz. The beak appeared quite large for a bird that size! Pity it wasn't a male :)
COMMON REDPOLL (Beni-hiwa) One female/1st winter present on the 14th.
Oriental Greenfinch (Kawara-hiwa)
PINE BUNTING (Shiraga-hojiro) 1 non-breeding male seen on the 13th and 3 flying birds on the 14th. A very attractive bunting.
Meadow Bunting (Hojiro)
LITTLE BUNTING (Ko-houaka) Never commong, but seemingly always present in 1s or 2s in all good bunting places.
Rustic Bunting (Kashiradaka) Very common.
YELLOW-THROATED BUNTING (Miyama-hojiro) Not present before the 12th, but seen regularly after that. An extremely pretty bird, one of the most beautiful buntings in my opinion.
CHESTNUT BUNTING (Shima-nojiko) A male moulting already in or moulting into non-breeding plumage was seen on the evening of the 13th. Apparently seen the following morning as well.
Black-faced Bunting (Aoji) Numbers seemingly increased as the week went by.
Grey Bunting (Kuroji)
Common Reed Bunting (O-jurin) Small numbers. One bird that Kaz, Peter and I observed we concluded was probably a female/immature Reed Bunting. I again saw a bunting sp. on the last day that defied ID. To me the bird I saw on the last day appeared to be similar if not the same as the bird that we saw earlier on, and it was definitely not a Reed Bunting. It appeared to me to be closer in appearance to the juvenile Rustic Buntings, but it was subtly different. No photos. I guess it will just have to go down as an un-IDed bird.
Bless him, he's had a bad year, what with his leg going all duff on him and now turning into a visual monstrosity like this.
He's on Great-Grandmother Manley's lap here (I was pushing her chair) and they have precisely the same condition.
Great-Grandmother has the decency to close her eye or wear a patch though. Really Rubens, you have no dignity, do you?
Queens Of The Stone Age 700m deep in Sondershausen Salt Mine, Germany
p.s. if you are gonna post my copyrighted images elsewhere on the internet at least have the decency to credit me with them or link them back to here, or i'll probably stop posting them or at least start putting big watermarks on them.
The town of Erice is perched on top of Monte San Guliano. It is in the fog clouds day and night - very unusual: beautiful and mysterious.Ovid Heroides 15.57-58
"I am Yours, Venus Ericina, who also celebrates the Sicilian mountains, O Goddess, look after your prophetic poet, you who has the name of Love."
There are two castles that remain in the city: Pepoli Castle, which dates from Saracen times, and the Venus Castle, dating from the Norman period, built on top of the ancient Temple of Venus, where Venus Ericina was worshipped. According to legend, the temple was founded by Aeneas. It was well-known throughout the Mediterranean area in the ancient age, and an important cult was celebrated in it.
Inn ancient times Erice was center of a famous cult devoted to the goddess of the fertility: Venus Ericina, Astartis for the Phoenician, Aphrodite for the Greeks.
Venus Ericina (Venus of mount Erice) has an ear of wheat as her symbol and she’s represented with a dog and other animals by her side (she’s a "potnia theron", a "Mistress of animals"); her rites were celebrated outside, so that the dew could wash the stains due to sacrifices. Her cult was admitted in Rome, but with some restrictions on it because Roman magistrates thought it contravened Romans’ sense of decency; Venus Ericina’s day was on the 23rd of April, that was also the day of Vinalia, but the cult of the goddess was reserved to seventeen cities of Sicily, probably Elimi’s cities, which had the honour of presenting a wreath to her, and to prostitutes (because of this, some scholars believed that sacred prostitution was practised around the original temple in Sicily), while it was forbidden to other women to take part to it. Main Elimi’s city was Segesta: a Roman agricultural deity has the same name and her symbol was an ear of wheat like Venus Ericina’s, but the relation between the two is not clear.
``I gave her the power to carry sail.''
William J. Roue, designer of the Bluenose
The Bluenose was built near where I was born and I was raised on stories of her greatness. "They don't just put any old boat on the Canadian dime."
And they weren't just stories about how great she was, but what she symbolized - about us as a nation of people. There was a story my grandfather liked to tell about her that still gives me a lump in my throat.
She was a fishing boat. She fished the Grand Banks. And when she was done fishing, she went racing. The rules of these international races were that the boat had to be a working fishing boat. The Bluenose, in fact, achieved "high liner of the fleet" status several times in her fishing career and was known as the fleet workhorse. And though boats were built (in America and Britian) and fished in once and then sent to race her, the Bluenose always won, her belly still smelling of cod and sweat and the hard work of men who didn't always come home when they went out. And when she won her races, she went back to the Grand Banks and ... well, "brought 'em home to Lizer" as the song goes, until the next race.
So Cap'n Angus Walters is in the big race for the championship and the American boat lost her top jib and the race seemed destined to be won by Bluenose by "default". But Walters, at full speed and sail, sent a man up the 125 foot mast to take down their own jib and went on to win the race - saying something to the effect that the Bluenose didn't need an advantage, her heart was big enough to beat any odds.
And we believed him. And we believed something about ourselves when we heard that story. And I remember my grandfather saying to me, "That's what it means to be a Bluenoser." Some piece of that story settled in my soul as the ideal of decency: To work hard and play fair.
That was Bluenose I - whose fame increased when she became a rum boat during prohibition and the Halifax paper would have stories of her daily - breaking through the lines of the American Coast Guard who shot thousands of holes into her sides. Apparently she'd pull full sail and just run them down and they never once caught her although, if the stories be true, a few went home with bits of blue paint stuck to their sides.
I don't remember how old I was, but I remember watching this boat, the Bluenose II (I was very young, she was built in 1963, I was born in 1962) sail out from Halifax when she was only a few years old and my grandfather and I stood watching her from the docks with thousands of other cheering Nova Scotians. She is "some sight" as we say back home, under full sail, cutting through the water like it was air. When I looked up he had a tear in his eye and he was holding my hand tight and he said, "There's a big piece of us in that boat, girl."
And so there is.
*Bluenose is a term that the Americans gave us Nova Scotians back in those days - apparently the Nova Scotian fishermen wore mittens made from homespun wool dyed a deep blue. Anyone who has been on a boat at sea knows how their noses got blue :)
To read more: Bluenose I
From this site:
"Even if competitors of her sort could be found, Bluenose II would not be allowed to race. It was decided at the outset that she would never jeopardize the reputation of the original Bluenose. However, ships will occasionally test her speed by assuming the same course when she is seen passing; like her namesake, she moves like the wind."
It's so easy to forget that there's a world out there. Out there, children are dying of starvation. Women are being raped, mutilated, forced in to sex slavery. Innocent children, women, the elderly are tortured, abused, murdered, every day. It's so easy to be distracted. The scent of a woman distracts. A crab toast distracts. The more expensive chardonnay distracts. The numbing repetitions of CNN, of FoxNews, of MSNBC, today's crisis du jour, distract. A thousand imprecations from a thousand different sources distract us daily from the things that really matter. The quiet time we might spend with our sons and daughters, our husbands, our wives, our parents, our loved ones, our friends. The coffee at the coffee shop. The too-rich pastry shared with a girlfriend (girls, you know who you are.)
Why is it that people like me, like mrwaterslide, feel the tug of decency at this time of year? Maybe 2011 will be the year when mrwaterslide finds his inner Good Boy, his Good Wickedness, on a daily basis. Think about those less fortunate, mrwaterslide urges you. Think about our poor warming world. Do what you can to help save what we can. Turn the thermostat down. Drive less. Buy what you need and make some small sacrifices so those who need more can have a little bit more.
Here is my favorite worthy cause, in case anyone was wondering: www.orlt.org/.
this year has been such a wonderful year. i love you all. mrwaterslide
No mutton, just seal. Good numbers to be found at Mutton Cove, Godrevy. Thankfully they're fairly out of reach of the selfie gang who think nothing of pushing the boundaries of decency.
"Nope, I can't quite get it up that far either ... I just don't know how he does it."
Perhaps they are Duck Executives ? Or Top Management Ducks? Or Government Ducks?
Oh I'm just so sorry, my new medication isn't doing much to help my body but it's sure messed with my sense of decency. Usually, I wouldn't care what I wrote ;-0
Oh well, if you can't have fun once in a while ......... c'mon now, it's life, enjoy it while you can because no one gets out alive.
Anne became Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702. On 1 May 1707, under the Acts of Union, two of her realms, the kingdoms of England and Scotland, united as a single sovereign state known as Great Britain.
Born: 6 February 1665, St James's Palace, St James's
Died: 1 August 1714, Kensington Palace, London
Coronation: 23 April 1702
Spouse: Prince George of Denmark (m. 1683–1708)
House: House of Stuart
Children: Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, Anne Sophia, Mary, George
Around 1671, Anne first made the acquaintance of Sarah Jennings, who later became her close friend and one of her most influential advisers. Jennings married John Churchill (the future Duke of Marlborough) in about 1678. His sister, Arabella Churchill, was the Duke of York's mistress, and he was to be Anne's most important general.
Anne and George of Denmark were married on 28 July 1683 in the Chapel Royal and Sarah Churchill was appointed one of Anne's ladies of the bedchamber.
In what became known as the "Glorious Revolution", William of Orange invaded England on 5 November 1688 in an action that ultimately deposed King James. Forbidden by James to pay Mary a projected visit in the spring of 1687, Anne corresponded with her and was aware of the plans to invade. On the advice of the Churchills, she refused to side with James after William landed and instead wrote to William on 18 November declaring her approval of his action. Churchill abandoned the unpopular king on the 24th. Prince George followed suit that night, and in the evening of the following day James issued orders to place Sarah Churchill under house arrest at St James's Palace. Anne and Sarah fled from Whitehall by a back staircase, putting themselves under the care of Bishop Compton. They spent one night in his house, and subsequently arrived at Nottingham on 1 December. Two weeks later and escorted by a large company, Anne arrived at Oxford, where she met Prince George in triumph.
In January 1689, a Convention Parliament assembled in England and declared that James had effectively abdicated when he fled, and that the thrones of England and Ireland were therefore vacant. The Parliament or Estates of Scotland took similar action, and William and Mary were declared monarchs of all three realms. The Bill of Rights 1689 and Claim of Right Act 1689 settled the succession. Anne and her descendants were to be in the line of succession after William and Mary, and they were to be followed by any descendants of William by a future marriage. On 24 July 1689, Anne gave birth to a son, Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, who, though ill, survived infancy. As King William and Queen Mary had no children, it looked as though Anne's son would eventually inherit the Crown.
Soon after their accession, William and Mary rewarded John Churchill by granting him the Earldom of Marlborough. Resentment soon grew between the sisters, Mary and Anne, over Anne's wish to become financially independent. From around this time, at Anne's request she and Sarah Churchill, Lady Marlborough, began to call each other the pet names Mrs. Morley and Mrs. Freeman respectively, to facilitate a relationship of greater equality between the two when they were alone. In January 1692, suspecting that Marlborough was secretly conspiring with James's followers, the Jacobites, William and Mary dismissed him from all his offices. In a public show of support for the Marlboroughs, Anne took Sarah to a social event at the palace, and refused her sister's request to dismiss Sarah from her household. Lady Marlborough was subsequently removed from the royal household by the Lord Chamberlain, and Anne angrily left her royal lodgings and took up residence at Syon House, the home of the Duke of Somerset.[69] Anne was stripped of her guard of honour; courtiers were forbidden to visit her, and civic authorities were instructed to ignore her. In April, Anne gave birth to a son who died within minutes. Mary visited her, but instead of offering comfort took the opportunity to berate Anne once again for her friendship with Sarah. The sisters never saw each other again.
When Mary died of smallpox in 1694, William continued to reign alone. Anne became his heir apparent and the two reconciled publicly. He restored her previous honours, allowed her to reside in St James's Palace, and gave her Mary's jewels but excluded her from government and refrained from appointing her regent during his absences abroad. Three months later, William restored Marlborough to his offices.
Soon after her accession, Anne appointed her husband Lord High Admiral, giving him nominal control of the Royal Navy. Anne gave control of the army to Lord Marlborough, whom she appointed Captain-General. Marlborough also received numerous honours from the Queen; he was created a Knight of the Garter and was elevated to the rank of duke. The Duchess of Marlborough was appointed Groom of the Stole, Mistress of the Robes, and Keeper of the Privy Purse.
