Historical Advanced Squad Leader module

Historical Advanced Squad Leader (HASL) are additional modules for the tactical wargame Advanced Squad Leader intended to depict historical events using maps produced from terrain maps, and featuring linked scenarios called Campaign Games. This article only lists official products produced by Multi-Man Publishing and Avalon Hill.
HASLs are not standalone, other ASL products are necessary for play (see ), including counters, dice, the ASL Rulebook and in the case of the Historical Studies, geomorphic mapboards. In addition, some extra equipment is included in most HASL's, such as extra copies of commonly used counters in order to prevent shortages of vehicle or infantry types, as well as module-specific informational markers. Finally, each module/study contains its own rulebook chapter pages (or pages for just part of a chapter, in cases where multiple HASL modules share the same rulebook chapter), which give rules for module-specific terrain and units, as well as campaign game rules, and a black and white miniature of the historical map (if included) which can be photocopied and written on during the course of campaign play.
MMP differentiates products between "Historical Modules" and "Historical Studies". The primary difference is that Studies include some scenarios that use geomorphic mapboards. In most other respects, Modules and Studies are the same. They both contain historical maps, counters, rules, Campaign Games, and historical information. For the purpose of this article, modules and studies are treated equally and referred to as a "HASL".
Campaign Games.
The centerpiece of HASL's, aside from the maps, are the Campaign Games.
The Campaign Game (abbreviated CG throughout the rules and hereafter) allows for a wide variety of situations and nearly limitless possibilities. Each player, or team of players, is assigned a certain force, given in terms of Companies, Platoons and Batteries as well as a number of campaign Purchase Points (CPP) and Fortification Purchase Points (FPP).
Each Company...is composed of a set number of squads and support weapons. Further, each Company can be either in a full-strength or depleted state...The CPPs are used to purchase additional forces throughout the game.
Unit purchases are made during a Refit phase taking place between game days – instead of a set number of game turns, actions now take place in game days. A game day is of variable length...
At the end of a campaign day both players place perimeter markings along their front lines, or around units if they're isolated. The perimeter serves as your start line for the next campaign day. This will usually result in wild jagged lines penetrating into enemy held areas which show where your last major effort was made...After each campaign day in which at least one side had decided to go on the offensive, each day varies from a minimum of five (game) turns to an infinite amount (though likely less than eight)...both sides (then) refit and redeploy anywhere along their defined perimeter...
Opposing sides do not fight tooth and nail every day. At the outset of each campaign day each side secretly chooses a(n)...Initiative chit, outlining its intentions (Attack or Idle)...On all results except (both players choosing) Idle, another game day is played out with its varying length. If both sides are Idle, then a game day passes without being played out...(either way, at day's end) both sides again go through the Refit Phase...The Refit Phase features events like promotion, extinguishing blazes, AFV machine gun exchange and scrounging (as well as purchasing fresh forces with CPP and FPP).
Perhaps the only perceived drawback to the historical modules was a lessened re-playability. By their nature, map-boards were small and focused on close-in terrain such as urban, forest or jungle. While new scenarios for play on the historical maps were occasionally found in ASL themed periodicals such as ASL Annual or ASL Journal, the limited scope of the fighting on these maps restricted the number and type of scenarios possible. However, the dynamics of the campaign games guaranteed that no two CG would play out the same, even with the use of similar forces and identical terrain.
HASL (boxed).
"Red Barricades".
Red Barricades (RB) was released in 1989 and focused on the fighting for the Krasnaya Barrikady ordnance factory complex in Stalingrad. It was designed by Charlie Kibler and was revolutionary since it was the first ASL module to include a large format map and other features now considered standard in big HASL modules. Special additions for this module include rules for new terrain types including debris, railway embankments, culverts, storage tanks, single hex two-story buildings, and modified rules for gullies, factories and cellars. As well, two new weapons (the Soviet Molotov cocktail projector, also known to Combat Mission players as an ampulomet) and the German StuIG (a 150mm infantry gun on a Panzer III chassis) are introduced. Three Campaign Games are included as well as 7 standalone scenarios. The Campaign Games include "Into the Factory" (17–29 October 1942), Operation Hubertus (11–15 November 1942) and The Barrikady (17 October – 15 November 1942). Scenarios included were RB1-RB7. Additional scenarios were also printed in the ASL Annual. Prerequisites included the ASL Rulebook and Beyond Valor.
This module was discontinued by Multi-Man Publishing but released as part of the 2nd Edition of Beyond Valor, which also went out of print. Multi-Man Publishing returned to the 1942 Stalingrad campaign with the "Valor of the Guards" historical module, which focused on the fighting around the central Stalingrad railway station including Pavlov's House. A sequel to Red Barricades named Red October was designed by Charlie Kibler. It has not yet been released as a separate HASL module, but it has been released as part of Red Factories, which combines both the original Red Barricades and Red October. See HASL 10 below.
"Kampfgruppe Peiper I".
Kampfgruppe Peiper I (1993) is the first of a two part module, focusing on the fighting by one of the SS armoured spearheads in the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. Kampfgruppe Peiper is best known as the unit that perpetrated the Malmedy massacre, but that incident is not portrayed in the game, nor is the Baugnez Crossroads where the massacre took place. The rules chapter for this HASL Module includes rules for Pine Woods, Slope hexsides, and barbed wire fences, as well as modifications of existing rules for stream-hex terrain, village terrain, hillside walls and hedges, and known minefields. One mapsheet, for terrain surrounding Stoumont, Belgium, is included as well as 1 campaign game ("Clash at Stoumont", 19 – 21 December 1944) and 4 standalone scenarios. Scenarios KGP1-KGP4.
Prerequisites included the ASL Rulebook and Beyond Valor and Yanks.
"Kampfgruppe Peiper II".
Kampfgruppe Peiper II (1995) is the second half of the Kampfgruppe Peiper module (commonly abbreviated as KGP II). Acting as a companion to the KGP I module, it depicts the fighting between Waffen SS forces of Battle Group Peiper near the Belgian villages of Cheneux and La Gleize. Three mapsheets are included; a two-piece sheet covering the terrain around La Gleize and a single Cheneux sheet. Additional rules for Chapter P of the ASL Rulebook are also included.
Six standard scenarios using small portions of the two maps are included as well as one large or "monster" scenario using the entire La Gleize map. Scenarios KGP5 – KGP11.
"Pegasus Bridge".
Pegasus Bridge (1996) depicts the fighting at the so-called Pegasus Bridge on 6 June 1944, one of the events famously depicted in the 1962 film "The Longest Day" and also the subject of a book by Stephen Ambrose by the same name.
The module contains six stand-alone scenarios in addition to the requisite Campaign Games, two in number in this module. The mapsheet depicts the bridge and surrounding towns of Benouville and Le Port. Chapter Q of the ASL Rule Book is included. Additionally, Day 7 of the Chapter K training module is included (later released with the second version of the ASL Rulebook). Scenarios: PB1 – PB6.
"A Bridge Too Far".
A Bridge Too Far (1999) is named after Cornelius Ryan's famous book about Operation Market Garden, this module depicts the fighting by Lieutenant Colonel John Frost's parachute battalion at the Arnhem Bridge in September 1944.
Prerequisites include the ASL Rulebook, Beyond Valor, Yanks and either the 1st edition of West of Alamein or the new edition of For King and Country. Scenarios ABTF1-ABTF9.
The new rules chapter includes special rules for the Arnhem Bridge, the ramp leading up to the bridge, and a blockhouse located on the bridge, as well as new rules for factories and cellars, wide city boulevards, unit replacements, and partial orchards. Three campaign games are included as well as 9 standalone scenarios; the campaign games being "Block by Bloody Block" (17–19 September 1944), "A Dark and Fateful Day" (19–21 September 1944, and "A Bridge Too Far" (17–21 September 1944).
"Blood Reef: Tarawa".
Blood Reef: Tarawa (1999) depicts the landings at Betio Atoll in 1943 by United States Marines. It contains three campaign games and 7 standalone scenarios.
"Operation Watchtower".
Operation Watchtower (2001) is the first so-called "historical study" which combined actual (or "historical") maps with scenarios played on the geomorphic maps released with the core modules. This HASL module depicts the fighting on Guadalcanal from 7 August 1942 until February 1943.
"Operation Veritable".
Released in 2002 this historical study is the first official module to contain scenarios depicting Canadians (other than the Rogue Scenarios of the original Squad Leader game). A campaign game called "Riley's Road" is included with a historical terrain map, as well as scenarios using the geomorphic maps (and in one case using only terrain overlays). The scenarios all feature British and Canadian forces during Operation Veritable, the battles to clear the last German holdouts west of the Rhine, to the east of the Nijmegen Salient, as a preparation for the 21st Army Group's crossing of the Rhine River in March 1945.
The rules feature several new terrain types, as well as the German Sturmtiger AFV.
Being dependent on the geomorphic mapboards, the prerequisites for this module are many, including the ASL rulebook, "all core modules" according to the official website, and boards 4,5,11,19,43,46,49, and 50.
"Valor of the Guards".
"Valor of the Guards" (VotG) was published January 2008 and designed by Tom Morin. It covers the fighting in Stalingrad during September 1942 near the Central Railway Station and includes several famous historical locations such as Pavlov's House and the Univermag Department Store where General Paulus had his headquarters at the time of the surrender in February 1943. The rules include, as is common for HASL modules, several new terrain types. In VotG, this includes burned out stone buildings, Plazas, and partially destroyed buildings.
This Historical Module 7 was initially slated for a 2006 release but was actually released in 2008. Early advertisements for this game were seen as early as 2002 in ASL Journal #3, stating that pre-orders would be taken beginning in 2003. Pre-orders for the game went onto the MMP website on 21 December 2005.
"Festung Budapest".
"Festung Budapest" (FB) was published January 2012 and designed by Bill Cirillo. It covers the Siege of Budapest in 1945, during the period from 1 January through 10 February. Included are 17 scenarios and 3 Campaign Games. It requires only ownership of "Beyond Valor" except for one of the Campaign Games which optionally needs "Armies of Oblivion" (depending on resources purchased during the campaign).
"Hatten In Flames".
"Hatten In Flames" (HIF) was published August 2018 and was designed by Andy Rogers. It covers the fighting near Strasbourg in December 1944 between the American 7th Army and German 21st Panzer Divisin and 25th Panzergrenadier during operation Nordwind. The module focuses on the first five days of the fighting inside Hatten, as panzer units sought to break through to the open terrain of Alsace that lay beyond Hatten and Rittershoffen. These capture the portion of the battle where an intense combined-arms struggle between a few handfuls of infantry companies and tank platoons of both sides played out on a daily basis in this small French village. Included are 8 scenarios and 2 Campaign Games. It requires only ownership of "Beyond Valor" and "Yanks".
"Red Factories".
The HASL module 10 "Red Factories" (RF) was published in January 2019, designed by Charles Kibler. It incorporates a reprinting of "Red Barricades" (HASL 1) together with a new 'sister' module "Red October" (which apparently may become available separately). Red October covers fighting at the adjacent 'Krasny Oktyabr' factory complex in Stalingrad in late 1942. It comes with a new historical map (split in two, and which attaches to the side of the Red Barricades map), 7 new scenarios and 3 campaign games. It also introduces some additional rules, which have been combined with the original rules from Red Barricades into a revised Chapter O. There are also 8 sheets of counters. Ownership of only "Beyond Valor" is required to play.
HASL (periodicals).
There have also been Historical Advanced Squad Leader offerings published in periodicals.
"Gavutu-Tanambogo".
ASL Annual '93b features a Gavutu-Tanambogo HASL feature with rules, scenarios, campaign games, and historical map insert. The module depicts the fighting for these two islands from 7 to 9 August 1942. These two small islands dominated the approach to Florida Island's deep water anchorage and were ordered secured as part of the invasion of Guadalcanal on 7 August 1942. The islands, garrison, and attack forces were small enough to be represented in their entirety in ASL format for this feature. This HASL module does not include a stand alone map. Instead, it includes three new overlays for each island that are placed atop the Ocean overlays from Gung Ho!
Both stand-alone scenarios as well as historical Campaign Games are included in the ASL Annual '93b issue. MMP has included this module as part of the "Rising Sun" core module.
"The Road To Nhpum Ga".
ASL Annual '97 includes a mini HASL game which consists of a fold out map, Campaign article and 4 scenarios. The game was designed by Chuck Powers and is set in Burma in late March 1944. The Campaign notes also refer to some scenarios (Orange at Walawbum / Last of their strength, etc.) that deal with the topic and are included in the Winter '95 ASL Annual.
"Kakazu Ridge".
ASL Journal #2 presents a Kakazu Ridge historical study which includes a full-sized HASL map, scenarios, counters and articles. This module depicts fighting on Okinawa in 1945.
"Primosole Bridge".
ASL Journal #6, released in 2005, offers a Primosole Bridge HASL feature with Rulebook Chapter, campaign games and historical map insert. This was designed by Randy Yeates. The Primosole Bridge battle occurred during the fighting on Sicily in 1943.
"Suicide Creek".
"Suicide Creek", designed by Darrell Andersen, covers combat between the 7th Marine Regiment and the Japanese 141st Infantry Regiment at the Battle of Cape Gloucester, New Britain, in early 1944. There is one Campaign Game and six stand-alone scenarios. It was published in ASL Journal #9 in 2011.


