Great White North

Blitz! - Margaret Gaskin

noreply@blogger.com (theduckthief) — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 20:42:00 +0000

“The two worlds, the world of peace and the world of war, exist side by side, separated only by a few minutes of twilight.”

“Blitz!” tells the story of December 29, 1940 in London during the Blitzkreig when the city experienced one of the worst bombings of WWII. The book encompasses a wide variety of people from all walks of life with the one thread tying them together the fact that they’ve decided to stay in London despite the danger. We learn of the bravery of ordinary citizens and how important landmarks were to morale, including St. Pauls’ Cathedral, a symbol of London which is threatened during the firebombing.

We begin before the bombing with all of the volunteers who have chosen to stay behind, going about their everyday jobs. Most of these Londoners were civilians so it’s interesting to see how they adjusted to their new jobs, whether it was a member of the Home Guard, the ARP (Air Raid Precautions Service) or the Auxiliary Fire Service. I loved how the book chronologically progressed through December 29 with each chapter beginning with a radio program schedule for that portion of the day. Not only is this a refreshing way to inform the reader about which part of the day the events in the chapter unfold, it also creates a growing sense of apprehension as day turns to night because the reader knows what’s coming.

“The high wind which accompanies conflagrations is now stronger than ever, and the air is filled with a fierce driving rain of red-hot sparks and burning brands. The clouds overhead are a rose-pink from the reflected glow of the fires.”

The great descriptions and visual imagery create an atmosphere of danger and fear that puts you right in the midst of the chaos and heat. “It was as light as day, with huge fires all around, flames rising far above the houses, the place full of smoke and sparks and great blobs of burning stuff floating about and every now and then a bomb.” Throughout the night we follow a variety of people in different situations across the city. All of these great little stories interspersed throughout really showed how all-encompassing the threat was. It wasn’t unlikely for children to slip out of their bomb shelters during raids to help fire crews. I especially liked reading about the roof crew looking after St. Paul’s Cathedral. During the bombing it’s described as “some miraculous figure that appears before peace-hungry soldiers on a battlefield.” The best story though has to be about St. Lawrence Jewry. During the raid, an otherworldly shriek came from inside as a bomb had hit the synagogue, lighting the organ on fire. As the hot air from the fire blew through the organ pipes it made a sound like an alien in the throes of death. This was an awesome image and I could easily imagine what the pipes must have sounded like.

One paragraph that really made me think described the fire as ‘burning away time’ as it destroyed modern London. It was such an evocative image and really cemented the destructive power of these bombs and how it wasn’t just destroying the city it was destroying London’s past, obliterating all memory of what came before.

I loved reading this book, not only because I’m interested in WW2 but also because I didn’t know much about the London Blitz other than that it happened. If you’re interested in learning about what the London Blitz was like, this book will put you right in the middle of the action.

Timeless: Photos from Yesteryear 4

noreply@blogger.com (theduckthief) — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 22:49:00 +0000

These photos are from Shorpy.com an amazing website full of old photos from every walk of life.

June 1942. Cable tower from which buckets carry materials used in the construction of Shasta Dam, California. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Russell Lee.

This monstrosity looks like it belongs on some mineral rich alien planet.

German zeppelin LZ3 entering its shed on the Bodensee. 1908. George Grantham Bain Collection.

This picture was so strange when I first saw it. I never think of zeppelin's that close to the ground and who know they had sheds? I suppose they provided protection from the weather.

"See what Prince will do for me." Prince Albert, Ida Cuthbertson's "famous educated horse." Brown Studio, Riverside, circa 1909.

How very Mr. Ed - horses doing people things! This horse is a lot prettier though. I have a soft spot for greys.

Night view of the Washington Street produce market, New York City, 1952. Photograph by Walter Albertin for the World Telegram & Sun.

It interesting to think that before grocery stores there were outdoor markets and they closed up at night. You couldn't just wander into a store at 3am to pick up what you needed.

"New York City: Horse overcome by heat." Circa 1910. George Grantham Bain Collection. Hopefully the equine ambulance was on its way.

This brings back terrible memories of "Black Beauty". It's hard to believe that once upon a time New York's biggest polluter wasn't car exhaust but horse manure. This looks like a regular occurence as no one seems phased

Preparing for Circus Week at Madison Square Garden, New York. March 21, 1913. 5x7 glass plate negative, George Grantham Bain Collection.

This looks like something out of a movie. I love the lighting and all of the ropes strewn about.

"A Winning Miss" in 1911. Art Photo Co., Grand Rapids, Mich.

And people say the Edwardians were prudish!

A model floating in the water at Weeki Wachee Spring, Florida. The image by fashion photographer Toni Frissell was published in Harper's Bazaar in December 1947.

This is my favourite photo of the group this week! It's ethereal and slightly creepy.

B-24 bomber assembly hall, location unspecified. April 1943.

The scale of assembly operations for the war is sometimes more than boggling. It's an endless line of planes. The only things that would have made this better was if they were Lancasters.

"Margaret Ciampa, 14 years old, finishing flowers at Boston Floral Supply Co., 347-357 Cambridge Street. Said to be the only flower factory in Massachusetts." January 29, 1917. Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine.

I remember my mom doing something similar for decorating. It's strange to thing that almost 100 years ago someone was doing the same thing.

Timeless: Photos from Yesteryear 3

noreply@blogger.com (theduckthief) — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 17:00:00 +0000

These photos are are from Shorpy.com a great resource for old photos and one of my guilty pleasures.

Three views of Lewis Payne (a.k.a. Lewis Powell) in April 1865, three months before his execution by hanging, wearing the same sweater. Hanged as one of the Lincoln assassination conspirators. The photograph probably taken aboard the ironclad USS Montauk or Saugus.Photographs (wet collodion, glass plate) by Alexander Gardner.

He looks so relaxed. It's difficult to believe he was facing death and seemed so nonchalant in these photos.

1910 Irving Underhill photo of the 22-story Flatiron (Fuller) Building at 175 Fifth Avenue, one of the earliest (1902) buildings in New York to attain such heights. An iconic building but I had no idea it was one of the earliest to be so tall.

"Washington Monument as it stood for 25 years," 1860. Glass-plate (wet collodion) photograph by Mathew Brady. It's not so impressive in this state. And to think it was like this for a quarter century, surrounded by shacks and fields.

Celebration on Wall Street upon the news of Germany's surrender in World War I. November 1918. Photograph by W.L. Drummond.

What a celebration. If you look closely, in the top right by the flags, there's a man standing outside the window on the building.

July 1863. Dead Confederate sharpshooter at the foot of Round Top. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Photograph by Alexander Gardner. Creepy and sad. Dead but preserved in this photo, possibly for all time.

"'Safety first' is the motto of Miss Mary Jayne of Keith's circuit. Mary Jayne, seated in rocking chair with pistol strapped to her knee, claiming exemption from concealed weapon regulation by saying her thirty-two isn't a concealed weapon in these days of knee-length skirts." National Photo Company Collection, February 14, 1922. The Keith Circuit was a chain of vaudeville theaters that eventually transitioned to motion pictures. This is one awesome photo. I wonder if she ever used the gun.

"The Burning of the Call." The San Francisco Call newspaper building in flames after the April 18, 1906 earthquake. Pillsbury Picture Co. What a photo!

View of ruined buildings through porch of the Circular Church at 150 Meeting Street, Charleston, South Carolina. April 1865. Wet collodion glass plate, half of stereograph pair. Photographer unknown. While much of the damage shown here is from shelling by the Federal Navy, the Circular Church itself was heavily damaged by fire in 1861. If there had been no place or date attached I would have guessed this was shot during WWII. I can't imagine such destruction could have been wrought by civil war cannons.

15-year-old sweeper in the spinning and spooling room of Berkshire Cotton Mills. Adams, Massachusetts. July 10, 1916. Photo by Lewis Hine. This is my favourite of this group. Look at his bare feet! Many children worked from a young age in cotton mills before the advent of child labour laws.

P-51 Mustangs of the 332nd Fighter Group (Tuskegee Airmen). Ramitelli, Italy, March 1945. Photograph by Toni Frissell. I love that this was shot from the ground looking up at the plane's bellies.

How to Make a Sandwich in Space - Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield

noreply@blogger.com (theduckthief) — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 17:00:00 +0000

I don't know if you're aware but one our own, Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield has become an awesome ambassador not just for Canada but for NASA. Not only is he a pretty cool guy but he's hooked into social media like no other astronaut before. He's tweeted pictures of the earth, held an AMA on Reddit, even helped compose and perform the first song in space. Here he's going to show you how to make a sandwich in space and explain why they use the ingredients they do. Enjoy!