The Whigs vigorously supported the War of the Spanish Succession and became even more influential after the Duke of Marlborough won a great victory at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704. Many of the High Tories, who opposed British involvement in the land war against France, were removed from office. Godolphin, Marlborough, and Harley, who had replaced Nottingham as Secretary of State for the Northern Department, formed a ruling "triumvirate". They were forced to rely more and more on support from the Whigs, and particularly from the Whig Junto—Lords Somers, Halifax, Orford, Wharton and Sunderland—whom Anne disliked. Sarah, the Duchess of Marlborough, incessantly badgered the Queen to appoint more Whigs and reduce the power of the Tories, whom she considered little better than Jacobites, and the Queen became increasingly discontented with her. In 1706, Godolphin and the Marlboroughs forced Anne to accept Lord Sunderland, a Junto Whig and the Marlboroughs' son-in-law, as Harley's colleague as Secretary of State for the Southern Department. Although this strengthened the ministry's position in Parliament, it weakened the ministry's position with the Queen, as Anne became increasingly irritated with Godolphin and with her former favourite, the Duchess of Marlborough, for supporting Sunderland and other Whig candidates for vacant government and church positions. The Queen turned for private advice to Harley, who was uncomfortable with Marlborough and Godolphin's turn towards the Whigs. She also turned to Abigail Hill, a woman of the bedchamber whose influence grew as Anne's relationship with Sarah deteriorated. Abigail was related to both Harley and the Duchess, but was politically closer to Harley, and acted as an intermediary between him and the Queen.
The division within the ministry came to a head on 8 February 1708, when Godolphin and the Marlboroughs insisted that the Queen had to either dismiss Harley or do without their services. When the Queen seemed to hesitate, Marlborough and Godolphin refused to attend a cabinet meeting. Harley attempted to lead business without his former colleagues, and several of those present including the Duke of Somerset refused to participate until they returned. Her hand forced, the Queen dismissed Harley.
The following month, Anne's Catholic half-brother, James Francis Edward Stuart, attempted to land in Scotland with French assistance in an attempt to establish himself as king. Anne withheld royal assent from the Scottish Militia Bill 1708 in case the militia raised in Scotland was disloyal and sided with the Jacobites. She was the last British sovereign to veto a parliamentary bill, although her action was barely commented upon at the time. The invasion fleet never landed and was chased away by British ships.
The Duchess of Marlborough was angered when Abigail moved into rooms at Kensington Palace that Sarah considered her own, though she rarely if ever used them. In July 1708, she came to court with a bawdy poem written by a Whig propagandist. that implied a lesbian relationship between Anne and Abigail. The Duchess wrote to Anne telling her she had damaged her reputation by taking up such a friend. Whilst some modern commentators have concluded Anne was a lesbian, most have rejected this analysis. In the opinion of Anne's biographers, she considered Abigail nothing more than a trusted servant, and was a woman of strong traditional beliefs, who was devoted to her husband.
At a thanksgiving service for a victory at the Battle of Oudenarde, Anne did not wear the jewels that Sarah had selected for her. At the door of St Paul's Cathedral, they had an argument that culminated in Sarah offending the Queen by telling her to be quiet. Anne was dismayed. When Sarah forwarded an unrelated letter from her husband to Anne, with a covering note continuing the argument, Anne wrote back pointedly, "After the commands you gave me on the thanksgiving day of not answering you, I should not have troubled you with these lines, but to return the Duke of Marlborough's letter safe into your hands, and for the same reason do not say anything to that, nor to yours which enclosed it."
Anne was devastated by her husband's death in October 1708 and the event proved a turning point in her relationship with the Duchess of Marlborough. The Duchess arrived at Kensington Palace shortly before George died, and after his death insisted that Anne leave Kensington for St James's Palace against her wishes. Anne resented the Duchess's intrusive actions, which included removing a portrait of George from the Queen's bedchamber and then refusing to return it. With Whigs now dominant in Parliament, and Anne distraught at the loss of her husband, they forced her to accept the Junto leaders Lords Somers and Wharton into the cabinet. Sarah continued to berate Anne for her friendship with Abigail, and in October 1709, Anne wrote to the Duke of Marlborough asking that his wife "leave off teasing & tormenting me & behave herself with the decency she ought both to her friend and Queen".[162] On Maundy Thursday 6 April 1710, Anne and Sarah saw each other for the last time. According to Sarah, the Queen was taciturn and formal, repeating the same phrases—"Whatever you have to say you may put in writing" and "You said you desired no answer, and I shall give you none"—over and over.
As the expensive War of the Spanish Succession grew unpopular, so did the Whig administration. The Duke of Marlborough was for the time being allowed to remain in charge of the army but in January 1711, Anne forced Sarah to resign her court offices, and Abigail took over as Keeper of the Privy Purse. Having lost her most trusted advisers, Anne created 12 new peers, Abigail's husband included and dismissed the Marlboroughs on the same day. The peace treaty was ratified and Britain's military involvement in the War of the Spanish Succession ended.
Anne was buried beside her husband and children in the Henry VII chapel on the South Aisle of Westminster Abbey on 24 August. Author David Green noted, "Hers was not, as used to be supposed, petticoat government. She had considerable power; yet time and time again she had to capitulate." Professor Edward Gregg concluded that Anne was often able to impose her will, even though, as a woman in an age of male dominance and preoccupied by her health, her reign was marked by an increase in the influence of ministers and a decrease in the influence of the Crown.[203] She attended more cabinet meetings than any of her predecessors or successors,[204] and presided over an age of artistic, literary, economic and political advancement that was made possible by the stability and prosperity of her reign.
Abridged (believe it or not) from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne,_Queen_of_Great_Britain
Anne became Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702. On 1 May 1707, under the Acts of Union, two of her realms, the kingdoms of England and Scotland, united as a single sovereign state known as Great Britain.
Born: 6 February 1665, St James's Palace, St James's
Died: 1 August 1714, Kensington Palace, London
Coronation: 23 April 1702
Spouse: Prince George of Denmark (m. 1683–1708)
House: House of Stuart
Children: Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, Anne Sophia, Mary, George
Around 1671, Anne first made the acquaintance of Sarah Jennings, who later became her close friend and one of her most influential advisers. Jennings married John Churchill (the future Duke of Marlborough) in about 1678. His sister, Arabella Churchill, was the Duke of York's mistress, and he was to be Anne's most important general.
Anne and George of Denmark were married on 28 July 1683 in the Chapel Royal and Sarah Churchill was appointed one of Anne's ladies of the bedchamber.
In what became known as the "Glorious Revolution", William of Orange invaded England on 5 November 1688 in an action that ultimately deposed King James. Forbidden by James to pay Mary a projected visit in the spring of 1687, Anne corresponded with her and was aware of the plans to invade. On the advice of the Churchills, she refused to side with James after William landed and instead wrote to William on 18 November declaring her approval of his action. Churchill abandoned the unpopular king on the 24th. Prince George followed suit that night, and in the evening of the following day James issued orders to place Sarah Churchill under house arrest at St James's Palace. Anne and Sarah fled from Whitehall by a back staircase, putting themselves under the care of Bishop Compton. They spent one night in his house, and subsequently arrived at Nottingham on 1 December. Two weeks later and escorted by a large company, Anne arrived at Oxford, where she met Prince George in triumph.
In January 1689, a Convention Parliament assembled in England and declared that James had effectively abdicated when he fled, and that the thrones of England and Ireland were therefore vacant. The Parliament or Estates of Scotland took similar action, and William and Mary were declared monarchs of all three realms. The Bill of Rights 1689 and Claim of Right Act 1689 settled the succession. Anne and her descendants were to be in the line of succession after William and Mary, and they were to be followed by any descendants of William by a future marriage. On 24 July 1689, Anne gave birth to a son, Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, who, though ill, survived infancy. As King William and Queen Mary had no children, it looked as though Anne's son would eventually inherit the Crown.
Soon after their accession, William and Mary rewarded John Churchill by granting him the Earldom of Marlborough. Resentment soon grew between the sisters, Mary and Anne, over Anne's wish to become financially independent. From around this time, at Anne's request she and Sarah Churchill, Lady Marlborough, began to call each other the pet names Mrs. Morley and Mrs. Freeman respectively, to facilitate a relationship of greater equality between the two when they were alone. In January 1692, suspecting that Marlborough was secretly conspiring with James's followers, the Jacobites, William and Mary dismissed him from all his offices. In a public show of support for the Marlboroughs, Anne took Sarah to a social event at the palace, and refused her sister's request to dismiss Sarah from her household. Lady Marlborough was subsequently removed from the royal household by the Lord Chamberlain, and Anne angrily left her royal lodgings and took up residence at Syon House, the home of the Duke of Somerset.[69] Anne was stripped of her guard of honour; courtiers were forbidden to visit her, and civic authorities were instructed to ignore her. In April, Anne gave birth to a son who died within minutes. Mary visited her, but instead of offering comfort took the opportunity to berate Anne once again for her friendship with Sarah. The sisters never saw each other again.
When Mary died of smallpox in 1694, William continued to reign alone. Anne became his heir apparent and the two reconciled publicly. He restored her previous honours, allowed her to reside in St James's Palace, and gave her Mary's jewels but excluded her from government and refrained from appointing her regent during his absences abroad. Three months later, William restored Marlborough to his offices.
Soon after her accession, Anne appointed her husband Lord High Admiral, giving him nominal control of the Royal Navy. Anne gave control of the army to Lord Marlborough, whom she appointed Captain-General. Marlborough also received numerous honours from the Queen; he was created a Knight of the Garter and was elevated to the rank of duke. The Duchess of Marlborough was appointed Groom of the Stole, Mistress of the Robes, and Keeper of the Privy Purse.
The Whigs vigorously supported the War of the Spanish Succession and became even more influential after the Duke of Marlborough won a great victory at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704. Many of the High Tories, who opposed British involvement in the land war against France, were removed from office. Godolphin, Marlborough, and Harley, who had replaced Nottingham as Secretary of State for the Northern Department, formed a ruling "triumvirate". They were forced to rely more and more on support from the Whigs, and particularly from the Whig Junto—Lords Somers, Halifax, Orford, Wharton and Sunderland—whom Anne disliked. Sarah, the Duchess of Marlborough, incessantly badgered the Queen to appoint more Whigs and reduce the power of the Tories, whom she considered little better than Jacobites, and the Queen became increasingly discontented with her. In 1706, Godolphin and the Marlboroughs forced Anne to accept Lord Sunderland, a Junto Whig and the Marlboroughs' son-in-law, as Harley's colleague as Secretary of State for the Southern Department. Although this strengthened the ministry's position in Parliament, it weakened the ministry's position with the Queen, as Anne became increasingly irritated with Godolphin and with her former favourite, the Duchess of Marlborough, for supporting Sunderland and other Whig candidates for vacant government and church positions. The Queen turned for private advice to Harley, who was uncomfortable with Marlborough and Godolphin's turn towards the Whigs. She also turned to Abigail Hill, a woman of the bedchamber whose influence grew as Anne's relationship with Sarah deteriorated. Abigail was related to both Harley and the Duchess, but was politically closer to Harley, and acted as an intermediary between him and the Queen.
The division within the ministry came to a head on 8 February 1708, when Godolphin and the Marlboroughs insisted that the Queen had to either dismiss Harley or do without their services. When the Queen seemed to hesitate, Marlborough and Godolphin refused to attend a cabinet meeting. Harley attempted to lead business without his former colleagues, and several of those present including the Duke of Somerset refused to participate until they returned. Her hand forced, the Queen dismissed Harley.
The following month, Anne's Catholic half-brother, James Francis Edward Stuart, attempted to land in Scotland with French assistance in an attempt to establish himself as king. Anne withheld royal assent from the Scottish Militia Bill 1708 in case the militia raised in Scotland was disloyal and sided with the Jacobites. She was the last British sovereign to veto a parliamentary bill, although her action was barely commented upon at the time. The invasion fleet never landed and was chased away by British ships.
The Duchess of Marlborough was angered when Abigail moved into rooms at Kensington Palace that Sarah considered her own, though she rarely if ever used them. In July 1708, she came to court with a bawdy poem written by a Whig propagandist. that implied a lesbian relationship between Anne and Abigail. The Duchess wrote to Anne telling her she had damaged her reputation by taking up such a friend. Whilst some modern commentators have concluded Anne was a lesbian, most have rejected this analysis. In the opinion of Anne's biographers, she considered Abigail nothing more than a trusted servant, and was a woman of strong traditional beliefs, who was devoted to her husband.
At a thanksgiving service for a victory at the Battle of Oudenarde, Anne did not wear the jewels that Sarah had selected for her. At the door of St Paul's Cathedral, they had an argument that culminated in Sarah offending the Queen by telling her to be quiet. Anne was dismayed. When Sarah forwarded an unrelated letter from her husband to Anne, with a covering note continuing the argument, Anne wrote back pointedly, "After the commands you gave me on the thanksgiving day of not answering you, I should not have troubled you with these lines, but to return the Duke of Marlborough's letter safe into your hands, and for the same reason do not say anything to that, nor to yours which enclosed it."
