Nicholas Charles

Nicholas Charles or Carles (died 1613) was an English officer of arms, who served as Lancaster Herald from 1609 to 1613. He made a copy of an early and rare 13th-century roll of arms, the original of which is now lost, known after him as "Charles's Roll".
Life.
Charles, according to Mark Noble, was the son of George Carles, a London butcher. At an early age he entered the College of Arms as Blanche Lyon Pursuivant; on 21 April 1609 he was created Lancaster Herald in the place of Francis Thynne. In 1611 he accompanied Richard St George, Norroy King of Arms, in his visitation of Derbyshire; and on 22 July 1613 William Camden, Clarenceux King of Arms nominated him his deputy for the visitation of Huntingdonshire. Charles had barely completed this task when he died on 19 November 1613. He was a friend of Camden and Sir Robert Cotton. Thomas Milles commended Charles in his "Catalogue of Honour"; and Edmund Howes, the continuator of John Stow's "Chronicle", acknowledged his assistance.
Works.
Camden is said to have purchased Charles's manuscript collection after his death for £90: items from it are now held in the College of Arms and the British Library. They include a collection of epitaphs in the churches of London and elsewhere, with drawings of monuments and arms (British Library, Lansdowne MS 874); and a catalogue of the officers of the College of Arms (Harley MS 5880). Richard Gough states that John Le Neve possessed a manuscript visitation of Staffordshire by Charles, and Sir John Cullum a visitation of Suffolk; but these documents appear to be lost. Charles's Huntingdonshire visitation is extant in three copies, and one, marked "C. 3 Huntingdon 1613" at the College of Arms, was edited for the Camden Society in 1849 by Sir Henry Ellis.
Family.
Nicholas married Penelope, daughter of Sir William Segar, Garter King of Arms, who survived him. She subsequently married Timothy Cartwright of Great Washbourne, Gloucestershire. By her second husband she was mother of the architect Thomas Cartwright.


State of Maryland Commendation Medal

The State of Maryland Commendation Medal is an award in the state of Maryland to honor exceptional service to the state by members of the Maryland National Guard or military, active or former.


List of New York State Historic Markers in Dutchess County, New York

This is a complete list of New York State Historic Markers in Dutchess County, New York.


Julien Temple videography


Batlejka

Batlejka (, Batleyka) is a Belarusian amateur puppet theatre. Its name is derived from the city of Bethlehem and performances are traditionally given over the Christmas period.
It became popular in Belarus in the 16th century but the peak of its popularity falls on the 18-19th centuries. It was largely forgotten during Soviet times but revived in present-day Belarus and within the Belarusian diaspora.
Puppet booth and puppets.
Puppets on metal rods are led by a puppeteer hiding behind a wooden booth with doors. The booth has two levels - the upper ‘heavenly’ or ‘canonical’ level and the lower ‘earthly’ or ‘layman’ level.
Puppets were traditionally made of wood and dressed in colourful  miniature clothes.
Plot.
Part 1: Nativity.
King Herod learns from the Three Kings that the Saviour is born. Considering him a rival, King Herod decides to kill Jesus.
He order a soldier to go to Bethlehem and kill all newly born babies. The soldier obeys the order and kills all babies except a baby of Rachael. Angry Herod orders to kill Rachael's baby too.
Herod pays with his life for these crimes - the Death beheads Herod and his body is taken to Hell by the Devil. The soldier soon follows his master.
Part 2: Folk scenes.
This part comprises a number of humorous and satirical episodes involving multiple characters - peasants, tradesmen, aristocracy, etc.
While Part 1 was performed throughout Belarus with little variations, Part 2 varies significantly depending on the geographical region of the performance and the imagination of a particular puppeteer.


Meols

Meols (sometimes known as Great Meols) is a village on the northern coast of the Wirral Peninsula, England. It is contiguous with the town of Hoylake immediately to the west. Historically in Cheshire, since 1 April 1974 it has been part of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in the metropolitan county of Merseyside.
The 2001 census recorded the population of Meols as 5,110.
In the 2011 census specific population figures for Meols were not available. The total population of the Hoylake and Meols local government ward was 13,348.
History.
Meols was named as such by the Vikings; its original name from the Old Norse for 'sand dunes' was "",
becoming "melas" by the time of the Domesday Survey.
Impressive archaeological finds dating back to the Neolithic period suggest that the site was an important centre in antiquity. Since about 1810, a large number of artefacts have been found relating to pre-Roman Carthage, the Iron Age, the Roman Empire, Armenia, the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings. These include items as varied as coins which belonged to the Coriosolites in Brittany. Also, tokens, brooches, pins, knives, glass beads, keys, pottery, flint tools, mounts, pilgrim badges, pieces of leather, worked wood and iron tools. They came to be discovered after the beginning of large-scale dredging (to accommodate the needs of the nearby growing seaport of Liverpool) started to cause notable sand erosion along the coastline near Meols. These finds suggest that the site was used as a port as far back as the Iron Age some 2,400 years ago, and was once the most important seaport in the present-day North West England. Thus trading connections are believed to have reached far across Europe.
Some of these artefacts are on display locally, at the Museum of Liverpool.
In the 1890s the local authorities built the first sea wall. The rapidly eroding coastline was saved, but the sea wall changed the currents and archaeological sites at Meols were buried in the sand.
The remains of a submerged forest off Dove Point have now also disappeared but they were visible until the spring of 1982.
In 1938 a Viking (Nordic clinker) boat was discovered beneath of clay when the 'Railway Inn' public house was being rebuilt. Workers at the time covered the ship over again so as not to delay the construction of the pub's new car park.
The pub landlord mentioned its previous discovery to local police constable Tim Baldock, who contacted Professor Stephen Harding of the University of Nottingham. Ground penetrating radar (GPR) equipment was used to confirm its existence and precise location on 10 September 2007.
Meols was formerly called Great Meols. It was a township in West Kirby parish of the Wirral Hundred before becoming a civil parish from 1866. On 31 December 1894 it was abolished to create the Hoylake cum West Kirby civil parish. Great Meols had a population of 140 in 1801, 170 in 1851 and 821 in 1901.
Between 1894 and 1974 it was within Hoylake Urban District.
On 1 April 1974, local government reorganisation in England and Wales resulted in most of the Wirral Peninsula, including Meols, transfer from the county of Cheshire to the newly created county of Merseyside.
The historic name of Great Meols survives in the name of the primary school and the Anglican church. It was still in more general use up to the 1960s, for instance in postal addresses and on the destination indicators of buses from Chester. There also used to be a village called Little Meols, on Meols Drive between Hoylake and West Kirby
The name Little Meols fell out of use in Victorian times, having been absorbed by Hoylake. From 123 inhabitants in 1801 and 170 in 1851, by 1901 at 2,850, its population had outstripped Great Meols.
Meols was known to be spelt as "Meolse" up until when the railway station was placed. The error came about at the time of the station's construction, when rail managers took the spelling of Meols from the Southport suburb of Meols Cop and used it for new signage.
Geography.
Meols is at the north-western corner of the Wirral Peninsula, adjacent to the Irish Sea.
Governance.
Meols is within the parliamentary constituency of Wirral West. The current Member of Parliament is Margaret Greenwood, a Labour representative.
At local government level, the area is incorporated into the Hoylake and Meols Ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in the metropolitan county of Merseyside. It is represented on Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council by three councillors.
The most recent local elections took place on 2 May 2019.
Community.
Meols is mainly residential with a small yacht and fishing community on its Irish Sea shore line. The centre has a small row of shops adjacent to Meols railway station, the 'Railway Inn' public house and a primary school. The North Wirral Coastal Park stretches from Dove Point in Meols to New Brighton. There is also a local community park known as Meols Park and Recreation Ground and a bowling green. The Friends of Meols Park are a community group set up in 2007 to help maintain and improve the recreation ground.
Transport.
The area is served by Meols railway station on the West Kirby branch of Merseyrail's Wirral line.
Bus.
A number of school services also serve Meols.
Notable people and cultural references.
Cyclist Chris Boardman, winner of a gold medal for Great Britain at the 1992 Summer Olympics, lived in Meols before moving to nearby Hoylake.
Miles Kane, former member of the Little Flames, the Rascals, one half of the Last Shadow Puppets with the Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner and now a successful solo artist, is from Meols.
Andy McCluskey, the co-founder, singer and bass guitarist of the electronic music band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) is also from Meols. OMD had a track called "Red Frame/White Light" from their self-titled debut album which referred to the public telephone box between the church and the Railway Inn on Greenwood Road, Meols. Hidden within the lyrics was the telephone number of the telephone box (632-3003). It is claimed that fans would call that telephone number from all over the world. The telephone box was removed by BT in August 2017 but was returned by October after a campaign by fans of the duo, and now displays a plaque noting its significance.
The television sitcom "Watching", produced by Granada Television between 1987 and 1993, utilised Meols as a filming location. This was likely because the characters Malcolm and Mrs Stoneway lived in the village.


Medan (disambiguation)

Medan may refer to:


Un militare e mezzo

Un militare e mezzo (literally "One soldier and half") is a 1960 Italian comedy film directed by Steno.
Plot.
Carletti, a 50 year old man who has returned from the United States with his family, is forced into the military because he had evaded his draft. In the barracks he finds a marshal who forces him to follow law and to observe the rigorous military discipline. Carletti makes every effort in order to get out of this condition and to return to his pharmaceutical affairs which, according to him, would bring him fortune.


