The living tree root bridges of Cherrapunji, Meghalaya, India

Vines and roots of trees are trained to stretch across rivers and streams, to create a sturdy structure strong enough to be used as a bridge for up to 50 people at a time. Villagers create these living bridges – which take 10-15 years to grow – as a solution to the high annual rainfall, which would cause ordinary wooden bridges to rot

"Capturing the Beauty of Life"

"Put your lips together and blow"

Quoted from: http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/design/eight-photography-effects/

Lunar eclipse time lapse

Staircase To Nowhere...

What do you suppose this guy's thinking ????

Amazing Chalk Art

Art Imitates Life

“lifting of the veil”

An Apocalypse (Greek: Apokálypsis; “lifting of the veil” or “revelation”) is a disclosure of something hidden from the majority of mankind in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception, i.e. the veil to be lifted. The term also can refer to the eschatological final battle, the Armageddon, and the idea of an end of the world. These perceptions may better be related to the phrase “apokalypsis eschaton”, literally “revelation at ( or of ) the end of the eon, or age”. In Christianity The Apocalypse of John is the Book of Revelation, the last book of the Christian Bible.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse – War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death – are described in the last book of the New Testament of the Bible, called the Book of Revelation of Saint John the Evangelist at 6:1-8. The chapter tells of a scroll in God’s right hand that is sealed with seven seals. Jesus Christ opens the first four of the seven seals, which summons forth the four beasts that ride on white, red, black, and pale horses which each symbolize War, Famine, Conquest (or Pestilence) and Death, respectively. The Christian apocalyptic vision is that the four horsemen are to set a divine apocalypse upon the world as harbingers of the Last Judgment.

Rudolph Valentino Busts

This is a wonderful collection depicting Valentino from The Four Horsemen, The Son of the Sheik, and possibly The Sheik. Some appear to have been mass produced while other could have been privately made.

Click below for the Rudolph Valentino Collectible Blog:

http://rudolph-valentino.blogspot.com/2012/01/assorted-rudolph-valentino-busts.html

"It was the tango that changed the world"

Flash back to 1921. Female moviegoers were entranced with such handsome athletic actors as Douglas Fairbanks, Richard Barthlemess and Wallace Reid. But nothing prepared them for Rudolph Valentino's performance that year in Rex Ingram's acclaimed "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse."

As Julio, the charming wastrel grandson of a wealthy Argentine landowner before World War I, the smoldering Italian actor commands the screen, especially when he is in a local Buenos Aires dive watching a man and woman tango. Dressed in gaucho pants and bolero hat, he catches the eye of the woman dancing. Julio swaggers over to the dancing couple and asks to break into the dance. The man brushes Julio off, only to have Julio strike the man and take over in the woman's arms. Valentino's intensity and ardor still permeate the screen nearly 90 years later.

"This film really put him on the map, so to speak," says Donna L. Hill, who runs a Valentino website (www.rudolph-valentino.com) and is author of the new book "Rudolph Valentino: The Silent Idol."

" 'The Sheik' that followed only compounded that and increased his star appeal," she says. "But this is one of the few cases in any Hollywood film where you literally watch a star being born on film. The minute he starts dancing the tango, the whole film changes."

"a wonderfully silly excuse to dress up"

Ron Paul stars in Astros rainbow uniform at ’76 Congressional ballgame

Almost nobody likes Congress. The polls say so. But I'll say this for the federal legislature: Republicans and Democrats play each other in a baseball game every year, and that partly makes up for whatever it is they do the rest of the time.

Back in December, Summer Anne Burton of NotGraphs published a wonderful post called "GOP Presidential Candidates and Baseball" that explored how each of the hopefuls has been affiliated with the national pastime. The runaway winner was Ron Paul, simply because he happened to be photographed wearing a customized Houston Astros uniform while playing for the Republicans in the 1976 game at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Many of the politicos who play today still wear the uniform of their local club. What a wonderfully silly excuse to dress up.

But Paul really did it right: Rainbow, star, stirrups. The only thing missing is white cleats. (I'm not sure what I think of putting his entire name on the back of the jersey. That's a violation.) Still, he'd fit right in with Jose Cruz, Enos Cabell and J.R. Richard. And check out those forearms. Nice to meet you, Mr. Garvey, err, Dr. Paul. With guns like those, it might not surprise you to realize that Paul reportedly hit the only home run over the fence in the history of the Congressional series — so says his son Sen. Rand Paul.

Worth Preserving

January 24, 2012|By Roger Vincent, Los Angeles Times

A downtown Los Angeles theater and office complex built by silent film stars will be converted to a hotel.

