Born May 14, 1944 in Modesto, California, Lucas is best known for the “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” series. But, his first film, “THX-1138,” flopped when it came out in 1971. It was a full-length version of a short film he made while a student at the University of Southern California. He redeemed himself, however, with a decidedly home-themed movie, “American Graffiti,” in 1973, and has enjoyed one success after another since.
As radiant as they wanted to be: Ulvaeus, Fältskog, Lyngstad and Anderson in their prime.
Finally, a museum that’s not boring! As homage to the sequin-stained glitz and glamor that was the 1970s, the city of Stockholm last week opened a museum dedicated to one of Sweden’s best-known exports: the musical group ABBA. Formed in 1972 by married couples Agnetha Fältskog & Björn Ulvaeus and Anni-Frid Lyngstad & Benny Anderson, the quartet rocketed to international stardom after winning the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest. During their 10 years as a group, ABBA sold over 370 million albums and singles worldwide; they still sell millions of records a year. The group’s name is an amalgamation of the members’ names.
Inspired by The Beatles Museum in Liverpool, England, the ABBA Museum has been a decade in the making. But, as the group promises, it will be “a fun and swinging museum to visit.” Housed in the same building as the Swedish Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame, the ABBA Museum traces the group’s history, beginning with Ulvaeus’ days as a folk singer in the 1960s. The museum is tech-friendly, says managing director Mattias Hamsson, as visitors can remix such ABBA classics as “Take a Chance on Me,” “Knowing Me, Knowing You” and “Dancing Queen” (perhaps the gayest song ever made) and sing alongside 3D holograms of the band. As you have guessed, it also sells CDs of those songs and ABBA-related merchandise.
ABBA last performed publicly in December 1982. They never formally announced their dissolution, but it was obvious after a while that they were no more. The 2 couples each divorced afterwards, married other people and continued with their respective solo musical careers. As bad as the 1970s were, that decade still produced some of the best music. A visit to the ABBA Museum might give you a headache from all that glitter, but it’s surely better than browsing through an IKEA store!
Take a Chance on Me
Knowing Me, Knowing You
Fernando
Mamma Mia
Dancing Queen
Filed under Curiosities
If I told you Chris Maynard has an obsession with feathers, you might wonder what the hell that means. But, artists rarely can explain why they do what they do; their work just shows it all. For Maynard, feathers serve as an artistic medium in the same way paint or clay does to others. They show “life’s perfection,” he says, in the way they conform to a bird’s body. “Their complexity as a covering beats any clothing we make.”
Based in Olympia, Washington, Maynard’s passion developed when he began photographing feathers several years ago. Then, he started to arrange them into various “shadow boxes,” before creating his own unique art form. His creations are literally feather-light silhouettes of various types of birds from the actual plumage.
Maynard doesn’t harm, or poach, any birds to obtain the feathers; instead, collecting them from zoos, aviaries and bird rescue organizations. He mostly uses parrot and pheasant feathers to sculpt replicas of hummingbirds, cranes, swans and others. He sketches designs in a notebook, but spends time outdoors, observing the real thing. Once back in his studio, he dons “big nerdy magnifying glasses” to see the feather’s details and utilizes eye surgery tools he inherited from his father, an ophthalmologist. His academic background in entomology may have given him an edge in handling such delicate items, but he clearly has a passion for avian creatures.
“I hope that seeing birds in a different light through my artwork will encourage appreciation of avian life and hence a desire to conserve it,” says Maynard.
Amazon parrot and macaw feathers.
Turkey feather.
Crow feather.
Great Argus pheasant wing feathers.
Great Argus pheasant feather and two small macaw feathers.
Mute swan feathers.
Filed under Art Working
Stevie Wonder, born Steveland Hardaway Judkins on May 13, 1950 in Saginaw, Michigan.
Uptight (Everything’s Alright), 1965
For Once in My Life, 1969
Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours, 1970
Filed under Birthdays
Bugs cavort in Wladyslaw Starewicz’s “The Cameraman’s Revenge.”
As a film buff and former film student, I have a natural affinity for silent movies. They’re a mark of cultural history, even though in those early days, many considered the medium little more than a passing fad. But, almost from the start, film captured some historical events; such as the 1896 coronation of Nicholas II, the last tsar of Russia, and the moments before Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria – Hungary and his wife, Sofia, were assassinated in 1914 – an event considered the trigger for World War I.
But, many early filmmakers also saw the potential in cinema. Among them was Wladyslaw Starewicz, a Russian-born artist now considered one of the pioneers of film animation. In 1912, he produced “The Cameraman’s Revenge,” which combined his fascination with insects and the then-revolutionary stop-motion method. The result is amazing, even by today’s standards.
The earliest stop-motion animated movie, “The Humpty Dumpty Circus” from 1898, has been lost. But, a 1902 piece, “Fun in a Bakery Shop,” made by Edwin S. Porter and produced by Thomas Edison, has stop-motion animation elements. Porter is best known for “The Great Train Robbery,” which came out in 1903, and has a scene where a character fires a gun directly at the camera lens; a stunt that terrified audiences and made them duck.
