The Two Fridas

The Two Fridas ("Las dos Fridas" in Spanish) is an oil painting by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. The painting was the first large-scale work done by Kahlo and is considered one of her most notable paintings. It is a double self-portrait, depicting two versions of Kahlo seated together. One is wearing a white European-style Victorian dress while the other is wearing a traditional Tehuana dress. The painting is housed at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City.
History.
Kahlo painted "The Two Fridas" in 1939, the same year she divorced artist Diego Rivera, although they remarried a year later. According to Kahlo's friend, Fernando Gamboa, the painting was inspired by two paintings that Kahlo saw earlier that year at the Louvre: Théodore Chassériau's "The Two Sisters" and the anonymous "Gabrielle d'Estrées and One of Her Sisters".
In January 1940, "The Two Fridas" was exhibited along with "The Wounded Table" at the International Surrealist Exhibition in Mexico City.
The painting remained in Kahlo's possession until it was acquired by the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes (INBA) in 1947. The INBA transferred it to the Museo de Arte Moderno on December 28, 1966, where it is presently housed.
Subject.
Some art historians have suggested that the two figures in the painting are a representation of Frida's dual heritage. Her father, Guillermo Kahlo, was German; while her mother, Matilde Calderon, was Mexican. Another interpretation is that the Tehuana Frida is the one who was adored by her husband Diego Rivera, while the European Frida is the one that was rejected by him. In Frida's own recollection, the image is of a memory of a childhood imaginary friend.
Both Fridas hold items in their lap; the Mexican Frida holds a small portrait of Diego Rivera, and the European Frida holds forceps. Blood spills onto the European Frida's white dress from a broken blood vessel that has been cut by the forceps. The blood vessel connects the two Fridas, winding its way from their hands through their hearts. The work alludes to Kahlo's life of constant pain and surgical procedures and the Aztec tradition of human sacrifice. Because this piece was completed by Kahlo shortly after her divorce, the European Frida is missing a piece of herself, her Diego.
Both Frida’s show an open heart. The heart in the left figure is healthy whereas the heart of the figure on the right is open and cut. An interpretation of this is that it not only shows two separate personalities but indicates the constant pain that Frida is going through. The tragic motor accident that left her bedridden and then with medical problems throughout her life is shown through the two figures; one is weak whilst the other is strong. Although the two figures appear separate, a vein connecting the two further symbolises that despite the differences in the two figures they both make up one Frida; together they make the self-portrait.
Impact.
Hispanic studies professor Sarah M. Misemer suggests that Kahlo’s multi-racial representation seen in "The Two Fridas" reflects the impact that the colonial era had on racial demographics in Mexico. Additionally, Misemer argues that Kahlo’s representation of herself as a multi-racial individual serves as a cultural symbol for the Mexican nation.
Kahlo’s work has inspired the creation of cultural products. For example, the painting "The Two Fridas" inspired a play called "Las Dos Fridas" (1998) by Bárbara Córcega, , and Abraham Oceransky. In this play, two separate actresses play different versions of Kahlo named Espina and Flor. Although these characters have different names, they are supposed to be the same person. Espina wears a Tehuana outfit, like the indigenous representation of Kahlo seen in the painting, whereas Flor wears a suit from the 1940s. In the original play, Espina and Flor were played by two of its writers, Córcega and Farías.
The play begins with Flor asking Espina about Kahlo’s identity. Espina then explains different aspects of Kahlo’s identity, such as her gender and career. Historians argue that these different understandings of Kahlo’s identity that Espina and Flor carry suggest the multi-faceted nature of Kahlo’s own identity. This multifaceted nature of her identity is expanded through the set of the play; a sketch of a self-portrait of Kahlo is a prop on the stage. The play then moves to the two versions of Kahlo acting out various scenes from her own life, with an emphasis on her struggles in her marriage with Rivera, who had numerous affairs with other women during their marriage. Specifically, the play addresses the shame Kahlo feels as well as the denial she engages in regarding Rivera’s affairs. The play also highlights how Kahlo used her physical pain to manipulate Rivera into staying with her. Misemer’s studies suggest that Kahlo’s medical conditions and pain prevented Rivera from ending their relationship.


Hendrik Herregouts

Hendrik Herregouts (1633 in Mechelen – 1704 in Antwerp) was a Flemish history and portrait painter and draughtsman with an international career spanning Italy, Germany and his native Flanders.
Life.
Hendrik Herregouts was born in Mechelen as the son of painter David Herregouts from Mechelen who moved to Roermond in 1646. Here David Herregouts built a successful career as a painter thanks to the support of the local Catholic Church. Hendrik's mother was Cecile Geniets, a daughter from a family of butchers in Mechelen.
Hendrik had three brothers who became painters:
Hendrik Herregouts likely first trained under his father who had moved to Roermond. Hendrik Herregouts travelled to Rome at an early age to continue his studies. He later moved to Germany. He married Anna Dorothea Cremers in Cologne in 1660 or 1661. In 1664 Hendrik Herregouts became a master of the Guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp, but some years later we find him completing commissions in Mechelen. Here he had to join the local Guild of Saint Luke. Around 1679–1680, he had again a workshop in Antwerp. His younger brother Jan Baptist likely joined him in his workshop in Antwerp. He became a member of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1677. Between the years 1680 and 1690 he lived for several years in Bruges, where he was possibly joined by his brother Jan Baptist to assist with some of the religious and secular commissions he was completing in that city. He probably intermittently travelled to Italy. He was given the nickname 'Romein' (the 'Roman') because of his close connection to Italy.
His marriage was reportedly not happy and he separated from his wife. After the death of his first wife, he married a second time in Antwerp in 1682. His second wife was Nathalie Godijn, likely the sister of his pupil Abraham Godijn. In 1685 he received a commission from the Confrerie of the Holy Sacrement to design a triumphal arch to commemorate the centenary of the restoration of the Catholic cult in the St. James' Church, Antwerp.
His pupils included Abraham Godijn, Martinus van Nies (1679-1680); Alouysius Sammels and Cornelis Henricus van Meurs (1693-1694).
He died at an elevated age in Antwerp.
Work.
Hendrik Herregouts was highly regarded in his time and he received many commissions for altarpieces and religious works in Flanders and abroad. He was also known as a portrait painter. The majority of his works can be found in churches in Antwerp, Bruges, Mechelen and Cologne. A number of his works in Cologne were lost during World War II. He was influenced by the palette of various artists such as Anthony van Dyck and Peter Paul Rubens as well as by Italian painters such as Titian, Rafael and Caravaggio. Poussin was important as an influence on his classicizing style and overall composition. His works are often on a grand scale and complex. His masterpiece is the "Last Judgement" in the Church of Saint Anne in Bruges, a very large-scale composition completed in 1685. The colossal figures in the work are reminiscent of the Mannerist painter Raphael Coxie. A "", originally painted for the Antwerp Cathedral is now in the St. Paul's Church, Antwerp. A "Divine Friend of Children" dated 1680 in the Göttweig Abbey near Krems in Lower Austria shows his mastery of colour and composition.
He painted many portraits. His portraits are characterized by their blunt directness and lively immediacy. An example is the "Portrait of Franciscus Wynckelman, voogd 1709-25" at the Hans Memlingmuseum in Bruges. He also often collaborated with other painters. He painted the staffage in the landscapes of Jan Asselijn. In his later years, he collaborated with still life painters Gaspar Peeter Verbruggen the Younger, Simon Hardimé and Jan Baptist Bosschaert who painted flowers around putti and nymphs painted by Herregouts.
He provided designs for publications by Antwerp and international printers. An example is the "", the frontispiece of Henricus Engelgrave's book "Coelum Empyreum" published by Joannes Busaeus in Cologne in 1666.
Herregouts has sometimes been confused with an obscure genre painter by the name H. or Hendrick Herdebout; There is not always unanimity over the attribution of certain works to Hendrik or his brother Jan Baptist as their styles were similar.