Seymour Pomrenze

Seymour Pomrenze (September 1, 1915 – August 25, 2011) was a Jewish-American archivist and records manager. He was the first director of the Offenbach Archival Depot, the primary Allied collection point for books and archival material looted by the Nazis.
Early life.
Sholom (Seymour) Jacob Pomrenze was born in Brusilov, Ukraine. In 1922, his family immigrated to Chicago. Pomrenze grew up in a heavily Jewish area, attended a Hasidic synagogue, and went to both secular and Hebrew schools. In 1939, while in college, he took job at the National Archives and Records Administration. Pomrenze joined the United States Army in April 1942, and was commissioned a second lieutenant in April 1943.
Pomrenze attended and held degrees from the Illinois Institute of Technology, the University of Chicago, and the Spertus College of Jewish Studies.
Offenbach Archival Depot.
In December 1945, Koppel Pinson, the Joint Distribution Committee's representative in Germany, recommended that Pomrenze be the first head of the Offenbach Archival Depot (OAD). The OAD, part of the US Army's Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program, was the central collection point for books and archival materials looted from Europe by the Reichsleiter Rosenberg Taskforce. Lieutenant Leslie I. Poste of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program also recommended Pomeranze for the job, as did Judge Simon H. Rifkind, advisor on Jewish Affairs to General Dwight Eisenhower.
From February to May 1946, Pomrenze organized the depot's procedures and began working on returning books and religious artifacts. Among the items handled by the OAD were the Library Rosenthaliana, the YIVO collection, and the Strashun Library of Vilna, Lithuania. The latter was the premier Jewish library in Europe before World War II, and luckily survived the Nazi destruction of Vilna.
Captain Isaac Bencowitz became the director of the Offenbach Archival Depot after Pomrenze left for home.
Records management.
After his discharge from the Army, Pomrenze returned to Washington, DC. He worked for NARA (1947-1949) and as a civilian for the Army (1950-1977). Among his duties in the Adjutant General's office of the U.S. Army was the administration of and restitution to West Germany of German records captured during World War II. In 1968, Pomrenze assembled a collection of information about these records, based on his work in the 1950s.
Late in his military career, Pomrenze returned to active duty to perform records training in Vietnam in 1970-1971. Upon his retirement, he was a colonel and Archivist of the Army. Pomrenze was also a records management consultant, primarily to Jewish organizations. He worked with dozens of organizations, such as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, the National Jewish Welfare Board, and the UJA-Federation of New York. He also taught records management at American University, and published articles about records and archives management.
Awards.
Col. Pomrenze received many awards and decorations, including the World War II Victory Medal, a Bronze Star medal for his service in Vietnam, the Legion of Merit, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with three bronze stars, as well as the Netherlands Government Silver Medal of Honor for his work with the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program.


Ari Thorgilsson

Ari Þorgilsson (Ari Thorgilsson) (1067–1148 AD) was Iceland's most prominent medieval chronicler. He is the author of "Íslendingabók", which details the histories of the various families who settled Iceland. He is typically referred to as Ari the Wise ("Ari hinn fróði"), and according to Snorri Sturluson was the first to write history in Old Norse.
Ari was a part of the Haukdælir family clan and studied in the school in Haukadalur as a student of Teitur Ísleifsson (the son of Ísleifur Gissurarson, first bishop of Iceland). There he became acquainted with Classical education. His writings clearly indicate that he was familiar with Latin chronicler traditions, but at the same time he is widely regarded as excelling in the Icelandic oral storytelling tradition.
It is believed that Ari later became a Christian priest in Staður by Ölduhryggur, now known as Staðastaður, but otherwise little is known about his life, despite the fact that he is one of the very few medieval writers who wrote down his family history.
"Íslendingabók" is the only work that is absolutely proven to have been written by him, but he is accredited with numerous articles of knowledge and is believed to have had a major part in the writing of "Landnámabók", which chronicles the settlement of Iceland.
Ari was early on regarded as an important author. In Iceland's First Grammatical Treatise, written around 1160 AD, he is referred to with respect as an exceptional man, since the tradition of writing was not firmly established at the time.


William Brydone Jack Observatory

The William Brydone Jack Observatory is a small astronomical observatory on the campus of the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Constructed in 1851, it was the first astronomical observatory built in British North America. The observatory was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1954.
Beginnings.
In 1840 William Brydone Jack became professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at King's College, which later became the University of New Brunswick. In 1847 he and James Robb, the college's professor of Chemistry and Natural History, wrote to the College Council requesting money to purchase scientific equipment. An enthusiastic astronomer himself and supported by New Brunswick Lieutenant Governor Sir Edmund Walker Head, Brydone Jack persuaded the council to grant funds for the purchase of a telescope and other astronomy equipment. The 7.5 foot mahogany and brass achromatic telescope with an equatorial mount was built by the German manufacturer Merz and Son at a cost of £504.11s.9d. It was delivered to Fredericton in May 1849.
Having acquired the telescope, Brydone Jack had to obtain the council's consent to build a small observatory. He was again successful in persuading them to grant the required funds, and the building, which he designed himself, was completed in 1851 at a cost of £170.9s.7d.
The small observatory building was covered with wooden clapboard siding. The telescope was housed in an octagonal tower, 14 feet across, with a rotating copper-clad roof. The rest of the building consisted of two small single-story gable roofed wings, each 12 feet square.
Later history.
In 1859 King's College became the University of New Brunswick. Brydone Jack served as the University's president from 1861 to 1885 and died in 1886. After his death the observatory ceased to be used for its original purpose, although the telescope remained in the building. In 1899 renovations were carried out and the telescope was placed on a concrete foundation. During the twentieth century the observatory building served several purposes, including an art center and a faculty club. "The Fiddlehead", a literary magazine published at the University of New Brunswick, also used the building as its office.
The observatory was declared a National Historic Site in 1954, and a commemorative plaque was unveiled at a ceremony on 10 May 1955. The text on the original plaque read:
"First Astronomical Observatory in Canada"
"Built in 1851 at the instigation of William Brydone Jack, professor of mathematics, natural philosophy and astronomy; President of the University of New Brunswick, 1861-85. Schooled in the traditions of the Scottish universities, he equipped the observatory with the best instruments of the day. In collaboration with Harvard observatory he determined the longitude of Fredericton and other places in New Brunswick and corrected errors in the international boundary."
In 1984 the building was renovated to become a museum. Brydone Jack's astronomical instruments can be seen on the ground floor, while the original 1849 telescope is housed in the building's tower.


2000s in video games

The 2000s was the fourth decade in the industry's history. It was a decade that was primarily dominated by Sony, Nintendo, newcomer Microsoft, and their respective systems. Sega, being Nintendo's main rival in the 1980s and 1990s, left the console market in 2002 in favor of returning to third-party development, as they once were. Overall the decade saw the last of the low resolution three-dimensional polygons of the 1990s with the emergence of high definition games, and often focused on developing immersive and interactive environments, implementing realistic physics, and improving artificial intelligence.
Consoles of the 2000s.
Sixth generation consoles 1999-2005.
The sixth generation of video games officially began in 1998 with the introduction of the short-lived Dreamcast, which was discontinued in 2001. Sega announced that they would no longer produce video game consoles after two straight underperforming consoles and became a third-party developer. The PlayStation 2 was released in 2000 and became the best-selling video game console of all time. Microsoft entered the home console market with the Xbox. Although initially expected to struggle, it managed to reach second place in sales behind the PS2 on the strength of the launch title "". The GameCube, launched in 2001 alongside the Xbox, fell into third place, a first for Nintendo.
The sixth generation improved on the 3D graphics of the fifth generation consoles. Some of the new features in the consoles included built-in DVD players and hard drives. Internet play on consoles, pioneered by the Dreamcast, became commercially viable with the Xbox Live system, which was launched in November 2002, one year after the console's release. It featured a broadband connection and downloadable content and was a success.
Seventh generation consoles 2005-2012.
The seventh generation of consoles began with the release of the Xbox 360 in 2005. This was followed by the Wii and the PlayStation 3 in 2006. The seventh-generation featured widespread implementation of HD-ready graphics, media centers, and wireless game controllers, as well as online services for all consoles. The PS3 also has Blu-ray Disc compatibility. The Wii implemented an innovative game controller that features full motion sensitivity and is wielded like a remote, with limited button interaction. In response, the PS3 introduced tilt-sensitive functionality with its controllers. The Wii's motion sensitive controls and focus on family-friendly games, while alienating some hardcore gamers, helped the Wii to become the best-selling console of the seventh-generation. The high price of the PS3 had initially caused slow sales, but numerous price cuts and efforts to bring feature-parity between it and Xbox 360 were made in the years following. It was generally successful as the PlayStation 3 steadily increased in popularity, resulting in lifetime sales to be nearly equal to that of the Xbox 360.
Nintendo continued to dominate the handheld console market with the release of the dual-screen Nintendo DS in 2004. One of the screens is a touchscreen. The PlayStation Portable, released in 2005 by Sony, was the first serious competitor to Nintendo's handheld video game consoles and is by far the best-selling non-Nintendo handheld.
History.
An evolving industry.
Early on in the decade, the video games world was shaken up over two major stories that dominated the headlines: Sega was pulling out of the console war and that Microsoft was entering the market. Sega stated that the poor performance of the Sega Dreamcast and Sega Saturn lines contributed to their decision. The company returned to third party publishing for the remaining consoles. Microsoft officially debuted their Xbox console at the Game Developers Conference in 2000 after much speculation.
After the release of the Xbox and PlayStation 2, a noticeable trend was to push video game consoles into media centers and offer more features than just playing games. Nintendo was slow to react and released the Gamecube in 2001 without many of the exotic features seen in other consoles. Instead, Nintendo was focusing on improving the gameplay experience, as well as preparing its new innovative controller to be released in 2006. Backward compatibility also became a staple feature to gaming in this decade. The PlayStation 2 was the first major system to allow for backward compatibility to a preceding console.
Copyright infringement became a big concern to game developers and many companies tried experimenting with ways to combat the growing problem, especially among PC games. Some companies required registration through the use of a product key. In one of the more notable events of the decade, Valve was hit particularly hard by a hacker and subsequently had much of their work on "Half-Life 2" leaked onto the internet.
Sony and Microsoft released their PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles in the mid-decade. As the decade progressed, more and more features were added to consoles. Internet connectivity became ubiquitous and some games integrated the use of webcam accessories. In the mid-decade, the industry was caught in the crossfire of the HD DVD and Blu-ray format war. Ultimately, the Blu-ray format won out, but that didn't help Microsoft after they have already made HD DVD compatibility a feature. Nintendo had still yet to release a system compatible for viewing films. Instead, Nintendo unveiled the Wii and revolutionized the industry with the interactive gameplay that its brand new controller provided. It would not be until the next decade that Sony or Microsoft would release a similar motion controller to the Wii as an accessory ("See: Kinect and PlayStation Move").
Graphic innovation.
The 1990s decade oversaw the transition from 2D-based video games to fully immersive three-dimensional environments and gameplay. The 2000s continued on this trend by polishing many of the flaws of creating a new dimension for games such as rigid polygon characters and animations. By the decades end, Microsoft and Sony had already been releasing games in high definition.
Status of PC video games.
PC video games remained popular throughout the decade, but was in an overall decline as consoles became more and more popular. Publishers also liked the standardization that consoles provided, whereas PC game performance was dependent on the graphic capabilities of a player's hardware. Nevertheless, the PC remained the device of choice for many popular strategy, simulation, and online games.
Blizzard was a company in the spotlight on numerous occasions throughout the 2000s and loyal to the PC. In 2000, it released the hack and slash game "Diablo II" which is frequently listed as one of the best games ever made. The game continues to have a wide following many years after its release and was listed on NPD Group's top ten PC games sales list as recently as 2010. Then in 2004, Blizzard wowed gamers with the release of "World of Warcraft", which was the world's most-subscribed MMORPG at the time with over 10 million subscribers.
"The Sims", a spin-off project of the popular "Sim City" franchise, also became a popular game of the era. Combining all of its sequels and expansions, "The Sims" easily becomes one of the best-selling PC game in history. "The Sims" also had an important role in bringing female and casual gamers into the often male-dominated and hardcore video game market.
Rhythm game fad.
Rhythm games were primarily centered in the arcade with popular games such as "Dance Dance Revolution" and "Beatmania". Many of these franchises had been popular since the late-nineties, but it wasn't until "Guitar Hero"s release in 2005 that the genre really impacted on popular culture. Most games in this category will feature a set list of songs that a player can choose to perform. They also generally come with a unique controller, usually shaped like a musical instrument. The success of Guitar Hero lead to the creation of other similar game franchises such as "Rock Band" and "DJ Hero". These games have also been cited as inspiration for people seeking to actually play instruments, and leading to a revival of interest in classic rock nostalgia.
In retrospect, rhythm games appear to have been a fad. In late 2011, due to low sale figures, Activision closed its "Guitar Hero" division.
Video games in Africa.
Since 2007, the fast growing mobile market in African countries such as Nigeria and Kenya has resulted in a growth in mobile game development. Local developers have taken advantage of the recent increase in mobile internet connection in countries where broadband is rarely available and console games are expensive, though locally developed applications have difficulty competing against millions of western applications available on the Google Play Store. This growth has continued through the 2010s as video games are becoming a more viable business on the continent.
A decade of controversy.
As video games approached greater realism in their graphic capabilities, it was inevitable that controversy would result. The evidence was inconclusive, but debates continued throughout the decade about the level of profanity, violence, pornography, and whether or not video games had an addictive effect. One game series in particular that was no stranger to controversy in the 2000s was "Grand Theft Auto". In the 2004 "" installment of the series, the game received widespread criticism revolving around the Hot Coffee mod, a normally disabled mini-game that could be enabled. The drama and pressure forced the ESRB to re-rate the game as an AO (Adults Only) and to have it pulled from store shelves. The game was also criticized for being excessively violent.
Another game that struck a nerve with many analysts and the general public was a game released in 2005 entitled "Super Columbine Massacre RPG!" in which a player actually carries out the events of the 1999 Columbine high school shooting. The game and its creator, Danny Ledonne, was both praised for the bold statement on free speech and criticized for being distasteful. It became the first finalist to ever be rejected at the 2007 Slamdance Film Festival's Guerrilla Games Competition. In protest of the rejection, many of the finalists withdrew from the competition and in the end no awards were handed out that year. The competition has not been held since the 2007 incident.
Expanded influence.
As video games diversified and became an ever-present part of pop culture, its influence began integrating with other media. The film industry in particular took notice and capitalized on how they could integrate video games into their storytelling. The Wachowskis, known for their Matrix series of films, developed "Enter the Matrix" to tie together the events of "The Matrix Reloaded" and "The Matrix Revolutions" motion pictures. Making films from video games is nothing new to Hollywood, but the transition from video game to film doesn't always succeed. The 2000s however began to show promise in the profitability and success of making video game-based films. Opening in 2001, ' became the highest-grossing video game adaptation with over a US$274 million box office performance. "Tomb Raider" held that title for nearly a decade. Other adaptations in the 2000s included the popular "Resident Evil" saga, "Silent Hill", "Max Payne", "Hitman", "Alone in the Dark", "DOOM", "House of the Dead", and '.
The 2000s was also the first decade that the medium has significantly affected classical music. Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall had a vision that a concert would be a way to show "how culturally significant video games and video game music is in the world today." The first Video Games Live concert was held at the Hollywood Bowl on July 6, 2005 to an audience of 11,000 people. Many of the events feature a live orchestra, synchronized lighting and effects, and gameplay projected onto a screen.
Notable video-game franchises established in the 2000s.
Notes:
Best-selling video games of the decade.
The following table lists video games of the 2000s that have sold at least 10 million copies. Downloaded content may not be included into figures.


