Aylmer to Zazzoo and Beyond

Asa Smith’s Illustrated Astronomy

2017-12-19T14:48:00.000-07:00

Asa Smith’s Illustrated Astronomy – Eclipses

Smith’s illustrated astronomy, designed for the use of the public or common schools in the United States. Illustrated with numerous original diagrams. By Asa Smith, Principal of Public School No. 12, City of New York. Fifth edition. New York: Cady & Burgess, 60 John Street. 1850.

(Click on individual photos for full size images)

Underwater Dogs

2017-11-12T05:44:00.000-07:00

Fascinating photos and videos of dogs underwater.

The beauty and grace of an Afghan Hound swimming underwater

Many of these photos are the work of photographer Seth Casteel.

Have you ever been so worried?

The Circle Of Life?

2017-10-17T02:31:00.001-06:00

Lioness gored by buffalo horn lives to see another day.

Written by: Patrick Reynolds, Governors Il Moran Camp manager
Lioness Siena from the Marsh Pride of lions in the Masai Mara was badly injured on her left lower flank by a buffalo horn. Siena has three tiny cubs so the lives of four individual lions were at stake. The wound was deep with the skin sheath being fleeced but no perforations to the stomach wall or any bone dislocation. Full article HERE.

On the other hand, from the perspective of the Buffalo:

"What the hey? What are you talking about the circle of life? We Buffalo just can't get a break. I finally get a 'W' against the pride of lions, and you go and move the Goal Posts.

So, like where were all of you last week when the pride was eating Aunt Gloria?"

Happy Fathers Day 2017

2017-06-18T13:54:00.000-06:00

Happy Fathers Day 2017

God bless all you dads out there. What an awesome responsibility being a father is...and such a roller coaster ride of emotions, work, and stress...so exhausting, exhilarating, frustrating and rewarding all at the same time.

You'll constantly teach them, they'll mimic your every move (good or bad) as you watch them grow...and that will happen miraculously fast...and they will leave you before you are ready for it...you'll never see it coming...

There are good times and sad times...it will be tough having to let your children move on with their lives...you're frightened, sad, proud and happy all at the same time.

Sometimes family feels like chains that bind you down...but in time you will be thankful for those chains, for those once heavy chains, will also bind you together throughout your life. They will be a blessing in your aging years as long as you live...and on through the eternities.

Spending time with your children is SO important...it means SO much to them...even if you're too tired from work to do anything but lie there and snooze while they use your body as a fantasy neighborhood playground.

As the old adage states:

"The family the prays together, stays together".

No matter your choice or tradition of faith...it's not likely to hurt.

I Got A Kiss!

2017-04-03T06:09:00.002-06:00

Nah, bro, of course it's not my first kiss...

I've had a lot of experience kissing.

Buster Keaton’s stunts before green screen and biography

2017-03-14T02:55:00.000-06:00

Buster Keaton’s stunts before green screen - 1920s

Buster Keaton was a true one of a kind.

Actor | Writer | Director

Born: October 4, 1895 in Piqua, Kansas, USA

Died: February 1, 1966 (age 70) in Los Angeles, California, USA

When at six months of age he tumbled down a flight of stairs unharmed, he was given the name "Buster" by Harry Houdini who, along with W.C. Fields, Bill Robinson ("Bojangles"), Eddie Cantor and Al Jolson shared headlines with "The Three Keatons": Buster, his father Joe Keaton and mother Myra Keaton. Their act, one of the most dangerous in vaudeville, was about how to discipline a prankster child. Buster was thrown all over the stage and even into the audience. No matter what the stunt, he was poker-faced. By the time Buster turned 21, however, his father was such a severe alcoholic that the stunts became too dangerous to perform and the act dissolved. He first saw a movie studio in March 1917 and, on April 23, his debut film, Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle's The Butcher Boy (1917), was released. He stayed with Fatty through 15 two-reelers, even though he was offered much more to sign with Fox or Warner Bros. after returning from ten months with the U.S. Army (40th Infantry Division) in France. His first full-length feature, The Saphead (1920), established him as a star in his own right. By the middle of 1921 he had his own production company--Buster Keaton Productions--and was writing, directing and starring in his own films. With a small and close team around him, Keaton created some of the most beautiful and imaginative films of the silent era. The General (1926), his favorite, was one of the last films over which he had artistic control. In 1928 he reluctantly signed with MGM after his contract with independent producer Joseph M. Schenck expired. MGM quickly began to enforce its rigid, mechanized style of filmmaking on Keaton, swamping him with gag writers and scripts. He fought against it for a time, and the compromise was initially fruitful, his first film for MGM--The Cameraman (1928)--being one of his finest. However,with his creativity becoming increasingly stifled he began to drink excessively, despondent at having to perform material that was beneath him. Ironically, his films around 1930 were his most successful to date in terms of box-office receipts, which confirmed to MGM that its formula was right. His drinking led to a disregard for schedules and erratic behavior on the MGM lot, and a disastrous confrontation with Louis B. Mayer resulted in him being fired. The diplomatic producer Irving Thalberg attempted to smooth things over but Keaton was past caring. By 1932 he was a divorced alcoholic, getting work where he could, mostly in short comedies. In 1935 he entered a mental hospital. MGM rehired him in 1937 as a $100-a-week gag writer (his salary ten years before was more than ten times this amount). The occasional film was a boost to this steady income. In 1947 his career rebounded with a live appearance at Cirque Medrano in Paris. In 1952 James Mason, who then owned Keaton's Hollywood mansion, found a secret store of presumably lost nitrate stock of many of Buster's early films; film historian and archivist Raymond Rohauer began a serious collection/preservation of Buster's work. In 1957 Buster appeared with Charles Chaplin in Limelight (1952) and his film biography, The Buster Keaton Story (1957), was released. Two years later he received a special Oscar for his life work in comedy, and he began to receive the accolades he so richly deserved, with festivals around the world honoring his work. He died in 1966, age 70.

IMDb Mini Biography By:

Ed Stephan

Joseph Frank Keaton, was born in Piqua, Kansas, October 4, 1895 to Joe Keaton and Myra Keaton. Joe and Myra were Vaudevillian comedians with a popular, ever-changing variety act, giving Keaton an eclectic and interesting upbringing. In the earliest days on stage they traveled with a medicine show that included family friend, illusionist Harry Houdini. Keaton himself verified the origin of his nickname "Buster", given to him by Houdini, when at the age of three, fell down a flight of stairs and was picked up and dusted off by Houdini, who said to Keaton's father Joe, also nearby, that the fall was 'a buster'. Savvy showman Joe Keaton liked the nickname, which has stuck for more than 100 years.

At the age of four, Keaton had already begun acting with his parents on the stage. Their act soon gained the reputation as one of the roughest in the country, for their wild, physical antics on stage. It was normal for Joe to throw Buster around the stage, participate in elaborate, dangerous stunts to the reverie of audiences. After several years on the Vaudeville circuit, "The Three Keatons", toured until Keaton had to break up the act due to his father's increasing alcohol dependence, making him a show business veteran by the age of 21.

While in New York looking for work, a chance run-in with the wildly successful film star and director Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, resulted in Arbuckle inviting him to be in his upcoming short The Butcher Boy (1917), an appearance that launched Keaton's film career, and spawned a friendship that lasted until Arbuckle's sudden death in 1933. By 1920, after making several successful shorts together, Arbuckle moved on to features, and Keaton inherited his studio, allowing him the opportunity to begin producing his own films. By September of 1921, tragedy touched Arbuckle's life by way of a scandal, where he was tried three times for the murder of Virginia Rapp. Although he was not guilty of the charges, and never convicted, he was unable to regain his status, and the viewing public would no longer tolerate his presence in film. Keaton stood by his friend and mentor through out the incident, supporting him financially, finding him directorial work, even risking his own budding reputation offering to testify on Arbuckle's behalf.

In 1921, Keaton also married his first wife, Natalie Talmadge under unusual circumstance that have never been fully clarified. Popular conjecture states that he was encouraged by Joseph M. Schenck to marry into the powerful Talmadge dynasty, that he himself was already a part of. The union bore Keaton two sons. Keaton's independent shorts soon became too limiting for the growing star, and after a string of popular films like One Week (1920), The Boat (1921), and Cops (1922), Keaton made the transition into feature films. His first feature, Three Ages (1923), was produced similarly to his short films, and was the dawning of a new era in comedic cinema, where it became apparent to Keaton that he had to put more focus on the story lines and characterization.

At the height of his popularity, he was making two features a year, and followed Ages with Our Hospitality (1923), The Navigator (1924) and _The General (1926)_, the latter two he regarded as his best films. The most renown of Keaton's comedies is Sherlock Jr. (1924), which used cutting edge special effects that received mixed reviews as critics and audiences alike had never seen anything like it, and didn't know what to make of it. Modern day film scholars liken the story and effects to Christopher Nolan Inception (2010), for it's high level concept and ground-breaking execution. Keaton's 1926 Civil War epic The General (1926)kept up his momentum when he gave audiences the biggest and most expensive sequence ever seen in film at the time. At it's climax, a bridge collapses while a train is passing over it, sending the train into a river. This wowed audiences, but did little for it's long-term financial success. Audiences did not respond well to the film, disliking the higher level of drama over comedy, and the main character being a Confederate soldier.

After a few more silent features, including College (1927) and Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928), Keaton was informed that his contract had been sold to MGM, by brother-in-law and producer Joseph M. Schenck. Keaton regarded the incident as the worst professional mistake he ever made, as it sent his career, legacy, and personal life into a vicious downward spiral for many years. His first film with MGM was The Cameraman (1928), which is regarded as one of his best silent comedies, but the release signified the loss of control Keaton would incur, never again regaining his film making independence. He made one more silent film at MGM entitled Spite Marriage (1929) before the sound era arrived.

His first appearance in a film with sound was with the ensemble piece The Hollywood Revue of 1929 (1929), though despite the popularity of it and his previous MGM silents, MGM never allowed Keaton his own production unit, and increasingly reduced his creative control over his films. By 1932, his marriage to Natalie Talmadge had dissolved when she sued him for divorce, and in an effort to placate her, put up little resistance. This resulted in the loss of the home he'd built for his family nicknamed The Italian Villa, the bulk of his assets, and contact with his children. Natalie changed their last names from Keaton to Talmadge, and they were dis-aloud from speaking about their father or seeing him. About 10 years later, when they became of age, they rekindled the relationship with Keaton. His hardships in his professional and private life that had been slowly taking their tole, begun to culminate by the early 1930's resulting in his own dependence on alcohol, and sometimes violent and erratic behavior. Depressed, penny-less, and out of control, he was fired by MGM by 1933, and a full-fledged alcoholic.

After spending time in hospitals to try and treat his alcoholism, he met second wife Mae Scrivens, a nurse, and married her hastily in Mexico, only to end in divorce by 1935. After his firing, he made several low-budget shorts for Educational Pictures, and spent the next several years of his life fading out of public favor, and finding work where he could. In 1936, his career was slightly reinvigorated when he produced the short Grand Slam Opera (1936), which many of his fans admire for giving such a good performance during the most difficult and unmanageable years of his life.

In 1940, he met and married his third wife Eleanor Norris, who was deeply devoted to him, and remained his constant companion and partner until Keaton's death. After several more years of hardship working as an uncredited, underpaid gag man for comedians such as The Marx Brothers, in 1949, he was consulted on how to do a realistic and comedic fall for the film In the Good Old Summertime (1949) in which an expensive violin is destroyed. Finding no one who could do it better than him, he was given a minor role in the film. His presence reignited interest in his silent films, which lead to interviews, television appearances, film roles, and world tours that kept him busy for the rest of his life.

After several more film, television, and stage appearances through out the 1960s, he wrote the autobiography My Wonderful World of Slapstick, having completed nearly 150 films in the span of his ground-breaking career. His last film appearance was in the 1966 comedy A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966) which premiered seven months after Keaton's death from the rapid onset of lung cancer. Since his death, Keaton's legacy is being discovered by new generations of viewers every day, many of his films are available on YouTube, DVD, and Blu-Ray, where he, like all gold-gilded and beloved entertainers can live forever.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Nicolette Olivier polyestercowboyproductions@gmail.com

Spouse (3)

Eleanor Keaton	(28 July 1940 - 1 February 1966) (his death)
Mae Elizabeth Scrivens	(8 January 1933 - 4 October 1935) (divorced)
Natalie Talmadge	(31 May 1921 - 25 July 1932) (divorced) (2 children)

Trade Mark (4)

Pork pie hat, slapshoes, deadpan expression

His films contain elaborate gadgets of his own devising

Used the camera to help comedy, e.g. to create effect of rocking boat in beginning of The Boat (1921).

Small and slight frame

Trivia (52)

Son of Joe Keaton and Myra Keaton.

Father, with Natalie Talmadge, of sons Buster Keaton Jr. and Bob Talmadge.

Older brother of Harry Keaton and Louise Keaton.

Unlike many silent movie stars, Buster was eager to go into sound considering he had a fine baritone voice with no speech impediments and years of stage experience, so dialogue was not a problem.

Following his death, he was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California.

Pictured on one of ten 29¢ US commemorative postage stamps celebrating stars of the silent screen, issued 27 April 1994. Designed by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld, this set of stamps also honored Rudolph Valentino, Clara Bow, Charles Chaplin, Lon Chaney, John Gilbert, Zasu Pitts, Harold Lloyd, Theda Bara and the Keystone Kops.

Fractured his neck while filming Sherlock Jr. (1924) and did not learn about it until a doctor saw X-rays of his neck during a routine physical examination many years later.

Died quietly at home, in his sleep, shortly after playing cards with his wife.

He was already quite ill with the cancer that would eventually kill him by the time he made his last completed film, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966). He used a stunt double in this film, as well as most of the films he made as an MGM contract player. Before signing with MGM in 1928, he had performed all of his own stunts, and even doubled for cast members in his own films, as in Sherlock Jr. (1924), where he played both himself, riding on the handlebars of a motorcycle, and the man who falls off the back of it.

His mother was of British/German ancestry, and his father was of Scottish/Irish ancestry.

Because most of his childhood was spent in vaudeville with his parents, he had few peers. However, he enjoyed a more regular childhood during his family's annual summer getaways to an Actor's Colony on Lake Michigan in Muskegon, MI. In fact, the city of Muskegon has erected a historical marker to note his stomping ground.

