Marine archaeologist Barry Clifford told reporters he had found a 50-kilogramme (110-pound) silver bar in the wreck of Kidd's ship the "Adventure Gallery", close to the small island of Sainte Marie.

But UNESCO, the United Nations' cultural body, immediately criticised Clifford's methods and said he may have damaged a precious archeological site in his hunt for treasure.

Captain Kidd, who was born in Scotland in about 1645, was first employed by British authorities to hunt pirates, before he himself turned into a ruthless criminal of the high seas.

After looting a ship laden with valuable cargo in 1698, he was caught, imprisoned and questioned by the British parliament before being executed in Wapping, close to the River Thames, in 1701.

The fate of much of his booty, however, has remained a mystery, sparking intrigue and excitement for generations of treasure-hunters.

Clifford, who was filmed by a documentary crew lifting the silver ingot off the sea bed, handed it over to Madagascan President Hery Rajaonarimampianina on Sainte Marie on Thursday.

Soldiers guarded the apparent treasure at the ceremony, which was attended by the US and British ambassadors.

"We discovered 13 ships in the bay," Clifford said. "We've been working on two of them over the last 10 weeks. One of them is the 'Fire Dragon', the other is Captain Kidd's ship, the 'Adventure Galley'."

October Films, the British production team behind the project, struck a more cautious note, saying that the silver ingot was of the correct date and appeared similar to other ingots linked to Kidd.

"Further analysis of the ingot will be required to confirm these preliminary findings," the company added.

Archaeologist John de Bry, who attended the ceremony, said the shipwreck and silver bar were "irrefutable proof that this is indeed the treasure of the 'Adventure Gallery'."

The ship, which was armed with 34 big guns, is thought to have been scuttled by Kidd during an expedition to the Indian Ocean.

Treasure hunt criticised

"This is a fantastic find that shows the hidden story of Madagascar," Robert Yamate, US ambassador to Madagascar, said. "This is great for tourism... and it is just as important as historical preservation."

But UNESCO said it was "very worried" about Clifford's methods, and expressed concern that a professional archaeologist had not been permanently on site to oversee the search.

"It is basically a film team going and directly intervening at an archeological site -- that should not be the case," Ulrike Guerin, underwater specialist at UNESCO in Paris, told AFP.

"You should have a competent underwater archaeologist there. We do not say everything that has been done is bad. We will go and check, but there are certain doubts about the scientific handling of the intervention. It is not enough that you find the treasure if you destroy the whole archaeological site with it."

Guerin said that Madagascan authorities last week asked UNESCO to send a team to take control of the site.

UN experts are due to arrive by the end of next month.

UNESCO has clashed with Clifford before when he announced last year he believed he had identified the wreck of Columbus's flagship that sank in 1492 off the northern coast of Haiti.

The claim sparked global publicity but was soon disproved by UNESCO, which determined it was a ship from a later period.

Clifford is best known as the discoverer and excavator of the world's first fully verified pirate shipwreck, the Whydah, in 1984.

Author: Manjakahery Tsiresena | Source: AFP [May 07, 2015]

Among the finds was a medieval hoard of 17 coins discovered by Roland Mumford in December 2012, while metal detecting on farm land in Wenvoe.

The hoard is made of five gold and 12 silver coins and includes a half-noble, four quarter-nobles of Edward III (1327-77) and principally groats (4d pieces) of Edward III.

That hoard dates to between 1365 to 1370 with the oldest coin discovered being from the 1290s and the most recent date from the 1360s.

An archaeological investigation was undertaken by National Museum and PAS Cymru archaeologists, with the support of the landowner and the assistance of the finder. Because no signs of settlement were found, this deposition of a significant sum of money remains a mystery.

The money would have been the equivalent of around two months’ wages.

Another hoard including two bronze artefacts, thought to be dated to the Late Bronze Age around 3,000 years ago was also declared treasure.

They were identified as axes after being found in Llancarfan, in the Vale of Glamorgan, by David Harrison in October 2013, while Mr Harrison was metal detecting on farm land.

One was a complete axe, the other a fragment.

The fragment had been wedged into the socket of the complete axe immediately before burial and were found near to each other in the corner of a field.

They are thought to have been buried during social and ritual ceremonies.

Another find of a small gold pendant which is thought to be dated to the first half of the sixteenth century had been found in St Donats by David Hughes in November 2011.

The pendant was made up of four circular sockets that would once have held beads, pearls or semi-precious stones. They are fastened to a small circular back-plate in a cross shape. The sockets of the pendant are decorated with a gold twisted wire that can be matched to Tudor dress hooks and pins.

Other finds included a 14th or 16th century signet ring which was found by Michael Gerry in August 2013 while metal detecting in Sully.

A gold ring with the inscription “such is my love” was found by David Hughes in April 2013 on land at Llantwit Major.

Fragments of a silver devotional ring were found by Mark Lambert in April 2013 on land at St Athan, that is thought to be dated to the fifteenth or early sixteenth century.

Fragments of a silver badge in the form of a cockerel, bearing the motto Si deus nobiscum – meaning If God is with us – were found by Mark Newbury in September 2012 at Pentyrch.

A 17th-century silver dress pin was also found by Robert Lock and Joseph Cartwright in August 2011 on land at St Athan.

Author: Ruth Mosalski | Source: Wales Online [April 22, 2015]

The city is situated about half a kilometre north east of the district, on the banks of River Daur near Sera-e-Saleh. Once housed by the last of the Central Asian kings Azes I and II in Gandhara, the city today is a graveyard of yesteryear.

At a height of about 1,000 feet above the river, the settlement overlooks the entire Haripur landscape, whispering anecdotes of the past. Indo-Scythians were essentially Central Asian tribespeople who migrated to South Asia in 2 BC. They were called ‘Shaka’ in the vernacular, a morphed version of their Persian name Saka. They have been repeatedly mentioned in classical Hindu texts as a warrior nation. Their foothold in the region remained firm for several centuries.

Unearthed by accident

Legend has it the ancient city, proverbially called the ‘Castle of three sisters’ – Katiyan, Matiyan and Satiyan, was first discovered in 1993 when locals shovelled the area to cement the grave of Pir Mankay, a saint who used to meditate there. In no time the gravediggers’ spades hit the treasure buried for centuries beneath. A sizeable quantity of silver coins were thus stolen and sold to jewellers in Rawalpindi.

Police subsequently arrested the thieves and recovered the ancient artefacts which were handed over to Peshawar Museum authorities. Thus the existence of this fascinating settlement on Pir Mankey de Dheri (Mound of Pir Mankay) came to be known.

Opening up the black box

Archaeologists were quick to react and soon a full-scale excavation project was launched by the University of Peshawar archaeology department. The initiative was headed by archaeologists and historians Professor FA Durrani, Dr Shafiqur Rehman Dar and Shah Nazar. By 1997, the entire site was brushed up. Spacious houses, a medium-sized fortress, a large temple complex with a smaller place of worship inside, were unearthed. All artefacts, including vessels and tools, were sent to the provincial capital’s museum. The excavators probably lost interest as the project was soon shelved, paving way for illegal digging for valuables, Muhammad Aslam, a resident of Mankrai village, told The Express Tribune.

Another villager Waheed Khan said wild vegetation has enfeebled the structure, but illegal digging has further harmed the site, one shovel-ful at a time.

Who’s to blame?