Ain Sokhna

Ain Sokhna ( "" , "the Hot Spring") is a town in the Suez Governorate, lying on the western shore of the Red Sea's Gulf of Suez. It is situated south of Suez and approximately east of Cairo.
History.
Recent archaeological excavations have shown that there was an ancient Egyptian port and settlement in this area. The site was first brought to attention in 1999 by Professor Mahmud Abd El Raziq. French and Egyptian archaeologists have been investigating this area since that time.
As early as the Old Kingdom, seafaring expeditions on the Red Sea were organized from this port. Similar material was also found at the Wadi Maghareh, where many Old Kingdom inscriptions are found.
Climate.
Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as hot desert (BWh), as the rest of Egypt.


Meenakshisundaram Pillai

Dance Guru Meenakshisundaram Pillai (1869–1964) is considered as the prominent founder of Pandanallur style style of Bharatanatyam, Indian dance. He lived in the village of Pandanallur, in the Thanjavur district in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
Background.
Meenakshisundaram Pillai, whose ancestors were nattuvanars, was a descendant from the Thanjavur Quartet, which comprised four brothers: Chinnaiah, Ponniah, Sivanandam and Vadivel. The works of these four brothers, who were court composers in the early 19th century in Thanjavur, form the main classical masterpieces of Bharata Natyam.
Baroda Guru Kubernath Tanjorkar (1916 - 2007), a disciple of Pillai, later established Tanjor Dance Music & Art Research Centre in Baroda, Gujarat. Thiruvallaputhur Swaminatha Pillai, also known as T.K.Swaminatha Pillai, was one of the leading disciples of Pillai. He learned Bharathanatiyam under the Gurukula of Pillai for more than ten years. He also mentored Ram Gopal, who became one of the pioneers of Indian dance in the west.
Pillai was said to have been trained by his uncle, Kumarasamy Nattuvanar. He trained several famous Bharata Natyam dancers, including Devadasis such as Pandanallur Jayalakshmi, Thangachi Ammal, Sabaranjitam, as well as people from other castes such as Mrinalini Sarabhai, Rukmini Devi and Tara Chaudhri.
After Pillai, his son-in-law Chokkalingam Pillai (1893–1968) became the doyen Guru of the Pandanallur style. Subbaraya Pillai (1914–2008), Chokkalingam Pillai's son, was the next leading Guru of the Pandanallur style. He grew up in the village of Pandanallur and was an apprentice under his grandfather and father. He trained leading dancers such as Alarmel Valli and Meenakshi Chitharanjan.
Style.
The Pandanallur style developed a reputation for the emphasis on linear geometry that can be found in the "adavu" technique, and for its intensity and understatement in "abhinaya".
The Pandanallur style is renowned for its choreography, which include such highly regarded pieces as the Nine or Ten Tanjore Quartet "pada-varnams" . These works featured choreography by Pillai, who named the dramatic choreography "hands," and was also responsible for the "adavu" choreography for the "swara" passages.
Part of their heritage is the valuable jatiswarams (in "ragams Vasantha, Saveri, Chakravakam, Kalyani, Bhairavi"), which incorporate abstract "adavu" choreography.
Pandanallur style gives a lot of importance to abinayaha (expressions sometimes, abstract). Moreover, stamping the foot hard against the floor is discouraged in this style. Instead, slow movements are used to make the salangai (ankle bells) give out a lot of noise.
The strong Footwork whereby every Step is marked, is a result of one of the Arts Music main feature of exactness and accuracy to bring out the Rhythmic vitality as the Dancer is required to have a Natural Rhythmic Body of expression.
This Feature was mostly not possible to bring out by each and every one Student.


Simon During

Simon During (born 1950) is a New Zealand-born academic who completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge. In 1983, he joined the English Department at the University of Melbourne as a tutor, where, ten years later and after visiting positions at the University of Auckland and the Rhetoric Dept, UC Berkeley, he was appointed to the Robert Wallace chair. After establishing the Cultural Studies, Media and Communications and Publishing programs at Melbourne, he left for Johns Hopkins University in 2001, and taught in the English department there for nine years.
Between 2010 and 2017 he was a Research Professor at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Queensland and in 2018 was appointed a Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne. He has also held visiting positions at the Frei Universität Berlin, Universität Tübingen, the American Academy of Rome, the University of Cambridge, Université de Paris and elsewhere. In 2019 he lectured and travelled in Kerala as a recipient of Kerala's Higher Education Council's Erudite Scholar award.
His work contributes to the study of British literary history, literary and cultural theory, postcolonialism, secularism, Australian and New Zealand literatures, and has been translated into many languages. His books include "Foucault and Literature" (Routledge 1991) "Patrick White" (Oxford 1994), "Exit Capitalism, literary culture, theory and post-secular modernity" (Routledge 2010) and, most recently, "Against Democracy: literary experience in the era of emancipations" (Fordham 2012). His anthology "The Cultural Studies Reader" is a standard textbook in the field. Perhaps his best-known book is "Modern Enchantments: The Cultural and Secular Power of Magic" (2002), which explores the history of magic.
During's work mainly focuses on the history and theory of the humanities. He has a longstanding interest in relations between Anglicanism and literature between 1688 and 1945. In recent years, he has also been associated with postcritique.


List of Maryland state historical markers in Carroll County

This is a list of the Maryland state historical markers in Carroll County.
This is intended to be a complete list of the official state historical markers placed in Carroll County, Maryland by the Maryland Historical Trust (MHT). The locations of the historical markers, as well as the latitude and longitude coordinates as provided by the MHT's database, are included below. There are currently 20 historical markers located in Carroll County.


Truxton Bowl

The Truxtun Bowl is a Chinese porcelain punch bowl made for Captain Thomas Truxtun in 1794. Captain Truxtun is noted for his command of the frigate during the Quasi-War with France in 1798 to 1800. Truxtun had served on privateers during the American Revolutionary War. After the Revolution, as a Philadelphia merchant captain, he was a pioneer of American trade with China. In 1794, Truxtun was appointed one of six captains to oversee the building of the United States Navy's first frigates. That year, to illustrate a book he was publishing on navigation, he asked naval constructor, Josiah Fox, who would play a part in designing these ships, for a drawing of a 44-gun frigate. Truxtun commissioned two punch bowls featuring Fox's drawing. One of these is in the U.S. Navy Museum at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C. The other bowl, presented to President George Washington, is in Washington's home of Mount Vernon.


