Géza Hofi

Géza Hofi (born Géza Hoffmann, 1936 - 2002) was a Hungarian actor and comedian. He is possibly the most popular Hungarian parodist of all time, who has had a strong influence on Hungarian cabaret.

Géza Hofi was the highlight of Hungarian cabaret for decades. He never followed any pattern or trend; he was always following his own trail.

His death created an enormous vacuum in Hungarian comedy, and it is a common consensus among the people who witnessed his performances that there probably never would be another comedian like him.

In the Hungarian People's Republic, Géza Hofi was closely monitored in large part due to his criticisms of the political system. He alluded to it several times during his performances, jokingly addressing members of the party, secret agents and government snitches that sat in the audience. Besides he was monitored by the StB as well. 

Even though he was critical of the government, and János Kádár, who was then the head of state/government was often subject of his parodies, he received accolades on the state level as well. Even János Kádár said to appreciate and understand Hofi's performances to a certain extent. (Hofi never spent any substantial time in prison after all.)

Steam Punk

At the 2014 Steampunk Empire Symposium held in the Blue Ash suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Éva Petrőczi

Éva Petrőczi (a.k.a. Éva Ludwig, 1951) is an Attila József Prize-winning poet, writer, translator, literary historian, publicist, and retired associate professor at the Károli Gáspár Reformed University.

Her writing career began in the creative circle of the university in Szeged, and from 1970 she published poems, reviews, portfolios and studies in weekly newspapers and literary journals. From the mid-1990s Dr.  Petrőczi focused primarily on science, but also continued to publish poems and prose writings. Her research area is the literature of Hungarian and English Puritanism. She also taught at the University of Veszprém and the Selye János University in Révkomárom (Slovakia). 

Lajos Áprily

Lajos Áprily (birth name Lajos Jékely; 1887 –1967) was a Hungarian poet and translator who won the 1954 Attila József Prize for his contributions to Hungarian literature. Áprily was born in Brassó, Austria-Hungary (now the city of Brașov in Romania) and died in Budapest; he was the father of Zoltán Jékely (1913-1982), also a poet and translator.

Milan Knobloch

Milan Knobloch (1921–2020) was a Czech sculptor and primarily a medalist.

Milan Knobloch is considered one of the most important students of the founder of the Czech medal-making school, Otakar Španiel. This is manifested in his perfect knowledge of the laws of relief creation, his mastery of portraiture, his meticulousness in creating type and the overall balance of composition. All these advantages stood out especially in the creation of small-sized artifacts, in medal-making. One of the important conditions for portraying a portrait is not only knowledge of physiognomy, but also empathy with the physiognomy and soul of the depicted person and capturing the atmosphere of the time. In creating busts or commemorative medals, it was also difficult because they were mostly people who had died many years or even centuries ago. 

Toni Schneiders

Toni Schneiders (1920 –2006) was a German photographer.

Schneiders took up an apprenticeship as a photographer at Menzel Studio in Koblenz in 1935 graduating with a master's certificate in 1938. During the Second World War he was drafted and would join the Fallschirmjäger in 1942. He deployed as a war correspondent in France and Italy, famously capturing Operation Oak on film.

After the war, he returned to Koblenz and photographed reportages as well as advertising and landscape photographs. In 1949 Schneiders co-founded the avant-garde photography group Fotoform. With their graphically designed images, the Fotoform photographers referred to the photographic trends of the 1920s and early 1930s and drew attention to the creative possibilities of photography.

Toni Schneiders' images are distinguished from those of his companions by their sensitive capturing of people in everyday life.

Julius Bissier

Julius Bissier was born on December 3, 1893, in Freiburg, Germany. After briefly studying art history at the University of Freiburg in 1913, he began attending the Kunstakademie in Karlsruhe the following year but was forced into military service a few months later. He returned to Freiburg in 1918 and began a career as a self-taught painter. In 1919 Bissier met the ethnologist and art historian, Ernst Grosse, who introduced him to East Asian mysticism and art. His first exhibition was held at the Kunstverein in Freiburg in 1920.

Bissier’s early paintings were strongly influenced by so-called "primitive" German painters, but in 1923 he began working in a realist style aligned with the Neue Sachlichkeit. From 1929 to 1934 he taught at the University of Freiburg, during which time his work became increasingly abstract.