The Price of Free and Fair Elections

"The Price of Free and Fair Elections" is the 18th episode and season finale of the third season of the American political thriller television series "Scandal", and is the 47th overall episode. It aired on April 17, 2014 on ABC in the United States. The episode was written by showrunner Shonda Rhimes and executive producer Mark Wilding and directed by executive producer Tom Verica. The season finale was originally supposed to be the 22nd episode, but because of the show's lead Kerry Washington's pregnancy, the episode count was trimmed by ABC by four episodes, leading the season finale to be the 18th episode.
The episode focuses on the election day between President Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III and Sally Langston, with everyone else trying their best to help Fitz get elected – leading Olivia Pope and Cyrus Beene desperately trying to help.
Plot.
President Fitzgerald Grant (Tony Goldwyn) has yet to arrive to the funeral with only 14 minutes left before a bomb goes off, as Cyrus Beene (Jeff Perry) keeps stalling him. Rowan (Joe Morton) is rushed into the hospital after the stabbing by Maya Pope (Khandi Alexander) and Adnan Salif (Nazanin Boniadi) is worried about the President's absence from the church. After calling Cyrus multiple times, Jake (Scott Foley) warns Fitz about the bomb and starts to evacuate just in time before the bomb goes off. Olivia (Kerry Washington) comes to the White House and convinces Fitz to talk to the nation, but faces trouble when the networks use a split screen showing both Fitz and Sally Langston (Kate Burton) as she helps victims outside the church after Leo Bergen (Paul Adelstein) convinced her it will help her chances of winning the election. After the incident, Sally's poll numbers go up, convincing both Olivia and Cyrus that Fitz is going to lose the election. Fitz is desperate to try to win, but Olivia tells him its over.
Harrison Wright (Columbus Short) convinces Adnan to help her get away from Maya in exchange for letting him go. Harrison and Abby (Darby Stanchfield) discovers Huck (Guillermo Diaz) and Quinn's (Katie Lowes) relationship. Charlie (George Newbern) breaks up with Quinn and gives her an envelope containing information for Huck. After reading the information, Quinn takes Huck to the house where his estranged family lives, leading Huck to become furious. At the White House, Olivia reveals that secret about Mellie being raped by Big Jerry to Fitz, after feeling guilty when Fitz talks about Vermont. Fitz goes to Mellie and reconciles with her.
With 24 hours left until election day, people are speculating that Sally Langston will win the election. Leo Bergen receives advice from Cyrus about being Chief of Staff. Fitz calls Olivia while waiting to give a last speech with his family, explaining that he can't leave Mellie for her and Vermont, not after learning about the rape. Maya shows up at the hospital to threaten Olivia and explains why she tried to kill Fitz. At the same time, as Fitz gives a speech, his son Jerry (Dylan Minnette) suffers a seizure and later dies. At the hospital, Olivia informs the press about Jerry's death due to Bacterial Meningitis. With America rallying behind Fitz after his family's loss, Cyrus and Olivia realize that they are going to win the election. Tom Larsen (Brian Letscher) tells Fitz that a substring of the bacteria that killed Jerry had been stolen from a lab just a few days earlier, and that Jerry was murdered. Rowan talks to Fitz about Jerry, with Rowan convincing Fitz to let him kill the suspect Maya Pope.
On election day, Fitz has a sudden surge in the polls after the loss of his child. Huck tells Olivia that Quinn found his family, and he explains why he can't involve himself in their lives. Olivia accepts Rowan's offer for a new life, which angers Abby. Harrison tells Rowan where Maya will collect her money after Rowan tells him that Adnan was killed. Jake confronts Olivia about her leaving, and Olivia blames everything that has happened on her. Jake asks to come along with her, in which she accepts. When Harrison learns about Olivia leaving, he asks Rowan to stop her. Harrison figures out that it is Rowan who was responsible for Jerry and Adnan's death, and Harrison is killed by Tom. Fitz wins the election, but breaks down in the Oval Office with grief. David receives a bunch of B6-13 files from Jake, along with a note that says, "Go get the bad guys." Huck knocks on the door of his family's new home, and his former wife opens the door. Rowan puts Maya in the hole at B6-13, and Olivia boards the plane with Jake, which takes them into the horizon.
Production.
The episode was written by Shonda Rhimes and directed by executive producer Tom Verica. The episode featured the songs "The Light" and "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone". The episode was the last for series regular Columbus Short as Harrison Wright after it was later announced that the actor would not return for the show's fourth season due to personal reasons. As such, many critics and fans speculated about the character's fate after Harrison saw himself in a situation where he was pointed a gun at.
The season finale was supposed to be episode 22, however due to the show's lead Kerry Washington's pregnancy, ABC trimmed the episode count by four episodes, to 18 episodes. Filming for the episode began on March 13, 2014, and ended on March 27, 2014. Information about the episode was kept under wraps. During filming the cast and crew were not allowed to take pictures and upload them on social media such as Twitter.
Reception.
Broadcasting and ratings.
"The Price of Free and Fair Elections" was originally broadcast on Thursday, April 17, 2014 in the United States on ABC. The episode's total viewership of 10.57 million scored a series high in total viewers, up 15 percent from the last season finale which aired in May 2013, and was the top TV show in the 10:00 p.m. slot, beating "Parenthood" by 162 percent in Adults 18-19. In the key 18-49 demographic, the episode scored a 3.4 in Nielsen ratings, up 6 percent from the previous season's finale, and the show reached the highest Adult 18-49 number for any 10pm drama telecast on any network since October - the season premiere.
The 10.57 million people tuned into the episode marked a 15 percent viewership increase from the previous season's finale (9.12 million), in addition to the installment's 3.4 Nielsen rating in the target 18–49 demographic marked a 6 percent increase from 3.2, which was from the last season's finale. The Nielsen score additionally registered the show as the week's highest rated drama and highest rated scripted series in the 18–49 demographic, and the fourth-highest rated scripted series in Total Viewers only behind CBS's "NCIS" (17.12), "" (14.68) and "Person of Interest" (10.74). Seven days of time-shifted viewing brought an additional 1.5 rating points in the 18–49 demographic and 3.81 million viewers, bringing the total viewership for the episode to 14.39 million viewers with a 4.9 Nielsen rating in the 18–49 demographic.
Critical reviews.
The episode got a mixed to positive response from critics, who were happy with the finale but were more critical towards the third season as a whole. Sonia Saraiya from "The A.V. Club" called the third season short on story and long on time, in addition saying "The third season barreled straight into the sun without looking back. Luvvie from "Awesome Luvvie" was disappointed about the third season, calling it the weakest so far in the series as Olivia wasn't the strong woman she was in the first two seasons.
Cory Barker from "TV.com" said: "it's probably for the best that Scandal's third season only ran for 18 episodes as opposed to the typical 22 to 24. Because you guys, it's been a huge mess—and the finale was absolutely no different". Margaret Lyons of "Vulture" compared the episode to the third season, which she described as "all crescendo, no climax". Avery Thompson from "the Hollywood Life" called the finale "crazy" because of the numerous twists that occurred in the episode. Meredith Blake from "Los Angeles Times" said "Sure, this is a finale, so the stakes are necessarily going to be higher, but when the outcome of a presidential election -- on a show that is at least nominally about politics -- plays as a mere footnote, well, then you’ve got one overstuffed episode on your hands."
Many critics commented on the pace of the episode. Andy Swift from "TV Line" called the finale a non-stop parade of explosions. Cory Baker from "TV.com" commented that the finale, like the rest of the season, was "stuffed full of moments intended to shock us, or make us feel every single FEEL there is." "People's" TV critic Tom Gliatto commented on how rushed the finale was, saying, "If you dared to leave the room for a glass of seltzer or to go to the bathroom, you might return and find yourself totally disoriented". Mark Harris, executive editor for "Entertainment Weekly", called the episode "an efficient summary of a five-hour episode." Ben Doody from "Heavy.com" commented on the hype the bomb sequence had gotten before the finale aired but was only a small part of the episode saying "the bomb we’ve spent weeks waiting for goes off in the first few minutes of the episode."
Writing for "TV Fanatic", Miranda Wicker criticized the decision Olivia made when she told Fitz about the rape that Mellie had asked her not to reveal, saying, "It wasn't her truth to tell." Sonya Saraiya from "The A.V. Club" shared her opinion that the rape wasn't Olivia's secret to spill. However, she called the decision a statement of independence for a strong-minded woman.
Cory Baker expressed his disappointment that only a small part of the episode dealt with the news of the rape.


Norman Ormal

Norman Ormal was a 1998 political satire scripted by Craig Brown in which Harry Enfield played a former Conservative MP who became a Blair advisor.


Hero Tales

 is a Japanese manga series written by Huang Jin Zhou (a unit composed of Hiromu Arakawa, Genco, and Studio Flag) and illustrated by Hiromu Arakawa. It was serialized in Square Enix's "Gangan Powered" and later moved to "Monthly Shōnen Gangan", when the magazine was closed. The motif of the story was inspired by Chinese wuxia drama and novels. The world view is rooted in Chinese folklore and history, as well as having an element of fantasy.
Plot.
Manga.
A period piece, "Jūshin Enbu" features Taitou, a young man who hates the empire that rules at the time, with his sister Laila as they learn of a mysterious power Taitou holds, unbeknownst to him. Taitou is the incarnation of a mysterious star that grants him a huge amount of power that he has yet to fully master. Joining them is Ryuukou, who has power similar to Taitou, just more honed.
After Taitou's coming of age ceremony, which required him being beaten by Ryuukou, he is given the Kenkaranpu, described as a conqueror's sword, which Taitou is not even capable of drawing. Soon after, he and Laila are greeted by a man named Shimei, who wants to take the sword. After a quick exchange of blows, Shimei explains the source of Taitou's power - the star Hagun, one of the most powerful Hokushin-Tenkun. When Shimei uses his own sword's power to cause Laila to stop breathing, Taitou becomes so angry he releases Hagun's power, draws Kenkaranpu and pins Shimei to the wall by throwing the Kenkaranpu through his stomach. He then turns to Ryuukou and attacks. Despite his best efforts, Ryuukou cannot overcome Hagun's power. It is only a resuscitated Laila's intervention (along with a nasty head butt) that brings Taitou to his senses. However, they all soon learn that Shimei had escaped with the sword.
At midnight, Taitou sneaks out to recover the sword. As he leaves, Ryuukou and Laila quickly join him on his journey. As they travel, they come to the canal town of Jousei. While they're there, Ryuukou attempts to teach Taitou how to control his ki, and with it, the power of his star. When you don't refine and focus the power, it exits the body any way it can, leaving the body covered with cuts from the power exiting. But Taito is too impatient to learn Ryuukou's way, who was trained by monks. The three are living in an inn in the refugee section of town, right next to the canal. It starts raining hard, and Ryuukou worries about the levee walls holding. At the inn, the three meet Koyou, a handsome ship captain, who does ladies make-up for entertainment. As they talk, the city officials close the inner canal gates to protect their harbor, not caring that it puts the refugee section in danger of being flooded. When the refugees try to enter the city for safety, they are refused access, even as the levee bursts right into the section. Taitou tells Ryuukou to break the flood gates to release the pressure, because he can control his ki. He does so, but is still dangling over the water when a downed tree hits a bridge, breaks it, and heads towards him. Taitou, in a reckless attempt to save his friend, leaps from the gate walls and smashes the debris, unfortunately forgetting to attach himself to something, and so falls into the canal. Ryuukou jumps in after him, and pulls him onto a floating piece of wood, where he then starts to berate him for almost sacrificing himself, saying he should have left him. Taitou is explaining that he could not abandon a friend like that, when their piece of wood hits an obstruction and disintegrates. Taitou starts to drown, and Ryuukou finds the current too strong for him to carry both of them as he is, and Taitou glimpses the symbol of a star on his chest before he falls unconscious.
Later, Taitou finds out that Laila had found Koyou, the man from the inn, and had gotten his help in saving the two. He then rounds on Ryuukou, asking why he had been hiding that he was one of the Hokushin-Tenkun. Ryuukou just felt like the right time never came up, revealing the his star is "Bukyoku", the star right next to "Hagun". They are joined by Laila and Koyou, who directs their attention to his "modest ship", a massive barge he calls "Touga". He then loads all the refugees onto it, promising to take care of them. By this time Shimei has reached the capital and Shogun Kiero Hakuhou, who he then presents with the Kenkaranpu.
Much of the storyline revolves around the revelations of an ancient prophecy concerning the Stars, which relate to the seven stars in the Big Dipper constellation, being given human form at a time of crisis for humanity. Although all seven of the Stars are superhuman fighters, two of them are known as the Noble Spirits, and according to destiny will fight each other to take control of the Empire. As the various Stars identities are revealed, they appear to ally themselves to either Keiro (whose star is Tonrou) or Taitou (whose star is Hagun). Because of the cruelty of the previous rulers of the Empire, and many corrupt officials still in power, Keiro has chosen to act with the prophecy and try to become Emperor himself. Taitou, although briefly considering this, ultimately rejects the prophecy entirely, choosing to forge his own destiny.
The other Stars are Ryuukou, who grew up in the same village as Taitou; Hosei, who trained under a strong woman warrior who had learned much about the prophecy of the Stars; Koyou, who spends most of the story on his barge ship; Rinmei, a woman who loves Ryuukou and has anger management issues; and Shoukakou, a mysterious man in the capital city who at first seems to be working for Keiro. The story also involves dealing with grief, loss, responsibility, and starting over even when you feel the weight of your sins means you cannot take another step.
Anime.
In the anime, Shogun/General Keiro under cover of dark tries to steal the Kenkaranpu from Tian Long temple. In doing this he massacres dozens of the ascetic monks that were living out their vows of protection and love behind the Tian Long temple's walls, but also, Keiro is confronted by the plucky Taito for the first of their 4 face offs over the 26 episodes.
There are some differences between the plot of the manga and the anime, including which characters live or die, who fights when and where, and how the final battles play out. For example, in the anime, Keiro actually manages to absorb Shimei inside of himself, and gains supernatural powers, controlling Ryuukou against his will and turning some people into demons. Although the overall impact of the battle between Keiro and Taitou is largely the same in both the manga and the anime, the fine details are not. Also, in the manga, there appears to be seven years between the end of the battle between Keiro and Taitou and the final scenes. In the anime, there's an unspecified time skip, but the characters don't appear to have aged significantly, so it wouldn't seem to be as long as seven years.
Production.
The origins of "Hero Tales" came from a work by doujin group "Dennou Sanzoku Bukando"(電脳山賊武漢堂) called "Shishi Juushin Enbu"(獅子獣神演武). The work is an illustrated net novel and later released as a doujinshi. Dennou Sanzoku Bukando is the doujin group formed by Hiromu Arakawa and Zhang Fei Long. Juushin Embu is announced after seven years of conceptualizing and planning.
The events that led to the announcement of Juushin Embu (from Hiromu Arakawa interview, Pafu -March 2007 issue): In 2005, Huang Jin Zhou brought the plan to Hiromu which is then brought to Square Enix. In the beginning of the project, Hiromu was only in charge of character design. Huang Jin Zhou took care of other matters such as creating the scenario. Before the serialization, Hiromu and Studio Flag took seven years to conceptualize this original story.
Media.
Manga.
"Hero Tales" is authored by Huang Jin Zhou (a unit composed of Hiromu Arakawa, Genco, and Studio Flag) and illustrated by Arakawa. The manga was serialized in Square Enix's "Gangan Powered" from October 21, 2006 to February 21, 2009. It was then serialized in "Monthly Shōnen Gangan" from May 12, 2009 to August 12, 2010. Square Enix collected its chapters in five "tankōbon" volumes, released from August 11, 2007 to November 22, 2010.
The first "tankōbon" was published in English by Yen Press in October, 2009 and began serializing in Yen Plus February 2009 issue.
Anime.
On October 7, 2007, an anime series based on the manga premiered in TV Tokyo under the title of "Juushin Embu -HERO TALES-"(獣神演武 -HERO TALES-). The series is produced by Studio Flag and directed by Osamu Sekita. Manga illustrator Hiromu Arakawa was also in charge of making the characters designs. With a total of 26 episodes, the anime aired from October 7, 2007 to March 30, 2008. On January 7, 2010, Funimation Entertainment announced that it has acquired the anime. The series made its North American television debut on May 17, 2011 on the Funimation Channel.
Opening theme
Ending theme
Video game.
A game called Juushin Enbu DS (獣神演武DS) was released for the Nintendo DS by Maxtra Games in November 22, 2007 exclusively in Japan.