Solomon Pergamenter

Solomon ben Shalom Pergamenter () was a 19th-century Austrian Hebrew writer and poet. He was the author of "Yesode ha-Lashon" (1813), in Yiddish, for self-instruction in Hebrew, and of several Hebrew poems. He edited the sixth volume of the Hebrew literary-scientific annual "" in 1825.


Jack Endino discography

Jack Endino is an influential audio engineer and musician particularly associated with Seattle label Sub Pop and the grunge movement.
This list contains albums and EPs Endino has recorded, mixed, and/or produced, and is incomplete.


Kamosu Jinja

 is a Shinto shrine in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, Japan. The Taisha-zukuri Honden of 1583 is a National Treasure. The coeval branch Inari shrine is an Important Cultural Property.


Alice Howell

Alice Howell (born Alice Florence Clark; May 20, 1886 – April 11, 1961) was a silent film comedy actress from New York City. She was the mother of actress Yvonne Howell.
Biography.
Early reviews of her movies describe her as ""the scream of the screen"." One reviewer likened her to a "sort of Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., and Max Linder." All this was compressed into "one more or less diminutive package of femininity". Sometimes called "the girl Charlie Chaplin", she worked for Mack Sennett and later L-KO Kompany. Her early comedies were often produced by Universal Pictures.
Career.
At Mack Sennett’s Keystone Film Company, Howell quickly worked her way up from crowd scenes to featured parts in shorts such as Charlie Chaplin’s Laughing Gas (1914 film), and starred in at least one, "Shot in the Excitement" (1914). Hired away by Sennett’s former second-in-command, Henry Lehrman, when he set up the L-KO Kompany, Howell was cast to support Billie Ritchie and became popular in her own one-reelers. By 1917, she was such an audience favorite that Julius and Abe Stern formed Century Comedies to showcase her talents, making her, along with Mabel Normand and Marie Dressler, the third comedienne to have her own exclusive production unit. After Howell and Century parted ways in 1919, the company continued turning out comedy shorts and was renamed Stern Brothers Comedies in 1926. in 1919, Howell moved to the independent Emerald Company, which became part of the Reelcraft Corporation and released her still extant film, Distilled Love (1920). Howell’s last starring series was a group of 1924–25 domestic comedies for Universal Pictures featuring a married couple and their goofy butler. When this series ended, she appeared in one last short, "Madame Dynamite" (1926), for Fox Film Corporation.
Among more than 100 screen credits, Howell made such motion pictures as "Caught in a Cabaret" (1914), "Mabel and Fatty's Married Life" (1915), "Neptune's Naughty Daughter" (1917), "Green Trees" (1924), and "Madame Dynamite" (1926). "Her Bareback Career" (1917) was the first of 12 two-reel comedies for a new corporation which was formed to manufacture and distribute Alice Howell comedies.
In this era, such female slapstick stars as Howell, Dorothy Devore, and Billie Rhodes were inhibited by second-rate films and the absence of genuine star buildup.
Howell's film career continued into the sound-movie era with a role as a mute servant of the master murderer in the motion picture "The Black Ace" (1933).
Alice Howell died in Los Angeles, California, in 1961, aged 74.
Surviving Works and Availability.
12 preserved films starring Alice Howell have been restored, given accompaniment, and made available on DVD via a Kickstarter project.


List of New York State Historic Markers in Westchester County, New York

This is a complete list of New York State Historic Markers in Westchester, New York.


George Washington Grover House

The George Washington Grover House is a two-story house located at 1520 Market (Avenue D) in the East End Historic District of Galveston, Texas. Built in 1859, the house is one of the oldest brick residences in the city.
George Washington Grover.
The Grover House is named for its builder, George Washington Grover, a Texan pioneer. After his birth on November 9, 1819 in Sackets Harbor, New York, Grover spent his childhood in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1839, his father Nathan Grover moved the family to a farm seven miles south of Austin, Texas, joining the ranks of other early Texas settlers. On August 11, 1840, Grover fought on behalf of the Republic of Texas against a Comanche-led war party at the Battle of Plum Creek.
The Santa Fe Expedition.
The following year, George W. Grover volunteered to serve the Republic of Texas once again, this time as part of the artillery company in a trade expedition to Santa Fe, then a Mexican city claimed by the Republic. Upon the arrival of the expedition in Santa Fe, Grover was among the members selected to meet with the Mexican contingent. The endeavor proved to be disastrous when a Texan officer surrendered all of the men to the Mexican authorities. As prisoners, Grover and his cohorts marched all the way to Mexico City, where they remained until April 1842. While detained, he edited a weekly newspaper called True Blue under the pseudonyms “Simon Pure” and “Snooks.” In a total of six issues written by hand from April and May 1842, the single-page newspaper reported on the expedition and prison life.
Return to the U.S. and Travels.
After his release from Mexico City, Grover returned to Cincinnati, where he married Hepzy Dana Andrews in May 1844. The marriage was tragically brief as Hepzy died of unknown causes the following September. Grover remained in Cincinnati until February 1849, when he and childhood friend Wright Andrews joined a gold expedition to California. After departing from New Orleans, they made stops in Panama and, after their ship was blown off course by a Pacific storm, Hawaii. When they finally reached San Francisco, Grover and Andrews established a supply store and mined for gold. In their return trip, their gold was lost during a boat fire. Grover was later involved in a second boat fire when the steamship "Louisiana" of Port Lavaca caught fire off the coast of Galveston, killing forty people.
Relocating to Galveston.
In 1850 Grover traveled to Galveston, Texas with the intention of settling. By December 1851, Wright Andrews and his brother Henry Andrews had joined him. The trio formed a wholesale and retail grocery and ship chandlery business. After Henry left the partnership in 1852, Grover and Wright Andrews opened their mercantile house in the heart of the city's emerging commercial district at the northwest corner of Strand and 22nd Street. In August 1852, Grover married Eliza Ann Crane, the daughter of Ambrose Byron Crane, Galveston's Deputy Collector of Customs serving under Gail Borden.
Construction of the House.
In 1858 or 1859, Grover purchased a lot at 1520 Market (then designated 460 East Market) with the intention of building a house for his growing family. Though the architect of the house is unknown, Research has revealed the sources of some of the building materials:
Nick White, an Irish-born slater and plasterer, applied stucco to the bricks and scored it to simulate masonry units in a technique that was called "rough casting." In 1872, the "Galveston Daily News" referenced White's work on the Grover House, saying that “it looks to-day almost as good as new. It certainly improves the appearance of a building most-wonderfully.”
Layout and Design.
The house sits on a property covering over three lots between 15th and 16th streets on the north side of Market street inside Galveston's East End Historic District. The brick structure of the house is covered with beige stucco scored to give the visual impression of cut stone. The existing hipped roof was added to the building in 1943. The original roof had a cupola, which was accessible via steps in the house's third story. A 1943 hurricane destroyed two stories on the north (rear) side of the house.
The three-bay south façade has a double gallery, which is not original to the house. The gallery was altered or expanded three times during the twentieth century. In the current configuration, the galleries are accessible from the interior of both stories via doors on the western ends of the south facade. The first-story door, with an architrave featuring colored glass, pilasters, sidelights, and a transom, serves as the house's primary entrance. The lintels of the windows on the south facade have stucco scored to simulate heavy keystones. The sills, original to the house, are made of white Vermont marble.
The house is one of the oldest surviving brick residences in Galveston. According to the recollections of Grover's son Walter, the house may have been the second largest dwelling in Galveston (after Ashton Villa) upon its completion. The earliest documented description of the house, published in 1936, provides an overview of the house's interior:
ceilings of unusual height, bordered with attractive hand-made friezes, and with hand-made center designs built about the ceiling gas fixtures. Throughout the house are hand-cut stained glass panes, and all window and door sills are of marble. The ′mantel and hearth in the great parlor on the ground floor are of black marble, and the fireplace on the second floor is of white marble. The old kitchen at the rear was built over a large underground cistern which supplied water to firemen when fires broke out nearby. Two other cisterns and a cellar are under the house, and one of the cisterns is still being used, supplying the family with cool water during summer months.
Grover's Life in Galveston.
After its construction, the Grover House “became a social center,” according to Walter Grover, who later recalled that “many gay parties were held there, and, according to the custom of the time, friends and relatives visited there from distant places and enjoyed their hospitality.”
The Battle of Galveston.
The firm of Grover and Andrews operated from the Strand until 1861, when the firm dissolved upon the outset of the Civil War. In that year, Grover was elected city alderman. He went on to serve as Galveston Mayor pro tem during the war after other members of the city government retreated to Virginia Point. When the Union Army took control of the city, Grover met their officers. After the deaths of Union leaders Captain Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright and Lieutenant Commander Edward Lea during the Battle of Galveston on January 1, 1863, Grover offered his own family's plot in the Episcopal section of Galveston's Broadway Cemetery for their burial. Following the war, Grover's respectful treatment of Union soldiers was a subject of controversy in Galveston. Newspaper accounts of his election reveal a lingering debate over his actions as late as 1869.
Late career.
By 1870, Grover had launched his own grocery company at the old Grover and Andrews location at 22nd Street and Strand. An advertisement in the 1872 Galveston City Directory lists the firm as retail dealers in “family supplies, produce and boat stores.” The company was out of business by 1874. Between 1874 and 1881, Grover was an employee of Rice and Baulard, sellers of paints and oils from a store at 213-217 23rd Street. Grover was an artist himself and two of his works survive as important portrayals of mid-nineteenth-century Galveston. The first depicts the capture of the U.S.R.C "Harriet Lane" during the Battle of Galveston. The second famous painting, “Galveston as Seen from the Main Top of Ship at Central Wharf – October, 1855”, was given to the Rosenberg Library by the Galveston Historical Foundation and restored in 1968. In his later years, Grover remained active recounting his early exploits in the Battle of Plum Creek, the Santa Fe Expedition, the Gold Rush, and the Battle of Galveston. He died on December 21, 1901, after a fall. His wife, Eliza died in 1913 as one of the oldest citizens in Galveston.
Preservation Efforts.
Thanks to relatively stable ownership and the preservation projects, the Grover House retains a remarkable amount of its original integrity. A substantial rehabilitation project during the 1990s included restoration of some distinctive features of the house, including its scored stucco. Some mid-century alterations, including changes to the east elevation of the house, were replaced with features from the house's original design.
The house incurred flood damage during Hurricane Ike of 2008. An oak tree in the front yard, which had withstood the devastating 1900 Galveston Hurricane, did not survive. All of the damage from Hurricane Ike has been repaired and the historic masonry is subject to ongoing observation.
The house listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing member of the East End Historic District.


