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Fun ways to show your American pride on the Fourth
5 ways to get over your ex in a flash
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Exclusive: Teen Beach 2 stars tell all about their thoughts on the movie
Your love horoscope this week is *major*
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GL + Disney take a look at the Teen Beach 2 premiere
More Friends = More Fun
GL Tweets !
12 HOURS AGO #BeautySpy: GL reader Anna I. shares her pretty, natural makeup routine: http://t.co/P3yvII6nCn pic.twitter.com/V6ISX6wkEM
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Very nice and colorful picture Bjørn Fransgjerde ,congrats! I like it! YS from me! Greetings from Romania
Very nice composition of nature. Y Best wishes from Poland, Maryla
Absolutely perfect, simple and beautiful Bjørn. A Gold Star for this photo :)
Hilsen, Amelia
Very beautiful, Bjørn! I see, I missed so many great photos of yours! Best regards, May
Thans to all of you for comments and ys . I appreciate yours comments.
Greetings Bjørn
Simply great. Monet would have loved it :) Another YS. Compliments, JJ
Thank you Juan for nice comments and for the star.
Greetings Bjørn
Wonderful gallery and brilliant shots.Greetings from Southern Austria
Photo taken in Molde, Norway

subset: commoncrawl


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Average Customer Review
Share your thoughts with other customersCreate your own review
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The Best. His Best. A Masterpiece.
Don't believe the hype. I know that Calvino became famous in the States with If on a Winter Night... but this is his real masterpiece. Witty, poetic, visionary, elegantly written (and well translated). Calvino's idea of a city, or of the possible cities. The dream of cities, whatever we can find in cities. It's a deep book, it's an engrossing reading, it's a dream, it's a...
Published on 30 Aug. 2009 by Vittorio Caff�
50 of 62 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Quality Pretentiousness?
Authors like Calvino (along with similar authors such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez) tend to produce extreme reactions in their readers - as evidenced by the reviews for this book, which range from one star to five.
This is predominantly due to the elusive nature of the text. Upon a swift first reading, "Invisible Cities", could be regarded as a pleasing collection of...
Published on 23 Feb. 2004 by M. Short
Most Helpful First | Newest First
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The Best. His Best. A Masterpiece.,
Vittorio Caff� (Rome, Italy) - See all my reviews
Don't believe the hype. I know that Calvino became famous in the States with If on a Winter Night... but this is his real masterpiece. Witty, poetic, visionary, elegantly written (and well translated). Calvino's idea of a city, or of the possible cities. The dream of cities, whatever we can find in cities. It's a deep book, it's an engrossing reading, it's a dream, it's a tale, it's a yarn, it's absolutely true. To me, this is the book that Calvino was born to write, and the one you have to read to really understand why Calvino will remain.
35 of 37 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A masterpiece,
alexisalex (uk) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Invisible Cities (Paperback)
A book that describes every imaginery city, every city that you have ever visited, every city that you have ever wanted to visit or imagine, or the city you have come from which you wish to be as you imagined it to be...this is a book about the language of the imagination, a book of cities as pychological states, physical states, sensory states...A book about descriptions ? Yes. But descriptions that have a transcendant quality. Not much narrative ? True, but yet they contain fragments of narrative that have an extraordinary quality, about place, and what place means to us all. Calvino was a truely great novelist, one of the great European novelists of this century, on par with Beckett..yet less bleak, no less universal. This is one, if not the best, of his "books". If you like this also try "If on an invisible night" and "Mr Paloma".
If you like to combine "thought-provoking" with sensual - a very unusual and wonderful combination.
51 of 55 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A masterpiece,
Luis A. G. Prado (Cotia, SP - Brazil) - See all my reviews
This book is a masterpiece for me. It accompanied me throughout a long journey that I took in Europe in the past. It is written in a poetic way that makes you think, reflect and enter into the fantastic world of the invisible cities of Kublai Khan's empire, created by Calvino. Marco Polo works for the Khan. He has to visit many towns of the Mongolian empire so that later he can share his impressions with the great Khan. This is mainly because the empire is so big that Kublai Khan would never be able to visit all towns of his empire.
Each chapter has the name of a town, which is described by Marco Polo. In addition, there are many dialogs between Kublai Khan and Marco Polo that are, in my point of view, the most exciting part of the book. The dialogs are so intelligent and stimulating that I read some of them many times. They can trigger our natural curiosity about the way we see things around us, the future, the past, the present, etc. It is a book to be read in a slow pace so we can reflect upon each part. It helped me to slow down my frequently rushed rhythm of life. How conscious are we while we write the pages of our lives?
30 of 33 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Truly Sublime,
Before reading this novel, you must note one thing - there is no plot whatsoever. Despite what the blurb says about Marco Polo and Kublai Khan, that is simply a framework, a structure to hold a series of highly impressionistic descriptions of cities together. The book covers a remarkable range of ideas - death, life, religion and relationships to name but four. However, the lack of plot does not make it any less worthwhile nor any less literary - the prose is lush and poetic, lucid and evocative, and it would be hard not to be captivated by Calvino's remarkable style. Inventive, enlessly imaginative, extremely experimental, Calvino created a beautiful and memorable book - in effect, Calvino wrote the plotless novel.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Some of the most beautiful and imaginative prose written by man...,
N.W. Coast (Norfolk) - See all my reviews
This is truly the work of a genius: Calvino's imagination here exceeds the normal limits of poetic prose, and the beauty of this book is near limitless.
However, it is possible that you will not feel the same about this book if you have never visited Venice. Calvino's beloved city is described hundreds of times over in "Invisible Cities", and for me each description was equally accurate, beautiful and stirring - so anyone without a knowledge of the manifold charms of Venice may miss the point of this book entirely, through no fault of their own.
So, since this book struck me on a particularly personal level, it's not necessarily recommended to all.
Oh, and on a point of information, I thought this was almost infinitely better than "If on a Winter's Night a Traveller...", which I found to be rather gimmicky and contrived. For me "Invisible Cities" was neither of these.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars A collection of dreamy, thought-provoking sketches,
By A Customer
This review is from: Invisible Cities (Paperback)
If you have ever experienced the magic of a city, here is a book that can guide you to its source. "Invisible Cities" contains some forty short sketches of arbitrarily named fantastic cities, placed in an order that is both meticulous and rambling. The sketches are put in the framework of a very loose dialogue between Marco Polo, who is the narrator of the sketches, and Kubla Khan, his impatient one-man audience. Frankly, I found the dialogue rather contrived at points, and not all the sketches manage to convey emotion along with the intellectual play of words. In my opinion, this is the chief problem with all Calvino's prose, and the problem is far less conspicuous here than in some of his other work. Definitely worth your attention if you like philosophical novels, or fantastic literature.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars For the daydreaming traveller,
I am only partway through Invisible Cities but, because I am a bit of an odd ball, I decided to type it into google and see what people had to say about it (you know theories, ideas, reviews and the like)and felt compelled to make a review having read some.
For me there is something so hauntingly beautiful about Calvino's words that it really gets under my skin. There's something that really gives the gut a good twist with this book that evokes a strange mix of longing for the future and helpless nostalgia for the past.
For me.
I understand why some won't like this book. There's no definite plot, no heros to follow, just an aimless drifting through some potentially non-existent cities broken up by some narrative between two men, possibly high and possibly not even speaking to one another. I can understand that it is boring for some; that it doesn't have much point, even that it can come across as quite pretentious.
What annoys me is that some of those who have turned their nose up at this book seem to feel that all the other reviewers who have read and enjoyed it are all rather pretentious and are desperately attempting to appear more well read and intelligent than they are.
Why? Because it's under Vintage Classics??
I know I'm not particularly intelligent or well read, and to be honest I don't really understand it, I just enjoy the words.
