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台南市正興街 - 老屋蒐奇 / 窄巷之中不撐船 - 新舊交雜古和今
Tainan City Zhengxing Street - The old house search Odd / Alleys among non punting - Old and new are mixed ancient and modern
La ciudad de Tainan Zhongxing Street - La antigua casa de búsqueda Par / callejones entre los no batea - Viejo y nuevo se mezclan antigua y moderna
台南市正興街 - 古い家が探すのが珍しいです / 狭い坑道の中は船を支えません - 新旧(の程度)は今入り交じります古いと
Tainan Zhongxing Straße - Das alte Haus Suche Ungerade / Alleys unter den nicht stochern - Alte und neue gemischt werden alte und moderne
Tainan City Zhongxing Street - La vieille recherche de la maison Odd / Ruelles chez les non punting - Ancien et nouveau sont mélangés anciens et modernes
Tainan Taiwan / Tainan Taiwán / 台灣台南
管樂小集 2016/07/02 安平古堡 Fort Zeelandia performances 1080P
{View large size on fluidr / 觀看大圖}
{My Blog / 管樂小集精彩演出-觸動你的心}
{My Blog / Great Music The splendid performance touches your heart}
{My Blog / 管楽小集すばらしい公演-はあなたの心を心を打ちます}
{Mi blog / La gran música el funcionamiento espléndido toca su corazón}
{Mein Blog / Große Musik die herrliche Leistung berührt Ihr Herz}
{Mon blog / La grande musique l'exécution splendide touche votre coeur}
Melody 曲:JAPAN / Words 詞:Sheesen / Singing : Sheesen
{ 夢旅人 1990 Dream Traveler 1990 }
家住安南鹽溪邊
The family lives in nearby the Annan salt river
隔壁就是聽雨軒
The next door listens to the rain porch
一旦落日照大員
The sunset Shineing to the Taiwan at once
左岸青龍飛九天
The left bank white dragon flying in the sky
After the body of Jesus of Nazareth was hastily removed from the cross of his execution on the eve of the Passover Sabbath in c.AD30, he was cradled in the arms of his loving and grieving mother. This image has inspired artists through the centuries, but especially the great Michelangelo Buonarroti.
When Jesus was dying on the cross he addressed his mother and his dear disciple John. To Mary he said, looking to John, "Behold your son." And to John he said of Mary, "Behold your mother." And from this time the respect for Mary as a universal mother of us all was born. So to this day she is so honoured: Ave Maria.
Light is Back. La Pietà by Michelangelo
The sad sight of the former Blakeley's Commercial Recycling scrapyard in Platt Bridge, Wigan. The company went under in c.2018, leaving around ten buses and a large number of lorry trailers open to the elements and subject to vandalism, with almost no windows left intact on site and severe fire damage to several of the carcasses. Somebody is making slow progress in scrapping them - Google Maps appears to show that several Dennis Darts and at least one Olympian have disappeared since the 2019 survey - but for now it seems most of these are here to stay. Sadly I imagine all are beyond rescue and will eventually be scrapped, although I have the faintest glimmer of hope for a couple of vehicles which appear to be in reasonable external condition given their history so far. I've certainly seen vehicles saved from worse condition, with a lot of time, funding, and love.
Edit as of September 2023: apparently within a couple of months of me making my visit, Blakeley's Commercial Recycling was completely cleared. All of the vehicles listed here, as well as the vast number of lorry trailers stored on-site, are presumed to have been scrapped. Looks like I timed this visit just right after all.
I'll now attempt to list the vehicles present in order from the north-west corner of the site - that is, from left to right, farthest to nearest in this photograph - but obviously I'll never know for certain whether I got them all.
Registration: R422 WPX (1998)
Livery: First Kernow 'Barbie' (42522)
Chassis: Dennis Dart SLF
Bodywork: Plaxton Pointer II B37F
First 42522 was with the company for its entire life before withdrawal came in April 2016. By May the vehicle was in this position at Blakeley's, and has not moved since. It is in poor external condition with a lot of broken windows et cetera, but appears to be materially complete. It is visible on the far left of this photo.
Registration: T301 JLD (1999)
Livery: First Glasgow 'Barbie' (41301)
Chassis: Dennis Dart SLF
Bodywork: Marshall C39 Capital B22D
Again new to First at the turn of the century, this Dart had the significantly rarer Capital bodywork, and was withdrawn in May 2014, moving to Blakeley's at some point that year. Sadly, at some point around January 2019, the vehicle was the victim of an arson attack and was almost completely destroyed. Its wreck is mostly occluded from this photo, but can just be made out behind the red Merc.
Registration: PLZ 5590 (1993, original registration L733 LWA)
Livery: Darwen Coach Services unbranded maroon
Chassis: Mercedes-Benz 709D
Bodywork: Alexander Sprint B25F
This little minibus was new to Stagecoach East Midlands thirty years ago, but passed on to Darwen Coach Services around 2007 and was painted in a plain maroon colour. I wasn't able to ascertain a withdrawal date but by 2016 the minibus was stored in the scrapyard, where it remained until it too was destroyed by arson around early-2019. Now, the only part which remains in near-original condition is the front bumper - which unusually still carries the registration plate.
Registration: R330 HYG (1998)
Livery: First Potteries 'Barbie' (40179)
Chassis: Dennis Dart SLF
Bodywork: Plaxton Pointer II B37F
Another career First bus, 40179 was withdrawn in late-2013 and after some time as a spares donor was moved to Platt Bridge in late-2014. Like several vehicles here, it too was destroyed in the arson attack, being reduced to a mostly-empty shell with only the rear bulkhead and engine having survived. It is just about visible in the centre of this photo if you have an eagle eye through the burnt and twisted framework.
Registration: N649 VSS (1996)
Livery: ex-Stagecoach 'Beachball' unbranded (40649)
Chassis: Mercedes-Benz 709D
Bodywork: Alexander Sprint B25F
The second 709 present was new to Stagecoach Manchester before transfer to more rural duties in Cumbria. The vehicle was also transferred to Darwen Coach Services, this time in 2009, and was withdrawn around the same time as her older sister, although this one never received a repaint out of Stagecoach colours and even kept the fleet number. Surviving the arson attack, the vehicle is nevertheless in very poor condition and has been heavily stripped for parts.
Registration: T160 BBF (1999)
Livery: First Potteries 'Barbie' (40007)
Chassis: Optare M850
Bodywork: Optare Solo B27F
The first of two Solos stored at the back of the scrapyard, this vehicle was withdrawn in mid-2014 and heavily cannibalised for spares before being moved to the scrapyard by the end of that year. By early-2016 it had moved into its current position and has not been touched since, except by vandals and the occasional urban explorer. It appears to be mostly in the condition in which it arrived at the scrapyard with many components missing and has since suffered minor vandalism such as broken windows; its rear is just about visible through the burnt-out wrecks in the rear of this photo.
Registration: W313 DWX (2000)
Livery: First Midland Red 'Barbie' (50282)
Chassis: Optare M850
Bodywork: Optare Solo B27F
The second Solo has seen several operators; new to First Bradford and then transferring to First West Yorkshire, First Wyvern, and then finally First Midland Red before withdrawal came in mid-2014. By late-2014 the Solo was at Blakeley's, and has been in the same position alongside its sister since at least early-2016, seven years ago. It is also in largely the same condition.
Registration: L630 VCV (1994)
Livery: Darwen Coach Services white
Chassis: Mercedes-Benz 709D
Bodywork: Plaxton Beaver B25F
The third and final Merc on site, but with slightly better bodywork and in slightly better condition. The vehicle was new to Western National but by 2006 was in service with Darwen Coach Services, from whom it was withdrawn by 2018, probably around the same time as the other two present. It is by far the most intact of the three, but that is not to say that it is in good nick, and it is clearly rotten with many smaller components damaged or missing.
Registration: T579 JNG (1999)
Livery: First Eastern Counties 'Barbie' (65579)
Chassis: Scania L94UB
Bodywork: Wright Axcess Floline B43F
After spending over fifteen years with First Eastern Counties, this Scania was transferred to First Kernow for its final few months, being transferred in c.March 2015 and withdrawn by the end of that year. The vehicle was also moved to this position in the scrapyard by April 2016, and has not moved since, visible on the right of this photo. Another bus which seems to be fairly materially complete, but nevertheless missing a lot of glass and a few bodyside panels.
Registration: W825 PFB (2000)
Livery: First Devon & Cornwall 'Barbie', Ugobus branding (48225)
Chassis: Volvo B6BLE
Bodywork: Wright Crusader II B36F
Another southern bus to end up dying this far north, this vehicle spent its entire career in and around Plymouth until the axe came in March 2016. Dropped off at Platts Bridge the following month, it too has not moved since, and has now been heavily vandalised and stripped. It is juuuust about visible behind the Scania in this photograph.
Registration: S725 AFB (1998)
Livery: First Devon & Cornwall 'Barbie' (42725)
Chassis: Dennis Dart SLF
Bodywork: Plaxton Pointer II B37F
The fourth Dart on site, this vehicle was new to First Bristol and was finally withdrawn from First Devon and Cornwall in c.2016. Little is known about the vehicle since then, as it was next recorded in the scrapyard in 2022, already in very poor condition with a lot of missing windows, body panels, and displaying damage to the bumpers. Even the eagle-eyed will do very well to see it through the tangled mess of wreckage in this photograph; I certainly can't.
Registration: G301 UYK (1990)
Livery: Pilkingtonbus cream and red
Chassis: Leyland Olympian
Bodywork: Leyland H47/31F
Woo, on to the deckers! The first featured here is the oldest bus on-site, built 33 years ago at the time of writing. This vehicle was new to London United but later transferred to East Yorkshire Motor Services, where during 2007 it entered immortality as an EFE die-cast model, code 29614. Transferred first to Coachmasters around 2009 and painted a luminous yellow, the bus was with Pilkington by the end of that year, with final withdrawal coming in early-2016, as a non-disability-compliant vehicle. It was in position in the scrapyard by May and has again not really moved since, but nevertheless appears to be in tolerable condition, even in spite of its geriatric age. Its red top deck can clearly be seen in the photograph.
