Richard Day (art director)

Richard Day (9 May 1896 – 23 May 1972) was a Canadian art director in the film industry. He won seven Academy Awards and was nominated for a further 13 in the category of Best Art Direction. He worked on 265 films between 1923 and 1970. He was born in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada and died in Hollywood, California.
Early life.
Day was born on 9 May 1896 in Victoria, British Columbia to Patience Day and Robert Scott. His father was an architect who began his career in South Africa. As a child, Day developed a spinal curvature that prevented him from attending school and was instead home-schooled. He never graduated high school or pursued higher education.
Day was a Captain in the Canadian Army during World War I. While stationed in London, he met his future wife who was a nurse's aide. The couple married in London in 1918.
Career.
After the war, Day returned to Canada and attempted to begin a career as a commercial artist. In 1920, his father financed a trip to Hollywood in hopes that Day would find a job in the film industry. He was unsuccessful until a chance encounter with director Erich von Stroheim in a hotel lobby led von Stroheim to offer Day work on the film "Foolish Wives" (1922). Day served as art director on all of von Stroheim's films thereafter, apart from von Stroheim's only sound film, "Walking Down Broadway" (eventually released as "Hello, Sister!" in 1933).
Day followed von Stroheim to MGM, working there through most of the 1920s. In 1929, he left MGM to join Samuel Goldwy. He served as Golywyn's principal art director throughout most of the 1930s. During that time, he won Academy Awards for his production design for "The Dark Angel" (1935) and "Dodsworth" (1936). Other films during this period include "Dead End" (1937) and John Ford's "The Hurricane" (1937). He then moved to 20th Century Fox, where he was Supervising Art Director. He personally worked on selected films such as "How Green Was My Valley" (1941), for which he won his third Academy Award.
During World War II, Day independently developed camouflage designs and relief mapping techniques. He was eventually inducted into the Marine Corps as a Major. Day became a U.S. citizen in 1942 as a prerequisite to joining the Marines. Once in the service, he devised a technique to make relief models of assault landing sites out of mud and other available materials.
Academy Awards.
Won.
Day won seven Academy Awards for Best Art Direction:
Nominated.
He was nominated in the same category for a further 13 films:


Shadab Rayeen

Shadab Rayeen is an Indian sound engineer. His best known work is the mix of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. He has been honoured with the "Best Recording Engineer Award" in the category of Technical Awards for the mix of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil by International Indian Film Academy Awards.


Chuck Carter

Charles Michael "Chuck" Carter is a video game and film artist. He and Robyn Miller designed and rendered the environments in the video game "Myst". After "Myst", he was an artist for Westwood's "Command & Conquer" and and a digital matte painter on the television series Babylon 5. His digital art clients include Disney, NASA, National Geographic, Scientific American, and BBC. Most recently Chuck has founded his own video game studio, Eagre Games, and released the video game "ZED".