Edmund Thomas Parris

Edmund Thomas Parris (3 June 1793 – 27 November 1873) was an English history, portrait, subject, and panorama painter, book illustrator, designer and art restorer. He was appointed history painter to Queen Adelaide, Queen Consort of William IV, and painted Queen Victoria's coronation in 1838 and the Duke of Wellington's funeral in 1852. He supervised the painting of the huge panorama in the London Colosseum in Regent's Park, London, and was the inventor of "Parris's medium".
Life and work.
Parris, was born in the parish of St. Marylebone, London on 3 June 1793, the son of Edward and Grace Parris. He showed an early talent for art and was placed with Jewellers "Ray and Montague" (John Ray and James Montague), to learn enamel-painting and metal-chasing. During his apprenticeship, his leisure time was given to the study of mechanics, which subsequently proved to be of great use to him.
In 1816 he entered the schools of the Royal Academy, and commenced the study of anatomy under Dr. Carpue. His first important picture, "Christ blessing little Children", was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1824. In that year, when the proposal was first made to undertake the restoration of James Thornhill's paintings in the cupola of St. Paul's Cathedral, Parris devised an ingenious apparatus for gaining access to them which attracted much attention, and led to his engagement by Thomas Hornor to assist him in the production of his panorama of London at the Colosseum, for which he had been making sketches since 1820. Upon this immense work, which covered nearly an acre of canvas and presented formidable artistic and mechanical challenges, Parris laboured incessantly for four years, completing it in November 1829.
Soon after he painted, in conjunction with William Daniell, R.A., a panorama of Madras, for which he also constructed a building. A wholly different class of art, in which Parris gained a great temporary reputation, was the portrayal of female beauty, and he was for some years a fashionable portrait painter. His picture "The Bridesmaid", which was exhibited at the British Institution in 1830, and purchased by Sir Robert Peel, became very popular through the engraving by James Bromley (engraver); and many of his single figures and groups, composed in the same weak, sentimental style, were engraved in the "Keepsake" and similar publications.
In 1836 and 1838 three sets of plates from his drawings were published, entitled respectively, "Flowers of loveliness", "Gems of Beauty", and "The Passions", with illustrative verses by Lady Blessington; he also provided illustrations for her "Confessions of an Elderly Gentleman" (1836), and "Confessions of an Elderly Lady" (1838), to much popular approval. His illustrations were also used in several other books.
On Queen Victoria's first state visit to Drury Lane Theatre in November 1837, Parris, from a seat in the orchestra, made a sketch of her as she stood in her box, and from this painted a portrait, of which an engraving, by Charles Edward Wagstaff, was published by Hodgson & Graves in the following April. In 1838 he was commissioned by the same firm to paint a picture of the Queen's coronation, and he received sittings for this purpose from the Queen and all the chief personages who were present; a print of this, also executed by Wagstaff, appeared in 1842. At the cartoon competition in Westminster Hall in 1843, Parris gained a prize of £100. for his "Joseph of Arimathsea converting the Britons".
In 1852, he painted the Duke of Wellington's funeral. Also in that year, the proposal to restore Thornhill's paintings in St. Paul's was revived and the commission given to Parris, who, bringing into use the scaffold he had designed for the purpose nearly thirty years before, commenced the task in 1853, and completed it in July 1856. Opinions about the appropriateness of Parris's restoration were divided, with one critic W. A. J. Archbold commenting that "the state of decay into which Thornhill's work had fallen rendered some kind of reparation necessary, but the complete repainting carried out by Parris almost wholly deprived it of such interest as it ever possessed".
Parris was a frequent exhibitor of historical and fancy subjects at the Royal Academy and British Institution from 1816 to the end of his life, and in 1832 received the appointment of historical painter to Queen Adelaide. Throughout his career his untiring industry and great facility of invention led him to engage in almost every description of artistic work, and he made innumerable designs for stained-glass windows, carpets, screens, etc. He assisted Robert Smirke in preparing Westminster Abbey for the coronation of William IV, and was much employed in decorating the mansions of the nobility.
One of his last important undertakings was the preparation of a model for a piece of tapestry, forty feet long, for the Paris exhibition of 1867. At one time Parris carried on a life-drawing school at his house in Grafton Street, Bond Street. He invented a medium which, when mixed with oil, produced a
dull fresco-like surface; this was widely known as "Parris's Medium."
Edmund Thomas Parris died at 27 Francis Street, Bedford Square, London, on 27 November 1873.
John Haslem (1808-1884), a porcelain and enamel painter, was a pupil of Parris's.


Yaroslav Mudriy

Yaroslav Mudriy (English: "Yaroslav the Wise") is an opera in eight scenes, comprised in three acts, by the Ukrainian composer Heorhiy Maiboroda, written in 1973 and premiered in 1975. The composer himself adapted the libretto from a dramatic poem by .
Conceived on a grand scale, and written in a straightforward diatonic style, the opera evokes comparisons (not entirely in its favour) to Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunov" and (especially in its last two scenes) Prokofiev's "Alexander Nevsky".
Synopsis.
11th century Kiev. Yaroslav is Great Prince of the Kievan Rus', married to the Swedish princess Ingigerda. The episodic plot of the opera - which contains a number of perplexing coincidences and bewildering changes of character by the leading roles, and scarcely testifies overall to the hero's wisdom - deals with Yaroslav's attempts to govern despite the destabilising influences of the town of Novgorod, the Viking Varangians, and the invading Pechenegs. Many of the characters are actual historical personages.
Act I.
Scene 1.
The palace. The scribe Sylvestr supervises his pupils, including Mykyta who is in fact the son of Kosnyatyn, the governor of Novgorod, imprisoned by Yaroslav. Both Mykyta and the visiting Harald of Norway are struck by the beauty of Yaroslav's daughter, Elizaveta; Mykyta sets aside his intention of assassinating Yaroslav.
Scene 2.
Harald declares his love for Elizaveta, but Yaroslav says he must first win himself a kingdom. Zhureyko complains to Yaroslav that a Viking, Turvald, has attempted to rape his wife Mylusha and has murdered her brother. When Elizaveta pleads for clemency, Yaroslav remits the death sentence for a fine. Turvald however continues to menace Mylusha - Zhureyko kills him and flees.
Act II.
Scene 3.
Yaroslav broods over his problems. Enter Ingigerda, who pleads for another Viking, Ulf, whom Yaroslav wishes to exile. They argue, Ingigerda accusing him of being low-born. A noble enters to tell Yaroslav of the intended rebellion of Novgorod, and Yaroslav orders the death of Kosnyatin.
Scene 4.
Harald returns, having become King of Norway. He is espoused to Elizaveta to the jubilation of the population.
Scene 5.
Messengers from Novgorod tell Mykyta, who is musing over his loss of Elizaveta, of the death of his father. Djemma, a girl from Harald's retinue, declares her love for Mykyta, who vainly fobs her off, claiming he is a monk. He determines to take revenge on Yaroslav (but in fact does nothing). Zhureyko returns to Kiev in secret and happens to overhear Ingigerda plotting with Ulf to murder Yaroslav. He sends Mylusha to warn the prince, but she is captured and murdered by Ulf's henchmen. Zhureyko escapes them and denounces Ulf and Ingigerda, who is sent to a nunnery.
Act III.
Scene 6.
Some years later. Mykyta and Djemma return from Norway (it is not explained what they were doing there) with news of the death of Elizaveta. The nobleman Myroslav then tells the distraught Prince Yaroslav that the Pechenegs are invading. Enter Zhureyko, who has somehow got early wind of this news and has been on his own initiative to Novgorod to get support against this new joint enemy. Mykyta makes a sarcastic comment that Yaroslav always has to rely on the Novgorodians whom he so maltreats; Yaroslav moves to strike him but is dumbfounded when Djemma reveals that he is Kosnyatyn's son.
Scene 7.
The battle against the Pechenegs is graphically described in a lively intermezzo for orchestra.
Scene 8.
Yaroslav has been triumphant, although Mykyta has died defending Kiev. The people praise their wise ruler.