Registration: N430 FKK (originally Irish 96-DD-277, 1996)
Livery: Ebley Coaches red and cream
Chassis: Volvo Olympian
Bodywork: Alexander RH H47/27D
The final bus visible in the scrapyard is a Volvo Olympian, new to Dublin Bus in 1996 and exported in 2007. The vehicle for almost its entire British existence wore the bright pink-and-purple colour scheme of Uno, despite later transferring to Southern Transit in 2010 and then North Somerset Coaches in 2015. North Somerset appears to have focused on vehicle preservation since 2013, so whether this vehicle constituted preserved for a short while is up in the air, but before too long it was with Ebley Coaches and painted in their maroon and cream livery, which it still carries to this day. It was sadly not with them long, certainly under a year, before fate took control - by May 2016 the bus had appeared in Blakeley's scrapyard, withdrawn not due to her age but due to a massive gash in the roof, clearly due to collision with some kind of obstacle, perhaps a bridge, a building, or even a particularly obstinate tree. The 'Dubliner' has seemingly not moved since June 2016, its interior still exposed to nature thanks to the roof damage and it has apparently been stripped of a few parts.
Over the centuries, Edimburg's "closes" had a practical function in the growth of the medieval city, allowing residents to move around the city without having to travel the large avenues. In addition, some of these streets were also places of public execution in ancient times.
A morris dancer on the streets of bath wearing his interesting costume.
Morris dance is a form of English folk dance usually accompanied by music. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers, usually wearing bell pads on their shins. Implements such as sticks, swords and handkerchiefs may also be wielded by the dancers.
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My girl's birthday today!! And that is she shooting with black card.
If you are interested in my works, they are available on Getty Images.
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攝影，作為一種強而有力的表達及溝通工具，提供了千變萬化的感受、詮釋及表現。
Photography, as a powerful medium of expression and communications, offers an infinite variety of perception, interpretation and execution.
～Ansel Adams
The first outdoor event in London, UK, since the beginning of the troublesome virus and I was a little rusty.
Commemoration of the execution of King Charles Ist.
CSX E803 screams through the town of Walkerton with BNSF 9669, a SD70MAC still sporting its OG BN Executive Scheme, on a coal empty from the LSRC in Wixom.
'Here on Felucia, a Stormtrooper is about to be promoted for tracking down the fled female Jedi Sinn-Tah, just 10 days after the execution of order 66. All hopes are lost for this Jedi, and the same applies to most Jedis lately. Dark Times are approaching...'
Hello everyone! This is my first ever post on Flickr. This 16x16 moc was created as a submission for the 'Dark Times' RPG group, which is based on the follow-up on Order 66.
Any feedback is appreciated!
-Sven
ODC - Scissors, Saw, Knife
Post Christmas execution of a credit card as part of a New Year's resolution!
安平樹屋 - 鹽水溪堤防 / 五指巨手 - 大空雲飛
Anping tree house - Salt water river dike / Five big finger - Sky cloud flying
Casa del árbol de Anping - Dique de río de agua salada / Cinco dedos grandes - Cielo nube vuelo
安平の樹の家 - 塩水の谷川の堤防 / 5本の指の巨手 - 大の空いている雲は飛びます
Anping Baum Haus - Salzwasser Flussdamm / Fünf große Finger - Sky Wolke fliegen
Anping tree house - Dique de la rivière de l'eau salée / Cinq grands doigts - Sky cloud flying
Anping Tainan Taiwan / Anping Tainan Taiwán / 台灣台南安平
管樂小集 2017/06/25 台南孔子廟 Confucian temple Tainan performances 1080P
{ 酒矸倘賣嘸 Recycle bottles リサイクルボトル }
{View large size on fluidr / 觀看大圖}
{My Blog / 管樂小集精彩演出-觸動你的心}
{My Blog / Great Music The splendid performance touches your heart}
{My Blog / 管楽小集すばらしい公演-はあなたの心を心を打ちます}
{Mi blog / La gran música el funcionamiento espléndido toca su corazón}
{Mein Blog / Große Musik die herrliche Leistung berührt Ihr Herz}
{Mon blog / La grande musique l'exécution splendide touche votre coeur}
Melody 曲:JAPAN / Words 詞:Sheesen / Singing : Sheesen
{ 夢旅人 1990 Dream Traveler 1990 }
家住安南鹽溪邊
The family lives in nearby the Annan salt river
隔壁就是聽雨軒
The next door listens to the rain porch
一旦落日照大員
The sunset Shineing to the Taiwan at once
左岸青龍飛九天
The left bank white dragon flying in the sky
Colosseum
Following, a text, in english, from the Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia:
The Colosseum, or the Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre (Latin: Amphitheatrum Flavium, Italian Anfiteatro Flavio or Colosseo), is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire. It is considered one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and Roman engineering.
Occupying a site just east of the Roman Forum, its construction started between 70 and 72 AD[1] under the emperor Vespasian and was completed in 80 AD under Titus,[2] with further modifications being made during Domitian's reign (81–96).[3] The name "Amphitheatrum Flavium" derives from both Vespasian's and Titus's family name (Flavius, from the gens Flavia).
Capable of seating 50,000 spectators,[1][4][5] the Colosseum was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles such as mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology. The building ceased to be used for entertainment in the early medieval era. It was later reused for such purposes as housing, workshops, quarters for a religious order, a fortress, a quarry, and a Christian shrine.
Although in the 21st century it stays partially ruined because of damage caused by devastating earthquakes and stone-robbers, the Colosseum is an iconic symbol of Imperial Rome. It is one of Rome's most popular tourist attractions and still has close connections with the Roman Catholic Church, as each Good Friday the Pope leads a torchlit "Way of the Cross" procession that starts in the area around the Colosseum.[6]
The Colosseum is also depicted on the Italian version of the five-cent euro coin.
The Colosseum's original Latin name was Amphitheatrum Flavium, often anglicized as Flavian Amphitheater. The building was constructed by emperors of the Flavian dynasty, hence its original name, after the reign of Emperor Nero.[7] This name is still used in modern English, but generally the structure is better known as the Colosseum. In antiquity, Romans may have referred to the Colosseum by the unofficial name Amphitheatrum Caesareum; this name could have been strictly poetic.[8][9] This name was not exclusive to the Colosseum; Vespasian and Titus, builders of the Colosseum, also constructed an amphitheater of the same name in Puteoli (modern Pozzuoli).[10]
The name Colosseum has long been believed to be derived from a colossal statue of Nero nearby.[3] (the statue of Nero itself being named after one of the original ancient wonders, the Colossus of Rhodes[citation needed]. This statue was later remodeled by Nero's successors into the likeness of Helios (Sol) or Apollo, the sun god, by adding the appropriate solar crown. Nero's head was also replaced several times with the heads of succeeding emperors. Despite its pagan links, the statue remained standing well into the medieval era and was credited with magical powers. It came to be seen as an iconic symbol of the permanence of Rome.
In the 8th century, a famous epigram attributed to the Venerable Bede celebrated the symbolic significance of the statue in a prophecy that is variously quoted: Quamdiu stat Colisæus, stat et Roma; quando cadet colisæus, cadet et Roma; quando cadet Roma, cadet et mundus ("as long as the Colossus stands, so shall Rome; when the Colossus falls, Rome shall fall; when Rome falls, so falls the world").[11] This is often mistranslated to refer to the Colosseum rather than the Colossus (as in, for instance, Byron's poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage). However, at the time that the Pseudo-Bede wrote, the masculine noun coliseus was applied to the statue rather than to what was still known as the Flavian amphitheatre.
The Colossus did eventually fall, possibly being pulled down to reuse its bronze. By the year 1000 the name "Colosseum" had been coined to refer to the amphitheatre. The statue itself was largely forgotten and only its base survives, situated between the Colosseum and the nearby Temple of Venus and Roma.[12]
The name further evolved to Coliseum during the Middle Ages. In Italy, the amphitheatre is still known as il Colosseo, and other Romance languages have come to use similar forms such as le Colisée (French), el Coliseo (Spanish) and o Coliseu (Portuguese).
Construction of the Colosseum began under the rule of the Emperor Vespasian[3] in around 70–72AD. The site chosen was a flat area on the floor of a low valley between the Caelian, Esquiline and Palatine Hills, through which a canalised stream ran. By the 2nd century BC the area was densely inhabited. It was devastated by the Great Fire of Rome in AD 64, following which Nero seized much of the area to add to his personal domain. He built the grandiose Domus Aurea on the site, in front of which he created an artificial lake surrounded by pavilions, gardens and porticoes. The existing Aqua Claudia aqueduct was extended to supply water to the area and the gigantic bronze Colossus of Nero was set up nearby at the entrance to the Domus Aurea.[12]
Although the Colossus was preserved, much of the Domus Aurea was torn down. The lake was filled in and the land reused as the location for the new Flavian Amphitheatre. Gladiatorial schools and other support buildings were constructed nearby within the former grounds of the Domus Aurea. According to a reconstructed inscription found on the site, "the emperor Vespasian ordered this new amphitheatre to be erected from his general's share of the booty." This is thought to refer to the vast quantity of treasure seized by the Romans following their victory in the Great Jewish Revolt in 70AD. The Colosseum can be thus interpreted as a great triumphal monument built in the Roman tradition of celebrating great victories[12], placating the Roman people instead of returning soldiers. Vespasian's decision to build the Colosseum on the site of Nero's lake can also be seen as a populist gesture of returning to the people an area of the city which Nero had appropriated for his own use. In contrast to many other amphitheatres, which were located on the outskirts of a city, the Colosseum was constructed in the city centre; in effect, placing it both literally and symbolically at the heart of Rome.
The Colosseum had been completed up to the third story by the time of Vespasian's death in 79. The top level was finished and the building inaugurated by his son, Titus, in 80.[3] Dio Cassius recounts that over 9,000 wild animals were killed during the inaugural games of the amphitheatre. The building was remodelled further under Vespasian's younger son, the newly designated Emperor Domitian, who constructed the hypogeum, a series of underground tunnels used to house animals and slaves. He also added a gallery to the top of the Colosseum to increase its seating capacity.
In 217, the Colosseum was badly damaged by a major fire (caused by lightning, according to Dio Cassius[13]) which destroyed the wooden upper levels of the amphitheatre's interior. It was not fully repaired until about 240 and underwent further repairs in 250 or 252 and again in 320. An inscription records the restoration of various parts of the Colosseum under Theodosius II and Valentinian III (reigned 425–455), possibly to repair damage caused by a major earthquake in 443; more work followed in 484[14] and 508. The arena continued to be used for contests well into the 6th century, with gladiatorial fights last mentioned around 435. Animal hunts continued until at least 523, when Anicius Maximus celebrated his consulship with some venationes, criticised by King Theodoric the Great for their high cost.
The Colosseum underwent several radical changes of use during the medieval period. By the late 6th century a small church had been built into the structure of the amphitheatre, though this apparently did not confer any particular religious significance on the building as a whole. The arena was converted into a cemetery. The numerous vaulted spaces in the arcades under the seating were converted into housing and workshops, and are recorded as still being rented out as late as the 12th century. Around 1200 the Frangipani family took over the Colosseum and fortified it, apparently using it as a castle.
Severe damage was inflicted on the Colosseum by the great earthquake in 1349, causing the outer south side, lying on a less stable alluvional terrain, to collapse. Much of the tumbled stone was reused to build palaces, churches, hospitals and other buildings elsewhere in Rome. A religious order moved into the northern third of the Colosseum in the mid-14th century and continued to inhabit it until as late as the early 19th century. The interior of the amphitheatre was extensively stripped of stone, which was reused elsewhere, or (in the case of the marble façade) was burned to make quicklime.[12] The bronze clamps which held the stonework together were pried or hacked out of the walls, leaving numerous pockmarks which still scar the building today.
During the 16th and 17th century, Church officials sought a productive role for the vast derelict hulk of the Colosseum. Pope Sixtus V (1585–1590) planned to turn the building into a wool factory to provide employment for Rome's prostitutes, though this proposal fell through with his premature death.[15] In 1671 Cardinal Altieri authorized its use for bullfights; a public outcry caused the idea to be hastily abandoned.
In 1749, Pope Benedict XIV endorsed as official Church policy the view that the Colosseum was a sacred site where early Christians had been martyred. He forbade the use of the Colosseum as a quarry and consecrated the building to the Passion of Christ and installed Stations of the Cross, declaring it sanctified by the blood of the Christian martyrs who perished there (see Christians and the Colosseum). However there is no historical evidence to support Benedict's claim, nor is there even any evidence that anyone prior to the 16th century suggested this might be the case; the Catholic Encyclopedia concludes that there are no historical grounds for the supposition. Later popes initiated various stabilization and restoration projects, removing the extensive vegetation which had overgrown the structure and threatened to damage it further. The façade was reinforced with triangular brick wedges in 1807 and 1827, and the interior was repaired in 1831, 1846 and in the 1930s. The arena substructure was partly excavated in 1810–1814 and 1874 and was fully exposed under Benito Mussolini in the 1930s.
The Colosseum is today one of Rome's most popular tourist attractions, receiving millions of visitors annually. The effects of pollution and general deterioration over time prompted a major restoration programme carried out between 1993 and 2000, at a cost of 40 billion Italian lire ($19.3m / €20.6m at 2000 prices). In recent years it has become a symbol of the international campaign against capital punishment, which was abolished in Italy in 1948. Several anti–death penalty demonstrations took place in front of the Colosseum in 2000. Since that time, as a gesture against the death penalty, the local authorities of Rome change the color of the Colosseum's night time illumination from white to gold whenever a person condemned to the death penalty anywhere in the world gets their sentence commuted or is released,[16] or if a jurisdiction abolishes the death penalty. Most recently, the Colosseum was illuminated in gold when capital punishment was abolished in the American state of New Mexico in April 2009.
Because of the ruined state of the interior, it is impractical to use the Colosseum to host large events; only a few hundred spectators can be accommodated in temporary seating. However, much larger concerts have been held just outside, using the Colosseum as a backdrop. Performers who have played at the Colosseum in recent years have included Ray Charles (May 2002),[18] Paul McCartney (May 2003),[19] Elton John (September 2005),[20] and Billy Joel (July 2006).
Exterior
Unlike earlier Greek theatres that were built into hillsides, the Colosseum is an entirely free-standing structure. It derives its basic exterior and interior architecture from that of two Roman theatres back to back. It is elliptical in plan and is 189 meters (615 ft / 640 Roman feet) long, and 156 meters (510 ft / 528 Roman feet) wide, with a base area of 6 acres (24,000 m2). The height of the outer wall is 48 meters (157 ft / 165 Roman feet). The perimeter originally measured 545 meters (1,788 ft / 1,835 Roman feet). The central arena is an oval 87 m (287 ft) long and 55 m (180 ft) wide, surrounded by a wall 5 m (15 ft) high, above which rose tiers of seating.
The outer wall is estimated to have required over 100,000 cubic meters (131,000 cu yd) of travertine stone which were set without mortar held together by 300 tons of iron clamps.[12] However, it has suffered extensive damage over the centuries, with large segments having collapsed following earthquakes. The north side of the perimeter wall is still standing; the distinctive triangular brick wedges at each end are modern additions, having been constructed in the early 19th century to shore up the wall. The remainder of the present-day exterior of the Colosseum is in fact the original interior wall.
The surviving part of the outer wall's monumental façade comprises three stories of superimposed arcades surmounted by a podium on which stands a tall attic, both of which are pierced by windows interspersed at regular intervals. The arcades are framed by half-columns of the Tuscan, Ionic, and Corinthian orders, while the attic is decorated with Corinthian pilasters.[21] Each of the arches in the second- and third-floor arcades framed statues, probably honoring divinities and other figures from Classical mythology.
Two hundred and forty mast corbels were positioned around the top of the attic. They originally supported a retractable awning, known as the velarium, that kept the sun and rain off spectators. This consisted of a canvas-covered, net-like structure made of ropes, with a hole in the center.[3] It covered two-thirds of the arena, and sloped down towards the center to catch the wind and provide a breeze for the audience. Sailors, specially enlisted from the Roman naval headquarters at Misenum and housed in the nearby Castra Misenatium, were used to work the velarium.[22]
The Colosseum's huge crowd capacity made it essential that the venue could be filled or evacuated quickly. Its architects adopted solutions very similar to those used in modern stadiums to deal with the same problem. The amphitheatre was ringed by eighty entrances at ground level, 76 of which were used by ordinary spectators.[3] Each entrance and exit was numbered, as was each staircase. The northern main entrance was reserved for the Roman Emperor and his aides, whilst the other three axial entrances were most likely used by the elite. All four axial entrances were richly decorated with painted stucco reliefs, of which fragments survive. Many of the original outer entrances have disappeared with the collapse of the perimeter wall, but entrances XXIII (23) to LIV (54) still survive.[12]
Spectators were given tickets in the form of numbered pottery shards, which directed them to the appropriate section and row. They accessed their seats via vomitoria (singular vomitorium), passageways that opened into a tier of seats from below or behind. These quickly dispersed people into their seats and, upon conclusion of the event or in an emergency evacuation, could permit their exit within only a few minutes. The name vomitoria derived from the Latin word for a rapid discharge, from which English derives the word vomit.
Interior
According to the Codex-Calendar of 354, the Colosseum could accommodate 87,000 people, although modern estimates put the figure at around 50,000. They were seated in a tiered arrangement that reflected the rigidly stratified nature of Roman society. Special boxes were provided at the north and south ends respectively for the Emperor and the Vestal Virgins, providing the best views of the arena. Flanking them at the same level was a broad platform or podium for the senatorial class, who were allowed to bring their own chairs. The names of some 5th century senators can still be seen carved into the stonework, presumably reserving areas for their use.
The tier above the senators, known as the maenianum primum, was occupied by the non-senatorial noble class or knights (equites). The next level up, the maenianum secundum, was originally reserved for ordinary Roman citizens (plebians) and was divided into two sections. The lower part (the immum) was for wealthy citizens, while the upper part (the summum) was for poor citizens. Specific sectors were provided for other social groups: for instance, boys with their tutors, soldiers on leave, foreign dignitaries, scribes, heralds, priests and so on. Stone (and later marble) seating was provided for the citizens and nobles, who presumably would have brought their own cushions with them. Inscriptions identified the areas reserved for specific groups.
Another level, the maenianum secundum in legneis, was added at the very top of the building during the reign of Domitian. This comprised a gallery for the common poor, slaves and women. It would have been either standing room only, or would have had very steep wooden benches. Some groups were banned altogether from the Colosseum, notably gravediggers, actors and former gladiators.
Each tier was divided into sections (maeniana) by curved passages and low walls (praecinctiones or baltei), and were subdivided into cunei, or wedges, by the steps and aisles from the vomitoria. Each row (gradus) of seats was numbered, permitting each individual seat to be exactly designated by its gradus, cuneus, and number.