Mike Pondsmith

Michael Alyn Pondsmith is an American roleplaying, board, and video game designer. He is best known for his work for the publisher R. Talsorian Games, where he developed a majority of the company's role-playing game lines since founding the company in 1982. Pondsmith is credited as an author of several RPG lines, including "Mekton" (1984), "Cyberpunk" (1988) and "Castle Falkenstein" (1994). He also contributed to the Forgotten Realms and Oriental Adventures lines of the "Dungeons & Dragons" role-playing game, worked in various capacities on video games, and authored or co-created several board games. Pondsmith also worked as an instructor at the DigiPen Institute of Technology.
Early life and education.
Born into a military family, Mike Pondsmith was the son of a psychologist and an Air Force officer, who traveled around the world with the U.S. Air Force for the first 18 years of his life. He graduated from the University of California, Davis with a B.A. in graphic design and a B.S. in behavioral psychology. Pondsmith recalls that he had been designing games even as a child, but it was not until college that he was introduced to the idea of pen and paper roleplaying games when a friend got a copy of the original "Dungeons & Dragons" "(D&D)". Having a lot of naval wargaming experience, he became interested in the gameplay mechanics used by "D&D" but not in the fantasy setting it presented. His interest spiked, however, when he acquired a copy of "Traveller", a science fiction role-playing game published in 1977 by Game Designers' Workshop. Dissatisfied with its mechanics, Pondsmith rewrote the game for his personal use under the name "Imperial Star". Pondsmith later called "Traveller" the best roleplaying game he had encountered in the Green Ronin's award-winning .
Early career.
Before he became a pen and paper game designer, Pondsmith worked in the video game industry as a graphic designer. His first job after college involved designing packaging and advertising materials for the now-defunct California Pacific Computer Company (CPCC). Repackaging Japanese games for the Western world market was the main focus of CPCC in its early days. He later moved on to create designs for the original titles produced by Bill Budge and for the early "Ultima" games designed by Richard Garriott, all of which were published by CPCC. Pondsmith's job at CPCC ended because of problems the owner was having. Pondsmith began working at the University of California, Santa Cruz running a typesetting house. Pondsmith felt he could improve on the combat system of "Traveller", and as a result he designed the game "Imperial Star" in the early 1980s purely for his own amusement.
According to Pondsmith, there was not much to do in the area of video game design in the early 1980s due largely to the constraints of available technology. Most of the games released by CPCC were for Apple II machines. However, he was familiar with pen and paper games, which he played at the time, and became interested in paper game design. Thanks to his side-job in typesetting, he had access to very modern (for the time) computers with advanced software used in book and magazine layout. Taking advantage of this access, he wrote a game called "Mekton", a mecha game based on Japanese manga books he had stumbled upon in the past. Due to the interest his work on paper games generated, game design consumed his graphic design career (although he continued designing and laying out most of the R. Talsorian Games' books).
Early role-playing games.
The first game Pondsmith designed from the ground up was "Mekton", a mecha game with heavy manga and anime influences, released in 1984. Pondsmith admitted that he was mostly basing his work on the "Mobile Suit Gundam" manga written in Japanese, which he had acquired. Not understanding the text, he inaccurately recreated the world dynamics purely from the imagery of the comic books. The game's first public testing occurred at a local convention. The initial public release of "Mekton" focused on its battle mechanics with no roleplaying elements at all; this made it a pure tactical war-game. The success of "Mekton" convinced Pondsmith that he could make a business out of game design, and he founded R. Talsorian Games (RTG) in 1985. In 1986, "Mekton" was re-released as a proper roleplaying game with Pondsmith and Mike Jones credited as authors. In 1987, RTG released another of Pondsmith's games inspired by the Japanese manga, "Teenagers from Outer Space", (RPGA Gamer's Choice Award). In 1987, Pondsmith released "Mekton II", a new edition of the system, featuring mechanics based on the Interlock System, later used with slight modifications in the "Cyberpunk" line. "Teenagers from Outer Space" was re-released with significant changes to the mechanics in 1989. Games such as "Cyberpunk" (later "Cyberpunk 2020") and "Cyberpunk V3" were translated into 9 languages. "Castle Falkenstein" (Best Game of 1994), "Cybergeneration", and "" soon followed. He also collaborated with the Hero Games designers on the Fuzion system.
Cyberpunk roleplaying game.
In 1988 R. Talsorian Games released Mike Pondsmith's "Cyberpunk The Roleplaying Game of the Dark Future". Set in the year 2013 (and often referred to as "Cyberpunk 2013"), the game was a boxed product consisting of three separate books penned by Pondsmith, with Mike Blum, Colin Fisk, Dave Friedland, Will Moss and Scott Ruggels as co-authors. Several expansions by Pondsmith and other authors followed and Pondsmith released "Cyberpunk 2020", a handbook with an updated story arc and mechanics, (although existing expansions remained compatible with the new game) in 1990.
Pondsmith designed "Cyberpunk 2013" as the second game to use the Interlock system. Pondsmith attributes creation of "Cyberpunk" to his interest in the genre sparked primarily by Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner" released in 1982. The motivation behind the "Cyberpunk" roleplaying game was his desire to recreate the technology and dark, film noir style of the movie. "Cyberpunk" is the most expansive line of products in the RTG library with forty-four sourcebooks containing over 4,700 pages. The game has had an estimated 5 million players to date.
In 1993, again under the RTG banner, Pondsmith released an alternate timeline for the "Cyberpunk" line. The sourcebook titled "Cybergeneration" was further enhanced by additional expansions and a second edition was released in 1995, that built further upon existing, explored themes. A license for the line was later acquired by Jonathan Lavallee, owner of Firestorm Ink, founded specifically to continue RTG's "CyberGeneration" product line in 2003.
In 1996, Wizards of the Coast licensed "Cyberpunk" for their collectible card game "Netrunner". Designed by Richard Garfield, "Netrunner" featured locations, entities, and characters familiar to "Cyberpunk 2020" players. The game was named one of The Millennium's Most Underrated Games in 1999 in "Pyramid" magazine published by the Steve Jackson Games. Mike Pondsmith is featured in the game's credits in the 'special thanks' section and makes a cameo appearance as "Omni Kismet, Ph.D." (character's name is an anagram of his). On May 10, 2012, Fantasy Flight Games announced that they would be releasing "Android: Netrunner", a new card game based on "Netrunner", under license from "Wizards of the Coast". Another short-lived card game based on Pondsmith's IP was "Cyberpunk CCG", designed by Peter Wacks, and published by Social Games in 2003.
In 1989 West End Games released a "Cyberpunk" and "Paranoia" crossover. The game, called "Alice Through the Mirrorshades", was designed by Edward Bolme and is compatible with both "Cyberpunk" and "Paranoia" games. At least two fan magazines were created around the time of "Cyberpunk"'s peak popularity with Pondsmith's approval: "Interface Magazine", which evolved from the unofficial "Cyberpunk Update" run by Chris Hockabout, and UK-published" 'Punk '21".
Castle Falkenstein.
In 1994, R. Talsorian Games released Pondsmith's steampunk-themed fantasy role-playing game titled "Castle Falkenstein". The game's mechanics were based on playing cards, instead of dice, and geared towards live action role-playing. "Castle Falkenstein" remains Pondsmith's most critically acclaimed game to date with the 1994 Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Rules, and the 1995 Nigel D. Findley Memorial Award for Best Role-Playing Product recognitions. In 2000, "Castle Fankenstein" was adapted to the "GURPS" system by James Cambias and Phil Masters, and released by "Steve Jackson Games".
Design contributions outside of R. Talsorian Games.
Pondsmith was briefly associated with TSR, Inc., where he worked on "Buck Rogers XXVC", a science-fiction RPG, and two sourcebooks for the "Dungeons & Dragons": "" for "Oriental Adventures" in 1988 and "Hall of Heroes" for "Forgotten Realms" in 1989. He also made minor, uncredited contributions to the original "Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game" released in 1987 by West End Games.
Pondsmith has also been president of GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association). In this role, in 1993, he arbitrated an out-of-court settlement between Palladium Books and Wizards of the Coast over Wizards' use of Palladium system integration notes in "The Primal Order".
R. Talsorian's hiatus and video game design.
After encountering challenges in the role-playing game industry, on February 15, 1998, Pondsmith announced that he was turning R. Talsorian into a part-time operation putting his major lines on hiatus. He ceased publication and distribution of Hero Games products and, in September 1998, they separated from RTG. In late 2000, Pondsmith accepted a job offer at Microsoft to produce Xbox games. As a design manager at Microsoft, he contributed to various games (mostly to the lineup of the original Xbox console's exclusive titles) released by the company's Microsoft Game Studios. In "MechCommander 2", released in 2001, he played the role of Steel, a character featured in cut-scenes (he also voiced the character for the in-game chatter between characters). He was also credited in Stormfront Studios' "Blood Wake" released in the same year. The last Microsoft title he was credited with was "" (2003). In 2004 he left Microsoft to join Monolith Productions where he worked on "The Matrix Online" (2005). During his time at Microsoft, his wife Lisa Pondsmith kept RTG alive by keeping some books in print and helping to publish a few new books.
The idea of a "Matrix" game was initially pitched internally at Microsoft by Pondsmith and one of his coworkers. Despite advanced talks with the Wachowskis, the film's producers, the project never came to fruition. Pitches to Shiny Entertainment did not succeed either and he later learned that a "Matrix" game was being worked on at Monolith. Given the opportunity to join the live team (responsible for maintaining the game and producing content post-launch) he decided to join Monolith. Pondsmith ended up doing mission design for the game under Online Creative Director and Lead Game Designer Toby Ragaini.
Cyberpunk v3.0.
In 2000 Pondsmith announced that he was working on the third edition of "Cyberpunk". The work itself started even earlier, right after the release of the "" in 1999; and the third edition of "Cyberpunk" was expected to ship soon afterwards. Initially called "Cyberpunk 203X", the game was scheduled for a release in the spring of 2001. The first two-page preview of the game was released on August 20, 2001, marking the first pushback of the game's release date. During the prolonged development of the game, Pondsmith released another preview of the third edition of "Cyberpunk" on December 31, 2004. The game's early manuscript was previewed, and the first public playtesting took place during I-Con in Ronkonkoma, New York between April 8 and 10, 2005. The game was written by Pondsmith, Mike Blum, Colin Fisk, Dave Friedland, Will Moss, and Scott Ruggels and was finally released on December 13, 2005 to mixed reviews.
Illustrations in the game were criticized, for being photographs of slightly modified action figures of which Pondsmith was a collector at the time. The game was successful enough, however, to justify several accessories and supplements which were announced immediately after the core book's release. This included "DataPack" (initially called "Dossier Pak"), "FlashPak", "Gangbook" and "AltCult Insider". "Cyberpunk v3.0", much like its predecessors, was influenced by the classic cyberpunk books written by Neal Stephenson and William Gibson, but also incorporated ideas from new literary sources, Japanese animation, and movies. According to Pondsmith, it was designed to become a commentary on the 21st century, corporate influences on everyday life, ideologies of groups, the place of government, warfare and advancements in biotechnology.
Interlock and Fuzion system.
In addition to working at RTG, Pondsmith contributed to the Hero Games' "Champions" line. Working mostly as an editorial assistant on books such as "Alliances" for the "", he was introduced to the Hero Games' mechanics (Hero System) which he later decided to merge with the Interlock System used by most of the RTG's games up to that point. The end result of this process was the "Fuzion" system used by the later RTG titles, most notably the third edition of the "Cyberpunk" game. In the foreword to the third edition of "Cyberpunk", Pondsmith justified these changes as necessary for streamlining the game, and attracting new players. But like the game itself these were met with mixed reviews. The rights to Fuzion are jointly held by Pondsmith, along with Steve Peterson and Ray Greer of Hero Games.
R. Talsorian Games.
R. Talsorian Games is a Washington-based roleplaying game publisher. Founded in 1985 in California by Mike Pondsmith, it was one of the first RPG publishers to embrace desktop publishing. Currently Lisa Pondsmith, Mike Pondsmith's wife, serves as a general manager of the company, with Mike Pondsmith remaining the owner, CEO and lead designer. Regarding the source of the name of the company, Pondsmith has stated that "R. Talsorian is a real person who never plays RPGs". In a 2016 interview he clarified that the name "R. Talsorian" derived from one of the company's investors, a "raisin farmer in Fresno." A fellow game designer, Warren Spector, advised him to avoid naming his company after himself; Pondsmith and his associates heeded that advice by naming their company after "the one person who would never show up at a convention ever," Talsorian.
Maximum Mike.
Mike Pondsmith uses his alter-ego "Maximum Mike" across many of the "Cyberpunk" books. Unlike reoccurring characters like Morgan Blackhand, Johnny Silverhand or Nomad Santiago, Maximum Mike breaks the fourth wall and talks to the reader directly. Pondsmith's likeness and name, however, were used directly in the Cyberpunk world under different name; he is featured as "Omni Kismet, Ph.D.", one of the characters in the "Netrunner CCG" (character's name is an anagram of "Mike Pondsmith").
"Cyberpunk 2077".
On May 30, 2012, it was confirmed that Pondsmith was working with CD Projekt Red on a video game set in the "Cyberpunk" universe. On October 18, 2012, the game's name and settings were revealed to be "Cyberpunk 2077". Immediately afterwards, Brian Crecente was able to confirm with the game's creators that Pondsmith was also working on a new edition of "Cyberpunk" pen and paper RPG game that would evolve the genre. In the interview for GameSpot, CD Projekt's Marcin Iwiński divulged that Pondsmith's involvement in the video game development mostly focuses on the game world aspect and mechanics and his input, though constant, does not happen on a daily basis due to the distance between the parties. Video game creators as well as Mike Pondsmith and other RTG designers will contribute on the newly formed cyberpunk.net blog.
Personal life.
Pondsmith has a wife, Lisa, and a son, Cody who both work at RTG. Although Mike and Lisa had met earlier, their relationship began around 1977 while both were still in college. They were married in February 1982. Lisa serves as a general manager of RTG and has been credited in various titles, most notably as author alongside Jeff Grubb of "The Memoirs of Auberon of Faerie" sourcebook for the "Castle Falkenstein" system; and Cody is credited as a member of the production staff in the "Cyberpunk V3.0 "supplement "Flashpak". He was also involved in the promotion and community communications relating to RTG's steampunk title "Castle Falkenstein". Before designing games, Mike Pondsmith worked as an amateur paleontologist. In his spare time he collects plastic , prominently featured in "Cyberpunk v3.0" core rulebook, and enjoys outdoor activities, reading, as well as playing around with radio-controlled cars and planes.
Public appearances.
Pondsmith has been very active in gaming communities and has appeared at many gaming conventions over the years. He was present at many of the Gen Cons which led to his memories of his experiences to be featured in Robin D. Laws' "40 Years of Gen Con" published in August 2007 by Atlas Games. He attended I-CON, A-Kon, Norwescon, Origins, DexCon, DunDraCon and others. Pondsmith was a guest of honor at Ropecon 1999, Astronomicon 2001 and I-CON 25 (March 24–26, 2006). Both Mike and his son Cody run various games during different gaming conventions. Pondsmith also appeared on stage to talk about the "Cyberpunk 2077" video game during two of the CD Projekt Red's conferences.
Academic career.
Between years 2010 and 2011 Pondsmith was working in the "Department of Game Software Design and Production" at the DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, where he taught game design classes. The two courses he taught were "Game History" (GAT 110) and "Game Mechanics I" (GAT 210).
Awards and recognitions.
Various games designed or co-created by Mike Pondsmith received awards over the years.
On July 1, 2006, he was inducted into the Origins Awards Hall of fame, along with Jolly R. Blackburn, Rodger MacGowan, Dennis Mize (posthumously), Aaron Allston, and the game "Star Fleet Battles".
On September 12, 2020, Pondsmith was presented with the Jerry Lawson Lifetime Achievement Award at the fourth annual Black in Gaming awards.
Board games designed.
In 1990, during his time with TSR, Pondsmith co-designed three, two-player board games for the publisher.
Additionally R. Talsorian Games released Pondsmith's board game "GoDice!" in 2006. The initial release of "Mekton" is also considered to be a board game.
Bibliography.
Mike Pondsmith worked on or contributed to various R. Talsorian Games' and TSR's products over the years and wrote several articles in gaming magazines.
For R. Talsorian Games:
For TSR


Stephen Chenault

Stephen Chenault is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. He is also the co-founder and CEO of Troll Lord Games.
Career.
Stephen Chenault and his brother Davis Chenault wanted to publish a 300-page leather bound campaign setting. When Stephen learned that Mac Golden was thinking of publishing a gaming magazine called "The Seeker", they formed Troll Lord Games in 1999 with Davis Chenault. They then published a set of "universal" adventures, and they prepared three of them for Gen Con 33: "After Winter's Dark" (2000), a 24-page book describing the campaign setting of Erde; "The Mortality of Green" (2000), an Erde adventure; "Vakhund: Into the Unknown" (2000), an adventure for the campaign setting of Inzae and also the first part of a trilogy. Stephen Chenault authored "A Lion in the Ropes" (2001), a d20 mystery and the first d20 adventure from Troll Lord Games.
The Chenaults also published their campaign setting in the "Codex of Erde" (2001), although it was not quite 200 pages and not leather-bound. Gary Gygax wrote to the Chenaults to thank them for their gift of Troll Lord's first RPG supplements at Gen Con 33, and their conversation eventually led to Gygax offering to write books for Troll Lord.
When Troll Lord Games published their "Castles & Crusades" role-playing game, the Chenaults reprinted some of their classics, such as "I1: Vakhund: Into the Unknown" (2006). When Gygax died in 2008, Troll Lord Games lost the licenses to all of his works, but the Chenaults continue to remember his legacy and his part in the success of their company with a memorial on their main web page.