Between Two Worlds (novel)

Between Two Worlds is the second novel in Upton Sinclair's Lanny Budd series. First published in 1941, the story covers the period from 1919 to 1929
Plot.
This volume deals with the aftermath of World War I in Europe during the 1920s (with the Beer Hall Putsch, the Italian fascist regime and some of the important conferences) and later the Roaring Twenties.
After two disastrous affairs with married women Lanny marries in the end a rich heiress from New York, Irma. In the climax Lanny covers his father's stock market margin call on Black Thursday, Oct 24th 1929, then insists that his father sell all his stocks the next market day, thus escaping the carnage of Black Tuesday. His efforts to save his wife's wealth were not quite as successful, and her uncle was wiped out.


The Heart of Midlothian (film)

The Heart of Midlothian is a 1914 British silent historical film directed by Frank Wilson and starring Flora Morris, Violet Hopson and Alma Taylor. It is an adaptation of Sir Walter Scott's 1818 novel "The Heart of Midlothian".
The American company Famous Players released a rival film in May 1914 on the same subject called "A Woman's Triumph".


The Men Who Killed Kennedy

The Men Who Killed Kennedy is a video documentary series by British television network ITV that depicts the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Originally broadcast in 1988 in two parts (with a subsequent studio discussion), it was rebroadcast in 1991 re-edited to three parts with additional material, and a fourth episode added in 1995. The addition of three further episodes in 2003 caused great controversy, particularly in the final episode implicating Lyndon B. Johnson and the withdrawal of these additional episodes.
Broadcast history and critical response.
1988 to 2003.
"The Men Who Killed Kennedy" began with two 50-minute segments originally aired on 25 October 1988 in the United Kingdom, entitled simply "Part One" and "Part Two." The programmes were produced by Central Television for the ITV network, and was followed three weeks later with a studio discussion on the issues titled "The Story Continues," chaired by broadcaster Peter Sissons.
The original broadcast was controversial in Britain. The episodes identified three men as the assassins of Kennedy: deceased drug trafficker Lucien Sarti and two living men (Roger Bocagnani and Sauveur Pironti). All three were later revealed to have strong alibis: Sarti was undergoing medical treatment in France, another was in prison at the time, and the third had been in the French Navy. One of the two living men threatened to sue, and Central Television's own subsequent investigation into the allegations revealed they were "total nonsense". Turner justified his failure to interview one of the accused on the grounds that the individual was "too dangerous". Turner was censured by the British Parliament. The Independent Broadcasting Authority forced Central Television to produce a third episode dedicated to the false allegations, which aired on November 16, 1988, which was later referred to as a "studio crucifixion" of Turner and his inaccuracies.
The United States corporation, Arts & Entertainment Company, purchased the rights to the original two segments. In 1989, the series was nominated for a Flaherty Documentary Award. In November 1991, the series was re-edited with additional material and divided into three 50-minute programmes, which were also shown by ITV on consecutive nights. An additional episode appeared in 1995. The series typically aired in November every year and from time to time during the year.
2003 onwards.
In November 2003, three additional segments ("The Final Chapter") were added by the History Channel, entitled, respectively, "The Smoking Guns", "The Love Affair" and "The Guilty Men".
"The Smoking Guns" examines claims of changes to the procedures normally followed by the Secret Service on the day of the assassination, bullet damage to windshield of the president's limousine consistent with a bullet fired through it from the front, and discrepancies between observations made by the doctors who treated Kennedy at Parkland Hospital after the shooting and the official autopsy and photographs of the president's body which were cited by the Warren Commission.
"The Love Affair" focused on the claims of Judyth Vary Baker to have been Lee Harvey Oswald's lover in 1963, and to have worked with Oswald and others to develop a cancer-causing biological weapon as part of a CIA plan to assassinate Fidel Castro.
The third of these additional segments – "The Guilty Men" – was based substantially on the book "Blood, Money & Power: How L.B.J. Killed J.F.K." by Barr McClellan. The book and the episode directly implicates Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) – who was the U.S. Vice President at the time of the assassination – and its airing in 2003 created an outcry among Johnson's surviving associates, including Johnson's widow, Lady Bird Johnson, former LBJ aides Bill Moyers and Jack Valenti (longtime president of the Motion Picture Association of America), as well as U.S. Presidents Gerald Ford – who was the last-living (at the time of the outcry) Warren Commission member – and Jimmy Carter. These Johnson supporters lodged complaints of libel with the History Channel, and subsequently threatened legal action against Arts & Entertainment Company, owner of the History Channel. The History Channel responded by assembling a panel of three historians, Robert Dallek, Stanley Kutler, and Thomas Sugrue. On a program aired April 7, 2004, titled "The Guilty Man: A Historical Review," the panel agreed that the documentary was not credible and should not have aired. The History Channel issued a statement saying, in part, "The History Channel recognizes that 'The Guilty Men' failed to offer viewers context and perspective, and fell short of the high standards that the network sets for itself. The History Channel apologized to its viewers and to Mrs. Johnson and her family for airing the show." The channel said it would not show the episode again. Author Barr McClellan, on whose work the episode was largely based, complained that he had tried to cooperate with the reviewing historians to discuss his evidence with them, and had been ignored.
Malcolm Liggett, a retired economics professor, labor economist at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and employee of the Office for Wage and Price Stability in the Executive Office of the President from 1975 to 1981 sued A&E regarding the episode "The Smoking Guns," which claimed Liggett was involved in a conspiracy to kill Kennedy. Liggett and A&E reached a settlement, which required that a letter by Liggett be read on the show "History Center."
David Browne of "Entertainment Weekly" described the documentary as "well-researched, but still farfetched". Addressing "The Guilty Men" episode, Dorothy Rabinowitz of "The Wall Street Journal" called it a "primitive piece of conspiracy-mongering" and wrote that "the documentary's ever deepening mess of charges and motives is never less than clear about its main point—that Lyndon Johnson personally arranged the murder not only of the president, but also seven other people, including his own sister."
In a letter to the chief executives of the three parent companies of A & E Networks, — Victor F. Ganzi of the Hearst Corporation, Michael D. Eisner of Disney, and Robert C. Wright of NBC — former United States President Gerald Ford described the allegations as "the most damaging accusations ever made against a former vice president and president in American history."
Episode list.
"The first two episodes were followed by "The Story Continues" (16 November 1988), a critical studio discussion about them. The final episode was followed by a critical review, "The Guilty Men: A Historical Review." (7 April 2004)."


Memorials to William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare has been commemorated in a number of different statues and memorials around the world, notably his funerary monument in Stratford-upon-Avon (c. 1623); a statue in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey, London, designed by William Kent and executed by Peter Scheemakers (1740); and a statue in New York's Central Park by John Quincy Adams Ward (1872).
17th century.
 Shakespeare's funerary monument is the earliest memorial to the playwright, located inside Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, UK, the same church in which he was baptised. The exact date of its construction is not known, but must have been between Shakespeare's death in 1616 and 1623, when it is mentioned in the First Folio of the playwright's works.
The monument, by Gerard Johnson, is mounted on a wall above Shakespeare's grave. It features a bust of the poet, who holds a quill pen in one hand and a piece of paper in another. His arms are resting on a cushion. Above him is the Shakespeare family's coat of arms, on either side of which stands two allegorical figures: one, representing Labour, holds a spade, the other, representing Rest, holds a torch and a skull.
18th century.
As Shakespeare's reputation rose, monuments began to be created in nationally significant locations. William Kent designed a statue for Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey. The design was executed by the sculptor Peter Scheemakers and installed in 1740. Its creation was funded by Lord Burlington and Alexander Pope, among others. At least two fundraising events were led by the efforts of the Shakespeare Ladies Club: a benefit performance of "Julius Caesar" on April 28, 1738 at Drury Lane and a benefit performance of "Hamlet" on April 10, 1739 at Covent Garden. There are carved heads on the pedestal, which probably depict Queen Elizabeth I, Henry V and Richard III. Shakespeare is depicted leaning on books and pointing to a scroll which has a slightly misquoted version of Prospero's lines from "The Tempest" about the globe dissolving to "leave not a wrack behind". A variant of Kent's design was installed in a Glasgow theatre in 1764. It is now in the Theatre Royal in Dunlop Street.
In 1757 the English actor David Garrick commissioned a marble statue of William Shakespeare from the French sculptor Louis-François Roubiliac for his Palladian Temple to Shakespeare at Hampton. Garrick himself is thought to have posed for the statue. It was bequeathed, along with Garrick's books, to the British Museum in 1779; in 2005 it was transferred to the British Library. Garrick later commissioned Roubiliac to produce a bust of the poet for his Shakespeare festival in Stratford in 1769; this is now in the Garrick Club in London.
In 1788, in the exterior wall of John Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery building, the architect George Dance the Younger placed Thomas Banks's sculpture "Shakespeare attended by Painting and Poetry", for which the artist was paid 500 guineas. The sculpture depicted Shakespeare, reclining against a rock, between the Dramatic Muse and the Genius of Painting. Beneath it was a panelled pedestal inscribed with a quotation from "Hamlet": "He was a Man, take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again". The building was later used by the British Institution. After its demolition the monument was relocated to the garden of New Place in Stratford.
19th century.
By the nineteenth century Shakespeare's reputation had advanced to the point of what came to be known as bardolatry. Statues and other memorials began to appear outside Britain, while in Britain itself Shakespeare's status as national poet was consolidated.
United States.
New York City's Central Park contains a statue of Shakespeare that was commissioned in 1864 as a celebration of the tricentenary of Shakespeare's birth in 1564. Funds were raised by a performance of "Julius Caesar" in which Edwin Booth took the lead role, with John Wilkes Booth playing Mark Antony. The statue was designed by John Quincy Adams Ward. Following the creation of the statue, in 1873 commissioners proposed that the Mall should be a designated location for sculpture and the statue was moved there, soon to be accompanied by others (in 1986, a replica of the statue was made for the State Theater in Montgomery, Alabama, which has a yearly Shakespeare Festival).
In 1888, a large seated statue by William Ordway Partridge was unveiled in Lincoln Park, Chicago and in 1896 a bronze statue of Shakespeare by Frederick William MacMonnies was erected as part of a series representing the world's geniuses in the gallery of the reading-room of the Library of Congress.
Britain.
With the removal of Banks's sculpture to New Place in 1871 London boasted no outdoor public memorial to the bard, and the erection of the New York statue in 1872 made this omission particularly glaring. In 1874 the financier Baron Albert Grant, wishing to address this situation, installed a fountain with a marble statue of Shakespeare at its centre in the gardens of Leicester Square. Sculpted by Giovanni Fontana, this was a replica of Scheemakers's monument in Poets' Corner. Another statue was erected in Stratford, London, a suburb with the same name as Shakespeare's home town.
In 1877 a committee was created in Stratford-upon-Avon to erect a memorial to Shakespeare. This originally comprised a theatre building, to be sited on land donated by the bank of the Avon within sight of the church where Shakespeare was buried. A statue was also created in 1888, the work of Lord Ronald Gower. This is situated in Stratford's Bancroft Gardens. The monument shows Shakespeare seated on a pedestal, surrounded, at ground level, by statues of Hamlet, Lady Macbeth, Prince Hal, and Falstaff. These characters were intended to be emblematic of Shakespeare's creative versatility: representing Philosophy, Tragedy, History, and Comedy. Another statue is present in a niche on the exterior of the town hall building.
Other countries.
Though most memorials are to be found in English speaking countries, there are also monuments elsewhere. In 1888 a statue was erected on the Boulevard Haussmann in Paris, designed by Paul Fournier.
20th century.
Britain.
Between 1970 and 1993, an image of the Poets' Corner statue of Shakespeare appeared on the reverse of Series D £20 notes issued by the Bank of England. Alongside the statue was an engraving of the balcony scene from "Romeo and Juliet".
A complex memorial to Shakespeare was created in Southwark Cathedral, which was his parish church when he lived in London close to the Globe Theatre. It is also the burial place of Shakespeare's brother Edmund, along with other Elizabethan actors and playwrights. A recumbent statue of Shakespeare, created by Henry McCarthy in 1912, was placed in a niche on which was carved images of Elizabethan Southwark depicting the Globe, Winchester Palace and the tower of the church. An elaborate stained glass window was also created, depicting Shakespearean characters. The original window was destroyed by a bomb blast in World War II but was replaced in 1954. A birthday celebration of Shakespeare is held every year in April.
Continental Europe.
Despite Germany's early role in canonising Shakespeare it was not until 1904 that a statue was erected in Weimar showing him, as one critic has put it, "seated and staring into the distance with a bemused and thoughtful look". It was designed by Otto Lessing.
In Denmark, a memorial statue was commissioned to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the publication of "Hamlet" in 1603. The statue, designed by Louis Hasselriis, was funded by public subscription and erected in Elsinore, along with a sculpture of Hamlet.
Australia.
A memorial in Sydney, Australia was erected in 1926, designed by Australian sculptor Sir Bertram MacKennal. It was commissioned by Henry Gullett (d. 4 August 1914), a former president of the Shakespeare Society of New South Wales. Paid for with a bequest from his estate, Gullett's daughter Lucy Gullett ensured that the commission was carried out after her father's death. It depicts not only Shakespeare at the top, but five of his most famous characters around the base – Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet embracing, Portia and Falstaff. It is located in Shakespeare Place, between the Mitchell Library (part of the State Library of New South Wales) and the Royal Botanic Gardens. In 1959 the statue was repositioned to make way for the Cahill Expressway.
Though initiated in 1889, the project to create a Shakespeare statue in Ballarat was not completed until 1960. Financial problems led to repeated shelving of the project. Eventually private donations to the fund produced sufficient resources to commission a bronze sculpture from Andor Meszaros, an Australian artist originally from Hungary. The statue depicts Shakespeare bowing, as if at the end of a performance.
North America.
A statue was created for Logan Circle, Philadelphia in 1926, designed by Alexander Stirling Calder. It does not depict Shakespeare himself, but rather the figures of Touchstone the jester from "As You Like It", representing comedy, and Hamlet, representing tragedy. Touchstone is lounging with his head tilted laughing, his feet hanging over the top of the tall stone pedestal and his left arm resting on Hamlet's legs. Hamlet is seated, brooding, his knife dangling over Touchstone's body. The opening lines of the famous All the world's a stage speech from "As You Like It" are inscribed on the pedestal beneath the figures.
A statue made from tin was erected in the gardens outside the Festival Theatre, the principal theatre on the grounds of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, held every year from April to November in Stratford, Ontario, Canada.
India.
Theatre Road, a street in the central business district of Kolkata, India, was renamed Shakespeare Sarani on 24 April 1964, to mark the fourth birth centenary of William Shakespeare.


Tieta (TV series)

Tieta is a 1989 Brazilian telenovela, produced and broadcast by Rede Globo. It originally aired between August 14, 1989 and March 30, 1990, spanning 196 episodes. It was Rede Globo's 41st primetime telenovela, preceded by "O Salvador da Pátria" and followed by "Rainha da Sucata".
It was based on Brazilian writer Jorge Amado's 1977 novel of the same name, and was written by Aguinaldo Silva, Ricardo Linhares and Ana Maria Moretzsohn. It was directed by Reynaldo Boury, Ricardo Waddington and Luiz Fernando Carvalho, under general direction by Paulo Ubiratan.
In June 2012 it was released on DVD by Globo Marcas.
Production.
Helena Gastal and Lessa de Lacerda designed over one thousand costumes for the novel. Iris Gomes da Costa researched expressions cited in the work of Jorge Amado, and colloquial terms of the region, so that the characters spoke with the accent and used the vocabulary of northeastern Brazil.
The fictional city of "Santana do Agreste" was composed of 46 buildings, 2 churches, 8 streets, 2 squares, an abandoned circus and 15 ruins. Everything was built in an area of 10,000m², in Guaratiba, a West Zone neighborhood in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The street floors were a reproduction of those made in fiberglass by local artisanin in Laranjeiras, a town in the state of Sergipe. Production artists Cristina Médicis, Marta Kubitschek and Andréa Penafiel took local objects and saints statues from Sergipe to Rio de Janeiro, in order to compose the cenography.
Soundtrack.
"Tieta" spanned two soundtrack albums, "Tieta" and "Tieta 2", both released in 1989. During its reprise, in 1994, Som Livre released an album entitled "Tieta Especial", compiling the hit songs of the two original albums. Its cover was similar to that of "Tieta 2", with a photo of Betty Faria as Tieta.


A Few Acres of Snow

A Few Acres of Snow is a board game designed by Martin Wallace. It is based on the French and Indian War of 1754-1763. Its name is taken from "a few acres of snow", words of consolation Voltaire provided King Louis XV of France, when news arrived that the French had lost Canada. The title was also used for a book by Robert Leckie.
Reimplementation.
In 2014 Treefrog released Mythotopia, a multiplayer game based on the core mechanisms in A Few Acres of Snow. A third, space themed game, "A Handful of Stars", was released – as the last game published by Treefrog Games – in 2017.


Ferdinando and Carolina

Ferdinando and Carolina () is a 1999 Italian historical comedy film directed by Lina Wertmüller.