Devlin (surname)

O'Devlin () is the surname of a Gaelic Irish family of the Uí Néill who were chiefs in the far northeastern of the present-day County of Tyrone, bordering on Lough Neagh and the Ballinderry River. The O'Develins claimed a common descent from Develin (in Irish: "Dobhuilen" or "Raging Valour", an Irish noble of the royal blood of Aileach who flourished in or about the eighth century AD and was eighth in descent from Owen, the founder of the clan). Develin was a scion of that branch of the clan Owen known as the Sons of Erca ("Cenel Mic Erca") because of their descent from Muirchertach Mac Erca, grandson of Owen.
Name.
Alternative spellings of the name are Develon, Develin, Devolin, Devlin, Deveyn, Devellen, Dobhilen, Dobhailen, Dobhailean, Dobhalen, Doibhilen, Doibhelen, Doibhilein, Dhoibhilein, Dubhalen, Doibhlin, Dubhlein, Dubhlein, Dubhlin, Dubhlen, Dublein, Duiblein, DeVilling, and Devilling.
History.
After the Battle of Downpatrick, MacNamee, hereditary poet O'Neill, composed a poem called "The Lament for O'Neill", in which he bewails the death of his king and the numerous nobles of his race who were slain with him. Among the nobles was O'Develin, of whom the poet sings:


List of Indiana state historical markers in Spencer County

This is a list of the Indiana state historical markers in Spencer County.
This is intended to be a complete list of the official state historical markers placed in Spencer County, Indiana, United States by the Indiana Historical Bureau. The locations of the historical markers and their latitude and longitude coordinates are included below when available, along with their names, years of placement, and topics as recorded by the Historical Bureau. There are 4 historical markers located in Spencer County.


The Law Divine

The Law Divine is a 1920 silent British crime film directed by H. B. Parkinson and Challis Sanderson. The film is considered to be lost.


Alliance College

Alliance College was an independent, liberal arts college located in Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania, offering a special program in Polish and Slavic languages (cf Slavistics). It was originally an academy at the high school level. In the 1920s it added a junior college degree. From 1948 until its closing in 1987, the college was an accredited four-year co-educational liberal arts institution. Student matriculation peaked at 629 in 1968, but was usually much lower.
History.
The school was founded by the Polish National Alliance (PNA) in 1912 "to provide opportunities for Americans of Polish descent to learn about the mother country, its culture, history, and language." Classes were usually taught in English. It was nationally famous for its Kujawiaki folk dance ensemble. It also operated exchange programs with Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland.
Following the college's closure, the campus was sold in 1990 to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which in 1992 opened State Correctional Institution (SCI) – Cambridge Springs, a minimum-security women's prison, at the site.
Polish collection.
Alliance College's library housed the largest Polish collection (35,000 cataloged and 15,000 uncataloged volumes) in North America. The collection was donated by the PNA to the University of Pittsburgh in 1991.
Transcripts.
The office of the registrar at Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pennsylvania, is the designated agent for storing and retrieving Alliance College transcripts.
Athletics.
The school's sports teams were called the Eagles. According to College Football Data Warehouse, Alliance College played football only sporadically until after World War II. In four seasons after the war, Alliance compiled a 12-21 record. The 1948 team enjoyed a winning season. After losses to St. Francis (PA), St. Vincent (PA), Duquesne (PA), and Juniata (PA), the Eagles rebounded with five straight wins over Brockport State (NY), Lock Haven State (PA), Clarion (PA), Edinboro (PA), and Steubenville (OH). The Eagles won only one game in 1949 before dropping football in March 1950.


Blackstone Hotel (Fort Worth, Texas)

The Blackstone Hotel is the tallest hotel in downtown Fort Worth, Texas, at tall. Located on the corner of Fifth and Main Streets, it is noted for its Art Deco design with terracotta ornamentation and setbacks on the top floors. The hotel was constructed in 1929 and operated for over 50 years before it sat vacant for nearly 20 years. The Blackstone Hotel guest list is full of notable people including Presidents of the United States: Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard M. Nixon. The hotel was also host for a few movie stars such as Bob Hope, Clark Gable, and Elvis Presley. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places (Building #84001961) on February 2, 1984. The building was restored in the late 1990s and is still in use today as the Courtyard Fort Worth Downtown/Blackstone, although it is still known as the "Blackstone Hotel" to those who live in or have ties to Fort Worth.
History.
Blackstone Hotel (1929-1952).
The 23-story, 284-room Blackstone Hotel had its official grand opening on October 10, 1929. The hotel was built by cattleman C.A. "Gus" O'Keefe and designed by architects Mauran, Russell & Crowell from St. Louis; the contractors were Bellows and Marclay. Famed Fort Worth resident Amon G. Carter was the first guest of the new Blackstone Hotel. Sid Richardson had a penthouse in the Blackstone for $750 a month from 1929–1932.
The Blackstone was the first skyscraper in Fort Worth to embrace Art Deco architectural elements. The structure was built with reinforced concrete, and the exterior boasted buff color brick with terracotta ornament throughout. The ground floor facade is faced with Minnesota granite. The setbacks on the top floors allowed private outdoor terraces for guests. The interior showcased a two-story lobby with a mezzanine, wide stairwells, a Venetian ballroom, and Italian marble placed on pillars and floors throughout.
Fort Worth's first radio station, WBAP, was based out of the Blackstone Hotel in the mid-1930s. Although initially leased to the Blue Bonnet Hotel Company, the building was initially managed by Wallace N. Robinson Hotels Company and taken over by H. Fuller Stevens, of Dallas, in 1946. It was in the Blackstone's Venetian Ballroom that the Texas Democratic Executive Committee met in September of 1948 to determine if Lyndon B. Johnson's narrow victory over Coke Stevenson was valid.
Hilton Hotel (1952–1962).
In 1952, the Blackstone came under the ownership of Conrad Hilton. For the next 10 years, the building would be known as the Hilton Hotel. During that time, an addition was constructed to the south, adding additional ground level retail, a new ballroom, meeting rooms, and a rooftop swimming pool. Interior renovations were undertaken, including closing in the two-story lobby and converting the mezzanine into a second floor.
Blackstone Hotel (1962–1982).
The Hilton Hotel was again sold, and the name reverted to the Blackstone Hotel. During the next twenty years, the building would fall into a dilapidated state. In the 1970s, the Venetian Ballroom served as a temporary pornographic cinema and Fort Worth police's vice squad made frequent arrests. In 1979 Olympic gymnast Nadia Comaneci described her team's stay at the Blackstone as "awful, terrible, mediocre, but what the hell." The steady decline in business finally forced the closing of the hotel due to bankruptcy of the owners, seeing its last guest at that time in 1982.
Vacant (1982–1997).
The hotel closed down in 1982, mothballed for almost twenty years. Ground level windows and doors were boarded up, covered by murals painted by local citizens. Many windows in upper floors were broken or opened, allowing rain and birds to enter the structure, causing further deterioration. Windows on the top floor were removed for unknown reasons, and the basement was flooded for many years.
Restoration (1997–1999).
The Blackstone Hotel building was purchased by Louisiana-based Historic Restoration, Inc. (HRI) for an estimated $2.2 million in 1997, and restoration commenced in 1998. An exterior elevator was installed, and workers converged on the building. The City of Fort Worth contributed 10 years of bed tax to Marriott Corp. in pursuit of restoration.
There are no known original drawings of the interior, so HRI documented every aspect of the building, including measurements of floor-to-ceiling heights and mechanical equipment. Original plaster ceilings found hidden behind suspended ceilings were discovered. The interior was gutted down to the floor plates, stairwells, and elevator shafts. This work included removal of escalators in the lobby and tearing out and replacing all electrical and plumbing. The guest room window frames, made of cypress wood, were restored, and broken glass replaced.
The annex, originally constructed when the hotel was part of the Hilton chain in the 1950s, was converted to an indoor valet parking garage while the top floor hosted additional guestrooms, a swimming pool, hot tub, and a workout room.
The original Italian marble in the lobby was removed during prior renovations, but marble from the vestibule of the Venetian Ballroom was used on the pillars and around the elevators. Moldings were cast of the terracotta above the first floor on the exterior and placed on the top of the columns in the lobby. The exterior was washed and restored to its original appearance. Very little was touched on the exterior due to the building's historical significance. A small set of original terrazzo steps that lead to nowhere remain in the lobby due to their historical significance.
The estimated cost of the restoration was $26 million. Ruth Carter Stevenson, daughter of famed Fort Worth resident Amon G. Carter (first guest of the Blackstone Hotel in 1929), was the first guest of the Courtyard by Marriott Fort Worth Downtown-Blackstone in 1999.
Courtyard by Marriott Fort Worth/Blackstone (1999–present).
The Blackstone was officially branded the Courtyard by Marriott Fort Worth Downtown-Blackstone and reopened to the public on April 7, 1999, offering 203 guestrooms on 20 floors with a Corner Bakery Cafe on the ground floor. Artifacts from the hotel's 70-year history were displayed during its opening on April 6–7, 1999. The hotel also offers meeting rooms (1,262 sq feet), a lobby bar, room service, and internet access.
In 2004–2005, the Courtyard by Marriott-Blackstone received a $1.5 million renovation which included caulking and repainting the windows. Over 2,000 lbs of caulk was used. New furnishings, bedding, and draperies were put in. The hot tub overlooking the swimming pool on the roof of the annex was replaced with a gym.
The Blackstone Building was sold to Austin, Texas-based Summit Hotel Properties in 2017.
Building owner.
1929–1946(?) Wallace N. Robinson Hotels Company
1946–1952 H. Fuller Stevens of Dallas, Texas
1952–1962 Hilton Hotels
1997–2005(?) Historic Restoration, Inc. of New Orleans, Louisiana
Hotel managers.
2018 - Current Brian Foose


Military Merit Cross

Military Merit Cross is the name for a military decoration in various states, including:


Neecha Nagar

Neecha Nagar () is a 1946 Indian Hindi-language film, directed by Chetan Anand, written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas and Hayatullah Ansari, and produced by Rashid Anwar. It was a pioneering effort in social realism in Indian cinema and paved the way for many such parallel cinema films by other directors, many of them also written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas. It starred Chetan Anand's wife Uma Anand, with Rafiq Ahmed, Kamini Kaushal, Rafi Peer, Hamid Butt, and Zohra Sehgal. "Neecha Nagar" (Lowly City) was a Hindi film adaptation in an Indian setting of Maxim Gorky's 1902 play "The Lower Depths".
"Neecha Nagar" became the first Indian film to gain recognition at the Cannes Film Festival, after it shared the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film (Best Film) award at the first Cannes Film Festival in 1946 with eleven of the eighteen entered feature films. It's the only Indian film to be ever awarded a Palme d'Or.
Overview.
It was based on a Hindi story, "Neecha Nagar", written by Hayatullah Ansari, which in turn was inspired by Russian writer Maxim Gorky’s "The Lower Depths". It took an expressionist look at the gulf between the rich and poor in society.
"Neecha Nagar" is the debut film of actress Kamini Kaushal and for Ravi Shankar as a music director.