First married Mae Scriven in Mexico on January 1, 1932 before his divorce from Natalie Talmadge was final, then again legally in 1933.

He became an alcoholic when he his career collapsed around 1930, only kicking his habit and regaining his self-esteem when he married Eleanor Norris (Eleanor Keaton), his wife from 1940 until his death in 1966.

Was voted the 7th Greatest Director of all time by Entertainment Weekly, making him the highest rated comedy director. Charles Chaplin didn't make the list.

Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945". Pages 523-531. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.

He was voted the 35th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.

When he married Natalie Talmadge, the Talmadge family was one of the great acting dynasties in both theater and film, and the gossip in Hollywood was that Keaton married her to gain respect in the industry, a rumor he never quite lived down during his peak. Ironically, Keaton is now a film legend, while most people would be hard-pressed to answer who the Talmadges are.

Not only did Keaton do all his own stunts, but, when needed, he acted as a stunt double for other actors in the films.

He often surrounded himself with tall and heavy-set actors in his films, typically as his antagonist, to make his character seem to be at as much of a physical disadvantage as possible. The similarly diminutive Charlie Chaplin (Charles Chaplin) also did this.

The three top comedians in silent-era Hollywood were Keaton, Charles Chaplin and Harold Lloyd. All three produced, controlled and owned their own films. Keaton was convinced to sell his studio and films to MGM in the 1920s, while Chaplin and Lloyd retained ownership of their films. Chaplin and Lloyd became wealthy, while Keaton endured years of financial and personal problems.

In one scene in Sherlock Jr. (1924), filmed at a train station, Keaton was hanging from a tube connected to a water basin. The water poured out and washed him on to the track, fracturing his neck. This footage appears in the released film.

Was named the 21st Greatest Actor on The 50 Greatest Screen Legends List by the American Film Institute

Was hearing-impaired since 1918, after serving in Germany fighting World War I.

Met Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle for the first time strolling down Broadway in New York City. Arbuckle was with Keaton's old vaudeville acquaintance Lou Anger, who introduced them. Arbuckle immediately asked Keaton to visit the Colony Studio, where he was set to begin a series of comedies for Joseph M. Schenck. The famous comedy team was born.

Loved to play baseball. He would sometimes play between takes on the movie set. Furthermore, for the annual Hollywood charity baseball game for Mt. Sinai Hospital in the 1930s, he always led the comedians' team and developed comedy business on field with his writers.

Said he learned everything about moviemaking and comedy from Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle.

The Navigator (1924) was his most successful movie by gross revenue.

There is much legend regarding the conception of his nickname, Buster. Many attribute the name to the legendary Harry Houdini, who was the partner of Joe Keaton (Buster's father) in the medicine-show group "Kathleen Marownen", after he saw a young Buster fall down a set of stairs without any injury. Others have said that it was Joe who conceived the name after he saw Buster's accident, while still others say that Joe Keaton fabricated the incident for a good story to tell on vaudeville. Which of these stories is actually true is unknown.

He and his parents formed an acrobatic group called "The Three Keatons" in his early youth.

Wanted to become an engineer as a child.

His performance as Johnny Gray in The General (1926) is ranked #34 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).

His last film work was The Railrodder (1965), but because it was such a short film it was released before other movies, like A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966), which had completed filming before "The Railrodder".

Is mentioned in the song "Cinéma" by Paola Del Medico.

When he was three years old he got his right index finger caught in a clothes wringer and it was crushed and had to be amputated at the first knuckle. The injury is most clearly visible in The Garage (1920), when Keaton steadies Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle's head with his right hand while wiping oil off his face with his left.

He died the same day as his The Stolen Jools (1931), Speak Easily (1932) and Sunset Boulevard (1950) co-star Hedda Hopper.

In 1952 while remodeling his home, James Mason discovered several reels of Keaton's "lost" films (Mason had purchased Keaton's Hollywood mansion) and immediately recognized their historical significance. He took upon himself the responsibility for their preservation.

He is believed to be the first person to use "Buster" as a name, and popularized its usage ever after.

Keaton was one of the few actors who welcomed the advent of sound films. He knew his character didn't need dialog, but he looked forward to sound effects. "When somebody goes boom, they really go *boom*" he once said.

Keaton, Charles Chaplin and Stan Laurel all referred to their screen characters as "The Little Fellow".

A baseball fanatic, Keaton not only held games between takes, but also incorporated it into applications for employment. According to legend, two of the questions on the application he used to hire actors read "Are you a good actor?" and "Are you a good baseball player?" Anyone who answered "Yes" to either had a job with Keaton.

He appears in four of the American Film Institute's 100 Funniest Movies: The General (1926) at #18, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963) at #40, Sherlock Jr. (1924) at #62 and The Navigator (1924) at #81.

Broke his ankle while filming The Electric House (1922) when he slipped on the escalator and was still recovering from it when he made The Play House (1921) in which his stunts were considered to be tamer than usual.

Ex-son-in-law of Margaret Talmadge.

Ex-brother-in-law of Norma Talmadge and Constance Talmadge.

On a whim Keaton took crew member Edward Brophy and used him in a comedy role in The Cameraman (1928). That decision launched Brophy on his own notable comedy career.

Acting mentor to comedienne Lucille Ball.

He was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures at 6619 Hollywood Blvd. and for Television at 6321 Hollywood Blvd.

Most biographers overlook his appearance on the ABC-TV variety show The Hollywood Palace (1964). At the end of the first winter-spring season, series producers Nick Vanoff and William O. Harbach scheduled the show's host Gene Barry with guest stars Keaton and Gloria Swanson to appear together in a comedy sketch. Keaton was at that time appearing in It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963). Bringing famous Hollywood film stars onto the show was the producers' main goal. Getting Swanson and Keaton on the show was considered a coup and an opportunity to promote the film. The sketch starred Swanson as Cleopatra and Keaton as Marc Antony, staged on a stepped Roman platform terrace surrounded by a 20-inch-high parapet wall and Roman columns, with the pair falling in love. It was written by Joe Bigelow and Jay Burton, but director Grey Lockwood encouraged Swanson and Keaton to contribute any bits, routines and ideas that they wanted to, which they did. On the first day of rehearsal Swanson was on the stage, gazing up at the lighting fixtures overhead. She asked for lighting director Jack Denton to come to the stage, which he did, and Swanson began pointing out how she wanted which lights to focus on her and Keaton during the sketch--side light, key light, back light, which color gels to use, etc. Denton made sure that all of her suggestions were implemented. Keaton's idea was that the sketch should end with "Antony" and "Cleopatra" sitting on the parapet wall bench, join hands, raising their legs high and falling backwards out of sight over the wall. He and Swanson rehearsed the fall several times, and did the stunt themselves when it came time to actually shoot the scene for the show.

Contributed gags (uncredited) to the Red Skelton film A Southern Yankee (1948). No one could figure out a simple, yet funny way to get Aubrey out of the house when he was being held captive by the angry dog. Buster , employed by MGM as a roving gag man, was called to the set, looked at the set up, and came up with the idea of removing the door hinges and letting the dog in as Aubrey got out. The most famous gag in the movie took him all of five minutes to devise. Some of the other gags he contributed were some he'd done himself years earlier.

David Jason is one of his biggest fans, and claims to channel him whenever he did his own stunts. He was quite honored when the Daily Mirror compared them.

Perhaps as a result of an accident that crushed his right index finger at age three, he developed the ability to use his right hand for certain tasks and his left hand for others. He wrote left-handed but played the ukulele right-handed. When he played baseball (his favorite sport), he threw right-handed and batted left-handed.

A heavy smoker for most of his life, he was diagnosed with lung cancer during the first week of January 1966 after a month-long coughing bout, but he was never told that he was terminally ill or that he had cancer, as his doctors feared that the news would be detrimental to his health. Keaton thought that he was recovering from a severe case of bronchitis. Despite his failing health, he was active and walking about almost until the day he died.

Personal Quotes (25)

No man can be a genius in slapshoes and a flat hat.

Tragedy is a close-up; comedy, a long shot.

I gotta do some sad scenes. Why, I never tried to make anybody cry in my life! And I go 'round all the time dolled up in kippie clothes--wear everything but a corset . . . can't stub my toe in this picture nor anything! Just imagine having to play-act all the time without ever getting hit with anything!

[Asked by a reporter at an MGM premiere, "Are you happy to be here?"] Of course, I got off location for this!

What used to get my goat at MGM were comedians like The Marx Brothers or [Bud Abbott] and [Lou Costello], who never worried about the script or the next scene. My God, we ate, slept and dreamed our pictures.

Is Hollywood the cruelest city in the world? Well, it can be. New York can be like that, too. You can be a Broadway star here one night, and something happens, and then you're out--nobody knows you on the street. They forget you ever lived. It happens in Hollywood, too.

The first thing I did in the studio was to want to tear that camera to pieces. I had to know how that film got into the cutting room, what you did to it in there, how you projected it, how you finally got the picture together, how you made things match. The technical part of pictures is what interested me. Material was the last thing in the world I thought about. You only had to turn me loose on the set and I'd have material in two minutes, because I'd been doing it all my life.

They say pantomime's a lost art. It's never been a lost art and never will be, because it's too natural to do.

[on his time working as an uncredited gag writer for The Marx Brothers at MGM] It was an event when you could get all three of them on the set at the same time. The minute you started a picture with the Marx Brothers you hired three assistant directors, one for each Marx brother. You had two of 'em while you went to look for the third one and the first two would disappear.

Think slow, act fast.

Silence is of the gods; only monkeys chatter.

[on the differences between his and Charles Chaplin's characters] Charlie's tramp was a bum with a bum's philosophy. Lovable as he was, he would steal if he got the chance. My little fellow was a working man and honest.

All my life, I have been happiest when the folks watching me said to each other, "Look at the poor dope, will ya?".

Not long ago, a friend asked me what was the greatest pleasure I got from spending my whole life as an actor. There have been so many that I had to think about that for a moment. Then I said, "Like everyone else, I like to be with a happy crowd.".

Dumb show is best for screen people, if they must appear in public.

I've had few dull moments [in my life] and not too many sad and defeated ones. In saying this, I am by no means overlooking the rough and rocky years I've lived through. But I was not brought up thinking life would be easy. I always expected to work hard for my money and to get nothing I did not earn. And the bad years, it seems to me, were so few that only a dyed-in-the-wool grouch who enjoys feeling sorry for himself would complain.

Only things that one could imagine happening to real people, I guess, remain in a person's memory.

When I've got a gag that spreads out, I hate to jump a camera into close-ups. So I do everything in the world I can to hold it in that long-shot and keep the action rolling. Close-ups are too jarring on the screen, and this type of cut can stop an audience from laughing.

Half of our scenes, for God's sakes, we only just talked over. We didn't actually get out there and rehearse 'em. We would just walk through it and talk about it. We crank that first rehearsal. Because any thing can happen--and generally did . . . We used the rehearsal scenes instead of the second take.

[on the advent of sound in the movies] In every picture it got tougher. They'd laugh their heads off at dialogue written by all your new writers. They were joke-happy. They didn't look for action; they were looking for funny things to say.

I always want the audience to out-guess me, and then I double-cross them.

A comedian does funny things. A good comedian does things funny.

[on why he did all his own stunts] Stuntmen don't get laughs.

Pop made me the featured performer of our act when I was five. There were dozens of other family acts in vaudeville at the turn of the century, but none of the children in them was featured as early as that. Many of those kids were very talented, and their parents were as eager as mine to give them the same head start in show business that I was getting. The reason managers approved of my being featured was because I was unique, being at that time the only little hell-raising Huck Finn type boy in vaudeville. The parents of the others presented their boys as cute and charming Little Lord Fauntleroys. The girls were Dolly Dimples types with long, golden curls. I doubt that any kid actor had more attempts made to save him [by civic do-gooders] than did our Little Buster. The reason of course was our slam-bang act. Even people who most enjoyed our work marvelled when I was able to get up after my bashing, crashing, smashing sessions with pop.

Railroads are a great prop. You can do some awful wild things with railroads.

Salary (16)

Le roi des Champs-Élysées (1934)	$15,000
Palooka from Paducah (1935)	$2,500
One Run Elmer (1935)	$2,500
Hayseed Romance (1935)	$2,500
Tars and Stripes (1935)	$2,500
The E-Flat Man (1935)	$2,500
The Timid Young Man (1935)	$2,500
Three on a Limb (1936)	$2,500
Grand Slam Opera (1936)	$2,500
Blue Blazes (1936)	$2,500
The Chemist (1936)	$2,500
Mixed Magic (1936)	$2,500
Jail Bait (1937)	$2,500
Ditto (1937)	$2,500
Love Nest on Wheels (1937)	$2,500
Sunset Blvd. (1950)	$1,000

Kong: Skull Island (Pre-opening interview with the director)

2017-02-18T05:34:00.001-07:00

What was the first KING KONG film you remember seeing?

The 1933 original?

(Starring Fay Wray from Cardston, Alberta Canada?)

Model for “King Kong” (1933)

Coming soon is a whole new version that promises to be the most unique interpretation of the Kong legend yet, I know I'm planning on seeing it.

Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts on Why ‘Kong: Skull Island’ Is Unlike Any Other ‘King Kong’ Movie

“One of my favorite reviews that someone wrote on a testing scorecard said that it was like if Jurassic Park had a baby with Aliens, and that baby was adopted by Planes, Trains & Automobiles. That’s such an insane fusion of things, but in a weird way I think it very much represents what this movie is.”
- Kong: Skull Island director Jordan Vogt-Roberts

skull-island-news:

On March 10, Kong: Skull Island roars to life on the big screen, presenting a brand new take on the King Kong mythology unlike any we’ve seen before. With advance tickets going on sale for Kong: Skull Island today, Fandango hopped on the phone with the film’s director, Jordan Vogt-Roberts, to get a rundown on what to expect when this very different kind of monster movie is unleashed this March.

When we spoke to Vogt-Roberts, he was in the middle of a visit to Japan, where he was excited to be showing the finished film to audiences for the first time. “It’s been amazing,” he said of their reaction. “You never know what the response is going to be as you go from culture to culture, but the response here [in Japan] has been so incredible because so many of my influences are very Japanese and anime and [inspired by] video games, and everyone here very clearly picks up on that. They’re really embracing it as a kaiju movie, not just as a Kong movie.”