Anne was devastated by her husband's death in October 1708 and the event proved a turning point in her relationship with the Duchess of Marlborough. The Duchess arrived at Kensington Palace shortly before George died, and after his death insisted that Anne leave Kensington for St James's Palace against her wishes. Anne resented the Duchess's intrusive actions, which included removing a portrait of George from the Queen's bedchamber and then refusing to return it. With Whigs now dominant in Parliament, and Anne distraught at the loss of her husband, they forced her to accept the Junto leaders Lords Somers and Wharton into the cabinet. Sarah continued to berate Anne for her friendship with Abigail, and in October 1709, Anne wrote to the Duke of Marlborough asking that his wife "leave off teasing & tormenting me & behave herself with the decency she ought both to her friend and Queen".[162] On Maundy Thursday 6 April 1710, Anne and Sarah saw each other for the last time. According to Sarah, the Queen was taciturn and formal, repeating the same phrases—"Whatever you have to say you may put in writing" and "You said you desired no answer, and I shall give you none"—over and over.
As the expensive War of the Spanish Succession grew unpopular, so did the Whig administration. The Duke of Marlborough was for the time being allowed to remain in charge of the army but in January 1711, Anne forced Sarah to resign her court offices, and Abigail took over as Keeper of the Privy Purse. Having lost her most trusted advisers, Anne created 12 new peers, Abigail's husband included and dismissed the Marlboroughs on the same day. The peace treaty was ratified and Britain's military involvement in the War of the Spanish Succession ended.
Anne was buried beside her husband and children in the Henry VII chapel on the South Aisle of Westminster Abbey on 24 August. Author David Green noted, "Hers was not, as used to be supposed, petticoat government. She had considerable power; yet time and time again she had to capitulate." Professor Edward Gregg concluded that Anne was often able to impose her will, even though, as a woman in an age of male dominance and preoccupied by her health, her reign was marked by an increase in the influence of ministers and a decrease in the influence of the Crown.[203] She attended more cabinet meetings than any of her predecessors or successors,[204] and presided over an age of artistic, literary, economic and political advancement that was made possible by the stability and prosperity of her reign.
Abridged (believe it or not) from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne,_Queen_of_Great_Britain
Im used to seeing sea gypsies asking for coins to a lot of people visiting the Paseo del Mar.
They will swim and dive for your thrown pennies, but it is already prohibited these days. These
couple catched my attention, they were peddling fresh fruits and souvenirs using their little vinta.
This picture depicts how creative and resourceful a Filipino is. We do not allow negativities run through
our veins and eat us. We look for ways to put food in the table for our family with decency and big smile.
short-edition.com/fr/classique/marquis-de-sade/il-y-a-pla...
A very pretty bourgeoisie of the rue Saint-Honoré, about twenty-two years old, fat, chubby, the freshest and most appetizing flesh, all the moulded forms, albeit a little filled, and which joined to so many appas of the presence of spirit, of the vivacity, and the most lively taste for all the pleasures that forbade him the rigorous laws of the There was nothing better arranged than the appointments that were indicated to these two lovers: Des-Roues, a young soldier, had four to five o' clock in the evening, and from five and a half to seven arrived Dolbreuse, young merchant of the prettiest figure that it was possible to see. It was impossible to fix other moments, they were the only ones where Mrs. Dolmène was quiet: in the morning it was necessary to be at the shop, in the evening sometimes it was necessary to look the same, or else the husband came back, and it was necessary to talk about his business. Moreover, Mrs. Dolmène had confided to one of her friends whom she loved enough that the moments of pleasure followed one another very closely: the fires of imagination were not extinguished, she claimed, in this way, nothing so sweet as to pass from one pleasure to another, you didn't have the trouble to get back on the train; because Mrs. Dolmène was a charming creature who calculated at best all the sensations of love, very few women analyzed them like her and it was because of her talents that she had recognized that, in all reflection, two lovers were much better than one; with respect to reputation it became almost equal, one covered the other, one could be mistaken, it could always be the same one who went and came back several times in the day, and relative to the pleasure what a difference! Mrs. Dolmen, who had a particular fear of pregnancy, of course her husband would never do the crazy thing with her to spoil her waist, had also calculated that with two lovers, there was much less risk for what she feared than with one, because, she said in fairly good anatomy, the two fruits were destroying each other.
One day, the order established in the appointments came to be disturbed, and our two lovers who had never seen each other, did as we will see it rather pleasantly. Des-Roues was the first one but it had come too late, and as if the devil had got involved, Dolbreuse who was the second one, arrived a little earlier.
The reader full of intelligence immediately sees that the combination of these two little wrongs must unfortunately have given rise to an infallible encounter: so it took place. But let's say how it happened and if we can, let's examine it with all the decency and restraint that such a matter, already very licentious by itself, requires.
By a rather bizarre caprice effect - but we see so much of it in men - our young soldier, tired of the role of lover, wanted to play for a moment that of mistress; instead of being lovingly contained in the arms of his divinity, he wanted to contain it in his turn: in a word what is underneath, he put it on it, and by this reversal of part, leaning against the altar where the sacrifice usually offered itself, it was Mrs. Dolmen who naked like the Venus callipyge, lying on her lover, presented in front of the door of the room where the mysteries were celebrated, what the Greeks worshipped devoutly in the statue from which we have just come. Such was the attitude, when Dolbreuse accustomed to penetrate without resistance, arrives humming, and sees for perspective what a truly honest woman should never, it is said, show.
What would have pleased a lot of people, made Dolbreuse move backwards.
What do I see,"he shouted... traitoress... is that what you have in store for me?
Mrs. Dolmène, who at that time was in one of those crises where a woman acts infinitely better than she thinks, resolving to pay for brazen cheek:
What the hell do you have,"she said to the second Adonis without ceasing to surrender to the other," I see nothing there that is too painful for you; do not disturb us, my friend, and lodge yourself in what is left of you; you see it well, there is room for two.
Dolbreuse could not help laughing at his mistress's cold-blooded laughter, and believed that the simplest thing was to follow his advice, he was not prayed, and it is claimed that all three won.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator
Victoria and Albert Museum, Kensington
"Moral Decency" - Laurence Olivier directed Leigh as Blanche in the London production of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. In this telegram to Olivier the playwright calls Leigh "the Blanche I had always dreamed of."
Film director Elia Kazan wrote to Leigh with this news about the film's development phase. "So far everything is fine".
Fifty years ago today – it really doesn’t seem possible – the speed ace Donald Campbell lost his life on Coniston Water in England’s Lake District while attempting to break his own World Water Speed Record. He was travelling at more than 300mph (483 kph) when his turbo jet-powered Bluebird K7 boat catapulted 50ft (15m) into the air after its nose lifted inexplicably. Aged 45, he was killed instantly as Bluebird hit the water and disintegrated on that fateful day in 1967. His remains, and the wreckage of Bluebird, weren’t recovered until 34 years later, in 2001.
As a boy, I idolised Donald Campbell, who was the personification of derring-do, decency, sportsmanship and fair play, and who believed passionately in contributing to the ‘greatness’ of Great Britain. He was a patriot through and through, and over the years he set eight world speed records, seven of them on land. No wonder he was my hero.
In the midst of all this breathless activity, I wrote to him asking for his autograph (I was perhaps 12 years old) and this hand-signed postcard is what he sent me in return. ‘To Peter’… I was thrilled beyond measure, and all these decades later this wonderful postcard from this great man is still among my most treasured possessions.
In July 2017, I visited Donald Campbell's grave in Coniston cemetery, to pay my long overdue respects.
King Arthur: “Be that as it may, we’re here to meet him. And I was wondering if you’ve seen him.”
Sir Gordon: “I’ve no idea.”
Sir Lancelot: “Look here, what do you mean you have no idea!”
Sir Gordon: “I don’t know who he is so I may have seen him or may not have. I’d not know either way. A more pertinent question is why you are looking for a bloke calling himself ‘The French Taunter’.”
King Arthur: “That’s no concern of yours whatsoever. You can simply answer my questions forthright. I am King Arthur.”
Sir Gordon: “A king! We’ve got a lass sitting in a castle over by Lake Judy calling herself a Queen and now you amble in to the Boar and Bunny, ascending to the throne right in the middle of our conversation. I think I shall afford myself some nobility as well then. Though I’ll have some decency and start off as a baron.”
King Arthur: “Of all the rude…”
Sir Galahad: “I really like the look ‘o my shield up ‘ere on the shelf.”
Sir Bedevere: “Mm, tis a good shelf for good shields. Sir Robin, get yours up here then.”
Brave Sir Robin: “This tavern looks like a bed of louts and ruffians! I’d like to keep my shield with me!”
If Trump supporters could be influenced by truth, logic, or decency, they wouldn’t be Trump supporters. A large turnout for the election is the only hope of getting rid of this worst of all "presidents."
Profoto A1X with Soft Bounce. Photo by Leona Illig.
Man, those McCoys make me mad.
What is it now, Vern?
Just look at 'em. Eatin' and drinkin' and carryin' on in public. Making complete fools of themselves.
It's not like you don't do the same, Vern.
But they're such low-lifes! They have no sense of, of . . . what's the word?
Decency?
Yeah. Decency. Why, if I was wearing pants, I'd go right over there and tell them to their face.
That would sure show them.
You're darn tootin' it would.
La pintura corporal o body painting es una pintura artística aplicada a la piel y se considera una de las primeras formas de expresión plástica utilizadas por nuestros antepasados. La pintura corporal reapareció en Occidente a finales del siglo XX. Se trata de un arte transitorio, en el que el pintor crea un dibujo sobre su modelo, y al que se dedican varios festivales
La pintura corporal se practica en la actualidad en las sociedades occidentales con una finalidad lúdica y decorativa. Parte de su éxito está en que permite una exposición del cuerpo desnudo que no atenta contra el sentido del pudor que prevalece en dichas sociedades (INTERNET)
Body painting and body painting is an artistic painting applied to the skin and is considered one of the earliest forms of artistic expression used by our ancestors. Body painting reappeared in the West in the late twentieth century. This is a transitory art, in which the painter creates a picture of your model, and several festivals devoted
Body painting is currently practiced in Western societies with a playful and decorative purpose. Part of its success is that it allows exposure of the naked body that does not undermine the sense of decency prevailing in these societies (INTERNET)
A bit unladylike but this female Black-necked Stilt doing what comes naturally but has the decency to do it at the sewage treatment site ;0)
This image is copyright, all rights reserved, and not part of the public domain. Any use, linking to, or posting of this image is prohibited without my consent. If you want to use this image in any fashion, please have the common courtesy and decency to ask.
Coquille River Valley, Myrtle Point, Oregon
I just got back from a 10 day vacation in Bandon, Oregon. My brother took me out on three of those nights to photograph the Milky Way. We even saw a pair of UFO’s flying way overhead on the first night, but that’s another story. We were at our cousin, Keith’s field in Myrtle Point on two of those nights. Here my brother is messing around in the van with the internal light on. I ran to this spot while he was looking for something in the van and captured this. I guess you could say since he didn’t move much during the exposure, it could represent a close encounter of the 3rd kind.
Canon 6D, Rokinon 14mm lens, f/2.8, iso 6400. Processed in Lightroom 6.
... and still she is a SLUT, a CUNT, and a WHORE. I'm sure we could come up with additional titles for her and nasty ways to describe her image, but I will keep this short.
ALL comments welcome, .. but please show at least a small amount of decency in the words you use to humiliate Kata. Overly descriptive terms may earn you a rebuke from me which can lead to banishment.
Josh Homme and Mikey Shuman
Queens Of The Stone Age @ Southampton Guildhall
p.s. if you are gonna post my copyrighted images elsewhere on the internet at least have the decency to credit me with them or link them back to here, or i'll probably stop posting them or at least start putting big watermarks on them.
Walking on my shoes. Depeche Mode.
I would tell you about the things they put me through
The pain I've been subjected to
But the Lord himself would blush
The countless feasts laid at my feet
Forbidden fruits for me to eat
But I think your pulse would start to rush
Now I'm not looking for absolution
Forgiveness for the things I do
But before you come to any conclusions
Try walking in my shoes
Try walking in my shoes
You'll stumble in my footsteps
Keep the same appointments I kept
If you try walking in my shoes
If you try walking in my shoes
Morality would frown upon
Decency look down upon
The scapegoat fate's made of me
But I promise now, my judge and jurors
My intentions couldn't have been purer
My case is easy to see
I'm not looking for a clearer conscience
Peace of mind after what I've been through
And before we talk of any repentance
Try walking in my shoes
Try walking in my shoes
You'll stumble in my footsteps
Keep the same appointments I kept
If you try walking in my shoes
If you try walking in my shoes
Try walking in my shoes
Now I'm not looking for absolution
Forgiveness for the things I do
But before you come to any conclusions
Try walking in my shoes
Try walking in my shoes
You'll stumble in my footsteps
Keep the same appointments I kept
If you try walking in my shoes
You'll stumble in my footsteps
Keep the same appointments I kept
If you try walking in my shoes
Try walking in my shoes
If you try walking in my shoes
Try walking in my shoes
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrC_yuzO-Ss
Zapatilla en un poblado himba. Kaokoland. Namibia. Press L
Vintage card. Photo: Monogram. Peggy Ann Garner and Johnny Sheffield in Bomba: The Jungle Boy (Ford Beebe, 1949).