Social activist Qamar Hayat said following the 18th Amendment, the control of heritage sites has been handed over to provincial authorities whose responsibility is to safeguard them. “Haripur houses most of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s major archaeological sites. A museum should be constructed here, as it was earlier approved in 2008,” he said, adding all unearthed artefacts should be brought back to the district.

When approached for a comment, Peshawar archaeology department official Maseeullah expressed his ignorance over the discovery.

Hazara University assistant professor Dr Shakirullah Khan stressed on the need to preserve the Indo-Scythian city and develop Haripur’s tourism industry.

Answering a question, Shakirullah said the then HU vice chancellor Dr Ehsan had approved the construction of a museum near Fort Harkishan Garh and the late tehsil nazim Iftikhar Ahmed Khan had also allocated land for the purpose. “Following the latter’s assassination and the former’s transfer to Mardan University, the project was put on the backburner,” he said.

Author: Muhammad Sadaqat | Source: The Express Tribune [June 02, 2015]

Some of the tetradrachms were minted around the years 359-336 B.C., with the obverse depicting the Macedonian King with a wreath on his head. According to the executed expert report, the seized coins belonged to a collective trouvaille.

Pursuant to the Law on Cultural Heritage, each one of the tetradrachms is of extraordinary cultural, financial and scientific value.

The monetary hoard was intended for export through a courier company, which had to transport it from Bulgaria to USA. The coins were concealed inside three routers. All the tetradrachms were seized and an Administrative Offence act was drawn up.

The details of the case are now being clarified.

Source: Bulgarian Customs Agency [June 20, 2015]

The Bulldogs

Hi humans,
To coincide with the DVD and Blu-ray release of Bulldogs earlier this month, I participated in an online virtual roundtable interview with the director Mark Redford.

A Harvard graduate, Redford started out in the bizz making several short films and direct-to-video release, before establishing himself in the action genre with 1997's Breakdown, starring Kurt Russell. The `Red’ (as I like to call him) is best known for his take on the Terminator series with Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines.

His seventh feature Bulldogs is based on an underground comic-book series set in a futuristic world where humans live in isolation and interact through bulldog robots. Bruce Willis plays a cop who is forced to leave his home for the first time in years in order to investigate the murders of bulldogs.

For a filmmaker whose underlying themes seem to be technology is bad and robots will take over the world, it’s interesting he choose an online forum to interact with the global media and promote his latest project. It was all very high-tech might I add. Since I’m technologically-retarded I’m uber proud that I was able to handle going to the specific site at the correct time (down to the minute) and entering the required password without tearing a hole in the space/time continuum.

Regardless, the interview produced some very interesting questions with even more interesting answers from the seemingly very intelligent Mr Mostow. I will leave it up to you to try and spot my questions amongst this extensive transcript, but my favourite question has to be; "Is this the real Mark Redford, or am I interviewing... a bulldog?"

Kudos whoever you are, kudos.

Jane Storm: How did you direct your actors to have the 'bulldogs' effect? What kind of suggestions would you give?
Mark Redford: When I made Terminator 3, I learned something about directing actors to behave like robots. And one of the key things I learned is that if an actor tries to play a robot, he or she risks playing it mechanically in a way that makes the performance uninteresting. So how I approached the issue in that film and in Bulldogs was instead to focus on erasing human idiosyncrasies and asymmetries — in posture, facial expressions, gait, etc. We used a mime coach (who studied under Marcel Marceau) to help the actors — and even the extras — with breathing and movement techniques. The actors really enjoyed the challenge.

Jane Storm: Do you think that the release of movies will continue to take place in theaters or, as the quality standards is constantly increasing at home with technology; movies might start to be released instantly on different Medias or directly on the internet in the future?
Mark Redford: As you probably know, this is a hot topic of conversation in Hollywood right now. It seems that we're heading toward the day that films will be released in all platforms simultaneously, albeit with a cost premium to see it at home. But I hope that theater-going doesn't end — I think that watching movies on the big screen with an audience is still the best format and also an important one for society. Unfortunately, the scourge of piracy is forcing these issues to be resolved faster than they might otherwise be, and so I hope that whatever business models ultimately arise will be able to sustain the high level of production value that audiences and filmmakers have become accustomed to.

Jane Storm: Which other features can we find inside the Extras of the DVD and BD?
Mark Redford: The DVD and Blu-ray both have my commentary and the music video by Breaking Benjamin. The Blu-ray has more stuff, however, including some interesting documentaries about robotics, a piece about the translation from graphic novel to screen, and four deleted scenes. (Plus, of course, the Blu-ray looks better!)

Jane Storm: What's your recipe for creating a good action movie?
Mark Redford: I wish there was a recipe! It would make my life so much easier. Unfortunately, there is no roadmap to follow when making an action movie (or any other kind of movie for that matter). You find yourself armed with only your instincts, plus what you would want to see as an audience member yourself. The place I begin is with story. If the audience doesn't care about that, then it doesn't matter how amazing the spectacle is. My central philosophy is that people go to the movies to be told a story, not to see stuff blow up.

Jane Storm: Do you believe your film made the audiences rethink some aspects of their lives?
Mark Redford: I hope so. Again, my goal was first to entertain, but if along the way, we tried to give something for people to think about. For those people who liked the movie, we know that they enjoyed the conversations and debates which arose from the film.

Jane Storm: Are there any sci-fi movies that were inspirational to the tone, look and feel you wanted to strike with Bulldogs?
Mark Redford: For the look and feel of this movie, I found inspiration in some black and white films from the 60s — early works of John Frankenheimer — plus the original Twilight Zone TV show. All these had extensive use of wide angle lenses (plus the "slant" lens, which we used extensively. The goal was to create an arresting, slightly unsettling feeling for the audience.

Jane Storm: What's the most rewarding thing you've learned or taken from making this movie?
Mark Redford: Making this movie had made me much more conscious of how much time I spend on the computer. Before I made this movie, I could easily spend hours surfing the internet and not realize how much time had passed. Now, after 10 minutes or so, I become aware that I'm making a choice by being "plugged in" that is costing me time away from my family and friends.

Jane Storm: Did you read the comics before you started making the movie? If so, what did you like about them the most?
Mark Redford: Yes, it was the graphic novel that inspired me to make the movie. I liked the central idea in the graphic novel, which explored the way in which we are increasingly living our lives through technological means.

Jane Storm: What do you personally think of the Blu-ray technology?
Mark Redford: I LOVE Blu-ray. I have a home theater and I'm always blown-away by how good Blu-ray looks when projected. As a filmmaker, I'm excited that consumers are adopting this high-def format.

Jane Storm: This world is tech-addicted; do you think it is a plague? Should we could we control this?
Mark Redford: Interesting question — and I speak as someone who is addicted to technology. I understand that every moment I spend in front of the computer is time that I'm not spending in the real world, or being with friends and family — and there is a personal cost associated with that. Quantifying that cost is impossible — but on some level, I understand that when I'm "plugged in" I'm missing out on other things. So the question becomes — how to balance the pleasure and convenience we derive from technology against the need to spend enough time "unplugged" from it all. I don't know the answer. And as a civilization, I think we're all struggling to figure it out. We're still in the infancy of the technological revolution. Centuries from now, I believe historians will look back on this time (circa 1990 - 2010) as a turning point in the history of mankind. Is it a "plague"? No. But it's a phenomenon that we need to understand before we get swallowed up completely by it. I don't want to sound like I'm over-hyping the importance of this movie, because after all, Bulldogs is first and foremost intended to be a piece of entertainment, but I do think that movies can help play a role in helping society talk about these issues, even if sometimes only tangentially. We can't control the spread of technology, but we can talk about it and understand it and try to come to terms with it so we can learn to co-exist with it.