Lego Worlds

Lego Worlds is a Lego-themed sandbox game developed by Traveller's Tales and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The game allows players to build constructions in a 3D procedurally generated world. A beta version of the game was released on 1 June 2015 on Steam Early Access. It was released on 7 March 2017 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. A version for Nintendo Switch was released on 5 September 2017 in North America and 8 September 2017 in Europe.
Gameplay.
"Lego Worlds" is a sandbox video game which allows players to build a world made up of Lego bricks. The player is rewarded for collecting objects spread across the map with "studs", an in-game currency. The player can build using the items they have encountered. Players can create their own world by using predefined Lego structures or using the "brick-by-brick editor tool". Players' appearances and outfits are customizable in the game. Terrain and environment can be modified via landscaping tools. A variety of vehicles, such as helicopters, and creatures are featured in the game. A multiplayer option and features for world-sharing have been added to the game through later updates.
Development.
Prior to the game's official release, it was teased in the back of a Lego set's construction manual. It was formally announced on 1 June 2015 with a simultaneous early access release on Steam to allow the gaming community to provide feedback for continual improvements and the integration of additional content over time. The game left early access and Warner Bros. released the game for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on March 8, 2017. The Nintendo Switch version was released in September 2017.
Reception.
Reception was generally positive, though players had mixed opinions in some cases. Metacritic gave the Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One versions a score of 59/100, 71/100, 66/100, and 69/100 respectively. The game was nominated for "Family Game" at the 14th British Academy Games Awards.
Downloadable Content.
Two Add-ons were released for the game. One, titled the Classic Space Pack, added a new biome, several characters, various creatures, vehicles and 2 brick builds: the Space Scooter Base and the Mineral Detector Base.
The second pack, titled the Monsters Pack, added a new biome, a few characters, and three brick builds.


Irma Boom

Irma Boom (born in Lochem, Gelderland, Netherlands), is a Dutch graphic designer—who specializes in book making. Boom has been described as The Queen of Books, having created over 300 books and is well reputed for her artistic autonomy within her field. Her bold experimental approach to her projects often challenges the convention of traditional books in both physical design and printed content.
Boom has been noted as the youngest recipient of the "Gutenberg Prize", an award recognizing outstanding services to the advancement of the book arts. A selection of Boom's books are held in the permanent collection of MoMA, and a personalized "Irma Boom Archive" has been set up at the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, showcasing Boom's work.
Biography.
Born in Lochem, The Netherlands in 1960, Boom was the youngest child of nine in her family. Her venture into book design came by accident while pursuing painting at the AKI Academy of Art & Design. Boom had walked into a lecture on book design, and so profound was its impact that it inspired her to drop painting and join the graphic design department. Here she found a love for Swiss typography and began developing her creative voice.
Boom attended the in Enschede, Netherlands, where she pursued a B.F.A in graphic design. During this time she interned at various offices including the Dutch Government Publishing and Printing Office in The Hague, Studio Dumbar, and The Dutch Television (NOS) design department. Boom had applied to intern at Total Design in Amsterdam, where Wim Crouwel was director, but had been rejected by his colleagues for mixing too many typefaces. Her work was far too experimental for a firm that was used to strict typographic convention.
Boom experienced her first job as both an editor and designer during her time at the Dutch Government Publishing and Printing Office in The Hague. It was here that she was noticed by Ootje Oxenaar, a designer of Dutch banknotes, who invited her to design two catalogues for special edition postage stamps between years 1987–1988. To him, she was the 'designer of the crazy ads'. The annual Dutch postage stamp books was considered a prestigious opportunity with previous designers had including Wim Crouwel, Karel Martens and Gert Dumbar. Boom's experimental style was evident in this particular publication, through the rich layers of information and imagery. Boom structured the book in a Japanese style binding and had text crossing multiple pages with printed folds and translucent paper. Though well received by Oxenaar, this project drew a lot of public outcry for being overtly experimental in comparison to previous editions. Boom received much hate mail, particularly from stamp collectors. However, this controversy brought her name into the public stage and established her name as a designer.
Upon graduating during the 1980s, Boom decided to return to the Dutch Government Publishing and Printing Office where she worked for another five and a half years. It gave her the opportunity to jump right into the shoes of a designer rather than an assistant designer. During this time she became acquainted with Paul Fentener van Vlissingen who would invite her to design the "SHV Think Book"—a book which eventually elevated her status to a design star.
Boom founded the Irma Boom Office in Amsterdam in 1991. She continued to tackle projects nationally and internationally in both the cultural and commercial sectors. Since 1992, she has been a critic at Yale University, and has both lectured and given workshops worldwide. She had also tutored at Jan van Eyck Academie, Masstricht in the Netherlands between 1998–2000. Her work has been shown at numerous international exhibitions, including her own solo exhibition in Amsterdam in 2011. She had been a member of the Supervisory Board Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam between 2004–2011 and has been a member of the board Premsela Foundation, Amsterdam since 2008.
Building books.
Boom's books take on an architectural form and she views them as a unique medium for delivery of information. A thorough reflection of a book's content leads Boom to her design decisions. It is her aim to enhance the readers' understanding while at the same time creating an object of beauty, with quality and permanence. Boom considers the entire landscape of the book including the edges. She builds three-dimensional models in miniature scale to aid in the development of her books. From typography to material, every detail Boom applies to her projects possesses an underlying logic.
Unconventional typographic trademarks of Boom may include the use of oversized type which successively shrinks from the opening to end of her book. This claims is a way to lure people into reading the introductory pages.
Boom also makes use of various finishing in her printed material such as embossing and die cuts. In her commissioned book for Chanel, "Chanel N ͦ5", Boom printed an entire 300 page book devoid of ink, using instead embossed text and image to create a semi-invisible narrative of "Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel". The book is completely white and housed in a black box. The concept behind the book was inspired by the nature of perfume—it is best understood in an olfactive, not visual, manner—and relies on lesser dominant senses to tell the story.
Scent is another unusual feature Boom has utilized in her book design. Her conceptual book design for "The Road Not Taken" has 718 pages printed using ink mixed with a base of beef bouillon. Coffee filter paper is another unusual material choice.
Creating a sensory tactile experience when designing and making books is very important to Boom and she aims to inspire discovery and interaction. Some of her books may be devoid of page numbers, or index. She may even have the book printed entirely in reversed chronological order. Book covers may be left white or blank and a book's scale distorted in size and thickness. Inner pages may have elaborately chosen colour codes or hidden motifs. Every little detail is analyzed to maximize its engagement potential in contrast to its digital counterparts.
Boom introduced the idea of a 'fat book'; that is, books that are remarkably thick. When asked what would make her create a book that was two inches tall and half as thick, she replied:
Titled "Irma Boom: The Architecture of the Book", it contains 704 pages and 450 images. She has received extensive media coverage of her work, and the New York Times profiled her in an article titled "A Small Book in a Big Career", published on August 8, 2010.
Boom has designed most of her books with creative freedom in her designs. She designed a book titled "Beautiful Ugly" by Sarah Nuttall, with an olive-green colored cover and no pictures or text. "The book was designed in Amsterdam by Irma Boom, and I thank her for her extraordinary eye and prodigious talent for making books beautiful.""
Notable books.
Irma Boom has created over 200 books. A selection of her books can be found at the permanent collection of the Architecture & Design department, MoMA.
SHV Think Book 1996-1896.
This book was the landmark book of Boom's career. The 2,136 page book was worked on for a span of five years before being published in 1996. Three and a half years were dedicated to intense research in Amsterdam, Paris, London and Vienna. It contains no index or page numbers and is anti-chronological. This was to encourage readers to approach the book without constraints, but rather surprise and discovery. Tulip fields and a Dutch poem were incorporated into the edges of the book, viewable depending on the direction in which each page is flipped. It is an unusually thick book measuring 22.5 x 17 x 11 cm. It started with Boom being asked to 'look for the unusual'. It was created with the editorial of art historian Johan Pijnappel. Initially there had been consideration in publishing the content as a CD-ROM, but a book proved to be a more timeless and opportunistic option. The book's entirely white cover reveals a title as it dirties with use over time. An alternate version comes in black. Transparent adhesive had been typographically applied to collect dust and fingerprints. Creating a book with a blank cover alarmed publishers at the time but their unease presumably disappeared after the book's release, as it elevated Boom to international design stardom. The anniversary book was one of her biggest and communicated a narrative on the history of that company. It was designed to be distributed worldwide, yet Boom has calculated that it will take five hundred years for the book to spread to all the corners of the globe. Four thousand copies were printed in English and five hundred in Chinese. It has been described as an international icon of Dutch design. It is part of the permanent collection of MoMA.
Weaving as Metaphor, Sheila Hicks.
Boom was commissioned to create a book on the American textile and fiber artist Sheila Hicks to accompany a solo exhibition on Hicks' work at Bard Graduate Center entitled "Sheila Hicks: Weaving as Metaphor". The book was published in 2006 and was awarded a gold medal as 'The Most Beautiful Book in the World' at the Leipzig Book Fair. This book again troubled publishers for its blank cover, warning that an image is needed or it would not sell. Boom rejected a request to have the artists work on the cover stating that Hicks is an interesting artist who deserves a bigger audience, therefore is in need of a more abstract cover. The book was designed with a simple layout: text on the left, image centred on the right. Of particular note on this book are the edges, which are jagged and frayed. A circular hacksaw was introduced into the production process to create these edges, which mimicked the selvedges of Hick's textile work. It measures at 22 x 15.5 x 5.6 cm and is part of the permanent collection at MoMA.
N°5 Culture Chanel.
For Chanel's 2013 exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Boom created a book filled with solid white, textural pages. The 300 page book was printed devoid of ink, instead embossed with text and image creating a semi-invisible narrative for Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel. The book structure is housed in a black box. The concept behind the book was inspired by the nature of perfume—it is best understood in an olfactive, not visual, manner—and relies on lesser dominant senses to convey the essence of the Chanel N ͦ5 fragrance. Its content came from the world of Mlle. It won the Dutch Design Awards in 2013 and is part of the permanent collection at MoMA.
Irma Boom: The Architecture of the Book.
Featuring an overview of Boom's work are two 800 page identical copies of extremely contrast in size, published in 2010. The Boom book comes in a miniature (41.4 x 54.0mm, 55g) and an XXL edition (345 x 455mm, 7.5 kg). They both complement each other in that the larger version reveals hidden touches that cannot be seen in the minuscule. The books have coloured edges and are soft-cover bound with faux leather. Both include a specimen of the "Chanel N ͦ5 book", with blind embossing. Other finishings include hot foil. The XXL is available in a limited edition of 150 numbered and signed copies. The miniature became a huge print success. Despite its size, it reads well. Boom had often dreamed of publishing at such a scale but the idea had as per usual been too unconventional and alarming to publishers. Her miniature is simply a model of her design process. She works builds books in small scale before evolving their size. It is part of the permanent collection at MoMA.
Commissions & clients.
Boom's clients include the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, Inside Outside, The Museum of Modern Art New York, Prince Claus Fund, Fondazione Prada, Maserati, OMA/Rem Koolhaas, Yale University Press (London)/Bard Graduate Center (New York), Serpentine Gallery, Wiel Arets, Chanel, Paul Fentener van Vlissingen, Museum Boijmans, Zumtobel, Ferrari, Vitra International, NAi Publishers, United Nations, Koninklijke Tichelaar, Makkum, Aga Khan Foundation and Camper.
Boom is very selective of her projects, and collaborations. She is particular in acting roles while taking on projects:
She maintains that books are a collaborative effort, requiring trust and freedom between the commissioner and the designer.
Select awards & honors.
Boom has over 50 awards and honors and nominations received between 1989 and the present.


