#Spartacus to inspire bravery

[stan-leigh-bowery]

Just thought I would announce that we have officially adopted this very funky boy

I still can't touch him, but he gets bolder every day. He is still really wheezy and sneezy, but it seems to be situated entirely in his sinuses and doesn't keep him from eating, drinking, or demanding play time a few times a day. In terms of his lungs, his breathing seems normal (breathing through his nose, rate in an acceptable range, no sucking from the chest, no coughing). I'll get him to a vet soon to get checked out. In the meantime, I'm switching to a dustless litter, giving him L-Lysine twice a day, adding FortiFlora to his food to boost his immune system, running a humidifier on and off, and keeping an eye on his condition.

Welcome home, Reed Spartacus Murphy!

[handeaux]

Frustrated Thespian Powhatan Beaty Was A ‘Landmark Of Cincinnati’

The reviews were exceptional in 1884 when Cincinnati’s Powhatan Beaty took his Shakespearian show on the road. In Philadelphia, he was described as “a gentleman of rare culture and great ability.” The reviewer for the Washington (DC) Bee [10 May 1884] opined that “Mr. Beaty made a hit in Macbeth.” The Colored Patriot, as quoted in the New York Globe [3 May 1884], effused:

“Mr. Powhatan Beaty’s rendering of Spartacus was a gracious surprise. It had been some time since we heard that gentleman, but we were not prepared for the evidence of study and cultivation he manifested. All the emotions of the piece were depicted in his countenance and when he actually changed color and his face blanched with pallor, we could scarce realize it. Powerfully built, rugged and strong in his general appearance, he looked every inch a Roman gladiator. The audience leaned forward and eagerly listened to catch every word of his impassioned delivery, and when he finished they fell back in their seats with a sigh of relief that plainly expressed how they had been affected. Mr. Beaty is indeed a grand artist and has wisely selected the tragic muse for the shrine of his artistic devotion.”

It was rare to find a black man on the stage at all in those days, and rarer still to find white people in the audience for a performance by African Americans. The Indianapolis Leader, in an article [15 January 1881] about Beaty took note of this:

“The advent of colored men upon the stage has opened a new field of opportunity to them, and we are glad to find them reaching out for the profitable distinction which assured success must give.”

Beaty’s performances in Philadelphia and Washington earned him a place of honor at a dinner given for abolitionist and orator Frederick Douglass. Also in attendance were some esteemed veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic. For them, Beaty’s Civil War exploits were just as exciting as his theatrical triumphs, because Powhatan Beaty had been voted a recipient of the Medal of Honor by act of the United States Congress.

At the Battle of New Market Heights, during the siege of Petersburg, Beaty’s regiment was all but wiped out while attacking Confederate position. Out of 85 men in his unit, only a dozen or so survived the attack and subsequent retreat. According to the Cincinnati Post [3 September 1898]:

“Beaty started on the charge carrying a knapsack and a canteen of water. Bullets cut the knapsack off, carried his hat away and tore the sole off one of his shoes. He went to give a dying comrade a drink, when he found that the water had drained out a bullet hole.”

Beaty, a sergeant, saw his unit’s flag lying in the mud, discarded in retreat. Under heavy enemy fire, he ran back 600 feet to recover the flag, then rallied what was left of his unit to successfully attack and overcome the rebel fortification. General Benjamin Butler witnessed Beaty’s bravery and recommended him for the Medal of Honor. Butler also awarded Beaty a silver medal of his own design. Despite brevet promotion to lieutenant, the U.S. Army was not ready for black officers, according to the Cincinnati Commercial Tribune [6 June 1886]:

“Only strong prejudice embodied into law prevented his promotion to the rank of a commissioned officer, though twice recommended for it by Colonel [Giles] Shurtleff.”

While national acclaim may have turned Powhatan Beaty’s head, he made this trip East while on a leave of absence. After a couple of weeks, he had to return to Cincinnati to take up his position as a janitor.

To be fair, a “janitor” in 1884 was a position of some responsibility, more like what we would call a building superintendent these days. The janitor or custodian oversaw the cleaning, maintenance, furnishing and equipping of a building. Beaty probably supervised a small staff. Additionally, Beaty’s appointment as janitor of the Lincoln Club was political. The Republican machine of Boss Cox supported several elite social facilities for the party faithful, and the Lincoln Club on Garfield Place was top notch, boasting more than 800 members. Equally ostentatious was the Young Men’s Blaine Club on Eighth Street, where Beaty was later employed.

Although Beaty was born free in 1835, he would have been considered a slave in the Southern states, because freedom was not considered hereditary. Although his parents had earned their freedom, their children were still considered enslaved. Beaty’s parents brought him from Virginia to Cincinnati around 1849 when he was a young teenager and apprenticed Powhatan to Henry Boyd, a successful African American furniture maker. Young Powhatan received a solid education under the guidance of abolitionist and educator Peter H. Clark. Although employed as a lathe operator, sawyer or cabinet maker for 20 years, Beaty’s name appears regularly in descriptions of amateur theater projects and in the political columns.

During the Civil War, Beaty, like most African Americans in Cincinnati was dragooned into digging trenches in Northern Kentucky while the city awaited a Confederate assault. He later helped organize the 127th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, reorganized as the 5th United States Colored Troops. In addition to the Petersburg campaign, Beaty distinguished himself at several later battles.

Back in Cincinnati, few philanthropic gatherings in Cincinnati failed to include Lt. Powhatan Beaty on the program. His dramatic readings and recitations inspired his audiences to generosity. At a time when the Democratic Party was virulently segregationist, Beaty was a vital link from the Cox Machine to black voters.

Beaty’s passionate and loyal support of Cincinnati’s Republican Party led, eventually, to positions as superintendent at some of the most prestigious addresses in the city. Prejudice and segregation kept Beaty confined to amateur stages. He wrote a play about the end of slavery, but could not find a producer and he tried a second eastern tour without success. When he died, in 1916, the newspapers called him “one of the old landmarks of Cincinnati” and remembered his military service. The obituaries made almost no mention of Powhatan Beaty’s true love – the theater.

[wittypenguin]

War and Peace (Война и мир or ‘Voyna i mir’) [1965–67] (Post 3 of 5)

9:20pm — fuck it, I’m gonna do this thing no matter what. LET’S GO, MOTHERFUCKERS!!

Part III: The Year 1812

Comets are not often seen by the uneducated populace as ‘a benign event.’ They’re seen as a warning from a Higher Power that Great Danger and Destruction is on the way. The Black Plague was preceded by a comet, as was the Battle of Hastings. No doubt a fair few things didn’t happen after a comet, but never let someone make a connection between correlation and causation, no matter the illogical nature of same.

So. 1812. Comet. Yeah. Let’s see how that works out, shall we?

Under the titles, the oak tree we saw earlier grow, then inspire the Prince to feel alive is now pruned back vigorously, possibly reflecting the broken potential of peace and the deaths of soldiers, as well as the failure of budding romance among the nobles.

We see a battlefield with massing French troops. Then we cut to the ballroom of the last film, where people line in groups like the battalions do, but here they are on a shiny black dance floor (possibly mirrored? It’s pretty shiny) and they battle for love and not blood.

Word comes that the French troops are heading east and doing quite well. The Prince (father of soldier guy and millwork hobbyist) says that the Theatre of War will be Poland, and when the snow melts, the French will drown in mud. Oh, if only that were true…

But I’m getting ahead of the film.

Vladislav Strzhelchik in Voyna I mir, Part III: The Year 1812 (1966) — — — —

Villages burn. Black smoke covers the sky. Winds fan the flames and the lands burn faster.

After the death of The Prince of Woodworking, there’s some beautiful landscape work, including a mist-filled series of shots of soldiers marching ever eastwards.

Nataša continues to wander the empty house, singing and being the Soviet’s version of Audrey Hepburn: charming, dark-haired, full of fresh-faced optimism and a dollop of naïveté.

She continues to seek Pierre’s advice in all things. They mean so much to each other, it is unclear if they are father/daughter, authority/innocent, or two lovers who cannot be. It’s a super-complicated relationship.

Count Pierre heads out to the front to see for himself how the war progresses. He arrives to find the army preparing for a battle where fully 20% of the troops are expected to be killed or injured. The Holy Mother of Smolensk is Proust our from the basilica and as the sun sets, a service is held with some of the most beautifully complicated harmonies ever created.

Pierre speaks to the military leaders, telling them that, while he is no tactician, the left flank seems week and the right flank is stretched too thin. Prince Andrei rounds on his friend and tells him tat ‘positions do not make or break the battle, the victors are decided by the strength of their hearts, of their bravery.’

He’s an idiot, and has already prepared himself for death. He echoes his statement of about 17 hours ago when we heard him say that war is a necessity. “Cast off the lies and see war as war,” he tells Pierre. “It is no game.”

The Battle of Boradin is long and truly hellacious. Take the extended battle sequence in The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (or was it For a Few Dollars More?), stir in Apocalypse Now, then set it in that opening shot of Blade Runner with the oil derricks burning off. Now mix with every massive battle sequence from every movie you’ve seen — Spartacus, for one — and you have about 10% of what this film presents.

Honestly, you’re overwhelmed with men, cannons, Huns, rifles, horses, trenches, mushroom shaped explosions of flame, corpses, wagons, carts, banners, and plumed hats. Things charge all over the place in seemingly no patterns. Shots from the air reveal a devastation which is unparalleled in film to my knowledge.

Then you see a general munching on a chicken leg with linen and china. It’s surreal.

Boris Zakhava in Voyna I mir, Part III: The Year 1812 (1966) — — — —

The victory was a moral one only, for the casualties are massive in number, but it leads to the French being eventually routed. The tide turned here, albeit with an ocean of blood and gore.

★★★★★

[njawaidofficial]

2018’s Oscar-Nominated Composers Dazzle at L.A. Philharmonic Concert

https://styleveryday.com/2018/03/02/2018s-oscar-nominated-composers-dazzle-at-l-a-philharmonic-concert/

2018’s Oscar-Nominated Composers Dazzle at L.A. Philharmonic Concert

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and the L.A. Philharmonic presented the Oscar Concert, a stirring and lively celebration of film music — and this year’s five nominated scores — on Feb. 28 at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

The concert hall has always had a love/hate relationship with film music. Unlike the classical repertory, film scores always have one definitive performance to model: What’s heard in the film, either through repeated viewings or album listening, becomes the example to emulate for any subsequent performance, making interpretation a potential minefield — especially for devotees who, through repeated viewings or album listening, have this music committed to memory.

But hearing this often iconic music performed live has its own thrills, and Wednesday’s lavish multi-media celebration of Oscar-nominated scores (and the emotions film music can inspire) at Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall delivered those in spades.

In a surprisingly star-studded evening (Paul Thomas Anderson! John Williams! Michelle Rodriguez?), the Motion Picture Academy and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, led by conductor Thomas Wilkins, presented ensembles of movie score moments performed under montages by editors Scott Draper, Kellie Cunningham and Mark DelForte, all organized by curators and music Academy branch luminaries Michael Giacchino, Laura Karpman and Charles Bernstein. By matching scores to specific concepts and movie shots to the music, the concert made a strong argument for the universality of this idiom while striking themes of inclusion and uplift.

Composer Michael Giacchino and Wilkins opened the concert with an effective and instructive comedy routine that had Giacchino demanding Wilkins make changes on the fly to his finale music from Pixar’s Up, and Wilkins presenting three different versions for Giacchino’s approval.

The program proper then began by mixing Rachel Portman’s gentle evocation of Victorian England in her Nicholas Nicklebyscore, Nino Rota’s breezy, nostalgic Amarcord score and A.R. Rahman’s propulsive world music from Slumdog Millionaire as “The Sound of Home,” demonstrating that home could be any place or any culture on earth. For “The Sound of Love,” Wilkins presented Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s hushed, trembling romantic music from The Adventures of Robin Hood (a concert detour from Korngold’s more familiar Golden Age fanfares), Luis Bacalov’s wistful accordion from Il Postino and the soulful, yearning erhu from Tan Dun’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon with a montage presenting every possible cinematic coupling from Bogie and Bergman to the cowboys from Brokeback Mountain.

Composers Charles Bernstein and Michael Abels (Get Out) presented “The Sound of Fear,” beginning with the pitch-bending strings of Mica Levi’s Jackie (although why not Levi’s even creepier Under the Skin?). That was followed by a bone-rattling, bravura treatment of Quincy Jones’ grim, harrowing In Cold Blood score, an acoustic treatment of John Carpenter’s minimalist Halloween theme on piano and finally John Williams’ wicked dance from The Witches of Eastwick (just slightly lethargic compared to Williams’ original film performance).

Michelle Rodriguez was the surprising but appropriate choice to introduce “The Sound of the Chase,” which opened with Dave Grusin’s quirky piano score for The Firm before a bravura take on Lalo Schifrin’s classic car-chase-buildup music fromBullitt. With trombones revving and Schifrin himself in attendance, the sublime Bullitt music proved every bit as cool playing under Rodriguez’s car chases from The Fast and the Furious as it did underscoring Steve McQueen’s iconic, muscle-car cat-and-mouse game on the streets of San Francisco. Propelling the chase montage’s finale was a rare treat: Jerry Goldsmith’s buoyant and witty end title from The Great Train Robbery, as rousing playing under scenes of the truck chase footage from Raiders of the Lost Ark as it was to Victorian locomotives.

Composer and trumpet impresario Terence Blanchard arrived to perform a piercingly expressive solo to open his Malcolm Xscore for “The Sound of Courage.” Both Malcolm X and Alex North’s Spartacus (with the humble nobility of its slave theme rising as if out of the dust left by its opening, clashing Roman fanfares) relied on a low, martial pulse of tubas to conjure the idea of political struggle for freedom and human rights; meanwhile, Joe Hisaishi’s lyrical piano-into-strings melody for the animated Spirited Away spoke to a more innocent, child-like bravery in the face of the unknown. 

The second half of the program dropped the montages but amped the star power with directors of the Oscar-nominated scores from 2017 introducing their composers (live in most cases) to conduct excerpts from their works. Martin McDonagh introduced Carter Burwell via video, and Burwell conducted his music for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri — which, like much of his distinctive music for the Coen Bros. films, makes a kind of majesty out of a molehill, opening with a feeling of quiet regret before spaghetti western-like chimes and Liv Redpath’s eerie soprano performance add an epic quality.

Guillermo del Toro (cheekily introducing himself as Michael Moore) welcomed Alexandre Desplat, whose The Shape of Water music conjured up a romantic French atmosphere with accordion, Nick Orlando’s organ performance, whistling harmonies that hinted at sci-fi theremins and droplet-like flute notes. All the elements gathered into a rhapsodic yet melancholy dance melody.

After an introduction from Paul Thomas Anderson explaining how he asked composer Jonny Greenwood to write music in the vein of Nelson Riddle for Phantom Thread, Thomas Wilkins conducted the result. The piece played a bit like the underpinnings for a romantic ballad that Sinatra never performed, with a sinuous piano line moving like a seamstress’ needle over strings until, taken up by the strings themselves, it becomes the music’s fabric itself, with just the hint ofVertigo-like obsession.

The evening ended with two rock stars who straddled both film music’s roots (for everyone who believes film music began with Star Wars) and its current direction. Rian Johnson struggled to introduce John Williams without gushing, and Williams smoothly conducted his “The Rebellion Is Reborn” music from The Last Jedi, effortlessly earning a standing ovation from the Disney Concert Hall audience.

Then Hans Zimmer and fellow keyboardist Benjamin Walfisch entered after Christopher Nolan’s video introduction to perform Zimmer’s enveloping and unnerving music from Dunkirk. Unveiling a giant computer control panel that looked like it had been hijacked from the Jupiter 2, Zimmer added his alarm claxon-like, blaring synthesizer figure to trembling orchestral performances conducted by Wilkins. The approach built to a soothing, Elgar-like sense of accomplishment by way of Emerson, Lake & Palmer—and earned Zimmer his own standing O. 

Now all that remains is for the Academy to pick a winner.

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[thespearnews-blog]

Are these national, NRM or Museveni's family heroes?

New Post has been published on https://thespearnews.com/2017/06/09/national-nrm-musevenis-family-heroes/

Are these national, NRM or Museveni's family heroes?

If  Museveni was giving medals to all musicians today, what did Bobi Wine do?

As we question authenticity of musicians who made less than 10% people awarded medals what is the composition and status of the others?

Laban Lwasa a prominent Democratic Party  – DP member defined today’s heroes as “NEGATIVE HEROES” not fit even to the word itself.

A HERO does extraordinary things for his or her country. For example In Buganda Kingdom, a man who killed a lion was considered a HERO by the society. Today a HERO is someone who does something that benefits a community for example:- firefighters who rescue people from burning buildings.

However in National Resistance Movement – NRM government sense, a hero is anyone who helped Museveni and his family come to power and one who helps it keep in power.

He says that currently It is hard to find any hero within NRM government, they are all negative HEROES as they steal money meant to buy HIV/AIDS drugs as well as divert money for other social services such as Schools and Road Networks to their stomachs.

Deus Kamunyu Muhwezi makes a deeper analysis of the situation here in an article tittles “Are they really true National Heroes? My Personal Opinion on Heroic Awards of our Heroes Day

For national heroic recognition to stand a test of time, a process leading to such heroism must be trusted by all in a nation and should be a product of proper validation, CONSTERNATION and consensus. All national heroes should also be held as national assets never to be forgotten in the history of state formation.

In 2015, I gave an opinion in response to the comments earlier reported by Daily Monitor news paper to have been made by the Buganda Katikkiro praising Ssekabaka Mwanga 11 as a hero. His comments were premised on the fact that the King’s orders to kill the Uganda Martyrs had earned Uganda recognition coupled with economic benefits of religious tourism and therefore the King deserved to be held as a contemporary hero.

In that opinion, I argued that it was not proper for anyone to justify death of innocent human beings regardless of the potential outcomes (good or bad) intended or unintended. I wished to say for a fact that Uganda Martyrs’ risked their lives for what they believed in and that instead their brave acts and fine qualities as young Christians and latter day saints were actually heroic in contemporary terms.

I also wished to state for a fact that the annual celebration of Uganda Martyrs should be a deserving gesture of reconciliation between Buganda Kingdom and the families that lost their dear ones at the hands of a brutal King. In a contemporary world, such a gesture should be a sign of regret by the survivors clearly signalling that such heinous acts conducted on their behalf should never be repeated and hence an end of an inhumane era in favour peaceful coexistence.

Today the whole nation has put everything aside to celebrate our national heroes. I am certain that medals of different types will be handed down to all those thought to be deserving recipients but most borne of NRA activities of the early 1980s. Congratulations to all those who will be awarded medals as heroes on this, our heroes day and I hope you will be true heroes forever among your people and as assets of our nation.

However, as I say congratulations to you, I’m full of wonder on whether your decoration won’t be watered down by the results of the current debate. Many people want to know whether you are indeed true heroes among your people and the nation at large. In my view, the celebration of heroism in the case of conflict and war sparked by political activities and among brothers and sisters (in the sense of nation) in a shared territory, comes with deeper meaning. The significance of the purported brave acts or acts of great sacrifice to humanity must be critically analyzed to find out whether the heroic decorations would be seen by a significant number of citizens as decorations of true heroes. In case of war, these awards must bring about reconciliation beyond the conflict or celebrations of victory by a people that had a common enemy. Reconciliation makes more sense in our case, because the wars we worn were not triggered by foreign invasion but by a section of brothers and sisters who wanted to lead Uganda.

From a difficult heritage management view, I believe that commemoration of heritage arising from wars and conflicts which may permit erection of monuments and awards of heroism often given to those who braved to victory or those who supported the victor must begin with a reconciliation process. During this process, it becomes important that all the affected (victors or losers) in a territory while at war or conflicting are given chance to heal. In the healing process they together begin to build consensus on particular individuals that were reputed as peace markers and shields of innocent civilians. This is even more important when the awarded victors and those who stand defeated hope to live together in peace thereafter in the same nation. The bottom line that is often forgotten is that the victors and the defeated in this case are both brothers and sisters who had a conflict that they hoped to solve amicably using a political line but which unfortunately turned into war.

The process of consensus building therefore should be guided by the meaning that a healing nation intends to attach to the heroic award or commemoration. In this case, both victors and the defeated if still living in the same nation must agree on the humanistic ideals that they all wish to pursue together and identify all those that represented such ideals during the conflict/war. Usually, if the heroic award is for reconciliation, it must inspire all people to believe in the good that the awardees represented and therefore worth emulating. If the award is for victory, it must inspire all people to believe that the acts of the awardees saved them all against the nation’s enemy (usually a foreign attack). Usually, this process serves a single purpose of legitimizing the awards and the awardees for posterity as being true heroes of the people of that sovereign territory.

Turning to those managing these awards, it is important to reflect on the process and meaning of the awards to the whole nation and whether this meaning will be held in posterity. In my view, if these awards are given out by the victor or their representative without active participation of all the brothers and sisters that were involved in conflict, then their legitimacy may not be viewed as wholesome and the awards posterity is threatened. If there is active participation of all brothers and sisters involved in conflict/war, then the awardees become national heroes and true symbols of reconciliation or victory that inspire all in a nation to maintain the peace for which these symbols stand for.

It is also important to note that not every war or conflict must give rise to national heroes and especially in a situation where a war between brothers and sisters was purely borne of politics of a territory and hence resulting into limited consensus on a clear issue of common enmity. Any insistence on having heroes borne out of such conflicts/wars as a result of bad politics undermines the posterity of the heroic awards and is anti reconciliation.

It is also important to understand that heroism has changed over time from the classical Greek “hero warrior” such as Yue Fei, Spartacus, Julius Caesar and Kwame Nkurumah, defined by acts of bravery, combat adversity and support especially done for greater good, to a more contemporary meaning pointing to any person who is admired for great or brave or fine qualities such as Mohammad Ali, Rosa Parks, Nelson Mandela or Mother Theresa, Dr. Matthew Lukwiya etc.

The changing nature of heroes from the classical perceived “hero warrior” to modern day society heroes is a demonstration that all heroes inspire and are symbols of reconciliation regardless of where they stand in the era. For national heroic recognition to stand a test of time, a process leading to such heroism must be trusted by all in a nation and should be a product of proper validation, contestation and consensus. All national heroes should also be held as national assets never to be forgotten in the history of state formation.

Happy Heroes Day and I hope you found time today to “award” your heroes too.

Deus Kamunyu Muhwezi (PhD)