Also in 1903, Edison produced the first example of claymation with “Dream of a Rarebit Friend.”
In 1905, Spanish filmmaker Segundo de Chomón released “El Hotel Electrico,” which features bags flying around.
In 1906, Edison presented “Humorous Phases of Funny Faces,” which features the first example of direct digital manipulation: an image is moved, changed, or erased in each frame.
All of this proves you don’t need fancy graphics or design to make good animation – just a great story and a wild imagination.
Filed under Classics
In honor of Mother’s Day, I wanted to note that it was on this day in 1820 that Florence Nightingale was born in Firenze (Florence), Italy to a prominent British family. Her family returned to England the following year. While still in her teens, Nightingale developed a strong affinity for helping those in times of need. Her strong devotion led her to reject several marriage proposals; something unheard of in her day where women were expected to marry and have children. She probably acquired her independence from her own father, William Edward Nightingale, who provided his daughter with a solid education that included mathematics.
Nightingale came to prominence during the Crimean War where she tended to wounded soldiers. She became known as “The Lady with the Lamp,” after her habit of making her rounds at night. In 1860, she laid the foundation for professional nursing when she almost single-handedly designed a nursing program at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London. Now, her birthday is celebrated as International Nurses Day.
Nightingale obviously was the original “Super Mom!” Her personal determination and professional contributions have had a long-lasting impact on modern society.
Filed under History
“I summon you now,
Not to think of
The ceaseless battle,
With pain and ill health,
The frailty and the anguish.
No, today I remember,
The creator,
The lion-hearted.”
– May Sarton, For My Mother
I visited my local gym last night to run on the treadmill and lift some weights and I’ll probably go again tonight. I was a little tired and sore from sitting all week, slaving over a hot computer. But, I hadn’t been to the gym all week long and knew that some leg work would eliminate that ubiquitous sore butt syndrome. I know how odd that sounds, considering most people either go to the gym on a weeknight or during the day on weekends. So, I wanted to take a quick survey.
If you go to the gym late on a weekend night (e.g. after 8 P.M. Friday – Sunday), you’re:
a. Committed to building your body and maintaining optimum health.
b. Extremely lonely and, with no romantic prospects, decide to take out your sexual frustrations on innocent dumbbells.
c. A psychopathic survivalist preparing for a zombie apocalypse.
d. A blogger trying to come up with stupid shit to write about.
e. All of the above.
Well, I don’t believe in zombies – vampires and werewolves, yes, but not zombies. I’m such an introvert, though, that visiting the gym during the off-hours has always been one of my greatest proclivities. I’ve had memberships at various local gyms for more than 25 years, but this gym is the first one I’ve found that’s open 24 hours. Thus, dropping by around 9:30 or 10:00 on a Saturday night has become my weekend ritual. I’ve been going there nearly 8 years and can’t foresee joining another gym any time soon. The building used to be a grocery store, so the facility is huge, with plenty of equipment and plenty of room.
As you might expect, I pretty much see the same people whenever I go. I hardly talk to any of them, but if I saw them in a crowd of people running from a pack of zombies or survivalists, I’d at least say hi. Late on weekend nights is actually the best time for me; again, that loner part of me (which is actually 99.9% of my personality) relishes it. And, there’s one good reason: it’s simply not crowded. I rarely have to share a piece of equipment or try to work in with someone. There aren’t large groups of people laughing and cavorting like it’s happy hour. There aren’t any couples trying to prove how cute they are. In fact, no one around at that time of night on a weekend wants to show off. We’re all there to pump some iron and be left alone.
Yes, call us lonely, if you want, but I see us for who we truly are: dedicated individuals fighting against the rising tide of obesity and laziness in this nation. And, when that zombie apocalypse hits, we’ll be more than ready!
Filed under Essays
A recent examination of state salary databases, coupled with media reports, has proven one of my worst nightmares to be true: coaches are among the highest-paid public employees. I’m not talking book coaches, or lifestyle coaches. Of the thousands of state employees, 27 football coaches, 13 basketball coaches and 1 hockey coach rest comfortably atop the heap. These are collegiate coaches, not high school or grade school folks. The study point out that most of the money comes – not from taxes – but revenue the teams’ generate. But, it also highlights that even the most mediocre of coaches can earn millions of dollars, while athletes can suffer near-fatal injuries, and that collegiate sports money rarely ends up in the coffers of the overall university system. Now, I know why the U.S. keeps sliding down the academic pole, while even some “Third World” nations are climbing up. Sad, so sad! Pray for the poor children who are blessed with bigger brains than muscles. Our education system keeps tossing them by the wayside.
Filed under News
“And, I know there are a lot of moms out there who often go without the care they need, or the checkups they know they should get because they’re worrying about that co-pay that has to go to gas or to groceries or to the new soccer uniform instead. …So, we decided that needed to change. In a country as wealthy as this one, there was no reason why a family’s security should be determined by the chance of an illness or an accident. We decided to do something about it.”
– President Obama, about the Affordable Health Care Act, on Friday, May 10.
Obama went on later to say that pregnancy will not be considered a “pre-existing condition” under the Act, which was undoubtedly the best part of his speech.
Filed under News