The arena itself was 83 meters by 48 meters (272 ft by 157 ft / 280 by 163 Roman feet).[12] It comprised a wooden floor covered by sand (the Latin word for sand is harena or arena), covering an elaborate underground structure called the hypogeum (literally meaning "underground"). Little now remains of the original arena floor, but the hypogeum is still clearly visible. It consisted of a two-level subterranean network of tunnels and cages beneath the arena where gladiators and animals were held before contests began. Eighty vertical shafts provided instant access to the arena for caged animals and scenery pieces concealed underneath; larger hinged platforms, called hegmata, provided access for elephants and the like. It was restructured on numerous occasions; at least twelve different phases of construction can be seen.[12]
The hypogeum was connected by underground tunnels to a number of points outside the Colosseum. Animals and performers were brought through the tunnel from nearby stables, with the gladiators' barracks at the Ludus Magnus to the east also being connected by tunnels. Separate tunnels were provided for the Emperor and the Vestal Virgins to permit them to enter and exit the Colosseum without needing to pass through the crowds.[12]
Substantial quantities of machinery also existed in the hypogeum. Elevators and pulleys raised and lowered scenery and props, as well as lifting caged animals to the surface for release. There is evidence for the existence of major hydraulic mechanisms[12] and according to ancient accounts, it was possible to flood the arena rapidly, presumably via a connection to a nearby aqueduct.
The Colosseum and its activities supported a substantial industry in the area. In addition to the amphitheatre itself, many other buildings nearby were linked to the games. Immediately to the east is the remains of the Ludus Magnus, a training school for gladiators. This was connected to the Colosseum by an underground passage, to allow easy access for the gladiators. The Ludus Magnus had its own miniature training arena, which was itself a popular attraction for Roman spectators. Other training schools were in the same area, including the Ludus Matutinus (Morning School), where fighters of animals were trained, plus the Dacian and Gallic Schools.
Also nearby were the Armamentarium, comprising an armory to store weapons; the Summum Choragium, where machinery was stored; the Sanitarium, which had facilities to treat wounded gladiators; and the Spoliarium, where bodies of dead gladiators were stripped of their armor and disposed of.
Around the perimeter of the Colosseum, at a distance of 18 m (59 ft) from the perimeter, was a series of tall stone posts, with five remaining on the eastern side. Various explanations have been advanced for their presence; they may have been a religious boundary, or an outer boundary for ticket checks, or an anchor for the velarium or awning.
Right next to the Colosseum is also the Arch of Constantine.
he Colosseum was used to host gladiatorial shows as well as a variety of other events. The shows, called munera, were always given by private individuals rather than the state. They had a strong religious element but were also demonstrations of power and family prestige, and were immensely popular with the population. Another popular type of show was the animal hunt, or venatio. This utilized a great variety of wild beasts, mainly imported from Africa and the Middle East, and included creatures such as rhinoceros, hippopotamuses, elephants, giraffes, aurochs, wisents, barbary lions, panthers, leopards, bears, caspian tigers, crocodiles and ostriches. Battles and hunts were often staged amid elaborate sets with movable trees and buildings. Such events were occasionally on a huge scale; Trajan is said to have celebrated his victories in Dacia in 107 with contests involving 11,000 animals and 10,000 gladiators over the course of 123 days.
During the early days of the Colosseum, ancient writers recorded that the building was used for naumachiae (more properly known as navalia proelia) or simulated sea battles. Accounts of the inaugural games held by Titus in AD 80 describe it being filled with water for a display of specially trained swimming horses and bulls. There is also an account of a re-enactment of a famous sea battle between the Corcyrean (Corfiot) Greeks and the Corinthians. This has been the subject of some debate among historians; although providing the water would not have been a problem, it is unclear how the arena could have been waterproofed, nor would there have been enough space in the arena for the warships to move around. It has been suggested that the reports either have the location wrong, or that the Colosseum originally featured a wide floodable channel down its central axis (which would later have been replaced by the hypogeum).[12]
Sylvae or recreations of natural scenes were also held in the arena. Painters, technicians and architects would construct a simulation of a forest with real trees and bushes planted in the arena's floor. Animals would be introduced to populate the scene for the delight of the crowd. Such scenes might be used simply to display a natural environment for the urban population, or could otherwise be used as the backdrop for hunts or dramas depicting episodes from mythology. They were also occasionally used for executions in which the hero of the story — played by a condemned person — was killed in one of various gruesome but mythologically authentic ways, such as being mauled by beasts or burned to death.
The Colosseum today is now a major tourist attraction in Rome with thousands of tourists each year paying to view the interior arena, though entrance for EU citizens is partially subsidised, and under-18 and over-65 EU citizens' entrances are free.[24] There is now a museum dedicated to Eros located in the upper floor of the outer wall of the building. Part of the arena floor has been re-floored. Beneath the Colosseum, a network of subterranean passageways once used to transport wild animals and gladiators to the arena opened to the public in summer 2010.[25]
The Colosseum is also the site of Roman Catholic ceremonies in the 20th and 21st centuries. For instance, Pope Benedict XVI leads the Stations of the Cross called the Scriptural Way of the Cross (which calls for more meditation) at the Colosseum[26][27] on Good Fridays.
In the Middle Ages, the Colosseum was clearly not regarded as a sacred site. Its use as a fortress and then a quarry demonstrates how little spiritual importance was attached to it, at a time when sites associated with martyrs were highly venerated. It was not included in the itineraries compiled for the use of pilgrims nor in works such as the 12th century Mirabilia Urbis Romae ("Marvels of the City of Rome"), which claims the Circus Flaminius — but not the Colosseum — as the site of martyrdoms. Part of the structure was inhabited by a Christian order, but apparently not for any particular religious reason.
It appears to have been only in the 16th and 17th centuries that the Colosseum came to be regarded as a Christian site. Pope Pius V (1566–1572) is said to have recommended that pilgrims gather sand from the arena of the Colosseum to serve as a relic, on the grounds that it was impregnated with the blood of martyrs. This seems to have been a minority view until it was popularised nearly a century later by Fioravante Martinelli, who listed the Colosseum at the head of a list of places sacred to the martyrs in his 1653 book Roma ex ethnica sacra.
Martinelli's book evidently had an effect on public opinion; in response to Cardinal Altieri's proposal some years later to turn the Colosseum into a bullring, Carlo Tomassi published a pamphlet in protest against what he regarded as an act of desecration. The ensuing controversy persuaded Pope Clement X to close the Colosseum's external arcades and declare it a sanctuary, though quarrying continued for some time.
At the instance of St. Leonard of Port Maurice, Pope Benedict XIV (1740–1758) forbade the quarrying of the Colosseum and erected Stations of the Cross around the arena, which remained until February 1874. St. Benedict Joseph Labre spent the later years of his life within the walls of the Colosseum, living on alms, prior to his death in 1783. Several 19th century popes funded repair and restoration work on the Colosseum, and it still retains a Christian connection today. Crosses stand in several points around the arena and every Good Friday the Pope leads a Via Crucis procession to the amphitheatre.
Coliseu (Colosseo)
A seguir, um texto, em português, da Wikipédia, a enciclopédia livre:
O Coliseu, também conhecido como Anfiteatro Flaviano, deve seu nome à expressão latina Colosseum (ou Coliseus, no latim tardio), devido à estátua colossal de Nero, que ficava perto a edificação. Localizado no centro de Roma, é uma excepção de entre os anfiteatros pelo seu volume e relevo arquitectónico. Originalmente capaz de albergar perto de 50 000 pessoas, e com 48 metros de altura, era usado para variados espetáculos. Foi construído a leste do fórum romano e demorou entre 8 a 10 anos a ser construído.
O Coliseu foi utilizado durante aproximadamente 500 anos, tendo sido o último registro efetuado no século VI da nossa era, bastante depois da queda de Roma em 476. O edifício deixou de ser usado para entretenimento no começo da era medieval, mas foi mais tarde usado como habitação, oficina, forte, pedreira, sede de ordens religiosas e templo cristão.
Embora esteja agora em ruínas devido a terremotos e pilhagens, o Coliseu sempre foi visto como símbolo do Império Romano, sendo um dos melhores exemplos da sua arquitectura. Actualmente é uma das maiores atrações turísticas em Roma e em 7 de julho de 2007 foi eleita umas das "Sete maravilhas do mundo moderno". Além disso, o Coliseu ainda tem ligações à igreja, com o Papa a liderar a procissão da Via Sacra até ao Coliseu todas as Sextas-feiras Santas.
O coliseu era um local onde seriam exibidos toda uma série de espectáculos, inseridos nos vários tipos de jogos realizados na urbe. Os combates entre gladiadores, chamados muneras, eram sempre pagos por pessoas individuais em busca de prestígio e poder em vez do estado. A arena (87,5 m por 55 m) possuía um piso de madeira, normalmente coberto de areia para absorver o sangue dos combates (certa vez foi colocada água na representação de uma batalha naval), sob o qual existia um nível subterrâneo com celas e jaulas que tinham acessos diretos para a arena; Alguns detalhes dessa construção, como a cobertura removível que poupava os espectadores do sol, são bastante interessantes, e mostram o refinamento atingido pelos construtores romanos. Formado por cinco anéis concêntricos de arcos e abóbadas, o Coliseu representa bem o avanço introduzido pelos romanos à engenharia de estruturas. Esses arcos são de concreto (de cimento natural) revestidos por alvenaria. Na verdade, a alvenaria era construída simultaneamente e já servia de forma para a concretagem. Outro tipo de espetáculos era a caça de animais, ou venatio, onde eram utilizados animais selvagens importados de África. Os animais mais utilizados eram os grandes felinos como leões, leopardos e panteras, mas animais como rinocerontes, hipopótamos, elefantes, girafas, crocodilos e avestruzes eram também utilizados. As caçadas, tal como as representações de batalhas famosas, eram efetuadas em elaborados cenários onde constavam árvores e edifícios amovíveis.
Estas últimas eram por vezes representadas numa escala gigante; Trajano celebrou a sua vitória em Dácia no ano 107 com concursos envolvendo 11 000 animais e 10 000 gladiadores no decorrer de 123 dias.
Segundo o documentário produzido pelo canal televisivo fechado, History Channel, o Coliseu também era utilizado para a realização de naumaquias, ou batalhas navais. O coliseu era inundado por dutos subterrâneos alimentados pelos aquedutos que traziam água de longe. Passada esta fase, foi construída uma estrutura, que é a que podemos ver hoje nas ruínas do Coliseu, com altura de um prédio de dois andares, onde no passado se concentravam os gladiadores, feras e todo o pessoal que organizava os duelos que ocorreriam na arena. A arena era como um grande palco, feito de madeira, e se chama arena, que em italiano significa areia, porque era jogada areia sob a estrutura de madeira para esconder as imperfeições. Os animais podiam ser inseridos nos duelos a qualquer momento por um esquema de elevadores que surgiam em alguns pontos da arena; o filme "Gladiador" retrata muito bem esta questão dos elevadores. Os estudiosos, há pouco tempo, descobriram uma rede de dutos inundados por baixo da arena do Coliseu. Acredita-se que o Coliseu foi construído onde, outrora, foi o lago do Palácio Dourado de Nero; O imperador Vespasiano escolheu o local da construção para que o mal causado por Nero fosse esquecido por uma construção gloriosa.
Sylvae, ou recreações de cenas naturais eram também realizadas no Coliseu. Pintores, técnicos e arquitectos construiriam simulações de florestas com árvores e arbustos reais plantados no chão da arena. Animais seriam então introduzidos para dar vida à simulação. Esses cenários podiam servir só para agrado do público ou como pano de fundo para caçadas ou dramas representando episódios da mitologia romana, tão autênticos quanto possível, ao ponto de pessoas condenadas fazerem o papel de heróis onde eram mortos de maneiras horríveis mas mitologicamente autênticas, como mutilados por animais ou queimados vivos.
Embora o Coliseu tenha funcionado até ao século VI da nossa Era, foram proibidos os jogos com mortes humanas desde 404, sendo apenas massacrados animais como elefantes, panteras ou leões.
O Coliseu era sobretudo um enorme instrumento de propaganda e difusão da filosofia de toda uma civilização, e tal como era já profetizado pelo monge e historiador inglês Beda na sua obra do século VII "De temporibus liber": "Enquanto o Coliseu se mantiver de pé, Roma permanecerá; quando o Coliseu ruir, Roma ruirá e quando Roma cair, o mundo cairá".
A construção do Coliseu foi iniciada por Vespasiano, nos anos 70 da nossa era. O edifício foi inaugurado por Tito, em 80, embora apenas tivesse sido finalizado poucos anos depois. Empresa colossal, este edifício, inicialmente, poderia sustentar no seu interior cerca de 50 000 espectadores, constando de três andares. Aquando do reinado de Alexandre Severo e Gordiano III, é ampliado com um quarto andar, podendo suster agora cerca de 90 000 espectadores. A grandiosidade deste monumento testemunha verdadeiramente o poder e esplendor de Roma na época dos Flávios.
Os jogos inaugurais do Coliseu tiveram lugar ano 80, sob o mandato de Tito, para celebrar a finalização da construção. Depois do curto reinado de Tito começar com vários meses de desastres, incluindo a erupção do Monte Vesúvio, um incêndio em Roma, e um surto de peste, o mesmo imperador inaugurou o edifício com uns jogos pródigos que duraram mais de cem dias, talvez para tentar apaziguar o público romano e os deuses. Nesses jogos de cem dias terão ocorrido combates de gladiadores, venationes (lutas de animais), execuções, batalhas navais, caçadas e outros divertimentos numa escala sem precedentes.
O Coliseu, como não se encontrava inserido numa zona de encosta, enterrado, tal como normalmente sucede com a generalidade dos teatros e anfiteatros romanos, possuía um “anel” artificial de rocha à sua volta, para garantir sustentação e, ao mesmo tempo, esta substrutura serve como ornamento ao edifício e como condicionador da entrada dos espectadores. Tal como foi referido anteriormente, possuía três pisos, sendo mais tarde adicionado um outro. É construído em mármore, pedra travertina, ladrilho e tufo (pedra calcária com grandes poros). A sua planta elíptica mede dois eixos que se estendem aproximadamente de 190 m por 155 m. A fachada compõe-se de arcadas decoradas com colunas dóricas, jónicas e coríntias, de acordo com o pavimento em que se encontravam. Esta subdivisão deve-se ao facto de ser uma construção essencialmente vertical, criando assim uma diversificação do espaço.
Os assentos eram em mármore e a cavea, escadaria ou arquibancada, dividia-se em três partes, correspondentes às diferentes classes sociais: o podium, para as classes altas; as maeniana, sector destinado à classe média; e os portici, ou pórticos, construídos em madeira, para a plebe e as mulheres. O pulvinar, a tribuna imperial, encontrava-se situada no podium e era balizada pelos assentos reservados aos senadores e magistrados. Rampas no interior do edifício facilitavam o acesso às várias zonas de onde podiam visualizar o espectáculo, sendo protegidos por uma barreira e por uma série de arqueiros posicionados numa passagem de madeira, para o caso de algum acidente. Por cima dos muros ainda são visíveis as mísulas, que sustentavam o velarium, enorme cobertura de lona destinada a proteger do sol os espectadores e, nos subterrâneos, ficavam as jaulas dos animais, bem como todas as celas e galerias necessárias aos serviços do anfiteatro.
O monumento permaneceu como sede principal dos espetáculos da urbe romana até ao período do imperador Honorius, no século V. Danificado por um terremoto no começo do mesmo século, foi alvo de uma extensiva restauração na época de Valentinianus III. Em meados do século XIII, a família Frangipani transformou-o em fortaleza e, ao longo dos séculos XV e XVI, foi por diversas vezes saqueado, perdendo grande parte dos materiais nobres com os quais tinha sido construído.
Os relatos romanos referem-se a cristãos sendo martirizados em locais de Roma descritos pouco pormenorizadamente (no anfiteatro, na arena...), quando Roma tinha numerosos anfiteatros e arenas. Apesar de muito provavelmente o Coliseu não ter sido utilizado para martírios, o Papa Bento XIV consagrou-o no século XVII à Paixão de Cristo e declarou-o lugar sagrado. Os trabalhos de consolidação e restauração parcial do monumento, já há muito em ruínas, foram feitos sobretudo pelos pontífices Gregório XVI e Pio IX, no século XIX.
Dyrhólaós is 4.8 km estuary near Vik í Mýrdal. The extensive mudflats, which are unique in south Iceland are an important ecosystem and breeding ground for many migratory birds. Loftsalahellir Cave is a rather large and unusual cave made of tuff rock on the southwest side of Geitafjall Mountain which sports a variety of basalt formations and lush vegetation on its slopes. The cave served as an assembly place for the farmers in Mýrdal and nearby is Gálgaklettur or ‘gallows rock’. The name suggests that the execution of criminals was performed there early in the last century, although no records to confirm this have ever been found.
Line. Lock. Switch set. Ruby light string. One orb illuminates emerald green. And a second. High green on main 1. Repeat. Main 2. Iron steeds tiptoe in the background, carload after sooty carload, pellet by pellet, dollar by carbon clad dollar drops into the coffers of another aluminum drop bottom. Power grid. Infrastructure. Vital link. Two rail giants collide head to head. Buckets in. Buckets out. Rinse, repeat. Like a puppeteer, softly nugging, coaxing, tensing strings; a three way meet is executed with the streamlined precision and abject concentration of a chamber orchestra falling in line under the guiding hands of a seasoned conductor. Powder. River. Basin. Black Gold. Lifeline.
A week after making my first attempt to shoot the ideal morning FEC southbound at the MP 356.1 s-curve, the stars would align on Wednesday, September 16th, 2022. Florida East Coast Railway train 193-16, southbound empty limerock & hypercholrite solution traffic from Ft. Pierce, rolls down the grade along the curves past the North Miami Audi dealership with an unorthodox set of power, with 138 cars bound for FEC’s Medley Yard. Leading the train is #FEC713, another one of the railroads former-Union Pacific SD40-2s acquired in 2001, built as UP 3743 in 1980; Trailing is #FEC802 [ES44C4].
This locomotive duo had been captive on the 292/193 unit train for a little over two weeks then, running up to Ft. Pierce from Medley and back on overnight runs, avoiding many of the local photographers. However, the night before, in September 15th, northbound FEC 292-15 encountered a bad order on their train, involving one of their loaded limerock hoppers that suffered a chute malfunction. The bad ordered car dumped its entire load along the mainline. The train made it to Ft. Pierce late, and subsequently departed Ft. Pierce southbound closer to daylight. They would pass through North Miami at 08:09.
Continuing on with the previous post [“Practice”], the stars aligned on the 16th; the late-running 193-16, SD40-2 leader, a clear morning forecast, and no Brightline trains for another 30 minutes. Upon setting up at NE 141st St, only a half hour of waiting was required until the train arrived, with northbound BLF702-16 providing some warmup before the rock runner. Truly one of my favorite shots of the FEC down in South Florida.
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North Miami, FL
FEC Mainline
09-16-2022 | 08:09
ID: FEC 193-16
Type: Unit Empty Rock
Direction: Southbound
Car Count: 138
1. FEC SD40-2 #713
2. FEC ES44C4 #802
•
© Vicente Alonso 2022
Okay! None of you asked for it but here it is! My thoughts on SHAZAM The Movie :)
Holy freaking cow! They did it! DC actually made my boy Billy B his own movie and it wasn’t absolute trash! :D
YEAH!
I absolutely loved it! If this is the road DC is going down, I’m all in! Bring on Hoppy The Marvel Bunny! Give me Uncle Marvel! I want it all! :P
Wow! They committed to the corny-ness of Captain Marvel but it wasn’t cheesy! They poked fun at how ridiculous it all was and put a lantern on the cheesiness and the dumb costume and the magic and the goofy nature of it all and it was perfect! :P
Plus I’ve got to give them credit for is that WB stuck to their guns and put this in the DCEU. Billy Batson and Jared Leto Joker are in the same universe and that’s just bonkers to me! :P
And I gotta say, Asher Angel’s “SHAZAM” has to be one of the best so far! He belts that magic word like there’s no tomorrow and I freaking loved it!
Also can we talk about Jack Dylan Grazer’s facial acting for a second? That kid is so expressive and he played Freddy so well! I gotta wonder though how he managed to get all of his fan gear though. Like does Aquaman have a PR guy in Philly that screen prints t-shirt’s for him? Do toy companies in the DCEU make replicas of throwing stars from all the other murderous vigilantes in the world?
Also can someone explain to me how Batman and Superman (two majorly controversial political figures in BvS) are now your average kids toy? Batman branded people like cattle and burned people alive! Superman destroyed a city and then got stabbed by cave troll! I find that they’re now a kids play thing much harder to believe than the magic doofus in red tights and a cape :P
Okay sorry, back on topic!
In a similar complaint I had with Aquaman, I feel like the pacing for the movie could have been a little better though. It wasn’t as bad as Aquaman clearly, but they could have cut some of the contrived Sivana origin stuff maybe, but I don’t know. Those scenes still had a purpose in the end so yeah it's a toss up.
I’ve read the New 52 book cover to cover on multiple occasions so where some of the story fluffing came in to play it felt jarring. It was inevitable to fill in the gaps and simplify the narrative but it still bugged me a little though.
Also, I really had a hard time buying the baby Billy scenes and his Mom. I get why they were there, but like, did they need to be? Like a few lines of dialogue would have also been fine, but I guess that final scene with his Mom was one of those pivotal points in the story too so I get it. It’s just that plot thread with his Mom may have been the weakest of the bunch but it was a necessary one. But naming her CC Batson was nice touch! :)
The rock of eternity set was incredible! From the Sins along the wall, to the big dumb lighting bolt poster! It wasn’t a kitschy/artsy version of the batcave or a spaceship fortress of solitude. It was the real deal! :D
And they freaking did Mister mind!!!! Oh my gosh!
Again, I need to reiterate that Will Smith’s Deadshot and Mister Mind now exist in the same universe what the actual heck! :P
Oh and I enjoyed the workaround when The Wizard referred to Black Adam and his people as just “The First Champion”. It worked and got the point across in a nice tidy way without saying “Hey remember like five years ago when we said we’d maybe kinda sorta cast Dwayne as The Reverse Shazam someday never?! ...uh yeah we’re not talking about that right now... he’s too busy hanging out with Jason and some other bald muscle-y fellas or like being a zoo keeper for a wolf with wings or something… yeah… we don’t know either...”
Can I say though, they made some bold choices with Dr Sivana! The dude is a super genius, so of course he’d find a way back to The Rock of Eternity! It was another neat work around from the source material for him to go head to head with The Wizard like that. Also this squeaky-clean glam and broody Sivana gave me the vibe that he belonged in a band and was “too cool for you” all the time.
I mean if we were to go comic book accurate Sivana, I still think either Wallace Shawn or Danny Devito would could have played him perfectly tbh, but over all, Mark Strong made an interesting new version out of him that I don’t really mind (though I still like his Sinestro WAAAAAY better!)
Another thing I really enjoyed about the movie was how the humor didn’t feel forced. It came up in good moments and didn’t kill the drama with quips, or wasn’t over saturated by lovey adored and never irritating topical 80s references.
“Stupid adult hands!” Loved it! :P
I also liked how they managed to squeeze in classic Batson phrases in an almost cynical way! Like bratty Billy would totally say Gee Whiz and Golly Mister ironically! It made so much sense and worked really well in execution!
Like yeah man... this movie just felt nice. Like it felt like what all these movies are trying to feel like. It was fun and emotional but dumb and also it new it was dumb but it still played with the genre in a fresh way. Here’s hoping we can get an appearance from Bulletman or some other Fawcett characters in the sequel :P
I know this ‘review’ was bit all over the shop but these are just the things I was thinking and I wanted to share them with you all! Plus, I’m just proud that one of my favorite superheroes got the best movie he could have gotten and that’s pretty great :)
ALSO HIS NAME IS CAPTAIN MARVEL AND I’LL FIGHT ANYONE WHO DISAGREES WITH ME! I MEAN IT’S THE CAPTAIN MARVEL FAMILY FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! THEN THERE’S CAPTAIN MARVEL JR AND MARY MARVEL AND UNCLE MARVEL! I MEAN UNCLE SHAZAM SOUNDS JUST AS DUMB BUT LIKE COME ON! THIS IS ANOTHER REASON WHY I HATE THE NEW 52 SO DARN MUCH! I MEAN FOR CRYING OUT LOUD BECK NAMED THE WIZARD SHAZAM! HE CALLS UPON HIM FOR THE POWERS OF HIS MAGIC! LIKE HOW WOULD BILLY EVEN INTRODUCE HIMSELF TO ANYONE EVER LIKE I MEAN COME ON DID ANYONE THINK THIS THROUGH?! BILLY BATSON IS AND WILL ALWAYS BE CAPTAIN MARVEL AND YOUR WRONG IF YOU TRY TO CORRECT PEOPLE ON THE INTERNET LIKE ME… oh wait
Okay I’m done. Review’s over! Go home!
SHAZAM! :D
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You should check out my Patreon if you want to see even more Brickheadz! I've shared a bunch of photos on how I built Tawky Tawny's head and torso, some photos of all my Marvel Family BHz, plus a photo of my entire BHz collection on display (like no joke, every single one of them)!
Besides that, there's other behind the scenes posts shared every single week, like stuff that's not Brickheadz if they aren't your jam :)
So check it out ya mooks!
Also tell me what you thought of SHAZAM the movie! Let me know if it was any good or not and that I'm not just being biased! :P
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Twitter: @acookston_photo
SS personal about to execute some Partisans after having a recon patrol attacked.
Not all fun and games children.
It is a place with an ominous ambience if you know what happened here. Just below the top of Gallowhill, deep in the woodland is a place of execution. It is said that the gallows were situated on a flat ledge just below the summit of the hill which has commanding views across the Moray Firth, and is the highest point for miles.
This was where many a person who upset the local landowners met their end, their corpses dangling from a gallows would have been visible for miles around. Details are sketchy, but the hill and woodlands are named after the execution site.
There are natural woodlands around the hill, mainly ancient caledonian pines and birches with oaks near the foot but with occasional examples all the way up to near the summit. Much has been planted now, with an array of giant alien commercial species and a wide range of more ornamental varieties closer to the ruined castle of Redcastle.
Redcastle claimed to be the oldest inhabited castle until it was abandoned as giant cracks appeared in the walls and it was deemed too expensive to repair or stop it from toppling into the gully behind. But it is clinging on gamely and still stands. It is from this ancient stronghold that local justice was meted out.
I found the flat place below the summit. It is now covered in birch, with the odd magnificent old pine. Whether the gallows was constructed or they just used a convenient tree - a common practice in the highlands (there is a fantastic gallows tree in Drumnadrochit, beside the Benleva Hotel, for example) is unclear.
The flat place is like a 100 yard long ledge, around the south side of the summit. It has a slight corner in the middle and I thought that would make the best location if deterent visibility was key. As I walked further along I saw an old pine. Bearing in mind that it can be difficult to age old pines, some really old ones are short and stunted and some young ones can be really tall. Perhaps nature has provided the perfect natural hanging tree?
Execution on Gibbela
19 BBY "The blaster fire has stopped, the battlefield has gone silent, we've finally chased the CIS out of the farmland of Gibbela. With the news of both general grievous and count dooku's deaths this war's end is in sight. Now the only things left to do are informing commander chase of our imminent departure and prepare for my debriefing with the council. Hopefully this will be my last battle of this wretched war."
West Virginia State Penitentiary at Moundsville
A very interesting read from Wikipedia:
Design
The West Virginia State Penitentiary's design is similar to the facility at the 1858 state prison in Joliet, Illinois, with its castellated Gothic, stone structure, complete with turrets and battlements, except it is scaled down to half the size.The original architectural designs have been lost. The dimensions of the parallelogram-shaped prison yard are 82½ feet in length, by 352½ feet in width. The stone walls are 5 feet (1.5 m) thick at the base, tapering to 2½ feet at the top, with foundations 5 feet (1.5 m) deep. The center tower section is 682 feet (208 m) long. It lies at the western side of the complex along Jefferson Avenue and is considered the front, as this is where the main entrance is located. The walls here are 24 feet (7.3 m) high and 6 feet (1.8 m) wide at the base, tapering to 18 inches (460 mm) towards the top.
Founding
In 1863, West Virginia seceded from Virginia at the height of the American Civil War. Consequently, the new state had a shortage of various public institutions, including prisons. From 1863 to 1866, Governor Arthur I. Boreman lobbied the West Virginia Legislature for a state penitentiary but was repeatedly denied. The Legislature at first directed him to send the prisoners to other institutions out of the state, and then they directed him to use existing county jails, which turned out to be inadequate. After nine inmates escaped in 1865, the local press took up the cause, and the Legislature took action. On February 7, 1866, the state legislature approved the purchase of land in Moundsville for the purpose of constructing a state prison. Ten acres were purchased just outside the then city limits of Moundsville for $3000. Moundsville proved an attractive site, as it is approximately twelve miles south of Wheeling, West Virginia, which at that time was the state capital.
The state built a temporary wooden prison nearby that summer. This gave prison officials time to assess what prison design should be used. They chose a modified version of the design of Northern Illinois Penitentiary at Joliet. Its Gothic Revival architecture "exhibit[ed], as much as possible, great strength and convey[ed] to the mind a cheerless blank indicative of the misery which awaits the unhappy being who enters within its walls."
