Blanking Interval

I've Been Thinking...: Thoughts On Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoa)

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 21:18:15 -0700

I've Been Thinking...: Thoughts On Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoa):

I’ve always been fascinated by The Holocaust, perhaps darkly so. I think it’s the wide view of mankind; the vast abyss of human frailty bordered by unspeakable evil to one side, unfathomable resilience to the other. I’ve read many of the stories, seen the movies, taken the classes. Like others,…

lesliehowards: Cinematography by Jack Cardiff. Black Narcissus...

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 11:26:27 -0800

lesliehowards:

Cinematography by Jack Cardiff.

Black Narcissus (1946), The Red Shoes (1948), The African Queen (1951).

What I had picked up from painting was that light was the most important thing. The lighting played an important part. So it’s easy enough to analyse it and work out what looked good or what worked and so on. The only difference was I realised early on that because film was a transparency, and the Hollywood photographers used to use a lot of back-light because it made everything look crisper and glamorous. I realised that back-light and I relied very much on what I had picked up from paintings – a simplicity of lighting. Mind you, I recognised that painting’s a still picture where it’s easy enough to have a lighting effect, and on film where the actor gets up and walks around the room, you had to bear that in mind. But I still felt then, and still do, that you stick to a simple form of lighting.

[…]My original love in painting was Rembrandt, Caravaggio, people like that – but then I fell in love with the Impressionists. The Impressionists exaggerated everything. If someone is sitting on the grass, they would reflect the green light on their face. I sometimes used subtle green filters that probably one in fifty would notice but I got satisfaction out of it. That was the great thing. I used to use on the spot rails – in those days we used lots of arcs and arc-lights – when light was apparently coming from the sky. I used to use a faint blue filter so that it’s cold, and I used to use their methods by exaggerating the colour. I was always fighting with Technicolour because they wanted complete realism, whatever that was.

Photo

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 13:44:38 -0800

cinephilearchive: A little tribute to great long takes. From...

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 19:04:35 -0800

cinephilearchive:

A little tribute to great long takes. From first attempts of camera stabilization by the inventor Garrett Brown to the exhaustive use of this great system. You’ll find examples from Rocky (John G. Avildsen), Hugo (Martin Scorsese), The Shining (Stanley Kubrick), Carlito’s Way (Brian De Palma) and L’ultimo Bacio (Gabriele Muccino).

12 minutes one shot: Snake Eyes (1998). Steadicam operator: Larry McConkey.

Martin Scorsese, Goodfellas, 1990.

Mikhail Kalatozov, I Am Cuba, 1964.

Orson Welles, Touch of Evil, 1958.

The 10 best long tracking shots ever filmed

Deconstructing Motion Graphics: Touch of Evil, 1958

Long Take Theater

thewitchinthewoods: taken from a friends facebook…. best thing...

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 16:47:01 -0800

thewitchinthewoods:

taken from a friends facebook…. best thing ive seen all day. swoon, sob yeah….. so cute.

“so today I was in Hallmark buying my mom a card when I noticed this old man standing in front of the Valentines card section contemplating which one to get. I decided to go over and I ask him “do you need help picking one for your wife?” in which he replies “No my wife died 3 years ago from breast cancer but I still buy her roses and a card and bring them to her grave to prove to her that she was the only one that will ever have my heart.”

totalfilm: 50 CGI Scenes You Didn’t Notice

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 11:04:12 -0800

totalfilm:

50 CGI Scenes You Didn’t Notice

explore-blog: The 2013 submarine cable map of the world,...

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 09:20:58 -0800

explore-blog:

The 2013 submarine cable map of the world, reminding us of the striking physicality of the internet.

cinephilearchive: Steven Spielberg on location in India with...

Sun, 27 Jan 2013 16:58:15 -0800

cinephilearchive:

Steven Spielberg on location in India with François Truffaut.

Spielberg à propos de François Truffaut

Spielberg came to AFI in 1978 for a seminar with AFI Fellows. In this clip he talks about working with François Truffaut.

cinephilearchive: Top 10 Charlie Rose Interviews of Film...

Sat, 26 Jan 2013 15:46:19 -0800

cinephilearchive:

Top 10 Charlie Rose Interviews of Film Directors.

