Lotna

Lotna is a Polish war film released in 1959 and directed by Andrzej Wajda.

Overview

This highly symbolic movie is both the director's tribute to the long and glorious history of the Polish cavalry, as well as a more ambiguous portrait of the passing of an era. Wajda was the son of a Polish Cavalry officer who was murdered by the Soviets during the Katyn massacre.

The horse Lotna represents the entire Romantic tradition in culture, a tradition that had a huge influence in the course of Polish history and the formation of Polish literature. Lotna is Wajda's meditation on the historical breaking point that was 1939, as well as a reflection on the ending of an entire era for literature and culture in Poland and in Europe as a whole. Writing of the film, Wajda states that it "held great hopes for him, perhaps more than any other." Sadly, Wajda came to think of Lotna "a failure as a film."

The film remains highly controversial, as Wajda includes a mythical scene in which Polish horsemen suicidally charge a unit of German tanks, an event that never actually happened.

Speed (1936 film)

Speed is a 1936 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer action film starring James Stewart in his first starring role, and Wendy Barrie. Although only a low-budget "B" movie, the film was notable for its realistic cinematography by Lester White, incorporating scenes from the Indianapolis 500 race and on-location shooting at the Muroc dry lake bed, used for high-speed racing by "hot rodders" in the 1930s. Advance publicity trumpeted that Stewart drove the specially-prepared "Falcon" to 140 mph (230 km/h).

Plot

Auto mechanic Terry Martin (James Stewart), the chief car tester for Emery Motors in Detroit, is working on his own time to perfect a revolutionary design for a new carburetor. Automotive engineer Frank Lawson (Weldon Heyburn) is a rival for the attention of Jane Mitchell (Wendy Barrie), who has just been hired to work in the publicity department. Terry has little formal education and resents inferences that his knowledge of cars is inferior to that of the trained Lawson. He nearly loses his job when he makes a jealous spectacle of himself at a company dinner dance that Jane attends with Frank.

Speed (ride)

Speed is an amusement ride design produced by the Dutch company KMG.

It is commonly referred to as KMG Booster, due to its similarity with the Fabbri Booster ride.

It has become an extremely common ride on European travelling funfairs, particularly in the UK. This is due to a combination of the ride's spectacular visual impact, and its highly practical operation. The ride can be transported on only one trailer, and requires just three hours to build up.

Design and operation

The ride is primarily a 37-metre arm, connected midway to the main support of the ride. Two sets of two seats are mounted at the end of each arm, back to back. Each four-seat assembly can swing through 360 degrees.

The arm rotates at up to 13 revolutions per minute, producing an acceleration of 3.5 g on the riders.

Incidents

Cool (district of Rotterdam)

Cool is a neighborhood of Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Coordinates: 51°55′10″N 4°28′32″E / 51.91944°N 4.47556°E / 51.91944; 4.47556

Cool (aesthetic)

Coolness is an admired aesthetic of attitude, behavior, comportment, appearance and style, influenced by and a product of the Zeitgeist. Because of the varied and changing connotations of cool, as well as its subjective nature, the word has no single meaning. It has associations of composure and self-control (cf. the OED definition) and often is used as an expression of admiration or approval. Although commonly regarded as slang, it is widely used among disparate social groups, and has endured in usage for generations.

Overview

There is no single concept of cool. One of the essential characteristics of cool is its mutability—what is considered cool changes over time and varies among cultures and generations.

One consistent aspect however, is that cool is wildly seen as positive and desirable.

Although there is no single concept of cool, its definitions fall into a few broad categories.

As a behavioral characteristic

The sum and substance of cool is a self-conscious aplomb in overall behavior, which entails a set of specific behavioral characteristics that is firmly anchored in symbology, a set of discernible bodily movements, postures, facial expressions and voice modulations that are acquired and take on strategic social value within the peer context.

Blue Neighbourhood

Blue Neighbourhood is the debut studio album by Australian singer and songwriter Troye Sivan. It was released internationally on 4 December 2015 via EMI Music Australia and Capitol Records America. The album is preceded by Sivan's fourth extended play Wild, which served as a 6-song opening installment to Blue Neighbourhood.

Upon its release, Blue Neighbourhood received critical acclaim and was succeeded by the singles "Wild", "Talk Me Down", and "Youth".

Release and promotion

On 13 October 2015, Sivan revealed that Wild served as an opening introduction to the album. Pre-orders for the album opened on 15 October 2015, with the album reaching No. 1 within hours on iTunes in ten countries, including the United States. "Talk Me Down" was included as a promotional single to those who preorder the album and was the only previously unreleased song made available before release. Those who had already purchased Wild received a discount to purchase Blue Neighbourhood. Sivan also launched merchandise bundles on his site, selling jumpers with the album logo, candles scented to match the mood of his songs, CDs, vinyl, posters, digital downloads, bags, and notebooks. "Youth" was released as the third single from the album. The song premiered exclusively on 12 November on Shazam Top 20 at 7PM AEST and was officially released worldwide after midnight in each country on 13 November.