Classic Movies: “M*A*S*H” Celebrates 50 Years Since Release In January 1970

MASH (stylized on-screen as M*A*S*H) is a 1970 American black comedy war film directed by Robert Altman and written by Ring Lardner Jr., based on Richard MASH Movie Poster Release Date January 1970Hooker’s novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors. The picture is the only theatrically released feature film in the M*A*S*H franchise, and it became one of the biggest films of the early 1970s for 20th Century Fox.

The film depicts a unit of medical personnel stationed at a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) during the Korean War. It stars Donald Sutherland, Tom Skerritt, and Elliott Gould, with Sally Kellerman, Robert Duvall, René Auberjonois, Gary Burghoff, Roger Bowen, Michael Murphy, and in his film debut, professional football player Fred Williamson. Although the Korean War is the film’s storyline setting, the subtext is the Vietnam War — a current event at the time the film was made.[1]

The film won Grand Prix du Festival International du Film, later named Palme d’Or, at 1970 Cannes Film Festival. The film went on to receive five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and won for Best Adapted Screenplay. MASH was deemed “culturally significant” by the Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. The Academy Film Archive preserved MASH in 2000.[2] The film inspired the television series M*A*S*H, which ran from 1972 to 1983.

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Top New Travel Videos: “SESEL SA – These Are The Seychelles” (2020)

Filmed and Edited by: Dennis Schmelz

Mother Nature was unbelievably generous with the Seychelles, a fabled paradise whose islands lie scattered across the Indian Ocean. Spellbinding beaches are the main attraction, and what beaches. Exquisite ribbons of sand lapped by turquoise waters and backed by lush hills, palm trees and Dali-esque boulders.

SESEL SA - These are the Seychelles travel video by Dennis Schmelz January 20 2020

Beyond the beach, diving and snorkelling are brilliant in the warm waters amid abundant marine life, while few places on the planet do ocean-side luxury quite like the Seychelles. Mahé is the largest island and entry point to the Seychelles, with some fabulous resorts, restaurants and beaches, not to mention the small capital city of Victoria. But it’s also the busiest island, with glorious Praslin and La Digue a short boat ride away. Even further out, there are real lost-world islands to be found.

SESEL SA - These are the Seychelles travel video by Dennis Schmelz January 20 2020

2nd Camera & Timelapses: Gloria Regonesi & Lau Fong Sung
Editing, Grading & Sounddesign: Dennis Schmelz

Music: Pioneers by Spencer Wilson & Jamie Elder

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Politics: Tamara Keith And Amy Walter Discuss The 2020 Campaign (PBS Video)

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report join Judy Woodruff to discuss the latest political news, including what Democratic voters in Iowa are thinking about the 2020 primary race, the elusive definition of “electability” and how President Trump’s Senate impeachment trial could affect the candidates.

New Books: “The Making Of Poetry – Coleridge, The Wordsworths And Their Year Of Marvels”

The Making of Poetry Coleridge, The Wordsworth and Their Year of Marvels Adam Nicolson 2020 US ReleaseIn The Making of Poetry, Adam Nicolson embeds himself in the reality of this unique moment, exploring the idea that these poems came from this particular place and time, and that only by experiencing the physical circumstances of the year, in all weathers and all seasons, at night and at dawn, in sunlit reverie and moonlit walks, can the genesis of the poetry start to be understood.

June 1797 to September 1798 is the most famous year in English poetry. Out of it came Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and “Kubla Khan,” as well as his unmatched hymns to friendship and fatherhood, and William Wordsworth’s revolutionary songs in Lyrical Ballads along with “Tintern Abbey,” Wordsworth’s paean to the unity of soul and cosmos, love and understanding.

Excerpt from The Prelude by Wordsworth and Coleridge

The poetry Wordsworth and Coleridge made was not from settled conclusions but from the adventure on which they embarked, thinking of poetry as a challenge to all received ideas, stripping away the dead matter, looking to shed consciousness and so change the world. What emerges is a portrait of these great figures seen not as literary monuments but as young men, troubled, ambitious, dreaming of a vision of wholeness, knowing they had greatness in them but still in urgent search of the paths toward it.

The artist Tom Hammick accompanied Nicolson for much of the year, making woodcuts from the fallen timber in the park at Alfoxden where the Wordsworths lived. Interspersed throughout the book, his images bridge the centuries, depicting lives at the source of our modern sensibility: a psychic landscape of doubt and possibility, full of beauty and thick with desire for a kind of connectedness that seems permanently at hand and yet always out of reach.