Lucky for us Charlie Rose is a huge movie buff and he conducts the best interviews with film directors. Charlie’s interviews go beyond the generic interviews that directors usually do to promote their movies, and he asks the great questions that film aficionados want to hear. A few interviews are conducted with people who knew the filmmaker closely for the great directors Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick. Enjoy these interviews with some of cinema’s great artists.

1. An Hour with Filmmaker George Lucas

George Lucas sits down for an hour long conversation with Charlie Rose in this interview and chronologically goes through his moviemaking career from his days at USC film school up to creating the Star Wars prequels. He talks about his financial and technological struggles to get his visions on the big screen and how he has finally attained financial independence as an artist to create the movies he wants to make without having to answer to anyone. George also passes on his wisdom about storytelling, education, artistry, and parenting.

2. A Conversation about Alfred Hitchcock

As the undisputed “Master of Suspense”, Alfred Hitchcock left behind a large body of work that continually explored the darker depths of the human heart. Here, Charlie Rose talks with the director’s daughter Patricia along with noted film director/historian Peter Bogdanovich on the centennial of his Hitchcock’s birth. Topics include Hitchcock’s dogged attention to detail, his writing methods, which films of his own he preferred best, and where he ranks with the great masters of cinema history.

3. An Hour with Filmmaker James Cameron

Known as “Iron Jim” to friends and critics alike, James Cameron rose from humble beginnings as a truck driver to become the “King of the World” with his mega-blockbuster Titanic. Here Charlie Rose talks with the director at length about what went into making the most expensive film ever made, and how he managed to balance historical fact with romantic fiction. Cameron’s talent for managing complex productions that still strike a chord with a broad audience has made him one of the most successful filmmakers in the modern era; a feat no less incredible when you consider how much his ambition grows from picture to picture.

4. A Discussion with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter

Capturing a key moment in history, this interview with Steve Jobs and John Lassetter catches both visionaries at the birth of what would become the most successful animation studio in recent history. After purchasing Pixar in 1986, shortly after his initial ouster from Apple, Jobs helped shepherd Lassetter and his team towards the first digitally animated movie, Toy Story, a box-office success that was followed by a string of hits that has not let up to date. Watch for an interesting moment near the end where Jobs tactfully dodges Charlie Rose’s question about a possible return to Apple; and even that actually did come to pass later that same year!

5. An Interview with Quentin Tarantino

Coming off the wild success of his independent film breakout hit Pulp Fiction, super cool film director Quentin Tarantino sits down with Charlie Rose and talks about his craft and where his career is going to go from here. Tarantino talks about his childhood watching movies and his days as a video store clerk. He discusses his unorthodox way of storytelling, his method of writing, and his love of following the careers of film directors of which he mentions his favorites. Finally he talks about his first two films Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. Watch film geek Tarantino enthusiastically riff on his love of movies.

6. An Hour about the Life and Work of Filmmaker Stanley Kubrick

With a photographer’s eye, a philosopher’s curiosity, and a searing intellect, Stanley Kubrick’s films have cut a distinctive path through cinematic history with a scope that is still hard to estimate. Here Charlie Rose talks with the late director’s widow Christiane, his lifelong friend Jan Harland, and adds modern master Martin Scorsese into the mix to round out the table. Christiane Kubrick provides heartwarming insight on their marriage, while Harland and Scorsese weigh in on why Kubrick’s films such as 2001, The Shining, and Dr. Strangelove continue to provoke, compel, and stimulate new generations of filmgoers.

7. A Conversation with Roman Polanski

In this interview, filmmaker Roman Polanski speaks about filmmaking, personal tragedy, and the legal trouble that has kept him from returning to the United States. Charlie Rose does not shy away from confronting the director of such classics as Rosemary’s Baby and Chinatown on why he hasn’t faced the legal ramifications of a rape charge that made him flee for Europe in 1977. Polanski also reflects on the loss of his mother at Auschwitz, his lonely childhood in war-torn Poland, losing his wife in the Manson family murders, and his current life as a French citizen.

8. An Interview with Oliver Stone

Director Oliver Stone is known for his political and historical films and in this interview with Charlie Rose, Stone talks about his film Nixon. Stone gives us his interpretation of the man Nixon and covers some of the more controversial aspects of his film. He also gives us his philosophy on drama and its ability to convey the shadow side of history which is often not the version put into the history books. Get a history lesson from Oliver Stone with this hour long talk about Nixon.