A Coney Island Princess

A Coney Island Princess is a lost 1916 silent film comedy-drama directed by Dell Henderson and starring Irene Fenwick. It is based on the play "Princess Zim-Zim" by Edward Sheldon. This film was Fenwick's firat for the Famous Players Film Company and was partly filmed on location at Coney Island.
Synopsis.
The story evolves from a spat which Milholland has with his fiancée, Alice Gardner. While imbibing too freely in a foolish effort to assuage the pangs besetting him, he decides to sail for Europe, but he lands at Coney Island via the sight-seeing-car route, and in the course of zig-zag events he meets the Princess, an Oriental dancer, in a music hall. He becomes infatuated with her, and for the first time in his young pampered life he earns ten dollars playing a piano while she does her act on the stage. Eventually he takes the Princess to the home of his wealthy aunt, Mrs. King. Their betrothal is announced at a dinner on which occasion the Princess worries Pete and the many guests by her frequent breaches of etiquette. The next day Pete meets his former fiancée and quickly tells her that his love for the Princess is only a passing fancy. When the latter learns of this she returns to her father's Coney Island resort. There she realizes the folly of essaying to hold the fealty of a man abover her caste, and she cheerfully sets about to be happy with her lot. In the meantime a reconciliation reinstates Pete in the realm of bliss with his first love.


Stadium at Nemea

The Stadium at Nemea (Greek: Νεμέα στάδιον) sits on the ancient site of Nemea in modern day region of Corinthia. Here, ancient Greek athletes participated in the stadion only meters away from the Temple of Zeus. The Nemea Stadium played a big part in the ancient Olympics.
Excavation.
In 1964 during an excavation by Charles K. Williams II, archeologists discovered a rectangular stone across the front of the stadium. This is thought to be the starting line. There is minimum wear to the object other than several marks on the top, which David Gilman Romano says are explained by “[the stadium’s] later use as a threshold.” Also appearing on the block is a single character, an epsilon (ɛ). Though the form of the epsilon is not archaic, it is hard to tell whether or not it is part of the original use of the starting line or not.
Athletics.
Nemea Stadium played a major role in Greek athletics. The stadion, or running event, was held here. The stadion was named after the building it took place in. The Nemea Stadium is actually a Latin re-write of the word stadion. Between 776 and 724 BC, not only was the stadion the premier event of the Nemean games but it was also the only event. Winners of the stadion would originally win the entirety of the games.


Karina (Venezuelan singer)

Karina (born November 19, 1968, as Cynthia Karina Moreno Elías) is a Peruvian-born Venezuelan Latin pop music singer, songwriter, and actress.
Her first major appearance was in the play "El Taller Del Orfebre", in which she sang Karina sang "Zapatos De Tacón Alto."
She became widely known in Latin America with her debut album "Amor a Millón", specifically with the hit songs "Se Como Duele" and "A Quién."
Stardom.
"Amor a Millón" was the title of Karina's first album. It was produced by the Venezuelan singer and producer Rudy La Scala, and peaked high on the top ten radio list. She followed it with "Sin Mascara" in 1987, which confirmed her status as a serious singer not just in Venezuela, but in Mexico, the country that turned out to be her launchpad as a music star. That same year, she was nominated in six categories of the Ronda Music Awards in Venezuela for her previous album, winning Best Female Breakthrough, Best Soap Opera Song ("Sé Como Duele"), Best Videoclip ("A Quién"), Best-Selling Album of the Year ("Amor a Millón"); also, Rudy La Scala (writer and composer of "Sé Como Duele"), won the Best Composer of the Year award. In 1988 Karina had the leading role in the successful telenovela "Alba Marina", broadcast by Venevisión, with Xavier Serbiá, Johnny Lozada, and Rene Farrait, then members of "Proyecto M" and former members of the Puerto Rican band Menudo, and with Venezuelan stars Elluz Peraza and Daniel Alvarado.
That same year she also won two Ronda Music Awards, one for Best Young Female Singer, and another for Best Videoclip ("La Noche es Mágica", composed by the former Mecano member Nacho Cano)
In 1989, she recorded her third album, "Desde mi Sueño," which showed her artistic evolution; she made her debut as a composer with "Lamento de La Jungla" and "Soni. The songs "Desde Mi Sueño", "No Puedo Vivir Sin Amor", "En el Amor" and "No Sé" became hits
In 1990, Karina left her music career to pursue other ambitions, although she did participate in the Fiddler on the Roof musical, directed by Michel Hausmann, in the mid-1990s.
Marriage and Family.
On June 20, 1998, Karina married Brazilian Jewish entrepreneur Marcello Azevedo in a religious ceremony broadcast by Venevisión. Their daughter Yasha Marcella arrived in January 1999, followed on July 9, 2005 by her brother, Xander. In 2016, Karina announced that Xander is a trans boy and that she plans to support him as much as she can.
Four Years Later.
Years after her huge success portraying the good girl with the warm smile, she made a comeback on June 13, 2002, declaring to the newspaper "Últimas Noticias" that she missed singing and acting very much. She also worked as her husband's representative, though she had no previous experience.
In July 2004, she presented her show, "Intimamente Karina", in which she performed acoustic versions of her hits, and that October she recorded the album "Siempre Karina", which she expected to return her to all the success she had experienced in the 1980s. The album was introduced gradually in pubs and clubs and officially launched in 2005. It was produced by her husband Azevedo, producer of other [[Latin American] singers like [[Chayanne]] and [[Paulina Rubio]]. "Siempre" contained new versions of her hits "Se Como Duele," "Salvame," and "A Quien," plus seven new songs, including "Sin Ti," which was very popular in Latin America. She recently launched another single, "Borrón y Cuenta Nueva."
Comeback.
Her return to the stage was on April 30, 2005 at the Lia Bermudez Arts Center in [[Maracaibo]], where she sang for over 90 minutes. Nine months later she returned to Mexico, where she participated as one of the judges-teachers in the [[Televisa]] reality show "Cantando Por un Sueño". In 2010 she released "De Pie", with all-new songs produced by Marcello Azevedo.
External links.
[[Category:1968 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Jewish musicians]]
[[Category:Singers from Lima]]
[[Category:Peruvian emigrants to Venezuela]]
[[Category:Peruvian Jews]]
[[Category:Venezuelan female singers]]
[[Category:Venezuelan telenovela actresses]]
[[Category:Venezuelan Jews]]
[[Category:Venezuelan pop singers]]
[[Category:Venezuelan stage actresses]]


Nassim Soleimanpour

Nassim Soleimanpour (born 10 December 1981 (19 Azar 1360 SH), Tehran) is a playwright from Iran. Having refused compulsory military service in Iran, he was not allowed to leave the country until 2013 when he was granted a passport.
Works.
Soleimanpour's 2010 play "White Rabbit Red Rabbit" has been performed widely and in more than 20 languages. It is to be performed each night by a different actor, who has not seen the script before. First performed at the 2011 Edinburgh and Clubbed Thumb's Summerworks festivals, it has since been performed by an array of A-list actors, including F. Murray Abraham, Wayne Brady, Bobby Cannavale, Darren Criss, Brian Dennehy, Joyce DiDonato, Whoopi Goldberg, Nathan Lane, Cynthia Nixon, Patrick Wilson, Stana Katic and many more at its premiere in New York City at the Westside Theatre in 2016 where it ran for 42 weeks, produced by Tom Kirdahy. Soleimanpour first saw the play in 2013 at the Brisbane Powerhouse, Australia, during the World Theatre Festival.
His play "Blind Hamlet" premiered during the 2014 Edinburgh Festival Fringe at the Assembly Roxy.
"Nassim", which requires the actor and audience members to speak Farsi (Persian), premiered in Edinburgh in 2017 and played at the Arts Centre Melbourne in early 2018. "Nassim" had its New York premiere in December 2018 at Stage II of the New York City Center where it played until April 20.
Soleimanpour has won the Summerworks Outstanding New Performance Text Award and The Arches Brick Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2011 and at Dublin Fringe Festival the award for Best New Performance 2012.
He is represented by Berlin-based booking agency Aurora Nova.


