St Margaret, Sotterley, Suffolk

That poor Simon Jenkins. Not a day can go past without someone questioning the choices in his book England's Thousand Best Churches. But then, if you make such a claim and then miss out some which are plainly among the best, I suppose you leave yourself wide open to criticism. Here in Suffolk, he missed many peoples' favourites, but particularly three that are, for me, clearly county top twenty material: the amazing St Andrew at Westhall, grand St Mary at Redgrave, and here, St Margaret at Sotterley. Westhall has been described as Suffolk's best-kept secret, but in many ways Sotterley is more secretive, and is certainly less well-known. Indeed, some people would be surprised to learn that it has more figure brasses than any other church in Suffolk, not to mention much else of interest.

But first, you must get there. Sotterley is easily found on an Ordnance Survey map because it looks so darned curious. The roads between Beccles and Southwold swerve widely to avoid it, and it is marked as a large, round private park, about three miles in circumference. Houses scattered around the perimeter form the village, but the parkland itself is all open fields, lawns and a long ornamental lake. Near the centre of the parkland is the great house, and beside it the church of St Margaret. A private driveway reaches the house from near the turn off to Willingham, but it doesn't give access to the church except for services, and no public footpath crosses the park.

In addition, you cannot see the church from any public road, so unless you have the map or inside information, you won't even know it is there. However, just to the north of the private drive entrance, there is a gap in the hedgerow and a wooden stile. This is the start of a 'permitted access' path, a walk which is almost a mile long; it will take you across the fields and to the church.

You climb the stile, and set off across the fields. In summer and autumn you will find yourself walking through cows, but they are harmless enough. The way is marked by OS church symbols attached to trees, but they can get hidden by growth in springtime. After about a third of a mile, the path diverges rightwards down to a rickety wooden bridge across the infant River Blyth, and then into the field beyond. The path then skirts the righthand edge of a field for about a third of a mile and takes you round to another wooden bridge with sheep gates. Here, you can see the church for the first time, and across the next field, you enter the churchyard in its north-west corner.

St Margaret is a long, low building, with a tower that is at once simple and elegant. The lower stage is probably Norman, and the great rebuilding here happened unusually early for Suffolk, certainly before the Black Death.

The 18th century Hall sits immediately to the south, separated from the graveyard only by a low wall. St Margaret is a classic example of an estate church, one of few in Suffolk that retains its relationship with the Big House. The estate was the home of the Playters family until the middle of the 18th century, and it is their name you'll find all over the inside of the church. Earlier, it had been the seat of the Soterleys, and later it became the home of the Barne family, who we have already met at Dunwich. The families have been good guardians, because the building not only retains eight figure brasses and numerous other inscriptions, but some fascinating medieval glass, wonderful roof corbels, a good roodscreen (albeit completely repainted) and Suffolk's loveliest monument. All in all, it is a shame that Simon Jenkins missed it.

Although much of the fabric of the building is original, there was a substantial late 19th century restoration here, which filled the nave with middle-brow furnishings. The font is a good example of the typical 15th century East Anglian design, and there are four hatchments above the war memorial. This end of the church is little more dramatic than many other local churches, but don't miss the banner stave locker set in the wall to the west of the south door. These tall alcoves were supposedly designed for holding processional crosses and the like; there are about a dozen of them, but they are only found in the churches of the north-east of the county. Why here? Perhaps it was just a Lowestoft area thing, a need to tidy things up. What did people do elsewhere?

As you walk east, the building becomes more interesting, and once you are in the chancel it is fascinating. Here, the Soterleys and the Playters remembered themselves in brass and stone. Some of the brasses are set in the sanctuary, others in the centre of the chancel floor. There are six figure brasses, as well as numerous inscriptions. All the brasses except that on the tomb chest are covered by removable matting, but it would be easy to miss them if you did not know that they were there and did not think to investigate.

The same cannot be said for the grand 17th century monument to Sir Thomas Playters to the north of the sanctuary. It is probably the most famous in Suffolk, and I think it is the best. It was actually installed during the Commonwealth in 1658, and Mortlock says that the sculptor was Edward Marshall, who would become sculptor to the crown at the Restoration of Charles II in 1660.

Thomas Playters had died in 1638, and a brass inscription in the chancel floor remembers him. Here on the wall he is shown in the middle, with his two wives on either side, both conveniently called Anne. By Anne I he had two sons and two daughters, but Anne II bore him a jaw-dropping eighteen children. What makes the memorial so remarkable, though, is the way the 22 children are shown as weepers on the panel beneath. Instead of the usual uniform kneeling figures united in sorrow, each child is given its individual character - in short, they all look like different people, and are doing different things. Some kneel in formal prayer, but others are distracted; one turns round to chat to her sister, while others gaze out at the viewer. One poor little mite is wrapped in a blanket right near the middle of the panorama, to show that she died in infancy.

It has to be said that Sir Thomas's first family look more equal to the task of formal mourning than the second. The monument is rather hard to photograph, because the altar screen stands in front of part of it.

Stepping back through the screen, the nave is lighter than the chancel because of the two large windows either side. Presumably, they were intended to light the rood, but the one to the north is set in the closed entrance to a now-vanished transept chapel. Panels of medieval and continental glass have been set in them, surrounded by clear lozenges. Among them are a Lamb of God, Christ in Majesty, a pilgrim who may be St James, and a later Flemish Holy Trinity; God the Father sits on a throne with the crucified Christ on his lap, while a dove perches on his shoulder. It looks very unfamiliar in an English church.

There is some other good glass in the west window beneath the tower; a king with a sword walks towards a beckoning bishop, rather as if they were on their way to a chess match. I wondered if the person who set them there had imagined them to be St Paul and St Peter. Perhaps the best medieval glass in the church is behind the altar screen in the east window, so you may have missed it. Beneath the restrained Victorian saints is a reset 1470s portrait of Sir William Playters, with his sons grouped behind him, looking as if he is on holiday from the north aisle at Long Melford.

The screen, then. It is elegant and pretty in that way that only smaller screens are, but it has been heavily restored and repainted. This incurs the wrath of the likes of Cautley, but we have no way of knowing what was lost and in an case it is done here rather well. The original doors are in place, which is very unusual in this part of the county, and the cusping at the top was thought original by Mortlock. The Saints are in an early 20th century style, and are mostly easily identifiable from their symbols.

Looking through the screen, Sir Charles Nicholson's reredos is at once imposing and seemly, in that Anglican triumphalist style of between the two world wars. All that is missing is a font cover at the west end to balance it.

The Lost World (20th Century Fox, 1960).

youtu.be/h1CLA-gJbmA?t=5s Trailer

Irwin Allen, the producer who would go on to make the disaster film a huge success in the seventies, brought us this Saturday afternoon fodder with giant lizards posing as dinosaurs. Starring Michael Rennie, David Hedison, Claude Rains and Jill St. John.

Intended as a grand sci-fi/fantasy epic remake of Arthur Conan Doyle's classic novel. The first film adaptation, shot in 1925, was a milestone in many ways, but movie making and special effects had come a long way in 35 years. Irwin Allen's Lost World (LW) & 20th Century Fox version was derailed on the way to greatness, but managed to still be a respectable, (if more modest) A-film. Allen's screenplay followed the book fairly well, telling of Professor Challenger's expedition to a remote plateau in the Amazon upon which dinosaurs still lived. Aside from the paleontological presumptions in the premise, there is little "science" in The Lost World. Nonetheless, dinosaur movies have traditionally been lumped into the sci-fi genre.

Synopsis

When his plane lands in London, crusty old professor George Edward Challenger is besieged by reporters questioning him about his latest expedition to the headwaters of the Amazon River. After the irascible Challenger strikes reporter Ed Malone on the head with his umbrella, Jennifer Holmes, the daughter of Ed's employer, Stuart Holmes, offers the injured reporter a ride into town. That evening, Jenny is escorted by Lord John Roxton, an adventurer and big game hunter, to Challenger's lecture at the Zoological Institute, and Ed invites them to sit with him. When Challenger claims to have seen live dinosaurs, his colleague Professor Summerlee scoffs and asks for evidence. Explaining that his photographs of the creatures were lost when his boat overturned, Challenger invites Summerlee to accompany him on a new expedition to the "lost world," and asks for volunteers. When Roxton raises his hand, Jenny insists on going with him, but she is rejected by Challenger because she is a woman. Ed is given a spot after Holmes offers to fund the expedition if the reporter is included. The four then fly to the Amazon, where they are met by Costa, their guide and Manuel Gomez, their helicopter pilot. Arriving unexpectedly, Jenny and her younger brother David insist on joining them. Unable to arrange transportation back to the United States, Challenger reluctantly agrees to take them along. The next day, they take off for the lost world and land on an isolated plateau inhabited by dinosaurs. That evening, a dinosaur stomps out of the jungle, sending them scurrying for cover. After the beast destroys the helicopter and radio, the group ventures inland. When one of the creatures bellows threateningly, they flee, and in their haste, Challenger and Ed slip and tumble down a hillside, where they encounter a native girl. The girl runs into the jungle, but Ed follows and captures her. They then all take refuge in a cave, where Roxton, who has been making disparaging remarks about Jenny's desire to marry him solely for his title, angers Ed. Ed lunges at Roxton, pushing him to the ground, where he finds a diary written by Burton White, an adventurer who hired Roxton three years earlier to lead him to the lost diamonds of Eldorado. Roxton then admits that he never met White and his party because he was delayed by a dalliance with a woman, thus abandoning them to certain death. Gomez angrily snaps that his good friend Santiago perished in the expedition. That night, Costa tries to molest the native girl, and David comes to her rescue and begins to communicate with her through sign language. After Gomez goes to investigate some movement he spotted in the vegetation, he calls for help, and when Roxton runs out of the cave, a gunshot from an unseen assailant is fired, nearly wounding Roxton and sending the girl scurrying into the jungle. Soon after, Ed and Jenny stray from camp and are pursued by a dinosaur, and after taking refuge on some cliffs, watch in horror as their stalker becomes locked in combat with another prehistoric creature and tumbles over the cliffs into the waters below. Upon returning to camp, they discover it deserted, their belongings in disarray. As David stumbles out from some rocks to report they were attacked by a tribe of natives, the cannibals return and imprison them in a cave with the others. As the drums beat relentlessly, signaling their deaths, the native girl reappears and motions for them to follow her through a secret passageway that leads to the cave in which Burton White lives, completely sightless. After confirming that all in his expedition perished, White tells them of a volcanic passageway that will lead them off the plateau, but warns that they must first pass through the cave of fire. Cautioning them that the natives plan to sacrifice them, White declares that their only chance of survival is to slip through the cave and then seal it with a boulder. After giving them directions to the cave, White asks them to take the girl along. As the earth, on the verge of a volcanic eruption, quakes, they set off through the Graveyard of the Damned, a vast cavern littered with dinosaur skeletons, the victims of the deadly sulfurous gases below. Pursued by the ferocious natives, Roxton takes the lead as they inch their way across a narrow ledge above the molten lava. After escaping the natives, they jam the cave shut with a boulder and, passing a dam of molten lava, finally reach the escape passage. At its mouth is a pile of giant diamonds and a dinosaur egg. As Costa heaps the diamonds into his hat, Challenger fondles the egg and Gomez pulls a gun and announces that Roxton must die in exchange for the death of Santiago, Gomez' brother. Acting quickly, Ed hurls the diamonds at Gomez, throwing him off balance and discharging his gun. The gunshot awakens a creature slumbering in the roiling waters below. After the beast snatches Costa and eats him alive, Ed tries to dislodge the dam, sending a few scorching rocks tumbling down onto the monster. Feeling responsible for the peril of the group, Gomez sacrifices his life by using his body as a lever to dislodge the dam, covering the creature with oozing lava. As the cave begins to crumble from the impending eruption, the group hurries to safety. Just then, the volcano explodes, destroying the lost world. After Roxton hands Ed a handful of diamonds he has saved as a wedding gift for him and Jenny, Challenger proudly displays his egg, which then hatches, revealing a baby dinosaur. The End.