I agree that this is not ideal for those looking for a conventional story...or well, a story at all. However this isn't just a book for 'polite folk;' if you enjoy travelling, or dream of travelling, or are just stuck floating along somewhere and you like beautiful imagery I'd definately recommend Invisible Cities. The only thing that has prevented me from giving it a five star is that I haven't finished reading it yet....
Smiley face.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars a bold experiment,
tallmanbaby (Scotland) - See all my reviews
Verified Purchase(What is this?)
This review is from: Invisible Cities (Vintage Classics) (Kindle Edition)
Invisible Cities on Kindle
This book recounts conversations between the trader and explorer Marco Polo and the emperor Kublai Khan, about real and imagined cities. The book follows a strict mathematical structure, but it is decidedly unrealistic, at times a poetic and brilliantly described past, at times contemporary elements are dropped in. It is reminiscent of the Peter Greenaway short film A Walk Through H, and is perhaps best read as an elegant musing on the nature of cities and imagination.
Reviews of this book tend to fall into two camps, on the one hand it is a brilliant piece of writing that should have earned the author a Nobel Prize, on the other it is a formless pretentious piece of ostentatious modernism that just does not work.
I rather fall between the two camps, I read the whole book in half a dozen sessions, but my reaction alternated between the above two extremes. My initial impressions were amazement at just how good it was, the next time I read it, I was wondering just what had impressed me about it. It is certainly an impressive piece of writing, sitting with Pale Fire (Penguin Modern Classics) and A Void as bold experiments. However for most readers the test of a bold experiment is whether it remains readable, for me The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, Bad Day for the Sung Dynasty, The Following Story (Harvill Panther), and The Book of Sand and Shakespeare's Memory (Penguin Modern Classics) are equally bold but ultimately far more compelling. But each to their own, this is well worth reading, and it is the classic piece of modernist literature on cities.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Cities of the mind,
EA Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
"Kublai Khan does not necessarily believe everything Marco Polo says when he describes the cities visited on his expeditions, but the emperor of the Tartars does continue listening..."
So writes Italo Calvino, in one of the more ethereal experimental books he wrote. While not as weird as a book made up of tarot card adventures, "Invisible Cities" is a story that defies easy classification -- it's soft, dreamlike narrative in which one man tells another about the magical cities he's seen. Or, possibly, has not seen.
The famous Venetian explorer Marco Polo arrives in the empire of Kublai Khan, and the two men become friends. In the evenings, Marco tells the Khan of many fabulous cities -- the grey metal and stone Fedora, the stilted Zenobia, the haunted moonlit Zobeide, the sensual and bejeweled Anastasia, the cloud-straddling Baucis, the watery Esmeralda, a city of dead people known as Adelma, the dirt-choked Argia, the hazy rose-tinted Irene, and many others.
"Invisible Cities" isn't really a story so much as a series of beautiful pictures-in-prose. It's like we're watching Calvino paint us portraits of his fantasy cities with his words -- and except for Kublai Khan and Marco Polo occasionally conversing about trade, travel or chess, there is no actual plot here. It's just gorgeous portraits of imaginary cities.
And therein lies its charm. Calvino came up with dozens of fantastical cities in here. Few if any of them could actually exist, but they are so suffused with sensual beauty ("its villas all of glass like aquariums where the shadows of dancing girls with silvery scales swim...") and darkness ("All corpses, dried in such a way that the skeleton remains sheathed in yellow skin, are carried down there, to continue their former activities...") that you don't care.
Instead, Calvino comes up with strange, weird and illogical ideas, such as a city with ho actual buildings, but lots of plumbing. There are cities of the dead and the unborn; cities of the sea, the air, the earth and the sunrise; cities where everyone is a stranger and steampunk cities rusted into oblivion. It's like he's opened a hundred doors to eerie other worlds, and let us take a single picture of each before the doors close.
"Invisible Cities" is not a book for people who like plot -- instead, it's a chance to immerse yourself in Italo Calvino's magical language and imagination.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable again and again,
Once a creative work is released there is nothing more it's creator can do, it is now with it's audience to make of it what they will, that is if they take any notice of it at all. Some will like it, some will dislike it, some will find it "good", others "poor". One thing is certain, there is no universal right or wrong response, mine is as personal as another's and no-one can really say what the response ought to be.
That's a long-winded way of saying that Invisible Cities will, I am sure, elicit a full range of comment, it is that sort of work; enigmatic, stimulating, elusive and gobbledegook may all figure somewhere. Calvino certainly gives me pause for thought; I come back to it again and again, reading short passages and finding new ideas and feelings emerging. It is peaceful and does not make demands but subtly seeks to make me think.
Marco Polo is a traveller who has visited many cities; Kublai Khan is a ruler of many cities but who seems to know none of them and he encourages Marco Polo to recount his impressions of them so that he may wonder and question. It is all a device; none of it is real, this strange concoction of ancient and modern. Beneath all the layers of smoke and mirrors presented as a world of magical cities lies just one reality, of past splendours and dreams that are now lost and cannot be reclaimed.
I love it.
Most Helpful First | Newest First
Invisible Cities (Vintage Classics) by Italo Calvino


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Press release from CNW Group
Endeavour Mining shareholders approve merger with Adamus
Friday, November 25, 2011
Endeavour Mining shareholders approve merger with Adamus09:00 EST Friday, November 25, 2011Toronto Stock Exchange: EDV GEORGE TOWN, Grand Cayman, Nov. 25, 2011 /CNW/ - Endeavour Mining Corporation ("Endeavour" or the "Corporation") (TSX:EDV) is pleased to announce that, at a special meeting ("Meeting") of the Corporation's shareholders held earlier today, the Share Issuance Resolution in connection with the merger between Endeavour and Adamus Resources Limited ("Adamus") (ASX:ADU) (the "Merger") was overwhelmingly approved with 99.59% approval from shareholders represented at the Meeting. Of the Corporation's 114,674,946 issued and outstanding shares as of the October 17, 2011 record date, 63,224,088 shares were represented at the Meeting.The completion of the Merger remains subject to approval from Adamus shareholders at a meeting scheduled to be held on November 28, 2011 in Perth, Australia and from the Federal Court of Australia at a hearing scheduled for December 2, 2011.Neil Woodyer, CEO, stated: "We thank our shareholders and appreciate the strong support demonstrated by them at today's meeting. In the three months since announcing the merger with Adamus, the management teams from Endeavour and Adamus have been working very well together. We are looking forward to integrating our plans and are excited about the new Endeavour driving increased value for shareholders as a rapidly growing gold producer."About Endeavour Mining CorporationEndeavour is a gold producer. Endeavour also holds an extensive exploration land position and various advanced-stage development gold projects in West Africa. Endeavour has a global strategy, supported by financial resources and management's company building expertise, to grow into an intermediate gold producer through strategic acquisitions.On August 21, 2011, Endeavour and Adamus announced they have entered into a definitive Merger Implementation Agreement to combine through an all-stock merger of equals transaction creating a new growth focused West African gold producer.The common shares of Endeavour Mining Corporation are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "EDV".On behalf of Endeavour Mining Corporation"Neil Woodyer"Neil WoodyerChief Executive OfficerThe Toronto Stock Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The foregoing information may contain forward-looking information relating to the future performance of Endeavour Mining Corporation. Forward-looking information, specifically, that concerning future performance, is subject to certain risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially. These risks and uncertainties are detailed from time to time in the Corporation's filings with the appropriate securities commissions.For further information: Stephen Roberts, Senior Vice President - Investor Relations (604) 609-6130, email@example.com or Vanguard Shareholder Solutions 1-866-341-4111 or (604) 608-0824, firstname.lastname@example.com


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Politician Threatens to Throw Reporter Off Balcony [VIDEO]
New York State Representative Michael Grimm needs to learn a little bit about the media. First, it's their job to ask the tough questions. It's nothing personal. It's not an attempt to make you look bad. And second, don't make threats while the cameras are still rolling. When you do that, you're making yourself look bad, without any help from the reporter!