9. A Talk with Director Tim Burton

Director Tim Burton talks with Charlie Rose about his recent film and art exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art. In the first 10 minutes MOMA’s exhibit curators talk about putting on the exhibition. Then Burton discusses some of his sketches and talks about how he went from being a weird and quiet teenager to a filmmaker extraordinaire. Burton talks about his love of masks and how they bring out new aspects in his performers such as with Jack Nicholson made up as the Joker in his film Batman or Johnny Depp in the wide variety of outfits he has suited up for in many Burton films. Burton feels that all kids are artists and doodlers up to about age 12, but then for various reason these creative instincts are suppressed as people get older, and both Tim and Charlie find this unfortunate.

10. A Conversation with German Director Werner Herzog

German film director Werner Herzog sits down with Charlie Rose in this 23 minute interview and discusses his prolific filmmaking career. Herzog gives some insight into the making of his film Fitzcarraldo about which he recently published his personal diaries in a book called Conquest of the Useless. He talks about his philosophy of filmmaking and his search for the “ecstatic truth” when it comes to the many documentaries that he has shot over the years. Herzog also addresses his talent for bringing out the best in actors such as his unique gift for harnessing the talent of German actor Klaus Kinski.

the-overlook-hotel: Screenplay for the deleted original ending...

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 22:11:43 -0800

the-overlook-hotel:

Screenplay for the deleted original ending of The Shining. When the film was first released, a hospital epilogue was located between the shot of Jack frozen in the snow and the long dolly shot through the lobby that ends on the July 4, 1921 framed photo.

Kubrick decided to remove the scene very shortly after the U.S. opening, dispatching assistants to excise the scene from the dozens of prints showing in Los Angeles and New York City. All known copies of the scene were reportedly destroyed, although it is rumored that one surviving copy may exist.

Very little remains of the hospital epilogue beyond some continuity polaroids, costumes, and 35mm film trims housed in the Stanley Kubrick Archive. Evidence of just how late in the process the scene was removed lives on in the form of two actors listed in the end credits, despite the fact that they don’t appear in the finished film: Burnell Tucker in the role of “Policeman” and Robin Pappas in the role of “Nurse”.

It’s also important to note that this was likely not the exact scene that Kubrick shot; since the scene no longer exists, it’s impossible to know how exactly it played. Even the many people who saw the epilogue when The Shining was first released have varying recollections of the exact details. Clearly, the final text about the Overlook’s history was an idea omitted during the writing process.

Kubrick’s co-screenwriter on The Shining, Diane Johnson, had this to say about the deleted epilogue:

Kubrick had filmed a final scene that was cut, where Wendy and Danny are recovering from the shock in a hospital and where Ullman visits them.

Kubrick felt that we should see them in the hospital so we would know that they were all right. He had a soft spot for Wendy and Danny and thought that, at the end of a horror film, the audience should be reassured that everything was back to normal.

TODAY THE U.S. MARINE CORPS IS 237 YEARS OLD MARINE CORPS ORDER...

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 14:26:40 -0800

TODAY THE U.S. MARINE CORPS IS 237 YEARS OLD

MARINE CORPS ORDER No. 47 (Series 1921)
HEADQUARTERS
U.S. MARINE CORPS Washington, November 1, 1921

The following will be read to the command on the 10th of November, 1921, and hereafter on the 10th of November of every year. Should the order not be received by the 10th of November, 1921, it will be read upon receipt.

On November 10, 1775, a Corps of Marines was created by a resolution of Continental Congress. Since that date many thousand men have borne the name “Marine”. In memory of them it is fitting that we who are Marines should commemorate the birthday of our corps by calling to mind the glories of its long and illustrious history.

The record of our corps is one which will bear comparison with that of the most famous military organizations in the world’s history. During 90 of the 146 years of its existence the Marine Corps has been in action against the Nation’s foes. From the Battle of Trenton to the Argonne, Marines have won foremost honors in war, and in the long eras of tranquility at home, generation after generation of Marines have grown gray in war in both hemispheres and in every corner of the seven seas, that our country and its citizens might enjoy peace and security.

In every battle and skirmish since the birth of our corps, Marines have acquitted themselves with the greatest distinction, winning new honors on each occasion until the term “Marine” has come to signify all that is highest in military efficiency and soldierly virtue.