Heart - Erick Oh

noreply@blogger.com (theduckthief) — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 17:00:00 +0000

This is an amazing, crazy short film and I think you should watch it.

Gettysburg (1993)

noreply@blogger.com (theduckthief) — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 05:52:00 +0000

”In the morning, there's to be a great battle. Tomorrow or the next day will determine the war.”

The Confederate army had crossed into Pennsylvania from Virginia, pushing into Union territory to force the North to concede defeat. The two armies converged on Gettysburg, a town of little note until July 1 1863. Over the next few days it would serve as a battleground for some of the bloodiest fighting of the American Civil War. The battle didn’t spell the end of the war but it was most likely the turning point for both armies. This seemingly inconsequential battle outside a small town in Pennsylvania was a heavy blow against the Confederate army thanks to poor tactics, incompetent officers and a bullheaded commander unwilling to listen. It all could have gone very differently if not for a few key reasons and one can only imagine what the United States would look like today if the South had won. The movie itself presents a small window into the war, only several days during which the Battle of Gettysburg took place but it provides us with a glimpse of a different time when a country was torn apart.

I’ve wanted to watch this movie ever since reading Killer Angels by Michael Shaara as the film is based on the book. It closely follows the story, leading us chronologically through each day of battle culminating in the triumph of the Union over Johnny Reb. I really appreciated that several aspects of the book were carried over into the movie such as both sides of the conflict being shown and given equal screen time. The viewer sees that the Union and Confederate soldiers are formal, polite and well-spoken, allowing us to see the dynamics of conversation and everyday life, including the variety of music and song that permeated the camps before and during the battle which I found pleasantly surprising. It brought to mind the idea that these were ordinary men, mostly volunteers and not career soldiers, who had left homes and families with little understanding of what they would be facing.

The opening credits were both entertaining and informative. Photos of the participants are overlaid with the actors portraying them and some of the resemblances are uncanny. I also appreciated both the performances of Jeff Daniels, who I’m consistently surprised by, and Richard Jordan. Both gave performances that made me feel for the character. Daniels as Chamberlain had this quiet, concerned quality and Jordan as Lew Armistead choked me up when he spoke about not wanting to meet his friend in battle who happened to be fighting for the other side. Everyone else left me rather cold, including Martin Sheen as General Lee which I did not expect.

It was interesting to watch a 20 year old film and see how much cinematics have changed in such a short time. I expected a regular amount of quick cuts throughout but instead found a film composed of long takes. At times this was frustrating, partly because I felt it slowed the action down as quick cuts could have been used to great effect during the battle. Long takes can be effective when used properly, they can amp up the tension but I don’t feel it was used to full effect here. The battle scenes could have been shot more dynamically and occasionally it felt as if they were being shot at angles that didn't take full advantage of the scope of the battle. I did however get a chill during the various shots of lined cannons firing in succession. This, combined with the technology available at the time, made the film seem more like a History Channel documentary. I did appreciate the lack of gratuitous violence as the film could easily have tipped into a gorefest. Instead, the portrayal of death and destruction felt authentic. It did however, feel as if there was a lot of untapped potential in this film.

One of the issues I had with the movie was the viewer didn’t get the great internal dialogue present in the book. In Shaara’s work, the reader could see into the hearts and minds of the major players and empathize with their situation, how they would be forced to fight friends and fellow countrymen. This made it easier to care about and worry for men on both sides of the conflict. The connection with the movie characters isn’t as well established as the story rests entirely upon the visuals, omitting an important aspect of the book. As a result, there wasn’t as much tension built around character survival as I didn’t care about about everyone living through the battle.

Running close to four hours though, this movie feels overlong. Some of the dialogue feels stale, stretching out scenes to an interminable length. And then, when we finally reach the battle scenes, they are less than eletric. The movie just doesn't measure up to the book. That doesn't mean it's a bad movie though. If you’re looking for a visual representation of what the Battle of Gettysburg looked like, filmed where it took place 130 years later, watch this movie. I also cannot recommend enough the soundtrack composed by Randy Edelman. It is spectacular.

Timeless: Photos from Yesteryear 2

noreply@blogger.com (theduckthief) — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 18:20:00 +0000

These photos are from Shorpy, a gorgeous website that contains photos from the Library of Congress archives. Here are some examples of what you can find on the site. The captions under the photos are pulled from the website.

Southside Easter 1941

April 1941. "Negro boys on Easter morning, Southside Chicago." Acetate negative by Russell Lee, Farm Security Administration.

New York-Cincinatti Flyer 1910

Train wreck near Middletown, Ohio. July 4, 1910

Bridge of Sighs 1907

November 8, 1907. "Bridge of Sighs," connecting the 1902 Tombs prison at left with the 1894 Manhattan Criminal Courts building at right. 8x10 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection.

Grand Central Station 1908

Crowd outside Grand Central Station, returning from summer vacations. Sept. 8, 1908.

Black Sea Bass 1900

A world's record 384-pound black sea bass caught by Franklin Schenck of Brooklyn with rod and reel off Catalina Island, California, on August 17, 1900.

Carina Nebula 5500 BCE

Just in from NASA, a spectacular image assembled from 48 frames taken by the Hubble Space Telescope of the Carina Nebula 7500 light-years away, which means we are seeing these stars as they were in 5500 BC — making this the oldest picture on Shorpy so far. The bright star at left is Eta Carinae, which can be seen throwing off two enormous lobes of gas prior to exploding — possibly in the next few thousand years, maybe tomorrow — as a titanic supernova. We're offering this as a JG fine art print, made using NASA's 480mb master file.

Ghost Child 1936

Child living in Oklahoma City shacktown. August 1936.

A Friendly Game of Horse

Farm Security Administer Basketball at Durland's Riding Academy, New York. 1908. George Grantham Bain Collection. Since 1949, the Durland's building at Central Park West has been home to ABC, at 7 West 66th Street. Until 1999, the sets for "20/20" and "Good Morning America" were in the main riding ring. Photograph by Dorothea Lange.

Spooky Toy Show 1908

Toy show at Madison Square Garden, 1908. View full size. George Grantham Bain Collection. In the foreground: Junior Aero Club display. Several shadowy blurs can be seen in this time exposure moving about what at first glance appears to be a deserted exhibit space. The car merry-go-round is slowly revolving.

Wheel of Fire 1943

Re-tiring a locomotive driver wheel in the Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe railway shops at Shopton, near Fort Madison, Iowa. March 1943. View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano.

All the Pretty Horses - Cormac McCarthy

noreply@blogger.com (theduckthief) — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 16:00:00 +0000

“The fire had burned to coals and he lay looking up at the stars in their places and the hot belt of matter that ran the chord of the dark vault overhead and he put his hands on the ground at either side of him and pressed them against the earth and in that coldly burning canopy of black he slowly turned dead center to the world, all of it taut and trembling and moving enormous and alive under his hands.”

John Grady Cole is a teenage cowboy, forced to grow up fast after escaping to Mexico when his mother decides to sell the family ranch. Riding off into the unknown with his friend Rawlins, Cole is faced with sex, prison, murder, corrupt officials, familial obligations and an indifferent wilderness. If he survives his adventure across the border it’s unlikely he will ever be the same.

Let me be the first to admit that I’ve never read Cormac McCarthy. In fact, I’ve actively avoided him as I heard he was a gruesome writer and I don’t do well with gore. The rumour about “Blood Meridian” is that most people don’t get past page 30. As for ”All the Pretty Horses”, I found it a slog to read. The time in which the story was set and the age of the protagonist should have been obvious but they weren’t. At first it seemed to be set in the old west but modern diction like “satellite” and “comic book” proved me wrong. Also, Cole is supposed to be 16, I never thought of him as that young. Teenagers are usually awkward, insecure and frustrated but Cole didn’t appear to suffer from any of these things. In fact, he seemed sure of himself and of his position in the world. His attitude, dialogue and actions felt more in line with that of a man in his 20s.

There was also a complete lack of quotations for any dialogue and out of everything else this was the most frustrating aspect of the book. It made for difficult reading as it was difficult at times to distinguish dialogue from description until the end of a sentence or paragraph and was the cause of much re-reading. It also complicated who was speaking when. I’m unclear as to why McCarthy did this but he seemed to think quotations cluttered up the page and that they were unnecessary, reasoning that “if a book is written well enough, you’ll know when you’re reading dialogue without the extra quotation marks to tell you.” In this instance McCarthy is wrong.

This leaves the strongest writing in the story McCarthy’s description of the landscape. It’s feels like an individual character as the author spends so much time and ink illustrating the surroundings.

“When they wound back up out of the glade it was already evening and the sun lay long in the grass and across the shallow swales where the land dipped in pockets of darkness. Small birds come to feed in the evening cool of the open country flushed and flared away over the grasstops and the hawks in silhouette against the sunset waited in the upper limb s of a dead tree for them to pass.”

