The Wolf of Gubbio

MsCynthiaX


Wolf of Gubbio 

The wolf of Gubbio was a wolf that, according to the Fioretti di San Francesco, terrorized the Umbrian city of Gubbio until it was tamed by St. Francis of Assisi acting on behalf of God. The story is one of many in Christian narrative that depict holy persons exerting influence over animals and nature, a motif common to hagiography.

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Sonic Drive-In Boneless Wings Commercial 2015 History Channel

Sonic Drive-In Boneless Wings Commercial 2015 History Channel 

Commercials YouTube channel

Sonic Drive-In Boneless Wings Commercial 2015 History Channel. Sonic Drive-In Boneless Wings TV Commercial, 'History Channel'. Leonardo da Vinci is served some of "Mona's Famous Wings," but is unsatisfied with his eating experience. Determined to find a better way to eat wings, Leo draws up the first design for boneless chicken wings. Just as he finishes his design, Mona returns for Leo to finish painting her portrait.

Commerical details

Making history come alive, if even in a silly way. I thought this ad was a good attention-getter. Although the attractive "Mona" was a bit more Bensonhurst than Florence.

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Zoppé Italian Family Circus in Redwood City Oct 9 to 25

Zoppé, An Italian Family Circus
 
The 7th Generation - Since 1842

October 9-25, 2015
Matinee & Evening Showtimes Circus Tent: Red Morton Park
1455 Madison Ave. Redwood City
[see above link for details; along left side]

The Circus is coming to town! Redwood City is pleased to welcome, for the eighth year, Zoppé, An Italian Family Circus from October 9th through October 25th for spectacular two-hour performances that will enthrall the entire family!
About the Show

The Zoppé Family Circus welcomes guests into the intimate 500 seat tent for a one-ring circus that honors the best history of the Old-World Italian tradition. Starring Nino the clown, the circus is propelled by a central story (as opposed to individual acts) that feature acrobatic feats, equestrian showmanship, canine capers, clowning and plenty of audience participation.

Sixth generation circus performer Giovanni Zoppé traces the beginning of performance art to the circus arts, with its humble beginnings in street clowns and jugglers. "The circus is antique," he says, "it's history." In his case, it's something more. It's family history. Giovanni's son Julien Veneto Zoppé, who was born at Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City in 2009 and made his first appearance in the family circus when he was just six days old, celebrates his sixth birthday this year. Folks who attend "Zoppé An Italian Family Circus" during its Oct. 9-25 run at Red Morton Park might see him perform alongside his father as his mini me, "Nineto". Julien will participate for a week this year, and while his specialty is being quite adorable, he also performs hat tricks, balancing acts and more. Giovanni's sister, Tosca, continues in her family's footsteps by combining death-defying equestrian feats with exquisite grace as she dances on horseback.

"The show changes every year," explains Zoppé. So no worries if you saw last year's Redwood City gig. Highlights of this year's show include several performances by guest artists which features two new acts: the world-famous Black Bear Group interprets one of China's oldest art forms with dazzling acrobatic displays and Jose and Elizabeth Ayala from Mexico bring Rolla bolla performances and gravity defying hair hanging.

The Circus is a Zoppé Family Tradition!

The Zoppé Family Circus has an amazing, unique story. The Zoppè Family Circus emerged more than 160 years ago to become one of the legendary circuses in all of Europe. And like many good legends, it begins with a boy and a girl falling in love. In 1842, a young French street performer named Napoline Zoppè wandered into a plaza in Budapest, Hungary, looking for work. There, his eyes glanced upon a beautiful equestrian ballerina named Ermenegilda, who captured the hearts and minds of the crowd with her grace and showmanship. More importantly, this talented beauty captured Napoline's heart.The Zoppé Family Circus has an amazing, unique story. The Zoppè Family Circus emerged more than 160 years ago to become one of the legendary circuses in all of Europe. And like many good legends, it begins with a boy and a girl falling in love. In 1842, a young French street performer named Napoline Zoppè wandered into a plaza in Budapest, Hungary, looking for work. There, his eyes glanced upon a beautiful equestrian ballerina named Ermenegilda, who captured the hearts and minds of the crowd with her grace and showmanship. More importantly, this talented beauty captured Napoline's heart.

owever, since Napoline was a clown, Ermenegilda's father saw him as beneath her and disapproved of their relationship. The two ran away to Venice, Italy, and founded the circus that still bears their name. Alberto Zoppè, Napoline's great-grandson, inherited the circus almost 100 years later.

Alberto's children, Giovanni, Tosca and Carla, along with their spouses, have all been active at one time or another in the family business. Giovanni revived the Zoppè Family Circus in America eight years ago, and has since been building its reputation with audiences and critics as an enchanting exhibition of traditional European circus.

The Zoppé Family Circus is a once-a-year event not to be missed, so get your tickets early!


Zoppé website

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'The Last Days of Pompeii' (1935) - movie review

The Last Days of Pompeii (1935 film)

The Last Days of Pompeii (1935) is an RKO Radio Pictures film starring Preston Foster and directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack and Merian C. Cooper, creators of the original King Kong. Although inspired by the novel of the same name by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, the film has virtually nothing to do with the book.

This film made good use of artificially generated backgrounds, not entirely unlike computer generated graphics used in films today. The opening scene in Pompeii, with this imagery and music which sounded a bit like the fight song of the University of Southern California, was adequately believable. Black and white films, even through the 50s and even 60s, leave just enough shadow that it somehow allows for a little bit to the imagination.

Preston Foster plays the role of Marcus, a poor honest blacksmith who--through a series of events--ends up as a first rate voluntary gladiator. His character is ambiguous throughout the film. He starts out as a noble-minded and hard-working craftsman; but though some tragic events and great loss, takes on the cold attitude that "money is what really counts." Still, he never quite sells out completely, and the good man underneath remains somewhat dormant. He shows a good heart in adopting the son, named Flavius, of a man he has slain in the arena.

After a profitable period as a gladiator, Marcus becomes a slave trader for a short time, then a seaman and adventurer... something like a soldier of fortune. There are a lot of small but important and prophetic items during a time that he travels with Flavius to the Roman colony of Judea that sets the stage for the rest of the film, but are too numerous to mention in this short review. Now as a man of some fame, he meets the Roman prefect of Judea, Pontious Pilate, and they become close friends after Marcus leads what seems to be an off-the-record raid on a band of Pilate's enemies in the countryside. Pontius Pilate is portrayed as a wise man of some conscience, who seems to feel some guilt for having condemned a particular man to crucifixion. That man, although never named in the movie, was Jesus. They split the loot and Marcus returns to Pompeii.

Although the movie was obscure about it, Marcus and Flavius visited an encampment where Jesus was speaking and was active. At at later point, mentioned only later in the film in reference, they observed
Jesus and others being crucified. Both seemed strongly affected by their encounter with Jesus. Marcus denied the experience outwardly, while the young Flavius never forgot it. Basically this fictional film, through the story of the characters, subtly ties together the destruction of Pompeii with the beginnings of Christianity. When the now wealthy and popular Marcus returns to Pompeii, he becomes the important "head of the arena"; I suppose something equivalent to maybe a former football star becoming a director of football operations. During this mid-point in the film, Mt. Vesuvius is depicted ominously smoldering in the background, with one character making reference to it briefly.

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Spoiler alert beyond this point!

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Pompeii ruins with Mt. Vesuvius in the background

After a major slave revolt and escape, the new prefect for the region was compelled to hunt them down. The penalty for this crime was death. Flavius, with this "Christian ideas," was secretly helping to hide these slaves and making arrangements to lead them to a safe island. When they were all captured, Marcus was pleased and began organizing some arena "games" for them as part of their consequence. After being told just before the games that his son was captured along with them, he naturally goes bananas and tries but fails to free him before the prefect discovers what has happened. Finally, Flavius and the others are put into the arena to fight while Marcus dramatically and unsuccessfully scrambles to do something.

During the chaos, Mt. Vesuvius erupts and there's a very powerful earthquake. Pompeii starts to crumble as lava pours down towards the city. Actually in the real event, it was a type of super-hot and toxic smoke vapor that did in Pompeii and its inhabitants; but perhaps this wasn't known in 1935. After initially breaking down emotionally, Marcus quickly recovers--like the Grinch who stole Christmas--and saves a jailer (and the jailer's young son) who earlier would not accept a bribe to release his own son. He then starts loading children onto boats in the harbor ahead of himself. Eventually he saves his son and finally explicitly risks his life standing up to the prefect and his soldiers who wanted to take a boat for themselves away from some children. Marcus is badly wounded by a spear, but his effort allows that last boat to sail to safety.

As this was happening, the city was finally crushed. The final scene shows Marcus dying amid the ruins as he sees the spirit of Jesus come before him... presumably to reward him for his selfless redeeming efforts. Quite an emotional ending for this old film. This film, as well as numerous other works, was inspired by the 1834 novel 'The Last Days of Pomeii', written by the English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton.

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The horrendous Lake County fire and the Mendocino Redwood Company

Right now--as Lake, Sonoma, and Napa counties burn--I believe northern Californians should review an incredibly senseless policy instituted by the forest management company responsible for 438,000 square miles of forest mostly in Mendocino County, in order to prevent future disasters. A Santa Rosa Press Democrat article from last spring was entitled 'Fire officials decry timber management procedure as unsafe' (Glenda Anderson - The Press Democrat - April 19, 2015). The article pointed out how local fire authorities strongly considered the "hack and squirt" practice of the Mendocino Redwood Company as unsafe. 

The company has slashed millions of unwanted nut oak trees and squirted chemicals into the gashes in order to kills them. Then they have just left all those dead trees standing. They have vehemently defended this policy as "safe"... insisting for years that leaving the dead trees is "good for the forest" (their words) in sessions of the local county board of supervisors. Now that this nightmare has unfolded, I believe it's time to utilize the arm of the law to compel them to fix the land that they have made so unsafe.

The primary owner of the Mendocino Redwood and Humboldt Redwood Companies is the Fisher family of San Francisco, which also owns The Gap, and whom owns an environmental tax write-off foundation called Pisces. This still-ongoing fire is one of the worst environmental disasters in the history of this area, if not the worst. This foundation appears to be more interested in United Nations initiatives, such as Agenda 21. Why can't we just take care of our own country? How about just making the land they are responsible for safe? 

They've made it very clear that cutting and hauling away the dead trees is too expensive, and they have killed a staggering number of trees since 2001. Ignoring the urging of fire officials, sacrificing safety for money, may lead to a future tragedy unless something is done. What's more important, public safety or the Fisher family's profit margins??

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Julia Mancuso - Olympic Champion

Julia Mancuso

Julia Marie Mancuso (born March 9, 1984) is an American World Cup alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist. She won the giant slalom at the 2006 Winter Olympics, and was the silver medalist in both downhill and combined in 2010, and the bronze medalist in the combined in 2014. She has also won five medals (two silver and three bronze) at the World Championships and seven races in regular World Cup competition. Her four Olympic medals are the most ever for a female American alpine skier.

During the Olympic Alpine Skiing competition in Torino in 2006, former Olympic gold medal winner Picabo Street stated what a big disappointment the U.S. women skiers have been up to the point. Right after she said that, 21 year old Julia Mancuco skied her perfect gold medal winning Giant Slalom race (see above). Even the Italian fans present cheered for that "Mancuso" girl from Lake Tahoe. If Olympic medals are the chief manner of judging success, Julia has gone on to win two more silver medals (Vancouver 2010) and a bronze medal (Sochi 2014). She is half Calabrian and half Cisalpine ancestry.

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Tonight is a full "blue moon"

Blue Moon (Frank Sinatra - with Lyrics)

Sinatra Fan

Arranged by Nelson Riddle

For those that came here because of Fallout New Vegas... welcome and I invite you to visit my channel to hear music from the best there ever was. This song came from the Capitol LP "Sinatra's Swingin' Session" which is one of my favorite LP's from Frank's awesome collection. If you like this song, I'm sure you will totally enjoy several of the other cuts from this album. Thanks and Enjoy!
 
Music: "Blue Moon" by Frank Sinatra (Google Play • iTunes • AmazonMP3) 

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