The Lower Depths

The Lower Depths (, literally: "At the bottom") is a play by Russian dramatist Maxim Gorky written in 1902 and produced by the Moscow Arts Theatre on December 18, 1902 by under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski. It became his first major success, and a hallmark of Russian social realism. The play depicts a group of impoverished Russians living in a shelter near the Volga.
When it first appeared, "The Lower Depths" was criticized for its pessimism and ambiguous ethical message. The presentation of the lower classes was viewed as overly dark and unredemptive, and Gorky was clearly more interested in creating memorable characters than in advancing a formal plot. However, in this respect, the play is generally regarded as a masterwork.
The theme of harsh truth versus the comforting lie pervades the play from start to finish, as most of the characters choose to deceive themselves over the bleak reality of their condition.
Plot.
The cellar resembles a cave, with only one small window to illuminate its dank recesses. In a corner, thin boards partition off the room of Vaska, the young thief. In the kitchen live Kvashnya (Dough), a vendor of meat pies, the decrepit Baron, and the streetwalker Nastya. All around the room are bunks occupied by other lodgers.
Nastya, her head bent down, is absorbed in reading a novel titled "Fatal Love". The Baron, who lives largely on Nastya's earnings, seizes the book and reads its title aloud. Then he bangs Nastya over the head with it and calls her a lovesick fool. Satine raises himself painfully from his bunk at the noise. His memory is vague, but he knows he took a beating the night before, and the others tell him he had been caught cheating at cards. The Actor stirs in his bed on top of the stove. He predicts that some day Satine will be beaten to death.
The Actor reminds the Baron to sweep the floor. The landlady is strict and makes them clean every day. The Baron loudly announces that he has to go shopping; he and Kvashnya leave to make the day's purchases.
The Actor climbs down from his bunk and declares that the doctor has told him he has an organ poisoned by alcohol, and sweeping the floor would be bad for his health. Anna coughs loudly in her bunk. She is dying of consumption—there is no hope for her. Her husband, Kleshtch (Tick), is busy at his bench, where he fits old keys and locks. Anna sits up and calls to Kleshtch, offering him the dumplings that Kvashnya has left for her in the pot. Kleshtch agrees that there is no use feeding a dying woman, and so with a clear conscience he eats the dumplings.
The Actor helps Anna down from her high bed and out into the drafty hall. The sick woman is wrapped in rags. As they go through the door, the landlord, Kostilyoff, enters, nearly knocking them down. Kostilyoff looks around the dirty cellar and glances several times at Kleshtch, working at his bench. Loudly, the landlord says that the locksmith occupies too much room for two rubles a month and that henceforth the rent will be two and one-half rubles. Then Kostilyoff edges toward Vaska's room and inquires furtively if his wife has been in. Kostilyoff has good reason to suspect that his wife, Vassilisa, is sleeping with Vaska.
At last, Kostilyoff gets up the courage to call out to Vaska. The thief comes out of his room and denounces the landlord for not paying his debts, saying that Kostilyoff still owes seven rubles for a watch he had bought. Ordering Kostilyoff to produce the money immediately, Vaska sends him roughly out of the room.
The others admire Vaska for his courage and urge him to kill Kostilyoff and marry Vassilisa; then he could be landlord. Vaska thinks the idea over for a time but decides that he is too softhearted to be a landlord. Besides, he is thinking of discarding Vassilisa for her sister, Natasha. Satine asks Vaska for twenty kopecks, which the thief is glad to give; he is afraid Satine will want a ruble next.
Natasha comes in with the tramp Luka. She puts him in the kitchen to sleep with the three already there. Luka, a merry fellow, begins to sing, but he stops when all the others object. The whole group sits silent when Vassilisa comes in, sees the dirty floor, and gives orders for an immediate sweeping. She looks over the new arrival, Luka, and asks to see his passport. Because he has none, he is more readily accepted by the others. Miedviedeff, who is a policeman and Vassilisa's uncle, enters the cellar to check up on the lodging. He begins to question Luka, but when the tramp calls him sergeant, Miedviedeff leaves him alone.
That night, Anna lies in her bunk while a noisy, quarrelsome card game goes on. Luka talks gently to the consumptive woman, and Kleshtch comes from time to time to look at her. Luka remarks that her death will be hard on her husband, but Anna accuses Kleshtch of causing her death. She says that she looks forward to the rest and peace she has never known. Luka assures her she will be at peace after her death.
The card players become louder and Satine is accused of cheating. Luka quiets the riotous players; they all respect him even though they think him a liar. He tells Vaska that he will be able to reform in Siberia, and he assures the Actor that at a sanatorium he could be cured of alcoholism. Vassilisa comes in, and when the others leave, she offers Vaska three hundred rubles if he will kill Kostilyoff and set her free. That would leave Vaska free to marry Natasha, who at the moment is recovering from a beating given to her by her jealous sister. Vaska is about to refuse when Kostilyoff enters in search of his wife. He is extremely suspicious, but Vaska pushes him out of the cellar.
A noise on top of the stove reveals that Luka has overheard everything. He is not greatly disturbed and warns Vaska not to have anything to do with the vicious Vassilisa. Walking over to Anna's bunk, Luka sees that she is dead. They find Kleshtch at the saloon, and he comes to look at the body of his dead wife. The others tell him that he will have to remove the body, because in time dead people smell. Kleshtch agrees to take Anna's body outside. The Actor begins to cavort in joy, talking excitedly. He has made up his mind to go to the sanatorium for his health. Luka has told him that he can even be cured at state expense.
In the backyard that night, as Natasha is telling romantic stories to the crowd, Kostilyoff comes out and gruffly orders her in to work. As she goes in, Vassilisa pours boiling water on Natasha's feet. Vaska attempts to rescue her and knocks Kostilyoff down, and in the ensuing brawl Kostilyoff is killed. As the others slink away, Vassilisa immediately accuses Vaska of murder. Natasha thinks that Vaska has murdered Kostilyoff for the sake of Vassilisa. Natasha is almost in delirium as she wanders about accusing Vaska of murder and calling for revenge. She says to always keep the odds out of even and not to trouble the trouble until trouble troubles someone.
Sensing trouble, Luka disappears, and is never seen again. Vaska escapes a police search. Natasha is taken to the hospital. The rest of the down-and-outers continue with their daily chores much like before. Satine cheats at cards, and the Baron tries to convince the others of his former affluence. They all agree that Luka was a kind old man but a great liar.
During a bitter quarrel with Nastya, the Baron steps out in the yard. Satine and the others strike up a bawdy song, but they break off when the Baron bursts in with the news of Actor's suicide, to which Satine, quite without compassion, coldly retorts: "You spoiled the song, you idiot".
Production history.
The characters of "The Lower Depths" are said to have been inspired by the denizens of the Bugrov Homeless Shelter (, "Bugrovskaya nochlezhka") in Nizhny Novgorod, which had been built in 1880–83 by the Old Believer grain merchant and philanthropist Nikolai Alexandrovich Bugrov () in memory of his father, A. P. Bugrov. When the actors of the Moscow Arts Theatre were preparing the play for its first run in 1902, Maxim Gorky supplied them with photographs of the Nizhny Novgorod underclass taken by the famous local photographer, Maxim Dmitriev (Максим Дмитриев), to help with the realism of the acting and costumes.
Influences.
Gorky's play has been recognized as an important influence on Eugene O'Neill's 1946 drama "The Iceman Cometh". In the 1955 animated film "Lady and the Tramp"'s dog pound scene, the incarcerated and homeless Russian Wolfhound Boris quotes a passage from the play: "Miserable being must find more miserable being. Then is happy."


La Loca (opera)

La Loca "(The Madwoman)", also known as Juana la Loca "(Crazy Joanna)," is an opera by Gian Carlo Menotti, composed in 1979. It is a romantic drama about the life of Joanna of Castille (1479–1555). It was written as a vehicle for soprano Beverly Sills and received its premiere on June 3, 1979, at the San Diego Opera, followed by the New York City Opera. Critical response was largely negative, so Menotti completely reworked it. The revised version premiered in 1982 at the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy. The American premiere of the revised version took place at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, on June 1, 1984.
Composition history.
"La Loca" was Menotti's tenth opera. He wrote the libretto as well as the music, as was his custom. It was written in English, like most of Menotti's work. It consists of three acts with seven scenes. The opera was barely completed in time for the premiere, with revisions being made as late as the dress rehearsal; "pages with handwritten notes would be rushed from (Menotti's) hotel suite to the theater with the ink still wet on the pages."
The opera was written in honor of Sills' 50th birthday. It was the first work written specifically for her and was her last new role, as she retired the following year. It was commissioned by two West Coast opera lovers, Cyril Magnin and Lawrence P. Deutsch, at the urging of then-San Diego Opera director Tito Capobianco. Capobianco directed the production and the designer was Mario Vanarelli.
The role of Juana is a soprano, written for and premiered by Sills. Juana's three male counterparts – her husband Philip, father Fernando, and son Carlos – are all sung by the same baritone.
Historical background.
Juana, born November 6, 1479, was the daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon. On October 20, 1496, at the age of 16, she married Philip, son of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor. He was known as Philip the Handsome or Philip the Fair. In their nine years of marriage she gave birth to six children. Due to deaths in the family she became the heiress to the two Spanish kingdoms. When her mother died in 1504 she became Queen of Castile and Philip became King Philip I of Castile. Her father Ferdinand of Aragon, attempting to keep control of Castile, argued that Juana was mentally unstable and was named her guardian. Her husband Philip resisted Ferdinand's maneuvering. In 1506 Philip and Ferdinand formally agreed that Juana should be excluded from government. A few months later Philip died of typhoid fever. She attempted to retain power as Queen of Castile but was unable to secure her position, and power was handed over to her father Ferdinand. She refused to sign the abdication papers, so she remained as the titular queen, but was confined to a nunnery. All authority was exercised in her name by her father, and after his death, by her son and heir Charles, who later became Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. She was kept in confinement at the Convent of Santa Clara at Tordesillas, where she died at the age of 75.
Synopsis.
Act 1.
Juana and Philip, entering into their arranged marriage, dismiss their attendants and sing a love duet. Years later Juana is still passionately in love with Philip, but he engages in numerous infidelities and tries to get her to sign her claim to the Spanish throne over to him. However, Philip dies.
Act 2.
While taking Philip's body back to Spain, Juana opens the coffin and sings to him. When she arrives in Spain, her father Fernando attempts to get her to sign over the kingdom. When she refuses, he confines her to a convent and takes away all her children except her daughter Catalina.
Act 3.
Juana's father has died, and now her son Carlos is demanding that she sign abdication papers. When she refuses, he takes Catalina away and orders that the window of her cell be boarded up. In the final scene she is dying after 46 years of confinement. The priest Miguel, who had once been a knight in attendance on her, assures her that God is a faithful bridegroom.


Birmingham Rewound

Birmingham Rewound is an ongoing non-profit website to collect memories from the Birmingham, Alabama area. The site was set up in January 2005 following the response from the Birmingham area. Russell Wells is the webmaster and Tim Hollis assists with local data and historical information. Tim Hollis has written several books on the Birmingham area and Southeast Culture. Monthly features appear on the Birmingham Rewound website on various topics of local interest and local newspaper articles and memories. The site has over 10,000 hits a month from around the world. The Alabama Broadcasters Association has also linked to this site as being an excellent database of Huntsville Metro TV/radio information.