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PCRM Hosts a Weekend of Health in the Hamptons
The annual "Passion for Compassion" benefit recently raised over $150,000 for the vital work done by Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) to promote preventive medicine through good nutrition based on the core belief that everyone should be educated and empowered to take control of his or her health.
Celebs Get In On the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
Everyone's Facebook feed has no doubt been littered with videos of their friends dumping buckets of ice water over their heads. The reason behind the icy shock is to raise
Justin Bieber (Finally) Pays Fine for Former Pet Monkey
Justin Bieber handed over the cash for the German fine he owed for attempting to bring pet monkey into the country without necessary papers.
James Cameron's Vegan Diet Gives Him 'Tons of Energy'
Director James Cameron might be "the king of the world" when it comes to his cinematic hits, but it's his vegan diet that is giving him a new lease on life.
'Star Wars' Contest Raises over $5 Million for Charity
As the wise Yoda once said, "my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is." 'Star Wars' fans have just proved their Jedi Master right by raising $4,261,410
WATCH: Jeff Bridges Fights Child Hunger in America
When people think of child hunger, most think of an isolated, underdeveloped country but Jeff Bridges is working to change that perception. The Oscar winning actor is helping to feed
Mom Fights to Keep Therapy Chickens for Her Autistic Son
Five chickens are what kept ten-year-old Anthony Frushon healthy and happy, but now, the Brownsburg, Indiana boy might not be able to keep his fowl friends. Anthony, who is autistic,


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Sci-B-Vac is the only commercially available 3rd generation hepatitis B
vaccine. This short video explains how Sci-B-Vac is helping stop the spread
of hepatitis B.
Levon Resources is exploring one of the world's largest silver resources at the company's 100%-owned Cordero Project in northwest Mexico. In less than five years, Levon has amassed a resource at Cordero containing 488.5 M oz silver indicated plus 44.4 M oz silver inferred. Further indicated resources of 1.37 M oz gold, 9.0 B lbs zinc and 4.7 B lbs lead have established Cordero as one of Mexico's premier polymetallic porphyry targets.


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Book your room at Springhill Suites By Marriott Nashville Airport
Studio, 1 King Bed with SofabedMax Occupancy: 4 guests (up to 3 children, 3 infants)
StudioMax Occupancy: 5 guests (up to 4 children, 4 infants)
Get an overview of this hotel3-star aparthotel with free breakfast and free airport shuttle
Situated near the airport, this aparthotel is 1.7 mi (2.7 km) from Larry Keeton Theater and within 6 mi (10 km) of Two Rivers Golf Course and Lane Motor Museum. Wave Country and Nashville Shores Waterpark are also within 6 mi (10 km).
Property Features
This aparthotel features an indoor pool, a 24-hour fitness center, and a 24-hour business center. Free buffet breakfast is provided, as well as free WiFi in public areas, free self parking, and a free airport shuttle. Other amenities include coffee/tea in the lobby, dry cleaning, and laundry facilities.
Room Amenities
All 150 apartments feature kitchenettes with refrigerators and microwaves, plus free WiFi and free wired Internet. Guests will also find sofa beds, sitting areas, and coffee makers.Information missing or incorrect? Tell us!
Hotel Amenities
Hotel Amenities
Springhill Suites By Marriott Nashville Airport features an indoor pool and a 24-hour fitness center. High-speed wired and wireless Internet access is complimentary. This 3-star property offers access to a 24-hour business center. A complimentary breakfast is offered. A roundtrip airport shuttle is complimentary to guests during limited hours. This Nashville aparthotel also offers coffee/tea in the lobby, complimentary newspapers in the lobby, and laundry facilities. Complimentary self parking is available on site.
- Free breakfast
- Free self parking
- Free WiFi
- Free wired high-speed Internet
- Free airport transportation
- Indoor pool
- 24-hour fitness facilities
- 24-hour business center
- Coffee/tea in lobby
- Dry cleaning/laundry service
- Laundry facilities
- 24-hour front desk
- Express check-in
- Express check-out
- Free newspapers in lobby
- Grocery/convenience store
- Safe-deposit box at front desk
- Elevator/lift
- Number of buildings/towers - 1
- Number of floors - 6
- Total number of rooms - 150
Family Friendly Amenities
- Kitchenette
- Free Wi-Fi
- Indoor pool
- Sofa bed
- Refrigerator
- Microwave
- Cribs/infant beds (complimentary)
- Laundry facilities
- Grocery/convenience store
Available in all rooms: Free WiFi , Free wired high-speed Internet
Available in some public areas: Free WiFi , Free wired high-speed Internet
Free self parking
Room Amenities
- Kitchenette
- Free WiFi
- Free wired high-speed Internet
- Separate sitting area
- Sofa bed
- Sofa bed size
- Premium TV channels
- Refrigerator
- Microwave
- Shower/tub combination
- Coffee/tea maker
- Free cribs/infant beds
- Daily housekeeping
- Free weekday newspaper
- Free local calls
- Video-game console
- Hair dryer
- In-room safe
- Free toiletries
- Phone
- Iron/ironing board
- Air conditioning
- Climate control
- Connecting/adjoining rooms available
Where to Eat
Guests are offered a complimentary hot/cold buffet breakfast.
Nearby Things to Do
Recreational amenities at the aparthotel include an indoor pool and a 24-hour fitness center.
The recreational activities listed below are available either on site or nearby; fees may apply.
- Golfing nearby
- Sailing nearby
- Water skiing nearby
To make requests for specific accessibility needs, complete the "Special or Accessibility Requests" section of "Trip Preferences" when you book your hotel.
- Accessible path of travel
- Accessible bathroom
- Roll-in shower
- Accessible parking
- In-room accessibility
- Accessibility equipment for the deaf
- Braille or raised signage
Hotel Policies
Check-in time starts at 4 PM
Check-out time is noon
Payment types
Children and extra beds
- Children are welcome.
- Free cribs (infant beds)!
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on hotel policy.
Government-issued photo identification and a credit card or cash deposit are required at check-in for incidental charges.
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in and may incur additional charges. Special requests cannot be guaranteed.
No rollaway/extra beds available
We should mention
The property has connecting/adjoining rooms, which are subject to availability and can be requested by contacting the property using the number on the booking confirmation.


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Just returned from a trip to London, and a must-stop destination was the Bond in Motion exhibit. The exhibit features 50 original vehicles from the James Bond films, and it was a delight. Here's photos:
Just returned from a trip to London, and a must-stop destination was the Bond in Motion exhibit. The exhibit features 50 original vehicles from the James Bond films, and it was a delight. Here's photos:
Work brought me to Washington, DC this week, and when I found out that there was a 50th Anniversary celebration of James Bond villains, "Exquisitely Evil", at the International Spy Museum… well, I had to take some time off to check it out. The exhibit is fantastic, and has lots of original props, models and costumes on display.
They said "no photography" but I was able to take some clandestine shots. It IS a Spy Museum, after all. Here they are:
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The Spy Museum also has a fun free iPad app that allows you to create your own Bond villain and lair, you can get it here.
Trying to figure out and align James Bond continuity is like making a vodka martini from Siamese vodka… it can be done, but it's not going to result in something that is very palatable or satisfying.
I remember one of the first attempts, a crazy theory promoted by many fans, one that aligned all the Bond films by saying "They are all different men, given the codename James Bond along with the number 007." That theory was "blown up" (along with Bond's childhood home) in Skyfall when we see the grave of Bond's parents. Bond isn't a code name, it's his name. He's just one (really cool, well-trained) guy.