The first building constructed on the site was the North Wagon Gate. It was made with hand-cut sandstone, which was quarried from a local site.The state used prison labor during the construction process, and work continued on this first phase until 1876. When completed, the total cost was of $363,061. In addition to the North Wagon Gate, there was now north and south cellblock areas (both measuring 300 ft. by 52 ft. South Hall had 224 cells (7 ft. by 4 ft.), and North Hall had a kitchen, dining area, hospital, and chapel. A 4-story tower connecting the two was the administration building (measuring 75 ft. by 75 ft.) It included space for female inmates and personal living quarters for the warden and his family. The facility officially opened in this year, and it had a prison population of 251 male inmates, including some who had helped construct the prison where they were incarcerated. After this phase, work began on prison workshops and other secondary facilities
Operation
In addition to construction, the inmates had other jobs to do in support of the prison. In the early 1900s some industries within the prison walls included a carpentry shop, a paint shop, a wagon shop, a stone yard, a brickyard, a blacksmith, a tailor, a bakery, and a hospital. At the same time, revenue from the prison farm and inmate labor helped the prison financially. It was virtually self-sufficient. A prison coal mine located a mile away opened in 1921. This mine helped fill some of the prison's energy needs and saved the state an estimated $14,000 a year. Some inmates were allowed to stay at the mine's camp under the supervision of a mine foreman, who was not a prison employee.
Conditions at the prison during the turn of the 20th century were good, according to a warden's report, which stated that, "both the quantity and the quality of all the purchases of material, food and clothing have been very gradually, but steadily, improved, while the discipline has become more nearly perfect and the exaction of labor less stringent." Education was a priority for the inmates during this time. They regularly attended class. Construction of a school and library was completed in 1900 to help reform and educate inmates.
Cells where the prison's worst inmates were kept.
However, the conditions at the prison worsened through the years, and the facility would be ranked on the United States Department of Justice's Top Ten Most Violent Correctional Facilities list. One of the more infamous locations in the prison, with instances of gambling, fighting, and raping, was a recreation room known as "The Sugar Shack".
A notable inmate in the early 20th century was labor activist Eugene V. Debs, who served time here from April 13 to June 14, 1919 (at which time he was transferred to an Atlanta prison) on charges of violating the Espionage Act of 1917.
In 1929, the state decided to double the size of the penitentiary because overcrowding was a problem. The 5 x 7-foot (2.1 m) cells were too small to hold three prisoners at a time, but until the expansion there was no other option. Two prisoners would sleep in the bunks, with the third sleeping on a mattress on the floor. The state used prison labor again and completed this phase of construction in 1959. The construction had been delayed by a steel shortage during World War II.
In total, thirty-six homicides took place in the prison. One of the more notable ones is the butchering of R.D. Wall, inmate number 44670. On October 8, 1929, after "snitching" on his fellow inmates, he was attacked while heading to the boiler room by three prisoners with dull shivs.
In 1983, convicted multiple murderer Charles Manson requested to be transferred to this prison to be nearer to his family. His request was denied.
1979 prison break
On Wednesday, November 7, 1979, fifteen prisoners escaped from the prison. One of the escapees was Ronald Turney Williams, serving time for murdering Sergeant David Lilly of the Beckley Police Department on May 12, 1975. He managed to steal a prison guard's service weapon in the escape, and upon reaching the streets of Moundsville, encountered twenty-three-year-old off-duty West Virginia State Trooper Philip S. Kesner, who was driving past the prison with his wife.
Trooper Kesner saw the escapees and attempted to take action against them. The prisoners pulled him from his car and Williams shot him. Trooper Kesner returned fire at the fleeing suspects despite being mortally wounded.
Williams remained at large for eighteen months, sending taunting notes to authorities and making the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List. During that time, he murdered John Bunchek in Scottsdale, Arizona during a robbery and was connected to crimes in Colorado and Pennsylvania. After a shootout with federal agents at the George Washington Hotel in New York City in 1981, he was apprehended and returned to West Virginia to complete several life sentences. Arizona had sought his extradition for his execution, but as of 19 January 2018 he remains in West Virginia custody.
At the time, Marshall County Sheriff Robert Lightner was very critical about poor police communications during the break. The sheriff's office and local police did not learn about the escape from the state police. They first heard of it over the police scanner. "It was a good twenty minutes before we knew about the escape. If somebody had notified us, there's a good chance that the sheriff's department and the Moundsville police could have been on the scene while all the prisoners were still on the block." He was also critical of the four-state manhunt that followed, when convicted murderers David Morgan and Ronald T. Williams, along with convicted rapist Harold Gowers, Jr., remained at large. "Communications have been very poor. I think they should keep the local law enforcement officers more informed I have no idea what they're doing, what they've found."
1986 riot
January 1, 1986 was the date of one of the most infamous riots in recent history.[citation needed] The West Virginia Penitentiary was undergoing many changes and problems. Security had become extremely loose in all areas. Since it was a "cons" prison, most of the locks on the cells had been picked and inmates roamed the halls freely. Bad plumbing and insects caused rapid spreading of various diseases. The prison was holding more than 2,000 men and crowding was an issue. Another major contribution to the riot's cause was the fact that it was a holiday. Many of the officers had called off work, and prisoners planned to conduct their uprising on this specific day.
At around 5:30 pm, twenty inmates, known as a group called the Avengers, stormed the mess hall where Captain Glassock and others were on duty. "Within seconds, he (Captain Glassock), five other officers, and a food service worker were tackled and slammed to the floor. Inmates put knives to their throats and handcuffed them with their own handcuffs."Although several hostages were taken throughout the day, none of them was seriously injured. However, over the course of the two-day upheaval, three inmates were killed for an assortment of reasons. "The inmates who initiated the riot were not prepared to take charge of it. Danny Lehman, the Avengers' president, was quickly agreed upon as best suited for the task of negotiating with authorities and presenting the demands to the media." Yet, Lehman was not a part of the twenty men who began the riot. Governor Arch A. Moore, Jr. was sent to the penitentiary to talk with the inmates. This meeting set up a new list of rules and standards on which the prison would build. National and local news covered the story, as well as the inmates meeting with Governor Moore.
Decommissioning
Toward the end of its life as a prison, the facility was marked by many instances of riots and escapes. In the 1960s, the prison reached a peak population of about 2,000 inmates.[4] With the building of more prisons, that number declined to 600 – 700 inmates by 1995. The fate of the prison was sealed in a 1986 ruling by the West Virginia Supreme Court which stated that confinement to the 5 x 7-foot (2.1 m) cells constituted cruel and unusual punishment. Within nine years, the West Virginia State was closed as a prison. Most of the inmates were transferred to the Mt. Olive Correctional Complex in Fayette County, West Virginia.A smaller correctional facility was built a mile away in Moundsville to serve as a regional jail.
Executions
The original Old Sparky on display
From 1899 to 1959, ninety-four men were executed at the prison. Hanging was the method of execution until 1949, with eighty-five men meeting that fate. The public could attend hangings, which were public until June 19, 1931. On that date, Frank Hyer was executed for murdering his wife. When the trap door beneath him was opened and his full weight settled into the noose, he was instantly decapitated. Following this event, attendance at hangings was by invitation only. The last man executed by hanging, Bud Peterson from Logan County, was buried in the prison's cemetery because his family refused to claim his body.
Beginning in 1951, electrocution became the means of execution. The electric chair, nicknamed "Old Sparky", used by the prison was originally built by an inmate there, Paul Glenn. Nine men were electrocuted before the state prohibited capital punishment entirely in 1965. The original chair is on display in the facility and is included in the official tour.
The prison has been featured in a variety of books, films, television shows, songs and video games.
Novels
Moundsville native Davis Grubb has written a couple of novels with Moundsville as the setting, Fools' Parade (also known as Dynamite Man from Glory Jail) and The Night of the Hunter. The penitentiary was featured as a significant part of each plot.
Film
These works by Grubb have been adapted as major motion pictures. The Night of the Hunter was adapted into a film by Charles Laughton and James Agee in 1955. It stars Robert Mitchum and Shelley Winters. Fools' Parade, starring James Stewart, Kurt Russell, and George Kennedy, was adapted into a film in 1971.
Prison scenes in the 2013 film Out of the Furnace were filmed on site at the penitentiary.[19]
Television
Many ghost-themed or science fiction television shows have visited the prison:
* ABC Family’s Scariest Places on Earth originally aired on October 29, 2002.
* A&E's Paranormal State originally aired on January 12, 2010.
* Discovery Channel's Ghost Lab originally aired on November 20, 2010.
* MTV's Fear allowed six college students to experience the so-called "haunted prison" for themselves in the 2000 pilot episode.
* Syfy's The Dresden Files. (Exterior images)[citation needed]
* Syfy's Ghost Hunters episode 303, originally aired on October 25, 2006.
* Syfy's Stranded, a paranormal reality show, featured the prison in the first season's third episode on March 13, 2013.[20]
* Syfy's Warehouse 13. (Exterior images)[citation needed]
* Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures originally aired on October 31, 2008.
* Destination America's Ghost Asylum, which originally aired on May 17, 2015.
* Netflix’s Mindhunter, which originally aired on October 13, 2017.
Songs Edit
The prison is mentioned in the song "You Missed My Heart" by Mark Kozelek and Jimmy LaValle on their 2013 collaboration Perils from the Sea. Kozelek also references Wheeling, West Virginia in his lyrics to the song.
The Old Summer Palace, known in Chinese as Yuanming Yuan (圆明园; "Gardens of Perfect Brightness"), and originally called the Imperial Gardens (御园), was a complex of palaces and gardens in present-day Haidian District, Beijing, China. It is located 8 kilometers (5.0 mi) northwest of the walls of the former Imperial City section of Beijing. Constructed in the 18th and early 19th centuries, the Old Summer Palace where the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty and his successors resided and handled state affairs; the Forbidden City was used for formal ceremonies. The Old Summer Palace was known for its extensive collection of garden and building architecture and other works of art. It was also called the "Garden of Gardens" (万园之园) in its heyday.