Ra (board game)

Ra is a board game for two to five players designed by Reiner Knizia and themed around Ra, the sun-god of Heliopolis in ancient Egyptian culture.
Originally published in Germany, it was republished in an English language translation by Rio Grande Games. Subsequent English language editions have been published by Überplay and again by Rio Grande Games. The last of these increased the number of players from the original 3-5 to 2-5, but otherwise all editions have used the same rules. "Ra" won the 2000 International Gamers Award and placed 2nd in the 1999 Deutscher Spiele Preis.
Gameplay.
"Ra" is an auction game, where the players are all competing for the same resources. The game is played in three rounds, called Epochs, reflecting the history of ancient Egypt. Players use their sun tokens to bid against each other on auctions for tiles. At the end of an epoch, points will be scored for the number and types of tiles a player managed to win. The price of the tiles is determined by the players bidding for them, and values can shift rapidly.
Players are faced with a constant balance between "what should be done eventually" and "what can actually be done now", which is a hallmark of many of Knizia's games, and of German-style board games in general.
History.
"Ra" was published in 1999 by Alea in Germany. In an interview with Funagain Games, Knizia explains how he created the game : ""Ra" actually has a good story behind it; it was the first game I did after my retirement. Two or three weeks after my retirement I said, 'Okay, now let's get started.' That's the time, when I do a big game, that the world around me stops. I concentrate on this game and nothing else. And since I had more time, this concentration became even more extreme. For four to six weeks I did nothing but work on this game. "
Almost immediately the game was picked up for distribution and English translation by Rio Grande Games. Rio Grande owner Jay Tummelson explains how he chose "Ra" for distribution so early in its life: "Games I like are likely to be liked by others. With "Ra", I saw it at Essen last year and decided I would like to do it in English. I approached Alea and offered to do it. We negotiated and I did it. I try to get involved earlier in the process…. I am working with some companies on games they are considering for next year, but have not decided on final theme or look."
999 Games published a Dutch edition of "Ra" in the Netherlands in 2000. Besides these three officially published language translations, fans of the game have translated the rules into Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, and French. All of these translations, along with reviews, photos, and discussions about the game can be found on BoardGameGeek.com, a board game database and fan community.
"Ra" quickly sold out, and was out of print for several years. In October 2005 Überplay reprinted the English version. The Überplay edition has minor differences from earlier editions: slightly larger tiles, a slightly larger board, a cloth sack to pull the tiles from, a smaller box (thanks to the board being quad-fold), a scoring summary printed on the board, and marks on tiles to indicate which are kept at the end of a round. In 2005 Knizia, working with Michael Menzel, also designed a new game called "Razzia", which is the basic game of "Ra" with a mafia theme.
A third edition of "Ra" was published by Rio Grande Games in 2009. This increased the range of the number of players to 2-5 from the 3-5 of earlier editions.


Mountain Men (TV series)

Mountain Men is an American reality television series on the History channel that premiered on May 31, 2012.
Synopsis.
Eustace Conway resides on a parcel of land in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina that he calls Turtle Island. There, he hosts people to whom he teaches basic wilderness survival skills. Additionally, he earns an income using ancient techniques to harvest firewood. Threatened by a lien against his land, Conway fights to maintain ownership. His friend Preston Roberts would frequently appear on the show.
Marty Meierotto resides in the small Alaskan town of Two Rivers with his wife Dominique and daughter Noah. Once a month Marty flies his Piper PA-18A-150 Super Cub aircraft with tundra tires to his cabin on the Draanjik River in the Alaska North Slope. While there, he uses a snowmobile to tend to his animal traps that he uses to collect furs.
Tom Oar, a former rodeo cowboy, resides near the Yaak River in northwestern Montana with his wife Nancy and their dog Ellie. Facing a seven-month winter season, the pair work hard, with the help of their neighbors, to prepare.
Rich Lewis, a mountain lion hunter, resides in Montana's Ruby Valley with his wife Diane. He pursues his passion for tracking mountain lions there with the help of a team of hounds. During season 6 he said he was getting too old to be doing this. He did not return for season 7.
George Michaud, a fur trapper, camps along the Snake River and Teton Range in Idaho.
Charlie Tucker, a fur trapper, resides near Great North Woods in Ashland, Maine. He often partners with Jim Dumond.
Kyle Bell, a game hunter and outfitter by trade, runs his hunts over 45,000 acres of rugged landscape and resides in New Mexico's Cimarron Valley with his ten-year-old son, Ben.
Morgan Beasley resides in the Alaska Range.
Jason Hawk lives near The Ozarks in Arkansas.
Preston died from complications due to cancer at age 60 on July 24, 2017.


Gods (video game)

Gods is a 1991 video game by The Bitmap Brothers where the player is cast as Hercules in his quest to achieve immortality. The game was first made for Amiga and Atari ST computers and then ported to various other platforms.
Plot.
According to the game's own introduction, "four guardians" have invaded and usurped the citadel of the gods. The gods offer any hero who can succeed in retaking the citadel one favor. The hero who comes forth immediately asks the gods as their favor to be granted a seat among them as an equal. The gods are only comforted by the hope the hero fails. After the last boss is beaten, the gods prove true to their word and the last image is the hero's body becoming a being of light as he ascends to Mount Olympus.
Gameplay.
Although "Gods" might seem like a "jump and run" platformer, in this game while precise and timed jumping are required to progress, planning each move carefully yields better results health-wise than attempting to rush through a level, and there are some puzzles (often involving levers and objects) which require the player to go back and forth in the level, since there's only a four-space inventory where objects required to get bonuses (such as keys) or to complete a level can be carried. The console versions (particularly the Mega Drive/Genesis version) run at a considerably higher speed, which increases the difficulty level. A Game Boy Advance version was also in development but cancelled. The console versions do not share the same opening theme music as the PC versions of the game. They do, however, have background music throughout the game, which is notably missing in the PC versions (The PC version only has background music throughout the game with a Roland LAPC-I).
There are several weapons available in the levels or to buy, and up to three of each can be used simultaneously. It is also possible to vary the focus of the weapons: to destroy more enemies at the same horizontal level as the player, a tight angle is advisable, but in levels with open spaces and enemies in higher places, a diffuse aim might prove more useful. There are also other weapons, such as bouncing axes that can be used to take on enemies at a lower level or fireballs.
The enemy AI was praised - it would adapt not only to the player position, but also to their skill. Some rooms contain inaccessible items - smaller "thieves" show up from a passage in the wall, try to grab the item and bring it back to another point in the room or disappear with it. The player is able to obtain the item if they shoot the thief at the correct time. Bonuses are awarded for reaching certain parts of the level under a certain limit of time or number of lives, bringing an object to a room or simply by playing poorly, where the game helps the player.
There are four levels, each with a Guardian at the end. After completion of a level the player meets a trader, and depending on the wealth accumulated during the game (by catching diamond-shaped jewels or bags) can buy more powerful weapons or items ("Xenon 2 Megablast" uses the same idea).
Reception.
As was common with Bitmap Brothers, an external musician assured the game score, this time John Foxx as "Nation 12". The box cover illustration was designed by the British comic book artist Simon Bisley. The graphics were designed using the SpriteFX application. Like other Bitmap Brothers' games, Gods was highly praised by critics thanks to the quality graphics and music.
"Computer Gaming World" in 1992 named it one of the year's top four action games for "fast and furious arcade-style action [and] enough exploration and puzzle-solving to raise it above the typical action crowd".
Remastered.
A remastered version of the game, "Gods Remastered", was developed by Robot Riot Games and released on December 4, 2018 for Microsoft Windows. It was then announced for Xbox and Steam, and released December 2019, followed by Nintendo Switch and PS4, with the 29th March 2020 given as the release date for the latter platforms.


The Story of the Jews (TV series)

The Story of the Jews is a television series, in five parts, presented by British historian Simon Schama. It was broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two in September 2013 and in the United States on PBS in March and April 2014.
It is based on Schama's book of the same title, which is being published in three volumes. The first volume was published in September 2013. The second volume, entitled "Belonging: The Story of the Jews 1492–1900", was published by Bodley Head in October 2017.
Reception.
In a review for "The Daily Telegraph", Neil Midgley described the first episode as a "resounding success", saying: "Schama told the story efficiently and evocatively – and deftly picked out stories that would illustrate his overarching thesis about how Judaism managed to survive...In Schama’s view, to be a Jew is to be verbal...By the end of this first episode, Schama had given the title of his programme an intriguing double meaning. Over its four remaining parts, The Story of the Jews promises to be not only a chronological history, but also a common narrative of what unifies and fortifies Jewish people".
For "The Guardian", Arifa Akbar said: "Simon Schama’s story was as much an investigation into identity as it was the beginning of a difficult history".
Writing in "The Observer", Andrew Anthony called it "an astonishing achievement, a TV landmark".
David Hinckley, for the "New York Daily News", said: "Schama doesn’t downplay the persecution and martyrdom of Jews throughout history. Neither does he let this interfere with his clear mission of portraying Jewish history as a tale of triumph and celebration".
Robert Lloyd, TV critic for the "Los Angeles Times", said that Schama "has produced a series that is at once informative, entertaining, thought-provoking, heart-wrenching and, in its final episode, in which he confronts the paradoxes of modern Israel, more than a little maddening. Like the religion and the culture that surrounds it, each of which loves an argument, it is inconclusive and open to discussion".


