Heller

Since 1957 Heller has been producing its legendary model kits in Trun, France. 

With over 300 items, from small airplanes to giant sailing ships, the range inspires beginners as well as model building professionals all over the world.

And yes, some good berets of the Chasseurs Alpines. 

Artificial intelligence (AI)

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the intelligence of machines or software, as opposed to the intelligence of living beings. It is a field of study in computer science that develops and studies intelligent machines.

Personally, I tend the see the enormous downsides of AI first, but I have to admit, playing with Dall e is a fascinating way to waste your time! Goats & berets are, naturally, always on the forefront of my mind.

But then, no matter how well it looks, this older gentleman wearing a beret and beard is not driving a Citroen 2CV (the window and dashboard are giveaways). 

Bearded and bereted Māori warriors performing a haka - still, a lot to learn for Dall e... 

Soviet and Russian Film Posters

 

Jonas Lie

Jonas Lauritz Idemil Lie (1833 –1908) was a Norwegian novelist, poet, and playwright who, together with Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and Alexander Kielland, is considered to have been one of the Four Greats of 19th century Norwegian literature.

Five years after his son's birth, Lie's father was appointed sheriff of Tromsø, which lies within the Arctic Circle, and young Jonas Lie spent six of the most impressionable years of his life at that remote port.

At the University of Christiania, he made the acquaintance of Ibsen and Bjørnson. He graduated in law in 1857, and shortly afterwards began to practice at Kongsvinger. Clients were not numerous at Kongsvinger and Lie found time to write for the newspapers and became a frequent contributor to some of the Christiania journals.

Having obtained a small pension, he sought the greatest contrast he could find in Europe to the scenes of his childhood and started for Rome. He lived in North Germany, then he moved to Bavaria, spending his winters in Paris. In 1882 he visited Norway for a time but returned to the continent of Europe. His voluntary exile from his native land ended in the spring of 1893, when he settled at Holskogen, near Kristiansand. His works were numerous after that.

🐐Bique-les; the Return of the Goat🐐

Today is the official launch of Boneteria Aotearoa’s new beret line.

The 'Bique-les' berets are inspired by the illustrious Spanish Basque beret manufacturer La Encartada (Balmaseda, 1892 - 1992).

Top quality, heavy duty Basque berets in classic black and dark navy, made of 100% fine Australian merino wool. The berets are fitted with a solid cotton lining and carry the woven Bique-les label.

The goat as a symbol of resilience and determination is as old as humanity, in cultures the world over, and is an apt image of what these berets stand for.

The Bique-les range of berets are all 'universels', one-size models that stretch and adjust to the individual wearer's head size and shape.

The diameters range from the very small 25cm model to the large Plato Grande / Chasseur in 33cm and more in between.

Joseph Tawadros

Joseph Tawadros is a leading Oud virtuoso, composer and 7 time ARIA-award winner.

Born in Cairo, his chosen instrument, the Oud is an Arabic lute, the ancestor of the lute and modern guitar.

A virtuoso of diversity and sensitivity, Joseph performs in concert halls worldwide and is known for his brilliant technique, deep musicianship, storytelling and joyous style of performance.

Joseph’s drive to push musical boundaries has inspired collaborations with diverse performers and a solid repertoire of innovative, original music. He performs live as a soloist, in duo with his brother James on Egyptian percussion, with his jazz quartet or with chamber orchestras and symphony orchestras all over the world.

Joseph has performed his own works with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, BBC Symphony,  Melbourne, WA and Adelaide Symphony, Ukraine National Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg, the Morphing Chamber Orchestra and his Concerto for Oud & Orchestra with the Sydney Symphony was performed and released by ABC Classics, Australia in 2019. He was also the first and only Australian composer to be performed by the Academy of Ancient Music in the United Kingdom.

At the Mahane Yehuda Market

Not exactly a Basque beret, but close enough to post these beautiful photos of a Yemenite Jew in Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda market, Israel.

Aliza Bloch

Aliza Bloch (1967) is an Israeli educator and politician. In 2018, she became the first female mayor of Beit Shemesh, and in 2019 she was named by The Jerusalem Post as one of the world's 50 most influential Jews.

Bloch, a Religious Zionist, pledged to unite and accommodate the city's Haredi, secular, and American oleh populations. Bloch was endorsed by a wide spectrum of Israeli political parties, including Jewish Home, Likud, Labor, Kulanu, and Yesh Atid.

During the summer of 2019, Bloch sustained harsh criticism over a spate of demolitions of illegally-built synagogues, with workers removing the spray-painted (in Hebrew) slogan "Aliza Bloch = Hitler" from a wall. Other graffiti labelled her a terrorist. On 1 August, a Beit Shemesh synagogue built on Israel Lands Authority property was demolished by the government, with residents blaming the municipality for not interceding enough on their behalf.

International Women's (Beret) Day

Jaques Vermeire

Jaques Vermeire (1951) took his first steps to fame in the Flemish panel show De drie wijzen (1989) in which he either 'told the truth' or 'made up stories' and candidates had to guess.

As a comedian, he invented characters such as Belgian cyclist Johan Museeuw's physio Mon Peeters, the porn actor Fonske Verzele or the gay association football player Kevin Vermeulen.

In the 1990s he gained immortality as car mechanic Dimitri De Tremmerie ("DDT") in the Flemish sitcom F.C. De Kampioenen (1990). He married actrice Eva Pauwels in 1999 and divorced in 2001.

He worked as a shoe salesman before his career as comedian annex actor.

Walther Benser

Walther Benser (1912–2002) was a German photographer, photojournalist and businessman.

His life with the Leica was determined by traveling around the world as a freelance photographer, traveling for slide presentations and setting up his photo agency ZEFA in Düsseldorf.

During the war years, Benser was a picture war reporter for the Wehrmacht. Benser was posted to the Russian front as a PK photographer for the propaganda company 691 with marching orders, and in late 1943 to Rome, Italy.

In 1946 he took over the management of the picture office German News Service – GNS for short in Hamburg.

In the 1970s, he renamed his agency ZEFA, which made it easier for clients in the offices in London, Milan, Paris, Zurich and Vienna to pronounce the name. In the 1980s, ZEFA was one of Europe's largest picture agencies.

On April 21, 2002, Walther Benser died in Domburg, Netherlands , his second adopted home.

Giovanni Mariotti

Giovanni Mariotti (1936) is an Italian journalist, writer and translator.

He worked for several years at various publishing houses and newspapers (he currently contributes to the cultural pages of the Corriere della Sera ). From 1994 to 1997 he presided over the technical jury of the Chiara Prize.

Translator from French, he is the author of numerous essays, short stories and novels.