Author: Kal Bishop
Source: articleage.com
From our deconstruction of hundreds of Hollywood blockbusters and sitcoms at www.clickok.co.uk/
The Hero’s Journey is the template upon which the vast majority of successful stories and Hollywood blockbusters are based upon. In fact, ALL of the Hollywood movies we have deconstructed are based on this template.
Understanding this template is a priority for story or screenwriters.
The Hero’s Journey:
a) Attempts to tap into unconscious expectations the audience has regarding what a story is and how it should be told.
b) Gives the writer more structural elements than simply three or four acts, plot points, mid point and so on.
c) Interpreted metaphorically, laterally and symbolically, allows an infinite number of varied stories to be created.
and more…
EXAMPLE: The Last Emperor, Academy Award Winner Best Film, 1987 – Hero’s Journey [basic deconstruction]
FADE IN: images of China; context: Manchuria.
Going on a journey: the train.
Meeting the hero: the emperor gets off the train.
Meeting the Mentor: the governor gets off the train.
Creatures of the World: the communists.
Rules of this World: no talking, obey the guards.
Hero’s status: people recognise him.
Warning / danger of the Journey: the Emperor tries to kill himself.
Pushed to the Call: open the door.
New World: Old China.
Call to Adventure: the boy prince is to be transferred immediately to the Forbidden City.
Leaving the Old World and Old Self: I give you my son.
Refusal of the Call: the boy prince cries.
Creatures of the New World: the various types in the Forbidden City; the half moon hats.
Meeting the Mentor: the boy meets the old Empress Dowiger.
Pushed to the First Threshold: the Empress decides that he will be the new Emperor.
Goodbye / Death to the Old World / Old Self: the Empress dies.
First Threshold from afar: the Emperor on the throne.
Threshold Marker: the yellow curtain.
Outer Cave: the soldiers and eunuchs kow-towing.
Middle Cave: the cricket and the old man.
Refusing the Inner Cave: can we go home today; not yet.
Inner Cave: being bathed, he can do anything he wants.
Resisting the Transformation: running to the wet nurse and crying, “I want to go home.”
Pushed to the Belly of the Whale: saved from slitting his wrists; you are a criminal you must be judged.
Belly of the Whale: meeting his brother and mother; I have never met any other children; playing with his little brother.
Foreshadow of the Physical Separation: breast feeding from the wet nurse.
Physical Separation: you’re not the Emperor anymore. There’s a new emperor; watching the car arrive.
Physical Separation: the wet nurse is forced to leave.
Resisting the Trials and Transformation: running after the Governor.
World of the Transformation: all the prisoners lined up.
Transformation Mentor [in the camp]: the governor.
Rules: you will write the story of your life and confessing.
New Self: new clothes.
Meeting the Transformation Mentor [in old china]: Johnston arrives.
Warning: the soldiers barricading the way.
Mentor and Hero meeting: the Emperor and Johnston shake hands.
Forced to the Trials: now we start.
Trial and Transformation 1:
Outer Cave: the first lesson; are you a gentleman.
Middle Cave: having lunch; I’m angry.
Transformation: Johnston given the hats.
Trial and Transformation 2:
Outer Cave: Johnston gives the bike.
Middle Cave: Mother dies.
Inner Cave: Trying to get out of the Forbidden City; the door is blocked.
Transformation: Throwing the mice at the door.
Trial and Transformation 3:
Outer Cave: Rescued from the Roof.
Middle Cave: Transformation: needing glasses.
Resistance to the Transformation / Inner Cave: the Emperor cannot have glasses.
Pushing the Transformation / Inner Cave: Johnston threatens the eunuchs.
Trial and Transformation 4:
Outer Cave: Emperor gets a wife.
Middle Cave: I want a modern wife.
Inner Cave: wedding night.
Mid Point: I wanted reforms.
Transformation: cutting off his hair.
Asking for an inventory.
The threesome.
The burning of the stores.
Expelling the Eunuchs.
When did your friendship with the Japanese begin?
New Self: dressed in the tennis gear.
Forced out of the World of the Transformation: the Japanese arrive.
Resistance: I always thought I hated it here and now I’m afraid to leave.
New Self: becoming a playboy.
Meeting the Oracle: wife #2 is nothing outside the city, she wants a divorce.
Foreshadow of the Atonement: the Japanese keep tabs on the Emperor.
Antagonism: the Japanese have taken the city.
Resisting the Sword: no one divorces me.
Seizing the Sword: wife #2 escapes; freedom.
Meeting the Shape Shifter: Eastern Jewel arrives.
Near Death Experience: our ancestor’s graves have been decimated and the Empress has been hacked to death.
Goodbye to the Old Self / Mentor: saying goodbye to Johnston.