Closing the Ring

Closing the Ring is a 2007 romantic drama film directed by Richard Attenborough and starring Shirley MacLaine, Christopher Plummer, Mischa Barton, Stephen Amell, Neve Campbell, Pete Postlethwaite, and Brenda Fricker. It was the final film directed by Attenborough, then aged 83, who died seven years later. The film was released in both the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom on 28 December 2007. "Closing the Ring" is an international co-production between the United Kingdom, Canada, and United States.
Plot.
In rural Michigan in 1991, Marie Harris (Neve Campbell) delivers the eulogy at the funeral of her father Chuck (David Alpay), a U.S. Army Air Force veteran who had fought in World War II. The church is full of veterans who knew and loved her father, although her mother Ethel (Shirley MacLaine) is sitting out on the church porch, smoking and nursing a hangover. Ethel is totally indifferent about Chuck's death, which only her friend Jack Etty (Christopher Plummer) seems to understand. Marie is furious with her mother and with her implication that she slept with many of the veterans when they were all young, but then Ethel relents and says that she was always faithful. It quickly emerges that there is a lot Marie does not know about her mother's past and the true story of her love life.
A young Ethel (Mischa Barton) was in love with a young farmer, Teddy Gordon (Stephen Amell), who builds a farmhouse with his best friends Jack and Chuck. Her parents think she is dating "good old reliable" Chuck (all three boys are in love with her), but within days of the Pearl Harbor attack, she has accepted Teddy's gold ring and unofficially married him – with Jack and Chuck as their witnesses. The three young men fly out the next day. Teddy and Jack are stationed at RAF Langford Lodge near Belfast, where Jack eventually plans to propose to Eleanor (Kirsty Stuart), an Irish tart.
Jimmy Riley (Martin McCann), Eleanor's young adult grandson, is in 1991 Belfast when he encounters local elder Michael Quinlan (Pete Postlethwaite), who is digging for wreckage of a crashed B-17 aircraft on nearby Black Mountain. Jimmy later finds a ring near the site, becoming determined to return it to the woman from the "Ethel & Teddy" inscription, with the U.S. VA identifying an Ethel that crash victim Teddy Gordon left his belongings to.
Inadvertently caught up in The Troubles, Jimmy flees Belfast, travelling to Michigan to give Ethel the ring. Ethel reveals a wall covered in souvenirs of Teddy, which Jack and Chuck boarded up for her shortly after Teddy's death in June 1944. Marie is shocked and furious to learn that her mother still mourns for Teddy, finally understanding why Ethel thoughtlessly shut out Marie and Chuck. Jack later fills her in on the full story, including his own three failed marriages (his son, Pete (David Alpay), soon realizes that Jack always loved Ethel), Ethel's refusal to leave the house the friends built, and her finally marrying Chuck after 10 years.
Ethel Ann travels to Belfast with Jimmy. As she holds the hand of a dying British soldier caught in an IRA car-bomb attack, Quinlan confesses to Ethel Ann that, as a teenager, he was on Black Mountain when Teddy died. Teddy made Quinlan promise to give her the ring and tell her that she must be free to make her own choice in love. A tearful Quinlan tells her he should have reached out to her back then, and that he spent 50 years looking for the ring that was lost in the final blast that killed Teddy, regretfully (now) thinking she needed it as much as she needed Teddy's dying words. Joining Ethel in Belfast, Jack finally admits that he has always loved her. Ethel is finally able to cry and properly grieve for Teddy. She and Jack embrace each other lovingly, completing her sweep through Teddy and his two best friends.
Production.
"Closing the Ring" was filmed in Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.
The B-17G used in the movie was "Yankee Lady" from the Yankee Air Museum (Ypsilanti, Michigan), which was also used in the movie "Tora! Tora! Tora!".It was flown by Captain D. Eugene Wedekemper.
Festival appearances.
"Closing the Ring" had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on 14 September 2007. The film received its UK premiere at the London Film Festival on 21 October 2007.
Reception.
"Closing the Ring" attracted a mixed critical response. According to the Toronto International Film Festival it "exemplifies the balance between the epic and the intimate that has been the hallmark of Lord Richard Attenborough's venerable career ... Attenborough traces multiple themes with ease and grace, giving his celebrated ensemble cast ample opportunity to shine". It concluded that the film is "a remarkable tale of love, loss and redemption that stands proudly among the films of one of the cinema's living legends. Deftly weaving together different eras and locales, Attenborough has produced another grand canvas about the emotional repercussions of a wartime promise."
Derek Malcolm of the "Evening Standard" wrote that it "... is well-acted throughout and it has a romantic appeal that is not to be sneered at ..."
Alan Morrison of "Empire" wrote "After recent disappointments, Sir Dickie Attenborough is back on better, albeit old-fashioned, form."
Philip French of "The Observer" wrote "Woodward's script is more than a little contrived, as well as over-emphatic. But Attenborough has infused it with warmth and mature insight, and older members of the audience are likely to find it extremely moving."
Laura Bushell of BBCi Films called the film a "... looping tale of love and loss in WWII which is so old fashioned in its aspirations, it's hard to see why new audiences would flock to see it."
Joe Leydon in his "Variety" review, called the film "... decades-skipping schmaltz" and an "aggressively bittersweet yet oddly uninvolving drama."


Burning Daylight

Burning Daylight is a novel by Jack London, published in 1910, which was one of the best-selling books of that year and it was London's best-selling book in his lifetime. The novel takes place in the Yukon Territory in 1893. The main character, nicknamed "Burning Daylight" was the most successful entrepreneur of the Alaskan Gold Rush. The story of the main character was partially based upon the life of Oakland entrepreneur "Borax" Smith. The novel was subsequently filmed as a First National movie starring Milton Sills with Doris Kenyon.
Film adaptations.
The novel was adapted for American films in 1914, 1920, 1928, and 2010.
The 2010 film version was produced and directed by Sanzhar Sultanov. This version concentrated on the second half of the book, when the character goes to New York and plays on Wall Street. The title character, Burning Daylight, was played by Robert Knepper. The film held its first public screening on August 9, 2010 in Jack London's hometown of Sonoma, California. The film went on to be released theatrically and is available on DVD.


The Triumphant Empire

The Triumphant Empire: Thunder-Clouds Gather in the West 1763-1766 is a book by Lawrence H. Gipson. It won the 1962 Pulitzer Prize for History.


