The Statue of Liberty Under Construction - Remarkable Photographs

2009-02-08T03:45:00.000-08:00

The New York Public Library has recently unveiled some extraordinary pictures of the Statue of Liberty under construction. Take a trip back in time and see extraordinary behind the scenes images of the creation of this superlative structure.

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A giant is formed. The sheer scale of the statue under construction can be seen here, in contrast to the workmen posing woodenly for that fairly new invention, the camera. The more formal name for the statue is Liberty Enlightening the World and it is constructed with sheets of pure copper, even though the picture makes it look something like marble. It is something of a miracle that we now have the finished product standing proudly on Liberty Island. Had it not been for the contributions of ordinary French and Americans then she would never have arisen in the first instance.

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Such is the immensity of the statue one can only wonder whether or not the workmen pictured above had any idea which part of the statue they were working on at any one time. The photograher Albert Fernique, who captured these pictures around 1883, must have been in a certain awe at the immensity of the statue and his images capture its sheer scale and size beautifully. The French had decided to give the United States of America something for their centennial independence celebrations that the Americans and the world would never forget. The process of building was painstaking, slow and fraught with financial difficulties. The copper ‘shell' was only what the public would see. What lies beneath - both in terms of its structure and the story behind its erection - is almost as startling.

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Officials survey the workshop - models of statues can just be seen in the background. While they probably had an idea that their statue would become an icon of freedom the world over, the French politicians of the day had some rather more down to earth reasons for gifting the immense sculpture to the States. French politics. Perhaps for this reason the source of the copper has never been revealed. The rumor had always been that the copper was of Norwegian origin, from a village called Visnes, rather than a French source. In 1985 Bell Labs confirmed that this was fairly likely to be true.

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At the time France was in political turmoil and, although at the time under their third republic, many people looked back at the time of Napoleon and the monarchy before that with fondness and wanted its return. The desire for a backwards step to authoritarianism was worrying. French politicians - as wily then as now - saw Lady Liberty as a way, albeit phenomenally huge, to focus the public's imagination on republicanism as the best way forward. The USA and its centennial of independence from the yolk of England was the perfect focus.

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The plaster surface of the left arm and its hand take shape, the skeleton underneath revealed. As there is a deal of work under the carapace, so the French politicians had ulterior motives. Using the USA - which many saw as the ideal of government and populist aspirational politics - the French used the statue as a Trojan Horse in reverse, as it were. Its true purpose, in the eyes of the political gift givers, was to make republicanism the center of political ideology in the minds of the people. How greatly it succeeded can never fully be quantified but the French cannot be faulted for thinking big. It must be said here that the ordinary French, through their sunstantial buying of lottery tickets (and other fund rasing efforts) had a much purer purpose at heart than their politicians.

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It must surely have been amazing for the workers to turn up each morning to the sight of a colossal head looking down upon them. The inspiration for the face seems to be the Roman god of the sun, Apollo or his Greek equivalent, Helios. More down to earth sources of inspiration center on the women in the life of the sculptor, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. It may well have been Isabella Eugenie Boyer, a good looking and well-known figure in Paris at the time. More worrying, some believe the face of the statue actually belongs to Bartholdi's mother. Bartholdi never revealed the true model of the face, but if this is the case Freud would have had a field day.

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Bertholdi made a small scale model first, which is still displayed in the Jardin du Luxembourg in the city of the statue's original construction, Paris. Before the statue was shipped to America, though, it had to be seen to be tested. If it had not been for money, it may never have landed in the states - particularly in the form we all know. On a visit to Egypt, Bartholdi's vision of liberty expanded to its present proportions. Had his original idea received financial support, then whatever gift the French gave the Americans for the 1876 centennial could not possibly have been the statue.

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Little by little, the statue arises. Bertholdi saw the Suez Canal under construction in the eighteen sixties and was inspired to build a giant figure at its entrance. He drew up plans which bore a remarkable similarity to what now stands on Liberty Island but his ideas were rejected by the Egyptian ruling body of the time because of the financial problems the country was facing at the time. Had the staute been built in Egypt as a lighthouse, the idea would never have been taken up for America. The Statue of Liberty as we know it was in fact used as a lighthouse, from its unveiling in 1886 right until 1902 - the very first in the world to use electricity.

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Almost there! There were huge structural issues that had to be addressed in the design and construction of a sculpture of such enormity. Enter a certain Gustave Eiffel, who would later go on to build that eponymous tower which still dominates the skyline of Paris. It was his job (which he delegated to Maurice Koechlin, his favored structural engineer) to ensure that Liberty's copper sheath could move while still remaining vertical. Koechlin created a huge pylon of wrought iron and the famous skeletal frame to ensure that the statue would not fall down in high winds.

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Money was always a problem. The plan had been to get the statue to the US by the fourth of July, 1876. Only the right arm and torch were finished by then. However, as the Americans had taken responsibility for the construction of the pedestal, these pieces of the statue were displayed to the American pubic at the Centennial Exposition (in Philadelphia). Money raised by allowing people to climb this part of the statue (see here) started the funding efforts for the base of the statue. The French did their bit too, showing the head in their own exposition in 1878.

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1886 must have been one of those years that people remembered for the rest of their lives. A statue of gigantic proportions, symbolizing the ideas and aspirations of America, was unveiled by President Grover Cleveland at Liberty Island (renamed from Bedloe's Island or Love Island). In an ironic twist, President Cleveland had vetoed the New York legislature from contributing fifty thousand dollars to help with the building of the statue's pedestal. Letting bygones be bygones, President Cleveland was more than happy to officiate at the ceremony. This had not been the only problem to face the statue in the years before its final unveiling, of course. From the model stage, above, to its triumphant moment of revelation, the process was fraught with difficulty - mostly of a financial nature. However, thanks to the efforts of both the American and French people we now have a permanant reminder of what we should hold dear - liberty still symbolically steps forth from her shackles to protect, shelter and enlighten.

You're So Vane!

2009-01-24T14:17:00.000-08:00

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They are everywhere around us, but sometimes we don't take the time to look up and see them! Here we present the slightly bizarre world of the weather vane. Whether or not those responsible for them will put their hands in the air and own up is anyone's guess. What is obvious, however, is that there is certainly truth in the old saying - vanity, vanity, all is vanity!

People are often labeled as obsessive or compulsive or both. Many, when they hit up something that takes their fancy will cling to it for dear life. Some people collect china dolls of Princess Diana. Others will gather a million cats around them and reduce their house to a giant litter tray. At least the owner of this rather plain erection in Cuddington, near Thame, England, has more than an ounce of originality when embarking on their collection.

The first collection, although a vast array, erred towards the traditional vane. You don’t have to go far these days, however, to get a thoroughly modern take on an ancient form of functional art. This very much larger than life fish, swimming majestically through the air in Hood River, Oregon, delivers a new take on the vane both majestic and not a little scary.

If you were asked to draw a weather vane, your piece would probably include the four cardinal directions, signified by their first letters at ninety degree angles to each other. On top there would probably be a hen or maybe a rooster. Historically, though, weather vanes have often reflected the local industry of their site. Here, in Charlestown, this somewhat bizarre impaled milking cow reflects the dairy produce produced locally. Udderly Weird.

That is quite fair enough, you might say. Fish at fisheries, cows at dairies and so the world turns. However, one balancing bovine can indicate something pretty different from another. Quite what the local industry in the part of Dallas, Texas where this creation rests may be is anyone’s guess. Or perhaps not. Over to your dirty mind in three, two, one.

Still, there is a lot to be said about tradition, even when given the gilt edge gleam of the twentieth century. The golden lobster weathervane at Boston Harbor sits proudly atop the James Hook Lobster Company. Clicking its pincers at passing planes and birds, it still proudly denotes an industry cherished in the area.

Pysanka! Bless you! Actually, this enormous, round, decorated thingy is in fact the world’s largest Pysanka. For those of you without a basic knowledge of Ukrainian, that’s an Easter Egg from the aforementioned country. Having said that, this one is located in Alberta, Canada and as well as being ‘decus’ it is also ‘tutamen’. In other words it has a function. Knowing what this article is about, we will leave you to guess as to what its mysterious purpose is! Other than, that is, to make people point, gawp and say ‘Look at that huge Easter egg! Awesome!’

You must cross the border to see the world’s largest weather vane. Welcome to Whitehorse Airport in the Yukon has this outrageous example of a vane of brobdingnabian proportions. And yes, it does move with the wind. Ever so slowly. Although not an immediate indicator of a high wind, at least one DC-3 is assured of a home at an airport for the foreseeable future.

From one flight of fancy to another. If your tastes are more Lilliputian, then you won’t feel left out with these, much smaller examples in the vane game. Over to the left, out of picture, is a dam they are just about to bust. Hardly likely, particularly in their home ground of Yosemite! They provide a great big prod to the imagination, though!

Returning to connections to the sea, can you guess upon which type of structure this wonderful product of the school of twentieth century art cum kitsch sits atop? It is none other than the New York Aquarium at Coney Island. A thing of marvel, how the whole culture of a city can be encapsulated in a single weather vane!

It may be strange for lobsters to chase planes, but what is so unusual about dogs chasing birds? Not a great deal, unless they are rendered from metal and hover precariously forty feet above the ground. From the looks of the Dalmatian at the end, one hundred and one is about to become one hundred.

What European country is overly fond of its beer and regularly ‘invades’ other countries to make sure they know it during the summer? After responding with ‘every country in Europe’ please rethink and be a little more National Lampoon. Yes, it’s the Brits and this anthropomorphized toad is telling of another national obsession. No, not that, it’s the fondness the British have for animals of course! Dartmoor, well known for its American Werewolves, is where you can find this particular Mister, without Ratty and Moley for company perhaps but still enjoying life (and beer!) to the full.

From the natural home of inebriety to that of subtlety. They say that everything is bigger in America and so must be the wind. A little west of Carmen in Oklahoma, someone had the bright idea for this early warning tornado system. It should perhaps be called a weather vane-r. Or even vane-st. If this boy moves, head for the cellar!

Trust the Finns to get all minimal on us! This ever so slightly surreal attempt at the vane can be found in Helsinki. It has some of the usual accoutrements of the genre (if it can be so called) but lacks the usual directive pointers, having only four identical white ships to guide the would-be forecaster. They would, necessarily, try in vain to discover the way the wind is blowing! And yes. That particular play on words just had to be used. You were waiting for it, come on!

Often the traditional and the modern can come together in a spectacularly successful fashion, as in this vane from windswept Cumbria in the UK. This art deco re-imagination of the conventional elements of the vane does not go against the time honored ‘must haves’ of the form. Just wonderful!

Oh and pigs might fly? After any pseudo arty ramblings, something has to bring us down to earth. Oinking skyward, this flying pig shows how British humor can be subtle and, well, not all at the same time. The denizens of Derby, however, need beware. This porcine wonder has a somewhat vampiric look to him! It would be fantastic if below this vane was a pub called something like ‘The Slaughter’d Lamb’.

Straight from pigs to beef. Most people believe that a certain fast food restaurant (cough) opened in the nineteen fifties. Here is absolute proof, from the Appalachians, that the firm was opened many years before. Unfortunately, they didn’t quite get their marketing right first time around and after due consideration decided on a logo more or less at eye level. They also thought later that a color change might be appropriate. Please note, if you want a global brand, this is one lesson you should learn. Use color.

In North Carolina, a local arboretum hides in its chimney tops some beautiful vanes. Is it a leaf, a flower or is it even a shooting star? With so much art, some of the pleasure is in deciding for yourself!

Reminiscent of a flight to Oz this modern day vane fulfils its time-honored purpose with a twist of the New World Gallic. Almost guaranteed to raise a smile on the face of the average Quebecois it’s a subtle piece of modern architecture serving a conventional purpose. Is there any need to dispute which is the more important?

Which way does this bird fly in winter? This uber modern vane brings us completely up to date with established functionality sharing pride of place with innovative design. If you didn’t study Latin at school and are still wondering what the phrase ‘Decus et Tutamen’ means, it is this: ‘an ornament and a safeguard’. What better way to describe the above vane?

Pioneer Square in Portland, Oregon, must have the most beautiful modern weather vane on the planet. A new city by some standards, it is unashamedly proud of the fact and that is reflected in this stunning chrome colored construction.

In a similar vein, the juxtaposition of the old and new can send a delighted shiver down many a neck. When the vane itself is not thoroughly modern, the evolving environment around it can be a ready made history lesson for the eyes.

Love Bugs or Just Bug Porn?

2009-01-18T09:36:00.000-08:00

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The diversity of insects on this planet is astonishing and should be a source of continual wonder for us all. It can only be hope that these incredible creatures can be left to survive and continue their species for many millennia to come. Of course they do everything we do - sometimes with much more aplomb! You may think this is mother nature at is rawest or a kind of bug porn! Choose for yourself, but ready or not - here we go!

A pair of Migrant Hawkers mates, the fantastic coloring of their bodies coordinating so well with each other. Found in Sweden, this dragonfly is known there as Höstmosaikslända which translates to “Fall Mosaic”. A rather beautiful name for a rather beautiful creature.

The appropriately named Assassin Bug which looks as if it would give any Ninja a run for its money! They feed mainly off other insects but have been known to have a go at other species, including birds and, oh, us! Found in tropical regions, they are making inroads in to Europe and North America as the climate becomes warmer.

These Cicada Parasite bugs may look as if they belong to different species but it is quite usual for male and female insects to be startlingly different from one another. The larger one is the female and the brown one doing the work is the male. Found in the USA, they are otherwise known as Cedar Beetles.

The sex of the Southern Green Stink Bug, however, is almost indistinguishable to the untrained eye. Fortunately they have no problem with recognizing each other. They are so called because, yes, their smell can only be described as malodorous. Classified as a pest, these bugs attack many important food crops and are thought to have originated in Ethiopia. They are becoming common in Europe, Asia and the Americas.

The much-maligned mosquito has many different species all over the world. Noted for their slender body and long legs they are the Size Zero of the insect world. As a vector agent they carry parasites and diseases from person to person and so are not the most popular insect on the planet. Blissfully unaware of their reputation among the higher mammals, this pair carries on the circle of life quite blithely.

The Lady Bug or as it is known in the UK, the Ladybird should have a worse reputation than the mosquito as it is a voracious killer and devourer of its prey, the greenfly. However, its primary coloring (although red should signify danger even to us!) has given it a much gentler public image than it deserves.

Caddis flies are closely related to moths and butterflies and as such mate in a very similar way with each partner facing away from the other. Their larvae are, however, aquatic and can live in extremely cold climates. Their cocoons are spun from silk, just like butterflies. They emerge en masse to ensure that a male and female can find each other easily. Anglers take advantage of this by matching their flies to whatever species is emerging on the day they are fishing.

The gorgeous Queen Butterfly (living in South and North America) do not have a problem recognizing each others’ gender as the male has an endocrinal patch on its dorsal hind wings which releases scent to attract females. It uses a technique called Mullerian Mimicry to protect itself. That is, it adopts the mannerisms of the more populous Viceroy butterfly which is poisonous to birds and other animals. Funnily enough, the Queen is also poisonous but it imitates the Viceroy as the latter is much more numerous. Where the mimic is not poisonous, this is known as Batesian Mimicry.

