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On an average day, Mark Oberle, 77, can be seen paddling down a river with his trusty camera in hand. Oberle said he has been doing photography on and off for about 50 years. The hassle that came with photographing and developing film caused him to take a 10-year break, he said. After coming back from the decade-long hiatus, Oberle dived straight into digital photography. “About the time I retired 12 years ago, I got into digital and joined the photography club, and it got back to when I enjoyed it again,” Oberle said. The San Antonio River Authority hosted their fourth annual photo contest from February to May. The contest aims to highlight the beauty and features of the San Antonio River basin, which includes Goliad County. The contest consisted of 12 winning categories with outdoor recreation prize packages valued up to $500 and a special category prize package valued up to $1,000. Oberle, of Victoria, took the winning image for the Judge’s Choice category for Goliad County. “I was surprised; I was quite excited,” Oberle said through a chuckle when he found out his photo won. “It’s always nice to get some recognition.” The photo shows two egrets resting on an island at the Coleto Creek Reservoir in Goliad County, Oberle said. “I paddled around this little island and took about 50 pictures of various birds,” Oberle said. “And that one ended up being my favorite.” Now happily enjoying his retirement, Oberle also has found a new love in paddling and has managed to combine that with photography by floating down rivers to capture wildlife. Oberle said he experiments with different types of photography, so he doesn’t label himself a wildlife photographer. However, paddling down a river naturally lends itself to wildlife photos, he said. Besides photographing wildlife, Oberle said he also enjoys photographing fireworks and events. For Oberle, photography allows him to take his mind off of things and lets him live in the moment. “It’s the variety of photography that I really like,” Oberle said. “I’m always looking for something new and different.” victoriaadvocate.com

The 14th annual iPhone photography awards offer glimpses of beauty, hope and the endurance of the human spirit. Out of thousands of submissions, photojournalist Istvan Kerekes of Hungary was named the grand prize winner for his image Transylvanian Shepherds. In it, two rugged shepherds traverse an equally rugged industrial landscape, bearing a pair of lambs in their arms. theguardian.com

Numele tău: CouldnoT Numele jucătorului sancţionat: @Gnarby Data şi ora sancţiunii: 25.07.2021 12:16 Sancţiune: avertisment verbal Motivul sancţiunii: Posturile simpliste Link către topicul sancţiunii: aici Alte precizări: -

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The studio pitch and mile-high concept of “Blood Red Sky”— “it’s ‘Snakes on a Plane’ with vampires, and a terrorist hijacking!”—is intriguing, potentially twistedly funny, and surely enough for Netflix to gamble on. Sadly, for filmmaker Peter Thorwarth, “Blood Red Sky” cannot live up to its core idea, not in a way that amplifies its outrageously wacky premise, nor in a way that makes it even a mildly entertaining watch. And for one, if you’ve come looking for a ridiculous thriller in the vein of Samuel L. Jackon‘s corny but pleasurable B-movie thriller, you’ve come to the wrong place with this painfully self-serious, misguided effort. Thanks to a transfusion that might cure her disease, German actress Peri Baumeister co-stars as Nadja, a cancer patient off to the United States. She chugs medicine in the airplane bathroom while her son, Elias (Carl Anton Koch), snuggles his teddy bear and waits for his mother to return. After a few minutes, the camera picks up some suspicious-looking characters, including a pair of hunks who give each other a head nod, a pair of Muslims who are “suspicious” because of their race, and a flight attendant whose kindness seems stilted and phony. Here’s where the vampires come into play. Nadja may be a loving mother, but she’s also a blood-sucking monster. When a group of terrorists takes control of the plane, she has no choice but to unleash her fangs. Her eyes turn red, her mouth waters, her maternal instincts kick in–this mama bear vamp doesn’t play with her food; she devours it. She rips into the first terrorist she sees (a white man who frames the attack on Muslims), and gallons of gore spray onto the screen, a moment that will either have you cheering or looking away in disgust. In flashbacks, we see how she was turned to the dark side, though not before she turns a few terrorists into Nosferatus. The flight turns into a real shit show, and Elias shoots the camera a look that practically screams, “I’ve had it with these motherf*cking vampires on this motherf*cking plane!” What follows isn’t so much scary or ironically funny as it is unbearable. You’re either going to be able to watch vampires rip out throats, blood, and guts happily feasted on, or you’re not, that depends on your taste, but there’s little in the way of a story or character development beyond that. Regardless, the proceedings are bleak and pitch black. The one ray of sunshine is the film’s Final Girl/ Protective Mother/Monster, a role that Baumeister sinks her teeth into. There’s a scene where she gets to beat up her son’s bully, which is a nice slice of revenge fantasy. But it doesn’t tie into the plot or even an emotional theme; rather, it is just another moment in an endless and inane slaughter stream. Surprisingly, Thorwarth (“If It Don’t Fit, Use a Bigger Hammer,” “Der letzte Bulle“) manages to create something dreary and dour. As a student of horror, his craft is usually masterful. Yet all the forced Dutch angles and dolly shots in the world can’t save this plane from barely taking off outside the premise, which has no bite. Essentially, the script takes a campy premise and has the bright idea of morphing it into a grim, dead-serious drama for some reason. And while horror doesn’t have to be “fun,” the film could have stood to have a modicum of self-awareness in its ludicrous premise. Instead, it doubles down on its grave social commentary of prejudice. It’s clear that Thorwarth was trying to say something about how we judge people by their color, not their character. But the message is garbled, doused in blood, and lost in viscera, which makes its weak, half-hearted attempts at something to say even harder to stomach. [D+] theplaylist.net