A Son of the People

A Son of the People, a book by Baroness Orczy, is 'a romance of the plains', set in her native Hungary. Orczy used scenes from her own childhood when writing, describing the house in Tarna-Örs in which she born and the life of the territorial magnates of Hungary with which she had been familiar.
Orczy claims in her autobiography that the love story woven into the plot actually occurred in the next village to Tarna-Örs, and the daughter of the territorial noble who owned that property did actually marry a highly educated and rich peasant who had fallen desperately in love with her.
Her father had been brought to financial disaster through the same agrarian troubles that had nearly ruined Orczy's own father, and he gave a reluctant consent to the incongruous marriage.
It was first published by G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1906.


Johannes Lingelbach

Johannes (or Johann) Lingelbach (1622–1674) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, associated with the second generation of Bambocciate, a group of genre painters working in Rome from 1625–1700.
Biography.
Lingelbach was born in Frankfurt, the son of David Lingelbach, a German technician, who in 1634 settled in Amsterdam with his wife and children. In 1638 the father hired and later established a labyrinth in the Jordaan. He furnished it with machines, that could move or play music and depicting biblical or mythological scenes. In the late 40s Johannes Lingelbach travelled to France (?) and Italy. After returning to Amsterdam, around 1653, Johannes married. Around 1662 Lingelbach lived in Reestraat, a small street near Prinsengracht; he became a close friend of Jurriaen Ovens.
His work began to show an influence from Philips Wouwermans' landscapes. His skill in painting genre figures is no less accomplished in his depictions of architectural and natural objects. He was often invited to paint the figures and animals within other artists landscape pieces, such as the Dutch master landscape painter, Meindert Hobbema and Jan van der Heyden. His study of architectural forms came from observing the paintings of another Bamboccianti, Viviano Codazzi, an Architectural Vedutisti, or view painter.
Lingelbach followed the style of the original Bamboccianti, Pieter van Laer, called "Il Bamboccio", bringing his own Italianate style into influence of Northern European painters. He is one of the few Dutch painters of the Bamboccianti, whose works are documented in depth, making his influence greater in the progression of the style. Some of his works in Rome were once attributed to Pieter van Laer, but are now rightfully claimed to be Lingelbach’s, such as his, "Roman Street Scene with Card Players", (National Gallery). These works show the Italian influence of Caravaggio in their realism and refined chiaroscuro effect, also seen in works such as Lingelbach's, "Figures before a Locanda, with a View of the Piazza del Popolo, Rome", (Royal Collection). Lingelbach died in Amsterdam.
Lingelbach’s forms were accomplished in there effects of light and spatial accuracy, but much freer than that of Codazzi.


Return of the Silver Tongue

Return of the Silver Tongue (Traditional Chinese: 舌劍上的公堂; literally "Courtroom Tongue Sword") () is a 2013 till 2014 Hong Kong drama series produced by TVB, starring Roger Kwok and Kristal Tin as the main leads, with Priscilla Wong, Evergreen Mak, Jerry Lamb, Henry Lee, KK Cheung Kwok Keung and Fred Cheng in main supporting roles. The series is produced by Lee Yim Fong. Filming began on February 2013 and finished in late May 2013. The costume fitting was held on February 21. The drama is based during the Qing Dynasty, and loosely based on a short story in the classical Chinese novel Little Bean Shed (小豆棚), by Qing Dynasty female novelist, Zeng Yandong 曾衍東.
Synopsis.
Scholar Cheung Sei Wai (Roger Kwok), opens a school to cultivate new educated talents. He is good friends with his student Chow Kuk (Priscilla Wong) who, though brilliant in her own right, is not very good in school. Sei Wai is righteous and genuinely believes that education can purify one’s mind and heart.
He meets the ambitious and articulate Chan Jan Jan (Kristal Tin), a female lawyer, and quickly befriends her. As Sei Wai also has an interest in the legal business, he and Jan Jan become close working partners. The villainous Poon King Chuen (Cheung Kwok Keung) and his son Poon Yi Ming (Jerry Lamb) consider Sei Wai and Jan Jan their enemies, and often caused mischief for the pair.
Sei Wai’s good friend, the court guard Ha Hau Mo (Evergreen Mak), dislikes lawyers and Jan Jan, as her father Chan Mung Kat (Li Shing Cheong) framed his father, who ultimately received capital punishment. Believing that Jan Jan is more than what meets the eye, he launches an investigation on her. A 20-year-old cold case is brought back to light again.
Development.
Roger Kwok reportedly turned down the role of "Yinzhen, the Fourth Imperial Prince (四皇爺胤禛)" in "Gilded Chopsticks" and the chance to reunite with his "Inbound Troubles" co-stars to take on the lead in "Return of the Silver Tongue".


Plotlands

Plotlands was a British period drama series was written and created by Jeremy Brock and that aired on BBC1 from 18 May to 22 June 1997. Produced by Wall to Wall for the BBC, it tells the story of several families who live in the fictional town of Plotlands. The series was filmed on location in and around Ashridge.
Awards.
The series won the Royal Television Society award for Best Costume Design Drama.


Pilipinas Kong Mahal

Pilipinas Kong Mahal () is one of the most popular patriotic songs in the Philippines. The song was composed by Filipino musician, Francisco Santiago and lyrics by Ildefonso Santos. The English text was written by Prescott Ford Jernegan.
In the Philippines, patriotic songs are often sung by people at political rallies, protests and demonstrations. These are also performed in plays and patriotic song or dance numbers, especially in schools during "Araw ng Kalayaan" (Independence Day) celebrations in June and "Buwan ng Wika" (Language Month) in August.
This specific song is usually sung during flag retreat.


Farinelli (opera)

Farinelli is an opera in two acts, described as 'serio-comic', by John Barnett, to a libretto by his brother Charles Zachary Barnett. Produced in 1839, it is the third of the composer's large-scale operas, and was the last to reach the stage. The hero is the castrato singer Farinelli, although the storyline of the opera is fictional.
Background.
The success of Barnett's 1834 opera, "The Mountain Sylph", encouraged further commissions, though neither was as successful as the "Sylph". "Fair Rosamond" appeared in 1837, and "Farinelli" was premiered on 8 February 1839 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
The book is an adaptation of the anonymous , premiered in Paris in 1835. The story is based on the legend that, while he was in the service of Philip V of Spain, the beauty of Farinelli's singing was able to cure the king of his melancholia. Whilst it is true that as chamber musician to the king Farinelli had influence at the Spanish court, there is no record of him ever becoming involved with court politics as the opera implies.
For the purpose of the opera Farinelli becomes a tenor; at the premiere the role was taken by the composer and singer Michael William Balfe. In fact the role was originally written as a baritone for Henry Philips. who had taken the role of Hela in the "Sylph", but he withdrew following a quarrel with the theatre manager. At the first night, Balfe broke down through a fit of nervousness, and this naturally affected the reception of the opera, which nevertheless received over 50 performances. Barnett's subsequent opera, "Kathleen" was however never brought to the public stage, although it was rehearsed at the theatre of which Barnett was then part proprietor.
Synopsis.
The opera is set in the Prado. Gil Polo is plotting against the King. Farinelli, who is in love with the chamberlain's niece, Leonora, learns of the plot. His singing rouses the melancholic king to action; Gil is dismissed and exiled, Farinelli is honoured and can marry Leonora.


After Armageddon

After Armageddon is a 2010 History docudrama about the travails of survivors after a deadly global pandemic that first aired on January 6th, 2010.
Plot.
The plot centers around the Johnson family (consisting of Chris (Rob Hartz) and Ellen (Kathleen Cameron) Johnson, and their son Casey (Hy Rillero)) of Los Angeles, California, one of a small number of families to survive a global pandemic that, according to the opening of the film, occurs "sometime in the future..." The disease began as a particularly virulent flu strain in Southeast Asia. Efforts made to contain the virus in that portion of the world are ineffective as global transportation networks carry infected individuals all around the world. Hospitals become overloaded, and the public works infrastructure begins to shut down. Eventually, the main characters leave L.A., encountering many hardships along the way. They make it to a friendly small town, where life begins again.
Interspersed with the above are interviews with various experts giving their perspective on what is most likely to occur in a global pandemic scenario.


Alexandre Menjaud

Alexandre Menjaud (1773, Paris - February 1832, Paris) was a French history painter in the Troubadour style. Most of his works were of very modest size.
Biography.
He received his initial training from Jean-Baptiste Regnault, who was a Neoclassical painter. His first exhibition at the Salon came in 1796 and he would continue to exhibit there until his death.
In 1802, he was awarded the Prix de Rome for his depiction of Julius Sabinus and Epponina before Vespasian. From 1802 to 1806, he is listed as a pensioner at the Academy of France in Rome, a period when young French artists were in a rather tenuous position due to the former occupation of Rome by the French Army.
By 1808, when the French had occupied Rome again, he was back in Paris and presented a painting at the Salon that showed King Henry IV having a drink with a humble miller named Michaud. It was a great success and he subsequently focused on scenes from French, rather than Classical history.
He received several commissions from the Imperial Family. After the First Restoration, he created a series of works on the lives of the great artists, such as Raphael and Tintoretto.


Alexander Litovchenko

Alexander Dmitrievich Litovchenko (; 1835, Kremenchuk - 28 June 1890, Saint Petersburg) was a Russian painter who specialized in depicting Muscovite Russia of the 16th and 17th centuries.
Biography.
Litovchenko attended the Imperial Academy of Arts and, although criticised by his peers for rather stilted compositions, was awarded a lesser gold medal for his rendering of Charon transporting the souls of the dead across the Styx. Along with several other young painters, he challenged the spirit of academism that was prevalent at the Academy and in 1863 left it to become a freelance painter, joining the Peredvizhniki movement in 1876.
In 1868, Litovchenko was recognized as an academician for his picture of a falconer serving at the court of Tsar Alexis (one of his several versions of the subject). Among his larger paintings, ' (1875) was purchased by the Tsar for the Alexander III Museum in St. Petersburg, and ' (1886) was acquired by Pavel Tretyakov for his collection in Moscow (as were the finest of his portraits).
Litovchenko is also remembered as the author of seven murals in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow and a set of icons for the Crimean War memorial in Sevastopol.


Morning Star (Haggard novel)

Morning Star is a novel by H Rider Haggard set in Ancient Egypt.


