text:
Wacław Pelikan (ur. 11 września 1790 w Słonimie, zm. 9 czerwca 1873 w Pelikanach) – polski lekarz, chirurg, cenzor.

W 1816 został doktorem medycyny i chirurgii oraz adiunktem Akademii Medyko-Chirurgicznej w Petersburgu. W 1817 został profesorem chirurgii na Cesarskim Uniwersytecie Wileńskim, od 1824 był dziekanem, a w latach 1826–1831 rektorem tej uczelni.

W latach 1823–1824 był członkiem komisji śledczej w sprawie filaretów i filomatów. W latach 1829–1831 kierował wileńskim komitetem cenzury. Przyczynił się do zamknięcia wileńskiej uczelni w 1832.

Był prezydentem Akademii Medyko-Chirurgicznej w Petersburgu w latach 1851–1865 i przewodniczącym Rady Lekarskiej Rosji w latach 1865–1873.

Życiorys
Ojciec Wacława Pelikana miał pochodzić z Czech i być muzykantem w orkiestrze hetmana Michała Ogińskiego, a później zajmować się handlem winem, natomiast matka Wacława miała być garderobianą. Wacław urodził się 11 września 1790, w Słonimie w rodzinie wyznania prawosławnego. Według ustaleń Zmiejewa miał przyjść na świat w 1787 w okolicy Wilna w rodzinie żydowskiej, a wyznanie zmienić w 1816. Według encyklopedii PWN był natomiast do 1816 katolikiem.

Był absolwentem gimnazjum w Słonimie lub Mołodecznie. W 1813 ukończył studia medyczne na Akademii Medyko-Chirurgicznej w Petersburgu – otrzymał złoty medal i stopień lekarza I klasy. W 1816 uzyskał na tej uczelni stopień doktora medycyny i chirurgii, a także został adiunktem w katedrze chirurgii przy profesorze O. Buschu.

W maju 1817 został profesorem chirurgii na Cesarskim Uniwersytecie Wileńskim. Objął katedrę chirurgii teoretycznej i praktycznej, a w 1820 także anatomii i medycyny sądowej. Cieszył się opinią zdolnego chirurga i popularnego wykładowcy. Był prezesem Towarzystwa Lekarskiego w Wilnie w latach 1821, 1823 i 1825.

Przewodniczył komitetowi reorganizacji szkolnictwa na Litwie w duchu rusyfikacji. W latach 1823–1824 zajął się wyszukiwaniem tajnych związków młodzieży uniwersyteckiej i gimnazjalnej, czym zyskał sobie przychylność Nikołaja Nowosilcowa. Uczestniczył w komisji śledczej w sprawie filaretów i filomatów. Namawiał przesłuchiwanych do przyznawania się do udziału w nielegalnych związkach, bez względu na to, czy byli w nich rzeczywiście, czy nie. Otaczał się szpiegami i dozorcami, popierał donosicielstwo na profesorów i demoralizowanie młodzieży, zarówno w szkołach, jak i na uniwersytecie.

W czerwcu 1824 został dziekanem, w październiku tego samego roku prorektorem, a w lipcu 1826 (dzięki poparciu Nowosilcowa) rektorem Cesarskiego Uniwersytetu Wileńskiego – pierwszym w historii mianowanym odgórnie i na stałe – dożywotnio.

W latach 1829–1831 kierował wileńskim komitetem cenzury. Podczas powstania listopadowego wydał w grudniu 1830 odezwę zakazującą wyjazdu na święta, aby nie brano w nim udziału. 20 maja 1831 w obawie o swój los, pod osłoną nocy i w eskorcie wojskowej, uciekł do Petersburga. 10 lipca powrócił do Wilna, ale został obity kijem przez Fortunata Bielewskiego i znowu wyjechał do Petersburga. Po upadku powstania znacząco przyczynił się do zamknięcia wileńskiej uczelni, co nastąpiło w maju 1832. Przyznano mu emeryturę w wysokości 1500 rubli srebrnych.

W Petersburgu został urzędnikiem Ministerstwa Spraw Wewnętrznych. W 1838 przeniósł się do Moskwy, gdzie został lekarzem naczelnym szpitala wojskowego. W 1845 został dyrektorem departamentu medycznego w Ministerstwie Wojny w Petersburgu. W 1851–1865 był prezydentem petersburskiej Akademii Medyko-Chirurgicznej, a w latach 1865–1873 przewodniczącym Rady Lekarskiej Rosji.

Był autorem prac naukowych pisanych po polsku. Napisał podręcznik Myologia czyli Nauka o muskułach ciała ludzkiego (Wilno, 1823).

Został nagrodzony orderem Świętej Anny II klasy, a z racji 60 lat służby rządowej – orderem Świętego Aleksandra Newskiego.

Jego żoną była Elżbieta z Wasiliewów, primo voto majorowa Protopopowa, z którą miał trzech synów – Eugeniusz Pelikan (1824–1884) był profesorem medycyny sądowej i anatomii Uniwersytetu w Moskwie.

Przypisy

Bibliografia

Linki zewnętrzne
 Wacław Pelikan: Myologia czyli Nauka o muskułach ciała ludzkiego (1823) w bibliotece Polona

Absolwenci Wojskowej Akademii Medycznej im. S.M. Kirowa
Cenzorzy Imperium Rosyjskiego
Odznaczeni Orderem Świętej Anny
Odznaczeni Orderem Świętego Aleksandra Newskiego (Imperium Rosyjskie)
Polscy chirurdzy
Rektorzy Cesarskiego Uniwersytetu Wileńskiego
Ludzie urodzeni w Słonimie
Urodzeni w 1790
Zmarli w 1873

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


A lighter is a device designed to produce a flame, usually for the purpose of igniting a cigarette. The very first lighters were converted flintlock gunpowder pistols circa 16th century. Modern lighters were a result of the patenting of ferrocerium in 1903. Ferrocerium produced a spark when struck which ignited the fuel which produced a flame. As a result of this innovation, lighters were easier to manufacture and therefore came into more common usage.
Utilitarian lighters were produced in massive quantities as smoking became a popular past time. In addition, decorative lighters were produced in the 1930's and 40's (and later) with gold and gem-set cases concealing the flint and fuel. They were an elegant accompaniment to the elaborate cigarette cases of the period. Lighters could take on a variety of interesting shapes, made from a wide assortment of materials and could be decorated with gems, enamel, engraving, even the addition of a watch to the case.
Tiffany & Co. Schlumberger Poodle Lighter. 18k Yellow Gold with Ruby Eyes.
Tiffany & Co. Schlumberger Poodle Lighter – Open. 18k Yellow Gold with Ruby Eyes.