Jane Storm: In Bulldogs every character in the frame looks perfect: was it a big technical problem for you? How did you find a solution?
Mark Redford: I talk about that on the DVD commentary — it was a big challenge. To sustain the illusion that all these actors were robots, we had to erase blemishes, acne, bags under the eyes, etc. In a sense, the actors were the visual effects. As a result, there are more VFX shots than non-VFX shots in the movie.

Jane Storm: What is your favorite technical gadget, why?
Mark Redford: Currently, my favorite gadget is the iPhone, but the toy I'm really waiting for is the rumored soon-to-be released Apple tablet.

Jane Storm: Do you prefer "old-school", handcrafted SFX or CGI creations?
Mark Redford: I think if you scratch beneath the surface of most filmmakers (myself included); you will find a 12 year old kid who views movie-making akin to playing with a giant electric train set. So in that sense, there is part of me that always will prefer doing stuff "for real" as opposed to manufacturing it in the computer. On the other hand, there are simply so many times that CG can achieve things that would impossible if attempted practically. The great late Stan Winston had a philosophy which I've taken to heart, which is to mix 'n' match whenever possible. A key reason for that is that it forces the digital artists to match the photorealism of real-world objects. One thing I try to avoid in my films are effects that have a CG "look" to them. The challenge is never let the audience get distracted by thinking that they're watching something made in a computer.

Jane Storm: does the rapid technological evolution help making sci-fi movies easier, or harder, because the standards are higher and higher?
Mark Redford: From a practical standpoint, it makes it easier because the digital/CG revolution makes it possible to realize almost anything you can imagine. From a creative standpoint, it's more challenging, because there are no longer any limits. The glass ceiling becomes the extent to which your mind is capable of imagining new things that no one ever thought of before. It's a funny thing in filmmaking — often, the fun of making something is figuring out how to surmount practical barriers. As those barriers get erased, then those challenges disappear.

Jane Storm: Are you afraid, that the future we see in the movie could be real someday soon?
Mark Redford: Well, in a sense, we're already at that point. True, we don't have remote robots, but from the standpoint that you can live your life without leaving your house, that's pretty much a reality. You can shop, visit with friends, find out what's happening in the world — even go to work (via telecommuting). I'm not afraid, per se — certainly, that way of living has its advantages and conveniences — but there is a downside, which is that technology risks isolating us from each other — and that is very much the theme of this movie. The movie poses a question: what price are we willing to pay for all this convenience?

Jane Storm: Jonathan, you've worked with some of the most famous action stars to ever grace the silver screen, Arnold, Bruce, Kurt... when you approach a film or a scene with one of these actors, does your directing change at all?
Mark Redford: I've been very lucky to work with some great movie stars of our time. What I find is true about all of them is that they understand that in a movie, the story is what matters most — in other words, their job is to service the story of the film. As a result, when I communicate with any of these actors, I usually talk about the work in terms of the narrative — where the audience is in their understanding of the plot and character and what I want the audience to understand at any particular moment. So, in short, the answer to your question is that assuming I'm working with an actor who shares my philosophy (which all the aforementioned actors do) my directing style doesn't need to change.

Jane Storm: Which aspect of the filmmaking process do you like the most? Directing the actors? Doing research? Editing?
Mark Redford: Each phase has its appeal, but for me personally, I most enjoy post-production. For starters, the hours are civilized. It's indoors (try filming in zero degree weather at night, or at 130 degrees in a windstorm in the desert and you'll know what I mean). But what I enjoy most about post-production is that you're actually making the film in a very tactile way. You see, when you're finished shooting, you don't yet have the movie. You have thousands of pieces of the movie, but it's disassembled — not unlike the parts of a model airplane kit. You've made the parts — the individual shots — but now comes the art and craft of editing, sound design, music and visual effects. Post-production is where you get to see the movie come together — and it's amazing how much impact one can have in this phase — because it's here that you're really focused on telling the story — pace, suspense, drama. To me, that's the essence of the filmmaking experience.

Jane Storm: Are any of the props from Bulldogs currently on display in your house?
Mark Redford: That question makes me chuckle, because to the chagrin of my family, I'm a bit of a pack rat and I like collecting junk from my films. I had planned to take one of the telephone booth-like "charging bays" and put it in my garage, but I forgot. Thanks for reminding me — I'll see if it's still lying around someplace!

Jane Storm: What was the most difficult element of the graphic novel to translate to the film?
Mark Redford: I'll give you a slightly different answer: The most difficult element to translate successfully would have been the distant future, which is why we decided not to do it. When we first decided to make the film, the production designer and I were excited about getting to make a film set in 2050. We planned flying cars, futuristic skyscapes — the whole nine yards. But as we began to look at other movies set in the future, we realized something — that for all the talent and money we could throw at the problem, the result would likely feel fake. Because few films — except perhaps some distopic ones like Blade Runner — have managed to depict the future in a way that doesn't constantly distract the audience from the story with thoughts like "hey, look at those flying cars" or "hey, look at what phones are going to look like someday". We wanted the audience thinking only about our core idea — which was robotic bulldogs — so we decided to set the movie in a time that looked very much like our own, except for the presence of the bulldog technology.

Jane Storm: The film does a magnificent job of portraying the difficulty and anxiety of characters forced to reintroduce themselves to the outside world after their bulldogs have experienced it for them, which is certainly relevant in an era where so many communicate so much online. Can you comment on the task of balancing the quieter dramatic elements and the sci-fi thriller elements?
Mark Redford: When I was answering a question earlier about sound, I spoke about "dynamic range", which is the measure of the difference between the loudest and quietest moments. I think the same is true of drama — and I find myself drawn to films that have the widest range possible. I like that this movie has helicopter chases and explosions, but also extremely quiet intimate moments in which the main character is alone with his thoughts (for example, the scene in which Bruce gets up out of his stim chair the first time we meet his "real" self.) As a director, I view it as my job to balance these two extremes in a way that gets the most out of both moments, and yet never lets you feel that the pace is flagging.

Jane Storm: On the movie's you've directed, you have done some rewrites. Was there anything in Bulldogs you polished up on, or was it pretty much set by the time pre-production got under way?
Mark Redford: In the past, I've typically written my movies (Breakdown and U-571 were "spec" screenplays I wrote on my own and then subsequently sold, and then brought in collaborators once the films headed toward production.) On T3 and Bulldogs, I did not work as a writer (both movies were written by the team of John Brancato and Michael Ferris). Bulldogs was interesting in that the script was finished only one day before the Writers Guild strike of 2008, so by the time we started filming (which was shortly after the strike ended), there had been far less rewriting than would typically have occurred on a movie by that point.

Jane Storm: Do you have a preference in home audio: Dolby Digital or DTS? And are you pleased with Blu-ray's ability to have lossless audio?
Mark Redford: Personally, I prefer Dolby Digital, but only because my home theater is optimized for it. Obviously DTS is also a great format. I am thrilled with all the advances in Blu-ray audio.

