is out here! I've heard such good reviews of the dvd. Director Catherine Hardwicke really put a lot of Twilight-Love into it and I'm so thankful for that.
The remains of a medieval "vampire" have been discovered among the corpses of 16th century plague victims in Venice, according to an Italian archaeologist who led the dig.Right. As we Twilight fans know, the city really overrun with Vampires is Volterra (go read New Moon (The Twilight Saga, Book 2) if you don't understand.).
The body of the woman was found in a mass grave on the Venetian island of Lazzaretto Nuovo. Suspecting that she might be a vampire, a common folk belief at the time, gravediggers shoved a rock into her skull to prevent her from chewing through her shroud and infecting others with the plague, said anthropologist Matteo Borrini of the University of Florence.
In the absence of medical science, vampires were just one of many possible contemporary explanations for the spread of the Venetian plague in 1576, which ran rampant through the city and ultimately killed up to 50,000 people, some officials estimate.
Italy's famous canal city wasn't really overrun with medieval Draculas, however.
A phenomenon that occurs early on in the process of decomposition - abdominal bloating - is what likely concerned the Venetian gravediggers, Borrini said. When humans die, the body releases a myriad of bacterial gases that cause a corpse to bloat with fluid, usually just a few days after death in the absence of any kind of preservation or protection from coffins.It is quite an fascinating article!
"During this phase, the decay of the gastrointestinal tract contents and lining create a dark fluid called 'purge fluid'; it can flow freely from the nose and mouth...and it could easily be confused with the blood sucked by the vampire," said Borrini.
If the "vampire" woman was emitting blood from her mouth, the fluid likely moistened her burial shroud causing it to sink into her jaw cavity and be dissolved by the fluids, Borrini said, making it appear as though she was trying to bite through her shroud. When discovered in that state, a stone was jammed into her mouth as a kind of exorcism to prevent her from potentially spreading the disease further, the researchers think.
Medieval skeletons have been found in a similar state in other parts of Europe, Borrini said.
LONDON – The last British survivor of World War I's grinding trench warfare was made an officer of the French Legion of Honor on Monday.AP: Did a Bard contemporary brush up on Shakespeare?---
French Ambassador Maurice Gourdault-Montagne awarded 110-year-old Harry Patch the medal at a ceremony in Patch's nursing home in Wells, 120 miles (190 kilometers) west of London, Britain's Ministry of Defense said in a statement. Patch, who served as a machine-gunner in the 1917 Battle of Passchendaele, told Gourdault-Montagne he was proud of the honor.
"Ambassador, I greatly appreciate the way your people respect the memory of those who fell, irrespective of the uniform they wore," he said in a raspy, deliberate voice. "I will wear this medal with great pride and when I eventually rejoin my mates it will be displayed in my regimental museum as a permanent reminder of the kindness of the people of France."
Patch is one of only two surviving British veterans of World War I, according to the Ministry of Defense. The second, 112-year-old Henry Allingham, served as an airman.
LONDON – The Bard, or not the Bard? That is the question posed by Monday's unveiling of a centuries-old portrait of a dark-eyed, handsome man in Elizabethan finery.And also of interest in that article:
Experts say it is the only portrait of William Shakespeare painted during his lifetime — in effect, the sole source of our knowledge of what the great man looked like.
But they can't be certain. In the shifting sands of Shakespeare scholarship, where even the authorship of the plays is sometimes disputed, nothing is written in stone.
In separate discoveries that are solving other Shakespeare-related mysteries, Museum of London archaeologists said they had uncovered the foundations of the long-buried theater where Shakespeare wrote and performed as an actor.And an addition from 10 March 2009:
Museum officials said the rudimentary playhouse, simply called The Theatre, was built in 1576 by actor and theater promoter James Burbage. The site, where Shakespeare performed from 1594 to 1597, now houses an abandoned warehouse.
Experts believe "Romeo and Juliet" was performed there.
The playhouse remains were found on the site of an unused warehouse in Hackney on the eastern outskirts of London. Scholars say the theater there was dismantled and moved to the site of the more famous Globe Theater after a dispute between Burbage and the landlord in 1597.
Searchers even found pottery shards decorated with the image of a man who resembled Shakespeare, but experts said this was only a passing coincidence, not an indication that the show business merchandising craze had already begun.
WASHINGTON – A collector believes a photograph from a private album of Civil War Gen. Ulysses S. Grant shows President Abraham Lincoln in front of the White House and could be the last image taken of him before he was assassinated in 1865.And then:
If it is indeed Lincoln, it would be the only known photo of the 16th president in front of the executive mansion and a rare find, as only about 130 photos of him are known to exist. A copy of the image was provided to The Associated Press.
Grant's 38-year-old great-great-grandson, Ulysses S. Grant VI, had seen the picture before, but didn't examine it closely until late January. A tall figure in the distance caught his eye, although the man's facial features are obscured.
He called Keya Morgan, a New York-based photography collector and Lincoln aficionado, who helped identify it as Lincoln.
| What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Dedicated Reader You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more. | |
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Mark your calendar: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II will be released July 15, 2011, Warner Bros. has announced.No wonder they plan to release Twilight Saga movie 3, Eclipse , in summer 2010, so that it won't compete with the 2nd half of HP7. Nothing's going to stop the last HP film.
Part I of the film will open Nov. 19, 2010, the studio said last August. Both films are based on the 608-page seventh book in author J.K. Rowling's series.
You Are Tea |
 You are mellow and reflective. You don't allow yourself to feel in a rush and frenzied. You're likely to appreciated the ideas or connections that come up over a warm cup of tea. While you do enjoy the energy of a caffeine boost, you love that it allows you to take a break. You're not in a rush to do anything. You're content with your life, and in no rush to change it. |
, from the Kings of Leon
and is so well done! I was amazed by it. Apparently the song is about a "lovesick vampire," so it works quite nicely. :). It is supposed to come out at midnight on the 20/21st of March. My sister and I are going to get it and watch it and, honestly, freak out. I cannot wait to have it in my hands. There are lots of awesome versions offered by different stores.
by movie director Catherine Hardwicke. It looks awesome! I cannot wait to sit down and page through it. From all the actors and director have said, they seem to have had an amazing and hilarious time filming. From the description, "Designed to replicate the director’s own personal notebook that she kept on set, readers will discover the inside secrets on wardrobe, storyboard sketches, behind-the- scenes photographs, personal notes about Catherine’s favorite scenes, and much more." Fabulous!!
I hadn't heard most of the groups on it before, but once I started listening I loved them. Rob Pattinson, who plays Edward, has one track on this version, titled "Never Think." It was written by him and a friend, Sam Bradley, a couple of years ago. It is beautiful. He has a second track, written by friends Bobby Long and Marcus Foster, on the iTunes only version. These two songs play during really special parts of the movie and add such a rich layer. Beautiful! They are all talented musicians/songwriters. The soundtrack also features Muse, Collective Soul, Linkin Park, The Black Ghosts, Paramore, and more.
Carter Burwell did a lovely job!
. A really cool book full of photos and info on the movie, the actors, and everything else!