Reward: becoming an Emperor again.
Atonement with the Father: the general arrives; the Emperor is a puppet.
Apotheosis: still using other people as servants; put in the cell with the other collaborators.
Ultimate Boon: the arms have been taken away; the Emperor stands up for a free China.
Denial / Disgust: the Empress is pregnant by the chauffeur; you still think I’m your servant don’t you; walking to the far side; stop pretending; I let it happen; they killed the baby and the chauffeur.
Magic Flight: the Empress is taken away; pursuing her.
Shape Shifter Revealed: Eastern Jewel is having an affair with the Japanese man.
Rescue from Without: watching the film.
Crossing the Return Threshold: the Empress returns.
Master of the Two Worlds: the Emperor is a gardener now; leave me alone; you only want me because I’m useful to you.
Inner Challenge Resolved: the Emperor graduates; is free.
Resisting the Freedom to Live: trying to save the governor from the Maoists.
Freedom to Live: going back to the Forbidden City.
Learn more
The Complete 188 stage Hero’s Journey and other story structure templates can be found at http://www.clickok.co.uk/
You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.
Kal Bishop, MBA
**********************************
You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made and the author’s name and site URL are retained.
Kal Bishop is a management consultant based in London, UK. His specialities include Knowledge Management and Creativity and Innovation Management. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached at http://www.clickok.co.uk/
Author: Jovita Orais
Source: ezinearticles.com
The tarot card suit of wands is expressed by the element of fire. The tarot suit of wands represents optimism,travel,movement,creativity. People symbolized by this particular suit takes risks in order to achieve success. They are great initiators, on patient, impulsive and pioneering. They are often playing a leading role in your life in business, particularly. They bring energy and urgency with them and often spark off bright ideas.
The tarot card suit of wands represents people who has qualities of loyalty,creativity and trust. They are often romantic,idealistic and generous. They can inspire mothers with their passionate energy and warmth of expression.They can also stress the glamorous. Those who work in the theatre, entertainment business or other media may be represented by tarot suit of wands. People of this suit can be warm, romantic types who still require quite a lot of personal space. They may be unfairly possessive of others while guarding their own freedom. They are expansive, honest and extraordinarily optimistic. Their eyes are always focused upon far horizons. Tarot card suit of wands often stand for travellers, foreign business contacts or elusive and colorful characters who are impossible to pin down. Thus they can stand for friends who brighten your life temporarily.
On the negative side, people symbolized by the tarot card suit of wands, sometimes have overwhelming sense of drama,vanity and need for attention can take the edge off other people. Everything must center on them and if it does not they will sulk or create theatrical scenes. Their idealism can turn into unrealized dreams, which are too idealistic to achieve in reality. They can be selfish and insensitive. They easily become bored and detached and may fly into destructive rages.
There you have, general sketch of character traits of people represented by the tarot suit of wands. Though human beings are too complex and subtle to be categorized in the archetypal way, this is just a quick and handy guide to describe people represented by the tarot suit of wands.
Jovita N.Orais started reading the tarot professionally in the mid-nineties. Read her article on Suit of Wands at Tarot Meaning Information.
Author: Douglas Bower
Source: download
When trying to write an “op-ed” piece, one has precious little space in which to attack an issue600-1000 words. Mostly, one is able to take one point (or two at the most) and deal with it. In my story on San Miguel de Allende, I was trying to make the point there is a significant portion of the expat community that has turned to the dark side.
Not all have.
The dark-side expats are those who have yielded to the temptation, because of their lot in life and consequent heavily endowed stock portfolios, to change San Miguel de Allende into something more suitable to their American Tastes. They are those who listened to the slick ads, the used car salesman’s tactics that try to sell San Miguel de Allende to those with the money to buy it. These “second generation” SMA expats have done it. They bought the town.
However, there are different expats in San Miguel that I need to acknowledge. These are expats who have not taken the path to the dark side. These are the expats who “get it.” What they get is that when you are invited into someone else’s home, you do not set about changing that person’s home to conform to your image of a homeone with your tastes.
They are those that fully get that they are guests in someone else’s home. They understand they are here because of Mexico’s graciousness and no matter how different it is, they haven’t the right to make it “more suitable to American Tastes.” They understand Mexico is what it is and if they do not like it, they can leave and go where American Tastes reignback in America.
I think there is a third wave of expats flooding into SMA. They are much like the first ones who came decades ago. They are much like the first-generation expats who despair over the second-generation expats and what they’ve made in SMA. I think the third-wave expats get that a horror has been brought upon SMA that needs excising. I doubt seriously there is any going back. Sad.
I think I am so possessed with this because what happened to SMA is beginning to happen here in Guanajuato where I live. The gringos are flooding into the city, they are buying up everything, and they do not speak a word of Spanish.