You could also say, because of the last scene in Skyfall, that the other Bond films take place AFTER the movie ends… which makes no sense because of the fanboy-pleasing callbacks in the movie and the many topical and technology references in the earlier films.
There is no "Grand Unified Bond Theory" that makes it all make sense, as hard as we would like to try, because it Just. Doesn't. Work.
Bond is an "evergreen" character, open to reinterpretation and "resurrection" every few years. It is what has kept the character alive and relevant, the same way different takes on the character of Batman/Bruce Wayne have occurred over the years. You can't align the Bond movies into a single timeline anymore than you can make the Christian Bale Batman exist in the same "universe" as Adam West and Michael Keaton.
I love continuity as much as the next fanboy, but we should really take the sage advice of someone much wiser than I am, a man who long ago said "Just repeat to yourself 'It's just a show, I should really just relax…'"
I love Goldfinger.
Not the character Auric Goldfinger, Goldfinger, the movie. It is, by popular decree, the Best. Bond. Ever. It features the Most Famous Car in the World (the Aston Martin DB 5) Sean Connery at his hairy testosterone-filled peak, the best henchman in Odd Job, and the most awesome Bond girl name ever: Pussy Galore. As a Bond fan, I can't help but love it… it's the movie that most of the films in the series emulates.
But… while I do love it… I love it like I love my sons, and my wife, focusing on their good qualities while I minimize or ignore their imperfections. It's what people do when they care about something. I see that happening, on a scale writ large, in our current Presidential election – we root for Our Guy, and boo and slam the Other Guy.
Well, I just rewatched Goldfinger a week after the world celebrated the first ever James Bond Day (a holiday created by the producers of the soon-to-be released 22nd Bond film Skyfall, naturally). And after that rewatch… well, ladies and gentleman of the jury, I have some verbal arguments to make.
Goldfinger… has some problems. Lots of them.
Allow me to make my case, and the bulk of my evidence rests with item #1:
The plot
I love that Goldfinger that takes the whole three-act classical structure Robert McKee so popularly documented in his book on screenwriting Story and throws that stuff right out, presumably using the ejector seat of Bond's Aston Martin. Bond, as the Protagonist, is passive a huge chunk of the movie… basically, he's captured halfway through and then doesn't do much.
"Wait!" You may cry, "He escapes and hides out in the giant Fort Knox model and learns about Goldfinger's plan!" Yes, he does… he learns about Goldfinger's FAKE plan to rob Fort Knox that Goldfinger tells all the gangsters he owes money to. A great scene, one where Goldfinger reveals not one but TWO gigantic maps/models of Fort Knox that he had built… why, exactly? Because it looks good on the movie screen, that's why.
And why tell them any plan, if he was going to kill them anyway? The real reason is not to tell them, but to tell the audience, so when Bond learns the real plan later there will be a moment of surprise. "Bond figured it out!" No.
And the whole segment with Goldfinger sending the gangster Solo out with his payment, then killing him and crushing his car in a junk yard? Why didn't Odd Job take the gold OUT before crushing the car? And why such a dramatic method of disposing of the body? Again, because it looks great on the big screen.
You apply an ounce of critical thinking to the events that occur and… Well, it's a house of cards on a windy day.
Yes, yes, I know, "it's a Bond movie, turn off your brain and enjoy it." I've always rebelled against those type of defenses that people use for movies. I expect movies to MAKE SENSE… at least, maintain some form of internal logic in the world created in the film. Goldfinger's plot often doesn't make one lick of sense, especially the middle of the film as detailed above.
The acting
The leads (Sean Connery, Gert Frobe, and Harold Sakata) do good work but when you look at the rest of the cast there are some weak performances. Both actresses who play the Masterson sisters, while beautiful, are one-dimensional and flat, and the actor playing Felix Leiter is not only too old but is as wooden as Goldfinger's rotating pool table.
Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore is… well, she's also wooden. She plays the "icy lesbian" part fairly well, but to be fair to her she's not really given much to work with. There is no real emotional "arc" for her to play… and the change that her character DID have… Jeez. More on this later.
Add in some bad dubbing in some scenes, and the results ain't pretty.
It hasn't aged well
I love John Barry's score, it's one of his best, but there are moments… Yikes. The worse offender is when the pilots in Pussy Galore's Flying Circus land. The score goes into "WAH-WAH! Sexy Chicks!" mode for several moments and it's so dated and cheesy it's embarrassing.
In an early scene Bond very famously states that drinking Dom Perignon at room temperature was "like listening to the Beatles without earmuffs." That puts Bond clearly on the wrong side of the culture war that took place in the sixties… the one the Beatles won. Which is ironic, when you think about who later writes and performs the theme to the Bond film Live and Let Die.
Finally… Pussy Galore. In the orignal book, she's openly a lesbian – a bold story point for a "respectable" mainstream book written in the 1950s. In the book, as in the movie, she "turns" after Bond shows her the awesomeness that was/is heterosexual lovemaking.
I'm sorry, but the whole idea of Bond winning Pussy over to his side that way is ridiculous, and the notion that a lesbian can be "converted" that way was very much a sign of the times. It was incredulous in the book, and equally incredulous in the movie.
(Full disclosure: I am a married heterosexual man who likes the ladies… especially Bond Girls.)
In closing
Goldfinger is, above all else, the prototypical Bond film… it is what we have come to expect when we buy our tickets and sit down. It is the "patient zero" that infected the moviemakers, an infection that almost proved fatal when it was contracted by Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan.
Too many people, myself included, has put it on a pedestal for decades, and there's still plenty of praiseworthy elements here. But as Q would say, "Can we please be serious?" Taking Goldfinger seriously, one can see plenty of things that don't quite work. But as everyone can admit, it has now become a classic, and it's… well, it's Goldfinger.
Flaws and all, I do love it so.
Tomorrow October 5th is "James Bond Day", a new international holiday that also happens to occur just before the release of the new Bond film Skyfall (wow, what a coincidence). To celebrate Bond day I rewatched one of my favorite Bond films, the underrated and under-appreciated On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
OHMSS, as I will call it for the rest of this article because I'm lazy, was the first Bond film that didn't star Sean Connery, and the idea that anyone else could play Bond was a pretty crazy idea at the time. The type of cast changes and "reboots" that are now common place just didn't exist back then, and for many moviegoers Connery and Bond were, basically, the same man… As if "Sean Connery" was some alias Bond used when he wasn't on assignment as 007.
But Connery was done with the character (at the time), and so Australian actor George Lazenby was hired based on his good looks and an impressive fight-scene audition (the story publicized at the time was that he accidentally knocked out a stuntman he was fighting with – apocryphal or not, who knows?). There was only one problem… he wasn't really an actor, he was a model. More on that later.
The film was a bold move on the part of the filmmakers. After the bombastic, special-effects filled You Only Live Twice, they decided to keep the story – and the budget – low-key. For that, they did what they had rarely done before and since – they went back to the book and (gasp!) actually ADAPTED it. OHMSS, like From Russia with Love before it, is one of the closest adaptations to the original Fleming ever filmed. Fleming was not easy to adapt – much of the famous "Fleming effect" was in the way he described the details of things and people, making the reader feel that what he was reading was grounded and real. You can't do that in a film, which relies on visuals instead of descriptive paragraphs. But with OHMSS they capture the spirit of Fleming, and the melancholy tone that started to soak through his work around the time the original book was written.
