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  Mondrian

  Jp. A. Calosse

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  Piet Mondrian (1872-1944), who can be assigned to the school of classical modernism, was born in Amersfort, Netherlands. After studying in Amsterdam, he started his artist´s career in the impressionist style as a figure and landscape painter. His works from these years showed the influence of Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) and of Fauvism, a French school from the beginning of the 20th century. When he traveled to Paris in 1911, he discovered Pablo Picasso´s works (1881-1973) and, with that, Cubism. He thereafter became a pioneer of abstract painting in the Netherlands. From the 1920s on, his paintings show a vertical and horizontal composition that, combined with the oppositions of blue, yellow, red, and noncolored spaces, turned into his trademark. His art was very appreciated in New York, where he spent his last years. Mondrian was not only a painter but also an art theoretician and cofounder of the art school De Stijl.

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  Ian Fleming's Inspiration - The...

  Edward Abel Smith

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  “A journey through Fleming’s direct involvement in World War II intelligence and how this translated through his typewriter into James Bond’s world.” —The Washington Times 
   
  Secret agent James Bond is among the best known fictional characters in history, but what most people don’t know is that almost all of the characters, plots, and gadgets come from the real life of Bond’s creator, Commander Ian Fleming. This book goes through the plots of Fleming’s novels—explaining the experiences that inspired them.  
   
  Along with Fleming’s direct involvement in World War II intelligence, the book notes the friends who Fleming kept, among them Noel Coward and Randolph Churchill, and the influential people he would mingle with, including British prime ministers and American presidents. Bond is known for his exotic travel, most notably to the island of Jamaica, where Fleming spent much of his life. The desk in his Caribbean house, Goldeneye, was also where his life experiences would be put onto paper in the guise of James Bond. This book takes us to that island, and many other locales, as it traces the adventures of both 007 and the man who created him.

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  Black Directors in Hollywood

  Melvin Donalson

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  An in-depth look at the pioneering work and lasting influence of black Hollywood directors from Gordon Parks to Spike Lee and beyond. Hollywood film directors are some of the world’s most powerful storytellers, shaping the fantasies and aspirations of people around the globe. Since the 1960s, African Americans have increasingly joined their ranks, bringing fresh insights to the characters we watch, and profoundly changing the way stories are told. Today, black directors are making films in all popular genres, while inventing new ones to speak directly from and to the black experience.  This book offers a comprehensive look at the work of black directors in Hollywood, from pioneers such as Gordon Parks, Melvin Van Peebles, and Ossie Davis to current talents including Spike Lee, John Singleton, Kasi Lemmons, and Carl Franklin. Discussing sixty-seven individuals and over 135 films, Melvin Donalson thoroughly explores how black directors’ storytelling skills and film techniques have widened both the thematic focus and visual style of American cinema.  Assessing the meanings and messages in their films, Donalson convincingly demonstrates that black directors are balancing Hollywood's demand for box office success with artistic achievement and responsibility to ethnic, cultural, and gender issues.

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  Feedsack Secrets - Fashion from...

  Gloria Nixon

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  A quilt historian chronicles the fascinating yet untold story of feedsack quilts made in America during the Great Depression and WWII.   Feedsacks weren’t meant for anything more than their name implies until hard times changed the way people looked at available resources. In the 1930s and 40s, quilters facing poverty and fabric shortages found that these cotton bags could be repurposed into something beautiful. Manufacturers capitalized on the trend by designing their bags with stylish patterns, like the iconic gingham.   In Feedsack Secrets, quilt historian Gloria Nixon shares the story of the patterned feedsack with research culled from old farm periodicals, magazines and newspapers. Along the way, she reveals how women met for sack-and-snack-club fabric swaps; there were restrictions on jacket lengths, hem depths and the sweep of a skirt; and feedsack prints and bags played a part in political contests, even accurately predicting that Truman would win the 1948 presidential election.

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  The Rivalry

  Norman Corwin

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  Academy Award-nominees Paul Giamatti and David Strathairn star in Norman Corwin's electrifying dramatization of the history-making Lincoln-Douglas debates. This fierce rivalry between rising legislator Abraham Lincoln and incumbent Senator Stephen A. Douglas tackled some of the day's most passionate and controversial issues - above all those of slavery and the American concept of freedom. As seen through the eyes of Douglas' young wife Adele, the play illuminates two of the most charismatic politicians of any era. An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring:Paul Giamatti as Stephen A. DouglasDavid Strathairn as Abraham LincolnLily Rabe as Adele DouglasJames Gleason as Rep. Committeeman and ReporterDirected by Eric Simonson. Recorded before a live audience at the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles.

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  History of Paris

  Intro Books

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  Paris abounds in the history of more than 2,000 years old legacy of wars, enriched culture and high-class literature with poetry, prose, drama and world-class architectural designs to amaze the world. The Gauls of the Parisii tribe settled here in Paris around 250 and 200 B.C. They went on to find a fishing village on an island situated in the river which is the “Ile de la Cite” of the present day. This was the main center around which the entire city of Paris was built and structured.  
  Paris was known as “Lutetia” (Lutece) in the medieval times and was occupied by Julius Caesar in 52 B.C. Paris continued to subsist as a regional center under the influence of the Romans during the early Middle Ages. In 987, the Count of Paris named as Hugh Capet became the King of France. Under his successors and clan which came to be known as the Capetians, Paris continued to flourish as the national capital city of France. The people of Paris were considered to be rebellious and high-spirited as they went on to declare themselves as an independent commune in 1355-58 under the leadership of Etienne Marcel. In 1789, the storming of the Bastille was the first in the series of actions which was accelerated by the people of Paris and this came to be known as the French Revolution. During the years 1830 and 1848, Paris played a major role in the French Revolution as it became the center of all prime activities which took place on the social, economic, political domains of the revolutionary period.  
  In 1871, the capital city of France witnessed an oncoming war known as the Franco-Prussian War under the influence of which the city was encircled and besieged unless France surrendered after four months. It was only after the withdrawal of the German troops that the French radicals began to establish the Commune of Paris. The Germans were prevented from entering Paris during the World War I. However, they did manage to occupy the city during the World War II during the period of 1940 to 1944. Paris again became the center spot for violence as it also witnessed the student’s riots of 1968.  
  The Paris we see today is the fashion hub of the world and the most romantic city in the world. Paris today maintains its charm, character, and importance in the real world. Its physical appearance has been transformed by mega-structures like Beaubourg and several other grand projects including reforming the city into architectural perfection under the presidency of Mitterrand. In addition to the Bastille Opera and the La Defense arch, the projects of Mitterrand included te renovations of the Louvre by the architect named I.M Pei. Many more projects undertaken by him to renovate the entire capital city were in the southeast region, the La Villette complex which was located in the northeastern province of the city, a great computer-era library, the Bibliotheque de France and much more.  
  The history of Paris also abounds in the excellent town planning of which it boasts in the world even today. Planning of the city of Paris and the Paris Basin region included the consideration of large areas of land around the Seine River valley all the way to the mouth of the River. As the history of Paris made its way into modernization, Paris witnessed building up of new parks, lanes, towns, industrial locations and many more displays of architectural excellence on both sides of the River Seine. By reading the journal, you can be enlightened into the glorious history of Paris accompanied with mixtures of bitter and sweet royal blend of the Monarchy as well as the Republic and the socio-economic state of the city along with political upheavals with the two world wars and much more. 

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