Lunar Power: Solar Spheres Energized by Both Sun & Moon

This makes my brain so happy!!!!!

 

Magnifying light by a factor of 10,000, this liquid-filled, sun-tracking, energy-harvesting glass sphere is so powerful that it can not only harvest solar rays directly but is even able to draw power from reflected lunar light. Its high efficiency comes from the motion of its panning capture apparatus as well as the nearly-lossless concentration of thermal energy.

 

André Broessel is the European architect and engineer behind this weatherproof energy harvesting system that turns light into heat. It is in many regards more robust, efficient and versatile than traditional photovalics, concentrating available light sources and multiplying their thermal effect (click to enlarge the diagram below for a better understanding of the basic system).

 

 

Made to be mounted on buildings individually or in arrays, a computerized control system passively tracks available illumination in the day, but can also follow and be fueled by moonlight.
 

The balls can work both to generate power and as replacements to traditional window apertures, creating a wide variety of potential hybrid architectural applications as well.

Here is a link to a lovely little Vimeo vid on the subject as well;
http://vimeo.com/82017460

 Article by Urbanist, filed under Gadgets & Geekery in the Technology category.

Eartha Kitt - Santa Baby

 

 

 08 Aug 1963, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA . These Hollywood stars were among a group of film personalities who held a meeting here August 7th to discuss plans for joining the civil rights march to be staged in Washington August 8.  Left to right are Charlton Heston, Judy Garland, Eartha Kitt and Marlon Brando. --- Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

Keita Morimoto

 


 
Girl with Pink Hair, 2014, oil on panel, 24 x 18 inches

  
Girl with Red Hood, 2014, oil on panel, 7 x 5 inches

  
Lime, 2012, oil on panel, 11 x 9 inches

  
Study of Green Yellow, 2012, oil on panel, 20 x 16 inches

  
Maze I, 2010, oil on canvas, 48 x 36 inches

  
 Maze III, 2011, oil on canvas, 18 x 14 inches

  
Maze IV, 2011, oil on canvas, 72 x 36 inches



Via/ http://keitamorimoto.com/

King Of The World

'MAN' by Steve Cutts 2012

Audrey Hepburn

 

 

The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mode but the true beauty of a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows. The beauty of a woman grows with the passing of years.

Audrey Hepburn

Public Access Television

de·lu·sion

dəˈlo͞oZHən/

noun

an idiosyncratic belief or impression that is firmly maintained despite being contradicted by what is generally accepted as reality or rational argument, typically a symptom of mental disorder.

Yes, public access television was glorious- often awful, but equally brilliant in that it offered equal access to one and all. I never saw this particular clip when it originally aired, but I thank whoever had the presence of mind to record it. I have fond memories of my friends and I laughing until we cried as we watched unedited train-wreck after train-wreck.

Now if I could only find footage of the white trash cooking show that included Cool-Whip and Jello in all of their recipes; 'Yer little ones will never know they's eatin' carrots!'

Good times...

The Graduate (1967) - SEDUCED

The IMDB trivia on this iconic film is a wonderful read.

RIP  Mike Nichols

The Graduate (1967)

In Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft's first encounter in the hotel room, Bancroft did not know that Hoffman was going to grab her breast. Hoffman decided off-screen to do it, because it reminded him of schoolboys trying to nonchalantly grab girls' breasts in the hall by pretending to put their jackets on. When Hoffman did it onscreen, director Mike Nichols began laughing loudly off-screen. Hoffman began to laugh as well, so rather than stop the scene, he turned away from the camera and walked to the wall. Hoffman banged his head on the wall, trying to stop laughing, and Nichols thought it was so funny, he left it in.

When Dustin Hoffman showed up at Joseph E. Levine's office for a casting interview, the producer mistook him for a window cleaner, so Hoffman, in character, cleaned a window.

Two interesting camera techniques are used in the film. In the scene where Benjamin is running, he is shown at some distance running straight at the camera, an effect which makes him look as if he getting nowhere as he's running. (This technique is accomplished with a very long telephoto lens, which foreshortens distances in relation to the camera.) In another scene, Benjamin is walking from the right side of the screen to the left, while everyone else in the scene is moving from left to right. In western culture, things that move left to right seem natural (think of the direction you read words on a page), those that move right to left seem to be going the wrong way. These two visual techniques echo the themes of the film, Benjamin is going the wrong way, and getting nowhere in life.