Two rotting bananas do it on a lead. This awesomely ugly creature is known as Lixus angustatus but we would call it a weevil. They are also, unsurprisingly, known as Snout Beetles and look as if they are some long lost relative of the Ant Eater. There is such an abundance of Weevil species and diversity that their classification is in a constant state of flux but you are most likely to meet one at home if you open a bag of flour! A good job that home baking is on the decline, then!

The incredibly elegant creature pictured above is the Ischnura elegans or the Blue-Tailed Damselfly and is found over much of the European continent. As its English name suggests, it has a large amount of blue coloring. Its eighth segment, however, is entirely blue and it is this which gives this insect its stunning look. The female has diversified in color and can come in pale green, violet and pink.

The Robber Fly, which not many people find terribly attractive, has some fun in the sun. They can be recognized by their furry moustache and each has a group of three primitive eyes nestling between the larger two compound ones. It injects its victims through its proboscis and the enzyme it produces liquefies it victim. The resulting mush can then be sucked through the proboscis.

Pennsylvania Leather-wings are a beneficial insect. The larva enjoy nothing more than as many grasshopper eggs as they can get through. Some species that are native to the Great Plains in the USA are used to control Corn Earworm caterpillars which can damage crops enormously. This pair uses the natural camouflage of a Tickweed Sunflower to produce the next generation of the species.

Another pair of Stink Bugs gets busy with the job nature intended. Although they are known to occasionally eat other insects, they mostly suck the sap from plants by piercing them with sharp mouth parts. Stink Bugs (from the Hemiptera order) use their stink to warn off predators. The stink is an aldehyde, which is similar to a pheromone (chemically at least).

The European Praying Mantis is one of the more popular insects because of its alien appearance. The female is renowned for eating the male after mating. This is certainly true – and the male knows it. Little known is the fact that many males manage to make a quick getaway after they have secured continuance of their genetic material!

The Praying Mantis is the Kama Sutra Kid of the insect world. Whole books could be written about the positions in which they are found in coitus!

Always beware the little guys! Ambush bugs are usually about twelve millimeters in length but they take on prey which is significantly larger than they are! They are found mostly in tropical Asia and America and hide among plants from which they pounce on their prey when it gets close enough. The upper part of each foreleg has structures like teeth that mesh in to the thicker leg section. It grasps its victim in its pincers and, piercing the victim with its short beak, it sucks out the fluids. One can only hope the male, above, decides not to do it to the female!

These Anacua tortoise beetles are so named because of their superficial resemblance to the tortoise. However, unlike a tortoise, what you can see here is not a carapace or shell. It is known as an elytron and is a hardened forewing. It is a protective cover for the delicate hind wings which are used for flying. In some species the fore and hind wings have become fused, which renders the beetle flightless.

A pair of Shield Bugs – which is another name for the Stink Bug family. What is exceptional about this species is the orange and black strip of danger signals it has at the base of its ‘shield’. How often does mankind unwittingly imitate the insect world?

The Desert Forktail, found in the USA has found its mate. The remarkable microphotography enlarges this pair to a scary level. The Aliens and the Predators of the movie world would not stand a chance if these were to be enlarged to a much greater size! Humor aside, the unearthliness of this photo is breathtaking.

What selection of insects would be complete without the inclusion of the Grasshopper? This image manages to be beautiful, scary and creepy all at the same time.

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Sea Slug Symphony

2009-01-10T11:04:00.000-08:00

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Sea Slugs may not have the most beautiful of names but it can be argued that they are among the most beautiful of creatures on the planet. There are many species - an astounding array of color, shape and size. Join us and witness the Sea Slug Symphony below the sea!

This beautiful creature is found in the Western Pacific. A rich pinkinsh purple color, they have a white border on their mantle. They would be startling enough without, but their rhinophore clubs are an orange-yellow color that is a startling juxtaposition with the rest of their bodies. This exquisite creature is formally known as Hypselodoris apolegma.

This is Flabellina iodinea, an elegant species if ever there was one. It is also known as the Spanish Shawl because of its rich purple coloring. You can find it from the West Coast of America all the way to the Galapagos islands. The rhinophores – what we might call its horns – are used to find possible mates and its prey as well. The appendages you can see are actually gills which draw oxygen from the sea water.

Glossodoris atromarginata is found off the coast of Australia. It has a black line along the border of its mantle edge which gives it an almost modern art look. Its gills often wave in a rhythmic motion as it moves, giving the sea slug an other-worldly quality which has to be seen to be believed. It can reach six centimeters in length and is the most common species in its group.

The Hammerhead Nudibranch is a specialty in some parts of the world and you can see why it might be found attractive. A gorgeous black color with vivid, almost neon markings around its mantle, this could perhaps also be named as the Prince of Darkness of the nudibranch world. Its Latin name is Chelidonura varians and its dark beauty is a perfect contrast to the vivid brightness of other sea slug species.

Trtonia festiva, as this gorgeous specimen is known, can be found from Alaska to northern California and can be even found in the waters off Japan. Its food is the soft coral called gorgonians. Their frontal veil is used to position itself over these soft corals and then it waits to launch a surprise attack. It attacks its prey very quickly and bites off polyps before they can get back in to their protective cover. So, it may look like a delicate and peaceful creature but it is far from it!

You really would be forgiven for thinking that this is a creature recently discovered on another planet by one of the Star Trek crew. However, it is in fact Janolus barbarensis and this fabulous creature is distributed from California down to Mexico. It is named for its proximity to Santa Barbara and is in fact one of two incredibly alike species that for a time were considered the same.

These two strikingly different looking specimens are in fact the same species. Hermissenda crassicornis can look quite different and these color variations are in fact quite common. The white lines on the species can also appear blue. How they tell that they are the same species is anyone’s guess.

This is Hypselodoris bennetti and can be found off the coast of New South Wales in Australia. It can grow up to about five centimeters but is normally somewhat smaller than that. The spots are arranged randomly, so each one is unique. It is often thought to live a distance from its food, but the sponge it lives off is covered over with algae, hence the mistaken belief.

This is the aptly named Chromodoris magnifica – and so it is indeed. The name means magnificent colors and as you can see this denizen of the sea is truly gorgeous. It is from Indonesia, Australia and Papua New Guinea and feeds off red sponge. It lives in depths of about five meters and can be found as deep as thirty.

A translucent species, Chromodoris lochi has several dark bluish or black longitudinal lines that set it apart from other species. This sea slug lifts itself up and seems to be “sniffing” around. They are hermaphrodites and as such have fully functioning female and male organs. So, this species produces both eggs and sperm. When mating they position themselves by the side of another and align their genitalia to enable the passage of sperm.

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Matt Smith to be the New Doctor Who

2009-01-03T10:11:00.000-08:00

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How do you make a whole nation tune in to the same TV channel at the same time? A state of the nation address by the head of state? Announce the death of a senior member of the royal family? Or simply tell them that they will find out who the next actor to play that wandering Time Lord, Doctor Who in his eleventh incarnation, will be? The latter, it seems!

So it was that Matt Smith was exhibited to the nation – a lamb to the slaughter perhaps? After all, this is one of the best loved TV characters of all time and those lucky (or foolhardy enough) to be chosen for and accept this role have the hopes of a nation (if not the English speaking world!) riding on their shoulders!

The BBC was, once upon a time, accused of not being very good at marketing or self-promotion. No so anymore! In an unprecedented move the BBC announced on New Year’s Day that they would be announcing the new Doctor Who, David Tennant’s replacement on Saturday 3 November. Usually it is done as an item at the end of the news – the ‘feel good’ story to give people that little pre-bedtime boost and it is reported in the newspapers the following day.

However, due to the huge popularity of the show, and the fondness people have for Mister Tennant, the BBC made an unprecedented move. They announced that they would be unveiling the new Doctor in a special episode of the popular spin-off show, Doctor Who Confidential. Normally shown on the digital channel, BBC3, the show was, for one day only, destined for the prime Saturday tea-time slot of five thirty-five on the BBC’s flagship channel, BBC1.

Tennant announced that he was quitting the show last year and the actor replacing him has been the source of intense and frenzied media speculation since then. The rumors abounded – would the next Doctor be a woman? Catherine Zeta-Jones has been thought to have been in talks with the corporation. Coming from Wales, where the show is shot, she was thought to be the main contender as the first female Doctor – even though her compatriot Rhys Ifans was also suggested for the same reason.

Would the next Doctor be black? Two well respected actors were thought likely to be in the frame – Patterson Joseph and Chitwel Ejifor. Ejifor has a successful film career and Patterson is best known to TV viewers for his role as Greg Preston in the recent revival of that other BBC science-fiction favorite, Survivors.

However, he choice was ultimately Matt Smith. Born in 1982 he is the youngest actor ever to take on the role. He is known to TV audiences for his role as Jim Taylor in the adaptation of Phillip Pullman’s Ruby In The Smoke. Ironically he performed alongside Billie Piper in this role, who starred as the Doctor’s companion Rose Tyler in the rejuvenated series when it started four years ago. He also appeared beside her in the much raunchier vehicle, Secret Diaries of a Call Girl.

He has made a number of stage appearances, including the cast of Alan Bennet’s History Boys (it seems that no young British actor these days has not appeared in this!).

As a member of the National Youth Theatre he was well positioned to go on roles in television and his first professional performance was in Fresh Kills, starring Christian Slater.

He has received one acting award and that was the Lawrence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement or Performance in an Affiliate Theatre. This is sure to be the first of many now he has accepted the role of the Doctor! Smith will beginning filming later this year and the first full series starring him as the Doctor will show on British television in 2010.

Good luck to Matt!

Madoff to Bacon - Six Degrees of Deficit

2009-01-01T07:08:00.000-08:00

That old game, “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” has been given a new contemporary, if unfortunate, twist with recent revelations about Bernard Madoff’s activities. The game involves linking Our Kevin with anyone (but mostly other actors) in as few steps as possible.

Let’s take a quick look and do some linking….

OK, first of all we have Bernard Madoff himself.

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Perhaps not so well known among average folk until recently, Madoff will go down in history as one of the greatest Wall Street swindlers of all time. His fraud – basically a pyramid scheme – has meant that up to fifty billion dollars may be lost due to him. Effectively, rather than rewarding his investors with profits he gave them money which had been paid to him by new investors. With virtually nothing left, he recently felt the urge to fess up and the rest is all over the papers. Let us link him first to…

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Steven Spielberg

Spielberg has admitted that he is one of the fraudster's many victims although it does not seem that he has lost any of his vast wealth directly to Madoff. His charity, the Wunderkinder Foundation – which was set up to help children’s’ health causes as well as environmental groups – was looking forward to a rosy future. Unfortunately, much of the Foundation’s money was invested with Madoff. Spielberg is connected with…

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Tom Cruise

Cruise starred in Spielberg’s film “Minority Report”. Tom has had a long and wonderful career in the movies and has starred with a host of stars during his career. One of the films he starred in was “A Few Good Men”, with….

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Kevin Bacon

Our Kevin didn’t play a very nice person in that film but nothing that he has done makes him deserving of losing a whole chunk of his personal fortune! He and his wife, Kyra Sedgwick, have steered clear of the Hollywood glamour parade and have brought up two teenage children, mostly in New York. They lead a fairly quiet life despite a recent resurgence in their earning power. However, Bacon’s publicist has recently admitted that he has lost an undisclosed amount of money to...

Bernard Madoff.

Done in less than six links!

Our condolences to Kevin, who only last year was instrumental in setting up the charity SixDegrees.org, which links up charities and philanthropists. It is a great shame that someone so involved in charity work should have been ripped off to such a degree! Please excuse that final pun - it was just too irresistible!

Book Autopsies

2008-12-06T09:27:00.001-08:00

Old encyclopedias sit on the shelf and gather dust with no one much to bother them. If they had minds and souls perhaps they would quietly despair at the disregard the vast bulk of humanity pays them as they quietly molder away. They might even become introspective and look up the second law of thermodynamics within their own pages to ascertain how much time they have left before they go the way of all things. An American artist has, however, been saving these books (at least for a while) from the vicissitudes of entropy by giving them a new form and shape – a new lease of life, if you like.

He has done this by creating what are known as “book autopsies”! The words do not form an oxymoron but raise the eyebrows with enough curiosity for the mind to demand greater clarity. Since 2000 a young artist called Brian Dettmer has been producing extraordinary pieces of fine art by performing literal autopsies on the books themselves. This is the culmination of previous works which feature language – and its communication – in a central role, an almost trackable fluidity of thought which to the onlooker only becomes so in hindsight. Only the artist could imagine how one might lead to the other!

His early work involved paintings based on coded languages, such as Braille and Morse. Moving on to pasting newspaper, magazine and book pages to canvas, he would detach parts of the layers of the written media exposing what lay within.

Finally his experiments with language and the written word reached its pinnacle. Using skills which could surely have led him to a career in surgery, had fate had different ideas, Dettmer skillfully makes incisions in to old books and exposes their long hidden content to the air. Although to many it is an act of vandalism to deface a book in such a way, Dettmer has brought new life to tomes that may never have been opened again, but for his intervention. The only difference now is that the ‘reader’ does not have to flick through the pages to discover their content.

When the role of certain media decreases – or even deceases – Dettmer revitalizes their form to reveal their content to a new generation of ‘readers’. The idea behind the art is to take the ‘dead’ content and convey it again – albeit it in a radically changed format. A new approach to substance and form arises from the redundancy of the original article. So the phoenix rises from the ashes as, perhaps, another beast altogether.

Altered states, indeed. Dettmer begins by sealing the old book and then he cuts in to it. The choice of book often seems similar in content – they contain plate illustrations which we would consider old fashioned as they are generally in black and white. This gives the finished piece a slightly macabre air of the Victorian gothic.

However, the imagined brutality and butchery of eighteenth century autopsies are not imitated – these books are taken apart with the skill of a modern day surgeon and lovingly sliced to reveal their innards. These are, one might conceive, the kind of books that the monsters from the “Hellraiser” films might settle down to read on an evening when they had no living souls to torture.

The overall impression leaves people open mouthed. The art takes on an even greater ‘gasp’ effect when it is realized that there are no deliberate inserts in the new content. Neither does Dettmer move any of the original content – they are exactly where they were when the book was first published. The intricacy of these three dimensional works is astonishing.

Can these pieces of work be labeled derivative? Certainly, they display and express ideas that were first put on the printed page by others. However, those others are long dead and, in no way shape or form would ever have envisaged their ‘copyright’ being breached in this manner. One wonders whether they would have approved or not!

Dettmer's work has been exhibited all over the world. If you would like to see his work in the flesh, as it were, it can be found in art galleries. North Americans are by far the luckiest – perhaps reflecting Dettmer’s nationality. His work is currently on display in San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta, New York and Toronto. If you are in Europe you would have to venture to Barcelona in order to see his work. Not that most people ever need an excuse to visit Barcelona!

The Art of Arborsculpture

2008-12-05T08:27:00.001-08:00

Do you have a green thumb? Then perhaps arborsculpture is for you. It may not be a word that is familiar to you – it does not yet appear in any dictionaries, but it is a combination of art and gardening which is quickly growing in popularity.

Arborsculpture is the art of growing and shaping the branches of tress (and other woody plants) in to shapes never intended in the wild or even in the garden. A combination of pruning, grafting and bending, it is used to make living plants in to something either useful or ornamental. The results can be quite stunning.

You could even end up with living furniture, if you gave the time! Arborsculpture is for the tenacious and patient. It takes a significant amount of time to see the fruits of one’s labor and there can never be a one hundred percent guarantee that the finished work will be as you intended – nature will sometimes have her way despite us!

Plants have the ability to be joined together through grafting and arborsculpture relies heavily on this. Woody plants are also able (with some persuasion) to retain a shape they have been forced to assume when they grown new layers of wood over the original soft bark.

A part of the tree is deliberately wounded by the removal of bark. It is then joined on to a similarly wounded tree and the two parts bound together. Where the contact between the two plants is maintained securely they will grow together. This may mean that they are ‘braced’ for a year or more. As with teeth, this is done to overcome the natural resistance of the wood to grow where it will.

However, when the new layers of wood grow it acts as a kind of natural cast and keeps the plant in the shape in to which it has been bent. Once the new wood has grown the brace can then be removed.

Pruning may also be required. This helps to redirect the growth of the stem. If a plant is pruned above a leaf pointing to the right then new growth will be produced that points to the right. In exactly the same way a cut above a leaf growing left will encourage growth in that direction.

To grown an arborsculpture will depend on a variety of things. Firstly the size of the tree that is destined to be sculpted must be taken in to account as does its growth rate. Something relatively simple can be done in around an hour and the ‘cast’ can be removed in a year. Other larger projects can take anywhere up to a decade from start to finish. It could be argued that the art project is never finished as while the tree is alive it will continue to grow! You might even end up with a new, living, home if you do things correctly!

With a great deal of patience and hard work, not only ornate patterns can be produced. Even ‘everyday’ items can be formed from trees by the manipulation, bending and merging of their tissue. While many may prefer to leave nature to its own devices, arborsculpture allows those with the time, inclination and energy to express themselves through something living in a way which at the very least demands to be described as eye-catching!

Robocop on a Unicorn: An Unlikely Combination?

2008-11-30T08:52:00.000-08:00

Some Internet memes are fairly simple to figure out, even though they may give you the occasional strange dream. The dancing hamsters, rickrolling, the Numa numa dance. These files may have been propagated on the internet without the proper health warnings but at least they were fairly straightforward to figure out. Then, occasionally, one comes along that really gets heads scratching – precipitating a global cascade of dandruff that will keep L’Oreal in business for years. So it is with one of the latest – Robocop on a Unicorn.

Yes, that’s right. A unicorn. And Robocop. An unlikely combination, all said and the reasons for the combination should realistically be kept close to the chest but no doubt a certain Doctor Freud would have a lot to say about it – as have, indeed, the denizens of he internet.

Is there greater meaning in the marriage of the two symbols, one ancient the other modern, or is this simply an irresistible combination that induces a chuckle (or an indignant splurt of the morning coffee) before the viewer moves on to the next banal but entertaining web page? What could Mr Rokne and his cohorts be getting at? Is this new net phenomenon visual spam or a profound statement about the times in which we live?

Well, first there is the sublime combination of the names. A unicorn gets is name from the Latin – ‘uni’ meaning one and ‘cornu’ meaning horn. Ah! So, one might imagine that Robocop derives his name from a similar classical root. Well, not quite. The word comes from as recently as 1921. Karl Capek, a Czech playwright of the early twentieth century was writing a play featuring manufactured humans, created to be servants in the future (eastern European satire never got so fine).

He looked at Latin origins for the name of his machines and discovered that labori (from labor – to work) just didn’t have the same ring. His brother suggested the Czech word ‘robota’ meaning, literally, horribly hard work or drudgery. Had he stuck with the Latin etymology we may well have ended up with Laborocop or something akin to that.

So far, so good. The origins of the word cop are a little older – but not much! Around the year 1700 the word ‘cop’ entered everyday English usage and it meant to catch, capture or get a hold of. It showed up in print about a hundred and forty years later and came to define one who combats and contains felons a little while later. It is not, as many people believe, an acronym for “Office On Patrol”.

So, even the origins of the two words have a delicious dichotomy! The fantasy version of the Actress and the Bishop, perhaps! We have the coming together of the RoaU which is dichotomous enough you may think. Then take the fact that their names are themselves a bipartition of elements which are mutually exclusive from each other and your head may begin to hurt a little.

So why bring the two together in forms of this kind of imagery? Does Robocop have a purity that is unattainable, that being the purity of the law? Or has he been lying about his son all this time and is in fact still virgo intactus?

Perhaps they share some personality traits that bring them together to fight crime. They are both essentially good but misunderstood, selfless but solitary. Both have a mysterious beauty about them and generally speaking can only be captured by foul means. And of course, both are the stuff of legend, one ancient and pastoral, the other contemporary and urban.

Some people have spoken about the imagery of RoaU representing a resurgent United States, which is quite a hoot considering the origins of this meme are Canadian. Others have started serious discussions about the theology behind the imagery. Yet more are using the various pictures for their X-Box avatars. Whatever the real meaning behind the pictures, people will make their own minds up and create their own legends.

Perhaps the real reason is dichotomy, after all! Two such unlikely friends are bound to cause a stir! Or maybe, just maybe, this is just a bit of fun, which like anything has the potential to do – just got a little out of hand?

The Queen Bee - Not As Royal as you may Think!

2008-11-23T07:45:00.000-08:00

The Queen Bee is a remarkable insect. Here, follow the life cycle of the queen, from the egg to the end. You may be surprised at some of the things you find out!

This is an example of a Queen cell. The conditions in the hive have become right for a swarm and when this happens the old queen lays eggs in to queen cups. These are larger than the normal cells in to which eggs are laid and have a vertical orientation, while the normal eggs are vertical. Swarm cells will hang at the bottom of a frame within the hive. When an “emergency queen” is needed (otherwise known as a supersedure), then the cells are built out from the face of a frame. These queen cells may look like a super-sized peanut but they hold something in side much more precious than a nut!

Workers will “decide” that they want to swarm for a number of reasons. As the population of a hive increases it gets rather cramped and a new hive is often needed. For the hive to function a new queen will be needed to populate it. In order to maximize the survival of a new hive, often a number of queen cells will be constructed. When the newly hatched queens emerge they will fight to the death. The winner will then destroy any unhatched queen cells and the swarm will begin. The workers above are beginning the construction of a new queen cell.

A cutaway of a queen cell shows the alien being developing within! It is not difficult to see where some Hollywood movie makers get their inspiration from! There is not a huge amount of time between the laying of the queen egg and that queen itself starting her own enormous family. The egg will hatch three days after it is laid and the larva grows and molts after that. On the eighth day the queen cell will be capped and the pupa stage will begin. The virgin queen will emerge on around the sixteenth day and take flight three to four days later. She will start to lay eggs herself from around the twenty third day. Amazing!

One of the reasons that the queen cell is so much bigger than a normal egg cell is that the queen has an enormous abdomen. This is a biological necessity – she is destined to become an egg laying machine. Spot the blob of blue paint on her thorax – something that beekeepers do to quickly locate the queen among her minions. If one of her daughters leaves the tank in a swarm, then they can take tens of thousands of bees with them. This will involve about five kilos of honey taken along for the ride. The beekeeper will usually remove queen cells – as they obviously don’t want to lose all that honey – often to an empty hive of their own.

The virgin queen that survives will fly to what is known as a “drone congregation area”. She will mate with around a dozen drones and store the sperm in her spematheca. This is an organ designed to receive and store sperm until it is needed. It is more often than not the place where fertilization occurs as well.

She has a small window of opportunity here, though! If she does not mate within a few days then she will become a “drone layer”. As she will have no fertilized eggs that will spell the end of the colony. In very rare cases, something called thelytoky has been known to happen. This is where worker bees will lay the eggs of a new queen themselves, thus saving the colony. This is restricted to a few species, such as the Cape bee.

Do bees make a noise other than buzzing? Yes – and it is known as piping. This is produced by virgin and mated queens at certain times. The virgin pipes as she comes out of her cell. Once she has mated she may do it for some time afterwards as well. If you imagine a child’s trumpet, then you have a fair approximation of piping and it is audible to the human ear outside a hive! People argue as to its reason but most see it as a kind of battle cry. It is created by the flight motor (the wings, however, do not move when piping occurs). Others believe that it is a rallying call to workers and the best piper will get the most drones to follow them.

Many people believe that when bees swarm they are at their most dangerous. In fact, the opposite is true in reality. A swarm of bees is actually a fairly docile affair because, after all, they have no hive to protect at the moment, so what would the point be in stinging people. That said, it is best to be careful – especially if you are wearing primary colors – and stay clear. Nature is best left alone in these circumstances!

This can also be done artificially. As you can see, however, it is a process that involves great care and a deal of equipment. However, just as in the artificial insemination of mammals, this will ensure that the next generation the queen reproduces it exactly the one that the beekeeper desires. This will help eradicate pests such as mites (see below) and ensure some good honey in the process!

A common mistake amongst non apiarists is the assumed fact that the queen directly controls the hive. Effectively, however, her duty is as an egg making machine. She can lay bout two thousand eggs a day in the spring. This amounts to more than her own weight in eggs each day. Surrounded continuously by workers, she needs for nothing. They give her food and take her waste away. They will also collect a pheromone which they then distribute to stop workers from starting queen cells.

This very close up of a queen bee shows one of its greatest – and smallest – enemies. The bee mite is an external parasite that attacks honey bees. It attaches itself to the bee’s body and sucks out its hemolymph. This is the blood analogue that is used by bees as they have an open circulatory system. Unfortunately the mite is more than just a pain in the neck. It can spread a host of viruses, including “Deformed Wing Virus” (does what it says on the packet) and the arrival of mites in a colony can often spell its demise. Scientists believe that the mite may contribute to the Colony Collapse Disorder (otherwise known as CCD) that is spreading throughout the United States.

Often a new queen will emerge from the hive already badly infected with mites. Here, if you look just behind the eyes, you will see some light orange bumps. These are the mites that have already sentenced this particular queen to an early death. The mites have been kept at bay by antibiotics for twenty years or so. Unfortunately, this can make problems worse by producing a strain of mite that is resistant to the antibiotics.

Absolutely Bonkers for Conkers

2008-11-16T07:26:00.000-08:00

The stuff of nightmares, perhaps? This rather spooky take on the conker looks as if it may have come from a horror film. “The Trees Have Eyes”, possibly? The thought of wandering all lonesome through a wood on Halloween would be even spookier if these things were taking a look at you! Run, run!

Some people have slightly dirty minds. Others can’t get the wild thing out of their minds for a second. Let’s think about which category you fall in to. If your mind produced an ever so slightly dirty image when you saw the above harmless horse chestnut, then you probably fall in to the latter.

Autumn school yards in the UK are littered with the pulverized carcasses of conkers that have lost the ultimate fight. A hole is drilled though the conker and a string attached. Then, one small boy (small girls usually being far too sensible to take part) holds his conker at arms length. Another small boy takes a swing with his own, the aim being to smash his opponent’s conker in to smithereens. If it doesn’t happen, the other contestant has a turn. This follows until one of the conkers greets oblivion. If the conker has previously smashed five others, then with this it is known as a six-er. And so on!

Conkers are usually gathered from the ground, even though some collectors will try to throw stones in to the branches of the horse chestnut tree to try and get some juicy looking specimen they have spotted. However, although the casing may look large, big conkers are often not the best to use in competition. If you are an alien with god-like powers, however, getting that particular conker down from the upper canopy is no problem whatsoever.

Ah, but Mr Ambassador, you are spoiling us! Some people believe that conkers are edible, but horse chestnuts and chestnuts are not to be confused with each other as if they are the result will be a nasty stomach ache. It is difficult to resist them, though, when they are presented so temptingly!

If you are of a slightly artistic bent then why not try to create your own conker people? A little ingenuity and imagination go a long way. With the credit crunch tightening wallets at the moment, why not follow the instructions here to give your children those Christmas presents they never dreamed of! Or just pile hundred up at the base of their bed and tell them to get on with it!

If you are of an even more artistic bent, you can try your hand at the construction of a conker web. A tradition in some parts of the USA, these can them be made in to wonderful mobiles that will enhance your living space. Or make you look like an impossibly aging hippy. Take your pick!

Autumn can inspire in many ways. Pity the child who finds this conker – it would be almost as large as they are! It would probably propel their opponent in to the upper atmosphere if it were ever used! Of course, this is a carving of a conker but it would amaze any young children (or adults) who were gullible or innocent enough to believe that this giant fell from a tree!

There is no denying, however, that a conker is a thing of beauty. From when they open from their casing and are shiny and new, to when they are old and more than a little shriveled, the conker is for many people a wonderful thing, one of the signifiers that Fall has arrived.

Ah, we love a little political correctness gone mad! In some parts of the UK, local authorities have banned the playing of conkers in their schools and work places. This has inevitably led to a backlash amongst conker lovers who have formed their own political campaign to legalize conkering! Only in the UK!

Whatever Happened to the Buffy Actors? EVEN MORE

2008-11-09T07:12:00.001-08:00

James Marsters

Spike, possibly the best loved Buffy character of them all (including the lead) was an incredibly hard act to follow for the California-born Marsters. As well as getting to kick lots of creature-of-the-night ass, he also got to get deep down dirty with Buffy, giving her what the rather buttoned-up Angel could never! So, how did Marsters follow up Spike?

He spent some time (two performances) on stage in London in an abridged version of Macbeth (2005). Lots of blood and guts but sufficiently away from Spike to perhaps let people know he was also a serious actor.

He co-starred in PS I Love You along with Gerard Butler, Hilary Swank and Kathy Bates in 2007.

Then came the TV. He played Brainiac in the TV series Smallville. This proved hugely popular among sci-fi fans but perhaps even better (for them at least) were his three appearances in the Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood.

In this he played the omnisexual Captain John Hart and received huge praise for his role, even though it was, literally, just Spike with a laser gun. However, his first meeting with Captain Jack Harkness of the Torchwood team led to a number of raised eyebrows - not to mention a fair number of grean with jealousy viewers - below!

Other TV has included Without a Trace, Andromeda and Cool Money.

Recently he played Ted Bundy (above) in a TV film The Capture of the Green River Killer in a Hannibal Lector type role. He will also be seen in 2009 as Buzz Aldrin in the ITV produced British drama Moon Shot.

Most fervently anticipated though, is his live action portrayal of Lord Piccolo (below) in the long awaited version of the manga based Dragon Ball series – shortened to simply Dragonball. Oh yeah, Lord Piccolo is the villain. Quel surprise!

Emma Caulfield

Sent to wreak revenge on Xander for cheating on Cordelia, Anya turned in to his love interest for the remainder of the series. The Anya demon turned human was pretty much a one trick pony in the TV series, so what did actor Emma Caulfield do next?

Like other members of the cast, she stuck with a similar genre and had initial success. A 2003 number one box office smash Darkness Falls (for which she won a Face of the Future gong) was followed by a series of forgettable TV roles. These included an episode of Monk, two episodes of Robot Chicken and a couple of TV movies. Apart from these paltry offerings, Ms Caulfield seems to have slipped from the radar.

So, with a rather wry look on her face, we say good-bye for now to Emma and the rest of the cast of Buffy. Some have fared better than others, but we can only hope for one thing: that whatever their professional lives lead to, they achieve personal happiness. After helping bring us Buffy The Vampire Slayer for so long, what else could we wish them?

Answers on a postcard!

Whatever Happened to the Buffy Actors? MORE

2008-11-09T05:49:00.001-08:00

Anthony Stewart Head

Best known before Buffy in his native UK as the romantic lead in a series of hugely popular Nescafe coffee ads, the role of Giles enabled Head to have an extended sojourn in the USA. Returning to the USA he has had a variety of roles which have enabled him to somewhat shed the mild-mannered librarian image. Just a little.

His best known role since leaving Buffy has been as the role of the Prime Minister in the hugely popular – and often grotesque - comedy series Little Britain. He also had enormous fun playing the twisted alien scientist, Doctor Frank N Furter in a stage revival of the Rocky Horror Show.

Throw in a guest appearance in the massively popular new series of Doctor Who where he played Headmaster Mister Finch in the episode School Reunion. This ‘Head’ is one with a deadly secret. Altogether, you have an actor who has kept himself in public view with a number of roles.

His most recent role has been that of King Uther in the (again, hugely popular) Saturday evening prime time fantasy series Merlin. It is hardly a demanding role for this popular actor – he spends most of his time shouting in a kingly manner – but one which keeps his resume nicely up to date!

Alyson Hannigan

As Willow she was the thoughtful one, the considerate one – the quiet one. For an actor it was certainly one of the roles which had true character progression and as such it might be assumed that an actor who has proved her versatility so thoroughly in one role might go on to much greater things.

Her first major film role was in My Stepmother is an Alien, opposite Seth Green (who played Oz in Buffy) but when a certain vamipre series beckoned, Hannigan leapt at the chance to play Willow. Since then, she has done surprisingly (or perhaps disappointingly) little to convince audiences that she was, after all, the one Buffy Teen who showed real crossover promise. She went on stage in 2004 with Luke Perry in the stage adaptation of When Harry Met Sally (above) but did little to garner a reputation as a serious actor when she appeared in the American Pie series of films (below).

She has made occasional appearances in the Veronica Mars ‘noir’ TV series but perhaps is best known today for her role of Lily in the popular sitcom How I Met Your Mother, (below) now in to its fourth season. Lily is probably the most morally inclined of the main characters and intensely dislikes people not being true to themselves (even though she has been know to fall in to that trap!). She finds it easy to make and sustain platonic friendships with both sexes. Sound familiar anyone?

Nicholas Brendon

With a less than impressive pre-Buffy resume (bit parts in Married with Children and Children of the Corn ‘Trois’) it is easy to imagine that Brendon would disappear after his stint on the best TV horror show for kids but also excellent for adults that was The Slayer. His character, Xander, was included for all the hapless geek boy Buffy worshipers out there but in later seasons the character matured and almost became an action hero himself!

Brendon got off to a promising post-Buffy start, landing one of the leads in Fox’s sitcom Kitchen Confidential. Although thirteen episodes were made it was pulled after only four because of low ratings. He spent some time on stage in LA in 2006 with Noah Wyle and made a TV movie (Relative Chaos - below) in the same year with his Buffy co-star Charisma Carpenter.

Brendon has had various spells in rehab due to alcoholism. However, this year he has had a small part in the vampire feature Blood on the Highway and has recently finished filming The Portal – a supernatural horror film in which the protagonists discover (you’ve guessed it) a portal to another dimension.

Charisma Carpenter

With parents who chose one of the most ridiculous names of the planet for their offspring, was it any wonder that a screen career beckoned for the young Charisma? Playing Cordelia must have been a relief because at least she had a name that was approaching normal – and some of the best, bitchy lines in the show! After leaving Buffy she did a sting with Angel but was written out in the fifth season. So, what happened to our Charisma next?

Like Seth Green, Carpenter has bounced from one guest role to another. She appeared in the Josh Kirby…. Time Warrior (last picture in this section) series of straight to DVD movies. Then, she went on to do four episodes of Miss Matched, three of Charmed (below), eleven of Veronica Mars and two of Big Shots respectively.

She has appeared in three episodes of Greek, playing Tegan Walker (below).

A lifetime of day time soaps beckons, we reckons!

Want to see what happened to Spike and Anya?

CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT SPIKE AND ANYA
CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT SPIKE AND ANYA
CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT SPIKE AND ANYA

Whatever Happened to the Buffy Actors?

2008-11-09T04:36:00.000-08:00

It has been five long years since the last episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was aired. After seven years of working on the same project, the actors involved might have been forgiven if they never went in front of a camera professionally again! However, inquiring minds demand an answer! What happened to the eight actors who played the major roles in the TV series next? Did they go on to bigger and better things or did they disappear without a trace? Take a look at the fates that befell these actors as they struggled to cope - and find work - in their post-Buffy universe.

Sarah Michelle Gellar

The Head Honcho of the Scooby Gang, Sarah Michelle was lucky to get the role of Buffy in the first place after the original movie Buffy, Kristy Swanson, decided that she wanted to concentrate on a film career. Wrong move. The rest, as they say, is history!

However, what happened to Ms Gellar next? Lavish costume dramas? Gritty roles in art-house movies? Well, no. More of the same, really. Ms Gellar may as an actor be regretting her seven years as the vampire vanquishing valley girl, but she has certainly accepted many roles so it can only be assumed that she the bank account is still healthily in the black. Still, since Buffy ended in 2003, Gellar has struggled to get away from the “Scream Queen” image that she actively encouraged during the Buffy Years.

There seem to have been two Gellars around. The first, continuing to cash in on the Buffy tag, accepted roles in I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream 2 (Drew got there before you, baby!) and the execrable Scooby Doo (in which she starred alongside her hubbie Freddie Prinz Jr). Then there was The Grudge.

The other Gellar has been trying to throw off the Buffy stereotype with ‘gay’ abandon. Her lesbian kiss with Selma Blair in Cruel Intentions removed her from the TV series just a little! Plus, it probably kept a lot of her fans adequately (or even perfectly) satisfied. However, the need to show off her potential as a serious actor led her to the mistake of shedding her clothes in the independent movie Harvard Man.

Several voiceovers for forgettable animations followed but Gellar now seems to have crossed a certain threshold. She is a making a return to TV, which some would argue is her natural home, in a new HBO series The Wonderful Maladys (see picture above) which is about three adult siblings living in New York, still to get over the death of their parents when they were children. The pilot was filmed using hand held cameras, so the result might be unusual for TV.

A remake of the South Korean film Pace is in Post Production, under the title of Possession. Her co-star is Lee (who?) Pace. Veronika Decides To Die – which is also in the frame for a release early next year has Gellar playing the eponymous lead who wakes up in an institution after a failed suicide attempt. She then finds out she only has days to live (why didn’t she just wait!?) and rediscovers live and love in the intervening period.

David Boreanaz

Angel - the vampire with a soul! There hadn't ever been a vampire quite like Angel before and probably never will be again. Although some accused him of being a vambore, Angel made his way in to a million hearts , but what happened to actor David Boreanaz next? He made his starring role on the big screen with the forgettable 2001 slasher ‘Valentine’. It was not a huge box office success and Boreanaz continued to play his Buffy character Angel in the eponymous spin-off until the series ended in 2005.

It was unlikely that someone with a fan base as huge as Boreanaz would be unemployed for long and in the same year the forensics and police procedural drama ‘Bones’ appeared on Prime Time. This hugely successful TV series is still in production.

Although a serious actor, of course, Boreanaz has always been ready to take off his clothes, should the role demand it. Seems that every single role he does absolutely, unequivocally and without a doubt demands it. No, screams for it - and what actor could argue with that?

His latest film is ‘Our Lady of Victory’ in which he plays a supporting rather than starring role, is still awaiting a release date (it was made in 2008). It concerns a former tomboy (played by Carla Gugino) who with the help of some nuns realizes her dream to be a basketball champion. The words straight to DVD spring immediately to mind.

Seth Green

This is the original pick and mix actor – when asking what he has done since Buffy, the answer is more likely to be what hasn’t he done? His highest profile role has been as the son of Doctor Evil, Scott, in the Austin Powers movie in which he played a similarly disaffected youth in a similar vein to Oz in Buffy.

He certainly has the ‘cult’ market tagged, giving the voice to the character of Chris in the animated (adult) toon series Family Guy, which is watched mostly by the under eighteens. He has played himself twice in ‘Entourage’ – a show about the hangers on of a celebrity and has also appeared in Will and Grace, Grey’s Anatomy and My Name is Earl.

He was reunited in 2008 with fellow Buffy actor James Marsden in Sex Drive where he plays the unlikely role of an Amish farmer. His latest film, Old Dogs, is one in which he plays a supporting role to the unlikely combination of John Travolta and Robin Williams. The film is yet to be released.

Want to find out what happened to Giles, Willow, Xander, Spike, Cordelia and Anya?

CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE!!

The Weird Life Cycle of the Ladybug

2008-11-05T08:41:00.000-08:00

The Ladybug has something of a strange life cycle and one that surprises many people. From egg to fully grown ladybug, join us on a journey of a lifetime - literally!

The ladybug will always try and mate as close to a colony of aphids as possible. When its larvae hatch they will then have a ready made food source upon which to feast. When the eggs are laid they are only about a millimeter in length and the numbers can range from a few right up to several hundred, depending on the conditions.

The male has an insect penis which is called an aedeagus. A “lock and key” fit means that if he gets it wrong and tries to mate with another species of ladybug, he will not get to third base! Fertilization, as you can see, is internal, which surprises many people. It doesn’t exactly start with a kiss, but with a little Barry White in the background this could almost be classed as romantic! Almost, but not quite!

Harmonia axyridis lays its eggs. Many people believe that the ladybug will lay the same amount of eggs each time it mates. This would be true if conditions were always at a constant: what happens is that when conditions are harsh, the ladybug will lay many eggs that are infertile. Only laying a few eggs that will hatch is not just to maximize the chances of survival of those that are fertile, however. The infertile eggs will actually provide sustenance for the lucky ones who survive through to hatching before they start roaming for live prey. If times are harsh, however, this particular species will gladly feast on the eggs of other ladybugs and different species of insects.

This particular set of eggs belongs to the species Harmonia axyridis which is also known as the Harlequin Ladybug or Asian Lady Beetle. It was first introduced to North America and Europe by man in the early twentieth century as a way of controlling scale insects and aphids, which it devours readily and in huge numbers. In some parts of America it is also known as the Halloween Lady Beetle because it is found in many homes in the month of October. This is because it likes the warmth of human habitation and so is drawn their for its winter hibernation period (yes, Ladybugs hibernate!).

Hatching takes place after three to five days, which is pretty quick, even for an insect the size of a ladybug! Six legged larvae about one eighth of an inch emerge and start devouring as many aphids as they can – they have quite a metamorphosis to undergo before they are adult and they need as much food as they can get! If the conditions are right, then the larvae will grow very quickly. The whole process from egg to adult can take as little as twenty four days.

The ladybug larva goes through several stages and is best described as looking something like an insect equivalent of a crocodile, only black and with (occasionally) orange markers. The larvae eat about twenty five aphids (or equivalent!) a day. That’s nothing to what the adult can get through – roughly about fifty. This is why many ladybugs are popular with farmers and gardeners. In fact their name comes from a time in the Middle Ages when people thought that they were sent as a gift from the Virgin Mary to help with controlling pests. It is not, as many people believe, a protogynous hermaphrodite. This is when an animal begins its life as a female. So, if you thought they were so named because the vast majority (or as some believe, all of them!) were female, then put that thought out of your mind!

Many people assume that the ladybug – adult and larva alike – have only one food source, that is the aphid. Again, this is not true. They will eat scale insects (such as the cochineal). They will also make a tasty meal out of any mealybugs they come across (mealybugs are unarmored so make an easy and tasty meal!). They will also eat mites, which to our eyes are pretty much invisible, but to a ladybug will make the equivalent of an in-between meal snack! Does the (some would say poor and unfortunate) aphid have any protection? The only defense it has is gravity! Aphids will simply let themselves fall off the leaf if they can, and plummet to the ground, in order to escape being on the day’s menu.

There isn’t much respect between the species, either! Here, a Harlequin ladybug makes a meal out of one of the smaller native ladybugs in a US garden. The Harlequin is becoming such a nuisance in some places – and a threat to local biodiversity because of its size and voracity – that ways of getting rid of the species from Europe and the US are being looked in to. This may involve the introduction of its natural parasites from Asia. Let us hope that the home grown species are immune!

When the larva has grown to its full size it will then attach itself to the stem of a plant. It splits along its backside and exposes the pupa underneath. This sounds like something out of one of the “Alien” films and it really doesn’t take long to figure out that they didn’t get those ideas straight out of their imagination! The pupa, though, is wrapped up in this final stage of its metamorphosis and so is safe from the elements – but not from predators. It is at this stage it is at its most vulnerable. If it approached close to its hatching time by a possible predator it will shake itself dementedly to try and warn off the unwelcome visitor! This last stage takes just a few days and then the adult ladybug is ready to emerge.

Like any newly hatched insect, the ladybug must take some time to ‘dry out’. When it emerges it is completely soft and its exoskeleton and elytra (see below) must harden. This is made of chitin, which is a protein much like the one that creates our fingernails. For the first twenty four hours or so the ladybug will have no spots. Then it will go and find its first meal. Recently, four ladybugs and a whole heap of aphids were sent up in to space to try and ascertain how the aphid would try and escape from its enemy without the assistance of gravity. With some time to while away, the astronauts (on a 1999 mission) gave the four bugs names: John, Paul, George and Ringo. The result of the experiment? Ladybugs do very well in space, aphids don’t! Quel surprise!

Adult ladybugs come in a variety of colors and these are no accident. In nature there are colors that warn off potential predators. The main colors that the five thousand (or so) species of ladybugs have are red, black and yellow. Unsurprisingly, these are exactly the colors that tell would be diners that this dinner is not going to taste very pleasant! Ladybugs also have one other trick up their sleeve. They ‘play dead’. They pull their six legs up so they cannot be seen and do a ‘reflex bleed’. This is when they excrete a little amount of their ‘blood’ (which is yellow and smells horrible to predators). Anyone reading this that could once have been classified under the genus “boy” and who had a fascination with insects will recognize this little trick of the ladybug!

The ladybug uses the part of its body which gives it its color for more than just protection from predators. The elytra (if you can’t remember that, then you can call them shards) on its back are actually a modified forewing. Instead of using it to fly, the ladybug uses it to protect its hind wings, which are positioned underneath. Although it can get battered over time, it usually ensures that the ladybug retains the power of flight for the duration of its life (which is usually anything up to nine months). In some species of bugs the elytra fuse with the hind wings – and so we have the thousands of varieties of insects that cannot fly!

This of course, is not the case with the ladybug. It is one of the most popular insects on the planet (certainly among children) and has found itself at the center of many a myth and legend – as well as the occasional nursery rhyme. As the next generation flies off to feed and mate, perhaps it is appropriate to end with the most famous (in the English language at least). We will leave it intact, with its original UK English name – “ladybird”.

“Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home

Your house is on fire and your children are gone

All except one, and that's Little Anne

For she has crept under the warming pan.”

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Could You Handle a Slippery Dick?

2008-10-31T10:21:00.000-07:00

The Slippery Dick is actually a fish. It comes from the Western Atlantic and can be found all the way down, from North Carolina to Bermuda and Brazil. You will find it in grass beds and shallow reefs close to the shore. Why, does it get its name? Well, the slippery bit is because it coats itself with a kind of mucus when alarmed as a form of defense strategy. So, if you were to take hold of a Slippery Dick you would have to be very careful it didn’t slip out of your grasp! Where the “Dick” part comes from is anyone’s guess. Ahem. Do you think you could – or would want to – handle a Slippery Dick?

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