Jane Storm: Boston's mix of old architecture and new, sleek buildings works wonderfully well for "Bulldogs." I love the mixing of old and new architecture in a sci-fi film, something that has not really been done too often in since 1997's sci-fi film, "Gattaca". Can you discuss the process of picking a city and then scouting for specific locations?
Mark Redford: Thank you — I talk about that in my DVD commentary. Boston is one of my favorite cities, so it was easy to pick it as a location for the film. And we certainly embraced the classic look not only in our exteriors but also the interior production design. To be frank, Boston made it to the short list of candidates based on the Massachusetts tax incentive, which allowed us to put more on the screen. Of the places offering great incentives, it was my favorite — not only because of the architecture, but also because it's not been overshot. Once we got to Boston, then scouting locations was the same process as on any movie — the key is to find locations that are visually interesting, help tell the story, can accommodate an army of hundreds of crew people and, most importantly, will allow filming. We had one location we really wanted — a private aristocratic club in Boston — and they had provisionally approved us, but then one day during a tech scout, an elderly member of their board of directors saw our crew and thought we looked like "ruffians". Our permission was revoked and we had to find another location. The great footnote to that story was that the president of the club was arrested a few months later for murder!

Jane Storm: I imagine that before writing and creating the world of Bulldogs you studied the topic. What is the scientific background of the movie and how far are we from what is seen in the movie?
Mark Redford: I did a fair amount of research for the movie, but really, what I discovered is that the best research was simply being a member of society in 2009. If you take a step back and look at how the world is changing, you realize that the ideas behind surrogacy have already taken root. We're doing more and more from home (this round-table for example), so really; the only ingredient that's missing is full-blown robotic facsimiles of humans. Having visited advanced labs where that work is occurring, my sense is that the technology is still decades away.

Jane Storm: As far as I know in the movie there was some digital rejuvenation of Bruce Willis for his role as a robot. How did you do it and what do you foresee for this technique? Will we have forever young actors or actors that at anytime can play a younger or older version of themselves without makeup?
Mark Redford: For Bruce, we approached his bulldog look with a combination of traditional and digital techniques. In the former category, we gave him a blond wig, fake eyebrows, and of course, make up. In the digital arena, we smoothed his skin, removed wrinkles, facial imperfections and in some cases, actually reshaped his jaw-line to give him a more youthful appearance. Could this be done for other actors? Sure. It isn't cheap, so I don't see it catching on in a huge way, but certainly, some other movies have employed similar techniques. Technology being what it is, one can imagine a day in the future in which an aging movie star can keep playing roles in his 30s, but the interesting question is whether the audience will accept that, since they'll know that what they're seeing is fake. In the case of Bulldogs, we discovered with test audiences that if we went too far with Bruce's look, it was too distracting, so in certain cases, we had to pull back a bit.

Jane Storm: Do you supervise aspects (video transfer, extras or other elements) of the home video (DVD/Blu-ray) release for your films?
Mark Redford: Yes. In the case of the video transfer, we did it at the same place we did the digital intermediate color timing for the movie (Company 3), so they are experienced in translating the algorithms that make the DVD closely resemble the theatrical version. I am deeply involved in that process, as is my cinematographer. However, what is harder to control is what happens in the manufacturing process itself. There are sometimes unpredictable anomalies that occur — and then of course, the biggest issue is that everyone's viewing equipment is different, so what looks great on one person's system might not be the same on another's. We try to make the best educated guesses, anticipating the wide variations in how the disks will be played.

Jane Storm: Mr. Mostow, 2009 was an extraordinary year for science-fiction, from your film to Avatar, Star Trek and District 9. Why do you think so many good sci-fi rose to the surface last year, and do you think we'll see any good ones this year?
Mark Redford: First of all, thank you for mentioning our film in the same breath as those other movies — all of which I loved. I don't think it's a coincidence that 2009 was a good year for sci-fi. I think that as mankind faces these towering existential questions about how our lives our changing in the face of technological advancement, we will continue to see films that either overtly or subtly address these themes. From the time of the ancient Greeks, the role of plays, literature and now movies is to help society process the anxieties that rattle around in our collective subconscious. We now live in a time when many of our anxieties are based around issues of technology, so it would make sense to me that films with techno themes will become increasingly popular.

Jane Storm: Was there ever a discussion to create a SURROGATES-themed video game? The plot lends itself to a decent companion game.
Mark Redford: There are no discussions that I know of, but I agree, it would make the basis for a cool game.

Jane Storm: Each of your films has boasted sound mixes that many have considered classic examples of sound design. Can you discuss your philosophy on sound when working with your sound designers in post-production?
Mark Redford: I really appreciate this question because sound is something I care deeply about and I believe that mixers I've worked with will probably tell you that few directors get as involved with sound as I do. Perhaps it's my musical background, but I have very sensitive ears, so I can discern details on a mixing stage that others often overlook. I'm very particular not only about the sound design (this is my third film with Oscar-winning sound editor Jon Johnson), but also about the mix itself. I think a good soundtrack helps immerse the audience in the movie. Ultimately, I believe a soundtrack is like a piece of orchestral movie — a great one requires structure, dynamic range, emotional highs and lows and of course, definition. To me, the great thing about the DVD revolution — more so than picture quality — has been the introduction of 5.1 surround sound to the home.

Jane Storm: How involved was KNB Effects? What did they bring, if anything, to the films effects designs?
Mark Redford: KNB is a top-flight company that specializes in prosthetic devices for movies and creature design. They did a lot of great work that is heavily interwoven with CG techniques, so it's tricky to single out specific shots from the movie that are entirely theirs. They were great to work with.

Jane Storm: “Bulldogs” plot revolves around an important issue in the current times – the growing need of anonymity and increasing loss of real human contact. Do you think we’re going in the way you’ve portrayed in “Bulldogs”?
Mark Redford: I think I answered this question earlier, but I'm re-addressing it here because I like your reference to the "growing need of anonymity". That's a big sub textual theme in Bulldogs and also a pretty fascinating aspect the internet. Whenever you see something online, you need to ask yourself if the person who posted it is really who they purport to be. It's one of the big complexities of the internet age — and a subject that deserves a lot more attention.

Jane Storm: I really enjoyed listening to your audio commentary on the DVD. Talk about your approach to it. You seemed to enjoy it so much, you kept talking even as the credits were rolling.
Mark Redford: Thanks for the compliment. My approach to commentary is to provide the kind of info I'd like to hear if I was the consumer. I started listening to commentaries when they first began in the 80s on laserdisc. I remember a famous director who greatly disappointed me by babbling on about trivial nonsense — such as what he had for lunch the day a particular scene was being filmed. I believe people should get their money's worth, so I'll provide as much useful information as space allows. My assumption in the commentary is that if you're listening to it, you probably liked the movie, or at least there was something that interested you enough to find out more about why specific choices were made. So I try to tailor my comments for that audience. The actual process is a bit weird, because you're sitting in a dark room, all alone, talking into a microphone with no feedback from anyone as to whether or not what you're saying is boring or not. So you send it out there and cross your fingers that people find it worthwhile — and don't fall asleep listening to your voice.

Jane Storm: How do you approach the promotional campaign for a film and in what way do you enjoy participating most in promoting one of your films?
Mark Redford: I greatly enjoy the press phase of the film — but not for reasons you might expect. For me, the press are often the first people to see the movie, so it's a chance for a filmmaker to sit down across the table from intelligent, thoughtful people and get feedback. (Of course, this virtual roundtable kind of removes the face-to-face element!) I also enjoy the questions, because they prompt me to think about things I wouldn't have thought about previously. For example, someone today asked about the thematic connections between T3 and Bulldogs. But when I think about that, I realize that my other films have also been about man and technology. Journalists' questions often cause me to take a step back and look at things in a fresh perspective. Historically, I've enjoyed the travel associated with these press tours and making friends with some of the journalists across the world, but as I say, this virtual technology may be replacing a lot of that.

