Them good old days

A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. The silent film era lasted from 1895 to 1936. In silent films for entertainment, the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, mime and title cards with a written indication of the plot or key dialogue. The idea of combining motion pictures with recorded sound is nearly as old as film itself, but because of the technical challenges involved, synchronized dialogue was made practical only in the late 1920s with the perfection of the Audion amplifier tube and the introduction of the Vitaphone system. During silent films, a pianist, theatre organist, or, in large cities, even a small orchestra would often play music to accompany the films. Pianists and organists would either play from sheet music or improvise; an orchestra would play from sheet music.

Welcome in our neigbourhood

A feature film is a film (also called a movie or motion picture) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole film to fill a program. The notion of how long this should be has varied according to time and place. According to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, American Film Institute, and British Film Institute, a feature film runs for 40 minutes or longer, while the Screen Actors Guild states that it is 80 minutes or longer.

 

Spoleto

 

The Cinema of Italy comprises the films made within Italy, or by Italian directors. Since the development of the Italian film industry in the early 1900s, Italian filmmakers and performers have, at times, experienced both domestic and international success, and have influenced film movements throughout the world. As of 2013, Italian films have won 13 Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film, the most of any country, as well as 12 Palmes d'Or, the second-most of any country.

 

City of arts in Valencia

A truly mind-blowing confection of some of Europe's most awesome architecture, the City of Arts and Science in Valencia is fast becoming one of Spain's top tourist attractions.This futuristic "city within a city" must surely rank as one of the world's most exciting and imaginative millennium projects. The entire complex, designed to celebrate the arrival of the 21 st century, looks as though it might have been beamed down to earth from another planet.Valencia's City of Arts and Science from afar at night And it's a down to earth approach which really defines this space age cultural complex because it's all about firing the masses with enthusiasm for the arts and science. The breathtaking structures are enough in themselves to lure visitors in their millions. You don't have to be an opera buff or science boffin to enjoy a day out here - in fact if you're on a tight budget you can just wander round this incredible "city" without even buying an entrance ticket.Santiago Calatrava, who master-minded most of the complex, says" I am proud of the fact that people can walk through and around the main buildings without paying. It is a city to be discovered by promenading."You can promenade for more than seven kilometres around the complex thanks to the vision of this internationally acclaimed architect, artist and engineer who allowed his imagination free rein when it came to designing one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken by his native city.Many Valencians admit to having visited the arts and science city scores of times without ever having bought an entrance ticket to any of its four star turns: the "Hemesferic", Planetarium, the Principe Felipe Science Museum, the Oceanarium and the Reina Sofia Arts Palace. 

 

Watermusic

The Water Music is a collection of orchestral movements, often published as three suites, composed by George Frideric Handel. It premiered on 17 July 1717, in response to King George I's request for a concert on the River Thames.

The Water Music is scored for a relatively large orchestra, making it suitable for outdoor performance. Some of the music is also preserved in arrangement for a smaller orchestra

Museumdorf

The Cloppenburg Museum Village and Lower Saxon Open-Air Museum (German: Museumsdorf Cloppenburg – Niedersächsisches Freilichtmuseum) located in the Lower Saxon county town of Cloppenburg is the oldest museum village in Germany. The museum is a research and educational establishment specializing in cultural and rural history.

The Lower Saxon Open-Air Museum is a non-profit organisation. Although the museum does not set out to compete for visitors, in 2009 the Cloppenburg Museum Village had more visitors than any other museum in Lower Saxony (250,000).[2] In 2004, the museum was visited by more than 60,000 students as a part of their school curriculum.

Houseboats in Holland

A houseboat (different from boathouse, which is a shed for storing boats) is a boat that has been designed or modified to be used primarily as a home. Some houseboats are not motorized, because they are usually moored, kept stationary at a fixed point and often tethered to land to provide utilities. However, many are capable of operation under their own power. Float house is a Canadian and U.S. term for a house on a float (raft), a rough house may be called a shanty boat.

Overture Prague

In motion pictures, an overture is a piece of music setting the mood for the film before the opening credits start

Raid on Dresden

A part of a documentary i made a reconstruction of the bombing of this German city.
It is widely considered that the bombing of Dresden was excessive or at the very least regrettable. There is less support for the view that the bombing was a war crime Those who support this view often refer to the cultural significance of Dresden, a factor expressly included in the Hague Conventions Others state simply that such a large-scale direct assault of civilians constitutes a crime against humanity.
Public declarations in support began shortly after the nature and scale of the attack became known. Before the bombing, Dresden was regarded as a beautiful city and a cultural centre, and was sometimes known as Florence on the Elbe. Its notable architecture included the Zwinger Palace, the Dresden State Opera House, and the Dresden Frauenkirche, its historic cathedral. Before the war, the city's main industries had been the production of porcelain, cups and saucers, and tobacco products. British historian Anthony Beevor wrote that Dresden was considered relatively safe, having been spared previous RAF night attacks, and that at the time of the raids there were up to 300,000 refugees in the city.
The absence of a direct military presence in the centre of the city, and the devastation known to be caused by firebombing, is regarded by supporters of the war crime position as establishing their case, They contend that these points are sufficient in themselves, without considering the absence of military necessity, the civilian death toll, and Dresden's cultural significance.