This high name of distinction and soldierly repute we who are Marines today have received from those who preceded us in the corps. With it we have also received from them the eternal spirit which has animated our corps from generation to generation and has been the distinguishing mark of the Marines in every age. So long as that spirit continues to flourish Marines will be found equal to every emergency in the future as they have been in the past, and the men of our Nation will regard us as worthy successors to the long line of illustrious men who have served as “Soldiers of the Sea” since the founding of the Corps.

JOHN A. LEJEUNE,
Major General
Commandant

Photo

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 09:59:08 -0700

goodtimeforpie: I picked up a copy of Stephen King’s On Writing...

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 18:33:14 -0700

goodtimeforpie:

I picked up a copy of Stephen King’s On Writing over the weekend which means I’ve finally made a dent in this ‘to read’ list.

In case you’ve missed them, here’s some writing tips by some of my favorite authors.

George Orwell from Why I Write

John Steinbeck’s 6 Writing Tips

Neil Gaimen’s 8 Good Writing Practices

Henry Miller’s 11 Commandments

thedailywhat: Art Doghouse of the Day: In 1956, world-renowned...

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 18:31:32 -0700

thedailywhat:

Art Doghouse of the Day: In 1956, world-renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright had just finished designing the home of then-12-year-old Jim Berger’s family, when he received a letter from the kid asking him if he could design a doghouse to go with it.

“I would appreciate it if you would design me a doghouse, which would be easy to build, but would go with our house,” Berger wrote to Wright on June 19th, 1956. “(My dog) is two and a half feet high and three feet long. The reasons I would like this doghouse is for the winters mainly.”

Wright agreed, but turned down Berger’s offer to pay for the design with money from his paper route.

He completed the dog house blueprints several months later. The plan, however, went unrealized until 10 years later. By then, Eddie, the dog it was intended for, had passed on, so the house was instead occupied by Eddie’s successor.

It ended up in the garbage some years later, after the house’s utility had run its course. Berger, now 68 and a cabinet maker by trade, recently rebuilt the doghouse with the help of his brother and Wright’s plan.

The structure — a 3’ x 5’ x 3’ triangle with a sloping shingled roof — was constructed using Philippine mahogany and ended up weighing 250 pounds.

The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation’s asst. director of archives Oskar Munoz believes it is the only doghouse designed by Wright. “My feeling is that I’d like it to go to a museum because it is a historical monument,” said Berger.

[ap / twbe.]

Reginald, the Jewish Reindeer A Hanukkah Story by Nicholas...

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:00:00 -0800

Reginald, the Jewish Reindeer A Hanukkah Story by Nicholas Gordon

Reginald was a Jewish reindeer who lived in the frigid taiga near the northern tip of Lapland.

Like most reindeer, he idolized the chosen few who pulled Santa’s sleigh and dreamed of someday joining them. But he knew that since he was Jewish, there wasn’t much chance of that. He didn’t even celebrate Christmas. In fact, theoretically he didn’t even believe in Santa Claus.

So how could he ever be hitched to Santa’s sleigh?

His parents, Schmuel and Rivka, were quite upset about his ambitions, and blamed themselves for having given him such an un-Jewish name and for having neglected to provide an observant Jewish home as a counterweight to all the non-Jewish influences of the world outside.

But there it was, too late for regret.

Belatedly, they decorated their little grove of fir trees for Hanukkah and lit candles, giving Reginald little gifts each night. But while Reginald enjoyed the beauty of the candles and appreciated the gifts, they were no substitute for the ultimate glory of pulling Santa’s sleigh.

He was, after all, a reindeer.

Since Reginald’s was the only Jewish family in the neighborhood, all of Reginald’s friends dreamed of being chosen to pull Santa’s sleigh. At Christmas time they pranced through the deep snow, pretending they were flying through the air with Santa ho-ho-ho-ing behind them.

Suddenly they would stop, Reginald along with them, as though alighting on a rooftop, and wait for Santa to go down the chimney, drop off some presents, and come back up to resume his journey. Then off they would go again, flying high across the full moon as they staggered through the snowdrifts, stopping at the next roof, and the next, until the brief winter afternoon was over, and it was time to go home.

Requisite for being one of Santa’s reindeer was, of course, the ability to fly, which was, as you may imagine, rare in reindeer. Reginald and his friends tried many times, leaping skyward off little mounds and hillocks without success, knowing that, alas!, their failure meant their dreams of pulling Santa’s sleigh would remain a fantasy.