“Days to come they rode through the mountains and they crossed at a barren windgap and sat the horses among the rocks and looked out over the country to the south where the last shadows were running over the land before the wind and the sun to the west lay blood red among the shelving clouds and the distant cordilleras ranged down the terminals of the sky to fade from pale to pale of blue and then to nothing at all.”

These spectacularly gorgeous paragraphs are space throughout but are countered with clipped, blunt dialogue. I almost wish that McCarthy had stuck with this blunted style for every aspect of the book, to fully communicate the harsh landscape through which they traveled and Cole’s hand to mouth lifestyle. I don’t think it would have detracted from the book as stark can be beautiful too. I ended up appreciating the scenery more than the characters which didn’t bode well for the story. In fact, it was only near the end of the book that I began to care about what happened to Cole. Before then, the book had felt stale and Cole was boring.

After this I don’t know that I would pick up another McCarthy book as this one felt like a waste of time. There are more enjoyable books out there so unless you’re interested in this period of history or McCarthy, I would give this one a pass.

Paperman

noreply@blogger.com (theduckthief) — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 17:00:00 +0000

This beautiful short from Pixar speaks for itself. Enjoy!

C (299,792 km/s)

noreply@blogger.com (theduckthief) — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 17:00:00 +0000

I found this amazing video several days ago and had to share. This description is from their website which I find pretty impressive:

"To build the future, we looked to the past. No CGI or greenscreen was used in the making of the film; all our sets and props were built by hand and filmed in-camera. Combining new advances in digital camera technology with traditional special effects, we sought to create a unique look through lighting design, camera tricks, miniature photography, split-screen, and stop-animation. We believe that this approach allowed us greater creative possibilities on a low-budget science-fiction film."

It's amazing that they did all of this without a greenscreen. I love how old school they went but how very retro-modern it looks. The colours are great, the story is great, if a bit short and I loved all of the information going on in the background. Pay attention to the computers. If you want the best experience, open this into full screen mode.

Les Miserables: Week 4 & 5

noreply@blogger.com (theduckthief) — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 07:01:00 +0000

Last year I tried to complete "Les Miserables" as part of a year-long read. I had barely started the book before life got in the way and I wasn't able to finish the story. This year I am determined to get through the entire thing. Here is the last post I made on Les Miserables. Below are notes to catalogue my read. At the moment it's mostly diction and evetns and persons I'm unfamiliar with. As I read further I hope to make posts filled with questions and insights into characters and plot points. Do not read this if you don't want the book to be spoiled.

Expiation - Atonement

Poor Jean Val Jean! 19 years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread? It was easy to believe the despair he was feeling about the entire situation.

Iniquity - A grossly immoral act, a sin

"He is lost between the infinities of sea and sky, the one a tomb, the other a shroud."

Adroit - Dexterous

Turgid - Excessively ornate or complex in style; swollen or distended

Cochlearia - Scurvy grass

Reagant - A starting material used in chemical reactions

"King Louis XVIII" Artist Unknown 1814 - 1824

Louis XVIII - (1755-1824)I wasn't aware that there was King of France after the French Revolution. He was the brother of King Louis XVI, who was king during the Revolution and who was executed via guillotine. Louis XVIII became king through a strange set of circumstances. Louis XVI was executed and upon his death was succeeded by his son who became Louis XVII. He also happened to be in prison and died June 1795, leaving the kingship to his uncle who became Louis XVIII. Louis himself lived in exile for a very long time, essentially 23 years from 1791 - 1814. He only actually ruled France for ten years until 1824, even though France had abolished the monarchy on September 21 1792. Things get even stranger after he dies. Those that succeeded him were known as 'King of the French' rather than 'King of France' which doesn't seem that different. This line was abolished when the Second French Republic was established. But there was also a line of pretender kings, called 'legitimist pretenders'. Following this down the line, the current King of Spain, Juan Carlos is of the House of Bourbon which means if France ever decided to bring the monarchy back (doubtful), he could possibly have some sort of wibbly wobbly claim on the throne of France.


"Mme Bigottini as a Bacchante" Jacques Vallin 1817

Mme Bigottini - (1784 - 1858) Emilie Bogottini was a French dancer of Italian ancestry. Her father was Francesco Bigottini, a harlequin at Paris' Comedie-Italienne de Paris. Napoleon was reportedly a fan of hers. She had quite a few affairs but was never seen as immoral or looked down upon because of it.

Madame Saqui, Paul Ginisty 1907

Madame Saqui - (1786 - 1866) Marguerite-Antoinette Lalannewas a French tightrope walker who was mentioned in Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray.

Pleignier - (1781 - 1816) Tanner. Executed together with Tolleron and Carbonneau for the involvement in the conspiracy 'des patriotes'.

Tolleron - (1784 - 1816) Engraver. Executed after having his right hand cut off together with Pleignier and Carbonneau for the involvement in the conspiracy 'des patriotes'.

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord, Henry Dupray 1890

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord - 1754 - 1838 Known just as "Tallyrand", he supposedly betrayed the Ancien Regime, the French Revolution, Napoleon and Restoration, each in turn. Napoleon said he could: "break him like a glass, but it's not worth the trouble" and that he was "a turd in a silk stocking". He seems like an opportunist to me, but smart. He survived the Revolution.

Bivouac - A temporary camp

Champ de Mays - (The Hundred Days) This marked the time between when Napoleon return from exile on Elba to Paris (March 20 1815) and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII (July 8 1815) a period which lasted exactly 111 days.

Charles Dautun - Killed his brother and hid his remains all over France, throwing his head into the pool at the Marche-aux-Fleurs. Sentenced to death July 25, 1815. Gross!

"The Raft of the Medusa" Theodore Gericault 1818-1819

Frigate Meduse - Launched in 1810 she was a 40 gun ship. She beached on the Bank of Arguin and a raft 20 metres long was constructed and nicknamed 'la Machine' to help offload cargo, lighten the ship and possibly get her out into open water. A storm rose and threatened to rip apart the ship, causing around 150 people boarded the raft while the rest went into longboats and began to tow the raft towards shore. Before they could reach land the raft was cut loose though as the men in the longboats worried about how desperate those on the raft might get. With no way to steer or or row, the 'raftees' were in big trouble. Fights broke out and on the first night 20 men were killed or committed suicide. Many were swept overboard and as supplies shrank, some resorted to cannibalism. At the end of the fourth day, only 67 were left alive. Men began to throw the weak and wounded overboard until only 15 were left and they were the ones who were rescued. The plight of those on the raft was preserved by painter Theodore Gericault who painted "Raft of the Medusa" which helped to make the ship was of the more famous shipwrecks of the time.

Colonel Seve, aka Soliman Pasha, photographer unknown pre-1860

Colonel Seve - (1788 - 1860) He was born Joseph Seve and served as an officer in Napoleon's army. He converted to Islam and changed his name to Soliman Pasha. He was sent to help build the Egyptian army on the European model. Many of his descendants still live in Egypt and in fact, some were royalty such as Queen Nazli and King Faroud.

N's removed from the Louvre - After Napoleon's campaign in Egypt, he brought back all sorts of stolen treasure and renamed the Louvre the Musee Napoleon to store all of his loot. As a result, the Louvre was covered in N's. After Napoleon was defeated and Louis XVIII took power, he tried to remove traces of Napoleon, including the N's on the Louvre.

Mathurin Bruneau, Artist unknown 1818

Mathurin Bruneau - (1784-1822) The son of a cobbler, at the age of 11, successfully passed himself off as a nobleman's son. Next he would claim he was the Duke of Normandy. His final move was to denounce Louis XVIII and claim to be the son of Louis XVI and the heir to the throne. He was eventually caught and sentenced and ended up dying in prison.

Claire d'Albe - A french novel published anonymously in 1799 by Sophie Cottin and was a bestseller.

"Portrait of Madame de Stael" Francois Gerard circa 1810

Germaine de Stael - (1766 - 1817) She attended regular salons (gatherings) held by her mother and met many influential people including Voltaire and Rousseau, growing interested in politics and government as a result. Apparently Napoleon Bonaparte disliked and perhaps even hated her. She discussed her ideas on government and politics with him and eventually ended up banished. This made her supposedly famous throughout Europe.

Suborned - To bribe or induce (someone) to commit an unlawful act

"Chateaubriand Meditating on the Ruins of Rome" Roussy-Trioson After 1808

Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand - 1768 - 1848 He is considered the founder of French Romanticism and had an impact on writers like Byron, Hugo and Stendhal. He also coined the name of dish made from a cut of tenderloin (Chateaubriand steak)

"Talma as Nero in Brittanicus" Eugene Delacroix 1852/1853

Francois-Joseph Talma - (1763 - 1826) He was an actor and a very important one at that. He advocated realism in scenery and costume, aided by his friend, painter Jacques-Louis David. He appeared in Voltaire's Brutus in a toga and Roman haircut. Before this, actors usually appeared in 18th century clothing, no matter what period of time the play was set in. He is also often credited with introducing the male Neoclassical hairstyle to the public.


"Portrait of Charles Nodied" Artist unknown 19th c

Charles Nodier - (1780 - 1844) He was an author who introduced young Romanticists to gothic stories, vampire tales and the 'importance of dreams as part of literary creation'. Vampire tales hmm? Can we blame our recent obsession about them on him then?

Saint-Simon Charles Baugniet 1848

Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon - (17 October 1760 – 19 May 1825) He was an aristocrat who has been called the father of socialism as well as a 'prescient madman'. He thought that industrialization and scientific discovery would lead people to abandon their spiritual beliefs and completely change society. And you know what, he was right. His ideas spurred a movement called Saint-Simonianism and his ideas influenced such people as Karl Marx.

Pierre-Jean David aka David d'Angers - (1788 - 1856) A sculptor born at Angers who went into the army as a musketeer! Awesome! Like a typical starving artist, he left one career to take up in Paris with only 11 francs to his name. 'Of Reviving Greece, his monument to the Greek liberator Markos Botsaris, showing a Greek child reading his name, Victor Hugo said, "It is difficult to see anything more beautiful in the world; this statue joins the grandeur of Pheidias to the expressive manner of Puget."'

Steamboat on Seine - Early steam navigation was pioneered on the Seine River. For example, in 1783, the Marquis de Joyffray d'Abbans took his boat, the Pyroscaphe across the Seine. I never thought of the Seine as a large enough river to contain a steam ship but this book is expanding my horizons. Interestingly, Victor Hugo's favourite daughter was killed travelling in a boat across the bore on the Seine, a notoriously dangerous area with a strong tide.

"Baron Geores Cuvier" Francois-Andre Vincent

Georges Cuvier (1769 - 1832) - He established that African and Indian elephant were different species as before they had been believed to be the same. He also established the idea that some species had gone extinct. It's hard to believe that before this, no one had established this idea. Unfortunately he also happened to be extremely racist, writing 'The white race, with oval face, straight hair and nose, to which the civilised people of Europe belong and which appear to us the most beautiful of all, is also superior to others by its genius, courage and activity.' If that wasn't bad enough he also wrote 'The Negro race... is marked by black complexion, crisped of woolly hair, compressed cranium and a flat nose, The projection of the lower parts of the face, and the thick lips, evidently approximate it to the monkey tribe: the hordes of which it consists have always remained in the most complete state of barbarism.'

There isn't by any chance an annotated version of "Les Miserables"? I find I need to look up almost every person mentioned as they've been lost to time. It's strange to think that living memory covers such a short span of time.

Grisettes - A French working class woman from the 17th century

Why does Fantine fall in love with a gap-toothed, wrinkled man with a bald patch!

Post-Chaise - A fast carriage for carrying passengers and mail in the 18th & 19th centuries.

St Cloud - A commune in the suburbs of Paris. The town is named after Clodoald, grandson of Clovis. He was canonized after his death and the village where his tomb was located was named Sanctus Clodoaldus. There is also a chateau called Saint-Cloud built in 1572 and burnt down by fire in 1870. It was the residence of several French rulers and more importantly, was the site of the coup d'etat led by Napoleon that overthrew the French Directory in 1799.

Quoits - A game involving throwing rings from a distance to land on or near a spike (Horseshoes?)

"Diogenes" John William Waterhouse 1882

Lantern of Diogenes 412BCE - 323BCE Diogenes was a philosopher and a founder of Cynic philosophy. He was exiled from his hometown after defacing money. He lived in poverty, slept in a large ceramic jar and carried a lamp in the daytime, claiming to look for an honest man. He supposedly embarrassed Plato, interrupted Socrates' lectures and mocked Alexander the Great. Unfortunately none of his writing survives but we know about his life from anecdotes.

Nankeen - A type of cloth originally made in Nanjing. Mostly used to make pants.

Rattan - The name for the 600 species of palm found in Africa, Asia and Australasia.

"Pygmalion and Galatea" Lagrenee 1781

Galatea - Means "she who is milk white". The story goes that Pygmalion of Cyprus carved a woman who came to life and he called her Galatea.

Barege - A sheer fabric woven of silk or cotton and wool, used for women's apparel.

Canebiere - A historic street in Marseille. October 9 1934, Alexander I, King of Yugoslavia was assassinated.

Piquant - Having a pleasantly sharp taste or flavour.

"Psyche entering Cupid's garden" Waterhouse 1904

Psyche - Ancient Greek for 'life', 'soul' and 'butterfly'. She was portrayed as a goddess with butterfly wings.

"Portrait of Antoine Watteau" Rosalba Carriera 1721

Antoine Watteau - (1684- 1721) A French painter who revived the Baroque styles and then moved into Rococo. He is also credited with inventing a style that depicts and celebrates rich people doing a variety of things.

"Self portrait" Nicolas Lancret circa 1720

Nicolas Lancret - (1690 - 1743) A French painter who depicted light comedies. He was aquainted with and was an admirer of Watteau. His works decorate Versailles and were also popular with Frederick the Great

Turcaret - First produce in 1709, this play is a comedy by Alain-Rene Lesage and is considered one of his most important works. In the play, Turcaret is a bad financier. His wife is just about as bad. The play also includes a dumb marquis, a knight and a baroness, to whom Turcaret is attracted.

Priapus - In Greek mythology he is a minor fertility god. From his name comes the word priapism. He became a popular figure in Roman erotic art.

Marley Horses Guillame le Coustou

Marley Horses - These are two large marble sculptures of horses being restrained by two naked groomsmen, created between 1743 & 1745. They were ordered from sculptor Guillame Coustou by King Louis XV to decorate the Chateau de Marly. Today the originals are now in the Louvre, with copies of the work at the Champs-Elysees, the Chateau de Marly and at Bouygues Construction. The statues are not a reference to any myth or story and even Victoria Hugo liked them, saying he admired "those neighing marlbes wheeling on a golden cloud."

Battle of Austerlitz - The scene of one of Napoleon's greatest victories. December 2 1805, Napoleon defeated a Russo-Austrian army after nine hours of fighting. As a direct consequence, in 1806, the Holy Roman Empire ceased to exist when Emperor Francis II abdicated. The battle also happens to be a major event in War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.

"Danton" Constance-Marie Charpentier 1792

Georges Jacques Danton- (1759 – 1794) He was a leading figure during the French Revolution and was the first President of the Committee of Public Safety. He was eventually guillotined by the same group he once fought for after he was accused of being lenient to enemies of the Revolution.

The Battle of Caudine Forks - 321 BCE The name is a bit misleading as there was no fighting and no deaths. The Romans were trapped in a place without water by the Samnites and were forced to negotiate their surrender. The Samnites thought it would be more diplomatic to let the Romans go. This was a stupid idea because several years later the Samnites were defeated by the Romans.

Tocsin - An alarm bell or signal

Carmagnole - The name of a short jacket but also a French song made popular during the French Revolution.

Madame Veto has promised
Madame Veto has promised
To cut everyone's throat in Paris
To cut everyone's throat in Paris
But she failed to do this,
Thanks to our cannons.

Refrain:
Let us dance the Carmagnole
Long live the sound
Long live the sound
Let us dance the Carmagnole
Long live the sound of the cannons.

Mr. Veto had promised (repeat)
To be loyal to his country; (repeat)
But he failed to be,
Let's not do quarters.
Refrain

Antoinette had decided (repeat)
To drop us on our asses; (repeat)
But the plan was foiled
And she fell on her face.
Refrain

Her husband, believing himself a conqueror, (repeat)
Knowing little our value, (repeat)
Go, Louis, big crybaby,
From the the Temple into the tower.
Refrain

The Swiss had promised, (repeat)
That they would fire our friends, (repeat)
But how they have jumped!
How they have all danced!

Refrain

When Antoinette sees the tower, (repeat)
She wishes to make a half turn, (repeat)
She is sick at heart
To see herself without honor.

Refrain
Refrain
Refrain

Le Marsellaise - The national anthem of France. IIt was written and composed by Claude Joseph rouget de Lisle in 1792 and was adopted as the Republic's anthem in 1795.

Arise children of the fatherland
The day of glory has arrived
Against us tyranny's
Bloody standard is raised
Listen to the sound in the fields
The howling of these fearsome soldiers
They are coming into our midst
To cut the throats of your sons and consorts

To arms citizens Form your battalions
March, march
Let impure blood
Water our furrows

What do they want this horde of slaves
Of traitors and conspiratorial kings?
For whom these vile chains
These long-prepared irons?
Frenchmen, for us, ah! What outrage
What methods must be taken?
It is us they dare plan
To return to the old slavery!

What! These foreign cohorts!
They would make laws in our courts!
What! These mercenary phalanxes
Would cut down our warrior sons
Good Lord! By chained hands
Our brow would yield under the yoke
The vile despots would have themselves be
The masters of destiny

Tremble, tyrants and traitors
The shame of all good men
Tremble! Your parricidal schemes
Will receive their just reward
Against you we are all soldiers
If they fall, our young heros
France will bear new ones
Ready to join the fight against you

Frenchmen, as magnanimous warriors
Bear or hold back your blows
Spare these sad victims
That they regret taking up arms against us
But not these bloody despots
These accomplices of Bouillé
All these tigers who pitilessly
Ripped out their mothers' wombs

We too shall enlist
When our elders' time has come
To add to the list of deeds
Inscribed upon their tombs
We are much less jealous of surviving them
Than of sharing their coffins
We shall have the sublime pride
Of avenging or joining them

Drive on sacred patriotism
Support our avenging arms
Liberty, cherished liberty
Join the struggle with your defenders
Under our flags, let victory
Hurry to your manly tone
So that in death your enemies
See your triumph and our glory!

Festina Lente - An oxymoron that means "to make haste slowly".

Polynices - In Greek mythology he was the son of Oedipus and Jocasta. His wife was Argea. His father put a curse on him and his brother Eteocles, and died as a result by killing each other in a battle for the control of Thebes.

Amphiaraus - "Doubly-cursed" or "twice Ares-like". He was a seer favoured by Zeus and Apollo and also one of the three kings of Argos. He was involved in the war mentioned in 'Seven Against Thebes'.

Origen

Origen - (184/185BCE - 253/254BCE) Wrote about the early church. He believed in pre-existence and the transmigration of souls. His ideas were rejected as heretical and in 453 BCE the Council of Constantinople posthumously excommunicated him.

Tisane - A herbal infusion drunk which usually has mild medical effects.

Europhion - Supposedly the father of Aeschylus.

Flagrante Delictro - "In blazing offence". Usually used as a euphemism for those caught in the act of sexual intercourse.

Sabine Woman - 750 BCE The first generation of Roman men acquired wives by taking them from neighbouring families. These women were abducted and then raped. If you want to hear a PC song about the event, watch "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" which has a similar situation.

Canada Eliminates the Penny!

noreply@blogger.com (theduckthief) — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 19:21:00 +0000

This weekend marked the last time the Canadian Mint would print and distribute Canadian pennies. They are still legal tender but will not be handed back as change when you purchase items with cash. This is expected to save the Canadian government $11 million a year and should eventually make the penny a collector's items as they will eventually be melted down and the copper reclaimed by the Mint. The process by which businesses process transactions now is a bit confusing. Any purchases made with cash that end in a .01 or a .02 will be rounded down to the nearest dollar. Any purchases that end in a .03 or .04 will be rounded up to .05 and so on. Purchases made with a card will not be rounded in any way.

This means that businesses will most likely be off several cents every day until the penny is completely eliminated from circulation due to rounding. As well, this changes the concept of 99 cent stores. Will people eventually cease to say "penny for your thoughts" or "that's my two cents" as there will now be generations of people who grow up without the penny?

I never thought about how integrated something like the penny was in our lives but this is history happening before our eyes. Just as when the dollar bill was eliminated or the toonie was introduced, it's something people have to wrap their heads around. I for one, love that we're here at this crossroads, small as it may be. It forces people to think, to adapt and to possibly change. Change like this keeps up moving forward and doesn't allow us to stagnate.

If you want a more concise delivery, check out this video by Canadian YouTuber, CGPGrey.

King Richard III's body found!

noreply@blogger.com (theduckthief) — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 02:16:00 +0000

Photo courtesy University of Leicester

I’ve always been a bit obsessed by history so identifying a skeleton as a murdered King of England who happens to have been rediscovered under a parking lot in Leicester is rather fascinating. It was strange to think that someone I’ve only ever heard stories about, some most likely untrue, has a physical presence in this world again. It brings history to life and forces one to focus on the mortality of life. Here is a man, dead for more than 500 years and lost to history, has been brought back from ‘the grave’. There’s renewed interest in him as a person and in his story. Even the information about how he was found and his identification reads like a fairytale.

Artist unknown, late 15th c

At first the archaeologists who were looking for him weren’t even sure they were digging in the right place. Originally he’d been buried in a church called Greyfriars. Unfortunately after the dissolution of the monasteries in 1536, the Greyfriars’ church was torn down and eventually lost to time. Several centuries later it was determined that the remains of the church and possibly Richard might be located under a parking lot used by the Leicester City Council.

They started to dig and immediately found the remains of the church and then eventually human remains. It was reported that they had found two skeletons, one male, one female. The male skeleton was found to have various injuries and a SPINAL ABNORMALITY! This was exciting because Richard was rumoured to have been a hunchback. While some historians thought this rumour may have just been slander from Tudor successors, the skeleton on the parking had a curved spine, probably from scoliosis, causing one shoulder to be higher than another and possibly leading to stories about Richard being a hunchback.

Photo courtesy University of Leicester

The plan was to do a DNA analysis on the remains and to compare to DNA from a descendant of Richard’s sister. This descendant happens to be CANADIAN and one member of the family literally lives less than 6 hours away from me! Unfortunately we would have to wait six long, agonizing months to find out the results of this test, meaning we would have to wait until after the New Year.

Then, on February 4 they made the big announcement, holding a press conference with all of the involved parties. About an hour in, after explaining that they were able to retrieve viable DNA from the skeleton and describing all the various wounds on the skeleton, including the ones that slice off parts of his skull, they confirmed that the skeleton had been positively identified as RICHARD III! I heard about this over the radio could not stop from punching the air! It was so very cool to have something like this all come together so easily and so well. There are plans to rebury him in Leicester Cathedral at the end of August 2014.

Thanks to a facial reconstruction here is most likely what he looked like:

Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

It’s events like this that make history more than just a dusty old story you’re told about in school. All of the people who’ve come before that you’ve never met did actually live. All those dates and years you had to memorize, all those events did actually happen, even if they sometimes appear little more than a memory. People tend to forget how much has happened in the history of man and that’s just the information that’s been preserved and written down. It boggles the mind how much has been lost, forgotten or destroyed.

I would hightly suggest checking out The History Blog if you want a more detailed description of the discovery. This site is how I first found out about the dig and the hunt for Richard's body. It has daily updates and always has something interesting to read.

Timeless: Photos from Yesteryear

noreply@blogger.com (theduckthief) — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 22:53:00 +0000

L.P. Hartley was right when he said: "The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there."

I have always loved old photos. There's something rather fascinating and morbid looking at photos of people and industries that have long since passed away. In that moment though, captured and preserved for future strangers to peruse, they still live, frozen in time.

These photos are from Shorpy.com, a gorgeous website that contains photos from the Library of Congress archives. Here are some examples of what you can find on the site. The captions under the photos are pulled from the website.

September 1908 Gary, West Virginia “Drivers and Mules in a cola mine where much of the mining and carrying is done by machinery. Open flame on oil headlamps.”
From the Web site of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and the Museum of Anthracite Mining in Ashland.

It's strange to think that mining was still done this way in the 20th century. I love that their headlamps are actually just a lit flame!

December 1910 “Postal Telegraphy Messengers, Knoxville, Tennessee” Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine.

How young can these kids possibly be? I'm assuming this was before child labour laws although I do like their hats.

February 1912. “Rear view of tenement, 134 ½ Thompson Street, New York City. Makers of artificial flowers live and work here.” Photography and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine.

It's difficult to believe this is real. It almost looks like a film set.

“Bring out yer rats”. Ferrets were used in turn of the century New York to track down rodents. Here is the result of one such hunt in 1908. You want to be dressed in a jacket and tie for this kind of work. From the George Grantham Bain Collection.

Were cats not a option for these guys? An interesting if somewhat gruesome job.

October 1942. Engine installers at Douglas Aircraft in Long Beach California. Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer.

A publicity shot of course but doesn't it look awesome!

May 21, 1910. "Joseph Severio, Peanut Vendor. Wilmington, Delaware. 11 years of age. Pushing cart 2 years. Out after midnight. Ordinarily works 6 hours per day. Works of own volition. Doesn't smoke. All earnings go to father." Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine.

Again, a child working from the age of nine, out late, probably working by himself. Jeez!