Twin (production team)

Twin (sometimes written as TWIN) is a Swedish record production and songwriting team, consisting of Niclas Molinder and Joacim Persson.


Fight Network

Fight Network is a Canadian English language Category B specialty channel owned by Anthem Sports & Entertainment. The network broadcasts programming related to combat sports, including mixed martial arts, boxing, kickboxing, and professional wrestling.
History.
The channel was originally conceived in Canada, when it was granted approval from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) on January 30, 2004. The channel, tentatively known as "TFN - The Fight Network", was described as "a national, English-language Category 2 specialty television service devoted to programming related to the arts, skills and science of combatants."
The channel launched as The Fight Network, commonly abbreviated as TFN, was created and founded by Mike R. Garrow, on September 22, 2005, initially on Rogers Cable in Ontario and New Brunswick. Prior to the network's launch, Fight Network also acquired wrestling radio show "Live Audio Wrestling", syndicating it under the banner Fight Network Radio.
BlackOut Communications originally owned The Fight Network, but after several organizational restructurings, Fight Media Inc. assumed ownership.
In December 2010, former Canwest CEO Leonard Asper made a "significant investment" in Fight Network, marking his return to the media industry after the bankruptcy and wind-down of Canwest. Asper stated that it was "an exciting opportunity — not without its challenges, but also of course one with significant potential." The following April, to coincide with UFC 129 in Toronto, the network re-branded as simply Fight Network, with a new logo and an associated marketing campaign to promote the network's expanded lineup. A high definition feed launched in March 2013 initially on Rogers Cable.
On December 22, 2014, Fight Network announced that it had sub-licensed portions of the UFC's new Canadian rights agreement with Bell Media and TSN, including coverage of non-PPV preliminaries, international "UFC Fight Night" events, as well as other UFC archive programming, and the possibility of collaborating on other ancillary programs with TSN.
In March 2015, Fight Network acquired Canadian rights to TNA Wrestling programming, including "Impact Wrestling", "TNA Xplosion", and "TNA's Wrestling Greatest Matches". In June 2015, Fight Network announced a broadcasting agreement with the World Series of Fighting, covering Canada and other EMEA markets. In March 2016, TNA expanded its relationship with Fight Network to offer its programming internationally through Fight Network's streaming platforms.
Acquisition of TNA and subsequent cuts.
In January 2017, Fight Network's parent company, Anthem Sports & Entertainment, acquired a majority stake in TNA. Under Anthem, the promotion was renamed "Impact Wrestling" after its flagship program. Following the acquisition, Fight Network began cutting its studio programming; in March 2017, long-time Fight Network personalities Robin Black and John Ramdeen were laid off by Anthem. Further layoffs occurred in October 2017, including the entire staff of "Live Audio Wrestling" (which the network claimed was on a "hiatus"). Wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer reported that these cutbacks stemmed from the TNA buyout, citing that Anthem intended to use the promotion to bolster its programming, especially in international markets, but that the promotion's financial troubles had required Anthem to make cuts to Fight Network.
In December 2018, Bell Media renewed its rights to the UFC, but dropped the sublicensing deal with Fight Network, making all programming exclusive to TSN.
International expansion.
Fight Network's first international agreement was with American IPTV provider Backspace. Fight Network launched on their system in the United States in 2007; however, after several months, Backspace removed the channel from its systems.
In keeping with its plans to expand internationally, Fight Network opened an office in Ecuador to continue its planned global expansion in that region. However, the network never commenced operations in South America. In 2008, FN purchased UK-based TWC Fight! subsequently renamed the network "The Fight Network UK". The network was shut down on December 1, 2008.
In November 2012, Fight Network expanded into the U.S. market and launched a subscription service for live online streaming of the channel on NeuLion.
In July 2015, Fight Network launched on Suddenlink Communications across the United States
In July 2018, Fight Network returned to the UK on the Showcase TV service on Sky and Freesat.
Programming.
News and original.
Fight Network produces several weekly news shows, including:
Mixed Martial Arts.
Other international MMA promotions aired on FN include M-1 Challenge from Russia and the Netherlands, Ultimate Challenge MMA from the U.K. Extreme Fighting Championship Africa, Super Fight League from India,
Other North American MMA promotions aired on FN include the Canadian MMA promotion SLAMM: Tristar Fights, Battlefield Fight League, Hard Knocks Fighting Championship, Aggression Fighting Championship and Rumble in the Cage.
Boxing.
Fight Network's live boxing programming includes:
Other boxing programming broadcast on FN:
FN's "From The Vault" archive includes fights from Showtime Championship Boxing, , Solo Boxeo Tecate, Warriors Boxing, United Promotions, KZ Event Productions, Ballroom Boxing, 12 Round Promotions and Legends of the Ring.
Kickboxing.
FN's "From The Vault" archive includes fights from K-1, K-1 MAX, Strykerz: Shin Do Kumate, Superleague and PowerPlay Promotions.
Professional wrestling.
FN's "From The Vault" archive includes matches from Impact Wrestling, Dragon Gate USA, Pro Wrestling Noah and Best of Memphis and St. Louis Wrestling.
On radio.
On May 23, 2013, Fight Network launched three weekly talk shows on SiriusXM's Canada Talks.


Lee Hammock

Lee Hammock is a professional writer and game designer. Hammock has worked on numerous products for numerous companies, including "" RPG by Louis Porter Jr. Design, "The Halo Graphic Novel" and the "Dawning Star Campaign Setting" by Blue Devil Games.
Career.
Lee Hammock co-designed the licensed "Farscape" role-playing game for Alderac Entertainment Group. He also co-designed the "Dawning Star Campaign Setting" with Justin D. Jacobson for Blue Devil Games.
Hammock has worked for DC Comics. Hammock wrote the story "The Last Voyage of the Infinite Succor" for "The Halo Graphic Novel". He described the process of writing the story as a "heady task" since he had to respect "Halo" fans' knowledge of the characters and canon, ensuring that "characters that [the fans] know as a part of themselves are portrayed aptly". Hammock described the basis of the story as a way to showcase the true danger of the Flood as an intelligent menace, rather than something the player encounters and shoots. Hammock also stated that the story would prove the intelligent nature of the Flood, and "hopefully euthanize the idea that they are just space zombies".
Hammock co-designed the "" RPG for Louis Porter Jr. Design. He also co-designed the "Arcane Tech" book for the "Fading Suns" role-playing game.
Hammock was lead game designer on "Fallen Earth". On April 5, 2010, the Fallen Earth team announced that Hammock was leaving Fallen Earth to work as story designer on a new MMO title, Gargantuan.


John Gustafson (scientist)

John Leroy Gustafson (born January 19, 1955) is an American computer scientist and businessman, chiefly known for his work in High Performance Computing (HPC) such as the invention of Gustafson's law, introducing the first commercial computer cluster, measuring with QUIPS, leading the reconstruction of the Atanasoff–Berry computer, inventing the unum number format and computation system, and several awards for computer speedup. Currently he is the Chief Technology Officer at Ceranovo, Inc. He was the Chief Graphics Product Architect and Senior Fellow at AMD from September 2012 until June 2013, and he previously held the positions of Architect of Intel Labs-SC, CEO of Massively Parallel Technologies, Inc. and CTO at ClearSpeed Technology. Gustafson holds applied mathematics degrees from the California Institute of Technology and Iowa State University.
Childhood and education.
Gustafson was raised in Des Moines, Iowa. After completing a degree in Applied Mathematics at California Institute of Technology in 1977 he moved to Ames, Iowa and completed his M.S. (1981) and Ph.D. (1982) at Iowa State University.
His mother was an electronics technician at Collins Radio and his father was a chemical engineer turned MD, both as a result of World War II. His parents encouraged his scientific explorations at a young age. Assembling radio transmitters, designing and executing chemistry experiments, and making holograms are some of his favorite childhood explorations.
Unums.
Gustafson has devised a new format for storing real numbers in computers use a variable number of bits depending on the number of digits required, called unum number format. Normal formats store numbers as a fixed number of bits, for example 64 bits is usual for double-precision floating-point format numbers. This can allow them to be smaller than doubles for fast processing and also more precise or larger than the limits for double when desirable.
Awards and honors.
In 1988, Gustafson was the recipient of the inaugural Gordon Bell Prize. He has received other awards for his work in HPC, including the International Atanasoff Award (2006). He was awarded the IEEE Computer Society Golden Core Award in 2007.
Other awards and honors include:


Sylvana Ward Durrett

Sylvana Durrett is director of special projects at "Vogue" and co-founder and CEO of Maisonette.
Sylvana is the daughter of actress Rosanna DeSoto and screenwriter David S. Ward. She graduated from Princeton University in 2003 with a bachelor's degree in English Literature and began her career at Vogue as assistant to Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour.
Durrett is known for producing the annual Costume Institute Met Gala and she produced and appeared in the film "The First Monday in May".


Kevin Barrett (game designer)

Kevin Barrett is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games.
Career.
Kevin Barrett collaborated with Terry K. Amthor in the creation of "Spacemaster" (1985), the science-fiction version of "Rolemaster", which also had a second edition in 1988. The first miniatures game from Iron Crown Enterprises was Barrett's "Silent Death" (1990), which initially used the "Spacemaster" background.
By 1992, Barrett had left ICE. He later worked as writer at BioWare.


