Babe of the Week: Playboy Bunnies

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">For Easter Sunday it's only fitting that we celebrate some of the hottest Playboy Bunnies of all time!<br /><br />Sara Jean Underwood ...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbsLBP41C9tcalliaHGV2PmdBmIJ4n9ZTnh9YewACMTMczr0xNKG-TtMLZFM6IzhGWztsd3Tk7nOqJ5sHUf5Z6AfVCx-ZU9D8Sjj8IyCVBD6bsQw5tkGhe6sevCu1_QgaDgRLtma80xTw/s1600/Sara-Jean-Underwood-Bikini-Hot-Nude.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbsLBP41C9tcalliaHGV2PmdBmIJ4n9ZTnh9YewACMTMczr0xNKG-TtMLZFM6IzhGWztsd3Tk7nOqJ5sHUf5Z6AfVCx-ZU9D8Sjj8IyCVBD6bsQw5tkGhe6sevCu1_QgaDgRLtma80xTw/s400/Sara-Jean-Underwood-Bikini-Hot-Nude.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br />Tia Carrere ...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig5jpEn-vQpgiW4ToH6e0XM3rplaB_W4WXYje_S_851jG-6QbGUT3Q-60fn8wLCge_qb3VB-g2yD0JQuCKitCoLsaLr-KwdS3ZyCl8E_yLNZZv5crfxNQdzk9zkfqfdpn5haJ46NprW4o/s1600/tia-carrere-nude-hot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig5jpEn-vQpgiW4ToH6e0XM3rplaB_W4WXYje_S_851jG-6QbGUT3Q-60fn8wLCge_qb3VB-g2yD0JQuCKitCoLsaLr-KwdS3ZyCl8E_yLNZZv5crfxNQdzk9zkfqfdpn5haJ46NprW4o/s320/tia-carrere-nude-hot.jpg" width="275" /></a></div><br />Barbi Benton ...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin5mQ9J4haKrgHi9cdYSc1woL0q_cfaqFncc5Wcp-gn18HYFMN1G7kEQQqBfgrbLyc6IQwJCzzPwEgjhopTMc_WpeSjOnBPp1-s3LiiGUfh5UpGBhU_Ooxj8E4QcYlluslG6XIiRQ70ZU/s1600/Barbi-Benton-Hot-Nude.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin5mQ9J4haKrgHi9cdYSc1woL0q_cfaqFncc5Wcp-gn18HYFMN1G7kEQQqBfgrbLyc6IQwJCzzPwEgjhopTMc_WpeSjOnBPp1-s3LiiGUfh5UpGBhU_Ooxj8E4QcYlluslG6XIiRQ70ZU/s400/Barbi-Benton-Hot-Nude.jpg" width="270" /></a></div><br />Brooke Burke ....<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghdZYV8JXH79d9as1IzfHpZswFrWhgSYPtmVOiulxoHK8itfAKvNTUxCjupivFTtrf2lVOGq-2lVkPxOUyi_7UzwIuUf605kHqfFdH6-ugtAAu4cpHAP-3fC1ziuGML9dlgvpucPNFwZ0/s1600/Brooke-Burke-Nude-Hot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghdZYV8JXH79d9as1IzfHpZswFrWhgSYPtmVOiulxoHK8itfAKvNTUxCjupivFTtrf2lVOGq-2lVkPxOUyi_7UzwIuUf605kHqfFdH6-ugtAAu4cpHAP-3fC1ziuGML9dlgvpucPNFwZ0/s400/Brooke-Burke-Nude-Hot.jpg" width="230" /></a></div><br />Adrianne Curry ...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhff18VOTmFgtbmvnyj1twJaQ2xXU8QXB0nBcSPnjYp7VtXe6dQJDtKk54VlqEGLOhznvXL_YxJRQN7jOXchNeH0Vy4J_1-KFqtGLtaDJxhkOPoRlIOQUp0MMiioff_NwJ2BCSJUxLTiI/s1600/Adrianne-Curry-Nude-Hot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhff18VOTmFgtbmvnyj1twJaQ2xXU8QXB0nBcSPnjYp7VtXe6dQJDtKk54VlqEGLOhznvXL_YxJRQN7jOXchNeH0Vy4J_1-KFqtGLtaDJxhkOPoRlIOQUp0MMiioff_NwJ2BCSJUxLTiI/s400/Adrianne-Curry-Nude-Hot.jpg" width="251" /></a></div><br /><br />Also, don't forget to tune into "<a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/im-with-stupid/2013/03/31/christs-coming-out-party" target="_blank">Christ's Coming Out Party</a>" on IWS Radio Sunday at 12 Noon ET! We have lots of goodies to put in your Easter Basket! </div>

Babe of the Week: Playboy Bunnies

For Easter Sunday it's only fitting that we celebrate some of the hottest Playboy Bunnies of all time! Sara Jean Underwood ... Tia Carre...

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Javits Plaza v3.0

I've written about Jacob Javits Plaza—the public space at the corner of Lafayette and Worth Streets in Lower Manhattan—many times. First was about <a href="http://archidose.org/wp/2000/04/10/jacob-javits-plaza/">Martha Schwartz's design</a> on my weekly page; then in 2007 I did <a href="http://www.archidose.org/writings/javits.html">an analysis and history of the space</a> for grad school; most recently I contributed <a href="http://archpaper.com/news/articles.asp?id=4208">an article to <i>The Architect's Newspaper</i></a> about <a href="http://www.mvvainc.com/">Michael Van Valkenburgh</a>'s redesign. Before Schwartz's design the plaza was occupied by Richard Serra's <i>Tilted Arc</i>, which makes Van Valkenburgh's design the third installment since 1981, not counting the interim "design" between the demolition of Serra's sculpture in 1989 and the completion of Schwartz's plaza design in 1997. The plaza is not yet open to the public (a couple guys were applying some chemical of sorts to the stone paving when I walked by and snapped these photos yesterday), but it looks like any day now it will be complete and this corner of Lower Manhattan may finally be free of controversy.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/archidose/8602382589/" title="Javits Plaza by archidose, on Flickr"><img alt="Javits Plaza" height="340" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8533/8602382589_522b6fcd3c_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/archidose/8603483924/" title="Javits Plaza by archidose, on Flickr"><img alt="Javits Plaza" height="450" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8115/8603483924_5e15790243_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/archidose/8603483280/" title="Javits Plaza by archidose, on Flickr"><img alt="Javits Plaza" height="800" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8111/8603483280_a4ebe4dd51_c.jpg" width="600" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/archidose/8602377327/" title="Javits Plaza by archidose, on Flickr"><img alt="Javits Plaza" height="480" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8528/8602377327_35d78893ea_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/archidose/8603481746/" title="Javits Plaza by archidose, on Flickr"><img alt="Javits Plaza" height="480" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8254/8603481746_fd4caec42f_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/archidose/8603480278/" title="Javits Plaza by archidose, on Flickr"><img alt="Javits Plaza" height="800" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8110/8603480278_51a5f47e23_c.jpg" width="600" /></a><br /><br />

Javits Plaza v3.0

I've written about Jacob Javits Plaza—the public space at the corner of Lafayette and Worth Streets in Lower Manhattan—many times. First...

