Laurie ann goldman biography of mahatma gandhi
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Been and Gone: Farewell to the genius behind Star Wars' lightsaber action
Our regular column covering the passing of significant - but lesser-reported - people of the past month.
From the swash and buckle of Errol Flynn to the flashing lightsabers of Star Wars, some of cinema's greatest sword fights were choreographed by British Olympic fencer Bob Anderson. His career began in the 1950s when he coached a host of Hollywood actors, often acting as their stunt double. Thanks to skilful editing, he was sometimes seen in a fight to the death with himself. In the climax of The Empire Strikes Back, it was Anderson wearing the Darth Vader costume who cuts off Luke Skywalker's hand while the voice of James Earl Jones intones "I am your father". He was responsible for the sword play in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and was working on The Hobbit when he died. A noted perfectionist, he believed the sword was far superior to the gun: "When you get into a sword
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The Bioscope
A few weeks ago, we reported on the marvellous book digitisation project by the Cinémathèque française, the Bibliothèque numérique du cinéma, and said that we would return to the collection to describe some of the highlights (and put them in the Bioscope Library). So we start with one of the truly notable publications of the early cinema period, W.K-L. Dickson’s The Biograph in Battle: Its Story in the South African War (1901). This is both the first account in book form by a motion picture operator describing his work, and the first book about the filming of war. Its subject is the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902, often described as the first media war, because film cameras were there to record it.
William Kennedy-Laurie Dickson had already earned his place in motion picture history by being the man who effectively invented motion picture films, when he worked as an engineer in the Edison labs 1883-1895. Dickson left Edison to join the KMCD Syndicate, formed
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Remarks on Indian Independence Day - Aug. 5, 2020
To the people of India, and Indian Americans all across the United States, I want to wish you a happy Indian Independence Day. On August 15, 1947, men and women all over India, rejoiced in the declaration of the independence of the country of India. Today, on August 15, 2020, inom stand before you, as the first candidate for vice president of the United States, o f South Asian descent. When my mother, Shyamala, stepped off the plane in California at 19 years old, she did not have much in the way of belongings – but she carried with her lessons from back home. Including ones she learned from her parents, my grandmother, Rajam, and her father and my grandfather, P.V. Gopalan. They taught her that, when you see injustice in the world, you have an obligation to do something about it. Which is what inspired my mother, to march and shout on the streets of Oakland, at the height of the civil rights movement. A movement whose leaders, includin