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shepherds-of-haven · 4 years

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College!Au of Shepherd members? What likely are they (i.e. jock, player in the soccer team, bad-boy, the clichès.)? definitely not thinking of writing an au, and im certainly not thinking of maybe making a small edit about it. nOt aT aLl cApTAiN

Hi there! Have you seen the college AU asks? This one is pretty detailed about what kind of students they are, and this one is more succinct with their majors/minors! But I’m always happy to go more in-depth about AUs! 😉

In my imagination, Blade, Trouble, and Chase were suite-mates freshman year and get an apartment together when they’re not living on campus. (Halek, Red, and Riel are also roommates and then Riel can’t stand living in a dorm anymore so he buys a townhome with his family’s money and allows Halek and Red to live there to give himself some semblance of a social life.)

Blade is the scion of a very wealthy family who’s expected to take over the family business one day. Instead he majors in Criminal Justice and--in my imagination--secretly aims to become either a detective or a prosecutor because he suspects his family is involved with criminal organizations. He’s generally quiet, solemn, broody, and troubled (just like in the game lol) and is only dragged out to do “normal” college things by Trouble and Chase’s persistence! He’s in the fencing club and also goes to a mixed martial arts gym off-campus, sometimes with Trouble, which also happens to be the one Briony goes to.

Trouble is in ROTC and majors in mechanical engineering, with dreams of joining the Air Force and becoming a pilot after graduation if he can keep his grades up. For some reason I have this idea that he got into this university on a soccer scholarship? He plays guitar and later gets a dog because fuck it, he’s always wanted one, and he’s rebuilding an old motorcycle in his spare time at this garage where his old school friends work. He definitely wears bomber jackets and letterman jackets like, a lot. He’s very popular and considered a “jock,” but a friendly one! He has an English class with Red and a math class with Riel, going to both of their study groups and then driving them crazy because he either doodles instead of studying or texts. Part-time, I feel like he delivers pizzas for some reason...

Chase is the third part of their trio and is more lax about his studies than the other two (which is a bad influence on Trouble). He does not talk at all about his family or home life and generally spends the holidays with either Blade or Trouble’s families. He’s an undeclared major and has no idea what he wants to do after college and is not worrying about it. He pays smart kids to do his homework for him, so he has an excellent GPA, much to the class president’s (Riel) fury. He’s part of a frat but doesn’t actually drink at parties, more concerned that everyone’s having a good time and making fun memories than he is about himself. He doesn’t allow any scummy behavior in the frat and secretly, on a whim, auditioned for a student play and is surprisingly very into it, to the point where he asks Briony and Trouble for help with his lines. After throwing a huge party where [x] happens, he starts a group chat with everybody involved in this story and it’s sort of how they all become friends, even though many of them already knew each other individually. Oh, and he’s very into Tinder, much to the chagrin of his other two roommates.

I think Briony, Ayla, and Lavinet are also roommates, and so are Shery, Tallys, and Mimir. Briony-Ayla-Lavinet’s place (BAL? Brionaylavi?) is Party Central, whereas Shery-Tallys-Mimir’s place (STM? Shallir?) is Quiet Coffee-Drinking Art Loft Sometimes Hipster Slam Poetry Book Clubs Central.

Briony is either a journalism student or a law student, I can’t really decide. She takes a lot of extracurriculars at their university as a way to blow off steam, including a painting class (which is where she met Shery) and a horseback riding class, because why not? She has been training at the same mixed martial arts gym since she was a teenager, and she starts bringing Ayla and Lavinet there so they can defend themselves when they’re not altogether. Despite her cheerful attitude and popularity around campus, she seems to be running from a past back in her hometown that she doesn’t talk to anyone about, not even her closest friends: an obsessive ex and a dark past are just some of the things she doesn’t want catching up to her. Sometimes she earns part-time money covering shifts at the cafe Shery works at.

Ayla is a journalism/communications student who will later switch majors to hospitality and hate it. She gives wilderness tours and white-water-rafting tours in the summers as a seasonal job and plays volleyball on the university team during the spring seasons and track and field during the fall. Her grades are abysmal and she goes to the tutoring center often for help, which is how she meets Red and Riel. She rides a Vespa around town and also attends the yoga class that Tallys teaches. Yes she wears leather jackets and occasionally beanies. She was too cheap to a buy a meal plan at the university cafeteria so she often skims from others or uses their extra meals before the week runs out. She is a lover of junk food and crams their apartment pantry with all manner of chips, soda, ramen, packaged mac and cheese, and etc! She also definitely games.

Lavinet is a wealthy socialite daughter of the CEO and founder of a huge conglomerate: think a Paris Hilton, but more grounded. She’s majoring in business and political science, being groomed to take over her father’s role, but she wants a taste of “normal” life before that happens. All of her rich friends from high school thinks she’s slumming it with the other kids, but Lavinet’s having the time of her life. She tries not to stand out too much, but she unconsciously does, anyway: wearing designer coats and sunglasses to class, driving a flashy convertible, and keeping her books in a high-end handbag, because backpacks are “schlubby.” She means well but can sometimes be a bit of a drama queen to her roommates. She also loves juicy gossip and eats it up! She has been known to take her roommates’ phones and flirt for them with potential dates. She has a popular vlog and Instagram account, which I imagine is how Briony’s dark past catches up to her. She loves to get coffee at the shop that Shery and sometimes Briony work at and always seems to have a latte in her hand. She can point at any given person and name what lipstick they would be if they were one. She’s fairly good at her studies and loves to be in charge of study groups and gets into a war with another girl who tries to ‘poach’ her study partners. She absolutely takes French and fashion design classes and heads all over campus turn when she walks past!

Red, Riel, and Halek live in what is known as the “Nerd House.” Red is pretty much always at coffee shops and libraries, studying and reading, so much so that he doesn’t notice multiple other students checking him out in his rolled-up sweater sleeves and messenger bag. He’s got a bit of an “Academic Hipster” vibe and definitely has hipster tastes in music and books. He goes to poetry readings at cafes (of which Mimir is a staple) and goes on a lot of first dates that don’t lead anywhere, giving him the reputation of either a really picky person or a playboy. Does he wear glasses? Absolutely. Is it because he needs them? Probably not. On some subconscious level he is probably aware that he looks smart and cute in them. Sometimes he plays pickup soccer with Trouble’s practice team (he played in high school) when he realizes he’s been sitting around too long reading and needs to get some blood pumping! He studies philosophy and history as a double-major.

Riel is the class president and later valedictorian of their class. He majors in math, business and finance, history, and psychology as one of the university’s only “quadruple majors”. He comes from an extremely wealthy family that has donated so much money to the school that many of the buildings have his last name on them. Occasionally he volunteers at the tutoring center, where his worst and most rebellious student is Ayla, who he vows to break. You can often find him in the music building, reserving one of the practice rooms to play beautiful classical piano, which he doesn’t like to play at home with his roommates around. He abhors eating or studying outside because, mysteriously, every time he walks through the quad, a frisbee hits him in the head. He is the head of a business fraternity that is constantly being pranked by Chase’s frat.

Halek initially attended their university as a Food Science major, but dropped out and now attends the culinary arts institute across the street. (His twin brother, Naolin, goes to a prestigious university across the country and is studying to become a doctor.) He works as a barista at the cafe where Shery and sometimes Briony work as servers: the one with sleepy eyes that you end up spilling your life story to when you sit at the counter to drink your frappe and study. Plays the drums in a band that performs at open-mic nights and owns a tank of fish. In class he was constantly falling asleep at his desk but has no trouble now. Definitely smokes weed in his room occasionally and has a litany of tattoos up and down his forearms and hands (and for that matter, Ayla does too).

Finally, the Art Loft trio, Tallys, Shery, and Mimir, who definitely have a garden on their roof and hang their clothes up to dry in the sun up there, which Lavinet for whatever reason refers to as their “solarium.”

Tallys is a plant biology major who aims to be recruited into the country’s top holistic/nature-based pharmaceutical company. She teaches yoga outside of class to make money (and Ayla and sometimes Lavinet attend her morning classes). For whatever reason I feel like she smokes and looks really freaking cool doing it but decides to quit after a relative has a cancer scare. She enjoys classical music and plays the violin when she can. She is shares cooking duties with Shery and picks her up from her job at the cafe so she doesn’t have to walk home at night, leading many to mistakenly assume they’re girlfriends. She constantly has AirPods/earphones in, listening to music, and rarely speaks to others outside of class. Strangely, she owns a flip phone and owns no social media.

Shery is a nursing student who loves to cook and bake as a hobby. She’s a natural introvert and prefers to stay in with her roommates, watching TV while she embroiders, or something, but one day she decides she wants to be more social and that’s how she befriends Halek and Briony. She owns a cat who rules the roost in their apartment as well as a hamster. She keeps detailed diaries and also writes poetry, but is too shy to share it with anyone, including Mimir, her roommate who’s an art major. She always wears pastels and very cute clothing and is a straight-A student. Her parents are pretty stingy so she works at a coffee shop, the Haven, as a way to earn money. She’s also helping with costume design for Chase’s play and rides a bike to campus and to work. She’s close with her professors and often visits them during office hours just to chat.

Mimir is an art student who’s making a big splash in the local scene, as she’s regarded as something of a young genius for her bizarre slam poetry and cryptic, surrealistic paintings. She often does readings at the Haven coffee shop during open-mic nights, and she constantly wears a hoodie, even to class. She paints her nails black and rocks that goth artist aesthetic, complete with dark eye makeup and black lipstick. She rarely speaks, but when she does, it’s usually to say something startlingly-insightful or incredibly mysterious. She feeds birds in the main quad on campus, to the point where they recognize her and will fly to her hand. She smells constantly of incense and can sometimes be seen rummaging around in trash cans on campus for her art installations. There is a mysterious cloaked figure on campus who rides a unicycle while blowing on bagpipes that also spew fire that everyone thinks is her, and she only smiles and fades away when anyone asks.

#aurynofhavens #Shepherds of Haven #AU #modern AU #college AU #college #university #all characters #long

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blackkudos · 4 years

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Ralph Ellison

Ralph Waldo Ellison (March 1, 1913 – April 16, 1994) was an American novelist, literary critic, and scholar best known for his novel Invisible Man, which won the National Book Award in 1953. He also wrote Shadow and Act (1964), a collection of political, social and critical essays, and Going to the Territory (1986). For The New York Times, the best of these essays in addition to the novel put him "among the gods of America's literary Parnassus." A posthumous novel, Juneteenth, was published after being assembled from voluminous notes he left upon his death.

Early life

Ralph Waldo Ellison, named after Ralph Waldo Emerson, was born at 407 East First Street in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to Lewis Alfred Ellison and Ida Millsap, on March 1, 1913. He was the second of three sons; firstborn Alfred died in infancy, and younger brother Herbert Maurice (or Millsap) was born in 1916. Lewis Alfred Ellison, a small-business owner and a construction foreman, died in 1916, after an operation to cure internal wounds suffered after shards from a 100-lb ice block penetrated his abdomen, when it was dropped while being loaded into a hopper. The elder Ellison loved literature, and doted on his children, Ralph discovering as an adult that his father had hoped he would grow up to be a poet.

In 1921, Ellison's mother and her children moved to Gary, Indiana, where she had a brother. According to Ellison, his mother felt that "my brother and I would have a better chance of reaching manhood if we grew up in the north." When she did not find a job and her brother lost his, the family returned to Oklahoma, where Ellison worked as a busboy, a shoeshine boy, hotel waiter, and a dentist's assistant. From the father of a neighborhood friend, he received free lessons for playing trumpet and alto saxophone, and would go on to become the school bandmaster.

Ida remarried three times after Lewis died. However, the family life was precarious, and Ralph worked various jobs during his youth and teens to assist with family support. While attending Douglass High School, he also found time to play on the school's football team. He graduated from high school in 1931. He worked for a year, and found the money to make a down payment on a trumpet, using it to play with local musicians, and to take further music lessons. At Douglass, he was influenced by principal Inman E. Page and his daughter, music teacher Zelia N. Breaux.

At Tuskegee Institute

Ellison applied twice for admission to Tuskegee Institute, the prestigious all-black university in Alabama founded by Booker T. Washington. He was finally admitted in 1933 for lack of a trumpet player in its orchestra. Ellison hopped freight trains to get to Alabama, and was soon to find out that the institution was no less class-conscious than white institutions generally were.

Ellison's outsider position at Tuskegee "sharpened his satirical lens," critic Hilton Als believes: "Standing apart from the university's air of sanctimonious Negritude enabled him to write about it." In passages of Invisible Man, "he looks back with scorn and despair on the snivelling ethos that ruled at Tuskegee."

Tuskegee's music department was perhaps the most renowned department at the school, headed by composer William L. Dawson. Ellison also was guided by the department's piano instructor, Hazel Harrison. While he studied music primarily in his classes, he spent his free time in the library with modernist classics. He cited reading T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land as a major awakening moment. In 1934, he began to work as a desk clerk at the university library, where he read James Joyce and Gertrude Stein. Librarian Walter Bowie Williams enthusiastically let Ellison share in his knowledge.

A major influence upon Ellison was English teacher Morteza Drezel Sprague, to whom Ellison later dedicated his essay collection Shadow and Act. He opened Ellison's eyes to "the possibilities of literature as a living art" and to "the glamour he would always associate with the literary life." Through Sprague Ellison became familiar with Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment and Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure, identifying with the "brilliant, tortured anti-heroes" of those works.

As a child, Ellison evidenced what would become a lifelong interest in audio technology, starting by taking apart and rebuilding radios, and later moved on to constructing and customizing elaborate hi-fi stereo systems as an adult. He discussed this passion in a December 1955 essay, "Living With Music," in High Fidelity magazine. Ellison scholar John S. Wright contends that this deftness with the ins-and-outs of electronic devices went on to inform Ellison's approach to writing and the novel form. Ellison remained at Tuskegee until 1936, and decided to leave before completing the requirements for a degree.

In New York

Desiring to study sculpture, he moved to New York City on 5 July 1936 and found lodging at a YMCA on 135th Street in Harlem, then "the culture capital of black America." He met Langston Hughes, "Harlem's unofficial diplomat" of the Depression era, and one—as one of the country's celebrity black authors—who could live from his writing. Hughes introduced him to the black literary establishment with Communist sympathies.

He met several artists who would influence his later life, including the artist Romare Bearden and the author Richard Wright (with whom he would have a long and complicated relationship). After Ellison wrote a book review for Wright, Wright encouraged him to write fiction as a career. His first published story was "Hymie's Bull," inspired by Ellison's 1933 hoboing on a train with his uncle to get to Tuskegee. From 1937 to 1944, Ellison had over 20 book reviews, as well as short stories and articles, published in magazines such as New Challenge and The New Masses.

Wright was then openly associated with the Communist Party, and Ellison was publishing and editing for communist publications, although his "affiliation was quieter," according to historian Carol Polsgrove in Divided Minds. Both Wright and Ellison lost their faith in the Communist Party during World War II, when they felt the party had betrayed African Americans and replaced Marxist class politics with social reformism. In a letter to Wright, dated August 18, 1945, Ellison poured out his anger with party leaders: "If they want to play ball with the bourgeoisie they needn't think they can get away with it. ... Maybe we can't smash the atom, but we can, with a few well chosen, well written words, smash all that crummy filth to hell." In the wake of this disillusion, Ellison began writing Invisible Man, a novel that was, in part, his response to the party's betrayal.

In 1938 Ellison met Rosa Araminta Poindexter, a woman two years his senior. They were married in late 1938. Rose was a stage actress, and continued her career after their marriage. In biographer Arnold Rampersad's assessment of Ellison's taste in women, he was searching for one "physically attractive and smart who would love, honor, and obey him--but not challenge his intellect." At first they lived at 312 West 122nd Street, Rose's apartment, but moved to 453 West 140th Street after her income shrank. In 1941 he briefly had an affair with Sanora Babb, which he confessed to his wife afterward, and in 1943 the marriage was over.

At the start of World War II, Ellison was classed 1A by the local Selective Service System, and thus eligible for the draft. However, he was not drafted. Toward the end of the war, he enlisted in the United States Merchant Marine. In 1946, he married Fanny McConnell, an accomplished person in her own right: a scholarship graduate of the University of Iowa who was a founder of the Negro People's Theater in Chicago and a writer for The Chicago Defender. She helped support Ellison financially while he wrote Invisible Man by working for American Medical Center for Burma Frontiers (the charity supporting Gordon S. Seagrave's medical missionary work). From 1947 to 1951, he earned some money writing book reviews but spent most of his time working on Invisible Man. Fanny also helped type Ellison's longhand text and assisted him in editing the typescript as it progressed.

Published in 1952, Invisible Man explores the theme of man's search for his identity and place in society, as seen from the perspective of the first-person narrator, an unnamed African American man in the New York City of the 1930s. In contrast to his contemporaries such as Richard Wright and James Baldwin, Ellison created characters that are dispassionate, educated, articulate, and self-aware. Through the protagonist, Ellison explores the contrasts between the Northern and Southern varieties of racism and their alienating effect. The narrator is "invisible" in a figurative sense, in that "people refuse to see" him, and also experiences a kind of dissociation. The novel also contains taboo issues such as incest and the controversial subject of communism.

Later years

In 1964, Ellison published Shadow and Act, a collection of essays, and began to teach at Bard College, Rutgers University and Yale University, while continuing to work on his novel. The following year, a Book Week poll of 200 critics, authors, and editors was released that proclaimed Invisible Man the most important novel since World War II.

In 1967, Ellison experienced a major house fire at his summer home in Plainfield, Massachusetts, in which he claimed more than 300 pages of his second novel manuscript were lost. A perfectionist regarding the art of the novel, Ellison had said in accepting his National Book Award for Invisible Man that he felt he had made "an attempt at a major novel" and, despite the award, he was unsatisfied with the book. Ellison ultimately wrote more than 2,000 pages of this second novel but never finished it.

Ellison died on April 16, 1994 of pancreatic cancer and was interred in a crypt at Trinity Church Cemetery in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan.

Awards and recognition

Invisible Man won the 1953 US National Book Award for Fiction.

The award was his ticket into the American literary establishment. He eventually was admitted to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, received two President's Medals (from Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan) and a State Medal from France. He was the first African-American admitted to the Century Association and was awarded an honorary Doctorate from Harvard University. Disillusioned by his experience with the Communist Party, he used his new fame to speak out for literature as a moral instrument. In 1955 he traveled to Europe, visiting and lecturing, settling for a time in Rome, where he wrote an essay that appeared in a 1957 Bantam anthology called A New Southern Harvest. Robert Penn Warren was in Rome during the same period, and the two writers became close friends. Later, Warren would interview Ellison about his thoughts on race, history, and the Civil Rights Movement for his book Who Speaks for the Negro? In 1958, Ellison returned to the United States to take a position teaching American and Russian literature at Bard College and to begin a second novel, Juneteenth. During the 1950s, he corresponded with his lifelong friend, the writer Albert Murray. In their letters they commented on the development of their careers, the Civil Rights Movement, and other common interests including jazz. Much of this material was published in the collection Trading Twelves (2000).

Writing essays about both the black experience and his love for jazz music, Ellison continued to receive major awards for his work. In 1969, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom; the following year, he was made a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by France and became a permanent member of the faculty at New York University as the Albert Schweitzer Professor of Humanities, serving from 1970 to 1980.

In 1975, Ellison was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and his hometown of Oklahoma City honored him with the dedication of the Ralph Waldo Ellison Library. Continuing to teach, Ellison published mostly essays, and in 1984, he received the New York City College's Langston Hughes Medal. In 1985, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. In 1986, his Going to the Territory was published; this is a collection of seventeen essays that included insight into southern novelist William Faulkner and Ellison's friend Richard Wright, as well as the music of Duke Ellington and the contributions of African Americans to America's national identity.

In 1992, Ellison was awarded a special achievement award from the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards; his artistic achievements included work as a sculptor, musician, photographer, and college professor as well as his writing output. He taught at Bard College, Rutgers University, the University of Chicago, and New York University. Ellison was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers.

Legacy and posthumous publications

After Ellison's death, more manuscripts were discovered in his home, resulting in the publication of Flying Home and Other Stories in 1996. In 1999 his second novel, Juneteenth, was published under the editorship of John F. Callahan, a professor at Lewis & Clark College and Ellison's literary executor. It was a 368-page condensation of more than 2000 pages written by Ellison over a period of 40 years. All the manuscripts of this incomplete novel were published collectively on January 26, 2010, by Modern Library, under the title Three Days Before the Shooting...

On February 18, 2014, the USPS issued a 91¢ stamp honoring Ralph Ellison in its Literary Arts series.

A park on 150th Street and Riverside Drive in Harlem (near 730 Riverside Drive, Ellison's principal residence from the early 1950s until his death) was dedicated to Ellison on May 1, 2003. In the park stands a 15 by 8-foot bronze slab with a "cut-out man figure" inspired by his book, "Invisible Man."

Bibliography

Invisible Man (Random House, 1952). ISBN 0-679-60139-2

Flying Home and Other Stories (Random House, 1996). ISBN 0-679-45704-6; includes the short story "A Party Down at the Square"

Juneteenth (Random House, 1999). ISBN 0-394-46457-5

Three Days Before the Shooting... (Modern Library, 2010). ISBN 978-0-375-75953-6

Essay collections

Shadow and Act (Random House, 1964). ISBN 0-679-76000-8

Going to the Territory (Random House, 1986). ISBN 0-394-54050-6

The Collected Essays of Ralph Ellison (Modern Library, 1995). ISBN 0-679-60176-7

Living with Music: Ralph Ellison's Jazz Writings (Modern Library, 2002). ISBN 0-375-76023-7

Letters

Trading Twelves: The Selected Letters of Ralph Ellison and Albert Murray (Modern Library, 2000). ISBN 0-375-50367-6

#03/01 #04/16

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cool-in-saratoga-springs-ny-blog · 5 years

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Saratoga Springs NY

Saratoga Springs, New York, is known for its resorts and beautiful attraction. By fact, Saratoga depends mainly on tourism for its income most notably during the summer season. When it comes to business, it is continuously growing, and it contributes a lot to the economy of the city on a year-round basis. Saratoga Springs has also become the upscale shopping destinations for the Albany. Saratoga, NY is known for convenience stores; it also has more than enough stores you can buy at and enjoy. When it comes to convenient store, Stewart has plenty of headquarters not only in Saratoga but also in other cities.

Man charged with second-degree murder in Mont Pleasant homicide

SCHENECTADY — A man has been charged in connection with the death of a Maplewood Avenue resident late Wednesday. Budhnarain Kadar, 41, was charged with second-degree murder for the death of Marian Singh after being taken into custody Friday, city police said. Read more here.

One of the news updates from THE DAILY GAZETTE is about the man that was charged with second-degree murder. This man is Budhnarain Kadar, 41 years old. The victim is Marian Singh or Marian Loftis, 35 years old. Second-degree murder is non-premeditated killing but can be intentional. If this man is charged with killing, there is enough evidence that will point on him. I think he deserves to be in prison to pay for his sin. He does not have the right to kill anyone. He deserves to be punished in jail to pay for his crime. Thanks to this article I read from The Daily Gazette, it reminds me that justice is always served.

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Saratoga Lake in Saratoga Springs NY

Saratoga Lake in Saratoga Springs New York is located in the eastern part of Saratoga County. This lake is somewhat long at 4.5 miles and wide at 1.5. It is about 29 meters deep. There are plenty of fish species found in the lake. There are plenty of things to do in the lake. You can have fun with the outdoor adventures like sunbathing and swimming, exploring the lake all around, cast your line in the waters, planning a picnic at the front lake, and paddle throughout the lake. I like this lake a lot as it reminds me of the great memories that are irreplaceable.

Hilton Piano Center embodies the best brands of the piano. Among these brands are Yamaha, Steinway, Roland, Kawai, Hamlin, and Mason. Since this store is a family business that is all musicians, the team does not only offer a sale but also support. Whether you buy a new or an old piano, you can seek their support in setting up; designing and installing your piano lab. Aside from this, at the moment that you need a piano to rent, piano lessons, or piano tuning and repair, you can seek help from Hilton Piano Center. Because of the brand and high-quality pianos being sold in Hilton Piano Center, the business had continued to grow. If you need help from them, contact at (518) 435 9876.

Link to Map

Saratoga Lake New York, USA

Get on I-87 S from Malta Ave and U.S. 9 N 7 min (3.2 mi)

Follow I-87 S to NY-155 W in Colonie. Take exit 5 from I-87 S 20 min (21.3 mi)

Take Wolf Rd to your destination 7 min (2.0 mi)

Hilton Piano Center LLC 442 Colonie Center, Albany, NY 12205, USA

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things-to-do-pittsfield-ma-blog · 5 years

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Attractions

Pittsfield is the historical hub of Berkshire with many of its buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It has a well preserved history and rich culture. Some of the famous attractions include the Colonial Theater, Berkshire Museum, Beacon Cinema, Wahconah Park, and Hebert Arboretum. The community and the government have invested so much in the preservation and renovation of many historical structures. During your visit, include in your itinerary a tour at some of the oldest villages that can be dated back to 19th century. You should also visit any of the country clubs, farms, and state forest.

Victim of fatal Pittsfield shooting identified

PITTSFIELD, MA (WGGB/WSHM) -- One person is dead following a weekend shooting on Columbus Avenue. According to Berkshire County District Attorney spokesperson Andy McKeever, Pittsfield Police officers were called to 347 Columbus Avenue around 3:20 a.m. for receiving several 911 calls reporting that multiple gunshots were heard in the area. Read more here.

The statement of Pittsfield Mayor Linda Tyer is consoling to the family of the victim. Getting the full support of authorities to hasten the investigation and give justice to the victim is a big help. While they are mourning because of the loss of a loved one, they also have to find ways to help the authorities find the perpetrator. Since the police officers have already opened the possibility of homicide, the family knows that someone has to be put responsible for the crime. He or she needs to pay for the price especially that one precious life was lost and that children were left orphan because of incident.

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Ashuwillticook Rail Trail in Pittsfield, MA

Ashuwillticook Rail Trail is an open area for biking, roller-blading, walking, and jogging. This is a former railroad corridor built in the 1800’s as commercial link to the Berkshire Hills. The name comes from an American Indian name which means “in between pleasant river”. The 10.8 mile trail features beautiful wild flowers and scenic views great for relaxation. The nice paved path is well-maintained and there are available country farm stands and delis for a quick good snack. Since this is mostly a straight path, it can accommodate even those with low hiking skill level. The view of the mountain and the lake is refreshing and a must for those who want to take a break from the hustles and bustles of city life.

If you are short of budget but you wish to get quality piano, Hilton Piano Center can help you. Apart from being the authorized sellers of branded instruments, they also sell quality used pianos and keyboards. Unlike other buy and sell stores, the expert staffs carefully choose the instruments they take to ensure that their clients get only the best. They sell items that are in excellent condition and as good as new ones. You may also find vintage items that are on sale from time to time from their store. All the products are reasonably priced. They also offer financing options to accommodate all types of buyers.

Link to Map

Ashuwillticook Rail Trail Lanesborough, MA 01224, United States

Take US-7 N, Brodie Mountain Rd, NY-43 W and I-90 W to Colonie Center in Colonie 1 h 3 min (45.5 mi)

Continue on Colonie Center to your destination 52 s (0.1 mi)

Hilton Piano Center LLC 442 Colonie Center, Albany, NY 12205

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near-albany-ny-blog · 5 years

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Near Albany NY

Culture and Festivals

Albany hosts a monthly event that celebrates culture and arts. They call it as the First Fridays where galleries gladly accept visitors for free and offer various discounts on major establishments. No weather can stop the people from their celebrations. During winter, ice skaters come to life around the Empire Skate Plaza. They also have the Palace Theater and The Egg for their musical and theatrical performances. If you wish to see free concert every week, “Alive at 5” is a popular show during summer and during spring, you can attend the famous Tulip Festival to mark the beginning of a new season.

Hilton Piano Center LLC

Music is a way of life. Whether you are considering to buy a piano or other musical instrument, or looking for a professional repair service, Hilton Piano Center should be on your list. The family-owned retail store offers a wide selection of piano, guitar, and drums. They tie up with popular brands to give their customer the most competitive price in the market. Apart from selling musical instrument and offering repair service, they also offer lessons to their customers. The highly qualified and professional teachers ensure that once you step on their lab classes, you get the best training possible. In no time, you will be playing like a real pro.

CT Albany NY Zone Forecast

National Weather Service Albany NY 112 AM EDT Sun Jun 16 2019 CTZ001-160800- Northern Litchfield- Including the city of Torrington 112 AM EDT Sun Jun 16 2019 .REST OF TONIGHT...Cloudy with a 50 percent chance of showers. Not as cool. Near steady temperature in the lower 60s. Southwest winds Read more here

Weather reports show that New York will experience cloudy day with 50% chance of rain showers over the week. But even when the weather becomes uncooperative, there are still a lot of things to do over the weekend. New York has a lot of museums and shopping malls that you can visit anytime. You may also consider watching movies or theatrical performances. Just be sure to dress appropriately and bring umbrella in case it rains. The idea is to not let the unpredictable weather condition ruin your plans. There’s a lot of things that Big Apple can offer whether indoor or outdoor activities.

Schuyler Mansion State Historic Site in Albany, New York

Schuyler Mansion is the home of Philip Schuyler, a famous revolutionary war general. The house was constructed in 1761 with a pre-war architecture. Philip and his wife Catherine raised 8 children in this home. The couple are popular for their generosity in hosting parties. It also served as the site of military strategic planning, and political fraternizing. After several years from Schuyler’s death, their children sold the house to another person and since then, it had several owners until the New York State bought the property in 1911. Today, visitors can enjoy a guided tour in the mansion detailing the life of the couple and their children and the different important events that occurred in the place.

Link to map

Driving Direction

17 min (10.2 miles)

via I-90 W

Fastest route, the usual traffic

Schuyler Mansion State Historic Site

32 Catherine St, Albany, NY 12202, USA

Get on I-787 N from Rensselaer St, Church St and Quay St

4 min (0.9 mi)

Take I-90 W to Wolf Rd in Colonie. Take exit 2E from I-87 N

9 min (8.6 mi)

Continue on Wolf Rd to your destination

3 min (0.6 mi)

Hilton Piano Center LLC

42 Colonie Center Albany, New York 12205

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#Near Albany NY #Albany NY

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hiltonmusic02 · 2 years

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Hilton Music Center Inc

Why buying a Guitar from Hilton Music Center in Colonie Center over the competition is an easy choice. Hilton's famous Lifetime Guitar Service. Free Instore Lesson. Competitive Pricing. Attenuative and Knowledgeable Staff. In-store Demo.

HMC famous lifetime service policy on Guitars!

All guitars and basses are sold with our famous lifetime service maintenance policy! Electric guitars or bass guitars receive a free basic set up. *excluding locking tremelo guitars. Includes a neck adjustment, bridge saddles and bridge height adjustments on your guitar purchased at Hiltons to keep your guitar playing amazing! Acoustic guitars will receive neck adjustments usually required at the change of seasons. Please remember in the northeast you can do wonders for your guitar by using a humidifier once you turn your heat on until you turn it off for the season! Hilton Music has been offering this expert lifetime service policy since 1985!

Buying your guitar on our website? Be confident that all guitars prior to shipping will also receive adjustments on the house! We don't just send out an unopened guitar without thoroughly checking it's condition and playability! We want you to love your purchase at Hilton Music Center!

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hiltonpiano9 · 2 years

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Hilton Piano Center LLC

Hilton Piano Center LLC is a family-owned piano store selling digital pianos, acoustic pianos, keyboards, stage pianos, and piano accessories. We service and repair pianos, convert acoustic to digital player pianos, design and install piano labs for schools and churches. We are the exclusive sellers of Yamaha and Roland Pianos in the Capital Region including Saratoga Springs, Schenectady, Troy, Latham, Clifton Park, Pittsfield, Amsterdam, Kingston, Rutland and Bennington Vermont, Berkshire Massachusetts, the counties of Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Green, Schenectady, Columbia, Fulton, Washington, Warren, Schoharie, Dutchess, Delaware, Essex, Hamilton, Montgomery and Ulster. We also carry new and used Kawai, Steinway, Baldwin, Casio and more.

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BALDWIN CASIO DYNATONE Hållet Davis PIANODISC QRS ROLAND PIANOS YAMAHA

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Piano repair & tuning. Piano moving. Electronic keyboard repair/Piano Keyboard Repair. New pianos and Used Pianos Piano labs for schools and churches. Product help sessions available for free on every Keyboard/Digital Piano we sell.

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Hilton Piano Center LLC

Address:442 Colonie Center Albany, New York 12205 Phone:(518) 362-7920 Website:https://www.hiltonpianocenter.com/

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makistar2018 · 6 years

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Taylor Swift Celebrates Nashville Roots and the Power of Pop at Nissan Stadium

Swift's hometown extravaganza features snakes, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, and tons of other spectacles

By THE SPIN AUG 27, 2018

Taylor Swift at Nissan Stadium PHOTO: LANCE CONZETT

Taylor Swift’s Reputation Stadium Tour is supposed to be the ultimate expression of the singer’s new persona, a flashy display of the fresh-out-of-fucks-to-give attitude she debuted last year after declaring "the old Taylor” dead. But really, Swift’s Saturday stop at Nissan Stadium was a celebration of both the old and the new. With a set list that reached all the way back to 2006, it was a culmination of the lessons, lyrics and fans that have helped Swift reach her most confident, carefree (and successful) self, which — as she stated repeatedly from the enormous X-shaped stage — never would've happened without Nashville.

“I moved to Nashville when I was 13,” the singer said after opening her set with back-to-back performances of “... Ready for It?” and “I Did Something Bad.” (The Spin could feel the heat from the pyro, even though we were a couple hundred feet away.) “I remember my first memory of this stadium. My mom and I got tickets to CMA Fest. ... I just remember thinking that that’s the biggest place that anyone could ever play.

“Years later I was lucky enough to actually play a 15-20 minute set at CMA Fest in this stadium, and I was like, ‘That’s it, that’s the peak, that’s the best it’s ever gonna get,’ ” Swift continued. “So tonight is the first time I’m headlining this stadium, and I’m so grateful, you guys. You have no idea — this means so much to me. It means so much to my family and friends. This is our hometown show.”

Since her stadium debut years ago, Swift and her team have perfected the art of massive production, right down to the tiny symbolic details. The digital graphics that flashed across the several-stories-high video screen were impeccable, the fireworks and towers of flame were plentiful, the dancers and backup singers were diverse and mesmerizing, and there were So. Many. Giant. Snakes. (OK, so there were only three giant snakes, but that is three more than any other stadium show we've seen has had. It was hilarious.) There were even two gondola-like contraptions (one of which was in the shape of a snake, naturally) to carry Swift between the main stage and two smaller stages.

The green sequined jacket Swift wore during the acoustic portion of the show — during which she played guitar and sang “Dancing With Our Hands Tied” and “Better Man” (a CMA- and Grammy-winning song that Swift wrote and Little Big Town recorded) — was decorated with a glittery black-and-gold patch made specifically for the Nashville date. The confetti that rained down during the Great Gatsby-meets-High School Musical finale of “Call It What You Want” and a mashup of “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” with “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” consisted of tiny tissue-paper versions of a Taylor Swift newspaper. Even Nashville’s inescapable growth got a shoutout — as Swift sat down at the piano, we noticed that the towers holding the massive stacks of speakers over her head resembled construction cranes. At that point, she paused to note how the city keeps changing.

Taylor Swift at Nissan Stadium PHOTO: LANCE CONZETT

“One of the most obvious indications of time passing, for me, is Nashville,” she said. “Because every time I come home, something’s different, something new is being built — we got another cool restaurant, another couple thousand people that moved here. Because, basically, I’m sure you’ve noticed this too: In the last 15 years everyone else has realized that Nashville is just the best place in the world.”

After performing “Don’t Blame Me” and a “Long Live”/“New Year’s Day” medley solo at the piano, the love letter to Music City continued. “[Nashville] is the most important city I’ve ever been in in my entire life. And it’s the place where … I wrote the song that I haven’t played in a very, very long time. And it was a song that really changed my life. I think that it would only be fitting to play it tonight.”

Then, Swift delivered country music’s most magical moment of the weekend, surprising the ecstatic audience with a visit from Faith Hill and Tim McGraw. The couple joined in on — you guessed it — Swift’s 2006 country hit, “Tim McGraw.” Tens of thousands of fans lost their shit. The woman sitting behind us started sobbing. Our ears are still ringing from the applause.

While Swift’s simultaneously endearing and tongue-in-cheek recognition of her career's ups and downs may have taken center stage, it was the small nods to her own personal growth that were the most satisfying to see. Swift's band and army of dancers and singers were diverse in size, race and age. And unlike so many other stadium shows, where the opening acts take a very (very very very) distant backseat to the main attraction, Swift's show featured hit factory Charli XCX and former Fifth Harmony singer and VMA Artist of the Year Camila Cabello — both women of color — in beefy opening slots.

Charli XCX at Nissan Stadium PHOTO: LANCE CONZETT

Charli XCX came off as your hyper, party-obsessed BFF from the future, and Cabella's Cuban-influenced set was fun and theatrical while also showcasing her stunning, rich voice. It wouldn't be surprising to see Cabella hold down her own stadium tour someday. The two singers returned to the stage to help Swift out during a colorful, confetti-filled performance of “Shake It Off” (cue the snakes!) and all three took time to note how honored and empowered they felt by the stacked bill — "Not one, not two, but three badass women on one stage,” said Charli XCX.

In the past, those slots have gone to white men. The openers for her 2015 North American 1989 Tour were Shawn Mendes and Vance Joy. (Rae Morris played one date, and Haim played several, including the Bridgestone Arena shows.) And in 2013-14, Ed Sheeran, Brett Eldredge, Florida Georgia Line, Casey James and Austin Mahone, among others, took turns starting the show for the Red Tour's North American dates.

Even off the stage, Swift has taken meaningful steps. In March, after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., she posted on Instagram that she made a donation to the March for Our Lives campaign, saying, “I’m so moved by the Parkland High School students, faculty, by all families and friends of victims who have spoken out, trying to prevent this from happening again.” And in April, which is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Swift reportedly made a “generous donation” to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network.

Much of the initial criticism of Swift’s dramatic return to the public eye in 2017 was focused on how the singer has neglected to take a stance on anything remotely political — something the Scene's own Megan Seling has noted. It's encouraging to see Swift counter that with action.

Sure, Swift is still obsessed with her image. The show started with audio clips of things newscasters and critics have said over the years (including Perez Hilton alleging that Swift was responsible for his suspension from Twitter — LOL). But it appears as though she's at least starting to think about what other messages she can send to her legions of fans. Big platforms — whether they're the kind that spout flames and giant snakes or not — can be used to make a big difference, and it's heartening to see a homegrown megastar turn her attention toward their power.

See our slideshow for more photos.

Nashville Scene

#taylor swift #reputation tour #nashville #tennessee #2018.08.25

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cawamedia · 5 years

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Nur-Sultan stay in Hilton Hilton Expo

First meeting with Minister of Culture and Sport of the Republic of Kazakhstan Ms. Aktoty Raimkulova whograduated from the Almaty State Conservatory named after Kurmangazy in the specialties “composition” and “piano”, postgraduate studies in the specialty “composition”.

She studied at the magistracy in the International Academy of Business in the specialty “Management”. Has titles: the DBA (Doctor of Business Administration) and Doctor of Art History on musicology and musical art. On October 3, 2016, by the Decree of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan was appointed as Vice Minister of Culture and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan. On June 17, 2019, by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, she was appointed as Minister of Culture and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Visit the Tower Astana-Bayterek that is a monument and observation tower in Nur-Sultan, the capital city of Kazakhstan. A tourist attraction popular with foreign visitors and native Kazakhs, it is emblematic of the city, which became capital of the country in 1997. The tower is located within on the Nurzhol Boulevard, and is considered a symbol of post-independence Kazakhstan.

Reception dinner with Chairman of the Committee for Foreign Affairs, Defense and Security of the Mazhlis Mr. Mukhtar Yerman at the “Vechnoe Nebo” restaurant.

Visit the EXPO 2017 site. Nur-Alem Pavilion and surroundings… The Kazakhstan Pavilion and Science Museum, known as Nur-Alem in the country, is the iconic, high-performing centerpiece of EXPO-2017, last year’s international exposition, which ran from June 10-September 10, 2017. The site is currently being transformed into a Post-Expo development with cultural facilities, an office and research park, and residential components that seeks to attract international entrepreneurs. Inspired by the EXPO-2017 theme, “Future Energy,” the Kazakhstan Pavilion and Science Museum embodies a futuristic design that is optimized to incorporate sustainable philosophies.

The epitome the EXPO-2017 theme “Future Energy,” is the exposition’s centerpiece, the Kazakhstan Pavilion and Science Museum, which seeks to educate visitors about our complex relationship with energy use.

The design team used Building Information Modeling (BIM) to explore multiple iterations of the design in a virtual space early in the design process. Each version was analyzed for design expression, energy impact, and structural integrity. The sphere’s complex design required close collaboration with the structural consultant for all opportunities for energy generation to be investigated, and several were incorporated into the building’s design.

Hilton Astana hotel – Lunch meeting – Welcome to Hilton Astana, a state-of-the-art hotel within the futuristic EXPO-2017 exhibition complex. Enjoy a high level of service while you’re here as well as thoughtful amenities like a wellness spa, rooftop bar, fitness center, indoor pool, Executive Lounge and extensive conference facilities. We’re within minutes of city center, corporate offices, Government of Kazakhstan departments and agencies, and Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport (TSE).

HILTON ASTANA

SAURAN ST. 46, NUR-SULTAN, 01000-0, KAZAKHSTAN

TEL: +7-7172-649900 FAX: +7-7172-649901

Visit to Hazret Sultan Mosque. The Hazrat Sultan Mosque is a mosque in Nur-Sultan (formerly called Astana), Kazakhstan. It is the largest mosque in Central Asia.

After the suggestion from president of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev mosque named “Hazret Sultan”, which means “Holy Sultan”. As well known, “Hazret Sultan” – one of the epithets of Sufi sheikh Khoja Ahmed Yasavi, author of “Divan-i Hikmet”, whose mausoleum is located in Turkistan.

Construction of the mosque “Hazret Sultan” started in Astana in June 2009. In different periods from 1000 to 1500 workers have been involved in the construction of the mosque. Hazret Sultan Mosque was opened on July 6, 2012 at 12:30, which supplemented the list of unique objects of the capital.

Nur-Sultan – Capital of Kazakhstan Nur-Sultan stay in Hilton Hilton Expo First meeting with Minister of Culture and Sport of the Republic of Kazakhstan Ms.

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hilton-piano-center · 3 years

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#hilton piano center #pianos

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dweemeister · 7 years

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Lost Horizon (1937)

Asia and Europe were about to plunge into warfare when Frank Capra’s Lost Horizon was released in American theaters. The Chinese, mired in civil war between the Communist Party and the nationalist Kuomintang, were about to find a common enemy in the Japanese. Meanwhile, Nazi Germany continued its saber-rattling, leaving other European states looking nervously towards the continent’s increasingly militarized center. At this time, Americans, still reeling from the Depression and not yet too concerned about enforcing Wilsonian human rights elsewhere, longed for escape, for being sheltered from the news and conflict and suffering. A utopia, a Shangri-La, must have seemed appealing. The Shangri-La depicted in Lost Horizon – based on James Hilton’s 1933 novel of the same name – might fit the bill, without closer inspection.

It is 1935 and soon-to-be Foreign Secretary Robert Conway (the reliable Ronald Colman, performing solidly in this outing) is a diplomat working to evacuate as many white people as he can from a city under attack from Mao’s Communists. The Chinese heathen can fend for themselves, I guess. Among those climbing aboard the diplomatic plane to Shanghai are Conway’s younger brother George (John Howard), paleontologist Alexander Lovett (Edward Everett Horton), criminal Henry Barnard (Thomas Mitchell), and the terminally ill Gloria Stone (Isabel Jewell). Their plane has been hijacked and crash lands somewhere in the Himalayas. A Shangri-La native, Chang (H.B. Warner; one of many white actors playing an Asian character), rescues the British subjects and leads them to his home, a lush valley where the residents age much slower and are shielded from the brutal Tibetan weather. There, George is enchanted by a lady named Maria (Margo) and Gloria’s ailments have disappeared. Conway also meets the High Lama (Sam Jaffe), who eventually reveals that their arrival in Shangri-La has not been by chance. When the British characters raise questions about contacting the outside world, their questions are left unanswered.

With an original runtime of six hours, then trimmed to three-and-a-half hours, and finally settled for a runtime of just over two hours (today, the film is considered partially lost, but more on that later), Lost Horizon’s screenplay – penned by Capra regular Robert Riskin (1934′s It Happened One Night, 1941′s Meet John Doe) – appears to be an amalgam of ideas, tossed like a salad, that combine into an unfocused end product. The notion of Shangri-La and its inhabitants is proclaimed to be universalist, for the bounty of all those looking to coexist with others. But Riskin’s adaptation of Hilton’s novel adheres to Hilton’s conception that Shangri-La was once inhabited by native Tibetans, and that those Tibetan leaders were replaced by European wanderers who introduced Western knowledge for themselves, not for the Tibetans who could no longer attain an elite status. A “Christian ethic” where, “the meek shall inherit the Earth” is considered superior to other structures of social organization, according to the High Lama (as sociology, that’s just lazy writing). Riskin makes little attempt to either critique the existing organization of Shangri-La nor does he – outside of one lengthy soliloquy by the High Lama – use the shining example of Shangri-La to effectively juxtapose life in the Himalayas with life in places soon to be reduced to charred, damaged battlefields. However, as a fantasy film, Lost Horizon wonderfully constructs the awesome settings described in the Hilton novel.

Though few in 1937 criticized Lost Horizon for its Atlanticist imperialism upon release, those features are more apparent eighty years later. Considered a masterwork from Frank Capra, the film has aged poorly on how it treats the Asian setting and individuals that it depicts. Though the High Lama and Chang mention the diversity of Shangri-La, we only see white actors in yellowface playing the leaders as the actors of Asian descent play the speechless grunts patrolling the settlement. The High Lama’s functions are an embodiment of the perceived religious, cultural, and technological superiority of the West combined with an awkward mysticism that stems from exotic places. The backwardness of any Asian characters reduces them to grinning, violent caricatures.

Yet where Lost Horizon succeeds as a film – though despicable in its racialized writing and portrayals – is in its technical components. Cinematographers Joseph Walker and Elmer Dyer are allowed immense backgrounds to work with, allowing for an incredible scope to the production not often seen after the free-spending epics in the later silent era. Editors Gene Havlick and Gene Milford play with the film’s practical visual effects in groundbreaking fashion for the time. Some of their visual tricks, borrowing heavily from the later silent era, make any miniatures or matte paintings that appear to seem realistic. With a then-astronomical budget of $2 million (~$34 million in 2017′s USD), Capra lavished much of that money from Columbia Pictures – in 1937, Columbia was not quite a major studio on the level of Warner Bros. or Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) yet – on the production design by Stephen Goosson. Goosson and his staff built sixty-five sets, constructing the walls and buildings of Shangri-La at Columbia’s ranch in Burbank. Extensive research also produced replications of upwards of 700 props used in Tibetan life. This expansive collaboration of cinematographers, editors, and production designers help Lost Horizon to transcend its Orientalist trappings, its troubled writing, if only to a limited extent.

Lost Horizon presented a breakthrough for composer Dimitri Tiomkin, who would become Frank Capra’s favored composer through You Can’t Take It with You (1938), into Capra’s Why We Fight WWII propaganda series, and until It’s a Wonderful Life (1946). Over this next decade, Tiomkin’s concentration on piano and European classical music expanded to grand orchestral works with American influences thanks to his friendship with Capra. But for this first score for a Capra film, the strings dominate the faux Eastern-sounding melodies – there is a long history of European composers trying to imagine Asia through their music. Although in too many places (especially in the opening half of Lost Horizon), Tiomkin’s brass is too harsh where he should be more delicate with his passages. Yet there are gorgeous cues contained within Tiomkin’s composition, most notably during the swimming sequence and the resolving sequences of the film – this includes the funeral procession (perhaps the most memorable cue of the score, thanks to a wordless choir) and an attempted flight from Shangri-La. This is one of Tiomkin’s greatest works, with a curious orchestration and thematic development that would be recalled for his work in Land of the Pharaohs (1955).

Existing prints of Lost Horizon are partially lost. The print that I saw for this write-up was on Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and is the most complete edition available. This print is the one recommended for those interested in seeing Lost Horizon – the 1986 restoration by the American Film Institute (AFI) and the UCLA Film and Television Archive which runs 132 minutes and contains 125 minutes of footage. The seven missing minutes are accompanied by the film’s soundtrack (which thankfully exists in its entirety), but includes still images of the missing scenes. Do not watch any other prints other than the AFI/UCLA version – exceptions can be made, of course, if you stumble upon the original six hour print only shown to Columbia executives.

For Columbia’s co-founder and president Harry Cohn, Capra’s indiscretions of shooting excessive takes and ballooning production costs damaged his relationship with Capra. Unhappy with preview footage screened in January 1937, Cohn – believing that audiences would not be patient enough with a lengthy feature film despite the fact that some silent films ran over three hours or longer (1916′s Intolerance is 210 minutes; 1923′s La Roue is 273 minutes) – eventually seized Capra’s film from him and cut Lost Horizon down to the familiar 132 minutes seen in its roadshow format. Decades later, Capra still would not forgive Cohn for how he treated the final cut of Lost Horizon.

Confounded by too much exposition and an outdated portrayal of its Asian characters and cultures, Lost Horizon – like fellow 1937 release The Good Earth (a better movie with a more sensitive take on Asian characters, despite the rampant yellowface) – has the imagination of its artisans and craftspersons to make it one of the grandest Hollywood productions of the 1930s. The eleventh-highest grossing film at the American box office in 1937, Lost Horizon provided a temporary utopia for Depression-era audiences yearning for such an escape. The Library of Congress’ National Film Registry - a collection of American films regarded as national treasures, and marked for preservation - recognized this, inducting Capra’s film into the Registry just last year. For some characters in Lost Horizon, Shangri-La is paradise found. For others, a prison. Modern audiences might scoff without much thought when considering the elements that constitute Shangri-La. But for a certain people in a different time, whatever troubled Shangri-La probably was more easily forgiven.

My rating: 8/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found here.

#Lost Horizon #Frank Capra #Ronald Colman #Jane Wyatt #Sam Jaffe #John Howard #H.B. Warner #Edward Everett Horton #Thomas Mitchell #Isabel Jewell #Margo #Robert Riskin #Joseph Walker #Elmer Dyer #Gene Havlick #Gene Milford #Stephen Goosson #TCM #My Movie Odyssey

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