Bairoletto, la aventura de un rebelde

Bairoletto, la aventura de un rebelde is a 1985 Argentine historical drama about Juan Bautista Bairoletto directed and written by Atilio Polverini and Sebastián Larreta.


Lorenz Clasen

Lorenz Clasen (14 December 1812, Düsseldorf - 31 May 1899, Leipzig) was a German history painter and author; best known for his frequently reproduced painting, "Germania auf der Wacht am Rhein" (Germania at Watch on the Rhein), in the town hall of Krefeld, which was inspired by the popular song "Die Wacht am Rhein".
Biography.
At the request of his father, he began by studying law at the University of Bonn, but switched to the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in 1829, where he studied art with Rudolf Wiegmann instead. His early works were mostly religious in nature.
In addition to painting, he worked as an art critic; providing reviews for numerous local and foreign publications. In 1842, he moved to Neuwied, where he served as a tutor for Prince Maximilian. Over the next few years, he produced historical paintings and created frescoes for the Elberfeld Town Hall (now the Von der Heydt Museum).
During the Revolution, he served as a Deputy Commander of the Bürgerwehr (Vigilance committee). When his cousin, , resigned, he was promoted to Commander.
From 1847 to 1849, he was Chief Editor of the "", a satirical monthly. Then, after a brief stay in Berlin, he settled permanently in Leipzig sometime in the early 1850s. While there, he served as an editor at the "Familien-Journal". Later, he produced "Germania at Watch by the Sea", but it never became as popular as the original.


Total Control (TV series)

Total Control is an Australian television political drama series first screened on ABC TV in October 2019. Its working title was Black Bitch, but that was deemed too controversial and the series was renamed. Season 2 of the show is currently being filmed for an intended release late in 2021.
Synopsis.
Rachel Anderson is the embattled but cunning Prime Minister of Australia. Alex is a charismatic Indigenous woman who finds herself the centre of media attention following her admirable actions in a high-risk situation. Rachel wants to use Alex to boost her popularity and further her own agenda, and recruits her as a senator.
The government in the series appears to represent the Liberal-National coalition, with various factions and other parties mimicking current ones in Australia. There are several storylines and characters, including Alex's son, her mother, an ex-lover and rival clans in Winton, Queensland, her activist brother in the city, various other players in the Canberra political and office sphere, and a young woman who has escaped youth detention with some footage which could severely damage the government, or in particular the right-wing faction.
Production.
The working title of the series was "Black Bitch", however it was changed after complaints that the title was a racial slur. It is written by Stuart Page, Angela Betzien, Pip Karmel and is directed by Rachel Perkins. It is produced by Darren Dale and Miranda Dear for Blackfella Films with Rachel Griffiths, Kelrick Martin and Sally Riley as executive producers. The six-part first season was filmed in Canberra, Sydney and Winton in Central West Queensland. Season 2 filmed scenes on location in Parliament House, Canberra as well as Sydney and Broken Hill.
New music was written and recorded by Missy Higgins and featured in the series.
In advance of its broadcast premiere on ABC TV in October 2019, several episodes of the series received a preview screening in the Primetime program of the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival.
Critical reception.
The program has received mixed to positive reviews from critics. The dialogue, relationships between the characters, and Alex's characterization were widely praised, but recurring criticisms were that the series lacked action and the storytelling was too meek and subdued despite its intense subject matter. However, the cast's performances received critical acclaim, especially Deborah Mailman's.
In a positive review from "The Sydney Morning Herald" by critic Craig Mathieson, he said of the series "It's hard to remember the last time an Australian drama had dialogue as biting, juicy, and telling as the lines that ricochet back and forth – simultaneously revealing power and defining personalities." Mathieson in praise of Mailman said that she gives a "full-tilt and full-bodied performance". In a mixed review from critic Luke Buckmaster of "The Guardian" said "There are times when it feels like we may be in store for a Bulworth-style spectacle, revolving around a shoot-from-the-hips political newbie with nothing to lose. However, the drama in Total Control is meeker than that, and the stakes feel surprisingly low, given several hot-button issues explored." Buckmaster praised the performances of both Mailman and Trisha Morton-Thomas. He declared Mailman's performance to be "superb" and said that she was the series' "one unquestionably outstanding element".
In another mixed review Chris Boyd from "Screenhub" stated that "As an action drama, "Total Control" is unconvincing and poorly executed. As a political thriller, it’s sketchy and forced. The Canberra intrigue is shallow to the point of parody." Boyd in his review praised the performances of both Mailman and Rob Collins. When it comes to Mailman's performance he said "Increasingly blunt, and foul-mouthed, Mailman is electrifying. Tectonic. Unforgettable." Laura Brodnik from "Mamma Mia" gave the series a positive review saying "with a cutting and topical script, this is a series that secures a spot as one of the best Australian offerings of the year." Brodnik praised most of the cast but singled out Mailman and Shantae Barnes Cowan for the most praise. She called Mailman's performance a "stand out". And said Barnes Cowan "delivers some of the shows most emotional moments in scenes that are light on dialogue, so it’s left up to her facial expressions to convey the gravity of what is really going on."


Alfredo Roque Gameiro

Alfredo Roque Gameiro (4 April 1864, Minde - 15 August 1935, Lisbon) was a Portuguese painter and graphic artist who specialized in watercolors.
Biography.
Alfredo Roque Gameiro was born in Minde, Portugal. When he was ten years old, he went to live in Lisbon with his oldest brother, Justin, who owned a lithography studio. He studied at the "Faculty of Fine Arts" of the University of Lisbon, where was one of his professors.
After receiving a scholarship from the Portuguese government, he attended the "Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst" in Leipzig and studied lithography with Ludwig Nieper (1826-1906). Upon returning to Portugal in 1886, he became the Director of the "Companhia Nacional Editora" and, in 1894, was appointed a Professor at the "Escola Industrial do Príncipe Real".
He was a frequent contributor to several weekly and monthly periodicals and worked with Manuel de Macedo (1839-1915) to provide illustrations for a deluxe edition of "The Lusiads", published in 1900. From 1910 to 1920 he created 10 watercolors and 90 lithographs for what would be his most popular work, "Lisboa Velha" (Old Lisbon), with an introduction by the poet . He also illustrated several popular novels by Júlio Dinis. In 1919, he became the first Director of the "Escola de Arte Aplicada de Lisboa", a position he held until 1930. The following year, he and his daughter Helena had a successful joint exhibition in Brazil. He was elected a member of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in 1923.
Three institutions bear his name: the "Escola Roque Gameiro" in Amadora (where he lived for many years), the "Casa Roque Gameiro" (his home, partly designed by Raul Lino; now an exhibition space) and the "Centro de Artes e Ofícios Roque Gameiro" in his hometown, which includes a museum devoted to watercolors. A majority of his works are on display at the municipal museum there, including many on loan from the Gulbenkian Foundation. Some of his designs appear on Portuguese postage stamps.
All five of his children became artists:
External links.


Republic of Rome (game)

The Republic of Rome is a strategy board game, designed by Don Greenwood, Robert Haines, and Richard Berthold, and released by Avalon Hill in 1990. It takes place in the Senate of the ancient Roman Republic. The rights are now owned by Valley Games.
Gameplay.
"Republic of Rome" covers the period from 264 B.C. to 43 B.C. Three scenarios cover the Early Republic (roughly the era of the first and second Punic Wars), Mid Republic (the era of the Gracchi), and Late Republic (the time of the Roman civil wars and Julius Caesar). Each player represents a faction in the Roman Senate, with a collection of senators rated for their oratorical and military skills, popularity with the people of Rome, and most importantly, political influence. The goal of the game is to have one of one's senators amass enough Influence to be declared "Consul for Life," or, barring that, have one's faction have most total Influence when the maximum number of game turns have been played.
Within the game, Rome is threatened by foreign enemies and potential popular unrest. The heart of the game involves players managing the state's affairs in a series of mock Senate sessions, wherein proposals are made and voted on to elect officers of the Senate (the Consuls and Censor, and in times of extreme emergency, a Dictator) and governors of provinces, spend money to raise or disband legions and fleets, appoint leaders to fight Rome's enemies with said military force, enact land reforms to mollify the populace, and prosecute Senators for putative ethical lapses, among other things. While pursuing their own individual goal of increasing their faction's Influence, the players must co-operate to insure that Rome is not overwhelmed by foreign threats, popular unrest, or bankruptcy, causing Rome to fall and all players to lose (although if a player's faction is in rebellion against Rome they may win in such a situation). Within this framework, the players use diplomacy, alliances, persuasions, prosecutions, graft, bribery, murder and even conspiracies to advance their cause.
The three scenarios are differentiated by the nature of the foreign threats to Rome (in the Early Republic the state faces existential crises from foes like Carthage, while in the Late Republic Rome's enemies are weak and wars become opportunities for personal advancement by ambitious generals), by the availability of various Law cards that can be played and which illustrate the erosion of Republican tradition (allowing, for example, senators to retain their own personal armies or govern multiple provinces by proxy), and by the presence of Statesman cards representing specific famous senators of the time who have special abilities within the game.
What separates "Republic of Rome" from many other games is the extent to which the players have to cooperate in order to win. If a player is too selfish or too obviously becomes powerful, he will be put down by the others. If there is not enough cooperation between all players, the game wins and all players lose. No one player can win the game without negotiating alliances and using other diplomatic skills.
Another remarkable aspect is its great realism. The makers have chosen to make a complex game that would resemble as much as possible the political intrigues in the Senate (the citizen assemblies were intentionally ignored). Professional historians have noted the educational use of the game. The main concession to easier game play is the distinction between a consul who has to stay in Rome and a consul who has to fight foreign wars. As a result of this realism/complexity, a game can last for several hours, even more than one evening.
Reception.
In 1991 it won the Origins Award for "Best Pre-20th Century Boardgame of 1990".
2009 version.
The Avalon Hill company was taken over by Hasbro in 1998 and "Republic of Rome" went out of print. However, in June 2009, Canadian company Valley Games announced that it would redesign and rerelease the classic game before the end of the year.
The 2009 Valley Games reprint of Republic of Rome has come under a heavy degree of criticism for the number of rulebook and component (board and card) errors, some of which have a direct impact on play. The company has made no commitment to correcting the errors, though they have issued errata notes. Some reviewers of the new edition describe the production as "disappointing", and it has caused the value of previous editions of the game to rise. (A note from the designers: during production Haines requested a serious rule change, which was agreed to but never implemented; Berthold spent hours going through the rules in order to clarify them and correct abysmal grammar and punctuation, but the rules were published in their original condition.)


Caylus (game)

Caylus is a strategy oriented, German-style board game designed by William Attia and independently published in 2005 by Ystari in France and England, and Rio Grande Games in North America. "Caylus" has a mix of building, producing, planning, and bargaining — without direct conflict or dice-rolling mechanics.
A card-game version, "Caylus Magna Carta", was published in 2007, as well as a limited premium version of the game, with redesigned medieval-styled artwork and metallic coins. An iOS version of the game was launched in 2012.
Game mechanics.
The goal of "Caylus" is to amass the most prestige points by constructing buildings and by working on the castle of Caylus in medieval France.
"Caylus" does not include the random elements found in many board games, such as cards and dice. The only exceptions to this are the placement of the six neutral buildings (leading to 720 possible starting configurations) and the initial turn order, both of which are determined randomly at the beginning of the game. However, the effect of random initial turn order is minimal because players whose turn is later start off with a higher amount of money.
The basic mechanics of the game include:
Turns.
A turn in "Caylus" consists of 8 phases:
The player who is at the top of the turn order starts the next turn.
The game ends when the bailiff reaches the Tower scoring point, or when all the tower spaces have been built (automatically triggering the scoring of the Tower section). After the final prestige points are awarded for any leftover money and resources, the player with the most prestige points wins the game.
Awards.
"Caylus" initially gained public acclaim when it was rated the number one game of the October 2005 game fair in Essen, Germany by a public vote conducted by "Fairplay Magazine". It quickly rose to become one of the most discussed and top-rated games on BoardGameGeek, a popular online board gaming forum.
"Caylus" also received the Trictrac d'or 2005 award from the eponymous French boardgame website.
With the international attention gained via BoardGameGeek and Essen 2005, the first printing of "Caylus" sold out in December 2005. A second printing was released in February 2006, including new cardboard coins to replace the gray plastic tiddlywinks-style coins from the original release. The second edition also includes the jeweler as a standard stone building tile (it was previously a promotional tile) and numerous graphic design changes to clarify certain rules.
Although "Caylus" was not nominated for the 2006 Spiel des Jahres, the jury awarded it a special prize "(Sonderpreis Komplexes Spiel)" for the best complex game of 2006. "Caylus" won first prize in the 2006 Deutscher Spiele Preis and Nederlandse Spellenprijs, and won the 2006 Golden Geek Awards for "Best Game" and "Best Gamer's Game".


Captain Falcon (film)

Captain Falcon () is a 1958 French-Italian adventure film directed by Carlo Campogalliani and starring Lex Barker, Rossana Rory, and Massimo Serato. The film is set in thirteenth century Italy where a tyrannical baron is confronted by a Robin Hood-style outlaw.


The Drawing of the Dark

The Drawing of the Dark is a historical fantasy novel by Tim Powers published in 1979 by Del Rey Books.
Plot summary.
The year is 1529, and Brian Duffy, a world-weary Irish mercenary soldier, is hired in Venice by the mysterious Aurelianus to go to Vienna and work as a bouncer at the Zimmerman Inn, former monastery and current brewery of the famous Herzwesten beer.
Meanwhile, the Ottoman Turkish army under Sultan Suleiman I has achieved its most advanced position yet in their march into Europe, and is prepared to undertake the siege of Vienna. With the Turkish army travels the Grand Vizier Ibrahim, a magician who intends to use horrific spells as part of the siege.
Duffy spent time in Vienna years ago, and as he returns, he is haunted by memories of past events, and also finds himself having visions of mythical creatures and being ambushed by shadowy people and demonic monsters.
Upon arriving in Vienna, Duffy reconnects with Epiphany Vogel, a former girlfriend, and her father Gustav, who is working on a painting he calls "The Death of St. Michael the Archangel". It seems the painting is never quite complete, and the elder Vogel is continuously adding additional detail to the work, causing it to gradually become more and more obscure.
Then Duffy finds himself not only drafted into the city's defensive army, but also led by Aurelianus down mystical paths from the surprisingly old brewery to even more ancient caves beneath the city, in search of defenses against the approaching army and clues to Duffy's very nature.
As it turns out, Aurelianus knows more about Duffy and his past than Duffy himself knows, and his real purpose in hiring him is to protect the hidden Fisher King, secret spiritual leader of the western world, and to defend him and the West against the Turkish advance. And the real reason that Vienna must not be captured by the Turks is that it is the site of the Herzwesten brewery. Its light and bock beers are famous throughout Europe, but the dark beer, produced only every seven hundred years, has supernatural properties and must not be allowed to fall into enemy hands.
Meanwhile, others are drawn to Vienna in anticipation of significant events. The so-called "dark birds", magically sensitive individuals from far flung corners of the world, arrive in the city hoping for a sip of the Herzwesten dark, and a small group of middle-aged Vikings have improbably sailed their ship down the Danube River to Vienna, having sensed that the prophesied final battle of Ragnarok will take place there.
Reception.
The SF Site called it a "jewel". "Black Gate" noted that it is "full of the sort of inventive oddness common to Powers’s works", and praised both the characterization and the sudden tone shift (from "autumnal" to "positively wintry" ) halfway through.
James Nicoll has described it as feeling like "a rough draft of a Powers novel", but emphasized that this is not meant as criticism; rather, "later Powers novels were even better". At "Pornokitsch", Amal El-Mohtar similarly found it to be a "proto-Powers work", containing "the seeds of future writing that (she) absolutely loved", but faulted it for excessive Orientalism, and for not portraying the viewpoints of any of the non-Western characters.


Down East Dickering

Down East Dickering is an American reality television series on the History Channel. The show, made by A&E Networks and filmed entirely in Maine, premiered in 2014 and ran for two seasons, both of which filmed in 2014.
Cast.
The groups, based on their geographical locations, are: Tony, his cousin Codfish and Duke; Clint, Bruce and Clint's son-in-law, Nate; Yummy and his son, Mitch; Turtle, Johnny and Captain; twin brothers Tim and Greg and their friend Jason; and Speedy and Tinman.
Format.
Several groups of bargain hunters ("Dickerers") search through that week's edition of the Augusta-published "Uncle Henry's" in order to buy, sell, swap and trade items. Although it is titled "Down East Dickering", none of the show is filmed in that part of Maine. For example, Tony and Codfish are based in Bethel; Clint, Bruce and Nate work out of Sangerville; Yummy and Mitch are in Minot; and Speedy and Tinman are in southern Maine.
The show is narrated by Bennett.
Episodes.
Both seasons were filmed in the summer and fall of 2013.
Cancellation.
The show was cancelled after two seasons.


Devil Water

Devil Water is a 1962 historical fiction novel by Anya Seton.
A 2007 edition features a foreword by Philippa Gregory.
Plot.
Charles Radcliffe escapes from Newgate Prison after his brother's execution during the Jacobite rising of 1715. Charles' daughter Jenny travels across the Atlantic Ocean to Williamsburg, Virginia and William Byrd's plantation.
Reception.
Robert Scholes in "The New York Times Book Review" wrote, "The author has missed, or perhaps deliberately avoided, opportunities for really exciting scenes[...] "When Miss Seton merely fictionalizes history, relying on the actual diaries of William Byrd of Virginia, or quoting verbatim letters of Byrd and the Earls of Derwentwater, she manages well. The embarrassing moments in the narrative come from her piecing out of the gaps inconveniently left by history."
Fanny Butcher wrote "mixed by Miss Seton's skillful hands, the dust of the past becomes the clay of the artist and is molded into memorable, lifelike form."
It was also reviewed by Kirkus Reviews.
"Devil Water" reached #5 on "The New York Times" Best Seller list.


Lucretia (Artemisia Gentileschi, Milan)

Lucretia is a painting by the Italian baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi. It depicts Lucretia, the wife of Roman consul and general Tarquinus, at the moment of her suicide. The decision to take her own life was made after she was blackmailed and raped by a fellow soldier of Tarquinus. It is one of a number of paintings of Gentileschi that focus on virtuous women ill-treated by men.
The painting was painted between 1623 and 1625. It is currently in the collection of Gerolamo Etro, Milan. Gentileschi also painted another canvas on the same topic, much later in her career; this painting is now in the Neues Palais, Potsdam
Description.
Subject Matter.
Lucretia was an ancient Roman heroine, known for her beauty and modesty. According to legend as documented by Livy in his History of Rome, she was acclaimed as a highly virtuous woman by her husband Collatinus. She was raped by the Roman nobleman Sextus Tarquinius, a relative of her husband, who threatened her with murder and the public humiliation of her corpse if she resisted. Given the risk of defamation she gave in to his sexual demands, but afterwards reported the attack to her husband and father before taking her own life. In doing so, she retained her honor and virtue (according to Roman beliefs). Her suicide led to a rebellion that brought down the Etruscan monarchy and marked the beginning of the Roman Republic.
Gentileschi's interpretation.
The painting shows Lucretia in three-quarter view seated alone in a darkened room on a bed, with her eyes cast upwards and a distressed expression. The figure is facing to the right and strongly lit from the left, highlighting her face, exposed chest and right leg, as well as the blade of a dagger. Both the red velvet bedding and her clothes are in disarray, in reference to the recent act of violence. With a powerful and realistic physicality, she grasps her left breast with her right hand, with the dagger in the other. Contemporary depictions of Lucretia by male artists often portrayed her in an erotic manner, while Gentileschi distinguished her work by depicting a brave, anguished woman.
The Rape and Trial of Artemisia Gentileschi.
In May 1611 at the age of 17 years old , Artemisia Gentileschi was raped by Agostino Tassi, a 31-year-old friend and colleague of her father, Orazio Gentileschi. Tassi promised marriage following the rape, which would have spared Artemisia the shame of being considered "impure" according to contemporary standards. However, he declined to uphold his promise and the Gentileschi family took him to court, accusing him of rape and other crimes against the family.
During the trial, Artemisia was subjected to torture as part of her testimony in order to prove she was telling the truth. Metal rings were placed around her fingers and tightened while she spoke, causing agonizing pain and potentially jeopardizing her blossoming painting career. Tassi, on the other hand, was not required to undergo a similar experience and while ultimately convicted and banished, the sentence was not enforced. Like Lucretia, Artemisia Gentileschi made painful sacrifices to maintain her honor and virtue. While some scholars believe that Artemisia would have used her own experience to depict the anguish on the subject's face (which may possibly represent a self-portrait), others observe a women who, like Artemisia, was determined to choose her own destiny.
Caravaggio's influence.
Artemisia Gentileschi is known as one of the most gifted followers of Caravaggio. His style is characterized by the juxtaposition of extreme darks and lights, also known as chiaroscuro. In "Lucretia," Gentileschi distinctly employs this method by contrasting a bright, almost glowing Lucretia against a dark, shadowy setting. This style creates a somber tone while heightening the drama of the scene. The light centered on Lucretia may also symbolize her virtue and purity.
Provenance.
The painting was known to be in the collection of Pietro Gentile until 1640/1641, hanging in Palazzo Gentile in Genoa alongside her "Cleopatra". It remained in the Gentile family collection until the early 19th century, at which point it is recorded in the Adorno collection. It passed to the collection of Piero Pagano in the 1980s, from whom it was purchased in 2001 by the current owner.