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Supper with my sister

Tonight my sister made me a supper of Clonakilty Black & White Pudding and Brown Bread.<br /><br />If you are interested, here are the ingredients in the pudding.<br /><br />Black: Oatmeal, Onions, Irish Beef Fat, Water, Dried Blood, Spices. <br /><br />The white pudding has no dried blood in it but does have salt. Of course the other ingredient in white pudding is Irish Pork.<br /><br />So delish!<br /><br /> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5_qTfFTu37cvz_MMZWabyRW6_RXGHsrnxA8k7ioB-puNzZ1xMv7kRpbT0xHD8R9f9GwIg_2KxLSpJcpacfBkoN2szu3kMPUEiZ-w4oY8PSRW1GB4Hp36tP2RsW3_9NKv7uTjX-hXng6ZW/s640/blogger-image--2066405156.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5_qTfFTu37cvz_MMZWabyRW6_RXGHsrnxA8k7ioB-puNzZ1xMv7kRpbT0xHD8R9f9GwIg_2KxLSpJcpacfBkoN2szu3kMPUEiZ-w4oY8PSRW1GB4Hp36tP2RsW3_9NKv7uTjX-hXng6ZW/s640/blogger-image--2066405156.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEienjGb_F3X64OVcnZfKE_JHzZ_A9dVnBsGC6-ZyWA1rIJKmKPNtvLZGer8Rw6boO2lO2p8ktOVT68FvcqtgF4yRI5RYEFiX8UxyWWyfJsZR6A-pyyj6aiPsp_vYYHKoD5-VfRK8P0DaVbW/s640/blogger-image--318560538.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEienjGb_F3X64OVcnZfKE_JHzZ_A9dVnBsGC6-ZyWA1rIJKmKPNtvLZGer8Rw6boO2lO2p8ktOVT68FvcqtgF4yRI5RYEFiX8UxyWWyfJsZR6A-pyyj6aiPsp_vYYHKoD5-VfRK8P0DaVbW/s640/blogger-image--318560538.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil9eU6boHpg2UPGIcnIsMIo7hMBTo6ev-DCzN1BCplcNbxgv54F6SS1HrnX8AmGtBwVzle24viZQFl-JrtJbIG-2PiuvS40NCaqjhG9yWRmiSMGFq-3_-wJe_xVZ-5EOHkfc9DWI21AYHE/s640/blogger-image-360555057.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil9eU6boHpg2UPGIcnIsMIo7hMBTo6ev-DCzN1BCplcNbxgv54F6SS1HrnX8AmGtBwVzle24viZQFl-JrtJbIG-2PiuvS40NCaqjhG9yWRmiSMGFq-3_-wJe_xVZ-5EOHkfc9DWI21AYHE/s640/blogger-image-360555057.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfQz7wFq8qCMimKtGiIPbRm9I_IsmRR4N3I9Ju22DGtnoIonuzSWemXcPXWwifwTrxZfs9dkFOKz5F1ioEFKLYI3i5cIknsM3Y7fOCOvfRgs0dc7iWwL-dJo0L2Gl-5-_1fU1icI_wAKUX/s640/blogger-image-1625907178.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfQz7wFq8qCMimKtGiIPbRm9I_IsmRR4N3I9Ju22DGtnoIonuzSWemXcPXWwifwTrxZfs9dkFOKz5F1ioEFKLYI3i5cIknsM3Y7fOCOvfRgs0dc7iWwL-dJo0L2Gl-5-_1fU1icI_wAKUX/s640/blogger-image-1625907178.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxmLq3Dj9Uq1-Xmyz9861l57TzKmLsjzDiBpE8nLm8PFhxjNApoE0_VoOAVxs0WDVlk2Jg3hHtNT0aPKge0o2Fjv7Y32eNgsOhTQyaMtKrba1sZqfeWQ8O_RAlic5eI09oyvx2n4U9tBGb/s640/blogger-image-1229792879.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxmLq3Dj9Uq1-Xmyz9861l57TzKmLsjzDiBpE8nLm8PFhxjNApoE0_VoOAVxs0WDVlk2Jg3hHtNT0aPKge0o2Fjv7Y32eNgsOhTQyaMtKrba1sZqfeWQ8O_RAlic5eI09oyvx2n4U9tBGb/s640/blogger-image-1229792879.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO5QuKdBxZqkZ3dk7j5VIrKPHMCmFPeD_kfaSqRwA5PFzM8IO-JcAgTeWsEL-W42uNBSLZQsO6eCe2OanssbnSafc5wfY06CFDmN1ZzKb00Ts9s7D7_KHydrdX_OrUG0vM5_TMW6dNhzMi/s640/blogger-image--1248915347.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO5QuKdBxZqkZ3dk7j5VIrKPHMCmFPeD_kfaSqRwA5PFzM8IO-JcAgTeWsEL-W42uNBSLZQsO6eCe2OanssbnSafc5wfY06CFDmN1ZzKb00Ts9s7D7_KHydrdX_OrUG0vM5_TMW6dNhzMi/s640/blogger-image--1248915347.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGM9nZtMIQmCIxSKLJtYlldf42RaEocQlRkOgjoI7XlI9DRB2eadOU6hklo-TqSkfkilLyPxzdGKYISazbLI_Waej_Oo7kkCKkd-3_xBSCFRdzqY5bItQ1o-QJBp7uHa-OeL3kKqCtYX2x/s640/blogger-image-752628045.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGM9nZtMIQmCIxSKLJtYlldf42RaEocQlRkOgjoI7XlI9DRB2eadOU6hklo-TqSkfkilLyPxzdGKYISazbLI_Waej_Oo7kkCKkd-3_xBSCFRdzqY5bItQ1o-QJBp7uHa-OeL3kKqCtYX2x/s640/blogger-image-752628045.jpg" /></a></div>

Supper with my sister

Tonight my sister made me a supper of Clonakilty Black & White Pudding and Brown Bread. If you are interested, here are the ingredients ...

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Posh crisps!

<p>What's your favourite crisp flavour?  </p><p>My sister and I bought some in Marks & Spencers today - Lobster Cocktail and BBQ flavour.  Oh my! What a taste sensation.</p><div class='separator' style='clear: both; text-align: center;'> <a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfLjS-VtPt4qEt8cdhrq-ba4y6I4sxZUEZ7uFfb2pA4IkwhMXIKa65p1Du40OJwyuOb7LEo73VJEmdais15ob8hnuzVzj0PEOQzNEyLXqFV01tlkT-9NAi1-JUH-tbz_wS_GGpORVMIvxi/s1600/20130330_165451.jpg' imageanchor='1' style='margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;'> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfLjS-VtPt4qEt8cdhrq-ba4y6I4sxZUEZ7uFfb2pA4IkwhMXIKa65p1Du40OJwyuOb7LEo73VJEmdais15ob8hnuzVzj0PEOQzNEyLXqFV01tlkT-9NAi1-JUH-tbz_wS_GGpORVMIvxi/s400/20130330_165451.jpg" /> </a> </div><div class='separator' style='clear: both; text-align: center;'> <a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvAfZdz4ksQNBu5B7hhPVswxMN-1JKKGcoBY3Rp-sobiTDPfUL4_n8cB_8uPl_3m0USdX9yMKrFM5y-gPyfw-UcRLS4n0h7c3mXiAzuCiqHjob1l7KhpQ7pqgE3Q1p-iaWoUxWb9C1g7Cq/s1600/20130330_180011.jpg' imageanchor='1' style='margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;'> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvAfZdz4ksQNBu5B7hhPVswxMN-1JKKGcoBY3Rp-sobiTDPfUL4_n8cB_8uPl_3m0USdX9yMKrFM5y-gPyfw-UcRLS4n0h7c3mXiAzuCiqHjob1l7KhpQ7pqgE3Q1p-iaWoUxWb9C1g7Cq/s400/20130330_180011.jpg" /> </a> </div><div class='separator' style='clear: both; text-align: center;'> <a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp_s9cM4zOOYGBDlAlRvcVfpHAyInvR_CD930goGRuHQ11EdEwrkTU1Y7yBP3KcMJOWdO_GqrUIdXwZnIvT51XV_YiXR7LhQa5_rdXO9EcfzzAx-k0WN7B3Ae78-dFAwTJlGqLoNnKidv2/s1600/20130330_165510.jpg' imageanchor='1' style='margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;'> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp_s9cM4zOOYGBDlAlRvcVfpHAyInvR_CD930goGRuHQ11EdEwrkTU1Y7yBP3KcMJOWdO_GqrUIdXwZnIvT51XV_YiXR7LhQa5_rdXO9EcfzzAx-k0WN7B3Ae78-dFAwTJlGqLoNnKidv2/s400/20130330_165510.jpg" /> </a> </div>

Posh crisps!

What's your favourite crisp flavour?  My sister and I bought some in Marks & Spencers today - Lobster Cocktail and BBQ flavour.  Oh ...

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CYPRUS AND TURKEY

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mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style><![endif]--> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3HuxcQg3__BxT1YrIYQHvmufJn7B3liunpt5uoQAVdUdipqBqtjWc4QOzUtrYdmAPEjQa13vH5WpeqLXMpTit97oZR3Yc-qbRR5YeR6ul1x2ZzYa5xK1sobOZoHTwCbyOhhQ28_ANXgJc/s1600/thumb.php.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3HuxcQg3__BxT1YrIYQHvmufJn7B3liunpt5uoQAVdUdipqBqtjWc4QOzUtrYdmAPEjQa13vH5WpeqLXMpTit97oZR3Yc-qbRR5YeR6ul1x2ZzYa5xK1sobOZoHTwCbyOhhQ28_ANXgJc/s320/thumb.php.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">TURKEY TAKES ADVANTAGE OF CYPRUS DESPERATION</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As the </span><a href="http://oilprice.com/Energy/Natural-Gas/Cypriot-Bailout-Linked-to-Gas-Potential.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">geopolitical game</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">over Mediterranean hydrocarbons heats up, TURKEY has suspended energy deals with ITALY’S Eni over the company’s involvement in oil and gas exploration offshore CYPRUS. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The timing is important. It comes just days after CYPRUS secured a painful </span><a href="http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/EU-Caught-Playing-Dirty-and-its-all-about-Russian-Gas.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">EU bailout package</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and  it considers extending April bidding for the next round of oil and gas exploration licenses. Bidding is set to end on 26 May, but may be prolonged, according to </span><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-26/cyprus-may-extend-offshore-gas-tender-to-attract-more-bids.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Bloomberg</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">EXPLORE IN CYPRUS, GET KICKED OUT OF TURKEY</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpO7HG7u0IGgmXnWq4Csw1ZIyyzw4E412nVrgc2ES36Yf3Hr2OgV1HfiMPBm1GjfEz9INtZ3TegPE2-QR9AStj0Kx7aB5v3_FlYTu5g5SAy7famdzerYa-rJyrXqs-HsH6UnkeMU_Bg74j/s1600/Turkey_to_israel_pipes.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpO7HG7u0IGgmXnWq4Csw1ZIyyzw4E412nVrgc2ES36Yf3Hr2OgV1HfiMPBm1GjfEz9INtZ3TegPE2-QR9AStj0Kx7aB5v3_FlYTu5g5SAy7famdzerYa-rJyrXqs-HsH6UnkeMU_Bg74j/s1600/Turkey_to_israel_pipes.gif" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The extension of the deadline would give CYPRUS more time to lure in additional investors, which it desperately needs. TURKEY is hoping to send these potential investors a message: Explore in CYPRUS, get kicked out of TURKEY. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">CYPRUS is divided along GREEK-CYPRIOT and ethnic TURKISH lines, with the GREEK CYPRIOTS controlling two-thirds of the Mediterranean island nation. The GREEK-CYPRIOT Republic of CYPRUS became an EU member in 2004, but TURKEY only recognizes the breakaway north. TURKEY has warned CYPRUS against any unilateral move to explore for oil and gas offshore CYPRUS, maintaining that TURKISH CYPRIOTS should have equal rights to these resources. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">TURKEY IS CONCERNED OF THE POSSIBILITY THAT NOBLE ENERGY INC.’S ANNOUNCES BLOCK 12 AS COMMERCIAL VIABLE</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b><span style="color: #0b5394;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Background Information: </span></u></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></u></span></div><span style="color: #0b5394;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">ENERGY HOTSPOT: EASTERN MED</span></b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #943634; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191;"></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/04/complexity-of-eastern-med-energy-games.html"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/04/complexity-of-eastern-med-energy-games.html</span></b></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #943634; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191;"></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #943634; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/12/energy-games-in-eastern-mediterranean.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/12/energy-games-in-eastern-mediterranean.html</a></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #943634; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/geo-strategic-dynamics-in-eastern.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/geo-strategic-dynamics-in-eastern.html</a></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #943634; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/08/turkeys-erratic-foreign-policies-all.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/08/turkeys-erratic-foreign-policies-all.html</a></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDUaEJFiRMwePK5P8Gqu-R1LNNxDjE48Y2sDL3vjq4g2A-nul1y0NOvZqb5ngZB057lRbxp8ZQw8Tl5jH8MOugymMadQZ2n78b5XkCcoqvW4j5zZdSYHv0XXhmpJuZRq6ZAkwL2TjgHvyr/s1600/cyp_oil_and_gas_drilling_72.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDUaEJFiRMwePK5P8Gqu-R1LNNxDjE48Y2sDL3vjq4g2A-nul1y0NOvZqb5ngZB057lRbxp8ZQw8Tl5jH8MOugymMadQZ2n78b5XkCcoqvW4j5zZdSYHv0XXhmpJuZRq6ZAkwL2TjgHvyr/s1600/cyp_oil_and_gas_drilling_72.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Eni is a key partner in three major TURKISH pipeline projects. The suspension appears to be centered on the Samsun-Ceyhan pipeline project, which will transport oil from RUSSIA and KAZAKHSTAN to TURKEY. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It is unclear what will happen to Eni’s involvement in two other pipelines, the RUSSIAN-led South Stream  and Blue Stream gas pipelines, which run through the Black Sea to deliver RUSSIAN gas to TURKEY. Eni has a 20% share in the South Stream project, while Gazprom holds a 50% share.    </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In January , Eni and its partner—SOUTH KOREAN Kogas—signed an agreement to explore in the CYPRIOT part of the explosively rich Levant Basin. Total, Eni and Kogas plan to conduct seismic surveys later this year and drill their first wells in 2014. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What’s really irked Turkey is Noble Energy Inc.’s (NBL) </span><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-26/cyprus-may-extend-offshore-gas-tender-to-attract-more-bids.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">plans to start drilling</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">an appraisal well in June and the possibility that it could announce commercial viability in its Block 12 before the end of this year. Noble thinks it’s block holds a minimum of 7 trillion cubic feet of gas. This is the development to watch closely, because commercial viability will be the tipping point for Ankara. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">STRATEGIC SHIFT: TURKEY & RUSSIA VERSUS CYPRUS & EU</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh236yJ-0nipnkh5dqyNrh1G4Ntf-BiTeBYo2orsElKvcxlDFOdhyphenhyphenwNlcDGvypRZzQm5FaGXhWWVOtvgnedgaIYY2eE8scy63HAhcjiSwk2anZLnBA4RkTh1hctjDy5xDn-5L8yEQ0Rn2Lf/s1600/pipeline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh236yJ-0nipnkh5dqyNrh1G4Ntf-BiTeBYo2orsElKvcxlDFOdhyphenhyphenwNlcDGvypRZzQm5FaGXhWWVOtvgnedgaIYY2eE8scy63HAhcjiSwk2anZLnBA4RkTh1hctjDy5xDn-5L8yEQ0Rn2Lf/s320/pipeline.jpg" width="291" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the meantime, RUSSIA missed its chance to win a nice share in CYPRUS’ offshore exploration in return for a </span><a href="http://oilprice.com/Finance/the-Economy/Russian-Oligarchs-to-Involuntarily-Fund-Cyprus-Bailout.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">bailout package</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">. Cyprus wasn’t offering enough to make it worth RUSSIA’S while to anger TURKEY, which it needs for its massive pipeline projects. So far, RUSSIA’S Gazprom has steered clear of Cypriot waters. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What this comes down to is that a choice has to be made between CYPRUS and TURKEY. The EU will stick with CYPRUS for now, and RUSSIA will keep its pipeline plans secure in Turkey.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal">Via oilprice</div>

CYPRUS AND TURKEY

TURKEY TAKES ADVANTAGE OF CYPRUS DESPERATION As the geopolitical game over Mediterranean hydrocarbons heats up, TURKEY has suspended energy...

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What can happen when you're obese

It's been a tough week. Ha! What else is new with me? Every week seems to be a tough week. Now a health concern on top of everything else. <br /><br />I had the CT scan on Tuesday and was told it was a large fibroid and an ovarian cyst on my right side. The gynecologist was concerned I might have ovarian cancer so she ordered a ultrasound yesterday.  I had the ultrasound and the technician showed me  the screen. We could see the huge fibroid filling up my entire uterus. It grossed me out. <br /><br />My gynecologist called me at 2pm and told me the good news is the ovarian cyst doesn't look like cancer, however, my fibroid isn't a fibroid. It's endometriosis, where the lining of my uterus has become so thick that it's taking up my entire uterus. <br /><br />Monday I'll have a biopsy done where they'll stick a tube up through my cervix and into my uterus to get cell samples. That doesn't always work, and if id doesn't then a "scraping". Even if it's not cancer then she needs to know what is causing the endometrium to grow out of control. This is extremely rare in postmenopausal women. <br /><br />Google has told me what caused this medical condition. It's on every "postmenopausal endometreosis" website I visited. The number one risk factor is OBESITY. I have the next several risk facts as well, but the most shocking and hard to handle one is obesity. That was in my control. There others were out of my control.<br /><br />I also looked at my medical history on my clinic's website. I signed up for it yesterday so it was the first time I've looked at it. There it was, in 2004 when I weighed 240 pounds. The words hurt.<br /><br />2004 MORBID OBESITY<br /><br />I know I'm fat, obese, morbidly obese, but to see it there in print where someone typed it in, (in all caps -- nothing else was in all caps), it was like a kick in the head. I remember the doctor too. A tiny little Asian woman. I remember the conversation we had about it. I remember immediately, within a couple days anyway, joining Weight Watchers and losing a significant amount of weight. Now I've gained most of it back. Now I'm paying the price with my health. <br /><br />I screwed up. Big time. This is my fault. The fact that I have to have a complete hysterectomy. Even the fact I might have cancer. I did this to myself. There's no one else to blame. I knew the risks of being morbidly obese. I thought I could get away with it. I was wrong.<br /><br />I'm over the initial shock of the whole thing. I got the news yesterday. Got angry at myself, but it's too late now. The damage is done. If it's cancer, I'll deal with it. If it's not, then it's just a simple hysterectomy. Not a huge deal. <br /><br />Either way, this is an eye opener for me. I'm another statistic of what happens when we let ourselves get obese. I suppose I'm like a smoker that doesn't think they'll get cancer. I won't happen to me! <br /><br />My immediate goal is to start on a really healthy eating plan and exercise. I've let that slide lately. Now that I have surgery in my near future I know I won't be able to lose much weight before the surgery, but I can at least get on a healthy eating track. <br /><br />

What can happen when you're obese

It's been a tough week. Ha! What else is new with me? Every week seems to be a tough week. Now a health concern on top of everything els...

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How to change a Smart Car panel

Someone crashed in to my car so I needed to change the panels over my back wheels. Originally they were red but I was only able to source black replacements - with a Smart Car you can mix the colours up a bit. It took my husband and Dad about 45 mins to do the job. <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9EwXehH7GTqdVtNc-YfOzqVTLBU3chY3S1ARejApF2SyhnQbaJIDTLx1WKtO15b-JzC3Q8NCbSll8Ei-8V5hf82fD-HIvXk9FemHcxgU1203MRrqZTMRi63xB1G5fJPAk84NJaPEcBgd_/s640/blogger-image--718494967.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9EwXehH7GTqdVtNc-YfOzqVTLBU3chY3S1ARejApF2SyhnQbaJIDTLx1WKtO15b-JzC3Q8NCbSll8Ei-8V5hf82fD-HIvXk9FemHcxgU1203MRrqZTMRi63xB1G5fJPAk84NJaPEcBgd_/s640/blogger-image--718494967.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvLn6D62y-uc4Xr1Yb6WS8n_8X2iP3UURyesnPq-JToRxOrF62jnJkCYqlER0v1NOsecdkXKVB2JtOkheCh1ETTryUK0XQm8zZQNMw3e-dBY06BZvUz2l-ZBSMp5G0doaCzip0IK3qCyZ8/s640/blogger-image--205845275.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvLn6D62y-uc4Xr1Yb6WS8n_8X2iP3UURyesnPq-JToRxOrF62jnJkCYqlER0v1NOsecdkXKVB2JtOkheCh1ETTryUK0XQm8zZQNMw3e-dBY06BZvUz2l-ZBSMp5G0doaCzip0IK3qCyZ8/s640/blogger-image--205845275.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY_Pw7rqIcABWLzMXeTHrGlxHOKSTEp9Q3rAIwPeyGghdbFdV771BsVfRWFk5BJfSVx6Rz2RTSXUY9OKIQ1cLZMCKPdO_lq8wb2l2i5P71VQab-uZzbLS1aB3-VMuAPb-9PWTnAHG4wmrF/s640/blogger-image--534473805.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY_Pw7rqIcABWLzMXeTHrGlxHOKSTEp9Q3rAIwPeyGghdbFdV771BsVfRWFk5BJfSVx6Rz2RTSXUY9OKIQ1cLZMCKPdO_lq8wb2l2i5P71VQab-uZzbLS1aB3-VMuAPb-9PWTnAHG4wmrF/s640/blogger-image--534473805.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjjL3FFQEYSTG-mDu1ZQFpG9YyUkzzZInDPI6s6nubPLEKpEKtw-_t44nFR9_JEvWbt5iqPmJ60koB1RCrp1w_ICO20yMxiR0nyRURoSJR-A-yao8nP7b_kl4DAxOd13It257OzUpNxlag/s640/blogger-image--1650785266.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjjL3FFQEYSTG-mDu1ZQFpG9YyUkzzZInDPI6s6nubPLEKpEKtw-_t44nFR9_JEvWbt5iqPmJ60koB1RCrp1w_ICO20yMxiR0nyRURoSJR-A-yao8nP7b_kl4DAxOd13It257OzUpNxlag/s640/blogger-image--1650785266.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQPKjY72aG1IkGLMWhlNbmOo3fTwA8FMsjB04ylbR5vQ2ZlG8TAE6uUa0QYciK9sCOgwzbQ8PyGmHzd5Xn_RtoEaU-7fodXptg_5fE37iVy81QI24Jd25s4NenPng2Y-Z-2aohlyn2612N/s640/blogger-image-801589666.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQPKjY72aG1IkGLMWhlNbmOo3fTwA8FMsjB04ylbR5vQ2ZlG8TAE6uUa0QYciK9sCOgwzbQ8PyGmHzd5Xn_RtoEaU-7fodXptg_5fE37iVy81QI24Jd25s4NenPng2Y-Z-2aohlyn2612N/s640/blogger-image-801589666.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbjD4XX1yUh-oivQbEnfmfEt_Tm4sesAaQV7O2vwq99vyE26GFl5aJf-7XPz53zGhUtUhD9uIaubkBCL6A_sgm6qPXeToIyYYh-YFEOaQIj7CIFtgpfvOr_KgtyxydKUdeF3eZ0YJATxmh/s640/blogger-image-1812791716.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbjD4XX1yUh-oivQbEnfmfEt_Tm4sesAaQV7O2vwq99vyE26GFl5aJf-7XPz53zGhUtUhD9uIaubkBCL6A_sgm6qPXeToIyYYh-YFEOaQIj7CIFtgpfvOr_KgtyxydKUdeF3eZ0YJATxmh/s640/blogger-image-1812791716.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7SIEJe-xsXtAT0aVcizmzAirh_LBWUWbi_4SAqRzT3XvdavdXRwgjz3eRbXGRybslUYe6ybDHBOLAnGRH-T4-4qlIGp3xJU8GhZPnX_oCcdlQ6aZKmFYWMHbUpKhScUw2YqMRaCBnR8i8/s640/blogger-image--624771598.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7SIEJe-xsXtAT0aVcizmzAirh_LBWUWbi_4SAqRzT3XvdavdXRwgjz3eRbXGRybslUYe6ybDHBOLAnGRH-T4-4qlIGp3xJU8GhZPnX_oCcdlQ6aZKmFYWMHbUpKhScUw2YqMRaCBnR8i8/s640/blogger-image--624771598.jpg" /></a></div>

How to change a Smart Car panel

Someone crashed in to my car so I needed to change the panels over my back wheels. Originally they were red but I was only able to source b...

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Hospitals Question Fairness of New Medicare Rules - NYTimes.com

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><nyt_text style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div id="articleBody"><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">It is no longer enough for hospitals to make patients healthy enough to leave. Now, as part of the Obama administration's <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/health_insurance_and_managed_care/health_care_reform/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="Recent and archival news about healthcare reform." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">health care overhaul</a>, they are spending millions of dollars to keep those patients from coming back, often acting like personal assistants to help them manage their post-hospital lives.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">While federal statistics show the effort is beginning to reduce costly and unnecessary readmissions, a growing chorus of critics is asking whether the government policy, which penalizes hospitals that have high readmission rates, is unfair. They are also questioning whether hospitals should be responsible for managing the personal lives of patients once they are released — or whether they should focus on other ways to improve care.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"It's consumed a lot of resources," said Dr. J. Michael Henderson, who focuses on quality and patient safety for the Cleveland Clinic, which attributes its relatively high readmission rate to the fact that it successfully treats a high number of severely ill patients.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Under the new federal regulations, hospitals face hefty penalties for readmitting patients they have already treated, on the theory that many readmissions result from poor follow-up care.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">It makes for cheaper and better care in the long run, the thinking goes, to help patients stay healthy than to be forced to readmit them for another costly hospital stay.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">So hospitals call patients within 48 hours of discharge to find out how they are feeling. They arrange patients' follow-up appointments with doctors even before a patient leaves. And they have redoubled their efforts to make sure patients understand what medicines to take at home.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">But hospitals have also taken on responsibilities far outside the medical realm: they are helping patients arrange transportation for follow-up doctor visits, get safe housing or even find a hot meal, all in an effort to keep them healthy.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"There's a huge opportunity to reduce the cost of medical care by addressing these other things, the social aspects," said Dr. Samuel Skootsky, chief medical officer of the U.C.L.A. Faculty Practice Group and Medical Group.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; "><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/medicare/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="Recent and archival health news about Medicare." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">Medicare</a>, which monitors hospitals' compliance with the new rules, says nearly two-thirds of hospitals receiving traditional Medicare payments are expected to pay penalties totaling about $300 million in 2013 because too many of their patients were readmitted within 30 days of discharge. Last month, the agency reported that readmissions had dropped to 17.8 percent by late last year from about 19 percent in 2011.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">But increasingly, health policy experts and hospital executives say the penalties, which went into effect in October, unfairly target hospitals that treat the sickest patients or the patients facing the greatest socioeconomic challenges. They say a hospital's readmission rate is not a clear measure of the quality of care it provides, noting that hospitals with higher mortality rates may also have fewer returning patients.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"Dead patients can't be readmitted," Dr. Henderson said.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"We're using a proxy because it's a convenient proxy — it's just not a very accurate proxy," said Dr. Karen E. Joynt, a health policy expert and co-author of <a title="New England Journal of Medicine article." href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1300122" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">an article critical of the penalties</a> in The<a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/new_england_journal_of_medicine/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about New England Journal of Medicine" class="meta-org" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">New England Journal of Medicine</a> this month. Large academic medical centers and so-called safety-net hospitals are bearing the brunt of the new policy, and the authors warn that the penalties could make it even harder for hospitals struggling to care for those patients with the highest needs. The current policy, the article says, "has the potential to exacerbate disparities in care and create disincentives to providing care for patients who are particularly ill or who have complex health needs."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">The penalties, which apply to rates of readmission after hospitalization for heart attacks, <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/pneumonia/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Pneumonia." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">pneumonia</a> and <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/heart-failure/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Heart failure." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">heart failure</a>, are now calculated at 1 percent of hospital payments but will increase to 3 percent by 2015. Medicare also expects to expand the targeted readmissions to include more kinds of hospitalizations, like those for chronic lung disease.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Some hospitals say they have little choice but to incur the penalties, simply because they have other demands. At Boston Medical Center, which serves a high number of low-income patients, efforts to reduce readmissions, including making follow-up appointments and writing out a simple plan of what to do after leaving the hospital, have been successful for <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/medicaid/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="Recent and archival health news about Medicaid." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">Medicaid</a> patients.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">But the medical center chose not to immediately expand the program to all patients, including the Medicare patients who would count toward future penalties.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"We make those trade-offs," said Dr. Stanley Hochberg, the center's chief quality officer. Medicare's focus on readmissions "doesn't necessarily align with our social priorities and medical priorities," he said. Medicare officials say they have listened to hospitals' concerns but defend the policy as heading in the right direction. "It's a very traumatic event to go back to the hospital," said Jonathan Blum, a senior Medicare official. "I'm personally comfortable with some imprecision to our measures."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"The ultimate goal is to have these numbers come down," he said.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Because so many hospital readmissions are tied to social or economic factors, hospitals have a hard time predicting which patients are likely to return, said Dr. Jan Berger, the chief medical officer for Silverlink Communications, a consulting firm. When Marjorie Crear, 66, left Ronald Reagan U.C.L.A. Medical Center after a stroke, she struggled to keep track of her medications and to remember her doctor appointments. Tiffany Phan, a newly hired care manager, helped with those tasks and has also been trying to find public housing with a shower instead of a hard-to-navigate bathtub.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Making it even harder for hospitals is the number of consultants and companies springing up to offer solutions with little hard evidence about which steps are the most effective. "We don't really know very clearly how to prevent more readmissions," said Austin Frakt, a health economist at Boston University.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">In some cases, such prevention may take a combination of efforts that differ from hospital to hospital, said Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, chief executive of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which has been financing pilot programs aimed at reducing readmissions. "One of the key factors we keep emphasizing is that there isn't a single magic bullet to fix everything," she said.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">And complicating the issue even further is the possibility of doing harm. In 2011, for example, the Department of Veterans Affairs halted a program in which patients with chronic lung disease were supposed to learn to take better care of themselves when 28 patients in the program died, in contrast to 10 deaths in the group receiving typical care.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"It was just an incredible thing," said Dr. Dennis E. Niewoehner, a researcher from the University of Minnesota who said the findings were "a warning signal" for others thinking about embarking on similar programs. The higher death rate may have been purely chance, he said, but the researchers, who published <a title="The V.A. study." href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22586006" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">their findings</a> last year, do not know.</p><nyt_correction_bottom><div class="articleCorrection" style="margin-bottom: 2.8em; "></div></nyt_correction_bottom><nyt_update_bottom></nyt_update_bottom></div></nyt_text><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important; float: none; "></span></div><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/30/business/hospitals-question-fairness-of-new-medicare-rules.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130330&pagewanted=print">http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/30/business/hospitals-question-fairness-of-new-medicare-rules.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130330&pagewanted=print</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

Hospitals Question Fairness of New Medicare Rules - NYTimes.com

It is no longer enough for hospitals to make patients healthy enough to leave. Now, as part of the Obama administration's  health care o...

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Dropbox

<p>Yesterday I tried to organise myself a bit.  I've been seeing that Google Reader will be going shortly so I signed up for Bloglovin' to keep track of the blogs that I follow.</p><p>The other thing that I did was sign up for Dropbox and moved all my photos from my iPhone over.  Embarrassingly, I had over 2, 500 photos on my phone!!! I now have to delete them all :-(</p><p>Dropbox is useful for both storing safely and sharing of likes, photos, videos, etc.</p><p>Click<a href="http://db.tt/fFPYB5pF"> here for Dropbox</a></p><p>Click <a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/">her for Bloglovin</a></p><br /><br />BTW, the daffodils are in full bloom here in Ireland! <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOQfp1W68CkUkgZLHxqpuoVG0T0c3eTVhggnAb4U1mBS_KIZXH6qWArUErGAF2PEp5eWY-Dx4AZRKP6W_kRnKxpBBlsUKyUUTfa8bjad7ePujMFWOiHvCwhhbJDQcfLbAey_c0saAbUgya/s640/blogger-image--2113145254.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOQfp1W68CkUkgZLHxqpuoVG0T0c3eTVhggnAb4U1mBS_KIZXH6qWArUErGAF2PEp5eWY-Dx4AZRKP6W_kRnKxpBBlsUKyUUTfa8bjad7ePujMFWOiHvCwhhbJDQcfLbAey_c0saAbUgya/s640/blogger-image--2113145254.jpg" /></a></div>

Dropbox

Yesterday I tried to organise myself a bit.  I've been seeing that Google Reader will be going shortly so I signed up for Bloglovin'...

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Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 03/30/2013

<ul class="diigo-linkroll"> <li> <p class="diigo-link"> <a href="https://edshelf.com">edshelf | Reviews & recommendations of tools for education</a> </p> <p class="diigo-description">Another interesting site for recommendations of apps, etc. Edshelf has some very interesting collections. They have collections for school counselors, for creating things, etc. I'm joining and looking into this site for finding cool things. If you like apps, try this site.</p> <p class="diigo-tags"> <span>tags:</span> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/apps">apps</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/ipadchat">ipadchat</a></p> </li> <li> <p class="diigo-link"> <a href="http://classbadges.com">ClassBadges | Home</a> </p> <p class="diigo-description">As I look to gamify my classroom, I'm heading to Class badges to do this. If you want to gamify your classroom, look to this website. (Hey, yes, you could, dare I say it, align with standards!) </p> <p class="diigo-tags"> <span>tags:</span> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/badges">badges</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/motivation">motivation</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/gamification">gamification</a></p> </li> </ul><p class="diigo-ps">Posted from <a href='https://www.diigo.com'>Diigo</a>. The rest of my favorite links are <a href='https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher'>here</a>.</p>

Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 03/30/2013

edshelf | Reviews & recommendations of tools for education Another interesting site for recommen...

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Fashion in Film Blogathon: Shanghai Express (1932)

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieyLtCNNsd7jJvVhqlnA2JmUnkyvWCStpY7ot6X39C6rNdf0P5qEG-_CxGgbyVGoFfMVAbk3TYI_i3L3eJ1Xp7Aqfqf7beZpo5Sg9ytwdK-kTEJbBXd0AvjDib1DAhiRRn4RTpcT_0Q5Y/s1600/clive_dietrich_windows_opt.png.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieyLtCNNsd7jJvVhqlnA2JmUnkyvWCStpY7ot6X39C6rNdf0P5qEG-_CxGgbyVGoFfMVAbk3TYI_i3L3eJ1Xp7Aqfqf7beZpo5Sg9ytwdK-kTEJbBXd0AvjDib1DAhiRRn4RTpcT_0Q5Y/s1600/clive_dietrich_windows_opt.png.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Clive Brook and Marlene Dietrich</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">B</span>etween 1930 and 1935, Josef von Sternberg filmed six wondrous and surreal flights of imagination for Paramount starring Marlene Dietrich with costumes by Travis Banton. The director and Dietrich had already made their first film together<span style="font-size: small;"><i>, <span style="font-size: small;">The Blue Angel </span></i><span style="font-size: small;">(1930), for UFA in Germany and, on the heels of that film's sensational premiere in Berlin, departed for Hollywood. Von Sternberg, who was born in Austria but <span style="font-size: small;">mostly raised in America, had worked previously with Banton in the U.S. on <i>Underworld </i>(1927), a groundbreaking silent crime drama.</span></span></span></span></span><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNLmwA6u5KvkjXCAGcql7AkvWPX2q39k46T4W1Vqi-7h4O_RrBFs8_XlSuhkFzYfj84wWU9gJMUELKQLQx1v2by3MmJeMAtQJVgNnr0h6Cop2-koX_Evt7ev5f8qXcV12qMG5q9yaFv_o/s1600/Evelyn_Brent_Underworld_opt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNLmwA6u5KvkjXCAGcql7AkvWPX2q39k46T4W1Vqi-7h4O_RrBFs8_XlSuhkFzYfj84wWU9gJMUELKQLQx1v2by3MmJeMAtQJVgNnr0h6Cop2-koX_Evt7ev5f8qXcV12qMG5q9yaFv_o/s320/Evelyn_Brent_Underworld_opt.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Evelyn Brent as Feathers McCoy in <i>Underworld</i></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">The first of the six Paramount productions was <i>Morocco </i>(1930), the film that made a star of Dietrich. It brought Academ<span style="font-size: small;">y A</span>ward nominations to von Sternberg, cinematographer Lee Garmes, art director Hans Dreier - and for <span style="font-size: small;">Marlene </span>Dietrich her one and only Best Actress nod. <i>Morocco </i>also introduced elements and themes that would recur in Josef von Sternberg's future Dietrich films: an enigmatic siren, besotted men, distant locales, misleading <span style="font-size: small;">appearances, frustrated passion and the redemptive power of love.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGP8NXr2pc970gHvZr_4Ewlpl9Tdn9uyY7DktzUA84tTJFspEmamgGZ7m5UMulcuxpCXyxo9ThxZJMYoNBiKTMh-WJaqzuQVI8Cyy2idkyyfkkQefo0WXqU5zS0Gb8zU6-t_sq1SfNhHk/s1600/Morocco_opt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGP8NXr2pc970gHvZr_4Ewlpl9Tdn9uyY7DktzUA84tTJFspEmamgGZ7m5UMulcuxpCXyxo9ThxZJMYoNBiKTMh-WJaqzuQVI8Cyy2idkyyfkkQefo0WXqU5zS0Gb8zU6-t_sq1SfNhHk/s320/Morocco_opt.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Marlene Dietrich and Gary Cooper, <i>Morocco</i></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Shanghai Express</i> (1932), the third of th<span style="font-size: small;">e </span>collaborations with Dietrich and Banton<span style="font-size: small;">, was, according to its director, "<span style="font-size: small;">loosely based on a single page by Harry Hervey." Hervey actually provided more pages than that and<span style="font-size: small;"> </span>from those pages Jules Furthman crafted a clever script. Von Sternberg constructed a China made of "papier-mache" and, borrowing a loco<span style="font-size: small;">motive and railway cars from the Santa Fe Railroad, set the scene for the tale of a train <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">hijacked en route from Peking to Shanghai </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">by Chinese revolutiona<span style="font-size: small;">ries.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilMDMR5BtQgVh6s6VVYuZCF7CziMHB5sM74AZv_WnKCPuKK4i5cDCz7MGiRlavL7LOnLNSrQwFrtz7kzjuz0MwVRleAe1DQvEbiH3KEN3V810jQhyphenhyphenQm1KxACOyW13BdfiK82ushO91LNg/s1600/shanghai_express.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilMDMR5BtQgVh6s6VVYuZCF7CziMHB5sM74AZv_WnKCPuKK4i5cDCz7MGiRlavL7LOnLNSrQwFrtz7kzjuz0MwVRleAe1DQvEbiH3KEN3V810jQhyphenhyphenQm1KxACOyW13BdfiK82ushO91LNg/s400/shanghai_express.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">imagining China, <i>Shanghai Express</i></span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div style="text-align: right;"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Crowded on board with a clutter of cargo is a disparate group of passengers, several of whom harbor secrets. Among these travelers is dry-as-dust <span style="font-size: small;">British military officer </span>Donald ‘Doc’ Harvey (Clive Brook). Early in the journey he encounters the great lost love of his life, Magdalen, now known as “Shanghai Lily” and an infamous ‘coaster’ living by her wiles – played to the hilt by Marlene Dietrich at her most ravishing. As the trip unfolds and the train makes its way down the exotic and dangerous coast of China, Doc and Lily wrestle with reignited desire for each other. The hijacking triggers a crisis in their reunion.</span></span></div><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dietrich first appears onscreen more blonde than ever before, veiled<span style="font-size: small;"> and swathed in crepe and feathers, wearing crystal beads and kid gloves, carrying an Art Deco handbag<span style="font-size: small;">. She is </span>the quintessential<span style="font-size: small;"> femme fatale.</span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Sleek and mysterious, Lily’s cynicism and insolence are tempered by her profound femininity. Dietrich skirts the edges of parody as the soft-spoken, worldly-wise heartbreaker. Brook is mostly sulky and long-suffering in his role; what attracts such a sensual woman to the repressed doctor is neither easy nor difficult to fathom. </span></span><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZDxBhMih1vCY-WsGlKOm969L3AyZ1Y1_hWIqhcCkUzt0nSlH-lKuW82h7oZXkH4Z_CXhP6ItebydEmeuuOlVOfL2dr7opxpE21ZpizynGjaOwpLiTbpIrLwuFL0Vt8pHPZSgylglHcbE/s1600/Shanghai_ultimate_3_opt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZDxBhMih1vCY-WsGlKOm969L3AyZ1Y1_hWIqhcCkUzt0nSlH-lKuW82h7oZXkH4Z_CXhP6ItebydEmeuuOlVOfL2dr7opxpE21ZpizynGjaOwpLiTbpIrLwuFL0Vt8pHPZSgylglHcbE/s400/Shanghai_ultimate_3_opt.jpg" width="321" /></a></td></tr><tr><td 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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style><![endif]-->This ensemble was concocted, according to Dietrich’s daughter Maria Riva, by her mother and Travis Banton. She writes of Dietrich going to the studio and running into Banton’s private office shouting, “Feathers! Travis - feathers! What do you think…Black feathers! Now, what bird has black feathers that will photograph?” The black-green tail feathers of Mexican fighting cocks were eventually chosen. Selecting the proper veil fabric took<span style="font-size: x-small;"> as long</span>. Riva reports that when Dietrich finally held up a swatch of “black 41” with its horizontal lines, “Travis let out a wild whoop.” Finally, von Sternberg came to take a look at the completed outfit. There had been concern about his reaction – the elaborate costume would be very difficult to photograph. In German he said to Dietrich, “If </span></i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">you </span><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">believe I am skilled enough to know how to photograph this, then all I can offer you is – to </span></i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">do</span><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> the impossible.” In English he said to Banton, “A superb execution of an impossible design, I congratulate you all.”  After the director left, Banton broke out a bottle of champagne.</span></i></span><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO9vBuG0Fg2J908f7QMM8V0vaAVdm8M8w4enU3FPQFj6JfTlH5C_VxZRFcvNSI5aTGYvyxwjaz1Q0Nqw1ocWiVsJh2q9BuUnOem4OiwFFTTaeBG7C1PYqFP5ZHFFbnhoaJTwSCJx897CI/s1600/textures_opt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO9vBuG0Fg2J908f7QMM8V0vaAVdm8M8w4enU3FPQFj6JfTlH5C_VxZRFcvNSI5aTGYvyxwjaz1Q0Nqw1ocWiVsJh2q9BuUnOem4OiwFFTTaeBG7C1PYqFP5ZHFFbnhoaJTwSCJx897CI/s400/textures_opt.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">fur, feathers and lace</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">David Chierichetti has written that Travis Banton worked to give Dietrich, with her perfect posture and slender figure, a softened quality. "Her clothes would usually be fussier than any others he designed, with drapings of fabric and much use of fur and velvet that would be unflattering to a heavier figure." Banton understood that few but Dietrich could<span style="font-size: x-small;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">successfully wear a busy mix of textures and patterns.</span></span></span></i></span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span> </span></span></i></span><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-faSMiDFDAEQU4rUFSnhnZso7QviLzGkzK8cijr8TmjzASYOxUjB_47pLmMoqNW1h3C21GuvB-JNk2mnSnyMgRUbeiK-92l53mcENyI4VPLghtZqPAa22PtGUXeEdVsB-z1MMvAfEnW8/s1600/maribou2_opt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-faSMiDFDAEQU4rUFSnhnZso7QviLzGkzK8cijr8TmjzASYOxUjB_47pLmMoqNW1h3C21GuvB-JNk2mnSnyMgRUbeiK-92l53mcENyI4VPLghtZqPAa22PtGUXeEdVsB-z1MMvAfEnW8/s400/maribou2_opt.jpg" width="321" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">maribou</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">~</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;">C</span>inematic <span style="font-size: small;">v</span></span></span>irtuoso and visionary Josef von Sternberg didn't hesitate to claim that he not only directed his films but was also responsible for every facet of every one of them, from lighting and photography to set design, costuming and, sometimes, music. Though the director freely admitted that Lee Garmes <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span>excelled behind the camera, he also maintained that Garmes did exactly as he was told, "to the extent that I would always be beside the camera. No picture of mine has been independently photographed." Dietrich, for her part, supported these assertions. As for costumes, von Sternberg's involvement in designing Dietrich's wardrobe was, as David Chierichetti has noted, "as hard a question to answer as how much he photographed the films<i>."<span style="font-size: small;"> </span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">What <i> is</i> evident in the films von Sternberg made for Paramount with Dietrich and Banton is that costume was as much an element of narrative and theme as every other meticulously <span style="font-size: small;">designed </span>visual and aural detail<span style="font-size: small;">.</span></span></span> </span></span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9lbJbSNb372RnlWZnEB7Nwiv_eunkPA_RIrWfc21rBV4RElcpCZzZYlpZzF5c8aQteWRAMoaa7VTOeHTcSM0_26jYIciv7XZZxr8VmqYGSR-U2Mwy6qPMMv41ynFFzd4NwairM8n9Hec/s1600/Shanghai-ultimate-costume_opt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9lbJbSNb372RnlWZnEB7Nwiv_eunkPA_RIrWfc21rBV4RElcpCZzZYlpZzF5c8aQteWRAMoaa7VTOeHTcSM0_26jYIciv7XZZxr8VmqYGSR-U2Mwy6qPMMv41ynFFzd4NwairM8n9Hec/s400/Shanghai-ultimate-costume_opt.jpg" width="263" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Shanghai Lily's introduction - her attire and bearing suggest different possibilities: seasoned seductress, dark angel and more. </span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span id="goog_1201836282"></span><span id="goog_1201836283"></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXJx9XNFBLD7g6i1P2Mqc6h02ss074XglNL_kjQQpUqK7whgN6rPeK6FoyXYgLUEzfZPK9wS4CpsK2By5KEhZ1DwD6Y9xjM19Q3aulbwhtePkJkCv5ENVO8kELjC9pIUg21gFl-VnSI9g/s1600/marlene-dietrich-and-clive-brook-hat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXJx9XNFBLD7g6i1P2Mqc6h02ss074XglNL_kjQQpUqK7whgN6rPeK6FoyXYgLUEzfZPK9wS4CpsK2By5KEhZ1DwD6Y9xjM19Q3aulbwhtePkJkCv5ENVO8kELjC9pIUg21gFl-VnSI9g/s400/marlene-dietrich-and-clive-brook-hat.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Lily is regally bundled in fur when she toys with her former lover. Teasing, she puts his military cap on her own head - at a jaunty angle. This is a woman who knows how to take command.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9UivP8zaY0Pjc09eVZAZexNC7VCFSvScSiMNUSgfElUUjNk8TUUwtVCqj54VLr8TrQHZkU-4XFmVQTie9pGfew1NnI3y6wW9SF5wRzKqnmdya_D7vZBq2kZEYjV_g641-KbWT3e8_yaY/s1600/Magdalen_Donald_opt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="321" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9UivP8zaY0Pjc09eVZAZexNC7VCFSvScSiMNUSgfElUUjNk8TUUwtVCqj54VLr8TrQHZkU-4XFmVQTie9pGfew1NnI3y6wW9SF5wRzKqnmdya_D7vZBq2kZEYjV_g641-KbWT3e8_yaY/s400/Magdalen_Donald_opt.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">By the time Dietrich utters the line, "Shanghai Lily has reformed," Magdalen has begun to resurface.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-FohBUGVSF8ixiXPDjuW94gr__Uq6MKV0oFIiKFu_68kII4rBrDLtrAVOdlHUYQoLkIllH-6eIAFNiC-daYWGZrXJNS5AdT4YtCmUncJ5jhVbZyMWIScBXkIdynHogHuKsod9yPVgW6E/s1600/final_scene_opt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-FohBUGVSF8ixiXPDjuW94gr__Uq6MKV0oFIiKFu_68kII4rBrDLtrAVOdlHUYQoLkIllH-6eIAFNiC-daYWGZrXJNS5AdT4YtCmUncJ5jhVbZyMWIScBXkIdynHogHuKsod9yPVgW6E/s400/final_scene_opt.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In the final scene, Dietrich is again bedecked in Shanghai Lily's black-feathered vamp ensemble - but Magdalen can be seen and heard in her expression, her voice and her words. Doc, who she now calls by his given name, Donald, surrenders to her completely. She tosses away his riding crop and glove as they embrace.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]--></div><div style="text-align: left;"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/> 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mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style><![endif]--> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Josef von Sternberg, in a 1966 interview with Oscar-winning film preservationist Kevin Brownlow, acknowledged that he had no interest in ‘authenticity’, “…on the contrary, the illusion of reality is what I look for, not reality itself.” Of the six von Sternberg/Dietrich/Banton films, film critic/historian David Thomson has written, “They are sublime, radiant and utterly undated, where earnestness, noble intentions, showing real life with pained sincerity (all plausible in the difficult times of the 1930s), have perished by the wayside.”</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> <i>Shanghai Express</i> was the most financially successful of the six Paramount productions though its critical reception was mixed. Von Sternberg was flattered when novelist/philosopher Ayn Rand told him that the film had impressed her as other films rarely had. Naturally he asked what it was that captivated her so. He remembered, with some irony<span style="font-size: small;"></span>, that she told him it was “the way the wind blows through the fur-piece around Marlene’s shoulder when she sits on the back platform of the train.”</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCwMiAdJRm-Tny9WI234xZbtWjA4lnPmkZIapsC3ceHMm6fK6XvKWZ5x2q0QYKPcVwtXfo2uJCvf6hneBVNdaUkN5mW0qn3TZbKQHVe_GOJ0XgY5bKtKQJaf4QAwkmQ_Sgs6yVI0FBfxQ/s1600/tumblr_lpnrykbe9J1qakh43o1_250.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCwMiAdJRm-Tny9WI234xZbtWjA4lnPmkZIapsC3ceHMm6fK6XvKWZ5x2q0QYKPcVwtXfo2uJCvf6hneBVNdaUkN5mW0qn3TZbKQHVe_GOJ0XgY5bKtKQJaf4QAwkmQ_Sgs6yVI0FBfxQ/s1600/tumblr_lpnrykbe9J1qakh43o1_250.gif" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Shanghai Express </i><span style="font-size: small;">was Oscar-nominated for Best Picture, Josef von Sternberg was nominated for Best Director<span style="font-size: small;"> and Lee Garmes won the Academy Award for B<span style="font-size: small;">est Cinematography.</span> </span></span></span></span></div><br />~</div></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;">T<span style="font-size: small;">ravis <span style="font-size: small;">B</span>anton</span></span> was Paramount's Chief Designer from 1929 until 1938. Before coming to Hollywood to design Leatrice Joy’s costumes for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Dressmaker of Paris </i>(1924), he worked at various design houses including his own in New York. His reputation got a major boost in 1920 when he designed Mary Pickford’s wedding dress for her marriage to Douglas Fairbanks.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><br /></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmjtawliPxdGzcXX3rhJbbpO-R64rT7Nex2SdQBVcb2Lgja-7fQzhmSgifN8AKsp9JcVbPUnf_tu2MwyB4ZTPCXXf9_tcPabUSNTHY3D9l8LiFMm0zDu-zfug-uqaqGnDFlwS4uMEQjmo/s1600/pickford_20_dress_opt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmjtawliPxdGzcXX3rhJbbpO-R64rT7Nex2SdQBVcb2Lgja-7fQzhmSgifN8AKsp9JcVbPUnf_tu2MwyB4ZTPCXXf9_tcPabUSNTHY3D9l8LiFMm0zDu-zfug-uqaqGnDFlwS4uMEQjmo/s200/pickford_20_dress_opt.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mary Pickford in wedding gown, 1920</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;">B</span>anton’s designs were known for their fashionable cuts (frequently on the bias, his specialty), luxurious fabrics, and beads, feathers, lace, fur and other ornamentation. His designs embodied the “Paramount Look” of the 1930s. He never took home a costume design Oscar, no doubt because the award did not exist until 1948, after the better part of his film career was over. Leaving Paramount, Banton went on to work for Fox on films like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Mark of Zorro </i>(1940), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blood and Sand </i>(1941) and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Yank in the R.A.F.</i> (1941). He designed gowns on Columbia’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cover Girl </i>(1944) and for Universal’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman (</i>1947). One of his late film assignments was designing gowns for <span style="font-size: small;">Joan Fontaine in the h<span style="font-size: small;">aunting </span></span>Max Ophuls drama <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Letter from an Unknown Woman </i>(1948).<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>The designer is also credited with mentoring his Paramount assistant Edith Head, who became the best known and most Oscar-winning costume designer in Hollywood history.</span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguRxdWwBwqZ_0rh_JiCiiBB1obg_O_ky97fYlx2WZdsPELCDTewv2n3fXvWO_oeSbZDRYZHUHY_9329sXR9GOvwk5SPt9vMPe4Vh6C5iJlPp1-EbYsyNOldnMzgQzDvWK4pzoP7i9JHBY/s1600/1-cover-girl-rita-hayworth_opt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguRxdWwBwqZ_0rh_JiCiiBB1obg_O_ky97fYlx2WZdsPELCDTewv2n3fXvWO_oeSbZDRYZHUHY_9329sXR9GOvwk5SPt9vMPe4Vh6C5iJlPp1-EbYsyNOldnMzgQzDvWK4pzoP7i9JHBY/s1600/1-cover-girl-rita-hayworth_opt.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rita Hayworth, <i>Cover Girl </i>(1944)</td></tr></tbody></table></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Banton’s eventual decline has been attributed to overwork and overindulgence. “He was a genius. Boy, did he drink! That’s what ruined him…” said Louise Brooks, a woman who knew firsthand about drinking and ruination. Evelyn Brent, the first actress to work on a von Sternberg/Banton film, recalled, “He was the kind of designer who read the script and would find out who was going to play the part, and worked out the clothes that way.” The feather and velvet hat he designed for her in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Underworld </i>started a fashion trend.<span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">M</span>aria Riva knew Banton when he designed for the Dietrich/von Sternberg films. Of him she said that he “had the Ronald Colman look long before Ronald Colman <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">had </i>a look” – cashmere blazer, white flannels, paisley ascot and silk shirt with French cuffs. Dietrich’s long-time photographer John Engstead recalled that the actress didn’t listen to many but would always take advice from von Sternberg and Banton. David Chierichetti has written that it was his work for Dietrich that made Banton’s designs immortal. And costume designer Walter Plunkett (<i><span style="font-size: small;">Gone with the Wind</span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">,</span></span><i><span style="font-size: small;"> </span>An American in Paris</i>) remembered, “The rest of us always watched Banton because he was always ahead of the fashion trend.”<span style="font-size: small;"> In fact, Banton's use of the strapless bodice pre-dated by four years Christian Dior's<span style="font-size: small;"> </span>celebrated use of it as part of his "New Look" of the late 1940s.</span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">  </span></span><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJRUbXOsU7LQJMDxyGosofJNjmwtHOmp0-84u_aJ7RsBhVhVijTOGyS75Rl3_TlLCvyCgwgoEHlOuz-dSAif9iFsUO6X4opxyPcxnre-AD-6D1ju0QGaXYM3PyYnbCFmRLaTLbIi2ud0s/s1600/banton_dietrich_opt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJRUbXOsU7LQJMDxyGosofJNjmwtHOmp0-84u_aJ7RsBhVhVijTOGyS75Rl3_TlLCvyCgwgoEHlOuz-dSAif9iFsUO6X4opxyPcxnre-AD-6D1ju0QGaXYM3PyYnbCFmRLaTLbIi2ud0s/s400/banton_dietrich_opt.jpg" width="346" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Travis Banton and Marlene Dietrich</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><br />~</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">M</span>arlene Dietrich forever attributed her initial success in film to Josef von Sternberg, insisting "I was nothing but pliable material on the infinitely rich palette of his ideas and imaginative faculties." She learned everything about filmmaking, most especially lighting and photography, from him. The director would be unusually modest when it came to taking credit for 'inventing' Marlene Dietrich. "I did not endow her with a personality that was not her own...I gave her nothing she did not already have. What I did was to dramatize her attributes and make them visible for all to see."</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The Paramount films Dietrich made with von Sternberg and Travis Banton were <i>Morocco</i>, <i>Dishonored </i>(1931), <i>Shanghai Express</i>, <i>Blonde Venus </i>(1932), <i>The Scarlet Empress </i>(1934) and <i>The Devil is a Woman</i> (1935). She and von Sternberg parted ways afterward. When her career foundered he advised her to make <i>Destry Rides Again </i>with James Stewart for Universal in 1939; it was a hit and revived her reputation. She went on to reinvent herself again and again.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Dietrich would work with Travis Banton on two more Paramount films, Frank Borzage's <i>Desire </i>(1936) and Ernst Lubitsch's <i>Angel </i>(1937). With or without von Sternberg's input, Banton's gowns for the great star were breathtaking.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>Marlene Dietrich in scenes from all six films directed by Josef von Sternberg with costume design by Travis Banton</i></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/VlA0EbSHRFA" width="420"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This post is my entry in The Hollywood Revue's Fashion in Film Blogathon..<span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">.</span><span style="color: red;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://hollywoodrevue.wordpress.com/">click here</a></span></i> </span><span style="color: black;">for more information and links to participating blogs.</span></span></span></b> <br /><br /> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Not</u></span></span><u><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">es</span></span></u><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">:</span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>Fun in a Chinese Laundry</i> by Josef von Sternberg, MacMillan Co. (1965)</span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>Marlene Dietrich</i> by Maria Riva, Alfred A. Kno<span style="font-size: small;">pf (1993)</span> </span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>Hollywood Costume Design</i> by David Chierichetti, Harmony Books (1976)</span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>The Parade's Gone By</i> by Kevin Brownlow, Bonanza Books (1968)</span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>People Will Talk</i> by John Kobal, Alfred A. Kno<span style="font-size: small;">pf (1985)</span></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>The Big Screen: The History of Hollywood</i> by David Thomson, Farrar<span style="font-size: small;"> Strauss<span style="font-size: small;"> and Giroux (2012)</span></span><i>    </i></span></span>

Fashion in Film Blogathon Josef von Sternberg Marlene Dietrich Shanghai Express The Lady Eve (author) Travis Banton Fashion in Film Blogathon: Shanghai Express (1932)

Clive Brook and Marlene Dietrich B etween 1930 and 1935, Josef von Sternberg filmed six wondrous and surreal flights of imagination for Para...

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