I want to make two points here:
1) Without the linguistic skills, there will never, ever be any assimilation into the culture. Impossible.
2) I have had e-mails, as well as face-to-face talks, with gringos who say these very words,
“We do not like what we see here in houses, so we are going to build a house more suitable to American Tastes.”
Is this not the path to the dark side?
It gets worse.
I get lots of e-mail from readers who read my column and books. One came from a retiring professor in the Midwest who told me of his desire to semi-retire to Guanajuato. He contacted the University of Guanajuato to inquire about possibly teaching a class or two. When the university official informed him of his need to be proficient in Spanish, he was thrown for a loop. (I am not at all surprised.)
Then he asked me about the “AMERICAN SECTOR” in Guanajuato. He wanted to know because he and his wife DID NOT want to live in a Mexican neighborhood.
As I wrote in our second book, Guanajuato, Mexico:
“This was absolutely repugnant to me. I took his question as an invitation to tell him about the uniqueness of Guanajuato. I was not so nice and was quite direct about what I thought of American Sectors. I never heard from him again.”
What the first-generation and the third-wave expats are doing in SMA is the right way to expatriate. What the second-generation has done, buying up the town and the city government with well-placed “incentives” to conform it more to American Tastes, is NOT the way to do it.
They haven’t the right!
If what you want is something that tastes American then why not stay in America?
Let me sum it up with a passage from our first book, The Plain Truth about Living in Mexico:
“Gold Coast was a term used to describe an area of New York’s Long Island where residents built colonial-era villages and monolithic estates. It was an area where a lifestyle of exclusivity prevailed. The riffraff and rabble were kept out so as not to taint the lives of the wealthy.
“It is an area of old money, old families, old social graces, and old ideas about who should be allowed to vote, not to mention who should be allowed to own land. The Gold Coast is not a pastoral Jeffersonian democracy.”
The huge estates that they built were essentially gated communities. It wasn’t enough to have massive acreages of land on which to build mansions in the French or Italian style–the likes of which the common man (peasants) had never seen. These rich people walled in the land, erected fortress-like walls complete with iron gates and gatehouses, and hired live-in gatekeepers to keep out the riffraff.
Am I on the wrong track here? Is not the reason for having these fortresses, gates, and gatekeepers to keep the rabble (the peasants) from bothering the Lords of the Manor? If, for the sake of argument, I am correct in my assumption, then who are the Lords of the Manor behind the gates and walls and who are the riffraff in these gated communities in Mexico?
I have seen these gated communities in San Miguel de Allende and Puerto Vallarta. The houses are ultra expensive and make me wonder how a middle-class Mexican family could ever begin to afford to buy one. This, of course, leads me to assume that these homes and communities are meant for only a certain class of people. They are for the rich Mexican (of which there are very few) and the gloriously rich American and Canadian expatriates.
On Sundays, there is a half-hour infomercial on our local television station that advertises these homes. The narrator used the words “exclusive” and “exclusivity” in every other sentence. They constantly highlight the same amenities which these gated communities have in common with Long Island’s Gold Coast estates. They have walls surrounding the community, security guards and cameras, and 24/7 gatekeepers who are always at the ready to keep out the “undesirables.”
Again I ask, just who are these “undesirables?”
Of the Long Island Gold Coast architecture, DeMille says:
“But the architects and their American clients of this period were not looking into the future, or even trying to create the present, they were looking back over their shoulders into a European past that had flowered and died even before the first block of granite arrived on this site. What these people were trying to create or recreate in the New World is beyond me.”
I just wonder in which direction the builders of and homebuyers in these gringo-gated communities have been looking. Have they been looking at the future, the present, or looking over their shoulders into an American past? I also wonder what these people are trying to create or recreate on Mexico’s Gold Coast and in other regions in this country that has graciously allowed them to live here as guests. It is beyond me.
“I can’t put myself in their minds or hearts, but I can sympathize with their struggle for an identity, with their puzzlement, which has troubled Americans from the very beginning–who are we, where do we fit, where are we going?”
Though I don’t understand it, perhaps I too can sympathize with the identity struggle behind the erecting of these gated communities and the isolation from the Mexican people they create. The Mexican people genuinely don’t understand why these gringos come to Mexico and refuse to socialize or interact with them in any way. We’ve had Mexicans ask us:
“Why won’t these Americans learn Spanish?”
“Why won’t these Americans associate with us? What is wrong with us?”
One cannot learn the language while hiding behind the walls of a fortress and refusing to interact with the Mexican population. The Mexicans are genuinely hurt by this attitude of isolation. They’ve told us so.
“The whole silly Gold Coast was a sham, an American anomaly, in a country that was an anomaly to the rest of the world.”
Sadly, I think the Gringo Land expats display the same sham to the locals in the cities where the gringo enclaves exist. The relationship between the locals and their gringo guests is flimsy, at best. ”
OUR NEW BOOK
Guanajuato, M้xico–New Book offers survival tips in the Land of Frogs
Guanajuato, M้xico – According to the 2000 Statistical Yearbook of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, published by the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Service, an estimated 300,000 Americans would expatriate to other countries each year between 2000 and 2005. Some estimates predict the number will continue to increase each year after 2005. Americans are leaving the country in droves, most of whom settle in Mexico. The authors of The Plain Truth about Living in Mexico have written a new book targeting a specific area of Mexico where Americans are moving as expatriates, study abroad students, or retirees. This new book is titled, GUANAJUATO, MษXICO: Your Expat, Study Abroad, and Vacation Survival Manual in the Land of Frogs.
http://mexicanliving.access.to/
E-BOOKS
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TRAVEL WRITER E-BOOK
http://www.zyworld.com/theolog/PlainTruth/Home.htm
Author: Tom Attea
Source: articlecity.com
I cant stand anymore chicken! a vacationing guest, who seemed a bit tipsy, shouted at the captain of the cruise ship, and then leaped overboard.
The captain rushed to the railing and peered into the heaving waves. There bobbed his malcontent passenger.
Recently, there had been an inexplicable spate of vacationers aboard cruise ships choosing to jump ship. Now, one of his passengers had chosen to go over the edge.
A shot of adrenalin made his heart thump, and he turned, saw the first mate, and called, Passenger overboard! Life boat! Man the life boats! Alert the Coast Guard! We need assistance!
Just then the wife of the man who just jumped ship threw her arms up, and yelled, Count me out, too!
Why? Captain Walsh demanded.
As she dashed for the railing, she took a moment to inform him, Even the spaghetti is inedible!
Then over she went.
Walsh watched her spin toward the water and splash down near her water-treading husband.
Dear me, he lamented, and turned to his curiously desultory first mate, Make that two lifeboats!
Then he steeled himself for his greatest challenge. All the passengers had now gathered on the deck and appeared unsettlingly malcontent. The insane thought passed through his mind that they might opt for going overboard en masse.
Then he noticed telltale signs that his worst nightmare could come true. For instance, a few especially irate guests were brandishing hastily scrawled signs, saying such things as, Better Entertainment Now! Freedom From Bingo! and Clean The Pool!
Now, see here, the captain said, I know youre all not thrilled with every aspect of the cruise, but surely there are some enjoyable things.
Name one! a disgruntled passenger challenged him.
Well, how about the port calls? he asked weakly. And all the wonderful shopping opportunities?
Robbery in every port! a man let out. Disguised as sale prices!
You think this seashell necklace is worth a thousand dollars? a particularly irate female shopper said, holding up the stringed bauble.
To the rails! another man yelled.
Were off of here! a woman exclaimed.
Then the entire group, every last passenger currently still aboard the ship, as far as the captain could tell, made a move for the rail.
Stop! I order you to stay on board! Walsh commanded, and placed his body between the rail and the ocean-bound passengers.
Stand aside! a rather brawny traveler in Bermudas shouted, waving a threatening ping-pong paddle.
No more watered-down mixed drinks for me! another man screamed.
Or slot machines where everybody loses! a woman chimed in.
Then the sea of passengers pressed forward, and Captain Walsh found himself being helplessly twirled aside by one pair of rail-bent hands after another. Then, to his shock, he watched helplessly as every single guest leap off the boat.
How we gonna explain this to headquarters! the first mate called from the lifeboats, which he and a gaggle of other crew members were attempting to activate.
The alarmed captain peered down at all the guests, splashing in the waves, and then looked back at the first mate. Quick the lifeboats! Weve got to save everyone or well be finished washed up, forever!
Just then the ships chef and his staff appeared on the deck and hurried toward the captain. Is it true? All the passengers? the chef asked, and peered over the rail.
Every last one of them! the captain wailed.
It couldnt be the food? the chef wanted to know.
Could it? the sous chef queried.
I have to be honest. Some did mention that.
I feel terrible about this, the chef sighed. My cooking days are over.
Then he motioned to his staff, and they all made for the rail.
Hold it! the captain said. Not you and the kitchen crew, too?
The least we can do is join them! returned the chef. Then, with a flourish, he added, If only I had better ingredients!
And over the rail he and his fellow denizens of the kitchen went.
Chef and staff overboard! the captain called.
Then, to his dismay, the first mate and the crew members who were helping to launch the lifeboats stopped their vital work and climbed down to the deck.
What are you doing? Captain Walsh called. Man those lifeboats!
Worse yet, now the rest of the crew emerged from below. They all made their way toward him.
What are you doing? he asked. Weve got passengers drowning down there!
I dont know, captain, the first mate replied. Weve been talking.
You what? the captain inquired.
Me and the crew, and we decided having one passenger jump ship is bad enough but all of them?
No way we can save them all, a crew member volunteered.
And even if we rescue most of them, another crew member lamented, what future do we have?
Were finished, the first mate sighed.
Disgraced! a crew member put in.
We could even go to jail, the first mate advised him.
Maybe the passengers have the right idea, another crew member conceded. Can you believe how bad the comedian was last night? Not one good joke!
And what about the singer? another crew member asked. I cant stand the way she screeches on every high note.
Excuse us, sir, the mate told the captain, but I think weve pretty much made up our minds. Then he turned to the crew. Shall we?
What else? one replied.
And then, to the captains dismay, they all jumped ship. He followed their decent. Then there they all were, splashing in the ocean among the passengers.
Now he heard steps behind him and turned. The entertainers were hurrying toward him.
Whats going on? the comedian asked.
Everybody jumped ship, the captain told them, pointing over the rail.
The troupe of entertainers rushed to the rail and looked down.
Why would they do that? the singer with the screechy voice asked.
They seem to have had a variety of reasons.
Not the entertainment? a faux-Hawaiian dancer asked.
Im afraid it played a role, the captain admitted.
Youve got to be kidding, the ventriloquist replied.
Once this gets out, well never work another cruise! a male singer said, distraught.
Lets face it. Our careers are kaput, another dancer sighed.
What are we going to do just stand here? the comedian wanted to know.
As I see it, the right thing to do is join our audience, the ventriloquist concluded.
Hold it, the captain said, grabbing the ventriloquist by the shirt. You cant be serious?
Dont worry, he said, and held up his dummy. Herman floats.
Got a better idea, captain? the comedian asked.
You want to live to explain this to management? the Hawaiian dancer said.
Maybe youve got something there, Captain Walsh admitted. Yes, by golly, I think you do. But, as the captain, I insist on being the last to abandon ship.
Spoken like a true captain, the comedian assured him, and turned to the rest. Ready, team?
Ready! the ventriloquist said, and his dummy Herman added, Famous last words!
And so, as the captain stood by, all the entertainers leaped bravely overboard.
Walsh watched them plummet into the crowded sea.
Oh, well, he told himself, its been a good career, until now. Then he called, Anybody left on board?
Not a single voice interrupted the ocean breeze.
Then its over the side for me! he called, and looked at the crowded sea in search of an unoccupied area. And over he went.
Down he fell, toward the tossing passengers, crew, chef with the kitchen staff, and entertainers. He managed to splash into the water, instead of landing on top of any of the former occupants of his ship, and sank beneath the waves.
When he bobbed back up, he awoke, wet with sweat, and found himself doing the breaststroke on his mattress.
What a nightmare! he thought.
And he resolved to speak to management. Obviously, there were things about life on cruise ships that could be improved, and he vowed to be the champion of change.
Just to make sure all was well, he got out of bed and opened a port. He saw a young couple, leaning against the railing. They seemed to be in a romantic mood and not at all likely to jump overboard. He smiled, closed the port, and went back to bed.
It felt especially good to know he still had his passengers on board, along with his crew, kitchen staff, and, no doubt, his troupe of gifted entertainers.
Author: Ross Michaels
Source: ezinearticles.com
If you were to question ten people what the greatest anime are you would be sure to get 10 different answers. Every one has their perfect picks, but there are one or two that I think sit on every one’s top ten or classics list for the most superb magna. They encompass all details from scifi to delightful and cuddly but what holds a standard is the feral and often wacky manner of anime. Some of the best magna would be the classics such as:
Akira: where a future governments experiments into ESP come back to trouble them and tangle two amigos in the skirmish of their lives.
Vampire Hunter D: A juvenile lass hires a passing vampire hunter with a dark secret to guard her and her young brother in this archetypal magna.
Inuasha: A youthful half demon looking for The Jewel of Four Souls so that he might become a full blooded demon finds more then he bargained for in the young Kagome, a time traveling woman who can feel the aura of the sacred jewel shards.
Hellsing: When her father is killed in a plan to take over the organization Interga Hellsing seeks protection from her associations forgotten guardian, Alucard the first and most dominant vampire.
Gundam: Giant mechs (giant robots to you and me), adventure and explosions what more do you require to know.
There is much to pick from when searching for the most superior anime. Gaze around see what styles, genres appeal to you, but make sure to check out the correspondence well as some anime will be dubbed and some will only be subtitled. Before you know it you will have an emassing collection of favorites to enjoy for years.
Ross watches anime video and Hellsing ova.
Author: David Koblick
Source: articleage.com
Have you ever heard the name Will Schwenk? Or the name Artie Seymour? Probably not. But you will, you will, when the word gets around about how these two inglorious talents were by-passed, how they missed being touched by the magic wand of Fate. For contrary to popular belief, the series of light operettas commonly attributed to Gilbert and Sullivan were in effect written by the pair of nonentities named above, Artie being the melodist and Will the versifier.
Gilbert had also dabbled in versifying; his cynical Bab Ballads had caused a minor stir a couple of years earlier, but the man had no real talent. Sullivan likewise had plunked out a few tunes on his clavichord, melodies, if one could call them that, on a qualitative par with “Chopsticks.” The consequence that Sullivan and Gilbert have always been credited with the fabrication of Ruddigore, Pinafore and a dozen other popular puerilities came about through a curious chain of circumstances.
Schwenk and Seymour were eking out a precarious living in Soho, London’s “Tin Pan Alley” of its day, writing ballads and comedy routines to be sung and performed in the sleazy music halls at that time ubiquitous in The City. One day the inseparable Gilbert and Sullivan, both gentlemen of quality-but also scoundrels, as will be seen-were slumming along Carnaby Street when through an open window they chanced to hear Seymour and Schwenk in the throes of composition. The two were concocting a humorous playlet supposedly set in Morning Court, with a parade of panderers, prostitutes, and their pettifogger-solicitors passing before the judge, singing and acting out their diverse woeful tales.
The eavesdroppers stood by, taking copious notes and committing a good earful to memory. They then retired to the Music Room of their club, and by dint of a few ingenious switcheroos and an abundance of gall, came up with their first opus, the well-known Trial by Jury. It was not mere coincidence that in this year of 1875 the element Gallium was discovered by the French chemist Lecoq de Boisbaudran.
No, scratch that-perhaps there was no connection between the two events. In attempting to set history straight, one is occasionally touched by mild paranoia.
It was extremely bad form for two well-dressed gentlemen to be seen loitering about Soho streets and alleys for hours on end, and it wasn’t until the invention of the microphone in 1877 that the two plagiarists were able to upgrade their method of filching Will’s and Artie’s dramatic themes and catchy music-hall melodies. Posing as a pair of itinerant quill-pen inspectors, they persuaded the gullible landlord of the Schwenk-Seymour flat to let them in while the two were absent. They quickly installed a “bugging” device (probably the first instance of Edison’s invention being put to such use), leading its wires to a nearby flat they had rented for just such an eventuality.
Will Schwenk and Artie Seymour continued to grind out clever satires, parodies, melodies and patter-songs for the insatiable but poorly-paying music-hall trade. A few yards away Sullivan and Gilbert listened intently, and then rewrote, revised and disguised the arduously-earned creations of the talented pair. H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, Patience, Iolanthe and Princess Ida followed one another in almost annual succession, elevating G and S to the pinochle of success, if one may be permitted a small witticism at this point.
It must be emphasized that although the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas were immensely popular and widely publicized among the middle and upper classes of society-even among the nobility-Schwenk and Seymour did not move in those genteel circles, nor did the raucous but appreciative audiences who patronized the various music halls and amusement centers where the latter’s compositions were being staged. In 1885 the game came close to discovery when a discerning critic, after a night of pub-crawling, remarked in his newspaper column on the similar melodic line in The Mikado’s “I’ve Got a Little List” and one of the ditties in Schwenk and Seymour’s Bums and Bangers. Fortunately-or unfortunately, depending on one’s sympathies-no budding Sherlock Holmes tracked the clue to its source.
Ah, Fame! Impresario Richard D’Oyly Carte was so enthused that he built a theatre, the Savoy, exclusively for the presentation of G-and-S operettas. Several companies of players traveled throughout the English-speaking world, and every performance was a sell-out. The works were easily translated into other languages; the plots were simple, the tunes hummable, and the patter-songs lent themselves readily to other tongues. On one signal date there were 148 Gilbert and Sullivan operettas being performed simultaneously (aside from time differences) in fourteen languages in theatres all around the world.
The money rolled in, augmenting the personal fortunes of the two cultural swindlers, but none of it trickled down to the actual fabricators of this immensely popular frothy pabulum, Seymour and Schwenk, who continued their daily efforts to make ends meet. Daily the results of their endeavors were siphoned off by G and S.
Ruddigore, Yeomen of the Guard, and The Gondoliers followed The Mikado, but by 1889 the two so-called gentlemen, now both wealthy and portly, had wearied of the years-long talent-embezzlement, and decided to desist. Gilbert turned his efforts to the construction of children’s mechanical toys, most notably the Erector Set. Sullivan wrote “The Lost Chord” and the dirgelike music to Sabine Baring-Gould’s hymn “Onward Hebrew Soldiers” (-Marching as to war/With the Star of David/Going on before, etc.), although Ms Baring-Gould, under strong pressure from the Church of England, was induced to revise the title and lyrics of the latter work.
Will Schwenk and Artie Seymour died in Obscurity, a small industrial town in the Midlands, never having discovered nor even suspected the thefts of their labors over that fifteen-year period.
* * * * *
Author’s Note: For the musical-knowledge-deprived, Sir William Schwenk Gilbert and Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan were in fact the actual lyricist and composer, respectively, of the named operettas.
by David Koblick
Author: Laura Fink
Source: articleage.com
The Derma Traveler
? 2001 Laura Fink / All Rights Reserved
http://www.clockdomain.com Episode One – The Lion Doesn’t Sleep
Tonight
The sculpted bushes and phosphorous fountains of Shiver Tower
Gardens began to fade, and Tock acquainted a aberrant active in his
head. He saw his duke ability in apathetic motion for his mouse, but
before he could blow it, he begin himself sitting in a dim
corner of a aphotic enclosure. It smelled musty, like a cave.
Beside him was his laptop. Although his cell-phone was nowhere
in sight, the computer appeared to be still on-line. Tock
puzzled over this for a moment, and afresh began to attending around.
He heard choir speaking agilely in a adopted tongue. As he
strained to listen, he begin that gradually he was able to
understand their language. The choir came from the centermost of
the room, area a accumulation of artlessly clothed men and women sat on
the floor, their active bowed.
“And Father, amuse yield abroad all fear, so that we may give
honor to Your Name,” one man said. “Amen!” the added voices
added in unison.
With shock, Tock noticed that he was dressed just like the folk
sitting on the floor. Quickly, he blimp his computer into a
spare bend of his shell, as the complete of acute metal filled
the room. It was afresh that he noticed the confined that bankrupt off
the far end of the room. A key angry in a lock, and the bars
swung open. The adumbration of a actual big man with a austere case of
body odor abounding the room. “All of you, rise!” he bellowed. The
small accumulation stood meekly. The beastly with the key acicular his
truncheon at Tock. “You, too! The lions are abnormally hungry,
today!”
Tock froze, diaphoresis active down his face. Mamma mia! This was not
the cruise he had planned! He wondered vaguely area the Tourist
Information Office was located.
The abominable smelling, over-muscled Roman bouncer led Tock and the
others into a baby captivation pen which led, through a gate, into
the accessible coliseum. A aside roaring complete came from the arena.
What, the lions were out there already? Tock wondered. His
stomach tightened. But no, it was just the barrage of the crowd.
They capital to see blood, guts, and ripped flesh. Tock wondered
if he had time to download the bivouac for “Gladiator” from the
Net. Would that amuse them?
Behind the aback of the guard, who stood Rambo-like at the gate
to the arena, Tock belted nearer to investigate a foul-smelling
hole in one bend of the room. Phew! The abatement of beastly waste
products absolutely had bigger in the endure millenium or two. A
little accepted lo-tech hygeine would be acceptable for these folks.
One of the prisoners drew abutting to Tock and leaned down to
whisper in his ear.
“Brother, I see you accept noticed something of interest.” Tock
looked up at him quizzically, afresh down at the archaic loo.
Ah, of course! “Being of such baby stature, you could acquisition your
way through this abysm down into the carrion tunnels that
criss-cross this city. And from there:”
“The catacombs! Yes, I could do it! But what about you and the
others?”
The captive befuddled his head. “We anniversary will serve God in his own
way. But you – yield this to the brethern.” From aural his cloak
he drew a baby annal fabricated of some beastly skin. “I anticipation it
would accept to be destroyed with me, but now it seems that is not
so. It’s a aboriginal bearing archetype of a letter from our brother
Paulus to his accompany in this city. Accord it to the others – they
will abundance it well!”
Tock tucked the annal into his carapace with reverence. Then,
before he could anticipate alert about it, he hopped into the slimy
pit. Oh, the stench! At atomic he had a bendable landing. (He tried
not to anticipate about the acumen why.) Tock crawled abroad as fast as
his legs would yield him. He fabricated brainy agenda to acknowledge George,
his claimed trainer, for alive him so harder on the treadmill
in contempo weeks.
The aphotic access askance and turned. Tock anesthetized through a
broken alembic area he was able to ablution off a lot of of the muck
covering his body. Afterwards added abnormality in the dark, Tock
entered a alveolate allowance dimly lit by sunlight animated through
cracks in the top ceiling. There were signs that humans had
been there recently, but not a body was to be found. Alone and
lost, Tock sat down in despair. From aural his shell, he pulled
out the annal and his laptop. “I admiration how continued I’ve been down
here”, he muttered. Then, for the aboriginal time, he noticed that
the characterization on the centermost face in his Alarm Domain.com Trizoner
clock apprehend “Italy”.
“Of course!” Tock slapped his carapace with the approach of his hand.
He remembered now that he had set one of the three alarm faces
for Shiverbrook time, one for Eastern Accepted (he generally phoned
his sister in Virginia), and one for the agnate time in
Italy (Trik-Tech was sending him there next anniversary on business).
He approved to actuate the Shiverbrook alarm face, but it didn’t
respond. But the alarm face labeled “Virginia” was active! With
a convulsion in his blooming belly, Tock clicked Apply. Immediately, he
felt a active in his arch afresh (”Got to cut aback on coffee
after 10 p.m.”, he thought) and his ambience began to fade.
“Oh no, the scroll!” Tock cried. Drat. It would apparently sit in
that cavern for all of history. Nothing to be done about it now.
In every affair of “Just a Minute”, accompany Tock the Turtle for an
adventure in time and space. No one knows just area or when
he’ll acquisition himself next, not even the association at Alarm Domain .
com! http://www.clockdomain.com/cgi-bin/subscribe.cgi?id=28
Author: Abhinabha Tangerman
Source: download
The humor is more convincing and more effective when it is sought, when it comes to us as an unexpected guest. When you discover the humor in everyday situations of our life, if something in the cosmic order them suddenly seems fun, funny or even hilarious, makes us feel that life is more than just happenstance, but an ever-changing , meticulously crafted work of art designed by a leading architect. That this architect is not devoid of a sense of humor is something that we soon discover, too. The following story experienced by two people I know personally, is one of the many testimonies of life inherent sense of humor. Two friends were backpacking in Tenerife, in the south of the Canary Islands of Spain. They were enjoying the good weather, even in mid-January, and the beautiful landscape in various hiking trips through the mountainous countryside. There is a famous mountain called Mount Teide in Tenerife, with an altitude of 3,700 meters (12,000 feet) is the highest mountain in Spain. El Teide is an opportunity for hiking, the two friends did not want to miss. However, it needed special permission to be allowed on the mountain and the bureaucracy would have this permission can be obtained only in the capital, many miles away. From his desire to the view from the mountaintop was persistent and strong and did not want to lose a whole day return the license, officials decided to waive and conquest of the mountain, the first thing tomorrow morning before they reached the mountain guards. Love of nature triumphed over civil obedience. The next morning, just before dawn that left his cabin, which was located near the top of the mountain, and began to follow the path of the mountain. It was a tax increase. But the glorious summit rewarded for their efforts in the morning with a breathtaking view and impressive. They drank in the beauty and splendor of nature, revealed by gold sunrise, and quietly went back down before anyone noticed. The rest of the days – more than a rest, in fact, since the day I had just started – was spent hiking around the mountain area, rock climbing and some minor peaks and logging a number of miles before reaching back to his hut. At that time the road leading to Mount Teide and had closed and a few mountain rangers were alone in the vast countryside, enjoying hand waving in the evening at the end of their workday. The two hikers friends approached them. One of the friends who spoke Spanish fluently, I was curious to know why they needed a permit to climb Mount Teide and why it was so inconvenient unattainable here at the foot of the mountain. The ranger kindly explained that the preservation and protection of the mountain were the cause of having the permit and not wanting too many people climbing on it, the reason for having that many miles away in the capital of the island. People are welcome, but not trucks at a time. Walker friend put a sad face and disappointed – to conceal his joy at having overcome government regulations skillfully morning – muttered a "bad, but well, I understand" and said goodbye. Suddenly, however, the guards shouted at them to stop calling them back. Make surrender and inviting gestures with her arms conveyed their good will, saying, "Come on, do not care. You should see the view from the top, it's beautiful. Well, we're not saying anything to the authorities" and then smiled for the goodness of his heart. So there we were. The gang first tried a polite refusal, citing all his activities that day (except one) and the resulting fatigue, but the Mountain Rangers would have nothing of it. Moreover, the negative half-hearted in any convincing manner matched his prior expressions of sadness and disappointment. In the end they were forced to deeply thank the men for their kind offer and to climb to the summit for the second time that day. It was a straight-up without twists and unable to escape, so they had to complete the entire climb in order to save face. And after that, of course, lower. He was a most tiring day of his life. I'm sure someone had a good laugh over it, however. Abhinabha is an enthusiastic runner and member of the Sri Chinmoy Center Netherlands, also contributes to a site in writing.