Category: Featured

Soviet Film Wednesday: Tenderness

Full of the vibrant energy of the outdoors and whimsical romance, Tenderness (Нежность, Nezhnost) was director Elyer Ishmukhamedov’s first major film, made in 1966-1967, and set in summertime in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. At its release, the film won awards at the International Week Of Asian Film Festival in Frankfort and at the Locarno Film Festival. Tenderness was …

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Remembering Gluck in Pictures

British artist Gluck was born into a wealthy, Jewish family as Hannah Gluckstein on August 13, 1895. Their father founded and ran the restaurant and hotel business J. Lyons & Co. in their London home, where Gluck was able to study the arts. Gluck passed away on January 10, 1978 in Steyning, UK. Gluck defied …

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Charley Harper’s Fresh Modernist Take on America’s Wildlife

Today is the birthday of American Modernist artist Charley Harper, born August 4, 1922 on a farm in Frenchton, West Virginia. He is best known for his unique self-described “minimal realism” artistic interpretation of American wildlife. After growing up on the farm, he went to the Art Academy of Cincinnati, where he met his wife, Edie Mckee, …

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Aleksandr Petrov, Master of Painted Glass Animation

Today is the birthday of Aleksandr Petrov, the Russian animator born July 17, 1957, in the village of Prechistoye. He is known for his unique technique of creating animations from pastel oil paintings on glass, using his fingertips to paint for added texture. Petrov’s first animation was made in 1988, Marathon, and was a tribute …

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Happy Birthday Disneyland! Here’s a Look at Some of the Events of Opening Day

Disneyland opened its gates on July 17, 1955, on a plot of land in Anaheim, California that previously consisted of orange groves. It cost $17 million to open the park, and its opening day was referred to as “Black Sunday” by Disney employees for years afterward because it had a bumpy start. Several rides were …

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Remembering “Mayor of Macdougal Street” Dave Van Ronk

Folk singer & songwriter Dave Van Ronk was born on June 30, 1936, in Brooklyn, NY.  As a young boy enamored with the local jazz and folk music of his day, he learned to play the guitar, and when he was a little older, he played banjo in a group.  He also played piano, possibly inspired …

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Soviet Film Wednesday: A Rainy Story

Inspired after seeing this at Soviet Visuals and Folklore Film Fest‘s #SovietFilmWednesday, this was the first Soviet film I shared a little over two years ago, and it is still one of my favorites. What can I say, I love rain and cats, and the illustrations are beautiful. A Rainy Story is about a cat who wanders …

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Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room

The first image that comes to mind when anyone mentions Tiki to me, is the famous Walt Disney Enchanted Tiki Room. There are three such rooms. One is located in Disneyland in Anaheim, California, and the other is located at Disneyworld in Orlando, Florida, and the third is located in Tokyo, Japan at the Tokyo …

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Joseph Eichler Brought Sunny, Stylish Housing to the Public

Joseph Eichler was born on this day, June 25, 1900, in New York City.  He lived in a Frank Lloyd Wright home in Hillsborough, California for a while, and was so inspired by Wright’s new naturalist designs, that he founded a company that eventually created modern, innovative housing for the Greater San Francisco Bay and Greater Los Angeles areas, …

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Soviet Film Wednesday: The Scarlet Flower

The Scarlet Flower (Аленький цветочек, Alenkiy tsvetochek) is a popular Russian folktale based on Sergey Aksakov’s rendition of the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. Similar to the traditional tale, it begins when a merchant father, Stepan Yemelyanovich, asks his three daughters what gifts they would like from his travels. The oldest daughter, Gordeya, wishes for …

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