When President John Adams moved into the White House in 1800 it was not yet finished, First Lady Abigail Adams was still gathering their belongings in the former capital of Philadelphia when President Adams penned this to her: “I pray heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.”
President Franklin Roosevelt had Adams’ words carved on the fireplace mantel in the State Dining Room. During President Truman’s administration the fireplace mantel was removed but it was restored during the Kennedy administration and on July 1, 1962. President Kennedy delivered remarks at the rededication of the restored mantelpiece to the State Dining Room where it can be seen today. (History notes from MyYearWithTheFirstLadies Blog]
Ray Harryhausen, the pioneering visual effects artist perhaps best known for his work on 1963′s “Jason and the Argonauts,” died today in London. He was 92.
The announcement was made on the official Facebook page of The Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation, which noted that “Harryhausen’s genius was in being able to bring his models alive. Whether they were prehistoric dinosaurs or mythological creatures, in Ray’s hands they were no longer puppets but became instead characters in their own right, just as important as the actors they played against and in most cases even more so.”
A beacon of the film world who was inspired by “King Kong,” Harryhausen perfected the art of stop motion effects with complicated puppet designs in films ranging from “Mighty Joe Young” to “Jason and the Argonauts.” While he worked within the Hollywood system, Harryhausen’s delicate, handmade approach strikes a telling contrast to the CGI effects of today’s movies.
“The computer seems to be able to do anything,” Harryhausen said in an interview later in his life. “So people take it for granted, I think. There’s something that happens in stop-motion that gives a different effect — like a dream world — and that’s what fantasy is about.”
Harryhausen’s last official credit was a cameo in John Landis’ “Burke and Hare,” although he receives a note of gratitude in the credits for the forthcoming “Sinbad: The Fifth Voyage” and appears in the documentary “Into the Dark: Exploring the Horror Film.”
Below, check out the famous skeleton fight scene from “Jason and the Argonauts”:
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Grew up with and loved these stop action movies…ah, memories.
Men’s suit that turns transparent when wearer is lying
Studio Roosegaarde is set to expand its Intimacy 2.0 range of smart dresses that turn transparent based on electronic signals they receive.
Hot on the heels of our recent coverage of the MJ v1.0, a jacket that enables wearers to make music solely by gesturing, we’ve come across another example of wearable tech. Netherlands-based design group Studio Roosegaarde is set to expand its Intimacy 2.0 range of smart clothing to include a men’s business suit which turns transparent when the wearer is being untruthful.
The group has already released its range of womenswear that turns transparent based on electronic signals it receives. The clothes used ‘smart e-foils’ that are naturally transparent but turn cloudy when light from LEDs are refracted through them. The dresses were connected to sensors that could detect the heart rate – when their bpm hit a certain point, the LEDs were turned off and the material became transparent. Now the studio hopes to apply similar technology to create a business suit for men that monitors their vitals to discern whether they are lying.
Although essentially a high-fashion concept that professionals are not likely to ever willingly wear, the idea does recognize the recent call by consumers for business transparency and corporate social responsibility. Are there other ways wearable technology could more positively help us reveal aspects of our personalities? [ more ]
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Count me as one who has no desire to see POTUS nekkid.
“Sons of Liberty” would follow a group of radicals including John Adams, Paul Revere and Sam Adams, among others.
History is going to war.
The cable network, fresh off the ratings success of The Bible and Hatfields & McCoys, is developing a miniseries set around the American Revolution, The Hollywood Reporter has learned exclusively.
Sons of Liberty will follow a defiant and radical group of young men — including Samuel Adams, John Hancock, John Adams, Paul Revere, Patrick Henry and Benedict Arnold — as they band together in secrecy to change the course of history and make America a nation. Together, they called themselves the Sons of Liberty and lit the spark of what would become a revolution: the American Revolution.
Details are scarce on the project, but the limited series hails from Stephen David Entertainment, the production company behind History’s The Men Who Built America, its eight-hour mini that focused on John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie and J.P. Morgan. The mini, which was told over four two-hour broadcasts, averaged 2.6 million total viewers in late 2012. (more)
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Sons of Liberty comes five years after HBO collected 13 Emmy wins out of 23 nominations for its John Adams miniseries, including statuettes for stars Paul Giamatti, Laura Linney and Tom Wilkinson, among others.
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The Sons of Liberty were radicals, eh? I think that the writer is showing a bit of bias in their reporting of this story. The History Channel did a great job with The Hatfields and McCoys, The Men Who Built America and The Bible…I remain hopeful.