The 50s had seen several examples of the dinosaur sub-genre. LW is one of the more lavish ones, owing to color by DeLuxe and CinemaScope. The A-level actors help too. Claude Rains plays the flamboyant Challenger. Michael Rennie plays Roxton, perhaps a bit too cooly. Jill St. John and Vitina Marcus do well as the customary eye candy. David Hedison as Malone and Fernando Lamas as Gomez round out the bill.

The first film version of LW was a silent movie shot in 1925: screenplay by Marion Fairfax. The film featured stop-motion animated dinosaurs by a young Willis O'Brien. Fairfax followed Doyle's text, but Fairfax added a young woman to the team, Paula White. Ostensibly trying to find her father from the first failed expedition, she provided the love triangle interest between Malone and Roxton.

Allen's screenplay tried to stick to Doyle's text as much as Hollywood would allow. It carried on Fairfax's invention of the young woman member of the group as triangle fodder. Fairfax had Doyle's ape men (ape man) but omitted the native humans. Allen had the natives, but no ape men. Allen revived the Gomez/revenge subplot, which Fairfax skipped. Doyle's story had Challenger bringing back a pterodactyl. Fairfax made it a brontosaur who rampaged through London streets (spawning a popular trope). Allen suggested the baby dinosaur traveling to London.

Willis O'Brien pitched 20th Century Fox in the late 50s, to do a quality remake of LW. He had gained much experience in the intervening 35 years, so his stop-motion dinosaurs were to be the real stars. Fox bass liked the idea, but by the time the ball started rolling, there was trouble in studioland. Fox's grand epic Cleopatra was underway, but was already 5 million dollars over budget. Cleo would nearly sink 20th Century Fox when it was finally released in 1963. To stay afloat, all other Fox films' budgets were slashed. Allen could no longer afford the grand O'Brien stop-motion.

Allen's production is often criticized for its "cheap" dinosaurs, which were live monitor lizards and alligators with fins and plates and horns glue onto them. (more on that below) These were already a bit cheesy when used in the 1940 film One Million B.C.. O'Brien is still listed on the credits as "Effects Technician," but all Allen could afford was lizards with glued on extras. Somewhat amusingly, the script still refers to them as brontosaurs and T-Rexes.

The character of Jennifer Holmes starts out promising. She's a self-assured to the edges of pushy, and is said to be able to out shoot and out ride any man. Yet, when she gets to the Amazon jungle, she's little more than Jungle Barbie, dressed in girlie clothes and screaming frequently. She even does the typical Hollywood trip-and-fall when chased by the dinosaur, so that a man must save her.

Bottom line? FW is a finer example of the not-quite-sci-fi dinosaur sub-genre. The actors are top drawer, even if some of their acting is a bit flat. Nonetheless, FW is a fair adaptation of Doyle's

classic adventure novel, given the constraints of Hollywood culture.

The Movie Club Annals … Review

The Lost World 1960

Introduction

There was absolutely nothing wrong with Irwin Allen's 1960 production of The Lost World. Nothing. It was perfect in every way. I therefore find myself in the unique and unfamiliar position of having to write a rave review about a Movie Club movie that was entirely devoid of flaws.

Faced with such a confounding task, I half-heartedly considered faking a bad review, then praying my obvious deceptions would go unnoticed. But the patent transparency of my scheme convinced me to abandon it posthaste. After all, leveling concocted criticisms at such an unassailable masterpiece would be a futile and tiresome exercise, the pretense of which would escape nary a semi-cognizant soul.

Thus, having retreated from my would-be descent into literary intrigue, I start this review in earnest by borrowing a quote from the legendary Shelly Winters, spoken during the 1972 filming of Irwin Allen's The Poseidon Adventure:

"I'm ready for my close up now, Mr. Allen.” Shelly Winters, 1972

Review

A bit of research into the casting choices of Irwin Allen, who wrote, produced, and directed The Lost World, begins to reveal the genius behind the virtuosity.

The first accolades go to Irwin for his casting of Vitina Marcus, the immaculately groomed Saks 5th Avenue cave girl with exquisite taste in makeup, jewelry, and cave-wear. No finer cave girl ever graced a feature film.

Vitina Marcus, as The Cave Girl

She was the picture of prehistoric glamour, gliding across the silver screen in her designer bearskin mini-pelt, her flawless coiffure showing no signs of muss from the traditional courting rituals of the day, her perfect teeth the envy of even the most prototypical Osmond. Even her nouveau-opposable thumbs retained their manicure, in spite of the oft-disagreeable duties that frequently befell her as an effete member of the tribal gentry.

By no means just another Neanderthal harlot, Vitina had a wealth of talent to augment her exterior virtues. Her virtuoso interpretation of a comely cave girl in The Lost World certainly didn't escape the attention Irwin Allen. In fact, he was so taken with her performance that he later engaged her services again, casting her as the Native Girl in episode 2.26 of his Voyage to The Bottom of The Sea TV series.

Leery of potential typecasting, Vitina went on to obtain roles with greater depth and more sophisticated dialogue. This is evidenced by the great departure she took from her previous roles when she next portrayed the part of Sarit, a female barbarian, in episode 1.24 of Irwin Allen's The Time Tunnel TV series.

Vitina, as Sarit

Vitina's efforts to avoid typecasting paid off in spades, as she was soon rewarded with the distinctive role of Girl, a female Tarzanesque she-beast character, in episode 3.14 of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. TV series.

Lured back from the U.N.C.L.E. set by Irwin Allen, Vitina was next cast in the role of Athena (a.k.a. Lorelei), the green space girl with the inverted lucite salad bowl hat, in episodes 2.2 and 2.16 of the revered Lost in Space TV series.

And with this, Vitina reached the pinnacle of her career. For her many unparalleled displays of thespian pageantry, she leaves us forever in her debt as she exits the stage.

For those who would still question the genius of Irwin Allen, I defy you to find a better casting choice for the character of Lord John Roxton than that of Michael Rennie. Mr. Rennie, who earlier starred as Klaatu in The Day the Earth Stood Still, went on to even greater heights, starring as The Keeper in episodes 1.16 and 1.17 of the revered Lost in Space TV series. Throughout his distinguished career, Mr. Rennie often played highly cerebral characters with

unique names, such as Garth A7, Tribolet, Hasani, Rama Kahn, Hertz, and Dirk. How befitting that his most prolific roles came to him through a man named Irwin, a highly cerebral character with a unique name.

The selection of David Hedison to play Ed Malone was yet another example of Irwin's uncanny foresight. Soon after casting him in The Lost World, Irwin paved Mr. Hedison's path to immortality by casting him as a lead character in his Voyage to The Bottom of The Sea TV series. Although Voyage ended in 1968, Mr. Hedison departed the show with a solid resume and a bright future.

In the decades following Voyage, Mr. Hedison has been a veritable fixture on the small screen, appearing in such socially influential programs as The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Knight Rider, The Fall Guy and The A Team. Mr. Hedison's early collaborations with Irwin Allen have left him never wanting for a day's work in Hollywood, a boon to the legions of discerning fans who continue to savor his inspiring prime time depictions.

Irwin selected Fernando Lamas to play Manuel Gomez, the honorable and tortured soul of The Lost World who needlessly sacrificed himself at the end of the movie to save all the others. To get a feel for how important a casting decision he was to Irwin, just look at the pertinent experience Mr. Lamas brought to the table:

Irwin knew that such credentials could cause him to lose the services of Mr. Lamas to another project, and he took great pains to woo him onto the set of The Lost World. And even though Mr. Lamas never appeared in the revered Lost in Space TV series, his talent is not lost on us.

Jay Novello was selected by Irwin Allen to play Costa, the consummate Cuban coward who perpetually betrays everyone around him in the name of greed. In pursuing his craven calling, Mr. Novello went on to play Xandros, the Greek Slave in Atlantis, The Lost Continent, as well as countless other roles as a coward.

Although Mr. Novella never appeared in the revered Lost in Space TV series, his already long and distinguished career as a coward made him the obvious choice for Irwin when the need for an experienced malingerer arose.

Jill St. John was Irwin's pick to play Jennifer Holmes, the "other" glamour girl in The Lost World. Not to be upstaged by glamour-cave-girl Vitina Marcus, Jill played the trump card and broke out the pink go-go boots and skin-tight Capri pants, the perfect Amazonian summertime jungle wear.

Complete with a perfect hairdo, a killer wardrobe, a little yip-yip dog named Frosty, and all the other trappings of a wealthy and pampered prehistoric society, Jill's sensational allure rivaled even that of a certain cave girl appearing in the same film.

With the atmosphere rife for an on-set rivalry between Jill and Vitina, Irwin still managed to keep the peace, proving that he was as skilled a diplomat as he was a director.

Claude Rains, as Professor George Edward Challenger

And our cup runneth over, as Irwin cast Claude Rains to portray Professor George Edward Challenger. His eminence, Mr. Rains is an entity of such immeasurable virtue that he is not in need of monotonous praise from the likes of me.

I respectfully acknowledge the appearance of Mr. Rains because failure to do so would be an unforgivable travesty. But I say nothing more on the subject, lest I state something so obvious and uninspiring as to insult the intelligence of enlightened reader.

Irwin's casting of the cavemen mustn't be overlooked, for their infallibly realistic portrayals are unmatched within the Pleistocene Epoch genre of film. Such meticulous attention to detail is what separates Irwin Allen from lesser filmmakers, whose pale imitations of his work only further to underscore the point.

To be sure, it is possible to come away with the unfounded suspicion that the cavemen are really just a bunch of old white guys from the bar at the local Elks lodge. But Irwin was an absolute stickler for authenticity, and would never have allowed the use of such tawdry measures to taint his prehistoric magnum opus.

In truth, Irwin's on-screen cavemen were borne of many grueling years of anthropological research, so the explanation for their somewhat modern, pseudo-caucasian appearance lies obviously elsewhere. And in keeping with true Irwin Allen tradition, that explanation will not be offered here.

1964 - Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Season One, Episode 7 - "Turn Back the Clock", featuring Vitina Marcus as The Native Girl. Produced by Irwin Allen.

And then there was Irwin Allen's masterful handling of the reptilian facets of The Lost World, most notably his inimitable casting of the dinosaurs. His dinosaurs were so realistic, so eerily lifelike, that they almost looked like living, breathing garden variety lizards with dinosaur fins and horns glued to their backs and heads.

The less enlightened viewer might even suppose this to be true, that Irwin's dinosaurs were indeed merely live specimens of lizards, donned in Jurassic-era finery, vastly magnified, and retro-fitted into The Lost World via some penny-wise means of cinematic trickery.

But those of us in the know certainly know better than that, as we are privy to some otherwise unpublished information about The Lost World. The lifelike appearance of the Irwin's dinosaurs can be attributed to a wholly overlooked and fiendishly cunning approach to the art of delusion, which is that the dinosaurs didn't just look real, they were real.

While the world abounds with middling minds who cannot fathom such a reality, we must follow Irwin's benevolent leanings and temper our natural feelings of contempt for this unfortunate assemblage of pedestrian lowbrows. In spite of Irwin's superior intellect, he never felt disdain toward the masses that constituted his audiences. He simply capitalized on their unaffectedness, and in the process recounted the benefits of exploiting the intellectually bereft for personal gain.

The purpose of all this analysis, of course, is to place an exclamation point on the genius of Irwin Allen, the formation of his dinosaur exposé being a premier example. Note how he mindfully manipulates the expectations of his unsuspecting audience, compelling them to probe the dinosaurs for any signs of man-made chicanery. Then, at the palatial moment when the dinosaurs make their entry, he guilefully supplants the anticipated display of faux reptilia with that of the bona fide article.

Upon first witnessing the de facto dinosaurs, some in the audience think they've been had, and indeed they have. Irwin, in engineering his masterful ruse, had used reality as his medium to convey the illusion of artifice. His audience, in essence, was blinded by the truth. It was the immaculate deception, and none but Irwin Allen could have conceived it.

Indeed, the matter of where the live dinosaurs came from has been conspicuously absent from this discussion, as the Irwinian technique of fine film making strongly discourages the practice of squandering time on extraneous justifications and other such trite means of redundant apologia. For the benefit of the incessantly curious, however, just keep in mind that Irwin Allen wrote and produced The Time Tunnel TV Series, a fact that should provide some fair insight into his modis operandi.

Carl R.

Beautiful woman with questioning expression and question marks above her head

Children party! Gangtok!

Caught children in Sikkim in various acts.... only they can be good at! each of the following attributes hold true..

amazing, altruistic, bombastic, brave, curious, calculating, conniving, creative, celebration, determined, energetic,enthusiastic, expressive, endearing, fashion conscious, fun-loving, futuristic, gesticulating, hardworking, happy, honest, harrowing, Innocent, innovative, inventive, inquisitive, jovial, Karishmatic, laughing, linguists, musical, nature lovers, naughty, nimble-footed, omnipresent, outgoing, quiet, quick, questioning, risk taking, social, spirited, spontanious, tireless, tantrum, ubiquitous, vibrant, vulnerable, vivacious, wonderment, ......

They make the world a wonderful and worthwhile place to live in. We are responsible to leave a better place for the generations to come...

Miss Juliana Willoughby

West Building, Main Floor—Gallery 59

•Date: 1781-1783

•Medium: Oil on Canvas

•Dimensions:

oOverall: 92.1 × 71.5 cm (36¼ × 28⅛ in.)

•Credit Line: Andrew W. Mellon Collection

•Accession Number: 1937.1.104

•Artists/Makers:

oArtist: George Romney, British, 1734-1802

Overview

Juliana Willoughby stands quietly but alertly, engaging the viewer with her direct, slightly questioning gaze. The blended harmonies of the pinks, whites, and creams of her skin tones, her dress, and her shining wisps of fine hair evoke not just Juliana, but the essence of all little girls of this age. The dramatic diagonals of the landscape, the energetic brushwork of the trees at the right, and the strong coloration of the sky provide a dynamic backdrop for the young subject.

Romney’s sure sense of formal values is evident here in the effective balance of figure and landscape. In this portrait Romney successfully adapted his composition to a change in the sitter’s costume, X-rays show that Juliana originally wore a small, brimless cap. During the two years it took Romney to complete the portrait, Juliana, who was by then almost six years old, had outgrown her mobcap and wore, instead, this broad-brimmed bonnet.

Like many of his contemporaries, Romney traveled to Italy, where he spent two years studying the work of Renaissance masters, in particular paintings by Titian and Raphael. The impact of these artists on his work can be seen in the simply expressed folds of Juliana’s dress, the case and certainty of his outlines, and the artful balance of broad areas of color.

Provenance

Painted for the sitter’s father, Sir Christopher Willoughby, Bt. [1748-1808], Baldon House, Oxfordshire; by descent to Sir John Willoughby, 5th Bt.,[1] Fulmer Hall, Slough, Buckinghamshire; sold 1906 to (M. Knoedler & Co., London and New York); purchased February 1907 by Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.; deeded 28 December 1934 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1937 to NGA.

[1]The 2nd through 4th Baronets Willoughby added to the former owner table in the NGA collection database are per The Getty Provenance Index, which lists these baronets each with the symbol (?), indicating some doubt as to the painting’s direct passage through these three succeeding brothers down to the 5th Bt.

Associated Names

•Knoedler & Company, M.

•Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, The A.W.

•Mellon, Andrew W.

•Willoughby, 1st Bt., Christopher, Sir

•Willoughby, 2nd Bt., Christopher William, Sir

•Willoughby, 3rd Bt., Henry Pollard, Sir

•Willoughby, 4th Bt., John Pollard, Sir

•Willoughby, 5th Bt., John Christopher, Sir

Technical Summary

The medium-weight canvas is tightly twill woven; it has been lined. The light gray ground is applied smoothly and fairly thickly. The painting is executed in vigorously brushed thick paint with moderate impasto in the costume, while the darks are painted in thin, transparent glazes. X-radiographs show that the sitter originally wore a smaller hat and that her features then appeared younger; there are slight pentimenti in her right shoulder and the contour of the bow. The painting is in good condition. The paint surface has not been abraded and there are no major losses. The impasto was slightly flattened during lining and there is scattered but minor retouching. The synthetic varnish applied after conservation in 1985 has not discolored.

Bibliography

•1904—Ward, Humphry and William Roberts. Romney. 2 vols. London, 1904: 1:95-96, 98-99, 101; 2:172.

•1941—Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 171-172, no. 104, as Miss Willoughby.

•1942—Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 241, repro. 18, as Miss Willoughby.

•1949—Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): 115, repro., as Miss Willoughby.

•1951—King, Marian. Portfolio Number 3. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1951: no. 9, color repro.

•1952—Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds., Great Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1952: 136, color repro., as Miss Willoughby.

•1960—Cooke, Hereward Lester. British Painting in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1960 (Booklet Number Eight in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.): 42, color repro. on cover, as Miss Willoughby.

•1963—Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 222, repro., as Miss Willoughby.

•1965—Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 116, as Miss Willoughby.

•1966—Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 2:358, color repro., as Miss Willoughby.

•1966—Henderson [later Jaffé], Patricia. George Romney. Maestri del colore series, no. 250. Milan, 1966: color pl. 14.

•1968—European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1968: 103, repro., as Miss Willoughby.

•1975—European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 308, repro., as Miss Willoughby.

•1975—Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: no. 509, color repro.

•1984—Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 362, no. 507, color repro., as Miss Willoughby.

•1985—European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 354, repro., as Miss Willoughby.

•1991—Kopper, Philip. America’s National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 56, 89, color repro.

•1992—Hayes, John. British Paintings of the Sixteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 235-237, color repro. 236.

•1992—National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1992: 151, repro.

•1993—Pointon, Marcia. Hanging the Head: Portraiture and Social Formation in Eighteenth-Century England. New Haven, 1993: 182, 184-185, color fig. 216.

•2004—Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 281, no. 229, color repro.

•2012—Catlin, Roger. “The Candidates’ Thoughts on Art? Well, the Picture’s a Little Fuzzy.” Washington Post 135, no. 307 (7 October 2012): E7, color repro.

From British Paintings of the Sixteenth through Nineteenth Centuries:

1937.1.104 (104)

Miss Juliana Willoughby

•1781-1783

•Oil on Canvas, 92.1 × 71.5 (36¼ × 28⅛)

•Andrew W. Mellon Collection

Technical Notes

The medium-weight canvas is tightly twill woven; it has been lined. The light gray ground is applied smoothly and fairly thickly. The painting is executed in vigorously brushed thick paint with moderate impasto in the costume, while the darks are painted in thin, transparent glazes. X-radiographs show that the sitter originally wore a smaller hat and that her features then appeared younger; there are slight pentimenti in her right shoulder and the contour of the bow. The painting is in good condition. The paint surface has not been abraded and there are no major losses. The impasto was slightly flattened during lining and there is scattered but minor retouching. The synthetic varnish applied after conservation in 1985 has not discolored.