Johnny Sheffield (1931-2010) was one of Hollywood's most famous child stars. He was unforgettable as Tarzan's adopted son Boy in eight Tarzan films starring Johnny Weissmuller. Between 1949 and 1955, he starred in twelve Bomba films for Monogram Pictures.
Johnny Sheffield was born John Matthew Sheffield Cassan in 1931 in Pasadena, California, USA. His father was the actor Reginald Sheffield who began as a child star and later turned to character acting. In 1938, Sheffield became a child star after he was cast in the juvenile lead of a West Coast production of the highly successful Broadway play 'On Borrowed Time', which starred Dudley Digges and featured Victor Moore as Gramps. The seven-year-old Sheffield played the role of Pud, a long role for a child. He later went to New York as a replacement and performed the role on Broadway. That year he also played Napoleon's son in the short MGM film The Man on the Rock (Edward L. Cahn, 1938). When Maureen O'Sullivan wanted out of her Jane role in the Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan series, it was decided that she and Tarzan would adopt a son (they had to adopt, according to the Legion of Decency, because they weren't married) before she died. Weissmuller personally selected Sheffield from 300 boys for the part of Boy. The role was inspired by Bobby Nelson's portrayal in Tarzan the Mighty (Jack Nelson, Ray Taylor, 1928). Athletic by nature, little Johnny was taught to swim by swimming Olympian Weissmuller. Johnny Sheffield's feature debut in Tarzan Finds a Son! (Richard Thorpe, 1939) was such a success that MGM signed him to six more films as Tarzan's Boy. Sheffield played Boy in three Tarzan films at MGM, and in another five after Johnny Weissmuller, and production of the film series moved to RKO. Brenda Joyce played Jane in the last three Tarzan films in which Sheffield appeared.
In between the Tarzan films, Johnny Sheffield played supporting parts in other films. Sheffield appeared in the musical Babes in Arms (Busby Berkeley, 1939) with Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, classmates of his at the studio school. Johnny and his brother Billy Sheffield were both in Knute Rockne All American (Lloyd Bacon, 1940), playing football player and coach Knute Rockne at different ages. By the time of Tarzan and the Mermaids (Robert Florey, 1948), Johnny Sheffield was too big for the part of Boy. The film merely said he was away at school. When Monogram Studios learned Sheffield had been dropped, they picked him up for s series of B-films based on Roy Rockwood's adventure novel 'Bomba'. The first was Bomba: The Jungle Boy (Ford Beebe, 1949). Between 1949 and 1955, Sheffield made twelve Bomba films for "Poverty Row" studio Monogram Pictures. Sheffield retired from films at age 24 after starring in his twelfth Bomba film Lord of the Jungle (Ford Beebe, 1955). He then made a pilot for a television series, Bantu the Zebra Boy, which was created, produced, and directed by his father, Reginald Sheffield. Although the production values were high compared to other TV jungle shows of the day, a sponsor was not found and the show was not taken up as a weekly series. In his later years, Sheffield sold bootlegged copies of the pilot to collectors on videotape. After leaving show business, Sheffield completed a business degree at UCLA. Turning his attention to other fields, he involved himself variously in farming, real estate and construction. For a time, he was a representative for the Santa Monica Seafood Company importing lobsters from Baja California in Mexico. In 1959 he married his wife Patricia and they would have three children, Stewart, Regina and Patrick Sheffield. In 2010, Johnny suffered a fatal heart attack at his home in Chula Vista, California, four hours after he fell off a ladder while pruning a palm tree. Sheffield was 79. His brother Billy Sheffield died two months later.
Sources: Ed Stephan (IMDb), Find A Grave, Wikipedia and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
West German postcard by Netter's Starverlag, Bad Münder / Bakede. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
American actor Gregory Peck (1916-2003) was one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s. Peck received five nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor and won once – for his performance as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). He almost always played courageous, nobly heroic good guys who saw injustice and fought it. Among his best known films are Spellbound (1945), The Yearling (1946), Gentleman's Agreement (1947), Roman Holiday (1953), The Guns of Navarone (1961), and Cape Fear (1962).
Eldred Gregory Peck was born in 1916 in La Jolla, California (now in San Diego). His parents were Bernice Mary (Ayres) and Gregory Pearl Peck, a chemist, and druggist in San Diego. His parents divorced when he was five years old. An only child, he was sent to live with his grandmother. He never felt he had a stable childhood. His fondest memories are of his grandmother taking him to the cinema every week and of his dog, which followed him everywhere. Peck's father encouraged him to take up medicine. He studied pre-med at UC-Berkeley and, while there, got bitten by the acting bug and decided to change the focus of his studies. He enrolled in the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York and debuted on Broadway after graduation. His debut was in Emlyn Williams' play 'The Morning Star' (1942). By 1943, he was in Hollywood, where he debuted in the RKO film Days of Glory (Jacques Tourneur, 1944). Stardom came with his next film, The Keys of the Kingdom (John M. Stahl, 1944), for which he was nominated for an Oscar. Tony Fontana at IMDb: "Peck's screen presence displayed the qualities for which he became well known. He was tall, rugged and heroic, with a basic decency that transcended his roles." He appeared opposite Ingrid Bergman in Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound (1945) as an amnesia victim accused of murder. In The Yearling (Clarence Brown, 1946), he was again nominated for an Oscar and won the Golden Globe. He was especially effective in Westerns and appeared in such varied fare as David O. Selznick's critically blasted Duel in the Sun (King Vidor, 1946), the somewhat better received Yellow Sky (William A. Wellman, 1948), and the acclaimed The Gunfighter (Henry King, 1950). He was nominated again for the Academy Award for his roles in Gentleman's Agreement (Elia Kazan, 1947), which dealt with anti-Semitism, and Twelve O'Clock High (Henry King, 1949), a story of high-level stress in an Air Force bomber unit in World War II. In 1947, Peck, along with Dorothy McGuire, David O'Selznick, and Mel Ferrer, founded the La Jolla Playhouse, located in his hometown, and produced many of the classics there. Due to film commitments, he could not return to Broadway but whet his appetite for live theatre on occasion at the Playhouse, keeping it firmly established with a strong, reputable name over the years.
With a string of hits to his credit, Gregory Peck made the decision to only work in films that interested him. He continued to appear as the heroic, larger-than-life figures in such films as Captain Horatio Hornblower (Raoul Walsh, 1951) with Virginia Mayo, and Moby Dick (John Huston, 1956) with Richard Basehart. He worked with Audrey Hepburn in her debut film, Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953). While filming The Bravados (Henry King, 1958), he decided to become a cowboy in real life, so he purchased a vast working ranch near Santa Barbara, California - already stocked with 600 head of prize cattle. In the early 1960s, he gave a powerful performance as Captain Keith Mallory in The Guns of Navarone (J. Lee Thompson, 1961) opposite David Niven and Anthony Quinn. The film was one of the biggest box-office hits of that year. Peck finally won the Oscar, after four nominations, for his performance as lawyer Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (Robert Mulligan, 1962). He also appeared in two darker films than he usually made, Cape Fear (J. Lee Thompson, 1962) opposite Robert Mitchum, and Captain Newman, M.D. (David Miller, 1963) with Tony Curtis, which dealt with the way people live. The financial failure of Cape Fear (1962) ended his company, Melville Productions. After making Arabesque (Stanley Donen, 1966) with Sophia Loren, Peck withdrew from acting for three years in order to concentrate on various humanitarian causes, including the American Cancer Society. In the early 1970s, he produced two films, The Trial of the Catonsville Nine (Gordon Davidson, 1972) and The Dove (Charles Jarrott, 1974), when his film career stalled. He made a comeback playing, somewhat woodenly, Ambassador Robert Thorn in the horror film The Omen (Richard Donner, 1976) with Lee Remick. After that, he returned to the bigger-than-life roles he was best known for, such as MacArthur (Joseph Sargent, 1977) and the infamous Nazi war criminal Dr. Josef Mengele in the huge hit The Boys from Brazil (Franklin J. Schaffner, 1978) with Laurence Olivier and James Mason. In the 1980s, he moved into television with the miniseries The Blue and the Gray (Andrew V. McLaglen, 1982) in which he played Abraham Lincoln, and The Scarlet and the Black (Jerry London, 1983) with Christopher Plummer and John Gielgud. In 1991, he appeared in the remake of his 1962 film, playing a different role, in Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear (1991). He was also cast as the progressive-thinking owner of a wire and cable business in Other People's Money (Norman Jewison, 1991), starring Danny DeVito. In 1967, Peck received the Academy's Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. He was also been awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom. Always politically progressive, he was active in such causes as anti-war protests, workers' rights, and civil rights. In 2003, Peck's portrayal of Atticus Finch was named the greatest film hero of the past 100 years by the American Film Institute, only two weeks before his death. Atticus beat out Indiana Jones, who was placed second, and James Bond who came third. Gregory Peck died in 2003 in Los Angeles, California. He was 87. Peck was married twice. From 1942 till 1955, he was married to Greta Kukkonen. They had three children: Jonathan Peck (1944-1975), Stephen Peck (1946), and Carey Paul Peck (1949). His second wife was Veronique Passani, whom he met at the set of Roman Holliday. They married in 1955 and had two children: Tony Peck (1956) and Cecilia Peck (1958). The couple remained together till his death.
Sources: Tony Fontana (IMDb), and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
A bat in purple-ish skies.
And down here on earth, the POETRY INVASION continues unabated.
WITHOUT TRUST
Without trust, might as well just
Forget it. Without trust, suspicion
And doubt will multiply to feed on
Your well-being until what could
Have been a good thing is over
Before it’s even begun. Without
Trust, it’s just mutual using, fine
Until you have to take responsibilty
For it. Without trust, togetherness
Is just an illustion, beautiful at first,
About as permanent as a raindrop.
We’re like freezers now, forever
Cold and closed. To understand
Why, look at our story from the
Very beginning, look at all that’s
Gone down, and ask yoursellf
How such a complete absence
Of trust could ever come to be.
SINK
Way too deep in the dirty, shitty,
Polluted waters of bad emotions,
And trying not to sink. Swim on,
Keep going – as sure as the waters
Are not supposed to be this way,
There must be something cleaner
Up ahead. Don’t drown because
Another was carelessness with
Their ocean. Swim on, these
Waters are just part of a much
Bigger sea that cleanses itself in
Time and will dissolve all this filth.
BIG EGGY
Eggs came flying from the hens
Like bullets. Hens on a steady
Amphetamine diet in the egg
Factory, meeting the demands
Of America’s breakfast each
And every morning. Till one
Day the hens used the eggs
As their weapons, rebelled,
Shot their way out of slavery.
Hens like Spartacus, a band
Of feathered refugees, on a
Quest to find freedom in the
Land of the free. I thought of
This after a really good omlett.
Maybe there realy are drugs in
The eggs. Or else this freedom
Thing is just contagious.
AN HONOR THING
I can get conflicted about returning
Somewhere I’ve previously been
Declared unwelcome. If you treat
Me like someone you’d rather not
Have around, until I hear differently
That’s how I’ll always see you. It’s
An honor thing. That might sound
Completely outdated in this day and
Age, but I’m talking about honor
Given, not just honor received. If
You’ve asked me for distance, then
The respectful response is to give
You that distance. If you’ve ever felt
Differently, you’ve never so much as
Lifted a finger to show it, so what is
The respectful, honorable thing for
Me to assume? Sorry if I’m sounding
Redundant, but sometimes you look
Upset at me for ignoring you.
NAKED
When a fully clothed man feels
Naked, that’s his problem. When
A naked man feels fully clothed,
That’s our problem. As much as
I try to undress a subject with
Words, without resorting to
Coarseness of speech, we keep
A veil over the unadorned truth
For the sake of public decency.
THE DOGS WHO ARE OUR FRIENDS
I don’t mean to feed the rats. I
Don’t want to feed the rats. But
Then there are the dogs who
Are our friends. The ones who
Belong to no one, no security,
No guarantee of the next meal.
Grateful for the scraps –different
Value system. You feed them and
They’ll guard you. Unlike people –
You feed them and they’ll rob you.
I am not my brother’s keeper and
I know even less about keeping a
Dog. They just stay close because
They want to, I guess.
SPINACH BELIEVER
Speechless – don’t even feel like
Talking. But it’s these moments
When speech eludes me that I’m
Probably closest to the truth, when
My particular state of affairs, state
Of being, state the union makes
Like Popeye, proclaiming, I am
What I am, and there you have it.
You can see clearly now, the rain
Is gone. Ok, Mr. Spinach Believer,
Kindly explain what’s up with this
Not being able to sleep? With this
Nagging feeling something isn’t
Exactly right? That I’m not quite
Where I’m supposed to be? Is
This a never-ending lesson in
Patience? The Buddha, I’m told,
Sat under a tree for years until
He’d transcended attachment
And found enlightenment. I don’t
Have the patience to follow his
Example. I think enlightenment
Hides behind these big questions
And little mysteries that never
Fail to leave me speechless.