We write a standalone Java REST client for the RESTful service described in this post – http://cuppajavamattiz.com/2012/11/09/a-simple-restful-service/. The code can be integrated into a web application as well when the need to consume a RESTful service is required.
// We need to zero pad it if you actually want the full 32 chars.
See snapshot below to find the jars required on the classpath.
There are multiple REST clients that can be used to test the application including two plugins to the Chrome browser.
Type the following URL, select GET and hit the SEND button to get the response from the RESTful service.
REST is an architecture. REST is not restricted to HTTP alone. It can use any protocol that follows the URI scheme. SOAP on the other hand uses HTTP alone. The consumer need not know a lot about the services exposed by the Rest service provider. In case of SOAP any undocumented change on either server or client side will break the communication. i.e. Web Service client and server are more tightly coupled than REST. The soap client requires detailed previous knowledge of the web service provider. However, once the entry point is known in REST, the resources are supposed to return links that the client can follow. Rest has a much simpler request and can use JSON as well as XML. It does not have the soap envelope and the headers and can be used for protocols that don't support these. It can use JSON as well as XML or CSV.
REST is much more lightweight and can be implemented using almost any tool, leading to lower bandwidth. However, the clients have to know what to send and what to expect.
So the soap web service client can be thin – service provider has lot of logic and data access and does lot of work while in RESTful web service, the provider is very thin – just provides resources (e.g. data). In general, When you're publishing an API to the outside world that is either complex or likely to change, SOAP will be more useful. Other than that, REST is usually the better option.
Headers provide information about the type of request and the resource requested/ created.
The soap request/ response consists of a SOAP envelope. The soap envelope contains the soap header and soap body. The SOAP header gives you an option of putting some stuff in that would be evaluated before the body is processed. The SOAP header may contain authentication information, namespace and method-name invoked, etc. Soap body may contain request and response content.
SOAP performs operations in the context of a standardized message format. The primary part of this message has a MIME type of "text/xml" and contains the SOAP envelope. This envelope is an XML document. The envelope contains a header (optional) and a body (mandatory). The body part of the envelope is always intended for the final recipient of the message, while the header entries may target the nodes that perform intermediate processing, such as endpoint. Attachments, binary or otherwise, may be appended to the body.
Headers, for example, may be used to provide digital signatures for a request contained in the body. In this circumstance, an authentication or authorization server could process the header entry — independent of the body — stripping out information to validate the signature. Once validated, the rest of the envelope would be passed on to the SOAP server, which would process the body of the message.
Q# How do you authenticate a SOAP request?
I have used weblogic.xml.crypto.wss.provider.CredentialProvider to set the user credentials that will be added to the request header after encryption. This information is stripped from the soap header to authenticate the request. The authorization data is passed to the server through the request header each and every time a request is made. The authorization policy is defined in an xml file that is kept in the META-INF folder of the SOAP war/ ear file. The policy.xml says that user should always send username/ password token. The request should then always contain username/ password token.
We implemented "Standard Web Services Security" using username and password tokens passed in the soap header and a policy xml was deployed on the server which executed an EJB that did authentication.
The method itself was exposed as a webservice using annotations in the javax.jws package which is implemented in weblogic jar. Also jboss-ejb3.jar.
which seems to be in the import javax.jws.WebService; package of weblogic.jar.
The wsdl was automatically created and client stubs were generated using the ant clientgen task.
http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/J2SE/jax_ws_2/ is a rather a simplistic introduction, but similar to one described above.
In another project we created the wsdl manually and generated stubs using something like wsconsume ant task. The generated stubs are used both client side and server side.
Q# What is the difference between restful services and soap?
REST is an architecture. REST is not restricted to HTTP alone. It can use any protocol that follows the URI scheme. SOAP on the other hand uses HTTP alone. The consumer need not know a lot about the services exposed by the Rest service provider. In case of SOAP any undocumented change on either server or client side will break the communication. i.e. Web Service client and server are more tightly coupled than REST. The soap client requires detailed previous knowledge of the web service provider. However, once the entry point is known in REST, the resources are supposed to return links that the client can follow. Rest has a much simpler request and can use JSON as well as XML. It does not have the soap envelope and the headers and can be used for protocols that don't support these.
* SOAP exposes a function (or a method call) as an HTTP web service. The method can contain complex business logic etc.
* RESTful web service provides pieces of data as an HTTP web service. Think of RESTful web service as exposing a bunch of getter methods as webservice. The client can invoke the getter functions to retrieve pieces of data and then do what it pleases with the retrieved data. The restful web service provides data similar to how a database would provide data. Each invocation is very light since the web service provider doesn't have any logic. It just retrieves and sends data.
"Instead of providing just one endpoint for a particular web service and having that endpoint perform various operations, you provide access to resources." So the soap web service client can be thin – service provider has lot of logic and data access and does lot of work while in RESTful web service, the provider is very thin – just provides resources (e.g. data). The client can do whatever it likes with the data – complex logic etc. So thin server/ thick client model is implemented and separate uri's for each resource (or piece of data) are in place. RESTful services looks different from SOAP. SOAP has a method call which takes params and returns params while RESTful service just has separate uri's for each resource (piece of data).
A soap service could expose a service that looks like this String doComplexStuff(param1, param2, param3, param4) while a RESTful service would look like this http://blah/resource/param1, http://blah/resource/param12 where it is just giving the values asked for and the RESTful service will return param1 and param12 without doing complex processing.
The difference is not whether "light" or "heavy"; the difference is whether you are executing a method call or getting access to resources.Typically RESTful services are supposed to be "light" without complex logic though that's not to say that it can't access the db or that it can't use hibernate.
It exposes multiple URI's each URI exposing a single resource. For soap, each url would expose a method that performs some complex task and it's not just exposing a resource. The difference is philosophical more of a design difference. We can use one technology on one end of a RESTful service and another at the consumer side, its just like a soap webservice – the mechanism is the same.
Because SOAP is a protocol, and REST is an architectural style. SOAP is its own protocol, and is a bit more complex by defining more standards than REST—things like security and how messages are sent. For many of the reasons SOAP is a good choice rarely apply to web services scenarios, which make it more ideal for enterprise-type situations that require more comprehensive features in the way of security, transactions, and ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability) compliance.
SOAP is a protocol. REST is an architectural style. An API is designed to expose certain aspects of an application's business logic on a server, and SOAP uses a service interface to do this while REST uses URIs.
REST APIs access a resource for data (a URI); SOAP APIs perform an operation. REST is an architecture that's more data-driven; SOAP is a standardized protocol for transferring structured information that's more function-driven.
REST permits many different data formats including plain text, HTML, XML, and JSON, which is a great fit for data and yields more browser compatibility; SOAP only uses XML.
Security is handled differently. SOAP supports WS-Security, which is great at the transport level and a bit more comprehensive than SSL, and more ideal for integration with enterprise-level security tools. Both support SSL for end-to-end security, and REST can use the secure version of the HTTP protocol, HTTPS.
SOAP requires more bandwidth; REST requires fewer resources (depending on the API). There's a little more overhead with SOAP out of the gate, on account of the envelope-style of payload transport. Because REST is used primarily for web services, its being lightweight is an advantage in those scenarios.
REST calls can be cached, SOAP-based calls cannot be cached. Data can be marked as cacheable, which means it can be reused by the browser later without having to initiate another request back to the server. This saves time and resources.
An API is built to handle your app's payload, and REST and SOAP do this differently. A payload is data sent over the internet, and when a payload is "heavy," it requires more resources. REST tends to use HTTP and JSON, which lighten the payload; SOAP relies more on XML.
SOAP is tightly coupled with the server; REST is coupled to a lesser degree. In programming, the more layers of abstraction between two pieces of technology, the less control you have over their interaction, but there's also less complexity and it's easier to make updates to one or the other without blowing up the whole relationship. The same goes for APIs and how closely they interact with a server. This is a key difference between SOAP and REST to consider. SOAP is very closely coupled with the server, having a strict communication contract with it that makes it more difficult to make changes or updates. A client interacting with a REST API needs no knowledge of the API, but a client interacting with a SOAP API needs knowledge about everything it will be using before it can even initiate an interaction.
Q# What is the difference between JAX-WS, JAX-RS,JAX-RPC and what is JAX-B?
The industry was not merely doing RPC web services, they were also doing message-oriented web services. So "RPC" was removed from the name and replaced with "WS" (for web Services). Thus the successor to JAX-RPC 1.1 is JAX-WS 2.0 – the Java API for XML-based web services.
What is different between JAX-rpc and JAX-ws?
JAX-RPC and JAX-WS support SOAP 1.1. JAX-WS also supports SOAP 1.2.
The WSDL 1.1 specification defined an HTTP binding, which is a means by which you can send XML messages over HTTP without SOAP. JAX-RPC ignored the HTTP binding. JAX-WS adds support for it.
JAX-RPC maps to Java 1.4. JAX-WS maps to Java 5.0. JAX-WS relies on many of the features new in Java 5.0.
Java EE 5, the successor to J2EE 1.4, adds support for JAX-WS, but it also retains support for JAX-RPC, which could be confusing to today's web services novices.
JAX-RPC has its own data mapping model, which covers about 90 percent of all schema types. Those that it does not cover are mapped to javax.xml.soap.SOAPElement.
JAX-WS's data mapping model is JAXB. JAXB promises mappings for all XML schemas.
It introduces dynamic asynchronous functionality.
JAX-WS also adds a dynamic server model, which JAX-RPC does not have.
JAX-RPC handlers rely on SAAJ 1.2. JAX-WS handlers rely on the new SAAJ 1.3 specification.
Soap is service based while REST is resource based and lighter with less overhead since it doesn't include authentication, security, transaction, message types and ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability) by defining more standards. Soap is resource intensive on the client side(thin client) while REST isn't which makes REST useful on devices such as mobile phones. Rest is the preferred web service.
REST is particularly useful for limited-profile devices, such as PDAs and mobile phones. It's not that JSON is so significantly smaller than XML by itself. It's mostly that JAX-WS specification includes lots overhead in how it communicates. On the point about WSDL and API definitions, REST will more frequently use the URI structure and HTTP commands to define the API rather than message types, as is done in the JAX-WS. This means that you don't need to publish a WSDL document so that other users of your service can know how to talk to your service. With REST you will still need to provide some documentation to other users about how the REST service is organized and what data and HTTP commands need to be sent. JAX-RS refers to Rest services while JAX-WS is related to web services.
Q# What web services have you used?
Lately I have used Apache CXF with Spring for creating WebServices using annotations – bottom up. Prior to this I used the EJB3 web services using annotations – bottom up. Apache Axis for both bottom up and top down web service creation. Top-down means you start with a WSDL and then create all the necessary scaffolding in Java all the way down. Bottom-up means you start with a Java method, and generate the WSDL from it.


Plus, how to enjoy them safely during pregnancy.
Loved for its sleek, minimal design and handcrafted from quality porcelain, the highly sought-after diffuser by vitruvi comes with a waitlist and has—in its own way—become a new avenue of self-care.
Used by the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow and gaining popularity amongst wellness enthusiasts across the globe, the vitruvi diffuser and essential oils are hailed for its ability to double as a stunning piece of decor in the home, and of course, offer the many benefits associated with essential oils including stress relief and improved sleep.
"We are incredibly passionate about elevating daily personal care practices and turning them into simple wellness moments throughout the day,' founder of vitruvi, Sara Panton, tells Sporteluxe.
Here, we chat to Sara more about how you can incorporate essential oils into your everyday routine and the do's and don'ts for all our pregnant mammas out there.
And which one do you recommend to use?
A humidifier is designed to add moisture to the air and provides significant amount of water to the surrounding environment. A diffuser doesn't heat oil and uses an oscillating plate to create small vibrations. An oil burner, on the other hand, uses a heat source (from a flame) to heat essential oils promoting it to evaporate into the air. The reason that I prefer using a diffuser (more specifically an ultrasonic diffuser) is that you can have it on while you sleep since there is a safety off-switch and no heat is used. It's safe to have around children and diffuses the oils using oscillations, not heat. Using oscillations also keeps the integrity of the essential oils safe.
How hands-on are you in the process of creating vitruvi's signature blends?
I'm completely hands on in creating our signature blends. I create the concept and work with our creative lead to form the overall theme and essential oil suggestions to combine together. From there, we work with a perfumist and aromatherapist to ensure the proportions are correct and go through many rounds of versions before we decide on the final product. Designing new products is an incredible process and the time and effort we put into creating an aroma is something I'm very proud of at vitruvi.
How can essential oils become a part of someone's daily life?
By pairing a specific aroma to a specific activity like studying, working out, or going to sleep, you can create a reminder to take a deep breathe, carve some time out for yourself and fill your cup back up with energy, focus and stamina to do great work. Plus, essential oils have a multitude of uses—from diffusing, to using in beauty products and even creating non-toxic cleaning products.
What essential oil is your favorite and why?
It's so hard to pick! My favorites are Geranium Essential Oil because it's floral, yet fresh and slightly minty—I love to use it in a daily face steam by adding 3 drops to a warm face cloth. I also love French Lavender—it's so multi-purposeful, from acting as a blemish spot treatment, to an evening diffuser oil and even adding a few drops to mascara can help to extend its use.
Which essential oils are safe for pregnancy?
My favorite essential oil blend I recommend diffusing during pregnancy is peppermint essential oil with a little bit of lavender. We recommend diffusing a slightly lighter diffuser aroma using 1-10 drops instead of the normal 15-20 drops. We always recommend you approve all your essential oil choices with your healthcare practitioner.
What essential oils are NOT safe?
We suggest avoiding cinnamon, clove, rosemary and clary sage while pregnant. However, before using any essential oils during pregnancy, we strongly recommend speaking to your doctor or healthcare practitioner.
Why are some oils not safe?
One reason that some essential oils are believed to be unsafe is that they can be stimulating to the uterus and could potentially promote contraction of the uterus. For this reason some oils are believed to be unsafe during pregnancy, and or at specific stages of pregnancy.
Is it safe to use essential oils in a diffuser in the nursery for the baby and what oils do you recommend?
Having essential oils diffused during times that the baby is sleeping can be a really helpful way to help cue baby into natural rhythms. Ultrasonic diffusers, such as vitruvi's, are a great way to enhance the air and environment of a baby's nursery, bedroom, or playroom. I recommend using just 1-5 drops in a diffuser (Lavender is my favorite). When diffusing essential oils, especially around children and animals, always ensure that you have a window and door open to offer fresh air.
What about mixing standalone oils for a personal desired scent? Or should we stick with one oil?


text:
Derby Daily Telegraph - 15 November 1887
PETTY SESSIONS, Saturday.— Before Mr. C. B. Kingdon, Mr. H. C. Okeover, Mr. C. W. Jervis Smith, and Mr. J. Simpson.
FATHER AND SON.— Joseph Swindell, of Shirley, labourer, was charged with stealing a steel grate, the property of Mr. Samuel Normanshaw, of Shirley on November 11th; and he was further charged with stealing, on the same day, the back of a gate from the premises of Mr. Mellor, of Shirley.— He pleaded guilty to both offences, and elected to be tried summarily, and was fined £1 10s. in each case.—— Oswald Swindell, of Longford, a farm servant, was charged with stealing a scythe on the 11th of September last, belonging to Mr. Joshua Gregory, farm bailiff to the Hon. E. K. W. Coke.— Police constable Henslock found the stolen property in all these three cases at the house of the father. Defendant pleaded guilty and was fined 10s.
© British Newspaper Archive
Swindell, Joseph Person

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Cornwall foreclosures in Ontario may present Ten as to Fifty % bargain for your transaction and occasionally more. This could be a several thousand dollar discount.
For an engaged new buyer looking to find this sort of discount, needs to do a large amount of research in many classified ads together with websites. Certain providers could be over looked, therefore we could very well miss out on a great discount.
Additionally, doing a comparison of repossessed properties on various resources, causes confusion and definately will get quite time consuming.
However, it doesn't need to be this way. We have now the most effective leading-edge program which seeks the real estate market continually regarding Cornwall foreclosures coming from all companies like Remax, Sutton, Century 21, Royal LePage etc … And even bank owned foreclosure lists from separate real estate banners will be shown.
By completing the web form to gain access to the list regarding Cornwall foreclosures, you aquire access to the database in Cornwall. The internal system will make a continual search with each of your criterias and send a hyperlink of your very own gateway through e mail.
Your gateway is going to consist of all of the foreclosures that match your parameters with snapshots & specifications of each and every foreclosure. You are able to sort by asking price, by street address, date it actually was put on the market etcetera… In addition, you can actually add properties to your favorites or even move them to the discard pile.
Afterward, whenever certain properties gets your interest, you can speak with us by phone and e mail to find out more on the property or home without cost.
Tags: foreclosures Cornwall, foreclosures in Cornwall, home foreclosures Cornwall, home foreclosures in Cornwall, house foreclosures in Cornwall, Cornwall bank foreclosures, bank foreclosures Cornwall, bank foreclosures in Cornwall and Cornwall foreclosures.