Ace Hotel, a Portland, Ore., chain of boutique inns catering to the young and hip, will develop a new outpost in the historic United Artists building at Broadway and 9th Street. The 180-room hotel will occupy the office building's 13 floors, Ace said. It will have a pool, restaurant, bar and 1,600-seat theater when it opens in summer 2013.

"The United Artists building has an intriguing history and is an outstanding example of 1920s gothic architecture," said Alex Calderwood, a co-founder of Ace Hotel. "We look forward to being a part of the ongoing effort to revitalize South Broadway."

The complex at 927 S. Broadway was built in 1927 in part to provide a theater for the movie production company founded by film luminaries Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin and D.W. Griffith.

The Spanish Gothic theater was designed by C. Howard Crane and the office tower by Walker & Eisen, the team behind other local landmarks including the Fine Arts Building downtown and the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills.

Greenfield Partners, a hotel investor based in South Norwalk, Conn., bought the United Artists building for $11 million in October from Wescott Christian Center Inc. One of the founders of Wescott was Gene Scott, a flamboyant preacher whose broadcasts were heard nationally. He died in 2005.

Hold that Tiger!

In this image dated Tuesday Jan. 24, 2012 and made available by Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, Lee Westwood from England, 2nd left, U.S. golf star,Tiger Woods, 4th left, and Rory McIlroy from Northern Ireland, 2nd right, beat drums with members of a traditional Emirati Ayala dance group two days before the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/ David Cannon/Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship).

Photography that is Exciting !

Photo by Ian Shive who says: "I have a lot to be thankful for in 2011. It was a great year for making photographs as well as sharing them but of all the great accomplishments and memories, being the recipient of the Sierra Club’s prestigious 2011 Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography takes the cake."

To visit Ian's website, click on the heading above.

Sierra Club

Full of reasons why the Sierra Club warrants your support. For many years I enjoyed membership in the Sierra Club. I should send them a check . . .

I remember doing this once but then I came to my senses.

RUNNING THE RAPIDS will give you a thrill

Only trouble is -- I'm terrified still

ARCH ROCK -- but where ???

If anyone has more information on where this is located -- please leave a comment. According to the Sierra Club it's somewhere in the Great Lakes region. Yeah, I realize, that's a pretty large region.

http://sierraclubgreatlakes.blogspot.com/2011_06_01_archive.html

The Little Tramp returns

After a 20-year exile in Europe, Charlie Chaplin returned to Hollywood to receive an honorary Oscar on April 10, 1972, for such comedies as "The Kid," "The Gold Rush," "City Lights," "Modern Times" and "The Great Dictator." Chaplin, then 82, received probably the longest standing ovation in the history of the Oscar telecast as he walked slowly to the podium to pick up his Academy Award for his "incalculable effect in making motion pictures the art form of the century." Chaplin was quite literally speechless as he looked at the throng of stars whose cheers kept getting louder. He finally uttered "thank you so much," referring to the audience as "sweet people." And there wasn't a dry eye in the house when Jack Lemmon gave him his famous Little Tramp hat and cane.

A Match Made in Heaven

Annie Hall (1977) is one of the truest, most bittersweet romances on film. In it, Allen plays a thinly disguised version of himself: Alvy Singer, a successful--if neurotic--television comedian living in Manhattan. Annie (the wholesomely luminous Dianne Keaton) is a Midwestern transplant who dabbles in photography and sings in small clubs. When the two meet, the sparks are immediate--if repressed. Alone in her apartment for the first time, Alvy and Annie navigate a minefield of self-conscious "is-this-person-someone-I'd-want-to-get-involved-with?" conversation. As they speak, subtitles flash their unspoken thoughts: the likes of "I'm not smart enough for him" and "I sound like a jerk." Despite all their caution, they connect, and we're swept up in the flush of their new romance. Allen's antic sensibility shines here in a series of flashbacks to Alvy's childhood, growing up, quite literally, under a rumbling roller coaster. His boisterous Jewish family's dinner table shares a split screen with the WASP-y Hall's tight-lipped holiday table, one Alvy has joined for the first time. His position as outsider is uncontestable he looks down the table and sizes up Annie's "Grammy Hall" as "a classic Jew-hater."

The relationship arcs, as does Annie's growing desire for independence. It quickly becomes clear that the two are on separate tracks, as what was once endearing becomes annoying. Annie Hall embraces Allen's central themes--his love affair with New York (and hatred of Los Angeles), how impossible relationships are, and his fear of death. But their balance is just right, the chemistry between Allen's worry-wart Alvy and Keaton's gangly, loopy Annie is one of the screen's best pairings. It couldn't be more engaging. --Susan Benson