Apparently, Dustin Hoffman's screen test consisted of him fumbling his lines and awkwardly trying to grab Katharine Ross's behind, which angered her. As he left thinking he didn't get the role, his awkwardness was just what director Mike Nichols needed for Benjamin Braddock.

When Elaine tracks down Ben in his gloomy room and he causes her to scream, a number of other tenants gather behind the landlord in the doorway. One says, "Shall I get the cops? I'll get the cops..." It's Richard Dreyfuss.

In the famous promotional still for this film, Dustin Hoffman is seen in the background framed by Mrs. Robinson's shapely leg. The leg in that photo didn't belong to Anne Bancroft, however; it belonged to a then-unknown model, Linda Gray, who later played Mrs. Robinson in a London stage musical of The Graduate.

None of the older characters has their first name identified in the film; only the younger characters of Benjamin, Elaine and Carl do, increasing the sense of a generation gap.

Although Mrs. Robinson is supposed to be much older than Benjamin, Anne Bancroft and Dustin Hoffman are just under six years apart in age. He looked naturally boyish, and she was made up to look older. For the same reason, Bancroft was only 8 years older than her "daughter" Katharine Ross, William Daniels (Mr. Braddock) only 10 years older than his "son" Hoffman.

Robert Redford screen-tested with Candice Bergen for the part of Benjamin Braddock but was finally rejected by director Mike Nichols because Nichols did not believe Redford could persuasively project the underdog qualities necessary to the role. When he told this to Redford, the actor asked Nichols what he meant. "Well, let's put it this way," said Nichols, "Have you ever struck out with a girl?" "What do you mean?" asked Redford. "That's precisely my point," said Nichols.

Judy Garland was considered for the role of Mrs. Robinson

This movie marked the first time a director was paid a flat salary (not including points) of $1,000,000.00.

In the novel, Ben interrupted the wedding before Elaine said I do. However, Mike Nichols decided to have Ben arrive after Elaine had gotten married.

Dustin Hoffman was already set to play a role in Mel Brooks The Producers (1967) when the opportunity to audition for "The Graduate" came up. Deferentially, Hoffman asked Brooks' permission to audition for the part in the other film. Through his wife, Anne Bancroft, (already cast) Brooks was familiar with the story of "The Graduate". He allowed Hoffman to audition, blithely confident he'd be found unsuitable for role of Mrs. Robinson's lover.

Jack Nicholson was considered for the part of Benjamin Braddock.

Paul Simon wrote two songs for the film that director Mike Nichols rejected: "Punky's Dilemma" and "A Hazy Shade of Winter". Both appear on the Simon and Garfunkel "Bookends" album. The song "Mrs. Robinson" was not written for the movie; it was the working title of a song Simon was then writing (originally called "Mrs. Roosvelt", and about Eleanor Roosevelt) and Nichols decided to include it. Simon and Art Garfunkel only sing the chorus but none of the verses of the later hit song. Additionally, the chorus portion sung contains some lyrics not featured in the more popular "final" version of the song.

The movie's line "Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me. Aren't you?" was voted as the #63 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100), as the #5 of Premiere's "100 Greatest Movie Lines" (2007).

Ronald Reagan was considered for the role of Mr. Braddock.

According to Dustin Hoffman at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts Graduation 2003, his friend and former roommate Gene Hackman was cast as Mr. Robinson but was fired after a few weeks of work.

Mike Nichols initially wanted French actress Jeanne Moreau to play Mrs. Robinson. The idea behind this was that in the French culture, the "older" women tended to "train" the younger men in sexual matters. The producers for the movie, Joseph E. Levine and Lawrence Turman, were completely opposed to the idea. Mike Nichols was even more set on having Simon and Garfunkel do the integrated soundtrack for the film. Nichols agreed to switch actresses for Mrs. Robinson as long as he could still use Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel.

Sources vary on precisely what the truth is about the possibility of Doris Day playing Mrs. Robinson. One rumor says the property was acquired with her in mind as Mrs. Robinson, and producer Lawrence Turman sent the novel to her manager/husband, Martin Melcher, wanting to know their opinion of Day in the role, but Melcher was so disgusted by the thought that he refused to even mention it to her. Doris Day wrote in her 1975 memoir, which is probably more accurate, that she was actually offered the role, but "I could not see myself rolling around in the sheets with a young man half my age whom I'd seduced".

Patty Duke was offered the part of Elaine Robinson, but turned it down because she did not want to work at the time.

Sally Field tested for the role of Elaine.

Other actresses considered for the part of Elaine were Natalie Wood (who turned it down) and Candice Bergen (who auditioned but did not get the part).

Mike Nichols realized one reason why he had so much difficulty casting for Benjamin Braddock when he read the Mad Magazine parody of his film. One of the jokes was Benjamin asking his parents why he was Jewish and they were not, and Nichols, who is Jewish himself, realized that his film had an subconsciously autobiographical element about being an ethnic outsider in a privileged WASPish society.

In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #17 Greatest Movie of All Time.

Within a year of the movie's release, plastic manufacturing companies became enormously successful. Many people attribute this to Walter Brooke's quote about "plastics". Brooke himself once told his nephew that he would have invested in plastics, if he had known that the remark would lead to such success.

Charles Grodin was asked to audition as Benjamin, but was never screen tested. Mike Nichols still offered him a part in Catch-22 (1970), which he was already scheduled to direct.

Mike Nichols approached Ava Gardner for the role of Mrs. Robinson.

According to Susan Hayward's biographers, Mike Nichols originally wanted her for the role of Mrs Robinson but she declined because she wanted to avoid modifying her screen image. After Doris Day and Patricia Neal also turned it down Nichols eventually offered it to Anne Bancroft.

Burt Ward had to turn down the role of Benjamin Braddock due to his commitment to Batman (1966) and the studio (20th Century Fox) wouldn't lend him.

The red, Italian sports car which Benjamin drives throughout the movie is a 1966 Alfa Romeo Spider 1600 also known as the Duetto.

Although Calder Willingham and Buck Henry share screen writing credit, Buck Henry wrote the shooting version of the screenplay without assistance, and Henry was not even aware of Willingham's draft. Henry was the fourth screenwriter asked to try to adapt Charles Webb's novel, however, and Willingham filed a challenge with the Writer's Guild for screen credit after the movie was completed. Because Webb's novel consists of large passages of dialogue, and both writers lifted various lines that appeared in each version, Willingham's challenge was successful.

Some of the scenes of Benjamin in "Berkeley" were actually filmed at the UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) and USC (University of Southern California).

The movie is full of womb imagery. From Benjamin's constant desire to stay immersed in his parent's swimming pool, to the slow close-up shot of the hips of Katherine's roommate as she brings the "Dear John" letter to Benjamin, to returning to the actual womb of the elder and maternal Mrs. Robinson.

At the AFI tribute to Mike Nichols, Dustin Hoffman recounted that when he was first called to discuss auditioning for the role of Benjamin, he told Nichols that he thought he was being made fun of a little, considering how "wrong" he seemed for the character described in the source novel. "'It [the book] says he's five-foot-eleven or something, and he's a track star, and he's head of the debating club, and he's from Boston or something, he's a WASP, and I... it feels like this is a dirty trick, sir.' And in his inimitable way, he says, 'You mean, you're Jewish'. And I said, 'Yes'. 'And that's why you don't think you're right.' I said, 'Yes'. And he said, 'Well maybe he's Jewish inside'. And I then got the part, after a screen test."

Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft were the not quickly chosen for the leads of this film. Warren Beatty was originally going to be the lead, but after he did not get the role, Robert Redford was selected. Patricia Neal was considered, but reportedly declined because she was uneasy about playing a lead role so soon after having a stroke.

Geraldine Page, Deborah Kerr, Lana Turner, Rita Hayworth, Shelley Winters, Eva Marie Saint and Ingrid Bergman were considered for the role of Mrs. Robinson.

Marion Lorne's final feature film.

The movie's line "Plastics." was voted as the #42 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100). 

 

Mike Farrell's movie debut.

Steve McQueen, George Peppard, George Hamilton, Anthony Perkins, Keir Dullea, Lee Stanley, Brandon De Wilde and Michael Parks were considered for the role of Ben Braddock.

Ann-Margret, Jane Fonda, Tuesday Weld, Carroll Baker, Sue Lyon, Lee Remick, Suzanne Pleshette, Carol Lynley, Elizabeth Ashley, Yvette Mimieux, Pamela Tiffin and Hayley Mills were considered for the role of Elaine Robinson.

Grayson Hall was considered for the role of Mrs. Robinson.

The name plate on the hotel desk reads "Mr. Kranze". Don Kranze was the film's assistant director.

One version of the song Macarena by Los del Río samples one of Bancroft's lines ("I am not trying to seduce you!").

The leg in the poster for "The Graduate" belongs to Linda Gray.

Lee Stanley screen tested for the role of Benjamin and was seriously considered for the part.

The model frogman in the aquarium is toppled over when Mrs. Robinson tosses in the keys.

On Inside the Actors Studio (1994), director Mike Nichols claims that the final "sobering" emotion that Benjamin and Elaine go through was due to the fact that he had just been shouting at the two of them to laugh in the scene. The actors were so scared that after laughing they stopped, scared. Nichols liked it so much, he kept it.

When Benjamin is shown banging on the church window with his arms raised and extended, many reviewers felt he was portrayed as a Christ-like image. In actuality, this was a compromise with the minister of the church. The minister had threatened to throw everyone out when the scene was rehearsed with Benjamin pounding his fists on the fragile window, which had been a gift to the church.

Via/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061722/trivia

Maria Callas at Covent Garden April 11, 1962

Gregory Thielker

If I am ever lucky enough to be a passenger while traveling in a car on a rainy day (I somehow always end up driving...) it will be a very quiet journey. I will be silent and spellbound by the changing shapes of the wet world and tail lights distorted by the sheeting water on the windows of the car. I will be savoring the warmth and dryness of my vantage point, but for the most part, lost in a limbo of speculation as I mentally flip through the pages of my life wondering if I will ever land on the right page.



Until now  2010  oil on linen  36 x 48 inches

 
 Complete Stop  2008  oil on canvas  36 x 48 inches

  Vortex  2008  oil on canvas  48 x 68 inches

  Above and below  2008  oil on panel  24 x 24 inches


Reasonable doubt  2008  oil on panel  24 x 24 inches

  Trace  2008  oil on panel  11 x 14 inches

 
Division  2008  oil on panel  11 x 14 inches

 
 Under Mountain Road  2007  oil on canvas  36 x 48 inches
 
McGrath Highway  2006  oil on canvas  36 x 48 inches

  Low road  2006  oil on canvas  36 x 48 inches

  Suspension  2007  oil on canvas  30 x 40 inches

  Route 7  2006  oil on canvas  36 x 48 inches

  Cash only  2005  oil on canvas  30 x 48 inches

  Logan ramp  2005  oil on canvas  22 x 24 inches

From the artist;

UNDER THE UNMINDING SKY

These paintings reflect my interest in the way that the road delineates and controls how we experience landscape. From the roadway perspective, we not only travel from one place to another, we see landscape in a varied and complex manner. I use water on the windshield to create a shifting lens for the way we see the environment: it both highlights and obscures our viewing. Perspectives slip and compress, while shapes and colors merge into one another. I also work with relationships between surface and depth, between flatness and illusion. These images are born out of real experience and have a close relationship with the medium of painting: its fluidity, transparency, and capacity for layering, mixing, and blending.

Via; http://www.gregorythielker.com

Railroad Gandydancers

Columbia, SC (April 18, 1929) -- Courtesy of the USC Newsfilm Library - Railroad Gandydancers construction on the world's largest earthen dam. Sandwiched in between shots of steam shovels and industrial cranes is this crew of African-American railroad gandydancers repairing and moving large sections of railroad track to the intricate raps and rhythms of an expert caller.

So. Much. Beauty.


Link courtesy of Greenpa- https://www.blogger.com/profile/17224906349154302210

Dear Mr. Adorable,

 Photo;Shandra Beri

 On this day (perhaps every day...), you have dressed solely for your own comfort and pleasure and you look amazing! Well worn western snap front chambray shirt tucked into black, red and white plaid cargo dickies (where did you even find those?!), black dress crew socks worn 'homie style' (you switched it up from the ubiquitous white athletic crew- good job with that twist!), black work boots (at first I thought they were Cat's, but upon closer inspection I do believe they are simply some beloved, functional, well-worn Brogan's that have served you well) and topped it all off with a bright red web belt (that hold up your pants AND your tape measure!), eye glasses on a neoprene tether and (best of all...) a confident, warm smile.

Keep up the good work, Mr. Adorable!

Back When I Was A Baby...

...my friend Pete and I had a band. We called it, 'In Vitro'. So. Much. Fun.

These are potato quality videos of that moment in time. Pete miraculously fished them out of the archives, transferred them from analogue to digital and sent them along (thank you, beloved friend!).

As ever, the tumescent, unbroken, incontestable armor of flaming youth made us blind to fear. We created accidental perfection from our incomplete understanding of the world and found ourselves soaring on a thermal of undiluted will when we attempted to fly.

Here's to running head-first toward whatever moves you. Cheers...