Wicklow

Wicklow ( ; ) is the county town of County Wicklow in Ireland. It is located south of Dublin on the east coast of the island. According to the 2016 census, it has a population of 10,584. The town is to the east of the M11 route between Dublin and Wexford. It also has railway links to Dublin, Wexford, Arklow, and Rosslare Europort. There is also a commercial port for timber and textile imports. The River Vartry is the main river flowing through the town.
Geography.
Wicklow town forms a rough semicircle around Wicklow harbour. To the immediate north lies 'The Murrough', a grassy walking area beside the sea, and the eastern coastal strip. The Murrough is a place of growing commercial use, so much so that a road by-passing the town directly to the commercial part of the area commenced construction in 2008 and was completed in summer of 2010. The eastern coastal strip includes Wicklow bay, a crescent shaped stone beach approximately 10 km in length.
Ballyguile Hill is to the southwest of the town. Much of the housing developments of the 1970s and 1980s occurred in this area, despite the considerable gradient from the town centre. The land rises into rolling hills to the west, going on to meet the Wicklow Mountains in the centre of the county. The dominant feature to the south is the rocky headlands of Bride's Head and Wicklow Head, the easternmost mainland point of the Republic of Ireland. On a very clear day, it is possible to see the Snowdonia mountain range in Wales.
Climate.
Similar to much of the rest of northwestern Europe, Wicklow experiences a maritime climate ("Cfb") with cool summers, mild winters, and a lack of temperature extremes. The average maximum January temperature is 9.2 °C (48.6 °F), while the average maximum August temperature is 21.2 °C (70.2 °F). On average, the sunniest month is May. The wettest month is October with 118.9 mm (4.6 in) of rain and the driest month is April with 60.7 mm (2.4 in). With the exceptions of October and November, rainfall is evenly distributed throughout the year with rainfall falling within a relatively narrow band of between 60 (2.4 in) and 86 mm (3.4 in) for any one month. However, a considerable spike occurs in October and November each of which records almost double the typical rainfall of April.
Wicklow is sheltered locally by Ballyguile hill and, more distantly by the Wicklow mountains. This sheltered location makes it one of the driest and warmest places in Ireland. It receives only about 60% the rainfall of the west coast. In addition, because Wicklow is protected by the mountains from southwesterly and westerly winds, it enjoys higher average temperatures than much of Ireland. Its average high in August of 21.2 °C (70.2 °F) is a full 1 °C higher than the highest average month in Dublin, only 50 km (30 miles) to the north. While its location is favorable for protection against the prevailing westerly and southwesterly winds that are common to much of Ireland, Wicklow is particularly exposed to easterly winds. As these winds come from the northern European landmass Wicklow can, along with much of the east coast of Ireland, experience relatively sharp temperature drops in winter for short periods.
Economy.
Since 1995, the town has undergone significant change and expansion reflecting the simultaneous growth in the Irish economy. Residential developments have taken place to the west of the town along Marlton Road (R751). More recently, housing developments have been concentrated to the northwest of the town towards the neighbouring village of Rathnew. The completion of the Ashford/Rathnew bypass in 2004 meant that Wicklow is now linked to the capital, Dublin, lying 42 km to the north, by dual carriageway and motorway. These factors have led to a steady growth in population of Wicklow and its surrounding townlands while its importance as a commuter town to Dublin increases.
Toponymy.
Earlier spellings of the town's name include "Wykinglo" in 1173, "Wygingelow" in 1185, "Wykinglo" in 1192, "Wykinglowe" in 1355.
The Swedish toponymist Magne Oftedal criticises the usual explanation that the name comes from Old Norse "Vikingr" (meaning "Viking") and Old Norse "ló" (meaning "meadow"), that is to say "the Vikings' meadow" or "Viking's meadow". He notices that "-lo" was never used outside Norway (cf. Oslo) and Scandinavia. Furthermore, this word is almost never combined with a male name or a general word meaning "a category of person". Moreover, "Viking" never appears in toponymic records. For him, the first element can be explained as "Uikar-" or "Uik-" "bay" in Old Norse and the intermediate N of the old forms is a mistake by the clerks.
However, all recorded forms show this N. That is the reason why Liam Price says it is probably a Norwegian place-name and A. Sommerfelt gives it as a former "Vikinga-ló" and understands it as "the Vikings' meadow". Nevertheless, the Irish patronymics Ó hUiginn and Mac Uiginn (anglicised O'Higgins and Maguigan) could bring a key for the meaning "Meadow of a man called Viking".
"Wykinglo" was the usual name used by the Viking sailors and the traders who travelled around the Anglo-Scandinavian world. The Normans and Anglo-Normans who conquered Ireland preferred the non-Gaelic placename.
The origin of the Irish name "Cill Mhantáin" bears no relation to the name "Wicklow". It has an interesting folklore of its own. Saint Patrick and some followers are said to have tried to land on Travailahawk beach, to the south of the harbour. Hostile locals attacked them, causing one of Patrick's party to lose his front teeth. Manntach ("toothless one"), as he became known, was undeterred; he returned to the town and eventually founded a church, hence "Cill Mhantáin", meaning "church of the toothless one". Although its anglicised spelling "Kilmantan" was used for a time, it gradually fell out of use.
History.
During excavations to build the Wicklow road bypass in 2010, a Bronze Age cooking pit (known in Irish as a "fulach fiadh") and hut site was uncovered in the Ballynerrn Lower area of the town. A radio carbon-dating exercise on the site puts the timeline of the discovery at 900 BC.
It has been argued that an identifiable Celtic culture had emerged in Ireland by 600 BC or even earlier. According to the Greek cartographer and historian, Ptolemy, the area around Wicklow was settled by a Celtic tribe called the Cauci/Canci. This tribe is believed to have originated in the region containing today's Belgium/German border. The area around Wicklow was referred to as Menapia in Ptolemy's map which itself dates back to 130 AD.
Vikings landed in Ireland around 795 AD and began plundering monasteries and settlements for riches and to capture slaves. In the mid-9th century, Vikings established a base which took advantage of the natural harbour at Wicklow. It is from this chapter of Wicklow's history that the name 'Wicklow' originates.
The Norman influence can still be seen today in some of the town's place and family names. After the Norman invasion, Wicklow was granted to Maurice FitzGerald who set about building the 'Black Castle', a land-facing fortification that lies ruined on the coast immediately south of the harbour. The castle was briefly held by the local O'Byrne, the O'Toole and Kavanagh clans in the uprising of 1641 but was quickly abandoned when English troops approached the town. Sir Charles Coote, who led the troops is then recorded as engaging in "savage and indiscriminate" slaughter of the townspeople in an act of revenge. Local oral history contends that one of these acts of "wanton cruelty" was the entrapment and deliberate burning to death of an unknown number of people in a building in the town. Though no written account of this particular detail of Coote's attack on Wicklow is available, a small laneway, locally referred to as "Melancholy Lane", is said to have been where this event took place.
Though the surrounding county of Wicklow is rich in Bronze Age monuments, the oldest surviving settlement in Wicklow proper is the ruined Franciscan friary. This is located at the west end of Main Street, within the gardens of the local Catholic parish grounds. Other notable buildings include the Town Hall and Wicklow Gaol, which was built in 1702 and later renovated as a heritage centre and tourist attraction. The East Breakwater, arguably the most important building in the town, was built in the early 1880s by Wicklow Harbour Commissioners. The architect was William George Strype and the builder was John Jackson. The north Groyne was completed by about 1909; John Pansing was the designer and Louis Nott of Bristol the builder. Wicklow Gaol was a place of execution up to the end of the 19th century and it was here that Billy Byrne, a leader of the 1798 rebellion, met his end in 1799. He is commemorated by a statue in the town square. At Fitzwilliam Square in the centre of Wicklow town is an obelisk commemorating the career of Captain Robert Halpin, commander of the telegraph cable ship Great Eastern, who was born in Wicklow in 1836.
According to the 2016 census, Wicklow has a population of 10,584.
Transport.
Bus Éireann, I.P Passenger Services Ltd (trading as Wexford Bus) and Irish Rail all operate to and through the town. Bus Éireann provides an hourly which is half-hourly at peak-time service to Dublin City Centre and Airport. Also a service is operated twice daily to Arklow via Rathdrum. Wexford Bus operates 9 services to Dublin and 10 from Dublin each day. Wexford Bus' services are one hour each way, some 30 mins shorter than the Bus Eireann service. However they do not go through the town, dropping passengers at the Grand Hotel before continuing on to Arklow.
A train service operates northbound to Dublin Connolly via Kilcoole, Greystones, Bray, Dun Laoghaire, Pearse Street and Tara Street en route to Connolly 6 times on Monday to Fridays. Other trains operate southbound to Rosslare Europort via Rathdrum, Arklow, Gorey, Enniscorthy, Wexford and Rosslare Strand.
Sports and recreation.
Wicklow Golf Club, founded in 1904, is located between the town and Wicklow head, while Blainroe Golf Club is situated about 3.5 km south of Wicklow. Oak Hill Cricket Club is located 7.5 km south of Wicklow. The club plays its home matches at Oak Hill Cricket Club Ground, which was constructed in 2008. The ground has hosted first-class cricket matches for Ireland and Leinster Lightning.
News media.
The "Wicklow News" was set up on 15 August 2016. Their current partial address is in Wicklow.
International relations.
Wicklow is twinned with Eichenzell in Germany, Montigny-le-Bretonneux in France, and Porthmadog in Wales.


Schor

Schor may refer to:


The American and the Queen

The American and the Queen is a 1910 American silent short drama produced by the Thanhouser Company. The film focuses on Maud, the fictional queen of Rumania, who is overthrown by her cousin, Rupert. Maud is thrown into prison after refusing the romantic advances of Rupert. She escapes with the aid of her lady-in-waiting and a priest. A wealthy American named Jack Walton, foils an assassination attempt on Maud and he falls in love with her. Maud is recaptured and set to be executed when the priest comes up with a plan to save her, by marrying Jack and Maud. The ceremony takes place through her cell window, and soon the United States military arrives to save the now wife of an American. Rupert is killed in the ensuing conflict. No known cast or production credits for the film is known. The film was released on November 11, 1910 and was met with neutral to negative reviews by critics. The patriotic element of the film was cited as likely being comical for European audiences and the film was also used as an example of an inappropriate example of American flag-waving. The film is presumed lost.
Plot.
Though the film is presumed lost, a synopsis survives in "The Moving Picture World" from October 22, 1910. It states: "Maud, the beautiful queen of Rumania, is deposed through the efforts of her wicked cousin, Rupert, who seizes the throne. He tries to make love to Maud, but when she spurns him he has her thrown into prison. Through the efforts of her faithful lady-in-waiting, and the kindly priest, the young queen escapes. While on a steamer, her cousin's spy locates her and decides to give her poison, but his attempt is detected by Jack Walton, wealthy young American who has seen the queen and fallen in love with her without knowing anything as to her history. A number of noblemen urge the queen to make an effort to regain the throne, and when Jack joins his plea to theirs, she consents. But the queen is only in her country a few hours when she is arrested during the absence of Jack on a mission."
"Jack prepares to save the queen, but has hit on no definite plan. Then Father Paul proposes a scheme. The queen's prison is on the ground floor; it is possible for her to stretch her hand through the bars. And Jack marries the woman he loves, though a stone wall is between them. The priest, with the bridegroom is outside, and the careless guards do not see them. Rupert then sends for his cousin again, and for the second time he offers to marry her. But she spurns him. Then he orders her execution. The sentence is about to be carried out when Jack arrives with a squad of U.S. troops from a troop ship in the harbor. The queen is entitled to their protection, for she is now the wife of an American. And she gets it. Rupert loses his life and the ensuing combat."
Production.
The writer of the scenario is unknown, but it was most likely Lloyd Lonergan. He was an experienced newspaperman employed by "The New York Evening World" while writing scripts for the Thanhouser productions. A reviewer said that the film was a poor take on Anthony Hope, but did not further expand on the nature of this connection. This was likely a reference to Anthony Hope's works like "The Prisoner of Zenda" and may have been made due to the arrival of a foreigner who resolves a royal conspiracy. Bowers would list this film as being of "patriotic" character instead of listing it simply as a drama or a comedy production. The patriotic element of the film was heavily promoted in advertising and was likely true given the reaction of viewers to the film. One article in "The Moving Picture News" referred to the film as an example of a problematic use of the United States flag appearing suddenly with the marines at the climax of the plot, all while on foreign soil.
The film director is unknown, but it may have been Barry O'Neil or Lucius J. Henderson. Cameramen employed by the company during this era included Blair Smith, Carl Louis Gregory, and Alfred H. Moses, Jr. though none are specifically credited. The role of the cameraman was uncredited in 1910 productions. The cast credits are unknown, but many 1910 Thanhouser productions are fragmentary. In late 1910, the Thanhouser company released a list of the important personalities in their films. The list includes G.W. Abbe, Justus D. Barnes, Frank H. Crane, Irene Crane, Marie Eline, Violet Heming, Martin J. Faust, Thomas Fortune, George Middleton, Grace Moore, John W. Noble, Anna Rosemond, Mrs. George Walters.
Release and reception.
The single reel drama, approximately 1,000 feet long, was released on November 11, 1910. The film was originally planned to be released on November 4, but it was delayed and some advertisements and later listings for the film give the erroneous date. The film received negative reviews in trade publications from even those which typically praised even the weaker productions. Though it was not well-received, the production was not criticized as sharply as "Avenged" had been. Walton of "The Moving Picture News" stated that the film was "[a] very feeble echo on Anthony Hope. The throne room staging is ridiculous and so is the resolution. The flag-waving business is feebly melodramatic. Princes, etc. don't sit on that sort of chair. I'm an admirer of Thanhouser, but this thing is straight, plain punk. In Europe it will be received as a Yankee joke." The reviewer for "The Moving Picture World" was decidedly neutral, highlighting only the novelty of the plot and refraining from any criticism or praise of the merits of the production. "The New York Dramatic Mirror" was negative, but not scathing. The reviewer stated, "The narrative is very entertaining - or could be made so, if the producer had cared to trouble himself about details. In its present crude form, its wild impossibility rather grates upon a spectator, because every scene in the film has some inconsistency. At least, it was worth doing well. Unfortunately, neither the acting nor the mounting has any particular merit."