On Christmas Eve they all gathered in an open, snow-covered field to watch the sleigh take off from the nearby North Pole, their heroes, Dancer and Prancer and the rest, pulling the heavily laden sleigh rapidly across the full moon and on southward to where the children of the world lay fast asleep, dreaming of the gifts they would unwrap the following morning.

They would all sigh inwardly, but Reginald most sadly of all, since he was Jewish and therefore shut out more than the others from imagining that he could ever be one of those dark, gigantic figures galloping majestically across the large yellow disk of the rising moon.

One Hanukkah Reginald’s parents decided to take Reginald south, where some Jewish herds of reindeer had settled, hoping that if he could celebrate the holiday with some Jewish reindeer his age, he might enjoy it more and be drawn away from his non-Jewish longings.

While there, they consulted Rabbi Reuven Reindeer, a sage with a particular reputation for success with younger reindeer, who nodded his head silently as they told him of their woe.

“Ah, yes!” he would sigh as they told him this, and “Yes, I understand,” as they told him that. “A typical case,” he said finally, when they were finished. “What else would you expect when you raise a child away from other Jews in a home without the barest essentials of Jewish life? And name him Reginald, to boot?”

“Is it too late?” Reginald’s mother cried.

“We will see,” Rabbi Reuven said. “Send him to me, and we will see.”

So Reginald was sent to see Rabbi Reuven on the evening after the lighting of the fifth candle.

“Come with me,” Rabbi Reuven said to Reginald, and turned to walk deep into the forest. They walked silently for about an hour to a field on top of a wide plateau, where under the sparkling stars the snow seemed ghostly and the world hardly real.

“So you want to pull Santa’s sleigh,” Rabbi Reuven said.

“Yes,” Reginald admitted, expecting to be admonished. But to his surprise, the rabbi smiled and nodded his head.

“Yes, of course,” he said. “Every reindeer would like to pull Santa’s sleigh. I also wanted to, when I was your age.”

“You did?” Reginald asked, surprised.

“Yes, yes. I was young once, you know. But you can’t do it unless you can fly.”

“I know,” Reginald said sadly. “I can’t fly.”

“We’ll see, we’ll see,” Rabbi Reuven said.

He turned and, prancing just above the heavy snow, took off across the field without a footprint behind.

Reginald watched the old rabbi in amazement as he circled the field and came back to where Reginald was standing stock still.

“Come on, come on!” the rabbi called joyfully. “Follow me! Just start prancing above the snow. Go ahead! Whooopeee!!!”

And off he went, prancing around the field again.

Reginald stood motionless until the rabbi got halfway round for the second time, and then decided he’d better try it before the rabbi got all the way around to him again. So he leaped up and brought his front hoofs down just above the snowline.

To his astonishment, instead of falling back into the deep snow, his hoofs seemed to hit something lighter, springy like the most delicate moss, yet invisible, and in moments he, too, was prancing around the field, for the first time flying.

In moments the rabbi passed him and took off, up, up, up, up into the night sky, and Reginald followed, climbing high up above the forest and field, up into a cold blackness glittering with stars.

Up, up, up, up they went to a place where the darkness began to pale, and an unearthly and beautiful light seemed to draw them on from impossibly far away.

“Rabbi Reuven! Rabbi Reuven! Where are we going?” Reginald tried to shout. But no sound came out as on and on they went.

The heavens were soon suffused with a mysterious glow, as though they had entered the enormous flame of a gigantic Hanukkah candle, orange leaping up into yellow. Reginald became aware that they were surrounded by a multitude of others, an infinite crowd staring right at the bewitching light — all sorts of animals, not only reindeer, as well as humans, and other creatures so sublime that they could not have come from Earth.

On and on and on they flew into the heart of the light, into a cornucopia of colors, as the multitudes became thicker. Suddenly Reginald spotted Dancer and Prancer, with the others not far behind, and Santa just behind them, all gazing in adoration at the light.

In a moment Rabbi Reuven was at his side. “You see, Reginald? You see?” he shouted.

Reginald nodded.

“We must go back now. If we go any closer, we won’t be able to return.”

“I don’t want to return,” Reginald said.

The rabbi shook his head indulgently. “Of course not,” he said. “But you can come back here whenever you like.”

So they turned and flew back, away from the source of light, through the multitudes of Heavenly worshipers and back through the glittering stars, back to the snow-covered field on a wide plateau in the middle of the forest.