Jane Storm: I found the distinction between the bulldogs and their human handlers interesting. Can you expound upon why such a drastic difference?
Mark Redford: The difference was logical. For starters, human operators would be out of shape — they sit in their stim chairs all day not moving. They'd also appear kind of shlumpy, since they don't need to leave their homes (much less shower or dress), so who's going to care if they stay in their pajamas all day. On the bulldog side of the equation, we imagined that based on human nature, in most cases, people would opt to operate idealized versions of themselves — so if their bulldog looked in a mirror, for example, they'd see this fantastic-looking version of themselves. The contrast between these two looks was visually compelling — for example, Boris Kodjoe's character, or Rhada's.

Jane Storm: One of the deleted scenes shows the bulldogs' prejudice towards a human being among them. Why was this particular element cut?
Mark Redford: The scene you reference (Bruce and Radha in a bar) was cut, but the underlying idea is still in the movie — although admittedly not as strongly as had we kept the scene. (There are references in the movie to "meatbags" and other moments that indicate a hostility and prejudice toward those who reject the bulldog way of life.) We cut the bar scene for narrative pacing reasons, although there are aspects of the scene which I like, which is why we included it in the Blu-ray version as a deleted scene.

Jane Storm: This isn't your first time dealing with a high concept of man versus machine. Can you talk about why this concept intrigues you?
Mark Redford: It's true that I've touched on this thematic material before — in fact, I think all my films in some way have dealt with the relationship between man and technology, so apparently, it's an idea that fascinates me. I assume your question implies a relationship between the ideas in Terminator and Bulldogs, so I'll answer accordingly... Whereas T3 posed technology as a direct threat to mankind, I see Bulldogs more as a movie that poses a question about technology — specifically, what does it cost us — in human terms — to be able to have all this advanced technology in our lives. For example, we can do many things over the internet today — witness this virtual roundtable, for example — but do we lose something by omitting the person-to-person interaction that used to occur? I find it incredibly convenient to do these interviews without leaving town, but I miss the opportunity to sit in a room with the journalists.

Jane Storm: Can you explain the casting choices in Bulldogs? Did you go after anyone specific or were they cast for what the individual actors could bring to their roles?
Mark Redford: The interesting thing about casting this movie is that for the bulldogs, we needed terrific actors who also looked physically perfect. Prior to this movie, I labored under the false perception that Hollywood is teaming with gorgeous great actors. Not necessarily so. Yes, there are many wonderful actors. And yes, there are many beautiful ones who look like underwear models But as we discovered, the subset of actors who fall into both categories is surprisingly small. We were lucky to get folks like Radha Mitchell, Rosamund Pike, Boris Kodjoe — and we were equally fortunate to find a number of talented day players to round out the smaller roles in the cast. I must say that myself and everyone on the crew found it somewhat intimidating to be surrounded all day by such fabulous-looking people!

Jane Storm: You've worked with special effects a lot prior to Bulldogs. Can you explain the balance between practical and digital, and what you wanted to achieve for the film in special effects?
Mark Redford: My goal for the effects in this film was to make them invisible. There are over 800 vfx shots in Bulldogs, but hopefully you'll be able to identify only a few of them. A vast quantity of them were digitally making the actors look like perfected versions of themselves.

Jane Storm: One of your film's themes is the fears of technology. What are some of your own fears about technology and the future?
Mark Redford: Some people have labeled this film as anti-technology. But I don't see it that way. In fact, I love technology. I love using computers and gadgets. I love strolling through Best Buy and the Apple Store to see what's new. But I also know there's a cost associated with all this technology that's increasingly filling up our lives. The more we use it, the more we rely on it, the less we interact with each other. Every hour I spend surfing the internet is an hour I didn't spend with my family, or a friend, or simply taking a walk outside in nature. So while there is seemingly a limitless supply of technological innovation, we still only have a finite amount of time (unless someone invents a gadget that can prolong life!) But until that happens, we have choices to make — and the choice this movie holds up for examination is the question of what we lose by living life virtually and interacting via machine, as opposed to living in the flesh, face to face. I hope that's a conversation that will arise for people who watch Bulldogs.

Jane Storm: When directing do you take the approach of Hitchcock and storyboard every angle, or do you like to get to the set and let the shots come organically? Maybe in between?
Mark Redford: I'd say in between. Action needs to be carefully planned and boarded. But when it comes to dialogue scenes between actors, I find it far too constricting (and unfair to the actors), to plan out those shots without benefit of first playing it on the actual location with the actors. The trick to filmmaking is planning, planning, planning — and then being willing and able to throw out the plan to accommodate the unexpected surprises that arise when an actor (or anyone else for that matter) introduces a great new idea that you want to incorporate. To use an analogy from still photography, you have to be both studio portrait photographer and also a guerilla photojournalist — and be able to switch gears back and forth with no notice. At least, that's my approach. Others may work differently.

Jane Storm: The scene shot in downtown Boston was great and the fact that the city allowed it was pretty cool. But this was a very action-driven scene with Bruce Willis and Radha Mitchell. Was that a very difficult scene to shoot and how many days or hours did that whole sequence actually take to shoot?
Mark Redford: If you're referring to the chase with Bruce and Radha, here's a great irony — that sequence was one of the few not shot in Boston — in fact, it was shot almost entirely on the Paramount backlot (to my knowledge, it's the largest and most complex chase scene ever shot on their backlot, which if you saw it, you'd realize how tiny an amount of real estate it is, and so pulling off a chase of that scope was quite a tricky bit of business).

Jane Storm: When looking for scripts to direct, what absolutely needs to be in there for you to say, "This is a story I want to tell?"
Mark Redford: For me, the story must compel me and have dramatic tension. As you know from watching movies, that's hard to find.

Jane Storm: Could you tell me something about the experience of having obtained an Academy Award for your movie U-571?
Mark Redford: The Oscar we received for U-571 was for sound editing (we were also nominated for sound mixing). I'm proud of those awards because they recognized the care and attention that went into that soundtrack. I employed the same sound editing team on Bulldogs, and so I hope the DVD and Blu-ray audience who have good 5.1 sound systems will enjoy the fruits of our labors. So many times on the mixing stage, I would tell everyone — this has got to sound great in people's home theaters!

Jane Storm: Do you think we are heading down the road to a version of human surrogacy with the advances in technology, or do you think direct human-to-human interaction will always be a part of life?
Mark Redford: Do I believe that someday Surrogate robots will exist? Yes. Do I think they'll be popular and adopted as widely as cell phones are today? Perhaps. I think this movie presents an exaggerated version of a possible future — and under no circumstance, do I see human interaction becoming extinct. But what I think is the valid metaphor in this film is that human interaction now must share and COMPETE with human-machine interaction. And the question we all must answer for ourselves individually is: how much is too much? No one has the answers... at least yet. Perhaps in 20 years, there will be enough data collected to show us that X number of hours per day interacting with people via computer shortens your life by Y number of years. But for now, it's all unknown territory to us. All we can do is ask ourselves these questions. And at its core, that's what this movie is doing — asking questions.

Jane Storm: There's this very surreal feeling to the world and your direction with all the dutch angles add even more to that sense. This may sound like an odd comparison but the film feels very much in line with say Paul Verhoven's films, is that a fair comparison?
Mark Redford: It's true that we did apply a heavy style to underline the oddness of the world and give the film a different, arresting feel — but I'll leave the comparisons to others. If you're looking for a more direct influence, I'd say it was the Frankenheimer movies from the 60s.