So if it’s not just another King Kong movie, then what kind of movie is Kong: Skull Island? Let’s find out…

Kong: Skull Island is not your typical blockbuster.
Jordan Vogt-Roberts: The thing that I am most psyched about is that this is a really insane movie, and I mean that in the best way. It’s crazy and it’s different, and hopefully audiences think it feels fresh and that there’s a soul to this film even though it happens to be this extreme blockbuster.

This version is nothing like the original script.
Vogt-Roberts: I wanted this crazy genre mash-up, and I pitched them this idea of Apocalypse Now meets King Kong. The original script had nothing to do with that, and the original script almost in no way reflects the movie that’s on-screen. The fact that the studio let me run with these really crazy ideas and let me build out this sort of wish fulfillment, most insane version of this movie is cool. This is the movie I’d want to see and the movie I think my friends would want to see, and hopefully audiences feel like it’s something they haven’t seen.

But why do we need another King Kong?
Vogt-Roberts: That was my first question, too. When they came to me about the movie, my first response was, awesome; I love King Kong, but why? So that’s when I went away and came up with this 1970s Vietnam War film mixed with monsters, and that became the entry point for me in terms of why this movie needs to exist.

Here’s what separates Kong: Skull Island from the other Kong movies.

Vogt-Roberts: For the first time it’s a new story within the mythology of Kong. It’s not the beauty-and-the-beast story – it’s not a remake of the 1933 film, which is essentially what the ‘70s King Kong was and what Peter Jackson’s King Kong was. I think people are going to be surprised with how many different tones the film plays with, and how it juggles all those tones. There’s a real heart, humanity and pathos that comes out of really funny, laugh-out-loud moments that are mixed with this crazy heightened genre stuff that you haven’t seen on-screen before.

It’s also freakishly relevant…

Vogt-Roberts: I think people will be surprised at how much of a mirror this film is and how relevant the sort of backbone of this story is. When you’re dealing with the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, you’re talking about political scandals, racial riots, the sexual revolution, distrust of the government, a divisive president – [the film] really is this insane black mirror for everything happening in the world today.

Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now is clearly an inspiration, but it wasn’t the only influence on the film.
Vogt Roberts: If I were going to break it down for people, I’d say you obviously have Apocalypse Now and just the era of ‘70s filmmaking, with films like The Conversation, too. Also Platoon was an inspiration, and the South Korean film The Host as well. The entire Neon Genesis Evangelion series was a big influence. There’s a huge anime and video game influence in my DNA, and I think it very much bred itself into this film. I think people will be surprised at how the movie feels very much like a throwback and yet very modern at the same time. This movie is not Apocalypse Now, but it is the funhouse version of something like that.

Oh, and FYI… John C. Reilly’s character steals the movie.
Vogt-Roberts: He’s a character who on the page should break the film. He should completely shatter the reality of the movie, but instead he kind of becomes like Dobby in Harry Potter. He brings this human pathos and emotion, where he’s saying these crazy things but it somehow makes the movie more grounded, as opposed to more insane.

How much world-building is there in Kong: Skull Island in terms of connecting it to Godzilla?
Vogt-Roberts: There’s definitely groundwork being laid for sure, and there’s a larger mythology being built here, but I spent a long time trying to craft something that, unlike a lot of big movies trying to set up franchises and go on 10-minute tangents in the middle of the movie to set up a film that’s coming out years later, I’m really proud that Legendary and Warner Bros. let me build that stuff in the background a bit. To lay the groundwork, but first and foremost my job was to tell the single best version of this Kong story that I could. Obviously I’m servicing a lot of different things and there’s a much larger plan in play, and there are a lot of references – some subtle and some not, and even some Easter eggs – but for the most part it’s just trying to tell the best version of this story.

It’s a film that truly has the director’s mark on it.
Vogt-Roberts: I’m proud that when you watch the climactic battle, and when you watch many of these action sequences, they very much have my stamp on them. You can go, oh, so that’s what happens when we give Jordan Vogt-Roberts millions of dollars and geniuses at ILM to play with. All of the fights and kaiju sequences are things I designed from the ground up before even the script was in place. They’re all unique, have a reason for being, and they’re not sequences you see in other movies.

What about a sequel? Will Jordan Vogt-Roberts return?
Vogt-Roberts: Who knows! Right now I’m gonna sleep for two years, and probably crank out an experimental indie. Then who knows what the future brings…

The best creature in Kong: Skull Island is…

Vogt-Roberts: My favorite creature is probably the water buffalo because it’s the one that broke open our approach to what our creatures were going to feel like; what the vibe was going to feel like. Very spiritual in ways, and inspired by Hayao Miyazaki.

There’s also a monster inspired by a creature from the 1933 King Kong.

Vogt-Roberts: I’m also really proud of the Skull Crawler design because that’s my version of a giant monster. That creature, beyond being a reference to a creature from the 1933 film, is also this crazy fusion of all of the influences throughout my life – like the first angel from Evangelion, and No Face from Spirited Away, and Cubone from Pokemon. It’s this crazy cross-section of what my original take on it would be. I’m proud of all the designs. Hopefully you feel like the creatures aren’t redundant.

Is there a postcredits scene?
Vogt-Roberts: I think people should stick around till after the credits. Why not? It’s only five minutes out of your life…
Kong: Skull Island, starring Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, John C. Reilly, John Goodman and more, hits theaters on March 10.

Coming March 10th is a new Kong movie

kongskullislandfilm:

King Kong Rescues Tom Hiddleston from a Skull Crawler in New Skull Island Clip

You may have already seen the helicopter in Kong's hand but can you spot the giant Water Buffalo?

From WB Japan: Skull Island Behemoth #1 - King Kong!
Height: 31.6 meters
Weight: 158 tons

This car…this is my car now!

2016-12-05T00:36:00.001-07:00

Pretty Ingenious

2016-10-25T22:30:00.003-06:00

Paris Smart City 2050

2016-09-29T00:33:00.001-06:00

Paris Smart City 2050 by Vincent Callebaut

For more of Callebaut's inovative design projects click here

thegasolinestation

Paris Smart City 2050
by Vincent Callebaut

The Last Descent - Movie Review

2016-09-16T11:08:00.002-06:00

The Last Descent
16 September 2016 (USA)
Drama
1 hr 45 min
Rated: PG For disturbing content that could be traumatic or frightening for children and even some adults.

Grade: A-
Director: Isaac Halasima
Writer: Isaac Halasima
Stars: Chadwick Hopson, Alexis Johnson, Landon Henneman

In November 2009, 26 year old John Jones explored an un-mapped section of the notorious Nutty Putty Cave. After becoming stuck upside down in a hole 18 inches wide by 10 inches high, 150 feet under ground, rescue crews worked frantically and heroically to free him. This

story is inspired by not only the incident at Nutty Putty, but by the way John lived his entire life. The Last Descent is inspired by the true story of love and loss at Nutty Putty cave.

The gripping tragedy led to the cave being sealed, with Jones inside. Though it has been nearly seven years since Jones' death, his story hasn't been forgotten. The Last Descent retells his story, brought to life on the big screen. Although the end of this story is no mystery, you'll find yourself anticipating his rescue. Praying that they will find a way to save him.

The gripping tragedy led to the cave being permanently sealed, with Jones' body left inside. Though it has been nearly seven years since Jones' death, his story hasn't been forgotten.

The Last Descent retells his story, brought to life on the big screen. Although the end of this story is no mystery, you'll find yourself anticipating his rescue.e him. This film was very hard for me to sit through, it made me so claustrophobic as they entered the cave that I felt on the verge of a panic attack. I caught myself vocalizing, "I can't do this." Why did I choose to watch this movie?

I was so thankful for the flashbacks, back above ground. In the end I was glad I saw it. It's well worth the time. There is more to the heart-wrenching story than John Jones' death. The Last Descent takes us on an tense, emotional ride. It is a story about love, life, and human connection. Ultimately it reveals how clearly one can see what truly matters most when you are teetering on the edge of life and death.

When John Jones entered Nutty Putty Cave with his brother Josh, his fate was sealed. What happened next has been an topic of much discussion and controversy ever since. Each of the 127 rescuers, who responded to the call for aid, has their own take on the events.

For a few brief hours during this ordeal, rescuers were able to free Jones using a rope-pulley system. He was given an IV, food, and water. But the most touching moments came when he was able to talk to his wife over a police radio. However, the rescue equipment soon experienced a sudden failure, causing Jones to drop back into the same narrow gap.

Despite heroic efforts of rescue crews, they were not able to free Jones from the tunnel before he died.

The Story:

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, as most Utah County residents prepared for their turkey feasts, one family learned their son, husband and father who was trapped in a cave could not be rescued.
John Edward Jones, 26, had been trapped in Nutty Putty Cave for nearly 30 hours as search and rescue crews worked frantically to free him.

Rescuers were close enough to monitor his vital signs and even managed to move Jones, but could not free him from an area that was only 18 inches by 10 inches, 150 feet below the earth. His condition deteriorated, and he died early Thanksgiving morning, leaving behind a pregnant wife and young daughter.

New Movie Shares the Surprisingly Spiritual Story of LDS Dad Stuck in Nutty Putty Cave

byLDS Living Staff

When Latter-day Saint father and husband John Edward Jones descended into the Nutty Putty cave with his brothers and friends in 2009, he had no idea it was the last time he would see his family.

Back home in Utah from medical school with his wife and 2-year-old daughter, Jones's Thanksgiving break started out like many others, but it ended with him stuck in an almost unreachable crevice 150 feet underground. For 28 hours. Hanging upside down

For a few brief hours during this ordeal, rescuers were able to free Jones using a rope-pulley system. He was given an IV, food, and water. But the most touching moments came when he was able to talk to his wife over a police radio. However, the rescue equipment soon experienced a sudden failure, causing Jones to drop back into the same narrow gap.

Despite heroic efforts of rescue crews, they were not able to free Jones from the tunnel before he died.

But a new movie being released in theaters across Utah on September 16 demonstrates even though Jones didn't survive that doesn't mean that those involved in this tragedy weren't saved in a real sense that day. Based on a true story, TheLast Descent proves that the power of love and family can overcome anything—even death.

Get more details on the movie's facebook page or at LastDescent.com.
During the film, viewers are reminded that tragedies can unite people, they can bring out the best in each of us, and they give us space to turn outward, toward others and God.

After Jones' death, his family proved just that. After doing all they could to help Jones, including singing Primary songs to help him through the night, they reached out to others around them.

"We'll never fully understand how or why it was John's time to leave us. But we find comfort knowing that he fulfilled his purpose here on Earth, and that we will be reunited with him again," the family stated after his death, adding, "Thank you, and God bless all of you on this Thanksgiving Day."

Taking inspiration from this remarkable family, The Last Descent demonstrates how the bonds of love and family in this life transcend mortality.

Behind the scenes with director Isacc Halasima

Born in Provo, Utah. Isaac known mainly for his music videos "Demons" and "Gold" (Demons was nominated for the 2014 MTV/VMA for Rock Video of the Year), he continues to travel around the world working with different bands. He was one of the directors of the Music Documentary series Audio-Files. Isaac is also an award winning editor in documentaries and film, who gives credit to his 20+ years of dance, both

competitively and professionally, for his unique style and pacing in his editing and directing. He still teaches dance in Orem Utah when he gets free time.

He also has done commercial work for Imagine Dragons, Real Salt Lake, Utah Jazz, and Primary Childrens Hospital.

Chadwick Hopson contemplates the John Jones memorial at Nutty Putty
John and Emily Jones

The crowd at the World Premiere

The Cast

Chadwick Hopson Alexis Johnson

John Jones Emily Jones

Landon Henneman

Aaron

The Notorious Nutty Putty Cave

Videos of people exploring Nutty Putty Cave prior to it's closing.

(I couldn't watch all of these)

The 'God In A Nutshell' Project by Trey Smith: Nephilim

2016-08-05T10:25:00.000-06:00

Trey Smith has dozens of fascinating videos. The following documentary is on the Nephilim.

For more of Trey's videos go to GodInANutshell.com

Trey Smith's

God in a Nutshell project

Part I

Part II

Part III
(seems to be unavailable at present)

Dewy Insects...Precious Gems

2016-07-23T12:22:00.002-06:00

Covered in dew these insects and their environment, the webs and grasses sparkle looking like dazzling, delicate jewels.

photographed by David Chambon

Noob The Loser

2016-07-22T10:48:00.000-06:00

No! NO! NNOOOOOeueughhghh–grgl–grg…
More on Webtoons.
More on Reddit.

Hi I'm Andy. I make a lot of random comics and I work for CollegeHumor.
Presently also making content for Coke eSports and Riot games on twitter.com/cokesports, and a side blog about your D'n'D stories at dndstories.com.

Facebook: noobtheloser
Instagram: @andycstuart
e-mail: andy.stuart@collegehumor.com

Gotta Love Us Some Kitties

2016-07-18T11:00:00.000-06:00

Kitties are a very special group

of God's creatures.

What if...

2016-07-13T12:43:00.000-06:00

If other planets were at the same distance from earth as our moon.

Circus Boy (Sept. 1956 ~ Dec. 1957)

2016-07-12T16:40:00.000-06:00

Circus Boy

Set in the late 1890s, the title of the series refers to a boy named Corky. After his parents, "The Flying Falcons," were killed in a trapeze accident, young Corky (Micky Dolenz [The Monkees] billed at the time as Mickey Braddock) was adopted by Joey the Clown (Noah Beery, Jr.), and the whole Burke and Walsh Circus family.

Circus Boy cover signed by Mickey Dolenz

BEFORE MONKEEMANIA – MICKY DOLENZ AS THE CIRCUS BOY

by Malcolm Tatum

Many people remember Micky Dolenz as the drum playing lead singing fun maker from the late sixties teen sensation, the Monkees. During the peak years of the Monkees phenomenon, Dolenz’ voice was featured on such chart hits as “Last Train to Clarksville”, “I’m a Believer”, “Stepping Stone” “Words” and “Pleasant Valley Sunday”. Even the last Top 40 hit for the first incarnation of the group, 1968’s “D.W. Washburn”, was fronted by Dolenz in his own unique style.

What may be a lesser known accolade for the music making pop sensation is that Dolenz first gained fame some ten years before the Monkees project ever got off the ground, as a child actor on a television show.

Born to actor George Dolenz and his wife Janelle in 1945, Micky Dolenz early on made a decision to follow in his father’s footsteps. George Dolenz had made a name for himself as a movie actor with RKO Studios and during the 1950's portrayed the Count of Monte Cristo for the ITV television series. To avoid the stereotype of being an actor’s brat, it was decided early on that young Micky would not use his father’s last name. Instead, Micky Dolenz began his acting career as Micky Braddock.

In early 1955, Norbert Productions was looking for a way to make money off a bankrupt South Carolina circus they had purchased. The idea of developing a television show that would make good use of all the property immediately occurred to Herbert B. Leonard. Leonard had developed another kid’s favorite, Rin Tin Tin and was ready for another shot at a television success. By the end of the year, Norbert had a script for the pilot prepared and began to hold open casting for the various roles of what was now being called the Circus Boy project.

Micky auditioned for and won the role of Corky, the central character in the pilot. The plot had the twelve-year-old orphan being adopted by the performers of the Burke and Walsh circus, after his trapeze artist parents were killed during a high wire act that went horribly wrong. NBC picked up the series for the September 1956 lineup and ordered a season of episodes. “Circus Boy” made its debut on Sunday, September 23, 1956.

While the show did not establish itself as a runaway ratings success, there was enough buzz from young people to establish a line of Circus Boy merchandise that soon cashed in on the mini-boom. During that first year of the series, you could purchase such goodies as Circus Boy puzzles, board games and coloring sets, a lunch box, Halloween costumes, and action figures and puppets. Circus Boy promotional toys were found under quite a few Christmas trees during that first year of the series.

Still, the ratings were not quite what NBC had hoped. In the spring of 1957, it was announced that the show would be canceled, although all the 36 episodes that had been filmed would be ran. “Circus Boy” aired its last first run episode on NBC on June 23, 1957.

However, the show was not over yet. ABC, who at the time was a perennial third in the ratings race between the Big Three Networks (CBS and NBC being the other two), announced it would be picking up “Circus Boy” for a second season. The show was set to air on Thursday nights, and kicked off its ABC run on Thursday, September 19, 1957.

While ABC did a fair amount of promotion for the series, it appeared that the show was not going to perform any better for ABC than it had done for NBC the previous year. ABC had made a second season commitment of thirteen episodes, and aired all of them by the end of December 1957. The show did return in reruns periodically in 1958, and also served as a summer replacement show. ABC aired the final episode of the series’ nighttime run on September 11, 1958.

While the production of “Circus Boy” had ceased, reruns of the 48 filmed episodes found a home on Saturday morning television and ran another two years, much to the delight of the small but loyal fan base. From time to time, the show has appeared in one syndicated market or another, even developing a rather strong fan base in Australia in the late 1960’s, during the heyday of the Monkees’ spectacular success down under.

The advent of the video tape recorder led to the production of some terrible quality tapes of various “Circus Boy” episodes in the 1980’s. These days, you can purchase a DVD that contains eighteen of the episodes that have been re-mastered from the original 16mm prints of the show. While not the high definition quality one can get with DVD copies of shows from later years, these stand as the best possible copies of “Circus Boy” available to the public these days.

“Circus Boy” might have been lost to posterity if not for the amazing success that Dolenz had with the Monkees a decade later, and his continuing success as a director and performer in the United States, Great Britain and Australia. As the very least, the show helps many of us to recapture some of the innocence we knew as kids, when we saw a world of wonder in some of the most simple things.

Optical Illusion Paintings by Rob Gonsalves

2016-07-12T04:38:00.001-06:00

Optical Illusion Paintings by Rob Gonsalves

Rain Art

2016-07-12T03:54:00.001-06:00

Art That Only Shows Up When It Rains

And here is some more...

Project Monsoon

Clever colorful street art that only appears when it rains

After the Superhydrophobic Street Art, which uses a superhydrophobic coating to create designs which appear only in the rain, here is the Project Monsoon, which uses the same concept, this time with hydrochromic painting, which reveals its color only when wet. This amazing and clever project was designed by a Korean team of designers, in collaboration with Pantone, to provide color to the streets of Seoul during the rainy season, while paying tribute to the Korean culture. A brilliant idea! Source: ufunk

Asperatus clouds

2016-07-02T12:46:00.000-06:00

Mesmerizing time-lapse of some Asperatus clouds. It makes it appear like you are viewing ocean waves from beneath the surface.

Asperitas (formerly known as Undulatus asperatus) is a cloud formation, proposed in 2009 as a separate cloud classification by the founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society. If successful it will be the first cloud formation added since cirrus intortus in 1951 to the International Cloud Atlas of the World Meteorological Organization.^[2] The name translates approximately as "roughness".^[3]

The clouds are most closely related to undulatus clouds.^[3] Although they appear dark and storm-like, they tend to dissipate without a storm forming.^[4] The ominous-looking clouds have been particularly common in the Plains states of the United States, often during the morning or midday hours following convective thunderstorm activity.^[5] As of June 2009 the Royal Meteorological Society is gathering evidence of the type of weather patterns in which asperitas clouds appear, so as to study how they form and decide whether they are distinct from other undulatus clouds.^[3]^[4]^{~ Wikipedia}

The name Asperatus comes from the Latin for to roughen or agitate. Virgil used the word in a poem to describe the surface of the sea whipped up by the north wind.

Asperatus cloud rolls over Hanmer Springs, South Island, New Zealand.

Asperatus clouds over Burnie in Tasmania, Australia.

Asperatus clouds over Cedar Rapids, Iowa, The ribbons across the sky look like a 'choppy sea viewed from below'.

Asperatus-cloud-Over-Comb-005 Combe Head, Salcombe Regis, Sidmouth, Devon.

Asperatus clouds over Illinois, US.

Asperatus clouds over Nîmes, France.

Asperatus, coats the sky in Perthshire, Scotland.

Asperitas over Tallinn, Estonia

This turbulently undulating cloud photographed over Cedar Rapids Iowa.

Turbulent motions between differing air masses create undulating clouds as seen over rural Kansas in the early morning hours of April 28 2006.

This turbulently undulating cloud photographed over Cedar Rapids Iowa.

Coca-Cola Home Delivery

2016-06-30T06:18:00.000-06:00

Get your coke, freshly delivered on your doorstep every morning. Ca.1935.

Live Performance Inside a Volcano

2016-06-28T15:57:00.000-06:00

Poker in Africa?

2016-06-03T07:41:00.000-06:00

Grrrr....I hate stupid jokes.

African Architecture, Arts and Crafts

2016-05-22T18:50:00.001-06:00

This is by no means an all inclusive presentation of indigenous African history or cultures, merely some interesting examples of such. For example, when one thinks of mud brick construction do you envision drab, brown, primitive huts? If so, prepare to be dazzled. Th variations in style, shape and color are amazing.