The Musicians (Caravaggio)

The Musicians or Concert of Youths (c. 1595) is a painting by the Italian Baroque master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610). It is held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, where it has been since 1952. It underwent extensive restoration in 1983.
Caravaggio entered the household of Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte sometime in 1595, and "The Musicians" is thought to have been his first painting done expressly for the cardinal. His biographer, the painter Baglione, says he "painted for the Cardinal youths playing music very well drawn from nature and also a youth playing a lute," the latter presumably being "The Lute Player", which seems to form a companion-piece to "The Musicians".
The picture shows four boys in quasi-Classical costume, three playing various musical instruments or singing, the fourth dressed as Cupid and reaching towards a bunch of grapes. The picture is an allegory relating music to the sustenance of love in the same way that food is the sustenance of life.
Caravaggio seems to have composed the painting from studies of two figures. The central figure with the lute has been identified with Caravaggio's companion Mario Minniti, and the individual next to him and facing the viewer is possibly a self-portrait of the artist. The cupid bears a strong resemblance to the boy in "Boy Peeling Fruit", done a few years before, and also to the angel in "Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy".
The manuscripts show that the boys are practicing madrigals celebrating love, and the eyes of the lutenist, the principal figure, are moist with tears—the songs presumably describe the sorrow of love rather than its pleasures. The violin in the foreground suggests a fifth participant, implicitly including the viewer in the tableau.
Scenes showing musicians were a popular theme at the time—the Church was supporting a revival of music and new styles and forms were being tried, especially by educated and progressive prelates such as Del Monte. This scene, however, is clearly secular rather than religious, and harks back to the long-established tradition of "concert" pictures, a genre originating in Venice and exemplified, in its earlier form, by Titian's "Le concert champêtre".
This was Caravaggio's most ambitious and complex composition to date, and the artist has evidently had difficulties with painting the four figures separately—they don't relate to each other or to the picture-space, and the overall effect is somewhat clumsy. The painting is in poor condition, and the music in the manuscript has been badly damaged by past restorations, although a tenor and an alto part can be made out. Nevertheless, despite considerable paint loss, the work's originality remains undimmed.


Gaspar de Crayer

Gaspar de Crayer or Jasper de Crayer (18 November 1584 – 27 January 1669) was a Flemish painter known for his many Counter-Reformation altarpieces and portraits. He was a court painter to the governors of the Southern Netherlands and worked in the principal cities of Flanders where he helped spread the Rubens style.
Life.
Gaspar de Crayer was born in Antwerp as the son of Gaspard de Crayer the Elder, a decorative painter, illuminator and art dealer. Rather than stay in Antwerp, he looked for opportunity in the capital Brussels. He is believed to have studied under Raphael Coxie, the court painter of the governors of the Spanish Netherlands Albert VII, Archduke of Austria and Isabella Clara Eugenia. He became a master in the Brussels Guild of Saint Luke in 1607. He was a dean of the Guild from 1611 to 1616 and was a member of the Brussels city council in 1626–1627. He remained in Brussels until 1664.
Gaspar de Crayer's early works include portraits of the kings of Spain and the Spanish governors and officials who were stationed in the Spanish Netherlands as well as members of the Brussels city council. For example, the "" (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) was painted by de Crayer in 1627–1628. In addition, from the beginning of his career de Crayer received orders for altarpieces to decorate several churches and monasteries around Brussels. Not until 1635 did Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria, brother of King Philip IV of Spain and governor of the Spanish Netherlands after the death of his aunt Isabella Clara Eugenia in 1633, make him his first court painter. He later worked as a court painter for the Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria who became governor in 1647.
He operated a large workshop which produced portraits of members of the leading classes in Brussels as well as a large number of altarpieces for churches in Flanders and abroad including Germany and Spain. He also received in 1647 a commission from Dutch architect Jacob van Campen to assist in the decoration of Huis ten Bosch, the palace of stadtholder Frederick Henry in The Hague. De Crayer also completed commissions for Spanish patrons, the largest of which was a commission for at least 17 images of saints, possibly destined for the Monastery of St Francis in Burgos. Another important foreign patron was the German Catholic ruler Maximilian Willibald of Waldburg-Wolfegg, for whom de Crayer executed several large altarpieces for the churches in the Palatinate between 1658 and 1666.
Even while he gained a high social position in Brussels, de Crayer did not lose contact with his hometown Antwerp. He was in particular a friend and business associate of the art dealer Matthijs Musson (c. 1600–78), who was also his patron and arranged commissions for him. He married Catharina Janssens on 17 February 1613.
He worked regularly in Ghent where he produced altarpieces and also played a leading role in the coordination of the monumental decorations for the Joyous Entry of the Cardinal-Infante in Ghent (1635). In 1664 he finally moved to this city where he spent the last five years of his life. In spite of his age, he received numerous important orders for altarpieces. He had previously established a reputation in Ghent: before 1620 he had regularly completed commissions for various religious and secular institutions of the city. The fame of Gaspar de Crayer is demonstrated by the great role that he was given in the execution of the monumental decorations for the Joyous Entry into Ghent of Cardinal-Infant Ferdinand of Austria in 1635. Among the numerous paintings made in Ghent stand out the Martyrdom of St. Blas and the works that are in the Saint Bavo's Cathedral.
In his large workshop de Crayer trained between 1610 and 1661 a large number of pupils, including presumably Jan van Cleve (III), Anselm van Hulle and François Monnaville.
Gaspar de Crayer died on 27 January 1669 in Ghent.
Work.
Gaspar de Crayer mainly painted portraits of the elite and Counter Reformation altarpieces for local and foreign churches. His early work is in the trend of the 16th century tradition of Antwerp artists such as Marten de Vos and Hendrik de Clerck. Typical for this style is the unnatural perspective and the crowding of long wooden figures in the foreground. From 1618 he came under the influence of Rubens. The level of borrowing of motifs from Rubens suggests that he had some form of contract with the workshop of Rubens since some models he could only have seen there. The influence is shown in a more monumental rendering of figures in more balanced compositions. Until 1630, de Crayer followed the style of Rubens' Classicist period. The work "Mocking of Job" (1619, Musée des Augustins, Toulouse) is an example of this style.
From then onwards, his work was more influenced by Anthony van Dyck, whose emotionally charged interpretation of religious subjects appealed to his sensibility. His work became more dynamic in conception. He also was influenced by van Dyck's portrait series for the 'Iconography' (Icones Principum Virorum), a collection of portraits of leading personalities of van Dyck's time.
Between 1638 and 1648 de Crayer's compositions displayed a lighter tonality and his figures become softer and more sentimental in appearance. This may have been under the influence of the later work of Rubens. His work also showed a trace of the Venetian 16th-century masters, in particular the art of Titian and Paolo Veronese. De Crayer, however, never visited Italy and he mainly knew the work through the prints of Agostino Carracci.
In the 1650s and 1660s, de Crayer's art became more emotionally loaded and more dramatic through the deployment of a relatively large number of figures at various planes within the picture space. In the last period, a lot of work produced by his workshop surfaced and his rich and warm palette became increasingly dull.


A History of American Magazines

A History of American Magazines is a non-fiction book by Frank Luther Mott. It won the 1939 Pulitzer Prize for History.