April 1943. "Viola Sievers, one of the wipers at the Chicago & North Western roundhouse, giving a giant "H" class locomotive a bath of live steam at Clinton, Iowa. Mrs. Sievers is the sole support of her mother and has a son-in-law in the Army." Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano.

Trains revolutionized travel for the world and this one's a monster.

May 1910. Wilmington, Delaware. "Louis Birch, 4th & Pine Streets. Newsboy, 12 years of age. Just started selling. Made 10 cents one day. Father dead. While not under any compulsion to sell papers, Louis, of his own accord, took it up in order to help support his widowed mother. Louis stays out until 12:30 every night and goes with his brother, Stanley, who is a messenger, on all calls because Stanley is afraid to be out on the street alone at night. Louis is clean, bright and willing. Visits saloons. Don’t smoke. Works 9 hours per day. Gives money to mother." Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine.

I'm getting the distinct impression that none of these kids really had a childhood. Working from an early age in an adult job and it's heartbreaking that he's doing this to help out his family.

2 A.M. February 12, 1908. "Papers just out. Boys starting out on morning round. Ages 13 years and upward. At the side door of Journal Building near Brooklyn Bridge, New York." Photo and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine.

Look at how wide those papers are! My only introduction to newsies before this was the Disney musical so it's interesting to see a group of real kids. And look at that one kid smoking! I wonder why they would have started at 2am? Surely no one is out at that time to actually buy a paper.

Syracuse second varsity crew squad, June 11, 1914. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection.

There seem to be a lot of photos of rowing teams so it seems that rowing was a big thing. And these aren't your high tech, hydro dynamic boats and oars, this is old school, all the way.

Sea foam covers Oswald, Australia

noreply@blogger.com (theduckthief) — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 21:42:00 +0000

This is absolutely nuts but Australia's been having a weird couple of months. What do you think?

Pride and Prejudice is 200 Years Old!

noreply@blogger.com (theduckthief) — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 18:33:00 +0000

200 hundred years ago today "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen was published. This is not her first published book but it is her best known and most popular. It's been directly adapted for film 10 times with countless pop culture references as well as several loose adaptations, theatre productions books focusing on everything from Darcy's point of view to sequels of the original.

I first read this book on a long car ride and couldn't put it down. It was my first Austen book and helped to open up this whole world of Regency England and classic literature. Instead of rambling on about how great the book is I've put together a list of Pride and Prejudice related material that you should check out. Besides, I actually like "Persuasion" better.

One half of Vlogbrothers has produced this lovely vlog version of the story called the Lizzie Bennet Diaries. They've made some minor changes and updates for this century but I've been enthralled since episode one. This is fresh and doesn't feel weighed down by the plethora of material that has come before it.

"Lost in Austen" is a slight twist on the original story where Lizzie Bennet travels to the real world, trapping an Austen fanatic in the fictional world of the book. Her presence manages to mess up the story, causing Jane to marry Mr. Collins! All must be set right before she can come home.

And if you're looking for a movie version I suggest the 1940s version. There are some detractors I admit as the costumes are the wrong period and more suited to the 1830s style than the Regency Period and our main characters are older than their counterparts are meant to be and some don't appreciate movies in black and white. But it is by far a better version in my mind than the 2005 version with Keira Knightley and Matthew McFadyen. I never warmed to that version despite the beautiful sets. The leads never seemed to fully embody the characters. The 1940 version has Laurence Olivier as Darcy and Greer Garson as Lizzie, both perfect choices in my mind. Olivier brings that snooty privileged air while Greer has this strong self-satisfied attitude.

And there's the ever-awesome Kate Beaton, a Canadian web comic artist who can be found here. She does regular comics about Canadian history, historical figures and literature with a comic twist. Here's Austen being bothered by a fan.

The Worst Writer in the World

noreply@blogger.com (theduckthief) — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 19:20:00 +0000

After "The Hobbit" came out there was a plethora of JRR Tolkien articles posted all over the internet. One of the articles I happened to come across was about his literary club The Inklings. He, CS Lewis and several other writers at Oxford would meet regularly to discuss what they were working on. They also used to hold regular competitions, reading from Amanda McKittrick Ros' work and seeing who could keep a straight face the longest. I was intrigued. What kind of writing could reduce Tolkien to laughter? Soon enough I discovered Ros' work and let me just say that she is one of a kind.

Born Anna Margaret Ross in Ireland in 1860, she wasn't a prolific writer but what there is should be consumed in small doses. I can honestly say I've never read anything quite like her, perhaps because usually authors try to avoid writing the way she does. Let me give you a quick taste of what I mean and then you can decide for yourself how very unique Ros is.

"Have you ever visited that portion of Erin’s plot that offers its sympathetic soil for the minute survey and scrutinous examination of those in political power, whose decision has wisely been the means before now of converting the stern and prejudiced, and reaching the hand of slight aid to share its strength in augmenting its agricultural richness?"

What a diamond in the rough! She appears to have been oblivious to any failings in her work and even in her own lifetime she didn't go unnoticed by critics whom she called: "evil minded snapshots of spleen". An example of their opinion of her work comes from Northrop Frye. He said her novels used "rhetorical material without being able to absorb or assimilate it: the result is pathological, a kind of literary diabetes."

Now perhaps her title as the "worst writer" is harsh but she believed she was a good writer and that her work would be appreciated for years to come. She appears to have loved run-on sentences, flowery description and alliteration, all dangerous areas of writing.

"The living sometimes learn the touchy tricks of the traitor, the tardy and the tempted; the dead have evaded the flighty earthy future, and form to swell the retinue of retired rights, the righteous school of the invisible and the rebellious roar of the raging nothing."

And if that doesn't convince you, in 2006 she posthumously won an award as the worst writer in the world. One way to look at this is despite how her writing may be viewed, she's still being talked about today, more than 60 years after her death and after all, that's exactly what she wanted.

Hatchet - Gary Paulsen

noreply@blogger.com (theduckthief) — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 01:04:00 +0000

“When he sat alone in the darkness and cried and was done, all done with it, nothing had changed. His leg still hurt, it was still dark, he was still alone and the self-pity had accomplished nothing.”

My first encounter with this book was in grade five when it was read to our class. At the time I found it rather long, boring and too descriptive. This summer though, I happened upon a free copy and decided to see if I still felt the same way. I loved revisiting this story, especially since I had forgotten so much that had happened.

I don’t know why I love survival stories. Perhaps it’s because it allows for man to be stripped down to his base instincts, to do without. I’m always fascinated by what people can do with less. And there’s always the ever dependable basic conflict of man versus nature and the more interesting, man versus himself. In ”Hatchet”, Brian Robeson, a thirteen year old travelling by bush plane to visit his father, survives a plane crash, leaving him alone in a forest. Faced with starvation and threats from weather and wild animals, Brian must look inward and find the strength to survive and escape the forest.

“You are your most valuable asset. Don’t forget that. You are the best thing you have.”

As a child listening to the story, I couldn’t fully comprehend what it would be like to face survival in the forest alone but as an adult Brian’s situation seems far more tenuous. He has limited supplies and more importantly, limited knowledge about wilderness survival. His most important ally though is his hatchet, a gift from his mother before his flight. The hatchet plays a key role in Brian’s survival and helps supply everything from a shelter to a fire to food prep, satisfying the most basic of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. I’ve often wondered if I would be able to survive in the wilderness, alone and with no access to civilization. As a child I was enrolled in Junior Forest Wardens which is basically a Canadian version of Scouts and while we received wilderness training that was many years ago and only basic training at that. What Brian accomplishes is far more impressive. Not only does he manage to keep a level head he makes good use of his time and faces challenges with an open mind. Not only is Brian confronted with the self-doubt of rescue, he also literally faces death in the guise of the dead pilot still trapped in the plane. He is a physical obstacle in the way of precious supplies and the tracking beacon but is also a psychological a fear Brian must confront if he wishes to escape.

Approaching this as an adult of course I have a different view of the story. I appreciated how Paulsen didn’t shy away from the possibly scarier and more gruesome aspects of a plane crash. It didn’t treat its audience like a child, instead, allowing the reader to experience a full range of emotions when it came to Brian’s situation. As well, I liked that nature’s indifference is on full display here. People are used to being surrounded and comforted by fellow human beings/society/cities. In the forest there are no safety nets; if you fail you die.

“Patience, he thought. So much of this was patience - waiting, and thinking and doing things right. So much of all this, so much of all living was patience and thinking.”

If you like survival stories then this is one you might want to look at. Written for young adults, I enjoyed revisiting this book and would recommend this book as a library loan.

Winter Quotes

noreply@blogger.com (theduckthief) — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 18:33:00 +0000

Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.

- Edith Sitwell

I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says “Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.

- Lewis Carroll

What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it swettness.

- John Steinbeck

Melancholy were the sounds on a winter’s night.

- Virginia Woolf

Surely everyone is aware of the divine pleasures which attend a wintry fireside; candles at four o’clock, warm hearthrugs, tea, a fair tea-maker, shutter closed, curtains flowing in ample draperies to the floor, whilst the wind and rain are raging audibly without.

- Thomas de Quincey

That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou seest the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thous see’st the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire
Consumed with that which it was nourish’d by.
This thou perceives, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which though must leave ere long.

- William Shakespeare

Nothing is a tedious as the limping days,
When snowdrifts yearly cover all the ways,
And ennui, sour fruit of incurious gloom,
Assumes control of fate’s immortal loom

- Charles Baudelaire

When the cold comes to New England it arrives in sheets of sleet and ice. In December, the wind wraps itself around bare trees and twists in between husbands and wives asleep in their beds. It shakes the shingles from the roof and sifts through cracks in the plaster. The only green things left are the holly bushes and the old boxwood hedges in the village, and these are often painted white with snow. Chipmunks and weasels come to nest in basements and barns; owls find their way into attics. At nights, the dark is blue and bluer still, as sapphire of night.

- Alice Hoffman

Are ye the ghost of fallen leaves, O flakes of snow, For which, through naked trees, the wind A-mourning go?

- John Banister Tabb

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer

- Albert Camus

In the bleak midwinter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow, In the bleak midwinter,
Long ago

- Christina Rossetti

There’s a certain Slant of light,
Winter Afternoons,
That oppresses, like the
weight of cathedral tunes

- Emily Dickinson

One kind word can warm three winter months

- Japanese proverb

O Winter! ruler of the inverted year,…
I crown thee king of initimate delights,
Fireside enjoyments, home-born happiness,
And all the comforts that the lowly roof
Of undistrub’d
Retirement, and the hours
Of long uninterrupted evening, know

- William Cowper

Blow, blow, thou winter wind
Thou art not so unkind,
As man’s ingratitude

- William Shakespeare

The Coolest Desk You Will Never Own!

noreply@blogger.com (theduckthief) — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 00:42:00 +0000

This site I occasionally frequent called Messy Nessy Chic and I found this awesome video!

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, is holding an exhibit called "Extravagant Inventions: The Princely Furniture of the Roentgens" and it showcases a lot of pieces created by the Roentgens who were apparently geniuses who made gorgeous pieces with all sort of hidden compartments.

This is an 18th century desk with all sorts of secret compartments. If you know me you know I love these sorts of things so I thought I would share these amazing pieces! I love how intricate and delicate they are, despite being these massive, hulking pieces of furniture.

"The Wind" (1928)

noreply@blogger.com (theduckthief) — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 21:18:00 +0000

“Injuns call this the ‘land o’ the winds’ – it never stops blowing here-“

Letty Mason, played by Lillian Gish, is traveling to stay on her cousin’s ranch is warned that the constant wind raging in the area will drive her to insanity. Destitute and out of options, Letty ignores this prophetic counsel, only to incur the wrath of her cousin’s wife. Driven out of the house by jealousy, Letty goes from one bad situation to another, finally settling on marriage to Lige, a man she neither knows nor loves in order to put a roof over her head. Her husband is not pleased to discover this, but has more important things to worry about, like the wind. Combine this fractious relationship with a ‘norther windstorm and an amorous stalker and you have a tension-filled ending replete with madness, death and a vast array of great visual effects.

The story was adapted from a book brought the attention of MGM by Lillian Gish herself. She was interested in adapting and got the go ahead from ‘boy wonder’ Irving Thalberg. She was also able to choose her director, Victor Sjostrom and her leading man, Lars Hanson. The film wasn’t without issues though. The wind scenes were shot in the Mojave Desert with the help of aircraft propellers. The propellers and the desert made for a somewhat miserable shoot. The propellers blew smoke, sand and hot air at the crew while they were operating, meaning everyone had to wear eye protection, bandanas, long sleeve shirts and grease paint. As for the desert, temperatures reached 120 degrees at their height, meaning the film stock had to be packed in ice to keep it from melting. And poor Gish scalded her hand when she touched a door handle it was so hot out.

Letty is a sweet if naïve girl. She’s kind but doesn’t understand how her actions affect other people. She befriends a man on her way to the ranch, unaware of his nefarious intentions, cozies up to her cousin, making his paranoid wife crazy and toys with the emotions of two men who want to marry her. Gish plays Letty as wide-eyed and vulnerable. As the wind begins to affect her psychologically, Gish shines, using her eyes, face and arms to full effect. This is especially evident in my favourite scene where Gish is staring out the window in horror, the insanity growing on her face and she realizes what she’s staring at. There were times I thought she was a little over dramatic with the arms and eyes but on the whole she did a superb job of conveying her emotions. I also wish that there had been more of a buildup to the madness caused by the wind but from the beginning Gish seemed to be afraid of it.

The wind itself is also a character, constantly harassing the characters, including Letty. It invades every space of their lives. You can see this when Old Sourdough tries to sweep up the sand tracked into Letty and Lige’s house, opening the door to throw it out, only to have the wind blow in a new mess of sand. Also, at some point Letty’s given up washing the dishes with water and switches to sand. This is a great visual and also a possible hint at her growing madness as she seems to do this rather absentmindedly. I did expect a little more in terms of transitions and the tension and conflict at the end is over rather quickly. After viewing this I wonder what a director like Hitchcock would have done with the material. As well, the ending is rather abrupt and doesn’t fit with the previous motivations and feelings Letty has when it comes to the wind. The film makes a 180 turn at the end. This was done at the insistence of the studio, essentially undercutting the buildup that had come before. I think sticking with the original ending would have had far more of a visual and emotional impact.

There are some amazing shots from this movie as well as special effects. There is a scene where Letty and Lige are pacing in separate rooms with the shot tightly focused on their feet. Their faces aren’t visible and yet we feel their emotions through their body language. I also enjoyed the scenes with Cora, the jealous wife. There’s one in particular where she’s cutting up a cow with a large knife, in contrast to Letty who’s playing with Cora’s children. You can see her anger and jealousy towards Letty build as she wipes the knife on her butcher’s apron and tries to embrace her own child. The child, repulsed by her bloody hands runs to Letty instead. Gish, who essentially carries the movie, also has a variety of good scenes in which the madness of the wind encroaches on her home, her person and then her mind. In terms of special effects, I loved the various shots of sand blowing against a window which had a very ethereal quality. There’s also a great shot of a tornado, headed straight for town as well as a ghost horse representing the spirit of the wind which haunts Gish’s character.

This is a movie I would definitely watch again and I would highly recommend it for those who love silent movies.

Frost Flowers

noreply@blogger.com (theduckthief) — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 19:41:00 +0000

I thought this post was most appropriate as we've just had the first real frost of the year. Yes I know that may seem strange but it's true. Things have been unseasonably warmish so far this winter. But today there was frost everywhere and there was a thin skimming of ice on the harbour as I walked to work. It's finally starting to feel like winter out there! The weather is sublime with bright sun and a cool blue sky which is a rare sight until after the spring rains.

Several months ago I discovered that frost can do some pretty amazing things when I stumbled upon frost flowers. They are very delicate and will break when touched and are usually only visible in early morning or in shaded areas as they will melt in sunlight. Aren't they pretty?

I've never seen one in person but I'd like to.

December's wintery breath is already clouding the pond, frosting the pane, obscuring summer's memory...
-John Geddes

It is growing cold. Winter is putting footsteps in the meadow. What whiteness boasts that sun that comes into this wood! One would say milk-colored maidens are dancing on the petals of orchids. How coldly burns our sun! One would say its rays are shards of snow, one imagines the sun lives upon a snow crested peak on this day. One would say she is a woman who wears a gown of winter frost that blinds the eyes. Helplessness has weakened me. Wandering has wearied my legs.
- Roman Payne

Scrutinizing Shakespeare

noreply@blogger.com (theduckthief) — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 18:52:00 +0000

One of the many things I want to work on this year is reading Shakespeare. Last year I fell in love with his work and decided I wanted to finish off my "Shakespeare a Month" challenge as well as look at some of his other work.

Below I've outlined his plays, poems, sonnets and apocrypha. I've also picked some films that have been recommended to me as well as books on Shakespeare. I don't have a timeline for this but I wanted to post it to remind me of what I want to accomplish this year.