(Welcome to The Daily Stream, an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they’ve been watching, why it’s worth checking out, and where you can stream it.) The Movie: Ikiru Where You Can Stream It: The Criterion Channel The Pitch: Hit with a terminal illness, a widower stuck in a bureaucrat’s job rediscovers what it means to live. Why It’s Essential Viewing: The commencement of the postponed 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo this weekend has put Japan in the international spotlight. With that in mind, there’s no better time to explore the work of the country’s greatest filmmaker: Akira Kurosawa. Ikiru is one of his masterpieces and though it deals with death, it might actually be his most life-affirming film. Beyond the usual round of inspiring athletic achievements, we could all use a little life affirmation, couldn’t we? The Olympics are on and even if you’re not a big fan of sports, it’s a good excuse to catch up on Japanese cinema. You don’t have to be a world-class athlete whose face is on a box of Wheaties to appreciate these words: doing is living. Ikiru means “to live” in Japanese. However, it’s not until the protagonist of Kurosawa’s 1952 film, Kanji Watanabe (Takashi Shimura), is looking down the barrel of death that he finally overcomes the ineffectual bureaucracy that is his world. Watanabe’s doctor withholds the official diagnosis from him, but he knows he’s dying. Faced with stomach cancer, he seeks comfort from post-war Tokyo’s nightlife, but to no avail. He’s drawn to the youthful vitality of one of his co-workers, but hitching himself to her isn’t a long-term solution, either. That’s the problem: Watanabe doesn’t have long. In the end, he might derive more fulfillment from seeing a simple playground built. Sure, Toshiro Mifune is great, but Kurosawa’s other frequent collaborator, Shimura, is my Japanese wife’s favorite Japanese actor. His soulful, expressive eyes communicate with a glance what no mere line of dialogue could ever hope to convey. This is our It’s a Wonderful Life, an annual holiday viewing tradition for us. You’ve heard of Christmas in July? Well, as a cinephile, it might just feel like Christmas if you give Ikiru a watch. Kurosawa is the gift that keeps on giving. The men at Watanabe’s wake, his coworkers, carouse and vow to change their ways and live fully, in his honor. Yet they’re stuck in the same cycle of inaction that he was before he died. Who’s really dead, them or him? Are the plans we ourselves make just plans, or is the dreamer in us going to become a doer (and thereby truly live)? slashfilm.com

