Antonio Banderas says he's tired of Hollywood, where he has lived since 1992, and wants to return to his Spanish homeland to develop his career as a director. The 48-year-old, whose triumph in Hollywood as a Latin lover/villain figure paved the way for Spanish successors like Javier Bardem, says he now wants to create the sort of movies suffocated by Hollywood. His latest project may be a case in point. Mr Banderas, with his film star wife Melanie Griffith by his side, is travelling the Arab world raising money for his forthcoming movie "Sultan", which he has written and hopes to direct and star in. It tells the story of Boabdil, the last Moorish king of Spain, who was forced to surrender his beloved Granada to the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492, a historic turning point that marked the birth of modern Spain. The ageing Malaga-born screen star wants to tell the story from a pro-Arab viewpoint, and has been busy in recent days gathering funds from several Arab countries, tapping into their nostalgia for the legacy of 800 years of Arab rule in Andalusia.
Antonio Banderas says he's tired of Hollywood, where he has lived since 1992, and wants to return to his Spanish homeland to develop his career as a director.
The 48-year-old, whose triumph in Hollywood as a Latin lover/villain figure paved the way for Spanish successors like Javier Bardem, says he now wants to create the sort of movies suffocated by Hollywood.
His latest project may be a case in point. Mr Banderas, with his film star wife Melanie Griffith by his side, is travelling the Arab world raising money for his forthcoming movie "Sultan", which he has written and hopes to direct and star in. It tells the story of Boabdil, the last Moorish king of Spain, who was forced to surrender his beloved Granada to the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492, a historic turning point that marked the birth of modern Spain.
The ageing Malaga-born screen star wants to tell the story from a pro-Arab viewpoint, and has been busy in recent days gathering funds from several Arab countries, tapping into their nostalgia for the legacy of 800 years of Arab rule in Andalusia.
The expulsion of moors and jews had gone on for generations when Torqumada and the Catholic Monarchs decided it was time for The Inquisition - who ever expects one?
It brought great stories such as: The Jews had been welcomed to Turkey since Mehmet II took Constantinople in 1453 who, having been welcomed by a hitherto repressed jewish community there offered them to "... to ascend the site of the Imperial Throne, to dwell in the best of the land, each beneath his Dine (vine?) and his fig tree, with silver and with gold, with wealth and with cattle...". (4)
There is a whole theory based upon eu kings getting in debt to their Jewish communities, who had loaned them money for their wars. (At the time, they were the only group not prohibited from loaning money at a profit.) Then they kicked them out when the debts got to high and they had no one to extortborrow 750 billion dollars from.
In 1470, Jews expelled from Bavaria by Ludwig X found refuge in the Ottoman Empire, and this would happen many other times.
Shortly after the Alhambra Decree, Sultan Bayazid II in Constantinople, is quoted as saying "the Catholic monarch Ferdinand was wrongly considered as wise, since he impoverished Spain by the expulsion of the Jews, and enriched Turkey." Of course, he said it in Turkish, so there are several iterations of the translation.
(Above taken from several sites: The History of the Turkish Jews The Lost Jews of Greece Turkish Jews - Brief History ) Never underestimate their intelligence, always underestimate their knowledge.
Frank Delaney ~ Ireland
I can't imagine though that it was nice being a moor anytime after 1450, as many cities which had been strongholds had succumbed in the previous 100 years, and the Catholics had this thing about getting people to convert or die without the loving embrace of their savior. So, while there was a treaty after Granada fell, it was never kept to by F&I. If what F&I were made to agree to in the treaty is an indicator, the Moors must have had a hard time before. Never underestimate their intelligence, always underestimate their knowledge.