Plays

The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1589-1591)
The Taming of the Shrew (1590-1594)
Henry VI Part 2 (1590-1594)
Henry VI Part 1 (1591)
Henry VI Part 3 (1591)
Titus Andronicus (1591-1592)
Richard III (1592-1593)
The Comedy of Errors (1594)
Love's Labour's Lost (1594-1595)
Love's Labour's Won (1595-1596)
Richard II (1595)
Romeo and Juliet (1595)

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595)
The Life and Death of King John (1596)
The Merchant of Venice (1596)
Henry IV, Part 1 (1596-1597)
Henry IV, Part 2 (1596-1597)
The Merry Wives of Windsor (1597-1598)
Much Ado About Nothing (1598-1599)
Henry V (1598-1599)
Julius Caesar (1599)
As You Like It (1599-1600)
Hamlet (1599-1601)
Twelfth Night (1601)
Troilus and Cressida (1602)
Measure for Measure (1603-1604)

Othello (1603-1604)
King Lear (1605-1606)
Timon of Athens (1605-1606)
Macbeth (1606)
Antony and Cleopatra (1606)
All's Well That Ends Well (1606-1607)
Pericles, Prince of Tyre (1607)
Coriolanus (1608)
The Winter's Tale (1609-1610)
Cymbeline (1610-1611)
The Tempest (1610-1611)
Cardenio (1612-1613)
Henry VIII, or All is True (1613)
The Two Noble Kinsman (1613)

Apocrypha

Sir John Oldcastle (1600)
Sir Thomas More (1603-1604)
The London Prodigal (1604)
A Yorkshire Tragedy (1605)

Poems

Venus and Adonis (1592-1593)
The Rape of Lucrece (1594)
The Phoenix and the Turtle (1601)
The Lover's Complaint (1609)
The Passionate Pilgrim (1609)

Sonnets

1-154

Films

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935)
Henry V (1944)
Macbeth (1948)
Hamlet (1948)
Othello (1952)
Julius Caesar (1953)

King Lear (1953)
Richard III (1955)
Forbidden Planet (1956)
Throne of Blood (1957)
Chimes at Midnight (1957)
West Side Story (1961)
The Taming of the Shrew (1967)
Romeo and Juliet (1968)
Macbeth (1971)
King Lear (1971)
Strange Brew (1983)
Ran (1985)
King Lear (1987)

Henry V (1989)
Hamlet (1990)
Prospero's Books (1991)
My Own Private Idaho (1992)
Much Ado About Nothing (1993)
The Lion King (1994)
Richard III (1995)
Romeo and Juliet (1996)
Hamlet (1996)
Twelfth Night (1996)
Titus (1999)
The Merchant of Venice (2004)
Hamlet (2009)

Books on Shakespeare

Shakespeare: The World as Stage - Bill Bryson
In Search of Shakespeare - Michael Wood
Contested Will: Who Wrotes Shakespeare? - James Shapiro
Tales from Shakespeare - Charles and Mary Lamb
Shakespearean Tragedy - AC Bradley
Will in the World: How Shakespeare became Shakespeare - Stephen Greenblatt
Shakespeare - Anthony Burgess
Ungentle Shakespeare - Katherine Duncan-Jones

101 Book Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (theduckthief) — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 18:59:00 +0000

I've run this challenge for a number of years and I cross off books an an inexorably slow pace. The idea for this challenge is to paste the list onto your own blog or print it out and tack it to your wall. How many have you read? Leave a comment and compare your progress.

The books in bold books (the ones I've read) have been read in their entirety. I'm currently standing at 26/101, an awful score. I challenge any of you to claim you've read fewer.

Happy Reading!

1. Beowulf
2. Achebe, Chinua - Things Fall Apart
3. Agee, James - A Death in the Family
4. Austen, Jane - Pride and Prejudice
5. Baldwin, James - Go Tell It on the Mountain
6. Beckett, Samuel - Waiting for Godot
7. Bellow, Saul - The Adventures of Augie March
8. Bronte, Charlotte - Jane Eyre
9. Bronte, Emily - Wuthering Heights
10. Camus, Albert - The Stranger
11. Cather, Willa - Death Comes for the Archbishop
12. Chaucer, Geoffrey - The Canterbury Tales
13. Chekhov, Anton - The Cherry Orchard
14. Chopin, Kate - The Awakening
15. Conrad, Joseph - Heart of Darkness
16. Cooper, James Fenimore - The Last of the Mohicans
17. Crane, Stephen - The Red Badge of Courage
18. Dante - Inferno
19. Cervantes, Miguel - Don Quixote
20. Defoe, Daniel - Robinson Crusoe
21. Dickens, Charles - A Tale of Two Cities
22. Dostoyevsky, Fyodor - Crime and Punishment
23. Douglass, Frederick - Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
24. Dreiser, Theodore - An American Tragedy
25. Dumas, Alexandre - The Three Musketeers
26. Eliot, George - The Mill on the Floss
27. Ellison, Ralph Waldo - Invisible Man
28. Emerson, Ralph Waldo - Selected Essays
29. Faulkner, William - As I Lay Dying
30. Faulkner, William - The Sound and the Fury
31. Fielding, Henry - Tom Jones
32. Fitzgerald, F. Scott - The Great Gatsby
33. Flaubert, Gustave - Madame Bovary
34. Ford, Ford Madox - The Good Soldier
35. Goethe, Johann Wolfgang - Faust
36. Golding, William - Lord of the Flies
37. Hardy, Thomas - Tess of the d'Urbervilles
38. Hawthorne, Nathaniel - The Scarlet Letter
39. Heller, Joseph - Catch 22
40. Hemingway, Ernest - A Farewell to Arms
41. Homer - The Iliad
42. Homer - The Odyssey
43. Hugo, Victor - The Hunchback of Notre Dame
44. Hurston, Zora Neale - Their Eyes Were Watching God
45. Huxley, Aldous - Brave New World
46. Ibsen, Henrik - A Doll's House
47. James, Henry - The Portrait of a Lady
48. James, Henry - The Turn of the Screw
49. Joyce, James - A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
50. Kafka, Franz - The Metamorphosis
51. Kingston, Maxine Hong - The Woman Warrior
52. Lee, Harper - To Kill a Mockingbird
53. Lewis, Sinclair - Babbitt
54. London, Jack - The Call of the Wild
55. Mann, Thomas - The Magic Mountain
56. Marquez, Gabriel Garcia - One Hundred Years of Solitude
57. Melville, Herman - Bartleby the Scrivener
58. Melville, Herman - Moby Dick
59. Miller, Arthur - The Crucible
60. Morrison, Toni - Beloved
61. O'Connor, Flannery - A Good Man is Hard to Find
62. O'Neill, Eugene - Long Day's Journey into Night
63. Orwell, George - Animal Farm
64. Pasternak, Boris - Doctor Zhivago
65. Plath, Sylvia - The Bell Jar
66. Poe, Edgar Allan - Selected Tales
67. Proust, Marcel - Swann's Way
68. Pynchon, Thomas - The Crying of Lot 49
69. Remarque, Erich Maria - All Quiet on the Western Front
70. Rostand, Edmond - Cyrano de Bergerac
71. Roth, Henry - Call It Sleep
72. Salinger, J.D. - The Catcher in the Rye
73. Shakespeare, William - Hamlet
74. Shakespeare, William - Macbeth
75. Shakespeare, William - A Midsummer Night's Dream
76. Shakespeare, William - Romeo and Juliet
77. Shaw, George Bernard - Pygmalion
78. Shelley, Mary - Frankenstein
79. Silko, Leslie Marmon - Ceremony
80. Solzhenitsyn, Alexander - One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
81. Sophocles - Antigone
82. Sophocles - Oedipus Rex
83. Steinbeck, John - The Grapes of Wrath
84. Stevenson, Robert Louis - Treasure Island
85. Stowe, Harriet Beecher - Uncle Tom's Cabin
86. Swift, Jonathan - Gulliver's Travels
87. Thackeray, William - Vanity Fair
88. Thoreau, Henry David - Walden
89. Tolstoy, Leo - War and Peace
90. Turgenev, Ivan - Fathers and Sons
91. Twain, Mark - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
92. Voltaire - Candide
93. Vonnegut, Kurt Jr. - Slaughterhouse-Five
94. Walker, Alice - The Color Purple
95. Wharton, Edith - The House of Mirth
96. Welty, Eudora - Collected Stories
97. Whitman, Walt - Leaves of Grass
98. Wilde, Oscar - The Picture of Dorian Gray
99. Williams, Tennessee - The Glass Menagerie.
100. Woolf, Virginia - To the Lighthouse
101. Wright, Richard - Native Son

Poonikins the Magic Warrior Princess

noreply@blogger.com (theduckthief) — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 18:33:00 +0000

And now for your daily allotted dose of derpyness!

I found this before the new year and have been busting to share. It is the weirdest and funniest thing I've come across in a while. I had a good laugh and I hope you do too. The best bit is definitely the part with the motorcycle.