John Seymour Lucas

John Seymour Lucas (21 December 1849 – 8 May 1923) was a Victorian English historical and portrait painter, as well as an accomplished theatrical costume designer. He was born into an artistic London family (he was the nephew of the painter John Lucas), and originally trained as a woodcarver, but turned his attention to portrait painting and entered first the St. Martin's Lane Art School and later the Royal Academy Schools. Here he met fellow artist Marie Cornelissen from France, whom he married in 1877. Lucas' artistic education included extensive travels around Europe, particularly Holland and Spain, where he studied the Flemish and Spanish masters. He first started exhibiting in 1872, was elected an associate member of the Royal Academy in 1886, and a full Royal Academician in 1899.
Biography and work.
John Seymour Lucas was first and foremost a historical genre painter with a particular talent for realism in the depiction of costumes and interiors. Inspired by van Dyck and particularly Diego Velázquez, he excelled in depicting scenes from the British 16th- to 18th-century Tudor and Stuart periods, including in particular the Spanish Armada, the English Civil War, and the Jacobite rebellions.
His first major work to achieve widespread public acclaim was "Rebel Hunting after Culloden", executed in 1884. It was praised not only for the obvious tension between the muscular blacksmiths and the red-coated forces of law and order (or repression), but for the extraordinary realism in the depiction of the rough smithy and glowing horseshoe on the anvil.
As his reputation grew, Lucas increasingly mixed in society circles. He became firm friends with the famous society portrait painter John Singer Sargent who was his almost exact contemporary. A portrait of Lucas executed by John Singer Sargent is displayed in Tate Britain. Towards the 1890s John Seymour Lucas executed a number of major works for prestigious public buildings or royal clients. These include: "The Flight of the Five Members" (Houses of Parliament), "The Granting of the Charter of the City of London" (Royal Exchange), "Reception by HM King Edward VII of the Moorish Ambassador" (Royal Collection), "HRH the Prince of Wales in German Uniform" (Royal Collection).
In addition to executing more than 100 major oil paintings and a host of drawings, Lucas was renowned as a set and costume designer for the historical dramas popular on the late Victorian and early Edwardian stages. One of his more unusual commissions was the "Duke of Normandy" costume for the ill-fated prince Alfred of Saxe Coburg-Gotha for the Devonshire House Ball in 1897. Lucas was also a prolific watercolour painter; he was elected as a member of the Institute of Painters in Water Colours in 1877.
During most of his artistic career, Lucas lived in a purpose-built studio in South Hampstead, London, designed for him by his friend and fellow artist, architect Sydney Williams-Lee.
Lucas joined the Sylvan Debating Club in 1872, and painted a portrait of the society's founder Alfred Harmsworth.
He retired from painting towards the end of World War I, and moved to Blythburgh, Suffolk, where he re-designed a house next to the church known as "The Priory". Lucas died in 1923 and is interred in the churchyard of Holy Trinity church in Blythburgh. His son, Sydney Seymour Lucas, also became an artist and illustrator.
Legacy.
John Seymour Lucas was a renowned artist in his day, when his painting style and themes resonated with the core themes of Imperial Great Britain: the uniqueness of the British historical experience and the nation's seemingly inexorable rise to global preeminence. His love for colourful detail, veracity and the theatrical was well suited to the tastes of the late Victorian audience. However, the end of Pax Britannica and the rise of Modernism left these twin pillars of the Lucas oeuvre slightly marooned, and he is less than a household name in the 21st century. But he left a unique legacy as a chronicler of British history and a costume painter of distinction.
References.
This article is based on articles in the "Art Journal" of March 1887 and December 1908, "Current Art Notes" 1923, as well as the 1911 "Encyclopædia Britannica" biographical entry.


Blindman

Blindman (also known in Italian as "Il Pistolero Cieco", lit. "The Blind Gunfighter") is a 1971 Spaghetti Western film directed by Ferdinando Baldi and co-written and co-produced by Tony Anthony. The film's protagonist, played by Anthony, is an homage to Kan Shimozawa's Zatoichi character: a blind transient who does odd jobs and is actually a high-skilled warrior.
The film has achieved cult status over the years, mainly due to the involvement of Ringo Starr, a former member of the Beatles, in one of the roles.
Plot.
A blind but deadly gunman is hired to escort fifty mail order brides to their miner husbands. When he is double crossed by his friends and a Mexican bandit, he heads for Mexico to settle scores and save the women.
Cast.
Brides


Kessen

 is a real-time tactics video game produced by Koei and published by Electronic Arts. It was a launch game for the PlayStation 2 in Japan and North America. It was initially the only real-time wargame game available for the PlayStation 2.
It is a real-time tactics game set in feudal Japan, focusing upon a conflict between the eastern Tokugawa clan and western Toyotomi clan (with Ishida Mitsunari as the Toyotomi's guardian and protector) shogunates at the end of Sengoku Jidai. Tokugawa Ieyasu served as the primary representative for the Eastern forces where the Western army changed leaders based on the results of select key battles.
Although it was, for the most part, historically accurate, the game contained a number of "what-if" scenarios, for example, if the Western forces are victorious at the Battle of Sekigahara (historically an Eastern victory).
Two sequels were later created, "Kessen II" and "Kessen III". These two games introduced magical and meteorological elements to the games.
Cinematics.
A note from the game's producer, Kou Shibusawa, addressed to players before any campaign begins, explains his desire to take his own twist on this segment of history but felt too constricted by cinema to do so properly. With "Kessen", he believes that he was able to explore his ideas more freely. Thus, several of the game's cutscenes have a theatrical feel similar to "chanbara" and "jidaigeki" films.
Before each campaign begins, a narrator enlists a brief summary of the events proceeding the selected campaign to help familiarize players with the battle taking place. After the pre-planning of the battle is finished, a cinematic event occurs, often dramatizing character interactions or significant historical events that took place before the battle occurs. Similar events also occur after the war council, during battle, and at the battle's end.
Among the historically accurate retelling of events, preference for the often romanticized accounts were sometimes used. Notable instances include Hosokawa Gracia ordering a soldier to kill her and Tokugawa Hidetada ordering the assassination of Sanada Masayuki for causing his tardiness at Sekigahara.
Reception.
"Kessen" received "generally favorable reviews" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. In Japan, "Famitsu" gave it a score of one nine, one eight, one seven, and one eight, for a total of 32 out of 40.
Elsewhere, Jeff Luther from "GamesFirst!" noted that the game is easy to pick up, although he felt that it failed to maintain its difficulty level after the initial stages. Others have also described it as redundant and slow. Cutscenes were cited by one critic to be "the visual appeal to Kessen". Graphics concerning the historical figures were also said to be "over-the-top" and colorful enough to the point of ridiculousness, though impressive. What gained "Kessen" the most praise was the game's sound department, many citing the orchestral score to be "epic" with one critic noting the "English voices to be good and fitting". Overall, it is seen as a game for history buffs of Japanese history with a good but flawed presentation.
The title won a special prize PlayStation Award in 2000. It was also nominated for the grand prize in the consumers' selection for graphics and scenarios. It was a runner-up for "GameSpot"s annual "Best Strategy Game" award among console games, losing to "Ogre Battle 64".


The Glass Virgin

The Glass Virgin is a British three-part television serial, or long TV movie, first broadcast in 1995, starring Emily Mortimer and Brendan Coyle, directed by Sarah Hellings, based on a novel by Catherine Cookson.
Production.
Producer Ray Marshall bought the film rights to several of the period works of Catherine Cookson, beginning in 1989 with "The Fifteen Streets", which had been turned into a successful stage play. These productions, sponsored by Tyne Tees Television, were very popular and drew between ten and fourteen million viewers each.
Reviewing "The Glass Virgin" for "The Independent", Jasper Rees commented that it “might have been sponsored by the Northumbrian tourist board, as it gives the impression that the region endlessly basks in sunshine.”
Outline.
The action takes place in the north of England in the 1870s. Annabella Lagrange (Emily Mortimer), the daughter of rich upper class parents, finds her life crumbling when she discovers a terrible secret. She runs away from home on her own, then meets Manuel Mendoza (Brendan Coyle), a young Irishman she remembers as her father’s departed groom. He is now a traveller, roaming Northumberland in a horse-drawn caravan looking for work, and Annabella soon finds herself travelling with him, but in a separate bed. Many of the people she meets treat her with suspicion, and she feels she belongs nowhere, so is glad of the understanding of Manuel. Meanwhile, her family, and especially her father Edmund Lagrange (Nigel Havers) are looking for her.
External links.


Asian American Curriculum Project

The Asian American Curriculum Project (AACP) is a nonprofit organization based in San Mateo which was created in 1969 to promote Asian and Asian-American culture and writing. The organization publishes books and media on the topic of Asian people's experiences, focusing on their experience in the United States. It also has a bookstore.
About.
The Asian American Curriculum Project (AACP) is a nonprofit organization based in San Mateo, California. AACP educates the public about Asian and Asian-American experiences through the publication of books, music and media. There is also a physical bookstore selling AACP books in San Mateo.
AACP was founded in 1969. The organization was formerly named the Japanese American Curriculum Project (JACP) and was created by teachers from San Mateo and led by Florence Makita Yoshiwara. Originally, JACP was sponsored by the San Mateo City School District. Volunteers ran the organization.


Rikki and Me

Rikki and Me was a stage show celebrating the life of comic actor Rikki Fulton, it starred Gerard Kelly and Tony Roper as Jack Milroy and Rikki Fulton. The show was a huge success all over theatres in Scotland and is now available on DVD.


Jasper James

Jasper James is a British television producer, director and screenwriter. He is well known as the co-creator of several of the "Walking with..." series.


Cleopatra (Haggard novel)

Cleopatra: Being an Account of the Fall and Vengeance of Harmachis is an adventure novel written by English author H. Rider Haggard and first printed in 1889 by Longmans.
Synopsis.
The story is set in the Ptolemaic era of Ancient Egyptian history and revolves around the survival of a dynasty bloodline protected by the Priesthood of Isis. The main character Harmachis (the living descendant of the pharaoh's bloodline) is charged by the Priesthood to overthrow the supposed impostor Cleopatra, drive out the Greeks and Romans and restore Egypt to its golden era.
As is the case with the majority of Haggard's works, the story draws heavily upon adventure and concepts. The story, told from the point of view of the Egyptian priest Harmachis, is recounted in biblical language, being in the form of papyrus scrolls found in a tomb.
Reception.
Boucher and McComas gave the novel a mixed review, saying that it combined "a not always believable portrait" of its title heroine with a "fascinating, wholly convincing" story line.