SPIRITS IN MANU’A
People here so casually mention
Spirits in Manu’a, I have no doubt
They believe in them. I think it’s
Great there are spirits in Manu’a –
Spirits need a higher visual profile,
For sure, because people will only
Pay lip service to what they can’t
See. It’s high time the spirits kick
Some ass on the legion of stupid
Humans who would dare to mess
With them. I know most people
Here firmly believe Manu’a spirits
Exist. This fills me with fear, not
Because I think the spirits would
Harm me, but because so many
Here know that spirits are real
And still act the way they do.
PRECIOUS THING
Maybe someday when it doesn’t
Really matter, you’ll tell me what
Was going on in your head and I’ll
Tell you what was going on in mine
And we’ll both feel like idiots. We
Both felt the precious thing, and
Proceeded to create conditions
For it that the other couldn’t even
Cognate, never mind live up to.
Having no way to tell which way
Was up, it became more a matter
Of who was trashing it the worst.
I guess that’s the true nature of
The precious thing – it doesn’t
Really teach you that much about
Someone else, just about yourself.
YUM, COMFORTABLE SLUG
Fear reinforces conformity,
But, I’d wager to say, does
Not engender excellence.
For conformity stifles the
Aspirtion to rise above the
Anonymous mediocrity, to
Risk getting noticed out of
Line. Therefore, be a rebel
Or be a slug. Imagine if you
Breathe your last and the
Best thing you can say
About your life is, “It was
Comfortable”. Yep, very
Comfortable in a shell, in a
Mental cell, under the spell
Of mindless conformity.
Content to be just another
Comfortable slug, quietly
Waiting in line to provide
Some bird with breakfast.
SUMMER
We’re both living organisms
And nature made us a layaway
Plan. This is totally organic,
The most popular mechanics,
Encyclopedia Britannica
Defines it as life carrying on.
These cells weren’t meant for
Confinement, and the high
Court of nature recently ruled
In their favor. Time to think
Of future generations and
Whether they’ll remember us.
We leave behind poems and
A long story for others to tell
As summer approaches.
FULL MOON
I was born under the sign ruled by
The Moon. Its fullness has the
Strongest pull on the tides. We’re
Mostly liquid, but not enough for
The Moon to make us levitate.
How strange that would be – the
Bigger you are, the closer you’d
Get to the Moon. Even if we don’t
Float into the sky, the waters inside
Us feel the pull of the Moon. Our
Thoughts, feelings, emotions and
Perceptions all grow more intense.
It’s a time when joys can run high,
Sorrows deep. The stillness of the
Moon throws into contrast all the
Turbulence we carry. Things seem
Slightly distorted, but no, it’s just
The agonies and ecstasies of daily
Existence amplified by the Moon.
In a heightened state, transfixed
By the glow, I sometimes wonder
If floating into the sky might not be
Such a bad idea after all.
CRISES
Emotional crisis, health crisis, plumbing
Crisis – can you blame me if I think life
Has something personal against me?
Am I using too much air? Would the
Food I eat be better allocated to the
Starving in Africa? Do my words add
Irreparable damage to the general
Peace, harmony and understanding
Among mankind? Is even thinking I’m
That significant just another ego trip?
So many questions… Meanwhile, the
Crises need tending to. One by one
I’ll put a band aid on each and carry
On just like any other day.
ETIQUETTE
Look, sorry if you think this is
Strange, but on the planet I
Come from , this would be
Considered good manners.
This would be considered a
Gesture of affection and
Sincere respect. It would
Express appreciation for
All the things so special
About you, for the way you
Make things better just by
Being you. On the planet I
Come from expressions
Such as these are not
Considered in poor taste,
And are given and received
With grace. On the planet I
Come from it’s considered
Important to express such
Things if you feel them. But
On this planet everything
Is the opposite.
I.O.U.
There’s a difference of opinion
Over what my civic duty is. My
Controversial purse strings are
Being called to account. The
Public sticks its nose into my
Business records as if I owe
Them, as if the check is in the
Mail. They’re just jealous of
Success, real or perceived,
And think a high profile gives
Them an excuse for low blows.
NANNIES
Sometimes crimes don’t seem
Like crimes at all at the time,
More like a smart move – too
Bad the other dimwits missed
It – a chance to take advantage
While the tides have turned in
Your favor. So there you sit
Trying to explain what you did
To all the people you hurt, and
Your only defense is no one
Stopped you, as if all the laws
Of the courts and the heart are
Nothing more than nannies,
Derelict in their duty to keep
You from burining inquisitive
Fingers on the hot stove.
FILE
Judas on the computer, forwarding
The Pharisees useful tidbits they
Reward with pieces of silver and
Crumbs of approval. We keep a
File on you. Everything you’ve
Done, all you’ve ever shared with
Anyone, is documented, can be
Used as proof. When good times
Turn bad, good time friends turn
Witness. Think Heaven has issued
You a free pass? It doesn’t apply
Till you expire. Till then, you’re
Liable for an outstanding balance
Here on earth, and we’ll collect
By any means necessary. That’s
Why our meticulous file records
Everyone you ever sold out to get
Where you are. Just call it looking
After Number One, like Judas did.
FOREST
Subtleties of understanding are
One thing, but lacking an idea
In common, you can’t see the
Forest for the trees. The same
Thing looks different from a
Few feet away. The sublime
Just sounds crude unless you
Describe it with the right kind
Of English. It’s simple enough
We’re in a forest, but all the
Subtleties filter the light so
Differently, making the path
Appear a dead end. I left an
Offering of crumbs to mark
Some kind of trail, but now
My knapsack’s out and every
Direction looks no different
From the other. Have to find
My way through this forest
Of understanding on intuition
And faith, which is another
Way of saying I’m lost.
TOOLS IN HAND
Tools in hand, I threaten to carve
In stone a yes or no. Instead, it’s
Something ridiculous engraved
On this unsuspecting rock. I’d
Hate to immortalize anything
Really important on this eternal
Surface. Importance is so often
Nothing more than a response
To a moment. Subject the ages
To it? That would be like waking
Up one morning with a tattoo
You’re not so sure you even
Like anymore. So tools in hand,
Hoping to look important, what
Shall I carve in stone? Try sound
Profound – We need to laugh
At the ridiculous, or else it’s too
Easy to become frightened by it.
TIP THE SCALES
Weigh my flawed actions,
Speech and understanding
To see if they tip the scales
Of blind justice, knowing
Justice is never really blind,
Just suspending plain sight
To avoid judging solely by
How things appear. Blind
Judges use a third eye, feel
Vibes, an otherworldy sense
Of knowing , a logic of the
Subconscious. Still , among
Humans no objectivity is
Pure. At best, there is only
Balance or its absence, and
So the symbol of the scale
To weigh the right or wrong,
Inconsequence or severity
Of our every flawed action,
Speech and understanding.
PAIN
Pain wants to have a conversation,
Making its presence known. Pain
Has the uncanny knack of leading
You to believe it’s moved on, but
Just when you’re basking in the
Sun, a moving shadow distracts
You from your warm imaginings
And you just know. Pain wants to
Powwow, update its files, inquire
Discretely, do a routine service
Check while you’re still under
Warranty. Our relationship is
Purely professional, pain and me.
I don’t exactly relate, just grow
Accustomed to how it comes
And goes. I asked why, how long,
It looked at me thoughtfully and
Replied, sorry, that’s classified.
Not knowing just comes with the
Pain, and vice versa.
STAR AND DIRECTOR
Very few actors can handle being
Both star and director. This leads
To the shocking revelation that
The star isn’t really what’s best
About a movie, only what’s most
Visible. If it’s only the star that
Matters, then how come some
Of them turn out one lousy film
After another? Star, director,
And some mysterious X factor
All combine to make a movie
Memorable. We might both be
Stars in our own way, or even
Directors when someone needs
To take that role. Neither of us
Might require star billing, but I
know we’d both resist taking
Direction from each other. This
Has something to do with self-
Perception, artistic vision and
Who controls either or both.
How dare you presume you can
Direct me??? We two could only
Combine talents were we to cede
Direction to a source that’s bigger
Than the both of us.
LETTERS TO A LOVE
It meant something to try and
Make contact and keep in touch.
I wonder how many great love
Poems are really letters to a love
That never was. Whether you’re
A poet, a house painter, or a
Parking lot attendant, you’ve got
To have hope, do something
With what you know inside, try
To make contact and keep in
Touch, just so someone knows
They’re not the only one who
Feels the same things you do.
CONVENTION
Snub convention or take advantage
Of it, that is the question. I brought
With me the conventions of a
Different location, which renders
Me unconventional in this context
But a leopard can’t change stripes.
Boundaries, social responsibilities
And persona space all have their
Place, but I have two legs, I could
Walk through all that. You’ll notice
I won’t, because that would be
Ignoring the boundaries you set by
Implication. Your actions demarcate
Where the boundaries should be,
Until you indicate differently. That’s
The system, the convention, the
Way things are done among those
For whom doing things right means
More than simply victory or defeat.
True, I have two legs, I could walk
Through all that, but only if I knew
You wanted me to.
ONENESS AND LUST
Oneness, I wish I could bring you
A worthier gift than lust, than an
Admission of my weakness, than
A diagnosis of my disease. Little
Wonder you fail to find these
Attributes attractive. Or is it my
Own shame at the mortal truths
That reduce us to something so
Un-godlike we fear we displease
God who made us this way? You
Can read my intention at a glance,
And I don’t like feeling exposed
Any more than I like feeling alone.
IGLOO
In our polar bear skins, we blend in
With endless white, color of purity.
Since the cold comes so naturally
To you, I’m going to build an igloo
Where we can rendezvous. I don’t
Cherish the thought of killing seals
And walruses, but if we don’t eat
Them, something else will. Please
Let me draw the line at porpoises.
I’d even eat a porpoise for you, but
Only if we have to, and even then
With some regret. Alas, unfortunate
Porpoise, friend of man, it was you
Or me, buddy. That’s life in an igloo -
Not a McDonalds in sight but plenty
Of penguins.
ROPE
Judas, rope is not the answer.
Do you think running away
From what you’ve done will
Inspire compassion? Some
Would say it was all written
Before it happened, that you
Simply acted out your part as
Scripted. What is this, a last
Minute bid for sympathy?
To judge yourself unworthy
Of finding your soul again is
Not your judgment to make.
Who are you or I to shut the
Door to redemption for even
The worst, even ourselves?
It might seem futile atoning
For a crime impossible to
Forgive, but it would have
Mattered if you had at least
Tried. Judas, you’re not a
Bird, you don’t belong in the
Tree until you get your wings.
MENTALS
The mentals at the shopping center
Scare me by making me realize I’d
Like to slap them, report them to
Public Health, call the cops on them,
Complain to center management
(Or customer relations if they even
Bother).They make me realize I’m
Not such a nice guy after all, not so
Tolerant after all, not so forgiving
After all (but you already knew that).
You know you’re really nice, really
Tolerant and really forgiving when
In your heart you can pardon even
The mentals who ruin breakfast for
You with their thespian pleas for
Your extra change, not only those
More level-minded who really know
Better but steadfastly believe they
Can easily atone by simply making
The appropriately pious noises.
(inspired by the song “Royals”.)
TIDES
Our tides go in and out. So
Full at first, always ending
So empty. Nothing but a
Barren reef left sometimes,
But when the tide’s in, it has
A life of its own. Notoriously
Fickle, tides go where they
Will, but curiously, sooner
Or later they always seem to
Lead right back where they
Started. You can almost set
A clock by it. Ever feel like
The tides are trying to tell
Us something?
TWO HUNDRED GRAND
Hillary will give you a speech for
Two hundred grand. Once a price
Is known, it just makes you wonder
How far someone would go. Say the
Boy/Man Love Coalition had two
Hundred grand in the bank from
Bake sales - d’ya suppose she’d take
The gig? Or if a Saudi billionaire
Offered five if she’d read the local
Phone book for fifteen minutes,
Just as some kind of statement,
Would Hillary take it? For eight,
Would she pop out of a cake singing
“Emotions” to oilmen in Texas?
For nine, and an end to famine in
Africa, would Hillary strip down to
A flesh-colored one-piece live on
The web? And of course what they
All want to know – how many
Millions would it take for her to
Promise not to seek the Presidency?
Don’t take up a collection too soon,
Pal. What’s the matter? Afraid of a gal
Who knows her own worth and how
To budget her time?
CURVES
And so our story curves again.
I’m not afraid to comment, but
Taken out of context it might
Cause discomfort, which was
Never my intention in the first
Place. I was just hoping you’d
See the curve of my thoughts
And reconsider. Ideas come to
Me like freeway headlights, all
At once. I can only see them
Clearly for a second before they
Disappear. Sometimes one of
These passing thoughts makes
It all the way to the page. What’s
Inside me filters what’s around
Me and out comes these words.
Just so you’ll know if you have
Thoughts anything like mine.