In 1860, during the Second Opium War, as the Anglo-French expedition force relentlessly approached Beijing, two British envoys, a journalist for The Times and a small escort of British and Indian troopers were sent to meet Prince Yi under a flag of truce to negotiate a Qing surrender. Meanwhile, the French and British troops reached the palace and conducted extensive looting and destruction. Later on, as news emerged that the negotiation delegation had been imprisoned and tortured, resulting in 20 deaths, the British High Commissioner to China, Lord Elgin, retaliated by ordering the complete destruction of the palace, which was then carried out by British troops.
The Imperial Gardens at the Old Summer Palace were made up of three gardens:
Garden of Perfect Brightness proper (圆明园)
Garden of Eternal Spring (长春园)
Elegant Spring Garden (绮春园)
Together, they covered an area of 3.5 square kilometers (860 acres), almost five times the size of the Forbidden City grounds and eight times the size of the Vatican City. Hundreds of structures, such as halls, pavilions, temples, galleries, gardens, lakes and bridges, stood on the grounds.
In addition, hundreds of examples of Chinese artwork and antiquities were stored in the halls, along with unique copies of literary works and compilations. Several famous landscapes of southern China had been reproduced in the Imperial Gardens.
Western Mansions
Main article: Xiyang Lou
The most visible architectural remains of the Old Summer Palace can be found in the Western mansions (Xiyang Lou) section of 18th century European-style palaces, fountains and formal gardens. These structures, built partly of stone but mainly with a Chinese infrastructure of timber columns, colored tiles and brick walls, were planned and designed by the Jesuit Giuseppe Castiglione with Michel Benoist responsible for the fountains and waterwork. Qianlong Emperor became interested in the architectural project after seeing an engraving of a European fountain, and employed Castiglione and Benoist to carry out the work to satisfy his taste for exotic buildings and objects.
Western-style palaces, pavilion, aviaries, a maze, fountains, basins, and waterworks as well as perspective paintings organized as an outdoor theater stage were constructed. A striking clock fountain was placed in front of the largest palace, the Haiyan Tang. The fountain had twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac that spouted water in turn every 2 hours, but all spouting water in concert at noon. These European-style buildings however only occupied an area along the back of the Garden of Eternal Spring that was small compared to the overall area of the gardens. More than 95% of the Imperial Gardens were made up of Chinese-style buildings. There were also a few buildings in Tibetan and Mongol styles, reflecting the diversity of the Qing Empire.
In 1860, during the Second Opium War, British and French expeditionary forces, having marched inland from the coast at Tianjin (Tientsin), arrived in Beijing (Peking).
In mid-September, two envoys, Henry Loch and Harry Parkes went ahead of the main force under a flag of truce to negotiate with Prince Yi and representatives of the Qing Empire at Tongzhou (Tungchow). After a day of talks, they and their small escort of British and Indian troopers (including two British envoys and Thomas William Bowlby, a journalist for The Times) were taken prisoner by the Qing general Sengge Rinchen. They were taken to the Ministry of Justice (or Board of Punishments) in Beijing, where they were confined and tortured. Parkes and Loch were returned after two weeks, with 14 other survivors. 20 British, French and Indian captives died. Their bodies were barely recognizable.
On the night of 5 October, French units diverted from the main attack force towards the Old Summer Palace. At the time, the palace was occupied by only some eunuchs and palace maids; the Xianfeng Emperor and his entourage had already fled to the Chengde Mountain Resort in Hebei. Although the French commander Charles Cousin-Montauban assured his British counterpart, James Hope Grant, that "nothing had been touched", there was extensive looting by French and British soldiers. There was no significant resistance to the looting, even though many Qing soldiers were in the vicinity.
On October 18, Lord Elgin, the British High Commissioner to China, retaliated against the torture and executions by ordering the destruction of the Old Summer Palace. Destroying the Old Summer Palace was also thought to be a way of discouraging the Qing Empire from using kidnapping as a bargaining tool. It took 3,500 British troops to set the entire place ablaze, and the massive fire lasted for three days. Unknown to the troops, some 300 remaining eunuchs and palace maids, who concealed themselves from the intruders in locked rooms, perished with the burnt palace buildings. Only 13 buildings survived intact, most of them in the remote areas or by the lakeside. The palace was again sacked and completely destroyed in 1900 when the forces of the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing.
British and French looters preferred porcelain (much of which still graces British and French country houses) while neglecting bronze vessels prized locally for cooking and burial in tombs. Many such treasures dated back to the Shang, Zhou and Han dynasties and were up to 3,600 years old. A specific exception was the looting of the Haiyantang Zodiac fountain with its twelve bronze animal heads. Some of the most notable treasures ended up at the Chinese Museum in the Palace of Fontainebleau, which Empress Eugénie specifically set up in 1867 to house these newly acquired collections.
Once the Old Summer Palace had been reduced to ruins, a sign was raised with an inscription in Chinese stating, "This is the reward for perfidy and cruelty". The burning of the palace was the last act of the war.
According to Professor Wang Daocheng of the Renmin University of China, not all of the palace was destroyed in the original burning. Instead, some historical records indicate that 16 of the garden scenes survived the destruction in 1860. Wang identifies the Republican era and the Cultural Revolution as two significant periods that contributed further to the destruction of the Old Summer Palace. Photographic evidence and eye witness accounts make it clear that (although the palace complex was initially protected by the Qing emperors)it was during the Boxer Rebellion and in the immediate aftermath of the fall of the dynasty when most of the surviving structures were destroyed. Further, the Imperial household itself sold off the magnificent trees in the garden for revenue during the 1890s and after 1900 the palace was used as a veritable builder's yard for anyone who wanted construction materials. Entire buildings were built of materials taken from the Yuanming Yuan and smart Peking houses were adorned with sculptures and architectural elements plundered from the site.
Like the Forbidden City, no commoner had ever been allowed into the Old Summer Palace, as it was used exclusively by the imperial family of the Qing Empire. The burning of the Old Summer Palace is still a very sensitive issue in China today. The destruction of the palace has been perceived as barbaric and criminal by many Chinese, as well as by external observers. In his "Expédition de Chine", Victor Hugo described the looting as, "Two robbers breaking into a museum. One has looted, the other has burnt. one of the two conquerors filled its pockets, seeing that, the other filled its safes; and they came back to Europe laughing hand-in-hand. Before history, one of the bandits will be called France and the other England." In his letter, Hugo hoped that one day France would feel guilty and return what it had plundered from China.
Mauricio Percara, journalist and Argentine writer who works at China Radio International, talks about the apology through the literature by Victor Hugo and mentioned in his story entitled redemption the bust of the French writer located in the old Summer Palace: "at the site where their French peers ever posed his destructive feet today a radiant bust of the great Victor Hugo rises. From the old Summer Palace, the gardens of perfect brightness, a righteous French poses her look of stone in the snow falling obediently on the worn floor of the capital of the North
Following the sacking of the Old Summer Palace, the Qing imperial court relocated to the Forbidden City.
In 1873, the teenage Tongzhi Emperor attempted to rebuild the Old Summer Palace, on the pretext of turning it into a place of retirement for his two former regents, the empress dowagers Ci'an and Cixi. However, the imperial court lacked the financial resources to rebuild the palace, and at the urging of the court, the emperor finally agreed to stop the project in 1874. During the 1880s, an adjacent imperial gardens, the Gardens of Clear Ripples (the present-day Summer Palace) was restored for the use of Empress Dowager Cixi as a new summer resort, albeit on a smaller scale.
In the present day, the ruins of the European-style palaces are the most prominent building remnants on the site. This has misled some visitors to believe wrongly that the Old Summer Palace was made up only of European-style buildings.
A few Chinese-style buildings in the outlying Elegant Spring Garden also survived the fire. Some of these buildings were restored by the Tongzhi Emperor before the project was abandoned. In 1900, many of the buildings that had survived or had been restored were burnt for good by the forces of the Eight-Nation Alliance.
Most of the site was left abandoned and used by local farmers as agricultural land. Only in the 1980s was the site reclaimed by the government and turned into a historical site. The Yuanmingyuan Artists Colony became famous for germinating a new wave of painters such as Fang Lijun and musicians such as Fa Zi on the site before it was shut down by the government and many artists relocated to the Songzhuang area outside of Beijing. Debates in the 1990s arose regarding restoration and development issues and a more recent environmental controversy brought a new political life to the park as it became a symbol of China's "national wound".
from Wikipedia
1994, Soweto, South Africa --- South African police arrest a Zulu man suspected of being a sniper, a few weeks before South Africa's free elections of April 1994. Severe conflicts between the Zulu Inkatha Freedom Party and the African National Congress broke out during preparations for the election --- Image by � David Turnley/CORBIS
Following the downfall and death of the 4th Earl of Huntly and the execution of his eldest son and heir, Huntly Castle was stripped of its riches, which were sent to the Palace of Holyrood. The Earl's body was taken to Edinburgh and propped up so that he could be tried and forfeited for rebellion! The Earl's second son George was initially imprisoned at Kinneil House, before being attainted and sentenced to death for treason in 1563. He was imprisoned at Dunbar Castle where he remained until the marriage of Queen Mary to Darnley in 1565, when he was released. His lands and dignities were eventually restored and in 1567 he was made Lord Chancellor.
While the contents of the castle were pillaged following the death of the 4th Earl and execution of his eldest son, the fabric of the castle seems to have suffered only minor damage. This engraving shows the palace block from the south, with the south-west round tower on the left. There was another quite substantial tower on the north-east angle, which was replaced in 1602, when the upper levels of the castle were also remodeled. There has been discussion as to whether the older north-east tower was destroyed and replaced after the Battle of Corrichie in 1562 and the grand doorway inserted into it in 1602, however examination of the masonry has shown that tower and doorway are all of the same date.
I had done a photo like this almost 2 years ago that was inspired by terra kate and wanted to redo it, I'll try to find the first one and post it in the comment box!
published on vogue
www.vogue.it/en/photovogue/Portfolio/717048e6-3e03-404c-9...
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