Pramod Thomas

Pramod Thomas is an Indian audio engineer and sound designer from Pandalam, Kerala. He is best known for his work on Hindi and Malayalam films such as Anurag Kashyap's "Dev.D" (2009) and Shankar's "Enthiran" (2010). After graduating from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, he started his career in sound simultaneously in the Malayalam, Hindi and Tamil film industry since his debut in the late 1990s.
He has worked as sound engineer and/or sound designer for films across the country including Rituparno Ghosh's "Raincoat" (2004). He proved his commitment and sound perspective in Tamil and Malayalam films Other films include "Veettilekkulla Vazhi" (2011),"Kismath" (2018), "Kaadu Pookkunna Neram" (2016), "Rakshadhikari Baiju Oppu" (2017) and "Eeda" (2018).
Recognition.
Pramod Thomas won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Sound Design.


Daniel Deluxe

Daniel Alexandrovich, known professionally as Daniel Deluxe, is a Copenhagen based, Russian electronic music producer. He has released three albums: "Corruptor" (2016), "Instruments of Retribution" (2017), and "Exile" (2020). Deluxe has also composed the scores for video games "Desync" (2017) and "Ghostrunner" (2020).


Lori Goldstein

Lori Goldstein is an American fashion stylist, editor, designer of LOGO by Lori Goldstein for QVC, and author of 'Lori Goldstein: Style Is Instinct'. She has frequently collaborated with photographers Steven Meisel and Annie Leibovitz, creating well-known ad campaigns and editorials. She was also the first agency-signed stylist, signing with Art + Commerce, now a division of IMG.
Life & Career.
Goldstein was born in Columbus, Ohio and got her first fashion job working at Fred Segal in Los Angeles. While accompanying Segal on a buying trip to New York, she decided to move to New York City to launch her fashion career. She then started her editorial work at "Vanity Fair" and "Allure" magazine, as well as collaborating with Annie Leibovitz on a series of GAP and American Express ad campaigns and beginning her partnership with Steven Meisel on a number of projects, including their Versace "Valley of the Dolls" inspired ad.
Goldstein has since gone on to work with noted photographers such as Richard Avedon, Bruce Weber, Peter Lindbergh, Mario Testino, Herb Ritts, Craig McDean, Patrick Demarchelier, Hedi Slimane, Glen Luchford, Mario Sorrenti, Solve Sundsbo, Ellen Von Unwerth, Inez and Vinoodh, Steven Klein, Michael Thompson, Paolo Roversi, Arthur Elgort, and Yelena Yemchuk.
She has styled campaigns for high-end brands such as Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Hermès, Tiffany & Co, Versace, Elie Tahari, Fendi, Yves Saint Laurent, Vera Wang, BCBG Max Azria, Roberto Cavalli, Harry Winston, Burberry, Nina Ricci (brand) and Valentino. She has also held contributing editor positions at Elle Magazine, W Magazine, Vogue Italia, Vogue Nippon and has styled editorials for Harper's Bazaar, i-D, Vogue China, German Vogue, and the Los Angeles Times Magazine.
Lori Goldstein has worked extensively with Mario Testino, her former roommate, styling Madonna's 1995 Versace ads, "Ray of Light" and "Something to Remember" albums, all photographed by Testino. Goldstein received the VH1 Fashion and Media award for best styling of Madonna's "Take A Bow" music video. She has also worked with various entertainers and notable figures such as Michael Jackson, Angelina Jolie, Cate Blanchett, Diana Ross, Julianne Moore, Ella Fitzgerald, Ellen DeGeneres, Sophia Loren, Beyoncé, Raquel Welch, Britney Spears, Scarlett Johansson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Nicole Kidman, Ray Charles, Johnny Depp, Sammy Davis Jr., Demi Moore, Rihanna, Julia Roberts, Drew Barrymore, among many others.
QVC.
LOGO by Lori Goldstein debuted on QVC in 2009, when the network teamed up with Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. The line covers apparel, jewelry, footwear, eyewear, and home decor items, offered at an affordable price. In 2014, the brand was awarded 'Apparel Product Concept of the Year' and Goldstein named QVC Ambassador. In 2015, LOGO was allotted a regular Monday primetime show on QVC as well as an afternoon edition show on Thursdays.


Clog (British)

A British clog is a wooden-soled clog from Great Britain. The uppers are typically leather, and many variations exist in style and fastening.
History.
There are two explanations of the development of the English style clog. They may have evolved from pattens which were
slats of wood held in place by thonging or similar strapping. They were usually worn under leather or fabric shoes to raise the wearer's foot above the mud of the unmade road, not to mention commonly dumped human effluent and animal dung. Those too poor to afford shoes wore wood directly against the skin or hosiery, and thus the clog was developed, made of part leather and part wood. Alternatively they have been described as far back as Roman times, possibly earlier.
The wearing of clogs in Britain became more visible with the Industrial Revolution, when industrial workers needed strong, cheap footwear. Men and women wore laced and clasped clogs respectively, the fastening clasps being of engraved brass or more commonly steel. Nailed under the sole at toe and heel were "clog irons", called "calkers" or "cokers", generally 3/8" wide x 1/4" thick with a groove down the middle to protected the nail heads from wear. The heyday of the clog in Britain was between the 1840s and 1920s and, although traditionally associated with Lancashire, they were worn all over the country, not just in the industrial North of England. Indeed, Mark Clyndes of Walkleys says "More clogs were worn down south than in the northern industrial towns". The London fish docks, fruit markets and the mines of Kent being particularly noted. Clogs could be manufactured within hospitals to keep down the cost of clothing. Through manufacture, repair and wear clogs could become individually recognised. In the aftermath of disasters they could be a means of identifying the victims, as happened after the Clifton Hall Colliery disaster where at least two men could only be identified this way.
Clogs were sometimes handed out as part of poor relief; the Blackburn Weekly Telegraph recorded five people receiving "gifts of clogs or parcels of clothing" in 1912.
Although associated in the popular mind with dancing, clogs are still used in industry and are available tested to EN345. Such clogs are particularly advantageous in metal working industries where hot swarf or spashes of molten metal may be found on the floor. In 1989 three shiploads of clogs were sent to The Netherlands due to the perceived inferiority of the Dutch clog in wet fields.
Construction.
In the past the English tended to employ Welsh and West Country alder, Scottish birch and Lincolnshire willow for the soles. The Welsh favoured alder, birch & sycamore. for their clog soles.
The traditional method of construction starts with gangs of itinerant woodsmen who would buy a stand of timber for the felling. The regular gangs would operate in a similar fashion to coppice workers and circulate around 12 stands in 12 years to allow regrowth. The timber was felled and sawn to length. Logs from larger trees were split; that from smaller coppice wood did not require splitting. The billets were roughly shaped with a stock knife and a deep notch put in where the sole and heel meet. All the work was done in green wood which is easier to work than seasoned wood. The clog blocks were then generally stacked up in open pyramids to allow the air to circulate and seasoned for a few months. The offcuts and waste was sold on, either as pea-sticks and firewood to provide money for food or else as fuel to the wool dyeing trade.
The seasoned wood was sold on to the master clogger who would finish the work on the now dry, seasoned wood. The same stock knives were used for shaping with two more pivot knives, the hollower and the gripper bit. The latter is used to cut the rebate to hold the upper. The final operation is to finish the sole perfectly smooth by rasps and short bladed knives.
Grew & Neergaard summise that a similar method was used in medieval times, in part from an illustration in the Mendel Housebook. A workman is shown using a small hand adze for finishing pattens with drawknives (or possibly stock knives) hanging on the wall behind.
The uppers are made from leather either cut according to patterns or stamped out. At the lighter end are various styles of sandals, then through shoe types to industrial, farming and army boots. When cutting either card or metal patterns are used, with the latter the knife makes a clicking sound and the term used is "clicking out". The vamp and the quarters and heel stiffener are stitched together and eyelets or fastenings attached.
Traditionally using Indian Water Buffalo Waxed Kip the uppers were stretched over a solid straight last, using lasting pincers and the hot Half Round Bottom Glazer to heat and soften the leather, and once cooled and set to shape were transferred and tack lasted onto the soles. In the 20th century sprung lasts became used allowing whatever leather utilised to be tacked directly to the soles The junction is secured with brass or steel clog welt tacks nailed over narrow strip of leather (the welt). Most clogs are finished off with external brass or steel "toe tins" to protect the toe of the clog when kicking or kneeling. Those on the leather welt strip covering the join of leather and wood are called "inners" and those covering the wooden soles are "outers". Clogs could have either or both.
The steel toecap used in safety clogs is generally fitted under the leather and is another item again.
Finally the soling is applied according to the customer's requirements. Clog-irons have been mentioned above, clogs are also shod (horse-shoe shaped rubber) or fully soled and heeled with rubber.
Woods.
Alder was plentiful and cheap; the tree grows next to streams. The wood is easy to work by hand, but not durable in damp conditions. Like elm it needs to be fully immersed in water for it to be durable. It is quite light, and could be cut into a thick sole without adding too much weight. According to Grew and de Neergaard it is "resilient and extremely durable when wet, [and] has been the favourite material for clog-making in England right up to the present day".
It was popular in the hot industries (steel making for example) because replacement woods could be quickly made, and it was rarely constantly damp. However being relatively soft, it makes a poor dance clog, where sound is important.
 Another disadvantage is that the wood has a tendency to split if taken from the centre of the tree. So much alder was used for clogs that in parts of Wales it was called "Pren Clocsia" (Clog Wood) rather
than "Gwern".
Beech is a good wood for machining, but suffers from being heavy and having a short grain. Modern machined-beech soles tend to be thinner with a shallower cast (the curve to the toe). This is not a problem for factory work, but is a disadvantage for dancing and hill walking. In the former case there is less spring and in the latter case the wearer tends to cantilever off the tip of the toe which gets worn quickly. Machine soles were generally of flatter profile, possibly so as to get more soles from a balk of timber. "I'd sell my Grandmother for a ha'penny a pair". They were comfortable when standing at machinery all day, indeed the safety toecap made only fits a shallower sole with less "cast".
Sycamore is light and hard with a longer grain than beech and wears well. It was the wood of choice in much of Pembrokeshire, where it was worked green. In a 1920s government survey of rural trades and crafts it was stated that the Welsh would pay double for Sycamore. However its use was unknown in many other parts of Wales. Sycamore can be worked wet without being seasoned as it is the most stable of woods, indeed it must be if the traditional carving tools are used, as it dries too hard to be commercially viable, possibly the reason it was little used.
Ash is considered by Tefor Owen to be the best wood for dance soles, but it does not wear as well as sycamore. If the clogs are only to be used on wooden floors he recommends it, otherwise the better-wearing properties of sycamore win out. Ash can have a tendency to delaminate along the growth rings when bruised.
Willow is another wood with good resistance to moist conditions. It can be tough and resilient. Lincolnshire willow found favour amongst English cloggers, and Willow was also favoured in the Trough of Bowland, but was never widely used in Wales. Which type of Willow was used is uncertain, and as there are many varieties of willow tree, this information is not particularly helpful. (In a parallel example, Sycamore is a Maple, but Field Maple has far less split resistance, and Norway Maple dries out about as heavy as Beech.)
Closely related to the willow (in the same family, "Salicaceae") are the poplars, including the Aspen. The Aspen is used for French sabots. In medieval England this wood was specifically banned for patten making (4 Henry V c.3 of 1416) in order to preserve the stock for arrows. Anyone caught flouting the law was subject to a hundred shilling (£5) fine, half of which was paid to the Fletchers. By 1464-5 however it was permitted (4 Edward IV c.9) to use "such Timber of Asp, that is not apt, sufficient, nor convenient to be made into (arrowshafts)" because "Asp timber be the best and lightest Timber to make Pattens and Clogs". This may have been due to its resistance to abrasion when used as a bare sole against the ground.
Leather.
Kip full grain leather was a Water Buffalo hide impregnated with tallow, oils and waxes; it was made in India. Split Kip was split leather and was often used just on the heel (the quarters). The presence of wax and oil made the leather hard, and necessitated a heated Half Round Bottom Glazer for shaping over the last. Kip lasts up to 40 years, but is no longer imported.
Crust-dyed chrome 2–4 mm thick is used by some makers.
Vegetable tan leather can be too stiff, insufficiently strong and not waterproof, although some European Veg Tan can be very supple and tough.
Clog-dancing.
Clog dancing should not be confused with Morris dancing, which may be performed in clogs.
There is a theory that "clogging" or clog dancing arose in these industrial textiles mills as a result of the mill workers entertaining themselves by syncopating foot taps with the rhythmic sounds made by the loom shuttles. Clog dancing became a widespread pastime during this period in England. During the nineteenth century, competitions were held, and professional clog dancers performed in the music halls.
Clog dancing is a continuing tradition in Wales. The difference between Welsh clogging and other step-dance traditions is that the performances do not only include complicated stepping, but also 'tricks' such as snuffing out a lit candle with the dancer's feet, "toby stepping", which is similar to Cossack dancing, and high leaps into the air.
Trivia.
The Cloggies was a long running cartoon strip satirising Northerners. The cartoon popularised the existing use of "cloggie" to refer to people from the Northern industrial areas, particularly Lancashire.
Clog fighting, known in Lancashire as 'purring', was a combative means of settling disputes. Clog fighting and its associated betting by spectators was illegal.
The British expression "to pop his clogs" refers to a man dying. The most probably explanation is that if dead his clogs could be "popped" or pawned, though some sources allow for the possibility that "pop" may come from "to pop off" or "to pop off the hooks", both meaning to die.


