#Beau Brower

[ricmlm]

Puffer Fish Helmets of Kiribati Isaac Brower, a surgeon from rural Indiana, spent much of the mid-19th century in Fiji, promoting American interests in the region in some vague capacity, running cotton plantations, and hoovering up local artifacts. But he never set foot in what is now the island nation of Kiribati, some 1,300 miles from Fiji, according to Stéphanie Leclerc-Caffarel, a researcher at Paris’s Musée du quai Branly who is writing a book about Brower. So no one’s sure how he acquired the te barantauti, a type of helmet seemingly unique to that island chain, made of a dried, inflated puffer fish (or porcupine fish) with a lining woven from coconut fiber and human hair, that he donated to the Smithsonian in 1876. All we know is that these helmets were a hot item for Western interlopers—government officials, merchants, whalers, birders, missionaries, natural scientists, military ship crews, private adventurers, and more—who passed through Oceania in the period and beyond. “They were iconic Pacific objects,” says Smithsonian curator Joshua Bell, “prestige items—unique, technically exquisite, and visually stunning—for their cabinets of curiosities.” Over the years dozens of these helms made their way into museums across the globe, while few remain in Kiribati. The Smithsonian actually has three, the British Museum five, and Sweden’s Världskulturmuseerna “at least eight,” according to their digitization curator Magnus Johansson. One te barantauti even wound up at the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium, in the tiny town of St. Johnsbury, Vermont. Its founder reportedly bought it from a curio dealer in 1890, but that’s as much as the museum knows about its provenance, according to collections manager Beau Harris. https://www.instagram.com/p/CdG4OP5jtwT/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[comic-movieheroesranked]

Cinematic Comic Characters Ranked! (Year 2007) Final Part

Seven movies were released during 2007 that make it on our list! Marvel’s debut of Ghost Rider started us off, followed by the incredible action film, 300! Up next was TMNT, the list’s first animated movie as well as the return of Spider-Man 3, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and Alien vs Predator: Requiem! Also debuting is the horror film 30 Days of Night. Here’s the Top 20!

*SPOILER ALERT FOR ALL HIGHLIGHTED MOVIES ABOVE*

20. Casey (TMNT)

"Uh, did you forget that all I have is a baseball hat?"

It makes sense that Casey was featured a lot in the movie because out of everyone, Raphael is closest to him, whether the turtle wants to admit it or not. It's Casey who understands Raphael's new alter ego and its Casey who Raphael comes to when he needs help. He's also at a crossroads himself, not knowing if and when he should mature up with his on-going relationship with April. In the end I don't think he needs to change at all, seeing as April is happy with just who he is, except for maybe when they're both in a vehicle.

19. Captain (300)

"No prisoners!"

It's odd we never find out what Captain's actual name is, seeing as he's King Leonidas' right hand man and is one of the best Spartan soldiers there is. He helps command the Spartans with ease and authority and is very much in control of himself until his son, Astinos, is killed on the battlefield. After his loss he fights more reckless with nothing to lose. During the final confrontation, he manages to kill several men as he's butchered by several others.

18. Caretaker/Carter Slade (Ghost Rider)

"I've got one last ride in me."

The original Ghost Rider who stopped Mephisto from collecting the contract of San Venganza. He waits over one hundred and fifty years for the next Ghost Rider to show up and finish what he's started. We don't know this in the beginning, he just comes off as a Caretaker who finds Johnny after his night of fighting demons, but it's just kinda obvious with all the stuff he knows about Venganza and about being a Ghost Rider. I personally thought he wasted his last ride, since nothing really came out of it, but aesthetically it was cool seeing a western version of Ghost Rider riding with the current one.

17. Leonardo (TMNT)

"Attack as one!"

Leo is the oldest turtle and therefore the leader of the team. After Shredder is defeated, Leo goes on his own self discovery, momentarily forgetting about his brothers, which really puts a wedge between him and Raphael. The two clash the entire movie, both not understanding the other's complete opposite personality. In the end, after Leo is rescued, he learns that even though he is the leader, he couldn't accomplish nearly as much without his brothers beside him.

16. Predator (Alien vs Predator: Requiem)

*Predator clicking*

After a predator ship crashes on Earth, this Predator heads down there to destroy all evidence of their existence (which makes no sense as to why it leaves a skinned human hanging on a tree for the world to see) and only realizes things are much worse when it encounters the alien-predator hybrid. He goes solo in trying to take down every single alien creature and mostly succeeds despite the humans occasionally getting in the way. In the final battle between the Predator and the Hybrid, the two end up killing each other before a military nuke destroys everything.

15. Beau Brower (30 Days of Night)

"Nothing I can't handle my own fucking self!"

Beau is a fighter and had been dying to take on the vampires as soon as they started killing everyone in town. Stella and Eben convinced him that the group needed him instead, which is true because he saves them a few times before sacrificing himself so Eben can escape. He ends up taking down more vampires than everyone else in a blaze of suicidal glory. He doesn't end up dying in the flames, Marlow still kills him but I'm glad they didn't eat him.

14. Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic (Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer)

"And fifteen years later, I'm one of the greatest minds of the 21st century."

I will always loathe when movies do these awkward dance scenes to show off a character's power/new look (I'm also looking at you, Spider-Man 3 and Catwoman). Besides that, Mr. Fantastic wasn't as boring as he was in the last film. Like Sue, I struggled to understand why he felt the need to hide things from her, unlike her, I would've really put his durability to the test. They reconcile and Richard goes back to leading the team as they try to stop Galactus from ending the world and, along the way, stop Dr. Doom because he's just a piece of shit. Richard also debuts the Fantasticar, their own private jet so the team doesn't have to fly coach any longer.

13. Roxanne Simpson (Ghost Rider)

"You don't know me, but I love him."

After Mephisto made it clear no one close to Johnny would ever be safe, he ditches Roxie and leaves town without any explanation. She doesn't take offense though, which I love! She knows his dad just dad and that they were just teenagers so she builds herself a career instead and meets up with him again once she's ready. Her patience does have limits though and I'd be questioning my looks/personality too if someone who said they cared about me kept ditching me at all the dates. When she finds out he's Ghost Rider she's full on supportive, even after she gets kidnapped by the devil's son. After everything's over, she's not even surprised that her and Johnny must go their own separate ways, because she now understands the curse he has to live with.

12. Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Spider-Man 3)

"It's the choices that make us who we are, and we can always choose to do what's right."

I don't know what the hell was going on with Peter in this movie. At the start, he's gotten cocky as fuck. He won't let Mary Jane get a word in without talking about himself saving the day. And HOW did he not see anything wrong with Gwen Stacy giving him a big ol' kiss on the mouth...in the same way him and Mary Jane shared their first kiss...WITH MARY JANE WATCHING!? I would've killed him. Then he gets infected with the symbiote and begins some of the most cringe-worthy scenes I've scene from the movies on this list. The jazz bar scene? The bangs??? I get trying to show that sometimes heroes can be evil too, it's just that, for me, I didn't feel that Spider-Man truly redeemed himself after getting rid of the symbiote. Yeah he saved the day, but Sandman and New Goblin got more redemption than he did by the end of it.

11. Mary Jane Watson (Spider-Man 3)

"Everyone needs help sometimes, Peter. Even Spider-Man."

Yes, Mary Jane is ranked higher than Spider-Man. Why? Because the girl fucking deserves it after what that boy put her through. She finally gets on broadway but can't hold a tune so she gets replaced and Peter can't even tell she's upset. Then she has to deal with him kissing Gwen Stacy and still manages to be there for him when the truth about Uncle Ben's death is revealed. She also has to deal with being a pawn in a plot made by people who want to kill Peter. First it's New Goblin, although that quickly doesn't last, and then it's Venom and Sandman. This girl handled everything thrown at her in way that I felt was lacking from Spider-Man, but maybe that's because he was hardly on the receiving end. I'm glad the ending doesn't spell out if she's getting back with him, it only shows that she cares about him enough to give him a dance and maybe a chat afterwards.

10. Raphael (TMNT)

"Man, I love being a turtle!"

Bitter with Leo leaving the team, Raphael continues his life of fighting crime as a new vigilante, but that all changes once Leo returns. Once again Raphael is being told what to do, by someone who he thinks abandoned them so he rebels and two continue to butt heads. They face off in a match of egos and Raphael's temper gets the better of him as he takes things too far which ends in Leo getting kidnapped by the Immortal Generals. He quickly learns from his mistakes and understands that family comes first, rescuing Leo and staying by his side as he leads their team.

9. Kelly (Alien vs Predator: Requiem)

"I'll live."

Coming home from the military, Kelly enters a whole new war between the aliens and the predators. She ends up leading a group of survivors, including her daughter, to safety. She really is the sole reason they all end up surviving. She has the most kill count out of all the humans when it came to fighting the aliens, she was able to drive both the military tank and the helicopter that got them out of harm's way, AND she was the one that realized the military was lying about sending an evacuation plane, saving a handful of survivors from getting nuked.

8. Marlow (30 Days of Night)

"There is no escape. No hope. Only hunger and pain."

Marlow was terrifying. The way he talked, the way he stalked, the way he taunted his victims right before he killed them in the most painful ways he could think of. He was the leader of the vampires and had just discovered the jackpot in the town of Barrow, a town that experienced 30 days without the sun. I will say I was disappointed in the final fight with Eben. He just seemed so powerful but ended up dying by a punch through the face? Like he really walked right into that? I would've preferred them fighting to the death as the sun came up but I get wanting to have closure between Eben and Stella.

7. Susan Storm/Invisible Woman (Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer)

"There's always a choice."

Not only does Sue have to deal with a wedding, she also has to deal with a groom who, for reasons that make no sense, likes to hide things from her. On top of this, a cosmic entity has arrived on Earth in hopes to destroy it. When fighting the Silver Surfer ends up being useless, Sue tries to talk some sense into him and successfully manages to get him to the team stop Dr. Doom and save the world. During the battle she ends up dying at the hands of Dr. Doom, rocking everyone's world until Silver Surfer brings her back to life so she can finally marry Richard in the end.

6. Queen Gorgo (300)

"Come back with your shield, or on it."

While Leonidas fights the Persians, Queen Gorgo has to fight her own battle back at Sparta. She has to convince the councilmen to send their army to help Leonidas as well as watch out for the traitor that is Theron. It almost looks like Theron gets the better of her when he gets her arrested for adultery, but Gorgo is not someone to back down. She kills two birds with one sword, she kills Theron and ends up revealing his alliance with the Persians, which then gets the council to rally behind her. She proves she is in every way Leonidas's equal and now has the country of Sparta to run after he dies.

5. Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider (Ghost Rider)

"Let's ride."

First, I just wanna say that there would be no complaints coming from me if the guy who played the young version of Johnny ended up just being him the entire movie. Nicolas Cage wasn't bad but there were some cringe worthy moments in there. Anyways! Johnny Blaze ends up becoming the devil's bounty hunter, The Ghost Rider, after selling his soul to save his father. Now that he can't die, he builds a career on doing the most dangerous motorcycle stunts in the world. When Mephisto's son, Blackheart, arrives with a trio of elemental fallen angels to destroy the world, Johnny must turn into the Ghost Rider (which requires him to burn his flesh off his bones) and stop them. He does it pretty easy, hardly ever losing control of the situation and only losing his best friend, which only happened because he wasn't around to protect him. In the end he ends up becoming the Spirit of Vengeance, no longer working for Mephisto, but against him.

4. Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer)

"To quote a friend of mine: 'It's cloberrin' time!'"

The reckless playboy is back but as the world threatens to end it's time for Johnny to grow up and truly take the responsibilities of being on the Fantastic Four. It's not an easy process and he definitely has a couple of set backs when his powers get messed up by the Silver Surfer and then finding out about Sue and Richard's plans to leave the team, but he does come through in the end. With the power of his teammates, Johnny is able to take down Dr. Doom despite his new silver surfboard.

3. King Leonidas (300)

"This is Sparta!"

The King of Sparta, and he makes sure everyone knows it! Leonidas is proud, loud, and willing to kill any foreign invader that threatens his people's way of living. When he doesn't have the support of his councilmen, he takes his best 300 men and takes off to fight the Persians. They do exceptional and last longer than anyone would have hoped for, but it becomes obvious even to Leonidas that they won't survive the war. Their final battle ends quickly as he's shot down by hundreds of arrows, his wife on his mind as he joins his men in the afterlife.

2. Eben Oleson (30 Days of Night)

"We live here for a reason: because no one else can."

Eben probably didn't expect a bunch of vampires murdering everyone in his town during the 30 days of without the sun, but man does he step up to the plate and handle business! As sheriff he is constantly thinking up plans to protect the survivors in his group and doing the more dangerous traveling by himself. His leadership is full of dangerous decisions including turning himself into a vampire to save his wife. He succeeds in defeating Marlow and debates going after the rest of the vampires but decides to spend his final moments with Stella watching the sunrise, which eventually kills him.

1. Norrin Radd/The Silver Surfer (Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer)

"I will no longer serve."

In order to save his own planet, including the one he loves, Norrin Radd becomes the Silver Surfer, a cosmic being that serves Galactus. His job is to find planets with life on them so that Galactus could absorb it's energy, killing the planet and everyone on it. Who knows how many planets Silver Surfer has given to Galactus by the time he reaches Earth, but it's clear there have been millions of lives lost because of him. After the Fantastic Four and the military fail to bring him down, it's actually Sue Storm that starts reminding him of his humanity and also of the woman he loves on his home planet. He decides to make things right and sacrifices himself to destroy Galactus once and for all.