Warning: contains some shocking pictures

 

Enchanted City

("Enchanted City") lies in a 20 sq. km. nature reserve, 36 km. north of Cuenca in the Jucar valley, southeast of Madrid, and resembles a ruined village with its labyrinth of unusual eroded rock formations in the Serranla de Cuenca, a stretch of mountains and green-moss rivers and pine forests. This regional park has river-washed stones in the shapes of mushrooms, bears, and human figures. According to american tourists the wonder of this place can be compared to the bizarreness of southern Utah. It is much like an ancient city, although the blocks of giant limestone here come from the erosion of millennia. The walk through the Ciudad Encantada is easy and well-worn but spectacular nonetheless. In summer, this area is covered by flowers, including rare species of orchids find their way in the deep river gorges here.

Dutch Katrina

The 1953 North Sea flood was a major flood caused by a heavy storm, that occurred on the night of Saturday, 31 January 1953 and morning of Sunday, 1 February 1953. The floods struck the Netherlands, Belgium, England and Scotland.

A combination of a high spring tide and a severe European windstorm over the North Sea caused a storm tide of the North Sea; the combination of wind, high tide, and low pressure led to a water level of more than 5.6 metres (18.4 ft) above mean sea level in some locations. The flood and waves overwhelmed sea defences and caused extensive flooding. The Netherlands, a country with 20% of its territory below mean sea level and 50% less than 1 metre (3.3 ft) above sea level and which relies heavily on sea defences, was worst affected, recording 1,836 deaths and widespread property damage. Most of the casualties occurred in the southern province of Zeeland. In England, 307 people were killed in the counties of Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex. 19 were killed in Scotland. 28 were killed in West Flanders, Belgium.

 

 

Madeira: flower island

In this setup, each of the various shots and camera angles are taken using the same camera, which is moved and reset to get each shot or new angle. Choices can then be made during the post-production editing process for when in the scene to use each shot, and when to cut back and forth between the two (or usually more than two) angles. This also then allows parts of the scene to be removed if it is felt that the scene is too long. In practice, sometimes two cameras shooting from the same angle are used: one to capture a medium shot, the other a close-up during the same take.

Bergpark Kassel

Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe is a landscape park in Kassel, Germany. The area of the park is 2.4 square kilometres (590 acres), making it the largest European hillside park, and second largest park on a hill slope in the world. Construction of the Bergpark, or "mountain park", began in 1696 at the behest of the Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel and took about 150 years. The park is open to the public today. Since 2013 it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Evening in Prague

Prague specifics * Zizkov - ex-working class district of Prague. It's the contemporary Czech center of Prague in the sense that the Old Town and Mala Strana are occupied by foreigners. In Zizkov there are cheap pubs (perhaps the biggest concentration of pubs per kilometre in the world) and the Czechs love beer. * Prague Pubs are places where many social topics are discussed.

The greatest rival is
found in the "caf?s" (during communism they were stagnating - but are now on the rise again). In the pubs (and caf?s) topics like politics, culture, favorite TV programs and of course football and ice hockey are discussed. * Beer - most Prague pubs sell only one brand of beer on tap, which is often specific to that pub. Czech beer is popular throughout Europe, and the Czech Republic (and Prague in specific) has a rich history of beer brewing. * Praguers (the people of Prague) prefer not to be called Eastern Europeans.

Josefov: Jews in Prague

Josefov is an area of central Prague, today Czech Republic, formerly the Jewish ghetto of the town. The quarter is often represented by the flag of Prague's Jewish community, a yellow Magen David (Star of David) on a red field.Jews are believed to have settled in Prague as early as the 10th century. The first pogrom was in 1096 (the first crusade) and eventually they were concentrated within a walled Ghetto. In 1262 P?emysl Otakar II issued a Statuta Judaeorum which granted the community a degree of self administration. In 1389 one of the worst pogroms saw over 3,000 massacred at Easter. The ghetto was most prosperous towards the end of the 16th century when the Jewish Mayor, Mordecai Maisel, became the Minister of Finance and a very wealthy man. His money helped
develop the ghetto. In 1850 the quarter was renamed "Josefstadt" (Joseph's City) after Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor who emacipated Jews with the Toleration Edict in 1781. Most of the quarter was demolished between 1893 and 1913 as part of an initiative to model the city on Paris. What was left were only six synagogues, the old cemetery, and the Old Jewish Town Hall The Nazi German occupation could have been expected to complete the demolishment of the old ghetto. However the area was preserved in order to provide a site for a planned "exotic museum of an extinct race". This meant that the Nazi's gathered Jewish artefacts from all over central Europe for display in Josefov.
Currently Josefov is mixed with amongst the more modern buildings and it is difficult to appreciate exactly what the old quarter was like when it was reputed to have over 180,000 inhabitants.

 

Prague; the kingsroute

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated on the Vltava river in central Bohemia, it is home to approximately 1.2 million people.Nicknames for Prague have included "city of a hundred spires" and "the golden city". Since 1992, the historic center of Prague has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. According to Guiness World Records, Prague Castle is the largest ancient castle in the world.Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, Prague has become one of Europe's (and the world's) most popular tourist destinations.

Prague was one of the few European cities relatively untouched during the World Wars, allowing its historic architecture to stay true to form. There are lots of old buildings, many with beautiful murals on them. It contains one of the world's most pristine and varied collections of architecture, from Art Nouveau to Baroque, Renaissance, Cubist, Gothic, Neo-Classical and ultra-modern. Some of the most known sights are: * Old Town with its Old Town Square* The Astronomical Clock* The picturesque Charles Bridge * Prague Castle (the largest castle in the world) with its St. Vitus Cathedral
A walk along these sights is known as the "Kings Route"Narration in dutch. Duration: 10 minutes