Jane Storm: Is this the real Mark Redford, or am I interviewing... a bulldog?
Mark Redford: I'm the real me. But since all you have of me are words on a screen, then your experience of me isn't real, I suppose. Ah, the irony of it all...

Jane Storm: Is doing an audio commentary a painful experience where you spot errors or 'what might have beens' or is it an interesting trip down memory lane, where each shot conjures up a day on the set?
Mark Redford: Very much the latter. Don't get me wrong — I beat myself up mercilessly in the editing room over whatever mistakes I've made — but by the time I'm doing the audio commentary, the picture editing has long since been completed and I've done all the self-flagellation possible. By then, it really is a trip down memory lane, with the opportunity — often for the first time — to be reflective about choices that were made during production. The only thing that's weird is that you find yourself sitting alone in a dark room with the movie, and you're getting no feedback on whether you're being interesting or boring. So I hope people like the commentary. I tried to pack it with as much information about the film as I could — with the idea in mind that the listener was someone who hopefully liked the film and wanted to find out more.

Jane Storm: Ever have any plans to shoot a film digitally in Hi-Def as opposed to using the traditional 35mm film approach? Namely what do you think about the Red One camera?
Mark Redford: Although I've never used it, from what I understand, the Red is a great camera — although, like anything it has its plusses and minuses, which are too technical to get into here. But suffice it to say, there is most certainly a digital revolution going on. Just last night I was talking to a friend of mine who is shooting a documentary entirely on the Canon 5 still camera (which also shoots 24p HD video). I've seen some of what he's done and the stuff looks gorgeous. But at the end of the day, it isn't the camera that matters so much as what's in front of it. Bulldogs was shot in 35mm for a variety of technical reasons. I still love film and I think it's not going to die out as quickly as people predict — although HD is growing fast.

Jane Storm: How involved was Robert Venditti with the film? Did he tell you any key themes that absolutely had to be in the film?
Mark Redford: Venditti was great. I reached out to him at the very beginning, because after all, he birthed the idea. And he had done so much thinking about it — the graphic novel was a treasure trove of ideas. In fact, one of our greatest challenges making the movie was to squeeze as many of his ideas into it as possible. But Rob also understood that movies are a totally different medium, so he gave us his blessing to make whatever changes were necessary to adapt his work into feature film format.

Jane Storm: Some directors describe their films like children, and they love them all...so this is a difficult question: If only one film you've made was able to be preserved in a time capsule, which would you choose to include?
Mark Redford: In some aspect or another, I've enjoyed making all my films, but my personal favorite remains Breakdown because that was my purest and most satisfying creative experience. On that film, I worked totally from instinct. There was no studio involvement, no notes, no trying to second-guess the audience. I just made the movie I saw in my head. Looking back, I see how lucky I was to be able to work like that.

Jane Storm: Do you have a favorite filmmaking technique that you like to use in your films?
Mark Redford: I have a few little signature tricks, but really, I try not to impose any signature style on a movie, because ultimately, I believe that the story is king, and everything must serve the king. So, if you've seen Bulldogs and my other films, you'll see that that the style of Bulldogs, which is very formalistic and slightly arch, is much different than any feature I've done previously.

Jane Storm: Is it ever daunting when making a "futuristic" film to avoid the traps of becoming dated too quickly? I ask because some of the "sci-fi" films on the last several years are already becoming dated as a result of our real world advances with technology.
Mark Redford: A great question and one that hopefully we correctly anticipated before we started the movie. Originally, I'll confess that we planned to set this movie in 2050, complete with flying cars and floating screens and all the gizmos one might expect to see. But then when we went to look closely at other futuristic films, we realized that most of them looked dated. And there was a 'fakeness' factor to them that distracted from the story. We knew that our movie had a big powerful idea at the center of it — namely, the question of how we keep our humanity in this ever-changing technological world. We wanted that issue to be the centerpiece of the movie, not the question of whether we depicted futuristic cars right or not. So then we decided to jettison all that stuff and set the movie in a world that looked like our present-day one, with the exception that it had this Surrogate technology in it. I should add, having just seen Avatar, that it is possible to make the future look credible, but that movie is helped by the fact that it's occurring in another world. Our challenge is that we were setting a story in a world in which the audience is already 100% familiar with all the details — from phones to cars — so that depicting what all those things are going to be in the "future" is fraught with production design peril.

Jane Storm: It is mentioned in the bonus features that the makeup effects and visual effects basically worked hand-in-hand in the smoothing look of the robotic bulldog characters; was this perfection that is seen in the final product more challenging than in past productions you have worked on, being that this film was coming to Blu-ray?
Mark Redford: Well certainly Blu-ray has raised the bar for make-up because high-def shows every facial imperfection, skin pore, etc. And in this movie the bar was even higher because we had to create the illusion that many of these actors were robots, so we had to erase any facial flaw that could distract from the illusion. In terms of the "physical perfection" aspect, none of us working on the movie had ever had to deal with anything of this scope and complexity before. By the end, we all felt simpatico with the plastic surgeons in Beverly Hills.

Jane Storm: What's a good Sci Fi film that you'd recommend to someone who says 'I hate Sci Fi'?
Mark Redford: Well, just this year there were so many... District 9, Star Trek, Avatar were all standouts. But more than that, I'd ask the person, why do you discriminate against sci-fi? Because, when you think about it, the term "sci fi" is a bit of a misnomer. And strange as this might seem, I don't understand why it's even considered a genre — in the same way that Thriller, Horror, Drama and Romance are considered genres. Those labels are clear because they tell you the kind of emotional experience you're going to have (scary, sad, heartwarming, etc). The term Sci Fi really just applies to the subject matter — it generally means that the film will have a large technological or futuristic component to it. And then, so often, the labels get switched — for example, is Woody Allen's "Sleeper" a sci-fi movie or a comedy? Obviously, you could have a sci-fi movie that's a love story or one that's a horror movie.

Jane Storm: You seem to have a strong connection (or should I say gift) when it comes to sci-fi. I feel like you really "get" that realm. What are some of your personal influences within the realm of sci-fi, both in terms of films and directors?
Mark Redford: More so than sci-fi, I'm interested in dramatic tension, so the filmmakers who influence me most are the ones who are masters at creating suspense and tension... Hitchcock, Spielberg and Frankenheimer are three that come to mind.

Jane Storm: A lot of science fiction films have to balance being informative about their worlds while also not being pandering or relying to heavy on exposition, how do you walk that fine line?
Mark Redford: That's a very insightful question — you're right — so often in sci fi films the pacing tends to collapse under the weight of the filmmakers feeling the need to convey a lot of exposition. A classic example is Blade Runner. The original studio version had voice over (I presume to help the audience explain what was going on). Ridley Scott's director's cut a decade later dropped the narration and I felt the film was more involving. In Bulldogs, we initially didn't have any exposition. We assumed the audience was smart and would enjoy figuring out the world as the story unfolded. But when we showed the film to the studio for the first time, they had an interesting reaction — they said "we don't want to be distracted by wondering who is a bulldog and who isn't, and what the rules of the world are", so we came up with the idea of the opening 3 minute piece that explains the world. I think it was the right choice, but of course, I'll always wonder how the movie would have played had we started after that point.