Provenance

Painted for the sitter’s father, Sir Christopher Willoughby, 1st Bt. [1748-1808], Baldón House, Oxfordshire; by descent to Sir John Willoughby, 5th Bt., Fulmer Hall, Slough, Buckinghamshire, by whom it was sold 1906. (M. Knoedler & Co.), from whom it was purchased February 1907 by Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh, who deeded it 28 December 1934 to The A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh.

Juliana Willoughby was the only child of Sir Christopher Willoughby and his first wife, Juliana, daughter of the Reverend John Burville, whom he married in 1776. Juliana’s mother died on 20 April 1777, probably in childbirth ; 1777, at any rate, is likely to have been the date of Juliana’s birth. Nothing further is recorded about her life, so that she probably died young and unmarried.

Miss Willoughby had two sittings with Romney in 1781, on 13 and 20 May.1 She had two further sittings the following year, on 22 April and 29 June 1782, and four more a year later, on 24,27, and 29 March, and on 10 April 1783.2

Miss Willoughby began to be painted when she was (probably) just four years old. At the time of her last sittings she was (probably) almost six. This difference in age accounts for the substitution, shown in x-radiographs, of a fashionable adult hat for the child’s mob cap, which she had outgrown. The placement high in the canvas adds to this sense of sophistication. The positioning of her left forearm is echoed in the sweeping diagonal of the landscape background, executed in lively brushwork which, together with the agitated handling of the sky, enhances the vitality of this delightful image of childhood.

Notes

1.Ward and Roberts 1904, 1 :95-96.

2.Ward and Roberts 1904, 1 : 98-99, 101.

References

•1904—Ward and Roberts 1904, 1:95-96, 98-99,101;2:172.

•1949—Mellon 1949: no. I04,repro. 115.

•1966—Henderson [later Jaffé], Patricia. George Romney. (Maestri del colore series, no. 250.) Milan, 1966: color pl. 14.

•1976—Walker 1976: no. 509, color repro.

The Lost World (20th Century Fox, 1960).

youtu.be/h1CLA-gJbmA?t=5s Trailer

Irwin Allen, the producer who would go on to make the disaster film a huge success in the seventies, brought us this Saturday afternoon fodder with giant lizards posing as dinosaurs. Starring Michael Rennie, David Hedison, Claude Rains and Jill St. John.

Intended as a grand sci-fi/fantasy epic remake of Arthur Conan Doyle's classic novel. The first film adaptation, shot in 1925, was a milestone in many ways, but movie making and special effects had come a long way in 35 years. Irwin Allen's Lost World (LW) & 20th Century Fox version was derailed on the way to greatness, but managed to still be a respectable, (if more modest) A-film. Allen's screenplay followed the book fairly well, telling of Professor Challenger's expedition to a remote plateau in the Amazon upon which dinosaurs still lived. Aside from the paleontological presumptions in the premise, there is little "science" in The Lost World. Nonetheless, dinosaur movies have traditionally been lumped into the sci-fi genre.

Synopsis

When his plane lands in London, crusty old professor George Edward Challenger is besieged by reporters questioning him about his latest expedition to the headwaters of the Amazon River. After the irascible Challenger strikes reporter Ed Malone on the head with his umbrella, Jennifer Holmes, the daughter of Ed's employer, Stuart Holmes, offers the injured reporter a ride into town. That evening, Jenny is escorted by Lord John Roxton, an adventurer and big game hunter, to Challenger's lecture at the Zoological Institute, and Ed invites them to sit with him. When Challenger claims to have seen live dinosaurs, his colleague Professor Summerlee scoffs and asks for evidence. Explaining that his photographs of the creatures were lost when his boat overturned, Challenger invites Summerlee to accompany him on a new expedition to the "lost world," and asks for volunteers. When Roxton raises his hand, Jenny insists on going with him, but she is rejected by Challenger because she is a woman. Ed is given a spot after Holmes offers to fund the expedition if the reporter is included. The four then fly to the Amazon, where they are met by Costa, their guide and Manuel Gomez, their helicopter pilot. Arriving unexpectedly, Jenny and her younger brother David insist on joining them. Unable to arrange transportation back to the United States, Challenger reluctantly agrees to take them along. The next day, they take off for the lost world and land on an isolated plateau inhabited by dinosaurs. That evening, a dinosaur stomps out of the jungle, sending them scurrying for cover. After the beast destroys the helicopter and radio, the group ventures inland. When one of the creatures bellows threateningly, they flee, and in their haste, Challenger and Ed slip and tumble down a hillside, where they encounter a native girl. The girl runs into the jungle, but Ed follows and captures her. They then all take refuge in a cave, where Roxton, who has been making disparaging remarks about Jenny's desire to marry him solely for his title, angers Ed. Ed lunges at Roxton, pushing him to the ground, where he finds a diary written by Burton White, an adventurer who hired Roxton three years earlier to lead him to the lost diamonds of Eldorado. Roxton then admits that he never met White and his party because he was delayed by a dalliance with a woman, thus abandoning them to certain death. Gomez angrily snaps that his good friend Santiago perished in the expedition. That night, Costa tries to molest the native girl, and David comes to her rescue and begins to communicate with her through sign language. After Gomez goes to investigate some movement he spotted in the vegetation, he calls for help, and when Roxton runs out of the cave, a gunshot from an unseen assailant is fired, nearly wounding Roxton and sending the girl scurrying into the jungle. Soon after, Ed and Jenny stray from camp and are pursued by a dinosaur, and after taking refuge on some cliffs, watch in horror as their stalker becomes locked in combat with another prehistoric creature and tumbles over the cliffs into the waters below. Upon returning to camp, they discover it deserted, their belongings in disarray. As David stumbles out from some rocks to report they were attacked by a tribe of natives, the cannibals return and imprison them in a cave with the others. As the drums beat relentlessly, signaling their deaths, the native girl reappears and motions for them to follow her through a secret passageway that leads to the cave in which Burton White lives, completely sightless. After confirming that all in his expedition perished, White tells them of a volcanic passageway that will lead them off the plateau, but warns that they must first pass through the cave of fire. Cautioning them that the natives plan to sacrifice them, White declares that their only chance of survival is to slip through the cave and then seal it with a boulder. After giving them directions to the cave, White asks them to take the girl along. As the earth, on the verge of a volcanic eruption, quakes, they set off through the Graveyard of the Damned, a vast cavern littered with dinosaur skeletons, the victims of the deadly sulfurous gases below. Pursued by the ferocious natives, Roxton takes the lead as they inch their way across a narrow ledge above the molten lava. After escaping the natives, they jam the cave shut with a boulder and, passing a dam of molten lava, finally reach the escape passage. At its mouth is a pile of giant diamonds and a dinosaur egg. As Costa heaps the diamonds into his hat, Challenger fondles the egg and Gomez pulls a gun and announces that Roxton must die in exchange for the death of Santiago, Gomez' brother. Acting quickly, Ed hurls the diamonds at Gomez, throwing him off balance and discharging his gun. The gunshot awakens a creature slumbering in the roiling waters below. After the beast snatches Costa and eats him alive, Ed tries to dislodge the dam, sending a few scorching rocks tumbling down onto the monster. Feeling responsible for the peril of the group, Gomez sacrifices his life by using his body as a lever to dislodge the dam, covering the creature with oozing lava. As the cave begins to crumble from the impending eruption, the group hurries to safety. Just then, the volcano explodes, destroying the lost world. After Roxton hands Ed a handful of diamonds he has saved as a wedding gift for him and Jenny, Challenger proudly displays his egg, which then hatches, revealing a baby dinosaur. The End.

The 50s had seen several examples of the dinosaur sub-genre. LW is one of the more lavish ones, owing to color by DeLuxe and CinemaScope. The A-level actors help too. Claude Rains plays the flamboyant Challenger. Michael Rennie plays Roxton, perhaps a bit too cooly. Jill St. John and Vitina Marcus do well as the customary eye candy. David Hedison as Malone and Fernando Lamas as Gomez round out the bill.

The first film version of LW was a silent movie shot in 1925: screenplay by Marion Fairfax. The film featured stop-motion animated dinosaurs by a young Willis O'Brien. Fairfax followed Doyle's text, but Fairfax added a young woman to the team, Paula White. Ostensibly trying to find her father from the first failed expedition, she provided the love triangle interest between Malone and Roxton.

Allen's screenplay tried to stick to Doyle's text as much as Hollywood would allow. It carried on Fairfax's invention of the young woman member of the group as triangle fodder. Fairfax had Doyle's ape men (ape man) but omitted the native humans. Allen had the natives, but no ape men. Allen revived the Gomez/revenge subplot, which Fairfax skipped. Doyle's story had Challenger bringing back a pterodactyl. Fairfax made it a brontosaur who rampaged through London streets (spawning a popular trope). Allen suggested the baby dinosaur traveling to London.

Willis O'Brien pitched 20th Century Fox in the late 50s, to do a quality remake of LW. He had gained much experience in the intervening 35 years, so his stop-motion dinosaurs were to be the real stars. Fox bass liked the idea, but by the time the ball started rolling, there was trouble in studioland. Fox's grand epic Cleopatra was underway, but was already 5 million dollars over budget. Cleo would nearly sink 20th Century Fox when it was finally released in 1963. To stay afloat, all other Fox films' budgets were slashed. Allen could no longer afford the grand O'Brien stop-motion.

Allen's production is often criticized for its "cheap" dinosaurs, which were live monitor lizards and alligators with fins and plates and horns glue onto them. (more on that below) These were already a bit cheesy when used in the 1940 film One Million B.C.. O'Brien is still listed on the credits as "Effects Technician," but all Allen could afford was lizards with glued on extras. Somewhat amusingly, the script still refers to them as brontosaurs and T-Rexes.

The character of Jennifer Holmes starts out promising. She's a self-assured to the edges of pushy, and is said to be able to out shoot and out ride any man. Yet, when she gets to the Amazon jungle, she's little more than Jungle Barbie, dressed in girlie clothes and screaming frequently. She even does the typical Hollywood trip-and-fall when chased by the dinosaur, so that a man must save her.

Bottom line? FW is a finer example of the not-quite-sci-fi dinosaur sub-genre. The actors are top drawer, even if some of their acting is a bit flat. Nonetheless, FW is a fair adaptation of Doyle's

classic adventure novel, given the constraints of Hollywood culture.