Like the book, it's a grounded film, and Bond is more a real person here than he is in most of the rest of the series. Not the Superman parody that Roger Moore would eventually play, Lazenby played the part as tough but sensitive, a man who could fall in love and open himself up – in this case, to a Contessa… Tracy. It's a tough balance for any actor to play, and to be frank Lazenby doesn't quite carry it off. He's not bad… except he's also not very great, either. He tries, bless him, but he benefits greatly from some great performances around him – Diana Rigg is especially good as Tracy, and you can see her giving her all to try and help Lazenby in many scenes.
In the past many Bond fans have stated their opinion that if Connery, instead of George Lazenby, had played Bond. this would have been the Best. Bond. Ever. As much as I appreciate the film, I have to disagree. There is a substantial section of the movie that has a glacial pace (and that's not an unintentional pun, even though the majority of the film is set in Switzerland). It also has a rushed third act and an invasion/battle sequence that isn't nearly as effective as it could have been (and its nowhere near as good as my personal favorite, from the aforementioned You Only Live Twice). Besides, Connery had already starred in the Best Bond Ever, a movie named Goldfinger.
Three final thoughts: First, the score by John Barry is one of my personal favorites, rivaling Goldfinger as the best Bond score ever composed. Second, the filmmakers are to be commended by following the original novel all the way to the (very) unhappy ending… an ending that was absolutely appropriate but probably didn't help the film at the box office.
Finally, as you may know this was Lazenby's only Bond performance (Connery returned one more time for Diamonds are Forever, and then Moore took over the role). He went on to other acting, but never found another part as big as Bond again. I wonder if he stayed if he would have "stepped up his game" to become a great Bond. As it is, and as I noted… he was good, not great.
But then again, how many actors can say they once played James Bond?
When it comes to feasability, you have to look at three things: location, labor, and the type of lair you are trying to build.
Location is the most important factor, because if it is in a remote area the construction can occur with minimal subtrifuge and interruption from locals (when I refer to locals I mean both civilians and government). It will also decrease your chances of the construction being seen by satellite surveilance. And, speaking of space, that type of lair is out of the question… it would take a huge number of launches to get the modules into orbit and that would definitley get noticed by the world's governments,
Labor is actually the biggest challenge, in that the more complex a lair the more skilled professionals and craftspeople you will need. If you want an ornate meeting room to taunt Bond in (like Dr. No had) you are going to have to hire people to lay the marble, to put in the raised ceiling, to emboss your super-villian logo in the wall… etc. For your control room you have to network the computers and servers together, you have to pipe in a high-speed data connection, you name it. You need air conditioning, you need plumbing… all this requires someone to do it. That's a lot of people, and you need to keep these people quite after they are done.
Contracting is kinda out of the question, as you can end up with dozens of guys in bars on Friday nights telling their buddies "Yeah, we just got threw with the SPECTRE job… man that Blofeld guy was a real stickler for detail." You could kill the workers when they are done, but that could draw unnecessary attention when dozens of men and women in a single area disappear. So you need to hire everyone, and keep them on the payroll (and potentially provide housing for them).
The type of lair is also important, in that burrowing out a volcano (for example) will take a huge amount of effort, equipment and materials that would definitely be noticable and take a HUGE amount of time. An "above ground" lair will take less work and can be disguised with a "cover" construction project that looks normal. I think a perfect location would be a new high-end hotel… you can set aside a dozen floors for your headquarters and your henchman can be disguised as hotel workers.
So, can an adversary of James Bond and MI6 build a huge cinematic hideout in real life? Yes, but I'd hate to be the project manager supervising the construction effort.
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Thread: Concept Art 101
November 4th, 2006 #1
Concept Art 101
So you like drawing characters, and monsters, and swords and guns and space-ships. It has come to your attention that there are people who do this professionally for movies, television, and games. Youve got a sketchbook in your hands, and you are wondering how to get from the sketchbook to the job. What sorts of things should you draw? What sorts of mediums should you learn? Should you draw from photos? From life? From other artists work? From imagination?
I can help you with these first steps. My name is Michelle Clay. I work at a company called Turbine, where I make 3D art assets for games, and (more recently) have been working as a designer building game levels. Im not a concept artist, but I work with concept artists, and for a while in college it was my goal to become a concept artist. I graduated from RISDs illustration department in 2000. So, I cant tell you an awful lot about how to get a concept art job once your skills are ready for that, but I can tell you quite a bit about what you need to do to bring your skills up to that level.
This thread is a classroom. I will be posting information and assignments. As far as possible, I will assume that all you have at your disposal are a sketchbook and a pencil, but a few will involve color. The assignments wont be any particular order. Feel free to skip to the assignments that will help you the most! If you want to participate, feel free to post your results here. Or post your questions or comments. Or, if you are a professional concept artist, feel free to share your knowledge!
For those interested, over in the Employment Discussion forum I have a similar thread on the games industry. The information there is more advanced and specialized, and includes assignments that require 2D and 3D art programs, but some of it is fairly low-tech, too.
Okay, here we go. . .
Table of Contents
What is Concept Art?
From Life to Imagination
Assignment #1: From Still-Life to Imagination
Assignment #2: From Self Portrait to Imagination
Assignment #3: Half-Imagined Environment
The Use of Photography in Illustration
Assignment #4: Concept Art from Found Photographs
Assignment #4: Concept Art from Your Own Photographs
Art Direction
Assignment #5: the Art Direction Game
Perspective, From the Beginning
Assignment #6: Cube Contortionism
Assignment #7: Cube in 3D
Atmospheric Perspective
Assignment #8: Atmospheric Perspective Still-Life
Assignment #9: Atmospheric Perspective From Imagination
Perspective from Life
Assignment #10: Furniture from Observation
Assignment #11: the Back of the Building
Color Assignments
Assignment #12: Night and Day from Observation
Assignment #13: Night and Day from Imagination
Skin Tones
Assignment #14: Self Portrait in Arbitrary Colors
Drawing Humans
Assignment #15: Researching Anatomy
Assignment #16: Adding Bones to a Mastercopy
Assignment #17: Constructing Humans from Spare Parts
Still More about Drawing People
Assignment #18: Sniping
Assignment #19: Figure Drawing Class
Assignment #20: After Figure Drawing Class: Costumes
Assignment #21: After Figure Drawing Class: Spare Parts
Some Ideas for Still-Lifes
Power-Leveling for the Busy Artist
Assignment #22 - Studying Existing Compositions
More About Composition
Assignment #23 Finding Compositions Within Compositions
Assignment #24 - Non-Representational Composition
Assignment #25 - Build a Composition with Perspective from Life
Assignment #26 - Build a Composition with Perspective from Imagination
Assignment #27 - Build a Composition with a Character from Imagination
Assignment #28 Mood, Non-Representational
Assignment #29 Mood, Representational
Assignment #29 Acting, Facial Expression
Assignment #30 Acting, Body Language
More on Perspective
Setting Goals for Yourself
Assignment #31 Analyzing Art
What Should I Include in my College Portfolio?
Assignment #32 Many Ways to Render Value
Assignment #33 Making Value Decisions
Assignment #34 Shading Non-White Objects
Assignment #35 Fun With Value
Digital Painting Example
Acrylic Painting Example
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Last edited by Seedling; July 10th, 2007 at 12:47 PM.I think you are awesome, and I wish you the best in your endeavors, but I am tired of repeating myself, I am very busy with my new baby, and I am no longer a regular participant here, so please do not contact me to ask for advice on your career or education. All of the advice that I have to offer can already be found in the following links. Thank you.
Perspective 101, Concept Art 101, Games Industry info,Oil Paint info, Acrylic Paint info, my sketchbook.
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November 4th, 2006 #2
What is Concept Art?
Concept art is a subset of illustration.