As our society has watched the likes of billionaire Richard Branson and Amazon mastermind Jeff Bezos proclaim themselves interstellar pioneers with their recent self-funded forays to the edge of space, it’s serendipitous to see a newly released movie about people inhabiting Mars following an ecological disaster on Earth and a story that unfolds where things predictably go awry. Though said effort, entitled “Settlers” and helmed by Wyatt Rockefeller, foregoes the sleek spacecraft Branson & Bezos have both commandeered in favor of a stark, eroded landscape appropriate for the red planet. However, as potentially prescient and resonant its setup is — colonizers having to inhabit Mars because we neglected and ignored our climate change warnings and cataclysm struck — “Settlers” is ultimately little more than a bit of style and a smattering of substance. Perhaps it has more in common with the aforementioned self-satisfied space billionaires than one thought. Watching the recent self-serving joyride launches of Branson & Bezos, one couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of disappointment, especially as their employees rot on Earth for minimum wage and fighting for bathroom breaks. This feeling of dismay is echoed throughout “Settlers,” a movie that doesn’t scream entertaining sci-fi thriller! and yet managed still managed to create nearly 103 minutes of sleep-inducing colonialism. There’s genuine talent involved—the film largely revolves around Ilsa (Sofia Boutella) who lives on Mars with her daughter Remmy (Brooklynn Prince) and husband Reza (Jonny Lee Miller) following an unnamed catastrophe back on Earth. When intruders break into the farm and compound they’ve occupied and lay claim to the property, what began as a fairly straightforward look at family life and hardship in outer space becomes a home invasion thriller in space without the thrills and a heap of Stockholm syndrome. Hostage shock, temper tantrums and traumatized blank stares are all soundtracked by Nitin Sawhney’s ability to quietly lay one finger on a keyboard and utilize the droning sound for what he considers atmosphere. It’s as dull as it sounds, and the film’s usage of chapters to break things up seems additionally useless, though fortunately, there are enough decent performances to help keep things slightly engaging. Prince, who last wowed audiences in “The Florida Project,” is mostly relegated to screaming fits and bursts of tears, but she makes the most of this one-note, and the scenes clearly demonstrate her great potential. Boutella follows up the physical contortions she brought to the Foo Fighters’ “Shame Shame” video with a role packed with emotion as she tries to do what’s best for her daughter. After one of the marauders, Jerry (Ismael Cruz Cordova), takes control of their land, she can’t help but find an attachment to him, and it’s clear in watching the expressionless gaze she wears throughout how broken she’s become. Unfortunately, Jerry’s motivations remain unclear. After establishing that Ilsa’s family weren’t the first owners of their land, his plan then becomes using Ilsa and Remmy to restore the property to the greatness it once held, which never becomes anything less than murky nor is ever properly executed. “Settles” really tries to be about the simmering tensions between captors and hostages, but Boutella, like Cordova (nor the filmmaker, can transform their brooding staring contest into something engaging. Scene after scene is the two actors looking across tables at one another moodily, angrily, as if they’re searching for their next line or the motivation to set up the next shot. If there’s deeper subtext there beyond resentment, plotting or probing, it never translates well. Rockefeller ultimately is going for mood, trying to create icy frictions between the character with minimalism sparseness, which is admirable but misguided and lifeless. Some elements work to be fair; the simple cinematography and filming locations, which made use of the small South African town of Vioolsdrift, are terrific to look at. Additionally, Jonny Lee Miller’s all-too-brief screentime sees the “Hackers” alum sporting a Viggo Mortensen-esque beard and making the most of his limited role. It speaks once again to Rockefeller’s ability to bring out quality performances in his small cast. Still, unfortunately, this is truly all that could compel someone to watch or recommend “Settlers,” a slow-burn drama that is just slow and enervating. There might be slightly more beneath the surface than a Virgin Galactic rocket or Amazon-funded BezosShip in this drama (that didn’t need to go to space to tell its story), but it’s hard to find gold within when there’s nothing inside but inert red dust all around. [D+] theplaylist.net

