MOSCOW - posledny pereulok & kamergersky pereulok, 09/03/09

These are a part of the pictures I thought I have lost...

G9 R.I.P.

My camera mysteriously stopped working at 5AM. I still don't know if I will be able to get my +1000 shots back from yesterday. I'll get a replacement camera this afternoon. I will hopefully share new portraits here by tomorrow. I hope you'll understand. In the mean time, you can check my first post on my other blog.

All About Walt Disney

Walt Disney was born December 5 1901, Chicago Illinois, USA.

Died December 15 1966, Los Angeles California, USA.
Walt Disney's Father was Elias Disney, his Mother was Flora Call Disney and his Wife was Lillian Disney.
Walt Disney was an American film producer, a director, a screen writer, a voice actor, an animator and a philanthropist.
The Walt Disney Company today, the company he co-founded, has annual revenues of an estimated US $30 billion, but how did that all happen? Well read on to find out a little more all about Walt Disney.
Born in Chicago, at age 5, Walt Disney moved to a farm near Marceline, Missouri. Here Disney loved to draw and play with his younger sister Ruth, in the pond, with the animals, in the trees.
In 1910 Walt Disney moved to Kansas City and began attending the Benton Grammar School. He graduated June 8 1911. In 1917 he began freshman year at McKinley High School, Chicago, Illinois and also enrolled in a night course at Chicago Art Institute.

At the age of 16 Walt Disney dropped out of school to join the Army but as he was too young he instead joined the Red Cross with a birth certificate forged by his mother (to make him 17 and not 16). He drove an ambulance in France covered in Disney characters.
In 1922 Walt started "Laugh-O-Grams", selling short animated films to local companies in Kansas. The company ended but Walt still had the work he had begun on The Alice Comedies.
In Los Angeles Walt Disney set up "Disney Brother's Studio". He hired Lillian Bounds to ink and paint celluloid and she later became his wife. They married July 15 1925.
Mickey Mouse was created in 1928, his birthday be November 18, the release date of Steamboat Willie. He was originally named "Mortimer" but later christened "Mickey Mouse" by Lillian Disney. Mickey changed to color in 1935 and soon gained supporting characters like Donald Duck, Goofy and Pluto. In 1932 Disney received a special Academy Award for Mickey Mouse's creation.
Walt Disney worked on Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs from 1934 until 1937. This was the first animated feature animation in English and also Technicolor. The premier was December 21 1937 with a standing ovation. Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs became the most successful motion picture of 1938 and earned over $8 which today would be $98. Walt Disney then completed Pinocchio, Fantasia and Bambi.

Walt Disney started to draw plans for Disneyland, California, USA in the last 1940s. It opened July 17 1955 and is still open today. It is now called Disneyland Park and has been since 1998.
In 1964, Mary Poppins, Walt Disney's most successful film of the 60s was released.
Walt Disney World Resort, Florida began construction in 1967 and opened in 1971.
Walt Disney sadly died of lung cancer, after years of chain smoking, in 1966. His brother, Roy O. Disney carried on with the Florida project but died in 1971, just months after it opened.
Today, the Walt Disney Company owns, among other assets, two water parks, eleven theme parks, five vacation resorts, thirty nine hotels, eight motion picture studios, six record labels, eleven cable television networks, and one terrestrial television network.

Banshee

The Banshee (pronounced /ˈbænʃiː/, BAN-shee), from the Irish bean sí ("woman of the síde" or "woman of the fairy mounds") is a female spirit in Irish mythology, usually seen as an omen of death and a messenger from the Otherworld. Her Scottish counterpart is the bean shìth (also spelled bean-shìdh).

The aos sí (people of the mounds, people of peace) are variously believed to be the survivals of pre-Christian Gaelic deities, spirits of nature, or the ancestors. Some Theosophists and Celtic Christians have referred to the aos sí as "fallen angels". They are commonly referred to in English as "fairies", and the banshee can also be described as a "fairy woman".

The bean-sidhe (woman of the fairy) may be an ancestral spirit appointed to forewarn members of certain ancient Irish families of their time of death. According to tradition, the banshee can only cry for five major Irish families: the O'Neills, the O'Briens, the O'Connors, the O'Gradys and the Kavanaghs. Intermarriage has since extended this select list.

The banshee can appear in a variety of guises. Most often she appears as an ugly, frightening hag, but can also appear as a stunningly beautiful woman of any age that suits her. In some tales, the figure who first appears to be a "banshee" is later revealed to be the Irish battle goddess, the Morrígan. The hag may also appear as a washer-woman, or bean-nighe, and is seen washing the blood stained clothes or armour of those who are about to die.

Although not always seen, her mourning call is heard, usually at night when someone is about to die. In 1437, King James I of Scotland was approached by an Irish seer or banshee who foretold his murder at the instigation of the Earl of Atholl. This is an example of the banshee in human form. There are records of several human banshees or prophets attending the great houses of Ireland and the courts of local Irish kings. In some parts of Leinster, she is referred to as the bean chaointe (keening woman) whose wail can be so piercing that it shatters glass. In Kerry, the keen is experienced as a "low, pleasant singing"; in Tyrone as "the sound of two boards being struck together"; and on Rathlin Island as "a thin, screeching sound somewhere between the wail of a woman and the moan of an owl".

The banshee may also appear in a variety of other forms, such as that of a hooded crow, stoat, hare and weasel - animals associated in Ireland with witchcraft.

Banshee in Irish mythology

In Irish legend, a banshee wails around a house if someone in the house is about to die. There are particular families who are believed to have banshees attached to them, and whose cries herald the death of a member of that family. Traditionally, when a citizen of an Irish village died, a woman would sing a lament (in Irish: caoineadh, [ˈkiːnʲə] or [ˈkiːnʲuː], "caoin" meaning "to weep, to wail") at their funeral. These women singers are sometimes referred to as "keeners" and the best keeners would be in much demand. Legend has it that, for five great Gaelic families: the O'Gradys, the O'Neills, the O'Briens, the O'Connors, and the Kavanaghs, the lament would be sung by a fairy woman; having foresight, she would sing the lament when a family member died, even if the person had died far away and news of their death had not yet come, so that the wailing of the banshee was the first warning the household had of the death.

In later versions the banshee might appear before the death and warn the family by wailing. When several banshees appeared at once, it indicated the death of someone great or holy.[1] The tales sometimes recounted that the woman, though called a fairy, was a ghost, often of a specific murdered woman, or a woman who died in childbirth.[2]

Banshees are frequently described as dressed in white or grey, and often having long, fair hair which they brush with a silver comb, a detail scholar Patricia Lysaght attributes to confusion with local mermaid myths. This comb detail is also related to the centuries-old traditional romantic Irish story that, if you ever see a comb lying on the ground in Ireland, you must never pick it up, or the banshees (or mermaids - stories vary), having placed it there to lure unsuspecting humans, will spirit such gullible humans away. Other stories portray banshees as dressed in green, red or black with a grey cloak.

Banshees are common in Irish and Scottish folk stories such as those recorded by Irish-American writer Herminie T. Kavanagh. They enjoy the same mythical status in Ireland as fairies and leprechauns. Banshees continue to appear in modern fiction that deals with mythology, folklore or the supernatural.

There is a similar spirit in Welsh folklore, known as the Hag of the mist.[3]

MOSCOW - stoleshnikov pereulok, 09/02/09

Stock Animation

Stock animation is one of the more popular forms of animation. Anyone looking for help with a project that needs animation can use stock animation. Stock animation has grown in popularity due to the increasing reach of the Internet and television. Stock animation is used to entertain and present information in an interesting way, so as to sustain viewer interest. In fact, many a company owes its profile presentation to stock animation.

Animation projects are time consuming and require a lot of creative output. With this being the case, the use of stock animation helps reduce the time and aids in increasing creativity required for completing an animation project. Stock animation is often the start for a project, as far as an animator is considered. Stock animation also goes well with other creative elements. You can now make your own DVD using stock animation. One can use stock animation for backgrounds, making certain sequences more interesting to view.

Stock animation comes in different formats like animated gifs, flash animation, and composite animation. The gif format, also known as the graphics interchange format, is used for some Web page animation. They can be found in literally thousands of Web sites on the Internet. These animations are considered annoying by some. The next most common form of Web animation is Flash, which is perhaps the most versatile and widely used form of animation as far as the usage. Stock animation for Flash, though expensive, is time saving and makes for excellent creative output. Composite animations are created by combining different animations together to create a single finished animation. They are used in television to a great extent.

Although there are different formats of stock animation, one can choose the right one suitable for one's project. One can get extensive information on stock information and the different types of software used through online resources.

LONDON - soho & brick lane, 09/01/09