text:
Parallels between Shakespeare and the Fantastic Four
And parallels with the Bible.
Above: Reed Richards' visual equivalent of "To Be Or Not To Be." See Act 4 of the Fantastic Four for context, and FF251 for this scene.
There are many parallels between Shakespeare and the Fantastic Four, particularly Hamlet. This includes the criticisms. Whatever you say against comics can be said against Shakespeare.
The main difference between the two is their different unique selling point. Shakespeare's unique selling point is his rich language, but that rich language also scares away new readers. The Fantastic Four's unique strength is its accessibility: it's a lot more fun.
Comics are vulgar entertainment?
Today, Shakespeare is considered the gold standard in high class literature. But it was not always so:
"Although generally popular in his day, these plays were frequently little esteemed by his educated contemporaries, who considered English plays of their own day to be only vulgar entertainment." - source
"Plays were considered ephemeral and somewhat disreputable entertainments rather than serious literature." - source
This sounds a bit like comic books in the twentieth century.
Sometimes dismissed by critics?
Voltaire called Shakespeare's works an "enormous dunghill." (source for all these quotations)
Tolstoy called Will's writing "Crude, immoral, vulgar and senseless."
George Bernard Shaw said, "There is no eminent writer, not even Sir Walter Scott, whom I despise so entirely as I despise Shakespeare,"
Charles Darwin: "I have tried lately to read Shakespeare and found it so intolerably dull that is nauseated me."
J.R.R. Tolkien "disliked cordially" the Shakespeare section of his English literature studies.
Dr. Samuel Johnson [a man with a similar influence on the English language]: "Shakespeare never had six lines together without a fault,"
Samuel Pepys (not quite a contemporary but close) after watching A Midsummer Night's Dream, wrote "had never seen before, nor shall ever again, for it is the most insipid ridiculous play that ever I saw in my life."
This sounds a bit like comic books in the twentieth century: while some critics take them seriously, many dismiss them as garbage. And to be fair, most comics are garbage. But some are not.
Unoriginal plots?
"With a few exceptions, Shakespeare did not invent the plots of his plays." - Britannica
This sounds a bit like comic books in the twentieth century: forever adapting and re-imagining old plots.
Flat characters and other weaknesses
"Shakespeare's first period was one of experimentation. His early plays, unlike his more mature work, are characterized to a degree by wooden and superficial construction and verse. Some of the plays from the first period may be no more than -retouching of earlier works by others." - source
Even his greatest plays have their weak points. For examples, Iago (in Othello) is a two dimensional villain who even tells the audience of his villainy. Still in Othello, three days became a week because Shakespeare was not paying attention, then Desdemona's father's death is just announced out of the blue with no build up or commentary. Shakespeare is happy to use a bizarre deus ex machina whenever he has a plot hole to fill, as when Hamlet is leaving Denmark as a prisoner, Shakespeare can't think what to do next, so he just announces that the ship was captured by pirates who conveniently return Hamlet to Denmark. And all the female characters in Hamlet are weak, dependent on the men. The weaknesses and plot holes are legion, even in his greatest works, but we overlook these because Shakespeare's strengths are so wonderful.
Once again this sounds like the comic books.
Shakespeare frequently relies on supernatural powers. Hamlet needs ghosts. Macbeth need ghosts, witches with the power of prophecy, and even a visit by the goddess Hecate. Romeo and Juliet relies on a potion such as has never existed in the real world. A Midsummer Night's Dream needs a magic potion, magic transformations, and more. Even his strictly historical plays generally feature powerful kings. Their ability to command armies and change the destiny of nations makes them more powerful than most superheroes. Some, like Owen Glendower in Henry IV, are described as superheroes.
Like Shakespeare, the best superhero comics use superpowers as a convenient trick to enable a story. The story is what matters, not the superpower.
Stylized dialog
Shakespeare uses stylized dialog: nobody really talks like that. Characters say just the right thing, in the cleverest way. Few writers can duplicate that, let alone ordinary people in real life. Also his characters often speak in rhyme or in iambic pentameter. But it's enjoyable so we allow it.
The Fantastic Four has its own style: it eschews cleverness for clarity. The Fantastic Four conveys the maximum information in the minimum space, and can be enjoyed by all ages and reading abilities. Unlike Shakespeare it's instantly understandable by anyone.
"That issue was really stupid"
It's fun to take a critic's worst attack on the Fantastic Four then find the same "problem" in Shakespeare. It then becomes a springboard for diving into hidden depths. Take the end of FF127 for example, where Ben Grimm is mistaken for a hairy underground monster. This was dismissed by one critic as "very annoyingly improbable". Yet highly improbable mistaken identities in exotic places are a staple for Shakespeare. See Midsummer Night's Dream, Winter's Tale, etc. Why? Because it allows us to see previously hidden aspects of a character, plus it's fun!" Shakespeare had to entertain on a silly level as well, just like the best comics.
Shakespeare was the best at what he did
Why, then, is Shakespeare so revered? Because like Jack Kirby in comic art, and Stan Lee in comic editing, William Shakespeare was the best there ever was in his chosen field. Just look at Shakespeare's range, his ability to attract empathy, and his talent with clever phrases, and above all his layers of depth.
Unlike many of his contemporaries, Shakespeare's characters have a wide range of emotions and experiences. This is like the best comic books. But comics have the possibility of greater range because they cover a much longer period, a bigger story, with input from more writers. For example, Hamlet moves between honor and suicide and madness within a single hour, but over the six thousand page story of Reed Richards we see honor and suicide and madness, and also true love and courage and weakness and integrity and deception and hope and fear and jealousy and pettiness and everything in between.
Shakespeare's skill with words lets the audience feel great empathy with his characters. But this is only true to a limited extent, otherwise children would not have to be forced against their will to read his plays. Shakespeare uses complex language that is only accessible to his sixteenth century audience, or to those who take the time to learn his style. Here the best comics have a great advantage: by using the simplest language they have no difficulty in being understood. By using pictures they are even more accessible. And readers grow up with the characters month by month, seeing every detail of their lives, they are not just characters on a stage or on a page: they become friends.
Unique talents
Every work of genius is unique. That is what makes it genius and not merely pastiche. Shakespeare is unique in its use of clever language: nobody can turn a phrase like the Bard of Avon. Though possibly this is helped by the fact that the language was still new. Just a couple of hundred years earlier was Chaucer's time, and a very different kind of English. Since Shakespeare's time the language has expanded continually, and each new generation is less impressed by novel phrases. Shakespeare, or his contemporaries the translators of the King James Bible, could add dozens of memorable phrases to the language. By the 1900s even the greatest poet was unlikely to add more than one or two phrases to general usage.
The unique talent of the Fantastic Four was not in adding clever phrases, but in its epic scale: a six thousand page story that evolved over twenty seven years and became the backbone of "The Marvel Universe" - the largest connected story in the history of the world.
Layers of depth
Shakespeare is able to show conflicting layers, including layers the speaker may not himself recognize. For example, when Hamlet pretends to be mad the audience can wonder if he is really mad. Or when he debates suicide and does not know how he feels. Unfortunately, a play is limited in length, so Shakespeare has to hit us over the head with a soliloquy. It would be more subtle to show rather than tell. This is where the best comics have the advantage.
These layers are most clearly seen in the second half of the FF Act 4: all the main characters are in denial, and their behavior can be interpreted in different ways:
When Reed Richards has his slow nervous breakdown he never has to stop and tell us: we can see it happening. And it is all the more powerful because Reed himself has no clue that it is happening. Hie visibly ages, he becomes more withdrawn, his language becomes cold and mechanical. Unlike the youthful Hamlet, Reed cannot afford to wallow in self pity. He must carry on. He tells himself that nothing has changed, but who is he trying to fool?
Reed's actions are the deepest tragedy because he refuses to admit even the possibility of weakness, and all he has ever done is what he thinks is for the best. He is never a cold hearted first-person killer like Hamlet (with Polonius), so the audience can feel the despair as he attempts suicide while refusing to admit that anything is wrong. The audience must also decide where he went wrong. When does he stop lying for "good" reasons (e.g. the end of issue 7) and begin withholding key information out of habit? When is a lie of omission a lie? When does believing he can do the impossible (e.g. his busy period against Galactus at the start of Act 4) become irrational? The audience must judge.
Meanwhile Sue's makeover is supposed to make her more powerful but instead is a cry of despair. She makes her face like a little girl, gives herself a narrow waist and big bust, uses more sexual body language and references and actively romances Reed. In claiming to be liberated she has lost control over her life. She insists on national TV that she is now in control, yet at that exact moment her neglected son is confused, lost, and attacking the rest of her family. She cannot see it but we can.
Ben does the same in Acts 2 and 3: we know he's intelligent and serious, but he acts the fool.It's the only way he can cope with being under Reed's control, yet he does not know how to escape or even if he wants to.
Johnny with Alicia is another example. He acts like a carefree womanizer, but has had relatively few girlfriends and they have all ended in failure. We know what he looks like when in love (with Crystal, and when Frankie left him), and his restrained act with Alicia fools nobody but himself. He has to constantly tell himself that he loves her.
In general, the whole team acts as if nothing is wrong because they deal with near-death every day. They cannot afford to show weakness to each other, as the fate of the world depends on them... or so Reed thinks. But here the others can see what we can see: by Act 4 there are many other superheroes, Reed does not have to push them so hard, but he can't see it.
Parallels with Hamlet
The following parallels are only coincidence: nobody is claiming that the Fantastic Four is based on Hamlet. However, the Fantastic Four is so rich and deep that parallels naturally arise with Shakespeare's greatest work.
There may be even more parallels with other plays, particularly The Tempest: Reed Richards is Prospero, the genius hero who nevertheless sometimes lies and treats others as children; both stories start with a wrecked ship; both feature super powers; both have exotic locations, Utopian dreams, conflict with opposing ideals; Ben is Caliban, etc. But Hamlet is Shakespeare's most famous and renowned play so let us proceed.
Both Hamlet and the Fantastic Four were written at a time of change and anxiety about the future. Hamlet was written in the final years of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, who died childless, and the nation was concerned about its future. Similarly, the Fantastic Four began at the height of the Cold War, and reflected its nations fears of the time. On a more personal note, Hamlet was written soon after Shakespeare's child died, leading to a more restrained and reflective play. While we do not know if Stan Lee or Jack Kirby suffered a bereavement in 1961, in a Comics Journal interview Kirby tells of how he found Stan weeping at his desk at the failure his life's work. This may be hyperbole, but the company was at its lowest ebb when Kirby joined, having sacked almost all staff, and Stan took it very personally. In Origins Of Marvel Comics Stan tells how he was planning to leave comics, so decided for once to write a more realistic comic, the kind of thing an adult would enjoy reading.
Plot and characters
Hamlet is Reed Richards: a thoughtful hero, often the slowest to act, but occasionally rash. The pressure is too much, and may drive him over the edge, but we are never quite sure of his mental state. Hamlet's defining characteristics are his pain, his fear, and his self-conflict. He cannot think about his responsibility for killing Polonius, because if he did then he could not cope. Reed is the same. Even at his lowest point he acts as if it is just another day at the office: to admit that he represses his friends, saved Galactus, needlessly endangered his friends with is Negative Zone trip, etc., would be more than he could cope with.
The ghost of Hamlet's father is the spirit of single-mindedly conquering the frontier: Hamlet's father was busy conquering Norway and now demands revenge. Reed's father is similarly single minded and expects Reed to be ruthless. Reed meets his father through ghosts in the dust of the old American frontier. Hamlet's father's voice speaks from the earth because he was denied his rights. In the same way, Reed's father speaks from the dust.
Another parallel with the ghost of Hamlet's father is the Over-Mind. Is this real, or a creation of Reed's desperate mind as he sinks into madness?
Hamlet's father was denied his last rites and so exists under ground: his voice comes from the ground. In FF1, an unnamed worker tries to follow the American Dream by becoming qualified and working hard, but is unjustly denied any job. He ends up underground where he is obsessed with revenge. Just as the ghost makes Hamlet's companions swear, so the Fantastic Four swear, and the test of their oath comes from underground.
Claudius is the various would-be monarchs who threaten the state - most of the FF's early foes are monarchs or would-be monarchs.
Gertrude is the American people. (The symbolism of the nation as bride to the king comes from the Bible.) The people are ultimately innocent, but too easily led, too quick to follow the bad guy (as with Galactus' herald Gabriel) and too quick to be brainwashed and condemn the hero (see the various times when the public is turned against the FF: in issues 2, 7, etc.)
Ophelia is Sue Storm, Reed's girl: Innocent, loving simple beauty, yet condemned in a sexist way. Ophelia's drowning herself half way through the play is like Sue leaving the unloving Reed to join the Sub-Mariner (climaxing in issue 149) . The battle in her grave is echoed by Reed's struggle with the Sub-Mariner.
Polonius is Ben Grimm in his human form: the friend who did not quite trust Reed/Hamlet. Reed killed Ben's human form.
Laertes is Ben Grimm in his "Thing" form: enraged that his "father" (his human form) is killed. Ben, the man of action, is the foil for thoughtful Reed.
Fortinbras is Johnny Storm: the natural leader who, though nearby throughout the story, cannot take his rightful place until the others have gone. His rule will be more democratic: how else can Johnny control the more intelligent Crystal and more powerful Franklin?
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are other superheroes: friends of Reed, but sometimes they act against him.
The final duel is mirrored in FF 296 (Hamlet/Reed versus Laertes/Ben) and annual 20 (Hamlet/Reed versus Claudius/Doom). The poisoned chalice is to be forever busy with matters of leadership: Doom drinks this by his own scheme backfiring, and he is kept forever busy with Kristoff. The poisoned blade is Ben's unconscious hatred for Reed. When Ben finally confronts his hatred and forgives Reed (in 296) he is able to leave it behind. This allows Reed to finally pass on the reins of power to Ben, who will, once he has proved himself a leader, inevitably pass the crown to the true leader, Johnny/Fortinbras.
Action or waiting:
Hamlet often postpones action until he has time to think. This is Ben's constant refrain: he can't stand Reed's habit of waiting round and holding back..He wants action!
How can anything be known for sure? This is the major theme with Dr Doom. No matter what you do he comes back somehow. Reed has to accept that he will never be beaten, and instead be happy to keep him busy (through Latveria and Kristoff). Reed's final dilemma is on whether to interfere with Ben's new team, and he finally learns (via Sue and Franklin) to leave Ben alone.
"To be or not to be..."
Reed tries to be everything, to solve every problem, and he fails. This takes his reason for living, and his Negative Zone adventure (251-256) can be seen as a suicide attempt. Or not: it is left for the reader to decide. Meanwhile, Ben's life is a quest for identity (man or monster?).
"Whether tis nobler..."
Reed, once he has decided, always rushes in. But Sue is aware of the danger and provides he counterpoint "be careful, Reed!" and offers a different solution: don't fight Namor, or the Dragon man, or the Mole Man, or Gorr, etc., befriend them. There is a third way.
Death and aging:
Reed's confidence is reflected in his health: from collapsing more than once at the start of act four, to his haggard look at the end. He finally lost his confidence when unable to defeat the Skrull aging ray. Reed's desire to conquer all frontiers naturally suggests conquering death, represented by the Negative Zone that sucks in everything, and is ruled by "the living death" Annihilus. Franklin stretches time specifically to avoid aging and death.
Madness:
Reed, the rational one, acts irrationally toward the end: is he mad, or merely calculating badly? E.g. his Negative Zone trip, not wishing to save Franklin, saving Galactus, helping Doom, etc. Throughout the bigger story we see elements of madness: the Mad Thinker and Maximus the Mad are mirrors of Reed, and the Over-mind arc pushes Reed into madness. Another madness parallel is the various doppelgangers: e.g. Sue knows that the Reed from counter Earth is no her Reed because of his strange behavior.
Suicide:
The extended exploration of the Negative Zone can be interpreted as Reed's death wish, but it is left for the reader to judge. Ben sometimes reveals the view that his life is worthless, and so he fights on even when death seems inevitable. This suicide theme is made explicit when Ms Marvel tries to kill herself. she lets Ben see himself from the outside, and helps them both to finally kill their inner demons.
Motifs and symbols
Incestuous Desire
Claudius marries his brother's wife. Laertes speaks of his sister Ophelia with sexual imagery. Hamlet seems preoccupied with his mother's sex life with Claudius. This undercurrent of incestuous desire reflects the instability at the core of the story. The same is true in the FF. Alicia enters the story because she looks exactly like Sue, and at his lowest point Johnny convinces himself that he loves her, and marries his sister's lookalike.
Hamlet's dismissive attitude to women ("get thee to a nunnery" and "Frailty, thy name is woman") could have come straight from Reed's mouth. One way to reed the FF is as the story of feminism: Reed is dragged metaphorically kicking and screaming to admit that, yes, Sue was always his equal. To a lesser extent Johnny learns Reed's sexism: note the times when he would sit and relax while the women cook and clean. This misogyny lost him his true love, as he refused to make the sacrifices that Crystal made for him, and never thought about her except when it suited him. He needed to face his failures and marry the more mature Alicia to conquer his sexism.
Hamlet sees the skull of Yorick and reflects on the past. By doing so it draws attention to the other side, his troubled present. The first issue of the FF takes us to Monster Isle, in the shape of a monstrous skull - modeled on Skull Island in King Kong. Ben's rocky, ear-less head is like a skull, and he often looks back longingly to his human days. Near the start of the FF, in the first annual, Namor (in disguise) brings a Homo Mermanus skull to the United Nations as a test: will humans recognize their links and act humanely to his people? Reed is impatient and the humans fail the test. later, Reed's apparent greatest triumph (the false dawn of FF200) ends with a statue of Doom crumbling with time, like Yorick's skull. Kirby's last ever story (partly used for FF108 but not fully published until after the big story ended) revolves around the discovery of an ancient stone head with two faces. As in Hamlet it is a focus for mankind's good and evil sides.
Etc., etc.
As noted at the start, nobody is claiming that the FF is based on Hamlet. Similar parallels could be found with Romeo and Juliet (Johnny and Crystal), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Johnny and Ben temporarily end up with the wrong partner), or any of Shakespeare's plays. The number of parallels merely show that the FF is a rich seam of fiction to be mined, both by academics and by any reader who enjoys a multi-layered and fulfilling story.
Scholarly attention
Thanks to royal patronage, scholars paid attention to Shakespeare from the start. Given the high quality of his work, his reputation grew exponentially. Sadly this has not been the case for the Fantastic Four: it has been largely ignored, except among aging comic fans who recognize the early run by Kirby and Lee as the gold standard for comic books.
Worse, and perhaps fatally, the Fantastic Four story was abandoned by its publisher, Marvel. Continuity ended abruptly with issue 321. The numbering continued, fatally diluting the brand. It is as if Shakespeare produced dozens of sequels to Romeo and Juliet, where they come back from the dead and the Montagues and Capulets fight with ever more absurd super powers. There are now generations of comic readers who have no idea why the Fantastic Four was once revered.
However, there is cause for optimism. Thanks to digital technology it is now easier than ever to recover the past. As digital copies become more common it is hoped that more academics will have access to the first 321 issues of the Fantastic Four, and the story can finally begin to attract the scholarly attention it deserves.
Parallels with the Bible
The Fantastic Four is full of Biblical parallels and references, from the very first page where Reed Richard prays that he will never again have to use his signal, through the silver surfer as Christ figure, to the only explicit reference to God in issue 72 (about the only all-powerful being, "his only weapon is love"). These references are hardly surprising, as the Fantastic Four is The Great American Novel, and America is the most religious of the advanced nations. King James language was used throughout the story. E.g.
FF34 "a house divided" ("cannot stand")
FF37 "behold a distant star" (probably based on the phrase "behold a pale horse" referring to death and revenge - see Revelation 6:7-10, and the 1964 film of the same name).
FF39 "a blind man shall lead them" (adapting Isaiah's "a little child shall lead them")
FF72 - "in the valley of death" (adapting the Psalm).
FF157 - "laughter in hell, for about the space of half an hour" (adapting Revelation's "Silence in heaven" quote)
Galactus and God
Jack Kirby: "When I created the Silver Surfer and Galactus it came out of a Biblical feeling. I couldn't get gangsters to compete with all these superheroes, so I had to look for more omnipotent characters. I came up with what I thought was God in Galactus; a God-like character. Still thinking about it in the Biblical sense, I began to think of a fallen angel, and the fallen angel was the Silver Surfer. In the story, Galactus confines him to the Earth, just like the fallen angel. So you can get characters from Biblical feelings." - quoted in Mark Alexander, "Lee & Kirby: The Wonder Years"
The Bible and act 4
In their final most hopeless period, the end of Byrne's run at the end of Act 4, these imaginative, optimistic pseudo-Biblical quotes are replaced with more sober straight quotes from lesser writers. The final triumph in Act 5 returns to the Biblical motif. For example:
The cover to 316 "that which is forbidden" is an allusion to the fruit of the tree of knowledge in the garden of Eden at the start of Genesis: this issue begins with Johnny reunited with Alicia and promising himself that he will not take the forbidden fruit - Crystal. It ends with the forbidden fruit of knowledge of the 'gods' - the Beyonder).
The cover to 317: "the beginning and the end" is the title Christ gives himself at the start of the Book of Revelation. Like so many titles, it applies in a small way to the individual issue, but also in a much bigger way to the big story as a whole.
In 319 the Biblical parallels are made explicit: the Beyonder wants to be a god, with his own Bible, his own Koran. But in reality his self belief is vain: he is not the one above all as he thinks.
He is merely a part of something broken, and the other part is the socially inadequate Owen Reece. Similarly Doom sees himself as equal to the Beyonder but is in fact a broken man (he is incomplete) who is needs power in a bad way. Both are given final peace, through a cosmic cube (a reminder of the cubic heavenly city with walls made of jewels, in Revelation).
In 320: the story title is "pride goeth..." quoting "pride goeth before a fall" from the book of Proverbs. Again this applies both to the issue in question (the overconfident Hulk) and the series as whole: the editors in the post-Shooter period see their role as preserving their precious, the character they have inherited. They are intensely proud of these characters and will not let them change. Sadly, change is exactly that made these characters great, and the end of change means the end of greatness. The next issue, the end of this two issue arc, is where corporate pride takes over, and Marvel Universe falls.
Finally, issue 321 is titled: "After The Fall" - the perfect title for the last in-continuity issue. It applies both to this issue (after the defeat of the Hulk) and also the following twenty years in the wilderness, a comic without direction, harking back constantly to its lost glories.
Please note that the Fantastic Four is not consciously based on the Bible. Few of the parallels are precise. But they are parallels we should expect, given the novel's origins and its epic scope as the story of a family that represents a nation.
Act 1 and the Pentateuch:
Act 1 is the foundation story, like the five books of Moses. Issue 1 is the Eden story: the scientist wants knowledge of the heavens, and is warned not to. He ignores the warning, and with his lover he reaches for heaven, then experience a fall and they are changed forever.
Issue 2 is like the rest of the book of Genesis, with the family (not yet a nation) in danger of losing its identity to more powerful foreign nations. The team being framed as evil is like Joseph being framed by his brothers and by Potiphar's wife. Again, the parallels are not exact: this issue is more closely based on cold war fear of communist infiltrators and Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but the epic scope means these are eternal themes.
Issue 3 is the start of the book of Exodus, where they leave Central City and establish a home in the center of New York. The Miracle Man (a reminder of Moses in the exodus) turns out to be a false miracle worker, like Pharaoh's priests; his exhortations to the infant team to give up based on his superior power is like Israel's murmuring in the wilderness, believing in the fleshpots of Egypt: the Israelites are led by a pillar of fire (like the Torch) and the light of truth vanquishes the illusion. Yea, I admit it, I'm stretching here, but the concepts in the comic are profound: confidence, illusion, and a bright light making us see error.
Issues 4 and 5 are like the rest of the Pentateuch, where the chosen family must deal with the monarchs of surrounding nations (Namor is a monarch, Doom is a would-be monarch at this point). This is when they establish their laws: these are the issues where both Ben and Johnny both try to leave, but come back because life under Reed is the right way..
The rest of the Bible
Act 2 is the rest of the Torah
Planet X experiences a flood and the people escape in an ark; the chosen people are threatened by various surrounding monarchs and would-be monarchs (reminding us of the threat from Assyria and Babylon and Egypt) and internal division (reminding us of the division of the kingdom under Solomon's sons). The defeat by the Frightful Four and subsequent loss of power is the FF's equivalent of the Babylonian Captivity; Medusa's subsequent repentance parallels Nineveh, and so on. Sometimes characters are plucked straight from the Bible: the giant Watchers are straight from the book of Enoch.
Act 3 and the New Testament
Act 3 has the wedding (the Biblical metaphor for God and his church), then the Silver Surfer (often identified as a Christ figure), followed by the team's triumphant journeys through the world, just as Paul and the apostles journeyed through their world.
Act 4 and the trials of Christendom
Act 4 would be the long and difficult period of the next two thousand years, when things did not go as happily as planned.
Act 5 and Revelation
Act 5 then is the Book of Revelation, where the themes from Genesis return and are fulfilled, bringing the defeat if the anti-Christ (represented by Doom, the one who defeated the surfer), and then ends with indications of a future new heaven and a new earth, with the old Earth cleansed by fire and the new Earth being a sea of fire with a city with walls of crystal - like the team led by the Human Torch and his bride the Elemental being Crystal.
Appropriately, issue 321 finishes with a rogue Watcher: those enigmatic beings from the apocalypse of Enoch, the fallen angels. And apocalyptically he is is aided by a dragon, man.
The Fantastic Four and Greek plays
The suspicious reader may think that the Fantastic Four could find parallels in anything, and so the parallels prove nothing. But it is nothing like the Greek plays, for example. Greek plays are the model for TV soap opera, with their unity of time and place (most take place around the same location within a short time), and where a character will enter a room and tell you exactly what she thinks. In contrast, the Fantastic Four, on its largest scale, operates on a huge canvas, and employs the unreliable narrator principle: for example, at the end of Act 4, Reed Richards pretends that all is well, but this is impossible to believe if we recall what has happened. Also his behavior (such as abandoning his child and taking his family, in effect, to hell) makes no sense unless he is unconsciously in despair. We can see things that Reed cannot. So the Fantastic Four is more like a Greek epic, combined with Greek myth, combined with a psychological study. It does not parallel everything, but only certain specific genres.
The Fantastic Four loosely parallels the Bible. It is not based on the Bible, but it is a national epic, a story of the development and spread of a family, and so is the Bible. So naturally there will be parallels: a dramatic origin, an expansion period, problems along the way, etc. The Fantastic Four is based on America, and America is heavily influenced by the Bible, so those parallels will tend to be close.
Does this mean the Fantastic Four must be dismissed as merely derivative? Only if we also dismiss every epic text as derivative: most of the ideas in the New Testament are also in the Old Testament, and most of the ideas in the Old Testament are also in Babylonian an Sumerian texts. The power of an epic is precisely that it is not original: it sums up a whole nation of influences, and does so in a single narrative, in a huge and unforgettable way.