The Movie Club Annals … Review

The Lost World 1960

Introduction

There was absolutely nothing wrong with Irwin Allen's 1960 production of The Lost World. Nothing. It was perfect in every way. I therefore find myself in the unique and unfamiliar position of having to write a rave review about a Movie Club movie that was entirely devoid of flaws.

Faced with such a confounding task, I half-heartedly considered faking a bad review, then praying my obvious deceptions would go unnoticed. But the patent transparency of my scheme convinced me to abandon it posthaste. After all, leveling concocted criticisms at such an unassailable masterpiece would be a futile and tiresome exercise, the pretense of which would escape nary a semi-cognizant soul.

Thus, having retreated from my would-be descent into literary intrigue, I start this review in earnest by borrowing a quote from the legendary Shelly Winters, spoken during the 1972 filming of Irwin Allen's The Poseidon Adventure:

"I'm ready for my close up now, Mr. Allen.” Shelly Winters, 1972

Review

A bit of research into the casting choices of Irwin Allen, who wrote, produced, and directed The Lost World, begins to reveal the genius behind the virtuosity.

The first accolades go to Irwin for his casting of Vitina Marcus, the immaculately groomed Saks 5th Avenue cave girl with exquisite taste in makeup, jewelry, and cave-wear. No finer cave girl ever graced a feature film.

Vitina Marcus, as The Cave Girl

She was the picture of prehistoric glamour, gliding across the silver screen in her designer bearskin mini-pelt, her flawless coiffure showing no signs of muss from the traditional courting rituals of the day, her perfect teeth the envy of even the most prototypical Osmond. Even her nouveau-opposable thumbs retained their manicure, in spite of the oft-disagreeable duties that frequently befell her as an effete member of the tribal gentry.

By no means just another Neanderthal harlot, Vitina had a wealth of talent to augment her exterior virtues. Her virtuoso interpretation of a comely cave girl in The Lost World certainly didn't escape the attention Irwin Allen. In fact, he was so taken with her performance that he later engaged her services again, casting her as the Native Girl in episode 2.26 of his Voyage to The Bottom of The Sea TV series.

Leery of potential typecasting, Vitina went on to obtain roles with greater depth and more sophisticated dialogue. This is evidenced by the great departure she took from her previous roles when she next portrayed the part of Sarit, a female barbarian, in episode 1.24 of Irwin Allen's The Time Tunnel TV series.

Vitina, as Sarit

Vitina's efforts to avoid typecasting paid off in spades, as she was soon rewarded with the distinctive role of Girl, a female Tarzanesque she-beast character, in episode 3.14 of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. TV series.

Lured back from the U.N.C.L.E. set by Irwin Allen, Vitina was next cast in the role of Athena (a.k.a. Lorelei), the green space girl with the inverted lucite salad bowl hat, in episodes 2.2 and 2.16 of the revered Lost in Space TV series.

And with this, Vitina reached the pinnacle of her career. For her many unparalleled displays of thespian pageantry, she leaves us forever in her debt as she exits the stage.

For those who would still question the genius of Irwin Allen, I defy you to find a better casting choice for the character of Lord John Roxton than that of Michael Rennie. Mr. Rennie, who earlier starred as Klaatu in The Day the Earth Stood Still, went on to even greater heights, starring as The Keeper in episodes 1.16 and 1.17 of the revered Lost in Space TV series. Throughout his distinguished career, Mr. Rennie often played highly cerebral characters with

unique names, such as Garth A7, Tribolet, Hasani, Rama Kahn, Hertz, and Dirk. How befitting that his most prolific roles came to him through a man named Irwin, a highly cerebral character with a unique name.

The selection of David Hedison to play Ed Malone was yet another example of Irwin's uncanny foresight. Soon after casting him in The Lost World, Irwin paved Mr. Hedison's path to immortality by casting him as a lead character in his Voyage to The Bottom of The Sea TV series. Although Voyage ended in 1968, Mr. Hedison departed the show with a solid resume and a bright future.

In the decades following Voyage, Mr. Hedison has been a veritable fixture on the small screen, appearing in such socially influential programs as The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Knight Rider, The Fall Guy and The A Team. Mr. Hedison's early collaborations with Irwin Allen have left him never wanting for a day's work in Hollywood, a boon to the legions of discerning fans who continue to savor his inspiring prime time depictions.

Irwin selected Fernando Lamas to play Manuel Gomez, the honorable and tortured soul of The Lost World who needlessly sacrificed himself at the end of the movie to save all the others. To get a feel for how important a casting decision he was to Irwin, just look at the pertinent experience Mr. Lamas brought to the table:

Irwin knew that such credentials could cause him to lose the services of Mr. Lamas to another project, and he took great pains to woo him onto the set of The Lost World. And even though Mr. Lamas never appeared in the revered Lost in Space TV series, his talent is not lost on us.

Jay Novello was selected by Irwin Allen to play Costa, the consummate Cuban coward who perpetually betrays everyone around him in the name of greed. In pursuing his craven calling, Mr. Novello went on to play Xandros, the Greek Slave in Atlantis, The Lost Continent, as well as countless other roles as a coward.

Although Mr. Novella never appeared in the revered Lost in Space TV series, his already long and distinguished career as a coward made him the obvious choice for Irwin when the need for an experienced malingerer arose.

Jill St. John was Irwin's pick to play Jennifer Holmes, the "other" glamour girl in The Lost World. Not to be upstaged by glamour-cave-girl Vitina Marcus, Jill played the trump card and broke out the pink go-go boots and skin-tight Capri pants, the perfect Amazonian summertime jungle wear.

Complete with a perfect hairdo, a killer wardrobe, a little yip-yip dog named Frosty, and all the other trappings of a wealthy and pampered prehistoric society, Jill's sensational allure rivaled even that of a certain cave girl appearing in the same film.

With the atmosphere rife for an on-set rivalry between Jill and Vitina, Irwin still managed to keep the peace, proving that he was as skilled a diplomat as he was a director.

Claude Rains, as Professor George Edward Challenger

And our cup runneth over, as Irwin cast Claude Rains to portray Professor George Edward Challenger. His eminence, Mr. Rains is an entity of such immeasurable virtue that he is not in need of monotonous praise from the likes of me.

I respectfully acknowledge the appearance of Mr. Rains because failure to do so would be an unforgivable travesty. But I say nothing more on the subject, lest I state something so obvious and uninspiring as to insult the intelligence of enlightened reader.

Irwin's casting of the cavemen mustn't be overlooked, for their infallibly realistic portrayals are unmatched within the Pleistocene Epoch genre of film. Such meticulous attention to detail is what separates Irwin Allen from lesser filmmakers, whose pale imitations of his work only further to underscore the point.

To be sure, it is possible to come away with the unfounded suspicion that the cavemen are really just a bunch of old white guys from the bar at the local Elks lodge. But Irwin was an absolute stickler for authenticity, and would never have allowed the use of such tawdry measures to taint his prehistoric magnum opus.

In truth, Irwin's on-screen cavemen were borne of many grueling years of anthropological research, so the explanation for their somewhat modern, pseudo-caucasian appearance lies obviously elsewhere. And in keeping with true Irwin Allen tradition, that explanation will not be offered here.

1964 - Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Season One, Episode 7 - "Turn Back the Clock", featuring Vitina Marcus as The Native Girl. Produced by Irwin Allen.

And then there was Irwin Allen's masterful handling of the reptilian facets of The Lost World, most notably his inimitable casting of the dinosaurs. His dinosaurs were so realistic, so eerily lifelike, that they almost looked like living, breathing garden variety lizards with dinosaur fins and horns glued to their backs and heads.

The less enlightened viewer might even suppose this to be true, that Irwin's dinosaurs were indeed merely live specimens of lizards, donned in Jurassic-era finery, vastly magnified, and retro-fitted into The Lost World via some penny-wise means of cinematic trickery.

But those of us in the know certainly know better than that, as we are privy to some otherwise unpublished information about The Lost World. The lifelike appearance of the Irwin's dinosaurs can be attributed to a wholly overlooked and fiendishly cunning approach to the art of delusion, which is that the dinosaurs didn't just look real, they were real.

While the world abounds with middling minds who cannot fathom such a reality, we must follow Irwin's benevolent leanings and temper our natural feelings of contempt for this unfortunate assemblage of pedestrian lowbrows. In spite of Irwin's superior intellect, he never felt disdain toward the masses that constituted his audiences. He simply capitalized on their unaffectedness, and in the process recounted the benefits of exploiting the intellectually bereft for personal gain.

The purpose of all this analysis, of course, is to place an exclamation point on the genius of Irwin Allen, the formation of his dinosaur exposé being a premier example. Note how he mindfully manipulates the expectations of his unsuspecting audience, compelling them to probe the dinosaurs for any signs of man-made chicanery. Then, at the palatial moment when the dinosaurs make their entry, he guilefully supplants the anticipated display of faux reptilia with that of the bona fide article.

Upon first witnessing the de facto dinosaurs, some in the audience think they've been had, and indeed they have. Irwin, in engineering his masterful ruse, had used reality as his medium to convey the illusion of artifice. His audience, in essence, was blinded by the truth. It was the immaculate deception, and none but Irwin Allen could have conceived it.

Indeed, the matter of where the live dinosaurs came from has been conspicuously absent from this discussion, as the Irwinian technique of fine film making strongly discourages the practice of squandering time on extraneous justifications and other such trite means of redundant apologia. For the benefit of the incessantly curious, however, just keep in mind that Irwin Allen wrote and produced The Time Tunnel TV Series, a fact that should provide some fair insight into his modis operandi.

Carl R.

In response to the "It Gets Better" project that Dan Savage started. This video aims to help support the effort of the GBLT community in sending out a message to the younger generation of closeted or questioning GLBT youth that life does get better.

Please visit my youtube page for the full length version:

Extended on Youtube

Please visit the project's youtube page for more information and response videos to the "It Gets Better" project:

It Gets Better Project

amazing, altruistic, bombastic, brave, curious, calculating, conniving, creative, celebration, determined, energetic,enthusiastic, expressive, endearing, fashion conscious, fun-loving, futuristic, gesticulating, hardworking, happy, honest, harrowing, Innocent, innovative, inventive, inquisitive, jovial, Karishmatic, laughing, linguists, musical, nature lovers, naughty, nimble-footed, omnipresent, outgoing, quiet, quick, questioning, risk taking, social, spirited, spontaneous, tireless, tantrum, ubiquitous, vibrant, vulnerable, vivacious, wonderment, ......

