William Billingsley (artist)

William Billingsley (1758–1828) was an influential painter of porcelain in several English porcelain factories, who also developed his own recipe for soft-paste porcelain, which produced beautiful results but a very high rate of failure in firing. He is a leading name associated with the English Romantic style of paintings of groups of flowers on porcelain that is sometimes called "naturalistic" by older sources, although that may not seem its main characteristic today.
He trained in his home town of Derby, and though his work certainly reached the London market, all his many movements never took him further than the Midlands and South Wales, by then the heart of the British porcelain-making industry, although wares were often sent to London to be painted. His porcelain body was made by him at Pinxton and later at the Nantgarw Pottery, which he founded in 1813 with his son-in-law. He had spent over twenty years at Derby porcelain, a period after 1808 at Worcester porcelain, and ended his career at Coalport porcelain.
Biography.
Billingsley was born in Derby in 1758. He was apprenticed at William Duesbury's Royal Crown Derby porcelain works for five years on 26 September 1774. He finally left them in 1796, by which time he was their outstanding painter of flowers, the mainstay of decoration. Billingsley developed a distinctive style of flower painting, which involved using a loaded brush and then removing the colour using a dry brush. He was particularly associated with borders of roses with the prime example of the "Prentice Plate". This plate was used in the Derby factories to show trainees the standard that was expected. The name of "The Prentice Plate" is a shortening of "Apprentice Plate".
Billingsley decided to leave Derby in 1795 despite protestations to the owner from Joseph Lygo, their London agent, that he was too valuable to lose, and would carry his style to other factories: "his going into another factory will put them into the way of doing flowers in the same way, which they are at present ignorant of". After staying for 22 years at Derby, he was highly mobile for the remainder of his career. He appears to have moved constantly and worked at a number of different potteries.
First he went to Pinxton, a small village in Derbyshire in October 1795 and superintended the erection of the Pinxton manufactory, with John Coke. He had become interested in improving the formula for soft-paste porcelain, apparently with the intention of exceeding the Sèvres soft-paste in beauty. In this he was swimming against the tide of the period; Spode's improved formula for bone china was taking over most English production, and Sèvres, at this point making both soft and hard-paste porcelain, was to drop the former by 1806.
He stayed at Pinxton until 1799; The factory itself continued until Lady Day 1813, possibly only decorating "blanks" made elsewhere. It was by then under the direction of a local landscape decorator, John Cutts who later obtained employment as a decorator at the Wedgwood factory. Its products are scarce and well sought after commanding good prices. Billingsley's further moves took him to Mansfield, operating only a painting workshop, and about 1802 or 1803 to Torksey, Lincolnshire, where it has been claimed he made porcelain, as also at the neighbouring village of Brampton. It is thought he first came into contact with the potter Samuel Walker there, who later married Billingsley's daughter Sarah in 1812, when the group moved to Worcester porcelain. Another supposed pottery he started, between 1804 and 1808, was at Wirksworth in Derbyshire. Before settling at Worcester, Billingsley approached a number of potteries in search of employment, including the Cambrian Pottery, Swansea, Glamorganshire in 1807.
Billingsley started at Royal Worcester in 1808 where he was instrumental in the firm's refinements of its porcelain recipe. While at Royal Worcester under "Flight, Barr & Barr", Billingsley signed a contract preventing him from disclosing porcelain recipes, however no clause prohibited him from producing porcelain himself. In 1813 Billingsley took his porcelain recipes and lifetime's experience in the industry, along with his daughters Lavinia, and son-in-law Samuel Walker to Nantgarw, Glamorganshire, Wales, where he established the Nantgarw Pottery.
Nantgarw Pottery was established in November 1813, when Billingsley & Walker leased "Nantgarw House" on the eastern side of the Glamorganshire Canal, eight miles north of Cardiff in the Taff Valley, Glamorganshire, and set about building the kilns and ancillary equipment, in its grounds, necessary to transform the building into a small porcelain pottery.
Billingsley and Walker had brought with them a total of £250 to invest in their project and by January 1814, the Quaker entrepreneur William Weston Young had already become the major share-holder in their venture. It is assumed Young was acquainted with Billingsley through a mutual friend, and fellow earthenware decorator Thomas Pardoe, whom Billingsley had approached at Swansea's Cambrian Pottery, while seeking employment in 1807. Young's work across Glamorganshire as a surveyor may have put him in the position to advise Billingsley, while still at Royal Worcester, of the suitability of the site at Nantgarw.
The pottery was set up, but something of Billingsley & Walker's understanding of the recipe or manufacturing process was amiss, as 90% of the porcelain was ruined in the firing. The resources of the three associates soon ran out, and the group approached the "Committee of Trade and Plantations" asking for a grant of £500, referring to the subsidy the French Government had given the famous Sèvres Porcelain Factory. They were not successful, but one member of the committee, a porcelain enthusiast; Sir Joseph Banks, suggested to his friend and ceramicist Lewis Weston Dillwyn of the Cambrian Pottery of Swansea, should make an inspection.
Dillwyn made the inspection, and saw the extent of the firm's losses, but was so impressed with the quality of the surviving pieces that he offered Billingsley and Walker use of the Cambrian Pottery to improve their recipe and process. An annex was built for porcelain production at the Cambrian Pottery, where Walker and Billingsley were based from late 1814. The recipe was modified and improved, but was still wasteful enough for Dillwyn to abandon the project and in 1817, Billingsley, his younger daughter Lavinia and Samuel Walker returned to Nantgarw; Sarah, Billingsley's older daughter, Walkers wife, had died in January of that year, sadly, Lavinia also died in September of this year at Nantgarw. Young reinvested in the pottery at Nantgarw, additionally becoming an art teacher at Cowbridge Free School to help raise the funds. Billingsley and Walker continued to fire their porcelain at a loss however until one day in April 1820, while Young was away in Bristol, Billingsley (know locally a Mr Beeley) and Walker absconded to Coalport porcelain leaving behind them the lease to the pottery and several thousand pieces of undecorated porcelain in various stages of production.
Billingsley worked for the Coalport Porcelain Works until his death in 1828. Walker was also employed at the Coalport pottery but later emigrated to America where he established the Temperance Hill Pottery in West Troy, New York.
Billingsley's porcelain pieces are one of the main components of the porcelain collection at Derby Museum and Art Gallery.
The Nantgarw pottery has, through the efforts of the "Friends of Nantgarw", established in 1993, been saved for posterity and is now open as a museum with a growing display of porcelain. Although in its early experimental stages, Nantgarw pottery has recently achieved one of its original goals of successfully reproducing porcelain items using Billingsley's soft paste porcelain recipe and will continue to do so into the foreseeable future of the museum.


Screen Actors Guild Awards

Screen Actors Guild Awards (also known as SAG Awards) are accolades given by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), in which was founded in 1952 to recognize outstanding performances in film and prime time television. The statuette given, a nude male figure holding both a mask of comedy and a mask of tragedy, is called "The Actor". It is tall, weighs over , is cast in solid bronze, and produced by the American Fine Arts Foundry in Burbank, California.
SAG Awards have been one of the major awards events in Hollywood since 1995. Nominations for the awards come from two committees, one for film and one for television, each numbering 2100 members of the union, randomly selected anew each year, with the full membership (165,000 as of 2012) available to vote for the winners. It is considered an indicator of success at the Academy Awards. The awards have been telecast since 1998 on TNT, and since 2007 have been simulcast on TBS.
The inaugural SAG Awards aired live on February 25, 1995 from Universal Studios' Stage 12. The second SAG awards aired live from the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, while subsequent awards have been held at the Shrine Auditorium. On December 4, 2017, it was announced that the award show would have its first host ever in its twenty-four year history with actress Kristen Bell presiding over the ceremony.
Superlatives.
Per film.
Multiple nominations.
Note: Winners are indicated in bold type.


Soul Power (film)

Soul Power is a 2008 documentary film directed by Jeff Levy-Hinte about the Zaire 74 music festival in Kinshasa which accompanied the Rumble in the Jungle heavyweight boxing championship match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in October 1974.
The film was made from archival footage; other footage shot at the time focusing on the fight was edited to form the 1996 film, "When We Were Kings".
Performers in the film include James Brown ("Soul Power"), The Spinners ("One of a Kind"), OK Jazz featuring Franco, Bill Withers ("Hope She'll Be Happier"), Miriam Makeba ("Qongqothwane" a.k.a. "The Click Song"), B.B. King ("The Thrill Is Gone"), Pembe Dance Troupe, The Crusaders ("Put It Where You Want It"), Fania All-Stars featuring Celia Cruz, Danny "Big Black" Rey, Afrisa featuring Tabu Ley Rochereau, The J.B.'s ("Cold Sweat") and Manu Dibango.
The DVD includes bonus tracks of James Brown ("Try Me"), Sister Sledge ("On and On"), Abeti, and folk dance performance Pembe Dance Troupe ("Stilts and Bells").
Footage was shot by a variety of camera operators, including Albert Maysles.
Music, background and Black Power.
Music played on stage makes up for about half of the running time. The rest comprises documentary clips about the event, including footage of the musicians, and behind-the-scenes planning such as the stage set-up. The DVD release also includes longer clips with jam sessions, and interviews with local citizens.
James Brown performs at the beginning of the film and sings two songs in the end; another of his performances is included as a bonus feature on the DVD. Brown is also shown behind the scenes, and the musicians are seen mixing with the boxers.
Many of the artists express their views about Black Power and their role in it. Unsurprisingly Muhammad Ali uses his screen presence before the fight intensively not only to speak about imperialism and the like but also about how important it is for the movement that he will surely win. Since Foreman was delayed on account of an injury he could not appear in time for the festival and only footage from Ali could be used. We can see a short funny box fight between Philippé Wynne from The Spinners and Ali, as well as a comparison of New York City with Kinshasa by Ali calling NYC the "real" jungle.


Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu

Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu () or the Saga of Gunnlaugur Serpent-Tongue is one of the Icelanders' sagas. Composed at the end of the 13th century, it is preserved complete in a slightly younger manuscript. It contains 25 verses of skaldic poetry attributed to the main characters.
It is an important work in both Norwegian and Icelandic literary history. "Gunnlaugur" is sometimes Anglicized as "Gunnlaug". The cognomen can also be translated as "Worm-Tongue" or "Snake-Tongue".
The saga has similarities to earlier sagas of poets, such as "Kormáks saga" and "Bjarnar saga", but it is more refined and elegant with strong characterization and emotional impact. Long considered a masterpiece, the saga is often read by beginning students of Old Norse literature. Printed with a Latin translation and commentary in 1775, it was the first of the Icelanders' sagas to be published in a scholarly edition.
Story.
The saga, said to have taken place around the introduction of Christianity in Iceland, tells the story of two Icelandic poets, Gunnlaugr Ormstunga and Hrafn Önundarson, and their love of Helga the Fair, granddaughter of Egill Skallagrímsson, which results in a competition leading to a deadly duel of honor.
The story opens with a prophetic dream of two eagles who fight over a swan before killing each other. A hawk then arrives to comfort the swan, foreshadowing the rest of the saga and the love triangle element of the story.
The saga then transitions to Gunnlaugr and his upbringing. After Gunnlaugr has an altercation with his father, Illugi the Black, Gunnlaugr rides away to Borg where he meets a farmer, Thorstein, son of Egil Skallagrímsson. Gunnlaugr accepts Thorstein's gracious invitation to stay with him, and he spends a year there studying law. During this year, Gunnlaugr and Helga, Thorstein's daughter, begin a friendship which culminates in them taking a liking for one another. Gunnlaugr then decides to travel abroad, but first asks Thorstein for Helga's hand in marriage—a customary practice in that day. Thorstein quickly rejects Gunnlaugr's proposal because of his decision to travel abroad, but after he and Illugi discuss the matter further they agree that if Gunnlaugr returns in 3 years he can have Helga as his wife.
Despite his feelings for Helga, Gunnlaugr travels to the courts of Northern kings to recite his poetry. He first visits Norway and earl Eric Haakonsson, where his initial poem is received indifferently. Gunnlaugr eventually is banished from the country after Gunnlaugr replies to the Earl's followers with disrespect, further cementing his nickname of "Serpent-Tongue”. Gunnlaugr quickly leaves Norway and heads to England, where King Æthelred rewards Gunnlaugr handsomely for his poem with a cloak of scarlet and requests that he return next autumn. After this, Gunnlaugr travels to Ireland and the court of Sigtrygg Silkbeard. The king has no idea what the proper reward for a poem is, and initially offers a lavish prize before he is counseled to give a more reasonable gift of scarlet clothes, an embroidered tunic, a cloak lined with exquisite furs, and a gold bracelet. Next to be visited is the Orkneys, where Gunnlaugr receives an axe from Earl Sigurd Hlodvirsson. After this comes Sweden, where Gunnlaugr recites a poem in praise of the Norwegian earl Eiríkr, who finally appreciates Gunnlaugr's verses.
To cement his relationship with Æthelred Gunnlaugr returns to England. He is delayed for the winter before heading to Sweden to visit King Óláfr Skötkonung. Here Gunnlaugr meets Hrafn Önundarson—the antagonist of the saga. Each of them recites a poem for the king. and is told to discuss the other's poem. They both respond by making back-handed comments, resulting in a falling out. Hrafn then returns to Iceland, where he discusses with Skafti the Lawspeaker the possibility of asking Thorstein for Helga's hand in marriage. Skafti references the agreement between Gunnlaugr and Throstein previously made, but Hrafn ignores the objection and says that Gunnlaug is so proud these days that he "won’t take any notice of this or care about it at all”. After Hrafn and Skafti discuss the issue with Illugi and Thorstein, they agree that if Gunnlaugr breaks his vow of returning after three years to claim his wife, Hrafn then has permission to marry Helga.
The story then transitions back to Gunnlaugr and his adventures abroad, where he fulfills his oath to King Æthelred and returns to England. At the king's insistence, Gunnlaugr stays an extra summer in England, which ultimately causes his original agreement with Thorstein to be void. Gunnlaugr returns to Iceland too late to stop the marriage, and consequently Gunnlaugr and Hrafn become embroiled in a bitter rivalry. It is apparent throughout the wedding that Helga still possesses feelings for Gunnlaugr. After the ceremony, Gunnlaugr approaches Helga and they talk for a while. Their talk concludes with Gunnlaugr giving the cloak King Æthelred gave to him to his beloved Helga.
With Gunnlaugr returning to Iceland, Helga loses all interest in Hrafn, causing him increasing disdain for the tragic hero. They first compete in verse and later in battle. After their first altercation ends anticlimactically, Hrafn and Gunnlaugr agree to travel to Norway to end their dispute once and for all. Dueling became outlawed after their first physical altercation. Their feud in Norway continues, with Gunnlaugr cutting off Hrafn's leg. Hrafn, in one final act of spite, tricks Gunnlaugr into lowering his guard and mortally wounds Gunnlaugr before he is ultimately defeated. Gunnlaugr dies a short time later and Helga is married off to another poet named Thorkel, fulfilling the prophecy. Helga dies a little later, gazing at the cloak that Gunnlaugr gave her.
Court Culture and Gift-Giving.
The Saga of Gunnlaugr Serpent-Tongue is the strongest example among the Icelandic sagas of court culture and the culture of gift giving in the late Viking age. The exchange of gifts was common in many parts of Viking society outside of court culture as a means of settling disputes and showing respect, but gift-giving in a court context had a special significance in Viking culture. Making expeditions from Iceland to Norway and England traveling to the courts of wealthy and powerful men and offering them gifts was a way to gain favor with influential people and make a name for one's self. Honor was a crucial part of one's character in this society, and most interactions were based on people's reputations and the honor that they had accrued over their lifetime, so it was a constant struggle to increase one's honor to make one's life easier. By giving gifts to an earl or a king, the honor of both the giver and the receiver are increased.
When a visitor to a court comes bearing a gift, it is usually something unique or significant that is intended to catch the eye of both the receiver and anyone who enters their court. In Gunnlaug's saga, Gunnlaug gives the gift of poetry to the leaders of the courts he visits. Poetry was greatly respected during this time because it was not only an art form that could be dedicated to a specific person, but if the poem was good enough and happened to speak well of its subject, then there was a chance that it would be remembered and recited for generations, carrying on the story of the person for whom it was written. In another saga, Audun of The West Fjords, Audun brings the gift of a polar bear from Greenland to a Danish king, and gains much honor as well as material wealth because of the rarity and extravagance of his gift.
Because honor played such a large role in these transactions, the heads of court who would be receiving these gifts were obliged to reciprocate these gifts in one form or another for a number of reasons. In Viking culture, people in power often maintained their positions of power by maintaining favor with their subjects, usually by hosting large feasts and ensuring their well-being in terms of food and shelter. The most important part of this was being willing to be conspicuous with one's wealth, sharing it with the people who supported you, and if a visitor comes from far away with a specific gift to pay tribute to you, it would be in the leader's best interest to repay their gift, showing that not only were they being honorable by repaying a gift, but these leaders would often attempt to go above and beyond in their gift-giving in order to bolster their reputation and forge strong relationships with new people. The remnants of this culture can still be seen in Iceland today with a culture of charitable donations.
Characters.
A detailed family tree connecting major and minor characters through blood and marriage can be found here.


Kannada Sahitya Parishat

Kannada Saahithya Parishath () (Kannada Literary Council) is an Indian non-profit organisation that promotes the Kannada language and its literature. Its headquarter is in the city of Bengaluru in the state of Karnataka, India. It strives to promote Kannada language through publishing books, organising literary seminars and promoting research projects. It also organises an annual conference on Kannada literature called Kannada Sahithya Sammelana (Kannada Literary Meet). The current president of the parishat is Manu Baligar.
Origin.
During the British rule of India, Kannada speakers were spread across different provinces. Coming under the influence of different languages in those provinces, the pronunciation and grammar of Kannada language started to differ across provinces. This led to a gap in communication across the people in these provinces though they spoke the same language of Kannada. Mokshagundam Vishweshwaraiah, who was the Diwan of the Mysore Kingdom felt the need to conserve and promote the Kannada language and literature. In this direction, he started the "Mysore Economic Conference" and created a study circle under H. V. Nanjundaiah. A sub-committee formed under the study circle came up with five different topics on which suggestions were invited:
The sub-committee received good responses from the public and it decided to organise a conference in Bangalore on 3 May 1915 to act upon these suggestions. The conference was held on the grounds of the Government High School and was attended by littérateurs, newspaper editors and other dignitaries from different regions. The conference agreed to create the "Karnataka Sahitya Parishat" with a mandate to conserve and promote Kannada language and literature. H. V. Nanjundaiah was unanimously elected as the President of the Parishat. Apart from the Mysore province, the Karnataka Sahitya Parishat was simultaneously started in the Madras, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Kodagu provinces.
Growth.
H. V. Nanjundaiah remained as President of the Parishat for the first five years of its creation. In 1935, an annual event under the aegis of the Parishat called as "Kannada Sahitya Sammelana" commenced. The foundation ceremony of a separate building to house the Parishat was organised on 12 April 1937 under the Presidency of "Karpura Srinivas Rao". The construction of this building was completed on 29 May 1938. B M Srikantaiah was the Vice President of the Parishat from 1938 till 1942. In 1938, the name of "Karnataka Sahitya Parishat" was changed to "Kannada Sahitya Parishat". Under the guidance of B M Srikantaiah, the logo of the Parishat containing the map of the Mysore province with the phrase "Sirigannadam gelge, Kannada Sahitya Parishat" written inside it was created. Over the period of time; a women's wing, a publishing house, a Kannada journal and literature exams were also added to the repertoire of the Parishat. Kannada Sahitya Parishat branches at the district and taluk levels were also created. A new building is being constructed to replace the existing building of the Parishat at a cost of Rupees five crores. During its existence, the Parishat has contributed to the growth of Kannada language by organising conferences and debates, publication and release of books, organising talks by eminent writers and also by holding the annual "Kannada Sahitya Sammelana".
Criticism.
The Parishat has reportedly lost focus on its goals due to various reasons including lack of funds and political interference. There were also reports of irregularities conducted within the Parishat in 1987, which prompted the Karnataka Government to nominate an Administrator to the Parishat. The office of the Administrator was removed in 1989.
External links.
Kannada Sahitya Parishat literally mean Kannada Literary Council


Lydia Beachy

Lydia Miller Beachy (1863–1925) was an American quilter. Her work is included in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Illinois State Museum.


Annie E. Pettway

Annie E. Pettway (1904–1972) was an American artist. She is associated with the Gee's Bend quilting collective. Her work has been exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and is included in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Early life.
As told through her son, Sheriff Willie Quill Pettway, in an interview with the Souls Grown Deep Foundation, Annie E. Pettway was born on June 18, 1904 to Austin H. Pettway and Leetha Pettway. She was one of ten children.
She married Ed. O Pettway. Sheriff Willie Quill Pettway describes the confusion over his father's name:
"She was married to Ed O.—they said Pettway, but he was a Williams. They changed his name to Pettway because he was living on the Pettway place, and they had to change their name as long as they stay on the place. So, when they took up the census, that’s what he kept his name: Pettway. His father was Ottoway Williams. He had changed his name to Pettway, too."
Together, Ed and Annie had nine children – five boys and four girls. Her son described her as a "housewife and a fieldworker," doing every task imaginable to keep the farm and family running.
Work.
Sheriff Pettway describes piecing quilts as a necessity to protect and keep her family warm. It is a tradition that she passed to her daughters and her granddaughters.


Pazyryk carpet


China fairing

A china fairing is a small porcelain ornament, often incorporating figures, ranging from about three inches (7.5 cm) to about five inches (12.5 cm) in height, and depicting a variety of scenes, humorous, political or domestic. The ornament almost always incorporates a base and many fairings have a caption describing the scene or making some point inscribed on that base. Although the majority of fairings are simply decorative, they were occasionally made in the form of pinboxes, matchstrikers or holders for watches or small mirrors. Some fairings were made in pairs, for example, "Grandpapa - Grandma", two separate statuettes of a small boy and girl, each dressed in adults' clothing.
China fairings are so named because they were given away as prizes at fairs in the Victorian era, in much the same way that we would win a coconut at a fair today, although some were manufactured simply for sale. They first started appearing in the middle of the nineteenth century and remained popular until the start of the First World War.
Genuine fairings are now keenly sought by serious collectors. In the United Kingdom they can range in price from a few pounds for the more common ones (such as "Last in bed to put out the light") to several hundred pounds for the rarer ones, the most keenly sought being the five fairings the Vienna series (uncaptioned, but characterised by a gold band around the base). As with any antique, the value of a fairing depends on its condition - they are particularly delicate and damage of any sort can seriously reduce their value - and, in the case of fairings that are paired, whether they are offered singly or with their partners.
Most fairings were manufactured in Germany by Conta and Boehme. This company developed a mass production method that no other company could match, thereby achieving an advantage over other firms.
Captions.
The subject matter that inspired fairings varies widely and provides an interesting insight into the popular culture of the Victorian era. Popular songs and music hall numbers inspire some of them, such as "Jenny Jones and Ned Morgan" and "Champagne Charlie is my name". Others commemorate notable people or buildings such as Ladies of Llangollen (relating to the scandalous affair of Lady Eleanor Butler and Lady Sarah Ponsonby) or "The Model of Laxey" (the Laxey Wheel on the Isle of Mann, the largest metal water wheel in the world). The captions on some fairings are a little more obscure, such as "How's business?" (on one fairing) and "Slack!" (on its partner). These were inspired by the same design on a drinking cup from the period.
Beds feature heavily in the domestic scenes, so much so that fairings were once known as "bedpieces". The captions on these fairings often indicate a cynical attitude to marriage, for example "When a man is married his troubles begin" on a fairing showing a man nursing a crying baby. Another shows a man cowering from his wife with the caption "Home from the club he fears the storm." Many, on the other hand, are simply charming, for example "God Save the Queen" (a family gathered round a piano) or "Which is prettiest?" (three beautiful little girls). Some captions are politically inspired, such as "English neutrality 1870 Attending the sick and the wounded", commemorating the fact that Britain did not become involved in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. Others are moralistic e.g. "Seeing him home" showing a drunk being escorted home by a spirit and the grim reaper, both dressed as undertakers.
Occasionally fairings descend into the downright rude, such as "The early bird catches the worm", in which a goose pecks at what it thinks is a worm, only to cause pain to a young lad who is relieving himself. Another one is "Review" in which two lecherous men admire a scantily clad woman emerging from bathing.
The seven categories.
Authors generally classify fairings into seven categories based on their general value and rarity. Category A contains the most common fairings, and the categories go up through B, C, D, E, F and finally X for the rarest and most valuable fairings. Books on fairings sometimes assign price ranges to these categories, but these are relied on less and less as time goes by. After all, when fairings are traded the price agreed upon depends on how keenly each party wants the trade. The categories are still retained as a convenient way of classifying fairings but are no longer relied upon for setting prices.
Dating.
Dating Non Conta & Boehme Fairings
Reproductions.
Reproductions were made as early as the first few decades of the twentieth century. However, serious fairing collectors are not interested in them, and in the United Kingdom they are generally only worth a few pounds at most.
It takes an experienced eye to tell a reproduction from the genuine article, but there are one or two tell-tale signs that you can use to spot the more obvious ones.


Bris Funny Fest

Bris Funny Fest is a fringe comedy festival held for the first time in September 2016 in Brisbane, Australia.
The festival was started by Kath Marvelley in 2016 as an alternative once it became clear that the annual Brisbane Fringe Festival was not going to be running in 2016. It is now the second largest comedy festival in Queensland with over 50 events as part of its 2017 program featuring bigger acts such as Matt Okine. It encompasses genres such as stand-up comedy, Improvisational theatre, sketch comedy and musical theatre amongst others. It "showcases everything from established international artists to emerging performers putting on a show for the first time".
The festival is an open access "unjuried" festival (the model used by the Edinburgh Fringe Festival). There is no fee to be part of the festival, with the organisation being managed by a team of volunteers led in 2017 by Steven Morgan. In 2018 it was announced that Adam O'Sullivan was taking over as festival director.
Bris Funny Fest operates in venues all over Brisbane, though the majority of events take place at Heya Bar in Fortitude Valley, Queensland. Performers are free to approach any venue to host their event, with guidance offered to both performer and venue by the organisers.
Previous Brisbane Fringe Festival.
The Brisbane Fringe Festival ran from 2012 to 2015, co-directed by Kylie Southwell with comedy curation by Scott Black who now works as an advisor on Bris Funny Fest.


Emma Lee Pettway Campbell

Emma Lee Pettway Campbell (1928–2002) was an American artist associated with the Gee's Bend group of quilters. She was included in the 2013 "History Refused to Die" exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her work is included in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to which it was donated by the Souls Grown Deep Foundation.


La France a un incroyable talent (series 5)

Series 5 of "La France a un incroyable talent" aired from 3 November to 22 December 2010.


Bunting (textile)

Bunting (or bunt) is any festive decorations made of fabric, or of plastic, paper or even cardboard in imitation of fabric. Typical forms of bunting are strings of colorful triangular flags and lengths of fabric in the colors of national flags gathered and draped into swags or pleated into fan shapes.
History.
Bunting was originally a specific type of lightweight worsted wool fabric generically known as "tammy", manufactured from the turn of the 17th century, and used for making ribbons and flags, including signal flags for the Royal Navy. Amongst other properties that made the fabric suitable for ribbons and flags was its high glaze, achieved by a process including hot-pressing.
The origin of the word is uncertain. But bunt means colourful in German.
The term "bunting" is also used to refer to a collection of flags, and particularly those of a ship. The officer responsible for raising signals using flags is known as "bunts", a term still used for a ship's communications officer.


Lau Kar-wing

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Lau Kar-wing (; born 1944) is a Martial Artist, Hong Kong martial arts film director, action choreographer and actor.
Background.
Born in the Xinhui District of Jiangmen in Guangdong, China, Lau Kar-wing was the fourth child of Lau Cham (), a martial arts master who studied under Lam Sai-wing, pupil of the legendary Chinese folk hero, Wong Fei-hung.
Lau began learning kung fu in his early teens, learning in secret at his father's school. When his older brother, Lau Kar-Leung, discovered this, he began teaching Kar-wing himself.
Film career.
Before becoming famous, Lau worked as an extra and choreographer on the black & white Wong Fei-hung films, which starred Kwan Tak-hing as the titular hero. Lau was given his start working under his father and brother in these films, and followed his brother to become a stuntman and assistant choreographer.
In the 1960s he became one of the Shaw Brothers Studio's main action choreographers, working with many directors on films such as "King Boxer" (1972). Lau evolved to become a director in the late 1970s. By this time he was already an accomplished actor and action choreographer outside of Shaw Brothers.
In the 1970s, Lau formed a partnership with Sammo Hung and Karl Maka. The trio started their own film production company in 1978, Gar Bo Motion Picture Company. They made just two films, before Maka left to start Cinema City. Both films starred Lau, Hung and Maka, "Dirty Tiger, Crazy Frog" (1978) and "Odd Couple" (1979). During this period, Lau continued to make films for Shaw Brothers Studio.
He moved with the times, in the 1980s he alternated between his own work, and that of Sammo Hung. He also found the time to appear in several of his brother, Lau Kar-leung's films.
During the late 1980s and early 90s, Lau's output slowed down. Since 1994 he has virtually retired from the industry. One of his best known efforts from this period is "Skinny Tiger, Fatty Dragon" (1990), alongside his old collaborators, Sammo Hung and Karl Maka. Kar-wing worked alongside his brother, Kar-leung, as martial arts choreographer on the film "Drunken Monkey" (2002), and was an uncredited martial arts advisor on Tsui Hark's "Seven Swords" (2005). Footage of Wing's performance in the 1976 film "Tiger & Crane Fists" was utilized for the character Wimp Lo in the 2002 American comedy film "Kung Pow! Enter the Fist".
Lau is also a skilled lion dance performer, and has demonstrated this ability in at least two films "Why Me?" (1985) and "Once Upon a Time in China and America" (1997).
Personal life.
Lau is the younger brother of actor, director and action choreographer Lau Kar-leung. Gordon Liu (a.k.a. Lau Kar-fai) is a godson to Lau's parents. He is father to TVB actor Lau Wing-kin. His nephew, Lau Kar-yung (the son of Lau's older sister), is also an actor, action choreographer and director.


Sing (Ed Sheeran song)

"Sing" is a song written and recorded by English singer-songwriter, Ed Sheeran. The song was produced by Pharrell Williams, who also provided backing vocals. The song was released on 7 April 2014, serving as the lead single from Sheeran's second studio album, "×" (2014). The song became Sheeran's first UK number-one single and also topped the charts in Australia, New Zealand and Ireland. It also peaked at No. 13 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100.
Background.
"Sing" was written by Sheeran and Pharrell Williams, and produced by the latter. Williams also provides uncredited background vocals during the chorus. The song has a length of 3 minutes and 55 seconds. The song, which has pop and R&B influences and was inspired by Justin Timberlake, is a departure from the folk rock sound Sheeran became known for on his previous album, "+". Sheeran was inspired to model the song after the pop and R&B stylings of Timberlake, stating "It was pretty close to a direct inspiration. I love "Justified" and "FutureSex/LoveSounds", so I took inspiration from those." The lyrics are about "a night out in Vegas."
"Sing" was released in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and Germany in May 2014. Aside from these nations, "Sing" was released internationally on 7 April 2014, during a YouTube live chat with Sheeran. "Friends", a track from the EP, entered the UK Singles Chart at No. 121.
Critical reception.
The song received critical acclaim upon release; music critics complimented Sheeran's change of sound, and likening the song to the works of Justin Timberlake. "Time" gave the song a very positive review, saying that it is "more of a departure. It fits the times nicely: there's some of fellow Brit, Sam Smith, in Sheeran's rubbery falsetto, plus some of Robin Thicke's ubiquitous 'Blurred Lines' in the percussion. But Sheeran's really got his heavy-breathing, hyper-flirtatious sights on another, older target: Justin Timberlake's solo debut, 'Like I Love You'." The chorus riff and falsetto are from "Miss You" by The Rolling Stones.
In a positive review, "The Guardian" said that "while Pharrell's influence is writ large, there's enough of Sheeran there to prevent it coming across as horrible pastiche." "The Hollywood Reporter" also gave the song a positive review, stating that "Sheeran's fragile voice, as heard on past hits like 'The A Team' and 'Lego House,' has now morphed into a confident croon, unafraid of diving into a deep bag of melismas, boisterous chants and rapid-fire rhymes in order to convince his female subject of his desires."
Chart performance.
The song debuted at No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart and Irish Singles Chart, giving him his first ever number-one singles in both the United Kingdom and Ireland. The song has sold 670,000 copies in actual sales in the United Kingdom, which together with 66 million in streams give a combine total units of 1,339,000.
"Sing" debuted at No. 1 on the Australian ARIA Charts in May 2014, making it Sheeran's first ever number-one in the country, and his sixth top ten single in Australia. On the week of 14 April 2014, the song entered the New Zealand Singles Chart at No. 8, becoming his fourth top 10 single and second top 10 debut in New Zealand. The song has since topped the charts in that country, giving Sheeran his second consecutive number-one single there. In Italy, "Sing" has peaked at No. 2 and spent five total weeks at this position, giving him the higher peak position reached in the country, so far.
In Canada, the track has since peaked at No. 4, giving Sheeran his first ever top 10 hits in the country. "Sing" debuted at No. 15 on the "Billboard" Hot 100, giving Sheeran his highest charting single in the United States, at the time. The single managed to sell 123,000 copies, giving him his second best sales week digitally; the song also managed to net 563,000 streams and earn 28 million in audience impressions, all before its debut week on the "Billboard" Hot 100. "Sing" has since peaked at No. 13 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. The song reached its million sales mark in the US in July 2014, and has sold 1,323,000 copies as of January 2015.
Music video.
The music video for "Sing" was released exclusively to Sheeran's Facebook page on 22 May 2014, and added to Vevo and YouTube on 23 May, exactly a month before the album was released. It follows a puppet caricature of Sheeran on a night out, during which he gets drunk, steals a mic (from actor Peter Kwong from Big Trouble in Little China) and sings karaoke, goes to a strip club and picks up Sheeran and Pharrell from a studio in his truck. Throughout the video Sheeran is seen playing his guitar in front of an optical illusion-esque backdrop.
The puppet is currently in Sheeran's safekeeping, but he has "no idea how to work it yet". The puppet was closely modelled on him, down to his clothes and tattoos. Sheeran and Pharrell received the award for Best Male Video at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards for the video.
The video is directed by Emil Nava.
In 2018, he did an homage to the video of the single "Happier".
Live performances and cover versions.
Sheeran performed the song live for the first time on "Saturday Night Live" on 12 April 2014, along with his unreleased, next single, "Don't", which he debuted off the album. Sheeran also performed "Sing" on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" on 16 May 2014, on the "Britain's Got Talent" semi-final on 27 May 2014, on "The Graham Norton Show" on 6 June 2014, and on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" on 28 August 2014.
In popular culture.
The track was featured in the trailer for the animated film of the same name, "Sing".
The song is a playable track in Guitar Hero Live.
Certifications and sales.
!scope="col" colspan="3"| Streaming


Luchador films

Luchador films (or "Lucha Libre films") are Mexican professional wrestling/action/science-fiction/horror films starring some of the most popular masked luchadores in Lucha Libre. The luchadores are portrayed as superheroes engaging in battles against a range of characters from spies, to vampires and Martians. These films were low-budget and produced quickly. Nearly all lucha films included fist-fighting and wrestling action sequences in and out of the ring which were choreographed and performed by the stars themselves without the aid of stunt doubles. The genre's popularity peaked during the mid-1960s to early-1970s. At least 150 luchador films were produced starting with the 1952 film "Huracán Ramírez".
History.
One of the most well-known Mexican luchador film stars was El Santo (Rodolfo Guzman Huerta), who starred in 52 films. Luis Enrique Vergara, the producer of the Santo movies and Mil Máscaras films, also created a Blue Demon series, similar to the stories then appearing in the weekly Mexican comic books. Blue Demon starred in 25 Lucha films. Vergara produced and at times wrote the scripts. He would cast beautiful, sensuous and well-built actresses in the movies, such as Altia Michel and Isela Vega as a foil to complement the masculinity of the superheroes.
In 1965, Santo walked out on producer Vergara over a contractual dispute, and Blue Demon suffered injuries and was thus unable to work. Vergara discovered Aaron Rodriguez, a young judo martial arts enthusiast, and offered him to star as Mil Máscaras. Máscaras was the first superhero/lucha libre personality created specifically for the movies, and he starred in 20 lucha films, including "Enigma de muerte" with John Carradine and "Mil Mascaras vs. the Aztec Mummy" with El Hijo del Santo, Blue Demon Jr., and Huracan Ramirez Jr..
Lucha films also starred other masked luchadores including Tinieblas (The Darkness), Rayo de Jalisco, Sr. (Lightning from Jalisco), El Medico Asesino (The Killer Doctor), El Fantasma Blanco (The White Ghost) and Superzan. The most successful luchador film in Mexico was "Las Momias de Guanajuato" ("The Mummies of Guanajuato"). In that 1970 film, El Santo, Blue Demon, and Mil Mascaras team up to battle a group of re-animated mummies.
When American producer K. Gordon Murray bought the rights to three of Santo’s lucha libre films, he dubbed them into English for domestic release and changed the name of the wrestling hero to "Samson". The best known luchador film made outside of Mexico is 1962's "Santo vs. Las Mujeres Vampiro" ("Samson vs. the Vampire Women"), which was featured in an episode of "Mystery Science Theater 3000". "Las Luchadoras" ("The Wrestling Women") appeared in six films, the most famous being "The Wrestling Women vs. the Aztec Mummy" (1964) and "Doctor of Doom" (1962). The popularity of lucha films started to decline by the mid-1970s and essentially came to the end by 1976. However, such films are still being created including the trilogy of Mil Mascaras films beginning with 2007's "Mil Mascaras vs. the Aztec Mummy" and followed by "Academy of Doom" and "Aztec Revenge".


Falstaff International Film Festival

Falstaff International Film Festival (FIFF) was a film festival that took place in Stratford-upon-Avon in 2009. During its inaugural year it was the largest film festival for rising talent and new cinema in the Midlands region of England. The festival supported commercial films, independent films, short films, as well as feature films. The director of the festival was Rowan M. Ashe.
Purpose.
The festival was launched to reinvigorate the local filmmaking community following the short success of two previous international film festivals in the town. The festival also recognised the importance of William Shakespeare's influence on film and in entertainment, with Stratford-upon-Avon being his birthplace.
Festival 2009.
The first festival took place from November 14 to 20 of 2009 with entries from all over the world. The festival also relaunched the Midlands Short Filmmaking Competition that celebrated achievements from regional filmmakers. An awards ceremony concluded the festival.
Although film festivals in Stratford-upon-Avon have taken place consistently every two years no announcement has been made for a 2011 festival. The town is home to many types of festivals due to the popularity of the town and its tourist attractions. A suggestion has been made that the Stratford-upon-Avon Fringe Festival that was launched in 2010 may adopt the visual arts as part of its mandate.


Abilene, Texas

Abilene ( ) is a city in Taylor and Jones Counties in Texas, United States. Its population was 117,063 at the 2010 census, and an estimated population of 123,420 in 2019 making it the 27th-most populous city in the state of Texas. It is the principal city of the Abilene metropolitan statistical area, which had an estimated population of 169,893, as of 2016. It is the county seat of Taylor County. Dyess Air Force Base is located on the west side of the city.
Abilene is located off Interstate 20, between exits 279 on its western edge and 292 on the east. It is west of Fort Worth. The city is looped by I-20 to the north, US 83/84 on the west, and Loop 322 to the east. A railroad divides the city down the center into north and south. The historic downtown area is on the north side of the railroad.
History.
Established by cattlemen as a stock shipping point on the Texas and Pacific Railway in 1881, the city was named after Abilene, Kansas, the original endpoint for the Chisholm Trail. The T&P had bypassed the town of Buffalo Gap, the county seat at the time. Eventually, a landowner north of Buffalo Gap, Clabe Merchant, known as the father of Abilene, chose the name for the new town. According to a Dallas newspaper, about 800 people had already begun camping at the townsite before the lots were sold. The town was laid out by Colonel J. Stoddard Johnson, and the auction of lots began early on March 15, 1881. By the end of the first day, 139 lots were sold for a total of $23,810, and another 178 lots were sold the next day for $27,550.
Abilene was incorporated soon after being founded in 1881, and residents began to set their sights on bringing the county seat to Abilene. In a three-to-one vote, they won the county election to do so. In 1888, the Progressive Committee was formed to attract businesses to the area, and in 1890 renamed itself as the Board of Trade. By 1900, 3,411 people lived in Abilene. In that decade, the Board of Trade changed its name to the 25,000 Club, in the hope of reaching a population of 25,000 by the next census. By 1910, though, the population had increased only to 9,204. Another group was formed, the Young Men's Booster Club, which became the Abilene Chamber of Commerce in 1914.
The cornerstone was laid in 1891 for Simmons College, the first of three universities in Abilene. It later developed as Hardin–Simmons University. Childers Classical Institute was founded in 1906, and developed as Abilene Christian University, the largest of the three. In 1923, McMurry College was founded; it later expanded its offerings as McMurry University.
In the late 20th century, Abilene succeeded in gaining branches of Texas State Technical College and Cisco Junior College. Headquarters of the latter institution are located in the city.
In 1940, Abilene raised the money to purchase land to attract establishment of a U.S. Army base, southwest of town. It was named Camp Barkeley. When fully operational, it was twice the size of Abilene, with 60,000 men. When the base closed after World War II, many worried that Abilene could become a ghost town, but as the national economy boomed, many veterans returned to start businesses in Abilene.
In the early-1950s, to advocate for an Air Force base, residents raised to purchase of land. The Southern block of Congressmen gained approval for such a base here. For decades, Dyess Air Force Base has been the city's largest employer, with 6076 employees in 2007.
From 1950 to 1960, Abilene's population nearly doubled, from 45,570 to 90,638. In 1960, a second high school was added to the city's school system, Cooper High School.
In 1966, the Abilene Zoo was established near Abilene Regional Airport. The following year, one of the most important bond elections in the city's history passed for the funding of the construction of the Abilene Civic Center and the Taylor County Coliseum, as well as major improvements to Abilene Regional Airport. In 1969, the Woodson elementary and high school for black students closed as the city integrated its school system, more than 10 years after the US Supreme Court's ruling in "Brown v. Board of Education" (1954) that segregation of public schools was unconstitutional.
In 1982, Abilene became the first city in Texas to create a downtown reinvestment zone. Texas State Technical College opened an Abilene branch three years later. The 2,250-bed French Robertson Prison Unit was built in 1989. A half-cent sales tax earmarked for economic development was created after the decline in the petroleum business in the 1980s. A branch of Cisco Junior College was located in the city in 1990.
Several major projects of restoration and new construction: The Grace Museum and Paramount Theatre, and development of Artwalk in 1992, sparked a decade of downtown revitalization. In 2004, Frontier Texas!, a multimedia museum highlighting the history of the area from 1780 to 1880, was constructed. That year an $8 million, Cisco Junior College campus was built at Loop 322 and Industrial Boulevard.
Simultaneously, subdivisions and businesses started locating along the freeway, on the same side as the CJC campus. This area attracted Abilene growth on the Loop. Abilene has become the commercial, retail, medical, and transportation hub of a 19-county area more commonly known as "The Big Country", but also known as the "Texas Midwest". It is part of the Central Great Plains ecoregion. By the end of 2005, commercial and residential development had reached record levels in and around the city.
Geography.
Abilene is located in northeastern Taylor County. The city limits extend north into Jones County. Interstate 20 leads east to Fort Worth and west to Midland. Three U.S. highways pass through the city. US 83 runs west of the city center, leading north to Anson and south to Ballinger. US 84 runs with US 83 through the southwest part of the city but leads southeast to Coleman and west with I-20 to Sweetwater. US 277 follows US 83 around the northwest side of the city and north to Anson, but heads southwest from Abilene to San Angelo.
According to the United States Census Bureau, Abilene has a total area of , of which are land and are covered by water (4.82%). The water area is mainly from three reservoirs in the city: Lytle Lake southeast of downtown on the western edge of Abilene Regional Airport, Kirby Lake on the southeast corner of the US 83/84 and Loop 322 interchange, and Lake Fort Phantom Hill in Jones County in northern Abilene. Clear Creek runs through the city just east of downtown, flowing north to Elm Creek and ultimately part of the Brazos River watershed.
The fastest-growing sections of the city are in the southwest, along Southwest Drive, the Winters Freeway, and the Buffalo Gap Road corridor; the southeast, along Loop 322, Oldham Lane, Industrial Drive, and Maple Street; and in the northeast near the intersection of SH 351 and I-20. Many developments have begun in these three areas within the last few years with a citywide focus on the reinvigoration of downtown Abilene.
Climate.
According to the Köppen climate classification, Abilene lies at the edge of a humid subtropical climate, with areas to the west being semiarid.
Demographics.
As of the census of 2000, 115,930 people, 41,570 households, and 28,101 families resided in the city. The population density was 1,102.7 people per square mile (425.8/km2). The 45,618 housing units averaged 433.9 per square mile (167.5/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 78.07% White, 8.81% African American, 0.55% Native American, 1.33% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 8.73% from other races, and 2.44% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 19.45% of the population.
Of the 41,570 households, 34.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.0% were married couples living together, 11.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.4% were not families. About 26.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.53 and the average family size was 3.07.
In the city, the population was distributed as 25.6% under the age of 18, 15.3% from 18 to 24, 28.9% from 25 to 44, 18.2% from 45 to 64, and 12.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females, there were 102.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.1 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $33,007, and for a family was $40,028. Males had a median income of $28,078 versus $20,918 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,577. About 10.9% of families and 15.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.6% of those under age 18 and 9.2% of those age 65 or over.
As of the 2010 census, Abilene had a population of 117,063. The racial and ethnic makeup of the population was 62.4% non-Hispanic White, 9.6% Black or African American, 0.7% Native American, 1.7% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 0.1% non-Hispanic reporting some other race, 3.3% of two or more races, and 24.5% Hispanic or Latino.
Economy.
The economy in Abilene was originally based on the livestock and agricultural sectors, but is now based strongly on government, education, healthcare, and manufacturing. The petroleum industry is prevalent in the surrounding area, also. The city has established incentives to bring new businesses to the area, including job training grants, relocation grants, and more.
Top employers.
The top 15 employers in Abilene, as of December 2019, are:
Government and infrastructure.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) operates the Abilene District Parole Office in the city. The Robertson Unit prison and the Middleton Unit transfer unit are in Abilene and in Jones County.
The United States Postal Service operates the Abilene Post Office and the Abilene Southern Hills Post Office.
On June 17, 2017, Abilene elected its first African-American mayor, Anthony Williams.
Education.
Secondary education.
Abilene has two school districts within the city limits, the Abilene Independent School District (AISD) and Wylie Independent School District (WISD). The local high schools are Abilene High School and Cooper High School of AISD and Wylie High School of WISD. A new building on the Hardin–Simmons University campus serves AISD high-school students as a magnet school, called Holland Medical High School, as well as HSU students as the Holland School of Sciences and Mathematics. The Holland Medical High School is affiliated with Hendrick Medical Center, which is across Ambler Avenue from the university campus. Abilene also has a new high school that opened in the fall of 2009, the Academy of Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Science. It is a STEM school, which focuses on computer science, engineering, science, and mathematics. The school only accepts about 100 students each year, provides students with their own laptop computers, and is located inside the Abilene campus of Texas State Technical College.
AISD has begun taking steps towards creating magnet schools for the district. The district is considering locating a specialized math and science classroom at McMurry University, taught by both a university professor and AISD teacher, on the campus. A plan for the future calls for the creation of a magnet school system specializing in four areas: math, science, technology, and fine arts. The four areas will be divided among each of the four middle schools in the district. Regular curricula will still be taught, but extra emphasis and equipment would be given based on the specific field of the school, such as extra labs for a science school, and an instrument lab for a fine arts school. Also, Bond Proposition 2 for the 2008 AISD bond election proposed a new Professional and Technology magnet school to be located at Lincoln Middle School, one of the oldest schools in the city, after a major renovation project.
Rankings.
Abilene ranked by "Business Outlook" magazine as the 17th city in the nation for their public education system in 2006, the highest-ranked city in Texas.
Colleges and universities.
Abilene is home to six colleges, three of which are religiously affiliated. Hardin–Simmons University is the oldest, founded in 1891. Abilene Christian University is the largest with 2012 undergraduate enrollment at 4,371.
Other.
Abilene is also home to two Charismatic and Pentecostal Christianity schools of ministry. One is Iris Abilene Camp Barkeley founded by Norm and Angel Poorman, affiliated with Heidi Baker, and the other is the Transformation School of Supernatural Ministry (TSSM) founded by Amy Black.
Notable buildings.
The many historical buildings in Abilene include:
Health care.
The largest hospital facility in the area is the Hendrick Medical Center, opened in 1934, and now consists of a 504-bed hospital facility, and employs 2,600 staff. It is one of seven healthcare institutions affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
The Abilene Regional Medical Center was built by a group of physicians in 1968 as the West Texas Medical Center. It has a 231-bed hospital, with 200 physicians and 800 staff.
The Presbyterian Medical Care Mission was founded in 1983 as a medical and dental clinic. Its services are focused to low-income individuals and families without insurance.
Culture.
The cultural aspects of Abilene revolve around a mix of the local college and university campuses, the agriculture community of the surrounding area, and the numerous evangelical churches present. Abilene is also home to the restored Paramount Theatre, The Abilene Philharmonic, The Grace Museum, the Center for Contemporary Arts, the National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature, The Abilene Zoo, Frontier Texas!, the 12th Armored Division Museum, the Taylor County Expo Center, the Abilene Convention Center, six libraries (three private, three public), 26 public parks, six television stations, a daily newspaper, and several radio stations, including one NPR station (89.5 KACU).
Recreation and entertainment.
Park system.
The Abilene park system includes 29 parks, occupying a total of . In addition, three athletic complexes located throughout the city are under the jurisdiction of the parks department.
The Abilene Zoo is a popular attraction in Abilene, boasting several hundred animals of various species. It hosts educational and summer programs, as well as special events throughout the year.
Events.
The West Texas Fair and Rodeo, held annually for 10 days in mid-September, features exhibits and amusements reflecting early days of Abilene, plus modern attractions of West Texas.
The Western Heritage Classic in early May features ranch rodeo, campfire cook-off, sheepdog trials, farrier competition, cowboy poets, a Western art show, and many other activities.
On every second Thursday evening of the month, Artwalk is held in downtown Abilene. During Artwalk, all the local museums are free, local musicians and performers busk, and several crafters and artists set up booths and sell their wares.
Several special-interest conventions, festivals, and shows are scattered throughout the year, including the Abilene Gem and Mineral Show, the West Texas Book and Music Festival, the Abilene Gun and Knife Show, and the Friends of the Abilene Public Library book sale.
Also of note is the annual Abilene High vs. Cooper High football game, the Crosstown Showdown, usually held near Halloween. Two of these games, in 2001 and 2002, were for the district championship and were called the "Showdown at Shotwell" as games were played at Shotwell Stadium.
Media.
Newspapers.
The "Abilene Reporter-News" is the primary daily newspaper of the city of Abilene and the surrounding Big Country area.
Transportation.
Airport.
The city of Abilene is served by Abilene Regional Airport.


Paula Nadelstern

Paula Nadelstern (born 1951, Bronx, NY) is an American artist, quiltmaker, author and teacher known for her kaleidoscope-themed quilts.
Nadelstern has achieved international recognition, including a one-person exhibition at the American Folk Art Museum in New York City in 2009, "Kaleidoscope Quilts: The Art of Paula Nadelstern." This exhibition marked the first one-person show at that museum of work by a contemporary quilt maker.
One of her quilts is in the permanent collection of the American Folk Art Museum and was included in the exhibition "Self-Taught Genius: Treasures from the American Folk Art Museum", which toured nationally from 2014 to 2017.
She is the author of numerous books including "Paula Nadelstern's Kaleidoscope Quilts: An Artist's Journey Continues; Kaleidoscope Quilts: The Workbook; Puzzle Quilts: Simple Blocks, Complex Fabric; Kaleidoscopes & Quilts" and "Snowflakes & Quilts."


The Beet Queen


Arthur Murphy (writer)

Arthur Murphy (27 December 1727 – 18 June 1805), also known by the pseudonym Charles Ranger, was an Irish writer.
Biography.
He was born at Cloonyquin, County Roscommon, Ireland, the son of Richard Murphy and Jane French.
He studied at Jesuit run Saint-Omer, France, and was a gifted student of the Latin and Greek classics.
He worked as an actor in the theatre, became a barrister, a journalist and finally a (not very original) playwright. He edited "Gray's Inn Journal" between 1752 and 1754. As Henry Thrale's oldest and dearest friend, he introduced Samuel Johnson to the Thrales in January 1765. He was appointed Commissioner of Bankruptcy in 1803.
Murphy is known for his translations of Tacitus in 1753. They were still published in 1922.<br>
He wrote also three biographies: his 1792 "An Essay on the Life and Genius of Samuel Johnson", his 1762 "Fielding's Works" and his 1801 "Life of David Garrick".
Murphy is thought to have coined the legal term "wilful misconstruction" whilst representing the "Donaldson v. Becket" appeal to the House of Lords in 1774 against the perpetual possession of copyright. He died at Knightsbridge, London, and was buried at Hammersmith, London.
A biography was written in 1811 by Dr. Jesse Foote. Nathaniel Dance painted his portrait which is thought to now be in the Irish National Portrait Collection.
His elder brother used his mother's surname and was known as James Murphy French (1725–59). He lived in London with his brother.
Arthur Murphy was devoted to Ann Elliot and he missed her after her early death. After Arthur Murphy's death this relationship was written about by Fanny Burney who found Murphy's devotion to Eliot fascinating.
Murphy's drama.
An example of Murphy's theatrical writings is "The Citizen", a farce, first produced at Drury Lane in 1761. The play included Ann Elliot as Maria. Ann was Murphy's protege and mistress.
Philpot, a wealthy skinflint, has bargained with Sir Jasper Wilding, a fox hunter, for his son Young Philpot, a buck and wastrel, to marry Maria Wilding, and for his daughter Sally to marry Wilding's son, for settlements and twenty thousand pounds paid to Sir Jasper. Young Philpot has lost a fortune, but borrows money from his father and embarks on an insurance fraud involving shipwrecked goods. Maria plans to marry Beaufort, who loves her. As Young Philpot tries to propose, she convinces him she is half-witted, and he spurns her. In the second act, Philpot senior is visiting Corinna, a lady of loose virtue, but hides under the table when his son calls upon her. He overhears as Young Philpot tells her how he has cajoled the money out of his father. Maria's brother surprises them, and old Philpot is also discovered, to their mutual shame. In the final scene Sir Jasper with a lawyer obtains Philpot's signature to the agreements, but meanwhile Maria, an educated girl, shows her strong character to Young Philpot and he again refuses to propose. Having signed away his rights old Philpot offers to marry her, but the lawyer reveals himself as Beaufort, and explains that he has swapped the deeds, so that Philpot has unwittingly signed his agreement for Maria to marry Beaufort.
Works.
Dramas.
All dates refer to the play's first production, except where otherwise stated.


Sicily Sewell

Sicily Sewell (born October 1, 1985) is a former American actress and television producer. She is sometimes credited in film or television as simply with a mononym Sicily. Following the birth of two daughters Sewell transitioned to being a restaurateur.
Television and film career.
She made her television appearance on an Emmy Award-winning episode of "Sesame Street" when she was eight years old.
She played "Young Aisha" in a two-part episode of Season 2 of "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" called "Rangers Back In Time", as well as in the 10 part mini series "Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers".
She starred as young Diana in the hit miniseries, "Mama Flora's Family" in 1998, and as Angela Bassett's niece in the film "How Stella Got Her Groove Back".
For 4 seasons, Sewell portrayed Spirit Jones, the best friend of Breanna Barnes (played by Kyla Pratt) in the sitcom "One on One". Citing a decision by UPN to move in a different direction for the fifth season, Sicily was let go from "One on One" on June 20, 2005. This change came at a time when she was only nine episodes away from syndication.
Sewell also appeared in the Lifetime original movie "" alongside Ernie Hudson, Edwin Hodge and Jami Gertz in August 2005.
Chef and restaurateur.
Sewell's family has a long tradition of skilled cookery. She has told interviewers she is much happier as a chef and restaurateur than she was an actor.
In 2010, while Sewell was attending the Hollywood campus of Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts, she was an intern at the "Los Angeles Times" Test Kitchen. Sewell subsequently graduated, with honours.
Sewell and her mother are co-owners of a soul food restaurant known as "Pinky and Red's", in Berkeley, California. In late 2019 Sewell was hired as the chef of a high-profile restaurant known as "Colors", in New York City.


Equinox (opera)

Equinox is a Slovene-language opera by the Slovenian composer Marjan Kozina (1907–1966)). Based on a play by Ivo Vojnović, Kozina wrote the score and the libretto from 1940 until 1943, and then buried it in the garden of his parents to prevent its loss during the World War II. It was first performed in Ljubljana on May 2, 1946, conducted by Samo Hubad. In 1948, Kozina received the Prešeren Award for it.


Jacqueline Dupuis

Jacqueline Dupuis is a Canadian who was executive director of the Calgary International Film Festival and the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF).
Early life.
Dupuis grew up on a farm in Biggar, Saskatchewan. She was a student of economics at the University of Saskatchewan. After graduation, she worked in the tech sector for Sun Microsystems (later acquired by Oracle) and Xerox.
Career.
Dupuis was the executive director of the CIFF for six years. According to Marsha Lederman of "The Globe and Mail", she was responsible for "pulling the Calgary International Film Festival from the brink of insolvency." Eric Volmers of the "Calgary Herald" said that she increased the cultural impact of the festival on the city during her time as executive director, despite cuts to government and corporate funding.
Dupuis joined VIFF in 2012 as its first executive director. During the eight years Dupuis was with the VIFF, which ended in 2019, the festival experienced a growth of 40 per cent. Dupuis expanded the programming of VIFF to include virtual reality and gaming.


The Old Trout Puppet Workshop

The Old Trout Puppet Workshop is a puppet theatre company, founded on a ranch in southern Alberta in 1999. The company's first year of operation was an experience of intense collaborative isolation – the Trouts lived together, cooked together, and worked together. They collected eggs, fed the pigs, and premiered their first show to a bunkhouse full of cowboys and Hutterites. A year later, they moved to Calgary, having exhausted the joys of living in a coal-heated shack. The Trouts now travel the world, performing at festivals that celebrate the art of the extraordinary.
The Old Trout Puppet Workshop is dedicated to making professional puppet theatre, for both children and adults, that blurs that distinction. The Trouts explore the outer edges of the puppet medium, and create original, unique, and exuberant art. An Old Trout show strives for delightful allegory, joyful tragedy, and purity of spirit.
The company has written, designed, built and performed the following plays: Ignorance, The Erotic Anguish of Don Juan, Famous Puppet Death Scenes, The Unlikely Birth of Istvan, Beowulf, The Tooth Fairy, The Last Supper of Antonin Careme, Pinocchio, The Ice King and their most recent show Jabberwocky.
Filmography includes Comedia Moderna, for Canada's cinematic underground, funded in part by the Bravo television network.
The Feist video "Honey, Honey" features the work of the Old Trouts.
Founding members are Judd Palmer, Peter Balkwill and Steve Kenderes.


Iko Uwais

Iko Uwais (born Uwais Qorny; February 12, 1983) is an Indonesian actor, stuntman, fight choreographer, and martial artist. He is best known for starring in the action films "Merantau" (2009), "The Raid" (2011), "The Raid 2" (2014), "Headshot" (2016), "Mile 22" (2018)," The Night Comes for Us" (2018), "Stuber" (2019) and the Netflix series "Wu Assassins" (2019–present).
Early life.
Uwais was born in Jakarta, Indonesia, and is the son of Maisyaroh and Mustapha Kamaluddin. His grandfather, H. Achmad Bunawar, was a silat master and founded a silat school.
Career.
In 2007, Uwais was discovered by director Gareth Evans, who was filming a documentary about silat in Uwais's training hall. Uwais's natural charisma and great camera presence encouraged Evans to cast him as the leading role for his first martial art movie, "Merantau". After signing a five-year contract with Gareth Evans and his production company, Uwais resigned from his daytime job as an operational driver at , an Indonesian telecom company.
In his first acting experience in "Merantau", Uwais played the role of a young Minang (West-Sumatran), which led him to learn the Minang style of silat harimau (tiger style) from Master Edwel Datuk Rajo Gampo Alam. "Merantau" was released in Indonesia on August 6, 2009. The film was featured in Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival in South Korea and Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas with highly positive reviews. "Merantau" won the Best Film award at ActionFest 2010.
Uwais's second collaboration with Gareth Evans was "The Raid" (known as "The Raid: Redemption" in the United States), which began filming in mid-March 2011 and was released in mid-2012. The movie has been hailed by critics and audiences in various festivals as one of the best martial art movies in years.
Uwais collaborated on a third movie with Evans, "The Raid 2". Uwais also appeared briefly in "" (2015), alongside "The Raid 2" co-star Yayan Ruhian.
In 2016, he appeared in the martial arts film "Headshot", which received generally positive reviews.
In 2017, he filmed the international martial arts film "Triple Threat", together with Tony Jaa, Tiger Chen, and Scott Adkins—the film was released in early 2019. In 2018, Uwais starred in the films, "Mile 22" and "The Night Comes for Us". In the same year, it was announced that Uwais was cast in the lead role of Kai Jin on the Netflix series, "Wu Assassins". The series premiered on August 8, 2019. Uwais will reprise his role in the upcoming sequel film, "Wu Assassins: Fistful of Vengeance".
In 2019, Uwais starred in the action comedy film "Stuber" alongside Kumail Nanjiani and Dave Bautista. In the same year, it was announced that Uwais will appear in a film called "China Town Express" playing a man who must fight through the gangland of New York to save his family after the disappearance of his son during a gang's killing spree. Uwais is also attached to star in "The Bellhop", one of the first five films in development by Balboa Productions, the new production company co-founded by Sylvester Stallone in 2018.
Uwais will star next in the upcoming action thriller, "Chinatown Express" and as Hard Master in "Snake Eyes", a spin-off from the "G.I. Joe" movie franchise. The latter title is scheduled to be released on July 23, 2021.
Personal life.
On June 25, 2012, Uwais married singer Audy Item at the Hotel Gran Mahakam in Jakarta. The couple have two daughters, Atreya Syahla Putri Uwais and Aneska Layla Putri Uwais.


Bourekas film

Bourekas films () were a genre of Israeli-made comic melodrama films popular in Israel in the 1960s and 1970s.
History.
"Haaretz" film critic Uri Klein describes Bourekas films as a "peculiarly Israeli genre of comic melodramas or tearjerkers... based on ethnic stereotypes". They were "home-grown farces and melodramas that provided escapist entertainment during a tense period in Israeli history".
The term is said to have been coined by the Israeli film director Boaz Davidson, the creator of several such films, as a play-on-words on the "Spaghetti Western" genre, known as such because that particular Western subgenre was produced in Italy. Bourekas are a popular food in Israeli cuisine.
Although Bourekas films were some of the most successful in the box office, they typically received terrible reviews from critics. They were cited as "low-brow" and "vulgar", with great concern as to this genre of film representing the Israeli people abroad. In critiquing "Sallah Shabbati" Biltzki in "Al hoMishmar" said, "Because parties in Israel are presented not only in the distorted mirror of a distorted humor but also in the ugly mirror of the image of public and organizational life...One has to think twice if such a film should represent us abroad".
At the end of the 1970s, the popularity of the Bourekas film declined. In the 1980s, Israeli films became more politically charged and began to address controversial topics. Nowadays many of the Bourekas films have gained cult status in Israel.
Themes.
The main theme in most Bourekas films is the conflict between ethnic cultures in Israel, in particular between the Mizrahi Jews and the Ashkenazi Jews, and in colonialist terms, between the "third world" (Mizrahi) and the "first world" (Ashkenazic). The protagonist is usually a Mizrahi Jewish man, almost always poor, canny and with street smarts, who comes into conflict with the institutions of the state or figures of Ashkenazi origin—mostly portrayed as rich, conceited, arrogant, cold-hearted and alienated. In many of these films, actors imitate different Hebrew accents, especially that of Jews originating from Morocco, Persia, and Poland. They employ slapstick humour, alternative identities and a combination of comedy and melodrama.
Zuckermann (2005) argues that although "burekas films like "snúker" (Boaz Davidson 1975) and "khakhám gamliél" (Joel Silberg 1974) are regarded by many as the epitome of mizrahi culture, [they] are hybridic and modelled upon Ashkenazic "shtetl" life as in "kúni lémel" and "shtétl kabtsíel" in Méndele Móykher Sfórim's "beémek habakhá"."
In a paper entitled "A Shtetl in Disguise: Israeli Bourekas Films and their Origins in Classical Yiddish Literature", Rami Kimchi claims that the portrayal of Israeli Mizrahi communities in these films bears a strong resemblance to the portrayal of the 19th century East European shtetl by classic Yiddish writers. Kimchi attributes the commercial success of these films to their "hybridity", i.e. they were Israeli/Mizrahi and Diasporic/Ashkenazi at one and the same time, thereby satisfying the political, sociological, and psychological needs of both Mizrahi and Ashkenazi audiences in Israel. He believes eleven films produced between 1964 and 1977 make up the corpus of the genre.
Actors and directors.
Bourekas films were highly successful in Israel during the 1960s and 1970s, but were also criticized for being shallow. Some of the main actors and directors were:
Subgenres.
"Gefilte fish" films, also known as "bourekas for Ashkenazim", are a marginal group of Bourekas films that feature Ashkenazi protagonists and ghetto folklore. Some films in this subgenre include:
Notable films.
Several prominent Bourekas films are listed below in chronological order of production.


Marie Matiko

Marie Matiko (born September 12, 1970) is an American actress.
Early life.
Marie Matiko is of Chinese, Japanese and Filipino descent, born in Los Angeles County and grew up in Huntington Beach. She grew up wanting to become a concert pianist. In high school, she auditioned for The Young Americans, where she was taught singing, dancing and performing in a conservatory setting.
She was an environmental engineering major at UCLA. While still in college, she auditioned for the first national tour of "Miss Saigon". She traded an ROTC scholarship for the role of "Gigi/Mimi" when she was picked by producer Cameron Mackintosh for the first national tour of "Miss Saigon". While on the road, she continued taking academic classes at community colleges. She was inspired by The Joy Luck Club to pursue film acting and after leaving "Miss Saigon", Matiko returned to Los Angeles to pursue it.
In 2008, Matiko finished her degree from UCLA during the Hollywood Writer's Strike.
Film and television.
Matiko is known for her starring roles as Julia in "The Art of War" and as Betty in the 2006 film "Date Movie".
For her performance in "The Art of War", she garnered the nomination for Best Actress in a Feature Film at the 2001 AX Awards (the Asian-American Film and TV awards). Matiko was one of the AX Awards Top 20 Newcomers in 2006.
In New Line Cinema's "The Corruptor", produced by Oliver Stone, Marie Lan Matiko debuted on film as the love interest of Chow Yun-Fat. Challenging acting work from the start, she won the role of May, a heroin-addict and indentured servant trapped by NY Chinatown's Triads. Under the direction of James Foley ("Glengarry Glen Ross"), Chow Yun-Fat and Mark Wahlberg share textured scene work alongside Matiko.
In Fox's 2007 release "Date Movie", Matiko made her comedic debut alongside Fred Willard and Jennifer Coolidge, playing Betty.
In the 2007 "Dennis the Menace Christmas," she played Mrs. Walsh-Mellman, Dennis's grade school teacher. Matiko also voices the group therapist of Dennis's frustrated parents.
Additional film and television credits include Universal's "Mystery Men", TBS's "Counterstrike", CBS's "The District" and Michael Mann's "Robbery Homicide Division". Matiko voiced Gong Li's parts in Michael Mann's "Miami Vice" and voiced opposite Lucy Liu and Patrick Warburton in the Carsey-Werner Production, UPN's "Game Over" in television's first full-length CGI cartoon. She was also in Forbidden Warrior, where Matiko plays Seki, the forbidden warrior.
Matiko was also on the popular TV series "" playing the roles of Pao Ssu and K'ao Hsin, the twin daughters of Xena's spiritual mentor, Lao Ma. Her characters are on several collectible "Xena:The Warrior Princess" trading cards.


Regina (pottery)

The Regina pottery factory, "Kunstaardewerkfabriek Regina", existed from 1898 to 1979. Located in Gouda, Holland, the factory was established in Queen Wilhelmina's coronation year 1898, hence the name Regina, Latin for "queen." Initially, the company made earthenware tobacco pipes, like almost all Gouda pottery factories.
History.
The factory was founded by Gerrit Frederik van der Want, a descendant of the Gouda pottery family Van der Want, and Georges Antoine Alexis Barras, a Belgian lender and art collector. Their initials WB are also on almost all products. Regina started with the production of art pottery in 1917, because the company was able to buy a number of (pottery) molds from the bankrupt Rozenburg pottery factory, which made high-quality pottery in the period from 1883 to 1917.
The biggest competitor of Regina in the field of decorative and colored pottery was the Plateelbakkerij Zuid-Holland (PZH). In the beginning, Regina produced the shiny plateel pottery, but it soon became clear that the general public preferred the new matt veneered plate. PZH was, for the time being, an unmatched competitor in this field. In its heyday Regina produced for large foreign retailers, including in England (Liberty of London) and in Canada (Ryrie Birks).
Deteriorating company results, a poor economy, and the bad health of Otto van der Want (son of the founder), made him decide to close the earthenware factory in 1979. The name was sold to Artihove, which produced Regina-palette until 1993.
The productive period of Regina can be divided into the following periods, each with their own type of pottery:
During and after the Second World War, Regina tried unsuccessfully to produce dinner services. Floris Meydam's designs such as the mint green coffee, tea and dinner service are examples of this. The plateel factory was located at the Oosthaven in Gouda.
Museum Gouda (formerly known as Museum De Moriaan), has a collection of Regina pottery.


Porcelain money

Porcelain money refers to coins and tokens made of porcelain intended for economic exchange. Most famous are the German Notgeld struck between 1921 and 1923, and the gambling tokens used as petty coinage in Siam with Chinese characters.
German Notgeld 1921–1923.
The German porcelain Notgeld are special form of Notgeld between the years 1915 and 1923, in the years before the German Hyperinflation, and a shortage of small change. Most of the porcelain Notgeld are produced for collectors in sets. These special form of coins were struck in Meissen in Saxony in the years 1921 to 1923. Most of the coins were done in red Böttgerstoneware, but also in white porcelain. Some of them are partly gilt. They were issued for the province Saxony in the cities Meissen and Freiberg, the state of Thuringia in the city of Eisenach, in Silesia in the city of Münsterberg and in Saxony-Anhalt in the city of Quedlinburg. Building on the popularity of these tokens, Meissen continued to strike Medals in porcelain and stoneware.
Siamese Gambling Tokens 1760–1875.
Also known as "Thai porcelain tokens" or "pee" (Chinese: 暹罗陶瓷代币 "Xuanluo taoci daibi"). "Pee" is a form of the Wade 币 ""pi". They should strictly speaking be called "bi"". Originally tokens for gambling, these small porcelain tokens became popular as petty coinage. They come in all variety of forms: round, square, and rectangular. Some have inscriptions in Chinese or Thai, some have a pictorial design. There are several collections of these in museums around the world, including the British Museum, the Museum Volkenkunde (Leiden), the Sammlung Köhler-Osbahr (Duisburg).
Malaysian clay gaming tokens.
These were issued in Chinese settlements in the Malay states, for use in gaming establishments, and then as currency. The early tokens were imported from Siam/Thailand, and over time they began to be made locally too. They were easy and cheap to produce. To deal with large-scale counterfeiting, licensed issuers would change the designs frequently. This eventually led to the appearance of new-type gambling counters, called jokoh.


Short draw

Fat draw is the spinning technique used to create worsted yarns. It is spun from combed roving, slivers or wool top – anything with the fibers all lined up parallel to the yarn. It is generally spun from long stapled fibers. Short draw spun yarns are smooth, strong, sturdy yarns, and dense. Short draw spun yarns also tend to not be very elastic. These characteristics make them good for use in weaving.
Short draw spinning is most often contrasted to the long draw technique used to spin woolen yarns.
Technique.
The two main characteristics of the short draw technique is that the spinner keeps their hands close to each other, at slightly more than the distance of the fiber length or staple length, and that the twist is kept between the second hand and the wheel – there is never any twist between the two hands.
There are three subtypes within the short draw technique, depending on which hand is active. In forward short draw, the hand closest to the wheel is the active hand. The passive hand stays in the same place throughout, gently holding the fibers fanned out into a triangle shape known as the drafting triangle. The active hand moves forward as it pulls fibers from the drafting triangle, and then back as it allows twist into the newly created yarn. Generally about an inch of fibers are pulled from the drafting technique, much less than the fiber length. While drafting (pulling the fibers from the drafting triangle) the twist is kept out of the yarn, and is only allowed in as the active hand moves back towards the passive one. The twist is never allowed to get between the active and the passive hand. When the active hand is back at the distance of the staple length from the passive, the whole technique repeats.
In backwards short draw, the hand closest to the wheel is the passive hand. It pinches new fibers, but these are drawn out by the other hand, the one farther from the wheel, as it moves backwards. Once the fibers are all drawn out, the active hand is moved forward, and twist is allowed into the new yarn as it passes through the passive hand.
The difference between backwards and forwards short draw is simply which hand is active. In each, one hand is active, and the other is passive. The combination short draw is simply a combination of the other two, with both hands being both active and passive, depending on the moment.
Preparation.
Traditional preparation for short draw spinning is combing, as combing requires the long stapled fibers preferred for the short draw technique, and it also leaves the fibers parallel, which is a characteristic of short draw spun yarns. The combed fiber can then be drafted to form a sliver or roving (if the fibers are twisted slightly after drafting, it is called a roving—if not, it is a sliver), or spun directly.
The short draw technique can be done from carded rolags, as well, but this does not produce a strictly worsted yarn. Yarns spun from a rolag will not have all the fibers parallel to the yarn though, with the short draw technique, many will be. Drum carded fiber, however, does have the fibers all parallel to each other, and thus can be used to create a strictly worsted yarn.
In use.
Short draw is one of, if not the first method that a handspinner will learn when they learn to spin. It is simpler, and requires less confidence and practice to create an even yarn, than the long draw technique. However, many handspinners will use a combination of short draw and long draw techniques. For example, it is common for a handspinner to allow the twist to get between the two hands, as is done in long draw. Though the spinner may follow the short draw technique in all other points, this is not technically short draw, and doesn't have a commonly recognized name of its own. Short draw is much more widespread in its use than long draw, as many spinners do not know how to use the long draw technique.
The lack of elasticity in short draw spun yarns make them perfect for weaving, especially for the warp. It makes them less desirable for knitting in general, as the yarn doesn't fluff up and fill out the stitch, though it does make for good stitch definition.
The original spinning machinery was based on the short draw technique. Instead of an active and passive hand, the drafting was done by two sets of rollers moving at different speeds. However, the short draw characteristics remain: the fibers in the resulting yarn are all parallel, and there is no twist in the drafting area. Even in the modern day, many spinning machines are based on this principle.


Senario

Senario is a Malaysian sketch comedy troupe responsible for their titular show (also called Senario) that had aired on TV3 from June 1996 to 2013, in which due to its popularity has also spawned a franchise of comedy films featuring its cast.
Members.
The troupe started off as finalists and one of the host of the TV3-run talent show "Sinaran Pasport Kegemilangan" that took place in the early 1990s with 7 members in its inception. Some of its original cast had undergone several replacements during its 17-year-long run; whereas only Mazlan Ahmad (stage name: Lan Pet-Pet), Azlee Jaafar and Abdul Wahid (stage name:Wahid) remain as the core members of the troupe.
History.
The Senario group was established in 1996 as a result of a combination of 6 participants of the "Sinaran Pasport Kegemilangan" together with the host of the tv competition programme, Farouk Hussain. The Farouk-hosted competition was running in early 90's and in 1994 season, Shamsul Ghau Ghau was crowned as the champion and Mazlan Ahmad became the runner-up.
The group was originally composed of Farouk Hussain as the leader of the Senario group, and members of the group Wahid, Ilya, Hamdan, Shamsul, Azlee and Mazlan. The name of the group, Senario is taken from the idea of Farouk who called them a "noisy" group, "senang riuh" (English: getting loud easily) and eventually became Senario after being re-inspired by Shamsul Ghau Ghau. They were entrusted with the success of their own TV program, also named Senario in June 1996 with four introductory episodes featuring comedy characters. Apparently, the comedy sitcom has been well received and they earned their permanent spot at "TV3" channel.
Soon, Farouk and Shamsul left Senario and the group moved with five members until eventually Ilya and Hamdan also resigned around 1998. Then Senario welcomed their fourth entry, Saiful Apek and then became five with the arrival of Yassin Yahya. Senario reached its zenith as a comedian group with five members consisting of Wahid, Azlee, Lan, Yassin and Saiful Apek. However, in 2002, Yassin withdrew from Senario because his contract had expired and there was controversy with narcotics use until Senario's name was slightly tarnished. Subsequently, Saiful Apek also resigned from Senario because he wanted to move solo in 2004, which marked the hiatus in Senario career. After 2005, Azlee, Lan and Wahid were the only members of Senario left and they were still active until the group's second hiatus in 2013. After the almost one full year of break, the group has gained publicity for their role in shaping and paving the paths for new generation of Malaysian comedians to shine.
In 2014, the Senario Group was awarded "Anugerah Komedi Sepanjang Zaman". All members of the Scenario Group were present at the "Anugerah Lawak Warna" 2014 for the reception of the recognition.
Starting in 2017, Senario together with former group members such as Hamdan, Ilya, Saiful Apek and Yassin have recreated with a new name form on Senariounion. The group would also like to re-invite the earliest members such as Shamsul Ghau-Ghau and Farouk Hussein (invited appearance).
Throughout their careers Senario was the first legal group that competed in "Anugerah Juara Lagu" and managed to reach the final stages of the competition in 2001 and 2006. This marked a history in the music industry in the country because Senario managed to give something other singers could not offer since all of their songs have lyrics that consist the elements of advice not only comedy in nature.
Their achievements in the field of singing is proven as a great success for Senario itself, which subsequently opened many business opportunities, deals and ventures in food and beverages industry by using Senario as a brand.
Senario signed many film franchise deals throughout their careers with different film directors such as Aziz M. Osman who directed 5 films i.e., "Senario The Movie" (1999), "Senario Lagi" (2000), "Lagi-Lagi Senario" ( 2001), "Senario XX" (2005) and "Senario Pemburu Emas Yamashita" (2006). Other Senario films are "Lang Buana" (2003) directed by Mamat Khalid, "Senario The Movie: Episode 1" (2008) and "Senario The Movie: Episode 2 - Beach Boys" (2009) directed by Ahmad Idham, "Senario Asam Garam" (2010) directed by Hatta Azad Khan and "Senario The Movie Ops Pocot" (2011) directed by Ismail 'Bob' Hashim.
Senario is very well-respected in Malaysia and considered as one of the early influencers. Every dialogue in their weekly sketches will be emulated by publics in their daily conversations. Their comedy is always regarded as a high class comedy instead of obscene nature of other comedians, thus capturing the hearts of Malaysians from all walks of life.


I Wish It So