M. Night Shyamalan is scoring another No. 1 win at the domestic box office, where his thriller Old is slithering past fellow new offering Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins to win the spoils of an overall quiet weekend. Old — about a family whose tropical vacation turns into an age-accelerating nightmare — grossed $6.9 million Friday from 3,355 locations, including $1.5 million in Thursday evening previews. At this pace, the film is expected to near $16 million for the weekend. Old, starring Gael García Bernal and Vicky Krieps, was inspired by the graphic novel Sandcastle. Paramount and Hasbro’s Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins, starring Henry Golding, isn’t far behind. The G.I. Joe reboot is opening in second place with an estimated $14.2 million for the weekend after grossing $5.5 million Friday from 3,521 locations, including $1.4 million in previews. Snake Eyes is skewing heavily male (66 percent), according to Friday PostTrak exit polls. In normal times, Snake Eyes — which had hoped to relaunch an important franchise for Hasbro and Paramount — would have been expected to do far more business. The movie’s performance is no doubt a disappointment for the filmmakers as the box office recovery continues at a slow pace. And while Old marks the seventh time that a Shyamalan movie has opened at No. 1, it is still the lowest nationwide start for the director-writer. The wild swings at the box office — as well as relatively low openings for many movies in comparison to the past— reflect that moviegoing has yet to reach pre-pandemic levels. And in recent days, the Delta variant has further complicated matters. This weekend, Old and Snake Eyes are on course to claim the top two spots on the box office chart, ahead of Warner Bros.’ Space Jam: A New Legacy, which last weekend toppled Disney’s Black Widow. Like many other event pics that are debuting simultaneously in the home, Space Jam 2 is facing a steep 65 percent to 70 percent fall in its second weekend. The family movie is also available on HBO Max at no extra charge, while Black Widow — now in its third weekend — is streaming on Disney+ Premier Access for an additional $30. Black Widow — now in its third frame — looks to redeem itself somewhat (at least perception-wise) after tumbling 68 percent in its sophomore outing. Early estimates show the Marvel pic pulling ahead of Space Jam 2 this weekend with a gross in the $11 million range as it crosses the $150 million mark domestically. Black Widow earned $3.4 million on Friday, while Space Jam 2 took in $3.1 million, a 77 percent drip from is first Friday. Elsewhere, the specialty film Joe Bell, starring Mark Wahlberg, is getting broadsided in its debut in 1,094 cinemas. The movie may have trouble hitting $800,000 for the weekend. Roadside Attractions is distributing the film domestically. One bright spot: in a second win of the weekend for Universal, F9 has become the first Hollywood event pic to zoom past the $600 million mark at the worldwide box office. The tentpole received an exclusive theatrical release. hollywoodreporter.com