They make the world a wonderful and worthwhile place to live in. We are responsible to leave a better place for the generations to come...

Detectives probing the kidnaps of two men in Salford last month are questioning five suspects after dawn raids this morning saw properties targeted across the city and Manchester as part of the investigation.

Earlier today (Thursday 7 April) officers from our Tactical Aid Unit (TAU), alongside local officers, hit six addresses in Blackley, Gorton and Salford.

The action comes after we received a report on the evening of Thursday 24 March regarding a man being assaulted and dragged into a car by a group of three men on Clarendon Park.

Thankfully after enquiries by specialist investigators, the victim - a man in his 20s - was found safe and well with some physical injuries but none that required hospital treatment.

Subsequent enquiries have led detectives from our Swinton CID to believe that a second man - also aged in his 20s - was also targeted by the group but was able to flee from the offenders vehicle.

We think that the incidents have been targeted attacks emanating from a possible drugs dispute involving organised criminals and we're keen to ensure that any potential suspects are identified and brought to custody for questioning.

Five men aged between 20 and 30 are currently in two custody sites across Greater Manchester and await questioning on suspicion of kidnap.

Anyone with concerns or information about suspicious activity in their area should contact us online via LiveChat, if able, or by calling 101 knowing that information will be treated with the strictest confidence.

Details can also be passed anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Detectives probing the kidnaps of two men in Salford last month are questioning five suspects after dawn raids this morning saw properties targeted across the city and Manchester as part of the investigation.

Earlier today (Thursday 7 April) officers from our Tactical Aid Unit (TAU), alongside local officers, hit six addresses in Blackley, Gorton and Salford.

The action comes after we received a report on the evening of Thursday 24 March regarding a man being assaulted and dragged into a car by a group of three men on Clarendon Park.

Thankfully after enquiries by specialist investigators, the victim - a man in his 20s - was found safe and well with some physical injuries but none that required hospital treatment.

Subsequent enquiries have led detectives from our Swinton CID to believe that a second man - also aged in his 20s - was also targeted by the group but was able to flee from the offenders vehicle.

We think that the incidents have been targeted attacks emanating from a possible drugs dispute involving organised criminals and we're keen to ensure that any potential suspects are identified and brought to custody for questioning.

Five men aged between 20 and 30 are currently in two custody sites across Greater Manchester and await questioning on suspicion of kidnap.

Anyone with concerns or information about suspicious activity in their area should contact us online via LiveChat, if able, or by calling 101 knowing that information will be treated with the strictest confidence.

Details can also be passed anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Diefenbunker: Canada's Cold War Museum

PEACEKEEPING

For many Canadians, our peacekeeping tradition has become an important part of our national identity. Questioning the role of peacekeeping in our history and national identity is certainly provocative, but do Canada's international contributions during the Cold War merit a deeper look?

Canada did participate in many peacekeeping missions during the Cold War period Lester B. Pearson, a Canadian, is considered by many to be the founding father of peacekeeping. Canadian troops were involved in dozens of missions in Africa, the Midd East, Europe and Asia, earning high praise for their contribution to conflict resolution Canada is often seen, especially by Canadians, as a sort of neutral, honest broker motivated by humanitarian reasons to send troops abroad in the cause of peace.

While humanitarian concern and a desire for peace are important Canadian values, were there other motivations for our actions? Canada was a committed member of NATO and did not want Communist influence to spread. Did the Cold War influence our peacekeeping activity? A case in point is Cyprus. Canadian troops served on the Mediterranean island for decades reducing conflict between Greek and Turkish Cypriots Greece and Turkey were important NATO allies, and the fighting in Cyprus was straining relations between them. Conflict in Cyprus therefore risked weakening NATO and exposing an unstable Cyprus to Soviet influence. Do you think NATO's goals factored into the peacekeeping strategy?

Canadian peacekeeping missions were among the most high-profile activities of our military during much of the Cold War. Media paid a lot of attention to our troops serving in remote locations or in world "hot-spots" like Egypt, Pakistan or the Congo. After Korea, Canadian forces weren't involved in sustained combat operations-we even refused to send combat troops to Vietnam. To many, it seemed peacekeeping was our primary objective.

Was another story unfolding for Canada's military as well? Peacekeeping involved a small part of our military personnel and resources. Where did the rest go? The majority of Canada's military effort was dedicated to training for a war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. The Navy developed anti-submarine techniques designed specifically to combat Soviet submarines. The Air Force prepared to intercept Soviet bombers over North America and to attack Soviet troop concentrations in Europe with nuclear weapons. How should we weigh our NATO training in our history?

What do you think about Canada's peacekeeping tradition during the Cold War?

amazing, altruistic, bombastic, brave, curious, calculating, conniving, creative, celebration, determined, energetic,enthusiastic, expressive, endearing, fashion conscious, fun-loving, futuristic, gesticulating, hardworking, happy, honest, harrowing, Innocent, innovative, inventive, inquisitive, jovial, Karishmatic, laughing, linguists, musical, nature lovers, naughty, nimble-footed, omnipresent, outgoing, quiet, quick, questioning, risk taking, social, spirited, spontaneous, tireless, tantrum, ubiquitous, vibrant, vulnerable, vivacious, wonderment, ......

They make the world a wonderful and worthwhile place to live in. We are responsible to leave a better place for the generations to come...

CONFUSED by the orb!? Read the statement of intent below.

Statement of intent: This mini-series' purpose: to show morally questionable situations wherein the antagonist is questioning its actions. The orb is a visual representation of the antagonist's contemplation or enlightenment.

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I haven't uploaded anything in a whole long time, which is a shame, especially considering the amount of views I gained following my feature on Strobist.

Being featured on Strobist was awesome, and I can't tell you how grateful I was for David's support and everybody on the blog's. I really feel like the 200 or so days that I did my 365 for were responsible for some incredible changes in me as a photographer... and in my values, too!

I went through a little bit of a rough patch recently, just feeling a little burnt out, but I plan to post more frequently now. I've got a lot of awesome ideas, shoots to edit through, and set-ups for you all to learn from!

As well, I'm planning on kickstarting my business soon(working on business cards, a website, and a blog)!

Thank you for your support, everyone! I've come far, I feel, and I plan on going farther.

Merry Christmas. :)

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As for this shoot: It was sooo stressful. We went in to a little family-managed graveyard that borders my neighborhood, and beyond being scared we'd get the cops called on us by our nosey neighbors, we had a difficult time getting over the fence (my dad and I) especially with all the gear, but I feel the results are good!

This mini-series' purpose: to show morally questionable situations wherein the antagonist is questioning its actions. The orb is a visual representation of the antagonist's contemplation or enlightenment. I've got a couple more in mind! I hope you like it! Tell me what you think.

--

And now, the tech-y stuff...

Strobist info:

Key: LP160 inside the silk lantern w/ 1/4 CTO (suspended by fishing line)

Fill: LP160 in Softliter II wayyy far back on-axis

St Margaret, Sotterley, Suffolk

That poor Simon Jenkins. Not a day can go past without someone questioning the choices in his book England's Thousand Best Churches. But then, if you make such a claim and then miss out some which are plainly among the best, I suppose you leave yourself wide open to criticism. Here in Suffolk, he missed many peoples' favourites, but particularly three that are, for me, clearly county top twenty material: the amazing St Andrew at Westhall, grand St Mary at Redgrave, and here, St Margaret at Sotterley. Westhall has been described as Suffolk's best-kept secret, but in many ways Sotterley is more secretive, and is certainly less well-known. Indeed, some people would be surprised to learn that it has more figure brasses than any other church in Suffolk, not to mention much else of interest.

But first, you must get there. Sotterley is easily found on an Ordnance Survey map because it looks so darned curious. The roads between Beccles and Southwold swerve widely to avoid it, and it is marked as a large, round private park, about three miles in circumference. Houses scattered around the perimeter form the village, but the parkland itself is all open fields, lawns and a long ornamental lake. Near the centre of the parkland is the great house, and beside it the church of St Margaret. A private driveway reaches the house from near the turn off to Willingham, but it doesn't give access to the church except for services, and no public footpath crosses the park.

In addition, you cannot see the church from any public road, so unless you have the map or inside information, you won't even know it is there. However, just to the north of the private drive entrance, there is a gap in the hedgerow and a wooden stile. This is the start of a 'permitted access' path, a walk which is almost a mile long; it will take you across the fields and to the church.

You climb the stile, and set off across the fields. In summer and autumn you will find yourself walking through cows, but they are harmless enough. The way is marked by OS church symbols attached to trees, but they can get hidden by growth in springtime. After about a third of a mile, the path diverges rightwards down to a rickety wooden bridge across the infant River Blyth, and then into the field beyond. The path then skirts the righthand edge of a field for about a third of a mile and takes you round to another wooden bridge with sheep gates. Here, you can see the church for the first time, and across the next field, you enter the churchyard in its north-west corner.

St Margaret is a long, low building, with a tower that is at once simple and elegant. The lower stage is probably Norman, and the great rebuilding here happened unusually early for Suffolk, certainly before the Black Death.

The 18th century Hall sits immediately to the south, separated from the graveyard only by a low wall. St Margaret is a classic example of an estate church, one of few in Suffolk that retains its relationship with the Big House. The estate was the home of the Playters family until the middle of the 18th century, and it is their name you'll find all over the inside of the church. Earlier, it had been the seat of the Soterleys, and later it became the home of the Barne family, who we have already met at Dunwich. The families have been good guardians, because the building not only retains eight figure brasses and numerous other inscriptions, but some fascinating medieval glass, wonderful roof corbels, a good roodscreen (albeit completely repainted) and Suffolk's loveliest monument. All in all, it is a shame that Simon Jenkins missed it.

Although much of the fabric of the building is original, there was a substantial late 19th century restoration here, which filled the nave with middle-brow furnishings. The font is a good example of the typical 15th century East Anglian design, and there are four hatchments above the war memorial. This end of the church is little more dramatic than many other local churches, but don't miss the banner stave locker set in the wall to the west of the south door. These tall alcoves were supposedly designed for holding processional crosses and the like; there are about a dozen of them, but they are only found in the churches of the north-east of the county. Why here? Perhaps it was just a Lowestoft area thing, a need to tidy things up. What did people do elsewhere?