Gurunsi architecture in Burkina Faso and Ghana

Gurunsi architecture in Burkina Faso and Ghana

Kassena architecture

The roofs are for storage of food and for sleeping during the dry season.
Tiebele, Burkina Faso
photographed by Margaret Courtney-Clark

Kassena compound, Donnawanu family’s home
Navrongo-Saboro, Ghana
photographed by Margaret Courtney-Clark

Kassena architecture
Navrongo-Saboro, Ghana
photographed by Margaret Courtney-Clark

Kassena, Tiebele

Nankani architecture

Sirigu, Ghana
photographed by Margaret Courtney-Clark

Nankani architecture
Biloa Wenna paints her home
Zecco, Burkina Faso
photographed by Margaret Courtney-Clark

Nankani architecture
Burkina Faso
photographed by Margaret Courtney-Clark

Nankani home
Burkina Faso
photographed by Margaret Courtney-Clark

Soninke Architecture

Soninke home
Ouloumbini, Mauritania
photographed by Margaret Courtney-Clark

Soninke, Mauritania

Shelves made by Khoumba Camara
Soninke, Ouloumbini, Mauritania
Photographed by Margaret Courtney-Clark

Dinka Architecture

Dinka Luak to house cattle. Southern Sudan

Dinka

Dinka man stands on an old truck tire to thatch his roof near Malakal in southern Sudan.

Zulu Architecture

Zulu House. South Africa

Yoruba
Below is Osun Osogbo Sacred Grove, a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Osogbo. The place is a a must visit for anyone interested in Nigerian art and culture. You can read more about here on the UNESCO website here

Sudano-Sahelian

Sudano-Sahelian or Sudanese architecture are terms used to describe a specific type of architecture that was developed in West Africa with the oldest examples in Mali. i’m not sure if calling this architecture Sundanese and not Malian is a way of erasing West African influences on architecture. btw this is not referring to all Malian and Sahelian and Sudanese architecture, but a specific style of mudbrick architecture characterized by wooden support beams that stick out from the wall face.

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Koumaira (Bara Issa) - 1994 (c)

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Waki (Issa Ber) - 1994 (c)

Owa (Issa Ber) - 1995 (c)

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Aka (Lac Debo) - 1991 (c)

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Owa (Issa Ber) - 1995 (c)

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Guindio Saré (Lac Debo) - 1991 (c)

Gourao Bozo (Lac Debo) - 1991 (c)

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Sindegue - 1991 (c)

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Walado - 1994 (c)

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Mayo Dembé - 1999 (c)

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Dia (Diaka) - 1991 (c)

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Mopti architecture - 2006 (c)

Mopti - 1994 (c)

Sahona (Niger) - 1991 (c)

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Ngomi (Niger) - 1991 (c)

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Kouakourou (Niger) - 1993 (c)

Niger - 2010 (c)

Kouakourou (Niger) - 1997 (c)

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Koa (Niger) - 1999 (c)

Koa (Niger) - 1993 (c)

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Koa (Niger) - 1993 (c)

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Koa (Niger) - 1991 (c)

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Koa (Niger) - 1991 (c)

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Koa (Niger) - 1993 (c)

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Niger - 1999 (c)

Bani - 1992 (c)

Nouhoun Bozo (Niger) - 2010 (c)

Diafarabe (Niger-Diaka) - 1993 (c)

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Kouli (Niger) - 1993 (c)

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Kouli (Niger) - 1993 (c)

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Nouhoun Bozo (Niger) - 2010 (c)

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Djenne architecture (c)

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Sirimou - 1985 (c)

Djenne architecture (c)

Djenne architecture (c)

Djenne - 1997

Djenne - 1986 (c)

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San - 1997 (c)

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Mio - 1993 (c)

Kougkoun - 1993 (c)

Segou - 1984 (c)

Segou Sikoro : mosque/mosquée Ba Sounou Sacko - 1986 (x)

The Sudano-Sahelian architecture (also Sudanese) covers an umbrella of similar indigenous architectural styles common to the African peoples of the Sahel and Sudanian grassland (geographical) regions of West Africa, south of the Sahara, but above fertile forest regions of the coast. This style is characterized by the use of mudbricks and an adobe plaster, with large wooden-log support beams that jut out from the wall face for large buildings such as mosques or palaces. These beams also act as scaffolding for reworking, which is done at regular intervals, and involves the local community. The earliest examples of Sudano-Sahelian style likely comes from Jenné-Jeno around 250 BC, where the first evidence of permanent mudbrick architecture in the region is attested.^[1]

Difference between Savannah and Sahelian styles

The earthen architecture in the Sahel zone region is noticeably different from the building style in the neighboring savannah. The “old Sudanese” cultivators of the savannah built their compounds out of several cone-roofed houses. This was primarily an urban building style, associated with centres of trade and wealth, characterised by cubic buildings with terraced roofs comprise the typical style. They lend a characteristic appearance to the close-built villages and cities. Large buildings such as mosques, representative residential and youth houses stand out in the distance. They are landmarks in a flat landscape that point to a complex society of farmers, craftsmen and merchants with a religious and political upper class. With the expansion of Sahelian kingdoms south to the rural areas in the savannas (inhabited by culturally or ethnically similar groups to those in the Sahel), the Sudano-Sahelian style was reserved for mosques, palaces, the houses of nobility or townsfolk (as is evident in the Gur-Voltaic style), whereas among commonfolk, there was a mix between either typically distinct Sudano-Sahelian styles for wealthier families, and older African roundhut styles for rural villages and family compounds.

Substyles

The Sudano-Sahelian architectural style itself can be broken down in to four smaller sub-styles that are typical of different ethnic groups in the region. The examples used here illustrate the construction of mosques as well as palaces, as the architectural style is concentrated around inland Muslim populations. As with the people, many of these styles cross-pollinate and produce buildings with shared features. Any one of these styles is not exclusive to one particular modern countries borders, but are linked to the ethnicity of its builders or surrounding populations. For example, a Malian migrant community in traditionally Gur area may build in the style characteristic of their ancestral homeland, while neighbouring Gur buildings are built in the local style. These styles include:

Malian - of the various Manden groups of southern and central Mali. Characterized by the Great Mosque of Djenne and the Kani-Kombole Mosque of Mali.
Fortress style - predominantly used by the Zarma peoples of northern Nigeria and Niger, Hausa-Fulani and Tuareg mixed communities in Agadez, the Kanuri people of Lake Chad, andSonghai of northeastern Mali. Military aspect to construction of high protective compound walls built around a central courtyard. Minaret is the only structure with support beams showing. Characterized by the Sankore Mosque of Timbuktu, the tomb of Askia in Gao Mali, and the Agadez mosque of northern Niger.
Tubali - The characteristic Hausa architectural style predominant in North and Northwestern Nigeria, Niger, Eastern Burkina Faso, Northern Benin, and Hausa-predominant zango districts and neighbourhoods throughout West Africa. Characterised by its attention of stucco detail in abstract design and extensive use of parapets. One to two storey buildings. Examples in the architecture of the Yamma Mosque and old town of Zinder, The Hausa quarter of Agadez Niger, the Gidan Rumfa of Kano, and various Hausa districts across West Africa.
Volta basin - - of the Gur and Manden groups of Burkina Faso, northern Ghana and northern Cote d'Ivoire. The most conservative of the three styles. A single courtyard, characterized by high white and black painted walls, inward curved turrets supporting an exterior wall, and a larger turret nearer the center. Characterized by the Larabanga mosque of Ghana and the Bobo-Dioulasso Grand Mosque.

Notes

Jump up^ Brass, Mike (1998), The Antiquity of Man: East & West African complex societies

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