In 1939 Bissier moved to Hagnau, Germany, on Lake Constance, where he started designing carpets and fabrics, which were made by his wife, Lisbeth, who was a weaver. In 1942 he met potter Richard Bampi and began experimenting with ceramics, sometimes in Bampi’s studio. The following year Bissier reintroduced color into his work. He began to produce colorful monotypes in 1947, and became interested in woodcuts and ink drawings from India. In 1955 he began a series of miniatures in tempera and watercolor.

In 1939 Bissier moved to Hagnau, Germany, on Lake Constance, where he started designing carpets and fabrics, which were made by his wife, Lisbeth, who was a weaver. In 1942 he met potter Richard Bampi and began experimenting with ceramics, sometimes in Bampi’s studio. The following year Bissier reintroduced color into his work. He began to produce colorful monotypes in 1947, and became interested in woodcuts and ink drawings from India. In 1955 he began a series of miniatures in tempera and watercolor.

La Boina

La Boina is a traditional Catalan music group specialized in dance. In 2005, a demo was made that would give the group the definitive name La Boina and the Sona9 award by Enderrock magazine. 

The group has performed at the Festes de la Mercè Anoia Folc, Solc, Ballabisaura, Calaf Traditional Festival, Saraus in Plaça de Vic and the Monjuïc Festival at night. As main artistic works, it has made the multimedia show called Equivoci/Equiveus co-produced with the CAT and the Italian group Lampetron; and the soundtrack of the show produced by the Esbart Dansaire de Granollers "Somia i… balla, Ton!". 

Newly Re-discovered Beret Labels

 

Wigs

The stark black robes and white wigs worn in courtrooms across the UK are now iconic symbols of law. However, the introduction of wigs during the 17th century was entirely circumstantial; they were simply worn because they were fashionable.

Wig trimmer

Wigs are still commonplace in the courtroom, almost thought of as a uniform, to maintain the long tradition and formality of the legal system. However, the wigs have undergone some changes. Originally, the wigs worn in courtrooms were full-bottomed, which would typically extend down past the neck at the back and sides and sit over the shoulders. Now, the full-bottomed wig is only used as ceremonial dress. The wigs most often seen today are bob-style wigs, with much shorter sides all around and featuring a tail at the back.

The Cockleshell Heroes

The Cockleshell Heroes is a 1955 British Technicolor war film with Trevor Howard, Anthony Newley, Christopher Lee, David Lodge and José Ferrer, who also directed.

The film depicts a heavily fictionalised version of Operation Frankton, the December 1942 raid on German cargo shipping by British Royal Marines Commandos, who infiltrated Bordeaux Harbour using folding kayaks.

It was the first Warwick Film to be filmed in CinemaScope. The producer, Cubby Broccoli, went on to produce films about a famous fictional commander of the Royal Navy in the James Bond franchise.

It was one of the top British box office hits of 1956.

 

László Marton

László Marton (1925 –2008 ) was a Kossuth and Mihály Munkácsy Award-winning sculptor, a worthy and excellent artist.

There are one and a half hundred of his public works across Hungary, more than forty in Budapest alone. László Marton was one of the most significant creators of 20th-century Hungarian sculpture.

Perhaps his best-known statue is the Little Princess , which sits with her paper crown not only on the Danube Promenade in Budapest, but also in Tokyo and in his hometown of Tapolca. 

Hegseth's War on Hair

France, Foreign Legion

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, outside the US best known for abuse and sexual assault allegations, is targeting beards and facial hair in the military to establish a new "grooming standard."

Belgium, Chasseur Ardennais

"The grooming standard set by the U.S. military is to be clean shaven and neat in presentation for a proper military appearance," Hegseth said, according to the statement by Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell. "The department must remain vigilant in maintaining the grooming standards which underpin the warrior ethos."

Denmark

Both President Donald Trump and Hegseth used the term "warrior ethos" earlier this month when renaming the Department of Defense to the Department of War.

Germany, Navy

Let’s have a look at some other militaries and how they deal with beards & berets. 

Czech Republic

France, Chasseur Alpin

Netherlands, Royal Navy

Germany, Panzer Corps

Norway; beard and ponytail

United Kingdom, RAF

United Kingdom, Pioneer

France, Foreign Legion

More Vintage from Hungary

Sheep farming in Regöly, 1985

Vineyard planting in the Báta production cooperative

Market in Szekszárd, 1973

Market in Szekszárd, 1973

Lower Saxony State Farm, 1965

Szekszárd Production Cooperative, 1980

Szekszárd Production Cooperative

 Working on the fields of the Szekszárd Production Cooperative in Hungary, 1980: