ANTEBELLUM BLOG: FAMOUS

Showing posts with label FAMOUS. Show all posts

8/23/18

RICK CASTRO BY THE DAY

RICK CASTRO- PORTRAIT OF AL CASTRO- 2014 PORTRAIT OF GORE VIDAL- 2003

BIO

10/15/16

CAFE DE FLORE

Café de Flore was opened in the 1880s, during the French Third Republic.

The name is taken from a sculpture of Flora, the goddess of flowers and the season of spring in Roman mythology, located on the opposite side of the boulevard.

Authors Joris-Karl Huysmansand and Remy de Gourmont were two of the first well-known regulars.

In the late 19th century, Charles Maurras wrote his book Au signe de Flore on the café's first floor, where in 1899 the Revue d'Action Française was also founded.

Café de Flore became a popular hub of famous writers and philosophers.

Georges Bataille, Robert Desnos, Léon-Paul Fargue, Raymond Queneau were all regulars, and so was Pablo Picasso. Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai was known to be a frequent patron of Café de Flore during his years in France in the 1920s.

writer Jean Genet pissed in the latrine of Cafe de Flore.

The classic Art Deco interior of all red seating, mahogany and mirrors has changed little since World War II.

Like its main rival, Les Deux Magots, it has hosted most of the French intellectuals during the post-war years. In his essay "A Tale of Two Cafes" and his book Paris to the Moon, American writer Adam Gopnik mused over the possible explanations of why the Flore had become, by the late 1990s, much more fashionable and popular than Les Deux Magots, despite the fact that the latter café was associated with Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus, and other famous thinkers of the 1940s and 1950s.

The Prix de Flore, a literary prize inaugurated by Frédéric Beigbeder in 1994,

is awarded annually at the Café de Flore.

The Café de Flore offers a wide menu range, from teas, coffees, hot chocolates, to alcoholic drinks and juices; from snacks to full meals, including toast and croissants, omelettes, salads, soups and desserts. The nearest underground station is Saint-Germain-des-Prés, served by line 4 of Paris Métro.

The coffeehouse still remains a popular hang-out spot for celebrities

and its status attracts numerous tourists.

7/27/14

"KLAATU BARADA NIKTO"

"Klaatu barada nikto" is a phrase originating in the 1951 science fiction film

The Day the Earth Stood Still.

The humanoid alien protagonist of the film, Klaatu (Michael Rennie), commanded Helen Benson (Patricia Neal) that, were anything to happen to him she must say the phrase to the robot Gort (Lockard Martin). In response Gort relented from destroying the Earth and resurrected Klaatu from death.

Usage in 2008 remake Edmund H. North, who wrote The Day the Earth Stood Still, also created the alien language used in the film, including the phrase "Klaatu barada nikto". The official spelling for the phrase comes directly from the script (as shown in the above image) and provides insight as to its proper pronunciation.

The phrase was never translated in the film and neither Edmund North nor 20th Century Fox ever released an official translation.

Toward the end of the film, Klaatu is pursued by the American military and orders Helen Benson to memorize the phrase, saying "There's no limit to what he [Gort] can do. He could destroy the Earth... If anything should happen to me you must go to Gort, you must say these words, 'Klaatu barada nikto', please repeat that.".

Shortly after, Klaatu is shot and killed; and Gort, knowing he has died, dissolves the polymer cube that encases him, and disintegrates the two guards standing watch. Helen Benson watches this but conveys Klaatu's message. Gort then takes her inside the spaceship and retrieves Klaatu's lifeless body, which he revives.

In the 2008 remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still, this line was added at Keanu Reeves' insistence; wherefore Klaatu uses it near the beginning of the movie to shut down Gort, and again (highly distorted and barely audible) at the end when he stops the destruction of the Earth. Although the line is not in the English subtitles, it can be heard.

photos~ rickcastro.com

Because there is no official translation of the phrase, a few notable attempts have been made to determine the phrase's meaning:

Philosophy professor Aeon J. Skoble speculates the famous phrase is part of a fail-safe feature used during diplomatic missions, whereby Gort's deadly force can be deactivated in the event the robot is undesirably triggered into a defensive posture. Skoble observes that the theme has evolved into a "staple of science fiction that the machines charged with protecting us from ourselves will misuse or abuse their power." In this interpretation the phrase apparently tells Gort that Klaatu considers escalation unnecessary.

Fantastic Films magazine explored the meaning of "Klaatu barada nikto" in a 1978 article titled The Language of Klaatu. The article, written by Tauna Le Marbe, who is listed as their "Alien Linguistics Editor," attempts to translate all the alien words Klaatu used throughout the film. In the article, the literal translation was "Stop Barbarism (I have) death, bind" and the free translation was "I die, repair me, do not retaliate."

The documentary Decoding "Klaatu Barada Nikto": Science Fiction as Metaphor examined the phrase "Klaatu barada nikto" with some of the people involved with The Day the Earth Stood Still. Robert Wise, director of the film, related a story he had with Edmund North saying North told him, "Well, it's just something I kind of cooked up. I thought it sounded good."

Billy Gray, who played Bobby Benson in the film, said that "barada nikto must mean... save earth". Florence Blaustein, widow of the producer Julian Blaustein, said North had to pass a street called Baroda every day going to work and said, "I think that's how that was born." Film historian Steven Jay Rubin, recalled an interview he had with North when he asked the question, "What is the direct translation of Klaatu barada nikto, and Edmund North said to me 'There's hope for earth, if the scientists can be reached.'"