Yesterday, seemingly out of the blue, Jordan Peele announced the name and poster of his third movie. The film is called Nope and the poster is a picture of an ominous-looking storm cloud hovering above a mountain village. Do we know what it’s about? Nope. Do we have any sort of insight into the film whatsoever? Nope. Would it be a good idea for us to attempt to extrapolate the premise for the film using nothing but a one-word title and a picture of a cloud? Nope. Are we going to do it anyway? Sure, why not. 1. A film about ‘nope’ Spend any time online and you’ll hear about “nope” scenes in movies; moments that are jarring or off-putting or downright stupid enough to make the audience think “Nope”. A couple of years ago, someone on Quora asked: “What is the best ‘NOPE’ scene in a movie?” Another user mentioned the Brian Yuzna horror Society, most notably the scene where a man’s face grows out of a bottom. Meanwhile, a BuzzFeed article from last year on the same theme offered delights such as the ending of The Blair Witch Project, the foot-sucking scene from Gerald’s Game and the TV crawling scene from The Ring. This might be premature, but don’t be surprised if Nope turns out to be a relentless bombardment of grotesque scenes designed to overwhelm everyone who watches it. 2. A Get Out sequel The three actors who appear on Nope’s poster are Steven Yeun, Keke Palmer and, reuniting with Jordan Peele for the first time since Get Out, Daniel Kaluuya. You will remember, of course, that Kaluuya’s character was one of the only figures to survive the events of Get Out. Could Nope be a continuation of his story? Could we learn what happened to him after the unthinking trauma of the Sunken Place? Does he retreat to a mountain village that is subsequently terrorised by a cloud? It’s a long shot, but don’t rule it out. 3. A film about a cloud Just because Jordan Peele has found wealth and acclaim from directing horror movies doesn’t necessarily mean that Nope will follow suit. Sure, you might look at that cloud and get a terrible feeling of creeping dread in the pit of your stomach, but what if you’re wrong? What if Nope is actually a Pixar-style romp about a hapless sentient cloud that just wants to help people? The cloud sees a boy stuck on a raft in a river, and tries to rescue him but – whoops! – he accidentally causes a devastating flood. It sees a man about to run out of charge on his phone, and decides to use his electrical energy to power it up but – oh no! – he accidentally burns down an entire city block. Eventually, after some sort of madcap adventure, he learns to accept himself. Nope’s IMDb page also lists motion caption superstar Terry Notary as a cast member. You might think that he’ll be utilised to play some sort of CGI monstrosity in Nope. I, on the other hand, am convinced that he’ll essentially be playing the cloud version of Mr Bean. 4. A film about The Great British Bake Off You will notice that the cloud in the Nope poster is trailing a string of bunting behind it. In truth, that’s what makes it so disquieting; there is nothing as innocently joyous as bunting, and to see it limply flapping from a dark cloud hints that we are witnessing the aftermath of some unspeakable devastation. My theory here is that the cloud descended from the sky and ate the bunting-bedecked Great British Bake Off tent. I don’t want to get too excited by something that hasn’t been confirmed, but I am certain that the scene in which Paul Hollywood frantically flings a procession of fairy cakes at an evil sharp-toothed cloud to stop it from biting him in half will win an Oscar. 5. A film about a two-year-old Perhaps the scariest film of all is a film that just trains a camera on a two-year-old in the middle of a mealtime tantrum. Please can you eat your dinner? NOPE. Just three mouthfuls? NOPE. One mouthful, then. Can you eat one mouthful? NOPE. Please eat something. I love you and I don’t want you to starve. NOPE. Fine, I’ll eat your dinner. Is that what you want? NOPE. Then what? Tell me what you want. NOPE. Why? Why are you doing this to me? I used to be so young. I used to have so much energy. NOPE. This film will be 48 hours long. theguardian.com

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Which version have you read brother? I heard that every government has made its own version depending on their political tendencies.

Autor: Attia Abdelmajid Book title: Al Mounbat Publication year: 1968 Genre: Novel Number of pages: 126 pages Short description: This novel shows, on the one hand, the outdated customs and traditions that the Tunisian people continued to suffer from after independence (relative marriage, refusing education on the grounds that it corrupts the mind...) and on the other hand, the novel also looks at the sufferings of a generation that choose science to improve and change its conditions although their dreams were often interupted by the sad reality, so the solution was to emigrate and leave the country in search of freedom and emancipation. It is the story of the growing generation. Personal review: A beautiful novel that we studied in middle school, but unfortunately many overlooked it. The novel reveals the difficulties faced by young people who dream of improving their living conditions and who find themselves unable to achieve their dreams and who do not live up to their educational ambitions. It seems that the youth crisis dates back to eras past and is not a nowadays issue. Tunisian literature is still unknown to many unfortunately.

It's offensive but that's the truth ?? Girls think that we want perfect body and a face full of make up which is incorrect at all.

Ok I didn't get this one.

LMAOO activity report nowadays is impossible ?

Pawno logic : For loop : error Foreach loop : works

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You're right bro, the activity here is very low.

You've got the talent, just focus more on something that presents you more. Those avatars are very basic looks like everyone.

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Fără răspuns 24h.

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