What is illustration? Dictionary.com says this of the word illustrate:
1. to furnish (a book, magazine, etc.) with drawings, pictures, or other artwork intended for explanation, elucidation, or adornment
2. to make clear or intelligible, as by examples or analogies; exemplify
3. 3. Archaic. to enlighten
4. to clarify one's words, writings, etc., with examples: To prevent misunderstandings, let me illustrate.
So, an illustration is art that communicates something.
There is much of fine art that falls into the category of illustration. Any imagine that tells a story or represents an object is illustrative, whether it is communicating something as complex as a scene from the Lord of the Rings, or as simple a thing as a horse or a man.
What makes concept art different from illustration is that the audience isnt the person who reads a book, plays a game, or watches a movie. The primary audience of concept art is other artists, and other people involved in the making of the final product. Concept art is the blueprint that is used to make more art. It is also used to communicate with the holder of the intellectual property rights involved in a project, and it can also be the leverage that is used to get funding for a project.
If you want a formal education that will prepare you for being a concept artist, then study illustration.
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November 4th, 2006 #3
From Life to Imagination
So youve got your sketchbook. Youve been having fun drawing Spider Man, and youve had some folks tell you that you should draw from life, but dang it, still lifes are dull! Why bother with them? How is a drawing of a shoe supposed to help you to draw better superheroes?
These assignments should help you to answer those questions.
*********Assignment #1: From Still-Life to Imagination************
Pick a real-life object to draw. It can be a shoe, a car, a tree anything that is available to you for direct observation. Take your sketchbook to it and draw it. Leave space on the same page or a facing page for the second part of the assignment.
Using that first drawing as a guide, draw the same object from the same position but change it somehow. Add an imagined element. If its a car, you could change the curves of the lines to make it look like it belongs in a science-fiction movie. Or turn it into a hovercraft. Or give it a crazy flame paint job and fins and monster truck wheels. Or make it steam-punk, or aquatic, or turn it into a thousand-year-old rusted wreck.
By doing this in two steps, you have both the benefit of direct observation, and you get the challenge of coming up with something from imagination and communicating that thing.
********Assignment #2: From Self Portrait to Imagination************
Self portraits are hard! They are also the best way to prepare yourself for drawing one of the most difficult and yet ubiquitous subjects that every illustrator must draw: the human. If you want to be an illustrator of any stripe, then you must learn to draw people. Dont be afraid of messing up; just try it and keep trying it until your results dont stink.
For this assignment, set up a mirror and draw yourself. No, don't use a photograph, use a mirror. All drawn? Great! Now add some invented element to your drawing. It could be a crazy hat, or a plate-mail shirt, or a crazy facial tattoo. You can turn yourself into a Klingon, or add faerie wings.
Whatever you add, the challenge will be to make the imagined elements look like they belong in the drawing. It should look like the entire image was drawn from observation.
*********Assignment #3: Half-Imagined Environment***********
This assignment is just like the Self Portrait assignment, except instead of drawing yourself, draw a landscape or interior space. Add in an element from imagination. For instance, you could draw a hallway in your home, but draw in a giant crack across the floor filled with lava. Or draw the buildings along your street, but give them turrets and towers and cannons. Or draw a field with trees, and add a herd of invented animals.
Once again, the challenge will be to make the imagined elements look like they were observed along with the observed elements.
Last edited by Seedling; December 15th, 2006 at 10:25 AM.
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November 4th, 2006 #4
The Use of Photography in Illustration
There are four ways in which photography can be useful to illustrators: direct copy, inspiration, reference, and inclusion.
There is a lot of talk on conceptart.org about using photographs as reference when what is actually meant is direct copy. Since the invention of the camera, many famous artists have made museum-quality art by copying directly from photographs. But what gets overlooked by novice artists is that A. these artists took the photographs themselves, B. these artists already knew how to successfully paint the subject, and C. these artists were in most cases not concept artists.
Copying photographs is a shortcut for illustrators who have already mastered a subject and who need to hurry. For a novice, a habit of copying photographs is a crutch that will hinder your progress.
But this does not mean you should never go near a photograph. On the contrary, it is through photographs that we are allowed to see parts of the world that would never be visible to us otherwise. Use photographs for inspiration liberally!
By inclusion I mean using a photograph directly in your art. This applies to collage, and also applies to making photorealistic textures for 3D models. Inclusion isnt useful to you if you are trying to learn the basic skills necessary to a concept artist.
And what about that abused word reference? Reference doesnt mean copying. It means using the information contained in an image to better understand a subject. For instance, if you are going to draw a manatee, and you dont happen to have either a live manatee or model of a manatee on hand. The next thing to do would be to find photographs of manatees, and use those images to gain an understanding of the shape of a manatee in 3D. Using that 3D mental image, you can then draw a manatee from any angle, in any pose.
********Assignment #4: Concept Art from Found Photographs****************
Pick a subject, such as a llama, or an antique car, or a preying mantis. Use either the library or the internet to find photographs of that subject from different angles. Study the subject until you feel that you have a good understanding of it. Then, draw the object from a perspective not used in any of your reference photographs. Refer back to the photos at any time for information you might need, such as the shape of a preying mantis leg joints, or the proportions of the cars wheels to the cars length.
********Assignment #4: Concept Art from Your Own Photographs*************
For this, you will need a camera.
Hunt down an interesting subject and photograph it from several angles. Repeat the previous assignment using these photographs that you took yourself.
If you ever intend to use photographs as a part of your art-making process, then you need to get in the habit of taking your own pictures. The internet is full of pictures of the darndest things, but the quality is often awful and you do not own the rights to those images. So get yourself a camera and learn the basics of photography.
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November 5th, 2006 #5
More to come, later. . .
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November 5th, 2006 #6
Nice, great incentive!
I gotta tell ya, when i was reading the first post, and saw your name, I was listening to Futurama in the background, and the VERY same second I read your name, Fry introduced Michelle to his unfrozen girlfriend. Made me shiver!
[url=http://galleryonefone.blogspot.com[/url] This would be my gallery in Sweden
This would be my Pleine Air blog
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November 5th, 2006 #7Registered User
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Many many thanks Seedling, I can tell already this is going to be a truly great thread.
BLOG> http://www.jonmccoy.blogspot.com
November 5th, 2006 #8
Seedling!! You´re great! I´ll take part on this class of yours! Thanks a lot!!
My website
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New CA Sketchbook
" The scientific and generally accepted-in-art term for this is "You're fuckin' screwed, dude..." " Ilaekae - May 16th, 2009
November 5th, 2006 #9
Woot! Thanks guys! I look forward to seeing what you come up with! :-)
November 5th, 2006 #10
Art Direction
There are many myths about art. One of them is that art is a noble solitary endeavor. It is only sometimes noble, and in the context of illustration its rarely solitary. Many artists emerge from their education without ever really having confronted the idea that as an illustrator you have to work with other people who will be telling you what to do. The result is an uncomfortable clash of egos, disillusionment for the illustrator, and a headache for the art director.
So instead of waiting for your first experience with art direction to be an upsetting one, you can try it out now, as a game.
***********Assignment #5: the Art Direction Game*************
Draw something from imagination. It can be any subject whatsoever. Dont spend any more than about an hour on the drawing. This is about getting an idea down on paper and then iterating on it.
Got it drawn? Good. Now, you will need a D-20. Or, for those of you not acquainted any of the wonderful geeky games that require 20-sided dice, instead write the numbers one through twenty on scraps of paper and drop them into a hat.
Now roll the die or draw a number from the hat. Look up that number on the chart below.
On a fresh sheet of paper, draw the same subject again. But alter it according to the directions below according to the number you picked. Dont spend any more than an hour on the drawing. Do some research before you start if you do not know what the directions are asking for or if you need to get your thoughts in order.