As he stood in the field, hooves buried in snow, Reginald couldn’t stop shaking, barely aware of who or where he was.

“Easy!” Rabbi Reuven said. “Easy. That was something it takes a few moments to recover from.”

And after a moment of silence: “You see, Reginald? You see what you are lighting when you light a Hanukkah candle?”

Reginald nodded, unable to speak.

“You can go back as often as you like, now that you can fly. But remember: Don’t go too close or you’ll never return.”

“But Rabbi Reuven,” Reginald said, finally getting back his voice. “I saw Santa there and all his reindeer, and all sorts of animals, and humans, and creatures not of this Earth. What does what we saw have to do with lighting Hanukkah candles when so many gathered around the one Heavenly light are not Jewish?”

“Are Jews the only ones who can see the light?” the rabbi answered. “God forbid! There is but one God and one light, not a different God and light for each creature and each religion.”

“Then what’s the point of being Jewish?” Reginald asked.

“You are Jewish,” Rabbi Reuven pointed out. “What’s the point of not being Jewish?”

Reginald thought about that. “I could pull Santa’s sleigh,” he said. “Especially now that I can fly.”

“And not light Hanukkah candles?”

“And light Hanukkah candles, too?” Reginald asked hopefully.

“If you want to pull Santa’s sleigh,” Rabbi Reuven said with a twinkle in his eye, “who am I to stop you? Come, Reginald! Tomorrow night you will light the candles and say the blessings. Your parents are waiting.”

And so Reginald and Rabbi Reuven took the long, slow walk back through the frozen forest, talking of the beauty of lighting Hanukkah candles and of being a Jewish reindeer.

Image: http://www.edupics.com/coloring-page-reindeer-i8663.html

History Of Lyrics That Aren’t Lyrics 26 songs, over 49...

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 09:31:49 -0700

History Of Lyrics That Aren’t Lyrics

26 songs, over 49 years. Featuring Jane Lui (http://youtube.com/luieland).
Michael T. on bass (http://www.michaelt.org) and Jonathan Batiste on piano (http://www.jonathanbatiste.com).
Directed by Joe Sabia (http://www.joesabia.co)

Via bbook Widow With Rifle Guards HouseJuly 31, 1958: Lomie...

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 13:29:00 -0700

2714 Gleneden St. in 1958

The same location as it looks today

Via bbook Widow With Rifle Guards House

July 31, 1958: Lomie Puckett stands guard to prevent bulldozers from leveling her Edendale house for the construction of the Golden State Freeway. Puckett wanted more money than offered for the house.

According to the Los Angeles Times, “The standoff lasted several days.”

Read how the standoff ended.

PIctured below Mrs. Puckett and her a 30-caliber rifle are views of her house in 1958 and the same approximate spot today.

codelens: In a South Carolina prison sixty-six years ago,...

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 18:23:58 -0700

codelens:

In a South Carolina prison sixty-six years ago, guards walked a 14-year-old boy, bible tucked under his arm, to the electric chair. At 5′ 1″ and 95 pounds, the straps didn’t fit, and an electrode was too big for his leg.

The switch was pulled and the adult sized death mask fell from George Stinney’s face. Tears streamed from his eyes. Witnesses recoiled in horror as they watched the youngest person executed in the United States in the past century die.

This is the reality that we need to face as victims of racism. Racists (White Supremacists) will not stop their genocidal rampage against black people. Yesterday George Stinney, Today Troy Davis.

rmgdesign: (via MID-CENTURIA : Art, Design and Decor from...

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 22:20:45 -0700

rmgdesign:

(via MID-CENTURIA : Art, Design and Decor from the Mid-Century and beyond: The Wilson House: A Laminate Laboratory)

From the Seattle TimesIn real life he was Erik Martin, a boy...

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 12:45:00 -0700

From the Seattle Times

In real life he was Erik Martin, a boy with a constellation of severe health problems and a rare form of cancer. But in his imagination he was Electron Boy, a superhero who saved Seattle from the forces of darkness and evil one spring day last year.

Erik died Friday at home. He was 14.
Three years ago, Erik was diagnosed with a rare type of cancer called paraganglioma, which spread throughout his body and was not treatable with surgery or chemotherapy.
When the Make-A-Wish Foundation offered to grant him his wish, Erik told wish manager Jessie Elenbaas that he wanted to do things he has never been able to do: to run fast, be powerful and help people.