As you walk east, the building becomes more interesting, and once you are in the chancel it is fascinating. Here, the Soterleys and the Playters remembered themselves in brass and stone. Some of the brasses are set in the sanctuary, others in the centre of the chancel floor. There are six figure brasses, as well as numerous inscriptions. All the brasses except that on the tomb chest are covered by removable matting, but it would be easy to miss them if you did not know that they were there and did not think to investigate.

The same cannot be said for the grand 17th century monument to Sir Thomas Playters to the north of the sanctuary. It is probably the most famous in Suffolk, and I think it is the best. It was actually installed during the Commonwealth in 1658, and Mortlock says that the sculptor was Edward Marshall, who would become sculptor to the crown at the Restoration of Charles II in 1660.

Thomas Playters had died in 1638, and a brass inscription in the chancel floor remembers him. Here on the wall he is shown in the middle, with his two wives on either side, both conveniently called Anne. By Anne I he had two sons and two daughters, but Anne II bore him a jaw-dropping eighteen children. What makes the memorial so remarkable, though, is the way the 22 children are shown as weepers on the panel beneath. Instead of the usual uniform kneeling figures united in sorrow, each child is given its individual character - in short, they all look like different people, and are doing different things. Some kneel in formal prayer, but others are distracted; one turns round to chat to her sister, while others gaze out at the viewer. One poor little mite is wrapped in a blanket right near the middle of the panorama, to show that she died in infancy.

It has to be said that Sir Thomas's first family look more equal to the task of formal mourning than the second. The monument is rather hard to photograph, because the altar screen stands in front of part of it.

Stepping back through the screen, the nave is lighter than the chancel because of the two large windows either side. Presumably, they were intended to light the rood, but the one to the north is set in the closed entrance to a now-vanished transept chapel. Panels of medieval and continental glass have been set in them, surrounded by clear lozenges. Among them are a Lamb of God, Christ in Majesty, a pilgrim who may be St James, and a later Flemish Holy Trinity; God the Father sits on a throne with the crucified Christ on his lap, while a dove perches on his shoulder. It looks very unfamiliar in an English church.

There is some other good glass in the west window beneath the tower; a king with a sword walks towards a beckoning bishop, rather as if they were on their way to a chess match. I wondered if the person who set them there had imagined them to be St Paul and St Peter. Perhaps the best medieval glass in the church is behind the altar screen in the east window, so you may have missed it. Beneath the restrained Victorian saints is a reset 1470s portrait of Sir William Playters, with his sons grouped behind him, looking as if he is on holiday from the north aisle at Long Melford.

The screen, then. It is elegant and pretty in that way that only smaller screens are, but it has been heavily restored and repainted. This incurs the wrath of the likes of Cautley, but we have no way of knowing what was lost and in an case it is done here rather well. The original doors are in place, which is very unusual in this part of the county, and the cusping at the top was thought original by Mortlock. The Saints are in an early 20th century style, and are mostly easily identifiable from their symbols.

Looking through the screen, Sir Charles Nicholson's reredos is at once imposing and seemly, in that Anglican triumphalist style of between the two world wars. All that is missing is a font cover at the west end to balance it.

This fully grown female cat wandered into our home last evening looking for something to eat. After she was fed, she returned again today. She perhaps thinks that I am the person who looks the most harmless, because she keeps following me around. Therefore taking a photo of her was difficult.. She was also wary when she saw there were so many cats at our house.

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.”

~ Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

1. 200/365 - ALWAYS QUESTIONING, 2. 3 semanas de vacaciones/On hollidays for 3 weeks, 3. Hallgrímskirkja Interior, 4. telhado, 5. Untitled, 6. Untitled, 7. butterfly-1, 8. There's never any trouble here in Bubbleland, 9. {August 19} An International Affair, 10. After The Cleanup, 11. Play Great Big, 12. 10-August-2007, 13. Thursday, August 16/ Day 149, 14. Day 133 - 8.3.07, 15. Handle, 16. Jodi and Jenni, 17. Watermelon, 18. Squirrel, 19. converse, 20. So. It's Been A Year Today., 21. Cheers, Rosalind Franklin, 22. Crystal, proudly holding Adam the next day., 23. Papi holds his newborn son., 24. Introducing: Adam Christopher Bueno [211/365], 25. City lights, 26. windowbicycle, 27. Day #363 - Take my hand, 28. Benoit Barber Shop [201/365], 29. Marcus points to the Freight Train. [200/365], 30. Getting Shaggier, 31. Erin [118/365], 32. 190/365 - SATURDAY MORNING COMATOSE BY TV, 33. 191/365 - A LITTLE BEAT UP, BUT STILL STANDING, 34. Day 51, 35. Peering at the Pier, 36. Day 303

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

From my first ever photoshoot (in a studio). This is one of the simplist shots, which is why I love it so much in a way. Please be gentle with your comments and all that. :)

Model: Ridhima

Makeup: Me

Hair: Dilshad

amazing, altruistic, bombastic, brave, curious, calculating, conniving, creative, celebration, determined, energetic,enthusiastic, expressive, endearing, fashion conscious, fun-loving, futuristic, gesticulating, hardworking, happy, honest, harrowing, Innocent, innovative, inventive, inquisitive, jovial, Karishmatic, laughing, linguists, musical, nature lovers, naughty, nimble-footed, omnipresent, outgoing, quiet, quick, questioning, risk taking, social, spirited, spontaneous, tireless, tantrum, ubiquitous, vibrant, vulnerable, vivacious, wonderment, ......

They make the world a wonderful and worthwhile place to live in. We are responsible to leave a better place for the generations to come...

2010 Texas Renaissance Festival, Todd Mission, Texas

Detectives probing the kidnaps of two men in Salford last month are questioning five suspects after dawn raids this morning saw properties targeted across the city and Manchester as part of the investigation.

Earlier today (Thursday 7 April) officers from our Tactical Aid Unit (TAU), alongside local officers, hit six addresses in Blackley, Gorton and Salford.

The action comes after we received a report on the evening of Thursday 24 March regarding a man being assaulted and dragged into a car by a group of three men on Clarendon Park.

Thankfully after enquiries by specialist investigators, the victim - a man in his 20s - was found safe and well with some physical injuries but none that required hospital treatment.

Subsequent enquiries have led detectives from our Swinton CID to believe that a second man - also aged in his 20s - was also targeted by the group but was able to flee from the offenders vehicle.

We think that the incidents have been targeted attacks emanating from a possible drugs dispute involving organised criminals and we're keen to ensure that any potential suspects are identified and brought to custody for questioning.

Five men aged between 20 and 30 are currently in two custody sites across Greater Manchester and await questioning on suspicion of kidnap.

Anyone with concerns or information about suspicious activity in their area should contact us online via LiveChat, if able, or by calling 101 knowing that information will be treated with the strictest confidence.

Details can also be passed anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Among School Children

I

I walk through the long schoolroom questioning;

A kind old nun in a white hood replies;

The children learn to cipher and to sing,

To study reading-books and histories,

To cut and sew, be neat in everything

In the best modern way - the children's eyes

In momentary wonder stare upon

A sixty-year-old smiling public man.

II

I dream of a Ledaean body, bent

Above a sinking fire. a tale that she

Told of a harsh reproof, or trivial event

That changed some childish day to tragedy -

Told, and it seemed that our two natures blent

Into a sphere from youthful sympathy,

Or else, to alter Plato's parable,

Into the yolk and white of the one shell.

III

And thinking of that fit of grief or rage

I look upon one child or t'other there

And wonder if she stood so at that age -

For even daughters of the swan can share

Something of every paddler's heritage -

And had that colour upon cheek or hair,

And thereupon my heart is driven wild:

She stands before me as a living child.

IV

Her present image floats into the mind -

Did Quattrocento finger fashion it

Hollow of cheek as though it drank the wind

And took a mess of shadows for its meat?

And I though never of Ledaean kind

Had pretty plumage once - enough of that,

Better to smile on all that smile, and show

There is a comfortable kind of old scarecrow.

V

What youthful mother, a shape upon her lap

Honey of generation had betrayed,

And that must sleep, shriek, struggle to escape

As recollection or the drug decide,

Would think her Son, did she but see that shape

With sixty or more winters on its head,

A compensation for the pang of his birth,

Or the uncertainty of his setting forth?

VI

Plato thought nature but a spume that plays

Upon a ghostly paradigm of things;

Solider Aristotle played the taws

Upon the bottom of a king of kings;

World-famous golden-thighed Pythagoras

Fingered upon a fiddle-stick or strings

What a star sang and careless Muses heard:

Old clothes upon old sticks to scare a bird.

VII

Both nuns and mothers worship images,

But those the candles light are not as those

That animate a mother's reveries,

But keep a marble or a bronze repose.

And yet they too break hearts - O Presences

That passion, piety or affection knows,

And that all heavenly glory symbolise -

O self-born mockers of man's enterprise;

VIII

Labour is blossoming or dancing where

The body is not bruised to pleasure soul.

Nor beauty born out of its own despair,

Nor blear-eyed wisdom out of midnight oil.

O chestnut-tree, great-rooted blossomer,

Are you the leaf, the blossom or the bole?

O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,

How can we know the dancer from the dance?

amazing, altruistic, bombastic, brave, curious, calculating, conniving, creative, celebration, determined, energetic,enthusiastic, expressive, endearing, fashion conscious, fun-loving, futuristic, gesticulating, hardworking, happy, honest, harrowing, Innocent, innovative, inventive, inquisitive, jovial, Karishmatic, laughing, linguists, musical, nature lovers, naughty, nimble-footed, omnipresent, outgoing, quiet, quick, questioning, risk taking, social, spirited, spontaneous, tireless, tantrum, ubiquitous, vibrant, vulnerable, vivacious, wonderment, ......

They make the world a wonderful and worthwhile place to live in. We are responsible to leave a better place for the generations to come...

Chicago Breaking News

Police were questioning a suspect in the Wednesday night shooting of a 13-year-old boy in the city's Hermosa neighborhood.

The teen suffered three bullet wounds, one to the face, as he stood in the 2000 block of North Pulaski Road, near the intersection of Armitage Avenue and Pulaski Road about 10 p.m., police spokesman Ron Gaines said.