There was no advance of the reconquista for about 200 years (it was all bot over after the 1212 batte of Las Navas de Tolosa, the following 40 years or so were a slow mopping up leading to a vassal kingdom of Granada which lasted 200 years), not "100 years before 1450" and there really is no reason to believe that the Muslims or Jews had a particularly hard time until about 1500 - consider that the Castille was immersed in dynastic disputes for the better part of the 15th century. Religious purity only came on the agenda when the more important stuff had been dealt with. A vivid image of what should exist acts as a surrogate for reality. Pursuit of the image then prevents pursuit of the reality -- John K. Galbraith
I just finished "The Spanish Armada" by Martin and Parker and was going to reach for something 100 years earlier...maybe I'll go earlier than that. Never underestimate their intelligence, always underestimate their knowledge.
eu kings
I didn't know the EU existed then... "Dieu se rit des hommes qui se plaignent des conséquences alors qu'ils en chérissent les causes" Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
Or, perhaps I was alluding to the incestuous nature of all the kings and queens and princes and cesses, from the Medicis blood in the Tudor family and Spanish throne, and the Spanish and French blood in England's and etc, etc. But, I don't know enough about it, so I couldn't have meant that.
Yet, I'm certain every one of them would have liked to call Lord Paulson and say "Give me a 750 billion sovereign bailout"~! Never underestimate their intelligence, always underestimate their knowledge.
It's the fault of male academics on the judging panels, says author Louise Doughty, one of tonight's Booker judges. They pick the literary and the obscure to impress their colleaguesOne of the judges of this year's Man Booker Prize has launched an outspoken attack on male academics who sit on literary judging panels, ahead of the award ceremony tonight. Louise Doughty, who has written five novels, said such men should not be invited on to judging panels as they "always have their eye on their reputations" and are too concerned with picking a "highbrow" author rather than a readable one. She added that they tended to made judgements based on "how well the winning book reflected on them", often choosing the most obscure and self-consciously highbrow novelist, rather than considering the best entry."I don't think it's a good idea to have academics as judges on these prizes," she said. "Academics always have their eye on their reputations and always have a vested interest to pick someone as literary and obscure as possible. I think academics are always looking over their shoulder. Academics automatically feel it [the choice of Booker winner] will reflect on their career," she said.While widely considered to be the pinnacle of literary accomplishment, popularly acclaimed writers such as Sebastian Faulks, Mark Haddon and Robert Harris have never won the Booker. Critics like Doughty believe it is those authors' accessibility which counts against them.
One of the judges of this year's Man Booker Prize has launched an outspoken attack on male academics who sit on literary judging panels, ahead of the award ceremony tonight.
Louise Doughty, who has written five novels, said such men should not be invited on to judging panels as they "always have their eye on their reputations" and are too concerned with picking a "highbrow" author rather than a readable one. She added that they tended to made judgements based on "how well the winning book reflected on them", often choosing the most obscure and self-consciously highbrow novelist, rather than considering the best entry.
"I don't think it's a good idea to have academics as judges on these prizes," she said. "Academics always have their eye on their reputations and always have a vested interest to pick someone as literary and obscure as possible. I think academics are always looking over their shoulder. Academics automatically feel it [the choice of Booker winner] will reflect on their career," she said.
While widely considered to be the pinnacle of literary accomplishment, popularly acclaimed writers such as Sebastian Faulks, Mark Haddon and Robert Harris have never won the Booker. Critics like Doughty believe it is those authors' accessibility which counts against them.
STAR CITY, Russia: Garrett Reisman was on his way to this formerly secret military base for several weeks of training, making his way through Kennedy Airport, when his cellphone rang. It was his boss, Steven Lindsey, the head of NASA's astronaut office. "Come back to Houston. They've canceled your training -- they're playing hardball," Reisman recalled his boss saying. He was caught in a momentarily important dispute between NASA and the Russian space agency, Roscosmos. Ultimately, Reisman's aborted trip was just a bump in the road on the way to space: he spent three months aboard the International Space Station earlier this year, performed a spacewalk and even traded jokes over a video link with Stephen Colbert. Everyone who works with the Russian space program has similar stories to tell of implacable bureaucrats, byzantine rules and decisions that seem capricious at best. And many of those stories are played out here in Star City, where cosmonauts and, now, astronauts from all over the world train to fly on Russian Soyuz spacecraft to go to the $100 billion International Space Station.
STAR CITY, Russia: Garrett Reisman was on his way to this formerly secret military base for several weeks of training, making his way through Kennedy Airport, when his cellphone rang. It was his boss, Steven Lindsey, the head of NASA's astronaut office.
"Come back to Houston. They've canceled your training -- they're playing hardball," Reisman recalled his boss saying. He was caught in a momentarily important dispute between NASA and the Russian space agency, Roscosmos.
Ultimately, Reisman's aborted trip was just a bump in the road on the way to space: he spent three months aboard the International Space Station earlier this year, performed a spacewalk and even traded jokes over a video link with Stephen Colbert.
Everyone who works with the Russian space program has similar stories to tell of implacable bureaucrats, byzantine rules and decisions that seem capricious at best. And many of those stories are played out here in Star City, where cosmonauts and, now, astronauts from all over the world train to fly on Russian Soyuz spacecraft to go to the $100 billion International Space Station.
A team of archaeologists, scientists and software programmers has created a 3D virtual model of the city of Cologne as it was 2,000 years ago. Though not yet online, the software allows visitors to fly through the city in its Roman glory. A new computer program will allow the curious to see Cologne, Germany's fourth-largest city, as it was almost 2,000 years ago, when it was a major northern outpost of the Roman Empire. "Now, for the first time, people will be able to visualize what an amazing city Cologne already was in antiquity," said Hansgerd Hellenkemper, the director of the city's Romano-Germanic Museum. The city's history stretches back to 38 B.C. After Julius Caesar pushed the empire north during his conquest of Gaul in the mid-first century B.C., the Romans resettled the Germanic Ubii tribe on the banks Rhine River. In 50 A.D., the settlement was granted the status of an official Roman city and was given the name Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium. The city grew to be a major trading center, a status it still preserves today.
A team of archaeologists, scientists and software programmers has created a 3D virtual model of the city of Cologne as it was 2,000 years ago. Though not yet online, the software allows visitors to fly through the city in its Roman glory.
A new computer program will allow the curious to see Cologne, Germany's fourth-largest city, as it was almost 2,000 years ago, when it was a major northern outpost of the Roman Empire.
"Now, for the first time, people will be able to visualize what an amazing city Cologne already was in antiquity," said Hansgerd Hellenkemper, the director of the city's Romano-Germanic Museum.
The city's history stretches back to 38 B.C. After Julius Caesar pushed the empire north during his conquest of Gaul in the mid-first century B.C., the Romans resettled the Germanic Ubii tribe on the banks Rhine River. In 50 A.D., the settlement was granted the status of an official Roman city and was given the name Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium. The city grew to be a major trading center, a status it still preserves today.
http://www.colonia3d.de/ The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman
ISTANBUL: High school hurt for Havva Yilmaz. She tried out several selves. She ran away. Nothing felt right. "There was no sincerity," she said. "It was shallow." So at 16, she did something none of her friends had done: She put on an Islamic head scarf. In most Muslim countries, that would be a nonevent. In Turkey, it was a rebellion. Turkey has built its modern identity on secularism. Women on billboards do not wear scarves. The scarves are banned in schools and universities. So Yilmaz had to drop out of school. Her parents were angry. Her classmates stopped calling her.
ISTANBUL: High school hurt for Havva Yilmaz. She tried out several selves. She ran away. Nothing felt right.
"There was no sincerity," she said. "It was shallow."
So at 16, she did something none of her friends had done: She put on an Islamic head scarf.
In most Muslim countries, that would be a nonevent. In Turkey, it was a rebellion. Turkey has built its modern identity on secularism.
Women on billboards do not wear scarves. The scarves are banned in schools and universities. So Yilmaz had to drop out of school. Her parents were angry. Her classmates stopped calling her.
Black widow spiders accidentally brought to Britain in consignments of fruit could soon establish colonies as the climate becomes milder, experts have warned. Some fear it is only a "matter of time" before the venomous American arachnid follows other exotic species of spider and establishes itself in Britain as climate change makes the country warmer. The warning comes amid calls from conservationists for import rules to be tightened up to prevent more and more non-native species being inadvertently introduced to the country and altering the eco-system. Recent years have seen a raft of reports of "black widows" being spotted in bunches of bananas and other fruit by members of the public. Many such sightings are thought to have been the so-called "false widow" - steatoda paykulliana, a spider from southern Europe which closely resembles the black widow.
Some fear it is only a "matter of time" before the venomous American arachnid follows other exotic species of spider and establishes itself in Britain as climate change makes the country warmer.
The warning comes amid calls from conservationists for import rules to be tightened up to prevent more and more non-native species being inadvertently introduced to the country and altering the eco-system.
Recent years have seen a raft of reports of "black widows" being spotted in bunches of bananas and other fruit by members of the public.
Many such sightings are thought to have been the so-called "false widow" - steatoda paykulliana, a spider from southern Europe which closely resembles the black widow.
When Clare Longrigg saw two Mafia clans tie the knot it was meant to end the feuding - but far worse was to come. Outside a church in the centre of Naples, on a sunny September day in 1996, a teenage bride heaved her huge crinoline out of a massive black limousine. She was visibly pregnant as she swayed towards her husband-to-be, a spotty youth in a white tuxedo. The groom looked nervous, as well he might. This wedding represented the union between two Naples mafia dynasties: the Giulianos and the Mazzarellas, who had fought each other in the struggle for domination of the drug trade, and were now joining forces. I had crept in unnoticed, and slipped into a back pew. I sat, rapt throughout, taking in the fabulous outfits from Versace and Valentino, the couple's teenage friends clad mostly in fashionable, if funereal, black. At the same time I was on edge, not knowing if this gunshot wedding would end in gunfire, given that the two families had previously sent killers after each other
Outside a church in the centre of Naples, on a sunny September day in 1996, a teenage bride heaved her huge crinoline out of a massive black limousine. She was visibly pregnant as she swayed towards her husband-to-be, a spotty youth in a white tuxedo.
The groom looked nervous, as well he might. This wedding represented the union between two Naples mafia dynasties: the Giulianos and the Mazzarellas, who had fought each other in the struggle for domination of the drug trade, and were now joining forces.
I had crept in unnoticed, and slipped into a back pew. I sat, rapt throughout, taking in the fabulous outfits from Versace and Valentino, the couple's teenage friends clad mostly in fashionable, if funereal, black.
At the same time I was on edge, not knowing if this gunshot wedding would end in gunfire, given that the two families had previously sent killers after each other
"I like to say it's rather like being an archaeologist and opening up a tomb in a pyramid and finding an astronaut sitting inside. It shouldn't be there."
Science News Share Blog Cite Print Email Bookmark Did Termites Help Katrina Destroy New Orleans Floodwalls And Levees? ScienceDaily (Oct. 15, 2008) -- Three years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, people still speculate over causes of the destruction of the city's floodwall system. A new article in the fall issue of American Entomologist (Vol. 54, No. 3) suggests that Formosan subterranean termites played a large role. Author Gregg Henderson, a professor at the Louisiana State University AgCenter, discovered Formosan subterranean termites (Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki) in the floodwall seams in August, 2000 - five years before Katrina struck - and noticed that the seams were made of waste residue from processed sugarcane. Known as bagasse, this waste residue is attractive to Formosan termites. After the dikes were breached in 2005, Henderson and his colleague Alan Morgan inspected 100 seams for evidence of termites, including three areas where major breaks in the walls had occurred. 70% of the seams in the London Avenue Canal, which experienced two major breaks during Katrina, showed evidence of insect attack, as did 27% of seams inspected in the walls of the 17th Street Canal.
ScienceDaily (Oct. 15, 2008) -- Three years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, people still speculate over causes of the destruction of the city's floodwall system. A new article in the fall issue of American Entomologist (Vol. 54, No. 3) suggests that Formosan subterranean termites played a large role.
Author Gregg Henderson, a professor at the Louisiana State University AgCenter, discovered Formosan subterranean termites (Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki) in the floodwall seams in August, 2000 - five years before Katrina struck - and noticed that the seams were made of waste residue from processed sugarcane. Known as bagasse, this waste residue is attractive to Formosan termites.
After the dikes were breached in 2005, Henderson and his colleague Alan Morgan inspected 100 seams for evidence of termites, including three areas where major breaks in the walls had occurred. 70% of the seams in the London Avenue Canal, which experienced two major breaks during Katrina, showed evidence of insect attack, as did 27% of seams inspected in the walls of the 17th Street Canal.