1. Make it creepy.
2. Make it in the style of Art Nouveau.
3. Reduce it to utter simplicity.
4. Double the number of interesting details.
5. Redraw it in the style of a Chinese ink painting.
6. Add foliage.
7. Add horns, spikes, or other pointy bits.
8. Replace one of the major elements with something cute.
9. Replace part with an element of Japanese architecture or culture.
10. Replace part with an element of African architecture or culture.
11. Add an element of Gothic architecture.
12. Draw it again, as if it has been destroyed by something.
13. Add defensive elements.
14. Remove the item or character of primary focus, and focus on the secondary elements.
15. Pick one of the items or characters involved and redraw only that, in detail.
16. Draw the same subject from a different perspective.
17. Make it high-tech.
18. Make it low-tech.
19. Add a character or creature that interacts with the main object of focus.
20. Re-arrange the elements of the picture, or draw it in a different pose.
Try doing another iteration or two on your subject. Or pick a new subject. Or, have a friend write up a new list of twenty instructions for you to test yourself with. Have fun with this.
Art direction can either be an annoying limitation, or it can be a challenge that gives you opportunity to flex your creative muscles, demonstrate your versatility, and have a bit of fun. The difference between those two states is your attitude.
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November 5th, 2006 #11Registered User
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Keep up the absolutely wonderful job Seedling, your post has really helped me out!
I will try to do some of your assignment. Don't excpect much tho, I'm new to this, but hey, we all have to start somewhere, eh?
November 5th, 2006 #12
Yeah great thread....Bookmarked.
I wanted to mention that one of the most famous artists in 19th century art was fond of the then new technology of photographic reference: William Bouguereau!
---- - sehertu mannu narāṭu ina pānāt agapīru ningishzidda
November 5th, 2006 #13
Great thread. Way to go Michelle!
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Halloween Treat: Mummy Cupcakes Recipe
Surprise your favorite ghouls and ghosties with this sweet Halloween treat that's fun to make and even more fun to eat. They're easy enough to whip up that the kids can even help with the mixing, baking and decorating.
chocolate cake mix
black cupcake liners
vanilla frosting
white fondant
candy eyes
pizza cutter/knife
1. Prepare cupcakes according to package directions and bake in black cupcake liners. Remove from oven and allow cupcakes to cool completely.
2. Top each cupcake with a thin layer of vanilla frosting. Roll out fondant to about the thickness of a fettucine noodle. Use a pizza cutter or knife to cut it into 1/4" wide strips.
3. Place fondant strips on top of the cupcake, layering the pieces as you go to resemble the look of a mummy's bandages.
4. When you're happy with the bandaged look, use a knife or kitchen scissors to cut off any extra fondant. Use your fingers to press the fondant layers and vanilla frosting together around the edges.
5. Finally, add candy eyes.
Next Up
Halloween Recipe: Mummy Hot Dogs
Wrap hot dogs in flaky, ready-made dough to create a Halloween party snack kids will love to help make before gobbling them up.
Halloween Haystack Mummies Recipe
These adorable white-chocolate "wrapped" mummies are a great addition to your Halloween treat lineup. Flavored with peanut butter and butterscotch, the potato sticks give them just the right amount of salty flavor and crunch.
Halloween Sweet and Salty Popcorn Mix Recipe
Combining the best of both worlds, this sweet-meets-salty snack is just too good to pass up. Mix up big batches for Halloween get-togethers, school functions or to pass out to your favorite trick-or-treaters.
Quick and Easy Halloween Jack-O'-Snacks
Treat small Halloween guests to a snack size cup of pudding that looks like a mini jack-o'-lantern. They're a snap to make so the kids can even help whip them up before gobbling them up.
Halloween Recipe: Yummy Mummy Empanadas
Wrap up fun for your Halloween party guests with these pepperoni pizza-style empanadas. Filled with hearty ingredients, they're a kid-pleasing snack for school lunches too.
Halloween Treat: Candy-Corn Brownies Recipe
Concentric rings of colored sugar give moist, chocolatey brownies a candy-corn makeover for Halloween. They're as pleasing to the eye as they are to the palate.
Halloween Treat: Rice Cereal Monsters
These treats definitely won't suck the fun out of your Halloween soiree. With vampire teeth they can keep, your guests will fall in love with these tasty nibbles at first bite.
Halloween Snack Recipe: Curse of the Mummy Mushrooms
Cremini mushrooms stuffed with walnuts, cream cheese and fresh herbs make the perfect Halloween party appetizer.
Make Frankens'more Treat Pops for Halloween
Delight your Halloween party guests with this frightfully cute spin on a classic campfire recipe. Turn chocolate-covered graham crackers filled with gooey marshmallow into a Frankenstein-themed treat pop for a fun-to-eat party favor.
Halloween Kids' Craft: Pretzel Skeletons
White chocolate-covered pretzels and marshmallows combine to create a fun Halloween treat that kids will love helping to assemble before they devour them.
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Skype with our Korean distribution partner, CED International - photographing them as they photograph us, while Skyping - very meta.
The LEMTOSH kicks off 2013 in Bangkok, Thailand! สวัสดีปีใหม่!
Spotted actor, Bill Hader, wearing The HESH. Catch him in the film, "The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby", coming out later this year!
MOSCOT fan, Terrence, is kicking off 2013 with a new pair of specs...The LEMTOSH!
Loving the MOSCOT display at Ottica OCchi Di Gard, in Remini, Italy!
Blow horn in hand, Sox is ready for 2013! Are YOU?!


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Bucs Mike Evans Threw Up During Conditioning
By Sports Talk Florida
NFL Analyst
Follow @ sportstalkfla
NFL Analyst
Follow @ sportstalkfla
Tampa Bay Buccaneers first round draft pick Mike Evans admitted to coming into camp a little out of shape and he suffered the consequences by throwing up during conditioning drills.
"The only person (to throw up)," Evans said.
Video will be up shortly.
Tags: Tampa Bay Buccaneers


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1001 N Marquis Hwy
Hartsville, SC 29550-0295
Hartsville, SC 29550-0295
Tel: (843)332-0164
ECS has been serving Darlington County for over 40 years! ECS is a college preparatory school, offering a traditional classroom setting, a Christian world-view and a competitively priced tuition.
ECS enrollment has increased 100% the past 3 years! Dual enrollment is offered in conjunction with Florence Darlington Technical College, with courses transferrable to any 4-year colloege in America!
School Overview
|School Membership(s)School Assoc.
|Other religious school association(s)
Other school association(s)
|Religious Affiliation
|Grades Offered
|Grades Prekindergarten - 12
|Year Founded
Student Body
|Total Students
|400 students
|Student Body Type
|% Students of Color
State avg.: 15%
|Students by Grade
Academics and Faculty
|Total Classroom Teachers
|26 teachers
|Student : Teacher Ratio
National avg.: 13:1
|% Faculty w/Advanced Degree
|Average Class Size
|18 students
|Average SAT score
|Average ACT score
|Classroom Dress Code
Finances and Admission
|Yearly Tuition Cost
|Tuition Notes
|Amounts vary by grade level. Preschool and Kindergarten is 2620, Elementary is 2840, and secondary is 3020. Discounts avaible for multiple children.
|% on Financial Aid
|Average Financial Aid Grant
|Acceptance Rate
National avg.: 85%
|Admissions Director
|Catherine Charles
|Admissions Associate
|Jenifer Oneal
|Total Sports Offered
|9 sports
|Baseball, Basketball, Cheering, Golf, Soccer, Softball, Swimming, Tennis, VolleyballBaseball, Basketball,
Cheering, Golf,
Soccer, Softball,
Swimming, Tennis,
|Total ExtracurricularsTotal Extra-curric.
|11 extracurriculars
|Academic Booster Club, Art, Athletic Booster Club, Beta Club, Drama, Excel School of the Arts, KinderGym, Moms In Touch, Spanish Club, Speech, Student Government Association Art, Beta Club, Drama, KinderGym, Moms In Touch, Spanish Club, Speech, Academic Booster Club,
Athletic Booster Club,
Excel School of the Arts,
Student Government Association,
School Notes:
- Championship sports in Baseball, Volleyball and Softball in 2007
- Added Upper School Principal 06-07
- Added Guidance Counselor 06-07
- Added State of the art Computer Lab 09-10
Profile last updated: 09/02/2014
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HartsvilleFirst Baptist Church Kindergarten
104 E Home Ave
Hartsville, SC 29550
(843)878-0445Daycare / Preschool (Baptist)3.3 mi | 71 students | Gr. PK-K
HartsvilleThomas Hart Academy
852 Flinns Rd
Hartsville, SC 29550
(843)332-49916.1 mi | 160 students | Gr. PK-8
HartsvilleForest Hills Christian School
317 Forest Hills Dr
Hartsville, SC 29550
(843)332-7811(Baptist)6.6 mi | 12 students | Gr. 2-12
HartsvilleKelleytown Baptist Kindergarten
2609 Kelleytown Rd
Hartsville, SC 29550
(843)332-8092Daycare / Preschool (Baptist)7.6 mi | 49 students | Gr. PK-KG
LamarChristian Pathway: Starting Steps School
Po Box 757
Lamar, SC 29069
(843)326-5850Daycare / Preschool (Christian)9.5 mi | 11 students | Gr. KG
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2015 Ford F-150 Plant Tour
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New Engine Designed to Meet U.S., European Emissions Standards
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Installing a 6-inch RCD Lift On a 2008 Chevy Suburban 2500HD
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Our long-term Silverado has earned high marks this quarter for being supremely durable and trouble free. This truck has also continued to impress everyone with absolutely quiet and smooth commuting, road trips, and some light off-road use.
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1967 Ford F-100 - Project Speed Bump: Part 2
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Purple Starlight playlist for 05/04/2015By purplestarlight on Mon, 05/04/2015 - 12:22am
Currently on alternating monday mornings midnight - 3am.
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With special guest: Foresterrr
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After today's Stony Brook Sports Broadcast, there was some JAZZ On The Air...
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Celebrating National Masturbation Month in oh so many ways....
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Local Music Marathon between bands
Bustin' Out Blue playlist for 05/01/2015By Joe V on Fri, 05/01/2015 - 9:42pm
Frank Celenza Show
Mix Tape playlist for 04/30/2015By MixTape on Thu, 04/30/2015 - 12:11am
Fishing With Bill playlist for 04/30/2015By Steve-K on Thu, 04/30/2015 - 5:49am
Steve K filling in
Clam Radio playlist for 04/30/2015By johntabacco on Thu, 04/30/2015 - 9:16am
Alex Quinlan and Chris Toland are my guests.
Lunch On Thursdays playlist for 04/30/2015By johntabacco on Thu, 04/30/2015 - 11:20am
Clam Radio filling in for Bill.
Trim Mix Party playlist for 04/30/2015By cutsupreme on Thu, 04/30/2015 - 11:10pm
this week special guest comet and madmen entertainment was in the building
Into The Fire with JoJo playlist for 04/29/2015By JoJo on Tue, 04/28/2015 - 6:37pm
JOIN THE JOJO TOMORROW MORNING 4am-7am I HAVE ALL NEW RECORD STORE DAY VINYL TO TICKLE THE LITTLE HAIRS IN YOUR EARS SOME DEEEEEP CUTS FROM LED ZEPPELIN AND A LOT MORE!!! SO COME GET YOUR DAILY ROCK-N-ROLL ASS KICKIN' ONLY ON WUSB 90.1 FM INTO THE FIRE WITH JOJO RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!
WUSB Alternatives playlist for 04/29/2015By JoJo on Wed, 04/29/2015 - 3:11am
Blue Grass Time playlist for 04/29/2015By Buddy Merriam on Wed, 04/29/2015 - 2:04pm
2 hours of bluegrass music-a tribute to the late Tex Logan


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Tuesday, August 3, 2010
© Copyright 2015 Gwinnett Daily Post
ATLANTA -- Republican gubernatorial candidate Nathan Deal says he would reject federal "Race to the Top" money for schools because it would force the state to adhere to national education standards.
His GOP runoff rival, Karen Handel, said she wouldn't turn up her nose at the money.
Speaking to business leaders at a forum, Handel said Tuesday that as long as Georgians are paying taxes to the federal government she would have a responsibility as governor to make sure it's seeing its fair share.
Deal said he does "not agree with anything that has strings attached" and the money is not worth the tradeoff.
Georgia is one of 18 finalists in the second round of the federal "Race to the Top" school reform grant competition. The state could share in some $3.4 billion if selected.
Deal and Handel are battling for the Republican nomination for governor in a runoff, now one week away.
More like this story
- Karen Handel, Nathan Deal clash in runoff debate ( August 2, 2010 )
- Resignation from Komen could burnish politician ( February 7, 2012 )
- TOWERY: Handel could add to 'Powerchick' trend ( July 31, 2010 )
- Handel campaign releases education plan for Georgia ( July 26, 2010 )
- Karen Handel leaving office to run for governor ( December 22, 2009 )


text:
McKinney News
Local news for McKinney, TX continually updated from thousands of sources on the web.
Police: One hospitalized after pickup plows into car in McKinney
Yesterday | Dallas Morning News | Comment?
Racially-Charged Texas Radio Host Michael Berry Renews Friendship With Ted Cruz
Wednesday Jul 1 | Media Matters for A... | Comment?
"You're giving me a f***ing ticket for what?"...
Tuesday Jun 30 | Salon | Comment?
City of McKinney says finding emails about resigned pool-party police officer will cost $79K
Tuesday Jun 30 | Chron | Comment?
Requesting emails from McKinney, Texas, police? That'll be $79,000, please
Tuesday Jun 30 | Los Angeles Times | Comment?
Dallas LGBTQ Musicians Respond to the Same Sex Marriage Ruling
Tuesday Jun 30 | Dallas Observer | Comment?
Loosing Innocent Lives In An Airstrike: Do the Pros Out...
news 553
What role do you think humans play in global warming?
Environment 6,267
22 Celebs Who Got Amazing Movie Makeovers!
Here's a $79,000 FOIA Bill from the City of McKinney, Texas
Monday Jun 29 | Gawker | Comment?
Texas Town Is Charging Us $79,000 for Emails About Pool Party Abuse Cop
Monday Jun 29 | Gawker | Comment?
NAACP Aims To Unify Temple
Sunday Jun 28 | KCEN | Comment?
Rebuilding the trust
Sunday Jun 28 | Christian Science M... | Comment?
BET Experience: N.W.A, Kendrick Lamar capture L.A. hip-hop history
Sunday Jun 28 | Los Angeles Times | Comment?
N.W.A. Reunited for Their First Live Performance in 26 Years
Sunday Jun 28 | Spin | Comment?
Sherman City Council gets good news at 2016 budget meeting
Saturday Jun 27 | The Herald Democrat | Comment?
Sewell Automotive buys Craig Ranch tract for new Audi dealership
Thursday Jun 25 | Business Journal | Comment?
How Housing Policy Is Failing America's Poor
Wednesday Jun 24 | The Atlantic | Comment?
The Retweet: How The Criminality Of Black Bodies Is Hurting Our Girls, Too
Wednesday Jun 24 | NewsOne | Comment?
Downtown McKinney Explorers Club encourages kids to get outside and explore the community
Tuesday Jun 23 | North Texas e-News | Comment?
Updated: Fri Jul 03, 2015 05:27 pm
Copyright © 2015 Topix LLC


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