HOOTENANNY MAN
Hootenanny man learned to use
Language to talk of things beyond
The barnyard. What makes the
World turn or the bar room fall
Silent. What makes schoolboys
Wish they could be president, or
Presidents wish they could spend
Summer at the fishing creek again.
Love growing from the ruins of war,
Our moment face to face with the
Eternal. Ever since we’ve had a
Language we’ve had poets using it
For more than the evening news,
Playing at being serious, seducing
With breathless invocations of the
Sanctified, reducing ageless wisdom
To blithe childishness, elevating a
Moment to eternal importance.
It’s not all contradictions, sings the
Hootenanny man, it’s as natural as
Having two eyes, two ears, two
Hands and two feet instead of one.
(Inspired by Bob Dylan)
LONG, LONG WAIT
Long, long wait for something
That never quite arrives. At the
End of the line, at least you can
Say you did your part. You try
And stay on a path with some
Kind of heart, hoping that if
You try to do right thing you’ll
Find the guidance you need
Whenever you come to a fork
In the road. When things go
Wrong, you try and take the
Knocks with grace, think about
What happened and why, and
How you can do better next
Time. Along the way, you’re
Going to lose a lot of Illusions,
But gain an insight or two that
Might help you make sense of
The long, long wait.
OVERBOARD
Overboard in matters of the heart,
Enthusiasms, passions, likes and
Dislikes, heartaches, suspicions,
Questions and more. Things seem
To resonate a bit deeper with me.
I have something to lose - you
Better take me seriously or take
A hike. But for the few I can trust,
I go overboard in my friendship
And wouldn’t think twice about
Giving whatever I can. I project
Balanced calm for appearances’
Sake, but shake the tree and I’m
Overboard before I can remember
My life vest.
PROFILE
How do you profile me in your
Mind? I’ve noticed how people
Do that – create you in their
Thoughts as whatever kind of
Character is convenient for the
Narrative they’re trying to sell.
Then one day you hear a person
Described who you don’t even
Recognize, and you realize its
Supposed to be you. Perhaps
You heard or saw something
That fit previously established
Prototypes, then constructed
A profile accordingly, but it’s
What you didn’t see or hear to
Factor in to your floor plan that
Brings me sadness.
HOPE AND DOUBT
Hope and doubt are battling it
Out. Emotionally speaking,
Self-protection can get violent.
Ideally, hope and doubt would
Just reach a balance, but mine
Want to get in each other’s
Faces and wreak havoc. Hope
Accuses doubt of having no
Faith in love. Doubt says hope
Is just an unrealistic fool. They
Both look bruised after clashing
Repeatedly. At the end of the
Day, for worse or better, I find
Myself favoring hope, only
Because doubt seems like a
Dead end. But I understand
Doubt’s resentment – just
Trying to look out for me and
Not being listened to.
DETECTIVE
Some people are scarier to think
About than to actually be around
Because they’re not like bank
Statements, easily reconciled
And confidently filed. Leave me
Alone with my thoughts for too
Long and my detective tendencies
Start me analyzing the profile,
Putting evidence together like a
Jigsaw puzzle. The emerging
Image isn’t always pretty which
Makes me question whether
Some pieces might be missing or
That’s it in all its contradictory
Glory. Bizarre as it may sound,
I really want you to be right, but
Can’t relax my guard untill my
Investigation of all the ways you
Could be wrong clears your name.
BUDDHISM 2014
The sins of this life, we pay for
In the next life, like karma is a
Credit card with a set limit to
How much forgiveness we can
Reasonably expect. Clear your
Balance of bad deeds in this
Lifetime and eventually you
Accumulate the bonus points
To transcend the karmic wheel
And buy into a timeshare in
Nirvana. But pass your limit
Too quickly and you’ll find
Your account overdrawn of
Grace, leaving you to a fate
Of paying back your debts to
Humanity while still human
(At least in appearance). All
This reveals why some can
Enjoy a spree of shockingly
Bad behavior and just smile
Like Mona Lisa, while others
Need only think a single bad
Thought and they’re promptly
Squashed like a bug under a
Bicycle. Splat: transcendence.
SILENCER
The national anthem asks, oh say,
Can you see? But some people
See more than they can say.
Like when I know I’ve been sold
Out – saying it aloud would only
Compound a painful absence of
Grace, so silence provides me my
Only solace. Wounds don’t need
Words or even sound to send a
Message, but if you see these
Soundless words, they’ll tell you
That what cuts even deeper than
Feeling sold out by you is the way
You can’t say you’re sorry. If you
Can’t say it, I can’t assume it.
ACCESS DENIED
Access denied because the
Password is some kind of
Family secret. What a fall
From lofty rank, like a big
Shot discovering he’s firing
Blanks. All thanks to the
Collective will of the herd,
Eager to hoof it for greener
Pastures and better friends,
While I fend for myself
Against coyotes. The herd
Heard rumors I know how
To download corrupt DNA
Into the deep end of your
Gene pool, making them
Panic for the sanctity of your
Bovine bloodline. Actually,
I was thinking one small
Small step at a time. What
Nerve of the herd not to
Investigate, just terminate
My access with no warning
Or farewell. If I’m outcast
So ingraciously, then may
It be coyotes instead who
Crack your sacred access
Code and bite you and your
Over-protective herd on
Your collective ass.
OVER-REACTION
Drop an atomic bomb on the mouse.
Oops, you took out the whole house –
Collateral damage. No, it’s not an
Over-reaction. We are the last bastion
Against the mice. It’s them or our
Civilization, like the Alamo defending
Us against Taco Bell.
IN MY OWN WEENIE WAY
It’s not exactly a new idea, some
Joker typing away trying to capture
A voice in his heard. They used to
Do it with pens. When the Marquis
De Sade got thrown in a French
Prison for writing blasphemy,
Pornography and politically
Insulting poetry and prose, they
Took away his pen just to be
Cruel but he continued to write
On the walls of his cell in his own
Blood and feces. This man had
Something to say. So do I, though
I’m just a weenie compared to the
Marquis. I don’t write to you in
Blood, but in my own weenie way,
Believe me, I’m bleeding.
SCRUTINY
Like a frog in biology class, I can
Feel scrutiny bearing down. You
Want to understand my mechanics
Like Japan always striving for a
Better radio. I better copyright
My consciousness, bottle up my
Lightning and sell in on special at
Rip Off Mart. You can buy Beatle
Wigs, Springsteen lunchboxes,
Rolling Stone dildos and Grateful
Dead bongs. Would you like to
Own my itch, or just brag you’ve
Got accurate data, made a factual
Analysis? Anal, yeah sis? I am of
No commercial or academic use.
I don’t even see why you like me
Unless your screws are tinny too.
MILESTONE
They left me to figure things
Out on my own, so I guess it’s
No surprise I soon deduced
What works for me. No one
Insisted I pursue a certain
Direction, so my process of
Self-becoming never involved
Pleasing anyone else. Left to
My own devices, of course I
Quickly intuited my vices of
Choice, but hopefully with a
Virtue or two as well here and
There. This self-reflection bit
Feels perilously close to self-
Promotion, but it’s another
Milestone so I’m supposed to
Tally up where I am and how
I got here. Ok, so where am I
And how did I get here? The
Answer is, I don’t really know,
Which I suppose is what I get
For watching the scenery
More than the signs.
UNCONVENTIONAL COUNSELING
(NOT TO MENTION UNSOLICITED)
When I say they live in the past,
I don’t mean it as an insult to
Their good intentions, but they
Were young in the ‘60s and ‘70s
And you’re young now. In their
Own way, they’re just trying to
Protect you, but some protection
If they force on you a partner
Who’ll beat you, cheat on you
And divorce you. Then what are
They going to do? Say it was your
Fault? Partner selection is a very
Personal thing, not just another
Community undertaking. You
Used to marry whole families
Together – that was all fine and
Good – but nowadays even
Families can’t guarantee if a
Particular pairing will soar like
High flying birds or crash like
A train off the tracks, and
Doesn’t staying together just
For the children’s sake sound
Like a benign form of torture?
Marry for serious love or don’t
Do it, I say, but everyone has to
Decide for themselves.
Photography and ‘simple things closer’ are my refuge and sanity from where I live and the people in my apartment building.
Sadly most of those people living here are cops – cops too blind to figure out they are being manipulated by a cute, bouncy, immature, spoiled woman illegally in the building. She has a long history of using people, especially men.
Before the cops moved in she had me fooled. I was cleaning mold in her apartment, cleaning sand and mold out of window tracks, baking banana bread, helping her with nursing homework assignments, even interceded in her behalf when she hit a neighbor's car with her car.
I protected her against the building owners since I didn't have the complete story of her being here. But when I stopped baking, stopped bringing up her boxes - and DARED to suggest she come by and check for her boxes once in a while, she came up with a list of things I supposedly said about cops and fed it to them. (She is the same person who lied to Medicaid for years to get free medical care though there is PLENTY of money in her family.) Her parents pay her rent, and her Father paid her nursing school costs.
She has become friends with all the cops living here because she is banking on them protecting her should the building owner attempt to evict her. They party, celebrate, do things together, etc. Little do they know her true personality. And none of them have the maturity or wisdom to question her motivations, or why she would say or do the things she's done.
Giving those cops my unlisted phone number, and likely my e-mail, along with a long list of things I'd supposedly said about cops was the final straw for me. (I'm not friends with any of the cops, so why why she would share my phone number any of them makes no sense.) The people she gave it to are live a foot away from me. My wall is their wall. Of course, she almost certainly gave it to others. Then again, whatever one knows, they all know.
She'd contacted me about a missing box - I haven't had anything to do with her for well over a year - had told her twice before not to speak to me after she continually broke promises and despite being a nurse wouldn't help me around 9:30 one night when my leg was spurting blood. She told me to call Kaiser - impossible to look up, find, and dial the number on a landline with that amount of blood and while trying to stop the blood flow!
There was only one reason to do what she did. Total lack of conscience, ethics, empathy, any human emotions. And the fact that she gets rid of anyone who no longer is useful to her or won't feed her ego. The fact they all fell for her games and manipulating astonishes me. But she is gifted at how she plays people. Only two of us know her and what and how she is. Then again, neither of us are cops. And we are older and wiser than most of the relative newcomer cops. .
I used to think much higher of cops until so many moved into the building, particularly as there are cops in my family. But they are in other parts of the country and they have different standards and goals, and a conscience and ethics and common sense.
You'd think being cops they’d have the professionalism and common sense to vet information. They don’t. Whatever the illegal tenant feeds them they consume - hook, line, and sinker. Besides, they are linked at the hip by the blue line, cell phones, and texting - and all of them have the the same kind of backgrounds, personalities, ego, and the sole goal of more and more money.
They do not follow building rules or common decency. Asked not to slam doors they go out of their way to slam the entry gate and their apartment doors as hard as they can. One in particular, from a family of cops for several generations, goes out of her way to slam her apartment door and make nasty comments every time she passes by when other cops aren't here. She and male friends even messed with my windows.
She took out a mail water pipe with her car, drove away without saying a word so the rest of us were without water. Another female cop backed into a fence in the garage, causing it to sway several feet. Again, not a word to anyone.
One of them leaves all the garage lights on at least one a week - if I don't notice and shut them off they stay on 24/7 endlessly. And none of them will recycle food. The raccoons are constantly scattering it around, and through they are the reason, not one of them will grab a broom and clean the bones and breads and torn bags up. (Though they all are aware of the ill health of the landlady and her husband, who are in their mid-eighties and early nineties, respectively, and who live elsewhere.)
The petulant cop who verbally attacked me and angrily advised I had no friends here and would die alone, etc. has given out keys to people who don't live here (a huge security risk), and refuses to provide the name of long-time male 'room-mates' to the building owner who needs that information because we live in an active earthquake zone. Moreover the landlady, who bent over backward for that tenant, even giving her her brother's parking space, has to pay additional monthly water charges because of the extra water usage.
The irony is that the building rules of quietly shutting doors and keeping voices inside, and TV's and music at a lower level were put in place for the cops because of their unusual work schedules and related daytime sleeping schedules!
A different female cop, when witnessing damage done to my plants and planters, advised I should get psychological help because the ongoing damage was upsetting me. But physical damage and destruction aren't the same thing as words. Words are easily ignored, one just considers the source. And words are simply a case of ‘sticks and stones.’ Most people realize there is a huge difference between deliberate destructive actions and words.
No wonder people are afraid to call the police anymore! They prove more and more that cops in general can’t be believed or trusted. Too many have digressed from being overly-violent and trigger-happy to shooting handicapped people and people inside their own apartments and homes!
I know I’ll never look at cops the same way again. Not true for other first responders, like firefighters, who don’t hide behind excuses like they were ‘afraid for their lives.’ Instead they and other first responders save lives and try to help people, both on and off the job. Many are heroes.
But there is a world of difference between rescuing and saving people, and deliberately taunting, attacking, and trying to destroy others. Unfortunately the underhandedness, sabotage, and character assignation demonstrated here is how too many cops are these days. Pure evil in some cases. No empathy, no sympathy, no respect for elders or veterans, or older, handicapped veterans. And no ability to let go of things and move on.
Keizersgracht 09/05/2020 18h21
The phenomenon "plaskrul" ("pee curl") is something we can still experience and photograph. All 39 existing urinals will disappear over the years.
This double one is located on the Keizersgracht on the corner of the Spiegelstraat and is quite unique.
Plaskrul
The pee curl disappears: "Too bad, it belongs in the street scene"
The green curl of water, once a symbol of civilization, disappears from the streets. The municipality has an extinction policy. Not everyone agrees. "It is a familiar and quite graceful appearance."
If you want to urinate old Amsterdam again, you shouldn't wait too long. As rancid as it may be, the Amsterdam curl is an attraction: standing puddles - unfortunately only for men - while looking out at the canal and passers-by, through a cast iron grid.
There are gems in between. The one on the Plantage Kerklaan gives a view of Artis, the one on the Herenmarkt overlooks the postcards-Amsterdam of the Brouwersgracht.
At The Grand, on Oudezijds Voorburgwal, there is a curl built of natural stone, a red brick mesh with a statue on the roof, designed in the style of the Amsterdam School at the beginning of the last century. This urinal will survive the major cleaning; it was designated a national monument in 2001.
The other curls, still 39, will disappear one by one and will be replaced by modern MVG toilet units: more hygienic and suitable for men, women and disabled people.
The first curls were placed around 1870. De Baar: “From a hygienic point of view. Men used to do it directly in the canal. But the standards of decency changed. A civilized gentleman also found a bit of seclusion pleasant. ”
The design of the curl had to provide transparency. That was, according to the city archive of 1880, "for the police, to check that no indecent acts were taking place." Especially from the twenties of the last century, the curls became popular as a meeting place for men.
In recent years, many curls of urine have disappeared due to redesign of the public space or after complaints from local residents about odor nuisance. The municipality has an extinction policy. Also because the curls fall under sanitary sexism.
[ Het Parool, 30/01/2020 ]
Dutch postcard by van Leer's Fotodrukindustrie N.V., Amsterdam, no. 351, no. 6. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer (M.G.M.) June Allyson and Gene Kelly in The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948), based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas.
The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948) is a classic Swashbuckler, starring Gene Kelly as D’Artagnan and Lana Turner as Milady De Winter. Other stars in the cast include Van Heflin, June Allyson, Gig Young, Angela Lansbury, and Vincent Price. It is one of the many, adaptations of the famous French book ‘Les trois mousquetaires’ by Alexandre Dumas père, and possibly the liveliest one, full of acrobatics, galloping horses, flapping cloaks, and sword fights with almost operatic intensity. Dumas’s story is followed quite faithfully, but the creative fantasy is in the theatrical way of depicting it.
As in the book: the story of The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948) is set in 1625 in France. The young and inexperienced D'Artagnan (Gene Kelly) leaves his home village in Gascony to become a musketeer in Paris in the service of His Majesty King Louis XIII (Frank Morgan). In his pocket, he has the letter of recommendation from his father (silent film star Robert Warwick), a former musketeer and friend of the current captain of the musketeers, Treville (Reginald Owen). His father has taught him the art of fencing masterfully and gives him the good advice never to let himself be compromised with impunity. He is only too happy to follow this advice. Very soon, before he has even reached Paris, D'Artagnan gets into a confrontation with Rochefort (Ian Keith), Cardinal Richelieu's (Vincent Price) confidant, and his companion, the mysterious Lady de Winter (Lana Turner). At this first opportunity to preserve his honour in battle, he is unceremoniously struck down and robbed by Rochefort's henchmen, and his credentials are also taken from him. Once in Paris, he not only meets his new friends and comrades-in-arms Athos (Van Heflin), Porthos (Gig Young), and Aramis (Robert Coote), but also his landlord's niece, Constance Bonacieux (June Allyson), and falls in love. Many adventures and entanglements lie ahead and in the path of the brave hero D'Artagnan. Driven by his desire to become the king's musketeer and to prove himself in battle, he falls into the clutches of both the queen (Angela and the cardinal, experiences numerous dangerous situations and sometimes needs his new friends to get away at all. Nevertheless, he sets out to travel to England for the Queen's honour, to retrieve a jewellery box given away by the Queen's secret lover, Lord Buckingham (John Sutton), and to prevent Richelieu from plotting. To assist him, he is accompanied by Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, as well as his dull but loyal servant Planchet (Keenan Wynn). Shortly after D'Artagnan's return from England, Constance is kidnapped at the behest of Cardinal Richelieu. D'Artagnan makes a pass at Milady de Winter, discovers a delicate secret, and only just manages to save himself. Constance is freed and taken to safety in England, shortly after which war breaks out, and our four friends are drawn into it. They overhear a conspiratorial meeting between the Cardinal and Lady de Winter in an inn. The latter is to travel to England and kill Buckingham. Planchet also travels to England at D'Artagnan's behest to warn Buckingham. Lady de Winter is convicted and is to be executed. Constance is appointed her guardian. Milady de Winter, after a lengthy psychological duel, manages to take out Constance as well as a guard and Buckingham and then escapes. Athos and D'Artagnan, who wanted to help Constance, arrive too late; after Constance dies in D'Artagnan's arms, they themselves also have only escaped. Back in Paris, the four friends track down Lady de Winter, pronounce the death sentence on her, and have the prisoner executed. During their subsequent escape towards Spain, they are overpowered and arrested. Their fate seems to be sealed, but young D'Artagnan still has one trump card: the Countess's passport, personally sealed and signed by Cardinal Richelieu, with the note that everything the bearer of this letter undertakes will serve the good of the state. The king is not allowed to know the background of this letter - so Richelieu has to give in. Aramis receives permission to take up a clerical office. Porthos is allowed to marry richly, Athos gets his property back and D'Artagnan is to negotiate a peace offer with the enemy England on behalf of France.
Among the many American film versions of Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers are the 1914 Film Attractions Co. production, directed by Charles V. Henkel, the 1921 Douglas Fairbanks production, directed by Fred Niblo, the 1935 RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. production, directed by Rowland V. Lee and starring Walter Abel, Paul Lucas and Margot Grahame, Richard Lester's 1974 Twentieth Century-Fox production starring Michael York, Oliver Reed, Richard Chamberlain, and Raquel Welch; and the 1993 Buena Vista release, directed by Stephen Herek and starring Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland, Chris O'Donnell, and Rebecca de Mornay. This splashy 1948 MGM adaptation of The Three Musketeers was the third sound version and was also the first version in Technicolor. In 1947, a representative of the National Catholic Legion of Decency, an organisation that monitored the interests of the Church in motion pictures, objected to the characterisation of Cardinal Richelieu in the planned MGM adaptation of Dumas' story. In a letter to MGM producer Pandro S. Berman, the organisation stated its objection to the cardinal being portrayed as a "worldly and unscrupulous man" and urged the studio to remove the character from the film. Berman refused to remove the character from the film but promised he would use great caution in all sensitive matters pertaining to the story and in the film, Richelieu is never referred to as Cardinal Richelieu. Berman also indicated that Constance, the married mistress of D'Artagnan in the novel, would be unmarried in the film version. While early sound versions of Three Musketeers eliminated the deaths of Constance and Milady, this adaptation telescopes the novel's events to allow for these tragedies. According to AFI, screenwriter Robert Ardry was displeased with Sidney's irreverent approach to the Dumas story and objected to the spoof elements that were added to the film. A biography of Kelly noted that Belgian fencing champion Jean Heremans, who appears in the film as the cardinal's guard, taught Kelly how to fence. Kelly's biography also noted that during the filming of a bedroom scene, Kelly flung Turner onto a bed with such force that she fell to the ground and suffered a broken elbow. Hal Erickson at AllMovie: “True to form, MGM saw to it that Lana Turner, as Milady, was dressed to the nines and heavily bejeweled for her beheading sequence. Portions of the 1948 Three Musketeers, in black and white, showed up in the silent film-within-a-film in 1952's Singin' in the Rain, which of course also starred Gene Kelly.” The Three Musketeers opened to mostly favourable reviews, with several reviewers commenting on the film's unusual tongue-in-cheek approach. New York Times reviewer Bosley Crowther noted that "more glittering swordplay, more dazzling costumes, more colors or more of Miss Turner's chest have never been seen in a picture than are shown in this one." And added: “Completely fantastic, however, is Miss Turner as the villainess, the ambitious Lady de Winter who does the boudoir business for the boss. Loaded with blond hair and jewels, with twelve-gallon hats and ostrich plumes, and poured into her satin dresses with a good bit of Turner to spare, she walks through the palaces and salons with the air of a company-mannered Mae West.” In 1948, there was an Oscar nomination for Robert Planck in the category Best Cinematography/Colour. Hans J. Wollstein at AllMovie: “The Three Musketeers remains an outrageously entertaining yarn, the Southern California locales perfectly standing in for 17th Century France and England.” And finally, Yvette Banek at her blog In so many words: “Lana Turner is really quite superb in her evilness. So evil that she is even photographed without make-up. Well, as 'without make-up' as MGM got, at any rate. Even then, she is exquisitely beautiful - especially when praying.”
Sources: Bosley Crowther (New York Times), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Yvette Banek (In so many words), AFI, Wikipedia (Dutch, German), and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Queens Of The Stone Age @ Nokia Theater, Los Angeles
p.s. if you are gonna post my copyrighted images elsewhere on the internet at least have the decency to credit me with them or link them back to here, or i'll probably stop posting them or at least start putting big watermarks on them.
Belgian postcard by Victoria Biscuits Chocolats, no. 12. Photo: M.G.M. Angela Lansbury, June Allyson and Gene Kelly in The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948), based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas.
The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948) is a classic Swashbuckler, starring Gene Kelly as D’Artagnan and Lana Turner as Milady De Winter. Other stars in the cast include Van Heflin, June Allyson, Gig Young, Angela Lansbury, and Vincent Price. It is one of the many, adaptations of the famous French book ‘Les trois mousquetaires’ by Alexandre Dumas père, and possibly the liveliest one, full of acrobatics, galloping horses, flapping cloaks, and sword fights with almost operatic intensity. Dumas’s story is followed quite faithfully, but the creative fantasy is in the theatrical way of depicting it.
As in the book: the story of The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948) is set in 1625 in France. The young and inexperienced D'Artagnan (Gene Kelly) leaves his home village in Gascony to become a musketeer in Paris in the service of His Majesty King Louis XIII (Frank Morgan). In his pocket, he has the letter of recommendation from his father (silent film star Robert Warwick), a former musketeer and friend of the current captain of the musketeers, Treville (Reginald Owen). His father has taught him the art of fencing masterfully and gives him the good advice never to let himself be compromised with impunity. He is only too happy to follow this advice. Very soon, before he has even reached Paris, D'Artagnan gets into a confrontation with Rochefort (Ian Keith), Cardinal Richelieu's (Vincent Price) confidant, and his companion, the mysterious Lady de Winter (Lana Turner). At this first opportunity to preserve his honour in battle, he is unceremoniously struck down and robbed by Rochefort's henchmen, and his credentials are also taken from him. Once in Paris, he not only meets his new friends and comrades-in-arms Athos (Van Heflin), Porthos (Gig Young), and Aramis (Robert Coote), but also his landlord's niece, Constance Bonacieux (June Allyson), and falls in love. Many adventures and entanglements lie ahead and in the path of the brave hero D'Artagnan. Driven by his desire to become the king's musketeer and to prove himself in battle, he falls into the clutches of both the queen (Angela Lansbury) and the cardinal, experiences numerous dangerous situations and sometimes needs his new friends to get away at all. Nevertheless, he sets out to travel to England for the Queen's honour, to retrieve a jewellery box given away by the Queen's secret lover, Lord Buckingham (John Sutton), and to prevent Richelieu from plotting. To assist him, he is accompanied by Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, as well as his dull but loyal servant Planchet (Keenan Wynn). Shortly after D'Artagnan's return from England, Constance is kidnapped at the behest of Cardinal Richelieu. D'Artagnan makes a pass at Milady de Winter, discovers a delicate secret, and only just manages to save himself. Constance is freed and taken to safety in England, shortly after which war breaks out, and our four friends are drawn into it. They overhear a conspiratorial meeting between the Cardinal and Lady de Winter in an inn. The latter is to travel to England and kill Buckingham. Planchet also travels to England at D'Artagnan's behest to warn Buckingham. Lady de Winter is convicted and is to be executed. Constance is appointed her guardian. Milady de Winter, after a lengthy psychological duel, manages to take out Constance as well as a guard and Buckingham and then escapes. Athos and D'Artagnan, who wanted to help Constance, arrive too late; after Constance dies in D'Artagnan's arms, they themselves also have only escaped. Back in Paris, the four friends track down Lady de Winter, pronounce the death sentence on her, and have the prisoner executed. During their subsequent escape towards Spain, they are overpowered and arrested. Their fate seems to be sealed, but young D'Artagnan still has one trump card: the Countess's passport, personally sealed and signed by Cardinal Richelieu, with the note that everything the bearer of this letter undertakes will serve the good of the state. The king is not allowed to know the background of this letter - so Richelieu has to give in. Aramis receives permission to take up a clerical office. Porthos is allowed to marry richly, Athos gets his property back and D'Artagnan is to negotiate a peace offer with the enemy England on behalf of France.
Among the many American film versions of Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers are the 1914 Film Attractions Co. production, directed by Charles V. Henkel, the 1921 Douglas Fairbanks production, directed by Fred Niblo, the 1935 RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. production, directed by Rowland V. Lee and starring Walter Abel, Paul Lucas and Margot Grahame, Richard Lester's 1974 Twentieth Century-Fox production starring Michael York, Oliver Reed, Richard Chamberlain, and Raquel Welch; and the 1993 Buena Vista release, directed by Stephen Herek and starring Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland, Chris O'Donnell, and Rebecca de Mornay. This splashy 1948 MGM adaptation of The Three Musketeers was the third sound version and was also the first version in Technicolor. In 1947, a representative of the National Catholic Legion of Decency, an organisation that monitored the interests of the Church in motion pictures, objected to the characterisation of Cardinal Richelieu in the planned MGM adaptation of Dumas' story. In a letter to MGM producer Pandro S. Berman, the organisation stated its objection to the cardinal being portrayed as a "worldly and unscrupulous man" and urged the studio to remove the character from the film. Berman refused to remove the character from the film but promised he would use great caution in all sensitive matters pertaining to the story and in the film, Richelieu is never referred to as Cardinal Richelieu. Berman also indicated that Constance, the married mistress of D'Artagnan in the novel, would be unmarried in the film version. While early sound versions of Three Musketeers eliminated the deaths of Constance and Milady, this adaptation telescopes the novel's events to allow for these tragedies. According to AFI, screenwriter Robert Ardry was displeased with Sidney's irreverent approach to the Dumas story and objected to the spoof elements that were added to the film. A biography of Kelly noted that Belgian fencing champion Jean Heremans, who appears in the film as the cardinal's guard, taught Kelly how to fence. Kelly's biography also noted that during the filming of a bedroom scene, Kelly flung Turner onto a bed with such force that she fell to the ground and suffered a broken elbow. Hal Erickson at AllMovie: “True to form, MGM saw to it that Lana Turner, as Milady, was dressed to the nines and heavily bejeweled for her beheading sequence. Portions of the 1948 Three Musketeers, in black and white, showed up in the silent film-within-a-film in 1952's Singin' in the Rain, which of course also starred Gene Kelly.” The Three Musketeers opened to mostly favourable reviews, with several reviewers commenting on the film's unusual tongue-in-cheek approach. New York Times reviewer Bosley Crowther noted that "more glittering swordplay, more dazzling costumes, more colors or more of Miss Turner's chest have never been seen in a picture than are shown in this one." And added: “Completely fantastic, however, is Miss Turner as the villainess, the ambitious Lady de Winter who does the boudoir business for the boss. Loaded with blond hair and jewels, with twelve-gallon hats and ostrich plumes, and poured into her satin dresses with a good bit of Turner to spare, she walks through the palaces and salons with the air of a company-mannered Mae West.” In 1948, there was an Oscar nomination for Robert Planck in the category Best Cinematography/Colour. Hans J. Wollstein at AllMovie: “The Three Musketeers remains an outrageously entertaining yarn, the Southern California locales perfectly standing in for 17th Century France and England.” And finally, Yvette Banek at her blog In so many words: “Lana Turner is really quite superb in her evilness. So evil that she is even photographed without make-up. Well, as 'without make-up' as MGM got, at any rate. Even then, she is exquisitely beautiful - especially when praying.”
Sources: Bosley Crowther (New York Times), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Yvette Banek (In so many words), AFI, Wikipedia (Dutch, German), and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
An Egregious Mass Murder in the Faroes Islands This Morning.
20 to 30 dolphins were viciously slaughtered within the last hour on the beach at Havannasund on Vidoy Island.
The police mobilized quickly to block off a tunnel to the island and to set up a restricted zone to keep people away from the killers as the blood coloured the water a deep red and the screams of dying dolphins echoed across the beach, as laughing and cheering Faroese whalers splattered themselves with hot blood in a perverse orgy of sadistic lust.
The police closed the tunnel to the island to prevent anyone from reaching Havannasund.
The police are aggressively assisting the dolphin killers.
The Brigitte Bardot was unable to reach the location in time. The dolphins had been quickly spotted and driven with stones and bang poles onto the beach where their drooling killers waited with their knives eager to extinguish the lives of these gentle creatures.
The Faroe Islands continue to encourage the barbarity of slaughtering dolphins with the full complicity of the government, the media, the police with new authoritarian special laws and now the Danish government and the Danish Navy.
The Faroese have decided to pull out all stops in their defense of this savage cultural obscenity.
It appears that many people in the Faroes are so traditionally and morally bankrupt that they can only find identify in the bloody ritualized culture of sadistic slaughter, as if to proclaim to the entire world that they, the Faroese require blood sacrifices to illustrate their lack of complete lack of empathy and morality. It is their way of spitting in the face of common human decency by declaring their uniqueness in the only way that has any meaning for them – the deliberate and prideful infliction of suffering and death to innocent, intelligent, self aware, socially complex sentient beings.
With the power and force of the Kingdom of Denmark defending their little backwater vassal entity in the Islands of Sheep, the whalers are intent to cowardly continue killing, believing they have God on their side (“Gott mit us”) and knowing they have the politicians in their pockets.
Uruguayan postcard by CF. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
American actor Gregory Peck (1916-2003) was one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s. Peck received five nominations for Academy Award for Best Actor and won once – for his performance as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). He almost always played courageous, nobly heroic good guys who saw injustice and fought it. Among his best known films are Spellbound (1945), The Yearling (1946), Gentleman's Agreement (1947), Roman Holiday (1953), The Guns of Navarone (1961), and Cape Fear (1962).
Eldred Gregory Peck was born in 1916 in La Jolla, California (now in San Diego). His parents were Bernice Mary (Ayres) and Gregory Pearl Peck, a chemist, and druggist in San Diego. His parents divorced when he was five years old. An only child, he was sent to live with his grandmother. He never felt he had a stable childhood. His fondest memories are of his grandmother taking him to the cinema every week and of his dog, which followed him everywhere. Peck's father encouraged him to take up medicine. He studied pre-med at UC-Berkeley and, while there, got bitten by the acting bug and decided to change the focus of his studies. He enrolled in the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York and debuted on Broadway after graduation. His debut was in Emlyn Williams' play 'The Morning Star' (1942). By 1943, he was in Hollywood, where he debuted in the RKO film Days of Glory (Jacques Tourneur, 1944). Stardom came with his next film, The Keys of the Kingdom (John M. Stahl, 1944), for which he was nominated for an Oscar. Tony Fontana at IMDb: "Peck's screen presence displayed the qualities for which he became well known. He was tall, rugged and heroic, with a basic decency that transcended his roles." He appeared opposite Ingrid Bergman in Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound (1945) as an amnesia victim accused of murder. In The Yearling (Clarence Brown, 1946), he was again nominated for an Oscar and won the Golden Globe. He was especially effective in Westerns and appeared in such varied fare as David O. Selznick's critically blasted Duel in the Sun (King Vidor, 1946), the somewhat better received Yellow Sky (William A. Wellman, 1948), and the acclaimed The Gunfighter (Henry King, 1950). He was nominated again for the Academy Award for his roles in Gentleman's Agreement (Elia Kazan, 1947), which dealt with anti-Semitism, and Twelve O'Clock High (Henry King, 1949), a story of high-level stress in an Air Force bomber unit in World War II. In 1947, Peck, along with Dorothy McGuire, David O'Selznick, and Mel Ferrer, founded the La Jolla Playhouse, located in his hometown, and produced many of the classics there. Due to film commitments, he could not return to Broadway but whet his appetite for live theatre on occasion at the Playhouse, keeping it firmly established with a strong, reputable name over the years.
With a string of hits to his credit, Gregory Peck made the decision to only work in films that interested him. He continued to appear as the heroic, larger-than-life figures in such films as Captain Horatio Hornblower (Raoul Walsh, 1951) with Virginia Mayo, and Moby Dick (John Huston, 1956) with Richard Basehart. He worked with Audrey Hepburn in her debut film, Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953). While filming The Bravados (Henry King, 1958), he decided to become a cowboy in real life, so he purchased a vast working ranch near Santa Barbara, California - already stocked with 600 head of prize cattle. In the early 1960s, he gave a powerful performance as Captain Keith Mallory in The Guns of Navarone (J. Lee Thompson, 1961) opposite David Niven and Anthony Quinn. The film was one of the biggest box-office hits of that year. Peck finally won the Oscar, after four nominations, for his performance as lawyer Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (Robert Mulligan, 1962). He also appeared in two darker films than he usually made, Cape Fear (J. Lee Thompson, 1962) opposite Robert Mitchum, and Captain Newman, M.D. (David Miller, 1963) with Tony Curtis, which dealt with the way people live. The financial failure of Cape Fear (1962) ended his company, Melville Productions. After making Arabesque (Stanley Donen, 1966) with Sophia Loren, Peck withdrew from acting for three years in order to concentrate on various humanitarian causes, including the American Cancer Society. In the early 1970s, he produced two films, The Trial of the Catonsville Nine (Gordon Davidson, 1972) and The Dove (Charles Jarrott, 1974), when his film career stalled. He made a comeback playing, somewhat woodenly, Ambassador Robert Thorn in the horror film The Omen (Richard Donner, 1976) with Lee Remick. After that, he returned to the bigger-than-life roles he was best known for, such as MacArthur (Joseph Sargent, 1977) and the infamous Nazi war criminal Dr. Josef Mengele in the huge hit The Boys from Brazil (Franklin J. Schaffner, 1978) with Laurence Olivier and James Mason. In the 1980s, he moved into television with the miniseries The Blue and the Gray (Andrew V. McLaglen, 1982) in which he played Abraham Lincoln, and The Scarlet and the Black (Jerry London, 1983) with Christopher Plummer and John Gielgud. In 1991, he appeared in the remake of his 1962 film, playing a different role, in Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear (1991). He was also cast as the progressive-thinking owner of a wire and cable business in Other People's Money (Norman Jewison, 1991), starring Danny DeVito. In 1967, Peck received the Academy's Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. He was also been awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom. Always politically progressive, he was active in such causes as anti-war protests, workers' rights, and civil rights. In 2003, Peck's portrayal of Atticus Finch was named the greatest film hero of the past 100 years by the American Film Institute, only two weeks before his death. Atticus beat out Indiana Jones, who was placed second, and James Bond who came third. Gregory Peck died in 2003 in Los Angeles, California. He was 87. Peck was married twice. From 1942 till 1955, he was married to Greta Kukkonen. They had three children: Jonathan Peck (1944-1975), Stephen Peck (1946), and Carey Paul Peck (1949). His second wife was Veronique Passani, whom he met at the set of Roman Holliday. They married in 1955 and had two children: Tony Peck (1956) and Cecilia Peck (1958). The couple remained together till his death.
Sources: Tony Fontana (IMDb), and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
These are sad times for the United States as the new administration is dismantling much of what makes the nation decent. They've even outlawed the use of the term "social justice." And they have proclaimed programs arguing for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) to be somehow evil.
While it is difficult to see a path back towards decency, the words of Martin Luther King — “The Arc of the Moral Universe is Long, But it Bends Toward Justice.” — can give us some hope and the song, "We shall overcome!" will serve us well.
Joan Baez with lyrics for singalong . . .
youtu.be/p4qp8TjHG88?si=GpeM_MagFgxUUzDO
We shall overcome,
We shall overcome,
We shall overcome, some day.
Oh, deep in my heart,
I do believe
We shall overcome, some day.
We'll walk hand in hand,
We'll walk hand in hand,
We'll walk hand in hand, some day.
Oh, deep in my heart,
We shall live in peace,
We shall live in peace,
We shall live in peace, some day.
Oh, deep in my heart,
We shall all be free,
We shall all be free,
We shall all be free, some day.
Oh, deep in my heart,
We are not afraid,
We are not afraid,
We are not afraid,
TODAY
Oh, deep in my heart,
We shall overcome,
We shall overcome,
We shall overcome, some day.
Oh, deep in my heart,
I do believe
We shall overcome, some day.
In my never ending quest to find a new locations to add a little variety to my photos stream I stumbled across this old derelict building.
As promised here is an image of the outfit I thought made me look a little bigger than I am.
For those more observant than I.
Please accept my apologies for the F off knob on the wall beside me .
I spend all my time avoiding the darn things and then one photos bombs your picture grrrrr
Oh well that's life, this looks good in black and white
Please keep the comments clean! any that cross the line of common decency will be removed and the author blocked