Furbaide Ferbend

Furbaide Ferbend is a character from the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. Legend has it that Furbaide Ferbend was buried in a passage grave atop Carn Clonhugh, more commonly known as Corn Hill or Cairn Hill, north Longford, after the two passage graves that crown the summit.
Life.
His father is Conchobar mac Nessa, king of the Ulaid. His mother is one of the daughters of Eochu Feidlech, the High King of Ireland: in the saga "Cath Boinde" ("the battle of the Boyne) and the "Dindsenchas" poem "Carn Furbaide" she is Eithne, in the saga "Aided Meidbe" ("the death of Medb") she is Clothru. Eochu gave several of his daughters to Conchobar in marriage in compensation for Conchobar's supposed father, the former High King Fachtna Fáthach, whom Eochu had killed in the Battle of Leitir Ruad. In the sagas Furbaide's mother is murdered by her sister Medb, Conchobar's former wife and the future queen of Connacht, in the poem by her nephew Lugaid Riab nDerg, and her child is born by posthumous Caesarian section.
"Cath Boinde" explains the name "Furbaide" as deriving from Old Irish "urbad", "cutting", and says his original name was Diarmaid. According to the "Dindsenchas" Furbaide is described as smooth-skinned and bright of hue with two horns growing on his head, hence his epithet "ferbend", "horned man". The glossary "Cóir Anmann" ("fitness of names") says the horns – two of silver and one of gold – were on his helmet.
At the age of seventeen he fights in Conchobar's army in the Battle of Gáirech and Ilgáirech at the end of the "Táin Bó Cúailnge" ("cattle raid of Cooley"). In the saga "Mesca Ulad" ("the intoxication of the Ulaid"), where he is said to be Cúchulainn's foster-son, he fights against the Erna, but he is so beautiful none of them can bring themselves to wound him. After Conchobar's death his son Cúscraid Mend Macha succeeds him as king of the Ulaid, and gives his brother Furbaide the regions of northern and southern Tethbae.
In later life, according to "Aided Meidbe", he avenges his mother's death. Medb had taken to bathing in a pool on the Shannon island of Inchcleraun. Furbaide measures the distance from the pool to the shore with a rope, and practices with his sling until he can hit an apple on top of a stake from that distance. The next time he sees Medb bathing, he shoots the nearest missile to hand – a piece of cheese – at her, and kills her. In the "Dindsenchas" poem he kills the mother of Lugaid Riab nDerg, and Lugaid pursues and kills him in revenge.


Elvira Notari

Elvira Notari (10 February 1875 in Salerno – 17 December 1946 in Cava de' Tirreni), Italy's earliest and most prolific female filmmaker, made over sixty feature films and about a hundred shorts and documentaries. She is credited as the first woman film director whom directed more than sixty feature films and about 100 documentaries, quite often writing the subjects and screenplays, inspired by Naples. The Elvira Notari Prize is named after her.
Born Elvira Coda, she was of modest social origins. She married Nicola Notari. Together they founded Dora Film, and she became the first Italian woman to create a family film production company. She directed the films, while he worked as a cameraman. Their son, Eduardo or 'Gennariello,' based on a character he played, worked as an actor in many of the films. Eduardo nicknamed his mother, “The General,” based on her strong will and determination displayed in her film company. In an example, tears on screen for her films had to be real, brought up from a ‘painful or emotionally sensitive detail of a player’s private life,’ rather than the use of glycerin for artificial tears.
Early life.
She was born to Diego Coda and Agnese Vignes. Elvira was uncommonly allowed to attend school and pursue an education at the School of Science in literature while dancing as a hobby. In school, she developed her skills in the use of language and this was shown in her writing. In 1902, when she finished school she and her family moved to Naples. She worked as a “milliner” which she continued to do even after she became a film maker. Where after some time she found and in August 1902, married Nicola Notari. They had three children, Eduardo, Dora and Maria.
Career.
Elvira along with her husband established their production company. After a few name changes they settled on Dora Films, which was named after her daughter, whom never worked in the business. Dora Films began small as a simple photographic laboratory in 1905. Notari's company stood out with their hand-colored film titles called "Cinecittà," which were used to preview events and attractions. It was not until 1912 that the Dora Film company built a stage set, or "teatro di posa"¸ and became a full-fledged production house. Her husband worked the camera while Elvira directed and wrote the films. She is credited as the first woman film director. Most of the work done by Dora films was lost, with only a few records remaining. Dora Films was a true production company, which included editing, labs and other necessities to create films. The live synchronization of music and songs with the images on screen, often hand-drawn or machine colored, are quite possibly the form multimedia form of entertainment ever.
By the 1920s, the Notari's films had to be distributed throughout the American market as they were denied national circulation in Italy, despite being one of, if not the most, successful and important production company of Italian Cinema for the times. Dora Films eventually formed an office in New York, fittingly enough in Little Italy; the films made brought Italian immigrants together and gave education to ideas of Italy for those unaware.
Dora films also had an acting school of cinematic art. At Dora Films, Elvira produced documentaries and short films. According to a testimony by her son, Elvira was one to demand a real and true performance from her actors. The films produced at Dora films were done through a female gaze as well as dealing with natural life in Italy. Elvira would remind her actors about sad moments in her life. This was “reminiscent of neorealism”. Elvira is credited with contributing to the acting school as well as being a scriptwriter. It is understood that she might have also worked on the editing of the films they produced.
Elvira Notari relied on women's literature when it came to the development of her ideas. In her “female melodramas” she focuses on the female perspective. Elvira had a tendency of portraying the "dark woman", the femme fatale, a woman who deviated from the norm. There was a focus on the female body as well as female fantasy, which is an aspect of Elvira Natori's work. In her works "'Nfama!" and "A Piedigrotta" the female leads are described as the "unruly female figure"[6] the films go on to portray the struggle of these women. One of the other themes in her films, that present these types of women, is desire. Men desiring women, women desiring some sort of feeling or emotion.
Censorship in Italy had come down on Dora films. The films shined a light on aspects of Italian life that many found unsuitable to be portrayed. The films often dealt with “crude language and sexual undertones,” which tested the idea of censorship. Censorship often asked for scenes to be edited or removed. Furthermore, Notari’s decline came through Fascist intervention in her own home and she inevitable shifted to Hollywood-style film, including soundtrack over her original live singers signature, with her film "Napoli terra d’amore" (1928) being a disaster with her public. A slight revival with her film, "Trionfo cristiano" (1930) (though the release date is controversial), Notari shifted once again to religious themes, again controversially due to desire for its identity change or potentially just the popularity of the style.
Moreover and more recently, Notari’s film, "A Santanotte" (1922), was restored between 2007-2008, piecing together titles explaining the censorship of a multitude of depictions within the film ranging from physical violence to drinking and more. These depictions gave Notari a difficult time with United States censorships as well, though she found success in the United States verified through ads.
Style and themes.
The feature films made by Notari were often based on Neapolitan (especially middle-class women) forms of drama. Notari shifted to the "sceneggiata", a hybrid theatrical form drawing on popular dramatic songs and the variety stage, by the early 1920s, and shot on the streets of Naples using non-professional actors. The amateur actors gave realistic vibes to her films, while each of Notari's scenes utilized the street as a natural stage filled with lights, crowds, and their voices alike, rather than shot in a "Cinecittà." Notari defined her passionate dramas as part of a series defined by her as "grandi lavori popolari" (“great popular works”). The Notari's realist touch has been linked to the later neorealist movement. Elvira Notari's work presented a lot of windows representing several aspect, as well as the city being of extreme importance, especially due to her style of location shooting. Further, the city and windows expand on Notari's public and private stories, with nodes to men being part of the public space while the women the domestic space. Though Notari often featured women in the public space, they were often surrounded by men.
Later life.
At the end of Dora films in 1930, Elvira and her husband moved on in the film industry through the 1930s. Due to the incoming of sound in films and the rise of censorship, Dora films ended. Though lack of desire and sound may not be the reason she truly retired, but solely on the censorship front. Furthermore, it may also be due to the fact that it was must for Italian filmmakers to move to Rome due to the governments choices and Elvira had no desire to. Elvira moved to Cava de ‘Tirreni, near Salerno, where she retired and eventually passed on December 17, 1946. The Notari’s started a photography equipment store . Later on her husband became a film distributor .