The boy was with friends on the street when a car drove by and someone in it began firing at them, said Police News Affairs Officer Robert Perez.

Officers in a Grand-Central District police patrol car were in the area at the time and heard the shots, Perez said. The officers were able to get to the scene in time to see the suspect's vehicle flee the scene, and police gave chase, Perez said.

The officers stopped the vehicle and then chased one person on foot before arresting him and finding a gun believed to have been used in the shooting, Perez said.

Police took three people into custody, at least one in a vehicle, following the shooting and found a weapon that may have been used in the shooting, police said initially. But by this morning, only one suspect was being questioned, Perez said.

The victim, who was responsive and talking to officers, was taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition, Gaines said. He suffered a gunshot wound to his face and also to his left arm and chest. He was in stable condition this morning, Perez said.

amazing, altruistic, bombastic, brave, curious, calculating, conniving, creative, celebration, determined, energetic,enthusiastic, expressive, endearing, fashion conscious, fun-loving, futuristic, gesticulating, hardworking, happy, honest, harrowing, Innocent, innovative, inventive, inquisitive, jovial, Karishmatic, laughing, linguists, musical, nature lovers, naughty, nimble-footed, omnipresent, outgoing, quiet, quick, questioning, risk taking, social, spirited, spontaneous, tireless, tantrum, ubiquitous, vibrant, vulnerable, vivacious, wonderment, ......

They make the world a wonderful and worthwhile place to live in. We are responsible to leave a better place for the generations to come...

Beware of Colour - This is an urban experiment. it is a questioning of what the city is, what it has been, and what it will be. it is a re-framing of buildings that have been forgotten. they re-appear before us through pink. it is a re-invention of space. a celebration of the unapologetic. it’s a new story that needs to be written. a love letter from our creatives to our land owners, our chief executives, our politicians. we look at buildings that have been left behind by time and we caress their walls with our paint brushes. we tickle them in hopes that they will tickle her. she who walks to work in the morning her heels clinking and clanking. we play with them in hopes that they will play with him. he who sits around in the afternoon after waiting long hours in the unemployment line. we whisper out their windows in hopes that they will whisper in their ears. whisper to them: messages of hope instead of fear. we know well that safety thrives in bright pink and danger dwells in muddy browns and faded greys. hot pink laughs. dark brown frowns. hot pink dances. grey merely moves. together, we dress fear in pink in hopes that she will smile a little and join us in reinventing much.

amazing, altruistic, bombastic, brave, curious, calculating, conniving, creative, celebration, determined, energetic,enthusiastic, expressive, endearing, fashion conscious, fun-loving, futuristic, gesticulating, hardworking, happy, honest, harrowing, Innocent, innovative, inventive, inquisitive, jovial, Karishmatic, laughing, linguists, musical, nature lovers, naughty, nimble-footed, omnipresent, outgoing, quiet, quick, questioning, risk taking, social, spirited, spontaneous, tireless, tantrum, ubiquitous, vibrant, vulnerable, vivacious, wonderment, ......

They make the world a wonderful and worthwhile place to live in. We are responsible to leave a better place for the generations to come...

looking "questioning" at his father engaged in a kind of self flaggelation in honour of Fatimah's death

amazing, altruistic, bombastic, brave, curious, calculating, conniving, creative, celebration, determined, energetic,enthusiastic, expressive, endearing, fashion conscious, fun-loving, futuristic, gesticulating, hardworking, happy, honest, harrowing, Innocent, innovative, inventive, inquisitive, jovial, Karishmatic, laughing, linguists, musical, nature lovers, naughty, nimble-footed, omnipresent, outgoing, quiet, quick, questioning, risk taking, social, spirited, spontaneous, tireless, tantrum, ubiquitous, vibrant, vulnerable, vivacious, wonderment, ......

They make the world a wonderful and worthwhile place to live in. We are responsible to leave a better place for the generations to come...

Martinez, CA

Resolution No. 2014/185

In the matter of:

Declaring June 2014, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Questioning (LGBTQQ) Pride Month in ContraCosta County

Whereas, the month of June was chosen for LGBTQQ Pride Month to commemorate a series of spontaneous demonstrations by members of the gay and lesbian community against unjust police raids that took place in New York City at the end of June 1969, known as the Stonewall Riots; and

Whereas, the Rainbow Flag, also known as “the freedom flag,” was created in 1978 by Gilbert Baker, a Bay Area artist, to symbolize the diversity, solidarity, healing, harmony, inclusion, and struggle of the LGBTQQ

community; and

Whereas, the flying of the Rainbow Flag is encouraged to show support of the LGBTQQ Community; and

Whereas, more same-sex families are identifying themselves to the US Census now than ever before, placing Contra Costa County 15th in the state’s 58 counties with the most same-sex couples per capita,

according to the 2010 Census; and

Whereas, committed LGBTQQ couples do not have the same rights and benefits that their straight, married friends and allies are legally guaranteed; and

Whereas, Contra Costa County Health Services started the Pride Initiative in 2009 to create greater inclusion and sensitivity to LGBTQQ patients, clients, and staff; and

Whereas, research shows youth who are perceived to be LGBTQQ are at greater risk of being targeted, harassed, and bullied in school, and experience risk of suicide at a rate that is 2 to 3 time higher than their

straight peers; and

Whereas, in the late 1980's, when AIDS was almost exclusively a disease of gay men, Contra Costa passed an AIDS Anti -Discrimination Ordinance banning discrimination in the workplace and housing for people

with AIDS. Introduced as a public health measure to encourage high-risk individuals to get tested, the ordinance carried the underlying message of broader tolerance; and

Whereas, Contra Costa County has played an important role in the LGBTQQ community’s struggle for fair and equal rights including the 1978 Milk-Briggs (Harvey Milk and John Briggs) debate on Proposition 6 at Walnut Creek’s Northgate High School, which, if passed, would have made it mandatory for California school districts to fire gay teachers and any employees who supported gay rights; and

Whereas, transgender and gender nonconforming youth now have the opportunity to fully participate and succeed in schools across the state, with support from California Assembly Bill 1266; and

Whereas, in Contra Costa County, LGBTQQ community residents, employees, businesses, and organizations have made, and continue to make, great and lasting contributions and add to the rich diversity

of this County; and

Whereas, Contra Costa County’s LGBTQQ service partners include the Rainbow Community Center, RYSE Center, Center for Human Development, Gender Spectrum, El Cerrito High School James Morehouse Project, Danville / San Ramon Valley Chapter of PFLAG Parents Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, Gay-Straight Alliances, and

Whereas, the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors supports and promotes inclusion, non-discrimination, and equality among all County residents;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Supervisors of Contra Costa County declares the month of June 2014 as LGBTQQ Pride Month and encourages a safe and accepting environment for all members of the community.

Ashley Xu, Grade 10, Age 16, Stamford, CT, Gold Key, Gold Medal (The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers), Scholastic & Art Writing Awards (2017)

Bain News Service,, publisher.

Questioning Abarno

[1915]

1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller.

Notes:

Title from data provided by the Bain News Service on the negative.

Photograph shows Frank Abarno, an Italian anarchist who was charged with planting a bomb in St. Patricks Cathedral, New York City, on March 2, 1915. (Source: Flickr Commons project, 2012)

Forms part of: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress).

Format: Glass negatives.

Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication.

Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

General information about the Bain Collection is available at hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.ggbain

Higher resolution image is available (Persistent URL): hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.18568

Call Number: LC-B2- 3398-15

whether the process of questioning everything is beneficial.

amazing, altruistic, bombastic, brave, curious, calculating, conniving, creative, celebration, determined, energetic,enthusiastic, expressive, endearing, fashion conscious, fun-loving, futuristic, gesticulating, hardworking, happy, honest, harrowing, Innocent, innovative, inventive, inquisitive, jovial, Karishmatic, laughing, linguists, musical, nature lovers, naughty, nimble-footed, omnipresent, outgoing, quiet, quick, questioning, risk taking, social, spirited, spontaneous, tireless, tantrum, ubiquitous, vibrant, vulnerable, vivacious, wonderment, ......

They make the world a wonderful and worthwhile place to live in. We are responsible to leave a better place for the generations to come...

This is Ania in Poznan, questioning why concrete should be the foil for the youth and very old in photographs, can't we all contrast with it?

The concrete in question is part of the base for a huge war memorial in Poznan, built by the communist authorities in that inhuman stylised way that they used to pretend concern that never touched them.

Ania was born in communist Poland and had to grow up with the propoganda, so another contrast of this picture is the ugly balanced by a mind that survived the propoganda.

Interestingly enough, the ever-lasting flame has gone out, but the ever-lasting youth has taken overt the monument as skateboard park.

I am grateful for curiousity and wonder - in kittens and in people.

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.”

~ Albert Einstein

A child’s world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood.

~ Rachel Carson

If your heart is straight with God, then every creature will be to you a mirror of life and a book of holy doctrine. No creature is so little or so mean as not to show forth and represent the goodness of God.

~ Thomas A’Kempis

Watch Viva's kittens continue to grow and develop in Looking for Love: Part 12

Detectives probing the kidnaps of two men in Salford last month are questioning five suspects after dawn raids this morning saw properties targeted across the city and Manchester as part of the investigation.

Earlier today (Thursday 7 April) officers from our Tactical Aid Unit (TAU), alongside local officers, hit six addresses in Blackley, Gorton and Salford.

The action comes after we received a report on the evening of Thursday 24 March regarding a man being assaulted and dragged into a car by a group of three men on Clarendon Park.

Thankfully after enquiries by specialist investigators, the victim - a man in his 20s - was found safe and well with some physical injuries but none that required hospital treatment.

Subsequent enquiries have led detectives from our Swinton CID to believe that a second man - also aged in his 20s - was also targeted by the group but was able to flee from the offenders vehicle.

We think that the incidents have been targeted attacks emanating from a possible drugs dispute involving organised criminals and we're keen to ensure that any potential suspects are identified and brought to custody for questioning.

Five men aged between 20 and 30 are currently in two custody sites across Greater Manchester and await questioning on suspicion of kidnap.

Anyone with concerns or information about suspicious activity in their area should contact us online via LiveChat, if able, or by calling 101 knowing that information will be treated with the strictest confidence.

Details can also be passed anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Police Questioning Scott Huber

Picture taken by Michael Kappel

Check out the high resolution photo on my photography website

pictures.michaelkappel.com