Pichi Lemon

 was a Japanese fashion magazine published by Gakken. The magazine targets girls from early- to mid-teens. The magazine was known for its models (called "Pichimo" as an abbreviation for "Pichi Lemon model"). It ceased publication in October 2015.


Finite-state machine

A finite-state machine (FSM) or finite-state automaton (FSA, plural: "automata"), finite automaton, or simply a state machine, is a mathematical model of computation. It is an abstract machine that can be in exactly one of a finite number of "states" at any given time. The FSM can change from one state to another in response to some inputs; the change from one state to another is called a "transition". An FSM is defined by a list of its states, its initial state, and the inputs that trigger each transition. Finite-state machines are of two types—deterministic finite-state machines and non-deterministic finite-state machines. A deterministic finite-state machine can be constructed equivalent to any non-deterministic one.
The behavior of state machines can be observed in many devices in modern society that perform a predetermined sequence of actions depending on a sequence of events with which they are presented. Simple examples are vending machines, which dispense products when the proper combination of coins is deposited, elevators, whose sequence of stops is determined by the floors requested by riders, traffic lights, which change sequence when cars are waiting, and combination locks, which require the input of a sequence of numbers in the proper order.
The finite-state machine has less computational power than some other models of computation such as the Turing machine. The computational power distinction means there are computational tasks that a Turing machine can do but an FSM cannot. This is because an FSM's memory is limited by the number of states it has. A finite-state machine has the same computational power as a Turing machine that is restricted such that its head may only perform "read" operations, and always has to move from left to right. FSMs are studied in the more general field of automata theory.
Example: coin-operated turnstile.
An example of a simple mechanism that can be modeled by a state machine is a turnstile. A turnstile, used to control access to subways and amusement park rides, is a gate with three rotating arms at waist height, one across the entryway. Initially the arms are locked, blocking the entry, preventing patrons from passing through. Depositing a coin or token in a slot on the turnstile unlocks the arms, allowing a single customer to push through. After the customer passes through, the arms are locked again until another coin is inserted.
Considered as a state machine, the turnstile has two possible states: Locked and Unlocked. There are two possible inputs that affect its state: putting a coin in the slot (coin) and pushing the arm (push). In the locked state, pushing on the arm has no effect; no matter how many times the input push is given, it stays in the locked state. Putting a coin in – that is, giving the machine a coin input – shifts the state from Locked to Unlocked. In the unlocked state, putting additional coins in has no effect; that is, giving additional coin inputs does not change the state. However, a customer pushing through the arms, giving a push input, shifts the state back to Locked.
The turnstile state machine can be represented by a state-transition table, showing for each possible state, the transitions between them (based upon the inputs given to the machine) and the outputs resulting from each input:
The turnstile state machine can also be represented by a directed graph called a state diagram "(above)". Each state is represented by a node ("circle"). Edges ("arrows") show the transitions from one state to another. Each arrow is labeled with the input that triggers that transition. An input that doesn't cause a change of state (such as a coin input in the Unlocked state) is represented by a circular arrow returning to the original state. The arrow into the Locked node from the black dot indicates it is the initial state.
Concepts and terminology.
A "state" is a description of the status of a system that is waiting to execute a "transition". A transition is a set of actions to be executed when a condition is fulfilled or when an event is received.
For example, when using an audio system to listen to the radio (the system is in the "radio" state), receiving a "next" stimulus results in moving to the next station. When the system is in the "CD" state, the "next" stimulus results in moving to the next track. Identical stimuli trigger different actions depending on the current state.
In some finite-state machine representations, it is also possible to associate actions with a state:
Representations.
State/Event table.
Several state-transition table types are used. The most common representation is shown below: the combination of current state (e.g. B) and input (e.g. Y) shows the next state (e.g. C). The complete action's information is not directly described in the table and can only be added using footnotes. An FSM definition including the full action's information is possible using state tables (see also virtual finite-state machine).
UML state machines.
The Unified Modeling Language has a notation for describing state machines. UML state machines overcome the limitations of traditional finite-state machines while retaining their main benefits. UML state machines introduce the new concepts of hierarchically nested states and orthogonal regions, while extending the notion of actions. UML state machines have the characteristics of both Mealy machines and Moore machines. They support actions that depend on both the state of the system and the triggering event, as in Mealy machines, as well as entry and exit actions, which are associated with states rather than transitions, as in Moore machines.
SDL state machines.
The Specification and Description Language is a standard from ITU that includes graphical symbols to describe actions in the transition:
SDL embeds basic data types called "Abstract Data Types", an action language, and an execution semantic in order to make the finite-state machine executable.
Other state diagrams.
There are a large number of variants to represent an FSM such as the one in figure 3.
Usage.
In addition to their use in modeling reactive systems presented here, finite-state machines are significant in many different areas, including electrical engineering, linguistics, computer science, philosophy, biology, mathematics, video game programming, and logic. Finite-state machines are a class of automata studied in automata theory and the theory of computation.
In computer science, finite-state machines are widely used in modeling of application behavior, design of hardware digital systems, software engineering, compilers, network protocols, and the study of computation and languages.
Classification.
Finite-state machines can be subdivided into acceptors, classifiers, transducers and sequencers.
Acceptors.
Acceptors (also called detectors or recognizers) produce binary output, indicating whether or not the received input is accepted. Each state of an acceptor is either "accepting" or "non accepting". Once all input has been received, if the current state is an accepting state, the input is accepted; otherwise it is rejected. As a rule, input is a sequence of symbols (characters); actions are not used. The start state can also be an accepting state, in which case the acceptor accepts the empty string. The example in figure 4 shows an acceptor that accepts the string "nice". In this acceptor, the only accepting state is state 7.
A (possibly infinite) set of symbol sequences, called a formal language, is a regular language if there is some acceptor that accepts "exactly" that set. For example, the set of binary strings with an even number of zeroes is a regular language (cf. Fig. 5), while the set of all strings whose length is a prime number is not.
An acceptor could also be described as defining a language that would contain every string accepted by the acceptor but none of the rejected ones; that language is "accepted" by the acceptor. By definition, the languages accepted by acceptors are the regular languages.
The problem of determining the language accepted by a given acceptor is an instance of the algebraic path problem—itself a generalization of the shortest path problem to graphs with edges weighted by the elements of an (arbitrary) semiring.
An example of an accepting state appears in Fig. 5: a deterministic finite automaton (DFA) that detects whether the binary input string contains an even number of 0s.
"S"1 (which is also the start state) indicates the state at which an even number of 0s has been input. S1 is therefore an accepting state. This acceptor will finish in an accept state, if the binary string contains an even number of 0s (including any binary string containing no 0s). Examples of strings accepted by this acceptor are ε (the empty string), 1, 11, 11..., 00, 010, 1010, 10110, etc.
Classifiers.
Classifiers are a generalization of acceptors that produce "n"-ary output where "n" is strictly greater than two.
Transducers.
Transducers produce output based on a given input and/or a state using actions. They are used for control applications and in the field of computational linguistics.
In control applications, two types are distinguished:
Sequencers.
Sequencers (also called generators) are a subclass of acceptors and transducers that have a single-letter input alphabet. They produce only one sequence which can be seen as an output sequence of acceptor or transducer outputs.
Determinism.
A further distinction is between deterministic (DFA) and non-deterministic (NFA, GNFA) automata. In a deterministic automaton, every state has exactly one transition for each possible input. In a non-deterministic automaton, an input can lead to one, more than one, or no transition for a given state. The powerset construction algorithm can transform any nondeterministic automaton into a (usually more complex) deterministic automaton with identical functionality.
A finite-state machine with only one state is called a "combinatorial FSM". It only allows actions upon transition "into" a state. This concept is useful in cases where a number of finite-state machines are required to work together, and when it is convenient to consider a purely combinatorial part as a form of FSM to suit the design tools.
Alternative semantics.
There are other sets of semantics available to represent state machines. For example, there are tools for modeling and designing logic for embedded controllers. They combine hierarchical state machines (which usually have more than one current state), flow graphs, and truth tables into one language, resulting in a different formalism and set of semantics. These charts, like Harel's original state machines, support hierarchically nested states, orthogonal regions, state actions, and transition actions.
Mathematical model.
In accordance with the general classification, the following formal definitions are found.
A "deterministic finite-state machine" or "deterministic finite-state acceptor" is a quintuple formula_1, where:
For both deterministic and non-deterministic FSMs, it is conventional to allow formula_6 to be a partial function, i.e. formula_13 does not have to be defined for every combination of formula_14 and formula_15. If an FSM formula_16 is in a state formula_17, the next symbol is formula_18 and formula_13 is not defined, then formula_16 can announce an error (i.e. reject the input). This is useful in definitions of general state machines, but less useful when transforming the machine. Some algorithms in their default form may require total functions.
A finite-state machine has the same computational power as a Turing machine that is restricted such that its head may only perform "read" operations, and always has to move from left to right. That is, each formal language accepted by a finite-state machine is accepted by such a kind of restricted Turing machine, and vice versa.
A "finite-state transducer" is a sextuple formula_21, where:
If the output function depends on the state and input symbol (formula_30) that definition corresponds to the "Mealy model", and can be modelled as a Mealy machine. If the output function depends only on the state (formula_31) that definition corresponds to the "Moore model", and can be modelled as a Moore machine. A finite-state machine with no output function at all is known as a semiautomaton or transition system.
If we disregard the first output symbol of a Moore machine, formula_32, then it can be readily converted to an output-equivalent Mealy machine by setting the output function of every Mealy transition (i.e. labeling every edge) with the output symbol given of the destination Moore state. The converse transformation is less straightforward because a Mealy machine state may have different output labels on its incoming transitions (edges). Every such state needs to be split in multiple Moore machine states, one for every incident output symbol.
Optimization.
Optimizing an FSM means finding a machine with the minimum number of states that performs the same function. The fastest known algorithm doing this is the Hopcroft minimization algorithm. Other techniques include using an implication table, or the Moore reduction procedure. Additionally, acyclic FSAs can be minimized in linear time.
Implementation.
Hardware applications.
In a digital circuit, an FSM may be built using a programmable logic device, a programmable logic controller, logic gates and flip flops or relays. More specifically, a hardware implementation requires a register to store state variables, a block of combinational logic that determines the state transition, and a second block of combinational logic that determines the output of an FSM. One of the classic hardware implementations is the Richards controller.
In a "Medvedev machine", the output is directly connected to the state flip-flops minimizing the time delay between flip-flops and output.
Through state encoding for low power state machines may be optimized to minimize power consumption.
Software applications.
The following concepts are commonly used to build software applications with finite-state machines:
Finite-state machines and compilers.
Finite automata are often used in the frontend of programming language compilers. Such a frontend may comprise several finite-state machines that implement a lexical analyzer and a parser.
Starting from a sequence of characters, the lexical analyzer builds a sequence of language tokens (such as reserved words, literals, and identifiers) from which the parser builds a syntax tree. The lexical analyzer and the parser handle the regular and context-free parts of the programming language's grammar.
Further reading.
Finite Markov chain processes.
Finite Markov-chain processes are also known as subshifts of finite type.


Flint Dille

Flint Dille (born November 3, 1955) is an American screenwriter, game designer and novelist. He is best known for his animated work on "Transformers", "G.I. Joe", ', and his game-writing, ', and "Dead to Rights", as well as a non-fiction book written with John Zuur Platten, "The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design ".
Personal background.
Dille was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Robert Crabtree Dille and Virginia Nichols Dille. He attended Glenbrook South High School. In 1977, he graduated from U.C. Berkeley with a Bachelor's degree in Ancient History and Classical Rhetoric. He received a Master of Fine Arts in Professional Writing (Cinema) from the University of Southern California. He lives in Los Angeles, California.
Flint Dille is the grandson of John F. Dille, publisher of the original "Buck Rogers" comic strip, and is part of the Dille Family Trust, which owns the rights to the character.
Professional background.
After grad school, Dille worked as a freelance script reader, production assistant, and assistant art director before getting his first writing job from Joe Ruby at Ruby-Spears as a Saturday Morning Development writer. This led to writing scripts for "Mr. T.", "The Puppy", and "RoboForce". Later, Dille went to work for Sunbow Productions and served in various capacities as Writer, Story Editor, Associate Producer, and Co-Producer on several shows, including "The Transformers", ', "Inhumanoids" and '.
Dille was a story editor for the first season of "G.I. Joe" (1985). He also wrote the episodes "The Gamesmaster," "Eau De Cobra," and ""Skeletons in the Closet," and co-wrote the episodes "The Pit of Vipers," "The Wrong Stuff," "Grey Hairs and Growing Pains," and "G.I. Joe and the Golden Fleece."
Dille joined the production team of "The Transformers" as a supervising story editor in the show's second season (1985-1986) and also co-wrote the episode "Prime Target" with his "G.I. Joe" colleague Buzz Dixon. Dille worked on an extensive rewrite of Ron Friedman's screenplay for "" (1986); although Friedman contractually received sole screenplay credit, Dille was credited onscreen as the film's story consultant. After the movie, Dille served as a story editor for the third season of "The Transformers" (1986-1987) and wrote the season's five-part opening story, "Five Faces of Darkness."
Dille returned to "G.I. Joe" after the series was taken over by DIC Entertainment, co-writing the episode "Injustice and the Cobra Way" for the show's first DIC season (1990-1991).
Dille worked briefly at CBS on the in-house production of "Garbage Pail Kids", before working with Amblin Entertainment on several projects, including "", "Tiny Toons" (as a movie), and "We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story".
TSR and Dungeons & Dragons.
Dille met Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, while Gygax was in Hollywood and they began collaborating on a number of projects, including the "Sagard the Barbarian" gamebook series (1985-1986), which was published by Pocket Books. Dille co-authored a script with Gygax for a "Dungeons & Dragons" film; however, the film was never made. Dille introduced his sister Lorraine Williams to Gygax at Gygax's request. TSR was having hard times financially, and she was suggested as both a potential investor and as a skilled manager, and she was brought in to TSR as Vice President and Administration. In 1989, TSR made an expansion out to the west coast to get "D&D" back onto the television and into movies; Dille ran this new department, which was called TSR West. Dille was able to get the boardgame "A Line in the Sand" (1991) published the same day the US bombing started in the first Gulf War, as he was able to convince the president of the company to make things move quickly. The Buck Rogers roleplaying game "XXVc" began at TSR West, but Dille could not finish it so it was shipped back east.
For the rest of the 1980s, Dille focused on animation writing and game writing and design. At TSR, Dille worked on "Dragonstrike", for which he wrote and directed the video portion. Dille also directed several interactive audio projects, including "First Quest", "", "Red Steel" and "Planescape". The TSR Audio Disc "Terror T.R.A.X: Track of the Vampyre", was later adapted into a CD-ROM by Grolier, directed by Dille and programmed by Peter Marx and Evolutionary Publishing.
Dille co-wrote the "" series of novels and graphic novels with David Marconi and also the "Buck Rogers XXVC" comic modules "Rude Awakening".
Interactive Games.
Dille's career shifted to interactive games in the late 80's when he worked on several projects for the Sega CD platform, including "Double Switch", "Maximum Surge" and "Corpse Killer". Dille then worked on "Soviet Strike" and "Nuclear Strike" for Electronic Arts, writing the videos and completing his transition from paper games and products to video games.
Dille won "Story of the Year" for his work on ' and on "Dead to Rights". Dille was the writer for other video games, including ', "Teen Titans", "Superman Returns", "James Bond: Tomorrow Never Dies", "Soviet Strike", and "Nuclear Strike".
Frank Miller.
Dille is a close friend of comics creator Frank Miller; "Frank and I met during what I call our 'professional adolescence' when he was doing the Dark Knight and I was doing the Transformers cartoon series," says Dille, "and we've been great friends ever since." Dille was selected to spearhead the design, scriptwriting, story generation, and overall production of a video game adaptation of Miller's "Sin City" for Red Mile Entertainment. Miller planned to direct a "Buck Rogers" film, with Dille as producer, but this project was scrapped in 2009. The character of Dilios in Miller's graphic novel "300" (1998), loosely based on Aristodemus of Sparta, is named after Dille.
Ingress.
Google revealed Flint Dille to be the creative lead of alternate reality, geomobile game Ingress on All Tech Considered, an NPR radio segment. The project operates as if it isn't a game, presenting itself as reality at Wyrd Con 2014. At ComiCon 2014 Dille spoke on the panel "Story Worlds: The Alchemy of Franchise Creation." Using his experience with Ingress, he explained the way different medias are growing interconnected.
Niantic Labs.
Niantic Labs spun out of Google in 2015, although Google remained a major backer. Dille was revealed to be leaving Google with Niantic Labs and continuing in his position as Creative Lead.
Autocracy.
Recently Flint Dille completed a "Transformers" graphic novel trilogy, Autocracy, with Chris Metzen and Livio Ramondelli. The series follows the origins of Optimus Prime and Megatron one million years before they arrive on Earth.
Transportopia.
At TechWeek LA, Dille unveiled Transportopia, which he describes as turning the entire city of Los Angeles into a massively-multiplayer online game as an attempt to change our relation to the city and "move us outside of our bubbles."
Other projects.
Dille co-wrote and co-executive produced Dimension's 2005 horror film "Venom".
Dille also taught an Alternate Reality Game Design class at UCLA film school, Winter Semester 2011.
Critical reception.
Regarding Dille's script for "Fievel Goes West", critic Cliff Terry wrote, "Screenwriter Flint Dille has provided a story that is frenetic and fast-paced—in the end, too hyper, too cluttered—with some decidedly dark touches that, conceivably, could have undertones of the Holocaust. To lighten things up, Dille periodically tosses in bits of relatively sophisticated humor. At one point, the desert is described as 'a million-acre catbox,' there are references to espresso and endive, and when Miss Kitty cuts out on Tiger, she purrs—"Casablanca"-like: 'We'll always have the Bronx. [Here's lookin' at you, kid.]'"


Bernardo Sandals

Bernardo Sandals was founded in 1946 by architect Bernard Rudofsky and Berta Rudofsky. The Rudofskys went into sandal design following the 1944 exhibition, "Are Clothes Modern?" that Mr. Rudofsky curated at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Description.
The core ideas of the designs were those Bertha taught at Black Mountain College. Monika Platzer writes, in the book "Lessons from Bernard Rudofsky", "In contrast to closed footwear, which he condemned as "foot-deformers," Rudofsky preached the virtues of sandals as "non-concealing footwear; they represented a suitable type of shoe, one that transcended conventionality and ever-changing fashions."
The first collection was presented at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Manhattan, and featured only 6 designs. All six designs consisted of strappy uppers on an asymmetrical leather sole that was pancake flat. The collection was immediately successful, and in the 1950s and 1960s high-end fashion magazines such as "Vogue" and "Harper's Bazaar" regularly featured Bernardo sandals in fashion editorials. By the 1960s Jackie Kennedy was said to own 16 colors of the same pair. The current Bernardo sandal line includes several of Rudofsky's original designs and are handmade in both Italy and Brazil.
Growth.
In 1953, Dino Sonnino bought Bernardo Sandals from Aldo Bruzzichelli, the co-founder (with Bernard Rudofsky) and owner of Bernardo Sandals. Rudofsky remained as designer of Bernardo Sandals for one more year, then returned to Italy to pursue his profession as architect. His time with Bernardo was always intended as temporary, until such time that the war-devastated Italian economy would start recovering and provide work for architects. Upon Rudofsky's departure to Italy, Dino Sonnino needed a new designer for Bernardo Sandals, at the time a tiny business with a small factory in New York City, on Walker Street in Tribeca. There were only four employees, with all production made at the Walker Street factory (the building still exists, having become residential with loft apartments). Dino Sonnino's wife, Eva Sonnino, who grew up in Milan, Italy and had a strong sense of fashion, became the temporary designer, until a new designer was found. But Eva Sonnino immediately proved herself to be a successful designer for Bernardo Sandals, and the job was hers permanently.
It was under the management of Dino Sonnino and the design of Eva Sonnino that Bernardo grew from a tiny, unknown manufacturer of women's sandals to the best known sandal company in the United States. Eva Sonnino won the Neiman Marcus award for best women's shoe designer in 1967, and was constantly asked by Vogue and Harpers Bazaar to create special designs for their editorials, including one in conjunction with the James Bond movie "Goldfinger", gold-colored sandals worn by a model covered in gold body paint. In 1967 Eva Sonnino was asked by Kay Hayes, the Vogue shoe editor, to create a sandal with straps going up to the knee for a Vogue editorial. She responded by saying she would create a sandal with straps going up to the hip which she fitted on the top model Verushka. Kay Hayes liked it so much that she ordered a white leather pair for a NYC broadcast TV show with Tippy Hedren (the star of Alfred Hitchcock's movie "The Birds") modeling the sandal. Dino and Eva helped Tippy strap up the sandals and were interviewed on the show with Tippy. Bernardo's became a sort of cult fashion item, even with college girls, as documented by 'The Official Preppy Handbook", at the time an arbiter of college youth fashion.
Special collections.
By the mid to late sixties, Eva Sonnino was designing special collections for Emilio Pucci evening wear. Emilio Pucci was so enthusiastic about her designs and Dino Sonnino's business leadership, that he invited them to move their headquarters next to his compound outside Florence, Italy, in the Tuscan countryside, all at his expense. He was going to provide a villa and design facilities for Bernardo, wishing to benefit from the creative synergies to expand into accessories such as hand bags. The invitation was tempting, but the Sonnino's decided they didn't want to leave their simple life in New York City for a glamorous one in Florence which would have involved a hectic social life.
By the mid 1960s, Bernardo Sandals were no longer made just in New York City (the tiny Walker Street factory having been moved to a large full floor space on East 22nd Street between Broadway and Park Avenue South/4th Avenue, the building having been converted to loft apartments in the late 1970s). Manufacturing remained in New York City, but was augmented by factories in upstate New York, Italy, and Spain. Additional factories in Mexico and Brazil were being contemplated in the late 1960s. At that time, Dino and Eva Sonnino were both in their late 50s and thinking about their retirement years. They asked their son, Edward Sonnino (who had worked two summers at the firm after graduating from high school, had visited various factories in Italy with his parents over the years during summer vacation, and met the most important buyers and Bernardo sales persons in the U.S.) whether he would be interested in joining the firm after graduating from college and eventually taking over from his parents. He declined because he did not yet have a feel for fashion and therefore lacked the confidence necessary to successfully lead a high fashion business. He also was not interested in business at that young age.
Company sold.
Consequently, Dino and Eva Sonnino decided to find a buyer for their company. Revlon, the world's leading cosmetics company at the time, made the highest offer, but only payable in restricted Revlon stock. R.G. Barry, listed on the American Stock Exchange, a manufacturer of machine washable slippers with well-known brands such as "DearFoams", ended up acquiring Bernardo, thinking it could transform a relatively low-volume high-fashion company into a high volume one. Under R.G Barry, Bernardo started a decline, no longer having top management with competency in the high fashion business. R.G. Barry underestimated the need for a top designer and for public relations and advertising at the highest level. They underestimated the importance of having a tight rapport with Vogue and Harpers Bazaar, which led to countless high-impact editorials which strengthened the Bernardo brand and increased visibility.
To this day, Eva Sonnino's designs remain emblematic of Bernardo Sandals. They remain Bernardo's most successful designs. Starting in the mid 1960s, all Vogue and Harpers Bazaar ads for Bernardo Sandals credited Eva Sonnino as being the designer. While her designs were essential for Bernardo's success, so were the management talents of her husband, Dino Sonnino, who in the early years was Bernardo's top salesman, being the only one, traveling around the country, knocking on doors of department store buyers and independent shoe stores, often not getting a moment's attention but not letting himself be discouraged. Beyond his management talent, his perseverance, courage, and determination were essential to raise the company from being unknown to a fashion icon. Eva and Dino Sonnino were quite a husband and wife team, creating a successful high fashion company practically from scratch in less than fifteen years. Had Bernardo Sandals been sold to a company understanding how to operate in the high fashion sector back in the late 1960s when it was by far the leading brand in women's sandals, it would most probably be a leader today in women's high fashion shoes and accessories.
1990.
By 1990 the Bernardo Footwear line was downgraded in price and quality. Owned by the Slaughter Brothers of Dallas, Texas, the sandals were 100% man-made materials, production was switched to China, and the retail price range was $25 to $35. 1993 was officially the last year under the Slaughter Brother's ownership, as they officially stopped selling the brand and closed it down.
Texan retailer Roy Smith teamed up with designer Dennis Comeau of Florence, Italy, who resigned from Prada to acquire the rights to the brand in 2001. Restructuring and relaunching the brand, they went back to making a high-quality all leather product, manufacturing in Italy, and raised the retail prices to the $100 plus market. Within a few years Bernardo was once again carried by high-end stores such as Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdales, Harrod's and Fred Segal. The sandals were frequently sighted and photographed by many big-name celebrities, such as Reese Witherspoon, Hilary Duff, Vanessa Manillo, Jessica Alba, Ruby Spiro, Robin Wright, and Halle Berry.
In 2009 Comeau launched a subdivision labeled "Bernardo Vintage Couture". With prices ranging from $250 to $600, the new line was bought by very high end retailers worldwide, such as Dover Street Market in London, Jeffrey and Bergdorf Goodman in New York, 10 Corso Como in Milan, and Harvey Nichols in the UK and Asia.
2011.
In 2011, Bernardo Footwear was sold to a group of investors headed by Peter Cooper. Cooper engaged in an important re-branding of Bernardo, creating the brand identity and loop logo used on Bernardo shoes today. Cooper also successfully created the Bernardo 1946 brand which re-introduced Italian-made heritage styles from the 1950s and 1960s. In 2014, a majority of the Bernardo assets were sold to a group led by Peter Grueterich, previous owner of Bruno Magli and founder of the Peter Marcus Group, which specializes in luxury footwear distribution.
External links.
 Dino Sonnino, President, Bernardo Sandals 1954-1970


Warlords II

Warlords II is computer wargame released in 1993, and the second release in the "Warlords" video game series.
An expansion pack, "Warlords II Scenario Builder", was released in 1994. The updated version of the game, "Warlords II Deluxe", was released in 1995. It allowed for custom tile, army and city sets for maps and provided support for 256 colours. Thanks to the publication of the editor, "Warlords II Deluxe" led to an increase of user-created content. Many new maps, army and terrain sets, and scenarios were distributed on the Internet for the game.
Gameplay.
"Warlords II" included five maps, although the later released mission pack increased the number. Another new feature was 'fog of war' - optionally, enemy units or even the map could be concealed from players without units close enough to see them. The interface of the game was improved, as were the graphics (with additional unique city graphics for each different player). Moreover, the game featured multiple army, city, and terrain sets (still in 16 colours), play by e-mail as well as hot seat, and a random map generator and map editor.
Reception.
"Computer Gaming World" in November 1993 stated that other than the lack of a better victory screen, "every other aspect of "Warlord II" is worthy of respect and admiration", praising the AI as "one of the finest on the market". The magazine in July 1994 stated that "Scenario Builder" "succeeds even though it lets you look behind the curtain of one of the most engaging game systems on the market". Rating the scenario editor four stars out of five, the magazine in August liked half of the 24 premade scenarios and concluded that it was "a terrific way to dabble in world creation".
"Warlords II" was a runner-up for "Computer Gaming World"s Wargame of the Year award in June 1994, losing to "Clash of Steel". The editors wrote that the game "takes the award-winning game system and enhances it with more and randomly generated maps, and more diversity in unit types. The AI presses SSG's approach to a new high in versatility and competitiveness". However, it was named the best wargame of 1993 by "Computer Games Strategy Plus".
In 1996, "Computer Gaming World" declared "Warlords II" the 77th-best computer game ever released.