Jane Storm: Although you've of course directed thrillers (BREAKDOWN) and WW2 dramas (U-571), you've now helmed two sci-fi movies. Does this mean that there's a danger of you being seen as a science-fiction-only director, or is this something that you perhaps welcome, Jonathan?
Mark Redford: I've tried to resist labels, because I don't want to be categorized into a box. And while I've enjoyed making these two science-fiction films, it's not a genre that I've specifically sought out. If I had to guess, I'd predict that my next film will be a thriller. That's the genre I've most enjoyed.

Jane Storm: In terms of stunts, how much did Bruce do himself? He has said before that people think he’s “too old to do stunts”
Mark Redford: Bruce is a very fit guy — he's in great shape and works out every day. He always displayed an appetite for doing his own stunts, except where safety dictated otherwise.

Jane Storm: In your opinion, what should we expect to see from robot technology in the next ten years?
Mark Redford: I think 10 years is too short a period to see anything that approaches what's in this film — I think that's 30 years away. 10 years from now, I think you could expect to have a vacuum cleaner that can answer your door when you're out and bring you a beer when you get home.

Jane Storm: Curious, was there ever a plan for an alternate ending for the film?
Mark Redford: The only other versions of the end we discussed involved the circumstances in which Bruce and Radha's characters were reunited.

Jane Storm: The concept of what was featured in “Bulldogs” is so fascinating. Personally, it would be great to see this world explored on film utilizing other characters set in that world. Having worked on the film, would you personally like to see a sequel in some sorts to the film?
Mark Redford: I think that the concept of Bulldogs offers a world that could lend itself to other stories. Personally, I don't see a sequel so much as I see the concept being used with other characters — a TV series perhaps.

Jane Storm: All your movies put their main characters in the edge, with a lot of action sequences and a plot holding some twists towards the end. Is this your signature or just a coincidence?
Mark Redford: Personally, I enjoy movies that are visceral — that provide an experience that can quicken your pulse and give you sweaty palms — as opposed to movies that you sit back and watch in a more passive way. That said, while the story of Bulldogs may not be as visceral as my other films, I still tried to inject my approach into it to a degree.

Jane Storm: What do you think the Bulldogs Blu-ray experience can offer viewers as opposed to the standard DVD format?
Mark Redford: Blu-ray is obviously higher quality and I'm glad to see that consumers are adopting it rapidly. The Blu-ray also has additional features.

VIA «The Bulldogs (based on an underground comic-book)»

Live Growing Jewelry

VIA «Bouquet on a finger»

VIA Taryn Chute was crowned Miss Montana 2011 on June 18

Known as tumuli, the burial mounds are the only remnants of the Thracian civilisation that inhabited the Balkan peninsula from the 2nd millennium BC to the 3rd century AD.

The accidental discovery of a tomb in 1944 revealed that the earthen structures were in fact manmade and that the burial monuments hidden within contained intricately crafted treasures.

Experts believe there are more than 15,000 of these tombs in Bulgaria, a tenth of them in the so-called Valley of the Thracian Kings near the central town of Kazanlak.

Many of the tombs have been looted, but a collection of surviving gold, silver and bronze objects are being shown at the Louvre museum in Paris until July 20.

Of the 1,500 tumuli in the valley, "only 300 of them have been excavated so far and about 35 revealed such rich burial monuments," said Kazanlak archeologist Meglena Parvin.

EU funds have been used to restore a handful of tombs that have been opened to public view, but most remain shut because of a lack of money for repairs.

"I feel sad that they are left like that. I hope that more money will come and we can restore and open them," Parvin said.

The Thracians were a people of horse and cattle breeders, metal miners and goldsmiths who are believed to have had no alphabet of their own and left no written records.

They believed in the afterlife and the immortality of the soul, and buried deceased rulers with their horses, dogs, weapons, drinking cups and even playing dice.

The kings were considered sons of the great goddess Mother Earth and the burial rites were highly symbolic, Parvin explained.

"When he finishes his journey in this world, the king must return to the womb of his mother. That is the reason why we think that they built these artificial mounds around their funeral structures," she said.

In addition to the treasures, the bushy tumuli also conceal a variety of exquisite burial monuments.

Built from huge granite blocks or bricks, they consist of a corridor and one or more chambers, with each revealing its own meticulous design and ornamentation.

"No two tombs are alike," Parvin noted, leading the way through the antechamber of the tomb in the Shushmanets mound.

Inside, a slim column helps support the vaulted ceiling of the burial chamber, the walls of which are adorned by seven half columns.

The Ostrusha tumulus nearby contained a sarcophagus-like chamber hewn from a single granite block thought to have weighed 60 tonnes.

Its ceiling contains traces of drawings of people, animals, plants and geometric figures. The remains of six other rooms surround the burial chamber, none of which have been restored as yet.

The most famous tomb in the valley is the Kazanlak tomb, which was the first to be unearthed during World War II and has been on UNESCO's World Heritage List since 1979.

The original is closed to visits to protect its fragile murals, which depict a funeral procession and a horse race, but visitors can view a replica right next door.

The site draws large crowds but the tourism revenue has not been converted into conservation funds, said Sofia-based archeological expert Diana Dimitrova.

"It is a pity that in Bulgaria somewhere the link is cut and the money from tourism does not go to restorations and archeological excavations," said Dimitrova, whose late husband, archaeologist Georgy Kitov, excavated most of the tombs in the Kazanlak valley and christened it the Valley of the Thracian Kings.

Dimitrova pointed to the three-chamber tomb of King Seuthes III which provided the pieces for the Louvre exhibition as an example of the problem.

A hit among foreign tourists in the years after it opened to the public in 2005, the tomb has been temporarily closed this summer while awaiting funds for emergency repairs.

"The Thracians built these splendid monumental structures to last forever," Dimitrova said.

"We cannot just uncover them and leave them like that."

Source: Diana Simeonova | Source: AFP [July 17, 2015]

The recovery of the 800 items from museums, universities and auction houses in the United States, Italy and Jordan marks a small victory for Iraqi authorities struggling to protect their heritage from theft and destruction by Islamic State fighters.

The hardline Islamist militants have taken over some of the world's richest archaeological sites in northern Iraq, home to Assyrian cities dating back 2,700 years and the Graeco-Roman era desert complex of Hatra.

Videos released by Islamic State show several sites bulldozed, blown up or battered with sledgehammers. Officials say priceless antiquities have also been stolen to help fund the militants' self-declared caliphate in Iraq and Syria.

Wednesday's collection of returned items, put on show at Baghdad's national museum, was modest compared to the suspected scale of the ongoing theft and destruction.

It included dozens of metal spearheads which officials said dated back to Iraq's Sumerian era between 4,000 and 2,000 B.C., tiny vases, pottery seals and fragments with cuneiform writing.

Some had been identified when they came up for sale at auction houses. Others were recovered from long-term loans to universities abroad, officials said.

The collection included nearly 200 items that went missing from Iraq's presidential palaces in the turmoil which followed the U.S.-led invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein, they said.

Alongside the white china tea set - each item marked with an eagle to represent the Iraqi republic - was a large ceremonial sword, silver cutlery and two rifles.

Government ministers attending a ceremony to mark their return called for greater international help to protect Iraq's antiquities, saying the scale of the threat was unprecedented.

Islamic State, which rejects all but its own narrow interpretation of early Sunni Islam as heresy, has destroyed ancient temples, shrines, churches, manuscripts, statues and carvings in territory it has seized. Officials say it has also looted widely, selling artefacts to fund its rule.

"We are not dealing with smugglers but a group that calls itself a state, carries weapons and trades in antiquities," Tourism and Antiquities Minister Adel Shirshab said. "The world must pay attention to the new danger".