Balzac Casino All of our recommended online casinos pass with flying colors in all departments, and are open for new sign ups now. Our experts' goal is simple, saving you the time and hassle of comparing casinos, and protecting you from the frustration of getting duped by a rogue, low quality casino. Home	cvceng	2018-07-11T08:54:04+00:00 There are potentially many more Bretts out there. Video games are more popular today than they ever have been, and their influence continues to grow. For casino game makers, that's translated into a monthly audience more than three and a half times bigger than the masses who visited Las Vegas in all of last year. Spartacus Problemgambling.ca – a detailed resource with all gambling-related risks A license by the Curaçaco Govrenment is a valid alternative, too. They have been regulating the gambling industry since 1998 and they know how to separate the scam from the legit ones. 721 Casinos found Appropriately, that's also the city the DGE (located at 1300 Atlantic Avenue Atlantic City, NJ 08401) calls home. 10,000 FREE COINS WELCOME BONUS This email account is associated with a different Facebook account Classic Baccarat Classic Baccarat Review FREE SLOT GAMES 888casino NJ offers many exciting slot promotions where you can win free spin bonuses. We are always looking to bring new players to our online casino. One of the most popular ways to do this is through free spins on online slots. Free spins come in many different forms, including a no deposit bonus for slots games which translates into free spins, or a set number of free spins for you to enjoy on an exciting selection of slots. Much like their Aussie neighbours, Kiwis are fond of land-based slot machines, or 'pokies', as they are referred to in local slang. Charitable foundations first introduced these into bars and hotels in 1991, and since then, the number of machines has risen to over 19,000 across the country. Land casinos are also popular gambling venues, with the country's six casinos taking in over $NZ 500 million in 2012. This is the most popular option for players to claim free spins. Simply register as a new slots player at 888casino NJ and claim your $20 free – no deposit needed – free spin bonus. You must be 21+ years of age, a new player, and physically present in New Jersey to claim this offer. The Random Number Generator is applied to all online casinos to determine the outcomes of the numerous online slots they offer. These outcomes are all dependent on a combination of algorithms and the RNG software, and these systems alone determine the outcome of each spin you bet on — the previous spin or spins are irrelevant to the outcome of any other spin. Aug. 23, 2018, 5:26 p.m. Mac Fortune 52 Ryan O'Bryan And The Celtic Faries €300 It's easier for traditional betting locations to ban underage or problem gamblers. Online gambling sites may have policies on restricting access, but their ability to enforce them is unclear. Thus, the only real limit is an individual's self-control. For people who are prone to addictive behavior, obsession easily overrides willpower.


You know, they always say, 'good things must come to an end,' but this is the one time we wish that phrase wasn't true.
It's the end of the dynamic OG Smosh duo as we know it. It's been revealed in not one, but two heartbreaking YouTube videos that Anthony from Smosh AKA one half of Ian and Anthony is leaving the channel. The announcement was made on both Anthony's personal channel and Smosh early Wednesday morning.
In Smosh's video, both the co-creators of the channel revealed that Anthony leaving isn't because of any animosity or feud between the two. It was just simply time for Anthony to spread his wings and create his own content.
And as a true friend, Ian is giving Anthony his full support. Although it wasn't supposed to be a sad video because obviously the two are still friends and will find time to hang out with each other, it still made all of us tear up because of this montage of all the good times they had together.
Anthony went on to explain that because of that, he needed to go out and do his own thing.
Of course walking away from something he made his with best friend in high school is terrifying, but something tells us Anthony is going to be just fine.
So, what do you guys make of this news? Are you sad Anthony is leaving Smosh? Let me know in the comment section below. When you're done with that, click right over here to get all the deets behind Jake and Logan Paul's very public feud and as always, don't forget to subscribe. Thanks for hanging with me on Clevver News, I'm your girl Ava Gordy and I'll see ya next time.
Celebrity big brother 2018 results! the rest of us? the two celebrities evicted!
They are all talking about some company. But wait…That company owns Clevver as well.


text:
Rent Tears of the Sun (2003)
3.4 of 5 from 128 ratings
Loyal veteran Navy S.E.A.L. Lt. A.K. Waters is sent into the heart of war-torn Africa on a hazardous mission to rescue Dr. Lena Hendricks, a U.S. citizen who runs a mission. When the beautiful doctor refuses to abandon the refugees in her care, Lt. Waters finds himself having to choose between following orders and the dictates of his own conscience. Together, they begin a dangerous trek through the deadly jungle, all the while being pursued by a rebel militia group, with only one goal in mind: to assassinate Lt. Waters' unit and the refugees in his care.
Bruce Willis, Cole Hauser, Monica Bellucci, Eamonn Walker, Johnny Messner, Nick Chinlund, Charles Ingram, Paul Francis, Chad Smith, Tom Skerritt, Malick Bowens, Awaovieyi Agie, Akosua Busia, Hadar Busia-Singleton, Ida Onyango, Fabrice Yahve Habimana Jr., Sammi Rotibi, Benjamin A. Onyango, Jimmy Jean-Louis, Fionnula Flanagan
Ian Bryce, Mike Lobell, Arnold Rifkin
Alex Lasker, Patrick Cirillo
Action & Adventure, Drama, Thrillers
Czech Dolby Digital 5.1, English Dolby Digital 5.1, Hungarian Dolby Digital 5.1, Russian Dolby Digital 5.1
Arabic, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, English, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovenian, Turkish
Director's Commentary
Africa Fact Track
2 Featurettes
Interactive Map of Sfrika Filmographies
Arabic, Czech, Dutch, English, English Hard of Hearing, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Polish, Turkish
Writer's observations
Africa fast track
Rent other films like Tears of the Sun
The Last King of Scotland
Die Hard 4.0
Lucky Number Slevin
Rambo: First Blood
rob's Rented
1052 films by rob-1
Beaks's Rented
444 films by beaks
Reviews (2) of Tears of the Sun
Brutal but maybe necessary - Tears of the Sun review by CP Customer
Other websites have criticised this film. I would only say this, watch the interviews afterwards, esp. with the guys who had escaped the horrors of ethnic cleasning occuring in some parts of Africa. This is a brutal film, raw and nasty - but maybe necessary. There's no sense in how people treat other people sometimes, but this movie doesn't try to find a nice pat answer.
Extraordinary outing for Willis - one of his best performances - Tears of the Sun review by CP Customer
A difficult film to watch in places due to the brutality, but this is not glorified violence. One has to remind oneself that this is a film based on real events going on in Africa and could indeed happen in many parts of the world. Willis leads a special forces team on a rescue mission, who then become involved in the atrocities being committed in the civil war. He is totally believable as the die hard (scuse the pun!)soldier who finds a conscience.