Kate Quinn

Kate Quinn is an American writer, known for her works of historical fiction.
Biography.
Quinn is a native of Southern California. She is based in San Diego. She graduated from Boston University with a master's degree in classical voice.
Quinn's 2017 historical fiction novel, "The Alice Network", was a "New York Times" and "USA Today" bestseller. Her 2019 follow-up (and eighth novel), "The Huntress", earned positive reviews in "The Washington Post" and "Kirkus Reviews".


Alfred Elmore

Alfred Elmore (1815–1881) was a British history and historical genre painter. He was born in Clonakilty, Ireland, the son of Dr. John Richard Elmore, a surgeon who retired from the British Army to Clonakilty.
His family moved to London, where Elmore studied at the Royal Academy of Arts. His early works were in the "troubadour" style of Richard Parkes Bonington, but he soon graduated to religious work, notably "The Martyrdom of Thomas à Becket", commissioned by Daniel O'Connell for Westland Row Church in Dublin. Between 1840 and 1844 Elmore travelled across Europe, visiting Munich, Venice, Bologna, and Florence.
Elmore seems to have been associated with The Clique, a group of young artists who saw themselves as followers of Hogarth and David Wilkie. According to his friend William Powell Frith he was member of the group, but since it was most active while he was in continental Europe, his involvement was probably short-lived.
Most of Elmore's later works were historical narrative paintings. "Religious Controversy" and "The Novice" were implicitly anti-Catholic in character. Other paintings set episodes from Shakespeare, or the history of the French Revolution. They often contained subtle explorations of the process of creation, most importantly his two paintings about technological innovation, "The Invention of the Stocking Loom" (1847, Nottingham Castle Museum) and "The Invention of the Combing Machine" (1862, Cartwright Hall, Bradford). Both portray the process of industrialisation by depicting picturesque pre-industrial handicrafts. The inventor is supposed to be pondering these manual skills while he forms in his mind a mechanism to replace them.
Elmore's best-known work is "On the Brink" (1865; Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge), a moral genre painting depicting a young woman who has lost her money gambling, and is 'on the brink' of responding to the blandishments of a seducer, who is depicted as a satan-like figure, luridly bathed in red light, and whispering corrupting thoughts in her ear.
By the late 1860s Elmore was moving away from such Hogarthian subjects towards a more classical style influenced by Edward Poynter and Lawrence Alma-Tadema. He also painted Arabic figures, in line with the vogue for Orientalism in art.
Elmore suffered from neuralgia through much of his life, and in his late years he became lame following a fall from his horse. He died of cancer in January 1881 and was buried in Kensal Green cemetery in London.


Gustav Philipp Zwinger

Gustav Philipp Zwinger (3 January 1779 – 15 January 1819), painter and etcher, was born at Nuremberg. He was the son and pupil of the painter and engraver Sigmund Zwinger (1744—1813), now chiefly remembered as a teacher. Gustav completed his studies under Heinrich Füger in Vienna, and returning to his native town, became in turn professor and director of the Art School. He was also known as an historical painter, both in oil and watercolour, and as a designer of book illustrations. He etched a few plates and tried his hand at lithography. He died at Nuremberg.


Edward Dujardin

Edward Dujardin (29 November 1817, Antwerp - 21 May 1889, Antwerp) was a Belgian painter and art teacher.
Biography.
He began his studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp), under Gustaf Wappers. From 1841, he taught figure drawing and placement at the Academy, a position he held until his death. He also authored two works on the subject: "Distribution, legs and movements of the human body, as taught in the Royal Academy of Antwerp" (1871), and "The proportions or measures of comparison of the most special antique statues and Greek statues of women, with four plates" (1888). His notable students included Henri Bource, , Frans Mortelmans, , Edward Portielje and Gerard Portielje.
He painted historical events, Biblical scenes, and portraits, and was in great demand for decorating public celebrations. The novelist, Hendrik Conscience, was a good friend of his and he provided illustrations for several of his works, including "The Lion of Flanders".
He was married to Theresia Maria Van Arendonck; sister of the sculptor, . They had four children. Their daughter Julia married the architect, Jules Bilmeyer.
Flemish nationalism.
Unlike many of his colleagues at the Academy, he supported Flemish nationalism and was a board member of "Voor Tael en Kunst", an organization that promoted cultural and entertainment activities. During the early 1850s, they became associated with Catholicism and disbanded.
In 1855, he was one of the co-founders of the magazine "De Vlaemsche School", which served as a successor to "Voor Tael en Kunst". He also became involved in the , a political organization that expressed dissatisfaction over the results of Belgian independence. From 1872 to 1876, and again from 1884 to 1888, he represented the party in the Antwerp Provincial Council.


Marie Antoinette (soundtrack)

Marie Antoinette: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album to the 2006 historical drama film "Marie Antoinette". It was released on October 10, 2006, by Verve Forecast Records and Polydor Records. The soundtrack is composed heavily of atmospheric guitar-based rock music and electronic music, a trend established in previous Coppola films such as "Lost in Translation" and "The Virgin Suicides", which were also produced by music director Brian Reitzell.
While the film itself is set in 18th-century France, the bulk of the soundtrack consists of 1980s new wave and post-punk artists such as Siouxsie and the Banshees, New Order, The Cure, and Bow Wow Wow. The soundtrack also contains several period baroque pieces, including works by Antonio Vivaldi, Jean-Philippe Rameau, and Domenico Scarlatti.
The limited-edition vinyl version has album art by Elizabeth Peyton. Roger Neill served as a historic music consultant on the film.
Reception.
The album debuted at number 154 on the US "Billboard" 200. In its second week, it jumped to number 97.
It was nominated for "Best Soundtrack" at the Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards.
In 2013, the album was named as one of "The 20 Soundtracks That Defined the 2000s" by "Empire" magazine.


Theatre of the World


Gerard Soest

Gerard Soest (circa 1600 – 11 February 1681), also known as Gerald Soest, was a portrait painter who was active in England during the late 17th century. He is most famous for his portraits of William Shakespeare and Samuel Butler, but painted many members of the English gentry.
Life.
Soest was traditionally thought to have come from Soest in Westphalia, but was probably from Soest, Netherlands, being Dutch by birth and training. He seems to have been in England by the late 1640s, and his paintings at this time show the influence of William Dobson. His earliest known work is dated 1646.
He had a moderately successful career, but was never fashionable and never managed to get commissions from courtiers and royalty.
Soest's portrait of Shakespeare was owned by Thomas Wright of Covent Garden in 1725 when it was engraved by John Simon. It was painted by Soest at least 30 years after Shakespeare's death. George Vertue states that it was based on a man who resembled Shakespeare, while the pose and costume suggest the influence of the Chandos portrait.


The Book of Daniel (novel)

The Book of Daniel (1971) is a semi-historical novel by E. L. Doctorow, loosely based on the lives, trial and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Doctorow tells the story of Paul and Rochelle Isaacson (corollaries to the Rosenbergs) through the persons of their older son, Daniel, and his sister, Susan, who are college students deeply involved in 1960s politics.
Synopsis.
Writing his doctoral thesis ('The Book of Daniel'), a political genealogy of the American Old Left, Daniel Isaacson confronts his own personal relationship to that historical narrative by investigating the background to his parents' conviction and execution by the State, with some assistance from his adoptive parents (the Lewins). The dénouement is the revisiting, in flashback, of the death of his parents, Rochelle and Paul Isaacson, and, in due course, the death from nervous disorder (and attempted suicide) of his sister Susan. The novel closes as the library in which Daniel is working is closed by student protests. Doctorow closes his novel with a parody of lines from Chapter 12 of the Biblical Book of Daniel. This moment culminates a merger of the text's two primary levels of narrative concern: Daniel's self-conscious inability to find and tell his own truthful personal history, which mirrors the anxiety of the radical 1960s New Left to emerge from the failure of the Communist Party to achieve its revolutionary potential in the 1950s.
The book is written in four parts, and in each Daniel is the principal narrator; the narrative moves fluidly and rapidly between 1967 ('the present') and flashback (to the late 40s/early 50s), and between first and third person:
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations.
The book was adapted as a film, "Daniel" (1983), directed by Sidney Lumet. Lumet somewhat changes the emphasis of the novel, to concentrate more on the 1940s left-wing politics of the parents. This was an era of which Lumet had close personal experience – the film is generally less well-regarded than the book.


Fritz Roeber

Fritz Roeber (15 October 1851, Elberfeld – 15 May 1924, Düsseldorf) was a German illustrator, lithographer and history painter, associated with the Düsseldorfer Malerschule. As Director of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, he carried out some significant organizational changes.
Biography.
His father was the writer , who also served as the Procurator for Elberfeld. After completing his primary education, he studied painting at a private school operated by Eduard Bendemann. His studies were interrupted by service in the Franco-Prussian War then, in the mid-1870s, he presented some large lithographs on Biblical themes.
He accepted a major commission from Rhine Province to design figurative jewelry for a gold trophy, to be presented to Prince (later Kaiser) Wilhelm on the occasion of his wedding. Later, he became a co-founder of the "Central-Gewerbe-Vereins" (Central Trade Association) and helped to develop the local arts and crafts industry. From 1893, he was an instructor at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. During the early part of the 20th century, he was involved in organizing several large, international exhibitions and a memorial plaque in his honor was placed at the .
From 1908 to 1924, he served as Director of the Kunstakademie. His tastes and approach to governing were considered to be rather conservative for the time. Despite this, he was constantly making additions to the curriculum; including workshops for church art and stained glass.
In 1919, following a partial merger with the (Arts and Crafts School), he hired seven instructors to teach the new subjects that would be added: the painter , sculptor Hubert Netzer, graphic artist Ernst Aufseeser and three architects; Wilhelm Kreis, Emil Fahrenkamp (the Kunstgewerbeschule's former Director) and . He also oversaw the construction of new studio buildings for the Kunstakademie, along the Rhine, designed to be an "art city on the English model". These were demolished in 1937 to make room for the Reichsausstellung Schaffendes Volk (now the ).
A street that runs alongside the Kunstakademie has been named after him. His older brother, , was also an instructor there.