Dostana (2008 film)

Dostana () is a 2008 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film directed by Tarun Mansukhani and produced by Karan Johar and Hiroo Yash Johar. The film stars Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham and Priyanka Chopra, with Bobby Deol, Kirron Kher, Sushmita Mukherjee and Boman Irani in supporting roles. "Dostana" tells the story of two men who pretend to be gay to share an apartment with a girl; eventually, both fall in love with her.
Mansukhani conceived the film as a tale of three friends living together, drawing inspiration by his own experience. Wanting to add something different to the script, he later decided to introduce homosexuality (which he thought was unexplored by Bollywood) to shed light on the issue for the Indian audience. Manish Malhotra designed Chopra's costumes, and Aki Narula designed costumes for the rest of the cast. The soundtrack was composed by Vishal–Shekhar and Anvita Dutt Guptan; Kumaar and Vishal Dadlani wrote its lyrics.
Principal photography took place in Miami, Florida over a two-month period in the first half of 2008. "Dostana" was the first mainstream Indian film with a gay element and has been credited for exploring a topic largely ignored by Hindi cinema. The film was released on 14 November 2008 to positive reviews, with praise for its performances, direction, music, costumes and style. A box-office success, "Dostana" grossed over 871 million, becoming the eighth-highest-grossing Bollywood film of the year.
"Dostana" received nine nominations for the 54th Filmfare Awards, including Best Film, Best Actor (Bachchan), and Best Music Director. The film was influential in creating fashion trends in India, with Chopra's silver sari (worn in the song "Desi Girl") becoming popular. Abraham's yellow trunks, Chopra's golden swimsuit and the actors' looks and style received considerable attention and were popular with youngsters. "Dostana" is regarded as one of the most stylish and trend-setting of Indian films, with "Filmfare" ranking it first in a 2013 poll. A sequel, "Dostana 2", is under production.
Plot.
Sameer "Sam" Acharya, a male nurse and Kunal Chauhan, a fashion photographer are fun-loving, womanising bachelors in Miami. They first meet at a friend's place after a night out with girls and run into each other again when they are interested in renting the same apartment. The apartment belongs to Neha Melwani, who works for "Verve". She lives there with her aunt Ishita "Ishu" Melwani, who refuses to sublet the apartment to either of them since Neha wants girls as flatmates. After meeting a gay soldier, Sam persuades a reluctant Kunal to pretend that they are lovers so they can rent the apartment. They regret their decision when they meet Neha since they are attracted to her. The three become good friends, and Sam and Kunal fall in love with her.
As Sam and Kunal continue the charade, Kunal convinces Sam to apply for a domestic partnership with him, as Sam is a US citizen and Kunal is not. Unknown to them, the approval letter is sent to his conservative mother Mrs. Acharya in London. Neha's gay boss, Murli "M", resigns as "Verve"s editor and must choose his successor. To impress him (and hopefully get the job), Neha invites him for dinner at her house and asks Sam and Kunal to entertain him. A US immigration agent visits them for a surprise inspection and joins the party. Chaos ensues when Rani arrives from London to confront her son about his newfound sexuality. Sam tries to deny his relationship with Kunal, but the immigration agent affirms that they are a couple. M becomes upset because Neha had told him Sam and Kunal were both single, and leaves.
At Neha's office the following day, M announces that Abhimanyu "Abhi" Singh will be the new editor. Neha, upset at being passed over for promotion, goes home and is consoled by Mrs. Acharya; in turn, she helps Mrs. Acharya accept her son's sexuality. Kunal and Sam help Neha with a project assigned by Abhi, who is impressed with her work. They later take Neha on separate dates, both telling her that they love her. Neha, convinced that they are gay, sees the dates as friendly outings. When Abhi and Neha begin dating, Sam and Kunal sabotage the budding relationship by giving Abhi inappropriate advice; this irritates Neha, and she and Abhi quarrel. When Neha discovers Kunal and Sam's plan, she misinterprets it as jealousy of Abhi.
Sam and Kunal redirect their efforts into frightening Veer, Abhi's five-year-old son, about his future with Neha. During a basketball game, Neha discovers that Abhi plans to propose to her and asks for Kunal and Sameer's advice. They ask her to turn him down, admitting that their homosexuality is a ruse and they both love her. Veer tells Abhi about his fears, and during the game, Abhi breaks up with Neha. She tearfully evicts Kunal and Sameer from her apartment, and resigns from "Verve".
A few months later Kunal and Sam meet in court, where they are picking up residence permits. Recognising the value of their friendship with Neha and each other, they reconcile. They find Neha at a fashion show and try to apologise, but she refuses to see them. Unaware of Neha and Abhi's break-up, they ask about the wedding and Neha tells them about Veer's fears. Kunal and Sam admit that they manipulated the boy, angering Neha and Abhi. Kunal and Sam climb onto the stage and beg Neha's forgiveness. The crowd encourages them to beg on their knees, say that they love her and blow her kisses, but nothing softens her. When the crowd tells them to kiss each other, they refuse. Neha and Abhi turn to leave, and Kunal kisses a reluctant Sam. Abhi and Neha are both amazed by the lengths to which they will go to regain her trust; Neha forgives them. Kunal and Sam then get down on their knees and propose to Abhi on her behalf. Amused, Abhi agrees.
Two months later, Neha playfully asks Kunal and Sam if they felt anything for each other when they pretended to be gay; they say "no", remembering their kiss.
Cast.
The cast is listed below:
Production.
Development.
During the production of "Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna" (2006), Tarun Mansukhani conceived a film about three friends who share an apartment. After the production wrapped, Karan Johar told him that Mansukhani was ready to direct a film and should write a script; if Johar liked it, he would produce the film. He set the film in Miami, since he liked its lifestyle and culture: "People in Miami work hard and party harder and I wanted to capture that in my film." Mansukhani worked for eight months on the script; Johar liked it, and asked him about the cast. In an interview, Manuskhani described "Dostana" as a story of "how the three strangers come together, live together in an apartment and have their moments of happiness and sorrow."
The director was inspired by his own experiences: "The germ for that comes from my own childhood memories of school-time friends. I have lived in boarding school for most of my childhood and the friends that I have today are the ones whom I got in touch with during 4th/5th standard. I may not speak to them for years but they are a family whom I can call up at 4 am without hesitation." Manuskhani soon realised that Bollywood had explored friendship, live–in relationships, marriage and divorce many times, and he wanted to do something different for his debut film. He decided to use sexuality to shed light on the issue, untouched by Bollywood, for the Indian audience.
Mansukhani later added the gay storyline because he thought it was an issue that needed to be touched on. However, the director did not want the film to be serious or preachy: "I also realise that when you preach via cinema nobody wants to hear it". "The film has a message, if you get it, great. If you don't, no problem, sit back, relax and enjoy the film", he said about making it a romantic comedy. In February 2008, Johar announced the film's title "Dostana"; the producer named it after a 1980 film produced by his father, Yash Johar. Asked if his film was also a love triangle, he replied: "Well, yes and no. Though it's a love story, there's a never-before twist in the tale. All I can say on record is that we've never had a love triangle like this before." The gay storyline was not disclosed until the trailers were released. Manan Sagar was hired to edit the film, and the duo Salim–Sulaiman composed the background score.
Casting.
Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham and Priyanka Chopra were cast in the lead roles. Aishwarya Rai was originally offered the lead role, but she refused it because she did not want to end up with another man in her first film with her husband (Bachchan) after their marriage. After "Dostana" release, she regretted the decision. Saif Ali Khan refused the role of Kunal because he was uncomfortable with a husband and wife (Bachchan and Rai) playing the other two leads. In early April 2008, Shilpa Shetty was signed for a special appearance in one of the film's songs.
Bachchan said that Sam was his most difficult character to play, and he worked hard on his gestures and mannerisms: "I had to work very hard to portray a straight man acting gay. It could easily have gone over-board. I wanted to avoid making the character caricatural ["sic"]. Barring one portion ... we kept it controlled." Bachchan and Abraham, who had gained weight for their earlier films, had to lose the weight and become more muscular. Although Chopra agreed to wear a swimsuit, she refused to wear a bikini. The actress said that she did not lose any weight (as the media speculated), but worked out for a toned look in her films; she was also filming "Fashion" (2008) at the time. According to Chopra, "For "Fashion", I had to put on six kilos and later had to shed chip by chip as the character progressed in the film. My body structure in "Dostana" is more toned than in "Fashion" as it is a completely beach film. I've worked very hard on my body."
Costume design.
Manish Malhotra and Aki Narula designed "Dostana" costumes (Malhotra for Chopra and Narula for the rest of the cast). It was Malhotra's second time working with Chopra; the first was for "Andaaz" (2003). Since the film was set in Miami, he decided on a holiday look; Chopra's character, a fashion editor, would wear stylish, chic clothes. The actress had "a lot of shorts, tank tops, tees, formal jackets and bikini tops", and her wardrobe had a "beach vibe." Malhotra gave her a very young, "girlie" look. He designed clean lines with many colours, toning down Chopra's accessories: "You will notice that none of her dresses have any embroidery or designs either. All her outfits are mainly in satin, chiffon and georgette."
The designer gave Chopra shorts and singlets with loose silhouettes. Malhotra said that although the actress prefers grey, black and white, he decided to experiment with bright solid colours like "the ones in the citrus family." Chopra was initially apprehensive about the colours, but Malhotra changed her mind: "Priyanka has worn colour like never before in this film. There's lime, tangerine, cranberry, pink, yellow, purple ... the rainbow." He wanted to design the swimsuit in a metallic gold or silver; he and Chopra settled on gold because of her dusky skin, which they thought a perfect foil for the colour. The golden swimsuit was created by combining two swimsuits; because they were small, Malhotra attached the second one to make the swimsuit seen in the film.
Although Johar and Mansukhani wanted Chopra to wear a gown for the song "Desi Girl", Malhotra suggested a sari. They considered it unsuitable for a character in Miami, but Malhotra said that if they could do a song like "Desi Girl" in Miami Chopra could wear a sari and "treat it like a dress". They later agreed on the sari, Chopra's only Indian costume in the film. Malhotra designed a modern sari, giving it a Western feel with a long, silver-sequined skirt and a bikini-type blouse. The designer chose silver because only a silver sari could compete with the golden swimsuit.
Unfamiliar with Miami culture, Aki Narula spent time there before filming began to learn how Miamians dressed and gave Bachachan long cargo shorts and cotton shirts in bright colours. According to the designer, the most interesting parts of his styling were the matching scarves, which resembled extended shirt collars. Narula gave Bachachan cargo and embroidered pants and sunglasses. The embroidery, primarily dragons and palm trees, conveyed a tropical summer look.
Narula gave Abraham (who plays a fashion photographer who works and lives on the beach) cargo and boxer shorts, trunks for swimming scenes, and jerseys and football shorts in windcheater fabrics. He also gave him flip-flops, canvas shoes and T-shirts with slogans such as a "Use A Condom", which the designer considered important. Malhotra and Narula collaborated on the colour palette: "If Manish would give Priyanka yellow, then I would go for a green for John and a pink for Abhishek." Narula also designed for Deol, Irani, Kher and Mukherjee. He chose brands such as Dolce & Gabbana and Gucci for Deol (the "Verve" editor), giving him sleek suits with short jackets and skinny pants with narrow bottoms. Kirron Kher, who played Bachchan's mother, was styled as a typical Punjabi salwar-kameez-clad woman with gota embroidery. For Sushmita Mukherjee, who played Chopra's aunt, Narula chose animal prints and diamonds, pearls, silver and gold: "When we shopped for her it was like 'oh god, this is so tacky let's buy it or oh, I hate it. It'll be fabulous.
Filming.
Principal photography took place over a two-month period from mid-March to May 2008 in Miami. "Dostana" art director was Amrita Mahal. Mahal assisted Sharmishta Roy for four years, worked with her on "Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna" and became friends with Tarun Mansukhani. When Mansukhani asked her to work on his directorial debut, she jumped at the opportunity. Three large sets were created for the film in Miami: the apartment, the "Verve" office and the "Desi Girl" set. Smaller sets had simple floor plans. The types of houses in Miami were researched, and Mahal described them as "large and spacious compared to cramped apartments in New York."
A three-bedroom apartment with an outdoor pool was created, and the bedrooms were designed to suit their occupants. After toying with colours for the "Verve" office, Mahal decided to make it black and used four colours for the apartment. Her team gave the furniture a Victorian look; Mahal was pleased with the chandeliers, which she considered lavish for an office. Construction of the "Desi Girl" set, the last to be built, was stressful because of its light-generated heat. Over 100 sketches were drawn to reach the final version, which used plaster of Paris, moulding fibre and wood. A dance floor was surrounded by tables and chairs for a stage-like appearance.
Ayananka Bose was the film's cinematographer. According to Bose, its location was the big factor in his work: ""Dostana" is based in Miami and to me Miami means sunshine and beaches. That is what stayed in my mind." Bose chose a bright frame because the film was a comedy about friendship, and the bright frame conveyed vibrancy: "That is what automatically gave "Dostana" its expression." He found the office set challenging, since there was nowhere to put lights and the room had glass on one side and a wall on the other. However, Bose enjoyed filming on the apartment and office sets.
"Desi Girl" was choreographed by Farah Khan, and Vaibhavi Merchant choreographed the other songs. The item number "Shut Up & Bounce" was shot in Miami in early April 2008; "Desi Girl", with the three lead actors, was filmed in September. Filming ended with a music video, a remix of "Ma Da Laadla", which appears in the closing credits. The video was shot in mid-October 2008 at Filmistan Studio in Mumbai, where the lead actors filmed their scenes separately.
Soundtrack.
"Dostana" soundtrack was composed by the duo Vishal–Shekhar. Anvita Dutt Guptan wrote the lyrics for three songs, and Kumaar wrote two songs. In addition to co-composing the soundtrack and providing vocals on four songs, Vishal Dadlani wrote the lyrics for one. The album, which contains six original songs with vocals by Vishal Dadlani, Shankar Mahadevan, Sunidhi Chauhan, Master Saleem, Shreya Ghoshal, Amanat Ali and Shaan, was released on 30 September 2008 by Sony Music.
The soundtrack received positive reviews from music critics. Joginder Tuteja of Bollywood Hungama rated it four out of five, calling it an "excellent album": "There is not one single number which doesn't work. In fact if three soft numbers 'Kuch Kum', 'Khabar Nahi' and 'Jaane Kyun' are the pick of the lot, then 'Desi Girl' is a definite must for the dance floors. 'Maa Da Laadla' and 'Shut up & Bounce' have their own place under the sun." Planet Bollywood rated the album eight out of ten and called it Vishal–Shekhar's best album of the year: "Whether it be through the touching vocal, musical, and lyrical poetry of Kuch Kum, Vishal's riveting vocal performance in Jaane Kyun, the soothing depths of Khabar Nahin, or the uplifting, feel-good breeze of Desi Girl, "Dostana" has music for everyone to savor."
"Hindustan Times" also gave it a positive review, calling it "a surefire chartbuster." According to CNN-News18, "Except for 'Shut Up and Bounce', each song in "Dostana" is wrapped in fun and peppiness on the one hand and melody and rhythm on the other." According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with around units sold, this film's soundtrack album was the year's fourth highest-selling.
Release and box office.
Stills from "Dostana" released to the media in late July 2008 were well-received, and the film's first trailer was released in mid-August. The trailer received considerable attention because of the film's gay storyline (a first in mainstream Indian film), which was kept secret during production. Its trailers, music and style attracted advance publicity, aiding the film's marketing.
The producers promoted "Dostana" in collaboration with "Verve", which dedicated its November issue to the film. The issue, with Chopra on its cover, contained 40 pages of interviews with the actress, Mansukhani and Johar, fashion shoots on the sets, clothing by its designers and fashion and beauty articles based on the film. Although Maybelline products were not used for Chopra's make-up, the company promoted Chopra's appearance with behind-the-scenes footage in their television and print advertisements and invited its customers to mirror the actress. The producers collaborated with Facebook, which featured advertisements with each of the three lead actors urging users to form their own group. Pantaloons partnered with the film to showcase its apparel in 43 outlets across India.
Made on a production and marketing budget 450-million budget, "Dostana" was released on 14 November 2008. The film opened well, with over 80-percent occupancy in multiplexes and over 60-percent occupancy in single-screen cinemas. According to Box Office India, the film earned about 53 million on its opening day and over 173 million in its first weekend at the domestic box office. At the end of its first week, it had earned 267 million. In its second week, "Dostana" continued to do well and was the best-performing film despite the release of "Yuvvraaj". The film was considered a hit in its second week. It also performed well in the overseas market, especially in the United Kingdom and the United States. "Dostana" grossed ₹261 million on the overseas market and over ₹610 million at the domestic box office for a worldwide gross of over ₹871 million. The film, a commercial success, was the eighth-highest-grossing Bollywood film of the year.
Distributed by Yash Raj Films, it was released on DVD on 30 December 2009 in all regions in a two-disc pack. The DVDs include bonus content on the making of the film, deleted scenes, the music video for "Maa Da Ladla", bloopers, "Date with Dostana" (an interview segment presented by Karan Johar), a "Do the Dostana" challenge, a theatrical trailer and advertisements. A VCD version was released at the same time, and a single-disc DVD was also released. The film's Blu-ray version was released on 14 December 2009.
Critical reception.
"Dostana" received positive reviews from critics, who praised its performances, the chemistry between its three leads and its music, costumes and style. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 87% based on 15 reviews, with an average rating of 6.81 out of 10. A review in "The Guardian" praised Taran Mansukhani's direction and writing, calling it a "a straight victory for gay comedy": "India's convoluted attitude to gayness finally has its cinematic manifestation in Dostana, one of the gayest films ever made in any country but in which almost no one is actually gay. It's also a terrific movie – the best and funniest Bollywood film I've seen in a very long time." Describing the film as a "decent-hearted comedy", Rachel Saltz of "The New York Times" wrote: ""Dostana" deserves credit. It irreverently normalizes a topic that has been virtually absent from screens in India, and does so using contemporary Bollywood's best not-so-secret weapon: star power." David Chute of "LA Weekly" called it "a pure star vehicle, gliding along on charm and timing – exactly the sort of comfort cinema Hollywood now seems incapable of making."
Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the film a four-out-of-five rating and called it a madcap comedy which dared to "push the envelope in its own way": ""Dostana" is a winner all the way. In terms of content, it might just prove to be a trendsetter." "The Times of India" also rated it four out of five: "It introduces the most outrageous scenes in popular Hindi cinema and manages to get away with it because it's all done with an infectious zest and effervescence that keeps the ribs tickling." Pratim D. Gupta of "The Telegraph" rated the film 7.2 out of 10, writing that "Dostana" "can make you laugh out loud and also strike an emotional chord." Raam Tarat of Future Movies rated the film 3.5 out of 5, praising its performances ("The lead actors share a great chemistry, are easy on the eye and oh so charming that they, along with beautiful Miami make for a visual treat") and calling it "a great, fun entertainer with lots of charm and great music." For "Hindustan Times", film critic Khalid Mohamed gave "Dostana" a three-out-of-five rating: "Good taste, pop colour Miami locations, high-end costumes, make-up styling and the A-grade Dharma Productions values add up to a zingy entertainer".
Rajeev Masand also gave the film a positive review, calling it "a barrel of non-stop laughs": "It puts the fun back into the movies. You laugh harder than you have in a long time. It's a film with a one-point agenda – to entertain you while you're in your seat. It achieves that, no two ways about it." Sudhish Kamath of "The Hindu" noted that "Dostana" "largely reflects a society in transition and begins to address the issues of acceptance within the Indian framework of marriage": ""Dostana" is great mass entertainment manipulating the inherent homophobia of a country on the threshold of change, but what's significant is that it will bring parents and children together to share laughs over alternative sexuality and related issues that will no longer remain in the closet."
Raja Sen of Rediff.com gave the film a mixed review. Although he found it "genuinely entertaining", he was disappointed with "Dostana" treatment of homosexuality. According to Sen, it would set "an already-fragile mindset of Indians" a decade back in its attitudes: "We in India haven't yet matured to sensitive, normalised portrayals of homosexuality, and this film continues to paint them as freaks of nature."
Impact.
Homosexuality.
"Dostana" was the first mainstream Indian film to explore homosexuality. The film has been credited with shedding light on a topic sensitive with a majority of Indian population, who were unaware of sexual orientations. A "Screen" article called it a "giant leap for the gay people in Indian films", and the film sparked debate. According to a Bollywood Hungama report, "The fact that it is a mainstream film with two mainstream heroes taking the plunge to the extent of even showing a prolonged smooch and courtship should have the pink brigade cheering."
Indian journalist and LGBT-rights activist Ashok Row Kavi praised "Dostana": "I am glad, for the first time in Indian popular cinema, gays were not turned into caricatures and made fun of. What the film has done is to bring to notice gays as a concept in [the] Indian family." Its depiction of a homosexual character's acceptance by his mother was seen as encouraging acceptance of gay people. According to a "Daily News and Analysis" article, "gay talk" went mainstream in Bollywood with the film: "Films like "Dostana" are playful and funny [and] bring sexuality as a dinner-table conversation piece. Bollywood is open to diversity in terms of subjects, including sexuality, and the audiences are ready to accept diversified subjects".
About the gay-rights movement, Namita Bhandare of "Mint" wrote that "Dostana" "will also shatter more glass ceilings, make homosexuality a little less taboo and bring conversation about gays and sexual orientation out in the open": "Here's a film that is made within the parameters and, therefore, limitations of mainstream cinema. The two lead actors aren't gay; they only pretend to be gay. But despite these limitations, the film brings homosexuality out of the fringe and into the drawing room". Karan Johar said that after "Dostana" release, he received thousands of emails from "kids, youngsters [and] teenagers" thanking him for making the film because their parents are now aware of homosexuality. In a 2016 interview, Johar said: "There was once a point when we weren't even aware. People criticised me for stereotyping homosexuality in "Dostana". It's ridiculous how unaware people were before. The film, at least, brought the conversation [about] homosexuality into the drawing room of every urban home."
Fashion.
Before "Dostana" release, its style and fashions received considerable attention. Chopra's golden swimsuit and Abraham's yellow trunks were noticed by the public, the media and fashion critics. The film influenced fashion trends in India, with its stars' costumes becoming popular (particularly Chopra's silver sari in "Desi Girl"). Her sari's popularity encouraged designer Manish Malhotra to carry varieties of it in his store. The actor' looks and style were popular with youngsters and college students. Bachchan's floral shirts also were popular, and Chopra's look was mirrored by the public. "Dostana" ranks among the most stylish Indian films of all time, and was voted Most Stylish Film by "Filmfare" in 2013. Bollywood Hungama also ranked it the most stylish Bollywood film of all time.
Sequel.
In June 2019, Johar announced a sequel, "Dostana 2", to be directed by Collin D'Cunha and produced by Dharma Productions. Kartik Aaryan, Janhvi Kapoor, and newcomer Lakshya will star as the leads. The film entered production in November 2019, but does not have a release date.


Bailey Ruin

Bailey Ruin is an archaeological site located in Navajo County, Arizona, United States. The site, also known as "Stott Ranch Ruin" and "Pope Ranch Site," was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 17, 2006 for its historical and archaeological significance.
Bailey Ruin, a well-preserved Ancient Puebloan site, was occupied from about AD 1275 to 1325, in the late Pueblo III Era to early Pueblo IV Era.
Geography.
The Bailey Ruins are located mainly in a ponderosa forest in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests and partly on a private ranch, about from the Mogollon Rim at in elevation.
Pueblo site.
The site was a multi-storied complex of 200 to 250 rooms that appeared to grow gradually in size from AD 1275 to 1325. Around the turn of the 14th century, the plaza was enclosed by the addition of clusters of rooms. The site had several water sources: a cienega about from the pueblo and nearby springs. Currently there are shallow historic wells.
Archaeology.
Archaeological interest in the site began before the turn of the 20th century.


Sapore di te

Sapore di te is a 2014 Italian film directed by Carlo Vanzina and written by Carlo and Enrico Vanzina. It depicts the lives of several groups of characters interacting at the beach of Forte dei Marmi during the mid-1980s. The film is set thirty years after the Vanzinas' 1982 film "Sapore di mare", also set at Forte dei Marmi, but is not a sequel to that film.


Kurjenrahka National Park

Kurjenrahka National Park (, ) is a national park in Southwest Finland. It was established in 1998 and covers . The area consists mainly of bog but also includes primeval forests, some of which have been unmanaged for over 150 years. The Eurasian lynx is a permanent resident of Kurjenrahka, but brown bears and gray wolves have also been observed and are known to reside in areas within or close to the park. Marked trails in the general area extend to over 300 km.
In Middle Ages the forests were jointly owned by the local parish. In early 1800s two manors bought them, but they had financially hard times and had to sell them to the state before end of the 19th century. Before selling, they logged clear all areas with easy access, but some islands in middle of mires remained unlogged.


Gomukh

Gomukh, also known as "Gaumukh" or "Gomukhi" (Hindi: गौमुख or गौमुखी ; Assamese and Bengali: গোমুখ or গোমুখী), is the terminus or pout of the Gangotri Glacier and the source of the Bhagirathi River, one of the primary headstreams of the Ganga River. The word "Gomukh/Gaumukh" ("go/gau"=cow, "mukh"= mouth) literally means "Mouth of a Cow."
The place is situated at a height of 13,200 ft (4,023 m) in Uttarkashi district in the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is one of the largest in the Himalayas with an estimated volume of over 27 cubic kilometers.
It is a holy Hindu pilgrimage site, along with Gangotri, as well as trekking destination.
In 1972,Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam the then Prime Minister of Mauritius, brought the holy Ganga water from Gomukh and mixed it with the water of Grand Bassin in Mauritius and renamed it as Ganga Talao for the Mauritian Hindus.
In 2013, due to cloudburst in Uttarakhand, huge cracks had emerged on the glacier. On 26 July 2016, following heavy rains in Uttarakhand, it was reported that the front end of Gomukh was no more, as a large chunk of the glacier had collapsed and was washed away.
In ancient times.
Gomukh is mentioned in the Puranas. It is said there that, searching a lost sheep, a boy reached near a glacier in Gangotri, the snout of which exactly looked like the mouth of a Cow, and thus it got its name 'Gomukh' . From then many holy saints, sages, sadhus, hermits, adventure seekers, as well as religious people and adventure seekers also went there to worship the place. It is also rumored that, if anyone visits Gomukh / Gawmukh with evil intentions or polluted body or mind, his ancestors fall in Burning Hell and that person experiences grave horrors and deep melancholy surrounds him.
Geography.
Gomukh is 18 km from Gangotri in the foothills of Bhagirathi at a height of 4255m. It is the snout of the Gangotri Glacier. The Bhagirathi river here is pretty speedy.
Around the snout, nature presents a wild topography. There are boulders scattered here and there with some pieces of broken snow, along with the hard clayey snow of the glacier.
The Gomukh snout is rapidly moving backwards. According to the modern research the snout has moved 1 km in just 70 years.
Trek route.
The first and foremost thing for Gomukh trek is that you must have permission from (D.F.O.) District forest officer, Uttarkashi. Only 150 permits are issued per day, permission can be taken via fax also. The trail to Gomukh begins from Gangotri, about from Gomukh. It was heavily damaged by rockslides by the 2013 North Indian Floods as was road access to Gangotri.
9 km ahead of Gangotri is Chirbasa, the abode of Chir trees. After 3 km of Chirbasa comes the dangerous Gila Pahar, the place well known for its landslides even prior to the 2013 destruction of much of the trail here; near-sheer cliffs down to the river must now be traversed. Here the Bharals, a type of mountain antelope are sometimes seen. The Bharals are found above the altitude of 10,000 ft. Only 4 km from here is Bhujbasa, the only night halting place on the way with buildings. One can stay at the GMVN Bungalow, or at the Lalbaba's Ashram or at Ram Baba's ashram. After trekking 41/2km from Bhujbasa, one reaches Gomukh, the snout of the Gangotri Glacier.A little before Gomukh, the majestic view of Mt. Shivling welcomes the trekkers to the place.
On the trail no horses are allowed, so one must take preparations to walk on foot.
The trek to Tapovan and Nandanvan starts from here.
The route after 'Bhojbasa' can be quite difficult, more so since the 2013 floods. One has to cross a boulder zone to reach the Gomukh snout.
The trek beyond Gomukh is quite difficult. Crossing the glacier & going towards Tapovan has become quite dangerous nowadays (because of the landslides). There is no track and one must have a guide and should be prepared to face any type of accident which can even be a life-threatening one. The last climb to reach Tapovan is very stiff, within 2 km a climb of around 1500 foot and is quite a challenging experience.
You may apply for an online permit, even with an online permit you would still need to get it verified at the district magistrate uttrakasi office.


Manglares de Tumbes National Sanctuary

Manglares de Tumbes National Sanctuary is a protected natural area located in the region of Tumbes, Peru. Established in 1988, it protects the largest area of mangrove forest in Peru.
Geography.
This protected area is located in Zarumilla Province, Tumbes; close to the border with Ecuador. With an area of , it harbors the largest mangrove forest in Peru.
Ecology.
Flora.
Five species of mangrove dominate the area: black mangrove ("Avicennia germinans"), white mangrove ("Laguncularia racemosa"), button mangrove ("Conocarpus erectus") and two species of red mangrove ("Rhizophora mangle" and "Rhizophora harrisonii"). Seasonally dry forest and scrubland can also be found in some parts of the sanctuary; tree species representative of this ecosystem being: "Pithecellobium excelsum", "Cordia lutea", "Mimosa acantholoba", "Parkinsonia praecox, Ceiba trischistandra", "Loxopterygium huasango", "Bursera graveolens", "Cochlospermum" sp., "Prosopis pallida", "Capparis scabrida"; and some seasonal herbaceous species also found here are: "Aristida adscencionis", "Bouteloua aristidoides", "Stylosanthes" sp., "Crotalaria" sp.,"Tephrosia cinerea", "Cyperus" sp., "Scirpus" sp., "Distichlis spicata", "Antephora hermaphrodita", "Paspalum racemosum", "Ipomoea" sp., "Bidens pilosa," among others.
Fauna.
The sanctuary protects 148 species of birds, being some of them the yellow-crowned night heron, the rufous-necked wood rail, the American yellow warbler and the American white ibis.
The sanctuary also protects 105 fish species, plus some other 40 migrant species.
Mammals found in the area include the crab-eating raccoon, the silky anteater and the neotropical otter.
Also, 33 snail species, 34 crustacean species, 24 bivalve species and 9 reptile species are found in the sanctuary.
Recreation.
It is possible to navigate, by kayak or canoe, the waterways inside the mangrove forest in the zone accessible to tourists (137,5 hectares = 4,61% of the sanctuary). In this area activities like walking on beaches, birdwatching and observation of the use of the mangrove ecosystem by the locals are also allowed.
Scientific research has been a constant activity since the creation of the sanctuary.
Environmental issues.
The clearance of mangrove forests and nearby seasonally dry forests to open land for shrimp farming and agriculture has an enormous impact on local ecosystems. Shrimp farms also capture and grow larva of local shrimp species from the mangrove forests with help of local inhabitants. These farms and agricultural lands also pollute the area with industrial waste and agricultural runoff.
Illegal extraction of edible crustaceans and bivalves; conflicts over land use rights with nearby villages and litter and wastewater discharge from nearby towns into the mangrove forest canals are also environmental issues affecting the sanctuary.
Introduced plant species like "Tephrosia purpurea, Dactyloctenium aegyptium, Eragrostis cilianensis" and "Brachiaria mutica" are found growing inside this protected area.
The American crocodile is no longer present in the area, rendering this species as one of the most threatened in the country.


Tianmu Lake

Tianmu Lake () is a lake which is south of Liyang City in Jiangsu Province, China. It was listed as a provincial tourist resort in 1993 and is currently graded an AAAA nature reserve after being graded as such in 2001. The lake covers an area of , and its depth ranges from an average of to a maximum of . The lake enjoys a legal conservation status, and since the municipal government took action in 1995 to overhaul the sewage disposal systems around the lake, the water quality has been in a good condition, achieving the second highest rating for water quality. As such, the lake is home to many freshwater fish such as cod.
Surrounding area.
In the surrounding area of the lake (known as the Tianmu Lake Scenic Area), wild animals such as mallard, pheasant and wild boar live. Some animals are also kept in captivity and fed by humans, such as a camel. The largest production of this area is tea. The production of tea each year here reaches .
Around the lake, there are also two other China AAAA-level tourist resort called "South Hill Bamboo Sea" (also called NanShan Zhu Hai) and "Yushui Hot Spring".
South Hill Bamboo Sea.
South Hill Bamboo Sea () or in pinyin Nanshan Zhuhai), south of Tianmu Lake, is an area of 35 thousand acres of millions of bamboo plants, flowing streams and a sculpture. The Bamboo Culture Park provides information about the cultural meaning of bamboo. It also offers mountain climbing.


A593 road

The A593 is a road in Cumbria, England, running north east from the A595 road at Broughton-in-Furness through Torver, Coniston and Skelwith Bridge to Ambleside at the north end of Windermere. It is long and has been described as "scenic".


Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge

Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge (Buenos Aires NWR) provides of habitat for threatened and endangered plants and animals. The refuge was established in 1985.
Natural history.
The semidesert grassland supports the reintroduction of masked bobwhite quail and pronghorns. Prescribed and natural fires play a major role in maintaining and restoring the sea of grass that once filled the Altar Valley. Riparian (wetland) areas along Arivaca Cienega and Arivaca Creek attract an abundance of birds. Brown Canyon, to the west of the Arivaca Creek area, is nestled in the Baboquivari Mountains, where a sycamore-lined stream meanders through oak woodland.
Fauna.
The Refuge is home to 58 mammal species. Among the larger species are mule deer, white-tailed deer, pronghorn, javelina and puma. There are also more than 325 different bird species and 53 species of reptiles and amphibians.
There is also a small jaguar population in the area, which is contiguous, with Mexico. Between 2004 and 2007 an old male jaguar was followed by researchers in the area. The animal was called 'Macho B' by the researchers and has been previously photographed in 1996 in the area. During the study its home range compassed the mountains to east and west of the Altar Valley, which is situated in the Refuge. In addition at least one other jaguar was recorded in the area during that study.
The male jaguar, 'Macho B', is dead. The jaguar was euthanized after being captured on a snare trap. The trauma from the capture was too much for the 16-year-old feline.
Access.
Most of the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge is open for visiting and research. Guided access is also available through Friends of Buenos Aires NWR programs.
Some of the refuge (about 3% of its area) was closed in 2006 to public access due to human safety concerns. At that time there was a marked increase in violence along the border due to human and drug trafficking. The closed area extends north from the international border roughly away. As of 2010, this portion remains closed; however, the Fish and Wildlife Service reports a marked decline in violence.
Environmental degradation is the most visible consequence of border crossings through the refuge. A few years ago, there were 45 abandoned cars on the Buenos Aires refuge near Sasabe, Arizona and enough trash that a volunteer couple filled 723 large bags with of garbage over two months in 2002.


The Summit (Birmingham, Alabama)

The Summit, which opened in October 1997, is a 1 million square foot (93,000 m²) upscale lifestyle center located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 280 and Interstate 459 in Birmingham, Alabama, United States.
Development.
Bayer Properties, the owner and developer of the center, planned its construction over multiple phases. The first phase was a collection of 30 retailers and restaurants including Parisian (now Belk) and Barnes & Noble that originally opened with the center in 1997. The second phase included an additional 20 retailers including Gap in 1999. The third phase was opened in 2001 with the anchor of Saks Fifth Avenue. The fourth phase opened in 2005 and includes some 20 to 30 additional retailers and restaurants, bringing the center to nearly 1 million square feet (93,000 m²). A fifth expansion will include a luxury hotel and 15 story condo tower, in addition to extra retail space.
In 2000, the center averaged US$500 in retail sales per square foot (US$5380 per sq m), compared to a national average of US$358 (US$3852 per sq m) that same year. In promotional literature that the developer provides to prospective retail tenants, Bayer claims that customers currently spend $117 per visit, compared to a national average of $87.
Bayer Properties has trademarked the brand "The Summit" and is in process of building other centers featuring the Summit name brand in other markets. The first of these opened in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2001, while another center in Reno, Nevada, opened in 2007. Additional Summit lifestyle centers are being developed in Bethlehem Township, Pennsylvania, Lexington, Kentucky, and suburban Atlanta, Georgia.
Lawsuit against Belk.
When Belk took over the Parisian chain from Saks and announced plans to convert Parisian stores to the Belk nameplate, Bayer filed a lawsuit against Belk, contending that the Belk brand was not as upscale as Parisian, and that the conversion violated a covenant requiring Belk to occupy the space with a "first-class" retail store. The suit was settled in 2007. Terms of the settlement were not made public, but Belk did announce plans to make the store a "flagship" store — its first such location outside North Carolina, and third overall in the chain — with upgraded brand names and lines over and above their standard offerings. The name change took place in September 2007.


Altamiro de Moura Pacheco State Park

The Altamiro de Moura Pacheco State Park () is a state park in the state of Goiás, Brazil.
It protects an area of dry forest beside a major reservoir that supplies water to the state capital.
Location.
The Altamiro de Moura Pacheco State Park is divided between the municipalities of Goianápolis, Nerópolis and Goiânia.
It has an area of .
The park is named for Altamiro de Moura Pacheco, physician, pharmacist, writer, cattle rancher and Goian politician, former owner of the area.
It is also known as the Goiânia Ecological Park ().
Highway BR-153 runs through the park, and provides the main land access route.
Vegetation is mainly seasonal semi-deciduous forest and gallery forest.
485 species of plant have been recorded, in 315 genera and 97 families.
Dry forest species such as "Aspidosperma" and "Tabebuia" species predominate.
Most of the vegetation is dry forest and canopy forest, cerrado restricted sense, cerradão and capoeira, as well as some degraded areas that were converted to pasture.
Over 290 species of animals have been identified including the endangered giant anteater ("Myrmecophaga tridactyla"), maned wolf ("Chrysocyon brachyurus") and cougar ("Puma concolor").
The park may be used for trekking, nature watching, biking and mountain biking.
Guided tours may be arranged.
It has beautiful landscapes, with waterfalls, but there is no waterfall or lake where bathing is allowed.
Trails include the Lago Trail, suitable for cycling, the Peba Trail for a short walk and the Coati Trail. All of these are easy.
The longer Eucalyptus Trail is more difficult.
The park has a visitor center with restrooms and drinking water, but there is no restaurant.
As of 2016 the park was open from 8am to 4pm, Wednesday to Sunday, with free admission.
History.
The site of a pre-colonial village has been found that was probably occupied from 500 to 1500 AD by Indians of the southern Kayapó community, or at least of the Aratu tradition.
They were farmers and ceramicists. Relics include a funeral urn and a ritual mask made of vegetable fibers.
The site was vacated after the arrival of the Portuguese.
Later the area was occupied by the Fazenda Dois Irmãos, used for agriculture and cattle raising.
The state park was created by law 11.471 of 3 July 1991 and defined by law 11.878 of 30 December 1992.
At first it was called the Ulysses Guimaraes Ecology, Environment and Forest Preservation Park, then the Goiânia Ecological Park.
In May 1994 part of the park was removed to make way for the Ribeirão João Leite Reservoir, planned to supply water to the Metropolitan Region of Goiânia, the state capital.
The park was reduced in size to .
Law 13,846 of 1 June 2001 renamed it the Altamiro de Moura Pacheco Ecological and Environmental Protection State Park.
It is administered by the state Department of the Environment (Semarh).
The purpose is to protect the largest remnant of dry forest in the central region of the state, and to protect the João Leite Reservoir, which provides water for over one million people.
In 2010 a fire burned much of the vegetation and the park was closed.
It reopened in January 2012.
At the opening ceremony Governor Marconi Perillo announced that the park and other conservation units in the state would be jointly managed with the private sector, in line with global trends.
An open, democratic and transparent bidding process would be used to select the private manager of the park.
State law 18.462 of 9 May 2014 created the João Leite State Park with an area of from part of the area taken for the reservoir.
The two parks now total .


North Pend Oreille Scenic Byway


Saeva dupka

Saeva dupka () is a cave in northern Bulgaria near the village of Brestnitsa, Lovech Province (). The cave has naturally formed 400 meters of corridors and halls. The cave has hosted many choral music performances, thanks to the excellent acoustic conditions. Saeva dupka was named after two brothers, Seyu and Sae, who used it as a hiding place during the Ottoman occupation of Bulgaria. Recent excavations have shown the cave was inhabited since Roman times. Saeva dupka is one of the 100 Tourist Sites of Bulgaria.


Bank of Communications Building

The Bank of Communications Building is located at No. 14 on the Bund, Shanghai. The building was designed in a modern Art-Deco style, combined with Chinese elements, by Hungarian architect C. H. Gonda. It is an eight-story concrete-frame structure, framed by black marble around the doors. The building is now occupied by the offices of the Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions.
History.
The first European buildings on the site were constructed in 1880, after several German banks joined with a local Chinese businessman to form the Deutsch-Asiatische Bank. The bank then constructed four smaller buildings on the current site. During World War I, both China and Japan declared war on Germany, and the bank lost its holdings in China. In 1919 the China Bank of Communications took over the holdings of the Deutsch-Asiatische Bank, including its properties in Shanghai.
The Bank of Communications had been founded in 1908. It opened a branch in Shanghai the same year, and grew rapidly throughout the 1920s and 1930s. It made plans to construct a new headquarters on the current site, but these plans were disrupted in 1937 after the Japanese occupied Shanghai during the Second Sino-Japanese War. After the Japanese surrendered in 1945 the bank returned, and completed its construction of the current building in 1948. It was the last building to be completed on the Bund before the Communists took control of Shanghai in 1949.


Little Sosva Nature Reserve

Little Sosva Nature Reserve () (also Malaya Sosva) is a Russian 'zapovednik' (strict ecological reserve) covering the basin of the Malaya Sosva River, on the east side of the Northern Ural Mountains in the territory of the West Siberian Plain. the Malaya Sosva is a right tributary of the North Sosva River, which flows into the Ob River on its way north to the Kara Sea. Are area of forested wetlands, the reserve protects flat lowlands with a broken relief, a significant incision of river valleys, and a developed river system. The reserve also protect cultural and architectural sites, including some related to the indigenous Khanty people. The southern two-thirds of the reserve is in the Sovetsky district in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug; the northern sector is in the Beryozovsky District. The reserve was created in 1976, and covers an area of .
Topography.
The Little Sosva Reserve terrain is of one extensive wetlands around a complex system of meandering rivers. The land is flat, cut with valleys and ridges by the rivers. The territory is about 85 km from north to south, and 23 km from west to east, with the Malaya Sosva river running up the middle. About 400 km of the middle and upper reaches of the Malaya Sosva are within the borders (the river is a total of 700 km long). In its upper reaches, the river is about 20 meters wide, and about 50 meters wide in the lower areas. The meandering riverbed is boulder-pebble with many sandbars and cliffs at the turns, and rapids in places where the course narrows. The highest ground in the territory is 154 meters above sea level. About 15% of the reserve is covered by marshes. Along the western and southern borders is a 5-8 km protected buffer zone.
Climate and ecoregion.
Little Sosva is located in the "West Siberian taiga" ecoregion, a region that covers the West Siberian Plain, from the Urals to the Central Siberian Plateau. It is a region of extensive conifer boreal forests, and also extensive wetlands, including bogs and mires.
The climate of Little Sosva is "Humid continental climate, cool summer" (Köppen climate classification Subartic climate(Dfc)). This climate is characterized by mild summers (only 1-3 months above ) and cold, snowy winters (coldest month below ). In the Little Sosva Reserve, the average precipitation is 500 mm, the average snow cover is 184 days, and the average frost-free period 90 days from late spring to early autumn.
Flora and fauna.
Malaya Sosva is central: its floral communities include species from Europe to the west, the classic taiga (forest, meadow, and marshes) of the West Siberian Plain, some species of the southern steppe, and som of the northern taiga / tundra. The most common tree in the reserve is the Scots pine, a relatively undemanding tree that is resistant to ground fire. 83% of the territory is forest, most of which is pine forest on sandy soil. Siberian spruce (Picea obovata) is found above the lowest valleys, and cedars are found mixed in small numbers. Throughout the reserve, waterlogged downed pine trees support communities of sphagnum moss, bog vegetation, small shrubs (rosemary, blueberries, cranberries) and sedge and grasses). Scientists on the reserve have recorded over 400 species of vascular plants, and more are being discovered every year.
Scientists on the reserve have recorded 38 species of mammals, 209 of birds, 1 species of reptile (the lizard), 2 species of amphibians (The Siberian salamander and Rana frog), 16 species of fish (common species are pike, carp, perch) and many invertebrates. They are mostly typical of the middle taiga of the Western Siberian Plain: Siberian Chipmunk, brown bear, sable, ermine, elk, and grouse
Ecoeducation and access.
As a strict nature reserve, the Little Sosva Reserve is mostly closed to the general public, although scientists and those with 'environmental education' purposes can make arrangements with park management for visits. There are a number of 'ecotourist' routes in the reserve, however, that are open to the public, but require permits to be obtained in advance. About 3,000 tourists visit the reserve each year. The main office is in the city of Sovetsky.


Chitta Gate

The Chitta Gate (; "White Gate") is a gateway located in the Walled City of Lahore, Pakistan, dating from 1650. The gate was once the Lahore's original "Delhi Gate," and the city's main entry-point.
Etymology.
The gate derived its current name from the white lime plaster which once covered its façade.
Location.
The gate is on the "Shahi Guzargah" ("Royal Passage") route that connects the Lahore Fort to the Delhi Gate. The gate opens onto the Wazir Khan Chowk and is situated between the elaborately decorated Wazir Khan Mosque, and the Shahi Hammam. The gateway is adjacent to the Well of Dina Nath, and the shrine of "Syed Sūf".
History.
The gateway was built in 1650, during the reign of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. The gate served as Lahore's original Delhi Gate, but was replaced by the modern Delhi Gate, about 100 metres east of the current gateway. The gate served as the main entry gate to Lahore during the Mughal era.


Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

Dawn of the Dead is a 2004 American action horror film directed by Zack Snyder and written by James Gunn. A remake of George A. Romero's 1978 horror film "Dawn of the Dead", it stars an ensemble cast that includes Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Jake Weber, Mekhi Phifer, Ty Burrell, Michael Kelly, Kevin Zegers, and Lindy Booth; with the original's Scott Reiniger, Tom Savini, and Ken Foree appearing in cameos. It is Snyder's first feature film, having previously worked as a television commercial director. Set in Milwaukee, "Dawn of the Dead" follows a group of lone survivors who take refuge in an upscale suburban shopping mall during a zombie apocalypse.
Producers Eric Newman and Marc Abraham developed the film rather as a "re-envisioning" of the original "Dawn of the Dead", aiming to reinvigorate the zombie genre for modern audiences. Newman and Abraham were handed the rights to the original courtesy of its producer and rights holder Richard P. Rubinstein; and then Gunn was brought in to write the script, borrowing the original's basic premise and pairing it with a different storyline that is more action-oriented. Snyder came on board to direct with a goal of keeping every aspect of the production as grounded in reality as possible. Filming took place from June 9 to September 6 of 2003, on location in Toronto, Canada where a now-defunct shopping mall that was slated for demolition was used. The special makeup effects for the film were created by David LeRoy Anderson.
Released on March 19, 2004, the film topped at the box office on its United States opening weekend, and went on to gross $102.3 million worldwide on a $26 million budget. Upon release it received favorable reviews from film critics, who considered it an improvement in terms of acting, production values and scares over its predecessor; though some found it lacking in character development, excessively gory, and indifferent to the sociopolitical subtext of the original. Retrospective reviews have cited "Dawn of the Dead" as Snyder's finest work, and it was ranked as one of the best films in the horror and zombie genres.
Plot.
After finishing a long shift as a nurse at the Milwaukee County Hospital, Ana returns to her suburban neighborhood and her husband Louis. Caught up in a date night, they miss an emergency news bulletin. The next morning, a girl from the neighborhood enters and kills Louis, who immediately reanimates as a zombie and attacks Ana. She flees in her car, crashes, and passes out. Upon waking, she joins police sergeant Kenneth Hall, electronics salesman Michael, petty criminal Andre and his pregnant wife, Luda. They break into a nearby mall and are attacked by a zombie security guard, who slightly bites Luda. Three guards — C.J., Bart, and Terry — make them surrender their weapons in exchange for refuge. They split into groups to secure the mall. On the roof, they see another survivor, Andy, who is stranded in his gun store across the zombie-infested parking lot. During this time, a broadcast from a television features a group of cops burn the corpses of zombies and instructs the viewers to shoot the zombies in the head to kill them quickly, enabling the survivors to prioritize headshot for the zombies from now on.
The next day, a delivery truck carrying more survivors enters the lot, pursued by zombies. They include Norma, Steve, Tucker, Monica, Glen, Frank and his daughter, Nicole. Another woman is too ill to walk; she is wheeled inside, only to die and reanimate. After she is killed, the group determines the disease is passed by bites. Luda keeps her bite a secret from the group, though Andre knows. Frank, who has been bitten, elects to be isolated. When he reanimates, Kenneth shoots him.
Kenneth and Andy start a friendship by way of messages written on a whiteboard; romance buds between Ana and Michael, and Nicole and Terry. When the power goes out, a few of the survivors go to the parking garage to activate the emergency generator and find a friendly dog who is adopted by Nicole and named Chips. Zombies kill Bart, forcing the others to douse the zombies in gas and set them ablaze. Meanwhile, Luda — tied up by Andre — dies before giving birth. She reanimates and Norma kills Luda. This makes Andre snap; he exchanges gunfire with Norma and the two kill each other. The others find a zombie baby in Andre's arms delivered after Luda's death, which they kill reluctantly. The group decides to fight their way to the marina and travel on Steve's yacht to an island on Lake Michigan. They reinforce two shuttle buses from the garage for it; welding on a snowplow, attaching metal bars and chains as well as stocking chainsaws, propane tanks and road flares.
To rescue Andy, the group straps supplies onto the dog, Chips, and lower him into the parking lot; the zombies have no interest in him. Chips enters Andy's store safely, but a zombie follows and bites Andy. Pursuing Chips, Nicole crashes the delivery truck into the gun store, where she is trapped by a zombified Andy. A group of them reach the gun store via the sewers, kill Andy, and rescue Nicole. They grab ammunition and go back to the mall; along the way, Tucker breaks his legs, and C.J. shoots him out of mercy. Once inside, they are unable to lock the door because Steve temporarily abandoned his guard duty. Zombies storm the mall, forcing an evacuation via the buses.
While navigating the city, Glen loses control of a chainsaw, accidentally killing himself and Monica. In the chaos, their bus crashes. Steve tries to flee on his own but is ambushed by a zombie. Ana kills the zombified Steve and retrieves his boat keys. At the marina, C.J. sacrifices himself so the others can escape. Michael, after revealing a bite wound, kills himself as Ana, Kenneth, Nicole, Terry, and Chips flee on the yacht. Footage from a camcorder found on the boat shows the group runs out of supplies, arrives at an island and is attacked by a swarm of zombies. The camcorder drops leaving their fate unknown.
Cast.
Sarah Polley was the first choice to play the nurse Ana Clark. Polley agreed to take the role because she saw it as an unusual departure from the stereotypical portrayal of female characters as "anything more than somebody screaming and running away", and she admired Ana's resilience in the face of adversity. Ving Rhames said he was sold on the project due to the diversity of the cast as well as director Zack Snyder's track record of "[saying] a lot with the camera without dialogue". Rhames also jokingly stated, "I want to be in this movie because the black guy lives." Mekhi Phifer agreed to be in the film because he was "intrigued" by the script, whose quality he described set it apart from B movies laden with "terrible acting, silly situations, [and] chicks running around with their boobs out".
Both Jake Weber and Ty Burrell auditioned on the same day for the roles of Steve Markus and Michael Shaunessy, respectively; casting decided exchanging their roles and both got the part, making "Dawn of the Dead" Weber's second horror film after "Wendigo". Weber described his character Michael as an "everyman" suffering from an existential crisis after his divorce and the loss of his child, but later finds his identity as a skilled zombie slayer. Prior to landing the role of Steve, Burrell revealed that he had struggled getting employed as a theatre actor because he "was at a point in [his] career when auditioning for bigger parts meant not getting bigger parts", until he got a call back from the production asking for his wardrobe size, much to his surprise. Burrell added that playing what he described as a "totally nihilistic jerk" was appropriate in retrospect as he felt he was "too flawed and too scared of a person" to effectively portray the ideal leading man required of Weber's role.
Production.
Development.
Plans to remake 1978's "Dawn of the Dead" were conceived by producer Eric Newman, a self-professed zombie film fan who praised the George A. Romero horror film as the best in its genre. With the remake, Newman and producer Marc Abraham wanted to reinvigorate the zombie genre for modern audiences as well as "make the old fans happy and make a lot of new fans". Newman and Abraham bought the rights to "Dawn of the Dead" from its producer and rights holder Richard P. Rubinstein, who was initially "concerned that somewhere along the way a studio would sanitize Newman's vision for producing a version with 'attitude'", which is why he had turned down several remake offers in the past. Newman hired James Gunn to write the script, who was brought in despite not wanting to pitch the studio a treatment for the project beforehand.
The producers described the remake as more of a "re-envisioning" which would work in some references to the original but would primarily work on its own terms. Co-producer Eric Newman cited "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1978), "The Thing" (1982), and "The Fly" (1986) as cinematic influences to the remake, explaining that these had "some amazing updates" which "add to rather than diminish the original films". By way of respect to Romero's film, the producers cast some of its actors in cameos: Tom Savini, Scott Reiniger, and Ken Foree; and incorporated visual references to two additional co-stars: Gaylen Ross and James A. Baffico.
In writing the script, Gunn took the original's basic premise of a group of lone survivors taking refuge in a mall during the zombie apocalypse and then developed a new storyline that is more action-oriented, putting the characters in certain scenarios that would force them to evacuate the mall. Gunn's script was given uncredited rewrites by Michael Tolkin and Scott Frank; co-producer Richard P. Rubinstein said Tolkin further developed the characters while Frank provided some of the bigger, upbeat action scenes. Gunn revealed he had faced internet backlash over the film due to his past screenwriting credits on "Scooby-Doo" (2002) and "" (2004), believing him to be unqualified for the job. However, Ain't It Cool News founder and film critic Harry Knowles, initially an opponent of the remake, eventually got a hold of Gunn's script and gave it a glowing response, which Gunn said helped eliminate doubts cast upon him by fans of the original.
Theme.
Gunn explained in detail how he sees the remake in an interview during a press junket for "Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed":
I think that in the end, "Dawn of the Dead" is about redemption because it's about a bunch of people who have lived certain lives, who have maybe not been the best people, and suddenly they have everything that they've used to define themselves: Their careers, their churches, their jobs, their families are stripped away. They're gone. They start at nothing and they have to become who they really are in the face of all that and some of the people are redeemed and end up becoming good people and some of them are not redeemed and they end up, you know, not redeemed. And that's what kind of drove me throughout the story, was it was a story about redemption. I also think that there's a lot about how people survive and what people turn to in the face of such tragedy. The tragedy in this case being flesh-eating zombies. And really it's a group coming together to work as a community who wouldn't otherwise work together. So there is that foundation of love, that basic message, within even "Dawn of the Dead"...
Pre-production.
Zack Snyder chose to direct the remake as his first feature film because it gave the television commercial director "a reason to care about every shot". Not wanting his version inevitably compared to George A. Romero's, Snyder concurred with the producers on "re-envisioning" the original instead of doing it as a "remake", which, in his view, is a re-shoot of the original script. For that matter, Snyder aimed to make his film a straight horror that was "as serious as a heart attack", and keep every aspect of its production as grounded in reality as possible. To achieve these, he previsualized the film with storyboards and introduced the concept of running zombies, which he said was his "fresh, new way" of giving it a sense of verisimilitude and rendering zombies as if they are a real threat especially when they attack in hordes. Gunn supported this concept, believing that the "danger factor" brought about by running zombies would add more tension to the story.
Set design.
In searching for a suitable upscale mall location for the film, production designer Andrew Neskoromny looked for existing malls that were scheduled for demolition. His search yielded no results until he found the now-defunct Thorn Hill Square shopping mall in Toronto, Canada, which measured approximately . Dubbed the "Crossroads Mall", the crew completely remodeled the mall over an eight-week period, adding an expensive water feature near the entrance, 14 stores, parking structures, and warehouse areas. Since Snyder wanted the stores palpable in terms of design and stood not merely as storefronts, Neskoromny and his crew built them as actual retail stores complete with merchandise. Most of the stores were given fake names since only two major retail brands agreed to be featured in the film. Snyder recalled one such case in which Starbucks passed on the film for fear that their corporate logo would get splattered with blood in a film that contained scenes of gore.
Makeup effects.
The special makeup effects for the film were created by David LeRoy Anderson, with assistance from his wife Heather Langenkamp. Prior to accepting the job from Universal Pictures executive James D. Brubaker, Anderson had been in a two-year hiatus from working as a makeup effects artist to operate his company DLA Silverwear. Anderson completed his test makeups for the film over a four-week period, and then he and his team traveled to the Toronto set and set up their makeup effects lab next to the mall.
Since the filmmakers had decided that the zombies in the film would become more decomposed over time, Anderson did research on human death and decay, looking through several medical books and crime scene photographs showing graphic images of trauma victims; he broke down the look of decomposition into three stages:
The first stage looks like someone who was just in the ER – pale, with lots of fresh blood. The second stage has moist wounds but the skin is beginning to break down. There is a lot of discoloration and mottling, mostly blues and greens. The third stage is the most intense, with the skeletal form coming through. The wounds are dried-up, the skin is sloughing off and colors are oily blacks.
Filming and post-production.
Principal photography.
Filming began on June 9, 2003, on location in various parts of Toronto, Canada. Hundreds of zombie extras had to be constantly available for the entire shoot. To handle the volume of willing extras, Anderson and his team built a large factory where painted extras would stay put until they are spoken for by either the main or second unit film crew. Anderson built various makeup rooms for the artists to work in: one consisted of camper trailers where they would apply detailed prosthetic makeups to extras playing as "hero zombies", a special type of zombie; and the other consisted of tents where they would produce painted masks for extras playing as background zombies. Extras playing as foreground zombies were painted with plain palette makeups in Anderson's mall lab. The makeup artists were given Anderson's concept images to work on as references. According to Anderson and Heather Langenkamp, the most extras they ever had in any given day sat between 200–400, with a total of 3,000 makeups completed when filming ended on September 6, 2003.
Visual effects.
The visual effects for the film were provided by Canadian VFX studio Mr. X Inc., with its president Dennis Berardi serving as the film's co-VFX supervisor.
The production shot scenes for which Snyder wanted as many as 4,000 live-action zombies, which Berardi created rather as a combination of practical zombies and CG zombies which he built as 3D models with Autodesk Maya. One such scene involved tens of thousands of zombies at the mall's parking lot, which was shot with motion-control passes that were later composited to create "a digital crowd simulation that looks realistic".
Title sequence.
The title sequence for the film was designed by Kyle Cooper, who reportedly used real human blood.
Release.
Box office.
"Dawn of the Dead" was marketed with its 10-minute opening sequence that was broadcast on cable television four nights before its theatrical release. Released on March 19, 2004, the film grossed $26.7 million on its United States opening weekend, claiming the No. 1 spot "The Passion of the Christ" formerly held for three consecutive weekends. "Dawn of the Dead" ended its theatrical run grossing $102.3 million worldwide (against a budget of $26 million), with a gross of $59 million in the United States and Canada and $43.3 million in other territories. "Variety" reported, "Some 63% of "Dawn" [audiences] were under age 25, with 57% of patrons male. Hispanic moviegoers comprised 21% of its supporters and African-Americans 14%."
The release of "Dawn of the Dead" in the U.S. nearly coincided with that of "Shaun of the Dead", another zombie film distributed by Universal Pictures. In a February 2004 "Variety" report, a spokesman at Universal revealed that the studio had greenlit "Shaun of the Dead" "with the condition that "Dawn of the Dead" would be released here in the U.S. first" in order to avoid this conflict.
"Dawn of the Dead" was screened out of competition at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.
Home media.
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment released "Dawn of the Dead" on DVD, Blu-ray, and digital with director Zack Snyder's unrated director's cut of the film, which Snyder described as longer, gorier, and fleshed-out in terms of characterization than the theatrical version. Bonus features found on the DVD and Blu-ray include an audio commentary with Snyder and co-producer Eric Newman; the behind-the-scenes featurettes "Attack of the Living Dead", "Raising the Dead", "Drawing the Dead", "Splitting Headaches", and "Surviving the Dawn"; deleted scenes with optional commentary with Snyder and Newman; and the film's theatrical trailer.
In 2017, Shout! Factory released a two-disc collector's edition Blu-ray of "Dawn of the Dead" which comprises the film's theatrical version and the director's cut. The Blu-ray, which is said to have been "derived from the digital intermediate archival negative", contains extras found in the previous releases as well as exclusive ones featuring interviews with actors Ty Burrell and Jake Weber, screenwriter James Gunn, and makeup effects artists David LeRoy Anderson and Heather Langenkamp.
Reception.
Theatrical.
Upon its theatrical release, "Dawn of the Dead" was praised by film critics as a worthy remake of the original, and was hailed as a breakthrough in zombie films. It was called "superior in many ways" to the original ("ReelViews"), "a promising silhouette on the horizon of a faltering genre" ("IGN"), and "the best proof in ages that cannibalizing old material sometimes works fiendishly well" ("Los Angeles Times"). For "Entertainment Weekly", critic Lisa Schwarzbaum called the film director Zack Snyder's "killer feature debut", while Roger Ebert for the "Chicago Sun-Times" said it "works and it delivers just about what you expect when you buy your ticket". The film's 10-minute opening sequence was singled out for further praise, which some critics liked better than the whole film. While some said the remake had better acting, production values and scares than its predecessor, others argued that it "[failed] to trigger as much fear and mirth as the original" ("The Guardian") and "[worked] only on the level of a visceral horror exercise and, even then, only intermittently" ("Variety").
Despite the praise, the film was criticized for downplaying key elements of its predecessor. Some critics argued that whereas George A. Romero had exploited the shopping mall location to satirize consumer culture, Snyder had used it merely as a convenient setting for his characters. Others complained that, unlike the original, the remake was content to indulge in bloody zombie violence at the expense of witty satire and nuanced storytelling, leaving the viewers rather numbed and "less mercifully handled, even at the end-credits". The "Los Angeles Times" critic Manohla Dargis counterargued that "what makes the film pop aren't the buckets of blood, but the filmmakers' commitment to genre fundamentals." Despite complaints that the film lacked the humor of the original, some said it had some funny scenes of its own, including one in which a couple of male characters shoot zombified celebrity lookalikes with a sniper rifle, which an otherwise negative review from "The Hollywood Reporter" cited as some of its "moments of inspired audacity".
While James Gunn's script was complimented as "sharp" and propulsive, albeit "snappy on repartee at the expense of any kind of intriguing plot development", it was also criticized for a lack of character development due to its large ensemble. "ReelViews" owner and critic James Berardinelli was lenient in his assessment, however, arguing that "it's inevitable that most of [the characters] end up as one-dimensional throw-aways whose sole purpose is to increase the body count," and that "not many people go to a horror film looking for character development and drama." Along with Ebert, Berardinelli praised the "touching" subplots involving the Mekhi Phifer and Ving Rhames characters, which the latter critic said were "handled with a deft hand". Out of the cast, which was praised as "superlative" and "respectable", Sarah Polley garnered the most attention from critics, who complimented the actress as "a perfect against-type heroine" with "a nice anxious stare".
Retrospective.
In 2005, George A. Romero spoke of how critical he was with the film during an interview with actor Simon Pegg for "Time Out", saying: "It was better than I expected. I thought it was a good action film. The first 15, 20 minutes were terrific, but it sort of lost its reason for being. It was more of a video game. I'm not terrified of things running at me; it's like "Space Invaders". There was nothing going on underneath."
Reception to the film from retrospective reviews have been complimentary: it has been widely praised as Zack Snyder's best film, with Den of Geek going so far as to call it his masterpiece. Revisiting the film on its 15th anniversary in 2019, Joe Lipsett wrote the following verdict for Bloody Disgusting:
Fifteen years later, "Dawn of the Dead" completely holds up. The film's flaws are mostly at the character level, though having a dumb zombie baby and a few undeveloped red shirts in the mix is hardly a deal breaker. The action – particularly the opening scene and the propane explosion climax – in addition to the fantastic special effects makeup, the brief flirtation with found footage, and the reverence for its source text while introducing something new makes 2004's "Dawn of the Dead" one of the best remakes on the market.
"Dawn of the Dead" was one of the few horror remakes author Stephen King praised in the forenote of the 2010 edition of his book "Danse Macabre". King, who lauded the film as "genius perfected", observed that it had commented not on consumerism but rather on society's fear of terrorism. King explained in part:
By 2004, only three years downriver from 9/11, rampant consumerism was the last thing on our minds. [...] What haunted our nightmares was the idea of suicide bombers driven by an unforgiving (and unthinking, most of us believed) ideology and religious fervor. You could beat 'em up or burn 'em, but they'd just keep coming, the news reports assured us. They would keep on coming until either we were dead or they were. The only way to stop them was a bullet in the head. That's exactly what Snyder's zombies are, it seems to me: fast-moving terrorists who never quit. You can't debate with them, you can't parley with them, you can't even threaten their homes or families with reprisals.
Numerous publications have ranked "Dawn of the Dead" as one of the best zombie films, including number 3 by "Rolling Stone" (2012) and number 12 by "Empire" (2020); as well as one of the best horror films, including number 3 by Dread Central (2010), number 8 by Bloody Disgusting (2009), number 52 by "IGN", and number 55 by "Rolling Stone" (2020). The film made review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes' lists of "The 25 Best Horror Movie Remakes" (at number 9), "The 30 Essential Zombie Movies" (at number 13), and "18 Memorable Horror Remakes".


Ohio State Route 557

State Route 557 (SR 557, OH 557) is a two-lane north–south state highway in the central portion of Ohio, a U.S. state. The highway's southern terminus is at a T-intersection with State Route 643 approximately north of Baltic. Its northern terminus is at a T-intersection with the concurrency of U.S. Route 62 and State Route 39 nearly west of the unincorporated community of Berlin.
Established in 1937, SR 557 runs exclusively within Holmes County. The highway had a temporary designation from the late 1940s to the early 1960s. The entire road was paved in 1950. The entire route is part of a scenic byway.
Route description.
SR 557 begins at a T-intersection with SR 643, with SR 643 making the south and east legs and SR 557 making the west leg. The highway heads west as a two-lane highway, passing through farmland. The route turns northwest heading towards Farmerstown. In Farmerstown the road makes a sharp curve turning towards the southwest, before curving northwest again. The highway passes through Charm, before turning due west. After turning due west, the route turns northwest, before turning due north. SR 557 ends at a T-intersection with US 62 and SR 39.
All of the highway is inclusive in the Amish Country Byway, an officially designated National Scenic Byway. The route is not included in the National Highway System. SR 557 has its lowest traffic counts; within the 2013 ODOT survey, the road is listed with an average annual daily traffic(AADT) of 920 vehicles on a section of highway between the southern terminus and Holmes County Road 600 (CR 600). ODOT figured that the peak traffic levels were present on the section that is between CR 600 and Township Road 154 (T–154), where 3,360 vehicles used the highway daily.
History.
SR 557 was commissioned in 1937, on most of the same route as today. The southern terminus of SR 557 was at SR 93. In 1949 a Temporary SR 557 was commissioned between Baltic and the current southern terminus of SR 557. In 1951, the current section of SR 557 was paved. The Temporary SR 557 was removed by 1969 and SR 643 was extended to the current intersection with SR 557. SR 643 replace SR 557 from that intersection to SR 93. No significant changes have taken place to this state route since 1969.


Boundary Bay Wildlife Management Area

Boundary Bay Wildlife Management Area is a wildlife management area encompassing the entire Canadian portion of Boundary Bay in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. It was established by the British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development (FLNRORD) on 21 June 1995 to conserve critical habitat for migratory bird species and resident fish and marine mammal species. It is part of the larger Fraser River Delta Ramsar Site.
Description.
The wildlife management area encompasses the entirety of Boundary Bay, a shallow bay of the Salish Sea straddling the border between the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. state of Washington. The northeastern portion of the bay, named Mud Bay after the large mudflats found there, is of particular importance due to the region's high biodiversity and ecological productivity.
The management area also protects the estuaries of the Serpentine and Nicomeki rivers, both of which drain into Mud Bay from the northeast.
Ecology.
The intertidal salt marshes and mudflats of Boundary Bay support large communities of sea asparagus and various grasses. Common bird species found in the wildlife management area include American wigeon, great blue heron, western sandpiper, rough-legged hawk, northern harrier, bald eagle, and barn owl.
The bay supports a large harbour seal population, attracts grey whales and orcas, and provides spawning and feeding grounds for salmonids and Pacific herring.


Bequia

Bequia ( or ) is the second-largest island in the Grenadines at . It is part of the country of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and is approximately from the nation's capital, Kingstown, on the main island, Saint Vincent. Bequia means "island of the clouds" in the ancient Arawak. The island's name was also 'Becouya' as part of the Grenadines.
Bequia has a history of whaling which may have brought in by the Yankee whalers in the 19th century. Its people are only allowed to catch up to four humpback whales per year using traditional hunting methods, however these methods are regularly abused using harpoon guns and speedboats to surround the whales. The limit is rarely met, with no catch some years.
Geography.
Bequia is a small island, measuring with a population of approximately 5,300. The native population are primarily a mixture of people of African, Scottish and Island Carib descent. A substantial number of white Barbadians also settled the Mount Pleasant area of Bequia in the 1860s. Many of their descendants still inhabit the area. Other highly populated areas include the island capital, Port Elizabeth, which hosts the ferry terminal and Paget Farm, which hosts the airport. There are also villages at Lower Bay, La Pompe, Hamilton and Belmont. Other prominent areas of Bequia include Spring, the site of a former coconut plantation and home to agricultural animals, Industry Bay and Park Bay, where the Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary is located.
The island's hills are much lower than the peaks of St. Vincent, to the north, so they do not receive as many rain showers.
Princess Margaret, who had a home on nearby Mustique, visited Bequia in the 1950s and had a beach renamed in her honour.
"Princess Margaret Beach" is next to Port Elizabeth and is situated inside Admiralty Bay on the west coast.
The beach was originally known as "Tony Gibbons", and continues to be known by that name locally, though the origin of this name is uncertain.
Also on the west coast are the island's main port and a large natural harbour.
Tourism.
Bequia is popular among cruising yachts, expats and tourists. One of the busiest times of the year is the annual Easter Regatta and Music Fest.
Two scuba diving stores run dive trips to 28 identified dive sites around Bequia. There are several wrecks and shallow caves accessible to advanced divers. It is not unusual to see Hawksbill turtles, lobsters, moray eels and many kinds of fish when diving around Bequia.
History.
As a result of the Treaty of Utrecht, which brought an end to the War of Spanish Succession and established peace between the Spanish and British Empires, Great Britain obtained the lucrative monopoly over the Asiento slave trade. Runaway and shipwrecked slaves inhabited the island of St. Vincent in the 17th century. According to an early account of the French West Indies, which considered Bequia as part of Grenada, Bequia was too inaccessible to colonize and Caribs and Arawaks used the island for fishing and farming. A few Portuguese and Dutch slave ships en route to Sint Eustatius from West Africa reportedly shipwrecked on the Grenadine reefs.
Bequia was under French control in the 18th century and during the Seven Years' War with England, the island was used by the fleets of their Spanish and Dutch allies to take on supplies, while British ships were banned. The 1763 Treaty of Paris produced a significant re-alignment in the map of the Caribbean; St. Vincent and the Grenadine islands, including Grenada, were given to the British in exchange for Guadeloupe, Martinique and St. Lucia. The name "Petit Martinique" comes from this era, as does Petit Saint Vincent. In 1779 the French seized the island, despite the treaty, but were forced to relinquish control to Britain again soon after.
The early 18th century saw the development of a sugar industry and the production of related products including molasses and rum. Other major produce included coffee, indigo and arrowroot. At one point in time, the islands of St. Vincent and the Grenadines were the single largest producer of arrowroot starch in the world. Currently, Hairoun and Vincy strong rum are major export products primarily to the European Union.
Under a programme instituted by Great Britain to give land to indigent settlers, James Hamilton, father of Alexander Hamilton, moved from St. Croix to Bequia in 1774 where he remained until 1790. The land granted to Hamilton lies along the shore of Southeast Bay. Despite his son's frequent gifts of money and entreaties to immigrate or at least visit him, neither visited the other.
Some historians believe that the famous pirate Edward Teach had his base in Bequia. The opening shot of the movie "Blackbeard, Pirate of the Caribbean", made by the BBC, displays a replica of his first ship off the coast of Bequia in the St. Vincent passage. According to local legend, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines was not only Teach's base, but also the place from which Sir Francis Drake planned his attacks on the Spanish admiralty in Don Blas de Lezo's Cartagena. Indeed, it is thought that Henry Morgan may also have anchored in Admiralty Bay, as it was then the safest natural harbour in the Eastern Caribbean during hurricane season. Bequia was used as a repair facility for ships. Beside Nelson's Dockyard on Antigua, and the Carlyle in Bridgetown, Barbados, there were no other drydocks or shipyards in the area. Wooden shipbuilding and ship-repair on Bequia was possible due to the presence of cedar trees on the island and a sufficiently deep and sheltered harbour.
Whaling.
Bequia is one of the few places in the world where limited whaling is still allowed. The International Whaling Commission (IWC) classifies the island's hunt under the regulations concerning aboriginal whaling. Natives of Bequia are allowed to catch up to four humpback whales per year using only traditional hunting methods of hand-thrown harpoons in small, open sailboats, but these methods are regularly abused by using speedboats to chase whales and harpoon guns for the kill. The limit is rarely met, with no catch some years. Bequia has a long tradition of whaling as well as the building of whaling boats.
In the 2012 meeting of the IWC, the delegates renewed the annual quota of whales for all three groups who submitted joint bids: Alaskan Inupiat, Russian indigenous people in Chukotka in eastern Siberia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines, despite protestations of delegates from Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Chile, and Costa Rica. Dominican Republic delegate Peter Sanchez said the St Vincent and the Grenadines hunt was "artisanal whaling out of control," and that the hunters have "repeatedly broken the rules—hunting for young ones and pregnant females." Other delegates pointed out that St. Vincent and the Grenadines' bid "should not qualify under ASW [Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling] rules because the Bequians, the group that maintains the hunt, are not truly indigenous." Monaco delegate Frederic Briand argued that whaling "started by a settler's family as recently as 1875 does not qualify as 'aboriginal'." Louise Mitchell Joseph, speaking on behalf of the Eastern Caribbean Coalition of Environmental Awareness stated that there was no documented history of whaling in the islands, and that "there have been many archaeological excavations conducted, and there was no evidence found whatsoever of whale hunting by aboriginal peoples. Neither whale remains nor weapons that could have been used to kill such a large mammals were ever found; neither are any images of whales inscribed on our petroglyphs."
There is a small whaling museum on the island chronicling local whaling's history. A feature of the Port Elizabeth waterfront is the Whaleboner Bar & Restaurant. This bar has an entrance onto the beach consisting of an arch of two whale ribs, as well as whale vertebrae mounted on the bar seats and a whale rib running the length of the bar.
Transportation.
Air.
Erected in 1992, the James F. Mitchell International Airport for small planes is located near Paget Farm. With a runway length of , Bequia can be reached by plane with daily connections from Kingstown, Bridgetown and surrounding islands.
Sea.
Regularly scheduled ferries run from the main island of Saint Vincent. Three ferries operate between the capital, Kingstown, and the local port of Port Elizabeth. The other islands in the Grenadines can be reached by the last operational schooner in the Caribbean, the antique original Bequia-built SS "Friendship Rose", as well as other charter/tour boats that are widely available and based in Port Elizabeth, islands for matches. The ferry offers daytime as well as overnight charters, and onboard picnics are locally renowned. This has resulted in significant increases in mostly domestic tourism.
The ferry pier is located 45 minutes' drive from Argyle International Airport and is served by two companies, Bequia Express and Admiralty Transport. Bequia Express uses a family-owned ferry that is long with a cargo space measuring of which is sheltered with a ceiling. The approximate capacity of the ship is 28 cars or 10 to 20 containers and is licensed for 400 passengers. The "Admiral II" is a similarly-sized vessel with a capacity for 250 passengers. Travellers on the "Admiral II" have a choice between air-conditioned indoor seating or covered outdoor seating. The passage between Kingstown and Port Elizabeth is a trip taking approximately one hour.
Pedestrians such as hitchhikers and backpackers have the option of the Grenadines mail boat which travels to Port Elizabeth at irregular intervals. The mail boat calls at Canouan, Mayreau and Union islands although boarding at Mayreau can be difficult, as the vessel remains in deeper waters, with passengers being required to embark and leave through the use of smaller craft, which land on the nearby beach.
Communications.
The island has a variety of communication systems including standard telephone and fax lines, a mobile network, and internet access. The old telex system still operates. Bequia has its own heavy-duty, long-range shortwave radio antenna. Many inhabitants use the marine VHF radio system on channel 68 for local communication.
Publications.
Considering the size of the island, Bequia has a large publications industry. Various publishers, editors, and writers work on the island, as do painters and graphic designers.
References.
Notes
Bibliography


Fossil Cabin

The Fossil Cabin near Medicine Bow, Wyoming, United States, was built in 1932 as a roadside attraction. The cabin is built of dinosaur bones excavated at nearby Como Bluff, using a total of 5,796 bones. The cabin was built as part of a gasoline filling station along US 30 by Thomas Boylan. Boylan had come from California to homestead in Wyoming and had been collecting bones for seventeen years, intending to create sculptures of dinosaurs in front of his house and gas station along the Lincoln Highway.
Thomas Boylan was born in Humboldt County, California, in 1863. He arrived in Wyoming in 1892, working for sheep ranching operations until 1904, when he switched to cattle. Boylan filed for a homestead near Como Bluff in 1908, where extensive deposits of fossilized dinosaur bones had been discovered in the 1870s. His 5,796 bones weighed . Initially intending to erect a complete skeleton, Boylan was daunted by the task, as well as the likelihood that few of the bones came from the same animal, or even the same species. Boylan, with the help of his son, built the by cabin in 1932 for the 1933 tourist season. By 1936 Boylan had postcards printed, calling it the "Como Bluff Dinosaurium." In 1938 the cabin was promoted in Ripley's Believe It or Not as "The World's Oldest Cabin", although many common rock formations predate the era of dinosaurs. After the Ripley mention, Boylan also called the cabin the "Creation Museum" and "The Building that Used to Walk."
Boylan died in 1947. Operated by his widow, Grayce, the gas station continued until the 1960s, when the construction of Interstate 80 caused a fall-off in traffic on Route 30. Grayce sold the property in 1974. The cabin has since been offered for sale. One potential buyer has proposed moving the cabin to North Carolina for display.
The Fossil Cabin was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.


Smoke Hole Caverns

Smoke Hole Caverns (SHC) is a picturesque show cave in Grant County in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle.
SHC were opened to the public on 30 May 1940. They are located near the Smoke Hole Canyon from which the cave takes its name. They are located on WV 28 13 km west of Petersburg.
Local lore has it that the cave was utilized during Prohibition by moonshiners. There is only one entrance into the caverns which made it secure and with an ever present supply of fresh water it was a perfect place to produce moonshine. SHC is owned and operated by Jerry and Janet Hedrick.
Smoke Hole Caverns has a feature called "The World's Largest Ribbon Stalactite", as well as unusual helicitites, a crystal cave coral pool, found in only one other cavern in the world and the second highest ceiling of any cavern in the eastern United States. However, it has been adapted significantly to make it tourist friendly, including extensive concrete walkways, the introduction of rainbow trout and aeration into the coral pool and inappropriate lighting, resulting in extensive damage to the stalactites and stalagmites.