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Profiles: The Minimalist Aesthetic Of London Architect John Pawson

From a The Modern House online article:

“Simplicity in architecture can sometimes only be achieved by the most complex of means.”

John Pawson Anatomy of Minimum PHAIDON Publishing 2019British architectural designer John Pawson has, in a career spanning over three decades, created an inimitable body of work characterized by its distillment of the fundamental ingredients of architecture into their most elemental, elegant expressions.

His design practice, which began primarily with residential commissions, now extends to churches, museums, ballet sets, textiles, kitchenware and furniture. Despite his minimalistArchitect John Pawson approach, Pawson is sensitive to the intimate rituals of daily life and his buildings are far from austere: instead, they elegantly make the case for the clarity and freedom to be found in the act of reduction.

In a new book published by Phaidon, writer Alison Morris explores Pawson’s most recent projects, shedding light on his working process and influences accompanied by stunning photographs, drawings and imagery from his personal journal.

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2020 Candidates: New York Times Endorses “Both” Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren For President

From a New York Times Editorial (January 20, 2020):

Any hope of restoring unity in the country will require modesty, a willingness to compromise and the support of the many demographics that make up the Democratic coalition — young and old, in red states and blue, black and brown and white. For Senator Klobuchar, that’s acknowledging the depth of the nation’s dysfunction. For Senator Warren, it’s understanding that the country is more diverse than her base.

NY Times Endorse Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren for Democratic Presidential Candidate

…Amy Klobuchar has emerged as a standard-bearer for the Democratic center. Her vision goes beyond the incremental. Given the polarization in Washington and beyond, the best chance to enact many progressive plans could be under a Klobuchar administration.

…Elizabeth Warren has emerged as a standard-bearer for the Democratic left…Ms. Warren has proposed to pay for an expanded social safety net by imposing a new tax on wealth. But even if she could push such a bill through the Senate, the idea is constitutionally suspect and would inevitably be bogged down for years in the courts. A conservative judiciary also could constrain a President Warren’s regulatory powers, and roll back access to health care.

Ms. Klobuchar and Ms. Warren right now are the Democrats best equipped to lead that debate. May the best woman win.

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Studies: Openly Given “Placebos” Are Effective For Chronic Pain Relief

From a Wall Street Journal online article:

Researchers in Germany published a study in the journal Pain in December showing that open-label placebos can help relieve chronic lower-back pain, Placebo Expectation of Benefitsreplicating a 2016 study. A similar study by University of Colorado, Boulder researchers found that placebo saline injections reduce chronic lower-back pain.

Two other recent studies showed placebos openly given to cancer patients helped relieve cancer-related fatigue. And a forthcoming study by German researchers found openly giving placebo to elderly patients helped improve knee pain.

More researchers are looking at the idea of placebos—substances that have no actual pharmaceutical effect—as an alternative to traditional pain medications, which can be ineffective and carry significant side effects. Placebos might have particular potential for difficult-to-treat conditions like chronic back pain, cancer-related fatigue and symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, researchers hope.

As many as 30% to 50% of chronic pain patients will respond to placebos, research suggests. And new studies are helping to identify genetic and brain differences that make certain people more likely to respond.

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Tributes: LIFE Magazine Photographer Bill Ray Dies At 84 (1936 – 2020)

From a The Guardian online release:

Bill Ray, primarily known for his work for Life magazine, has died aged 84. Born in Nebraska in 1936, he graduated from local newspapers to a staff job on Life, and photographed 46 covers for Newsweek. He was famed for his images of celebrities, and also covered the Hells Angels motorcycle club and the aftermath of the Watts riots.

Photographer Bill Ray Elvis

Photographer Bill Ray Art Goes Pop!

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Medical Procedures: Inside Look At “Total Hip Replacement” Surgery

Head “Inside the OR” with Michael D. Stover, MD, and see what it takes to tackle a total hip replacement. Sound on for this one!

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Fine Art: Magic Realism In The Work Of Dutch Painter Carel Willink

Sotheby's LogoCarel Willink was a pioneer of Magic Realism, an avant-garde movement of Dutch modernism closely associated with Surrealism. In this episode of Anatomy of an Artwork, discover how a visit to Italy’s Bomarzo Gardens following the death of his wife inspired a series of paintings featuring monsters, see how Willink drew further inspiration from dream-like images and illusions, and learn how his near-photographic style exudes a sense of mystery and enchantment.

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