#carl hoffmann

[sesiondemadrugada]

Die Pest in Florenz (Otto Rippert, 1919).

[diioonysus]

castles + art

[adarkrainbow]

Various illustrations from a book of the Brothers Grimm fairytales, adapted for children by Gisela Fischer. Credits go to Felicitas Kuhn, Anny Hoffmann and Carl Benedek.

Pictures 1 to 3: Hansel and Gretel

Pictures 4 and 5: Rumplestiltskin

Pictures 6 to 8: Puss in Boots

Picture 9: The Goose-Girl

Pictures 10 to 12: Snow-White and Rose-Red

Pictures 13 to 16: The Wolf and the Seven Kids

Picture 17: Little Brother and Little Sister

Picture 18 to 22: Cinderella

Picture 23 to 25: Little Snow-White

Picture 26 to 28: Briar Rose

[zerogate]

Some scholars have written dedicated research on the topic of religious and recreational usage of psychotropic plants in the ancient Greek and Roman World.

Carl Ruck, Albert Hoffmann, and Robert Wasson wrote The Road to Eleusis (1978), which sets the stage for exploring the use of entheogens in Greek and Roman culture. Ruck has additional publications, which focus on recreational and religious intoxication.

D. C. A. Hillman wrote The Chemical Muse (2008), where he covers drug usage in the ancient Greek and Roman world, including recreational, religious, and medical.

Michael Rinella wrote Pharmakon: Plato, Drug Culture, and Identity in Ancient Athens (2011), in which he delves into psychotropic plant usage in the ancient Greek world, the problematization of drugs, and the scandals surrounding Socrates and Alcibiades.

Alan Sumler wrote Cannabis in the Ancient Greek and Roman World (2018), in which recreational intoxication and other settings are explored.

[...]

In the field of ancient Greek and Roman religion and magic, some scholars have covered psychotropic plant usage. John Scarborough’s “The Pharmacology of Sacred Plants, Herbs, and Roots” (1991) covered these plants as used in ancient magic and explained the ancient rationale behind how they worked. He has also covered these plants in ancient medicine.

Christopher Faraone, in Ancient Greek Love Magic (2001), wrote about these plants as they are used in love magic and how they appear in other settings, like law courts.

Georg Luck’s Arcana Mundi (2006) covers these plants as they are found in religion and the personal practice of magic.

Alan Sumler, in “Ingesting Magic” (2017), considers these plants in magic and recreation.

On psychoactive plants found in ancient wine, Patrick McGovern, author of Uncorking the Past (2009), has written the most. His molecular analysis of ancient wine shows that the drink had multiple ingredients, many of them psychotropic. He describes the usage of intoxicating drinks all around Europe, Asia Minor, Egypt, and the Black Sea. McGovern covers recreational usage of drugs in the Greek and Roman world.

In the field of ethnobotany, there is scholarship on psychotropic plants being used in different settings in the Greek and Roman world. The assumption is that these psychoactive plants grow all over the earth and that all cultures use them for mind alteration in some way.

A recent multiauthored volume from Routledge, A Companion to Ecstatic Experience in the Ancient World (2022), covers psychotropic drug usage in the Mediterranean world going back to the Bronze Age.

Philip Wexler edited a two-volume multiauthored, text (2014, 2015), The History of Toxicology and Environmental Health, which covers many instances of recreational intoxication in the Greek and Roman world.

Some articles in scholarly journals are helpful for becoming familiar with psychotropic plant usage in the ancient world. Merlin, “Archaeological Evidence for the Tradition of Psychoactive Plant Use in the Old World” (2003), covers psychotropic plant usage throughout all ancient cultures. Carod-Artal, “Psychoactive Plants in Ancient Greece” (2013), considers substances available in the ancient Greek world. A few articles focus on Classical Greece, for instance Arata, “Nepenthe and Cannabis in Ancient Greece” (2004), and Eleanor, “Flower Power in Medicine and Magic: Theophrastus’ Response to the Rootcutters” (2006). The topic of kykeon at the Eleusinian Mysteries has produced some interesting scholarship, for instance Perrine, “Mixing the Kykeon” (2000), and Rosen “Hipponax fr. 48 Dg. And the Eleusinian Kykeon” (1987).

-- Alan Sumler, Intoxication in the Ancient Greek and Roman World

[anotherdayinbliss]

Cover of program of Cabaret Fledermaus by Carl Otto Czeschka, 1907.

Illustration for the first program of Cabaret Fledermaus by Bertold Löffler and Carl Otto Czeschka, 1907.

Illustration for the second program of Cabaret Fledermaus by Moriz Jung, 1907.

Cover of the second program of Cabaret Fledermaus by August Chwala, 1907.

Draft of a poster for Cabaret Fledermaus by József Divéky, 1907.

Folding fan for Cabaret Fledermaus by Bertold Löffler.

In October of 1907, on the corner of Kärntner Straße 33 and Johannesgasse 1 in Vienna, a new kind of club emerged in a converted basement of a residential building. Cabaret Fledermaus was conceived as a place where the ‘boredom’ of contemporary life would be replaced by ‘ease, art and culture’. It was created by the Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Workshop), a group of artists and designers founded by architect Josef Hoffmann, artist Koloman Moser and businessman Fritz Waerndorfer. Their aim was to stimulate the senses through a synthesis of modern architecture, painting, poetry, music and dance creating a space where ‘none of the arts were excluded’ and craftsmanship was championed. [...] Live performance was at the cabaret’s heart: it hosted short satirical plays, evocative shadow theatre, avant-garde dance, poetry readings and musical performances ranging in tone from humour to decadence. In particular, the stage offered a platform for epoch-defining female performers such as Grete Wiesenthal and Marya Delvard, supported by extravagant sets and elaborate costume designs. [...] Cabaret Fledermaus closed its doors in 1913 due to financial difficulties and there are only a few records that remain of what this dazzling club space would have looked like. There are three surviving photographs, postcards by the Wiener Werkstätte, and floorplan and elevation sketches by Le Corbusier from 1907, when he was in close contact with Hoffmann while staying in Vienna. source

[goalhofer]

2024 olympics Denmark roster

Archery

Kirstine Danstrup-Andersen (Copenhagen)

Athletics

Simon Hansen (Herning)

Ida Karstoft (Lemvig)

Lisa Pedersen (Copenhagen)

Katrine Koch-Jacobsen (Ballerup)

Badminton

Viktor Axelsen (Odense)

Anders Antonsen (Aarhus)

Kimmo Astrup-Sørensen (Copenhagen)

Anders Skaarup-Rasmussen (Copenhagen)

Mathias Christiansen (Copenhagen)

Mia Blichfeldt (Solrød Strand)

Maiken Fruergaard-Sørensen (Hvidovre)

Sara Thygesen (Frederiksberg)

Alexandra Bøje (Copenhagen)

Boxing

Nikolai Terteryan (Vejle)

Canoeing

Lasse Madsen (Solrød Kommune)

Victor Aasmul (Rudersdal Kommune)

Morten Gravesen (Copenhagen)

Magnus Sibbersen (Hvidovre)

René Holten-Poulsen (Sakskøbing)

Frederikke Hauge-Matthiesen (Høje-Taalstrup Kommune)

Emma Aastrand-Jørgensen (Bagsværd)

Cycling

Mikkel Norsgaard-Bjerg (Copenhagen)

Michael Mørkøv-Christensen (Kokkedal)

Mads Pedersen (Tølløse)

Mattias Skjelmose-Jensen (Copenhagen)

Carl-Frederik Bévort (Copenhagen)

Tobias Aagaard-Hansen (Odense)

Niklas Larsen (Slagelse)

Rasmus Lund-Pedersen (Odense)

Simon Andreassen (Odense)

Sofie Pedersen (Aalborg)

Rebecca Koerner (Herlev)

Cecilie Uttrup-Ludwig (Frederiksberg Kommune)

Emma Bjerg (Silkeborg)

Amalie Dideriksen (Kastrup)

Julie Norman-Leth (Aarhus)

Caroline Bohé (Hillerød)

Malene Kejlstrup-Sørenson (Randers)

Equestrian

Daniel Bachmann-Andersen (Sønderborg)

Peter Tersgov-Flarup (Viborg)

Andreas Schou (Kolding)

Nanna Skodborg-Merrald (Kirke Hvalsø)

Cathrine Landrup-Dufour (Kirke Hvalsø)

Golf

Nicolai Højgaard (Aarhus)

Jacob Olesen (Dubai, U.A.E.)

Emily Pedersen (Copenhagen)

Nanna Koerstz-Madsen (Nørrebro)

Handball

Niklas Landin-Jacobsen (Gladsaxe Kommune)

Magnus Landin-Jacobsen (Gladsaxe Kommune)

Niclas Vest-Kirkeløkke (Ringe)

Emil Manfeldt-Jakobsen (Kerteminde)

Rasmus Lauge-Schmidt (Randers)

Emil Nielsen (Aarhus)

Magnus Saugstrup-Jensen (Aalborg)

Hans Lindberg (Høje-Taastrup Kommune)

Mathias Gidsel (Skjern)

Henrik Møllgaard-Jensen (Bramming)

Mikkel Hansen (Helsingør)

Lukas Lindhard-Jørgensen (Lejre)

Lasse Bredekjær-Andersson (Copenhagen)

Simon Hald-Jensen (Aalborg)

Thomas Sommer-Arnoldsen (Skanderborg)

Simon Bogetoft-Pytlick (Thurø)

Sandra Toft (Gribskov Kommune)

Sarah Aaberg-Iversen (Nykøbing Falster)

Rikke Iversen (Nykøbing Falster)

Helena Hagesøe-Elver (Copenhagen)

Anne Hansen (Glostrup)

Kathrine Brothmann-Heindahl (Rudersdal)

Line Haugsted (Skive)

Althea Reinhardt (Aarhus)

Mette Tranborg (Aarhus)

Kristina Jørgensen (Horsens)

Trine Østergaard-Jensen (Skanderborg)

Louise Vinter-Burgaard (Esbjerg)

Mie Enggrob-Højlund (Voldum)

Emma Uhrskov-Friis (Herning)

Michala Elsberg-Møller (Aalborg)

Judo

Lærke Olsen (Hørsholm)

Rowing

Sverri Sandberg-Nielsen (Tórshavn, Faroe Islands)

Marie Hauberg-Johannesen (Solrød Kommune)

Julie Poulsen (Odder)

Astrid Steensberg (Sorø)

Clara Hornæss (Copenhagen)

Sára Johansen (Tvøroyri, Faroe Islands)

Nikoline Laidlaw (Dunblane, U.K.)

Karen Mortensen (Fredericia)

Caroline Munch (Bjæverskov)

Nanna Vigild (Copenhagen)

Sofie Vikkelsøe (Copenhagen)

Frida Werner-Foldager (Roskilde)

Sofie Østergaard (London, U.K.)

Hedvig Rasmussen (Frederiksberg)

Fie Udby-Erichsen (Hobro)

Frida Sanggaard-Nielsen (Copenhagen)

Sailing

Johan Søe (Aarhus)

Johan Lundgaard-Schubert (Aarhus)

Nikolaj Hoffmann-Buhl (Lyngby-Taarbæk Kommune)

Daniel Nyborg (Copenhagen)

Mathias Bruun-Borreskov (Skanderborg)

Andrea Schmidt (Aarhus)

Johanne Schmidt (Aarhus)

Natacha Saouma-Pedersen (Odense)

Anne-Marie Rindom (Søllerød)

Shooting

Jesper Hansen (Bjegsted)

Rikke Mæng-Ibsen (Herning)

Stephanie Scurrah-Grundsøe (Roskilde)

Skateboarding

Viktor Solmunde (Copenhagen)

Swimming

Thea Blomsterberg (Birkerød)

Martine Damborg (Kastrup)

Elisabeth Sabroe-Ebbesen (Skanderborg)

Schastine Tabor (Copenhagen)

Julie Kepp-Jensen (Hvidovre)

Helena Rosendahl-Bach (Holstebro)

Signe Bro (Copenhagen)

Table tennis

Anders Lind (Hørsholm)

Martin Buch-Andersen (Rudersdal Kommune)

Jonathan Kjaer-Groth (Albertslund)

Taekwondo

Edi Hrnic (Brøndby Kommune)

Tennis

Clara Tauson (Kongens Lyngby)

Caroline Wozniacki-Lee (Miami-Dade County, Florida)

Triathlon

Emil Holm (Frederiksberg)

Alberte Kjær-Pedersen (Aarhus)

Wrestling

Turpal-Ali Bisultanov (Copenhagen)

[thewarmestplacetohide]

Dread by the Decade: Faust – Eine deutsche Volkssage

👻 You can support me on Ko-fi ❤️

★★★★

Plot: Mephisto makes a bet with an angel that he can corrupt a good man’s soul.

Review: While it left me wanting in terms of story, the film makes up for it with stunning visuals and special effects.

English Title: Faust: A German Folktale Source Material: "Faust" by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Year: 1926 Genre: Occult Country: Germany Language: Silent Runtime: 1 hour 55 minutes

Director: F. W. Murnau Writer: Hans Kyser Cinematographer: Carl Hoffmann Cast: Gösta Ekman, Emil Jannings, Camilla Horn

-----

Story: 3/5 - Though still interesting, the film departs from its source material, trading philosophical grandeur for a rather cliche love story.

Performances: 3.5/5 - Jannings is equal parts sinister and comical as Mephisto, and Ekman and Horn are solid.

Cinematography: 5/5 - One of the most gorgeous and visually engaging movies of the silent film era.

Editing: 4/5

Music: 4/5

Effects: 4.5/5 - Superimposition, puppetry, and fog machines are used expertly to create otherworldly scenes.

Stunts & Choreography: 4/5 - Some fun acrobatics in the beginning.

Sets: 4.5/5 - Gorgeous and populated.

Costumes & Make-Up: 3/5 - Mephisto’s makeup is disappointingly simplified after the stellar opening scene.

Trigger Warnings:

Child death

Brownface

Brief sexual assault (unintentional; a dated portrayal of how a character fights to get away but "really wants it")

[byneddiedingo]

Faust (F.W. Murnau, 1926)

Cast: Gösta Ekman, Emil Jannings, Camilla Horn, Frida Richard, William Dieterle, Yvette Guilbert, Eric Barclay, Hanna Ralph, Werner Fuetterer. Screenplay and titles: Gerhart Hauptmann, Hans Kyser, based on a play by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Cinematography: Carl Hoffmann. Art direction: Robert Herlth, Walter Röhrig. Film editing: Effi Bötrich. 

Power corrupts, as we knew long before Lord Acton so nicely formulated it for us. It's the truth underlying so many myths, from the Garden of Eden to the Nibelungenlied to the Faust legend. Goethe's Faust is a philosophical poem, a closet drama not designed for stage or film, but that hasn't prevented playwrights, opera librettists, or screenwriters from making the attempt. F.W. Murnau's version is probably the most distinguished cinematic attempt, but not because of its fidelity to the source. Murnau's version works because it concentrates on the power struggle, initially between Good, as represented by the archangel (Werner Fuetterer), and Evil, as represented by Mephisto (Emil Jannings), and later by the attempt of Faust (Gösta Ekman) to obtain mastery over Time. It begins with a wager, borrowed from the book of Job, between the archangel and Mephisto, over whom Faust's soul will belong to. Then it eventually devolves into what is the core of most dramatic treatments of Goethe's story, the seduction of Gretchen (Camilla Horn), with the aid of Mephisto. In the end, both Gretchen and Faust are redeemed by his willingness to sacrifice himself, an abnegation of power. But that too-familiar story is distinguished by Murnau's staging of it, with the significant help of Carl Hoffmann's cinematography and the art direction of Robert Herlth and Walter Röhrig. This is one of the most beautiful of silent films because of the interplay between light and dark, a superb evocation of the paintings of Rembrandt in the composition and lighting of scenes. The tone of the film is set near the beginning by the spectacular image of a gigantic Mephisto looming over a German town, which clearly influenced the similar scene in the "Night on Bald Mountain" sequence of Walt Disney's Fantasia (1940). Jannings manages to be both sinister and gross as Mephisto -- the latter mode most in evidence in his scenes with Gretchen's lustful Aunt Marthe (Yvette Guilbert). (If Guilbert looks familiar it's because, as a Parisian cabaret singer during the Belle Époque, she was the subject of numerous portraits by Toulouse-Lautrec.) This was the last of Murnau's films in Germany: The following year he moved to Hollywood, where he made probably his greatest film, Sunrise. He was soon followed to America by the actor who played Gretchen's brother, Valentin, William Dieterle, who became a prominent Hollywood director.

Top: Yvette Guilbert and Emil Jannings in Faust. Bottom: Yvette Guilbert by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

[twittercomfrnklin2001-blog]

Caged

“Pile out, you tramps. It’s the end of the line!”

“In this cage, you get tough, or you get killed.”

“Who’s the cute trick?”

“Kindly omit the flowers.”

“Keep it active. She’ll be back.”

Screenwriter Virginia Kellogg went behind bars to capture slang and elements of prison routine, and boy did it pay off. John Cromwell’s CAGED (1950, TCM, Plex) is a punchy good time, even when it’s hectoring the audience about the need for prison reform. It set many of the tropes of the women’s picture, but stands on its own perched on the dividng line between camp and high drama. It’s also unusual in that it got veiled lesbianism and references to drugs and prostitution past the Production Code. Eleanor Parker stars as the young innocent sent to prison because she was in the car while her husband got himself killed trying to rob a gas station. She’s thrown into a world of corruption, sadism, sexuale exploitation and terrific character women. A lot of the fun comes from watching the situation change her, and Parker gives a carefully modulated performance in which the young innocent is as interesting and believable as the woman she becomes. She’s not the whole show. You also get Ellen Corby as a crazed husband killer, Jan Sterling as a dumb blonde, Betty Garde (the original Aunt Eller) as the recruiter for a shop-lifting ring, Lee Patrick as a vice queen who could be the dictionary illustration for “lipstick lesbian,” Olive Deering as a suicidal inmate, Jane Darwell as matron of the isolation room, Gertrude W. Hoffmann as a lifer and Gertrude Michael as a fallen society woman. Best of all are Agnes Moorehead, who could ring nuance out of a laundry list, as the sympathetic warden and Hope Emerson as the sadistic matron who looks on Parker as a source of income and possibly something more. Cromwell was always a whiz at directing actors and melds the cast into a solid ensemble. He and cinematographer Carl E. Guthrie create some powerful visuals, but one of the most stunning effects uses sound. In her first night in the cell block, Allen has to adjust to sleeping in a room full of people as the soundtrack fills with coughs, yawns, and sobs that gradually overwhelm her and us.

[indiesole]

THE 236 GREATEST PERSONALITIES IN THE ENTIRE KNOWN HISTORY/COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS OF THIS WORLD! (@INDIES)

i.e. THE 236 GREATEST PERSONALITIES IN WORLD HISTORY! (@INDIES)

Rajesh Khanna

Lionel Messi

Leonardo Da Vinci

Muhammad Ali

Joan of Arc

William Shakespeare

Vincent Van Gogh

Online Indie

J. K. Rowling

David Lean

Nadia Comaneci

Diego Maradona

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Meena Kumari

Julius Caesar

Harrison Ford

Ludwig Van Beethoven

William W. Cargill

Fritz Hoffmann-La Roche

Samuel Curtis Johnson

Sam Walton

John D. Rockefeller

Andrew Carnegie

Roy Thomson

Tim Berners-Lee

Marie Curie

James J. Hill

Cornelius Vanderbilt

Roman Polanski

Samuel Slater

J. P. Morgan

Cary Grant

Dmitri Mendeleev

John Harvard

Alain Delon

Ramakrishna Paramhansa (Official God)

The Lumiere Brothers, Auguste & Louis

Carl Friedrich Benz

Michelangelo

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Ramana Maharishi

Mark Twain

Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri

Bruce Lee

Bhagwan Krishna (Official God)

Charlemagne

Rene Descartes

John F. Kennedy

Bhagwan Ganesha (Official God)

Walt Disney

Albert Einstein

Nikola Tesla

Alfred Hitchcock

Pythagoras

William Randolph Hearst

Cosimo de’ Medici

Johann Sebastian Bach

Alec Guinness

Nostradamus

Christopher Plummer

Archimedes

Jackie Chan

Guru Dutt

Amma Karunamayi/ Mata Parvati (Official God)

Peter Sellers

Gerard Depardieu

Joseph Safra

Robert Morris

Sean Connery

Petr Kellner

Aristotle Onassis

Usain Bolt

Jack Welch

Alfredo di Stefano

Elizabeth Taylor

Michael Jordan

Paul Muni

Steven Spielberg

Louis Pasteur

Ingrid Bergman

Norma Shearer

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar

Ayn Rand

Jesus Christ (Official God)

Luciano Pavarotti

Alain Resnais

Frank Sinatra

Allah (Official God)

Richard Nixon

Charlie Chaplin

Thomas Alva Edison

Alexander Graham Bell

Wright Brothers

Arjun (of Bhagwan Krishna’s Gita)

Jim Simons

George Lucas

Swami Sri Lahiri Mahasaya

Carl Lewis

Brett Favre

Helen Keller

Bernard Mannes Baruch

Buddha (Official God)

Hugh Grant

K. L. Saigal

Roger Federer

Rash Behari Bose

Tiger Woods

William Blake

Jesse Owens

Claude Miller

Bernardo Bertolucci

Subhash Chandra Bose

Satyajit Ray

Hippocrates

Chiang Kai-Shek

John Logie Baird

Geeta Dutt

Raphael (painter)

Bhagwan Shiva (Official God)

Radha (Ancient Krishna devotee)

George Orwell

Jorge Paulo Lemann

Catherine Deneuve

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Bill Gates

Bhagwan Ram (Official God)

Michael Phelps

Michael Faraday

Audrey Hepburn

Dalai Lama

Grace Kelly

Mikhail Gorbachev

Vladimir Putin

Galileo Galilei

Gary Cooper

Roger Moore

John Huston

Blaise Pascal

Humphrey Bogart

Rudyard Kipling

Samuel Morse

Wayne Gretzky

Yogi Berra

Barry Levinson

Patrice Chereau (director)

Jerry Lewis

Louis Daguerre

James Watt

Henri Rousseau

Nikita Krushchev

Jack Dorsey

Dev Anand

Elia Kazan

Alexander Fleming

David Selznick

Frank Marshall

Viswanathan Anand

Major Dhyan Chand

Swami Vivekananda

Felix Rohatyn

Sam Spiegel

Anand Bakshi

Victor Hugo

Bhagwan Sri Sathya Sai Baba (Official God)

Steve Jobs

Srinivasa Ramanujam

Lord Hanuman

Stanley Kubrick

Giotto

Voltaire

Diego Velazquez

Ernest Hemingway

Francis Ford Coppola

Michael Douglas

Kirk Douglas

Mario Lemieux

Kishore Kumar

James Stewart

Douglas Fairbanks

Confucius

Babe Ruth

Raj Kapoor

Titian aka Tiziano Vecelli

El Greco

Francisco de Goya

Jim Carrey

Mohammad Rafi

Steffi Graf

Pele

Gustave Courbet

Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi

Milos Forman

Steve Wozniak

Georgia O’ Keeffe

Mala Sinha

Aryabhatta

Magic Johnson

Patanjali

Leo Tolstoy

Tansen

Henry Fonda

Albrecht Durer

Benazir Bhutto

Cal Ripken Jr

Samuel Goldwyn

Mumtaz (actress)

Panini

Nicolaus Copernicus

Pablo Picasso

George Clooney

Olivia de Havilland

Prem Chand

Imran Khan

Pete Sampras

Ratan Tata

Meerabai (16th c. Krishna devotee)

Queen Elizabeth II

Pope John Paul II

James Cameron

Jack Ma

Warren Buffett

Romy Schneider

C. V. Raman

Aung San Suu Kyi

Benjamin Netanyahu

Frank Capra

Michael Schumacher

Steve Forbes

Paramhansa Yogananda

Tom Hanks

Kamal Amrohi

Hans Holbein

Shammi Kapoor

Gerardus Mercator

Edith Piaf

Bhagwan Shirdi Sai Baba (Official God)

[brookstonalmanac]

Birthdays 6.13

Beer Birthdays

William S. Gosset (1876)

Constant Vanden Stock (1914)

Charles W. Bamforth (1952)

Ashley Routson (1983)

Five Favorite Birthdays

Kat Dennings; actor (1986)

Chris Evans; actor (1981)

Dorothy L. Sayers; English writer (1893)

Ally Sheedy; actor (1962)

William Butler Yeats; English poet (1865)

Famous Birthdays

Tim Allen; comedian, actor (1953)

Luis Alvarez; physicist (1911)

Don Budge; tennis player (1915)

Fanny Burney; English writer (1752)

Doc Cheatham; jazz trumpeter (1905)

Christo; artist (1935)

Vieira da Silva; artist (1908)

Paul De Lisle; rock musician (1963)

Ralph Edwards; actor (1913)

Bobby Freeman; singer (1940)

Red Grange; Chicago Bears RB (1903)

Heinrich Hoffmann; artist (1809)

Ben Johnson; actor (1918)

Laura Kightlinger; comedian (1969)

Paul Lynde; comedian, actor (1926)

Malcolm McDowell; actor (1943)

Ashley & Mary-Kate Olsen; actors (1986)

Basil Rathbone; actor (1865)

Brande Roderick; model, actor (1974)

Carl Schmidt; German chemist (1822)

Winfield Scott; civil war general (1786)

Stellan Skarsgard; Swedish actor (1951)

Joseph Stella; artist (1877)

Samuel A. Taylor; playwright (1912)

Richard Thomas; actor (1951)

Nautica Thorn; porn actor (1984)

Leeann Tweeden; model (1973)

Si Zentner; jazz trombonist, bandleader (1917)

[byneddiedingo]

Die Nibelungen (Fritz Lang, 1924)

Die Nibelungen: Siegfried

Cast: Gertrud Arnold, Margarete Schön, Hanna Ralph, Paul Richter, Theodor Loos, Hans Adalbert Schlettow, Georg John.

Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge

Cast: Margarete Schön, Gertrud Arnold, Theodor Loos, Hans Adalbert Schlettow, Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Georg John.

Screenplay: Fritz Lang, Thea von Harbou. Cinematography: Carl Hoffmann, Günter Rittau, Walter Ruttmann. Art direction: Otto Hunte, Karl Vollbrecht. Costume design: Paul Gerd Guderian, Aenne Willkomm. Music: Gottfried Huppertz

Fritz Lang's two-part epic, based on the Middle High German Nibelungenlied, will confuse anyone who knows the story only via Richard Wagner's Ring cycle: There are no Rhinemaidens or gods or Valkyries, nothing of Siegfried's parentage, and, since it lacks gods, consequently no Götterdämmerung. It consists of two films, Siegfried and Kriemhild's Revenge, that tell the story -- parts of which will be familiar from the final two operas in Wagner's cycle -- of how Siegfried (Paul Richter) slew the dragon and bathed in its blood, becoming invincible except for one spot on his back that the blood failed to touch, then killed the dwarf Alberich (George John) and took possession of a magic net that renders him invisible. He travels to Burgundy, where he wins the hand of the beautiful Kriemhild (Margarete Schön) by helping her brother, King Gunther (Theodor Loos), subdue the warrior maiden Brunnhild (Hanna Ralph). But Siegfried is killed after Gunther's advisor, Hagen (Hans Adalbert Schlettow), tricks Kriemhild into revealing his vulnerable spot. Brunnhild kills herself and Kriemhild vows revenge on the whole lot, which in the second film she accomplishes by marrying King Etzel (Rudolf Klein-Rogge), aka Attila, and provoking war between his Huns and the Burgundians. Lang tells the story with an eye-filling blend of tableaus, set-pieces, and scenes swarming with bloody action, concluding with a spectacular fire in which the Burgundians are trapped in Etzel's castle. The performances are pretty spectacular, too. Richter plays Siegfried as a muscular young goof ensnared by fate, Ralph is a formidable Brunnhild, and Schön modulates from naïve to terrifying as Kriemhild. But it's the production design by Otto Hunte and the costuming by Paul Gerd Guderian that lingers most in the memory. The production evokes late 19th- and early 20th-century book illustrators like Arthur Rackham and Walter Crane, but also the stark hieratic figures of Byzantine mosaics, especially Kriemhild, who becomes more powerfully static as the film progresses. Much has been written about the way the film fed into the heroic German myth that was co-opted by the Nazis, especially since the screenwriter, Thea von Harbou, Lang's wife at the time, later joined the party. (Lang, whose mother was Jewish, left Germany in 1934.) In fact, the Nazis sanctioned only the first half, Siegfried, after they came to power. Kriemhild's Revenge, with its depiction of the corruption of power and its nihilistic ending, didn't suit their purposes.

Margarete Schön as Kriemhild of Burgund

DIE NIBELUNGEN: KRIEMHILD'S REVENGE (1924) | dir. Fritz Lang

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Lina Elisabeth Margarete Gerhardt, Margarete Gerhardt (1873-1955) pintora, artista gráfica alemana.

(Los datos biográficos de Margarete Gerhardt se han mezclado parcialmente con los de la pintora y tallista Margarethe Gerhardt-Hoffmann (1878-1956), de Berlín y Warnemünde.)

Nació en Frankfurt. Era hija del abogado prusiano, alcalde de Frankfurt y consejero estatal de Brandeburgo Carl August Friedrich Gerhardt y su esposa Rosa Dorothea, de soltera Bach. Tres años después del nacimiento de Margarete, la familia se mudó a Berlín.

Después del Gymnasium, Margarete Gerhardt asistió a la escuela de pintura y dibujo de la Asociación de Artistas de Berlín. En 1895 se convirtió en alumna de Wilhelm Müller-Schoenefeld durante dos años, quien le enseñó retratos y dibujos figurativos, que utilizó en retratos de sus familiares y otras personas. Durante esta época también se llevaron a cabo estudios en museos.

Copió en tamaño cuarto el cuadro de Estéban Murillo“San Antonio y el Niño Jesús” que se perdió durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial y, según sus propias declaraciones, hizo copias adicionales de Rembrandt, Velásquez, Tiziano y Pesne.

De 1897 a 1904 asistió a la escuela de pintura de Dora Hitz y aprendió de su estilo pictórico impresionista y luminoso. Inspirándose en una exposición de Emil Orlik en la Galería Nacional, Margarete aprendió por sí misma la técnica de los grabados en madera coloreados y se convirtió en una artista de éxito.

Realizó viajes de estudios a Italia, Francia, Londres, Suiza, Holanda y el norte de África. Esto lo plasmó en pinturas al óleo, veladuras, acuarelas, linograbados y xilografías.

En sus libros hay un ex libris tallado en madera con el motivo del Templo de los Dioscuros en Roma. En 1903 emprendió un viaje por mar que duró varios meses en un vapor mercante de Hamburgo que navegaba hacia el norte de África y regresó a Berlín vía Londres. En 1911/12 viajó a Italia con Dora Hitz.

Durante 44 años (1911-55) fue miembro de la Asociación de Artistas de Berlín y estuvo en su junta directiva de 1933 al 36. También fue miembro de la Cooperativa de Arte Alemana de Schöneberg-Friedenau.

En 1941, durante la era nazi, solicitó ser miembro de la Cámara de Bellas Artes del Reich, lo que le dio acceso a materiales de pintura. Incluso durante los años de la guerra, la VdBK intentó seguir permitiendo a sus miembros vender obras en exposiciones. Margarete Gerhardt expuso allí todos los años hasta 1942. Pudo presentar y vender sus obras en numerosas exposiciones que la asociación VdBK organizó en sus propias salas.

De 1908 a 1933 estuvo representada varias veces en la Gran Exposición de Arte de Berlín. También expuso en la Asociación Libre de Artistas Gráficos de Berlín, en el Lyzeum Club de Berlín y en la exposición para el comercio de libros y gráfica en Leipzig en 1914.

Desde 1928 vivió y trabajó en Berlín-Wilmersdorf en Livländische Straße 18.

No estaba casada. Desde 1920 existía una asociación de las familias Gerhardt. Se encontraron tres veces antes de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Hasta 1937, Margarete se hizo cargo del extenso papeleo de la familia numerosa.

Tras la muerte de su madre en 1927, las dos hermanas se mudaron de la casa de sus padres en Friedenau a Berlín-Wilmersdorf y Eleonore Gerhardt dirigió la casa hasta su muerte en 1944. Después del final de la guerra, su sobrina Gabriele Nickelmann-Langerhans se mudó con la familia a vivir con ella, que permanecía soltera, en Livländische Straße 18 y cuidó de la artista hasta su muerte en 1955.

Varias de sus obras son de propiedad privada, otras se desconocen, están dispersas o desaparecidas.

Le ponemos cara con su Autorretrato.

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Der Kuckuck und der Esel - ein lustiger Wettstreit

Das Volkslied „Der Kuckuck und der Esel“ ist eines der bekannteren Kinderlieder im deutschsprachigen Raum. Es erzählt auf humorvolle Weise von einem Streit zwischen einem Kuckuck und einem Esel, die beide behaupten, am besten singen zu können. Der Text des Liedes stammt aus dem 19. Jahrhundert und wurde von Hoffmann von Fallersleben geschrieben. Die Melodie komponierte Carl Friedrich Zelter. Das…

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El chico de la piel de cerdo y otros relatos que jamás deberías leer - Raiza Revelles

Consumidores de pesadillas - Alfonso Orejel

KAIKI Cuentos de terror y locura

Ante el dolor de los demás - Susan Sontag

Cuando la oscuridad nos ama - Elizabeth Engstrom

Estrella distante - Roberto Bolaño

Nuestra parte de la noche - Mariana Enriquez

Anatomía de la melancolía - Robert Burton

Psicología del arte - Liev Semionovich Vigotski

La interpretación de los sueños - Freud

Un asesinato brillante - Anthony Horowitz

Lógica de la crueldad - Joan Carles Melich

El libro de los seres imaginarios - Borges

El color que cayó del cielo - H. P. Lovecraft

El poeta que rugió a la luna y se convirtió en tigre - Atsushi Nakajima

Los cansados - Michele Serra

Lo bello y lo triste - Yasunari Kawabata

Vidas frágiles, noches oscuras - Hiromi Kawakami

El ruiseñor y la rosa - Oscar Wilde

El buscador de esencias - Dominique Roques

Cuanto más profunda es el agua, más feo es el pez - Katya Apekina

Ese maldito yo - E. M. Cioran

Emma - Jane Austen

Los elixires del diablo - E. T. A. Hoffmann

Más que humano - Theodore Sturgeon

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Dread by the Decade: Pest in Florenz

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★★½

Plot: The arrival of a beautiful courtesan in Florence throws the city's ruling class into turmoil.

Review: Misogynistic and poorly paced, its interesting plot points are left to languish on the sidelines in favor of repetitious party scenes.

English Title: The Plague in Florence Source Material: The Masque of Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe Year: 1919 Genre: Bio Horror, Psychological Horror, Historical Drama Country: Germany Language: Silent Runtime: 1 hour 41 minutes

Director: Otto Rippert Cinematographer: Willy Hameister, Carl Hoffmann, Emil Schünemann Writer: Fritz Lang Composer: Bruno Gellert Cast: Otto Mannstädt, Anders Wikmann, Marga von Kierska, Franz Knaak, Theodor Becker

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Plot: 1.5/5 - Its characters are stereotypes and its most interesting points, like a religious city undone by hedonism, are rushed.

Performances: 2.5/5 - The best performances come from Buecker, Knaak, and Mannstädt, but the latter two have barely any screen time.

Cinematography: 3.5/5

Music: 4/5 - Diverse, ranging from festival fare to creepy chanting.

Sets: 4/5 - Beautiful, populated recreations of Florentine architecture look almost real.

Costumes & Make-Up: 4/5 - Detailed medieval costuming (unsure of historical accuracy). Plague's makeup is striking.

Trigger Warnings:

Mild violence

Attempted rape

Misogyny (uncritically perpetuated)

Extreme Catholic ideology

Child death