The Charity Shop is an expression of the Salvation Army's ethos and mission. Equal rights are ensured through particular emphasis on accessibility for people with: wheelchairs, baby carriages, visual impairments, etc.
All donors, customers and volunteers involved in the charity shop are viewed as human beings with equal rights. Staff, whether paid or volunteer, must be attentive to the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of all participants.
As for customer care, all donated articles are selected to meet quality standards. Each piece is then washed and pressed on the Salvation Army premises.
Watch here and on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/salvationarmygr?fref=ts for the Grand Opening details and operating hours.


text:
WWT Wins Cisco Global Award for America's Partner of the Year
World Wide Technology (WWT) announced today that it is the recipient of a Cisco Partner Summit Global award for America's Partner of the Year 2012.
Rebecca Morrison
ST. LOUIS – June 20, 2013– World Wide Technology, Inc. (WWT), a market-leading systems integrator that provides innovative technology and supply chain solutions, announced today that it is the recipient of a Cisco Partner Summit Global award for America's Partner of the Year. Cisco unveiled the winners at a Global awards reception duringits annual partner conference in Boston.
Cisco Partner Summit Global awards are designed to recognize exemplary channel partners who demonstrate best-in-class business practices and serve as a model to the industry. Areas of consideration include innovative practices, application successes, unique programs, problem solving and sales approaches.
"The success of our partners is a top priority for Cisco, and it is an honor to acknowledge World Wide Technology as a Cisco Partner Summit Global award recipient," said Edison Peres, senior vice president, Worldwide Channels, Cisco. "The award presented to WWTrecognizes its outstanding achievement as a Cisco channel partner in 2012."
"WWTis honored to receive this valuable award from Cisco as it highlights our demonstrated success and longstanding commitment to leveraging Cisco technology as we deliver flexible and innovative advanced technology solutions to our customers around the world," said Jim Kavanaugh, chief executive officer for WWT. "We look forward to deepening our proven Cisco technical and engineering expertise along with our Cisco partnership."
Cisco Partner Summit Global awards reflect the top-performing partners within specific technology markets across all geographical regions. All award recipients are selected by a group of Cisco Worldwide Partner Organization and regional executives.
About WWT
World Wide Technology, Inc. (WWT) is a $5 billion systems integrator that provides innovative technology and supply chain solutions to the commercial, government and telecom sectors. The company brings to market a powerful blend of knowledge, infrastructure and technology to help its customers evaluate, architect and implement technology products and solutions. Based in St. Louis, WWT works closely with industry leaders including Boeing (NYSE: BA); Dell (NASDAQ: DELL); Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO); EMC (NYSE: EMC); HP (NYSE: HPQ); AT&T Inc., (NYSE: ATT); VMware (NYSE: VMW); Citrix Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTXS); NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP); Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and the U.S. Air Force. WWTemploys over 2,200 people and operates more than 2 million square-feet of warehousing, distribution and integration space in more than 20 facilities throughout the world. For more information on World Wide Technology, visit www.wwt.com.
Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. A listing of Cisco's trademarks can be found at www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company.


Along with the Sistine Chapel, the rooms painted by Raphael for Guilio II are heralded as one of the main attractions of the Vatican and its famous museums. The Stanza della Segnatura is probably the finest of the rooms painted by Raphael in the Vatican marking the beginning of the High Renaissance period.
When Giulio II transferred his home to the first floor rooms of the Borgia apartment, he wouldn't have appreciated the frescos of Pinturicchio as they portrayed his hated predecessor Alessandro VI. He therefore decided to move to the second floor and to have the rooms redecorated.
At the end of 1508 he made Raphael, as well as other artists come to Rome who started work on the studio and private library of Giulio II the following year. The responsibility for the work lay with Raphael due to the success he had with his first fresco 'La scuola di Atene'.
STANZA DELLA SEGNATURA is the room of the Segnatura which contains Raphael's most famous frescoes. Besides being the first work by the great artist in the Vatican they mark the beginning of the high renaissance. The room takes it's name from the highest court of the holy see which was presided over by the pontiff.
The library is decorated so that each of the four walls is dedicated to one of the sciences of the time: Theology, Philosophy, Poetry and Law. Their personification is depicted in four large circles painted on the ceiling, whilst on the walls are painted the most famous representatives of each field with rectangular paintings.
With these large frescos, Raphael was able to transform these abstract themes into very natural and important images which make up a narrative cycle.
FRESCO OF 'SCHOOL OF ATHENS' (Raphael 1509-1511) To represent Philosophy and rational truth, Raphael painted, a school of Philosophy with small groups of thinkers discussing their ideas. In the centre are the most important thinkers of ancient Greece: Plato and Aristotle, totally absorbed in their discussions.
Plato has under his arm the 'Timeus', the book that reflects upon the origin and creator of the cosmos. Whilst Aristotle holds the 'Ethics' which deals with the right behaviour of man. Plato points his finger up high which symbolically refers to the superior source of inspiration for ideas, whilst Aristotle points to the ground , the starting point of all natural sciences.
In front of them, lying on the stairs, is sat Diogene, who despises assets and the way of life that comes from them. To the left next to Plato is his teacher Socrates who counts on his fingers the four steps that must be climbed in order to create a philosophical argument. Raffaello is depicted to the right hand side next to the pillar.
THE PARNASSUS (Raphael 1509-1511) To illustrate poetry Raphael chose the representation of Apollo who plays the music surrounded by the 9 muses and by poets of both antique and modern times. To the left is Omero, the blind cantor , Dante and in the foreground Saffo.
The Parnassus' was dedicated to the arts and during antiquity there was a temple consecrated to Apollo, god of music and poetry. This connection is made evident by the window that looks out onto the courtyard of Belvedere, which Giulio II had ordered redesigned by Bramante to keep the collection of antique statues.
Amongst others, was l'Arianna dormiente' which the painter had chosen as a model. With his fresco, Raphael also wanted to allude to a theme much glorified by contemporary poets who celebrated Giulio II as a new Apollo and his papacy as the new golden age for poetry and art.
'EXPULSION OF HELIODORUS' (Raphael and Giulio Romano 1512-1514) For the frescos of the 'stanza di Eliodoro', Giulio II's courtroom , Raphael planned a special figurative programme which clearly hints at the problem of the church.
Therefore the expulsion of Heliodorus from the temple of Jerusalem was interpreted as a warning for the French that in that moment (1512) they had occupied some property of the church. To represent the dramatic event, Raphael chose a type of coincidental narration in which successive moments of the same event are represented at the same time in one painting.
On the left hand side amongst the onlookers is pope Giulio II sat in the gestatorial chair looking at the high priest Onias who is standing in front of the alter and asks god to free Jerusalem from the enemies who occupy it.
The scene to the right represents the fulfilment of the prayer, the heavenly knight dressed in golden armour assisted by two youths who hover at his side and beat and banish the violator Heliodorus from the sanctuary. The two groups are united in a closed composition from the architectural perspective with it's vanishing point in the alter situated at the centre of the painting.


text:
Tanvir out as Pakistan call up Khan
Friday, February 11, 2011 No Comments
Pakistan have decided fast bowler Sohail Tanvir hasn't recovered enough from his knee injury to be ready for the start of the World Cup, calling up the uncapped Junaid Khan in his place. The decision hasn't gone down well with left-armer Tanvir, who has claimed he is fit and ready.
"It is hugely disappointing to be dropped from a major event like the World Cup at the last moment. I don't know why they dropped me and the selectors should tell me the reason because I was fit and getting better in bowling and fielding," he said.
Tanvir played in five games in the recent victorious six match ODI series against New Zealand before falling out of favour but was recalled for the initial World Cup squad, only to now miss out. The 26-year-old has looked good in his 31 ODI's for Pakistan, taking 44 wickets in that time at an average of 28.90.
Taking a 90% fit Tanvir would have been a safer option rather than calling up 21-year-old rookie Khan. The left-armer has impressive figures domestically, taking 167 first class wickets at a measly 21.32 but his inexperience could be exposed on the international stage, especially as his side are one of the favourites in the ICC Cricket World Cup betting.
After returning to winning ways recently in New Zealand, Pakistan will be desperate to continue rebuilding after such a shocking few years, both on and off the pitch. The somewhat maverick call of calling up Khan could have a big say in how they do in this tournament.