Gay Sex in the 70s

Gay Sex in the 70s is a 2005 American documentary film about gay sexual culture in New York City in the 1970s. The film was directed by Joseph Lovett and encompasses the twelve years of sexual freedom bookended by the Stonewall riots of 1969 and the recognition of AIDS in 1981, and features interviews with Larry Kramer, Tom Bianchi, Barton Lidice Beneš, Rodger McFarlane, and many others.
The film uses archival footage and interviews to describe the world of gay anonymous and casual sex in the settings of discotheques, bathhouses, bars and dark rooms, Fire Island and more.
Plot.
The film opens with a rapid montage of visuals that transport people back to the 1970s in and around Greenwich Village. Driving disco music of the time sets the pace. Using intimate interviews, the story of gay sex in the 1970s develops through characters such as Larry Kramer, Scott Bromley, Barton Benes, and Rodger McFarlane. These characters begin to expand the elements that were visually introduced. They talk about the public sex: the streets, the piers, and the trucks.
This outpouring of sexuality is put into perspective when it is shown what gay life was like before 1969. How the political climate of the time influenced sexual expression. They discuss Vietnam, women's rights and especially Stonewall in 1969. The interviewees explore the experience of ‘Escaping to New York’. What some of the reasons they left the cities they had spent their entire lives in were, how things changed after the Sexual Revolution had begun.
New York in the 1970s continued the sexual liberation birthed during the free love movement of the 1960s. Playboy magazine flourished like never before as well as more explicit rival magazines Penthouse and Hustler , the Broadway show ‘Hair’, ‘Oh Calcutta’ and the highly controversial ‘Dionysus in ’69′ were produced. There was a bombardment of sexual stimuli.
For the first time in history, gay pornography began receiving widespread attention. But how did pornography compare with actual sex occurring in the seventies? ‘Couldn’t compete – life was a pornographic movie’ Rodger McFarland explains.
Sex had become the great equalizer. Young men of all financial strata and backgrounds met in New York to experience a freedom of sexual expression that hadn't been known since ancient Rome. Just a few years before these same men had assumed that their futures were to be in the suburbs via the marriage altar. They found themselves cruising the streets, frequenting gay bars, having sex everywhere from the privacy of their homes, to the orgiastic atmosphere of the bathhouses, to semi-public sexual meeting places like the trucks and the piers. At some venues such as the Continental Baths on the Upper West Side performers such as Bette Midler wowed towel clad audiences.
Paradise Garage opened its doors. A heaven for young men and women of all colors and gay men, it birthed disco music. Other clubs soon followed – from the famous ‘Studio 54′, to the infamous ‘Saint’. Men danced their nights away in an intoxicating communal brotherhood.
How did drugs fit into all this experimentation? Even though HIV had not yet become a threat, what kinds of STDs were being experienced? What were the challenges of all this available sex? In this new birth control age antibiotics were consumed in ever increasing amounts and as long as you were ready to party for the next weekend in the Pines, that was considered a clinical cure.
By the 1970s Fire Island had become the summer paradise of choice for gay men. People from all over the world flew in to enjoy the outlandish parties, partake of sex on the beach and dance under the moonlight. But as the late 1970s partied on, there came to be talk of antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria and some men privately began to wonder ‘had they gone too far too fast?’ The election of the conservative Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980 as well as Disco Demolition Night which helped bring about the decline of Disco music in the United States and the rise of the Religious Right in the early 1980s seemed to signal a backlash against the liberal atmosphere of the previous decade and the sexual revolution.
In June 1981, just twelve years after the Stonewall Riots, an article appeared in the New York Times that would soon put the brakes on this unprecedented era of sexual freedom. It was by Dr. Lawrence Altman about an unusual cancer seeming to affect gay men – a cancer that soon came to be known as AIDS. While at first many simply brushed off the new reports and continued to party on, by the mid-1980s with the rising death toll it became impossible to ignore and one of the results from the new disease was the New York City Health department closing all of the gay bathhouses in 1985. Community and friendships formed by the energy and sexual freedom gave gay men the ability to bond together and work as a strong, cohesive community. They sounded the first public health alarms and formed groups such as GMHC that have helped and continue to help thousands of men and women living with HIV to this day.
The film returns to the present day, 2004. Our characters explore what they gained from being alive in New York during the brief period of unencumbered sexuality that was life in New York during the 1970s, what the legacy of that time of sexual freedom is and how it continues to affect young people today.
Cast.
The following people are interviewed for the documentary.
Awards.
The film was awarded the GayVN Award for Best Alternative Release of 2006.


What the Stuarts Did for Us

What the Stuarts Did for Us is a 2002 BBC documentary series that examines the impact of the Stuart period on modern society.
Episodes.
Episode one: "Desygner Livinge".
Hart-Davis travels around Britain to introduce the idea and inventions of the Stuart Period in architecture and life-style.
Episode two: "The Applyance of Science".
Hart-Davis travels around Britain to introduce the idea and inventions of the Stuart Period in science and engineering.
Episode three: "The Organysed Isle".
Hart-Davis travels around Britain to introduce the idea and inventions of the Stuart Period in economics and politics.
Episode four: "Newe Worldes".
Hart-Davis travels around Britain to introduce the idea and inventions of the Stuart Period in science and science-fiction.


Chandos portrait

The Chandos portrait is the most famous of the portraits that are believed to depict William Shakespeare (1564–1616). Painted between 1600 and 1610, it may have served as the basis for the engraved portrait of Shakespeare used in the "First Folio" in 1623. It is named after the Dukes of Chandos, who formerly owned the painting. The portrait was given to the National Portrait Gallery, London on its foundation in 1856, and it is listed as the first work in its collection.
It has not been possible to determine with certainty who painted the portrait, or whether it really depicts Shakespeare. However, the National Portrait Gallery believes that it probably does depict the writer.
Authorship and provenance.
It has been claimed that Shakespeare's friend Richard Burbage (1567–1619) painted the Chandos portrait, but the first known reference to the painting is in a note written in 1719 by George Vertue, who states that it was painted by John Taylor, a respected member of the Painter-Stainers' company who may also have been the same John Taylor who acted with the Children of Paul's. Vertue refers to Taylor as an actor and painter and as Shakespeare's "intimate friend". Katherine Duncan-Jones argues that 'John Taylor' could have been a misreading of what had originally been "Jo: Taylor"; she suggests that this may refer to the actor Joseph Taylor, who was a protégé of the older Shakespeare.
Vertue also states that before the Duke of Chandos acquired it, the portrait was owned by Shakespeare's possible godson, William Davenant (1606–1668), who, according to the gossip chronicler John Aubrey, claimed to be the playwright's illegitimate son. He also states that it was left to Davenant in Taylor's will and that it was bought by Thomas Betterton from Davenant and then sold to the lawyer Robert Keck, a collector of Shakespeare memorabilia.
After Keck's death in 1719, it passed to his daughter, and was inherited by John Nichol, who married into the Keck family. Nichol's daughter Margaret married James Brydges, 3rd Duke of Chandos. The painting passed through descent within the Chandos title until Richard Temple-Grenville, 2nd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos sold it to the Earl of Ellesmere in 1848. Ellesmere donated it to the National Portrait Gallery.
Scholarly views.
A contemporary image of the playwright is the engraving in the posthumously published First Folio of 1623, which was created by Martin Droeshout and was probably commissioned by Shakespeare's friends and family. It is considered likely that the Droeshout engraving is a reasonably accurate likeness because of the use by these close associates and that contemporaries such as Ben Jonson praised it at the time of the publication. Since the man in the Chandos portrait resembles the one in the Droeshout engraving, the similarity lends an indirect legitimacy to the oil painting. A further indication of legitimacy is the fact that the Chandos portrait was the inspiration for two posthumous portraits of Shakespeare, one by Gerard Soest and another, grander one, known as the "Chesterfield portrait" after a former owner of that painting. These were probably painted in the 1660s or 1670s, within living memory of Shakespeare. The Chesterfield portrait is held by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon.
In 2006, art historian Tarnya Cooper of the National Portrait Gallery completed a three-and-a-half-year study of portraits purported to be of Shakespeare and concluded that the Chandos portrait was most likely a representation of Shakespeare. Cooper points to the earring and the loose shirt-ties of the sitter, which were emblematic of poets (the poet John Donne and Shakespeare's patron the Earl of Pembroke sported similar fashions). However, she readily acknowledges that the painting's authenticity cannot be proven.
Cooper also notes that the painting has been badly damaged by over-cleaning and retouching. Parts are abraded and some parts have been slightly altered. The hair has been extended and the beard is longer and more pointed than when originally painted.
Copies.
In addition to the Chesterfield portrait, a copy was made at least as early as 1689, by an unknown artist. Many 18th century images used it as a model for portrayals of Shakespeare.
The painting was engraved by Gerard Vandergucht for Nicholas Rowe's 1709 edition of Shakespeare's works. Another print was made by Jacobus Houbraken in 1747.
Ethnic interpretations.
Because the images of Shakespeare are either doubtful in provenance or lacking expression, no one image seems to reconcile well with readers' imaginations. The relatively dusky features have caused repeated comment. George Steevens said that the picture gave Shakespeare "the complexion of a Jew, or rather that of a chimney sweeper in the jaundice". According to Ben Macintyre, "Some Victorians recoiled at the idea that the Chandos portrait represented Shakespeare. One critic, J. Hain Friswell, insisted 'one cannot readily imagine our essentially English Shakespeare to have been a dark, heavy man, with a foreign expression'." Friswell agreed with Steevens that the portrait had "a decidedly Jewish physiognomy" adding that it displayed "a somewhat lubricious mouth, red-edged eyes" and "wanton lips, with a coarse expression." According to Ernest Jones, the portrait convinced Sigmund Freud that Shakespeare was French: "He insisted that his countenance could not be that of an Anglo-Saxon but must be French, and he suggested that the name was a corruption of Jacques Pierre." The Iraqi writer Safa Khulusi argued that its "un-English" look and "Islamic beard" was evidence for his theory that Shakespeare was an Arab.


Brides of Christ

Brides of Christ is an Australian television miniseries produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1991.
The series takes place behind the walls of a Sydney convent school and deals with the struggles of both the Roman Catholic nuns and the young students to adapt to the many social changes taking place within the church and the outside world during the 1960s.
Plot.
Diane Markham (Josephine Byrnes) joins a convent, 'Santu Spiritu School for Girls' after dropping her fiancé and becomes 'Sister Catherine', under the guidance of 'Sister Agnes' (Brenda Fricker). Catherine begins a friendship with another convent newcomer 'Sister Paul' (Lisa Hensley) and she begins to teach English and acts as the school newspaper adviser.
Rosemary (Kym Wilson) is a naughty, rebellious student who gets herself into trouble, while another student Frances (Naomi Watts) is upset because her divorced mother is planning a wedding. Catherine and Paul help Frances overcome her depression. Another convent novice falls in love with an ultra-liberal priest (Simon Burke) while another priest struggles with the papal doctrine while the real-life of the Vietnam war, rock 'n' roll, free abortions and free love flood the news.
Production.
The series cost A$6.2 million to produce, with half the budget provided by the Film Finance Corporation Australia. Six fifty-minute episodes were made. Each episode focused on a particular story and set of characters. Some characters would appear in multiple episodes with varying levels of prominence from episode to episode. Lead characters in one episode might appear in a support role in another episode. Josephine Byrnes' character was the focus of both the first and last episodes.
In her first major role, Naomi Watts starred as Frances, one of the students. One episode also guest starred the then unknown Russell Crowe as a young man distressed about being called up for the Vietnam War.
The series was filmed on location at St Mary's Concord, Douglas Park, New South Wales, Santa Sabina College, Strathfield, New South Wales, St Scholastica's College, Glebe, New South Wales, Carcoar, New South Wales.
Reception.
"Brides of Christ" earned a rating of 30 in its first run, making it the most viewed drama ever produced by ABC. The series continued to garner high ratings in its subsequent re-runs. When broadcast in the United Kingdom by Channel 4, it attracted an estimated audience of 6 million, a considerable success by the channel's standards. When A&E ran the series in North America, in 1993, it drew in an estimated average of 1.76 million viewers. The entire series has since been released on DVD.
Tony Scott of Variety stated "a serious attempt, if not riveting one, to explore a special world".
The series won the following awards: