Month: March 2018

Spark

Artist Unknown, “Spark – 180126”, Computer Graphics, Endless Loop Gif

“Finally, the last point that can kill your spark is Isolation. As you grow older you will realize you are unique. When you are little, all kids want Ice cream and Spiderman. As you grow older to college, you still are a lot like your friends. But ten years later and you realize you are unique. What you want, what you believe in, what makes you feel, may be different from even the people closest to you. This can create conflict as your goals may not match with others. And you may drop some of them. Basketball captains in college invariably stop playing basketball by the time they have their second child. They give up something that meant so much to them. They do it for their family. But in doing that, the spark dies. Never, ever make that compromise. Love yourself first, and then others.”

― Chetan Bhagat

 

Bridget McCrum

Bridget McCrum, “Mars”, Date Unknown, Charcoal, Acrylic and Gesso on Canvas, 102 x 150 cm

Bridget McCrum is an English artist known for her stone carvings. She studied at Farnham College of Art, training as a painter with Lesjek Musjynski, in the 1950s. She came to sculpture in her forties and from 1980 began to work primarily in stone, having learned her craft from John Joeku and Andrea Schulewitz on the South Downs.

“Since childhood I have been excited by ancient remains, fragments of carving and standing stones in lonely landscapes. My travels have taken me to many sites from different cultures around the Mediterranean, and the chance to work on archaeological surveys in Somalia during the early eighties increased my interest in small objects from the past.

The landscape around my two homes has inevitably worked itself into my head. The gentle curves of the hills of South Devon and the stark limestone cliffs carved by wind and sea on Gozo, have all subconsciously influenced my carving. I look down on birds circling and gliding above their prey from my home high above the Dart estuary. They make marvellously abstracted subjects and I have carved them ever since I have been here. Some have been cast into bronze which I patinate myself.” – Bridget McCrum

Calendar: March 11

Year: Day to Day Men: March 11

Juxtaposition

The eleventh of March in 1887 marks the birth date of Raoul Walsh, an American film director, actor, and founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 

Born Albert Edward Walsh in New York, Raoul Walsh studied at Seton Hall College, a private Roman Catholic research university in New Jersey. In 1909, he began an acting career in New York City theaters. Walsh became an assistant to film director David Wark Griffith in 1914. He acted in his first full-length feature film, D.W. Griffith’s 1914 silent drama “The Life of General Villa”. Shot on location in Mexico, the film starred Pancho Villa as himself in actual as well as recreated filmed battles; Walsh played the role of Villa as a younger man.

In 1915, Walsh served as assistant director on D.W. Griffith’s silent epic “The Birth of a Nation”, the first non-serial American twelve-reel film ever made. In the film, he had the role of John Wilkes Booth, the stage actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theater. Walsh and Carl Harbaugh created the screenplay for Walsh’s  directorial debut from an adaptation of Owen Kildare’s 1903 memoir “My Mamie Rose”. This critically acclaimed 1915 silent drama “Regeneration”, shot on location in Manhattan’s Bowery district, was the first full-length feature gangster film. 

After his service in the United States Army during World War I, Raoul Walsh directed United Artist’s 1924 silent “The Thief of Bagdad” which starred and was produced by Douglas Fairbanks. One of the most expensive films of the 1920s, the film was lavishly staged on a Hollywood studio set and contained state of the art special effects. In 1926, Walsh directed “What Price Glory?”, a synchronized sound film with a music score and sound effects, that starred Dolores del Rio and Victor McLaglen. 

Walsh directed the 1928 “Sadie Thompson”, which starred Gloria Swanson, and appeared in the role of Swanson’s boyfriend; this was his first acting role since 1915 and his last as well. While directing and acting in the 1928 western “In Old Arizona”, Walsh was in a car crash that resulted in the loss of his right eye; he would wear an eye patch for the rest of his life. Walsh directed his first widescreen film for Fox Studios in 1930, the epic wagon train western “The Big Trail” which starred the then unknown John Wayne, a former prop man. In 1933, he directed “The Bowery”, a historic drama of residents in New York’s Bowery district during the 1890s. The first film produced by Twentieth Century Pictures, it starred Wallace Beery, George Raft, Fay Wray, and child actor Jackie Cooper.

After an undistinguished period with Paramount Pictures, Raoul Walsh’s career soared with his work at Warner Brothers from 1939 to the end of his contract in 1953. During this period, he directed many of the major studio stars in Hollywood. Among his films were the 1939 “Roaring Twenties” with James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart; the 1940 crime western “Dark Command”, made under Republic Pictures, with Claire Trevor, John Wayne, Walter Pidgeon and Roy Rogers; the 1941 “High Sierra” with Bogart and Ida Lupino: the 1941 “Manpower” with Edward G. Robinson, George Raft and Marlene Dietrich; and the 1949 “White Heat” with James Cagney.

Walsh made his last films as a freelancer for five different studios. Among these were the 1952 “Blackbeard the Pirate” with Robert Newton in the lead role; the 1953 “The Lawless Breed” with Rock Hudson in an early starring role as gunman John Wesley Hardin; the 1958 “The Naked and the Dead”, an adaptation of Norman Mailer’s World War II novel; and Walsh’s first Cinemascope production, the 1955 “Battle Cry” starring Tab Hunter, Aldo Ray and Hugh Van Heflin with a screenplay by author Leon Uris. 

By the early 1960s, Raoul Walsh was suffering from physical difficulties, most notably fading sight in his good eye. He retired from the film industry in 1964. Walsh died from a heart attack on the last day of December in 1980 in Palm Springs, California at the age of ninety-three. His legacy of sixty-nine sound pictures as well as the many earlier silent films remains among the most-impressive bodies of work submitted by any Hollywood director.

Calendar: March 10

Year: Day to Day Men: March 10

Tiny Bubbles

The tenth of March in the year 1831 marks the creation of the French Foreign Legion, a corps of the French Army that consists of infantry, cavalry, engineers and airborne troops. Unique in that it is open to foreign recruits willing to serve in the French Army, its training currently focuses on traditional military skills as well as its strong esprit de corps.

Created by King Louis Philippe of France, the French Foreign Legion allowed foreign nationals into the French Army from the foreign regiments of the Kingdom of France. These recruits included soldiers from the disbanded German and Swiss foreign regiments of the Bourbon monarchy that was overthrown in 1830 during the reign of Louis XVI. Philippe’s Royal Ordinance specified that recruited foreigners could only serve outside France.

During the nineteenth-century, the French Foreign Legion was primarily used to protect and expand the French colonial empire. Initially stationed in Algeria with detachments from the French port city of Toulon, the Legion took part in the pacification and development of that colony. It was later deployed in a number of conflicts, including the Crimean War in 1854, the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 and the Second Madagascar expedition of 1895. The Foreign Legion fought in many critical battles on the Western Front in World War I and took part in the Norwegian, Syrian and North African campaigns of World War II. 

By the middle of the 1960s, the Foreign Legion was no longer stationed in French Algeria after the country’s independence in July of 1962. President Charles de Gaulle originally considered totally disbanding the Legion; however after considering its performance over the years, he chose instead to downsize the Legion from forty thousand to eight thousand men that would be relocated to France’s metropolitan regions. Legion units continued to be assigned overseas but no longer to North Africa. 

Besides ongoing global rapid deployments, the Foreign Legion stationed forces on various continents while operating different function units. From 1965 to 1967, the Legion operated several companies, which included the 5th Heavy Weight Transport Company. Ongoing operations and rapid deployments in the following years included, among others, peacekeeping operations around the Mediterranean during the Global War on Terror; peacekeeping along with the United Nations Multinational Force during the Lebanese Civil War; and the 1990 Gulf War where a Legion force made up of twenty-seven different nationalities was attached to the French 6th Light Armored Division. After the ceasefire, the Legion conducted a joint mine clearing operation with the Royal Australian Navy divers.

As of 2021, French Foreign Legion members are composed from one hundred-forty countries. In the past, new recruits enlisted under a pseudonym in order to allow recruits who wanted to restart their lives to enlist without prejudice. As of September of 2010, new recruits have the option of enlisting under their real name or a declared name that, after a year, may be changed to their real name. After serving in the Foreign Legion for three years, a legionnaire may apply for French citizenship. He must be serving under his real name, have no issues with the authorities, and must have served with honor and fidelity. Women, who had been barred from service previously, were admitted after 2000.  

By the River’s Side

Photographer Unknown, (By the River’s Side )

“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world’s great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.
I am haunted by waters.”
― Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It

The Zoetrope: Jumping Frogs

The Zoetrope: Jumping Frogs

“Jumping Frogs”  is a three dimensional carousel from the 2018 Kickstarter company in England called 4-Mation. This is one of four models available. It’s powered by 24 3Watt RGB LED strobes, precision timed by a microcontroller linked to an encoder motor. RPM(Strobe-rate), brightness, colour are all controlled from a phone app. The Android app (4-Mation) is already in the play store, iPhone app is in progress.

The Stately Tree

Photographer Unknown, (The Stately Tree)

“For me, trees have always been the most penetrating preachers. I revere them when they live in tribes and families, in forests and groves. And even more I revere them when they stand alone. They are like lonely persons. Not like hermits who have stolen away out of some weakness, but like great, solitary men, like Beethoven and Nietzsche. In their highest boughs the world rustles, their roots rest in infinity; but they do not lose themselves there, they struggle with all the force of their lives for one thing only: to fulfil themselves according to their own laws, to build up their own form, to represent themselves. Nothing is holier, nothing is more exemplary than a beautiful, strong tree. When a tree is cut down and reveals its naked death-wound to the sun, one can read its whole history in the luminous, inscribed disk of its trunk: in the rings of its years, its scars, all the struggle, all the suffering, all the sickness, all the happiness and prosperity stand truly written, the narrow years and the luxurious years, the attacks withstood, the storms endured. And every young farmboy knows that the hardest and noblest wood has the narrowest rings, that high on the mountains and in continuing danger the most indestructible, the strongest, the ideal trees grow.”

― Herman Hesse, Bäume, Betrachtungen und Gedichte

Calendar: March 9

Year: Day to Day Men: March 9

The Cross Bearer

The ninth of March in 1940 marks the birth date of actor Raúl Rafael Carlos Juliá y Arcelay known for his intense and varied roles on stage and screen. For each of his film roles, Raúl Julia did extensive character research to familiarize himself with their experiences and ideologies. During his life, he did charitable work mostly focused on at-risk youth, the Latin-American community and the arts.

Born in a suburb of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Raúl Julia attended a private Catholic school in Hato Rey. He later attended Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola where. interested in the works of Shakespeare, he organized and performed in plays of “Julius Caesar”, “Hamlet’, “King Lear”, and “The Tempest’. Julia studied for a year at New York City’s Fordham University before attending the University of Puerto Rico where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree. Although his parents wanted him to have a career in law, Julie chose acting as full-time career.

In Puerto Rico, Julia performed in several Shakespearean plays including “Macbeth” and “Othello” at San Juan’s theaters. He was subsequently recruited by actress and comedian Lillian Hurst to perform alongside her. During one of their performances, Julia was noticed by actor Orson Bean who suggested he continue his acting career in New York City. After working a variety of odd jobs in Manhattan, he sought work in both Broadway and off-Broadway productions. 

After receiving his Actors Equity card, Raúl Julia was able to get a role in the production of “Bye Bye Birdie”. In September of 1968 after four auditions, he debuted in his first Broadway production as the character Chan in “The Cuban Thing”. In the following two years, Julia appeared in playwright Arthur Kopit’s 1969 production “Indians” and Mel Arrighi’s 1970 “The Castro Complex”. Julia also worked in the medium of television in the early 1970s as Rafael the Fix-It Man, a recurring role in the third season of “Sesame Street”. 

Julia performed in several major theatrical productions during the 1970s. For his role of Proteus in the 1971 rock musical “Two Gentlemen of Verona”. he was nominated for a Tony Award and won the 1972 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance. In 1974, Julia received his second Tony Award nomination for his role of Charley Wykeham in the 1974 Broadway revival of “Where’s Charley”. In 1976, he was nominated a third time for his role of Mack the Knife in “The Threepenny Opera”. From late October of 1978 to June of 1979, Julia played the role of Count Dracula in the Broadway revival of “Dracula” with Edward Gorey’s stage sets.

 Raúl Julia’s film career began with roles in three films during the early 1970s: the crime thriller “The Organization”; the drama  “The Panic in Needle Park”, his first feature film; and the film adaption of Richard Fariña’s novel “Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me”. The most notable of Julia’s film work at this time was his role of prison inmate Valentin Arregui, played opposite William Hurt as Luis Molina, in the 1985 drama “Kiss of the Spider Woman”. To understand his role, Julia traveled to South America where he interviewed rebels and ex-prisoners to familiarize himself with their experiences. He was nominated for the Golden Globe Award and won, along with William Hurt, the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Award for Best Actor.

In addition to being a distinguished actor in numerous film, television and theater productions, Julia continued the charitable work that had been done by his parents. Concerned about the rising levels of violence among teenagers, he sponsored screenwriting programs and supported young actors. Julia was constantly involved with the Latin American community and served as the chairman of the Joseph Papp Celebrity Coalition for Racial Harmony. As part of his work for The Hunger Project, he made monthly donations, promoted the program through advertisements and narrated its bilingual videos. Julia was given the Global Citizen Award for his work with The Hunger Project and, in 1992, received the Courage of Conscience Award. 

Unknown to the public, Raúl Julia suffered from stomach cancer for three years prior to his death. During those years, he played the title role in the 1992 Broadway revival of “Man of La Mancha”, with performances eight times a week. Julia also reprised his role as Gomez Addams in the 1993 “Addams Family Values” and took a supporting role in the 1994 television series “Down Came a Blackbird”. In early 1994 during the filming of “The Burning Season” in Mexico, Julia was airlifted to a hospital in Los Angeles for medical attention. Upon his recovery, he finished the film.

On the sixteenth of October in 1994 after attending New York’s Metropolitan Opera, Julia was rushed by ambulance to the North Shore University Hospital in Long Island due to intense abdominal pains; his situation gradually worsened. On the night of the twentieth, Julia suffered a stroke, fell into a coma and was put on life support. Raúl Julia died on the twenty-fourth of October at the age of fifty-four from complications of a stroke, never having gained consciousness. His body was flown to Puerto Rico where a state funeral attended by thousands was held in San Juan.