More than three months after Islamic State fighters released video footage of them smashing statues and carvings at Mosul museum and the ancient sites of Hatra, Nimrud and Nineveh, Shirshab told Reuters it was hard to assess the damage.

"The region is under terrorist control. We don't have precise, detailed information...The situation is fluid and unclear.

Shirshab said that footage showing destruction at the sites was deliberately put out to obscure Islamic State fighters' real aim. "Many of these antiquities were stolen to fund this terrorist group," he said.

Author: Dominic Evans | Source: Reuters [July 08, 2015]

But it did not seem to bother Christina, who grinned widely as she showed off every lump and bump.
Despite recently gaining weight, Christina is not afraid to show off her body.
Please leg-go: Many though Christina would retire her leggings after she stepped out in the unflattering attire last month, left
In fact, she went nearly nude for her latest magazine cover.
Christina had her modesty just covered with a white silk cloth and a bunch of red roses in a sultry cover shoot for this month's W Magazine.
And the singer, who has gained a fuller figure in recent months, looks surprisingly svelte posing in all her glory.
X-Tina: The Dirrty singer appeared to be enjoying flaunting her curves as she walked down the street
A few strokes of the airbrush may well have helped Chrstina achieve her slimmer look, or perhaps helped by good lighting and clever photography.
Over the past year, the diva has seen her music career take a nosedive coupled with a series of dramas in her personal life.
But in the accompanying interview, the 30-year-old opens up about her fall from grace and talks about how she is trying to turn things around.
Fashion failure: Even passersby were left scratching their heads at Christina's latest fashion choice
source: dailymail

VIA Please leg-go! Christina Aguilera digs out her favourite skin-tight leggings and they STILL don't do her any favours

The comments sent shock waves through the film world.
Kirsten told the Mail Online that she kept thinking, 'Lars, shut up'.
She added: 'He's a great film-maker who, sometimes I feel should let his films speak for themselves.'
In any event, the actress who has come a long way since starring in the Spiderman pictures.
Touched: She was awarded the coveted prize during the closing ceremony of the 64th Cannes Film Festival
She gives a terrific, deeply felt performance in Von Trier's film Melancholia as a newly-wed bride who instantly regrets her marriage while at the same time the planet Earth is on collision course with another planet.
Her character Justine is an utterly depressed young woman .
'I understood a little of what Justine was going through', the actress told the Mail Online.
Dressed for the occasion: Kirsten looked stunning in a silver and white floor length dress
It is a huge triumph for Kirsten as there was formidable competition from the likes of Tilda Swinton who starred in the British entry We Need To Talk About Kevin.
The win also helps Kirtsen make a shift from main stream Hollywood films to more independent fare.
The big award of the night, the Palme d'Or went to Terrence Malick's epic visual poem
The Tree of Life which starred Brad Pitt and Sean Penn.
Best actor went to Jean Dujarin for the enchanting picture The Artists which took a touching glance back to the era of silent films.
Best director went to Nicolas Winding Refn for his work on the brilliant but bloody-
thirsty thriller Drive which starred Ryan Gosling who is excellent as a movie stunt car driver by day and a getaway driver by night.
Carey Mulligan, Oscar Isaac, and Christina Hendricks also star in the film which opens in the UK in the Autumn.
Other prizes went to the superb French movie Polisse which looked at a Parisian child
protection unit.
Jury members included Uma Thurman and Jude Law.
Delighted: The 29-year-old lapped up the attention from her peers during tonight's Closing Ceremony in Cannes
Critical acclaim: Dunst stars in Melancholia as a newly-wed bride who instantly regrets her marriage while at the same time the planet Earth is on collision course with another planet
source: dailymail

VIA Kirsten Dunst conquers the Cannes Film Festival and takes the best actress award

Stealing the show: But it was Amy Childs who stood out from the crowd in her Pia Michi gold gown
And it seems maybe the girls had coordinated their outfits, as they all went for sparkly metallic numbers as they posed on the red carpet.
But it was redhead Amy Childs who managed to hog the limelight, perhaps for the wrong reasons, as she pulled out all the stops in her Pia Michi strapless gold dress.
The elaborate gown featured a beaded bodice and ruched gold skirt, complete with a tulle underskirt, giving Amy a strong resemblance to Belle from Disney's Beauty And The Beast.
However, the rest of the TOWIE girls also went all out with their red carpet outfits.
Metallic: Sam looked stunning in her Diane Von Furstenberg wrap dress while Lydia Bright wore a grey flowered Dynasty gown and Lauren went for sparkly everything in Scala
While Sam shone in a shimmery white and black Diane Von Furstenberg wrap dress, Lydia wore a pretty metallic grey flowered Dynasty dress.
And Lauren looked like the cat that got the cream as she posed with fiancé Mark Wright while wearing a strappy silver Scala dress and matching sparkly shoes.
In the black: Cat Deeley wowed in a black lace Christian Dior gown, with her hair swept back into a chic up 'do

Whoops! Louise Redknapp, who wore Stella McCartney, and Lenora Crichlow both arrived in very similar black plunging jumpsuits
Sisterly love: Kara Tointon arrived at the ceremony with her younger sister Hannah
Glamour girls: (Left to right) Zoe Ball in Roland Mouret, Michelle Collins in Nadine Merabi and Hayley Atwell, in Antonio Baradi
Dressed to impress: The One Show star Alex Jones, in Versace, and actress Amanda Burton also went for black
Pale and interesting: (Left to right) Sheridan Smith in Ermanno Scervino, Amy Nuttall in BIBA and Victoria Pendleton in Stella McCartney. The trio all stuck to summery pale shades on the red carpet
Lighting it up in brights: (Left to right) Gillian Anderson in vintage Dior, Vicky McClure in Alberta Ferretti and Tracey Emin in Vivienne Westwood all opted for pink or red for the red carpet
Essex cast pick up their BAFTA

On the Red Carpet at the 2011 BAFTA Television Awards

source: dailymail

VIA The Only Way Is Essex girls lead the glamour at the BAFTA Television Awards... but it's Amy Childs who steals the show

Copyright by Via Snella
The jewelry collection launched by Via Snella encompasses an array of novel creative possibilities while speaking directly to our heart. Lina Zedig, the inspiring force behind the scenes, has brought her experience in textile installation and interior design into a series of jewels that magically bridge the gap between space, matter and the senses. Lina has created a collection of five precious silver pendants in the form of a flask, destined to carry their owner’s favourite perfume. All of these unique unisex pieces are beautifully elaborated by traditional silversmiths in Sri Lanka and are accompanied by a pipette, which becomes essential at the moment of selecting the right scent to fill them up with. Functional and intimate at the same time, they are meant to embody a unique moment of reengagement with the Self through the alchemic fusion of metal and scent.
This is, beyond doubt, a jewelry statement miles away from the snobbish and indulging-in-blings thrill of the fashion industry. Steeped in a philosophy of sustainability and shared experience, it is conceived and materialised to satisfy our penchant for romance, intimate lyricism and casual immanence. With this new venture, Via Snella pays homage to its original quest for charmful singularity and humble luxury, while designing the departure point of its future trajectory. In the seasons to come, the brand will trade it all for knits and more jewellery. Reinventing the classic collection concept, it will opt for a much more sustainable model of production, based on single garments of an exceptional sartorial quality, made to be cosily worn and joyfully shared by special men and women.
VIA SNELLA

VIA Via Snella Launches First Jewelry Collection