Tudor Arghezi

Tudor Arghezi (1880 –1967) was a Romanian writer, best known for his unique contribution to poetry and children's literature.

Born Ion N. Theodorescu in Bucharest, he explained that his pen name was related to Argesis, the Latin name for the Argeș River.

He made his debut in 1896, publishing verses in Alexandru Macedonski's magazine Liga Ortodoxă under the name Ion Theo.

After the outbreak of World War I, Arghezi wrote against the political camp led by the National Liberals and the group around Take Ionescu, both of whom aimed to have Romania enter the conflict on the side of the Entente (as an attempt the conquer Transylvania from Austria-Hungary).

During World War II the newspaper Informația Zilei published comments by Arghezi, as a column named after his former magazine, Bilete de Papagal. In 1943, it published virulent satires of the Romanian government, its military leader – Ion Antonescu, and Romania's allegiance to Nazi Germany.

The authorities confiscated all issues, and the author was imprisoned without trial in a penitentiary camp near Târgu Jiu, in which communist political leaders Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, Nicolae Ceausescu and Ion Gheorghe Maurer were also imprisoned.

A controversial intellectual, Arghezi had a fluctuating relationship with the newly established Communist regime. Although he was awarded several literary prizes under during the period of Soviet-induced transition to a people's republic, he became a harsh critic of censorship and agitprop-like state control in media and was targeted as a decadent poet very soon after the communist-dominated republican institutions took power (1948).

Once exonerated, he started being awarded numerous titles and prizes. Arghezi was elected a member of the Romanian Academy in 1955 and celebrated as national poet on his 80th and 85th birthdays. Although never turned-Socialist Realist, he adapted his themes to the [socialist] requirements.

Gustav Igler

Gustav Igler (1842 - 1938) was an Austrian genre painter.

Igler had been a student of Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller in Vienna since 1858, then studied painting from 1868 to 1871 at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich under Arthur von Ramberg.

In 1888 Igler was appointed head of the technical painting class at the Royal Art School in Stuttgart. In 1896 he headed the II. International Painting Exhibition in Stuttgart.

Dr. Balázs Seléndy

Balázs Seléndy (1937 – 2021) grew up in war-torn Hungary. With Calvinist and Catholic parents but a Jewish paternal grandfather, his family stayed beyond reach of the Nazis due in part to his father’s military service to the Austro-Hungarian empire during WWI.

In 1956, as a young medical student, Balázs fought in the spontaneous, student-led revolution against the Soviet-backed Hungarian People’s Republic.

In 1964, Seléndy emigrated to the United States. A lifelong and gifted critical thinker, Balázs was a voracious reader in every subject matter, particularly in literature, science, history and philosophy. He wrote volumes of poetry in three languages, labored over poignant English translations of Miklós Radnóti, and published books of verse in Hungarian. At the age of 65, Balázs first took up motorcycling.

Offbeat Bride

Offbeat Bride (later named Offbeat Wed!) has celebrated folks daring to walk off the beaten aisle. 

These pictures show Ellen & Chris' Wes Anderson themed wedding, with many movie-themed vintage details and one very special way to tie all bridesmaids together.

Erika Szeles

Erika Szeles was a young soldier and nurse during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. When her photo was taken by a Danish photographer her image graced the covers of several European magazines and she became an international symbol of the revolution.

Szeles was born to Jewish parents in 1941 and raised solely by her mother after her father’s death in a Nazi concentration camp. At age 14 she trained as a cook at the Hotel Béke in Budapest. While her mother was a hardline communist, Szeles had an older boyfriend who converted her to the anti-communist cause.

When Hungary’s revolution against the Soviet Union began on October 23rd 1956, she was 15 years old. When her boyfriend formed a resistance group with some fellow students she chose to join them. She quickly learned how to use a sub-machine gun and fought alongside the group in several skirmishes with Soviet soldiers.

On November 8th the resistance group she was with became involved in a heavy firefight with Russian soldiers in the center of Budapest. When a friend of hers was wounded she ran forward to help him. Despite being unarmed and wearing a Red Cross uniform she was gunned down and died instantly. She was buried in the Kerepesi Churchyard in Budapest.

Heuneburg Excavations

Found pieces of excavations on Heuneburg near Riedlingen, on 13 October 1965, by scientists of the Institute for Pre- and Early History of Tübingen University.

 

Jenő Gussich

Jenő Gussich (1905) was a Hungarian painter. 

He completed his studies in Budapest and Vienna. In 1932, an exhibition of his works was organized in the National Salon.

Gussich specialized in immediate portraits of distinguished men, typically (Jewish) religious leaders. 

Tim Burton

Timothy Walter Burton (1958) is an American filmmaker and artist. He is known for his gothic fantasy and horror films such as Beetlejuice (1988), Edward Scissorhands (1990), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Ed Wood (1994), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Corpse Bride (2005), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), and Dark Shadows (2012).

Burton also directed the superhero films Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), the sci-fi film Planet of the Apes (2001), the fantasy-drama Big Fish (2003), the musical adventure film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), and the fantasy films Alice in Wonderland (2010) and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016).

Burton has often worked with actors Lisa Marie, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter (his former domestic partner), Winona Ryder, and composer Danny Elfman (who has composed scores for all but three of the films Burton has directed). He wrote and illustrated the poetry book The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories, published in 1997 by British publishing house Faber and Faber, and a compilation of his drawings, sketches, and other artwork, entitled The Art of Tim Burton, was released in 2009.

A follow-up to that book, entitled The Napkin Art of Tim Burton: Things You Think About in a Bar, containing sketches made by Burton on napkins at bars and restaurants he visited, was released in 2015. His accolades include nominations for two Academy Awards and three BAFTA Awards, and wins for an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award.

Béla Guttmann

Béla Guttmann was a successful Jewish football player who represented Hungary at the Olympics in 1924. He survived the Holocaust by hiding and managed to escape a forced labour camp. After the war he became a famous football coach and manager, leading the Portuguese club Benfica to two successive European Cup wins.

His first significant signing as a football player was for a team called MTK Budapest. He helped them win back-to-back Hungarian League titles in 1920 and 1921, before representing his country four times. However, due to rising antisemitism in Hungary, Béla moved to Austria to play for Hakoah Wien, a Jewish Zionist football club.

Kazuaki Tanahashi

Kazuaki Tanahashi (1933) is a Japanese calligrapher, Zen teacher, author and translator of Buddhist texts from Japanese and Chinese to English, most notably works by Dogen.

Kazuaki Tanahashi with Joan Halifax

He first met Shunryu Suzuki in 1964, and upon reading Suzuki's book Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind he stated, "I could see it's Shobogenzo in a very plain, simple language." He has helped notable Zen teachers author books on Zen Buddhism, such as John Daido Loori. A fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science—Tanahashi is also an environmentalist and peaceworker.

Cathay Lwobeing Berets

Chinese made berets are best known for their low prices, poor quality and being sold at the most expensive tourist areas of Paris...

Beret manufacturer Lwobeing is the stereotypical exception to the rule, creating quality, comfortable Basque berets from Australian merino wool, building on a legacy of French beret-wearing in Shanghai. This legacy was formed during the period of the French Concession (1849-1945) and in 'Frenchtown' many older Shànghǎirén continue wearing the Basque beret every day.

The Cathay Lwobeing berets measure 28cm in diameter (10p), are fitted with an embroidered label and sewn-in satin lining.

Available in a range of colours at a cost incomparable with any European made berets @ $37.25.

Eliezer Zilber

 

Eliezer Zilber, a Jewish member of the Kovno (Lithuania) ghetto resistance, poses in the forested area where he fought as a partisan. 

Ice-T

Tracy Lauren Marrow (1958), better known by his stage name Ice-T, is an American rapper, songwriter, actor, and producer. 

He began his career as an underground rapper in the 1980s and was signed to Sire Records in 1987, when he released his debut album Rhyme Pays—reportedly the first hip-hop album to carry an explicit content sticker. The following year, he founded the record label Rhyme $yndicate Records (named after his collective of fellow hip-hop artists called the "Rhyme $yndicate") and released another album, Power, which would go platinum. He also released several other albums that went gold.

On June 5, 2008, Ice-T joked that he would be voting for John McCain in the 2008 American elections, speculating that his past affiliation with Body Count could hurt Barack Obama's chances if he endorsed him, so he would choose instead to ruin McCain's campaign by saying he supported him.

Ice-T has stated on numerous occasions that he is a teetotaller and lives a straight edge lifestyle. He is a long-time practitioner of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and boxing, and is a big fan of the UFC.

 

Helen Iris Crooke

Helen Iris Crooke was born in Lawrence, Otago (NZ), on 14 December 1895, but Iris and her three sisters spent most of their childhood in Marton, Rangītikei, where they boarded at Ngā Tawa School. 

In 1920 Iris qualified as a registered nurse at Wellington Hospital and served there briefly as a nursing sister. 

In 1948 she represented the New Zealand Red Cross Society at the 17th International Red Cross Conference at Stockholm, Sweden. She then visited the League of Red Cross Societies in Geneva and the Red Cross in the United Kingdom. Her observations of the organisation of Meals on Wheels in England prompted her, on her return, to attempt to implement the scheme in New Zealand. In 1950 Iris Crooke retired from her mainly voluntary work as director general of the New Zealand Red Cross Voluntary Aid Detachments. 

Jolin Tsai

Jolin Tsai (1980) is a Taiwanese singer, songwriter, and actress.

Referred to as the "Queen of C-Pop", she is considered one of the most influential figures in Chinese popular culture. She is known for her continual reinvention and versatility in musical style and visual image, and she has achieved great reputation and popularity in the Chinese-speaking world.

Tsai has set the fashion trend in the Chinese-speaking world. Dubbed as the "Teenage Boys Killer", Tsai was popular among teenage boys for her pure and innocent girl-next-door look in her early years. Since the release of her 2003 album Magic, Tsai mostly dismissed her innocent image for what is perceived as a more sexy look.

Tattooed Boineros

 Boineros with Tattoos

Tattooed Boineras

 Boineras with Tattoos